Disclaimer: I don't own anyone.

Tadashi is alive! He was saved by Baymax that night. All of the classes mentioned are listed on Hiro's schedule in Hiro's Journal. I highly recommend every BH6 fan find this book, it's a keeper.

"Light incidents in this range are guided modes, unlike light incidents outside this range. These are unguided modes which are discussed in the following section."

Hiro rubbed his eyes and picked up the gummy bear at the end of the paragraph. Popping it into his mouth, he chewed and continued reading the last section of the chapter on cylindrical waveguides.

"Just one more and I'm done with the reading for Laser Photonics." Hiro muttered. "Then only five hundred more things to do before Friday."

All Hiro's life, school had been a breeze. He loved a good challenge, he loved actually having to think, and that, along with robotics, is why he wanted to go to SFIT so desperately. Hiro knew SFIT would be different, but this place was something else entirely. As much as he hated to admit it, SFIT was hard. Really, really hard. He'd taken on six classes for his first semester and, so far, it was proving to be much more than a challenge. So far, it was kicking his butt.

He turned the page and reached for his bag of gummy bears. After placing one bear at the end of each section, he continued reading. This was an old trick Tadashi had used with Skittles.

"It's a little reward to keep me motivated to finish the reading for tonight," he said. "Four chapters of a textbook in one sitting can be a bit much. But with a little incentive, it goes faster. You could even try it with gummy bears."

And Hiro did, and it actually worked. He wished Tadashi was here tonight. He thought about texting him at the lab, but thought better of it. Tadashi was in the middle of fixing Baymax, who'd suffered serious burns after saving him that night. Plus, if Hiro did text Tadashi, his brother would ask him why he didn't go to bed hours ago. He'd lecture Hiro about his habit of hyper-focusing and not sleeping for days, then sleeping for two days straight. To be honest, Hiro didn't want to hear that right now. He'd just leave his brother to his late night project.

Hiro's habit has gotten worse since he'd enrolled at SFIT. His weekends were spent sleeping, so that he could spend more time during the week working on his assignments and projects. Every so often, Tadashi, Fred or Wasabi would catch Hiro napping in his lab space during his thirty minute break between classes. Months ago, it was okay with Hiro when he'd sleep for days after staying up for days. It was his choice to avoid sleep, and he wasn't stressed to finish whatever he was creating. Now it wasn't okay, because his awkward sleeping pattern was out of necessity to ensure he'd pass with an A or B. Hiro sighed.

"Hiro? Are you going to bed soon?"

The younger Hamada looked up from his desk. Aunt Cass stood in the doorway, her robe pulled around her, her hair was a mess. She let out a yawn. Had he woken her up? How late was it? Hiro glanced at the clock on his computer. 2:47AM. He rubbed his eyes again.

"Hiro?"

Hiro turned off his lamp, "I'm going right now, Aunt Cass. I'm sorry if I kept you up."

"Oh, no, I went to bed a while ago. I just got up to get some water and saw your light on." She watched him climb into bed. "Honey, I'm worried about you. Tadashi is too."

"I'm okay, just have a lot to do, that's all," yawned Hiro. "Don't worry, okay?"

"Tadashi said the same thing when he first started SFIT. Both you knuckleheads never know when to slow down for your body's sake."

Hiro shut his eyes and hummed at his aunt's statement. His bed was so comfortable. Maybe he would sleep now and get up before class and finish the reading. Jeez, he was tired. That's what he got for putting his World History I paper off until tonight in order to finish his Calculus for Engineers homework early yesterday, so he could do the reading for both Laser Photonics and Humanoid Construction tonight before each lab tomorrow, and have more time to work on his project for Aerial Robotics. Maybe he could nap tomorrow between classes.

"Just promise me you'll get some rest, Hiro?"

"I promise," Hiro agreed, crossing his fingers under his blankets.

"Okay, I just don't want you to end up like Tadashi did during his freshman year."

Hiro opened his eyes. He didn't want that either. A hospital visit would completely throw off his semester. "I won't."

Aunt Cass must have been satisfied with his response, because she headed downstairs. Hiro watched the stair lights switch off and rolled onto his back. It was becoming an awkward tango of procrastination and catch up in an attempt to get ahead of his work. He'd get something done only to find that he had another assignment or project or a test to study for. There weren't enough hours in a day. Hiro started to feel like he'd underestimated how hard things were going to be at SFIT. That he'd gotten cocky with his abilities. He felt like every time he'd come up for air, someone would push his head back under.

He thought about dropping a class. The last drop date was coming up, so he had to make a decision soon. If he dropped one of his robotics classes, it'd definitely give him some breathing room. He could at least tread water then. But he couldn't drop a class. He just couldn't. He'd learn to swim, he had to. After all, this was just the freshman experience. Everyone said freshman courses were the worst at SFIT.

"Just know that the first year is the hardest," Honey Lemon assured him. "Then it gets fun. I remember crying every week over homework."

"Woman up and don't be afraid to ask for help," said Go-Go. "If you fail because you're too scared to ask one of us, I'm going to be really upset with you."

"I'll help you when I can," Tadashi offered. "I have some notes from that year, but freshman year is a beating. You can do it though. I believe in you."

Hiro couldn't drop a class. He was supposed to take six classes. His was the genius scholarship kid who wowed everybody. Everyone expected so much of him. He couldn't drop a class and disappoint them, especially his brother. Besides, Tadashi took six classes his first year. If he could do it, Hiro certainly could too. Couldn't he?

Hiro got out of bed and plopped down in his desk chair.

"Okay, just a few more pages."

Flipping his lamp back on, he continued to read. What was another night without sleep? If Tadashi did it, so could he.