Want You Forever (A Short Tadashi x Reader Story)

Want You Forever: Epilogue

Six Years Later

You take a sip of your black coffee as you select a book from the shelf. Your eyes scan the selection in front of you.

"Mommy?" Your six year old son says.

"Hm?" You grab a book and turn back to your pride and joy. He sits down on his bed, his legs crossed. You smile at his big brown eyes that are almost identical to Tadashi's.

"I don't want to hear a story tonight," he says.

Your eyebrows pull together in confusion. "Really? Well, what do you want to hear, then?"

He purses his lips as he thinks through it. His expression softens and he looks up at you. "Can you tell me about Dad?"

Your eyes widen in shock. You've never said much about him, other than the usual, "your Dad used to love this show," or, "your Dad never liked this pasta, either," or even, "you look so much like your Dad." You look away from your son and pull his comforter out from under and tuck it around him. "Hiroshi, why do you suddenly want to know about him?"

"I always do," he says, "but you're always sad when I talk about him. I don't want you to be sad, Mommy."

You smile a little at him and find his hand. Grasping it tightly in yours, you sigh. "What do you want to know about him?" Hiroshi sits up a little and pulls out a picture from under his pillow. It's slightly ripped and crumpled, but you recognize it. It's the picture of you and Tadashi. You're holding up a sign that says, 'Baby Hamada - Coming Soon!', with his hands on your stomach and his lips against your cheek. He hands it to you.

"Great Aunt Cass says that I look a lot like him," he says.

You smile and wipe a tear away from your cheek. "You do." You look up at him and he gives you that gap-toothed grin that reminds you of Hiro.

"Can you tell me about the time you and Dad met?"

"Sure," you say. You crawl over next to him and pull Hiroshi up into your lap. "Let's see. . ." He lean your head back and think about the memories that have been your key to him for eight years. "It was winter. January, actually, and we were sixteen. I stopped by Great Aunt Cass's cafe for a coffee before work. I was out job hunting for the day, and I needed something to warm me up. J stepped into that cafe, and the first person I saw was Tadashi."

"Welcome to the Lucky Cat Cafe," he said shyly. "May I take your order?"

You laughed nervously. "Don't you usually wait until the customer is at the counter to take orders?"

He blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Er, yeah. Right." Behind him, you could see the young boy behind the counter drop his face into his hands. "Then, I'll, uh, lead you there." You followed him and looked up at the menu to read what you wanted.

"Wow, big brother," the kid said, "you sure screwed that one up."

"Shut up," he muttered.

"Um, I'll take a latte," you said, "and I'll take a blueberry muffin, please." You opened up your purse to take out your money.

"S-sure," the kid said. He shoved his brother.

"I'm going, I'm going," he said.

"It'll just be a minute," the older one said. You smiled and nodded. "Um, my name is Tadashi."

You raised your eyebrows. "Do workers usually introduce themselves to their customers?"

His face fell. "No. Ugh!" He groaned, "I'm sorry. I'm so stupid-"