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Hiro sat in the rickety hospital chair and watched Tadashi sleep. It was the same thing he'd done yesterday, and the day before that. Tadashi didn't do much of anything else these days. When he'd first been allowed to have visitors (nearly two weeks ago, or was it more? Hiro hadn't bothered to look at a calendar in a while), at least Tadashi had tried to talk to them for a few minutes, but now he barely seemed to notice whether they were there or not.
Aunt Cass said that he just needed to rest and he'd be better soon. The doctors said that depression was common after such a big injury with commensurate loss of normal activities (but they didn't say what they were going to do about it). Go Go said it was because of Professor Callaghan, that maybe Tadashi thought his death was his fault although it totally wasn't. Hiro thought maybe they were all a little bit right, but he wasn't sure. Normally when he wasn't sure about something, he'd ask Tadashi. He really wished he could do that here. He really wished he could help Tadashi get better, instead of just sitting here like a lump.
Classes at San Fransokyo Tech were starting next week, but Hiro didn't know if he could bring himself to go if Tadashi wasn't going to be there. That was where Tadashi belonged. He ought to be there in his lab right now, working on his robot that was supposed to help so many people, not lying here needing help himself. He'd looked so happy there.
Which gave Hiro an idea. He couldn't take Tadashi to San Fransokyo Tech, but he might be able to bring a bit of it here to Tadashi. Jumping up, he ran out of the room. If he hurried, Tadashi might not even notice he'd been gone.
The university looked almost exactly as Hiro remembered it from when Tadashi had brought him there. Hiro wished it didn't look so much the same; it was hard to imagine ever feeling as excited about this place as he knew he once had, but he knew that he had.
Honey Lemon was the first to notice him walk in. She ran over and threw her arms around him. "Hiro! How's Tadashi? Is there anything we can do?" She stepped back and held him at arm's length. "And how are you?" she added. "You look tired. You know, if you want us to trade off shifts during visiting hours, you could get some more rest."
"No, I need to be there," Hiro said. "Thanks anyway."
"Well, call me if you think of anything we can help with. So what brings you here? Are you registering for classes?"
"Not yet," Hiro said. "I just...can you help me get into Tadashi's lab? I thought I'd bring him something from here to cheer him up."
"That's a great idea! Wait just one moment." She rushed off to her experiment setup across the room, while Hiro followed. "Here!" She picked up a beaker and squirted an assortment of chemicals into it. "Now, the locks here are probably made out of brass," she said, pulling out a blowtorch. "Last time you were here, you saw me do this on tungsten carbide, which is a much different story. But I think—"
"Um, do you think there's anybody who would just have a key to let me in?" Hiro asked. "That way I can lock the lab back up when I'm done."
"Oh! Right!" She laughed. "I think one of the professors can let you in. Here, I'll go see if I can find somebody with a key."
It took Honey Lemon several minutes longer to find a key to Tadashi's lab than it had for her to whip up a chemical compound that would break the lock, which probably said something about the security around this place. (Though how secure could any lab full of super genius science students be? "Thanks, Honey Lemon," Hiro said. "I'll keep the key if that's okay."
"Sure!" she said. "And please call us when Tadashi's ready for visitors."
"I will." As she left the lab, he shut the door behind her, and turned back to survey the room. He could just grab the case and go, but he figured it would probably be better to check things out before lugging a potentially nonoperational robot all the way back to the hospital. "Ow?"
There was a soft hiss as Tadashi's robot inflated. "Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said 'ow'."
"Uh, hi Baymax."
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?"
"Zero," Hiro said. "I'm not in pain, I'm just checking to make sure you're operational."
"Scanning for injuries."
"You don't—"
"Scan complete. Your stress hormones appear to be elevated. Recommended treatments include: a hug." The robot's big marshmallowy arms wrapped around Hiro before he could react.
"No, really, I'm okay. I'm just a bit worried about Tadashi, but the doctor's say he's going to be fine. He—this feels nice, actually."
"Other treatments," Baymax said, still hugging him," include surrounding yourself with things that make you happy."
"That's why I'm here, actually," Hiro said. "To get you, because I think Tadashi needs to surround himself with things that make him happy, and you make Tadashi happy. When I was here last time, his eyes lit up when he was telling me about what you can do and about how you're going to help lots of people. He was—he is—really happy to have you."
"You make Tadashi happy, too," Baymax said. "His eyes still reflected the same number of lumens when you visited the lab, but his stress hormones were below baseline and his neurotransmitter levels were elevated."
"Do you think so?" Hiro said. "He doesn't seem to notice whether or not I'm there when I'm with him at the hospital."
"I cannot tell you Tadashi's current neurotransmitter levels without scanning him," Baymax said.
"Well, then, let's get you to the hospital, and maybe he'll be happy to see us both. Once you're deactivated, is the case you deflate into all that I need to bring with me?"
"Tadashi has not made me aware of any other components that would be required."
"Great. Then let's go. Um, I am satisfied with my care." Hiro watched as Baymax stepped back onto his charging case and deflated. The case was compact, but as Hiro reached down to pick it up, he found that it was heavier than he'd expected. Hefting the case with both hands, he half-carried, half-dragged it out of the room. Most of the robot was inflatable vinyl, and its lithium ion batteries were lighter than a lot of other options, but apparently it all added up. Maybe he should have left Baymax activated and had him accompany him under his own power. But there was no way a robot walking all the way across town would escape notice, and Tadashi probably wouldn't appreciate Hiro waving his prototype around like that. Hiro would just have to lug this out of the building and then he could figure out how to call a cab.
"Need a ride?"
Or, yeah, Wasabi could drive him to the hospital. That would work too.
Wasabi didn't push him to talk, but when they got to the hospital he insisted on getting out and giving Hiro an enthusiastic hug. Hiro had had more hugs in the last week than he'd had in the entirety of last year. "You want me to help carry that up for you?"
"No, I think I've got it. But thanks, Wasabi. I really appreciate your help. I'll tell Tadashi you guys are thinking of him."
"Thanks. And tell him we'd all love to come visit when he's up for it. But we can be patient. Well, I can be patient, and Go Go can be patient. And if Fred and Honey Lemon stop trying their hardest to fake being patient, then Go Go and I will sit on them. We all just want what's best for Tadashi."
Hiro smiled. "Thanks, Wasabi. I'll let him know." He hoisted the case into his arms. It was too heavy to carry far, but he knew dragging it wouldn't make for a very sneaky hospital infiltration. And he planned for this to be an extremely sneaky hospital infiltration. Well, apart from the part where lots of the people at the hospital had already seen him around a bunch and didn't have any reason not to let him in. But they didn't know that this time, he was smuggling in a robot! (Did it still count as smuggling if nobody had told him he couldn't bring it in? It at least felt like smuggling, so Hiro decided it ought to count.)
Tadashi was awake when Hiro walked in. One of the nurses was changing the bandages on his face, explaining the different types of ointment she was applying as she went. Hiro didn't say anything to her, but set Baymax's case on the floor and subtly shoved it behind the open door with his foot. (It made a loud scraping noise on the floor, but at least she wasn't looking.)
"Is that what I think it is?" Tadashi asked, once the nurse had left and closed the door behind her. There was a hint of a smile on his face. "What if my last painkiller dose had worn off by now and I'd said 'ow' when she was poking and prodding at me?"
"Hello. I am Baymax. I have been alerted to the need for medical attention. Scanning now."
"Hey Baymax," Tadashi said, and now he was definitely smiling. "I missed you, buddy."
"Your skin has a number of second-degree and third-degree burns," Baymax said. "Medical care for burns includes—"
"It's okay, Baymax," Tadashi said. "The doctors and nurses are taking good care of me."
"Then you don't need me?"
"No, remember what we talked about earlier!" Hiro said, reaching out and grabbing Baymax's arm—or at least trying to grab it, though his hand was too small to wrap around it and the vinyl too slick. He settled for patting his shoulder. He wasn't sure whether Baymax was programmed to understand that sort of interaction anyway, so the movements might well be interchangeable as far as he was concerned. "You said that surrounding yourself with things that make you happy is good for stress hormones."
"Scanning." Baymax tipped his head. "Stress hormones still appear elevated."
"They aren't going to go down all at once," Tadashi said. "I'm pretty sure that's in your programming somewhere if even I remember it."
"Elevated cortisol levels can take up to two hours to return to normal," Baymax reported.
"Yeah," Tadashi said. "But I'm glad you came. It's good to see you. I missed you. And I've got some ideas on how to make you even better. You know how sometimes not only do you not know everything about a subject, but you don't even know what you don't know? While I've been here, I've run into some of those things that I didn't know I didn't know. When I get out of here, we're going to have to add some of those into your caregiving matrix." For a second, he looked like he was going to try to sit up despite all the tubes and wires strapped to him. His eyes were alight again, like Hiro had described to Baymax earlier. "You'll be able to help even more people, Baymax. It'll be great."
"Helping people is important to me," Baymax said. "You and Hiro are my patients. Your wellbeing is very important to me. Earlier, Hiro found a hug to be helpful to his stress levels and neurotransmitters. Would you like a hug?"
"Sure," Tadashi said. "Just watch out for...all of this stuff." He gestured with his hand, which had an IV and an oximeter on it.
Baymax waddled forward and very gently wrapped his arms around Tadashi's shoulders. "Do you want another hug, Hiro?" he asked. "You are my patient, too."
"Sure, but I don't want to stop you from hugging Tadashi," Hiro said. "He needs it more."
"I think we both could use a hug, Baymax," Tadashi said.
It turned out the nice thing about Baymax being so big was that he was plenty capable of hugging two people at once. Keeping his left arm wrapped around Tadashi and reached his right arm out to pull Hiro close. In return, Hiro put his left arm around Baymax (as far as it could reach, which wasn't very), and clasped his other hand as carefully as he could in Tadashi's.
They stayed like that for a while, pillowed in Baymax's soft marshmallowiness. Hiro couldn't see what the hug was doing for his and Tadashi's neurotransmitters the way Baymax could, but he was pretty sure that he felt the happiest he had all week, and he was certain that Tadashi had sounded happier than he had since the fire. This had been the best idea Hiro had had in a long time, maybe even better than the microbots. Hiro just wished they could stay like this forever.
It might not be forever, but they could stay like that for pretty long. And so, they did.