"How to befriend a local cryptid" - A guide by a concerned nerd

It didn’t take Hiro and Tadashi too long to become friends after their first meeting. Seriously, how could it? Tadashi wasn’t quite sure whether it was his guilt or long repressed older brother instincts, or both of these kicking in, but he didn’t think twice before accepting the kid’s invitation to tag along and hang out after the next fight, even if it was scheduled on his SFIT night. He couldn’t help but worry for the kid who was clearly so competent in being an underground cryptid, but so oblivious to whatever “normal” kids his age did that it took him only a few weeks to offer him to tag along in the university after classes. Apparently, Hiro didn’t hesitate to take the offer as well. Their exchange of experience in different parts of San Fransokyo became a weekly practice. Hiro demanded Tadashi’s schedule on the second week the moment he saw the young man’s faint eyebags even though it was just one sleepless night. They never went on bot fights at nights when he needed to wake up at 7 am or earlier from now on. Tadashi was surprised with the boy’s thoughtfulness, but genuinely appreciated it. Another week later, Hiro was introduced to the so-called “nerd gang” as people near the public labs usually called the group and he knew he was going to like them the moment he opened the door. First of all, he was nearly run over by a bike. A bike, in a lab. “Heads up!” A female voice shouted and before Tadashi knew it, the teenager was running towards the obvious danger. The moment the rider stood up from her bike and lifted it to examine one of the wheels and toss it back, he caught it, inches away from getting his hand jammed between the metal parts. “Woah! Electro-mag suspension? That’s awesome!” He beamed as the student looked at him in slight confusion, then around the lab, as if asking just who the hell brought the kid in here. In the end, she ended up asking the kid himself. “Hey. Who are you?” “I’m Hiro!” He responded and something rang the bell in her mind. Hiro, Hiro… where has she heard the name lately? “Oh, there you are!” Tadashi sighed in relief as he caught up on them with an awkward chuckle. “Cool, you’ve met one of my friends already. Uh, Gogo, this is Hiro I’ve told you guys about! Hiro, this is Gogo and… a-and you're already clinging to the tech. Really?” Oh. That Hiro. Okay, it made sense then, Gogo nodded to herself, taking the helmet off. “Tadashi, it’s electro-magnetic suspension! On a bike!” Hiro exclaimed, hugging the wheel and almost physically vibrating with excitement. “Do you know just how hard it is to localize the suspension stable like this, especially horizontally?! Of course I’m clinging to the tech already!” Chuckling, Tadashi merely shook his head and shrugged as the kid finally let go of the wheel and let the other student toss it to the bin full of other, similar ones as she muttered something about it being “not fast enough”. Hiro whipped his head at the words, tilting it slightly. “Did you just make it for the city runs?” He asked with his brow arched and Gogo arched one in return. “Mostly, yeah. What, have anything to say about it?” “Not really, that’s not exactly my area. But! They’re really thin, which is nice, less air resistance and all, but like. Aren’t those gonna get stuck or be hard to pass things like sand with? I-I mean, not that I wanted to criticize you, it’s your work and I just wanted to say—” “Relax,” Gogo laughed and shook her head, gesturing to him to stop. “It’s fine. You noticed a thing and pointed it out, it’s cool. Nice to have someone observant here, you know. You’ll fit right in, kiddo. Welcome to the nerd lab, by the way,” she smirked, shooing Tadashi off her table to reach her blueprints as the two took it as a sign to leave her be. She most certainly did not suppress a flinch when the kid passed by a little too close for her comfort. She definitely did not think that the way he moved and talked, switching in and out of some kind of persona almost immediately, unnoticed to the untrained eye, was something a kid should not have had. This was fine. Tadashi’s people skills were good enough not to let someone dangerous in his friend group. Right? Tadashi nearly had to grab Hiro by his hoodie’s collar less than half a minute later when he almost ran into the next area and fried himself. Almost. “Who-whoa, whoa whoa whoa! Do not move! Behind the line, please!” Another student startled him. Luckily, Hiro obliged. Oh thank god he stopped, he thought as he finally placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder, sighing. “Hey, Wasabi. Remember I promised to bring Hiro along?” Humming with a slight smile, Wasabi took off his goggles. “Hello, Hiro. I hope Tadashi didn’t tell you what we’re working on here?” His smirk grew wider as the young genius shook his head. “Good. Prepare to be amazed!” With that, Wasabi threw an apple at him. With a loud sizzling, it fried mid-air, much to Hiro’s excitement. Much to both men’s surprise, however, he actually caught almost every fried apple slice before it hit the floor, leaving only one behind with a pout as the physics student turned the lighting on, making the lasers visible. “Laser induced plasma?” He guessed, giving Wasabi what was left of the apple back and tossing the last piece in the waste bin. “Oh yeah,” he nodded, carefully placing it on the plate and returning the little key on the table that, apparently, had the outline of every instrument that the man used. “With a little magnetic confinement, for ultra-precision.” “Woah, dad would appreciate the order,” Hiro chuckled, glancing at the table. “How long did you spend coming up with the best placement for everything?” “Three days,” Tadashi groaned behind his back. “That was a mess.” “Hey, I have a system now!” Wasabi defended. “There’s a place for everything, and everything in its place.” Apparently, the kid didn’t listen to the end. He didn’t spare a moment to think about his actions before reflexes kicked in and he kicked something that was coming his way too fast from behind. It took a long moment and a very loud swear to realize that it was a chair Gogo was riding on in their direction he kicked. “Oh my god I’m so sorry!” Hiro rushed to help her up, but the young woman just waved her hand and got up herself, pressing onto her shoulder that took the hit and wincing. “I- I didn’t think and you— I-I didn’t mean to!” And that was some weird damn contrast here. “Relax, I’m fine,” Gogo rolled her eyes, quietly hissing in pain. “I mean, that was really uncalled for, but you’ve really got some mad reflexes. But really, please don’t kick anyone here anymore, ok? Anyway, er, Wasabi, toss me that wrench please?” After she got what she wanted, Gogo walked back to her corner, leaving the male part quite awkward, especially Hiro. “I messed this up, didn’t I?” He asked softly, and that, apparently, made both Tadashi and Wasabi laugh. “Nah, you’re good. She’s just grumpy because you caught her off guard,” the robotics student reassured him. “But seriously, though, please try not to injure everyone here, okay?” “Fine, fine, I can try,” the boy chuckled meekly. “So! Who’s next in the gang?” The students barely had a moment to share a cautious glance. Sure, Tadashi did warn them that his friend was a little… quirky, for a lack of a better not rude word. He just never mentioned that the kid had killer reflexes and enough strength to send Gogo falling on full speed without even looking in her direction as he did so. Wasabi wasn’t sure he could send a kick so precise if he were looking at her in the moment and he at least packed enough of a punch to throw her off balance. It’s not like Tadashi could mention that he might have a possible murderer… uncle… figure? He was still greatly confused about the mechanics of his family with barely enough information to understand who even was in said family. Well, that would be a problem for later. “That would probably be…” “Excuse me! Coming through!” Before he even finished the sentence, a massive sphere of metal was rolled around the lab by another student and wouldn’t you know it, the small menace was already following them before he could hear the introductions. “Oh, this is going to be something,” Hamada sighed, watching as Hiro already was engaged in a conversation with a very excited Honey Lemon. He never heard them dropping each other’s names — or nicknames — in the conversation before the ball promptly blew up in a cloud of pink dust that was quickly settling on every surface. “You okay there guys?” “Why didn’t you bring me here earlier?!” Hiro exclaimed, shaking the dust off himself as he launched himself at his friend. “This place is amazing!”

***

“So, I’m guessing you might have changed your opinions about SFIT now, huh?” Tadashi hummed as they were walking down the halls to his own lab, Hiro bouncing around and taking in every single detail he could. It was honestly impressive how much the kid already noted down after just spending half an hour here. Then again, this kid was also the bot-fighting champion since he was thirteen, so that was about something that should’ve been expected. Aside from, apparently, a very wary attitude from Gogo, of course. He really didn’t think these two would’ve paid each other that much attention, and yet he kept catching both his friends’ glances from different sides of the lab. It was painfully obvious that they were scanning each other for a clue of something Tadashi himself couldn’t catch, but at least he noticed the tension between them at all. He probably should ask Gogo about it later. “Oh, I didn’t really think too bad of SFIT before,” the teenager shrugged, drawing a surprised hum in response. “That was mostly dad’s opinion and I kinda never tried to see it for myself.” “Oh? And what makes him not like it?” “I don’t know,” Hiro responded easily, not giving it even a moment of thought. “He never really talked about it with me. Perhaps had to do something with me being too young for that and shit.” It startled Tadashi how this kid was so obviously lying to him, yet he only knew that because he was starting to see the patterns in his behavior and when this thin line between Hiro and Zero percent was crossed after spending weeks together. To anyone else it would’ve sounded like a genuine answer and honestly, he was slightly unsettled by this fact. Seriously, where did he even learn to— Actually, no. He probably even knew the answer. Kid with gray morals and a shady background. Father with a very shady background and connections, who is also a potential villain of sorts. A shady uncle figure who apparently is a-okay with murder. A questionable aunt figure he’s only mentioned once or twice, but she certainly didn’t sound any better. Ah, right. Growing up with criminals for his family. Yup, that checks out. Perhaps, it was just not the right time. “Right… so-o, that means you like it here, then?” He asked carefully as they reached the door. “So far yeah, it’s cool! You guys have interesting lectures and people here are surprisingly nice, which I guess shouldn’t come as much of a surprise I guess? But still. You know. Far out of my comfort zone.” "Right," Tadashi nodded with a sigh, his hand just reaching for the lab's door. "Hey, what if we stop there for today and go to a fight? I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to come here again." The boy frowned, hiding his hands in his pockets and squinting at his friend in suspicion. "Why? You were just going to show me your project a minute ago, what's changed?" "You said it yourself. It's out of your comfort zone," he explained, "and I might need a fresh perspective on it anyway, meaning that I need you not to be stressed from social interaction with new people. But the choice is yours. The project's not going anywhere, you know." "Right…" Hiro sighed and shook his head. "Fine. Whatever. Better than being stared at by your friend the entire time." "What?" "What?"

***

In all the honesty, Obake probably should've known better. In his defense, Hiro was getting better at being sneaky and subtle with each passing month. As many other things, it started small. Too small to notice in time for any regular parent. The boy started going out a little more, not only running errands for the family now. He knew it was mostly bot fights and never objected, as long as Hiro stayed safe. He didn't object to him going closer to downtown to meet people just like a teen would probably do, weren't he a criminal in rising. After all, he never succeeded in expanding the boy’s interaction circle beyond criminals when he tried, so he could say he was proud of his son for taking things in his hands. What did bug Obake, however, was the fact that Hiro never said a single word about it. For someone so familiar with the underground, he was surprisingly honest with his family, which the man appreciated as he didn't exactly like spying on his own son. Be it a spectacular win or a successful heist with his aunt, he never held his accomplishments to himself. Not this time. Were it his new friend’s advice or his own thoughts didn’t matter. The man was already irritated with the sudden change and he really, really wanted to trust Hiro like he always did, but he just couldn’t bring himself not to worry when something so big was getting out of control so rapidly. In other words, it was only a matter of time until Obake would ask Hiro about what on Earth was going on to his son and what he was doing out there without ever notifying him he was going out. It… could've gone slightly better. It could've also gone much worse, he knew. It was a Saturday late night, just like the ones Hiro usually took for his unscheduled bot fights as Zero percent. The only thing the man knew for sure at the moment, based only on the rumors people around him would spread now and then, was that the boy was now usually seen with someone else who would also drive him away after the fight. It was surely unusual to find out that nobody knew his name at all, since even Hiro didn’t call him by it. Just another reason for his concern, in other words. Obake was a patient man, when needed. However, his patience grew thin fairly quickly when it concerned his son, and everyone in his inner circle knew that, especially his own family. So when Hiro casually walked through the base at 3 am, pulling his mask off on the way to his room, he clearly was at least half expecting to see his father waiting for him one day. Well, that was good while it lasted, he thought to himself as he reached the room, not looking the man in the eyes just yet, letting him start the conversation. “Care for a little talk?” Obake offered at last, and Hiro only shrugged in response, pulling his backpack off and nodding to the door. “Sure. Mind if we bring it to the kitchen? I think we both could use some coffee.” “It’s the middle of the night,” Bob reminded, but didn’t object, again, following the teenager to the kitchen. “Fine, you might have a point.” They walked in silence for a while, neither too willing to start talking, knowing for sure it’s gonna be awkward by now. Obake let Hiro brew coffee for both of them, which he usually didn’t do. It took him a moment to realize that Hiro really spent very little time at home these days, which he failed to notice sooner because of the amount of work he had and because their schedules easily mismatched from day to day. Finally, both of them sat at the table facing each other with their respective cups of coffee in hands as the boy hummed. “So, what did you want to talk about?” “You’ve been unusually absent for the past month,” Bob narrowed his eyes, scanning for the reaction. “Much more so than you usually are with your frequent fights.” "Ah…" Hiro chuckled awkwardly, realizing a moment too late that he never prepared a proper explanation of things. On the other hand, how was he even supposed to bring any of this up with something other than a "hey dad, I am currently interested in the university where you nearly died" and "I might have compromised my identity to a civilian without a second thought. In my defense, uncle Ryo approved of him" or really, anything that didn't sound like he was purposefully trying to make things utter shit for both himself, his family and everyone connected? "I made a friend, technically outside of the fights," he said instead, opting for not revealing any major details unless asked specifically. "A friend," Obake arched an eyebrow, taking a sip of his coffee. "Well, that's new." "Yeah, it…happened pretty unexpectedly. But it turned out good, I think. Good for a change of pace, you know. And besides, you wanted me to socialize anyway, right?" "I suppose I did," he nodded. "Tell me about your friend then." “Uh. What exactly do you want to know?” “Everything you see fit to share,” Bob narrowed his eyes. “I’m actually quite surprised you haven’t told me anything about him in weeks, even though I’ve heard some things a while ago.” "W-well," Hiro stuttered with a shrug. "You never asked. And, well, he's a civilian, which isn't something I deal with a lot, so I kinda tried to, uh, figure it out myself? He's nice, I'll give you that. We actually met because he thought I was in trouble with Yama and decided to rescue me, can you imagine it? So uh. Yeah. We got away from him and the police. We talked. I might have slipped about a few things because I was high on adrenaline and forgot that he wasn't in the circle for a moment. He doesn't mind, though, apparently? Not a lot, at least. We started meeting for the fights after that because, well, he's cool and he's got a moped, so a convenient way out as well? And that's how we got there, haha. Oh, and he also introduced me to his friends! They're kinda cool too, I guess, though there's this one girl… there's a weird feeling about her. Somewhat familiar." "Hm," Obake hummed thoughtfully. "It is quite unexpected of you to find a company like that, I must admit… but it does appear that this friend of yours has no ill intent for you. Although, I can't help but ask, does this friend have a name? I don't believe you mentioned it." Oh, Hiro smiled weakly. Well, here goes nothing. "Tadashi," he said. "His name is Tadashi Hamada." The way the man's eyes widened ever so slightly, by barely a millimeter or two, would've been missed entirely if you haven't lived with him for a little over 11 years, but not by Hiro, who immediately tensed slightly at his surprise. Did he say something wrong? Did he know about this guy? What prompted this reaction? "I see," his father exhaled, closing his eyes with a sigh. "I've seen local news about him about a year ago, quite a prodigy among his year, I'd say. And I take it, his other friends are from the same school?" "Oh, yeah, SFIT," the boy nodded. "Actually, that's another thing I wanted to talk about…" "Hm? What is it?" "I… let's say, the time with Tadashi spent outside of the fights and with his friends… uh, persuaded me to consider. Uh. Applying for SFIT as well?" This time, the change was all but subtle. Gone was the somewhat friendly expression that Obake usually maintained around his family, replaced with the noticeable steel behind his gaze. His brows now furrowed and hands held entirely on the table, clenched together, he fully straightened his back, now looming over the teenager with his lips tightly sealed. "Hiro." He sighed and Hiro shuddered under his tone, unused to it being used for him. "We've talked about this." “But you liked it there!” He argued, throwing his hands in the air. “You said so yourself! It was just that project you never told me about that went wrong and ruined it for you! And besides, that woman isn’t there either! And trust me, Tadashi might be somewhat okay with me being a criminal, which is still weird, but he won’t let me do anything dangerous in the lab if he can help it. And you won’t either. Just… please, think about it, okay? I get it that I can learn a lot from you in terms of technology and about people from Auntie, but. It’s not enough for me anymore, Dad. It’s— I thought it was enough, but I just didn’t realize how different Tadashi’s and the others’ world is from ours and I want to know more about it. You know, normal people stuff?” “And if you get carried away with this?” Obake arched an eyebrow, scanning his face. “Hiro, don’t get me wrong. You pose a reasonable argument here. But you said it yourself, this is a completely unknown territory for you, and moreover, one where neither me or Momakase can watch you if you slip and fail. I can’t… I won’t risk your safety just because you want to explore something unknown.” This time, Hiro took his time to answer, folding his arms with a thoughtful expression. There weren’t many times when Dad talked about his safety, not when he’s been raised by literal mercenaries alongside with a man who only needed enough motivation to wipe the entire city down. Then, it meant that there was something about it that seemed like an even threat to him… But he never really talked about what went down at SFIT back then that made him like this. He just knew that there was a direct correlation between that incident and the path his father chose afterwards, just before adopting him. “Then let me fail and learn from my mistakes like you did,” he frowned, shaking his head. “Or, tell me where and how you failed, so that I won’t at least repeat your mistakes.” Obake let out a long, tired sigh and slumped in his chair, reaching for his mug to finish the coffee in one go, while Hiro did the same, both carefully watching each other. “You really want to go through with this? Even if I tell you about why exactly I never managed to finish my education there and had to go off grid for two decades?” He asked, voice soft and hesitant. “I want to have your perspective too if this concerns you that much even after all these years. Maybe I will change my mind, maybe not. But I’ll listen to you, and I want you to listen to me later,” the boy nodded. Dad sighed again and shook his head, hands reaching to press on his temples. He didn’t like to admit it, but Hiro was right, he at the very least needed another perspective to make the final decision, even if he had his reasons to be strongly against it no matter the reasoning. And maybe, just maybe, that Hamada kid had already… No, that could wait for another night. For now, though… “Alright,” Obake said, letting his hands drop to his knees with a tired look on his face. “I suppose I do owe you an explanation for everything that’s happened and how it eventually led us to where we are now.” This was going to be a long night.