Fred heard the story from Honey the next day. He had been sitting in the science lab, lounging around while waiting for the classes to start. He figured he probably should have gotten there not quite as early; Honey and Go Go had arrived at least twenty minutes after, with cups of tea and coffee in their hands. Honey's face lit up once she saw him, placing down the cups to give him a welcoming hug.
"Freddie!" she said happily, "You won't believe what happened the other day!" Go Go shook her head, taking a swig of her drink and immediately gagging on it. Placing it down, she wiped at her face.
"Are you really hugging the troll, of all people?" Go Go joked, "I mean, he could have some weird disease or something." Fred stuck his tongue out at her, but knew she wasn't trying to be mean. Okay, usually she was, but she was always less mean when with Honey, so he let the comment slide.
"So what happened?" Fred asked, taking off the head of his mascot suit Honey eyed it curiously, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Freddie, what's with the suit?" she asked, pointing to it.
"Maybe he's applying for a job at Freddie Fazbear's Pizza Parlor!" Go Go piped up, drumming her fingers on the side of her cup as she held it.
"Um, that's a game, first of all," Fred corrected her, "and to answer your question, I'm the school mascot! Isn't that awesome?" Honey cheered a Go Go groaned. Fred knew Go Go wasn't exactly fond of him, but he didn't care. She'd have to deal with it.
"Okay, okay," Fred coughed, changing the subject, "now tell me what happened!" Honey blushed, then sighed, pulling up a chair. The lights in the lab bounced off her hair, creating a shiny effect on the blond strands.
"So yesterday at orientation, Go Go and I met this guy-"
"What's his name?" Fred prompted, wiggling his eyebrows at her. Honey laughed, slapping his shoulder.
"Freddie!" she scolded, "But his name is Tadashi, and he's a very nice boy. Go Go!"
"Huh?" Go Go raised her head, looking around wildly. Drool had pooled on the table, some of it dripping on her chin. Honey laughed- Go Go always fell asleep if she ound someone's story boring. Which was always.
"Sorry…" Go Go wiped the drool off her face, using her sleeve to clean the shiny formica table. "What is it?"
"Tell Freddie what happened next!" Honey urged, wringing her hands. Go Go sighed, glaring at the mascot, wh just grinned.
"Alright," Go Go said, "if the lizard needs to know so badly. We went to this cafe that he owns with his family-" Fred furrowed his brow at the mention of a cafe. He could vaguely remember mentioning one to Wasabi the day before…. But what was the name? he thought, scratching his head s best he could. It wasn't really helping that he was wearing giant lizard paws on his costume.
"-and then these chicks decided they were gonna make fun of us, so we got into a little scuffle and-"
Fred had already drowned her out, still racking his brain for a name. The fanboy knew it involved something with an animal, which one he couldn't decipher.
"-Honey, the name of it?" Go Go asked her friend.
"Um, the Lucky Cat Cafe or something like that-" Suddenly Fred slammed the table, making both girl's jump. Honey gripped the sides of her chair, careful not to let it wobble.
"Freddie!" she cried, green eyes wide.
"Lucky Cat Cafe!" he yelled triumphantly, "That was it!" He grinned ecstatically at the girl's who exchanged nervous glances. Fred was excitable, but it was obvious he hand' been listening to the story at all. He looked at them, confused, "What?"
A bang sounded as Go Go slammed her forehead on the table.
"You weren't listening, were you?" Honey said flatly, then shrugged, taking out her phone. A small decoration hung from the pink case, making it look like a small raccoon was in her hands instead of a cell phone. Fred thought it was kinda cute, but he preferred Godzilla.
"Doesn't matter anyway," Honey assured him, "he has this class with us too! You can meet him!"
As if on cue, the door opened, slamming against its hinges. None of them bothered to see who it was, Fred jumping to sit up on the table, kicking his legs like a child.
"That's cool, Fred said, "One of my friends has this class too, so I told him about you guys." Go Go raised an eyebrow at him.
"You have friends?" she retorted, peeling her head off the table. The skin was red from where she banged it, little lines creasing in her skin.
"What do you call yourselves?" Fred sit back.
"I dunno, obligations?" Go Go began to count off her finger, "A pity party…. acquaintances is too nice. The list could go on, really." Fred back of his suit had started to itch, and he rubbed his head against his should to get it, seeing as the gloves on his suit were not sufficient for the activity.
"Fred, you look like an animal," Go Go pointed out.
"Why don't you try wearing a lizard suit all day and then we can talk," Fred drawled, "Ah… there we go. So she does class start?"
"Right about now," said a voice. The three of them turned their heads to see the owner of said voice leaning against the doorway, a brown messenger bag slung across his shoulder.
"Tadashi! You're here!" Honey exclaimed, "Come in!" Nodding politely, he waltzed in, pulling up a chair for himself. Fred scrutinized him as he moved, eyes narrowing as he inspected this new guy.
He was definitely suave, Fred had to give him that. With a black V-neck shirt, and matching baseball cap, he screamed 'coordinated', and everything about him seems to scream 'I'm better than you."
"Freddie, this is Tadashi!" Honey gushed, and Fred blinked lifting his head so they were staring one another in the eye.
His face was the total opposite of his clothes. Where his clothes were prep, his face was soft. Brown almond eyes peeked out fro under black hair, and Fred could see there was nothing but sincere…. niceness, if that was even a term, on his face as he reached over and held out a hand.
"Hey," he said, his deep voice sounding just like smooth molasses, "I'm Tadashi. Nice o meet you."
Fred gave him a sly grin as he reach over and grabbed the boy's hand, shaking it vigorously.
"Fredzilla at your service!" he joked, "How's it hanging?"
"It's going great! And yourself?" Tadashi asked, rubbing his wrist once he got his hand back. Fred's jaw dropped.
No one had ever gone along with his jokes before. Nodding, he pointed to Tadashi, saying to Honey, "I like him. I say we keep him." Tadashi chuckled as Go Go snapped her gum.
"He's not a dog, idiot," she chastised him.
"On the contrary, I prefer cats," Tadashi clasped his hands on the table.
"Even better!" Fred was practically yelling, "Now you have to stay!"
"I guess it's a good thing I'm in this class then, huh?" Tadashi agreed, "And if you don't mind me asking, what's with the suit?"
"Oh, this?" Fred gestured to himself, "By day, I'm a school mascot…. by night, ale school mascot!"
"And Bestower of Annoying Nicknames," a voice said, and the four of them turned to see Wasabi stroll in, mumbling, "Did I really have to get put in this class?" Fred clapped him on the back as he pulled up a chair.
"Nicknames?" Tadashi mumbled, his cheeks tinged red.
"Oh, right!" Fred raised a mascot paw, pointing to each of his friends- starting with Honey Lemon, "This is Honey Lemon- because she's both sweet and spicy!" Honey Lemon blushed as she shook her head, giggling.
"Lemons are really not…." she corrected him, but Fred had decidedly moved on.
"And this is Go Go, because she likes things to go, go, go really fast!" Fred imitated the sound of a car engine, jerking his shoulders as if he were driving a race car. Go Go rolled her eyes as he moved on, Wasabi groaning in agony.
"And blast but not least, we have Wasabi," Fred said proudly, opening his mouth to explain, until Wasabi suddenly slammed his fists on the table in a rage.
"I spilled wasabi on my shirt one time!" he cried, "One time, people!" Everyone burst into gales of laughter, Go Go nearly choking on her gum. As she gagged, Fred tapped Wasabi for his attention, "Guess what, Wasabi?"
"What now?" Wasabi droned, rubbing his temples.
"Remember those friends I told you about?" Fred said, "these are them. Honey Lemon and Go Go Tomago." Fred watched as his friends exchanged meek hello's, but it was obvious they were experiencing first-day jitters. Everyone did, after all.
And now Fred was tasked with the job of bestowing upon Tadashi a nickname of his own.
Of course, it was going to be tough, seeing as Tadashi was the literal embodiment of perfection (and that was saying a lot since he and just met the guy). But if they were friends of Honey and Go Go's- and soon to be Wasabi's, he was sure- what was the harm in trying?
As they exchanged stories of summer fun and exhausting preparation for the new school year, Fred set to work, determined to make Tadashi's nickname the best one he had ever created.