So good news! The chapters are slowly getting longer. Bad news! The chapters are slowly getting longer. Haha I'm still on track for one a day posting for the rest of the week but my nice little bluffer window is starting to slip. Ah OTL Here's to hoping I can pull through.
December 11th: Thursday
Theme: 9. Santa
Hiro woke up and was unsure of what he wanted to do today. Classes were finally done. Today and tomorrow were 'study' days before finals started on Monday. Of the four classes Hiro had, one already had their final review session, one review session was later today, and the last two were Sunday. His final schedule was laid out so that Hiro would take his last exam on Tuesday.
So aside from more studying (which Hiro had been quite sick of already and very confident in his memorization skills), Hiro was at a lost at how to spend his time. Before he had arrived in San Fransokyo, Hiro had busied himself in getting an apartment, unpacking, registering for classes and trying not to lose himself in grief. After classes had started, it was study, study, study and sleep. Now? Now there were no classes, nothing to study, nothing to take care of, and definitely nothing to build, create or invent.
The rumbling of his stomach at least got him out of bed. "I guess I could go food shopping," Hiro said. His fridge was fairly empty.
Ten minutes later, Hiro found himself outside of a small café called Lucky Cat Café, looking for breakfast. It was two blocks from Hiro's apartment and Hiro passed it every day. He stopped in once or twice. A real nice woman named Cass ran the place; she reminded Hiro of his mother.
So imagine Hiro's surprise to find Tadashi as his server. "Tadashi?"
"Hiro? What are you doing here?"
"I was hungry?" Hiro said, eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "You work here?"
"Live here actually. Aunt Cass owns the place."
Hiro blinked, still surprised. What were the odds that they would be living two blocks away from each other? His mouth twitched upward as he noticed Tadashi's outfit. When he had imagined Tadashi in an apron yesterday, he didn't think he would get a chance to actually see Tadashi in one. It was a bright red that matched the red Santa hat Tadashi was wearing in replace of his usual baseball one.
Tadashi smiled. "So what do you want? I am personally a fan of Aunt Cass's spicy fried chicken wings. They'll melt your face off."
Hiro laughed. "Sure, why not."
"Done!" Tadashi whisked off into the kitchen. He returned minutes later with two plates. He placed one plate in front of Hiro and the other in front of the seat across of Hiro before Tadashi took a seat.
Hiro tilted his head in a questioning manner.
"Time for my break," Tadashi said with a grin.
"Not going to get in trouble?" Hiro asked.
"Nah, Aunt Cass is gonna be out any time soon to meet you," Tadashi said.
Right as he said that, Cass flew out of the kitchen and pulled Hiro into a hug. The pompom of her Santa hat bounced with her. "You must be Hiro!" she said, squealing in excitement. "Tadashi talks about you all the time."
Hiro balked, thrown by the sudden movement. Wait a minute, did she say that Tadashi spoke about him all the time? Why would he do that? All they did was meet each other at Frostbite for like twenty minutes every day. Ignoring his child prodigy status aside, there was nothing special about Hiro. Unless it was a new development about Hiro's smarts. Probably.
"He's gonna need to breathe, Aunt Cass," Tadashi said, amused.
"Oops," Cass said, letting Hiro go.
Hiro staggered back into his seat, feeling his world spin. "Nice to meet you?" Hiro said.
"Last hug!" Cass exclaimed, pulling Hiro into another hug. "You're just so cute. Have some cookies, they're on the house. Tadashi made them yesterday. He makes all the cookies here. Come back any time, okay?"
Then she was gone in the same whirlwind she had come in. Still reeling, Hiro looked at Tadashi. "Does she always do that?" Hiro asked.
Tadashi looked away, a light blush coloring his cheeks. "Pretty much," he said.
Strange. Interesting. Odd. Hiro had so many words to describe the situation he was just thrown in. Was this really his life these days? He took a bite of his chicken wings before feeling his tongue burst into flames. Hiro grabbed the glass of milk Tadashi was holding out with a knowing smirk and chugged it down.
"Holy Telsa Coils, you were not kidding about melting my face off," Hiro rasped.
Tadashi laughed. "I did warn you. Want a regular tuna sandwich?"
"Yes, please," Hiro said, chugging down the rest of the milk. His tongue and throat still felt like it was on fire.
Tadashi laughed and picked up Hiro's plate, disappearing back into the kitchen. He returned with a simple tuna sandwich on toasted rye bread and chips.
The remainder of lunch continued without a hitch. Just as Hiro polished off the last of his chips, his cellphone alarm chimed.
"No more classes," Tadashi said.
"Still have review sessions for finals," Hiro said. He was a bit disappointed that he had to leave already, but Tadashi probably had to get back to work. Where did the time go? Food shopping would have to wait until after the review was done at this point.
Tadashi pouted, but let Hiro pay for his bill and gather his things.
"Oh wait," Tadashi said as Hiro pushed his chair in. "Tomorrow, my friends Wasabi and Fred and I are planning on going sledding. It's suppose to snow a couple inches tonight and there's this really nice hill at the park just down the hill from campus. Want to come?"
"I don't want to intrude," Hiro said hesitantly. Okay, he was coming to terms with being friends with Jack and whatever one could classify his relationship with Tadashi at the moment. (Are they really friends? No? Yes? Still acquaintances that met regularly at the campus cafe? Why was friendship so hard?) The idea of meeting Tadashi's other friends was… terrifying.
"You won't be," Tadashi promised. "Please?"
Oh, that was not fair. Not fair. Tadashi was too old to properly be using what Hiro knew popular culture dubbed as puppy eyes. Hiro felt his defense crumble so fast it was a wonder why he even bother trying to put one up.
"I don't have a sled," Hiro pointed out. Couldn't go sledding without a sled now could you? Hiro wasn't going to buy a new one just for one playdate either.
"Don't worry, I got a spare," Tadashi said.
"Aren't you a little old to be sledding?" Hiro asked.
"Never too old," Tadashi defended. His smile was wide and full of energy and Hiro felt the last of his resistance fall away.
"Alright. What time?" Hiro asked, giving in.
"9:30am!" Tadashi chirped. "See you tomorrow!"
Hiro felt the corner of his lips twitch upward. "See you tomorrow, Tadashi."
