"Tadashi, come on, you've been in there for an hour! I want to see what you look like!"
"Fred, I'm putting on armor, you of all people should know that that takes time!"
"I know… But I still can't wait to see you!"
"You're just going to have to be patient."
"Y'know if you let me help you put it on it would go a lot faster…"
"Nope. It was your idea to surprise each other so now you're just going to have to wait until I have everything fully on."
"...But I miss seeing your handsome face?"
"Fred."
"Fine…"
Tadashi could hear Fred's playful annoyance through the door, but he wasn't about to back down. He almost had everything on right and he wasn't going to ruin the surprise. He'd spent far too much time making this costume as detail perfect as possible. Tonight, the night of the Halloween party that Fred was hosting for the entire team, was the night of its debut (as well as the rest of the team's cosplays' debuts) so he wanted it to be as much of a surprise as possible. After all, Fred had been pretty tight-lipped about his own Woody costume so fair was only fair, even if they'd both agreed to get ready at Fred's house.
"...Are you almost done?"
"Fred, oh my God, it's been thirty seconds!"
"Thirty seconds without my gorgeous boyfriend!"
"Do you really need me that badly?"
"YES. Definitely yes!"
Tadashi bites his lip and ducks his head even though Fred couldn't see him blushing. He still couldn't believe that he had such a sweet boyfriend who was always going over the top to make sure he knew how much he cared about-or, to use Fred's words, adored-him. But he did. And Fred had never given him any reason to doubt that any of it wasn't completely sincere and so Tadashi had finally given in and accepted the fact that Fred somehow loved him exactly the way that he was.
That didn't mean that his insecurities didn't crop up every now and then, especially when he was on his own and people would still look at him funny or avoid him. But he was walking with his head a little higher these days, and especially when Fred was with him he could usually ignore the worst of the rude people. And Fred was like a bloodhound when it came to sniffing out his insecurities-the moment that he noticed his mood dipping at all he would immediately start showering him with attention and affection. That didn't meant that Tadashi didn't still have rough days. But they were coming a lot fewer and far between.
"All right, I think I'm ready," Tadashi finally says, making a few last minute adjustments to his costume. As far as he could tell, it was detail perfect, except for the fact that he had the purple hood down. Fred had made it very clear over the last two months how much he loved playing with Tadashi's hair, and not even costume accuracy was enough to get him to agree to letting Tadashi cover his hair. (Tadashi got the feeling that if he still wore the hat he'd always used to wear before the fire happened and he'd started wearing his hood up full time Fred definitely would have been taking it off every chance that he could.)
"Good! Come out, I need to see how handsome you look!"
"Come out? I'm pretty sure I already did that a long time ago, Freddy," Tadashi teases.
"You know what I mean!" Fred huffs. "Now c'mon, stop teasing me!"
"Okay, okay!" Taking a deep breath, Tadashi finally opens the bathroom door and steps out into Fred's bedroom.
"Holy shit," Fred breathes when he sees Tadashi in full costume for the first time.
"You look pretty amazing yourself," Tadashi answers, looking Fred up and down-damn, Fred could make Woody look really fucking hot. Tadashi wasn't entirely sure how he felt about thinking a cartoon cowboy doll looked hot, but considering it was Fred in the costume for the most part he was pretty okay with it.
"Damn, I'm going to have a hard time keeping my hands off of you tonight," Fred playfully teases, coming over to wrap his arms around Tadashi's waist.
"I have no problem with that, cowboy," Tadashi answers, tweaking the brim of Fred's hat. "But it took me forever to get all of this on, so you're just going to have to wait until the end of the night if you want to take it off of me."
"Not fair," Fred playfully whines, and Tadashi got the feeling that if they weren't expecting their friends to be arriving any minute neither of them would have had much self control in this situation. Ever since the night of the cosplay ball, they hadn't gotten anywhere near having sex again (not that Tadashi would have minded if they did, but late one night, tired and with no filter, he'd admitted that part his reasoning behind rushing into sex in the first place was thinking that no one would ever want him that way. While Fred fortunately hadn't been mad at all about it, he had said that he wanted to wait to have sex until Tadashi was doing it with full confidence in himself, and Tadashi had accepted that condition.) But that didn't mean that they hadn't had some incredibly amazing makeout sessions.
"Master Frederick? You're guests have arrived," Heathcliff's voice carries through the door.
"And I guess that's the end of that," Fred sighs before gazing up into Tadashi's eyes and whispering, "But promise me that you mean it about later tonight?"
"Count on it," Tadashi breathes in his ear, and he was rewarded with a quick kiss to the side of his neck that almost made him rethink his policy about keeping the armor on until later. But then Fred was pulling away and heading for the door and he decides that he'll try to have some self control-for now, at least.
"Hi guys!" Honey Lemon beams and waves at them when they make it to the front entryway. "Oh my gosh, you look so great!"
"Thanks, so do you!" Tadashi answers with a grin. She'd gone with Bo Peep's classic look instead of the new Toy Story 4 version of her outfit, and he was seriously impressed by how well she was maneuvering in the hoop skirt.
"Thank you!" Honey Lemon giggles. "And doesn't Gogo look great?"
"She does!"
"You make a perfect Jessie, Gogo!" Fred adds supportively.
Gogo just shrugs, her expression not changing from the sour frown that was currently holding on her face.
"Is something wrong…?"
"She's just a bit grumpy about Wasabi and Leiko's costumes," Honey Lemon whispers.
"What? Why? From the pictures I've seen they're super cute!"
"I think that's the problem."
As if on cue, Wasabi and Leiko come into view walking up the front sidewalk, dressed as Ken and Barbie from the third Toy Story movie, with Leiko carrying a baby doll covered in marker "tattoos" that Tadashi could only assume was meant to be Big Baby.
"Oh… Yeah, the baby doll might be a bit much," Fred agrees quietly.
Tadashi personally thought it was cute-he loved that Ken and Barbie had adopted the baby doll in the movie, and there was nothing wrong about Leiko and Wasabi possibly wanting to have kids of their own someday. But then he thought about how he'd feel if Hiro and Ezra were talking about moving out and having kids and he realized maybe it was best to keep his mouth shut.
"You guys all look super amazing!" Leiko enthuses as she and Wasabi join the group.
"Thanks," Gogo grunts, shooting Wasabi (who cowered back just a bit, but who could really blame him?) a death glare.
"I think that's about everyone-Hiro and Ezra texted to say they were running a bit late so it's fine to start without them," Tadashi says aloud, trying to avoid any fights breaking out.
"Well… It would probably be best to wait until they get here to start things…" Fred says a bit nervously, clearly trying to avoid any fights too.
"Leiko, have you been working on any fun projects for your classes recently?" Honey Lemon asks brightly, and Tadashi and Fred let out twin sighs of relief as the rest of the group is quickly distracted by the question.
"Hey guys!" About ten minutes later, a familiar voice calls through the door, interrupting Honey Lemon and Leiko's discussion of their art classes of SF State.
"Ezra!" Tadashi beams and turns to open the door. He couldn't wait to finally get to see Hiro and Ezra's costumes-they'd been extremely secretive about them, and he was eager to see what they'd come up with.
"Oh my gosh!" he cries when he opens the door and sees Ezra standing there in jeans and a black t-shirt with a skull on it. "Are you Sid?"
"Yep!" Ezra laughs. "Surprise!"
"That's super creative! But I thought you and Hiro were going to do matching costumes…?" He wasn't sure what costume Hiro could have done that would make this a "couple's" cosplay.
"Oh, we did!" Ezra answers with a slightly mischievous grin before turning and calling, "Hiro? Hiro, c'mon, come on out!"
"No! This is embarrassing!" Tadashi hears Hiro answering from somewhere just out of view.
"No it's not! Your costume is awesome!"
"I feel like a dork!"
"C'mon, Hiro, just get it over with already!" Ezra steps back a few paces and pulls Hiro into view.
Tadashi feels his heart skip a beat as he sees Hiro, looking thoroughly embarrassed, wearing blue shorts, a lime green t-shirt, and a red cowboy hat.
"O-Oh my gosh… Hiro, are you Andy?"
"Yes," Hiro groans. "It was Ezra's idea, okay?"
"It was an awesome idea!" Ezra answers, kissing him on the cheek.
"...Holy fuck I totally ship this now…" Tadashi breathes. He'd always been more of an Andy/Hannah (Sid's little sister) shipper, but at least for Hiro and Ezra's version he would make an exception for shipping Andy/Sid.
"Goal accomplished, then!" Ezra beams at him.
"I still feel like this is stupid…" Hiro mumbles.
"Seriously, Hiro, you are freaking adorable!" Tadashi cries, scooping Hiro up into a hug.
"Hey, let me go!" Hiro protests. "I'm not adorable, you dork!"
"Nope! Buzz and Woody never got to hug Andy and tell him how important he was to them so I'm making up for it now!" Tadashi laughs.
"I thought you'd appreciate this." Ezra chuckles. "That's why I made sure that Hiro was Andy instead of Sid."
"...You just bought yourself some major brownie points, Ezra."
"Good to know, I'll make sure to cash them in later!"
"...You are evil, Ezra." Hiro scowls at his boyfriend. "Using me as a pawn to get favors from my brother?"
"Favors that will benefit that both of us?"
"...Touche. But let me know when you're going to be manipulative next time so I can get in on this, okay? If I'd known you were trying to get brownie points from Tadashi I would have played up the cuteness aspect since we both know he's completely weak for that!"
"Fine, next time I will bring you in on this!"
"Good!"
"You guys do realize I'm right here, right?" Tadashi deadpans.
"Yep." Hiro smirks at him.
"Fine. I take back what I said about you being adorable!"
"Thank you!"
"...Okay and now I feel like I just got even more majorly played."
"That's because you did, big bro," Hiro teases.
"...Fine. Then be prepared for my revenge."
"What revenge?"
"This." Tadashi yanks Hiro inside and pushes him towards Honey Lemon. "Honey, look! Isn't Hiro just too cute in his Andy costume?"
"Oh my gosh! He is so adorable!" Honey Lemon shrieks, instantly glomping onto him and peppering his cheeks with platonic kisses.
"No! Tadashi, I made a mistake, call her off!" Hiro cries.
"Nope! You made your bed, now lie in it!" Tadashi laughs.
"Isn't that cruel and unusual punishment?" Fred whispers to Tadashi, looking amused as Hiro goes limp in Honey Lemon's arms, accepting his fate.
"I'd say it's fair payback."
"...Can't argue with that," Fred laughs before clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay, guys! We're all here, so let's go ahead and get this party started finally!"
"Ooh, yay!" Honey Lemon finally lets go of Hiro, who quickly darts back over to Ezra, hiding behind him for protection.
"This way, everyone!" Fred waves for them to follow him down a hallway which ended in a set of double doors. He pushes them open to reveal a large room (the ballroom where Fred's parents hosted formal events, Tadashi knew from previous visits to the house) that had been decorated top to bottom in spooky Disney-themed decorations-everything from Nightmare Before Christmas, to images of the main classic Disney cast dressed as ghoulish creatures, to The Haunted Mansion, and even quite a lot of Toy Story of Terror items added in to complement the costume theme.
"Oh my gosh! This looks so great!" Honey Lemon cries.
"It is pretty cool," Gogo admits with an approving smile.
"It's amazing," Tadashi breathes-he could hardly believe that Fred had managed to put all of this together, he almost felt like he was at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at one of the Disney Parks.
"Thank you!" Fred beams at them, gently squeezing Tadashi's hand. "I'm so glad you guys like it! There isn't really a set schedule for tonight, but there are plenty of refreshments if you're hungry. I was originally thinking we could go trick-or-treating in the house, having the staff dress up and hand out candy at stations throughout the house, but then I realized most of them have kids they needed to take out themselves so I ended up nixing that idea… But don't worry, there is still plenty of candy, I made all of you baskets with your favorite candies in them!" He waves to a table where each of them had their own personalized plastic pumpkins.
"Wow, thanks!" Hiro cries, eyes lighting up as he spots his own gummy bear filled one.
"I figured maybe we can watch some spooky movies later," Fred continues. "Other than that, feel free to just hang out and do whatever you want!"
As it was about dinner time, everyone went to go fill up their plates with food, and then without really planning it they all ended up pulling folding chairs into a circle to sit together.
"We should play a party game or something until we're ready to start the movies!" Honey Lemon suggests as they eat.
"That could be fun!" Fred agrees, seeming glad for the suggestion.
"No truth or dare allowed, though!" Tadashi quickly puts in.
"We've had to ban that game since some people take it a little too far," he explains for Fred's benefit.
"Oh… I mean, yeah, I guess as superheroes with different powers things could escalate quickly," Fred agrees, nodding in understanding.
"Trust me-half of the most embarrassing pictures that you've seen of us on the internet are probably the results of dares," Tadashi sighs. "It doesn't help that Honey Lemon insists on taking pictures of the dares and posting them on an anonymous Instagram account-she says it makes us seem 'more human' or something."
"And it does! Our fans love getting to see us just acting like normal people!" Honey Lemon answers.
"...I'm not going to start this argument up again, but if we're going to play a game let's go ahead and pick one."
"Fine! If you won't allow Truth or Dare-"
"Not budging on that, no."
"Then how about Two Truths And a Lie?"
"Hm…" Tadashi considers this and then nods. "Sure. That one can't get too crazy."
"Great!" Honey Lemon beams at him. "Do you want to go first?"
"Maybe we should let Fred go first since he is the host-only if he wants to, though," Tadashi answers.
"Um...Sure, I'll go!" Fred answers with a laugh. "Just give me a second to think up my two truths and a lie!"
"Take all the time you need," Tadashi reassures him.
"All right, I think I've got it!" Fred says after a few minutes in which everyone tried to think of their answers for the game.
"Okay, go for it!" Tadashi tells him.
"All right, here goes! Number one-I'm named after my great-great-great-grandfather. Number two, I had a bearded dragon as a kid who I named "Fredzilla"-I mashed up my name with Godzilla because at five years old for some reason I thought that was the coolest name that you could give a pet. And three, my favorite pokemon is a Growlithe."
"Ooh, that's a tough one!" Honey Lemon giggles.
"...I think I'm going to have to go with the lizard one," Hiro finally says. "That sounds too much like something Fred would do which makes me doubt that it's true."
"I'm leaning towards the Pokemon one-it's a little too simple," Wasabi counters.
"All right, which one's the lie?" Gogo asks once everyone's weighed in.
"The one about being named after my great-great-great-grandfather. It was only my great-great-grandfather, I'm the fourth with the name of Fred Lee-it skipped a generation with my dad," Fred answers.
"Ooh, that was a tricky!" Ezra laughs.
"Glad that I fooled most of you!" Fred grins at him before turning to Tadashi. "You want to go next?"
"Sure," Tadashi agrees. "And I've got my two truths and a lie ready already."
"Cool, go ahead and tell us!"
"All right. My first one is that as a kid I had a plush robot my mom made me who became the basis for Baymax. My second one is that I went to my first Fall Out Boy concert when I was sixteen. And my third one is that I had a major crush on Peter Pan as a kid."
"Okay, but seriously, what gay guy didn't have a crush on Peter Pan as a kid?" Fred laughs. "I'm totally saying that that one's true!"
"I know the answer to this one but I'm not going to say and ruin the round for everyone else," Hiro says with a smirk.
"...I'm really hoping that the Baymax one is true because that would be adorable," Leiko giggles.
"Anyone other guesses?" Tadashi asks once everyone else has had a chance to make their input. "No? Okay, then in that case-it was the Fall Out Boy one. I've never been to one of their concerts. I've wanted to, just never had the chance."
"Yes, I was right!" Hiro grins victoriously.
"Well hey, next time that they have a tour if they come through our city I'll take you to one of their shows as a date, okay?" Fred tells Tadashi.
"I'd love that!" Tadashi beams at him.
"Hey!" Hiro protests. "I'm an even bigger FOB fan than him, why does he get to go?"
"Because I'm the one dating Fred?" Tadashi teases.
"If they come I'll get you and Ezra tickets if you want, but you'll be in a different area than us so we can all have privacy," Fred offers.
"I agree to your conditions!" Hiro grins at him.
"If you guys are done, I'm ready to go for my turn," Gogo says, popping her gum.
"Sure, go for it!" Fred tells her.
"Okay." Gogo nods. "One, I have a tattoo of raven wings on my back. Two, I once ramped a bike off of a SFIT building while drunk. Three, I have a key to Tadashi's office and sometimes I sneak in there with Honey Lemon to have sex while he's in class."
"...You freaking do what?!" Tadashi cries.
"You don't know if that's a truth of a lie yet." Gogo smirks at him.
"That had better be the lie!" Tadashi glares at her, quietly fuming.
The others all make their guesses, clearly a bit unsure about what the outcome of this would be, although Honey Lemon was noticeably silent throughout the round.
"All right," Gogo finally says. "The lie is-ramping off a building. It was just a small bridge, but I was so drunk I thought it was a lot higher than it was."
"Oh my God." Tadashi puts his head in his hands. "Seriously? You've had sex in my office?"
"To be fair your office is the only one of ours with a door!" Gogo laughs.
"Still! You could have at least asked!" Tadashi cries.
"Would you have given us permission?"
"...Maybe!"
"So my point stands."
"No it doesn't!"
"That is seriously unsanitary." Wasabi makes a face.
"What? Like you and Leiko haven't done it?" Gogo challenges.
"Um, no! I would never have sex in somewhere that wasn't clean, and an office where people work on robots definitely isn't clean!"
"But you have had sex."
"That is not what we're talking about right now!"
"Uh huh. Sure."
"Um, maybe we should keep the game going?" Leiko says, clearly trying to keep any arguments from breaking out.
"I'll go," Hiro volunteers. "I'm pretty sure I can top that."
"Wait, what?!" Tadashi cries, even as Gogo answers,
"Oh, bring it on!"
"Fine, I will." Hiro competitively grins at her. "One-I've had alcohol. Two, I have a tattoo that no one knows about. Three, I'm still a virgin."
Tadashi gapes at Hiro. No. No way. Almost none of those options sounded good. Was Hiro just making this up, or had he really-?
He didn't even properly hear the others making their guesses, his heart pounding in his ears as he waits for the round to be over.
"All right," Hiro says eventually, bringing Tadashi back to the present. "The lie is that I'm a virgin."
"Holy fuck!" Gogo laughs. "Seriously? Drinking, tattoos, and sex? When the fuck did this all happen?"
"It was months ago," Hiro answers with a laugh, and Ezra beside him at least had the grace to look embarrassed. "We were at an SFIT event with Ezra as my date and we managed to sneak some champagne, and after that things got a little hazy but when things came back into focus it turned out that I had a tattoo of a Heartless, of all things, on my back, and Ezra and I were already in bed making out so we figured we might as well just keep going."
"Oh. My. God," Tadashi whispers, his head spinning. Hiro had been hinting at the fact that he and Ezra had been having sex for a while, but he'd always done it in such a joking way that Tadashi had never really taken him seriously. But now…
"I-I'm going out for some fresh air," he finally says, standing up abruptly and heading for the door.
"Wait, what? Tadashi!" Hiro calls after him, but Tadashi knew he couldn't stay in that room or else he'd have a breakdown so he just keeps going. If Hiro wanted to talk to him, he'd have to follow him.
As it turned out, Hiro did follow him, and he managed to catch up to him out in the hallway.
"Dashi?" Tadashi hears Hiro's voice and finally comes to a stop when he feels a hand closing around his arm. "Tadashi, what's going on?"
"Hiro, I… I-I don't really know what to say right now," Tadashi finally admits, shaking his head. "I mean… You know I'm not particularly strict on the whole 'waiting until marriage for sex' thing, and I don't mind people over the legal age drinking or getting tattoos. But you were definitely underage on drinking. And instead of coming to me on this, you chose to tell everyone in a game? I-It's not like I need or want details, but I still feel like I should have realized that this was going on... "
"Tadashi…" Hiro sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Look. I know that you care about me, and I appreciate that. But I'm almost an adult now-I'm going to be eighteen in just a few months. And as an adult, I'm going to be doing the things that a lot of adults do. I'm sorry if you're mad at me, but you're going to have to get used to the fact that Ezra and I are having sex, like it or not."
"Hiro, I'm not angry!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him. He takes a moment to collect himself before continuing, "If you and Ezra felt it was the right time for you, well… Then I guess it's the right time. And even though I'd rather not think about it, I want you to know that you can always come to me with anything if you need to-even if it's a bit uncomfortable for both of us-and I swear I won't judge you."
"Thanks, Dashi. I appreciate that." Hiro gives him a lopsided smile.
"Good." Tadashi lightly ruffles his hair.
"So… Do you want to go back in?" Hiro asks a bit awkwardly after a moment, clearly not sure how to continue after their conversation.
"Sure," Tadashi agrees. "Let's go." He was glad that Hiro knew that he could come to him with things like this now, but he still wasn't fully prepared to come to terms with the fact that his little brother was having sex, so he was glad to go back to the game which would hopefully help distract him from thinking about it too much.
"Well, that was certainly enlightening," Fred says as he and Tadashi lead the way to the theater almost an hour later after the game had finally mercifully ended. "I did not know that Wasabi has an irrational fear of clowns-although specifically only the sad ones for some reason. And then wow, Leiko really surprised me with her confession about that secret hentai manga project that she's been working on-"
"I am so, so sorry you had to go through that," Tadashi apologizes for what he was pretty sure was the seventh time that night. "I thought that game would be safe, but clearly none of these guys should be allowed to play any party games whatsoever..."
"I think the phrase you're searching for is, 'This is why we can't have nice things'?" Fred jokes.
"The phrase I'm searching for I can't say because there are preschool toys present," Tadashi deadpans.
"...Okay, nice Toy Story reference, but hey, no stealing my lines!" Fred laughs.
"I know you probably think we're all a bunch of freaks now, and I totally don't blame you if you want everyone to leave and never come back at this point…" Tadashi mumbles, still incredibly embarrassed by his friends' behavior. He was glad that things had worked out with him and Hiro, but he didn't know how Fred was handling all of this.
"What? No way!" Fred cries. "This just kind of proved to me how much I want to keep hanging out with you guys!"
"I… What?" Tadashi stares at him in disbelief. "S-Seriously?"
"Yeah!" Fred beams at him. "I mean, I'll be honest, I still felt a little bit intimidated by everyone until tonight because I was having a hard time separating them from the heroes I see on TV almost every week. But now… Now I feel like they're a lot more human. And I feel like if they're comfortable being weird around me then that's a good sign that they trust me, right?"
"...I guess you have a point there," Tadashi admits. He'd never thought of it that way, but Fred did sort of have a point. And if somehow this weirdness had caused his boyfriend to feel closer to the rest of his team? He wasn't about to complain about that.
"Besides-you and I both know that neither of us are exactly normal either," Fred adds playfully.
"True," Tadashi agrees with a wry smile.
"I mean, we're planning some not exactly child friendly activities for later tonight that involve being dressed as Disney characters, right?" Fred adds playfully.
"Don't let Hiro catch you talking about them, but yes," Tadashi answers, lightly nuzzling against him as they walk into the theater together.
"I won't-trust me, I definitely don't want to get busted by your little bro before I can get you alone to take all of that armor off of you," Fred playfully purrs.
"And I can't wait for you to do that," Tadashi answers, shivering slightly at the thought. He still couldn't quite believe that Fred was so chill about all of this, but who was he to complain? He'd wanted Fred to get closer to his friends, and if Fred could handle them at their most embarrassing and still wanted to be around them then maybe he could stop worrying about things so much. And the fact that Fred was also apparently attracted enough to him to want to indulge in not family friendly activities with him? He was only making the case stronger for Tadashi hoping that he would be sticking around with him for a long, long time.
Tadashi had lost so much to the fire-peace of mind for being able to go out into public (or even sometimes outside of his own room), the respect of a lot of society and a few so-called friends who ditched him because of how he looked now, and his freedom to live life without constant interruptions by superhero responsibilities. The fact that he finally had someone who wanted to be with him, and him alone, and supported him unwaveringly through all of that meant more than he could ever say. And, as soon as they had privacy after the others left tonight, he very much intended to show Fred exactly how much he appreciated him in a way that he hoped would communicate his feelings even better than feeble words could.