"HIRO TAKACHICHO HAMADA! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" a voice thunders.
"I was just out, Mom!" a nonchalant, if somewhat snarky voice replies.
"Out until 6 am in the morning?! WHERE. WERE. YOU?!" the first voice demands.
"Is it really that big a deal? Sheesh, I thought you and dad were out at your big fancy dinner last night-if you can be out to the early hours of the morning, why can't I?" the second voice fires back. "Besides, you're never even here, how could I expect you to care?"
"Do not talk back to your mother, Hiro. We were worried sick about you!" a deeper male's voice answers.
"Worried about me? Oh, that's rich!" The second voice, apparently Hiro, drawls. "I'm surprised you guys even remember my name! I could disappear off the face of the Earth and it would take you a week to realize that I was missing!"
"Hiro Takachicho, you stop right there! Do not turn your back on me, young man, you are in serious trouble!"
But instead of replying, there's just the sound of angry footsteps on the stairs, followed by a door swinging roughly open and then being slammed shut with a noise like a pistol being shot. Tadashi, who had been listening to this entire exchange ever since the sounds of the argument had woken him up, immediately feigns sleep so that he wouldn't have to deal with his little brother's surly attitude, but within moments of being inside the room the younger teen snarls, "Give it up, I know you're awake. Hope you enjoyed the show, bro."
"Hiro…" Tadashi sits up in bed, feeling like it was too early to be awake but also knowing that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep at this point. "You know that they're just worried about you."
"Worried. Right," Hiro snorts as he pulls a black robot with a yellow smiley face on it out of his bag and heads over to his desk to start tinkering with it.
"They are!" Tadashi protests. "You're gone all hours of the night at these stupid bot fights of yours-it's a miracle you haven't been arrested or even killed by some thug you beat too well by now!"
"I can take care of myself!" Hiro answers, rolling his eyes. "I've had to do that for most of my life, remember?"
"Hiro…" Tadashi winces at that. "You know that Mama and Otousan are doing their best. Their work is just really important, and sometimes sacrifices have to be made-"
"Sacrifices like actually spending time with their kids or even giving them the slightest indication that they matter to them? Sure, bro." Hiro shoots him a derisive look. "Keep telling yourself that. Whatever it takes to let you sleep at night, secure in your knowledge that you're the chosen one and that all your efforts will actually get them to love you some day!"
"I'm not 'the chosen one'! And they do love me!" Tadashi argues, ignoring the feeling deep down that maybe his brother was right. "They love both of us, Hiro! If you'd just give them a chance-"
"I've given them chances, Tadashi," Hiro snarls. "Fourteen years' worth of chances, after every missed soccer game and birthday. I'm done getting my hopes up over people who won't give me the time of day."
"Hiro-" Tadashi tried to get in one last argument, but his younger sibling had already pulled his hood up over his head and shoved his earbuds into his ears, playing his music so loud that Tadashi could actually hear the bass reverberating even from his side of the room. Knowing that this was a sign that the teen wasn't going to listen to anything else he had to say, he sighs and stands up, heading for his closet. If he couldn't do anything here, he might as well head to the university and get some work done.
Downstairs he finds his parents still arguing in the living room, although the minute he walks in they quickly stop.
"There's our musuko," his father says with a smile as he enters the room.
"Good morning, otousan," Tadashi answers with a formal bow before going over to kiss his mother on the cheek. "Mama."
"Up so early?" she asks as she gently kisses him back.
"I thought I'd head over to the university to get some work in on my project for Professor Callaghan," Tadashi replies, neglecting to mention that their arguing had woken him up-as usual, he did his best to never bring up points of contention like that. Keep the peace, that was his job. Make his parents proud of him. That's what he'd been doing for twenty years, things weren't about to change now.
"That's my boy." His dad beams over at him. "Working hard to stay at the top of all your classes, just like your old man."
"Hai, otousan," Tadashi agrees with a nod. He'd been at the top of his classes since he'd been in preschool. He remembered how disappointed his parents had been the one time he'd brought home a B in language arts in second grade, and he'd vowed to never live through something like that again.
"Just make sure not to work yourself too hard," his mother says. "Save some time for finding nice girl!"
"Yes ma'am," Tadashi agrees, trying not to let his frustration show on his face. All through junior high and high school, his parents had drilled into him that he needed to focus on his studies and not be distracted by getting into any relationships-he hadn't even been allowed to ask anyone to prom! But then suddenly when he'd started college they started pressuring him to try to find a girlfriend and, in their eyes, a potential future wife. It was confusing, to say the least, if not enough to drive him out of his mind. And it wasn't like he could bring home just any girl and try to pass her off as his girlfriend-she had to be smart, polite, ridiculously beautiful… In a word? Perfect.
"What ever happened to that Aiko girl you were always telling us about?" Mr. Hamada asks, glancing up from the newspaper he'd been muttering over.
"We're just friends, otousan," Tadashi answers, flushing. And it was the truth. When he'd first met Aiko (Honey Lemon to her friends) upon entering college, she'd seemed to be everything his parents had in mind for his future bride, and, at the time, that had been all that had mattered and so he started trying to pursue her. A few weeks into their non-romantic relationship, he'd quickly discovered two roadblocks. One, that he honestly just didn't find himself attracted to her-at least not in that way. The other was that Honey Lemon was openly and, one might even say, flamboyantly gay. Not that Tadashi would ever explain that second part to his parents-they were strongly against the lgbtqa community, to put it nicely, extremely prejudiced and homophobic if he was being honest with himself. For now, if it got his parents off his back by thinking that he was just playing shy and satisfied their need to believe that he in some sort of being in a relationship, then he'd just let them think whatever they wanted to and he'd continue safely on in his platonic friendship with Honey Lemon, hoping that he'd find someone he actually could date before his parents put too much pressure onto him to actually introduce her to them.
"I'd better get going-I have an exam later today and I'd like to get some more studying in for it just to be on the safe side," he says, hoping to distract his parents from the rather touchy subject and get himself a free pass out of the house.
"Oh, of course!" his mother gives him a warm, understanding smile.
"You go out there and do your best!" his father adds.
"I will," Tadashi promises, shouldering his bag and starting to head for the door.
"Oh, sweetheart, before I forget!" his mother calls after him. "Your father and I have our neuroscience convention this weekend so we won't be home. Do you think you can look after yourself and your brother while we're gone?"
"Absolutely," Tadashi agrees, trying to keep from sighing audibly. He honestly hadn't remembered that his parents were heading to that particular convention, but he wasn't surprised. Hiro was right about one thing-they were hardly ever home. If they weren't actually at the lab where they worked, they were doing something work related. The conversation he'd just had with them was the most communicating they'd done in… Well, longer than he could remember. It might have seemed sad to an outsider, but at least with them not constantly present he had an easier time not feeling the pressure they silently put on him 24/7-he put enough pressure on himself without them adding to it.
"Thank you, Tadashi," his father tells him with a smile. "You're a good son-you make us so proud."
"We love you!" his mother adds.
"I love you guys too," Tadashi answers, waving as he heads out the door but feeling his words fall flat. He could make them sound real, could almost make himself believe that they were, but at the end of the day they were just words. What did he know about love, really? If he was being perfectly honest with himself, nothing.
"Ooh, double shot espresso mochachino-the exam was that bad, huh?"
Tadashi looks up from where he had been blandly staring into space to see Honey Lemon standing over him, smiling sympathetically.
"Not the exam," Tadashi answers, sighing but unable to keep from smiling slightly at her concern. "Family stuff."
"I'm sorry, Dashi." Honey Lemon pulls him into a hug. Tadashi hadn't told her everything about his home situation, but he had found that she was an excellent listener when he needed to vent and so she knew more than most people he'd ever met about the type of drama that he dealt with on a daily basis.
"Honestly, I kind of just want to get out of here and go find something to get my mind off of all of this," Tadashi admits, distractedly pushing his bangs back and off of his face.
"I see." Honey Lemon seems to be fighting a slight smile at that. "Am I safe to assume that we're having another 'study date' tonight?"
"If we could," Tadashi agrees with a grateful look.
"No digas más-- Say no more!" Honey Lemon answers firmly. "We've all had a rough week with these stupid midterms, and it's time we all went out and celebrated since we're done, anyways! Do you want to go to our usual spot?"
"I know you do so you can see that girl you're always trying to hit on," Tadashi answers playfully.
"Just as much as you want to see the guy who gives out all the nicknames that you're always flirting with," Honey Lemon tosses back breezily, with just a hint of mischief in her voice.
"Honey Lemon, I don't flirt with him-I'm not even gay!" Tadashi protests, blushing bright red. "We just have a lot of interests in common and I like talking to him!"
"Mm hm." Honey Lemon raises an eyebrow, looking like she didn't believe a word that he was saying.
"I mean, even if I was just a tiny bit gay…" Tadashi mumbles, "You know my parents would never allow me to date another guy…"
"Tadashi? Te amo, pero eres muy estúpido," Honey Lemon answers, rolling her eyes slightly and momentarily reminding him of Hiro. "I know you really care about your parents and what they think of you, but you're twenty years old! You need to start living your life the way you want to or else you'll end up looking back on your life and regret never having had the bravery to go after the things that matter to you."
"You sound like a TED talk, you know that?" Tadashi sighs, shaking his head.
"Tadashi!" Honey Lemon lightly whacks him. "Don't make fun of me when you know I'm right!"
"All right, fine, fine, you might have a bit of a point..." Tadashi admits. "I just… It's hard for me to go against anything my parents have to say… You know how important they are to me…"
"Valuing your parents' opinion is one thing, blindly following everything that they have to say is another," Honey Lemon states firmly before adding, "I'll make you a deal. Tonight you come out with me and you actually listen to me when I tell you to have fun. Then if tomorrow you decide that it was all a major mistake and that you want to go back to living life on the safe side, I won't pressure you again."
"Well…" Tadashi seems to be considering this. "I guess that doesn't sound so bad…"
"It's only one night!" Honey Lemon urges him. "I mean, how bad could that be? And if I'm wrong, you don't have to listen to me pestering you ever again!"
"...All right, fine," Tadashi finally says, unable to keep from grinning slightly. "You're on!"
"Yes!" Honey Lemon cheers with a grin. "I'll go grab my purse and Wasabi and we'll be on our way! Meet you out in the parking lot?"
"Sounds good!" Tadashi agrees. Little did he know just what the night had in store for him.
Two hours later, he was sitting at the bar in one of their university's biggest hangouts nursing a coke. He didn't really drink-he knew that he'd be dead if he ever came home with even the slightest indication that he'd consumed any alcohol, plus he'd seen enough people getting sloshed and acting like complete idiots that it had sort of curbed any desire he might have had to experiment. Frankly, he was quite happy sitting here, sipping on a soda and talking to his friend Wasabi. Much to his relief (and no, not at all disappointment), the fanboy that Honey Lemon was under the impression he had a crush on hadn't show up tonight, which might mean that he'd manage to get a free pass tonight and for the foreseeable future. If the other guy never showed up, then Honey Lemon couldn't force him to talk to him, and she'd promised to leave him alone after tonight, so this was perfect. He wasn't even the slightest bit sad that he might be missing out on an opportunity for fate to actually get them together. Nope. He was completely and totally happy with his life continuing on in the organized, well planned out way that it had up to this point. After all, why mess with perfection, right?
He should have sensed trouble the minute he saw Honey Lemon heading towards him, looking like she was already tipsy despite the fact that she'd only been there an hour (she did have a weakness when it came to rum.)
"Hi Dashi!" she cries, a bit louder than was necessary even though it was pretty loud in here.
"Hey, HL," Tadashi answers with a slight smile, taking a sip from his soda. "You having fun?"
"Totally!" Honey Lemon answers brightly. "I've been dancing with GoGo for the past hour!"
"Good for you!" Tadashi couldn't help but be happy for her-she deserved to enjoy herself, and if her crush was finally starting to reciprocate then all the better. Especially if it helped keep her distracted from making him keep his end of the bargain…
Unfortunately, just then she seemed to remember part of the reason that they'd come here in the first place.
"So, where's Fred?" she asks, and his wince isn't just because she's almost shouting.
"He's not here!" he answers, trying to keep his tone level. "I don't think he's coming tonight!"
"Oh…" Honey Lemon seems to momentarily deflate before suddenly brightening again. "Well, if he's not coming, you still need to do something fun! I'm getting you a drink!"
"What? Honey, no!" Tadashi protests. "You know that I don't drink!" Flirting was one thing, getting inebriated-especially since he was underage-was quite another!
"Dashi, c'mon!" Honey Lemon whines. "Do it for me?"
"Honey Lemon, no!"
"...Fine. What if I don't make you drink a whole drink? Just take two sips of mine and I'll consider tonight a success!"
Tadashi considers her offer. Honestly, he'd rather not have to drink at all, but it was hard to say no to Honey Lemon when she was looking at him like that, plus he'd be able to get her off of his back quicker this way. Besides, Wasabi was the designated driver and if he took the sips now the alcohol should be out of his system before it was time to head home…
"All right, fine, I'll do it!" he finally says.
"You will?" Wasabi looks over at him in disbelief.
"Yes!" Honey Lemon grins before calling an order to the bartender-it was in Spanish, so Tadashi didn't quite understand what she'd said, but when she gets it a few minutes later it looked like something fruity and tropical. At least it wasn't straight alcohol-right? What he didn't realize was that all the sugar and fruit helped cover up the taste of the rum so he ended up getting a lot more alcohol in those two sips than he realized, especially since he'd liked the taste and ended up drinking more than he would have if it had been strong and bitter. Honey Lemon seemed pleased with the fact that he had actually been willing to try her drink, and didn't get offended when Tadashi turned down her offer to let him finish it off. He could already tell that he was slightly buzzed just from what he'd already had-he was apparently the lightest of lightweights. Unfortunately for him, he didn't realize just how buzzed he was until it was too late. About fifteen minutes after he'd taken the sips and the alcohol had really set in, the reason Honey Lemon had dragged him here in the first place came walking in the door.
Sober, Tadashi couldn't deny (despite his most valiant efforts) that the fanboy was attractive. He wasn't classically handsome, sure, but something about his gangly awkwardness came across as adorable, and especially on the nights when his long hair was swept back into a ponytail, the other man found his heart racing a little faster when he was around him. Tonight, though… Whether it was the rum or the lights or something else entirely, Tadashi found himself staring at Fred like he'd never looked at him before. All his walls were down, and suddenly he just knew that he wanted those soft pink lips against his own, to have his fingers tangled in that ridiculously hot ponytail. It didn't even cross his mind to think about whether this meant he was gay or bi or something else entirely. He certainly wasn't thinking about what his parents would say if they could see him right now. He just knew what his body was telling him, and the rum had shut off the inhibitions that had always kept him from acting on these feelings before.
Ignoring Wasabi's increasingly concerned questions as to where he was going, Tadashi makes his way across the restaurant, sliding into the seat next to the one the other man had just taken.
"Hey there," he quietly purrs-yes, actually purrs (he was going to be grateful later that no one he knew had been around to see this.)
"Hey yourself," Fred answers, looking slightly surprised but not averse to the tone this conversation was taking.
"You're hot, you know that?" Tadashi says, lightly touching the fanboy's wrist before starting to let his hand travel further up his arm.
"Oh, um, thank you?" Fred blushed bright red, gingerly moving his arm out of the other man's reach but smiling slightly all the same. "Right back at you."
"You know, we should go out sometime," Tadashi tells him bluntly, his already inept skills at flirting completely trashed thanks to the alcohol that was clouding his brain.
"Are you asking me out?" Fred asks, raising an eyebrow and seeming to be fighting a grin.
"Isn't that what I said?" Tadashi returns, blinking owlishly at him.
"Wow, I… Honestly, I never knew that you felt that way about me," Fred admits. "You always act so stiff and reserved… What changed?"
"...You look amazing tonight?" Tadashi answers, wishing that the other man would stop asking him all these questions and making him feel so confused. Why didn't he just kiss him already?
"That's certainly flattering." Fred blushes again. "But I honestly don't know what's that different from all the other nights I've been in here-"
His words were cut off when Tadashi suddenly lost patience and, putting one hand on either side of his head, pulls him into a deep kiss. For a moment Fred stiffens, letting out a surprised squeak, before letting himself melt into the contact. The fanboy would be lying if he said that he hadn't been dreaming about a moment like this for a very long time, and he decides not to ask any questions and just enjoy it. But then his brain suddenly registers the taste of alcohol on the other man's lips and he forces himself to pull away.
"Tadashi, are you drunk?" he asks, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.
"'M not drunk!" Tadashi protests, doing his best to try to pull Fred back into the kiss, not ready for it to be over yet.
"Yes, you are," Fred answers firmly, kicking himself for not figuring it out sooner. Why else would the cute, shy nerd he'd been crushing on for months suddenly be all over him tonight? He didn't know how Tadashi had gotten ahold of the alcohol-he knew for a fact that he wasn't twenty-one yet. He also knew that, even though he'd offered to buy him a drink before so he wouldn't get in trouble, Tadashi wasn't the type of person who voluntarily drank, certainly not to the point of being actually drunk. Someone had managed to get him inebriated, and even though Fred knew he'd never forget the kiss they'd just shared, he couldn't help but feeling majorly pissed off at whoever had done this-what if Tadashi had gotten himself into trouble with someone else who would have been more than happy to take advantage of him?
"C'mon, I'm taking you home," the fanboy says, wrapping an arm around the other man (only for support, of course) and starting to guide him towards the door. He'd come here hoping to take the edge off after surviving through midterms and had been planning on probably closing the place down like he usually did, but making sure that Tadashi was safe was more important. And if once Tadashi sobered up they got a chance to talk about that kiss and what it really meant? Well, he wasn't going to complain about that!
Tadashi, who seemed to have finally come to the realization that he was actually drunk, suddenly grabs onto his shirt, his expression pleading as he begs, "No, please don't take me home! My parents…"
Fred bites his lip, considering his options. As much as he felt that Tadashi should be home, in his own bed, until he'd recovered, he got the picture that the other man's parents would be less than thrilled to have their son returned to them in this condition. Even though he seriously doubted that it was Tadashi's fault for having gotten drunk in the first place, he knew that they might not listen to his explanations or, worse, think that he was the one responsible for getting him drunk and keep them from seeing each other again! If there was any chance of them having a relationship (as long as everything Tadashi had said wasn't just the effects of the alcohol), he certainly didn't want the first memories the other man's family had of him being bringing their son home wasted.
"Fine," Fred finally sighs as he continues to maneuver his companion towards the door. "I'll take you back to my place until you can sleep this off, okay?"
"'Kay," Tadashi agrees, nuzzling into his shoulder and forcing the poor fanboy to support the majority of his weight. By the time that Heathcliff, Fred's family's butler, arrives with the limo, the other man was completely out and Fred was more than happy to let the butler wordlessly lift Tadashi up (it was still hard to believe how strong the manservant was given his frame gave no signs of muscle whatsoever) and settle him onto one of the seats. The fanboy climbs in after him and doesn't even complain when the Tadashi snuggles against him, wrapping his arms around him in his sleep. Maybe this wasn't how Fred had imagined their first even mildly romantic exchange to go, but the important thing to him was that Tadashi was safe, and that's all that mattered.
During the night, Tadashi wakes up in a dark room, not sure where he is but feeling the violent urge to throw up everything in his body, including his intestines. Just as he's about to be sick on the strange bed he's in, suddenly there's one hand strongly supporting his back while the other holds a basin for him to retch into. By the time he's finally puked out everything that he can, he's too exhausted to ask any questions or even feel scared. Instead, he just lets the same strong arms wipe away the remaining vomit and bile from his face with a cloth and then gently settle him back against the pillows. Before the stranger even pulls the blankets up around him again, he's already fast asleep.