Hiro hated hospitals, hospitals where were people went when they were dying. It's where he found out he didn't have parents anymore. Bad things happened in hospitals and he hated that he had to spend so much time in them these days. The worst part though was that he was alone in a place filled with terrifying memories. He just wanted Dashi with him…

Someone knocked on the door making Hiro jump but it was only Ezra and his family who walked in. Hera sat down on the bed by Hiro and asked, "Hey Hiro. How are you feeling?"

"Tired…" Hiro mumbled. Ezra carefully pulled himself up onto the bed and hugged Hiro saying,

"I'm sorry you got sick…"

Hiro shut his eyes and leaned against Ezra saying, "Not your fault…"

"You brother will be here soon," Hera assured, lightly ruffling Hiro's hair.

"Yea no offense kid but I'm never making food for you again," Uncle Zed declared causing Hiro to tiredly laugh.

"No more feeding food that makes Hiro sick!" Ezra said, glaring at Uncle Zeb who threw up his hands saying,

"Hey I didn't do it on purpose!"

"We don't know what made Hiro sick sweetie," Hera said.

"Once the doctors find out though we all need to be careful about giving him food with whatever it was in it," Kanan added.

"How would the doctors find out?" Ezra asked.

"They took some tests which will help the doctors figure it out," Kanan explained. "They'll figure out what Hiro's allergic to soon."

"That's good," Ezra said. Hiro heard shouting coming from the hall that got closer and closer into it was outside his door. The door flew open and Tadashi ran in saying,

"Hiro I'm so sorry I couldn't get here sooner! Are you feeling okay?" Hera immediately stood up followed reluctantly by Ezra.

"Yea," Hiro assured, smiling at his brother. "I'm just tired."

"The doctor said he'll be released tomorrow," Hera informed him. "And as soon as they figure out what caused the reaction they'll let you know."

"Thank you," Tadashi said.

"Mom, dad can we please stay with Hiro?" Ezra asked, clasping his hands together and looking up at his parents with wide eyes.

"Sweetie it depends on if Tadashi and Hiro are okay with that," Hera said, glancing over at Kanan.

"Yea kiddo I don't think Hiro's going to be really up to doing much right now," Kanan agreed as Bubbles walked in.

"Mr. Bubbles," Tadashi greeted, getting to his feet. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm still Hiro's social worker and he was just hospitalized. I'm here to figure out why and if there is a problem," Bubbles explained. "Care to explain?"

"Of course but uh can we do this outside? I think it would be good for Hiro to get some rest," Tadashi asked.

"Of course," Bubbles agreed.

"Okay um Ezra if you'd like to keep Hiro company that's fine by me," Tadashi informed him.

"Sweetie why don't you stay in here while dad and I go out with Mr. Bubbles?" Hera said. Bubbles raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Okay," Ezra said climbing back up onto the bed. Hera flashed him a smile before walking out with Tadashi and Bubbles. Zeb and Sabine started whispering to each other and Hiro tiredly mumbled,

"Please don't be mad at Zeb."

"I'm not," Ezra assured. "Well I was but I know he didn't want to make you go to the hospital."

"Good," Hiro mumbled, yawning. Why was he so tired? Ezra curled up next to Hiro who was struggling to keep his eyes open. "You'll stay right?"

"I will," Ezra assured. Smiling, Hiro let himself drift off to sleep.

After a long and frustrating talk with Bubbles, they were finally allowed to go back to Hiro's room. Thankfully, Bubbles assured them they weren't going to take Hiro away but since he did go to the hospital he needed to come and make sure everything was okay. When Tadashi entered the room, he started grinning when he saw both Hiro and Ezra fast asleep on the hospital bed, curled up against each other.

"I never though their first sleepover would be in a hospital," Hera whispered, chuckling.

"It's…different," Kanan agreed, a small smile on his face. Tadashi smiled at the two sleeping boys as the doctor stepped inside asking,

"Are you Hiro's father?" Tadashi winced slightly and corrected,

"No I'm his guardian."

"Ah well we ran some tests and we found that he is allergic to peanuts."

"Peanuts?" Tadashi asked.

"Yes, I would recommend keeping him away from any nuts," The doctor added.

"Cross contamination yea…" Tadashi agreed.

"We'll be keeping him here overnight for observation but he can head home tomorrow," The doctor added.

"Of course," Tadashi agreed. "Thank you." The doctor nodded and slipped out of the room leaving the others behind.

"We'd best get Ezra home and in bed…" Hera whispered. Kanan nodded in agreement and reluctantly pulled Ezra away causing him to wake up and mumble,

"Dad?"

"Yea buddy, we're heading home," Kanan said.

"Is Hiro going home?" Ezra asked, rubbing his eyes.

"No kiddo he needs to stay here overnight," Kanan said.

"Can I stay here with him?" Ezra sleepily asked.

"I'm sorry buddy but you need to get a good night's sleep for school tomorrow," Kanan said.

"Will Hiro be their?"

"Probably not," Kanan admitted.

"I don't need to go then!" Ezra exclaimed.

"Listen buddy…" Kanan sighed but Ezra whispered,

"Please dad? I want to stay with Hiro and make sure he's better!"

"May I?" Tadashi asked Kanan who nodded, looking confused. "I promise I will take good care of Hiro, but I know he'd want you to go to class so you don't fall behind."

"But Hiro will fall behind to," Ezra argued.

"He'll catch up, I promise you, with no problem," Tadashi assured. "How about this? I promise that if you go to school tomorrow I'll bring Hiro over after school if he's feeling up to it and your parents are okay with it of course."

"That's a wonderful idea," Hera agreed.

"Do we have a deal?" Tadashi asked.

Ezra frowned before nodding and saying, "Okay…take care of Hiro okay?" Tadashi smiled and said,

"Of course."

Once Ezra and his family left, Tadashi realized he should probably call Fred and tell him what was happening. Fred picked up on the second ring and asked,

"Hey is everything okay? You kind of ran out-"

"Hiro had an allergic reaction and is in the hospital."

"What?" Fred asked.

"He's apparently allergic to peanuts." Tadashi continued. "He had a chocolate peanut butter shake while at Ezra's and had a reaction. He'll be fine but he's staying in the hospital overnight, I just wanted to call you so you wouldn't get worried."

"Thanks," Fred said. "Do you want me to come to the hospital?" Tadashi wanted to say yes, the company would be nice and he liked having Fred around but stopped himself. Hospitals where not very comfortable and he knew he wouldn't be sleeping so most likely Fred wouldn't get any sleep and he didn't want to do that to him.

"N-no, thanks though," Tadashi said.

"You sure? I really don't mind," Fred assured.

"I know," Tadashi said, "I just…I don't think I'll be sleeping much and I really would feel bad keeping you up as well."

"I'm coming," Fred suddenly declared.

"Wait Fred do-" Tadashi began.

"Too late!" Fred said before hanging up. Tadashi tried calling him back, but Fred ignored his call. Tadashi groaned in frustration and set his phone on the nightstand.

"Dashi? What's wrong?" Hiro sleepily asked.

"Nothing buddy, go back to sleep," Tadashi assured, running a hand through Hiro's hair.

"You sounded upset…" Hiro mumbled.

"I'm not," Tadashi said. He wasn't exactly upset with Fred, more frustrated with how stubborn he was being. "Fred's coming."

"Is that bad?" Hiro asked.

"No, of course not," Tadashi assured. "It's just uh….he's not a big fan of hospitals so I didn't think he'd want to come."

"Why's he coming?" Hiro asked.

"He wanted to see you of course," Tadashi said without thinking. Maybe Fred came mostly for moral support for Tadashi, but he hoped also to make sure Hiro was okay.

"Really?" Hiro asked.

"Yea, he really likes you," Tadashi assured.

"He does?" Hiro asked, eyes lighting up.

"Yea, most definitely," Tadashi assured. Hiro's face light up in excitement and he knew he'd said the right thing.

About thirty minutes after the phone call with Fred, he waltzed into the hospital room asking,

"How's my favorite little man?"

"Okay," Hiro said.

"Just okay?" Fred asked. When Hiro nodded Fred declared, "Well I'm going to fix that!" Without warning Fred started to mercilessly tickle Hiro. Hiro tried not to laugh but after about thirty seconds of tickling burst into excited giggling. "The tickle monster will keep tickling you until the sadness goes away!" Fred said in his 'monster voice.'

"I'm happy I'm happy!" Hiro shrieked.

Fred paused for a moment before declaring in his monster voice, "I don't believe you!" and continued his merciless 'attack'.

"Fred you should probably stop," Tadashi warned after another minute of tickling.

"Aww…" Fred said, overdramatically pouting and hanging his head. Hiro settled down, still giggling like mad. Tadashi reached over and started running a calming hand through Hiro's hair hoping to get him to relax some. Soon Hiro's giggles subsided and he started nuzzling into Tadashi's hand, his eyes drifting shut. Once Hiro's breathing evened out Tadashi glanced up at Fred who had a frown on his face.

"So umm I'm kind of stuck here until you leave," Fred informed him.

"How come?" Tadashi asked.

"As Heathcliff was dropping me off he told me there was a um emergency with my dad and he had to leave immediately. I think it might have something to do with uh…the thing he told us about the other day." Super Hero emergency? What did that mean?

"Is he okay?" Tadashi asked.

"Heathcliff wouldn't say," Fred sighed. "But umm….we may have to cancel our date tomorrow…"

"Fred don't even worry about it," Tadashi assured. "I just hope your dad is okay."

"…me too…"

Ezra hated going to class without Hiro. He had no one to play with at recess and at lunch the kids where brutal.

"Did the police take the freak away?" One kid taunted. Ezra tried to ignore them, but it was really hard to.

"If you get on your hands and knees and beg for forgiveness for ever talking to that freak we might let you sit with us!" Another kid said.

"Hiro's my friend!" Ezra stubbornly said.

"It can't have friends!" the first kid declared. Ezra wanted to go over and punch those kids for saying mean things about Hiro, but he knew mom and dad would be really disappointed if he did that. So instead he finished his lunch quickly and hurried inside his classroom.

"Ezra? What are you doing in here?" Mrs. Mathews asked. "Lunch doesn't end for another fifteen minutes!"

"The other kids are mean," Ezra grumbled, folding his arms across his desk and resting his head on them.

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Mathews asked.

"They keep calling Hiro a freak and saying the police took him away for being a freak," Ezra miserably said. "But it's not true! Hiro's in the hospital! And he's not a freak!"

"No he's not," Mrs. Mathews assured, sitting on top of the desk next to Ezra's and placing a hand on his back. "They just don't understand because he's different than them an-"

Ezra jerked out from Mrs. Mathews touch and snapped, "There's nothing wrong with Hiro!"

"No their isn't-" She began but Ezra snapped,

"You said he was different!"

"He is-"

"Why does everyone hate him!" Ezra snapped, fighting tears.

"I don't hate him-" Mrs. Mathews protested.

"You're taking him away!" Ezra snapped and stormed out. Ezra found a quiet corner to hide in and desperately wiped away the tears that spilled over. Ezra hated all his classmates and teacher; they were mean to Hiro for no reason other than he was smarter than everyone else. Because of that they were going to separate them! Ezra kept trying to tell Hiro and himself he was okay with Hiro skipping a grade, but he was terrified of being left alone without a friend and trapped with these horrible kids. Ezra wrapped his arms around himself and started rocking slightly, wishing he was smarter so he could stay with his friend….Then it hit Ezra, if he worked really, really hard and got perfect scores like Hiro he could skip a grade to and still be together!

The bell rang for everyone to head back to class and Ezra stood up, a determined look on his face. He would prove he's just as smart as Hiro and stay with his best friend! He would!

The rest of the day passed by agonizingly slow for Ezra, he wanted to get home so he could hopefully see Hiro and get to work studying and making himself smart just like Hiro! Ezra diligently took notes on everything Mrs. Mathews said and slowly worked on each problem so that they'd all be right the first time. It was painfully slow going, but when Mrs. Mathews looked over at his work, she happily told him he got them all correct.

"Ezra…" She whispered, "I'm sorry for upsetting you earlier." He didn't forgive her for what she'd said, but mom and dad said that when someone apologized you should forgive them. How could he forgive her though?

"It's okay," Ezra finally said, thinking she wouldn't be happy if he said anything else. Mrs. Mathews smiled and squeezed his shoulder before returning to the front. Once the day finally ended Ezra grudgingly picked up Hiro's homework as well and hurried outside to meet his mom who was waiting for him.

"Come on come on let's go!" Ezra exclaimed once he was in the car.

"Someone's in a hurry," She commented, laughing.

"I want to see Hiro!" Ezra declared.

"Really? I couldn't tell," She said, laughing. Ezra huffed in annoyance as they drove off, impatiently staring out the window. Unfortunately though, Hiro wasn't their when he got home.

"Is Hiro out of the hospital?" Ezra asked, worried.

"Yes sweetie," His mom assured. "I texted Tadashi and they'll be here soon."

"Yes!" Ezra shouted, racing to the kitchen to start his homework. The wait seemed to stretch on forever, so when the doorbell finally rang Ezra raced over to it and got their just as his mom opened the door to reveal Hiro and Tadashi.

"Hiro!" Ezra shouted, excitedly hugging Hiro who hugged him back just as excitedly. "School was horrible!"

"What happened?" Hiro asked.

"Everything! Come on I'll tell you while we work on homework!"

"Hiro hold on a second we really should just grab your homework and head home," Tadashi said.

"Why? For your date?" Hiro asked.

"No we had to cancel," Tadashi said.

"Date?" His mom asked.

"Fred wanted to take me out but something came up with our babysitter so we can't-" Tadashi explained.

"If you need a sitter I can watch the little tyke," Uncle Zeb offered. "I'm already watching Sabine and Ezra while Kanan and Hera go out."

"I really don't want to impose-" Tadashi said, shaking his hands.

"It's nothing really," Uncle Zeb assured. "And I feel kind of bad for sending your brother to the hospital."

"That's not your-" Tadashi began but Hiro begged,

"Oh come on Dashi! Can't I stay?"

"Yea please!" Ezra agreed, the pair running up and pouting.

"Okay that's not fair!" Tadashi groaned. Hiro and Ezra continued to pout as Uncle Zeb assured,

"I really don't mind. Go have fun or whatever."

Tadashi groaned and said, "All right all right you can stay. I have no idea when we'll be back though."

"Eh Hera and Kanan will probably be out late," Uncle Zeb said, shrugging.

"Okay then...be good Hiro and get your homework done," Tadashi said before slipping out the door.

"Yes!" Ezra shouted. "Come on come on!" He added, dragging Hiro to the kitchen so he could tell him his brilliant plan.