Chapter Fourteen
It had been several days since her hang out with Tadashi and the both of them had become closer. They texted regularly, even though she saw him most mornings at the café, and they talked about the most random subjects. It was actually really pleasant that they could talk so easily now.
"Wait, you don't like Halloween?" Angela asked as she drew a cat with a witch hat on the café's blackboard.
"I would say 'don't like' is too strong of an expression."
The rest of the week had gone by in a blur and the biggest holiday in October, loved by all ages, was finally here. The air buzzed with excitement and anticipation as groups of all ages animatedly talked about what costume they'd wear, how much candy they want this year, and the Halloween parties they would be attending. Halloween was undeniably a thrilling time of year that everyone looked forward to.
Except for maybe Hana.
It wasn't that she hated the holiday or anything, she just didn't really feel anything for it anymore. She had grown out of trick or treating before entering the seventh grade and she didn't really watch scary movies on Halloween. And it wasn't like she went to Halloween parties either. The most she did was wear some sort of head piece, like a witch's hat, or a cape of some sort and hand out candies to kids.
"You're like the Scrooge of Halloween."
"So I'm going to be meeting the ghouls of Halloween Past, Present, and Yet to Come?" Hana joked.
"Maybe. You better watch your back, Hana, because they might be the scariest of all ghouls." Angela waggled her fingers.
"Uh-huh. I think I'll take my chances." She chuckled and stuck some more fake cobwebs on the walls. Carefully, she dumped out the plastic black spiders into one hand and started decorating the cobwebs with the creepy crawlies.
Hands suddenly pressed against the middle of her back. "GRAHHHH!"
"HOLY S–" She jumped in fright. The black plastic spiders in her hand flung out of her hand and all over the floor when she jolted in surprise. Her hand automatically went to her rapidly and painfully beating heart to stop it from bursting out of her chest, and she swiftly turned to see who the culprit was. Only to jump in surprise again from the horrendous monster face waiting directly behind her. "GAH! HIRO!"
"Oh my god, I can't – this was the third time!" The young boy cackled loudly in between breaths and slid the mask off his face. "I can't believe I got you again!"
Hana glared at the laughing boy, watching as he and Angela high-fived. "I swear to god, Hiro. You almost gave me a heart attack." She squatted down to start picking up the scattered little plastics. Hiro was such a little shit sometimes. A cutie pie, but a little shit nonetheless. "Don't you have school today or something?"
"No, it's a half day Friday." Hiro said smugly, crossing his arms over his head.
"What'd you do this time, bonehead?" Tadashi appeared out on the café floor with another small box of decorations. When he passed his little brother, he adjusted his hands and lifted one up to knock the side of Hiro's head.
"Oww." Hiro glared up at his brother and rubbed the spot that was hit. "I just scared her."
"For the third time this morning." Hana supplied, picking up the last of the fake creepy crawlies.
"I couldn't resist. You're really easy to scare and your reactions are hilarious."
Tadashi rolled his eyes at his younger brother's childishness. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go help Aunt Cass?" He placed the box on one of the tables and gave his brother a look before taking out some more decorations.
Hiro let out a dramatic sigh and threw up his hands. "Alright, alright. I'm going."
"Sorry about him." Tadashi sighed.
Laughter spilled out and Hana shook her head. "Oh, there's nothing to apologize for. It was all in good fun." She stood up holding the plastic spiders in one hand and dusted off her knees with the other before smiling at him. "Gotta hand it to him, he's pretty good."
"Don't encourage him too much. Knowing him, it'll go right to his head." Tadashi teased lightly, putting up a long banner that read 'Happy Halloween'. They were just adding the finishing touches to the store now and then it would be fully ready for the night's events. Throughout the week, it had been a little decorative with Halloween stuff here and there, but now that the day had come, Cass had asked them to finish putting up the final decorations. The early morning crowd had finally died down so they'd spent that time making the whole place look more festive.
There! Everything was up and looking spooky.
"Do you have plans tonight?" Tadashi questioned as he put the extra decorations back into the cardboard box. "Because my friends are coming over and we're carving pumpkins. Do you want to join us?"
"Pumpkin carving does sound awfully tempting." The last time she carved a pumpkin was probably elementary school when it was a class activity practically every year. What could it hurt? It wasn't like she had any plans tonight anyway other than crashing on the couch and chowing down on mini chocolates. "Why not? It sounds way more fun than watching TV alone."
"Awesome. They're going to be really happy you're joining us." Truthfully, she was excited to meet his friends again. They seemed like such a great bunch of people and there was a desire to get to know them more. Making new friends was hard as it is so if an opportunity to meet new people arose, you bet she was going to pounce on that.
"Wait, do we need to wear a costume?"
"It's not required, but you can. I think they're going to be wearing stuff." Tadashi said thoughtfully while hoisting the cardboard box into his arms. He swung around to face Hana and began walking backwards as she walked forwards.
"What about you?" She asked, stuffing garbage and the like into one of the clear plastic bags.
"Ah–" He started, but stopped in mid thought. She raised a good question, to be honest. "I actually don't know. I hadn't really thought about it, not sure why. I guess I was more focused on the pumpkin carving part."
That had a smile rising on her face and giggles pouring out of her mouth. "Not much for Halloween?"
Tadashi chuckled and turned to face forward before slowing so he could walk beside her. "Not so much anymore. I play my part though; give out candy and whatnot. My friends and I do little things on Halloween like watching movies, eat, or carve pumpkins."
"That sounds fun though. You get to celebrate with your friends."
"And you?"
Hana opened the storage room door for Tadashi and followed in behind him. "I hand out candy, but that's about it. I'm super boring. I'm more of a Christmas kind of girl."
"Same. It's one of my favourite holidays." He let out a small grunt as he hefted the cardboard box up onto one of the higher shelves. Once he was sure it wouldn't fall, he clapped his hands to get any dirt or dust off and faced her. "Your shift ends at three o'clock, right?"
She nodded in affirmation.
"How's about we figure out what to wear together? Since we both don't know what costumes to wear."
Angela's head popped out from the side of the entrance and she called out Hana's name. "Someone's looking for you."
"I'll be out in a second." Hana turned to Tadashi and gave him one last smile. "That sounds like a plan. I'll see you once I finish my shift." They waved at each other before Hana scurried out to the front to see just who was looking for her.
Lo and behold, there stood Evan with his cello case on his back and a coffee already in one hand. The moment he saw her, he beamed and lifted his free hand up in greeting. His green eyes practically sparkled when he grinned like that and it was a wonder how none of the people in the vicinity fainted from the cuteness of it.
"Your smile is practically blinding me." Hana joked as he walked over to the counter. That only caused his smile to widen even more and she pretended to shield her eyes.
"It's my secret weapon."
"Not so secret anymore though."
"Indeed it's not." He said with a chuckle and sipped his coffee. "How's work going?"
"It's going okay. We just finished decorating the last bit of stuff. Isn't it great? It's so…Halloweeny."
Evan looked around the store and nodded. "It's really good. And really cute too. I like the witch cat on the blackboard." He pointed up at the drawing that Angela had skillfully done.
"Angela did that." Hana said and Angela curtsied when Hana gestured over to her. "Heading to class now?"
"Mhm." The brunet hummed while sipping his morning coffee again. His green eyes stared at her and blinked a few times as if he had something he wanted to say. In response to his action, Hana tiled her head curiously and raised her eyebrows, urging him to say what he wanted. "So….the people in my orchestra are throwing a Halloween party tonight. I was wondering if you wanted to come with."
It was a tempting offer indeed. After all, it was a great way to integrate into the music scene and meet more people. Also, it would be a really good way to establish connections with other musical students, and it could be a benefit. However, Hana already promised Tadashi minutes prior. Truth be told, even though logically this was a terrific opportunity for her, the promise she made was important. Plus, she did want to meet Tadashi's friends again – they'd been so fun to be around last time.
"I can't, I already made plans for tonight." Hana smiled apologetically, feeling a little guilty when the corners of his mouth dipped down into a sad pout. "Thank you for inviting me, though."
Evan heaved a depressed sigh, but his pout lifted into a soft smile. "That's okay. Maybe next time?"
"You bet. We'll definitely hang out next time."
The sadness he felt before dissipated as he took another sip. His gaze slid to the cat clock on the back wall behind Hana. The long hand was on the– He hissed when the coffee burned his tongue from the sudden realization. "Oh, shit. I'm gonna be late!" The young man fumbled around and lifted his hand up to give the two baristas a goodbye wave. "I'll text you later."
They watched him scurry down the sidewalk and disappear out of sight. Hana couldn't help the giggle and shook her head a little because sometimes his antics were just adorable. He was incredibly tall with broad shoulders and toned arms. One would think he was intimidating, but he was really silly and sometimes even clumsy. To put it best, he was a gentle giant.
Angela was smiling and shaking her head for a whole different reason. Being a completely observant third party member in the matter, it was obvious – painfully so – that Evan was interested in dear little Hana. The kicker was, Hana didn't see it at the moment because it seemed she was more focused on making a friendship. It was basically like watching a teenage drama unfold and Angela had the best front row seats with 3D glasses and a huge tub of popcorn. The perks of being the observing party. Of course though, she harbored no ill feelings towards anybody; she was curious and just liked watching all of this.
"You doing some sort of internal monologue?" Hana questioned with an amused look.
"Not at all. Just thinking about stuff." Angela winked, effectively receiving a questioning look, but she didn't elaborate any more than that. "Let's get back to work, shall we, little Hana?"
Hours later, Hana's shift had finally ended and she had made her way up to where her boss and her family lived. It was late afternoon by the time Hana had finished, but Tadashi and Hiro had waited for her so that they could eat lunch together. Throughout the late lunch, ideas for costumes had been bounced around, mostly for her and Tadashi since Hiro was going trick-or-treating with his own friends. That hadn't stopped him from offering up his own ideas though ("Your costume can be a nerd. You wouldn't have to do anything, just go as yourself") and it was safe to say none of his "ideas" were used.
Simplistic was what they had decided to go with. It was much easier working with items they had on hand and had only gone to thrift store once to purchase a few articles of clothing. Once all the clothes and items were assembled, they had changed into their respective costumes.
Tadashi shrugged into the white dress shirt that he found in hanging with his other shirts and started buttoning it up. He hadn't worn it since last winter so it was a bit form fitting because he'd built up some muscles since then. It wasn't constricting though. He cringed a little when he buttoned to the very top, not really enjoying how it felt uncomfortable and tight at the neck. He undid the first button and left it like that. Then, he slipped the black vest they had bought at the thrift store and buttoned that up as well.
Meanwhile, Hana had taken the bathroom in the Hamada brothers' room to change into her costume. She slipped on black tights and a red polka dotted dress they had miraculously found at the thrift store. It had a scoop neckline with a snug fit around the bodice, but not tight enough that it would make breathing uncomfortable. The skirt of the dress was nipped at the waist and flared down, falling freely to the knees.
Tadashi was in the process of checking out his outfit in the full length mirror in Hiro's part of the room when he heard his name being called out. When he looked up, he saw Hana walking towards him with one of her arms behind her back and her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She looked really pretty though with the red polka dotted dress and he fought back the stirring in his chest.
"Tadashi? Can you help me with the zipper?" Hana questioned, looking frustrated that she couldn't zip it up herself.
"Yeah, of course." She turned so her back faced him and he pushed some of the hair she missed over her shoulder. Carefully, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gripped the small zipper handle with the other. Ever so slowly, he zipped upwards so that any cloth or skin didn't get caught between as he zipped.
Being this close to her, he could smell her lavender scented shampoo and the faint scent of her perfume, which was rather pleasant. Under his palm, the skin that the thick shoulder strap didn't cover was soft and warm. His eyes drifted down to the curve of her neck and he gulped quietly.
"All done." Tadashi managed to choke out, pulling his hands away immediately. God, when did he become such a creep? Definitely uncalled for and unlike him.
"Thanks! How do I look?" She twirled around a little and smiled at him.
Tadashi had to bite the inside of his cheek to fight down whatever weirdness he had felt before. "Really good. You just need to put the ears on and your Minnie Mouse costume will be complete."
"I will, but you first. Let's get those marking on your face." She suggested as she went over to the plastic bag laying on his bed. She rummaged through it and found the black face paint crayon.
He came over to where she was and dipped his head down so she had better access to his face. She stood on the balls of her feet to meet him half way and gently gripped his chin in her hand. As soon as she steadied herself, she started drawing on his face. She began by colouring an upside down triangle with rounded corners at the tip of his nose. It was rather tempting to scribble on a crudely drawn moustache, but she refrained from doing so. Instead, she continued drawing three thin lines on each of his cheeks.
"Voila, quick and easy." Hana smiled and lifted her eyes up to look at his, noting how nice the colour of his eyes were. It took a few milliseconds, but she finally realized just how close they were; so close she got a really good look at the depth of the colour in his eyes. The blood rushed to her cheeks instantaneously and her hand slowly fell from cupping his chin.
There was silence – a bit of a stunned one – and neither of them looked away from each other. The only sounds that really reached their ears was the exhaling of their breaths and, for Hana, there was also the distinct sound of her ears pounding along with her heart. Tadashi gazed into her eyes deeply and then, they flickered downwards slowly, observing that there was a slight tint to her cheeks. His gaze stopped at her lips and noticed how they were slightly apart and glossy from a sweet smelling lip product.
If he leaned down a little bit more, he could just place his lips over hers and–
"Tadashi! I'm going over to Nathan's house now!" Hiro's exclamation ripped the two of them apart from each other. Hana clasped her hands in front of her and Tadashi rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, glancing at her before walking to the stairs to call out to Hiro.
Oh my god. What was that? Hana shouted in her mind repeatedly, her face all red from the thing – whatever it was – that just happened.
Whatever that had happened between them was dropped as soon as Tadashi's friends showed up minutes after Hiro left. Not forgotten though, just buried deep into the depths of their minds. It had been a bit awkward and their movements kind of jerky, but they eased back into the groove of things.
"So, what're you supposed to be?" Gogo, dressed as a Marty McFly from Back to the Future, raised an eyebrow curiously at Tadashi and looked pointedly at the headband on his head.
He lifted the edge of the black cape he had worn a couple of minutes ago up to his nose. "Can't you tell?"
"Some sort of vampire?" Honey Lemon, in her witch costume, tilted her head to the side.
"Close. I'm a vampire cat." He dropped the cape and smiled at them.
It was Wasabi's, who was dressed as a Jedi, turn to raise his eyebrows. "That's pretty creative."
"It was my idea. Why be just a vampire when you can be a cat vampire?" Hana giggled, reaching up to rub the fake cat ears on top of Tadashi's head.
"D'awwwh, that's so cute!" Honey exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
"For some reason, it suits you." Gogo smirked.
Fred, whom was surprisingly not in his mascot costume but in a pirate outfit, laughed and reached up to rub the other cat ear. "Yeah, dude. The whiskers really bring out the kitten in you."
Tadashi rolled his eyes and chuckled before Gogo piped up, "We gonna slice up some pumpkins or what?" Reaching over, she grabbed a medium sized pumpkin and plunked it down on the kitchen table, ready to carve it up.
An eventful hour passed with Wasabi shouting at Fred and Gogo not to mess up the system he set up for all the pumpkin carving tools, Honey Lemon painting her pumpkin carving pink, and Tadashi having to help Hana with carving because she almost cut her hand with one of the knives. Needless to say, everyone was having fun.
One of the best parts was that Hana was getting to know the others. The more she talked to them, the more she realized just how great of a group they were. Honey was talkative and outgoing with so much kindness pouring out of her heart; Gogo was independent and tough, but also very caring; Fred was the hilarious guy that loved to just have fun; and Wasabi was also funny and scared easily, but just as kind as everyone else. They made her feel welcomed and asked her a lot of questions in turn, wanting to get to know her as well.
"So, I've been dying to ask, but is there something going on between you and Tadashi?" Honey Lemon asked when the boys disappeared to take the finished pumpkins outside.
Hana's eyes widened and she looked at Honey and Gogo, and both of them stared right back at her expectantly. "What? Between me and Tadashi?"
"Yeah, like…stuff." Gogo said.
A blush fought its way up to Hana's cheeks and she shook her head vigorously. "No, not at all. Nothing's going on between us. We're just friends."
Gogo and Honey looked at each other, both of them thinking and wondering the same thing. What, just friends? So, the both of them didn't even notice when one of them would glance at the other or how in sync they seemed to be?
"Really?" Honey prodded a little more, her eyebrows raised up.
"Really. We're just friends." Hana repeated, her heart faltering at the words this time. Right?
The long awaited chapter fourteen. I know, it's really late and I'm really sorry. I made this one a little longer as an apology, hehe. I think things are progressing between Hana and Tadashi. Slowly, but surely! Poor Evan though, if only he knew what he was getting into, I almost feel really bad that I'm doing this to him.
Classes are starting back up for me soon, but I'm going to try my VERY best to try and squeeze out a chapter before I go back. I know that so far the story's been focused more on the progression between Tadashi and Hana, but I have a mini plot in mind and I'm looking forward to writing that! And as always, I want to thank everyone who favourited, followed, and reviewed! It means so much to me that you're all enjoying the story so far!
Also, before I go, are you guys okay with smut? We're allowed to write that, right? I should've probably checked the guidelines, haha. I'll most likely raise the rating when the time comes, but I'll warn you guys before anything happens!
~Mari