I'm Not Giving Up On You [Tadashi Hamada X OC] [COMPLETED]

Our Song

Tadashi's POV

I have my earphones in, sweeping the floor of the Lucky Cat after closing time listening to Taylor Swift. I know, I know, a total guilty pleasure thing, but sometimes you need to listen to something other than the amazing talent that is Beyonce otherwise people will think you're obsessed. Okay, maybe I am obsessed with Beyonce's music, but I'm not gonna deny Taylor's is gorgeous too.

Absorbed in my own world, I twirl mindlessly with the broom brushing the floor around me. I feel like a servant boy from the 1800s who is doing their daily chores; it's somewhat soothing.

"Today was a fairytale,
You were the prince,
I used to be a damsel in distress,
You took me by the hand and you picked me up at six,
Today was a fairytale..."

I sing softly to myself, safe in knowing nobody can hear me, or at the very least I can pretend nobody's here if I keep my eyes on the floor I'm sweeping.
Even though this is from a woman's perspective I can't help but envision Cherry and I in these situations, and I smile downwards. A warm smile - the smile where if someone showed the same smile to you your heart would melt. Not to sound cheesy (okay let's be real, I have been nothing but cheesy since we got together), but sometimes my heart feels like it's melting around Cherry.
Taylor's right - today and any day I'm with Cherry is a fairytale come to life.

I continue singing:

"Today was a fairytale,
I wore a dress,
You wore a dark grey T-shirt,
You told me I was pretty when I looked like a mess,
Today was a fairytale...

Today was a-"

"What are you singing?" I suddenly hear in my ear louder than Taylor's voice and I abruptly drop the broom and come out of my daydream.
I look at my eardrum assailant. It's Cherry, back from her shift in her cafe, her hands clasped behind her back and her eyes curious. Her toes are pointed outward like a ballet dancer. I tilt my head as I bank that as a new discovery.

She stares at me, unblinking with her mouth pursed a little. She unclasps her hands and points at my half-dangling earphones.
"What are those?"

Hold on. What?

I blink, then shake my head. I gesture to my earphones. "They're earphones?" I say, my tone lilting at the end. She doesn't say anything, so I take out my phone from my pocket and tug on the earphone wire slotted into it. "They connect to my phone so I can listen to music without anyone else hearing it?"

Now it's her turn to blink.
"Oh. I've never seen that before."
I blink again, and shake the hanging earphone at her. "You've never heard of the concept of earphones?"
She shakes her head innocently.
I try again. "Headphones?"
She looks to the corner, thinking, then shakes her head again.
"I never had enough money to get them."

I breathe in and open my mouth as if to say something, but close it again and opt to lower my eyebrows. Cherry takes a step closer and narrows her eyes at the loose earphone, the skin on the bridge of her nose wrinkling a little.
I take my other earphone out and hold them both out to her. She stares at them lying in my hand, then looks at me.
I nod to them. "Put them in. Find out what song is on."

She reaches out slowly to grasp them, does so, but stops before putting them in her ears. She looks from them to me.
"What would I hear?"
I rub my neck, a little apprehensive to tell her my guilty pleasure artist but then remembering that it doesn't matter anyway because one, there's a ninety per cent chance she's never heard anything from Taylor Swift before, and two, she's my girlfriend and after everything we've been through together she wouldn't mind.
"A female singer and songwriter called Taylor Swift. She writes country and pop music about things close to her."
Cherry raises a questioning eyebrow.
"What kind of things are close to her?"
I shrug, leaning on my broom a little.
"Family, friends, her home. Love."
She looks at me and then the earphones blankly. She takes a second, then holds one out to me.

"Listen with me."

I nod. I take the broom and lean it against a nearby chair I haven't propped up on the table yet, and take the extended earphone and stand opposite Cherry looking down at her as she puts hers in her ear. I pull out my phone and switch to a song I feel she'll like.

There's something 'bout the way,
The street looks when it's just rained,
There's a glow off the pavement, you walk me to the car,
And you know I wanna ask you to dance right there,
In the middle of the parking lot,
Yeah...

"Dancing in the middle of a parking lot when it's just rained is dangerous," Cherry mumbles softly, but a glance down at her closed eyes and slightly open lips lets me know she's invested in the song. I watch her, mesmerized by how she's reacting.

We're driving down the road, I wonder if you know,
I'm trying to hard not to get caught up now,
But you're just so cool, run your hands through your hair,
Absent-mindedly making me want you...

I instinctively reach my hand up to run it through Cherry's topknot as the lyrics talk about it, causing it to fall down and brush her shoulders and back. She doesn't flinch, just keeps listening.

And I don't know how it gets better than this,
You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless,
And I don't know why but with you I'd dance,
In a storm in my best dress, fearless...

So baby drive slow, til we run out of road,
In this one-horse town I wanna stay right here,
In this passenger seat, you put your eyes on me,
In this moment now, capture it, remember it...

As the chorus starts again I open my eyes I didn't realise I closed and look again at Cherry. Her eyes are still closed and the only word I can think of to describe her expression is reverent. I follow her arms; they're not my her sides anymore, but holding onto my waist. We are in a perfect position to start dancing, but it feels more right to listen to this song together stock still.

I tune in again to the song just in time for the bridge:

Well you stood there with me in the doorway,
My hands shake, I'm not usually this way but,
You pull me in and I'm a little more brave,
It's the first kiss, it's flawless, really something...
It's fearless...

After a few moments the chorus starts up again to be followed by another round of the chorus and the outro, and I stare at Cherry.
Her lips are still open in dedicated listening but the corners are turned up slightly, and at that I smile.
She likes it. She likes the song.

I can envision us in this song as well. We switch roles throughout: I'm the one wanting to dance in the parking lot with her; but I'm also the one who runs my hands through my hair and looking at her whilst driving.

I smile wider.

This is our song.

It encapsulates us, our relationship and our friendship. It's new and we don't know what we're doing, but we can figure it out together and we feel less scared about our future when we're living in the moment with each other.

I smile even wider, if that's possible - I could be the Joker right now.
I tune back in to hear the last line of the outro, and gently tug the earphone out of Cherry's ear and tuck them back into my pocket with my phone.
Cherry opens her eyes, and before she looks at me she breathes in very deeply like she has forgotten to for the whole song, and blinks slowly with a soft smile developing on her sweet face.

She looks at me, and I can't help but say it:
"This is our song."

Cherry's POV

I don't know what our song means, but somehow I understand.
I know that this song explains our relationship, and that must be the description of what our song should be.
I get it.

I reach a hand to the back of my head where his hand is, and lace my fingers into his. I get up onto my tip-toes and smile at him, and before I kiss him in this closed cafe I'm staying the night at because he says it's too late for me to go back and refuses to drive me because he secretly wants me to stay cuddled up in his bed, I whisper.

"This is our song."