one look, dark room; meant just for you
Transferring schools two months after the semester's begun is just a major annoyance, more than anything. Her dad's work got the entire family transferred to San Fransokyo last week, giving her barely enough time to settle in. Sure, the school is the best in the entire city, but she doesn't know a single person.
The paper in her hand has Lab Six printed on it, but she's almost done a full circle around the building and hasn't found it. A misprint, she thinks; either that, or she's not as big of a genius as she thought.
"Are you lost?"
Gogo looks up and squints at the boy that's suddenly appeared in front of her. "No."
He has a friendly smile on his face but doesn't let the subject drop. "I can help you find wherever you're trying to get."
"I'm fine, thanks," she snaps, because she can do this on her own and she doesn't need some guy to lead the way.
"Let me help you," he insists, and is giving her such a persistent look that she hands the paper over. His eyes light up when he glances up again. "My friends and I work in Lab Six. Follow me."
Gogo snatches the paper from him and rolls her eyes as he turns around. She follows a pace behind, snapping her gum loudly to fill the silence. The boy stops in front of a pair of doors and pushes them open, stepping aside to let her in.
"Heads up!" he calls as a large disc flies over their heads. The boy turns to her and smiles. "By the way, I'm Tadashi. Welcome to the Nerd Lab."
/
She meets Tadashi's friends — a big guy in a green sweater named Wasabi, a blonde girl named Honey, and a guy in a lizard suit named Fred.
("Oh, Tadashi, you didn't tell us you had a girlfriend!" Honey coos excitedly. Gogo almost chokes on her own saliva.)
She gets her own lab space in a little corner across from Wasabi. Tadashi says that they're preparing for their midterm assignment, which is to create something unique and original that they'll present to Professor Callaghan in a few months.
"So, do you have any ideas?" he asks.
Gogo snaps her gum. "Nope."
"I saw you bike here; you almost ran someone over, but it's impressive that you can go that fast."
She laughs and crosses her arms pointedly. "Please; I can go much faster."
Tadashi tilts his head curiously, like he's thinking. "How about you build a bicycle?"
"A bicycle." She gives him a look that conveys something along the lines of 'are you kidding me?'
"Yeah. One with something really cool that'll improve speed."
She blows a large bubble and lets the air escape slowly. "Electromagnetic wheels."
Tadashi grins. "Perfect."
small talk, he drives; coffee at midnight
Tadashi works with her on the beginning development of the electromagnetic wheels. They waste a lot of time doodling over each other's blueprints and telling bad puns and Tadashi will look at her for a while and smile until she jabs her elbow into his side.
They eat dinner with Honey, Wasabi, and Fred in the lab, and waste more time looking at Wasabi's laser and Honey's chemical magnet. They keep working while lights above other people's workspaces go off until the only light is hanging above their heads and shining down on them like a spotlight. When Gogo glances at Tadashi, he's giving her sideways smiles, and she thinks he almost looks fond.
Tadashi's helping her clean up her lab space after everyone has gone home, when suddenly he sets aside a screwdriver and turns to her with an unreadable expression.
"How would you feel about going to get coffee with me?"
Gogo stops chewing her gum and blinks, taken aback at the proposition. "Right now? It's, like, almost midnight. I...have to get home."
He smiles with one side of his mouth. "Come on, it'll be quick. Promise."
/
Tadashi hands her the extra helmet and swings his leg over the scooter. "Hop on."
Gogo fits the helmet on her head and scoots awkwardly onto the seat behind him, trying to avoid being too close. "Are you sure this is safe?"
He looks over his shoulder at her and laughs. "You bike sixty miles an hour and you're worried about safety?"
"Hey, I — "
"Don't worry, it's fine," he assures her, and revs up the engine. "You might want to hold on."
Tadashi hits the gas so suddenly that Gogo almost goes flying off. She grabs onto both of his shoulders and shrieks as he makes a turn, swinging her off of her seat. She struggles to anchor herself to him, not thinking twice before wrapping her arms around his middle. She's sure she's beet-red and is grateful that he can't see her face.
Tadashi makes another sharp turn and Gogo tightens her grip around him while he laughs.
/
They end up across from each other in a booth of a small diner that Gogo has never seen before. While she's content just chewing her gum, Tasashi is stirring milk into a cup of coffee.
"Is this going to take long?" she asks, eyeing the large mug.
"What, you don't want to stay here with me for a while?" He's smiling that one-half-of-his-mouth smile that's both very endearing and really irritating.
She sputters, trying to find an acceptable answer, and he laughs.
"I understand - don't want to be stuck with me outside of the Lab if you can help it."
"That's not it," she blurts out. "I mean, you're the first friend I made at school, so. I'm just not used to people asking me to hang out and stuff." Her eyes drop to the table where she's fiddling with his fingers. "I wasn't exactly Miss Popular at my old school."
"You're kidding, right?" Tadashi looks shocked. "You're, like, the coolest girl I've ever met; you're a badass biker, you have purple hair, and you're sarcastically blunt. All my favorite things." He's giving her a silly grin and she ducks her chin in embarrassment.
"I'm sarcastically honest," she mumbles.
/
Tadashi insists on taking her home, which she begrudgingly agrees to after a good five minutes of arguing.
("I can take the bus, you know."
"There'll be sketchy people."
"I don't care."
"Just let me take you."
"Fine. If it'll shut you up.")
As they start to walk up to her house together, Gogo clears her throat and says, "Thanks for insisting on taking me home. And for inviting me out and everything."
He nods and smiles. "Sure. If you're up for it, we could do it sometime next week?"
"So, what's with you and the gum?" Tadashi asks.
Gogo pops a bubble and slides her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "What about it?"
"Why are you never not chewing it?"
"I like it," she says with a small shrug. "Gives me something to do with my mouth." She steps up onto the front porch and puts her hand on the doorknob, but before she can push it open, Tadashi says, "Wait."
When she turns her head to look at him he has an odd look on his face and that stupid smile.
"Spit out your gum," he says.
"What? Why?"
"Just do it."
She takes the gum from her mouth and sticks it onto the wall (which her mom would kill her for if she saw) and Tadashi steps closer, brushing aside a strand of her hair that's fallen in front of her face.
"What are you doing?" she sputters.
"I'm giving you something to do with your mouth."
She squints up at him, much like the first time they met in the school hallways. "What's that supposed — "
Tadashi cuts her off by leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to her mouth; she's so surprised that her body freezes up. If he were anyone else she would've slapped him, but — well, it's Tadashi; he's handsome and sweet and charming and though she'd never admit it, this is definitely the happiest she's been in a long time.
She kisses him back.
you kiss on sidewalks; you fight and you talk
When they get to the Lab on Monday Honey goes straight to interrogating them and Fred gives them suggestive eyebrow raises and Wasabi stays out of the entire thing and sticks to tinkering with his laser.
Tadashi goes to his workroom in the back to check on something, or so he says, and as soon as he's gone, the two of them continue to berate the short dark-haired girl.
"Did you go out last night?" Honey squeals.
"Did you go to a Bot Fight?" asks Fred. "Those things are totally cool."
"That's not romantic at all," Honey says. "Did you go dancing? Or to the movies? Or — "
"Would you please get out of my face?" Gogo growls. "I don't owe you an explanation about anything that happened."
"She's defensive," Honey chirps. "You know what that means!"
"Just admit you're in love with him," Fred simpers, snickering behind his hand.
Gogo gives him a glare so intense that he shrinks back a step. "I am not in love with Tadashi."
"Who's not in love with me?"
She spins around and clamps her mouth shut when she sees Tadashi standing behind her.
"Oh, nothing," Honey sings, and she and Fred slip away laughing.
"They're ridiculous," Gogo mutters, hoping Tadashi won't ask about what she said earlier.
He's giving her a strange, smug look as he says, "You sure you're not in love with me?"
She shoves his shoulder roughly, her cheeks burning. "In your dreams. Now are you gonna help me with this bike or not?"
/
Tadashi walks her home that day, and every day that week, and every day the next week. He teases her about being scared of his scooter and she reminds him that she could lap him multiple times on her bike and he surrenders. They talk about Tadashi's family and Gogo's old life before she moved; they get into harmless quarrels and playful banter, and every now and then Tadashi will press a kiss to her lips and she'll punch his shoulder while she attempts to hide her blush.
But it's not like she's in love or anything. Tadashi's a great friend whom she just happens to enjoy holding hands with and falling asleep next to and kissing every now and then.
So it's not like she's in love.
you are in love; true love
Tadashi's been asleep for at least an hour, zoning out almost immediately after she'd put in the third movie. They're sprawled on the couch and Gogo's practically using him as a pillow, her cheek pressed against his chest and the top of her head buried against his neck. She can hear the soft thumping of his his heart and her head moves very subtly with the rise and fall of his breathing. He's fallen asleep with his arms wrapped around her waist, and she doesn't want to move and wake him. But she also doesn't mind it that much.
She turns her head so her chin is on his chest and looks up at his sleeping face. He's finally taken off his black baseball cap, his dark hair falling across his forehead. She carefully moves a hand up to his face and brushes the stray locks aside. He stirs slightly and she stills, but he doesn't wake and she continues to run her fingers absentmindedly through his hair.
Something hits her, like she's run into an invisible wall at full speed, while she's gazing up at Tadashi and playing with his hair and laying against his chest.
I'm in love.
That thought, new and unexplored in her mind, frightens her, because she's never been in love and what the hell is she supposed to do? Maybe she does nothing. Maybe this doesn't change a thing. Maybe Tadashi isn't in love with her. Maybe she's wrong and she isn't even in love — because how would she know? She doesn't know what love is. (But maybe this is what love is.)
She touches her fingers softly to Tadashi's cheek and whispers, "I love you."
She falls asleep on his chest with his arms around her.
You're definitely in love.
/
Tadashi brings his younger brother to the Lab one day. His name is Hiro and they have the same big eyes and bright smiles.
("He graduated high school when he was thirteen," Tadashi whispers to her. "He's a huge know-it-all, literally.")
He seems to be fascinatwd with her bike as she walks up to him and takes off her helmet.
"Welcome to te Nerd Lab," she deadpans, and throws a smile at Tadashi. He winks back.
time moved too fast; you play it back
He's moving too fast, and she can't catch up to him. He only looks back once - when Hiro grabs his arm with fear in his eyes, begging him not to go, and Tadashi looks heartbroken as he pulls away and runs; up the stairs, into the burning building.
She's running, faster than she's ever run before, and everything explodes in flames.
She wasn't fast enough.
you understand now; why we lost our minds
All she can hear is Hiro screaming Tadashi, Tadashi over and over again and the sound of her own choked sobs.