Title: home for the holidays
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~1,800
Characters: Tadashi/Gogo
... ...
She's spending Christmas with the Hamadas this year, which wasn't the plan, but she's not complaining. Her parents are on a cruise for their anniversary as a gift from the rest of the family, and they chose the middle of December because her mother has always wanted to have a tropical Christmas as least once, for whatever reason. Gogo loves her parents and everything, but she's not complaining about the time alone, either, and they'll be back in time for her to be home for the New Year, so it's not like she won't see them over the break.
Her plan had been to have a nice, quiet holiday alone in her apartment.
Of course Tadashi was devastated by this.
And he didn't… It's not like he forced her into spending the day with him or anything, but he just looked so upset when he found this out that she found herself promising to stop by before she could catch it. How a grown man could pout and not look totally ridiculous is beyond her.
She's stepping out of the shower when he calls her, and she can't help but smile when she gets greeted with an enthusiastic, "Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas," she echoes with a laugh, cinching her towel into place and opening her closet. Part of her feels like she should've planned her outfit, because her parents are not big fans of her style and always need to look over her outfit choice for family parties, but Aunt Cass is the sweetest, ever, and probably won't be bothered by anything she wears.
"How was your breakfast?"
"I didn't eat yet," she replies. She holds up a blue sweater, then makes a face and tosses it aside. "I just woke up and showered."
"It's already after ten." He sounds amused.
"If I can't sleep in a little, then what is break really for?" He chuckles, and she imagines his smile. "I'll probably be there soon, I just need to get dressed and grab a bite."
"No need to get all fancy, you know. I'm sure whatever you're wearing is fine."
"I'm wearing a towel," she says automatically, because it's the first thing that pops into her head. She's just used to blurting whatever she wants with Tadashi, because they go back and forth a lot and she doesn't have to worry about offending him or anything. He's such a laid back guy and he never assumes the worst. If she's just teasing him and it comes out more insulting than she'd intended (which, alright, happens a lot with her) he'll just laugh and throw something equally witty back at her, because it's for fun and they both know this.
That sounded a lot more suggestive than she'd meant it to, though, and she's not sure what to do with it.
Another girl might've been slightly more mortified, but she isn't, and that's not just because she doesn't fluster easily to begin with.
She and Tadashi… They've had this flirtation or whatever going on since their first day together, when he pulled up on his bike next to hers in the parking lot and obviously she had to say something about that cherry red little thing he decided was okay for him to drive. Rather than getting hurt or pissed off at her comment, however, he'd just laughed and asked where her first class was so that he could walk with her, then sat beside her in the auditorium and kept nudging her arm with his as he doodled in the margins of his notebook. She still, to this day, can't really tell if that was deliberate or not, but as he sort of decided that they were going to be friends, she'd started saying things just to see how he'd react. The fact that he easily returned whatever she threw at him had been a nice surprise, and, well… Now half the campus thinks they're a thing, and she can't be bothered to correct them.
"Well," he says, after a moment. "You might want to be a little fancier than that."
She exhales a laugh.
See? Things are so easy with him. She can't honestly remember ever feeling awkward in his presence.
"You can just come here to eat, though. Aunt Cass cooked way too much—too used working in large batches for the café, you know?"
She grins. She eats at the café pretty often, always snacks on the pastries and sandwiches that Tadashi brings for everyone when they're spending the night in the labs, and she still can't get enough of anything that Aunt Cass makes.
"You'll be stuck with me even longer, then," she points out.
He chuckles. "I'll suffer through it." She scoffs, smiling as she shakes her head, though she knows he can't see this. He chuckles again. "So I'll see you soon?"
"Later, nerd," she says, then tosses her phone onto the bed after hanging up.
She pulls on a pair of tights and this knit sweater dress Honey bought her at the beginning of semester, for no real reason other than the fact that the girl loves to shop, especially if it's a good deal and she can give it as a gift to someone else. It's dressy but still totally comfortable enough for her to lounge in all day like she knows they'll probably be doing today. She does her makeup up in shades of red instead of purple (see? she can be festive) then tucks her feet into her furry boots, pulls on her coat and drapes a scarf around her neck.
The air is crisp enough for her to see her own breath, but it's not unpleasant, either. She's always kind of loved cold weather.
Tadashi sees her through the café windows as she's walking up to the door and grins as he gets up to let her in. She has no idea how he can wear a sweater that is clearly too big on him and not look like he's drowning in it, but he's pulled it off.
"Merry Christmas," he greets her again, pulling her into a hug as soon as she's over the threshold. She's not a big hugger, but between Honey and Tadashi, she's gotten used to sinking into their embrace rather than immediately stepping away. They give great hugs, too.
"You look nice," she says, meaning it.
He grins. "Thanks. I don't look as nice as you, though."
She can't help but laugh. "Thanks, nerd," she says, punching his stomach lightly as she walks passed him, just because she wants to.
Hiro's wrapped up in a game on his handheld at the kitchen table when they get upstairs, but the boy looks up from his screen to give her this huge smile and then laughs and ducks away when she ruffles his hair. "Gogo, hi," Aunt Cass greets, walking over to hug her, squeezing slightly. (Now she knows where Tadashi gets that from.)
Gogo grins. "Thanks for having me over."
"Of course, sweetie, we wouldn't want you spending Christmas by yourself!" She guides her into the chair next to Hiro. There're plates of pastries on the table, and she exchanges a smile with Tadashi as he sits himself on her other side. "Eat, eat, we've got plenty."
"Don't have to tell me twice." She takes a bite into a custard tart, and Tadashi's just looking at her like… "What?"
"Nothing," he says with a laugh. "I'm just happy you're here."
To her left, Hiro groans and stuffs his mouth with a donut. Gogo feels her cheeks warm as she throws him a smile and says, "Of course you are. I'm awesome company."
Aunt Cass just smiles at them like she really wants to say something, but just presses her lips together in a grin, sits and starts loading their plates.
They must sit at the table for two, three hours, doing more talking than eating, really. They're loud, even though it's just the four of them here, and at one point Hiro says something so ridiculous that there are tears in her eyes and she grips onto Tadashi's sleeve so she doesn't fall out of her chair laughing so hard. They all help clean the kitchen while Aunt Cass moves the rest of their pastries into the living room, and they make hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows and pull out about a dozen board games from the cabinets of the entertainment set, spread them out on the floor and play way too competitively with Christmas music in the background and the TV turned onto a burning yule log on loop.
They're on a third round of monopoly when Aunt Cass stands up suddenly and gasps, "Your presents!"
Gogo blinks, watching as she hurries upstairs, and then turns to Tadashi. "You guys haven't opened gifts already? It's like, two o'clock."
"We were waiting for you to get here and then got sidetracked." He shrugs and takes a sip from his mug. "Well," he amends. "We let Hiro open a few already, because he looked so heartbroken when we said we were going to wait."
Hiro scoffs. "I was not heartbroken."
She laughs a little, but she's still confused, to be honest. "You didn't have to wait for me. It's not like I'll have anything to open."
Tadashi just grins. She narrows her eyes at him a little, about to ask what's up with him, because he clearly wants to say something, but then Aunt Cass is coming down the stairs with her arms full of presents and Tadashi hops up from the couch to help her.
She can tell just by looking that the gifts are kind of color-coordinated. All of the blue presents get pushed towards Hiro, and Tadashi has a pile of red presents on his side, and Aunt Cass's are wrapped in silver. There are a few purple presents, too, and somehow she's both surprised and not surprised when she gets handed those.
"What did you do?" she asks Tadashi, feeling her lips tug into a smile.
He grins. "We weren't going to have you over and open presents without anything for you, sweetie," Aunt Cass chirps.
She can't help but laugh. "You only found out a few days ago that I was even coming over."
"I'm a really great shopper," Tadashi says with a wink, taking his spot beside her on the floor again.
She laughs again, shaking her head. Really, she shouldn't have expected any less from him, but still. She picks up the smallest one, a box that fits in the palm of one hand, topped with a silver ribbon and a tag that just has a heart drawn on it. There are only so many gifts that come in this size, and she looks at him, trying to see get some kind of hint.
But he just nudges his arm with hers and says, "Open it," and she doesn't care how stupidly excited she must look tearing at the wrapping paper.