Chapter Text
The universe was probably having a really good chuckle right now.
Out of all people. Every single one of the tiring, annoying kids that went to that miserable school, it had to be that particular tiring, annoying kid. Good joke, but Hiro wasn't laughing.
He requested a change almost immediately. He had stormed out of the room, leaving the Miguel kid to stand there in the doorway looking confused. He had marched right up to the administration office in the main building and demanded that someone get this problem solved ASAP.
Sure, maybe Hiro could've been a bit more...approachable, in the way he asked, but they didn't have to kick him out like that. What kind of school was this anyway?
And so he really didn't have much of a choice but to end up back in the dorm room. He pulled open the door to find Miguel sitting on the floor, rifling through his suitcase. Why did he have so many empty bottles? Never mind, he didn't care.
Hiro stalked silently into the small room, slamming the door shut behind him and flopping onto the bottom bunk. It was silent in the room for a few moments before Miguel asked,
"Have any luck?"
"Don't talk to me." Hiro spat.
"Okay." There was about a beat of silence before Miguel started up again, "But can I ask you a question?"
"What did I just say?" Hiro asked angrily, sitting up on the bed abruptly, accidentally hitting his head on the top bunk.
Miguel cringed as he watched Hiro rub his nape. "Uhm, yeah, I know. I was just wondering...uh, what's your name?"
"Why," Said Hiro, his tone bitter. "Should I tell you?"
"Because," Miguel straightened up a bit, and Hiro could,not help but notice he seemed to be gearing up to make his case. "What if someone needs you and knows we are roommates? And they ask for your name or they tell me your name but I won't know who they are talking about?
Hiro just stared at him for a minute, glowering. "Fine. Hiro. That's all you need to know. If someone says Hiro, know it's me. Now, will you leave me alone?"
"Yes, definitely." Miguel said, going back to his unpacking. Hiro lay back down on the bottom bunk. But then, suddenly, as if he couldn't take it anymore, Miguel shut his suitcase tightly, and looked over to Hiro. "I just don't understand why you don't like me."
Hiro groaned as he sat back up. What was wrong with him, seriously! "Oh my god!"
"I mean, yes I was maybe sort of annoying earlier—"
"Maybe sort of? You were! I told you to leave me alone and you got mad at me!"
Miguel stood like he was very passionate about this topic. "I did not!"
Hiro copied Miguel's motion, feeling like he had to meet the boy's level. "Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
Hiro paused, taking a deep breath. This was stupid, so incredibly stupid that he simply wound not engage it any longer. He had to sleep in this room, but he didn't technically have to do anything else in there did he? Hiro vowed to spend as least time in the dorm as possible from that moment on.
"Y'know what?" Said Hiro, "I'm going out. You can stay here and have the room all to yourself. I don't care!"
Hiro turned on his heels and swiftly left the room, the door slamming in his wake. He sure was slamming a lot of doors lately. He supposed that's what being trapped in a place like this did to a person.
There was only one person who would listen to him at the moment, or rather, one person he felt like talking to. And by person, Hiro meant robot.
"And then, he tried to make it look like I was the issue! Can you believe that?" Hiro said incredulously.
Hiro had retrieved Baymax from the R.R.R to go take a walk outside, where he was allowed. He sat in the courtyard, on one of the many tastefully designed benches, Baymax by his side, venting. If there was one person who would listen, it was that large marshmallow looking robot.
"I just don't get some people, y'know?" Hiro continued, "How am I the problem just because I blew up on him? The guy had it coming!"
Baymax seemed to take in all of the facts and information lightly, running them through and figuring out the best response. Hiro had programmed him to do this years ago, when he found that talking to actual people, even Aunt Cass, was getting harder and harder.
Finally, Baymax said, "It seems that you and this other party have had a simple misunderstanding. I suggest using verbal communication to figure out a solution."
Hiro snorted. "I don't wanna talk to him, Baymax, that's the thing. He won't stop talking to me!"
Baymax seemed to be finding something. "Approximately thirteen days ago, you gave me a reminder." Baymax's stomach lit up, and Hiro's two week old voice began to play.
"Remind me to stop being emotional and to stop overthinking." He, himself, said.
"I believe this is an appropriate time to issue this reminder. You are being judgmental. Stop it." Baymax said simply.
Hiro just rolled his eyes, regretting setting that reminder. "I'm not being judgmental, Baymax. I am judging him based off of his actions. What he did to me. And what he did to me was annoying!"
"It is not smart to judge someone based off of a singular action." Baymax said, shaking his head.
"So? I'm not smart." Said Hiro.
"On the contrary, data shows you are quite intelligent, Hiro. It seems you just aren't very wise." Baymax told him.
Suddenly, Hiro didn't feel much like talking anymore. Baymax, holding no conversation, went into idle mode. Was Hiro acting too harshly?
He watched as a pair of girls laughed and made their way down the path, cellphones in hand, taking pictures of the statues that littered the courtyard. Sightseeing, excited to be here, giddy, even. So much had happened that Hiro had almost forgotten it was only the first day.
The first day. Could he truly decide that Miguel was not someone he liked just based off of how he acted on the first day?
'Who died and made you so mean?'
The words rang in Hiro's head annoyingly. His brother. His brother was who died. Miguel didn't know that though, could Hiro be angry with him for that?
It didn't take very long for him to decide that he could.
•••
Hiro might've been mean, standoffish and just generally unkind, but at least, Miguel thought, he wasn't a liar.
He did not come back to the dorm room all day, just like he said he wouldn't. Miguel spent the next hour unpacking and getting accustomed to a bed so high up, since he was given the top bunk by default. Then, he decided that he would go by and see the classrooms after all, using the school mandated maps, so that he wouldn't be as lost come the next day, the first day of classes. After that, he checked out the communal bathrooms, finding that they were quite nice indeed, for communal bathrooms.
Unfortunately though, Miguel found it hard to focus on anything but the boy named Hiro, which was strange. It was just, no one had ever been so inherently rude to him for little to no reason. His grimaces, sharp words and glares were always fueled by such annoyance, such anger, that Miguel simply wasn't used to.
Because maybe he had never been disliked before. Sure, there were times when his family, his abuelita, hadn't been the kindest to him, but that was different. That was family. Family, in Miguel's mind, was allowed to be mad at you. They were allowed to not like you at times. Not strangers who didn't really even know you.
But how do you make someone like you? How do you make a person reverse the way they feel about you, suddenly decide that all of the animosity and anger they have towards you just doesn't exist anymore?
For some reason, Miguel wanted to find the answer. Sure, he didn't need to be friends with Hiro. He didn't need to. He had a friend, Ayden (with a Y). But, it would definitely be awkward living in a room with someone who didn't like him for months on end. Being friends with Hiro would make things better for everyone, or, at least that's what he told himself.
But that would be a mission to start the next day, the first day of classes. So Miguel ended up in his bed, and as he heard the announcement over the loudspeaker alerting all students who weren't already in their dorms that it was time for curfew at 10:00, he knew Hiro would be back.
Sure enough, only a few minutes later, the dorm door opened and then closed, alerting Miguel of the other boy's presence. Underneath him, he heard the squeak of the bed as Hiro lay down.
Sleep. Miguel couldn't seem to find it. He was nervous, excited for the day coming. He couldn't get to bed, no matter how hard he tried. So, he lay awake, staring at the dark ceiling and listening to the unfamiliar sounds of cars driving outside.
Just when Miguel was starting to get bored, he heard the bed below him squeak again. But Miguel swore that Hiro had fallen asleep. He sat up slowly, looking over the edge of the bed.
Hiro was sat by the window, looking out with almost a wistful look on his face. His eyes were droopy with heavy bags. He looked really tired. Why didn't he just go to sleep? Perhaps he was as jittery as Miguel, maybe that was why he could sleep. But something told Miguel that wasn't the reason. Hiro looked almost...sad.
Could Miguel imagine something hurting that boy so bad that he couldn't sleep at night? That he stayed up late staring out of the window and regretting...something. Something that Miguel didn't know?
'Who died and made you an annoying little bitch?'
Miguel decided that he definitely couldn't.