"Is she your girlfriend? Ooooh," the boy giggled. "And she's coming over here? When? Tonight?"
"She isn't my girlfriend, bonehead," Tadashi rolled his eyes at his younger brother. "She's coming over to get some of my old notes on chemistry."
"Did I hear something about a girlfriend? Tadashi, do you have something you wanna tell your Aunt Cass, hm?" she bustled through, apron tied around her waist. "Does my big boy like a girl?" she set her tray of dirty dishes down and stood on tiptoe to ruffle his hair. He ducked away, mildly irritated.
He should've never invited Honey Lemon to the Lucky Cat so she could pick up his old chemistry notes. For being a 'smart' guy, this was by far one of his stupidest life decisions.
"No, Aunt Cass. Honey's coming over for chem notes, if you would've paused to hear the rest of my sentence," he laughed. "Need me to get those for you?" he added, pointing to the tray of dishes.
"Please do, sweetie. Thank you! But I have a question for you. Why do you call her Honey if she isn't your girlfriend?"
Rolling his eyes in exasperation, he pushed the sleeves of his button-up sweater up to his elbows before taking the dishes to the kitchen, through the swinging doors that separated it from the cafe at the Lucky Cat cafe. "Fred gave her a nickname. Honey Lemon. It's just because of the tea she was drinking when he stopped to talk to her once."
"Mhm, okay. I thought he only gave weird nicknames, like Wasabi and-"
"Honey Lemon isn't a weird name?"
"I think it sounds...sweet..." Cass teased.
Tadashi groaned. "Yeah, yeah. Ask her yourself if you don't believe me."
Hiro tagged after his older brother. "Isn't Honey the tall blond chick that sat at our table today?"
"Lady, Hiro, not chick. Use your big brain to think of actual women's titles, instead of implying they're baby chickens."
"I wasn't-that's not-"Tadashi chuckled at his brother's irritation and confusion.
"And why don't you make yourself useful and dry the dishes as I clean them, huh?"
"I have homework," he shook his head.
"Which will take you, what, ten minutes, genius? We both know you're just gonna hang around here and wait to spy on me and Honey Lemon, anyway," Tadashi said.
Grumbling, Hiro grabbed a towel and started buffing plates dry.
"Hellooo?" a sweet voice called.
"I'm back here - er, I'll be out in a minute," Tadashi yelled.
"Hey! Are you Honey Lemon?" the loud greeting that overlapped his was Aunt Cass's.
Tadashi smacked his forehead with his wet hand. Not Aunt Cass. Anybody but Aunt Cass.
"Hey, Hiro - finish up for me, will you?"
"No! Man, that's your job. I'm doing mine, see?" he dried a plate under Tadashi's nose.
"Yeah, but Aunt Cass.."
"Afraid she'll tell Honey some embarrassing story about you?"
"Yes-No! I am not. Just-do it because I'm your older brother and I told you to."
"Hmph. That doesn't work, you know."
"But maybe I'll tell Cass what really happened to her bonsai tree the other day-"
"Blackmail? Really?"
"Aunt Cass, Hiro-"
"Hey!" his brown eyes widened, and he grabbed the dishcloth from his brother. "Fine. But you'll owe me."
"I love you, little brother..." he grinned.
"Yeah, yeah. Love you too." Hiro rolled his eyes and scrubbed at a nasty plate. If he could hurry up and do this job, he might be able to spy on Honey and Tadashi yet.
"Hey! The notes are in my backpack, I just gotta-just gotta get them. Where's my back-oh. Duh. Right here." he grinned sheepishly as he fairly tripped over his own backpack. Honey watched him with a mildly amused expression.
"Do you want something, Honey? Pastry?" Aunt Cass snagged a manju from under a glass case on the counter. "Fresh manju, maybe?"
Honey Lemon smiled, readjusting her glasses on her nose. "Who would I be to refuse? Everyone says the Lucky Cat is the best cafe in San Fransokyo."
"Oh, I don't know if that's true or not..." Aunt Cass laughed, handing her the treat. "But thank you, honey." She was having way too much fun with the whole Honey - nickname and honey-endearment thing.
She politely bit into the manju, but turned her attention to Tadashi when he plunked a sheaf of old papers down in front of her. "There you go."
"Oh! Wow, that's a lot of notes. Thank you!" she grinned toothily, setting the treat down beside the papers and wiping her fingers on her white pants before leafing through them. "Handwritten, too. Yikes."
"I remember writing them. My hand was never quite the same," Tadashi joked.
In the kitchen, Hiro set the last knife down triumphantly, finally hurrying to stand on tiptoe, peering out through the door's window. He could just see Honey and his brother. Perfect. He couldn't hear them well, but he saw the grin on the girl's face, as well as the awkward smile on his Tadashi's. Oh, brother. He definitely had a thing for the tall blond. This could be the perfect ammunition for teasing his older brother later.
Aunt Cass busied herself with cleaning tables, switching the sign on the door to CLOSED. Just as she did so, Fred shoved through the door, his nose stuck in a comic book. Cass was used to Tadashi's friends coming in after-hours, so she didn't reprimand him, just got out of his way as he walked, still reading, to his usual table.
Fred finally glanced up from his comic.
"Hey, dude! And Honey Lemon! Oooh, is this some sort of-"
"NO!" Tadashi groaned. "She came for my old chem notes."
"Chem?"
"Chemistry exam in two days, silly!" Honey grinned. "Hi, Freddie."
"Then if this isn't some sort of date, why is your brother gawking through the kitchen window?" Fred pointed towards the mass of black hair and the two curious brown eyes peeping over the edge of the window.
Hiro saw every single person in the cafe turn to look at him in surprise. Cass grinned, but busied herself with her work. Tadashi's face burned red with embarrassment.
And then he started for the door.
Uh-oh.
The younger Hamada brother frantically tried to back away from the door, but stepped on his loose shoelaces and went sprawling backwards, kicking the door open.
Irritation slowly vanishing, Tadashi strode in, only somewhat concerned about his brother's fall. "You okay, bonehead?"
"Gee, thanks. I could've gotten a concussion," Hiro grumbled, rubbing his head as he sat up.
"No you couldn't have. That's why I'm not worried. Serves you right, though!"
"But I've gotta spy on-"
"I don't have a thing for her, Hiro. You see the big pile of papers in front of her? Chem notes. I'll be giving a copy of them to you soon, when you take chem."
"You sure?" Hiro grinned teasingly at his brother.
"Yes, genius, I'm sure. Now, go amuse Fred. Or Aunt Cass. Or do that homework you said you had to do..."
"Homework? Oh - yeah, homework," he grinned, embarrassed. He'd forgotten about his homework excuse already. "I think it can wait 'til later. Fred promised me he'd show me his newest comic book."
"When did you do your homework, though?" Tadashi asked.
"Lunch period," he shrugged, even though he had done all of his homework during lunch - and on the bus ride home. It didn't take long for him to finish the assignments, as long as nobody distracted him by teasing him. Pushing past his brother, he rushed out of the kitchen so he could hang out with Fred.