Guide:

(Y/N): Your Name

(F/C): Favourite Colour

"Good morning!" you called at the entrance to the Lucky Cat Café. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, with the sun shining from its place in the light blue sky. For you, it was a perfect day for you and the Hamadas to go out picking cherries in the orchard just a few miles away. Despite the distance, it has been a tradition for you and the Hamada family to go out every year picking cherries and eventually selling off some of the best cherry pies in San Fransokyo.

Aunt Cass ran down to greet you with a wide smile and a floppy hat on her head. "Hey (Y/N)! You ready for a fun cherry picking time?"

You giggled as you straightened Aunt Cass's hat on her head. "Absolutely!"

"Hiro!" Tadashi cried from afar, as both brothers showed up now in the main café. "Give back my hat!"

The younger Hamada brother stuck his tongue out teasingly and waved the hat in the air. "Not a chance, Tadashi!" Then he caught sight of you as he turned his head around, and his eyes went wild as he stumbled over something on the floor--probably a basket--and fell over on the floor, losing grip of Tadashi's favourite baseball cap.

"Ha!" Tadashi shouted in triumph, catching his hat in his fist and almost toppling over Hiro at the same time, but managing to keep his balance as he started to do a short victory dance in the middle of the Café. "Got it! Got it!"

You laughed now as you held a hand out to Hiro, who was still sprawled on the floor. "Come on, Hiro. You don't want to keep us all waiting for this now, don't you?"

Gratitude entered Hiro's eyes as he took your hand, and you pulled him up. For a moment, you felt a temporary rush of adrenaline shoot through your arm as you helped him get back up, but then that moment ended when Hiro let go of your hand.

"Thanks, (Y/N)," he smiled, dusting himself off and taking a good look at you. "Wow, you look good."

The heat on your face just bloomed without a second warning, and you prayed your face didn't just turn red. All you were wearing today was a (F/C) sun dress, your hair tied in two braids down the sides, and a pair of simple (black/white) flats--a typical summer look for you since who-knows-when. But seeing Hiro checking you out made you feel a bit self-conscious. "You sure, Hiro?"

"I never lie, (Y/N)," Hiro smirked, approaching you just slightly and brushing some hair off your face.

"HOW CUTE!" Aunt Cass gushed loudly now, and Tadashi laughed along with her as you both turned to them now with indignant looks on your faces.

"We're NOT--" you started, but then gave up on arguing back as your heart pounded harder than usual. You and Hiro had been the best of friends since you were young, but lately whenever you have been hanging out, you found that you have been shying away more often than you wished. Blushed whenever he did a kind gesture, like buy you something as simple as an ice cream cone. Stepped away whenever he approached you. Prayed he wouldn't do anything too complicated that would ruin your relationship. What was going on? You felt a tugging sensation in your gut almost immediately, but at the moment you chose to ignore it.

"Yeah, sure, look at the both of you!" Tadashi snorted in laughter. "Red as cherries!"

Hiro shook his head. "Come on, Tadashi. Must be a trick of the mind."

"No, really!"

"BOYS, IF YOU TWO ARE DONE FIGHTING OVER THERE, YOU CAN AT LEAST HELP ME PACK UP!"

Instantly, both boys turned on their heel and ran to their Aunt...well, Tadashi did, at least. As for Hiro, he picked up the baskets with one hand, then held his elbow out to you. "Shall we?"

"Absolutely," you obliged, taking Hiro's elbow like a lady would a gent, and the two of you headed outside, after Tadashi and his Aunt.

********************

The cherry orchard this year was FILLED with cherry trees. And to your greatest delight, most of the cherry trees were FILLED with plump ripe cherries. So you saw, as you, Hiro, Tadashi, and Aunt Cass exited the truck after 2 hours on the road, unloading the baskets and a single step ladder from the trunk of the car. All around you, you saw dark red fruits all over the place, like small dots on a beautiful green tapestry, and your eyes widened.

"That looks AMAZING!" Aunt Cass squealed, and you laughed. Normally on a great day, she would act just as hyper as Honey Lemon. "I'm sure the cherry pies we would be baking later today would rock San Fransokyo's socks!" She quickly ran over to the "booth" at the head of the farm and paid for the cherry picking hours and fees.

"I can't believe how many cherries there are this year," you also said in awe and wonder, putting on your sunglasses. "Must have been awesome weather over here for the past few days."

"You can say that again!" Tadashi grinned as he grabbed the ladder. "I can't wait to get back to the Café with huge baskets full of cherries!"

And with that, he ran after his Aunt into the orchards, leaving you and Hiro alone.

"Um..." you stammered, turning to him and feeling a burning sensation erupt all over your face. This was the moment you dreaded--to be left alone with him, not knowing how to deal with your feelings.

"What's wrong, (Y/N)?" Hiro asked, registering your concerned face.

You shook your head and forced a bright smile. "Oh nothing, Hiro. Nothing at all." You then grabbed another basket from the trunk and held a hand out to Hiro. "Shall we?"

"Of course, (Y/N)," Hiro obliged, taking your hand, which instantly sent another rush of adrenaline and nerves through your system. "Lead the way, (Y/N)."

The both of you, now holding hands, set out for the cherry trees that bore the most fruit. Of course, what with the amazing turnout of the trees bearing fruit, you saw a whole lot of people around you picking the fruit from the trees, all over the place. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a man picking his child up by the shoulders so that she could reach the cherries up on the top. Off in another direction, two women were jumping up on tippy toes in an attempt to grab at the cherries that were just out of reach, occasionally overbalancing on their shoes and falling forward slightly.

"Over there," Hiro called, his voice snapping you out of your reverie, and you turned to where he was pointing at. There, right where he was pointing, grew a really big cherry tree, perfect for climbing up to pick all the fruit. Even better, there were a LOT of ripe cherries there--probably enough for Aunt Cass to make at least 5 pies.

"That's perfect, Hiro!" you cried, clapping your hands in glee. "Oh geez, I can imagine Aunt Cass's face when she sees the tree."

"And full of cherries, too!" Hiro said excitedly, picking you up by the waist without a second thought and twirled you around in the air, which made you yelp as you set your hands by his neck, the both of you laughing after a while. "Oh boy, I can't wait to get started."

He set you down after a bit, and you dusted yourself off as you smoothed your hair back. "Yup. Let's get picking."

So the both of you reached the base of the tree. Hiro, having climbed trees most of his life, offered to climb up the tree for the higher branches, and you didn't object. In the meanwhile, you skirted around the bottom of the tree, carefully grabbing hold of the base of the stems of the fruit, twisting them off the branch gently so that neither tree nor fruit get damaged, and then you placed them in the basket by your feet. After around 5 minutes, your arms started tiring from reaching up for the fruit, especially since you were not that tall so the middle branches proved to be a big problem.

Hiro, in the meanwhile, resorted to taking off his hoodie just to serve a basket for his neatly picked fruit. But as time passed, this proved to be a problem. As you were desperately reaching for the fruit just higher up, a cherry bunch just fell through the leaves and hit you on the head.

"HIRO!" you cried, catching the cherry bunch and glaring upwards.

"Sorry!" his voice shouted back from the leaves. "I guess my hoodie isn't good enough for these kinds of purposes."

He was right. Soon enough, a whole bunch of cherries fell from the tree. In an attempt to save all the fruit, you picked up your basket, which wasn't very heavy (thank God), and caught all the dropping fruit.

"Did you catch them?" Hiro's voice called.

"Yeah!" you called back, putting the basket down and wiping your brow. "But how are we going to get all that fruit without dropping anymore from that high up?"

"Good question." There came a tense moment of silence before he said, "How about you come up?"

"What? Are you crazy?"

"Not at all, (Y/N). Trust me, no one would get at the basket down there."

You put your hands on your hips stubbornly. "What with the great amount of people swarming around here, I'm sure they would!"

"Oh come ON, (Y/N). Stop being such a fuss and come up here!"

You sighed in exasperation as you put your hands on the lower branches, hoisting yourself up. There goes my flats, you thought, but thankfully, they didn't get ruined at all.

By the time you reached the high branches, you caught sight of Hiro's hand extended towards you, and you took hold of it as you approached him now, sitting very uncomfortably beside him. There wasn't a lot of space where the both of you sat now, so your hip was pressed into his, your arm also pressed against his arm as you both stayed up there. The distance made you blush just a bit, but you didn't really care. Not for now, at least. From above, you still caught sight of your basket on the ground.

Good. The last thing you wanted was for someone to steal your bounty of fruit.

"The cherries are SO good," Hiro told you, reaching up to pick at another bunch. "Oh man, Aunt Cass is DEFINITELY going to love this."

"You've been EATING these?!" you cried incredulously. "Hiro, we're supposed to be picking them for Aunt Cass!"

"I know," he shrugged. "Thought I'd try them before we pass final judgment on them. Besides, what's a cherry pie with spoilt, disgusting fruity fillings?"

"True," you laughed.

Hiro then held out the bunch of cherries to you. "Go on."

You were about to take the bunch when Hiro shook his head. "I'm feeding them to you."

"WHAT?!" you cried again. "Seriously, Hiro, you know I can eat these FINE on my own!"

"Oh come ON now, do you trust me or not?" Hiro pouted slightly.

Praying that you weren't making a huge scene from so high up, you gave in, biting off one cherry from the stem and sinking your teeth into the flesh. As you did, an explosion of cherry juices burst all over your tongue, and you smiled as you finished devouring the cherry, spitting the pit far away. "That was good," you managed to say. You were about to bite into another when Hiro stopped you.

"You got juice on your mouth," he said teasingly.

"What the heck, Hiro?" you asked him suspiciously, leaning in. "How could I have suddenly gotten so messy with cherries?"

"Maybe it's in your nature," he joked. "Nah, I'm just kidding. I'll clear it up."

"Well then, make it--"

You were instantly cut off when Hiro closed the distance between the both of you so quickly you were still in shock when he started to kiss you. His lips lingered with the scent of cherry juice, which made you hum as you kissed him back, your eyes closing slowly, feeling each other's tongues eventually dance together as they touched. The taste of cherries have never been so blissful to you before, and you enjoyed pretty much every second...until you both had to let go for air.

"Whoa," you managed to say. "That WAS quick."

"Yeah, well..." Hiro laughed sheepishly as he rubbed the nape of his neck. "I've been waiting a while to do that."

"You don't say..." you finally whispered, your eyes widening as you realized. "You do, don't you?"

"Do what?"

"Like me?"

"Hell no!" Hiro said stubbornly, which brought tears to your eyes. Then he laughed, and wiped the tears away with his thumb. "I'm kidding! Of course, (Y/N). I...well, it's weird, but lately I've had some really confusing moments whenever I was with you and I wasn't sure how to work them out so I talked with Tadashi and Baymax and they assumed--"

"It was love?"

Hiro nodded. "That's probably why I--I mean, that's probably why--"

"No need to explain," you said lightly. "I understand. I've been getting those a lot too." You smiled as you groped for Hiro's hand, intertwining your fingers lightly with his as you felt your heart pound hard yet again. But this time, you let the butterflies in your stomach go crazy. It was love, after all.

"HIRO! (Y/N)! GET DOWN FROM THAT TREE!"

You were both suddenly startled to see Aunt Cass and Tadashi standing at the bottom of the tree, their faces full of conflicted emotions. Aunt Cass's face looked like a scrunched up potato, looking up to you with an angry and yet relieved expression, while Tadashi's face was full of glee as he danced around the tree.

"GET DOWN!" Aunt Cass repeated. "And Tadashi, STOP DANCING!"

"But Aunt Cass, haven't you sensed it all along, too?" Tadashi asked now, his face still shining with tears of happiness. "HIRO LOVES (Y/N)! I KNEW IT!"

"You knucklehead!" Aunt Cass sighed, picking up your basket of cherries and leaving with Tadashi. "You guys have better get down from the tree in 5 minutes, or else you'd both be experiencing the painful ear treatment!"

Having already received it multiple times, Hiro gulped in nervousness, while you just nodded and sighed in content, leaning on his shoulder. The closeness didn't bother you anymore. Determined to enjoy the view from up top of the cherry tree, you closed your eyes as you took in the scent of the summer breeze, the taste of cherry juice on your tongue, and Hiro's presence all around you.

Instinctively, Hiro put an arm around your shoulders. "I love you, (Y/N)," he whispered.

"I love you too, Hiro," you whispered back...and the two of you remained up in that tree for WAY longer than 5 minutes.

****************

The next time you dropped by the Café, you saw that Aunt Cass's cherry pies were a huge hit. So many people have been enjoying them this season, that Aunt Cass promised them more cherry-flavoured pastries--cherry Danishes, cherry tarts...even cherry smoothies.

"Thank you SO much for your help again, (Y/N)," Aunt Cass cried upon seeing you, giving you a big hug. "Without your huge basket of cherries, we would be running out sooner than you can say 'hot wings'!"

You laughed again at Aunt Cass's hype. "Any time, Aunt Cass." You ordered a slice of cherry pie from her large selection of snacks, which, of course, was on the house.

As you headed to a table, you caught sight of Hiro alone at a seat near the window, and you headed over to him. "Hey," you greeted him.

Hiro smiled back at you. "Hey," he greeted back. "I see you bought yourself one awesome slice of Aunt Cass's cherry pie."

You giggled as you dug in, the cherry juice exploding all over your tongue all over again, like it did the week before when you picked them, fresh from the tree. "Yeah. Wouldn't miss out the amazing success."

"Can you believe our luck, though?" Hiro's eyes were shining with happiness. "So many cherries that day...and then again, just another sweet memory to take home with us too..."

You smiled and took Hiro's hand again. You knew exactly what he was talking about. "And I assume you don't regret your actions?" you asked teasingly.

"Hell no," Hiro laughed, giving you a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love you too much to just say I hate you," he added cheekily, as he took your fork from you and dug into the pie.

"Ah, you," you laughed, taking a spare fork from the counter. And for the rest of the afternoon, you and Hiro shared that wonderful piece of cherry pie--which, to your surprise, was even better than you imagined.

HEY GUYS! Sorry for not having updated in FOREVER! Idk, this idea just came to mind because my family and I would go cherry picking all the time when I was younger. Idk how we suddenly became SO busy that we didn't have time this year, but whatever...it was such an amazing experience so I thought of turning it into a one-shot. And so yeah. I hope you like it!

Lots more to come soon, hopefully! Stay tuned!

-clara_hamada