Author's notes: I typed this out at 3 am in last night on my phone, and I hoped you guys enjoy it as I haven't had much time or writing inspiration to update frequently. Merry Christmas to my dear readers too, and Happy New Year!

8.

GoGo Tomago hates the rain.

She doesn't mind it that much when she's in a building, staring at it from the other side of the window. She doesn't mind it that much when she's tearing down the street on her motorbike, and the raindrops fall harmlessly on her (she can't feel it much anyway, with her helmet and leather jacket on). She doesn't mind it that much even when she's running down the street while it's raining, without an umbrella (even though the occasional cold and flu that follow aren't that welcome.)

She minds it very much, though, when it's raining heavily- the sky thick with a sea of grey, and she's stranded at an empty bus stop with a set of very important blueprints in her hands (1). GoGo's spent two weeks on it, stayed up to 3 am noting down and finalising everything, and it's deemed too valuable to leave behind in the lab.

She regrets that move now, because she has neither an umbrella nor a bag and she's not risking running through the rain to get home, even if it's only a ten minute walk from here. It's too far to go back to the lab, and GoGo decides she's well and truly stuck. She sighs and shivers, resolving she really needs to get a leather jacket that defended her from the cold (2).

"GoGo?" GoGo looks up in surprise when her name is called. The bus stops' been empty for the whole time she's stayed there, and the last bus had left long ago. Yet someone's calling her name, and while her first instinct is to punch whoever's doing so, closer inspection of the tall figure holding an umbrella above her tells GoGo it's Tadashi Hamada.

"Tadashi?" She echoes back incredulously. Today's been one of her latest nights at the lab, and everyone had went home hours ago- Tadashi being the second latest. Again. She certainly doesn't expect to see him in front of her now (It's almost 4 in the morning).

"What are you doing here?"

"You gave your bag to Honey Lemon, so I assume you didn't have your umbrella with you. And since it's raining now, I thought you might have been stranded or something."

"I could have stayed at the institute," GoGo points out.

"You'd be too tempted by your bed-" She glares at him. "Besides, you know you'd get into trouble if Honey Lemon comes in early and finds out you didn't get home."

It's true (her earlier experiences of tricking Honey into believing she went home earlier than she actually did hadn't boded well for GoGo. She knows Honey cares for her health, but there was just some work she simply couldn't leave lying around undone), GoGo has to give Tadashi that, and it makes her think that sometimes, her best friend knows her better than she knows herself

"I remembered you told Honey Lemon to bring back your bag for you because you were leaving the lab in an hour, disregarding the fact that your phone and umbrella were in there." He raises his eyebrows. "And that it was troublesome to carry it back while you were lugging all your equipment home."

GoGo rolls her eyes, knowing that he's aware she never intended to leave in merely an hour, and that depositing her bag in Honey Lemon's hands (along with the lie that she would be bringing her equipment back home) was to convince the latter to leave earlier so that she could avoid her chiding for staying up so late (She definitely hadn't expected such a heavy rain, and she decides maybe it's karma).

"Was the only way to get her to leave earlier, (3)" GoGo grunts. "Never knew I was going to stay so late anyway. Should have just slept in the lab or something, but the idea of a warm bed was too tempting-" She yawns.

"I'll walk you home then," Tadashi offers, smiling despite the faint shadows under his eyes.

GoGo stays quiet for a while. She doesn't particularly want to, because recently, it's been weird being around her best friend- heck, she doesn't even know if they're still friends or not. Tadashi's been just the slightest bit more than a friend to her (Honey Lemon keeps telling her that they're "practically dating"), yet he's never acknowledged or showed signs that he's anything more than that.

She thinks having him walk her home in the rain is going to make her head explode from thinking too much, but she's been stranded for close to an hour, and GoGo's too tired to find an alternative. She ends up sighing tiredly and walking beside the tall Hamada after handing him her neatly folded blueprints, since his inner cardigan pocket would be a much safer place compared to her leather-gloved hands (4).

It's not as bad as she thinks. Tadashi makes small talk and congratulates her on the compilation of her carefully written blueprints (she's finally put all her quick scribbles (5) on random pieces of scrap paper together, which is a lot harder than it sounds). GoGo answers and nods and talks and she thinks maybe, it's better this way, after all- Staying friends, nothing more.

She ignores the slight sting in her heart at the idea, that all the moments that he made so special are nothing in the end- that she's read too much into it (God, she's as dramatic as Honey Lemon (6) ). Or that maybe Tadashi simply got tired of her and just wants to be friends now. Or that he might even (GoGo's heart twists painfully for some reason) be interested in someone else now- if he was ever interested in her in the first place.

"-go? GoGo?" Suddenly, Tadashi's calling her name and his hand is on one of her shoulders. They're already at the front door of her apartment, and she vaguely wonders how long they've been standing there. GoGo snaps out of her trance and flinches slightly at his touch. She pushes his hand away hastily, trying to cover up for her lapse.

GoGo thinks she sees a flash of hurt in Tadashi's eyes when she removes his hand roughly. Yet it's gone in an instant and replaced with something else. GoGo can't quite put her finger on it, but when Tadashi starts speaking really fast about the next day's plans, and his eyes flit about distractedly, the answer strikes her like a lightning bolt.

He's nervous.

GoGo's about to ask why the hell is Tadashi Hamada nervous because he's one of the calmest people she knows (except when he's ranting or worrying about his younger brother), until the former gives a big sigh and looks at her. GoGo averts his gaze, because she's starting to get uncomfortable and deep down, some part of her heart wonders if he's going to tell her she never meant anything more than a friend to him.

"There's something in your hair."

"... What?" At his words, GoGo runs her fingers through her short ruffled hair in irritation. She thinks that Tadashi definitely needs lessons on getting to his points faster (After all, if he wants to break her heart, he should hurry up about it so she can pick up its fragmented pieces quicker and move on with her life).

"Look up," He orders softly. GoGo sighs as she does so and stares at his face, permitting him to remove whatever's stuck in her hair.

Then Tadashi kisses her.

GoGo almost forgets to breathe because wasn't he going to tell her he wasn't interested in her and what about the thing in her hair- (7) but it doesn't really matter, and she starts kissing back. When they finally break apart (She needs air), there's a tentatively awkward note in the air as they stare at each other silently. GoGo realises Tadashi looks a little out of breath too.

She says the first thing that comes to her mind-

"You taste of donuts."

And regrets it the moment it leaves her mouth. GoGo cringes inwardly and waits for Tadashi to laugh.

"Must be the midnight snack I got before I snuck out of the Lucky Cat Cafe (8)," Tadashi mumbles sheepishly. GoGo's glad that he hadn't poked fun at her observation, in fact, he actually looks pretty embarassed, and GoGo's heart suddenly skips a beat, because she never knew Tadashi could look even cuter when he's blushing- She blinks and frantically tries to erase that thought (For some reason, it's never occured to her that the tall asian would be as uncertain as her about all of this).

"Tadashi, does that-" GoGo pauses almost uncertainly, and she hates it because she's putting her happiness into someone else's hands and that someone else can crush it and bend it to his very will and it leaves her so vulnerable-

"Does that mean we're dating?"

Tadashi blinks.

"You mean we weren't dating before?"

I made GoGo look up because there were too many tall characters bending down to kiss their love interests (I have no idea if it makes sense or not). I wrote the title as 'Umbrella' instead of 'Dating' or even 'First kiss' since I wanted to surprise readers (I know some or even most of you probably already guessed but if you didn't, hey, it worked!) Initially, I wanted to end it with "Definitely." or something, and for Tadashi to be surprised at GoGo's question, but I got a sudden stroke of inspiration and decided to include a more humorous ending.

(1)- Originally I meant it to be an important test paper or something, but an inspiration from the amazing author fairytalelights led me to amend it to blueprints instead.

(2)- Mild reference to the first chapter.

(3)- I think GoGo wouldn't have wanted Honey Lemon to stay up late just for her, so she often tries to convince her not to wait.

(4)- I included this cos I realised GoGo would still be holding on to them when they were kissing and that'd be a little awkward (and she might have dropped them out of surprise, which isn't going to score Tadashi any points).

(5)- GoGo looks like someone who would live with quick scribbles until she straightened everything out, because, well, I think her need for speed makes her a little impatient sometimes.

(6)- Honey Lemon does seem like someone who would gush and fangirl over romantic moments, and GoGo thinks maybe she acted like her and read too much into the situations (she didn't, of course).

(7)- She doesn't quite realise it was an excuse then (I put this in just in case some readers got confused).

(8)- Tadashi snuck out of the Lucky Cat Cafe because he was worried that GoGo would be stranded and well, that act wasn't really planned. That also partially explains the faint shadows under his eyes that GoGo notices earlier because he was worried about her and couldn't sleep well until he finally gave it up and decided to check the Institute.