So, I watched Big Hero 6 twice in theaters. And needless to say, I cried my eyes out both times. Why did Tadashi have to die? Why? And why did Baymax have to wander around the portal-thing? Just...leave me alone to cry out my feelings. 'Cause gah. Aaand this story was made.

Enjoy!

Here

Twenty months.

That's how long it took for Hiro Hamada to get in the habit of going to his older brother's gravestone; how long it took for him to be actually, properly accepting about the death. Of course, there was nothing really peaceful or that accepting about it – it still hurt. It still didn't feel right for Hiro to stand in front of a gravestone; didn't feel right for him to be the one delivering the flowers.

(Once upon a time, Tadashi Hamada used to be the one to visit their parent's graves. Hiro remembered watching his older brother with curious eyes, wondering why bringing flowers and gifts to the gravestones was of any use when the visits only made Tadashi sad. Hiro had only been seven years old. Tadashi had been fourteen years old.

"What're you doing?" Hiro asked, looking up from one of his toy bots. There was a cluster of flowers next to Tadashi's backpack, all neat and pretty and tied together with a ribbon. Tadashi was making the final adjustments to the flowers, gently nudging one flower from the other. "I'm gonna go to the cemetery today," Tadashi replied. He scooped up his backpack with one hand and took the flowers in the other. "I'll be back in a few."

Hiro watched his older brother walk across the room. "But why?" he asked curiously, putting his bot down on the floor. Tadashi paused by the stairwell. He turned and then, with a small smile, replied, "'Cause I want to make their grave look nice." Hiro frowned. "Flowers make it look nice?" he asked, confused.

"In some ways, yeah," Tadashi answered. He took a step down the stairs and added, "Plus, it's been a while." At that, Hiro watched his older brother's eyes sadden. That's what always happened when Tadashi talked about their parents – only Hiro couldn't understand why. Then again, he didn't remember his parents, so he couldn't really be sad – but Tadashi remembered.

"Do the rest of your homework, 'kay?" Tadashi said hurriedly, furiously blinking his eyes. Hiro opened his mouth, a protest already prepared to be launched, but in the next moment, Tadashi was thundering down the stairs, leaving the young boy to grumble to no one but himself.)

Now, Hiro gently placed the bunch of flowers in front of Tadashi's gravestone. He made a deal of fixing them up, making sure that each flower – each petal – each life – was in the right place. Then, satisfied with his deed, Hiro stood back and stared at the etched words on stone. "Hey, Tadashi," he said quietly, sticking his hands in his pockets. Then, forcing on a smile as he always did, Hiro added, "Did ya miss me? Sorry I couldn't come sooner – there was this humongous line at the flower shop. Insane, huh? And you wouldn't believe it – right before I could get the right flowers, there was this couple that began kissing in front of me. Ugh. There's such thing as too much affection in public." He gave a little squirm for extra measure, but continued, "But I mean, I got them! The florist knows my name now, too – Ms. Aoki, I think. She's pretty nice – a bit talkative and obsessed with telling me about her grandkids, but I mean, that's okay."

He stuck his tongue out between his teeth. "Um, what else…oh! Fred decided to sneak up on Gogo last night in his dinosaur costume-thing. She punched him in the face – Wasabi and I are betting the black eye's gonna last a few weeks. Um…" Hiro scanned his mind, trying to find something to talk about – or something to just fill the empty silence.

"Honey's been working on a new project lately – I think she's trying to get more colors involved, too. Heh." Hiro rubbed the back of his neck, letting his eyes travel up to the sky. "Baymax is working in the San Fransokyo Hospital now – along with hundreds of other Baymaxs. But I know the original one, so that's pretty great…" He let his voice drift and then, pressing his lips together, murmured, "You would've liked to see it, I think. You would've been a total nerd about it, too – jumping around and freaking out."

But since you're not here…Hiro couldn't let himself finish the thought. He swallowed on a lump that was beginning to rise in his throat – and then, shifting his weight from foot to foot, finished, "Yeah. That's about it." He knelt down in front of the gravestone and then, resting a hand over the cool stone, breathed out, "Nice seeing you again, nerd."

xXx

Two weeks later, Hiro was walking around the halls of San Fransokyo Hospital, carrying a tablet and talking with Baymax. "How was your day?" the bot asked as the two passed another room. Hiro shrugged his shoulders. "You know, same as always," he replied lightly. He swiped a finger across the tablet, trying to read through the messages of today's assignments. "Lots of people, lots of inventing, lots of other students freaking out about leaving their projects to the last minute." He snorted under his breath. "It was insane – kinda felt bad for the freshmen, too."

"It is good to hear that you are content with today's events," Baymax said. Hiro grinned up at him. "Yeah," he agreed. "Guess so." He leaned against the wall, holding the tablet up at an arm's length. "Now, to get on this assignment…gah." Hiro punched at the touch-screen keyboard. "I mean, this thing isn't even really that hard, but it's tedious." He ran a hand through his messy hair. "But I mean, hey – most fifteen years old have to deal with this stuff, right?"

"It would appear so," Baymax responded. Hiro let out another sigh and mumbling a few incoherent words under his breath, started to tap down a few more words. "And so," he read aloud, "I conclude that –"

The rest of Hiro's sentence was interrupted by a sudden crash from down the hallway. The teenager blinked, startled, and turned his head from the screen. "What was that?" he asked, eyes widening. Baymax, too, looked from the wall. Then, after a moment, the bot said, "It was just another health companion bumping into a stack of gurneys." He tilted his head. "Low battery," he noted.

"Oh," Hiro replied. He rested back against the wall, letting out a small laugh. "Huh. You know, I'm beginning to think that I should adjust the charging system – maybe make something that can charge you guys faster? Or at least give you a longer period of staying awake?" But as soon as those words left his lips, Hiro couldn't help but to feel a sharp tug at his heart – new charging system or not, Baymax was still Tadashi's creation. It wouldn't…feel right to tamper with anything else, even if it would technically enhance Baymax.

"Or maybe not," Hiro mumbled quietly. He slowly lowered himself to the ground and placing his tablet against the floor, looked up at Baymax. "Don't you think so, buddy? I don't think Tadashi would want that; me messing with anything and all that."

"Tadashi is here," Baymax simply replied.

Hiro let out a breath. "Yeah, yeah – Tadashi's here. His work is here. Shouldn't do anything."

"Tadashi is here." Baymax repeated. Hiro picked up his tablet, a small, sad smile gracing his lips. "Yeah," he murmured. "You can say that." Baymax's voice was insistent – or at least, as insistent as a medical robot could be – as he added, "No. Tadashi is here. At the front desk."

At those words, Hiro felt his blood run cold. He stared at Baymax, breathing out, "What did you just say?"

"The front desk," Baymax replied, cocking his head to the side. "I have scanned the patients in the hospital – and it seemed that another one just approached the front desk of the hospital. I have identified him as Tadashi Hamada." Hiro sprang to his feet, heart thudding loudly against his chest. "How are you sure of that? Wait – are you sure of that? Or are you malfunctioning?"

"I am not malfunctioning," Baymax responded serenely. "Would you like me to –"

"N-n-no!" Hiro shouted, grabbing Baymax's arm. Pressing his tablet at his side, the teenager yelled, "Come on! Front desk! We have to go there! Now!" Not bothering to listen to any possible arguments, Hiro tugged Baymax along the corridor. His mind was reeling at the sudden news – was Tadashi really here? It didn't sound possible – didn't sound accurate. Tadashi had died in the fire. The firefighters couldn't even find a real body in the wreckage; they all knew that Tadashi had probably been…reduced into…ashes.

That thought alone made Hiro's stomach churn and heart ache. He shouldn't be excited – there was still a possibility that Baymax was wrong. And where would Hiro be then? He didn't want to get hyped up, only to be disappointed to see that Tadashi wasn't waiting for him.

"You have slowed down," Baymax said from behind. "Is there something wrong?"

Hiro looked over at Baymax. "No," he replied automatically. But then, after a moment of hesitation, he corrected, "Well, yes. I mean –" He bit down on the inside of his cheek. "What if it's not him? Wait, what am I saying? It's not." Hiro let himself come to a complete stop, let his eyes lose focus. "It's not Tadashi," he mumbled, more to himself than Baymax. "It can't be. I was at the funeral – the building exploded – he was nothing but…"

"Tadashi is here," Baymax said. "He is at the front desk, Hiro."

"You're malfunctioning," Hiro managed to say. "There's something wrong with your scanner."

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Baymax asked.

Hiro flung his arms up in the air. "Tadashi isn't here, Baymax!" he shot back, growing increasingly frustrated. "So stop – hey!" The teenager flailed about as Baymax scooped him up in his arms and started to head down the corridor. "Put me down! Baymax! Listen to me!"

But the health bot did not obey Hiro's command – he hurried down the rest of the corridor and pushed open the door. "There, there," Baymax said passively, placing Hiro back on the ground. "We have reached the front desk!" Hiro brushed at imaginary bits of dust and lint from his jacket shoulders. "Well, thanks for that, but –"

"Hey, knucklehead!" a sudden, familiar voice called.

Hiro felt his heart leap. He froze, and then, closing his eyes, asked quietly, "Tadashi?"

"Who else would it be? Turn around, Hiro."

Hiro slowly turned around on the spot, sucking in a breath. He could hear foo steps nearing him – feel a presence coming closer and closer to him until finally, a set of strong, familiar, warm arms wrapped around Hiro's shoulders. Hiro lifted his face up to the person before him – and sure enough, it was Tadashi himself.

The first instinct Hiro had was to cling onto Tadashi and never let him go.

The second instinct was to bombard him with question after question about why the hell he looked so healthy and normal.

"Tadashi," Hiro repeated, his voice breaking. He grabbed at Tadashi's shirt and buried his head into his shoulder – he had grown taller in the last few months and was actually able to reach it this year. Heat gathered behind his eyes and tears started to form. Hiro could hear the smile in Tadashi's voice as he responded, "Hey, Hiro. Miss me?"

Hiro looked back up at Tadashi. "How are you alive?" he asked shakily. "How are you even here? I thought you – Aunt Cass thought you were – we all thought you were dead!" He pointed a finger out the building. "We were all there at the funeral! How did you –"

"Slow down, Hiro," Tadashi chided gently. He rubbed an affectionate hand over Hiro's head. "It's…kind of a long story. A bit confusing, too. Came to the San Fransokyo Hospital just now because the hospital I was actually in decided to send me back." A light chuckle escaped his lips. "You could imagine my surprise when I found Baymax walking around here."

"Yeah," Hiro replied breathlessly. "You were right – Baymax was going to help a lot of people." At Tadashi's confused look, the younger brother quickly added, "I've got a long story to share, too – um…Baymax showed me a few…videos. From when you were trying to program him?"

Realization spread across Tadashi's face. "Oh," he said softly. Then, he grinned. "So you caught the time the power went out?" he asked. Hiro nodded with a laugh. "And the time his arms flipped out," he replied. "Oh, and the time you kissed him."

Tadashi beamed at the health bot over Hiro's shoulder. "It was an exciting moment!" he said, amused, and gave Baymax a small wave. "Hello, Baymax!"

"Hello, Tadashi. You look well." Baymax greeted.

"Oh, I am," Tadashi replied enthusiastically. He looked down at Hiro and slinging his arm back around the younger boy's shoulders, said, "Let's go home, Hiro – I've got a lot to tell you."

Hiro smiled up at Tadashi. "Okay," he replied in a small voice, and still hanging onto his older brother, the two walked out of the hospital.

A/N - So...did I do okay? This was my first Big Hero 6 fanfic, so I apologize if I didn't get Baymax or Hiro or Tadashi's character quite right. Extra info - I read somewhere that Hiro and Tadashi were seven years apart as well, but I mean, it might not be true. But I still took a shot at it.

Reviews are always appreciated! Constructive criticism is welcome, but flames are not.