GoGo doesn't mind staying up late. She doesn't mind the early hours of morning, or the bags under her eyes that appear. She doesn't mind. Not at all.
In fact, she feels some sort of grim satisfaction at eleven forty-five when she realizes that she's making progress on her bike. She wipes her hands on her pants, checks the time again, and gulps down water.
Normally she'd go home at about seven, after Honey begs her to ("You need your beauty sleep, GoGo, and besides, we have school tomorrow!") but today she stays late because her bike needs adjustment, and she's not going to wait until tomorrow until she fixes it. She's not staying just because Tadashi's working on Baymax late into the night! That's just ridiculous. Why would she?
Okay, okay, she tells herself. Maybe I am staying because of Tadashi. Because I bought too many bags of chips and I know he likes the ketchup-flavoured ones. Because I want to see how he's progressing in programming Baymax. Because it's Tadashi and I lo –
She scowls at her hands, and shoves her water bottle away.
Shut up, GoGo, she tells herself fiercely, and continues to work on her bike.
Half a bag of popcorn later, she realizes that she should probably check on Tadashi. She hasn't given him that bag of ketchup-flavoured chips yet, and, well, she wants to see him.
GoGo puts down her screwdriver, turns, and slams into a wall.
"What the – " she says, and stops. Everything stops spinning around in circles, and she realizes that the "wall" is Tadashi.
He's holding his stomach now, looking pained. He's wearing a rumpled shirt and his cap, which GoGo has nicknamed Cappy, because Tadashi never goes anywhere without it. She briefly recalls his reaction ("Cappy? How original is that?") and forces herself back to reality, where Tadashi is holding his hand out for her to take.
She takes it, of course, and her heart does a little pirouette. He helps her up, looks at his shoes, and says:
"Are you okay?"
"No," she snaps, because gosh, he looks concerned, and she doesn't like what that does to her heart. "You nearly gave me a heart attack. Honestly, Hamada, have you ever heard of knocking?"
Tadashi shrugs. He can probably tell that she's not actually that upset.
"Came to check on you," he says. "I was wondering how you're bike's doing."
"Mm," GoGo says. "I could do with a break. Anyways, I was going to bring this to you."
She gestures at the ketchup chips, and watches with secret wonder as Tadashi's face lights up.
"Is that for me?" he says.
"YES, Captain Obvious!"
"Well, thanks, but can we share? Because that's a really big bag."
She can't hide her smile as she and Tadashi sit down on the floor, hands squeaky-clean and soap-scented. She can't help but grin when Tadashi smiles like a little kid, eating those ketchup chips while telling her all about what he plans to do next with Baymax. And she can't help but laugh when he tucks his cap on her head, handing her a pack of gummy bears as his thanks for the chips.
It's dark out, and Tadashi's turned off the lights. His blue glow stick snaps near her face and she shrieks, but she smacks him back lightly with her purple one. Her heart is doing a tap dance and her fingers are trembling ever so slightly, but she doesn't care. Because it's midnight now, and there's gummy bears to be eaten.
GoGo doesn't mind staying up late.
She doesn't mind the early hours of morning, or the bags under her eyes that appear.
She doesn't mind.
Not at all.