"Will you stop staring at her like a creep?" Hiro's face was scrunched in faint disgust. "You're kinda freaking me out."
Tadashi's head jerked up; he had been resting his chin on his palm before Hiro broke his focus. He glared halfheartedly at Hiro who leaned on the café's counter next to him.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you not to be rude to your elders?" he scolded with a teasing smirk.
"You're not that older than me." Hiro rolled his eyes. "Besides, being a genius means I'm wise for my age." he added.
"Being smart and being wise aren't the same thing." Tadashi shook his head exasperated. "You're as smart as you are immature at any rate." he said grinning and ruffling Hiro's already messy hair.
"Hey!" Hiro exclaimed fighting off the hand. "Don't change the subject! I may be younger, but I know when you're trying to avoid talking about something."
"What are you talking about?" Tadashi tried to look as unaware as possible; Hiro wasn't buying it.
"Look, you've been acting weird for weeks now. Even Aunt Cass is getting suspicious; you're not exactly subtle."
Tadashi turned from Hiro and went behind the counter; he busied himself with organizing the individual boxes of coffee and tea for sale.
"I don't know what you're talking about." he said rearranging the pyramid of already neatly stacked boxes.
Hiro leaned on the counter and sighed dramatically. "She's noticed too you know."
"What?" Tadashi knocked over the pyramid when he turned to face Hiro again.
"Aaaand she noticed that." Hiro added slyly while Tadashi bent down to pick up the scattered boxes; he was determined to act natural and pass over the incriminating moment.
"I really have no idea what you're-"he paused noticing someone crouched in front of him; they were also picking up the little boxes carefully.
Tadashi looked up at them. "Oh, thank you, you didn't have to." he smiled but his expression faltered when he realized who he was talking to.
"No problem." the girl smiled back a bit. "I actually wanted to buy one of the boxes of lemon tea." she chuckled. Tadashi chuckled back, albeit much more awkwardly.
"Of course. Would you excuse me for just a moment?" he said hurriedly as he dragged Hiro with him to the café's kitchen.
He peeked around the door frame after a second. "Be right back!" he called closing the door quickly.
"God, he's so cute!" the girl thought wanting to burst into giggles.
"Oh no, this isn't good!" Tadashi said in an odd combination of a yell and a whisper. "What am I going to do?"
"Sell her the tea?" Hiro asked; he was torn between laughing and feeling pity. Tadashi usually wasn't one to lose his composure like this.
Currently, this was not the case.
"I mean, what do I say?" Tadashi asked as if the problem was obvious; he had noticeably dropped the pretense of not knowing what Hiro was talking about earlier.
"You hand her the tea and say 'That'll be $3.25, have a nice day.'?" Hiro was having fun with this.
Tadashi groaned. "Hiro, you know what I mean. Look, I like her, okay? Now I've got the perfect chance to talk to her and I have no clue what to say." he confessed more to himself than to his baffled little brother.
Hiro tried to get serious. "Bro, calm down. I mean, you like her, so just talk to her." he shrugged. "How hard can it be?"
Tadashi took off his cap and ran a hand through his hair. "Hiro, it may seem that way now, but it really isn't that simple. You'll see when you're older."
Hiro huffed. "Yeah, sure. The thing is, you can't just stay in here forever; she's a waiting customer, and it's been-" he checked his watch. "-5 minutes already, so-"he gestured with both his hands toward the door expectantly.
"What?" Tadashi gasped. "Oh man, she probably left!" he rushed out of the kitchen like it was on fire.
The girl was still waiting, looking around the café and checking her phone. Tadashi stumbled and took his place behind the counter; he noticed the cafe and tea boxes had been stacked back into a little pyramid.
"Ah, I forgot all about them. Thank you so much for doing that, I should've-"
"Hey, it's not a big deal, don't worry about it." she said slightly embarrassed. "I hope I put them back right."
"Oh yeah, they're great, better actually." Tadashi rambled. "You're a wonderful…stacker…."he finished inwardly cringing at the lame compliment; on the outside he smiled apologetically at the laughing girl.
"Thanks." she grinned. Tadashi felt his ears grow warm at the tips. This was his chance; maybe he could ask her out for coffee; they could just come here, and he could make her some himself. She may even be impressed.
"Wait." Tadashi thought. "What if she doesn't like coffee? She always gets tea! Oh wait, then I'll just make her tea. I have got to calm down." he tried to act natural.
"So," she began. "Could I buy that tea?" she rummaged through her purse for some bills.
"Tea? Oh yeah, hang on!" Tadashi quickly went to the hot water dispenser.
"I didn't-"but before she could finish her sentence Tadashi had already presented her with a steaming cup; the tea bags tag hung over the rim carefully.
"Here you go." Tadashi said with a charming smile.
"Thanks, but…" she seemed flustered. "I wanted to buy the box of tea, actually…"
Tadashi's smile fell by a fraction. "Oh. Right, sorry." he racked his brain before smiling once more. "Tell you what; this one is on the house. Just a thank you for helping me out."
"Really? Hey, thanks Tadashi!" she took the cup happily and handed him the money for the actual box.
Tadshi looked at her confused; she blushed and assumed he frowned in suspicion.
'I just heard Miss Cass saying your name before!" she explained. "Um, my names Maria…" she trailed off anxiously.
"That's a pretty name."
She beamed up at him.
"Did I just say that?" Tadashi thought panicked. "Wait, she's glad I did. I'm good." he felt relieved.
"Tadashi, talk to your girlfriend later, the lunch rush is about to come in." Aunt Cass had come down from the upstairs just in time to hear the awkward exchange.
"She's not-" "Uh, I-"they both looked at each other flustered.
"Just joking you two!" Aunt Cass laughed. Hiro was just coming out from behind he kitchen door; from the smirk he wore, it was easy to assume he had been eavesdropping the whole time.
"Yeah Tadashi. Why so nervous?"
Tadashi gave him a warning look. "Hiro-"
"Tadashi, me and Hiro can handle things here for the rush." Aunt Cass cut in giving a look of her own to Hiro; he shrugged but still smiled mischievously. "Why don't you go hang out with your "friend"?" she suggested.
"Aunt Cass, Maria-"
"-has to go to class in a bit actually." Maria interrupted suddenly. Tadashi suppressed a twinge of disappointment; he sort of figured after his awkward exchange she'd want to rush out, but he was still hoping otherwise.
"But here." she continued handing Tadashi a little scrap of paper. "If you'd like to hang out sometime, just let me know." she gave him a warm smile and waved goodbye to Aunt Cass and Hiro before rushing out the café's door; she seemed to be blushing hard in embarrassment.
Tadashi looked at the paper; it had Maria's phone number and email address.
"Oh honey, I'm so happy for you!" Aunt Cass exclaimed giving Tadashi bear hug. "It feels like just yesterday you were my little boy, now you have girls asking you out and-"
"Whoa, hold on a second." Tadashi said gently prying away from the embrace. "She said if I wanted to hang out, not go out." he reminded her with a half-smile.
Hiro rolled his eyes. "Hey, Mr. Mature, didn't you think it was weird how she already had her contact info written down? She's probably been waiting for a chance to give you that and couldn't work up the nerve."
He smirked at Tadashi's expression. "You dorks are probably meant for each other." he added teasingly.
"Hiro! Don't call your brother or his girlfriend a dork." she scolded him.
Tadashi gasped and looked back at the paper Maria had given him; she was blushing and her fingers were a bit unsteady. It didn't even register with him at the time; now it hit him all at once and he couldn't fight back an ecstatic grin.