Note: This is a direct sequel to my other story, Circles, so please read it first if you haven't yet. Anyway, hope you enjoy it!

Big Hero 6 - Parts

Chapter 1 (Karmi's POV)

"Dr. Hamada?"

I spun around in my chair, somehow still unsure who was being addressed. That same split-second feeling of confusion. But it was always followed by the most incredible feeling of all…

"Dr. Hamada…?" Viro Tech's janitor leaned into his mop, looking at me from under the brim of a slightly crooked cap. "You're working pretty late tonight. I didn't want to lock you in, should I wait up for you to finish?"

I let out a slight sigh. "No, I'm mostly done here. I uh…just lost track of time." That much was the truth. The last time I'd looked up it had been light out. Now, all I could see out the windows was the typical sea of lights San Fransokyo was known for. Guessing my luck, I'd run into a supervillain or two while I bumbled home in the dark. But I wasn't really that worried…

Gathering up my research papers, I stuffed them into a bag and headed for the elevator.

"Be careful, it's dark out there," the janitor cautioned with a friendly smile.

I grinned back at him. "Don't worry about it, I have a helpful stalker always looking out for me."

He seemed confused by the joke but chuckled all the same. Little did he know I wasn't joking.

Once I made it to the lobby I pushed my way through the glass doors and spilled out onto the sidewalk. The sound of my heels clicking against the concrete set the tone like a metronome for my thoughts. I was still lost in a hypothetical virus mutation theory.

"If it penetrates the cell wall before the mutation happens, how would that change the fundamentals…?" I muttered loud enough for any passerby to think I'd lost it. And who could blame them for thinking I had? That crazy little grin I got when I was this close to a breakthrough would creep out anyone.

But in all the world there was one sound, one voice, that could take me out of even the most fascinating theory.

"Excuse me, ma'am, could you use an escort? It's pretty dark and seedy out here."

I turned to see a familiar figure standing in the alleyway I'd just passed. Normally, that would have been enough to put that giddy grin on my face, but I could never take that gruff Captain Cutie voice Hiro did seriously.

"Tell me about it, weirdos are talking to me from alleys. I think I'm okay."

Somewhere along the line, Hiro had managed to be disappointed that his alter ego held no special sway over me anymore. Sometimes I liked to make him think Hiro Hamada didn't either. But that would have been a lie…

He coughed into his hand, not giving up the ridiculous voiceover. "I could give you a ride?"

"Never get into a car with a stranger," I said deadpan, enjoying toying with him.

He waved his hands frustratedly at Baymax all dolled up in his red armor. "Yeah, pretty sure a flying robot doesn't count as a car."

"Same principle, Nerdboy."

He turned sheepish, finally dropping the act. "Maybe, but a car never had such a great view of the stars…"

From where we were standing the stars were almost completely blocked out by the city lights. But if you could go high enough they'd all start to appear one by one…

"That's a pretty good line, do you use it on all the women you stalk?" I teased.

Something earnest changed behind his eyes. "No, just you…"

For a second, time stopped. Scientifically impossible, but I felt it happen.

"Fine," I caved with a playful frown. "Just don't drop me this time, alright?"

"Hey, that was an accident! And I caught you so that's all that matters, right?"

I felt the smile curve to my lips. "Yeah, I guess so…"

He took my hand and helped me get on Baymax's back. After Hiro locked himself into place I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Okay, hold on tight!"

The first few times I'd been afraid of the heights, though I'd never admit it. But after a while, the view of the city from so high only felt beautiful. Maybe more than just beautiful… I felt the wind rush through my hair as a million points of light filled the sky above us and the city below us.

"Home was the other way?" I teased, knowing he was taking the scenic route.

"Was it?" he shouted playfully over the wind.

I'd never thought Hiro would be the romantic type, but I'd been wrong about that…

Telling Baymax to hover in place he focused on me. "So, how did this scene go again?"

I smiled at him. "You're the one binge-reading my old fics, you tell me?"

He cleared his throat, putting on his best dramatic voice. "Your eyes are more beautiful than a million stars."

I cringed in embarrassment. "Okay, I get it, it wasn't my best line. But that was like a thousand years ago!"

Hiro laughed, and for a second I could believe we were still the same kids we'd been. "Yeah, it was pretty horrible."

I rolled my eyes. "Everybody's a critic."

"Horrible," he added softly. "But I reread it about a hundred times."

His eyes were as sentimental and sappy as I'd ever known them. I wanted to tease him about that, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face long enough. I opened my mouth to say something, likely profound, but an annoying yawn ruined the moment.

He smiled sweetly. "You've been working too hard, Karmi. Let's go home…"

I wanted to argue, I always wanted to argue. But I didn't bother, I was too happy, to try…

It had been 8 months and 9 days exactly since I'd swapped out my Viro Tech name tag for one that read Karmi Hamada. I thought it was an odd juxtaposition, at first. It didn't really have much of a ring to it. For a while, I teased Hiro that I might change my mind because of that. But like a culture in a Petri dish, the name had grown on me.

He was managing to grow on me too. Though his annoying traits had been dialed up to about an eleven. Who squeezes the toothpaste from the middle? It's such a "live for the moment" mindset. But compared to me, I thought that fit Hiro perfectly.

He was messy, disorganized, and completely charming.

Overall, our marriage was a set of pros and cons I could live with. If I worked at it, anyway.

I smiled to myself as I jotted down a few notes on my latest experiment. I always liked keeping him on his toes. Don't act too happy, it would just go straight to his head if I did.

"Hey, Karm, are we out of coffee creamer?"

I glanced up from my notes to see him lingering by the open fridge door, a bewildered look on his face.

"If we are it's because you used it," I said a little more bluntly than I'd meant it to sound.

He made a face. "Right, sorry to insult the coffee elitist. I definitely didn't see you pouring it in your cereal yesterday."

"That's why the milk tasted like toffee…" I mumbled in sudden horrible realization.

He smiled. "I'd say you owed me a new carton, but I'm heading out anyway."

"Heading where?" I asked a little curious. Watching the beads of rain clinging to our apartment window made me more inclined to stay right where I was on the sofa. But I was at least a little interested in where he was running off to.

"Work, I'm giving the auxiliary lecture, remember?"

"The special Saturday seminar?" I rubbed at the slight bags under my eyes. "No, I completely forgot…"

"So you're definitely not interested in coming to listen, right?" he asked subtly.

"Um…"

He chuckled. "Fine, I get it, just wish me luck." Leaning over the back of the sofa he left a little kiss on my cheek. "It's probably for the best anyway, you look like you could use the rest."

I couldn't argue with that, but I didn't like him pointing it out. "I look how, Hamada?"

He backed toward the door, dodging my glare. "Blindingly beautiful, of course."

"Of course…" I mumbled as he clicked the door shut behind him.

I sighed, waiting alone in the silence for all of thirty seconds before I lunged toward the door and fumbled down the steps. Jogging to catch up with him I frowned.

"Just can't stay away, can you?" he teased without even looking at me.

I rolled my eyes as I ducked under the umbrella he was holding over us. "I know how much this lecture means to you, Hiro."

His smile softened. "I guess it's a little bit of a big deal… Granville did ask me to write this one myself. Not that you haven't heard most of it already, I've probably been rehearsing it in my sleep."

I scoffed, leaning a little closer to him. "You're not kidding. It's three in the morning and I was tempted to clap."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously, you talk in your sleep like crazy."

"No," he mumbled sheepishly. "You wanted to clap?"

For a second, our eyes met and I could sense the humble uncertain kid buried beneath years worth of bravado and fake ego padding. I punched his shoulder. "Yes, and those young punks today better clap too."

"Young punks, then what does that make us?"

"Old, obviously, Nerdboy," I teased. "Incredibly old."

He just laughed. It was the single greatest sound in the known universe. And it was more than enough to fill the silence for the rest of our walk.

The mood in the auditorium was mostly attentive, or at least the best that you could expect for a Saturday. Though, if I was honest, the first two lectures before Hiro's were a little on the bland side. Typically, I didn't vibe with discourses that were too general and non-specific. In all honestly, I'd been too consumed by my own thesis as of late. They weren't events I liked to dwell on, but I'd learned a lot by studying the freaks Di Amara and Aken had conjured up.

It seemed fitting of the scientific process to take advantage of any opportunity to study a concept, even a concept that carried this much emotional baggage.

It was emotional baggage that Hiro and I had mostly unpacked at this point. Or at least, I thought we had… Sometimes, if I let myself think too much about it, I could almost feel that Hiro still wasn't talking about something. But feelings didn't always equal facts, even if…

My attention snapped back to the present when I noticed Professor Granville reading Hiro's introduction.

"Without further ado, let's give our attention to our final lecture of the day." She glanced to the left of the stage, where a clearly nervous nerd was standing. "Professor Hamada, if you'd please?"

I smiled, leading the applause loud enough to wake up the rest of the audience.

"R-Right, thanks," he stammered, staring like a deer in headlights behind the podium. He wasn't a stranger to giving lectures or teachings classes at this point, but I thought the size of the crowd was freaking him out. Or it could have just been the nature of the topic.

"The effect of past experiences on our inspiration for future innovations," he said as I mouthed silently along with him. I'd heard most of the high points a thousand times by now, but the concepts were still fascinating. It wasn't like Hiro to choose such an emotional topic. Or at least, it wasn't like Hiro to admit he was that emotional. But in reality…I knew he still thought about the past all the time. How could he not?

How could we both not think about it?

I didn't want the past to define me, but I couldn't deny that it had all happened. If anything, I thought Hiro's lecture was asking the very question we both were still secretly wondering. What effect would our past have on our future? Especially given how much the future was on our minds now. Our future, together…

I just watched him as he found his way to a comfortable rhythm in the presentation.

We'd reached a point I'd never thought possible. But where did we go from here? What did the future have in store for us? The question didn't seem to have an easy or straightforward answer. But it was one I still desperately wanted an answer to. If I closed my eyes and let some sense of intuition take me, I would have said the answer was staring us in the face. So close we could almost touch it…

I didn't know how to feel about that. Was I just overthinking things? Or was something important waiting for us?

Tilting my head, I tried to decide if it was a good or bad thing I was feeling. Was it anticipation or foreboding? I couldn't really tell…

Just that…

The future could start in as little as five minutes time.

And whatever it held, we'd be ready for it.

Together, we'd be ready for anything…

Thanks for reading, more to come soon!