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Pink and orange hues swirled through the sky like watercolors as the scarlet colored sun peeked between the skyscrapers of San Fransokyo. The attic-turned-bedroom of the Hamada household was splashed with the warm colors, making the room feel mystical. Normally at this time, you can find teenager Hiro Hamada curled up under the sheets of his bed, dozing until the shrill beeps of his alarm wake him. But today, he was dressed for school, sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the rose-red case just under his wall clock.
“Ow.” He said as he stood up.
Three quiet beeps omitted from the red case, just before a marshmallow-like robot inflated to it's full size.
“I am Baymax.” The robot said, “Hello, Hiro. Why are you up so early?”
“Excitement.” The teen responded.
“Please tell me,” Baymax said, stepping out of his charger, “Why are you excited?”
“What’s today's date?”
“Today is September 12th.” Baymax paused, then he understood. “Happy Birthday, Hiro.”
Instead of saying anything, Hiro walked to Baymax, hugging the bot before climbing on to his shoulders.
“I do not think that this is safe.” Baymax said flatly.
“C’mon, Baymax! It'll be fun!” Hiro said, happiness lacing through his voice, “Now let's go downstairs and wake up Aunt Cass.”
Baymax obliged, carrying the teen on his shoulders as he walked. Before going downstairs, Hiro caught a glimpse of Tadashi's side of the room. The bed was neatly made, with his favorite baseball cap resting gently on the pillow. The now 15-year-old swallowed hard. Today was going to be a hard day.
As the two reached the second floor, the scent of blueberry pancakes gave the room a warm feeling. Cass was awake already, and making Hiro’s favorite breakfast. Quickly, Hiro climbed off of Baymax and strolled into the kitchen.
“Good Morning, Aunt Cass.” He said, taking his seat at the table.
“Morning, Sweetie.” She said, placing a plate of pancakes in front of her nephew. “How did you sleep?”
“Okay, I guess.” He said. This is not normal. “Don't you think that you're forgetting something?”
Cass thought for a second, before gasping. “I left the stove on! Thanks for reminding me, Hiro.”
“No problem,” He retorted, “Are you forgetting anything else?”
“Oh, yeah.” Cass mused.
Hiro sat up straight, smiling a little.
“I need you to pick up some baking powder after school.” Hiro's shoulders fell as his smile faded.
“Okay.” He said, moving away from the table. He only finished half of his breakfast, but something about the moment killed his appetite.
Snagging his backpack off of it's hanger, he said a quick goodbye to Baymax and Cass before heading towards school.
SLAM!
“How old are ya, nerd?” A bleach blonde jock named Evan sneered, ramming Hiro into the tiled wall of the men’s room as his friends snickered.
And to think all of this started over Professor Granville giving him a card.
“I'm not gonna tell.” Hiro spat. His day is going downhill fast.
“I overheard Professor G say that he’s fifteen.” One of his friends blurted out.
“Wow, fifteen you say?” Evan said, “Well let's be nice and give him double for his Quince!”
He raised his fist, just as the door opened loudly.
“Stop right there!” A man in a Kaiju suit said, holding a sign with the school’s logo in his right hand.
“Ha!” Evan teased, “You called the mascot to save you!? What's he gonna do to us? Do a funny dance until we all die of laughter?”
The man in the mascot costume raised the sign over his head.
“How about beat you all with my sign until you run home, crying to your mommies.” His voice was filled with anger.
That seemed to do the trick. Evan’s face went pale as he let go of (more like dropped) Hiro.
Soon the group scampered out of the restroom, looking like a bunch of frightened dogs.
“Thanks, Fred.” Hiro said as he stood up, tailbone sore from being dropped. Fred lifted the head off of his costume.
“No prob little dude.” He smiled before leaving, making Hiro upset.
Everyone seemed to be forgetting about him.
Hiro decided to just go with it, washing his face before leaving the restroom, lower back protesting against movement.
While in the lab, GoGo, Wasabi and even Honey Lemon ignored Hiro completely.
“What am I? A ghost?” He mumbled to himself as he worked in his lab.
“How hard is it to say 'Hi, Hiro. Happy Birthday.’? Aunt Cass didn't acknowledge it. Fred didn't say it. The only people who actually took five seconds to say it were Baymax and Professor Granville!”
He worked for the rest of his open lab in silence, anger quickly replacing sadness. The dark emotion festered inside of him like an infected wound.
When he left his class, he was shocked to see Baymax, donning his red armor, hiding behind a tree. Hiro ran to the bot as fast as he could.
“Baymax,” he said with a huff, “What are you doing?!”
“GoGo alerted me to criminal activity in downtown.” Baymax responded, “She insisted that you and I scope out the area.”
Baymax handed Hiro his armor, which the teen snagged and ran back inside the building. Three minutes later, he returned, wearing his own purple armor. He climbed on to Baymax's back. “Let's go.” He hissed.
The two reached downtown in record speed, surveying the area for said 'criminal activity’.
After a few minutes of searching, Hiro let out a sigh.
“Alright,” he said. “Seems clear. Besides, I need to get to the store before it closes.”
Suddenly, Baymax took off at full speed, scaring the teen.
“Baymax!” Hiro yelped.
“I spotted the criminals.” Was his only response.
Baymax continued going at full speed, turning this way and that, in search of the supposed criminals. This went on for two hours before he finally stopped.
“I have lost them.” Baymax stated, hearing Hiro growl. “Do you still need to get something from the store?”
“Doesn't matter, now!” Hiro snapped, “The store is closed! And now Aunt Cass is gonna be ticked that I didn't get the baking powder she needs! You know what? Let's just go home.”
When the duo arrived at the house, Hiro noticed that Cass’s truck was not in the driveway.
“Great.” Hiro grumbled, “She went out to the store. She's going to chew me out.”
The two entered and before Baymax could say anything, Hiro stormed up the stairs, clearly upset. It didn't take long before the two were out of their armor and sitting in the living room.
“Hiro,” Baymax said, “Your blood pressure is elevated. You appear to be distressed.”
“I'm fine.” He said, logging on to his social media account on his phone. He noticed that he had a notification. He clicked on it, only to reveal a happy birthday message from the website’s staff. This pushed him past his breaking point.
“That’s it!” He yelled, throwing his phone into the recliner he was sitting on. “I'm done! I'm going to bed!”
He stormed up the stairs, the sound of blood rushing in his ears blocking out Baymax's questioning tone. Hiro flopped on his bed and buried his face into his pillow, using it to muffle his angered yells.
Hiro laid on top of his bedsheets for the last hour, trying to soothe his anger.
He wanted to destroy something, but he was too tired to move. His phone had been chiming like crazy for the past fifteen minutes, he chose to ignore it. But he can't ignore Baymax.
“Hiro,” Baymax stated, “Your friends have been contacting you. They want you to meet them at Fred's mansion.”
“I'm not going.” He simply replied.
“But, they want you there. Please reconsider.”
“I'm. Not. Going.” He hissed. “How many times do I have to tell you that!?”
Hiro’s phone buzzed again. This time it was Cass.
“Cass is wondering why you are not there.”
Hiro's eyes widened. Why was his aunt at Fred’s mansion? Maybe the truck broke down. He stood, still unhappy. “Fine.” He remarked, “Let's go.”
It wasn't long before they reached the three-story mansion. Hiro began walking to the door, until Baymax covered his eyes.
“Baymax!” Hiro yelled, “What is this for?! Why are you acting so weird!?”
“I will guide you.” Was Baymax's response.
Sure enough, Baymax guided Hiro to the door, not easing Hiro’s confusion. Shortly after the two stopped, Baymax uncovered his eyes, but he was not prepared for what was next
"Surprise!" A chorus of voices shouted.
Hiro stood still for a few second before he began to understand.
The main room of the mansion was decorated with streamers and balloons in shades of blue and red. His friends, his aunt, and even Heathcliff we're wearing party hats. There was a table full of colorfully wrapped boxes in between the staircases.
He looked back at Baymax, who was now donning his own party hat, and smiled.
“You knew about this?” He asked in fake accusation.
“We all knew.” GoGo responded, “It was Fred’s idea in the first place.”
Fred beamed, “Yep, it was my idea. But I couldn't have done it without the rest of the gang. And Cass.”
“Really,” Hiro said, “But Honey, GoGo, Wasabi, you three ignored me. Not even a simple 'hi’.
“Believe it or not,” Honey said sweetly, “Wasabi, GoGo and I are horrible at keeping secrets.”
“That's right,” Wasabi agreed, “We didn't mean to upset you. We just couldn't say anything. If we did, we would've told you about the whole thing.”
This eased Hiro’s emotions a little, but he still wondered about his aunt. “Aunt Cass?”
“Those three aren't the only ones who have trouble keeping secrets.” She said with a smile.
Now Hiro looked at Heathcliff, and tried not to laugh. The yellow, pink and blue party hat he wore seriously clashed with his suit. Hiro facepalmed.
“I don't know whether to laugh or be angry.”
“Hope it's the first choice, birthday boy.” GoGo said while ruffling Hiro's hair.
“Let's get this party started!” Fred yelled.
And Hiro just smiled.