Chapter two! You'll be seeing more of this friend group in the future!


Hiro was nervous about what Megan was calling, "Squad Game Night." For one thing, Megan was super competitive and way better than him at a lot of games. For another thing, Khary would be there.

Even though Khary was just as kind and fun as Hiro remembered, Hiro still felt out of his element with Wasabi's brother. There were so many things he didn't know about Khary and about the kind of guy he'd grown up to be. Like, why did Khary have to lie to his parents just to hang out with friends? Hiro had thought about asking Wasabi about that one, but he didn't want to make things awkward.

So he just resolved to go to game night and see what he could find out that way.

Hiro thought he'd show up reasonably early but apparently, he was the last one there.

"Khary showed up like an hour ago," Megan informed him.

"But you said 6. And it's 5:45."

Megan shrugged, "Take that up with him."

Hiro did just that, sitting across from the actor, who was wearing sparkly eyeshadow.

"Why'd you have to upstage me? I thought I was early for once," Hiro said, chuckling a little to show that he wasn't really upset.

"Because Megan lets me do my makeup in her bathroom and I'm not allowed to wear makeup at home," Khary said nonchalantly, and suddenly Hiro had a clearer understanding of why Khary had lied to his parents.

"That sucks, I'm sorry man."

"It's okay, as long as it's wiped off before curfew, I can normally get away with it."

Hiro thought about all the various things he lied to Aunt Cass about and how fortunate he was that one of those things wasn't self-expression.

"Well, it looks good."

"Heck yeah it does."

"Alright, boys, what are we playing first?"

Hiro knew if they started with video games he'd have a fighting chance at winning, but if they started with say, a word game, Megan would crush it for sure.

"Mario Kart," Khary said before Hiro had the chance to contemplate his choices a little longer.

"You always pick Mario Kart," Megan complained.

"I used to play it with Wesley," Khary said with a shrug.

Sometimes Hiro forgot that Wasabi's real name was Wesley.

"Do you see him very much?" Hiro asked.

"Not as much as you do," Khary said with a laugh before sobering a little. "Mom doesn't really like Wesley. She doesn't like me spending time with him."

Hiro's mouth fell open in shock, "Why? Wesley's awesome!"

"Trust me, I know that. But mom has funny ideas about things. I'm going to move out as soon as I can. I'm saving money from my job at Joe's."

"If you ever need any help," Hiro started, but Khary stopped him with a hand.

"I know, Megan's said the same thing. Thank you. Let's just play Mario Kart."

So they played. They raced for half an hour before Megan ordered them some pizza and forced them to switch to a board game. At least it wasn't Scrabble. As they played and ate Hiro found out more about Khary and Khary found out more about him. Hiro learned about Khary's plays and Khary learned about Hiro's projects. By the end of the night, it really felt like they were old friends again.

"We've totally got to do this again," Megan said, not minding that tonight had mostly been about Hiro and Khary. She'd won most of the games, after all.

"I can't wait," Khary said in earnest. He was all earnestness, all sincerity, wholly himself until he scrubbed the eyeshadow off his face and got ready to walk home.

"You should come to visit us at the cafe. Me and Aunt Cass, I mean."

"Oh, yeah, sure! I remember loving the pastries there."

"Stop by and we'll give you some free samples." Seeing Khary grin like that, having his friend back, Hiro was close to offering Khary every pastry in The Lucky Cat.

"I'll keep that in mind. I work in the afternoons on Thursdays and Fridays and nearly all day on Sundays, so come see me at Joe's Diner if you ever get the chance."

"Will do."

"See you around, Hiro."

"See you around."

And so they parted, not as old friends but, as Megan had put it, best friends.