Just another Saturday

Lucky Cat Cafe, San Fransokyo

1:25 PM

"Two slices of mocha-fudge cake and two cups of non-fat espresso"

The slender young woman summarized as she pushed the tray to the hands of Tadashi. The half-Japanese man gave her a smile of gratitude as he balanced the tray in his hand "Again, I owe you big time"

Honey just shook her head as she wiped her hands on a clean rag, "And again, it's no big deal. I actually like helping around here and besides, your aunt looks dead on her feet." The thirty-two year old woman did look stressed out when they came in from their Saturday classes; her dark brown hair was a mess and her makeup was smudged by sweat and steam from the hot coffee she had been pouring into the cups. It was hard to keep tabs with all the orders and prepare the food and pour the coffee all at the same time.

Knowing that his aunt needed his help, Tadashi quickly grabbed the order taking job which Aunt Cass was grateful for, but when Honey suggested that she could be of help at the counter; the two of them insisted that they could take care of it.

At least, until the lunch hour arrived and more and more people entered the cafe and sat themselves down. The college student frowned when she noticed that he picked up the tray and placed it on the wrong table while his aunt forgot where she placed the bill jacket for the waiting customers. Tadashi's younger brother, Hiro was absent although she heard the older Hamada sibling mumble darkly about bot fighting while walking to the cafe earlier.

Tying her long honey-blond hair into a messy bun; she placed herself on the counter and began to organize the tickets and bills efficiently. The two didn't have the time nor the energy to force her out so they continued on through the busiest hour of their lives (in the cafe).

"Whew, I thought they'd never leave!" Tadashi japed as he took off his baseball cap and fanned himself. Honey smiled as she poured a cup of black coffee on the mug and pushed it to the man leaning back on the counter; he quirked a brow and looked through his notepad-

"Wait- No one ordered that"

"I know" she grinned, adjusting her pink-framed glasses on the bridge of her nose "I just think you deserve a little break from that madness."

Tadashi shook his head but took the cup from her nonetheless, "This is kinda wrong; I'm the one who should treat you to something."

"Well, I think you get the drink for free since it's your aunt's cafe" she answered, "And think of it as a thank you for helping me out with my thesis last week. I really thought I was gonna flunk until you lend me your research papers."

The nineteen year old man shrugged casually, "It's no big deal. I just gave the little boost you needed, 'sides, it's hard to imagine a girl as intelligent as you flunking over something so trivial."

The way he said it as if it was a common fact made the heat rush to her cheeks and she knew it wasn't because of the heat from the boiling coffee. In truth, the Latina had been crushing hard on her friend for quite some time now. GoGo knew about it, stating that 'It was as subtle as the roar of a sixteen-horse powered motorcycle. Guys are clueless when it comes to things like this.'

Maybe she could ask him out? But what would he feel about a girl- more specifically a friend, asking him out for a date?

Maybe now's not the best time as well. Finals are coming up and they all have to show their inventions to the board including Mr. Callaghan. She liked the older man; there's a warm fatherly aura around him that made her feel secure. But when she was near Tadashi; the warmth turned into something much more... heated. Like some sort of chemical reaction. She always felt comfortable with him and he apparently was fine with her quirkiness while some of her peers thought it was annoying. Although he also find Fred's antics amusing.

"But man," Tadashi sighed, jolting her back to reality "I didn't think that the cafe will be filled so quickly today. Usually when I help out Aunt Cass, there were five people- seven at most."

Honey hummed as she typed the bill on the computer, "Maybe it's because it's Saturday. Most people are eating out when it's the weekend."

She wanted to add another statement but it would be awkward. The one thing she noticed about the customers today were mostly couples. It was like they were taunting her, although that's just her imagination. It was a bit envious to see people who were so into each other sit in front of her while she can't even ask the guy she liked for two years out for a cup of coffee.

Tadashi excused himself and went at to the back where Cassie was refilling the sugar bowls. Honey's stomach growled at the delicious smell of the cakes and pastries and made her mouth water before she realized that hadn't eaten anything yet except a bite of Tadashi's energy bar he secretly offered to her during class.

She looked at the wall clock and saw that it was fifteen minutes before two. The flow of customers was now in a slower pace so she was sure they can handle it without any problems. As she started to untie the apron from her back, Tadashi came back with a wide grin on his face.

"Something funny happened back there?" she asked, mirroring his grin as he approached her.

He didn't answer her question, instead; he replied with another question,

"Are you taking off now?"

"Yeah, I think I'm not needed here anymore so I'm gonna go and grab a bite to eat otherwise I'm going to faint" she chuckled and placed the cleaned trays next to the coffee maker.

All she expected was for him to say thank you and goodbye but she didn't expect him to take off his apron as well and put on his baseball cap while saying "Alright. Where d'you wanna eat?"

Thank goodness she wasn't drinking anything or else she would've sprayed him with water and spittle. Instead, she stared at him with wide green eyes and blinked owlishly at his innocent question, "Huh?" was her intellectual reply.

"You want to eat right? Well here's my chance to thank you for helping us out and don't worry" he patted his front pocket "It's on me today."

Laughing at the sheer irony of her situation, Honey accidentally blurted out "Sounds like you're asking me out on a date, Tadashi Hamada!" The chemistry engineer student, again, expected him to laugh it off and say that it's just a friendly get-together.

Instead, he scratched the back of his neck meekly with a pink blush on his face, "Um, if you want...?"

Somewhere in her brain; all the thought processes stopped the moment he uttered those words. Honey was so certain that her brain excreted multiple levels of endorphin throughout her body because she felt like she was floating in midair right now. But she can't help but let a small squeal escape her lips before covering her mouth with her hand. Tadashi chuckled at the sound and gestured her to follow him,

"Good thing it's a Saturday" he lightly commented as they walked through the busy streets.

The following Saturday-

San Fransokyo Institute of Technologies

2:04 PM

The slim blond girl wearing an orange cardigan grinned widely as she looked at her thesis with a large A+ attached on the cover page. All that hard work had finally paid off and if the board would approve of her proposal; she can finally have access to all the materials she needed for more experiments. Thinking about the different chemicals she can create just made her so giddy that she didn't notice Tadashi walking up to her.

"Do I spy an A+ on that paper?"

His voice made her jump and she turned around to see him laughing at her reaction. She cleared her throat in order to regain some composure before enveloping him in a tight hug. She felt him stiffen under her arms and she could smell something like rubber (or was it vinyl?) on his skin. In a rare act of boldness, she pressed a light kiss on his cheek before she pulled herself away from him.

"Um... thanks for lending me your paper. It really saved me."

Shock was clearly seen on his face and the articulate young man began to utter gibberish and incomplete sentences with his cheeks stained in a reddish hue. Honey smiled at his flustered state and waited for him to calm down until he rubbed his palms against his face and blurted out,

"Wanna go out and eat something?"

She tilted her head with sincere curiosity at the sudden steer of their 'conversation',

"What?"

Tadashi shrugged his shoulders casually like it was no big deal (although if Honey didn't know any better, he was just trying to act cool) and tugged at the collar of his blazer,

"Well it's a Saturday" he answered like that alone was enough. And she just accepted it.

It was the fourth time they went out for lunch on a Saturday. Just the two of them. The rest of their friends didn't mind about this rather odd ritual (except she saw GoGo elbowed Wasabi quite painfully on the stomach when he suggested that they should all go out and try the new sushi restaurant downtown) and they continued to do it until she waited for an opportune moment to ask him something that's troubling her mind more than the incompatible mixture of sodium phosphides and hydrazine.

After scooping up the last bite of her orange-flavored shaved ice, Honey turned to Tadashi who was still finishing his own dessert and asked him,

"Hey, I'm just wondering..." she started, taking a deep breath before plowing forward "Why are we always eating out on Saturdays?"

He didn't say anything at first, taking his time on his shaved ice before he propped his elbows on the table and gave her that charming smile he always wore since the day she met him at the institute;

"It's a Saturday" he simply concluded before giving her a tender look that made her heart beat faster than normal, "And I like you."

A/N: Aaand cut. Dunno if I will write Tadashi-kun's POV with the same story but I hope you all liked it. Leave a favorite or better yet, leave a review; it helps me out a lot. Bye bye~!