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

Welcome To SFIT

Cherry's POV

"Oh my Gosh, oh my Gosh!" I breathe as I step through the doors of SFIT for my first day. I slowly move in a circle, drinking it all in.
I'm here. At last!

"Okay, Sakura," I hear behind me and stop to give my boyfriend a look, "don't go crazy."
I stick my tongue out and Tadashi chuckles, then comes up to me and kisses my lips with a smile.
"Don't call me Sakura, or I shall use my fighting skills on you," I say mockingly, and he chuckles again.

We turn to the double doors leading into the freshers assembly, and suddenly being hit by waves of nerves and nausea I start to breathe heavier.

Tadashi moves to look at me, concern on his adorable oval face. He squeezes my hand tighter, "What is it?"
I gulp, and meet his conker-brown eyes, "What if... what if I'm not as good as everyone else?"
He blinks violently and gives me a look back, then shakes his head.
"Cherry, you have worked just as hard, if not harder, then these people. You deserve to be here, trust me. You're worthy," he finishes with a corner smile, amused at his dorky wizard reference to the film he made me watch yesterday, and I respond with a mock-exasperated smile and a small shove.

"Hey!" he chuckles, making me smile too, and he brings the hand that's in his up. He shows it to me, then kisses my knuckle and pushes it to my chest with his still enclosed.
"You can do this," he whispers with a glint in his eyes, "I believe in you, and if you think I'm ever going to give up on you, I'm not. It's time for you to shine where you belong."

My breathing a little wobbly, I nod with a small smile. Tadashi places his free hand on my upper back and we both walk to the double doors, which are opened by a member of staff.
The teacher beckons me in, and I give one final nervous look to Tadashi. He lets go of my hand, places both on my cheeks, and kisses me softly. It's the kind of kiss that reassures me; lets me know I can get through this.

Our lips part and he stands back and gives me a thumbs up. I smile bravely and step through the doors, and immediately I am transfixed by the people and the technology and the feeling of wonder and determination.

Tadashi's POV

As the doors close I suck in a breath like it's the hardest thing I've done. Of course, it isn't - she's in my Entrepreneurial Course in three hours, but it still feels like we've just got through something incredible. I wonder if it's the kind of feeling parents have when their kids go to school for the first time? Either way, I feel very fragile.

I walk to my first class like nothing has just changed, and in the lab find Honey Lemon who, like I asked politely the other day, is sitting alone on a stool next to the one saved for me.
I slide onto the stool and unpack everything I need, thinking about Cherry and how she is right now. Anxious? Overwhelmed? There were so many people in that room, so many strangers, and if I've learned anything from the past several months it's that she's off offput by strangers.

Honey already knows how I'm feeling (because I cried about it at home on the phone to her yesterday) and rubs my shoulder. I turn to her and she offers a hopeful and reassuring smile.
"She'll be fine, Tadashi, I promise. She's a strong, independent woman who has worked her butt off to be here."
I nibble my bottom lip and open my mouth to reply, but get cut off as our teacher begins to talk to the class. Honey and I exchange looks, and I tear off a slip of paper to write to her.

But I'm still worried! She doesn't know anyone here! What if she gets lost?

I make the question mark really big and swirly then slide the paper across to Honey, who reads it then exhales through her nose as if to say, Are you mad?
She scribbles something below it then slides it back to me, and I glance down as the teacher writes something on the board.

It's natural to be worried, especially when you love someone, but that doesn't correlate to the chance that anything bad will happen. And she might not know anyone but us yet, but she will, and isn't meeting new people amazing? That's what you and I did! And for getting lost, of course she'll get lost because she's new! You can't change that Tadashi.

I exhale myself in frustration, knowing that she's right, and the guy to my left glances at me oddly. I turn to Honey and she raises her eyebrows in question, and I nod slightly.
The teacher asks us to write down what she wrote on the board so we all bend our heads and get on with it. I write quickly, some in accidental shorthand, still obsessing over how Cherry is.
I just wanna know if she's feeling okay.

Cherry's POV

Three hours including a break somewhere in some courtyard with some new acquaintances I've acquired, I'm on top of the world!
I've taken notes in everything, I've handed in the coursework we were meant to do over the holidays, I've met loads of people who understood that I was feeling offput by people because they feel the same, and now I'm about to go be in the same Entrepreneurial Course class as Tadashi, Honey Lemon, Gogo and Wasabi!

A girl named Quinn I paired with in Chemistry Year One runs up the hall and says, "My next class is this way! What's yours?"
"Entrepreneurial Course," I reply, now comfortable in knowing I have to be at least a little genial, and she nods then opens her mouth in excitement.

"You know, I hear that Tadashi Hamada is on that course! Do you know who he is?" I begin to reply but she cuts in, and I close my mouth trying not to remonstrate her like I would in my cafe, "He's this super cute inventor here, he always wears these, like, granny cardigans, which are a little odd but he wears a leather jacket over it, and he rides a motorbike, isn't that cool? And," she continues as I come to a standstill outside the classroom I'm supposed to be in, "he's really kind and funny, like this one time my friend Genevieve, you don't know her, she's in the Nursing sector and in the year above, she graduated early, once she fell over in the courtyard and cut her leg real bad but didn't have her medical kit cuz she left it in her car, and he came over with his own medical kit and helped her! Isn't that sweet!"

"Yeah, yeah it is sweet," I say awkwardly, unawares to Quinn. Should I tell her?

Fortunately, I didn't have to, as after she finishes babbling about my boyfriend unbeknownst to her Tadashi opens the door and grins widely and picks me up to spin me around.
"Cherry! You're here!" he exclaims like Hiro when he finds his bots in the back of the couch, and when he puts me down kisses me eagerly, making me more dizzy.
He clutches the hand of mine he kissed earlier and holds it in his and kisses it again, then looks at Quinn, who is standing there shell-shocked.

He smiles brightly, "Hi there! I'm Tadashi Hamada, Cherry's boyfriend. Are you a friend?"
Quinn just hangs her pink-lipped mouth open gormlessly at the mention of boyfriend. She stares from him to me, and I shrug with a sly smile on my face.
She eventually recovers enough to stutter, "Uhh... I... I, gotta go, to... umm... uhh..."
Tadashi cuts in, trying to be helpful but unaware this is indirectly his hilarious fault, "If it's down this way and you're a First Year, you're probably going to Abnormal Physics class. Does that help?"

Quinn nods like a zombie, then begins to amble off in that direction like one, every so often looking back in dismay. I can't help but laugh at my new friend and wave goodbye to her, and to my amusement Tadashi does the same, his arm round my shoulders.
We turn into the class, and he looks at me as he pulls my hand towards my new station between his and Wasabi's.
"Why was she acting like Hiro when he gets out of bed in the morning?"
I adopt his corner smile, "My friend Quinn there is clued in on the knowledge that you are apparently The Super Cute Inventor here, and she didn't let me stop to tell her you're all mine."
To his credit, he looks innocently appalled, "Me? The Super Cute Inventor?"
I adopt the corner smile again and shrug, "I mean... you are."

Tadashi grins widely and stops pulling at my hand as we get to a huge empty table that goes up to my ribcage.
I stare and softly gasp. My own worktable! To create anything! I stroke the smooth cold surface, and at the noise of Tadashi chuckling look to him with a smile.

"I'm home."