Old-School [Tadashi Hamada]

You couldn't take seeing your boyfriend like this, and so late at night. It made you worried seeing Tadashi constantly stressed and overworking himself to get his robotics project up and running, but what could you do? You knew nothing on robotics, and he wanted to get it perfect; he had good intentions, you knew. His project would be revolutionary, a nursing robot that had intelligence to help its patients, it would be something to behold.

Unfortunately you couldn't really 'behold' it, due to the project currently being unfinished, and it was eating at Tadashi every single waking minute, as you continued to notice every time you visited. Giving a small sigh you sank lower in his desk chair as you watched the male tinker with his robot, pulling out different colored wires in frustration. Even though you couldn't see his face at the moment, you knew he had an agitated look on his face.

“This is probably around the...67th test?” You asked yourself curiously, having lost count after the multiple electrical failures and random bugs that his project would encounter. Your thoughts were halted however when you heard the male a few feet away from you give a sigh of frustration, yanking the ball cap from his head as he rubbed his matted raven black hair.

“Maybe it's the wiring I had put in. It could have gotten tangled or mismatched with the others,” you could see his head shake lightly at the thought as narrowed his eyes, “or maybe it's the metal exoskeleton; but if I do that I'll have to take the whole thing apart...” You heard him groan as he lazily threw the multi-colored wires to his work table, only to rub his eyes in frustration, stopping to finally look at his project again, back turned to you. A frown came to your lips again, as you sat up straight.

You couldn't take this anymore; Tadashi needed a break, something to relieve the stress.

And you had one idea that came to mind.

“I'll be right back!” You hastily said, spontaneously jumping to your feet as you almost ran out the door of Tadashi's lab, the male not even having enough time to think before he hastily turned to where you had run out.

“Wha-” You were already gone before Tadashi could even say a word, and with a small confused glance at the door you had used to run off, he went back to his project, giving another sigh.



What seemed to be an hour later, Tadashi had begun to notice that you hadn't returned in quite some time; an hour to be exact. Despite worrying over you constantly, he knew you could take care of yourself. You were a young woman, knowing when to protect herself; he also knew that you had taken self defense classes, the faint memory returning of when he was knocked to the ground rather easily after he had startled you by accident. He chuckled lightly, when he suddenly saw one of the wires of his robot begin to spark, and he reacted quickly by disconnecting the piece of metal before any more sparks could generate; he didn't want to start a fire in his lab and lose all of his work, that's for sure. He gave an annoyed sigh as he sat in his chair nearby, trying to rub the exhaustion out of his tired eyes.

“Come on buddy, just give me something here...” Tadashi groaned out as he then began to slouch, which he rarely did, feeling like pulling his hair out of his scalp from the pure, agonizing torture that this project was giving him. He was beyond sure that all this stress and lack of sleep had taken off a few years of his life, but he continued on, knowing that what he was doing was going to change the world for the better. “Maybe I just-” He cut himself off as his eyes narrowed, hearing the faint sound of footsteps coming through the halls of the labs, hearing it begin to get closer until he saw an outline of a person in front of his room, holding something in their hands. “What-”

The door opened hastily as he saw your exasperated form, panting lightly as he looked downwards to see what exactly you were holding, and old boombox from the 2000's; your boombox to be exact.

Before he even had the chance to ask where you had been, you quickly shushed him, taking fast footsteps to one of the small tables that held his tools as you made room for the boombox, lifting it to rest on the table, before inserting one of your cassettes that you had in your collection, before pressing play. Tadashi watched you in disbelief as he then saw his girlfriend begin to dance, the tune he recognized to be “Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Swede; and old school track, and one of your favorites. He went to take in a breath, but ended up chuckling instead as he watched you, a confused smile gracing his lips. “What are you doing?” He asked, as you turned to look at him, still dancing, and rather enthusiastically if you might add.

“Dance break!” You announced to him, hurriedly walking over to him as you took his hands and pulled him to his feet, much to his surprise as you began to dance again, as his body stood in front of yours, still in slight confusion by this display. “Come on Tadashi, you need to de-stress, and you know I won't stop dancing until you do!” He started to laugh as he watched you, knowing you would do something like this; you loved old things, cassettes, vinyl records, anything like that.

That was how you got the nickname “Old-School” from their other friend, Fred.

“Come on Tadashi!” You gave a smile as you took his hands in yours, beginning to lead him into a random dance you knew, moving and swaying your hips to the music as Tadashi followed your lead, although rather slowly, but as the music continued, he became more active. “Yeah that's it!” You exclaimed with a grin, now watching your boyfriend dance by his own accord, moving his feet to the beat of the music as he swayed his body along with yous, a smile gracing his lips as the two of laughed. The two of you continued to laugh until you had placed your foot near the desk where the two of you had been dancing, before you almost tripped, but Tadashi had caught you just in time, with you leaning against his chest, hands clinging to his shirt as his arms were around your waist.

“You ok?” He asked, his voice soft, thought panting lightly from their recent dance break from before, as you gave a slow nod. The two of you stood like that for a few moments, before you heard the next song on your cassette change, and you gave a small smile as you recognized the song, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” by Elvin Bishop. Tadashi gave a chuckle as he recognized the song as well, simply holding you, the tune flowing into his ears as a small smile graced his handsome face. “You remember how we met?” His voice was soft, almost a whisper as you shivered lightly, which only made him hold you tighter, as smile came to your lips.

How could you forget? It was at the local San Fransokyo High School dance that you two had met, both dateless, much to your disbelief at the time you had seen him. The two of you had started to talk, finding out that you actually had a class together, Calculus AP; but the two of you had never talked until now. Becoming friends then on was when Tadashi had found out your affinity for old things, especially the classic 80's songs that he was sure his Aunt Cass knew. You remembered the time at the dance where you decided to play “Come and Get your Love” by Redbone at the dance, which most of the students didn't really agree to, but you didn't care, and Tadashi didn't either, the two of you dancing like the dorks you were in High School.

“Of course I do.” You said back softly, looking up into his almond brown eyes, “You remember this song?” Tadashi gave a chuckle, looking down at you as he smiled.

“You know I do.” He loosened his hold on you as he began to move his feet to the sound of the music, soon leading you into a slow dance as you chuckled. “It was a month after I got into SFIT. I remember you and I were in your dorm room listening to your records, when I asked you to dance.” You continued to dance with Tadashi, a small blush coming to your cheeks, recalling the memory. “I remember being really nervous on the inside when you said yes, but I had practiced before hand to be safe.”

“You did?” You asked, never hearing him tell you this before, chuckling lightly.

“Yeah, swear on my life.” Tadashi said back with a smile, the two continuing to sway to the music. He heard the guitar solo come on as he chuckled lightly as well, “Right about here was when I got up the courage to ask you out.”

“And I said yes.” You answered back with a smile as Tadashi smiled back.

“Yes you did.” He whispered, before the two of you came to a stop, as you felt Tadashi's forehead rest against yours for a few moments, his eyes closed as he gave a sigh of relief. “How'd I get so lucky?” His voice was soft, feeling his breath against your lips as you gave a small smile, before inching foreward and kissing his lips lightly, before you felt Tadashi kiss back whole-heartedly, feeling as if your heart leapt out of your chest from the sheer feeling his love gave you, the music fading from your mind as you both melted in each other's embrace. After a few moments, you broke the kiss, a smile gracing your lips, eyes lovingly looking back into his.

“Not sure.” You felt his arm around your waist, the other grasping your hand from when you were dancing, feeling his surround your smaller hand. “Maybe it's cause your so cheesy~” Your boyfriend laughed at your answer, holding you tightly as he spun you around lightly as you laughed.

“Now that I remember you saying!” Tadashi said with a smile on his face, the two of you laughing before your laughter died, both of you holding smiles on your lips. “Hey...thank you. I really needed this.” You gave a smile as you inched towards him again, placing a kiss once more on his lips as you pulled back.

“Anything for you.” You said back to him, before you began to pull away from, intent on making sure he got some proper food and sleep as well, but was stopped as you were pulled closer, back to the loving embrace that Tadashi had.

“...Not yet,” He whispered to you, looking at you with his soft almond brown eyes that always made your heart skip a beat, “Just a little bit longer.” You gave a small chuckle, giving a nod as you felt his embrace, the two of you standing in the middle of his room, the music beginning to fade as the two of you shared one final kiss.