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Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney Animation.

Prologue – While The Sun Shines

"And there's your change. Have a wonderful day!"

Cassandra Hamada watched as her latest customer walked over to the far counter, a steaming cup of coffee in her hands. She wasn't sure why the man would need coffee this late in the evening, but studying people and their habits was something she enjoyed doing when she had a break.

She grabbed a towel and started wiping off the counter. Being a Sunday, the Lucky Cat Cafe was only going to be open for a couple more minutes. She also knew that her nephew would be home soon, which was a welcome change of pace as of late. It seemed like he was spending every night out late at the university, working on something important.

One of these days, she would need to ask him about these projects of his.

The phone underneath the counter started to ring. Cass checked quickly to make sure the man didn't need her attention and picked it up.

"Lucky Cat Café. This is Cass speaking."

The other person on the line greeted her as she started sorting her serving cups into the cabinets.

"Hi, sweetie! How are you? I haven't seen you around here in a little bit. Everything going OK?"

The concerned tones of the person's voice caused Cass to frown as she listened to her situation.

"Oh no! That sounds terrible." She leaned onto the back counter, looking outside. "How long is it going to take?"

She waved to the last customer walking out the door, the next few sentences coming over the phone.

"And you can't stay in the house at all? I guess that would make sense; they don't want anyone to stay in the house when they're strengthening the foundation. Just imagine what would happen if it collapsed while you were staying inside. I remember when we had something similar here; this place is really old as well. Hiro, Tadashi, and I had to go to a hotel for three days."

The voice affirmed the last part of her small story.

"There's not anywhere else you can stay?"

Cass's brow narrowed as the other person sadly told her tale.

"No. You know what? You shouldn't have to do that, even if your parents are paying for it. You can stay here. I have a bed and everything you could ever need."

The voice started to argue, but Cass cut them off. "Don't worry about him. I'm sure he'll be just fine with it." She paused as Hiro stepped through the entrance with Baymax in tow. "Look, he just walked through the door. I'll ask him." Ignoring their protests, she covered the mouthpiece with her hand. "Hiro! How was school?"

"Fine," he mumbled.

"Hiro was successful in letting a small prototype robot run around the Robotics Lab, disrupting other projects in his vicinity," Baymax said, raising a finger. "Professor Granville was not pleased."

"Thanks a lot for the play-by-play, Baymax," Hiro said dryly.

"Hiro, I need to ask you something," Cass interjected. "One of your friends needs a place to stay for a couple days. Their house is getting renovated and they don't feel comfortable going to a hotel. You don't mind, do you?"

Hiro gave her an odd look. "No, I don't mind. But it's kind of weird." He glanced down at his phone. "I see them everyday; why wouldn't they just ask me at school?"

"Maybe they thought you would say no."

"They're my friends, Aunt Cass. I wouldn't say no."

"Well, that is very reassuring to hear." She waved him off. "I'll have dinner ready in a little bit. Go wash up."

As Hiro made the trek upstairs, Cass uncovered the mouthpiece, reverting her attention back to the caller. "See? I just asked him and he's OK with it. Bring all of your stuff by after you speak to the builders tomorrow and I'll get you set up. I'll even make you breakfast. What do you normally have in the morning?"

The person started listing off a comically large list of things, which Cass could only chuckle at. Once they were done, she spoke up as she flipped the sign on the door to Closed. "Tell you what, sweetie. I don't know half the words of what you said, but I do know eggs. I'll whip up something nice before you head out for the day. What time do you normally get home?"

She nodded at the response. "OK. I'll give you a spare key just in case you stay late for anything. But I'm keeping you up, aren't I? We'll talk more once you get here tomorrow."

The voice was very appreciative, but Cass shook her head. "It's not a problem at all, sweetie. The only thing you have to worry about is Hiro, and he'll be fine with it once I explain everything to him. Besides, you two are friends, right? What's the worst that could happen?"

The answer made her slightly recoil.

"OK, that is definitely bad, but remember: murder is illegal in the state of California. And I would react very badly if I suddenly found myself without a nephew."

Silence came over the line.

"That was a joke, sweetie. Fred doesn't say any funny things to you at school?"

More silence.

"Well, he does try his best." Cass walked over to the cradle of the phone. "In any case, get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

The voice said their goodbyes, followed by the elder Hamada's name. She smirked a tiny bit before responding.

"No need for being formal. It's Aunt Cass. I'm requiring you to say that during your stay here. Have a good night."

Cass hung up the phone and strode over to her bookshelf. Luckily, due to her adventurous nature when it came to food, she had collected an eclectic variety of cuisine cookbooks from all corners of the globe. Her finger brushed over the spines as she tried to find what she was looking for.

"P...P...P...Ahh, here we go."

The large red book was now in her hands as she started to leaf through it. She stopped at a page near the middle, taking note of all of the different ingredients she would need for that particular dish.

"Well, no better time than the present to learn, right?"

Cass tucked the book underneath her arm and patted it.

"I just hope she likes it."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am going to give everyone who reads this story five guesses as to who the mysterious caller is, and the first four don't count. :)

This is the prologue to Overnight, a story that has been at least partially written since I first started doing Big Hero 6 fanfiction. It is merely the next step in what is going to happen in terms of the Hiro/Karmi relationship.

It will be an escalation from what happened in Foundation, and it will be chock full of so man big (and little) Hiro/Karmi moments that your teeth will literally rot from reading it. It'll start off a little slow, as most of my stories do, but it's like a roller coaster. You gotta climb the hill before you get to the drop at the top.

I've said this multiple times both in my older stories and on DeviantArt, but it bears repeating: I am very excited to get to share this story with you guys. I hope that I'm not overhyping it, but I legitimately think I'm at the right level of hype.

The only issue is that the arc finale may air during the events of this story, which may mess some things up depending on what happens. But knowing myself...I'll probably just ignore it anyway. This will take place a little bit after Fathom and Companion, and not necessarily after the finale. But we'll see.

So strap yourselves in, keep your hands inside the ride at all times...and let's start climbing. Chapter 1, "Hello Darkness...", is next week.

Read and review, if you like. Until next time, everyone.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I own nothing, including my possibly haphazard attempt to be ethnic.

Now that we have that out of the way, I've come to talk to you again...

Chapter 1 – Hello Darkness…

"Baaaaabbbbyyyy-"

"Baymax, I'm going to run a diagnostic when we get home. In the meantime, try to not talk a lot."

"Hiro, you should not drive and talk at the same time. You must keep your hands on mime and weeeee."

In case it wasn't clearly obvious, Hiro's personal healthcare companion was on the fritz. It wasn't just that he was low on battery charge. Normally, he would just be able to deflate him in his case and he would go to standby mode. That wasn't happening this time. Now, Baymax was misspeaking more frequently.

And, for some reason, singing songs for newborns.

Hiro was on his newly renovated scooter, speeding down the road as he neared his house. After ramming it into Noodle Burger Boy during their afternoon protecting Krei, he almost had to rebuild it from the ground up. Thankfully, some of those improvements came in the form of a better traveling holster for Baymax.

Not one that diagnosed the singing about baby sharks, but still...an improvement.

If this had been the only thing that had gone wrong today, it would've been fine. But that added on top of his schoolwork, having a talk with Granville about a...certain person, and said certain person avoiding him like the plague, let's just say Hiro's mood wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows.

He even went out on a short patrol to try to clear his mind, but Baymax's problems were just too severe to continue properly. He had said goodbye to his friends and left to make the trip home…

"The world's most shark-infested beach is located in Gansbaai, South Africa..."

Which was thankfully (and mercifully) almost over.

Hiro pulled off the street and into the garage, parking his scooter and grabbing both his backpack and Baymax's case. The cafe was still open for a little bit longer, but his aunt would be working on dinner, which he started to smell even before he entered the door. For once, it was a very alluring odor that filled his nostrils.

"Hey, Aunt Cass."

"Hi, Hiro!" She leaned over the counter at him in the doorway. "How was your day?"

"Better than yesterday, since I didn't let anything loose around campus," Hiro replied, holding up Baymax. He was now emitting an increasingly loud whistle. "But now I got this to diagnose."

"You didn't turn Baymax into a tea kettle?"

"Nope." He tried to decipher the scent coming from the kitchen to no avail. "What's for dinner?"

"It's a surprise. Go get washed up; it still has a few minutes to cook through."

Hopefully it's not a bad surprise this time, he thought as he climbed the stairs. He had been lured into this trap before; a lot of the times his aunt had tried to cook something up as a "surprise", he had either ended up going hungry for the night or unconscious. Here's to hoping it wasn't the latter.

Or the former, really.

Now in his room, he plugged Baymax into the wall. Grabbing his Sleep Mode chip off of the desk, he inserted it into the stand. Maybe the debug program would be able to find something while he showered. At least he wasn't whistling any more. That was a start.

"You rest now, Baymax," he said, patting the top of the case. "Don't blow up or anything, OK?"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEE"

...That was new.

Hiro grabbed a clean set of clothes and walked into the bathroom. He would just have to hope that the updated debugging process would fix Baymax up. Between the food and his robot's problems, he couldn't stand any more surprises tonight.

He stepped into the shower, letting the water cascaded down onto his body. It felt great after a long day of school to wash away the day's dust and dander. His bangs fell over his eyes as he blindly grabbed for the shampoo bottle. It took a lot to get his hair washed, so he made sure to squeeze a little bit more out before running his fingers through.

He closed his eyes as the suds ran down his entire face. Yup, that sure hit the spot. It was a shame that everyone in his life was trying to get his hair neat and orderly; this was the way he wanted it. Tilting his head out of the water, he took a deep breath in...

Wait.

Hold on a minute.

Hiro sniffed his hands.

This didn't smell like his shampoo. Normally his nostrils would be filled with the scent of woods and citrus, but this was...coconut?

"Aunt Cass must've gotten me another brand," he muttered. He threw his bangs out of his eyes to look down at the corner of the shower. Yup, there it was: a white bottle with a gold cap, sitting right next to the green bottle.

Right next to the green-

Huh. This wasn't right.

"Why do I have two bottles of shampoo in here?"

Now that he was actually paying attention, he started to notice several other new additions to his shower: a small, clear bottle of body wash was next to the shampoo, and next to that was a container for face wash, and beyond that was a comical amount of washing accessories.

"What the...?"

He backed up slightly, and his head came in contact with something, scaring him to the opposite end of the shower. It was a loofah hanging from the shower head, the pink and white colors sharply contrasting with his preferred ones.

"OK, did I get transported to a different bathroom or something?"

Hiro stuck his head out of the shower. His intention was to yell for Aunt Cass and ask her about the new things in the tub, but before he could raise his voice, his eyes fell to the back of the toilet.

There was a small rectangular bag sitting there, clearly a travel case he hadn't seen before. The zipper was open and the pull lazily hanging off of it. He couldn't quite see inside, but it seemed to stare back at him, tempting him with whatever was in it. He reached his fingers out, stretching them out far to reach the bag...

"Hiro," he said to himself, his hand an inch away. "This is a trap. You know this. Why are you doing it?"

He washed the rest of his body at lightspeed, running through the possible list of wild cards. Both Honey Lemon and Go Go were out of the question; they hadn't made any mention of their apartment being uninhabitable over the past few days. That really only left Fred and Wasabi. But why would either of them (or any of them, really) not just ask him about it when they were at school?

"This doesn't make any sense," Hiro said to himself as he rubbed his head with a spare towel, another one wrapped around his waist. "The only other person that I could even think of that it could be is-"

His eyes widened.

"Aunt Cass, you didn't."

He quickly got dressed and exited the bathroom. He peered around the corner to see Baymax silent in his case. And then he looked up.

It had been quite a long time since anything new had occupied Tadashi's space, but there was definitely more than just his shelves and his bed over there. A small rolling suitcase was at the foot of the bed, the bright pink clashing with the dull tones of the sheets. On the bed were a bunch of textbooks and a spiral notebook. The desk next to the bed held a purple laptop, a pen right on the keyboard.

A rabbit charm-topped pink pen.

A very familiar pen.

"You did."

He definitely knew who it was now.

Hiro hit the bottom step and walked into the sales floor. The cafe was now closed, and Aunt Cass was busy doing the paperwork for the day. It being Monday, there were a lot of documents in front of her, but it looked like she was almost done.

"Aunt Cass."

She looked up to see her nephew. "Yes, sweetie?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"I'm still not telling you what we're having for dinner."

"Um...no. I wasn't going to ask about that." Hiro clapped his hands together and leaned them toward her. "You remember yesterday when you told me that someone was staying here for a little bit?"

"I do." Aunt Cass put all of the papers into a folder and shut it. "What about it?"

He walked up the counter, the hands now sitting on it. "When were you going to tell me that the person staying here was-"

"Karmi!"

Hiro wheeled around at his aunt's announcement to see the bio-tech major entering the front door. She had a key in her hand (likely a spare) and her backpack slung over her shoulder. Her eyes had bags underneath them, as always, but now they were a little more pronounced with the rest of her body language.

"Hey, guys." Karmi shut the door behind her. "I assume you two ate already?"

"Nope, but dinner's almost going to be ready," Aunt Cass replied. "Go set your stuff upstairs. Should be out soon."

Karmi nodded, taking a sniff of the air. "It smells really good." She took another whiff, wrinkling her nose. "Is that...coconut I smell too? Weird. I have a shampoo with that scent. Must be imagining things." With that, she went through the doorway and upstairs out of earshot.

Which was good, because as soon as her feet left his eyesight, he whirled back to his aunt, throwing his arm out so fast he almost separated his shoulder. "When did this happen?"

"Yesterday. Do you not remember all of this last night?"

"I do! But you didn't say it was her! How long is she staying for?"

"Oh, I don't know. A couple days, maybe more."

"What?" Hiro was beside himself. "Aunt Cass, we've been over this. One is one, a couple is two, a few is three to six, several is seven to ten..."

"And more then ten is frankly a waste of our resources," she finished. "Yes, Hiro, you've told me that before."

He growled in his throat, his hands now on the back of a chair. Aunt Cass could sense the tension in the air. "Hiro, her parents were going to have her stay in a hotel while their house was getting renovated. What was I suppose to do?"

"Oh, I don't know." Hiro threw his hands up in the air. "Let her stay in a hotel?"

"That's cruel, and you know it." Aunt Cass was finished putting away her paperwork and came to the counter to look at her nephew. "Hiro, what are you always saying to your friends? That thing that Tadashi told you?"

He let out a huge sigh. He knew where this was going. "Someone has to help."

"Yes, and Karmi needed help. Trust me, Hiro, it's like she won't even be here at all. She'll explain everything to you once you two go to bed."

"But-"

"Hiro." Aunt Cass stared at him, her voice firm. "She's staying. And that's final." Hearing her timer go off from the back room, she started heading that way, the last sentence thrown over her shoulder. "And besides, you agreed to it, remember?"

"...I didn't know I was agreeing to that!" he yelled to her back.

No response was heard, so he took the time to flop himself into the chair. So much for not getting any more unwanted surprises.

He wasn't really sure why he was mad. Maybe it was because he should've been expecting this. Maybe it was because Karmi had spent almost the entirety of the last week alternating between ignoring him and punching him in the shoulder for thinking he had tried to rescue Wasabi and Aspen from Fathom. Just when he thought he understood her, another fist would come out of the corner of his eye.

But she had finally stopped, and maybe things could've gotten better.

"Hey."

Hiro didn't look up as Karmi pulled out the chair next to him. He had a sneaking suspicion that she had heard at least part of the conversation, which would explain why she wasn't leading with his nickname.

"Do you really not want me to stay, Genius Boy?"

Aaaand there it was.

Hiro glanced up to see Karmi's face. The bags under her eyes were even more apparent, but the frown was the first thing he noticed. He let a deep breath out through his nose. "I...don't want to talk about this right now, OK? I'm starving."

Karmi opened her mouth to say something, but Aunt Cass chose that moment to make her grand entrance, flourishing what looked like some sort of silver tray in her hands. It got slapped onto the table, causing both Hiro and Karmi to recoil from the splash zone.

"I hope this lives up to your expectations, Karmi. I've never tried cooking butter chicken before, but there's a first time for everything," Aunt Cass smiled. "Oh, I forgot to get drinks! Be right back, but go ahead and dig in, kids!"

As she retreated again, Hiro and Karmi bent over to look at the boiling liquid. "Did she...drown the chicken in the butter?" Hiro whispered. "There's a lot of it in there."

Karmi's plate was already half full of rice and meat before he finished his autopsy.

Guess I'm not the only one who's starving, he thought.

Aunt Cass came back with three glasses of water, setting them down on the table. "So, Karmi, we haven't really had a chance to sit down and have a chat since you've arrived. Mind if I ask a few questions?"

She nodded her head, her mouth bursting of food.

"Or I can wait until you've had your fill."

Karmi swallowed her entire mouthful in one gulp. "Nope, I'm good. What do you want to know?"

"Well," Aunt Cass cradled her head in her hands, glancing slightly at Hiro. "What're you studying at SFIT?"

"Biotechnology, with a focus on organisms. Mostly immune systems and how to have them work with particularly dangerous strains of bacteria."

"I'm going to sit here and pretend I know all about everything you just said," Cass said with a smile.  "I don't understand anything Hiro does, but I know he builds things and they move all on their own. That's about it. Speaking of Hiro..."

Oh boy. Here it comes.

"Do you guys talk to each other a lot at school?"

Karmi looked over at Hiro, who was desperately trying to avoid her gaze. "We do….sometimes. My lab's in a different building than his, but we run into each other at lunch once in a while."

"That's nice. I hope that he treats you well. You know how boys can be sometimes."

The stare that he was giving his aunt was only amplified by the red that was starting to climb his neck.

His classmate seemed to be amused by the proceedings, because the beginnings of a smirk was forming on her face. "Yes, boys will be boys. But he tries his best, Miss Cass."

"I'm sure he does. He's a hard worker, a good friend..."

Hiro finally spoke up. "You two do know I'm sitting right here, right?"

"Shush, Hiro, I'm complimenting you. Never interrupt a girl when they're giving you a compliment. Remember that when you're dating in a few years."

He drained his drink in one fluid motion and got up from the table, flustered. "Oh boy! I sure am thirsty! I'm going to go grab more water!" He took three steps to get to the back room and turned on the faucet as hard as it could go, the sound hopefully drowning out the rest of the conversation.

Aunt Cass turned back toward Karmi, smiling. "He's single, you know."

Nope. Still not loud enough.

Hiro saw Karmi's face go flush, and not because of the spices in the chicken. It looked like she wasn't going to comment, instead helping herself to more food.

Maybe, he thought, if he put the stopper in the sink, he could climb in and drown himself before his aunt would notice.

...OK, she did notice.

Hiro slowly climbed the stairs to his room. He had offered to wash the dishes after dinner, which is something he never did, but with the conversation that had occurred, he figured he wanted to give Karmi as much time to recover as possible. And then Aunt Cass found an entire pile of cups that somehow missed her eye.

By the time he had escaped from the kitchen, his wrist was starting to go sore. Add that to the shoulder, and it felt like his entire arm was going to fall off. Hopefully some sleep would help.

He hit the top step, checking to see if Karmi was in the bathroom. He didn't know what her shower habits were like, but judging from the open door and the steam hovering out, she was also an evening shower person. Good to know.

It was also good she wasn't walking out of the bathroom when he arrived. He had seen enough anime over at Fred's house to know where that would go.

Hiro quickly brushed his teeth. He had to check up on Baymax before going to bed, so he put his toothbrush down and strode over to the case. He wasn't making any noise, which was good. He ejected the Sleep Mode chip, standing up from his kneeling position.

And then he looked to his left.

Karmi had taken residence in Tadashi's bed, sitting up with a pillow as her brace. Her laptop was resting on her legs as she was furiously typing something out, probably another fanfic or something. She reached out to the side to grab her water from the computer desk.

It was a very stark change in wardrobe from what he was accustomed to. Instead of the sweater and leggings, she was wearing a black tank-top, the shoulder straps super thin. Her shorts were blue, the white drawstring hanging off of her waist.

Which left her legs completely bare.

Karmi must've known something was going on with him, because her gaze came up to look at him from over the laptop screen. She noticed his stare and looked down to where his eyes were tracking. They immediately came back up, and so did one of her eyebrows.

And then slowly, and very, very deliberately, she crossed her right leg over her left.

Hiro finally tore his eyes away from her and walked over to his computer desk, the chip now in the drawer. Hey, at least she was wearing more than a towel this time.

"Your aunt did a good job with the food tonight."

He woke up his computer from its sleep and opened up the text-editing software. "Yeah, it wasn't bad at all. I was worried that she was going to add some weird stuff to it."

"Well, it was kind of weird. We don't really eat butter chicken at my house. I think she was confusing it with tikka masala. But it was a good first effort. I'd eat it again."

He started typing out something, his fingers flashing over the keyboard.

"You never told me that your aunt was that...intrusive."

"Yeah." He hit the backspace button a few times, correcting a spelling error. "And you never told me you were going to stay over my house for who knows how long, so I guess that makes us even."

Hiro hadn't meant for it to come out that harsh. He heard the laptop close behind him and the creaking of the floor as she walked over.

"Can we just talk about this, please? Like adults?"

"We're not adults."

"Good grief. You know what I mean."

He looked over his shoulder. Karmi was now at the foot of his bed, arms crossed. He just noticed that her hair wasn't in its normal ponytail, instead freely cascading down her back. It looked better that way.

Oh good, another thing for me to think about.

Ignoring his consciousness, Hiro stood up from the chair and walked to where she was, mirroring her stance. "OK. You want to talk? Talk, then."

Karmi sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "You have to understand something, Genius Boy. I didn't ask your aunt if I could stay here. The hotel that I was suppose to be staying at apparently had no record of the reservation that my parents made, and there was no vacancy when I contacted them. All the other places I checked were totally booked as well. So I called her yesterday to see if she knew of any other places in the area that had rooms available on short notice. She told me that wasn't necessary and I could stay with you two. I told her that I didn't feel comfortable taking advantage of her, but she insisted I wasn't. So...I accepted. Even you would agree that staying somewhere for free is better than paying for it."

Hiro's glare softened considerably.

"And if you're worried that I'm going to be around a lot and annoying you or whatever, don't. Between school and work and my internship and me going to get updates from the construction people, I'm going to be leaving early in the morning and coming back late at night. I probably won't even be around for dinner."

She sat down in a huff, her body bouncing a little bit. "And it's two days, because they told me that the problem shouldn't be that severe. I think that we can handle each other for that amount of time, right?"

She stuck out her hand as an offering. "As much as I would love to get on your nerves to no end, I just want to get through these next two days. So, can we call a truce? Just until I leave?"

Hiro stood still as he took all of this information in. The easy thing to do was to shake her hand and let her be.

But when was that ever the way his mind thought?

"I'll do that...once you do something for me."

Karmi lowered her arm. "What?"

Hiro walked back over to his computer and hit a button. A paper printed off at the far side of the desk, which he grabbed once it was done. He grabbed a clipboard and a pen and held it up for her to see.

"I want you to sign this."

"What is that?"

He tilted the clipboard in her direction and tapped it. "It's a contract."

Karmi's eyes widened. "You're...you're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"You're actually serious?"

"Yup."

Karmi stared at him for a moment. Shaking her head, she swiped it out of his hands and laid back onto his bed, her eyes scrolling through the lines.

"I, Karmi K.-"

She paused and glared at Hiro, who shrugged in response. "What? I don't know your last name."

She sighed and read on. "I, Karmi K., hereby do solemnly swear that I will uphold all personal and private boundaries instituted by the aforementioned party of Hiro Hamada, up to and including blah blah blah..."

Karmi fell silent as she looked over the rest of the wording. Hiro tapped his fingers on his leg to pass the time.

"You do know this isn't actually a legally binding contract, right?"

"I never said it was," Hiro said. "Just want to make sure we're on the same page."

"OK." She clicked the pen and started scratching something out. "First of all, you'll be known as 'Genius Boy' in here."

"Hang on a sec-"

He stepped forward to stop her, but a sudden weight hit him in the chest and halted his progress. He looked down to see her foot sitting flat against his upper body. The leg it was connected to was now almost teasing him, the shine from the light above radiating off of her skin.

All you have to do is just touch it, Hiro. That's all.

Karmi was saying something else, but it sounded cloudy and muffled. He was so busy focusing on the body part in front of him that he didn't notice the rest of the girl in front of him.

"Body oil."

Her words brought him back down to Earth. "Huh?"

"Body oil," she repeated, waving to the leg in front of her. "Because I know you're thinking about it."

With a smile, Karmi lightly pushed Hiro away with her foot and finished writing with a flourish. She got up from the bed and handed the clipboard to him. "You are too easy sometimes, Genius Boy."

As she walked away, Hiro peered down at the paper. She had wiped his name from the contract and replaced it with her nickname for him, as well as a few other scratches on the margin. A smiley-face was next to the part about his computer, which he couldn't decipher as to whether that was bad or not.

But her signature was at the bottom, accompanied by a heart replacing the dot in the lowercase i, and one as well after her last initial.

"Wait." He turned back to her. "You didn't sign your last name."

"And you didn't put my last name as one of the parties," she chided. "Guess you'll never know, huh?"

"Grrr." Hiro tossed the clipboard onto the table. She was a smart one, he'll give her that. Too bad it came with a side dose of annoyance and self-conceit.

He grabbed his pajamas and went to the bathroom to get changed. He heard her getting situated through the bathroom wall; it sounded like she was getting ready to go to bed. He turned on the faucet and slapped some cold water over his face, staring at himself in the mirror.

"Two days," he muttered to himself. "That's all you have to put up with. After that, things can go right back to normal."

He walked out and over to Karmi's space, a little reluctant to even approach. She was already underneath the sheet, trying to get herself situated. She had an extra pillow next to her for some reason.

"You afraid to fall out of bed or something?"

She rolled her eyes at him as she tossed her hair to the side. "If you must know, I just like holding something while I sleep. Makes me relax."

"Forget your teddy bear at home?"

"Why?" she replied, smirking up at him. "You have an extra one I can borrow from your pile over there?"

She pointed over to her right, where he knew he had his stock of alien and robot plushies next to the telescope. His face got hot as the comment burned past his attempt at an insult.

"I'll take that as a no."

Yup, this was going to be a very long two days.

Putting aside the feeling of his skin going warm, he figured he might as well try to be hospitable. "Do you need anything? Extra covers or something?"

Karmi set her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. "I don't. Thank you, though."

He had to look away briefly. The sight of her laying down was causing his brain to overclock. He tapped the chest against the wall. "Um...there's more in here if you do need it."

She nestled her head into the sheets a little more. "I'll keep that in mind."

He fell silent as the conversation stalled.

"Hiro."

Again, the whole brain not working thing. "Yeah?"

She had one eye open staring at him, a small smile forming. "...I would like to go to bed now."

"Oh!" Hiro said. "Sorry. I'll just...leave you to it, then." He took one step backwards, still focused on her. "Good night."

"Good night," Karmi muttered.

He turned the light off as he made his way over to his own bed. He was barely able to get through this evening; how on Earth was he suppose to get through two entire days?

His head hit the pillow, the coolness a welcome feeling to the burn on the back of his neck. This was going to be an adventure, he could already tell. He just wasn't sure if it was one he would be able to get through unscathed.

Speaking of which…

He smiled to himself.

Ten seconds later, he approached the foot of her bed again, a comically large feather in his hands. It was a good thing she didn't pay too close attention to the end of the agreement, or else she would've noticed the fine print about nighttime pranks.

Luckily for him, her feet were sticking out from underneath the covers, almost as if she was baiting him. The tip of the feather was just about to hit her heel...

"Touch them, and you will die."

Huh?

"My parents deal with contracts every day. You don't think I saw the fine print?"

Hiro stayed quiet, eliciting a chuckle from Karmi.

"You'll have to do better than that, Genius Boy."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Oh, he will, Karmi. You can bet on it. Just give it a few hours. Probably biased, thought, because I know what's going to happen.

A lot of nice interaction and awkwardness in this chapter, and like I've mentioned before, it's not going to stop here. We got a lot more to look forward to, including one of my DeviantArt pictures actually coming into play in the next chapter.

I do also want to mention one thing really quickly. The others in the gang will be showing up at a few points in the story, but it will mostly be these four (Hiro, Karmi, Aunt Cass, and Baymax). Baymax has gotten pushed to the back a little bit in my past stuff, and I want to give him a little more focus. Same for Aunt Cass. She'll have some nice moments coming up in the middle of the story. Don't worry, it won't all be her interrogating her two favorite teen geniuses.

The next chapter will be happening in the same in-universe night, where Karmi is going to have to deal with her own personal demons in her sleep. But fear not, Hiro will have her back.

Or should I say...Hiro will see what's on her back.

Read and review, if you like. Until next time, everyone.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney Animation. I don't know who owns the parlor Karmi went to.

I mean what?

Chapter 2 – Under The Cover Of Night

Many months had passed since Hiro had the company of another living being in his room. Ever since Tadashi had passed, he had been the sole resident of the highest part of the house, save for Baymax. Of course, that changed today, when he found out that his nemesis, rival, and all-around pain in the butt Karmi would be staying with the Hamadas for the next two days.

And staying with him specifically.

Things had already gotten off to a rocky start with her being her usual annoying self. Acting like she owned the place. Being sarcastic. Holding him off with her leg.

Hiro shook his head. Always had to go back to the legs, didn't he? He was actually worried about how much they were on his brain.

Or if he did something to tick her off, that leg would go through his brain.

Even though it had been roughly an hour since they've retired to their beds, it had felt like several. He had turned his back to her general direction to try to shut her out, but it hadn't worked. It wasn't even like she was snoring; that had been something he had meant to ask her about before going to bed, but it had slipped his mind. Luckily, it didn't appear that way; other than breathing kind of loudly, she wasn't bothering him.

Nah, the part that was bothering him was the fact that she was even there at all.

Hiro adjusted his pillow, eyes still staring toward his computer. Then again, the situation seemed to be out of her control for the most part. Karmi's explanation had made sense, but the whole chain of events had happened so fast that his head was still spinning a little.

Two days. He kept trying to repeat that over and over in his mind. It was successful, since it had been now cemented into his brain, but now that phrase was now preventing him from being able to go to sleep.

Hiro rolled over to his back and crossed his arms over his chest. Karmi was silent now. Great, how lucky of her to be afforded the luxury of sleep. Maybe he could focus on his own dilemma now. He steadied his breathing as he closed his eyes.

"Uhhhh."

His eyes snapped back open.

Oh goody. He didn't want to hear this. Hiro threw the sheet over his head in an attempt to drown her out. It sounded like she was having a very interesting dream about her fabled Captain Cutie. This was exactly what he was dreading.

"Don't...please."

He sat up in bed. OK, that didn't sound good. Her tone was crazed, even a little pleading.

"Don't do it."

Hiro slowly got up and walked over to her space. Carefully, he peered around the separator at Karmi. The extra pillow had fallen to the floor, and the sheet was a bundled mess at her feet. She was currently laying on her right side, a thin layer of sweat on her brow. Her fingers and her legs were twitching at an alarming rate. Her mouth was hanging open, the breaths short and rapid.

She was definitely in the middle of a nightmare. And it looked like a really bad one.

He went to the side of the bed and grabbed the pillow off the floor. He wasn't quite sure what to do; he vaguely remembered something in Baymax's medical database about not waking up someone unless they were going to injure themselves. The bookshelves against the far wall were far enough away where they weren't a problem. He was more concerned about the sharp corners of the desk on his left.

"Please."

Hiro bent down over the bed. He had to do something; her voice was now bordering on pure terror. He very gingerly put a hand on her shoulder.

"Karmi."

All of a sudden, she rolled over onto her back, her mouth now closed. Maybe that did the trick.

"Ahhh!"

Or not.

Karmi flung herself up in bed, the scream piercing through the air. Looking wildly around, she started flailing her arms toward Hiro, who brought the pillow up to defend himself.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Her arms continued to beat onto his until Hiro dropped the pillow, grabbing both of her wrists and locking them into place.

"Karmi, stop! It's me!"

She looked up at him, panting.

"It's me. Hiro."

Karmi's eyes were wild with fear, juttering around as she continued to stare in his direction.

"You're OK."

She wrestled her arms out of his grasp and rubbed her wrist, still breathing hard. She closed her eyes as a tear ran down her cheek.

Hiro just realized that he had been holding his own breath in during this whole exchange. He let it out slowly as he grabbed the pillow again.

"Need this?"

It wasn't meant to be a joke, but the look she gave him as she swiped it out of his hands was not a humorous one. She put it on her other side, out of his reach.

"You are OK, right?" he asked. "That looked like it was bad."

"Leave me alone, Genius Boy." The first words she said to him were mumbled and soft, a far cry from her attitude at the beginning of the night.

"OK, first of all, no." Hiro rubbed his forearm and winced. "Second of all...ow. I think you scratched me with your nail..."

"Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."

"Oh, good," he said dryly, glancing to his right. "Now he's fixed."

"Are you in pain? If so, on a scale of one to ten-"

"I'm fine, Baymax. Nothing to worry about."

The robot had walked over to the end of the separator, his gaze going from the boy standing up to the girl sitting in the bed. "Karmi, your pupils are dilated, your epidermis is secreting perspiration, and your breathing rate has increased approximately forty-five percent from normal. It appears that you were experiencing a...nightmare."

"Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious," she muttered.

"I have not generated enough naval or military credentials to become a captain."

"I'm pretty sure that's not what she meant, Baymax."

The voice of Aunt Cass was immediately followed up by the woman herself as she finished turning the corner. Her bathrobe was on, and her sleep mask was sitting on top of her head. "I heard someone scream. Is everything alright up here?"

"Well..." Hiro looked at Karmi out of the corner of his eye. "Karmi had a bad dream."

"Hmm?" She came up behind Baymax and looked Karmi over. "Are you all right, sweetie? Do you need anything? Medicine? Warm milk?"

Hiro shook his head. "Aunt Cass, warm milk doesn't really do anything. Didn't I have Baymax show you that study?"

"Oh, I saw it," she replied, waving him off. "But I wasn't really paying attention. It only reminded me that I need to grab milk to make cupcakes."

"That scientific study is still in my database. I am capable of bringing that research up for you to read."

"Baymax, it's fine. We don't need to do that."

"Oh, but now I'm interested! Does it have any recipes in there for-"

"Stop!"

The three turned to the girl in the bed, whose hands were now on her forehead. Karmi's fingers were shaking again, and she was threatening to roll up into the fetal position based off of her posture.

"Everyone just...stop talking for a second. Please."

The two Hamadas and Baymax looked at each other. They hadn't meant for their mini-conversation to annoy her, but maybe it was best that only one of them took the wheel.

"It was just a dream. It's really nothing to get that worked over."

"Karmi, sweetie..." Cass walked over to the bed, putting her hand on her leg. "Are you sure? You look like you saw a monster or something. I can get you whatever you need."

"I'm fine. Really." Karmi looked up at her and weakly smiled. "To be honest, I don't even remember what it was. In one ear and out the other, I guess."

"...OK." She stood up and started walking out of the room. "Just remember, you have someone literally ten feet away that can help if you need it. Hiro, let her try to get to sleep. We'll talk in the morning. Good night."

Hiro watched her walk down the stairs. Once she was gone, she turned back to Karmi, who was wringing her hands together. She looked up at him, confused.

"What?"

"You..." Hiro said, shaking his head, "are the worst liar I have ever seen. And I'm including me in that group."

She didn't respond, which was fine, because his attention was now back on his robot. "Baymax, can you go into the bathroom and grab two washcloths, one damp and one dry?"

"I will return momentarily."

Hiro grabbed the chair at the desk and turned it around to sit in it. "Lay down. Try to relax."

"What are you doing?"

Baymax made his re-entrance and held his hand out, Hiro grabbing both cloths from him. "Don't worry about it."

"Do you require anything additional?"

"I think I'm good; thanks, Baymax. I'm satisfied with your care."

As he stepped into his charger and started to deflate, Karmi was still eying him. She balled the sheet into her fist. "Hiro, I don't need anything from you. I just need to-"

"Karmi, do me a favor, will you?" Hiro cut her off, folding the wet washcloth. "And shut up."

The pure brazen statement stopped her in her tracks. He of course hadn't meant to come on that strong, but it being early in the morning would do that to a fourteen-year-old. He finished his work with the cloth and pointed to the pillow. "Lie down. And take off the sheet. You're hot."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean...your...body temperature. We have to lower it, and it's not doing any favors with you under the sheet."

"...Oh."

Hiro held out the damp washcloth as soon as she had excavated herself from the covers. "Put that on your forehead. It'll help."

Karmi's head was on her pillow, the cloth now resting on top of it. Her eyes fluttered shut as the cool fabric flopped over one of her eyes. She took a slow, deep breath in. "If this is just an excuse to see my legs again, I'm actually going to kill you."

He took the dry cloth and covered his hand with it. It was probably a good idea to not respond to that. "Use this to dry yourself off. The sweat and all that."

Karmi took it and started wiping down her arms. "You really think this will work?"

"It works for me." Hiro put his hand on his fist. "When I have nightmares."

He continued to watch as Karmi worked to get all of the sweat off of her. She looked like she was thinking hard about something, because she was busy looking at something on the far wall. Maybe she was still wondering about what had caused her to wake up so suddenly.

"Ugh."

Hiro looked to see Karmi was trying to wipe her back, but struggling to do so. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She winced slightly, putting the cloth down on the bed. "It's just this bed isn't the most comfortable one I've ever slept in. My back's a little sore."

"Yeah, Tadashi liked a firm mattress. I still don't understand how he was able to sleep on it."

A couple of moments passed while the two collected themselves. Karmi was still breathing a little heavily, but it looked like she was getting better. She was gingerly holding her side, as if she was still in pain.

"Is it bad?"

"Still very wet," Karmi said. "But I guess I'll have to live with it."

He didn't know how to deal with the first thought that came to his mind.

"Here, I'll do it."

…OK, you weren't actually suppose to say it out loud.

Before he knew it, the cloth was in his hand. He certainly didn't remember reaching down and grabbing it. Perhaps it was because his brain was too focused on his next sentence.

"Get on your stomach. I'll take care of it."

Karmi's eyebrow disappeared into her bangs. "Man, you're not subtle about this, are you?"

"Oh, stop it," Hiro replied. "You're the guest and the patient. I'm the host and the doctor. I'm suppose to take care of you."

She looked like she was going to say something else, but she instead turned onto her back and set her right cheek on her hands, her head facing him. "OK, doctor. If you insist."

He didn't like that smile on her face, but whatever. He was the one who offered. Getting the cloth ready, his fingers grazed the back of her tank top.

"I have to warn you, though."

They hovered right above the bottom.

"On what you're about to see."

"What do you mean?" Hiro said. "You have a little primary hyperhidrosis. So what? I don't care." He grabbed the tail of her shirt and started pulling it up her back. "Everyone sweats sometimes. Even-"

His eyes looked down at her back, and what he saw made him lose the rest of his statement. Karmi, staring at his face, was now grinning again. She glanced down at her body, and then back at him.

"Yeah. I'm talking about that."

Right in the middle of her back was something that looked very much like a tattoo, colored black and shining with her perspiration. It was a stylized quill, the bottom part "writing" out something in a language that was clearly foreign. Each vane of the feather was adorned with a different pattern. One had a set of simple lines. Another had what looked liked the head of a sunflower poking out. Everywhere he looked, there was a brand new sight to see. Even the handwriting was neat and clean.

He wasn't sure he had ever seen anything like this before. Every mark, every stroke, every detail...it was truly something to behold.

Hiro didn't have a lot of knowledge about the subject, but it looked immaculate. Preserved. It must've taken a lot of work to keep it in that shape. Maybe she would know about it?

...If he could figure out which thing to ask first.

"I have so many questions right now."

Karmi let out a small sigh. "I figured. Well..."

Despite of her predicament, she had a teasing smile on her face as she looked up at his confused expression.

"What do you want to know?"

Literally everything.

Hiro shook his head to stop his consciousness from talking. "I...I thought you couldn't get tattoos."

Karmi titled her head at him, her grin growing wider.

"Hey, I know a little bit about you. Remember, I knew about the pork thing."

"When are you going to stop referring to it as 'the pork thing'?"

Hiro said nothing, which let Karmi continue on her tangent. "Well, it's not a tattoo. Not technically. It's a mehndi."

"I thought it was called something else?" Hiro said.

"You're thinking of henna. That's the plant that it's made of. Mine isn't made of that." Karmi tapped the pillow with her finger. "It's something special that I had made for me."

Hiro ran a finger down the shaft of the feather. The feeling was almost dried glue, but it was still smooth to the touch.

"I have this family friend who lives in Santa Angeles who owns a parlor. I practically begged my parents to get it. And yes..." Karmi interjected, seeing Hiro's next question coming out of the blue, "I'm aware that I'm underage. But one, like I said, it's not a tattoo. There's no staining of the skin. And two, if it did, it would be against my religion. So he made a special paste made of genipap and a few chemicals as a compromise. It stays intact much longer than normal, and I'd only have to do a little bit of maintenance to keep it that way."

He couldn't stop staring at it. It was beautiful, and against her skin tone it was even more so.

"And the writing?"

"It's Urdu. The word is pronounced seekhna. It means 'learn'."

"It sounds very appropriate for someone like you."

"I can send you his way, if you want," Karmi grinned. "You'd have to have Aunt Cass with you, but she doesn't seem like someone that would go for that."

Hiro shook his head. "Nope, probably not."

He suddenly remembered what he was suppose to be doing. He picked up the cloth from the bed and gently rubbed it down her exposed back, trying to not put too much pressure on the body art.

"I've...never shown this to anyone before."

"What? Your back or your feather?"

Karmi thought for a moment. "Both."

He was finished, and thank goodness; he wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. He stood up as he pulled down her shirt back to its normal position. "Do you still want that washcloth? I can put some more cool water on it, if you want."

She turned onto her back again, the other washcloth in her hand. "It's fine. I'll keep it on for a bit longer. I think I should be good."

Hiro nodded. Without another word, he walked over to the bathroom and threw the washcloth in. Aunt Cass would undoubtedly grab it in the morning, and he needed to get some sleep tonight.

"Hiro."

Her voice floated over to his ears as he was just about to his the foot of his bed. He turned to see Karmi sitting up in bed. The room was just light enough to see her toothy smile glowing at him.

"Thank you for not asking why I got it."

To be honest, that was one of the questions he was thinking of, but just seeing her bare back had jettisoned that out of his train of thought. For a moment, all he could do was just stare at her, and she in returned looked at him with...confusion? Understanding? He couldn't decipher it.

He walked back over to her area and put the small bottle he had palmed from the bathroom on the desk. "Here's some lavender oil. It may help you sleep a little better. At least...it does for me."

Without another word, he turned around and closed the distance to his own bed, flopping onto it and falling asleep almost immediately. He didn't notice the girl slowly shake her head at him, almost in a teasing manner. She laid back down herself and put the washcloth back on her forehead. She grasped the vial in her fingers, turning it over slowly.

"That boy..."

The next morning…

"Wow, you look like crap."

"How do you know that, Go Go? He hasn't looked at us since he got here."

It was true that Hiro's face was smushed against the table, but it didn't take any sight to know that his friends were, as always, at the cafe for breakfast. Or that one of them was teasing him for his lack of sleep.

"Here." Go Go pulled up Hiro's head by his hair and pointed to his eyes. "The bags are worse than normal. Plus, he hasn't said a word since he came down."

"Maybe he's just tired," Wasabi suggested.

"Or he spent all night fighting crime without us!" Fred said, waving his stack of pancakes around. "You did, didn't you? And you didn't even bother to call us! How could you, Hiro?"

"Look."

Hiro sat up in the chair, shoveling some cereal into his mouth. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, OK? That's all."

"Did you have a nightmare?" Honey Lemon asked.

"Nah, not me."

The other four looked at each other, the emphasis not lost on any of them. "Wait? What do you mean, 'you'?"

Almost as if on cue, and as the Irony Gods had foreseen it, Karmi walked into the cafe, fully dressed in her normal attire. Her first trip was over to Aunt Cass, who handed her a bag and cup filled with tea. They exchanged a few words, none of which Hiro could make out. They finished quickly as Aunt Cass went to help the next customer at the counter. Karmi turned to the main area...to find five pairs of eyes staring at her.

If Karmi was thrown off by the sudden attention, she didn't show it. "Hey, guys!" She took a sip from her to-go cup as she walked over to the table.

Thankfully one of them was able to at least feign a normal conversation. "Good morning, Karmi!" Honey Lemon said.

Hiro thought she would make for the exit, which would begin the process of him having to explain this to his friends. Unfortunately, that's not what happened.

"Hey, Hiro." Karmi bent down on his left, between him and Wasabi. "About last night..."

He finally looked up to see her face. There was worry in her eyes, something that was quite easily decipherable, unlike the night prior.

"I-"

"Don't worry about it."

Hiro had said it before he could stop himself. He didn't quite know what she was going to say, but it was a conversation that he didn't want to have. Especially not with the current peanut gallery in attendance.

"But-"

"Karmi." Hiro tried to be as casual as possible in his response. "It's fine. I know."

Luckily for him, she seemed to get the hint. Smiling at him, she put a hand on his shoulder, the bag coming in contact with him. "Thanks, Hiro...for having my back."

Hiro narrowed her eyes at her. OK, maybe one last poke at him.

Karmi adjusted her backpack on her shoulders. "I gotta go. I have to get an update from the construction people. I'll see you guys at school?" She waved to the group as she walked out the front door, turning right down the street.

It took approximately two seconds for every single eye to turn back to him. Maybe if he played dumb, they'd leave him alone.

"What?"

Go Go's gaze was switching from the front door to the side entrance from where Karmi had come from to Hiro so fast it was like her head was on a swivel. At last, she turned all the way around at the woman behind the counter. "Aunt Cass? I have a question."

"What's up, Go Go?"

"...Why was Karmi here?"

Aunt Cass looked up from her cappuccino to answer her. "Oh? Hiro didn't tell you? Karmi's staying with us for a couple of days. Something's going on with her house and it's not safe for her to be in it. Poor girl. She had a rough one last night."

Wasabi glanced down at Hiro, who was busy putting an indent of his palm into his forehead. "Why? What happened?"

"Oh, she had a bad dream. Luckily, Hiro was there for her."

"Aunt Cass," Hiro mumbled. "You didn't really need to mention all of that."

"Why not?" she replied. "She's lucky that she was sleeping in your room, or else we would've taken a lot more time to get to her. I do hope tonight's a little better for her."

The phone mercifully rang, and Aunt Cass went to answer it. That wasn't going to save Hiro from the forthcoming interrogation.

"OK, so let me see if I have this straight."

Go Go started counting up on her fingers, not even bothering to hide her evil grin. "One, Karmi is staying here. Two, Karmi is staying in your room. Three, Karmi is staying in your room and you consoled her through a bad night. Did I miss anything?"

"That she'll also be here tonight," Fred said. "Don't forget that."

Honey Lemon turned to Hiro and his flushed face. "Hiro, were you planning on telling us?"

"Not particularly." He saw her concerned face and backtracked. "Look, I had nothing to do with this. Aunt Cass was the one who took care of everything. I'm just...trying to get it over with."

"Well, I guess we can't go on patrol," Wasabi sighed. "Since you'll be preoccupied."

"It's not like that. She has her own things to take care of on her own time. As for patrol...I haven't really figured that out yet."

"I have a suggestion," Go Go said, raising her hand.

"No."

"OK, so here's what we do," the Korean continued, completely ignoring Hiro. "We can take care of patrol between the four of us. That way, we can give Hiro and Karmi some alone time."

He put his head back onto the table. "I'd rather navigate another space laser to come down from the sky and almost kill me."

"Speaking of that, I should call Aspen," Wasabi said, pulling out his phone. "Wonder if she could give you some advice."

"Who? For you, Wasabi?"

"...Oh, that was low, Go Go."

Hiro sighed as the conversation continued around him. He wanted nothing more than to just go to school and lock himself in the lab for the day.

Two days. Just two days.

But did that count last night?

He was too tired to run the logistics in his head. He'd have to settle for the quiet of his lab in order to be able to think about anything.

Or maybe just knock himself unconscious until Wednesday. Perhaps that would work too.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I certainly think that this chapter could have come together a little better, but hey. All's fair in fanfiction writing.

For those of you who follow me on my DeviantArt account and have seen the drawing I did of the feather, now you know where it comes into play. For those who haven't, you may want to go over there and take a look at it.

Not really much more to say about this chapter. I think most of what happened is pretty self-explanatory. Hiro tries to go to sleep. Hiro helps Karmi. Hiro learns about her and the body art in a very particular spot. Pretty common, I think. :P

As for Karmi's dream...still not telling anyone. We all will found out in due time.

The next chapter will be the next night, and be more Aunt Cass and Karmi-centric. It will also...deal with some more touchy subjects than I've previously written about, so be warned about that.

Read and review, if you like. Until next time, everyone.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I do not own Big Hero 6, or any of the great pieces of literature that may be referenced below.

Disclaimer #2: This chapter contains situations that are possibly sensitive to some readers. Read on at your discretion.

Chapter 3 – Late Shift

"Can you take these and put one in front of every single chair? I'll follow up with a pad of paper at each table."

Tuesdays were a busy evening for Cass Hamada, and that wasn't even taking into account the people that would come in late to grab a very strong coffee (Go Go) or even take a trip to the garage to bother Hiro with whatever he was doing (guess who again?). No, that was because she would close up shop early, invite a few members of the community over, and partake in her favorite thing to do during the week: Poetry Night.

This week, however, was a little different, and not because she had an additional person in the house. Oh, she had asked Karmi to join her, but the girl had her job at Gramercy to go to that evening.

Nah, tonight she had a little bit of a different audience.

"Thanks so much for inviting your friends in, Felony Carl," Aunt Cass said as she turned to the large man. "A lot of my normal attendees are away on vacation, so it's nice to have a full crowd here, unlike last week."

"Yeah, it was pretty sparse here last time," he said, holding a comically small teacup to his lips. "I made the call; hopefully we can get some of the gang here."

"I wouldn't take you for someone that does these sorts of things."

"Eh. Allows me to open the mind a little. Plus, the coffee's good."

"Well, aren't you sweet?"

They finished putting out the materials, and Aunt Cass made her way back behind the counter to get some pastries. "Hope they're hungry; I just made these muffins today."

"They will be," Carl replied. "They just got done trekking around the state on a roadtrip. Been at it all day. Don't know how good they'll be putting words that rhyme near each other, but we'll find out, I imagine."

The sound of engines backfiring started to fill the air. As the two looked up, the line of motorcycles came into their vision, each occupant wearing a tremendous amount of black.

"Umm, Felony Carl. How many people did you invite?"

He shrugged. "A few."

Those "few" ended up almost filling the entire cafe. A few passersby were confused with the street parking being filled with motorcycles, but other than that, the evening looked like it would continue unabated.

"I'm so glad you're back, Darcy!" Aunt Cass set a cup of coffee, complete with a skull drawn in the foam, in front of the pink-haired, dark-skinned woman. "We missed you last week!"

"Oh yeah, my mom was in town, and I had to play host. Such a drag. Still love her, though...even if it's just for a weekend at a time."

After a full round of introductions, Aunt Cass had everyone start with their brainstorming. Her normal strategy was pretty basic: give her guests a subject (this time it was about what makes you happy) and enough time to brainstorm, and then everyone would share at the end.

"But what if nothing makes me happy?" one of the new girls had said broodingly from underneath her hood.

"Well, Rachel..." She had to think for a moment. "Think of something that doesn't make you unhappy."

Seemingly satisfied, she picked up her pencil, the jewel on her forehead seemingly glowing with her change in attitude.

"Looks like everyone's enjoying themselves," Aunt Cass said as she stood next to Felony Carl. "It's a shame that Hiro's not home. He's so busy these days."

"Yeah, that's how kids are now. One day, they love you, and the next they're liberating candy bars from grocery stores."

She stared at him wide-eyed.

"Or maybe that was just my childhood."

All of a sudden, the front door opened, and Aunt Cass saw Karmi come storming through, throwing the door behind her with a furious motion.

"Hey, Karmi! I didn't know you were getting off early today. Did you want to-"

She walked right past everyone without looking up, running up the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her.

"...Looks to me like she doesn't wish to partake."

Aunt Cass stared at the doorway, that foreboding feeling bubbling forward. "Oh dear. Something must have happened. I need to go see if she's OK. Carl, can you keep everyone occupied until I get back?"

"Sure thing."

As she made her way up after her, Carl turned to the rest of his friends, who had no idea what was going on. Thinking quickly, he tapped the glass dessert case next to him.

"So...anyone want another muffin?"

Aunt Cass climbed up the steps to Hiro's room, only pausing at the kitchen to catch her breath. Karmi had not stopped walking when she called out to her. In the very little time Karmi has been with them, she had been courteous and respectful to her. The demeanor she had right now was coming completely out of left field.

She took the last step and arrived at the bathroom door. It was closed, and she could hear her sniffling from inside. She knocked softly on the frame.

"Karmi, are you OK?"

She got no response from her.

"I mean, you're clearly not OK, so you'll understand if I have to break down the door in order to take care of you."

She put her hand on the doorknob and turned it slightly. "I'm coming in now."

She didn't feel the lock catch, so that was good. No need to pull out the ax.

Aunt Cass opened the door fully. Karmi was sitting opposite of the toilet on the ground, her legs pulled up to her chest. Her head was buried in her arms on top, her messy bun partially unraveled. She looked up at the adult entering, her eyes red and her cheeks stained with moisture.

"Aww, sweetie..."

It took one step for her to close the distance, the door hanging open by a crack. She opened the small cabinet next to her and grabbed a box of tissues. Pulling a couple out, she sat down next to the teen.

"Here." Cass pulled her head up and dabbed it under her eyes. "You know, I find the best place to go after a really bad day is the bathtub. Sit back, cry all you want...fill it with water and relax. But grab all of the junk food before you get in."

Karmi made an attempt at a chuckle, but it was drowned out by her sniffling.

"Sweetie, what happened?"

The girl took the damp tissue and balled it into her fist. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"What is with teenagers and always saying that they're fine when they're not? It's like you kids have to be stubborn or something."

Karmi did laugh this time. Cass took the opportunity to pass her the box. "Karmi, everyone downstairs can wait. Tell me what happened."

She took out a few more and took the band of her hair, letting it fall onto her back. She smoothed out her dress shirt and let out a shaky sigh. "I was at the restaurant. There was a gentlemen there that I was serving. We've had problems with this man before. Belligerent, condescending to the staff, a general pain to deal with. However, he's the kind of person that comes several times a month and drops a whole bunch of money for him and his friends, so we...tolerate it."

"How many digits are we talking here?"

Karmi held up every finger on her hand except for her thumb.

"Oh."

"Anyway," Karmi continued. "I was the lucky one to serve them tonight. Everyone else at the table was fine, and things were going good. But I guess somehow that wasn't good enough for him. As I grabbed the check, I noticed that he didn't calculate the gratuity into the amount. I bent down and let me know of the discrepancy. I didn't want to make a big show of it because people sometimes legitimately forget to put it in. They usually just laugh it off and recalculate it."

"But not him?" Cass asked.

"No. He told me that I didn't deserve it. That I wasn't good enough. But then he told me...that I could prove to him that I was worth it."

Karmi started shaking again. "And then he...grabbed my...butt."

She took a deep breath in and grabbed another tissue. "I would love to say that he was inebriated and couldn't control himself, but he only had half a glass of wine at that point. Given his metabolism, it would take a couple of hours for his body to burn it off. And he was easily there for longer than that by the time the check came out. So, all the alcohol was out of his system."

Karmi stared the balled-up tissue in her hand. "I was so shocked that I didn't even know what to do at first. I stood there for a second and then just walked away as fast as I could. I had one of the other waiters finish the whole transaction. I got back into the kitchen and I just sort of...broke down. Chef Ariel didn't know what was going on, but she saw that something was wrong, so she sent me home."

"Wait," Cass said. "You didn't tell her what happened?"

The silence that followed was all she needed to know. "Karmi, I'm calling Chef Gramercy right now. He needs to know about this." She pulled her phone out and started to dial, but the girl shot her hand out.

"Ms. Cass, please don't. He's not even in the country right now. He's busy opening another restaurant in London. I really don't think he needs to be bothered with this. Chef Ariel's the one in charge now."

Her phone hung in her hand, the thumb hovering over the green Call button. "Sweetie, you can't just shove this under the rug. What that man did to you was unacceptable. You were lucky I wasn't there, or else they would've had to call the police on me."

"Please..."

She stared down at the girl, who looked like she was going to cry again. Granted, she didn't want to cause her any more distress, but this was a difficult situation. She couldn't just let it go.

"OK." Cass put the phone on the ground. "I won't call him. But you are going to let your boss know first thing in the morning. Promise me you'll do that?"

"I will." Karmi was building an impressive mountain of tissues next to her leg. "I promise."

"Here, why don't you take a minute? You've had a rough night. And then when you're ready, you can take a nice hot shower. At least you can look forward to going home tomorrow, right?"

Aunt Cass looked to see her staring at her phone. "What? What's wrong?"

"Right before my shift, I got a call from the construction company. Whatever problem they were working on was much worse than they thought. The house isn't going to be ready until the end of the week. I'm sorry."

"Karmi, you don't have to apologize; it's not your fault. You can stay here as long as you need to."

"But what about-"

"Don't worry about him." She stood up and pulled out a couple of towels from the cabinet. With a smile, she held them out for her. "Just worry about you, OK?"

Karmi looked down and smiled. She silently grabbed them out of her hands. Setting them down on the toilet, she started unbuttoning her uniform, which was Aunt Cass's cue to leave her to her shower.

Aunt Cass walked out of the bathroom and closed the door. She waited a moment to listen to the shower turn on. She didn't think that having two teens in the house again was going to be this difficult. Karmi presented a set of challenges that she never had to deal with in Hiro. She relished it, in a sense; it kept her on her toes.

"Aunt Cass?"

Surprised, she turned around to see her nephew, his foot hovering above the last step. His backpack was over his shoulder, and Baymax's head was poking out from behind him.

"Is everything OK?" Hiro peered his head around his aunt's body, trying to look at the bathroom door. "Where's Karmi at?"

"Karmi...um..." Aunt Cass turned her head to the door quickly. "Karmi isn't really feeling well. They sent her home early from work. I think it's best that we let her get some rest. Come with me; I want to see if I have any aspirin for her."

"Oh. OK."

A few minutes later, the two were down in the kitchen, rummaging through the drawers. A very amused looking Mochi was sitting on Baymax's arm, purring as a random assortment of utensils were cascading all around them.

"I could have sworn I had some here," she said, her head stuffed in a cabinet. "I wonder where they went?"

Hiro, having finished his search at the corner, was now looking at his phone. It looked like he was scrolling through his messages, slowly nodding his head at whatever he received.

"Hey, Aunt Cass, can I go over to Fred's house for a bit? He wants to show me some new comics he got."

She stared at him as she threw her spatulas into the container. "Hiro, you know how I feel about you staying out on a school night."

"I know, but you know how he is. It won't take long. And hey, I can grab aspirin for you on my way back, if you want."

Aunt Cass sighed. "That's fine. Just grab some from the corner store. But don't stay out too late, OK?"

"I won't." Hiro walked over to Baymax. "C'mon, let's go-"

Mochi purred even louder, snuggling closer up to Baymax's chest.

"O...K. Baymax, you can stay here. I'll be back soon."

Hiro disappeared downstairs, and Aunt Cass continued her clean-up of the kitchen. Yup, two was definitely more interesting than one. Double the trouble. Double the problems. But oh, the possibilities for her nephew-

"Aunt Cass, you know there's still people in the cafe, right?"

And then she remembered what she started her evening doing.

"Oh, shoot."

"I am so sorry, Felony Carl. I completely forgot about you guys. I am such a terrible host."

"Eh. Don't worry about it. Kid comes first."

The two were now alone in an otherwise empty cafe almost a half hour later. He was sitting at one of the round tables, his teacup refilled by Aunt Cass.

"Besides, some of the stuff that they came up with was...probably not for a suitable audience."

"Oh?" Aunt Cass started counting the bills and coins on the counter. "That bad, huh?"

"Yup. Couldn't even think of a proper rhyme scheme. I think Bill tried to rhyme 'steak' with 'mistake'. Technically correct, but totally messed up the rest of the composition."

She finished her counting and stashed the money into the change box. "Well, he tried, at least. No one's Robert Frost here."

Felony Carl didn't respond, instead deciding to take another sip. Sensing her presence, he looked up to see Aunt Cass sitting across from him, her hands on her chin and staring at him with an odd expression.

"What?"

"You know what," she responded. "You and Darcy. The girl with the pink hair and shark tooth."

He looked away, the slightest twinge of a blush on his cheeks. "Lady, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Come on, Felony Carl. You and Larceny Darcy, you two are perfect for each other. You guys like the same things: motorcycles, leather jackets, skulls in your cappuccino foam. Also, a weird fascination with having crimes in front of your names..."

"Eh, it's a given name. Same for her."

"Oh, so you have talked to her about it?"

He stared at her from over his teacup. "Sometimes I think you just live to set people up."

"Hey, let me remind you that you invited her, not me."

"...I'm pleading the fifth."

She watched as he put his china away in his backpack. It was true; one of her favorite pastimes was pushing the limits of getting people together. It was like that for a lot of the people she knew. And unlike cooking, it seemed like she was pretty good at it.

"Well, let me ask you about something."

Carl's ears perked up.

"Let's say...hypothetically of course," said Aunt Cass as she held her mug up to her face, "that she hypothetically thinks you're a pretty cool guy and hypothetically wants to see if you wanted to go to the San Fransokyo Bike Show in a couple of weeks, but hypothetically can't get the nerve to ask you. What would you say about that..."

She brought the cup up to her lips, smirking.

"Hypothetically?"

Carl stared at her, his eyebrow raised.

"You are an evil woman, you know that?"

Aunt Cass set the cup down, her grin growing wider.

"...Also, I would be hypothetically interested."

Stressful situations require a deft hand and a calm mind.

Hiro had neither at this point in time.

He bent down in the bushes, his brain on overdrive. He wasn't exactly sure what had tipped him off: hearing Karmi cry in his bathroom, his aunt's attempts to cheer her up, or her description of the terrible situation she had to deal with.

Because he had heard it. All of it.

He had gotten home just as his aunt had climbed the stairs to the second floor. He was going to call out to tell her that he was home, but the expression on her face let him know that something was up.

And he was right.

He had sat on the stairs with a muted Baymax, listening to the faint conversation Karmi and Aunt Cass were having, and with each passing sentence, he felt his anger bubble up more and more. By the end, he almost couldn't calm himself down.

Who would do that? Who would do such a terrible thing to any person, let alone Karmi? His Karmi?

See, if Hiro was thinking clearly, his brain would've caught the irony of referring to Karmi as his.

Key word. If.

He had to make up an excuse to get out of the house and to where he needed to be; hopefully Fred would never find out he used him as an excuse. He had grabbed three things, and slipped them on as he stashed his scooter in the bushes. His phone was lighting up with all sorts of data, the guest list pointing out who exactly he was searching for.

And it looked like his target was approaching. Just in time for his plan of action.

Remember, kids. If.

The portly man walked out of the restaurant as we waved goodbye to his colleagues. It was another successful dinner at his favorite restaurant. The waiter had been somewhat of a letdown, but she had run off after the dinner was done. No matter. He usually stuck around to schmooze up his guests and guarantee himself another business deal or two.

But now it was time to go home. His limousine pulled up and he stepped inside, loosening his tie.

"Was everything to your liking tonight, sir?" the driver said from the front seat.

"Very much, Bernard," he replied, sitting back in his seat. "Take me home. I have a contract that I need to sign before I go to bed."

"Will do, sir." The limo started to pull away from the restaurant, but before it could get to the main road…

WHAM!

The car suddenly lurched forward, the businessman getting hurled out of his seat.

"What?" He picked himself up off of the floor, the remaining hair on his head disheveled. "Bernard, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure, sir." He put his foot on the pedal. "We appear to not be getting any traction on the road. Let me take a look out-"

Both men looked out the front windshield and stopped cold. They saw a black mass standing in front of them, a hand seemingly on the front of their car. They were far enough from the restaurant that the overhead lights didn't give any hit to its identity, but that wasn't their first thought.

No, it was the giant dent in the hood of the car where his hand was currently.

Before either one of them could say anything else, the mass moved to the driver's side door, opening it with a flourish. It grabbed the driver by the collar and roughly pulled him outside.

The other man in the car had no time to react as his door was also opened, but this time, it was torn clean off its hinges.

"Gah!"

A gloved hand shot out of the darkness and took hold of his tie, his body also being jettisoned out of the car.

"Wha-what do you want?"

It said nothing as he got thrown into the nearest tree.

"You want money? I have money! Here, take it!" He took his wallet out of his pocket and threw it at him.

The wallet bounced harmlessly off of the mass's chest, which was finally starting to take shape. It had a helmet on, the visor completely opaque to block its face. It had one massive glove on its right hand, almost too big for its frame.

"Or jewelry? I can get you that! It's in the car. Let me just-"

The gloved hand shot out and grabbed his collar, lifting him up off of the ground. It brought him up to his helmet, but even with the proximity to him, the businessman still couldn't see through the visor.

"I don't want any of that."

The voice was gruff and menacing, and as his nose began to fog up the helmet, he looked down to see that the person's shirt was black in color, purple lines and dots glowing almost in a demonic manner.

"But here's what we're going to do. You and I..."

The visor suddenly became clear, and he looked into the eyes of his attacker. All he could make out was that they were brown, and filled with a barely suppressed anger he had never seen before.

"...We're going to have a little chat."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yeah, this chapter was a little difficult to write. It might have been a little difficult to read at times. In that case...I'm simultaneously sorry and also not sorry. Writing difficult situations and feeling bad means you can sympathize.

Aunt Cass is a character that often, I think, gets overlooked when it comes to Hiro's development. Being the caretaker of a child not your own can be taxing, and she's no different. Throwing another teen genius into the mix compounds things dramatically. We're going to get into that a little bit more in the next couple of chapters.

Also...Felony Carl/Larceny Darcy is my new OTP. I'm joking, but only slightly.

We're still going to have a Hiro/Karmi conversation in the next chapter...but it's not the one that people are expecting. The confrontation will come to a head, and it's going to get very, very bad. Trust me. If you're a fan of angst, you're going to enjoy the next chapter very much.

If not...well, just keep in mind that it's always darkest before the dawn.

Read and review, if you like. Until next time.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney Animation. They are not owned by me.

If you're expecting this chapter to have a lot of angst and arguments and yelling and all that jazz...hoo boy. You've come to the right place.

Chapter 4 – Keep In The Dark

Wednesday.

Hump day.

Normally, this would be the day Hiro would be wanting the weekend to start showing up. He'd be a little down in the dumps, just waiting for the end of Friday to come around.

Today was a little different. He was a much better mood than normal, not even taking offense to the gang's continued teasing at him for the Karmi situation. Part of that was because of what he did the night before. He did what he had to do, and there was no way she was going to find out about it. He had made sure of it.

"OK, now the smile's getting a little creepy."

Hiro got brought back down to Earth, shaking his head at her before taking another bite of his toast. "C'mon, Go Go. I'm not allowed to be happy in the morning for once?"

"No. No one's allowed to be happy in the morning...except for Honey Lemon."

He shrugged his shoulders. Nope, no need to give her any more information that she'd use to interrogate him further.

The sound of Karmi's shoes came from behind him, signifying her entrance to the cafe. Just like yesterday morning, she grabbed her drink and pastry from Aunt Cass. She also came over to the table to say hello to everyone.

Unlike Hiro's continuous increased demeanor, she was going in the opposite direction. Her first two nights over consisted of a nightmare and a bad experience at her work, the latter of which she didn't know that Hiro knew about.

And he planned on keeping it that way.

"'Lo."

"Good morning, Karmi," Honey Lemon said. She stared closer at her face and recoiled at the tiredness in her eyes. "Umm...you look nice today."

"I look like Death. It's OK; you can say it."

"...A very pretty Death."

Karmi sat down in the chair next to Go Go, who was now separating the two teen geniuses. "It's times like this I wish I drank coffee. The tea's just not cutting it."

"You wanna try mine?" Go Go pushed it over to her, but Wasabi intervened.

"Oh no. You don't want to drink her coffee. You'll be bouncing off the walls all day. I don't know how she drinks that stuff."

Karmi stretched her arm behind her back. "I just need to find a good sleeping position. That spare bed takes some getting used to."

"Spare bed? Wait." Honey Lemon turned to Hiro. "You didn't offer her your bed?"

"I don't understand why I have to be a part of this conversation," he said dryly.

"First of all...gross." Karmi stifled a yawn with her mouth. "Second of all, the bed's fine. I just have to deal with it."

"You're in Tadashi's old one?" Go Go asked. Seeing the nod, she shrugged. "Yeah, he said it helped maintain his proper spinal alignment."

"Well, I think it's going to turn my spine into dust."

"Why don't you use Hiro's bed tonight?" Honey Lemon asked.

"I'll refer you to my previous first of all."

"Just switch with him. We never said you had to sleep in it with him."

Go Go raised her hand. "Can I say that?"

The continued conversation was thankfully saved by the arrival of Aunt Cass with a refill on everyone's drinks. "By the way, Karmi, when are you going to be home tonight? It's Game Show Night, and it'd be great if you joined us!"

Karmi thought for a moment. "I have to stop by Sycorax to finish up some tests at my lab, but I should be back before nine."

"Great!" Aunt Cass walked back behind the counter. "You'll be in for a treat; I'll have snacks and everything ready. Plus, it'll be nice to have another girl around to get my jokes. Hiro doesn't understand my humor often enough."

Hiro wanted to run away. Unfortunately, that would involved making a scene in front of everyone. Plus, he still had to finish his breakfast.

"Speaking of night..." Karmi turned to him. "Where were you last night? Your aunt said you were out at Fred's house, but I didn't hear you come back."

Fred, for this entire time, had been partaking in his Victory Pancakes, but stopped at the mention of his name. "Wait, what? Hiro didn't-"

"Come back until late!" Hiro interrupted. "Very late! You know how Fred is with his comics! Always so...animated!"

Karmi narrowed her eyes at him, but the sudden ringing of her phone spared him from any further questioning. Confused, she brought it up to her face. "Huh. Who is calling me-"

She stared at the screen, her eyes beginning to widen. Slowly, she got up from her chair and walked over to the window. "Hello?"

Hiro couldn't help but stare, but then again neither could anyone else. What would get Karmi so spooked at this time of the day?

"Oh. Hello, Chef Ariel. No offense, but I don't work until tomorrow. Is something wrong?"

They couldn't hear the other end of the phone, but with each passing second, Karmi's face grew more and more distressed.

After a minute or so, Karmi spoke up. "Chef, I didn't tell you because-"

She got cut off again, the voice on the other end getting a little louder.

"Wait, what happened to him? He got attacked?"

More voices.

"Who was it?"

Another long pause came from her as she looked out the window.

"Chef Ariel, I assure you that I had nothing to do with that. I would never-"

The hand on the counter was starting to shake, the bag and drink long forgotten at this point.

"Yes, I understand. I'll come in tonight to fill it out. Would nine be good?"

She looked down at the ground as the response came through, as well as an unknown question.

"Yes, Chef. I'm fine. A little creeped out by that guy, but fine," Karmi replied. "Look, I have to go. I'll see you tonight. Bye."

Karmi slowly lowered the phone, her back still facing the group. Her fist banged the counter as her head went forward in a hunch.

"Genius Boy, what did-"

She wheeled back around to the table, ready to give Hiro a mouthful, but his chair was now empty, the half-eaten piece of toast still sitting in front.

Karmi let out a low growl and turned to the others. "Where did he go?" she whispered, barely containing her anger.

Every single index finger pointed into the direction of the garage. Getting the hint, she grabbed her backpack off of the chair in a huff and stomped off in that direction.

The sudden four-top was now silent, trying to take all of this information in.

"Wait, was Hiro suppose to come to my house last night?"

"Apparently not," Wasabi muttered. "But I have a feeling he should have."

He had to get away.

Hiro sat down at his desk in the garage. If he had stayed in the cafe, Karmi would have done her Karmi thing and ganged up on him with the rest of the group, and he didn't need that right now. Hopefully, she would be halfway to her house by this point in time. And then all he would have to do is dodge her at school, and he'd be set.

He didn't know what he was going to do when she would get home that night, but maybe he would pretend to be asleep or something. She wouldn't dare try to wake him up, right?

"Did you really think you could hide from me?"

He had no time to react to the steps walking up to him. Before he could get up, she had grabbed the back of the chair and wheeled it around in her direction. Karmi's face was now directly in his, both of her hands resting on the arms of the chair. Normally, he'd be all for staring into her eyes, but it was different this time; they were glaring at him with anger, almost insanity.

"Oh, hey." Hiro nervously shifted in his seat. He would have to try to pass it off as naturally as he could. "I didn't here you walk up. Did you-"

"Stop."

He did indeed stop his sentence. Her hot breath was raining down on him from her nose, something that was never going to be followed by anything good.

"I know it was you."

OK, it was time to enact his plan. He started off with a smirk. "I don't know what you're-"

"Shut up." Karmi hit his chest with a shaking finger. "We're both geniuses, Genius Boy. We're too smart to play dumb with each other. So don't even try."

She did have a point, even if he didn't want to admit it. He would have to tread carefully from here. "Who was that on the phone?"

"My boss at the restaurant. She called and said that as they were getting food deliveries this morning, one of our regulars came in and spoke to her about an incident that happened last night involving someone in the parking lot. He was basically threatened to apologize over something that took place with him and me during his dinner service. My boss didn't know about that, so she asked him to clarify."

Karmi got even closer to his face. "To make a very long story short, he gave my boss a bunch of money to make up for it. But you want to know what the strangest thing is?"

"...What?"

"The person that attacked him? The parking lot camera didn't get a good look at it, but it looked like they were wearing a helmet of some sort...and also a shirt that he said was glowing purple. That made it seem like that person had superhuman strength. Enough to put a very large dent in his car and rough him and his chauffeur up. Now, I don't know about you..." Karmi's nose was now barely grazing his. "But there's only one person I can think of that has something like that. Someone who couldn't have done that because they were suppose to be somewhere else."

He tried to back away, but the chair was already flush against the desk.

"Hiro. What did you do?"

Well, there was no going back now. Hiro tried to steady his voice a little bit. There was a ticking time bomb in front of him, and he had to defuse it.

"Look, I came home last night, and I...overheard your conversation with Aunt Cass. And I got angry. Angry that someone would do that to you. So, I made an excuse to get out of the house and went over there. And I talked to him, and I told him...that he needed to fix his mistake."

"Hiro..."

"Karmi, what was I suppose to do? He grabbed you. That was a disgusting thing that he did to you. And you weren't going to do anything about it!"

"The situation was being taken care of."

"By who? Aunt Cass said you needed to call her in the morning and tell her about it, and I knew you weren't going to tell her. You said so when your boss called! You didn't tell her because you weren't going to tell her!"

She stood up and walked away, her hand on her head. She was getting very frustrated from what he could tell, and this was probably only the beginning of her tirade. She turned back toward him, ready to start again.

"Hiro." Karmi's voice was soft, but her tone was becoming increasingly angry. "You crossed both a professional and a personal line last night. I didn't ask you to do anything. I didn't even know you knew about what happened." She took another step forward. "Did you even stop to think about the situation if it had gone bad?"

He frowned at her. Now that he actually was thinking about it, maybe he could have done something a little different. "Well, no, but that doesn't-"

"That's right! You didn't! Because you don't think!" Karmi exploded, throwing her arm out to the side. "You didn't think about the twenty different things that could've gone wrong. He could have gone to the police and given them your description! You could have been arrested! He could have sued you for assault! Even if he didn't sue you, he could've sued the restaurant! He could've thought that I sent you after him. And I would've lost my job, at the least."

Hiro stared at her.

"But no! You didn't think about any of that! All you could think about was yourself, and how it would affect you! Because that's all you ever do!"

Karmi's face was starting to get red from all of the yelling. "That's exactly what happened when you left school to try to rescue Aspen and Wasabi. You went off and tried to play 'hero', and Big Hero 6 had to stop you from doing something so catastrophically dumb that it still makes my brain hurt."

Hiro got up from his chair.

"And now I have to go to work to file a harassment report that I don't want to fill out. I just...I just want to forget this whole thing even happened. And I was going to. Until you did your stupid Hiro thing and messed everything up."

Was this really happening? Was she really blaming him? Granted, it was a pretty stupid thing he did, but it was to help her. Why didn't she see things his way?

"Tell me something, Karmi," Hiro said. "Why do you always have to make everything so difficult? Why can't you just accept help when you need it?"

"Because I don't need it." Karmi crossed her arms. "I don't need your help."

"What about two days ago? Huh? When you had that nightmare? You sure were interested in my help then."

Karmi opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. "That was...that was different."

"Different!?" Hiro was flabbergasted. "How on Earth was it different?"

"Because I didn't have a choice in the matter. That night, even staying here...I had no choice. It doesn't count."

"It...doesn't...what?"

Hiro's brain felt like it was literally melting with her flawed logic. Every time it seemed like he figured her out, she would say something that would undo it. It was so frustrating.

"Karmi, I didn't do it for me. I did it for you. I knew you weren't going to ask, Karmi. So someone had to help you. Someone always has to help."

"Yeah, you know who also said that?" Karmi said, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Your brother. And look what happened to him."

All of the sound sucked out of the garage. Hiro's ears started to burn as he mustered as much hate as he could into his eyes, staring at her and imagining lasers boring into her brain.

This was the moment where, as mad as he was at her for bringing up Tadashi, he could have been the bigger person. He could have walked away and stopped the conversation there. He could have apologized, said that it wouldn't happen again, and moved on. Sure, she'd still be mad, but they would have at least been able to be cordial to each other later.

"You're being stupid."

Or he could do that.

Karmi's nostrils flared up, her eyes widening. "What did you say?"

Now, Hiro still had time to retreat. But Tadashi's face was still at the front of his brain, and Hiro wanted nothing more than to wipe that dumb look off of her face.

So he opened his mouth.

"You...are being stupid. You can't handle the simple fact that you can't do everything on your own. You can't accept help, you can't acknowledge when someone is right, you can't even be in the presence of someone without correcting everything they say. You have to be the smartest one in the room, or else your gigantic ego can't handle it."

Her eyes narrowed into slits.

"You are so incredibly smart...but you are so indescribably stupid about everything that matters. Why can't you just open up? Why can't you let someone in? Oh yeah, now I remember. It's because of something you can't tell me. That you can't tell anyone, for some reason. You have to be a hero and shoulder all of the burden because you won't let someone else hold it with you.

"You may be a genius, Karmi. You may one day have everything you could have ever wanted, but I know better. I know that inside that..."

Hiro pointed straight at her heart.

"Inside that is a fragile, stupid little girl whose head is so far up her own butt that you can't see that you're killing yourself. And you won't see that until it's too late. And then the only thing you'll have is your own small, pitiful self."

Throughout their entire coexistence, Hiro and Karmi had fought, made up, and repeated the cycle ad nauseum. They had grabbed each other both in anger and solace. They argued, they agreed, and they agreed to argue. It wasn't the easiest of friendships, or even really a friendship at times. But they had silently made a line in the sand from day one. A line that they told themselves privately that they would never cross.

But now, in that moment in the garage...the line had not only been crossed, but outright obliterated.

And Hiro wasn't done yet. He stood up to his full height, ignoring Karmi's death glare.

"Go ahead, Karmi. Say it. You know you want to." Hiro stared into her eyes, all dignity lost. "Say that I'm wrong. But guess what? You can't. You know why? Because deep down...really deep down...you know I'm right. You said it earlier. I can't play dumb. I'm too smart for that. And you're too stubborn and boneheaded to give me the satisfaction of being right."

Karmi's hand balled into a fist.

"So which is it? Am I right? Or am I wrong?"

And then the other one.

"Answer the question, Karmi."

She raised her fist, and for a moment, he thought that it was going to come his way. Instead, it reached out to grab her backpack off the floor. She forcefully flung it over her shoulder and turned her back toward him.

"I'm leaving."

"What?"

"I have to leave," she said. "I need to get to my house to see what else went wrong. Don't try to follow me."

Hiro took one giant step to catch up with her. "Oh no, you don't! You're not going to run away from this! I need an answer from you now!"

"Yeah, well, you're not getting one."

He reached out to grab her wrist. "Don't walk away from me-"

The blur was so fast he didn't even have time to respond. Karmi's hand came flying in and grasped his wrist, bringing it up to her face. Wincing from her vice grip, he saw her eyes full of fury and anger. But when she opened her mouth again, it was calm and steady.

And laced with venom.

"Do that again...and you will regret it."

She threw his arm away and walked out of the garage. Hiro was momentarily stunned, the pain in his wrist nothing compared to what his chest was feeling. His rage was building back up again, and he started his walk back up.

"Karmi, I'm not done with you yet!"

Another arm was in his way as he turned the corner.

"Yeah..."

Only it didn't belong to her.

"Yeah, you're done, dude."

Fred's palm was flat against his chest, the rest of the group standing behind him. At the sight of them, Hiro stopped trying to move forward, his head lowered. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Us? Everything after you went and called her stupid," Go Go said quietly. "You're lucky that you soundproofed your garage walls, or else the entire cafe would've heard you too."

Hiro took a few deep breaths.

"What did you do?"

"Why does it matter?" he said, looking at all of their faces. "You'll take her side either way."

"Hiro, no one is taking anyone's side," Honey Lemon responded. "We're just worried about you. The both of you."

He pushed past Fred's arm and walked between the others. "I'm taking my scooter to school. Don't wait up for me."

Hiro didn't bother looking back to see the nervous expression on all of their faces. He just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

It turns out that school wasn't good at all for distracting him.

He had spent all day in his personal lab, not even coming out when his friends showed up to see if he wanted to join them for lunch. They had tried for a few minutes, but had given up. It would've been nice to have Baymax be the intermediary at the door.

And then he remembered that in his distressed state, he had left Baymax at home.

That didn't help his mood, which was now ping-ponging in so many directions that his head was beginning to hurt. He tried to not think about Karmi, but in a small lab with no healthcare companion to talk to, it was hard not to. And every time he did think about her, and what he would say to her, he remembered what she said to him, and that spoiled his mood all over again.

So by the time he got home that night, Hiro was not well at all. He had to apologize to Baymax for leaving him behind (which he wasn't really bothered by), and because one of his friends had undoubtedly tipped Aunt Cass off, he had to explain the situation to her. He did so reluctantly, but left a few parts out (mostly the Nano-Dex). That didn't stop her from telling him off, and now he was facing punishment. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to start it until the next day.

So, the two Hamadas settled down for the night, sans Karmi (who was still not home). The channel with the game shows was on, and Aunt Cass was settled into her hanging chair, a bowl of popcorn in her hands. Hiro was on the couch and still fuming about everything that happened.

And unfortunately for him, he was still verbally fuming too.

"I can't believe this! She's so stuck-up and obnoxious! Why can't she see I was trying to help her?"

"Mmhmm."

"It's not my fault that she has such a big head!"

"Mmhmm."

"...Aunt Cass, are you even paying attention to me?"

"Mmhmm."

Baymax raised a finger in the air. "Aunt Cass, Hiro had confided in me that he wished to run away from home and join the circus."

"That sounds nice."

Hiro stood up and walked over to her. "Aunt Cass, you're not even listening to me."

She muted the TV and turned to her nephew. "Well, sweetie, you haven't told me anything new. And you didn't tell me what Karmi said to you that got you so angry."

That was because he didn't want to. The thought of bringing up Tadashi to her was too much, so he had entirely omitted that out. "Let's just say Karmi said some really bad things to me. Like really bad."

"Well," Aunt Cass said, her eyes looking past his arm, "Should I just ask her myself?"

"How? She's not even back-"

He interrupted himself, getting the jist of what she was saying.

"She's back, isn't she?"

Hiro turned his body and saw Karmi through the kitchen counter window. She was staring at him with the same disdain she had this morning, but there was something else. Something he couldn't quite figure out. But before he could decipher it, she was off, walking up the stairs to his room.

"You need to talk to her, Hiro."

He didn't turn around. He didn't want to face his aunt. "Do I have to?"

She paused for a moment, and then her voice got firmer. "As part of your punishment, yes. You have to."

Yeah, that's what he was expecting. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

Hiro started climbing the stairs as Aunt Cass turned the volume back on. With each step came an increasing feeling of dread, and the thought of whether he was walking into his own crime scene.

But as he hit the last step, there was no one waiting for him. He heard things being moved around and the sound of a zipper being closed. He turned the corner to see Karmi's suitcase on her bed, things being thrown haphazardly into it.

"Karmi, what are you doing?"

She didn't bother to look up, instead choosing to try to squish down her suitcase. "I'm leaving."

"Where are you going to stay?"

"Doesn't matter. I'll find a place. You can have your stupid room back." She put the suitcase down on the ground and pulled out the handle. With her case behind her and her pillow below her other arm, she stared walking out the space past Hiro. She was almost at the stairs when she stopped suddenly…

Because Hiro had grabbed her wrist.

She stared down at his hand, and then at his face. "Let go of me."

"...No."

"Do you want to get hurt today, Genius Boy?"

"We've already hurt each other, Karmi. Let's just drop it, OK?" Hiro said. "Look, I want you to stay. I'll do whatever you want. I'll...rip up the contract I had you sign. It was stupid for me to do that, anyway." He let go of her hand and grabbed the cloth handle on top. "I'll even put your stuff back. Go downstairs and-"

Karmi tightened her grip on her pull-out handle. "Let. Go."

"Stop being dumb." He pulled a little harder.

"You're the one being dumb." She pulled her part closer to her.

Neither one of them was going to let go. So Hiro did the stupid thing: yanked as hard as he could.

"Hey!" Karmi lurched forward to regain her balance. "Stop!" She pulled back with all her strength.

Now, if either genius had taken a second to look, they would've seen the fabric on the suitcase starting to tear. But since they were both in their element (and each other's grills), exactly what you thought was going to happen…

RIP!

...Happened.

Both of them fell to the ground as the fabric ripped right below the zipper. The top was now hanging on by only the bottom half, the contents spilling out onto the floor.

"You idiot!" Karmi threw the broken handle at Hiro, which thankfully missed off to his right. "Stupid jerk."

Hiro now felt even worse now. He crawled over to her and tried to look at the handle he tore off. "My aunt can probably sew this back up, if you-"

Her hand came down onto the top of his head and pushed him away.

"No! I don't need your help!" Karmi started throwing things back in. "I can fix this!"

She reached out to grab a couple of shirts, throwing them in with no rhyme or reason.

"I can...fix this..."

A spare sweater was now in her grasp, but she made no motion to move it, only ball it in her fist.

"I don't..."

Her head was down, bangs covering her face, but her bottom lip was starting to quiver. It looked like she was the verge of a full-blown breakdown.

Hiro slowly shifted his body back over to her. He gingerly grabbed the sweater out of her hand and put it in the case. "Karmi...I broke it. I'll fix it." He put his hand on hers. "Don't worry."

"You're just saying that."

She was so quiet it was almost scary. The last time she whispered like this she almost broke his wrist.

"I'm not. Why would you think that?"

It was only then she looked up at him. The tears were streaming down her face, her eyes red, her cheeks flushed. She mumbled out her response.

"Because you hate me."

Hiro didn't know what to do at first. Her face was a wreck, as well as her frame of mind. It had been a rough day for everyone, and he just wanted it to end.

He pushed the suitcase to the side to sit in front of her, his hand still on hers. "Karmi, I...I don't hate you. I don't. I could never hate you. You're my friend."

"You can't be serious." Karmi wiped her cheeks with her sleeve. "After everything I've said to you? After what I said about your...your brother?"

Hiro nodded, his words failing him.

She continued to stare at him, and it was one of the longest minutes of his life. Once it was done, though, she broke off her gaze, looking down at the floor.

And then she did something that even surprised him: she leaned forward, her forehead hitting his shoulder, and started to cry all over again.

"I'm just so tired."

His shoulder was getting wet from all of her tears, but he didn't dare move her. He just had to take it.

"And I'm tired of being tired."

Karmi turned her head and sniffed loudly. Her eyes were now flush against his neck, the tears now staining that part of his body. But Hiro wasn't paying attention to that. No, his attention was now at the new arrival.

Aunt Cass was leaning against the railing, her arms crossed and a grin on her face. Karmi hadn't noticed her yet, but Hiro had. He was about to open his mouth when she brought up a finger to her lips.

Uh oh. What was she going to do?

"Is everything all right up here?"

Karmi jolted back up to look at her.

"I gave him ten minutes, and when I didn't hear you guys, I wanted to make sure everything was OK. Is it?"

Hiro stole a glance at Karmi. "Umm...yeah. I think we're good. It's just been a long day."

"I can imagine." Aunt Cass saw the tattered case near Baymax's station. "What happened to that, Karmi?"

"It...broke. I'll have to get a new one."

"Oh, you don't have to do that. I can sew that back up no problem. Here." She grabbed it and one of Hiro's spare laundry baskets and put her clothes inside. "I'll take it downstairs and get started on it while you change. You didn't think you could get out of 'Game Show Night', did you?"

"Umm..."

"Come on, Hiro. Let's let her get situated."

He stood up, releasing his hand from hers. He didn't want to leave her alone, but it looked like she had calm down a little bit. Hopefully she'd be OK.

Aunt Cass was already in her chair with a needle in hand by the time Hiro got back to the living room. He sat down on the couch and rubbed his temple.

"Did I interrupt something up there?"

He looked up at his aunt, whose attention was still on the needlework. "No. We argued for a little bit, but what else is new at this point?"

"What is that old saying? You always hurt the ones you-"

"Hello, Karmi."

Hiro wheeled around to see Karmi had arrived downstairs. She was in her pajamas and her hair was down and loose, half of it hanging over her shoulder.

"Hey, Baymax," she muttered, sitting down on the opposite side of Hiro.

"Karmi, it would appear that you have been suffering from the lack of a consistent sleep schedule. What is your average amount of hours of sleep you get per night?"

"Baymax, no reason to give her the third degree," Aunt Cass said. "Although you do look a little pale. Do you want any tea? I can go grab some from downstairs."

Karmi nodded. "Yeah, that would be nice. Maybe some chamomile."

"OK, I'll go get it ready. Be right back."

Aunt Cass got up and walked down the stairs, leaving the group to themselves.

"I didn't know you had a cat."

Hiro looked over to Karmi, who had put a pillow behind her head and was staring at Mochi. The cat had appeared out of nowhere and taken residence in his box in the corner. "Oh yeah, he's a big troublemaker. Can't tell you how many times he's gotten out and we've had to go find him."

"I wish I had a cat. But my mom's allergic."

"And you're not?"

"Not yet."

Aunt Cass came back with a steaming mug of tea, setting it down on the table next to the couch. "Careful, it's very hot."

"Thank you." Karmi waved her hand over it to gauge the temperature. "What're you guys watching?"

"Oh, this old game show from a long time ago." She pointed to the TV, where one of the contestants had her hands hovering over a buzzer. "They have to land on dollar amounts to keep going, and if they land on those weird red creatures, they get a strike. They get four, and they're out entirely." She grabbed some more thread from her basket next to her. "This was my mom's favorite game show back in the day."

"I have calculated the pattern that the show uses to determine where the player will land on. My database makes mention that the show only used five patterns, which one contestant was able to memorize to maximize the amount of money he won."

Aunt Cass cupped her mouth with her spare hand and whispered to Karmi. "This is why we don't watch shows with Baymax. He goes off on a tangent and won't shut up."

Her smirk let Hiro know she was joking, and Karmi let out a small laugh.

The next half hour was pleasant, the next episode coming on and the group relaxing at their seats. Aunt Cass had finished with the suitcase and was back on her popcorn, pointing out certain things about the show. Karmi had downed about half of her tea and was now lying on her side, still staring at the TV.

Hiro, on the other hand, was just enjoying the peace. Ever since Karmi had started staying over, it had been one punch after another. There was almost no room to relax, even during the night. If he could just have another few hours of this, he'd be set.

His fingers started to absentmindedly rub the pillow on his left. Weird, it was a lot smoother than normal, not like the fur ones that were normally on the couch.

Oh wait, the pillow was on his right.

So what was on his-

Uh oh.

He looked down to see that he was rubbing Karmi's ankle, the rest of his fingers lightly wrapped around her leg. He stopped his index finger and started to stammer. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't-"

Hiro saw that Karmi wasn't in any condition to respond. Her eyes were closed, her toes tapping his thigh in her sleep.

"Poor girl. I should have just told her to go to bed. She needed it."

"I can take her upstairs, if you wish."

"Yeah, if you can," Aunt Cass said to Baymax. "Just be careful with her, OK?

Baymax walked over to her and gingerly put his arms underneath Karmi's knees and neck. He straightened up and made his way over to the steps and set his robot foot on the first one, taking the process very slowly.

"Hiro, perhaps my next skeleton should come equipped with additional joints in the legs so that I may traverse stairs accordingly."

"Yeah." Hiro was too focused on Karmi to pay much attention. "I'll keep that in mind."

Baymax finally ducked out of sight, and Hiro let out the air he didn't know he was holding in. At least Karmi was asleep. They still had their arguments to work out, but that could be left for another day.

"I just don't understand that girl," he muttered under his breath.

The sound of chuckling came from his right, and he looked to see Aunt Cass was laughing softly, her hand over her mouth.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Sorry, Hiro." She finished her laughter as she put her needle and thread in the basket. "It's just..."

"It's just what?"

Aunt Cass stared off into the abyss, a sad smile on her face.

"You remind me of your father."

Hiro stared at her. He had never heard her talk about his parents before, given that it was an incredibly touchy subject for everyone.

"I remember there was a time," she started, "when we were in high school, in our sophomore year. There was this girl that would just bother him to no end. She'd follow him around between classes, try to sit with him during lunch, and even go to his math meets with a sign cheering him on. He tried to just brush it off, but eventually he would come home and get frustrated. May and I would tease him about it all the time, which would lead to him locking himself in his bedroom."

She took a sip from her mug, enjoying the memory. "Then one day, as she was following him to Advanced Calculus, he yelled at her. Told her to stop and leave him alone. Reduced the poor girl to tears in front of almost the entire school."

"Wow."

"Yeah. We were on the bus in the afternoon and you could tell poor Tommy-boy was upset about it." Seeing Hiro's confused look, she waved her hand at him. "That was her nickname for him. Ol' Tommy-boy. May and I, being the great sisters that we were, called him that all the way back to our parent's house. We probably didn't help the situation at all."

Aunt Cass put her mug down on the table. "And then the next day, she tried to run away from home."

"Really?" Hiro said. "Seems like an overreaction."

"Not to her. And her dad was a police officer, so you can imagine she didn't get very far. But your father was one of the first people who went out looking for her. He felt a little responsible because of what he had said. But everything turned out OK. She showed up to school afterward and apologized about the whole thing."

Hiro glanced at the muted TV, lost in his thoughts.

"People are complicated, Hiro. You only see one part of them at a time. Be around them often enough, though, and you see all the layers. They're not all good, but you have to take the good with the bad. You just have to be patient."

He nodded, still a little confused, and got up off of the couch. "I think I'm going to go to bed."

"Probably a smart thing to do."

Hiro made his way to the stairs and started climbing them. He only got up a couple before he stopped and looked at one of the pictures on the wall. It was a portrait of a very young Tadashi and an infant Hiro, being flanked in his cradle by his parents. There was his dad, his black hair thinning on his head but still with the sparkle of youth in his eyes.

And there was his mom, her glasses threatening to fall off her nose, her smile infectious.

"Aunt Cass?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

Hiro turned back to the living room. "That girl. From school. Whatever happened to her?"

She turned off the TV and started walking over. "Well...she actually ended up moving away the next year. Her dad got a new job in a different state, and they left right as the school year ended. Your father was actually very upset about it. He had kind of gotten used to her by then."

"Oh."

"But, as luck would have it..."

His ears perked up again.

"When he went off to college, she ended up getting accepted there too, and even got assigned to the same dormitory. Literally ran into each other as they were moving in. Even called him Tommy-boy, if I remember correctly."

Hiro chuckled to himself.

"And then after school, they moved in together."

He stopped.

"And then they got married."

His breath caught in his throat.

"And then..." She pointed to the portrait, her eyes glistening. "They brought into the world the two best nephews that anyone could ever ask for."

She rubbed the top of his head and turned to walk to her bedroom. "Good night, Hiro."

He saw her close her door, and took one last glance at the portrait on the wall. He had always thought that his parents were the perfect people, according to his relatives. It was reassuring to know that even they got off on the wrong foot.

Hiro climbed the stairs to his room, his mind racing. It was going to be a very difficult night for sleep. As was every night recently.

He looked up to take the last step...and saw Baymax standing in the middle of the room, Karmi still in his arms.

"Baymax? What are you doing? I thought you put her to bed."

"I am unable to do so." Baymax rotated his head into the direction of her space. "The separator is laid in such a way that I cannot place Karmi into her sleeping space."

Hiro sighed. "Here, give her to me. I'll do it."

"Hiro, you are not capable of carrying Karmi. You do not have the upper body strength to complete this task."

"OK, that was harsh. But either way..." Hiro put his arms out. "It's literally less than ten feet. I think I can handle it."

Baymax blinked, and held out his arms to transfer the girl to Hiro. The sudden weight caused him to stumble back a couple of steps, but he was able to retain his balance.

"Man, you sure are a lot heavier without the Nano-Dex." He paused for a moment. "And I hope you never hear me say that."

Karmi's body wasn't terribly heavy, but granted, she was making it a little easier. Her head was leaning against his shoulder, and her arms were cradled in her lap. She was still asleep, which was good; if she woke up now, he didn't know what she would do.

He took a step forward.

"Hiro..."

Her slurred speech stopped him cold. Yup, here came the fist.

Karmi's hand was now on his chest, her fingers closing around his shirt, stretching out the collar.

"I'm sorry."

The short, shaky breaths sounded like they were causing her pain. Her eyes were still tightly shut. Hiro took another step, but her grasp grew even tighter.

"I'm...I'm so sorry..."

The tears were back again, re-staining his shirt. But now there was a new source for them; a couple of droplets came down on her arm, running down until they hit her elbow.

Hiro shook his head, trying to stop his own tears. That wasn't going to work, so all he could do now was get her to bed.

Having reached his destination, he gently put her down on top of the mattress and pulled the sheet over her body. Thinking quickly, he grabbed one of the spare pillows and sat it next to her, the arms almost automatically ensnaring it into a hug.

Being in bed looked like it calmed Karmi down a bit; she wasn't crying any more, and the stuttered breaths stopped as well. But Hiro couldn't stop staring, and it took Baymax cutting in to break his reverie.

"Hiro, are you alright?"

He walked over to his bed and sat at the foot of it, putting his head in his hands. His own tears had stopped, but his cheeks were still burning from the moisture.

"On a scale of-"

"I'm fine, Baymax." He ran his fingers up his face and through his hair. "Just...not physically." His eyes looked over at the separator. "I just don't know what to do with Karmi."

"I do not understand."

Hiro flopped back onto his bed, his arms pointed out. "If this keeps up, Baymax, I'm going to need a therapist. I can't go on like this."

Baymax rotated his head between Karmi's sleeping body and Hiro. Maybe his brain would come up with some medical procedure that could cut out the part of his brain that was responsible for all of this.

"Hiro, Karmi is your friend. Your intentions were correct; however, your method of execution was not. Perhaps a change in procedure would allow you to show Karmi how much you wish to help her." Baymax held up a finger. "Can you think of any part of her life that may need some intervention?"

"Yeah," Hiro mumbled. "All of it."

And then it hit him.

"Wait, maybe not all of it. Just what I can do to make her relax. Let her take a break from all of this."

He sat back up, staring at his healthcare robot.

"Baymax, I have an idea."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yeah, you thought the last chapter was angsty. If you got to the end of this, you've seen probably the most amount of angst I've ever put (and probably will ever put) in a fic.

For a romance person like myself, writing fights is not in my comfort zone at all. However, I feel I did the best job I could when it came to showing exactly what would send these two over the edge: Tadashi for Hiro, and Karmi's self-worth and intelligence. And even though they (kind of) set things right towards the end, they're still not out of the woods yet.

Nah, the actual apology tour will be happening in the next chapter.

What will the next chapter also include? Another Karmi & Aunt Cass conversation, an intervention, an accidental Bluetooth sharing confirmation, a secret playlist, and perhaps...just perhaps...another karaoke session.

And then we'll all see Hiro and Karmi's True Colors.

No, not those True Colors. Remember who Karmi's favorite artist is. Think all the way back to the blimp.

The last chapter before new episodes start coming out should be a fun one. :P

Read and review, if you like. Until next time.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney Animation. I do not own the year 1975, or the band The 1975, or "The Sound", or even the Weeknd and his "True Colors".

...But get those songs ready, because you'll need them for what's ahead.  When Karmi hits play, you probably should too.

Chapter 5 – Burn The Midnight Oil

For the first time in a long time, Karmi's mind was blank.

Perfectly black, and perfectly devoid of any thought. She couldn't remember the last time that she didn't have a dream fresh in her brain when she woke up.

But that didn't mean she was in the clear.

"Mmmm..."

Karmi stirred in her bed. That night had been rough, both before her sudden dozing-off on the couch and during it. She could definitely remember what happened yesterday: the phone call from her boss, the gigantic fight she had with Hiro in the morning, the not-so-gigantic-but-still-bad fight in the evening. It all culminated with them watching game shows with his aunt, and the aforementioned dozing-off.

But she felt...nah, she didn't actually feel better. She had to face the music, though.

And in this case, the music's name was Hiro.

She sat up and stretched her arms over her head. Last night was her best night for sleep, if only by process of elimination. Yes, she had gotten her requisite amount of hours, but the week was really taking a toll on her.

But no matter. On to business.

Karmi got up and turned the corner. "Hiro, you awake? We need to-"

She stopped short. Hiro's bed was made, and a quick glance to the clock wall showed that Baymax's case was gone too.

Wait...was that clock off?

She looked at the time, not believing it was right. It was barely past eight, an hour after she was suppose to wake up.

"Oh my goodness! I'm going to be late!"

She dressed and brushed as fast as she possibly could. Through all the events of last night, she must have forgotten to set her alarm. She only hoped that the construction people weren't messing things up as they had been over the past couple of days.

Karmi slung her backpack over one shoulder and her purse under the other, taking the stairs two at a time. She hit the second story, her feet slamming down on the hardwood floor. Maybe she could grab a quick bite from-

"Good morning, Karmi."

Her foot was hanging in the air when she looked up to see Aunt Cass perched in the window seat, a steaming mug of coffee in her hand. Her leg was perched up on the railing, blocking her access to the stairwell. Mochi was sitting right next to her with a cat toy in his mouth.

"Ummm..." Karmi took a step forward. "Good morning, Ms. Cass."

The woman looked up at her with a blank expression.

"So..." She walked up to the artificial barrier Hiro's aunt was making. "I'm running a little late. I have to get to class. I might be able to swing by my house after my first class if I leave-"

"You're not going anywhere yet."

Aunt Cass stirred the spoon in her mug lightly, her gaze not breaking from Karmi's. "You and I need to talk, Karmi. Why don't you have a seat?"

Karmi, dreading what was about to happen, tried to push against Aunt Cass's leg, but the other one was now stacked on top. It didn't look like she was going to get out of this. She stepped over to the other side of the window seat, setting her backpack down in front of her.

"Mochi will act as our intermediary, just in case things get out of control."

The cat, apparently not agreeing with those terms, jumped down and started to walk toward the living room.

"...Or not."

"Miss Cass, I don't mean to pry," Karmi started, "But if you're up here, who's taking care of the cafe?"

The woman put her finger up to her ear and then pointed down the stairwell. Karmi leaned forward slightly as she was able to barely make out Honey Lemon and Wasabi talking to patrons downstairs. "They have things under control. Don't worry about them."

She took a sip from her mug. "Hiro told me about what happened yesterday."

"...Oh."

"He also told me about everything that was said yesterday. What he said to you...and what you said to him."

"Miss Cass-"

She held up her hand, cutting her off. "Karmi, please don't interrupt me. There's a lot that I need to get to."

Karmi slunk back into the cushions.

"Good." Aunt Cass set her mug down. "First of all, Hiro came to me first thing this morning. He had talked to me last night about a few things, but he felt bad about some of the things he didn't tell me. So...he told me everything. How he went to the restaurant and confronted that man that assaulted you. How he lied to me about where he was going. The argument that you two had in the garage. He felt terrible about what he said, but I told him that it doesn't excuse any of his behavior. And believe me," she added, seeing Karmi's mouth open, "He will be punished for what he did. But I want to talk to you about you."

She started nervously grabbing at her skirt.

"Karmi...you are running yourself into the ground."

"I don't understand."

Aunt Cass crossed her arms, finally bringing her feet down to the floor. "Karmi, Hiro told me about all of the stuff you do. Classes, work, your internship. One of those things alone would be enough for one person. But all of that, in addition to what's going on with your home, is breaking you. I can see it. You have the exact same look I had when I was eighteen and working three different jobs to support my family. After about 2 months, I broke down. My parents made me choose one of them before I gave myself an aneurysm.

"Now," she continued, "you are not my child, so I'm not going to force you to do anything. You are, however, living in this household temporarily, and I'm not going to just sit by and watch you literally waste away to nothing."

"Miss Cass." She had to get this out, interruption be damned. "What I said...about your nephew. About Tadashi."

The woman stared down at her.

"What I said about him was absolutely uncalled for. It was disgusting, and I wish I could take it back. I'm sorry."

She continued to look at her, and for a moment, she thought that she was never going to stop staring. After a few seconds, though, her gaze softened, a small smile starting to show. "I accept your apology, Karmi...but I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

Karmi stood up and grabbed her stuff. "Well, I can tell him that once I get to school. I'm already running behind, so I'll just head over there now." She went to the stairwell, but Aunt Cass's leg was up once again, blocking her progress.

"Yeah. About that."

The woman still had her arms crossed, but the smile was getting bigger. "Hiro also talked to me this morning about what he wanted to do to set things right. After he told me the plan, I was all for it. Everyone else was as well."

"Everyone else?"

"Yes. Everyone." Aunt Cass looked down at her phone. "And that plan went into effect about an hour ago."

Karmi looked down at the leg, then back at her. "I'm sure it's a great plan and all, but this is Hiro we're talking about. Once I get to class, I'll-"

"Hiro has uploaded your class schedule for today into Baymax, and he will go to all of your classes and transcribe all of the lectures for you. Your dean has already given him permission."

"O...K," Karmi said slowly. "That's great! That gives me a chance to run over to my house and-"

"Fred," Aunt Cass interrupted, "went over there first thing this morning to talk to the construction company. It turns out that boy can get pretty upset when he wants to. Had their boss on the phone within a couple minutes of showing up. Gave them a pretty good scare." She brought her phone up and peered at it. "As of the last message he sent to me, he's running them ragged trying to get your house up to code. I guess they weren't going as fast as they told you."

"...My internship?"

"Go Go has a delivery there midday, and she will be informing whomever you report to that you will not be coming in at all. She was told to think of a creative excuse, as long as it doesn't involve breaking the law."

Karmi mentally counted the number of people involved in this scheme. "I have a shift tonight at Gramercy."

"None of Hiro's friends have taken care of that yet."

Her face lightened up.

"Because that's where I came in."

And it immediately fell.

"I called Chef Gramercy personally this morning and told him that you needed to take some time off. I did not tell him why, and he did not ask. He did, however, conference in Chef Ariel to give his opinion on the subject. He was yelling when I hung up the phone, but I think she took the hint."

Aunt Cass stood up and grabbed her mug. "So, Karmi, it would appear...that you don't have any plans for today."

Karmi's brain went blank again. A day off? Really?

"So here's what you're going to do." Aunt Cass pointed upstairs. "You're going to take all of your things up to Hiro's room, and then you're going to come downstairs and have a proper breakfast. How do you like your eggs?"

Her mouth was hanging open, unable to articulate an answer.

"You know what? I'll make a bunch of styles, and you can pick. The rest I'll give to Honey Lemon and Wasabi, since they probably have to head out soon." She waved her hand forward. "Go on. I'll be downstairs."

Aunt Cass walked down the steps, leaving Karmi alone, her hands full of bags and her mind still swimming.

And those series of events began what would be one of the weirdest days Karmi had in her entire life.

She couldn't remember the last time she had nothing to do all day. She had evenings off sometimes, sure, but the morning? The early afternoon? She was normally doing some sort of work then.

It was weird. Very weird.

By the time Karmi had gotten down to the lower level, Honey Lemon and Wasabi had already left. A plate of food was waiting for her in the booth of the cafe, piled high with eggs of all varieties. A few pieces of buttered toast and apple slices were on the side.

"Don't worry about anyone else," Aunt Cass said, gesturing to the other customers. "You sit down and eat. Let me know if you need anything." She set down a glass, which Karmi could tell was filled with tea. She walked off to the register to help with someone there, leaving her to her food.

It was a lot of food, which was apparently a common theme in the Hamada household, but she quickly found herself digging in. She hadn't realized how hungry she was; normally she'd just have a drink and a to-go snack for breakfast, but the whole week had affected her appetite. By the time Aunt Cass came back around to check on her, the plate was completely clear.

"Oh wow. You eat just like Hiro does."

Karmi stopped halfway through her gulp of tea.

"...Yeah, you probably get compared to Hiro a lot, don't you?"

Aunt Cass cleared off the table and went to the kitchen. Karmi just kind of sat there, twiddling her thumbs. She still couldn't believe what was happening. A normal day would already be a few hours old, her head buried in schoolwork or looking down the viewfinder of a microscope.

Hiro's aunt must've seen her fidgeting, because she came back over about a minute later. "Sweetie, why don't you go upstairs and relax for a little bit?"

...So Karmi laid in the bed, flat on her back, staring at the ceiling and listening to the giant wall clock tick second after second.

After second.

Is this was people did when they had the day off? Wait for the inevitability of death and the sunset and all that jazz?

Karmi narrowed her eyes. OK, that was a weird thought. Calm yourself, Karmi. There has to be something you can do. You're not that boring of a person.

Ten minutes later, she was downstairs again with her purse, trying to sneak her way out of the cafe.

"Hello, Karmi!"

Crap.

"Did you think you could get away?"

She slowly turned on the spot to face Aunt Cass. She brought her arms up in a praying position. "Please, Ms. Cass. I have to do something. I beg of you."

"Well." She had a finger on her chin, thinking hard. "If you insist..."

Karmi was overjoyed, so much so that she didn't see the apron come down around her neck.

"I need someone to help me for the next couple of hours. I'm restocking all of the muffins, and I can't run between the back room and out here all of that time."

And so that was how Karmi became an unofficial employee of the Lucky Cat Cafe.

"You think she's doing OK?"

Hiro looked up from his sandwich at Honey Lemon. He didn't even have to ask who she was talking about. "Well, we took care of everything for her. I hope she takes the hint."

"And if she doesn't?" Go Go said, setting her tray down next to him.

"That's what Aunt Cass is there for."

The Korean broke her chopsticks apart and reached for one of her sushi segments. "You do know, Hiro, that there's a distinct possibility that you're going to go home tonight and Karmi's going to be waiting for you in your room, clinging to the ceiling with a knife. Did you think about that?"

"...Not until now."

"Hiro, she's not going to do that," Honey Lemon interjected. "I'm sure she will be very grateful for what you've done."

"And hopefully not measuring the height from the roof to your bed."

He glared at Go Go, who only chuckled at him in response.

"Ms. Cass, where are the knives?"

"The what, sweetie?"

"The butter knives."

"Oh!" Aunt Cass poked her head out the back room and pointed to the far counter. "Top drawer on the right."

The morning had flown by, due in part to Karmi helping out Aunt Cass in the cafe. It was now just past one o'clock, and the lunch crowd had thinned out to where there were only a few people left inside. She was taking the opportunity to prepare herself a snack tray: a little bit of fruit, some crackers, and some spicy hummus.

"The knife's for the hummus, right?"

Karmi sheepishly grinned as Aunt Cass came out of the kitchen, her apron covered in flour. "Yeah, it is."

"Good. Because I didn't want to get the wrong impression."

Karmi went to sit over at one of the stools near the window, her drink and tray in hand. She spent the next few minutes just admiring the view, every once in a while putting a grape in her mouth.

She kept using this word, but everything was...weird. Is this what normal people did during the day? She saw a whole variety of people walking around: some old, some young, some strolling with their partners, some rushing around to wherever their destination was. The sun was shining bright in the sky, the crystal blue just as clear.

Serving people in the cafe was so much different than the restaurant. Everyone here (for the most part) was kind and upbeat. There was none of the uppity, pompous attitudes that she ran into at Gramercy on a regular basis. They all had a smile when they were given their drinks and a cheerful attitude. If she hadn't known any better, she thought everyone was a robot.

But it was genuine. And very relaxing.

"Lording over your underlings?"

Karmi glanced to her right, Aunt Cass coming into view. "Just looking."

"Mmm." The woman took a cracker out of the tray and dipped it into the spread. "So, Karmi...what do you do for fun?"

She sighed. "Well, this is about the extent of what I do. I don't really have a lot of free time, as you've probably noticed."

"Karmi, you're sixteen years old. You have your whole life ahead of you. What's going to happen when you're thirty and you have all of these accomplishments and no one to share them with? You don't want to be holed up somewhere without any friends, right?"

"Yeah." She stirred the carrot stick in the hummus absentmindedly. "Genius Boy said something like that, too."

"Who?"

It just occurred to Karmi that she had never uttered his nickname in front of her before. "Oh. It's...Hiro. I call him that."

"Oh, I get it! Because he's a boy and a genius! So clever!"

Yeah, Karmi was just going to let her keep thinking that.

"So how's the day off treating you? You look much better today than you did yesterday."

"I...feel better. I don't have this nagging weight on my brain like normal."

"That was Hiro's intent. He wanted to make things easy for you after what he said and did to you."

She sighed as she turned her stool to face her. "Yeah, the word easy isn't really in his vocabulary. Or mine, really." Her fingers drummed the side of her glass. "When we're at school, we fight over everything. Projects, research. He thinks he's the smartest person in the room. He's so...Grr." She had to steady her nerves in the presence of his aunt. "And then there's days like this where he's being generous and kind and it's great. But I know that when the next day comes around, he's going to go back to his annoying self."

Aunt Cass chuckled next to her, a grape in her grasp. "Now imagine living with him for the past eleven years."

The two shared a laugh, as well as the last of the hummus. Taking the tray, Aunt Cass beckoned Karmi to follow her over to the register. "Karmi, no one said friendship was easy. It took Hiro a long time to get the friends he has now. It's not going to happen overnight. It's not going to happen in a month, or a few months. It's going to take time."

The teen genius nodded, her head now starting to hurt again.

"As for now, I'm relieving you of your duties. Go upstairs and chill. I can take care of things down here."

"You sure?"

The woman stared down at her, a twinkle in her eye. "Karmi, I've been working here since probably before you were born. I think I'll be fine. Now, go." She shooed her away up the stairwell. "You're not allowed to come downstairs until dinner time. I'll sic Mochi on you if you try to escape again."

That sounded awfully like a punishment, but Karmi didn't have time to think about it; she was already halfway up the stairs.

Now back in Hiro's room, she took a seat on the bed. What did she like to do? There was her organisms, which she didn't have access to. She had her stories, but she-

She stopped mid-thought, slapping herself on the forehead. "Karmi, you idiot."

She got up and sat down at the desk, opening up her laptop. She double-clicked on the word processor icon and brought up a new document. She cracked her knuckles, not unlike another teen genius she knew, and lowered her fingers to the keyboard...

And then her head.

"Ugh. I got nothing."

Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she picked it up to stare at the incoming message.

You OK?

It was Hiro. He was checking up on her.

Karmi wasn't sure how to respond, or even if to respond. But she felt like she had to; he would see that she read it. With her thumb, she typed out a response.

Better.

The response was almost immediate.

Better's good.

She was going to type again when she saw the three circles pop up, indicating he was still typing.

I'll be in study group with everyone tonight, so I won't be home until super late. Aunt Cass already knows. Consider it my final gift for what I did yesterday. I'll see you after, maybe? If you're up?

Her thumb hovered over the keyboard, not sure what to type. Why did he need to have perfect grammar on his texts? It was fitting, she guessed.

Maybe.

She set the phone down, but almost immediately after she did, it vibrated again. She tilted the phone up to see it, and only saw one thing: a yellow round face, with its mouth puckered up, a heart coming out of it.

Karmi froze. Being a teenage girl, she was fully aware of the concept of emojis, and she definitely knew what that one meant. But before she could process it, Hiro had typed something else.

IGNORE THAT GO GO IS DEAD BYE

And then another separate message, this time from the Korean:

You're welcome.

She threw the phone down onto her bed. She wasn't sure if she could handle any more phone conversations.

But at least she had an idea now.

Taking a deep breath in, Karmi calmed her nerves...and slowly started to type.

Several hours later...

"Everyone who thinks Hiro needs to lighten up, say aye!"

"I would raise my hand, but I'm too busy holding on to Baymax for dear life."

"Fair."

Hiro stared straight ahead, ignoring the girl on his right. They were high up in the sky, ready to begin their patrol, but his mind was obviously on different things. "We need to stay focused. Mr. Sparkles could be anywhere out there. Let's do a wide sweep around the city."

"Aye aye, Captain Cutie."

"I'm still ignoring you."

"Oh, come on. It was all in good fun." Go Go bent down to Fred in Baymax's other arm. "Fred, tell him it was all in good fun."

"Good fun it was, young Hiro!"

"Eh, close enough."

Honey Lemon smiled down at him, ever the mediator. "Hiro, don't worry about Go Go. She's just messing around."

Hiro didn't answer her either. The group fell into silence, hopefully focusing on the long night ahead of them. Sycorax hadn't done anything for a couple of weeks now. The crime break was unnerving for everyone, not just him-

"Soooo...who are you thinking about?"

He slammed his head into Baymax's back and groaned. Yup...a very long night.

Back at the house...

Karmi stretched her arms above her head. Of course, now was the day that she had all of the ideas pop into her head. Exiled to Hiro's room, feet perched up on the bed, her hair now out of its ponytail and hanging over her shoulder.

But it was very fruitful.

She had come up with a few different story ideas and even wrote out the first chapter of a couple of them. As per usual when it came to her writing, she had five different documents up and twenty tabs on her web browser.

Hey, the research had to come from somewhere.

"Writing the next great American novel?"

Karmi craned her neck to see Aunt Cass behind her with a tray of food. "Not really. Just working on some things."

"I hope it's not schoolwork."

"No, it's personal stuff."

She set the tray down on the bed. On it was a plate of rice, topped with the leftover chicken from the beginning of the week. "I thought you might want to eat up here, since it looks like you've settled in. Beside, I don't think you want to be downstairs; we're making up the Poetry Night from Tuesday."

"Thank you."

"No problem." Aunt Cass turned to go, but stopped at the clock. "You know, it's so quiet up here. I'd go mad if I had to stay in this room for as long as you have."

"Well, I was going to put on my music with my phone," Karmi started, "But I didn't want to put it up so high it carried downstairs."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Hiro put in these things." She pointed up, where Karmi followed her finger to see a flat black piece of metal embedded into the woodwork. "He built these 'noise-isolation whosy whatsies' to keep all of the noise in his room. Doubles as speakers, too. He can put the music as high as it wants and no one hears a thing down in the cafe. And it's connected to his Wi-Fi. So...rock out to your heart's content."

Karmi tilted her head. "I...don't think anyone says that anymore."

"Well, I do. That's because I'm old."

Aunt Cass made her exit, and Karmi put a spoonful of chicken in her mouth as she fiddled with her phone. Now she could get even more work done, now that she could get her music going.

She scrolled down the list of available networks. Yeah, there it was. Hiro's Wifi – FOR WORK PURPOSES ONLY.

"How did I not notice that before?"

Shaking her head, she hit the button.

Back to the gang...

"When did Steamer get out of jail?"

"Who cares? We need to stop him!"

Baymax rocketed off after the villain, the rest of the group following on the street below. Hiro wasn't sure when he appeared, or even why, but a bad guy was a bad guy.

His phone vibrated in his pants, and he looked down at his pocket. "Really? Now!?" He carefully pulled it out and stabbed at the screen. "Ugh. Fine. Whatever."

Aaaaand back to the house...

"Huh. It let me in. You'd think Genius Boy would have permissions disabled, but whatever."

Karmi started scrolling through her playlists. Maybe a nice sappy song to get her in the mood, but nothing really seemed right...

The buildup of a song started coming up through the speakers. "That's weird; I haven't started anything yet." Karmi poked at her phone. "Is my phone acting up again?"

Well I know when you're around 'cause I know the sound
I know the sound, of your heart

Karmi's head shot up. Wait a minute...

Well I know when you're around, 'cause I know the sound
I know the sound, of your heart

She peered around the divider. Hiro's computer had clearly woken up from its sleep mode, a program open up on it. It looked like a-

He doesn't, she thought. There's no way.

Well I know when you're around, 'cause I know the sound
I know the sound, of your heart

Karmi slowly got up from the chair and walked over to the desk, the music still blaring in her ears.

Well I know when you're around, 'cause I know the sound
I know the sound, of your heart

She stared at the computer screen, not quite believing her eyes.

I can't believe I forgot your name
Oh baby won't you-

Her finger came down on the pause button on his keyboard, stopping the song. She bent down fully, her gaze not breaking from the computer.

"What in the actual world..."

"Millennials!"

The police van slammed shut, Von Steamer's face still visible through the small window. "I was just minding my own business, and then you kids have to spoil all the fun!"

"Tell it to the guards, buddy," Fred replied as he stood on the vehicle. "You will never escape the wrath of Big Hero 6! Now watch us revel in our victory!"

He waited for the others to join in, but was greeted with silence. "Guys, I can't hear your reveling!"

"Sorry, Fred," Wasabi said, "But we don't have time for that. We gotta get back on patrol."

Hiro was still on Baymax, his phone back out as he tried to find the message that he had come across before. "Where is it? It's not in here."

"Kids and their phones these days," the villain muttered. "Can't go two seconds without being glued to their technology."

"Don't worry, Steamy. He's talking to a girl. They've been at it all day."

"Oooh!" His monocle peered out of the window, intrigued. "Young romance! I was a wonderful ladies man back in the day. Oh, there was this one woman who caught my eye..."

"Fred!" Go Go came around the back of the van, shaking her finger. "Stop soliciting relationship advice from the supervillain."

Both Fred and Von Steamer bowed their heads. "Awww..."

OK, we're almost done with the transitions…

Karmi was now sitting in Hiro's chair, her finger running over the wheel of the mouse. Over the past few minutes, she had just been staring at the computer as the long list of songs scrolled through her vision.

She couldn't believe it. The music he had on his computer as a whole was impressive, but this particular playlist was…

It was…

So unlike him.

Karmi clicked on one of the options on the bar. It would show her the amount of times each song was played; she had the same program on her own laptop, and it was a handy tool to see what songs she was fixated on.

The music player buffered for a moment, and the list readjusted before her eyes...with one particular song appearing on top.

"Wow," she muttered, looking at the number. "He's played this a lot. I wonder what-"

Her eyes traveled over to the Title column.

"...Oh, Genius Boy. This explains so many things."

Finally, right before the clock struck midnight…

Hiro climbed the stairs with Baymax, trying to rub the tiredness out of his eyes. Getting home late was always rough, but the patrol had taken an extra toll on him. He had almost dropped his phone about five times trying to figure out what message he had gotten, but no such luck; whatever it was had either deleted itself or auto-checked itself as read.

He had gotten home just in time for Aunt Cass to give him some leftover food. Thankfully, she didn't ask about the "study session"; she was too busy cleaning up the cafe after the redone Poetry Night. Turns out that bikers really didn't know anything about prose...or cleanliness.

His stomach satiated, Hiro hit the landing to his room. He noticed that the light was still on; Karmi was probably still awake.

"C'mon, Baymax." He pulled the robot's arm over his shoulder. "Up you go, buddy."

"Did you see that man? He had glass over one of his eyes! That's really dangerous!"

Yup. Low battery again. It was beginning to be all too commonplace these days.

Hiro took a quick glance up at the ceiling before setting Baymax in his case. Good, it didn't look like the ninja version of Karmi was waiting for him up there.

"Hey."

He turned to see Karmi at the writer's desk, her laptop open and a bunch of text on the screen. She was back in her pajamas, and her hair, as was also custom now at this point of the night, was down, curled over the back of the chair.

It looked nice. He didn't know why she didn't keep it like that.

"Hey," he answered, Baymax inflating next to him. He'd have to try to keep this as casual as possible. "How'd your day go?"

"Good."

"That's...good."

Amazing how two geniuses can't speak anything other than one syllable words when things get awkward.

"Hiro."

He shook the cobwebs out of his head. "Yeah?"

"I think we need to talk."

That's what he was afraid of, but despite the nerves, it was something that he agreed with. "Yeah, I think so too." He took a step back toward the bathroom. "Can I...shower first?"

"Oh. Oh yeah!" Karmi waved him off and turned back to the computer. "Sure."

It was every intention of Hiro's to stay in the shower for as long as humanely possible. It took all of five minutes for him to clean his body, and about twenty to sit on the ground and stare at her various toiletries. It wasn't until his fingers started pruning that he finally decided to get out. He had a funny feeling this was going to be a long talk.

He quickly brushed and dressed, stepping out of the bathroom. Baymax thankfully had fallen silent as his battery was recharging. It was a good thing too, because he didn't want him to bother what was about to happen.

Hiro pulled out a data drive before throwing his clothes in the hamper. He walked over to Karmi, who was still at the desk, and set it next to her laptop. "Here's all of the lectures from today. I don't really think you missed much, but I guess you'd be a better judge at it than I would."

Karmi's fingers closed around the drive. "Thanks."

"What're you working on? Another one of your fanfictions?"

"As a matter of fact...I am." She pulled up one of the first windows and got up from the chair. "Here, proofread that while I go brush."

"You really want me to read it?

"What? It's not that long. I think you can handle it, Genius Boy."

Hiro glanced at the scroll bar. The dark gray part was about half an inch big. "Karmi, it's like five thousands words."

"Men mu butter sturt rudding, den."

He looked back to see her with a mouthful of toothpaste, the brush pointed up toward her face. "You know it's impolite to talk with your mouth full."

Karmi only smiled, ducking back into the bathroom.

Hiro sighed and sat down in the chair. "I can't believe I'm willingly reading her stories. What's wrong with you, Hiro?"

As he trudged through the story, fixing a word every once in a while, he had to admit; it was very well written. Now, the subject matter was terrible (Karmi and her fabled Captain Cutie enjoying a romantic picnic), but the structure and formatting were on point.

"Unbelievable." Hiro blinked his eyes as he hit the end. "I would hate to be in her brain for a day."

"So, what do you think?"

He felt Karmi's chin come down on his head, the gentle waft of her shampoo curling into his nostrils. "I think that you need to get clinically tested over your obsession with Captain Cutie."

"I'm not obsessed!"

"Oh yeah, the girl with five stories about her and him," Hiro clicked through each document, "is totally not obsessed." He got up from the chair and walked over to his bed. "But it's good. I fixed a few things, but it was just mostly grammar stuff."

"Not a romance guy?"

He didn't like the way she said that. "No. Not really my thing."

The tone had shifted to one that always seemed to start one of their serious conversations. Hiro sat at the foot of the bed, Karmi shutting her laptop and following suit. For a second, the two just sat there, lost in their own minds.

"I...I guess I should go first. Since I'm the one that started this whole thing."

Karmi put her hands on her knees, waiting for him to start.

"Karmi, I'm...sorry about what happened. I was angry because I thought I was doing the right thing, and I didn't stop to think about how going after that guy would affect you. I just had blinders on, and I couldn't stop myself. And what I said to you in the garage? It was-"

"It was right."

Hiro stopped and saw that Karmi had a hand on her forehead, steadying herself. "Everything you said about me was right, Hiro. I don't want help. And when I get it, I'm confrontational about it. And I have to do everything on my own, because that's the way I've always done it. That's...something that I've been trying to work on since I've been here."

He nodded. "That's good."

Karmi set her hand down on the bed, right next to Hiro's leg. "But it's hard. I'm so bad at it. I'm stubborn."

"Yeah, you are," Hiro said. "But takes one to know one, right?"

The quiet settled in again, and Hiro took the opportunity to stare at his robot, now fully inflated and deactivated. He had to check his batteries in the morning.

"Hiro, why are we still doing this?"

He turned back to her, confused. "Doing what?"

"This." Her pointer finger rocked between the two of them. "The arguing, the fighting, the making-up. Why do we keep doing this to each other? It's not going to end well."

"Then we keep trying until it does."

"Try?" Karmi stared at him. "You don't have any reason to try. I've given you no reason to try. I haven't earned your friendship. I've been nothing but a nuisance to you. An annoyance. A...pain in the butt."

Her fingers started to tremble on the bed.

"So why are you even trying with me?"

Hiro's hand, as if it had a mind of its own, softly came down on hers.

"Because I care about you, that's why."

Her hand tightened her grip on his.

"Because...even though we fight all the time, I know that we always make things right in the end. That's one of the things I like about you. You're always trying to do the right thing."

"Oh really?"

Karmi's hand left his grasp, and he suddenly found his vision filled with her face. Said face was looking at him with such concentration that his mind emptied out all of his thoughts.

"What else do you like about me?"

"Ummm..."

The poor boy was struggling to get anything out, and it wasn't hard to figure out why: Karmi was now on her hands and knees on the bed, her face and body getting ever so closer to Hiro.

"I...I like your writing," he said, wildly pointing in the direction of her computer. "You're a...you're a good writer."

"What else?" she whispered.

She was entirely way too close now, but he didn't care. "I like your hair. I like it...when it's down. You should do that more often."

Karmi smiled. "Noted."

"And your eyes. Your eyes are very pretty."

He had to stop. He had to stop right now, or else this conversation was going to lead somewhere he wasn't sure he wanted to leave.

"Oh, I get it now."

Luckily, he was saved by Karmi's sudden interjection. Unluckily, he didn't understand it. "Huh?"

"You want me all to yourself, don't you?" Her bangs hit his hair, their noses just out of reach of each other. "You don't want my friendship. You just want...me."

"No, I didn't...no." Hiro held up a finger in response. "You said that, not me."

"Oh, you didn't have to say it. I figured it out. But thank you for the clarification, Hiro..."

She held up her hand, and Hiro's eyes followed it to see a thin white remote in her hand. His remote.

"And for showing me your true colors."

Karmi pressed the button with the sideways triangle, and a soft melody began to play throughout the entire room. A really familiar melody.

"You know, you listen to this song a lot. Ever since you downloaded it after your first semester."

She pulled back her head, a devilish grin on her face. "I wonder why."

That's when Hiro, to her amazement, watched her start to lip-sync the lyrics. In all honesty, he shouldn't have been surprised.

It was her favorite artist, after all.

Tell me the truth
Baby girl, who else been with you?
It's gon' come to my attention either way, yeah

Karmi's face was right back in his, the words silently rolling off her tongue.

And I understand
Baby girl, we all have a past
I'd much rather hear the truth come straight from you...

Her arms were now on either side of him, blocking him from moving.

So if I love you
It'd be just for you

Her finger came down onto his nose and touched it softly.

So when I'm touching you

Her head tilted to the side, the grin ever wider.

Can I trust in you

Now it was entirely upside down.

Can I trust in you, oh baby...

She backed off, and Hiro watched as she strutted off to the center of the room, high-stepping to the music.

Girl, come show me your true colors
Paint me a picture with your true colors
These are the questions of a new lover
True colors, true colors...

He was transfixed by her movements, the ease of which the lyrics spilled out of her lips. She undoubtedly had listened to this song a lot as well.

Girl, come show me your true colors
Paint me a picture with your true colors
These are confessions of a new lover
True colors, true colors...

There was no break between the chorus and the second verse, and Karmi was back close to him, her brown eyes blazing in the light.

What's done is done
Now that I'm the only one
If you tell me, I'll accept what you've been through, oh yeah

And I don't believe all this inconsistency
I've been hearing different stories about you...

Her hand climbed up his arm and under his sleeve, coming to rest on his shoulder...

So if I love you
It'd be just for you
So when I'm touching you
Can I trust in you?
Can I trust in you, oh baby...

But it was a bait-and-switch, her other hand grabbing his and yanking his body off of the bed.

Girl, come show me your true colors
Paint me a picture with your true colors
These are the questions of a new lover
True colors, true colors...

Hiro found himself behind her, his hands on her hips as she swayed to the music. It seemed to grow even louder, with the background vocals echoing in his ears.

Girl, come show me your true colors (true)
Paint me a picture with your true colors (true)
These are confessions of a new lover (true)
True colors...

She turned on the spot and hip-checked him back into the bed, a wide grin on her face.

Baby, show me you're a keeper
It's been hard for me to keep up
You've been tryna keep me in the dark
But baby girl, I see you...

Hiro saw her lean back into Baymax's vinyl covering, her fist over her heart.

Baby, show me you're a keeper (show me you're a keeper)
It's been hard for me to keep up (hard for me to keep up)
You've been tryna keep me in the dark (yeah yeah yeah)
But baby girl, I see you...

He could do nothing as she came over for the final time, kneeling very close to Hiro's lap.

Girl, come show me your true colors
Paint me a picture with your true colors
These are the questions of a new lover
True colors, true colors...

Hiro backed up slightly, but the girl put her hands on his arms, locking him into place as their faces got even closer.

Girl, come show me your true colors (true)
Paint me a picture with your true colors (true)
These are confessions of a new lover
True colors, true colors…

The music mercifully ended, but that only left the silence of the night once again. Hiro stared into Karmi's eyes, desperate to think of something, anything, to retort with. But his brain could only come up with one, weak response.

"That playlist was password protected," he muttered.

"It was." Karmi's nose was now barely touching his, her breath rolling over his face. "You should probably think of a better password. I would suggest something longer than five letters...and maybe not beginning with a capital K."

All he had to do was close the distance. That's what his mind was screaming to do, but it turned out that, as always these days, she had the upper hand.

"You," Karmi said simply, her hand pushed up onto his chest, "are way too easy, Genius Boy."

She lightly shoved him onto the bed and giggled at his expression. She turned the light off in the room and walked over to her bed, her gaze not leaving him for an instant.

Despite his head now swimming with all sorts of thoughts, Hiro pulled the covers up over his body. He took a deep breath in and tried to mentally redistribute all of the blood that was running through his veins. For some odd reason, a lot of it had traveled down to his lower half.

Ahh, puberty. Gotta love it.

In his attempt to bring his heart back down to a steady rhythm, he noticed that Karmi wasn't making any noise over at her side of the room. Weird, it had only been a couple of minutes; surely she wasn't already asleep?

"Hey, Hiro?"

And there it was. "Yeah?"

"I...umm..."

He heard her take something off of the desk, something metal judging from the scratching he heard.

"I actually wanted to ask you something when you got home. But now that we're situated, I'll do it now. And I would understand completely if you said no."

The mood shift was sudden again, all of the teasing tones of her voice replaced with nervous ones. He wondered what could've tipped her so far in the other direction. "OK. Ask away."

"Umm..."

Hiro lifted his head up, now concerned. "Karmi, there's literally not anything else you can do tonight that will embarrass me. I'll be fine."

The moon outside lit up her figure as she walked over to his bed. She knelt down next to it, an object in her hands. "I got the call today that my house will be done by Saturday. I don't know what Fred said to them, but he got them going at a much faster pace than they were before. So...I'll be gone on that day."

"That's great news."

"Yeah," she said, a little sad. "But I wanted to thank you guys for everything that you've done, and I don't really have a lot to give."

"Karmi, don't worry about that. You've already done-"

"And then I remembered I had this."

Karmi held up the object. It was a thin silver card with fancy lettering on top. It looked like two capital letters with a bunch of words underneath.

"What is that?"

"Chef Gramercy gave it to me."

Hiro's mind suddenly flashed back to the night he fought with Silver. Yup, it looked like the same card.

"It's an all-expenses paid evening at his restaurant." Karmi started rubbing her thumb around the edge. "He gave this to me right before he left. He wanted me to use it on a night that I can treat myself, but to be honest, I've been so busy I've forgotten about it until recently."

He stared at the girl, who was now resting her head on the bed. "And after everything that's happened this week, I think that we both might need something to take our mind off of things. And it would be repayment for all of the things you've done for me so far."

Hiro sat up in his bed, not believing his ears. "Karmi, what are you asking?"

"I'm asking..."

Karmi flipped her hair around and looked away, but even in the dark, he could still see her cheeks blushing.

"If you wanted...to go have dinner with me tomorrow."

He just stared at her, the silence almost deafening. Was this really happening right now? After an apology tour and...whatever she did to him during that song?

"Karmi, are you asking me out on a date?"

"No!" she shot back. "It's not a date! It's a...a friend excursion. Just as friends."

"That sounds like something Honey Lemon would say," Hiro said.

"It's definitely not something she would say, because she never said it to me ever!"

He had to admit that it was kind of funny to see Karmi all flustered after showing so much confidence a few minutes ago. It would have been funnier if it wasn't past midnight and his brain was screaming for sleep.

"Unless...you want it to be a date."

"Well, no."

Karmi looked up at him, her eyes widened.

"I mean," Hiro backtracked, "If we both come to the conclusion that it won't be a date, then it's definitely not a date. Both parties would have to agree to those terms, and since we both clearly said it's not a date, then it's not one. It's just science."

...Smooth.

"Yeah, you're right." She tapped the bed with her card. "We're both geniuses. We would know a date situation when we saw it. And this definitely doesn't fall into that category. Glad we agree on that."

Hiro watched her stand up and walk off towards her bed, but not before she looked back at him. "So...I'll call the restaurant tomorrow and set a reservation up. Is seven OK with you?"

"Oh yeah, that's fine."

"And you might want to get a tie."

"I have one."

"Good," Karmi mumbled. "Good."

She disappeared behind the separator, allowing Hiro to breath again. Did that just happen? His friend, his rival, his...whatever she was right now to him was asking him out on a-

"Remember."

Hiro's head shot up to see her upper body appearing around the makeshift barrier, pointing over at him. "It's not a date."

He smiled as he tried to put on a brave face. "Not a date."

...Cut to twenty minutes later, where both teen geniuses were laying on their back, eyes staring at the ceiling, wondering what in the world they had just agreed to.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yeah. It's totally not a date, guys. Keep telling yourself that.

After all of that angst and anger in the last chapter, it was nice to calm things down a little bit here. These two, frankly, deserve a little relaxation time after their arguments and fights. It's also very satisfying to write flustered Hiro and flirtatious Karmi, because that combination never leads to anything good...at least for Hiro.

There's so much more that I want to talk about with this chapter, but I'll just...let it speak for itself.

So now that we've gotten this out of the way, now you know what's coming up in the next chapter.

The date.

Er.

The "friend excursion".

This is the chapter that I have been waiting to show you guys. It's been partially written ever since the beginning, and now I finally get to show it to you. It'll have some nice cameos, a stakeout, and maybe a little bit more drama at the end. It's exactly what Hiro/Karmi shippers like myself have been waiting for…

New episodes be damned.

I still haven't decided what I'm going to do in regards to the new episodes, but I've found that I really don't care. I'm going to write what I want to write, and if I want to write Hiro and Karmi having the most awkward and possibly best dinner they've had in their lives, then that's what's going to happen.

Oh wait. That is what's going to happen. :P

Read and review, if you like. Until next time, everyone.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney Animation. Gramercy is owned and operated by the Bolton Gramercy Group.

So grab a menu (one on my DevArt account), sit back, and enjoy the longest chapter I've ever done.

Chapter 6 – Candlelit

"Karmi, we're going to be late! Are you ready?"

"I'll be down there in five minutes!" came the muffled reply.

Hiro sighed to himself. "You said that five minutes ago," he muttered, rubbing his forehead. "And five minutes before that."

Friday night. The last day of the week. Projects were finished, papers were signed, and work was put on hold. This would normally be the time where Hiro would be gearing up to...well...do all the things he normally did during the week, but just to a lesser extent. Build, repair, patrol. In that order.

But tonight was different. Really different.

The previous night, Karmi had asked him to join her for a dinner at Gramercy, the restaurant that she worked at. Apparently, the card that he had seen Chef Bolton give to her that night basically gave her a free dining experience there.

He had accepted, of course, because he wasn't going to turn down an opportunity for free food. He didn't think about everything else that happened after he accepted.

Mainly what he was going to tell his friends about his plans for the night.

So, for the first time that week, he caught Karmi before he went downstairs for breakfast. She agreed with his reasoning that they don't mention it to anyone, unless they wanted to incur the wrath of everyone's teasing from the group.

And they did a good job at it too. Breakfast went smoothly, the drive to school went smoothly, working in the lab went smoothly, and lunch…

Well, there was a close call at lunch.

Karmi had mentioned that she would text him with the reservation time so that they knew when to leave. He was almost done with his burrito when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out to read the message:

Reservation is set at seven. Be back at the house by five so we have enough time to get ready.

Ignoring the fact he wouldn't need that much time, Hiro quickly sent a reply back confirming the message, but not before Fred tried to pluck the phone out of his hands. Hiro had ducked under his outstretched arm and returned the phone to his shorts, making off for his lab before anyone else got any ideas.

The rest of the day passed like molasses. He couldn't focus on anything, not even doing repairs to Baymax's armor. He didn't know how to feel about the situation. On one hand, he was very nervous about the whole thing. On the other, he couldn't get his heartbeat to slow down. It wasn't every day you got to go out on a-

Yup, had to catch himself. That was about the fifth time he had almost called it a date.

And it wasn't. Definitely wasn't one at all.

...At least that's what he had kept repeating to himself.

Hiro was now at the foot of the steps, right at the front door. It was a little past six o'clock, and he was all dolled up in his nicest clothes, the dress shirt rubbing against his neck and the tie a little tight underneath. He hadn't physically seen Karmi all day, but Aunt Cass had told him when he arrived downstairs that she was using her bathroom to get herself ready.

"There's my little man!"

Oh yeah. That.

Given that it was going to be nearly impossible to keep his aunt in the dark about what was happening tonight, Hiro had told her about it during a private phone call in his lab. After she had stopped squealing in excitement, he had sworn her to secrecy about the entire ordeal.

And bribed her with him washing dishes for an entire month.

"Hold still, Hiro!"

Which he was now beginning to regret.

An errant comb came out of nowhere, trying to bring some order to his otherwise unkempt hair. "You need to look as best as you can for your date tonight!"

"Aunt Cass, I've already told you. It's not a date. We're just going out to dinner as repayment for us letting her staying here for the week."

She ignored him, putting the finishing touches on his hair. "Oooh, you look so handsome!" Her hands were against his cheeks as she took the sight in. "Here, don't move. Let me go get my camera!"

Hiro waited until she was out of sight before returning his hair back to his messy state. He couldn't really blame her for being enthused; the last time this happened, it was with someone she had set him up with. But he did hide her phone in a place where hopefully she wouldn't find it until they left.

Also, the last time this happened, he went out to a dance that promptly got attacked by an electric-eel transformed High Voltage. Here was to hoping nothing like that would happen tonight.

But now he was just playing the waiting game. He took a deep breath in through his nostrils...

The waft of perfume betrayed her entrance before he even got a chance to let the oxygen out of his mouth. Hiro looked up the stairs...and the air caught in his throat.

Karmi was slowly making her way down the steps. She was wearing the same blue dress she wore to the gala on campus, and even the same shoes, but there was an aura around her that he hadn't felt before. It was the way she carried herself. It was confidence. It was almost magical.

Her eyes blinked, letting him see the little bit of eyeshadow as he looked down at him. Her blush growing, she took the rest of the steps down until they were on the same level.

"Hi."

Hiro suddenly remembered that he should probably respond to her. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat and properly answer.

"...Hi."

A poet, ladies and gentlemen.

Karmi ran a hand through her hair, and he noticed that it wasn't in her usual ponytail. It was all the way down. Something told him that this was intentional. "I didn't see you at school today."

"Oh. Well." Hiro put his hand on the banister. "I figured that...since we're about to spend the next few hours with each other, I didn't want to press my luck in bothering you with anything."

Karmi chuckled. "And that's why you're the genius."

He felt his cheeks getting hot as he continued to look her over. "You...um..." He scratched the back of his head. "You look very nice."

She smiled at him, the pink in her cheeks getting darker. "Thank you. You clean up rather well yourself. But your tie's crooked. Here..."

Karmi put her purse over her shoulder and grasped his tie with both hands, fiddling with it a bit. Hiro turned his head to keep an eye out for his aunt, but she snapped it back forward. "Keep still, Genius Boy. I'm almost done."

With one final tug, she was finished. Flattening it out against his chest, she stepped back to admire her work. "There. Now it's good. That thing's not going anywhere."

"Speaking of going," Hiro said, glancing at his phone, "That's what we should probably be doing now. Before Aunt Cass gets-Gah!"

The flash of Aunt Cass's phone lit up the dark, and both Hiro and Karmi shielded their eyes from the onslaught of photos being taken. "Aunt Cass!"

"This is what you get for trying to hide my phone in the muffin tin, Hiro," she laughed, still snapping pictures. "Let me at least get a good one of you before you leave."

The two teen geniuses looked at each other. "I guess one can't hurt, right?" Karmi said, putting her arms in front of her. She nodded off to Hiro, who very carefully put his hand on the small of her back. He felt the end of her hair, nice and soft to the touch. They both turned to his aunt, who quickly took the picture.

"Awww, that's so great!" She stared at her screen, taking in her handiwork. "I'm so proud of you two. A whole week together and you didn't even kill each other!"

"We definitely got close a few times," Karmi quipped. "But we made it."

Aunt Cass didn't hear the joke, instead still reveling in her photo. "Hiro, you're growing into such a fine young gentlemen. First the dance with Megan, and now this. You're going to have to beat all of the girls back before too long!"

"Wait, Megan?" Karmi turned to Hiro, confused. "Who is Megan?"

"OKWe'regonnagonowbyeAuntCass!" He went behind Karmi and pushed her out the door, but not before casting a death glare in his aunt's direction. "Don't stay up for us!"

Aunt Cass giggled to herself as she walked back into the cafe. She couldn't help it; she was so excited for them. After everything that had happened between the two of them that week, through the fights and the pain, they had finally able to be comfortable with each other. Just thinking about it made her heart grow another size.

"I really hope they have a good time," she said as she grabbed herself a muffin. "They deserve it so much."

A voice carried over from the open front door. "You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of craziness."

"Oh! Hi, Go Go!"

"Hey," she replied quietly, trying to keep the yawn from escaping. "I need a cup for the road."

"Long day today?"

"Oh yeah." Go Go looked around the seats in her vicinity. "Where's Hiro at? I thought you'd be having dinner with him by now."

She didn't get a response, and upon looking up from her scouting, she saw why: Aunt Cass's mouth was beginning to twitch, the corners curling into a tight-lipped smile.

"Aunt Cass? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Cass started to fill up Go Go's thermos at the espresso machine. "Hiro's just out enjoying himself, that's all."

"And that would be where?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you."

Go Go stared at the woman, her eyebrow peaked. "You're...not allowed?"

"Nope."

The Korean grabbed the now-full container. "OK. If I'm not going to get anything out of you..." She started towards the side doorway. "I'll just ask Karmi. Knowing her, she'll tell me where he is-"

"She's not here either."

Go Go wheeled around so fast that she almost did a complete 360. She had to slap her hand on the round table to stop her momentum. Her head craned forward, the look on her face incredulous.

"Aunt Cass..."

She walked back over to the counter, both of her palms down on it.

"Is the reason why she's not here...the same reason why Hiro's not here?"

The woman looked like she was about to burst. She mirrored the girl's stance, staring her straight in the eye. "Go Go. Hiro told me not to tell anyone where they were going or what they were doing. He was afraid you guys would take it the wrong way."

Go Go leaned in even further. "Did you?"

"I took it the way that an overbearing aunt is suppose to take it when their nephew goes out with a girl to dinner."

She widened her eyes at the cafe owner.

"...Oh, shoot. I said it, didn't I?" Cass covered her mouth with her hand. "Go Go, please promise me you won't tell anyone. I don't want to ruin their evening."

"Aunt Cass," Go Go said as she pointed outside to her cycle. "I'm heading straight home and probably going to bed. I had a long delivery this afternoon and I'm just getting back from it. As much as I would love to go bother Hiro, he's probably too worried about acting like a normal human being in front of Karmi. I promise that I will not say a single word to anyone about this."

Twenty seconds later, she was walking out the cafe with her thermos. She put it in her holder and swung her leg over the cycle, getting herself comfortable for the drive ahead.

But before that…

She pulled out her phone, glancing up to see if Aunt Cass was watching. Satisfied, she looked down at her phone.

"The agreement never mentioned anything about my phone saying anything about it, though. Sorry, Aunt Cass."

Go Go's fingers moved at light-speed, sending a group text to everyone else in the gang:

Meet me downtown in 10. We have a Karmiro mission! This is not a drill!

The responses were almost immediate, ranging from Wasabi's flat Wut to Honey Lemon's Are u srs!? to Fred's Glad you've agreed with me that Karmiro is better.

"So you guys went to a dance?"

"Yeah. At her school."

"...I didn't know you could dance."

"I can't."

The two had arrived at the restaurant in good time, Hiro parking the scooter a little bit away from the entrance. He didn't want to run the risk of someone recognizing it from a few days back, however small a chance it may be. Karmi had clung onto him for the entire trip there, her fingers so far stabbed into his chest he thought he would start leaking blood at any moment.

"So what happened?"

"Nothing, really," Hiro replied as he took his helmet off. "We were there for like five minutes, High Voltage showed up, wrecked everything, and then Big Hero 6 came and fought them..."

Karmi squealed automatically.

"And your Captain Cutie was there, too."

"Ohmygod!" She latched onto his arm. "Did you talk to him again?"

"Again?"

"Yeah, because he stopped you from going down to Fathom's base, right? You must've talked to him then."

"Oh." Hiro had to come up with an excuse quickly. "Umm...he was busy superhero-ing and all that. I didn't want to bother him. I was too focused on talking to Megan's dad. He's the chief of police."

"Oooh! Already meeting her parents, I see. You take things rather quick."

"...You need to stop this."

Thankfully, there was no line at the front station, so Karmi went off to talk to the hostess while Hiro gave his key to a very bewildered valet. He took a seat on the bench, and Karmi joined him not long after.

"It might be a few minutes," she said as she sat next to him. "Apparently they had a lot of other reservations tonight and may have overbooked."

"I don't mind waiting."

"I know, it's just..." She looked off to the side, now looking worried.

Hiro's arm went onto the back of the bench, right behind Karmi's body. "It's fine, Karmi. Don't worry about it."

She smiled at him, causing his heart to do a little flip-flop in his chest, but he didn't have much time to think about it, because the hostess's voice rang out.

"Khan, party of two!"

Hiro's eyebrow went up at the exclamation. "Khan. Huh."

"What?"

"Nothing," he retorted, getting up along with Karmi. "I just feel like I should've been able to guess that by now. It is one of the most common last names, after all."

"Got tired of reading through a name dictionary?" she joked.

"I didn't do that." Hiro rubbed the back of his head. "It was mostly a website."

The two were lead in by the hostess. He remembered the interior enough: black columns, white tablecloths, dark walls, crystal chandeliers high above their heads. All of the tables were filled, with a few of them pulled together to accommodate larger groups. A couple of the patrons looked up at them with surprised eyes, causing Karmi to look straight ahead and avoid their gaze. Hiro could feel her nervousness from his position behind her.

"Where are you leading us?" Karmi said to the hostess. "I thought we were getting a table near the kitchen. That's what I requested."

"Unfortunately, we ran into a shortage of tables for tonight. A few large parties brought more people than we expected," she responded. "But it does give us the opportunity to open up the patio for the first time...if you like."

"Outside?" Hiro asked. "That sounds great. We'll go out there."

A soft "Oh no." came out of Karmi's lips as the hostess led them to the far wall, where the windows were severely tinted, a black door right next to it.

"What's wrong with sitting outside? It's a nice night out there."

She sighed and clenched her purse tighter. "You'll see in about two seconds."

The hostess opened the door, and Hiro looked around as they walked outside. It was a lot different than the prim and proper interior. There were four enclosed patios, the walls colored white. The stone was smooth as he ran a finger down the nearest one. It reminded him of some old pictures of Greece Aunt Cass had shown him a long time ago.

As they walked over to the second booth, he took note of the inside. The two chairs were silver and light brown, matching the table in the middle, pristine and shiny. It looked like they were brand new. The lantern hanging above the table had dark chains encasing a hexagonal glass bulb inside, the light dim enough to not hinder his sight. He also saw the curtains clasped to the inside wall; they looked very thick, but they were airy to the touch.

And then he noticed the center of the table.

A glass centerpiece was filled with water, two candles swimming on the surface. And there were what looked like mini-rose petals built into it, the first petal just barely hanging on as the candle melted.

You know, he had told himself (and to Karmi) that this wasn't a date.

But the higher powers looking down on them clearly thought otherwise.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Karmi had already sat down, putting her purse on the hook behind her chair. He quietly took the other seat as the hostess set the menus down in front of them, looking slightly amused.

"Your server will be with your shortly. Please take a look at all of our excellent offerings for your...special night." She gestured over to the curtain on Karmi's side. "Would you like them open or closed?"

"Umm, what's the difference?"

Karmi cut in before the hostess could respond. "They're fine the way they are, thanks."

"Very well. Enjoy your evening."

As she walked off, Hiro grabbed the curtain next to him and ran it through his fingers. "Mass loaded vinyl. Woven into a thinner fabric. Great for soundproofing, but why would you put that in a booth like this?"

"Oh, I don't know," Karmi whispered, her head down. "Why do you think an atmosphere like this would need it?"

Alright. Now that his brain was actually thinking about it, the answer was obvious.

"Privacy."

Karmi nodded.

"And that's why the windows are tinted outward?" he asked, pointing to his right. "So that we can look in but they can't look out?"

Another nod.

Hiro looked down, desperate to change the subject. The menu had a similar style to what it was during his trip here with Aunt Cass, but the contents were almost completely different. He did recognize the lava cake that he had shared with Karmi in her lab, but there were a lot of other words that he didn't recognize. "This is interesting. This doesn't look like the menu from before."

"It's not. It's a...special menu."

"Special?" Hiro asked, his eyes still scrolling over the text. "How so?"

"It's...built on a concept of shared plates and focuses on being a more...intimate dining experience."

He started to blush as he glanced over the menu at her. "And how do you know that?"

Karmi's face was in her hand, her face also getting hot. "Because."

He could see her eye look at him through her fingers, the burn running up her neck.

"I helped design it."

"I...what?" Hiro couldn't believe it. "When did that happen?"

Karmi brought her hand back down in front of her. "Chef Gramercy left here to go do other projects, but came back a little while ago to check on the status of the patio. To fit the theme, he wanted a different menu than inside. Something more…"

"Intimate?" Hiro repeated.

"Yeah." Karmi looked away from him, still blushing madly. "I had a few ideas in my head, and before I knew it, he and I were writing it up. It took all shift, but we finished it, he gave it to the new head chef, and told her to make it happen."

"And I going to guess we're the first ones to come out here."

"...Yup."

A couple moments of silence followed. It looks like Karmi's face was going to erupt from her entire face going red. He had to try to save the situation.

"Karmi...that's awesome."

"What?"

"You got an entire menu and place made based off of your ideas. That's fantastic."

Karmi glanced at the booth around them. "It's not really mine, but-"

"You should get a plaque on the wall or something." He whirled his head around, looking for a place to put it. "What about over there, near the door?"

All Karmi could do was chuckle in disbelief.

"I could make one. Just need some metal and a laser etcher, and I can whip something up-"

"Wait."

He stopped mid-sentence, Karmi shushing him with a finger. She was tilting her head, almost looking up at the ceiling of the booth.

"Do you hear that?"

Hiro perked his ears up. Yeah, there was definitely a noise coming toward them. It sounded like a girly chuckle or giggle, and it was getting increasingly louder. But it wasn't coming from outside. It was coming from-

Both Hiro and Karmi widened their eyes and turned toward the restaurant. Inside, they could see through the windows a large mass walking toward them, the sound coming with it.

"Uh oh," she muttered.

The door to the patio swung open, and almost off of its hinges. Before either of them could react, the unidentified blur stopped right in front of Karmi and wrapped its arms around her head, smothering her into its body.

"Karmi! You're here!"

Hiro wondered whether he should intervene; it didn't look like she was being hurt by the girl now forming in front of his eyes. It was more like Karmi had...accepted her fate. But it wasn't five seconds later that she detached herself from Karmi and latched onto him.

"And this must be your boy! He's so adorable!"

...Or at least that's what he thought she said. He couldn't really tell from his face being buried in her chest.

He was finally able to tear himself away, but the feeling of air going back into his lungs was short-lived: the girl was now taking a hand towel to his face, rubbing his cheeks. "Sorry, I got Karmi's makeup all over you from my uniform. But hey, at least it wasn't from you two smooching on each other, am I right?"

Karmi's face was now full on red, partly due to the hug and partly because of the embarrassment. "Hi, Doreen," she whispered.

"No, no, no," she replied, waving a finger at her. "I'm the waitress, not you. I will be doing the naming here."

The girl stood up to her full height. She wore the same uniform as the rest of the wait staff, but it appeared a couple sizes too small for her figure. Despite of that, she had a toothy grin on her face, her two front teeth oversized just like Hiro. Her reddish-brown hair was short, tied in the back in a small ponytail.

And her attitude was overflowing.

"My name is Doreen Aileen Green, and I will be your server for your incredible evening. Have you dined with us before?"

"I work here, Doreen."

"Shh!"

Hiro couldn't help but softly laugh. It wasn't every day that Karmi was put in her place (even jokingly), so he wanted to treasure this. "I've been here before, yeah."

"Oh good! I don't have to break out my slide presentation on the history of Chef Gramercy!" She wiped her brow, and he saw a wireless device in her ear, almost completely hidden if not for the blue light emitting from it. "Do you guys have any questions about the menu?"

Hiro pointed at her ear. "What's that?"

"Oh, this? I use this to communicate with some of my injured warriors. Gotta know what they need before I can help them with their rehabilitation, right?"

"Umm...what?"

Karmi leaned forward. "Doreen works over at the wildlife rescue near the bay, caring for injured animals and releasing them back into the wild."

"You mean Yggdrasil?" Hiro's face lit up. "Oh, I know that place. I went there a few times with my aunt. She loved going to see the baby deer."

"Oh yeah, they're great. But I deal with the most wonderful animal of all." Doreen stood triumphantly, her hands on her hips. "The squirrels."

"So..." Hiro glanced between the device and her face. "You talk to squirrels?"

"I listen to squirrels! And I accommodate their requests!" Doreen rubbed her chin. "Why does everyone get that wrong?"

Hiro and Karmi looked at each other, unsure of how to respond.

"But we're getting off track! Let me go get two of our finest glasses of dihydrogen monoxide! In the meantime..."

Doreen unclasped both of the curtains on the side and grinned widely at them. "Enjoy yourselves." She closed the fabric with a flourish, leaving the two geniuses alone again.

"...Wow."

"Yeah," Karmi replied. "That's the normal response when it comes to her." Her fingers started fidgeting with her napkin. "Don't get me wrong; the customers love her here, but she can be a little...overbearing."

Hiro didn't have a chance to respond, because he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and stared at the screen. "I just got a text."

"From?"

"...Go Go."

"Oh no." Karmi sighed. "What does it say?"

"It doesn't say anything." Hiro scrolled up a little bit. "It's just a thumbs-up emoji." He turned his head, peering into the darkness.

"What?"

"They're here. They have to be."

"How do you know that? We didn't tell them we were going here." She peered into the restaurant. "I don't see them at any of the tables."

"Oh, they won't be in there. They'll be out there somewhere," he added, waving to the forest.

Suddenly, he noticed a small light shining out of the corner of his eye. He looked between the branches of the tallest trees and saw the roof of one of the skyscrapers through it. The light continued to blink at random intervals, varying in brightness. Realizing who it could be, Hiro shook his head slowly.

"Unbelievable."

"Fred, move! I can't see anything!"

"Wasabi, I told you to bring your own pair of binoculars. Did you not get the binoculars group message?"

"...There's a binoculars group message?"

On the rooftop, and behind the boys, Go Go and Honey Lemon stood together, differing expression on their faces: Go Go with annoyance, and Honey Lemon with exasperation.

"Go Go, are you sure we should be spying on them like this? There's probably a reason why they didn't tell us. Maybe we should just let them be."

"Let me remind you, Honey Lemon, that you didn't have to come."

The Latina glared at her friend. "I'm making sure you guys don't do something stupid."

"Well, it's a little late for that," Go Go said, gesturing over at the two, who were clumsily trying to share Fred's pair of binoculars. "Besides, we're so high up. What are the odds that he can see us?"

"...Why are you looking up at the sky?"

Hiro turned his head back toward Karmi. "Just forget it. I'm probably just seeing things."

She shuffled in her seat, the pink in her cheeks not going away. "I mean, even if they are spying on us, why do we care? We know that it's not a-"

"Hey there, Karms."

The two looked up to see a new person had arrived, this time on the other side of the railing looking in. It was a guy, older than Hiro, his head adorned with short black hair. The hood of his sweatshirt was red and lying on his back, covered up by a black jacket. He had a look in his eyes that Hiro didn't like.

"Didn't expect to see you here as a patron."

Karmi brought up a hand to her face to try to block him out. "Oh geez. Dante, what are you doing here? Chef Gramercy fired you and told you not to come back."

"Don't worry, Karms. I'm just here to get my last paycheck and then I'll be out." He leaned further into the booth. "Or I could keep you company instead of this brat you're with now."

"Hey!"

Karmi and the new guy turned to Hiro, who had shouted at the newcomer. Even he could tell that the guy was making Karmi uncomfortable, and he wanted to get things back on track.

But under their stare, he recoiled back. He had to take a deep breath in to calm himself.

"Back off. She doesn't want you here, OK?"

Dante ignored him and looked back at Karmi. "Who is this kid? Did you find him in a back alley somewhere? That desperate to find a boyfriend?"

"Dante Pertuz!"

All three of them looked to see Doreen's head poking through the curtains. She threw them aside, her eyes furrowed with anger. Hiro saw the two glasses of water on a tray behind her, but that was the least of his concerns.

"You heard the man. Back off! I'm not letting you ruin their date!"

"It's...it's not..." Karmi mumbled.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm defending your honor, Karmi!" Doreen glared at Dante, who was slowly backing up. "Get out of here, Hothead. I'm warning you. I will jump over that railing and chase you away myself."

Dante still had a smirk on his face. "Oh really? I bet you can't. You don't have the-"

In a flash, and for someone much lighter than herself, she took a few steps back, shuffled to her right, and dove headfirst over the railing, combat-rolling to a stop right next to him. She stood back up, pressing a finger to her earpiece.

"Run."

Dante bolted off into the night, Doreen right behind him yelling obscenities. The walls were clearly not soundproof, because some of the customers inside turned their heads to see what the commotion was about.

"I'll, uh..." Hiro slowly got out of the chair. "I'll just grab these." He plucked the two glasses of water off of the tray, placing one of them in front of his classmate.

"Thanks," Karmi mumbled.

Hiro sat back down, taking a long gulp of his water. He hadn't realized how dry his throat was. "Are you OK?"

Karmi looked at her glass and shook her head at it. "I need a freaking drink. An alcoholic one."

"Karmi, you can't drink. You're underage." He stopped as he raised an eyebrow at her. "And I don't think you could even if you wanted to."

"What Allah doesn't know won't hurt him," she said wistfully, taking a sip from her glass.

The silence permeated through the night. Hiro didn't really know what to say to her.

"Hiro, who are we kidding?"

He didn't even have to answer back. He knew what she was talking about.

"This whole thing. Coming out here. Everything around us. This was never a 'friend excursion'." Karmi wiped some eyeshadow off of her face. "This is a date. It always was. I was just...trying to trick my mind into thinking otherwise."

Hiro continued to look at her as she stared off into space. Between his friends, the weird guy, and being out here, this whole evening had gone downhill very, very fast. Karmi looked like she wanted to shrivel up underneath the table. All he wanted to do was just chalk it up as a loss and go home.

But he knew he had to do something. For Karmi's sake.

"Hey."

Karmi glanced up to see Hiro's arm outstretched on the table, palm facing upward.

"C'mon."

She looked back and forth between his hand and him. Slowly, she brought hers up, letting her fingers fall into his palm.

"I've been thinking the same thing too," Hiro said.

"...Really?"

"Yeah," he replied. "But to be honest...who cares? Why should we care what anyone else thinks? Sure, we're in this thing with every single stupid sappy thing underneath the sun. Some of which...is your fault, by the way."

Karmi narrowed her eyes, and Hiro chuckled before starting again. "Look, we're here. We can't do anything about it. So now that we know where we're at, let's just...enjoy it."

She smiled at him, tightening her grasp. "And you're OK with that?"

"I mean, we're about to eat for free, because of your card. I can appreciate that."

Karmi had a large smirk growing on her face during his speech, crescendoing as he finished. "You've convinced me. I'm all in." She looked back down at her menu. "I don't know about you, but all of this talk is making me starving."

"Me too. But how are we going to order anything if-"

"I'm here. I'm here!"

The two teen geniuses turned to the outside to see Doreen running up to the railing. Her hair had a few twigs poking out of it, and a couple of dirt stains were on her shirt.

"Are...you OK?"

"I'm good. Don't worry," Doreen threw her arms out to the side. "Dante's not going to bother you guys anymore."

The former waiter was hanging by his fingers on a very high tree branch, a furry brown group of creatures lying in wait for him underneath.

"Get back, you freaks!"

"...You let loose a bunch of squirrels on him, didn't you?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." She straightened up and got her notepad out, a satisfied look on her face. "Although now I think I'm interrupting something."

Both Hiro and Karmi realized too late that they were still holding hands. They reeled their arms back in, the blushes returning to their faces.

Doreen's eyebrow was getting ready to launch into the stratosphere. Chuckling to herself, she clicked her pen open. "So...what can I get you guys?"

Mildly high above the city...

"I still can't see anything!"

The other four had been at it for a while. Unfortunately for them, the roof they had been perched upon gave them the worst view of the restaurant, but they couldn't risk getting any closer without tipping Hiro off.

"You've had them the wrong way this whole time, Fred!"

"Boys! Move!"

Fred and Wasabi got shoved out of the way as Go Go grabbed the binoculars in a huff. "You clearly need a woman's touch for this." She squatted down and brought them up to her eyes. "I've sat still for hours waiting for a bird to show up. This will be a piece of cake."

The sound of Honey Lemon's purse operating caused all of them to turn around. The Latina had three Chem-Balls in her hand: one yellow, one pink, and one blue.

"I'm sorry, guys..."

Honey Lemon brought them up over her head.

"For what I'm about to do."

An hour and a half later…

Hiro, to his somewhat surprise, was thoroughly enjoying himself with Karmi so far. It helped that after they had come to their little understanding, they were able to relax and have some fun.

It turned out that Karmi really knew how to structure a menu.

A lot of the courses, like she mentioned, were set up to be more of an intimate experience. The key was in the presentations: preparations meant to be shared, food that involved interacting with your partner, small plates and serving sizes. All of this was made to keep the couple engaged with each other instead of being lost in the food.

Although that was very hard, giving the quality of said food.

First was the salad course, which they decided to get different plates: Hiro the Stacked Avocado Beet Salad and Karmi the Warm Salted Kalari Salad. He was assured that Kalari was a cheese, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"Just take this, you weirdo." Karmi cut a part of the small disc and handed it to him. Hiro grabbed it and put it in his mouth.

"Wow. That's pretty salty. But not bad. Still soft in the middle."

"Yeah, I used to have this when I was little. It's been a while, though." Karmi stacked a disc, some cabbage, and a grape tomato on her fork. "How's your salad?"

"It's really good. I like how you can taste all of it. Normally Aunt Cass tries to put a bunch of weird stuff into things when she experiments with food. It's nice to just...taste things, for a change."

"That's good."

"I know why you put this on this menu, though."

"Oh yeah?" Karmi bit into another tomato. "Why?"

Hiro pointed at each of the ingredients to his salad. "It fits the whole theme that you're going for. Avocado, beets, feta...they're all aphrodisiacs. I remember Aunt Cass made Baymax bring up a list when she was looking for new recipes back during Valentine's Day."

"Huh." Karmi looked down at his half-eaten plate. "So...you plan on finding a girl and bringing her back home with you tonight?" she joked.

He picked up another forkful, not paying attention. "I mean...no. Because you're coming back with me."

"...Hiro, repeat what you just said back to me. Slowly."

The second course (the appetizers) was something called Cokills Saint Jacks-

"You're still not pronouncing it correctly."

He tore his eyes away from the shell and looked up. "Huh?"

"You don't pronounce the 's' at the end." Karmi put down her knife in amusement. "It's also French. It's pronounced koh/kee sa~ zhahk. See?" She pointed at the menu, Hiro taking note of the spelling.

"I'll take your word for it," he said, cutting into the scallop.

Karmi chuckled at him. "You know, Genius Boy, it wouldn't hurt to learn another language. It'll help when you start looking for a job.  Employers love people who are multilingual."

"I already speak a language. English."

"No, you speak Nerd. That's different."

The seafood was delicious, the sauce and cheese even more so, but it was nothing compared to what was next.

The third course was the entree, and both Hiro and Karmi had jumped at the first choice: goat curry. This was the one course that Karmi had personally vouched for, and as Doreen brought it out in a silver serving tray, he could smell the spices coming from it.

"Now don't eat it all, Karmi," Doreen chided. "Leave some for your boy. He needs to put on a few pounds."

As their waitress walked away, the two were already stacking some of the meat onto pieces of the naan bread. They simultaneously put the food in their mouths...and sighed deeply.

"This is incredible."

"Mmmmm."

The rest of the dish was downed in record time, the bottom of the tray getting wiped away by Karmi and the last piece of bread. She sat back in her seat as she swallowed it. "Man, that's even better than my mom's. She uses way too much peanut oil in hers."

"Wait." Hiro pointed to the dish. "Did this have peanuts in it?"

"You know what?" Karmi looked off to the side wistfully. "I don't know." Hiro must have had a look of terror on his face, because she laughed. "Relax, Genius Boy. I told them of your allergy when I set the reservation. You're fine."

"...Thanks."

The fourth course was pasta, and instead of ordering a full serving, they decided to get a plate of samplers. As the rectangular plate came out, four forks were stacked on it, each one having a different twirl of pasta on it. Karmi picked up the first fork with some very thin noodles on it. "OK, are you ready?"

"For what?"

Karmi peered over at him. "I'm going to give you the rice noodles. That's the point of this sampler. To feed it to the other person."

"Wait, what?"

She didn't listen, instead waving the fork around as if it was in some sort of flight. "Are you weddy for the widdle airpwane, Hiwo?"

"Hiwo" was not amused. "Just give me that, you weirdo."

After Karmi properly served him his bite, Hiro pointed to the remaining cutlery. "Which one do you want?"

"Hmmm." She thought for a moment, and pointed to the green noddles on the end. "I'll take the zucchini noodles, please."

As Hiro grabbed the fork, he saw her give him a death glare. "Don't do the airplane thing to me."

"Karmi, what do you think I am? A child? I'm mature, unlike you."

She shook her head and opened her mouth as Hiro brought the food to her face. But right before the fork entered her mouth, he moved it upward, slapping a dollop of the pesto onto her nose.

The biotech major didn't move at first, which only made Hiro laugh even harder. After a second, she wiped it off with her napkin, not blinking.

"You...are so dead when we get home."

Doreen came back out, the rest of the plate having been cleared. "Everything good so far?"

"Yes, everything has been delicious," Hiro said, rubbing his stomach.

"Well, I hope you saved room for your dessert." She held up a small white ramekin, a black top with a round handle on it. She slowly put it on top of the candle holder, the rim hanging over the lip of the glass. "I'll be back in a few minutes." Winking at Hiro, she walked off, leaving him a little confused as to what she did.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the ramekin.

"It's going to be the crème brulee."

"And how is that going to work?"

Karmi rotated her finger, gesturing at the candles. "The heat from the candles warms up the custard inside. The ramekin gets chilled beforehand so that the dessert stays cool in the middle, and the charcoal lid torches the top without burning it outright. It also helps bring out the flavor of the rose water."

"And the water that drips off of it helps the convection along," Hiro finished. "That's really cool. I wish I had thought of that."

"Actually...you kind of did."

He looked away from the centerpiece and at Karmi, who was resting her head on her folded hands. "When you came to my lab that time, you showed me the takeout containers for the dessert. I thought it would be nice to...incorporate that into an actual preparation."

"I like it. I get to watch my food and look at pretty lights. Really smart."

Hiro continued to stare at Karmi. The light from the candles were dancing in her eyes, highlighting the brown in them. Her cheeks were pink from the make-up, a nice change from the red that was on it when she was either embarrassed or stressed out.

"And...really...beautiful."

Karmi noticed his lowered tone, and looked up. Smiling, she put her chin on her fist, her left arm coming to rest on the table. "Genius Boy, are you trying to seduce me?"

"Ummm." Now it was his face that was getting hot.

"Because I..." Karmi leaned forward, her voice barely a whisper. "I wouldn't mind it if you were."

Hiro wanted more than anything for her head to come even closer, but unfortunately he was interrupted by the sound of tongs clanking together. He saw that Doreen was back, the metal instrument in her hand and a cheek-creasing grin on her face.

Five minutes later, they had finished the last of the brulee. It was the perfect ending to the meal, and as Hiro set his spoon down, Doreen was back. "So, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. It looks like you did, from what I saw."

The wiggling of her eyebrows didn't hide her real intentions, but Hiro was too full to care.

"Karmi, you have the card, right?"

"Yeah." She reached into her purse and gave Doreen the card, who slapped it into the end of her handheld tablet. After a few seconds, the machine dinged in confirmation.

"There we go. You guys are all set. Now don't stay out too long, you hear? There's weirdos out there."

"We're going straight home; don't worry." Hiro stood up from his chair and pulled out his wallet. He grabbed a couple of large bills and handed them to her. "Thanks for tonight. This is for you."

"Oooh!" She took the bills and shoved them down underneath her uniform shirt. "You sure know how to treat a woman! Come here, you!"

Aaaand he was back in her bosom.

"Doreen, please don't suffocate my ride home."

A slight pop rang out as Hiro disconnected from her. Doreen walked over next to the door leading inside, sliding open a side gate. "You guys can go out here. Nice, secluded exit strategy."

He felt Karmi's arm slide around his. "You ready to go, Genius Boy?"

"Awww! Pet names already? So adorable!" As the two walked past them with flushed faces, she patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck, Tiger. You'll need it with her."

Doreen watched them walk off toward the parking lot, only letting a squeal out once they were out of sight. "Awww! They are so cute together! You totally deserve it, Karmi."

Some squeaking came from one of the closest trees.

"I know, right? She looked great in that dress. I need to get me one of those."

A creature scurried down the trunk and jumped onto the railing, and Doreen looked at the new arrival.

"By the way, where did you guys end up putting Dante?"

It squeaked twice.

"The bay? Hmm. Not my first choice, but you guys do you. By the way, your bow's uncurling."

Doreen reached over and tightened the ribbon around the squirrel's neck. "There you go. I'm almost off shift. I'll see you at home, OK?"

The squirrel leaped off the railing and sprinted into the forest, loudly squeaking behind its back.

"Yeah, yeah! I'll grab some peanuts on the way home."

She started to bus the table, putting the dinnerware into a container. "Stupid Dante. Always butting into other people's business. Such a jerk."

She brushed her hair behind her ear, a finger grazing the still-operating wireless device in her ear.

"And he calls me the crazy one."

Back at the Hamadas…

"Don't peek, Genius Boy!"

Hiro turned around in his chair, away from the computer. "What?"

"I said don't peek!"

A travel-sized bottle of shampoo came flying out in his direction, barely missing his ear. "Hey!" He swiveled in his chair and covered his eyes. "I'm not looking!"

Hiro heard the door open and the soft thuds of her feet traverse the bedroom. He also felt the separator move over a bit.

The two had made it back to the house with their stomachs full and their eyes barely open. They were immediately interrogated by Aunt Cass upon arrival, which wasn't too bad when they gave generic answers to her questions.

But now they were in his bedroom, Karmi coming out of the shower after Hiro had already taken one. He was at his computer answering an e-mail. He was not answering any of the texts that Go Go had sent him. He'd leave that for tomorrow.

"OK, you can look now."

Hiro restored his eyesight and turned his head toward Tadashi's space. The separator was blocking everything except for the very corner of the bed, which he could see the strap of her tank top and one of legs of her pajama shorts. One of her towels was thrown over the top, probably the one she used for her hair.

And then a second one came into view.

Which meant…

His chair swiveled around so fast that he almost went careening into his bed. He had to grab onto the back of the chair to keep from falling.

"Are you OK out there?"

No. He wasn't. It was actually a wonder that this didn't happen earlier in her time here. But he had to say something. He couldn't just stay quiet.

"Ummm, yeah. I'm fine. Just..." Hiro slammed his finger on the computer mouse. "Just answering this survey about the dinner tonight."

"Oh yeah. I should probably look at the one I got. I'll do it at some point."

More footsteps were behind him, and he decided to take a chance and look. He internally sighed; she was in her pajamas, taking a brush to her hair. She was still looking at him rather wearily as she took a seat on his bed.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Huh? What's tomorrow?" he asked.

"When you finally rid yourself of me."

"Well, no."

Karmi stared at him, the brush hanging in the air.

"I mean..." He put his computer on sleep mode and went to go sit next to her. "I just kind of gotten used to you being here, that's all."

She smiled as she resumed her brushing. "Did you think you would say that at the beginning of this week?"

"Absolutely not."

Hiro saw her bring the brush down to the bed and put a hand on her back, wincing slightly. "Are you still sore from the mattress?"

"Yeah," she answered, rubbing her spine. "Your brother was a genius, but boy did he have bad taste in beds. But it's just one more night. I can deal with it."

"Here."

Karmi watched as Hiro leaned back to grab his pillow. "We'll switch beds. I'll take Tadashi's, and you can have mine."

"When was the last time your sheets were washed, Genius Boy?"

"Tonight. Aunt Cass has been washing them every night since Tuesday. Because I may have told her about you and your germaphobia."

"Oh."

Hiro had his pillow under his arm, ready to cross the threshold into the other space when he felt her hand on his sleeve.

"Hiro, wait."

She stood up from the bed, looking at him in the eye. "I'm not going to make you sleep there. It's not fair to you." She pointed down the stairs with her brush. "What about the couch downstairs? I'll go down there."

"You don't want to sleep on that," Hiro replied. "One time, Aunt Cass dozed off on it. And when I woke up the next morning...it had ate her."

"It had...what?"

"Ate her," he repeated. "Sunk into the cushions. It took an hour for me and Baymax to get her out. It might have something to do with the springs. Either way, it's bad."

Karmi wasn't sure if she believed that, but she let it go. "OK. Well, if we're not switching beds, and I can't sleep downstairs...then what are we going to do?"

"If I may offer a suggestion."

The two geniuses looked over at Baymax, who had been charging in his case. He held up a finger as he continued. "Hiro's bed is a four on the scale of mattress firmness. Tadashi's is a nine of the same scale. Since Hiro is still entering the early stages of puberty..."

"Hey!"

"And you are requesting a softer sleeping surface, perhaps the solution would be for both of you to occupy the same sleep area."

The room was so quiet that they could hear the lenses in Baymax's eyes refocus.

"Wait." Karmi pointed at Hiro's bed. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I am merely stating that the total surface area of Hiro's bed would be more than sufficient to house two adolescent humans."

The two blinked at the robot, neither of them able to immediately process his suggestion. Hiro felt his body come back down on the bed, his hands at his sides. He didn't even see that Karmi had done the exact same thing, the look of shock mirroring his.

There's no way, Hiro thought. There's literally no way she would go for that. Not in a million, billion years. Not in a hundred million, billion years.

"You know..."

Hiro turned his head to face Karmi, who had tucked her leg underneath her body. She was furrowing her brow in concentration, that familiar creep of red starting to climb up her neck.

"He's got a point."

Apparently a million billion years was much faster than Hiro thought.

"I can't stay in that bed another night. My vertebrae are going to start rubbing into each other. And I'm not going to force you to go over there, either. The only logical solution is for me to sleep in your bed...while you...also...sleep in the bed."

Hiro felt like jumping into the shower again and turning the dial all the way down to the blue dot.

"It's just one night. We're both...adults."

"I don't know why you keep saying that."

"Look, Genius Boy," Karmi retorted. "You know what I mean. If you don't want to do it, just say so."

Hiro took a very long look at his bed. This whole thing was crazy. Absolutely insane. Even after the great evening they just had, this predicament could end up going very, very badly.

Karmi moved to get up from the bed. "OK, and there's the answer. I'm just gonna go-"

She stopped, the weight of Hiro's hand on hers halting her exit.

"I didn't say I didn't want to do it."

Hiro thought for a moment. He really hoped it was his mind talking and not the salad of aphrodisiacs. "I just...want to make sure you were comfortable with it. I mean, I know how you are with people sometimes."

Karmi sat down again, not attempting to move his hand. "Hiro. I'll be fine. We just need to set some ground rules."

"I can make another contract."

"Don't. I have everything in my head."

She held up a few fingers in succession. "One, no touching. Whatever appendage you touch me with, you lose. Two, one of us will sleep under the covers and one on top. Three, if one of us wakes up in the middle of the night for any reason, we do our best not to wake the other. And four..."

Her pinkie went up to finish. "We do not tell anyone about this. Agreed?"

"Who do you think I'm going to tell? It's not like anyone would believe me," Hiro said.

"I don't know." Karmi threw her arm out in the direction of Baymax. "You might want to...take a picture and plaster it all over the wall or something."

"I can do that, if you wish."

"No!" the two yelled at Baymax.

"Then I will delete it off of my list."

Hiro took a deep breath in. This was crazy. This whole thing was crazy. But it wasn't doing any good sitting there and arguing about it. Slowly, he brought his hand out, offering it to her. "I agree to all of those terms. You have a deal."

Karmi looked down at it, and very carefully clasped her hand in his. "Deal."

They separated, both of their gazes now resting on the mattress.

"So."

Her eyes moved back to Hiro, who was staring at her with a question on his mind.

"...Which side do you want?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I could go on and on about everything in this story. From the friend excursion/date, to Squirrel Girl's official introduction into my BH6 verse, to Inferno's cameo, to all of the cute and fuzzy moments between Hiro and Karmi, or even about how writing this chapter was bittersweet given what happened in "City of Monsters, Part 2".

I could do that. But I'm not.

There's only one thing that I'm going to mention.

You guys didn't…really think I was going to end the awkwardness at the date, right?

Because I'm just going to warn you now...you ain't seen nothing yet.

Chapter 7 will be next Friday. Read and review, if you like. Until next time, everyone.

...And sleep tight. :P

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Disney Animation owns Big Hero 6. I will not steal it. Nor the covers.

Chapter 7 – The Sleep Talk

Sleep wouldn't come.

The bedroom was suppose to be a safe haven, free from noise and distraction. It's where you recharge. Get your energy back. Push the restart button.

It turns out when you have someone else in your bed, you hear literally everything.

Every breath.

Every movement.

Every noise.

...It was incredibly annoying.

It had been about twenty minutes since the two teens had taken their positions in Hiro's bed. After staring at the bed from the foot of it for an eternity, Karmi had opted to take the right side, and Hiro the left. After situating themselves, she had turned onto her side and promptly tried to go to sleep. Hiro was on his back, trying hard to not spread his limbs out like he normally did.

Weirdly, she decided to lay on top of the covers, giving Hiro the underneath. He guessed it was a compromise; he normally slept underneath a sheet anyway, regardless of the temperature in his room. Couldn't run the risk of the monsters underneath his bed grabbing his toes or something.

But now they were there. Together. In the same bed.

...Yeah, it still didn't sound real in his head.

Hiro was currently staring straight up at the ceiling, his hands laying on his stomach, the sheet between his arms and chest. He had never noticed the finer details that were in his bedroom. Ripples in the wooden beams above, the slight crack in the corner of the roof.

The ever approaching sense of foreboding lying directly beside him.

Hiro's eyes narrowed. Wait a minute...

Maybe she wasn't awake any more. Hiro's whisper came out of the corner of his mouth.

"Are you asleep yet?"

"No." Karmi's answer was almost immediate. "And if you ask me that one more time, I'm going to hit you."

Oh yeah, he had asked that question to her about five times now.

"Just checking."

They fell silent again. A car drove by the house, the headlights dancing across the ceiling.

Yup, definitely would not have noticed that if he was alone.

He was starting to get an itch on the back of his neck. He reached his hand around to scratch it...and accidentally came in contact with Karmi's-

"Genius Boy."

Uh oh.

"Did you just touch my butt?"

"...In my defense, it's sticking out onto my side of the bed."

"That's it." Karmi started turning around. "You're dead."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Hiro held up his hands as she started to reach for his throat. "I'm sorry! It won't happen again."

She stopped, her fingers curled in his direction. "Ugh. Fine." She flopped onto her back, her arms outstretched.

"...Karmi." His vision was suddenly blocked by her wrist. "Can you remove your arm from my face?"

"Oh. Sorry."

If Hiro had looked over at her now, he would have seen that Karmi was now adopting the same arms-crossed, staring-at-the-ceiling position he was. But he didn't dare glance her way, for fear of angering her again.

So now we had two teen geniuses, both in the same position and predicament.

...Isn't this fun, kids?

"Are you at least comfortable?"

Karmi snuggled into the mattress. "Yeah. Your bed's a whole lot better than your brother's. I think it's even better than mine."

"That's good."

More silence followed. It was driving him mad. He almost wished that Karmi would kill him so that he could finally have some piece and quiet.

"Why is there a dragon above the bed? And how come I've never seen it before?" she asked.

"That?" He pointed to the red model right above them.

"No, the other dragon thing above your bed."

Hiro caught the sarcasm, but decided to give her the honest answer. "Tadashi gave it to me when I was younger. He said that it would catch all of the monsters that would come out from under my bed while I was asleep and take them to the sky, where they wouldn't hurt me."

"That sounds dumb," Karmi replied. "The monster thing, not your brother."

"Well, I haven't been attacked by anything since it went up, so it's clearly been doing its job."

She let out a small laugh. "Guess you got me there, Genius Boy."

The two fell quiet once more. At least the mood was a little better now. And he still had all of his appendages.

"I met him once."

Hiro actually did look at her this time. He saw her eyes staring up at the fake creature on the ceiling. "It was my...third day at SFIT? I was so overwhelmed by my classes and everything that I just broke down in the cafeteria. Everyone was looking at me funny and then ignoring me, but not him. He saw me and sat at my table and just...stayed there with me. Talked for almost an hour. Told me to keep my head up and not worry about anyone or what they thought. After that, he left. Never spoke to him again."

Karmi took a deep breath through her nose. "I didn't know who he was at the time, but I learned about him through the grapevine. How popular he was. How nice he was to everyone. Not to mention how well versed he was in robotics. But to take time out of his day for some nobody...that's what stuck with me."

"Yeah." Hiro muttered, drumming his fingers on his stomach. "That sounds like him."

The silence was now almost unbearable. The addition of Tadashi into the conversation had taken it down an unexpected road.

"I wasn't there...when the accident happened."

Hiro stared at her. He forgot that not everyone was in on the entirety of the details of that day, but knowing her, she may have been able to connect the dots. "Where were you? Studying or something? Discovering the next great organism?"

"No." Her voice got even sadder, and her head slipped off the pillow, her chin hitting her body. "I was overseas. My…grandfather had passed away."

Whoa. He wasn't expecting that. "I'm sorry. Did you at least..."

Karmi knew the gist of the question. "Professor Callaghan let me leave school two weeks early to travel. We got there just in time to...say goodbye to him."

For the first time, she looked at Hiro. She wasn't crying, but her eyes were starting to get wet. "He had been ill for years. My parents had to put him in hospice care because my grandmother couldn't take care of him anymore. But I remember (she chuckled softly) when I told him I had gotten accepted into SFIT. He was so excited that he almost jumped completely out of his bed. Scared the nurse half to death."

Karmi turned onto her right side to face him, arm under the pillow. "I hadn't seen him for a while, but losing him still hurt so much. But a brother? I can't even imagine what you and your aunt went through..."

He felt her hand next to his wrist, her index finger running over it.

"How did you get over it? Losing someone that you care about?"

Hiro tried to ignore her touch to no avail. It felt really good. Like...really good. Maybe it was the sleep finally catching up to him.

"You don't."

The finger stopped.

"Karmi, it hasn't even been a year. He was everything to me. Things like that you just don't get over, even if you had ten years. It still hurts, but that means they meant something to you."

"Yeah." She looked down. "You're right. You're absolutely right."

He saw her face slightly flush, the finger now curling around his arm. "Hiro, I never actually apologized to you for what I said about your brother. And I know we're past that now, but I still need to say it. No matter what, the problems that I may have with you should not reflect on Tadashi. And I took it there. I'm so sorry."

"We both said some things we regretted, Karmi. And besides...you sort of already apologized to me that night."

"Really?" she said.

"Yeah. You were asleep, but it still counts."

"Oh. Okay."

Hiro stole a glance at the finger on his wrist. "Does this mean I get to take your finger now?"

Karmi retracted her hand, returning it to her side. "Silly. I never said you could do it. Only me."

"That doesn't seem fair."

"You would think that, wouldn't you?"

He let it go, but only because he was paying attention to something else: Karmi was shivering slightly, her grasp on the pillow a little harder. Her free arm was curled around her waist. "Are you cold or something?"

"N-no."

"Your stuttering gave it away."

"Shut up," she retorted.

Hiro patted the sheet between them. "Karmi, if you're really want to, you can use the sheet. I'll just be on the outside."

"I'm not going to make you do that."

He started to unfurl himself from the covers. "It's a good thing you're not making me do anything, then."

Before she knew it, the sheet was pulled out from under her and draped over her body, the ends being tucked underneath her back by Hiro. She had to admit, the sheet felt even better when she was snuggling in it. "Is this Egyptian cotton?"

"I don't know where Aunt Cass got this from," Hiro said, shoving the fabric with his fingers. "But it's still really good at keeping you cool or warm. You just-"

He stopped.

"Hiro."

He looked down at his hands. They had traveled down her body a little too far. Instead of feeling the bony sides of her back, they were now under something that was a little bit more...squishy.

"What's your excuse this time, Genius Boy?"

Hiro saw Karmi's head turn around her shoulder, giving him the most amused look she could muster. "Ummm...they slipped?"

"Uh huh."

Her body started to move outward, further smushing his fingers underneath her body. But not just any part of her body. Her-

"But I think we can forget rule number one for tonight."

Hiro, his cheeks flaring, returned to his side of the bed, his fingers a little redder. Without even thinking, he threw the sheet over his body, returning to the position he was before.

"Guess we're not doing rule number two either."

"Oh yeah," Hiro mumbled. "I forgot."

Karmi sunk her head into her pillow. "I don't care. If it gets us to sleep, whatever."

The two fell to silence again. Hiro was trying to think of a way to cool down his cheeks. And lower his blood pressure. And slow down his heart. And several other things that were going on with his body.

I guess that's just how it is with her, he thought. Always messing with me to the end.

"This is so weird."

He heard the inhale from beside him.

"I know, right? A year ago, I didn't know who you were. Nine months ago, you barely talked to me. I was so worried about finishing that journal. I never told you, but I just made up a bunch of stuff to complete it for Granville. Although you probably guessed that already."

An exhale.

"And then I threw the door at you. And the ketchup. And Trevor kicked you out of his workshop, which was stupid. Even though he ended up being a fraud."

A sniff.

"And then we went to that gala with Liv and I was so jealous of you because she liked you more than me. But you had the project she wanted. In fact, you've...you've been better at me at almost everything. School. Accomplishments. Intelligence. I thought I was the best, and then I figured out that I was really just playing catch-up with-"

Hiro realized he hadn't heard a response from her in a while.

"Karmi?"

He slowly turned his head to the left...and found out why.

Karmi's face filled up his perspective, her nose only a few inches away from his. Her eyes were closed, and her chest was slowly rising up and down. It looked like for the first time in her visit that she was sleeping soundly.

Her bangs, still a little damp from the shower, hung lazily over her face. Slowly, Hiro turned his body, reached his arm out, and tucked them away behind her ear. His fingers grazed the length of her neck as his thumb came to rest on her cheek.

It was about five seconds later before he realized he was absentmindedly rubbing said cheek with said thumb.

But he didn't pull away.

"...I'm sorry."

The words escaped his lips in a whisper, not wanting to wake her. Before he could stop himself, his mouth continued on.

"I'm sorry that I'm such a jerk to you. I never wanted to see you sad. I know that I don't help sometimes, but I'm trying to work on that."

Karmi's head leaned into his hand, letting out a sharp breath from her nose. He paused for a moment, wondering if he had waken her, but her eyes remained closed.

"I can't explain it. I'm so good at robotics and all kinds of stuff. There's a lot of things that people twice my age can't understand. But there's one thing that I really want to learn about...and that's you. You're complicated. I don't understand. I want to learn about you so bad. But I keep messing things up."

His head crept even closer. He could feel her breath on his face. He could smell the shampoo in her hair.

"Tonight was great. To be honest, tonight was probably one of the best nights of my life. I'm glad that you chose to spend it with me. I'm glad that Aunt Cass convinced you to stay with us. And I'm...glad that you're here. Right now. With me."

His hand slid off of her face, his eyes now looking down. "Great. Good job, Hiro. You don't even have the guts to tell her this when you're awake. You're such an idiot. And stupid. And...a stupid idiot."

Hiro was so lost in his own insults that he didn't hear her shuffle in her sleep.

"I mean...you are all of those things."

Or that she wasn't even asleep anymore.

Hiro's eyes snapped back up. Karmi's were now back open, staring at him.

"H-how much of that did you hear?" he stuttered.

Her faint smile was a dead giveaway. "Enough for me to know that you talk too much."

Karmi's head was entirely way too close now. He could count the individual veins in her eyes, she was so close.

"You may be stupid about some things. You may be an idiot around me. I'm not denying that, and neither are you. But...you forgot to mention all of the other things you are."

"Karmmmm."

Her finger fell over his mouth, bringing his speech to a halt.

"Genius Boy," Karmi whispered, her tone almost seductive. "Don't interrupt a girl when she's complimenting you."

She took her finger off, her hand coming to rest next to his head.

"You're a smart person. You're probably even smarter than me about certain things, and I don't hold a grudge against that. You're kind. You take the time to make sure that people are OK. You're loyal to your friends. They can depend on you."

Hiro started blushing madly.

"And you know what I like about you the most?"

"What?" he muttered.

"You're genuine." She ran her thumb down the hem of the pillowcase. "What you see is what you get. Throughout this entire time, you've never once changed yourself for me. And you've never once tried to change me. Some people in my life, even my own family members, have tried to make me into a different person. And you haven't. You haven't tried to change me; you've only tried to make me better. And I respect that a lot."

All he had to do was move forward about an inch, and it would be complete. The thing that he had been wanting to do since being up on the roof with her wouldn't be plaguing his every thought.

"Hiro, can I ask you a question?"

His heart was going to slingshot out of his chest if he wasn't careful. "Sure."

"Do you trust me?"

Hiro stared at those brown eyes, half-shut due to the sleep. It was a long time ago that he had posed that very same question to her high above San Fransokyo. Granted, he wasn't "himself" then, but the question had as much meaning now as then.

"Yes. With my life."

Karmi's eyebrow creaked upward. "I don't think we need to go that far, but the sentiment is appreciated."

He nervously chuckled.

"Then can you do something for me?"

"It depends," Hiro said with a smile. "Are you gonna smack me on the forehead again?"

"No. I won't. I promise."

"OK." He slowly nodded his head. "I trust you."

Karmi took a breath in. "I want you to lay on your back..."

Hiro tore his eyes away from her, flopping back to his original position. "Alright. On my back."

"And I want you to close your eyes."

His eyelids went shut. Now he was at her mercy. He only hoped that if he was getting tricked that she would make his death quick and painless.

Hiro felt Karmi grab his arm. Yup, there it was. He braced himself for the arm to be separated from his shoulder...but the feeling never came.

He felt the mattress shift as she got closer. The curve of her neck come down right beyond his shoulder. A weight being placed on his body in several places.

But above all, he felt something brush his cheek and a rush of warm air on his neck. Opening his eyes, Hiro glanced to his left again.

Karmi's head was now literally next to his, cradled by his shoulder bracing her neck. The bridge of her nose was right underneath his chin, and although he couldn't see it with the covers in the way, her left arm was now resting on his chest. Her forehead was nestled right on his cheek.

But that wasn't all. One of her legs was now interlocked with his, her foot absentmindedly rubbing his ankle. Her bare skin was smooth to the touch and sent a tingle through Hiro's body.

Yup. If he had any thoughts about trying to get away, it was far too late for that.

"You're so warm."

The words rolled off of her lips right into his neck. Her breath left a trail of heat on his body, every exhale causing his heart to speed up just a little more.

Hiro had never been this physically close to anyone before. It reminded him a little bit of Baymax's heat mode, but way, way better. He would take Karmi's skin over his robot's vinyl any day of the week.

"Hiro?" Karmi's voice was barely audible now.

He was almost too afraid to ruin the moment, but against the better judgment of his consciousness, he relented. "Yeah?"

Her breathing became labored and distant. He barely heard her response, hidden in one of her exhales.

"...I..."

Hiro waited for a second for her to finish her sentence, but heard nothing.

"...Karmi?"

As quietly as he could, he turned his head again. Karmi's hand had stopped moving, as did her foot. Her mouth was slightly open, only the sound of her breathing heard in his ears. It looked like that finally, at last...she was out for good.

Hiro looked at her for what seemed like a long time. She looked so peaceful. Like a weight had finally been lifted off of her shoulders. She was relaxed, her body no longer being tense and tight. His left hand was running up and down her neck, trying to give her just a little bit more comfort. His other one had found its way onto his chest, perched right upon her hand.

"Yeah." Hiro smiled, responding to her unknown statement. "Yeah, me too."

He put his cheek onto the pillow, the scent of the lavender oil from her neck filling his nostrils.

"Good night, Karmi."

He gave the hand on his chest the slightest squeeze as sleep finally overtook him.

"...Sweet dreams."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am very glad that I was able to get the majority of this story out before the episodes started back up again, and especially before "City of Monsters" came out. Writing this chapter was very bittersweet, considered what happened in that. And I'm also glad I didn't need 9k words to write this one.

Let's face it. Hiro and Karmi sleeping in the same bed is, for all intents and purposes, a little bit out of character for the both of them. But you have a nice night, a very good date (yeah, it's a date; screw it at this point)...and one thing leads to another.

You find comfort in the people you care about. And that's what I want to get across here and as this story as a whole. You don't need a story to end in a kiss to show affection. Romance is much more than just being physical (although there is that, and we will get to that in far-into-the-future fics). It's emotional, too.

You guys will read this author's note and feel like this is the end of the story. Guess what?

...It's not.

We still have one more chapter to go. And you're probably asking yourself where this story can possibly go from here.

Well...you guys will be in for a rude awakening.

And so will Hiro. :P

The final chapter, "Rude Awakening", will be up next week. Read and review, if you like. Until next time, everyone.

And good night.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney Animation. I simultaneously am sorry and not sorry for what's down below.

Chapter 8 (Finale) – Rude Awakening

Hiro couldn't remember a time where he had gotten a better night's sleep.

Most of the time, being an hyperactive teenager/secret superhero/procrastinating college student meant that he stayed up late and got up early. Even when he got to bed at a reasonable time, his brain would move a mile a minute thinking of new ideas for any number of things.

But tonight? Nothing but peace and serenity.

And the reason why was someone that he didn't associate peace or serenity with at all: the girl laying right next to him.

Karmi had taken residence in his bed as a gesture of good will, the other bed becoming too much for her body to handle. After a very enlightening and open talk between the two geniuses, they had finally gotten to sleep. Hiro had expected to retire to his side of the bed, and Karmi to hers.

Fate, being a fickle mistress (and also married to the god of irony), had other ideas.

Whether it was the food they ate at Gramercy, the heart-to-heart they had, or something entirely different was up for debate. What wasn't up for debate was the fact that Hiro's rival, nemesis, adversary, and friend...was snuggled up against him.

Weirdly enough, it was just like the start of the night when they first laid down. He could feel everything she did. But this time, instead of annoyance, he felt calm. Relaxed.

And he started to notice the little things in his semi-catatonic state. Her hand had moved up his body, the tips of her fingers grazing his neck ever so slightly. Her foot had traveled a tiny bit up his leg, leaving his ankle and resting on his exposed shin.

And unlike his own feet, which Aunt Cass said felt like an iceberg in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, hers were warm. In fact, every part of her body was.

You know how he knew this? Because he was holding her as close to his body as possible.

Hiro vaguely remembered turning his body toward her and snaking his arm around her waist to pull her toward him. Karmi had not objected, nuzzling her head into his neck. Her body was giving off so much heat that it was almost making him drunk.

And that wasn't all. Every once in a while, he heard a small squeak come up from her throat. It was painfully adorable. And through the shampoo and the lavender, he could make out something else: her natural scent. He couldn't really decipher what it was, or even something to compare it to, but all that he knew was that he never wanted it to leave.

But like all good things...it had to come to an end eventually.

A shuffling in the bed caused Hiro to come out of his slumber. As his consciousness came back to the real world, he couldn't feel Karmi next to him any more. He had also returned to his back at some point, his arms laying at his sides. Slowly, he opened his eyes...

The view of the windows filled his vision. The sky outside was dark, the street lights still illuminated. He couldn't tell how many hours it was to sunrise, but it had to be close; it felt like he had been sleeping for a very long time.

"It's so weird, isn't it?"

The words punctured the silence like a needle to a balloon. It was only then that Hiro was beginning to become aware of the weight on his stomach.

"It feels likes all the time in the world has passed...and yet it's only been one night."

Very, very slowly, he turned his head back to the right.

Karmi had her head in her hands, her gaze also out the window. Her hair was all over the place, one of her bangs hanging lazily over her forehead. It was a very attractive look for her.

"Makes you think, doesn't it?"

And she was laying directly on top of him.

...Oh. Did I forget to mention that?

Hiro saw her body disappear underneath the sheet, so he couldn't see it, but he certainly felt all of it. Her stomach on his, her thighs snug against his waist, her elbows propped up on either side of his neck. Both of the straps of her tank top were hanging off of her shoulders, leaving them bare. It also did nothing to support the bottom part of her shirt. It had slipped down just enough to show a lot more of her neckline, even letting him see a little bit of-

"Hey."

She must have noticed he wasn't paying attention, because he felt her index finger come up from beneath his chin, pushing his head up a tiny bit.

"My eyes are up here, Genius Boy."

"I...I know."

"Uh huh."

Hiro couldn't move. At all. His arms felt like iron. Karmi wasn't laying on them, but they didn't respond to any of his thoughts. He tried to move his hand, perhaps to set it on her leg, but it laid limp next to her thigh.

"You know, I've been thinking a lot."

"H-have you?"

Perhaps part of the reason why his body wasn't working was that all of the blood was speeding down to the lower part of his body. And his brainpower was trying to stop it with all of its might.

"About things. About me."

Karmi put her hands down on the top of his collarbone, balancing her chin on them.

"About you."

Hiro took a deep breath in. "Me? I'm...not really that interesting to think about."

She grinned. "I beg to differ, Genius Boy."

He halfheartedly try to move his hand again, but his body decided to ignore his command.

"Do you remember when we first meet?"

The question brought him back to Earth. "I do. When Granville introduced us."

"Yeah, she brought you in and I immediately disregarded you as something not even worth my attention." Karmi's breath dripped down his neck into the pillow. "It's strange how times have changed. We've gone from hating each other to tolerating each other to...this."

"I've told you before, Karmi," Hiro said. "I don't hate you. I never hated you."

"No, you don't."

She lifted her head slightly, her finger now rubbing a circle into his chest. "But you do like me."

Hiro stared at her face, not responding.

"Genius Boy, you can't hide it from me. It's been obvious since the very beginning. I'm a shut-in and antisocial for the most part, and even I saw it."

Karmi grabbed both of his shoulders, pulling her body up the bed. Her head was now hovering right above his face, the bangs tickling his forehead. All Hiro could do was stare into her eyes, fully aware that he could be looking at what he was before with an even better view.

"And for the longest time, I tried to push it away. Tried to push you away. But you didn't stop. And I thought...there has to be more going on here. One person can't be this stubborn. And then I realized who I was thinking about."

She cocked her head to the side, her grin not fading. "You don't just like me, Hiro. You like me. And I can't blame you. I am a pretty good catch."

If her body wasn't laying on him, his heart would have erupted out of his chest by now.

"Are you OK, Genius Boy? You seem a little distracted. You haven't said anything in a while."

No kidding, he thought.

"I hope you're thinking long and hard about what you're going to say to me."

"Please don't."

Karmi's eyebrow went up.

"Please..." Hiro muttered. "Don't say those two words back to back."

She chuckled, her eyes very briefly looking down. "Oh yeah. My bad."

The two fell silent for a moment, and he didn't honestly know what to say. His brain was slowly turning into mush. He hadn't imagined at the beginning of the week that this would be happening. The fights and arguments? The snide comments toward each other? Yes. But not...this.

"So, what are you thinking about?"

Everything.

And nothing.

"Karmi, we..."

She continued to stare at him.

"We can't do this."

Karmi narrowed her eyes. "Do what? We're not doing anything, Genius Boy. We're just talking. No harm in that. But I can tell what you want to do."

Hiro then realized what she was talking about. His brain had been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he hadn't bothered checking in on the rest of his body. His right hand, once on the bed, was now resting on her back. And it wasn't just her back. It was the space between her shirt and her shorts.

Her bare back.

Hiro's face flushed as Karmi softly chuckled. "Don't worry, Genius Boy. I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to. Even though I know you want to. You know how I know?"

She lowered her head, and he felt her nose brush his. She was so close now.

"Because I'm in your mind."

His other hand, long forgotten, was with its partner on her back.

"So let me know when you're ready, Genius Boy. And I'll be there waiting for you."

All he had to do was bring his chin up. His lips would then come in contact with hers, and this whole dance between them would come to an end.

"But before I have to leave, I have one thing I want to say to you."

Hiro finally found his voice again. "What?"

Karmi lifted her head slightly, her grin growing larger. "You are, without a doubt, the most frustrating, kind, difficult, intelligent pain-in-my-butt that I've ever come across in my entire life."

She pushed her body up even further, her hand brushing back his bangs.

"And I wouldn't want you any other way."

Her lips hit his forehead, and for the next eternity, Hiro felt them stay there. He was staring at her neck, the smells and warmth almost too much to bear. But before he could go insane, Karmi pulled back, a tiny bit of moisture still on his forehead. Her lips dragged to his ear and whispered her conclusion.

"Thank you, Hiro. For being you."

Their eyes met again, and Karmi laughed softly at his expression. "You know, Genius Boy, one day you're going to have to wake up and face reality."

"What?" he whispered, closing his eyes. "That I'm in love with you or something?"

He heard her chuckle from above. "No. You have to wake up..."

The lips were almost on his mouth when she replied.

"Because you're still dreaming."

"Wha...?"

Hiro's eyes snapped back open. He was no longer greeted by the visage of Karmi. Instead, he had the attention of something a little more-

"Meow."

...Furrier.

Hiro sat up on his elbows and looked around. It was no longer dark outside; the sun was over the buildings and the light shining into his room. A car drove by the house, and a bird tweeted from somewhere on the roof.

"Meow."

And Mochi was sitting on his body, staring curiously at the teenage boy.

He stared at the family cat, his brain back on overdrive. This couldn't be happening. Was all of that...was all of it just...

Exhausted, Hiro slumped back into his pillows and slapped a hand over his face. "You. Have. Got. To be kidding me."

"Good morning, Hiro."

Baymax stood still as the feline went careening in his direction, Hiro's body acting as a catapult. No longer curious about his well-being, Mochi scurried back down the stairs in a hurry.

"Baymax!" Hiro panted as he stared at his healthcare robot. "What happened? Where's Karmi?"

"Karmi has departed back to her residence."

He looked around the separator. There was no suitcase, no clothes, no foot sticking out from underneath the covers. It was back to the way it was. She really had left.

"Hiro, your heart rate is at an increased level. Did you suffer from any bad dreams?"

"No. I'm fine." He went to remove his covers from his body...

"It also appears that your body is suffering some additional effects from-"

Aaand he threw them back on. "I get it, Baymax. Thanks." He wiped his brow as he tried to get his lower body to calm down. "What time is it?"

"It is currently 9:28 AM."

"My Saturday alarm is set for eight. Why didn't it go off?"

"The alarm was altered."

"Really?" Hiro said, perplexed. "By who?"

The question, he realized, was a stupid one. There were only two people that had the authorization to change his wake-up alarms. One of those people was him. The other one was standing behind the counter as he walked into the cafe, reading a magazine.

Aunt Cass heard him walk through the doorway and looked up. "Well, if it isn't Mr. Sleepy Head! You finally woke up!"

"Good morning," Hiro mumbled, running a hand through his damp hair.

"Did you take a shower? Don't you normally take one at night?"

"Ummm...yeah. I just did this morning because...it was hot last night. And I was...sweating."

"Mmhmm." She bent the corner of the page she was on, smiling to herself. "Well, let me get your breakfast. It's under the heat lamp in the back."

Hiro took a look around. There wasn't a single customer in sight. "Where is everyone?"

"You slept through the morning rush, sweetie. Some of us don't have the luxury of sleeping in."

"Not unless they're tired from doing secret underground cooking competitions."

"Ha ha." Aunt Cass set the plate down on the table. "Very funny."

Hiro slid into the booth and started to eat. He didn't get very far before he noticed that his aunt was standing across from him, a weird expression on her face. "What?"

"Nothing."

"...I don't like that tone." Hiro shuffled some more eggs into his mouth.

"You just seemed relaxed, that's all."

"Well, Karmi's out of my hair now. I can go back to my normal, everyday schedule."

"At least until she stays over again," Aunt Cass said.

"I don't know if I could handle that."

She laughed as she pushed some chairs underneath a spare table. "Speaking of which, do you have any plans for today? Your friends wanted to know. I told them that I wasn't sure."

Hiro swallowed the last of his toast and shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't really given it much thought."

"Well, before you do anything, I have a project for you." Aunt Cass set her phone down next to his milk. "I want to put a couple of pictures up on the wall. You know, for ambiance and all that. I have a few photos on my phone; go through the album and see if anything strikes your fancy."

She walked away to the far counter, and Hiro peered down at her cell. He started to scroll through the album as she took a drink from his glass. This wasn't really his forte, but he at least could humor her for a bit.

Flowers. Sunsets. Pastures. Cute animals laying in said pastures.

Hiro scrolled one more over...and choked on his drink.

Aunt Cass strolled over to check on her nephew, rescuing her phone from the splash zone. Ignoring Hiro (and his repeated thumping of his chest), she peered at the photo he stopped at. "Yeah, you probably don't want that one on the walls. Let's go with the flowers. I like that one."

She walked back behind the counter as Hiro finished rescuing himself from an early death. He got up from the bench, red-faced and stammering. "A-Aunt Cass, I-I can explain."

"Explain what?"

She turned the phone around, and Hiro saw again what made him choke: he and Karmi, snuggled together underneath his covers, each of them with a smile on their face. He could tell it was daytime from the amount of light in the room. She must have gone upstairs to check on them before opening the cafe up, and wasn't able to resist herself.

"This?" Aunt Cass smirked.

Hiro's face went hot. Thank goodness there was no one in the cafe, or else they would have a front row seat to a very awkward conversation. "I...I..."

"Hiro." She put her hand on his, giving it a squeeze. "You don't have to explain. I understand."

"You...you do?"

"Yeah."

"And..." This conversation was going in an unexpected direction. "You're not mad?"

"Nope." She continued to wipe down the counter as he stared in confusion.

"...Shouldn't you be?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, it's not that I want to get grounded or anything." Hiro tapped his feet on the tile floor. "I just...that's a pretty serious thing to walk into, and I-"

"Hiro." Aunt Cass looked at him, her smile not fading. "Let me ask you something. Why do you think I let Karmi sleep in your room in the first place?"

"Because the sofa's not comfortable?"

"Well, yes. That too. But there's a much simpler answer. And it's the same reason why I'm not mad."

Aunt Cass reached out and put a firm hand on his shoulder.

"It's because I trust you."

Hiro stared at her as she continued on. "I know that you and Karmi are teenagers and have...certain thoughts about things. But I also know that you two are smart enough to know how far to go."

He looked away at the ground. "We're just friends, Aunt Cass."

"Yes." She glanced at the phone in front of her. "Clearly." She pushed it to the side. "Look, I'm just saying. You're a teenage boy, as much as I want to hang on to that, I honestly expected something like this to happen eventually. Karmi's a great girl, Hiro. And no matter what happens, I'm glad that you're treating her with care and respect. Because that's what she deserves. Don't forget that."

Hiro smiled. "That's...really nice to hear. Thanks, Aunt Cass."

"You're welcome." She walked over to the door to the back room, turning back to face him. "And Hiro?"

"Yeah?"

"It would be good for you to know that if you had tried anything with Karmi last night, you would've been grounded until you were thirty. So, just keep that in the back of your mind, OK?"

Aunt Cass walked away, leaving Hiro alone on the sales floor. He started the slow walk back to the booth, putting a hand on his still blazing cheeks.

"I'm going to need to take another shower after this."

Earlier that morning...

Karmi quietly zipped up her suitcase, the magnets sticking together. She had to wake up a little earlier than normal to get everything packed, but the trip back to her house was going to take longer with all of her luggage.

The sun was just starting to peak over the houses as Karmi rolled it over to the stairwell, her pillow strapped onto the top. She was just about to take the trip downstairs...and then she stopped. Karmi let go of the handle and turned around to face...

"Hiro."

The boy was still in his bed, fast asleep. His limbs were sprawled all over the bed, his hair even more messed up than usual. His mouth was hanging wide open, but thankfully he wasn't snoring.

He looked...peaceful.

Karmi slowly walked over to him and sat down on the edge of the bed. She had to admit it; he looked rather cute like that. And he also was a very good cuddle buddy.

So much so that when she woke up, she didn't want to leave his grasp. Strange how a boy she didn't even know less than a year ago could make her feel...wanted.

And also drive her insane.

"Cur..."

She heard him mutter something under his breath. She leaned in a little closer.

"Cur...mee..."

She stared at him as he turned his head toward her, still asleep. It was a good thing, too; her blush was starting to flare up again.

Karmi felt a weight behind her, and she turned to see Hiro's hand had somehow found its way underneath her sweater, running over her bare skin.

"You..."

She was all ready to smack him upside the head, but she saw his face. It had a smile on it, no doubt enthused by the new touch. Karmi couldn't help but smile herself. She leaned forward over the bed, her mouth right at his ear.

"Genius Boy...you are, without a doubt, the most frustrating, kind, difficult, intelligent pain-in-my-butt that I've ever come across in my entire life."

She put her hand on his forehead.

"And I wouldn't want you any other way."

Karmi put her lips down, feeling the warmth emanating from his body.

"Thank you, Hiro. For being you."

Her hand traveled down his head, cupping his cheek for a second before pulling away. What she wouldn't give to be able to jump right back into bed with him, but she had to go. Her parents would be home that night, and having to explain why she was sleeping in the same bedroom as a boy was something she didn't want to do.

"I'll see you around, sleepy-head."

She walked over to Baymax, who was in his sleep mode. After opening his viewscreen, she pressed a few buttons. Hopefully he wouldn't mind a couple extra hours of sleep.

"You really need to make this harder for people to change, Genius Boy."

She closed the program, and with one final glance at his room, Karmi walked downstairs. She would have the whole day to make sure the house was in order before her parents got back. Hopefully it wouldn't take too much time.

She hit the last step and walked into the cafe. There was a few people spread about the floor, enjoying the morning. Hiro's aunt was wrapping up her transaction with someone in line when she noticed the new arrival.

"Karmi!" She handed the customer their receipt and walked over to the teen. "You heading out?"

"Yeah, I have things to take care of. Mom and Dad are flying back in tonight."

"Sure I can't convince you to stay one more night?"

Karmi glanced over at the stairs leading up to her nephew's bedroom. "I would like to, but I can't."

"I figured as much. I hope you enjoyed yourself here."

"I did." She tucked her bangs behind her ear. "I...I did."

Aunt Cass chuckled as she tapped away on her phone. "That's good. I was wondering how Tadashi's bed was going to treat you. It's good that you found a solution to the problem, though."

"Yeah, I...Wait, what?"

It was then that she looked down at Aunt Cass's phone, propped up on the counter for her to see.

It was a picture of Hiro's bedroom, but more specifically Hiro's bed. The two teens were huddled together, Karmi's face buried into Hiro's chest. His arms had found their way around her body, pulling her even closer.

And the peaceful look on her face was something that even she could fawn over...if she wasn't busy dying of embarrassment.

"He's a great little space heater, isn't he?"

Karmi's cheeks were going to combust at any moment.

"I know, right? Sometimes, during our movie nights, he snuggles up with me and falls asleep. I don't even need a blanket to keep my feet warm."

Aunt Cass leaned forward, her grin threatening to overtake her entire face. "But I guess you figured that out, didn't you?"

"M-Miss Cass, I can explain-"

"Karmi."

She held up her hand, and Karmi stopped her speech.

"You don't have to explain anything. I used to be a teenager too a long time ago. I know how this thing works."

"It's...not a thing," Karmi said, her eyes still on the picture. "We're...we're just friends."

Aunt Cass smiled at her. "Sweetie, I can see that. Hiro puts an enormous amount of trust in you, as do you for him. And if he trusts you...I trust you. I've heard him talk about you. I see the way he looks at you. I've never seen him look at anyone like that before. He really does like you a lot."

She came out from behind the counter and put a hand on her shoulder. "And I know you like him. This (she pointed at her phone) is proof of that. Just promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Whatever happens between you two...please don't break my nephew's heart. I don't think he could take it. You have my permission to break any other body part that you want if he becomes difficult for you, but leave his heart out of it, OK?"

Karmi laughed. "I can agree to that."

"Very good. Now, come here."

Aunt Cass pulled her into a hug, and the two stayed that way for a while. "You are welcome here any time, Karmi. I think you've earned that. Try to keep the yelling and bodily harm to a minimum, though."

"I'll try. I can't promise you that."

The two separated, and Aunt Cass reached over the counter to give Karmi her usual to-go bag. "Text me when you get back to your house, OK?"

"I will."

Karmi started to walk toward the front door, but her brain made her stop halfway. "Miss Cass?"

"Yes, Sweetie?"

"Can..." She turned back toward the woman. "Can you...send me that picture later?"

Aunt Cass laughed at her question. "I'll send it along when you get home."

Karmi waved goodbye as she walked out. Cass returned the gesture, and after she went past the window, returned to her phone. It was almost time for Hiro to make his appearance.

A window came down from the top of her phone as it vibrated, signaling a incoming text.

I moved Hiro's alarm up a little bit. You know...to let him sleep in. I hope you don't mind.

"Heh."

Aunt Cass typed her response.

Why? Did you keep him up all night?

Karmi's reply was short and sweet.

O.O

I'm joking, sweetie, Aunt Cass typed. I don't mind it. Thank you for letting me know.

And now it was nighttime.

Karmi was in her bedroom, back in her pajamas and brushing her hair. Her parents had arrived home a short time ago, their flight having been delayed for a couple of hours. They exchanged quick hugs and then shuffled off to bed, their luggage still piled in the living room. She couldn't blame them; they traveled a lot, but even they weren't immune to the effects of jet lag.

So now she was left to her own devices.

As promised, Aunt Cass had forwarded her the picture of her and Hiro. She wasn't exactly sure why she wanted it. Maybe for blackmail purposes, or maybe just because it was something she wanted to hang on to.

Or maybe it was the feeling she actually wanted.

Hiro was still Hiro, but he had made her feel important. Like she mattered. Like her place in the world was warranted.

So maybe that's why she was doing what she was doing.

The buzzer on the dryer went off, signaling that her load of laundry was done. Karmi ducked out of her room and to the closet, where she threw open the dryer door to pull out her pillow and her newly-bought sheets. She shut her bedroom door, took all of it back to her bed and started her work.

After a couple of moments, Karmi held up her full-body pillow, the entire thing still warm from the spin cycle. The turquoise color didn't match the rest of her bedroom scheme, but that wasn't the point. It would have to do.

She turned the lamp in her room off, plunging it into darkness. She laid her head on her normal pillow and her body pillow was between her arms, clutched close to her body.

Karmi could already tell that her plan wouldn't work; the artificial heat was already evaporating into the air, lost to the night. It wasn't going to be like...before.

Her cheek came to rest on the corner of the case, wishing it was his shoulder.

Her hand grazed down the length of the pillow, wishing it was his chest.

Her fingers gripped the pillowcase, wishing that they could find his hand.

Yup, before now she could deny it. Before, she could trick her brain to thinking that there was nothing there. That it was just a feeling that would pass in the night, just like the heat.

But now...there were no more excuses. No more thoughts to hide behind.

Karmi had to admit it now. She-

"Don't."

Hmm?

Karmi shook her head, her eyes closed. "Don't say it. Don't think it."

What? That you have a crush on Genius Boy?

"...Damn it."

Or that you're in love with Hiro?

"...I hate you, brain."

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, Hiro, it was a dream. Mostly. I leave it to you, readers, to figure out which parts were real and which weren't.

I've said this before at the end of Foundation, and I'll say it again here: There was only ever one way this story was going to end.

Not with a kiss (at least not one with both parties actively involved). But the build-up.

And now you can see Karmi starting to turn around on Ol' Genius Boy. Yes, Karmi, not even a body pillow with his pajama color will replace the real thing, as you are finding out with the conversation with your brain.

AKA me.

I will admit, after watching "City of Monsters", I really thought about changing the ending to this to something more...mutual. But I decided against it because there's still a good amount that these two need to work out before they get over the hump. So I'm sorry if some people were expecting there to be that big damn kiss at the end.

I'm also not sorry as well. They are friends...for now. And they will remain that way.

For now. We'll see how long they stay like that, given what the show (and I) have planned for them in the future.

After all...these things don't happen overnight.

This fic has been far and away my most reviewed BH6 story, and it will very shortly be my most reviewed story ever. I am thankful, as always, for everyone who's taken the time to read, review, or kudos my story. This one has been a very fun one to write, and to have people like you guys laugh, cry, squee, and enjoy it alongside me has been wonderful.

So, you're probably wondering what's coming next.

For those of you who haven't read my journal on DevArt yet, you'll be happy to know that this is not the end for Karmi in my stories. I have a one-shot coming up that takes place after "City of Monsters" with the whole gang (and I mean the whole gang). Then I'll probably take a short break to collect and plan for my next big multi-chaptered story.

The one that I've been teasing for a while now.

..."Peni" for your thoughts? :P

As always, read and review, if you like. I hope you've enjoyed this installment of "Put Hiro and Karmi in the most awkward situations possible and see what they do".

Until next time.