Learning to Love
Chapter 11
Hiro's POV
"I'll tell you what you're gonna do." I hear a voice say. It startled me, so I jumped up. Turning around, I was met face to face with some lady that had purple streaks in her hair. She looked like she meant business.
"Huh?" I asked in confusion.
"You asked what you were gonna do. I know what you should do." She said, smacking nonchalantly on her bubble gum.
"Uh huh. Who exactly are you?" I ask with a tilt of my head.
"Irrelevant. Now you want my help or not?" she asks, as if there were a million other things she could've been doing right now.
"I'm actually not sure. A wise man once taught me not to trust strangers. I don't know you and how you could possibly know what I was talking about." I tell her with a lazy smirk.
"You were talking about Tadashi. I know the story kid. Now, for the third time, you wanna hear my suggestion or what?" She asked, blowing a bubble.
She knows Tadashi? Who even is she? He never mentioned any of his friends before, then again maybe it's because he saw how uncomfortable I was with meeting them that one day.
"How can I trust you? How do I know this isn't just some trick to get him to hate me?" I ask her, crossing my arms.
"Kid, what's the worst he can do now? He already brought you back to the foster home." She says bluntly.
Her words hurt me a bit, but the fact that she's not wrong prevents me from crying. I still don't know this chick, but she seems straight forward and something tells me that whatever she says might just be what I need to fix things with Tadashi.
"So?" She asks with a lazy yawn.
"Why are you helping me? If Tadashi told you everything, shouldn't you think I'm some spawn of Satan?" I ask her.
The girl smiles, but it's more of a smirk. "I like your moxie kid. You don't trust people easily which means you can't be manipulated. A good trait to have. But Tadashi Hamada is my best friend and I was watching when you two locked eyes. The love you both held for each other was pretty evident. I knew then that all your emotions weren't fake. They might've been at the very beginning which I won't forgive you for, but now they're real and that's all that should matter. I mean, as long as Tadashi's happy, right?" she asks, putting a hand on her hip.
I'm surprised. That's the most she's said since I met her. She must care about Tadashi which is something we both have in common. That gives me enough premise to trust her for now.
"So I'll ask one more time. Do you want me to tell you what you're gonna do?" She asks.
I turn my head to see Tadashi talking to Lizzie, another girl at the foster home. I can't stand to see him adopt another kid. I'm his son and I want to go back with him. I need him to see how much I care. Purple streaks here could be the only way to do it.
I nod my head. "Yeah. Tell me what to do."
She smiles this time. It's a sincere looking one and I feel hope rise in my chest.
"Alright, now here's what you do. First-"
Tadashi's POV
"It was nice to meet you Lizzie." I say to the little girl in front of me.
"You too!" She cried ecstatically, running back to her friend.
I sighed and readjusted my hat. The fun of seeing all the kids got sucked out of me once I saw Hiro. It just reminded me of what he did and it hurt. I'm surprised he actually came to me. I thought he'd avoid me, but the way he approached me got me thinking. He looked like he had something to tell me, but wasn't sure how. I tried not to think about it, but I couldn't help it.
I looked to see what he was up to when I saw him talking to Gogo. What could they be talking about? I fight the urge to march over there and find out by busying myself with Fred who's wasting his time by telling a young boy about his obsession with comic books.
"Fred, please stop bothering that kid." I tell him, pulling him over to a table.
"Hey! That kid was just getting to hear about aqua man, who is unappreciated in his time might I add." He defends.
"Remind me again why we're friends?" I ask with a chuckle. He was so childish, just like Hiro. He got interested in so many different things. Trying new things appealed to him a lot unless he was scared of it. His eyes would sparkle in excitement at the smallest things. In fact, just saying the words 'gummy bears' riled him up in joy. Wait…wasn't I talking about Fred a second ago?
Oh boy. I can't stay here. It's too painful.
Hiro's POV
"Just do that, and I guarantee that Tadashi will take you back." She finished.
"I don't know… it seems too risky. What if he takes it the wrong way or what if he doesn't want to listen to me? What if he doesn't even want to SEE me?!" I ask, freaking out. Her plan is a bit iffy.
"Geez, woman up already. You're starting to sound like Wasabi." She grumbled.
"I'm sorry, did you just say wasabi?" I ask, twitching my eye a bit.
"Irrelevant. Now go on and do it." She says with a wave.
"No! I'm sorry, but I can't." I say, head down.
She leans down to my height and puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. It's nowhere near as calming as Tadashi's, but I can't deny that I like how it feels to have someone show that they care. Before I knew what was happening, she gave me a super quick hug before going back to her previous position. It happened so fast, I barely took it in.
"Hey, it's okay. I know this is hard, but trust me when I say that this will help. I wouldn't be telling you to do this if I didn't think it would work." She assures me. I'm amazed to see how she can change her tone from badass to caring in the span of seconds. Tadashi was right when he said I'd like his friends. This one is already really nice and I couldn't wait to meet more of them!
That is, if I met any more of them. I need to remember that Tadashi's not my legal guardian anymore.
I guess purple streaks can sense my hesitation because she lets go of my shoulder and brushes herself off before leaning back up.
"You're not going to do it, are you?" She asks, sounding disappointed.
I didn't want to tell her that, but it was the truth.
"No. I'm sorry." I say, whispering the last part.
She lets out a "hmph"
"I really thought you cared enough about Tadashi to do this, but I guess I was wrong for once. That's a shame." She said, shrugging and heading back to where Tadashi was.
Now I'm not an idiot. I know she was using reverse psychology to get me to do her plan, but I couldn't. There were too many things that could go wrong with this plan and I didn't want to take the risk of Tadashi hating me even more than he already did. Then again, purple streaks did have good point when she said that there was nothing more Tadashi could do. I mean, he already gave me back.
I ponder over what I should do while I go to sit an empty table. I wasn't really in the mood to eat, but I might as well stay here. Maybe seeing Tadashi will spark some genius idea in my head to change his mind.
"Hey little man, you seem troubled." I hear a friendly voice say above me. I look up to see an extremely tall man with dreadlocks looking at me. Before I met Tadashi, I didn't think I'd ever meet someone who looked so intimidating, yet harmless at the same time. This guy in front of me proved me otherwise.
"Don't be alarmed, I'm just here to talk." He says with jazz hands. He sits himself down at the table.
"Wh-who exactly are you?" I ask, not meeting his eyes. I'm a bit afraid of this guy, despite his friendly attitude.
"My friends dubbed me Wasabi, so I guess you can call me that.
Wasabi? That's what purple streaks mentioned earlier. I never would've guessed that she was talking about a real person.
"So what's your name?" He asks.
"Hiro." I say softly.
His eyes widen at that information and I mentally face palm myself. Now he's going to back away and stick next to Tadashi like glue.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't realize-
"It's fine. Just go." I say with a shrug. He looks torn between wanting to comfort me and wanting to go back to Tadashi. After a few seconds, I hear rustling and he gets up to leave. "It's never too late. Remember that." He says as he goes.
I continue to sulk, hopes of Tadashi forgiving me flattened. Wasabi's words don't do much to help me. I still don't have the confidence that he'll listen to me.
I shift in my seat, getting bothered by some of the kids staring at me. While I do, I hear a crinkle of paper. I thought it was the gummy bears at first, but realize it's coming from a different pocket than that one.
I reach into my left pocket to reveal a crinkled piece of paper. I don't remember putting it there though. I unfold it to read it and it says only five words, but those five words are all I needed to get back on my feet. I'm ready to face Tadashi. Purple streaks must've put it there when she gave me that lightning fast hug! Dang she is sneaky. Almost as sneaky as me.
I know for sure I'm ready and I get up from the table. Determination on my face, I make my way to the table Tadashi's at, leaving the paper at the table.
'He could never hate you'