"Oh my gosh, I am so so sorry!" Tadashi heard Honey Lemon's squeal as the world turned upside down and he found himself staring at the high ceiling of the lab. He had been on his way to check her progress on her latest experiment when he had slipped on something slimy and turquoise.
Almost instantly his view was blocked by a waterfall of blonde hair and worried green eyes behind large pink glasses, "Are you okay, Tadashi? I meant to clean that up but then I got sidetracked and, oh, I'm so sorry, Tadashi! Are you hurt?"
It occurred to Tadashi, that faking an injury might keep him on the ground with her hovering over him a bit longer, but he immediately pushed the thought aside, "Yeah, Honey Lemon, I'm fine. I just hit my head a little." And as he replied he pushed himself into a sitting position. Everyone else in the lab had lost interest in the incident at this point and had turned back to their own individual projects, and Fred, who had left an hour ago to get them some pizza, was nowhere to be seen.
Honey Lemon still hovered hesitantly beside him, watching to make sure he was really okay. It had been almost a year since they had first met, and he still found his breath catching in his throat when she looked at him. Everything about her was beautiful to him, from the brightly colored headbands she wore in her hair everyday to the ridiculously tall heels that she perched upon and everything in between. There wasn't a day when he didn't get distracted in his experiments because he couldn't stop watching the way she flitted around her equipment, more graceful on her ten inch heels than a ballerina on pointe.
The more they talked, the more beautiful she became to him, with the way her eyes lit up when she talked about her latest chemical mixtures or her cat, Myles. She was so smart, much smarter than he could ever hope to be. To him she was everything beauty was supposed to be, she was intelligence and laughter, the golden sun in the brightest summer sky and the moon on the darkest winter night. She was kindness and strength and she made him feel like he could fly higher than the windmills that soared above San Fransokyo.
All of this flashed through his mind in moments as he met her eyes, covered in turquoise goo, sitting on the floor of the lab, and as she asked, "Are you okay, Tadashi?" instead of answering her, he blurted out,
"Will you have dinner with me tonight?"
For a moment, the silence that fell throughout the entire lab pounded in his ears and his heart simultaneously stopped beating and beat so hard he was sure the sound of it echoed off the metal walls. He could feel the retracting words rise in his throat as he stared into Honey Lemon's startled eyes, the color of green grass, but they slid away as her face broke into a smile and he found that staring at her blinding smile was like staring into the sun, but he was unable and unwilling to look away.
"Of course I will."
He heard the roaring in his ears again, as his heart swelled triumphantly, until he realized it wasn't in his head. The lab had broken into applause, accompanied by catcalls and shouting, all along the sentiments of, "It's about time!"
Tadashi could hear Honey's bright laughter from behind him and he turned to find her cheeks as pink as his own felt. Trying to ignore the noise behind him, he smiled, "Great, I'll pick you up tonight at 6."
The sunlight blinded him again as she returned his smile, "Perfect." Then, to his surprise she whipped out her phone, "Say cheese!" And she snapped a picture of the two of them before helping him to his feet. The rest of the day passed in a blur, going much too slow and much too fast for him. He was both jittery with nerves and giddy with excitement as he drove home, cleaned the extra goo out of his hair, and changed his clothes.
As he climbed up the stairs toward his bedroom, he met Hiro, coming the opposite direction, hiding something behind his back.
"Where you headed little bro?" He asked, both curious and desperate to get his mind off his nerves. Hiro smiled, overly innocent,
"No where of importance, just heading out to do genius stuff, you know…" He trailed off and tried his smile again.
Tadashi squinted in suspicion and then wiped his face clean, "Alright. Have fun, Hiro." Walking past him with feigned nonchalance, Tadashi watched from the corner of his eye as Hiro followed him, carefully keeping whatever was behind his back hidden until Tadashi was a safe distance away and then,
"Kay, see ya later Tadashi!" With a swift turn he started to bound down the stairs.
"Oh no you don't!" Tadashi exclaimed as he grabbed his younger brother around the middle and swung him back up into their shared room, "Bot fighting again? I don't have time to be worrying about you tonight!"
Hiro's lip pushed out into a pout, "Oh come on Tadashi! You don't have to worry about me! I can take care of myself! You're not my dad!"
Looking past the obvious attempt to emotionally incapacitate him Tadashi replied, "You're right, I'm not, I'm your older brother, which means I can do things like this." As fast as lightning, he reached out and grabbed the younger boy around the neck, grappling him into a headlock and wrestling the bot out of his hands. After a brief struggle, the two of them broke away, Tadashi lifting the bot in a triumphant manner.
"If you can convince Aunt Cass to give this back to you, you can go bot fighting." Looking briefly at his watch his heart gave a jump. He was supposed to be at Honey Lemon's in less than half an hour. Hiro noticed the blood drain out of his face,
"You okay, bro? You look like you're about to barf. If you do, you should really do it in the bathroom, I remember the last time you…"
"Shut up I'm fine. And don't think you're getting out of this that easy. I'm giving Aunt Cass this bot and then it's out of my hands."
Hiro gave him the most scathing look he could muster and then stomped over to his bed and fell onto it face first. Tadashi smiled at this briefly before heading downstairs to deliver the bot and heading out.
For the first time in his life, Tadashi was glad for the wind that blew into his face as he drove his moped through downtown San Fransokyo. It helped clear his head. Pulling up to Honey Lemon's apartment building, he climbed the two flights of steps, taking them two at a time and then stood bouncing on her doorstep after he had knocked.
It came as no surprise that he found himself speechless when she opened the door. She had traded her regular mini skirt and cardigan combination for a flowing sundress that fell to her knees. As always she stood almost an inch taller than him and he fell even more completely for her in the radiance of her sunny smile.
"You look beautiful." Was all he could say as she stepped out of the door and locked it behind her, and he was suddenly glad for the turquoise goo from earlier that day and for the universe that had shaped this exact moment right here as he looked at this galaxy of a woman, and realized there was nowhere else in the history of forever that he would rather be.
A/N -
I don't know about you guys, but I really REALLY loved writing this chapter!
Sorry about the small hiatus, I didn't know what I wanted to write about, so thanks to the anonymous guest who got my rear back into gear about updating!
Reviews are my life source and suggestions for future chapters wouldn't be amiss either.
Either way, I hope you liked what you read!
Thanks :)
