It had been a few months since Big Hero 6 had premiered and Tadashi and Fred's rather unexpected and extremely controversial coming out at said premiere's after party. Frankly, when he and Fred had been spotted by the media kissing in what they'd thought was a safe and secluded area, Tadashi had been sure that the company was going to have him redesigned (the worst fate a toon whose company thought they were going too far off script could suffer, having all of their memories erased and basically having their existence in the human world completely reset, usually with changes made to their character's design to make them more "compliant".) Fortunately, though, Mickey Mouse-one of the most legendary toons of all time and the certainly one with the most influence at the studio where the movie had been, had stepped in, calling the humans who ran the company out on their willingness to let fear of losing profits by allowing something controversial blind them into being willing to do the unspeakable to a character simply because they were in love with a toon of the same gender. Admittedly there was a lot of negative backlash-people who boycotted the movie because its spokesperson, or more appropriately, spokesmouse had publicly endorsed the couple being together. But there were many others who saw the company's willingness to take such a bold step as something to be celebrated, and people who might not have been inclined to watch the film beforehand as it was a "kid's film" came out to watch it, more than making up for any lost profits.
In the aftermath of the movie coming to theaters, at character appearances at the theme parks and other special events, Tadashi and Fred found themselves, despite not being the main characters of the film, sought out by many fans who had been inspired by what they considered the couple's "bravery" for being willing to stand up for their right to be in love. The couple even started getting mail from other toons who had found the courage to follow their own loves, even if it was something that was off script. As flattering as all of this was, though, Tadashi really hadn't set out to become a revolutionary. He'd just wanted the freedom to be with the man that he loved, and he was actually relieved when, after the promotionals for the movie were finally over, he and the rest of his film family were finally allowed to do what he'd been wanting to do for a very long time-settle down in a toon community close enough to the Disney Studios that they could be called back for any future projects (although Tadashi had a pretty good idea that, given his character had died in the movie, he wasn't going to be making a comeback any time soon) but far enough away that they could finally start living their own independent lives. One good thing about Disney was that they did take good care of their characters, even after movie production, and so they made sure that the entire cast either found houses or apartments, as well as jobs for those looking for outside employment (not that they actually needed to work since they still received stipends from the company, but many toons got bored of sitting iddly in a house with nothing to do.) Much to the surprise and relief of the Hamada family, the company was willing to move the set that they'd built of the Lucky Cat Cafe into the community for them, allowing Aunt Cass to officially open the cafe for business and the family to live in the apartment above it, much like in the movie. Along with the Hamadas, Fred also moved in. While the rest of the "Nerd Squad", as the group of friends who later became the superhero team Big Hero 6 in the movie fondly called themselves, had chosen to take apartments (Honey Lemon and GoGo, the other couple from the cast, choosing to share an apartment while Wasabi was in a small studio of his own, not wanting to deal with the mess and uncertainty of having a roommate), Fred hadn't really felt comfortable being out on his own. Since they were lucky enough to have a spare bedroom in the basement, Aunt Cass had been more than happy to let him move in with them when Tadashi had asked her about it, and while it took a little bit of getting used to for all of them, the fanboy quickly became an indispensable part of the family, more than happy to pitch in with helping out at the cafe and providing Hiro with a second older brotherly figure (although the teen still reserved the reverence title of "nii-chan" for his biological sibling.) There was news of a potential Big Hero 6 sequel in the future and an almost confirmed TV show, but those were a bit of a ways off, so until that time came the cast had decided to take a well earned rest until looking into pursuing possible future career options (Tadashi was looking into taking courses at a local "blended" university that actually allowed toons to enroll as students, and several of the others were doing likewise, but most of them wanted to wait and see what plans the studio actually had for them before committing themselves to something long term.)
As it was, Tadashi felt like he had just finally settled into the groove of everyday life when something exciting happened. He'd heard buzzing around town of something called the "Character Ball", but he hadn't really paid much attention to it until one day, when he was picking up the mail, he found four envelopes addressed to himself and the rest of his family members with invites inside to an event of the same name.
"What the heck is this?" Tadashi mutters to himself as he stares down at the calligraphed piece of card in his hand.
"I see you got your invitations too?"
Tadashi startles slightly and then smiles as he sees his next door neighbor, Hiccup, standing at his own mailbox. They'd become fairly good friends since the family had moved in, Hiccup and his fiance Astrid turning out to be extremely friendly and helpful in getting them accustomed to the ins and outs of life in Toon Town. Of course it had taken some getting used to having vikings for neighbors, particularly vikings with two living, breathing dragons who lived with them. But once they had it was actually quite enjoyable getting to know them. The two brothers and Hiccup had bonded over a shared love of inventing, and the viking had actually been nice enough to give Hiro dragon riding lessons. Tadashi still wasn't sure how he felt about the safety of that hobby, but his younger sibling enjoyed it so much that he didn't have the heart to tell him "no".
"What exactly is this Character Ball?" Tadashi asks Hiccup, realizing that he probably knew a lot more than he did.
"That's right, this is your first one, isn't it?" Hiccup answers with a smile.
"Considering we just moved in, yeah," Tadashi admits.
"It's an annual thing around here-pretty much everyone in town is invited to it. It's this big fancy ball down at the community center, and it's toons only," Hiccup explains. "It's supposed to give us all a time to just get together and have fun without having to worry about any humans getting in the way and telling us what we can or can't do."
"That actually sounds pretty amazing," Tadashi admits.
"It is!" Hiccup agrees. "And it's not just all dancing-there are different activities for the younger toons and for singles so no one feels left out."
"Hiro will definitely be glad to hear that," Tadashi chuckles.
"I can imagine!" Hiccup agrees with a slight smile before saying, "So, I'm hoping we'll see you there?"
"I've got to talk to the others, but yeah, I can almost guarantee that they'll all want to come," Tadashi reassures him.
"All right then!" Hiccup waves one last time before heading back into his own house, Tadashi doing likewise.
"What took you so long?" Hiro asks when he enters the living room, looking up from where he was sprawled on the floor tinkering with one of his latest inventions.
"Just talking to Hiccup," Tadashi answers with a slight smile. "He was telling me about the Character Ball."
"The what?" Fred asks curiously, putting aside the comic that he'd been reading to focus his full attention on his boyfriend. Tadashi relayed everything that their neighbor had told them, and by the end of it the fanboy seemed fully on board with the idea while Hiro seemed more than a little skeptical.
"Dancing? Getting dressed up? Not sure that really my sort of thing, bro," he drawls.
"Oh, c'mon, it could be fun!" Tadashi protests. "They said there would be activities for the kids!"
"Kids. Wow, thanks. I guess I can look forward to a rousing evening of duck-duck-goose and coloring. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get to make a craft to bring home. That sounds like a perfect way to spend a night-if I couldn't think of a million better ways to spend my time!."
"I mean to say young adults!" Tadashi groans, shaking his head. "They should have stuff to do that's age appropriate for teens your age!"
"You're sounding like Troy's mom at the beginning of High School Musical when she was trying to convince him to go to that stupid New Year's Eve party," Hiro tells him flatly.
"And look what happened for Troy and Gabriella!" Tadashi argues.
"Who knows, little bro? You might get lucky!" Fred tells him with a grin.
"Two problems with that: one, I'm pretty much tone deaf so I'd totally suck at karaoke which would kind of kill the romantic mood, and two, I don't want to 'get lucky'! I'm fine with my life just the way it is!" Hiro groans, rolling his eyes and starting to head for the door. "I'm going to go talk to Ez-he probably thinks this thing is as stupid I do. Maybe he'll want to do something that night while you lovebirds are off dancing at your ball or whatever."
"...Is it reading too much into it to point out that he started talking about Ezra the minute we mentioned him finding someone he might be romantically attracted to at the ball?" Tadashi asks Fred when the door is safely shut behind his younger sibling.
"Just a bit, hun," the fanboy answers, lightly patting him on the shoulder.
For the next few weeks, all of Toon Town seemed abuzz with anticipation for the coming ball. Apparently it was an even bigger deal than Hiccup had led Tadashi to believe. Still, in spite of all the craziness, the Big Hero 6 movie family managed to have fun preparing all the same. Honey Lemon, who was currently working a temp job at a local Toon fashion magazine, insisted on sewing dresses for all the girls. Tadashi was grateful that she didn't insist on making him a new suit, although she did drag him along for an afternoon of shopping for what she considered the "perfect" tie. (He really didn't know why a stupid tie was that important, but he did have to admit that the olive green one she chose to go with the black shirt he was wearing under his traditional black suit-another wardrobe choice that she'd insisted on making for him-actually did look pretty good.)
The day of the actual ball, Aunt Cass closed the Cafe up early (it wasn't like there would even be any business that night) to start getting ready. Tadashi understood by now, at least to an extent, why it took girls so long to get ready, but he was still glad that after taking a shower it took him at least half an hour to get ready. As he walks back into the bathroom after checking his reflection in the mirror one last time, his plan is to just head downstairs to check on how the rest of the family was doing (and, if he was lucky, get his first look at his handsome boyfriend in the suit he was going to be wearing that evening.) What he didn't expect was to find his little brother over in the corner of their room, actually dressed in a suit and wrestling with a blue and red striped tie that seemed to want to go everywhere but around his neck where it was supposed to go.
"Hiro…?" Tadashi says slowly , momentarily frozen in confusion. After that first night where he'd declared his skepticism towards the whole event, the younger boy had been strangely silent about it whenever anyone else brought it up. The elder Hamada had figured that he was probably just trying to be polite by not outright bashing the event, and until now any questions about what he planned to do the night of were only met with vague answers about doing something with Ezra. Now, though, as Tadashi sees his younger sibling turning to him in defeat, looking like he was about to actually cry, he couldn't help but wonder if there was more to what he'd meant by "something" than he'd been letting on.
"Otouto, what's the matter?" the older man asks softly, coming over to his brother and putting his hands gently on his shoulders. "Tell me what's going on."
"I-It's this stupid tie," Hiro answers, roughly scrubbing at his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "I-It won't go on, no matter how many times I've tried!"
"Give it here." Tadashi smiles and gently takes the tie from his younger siblings hands before expertly tying it for him. "There," he says once he has it on straight and has made sure that everything else is in place and fighting like it should. "You look perfect."
"Th-Thank you…" Hiro gives him a small smile and quickly wipes away the couple of tears that had actually made it out.
"You must think I'm really stupid, huh?" he mumbles, looking thoroughly embarrassed.
"Of course I don't!" Tadashi answers soothingly. "Ties can be really tough-even I still have problems with them sometimes!"
"No, not the tie…" Hiro sighs. "I mean, freaking out like that…"
"Hey, I'm not judging you," Tadashi reassures him. "I'm a little surprised to find out that it looks like you're actually coming tonight, but I'm sure you had your reasons for being worried." He must have, given Tadashi could count on one hand the number of times he'd actually seen his little brother cry, and it worried him a little bit to see him this emotional over something so seemingly small.
"I just… I wanted tonight to be perfect," Hiro answers softly. "We both do…"
"We…?" Tadashi asks curiously.
"Y-Yeah... " Hiro flashes him a shy smile. "Y'know that night I went over to Ezra's to grouse about how stupid I thought the ball was?"
"I do seem to recall that, yes," Tadashi answers carefully, thinking that maybe he had an idea as to where this was going but forcing himself not to get ahead of himself just in case he was wrong.
"Well, by the time I got there, Ez had already received his invitation and when he found out I had too, he asked… Well, he asked if I'd go with him," Hiro tells him, scuffing the ground with the toe of his shoe..
"Asked if you'd go with him… Like, as a friend?" Tadashi asks slowly, unable to believe that he was actually hearing this.
"No, like… As a date," Hiro replies, flashing him an embarrassed but slightly proud grin.
"Oh my gosh… Hiro, that's so great!" Tadashi cries, pulling him into a tight hug before pulling away long enough to ask, "Did you say yes?"
"Yeah, I did," Hiro answers, blushing bright pink but seeming pleased by his brother's reaction. "We were planning on surprising everyone tonight…"
"You certainly managed to do that!" Tadashi chuckles, lightly ruffling his hair. "Still… Wow. I can't believe my little bro is actually going on his first date! This is a date to write down for the history books or something!"
"Don't push it!" Hiro bats his hands away in annoyance.
"Sorry, sorry, I'll try to behave!" Tadashi promises. "I'm just super happy for you-for both of you!"
"Thanks, Dashi," Hiro flashes him a grateful smile. "That means a lot to me."
"So, when is he coming?" Tadashi asks, trying to keep from sounding as eager as he felt.
"He should be here in about ten minutes," Hiro answers, suddenly going a bit shy. "That's why I was freaking out when I couldn't get my tie on…"
"Well, you look absolutely perfect now!" Tadashi reassures him. "So how about you and me go downstairs and wait for our dates together?"
"Sounds good," Hiro agrees with a nod, giving him a small gap-toothed smile.
When Ezra showed up at the door, Tadashi insisted on answering it, saying that it was his responsibility as the closest thing Hiro had to a father figure to make his date sweat a little bit. Still, when he finally lets the teen inside, he couldn't help but feel himself glowing with pride as he sees Ezra taking the sight of his little brother like it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen and as the blue haired boy somewhat nervously but sweetly pinned a small boutonnier onto the other teen's suit jacket. It seemed that Fred had had the same idea, because when he came up from the basement, he had a boutonniere for Tadashi as well, and the elder Hamada rewarded his romantic gesture with a deep, passionate kiss.
When Aunt Cass finally joins them, she was slightly surprised to find out about the fact that Ezra was taking Hiro to the ball, but when she got over her initial shock she was as happy for them as Tadashi had been. She even insisted on taking pictures of both of her boys with their dates before finally agreeing that it was time to head out or else they'd risk being late.
The original plan had been to drive to the ball in Aunt Cass' old truck. But just as they walked out, Hiccup and Astrid were getting ready to fly to the ball on their dragons, Toothless and Stormfly, and they offered to give them a ride. Tadashi wasn't completely sold on the idea (he still didn't know how safe he felt around dragons), but Hiro and Ezra looked so excited that he didn't have the heart to turn them down. By the time that they reached the community center, he was glad that he hadn't, because flying on a dragon had probably been one of the most amazing experiences of his life. That is, until they entered the doors and stepped into the ball. The old community center had been transformed, as if by magic (and there had almost definitely been some magic involved), into a gorgeous ballroom. It was almost like something out of a fairytale! (And, in fact, he did see a lot of fairytale characters in the crowd, and it was all he could do not to fanboy when he recognized several of his heroes.)
Special nights tend to pass by in a blur, with only flashes of memories that you can recall later. That's exactly how the night went for Tadashi. Most of it he spent dancing with Fred, which was as amazing as it sounded (his boyfriend turned out to be as graceful a dancer as he was clumsy on a regular day.) They also made sure to spend time with their friends, old and new, including those from their film's cast (Honey Lemon's dresses turned out to be a complete and total success) and those they'd made on set during the filming of their movie (Tadashi was completely overjoyed when he spotted Elsa, one of the first friends he'd ever made in the human world, and he even managed to convince her into having a dance with him.) There was plenty of laughing and talking and dancing, and overall everyone had a great time. Probably Tadashi's favorite moment of the evening was when he spotted Hiro and Ezra dancing a little ways from the others at the just the perfect moment, because someone accidentally bumped into them, causing the two teens to accidentally kiss, and when that awkward mistake was quickly followed by a shy, tender actual kiss. By the time that they arrived home well after midnight, everyone but the dragons seeming to be dropping, he couldn't help but feel this had probably been one of the best nights of his entire life, and he couldn't wait to see what other adventures and surprise Toon Town might have for him.