Over the next couple of months, one by one, the major characters for the film arrived. It was explained to Tadashi that, instead of creating an entire city full of people, most of the crowds and minor characters would either be added in digitally or else played by human actors with a filter put over them to make them appear like they were animated characters. It was slightly disappointing to find out that most of San Fransokyo would also be created digitally and so the acting would take place primarily in front of a green screen or on sets of particular locations. Still, he could understand why it logically made sense-the studios couldn't very well create an entire city every time they made a new movie, could they? Still, the fact that the family and friends he knew from his character memories were real (or, as real as toons could be) did make up a lot for it. The next arrival after him was Baymax, the healthcare robot that Tadashi, in the film, "created". It was a little weird knowing that he hadn't actually built the robot despite the fact that he instinctively knew exactly how every part of it worked, but it was just another one of those things that he was getting used to. Soon after Baymax was Aunt Cass, who the boys were more than happy to welcome into their family-it was nice for Tadashi feeling like he wasn't the only one in a role of responsibility now. Following her was Professor Robert Callaghan and his daughter, Abigail. Despite the fact that the Professor was the one responsible for his "death" in the film, he was such a loving, fatherly man whom Tadashi's character had had a very close relationship with that he couldn't find it in him to dislike him or even be suspicious of him. Abigail was designed to be slightly older than Tadashi, but the two quickly hit it off, almost becoming like brother and sister (Elsa told him that that was often what happened among cast mates: they became one big, slightly crazy but still extremely loving extended family, even a lot of the villains, many of whom turned out not to be particularly villain-esque except when the were acting, instead proving to be very nice and sometimes even extremely interesting people to talk to!)

Then one day, about a month after his arrival, Tadashi was pulled into the director's office.

"Am I in trouble?" he asks uncertainly, knowing that he'd been covering for a lot of Hiro's recent stunts (the younger boy and Anna were constantly getting up to mischief whenever one of them had a spare moment.)

"No, not in trouble," the director hurries to reassure him. "It's good news, actually-something I'm sure that you're going to be pretty excited about."

"All right," Tadashi agrees-that sounded a lot better than what he'd been expecting.

"I thought you should be the first to know-the artists are almost finished putting the finishing touches on Honey Lemon. If we're lucky, they should be done in the next day or two!" the director informs him.

"Really? That's great!" Tadashi says, grinning. It was always exciting to hear that another part of his character world was finally coming into being in the world he was currently existing in.

"I thought you'd be happy to hear that," the director says with a warm smile. "I'll bet you're pretty excited to see your girlfriend!"

"W-wait… What?" Tadashi asks, blinking in surprise. Girlfriend...? Wait, were he and Honey Lemon dating? Why didn't he remember that if they were? Maybe he had some memories of that, but if they were there, they weren't anything he could solidly grasp hold of.

"Shocked speechless, eh?" The director chuckles fondly. "I would be too." He adds in a playful tone, "Just remember, we're trying to keep this studio PG and below, so if you two have anything you're trying to get up to-make sure do it behind locked doors, all right?"

Tadashi felt his stomach turn slightly as the director playfully shoos him out of his office. Him and Honey Lemon… Doing inappropriate things together? He couldn't even imagine it-hell, he couldn't even imagine kissing her! His character memories of her were fond, sure, but he saw her like a little sister or a really close friend, not as someone he was romantically interested in! But if that's how their characters were designed to interact-did that mean something was wrong with him if he didn't feel that way about her? Feeling extremely worried, he decided that maybe he'd feel that way once he'd actually gotten to meet her in this world. Yes, that was it exactly! It was just going to take him a little bit to warm up to the idea, but if they were supposed to have true love-and considering this was a Disney movie, they were-then the moment they laid eyes on each other, he'd know that she was the one he was meant to be with.

Only it didn't happen like that. To his silent horror, when Honey Lemon arrived the next day, the minute he walked into the room to meet her for the first time, he felt his stomach sinking like a stone. No, this was wrong-this was all so wrong. He didn't love her, at least not like he was supposed to. Even as she squeals happily as she wraps him up in a hug, he can only hug her stiffly back, feeling nothing like he knew he was supposed to if true love was anything like he'd heard it was.

The rest of the afternoon passed in an almost nightmarish haze-as Honey Lemon's "boyfriend" he was expected to show her around, to smile and act adorably embarrassed when everyone told him how cute of a couple they made, some even making slightly suggestive jokes that he could only fake laugh weakly in response to. It wasn't that he thought Honey Lemon was a horrible person-on the contrary, she was extremely sweet and kind and he couldn't figure out why exactly he didn't feel the way he was supposed to about her. He just… Didn't. There was no spark. There was no rush of happy emotions that came from holding her hand. There was just cold, empty dread at that the fact that he was supposed to be in love with and spend the rest of his life with this person but he didn't. And there wasn't anything he could do about it.

It was Elsa who realized the problem first. Over dinner, she seemed to be watching the new "couple" very closely, and when she went to go get a drink refill, she practically dragged the elder Hamada along with her.

"What is going on between you two?" she asks as soon as they're out of hearing range of the others.

"N-nothing!" Tadashi answers, jumping guiltily at the question.

"Exactly," Elsa deadpans. "There is nothing going on between you, is there?"

"I-All right, so maybe I'm not exactly feeling it right now," Tadashi admits. "But I'm sure it's just a matter of time before I-"

"Tadashi, no." Elsa shakes her head firmly, putting a firm hand on his shoulder. "Look, I count you as one of my closest friends, and I'm going to be straight with you-if you don't like her in that way, you can't lie to her and everyone else! You need to tell her that you like her-if you do actually like her, which I think you do-but just as a friend and nothing more instead of dragging this out and ending up hurting both of you even more."

"But it's in my design-I'm supposed to be in love with her!" Tadashi says desperately.

"I don't give a damn about 'designs'," Esla snaps, surprising the other man as he'd never heard her curse before-it wasn't something that was encouraged at the studios, and especially not by characters. "I care about my friend who's about to make an extremely stupid decision!"

"Are you calling me 'stupid'?" Tadashi bristles at that. It was another unfortunate design in his character-as much as he was supposed to be the perfect big brother, one of the flaws he'd been given to make him more "human" was that his character secretly felt slightly inferior to Hiro's because his sibling was a natural genius and he had to work hard to come even close to his brother's accomplishments. While Tadashi hardly ever felt that or even noticed that that was there, it was something of a sore spot that hit him unexpectedly in moments like this.

"Oh, Tadashi, no, I didn't mean it like-!" Elsa says, her eyes going wide.

"Look, I will find a way to figure out how to make me and Honey Lemon to work, so just leave me alone, okay?" Tadashi snaps, his own fear and pain making him lash out in a way that he instantly regrets.

"...Fine." Elsa gives him an icy stare that could only be pulled off by the snow queen herself. "Don't take my advice. Just don't come crying to me when everything starts falling apart."

"I won't," Tadashi shoots back, still breathing heavily as she glides away, her anger evident in her short, mincing gait. Still, he shakes his head, forcing himself not to think about the encounter any more. He was Tadashi Hamada-he could fix anything, and certainly he could fix his relationship with his would-be girlfriend.

Only, over the next couple of weeks, it became evident that he couldn't. He tried everything he could think of-spending more time with Honey, spending less time with her, trying to do romantic things for her like bringing her flowers, inviting her to come hang out with him and the others (Elsa still wasn't talking to him after their falling out in the commissary, something he tried to tell himself that he didn't mind near as much as he did.) But none of it worked. Things were only made more awkward when GoGo, Honey Lemon's best friend in the movie, showed up. She seemed to sense Tadashi's lack of romantic interest, and, instead of telling him to break it off, she almost aggressively started trying to push the two together, until it felt like Tadashi's entire life was a living hell, being forced into a role that he had never wanted to play.

It wasn't until the day that Fred arrived that Elsa's prediction about Tadashi's world falling apart came true. Everyone knew that Fred was supposed to arrive that day since the artists had just finished with him, and so they'd all been taking turns watching the door so that their newest cast member wouldn't arrive all alone. It was Tadashi's turn when he finally appeared. Tadashi had been pacing out in the little waiting area, for some reason feeling more anxious and excited about this arrival than he had about any other, although for the life of him he couldn't understand why. Then, as he completed one final pass of the door, he saw a slight shimmer over the bed which caused him to pause. Wait, could it be-? A few moments later, a ghostly outline started to show, and then, a few moments after that, Fred's solid form appeared on the bed. For some reason, Tadashi felt his chest tightening, even as his heart rate speeds up exponentially. He was... beautiful. Despite the fact that this particular character was supposed to come off as geeky and awkward, Tadashi thought he was the most perfect-looking toon that he'd ever seen, lying there so still and peaceful on the cot. A few seconds later, Fred's eyes blink open, and he slowly sits up, looking slightly dazed but understanding slowly dawning on him. For some reason the sight made Tadashi let out a quiet whine, as if it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. As if hearing the noise, Fred suddenly turned towards the door, and Tadashi felt his breath catch in his throat as their eyes met for the first time. It was then that the truth finally dawned on him. Despite all character designs and what he was "supposed" to do, he had just broken a major rule: he had fallen for the wrong character.

The rest of that afternoon, much like on the day that he'd met Honey Lemon, passed in a blur, but this time a very different blur. He was alternating between the horror of what he'd done and the giddy feelings that he had been supposed to feel when he'd met his assigned girlfriend. Every time Fred looked his way and smiled at him, every time they accidentally brushed up against each other, butterflies filled Tadashi's stomach, and it was all he could do not to completely melt. If his character had been like that of most of the original cartoons, not the more realistic style that Disney had started going with, there definitely would have been little hearts floating all around his head. As it was, Honey Lemon kept telling him how sweet it was that he was going out of his was to make Fred feel so welcome, and that only served to make him feel even guiltier than he already was. He was supposed to be dating her, and yet his heart belonged to the person she probably least saw as a threat to what was, on Tadashi's side, a sham of a relationship.

Finally, unable to handle it any longer, Tadashi turned to the one person he'd told himself he would never go to.

"Elsa," he says, laying a tentative hand on the woman's arm-she'd taken to sitting as far away from Tadashi as possible, refusing to talk to him or even look at him.

When she doesn't respond, literally giving him the cold shoulder (he could feel her silent rage emanating off of her in waves of freezing air), he tries again. "Elsa, please-I'm really, really sorry for everything I said. I was being an idiot. But I really, really need your help, and I have no one else to go to. So I understand if you're still mad, and I'll accept all the blame for that, but please, I beg of you, help me out this once and I won't bother you ever again!"

For a minute Elsa continues to stare stone facedly down at her plate, but finally she lets out a long sigh and says, "Always the one for dramatics, weren't you, Tadashi?"

Relief floods through the man's chest. "Y-You'll help me?" he asks, not daring to believe it.

"Yes, I'll help you," Elsa says, rolling her eyes as she turns around. "But only because I don't want to see my idiot friend getting himself hurt because he tries to 'fix' things on his own, and we've all seen how well he does at that."

"Thank you!" Tadashi instantly pulls her into a tight hug. "You have no idea how much I appreciate-"

"Yes, yes." Elsa waves his words aside, pulling away from him. "I have your eternal gratitude, etc, etc." She takes his hand and starts leading him towards the doors of the cafeteria. "Now come on, let's go fix your 'Earth shattering' problem."

Little did they notice that someone was watching as they left and, as soon as no one else was looking, stood up and followed them out of the commissary.

"All right, so, have you finally got it through your thick head that you're not in love with your supposed girlfriend?" Elsa asks, folding her arms over her chest as soon as she pulls Tadashi into an empty office.

"Worse," Tadashi sighs, running his fingers distractedly through his hair and making it stand up on end, although the ice queen chose not to comment on that fact. "I-I actually found out that I like someone else…"

"Wait, really?" Elsa's eyes go wide with surprise. "Who? Oh… Oh no. Tadashi, if this is your way of trying to say that you have a crush on me, I appreciate that, but I really don't-"

"What? No!" Tadashi cries. He quickly amends, "Not that I don't think you're amazing and all of that! But I just see you as a really good friend or a sister!"

"Okay, good, glad we've cleared that up," Elsa sighs, looking relieved, and then curious. "So, if it's not Honey Lemon, and it's not me… Is it GoGo?"

"No, it's definitely not GoGo-I don't think she even likes me very much because she can tell that I'm not into HL and she thinks I should be."

"All right then, Abigail? Because she's a bit old for you, but if you really feel that way about her-"

"Gosh, no! I mean, again, she's awesome, but I'm just not interested in her like that. Actually… The truth is, I don't think I'm interested in girls at all…"

"Hold on…" Elsa's eyes narrow suspiciously. "A-are you trying to tell me that you're gay?"

"I… Yes, I think that I'm definitely gay," Tadashi sighs.

"I… Tadashi, I have absolutely nothing against that personally," Elsa says uncertainly. "I'm a very strong believer that love is love and all that. But-this is Disney. You know that they have a major thing about protecting their image, and while they've certainly made some major progress lately, I don't think that they'd let one of their characters in a major movie be openly gay…"

"You know that you're not making this any easier, right?"

"All right, you're right, I'm sorry. I guess I should have honestly seen it coming from the way you stare at Hans sometimes."

"I do not stare at Hans!"

"Yes, you do. But please tell me that you're not crushing on him, because if you do, I will slap you until you see sense."

"No, it's not him-and yeesh, you're worried about Disney being mad about me being gay when one of their princesses apparently has a penchant for violence?"

"I was originally slated to be a villain, so sue me!"

"...Wait, are you being serious right now?"

"A discussion for another time." Elsa waves off his question. "Now stop beating around the bush already and tell me who the lucky guy is!"

"I… Okay. Please don't laugh, but it… It's Fred…"

"Fred?" Elsa looks momentarily confused before asking, "Wait, you mean Fred, as in the guy who just appeared today?"

"Yes, him," Tadashi agrees, feeling his cheeks turning bright red under her stare.

"Well… As much as it's out of my character to be okay with someone thinking they're in love with someone they just met, how close were your characters in your world?" Elsa asks after taking a moment to think it over.

"For one thing, I did not say that I'm in love with him, just that I like him… Like, a lot," Tadashi says, blushing even deeper red.

"Mm hm, sure…" Elsa drawls, rolling her eyes slightly. "But you haven't answered my question."

"All right, um… They haven't finished the script yet, but… Pretty close? Possibly even best friends-like, my character's pretty much the only one in the script who not only puts up with but seems to slightly enjoy a lot of his crazier antics?" Tadashi answers, trying to go off of the completed memories that he had.

"I see…" Elsa nods her head slowly. "Friendship is a good foundation for a further relationship, from what I've heard, so I can approve of that. How about Fred, does he seem to feel the same way about you?"

"I don't know, I haven't really had much of a chance to talk to him yet," Tadashi admits, letting out a low sigh. "But before I could even think about doing something like that, I feel like I need to talk to Honey Lemon. Even if I've never really felt anything for her beyond a friendship or sibling-like connection, technically we're supposed to be dating, and I don't want to be cheating on her, even if I'm not sure we were ever officially 'together'..."

"Well, even if I'm not sure about what's going on between you and Fred, yes, I am definitely all for you finally being honest with Honey," Elsa says, nodding her head in approval. "She deserves that much, and so do you. Keeping both of you tied down to a relationship where even one of you is unhappy isn't fair to either of you, and the sooner you do this, the better."

"I know," Tadashi sighs. "And I feel horrible now that I pushed it off this long-I feel like I've been stringing her along and that it's going to be all that more painful for her once I tell her. I won't blame her if she's super mad at me, I'll deserve it…"

"But it will be better than living a lie," Elsa puts in gently. "And she'll be better off for it in the end because she'll be able to find someone who does like her like that."

"Exactly," Tadashi agrees. "I just… I don't know how I'm supposed to tell her…"

"Would it make you feel better to know that I already knew?"

Tadashi jumps guiltily as he turns to see Honey Lemon standing in the doorway to the office.

"Honey, I…" he starts but then falls silent, not sure what he was supposed to say. "I'm so, so sorry," he finally manages to get out.

"Oh, Tadashi." Honey Lemon gives him a warm smile, coming over to the couch and sitting down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I already knew that you weren't in love with me-I could tell it from the first day when every time someone told us that we were a cute couple you looked like someone had just told you that Mochi had just gotten ran over by a car."

"I… You knew?" Tadashi gasps in disbelief. "But then why-?"

"I was honestly doing the same thing as you," Honey Lemon admits with an embarrassed smile. "Trying to act like someone I wasn't. The truth is that I've never really been interested in you as anything more than a really good friend either. But since it's what the scriptwriters wanted, I wanted to give it a try, but I think we both found out that forcing a romance just doesn't work."

"So… You're not mad at me?" Tadashi asks slowly, barely believing what he was hearing.

"Of course not!" Honey Lemon reassures him, pulling him into a warm hug. "I heard what you were telling Elsa, and it was really, really sweet of you to try for my sake and you were nothing but faithful, as much as you could help it. But I'm really glad to hear that you were going to be honest with me, and even if I did like you… y'know romantically-which I don't!-then I would have rather heard the truth and hurt slightly then have had you lie about liking me and ending up making both of us unhappy. I think it's braver to tell the truth and do the right thing than to lie just to try to save someone else's feelings."

"You are amazing, you know that?" Tadashi says, gratefully hugging her back.

"Aw, that's so sweet of you!" Honey Lemon giggles before pulling away and asking eagerly, "Sooo… When are you going to tell Fred how you feel about him?"

"I… I don't know," Tadashi admits, flushing slightly. "I mean, I don't even know if he likes me back or not…"

"Ooh, trust me-from the way that he's been looking at you all day, he definitely likes you!" Honey Lemon says, beaming.

"Y-you really think so?" Tadashi asks, trying not to get his hopes up.

"Totally!" Honey Lemon agrees, eagerly squeezing his hands. "A~And… I'm not going to lie, this kind of makes things easier for me because… I have a crush on GoGo!"

"Wait, you're serious?" Tadashi cries after taking a moment for that to set in. "Oh my gosh, Honey, that's so great! I'm so happy for you! But… Wait, wasn't she pushing for us to get together…?"

He winces, hating to think that Honey's crush was unrequited, but the feisty Latina quickly waves away his concerns. "That was only because she thought I was supposed to be interested in you! But I could tell that the reason she was being so hard on you was because she thought that she would be doing a much better job of it herself!"

"So… You're saying that she was trying to get us together because she actually likes you?"

"Exactamente!"

"...I can't say I understand it, but I'll take your word for it."

"A wise decision," Honey Lemon laughs. "But isn't this so great? We both like someone else, so we can both be happy!"

"This is pretty great!" Tadashi agrees, finding himself grinning as the truth finally dawns on him.

"Hold on just a second." Elsa's stern voice suddenly cuts into their conversation, slightly chilling the celebratory mood. "As happy as I am for both of you… I hate to say it, but the studio isn't going to be happy about this. Characters going off script, choosing different romantic partners than they're supposed to be with? I mean, it wouldn't be such a big deal, except for the fact that both of you are trying to pursue relationships with members of the same sex!"

"So?" Honey Lemon shrugs slightly. "El amor es el amor, no?"

"Maybe out in the real world, but not here at Disney! They have a reputation to protect, and if they think something is going to upset a large portion of their audience and possibly lose them profits…" Elsa says firmly, shaking her head.

"But didn't they just release that episode on that show… Um, Goodbye Charlie, or something, where there was a lesbian couple?" Honey Lemon points out.

Tadashi looks over at her, impressed-apparently she'd been doing her homework.

"True…" Elsa says, biting her lip thoughtfully before shaking her head. "But they got a major backlash for that, and I'm not sure they're ready for something like that to happen in one of their feature films yet."

"All right, entiendo," Honey Lemon says, nodding. "But who has to say it has to be a part of the movie?"

"What do you mean?" Elsa asks, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Who says that we have to show the audience anything that they wouldn't be okay with?" Honey Lemon responds. "On screen, Tadashi and I could act like a couple-actors do that all the time, no? But off screen, we can date whoever we want!"

"That's true!" Tadashi agrees, grinning."Good thinking, Honey Lemon!"

"Wait, wait, wait-it's still not that simple!" Elsa cries, shaking her head. "It's different for toons than for human actors and actresses. A toon is expected to follow their characterization, even off screen. And with all of the promotional stuff following the film-"

"Well then it's about time someone changed that!" Honey Lemon declares firmly. "La revolución de toons!"

"A revolution? Do you know what you're asking for?" Elsa cries in disbelief. "Do you know what they might do if they thought that we-"

"Hold on!" Tadashi says, coming between the two of them. "First things first-we don't even know if either of us are going to end up in a homosexual relationship to begin with. If and when that happens, I think that, provided no one says anything about it and we keep it mainly on the down low, then we don't turn it into a big deal. We fulfill our duties, but I don't think there's much they can do to us if we keep everything else strictly off the book. If they do have a problem with it, then… Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Neither of the two women seem extremely thrilled with this compromise, but they both finally nod in agreement.

"Just be careful," Elsa says warningly as she heads out the door. "I care about you-both of you. And I don't want to see you get hurt."

"No hay de qué preocuparse," Honey Lemon says as soon as Elsa's out of hearing range before turning back to Tadashi and asking eagerly, "So, do you know how you're going to ask Fred out?"

"I really don't know-I hadn't thought that far ahead," Tadashi admits with an embarrassed smile. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Actually…" Honey Lemon answers, grinning slightly, "I just might!"