Thank god I finished. I thought I wasn't going to make it. OTL This is probably the longest chapter for Share a Table yet. I had to cut a scene otherwise I wasn't going finish it. Reviews have not been responded to, sorry D: Too tired to look at them but as always I appreciate the response you guys give me. (´∀｀)
December 20th: Saturday
Theme: 25. North Pole
"Wow," Hiro said.
He was at North Pole, the largest toy store in the city. It was crazy crowded inside, no doubt people trying to finish up their Christmas shopping. Toys lined the walls, large and colorful machines whirled in the air and the walls were brightly colored.
Hiro had no idea why, but Jack wanted to meet him here. He glanced around warily, afraid to see Tadashi, Honey Lemon or Gogo to suddenly show up. Yesterday had been traumatizing to say the least.
"Hiro!" Jack appeared out of nowhere, swinging an arm around Hiro's shoulder.
"Hey Jack," Hiro greeted.
"Great! You made it," Jack said, vibrating in place. That was when he noticed the shepherd staff Hiro was carrying with a blue ribbon. "What is this?"
Hiro handed over the staff to Jack. "Your Christmas gift actually. I was going to wrap it, but that felt pretty redundant. You're always grabbing me off the street and pulling me into Frostbite. I'm not sure what I'm thinking giving you something that increases your reach, but as long as you don't hook me by my neck, we'll be good."
Jack smiled and gave the staff a whirl. "Thank you Hiro. I'm afraid yours might not be ready in time for Christmas. But we'll see."
Hiro tingled with warmth at the thought of receiving his first gift from a friend. "I don't mind the wait," he said.
Jack beamed. "Alright, now there's someone I want you to meet!" He grabbed Hiro by his wrist and pulled Hiro through the crowd, weaving back and forth.
"Um, Jack?" Hiro started as they went through an Employees Only marked door. His question died on his lips as he stared up in wonder. They had entered a large room. There were blueprints that lined the walls, tools piled up and the smell of freshly baked cookies and sawdust. Model airplanes and round brightly colored LED lights hung from the ceiling. In the corner was a large pile of robots and in another was buckets of paint and a wooden car. Wires, sheets of paper, markers, pencils, and rulers covered a nearby desk. An incomplete blue castle rested on another table.
"Welcome to the workshop," Jack said, grinning. "Every toy North Pole comes up with comes out of here."
A large Russian man burst into the room. "Jack! You came!"
"Hey Dad," Jack greeted. "This is my friend Hiro. Hiro this is my dad North. Dad owns North Pole."
Hiro stared in shock. What? That made… Jack very well off. North Pole was the largest toy company in the entire world. They were an international business with thousands of stores across the globe. There wasn't a kid alive that didn't know about North Pole Toy Store.
"Hiro!" North greeted, voice booming. "It is good to meet you! Jack had said many good things about you. He is even considering keeping Frostbite open over the holiday break because of you!"
"What?!" Hiro turned to Jack. "Don't do that! It's break for a reason!"
Jack shrugged. "Where else are you going to get your hot chocolate fix?"
"I can survive three weeks without hot chocolate!"
"You say that now," Jack said. "But you haven't had your supply cut off yet." He produced a cup of hot chocolate as if out of thin air. "But if you stop by my house every day, or let me stop by yours, I'll think about not opening Frostbite during break."
Hiro grudgingly took the cup and admitted that yes, he was fairly addicted to Frostbite's Hot Chocolate. Just something about it made different than normal store bought hot chocolate didn't cut it. Maybe Jack put drugs in it… "Fine. But I don't need any on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day," Hiro said, relenting. Hot chocolate was hot chocolate after all.
"You are a nice boy," North said, patting Hiro on the back. "Ah time for meeting! You two have fun. Don't get lost!" He left the two boys alone in the workshop.
"Sorry about that. Dad's pretty busy in the last couple days before Christmas," Jack said.
"It's okay," Hiro said. Christmas had to be North Pole's busiest time of year. "Is it really possible to get lost back here?"
Jack grinned. "Definitely. I use to hide all over the place all the time."
They made their way into what looked to be a living room. Why would you have a living room in a toy store? But there was a fireplace and chairs with a red rug across the floor. Cozy.
"You seem happy," Jack remarked, taking a seat in one of the chairs. "I take it that meant you and the kid, Tadashi, made up?"
Hiro beamed. That was one way to put it. It was odd that Tadashi knew, but his easy acceptance of Hiro's story made things… lighter so to speak. "Yeah," Hiro said, feeling warm. "We had a long talk about things, hashed it out. Not sure where it's going, but it was nice to get things straighten out." It was good to have the air cleared.
Jack stared at Hiro, inquisitively.
Fidgeting, Hiro asked, "What?"
"You really like this guy, huh?" Jack said.
Hiro's brain screeched to a halt. What?!
"You just light up whenever you talk about him," Jack continued.
"But, I," Hiro protested. He didn't like Tadashi! How could he? Hiro had enough trouble maintaining family relationships (his relationship with his father was practically non-existent these days) and was fairly new to friendship-type relationships (his friendship with Jack was six months and going and with Tadashi, it was only 20 days strong). How did that even work?!
"Pretty sure he likes you back," Jack said with a snort. "I suppose this works. I was worried people were going to figure out you're actually adorable and I would have to hire a bouncer at Frostbite's door to prevent your future hordes of fangirls and fanboys."
"What?!" Hiro blurted out, stunned. Fangirls? Fanboys? No, wait back up even further. What did Jack mean Tadashi liked him?!
"You didn't know?" Jack asked, eyebrow raised.
"Yes!" Hiro shrieked. "Why would Tadashi like me?"
"The kid only came into Frostbite looking for you every day," Jack pointed out. "Even on the days you were avoiding him, he was in there every day asking if I had seen you. He was moping like it was the end of the world on those days. And if you lit up whenever you talk about Tadashi, he lights up like a bonfire just by seeing you. There is literally a bounce in his step whenever he practically skips into Frostbite to see you."
'That doesn't make any sense!' Hiro's brain wailed. "I'm nothing special," Hiro said. There was his genius brain, but that was it. Hiro was a scrawny kid with practically no social skills, carrying the weight of guilt and grief that would crush most people and broken in so many different ways. What could Tadashi possibly see in Hiro?
Jack's expression melted into one of sorrow. "Oh Hiro. You know you're very special."
"No, not really."
"I think you are, Dr. Takachiho."
Hiro's heart froze. He stared at Jack with wide eyes. "You know," Hiro said quietly.
"Is that a bad thing?" Jack asked patiently.
Maybe. Hiro thought so. But after sitting down with Tadashi two days ago, maybe it wasn't. But Jack never said he knew, never so much gave a hint. "How?"
Jack waved his hand. "I got a friend, a ME, totally crazy about you. You're his inspiration. You're like the reason why he went into mechanical engineering. Use to say all the time that if someone as small and tiny like you could become an engineer, then he, the runt of his family, could too. I recognize you from all the newspaper clippings he has. I have yet to tell him that you're a frequent visitor to the cafe."
Hiro fell silent. Inwardly, he despaired.
Jack, putting his new staff to use, reached over and bopped Hiro on the head.
"Ow!" Hiro yelped. "I'm already regretting giving you that staff."
Jack grinned. "I think it's brilliant." He softened with concern. "Just… think about it, okay? I don't want you to get hurt because you fell into something you weren't really sure about."
"Yeah," Hiro said, still very overwhelmed by what Jack had revealed. Surely, it couldn't be possible could it?
Did he like Tadashi?