There they were, once again, sitting together at one of the tables in the Lucky Cat Café.

  I can't help but sigh. Just get it out of the way, Hiro. You don't even have to talk to him.

  Mn had come to pick Tadashi up this morning to take him to school. I don't know why- Tadashi has his own mode of transportation and he's been using it for years now- but I didn't care enough to ask and I honestly couldn't will myself to think that they just wanted to spend time together(they went on a date yesterday, how much more time do they need?).

  Right now, the two of them are eating breakfast at one of the tables.

  I walk up to Tadashi, carefully trying to keep my eyes away from the man across from him. "Hey Tadashi," I pause, quickly noticing their reaction. Why did they tense up? Or particularly, why did Tadashi flinch when I came up? "You'll be back for the last minute testing, right?"

  "Uh," he looks at Mn as if for confirmation. I can feel grey eyes burning into the side of my head.

  I'm not going to look at him. I'm not going to look-

  Tadashi's expression droops, like he's looking at something heartbreaking. "Yeah, I'll be back. Don't worry, little brother." He turns back to me and smiles, but it seems fake. I glance at their hands, close enough to be touching, but Tadashi quickly moves it away and sits up in his seat stiffly.

  A ping goes off next to me, inadvertently getting my attention.

 Crap, I looked at him!

 He's tracing the notification on his phone, tapping at the screen a few seconds later with a plain, but somehow irritated look. Or maybe not irritated...dejected?

  "Do we need to go?" Tadashi asked.

  Mn shook his head and slipped his phone into his pocket. "No, it was just Fred. He's gonna help me with my project later today."

  Now that I thought about it, him and Fred seem kind of close, don't they? When Fred is around, he seems to talk to him more than he does even Tadashi. But, then again, he doesn't seem to talk that much to begin with.

  "I didn't know you guys were so close?"

  Tadashi's face lit up.

  Oh no, I did it again!

 "Yeah, Mn, tell him about Fred and you," He grinned at the older man. It took a moment to affect him, but my brother had certain charms, I guess, and Mn smiled back.

  "Actually," Mn's gaze turned to me. "Fred's the only reason I met Tadashi."

  Now that made me curious.

  Mn's eyes glossed over and his smile softened to the point that I could practically feel Tadashi melting under my feet. "He introduced us.." Realization seemed to dawn on him and he sat up in his seat, clearing his throat and glancing back in forth from me to Tadashi. "We met in junior year of high school. I don't remember exactly how we met but he was in some of my classes and I remembered him being so weird and outgoing that it was easy to befriend him." He paused to think. "In senior year, though, I had some family issues and we didn't talk for awhile. Me and him met back up a few years later and he told me about SFIT. I had already been thinking about Frederick, that's my project by the way, but I didn't think I'd actually be able to do anything with it. But here I am!"

  "Until you run out of parts," Tadashi murmured, staring down at his half eaten food. Mn laughed bitterly at that.

  "Anyway, Fred invited me to hang out with some his friends and introduced me to Tadashi. And from there, I guess...you can figure that out..." He trailed off, like I couldn't handle the fact that they were dating (well, in truth, I couldn't) and wouldn't meet my eyes. "I wasn't able to get into SFIT until sometime before last year."

  "So you named your project after Fred?" I rose an eyebrow at him.

   He furrowed his eyebrows. "No, no, weirdly enough. I came up with that name before me and Fred started talking again. It was the name my mother said she would have changed my name to when we moved here."

  "To San Fransokyo?"

  "To America."

   A ring went off, stealing our attention from the conversation. It was a loud, irritating dinging noise and it only got louder when Mn took his phone out of his pocket. He turned it off and turned to Tadashi. "It's time to go."

  I looked at Tadashi who nodded in response to Mn and started to eat faster.

  "Bye Hiro, see you later." Tadashi waved a couple minutes later as he walked out of the cafe. Mn waved too (halfheartedly), but I ignored him.

  The rest of the morning and afternoon went by uneventfully. I tested my microbots a number of times before taking a break in my room to rest.

  A discordant loud creak sounded through the room.

  Sitting up, I open my mouth to greet Tadashi. Ugh... Upon looking up I immediately lay back down on the bed.

  "Sorry to wake you?" Mn's voice is as gruff ever as he apologized in the form of a question and stepped into the room. "I'm just getting something for Tadashi. You can go back to sleep."

   I sigh and sit back up. There's no way I can sleep with him in here. "No, I'm awake..."

   He's looking around Tadashi's side of the room, poking around at boxes and looking at his shelves.

  "Oh, um," his voice is nonchalant and his face is the epitome of preoccupation but his movements quicken and I can tell he's in a hurry to leave. "Tadashi is in the kitchen eating if you need him to test out your.." He pauses as he looks at something but I can't see what it is because of the shoji screen blocking the way. He mumbled something and moved on. "..but we are gonna leave after a while for afternoon classes."

    Then why'd you come back? I thought but I didn't have the energy to glare at him. Instead, I sat up at the edge of my bed and sighed.

   "Mama Cass's food is way better than the cafeteria food. Not that the cafeteria food isn't good but...well, I like it here..more." Where no one can bother us was left unsaid. Along with I want to take your brother away from you and have you watch. "Anyway, just give us ten minutes and you can have him."

  He's not an object.

  I turn around with my back to him. Silence fills the room, aside from the sound of Mn’s rummaging.

 Seconds pass but it feels like it’s taking forever for him to find what he’s looking for.

  “Hey, do you know where Tadashi keeps his-”

  “I...don't know where Tadashi puts any of his stuff.” I murmur. “Seems like I don't know anything about him anymore…”

  The rummaging stopped. I waited silently for it to start again, but it didn’t. Once again, the silence became unbearable.

  “Why do you like him?”

  “Huh?”

  I sit up on my bed and move to the edge. “Why do you like him? Because he's hot?” I shudder, but for some reason I can't stop. I keep my eyes to the floor where my feet sit still and my voice stays little above a whisper. “I don't get it. Is it because he dresses all nice? Be- because he,” I scoff at myself. “I don't know, pays for your food or something?”

  "What? No, of course not...!" His voice is a low tremor as he replies, confusion hinted in his voice.

  "Then what is it..!" I'm desperate. It's so confusing- it's so aggravating. I scowl and stand up, turning to look at him. I couldn't do this anymore. He's in every part of my life now. What am I supposed to do? Every time I talk to him, even see him, I get this horrible feeling in my stomach. It's like I'm physically incapable of looking at him for longer than a few seconds.

  "I don't know...I like who I like," Mn's voice is calm, the complete opposite of how I'm feeling. But there's a melancholy to it, an awkwardness, like he doesn't know how to act around me. "Nothing specifically."

  I don't believe him. I cross my arms and glare openly at him, into his grey eyes, starting to tap my foot impatiently.

  He sighs and takes a moment to think, looking away from me as to escape my hard gaze.

  "I guess..it's the way he talks to me," he smiles to himself. I frown. "He's always so supportive of me, of everyone for that matter. He never gives up on us or what he believes in." A thought comes to me. I remember when I was giving up on ideas for SFIT and Tadashi completely turned everything around with six simple words: I'm not giving up on you. "He's always thinking about others. He wants the best for everyone, and we share the same values. All we want is to make the world a better place and he understands that. Understands me. And.." Don't look at me. "He makes me laugh." Those grey pools strike me through my ribs and out of my back through my eyes.

  "Ok, I get it!" Even I'm surprised by my outburst. What's wrong with me? Why do I get like this? Why does Mn look in so much pain? Why can't I--

  Why can't I turn away?

  I blink once. Then I look down at my feet and sigh. I mumble to myself, "I just don't understand why he likes you..."

  There's a brief silence.

  Then he breaks.

  "Ok, what have I done to you?" His usually gruff, low voice becomes raspy and starts to crack, but I keep my head down. "I know I'm not the best person in the world but, seriously, I'm really trying here! What can I do for you to accept me?"

  "What does it even matter?"

  "It matters to me!" He's so desperate his deep voice cracks.

  "Why?” I ask, screaming. “It's not like you're gonna be here for long! Tadashi will come to his senses and you'll just leave like everyone else, so you might as well stop with the married couple act now and-" I spot his hand move and I stop. His hand moved.

  His hand moved.

  Right over the dent in his jacket pocket. Just for a second. But then he dropped it, like he didn't mean to draw attention to it, like he was hiding something. Like he didn't mean to let anything on.

  Finally looking at his face, Mn is terrified. I can see it in the way his eyes widen, his thin eyebrows furrow up, his lips parted and his teeth gritted behind them.

  "You.." I stutter. Mn bites his bottom lip. "You were.." But I can't finish it. My throat feels full of acid. It burns and I can't speak.

  "I'll go tell Tadashi I couldn't find it."  And he's out the door.

  Suddenly I couldn't see. My vision became a blur and my cheeks felt warm and wet.

  I was so wrong.

  "Hiro? Hiro!" Tadashi walks in on Hiro crying on the edge of his bed into his hands. Minutes later, he's slowly rocking Hiro from behind as he continues to sob. Hiro won't say anything to him and Tadashi won't ask. It’s gotta be about Mn.

  He had been acting weird since he came back downstairs to eat. He was awkward. He couldn't even finish eating his food- he just-- got a to-go box and said he was going for a drive and would be back to pick Tadashi up for class. The thing was, he was still as polite as ever to Aunt Cass, but when he turned around Tadashi saw he had the most traumatized look on his face.

 He hugs Hiro tighter to his chest.

 What happened?