#17 Hey
"Okay. You can do this," Hiro said to himself as he tried to muster up some courage. It was a little after 8pm in the first week of August and the teen genius was currently in his bedroom sitting in front of his computer. He had already been debating internally about making this leap for a while now, but he decided tonight was going to be the night he'd talk to Karmi about how they felt about each other. Hiro already knew that she cared about him from her confession she made to his superhero persona dubbed "Captain Cutie," but after the Hardlight Chibi incident a few weeks ago, neither of them acted on it from there.
Baymax was aware of the issue by his scans revealing increased blushing, dopamine and norepinephrine levels whenever he brought up their last encounter as well as increased anxiety over the subject. He had also given his best advice be suggesting open, honest communication with Karmi, talking about things they liked and complimenting her; Baymax provided a list of relaxation/coping techniques to help in the event things went south. Hiro knew that he had to face it eventually as being stuck in this perpetual state was agonizing, but this was something new, uncertain and he wanted to get it right.
Now Hiro just stared at his blank, dark monitor as he let out a deep sigh. He turned in his chair to see Baymax sleeping at his charging station, hoping that he wouldn't wake up from the call he about to make; Hiro loved that robot, but his interjections might derail the conversation or cause him to inadvertently get embarrassed.
The robotics expert swiveled back around to see his reflection on the empty screen before logging in and opening up his Vid-2-U messaging app. He searched for a few seconds until he found the number Karmi gave him a little while ago. He looked at it for almost a minute until he thought, Just do it, and clicked call immediately so he would stop waffling over it.
Hiro could hear the characteristic "ring, ring" as a little animated phone shook in the window. It rang once, twice, three times and with each ring, the anxiety grew within the teen genius. By the fifth ring, he decided he'd hang up and try again tomorrow, but as he was reaching for the mouse, the call chimed and Karmi's face appeared in the window.
"Hello?"
"Oh! Uh, hey Karmi! Hope it's not too late to call. I uh, well, how have you been?" Hiro flustered as him going from backing out to being right back caused him to forget his whole conversation plan in two seconds flat. He could see Karmi was in her bedroom where she was wearing her pjs, which looked to be pumpkin orange in color and got progressively darker as it descended to the sleeves and bottom. Her hair was down and looked to be almost dry, like she took a shower an hour or so earlier.
She initially seemed surprised when she saw it was Hiro's face appear when she accepted the call, making her go wide-eye for a moment before she recovered. "Hey Hiro! It's uh, going well, I guess. And it's not too late. I still had some work I needed to finish up," the biotech genius answered as she self-consciously tucked her dark brown hair behind her ear.
"Whatcha working on?" he politely inquired as he scooted his chair a little closer.
"Well, I sort of have a bunch of projects and I try to get a little bit done each day, unless I'm in the zone and I end up spending hours on it," she replied with a small nervous laugh before realizing she didn't answer the question. "Sorry. I meant to say I was doing some editing on my new Big Hero 6 Chibi episode."
"Really? Care to give me a little hint as to what it's about?" Hiro questioned, trying not to show the slight worry he had whenever she brought up his team.
Karmi gave a happier laugh this time and then said, "Maybe just this once. I was going to have it be about some villain-hero team up that has to happen to keep the city safe from an OC character of mine I call 'The Harbinger.'"
"Ooo, that sounds really cool for like a season finale or something," the robotist complimented as she continued to listen.
Karmi blushed a little and self-consciously scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, the problem is thinking of a few more shorts that help connect it all together," she responded with a small chuckle.
"I'm sure you'll come up with it in no time. You've got a lot of great ideas," Hiro told her with sincerity.
She blushed harder and realizing he had said a flattering statement, made Hiro blush too; he was really glad Baymax was asleep for this.
Karmi gave a small cough a moment later as she tried to appear more relaxed and started to converse again. "So, uh, did you call just to get spoilers for Fred or…" she trailed off as she hoped to hear the words she had been wanting to say herself. Like Hiro, the past few weeks had her in a state of whether to act or not. Karmi didn't know for sure if he cared for as more than just a friend and wanted to get it right too. The duo was both entering new territory and although Hiro got a preview of her feelings for him, it didn't make it any easier, as evident by the teen genius taking a few seconds to compose his next sentence.
"I uh, actually wanted to talk, like really talk with you since we didn't get the chance at the comic book store. For one thing, I'm sorry I didn't see you in action, but I heard you were amazing at stopping Hardlight," he said to her with a look of admiration.
The 17yr-old was on a blushing streak as her cheeks turned red again. "Well, thanks Hiro, but I did take some inspiration from you on realizing the value of robotics and technology," she confessed with a smile.
"Heh, yeah, but even if I was the inspiration, you're the one who put it together and got it to work. So, I heard you made a hologram device? It sounded so cool and how did you manage to pull it off?" the 15yr-old inquired with genuine interest.
Karmi's grin continued to shine as she leaned a little closer to the camera and answered, "Truth be told, since my parents moved me back to Carsienora, I haven't gotten to do my biotech research really at all; my parents' place apparently is not coded for biohazardous material. Anyway, what I could do is look into this brand-new world of robotics and I was able to even do it without much objection from mom and dad; they did ask that I'd not do any testing in my room and that I wouldn't do anything dangerous."
Hiro gave a small nervous laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, my Aunt Cass feels the same way. I have snuck a project or two up here when I wanted a change of pace from the garage. Please don't tell her I have."
"Your secret's safe with me," she replied with a laugh before continuing. "I fiddled together some small robots, just cute ones meant as practice until I felt confident enough to try my gauntlet. You may not have known, but I was a big fan of the anime "Weapon IX: Forged by Fire" growing up and I wanted to make a functioning holo-display glove. Fortunately, I had taken an optics class as an elective before leaving SFIT, so I at least knew the principles of how holograms are constructed."
The teen genius nodded in understanding and asked, "I heard you were able to turn Hardlight's own army against him, so did your holo-gauntlet have a virus embedded in its projections?"
Karmi looked a little wide-eyed in surprise for a second before remembering he was a genius too. She then responded with, "Actually yeah. Now, mine weren't as fancy as Hardlight's army of Captain Cuties, but I made my glove have variable wavelength capability and a focusing aperture so it could make any shape or color I wanted as well as be able to project it a good distance. I just programmed in a simple controller switch command into the hologram pattern that made the army respond to the signal in my glove when it made contact with them; I even had it be capable of picking up other signal frequencies and match them for replication purposes."
As Karmi stopped to catch her breath, Hiro just stared in amazement as he processed how far she had come these past five months. "That's truly incredible Karmi. You really can do anything you set your mind to," he told her with a smile and a look of pride on his face.
The biotech prodigy gave a bashful grin as she rubbed her arm. "Thanks. That means a lot coming from you. So, uh, what was the other thing you wanted to tell me?" she questioned hopefully.
Hiro looked briefly to his left before taking a deep breath in and then letting it out. "The other thing, or rather the main thing, I called you Karmi is because well, I've had a lot of time to think about…stuff…between you and me. I know we had our differences in the past and that we were both too stuck in our ways to want to admit we had a lot in common," he started saying as he forced himself to continue. He then stared directly at the young woman, who was hanging onto every word he said, and smiled at her. "But when we were able to work together and save Liv, I realized I was wrong to think of you as my enemy and that we could do so much more as a team than separately. And then when you were gone…," Hiro trailed off as his shoulders slumped and he noticeably got sadder. "…it just didn't feel right not getting to see you every day. I really missed you and I felt bad that we spent so little time as actual friends, and maybe if I tried sooner…" Hiro trailed off again as the months of guilt he didn't even know he was carrying appeared, making him give a deep, long sigh.
Karmi took this moment to interject with, "Hey, it's like you said, we were both stuck in our ways; we may not be able to fix the past, but we're here now so, let's make the most of it okay?"
Hiro's spirits lifted a little as a small smile returned and he sat more upright again. "Yeah, you're right. Has anyone every told you that you're a genius before?" he remarked coyly with an eyebrow raised.
"Not since yesterday when I helped my dad find where he lost his glasses," Karmi joked with a touch of gratitude for the compliment.
Hiro laughed a little before he made a small cough to bring the conversation back to his words of emotional honesty. "Anyway, I came to realize how much you amaze me and because you're so smart and brave, and how well…thinking about you made me feel…happy; and I'm sorry if this sounds corny, I believe my life if better when you're in it." He then began scratching the back of his head as he said, "So, if you want to that is, maybe we could do more of these video chats as some sort of long-distance relationship or something. It would definitely be something I'd look forward to. What do you say?" Hiro proceeded to flinch in anxious anticipation as he waited for Karmi's answer.
The aforementioned young woman didn't take but a few seconds as she went from listening attentively to smiling warmly, admiring him more for how sweet and respectful he was. Karmi then tucked a few more strands of hair behind her ear as she replied, "That sounds like a great idea. I actually was going to try and tell you pretty much the same thing, but I wasn't sure if you felt the same way. The indecision was practically killing me on whether to just call you up and get it over with, but then I thought maybe in person would be better, and it was just ugh." She finished her statement by burying her head into her hands to demonstrate the level of exhaustion this issue had created within her.
"Yeah, I can relate," the robotist noted in agreement. The two then looked at each other in silence, both smiling and feeling glad that the initial wave of fear had passed. "So, what now?" Hiro inquired as he readjusted in his seat.
"Well, we could try to do this a couple times a week and see where it goes from there. Oh, and just so you know, I still keep pestering my parents to let me return to SFIT. No luck so far but maybe one day they will; I can out wait them," Karmi suggested with a slight pout at the end of her statement.
"Well, I can keep hoping they change their minds and I'll wait along with you," the boy genius replied as he flashed a determined look.
The fan fiction writer's smiled returned upon hearing his words. She then leaned forward before asking, "Okay, you've heard what's been happening with me, so, what about you?"
Hiro gave a small laugh and replied, "Where to begin? This summer has been crazy, but not necessarily bad. It'll be interesting being a mentor in the coming weeks since there's a new kid taking my title away for youngest student."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah, his name's Rishi and he's only 11! Definitely doesn't feel good I must admit," Hiro confessed with a headshake in disbelief.
Karmi now smirked and said, "No, it doesn't. So, what all do you have to do?"
"Oh, I've got to make sure he stays out of trouble, namely making sure he keeps the hacking to a minimum; there will also be the adjustment to college life. Granville just wants me to be there for him mainly so he'll see how developing his gift and using it to better the world is the way to go," Hiro answered with a tired sigh.
"Well, I don't envy the challenge you'll probably have to face. So, what else has been happening with your 'crazy' summer?" the biotech expert inquired as she crossed her arms and laid them on the desk.
"Let's see, there was the dog sitting incident, 4-2 Sing showing up, the Krei-oke Night disaster, oh and Fred has a girlfriend now," the teenage boy started listing off.
"Awww, good for him. Now, you've got to tell me what the heck is 'Krei-oke.'"
"Okay, well you know how Krei is generally a self-centered, not long-term planning type person right?"
"Yep, that much I was aware of."
"Yeah, so he…"
The two young geniuses continued their conversation for the next half hour or so, laughing, going back and forth with questions and just enjoying how good it felt to talk to each other. They'd agree to do it all over again in three days' time, but over the course of this call, they were never aware that a supposedly sleeping Baymax had one eye peeked open to observe their interaction; if this inflatable robot had a mouth, he surely would be smiling with satisfaction.
NOTES
I didn't have Hiro reveal his identity to Karmi since I may one day write about it and it will more than likely be a longer story. ;) While I know Megan is Hiro's age, I do like having Karmi be his romantic interest because she's someone he can relate to, they make a great team and that leaves Megan as a sort of normal outlet/it'd be weird if Cass and Diego ever got together. O_O
The next story will have the Big Hero 6 gang get to visit the Frederickson family island. ^_^
