"Diana Prince."
Tadashi paused, pulse quickening by the second, his permanent marker hovering over the empty coffee cup that he held with his other hand, "Diana Prince… as in Wonder Woman?" he leaned a little closer, just in case his ears were playing tricks on him.
The girl in front of him didn't resemble Wonder Woman, but she was just as unreachable and stunning like the goddess whose name she was borrowing.
With her long, platinum blonde hair tied in a ponytail and disarming blue eyes that could only belong to a deity from the island of Themyscira, Tadashi was nearly certain that he would've believed her if she said she was a queen from a magical kingdom in a far away place.
He wasn't sure what her super power would be, but by the looks of it, she was already an expert in making him forget his words and freezing him in place with a single grin.
"That's right," the ridiculously attractive woman said casually as she crossed her arms, noticing the blush that painted the barista's cheeks. "I'd like to think that I'm a super heroine," she smiled, watching the flustered young man scribble her "name" on her cup.
Tadashi chuckled nervously, running a hand on his hair, still in a state of disbelief that he was actually having a conversation with her. "Well, you were Han Solo yesterday," he countered, regaining a little bit of confidence, before handing the cup to his co-barista who was in charge of preparing the drinks, "he's not exactly super hero material, you know."
The girl who called herself "Diana Prince" had recently become a regular customer at the local café Tadashi worked at. She was a familiar face, the newest student in Callaghan's Advanced Engineering Mathematics, the class that came a period earlier before his Robotics class. He'd seen her around campus, but she mostly kept to herself and he never did quite get her name–her real name–since they didn't share lectures together. Though she frequented the café, she used various monikers whenever she ordered her coffee, always choosing fictional characters, historical figures, or literature authors to identify herself with.
"You're right. Maybe I'll be Joan of Arc next time?" she suggested, rubbing her chin in thought as she rested a hand on her hip, shifting her weight from one heel to the other, "But she was condemned as a witch and she also died a very painful death," she added thoughtfully, her eyes widening while she let out a quiet gasp. "I don't wanna jinx myself. I'll think about it…"
Tadashi blinked a few times, the tips of his ears burning, his mind both blank and disorientated. My god, we're actually talking. Like, for real talking—and she's a complete nerd.
When Tadashi didn't answer and kept staring with his mouth half-open, "Diana" grew self-conscious, and her face started to turn into a blotch of pink.
"What?" she asked worriedly as she tucked her hair behind her ear, "Am I being weird? Okay, I'll stop, and I'll order my coffee with my name—"
"No-you're not being weird at all!" Tadashi exclaimed rather loudly, cutting her off, hands flying in the air in panic of making her feel bad, "you can be whoever you wanna be… and uh… I really wanna know what your actual name is since we go to the same school and all… but, uhm, please feel free to be Batman again, a rebel, or an intergalactic thief," he rambled on, a hand flying to the back of his neck, "you're really creative and I think it's awesome," he murmured in passing before lowering his gaze down the counter, feeling the heat on his cheeks intensify.
A blanket of awkwardness hovered over them momentarily until "Diana" decided to break the silence with a single word that immediately drew Tadashi's attention and eyes back to her.
"Elsa," she muttered in a quiet voice, hesitating, her arms wrapped around herself as she fixed her glance on her shoes, her face just as red and warm as the barista's whom she'd seen around in school. She was genuinely surprised that he had recognized her and cared enough to want to know her name.
Tadashi couldn't believe his ears. Could it be…?
"Elsa…?" he repeated slowly and carefully, confused and delighted at the same time. The name didn't sound like it came from a Marvel comic book, Harry Potter or Star Wars. He wasn't sure why his heart was starting to beat faster, almost soaring. Judging by her expression and the increase of red on her face, the girl seemed like she was sharing something personal and looked rather bashful.
Finally lifting those insanely blue eyes to meet his, the blonde drew in a breath before opening her mouth once more.
"My name… my name is Elsa."