Chapter Six

Tadashi was normally a studious student that always paid attention in class. Key word being 'normally'. He really did make a huge effort to pay attention in class today, but his mind would keep wandering to what had occurred earlier this morning. How he had stood behind her while she tried reaching for something on the shelf and how their hands brushed together.

What had possessed him to do that? To be honest, he still wasn't quite sure. It seemed like a good idea at the time and he still thought it had been a good idea. Yet, now he couldn't get it out of his head. He and Hana had talked before, even if it was for brief moments at a time, but he had never been so close to her until today.

When their hands touched, he felt some sort of tingle. His mind played it off as some sort static shock, which made sense minus the fact he could still feel the tingling in his hand. And it was very pleasant.

The only thought that had really come to his mind were how cute and beautiful she was, even now he was thinking it. The way her eyes shone brightly, the way her hair was tied up into a ponytail with some of the loose hair framing her face, and how her dark brown hair had some bits of a redder shade when the sunlight hit it. Also, how she was several inches shorter than him and he could perfectly rest his chin on top of her head. And, he'd never gotten a close look at her eyes until today. They were a lighter brown colour, he wanted to say they were a hazel colour, and they were filled with so much warmth and purity. Had her eyes always been that beautiful?

He felt like such a fool for not noticing all of this before, but now he knew.

"Hellooo, earth to Tadashi Hamada." A gloved hand waved in front of his eyes suddenly and startled, Tadashi snapped out of his thoughts.

"Huh? What?" He finally focused on what was currently happening and he noticed that all his friend's were staring at him with various different expressions. Honey Lemon looked rather concerned, Gogo seemed unamused as she blew another bubble with her gum, and Fred looked like … well, Fred.

"Were you listening?" Gogo asked, arms crossed over her chest.

Tadashi smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, I got a bit distracted."

"Are you okay, Tadashi?" Honey Lemon asked kindly.

"Did the midterm fry your brain? Oh! Oh! Do we need to make a device that'll restart your brain and then you'll gain a lot of new and different abilities?" Fred asked excitedly and bounced on his feet a little.

"It really doesn't work like that..." Honey Lemon mumbled quietly, hands clasped together.

"What's up?" Gogo asked, repeating Honey Lemon's question in her own kind of way.

Tadashi chuckled, touched by all their concerns. "My brain didn't get fried from the midterm. I'm okay, I really did just get distracted."

Luckily before they could press him for more information, Wasabi's voice interrupted them causing them all to face him. And when Tadashi did, his stomach did a nervous flip-flop.

"Hey, Tadashi, she said she was looking for you." Wasabi said while walking over with Hana.

"Hana, what're you doing here?" Tadashi smiled, meeting her halfway to walk with her too.

She smiled shyly, noticing the group of people he had been with staring at her as they were making their way over to them. "Oh, um, you left your lunch and wallet so your aunt asked me to bring them to you. Since my shift ended and stuff. She wanted to, but the café got busy right before I left."

Oh, how could he be so forgetful? Forgetting his lunch was one thing, but his wallet too? And then Hana went through the trouble of coming all the way here. "I'm so sorry. You had to go through the trouble to come out here, and you probably had things to do." He felt so terrible.

She shook her head and smiled sweetly. "It's not trouble at all. I didn't have any plans, unless you consider going home and watching Netflix the rest of the day a type of 'plan'."

He chuckled and then someone – Wasabi – cleared their throat to get his attention. He glanced at his friends, whom all looked back at him expectantly, before it registered in his brain. Maybe Fred was right, maybe his brain had been fried. But it definitely wasn't because of the midterm, that's for sure.

"Hana, these are my friends. Gogo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and Fred." He gestured to each person and then gestured to Hana. "Guys, this is my friend Hana."

A blush flared up on her cheeks when he didn't introduce her as 'the girl who works at the café', but as friend instead. He considered her one of his friends.

With a smile, she lifted her hand and gave them a friendly wave. "Hi, everyone. It's nice to meet you." A chorus of welcoming voices greeted her back and her smile stretched further.

Honey Lemon smiled brightly and shook her hand just as excitedly. "Nice to meet you too! Do you go to this school?"

"Oh, no. I work at Tadashi's Aunt's café."

"Oooh! That's so nice. They have the best chocolate chip cookies." Honey was such a nice girl, Hana couldn't help but smile along with her.

Actually, everyone was incredibly sweet and kind to her. Tadashi surrounded himself with such great and intelligent people because he himself were both. And what about her? She wasn't nearly as smart and great; she was so average compared to Tadashi and his friends. Plus, Honey Lemon and Gogo were really pretty. Gogo had that cool, badass girl aura with an edgy style and Honey Lemon was the tall, bubbly girl with a cutesy style. Hana? She was neither.

God, don't do this to yourself, Hana.

That sobered her up a little bit. This was neither the place nor time to be wallowing in self-pity. That was for later while eating out of the ice cream bucket and watching Netflix.

"Why don't I show you around?" Tadashi spoke up and gestured to the huge lab.

"Oh, yes please."

The others took that as a cue to go their separate ways to finish up homework or projects or finish reading the latest comic book issue. Hana waved to them and watched them go before following Tadashi through the robotics lab. Everything was so fascinating! There were so many projects being built from various stages of development and there were a few that were doing some test runs. There was so much brilliance and creativity in each and every one of the projects.

"Wow, this is so cool." Hana said in awe as Tadashi showed her around.

She was adorable, Tadashi thought to himself. The look of pure amazement that was etched on her face was priceless and adorable. Was it normal to feel like someone just unleashed a bunch of butterflies in his stomach?

"Is this your first time in this kind of lab?"

"Yeah definitely. I don't think we had this kind of thing back home." She replied and tapped one of the machines as they passed by. "Well, nothing this advanced."

He chuckled and motioned for her to come down the hallway. Approaching the door, he opened it for her like the gentleman he was and swept his other arm to gesture to the whole room. "This is my lab space."

Daaaamn.

"Oh, wow." A breath of admiration escaped her lungs and her eyes darted around the expansive room, unsure of where to look at first. The room itself was very tidy and filled with technology she couldn't even begin to name. There were several desks placed around the room with some papers neatly stacked on top and little organizer shelves, posters of science-y things on the walls, a book shelf full of books and textbooks, and a circular window at the far back wall.

"This is where I spend most of my time if I'm not in classes or at home."

"Basically your second home."

Tadashi smiled at that and nodded. "Yeah, basically."

"This is amazing. I can see why this would be your second home. The only thing missing is a bed." She giggled lightly. Though, she didn't doubt he probably had blankets and a futon somewhere.

Suddenly remembering what she had originally come here for, she dug into her bag and brought out a lunch bag and wallet. "I almost forgot this." She held the items out to him, blushing when their hands made contact.

"Thank you again. It was really nice of you." His lips curved into that irresistible smile again and he continued on, "Have you had lunch yet? We can share this."

Biting her bottom lip in thought, she shook her head slowly. "Are you sure?"

"Very." He walked to one of the desks and pulled the chair out for her. She couldn't say no. She didn't want to say no. Not when there was a chance to be with him a little longer. So, steeling herself she sat down gracefully – or she hoped it was – and watched as he pulled up a second chair next to her.

"We can share this." He offered her half of the sub his Aunt had prepared and smiled at her. He saw the hesitance flash in her eyes, but his smile never faltered. Only when she took the half and bit into it did he take a bite himself.

"Ah!" The sudden outburst surprised him as he watched her dig into her bag and bring out a thermos. She handed it to him with her free hand and smiled shyly. "The coffee I promised you."

"You remembered." Something inside Tadashi stirred when he realized that Hana had indeed remembered their talk earlier in the morning. It was a small gesture, but for some reason, it had such a big impact. He wasn't sure what it was yet.

Pouring coffee in the thermos cup, he passed it to her and grabbed a different cup on his desk to pour himself some. From over the rim of his cup, Tadashi watched her take a delicate sip and he smiled sweetly at her.

And Hana swore his smile could cure cancer or something. It definitely did wonders to her heart and feelings.

This might be my longest chapter yet. I really tried keeping everyone in character and I'm not sure if they were 8'D Sorry, sorry. It's moving along though! There's going to be more fluff to come and hopefully some silliness!

Thank you everyone for reading, following, favouriting, and reviewing! They really brighten up my day during these tough last few weeks of my semester, so thank you from the bottom of my heart! Group hug? :D

~Mari