It was a year later that he noticed a change in Gratuity.

Honestly, he admitted that he would’ve noticed sooner if he hadn’t been so busy. Finally he was in higher spirits, working on his robotics project with renewed vim and vigour. The anniversary of Tadashi’s death came, and with it some sadness, but after a week he’d come out of it with some help from everyone involved. The world around him was finally piecing itself together. He honestly felt as though nothing could go wrong.

The Herd had noticed his upbeat attitude, too. Wasabi had thrown in a ‘looking good Hiro’ when he walked into the lab once, and Go Go sent a smile his way when she thought he wasn’t looking. Not to mention that the group was gaining so much more attention and popularity as superheroes as the days went by. Sure, Tip’s confession of liking his superhero alter ego had jarred him slightly, but once he told Honey Lemon of his fears she’d dashed them away by telling him that it was nothing more than a stupid crush and it would pass.

Yes, everything was going right for him.

Until he noticed the change.

If he thought back he supposed it had started when her visits to the Lucky Cat Café became less and less frequent. He had thought it had to do with her being in eighth grade and having more homework and responsibilities now. After all, when she did visit him she was the same old Tip with their long conversations about his new ideas. So he just didn’t notice.

She’d gotten quieter too over time. He didn’t know when it started, but she was contributing less and less to their conversations. He just thought she was tired. Baymax suggested that it was puberty, after all she was fourteen now. Whatever it was, she was no less enthusiastic to see him so he didn’t think it was anything to worry about.

The major red flag, however, was a month ago.

He decided to go visit Tip at her place as a surprise with all the bad movies Fred owned (one of the titles was Aliens from Space! No kidding). He’d already organised it with Lucy beforehand, and the woman seemed almost relieved that he was doing this. It really didn’t make any sense.

Anyway, when Tip answered the door it was clear she wasn’t happy to see him. At all. Which was weird because she was always happy to see him. In fact, she was glaring at him.

He had wanted to leave her, but before he could her mother came up behind Tip and invited him in. It was awkward being in her room, too. Hiro knew more than anyone when he wasn’t wanted.

When he had asked Lucy about Tip when they were alone, the woman’s expression fell slightly and she told him that she having a hard time at school.

Of course, bad grades would make anyone grumpy. So Hiro had the ingenious idea of becoming her tutor. He had some extra time during the weekends, plus he wanted to see Tip more. When he told Lucy about his idea, she brightened immediately and said that it would be ‘good for her’.

When he told Tip, she threw packet of chips at his head and used some choice words before kindly asking him to leave and promptly slamming the door behind him.

“It’s probably hormones,” Go Go had said simply when he’d asked her at the labs. She was tightening a bolt on her bike at the time. “God knows what’s going with that body of hers. I say give her some space to sort herself out. Let her come to you.”

The second red flag was more obvious in retrospect, but he still didn’t really catch on. He had followed Go Go’s advice and gave Tip some space for about a month. It was agonising, though, not being able to help out his best friend.

He was walking back to the café after a hard day at SFIT when he noticed Tip’s school bus pull up at the bus stop. Wanting to catch her before he went inside to do some more work, he went to her as soon as she walked off the bus. Her head was down and her gait was sullen which told him that her mood hadn’t changed, maybe even gotten worse.

“Hey!”

Tip jolted at the sound of his loud voice and he could’ve sworn she flinched but then an annoyed expression was on her face so quickly that it was easy to think he had imagined everything.

“Hey.”                                                

He stopped at the tone of her voice and his smile fell. “I…haven’t seen you around the café. And you haven’t been calling me either. Been busy with school?”

She frowned and crossed her arms. “Yeah. You could say that.”

“Well, I just came to say that my offer still stands. You know, to tutor you.”

“My answer is still no.”

Ouch.

Speaking of ouch, he noticed that her eye had a dark spot around it. It was hard to make out since it was so faint, but the more he saw it, the more he realised that it was actually there.

“What happened to your eye?”

Immediately Tip froze and it seemed like she was horrified, but then the expression was wiped away so quickly he thought he just imagined it. “I tripped and faceplanted into a pole at school. Not one of my best moments, either.” She said this almost too quickly. “Now can I go? I’ve got tons of homework to do.”

He let her go and watched as she left with a despondent expression on his face. But he tried not to let that bring down his good mood. After all, there was a doughnut waiting for him at the café not to mention that he was planning on watching that new show on the Discovery Channel that talked about crop circles. He couldn’t wait to discuss it with—

Oh, wait. That’s right. He discussed the whole alien conspiracy thing with Tip. Not even Fred was interested (he was more into mutants). That was fine. It w+as fine, really. He managed without Tip before. Granted, he had his brother back then, but he had the herd now. Not to mention that this wasn’t supposed to happen forever. After she figured things out, she’d come back to him and it would be like nothing weird ever happened. They’d be having meme wars and eating s’mores until they couldn’t anymore in time. He even missed her weird “I’m in love with your alter ego” moments. But he’d get those back. He had to get those back, because without them…well…he knew he’d go insane.

-0O0-

It was another fortnight before Hiro was desperate enough to talk to his aunt. She was in the middle of watching one of her cheesy old horror movies. She was in her pyjamas and Mochi was on her lap watching with her and also basking in the warmth that she offered. Hiro walked tentatively down the stairs as he regarded her, trying to figure out the best way to ask her about the situation. Then, finally realising that he just needed to get it over with, he took in a deep breath.

“Aunt Cass? Do you…have a moment?”

She turned to look at him before smiling. “Sure. Come sit.”

The movie was still playing in the background so she must not have thought that whatever was on his mind was major. But she still gave him his undivided attention when he sat down.

“Umm, I need some advice.”

The movie paused and suddenly her entire face lit up in excitement. “Really? This is happening? Okay, okay. Hold on. Let me just,” she composed herself like actors usually did before setting out onto a stage and suddenly her expression turned grave. “Tell me what ails you, dear nephew of mine.”

Considerably freaked out, but not enough to want to walk away, Hiro began. “You’ve noticed that Tip hasn’t been visiting as much lately, right?”

“Compared to when she visited three times a week during school and five times a week during the holidays along with calling you every day? I might have.”

Hiro wasn’t fazed by this. His aunt loved Tip. “Yeah. So anyway, she’s been kind of distant these last few months. I thought it had to do with school at first, but then she kind of started shutting me out. Go Go said it probably had to do with, well, girl stuff and to give her some space which I’ve done but…”

“It doesn’t seem to be working?”

He shook his head.

“Okay, Hiro. This is the first time you’ve ever come to me for advice and you’ll be happy to learn that I’ve read a parenting book about this exact topic.”

“You read a book on parenting?”

“Would you believe a chapter? A page? Okay, it was an article in a magazine. Anyway, the solution to your problem isn’t as complex as you think. But I guess being a genius, you wouldn’t even consider the solution to anything as being simple.”

He raised his eyebrow disbelievingly and she chuckled. “You’re a guy, so I understand if emotional things don’t really register for you at first. But have you considered, I don’t know, talking to Gratuity?”

“You’re kidding, right? Tip wants nothing to do with me.”

“A little tip about women, Hiro, we don’t really mean what we say. This is obviously a cry for help. The poor thing probably needs you now more than ever and she doesn’t even know it.” Aunt Cass paused. “Look, I don’t know for sure what’s going on with your friend but I know that it’s probably bigger than you initially thought it was. I was going to ask about her, but I didn’t want to get in the middle of anything.”

“The last time I went to her house she kicked me out.”

Aunt Cass scratched her chin. “The way to any woman’s heart is chocolate. I suggest you take some of her favourite desserts from the café, my treat. It’ll level the playing field.”

-0O0-

So off he went to her house once more with a huge chocolate muffin as a peace offering. He knocked on the door and this time, to his relief, it was Lucy that opened it. She seemed relieved that he was there once more and quickly ushered him to Tip’s room while saying “I’m so glad you’re here” and “I’ve tried everything, maybe she’ll talk to you.”

And suddenly he was in her room again with a muffin in his hand.

“What do you want?”

Tip looked a mess. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days with the bags forming under her eyes and she was currently giving him her most severe glare.

“Ah, before you kick me out, I brought a chocolate muffin.”

She glanced at the packet in his hand, only just noticing it. After a moment’s hesitation, she took it from him and took a bite. Immediately she relaxed.

Aunt Cass was right.

She ate in silence, but didn’t even finish a quarter of it before she put it down. Hiro sat next to her when he realised she wasn’t going to kick him out and bit his lip. Well, here goes nothing.

“Tip, are you okay? Like really okay?”

When she didn’t answer him, he pushed on. “It’s just that you haven’t been visiting lately and me and Aunt Cass are getting kind of worried. Your mother too. And I can’t help but feel like you’ve been acting slightly different and I—”

He stopped when he noticed her shoulders were shaking and it took him a moment to realise that she was crying. Actually crying. And before he knew it she threw herself at him and just broke down. It was almost surreal. Tip had always been a bubble of energy and optimism and sass and Hiro had convinced himself that she just didn’t cry. That she was incapable of it. But there she was in his arms letting out all the pain and hurt she was dealing with and it hurt him. For her to be this way without him knowing made him feel like he had failed as a friend.

After a whole hour and about half a box of Kleenex, she finally calmed down enough to speak. Hiro hadn’t said anything the entire time but tried to offer as much comfort as he could.

“I was…am…being bullied.” She said this softly. “It started about a year ago, remember when I told you about those high school kids that cornered me? Well, their ring leader is the brother of one of the girls that bully me. She wanted scare me into leaving the school, but I could handle it. I thought it would blow over eventually, but it just got worse. Soon the whole class was involved. Nobody wanted to sit next to me in the cafeteria, or partner up with me in projects. They’d laugh at me and stuff but nothing was physical until a few weeks ago. I got into a few fights, my mom had to be called in. It was a whole thing. I was just trying to defend myself at first but then I kind of…gave up you know?”

“So that day when I saw you in the street?”

“Someone punched me, yeah.”

Hiro was shocked. Sure he was bullied when he was in school, but not to this extent. And he also had his brother. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She paused. “It’s gonna sound lame.”

“Try me.”

“I…I didn’t want to ruin your good mood. You were so much happier than before and I didn’t want to be a burden or do anything to make you upset. I thought I could handle it. I’m only going to be with those losers for a few more months.”

He frowned at her. “You’re kidding right? Tip, the fact that I couldn’t be there for you as a friend is what makes me upset. Just look at yourself. You always call me a boy genius, but I couldn’t even see the signs—”

“Hey, this isn’t your fault Robot Boy. It’s all on me.”

Robot Boy. She hadn’t called him that in ages and it filled him with a strange warmth.

“No. I kept going to Honey Lemon and Go Go for advice—”

“Who?”

“—but I didn’t even stop to talk to you. We never talk about you.”

“That’s because neither one of us are good with feelings.” Tip curled her legs to herself and placed her head on her knees contemplatively. “I’m really sorry.”

“I should be the one apologising.”

“Are we really doing this? The whole back and forth apology thing? Because then we’ll be here for ages.”

He chuckled. “Fine, we’re both sorry. How about we agree to learn from this experience so a disaster like this doesn’t happen again. Deal?”

Hiro held out his pinkie expectantly and Tip glanced at it before hooking her own pinkie with it. “Deal.”

Their pinkies stayed suspended in the air for a moment as they gazed each other. Time passed, but Hiro had no way of knowing how long it was. Seconds? Minutes? It felt so long but so short at the same time, not to mention that with each passing moment he felt like he was falling deeper and deeper…

Where? He didn’t exactly know, but he had a feeling he didn’t mind finding out.

It was Tip who broke the spell by breaking eye contact.

“So what now?”

Tip glanced at him just as she was about to take a bight. “I guess…I’ll just—”

“Don’t say you’re gonna wait it out.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll tell the school counsellor about this. And my teacher. With any luck they’re gonna get a warning, but I doubt my bullies will get the message.”

As much as Hiro hated to admit it, she had a point. There was no guarantee a stern talking to from a teacher would do anything.

He looked over at one of the many posters hanging on Tip’s wall. It wasn’t a poster actually, not really. It was a newspaper clipping with a photo of his team after stopping a bank robbery. The article was from about half a year ago.

And just like that he had an idea.

The teachers wouldn’t be able to give the message, but what about a superhero?

-0O0-

Tip was waiting for her dance lesson to start. The group was practising for a huge showcase at the end of the year and she was planning on auditioning for the solo. She wasn’t really big on participating in school events, but she felt like she had something to prove to everyone here before she left. The solo auditions were at the beginning of the lesson so she couldn’t afford to be late.

Anyway, she was waiting for her lesson to start in the janitor’s closet. This would seem unusual to any other person to wait in there of all places, but for her it soon became natural. There, she was guaranteed not to be harassed by bullies especially since telling her teachers about it only seemed to make the problem worse.

She quickly glanced at the time on her cell phone. Only five minutes were left before she had to leave.

In her mind, she prepared herself for the route she would take. The janitor’s closet was right next to the locker rooms, but with any luck nobody would be walking in and out of them. Then she had to slink past the gym where volleyball practise would be in full swing, past the auditorium where the drama kids were rehearsing and dodge the band practice which would just be finishing (luckily the band kids took pity and mostly left her alone). The route never failed her before and she’d done it so many times it was practically like breathing.

When it was finally time for her to leave, she took a deep breath and slowly opened the janitor’s closet. Then she crept out with what she ensured was minimal sneaker squeaking on the linoleum floor. She then moved quickly, but tried not to look like she was in a hurry, past the locker rooms.

All seemed well until she reached the gym. The doors burst open and suddenly girls spilled out chatting animatedly about something or another. Tip blanched and quickly tried to look for a place to hide, but it was already too late.

“Well if it isn’t tattle-tale herself,” one said with a mocking smile.

Tip smiled back in an act of false bravado. “Always nice to see you, Maxine. I thought you had volleyball to practice?”

“We ended early. Teacher’s conferences, y’know?”

Biting her lip, Tip tried to think of a way out of the situation. There was a door that led outside just down the hall. Maybe she’d be able to get to it before things got out of hand, and then run to the dance studio the long way. It would really bight into her schedule, but she would just make it in time. “Well, I’d love to stay. But you know, places to be and all that.”

“You should stick around.”

She inched closer to the gap between the girls. “Nah, I’m good.”

Then she ran for it.

They didn’t see it coming, which was great since all they did was stand in shock. Tip had seen the tactical advantage and grasped by the horns for all its worth. She just had to spring along the corridor outside and go back inside through the back door.

Suddenly she heard footsteps behind her. Chancing a glance backwards, she gasped. There were five of them on her tail and closing the gap fast. Tip tried to go faster, but she had never been as fast as she would’ve liked. It didn’t take long at all for them to catch up to her and knock her down.

“Hey! Quit it!” she yelled as she tried to kick them off.

That was when two of the girls grabbed her legs, forcing her to stay. Tip struggled against them but it wasn’t any use.

“In case you didn’t notice, when I said stick around, I wasn’t asking.”

Tip’s green eyes glared at her, but Maxine didn’t even bat an eyelid. “Look, Gratuity, you sold us out.”

Tip said nothing, but her eyes spoke volumes at the absolute hatred she had for the girl in front of her. It figured that she’d be a hypocrite. When Tip punched a guy in the noise as an act of self-defence, Maxine made sure the whole staff knew about it. It was a wonder that she didn’t get suspended for it, either.

“So I reckon fair is fair.”

By now a whole group of students had come to see what the commotion was about (apparently the conference affected more than just the volleyball team). A couple of choice swear words swirled around her head, but Tip kept them to herself. She also felt the urge to spit right into the girl’s face, but knew that it would only make things worse for her.

“Look, can we do this later? I promise you can terrorise me as much as you want in thirty minutes.”

Maxine raised her eyebrow, trying to figure out what could possibly be so important within the next thirty minutes, but then she caught sight of a poster advertising auditions for the showcase and her face twisted into a sinister smile. “Well, well, well. I didn’t take you for a performer, Gratuity.”

Immediately Tip realised her mistake and she tried to make the situation better. “Me? Pfft. I’m no performer. I just—”

“Don’t lie. I know that you like to dance. But guess what, Gratuity? Weird girls don’t get to do showcases. They get locked in bathrooms where they belong.”

Tip gritted her teeth, biting back the need to argue. If she struggled, it would only make her situation worse. She just needed to fight through it. Maybe at the end, the dance instructor would take pity on her and give her a second chance.

Fat chance. Gratuity knew more than anyone how strict the teacher was. She had a pole up her butt the size of one of the street lamps.

She bit her lip, but complied as the group of girls lifted her up to drag her to be locked in one of the bathrooms. Again. Who knew how long they would leave her there this time? Did they care? Probably not.

Well, if her afternoon was ruined, she might as well make the most of what she had left. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she steeled herself and bit down on Maxine’s arm as hard as she could.

The girl screamed bloody murder and tried to get her to release, but she didn’t. No matter how hard she tried, Tip made sure that she didn’t let go. All her pent up anger and frustration was put into that one bight and she’d be damned if she didn’t get her revenge.

Suddenly she was on the floor again. Tip didn’t exactly know what happened, but her face was suddenly excruciatingly painful.

“Why don’t you go back to Barbados you little…bitch!” Max yelled.

“Hey! Take that back!”

Those words didn’t come from her mouth. Tip turned to see…an angel? No, it was a robot with wings but she was certainly close. And riding atop that very familiar robot was her hero friend who was glaring at her attackers with such a vengeance that she could feel his anger from where she was.

“Leave her alone!”

“It’s that hero dude! I thought you said your brother was kidding about him!”

“You bet I’m real. And this girl is under my protection. If I hear that you’ve laid another finger on her, I won’t hold my robot back.”

His robot did look intimidating. The girls all seemed to cower in fear of it.

Maxine finally caved. “Fine! Okay. I promise not to hurt Gratuity again.”

“I want you to apologise.”

“No! Don’t,” Tip said. “While I appreciate you helping me, I don’t want an apology. Not when it’s insincere. It’s no better than lying.”

Maxine harrumphed and turned her snooty nose up, but Tip didn’t let that bother her.

“I have a dance class to get to,” she mumbled. “Thanks for the help, Hero Guy.”

-0O0-

In the end, Tip didn’t make it to the audition in time. Rules were rules and Ms Pole Up Her Butt didn’t make any exceptions for her. Not that she minded, as she explained to Hiro now over the phone. She’d gained something else from this experience.

“Really? What’s that?” Hiro asked.

“Self-respect.” Tip twirled the chord in her fingers. “I won’t please everyone, and that’s fine with me. I mean, the people that count are the ones that matter to me and you’re one of them. I got my priorities all screwed up, and I should’ve gone to you a lot earlier but I’m okay now. Nobody will bug me anymore and I gotta admit…it’s kinda nice.”

“And the way you stood up to your bullies must’ve felt great.”

Tip grinned. “Yeah. I bet that’s how being a hero feels like, huh? Fighting off bullies and making a stand? The feeling must be incredible.”

She heard Hiro chuckle. “Yeah, I bet.” There was a slight pause. “But you’re okay now, right?”

“Yeah. Better than okay.”

“And if anything else happens—”

“I promise I’ll come to you. It’s what best friends are for, right?”

“Right.”

“Look, I gotta go now. But I’ll come over to the café tomorrow, okay? We can talk then?”

“Definitely. Aunt Cass is gonna be so happy. She’s missed you. I…I’ve missed you, Tip.”

There was a pause as Tip took in his words. It took a moment to realise a stray tear was falling down her face. Quickly, she rubbed it away.

“Don’t get sentimental Robot Boy,” she said.

“I’m not, I just, I meant,” he sighed, not knowing what he meant. “You mean a lot to me okay?”

“You mean a lot to me too.”

They hung up after saying their goodbyes and Hiro took a moment to just stare at the phone in his hand.

You mean a lot to me.

That sentence rang within his mind as he placed his head on the wall. It sounded so innocent.

To say that Tip’s first introduction to his superhero alter ego was interesting was an understatement. Honestly, he hadn’t even wanted her to meet his super self on the basis of the fact that it meant she would’ve had to have been in danger. But life had a funny way of screwing you over.

It had happened on a day they were doing patrols as superheroes, just scoping out the city at the top of a building. Baymax had scanned the area earlier, as he did in case anyone in the city was injured in an alley and needed help. The team mostly dealt with crooks, muggings and illegal botfighting rings but every once in a while there was some kind of monster or bank robbery. It was all pretty awesome, as Fred liked to point out every so often.

“This sucks,” Go Go said as she snapped her gum.

“We’ve been up here for ages and there hasn’t been any new developments,” Wasabi pointed out. “I’m sure we can leave, Hiro.”

They’d appointed him as their leader. Actually, it wasn’t so much that they appointed him as it was plain instinct. Hiro had made them in essence and despite his hiccup in the beginning he was incredibly proficient. He supposed that Go Go could’ve easily been the leader too, but she never showed any interest, even when he had asked.

“That’s a good idea,” he said now before standing up and stretching. “You guys can go ahead. I’ll hang back for a bit with Baymax, just in case.”

“You’re sure?” Honey Lemon asked, ever the squad mom.

“Yeah. It’s been a quiet day. I don’t mind.”

“Can’t argue with that logic.” Go Go stood up and stretched before giving the team a mock salute. “See you nerds later.”

“You’re as much of a nerd as we are,” Wasabi pointed out accusingly.

“Yeah, but I make it look cool,” she shot back easily before gesturing at Fred. “As opposed to this weirdo here.”

“Comics are cool!”

“Uh…no. They’re not.”

Fred frowned and looked like he was about to retort before Honey Lemon, sensing the impending argument, stepped in with a smile on her face. “We should head out now. Hiro, call us at the first sign of trouble, okay?”

He nodded, though he really didn’t intend to adhere to that. With Baymax at his side, there wouldn’t be a problem.

The team headed out and he leaned back against the giant marshmallow as he gazed down at San Fransokyo below him. “Looks like it’s just you and me, Baymax.”

The robot blinked at him, but didn’t respond opting to look out into the city with him instead. Out there where the sounds of city traffic invaded their ears along with the yells of taxis and pedestrians (“Hey I’m walking here!” “Well excuse me for trying to make a living!”)

The lights were just dazzling as well. It was nearly seven o’clock and the entire place was lit up with a splurge of streetlights and headlights with touches of neon signs here and there. It was home for him, and honestly he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“My scanner is picking up a person in distress,” Baymax said as he stood up.

Hiro perked up immediately. “What? Where?”

Baymax’s scanner could already scan the health information of anybody within its range so Hiro had told him that when he donned his suit to check for any random body spikes of distress and anxiety to help with finding perps. This was how they kept tabs on muggings and robberies.

“In the corner of main and sixth,” he said. “My scanners detect that it is Gratuity Tucci.”

That perked him up immediately. “Let’s go.”

He clambered onto Baymax’s back before commanding for the activation of the thrusters before they flew off. Flying always gave him a feeling of invigoration, but that was drowned out by the overwhelming feeling of anxiety over Tip’s wellbeing. He had no idea why she was in distress, Baymax’s sensors couldn’t pick that up, so it could’ve been a manner of things.

Please be okay.

When they finally found her she was in an alley not too far from her school. She was surrounded by five thugs, not too old by the looks of it. Hiro figured they were delinquents from the high school just down the road with nothing better to do than harass little girls. They were all talking at the same time so what they were saying was unintelligible, but the boy knew that it couldn’t be good. Seeing criminals always made a spike of anger rise in Hiro induced by his sense of justice, but seeing Tip in particular be the victim made him practically shake in rage. It was a similar feeling to the cool anger that he felt when he found out Professor Callaghan was behind the mask, but it wasn’t nearly as powerful.

He was about to step forward and reveal himself before he heard Tip’s voice rise above the others.

“I suggest you leave me alone. I’ve got three cans of pepper spray that I’m itching to use.”

They all laughed at her, and maybe one of them went to her, he couldn’t tell from where he was standing, but suddenly he heard a yell of pain that came from one of the five attackers.

“Told you so.”

“Why you little—”

“Stop right there.” Hiro stepped into the alleyway and four of the attackers turned to look at him, while one was curled up with his hands on his eyes. “Unless you want any more damage done, I suggest you step away from the civilian.”

“You think we’re gonna listen to a punk like you?” one of them said with an enraged look in his face.

“Honestly? No. But then, I wouldn’t get to use this would I?”

Hiro took out a stun gun and fired it at Pepper Spray, only to make an example. It had the desired effect too, because he fell to the floor immediately, knocked out. The other four took a moment to process their fallen comrade before they turned to him.

“Come on. We can take this guy,” the biggest one said. Hiro noted that he had no front teeth.

It was at that moment that Baymax stepped into the alley as well and they stopped completely, recalibrating and recalculating their next move. Then, deciding the odds against a stun gun and an armoured robot were against them, they raised their hands in surrender.

“That’s more like it. Now scatter before I call the cops.”

They left begrudgingly, leaving a wide radius around Baymax before going into the streets.

“Well, aren’t you the hero.”

Hiro panicked, thinking Tip had said his name. “Ah, uh, what did you call me?”

Tip chuckled. “Um, a hero? That’s what you are, right? I’ve seen you guys on the news.” She paused for a moment as though considering how to ask a particular question. “Do you mind if I take a selfie with you? I have a friend back home who wouldn’t believe it if I told him this actually happened without proof.”

It was as though a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders. She had no idea who he was. “Nope.”

-0O0-

“Hiro, you won’t believe what happened today!”

As soon as the picture was taken and he gave her props for keeping the pepper spray can in handy, Hiro flew away on Baymax as fast as he could so he could get out of costume and in the café before his friend. He knew for a fact that Tip would want to see him as soon as she got the chance in order to tell him about her encounter with his alter ego. And sure enough, here she was in his room with her cell phone in hand and out of breath as though she’d just run a marathon.

“What?”

She took a moment to flop onto his bed and catch her breath. “You know those superheroes we keep hearing about on the news?”

“Yeah?”

“One of them saved me not even fifteen minutes ago.”

Hiro tried his best to act surprised. “Saved you? Saved you from what?”

“A bunch of guys that cornered me on the street on my way home. But you—”

He stopped her. “Tip, you can’t just say something like that and then brush it off. What happened? Are you okay? Were you hurt?” These were questions that he couldn’t ask her as his alter ego since he was too busy trying to find ways to stop her from recognising him.

Tip rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. I had pepper spray and everything. He gave me props for it too. Can you imagine? A hero giving me props?”

“Tip, I’m serious. You can’t put yourself in dangerous situations. You could…”

She stopped, realising how it affected him. “Hey, it’s okay. I was fine, honest. They weren’t going to do anything to me. They were just some guys from the high school that were—” Abruptly she closed her mouth and looked away. “Anyway, they just wanted to scare me. That’s when that superhero came in with his robot. You should’ve been there, Hiro. He had this stun gun that I think you’d really be interested in, and his robot is almost as cool up close. I think he’s about our age. Maybe older? Couldn’t really tell through the helmet.”

“Does it really matter how old he is?” he asked as casually as he could.

Tip said nothing for a while. “Yes?” She bit her lip as though she was deliberating something, but then the expression on her face seemed to say ‘to hell with it’ because she scooted closer to Hiro.

“Can you keep a secret?”

Hiro raised his eyebrow, but he nodded and leaned in.

It took her some time to say anything, but finally something in her seemed to relent because she finally said. “Promise not to laugh. I’ll punch you if you do.”

He nodded again.

The first time he’d slept over at Tip’s house was the hardest.

Hiro honestly didn’t know how it happened. Earlier that Saturday evening they were goofing off, watching dumb videos on YouTube and seeing who could catch the most thrown popcorn in their mouths. He reluctantly allowed her to put some dumb stuff on his face after she swore never to tell a soul about it (though to be honest his skin had never felt so smooth) and he skipped out on painting nails, which she was okay with. She showed him her progress with Megabot and she was getting pretty good at handling the thing. Plus they had a dance party, though he failed miserably but she showed him a few moves and now he could comfortably say that he could hold his own on the dancefloor if the need arose.

But when it was all said and done and Lucy had told them it was time to go to bed at two o’clock with Hiro and Tip both in sleeping bags in her room (she refused to use the bed since she knew it wasn’t all that fair), he couldn’t sleep.

He just couldn’t.

Tip was sound asleep next to him if her deep breathing was anything to go by. He lay awake, suddenly realising that this was the first time he’d ever slept somewhere that wasn’t his own home. His body had curled in on itself and he was stiff and why did he ever think he could sleep somewhere else oh my God.

It was beginning to feel like those first few months after Tadashi had died. Those nights were agonising knowing that the extra bed in his room was empty, having the memory of the person whom it belonged to plaguing his mind. And it all felt so strange because so many emotions were bottling up inside of him and quite unexpectedly a sob escaped his mouth.

Quickly, he clamped his hand over it, surprised that the sound came out of him. It didn’t stop the tears that began to fall from his face, though. What was going on? He was a fourteen year old genius who fought crime biweekly. Why on earth was he acting like some kid?

He just needed to pull himself together and get some sleep. Hiro was mortified at the thought of Tip waking up to this. Oh god, what would she think? If he could just get control of his emotions and this dumb hormone induced mood swing, he would be okay. He’d sleep and Tip would be none the wiser.

“Hiro?” a groggy voice said.

Oh boy.

“Hiro, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just go to sleep.”

There was a deathly silence as they both realised that his voice had cracked a little.

“Hiro are you crying?”

“…No.”

In a flurry, Tip got out of her sleeping bag and was sitting next him. He heard the sound of a click and then a bright light flashed into his eyes. She’d been carrying a flashlight?

“You are,” she said, though her tone wasn’t accusatory or patronising. It was…he honestly didn’t know what it was.

“Go away.”

She shook her head. “Nuh-uh. No can do, Broseph. I made a vow, remember? We hooked pinkies on it, too.”

‘I vow to be your shoulder to cry on when you’re upset.’

“Well…I’m not upset so you don’t have to worry.”

She pursed her lips. “I find it hard to believe that you’re crying and you’re not upset.”

He sighed. There was no arguing with this girl. “Okay, fine. I’m upset. It’s nothing.”

Tip gazed at him steadily and before he knew it her arms were wrapped around him in a tight, warm embrace. Their first real hug if he was being honest.

“What’re you doing?”

“My mom hugs me when I’m upset. It usually makes me feel a lot better, so I’m trying it out on you. Do…you feel better?”

He grumbled lightly, but he couldn’t deny that he wasn’t as sad as he was five minutes before and he really didn’t want her to let go for a while so he put his arms around her too. “I guess.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

Hiro thought about it and realised that yes, he did want to talk about it. That he wanted to share this part of him with her.

“Yeah.”

When he said nothing afterwards Tip talked. “What happened? Are you homesick? Is that it? Should I call Aunt Cass to pick you up? I should probably call her.”

“It’s like two thirty in the morning. There’s no way she’d come down here.” That was a blatant lie. Aunt Cass would definitely come down here if she thought he was upset. In her bunny slippers and that avocado mask, too. And she’d probably speed. He’d rather avoid that disaster.

“So you are homesick.”

“Yeah. No. I guess?” He sighed. “It’s a combination of a lot of things, actually.”

“It’s okay. You can take your time.”

He struggled to get the words out. Hiro had never really talked about his feelings to someone that was outside the situation. He was more of a doer, he let his grief out by working or distracting himself or sitting in his room all pathetic like. But talking?

He supposed he could start from the beginning. “I had a brother. His name was Tadashi and he was probably the kindest, most thoughtful person in the world, though he could be a real dork sometimes...”

And he told her everything about him. About the way Tadashi helped Aunt Cass raise him, the way he helped him with bullies at school, the way he lectured him about the dumb stuff he did. He told her about the botfights and how Tadashi tried his hardest to keep him out of trouble. He told her that going to university was his idea and that he was the one that built Baymax. He told her the amount of support he got from him during the showcase and his untimely death at the hands of the fire saving a man that didn’t really need to be saved.

“I was so angry when I found out,” he said. “But I’d forgiven the guy, because moving forward was what was important at the time. And Tadashi’s friends became my friends so it turned out okay.”

He then explained that he’d reached an emotional slump. “I’ve never really gotten over his death, and to be honest it’s gonna be a while before I do. But then you came along and everything just felt…lighter. Tonight was fun, and I had the time of my life but being away from home in a strange environment made me forget all that. I’m sorry if I ruined it or anything. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Tip, who’d said nothing for the past hour, finally pulled away from him. “Don’t apologise. Your brother, Tadashi, he sounds like he was a cool guy.”

“He would’ve loved you, you know,” Hiro said.

“You really think so?”

“Without a doubt.” He smiled. “And you managed to make me feel better.” A lot better, actually. It was weird. It was only four months after he’d met her, nine months since Tadashi died but he felt so much better and he felt that he’d feel this way for a while.

“I’m glad I could help.” She looked over at her dresser and smiled. “And I have the feeling I can help some more.”

Before he could ask her what she meant she stood up and walked over to her dresser, taking the flashlight with her. It took a few moments but she finally sat back down next to him, against the infinite amount of cushions she’d set on the floor earlier. In her hand was a picture frame that had three people in it.

Hiro studied it. It had what looked like a younger Lucy Tucci holding a five year old Tip but he didn’t recognise the man next to them.

“That’s my dad,” she said.

Hiro’s eyebrows shot up. Not once did he even consider that Tip had a father since it was always her and Miss Tucci which was strange because obviously a father was needed in the process in order to, well, have a child. They all looked so happy in the photo.

“And that’s our house in Barbados,” she said, pointing in the background. “Well, I guess it’s technically not ours anymore since we moved.”

He didn’t know what to say, mostly because he felt like it would be rude to ask the pressing question that was practically eating at him.

It was like Tip had read his mind because she said, “My mom and dad got divorced when I was seven. It ended on friendly terms, I think. It wasn’t anything drastic – just two people falling out of love. My mom got custody of me, but I always used to go see my dad and we still spent Christmas together as a family. My stepmother, Carrie, she’s super nice too. Though it did get kind of awkward when we were together. But we were still happy.” She paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “When my mom said that we were moving here to San Fransokyo I was devastated. It meant moving away from my dad and, well, I guess back then I tried to pretend that my family was still whole. The move just made it more obvious that it was broken. I didn’t want for that to become my reality. I just wanted to be happy, and I was happy with just pretending.

“Last year was the first Christmas I’d ever spent without everyone together. It was really hard for me and for my mom, too. She tried to make everything better, though. She did the tree and the meal and we made cookies together just like back home. I guess she was trying to show me that even if my old family was broken, my new family with her and Pig wasn’t. It’s still kind of hard though. I miss my dad all the time, but we talk when we can. Not to mention how hard it was to fit in, not just in a new country but a new school as well. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but nobody really likes me there.” She looked up at him. “But it’s like you said; ever since I met you I’ve felt lighter. I didn’t know how to describe it before, but that’s the perfect word. Like some weight has been taken off. That day that I first talked to you was probably the first time I’d had any kind of civil conversation. I didn’t feel like some…alien. I practically begged my mom for us to visit the café just so I could see you again.”

“But…I thought you just wanted see Baymax.”

“That’s a half-truth. Sure I wanted to see your robot, but I just really wanted to see you more.”

And then he remembered how she’d practically snubbed Baymax just to talk to him. He was the first person she asked for once she got in.

“Why would you tell me something like that? All of it.”

She shrugged. “I’m not saying that my experience and your experience are remotely the same – hell you can’t even compare the two – I just thought it would be nice for you to know that you’re not the only one who’s hurting. That you’re not alone. To a certain extent I can kind of relate to you. We both know the feeling of loss. We both know how it feels to be alienated, but that’s what connects us.”

He let that sink in for a moment. In a weird way, it kind of made sense. There was a connection between them and he couldn’t really deny it.