moments with you.

14. Birthday Gift

I'M BACK. I AM BACK.

I'm sorry for the hiatus, but now that my exams are mostly over, I will be able to get back to writing. However, since it's been months since I last wrote, I apologise if my writing and stories are not as good as they used to be. I am aiming to increase the quality of 'moments with you', and do more show than tell in the story. Thank you for the wait!

...

14.

It is morning, the ground is damp, the breeze is just right for a race on her motorbike, and GoGo Tomago is stuck at home, writing a letter.

She blames Tadashi (and Honey Lemon, for provid- forcing, that idea into her brain) for that.

It's his birthday in three days, and despite scouring for gifts for ages, GoGo hasn't found anything that passable as a presentable present. Her initial intention was to buy food; but Honey had banned that decision in mortification ("It's not personal if you do that!"). Which was a pity, really, because GoGo wanted to buy a bag of giant marshmallows and tell Tadashi to build Baymax out of that. Though, given how he hasn't had any luck with the robot lately, she thinks it might be a bad choice.

Which is why Honey Lemon came up with the idea of a letter. To GoGo, it's stupid, cliche, cheesy and not worth the effort. But she still ends up seated in her apartment on a Saturday, trying to compose one (So far, she has a few tic-tac-toe games and a lot more doodles of her bike). She can almost see Honey Lemon's satisfied smile, when she realises her idea had worked.

Dear Tadashi,

GoGo bites her lip hesitantly and crosses it out. She's not the 'Dear so-and-so kind'.

Tadashi,

Did that sound too casual? Was including dear a more polite option after all? GoGo shakes her head in frustration. She'll come back to it later.

(Despite saying she'll come back to it later, she spends another 3 minutes on the salutation, a record considering her impatience, and finally settles on 'Hey, Hamada,')

I heard it's your birthday today, she writes. So Happy Birthday. GoGo pauses and stares at the letter blankly. So far, she has written approximately 5 lines, and most of it are words crossed out or greetings discarded. Grabbing a new piece of writing paper, she sighs heavily and swears Tadashi better appreciate the effort she's going through.

...

Hey, Hamada,

I heard it's your birthday today, so Happy Birthday.

You, of all people, know this isn't my style. I hate letter-writing, which is why you better appreciate this. I spend a whole morn– hour, on this, a record even if you consider my lecture notes. Anyhow, you're eighteen this year; seen any grey hair yet? You've been moping so much about Hiro lately that I'm surprised you haven't gotten any (new) wrinkles. Same goes for Baymax.

Honey says letters are supposed to represent how much you appreciate someone which frankly, I don't get. But I do know that you are some– I mean, one of the important people in my life. So even when I yell and hit you, I hope you always understand that.

It's been some time since we met – Remember how we ended up wandering around the whole university on our first meeting? I thought you were really annoying back then (don't pat yourself on the back; you still are), but in the long run, you've helped me a lot in my life. So, thanks. For caring and for staying so long. I'm not good at thanking people, so this is all you're gonna get. (It's the only way I can spit it out, so woman up and live with it).