Hiro groaned in frustration as he spun around in his computer chair, bored out of his mind and not having a single idea of anything to work on. He didn't have the right parts he needed to finish his Megabot and he needed a new lens before he could test out his camera dragonfly again. He wanted to work on something new today, but his brain was completely empty.

The teen gave a few coughs into his hand, wincing with a rub to his throat. Today felt like it was going to be one of those days - not exactly bad, but not exactly good, either. He just hoped Tadashi got home from school soon. Maybe they could play some video games together?

Tadashi was always quiet when he was by himself; he fed off of the energy around him, able to get along with almost anyone. However, many people were confused by him. Despite his popularity and power on the campus, he never used it, and he never really went anywhere besides home and the university. If anyone saw him anywhere else, he was always with his brother. He never went out or to parties (not that people hadn't tried to get him to). He just worked and then went home.

No one understood it and not even his friends dared to ask about it, knowing from the past how defensive he got whenever they would try to ease into it.

Right now, Tadashi was working on his newest project, trying and hoping that it would work this time… It had to work! All of his other experiments had worked - this one could be no different, his brother's life depended on it. If the doctors couldn't do anything with today's technology, Tadashi would make advanced technology that could.

Hiro worried about his big brother a lot. Tadashi seemed like he didn't do much, like he was isolating himself from other people that he could be interacting with. Hiro knew he had friends, he's heard him talk about them before, but he didn't seem to do much with them outside of the nerd lab and nerd school. Even though he might not have a very long life, Hiro didn't want his elder brother wasting his worrying about him. He wanted him to go out and have a good time with people. At least having those relationships with other people would make the pain easier if worst comes to worst - he hoped.

The doctors said he might not make it to be eighteen. If he fought hard enough, he might be able to get up to twenty-five, but they didn't see much hope in that. Hiro was already thirteen, it's been three years since his first diagnosis and he'd heard the doctors' whispers about how he was 'too small' and 'too weak'.

He didn't believe it though, no one in the family did; the Hamadas were fighters, there was no room for giving up.

"I'm not giving up on you," Tadashi whispered. He wasn't sure if he was talking about Hiro or his robot. He reached up to turn Baymax on but stopped as the alarm on his watch went off and he quickly moved to get his things together.

It was time to go home.

He could really stay as long as he wanted, and though it was tempting at times, he never did. He wanted to spend as much time as he could with Hiro, just in case he did fail…

It only took a few minutes for him to get home and upstairs, smiling as he noticed a bored Hiro. "Hey." He greeted happily, taking his satchel and jacket off. His smile widened when he saw his brother perk up and grin when he came in.

"Tadashi!" He greeted happily, getting up from his chair to go hug his brother. Tadashi smiled and returned the hug. He loved coming home when Hiro wasn't busy; he would always greet Tadashi with a hug, which was way better then the usual 'hey' he'd mumble in response.

"How was school? Did you work more on that super secret project?" Hiro had heard Aunt Cass talking about it ones and he was very interested in finding out what it was.

"School was the same, lectures and reviews." Tadashi answered before smiling lightly. "And yes I did, we were allowed free-lab today. I can't wait to show you my invention once I'm done."

After all, Tadashi's hope was that Baymax could cure Hiro's lung cancer. He wanted his brother to live - he knew Hiro was strong, and he was going to do anything he could to prove the doctors wrong; that he wasn't too small or too weak; he would survive.

That was wishful thinking though, something Hamadas were known for, aiming high and doing everything they can to reach their goal. However, Tadashi had learned that when it came to their family, no one was lucky and happiness wasn't meant to last.

"What about you, what did you do today?" Tadashi asked curiously before Hiro began to cough roughly, and he pulled away to give the boy room to breathe, knowing it'd pass.

The pain that shot through Hiro's chest was better than what it could have been, but he still scrunched his face and rubbed down the middle of his chest softly, as if what was hurting him could disappear with a little pressure. He gave a small, tired smile to his brother nonetheless.

"Haven't done much today beside trying to come up with new ideas. Got nothing though," he shrugged.

"Washed out at fourteen? So sad." Tadashi said playfully, accepting the smile happily. He worried about his brother, but he knew Hiro didn't like to be coddled.

"I can't wait to see what you're working on, Nii-San," Hiro said after a minute. "I bet it's going to be the best yet."

Tadashi just sighed lightly. "I sure hope so…" That was the plan, at least. "Well then, what would you like to do with the rest of today, Hiro?"

"Um…" he tried to think about what he wanted to do, but simply shrugged. "We could always play some video games? I wouldn't mind beating you in Mario Kart again."

"What makes you think you can beat me?" His brother questioned playfully. "Maybe I won't go easy on you this time and I'll beat you instead."

"Oh, you are so on!" Hiro chuckled and ran down the stairs, "Come on slow poke! Time to get your butt kicked!"

Tadashi laughed. "I'm coming!" He called back, taking two steps at a time and quickly setting the game up before sitting down next to Hiro. "Ready to lose to your older brother?" He asked playfully.

"You wish," Hiro laughed before they picked their characters the games begun.

It was three straight hours of tournament style racing and the teen frowned deeply as he dropped his controller and glared over at his brother. Tadashi's character was jumping up and down on the screen with the trophy, while Hiro's stood sadly off to the side with a second place metal around its neck.

"You suck," he told him simply.

Tadashi laughed lightly. "Aw, are you being a sore loser?" He questioned, setting the controller down. This was fun, he liked doing fun things with Hiro, but Hiro did have a tendency to hate losing so Tadashi would throw the game sometimes, last time was one of those times. Because he definitely didn't notice the bananas on Mushroom Gorge's giant mushrooms.

"Want to go another round?"

Hiro grinned, "Of course." He loved playing games with Tadashi, spending time with him and being able to act like any normal teenager. It was fun, helping keep him distracted from the tumor eating his lungs and making the fear just a little easier to bear. Being around Tadashi had an effect like that. He could always make you forget anything you were worried about, and make you feel twenty times better than any medication ever could.

He went to pick up the control when pain tore through his chest and he gasped, shaking fingers clutching tightly at his shirt as he leaned forward, eyes squeezed shut.

He couldn't breath, fire running through his ribs until he could force a cough and gasp in air, tears dripping down his face as the pain slowly started to ebb into a full throb and he could take shallow breathes.

"No, no, Hiro, calm down and relax - deep breaths." Tadashi instructed, pulling Hiro's hand away and sitting him up straight. He made sure his shirt wasn't too tight to block his airway, before he got up and ran to the bathroom, to get the air tank that the doctors had given them.

Hiro whimpered, pain shooting through his chest again as he did so. Oh he wanted nothing more than just to pass out so he wouldn't have to feel this.

Tadashi rushed back out, plugging it in and putting the mask to Hiro's mouth and nose. Hiro was grateful and put his hand over the mask to keep it in place as he closed his eyes and took deep breaths.

Tadashi was ready to call the hospital, even if he was reluctant due to his brother's fear.

"I…I'm calling your doctor Hiro." Maybe he'll do a home visit or tell them what more to do.

"O-okay…" Hiro said breathlessly, just trying to focus on catching his breath and getting the ringing in his ears to stop.

As soon as the beginning of Hiro's confirmation was out, Tadashi was quickly calling the doctor, explaining what happened quickly when the older man answered. He thanked the doctor quickly before hanging up and going back to Hiro, holding the mask for him. "He'll be here with the nurse in five minutes…"

"Kay…" Hiro murmured, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back. He was suddenly so tired, like all his energy had been zapped out. It was per-usual with episodes. He was just grateful this was a smaller one.

When the doctor and nurse came, the doctor took Tadashi's place, kneeling in front of Hiro and removing the mask to get the boy to open his mouth wide. Hiro did so and the doctor checked both his throat and his breathing, giving him a scan with a small portable device, before giving him a treatment, which consisted of an injection of medication and a spray that he had to breath in three spritzes from.

Tadashi watched carefully as the younger was taken care of, taking mental note of everything that was happening. This could be useful for programming Baymax, after all.

"He'll be alright," the doctor reassured Tadashi as he stood and the nurse was talking with Hiro. He looked down at the scanner in his hand that showed an x-ray of Hiro's chest and lungs, black spots in the lungs showing where the tumor was. "It looks like the treatment is doing its job. No spreading of the tumor, just some irritation to the sensitive areas around it. I recommend he rests for the rest of the day and sleeps with the mask on tonight, propped up, to make sure there isn't any restriction to his airways."

"I'll make sure he's taken care of." Tadashi promised before sighing as the nurse packed their things again. He was thankful for the small blessing of the tumor not spreading… That'd give Hiro some time…

"Thank you for coming." He said, closing the door behind them. Not a second later did Cass come up.

"Hey what happened? I thought I heard Hiro's doctor." She asked, still wearing her apron before looking to Hiro then back to Tadashi. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah… Hiro just had a small attack, so I called him. He said that Hiro will need to rest and sleep with his mask, propped up on pillows." Tadashi explained, catching Cass up to speed.

"What?-Why didn't you come get me?!" Cass demanded.

Tadashi sighed before lowering his voice. "Because then you'd close the café for the third time this week…" Hiro inwardly winced. He had really hoped she wouldn't have to know about the attack. He's had two others earlier in the week and she'd been so stressed out about it, he hated doing that to her. He hated doing that to both of them.

Cass pressed her lips into a line before her shoulders sagged in defeat. "You're right." She responded before turning to Hiro and walking to him with a small smile. "Do you feel better Hiro?"

Her nephew let out a soft sigh and looked up at her tiredly, smiling faintly. "Not really…" he murmured, still a little breathless, but the tank was helping. "'m sorry for worrying you guys…."

Cass clicked her tongue. "Don't be silly, hun. It's no worries at all." She assured, kissing his forehead before hearing the café's bell go off. Cass sighed lightly and stood, she didn't want to go but she did have a job to keep… Besides Tadashi would take care of Hiro. "I'll make you something easy to eat tonight."

Hiro nodded and gave a weak smile under the mask and watched her go down the stairs sluggishly. He hated how much one attack could suddenly bring reality crashing down on them once again. He was going to try harder this time though. He made a mental goal that he wasn't going to have another attack for a whole week, and maybe his body will get used to that and go longer between them. Maybe, by some miracle, he'll wake up one day and the cancer will be gone. Wouldn't that be something?

Tadashi went to Hiro with a smile before picking him up carefully with the tank. This was getting harder to do since Hiro was growing, but Tadashi didn't mind at all.
Hiro wrapped his arms slowly around Tadashi's neck, leaning into his shoulder as they went upstairs.

"I think we're done with our gaming tournament for today-maybe next time we can play Smash Bros." Tadashi suggested as he carried Hiro upstairs and carefully laid him in his bed.

"I'll win that one, Pikachu is always the best to kick Link's butt." he said weakly. He took a deep breath, as deep as he dared, and let it out slowly, rolling his shoulder to try and loosen some of the pain there. He was becoming achey and sluggish, something he really hated with this.

Tadashi chuckled. "Don't try and make me feel better with stats, I know you're a natural at fighting games, from Street Fighter and Mortal Combat to Hyrule Warriors." He said knowingly and moved Hiro's pillows so that they'd prop him up better. Tadashi was attentive in making sure that it was also still comfortable. He was always like this, wanting to make things the best they could be for Hiro so the younger wouldn't have to stress in his condition.

Swallowing, Hiro looked up at his brother, "It's getting harder to carry me, isn't it? I can always walk, you know." He gave the suggestion casually, not wanting to seem like he was trying to take that away from Tadashi, but just to let him know that he didn't have to burden himself with that all the time.

"No-no, it's not you Hiro." Tadashi assured Hiro, finishing and stepping back before going to replug the tank in so it wasn't running off of its stored energy. He then and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"The tank seems to be getting heavier." It was partially the truth, seeing as Hiro got a new tank every year and they seemed to grow in size with Hiro. If it got any heavier…then they might need to have separate rooms so Hiro could stay on the main floor and Tadashi didn't want that. He didn't feel safe like that, leaving Hiro in his own room where no one could monitor him.

That was Tadashi's job, and he was good at it. For some reason he could sense when to wake up to help Hiro even if the tank is loud and Hiro doesn't say a thing. He just knows.

"Well…who knows. Maybe by next year…I won't ever need the tank again. Hopefully, this'll be gone and we won't have to bother with it ever again." Hiro said optimistically, letting his hand fall back to the bed.

There was promise of the cancer getting better. The medication was experimental, but there had already been a handful of other successful cases, where the tumor started shrinking and the doctors were either able to remove it, or the chemotherapy killed it. Hiro's doctor had been optimistic about the outcomes and it seemed like they were working. It didn't mean he didn't have good and bad days or the ones in between, but it gave him the energy to push through; fight even harder.

Tadashi laughed lightly, giving Hiro a real smile.

"Maybe…" He said hopefully and wishfully. He wanted the same thing, for this cancer to dissolve into nothingness, but he knew that it couldn't happen. It was against science. His only hope was to change it.