Holy cow guys.
Just holy cow.
Now, I know I didn't update yesterday and I'm sorry for that. Just know, however, that if I ever don't update on Friday (like I am supposed to), I will most certainly do it on Saturday. The only reason I was late this week was due to a wonderful thing called school. Oh yes, the magical and wondrous place that we all know, love, and old dearly in our hearts.
Note to sarcasm.
Don't get me wrong, I love school. It's a great place where you get to learn and be with anybody other than the family you've been trapped with all summer. The only thing I wasn't anticipating this year was the workload though. Oh my gosh! The workload! Guys, I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I have a good three hours (at least) of homework each night. THREE HOURS! This is mostly due to the fact that I am taking two AP classes, one of which is taught by a teacher who refuses to teach so I'm all by myself on that one ;-; Plus, I have all honors and 2 online classes. So by the end of my 8-class schedule for the day, all I really have time for is homework and sleep. This week had just been so stressful and overwhelming since I'm still getting used to the amount of work, which is why I was a little late updating.
I'll try to keep my schedule to Friday's guys, but if I do change it to Saturday's I shall let you know beforehand so you're aware and not wanting to strangle me every week.
Anyways, here's chapter six! I hope you guys enjoy it! This one gets a tad more serious towards the end, so I hope you enjoy that as well ;D
REVIEWS:
Momijifan Low-Ki: I can definitely say that nobody in this story is with the mob. I shall not say anything else on the matter though. P.S. I guess I will respect your views on the masterpiece, otherwise known as Sharknado ;)
ParkerERoy13: I'm glad you liked it! And thank you so much :D
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Big Hero 6 or any of it's characters. I only own my original character, Alex, and if she seems like se represents any real person, then it is simply by coincidence. ALSO, I do not own the song "The Only Exception". That song is owned and copyrighted by Paramore.
"Tadashi! Have you seen my red flannel anywhere?" Hiro called out to his older brother as he scoured the room in search of his missing shirt.
He'd been running around like a chicken without a head for the past ten minutes as his older brother sat back on his bed, flipping through a magazine with an amused expression on his face.
"You're holding it Hiro," Tadashi stated bluntly as he turned to the next page of Scientific American.
Hiro's head snapped down to look at his hands as he realized that he'd been clutching onto the red and black piece of fabric the whole time. He sighed and mentally slapped himself before quickly peeling off his old, white T-shirt to replace it with the nicer article of clothing.
He rolled up the sleeves and grabbed a pair of jeans and put on. Considering it was pretty cold outside, he had decided against wearing his usual khaki shorts and instead went with some longer, dark blue jeans.
"Wow," Tadashi said impressed, "Why don't you ever dress this nice when you're with me or Aunt Cass?"
Hiro completely ignored him as he checked himself over in the mirror. After playing around with his too-messy-to-be-tamed hair for a few seconds, he gave up with an aggravated sigh and turned around to face his brother.
"How do I look?" Hiro asked worriedly. Tadashi chuckled in response, looking over his little brother's form for any potentially embarrassing mishaps in his outfit.
"Other than your zipper being down, I think you're good little bro," Tadashi noted with an innocent expression.
"What?!" Hiro exclaimed, looking down at the zipper on his jeans. He saw his zipper pulled up and turned to the older boy with a glare, "Tadashi!"
"Sorry! I couldn't help it," he apologized with his hands up in surrender.
Hiro rolled his eyes and turned back to his desk to check his phone for any new messages. Tadashi raised a brow as he watched the boy's actions, "Why are you stressing out over this so much? You've hung out with her nearly every night for the past two weeks. Tonight's just like any of those other nights', right?"
"No," Hiro immediately disagreed, "it's not. We don't usually hang out with other people. It's always just the two of us. Plus, you guys are meeting her for the first time; of course I'd be a little nervous."
He had a point. He knew that Hiro had grown extremely close to this girl in the past couple of weeks and can understand why he'd be slightly anxious about tonight's plans. All this made Tadashi feel a bit bad about what he had implied when he had busted Hiro for coming home late that one night. He didn't want his little brother to think that he didn't approve of his friend because that wasn't the case at all. He was just curious as to what this girl was like. All he really knew about her was that she was blonde with blue eyes, had a nose piercing, and was named Alex. That's not really much to go on, which only increased Tadashi's curiosity towards the girl that his little brother had been spending all of his time with.
"Don't worry," he assured Hiro, "we won't embarrass you too much. I promise."
Knowing that was the best he was going to get out of the older Hamada, Hiro just sighed in slight relief, "Thank you."
"Yeah, yeah," Tadashi said, throwing the magazine onto his nightstand, "So, what time is Alex coming?"
"Well, she said she was on her way fifteen minutes ago so she should be here soon," he replied, finally being able to sit down on his desk chair and relax for a moment. "She said she'd text me when she was outsi-"
His eyes suddenly turned to his phone as it let out a loud beep. He looked at the screen before jumping out of his seat and making his way towards the door.
"She's here," he said quickly as he exited the room.
Tadashi rolled his eyes before calmly getting off of his bed and following Hiro down to the café.
When Hiro walked into the café, he looked around for a familiar mop of blonde hair. As he was looking, his aunt rushed over carrying a plate of a multitude of different pastries and a few dishes filled with actual food.
"Hey hon, when's Alex coming?" she asked him as she placed a dish of wings on one of the near-by tables. "We only have a few hours until we close; I thought she was coming for Music Night."
"She is. She said she's here so I'm trying to find her," he muttered absent-mindedly as he scanned the large crowd that had accumulated for the special event being held tonight. Before she could even reply, Hiro had weaseled his way into the crowd as he made his way towards the other side of the café.
Cass just shook her head and made her way over to the counter where some people were waiting in line to purchase something to go.
As she was ringing them up, she noticed her older nephew make his appearance. He scanned the crowd and made his way over to the front counter once he spotted his aunt ringing up a few customers.
"Hey Aunt Cass," he greeted. "Where'd Hiro go?"
"Went to look for Alex," she said as she gave the customer his change. "Oh, I'm so excited to finally meet her!"
Tadashi was about to say something when he caught his brother's distinct hair making its way towards them out of the corner of his eye. He turned to Aunt Cass and said, "Well, get ready them because here they come."
They both turned around right when Hiro came out of the crowd with another person in tow. Standing next to him was a petite girl, no taller than 5'2, with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes they have ever seen. She wore a simple white blouse with black skinny jeans and grey converse. As expected, there was a small, diamond stud pierced into her right nostril. While Tadashi has never liked the idea of facial piercings, he had to admit that it suited her nicely.
Hiro pulled Alex along by the hand, only stopping once they reached the front counter. Tadashi was the first to notice that despite escaping from the small crowd of people surrounding the area in which the performers were setting up, both teen's hands remained firmly interlocked. Aunt Cass was quick to pick up on this and exchanged a quick look with Tadashi before speaking up.
"Hi! You must be Alex," she greeted with a welcoming smile on her face. The blonde looked at the woman before her and gave a small smile of her own.
"Yeah," she replied. She may have been trying to seem calm and collected on the outside, but on the inside she was freaking out. Hiro is an important person to her and she didn't want his family to hate her or anything.
Hiro seemed to have sensed her discomfort because she felt his hand squeeze hers in an attempt to calm her nerves. She took a deep breath before beginning to speak.
"You're Tadashi and Ms. Cassidy right? I've heard a lot about you guys," Alex asked politely.
"Oh honey, just call me Aunt Cass. Any friend of Hiro's is a friend of mine!" she exclaimed, pulling Alex into a side-hug. She stiffened for a second at the sudden contact, but immediately relaxed and returned the hug with one arm.
Once Aunt Cass had released her from her death grip, she turned to Tadashi. Her smile turned into one of hesitation as she let go of Hiro's hand momentarily reached out to shake his hand.
"It's nice to finally meet you Tadashi. Hiro's always talking about how awesome of a big brother you are," she said, a tinge of nervousness reflecting in her voice. She knew how important Tadashi was in Hiro's life and definitely didn't want to do anything to embarrass herself in front of him.
Tadashi took notice in the girl's slightly shy behavior and smiled a bit. He could already tell that he didn't have to worry about her being a bad influence on Hiro or anything. She actually seems quite respectful. More than Hiro that is…
Well, job #1 is complete then! Now, moving on to job #2…
"It's nice to meet you too," he said as he shook her hand firmly. "While I'm touched that my little brother has said so much about me, I have to say that you have me beat in that category."
Her eyebrows scrunched together as she tilted her head to the side like a confused puppy.
"Excuse me?" she asked. Tadashi noticed Hiro standing next to her with wide eyes mouthing words such as "shut up" or "I'm going to kill you", but he just decided to ignore him. He smirked and looked directly at Alex.
"I've heard a LOT about you as well. Hiro's always going on about the oh-so-famous Alex and how amazing you are. You should really take that as a compliment. Hiro rarely ever thinks about people so much to which he can talk about them for 45 minutes straight."
Hiro harshly glared at Tadashi as he spoke, giving himself a good face-palm at the end. No wonder Hiro has so little friends. Well, this just goes to show that you can always rely on your family to embarrass you.
"Really?" she asked softly. Hiro looked up at the sound of her voice and was met with her gentle stare. She smiled gratefully at Hiro, a light blush decorating her cheeks.
"Yeah," he said as he looked down at his shoes with a sheepish grin on his face. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, causing Alex to laugh a bit at the nervous gesture.
"So," Aunt Cass started, "do you go to school around here Alex?"
"Yeah, I go to San Fransokyo School of Fine Arts," she replied. Hiro then led her over to a bar stool at the counter where they both sat down side-by-side.
"Really?" Tadashi asked. "Isn't that school right down the street from SFIT?"
"Yeah," she replied.
"What are you studying there?" Aunt Cass asked as she rang up yet another customer.
"Singing and composing; you're usually only there for one or the other but I write my own songs so I get the best of both worlds."
Aunt Cass immediately lit up at these words, "Can you play an instrument?"
"Of course," Alex replied with a proud smile, "I can play the piano, guitar, both electric and acoustic, and the violin."
"You can play the violin?" Hiro asked, shocked that he never knew this information.
"Yeah," she said. "Sorry, I must have never mentioned it before."
Aunt Cass let out a squeal of delight which startled Hiro along with his brother and female companion.
"This is perfect! How would you like to perform tonight? Some guy who was supposed to be playing three or four songs called in sick and without him we have to close early. If you'd be willing, I could just have you stand in for him."
"Yeah, that's be so cool!" Hiro agreed. He found it slightly strange that he has been by Alex's side for two weeks straight, yet he hasn't heard her sing even once.
"Sure!" Alex complied willingly. "I just wrote a few new songs too so I guess I could perform those for you. Do you have any instruments that I can use?"
"Of course! Follow me," Aunt Cass said before leading Alex towards the closet near the "stage" to show her where they kept the instruments they use for music night.
Realizing they were alone, Hiro quickly turned to Tadashi with a hopeful, yet slightly hesitant, expression on his face. Tadashi saw this and furrowed his brows at his younger brother's expression.
"So?" Hiro dragged on expectantly.
"Yes?" Tadashi asked calmly with a raised brow.
"Don't yes me, just answer the question!" Hiro exclaimed.
"You never asked a question," Tadashi replied with a smirk. Hiro groaned loudly, sending a small glare in his brother's direction.
"Just tell me what you think of Alex," Hiro stated firmly. He stared at his brother, anticipating his response. Tadashi absolutely had to like Alex. He doesn't know what he would do if his brother disapproved of his friend.
Tadashi looked down at his brother's face, and a gentle smile began to play at his lips. He never thought he'd see the day that his little, socially naïve brother would grow to have these types of feelings for a girl. Hiro thinks he's embarrassing now, but he hasn't even seen half of that Tadashi has up his sleeve.
"She seems like a sweet girl," Tadashi admitted truthfully. "Honestly, I thought she was going to be a lot different, but she pleasantly surprised me. Whenever you plan on growing a pair and asking her out, just know that I 100% approve."
"Wha-what?! What are you talking about?" Hiro stuttered out bewilderedly. Tadashi mentally laughed at the dark red hue that spread across Hiro's cheeks
"What's got you looking like a tomato?" Alex asked as she suddenly reappeared beside the two Hamada brothers. Hiro jumped when he saw the blonde's face appear from seemingly nowhere. After noticing that it was her, his blush only deepened before he looked down at his shoes as if they were the most interesting things in the world.
"Nothing," he murmured incoherently. He wanted to glare at his brother who was currently clutching his gut laughing, but was too busy momentarily refusing to look anybody in the eye.
"You're lying," she stated, poking Hiro's cheek in emphasis.
When Tadashi managed to calm down his laughter, a smirk replaced his humorous smile, "Actually, Hiro and I were just talking about his undying lo-"
He was immediately cut off by Hiro jumping over to him and slapping a hand over his mouth.
"His undying what?" Alex asked suspiciously. She looked over at Aunt Cass for a possible answer, but she shrugged, just as lost as Alex was.
"Nothing!" Hiro replied over-enthusiastically. "Come on, let's go find a seat and listen to some music!" He reached over and grabbed Alex's hand, dragging her off before his brother could continue to ruin his life.
"What was all that about?" Aunt Cass asked Tadashi as Hiro and Alex disappeared into the crowd.
"I think Hiro's got a little crush," Tadashi said with an amused smirk. He saw his aunt's eyes light up like an LED light bulb. She let out a small squeal of delight and started to go on about how cute Alex and Hiro would be together. He just shook his head with a small chuckle before pulling on an apron and moving to help Aunt Cass out with the over-crowded bakery.
"Why are you acting so weird?" Alex asked as her and Hiro finally found an empty table to sit down at.
"Don't worry about it. It was just my brother being an idiot," Hiro said like it was no big deal.
"Okay..." Alex trailed off in confusion. "Anyways, I'll be performing in about an hour or so."
"Oh yeah! By the way, why is it that I've never heard you sing before?" Hiro asked curiously.
Alex just shrugged in response, "I don't know. Why is it that I've never seen your lab before?"
Hiro thought about this for a second before letting out a simple, "Touché."
"You know, considering you are about to hear me sing tonight, I say that it's only fair that I get to see your lab," she said, leaning back in her seat with a knowing look on her face. Not many people have seen Hiro's lab, but he wouldn't be against bringing Alex there someday soon.
"I wouldn't mind," Hiro said. "I have two though, so do you want to see my lab in the garage or my lab at school?"
"Why not both?" she asked excitedly. She may not be a super genius or anything like Hiro was, but she's always found a bunch of the different fields of science interesting. Fortunately, one of these fields just so happened to be robotics.
"Alright. How about tomorrow you come over and see the magic that goes on in the garage and on Monday you can just walk over to SFIT and I'll give you a grand tour," he suggested.
"Awesome! I can't wait," she exclaimed with a large smile on her face.
Hiro smiled at her in return, happy to see that she was happy.
They spent the 30 minutes or so talking and joking around before Tadashi joined in on the conversation.
Soon enough, it was time for Alex to go up and perform.
"The last set just finished. I have to go now," Alex said as she got up, making sure to push in her chair and grab her trash to throw away on the way over to the performing area.
"Alright, you go get set up and we'll be there in a minute. Good luck," Hiro said as he sent her a reassuring smile. Alex accepted it gratefully before making her way over to the supply closet that Aunt Cass had showed her earlier.
"I wonder if she's any good," Tadashi commented as they threw their trash away. Once they dumped the food wrappers into the trash can, they began to weave through the crowd to get as close to the stage as possible.
"I'm sure she is," Hiro commented, "I mean, she isn't in a school studying music for nothing."
They quite easily made it to the front of the crowd and managed to snag a table right in front of the "stage".
They sat in a comfortable silence for a few seconds before Alex walked up onto the stage with a guitar in hand.
"Hey everybody!" she called out to the average sized crowd. A mix of "hey's" and "hi's" rang out through the mass of people, causing a smile to light up her face.
"So, I wasn't really supposed to be performing tonight, but the guy that was couldn't make it so I'll be filling in for him. I hope you enjoy!" she said.
Hiro couldn't help but notice some people losing interest after her small speech and others (A.K.A. the group of teenage boys sitting in the corner) gawking at her like a piece of meat. This gave Hiro a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something about the way those guys were looking at her made him want to go over there and rip their eyes out.
Hiro just shrugged this feeling off though, focusing his attention on the music that began to ring out through the room.
When I was younger, I saw my daddy cry
And curse at the wind
He broke his own heart and I watched
As he tried to reassemble it
Hiro's smile faltered after hearing the first verse of the song. He noticed the look that came over her face when she started to sing. It was a look of pain and regret. Most people probably wouldn't be able to notice it, but he did. And he didn't like it one bit.
And my momma swore
That she would never let herself forget
And that was the day that I promised
I'd never sing of love if it does not exist
After the second verse, Tadashi was able to notice that something wasn't right. Alex wasn't just singing a song. These weren't just some random words that had been thrown together as lyrics because they rhymed and sounded nice with a beat. No, these words meant something. The look on Alex's face told Tadashi that this song meant something very important and were very real for her to her. It seems that Hiro wasn't the only one to notice the emotion that flashed across her face as she performed. Tadashi frowned as he thought about what the inspiration behind this song may be.
But darling, you are the only exception
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
As she was singing the chorus, Alex quickly glanced over at Hiro. Truth was, she was beginning to like him. Not in a "we're best friends" kind of way either, but in a way that she knew would never work out. Even if it did, would Hiro really want her like that?
Maybe I know, somewhere deep in my soul
That love never lasts
And we've got to find other ways to make it alone
Or keep a straight face
And I've always lived like this
Keeping a comfortable distance
And up until now I had sworn to myself that I'm content with loneliness
Because none of it was ever worth the risk
After going over these lines that she poured heart and soul into, Alex realized just how true they were. Why should she even kid herself with the idea of falling for Hiro? She would only be disappointing the most important person in her life and honestly, her own happiness wasn't worth that risk.
Well you are the only exception
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
You are the only exception
At this point in the song, Hiro and Tadashi were riveted. It was amazing to them how much emotion a person could push through in a single song.
I've got a tight grip on reality
But I can't let go of what's in front of me here
I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up
Leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream, oh
As she sung the chorus, Alex cursed herself for even choosing this song to begin with. What had she been thinking? This song brought up so many unwanted memories and feeling, but she felt as if she had to get it off her chest. To who? She didn't know. But she did know that as she finished up the last couple of lines, she felt as though a weight had been lifted off her chest and she could finally breathe again.
And I'm on my way to believing
Oh, and I'm on my way to believing
Once she finished she took a deep breath and looked out at the crowd. She didn't get any jaw-dropping round of applause like in the movies, but she did seem to get her message across as she looked into the only set of eyes that mattered.
After a few seconds of staring into each other's eyes, Hiro smiled and clapped along with everybody else. Alex smiled a tight smile before giving a slight bow and prepared for her next song.
The rest of the night went by smoothly as Alex finished up her set. Aunt Cass closed up the restaurant shortly after that and the four of them made their way upstairs to have dinner together.
Alex didn't know if it was a mistake to get so close to the Hamada's like this. All she knew was that this was the first time in a very long time that she's felt as if she was a part of a family and even if it was a selfish thing to do, she would enjoy it while it lasts.
As she sat down at the table with Hiro, Tadashi, and Aunt Cass, she realized just how much she missed this. She missed having people to joke around with. She missed being around people who cared. She missed having people she could rely on. And most of all, she missed being a part of something bigger.
'If this is a mistake,' she thought to herself, 'then this is the best mistake I've ever made.'