Tungsten Carbide

Four

The door of the Lucky Cat Café jingled as Honey entered. She scanned the room until she saw who she was looking for, as cute as ever, in his apron with a pen tucked behind his ear.

He didn't see her when she walked in, so she went to the counter and sat down on a barstool. She spun around and watched him take the customer's orders, a smile on his face. She sighed. He really was such a sweet guy.

"Hey."

Honey swiveled around. In the doorway next to the counter stood Hiro.

"Hi, Hiro," Honey greeted.

"Are you here to see Tadashi?"

She nodded, placing her bag on the counter and pulling out a notebook. Her phone slid out with it and landed with a crack on the floor.

"Oh, great!" Honey exclaimed, leaning over to pick up the phone. A few slivers of glass slipped to the floor when she grabbed it. She sighed. "I think it's broken."

Hiro walked up to the counter and pulled himself onto the barstool next to Honey. "Here, let me see it."

She handed him the phone, and he went to work splitting it open. As he fiddled with the pieces inside, he talked.

"So. Tadashi told me about you."

Honey giggled. "Yeah?"

"He asked Aunt Cass if he could invite his girlfriend over to dinner. She screamed."

Honey's face reddened.

"She screams a lot," Hiro said casually. "She's a loud person. Tadashi knew that she'd get over-excited once he dropped the g-word, so I know he's pretty serious." He looked up at Honey slyly. "So, are you serious?"

Honey fumbled with the notebook on her lap. "Well, I... I guess so."

Hiro smiled and snapped the back of her phone back on. He held the power button, and the screen lit up.

"There. It's fixed. The screen's still cracked though, so you'll probably want to buy a case for it."

Hiro slid the phone her direction and hopped off the barstool. Honey ran a finger over the cracks on the screen wordlessly.

"Honey?"

She jumped. "Tadashi! You scared me."

"Sorry." He took a seat next to her. He glanced down at the phone. "Whoa, what happened?" 

"Oh, it just... slipped. I need to get a case for it."

Tadashi laughed. "You've been saying that for weeks."

Honey sighed. "I know, I know, I just never get around to it. I know it's silly, since it's such a small thing. But I guess that's why I forget about it."

"That's your long-term project, I guess."

Honey giggled. "I'm getting to be as bad as you with this long-term thing."

"Not quite as bad. You know I started working on the healthcare chip almost a year ago?"

Honey's eyes widened. "Wow. Now that's determination."

"Well, I'm doing it for Hiro."

She leaned her elbow against the counter and smiled at him. "He means a lot to you, doesn't he?"

Tadashi looked at the picture sitting next to the cash register of him and his brother and aunt. "Yeah. Ever since our parents died... it's become even more important to me to make sure he knows I'm there for him." He looked down at the counter. "He reminds me so much of my mom- what I remember of her." He sighed. "It's been eleven years since they died."

Honey rubbed his shoulder with one hand and pushed the notebook towards Tadashi. "Here. You left this in my workspace."

He flipped open the notebook and creased his brow. "This isn't mine."

Honey peered at the notebook. "Isn't it? You were the only one there with me last night, and it was sitting on my table this morning."

Tadashi shrugged. "I never theorized about..." he squinted at the scrawly handwriting. "Latex-induced plasma? Wait, that's... laser-induced plasma." He looked up at Honey. "Laser-induced plasma? This is Wasabi's." He picked up the notebook, and a piece of folded paper fell out. It was folded into some sort of origami shape.

"What in the world is that supposed to be?" Tadashi questioned, holding up the paper. "A duck?" He unfolded the note and scanned the writing, and immediately started laughing.

"What?"

"Read it yourself," he said, offering the note to Honey.

"Dear Honey, inside this notebook you will find the research you need to make my invisible monkey suit. Tell Wasabi I'm sorry for using one of his notebooks. Fredzilla." Honey set the paper down on the table and flipped to the back of the notebook. Sure enough, a detailed design of an invisible monkey suit was drawn in Fred's red sharpie.

"That's not science," she breathed. 

***

"But there's a diagram!" Fred exclaimed.

"Just because there's a diagram doesn't mean it's scientific," Honey Lemon explained. "And you can't steal Wasabi's notebooks! If you had to steal a notebook, why not Gogo's, or one of mine? You know how Wasabi hates it when people borrow his stuff."

Fred grumbled. "I'm sorry, but inspiration struck and I grabbed the closest thing. You know how it is. You're a scientist, too."

"I am a scientist but you're really not, Fred," Honey said gently. Fred narrowed his eyes.

"Someday, Miss Lemon. Someday, you will look upon my invisible monkey suit and beg for my forgiveness. Not that you could actually see it, since it's invisible."

Honey giggled. Fred swiped up the notebook and sighed. "I guess I should take this back to Wasabi, shouldn't I." He groaned. Then an idea hit him and he jumped back to Honey. "Hey! Why don't you return it for me?"

"No way!" Honey declared. "Sorry, Fredzilla."

"Fredzilla," he grumbled, dragging his feet as he headed to Wasabi's station. "Why'd you have to pick such a good name? It makes me feel so important."

Honey's phone rang from her purse. She jumped to grab it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Honey."

"Hi, Tadashi! What's up?" she said, tucking her hair behind her ear and holding her phone against her shoulder.

"Uh, not much. I just wanted to see if you're free tonight."

"Aren't I always?"

"I just wanted to... I mean, I was wondering if you'd come to dinner at the café tonight. Aunt Cass is dying to meet you."

Honey smiled. "I'd love to! What time?"

"Uh... anytime, really. We'll probably eat at six."

"Okay. At the café, right?"

"Yeah. Second-floor. I'll watch for you, but if I don't see you then you can just come on up."

"Okay."

"Okay. So... see you then!"

"Bye, Dashi."

When Honey hung up, Wasabi was just discovering the return of his notebook. His loud remarks of frustration were comical, and she laughed and continued her work.