Hiro trudged up the stairs after Tadashi. Thankfully, Aunt Cass was busy in the café and left the two of them alone, besides a simple greeting.

Tadashi sat down on the bed and motioned for Hiro to sit in the desk chair. They'd be about four feet apart, facing each other.

Hiro dropped his bag next to the chair and flopped down, not meeting Tadashi's eyes.

In just a few minutes – after giving Tadashi a chance to say his last words or whatever – Hiro had to kill him.

It was his father's last message to him, to keep him safe.

Hiro watched Tadashi's hands. They were wrangling with one another, as if he were unable to figure out what to do with them. Their movements paused after a moment longer, and then Tadashi asked, "Hiro, have you ever killed anyone before?"

Hiro shook his head 'no'.

"What makes you think you have to kill me?"

"You're the first person to know. My dad said no one can know."

Tadashi didn't say anything for a moment. "Can I talk to your dad?"

"He's dead."

"I'm sorry."

Hiro chanced a glance up at Tadashi. The older boy was looking straight at Hiro with an intense, piercing look, as if trying to defuse a ticking bomb.

Hiro supposed that's what he was to Tadashi at the moment.

"Do you know why he told you to kill anyone who found out?"

Hiro shrugged and looked away. "Because if people know, they'll hurt me or take away my freedom."

"Hiro, listen to me." Obligingly, Hiro looked at Tadashi. He had a very concerned look on his face, and his hands weren't moving anymore. "I think your father wanted what was best for you. When you were younger, that might have been to keep your secret to yourself completely so that you'd be safe. But you're older now, and I think you might know what's best for you better than your father did."

Hiro swallowed and looked away. He wanted to believe Tadashi so badly so that he didn't have to kill him, and although Tadashi's words rang true, Hiro also had to consider the fact that Tadashi had a very large stake in Hiro's thought process: his life.

"You're just saying that," Hiro said evenly. "You just don't want to die."

"You don't want to kill me," Tadashi replied, not breaking eye contact. "Do you really think killing me is what's best for you?"

Hiro swallowed, determined not to back down. "Those were my father's last words to me."

"C'mere."

Uncertain, Hiro stood and hesitantly closed the gap between them. Standing, he was at eye level with Tadashi sitting on the bed.

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm okay with dying," Tadashi said simply, "but I don't think that killing me is good for you."

Hiro felt like his guts were churning into a storm. "My dad killed himself and left me to find the body when I was four," Hiro said quietly. "He left me an encoded message to kill anyone who found out about my powers, too."

Before Hiro could react, Tadashi yanked Hiro down into his arms and hugged him – held him tightly, securely, warmly. Surprised, Hiro drew out the microbots. They clambered out of his bag and reared up, ready to strike Tadashi.

"I'm sorry," Tadashi said. He tucked Hiro's head into his chest. "I'm so, so sorry."

Hiro's body wrapped its arms around Tadashi, pulling them closer together and ignoring Hiro's mind's commands. If he was crying, Tadashi didn't comment on it. Tadashi smelled like green tea and sandalwood, and he was so, so warm – the first person Hiro had relied on in years.

It wasn't like his dad was around anymore.

Tadashi whispered into Hiro's ears. "I'm so sorry that you feel like you have to kill me, and if you do kill me, I'm sorry that it'll be the second time you see the dead body of someone you cared about."

That made Hiro's mind up.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Hiro whispered, barely audibly.

"Then you'll have to trust me," Tadashi said quietly, his voice vibrating through his chest. "You'll have to trust that I won't tell anyone or hurt you." He paused, but Hiro didn't answer. "Can you do that for me? For you?"

Hiro silently cried and nodded as the microbots shrank away and repacked themselves. Tadashi didn't say anything, either. He just held him tighter.

As it turned out, Hiro didn't really trust Tadashi at first. Tadashi didn't seem to mind that Hiro keep crashing in his room even after Hiro's cold got better.

Hiro was careful not to use his powers at all, lest Tadashi have some recording device, and he insisted on being wherever Tadashi was, always within earshot. When Tadashi went out shopping or worked in the garage, Hiro was there, watching or helping. He learned a great deal about Baymax.

It was uncomfortable, but Tadashi kept his word: he never even hinted at how Hiro was actually a threat to him. A lot of the time, Hiro liked to pretend that they were like brothers or something, not connected by knowledge of a dark secret – he liked to imagine that Tadashi's life wasn't in his hands.

A week passed. Then a few days went by, and Tadashi had to go to school again.

"I'm going to tell people we're related," Tadashi said. "That way, you can be a visitor."

Hiro nodded, ever the taciturn follower. He was getting sick of following Tadashi around like a lost puppy or a hungry cockroach, but he couldn't let the man out of his sight.

"I have a controls class with Callaghan," Tadashi told him as they walked into the school. "It's a graduate level class, and it lasts for a full year."

Hiro nodded again, accepting the information simply.

"I think you'll enjoy it."

Tadashi opened the lecture hall doors, and Hiro was stunned.

There were rows and rows of desks, and on every one, a computer terminal was set up. Next to each one was a sophisticated robotic arm with three joints. Some of them were holding things, and others were at awkward angles, but they were all impressive.

Hiro had never felt such tech in his life.

"C'mon, my group works here," Tadashi said, leading Hiro over to a desk. "Hey, guys, this is Hiro, a relative of mine. He's interested in SFIT and I've brought him as a visitor."

The other college students there introduced themselves, and Hiro politely listened, instantly forgetting their names. His attention was entirely on the arm, after all. He desperately wanted to push the robot to its limits, see what it could do, play with it, but people other than Tadashi were there.

If only none of them were there…

The class started. Hiro was blown away – this was where he belonged. He could feel all the arms in the nearby vicinity and could see what algorithms were used – matrix math and derivatives in multi-dimensions. The arms were calling him. Callaghan taught hands-on controls, literally.

Hiro had to go here.

"Tadashi, I was thinking," Hiro said, "that I might want to go here, too."

"Oh?" Tadashi asked as they walked to wherever Tadashi had to be next. "As a student, you mean?"

"Yea."

They walked into the lab.

If the garage had been Tech Heaven, this was Tech Paradise.

"Mr. Dealer! Hi!" Honey Lemon exclaimed as they walked in. "What are you doing here?!"

"H-Honey Lemon," Hiro said uncertainly, looking around the busy lab instead of answering properly. There were all sorts of things, and he couldn't concentrate at all. The tech was everywhere and it was incredibly sophisticated, even more so than the things in Tadashi's garage. "Um…"

Tadashi saved him the trouble. "We're distantly related, and Hiro wanted to check out SFIT."

"Oooh!" Honey Lemon crooned. "I hope you come here – it's really fantastic! Come over in a sec – I can show you my metal embrittlement!"

Hiro nodded absently as he watched a cat on hover boots. Those were some thrusters.

"Coming through!"

Hiro jumped back as a bike raced by. The rider dismounted and threw it up on a rack hanging from the ceiling. "Dealer?" the helmet-wearer asked.

"Gogo?" Hiro asked, equally surprised. While he'd known she liked electromagnetic suspension, he didn't know how much she worked with it and was impressed by the quality of the bike. He walked over to the bike and looked at the gap between the frame and the wheel. Even his own robot's suspension hadn't been that nice or powerful.

Gogo took off her helmet and popped some gum, almost threateningly. "You coming here?"

"Um…"

"He's exploring," Tadashi said for him. "I'm just showing him around."

"DEALER, MY MAN!" a familiar voice called out from behind Hiro. Hiro turned and squeaked at a monster-like lizard. The head flipped open, revealing the older boy inside. "What're you doing here?"

"Looking," Hiro said somewhat absent-mindedly, his shock having worn off. Now that he'd felt around quite a bit, he was more willing to participate in conversation.

"Wasabi?" Tadashi called out. "You here?"

The black man looked up from what he'd been tinkering on: Hiro could feel the powerful lights lined up, connected to a controller that would bump up the energy on command. Some kind of invisible laser net, maybe?

The lights power was cut, and then Wasabi walked over to join the five of them. "Mr. Dealer!" he exclaimed excitedly. Before Hiro could do anything, he found his hair being ruffled – again. Once he ducked away and regained his bearings, Wasabi addressed him. "What're you doing here? I thought Callaghan said you couldn't come here?"

Tadashi shrugged. "I mean, he's pretty set on his career in bot-fighting."

Hiro shrugged, mumbling something unintelligible. Then Fred jumped in with a new idea, and the conversation dropped its focus on Hiro.

Later, Hiro and Tadashi were alone in Tadashi's personal lab.

"Tadashi?"

"Yes?"

"I have to go here."

Tadashi grinned at him. There was no strain in it at all, which still amazed Hiro, considering their relationship. Didn't Tadashi feel threatened? "I think we can work that out."

Aunt Cass officially adopted Hiro. Hiro got an address and closed his P.O. box and bank account. He reopened the bank account under his new name – Hiro Hamada – and with Tadashi's help, figured out how to pass the GED test that winter.

Now it was just a matter of getting into SFIT. Hiro opted for a non-traditional application, given his background. Rather than the normal write-essay-give-info approach, SFIT offered a secondary way of getting in that very students were admitted by: participate in one of SFIT's tech fairs, and impress the faculty. If he made it, he could even get in for spring quarter.

Since Hiro was strapped for time, he chose to present his microbots instead, after making a few more of them. Well, more than just a few…

"Next up, Hiro Hamada!"

Hiro swallowed heavily. No one had been interested in stopping by his booth since he only had a single microbot to show, and now Hiro was going to try and draw the entire audience's attention at once.

He just prayed it all worked.

Leaning into the stage's podium's microphone, Hiro said, "Hi, my name is Hi-" SCREECH.

The few listeners by the stage flinched, as did Hiro. After the microphone feedback silenced, Hiro tried again, readjusting position relative to the device. "S-Sorry. My name is Hiro Hamada, and I've made something which I think is pretty cool."

He put down the laptop tucked under his arm on the podium and opened it as he held up a microbot. "This is a microbot."

Hiro looked out and around the meager audience. One audience member wandered away, and suddenly stage fright struck Hiro. He was always in the shadows – never in the spotlight. And when he fought, it was never him in the spotlight but his robot. The lights were blinding and the people were scary and –

Tadashi mouthed at him. Breathe, he seemed to say.

"It may not look like much, but when it joins up with the rest of its pals – "

From trash bins they'd placed around the hall earlier streamed out microbots, flopping and rolling toward the stage. Hiro grinned as they entered his range of technopathic control – the computer's plugged-in USB transmitter covered more distance than Hiro could, and it called the little minions to the stage. With all of his little buddies with him, Hiro felt like he could do this.

Just about everyone in the hall was affected. People were jumping and shouting, just as Hiro had predicted.

It's showtime, Hiro thought.

" – things get a little more interesting."

Hiro let go of the one he held in his hand and exchanged it for the laptop. "The microbots are controlled by this laptop," Hiro said. He pulled out the USB device, and the microbots plummeted to the ground. They restructured into a cube once he reinserted the device. The now massive audience let out a collective gasp.

Hell yea, Hiro thought, feeling bolder.

"With the right programming and a 3D scanner" – Hiro pulled a small scanner out of his pocket and turned it on – "I can make them do anything I can shape." Hiro waved at the sensor, and a moment later the microbots were waving at the audience. More gasping.

"Using open source APIs for natural language processing and 3D modeling software, I've developed a computer-based interface for users as well."

Hiro typed as he talked. "The applications for this tech are limitless. Construction: what used to take teams people working by hand for months or years can now be accomplished by a single person." With a flourish, Hiro set the microbots on a prop he'd put behind the stage before. Grabbing the laptop and microphone, he walked behind it as the audience watched the model structure get built.

A few more keystrokes, and Hiro was on top of the tower. "And that's just the beginning. How about – " Hiro held the laptop in one arm and tapped away at the keyboard as he stepped off the tower " – transportation? Microbots can move anything anywhere with ease."

The bots wrapped around Hiro's waist and the laptop, securing both of them so Hiro could type freely with both hands.

With a lot of clever typing and a touch of help from his technopathic abilities just to be safe, Hiro waltzed over the audience and around the room. He even dared to hi-five Tadashi upside down.

"If you can type it, the microbots can do it. The only limit is your imagination." Hiro arrived back at the stage and held a microbot in the scanner. The other microbots scrambled to make a macrobot. "Microbots!"

The crowd erupted with cheers. Hiro grinned as he stepped of the stage to his friends' encouragements.

He was so in.

After a bit of celebration by his friends, a white man in a suit approached him. "With some development, your tech could be revolutionary."

To Hiro's surprise, he knew this man's face: it was plastered on billboards he'd seen on the streets. "Alastair Krei,"

Mr. Krei held out his hand. "May I?" Hiro handed him a single microbot, and the man examined it. "Extraordinary. I want your microbots at Krei Tech," he said, redirecting his gaze at Hiro.

Hiro knew every inch of his face was lighting up. "Shut up," he said.

Just then, Professor Callaghan came over, and Hiro missed Mr. Krei's startled expression as he focused on Professor Callaghan. "Mr. Krei is right. Your microbots are an inspired piece of tech. You can continue to develop them, or you can sell them to a man who's only guided by his own self-interest."

"Robert, I know how you feel about me, but it shouldn't affect – "

"This is your decision, Hiro." Hiro glanced over at Mr. Krei, who seemed surprised at his name. Professor Callaghan continued once Hiro looked back. "But you should know that Mr. Krei had cut corners and ignored sound science to get where he is."

"That's just not true – "

"I wouldn't trust Krei Tech with your microbots, or anything else," Professor Callaghan finished with a glare at Mr. Krei.

"Hiro, I'm offering you more money than any fourteen year old could imagine," Mr. Krei countered.

Hiro looked down, pondering what to do. He knew Professor Callaghan was secretly a lousy invention stealer, but he knew even less about Mr. Krei. But money would pay for college – right now he only had enough to make it at SFIT for one semester. He'd been planning to earn more through bot fighting or take out a loan.

"Um… will my decision affect my admission?"

Professor Callaghan sighed and glanced behind Hiro before replying. "No, it will not. I look forward to seeing you in class," he said as he passed Hiro the envelope. "I hope you think carefully about what you're going to do," he said, a little icily. He turned and walked away. Hiro supposed that he thought Hiro was going to accept Mr. Krei's offer.

And he was. Kind of. If there was anything he'd learned from the streets, it was how to manipulate people into giving more than they planned to.

"I really want to keep developing them on my own, but I don't have the money to," Hiro said – it was a truth. "And I really want to go to college here without losing Professor Callaghan's trust…"

Krei smiled warmly. "Krei Tech can pay for your education and any developments you want to make on your microbots."

Hiro looked down sheepishly. Hooked. "Can I make a decision about my microbots after I graduate? I know it's a long while off, but I really want to go here without this looming over me."

Mr. Krei frowned. "That is quite a while from now." It seemed he wasn't ready for Hiro's plans.

"I'm really not ready to make a decision yet, especially because I don't feel like my microbots are done. I had more plans for them, but not enough time to develop them before this showcase," he said simply, mournfully, as if he were simply stating facts, not trying to convince a billionaire into paying for his education with only a few strings attached.

Mr. Krei nodded, considering. After a moment, he seemed to reach a conclusion. "I don't normally do this, but I'm willing to pay for your schooling and any funding you need to make developments on your microbots. I hope we can maintain a healthy business relationship in the future," he added, smiling warmly.

Hiro smiled back. Mr. Krei seemed fairly genuine to him, but Hiro didn't exactly know him that well. "Thanks, Mr. Krei."

"My pleasure. Just two more things, Hiro," Mr. Krei added. "We're going to have to get a patent as soon as possible, and my secretary here – Ms. Blake – will contact you later about that. But also, what's your full name?"

"Hiro Hamada."

Mr. Krei frowned, as if he were expecting a different answer. But he soon brightened and continued. "Mr. Hamada, then? I look forward to seeing you again."

"Me too," Hiro said, a little confused by Mr. Krei's reaction. Did he know someone named Hiro too?

Hiro watched Mr. Krei leave, a twist in his gut letting him know that something was off.

Oh well. At least he could pay for school now.

Tadashi dragged Hiro over to a scenic part of the campus after the showcase was over.

"Welcome to nerd school. Nerd."

"Hey, um, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. So, you know – thanks for getting me this far."

Tadashi smiled at Hiro. "Anytime, buddy."

Hiro smiled and looked down. Sometimes they were like brothers.

A few weeks into his first semester – spring quarter – at SFIT, and Hiro woke up realizing something had changed in his brain.

The tech around him felt different. More… tangible. Or physical – well, not really, but somehow more there.

It was very strange.

With a flick of his mind, Hiro flicked on the lights. He'd rewired them to operate through a button so that he could just turn them on when he wanted to. Then he got up and wandered over to his computer.

Oh.

The screen flickered to life, and Hiro didn't just feel bits – it was like a processor of his own had awakened in his brain, and he felt like he could be a part of the computer. When he closed his eyes, the screen wasn't just pixels and hex numbers, but an image. The text in a file stored in the hard drive was no longer blocks of data spread all over – Hiro was operating at an abstracted layer: pathnames of files.

"Wow…" Hiro breathed.

It seemed that Hiro's brain – and his powers – were changing a little as he got older. Hiro soon shrugged it off, opting to browse the computer with his mind instead.

This was so cool. Thank goodness Tadashi was still asleep, giving Hiro more time to play with his newfound abilities.

Near the end of the semester, Tadashi had a very worrisome encounter. He made mental note to tell Hiro about it in private.

"Today, we'll be going back to theories about human-computer interfacing," Professor Callaghan lectured. "We've already discussed movement mimicking and enhancement as one form, where a human's movements are registered in some way to control the robot. That's your joystick, dials, sensors at work.

"But today, we'll be talking about a very recently developed type of controller that interfaces directly with the brain. It's patented by Krei Technologies and is still in development, but they were kind enough to lend us a prototype."

Tadashi wondered if anyone else picked up on the slight strain on the word kind.

Professor Callaghan pulled out a sort-of headband. "This is new and different from traditional neurotransmitters because it doesn't just detect emitted brainwaves and act on them. It gives feedback, too. It actually tries to locate the regions of the brain where certain sensory signals are given and stimulate them to give the user perception of whatever is being controlled. In our case, we have our three-joint arms.

"Would anyone like to give this a try? Any volunteers?"

Tadashi raised his hand, as did many others. He and a few others were called up to the stage.

"Try to make the arm wave," Callaghan instructed the first student. She put it on her head and concentrated for a moment before her face lit up in surprise.

"I can feel it!" she exclaimed. "It's like I have another arm!"

The arm twitched and lifted, but it didn't follow her commands at all. It kind of smacked itself before hitting the desk.

The class laughed, and suddenly Tadashi was nervous.

The girl frowned for a moment but brightened as she passed it on. "Good luck," she said to the next guy, who donned the neurotransmitter.

He, unlike her, frowned. "I don't feel anything different," he said. He squinted at the arm and tried to make it move. It did, and after a minute of trying to get the angles right, it was clear that he could control it precisely – as could most neurotransmitters – but for some reason the feedback system wasn't working.

He got some applause as he left the stage-like area.

Tadashi took the transmitter as he left.

"Here goes," he said, putting it on.

A tingle ran up his spine, and suddenly he could feel the arm. It was like another limb, just there.

This must be what Hiro felt when he had his microbots.

Slowly, Tadashi tried to move that limb. It kind-of worked. He could only manipulate one joint, and it bobbed up and down. The class applauded and one of his teammates shouted, "Thass mah man!"

Tadashi smiled, but he asked a question that bothered him. "Why is it so different for different people?"

"Everyone's brain is a little different," Professor Callaghan replied, so the whole class could hear. "There are certain regions of the brain that shift after puberty and during puberty, and some people's brains are more receptive to the signals than others. Some parts are stronger than others.

"All of that leads to it being hard to figure out exactly where to send the signals from the headband. Sometimes its own signals interfere with operation too.

"The biggest problem is that it changes every time you put it on," Callaghan finished. "So you'd have to calibrate it precisely every use."

"Why not make it internal?" Tadashi asked.

Professor Callaghan reacted very differently than from what Tadashi expected. "Absolutely not," he ground out, sudden rage trembling just under the surface of civility. Then he seemed to remember himself. "It would be very difficult to insert neurotransmitters without serious risk to the controller. The brain is a very complex organ."

The class was silent. Professor Callaghan was known for being one of the calmer, kinder professors, if strict, and also known for encouraging new ideas. Tadashi was kind-of known as someone smart and liked by professors. It was very strange for Professor Callaghan to yell or scold.

Tadashi felt himself suddenly worried by Professor Callaghan's reaction. At least it wasn't like Hiro had things in his brain.

Or did he?

Meanwhile, Wasabi was working on his laser screen project with some help from Hiro.

Wasabi was an optical mechanical engineering major, meaning he had to present at the spring showcase, and that was very stressful. Tadashi noticed and enlisted Hiro, telling the boy he should help Wasabi, since Hiro didn't have to present until next year and was ahead in his classes. With a huff, Hiro had agreed to, despite Wasabi's initial protests. Eventually, Wasabi gave in.

"Hiro, pass me the point-six millimeter socket wrench," Wasabi said. He was ducked behind his laser machine's wall, and Hiro was by the toolbox, helping and learning about electromagnetic containment.

"Point six… what?" Hiro returned.

Wasabi blinked, confused by Hiro's confusion. "The point-six millimeter socket wrench?"

"Point six…" Hiro trailed off. Wasabi leaned around his contraption to get a better look at at Hiro. The small boy was standing by his super-organized tool kit, and the point-six millimeter socket wrench was clearly labeled and should have been obvious.

Then Wasabi got a better look at Hiro. He seemed to be totally spaced out – not there at all. He was looking through the toolbox as if there were only the floor.

"Point six…" Hiro mumbled. He blinked slowly and brought a hand to his forehead. "Point six…"

"Uh… you okay there, bud?"

When Hiro didn't answer, Wasabi stepped away from his machine, putting down the parts he had been working with carefully. Slowly, so as not to startle Hiro, he walked over and sort-of knelt so he could be at Hiro's height. "You okay?"

Hiro didn't respond for a moment. Then he flinched, and Wasabi shrieked as the laser machine he'd been working on suddenly flashed on and at beyond full power, bathing them in green light and simultaneously frying the lights behind the lasers. Wasabi heard at least some of them pop.

"What the heck?" Wasabi cried. "It was off! Off!"

He ran back to the machine, momentarily forgetting about Hiro and perplexed by the strange actions of his machine. He inspected it carefully, but thankfully it looked like only a minimal amount of damage had been done. He'd have to do some minor repairs, but it would be ready in time for the end-of-quarter presentation.

Still. Repairs. Not fine-tuning or upgrading.

"Oh, man…" Wasabi moaned. Then he remembered Hiro. "Hiro – oh shoot, are you okay?"

Hiro blinked a few times and nodded, as if nothing had happened. "Is something wrong?"

"I think my machine got a crazy power surge or something – some of the bulbs suddenly came to life and fried," Wasabi replied, relieved that Hiro was apparently back to normal. Hiro nodded, digesting the information as if he hadn't been facing the machine or seen the brilliant flash. "But are you okay? You were totally spacing out there."

Hiro nodded, meeting his eyes briefly before wrapping his arms around himself. "Um… I think I'm going to take a nap in Tadashi's lab. I'd like to help you more, but I'm not sure if I'm really helping…"

Wasabi nodded, approving of Hiro's plan. He only had a vague idea of Hiro's sleep schedule from what Tadashi said, and it sounded like it could vary a lot. "Good idea, little man. Best to rest sometimes." Hiro mumbled a short farewell. Then Wasabi turned back to his machine, trying to figure out how to best fix it and what had happened.

Then he noticed something that just made what happened all stranger: the power cord wasn't even plugged in.

Weird…

AN: I'd like some feedback – how do you feel about the crazy fast time-skips I do? I know I just narrate what happens over the course of days/weeks because yea, things happen, but not a lot that's relevant and I feel like writing more detail would drag without adding to the overall story. To grow as a writer, I'd really appreciate feedback from you, dear reader, because regardless of what school/internet tell me to do about time passage narration/explanation in stories, you're part of my audience and I'd like to write things you like to read.

Some specific things I'd like you to think about if you're willing to help me: how jarring are the dividers marking out time-skippy narration? Should I incorporate narration into the next scene, as a retelling-the-past kind of narration/exposition before the next scene? If you don't like the time-skips as they are, what would you suggest I do differently? (Please keep in mind that this story happens over a long period of time.)

This is actually one of the things that I think about when I read stories. I find it hard to achieve a balance of detailed scenes and time passage – how much do you want to show and how much do you want to tell the reader? What's relevant and irrelevant in a story – what can you speed through and what do you have to bring to life? Some of my favorite one-shots happen over the course of years, and others just minutes or hours – and yet they can be the same length. It's all a matter of opinion, but I'm curious about yours, especially if you're reading this last line – you must have some thoughts about time passage in stories if you've read this ridiculously long author note. (I try to keep them short but failed this time.)

Also, there wasn't a lot of character/intercharacter development here but a lot of plot development. Are people here for character relationship building/character development, plot, or both? Is one more okay to time-skip for than the other?

If you want to just leave an O/X for like-it/hate-it, that's chill too! :-)

Also lol, there's no fire in my story. Write "FIRE!" if you thought I was going to have a fire! (Jk)