Dedicated to:

The Parks who live by the park with no place to park.

I.

Hiro looked out the window of the huge jetliner returning him from Yīngxióng, China.

"Whoa..." He pressed his hand on the glass. Baymax never reached these heights.

The mere thought of his inflatable, plush pal kept cooped up in his cold lab made the fourteen-year-old sit back in guilt. Hiro rested his head on the plane seat and thought about what his best friend meant to him. I really need to start treating him like he is.

"Int'l Flight 131 in route from Yīngxióng to San Fransoyko will begin it's descent."

Though the plane dipped smoothly, Hiro still felt the need to grasp the handles.

He saw the long, windowed airport as they arrived rapidly to their terminal. "Wait 'til everyone gets a load of this," Hiro pulled out a metal case containing the project he'd been working on; the entire reason he had gone to China and worked in microbiology.

"And Baymax..." Hiro turned his head as the plane rolled to their gate. "He's probably been so lonely when he's not on a mission. I gotta make it up to him." He mumbled.

"Do you often talk to yourself?" A thin-boned, angular lady asked. Hiro gasped a little.

She smiled with peculiar interest at him.

"Probably," Hiro smiled awkwardly. He hadn't noticed her at all the whole trip, but this woman wore a long, tailored khaki dress, a flowered scarf over her head and shades.

Not exactly someone you'd chat with.

"I'd like to speak with you, Hiro Hamada," she lowered her sunglasses. "Momentai."

"Huh?" He looked back at her, confused as to why she was still talking to him.

"It's means 'Don't Worry.' "

The automated pilot came on. "Now de-boarding Flight 131." It ran through protocol.

This mechanized voice made seeing Baymax all the more urgent.

"Hero's calling," Hiro excused himself, excitedly grabbing his belongings and rushing to get off. Everyone sent him a look as he bounced in place while they languidly rose.

"In a bit of a hurry?" The Chinese woman asked him.

"Uh-huh."

"Well, permit me to say... it is both an honor and a privilege to-," A rotund gentleman squeezing out caused Hiro's silver case to whack her in the face. She slowly fainted to the floor while barely anyone noticed, her expression goofy. Hiro kept jouncing in line.

Finally, the gate opened and everyone milled out to greet their families.

Hiro rushed out and skimmed the terminal. He didn't find Aunt Cass or Baymax.

A look of hurt touched his face as he pulled out his phone.

"Híro!"

The teen looked up and beamed as he noticed his friends lounging near a charge-up station. Without really thinking about it, Hiro ran up with his arms out to them. Most of them just watched him curiously which made him slow down, his arms falling to his sides. It had been almost three weeks, weren't they happy to see him? And Baymax?

"Hey, kid." Wasabi smiled at him.

"Oh, Híro." Honey took his arms. "Are you okay? You look a little... pale."

"Yeah..." He shook his head and stepped back.

"You sure, buddy?" Wasabi asked.

"I'm cool," he grinned, dodging. "Wow, hey. It's great seeing you guys here. Uh...?"

"Baymax is back with Aunt Cass," GoGo assured him, arms folded against the beam.

"Oh, great. You moved him back home?" Hiro was relieved.

The Lucky Cat Café was his first stop before heading back to the lab.

"Actually, everyone but me thought it was best A.C. finally knew about Baymax."

Fred told Hiro as he struggled with the finger trap he had played with for weeks now.

"Fred!" They chastised him.

Hiro gave a laugh. "Oh, well that's cool. As long as he... what?!"

To be continued...

~ Lavenderpaw ~