((TW: Mention of needles under medical circumstances))
"Hey Dashi!"
"Hey Fred!" Tadashi beams as he looks up to see his boyfriend walking into his lab. He'd officially gotten permission for Fred to be able to have access to the Nerd Lab (as people liked to call the large lab at SFIT where many students, including Tadashi and his friends, worked and studied), and he was definitely enjoying the fact that that meant Fred was constantly surprising him with visits. Even though most of the visits consisted of Fred just sitting with him while they both worked on homework and projects, somehow even homework was more enjoyable with Fred there.
"You busy right now?" Fred asks, pecking Tadashi's lips before playfully settling himself in his lap.
"Just finishing up with this paper-it's almost done, at least," Tadashi answers, wrapping his arms around his waist and pecking his lips. "You?"
"I finished all my work for today so whenever you're free I'm free!" Fred replies.
"Well then, I have just that much more motivation to finish so that we can spend time together," Tadashi tells him with a grin. "Think you can behave for long enough for me to do finish here? I'm just editing and then submitting this, shouldn't be more than half an hour."
"Hm… Do I get some sort of reward if I behave?" Fred asks teasingly.
"You get me for whatever you want for the rest of the night since my Wednesday class was cancelled and Thanksgiving vacation starts for me tonight," Tadashi purrs.
"Well, with a reward like that I'll definitely behave since I don't have classes tomorrow either!" Fred beams and kisses the tip of Tadashi's nose before obediently going to sit on the couch so he'd stay out of trouble.
"All right, and that is done so we're free!" Tadashi says when, as promised, he finishes and submits his paper almost exactly half an hour later.
"Yay!" Fred eagerly jumps up from the couch and wraps his arms around Tadashi. "Now I get my reward since I behaved, right?"
"Oh, you behaved perfectly, so you are definitely getting your reward," Tadashi chuckles. "What is it that you want?"
"To get to kidnap you back to my place for movies and cuddling?" Fred answers hopefully.
"In that case your wish is my command." Tadashi grins at him-how did Fred always know the perfect thing to say?
"Great!" Fred beams back, squeezing his hand.
"Want me to drive?" Tadashi offers, grabbing the keys to his moped.
"I would love that!" Fred answers with a grin. As nice as the limo was, somehow Fred had managed to finally convince Heathcliff to let Tadashi drive them places sometimes. They both greatly enjoyed those rides, Tadashi especially liking the feeling of Fred cozily pressed up against his back as he held onto him.
They made it all the way to Fred's house and were halfway through Frozen (it seemed like a fun movie to blow off some stress, plus it had a bit of a holiday feel without being too Christmassy yet) when Tadashi suddenly remembered something his aunt had told him on the way out the door this morning to ask Fred.
"Oh my gosh!" Tadashi jerks upright from where he'd been contentedly snuggled against Fred's chest.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Fred asks with a frown of concern.
"Nothing's wrong!" Tadashi reassures him. "I just remembered something! Aunt Cass wanted me to ask if you had any plans for Thanksgiving? I know that you mentioned that you weren't sure if your parents weren't going to be in town this year."
"Well, my mom's not going to make it, but my dad said that he thinks he is going to make it," Fred answers, glancing curiously over at him. "Why?"
"In that case, Aunt Cass wanted me to invite you and whatever family members you're going to have home to Thanksgiving dinner," Tadashi answers. "Y-You definitely don't have to say yes if you don't want to! But ever since Hiro's started dating Ezra, we've been doing a joint Thanksgiving dinner with Ezra's family, and since we're dating now she said she wanted to make sure you know that your family's welcome as well if they want to come."
"Wow, that sounds really awesome!" Fred beams at him. "I'd have to check with my dad, but usually we don't do anything too fancy here so I don't see why that would be a problem! Let me just call him really quick to see if he'd be okay with it."
"Sounds good!" Tadashi agrees, contentedly settling against Fred as he pulls out his phone to make the call.
There was a brief silence in which Tadashi held his breath to see if Fred's dad would answer. And then Fred started talking so he could only assume that he had picked up.
"Hey, Dad? ...Hey, yeah, good to hear from you too, I hope it's not too late over there! ...Oh, early, sorry! ...Yeah, definitely glad to hear that you made it to the airport okay! And I'm glad that I caught you before you got on the plane! ...No, nothing too serious, but there was something I wanted to ask you about Thanksgiving. Tadashi's aunt invited us to come to their dinner since Hiro's boyfriend's family is joining them as well, and I just wanted to see if you'd be interested in that? ...Uh huh. ...Uh huh. ...Sure, I can definitely text you her number so you can coordinate! ...Awesome, see you when your flight lands! Love you, Dad!"
"So I'm guessing that went well?" Tadashi asks hopefully as Fred hangs up.
"Really well!" Fred answers. "He's going to talk to your aunt, but he volunteered to host the dinner here if she's okay with that since there's going to be so many people and we have plenty of space!"
"Oh, wow, that's super generous of him!" Tadashi grins at him. "I'll have to see what Aunt Cass says but I definitely don't think she'd have a problem with that, especially since Ezra has a really big family. I hope your dad doesn't mind little kids, though, the Jarruses have a three-year-old, Jacen, and a new baby, Dawn."
"I think he'll be fine with that, and our cook, Marie, always spends the holidays with us and she absolutely adores little kids," Fred reassures him.
"Great!" Tadashi beams at him. "I can't believe that we're going to be spending our first Thanksgiving together, it's going to be great!"
"Definitely!" Fred agrees, happily pecking him on the cheek.
Come the actual day of Thanksgiving, Tadashi wasn't quite as enthusiastic about the prospect of sharing Thanksgiving with Fred's family. It's true that it was only going to be Fred's dad at the dinner, but Fred's dad was the family member that Fred was closest to, and this was the first time that he was going to meet him in person. He was terrified of what would happen if, for some horrible reason, Fred's dad didn't approve of him. How was he supposed to ask Fred to choose between him and family?
"Tadashi, you've been fiddling with your tie for an hour, I'm sure you've got it perfect by now," Hiro drawls from where he was lying on his bed texting Ezra.
"I just want to look like someone Fred's dad will approve of," Tadashi sighs, finally leaving off trying to fix his outfit anymore in the mirror.
"Tadashi. Seriously. You have nothing to worry about." Hiro looks up from his phone. "Fred is crazy about you so I'm sure he's already majorly talked you up to his dad. And teachers and parents have always fawned over you without you even having to try, so you've got a lot going for you!"
"Thanks, Hiro." Tadashi gives him a grateful smile.
"Plus I will punch him if he's rude to you," Hiro adds flatly.
"What? No, no punching anyone!" Tadashi cries, mortified.
"I stand by what I said," Hiro answers, looking back down at his phone.
Great. So now Tadashi had to worry about Fred's dad liking him and trying to keep Hiro from committing acts of violence during the dinner. Why was this starting to feel like one of those corny holiday movies where everything went absolutely wrong?
"Hiro, Tadashi, our ride is here!" Aunt Cass calls from the bottom of the stairs. "Let's go!"
Hiro hops off the bed and heads down the stairs, and Tadashi follows after him, praying that somehow this wouldn't go wrong.
Fred's dad had sent Heathcliff to pick everyone up so that they didn't have to worry about driving themselves, and Heathcliff had picked up Ezra's family first so almost as soon as they reached the limo Hiro was hurrying over to wedge himself in next to Ezra, and within seconds they were all wrapped around each other.
"Wow. It's almost like you two didn't see each other last night and weren't texting all day," Sabine, Ezra's older sister, deadpans.
"Hey, Bean," Tadashi says, sharing a knowing smile with her-as the eldest siblings in their families, they worked together to keep an eye on their younger brothers, even if they had slightly different ideas about what was best for them sometimes.
"Hey Dashi," Sabine answers, nodding to him.
"Tadashi!" Tadashi grins as he feels a tiny hand tugging on his sleeve, and he allows himself to be pulled down next to Jacen.
"Jacen, how are you doing?" he asks the toddler with a warm smile-he couldn't help it, he had a weakness for cute kids and for some reason they all seemed to adore him.
"Good!" Jacen answers eagerly. "I've been helping Mommy in the kitchen!"
"Oh have you?" Tadashi grins over at Ezra's mom, Hera.
"Yes, he's been a big help," Hera laughs, her eyes sparkling.
"Oh my gosh, is that Dawn?" Tadashi asks, spotting the blanket wrapped baby in her arms.
"Yes, it is-do you want to hold her?" Hera offers.
"Could I?" Tadashi asks hopefully.
"Of course!" Hera holds Dawn out to him, and Tadashi very carefully takes her in his arms.
"Hi, sweetie," Tadashi coos, holding her close to his chest. "Oh my goodness, you're getting so big!"
"She's almost three months," Hera says with a smile.
"Three months? I can't believe she's that old already!"
"I know, time flies by," Ezra's dad, Kanan chuckles.
"I'm going to be four soon!" Jacen says importantly, tugging on Tadashi's sleeve for attention.
"That's great! I'm sure you're going to get big and tall, just like your big brother," Tadashi tells him. True, Ezra and Jacen weren't blood related-most of the Jarrus family wasn't, Ezra and Sabine were adopted by Kanan and Hera, and Zeb and Alex Orrelios, the married "uncles" of the family, weren't even connected by adoption, Zeb was just an old friend of Hera and Kanan's. But they were family in everything but blood, and Tadashi knew that Jacen wanted to be just like his older brother when he grew up.
The rest of the ride passed fairly peacefully-Tadashi was kept busy with the kids and catching up with Ezra's family, so it wasn't until they pulled into the mansion's driveway that his nerves started to act up again.
"Whoa," Kanan says, his eyebrows raising as they step out of the car, not seeming to be the only one who was slightly intimidated by the grandeur. "This is a lot fancier than I expected… I feel like maybe I should have dressed up more…"
"Well, we're here and we were invited, so we might as well go in!" Aunt Cass answers, taking the initiative and heading for the front door.
"Hey!" Before they could even fully reach the door, Fred came bursting out of it, racing over to greet them and looking very much like an overly excited puppy. "I'm so glad you guys all came! This is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever!"
Tadashi beams and, momentarily forgetting his nervousness, pecks Fred on the cheek before quickly starting the round of introductions.
"C'mon, everyone come inside," Fred says once he's said hello to everyone. "My dad's waiting in the sitting room to greet you-he said it's more 'dignified', but to hell with dignity!"
He laughs, only for his eyes to go wide as he glances down at Jacen. "Oh, shoot, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be cursing-!"
"It's fine," Hera reassures him wryly. "Jacen hears worse from his Uncle Zeb on a daily basis so no need to apologize."
"O-Oh, okay…?" Fred slowly agrees. Still, he looked relieved to have the excuse of leading the way into the house to leave the awkwardness behind him.
"You okay?" he asks, glancing over at Tadashi as they walk arm-in-arm, seeming to notice how quiet his boyfriend was being.
"I just really, really don't want to mess this up," Tadashi admits, pressing a bit closer against Fred's side. "I want your dad to to approve of me so we can keep dating…"
"Whoa, Dashi, even if he didn't, there's no way that I'd stop dating you!" Fred reassures him. "But he'd have to be crazy not to like you so don't even waste another second worrying, okay?"
"Okay…" Tadashi nods, not sure that he fully believed him but trying to hope for the best.
"Dad?" Fred says once they reach a little parlor just off the main entryway. "Dad, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Tadashi."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Tadashi says politely, trying to sound more confident than he felt as the man he could only assume was Fred's father stands up from a chair that was facing away from the door.
"I'm quite glad to be finally meeting you as well," Fred's father answers, turning around to greet him, and in an instant Tadashi felt his blood going cold. No way. No way. There was no possible way that this could be happening! And yet-
"Ow…" Tadashi groans as he blinks his eyes open, a bright light shining in his eyes and a raging pain in the back of his head. The last thing he remembered was a goon getting in a lucky punch and then…. Nothing.
"You'll not want to move around too much, you're recovering from a mild concussion."
Tadashi starts to jerk up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, only to feel strong hands pushing him back down onto the cot that he was apparently lying on.
"W-Who are you?" Tadashi manages to get out. "And where am I?"
"It's all right, son." The bright light overhead turns off and a man's face, slightly blurred by Tadashi's unfocused vision, comes into view. "Your team allowed me to bring you here to look you over before sending you home. That nursebot of yours is a genius invention, but considering you were helping me out with that Baron Von Destructix case I wouldn't have felt right if I hadn't done my part to make sure you were alright."
"Y-You're Magnet Man," Tadashi gasps, finally registering the superhero suit that the older man was wearing.
"Yes, yes I am," he chuckles.
"A-And you're not wearing your mask!" Tadashi hurriedly looks away, determined not to see anything more than he'd already seen. Magnet Man was a legendary superhero known the world over. It had been a huge honor for the team when he'd reached out to them and asked them to assist him with a mission. Seeing him without his mask on was a huge breach of privacy.
"It's all right." Tadashi feels a hand on his shoulder. "I thought it was only right for you to see me without my mask on since I'm seeing you without yours."
"I-I guess…" Tadashi says a bit uncertainly, still determined not to look up.
"I think you'll make a full recovery," Magnet Man continues when it was clear that Tadashi wasn't going to meet his gaze. "I wanted to make sure that you were coherent when you woke up, but since you are I'm going to go ahead and return you to your teammates-your team leader especially seemed very worried about you. I'm sorry that I can't show you the way out of here, but you understand that for privacy reasons I can't let you know where my base is."
"O-Of course!" Tadashi reassures him. "I-I would never expect to invade your privacy like that."
"All right then. I trust that we'll get the chance to work together again soon in the future."
Tadashi suddenly felt something sharp pricking his arm, and then the world went black.
After waking up he didn't know how much later, being carried home by Baymax, Tadashi hadn't seen or heard anything from the legendary hero. He'd sent them some very nice tech as a thank you for their help, but that had been the extent of it. But now here Tadashi was, standing face to face with Fred's dad, and even though his memories were a bit fuzzy, there was no doubt in his mind that the man that he was looking at was Magnet Man. And if that wasn't proof enough, the look in the other man's eyes made it entirely clear that he knew who he was as well.