Status: i probably shouldn't be starting another story

The Science of Paper Airplanes

cold coffee

"This doesn't have cinnamon, right?" I asked as I tentatively nibbled on the edge of the cookie, trying to decipher the hint of spice. A few crumbs spilled onto my notebook.

Tadashi paused and straightened from his position of being hunched over his calculus homework. "No, it's just chocolate crinkle. Aunt Cass knows you hate cinnamon," he said offhandedly, "but I can't tell what's so bad about it."

I grumbled, "Well, I can," but chewed without another word.

Bored with my own assignment, I took a quick peek across the counter at Tadashi's scribbles in favor of watching random people in the café, which were becoming more and more illegible as the day went on. I tapped the brim of his cap, and he raised his head again.

"How do you even understand all those numbers?" I asked, amazed.

"They're just derivatives."

I groaned. "I still don't understand them," I complained. He took his pencil and whacked the top of my head lightly, making me frown at him.

"Nova, you're going into aeronautics," he said. "You need to know your math."

I shook my head. "I want to be a pilot, not an engineer. I'm better at mechanical work than on paper."

Tadashi let out a laugh. "This is why I'm in BC," he teased. Mochi crawled onto the linoleum and peered at our respective notebooks--Tadashi's showing a considerable amount more productivity than mine--before deciding against it and hopping away.

"This is why you're a nerd," I shot back fondly.

Cass walked up to Tadashi's side and stuffed her tips into the register. "How're the cookies, Nova?" she asked over the bustle in the café.

"Awesome as always! Thanks, Cass," I said with a smile.

"Don't look now," Tadashi suddenly warned with a nod in the direction of the front door, "because Mrs. Matsuda's coming in for her afternoon tea. And it's not pretty, especially for the middle of winter, even in San Fransokyo."

Cass pinched her nephew's ear at his remark, but when her eyes traveled to a point behind me, they widened and she had to suppress a snort.

"Is it really that bad?" I whispered. They both nodded gravely. I dared to turn for a fraction of a second. "Oh my--"

"We never speak of this to Hiro," Tadashi interrupted firmly. I tore my gaze away from the sheer black lace and squeezed my eyes shut in agreement, trying my hardest to forget seeing the elderly woman.

Cass begrudgingly sent us a "wish me luck" over her shoulder as she left to take Mrs. Matsuda's order. I twirled my pencil in my hand and prodded my best friend once more with the eraser.

"Nova, if you don't quit that, I'm going to have to take your pencil, and I really don't want to stop before I figure this last one out," Tadashi said calmly without looking up. He drew a line and began working on the second derivative of the polynomial in question.

I grinned. "Then you'll just have to help me by finishing up sooner." I took a large bite from my cookie and puffed up my cheeks.

"Or you can actually listen to me when I try to help instead of coercing me into doing your homework every Saturday afternoon." He snatched up the last bit of the cookie from my hand in spite of my protests and stuffed it in his mouth. "I win," he gloated.

"It's only December," I whined. "I could be working on my college supplements instead of calculus." I pouted at him, ignoring Cass' voice yelling at Mochi from across the café. "Tadashi!"

"Nova!" He finally put his pencil down, rubbing his eyes with the hand that wasn't covered in lead smudges. He met my eyes, smiled, and blew a stray strand of hair away. Then he cocked his head to the side as he began reading over what I had managed to struggle through, brushing aside leftover crumbs as he went.

"No, this should've been a three, not a two," he murmured, jotting notes in the margin for my future reference. I found myself fascinated with the way his brows furrowed in concentration. "And this asked for the horizontal asymptote, not the slant..." His words started to collide until he trailed off entirely, and he stopped his feverish edits, his eyelids getting heavier by the second.

"Tadashi?"

"Yeah?" He folded his arms across our shared workspace as his head drooped.

"It's three o'clock," I said flatly. The cap made it impossible to put his head down, so he shook himself awake for a bit longer. I stood up from my stool and walked to the machinery behind him. "How long were you up last night?"

He yawned. "I stayed up to finish The Stranger."

"Unbelievable," I said incredulously, a habit I had picked up from him. "Haven't you read that twice already? I mean, I enjoy Camus as much as the next guy, but how good can it be?" I grabbed a styrofoam cup and poured out some light-roast coffee and sugar that I measured with a teaspoon. The last carton of cold milk was retrieved from next to Mochi's bowl and added to the concoction.

Tadashi had barely begun to respond when I set the cup down in front of him. "Cold coffee in December?" he asked in confusion, though he nevertheless wrapped his hands around the cup.

"Drink up," I said simply, plopping myself down in the seat I'd just left. I sat my chin on my palms, batting my eyelashes at him. "You know it always wakes you up, so please drink, Tadashi-san."

He brought the styrofoam to his mouth and took a sip before he winked. "You and I both know you aren't that Japanese, Nova-chan," he said.

"Tell that to my mother."

The chimes at the front of the café sounded again, as they did with each customer that came and went, but this time they were accompanied by the squeak of rubber soles that hastily made their way over to the counter. A mess of black hair popped up behind my arm and a familiar gap-toothed smile greeted me.

"You'll never guess what just happened," Hiro Hamada said to us excitedly. His older brother gave him a once-over, unimpressed.

"If it doesn't involve the words bot and fight, then consider me confounded," Tadashi replied wryly.
♠ ♠ ♠
it's currently 4am and i haven't slept because i'm just here updating fanfiction. nuff said.

anyway, the chapters for now are going to mainly be conversational since i just want to establish nova and tadashi's friendship. not entirely sure if future chapters will be cranked out this quickly or with this length (1,000+ words), but i've already started the next update and have planned a fourth, so high hopes, people!

if you're reading and you like this so far, please don't hesitate to provide me a muse by showing me some love! ❤️