Chapter 10: Knowing You
Disclaimer: I do not own Big Hero 6 or anything of its characters. All belongs to their rightful owners from Disney Animated Studios©. Annabelle belongs to me!
Annabelle walked alongside Tadashi as he toured her around his home. The home was relatively small, the kitchen and living area was connected to one another. The diversity of the apartment was quite intriguing in Anna's eyes. A mixture of Japanese and American culture in one home; reminds Anna of her home- a mixture of French and Japanese culture.
"So this is where Aunt Cass makes her famous hot wings." Tadashi stated as he pointed over to the kitchen. Anna's eyes narrowed with curiosity. Hot wings? Anna thought. Tadashi noticed the expression changed in Anna's face. "Wings as in chicken wings with an intense amount of hot sauce."
"Ew, hot sauce?" Anna's face cringed at the word. She hates hot sauce. The taste of it makes her sick. She's a light-weight when it comes to hot food.
Tadashi chuckled. "You hate hot sauce?" He smiled in disbelief.
"Despise it with a burning passion!"
"You are very special…"
"What's that supposed to mean?!" A rough bump of the elbow towards her Japanese-American friend.
"Ouch! I m-mean that you are one of the first to be against hot sauce-WOW, that hurted."
"Omg, I'm sorry! Did I really hurt you?"
"No, I mean-a little but I'm a man, I can take it."
Anna snorted. "Okay macho man, whatever you say!"
The two laughed as they made their way from the downstairs and made their way up the stairs. As they walked up the stairs, Annabelle noticed some pictures of younger versions of Tadashi and Hiro. Some with just Tadashi, some with just Hiro, the Hamada brothers in one photo, then another one with them and Aunt Cass. What really stopped Anna in her tracks to view was a picture of what seemed to be a woman that looked like Aunt Cass and a Japanese man that was well close resemblance of an older Tadashi, with glasses. The woman in the picture had a swollen belly, obviously pregnant, maybe pregnant with Hiro or Tadashi.
Tadashi paused as he looked down at Anna who was just standing there, looking at the pictures like she was in a museum.
Tadashi smiled as he walked down alongside her. "Looking at family photos?" He asked.
Anna nodded as she looked up at the picture of Tadashi's parents. As she stared deeply into the photo, examining the two people in the frame, Tadashi expressions soften, very sentimental.
"Are these your...parents?" She asked.
He nodded. "Yup."
Then, silence filled the stairwell. Annabelle glanced over at Tadashi to see if there's going to be any response from him but he looked a little dazed.
"Uh… where are your parents? When will I meet them?" Then, Tadashi's expression became more melancholy. Anna paused before letting the awkward silence resume. She assumed what have'd happened to them. "You don't have to answer that question Dashi I-"
"WHY? Why do people keep calling me Dashi?! I told Fred not to say it and now EVERyoNe is saying it!"
Anna felt a little defensive. "Woah, Tadashi, chill I didn't mean to call you that. Since you call me Anna, I assumed that you were fine with me calling you-"
"No Annabelle! I hate that name, don't call me that name, EVER? GOT IT?" Tadashi's voice grew irritable and aggressive. Anna scoffed as she walked up the stairs to resume the tour. She never felt this hurt before. This random outburst from Tadashi.
What connection does these emotions have to do between him and his deceased parents? Nothing but awkward and tense silence between the two before making their way up the steps to the boy's bedroom.
Meanwhile, downstairs in the cafe, Hiro and the gang were sitting down, discussing the showcase. Hiro, getting hyped up on some cold brew that he made in the kitchen, was speed talking about how freaked out he was about how scary this event is making him.
GoGo was concerned for Hiro's health. Honey was trying to help Hiro calm down from the sugar high. Fred was smiling like a dork, making Hiro feel better and Wasabi was promoting to keep an extra pair of underwear just in case things go wrong during the showcase.
"Ew, Wasabi.." Honey Lemon cringed.
"What? It could work! Hiro, don't you agree?"
"GUYSIDON'TKNOWTHISISGOINGTOWORK. WHATIFIFAIL? WHATIFIMESSUPMYWORDS? WHATIFI'MWAITFORTHESHOWCASE? WHATIFMOCHIGETSSICKORTADASHIORAUNTCASS? WHAT IF I GET SICK?"
"HIRO?" Aunt Cass grabbed cracked-up Hiro by the shoulder, trying to snap him out of it. "One, you need to stop drinking coffee, ESPECIALLY cold brews…"
The gang chuckled as Hiro sighed and sat down next to Fred, who had put his hand on Hiro's shoulder in comfort.
"Don't worry Hiro," Fred said, with a grin, "Today, we will relax and have ourselves a pizza party in the garage and have fun. How does that sound?"
Hiro, still frazzled from the caffeine, nodded and felt reassured. "...Pizza doesn't sound like a bad idea."
"Ooh yes!" Honey beamed, "this is exciting, gotta tell Anna and Tadashi whenever they come back!"
"Why not go up there and tell them?" GoGo asked with an arched eyebrow.
"I don't want to interrupt them." Honey stated.
Wasabi chuckled, "With what?" He asked. "It's not like they're making out up there!"
Then a sudden silence hit the room. A tense awkwardness filled the group and Wasabi was still curious, regardless of the change of expression on his friends' faces.
The same tense awkwardness filled Tadashi's and Hiro's bedroom as Anna was viewing the space. She was not sure if she wanted to compliment the room due to Tadashi's silence. He seemed closed off and Anna was concerned. She felt bad for lashing out at him, but he lashed out at her and tried to defend herself. It would've been much more calm if she asked him what's wrong. Nevertheless, his response will probably be the same, 'I'm fine'.
"Tadashi, I am really sorry for what happened on the stairwell. I didn't mean to lash o-"
"Anna, it's okay. I'm not mad at you."
The silence returned, but less tense. Just awkward.
Anna sat down on Hiro's bed, she felt how firm it was. Not her cup of tea. She felt like she was sitting on a hardwood floor. She started to chuckle, trying to gain that confidence to speak again.
"Um, I assume that this extremely firm mattress is yours, Tadashi?" She asked jokingly.
He chuckled. "Nope, that's Hiro's."
"What? He sleeps on this hard ass bed?!"
Tadashi nodded with a faint smile. "Uh yeah, my bedroom is behind that divider over there."
Anna looked over and saw a divider that split the room from Hiro's. She gets up and walks over to Tadashi's pod and sits down on that mattress. Never felt this comfy her whole life! So soft like a valupedic type of bed.
"Now this is what I call a bed." Anna stated, reassured.
Tadashi's face was still tensed up and closed off. He walked over and sat down right next to her, on his bed. He looked down at the floor, not saying a word.
Anna was now even more concerned. This is unlike Tadashi. She thought to herself. Was it something that I said? I apologized to him already. What am I supposed to say now? She tried to figure out what type of issue was being seen here. The nicknames that he gets triggered by like: "Tada" or "Dashi". That has something to do with his parents; Anna assumed it has some connection to it. However, she is still not sure what to talk about. But the silence grew and grew. Until Tadashi finally broke the silence.
"Sorry. I know I ruined the tour of my home. You were thinking it would be fun and memorable." He said with a sigh soon afterward. "... I just strongly dislike the names, Dashi and Tada. It just… doesn't sit with me well. Especially since …"
Silence grew again but Anna then broke the silence as well. "What happened to your parents?" She asked, assertively.
She assumed that he went up for adoption with Hiro or his parents were absent due to other circumstances. She wasn't expecting this response.
"They're dead."
Anna's heart sank. She was left speechless.
"My parents died in a car accident when I was seven and Hiro was three. I was with my Aunt Cass and Hiro was with my parent's when they got hit. Hiro, thanking God gratefully, that he'd survived and wasn't harmed. My parents however… they got hit within impact…" He voice cracked when he was holding back from being emotional.
Anna was already at the verge of tears. She will never understand what Tadashi and Hiro had went through but the fact that the names that Tadashi gets triggered by, confirms that there's a connection between that and the tragedy of his parents.
Before Tadashi could continue, Anna went for a full embrace on Tadashi as he was left speechless. Anna getting emotional started weeping against Tadashi's shoulders. He felt astonished by the embrace but gave in and returned the hug. He never felt that instant love and compassion from a friend he only met a month ago.
Even though of course, he got the love and compassion from Aunt Cass when it was recent. And some sympathy from friends and loved ones, but from a girl who has her parents and lives with them and has a on/off relationship with them, she still shows that compassion to him.
"Tadashi.."
"Yeah?"
"I don't know what to say but I'm going to try. I'm really sorry for what happened to your parents. You are loved, no matter what. You can talk to me if you feel down, you can text me if you're lonely. You can even visit my home if you feel sad or scared or.."
"Anna.."
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
Both them cuddled with each other as they both looked at each other with a long gaze and genuine smile before realizing they were hugging and gazing a bit too long and pushed each other away gently; blood rushing to both of their cheeks.
Anna spoke. "Well uhm, sorry I mean-I didn't know I was hugging too long but uh-"
Tadashi chuckled, still blushing, "It's okay Anna. I'm fine."
"Oh okay! Good! Well, I guess that kinda answered my question I was about to ask. Uh your nicknames were once names your parents gave you."
"Yeah, my mom especially. She would call me "Dashi" or "Tada" and with Hiro, she called him "Giggles"."
Anna giggled at the word "giggles" for Hiro. It seems strange as Hiro never seemed giggly.
"I know," Tadashi chuckled. "Hiro doesn't seem like a laughable person, more aggressive than humorous. But when he was little, he surely giggled, a lot."
Anna laughed as she certainly bonded with Tadashi and they were both enjoying that quality time. They talked for a good hour and a few minutes on whatever comes to mind between those two. As they got to know each other more, from Tadashi's birthmarks to Anna's weird habits of chewing with her mouth open, they really gained a more emotional relationship that much more compatible than even their own friends, which were still downstairs.
Eventually, the conversation had ended short as Hiro ran upstairs to search for them.
"Hey! We're about to walk over to the garage and have a pizza party to celebrate for the showcase on Friday. Better hurry before it gets cold!"
Anna and Tadashi looked over at each other before forming a grin on their faces as they were growing excited from the thought of pizza which are both their favorite.
As they walked downstairs to the cafe, Hiro teased Tadashi about assuming they were making out in the bedroom and Tadashi declined, feeling a little offended. Anna on the other hand, played along and made Tadashi even more embarrassed, flushing red.
Aunt Cass walked in with three boxes of pizza in her hand. The gang was shouting, hooting and cheering in excitement. Aunt Cass chuckled.
"Alright, now who's ready for some pizza?"
"I am so ready! I'm starving.." Fred beamed as he rubbed on his growling belly.
"I haven't had pizza in a long time." Anna added.
Tadashi chuckled. "We have pizza almost all the time, Anna. Now that you're close with us, you'll get pizza more often than you used to."
Anna faintly smiled. Didn't even know if that's a good thing or a bad thing but nevertheless, she was excited to eat.
After a few pizza slices later, the gang were just chit chatting and socializing about Friday's showcase. Hiro was getting nervous yet excited about the showcase as he told Anna about microbots.
"These things are going to be the star of the performance." He held up a miniature, black chip that started twitching.
Anna arched an eyebrow. "...What does it do?" She asked, curiously.
Hiro stumbled. "Um, I kinda don't know yet." A huge sighed form throughout the group, except Fred who was still eating his pizza.
"Hiro, the showcase is in a few days and you still don't have any way to control them yet?" Wasabi asked in anguish.
Hiro chuckled nervously as he was procrastinating a bit as he was… still.. going out for botfights a couple nights ago. He's working on going cold turkey on those events, even though he made over hundred dollars those two nights, without getting caught.
Anna looked and observed the microbots closely. She got an idea but is unsure if Hiro can make something up this soon.
"Well…" She began, "maybe you can try and use some type of control that makes the microbots work."
"It seems generic though to just have a control." GoGo stated, arms crossed.
Honey also added, "and building a control in two days will be difficult."
"True, but what if you use something more peculiar like using some type control of a neurotransmitter within the body or even the brain. So whatever your minds thinks of, they do the rest of the work."
Awes and oohs covering the whole group and Hiro began to feel elated.
"That's perfect! A hat that controls the microbots through the mind of the brain! Anna you're a genius!" Hiro gave Anna a hug, making her bashful.
"Aww Hiro you don't need to give me the credit…"
"No, but you practically saved the day Anna! Tadashi better put a ring on it soon before I will." Hiro joked, snickering at Tadashi, watching his brother's face burn red out of embarrassment and slight anger.
The rest of the gang laughed, including Annabelle. She never felt this close to the gang before and is loving every last minute of it.
"I can't wait until Friday so that you will join us to see my showcase Anna!" Hiro stated as Anna's enjoyment soon turned into internal despair. She suddenly forgot that her showcase at the Matsuri Arts and Music Festival is on the same day at the same time.
She's in trouble now. Great, what am I going to do now?
That's the end of Chapter 10. So, the goal is to work on this story every Saturday. We'll see how this schedule goes and if things start to get challenging I will add another week which will lead to every two weeks; every other Saturday!
Thank you guys for all the love and support. Hope to see you in the next chapter! Namaste 3
