When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew.
-William Shakespeare
Chapter 1: Ignorance
Your mother would spend most of her days working her ass off for a promotion she's been eyeing just so she can save up for the college you wanted to go to. She would leave really early and then come home really late, and while you waited for her to arrive home to eat dinner, breakfast was never eaten together. Not since the death of your brother and father. Your mother preferred to pass by a diner on the way to work and since you ate at the Hamada's every morning anyway she never bothered to leave something for you, so after taking a good shower, you grabbed your keys from the bowl set beside the door and head out for the Lucky Cat Cafe.
It was still closed when you arrived and from beyond the windows you could see that the seats were still upturned on top of the tables and the glass cases that were usually stocked up with goodies were still empty.
After parking your moped, you proceeded to the back door, grabbed your copy of the house keys from your pocket and unlocked it before trudging up the stairs that would take you to the second floor.
You didn't always have access to the household. Back in middle school right after your dad and brother died and your mom withdrew herself completely, you would ring the doorbell of the Hamada's every morning, with or without classes later that day.
Cass, who was usually up by the time you arrive, would happily welcome you inside and give you a seat in the table. After your second week of consistently coming for breakfast she decided to give you a key to the house and said to come right in when you come by because you were family now. There were even times when you'd spend nights there and Tadashi, your best friend, would willignly give up his bed and sleep on the couch on nights like that.
You smiled as you reached the second floor landing, the smell of breakfast wafting up your nose.
"Hey Aunt Cass," you greeted.
The woman before the stove looked over her shoulder and gave you a warm smile. "Hey [Y/N]! Breakfast is just about ready, can you wake up the boys for me?" she said before returning to her cooking.
"Okay," you replied heading straight for the other set of stairs that lead to the boy's room. They were fast asleep when you got there.
Hiro was laying spread eagled on the bed. The covers were bundled up on his feet and his mouth was hanging open with a little bit of drool trickling down his chin. Across the room was Tadashi, laying on his side with his back turned to you, his blanket pulled half-way over his body.
You turned back to the younger Hamada and smirked mischievously. The last time you slept over he gave you a terrible wake up call by setting off a blowhorn by your ear. You woke up with a start and started scrambling around getting your feet tangled in the sheets and 'causing you to fall face first on the hardwood floor. Tadashi and Cass rushed up to a Hiro in near hysterics and you sporting a nasty bump on the forehead.
Payback, you thought before grabbing Hiro's ankles and giving them one hard tug.
"What!? What!?" the surprised 12 year old screeched grabbing for anything to anchor him to the bed, but miserably failing as your strength managed the drag his small frame out of it, landing him on the floor with an ungraceful thunk.
You grabbed your stomach as you laughed, swiping away a tear that fell down your cheeks.
"[Y/N]!" he screeched.
"Oh you should have seen your face!" you said in between chuckles while Hiro glared at you from the floor.
"Aunt Cass sent me to get you. Breakfast is ready," you told him as he hoisted himself off the floor, a scowl plastered on his face. He shot you one last glare before stomping down the stairs leaving you with the other Hamada.
Still chuckling from your antics, you crossed the room over to Tadashi, who was still in the same position as you last saw and looked unperturbed by what had just transpired.
"Wake me up like that and we will have a problem," he suddenly said just as you reached his bed.
You crossed your arms over your chest. "I was not going to wake you up like that," you said defiantly.
He chuckled and turned so that he was facing you, one of his brows arched up in disbelief. "Really now?"
You narrowed your eyes at him and leaned down, placing your hand at the edge of his bed to anchor yourself as you neared your face to his. "I was going to do something else, but since you're awake now, it's no longer necessary," you told him matter-of-factly.
"Oh? What were you going to do then?" he replied propping himself up on his elbow bringing your faces even closer.
His warm breath was fanning your face, your lips merely two inches apart. It made your heart pound against your chest and the heat rise to your face, but this was familiar territory. You learned a long time ago that you can brush off any sort of tension between you two because he was your best friend.
You leaned in slowly, your eyes open, watching him as he observed you and pausing just a few centimeters from his lips.
"You have morning breath Tadashi," you whispered, before pushing him back down on the bed and yanking the covers off of him all the while laughing.
Tadashi chuckled and lay supine on the bed as you stepped away from his side of the room. "Get up. Breakfast is ready," you reminded before turning on your heel and trudging down the staircase a smile lingering on your lips.
Being with Tadashi and Hiro make up for every sad thing in your life. They were your light. Especially Tadashi, who held you with strong secure arms when you were at your lowest. You owe a lot to him and you remind him every other day just how lucky you were to have him beside you.
"Is Tadashi up?" Cass asked when you entered the kitchen. She was placing down plates of blueberry pancakes on the table.
"He's up," you replied ruffling Hiro's hair before taking your seat across from him.
He was still scowling at you and muttering things under his breath, but you simply gave him a wide grin in response. You took a fork and started digging in to your pancakes, letting out a low moan at the burst of flavor. Cass will always be the best cook you've ever known.
"See you Aunt Cass!"
Tadashi yelled over his shoulder as you walked out of the cafe's main entrance. The three of you wouldn't fit in your moped, so you left it with Cass' truck and took the cable car with the two boys instead. You went to the same school, and Hiro being the genius that he was, were in senior year with you and Tadashi. It sorta helped having two smart-asses behind your back because while you excelled in everything physical and mechanical, you were a dupe when it came to math, which you need to pass to actually graduate from high school.
"Have you gotten your acceptance letter yet?" you asked Tadashi as soon as you got into the cable car. Hiro stood in one side and started playing with his phone, minding his own business.
"Not yet. I'm expecting it around this week," he replied his eyes trailed on the buildings that passed by the window. His face was serious and the edge of his mouth was slightly curved into a small frown.
It's been 2 months since Tadashi applied for San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. He didn't have a project to present on the showcase so he went to apply the classic way; by sending in his documents and coming in for an interview with Robert Callaghan, the coordinator for the robotics division in the school. The professor was impressed by his proposition on a nurse bot, and for a moment Tadashi was sure he was getting in, but as the weeks passed, he was starting to doubt himself.
You've known Tadashi since fourth grade, back when he was the short skinny kid from mainland Japan who only knew a few short words in English. Nobody wanted to be friends with him but after seeing him crying behind the basketball rack and offering him your handkerchief, you've been inseparable ever since. He loved his robotics, while your passion were directed at cars and motorcycles. Often times you'd spend hours in their garage tinkering with something; anything. He was more than just smart to you; he was amazing, so SFIT would be a fool not to take him.
Your hand automatically went to his shoulder in comfort. "You'll get in. Don't worry," you reassured
"You believe in me too much," he said, but he was smiling at you genuinely.
"That's because I know what you're capable of," you replied and for a moment the two of you just stood there, looking into each other's eyes. You felt the familiar flutter of your heart and the tingling sensation running up and down your spine, but once again, you've decided to ignore it and looked away just as the cable car came to a stop.
"Let's go," you said stepping towards the door.
The school was only a few more blocks ahead and took about 5 minutes on foot.
"Come on knucklehead," said Tadashi snatching the phone from Hiro's hand as he got off the cable car.
"Hey!" Hiro whined stumbling after his older brother.
Tadashi fell into step with you, his eyes locked on the screen of Hiro's phone. "Hey [Y/N], look at this," he said showing you what he was looking at.
As it turns out Hiro wasn't playing a game with his phone. Instead he was constructing a digital blueprint of a robot. It looked plain and simple at first glance, but as the image flickered to show another one, you can tell that it was more complex than it actually looked. You knew that Hiro always had a passion for robots, but this is taking it on another level.
"That's... impressive," you commented finding no other word for it. Of course, Hiro was a kid genius so there really was no question to it.
"Give that back!" Hiro exclaimed snatching the phone from his brother's hand and roughly shoving it back into his pocket.
"Wachou building a robot for Hiro?" you asked the boy just as the three of you turned a corner and came into full view of San Fransokyo High School. The parking lot was littered with students and the occasional teacher, just as it usually was right before the first bell.
"I'm building a robot so that I can make money right after graduation," said Hiro. You stepped through the gates together, some people throwing out greetings as you walked by them.
Hiro was about to to take another step when his brother grabbed the back of his collar and turned him around so he was facing him. "You're not planning on bot fighting are you?" Tadashi asked one of his eyebrows raised.
You placed your hands on your hips as you watched the exchange between the two. This conversation has been going since mid-summer. You and Tadashi planned to go to college and was hoping Hiro would come with you, but the kid was too stubborn and smart for his own good, leading to a few arguments that you had to break up on more than one occasion. You were hoping this was not one of those times.
When Hiro didn't answer, Tadashi ran a hand through his face. "Bot fighting is illegal," he said, like he'd had a few times over and in the same tone as well. You sometimes found it cute at how fatherly Tadashi is.
"Bot fighting is not illegal," said Hiro matter-of-factly.
Tadashi opened his mouth to argue but the first bell cut through the air.
"Get to class," said a teacher who passed by them.
Hiro jerked his thumb over to the teacher. "Well, that was Mr. Collins, so I have to go now," said Hiro wriggling free of his brother's hold and scurrying after his AP Calculus teacher, leaving the two teenagers behind.
"He won't listen to you, you know," you told Tadashi as he watched Hiro disappear inside the school. He sighed and straightened up, shooting you an are-you-serious stare before the two of you walked towards the entrance together.
"How do I make him listen then?" he asked as he pushed the door, holding it open for you.
You stepped in and waited for him to close it before starting down the hall. Tadashi would usually walk you to your homeroom before going off into his own. There was no need to visit your locker because you had shop with him after and usually he was the one who brought the book.
"Entice him. Show him what he's missing out on, maybe you can change his mind then," you suggested.
"How do I do that?" said Tadashi looking right at you.
You stopped in front of your classroom, just like you usually did whenever you were with Tadashi. Usually it was to finish a conversation you were having with him on the way.
Turning on your heel so you faced him, you said, "You're smart, I'm sure you'll figure something out."
Before he could reply, you reached a hand out and snatched his SFIT cap from his head. It was something he got back in freshmen year after he decided he wanted to go to SFIT. It's been a constant in his everyday look and you made a habit of stealing it from him every now and then. Not that he minds. He always stole it back from you at some point anyways.
You put the cap on before giving him an ear-to-ear grin. "See you at lunch," you said before entering the classroom just as the Mrs. Maine, your homeroom teacher, turned down the hall.
A/N: This story was in my system for a while now, but the reason I didn't type it out yet is because I couldn't decide whether I wanted to write it in third POV or first. At first I thought of creating an OC, but then I decided why not just make this into the reader's point of view? I don't know if I did too good though. I'm open to thoughts and suggestions. If you think I should just create an OC, then please leave a comment or direct PM me. Anything for the reader's benefit.
'Till the next chapter!
Pillowender