Cafe Capers [Tadashi x Reader]

You were at the Lucky Cat Café, snuggled in a corner booth, absentmindedly stirring the spoon in your hot chocolate. Your mind was currently worlds away as you stared out the window, not paying attention to anything in particular as your thoughts drifted to different things. You weren't feeling troubled or upset, it was just a particularly lazy day and you had nothing better to do since all your friends were preoccupied with the new festival going on at San Fransokyo park. You would've gone, honest; you just didn't feel like being surrounded by excited strangers who were hyped up on sugary treats. Besides, Miss Cass was low on customers today and if you think about it, you were doing her a good deed by being here and not there (there being the festival, that is).

"[Name], why don't you go to the festival with your friends instead?" You sigh and turn to face Miss Cass who had just sat opposite you. So much for that excuse. "It's just that you seem a little... distracted today. Maybe the atmosphere there could liven up your spirits a little.”

Smiling gently at her, you shook your head and placed your spoon down beside your mug. “Thanks but I don’t feel like going. I’d rather just sit here for a bit, if you don’t mind.”

“Stay as long as you want,” she replied, standing up “Yell if you need anything.”

Slumping back onto your chair, you looked around the empty café and wondered why you didn’t jump at the chance to go to the festival. Things like that didn’t occur often in San Fransokyo and you usually loved to go see them (even if it would only hold your interest for a couple of hours). Sighing again, you took a sip of your now lukewarm beverage and settled on the decision that you were just having an off day and your arse liked the seat you were sitting on too much to actually leave it.

“Mochi! Come back here you stupid cat!”

A big ball of orange and white fur suddenly came shooting down the stairs and began to randomly run around the café then bounded towards your general direction. Just as the situation became clear enough for you to know that you really should put your drink down, it was already too late. Your hand had only moved slightly before a surprisingly heavy animal crashed into you, causing you to yelp and brace yourself for the inevitable pain of smashing onto the floor as your body leaned backwards and your unoccupied arm failed to grab onto the table.

In the moment of panic, the cat chose to grab onto your face.

‘I am definitely a dog person’ you think to yourself.

Your small ow was muffled by the furry mass atop your face. “Tadashi! Hiro! Come here now!” you heard Miss Cass shout as you attempted to push what you suspected was called Mochi off of you. “What were you two knuckleheads doing? Look at her!”

The shrill sound of Miss Cass scolding the two boys was enough to startle Mochi and your shoulders slumped in relief when the fat cat chose to scramble off your face and hide someplace else. The panicked yell of ‘grab him!’ processed in your mind as you groggily sat up and rubbed the back of your head.

A hand suddenly appeared in front of your face, making your eyes look up to see the person who was offering you some help and slap me with a cat, he was cute. You even found the dorky cap and cardigan he was wearing somewhat attractive. Alas, you knew you couldn’t ogle at his puppy dog eyes and charmingly good looks all day without being seen as weird and creepy.
 Placing your hand in his, you stood up. Your hands stayed clasped together for a little longer than necessary and you quickly pulled away, embarrassed.

“Uhh… thanks.” You say, smiling slightly up at him.

He grinned back, “No problem. Hey, are you okay? You’ve got a few scratches there.” A part of you melted at his concerned expression and you murmured a ‘fine’, bashfully looking down, away from his gaze, only to notice the brown stain on your shirt. Right, the hot chocolate.

Forgetting momentarily that a very attractive person was standing in front of you, you groaned and muttered out an ‘oh, brilliant’ under your breath.

“Oh honey, your shirt!” Miss Cass cried, shoving whoever-he-was out of the way, reminding you of his presence. Great, I meet a cute guy and he sees me practically making out with a cat’s stomach and a brown stain on my top. “I'm so sorry on behalf of my idiot nephews; I promise I’ll make them pay for it! Both figuratively and literally.”

“Oh n-no, there's no need,” you stutter “I’ll be fine, really.” Your attempts at assuring her were in vain when she noticed Mochi’s handiwork. Gasping loudly, she cupped your face and examined the scratches that had started to sting a little.

“Aunt Cass, I’ll take care of her.” A voice piped up. Your eyes widened and your heart began to beat a little faster when you realised who had spoken up. “I- I mean, Hiro’s gone and lost the cat again and I've got a shirt she can borrow. Plus, I've been programming multiple medical techniques into an inflatable robot, I'm pretty sure I can do first aid.”

Stepping back, Miss Cass looked over at her nephew and nodded, sighing. “I would reject your offer and tell you to help Hiro find Mochi but frankly, I don’t trust you two together at the moment.” Turning back to you, she smiled tiredly, “Don’t be afraid to put this bonehead into place, okay? If his choice of clothing didn’t already scream it, he’s actually a huge dork and will run away if threatened.”

“Wha-What? Aunt Cass!” He spluttered, his cheeks a faint pink colour. He tried to deny what she said but he could only muster incoherent sentences. Miss Cass laughed, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I'm only joking, Tadashi. Right then, I should probably save poor Mochi from whatever Hiro’s doing.” To prove her statement, a yowl emitted from behind the café’s kitchen doors followed by a ‘damnit!’. Groaning, Miss Cass smiled apologetically at you before making her way to the kitchen.

“So uhh… I'm Tadashi.” A sheepish grin graced his features as he held out his hand for you to shake. Raising your eyebrow slightly at his actions, you shake his hand.

“[Name],” You tell him. Rubbing the back of his neck, he grins again and motions for you to follow him. You do so and as you two walk up the stairs, he explains that he and his brother were into robotics and wanted to test out a new project they had been working on, on their cat.

“I mean,” he says, chuckling “I don’t blame him from running away. Last time we tried a prototype on him, he ended up crashing onto the café windows.”

“So you… test things on your cat?”

Cursing under his breath, he stops and turns to face you, holding his hands out in a defensive position. “N-no! Well… yes. B-but it’s not what it sounds like! Actually, it’s sort of what it sounds like but we don’t torture him or anything, I swear. Last time, it was these little flying jetpack-like shoes that got a little out of control due to some uhh technical difficulties and we were so sure that we got it right this time but of course, we didn’t actually get to find out because you know, he ran away and uh..” he coughed awkwardly and cursed again. “I'm rambling now, I'm sorry. And not just for the, uh, rambling but also for being partially at fault for your, um, predicament.”

“Are you always this articulate?” you tease, crossing your arms. Relaxing, he laughs and leads you into his room.

“Only around pretty girls.” He replies, glancing over at you. Freezing, your eyes widen and you feel your face warm. Chuckling at your unmoving stature, he turns his back to you and rummages through his drawers before pulling out a grey shirt. “Here, try this one on.”

Thanking him, you tentatively take it from his grasp, purposefully avoiding his eyes so he wouldn’t see your flustered state. You hear him laugh quietly.

“Did I make a smooth enough recovery to prove I'm not a bumbling idiot?” he questions and you press your lips together briefly before looking around the room.

“Where could I change?” you ask, changing the subject. In response, he gently pushes you towards his side of the room before sliding the panel that separated his side of the room, closed. Certain that he could no longer see you, you relax and close your eyes shut, mentally cursing yourself for acting like a fool. Quickly removing your top and replacing it with Tadashi’s you can't help but feel all embarrassed and shy about wearing a really cute guy’s shirt. ‘When did I get so boy crazy?’ You think to yourself as you fold up your stained shirt ‘Like, five minutes ago when you met Tadashi’ another part of you replies. Settling on the fact that what you felt was merely a mild infatuation, you gently slide the panel open to see Tadashi sitting down, fiddling with his hat on his lap. Clenching your teeth together, you stop yourself from swooning at how much more attractive he looked without his cap on.

“Hey,” he says, glancing up at you “I've got the first aid kit ready, come sit. How bad do the scratches hurt?”

Sitting beside him, you shrug. “It isn't that bad. They sting a little but I'm pretty sure I’ll live.”

Nodding his head, he opens up a small red box and applies something onto a cloth. “This should clean up your cuts and prevent any infection.” He explains to you. You nod and he tenderly grabs your chin, tilting your head slightly to the left. You try not to notice how close you two currently are as he dabs the cloth onto your face. You suddenly feel a sharp prick and you hiss quietly under your breath.

“Sorry!” he quickly apologises and you turn your head to fully face him.

“It’s fine,” you assure him and your breath hitches as you realise the very small distance between your faces. Gulping, a light red dusts his cheeks and he slowly removes his hand from your chin. “I uhh... um thanks.” You say, your voice a whisper.

“No problem.” He softly replies, his eyes flickering down before staring into your eyes. Neither of you move away yet neither of you move closer either. You both seem to be transfixed by the other and you feel your face warm (again).

A cough from behind you is what breaks the moment and you both stand up and scramble away from each other, flushing. You see a boy with shaggy, black hair smirking at you two amusedly. “We got the cat.” He informs.

Clearing your throat, you and Tadashi continue to stand in an awkward silence. The boy rolls his eyes and lifts a hand in greeting. “I'm Hiro,” he says “Tadashi’s genius younger brother. I'd be a great wingman if either of you wanted me to be but I'd prefer to stop anything inappropriate happening on my bed, thank you very much.”

This seems to break Tadashi out of his silence. “Hiro!” he scolds, “Nothing was going on, and I was just cleaning the cuts on her face.”

“I'm pretty sure you would’ve done more to her face if I didn’t interr–”

“OKAY, Hiro didn’t you say you and Aunt Cass got Mochi? Let’s all go downstairs and help Aunt Cass tidy up any mess he made. [Name], why don’t you go first? We’ll catch up with you; I just need to show Hiro some problems with our blueprints from earlier.”

Nodding your head, you take the excuse to get out of their room and quickly make your way out the door. You hear a muffled ‘ow’ and the word ‘knucklehead’ as you go down the stairs. Smiling to yourself, you shake your head and turn around, only to face a smirking Miss Cass holding Mochi in her arms.

“Oh! Miss Cass, I didn’t see you there!” you exclaim. Her smirk widens and she raises a brow before motioning you to an empty table. You sit down opposite her and look around the café. “Shouldn’t there be a least some customers by now?” you question “I mean, surely the rest of San Fransokyo couldn’t possibly at the festival.”

Miss Cass shook her head. “No no, I just decided to close up early today. After the incident with you and Mochi, I didn’t particularly feel like handling customers.”

“Oh, of course, would you like me to leave?”

“Don’t worry; I'm not kicking you out, [name], especially not after what happened. In fact,” she says, placing Mochi down and standing up “I'm going to bring out a cake for the four of us to share. You don’t mind staying longer, do you?”

“Um, n-no I don’t mind at all, cake sounds lovely.”

“Besides,” she winks “I'm fairly certain my oldest nephew has become quite infatuated with you and I wouldn’t want him pouting all day because I let you go so soon.” Your face heats up for what seemed like the hundredth time that day and you ducked your head down, staring at the blank tabletop.

You hear Hiro and Tadashi descend the stairs and you place your chin on your palm and look at Mochi. “You have some odd owners. They're all lovely, I'm sure, but they're just a bit… blunt. Or maybe that’s just me. I don’t know. I don’t know how to describe their family, Mochi, do you have any good adjectives in your little cat mind?” Mochi merely just glanced at you before licking his paw. You sigh. “I didn’t think so.”

“Talking to the cat?” you hear Tadashi ask as he and Hiro entered the café. You turn to see him grinning at you.

“Yeah, he’s a great conversationalist. I have to admit, he’s a lot better than you.” You tease back as he sits himself beside you. He raises his eyebrows before smirking.

“Well, I did tell you why I was so inarticulate.” He gently bumps your shoulder with his and you try to suppress a smile. “I know I'm a waffling fool at times but you just have to give me some time to collect myself before you stun me with your tempting looks.”

“Wha- When did you get so confident?” you stammer “Wh- Where did this come from all of a sudden?”

“Yeah, Tadashi, Where?” Hiro asks, sitting next to Mochi.

Tadashi scoffs. “Trust me, it’s all an act. I'm secretly dying on the inside.” This elicits a laugh from you and it’s your turn to bump his shoulder.

“Me too.”

“Me three,” Hiro snorts. “Except I'm mainly cringing.” You presume Tadashi kicks him under the table as Hiro then yelps seconds later after his retort. Miss Cass then chooses that moment to appear.

“I have caaake!” She sings, placing a lemon cheesecake down onto the middle of the table. She then proceeds to hand out plates and spoons to us individually. “Mochi, get out of my seat!” she exclaims, placing her hands on her hips. When he doesn’t move, she groans and drops her head down in a frustrated manner. “Ugh, never mind.” She grumbles and pulls out a chair from another table.

You all continue to laugh and banter as you eat the cake. You particularly enjoyed it when Miss Cass would share some stories of embarrassing things the boys used to do and you didn’t think you had laughed so much in ages. (It was also really fun to tease their red faces). Alas, it soon came to the point where there was no cake left and you had all grown quiet. You looked outside and saw that the day had started to darken slightly, and sighing, you straightened up in your chair.

“Thank you all so much for having me, I've had loads of fun but I think I should head back to my apartment. My roommate would be wondering where I am about now.”

Nodding, Miss Cass smiled and began to clear the table. “You’d be welcome to pop by for a chat anytime, sweetie, even if the café’s closed.”

Touched, you stand up to hug her. “That sounds great,” you grin. Pulling away, you glance at Hiro who was currently slumped back on his chair. “Stay out of trouble, okay? I'm all for doing what you love but just… try not to get arrested?”

He beams at you and rushes to envelop you in an embrace. Shocked, you freeze for a moment before smiling fondly and hugging him back. You ruffle his hair and chuckle as he swats your hand away. “I’d say sorry for accidentally setting Mochi onto you but I'm actually kinda happy he did.” He tells you as he pulls away. Laughing, you shake your head and hit his arm lightly.

“Gee, I don’t know, Hiro. A simple hello would’ve been just fine. That’s how most people introduce themselves.” You joke. He shrugs and mutters something about it being ‘too boring’.

“Need a ride?”

You turn around to face Tadashi who was swirling a key ring on his finger. You hesitate briefly before smiling up at him and nodding your head. “Yeah, I'd love one.”

“Great,” He grins, placing his cap onto his brother’s head “Let’s go.”

You say one last goodbye to Miss Cass and Hiro (who, for some reason, was smirking at you two) before following Tadashi. You tell him your address and he nods, telling you he actually has friends who live in the same building and did I know a Honey Lemon and Gogo? To which you nodded said that you’ve talked to them occasionally. He led you to the garage where he threw you a helmet. Surprised, you look at him confusedly before it clicked in your mind that Tadashi didn’t drive a car. You then followed him out the back door where he began to take a black cover off his vehicle.

“C’mon, [name], get on.”

You look to see Tadashi on the back of a red moped and you grin excitedly at him as you rush towards it. You eagerly climb on behind him and begin to strap on your helmet. “Oh, I love these things! My dad used to drive a scooter back home but you know, it can't exactly fit a family of four on it so he had to get a car.”

Chuckling softly, Tadashi twisted his body slightly to look at you fumble around with the straps of your helmet as you happily rambled to him. “Here, let me do it. That one is kinda old and has some irrelevantly fiddly bits.” You nodded and let him fix on the helmet. You unashamedly let your eyes take in all his features because well, there's no harm in looking, right?

This could either be considered as flirting or being just plain creepy.

Tadashi clicked it into place and you beamed, thanking him. He stuttered for a moment before sliding down the face shield. “Ready?” he asked and you nodded, encircling your arms around his waist, holding tightly. You feel his body stiffen and also can't help but feel that he is surprisingly muscular for a robotics dork.

He revs the engine before speeding off onto the city streets. You tighten your grip suddenly but you let out a loud, excited laugh. You arrived at your apartment sooner than you would’ve liked but you were still beaming happily as you climbed off the moped and gave Tadashi his helmet back.

“I’ll return your shirt the next time I go to the café.” You tell him.

You see him hesitate then take off his own helmet and climb off to stand next to you, scratching the back of his neck. “Hey, uhh... [Name]? Do you want to possibly maybe… hang out again? Like, just us and not at the café but if you want to hang out at the café then that’s great too I just wanted to uhh–”

You grin up at him as he stammers slightly. “Are you… asking me out?”

“I-I um… uhh… yes?” He stutters out, turning slightly pink.

“Do you have a pen?”

“No… but I have my phone.” He replies, catching your drift. “Here.” You take it from him and see that he’s already opened it up to add a new contact. You type in your name along with your number before saving it and handing it back to him. He looks at the screen briefly before frowning and tapping something. “Wait… there's just one thing you forgot…”

“…and that is?” You're slightly suspicious as he smirks at you. He then tells you of the time Hiro used to sleepwalk and that he and his aunt used to find him in the most unusual places and one time, Hiro had gotten stuck in the cupboard under the sink and forgetting your suspicions, you smile in amusement. He then quickly lifts up his phone and takes a quick snapshot of you. Blinking in surprise, you punch his arm lightly. “Tadashi!”

“What?” he grins, masking the picture of innocence “I needed a contact picture! Anyway, you look great in it – it’s a very natural smile, very pretty.”

You duck your head bashfully as you mutter out something incoherent that probably didn’t make any sense anyway. “Well um, thanks for the ride, Tadashi.” You say, looking back up at him again “I had fun today and you better text me soon.”

He laughs quietly and nods his head, “Careful, you wouldn’t want to seem too desperate.”

You scoff, “Oh please, if anything, you're the one that’s been tripping over his feet trying to talk to me.

“Ahh… yes, I had almost forgotten about that.”

“Well you'll never forget it as long as I'm around.”

“Doesn’t sound too terrible, if I'm honest. That just means you'll be sticking around for some time.”

“Who’s the desperate one now?” You tease.

“I thought we already established that was me.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.” Your head shoots up, your eyes widening at his bold statement. You look at him and damnit he wasn’t even blushing and holy crap you didn’t feel slightly turned on at all nope nope nope that did not just make him ten times hotter.
 Raising your brow, you refused to back down from his challenge. You rolled your eyes at his smirking face and reached up to hug him tightly.

“Bold Tadashi just comes out of nowhere – and people say girls are confusing.” You mumble into his shoulder. You feel his chest rumble as he holds you tighter to him. You lift your head and look up at his twinkling eyes, and he winks at you, making you melt slightly in his arms.
 As you both pull away, you make the split second decision to cup his face and kiss his cheek. He stiffens in shock and you laugh softly.

“I thought it would seem too… desperate to properly kiss you right now,” you tease “And we wouldn’t want that now would we?”

Blinking, Tadashi mumbles something along the lines of I kinda do and damnit, woman up. You chuckle at the use of Gogo’s (awesome) phrase and your breath hitches when you realise that Tadashi is cupping your face now. Your eyes are still wide with shock as he presses a soft kiss to your cheek and pulls away.

“I, one hundred percent agree with you,” he says, stuffing his hand into his pockets “Unless, of course, we both don’t care that a proper kiss would be too desperate…” he trails off, looking at you expectantly. You laugh and shove him gently, shaking your head.

“You could have kissed me right then and I would have gone with it. You missed your chance, hotshot.”

“I- What? Really?” he splutters. You laugh again and pull him in for another hug.

“You're so cute.”

“Next time.” He swears, looking at you with a grin.

“Next time.” You agree.