Chapter One: Thought.
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I lay there, listening to Tadashi's snoring, a sound I'd always heard every night. Mochi lay on my bed, purring as I gently ran a hand over his fur. That was a subconscious action. My mind was fraught with the night's events. It had started out with the bot fight, then I was arrested, and then I met Tadashi's friends. It was just a blur of things happening that I couldn't explain. There was one thing that stuck in my mind, however; Honey Lemon.
Now I know what you're thinking: "That's the name of a drink, isn't it?" No, it's not. Well, it is, but – never mind.
Honey Lemon is one of Tadashi's friends. Long, honey-blonde hair, great green-brown eyes and a dazzling smile... She was perhaps one of the highlights of my visit to Tadashi's 'Nerd Lab'. Sure, the others were nice to me, but she just didn't seem like the others. Wasabi, Fred, GoGo... They were all quite fun. It was nice to see people who interacted so well. The only reason Wasabi had shouted at me was because I'd almost sliced myself with his laser-induced plasma. Oops.
Regardless, the highlight of my visit was most certainly Honey. She was kind, she was sweet, she was chirpy as anything... I'd never seen anyone that bouncy!
"Hiro, lights out," grunted Tadashi, jarring me out of my reverie. I hadn't noticed that he had stopped snoring.
"Right – Got it," I said quickly, trying to feign both sarcasm and a yawn as I leaned over and switched off the light, plunging the room into pitch blackness.
-
"Hirro!"
That pronunciation stuck in my head like glue. It sounded like the Japanese pronunciation, but I couldn't tell for sure. Tadashi had told me that Honey was latina. Maybe that was why she pronounced my name in such a strange way. I don't know, but whatever it was, I just couldn't help but love it. It felt so warm and sweet to hear, even if it was just an echo in my head. Maybe my brain was slowed up after a night of bot-fighting, being arrested and nearly getting turned into sliced Hamada, but a thought suddenly struck me. A crushing thought that caused my eyes to flash open as I heard Tadashi's snoring again.
'She has to be at least eighteen.'
I hadn't thought of it before, being too swept up by Honey Lemon's perfection, but my thought process was starting to slow down, and the pros were now accompanied by the cons.
'She's at least six feet tall. You're only just over five!'
'She's in college, you're only a little boy!'
'You're too young for her.'
I sat bolt upright with a light, slightly sleepy groan, and I checked the clock. It said 3:00am. I needed to get up, I had to get my mind away from Honey. I had only just met her and I was already becoming obsessed with her; I had to stop.
As silently as I could, I got up from bed, and I carefully made my way out of the room and headed downstairs, feeling a light chill. The heating was off, and I could feel it. I walked down the creaky stairs, trying to dodge the loudest ones, and I used my phone to light my way. I was almost at the bottom of the stairs when I froze, having spotted a figure standing in the kitchen.
Aunt Cass, who was getting a midnight snack.
I tried to backtrack, but I bumped against the wall. Loudly.
"Who's there?" came Aunt Cass's voice, and her eyes darted all around as she tried to catch sight of me. Then she saw me on the stairs, and I swallowed. "Uh... Hey, Aunt Cass," I said softly.
Something about my expression must have caught her out, for rather than becoming angry, she instead offered me a caring smile. "Hi, sweetie. What are you doing up so late? Are you feeling guilty about the whole bot-fighting thing?" she asked, beckoning me over. I obeyed, and I walked over to her with a small, nervous smile to counter hers. "No, I'm not feeling that guilty... I – I mean I am, but it's not that exactly that's keeping me up," I admitted quietly.
Aunt Cass walked over to me, running a hand through her slightly frizzed up hair, and she leaned down just a little to my height, which wasn't that much of a bend for her.
"What is keeping you up then, Hiro?" she asked quietly. "You can tell me, I won't be mad. Did you put rockets on Mochi again?"
I couldn't help but chuckle, and I shook my head. "No, I didn't. I left those rockets in the garage, remember?"
"I remember. I made you destroy them," she replied with a laugh.
I nodded quickly. "Anyway, that's not it – Uh... Do you know about age gaps in relationships?" I inquired of her.
"Age gaps?" she asked, leaning against the kitchenette counter as always, and she shrugged. "I suppose I do, Hiro, but why? Have you got a crush on someone older than you?" she asked.
I blinked. I didn't expect that she'd rumble me in such a short time, and I firmly shook my head. "N-No, I don't. I just want to know... Is four years big for an age gap?"
"I don't know... It varies with age, Hiro. If you were twenty and the girl was twenty-four, I'd say no, but now... Well, it's harmless, depending on what kind of relationship you were thinking of," she replied. Was that a knowing smile on her lips? I couldn't tell, but it seemed like it was.
"Okay... That's all I wanted to know, thank you Aunt Cass," I replied, attempting a smile before I turned away, going to walk back upstairs.
"Hiro."
I turned back around at the sound of my name, an eyebrow raised.
"Don't you want something to help you fall asleep, like a mug of hot chocolate?" she asked kindly. It was definitely a knowing smile on her face, but it wasn't unpleasant. If anything, it was comforting. I knew that she had my back. I knew she was just trying to help me. The least I could do was let her do just that.
"To help calm your nerves about that thing you're thinking about?" she asked, winking in a light-hearted manner.
I would have hugged her if the counter hadn't been in the way. Aunt Cass had never missed a trick before, and tonight was not going to be the first. I felt my mouth form a smile without me asking it to this time, and I nodded gratefully.
"Thank you, Aunt Cass."