Once again I'm sorry that the story doesn't really cover all of the investigation stuff, this is Morgan's story, not BH6, and her anti-heroics are just the catalyst, not the narrative, so I'm not going to dwell on all of that stuff, ever. I'm sorry. Maybe Arc 2 will have more action, who knows? :)
And also, if you're thinking to yourself that these chapters are just Seth and Morgan getting sad and leaning on each other you're right but you shouldn't say it. Everything will be happier after chapter 5, maybe. Maybe. Idk, man.
Tadashi Hamada loved his friends. He was so charismatic, everyone adored him, everyone wanted to be his friend. Morgan had never understood that. She clearly understood why you would love Tadashi, but she didn't fully relate to being that loved. Her closest friends were the Drake twins, and then Tadashi came along and there was a third friend. But she didn't click with his friends. They were nice but she wasn't able to feel like she fit in with them. She preferred to hang out with Tadashi one on one. And she didn't really give Seth the chance to become friends with Tadashi because, in all honesty, she knew Tadashi was a better person than she was. If she properly introduced Seth and Tadashi, it wouldn't be long before Seth was Tadashi's friend. And she was afraid of that. And then she lost him, and a part of her wished she had his circuit of friends to comfort her. But the other part of her was glad she could drop off their radar and try to heal and move on without constant reminders of his goodness. In a way, she was happy that they had forgotten about her.
"I have a bad theory," Fred said glumly at breakfast on Monday. He'd been pacing back and forth for the entire weekend, thinking about what they knew about the "angel" and what he had discovered on his own.
"Bad as in absurd?" GoGo asked.
"Bad as in I don't want it to be true."
"What's on your mind?" Hiro asked, keeping his voice low. Krei hadn't stopped hounding him all weekend.
"My friend Seth was an engineering major."
"You mentioned that."
"When we hung out Saturday, there were a lot of sketches of angels in their sketchbook."
"That could be a coincidence," Hiro said, trying to console him.
"What did you find on the roof the other day?" Fred asked, knowing the answer.
"A bit of white synthetic wig hair." Hiro shrugged.
"Seth has a sister who's big into cosplay."
"But is there a motive?" Wasabi asked.
"We won't know until we talk to them," Hiro said, "but we'd have to be subtle about it, and it might be best if we didn't go in costume. Fred? Any ideas?"
"Seth is moving. Maybe Wasabi and I could go help them."
"I like helping people move," Wasabi agreed, "You don't think Seth would get flighty if we questioned them? I don't want them figuring anything out."
"I don't know what will happen. If Seth is the angel, who knows if there will be a fight or flight response? But we have to try."
"Krei's going to be breathing down our necks until we catch the culprit. I'm sorry it might be your friend, Fred," Hiro said gently, still trying to figure out why that name seemed familiar.
"Was Seth friends with Tadashi?" Hiro asked.
"Not exactly. Seth is friends with Morgan. That's who they're moving in with." Realization dawned on Hiro.
"If Morgan's involved, perhaps we have ourselves a motive after all…" He murmured.
"Let's not jump to conclusions," Honey Lemon suggested, "Innocent until proven guilty."
"No," GoGo said, "I think now is the time to jump to conclusions. Hiro needs to have a talk with Morgan."
"Can't you and Honey Lemon talk to her? Make it a girls' day out?"
"Hiro, you need to talk to her," GoGo said.
"Aunt Cass and I reached out. She doesn't want to talk," Hiro grunted.
"But she probably needs to," Honey Lemon pointed out.
"Fine. Fred, Wasabi, you talk to Seth. I'll talk to Morgan." Hiro let out a tired sigh.
"You'll do great," Fred said, giving him a thumbs-up, before realizing that he still had to question his friend. They were both in over their heads.
Seth was moderately okay at keeping secrets but Morgan wasn't great at lying to Seth. She'd barely managed to keep Big Hero 6's identity a secret for any amount of time. And now that she had a feeling they were on to her, she couldn't keep her mouth shut.
"I think Hiro's figured out-" She stopped, seeing Seth surrounded by boxes and people.
"-That I've been avoiding him. Because it's so hard to talk about Tadashi…" She finished, not making eye contact with Fred or Wasabi. Sadie and her boyfriend Bennet were also there, and Sadie crossed the room now to wrap her up in a hug.
"Aww, babe, it'll be okay. Maybe talking to Hiro will be cathartic," Sadie cooed.
"Yeah, maybe, I hope so," Morgan really wanted to get Seth alone.
"Wasabi and Fred came to help out," Seth said, "And Sadie and Bennet were free, so I thought we could make it a party."
"You must be excited about moving," Bennet said, "I don't think I've ever seen you at a party before." Bennet Ortiz had a kind smirk and dark eyes. His brown hair was a little shorter than Morgan's and he had a similar tan complexion. His sense of style was pitiful next to his girlfriend, who was dressed in rose-covered leggings and a gold and black plaid button-up that she might've taken from Seth's closet, Bennet in comparison was wearing a soft reddish pink shirt with a front pocket and cargo shorts.
"You're not much of a party animal either, Benny," Seth pointed out, "And moving is not what I'm excited about." They gestured at their tits. Morgan laughed, but she still felt uneasy. She planted herself on the futon and shed her varsity jacket, which was striped with the purple, grey, white and black that made up the Ace flag, knowing she would start chewing on the zipper out of anxiousness if she didn't throw it off of her. Aside from the pretty jacket her outfit was kind of thrown together, a tank top that said: "I work hard for the frog" and dark blue denim shorts, a combination that was one chewed zipper away from being a cry for help.
"Are you feeling okay?" Seth asked in a whisper, coming over and putting their hand on her knee.
"I'm just glad we already have some stuff moved over to our place." She meant the wings.
"Yeah." Seth stealthily stole her jacket, trying to distract her from her woes. Since the two of them were in high school together, Morgan had always nattered on about how cute Seth looked in her clothes. If it would cheer Morgan up, Seth would try just about anything, they were nervous about the superheroes too. So they threw it on over their overalls and their old P!ATD shirt and waited for her reaction.
Morgan snorted, "You look fantastic, babe."
Sadie's ears perked up when she heard Morgan imitating her and she smirked at the scene, "Seth, save some of Morgan for the rest of us!"
"I'm right here," Bennet sulked playfully.
"Jealous, babe?"
"I could never be. I know you adore me." Sadie and Bennet shared a quick but loving kiss.
"You two need to get a room," Seth said.
"We have a room. King size mattress and everything, and I can't wait for my queen to move in all the way," Bennet said, "Are you two going to be sharing a bed in your new apartment?"
"If it means Seth isn't sleeping on a couch after their surgery, absolutely," Morgan said.
"I'd like my own space," Seth interjected.
"My family has an extra bed frame, nothing fancy," Fred spoke up for the first time, "I could have it and a mattress delivered to your address." Morgan couldn't help thinking that Fred just wanted to sleuth around her apartment, but Seth accepted the gesture with gratitude, giving Fred a hug as they continued to drown in Morgan's jacket.
"With all these hands you'll be moved out in no time," Sadie said cheerfully, "maybe your moving party could help me get my stuff packed next?"
"Maybe," Seth agreed.
"And with Wasabi's help, it may actually be organized," Fred teased.
"No offense," Wasabi started, "but it was a mess when we got here."
"I was looking for something," Seth shrugged.
"Is it my wig?" Sadie asked, "I'd like it back."
"Let me buy it from you, I still need it," Seth said, not looking at Morgan.
"Fine. You can reimburse me later."
"You can reimburse me for that shirt you stole," Seth said, and the twins argued as Fred and Wasabi exchanged a look and Morgan retreated further within herself, digging her fingernails into her skin. She was spiraling, falling deeper down into a bottomless hole of doubt. She didn't notice when she ended up lying down on Seth's futon, but she recognized the feeling of small, calloused fingers threading through her hair.
"Hey, Morgan, they're gone."
"What?"
"You kind of… Zoned out. I told the others you were fine, just stressed out about the Tadashi thing, and asked that they let you rest. Are you… Are you really stressed out about the Tadashi part, or just about your anti-heroics?"
Morgan bit her cheek to try to stop tears from stinging her eyes and failing miserably, "Both. I'm not trying to think about it, actually. I just… I miss him a lot. Taking the leap the other night was the freest and most confident I've felt since he died. But if I look Hiro in the eyes and admit what I've done, even though I believe it was right, then I'm letting Tadashi down."
"It was right. I know I teased you about it, but I think you were doing the right thing. I'll support you, 100%. I'll defend you, 100%. You have to make peace with yourself and with Tadashi. I know it'll be hard, Morgan, but you are smart and amazing, and capable. I know you can do it." Seth continued to run one hand through her hair and used the other to brush tears from her cheek, not forcing her to get up before she was ready.
"Thank you. You're right. There's someone I need to talk to."
Morgan and Tadashi had had a lot of picnics. They'd cuddle up and Morgan would point out different constellations. So now, when she talked to Tadashi, she talked to the cosmos. It had been nice to spread her wings and confess to him, but now she had to shed the costumes and the gimmicks and make it real, make it permanent. Now she had to admit that not only was he gone, but so was she. She wasn't the person he had fallen for, the passive person who had never made a difference. She had been that for too long. Now things were bad and she was ready to hit some shit. Who knew if Thursday's flight would be her last, but she knew that she'd spend the rest of her life doing what she could to help people recover from injustices. She couldn't help people the way he could, and that was okay.
"I miss you so much, you know?" She assured the constellations.
"And until I took that leap, I was dead too. But now I feel like I know what I'm doing, and I never felt that before. I didn't know what I was doing before but now I have to do what I can. And it… It isn't like you. I can't be like you. I can only disappoint you. And as much as I love you, I have to be a disappointment. It's the only way I can love myself. The only way I can show love to anyone else."
The stars didn't answer, "I have to talk to your brother tomorrow. But I had to talk to you first. I love you, Tadashi. I'm sorry."
Someone told Seth to calm their tits once and Seth decided to cut them off instead. I think I'm the only person in the world more excited about Seth's top surgery than they are. I'm nonbinary and a ways off from top surgery but reading up on top surgery made me really happy because there was a bit in it about most mtf, mtnb, ftm, and ftnb people who go through it don't regret it and feel less dysphoria and that kind of thing validates my little queer mind that people know themselves and don't really make mistakes about their identity. I want that one day.