A/N: I have finally succumbed...trying my best with characterization based on what we've received so far :)
"Excuse me."
Tadashi turns, disoriented, before the sound of a throat clearing draws his attention to the petite Asian girl standing before him. She doesn't spare any words as she pushes past him, setting her black helmet on the table briskly before rummaging for tools. He watches, fascinated, as she deftly spins a wrench in one hand, lips pursed as she regards the project in front of her.
"Is there something you need?" Her voice is wry, punctuated by the pop of bubblegum.
Tadashi blinks. "Um—uh—no. I was just…" he gestures with one hand to the sleek lab surrounding them, his other hand tucked in his pocket. "Admiring."
"New to the lab?"
"Kind of. I toured when I was applying, but this is my first time in here as an official student. It's just…unbelievable."
"All right, nerd," quips the girl, not raising her eyes from her task.
Tadashi remains unfazed by the comment, brightening as he continues to survey the students passing back and forth, all absorbed in their research. The floors give off a polished shine, and there is an ordered chaos to everything, the confluence of a hundred tiny worlds contained under the same roof.
"Seriously, though," he continues, earnestly, "you must be, too. Everyone here is, that's what makes it so great. What are you working on?"
"Bike. Electromag suspension," she answers, clipped.
"Neat. Any particular reason or—"
"Do me a favor and toss this in the recycling bin," interrupts the girl, thrusting a wheel at Tadashi's chest. He runs a thumb over the metal disc, following the nod of the girl's chin toward a bin overflowing with identical parts.
"Toss…?"
She doesn't even grace him with a verbal response; instead, she glances over her shoulder and arches an eyebrow at him, as if to ask, "Well, what are you waiting for? Any more stupid questions?"
Eyeing the distance between him and the bin, Tadashi tests the weight of the wheel with one hand. He's tossed baseballs back and forth with Hiro back in the day, but this projectile is significantly larger and…sharper. Not wanting to overshoot the target and end up dismantling someone else's project, Tadashi figures that less force is the smarter play.
He throws. And the disc lands—
—two feet shy of the recycling bin, with a loud clatter. A few people look at him curiously before resuming their work.
"Oops?" cringes Tadashi, glancing at the girl. Crap, she's going to be pissed.
To his surprise, he hears a snort and watches the girl's face contort in laughter; she shakes her head, running a hand through the purple streak in her hair. Something in that action relaxes him, and he feels his own mouth twist upwards in a smile as he declares, "Aha! She laughs. Guess I'm not a total failure, then."
"Sure, buddy," she says, and just like that—as if a switch has been flipped—she resumes her deadpan expression, though the twinkle in her eyes remains. Tadashi manages, fumblingly, to catch the wrench she tosses at him before it can do any bodily harm, and follows as she snaps her fingers and points toward a bolt. "Now make yourself useful."