Flowers for Everyone

“Why are we at the supermarket if we are not buying groceries?”

Hiro supposed that he could understand Baymax's confusion. After all, he had been stood staring at a large display of flowers for the last two minutes. The opportunist store had used this occasion as an excuse to pile in as many different bunches of flowers as they could – each arranged by order of price. Hiro wished that he knew the first thing about any of the flowers, since they all just seemed like a mass of different colours to him.

“It's Mothers Day soon, so we need to get a present for Aunt Cass,” Hiro told him, without taking his eyes off the flower display.

“Mothers Day.”

It was a statement, but it might as well have been a question. The two of them had been together for long enough now that Hiro was getting better at picking up the nuances in Baymax's tone. Or at least, he liked to think that he was. If they'd been at home then he would have told Baymax to download a database, but out here it came down to Hiro to explain things.

“It's a day when people celebrate... um, those who care about them,” informed Hiro.

He knew that this wasn't strictly the definition, but he felt weird about saying it was a day for mothers only. As far back as he could remember, Tadashi had always insisted on getting Aunt Cass a present for Mothers Day. She was their mother in every way that mattered, Tadashi told him. Hiro never had any reason to disagree.

This year was the first time Hiro would be buying a present for Aunt Cass without Tadashi's help...

“People celebrate by bringing flowers to those who care about them,” Baymax echoed.

“Yeah, they do,” replied Hiro, “Only I have no idea which flowers to get, gaaah...”

They both stared back up at the display. After what he must have deemed as an appropriate amount of time for silence, Baymax spoke again.

“Aunt Cass has said her favourite colour is yellow,” he commented, “Should we get her some yellow flowers?”

The word 'yellow' came out in a slightly different tone to the rest of the sentence. For the most part, the longer Baymax spent out and about, the more natural his voice became. He could pick up human behaviour and replicate it quite quickly. But some words still sounded slightly different as he adjusted. He'd probably picked 'yellow' out from some kind of default list of colours within his programming, Hiro assumed.

“That sounds like a good place to start,” Hiro agreed.

“Hello Aunt Cass.”

“Huh?”

Hiro turned to see Aunt Cass standing there with a basket half full of groceries. She raised an eyebrow at them both in confusion. He really should have known better than to pick the store she does her food shopping in!

“Hey boys, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“Hiro and I are looking for flowers to give to you as a present on Mothers Day,” Baymax answered.

“What? Baymax, no!” Hiro gasped, “You can't just tell her about it!”

But Aunt Cass seemed to be laughing; “Don't you listen to Hiro, okay Baymax? I'm glad that you're getting me flowers.”

“Thank you,” Baymax chimed, “We have decided to get you yellow flowers. Once we have finished we shall pick out flowers for Honey Lemon, Gogo, Wasabi and Fred. Although I am not sure I know all of the colours they like best, so other factors may be considered.”

“That's... a lot of flowers,” observed Aunt Cass, “Well, I wish you both the best of luck. The fruit and veg won't buy itself, as much as I wish it would, so I'd better get back to that.”

“Yeah, see you later Aunt Cass,” Hiro mumbled.

By the time he'd waved her off and turned back to Baymax, the robot was already looking at the flower display once again. He'd even crouched a little to analyse one of the bouquets more closely, his eyes narrowing as he took in the details.

“These flowers have many different bright colours. Perhaps they would be suitable for Honey Lemon,” he concluded.

“Um, why are we buying flowers for everyone?” checked Hiro. He didn't think that his allowance for the month would stretch that far, especially not with how costly some of the larger bunches were.

“You said that Mothers Day was a day when you bring flowers to people who care about you,” Baymax reminded, “Your friends care about you.”

“Look, it's not... I mean, what I was trying to say was... was, eh, I'm not going to win this, am I?” sighed Hiro.

“Is Mothers Day also a competition?” questioned Baymax.

“Nah, that was just an expression,” dismissed Hiro. It was far from the first time he'd had to use this reasoning on Baymax, “I guess we could get them all flowers as well. As long as we don't get the really expensive ones.”

“And Tadashi.”

The words came out so suddenly that they caught Hiro by surprise. He looked up at Baymax, but even after this long it was hard to tell what was going on behind his eyes sometime. Either way, this wasn't a point that Hiro was going to argue. Tadashi had cared for them both...

“Y-yeah, we'll get Tadashi flowers as well...” mumbled Hiro.

“Tadashi would like that,” Baymax assured.

It was hard to say for sure, Hiro felt. The Tadashi he knew would probably just shake his head at them both and laugh when he heard that they'd bought way too many flowers due to a misunderstanding. But he wouldn't want to be left out of that either.

When Hiro went a few moments without replying, it seemed that Baymax did a quick scan to check on him. Regardless of if he had or hadn't, the robot put a comforting hand on Hiro's shoulder and pulled him into a hug. It should have seemed embarrassing, given how busy the supermarket was, but Hiro found that he didn't mind.

“Thanks Baymax...”

“And thank you, Hiro,” Baymax added.

“What are you thanking me for?” Hiro chuckled, “Because I spent all my money so you could buy everyone flowers?”

“No, I am thanking you in advance for the flowers which I will receive on Mothers Day,” clarified Baymax.

Hiro rolled his eyes; “All right, you'll get a bunch of flowers too, you soppy marshmallow!”

“I will eagerly await them.”

Maybe it was part of any friendship, but Hiro found that every time he thought he was starting to understand Baymax another element came along to confuse him. He couldn't tell if it was possible for Baymax to 'eagerly' await anything or if he was simply saying what he'd deemed to be the correct vocal cue. All the same, Hiro knew in himself that he'd feel bad if he didn't get Baymax flowers when he'd got them for everyone else.

“You're gonna have to help me with a lot of chores to make up for all the money we're spending on this,” Hiro stated.

“No Hiro, we cannot charge Aunt Cass for our services on Mothers Day,” Baymax insisted, “We must offer to do the chores for free. That is what good sons do.”

“Did Aunt Cass tell you that? Whatever. You're still helping me carry all of these home when we pick them out,” replied Hiro.

His first Mothers Day without Tadashi might have left him out of pocket, but Hiro quietly thought to himself that he was glad Baymax had been here to help him through it. The robot certainly had a lot of heart and that was just what they all needed.

Well, that and lots of flowers, it seemed.