Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney Animation. Robbie Reyes is owned by Marvel.
Chapter 1 – Advocate
Graduation could not have come at a better time.
In the midst of her studies, being a superhero on a team that consisted of her closest friends and a robot, being hunted as vigilantes as said superhero, and fighting so many evil people and corporations, she had forgotten what it was like to sit down, put her feet up, and have nothing to do.
No homework.
No patrol.
Just a big fat shiny degree with her dual major in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Design, a veggie omelet, and a large cup of coffee waiting for her on the table.
Yup. Finally, Go Go had some time to relax...
"Hey, are you gonna eat that?"
Oh yeah. There was also that.
"I'm clearly eating it. I'm just savoring the moment."
"Oh. Are you sure?"
"Trust me, buddy," Fred said from across the table, two pancakes dangling on his fork. "You don't want to try to eat her food. I did it once."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Go Go turned to her right at the guy. "Once is usually enough to learn."
Fred held up his finger on the other hand, a bright pink heart band-aid on his knuckle. "This was from yesterday."
"Holy cow! Did she bite you or something?"
"Oh, I'm just kidding." He ladled some more syrup onto his stack. "I may be a lot of things, Robbie, but I'm not that crazy."
Thankfully, Aunt Cass came to the rescue for the extra member of the gang, setting a plate down in front of him. "Here you go, Robert. Try not to eat it all at once."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"Such a polite boy." She leaned down to stare at his face. "And you have very vibrant green eyes. I don't think I've ever seen that shade before. You must get a lot of compliments about them."
"Umm...not really? But I appreciate it."
She peered over his head at his neighbor. "Where on Earth did you find him, Go Go?"
"Someone had a For Sale sign on him in their lawn," she quipped, sipping her coffee. "And he was a good price."
The boy next to him made a motion to respond, but his mouth was too full of egg to speak anything coherently.
Yeah, she didn't really understand anything when it came to the person sitting next to her: Mr. Roberto Reyes.
It was hard to believe that it had already been a few months since she went to make a delivery to Rodrigo Reyes' flower shop and subsequently ran into his grandson, Robbie. What had followed that morning was a whirlwind: riding out to find the people who stole his grandfather's stock, fighting said gang back to back with him, and getting low-key flirted on.
Which was a very weird feeling.
Of course, when Aunt Cass had interrogated both Robbie and Go Go at the graduation dinner, she had only really mentioned the very first part. Even Robbie knew to keep his mouth shut about most of the ordeal.
And over the course of the semester, they had kept in touch. They would call each other (him more than her) every once in a while. He crashed her apartment when she had called him in the middle of the night. More recently, he had visited for the graduation and when Hiro had gone missing.
In fact, now that Go Go was actually thinking about it, she was seeing a lot more of him recently. She...wasn't sure how to feel about that either. He was a nice guy. Someone who was dependable. Someone who was her friend.
A friend that she had now shared her bed with three times.
"What are you staring at me for?"
Go Go realized too late that she had been looking at him. She quickly grabbed her mug and turned away. "I'm wondering why you look like a vulture eating a carcass when you're eating."
"What? I'm hungry."
"Yes. We get it. At least get your elbows off the table."
Wasabi chuckled from across the table. "Aren't you glad you joined us for breakfast, Robbie?"
"Hey, I don't normally get to hang out with anyone. It's just me working ten hours a day at the garage." Robbie pushed his now-empty plate forward. "And me getting scraps from my roommate. Is there any chance your aunt can just make food for me on the regular, Hiro?"
"You'd have to pay for shipping," Hiro joked.
"Go Go can just deliver it to me."
"Robbie, I am not driving 90 minutes round trip to deliver you food every single day."
"But you have the bike and everything!" he pleaded.
"Yeah. And you also have a bike."
Honey Lemon stared at the two, a wistful look in her eye. "Ahh, I love it when you two are together. Don't you agree, Go Go?"
Go Go stabbed the rest of her omelet with the business end of her fork.
"...I'm gonna go see if Aunt Cass needs help."
Honey Lemon, having taken the hint, walked off to the kitchen, and Go Go went back to her breakfast. The rest of her friends already knew that they didn't want to mess with her when she was in one of her moods, so they kept silent.
"Wait, what did she mean by that?"
Except for one.
Robbie's phone vibrated in his pocket, and he brought it up to read whatever text came up. His eyes widened as he scrolled further down.
"What's up?" Hiro asked.
He didn't answer immediately, instead getting up from the table and grabbing his coat off the back of his chair. He was almost all the way to the door before someone spoke up.
"Robbie!"
He turned his head back inside to see everyone staring back at him. "What?"
"You want to share with the rest of the class?" Wasabi asked.
"I...uhh..." Robbie quickly glanced back down at his phone. "I have to go help my grandfather at the shop. I didn't realize what time it was. I should have been over there an hour ago. Tell your aunt thanks for the breakfast, Hiro. Gotta go!" He almost ran out the door and around the corner where he parked his bike.
"Sooo...someone wanna explain that?" Fred said.
"Yeah, he called me Hiro. He never calls me by my actual name," Hiro added. "That was weird."
"He's been acting weird for a while. Hanging around a lot more often. Not that we have a problem with it, but still." Wasabi bent back in his chair to see if he could spot him. "Wonder if anything is up..."
"Guys!"
The three males turned to see Go Go with her hands on the table, her omelet now long forgotten.
"You guys are worrying over nothing. He lives on top of a garage with someone he barely sees once a week. He's probably just lonely. Did you ever think about that?"
The trio looked at each other, not answering.
"Ugh." She got up from her chair and started toward the exit. "Fine. I'll just prove it to you. I'll go out there, talk to him while he's trying to jump his cycle because he always had to do that, and everything will be fine." She shoved open the door and walked through.
"Did...we ever say anything bad about him?"
"No, we didn't," Hiro answered. "But she's always weird when it comes to her boyfriend."
"...You do know that she would murder you if she heard you say that, right?"
"Which is why, Fred, I waited until after she left before saying it."
Go Go leaned her head around the corner to try to find Robbie. It was still a busy morning out on the streets, so he had to park his bike a little bit down near the fruit stand. He was still there, pumping the gas to try to get it started.
Just like she said it was going to do.
"Robbie!"
He yanked his head back up over his shoulder to see her approach. He made a motion to try to pull his kickstand up with his foot, but Go Go grabbed his wrist and stopped his progress.
"Did you really think you could just leave all abruptly like that?"
"I was kind of hoping, yeah."
Go Go crossed her arms and stared at him. "Robbie. What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong. I'm fine."
He looked up to see her rummaging through her wallet. "What are you doing?"
"Wondering why Fred didn't print off more. But don't worry about it." Go Go stood next to his bike, her hand traveling up to his shoulder. "Something's up. Just tell me."
Robbie sighed deeply, glancing back down at the cell nestled in his mount. It took him a moment to speak up, but even Go Go was disturbed by the sudden change of tone.
"You can't tell anyone. Not any of your friends."
"I..." Go Go stopped herself and nodded. "OK. I won't tell them."
He grabbed his phone, absentmindedly scrolling through some of his apps. It took a while for Robbie to open up sometimes; maybe that was the "bad boy" persona that he liked to portray to people.
Not that she had one of those personas herself or anything.
"My granddad had cancer."
Go Go's inner monologue shut down as his words hit her hard. Whatever she had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. "Woah. I'm sorry. When did that happen?"
"I...don't really know a lot of the details. He just told me a little bit ago. You'd never be able to tell with the way he works at the shop all day. But he needs help."
"So that's why you've been around the city more often. Because of him."
"Yeah. My boss rags on me for taking so much time off, but I haven't told him about this. Not yet. I...kind of want to keep it as quiet as possible for now. I don't want to freak anyone out."
"Is it serious?" Go Go asked.
"Serious enough that he's going to need to start chemotherapy soon. The problem is that he's stubborn. He thinks he can just tough it out." Robbie's hand rotated around the handle of the bike. "There's this treatment that we're looking at that's experimental, but it has a chance of curing him outright. But it costs a lot of money."
"How much?"
"Not enough for two guys owning a flower shop and working at a car garage can afford. It's his best chance, though."
"You know..." Go Go glanced back toward the direction of the Cafe. "Fred can probably help you out. He's got enough money to-"
"No!"
Robbie shouted loud enough for a couple of the people on the opposite sidewalk to turn their heads. Wincing slightly, he lowered his voice. "I don't want to get anyone else involved. I can take care of this."
"Robbie, he literally has more money than he knows what to do with. He is good for it."
"I don't care. I don't want to owe him anything."
"Grr." Now he was just being ignorant. "OK then, jerk-face. How do you plan on getting a ludicrously large amount of money in a short amount of time?"
"I have my ways."
Go Go looked down at his phone to see him still scrolling. He was in his e-mail, the box full of things she didn't feel like snooping through. Her eyes fell to the trunk of his bike, his travel back open in it. She saw something that looked like a flier in it; the lettering on it was large and dark red, with the picture of a bike on the bottom of it. Curious, she stuck her hand inside and pulled it out.
"Hey, what're you-"
She shushed him as she scanned the words at the bottom of the flier. She found herself getting madder and madder as she read it. Once she was finished, she wheeled around to him and waved it in his face. "Robbie!"
"Wait, you can actually-"
"You said you had stopped street racing!"
One of the first things that Rodrigo had said about Robbie in his attempts to set him up with Go Go was the fact that he had been in trouble with the law several times in his youth. One of his favorite "pastimes" was racing down the main street of Santa Cruz against other teenagers for money. Most of the time, it was in his own vehicle. Other times...it wasn't.
It had gotten to the point where he was being bailed out of jail on a regular basis. It was only when he was threatened with expulsion from his high school that he finally gave it up...or so Go Go was told. Robbie, in one of his visits to her apartment, excitedly told her a story about how he had won a few grand drag racing somewhere in the countryside against some questionable characters. However, when he was asked whether his grandfather knew about it, he had instantly clammed back up.
Now, Go Go was no stranger to being rebellious in her youth, but she had grown out of it. She thought that Robbie had turned it around. Clearly not.
"Are you crazy? You're just asking for it now!"
"Go Go. Listen to me." Robbie plucked the flier from her hands. "This is the best opportunity I'm going to get. I win this...and I'm done. I can win this race and get enough money for the treatment."
"Going down a straight road is a little different from whatever that is," Go Go retorted, motioning to the paper. "A cross-country race? Really? Not even my bike is equipped for something like that. How is yours going to get through it?"
"I have a plan. Look..." He very carefully put his hands on her shoulders. "I promise you. This is the last one."
"How many times have you told your granddad that?"
He didn't take the question very well as he leaned back into the seat with a scowl. "He doesn't have to know about this. Go Go, please don't tell anyone. I'm not doing this for myself. I'm...I'm doing this for him."
The two stared at each other, and it took all of her self-control to not give him her worst disapproving frown. Shaking her head, she turned on the spot. "Fine. I won't tell anyone. But I don't feel good about this at all."
"Thanks!" Robbie's arms were halfway around her body before he stopped himself. "Oh yeah. Sorry. No touching in public."
"Don't you have to get out of here? Flower shop and all that?"
"Oh yeah, I do." He turned on his bike and slapped his helmet on. "I'll see you later!"
Go Go watched him drive off, her mood slowly cratering. Man, why did he have to be so frustrating sometimes? She didn't mean to come off as a concerned parent. Or a concerned girl-
She stopped herself just short. Yup, wasn't ready for that yet.
She threw open the door to the Cafe a little harder than she had intended, alerting the rest of the gang of her return. Honey Lemon was back at the table, listening to Fred probably say some stupid joke. She slammed her body down in the chair she had vacated, returning to her omelet.
"So, do you have the proof?"
OK, that condescending glare was now being thrown at Wasabi.
"I'll take that as a no."
"Whatever." Go Go grabbed her water. "Boys are stupid."
"Hiro called Robbie your boyfriend without you knowing!"
Now Go Go wasn't the only person at the table with a look that could kill.
That evening…
Go Go parked her cycle in the street and turned it off. Opening her trunk, she pulled out her workout bag and boxing gloves. Her mood was still very sour, for a few reasons.
She felt bad about not inquiring more with Robbie. Bad about being frustrated with him. Bad about being out of the loop with his granddad. So naturally, she took her frustration out in the best way she knew how: punching things down at the gym.
And the workout she had done was more strenuous than normal Her arms and legs were aching badly. Her knuckles felt like they were on fire. But that was a good thing; that's how she knew she had given it her all.
Go Go went over to the apartment mailboxes. She fished her key out of her pocket, slid it in, and pulled out the envelopes inside. Of course Honey Lemon didn't get the mail. It wasn't like she was particularly busy or anything…
She slung her boxing gloves over her neck and started going up the stairs. She'd wait until she was properly fed and showered before taking a look at it. Not that they ever really got much to begin with, but still. The landlord had mentioned something about a possible increase in rent, so she had to keep an eye out for that.
She opened the door to her apartment to see her roommate with about twenty different color swatches strewn on the kitchen table, staring at them in deep thought. "Hey, Honey Lemon."
"Hey, Go Go! How was the gym?"
"Same as always." She tossed the gloves over her computer chair and kicked her shoes off. "Dare I ask what you're doing?"
Honey Lemon picked up two of the green cards and examined them closely. "Which one do you think fits Robbie's eyes better? Emerald Green or Paris Green?"
"...They literally look the same."
"No, they don't. The Paris one has more yellow in it."
Go Go went to the fridge to look for something to eat. "Honey Lemon, I don't need a plush doll of Robbie to sleep with. I'm not fourteen years old and hopelessly have a crush on my biotech classmate. Just use it for someone else."
"I don't know anyone else with green eyes."
"You have green eyes."
"And I already made myself. See?"
She took her head out of the fridge just in time to see two plush dolls sitting on top of the door. One was definitely her friend, and the other was-
"...You actually made me."
"Isn't it cute?"
Go Go took it in her hand and stared at it. It was eerily creepy as to how she got the details down. The doll even had her trademark frown on its face, one thin tuft of purple hair hanging between its eyes. "Cute isn't the word I'd use, but it's pretty impressive."
"I know, right? I think I'm getting pretty good at this."
"Yeah, this is what happens when there's no crime going on and you have a bunch of time on your hands."
It was true; ever since they had taken down Trina, things in San Fransokyo had almost slowed to a crawl. They still went out on patrol almost instinctively, but something about the entire city almost getting melted down seemed to have caused the remaining villains of the city to lay low. That gave the team an opportunity to take a break themselves and let the police do their thing.
But that also caused Go Go to be bored out of her mind. She didn't have school to distract her now.
"Ahem."
Just her roommate.
The Korean looked up to see a fan of swatches in her face. Conceding defeat, she pointed to a random color. "There, that one. Happy?"
"Yes."
Go Go grabbed the lettuce out of the fridge as well as an onion. She didn't have the energy to whip up something time-consuming; a salad would have to do. Luckily, she had a recipe in her mind. "You didn't use all of the soy sauce, did you?"
"I don't think so. There should be a whole bottle in the cupboard."
There was, thankfully. She cracked it open and started pouring it out into a bowl.
"So."
Uh oh. When Honey Lemon started conversations like that, they didn't lead anywhere good.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Talk about what?" Go Go grabbed her knife and started slicing up her onion.
"You and Robbie."
Oh. That's where she was going.
"You guys are coming up on five months together."
"We have not been together for five months." She put her lettuce and onions together and went back to her dressing. "We've known of each other's existence for five months. That's a very big difference."
"You know what I mean."
She added her dollop of sugar in. "No. I don't." She reached for the apple vinegar off to the side. "You want to clarify what you-Gah!"
Honey Lemon appeared out of nowhere, staring her down with a stern expression. "Go Go. Have you even made it official with him yet?"
"No."
"Go Go!"
She threw her hands out to her sides. "What do you want me to say, Honey Lemon? That we sit across the table from each other and stare into each other's eyes with heart and rainbows and all that mush? We don't. So I'm sorry that I messed up your little fantasy of us."
"Ooooh. So you're an 'us', now?"
Yeah, she walked into that one. Go Go tried to reach around her body to grab the garlic, but Honey Lemon wasn't having it. "Have you at least told him you liked him?"
She managed to grab her garlic, sprinkling a little bit into her concoction. Best not to stare into the beast's eyes.
"Leiko Ethel Tanaka."
"Your mom voice isn't going to work on me...Aina." Go Go added a tiny bit of chili flakes in and started stirring it with a spoon. "I heard a disappointed mom voice throughout my entire childhood. And since yours is considerably less Korean, it doesn't scare me."
"You rag on everyone else-"
"Aspen doesn't need any prodding when it comes to Wasabi. And Hiro and Karmi were practically made for each other."
"And their relationships-"
Go Go finally snapped.
"I'm not in a relationship!"
The silence that permeated through the entire apartment was deafening. Go Go froze for a moment, and then immediately grabbed her salad and finished dressing and took two giant steps to the table, plopping herself down.
"Go Go."
Great. A tone even worse than disappointment. Pity. She tried to ignore it as she poured her dressing into her salad and mixed it all together.
But it wasn't going to give up that easily.
Honey Lemon took her place again, her own salad bowl in her hands. "Why are you so against having people know about you and Robbie?"
"I'm not against it."
"Go Go, I saw your face when Robbie was getting the third degree by Aunt Cass after graduation. It looked like it was going to pop."
She took the pause in conversation to stuff her mouth with more lettuce.
"You said it about Wasabi and Aspen, but I think you and Robbie are perfect for each other." She twirled her fork around in the air. "You both have bikes, you both have stripes in your hair, you both have a thing for sarcasm..."
"Literally none of those are a basis of any sort of relationship."
"OK, then what is?"
Go Go's fork hit the bottom of the bowl. Great, no more greens to distract her.
"I think that you're so intent on looking at other people's relationships that you can't focus on your own. Robbie's a great guy, Go Go. And I know you like him. So why can't you just admit it?" Honey Lemon leaned forward to look at her over her glasses. "He's hung out with us a bunch of times. Everyone enjoys being around him. He's slept in your bed."
"...How do you know about that?"
"Heh." The Latina waved her face with a few swatches. "I'm not completely oblivious when I'm sleeping."
"Just mostly."
The two girls fell silent, and Go Go took a second to take stock of her possible actions. She could steadfastly deny everything and go get more salad. Or go shower. Or lie to Honey Lemon about what she was thinking.
But it was Honey Lemon. The girl who literally seemed to make the sun come out of the clouds because of her cheerfulness.
The girl who had somehow managed to sneak her way into Go Go's living situation. She'd understand...right?
"I just don't consider what we have a relationship."
"Why not?" Honey Lemon said gently.
"I don't know." Go Go set her empty bowl down. "We're not living together. We're not exclusive to each other. We haven't talked about it. I don't even really know that much about him."
"Every relationship has to start somewhere, Go Go. I saw that look when you ran out after him this morning. You were really worried about him."
"Yeah, he's..." She decided to take the safe approach. "He's going through some stuff right now. Personal things with him and Rodrigo."
"Really? Then I should probably call him and see how he's doing."
"Don't."
Honey Lemon looked up to see Go Go had grabbed the phone out of her hand. Realizing her mistake, she set it down onto the table. "Robbie doesn't want to make a big deal out of everything. He's working on it. He told me not to tell you guys."
"Oh." She looked disappointed, but let it go. "Well, you should do something for him, then. Something to help him out. I'm sure he'd appreciate it." She grabbed all of their bowls and walked over to the sink. "And then maybe you guys can talk about how to go forward."
"...You just want to take awkward pictures of us together, don't you?"
"Not just that."
Go Go chuckled, turning her head to look at her roommate. "Since when did you get so smart about things like this?"
Honey Lemon put her hand on her chest. "I've always been an expert at affairs of the heart. It all started with my love, Andre-"
"Being friends with a random guy from France does not equal an 'affair of the heart'."
It was too late; the Latina was already starry-eyed. "I dreamed about him every night. He was so handsome. That hair. That smile..."
"Ugh." Go Go reached out to sort through the long-forgotten mail. "Get a room, why don't you?" She held out the first envelope over her shoulder. "This is from your grandmother."
"Oh! She probably sent that to thank us for fixing her silverware."
Feeling it slip out of her hands, she went quickly through the rest of the mail. Credit card letters from the bank, window cleaning solicitation, ads from the grocery store. Nothing from the landlord.
She held up the last piece of paper in her hand. It was folded over twice, but it looked awfully familiar. She flattened it out to look at it...
Wait. This was it. This was the flier that Robbie had. Same red border. Same black background.
But instead of Robbie's name on top...
LEIKO TANAKA
It was hers.
Go Go looked over her shoulder to see Honey Lemon still engrossed in her relative's letter. Satisfied, she looked back over the words for the second time that day.
100th Annual Hell Race
Twist, Turns, and Terror
Be the one to win it all!
Come ride...if you dare.
Course and date sent on acceptance.
($1,000 Mandatory Buy-In; all money and
side bets take place at the Deals with the Devil)
"What's that?"
Go Go whipped around to see Honey Lemon trying to look at her flier. She quickly pulled it down out of her sight. "Nothing. Just some junk mail." She tore it up into squares, tossing her newly-formed confetti into the recycling. "What'd your grandmother say?"
"She really appreciates what we did. She said it shines like it was brand new." Honey Lemon slapped it onto the fridge and put a heart magnet on it. "She also asked about me and my marital status."
"Typical grandparent."
She came back over to the table with a mug of tea. "I already told her that she can look forward to when all our children come visit her in the future. We'll go over her house and have giant feasts and all that."
"Huh?" Go Go gave her the stink eye. "Our?"
"Yeah. My kids. Your kids. Everyone's kids."
"I'm not having kids."
"Oh, you're just saying that."
"Honey Lemon, I'm never having kids."
"That means you're having five."
Go Go growled as she got up from the table. She needed to grab clothes for her shower. "You can have as many kids as you want. I'm not."
"But you'd be great as a parent!" she shouted from downstairs. "Wouldn't you love to have a little boy or girl running around the house?"
"I get that enough when Fred comes here," Go Go answered, her yellow shirt in her hands.
The blonde was off on another tangent again. She could feel the rainbows and unicorns emanate their energy from the kitchen. "And they'll play with all of our kids, and we can be one big giant family."
"Honey Lemon."
She was back downstairs with her clothes, along with a now sour look on her face. "I'm not having kids. Not ever."
"...Not ever?"
Oh boy. Go Go was running the full gambit tonight. She had gotten disappointment. She had gotten pity. And now, for the cherry on top, she was getting heartbreak. Her friend's bottom lip was starting to quiver.
She sighed heavily. Why was she doing this to herself?
"I'll tell you what."
Honey Lemon's face instantly perked back up.
"When Wasabi has a kid...I'll have a kid. Deal?"
"Yay!" She threw her arms around Go Go and squealed.
"Aaand we're hugging again."
"Sorry." She pulled back to let her shower. "I'll leave you alone for the rest of the night."
"No, you won't," Go Go said, smirking. "But I've gotten used to it by now."
Honey Lemon went back to the table and resumed her color coordination while the Korean went to the bathroom door. Her hand was on the knob when she suddenly remembered something.
"You...do know I just said that because I know Wasabi's never going to have kids, right?"
The girl in the chair turned and raised her eyebrow at her. "Sure. If that's what you want to believe."
Even more that evening...
Yeah, now that she actually thought about it, Aspen was totally going to want kids. This was, of course, provided the two were still together in the future.
Who was she kidding? Of course they were going to be together in the future.
Go Go was laying in her bed, the digits on her alarm clock now reading 1:30 AM. The shower had been great, and the bed even more so.
So why wasn't she able to fall asleep? Her roommate, mostly.
A lot of Honey Lemon's advice earlier was spot on. To be honest, she never really thought about the future or what she was going to do. The past year she had been so focused on school, not to mention the whole superhero thing in her spare time. But now that she was no longer at SFIT, she needed to take a hard look at what could happen.
And despite her misgivings, it also had to involve Robbie.
Go Go closed her eyes. What did she want out of him? What did he want out of her? She didn't know the answer to either of those questions. She knew a lot about electromagnetics and mechanics and things that would make the average person's eyes roll into the back of their head, but nothing in college prepared her for a boy.
"Wonder what Mom and Dad would say."
She knew exactly what they would say. They would tell her that she should have stayed home and worked with that "nice Korean boy" down at the manufacturing plant, get married, and become a housewife. They weren't really a big fan of the route she decided to take. It was a wonder that they even let her go to college at all.
Go Go grabbed her phone and went to her bank app. She never really had to work that much for money; even with the misgivings her parents had had, they made sure she had enough money to get by. But looking at her balance still made her feel uneasy.
She sighed heavily. She wished she could help Robbie out, and not just from the sidelines. From straight on the field...
Hold on. There was a way.
She quietly got up from her bed, her bare feet hitting the rug under her bed. She didn't want to wake the clowder of cats sleeping off near her dresser.
"Meow?"
Go Go looked down at the first step to see the smallest kitten curled on it, its legs hanging off. She couldn't help but smile. "Harley, how do you find the weirdest places to sleep?"
The kitten blinked back up at her, not responding.
"Here, you wanna come with me?" She bent down and held Harley in her arms like a baby. "We're going to go on a quest. I gotta find something."
She went down the rest of the stairs and went to the recycling bin. It wasn't the night for the city to pick it up; the remnants of the mail would still be in there.
Go Go set Harley down on the table as she turned her phone light on. She bent her head down and started swiping through it. The letters from today, some scraps of fabric from Honey Lemon's projects, a few cans of seltzer...
Weird. It wasn't in there. She could have sworn she put it in there with the rest of the junk mail. Where did it-
"Go Go!"
She jolted up and wheeled around to Honey Lemon, who was now lying on her back in her bed. Her head was upside down, a dribble of drool going down her cheek.
"Come meet Andre. His hair is like soft-serve ice cream..."
Go Go shook her head at her roommate, amused. The alarmingly loud snoring that had plagued Honey Lemon earlier in her stay there had given way to something else: sleeptalking. It wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it was hard to sleep when she muttered about everything from Andre to her family's chili recipe.
Which she had to remind herself in the morning to ask about. It had sounded really good at three in the morning.
Pushing that aside, Go Go strode over to Honey Lemon and grabbed her arm. "Up you go." She put her head gently on the pillow and wiped her mouth with the sheet. Now that she had a proper posture, she fell silent, nestling one of her newly made dolls in her hands.
"That better not be me." She craned her head to look at it. Thankfully, it was not; it was too white, too rotund, and too much of a likeness to a robot to be her.
"I'll find it in the morning," she muttered. She let out a giant yawn as the kitten resumed circling her feet. "C'mon, Harley. Let's go back to sleep."
The trip back upstairs took a much shorter time, and Go Go's company went over to the rest of the animals to finish out her night. That was another thing that she was going to have to figure out; the kittens were getting older and more inquisitive. There was no way she was going to be able to keep all of the cats together.
But they were adorable.
"Stop thinking, Go Go. Worry about it tomorrow." She put her phone down on her bedside table, overlapping the race flier. She tucked one leg back under her covers-
Wait.
She creaked her neck back around.
Didn't she-
Go Go peeled the paper off the table and brought it up to her face. There it was. The race flier.
In one piece.
"How does that work?"
She stared at it for about four seconds...and then threw her head back onto the pillow, now asleep.
At least she had an idea as to what to do about Robbie.
But it was going to take a little help.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's taken a fair bit of time, hasn't it?
The number one question I've gotten over the past few months is "When are you going to start your Robbie story?"
The answer, I can happily say...is now.
For those of you who do not know, Robbie Reyes is a character that has been showing up in a few of my stories, most recently in the last one-shot I posted about Hiro. He is very much the same Robbie Reyes that's in the Marvel Comics.
Mostly.
Just like Peni and Aspen, if you are one of those people who have read the particular miniseries that this story is going to be based off of, you probably know where this is going to end up. I'm not going to spoil anything one way or another, but some things are going to change over to here. Not anything too drastic, but I want to keep people on their toes.
Next chapter, Go Go's going to get herself prepared for the race. We're also going to delve a little deeper into the majesty behind the entire race...because Go Go's going to learn real quick not everything is what it seems on the surface.
Read and review, if you like. Until next time, everyone.