Epilogue

(Karmi's POV)

Sleep was for the weak.

So was clear thinking.

And don't even get me started on not having bags under your eyes. All of it was just stupid weakness. And I wasn't weak. Really.

Or so the speech went... I recited it to myself every morning at 3 AM when the sound of screaming woke me up for the third time in a row. The source of the noise wasn't a rogue kaiju attack or even a mutant freak robbing a convenience store. No, it was one very small and vocal being.

My daughter, Michiko Hamada.

Hiro was convinced she enjoyed being difficult, a trait she'd obviously inherited from me. I thought he was pretty brave to make that joke at 3 in the morning… The only positive was our apartment was way too small for him to sleep through the noise. So at least we could suffer together, I appreciated that immensely.

When she was finally fed and asleep again, I laid her down in her crib and back out of the room slowly. It almost felt like my life depended on her not waking up again. Heck, maybe it did…?

Holding my breath I slowly pulled her bedroom door closed. Then I waited, hoping, praying, that she'd stay asleep. A minute crawled by without a sound, so sighing in sweet relief, I stumbled into the living room.

Hiro was sitting on the sofa, cradling a cup of coffee. I collapsed next to him before glancing into his steaming mug.

"Is that black coffee?" I whispered in disbelief.

He looked up at me with sincere desperation. "It has to be Karm, I might die otherwise."

Seeing us both so pathetic, brought a smile to my face. In a twisted ironic way, it was hilarious.

"Is Michi asleep…?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, for the moment." I stole a sip of his coffee without bothering to ask.

"A moment is a very brief measure of time…" he muttered.

"Wow, you really are a genius…" I teased him.

"Anyway…" he mumbled. "You can go back to bed, I'll sit up for a while just in case she wakes up again."

"I appreciate the thought, Hiro, but we're in this together."

He nodded, both sad and playful at the same time. "Right. Think we'll survive?"

I leaned into his shoulder, sleep building behind my eyes. "It won't be our first life-threatening mission, Nerdboy…"

I intended to get up and go to bed after a while, but that required effort, something I was running very low on. So the next morning I found myself awkwardly still on the sofa, my neck as good as broken. In a near panic, I reached beside me, desperate to check if Hiro still had a pulse, but my hands just met open air. So, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I glanced toward the kitchen. Sure enough, there he was propped up in a chair, Michiko smiling happily in his arms. She seemed so indifferent to our suffering…

"G-Good morning…" he whisped in a hoarse voice.

Pulling myself to my feet I walked over to them, surveying the adorable little terror that shared our genetics. For all my exhaustion, I couldn't help but smile at her past all logical sense.

"Good morning, Michi…" I whispered as I let her wrap her tiny hand around my finger.

She smiled up at me, seeming so innocently clueless that her parents were more than half dead. That was hilarious in itself, honestly.

"Good morning, Karmi," Baymax chimed cheerfully from where he attempted to make pancakes. During the day he was a huge help with the baby, but at night he was locked into his recharge cycle and never even heard the commotion. I wished I could be half as locked into my recharge cycle…

"Hi Baymax…" I whispered as I sat at the kitchen table next to Hiro.

Delivering the pancakes to the table he blinked at us. "I would recommend taking a leave of absence today."

"From what…? Work?" Hiro mumbled.

Baymax blinked again. "From everything."

I really couldn't argue with that…

All in all, the events of the last few years had changed our lives forever. When I looked back on it all, it was hard to fathom the repercussions of my decision to move back to San Fransokoyo. I didn't like to admit it, to embrace vulnerability, but my sleepless nights as of late weren't just because of Michiko.

Though Hiro's final battle with Aken was already almost a year behind us, the event still haunted us. Especially Hiro…

How close we'd come to losing everything.

Sometimes it didn't even feel real.

I'd heard the story of what happened, but I knew it wasn't the same as being there. But I had my own scars from that day. Liv had risked everything to find a cure. In the end, the risk had paid off and we'd pulled through. Our nanobots had spread and fixed the alterations. It was strange to realize the public would never know how close they'd come to dying or worse.

Granted, the last thing we needed was mass panic, but a part of me wondered if that was a disservice to them. If they remained as gullible as children, would the world ever really change? What would happen one day if Hiro and the rest of Big Hero 6 weren't there to save them?

They were heavy questions that drilled into my brain with every sleepless night that passed. But I also knew you would waste the present if you spent too much time focused on the past. And the present was now more important than ever…

I'd taken Baymax's advice and used up one of my sick days at work. Being mostly a workaholic I'd saved up more of them than I'd ever use anyway. But even when I was exhausted, I found it hard to just sit still. So leaving Hiro unconscious on the sofa I headed out to grab another cup of coffee.

Maybe I just felt nostalgic and wanted to see the Lucky Cat today? Either way, I did Hiro a favor and took Michi with me. With Baymax working in the SFIT infirmary as usual he would have been a goner by himself. As long as Mr. Buttons went with us, Michiko seemed to be okay with the trip.

The Lucky Cat was quiet in the afternoon, the morning rush long since over. In fact, besides a couple in the corner, the only person around was the middle-aged guy sitting at the counter talking to Aunt Cass. The topic was pretty hush-hush, but I had it on a reliable source that he was the mysterious boyfriend she'd been seeing for a while now. There was something in her eyes that gave it away every time.

When they saw me, he smiled and excused himself, heading for the door. So I sat down in the spot where he'd been.

"Sorry did I interrupt something?"

She gave me a playful sidelong glance. "Nothing I can't pick back up at dinner tonight..."

I smirked. "So I was right as usual? Hiro owes me twenty bucks…"

"I wasn't really trying to keep a secret," she said with a chuckle. "But you kids are so busy, and I wanted to make sure we were serious before I introduced him."

"So things are serious?"

It was rare to see her be the awkward one, but I'd take it as a nice change of pace. "Enough about me, this little princess is the star of any room she's in." She playfully poked Michi's nose making her smile.

"That's Hiro's smile alright," Aunt Cass gushed. "And your eyes."

Now it was my turn to feel awkward. "You really think so…?"

Aunt Cass folded her arms and looked at me knowingly. "Of course I do, you don't think she got this beauty from Hiro do you?"

I smiled playing along. "No, he's way too nerdy looking."

She grinned back. "Just my point. Now, while we're on the subject, tell me about our Nerdboy. How is he adjusting to being a daddy?"

Reaching for the coffee she pushed my way I tried to gather my thoughts. "If I'm honest…he's great at it, probably better than me. But it's hard to tell since we've mostly unconscious any chance we can get."

She poured herself a cup and smiled. "They start sleeping through the night eventually, I promise."

I hoped she was right, but I also knew there was more to her question. How Hiro was really doing was the same question I wanted an answer to. The last few years had been both the hardest and the happiest of our lives. It seemed strange that both could be true, but it was…

I watched as Michi's eyes slowly flickered close and she drifted off in my arms. Still, I didn't have any regrets. I just hoped…Hiro felt the same way.

Aunt Cass seemed to sense my thoughts through the silence. Her eyes seemed a little distant, but her smile never wavered.

"Hiro and Tadashi are the closest thing I've ever had to children of my own. But even if I'm not really their mom, the feeling is just the same. That's a feeling I know you understand now, Karmi. All a mom ever wants is for that little person, that center of your world, to be just as happy when they grow up as they were when you first held them in your arms." A frown drifted to her face. "For a while, I wasn't sure if Hiro was happy… When we lost Tadashi I knew he'd lost his best friend. And then with all the disappearing and making up excuses, I worried when he was a teen. I still worry, but not in the same way as before."

She reached to touch my shoulder, the sincerity evident in her voice. " Now I know, that no matter how lost inside he gets, there'll always be someone to find him… That someone is you."

(Hiro's POV)

Photos were funny.

Most of the time you hate them because your face never looks right. After all, they have a pretty bad habit of capturing all the worst parts of you. Today was one of those days when I figured I'd break any camera aimed at me. Severe lack of sleep does that to a person. Six cups of coffee in 24 hours probably doesn't help either…

"Easy, Mr. Hamada," I heard Granville say as she lifted the cup right out of my desperately grasping hand. "Unless stopping your heart is the desired effect?"

I leaned on the wall in the teacher's lounge. "Stop it? No, I just wanna keep it beating to begin with."

"As do I. So I recommend you get some sleep."

I ran a hand through my hair. "If you insist, my next class would be a perfect opportunity."

She gave me her most serious glare but smiled in the end. "Regardless of your fatigue, I'd say you're in very good spirits, Hiro."

I smiled back at her bashfully. "I guess it's not every day you realize you've got a pretty amazing life." I glanced back at my phone. "And maybe I'm not the only one…"

"Feeling rather sentimental?" she asked as she peered at the pictures I was scrolling through.

"Yeah, guess so…" I mumbled.

The snapshots were a mix of everything. From pictures of Gogo and Fred's reception, to dumb little secret shots I'd taken when Karmi wasn't looking. Not to mention about a million pictures of Michi. I figured at this rate I'd need a couple dozen hard drives to fit them all by the time she turned 18.

But the photo that caught my attention the most was taken recently. It was a photo of a father and daughter, but it wasn't me and Michi…

"How is Robert…?" Granville asked as our eyes fixed on the image of him with Abigail.

They were smiling…

At last, they both were smiling…

"Pretty great, think…" I smiled softly. "After all, in the end, she…forgave him." I glanced up at her. "I think that's all he ever wanted."

I waited for her to say something, but instead, she just looked at me expectantly. Sometimes it felt like she could read my mind, so I just said everything I was thinking. "Being a dad now… I understand him more than I ever could before."

"And understanding," she said knowing me so well. "Is all you ever wanted."

"More than anything…" I whispered.

There was a bittersweetness that felt almost tangible in the air around us. Because we were thinking of Tadashi and even of Bob Aken…

About the fight to live and the legacy you leave behind…

I knew I still had a lot to learn about both those things. Every time I looked into Michi's eyes, I realized how little I knew about anything. But I didn't mind those questions, because this time I wasn't in a rush to answer them…

Reaching out she lay a hand on my shoulder. For a second, I thought I could feel her emotions trembling in the touch. The feeling of everything we'd been through together. The feeling of everything we'd both lost along the way… But like the incredibly strong woman I'd always known, she looked at me firmly, with eyes that only looked to the future.

"Might I suggest you go home and get some rest, Mr. Hamada?"

I smiled. "Yes, ma'am, I think I will."

But I knew all that rest could wait a little longer, I had something to do first. Something that included a stop at a flower shop.

"Thanks for leaving the infirmary early, Baymax," I said as the both of us shuffled down the sidewalk.

"Leaving you to care for Michiko would only result in more fatigue."

"And maybe a nervous breakdown along the way," I muttered, only sorta kidding. "Which means we can already guess the mood Karmi is in."

Baymax blinked at the bouquet I was holding. "I see, is that why you bought flowers, Hiro?"

I grinned at him. "Just a little preventive care."

"Prudent," he agreed without saying more.

That wasn't the whole reason though. Part of me had this sneaking suspicion that Karmi still worried about me. Maybe she even still wondered if I was really happy. I figured I'd given her a lot of reasons to wonder and worry. The last few years had been a test of character for all of us, and I couldn't say I'd passed it all with flying colors.

If anything, I knew she still had a lot of quirks left to put up with. And more than quirks I knew I…was still in this fight.

The parts that made up each one of us were formed over a lifetime. I thought it just might take another lifetime to befriend each of them…

But this time, I'd get right.

That much I knew for sure.

When we made it home we were greeted by the delightful sound of Michi screaming at the top of her lungs. But thankfully Baymax's health care parameters made him pretty great with kids besides. Now if only he could give me some more relationship advice…

Karmi plopped the flowers into a vase of water without even a hint of enthusiasm. I wasn't all that surprised, so I went straight to plan B.

"Close your eyes, I've got a surprise," I told her with a grin.

"I'm not in the mood for games, Hiro…" she muttered bluntly.

It was a risky move to play the Captain Cutie card at a time like this, but I was desperate.

"You mean," I started to say in my best tough hero voice. "You'd turn down a chance for a secret rooftop rendezvous with your favorite dream boat?"

I say a flicker of a smirk on her lips but she didn't take the bait. "There's no way I'm climbing on the roof for anyone right now…"

I held my fist against my chest proudly. "Then I suppose I could just carry you up the fire escape myself."

She frowned, taking that as a challenge. "Not a chance, Nerdboy."

There was a weird polarity to Karmi that I'd tried to figure out over the years. Part of her was probably giddy at just the thought of what I'd described, but the other part wasn't in the mood to show any weakness.

So I tried to meet her in the middle. Reaching for her hand I tugged slightly. "Then just follow me."

"Fine…whatever," she relented with a sigh. "But this better be worth it."

"It will be, I promise," I guaranteed as I led her outside and up the fire escape.

When we'd finally reached the roof of our apartment building she just stared at me impatiently.

"Alright, we're here so what's this about…? I don't see anything…"

It was a risk, my charm might not be enough, but I knew my honesty would be no matter what… So I decided to start with just that, honesty…

I held out my arms to the side a little. "Ta-da, I'm the surprise."

She opened her mouth to quip back, but I closed it just as quickly.

"Before you say anything, just listen, okay?"

I watched as a subtle but worried look drifted to her face. All those old fears about being on the outside of my world still living just below the surface.

I took a deep breath. "Just to show you how desperate I am, let's start with the cringest stuff first… I know being with me hasn't exactly turned out like the dream fic you imagined. But you've stuck it out and kept supporting me anyway. And that means…" I waxed a little sentimental.

"Everything. I just…wanted you to know that."

She waited silently for a second or two, the awkward moment stretching. "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

Her reply felt a little colder than I'd expected, and now it was my turn to look worried. "Well…y-yeah I guess so…"

She just stared at me, not saying a word. Then, so true to her cruel sense of humor, a smile slowly appeared on her face. "Is someone getting a little paranoid?"

I smirked, trying to keep up the act. "N-Not a chance. I know you're too crazy over me to even think about leaving."

Surprisingly a slightly wistful look appeared behind her eyes. Leaning against the railing she looked out over the city; the first flickers of twilight were already appearing.

"It's not about leaving, Hiro. Lots of people stay together. Some because they have kids to think about, others because they know it's the right thing to do. Maybe a few just get used to the familiarity so much they'd feel lost without it." She slowly looked back at me. "But…that's not the same as happy, is it, Hiro?"

"No…I don't guess it is…" I whispered as I stepped beside her. Now we both were staring out at the city and I had a horrible lump of fear in the pit of my stomach. This isn't how I thought this conversation would go…

"So…" I finally found the courage to say. "Which one is it?"

I saw her fists tighten around the railing, her knuckles white. Every word we wanted to say hung around us tense in the air. So tense that they all seemed to jumble out all at once.

"I really want-"

"I just want-"

We cut each other off and just stared into each other's eyes. Squeezing her hands I nodded for her to go first."

"I just want to know if you're happy, Hiro…?"

"That's funny…" I whispered. "I just want to know that you're happy."

"Me?" she asked, as if she thought I'd only been joking about it before. "Of course I'm happy. I wanted to know about you."

"Why? Because you're not good enough to make me happy?" I whispered, knowing I was dancing close to a nerve.

But she just stared up at me, those brown eyes of hers both stubborn and beautifully vulnerable. Finally, a flicker of painful honesty rang out. "We are rivals after all, aren't we? Isn't being good enough, being the best, all part of that…?"

A younger me would have said yes, that in the end, our rivalry was all we had. But now…

The both of us in a sleepy haze, I pulled her closer to me. "Not this time…"

For how painfully obvious it should have been I saw the silhouette of those fragile parts inside of her.

I leaned in close enough to meet her lips. "Not this time…" I whispered as I closed the gap between us.

After a few blissful moments, she pulled away and looked up at me. "Thanks for the reminder, Hiro…"

"Anytime, Karm, anytime…"

"But," she added, and I was almost worried for a second. "Maybe we're so exhausted we're delusional enough to overthink all this in the first place?"

I smiled sleepily. "Yep, that's definitely it."

She seemed to analyze it for a moment. "I had heard that certain studies found enough sleep deprivation was nearly identical to intoxication…"

"Then we're both really drunk?" I mumbled not following.

She just rolled her eyes at me. "In a manner of speaking. Either way…" For a second she dropped the playful banter and just looked at me sincerely. "Either way, I'm glad we met all those years ago, Hiro…"

"It's been a heck of a fic, right?" I teased.

She nodded, taking the joke seriously. "Enemies to Lovers is a classic."

"We're a classic?"

"We are," she simply said, a matter of fact.

I was the first to bust out laughing, but before long she had joined in.

And that sound…

That sweet sound was enough.

FIN

Thank you so much for reading!