Too-bright lights. Throbbing headache.

It wasn't Hiro's favorite way to wake up. Groaning, Hiro turned onto his side to bury his head in the pillow smelling faintly of disinfectant and stopped.

Disinfectant?

Where was he? Hiro peeled his eyes open and took in his surroundings. Sterile, white...

Mental gears clicked into place: this was a hospital. Had he been hurt? Where were his relatives? They had to be nearby.

Hiro rolled back onto his back.

Just as Hiro predicted, Tadashi and Aunt Cass were at his bedside.

"Hiro! You're awake!" Aunt Cass exclaimed as Hiro sat up to face them. "How's your head?"

Confused, Hiro patted his head. There was a large bandage wrapped around it. It didn't hurt much - it just kind of throbbed. "It's okay. Why? What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Tadashi asked. "The doctor did mention there might be some memory loss."

Hiro frowned and grit his teeth. "What happened?"

Tadashi opened his mouth to respond but stopped when murmurs were heard outside the door. With a mischievous grin that spoke of teasing to come, instead of answering Hiro's question, he called out, "You guys can come in. He's awake."

"Hiro!" Honey Lemon exclaimed as she came in. "Oh, Hiro, it's so good to see you awake!"

Increasingly frustrated, Hiro ground out, "Would someone just tell me what happened?"

Fred raised his eyebrows. "You don't remember, little man?"

"No, I don't remember."

Tadashi held up a hand, stopping everyone from speaking. "First things first. Here you go, Hiro." Tadashi handed Hiro an envelope. It had the SFIT logo on it.

"What's this?" Hiro opened the letter slowly.

"Wow, he really doesn't remember anything, does he?" Wasabi said. "Do you know who I am?"

Hiro rolled his eyes as he ripped the last part of the corner open and pulled out the sheet inside. "No, Wasabi. I just don't get why SFIT has a letter for me."

"You're in!" Honey Lemon exclaimed. "Even if you made a small, teensy mistake, well - you did fantastic, Hiro!"

Hiro felt increasingly confused as he read the letter. Sure enough, it was an acceptance letter. Elation hit him - then dread. What mistake? Why couldn't he remember?

"How? But the showcase is - " Hiro's eyes bugged out " - it's TODAY!"

Tadashi laughed. "No, knucklehead, it isn't. You - "

"Were attacked by Megatron at the showcase!" Fred shouted.

Hiro gave him a look of total disbelief. Wasabi put his head in his hands as Fred continued. "Yea, Baymax got a virus and turned into a supervillian! He flew into the exhibition hall and tried to scan you but hit you really hard instead!"

Tadashi snickered as Hiro continued to stare disbelievingly at Fred. "Here, do you want to see what really happened? I caught it on video - in a camera hidden in my hat."

"Yes."

Tadashi smiled and handed Hiro his phone.

The Hiro in the video was standing on the stage.

"Hi. My name is HEE - " the microphone screeched. Hiro hoped that that was the "teensy mistake" Honey Lemon meant, but he was in no luck. The video continued.

"My name is Hiro Hamada, and I've been working on something that I think is pretty cool. I hope you like it."

In the video, he put on the headband and held up a single microbot. "This is a microbot." The boy in the video paused, apprehensive, as if someone had discouraged him. Then he continued after the camera bobbed - Tadashi had nodded, Hiro surmised. "It doesn't look like much, but when it links up with the rest of its pals - " Hiro paused again as robots swarmed from all over the auditorium to join him on the stage " - things get a little more interesting.

"The microbots are controlled with this neurotransmitter." To emphasize the point, Hiro took it off a let them all fall to the ground. "I think what I want them to do, they do it." The bots formed a hand and waved.

"The applications for this tech are limitless. Construction: what used to take teams of people working by hand for months or years can now be accomplished by one person." Hiro grinned as he watched himself build the blue mini tower right on stage, just as he'd practiced.

"And that's just the beginning. How about - " Hiro stepped off the tower " - transportation? Microbots can move anything anywhere with ease."

Ah ha. The mistake.

Hiro watched himself walk around as he spoke - oh yea, he did kind of remember this - and then he got adventurous. A little too adventurous.

The Hiro in video let the microbots grab his ankles. Then they reached up and grabbed the lights. Hiro knew exactly what he meant to do - travel upside-down toward Tadashi, and give him a hi-five.

But the boy swung forward once, and Hiro had a fraction of a second to see the headband slip off his head. The microbots rained down a moment later, covering both Hiro and a good portion of the audience from view. People were shouting and the camera was rushing toward the commotion. Hiro felt himself turn red as he watched.

Oh god, he was never going to live this down.

"HIRO!" Tadashi's voice sounded from the phone. "HIRO!"

Hands came out of the side of the screen and started digging through the pile of microbots. A number of people had escaped being buried, but a quick glance around from the camera told Hiro that he hadn't escaped the pile.

The camera grew jerky as the hands scrambled to move the now motionless microbots. "HIRO!"

Hiro looked over at Tadashi. He was watching quietly from where he sat beside Hiro on the hospital bed. Hiro could only imagine what he was thinking.

Hiro looked back down at the video, where he saw that Tadashi had found not him, but the neurotransmitter. He discarded his hat and the camera spun away before Hiro heard microbots moving. The video clicked off.

"Then what happened?" Hiro asked, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"I took you to the hospital using your microbots," Tadashi replied simply. "Now we're here."

Embarrassed, Hiro handed back the phone to Tadashi. He didn't know what to say.

"Oh, he's so embarrassed!" Honey Lemon exclaimed too cheerfully. "It's okay, Hiro - everything worked out!"

"You were awesome, man!" Fred grinned.

Wasabi nodded in agreement with Fred, for once. "Callaghan went over to your aunt and personally handed her the acceptance letter! He like, never does that!"

Gogo snapped her gum. "You made a mistake - so what? Take it like a woman."

Hiro smiled sheepishly, grateful for the group's consolations.

Then Tadashi grinned again - but evilly this time. Hiro got the distinct feeling that, now that Tadashi had seen Hiro was fine, he had something up his sleeve. "But you do know we'll remember this. How about we call it - "

Waving his arms, Hiro objected vehemently. "No, we do not need to remember this. Why don't we forget this all happened and just go back to ... studying, yea?"

"THE DOWNFALL OF HIRO!" Fred finished, as if Hiro hadn't objected.

"NO!" Hiro shouted.

"Haha, you fell for it," Tadashi said, ruffling Hiro's hair affectionately. "It's okay - we can forget about it. But it was just an accident - not your fault".

Honey Lemon smiled. "It's not like you dropped out - you did downright amazing!"

Wasabi smiled too and made to speak. Hiro got the distinct impression that this was rehearsed. "We're all so happy you got up on stage and took the plunge! I mean, even if you diverged from the script."

Gogo popped her gum. "I think you're famous on tumblr now. Not that I've been slope-ing off. Just down since you were down and out."

Tadashi nodded. "Your tech didn't flop at all. It was just a small slip-up. And you know what, Hiro?" Hiro didn't get a chance to respond, despite a sinking feeling. "No matter what, I've fallen for you." And Tadashi gave him a huge, brotherly hug.

Hiro screamed.

AN: Haha, bet you weren't expecting that! XD

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