Work Text:
He had woken up at midday. Eyes dry, muscles tense. There was a sharp pain on his neck.
Koichi grabbed his glasses, but didn’t dare to open the curtains. The light would blind him.
It was something he had lived multiple times already.
Anyone would dare to say that this was overreacting. He was an adult already; he should get over it.
But that was what made it worse.
He stared at the Astray Red Frame on his desk.
Breakfast was a sip of water and the drive to smoke. But he didn’t – would he be even more of a disappointment if he did? His eyes were tearing up already.
Wait, the time?
It was already so late, the sun was gone.
Nanami would be back at any moment, and he was still on his pajamas.
A messy room, the darkness broken only by a lamp. Time was leaving his side, as he laid like a corpse on bed.
- “You already saw this coming, didn’t you?”
The memory of Tsukasa came to haunt him. The evenings spent with his friends - they came to laugh at him.
Nanami didn’t bother him that night – not that she didn’t try. But all there was to hope was that maybe her brother went to sleep early.
She was getting tired. He could feel it.
Everyone was getting tired. His body, his soul, his mind too.
Maybe he should let himself rest, forever. No one would miss him, right?
- “The only ones who cared already left.”
As time went by, he had kept himself going. Nanami did bother him in the end.
- “We need some of those to rent for the store! And you know I’m no-good, I don’t even know what they are called. The manager said he would pay you, so, what do you think? Aren’t I the best sister you could wish for?”
- “…Sorry you had to do that for me.”
- “Ah, don’t apologize! Thank me, thank me! You keep acting all gloomy recently. And look at you! I’m sure you’ve lost a few poun-”
- “Nami, please. I want to go back to sleep.”
- “It’s 5 pm!”
- “I’m tired.”
- “…Will you wake up for dinner?”
- “…I’ll try.”
He did. Nanami was, in the end, his precious sister. The one who had stuck with him despite what their parents said. She was kind enough to let him live with her. Once again, he was saved by her.
The least he could do is eat dinner with her.
He cried that night. The fuzzy feeling of gratefulness. it’s too much for a damaged heart.
Again, anyone would have laughed at him.
A man, crying over broken toys.
. “And what if your friends left? I let you dedicate yourself to this because you promised it was enough. Those contests and all that shit. If you won’t do that anymore, then look for a job or something. I won’t let a parasite live under my roof.”
His father was right to say so.
But night brings day for the tired man. He had to finish a Kapool for the store. That’s the least he could do – it was still a job! We are still catching on!
He cheered for himself.
Then, one day, someone showed up. His body tensed up as soon as the bell rang – Nanami didn’t ring the bell, unless she forgot her keys. But he was there to give them to her when she left. So, who was it?
Maybe a delivery?
He shyly opened the door.
- “Why did you let those kids come visit?” – He asked his sister when she arrived, his hair messier than normal.
- “They admire your work! I thought it would be good for you to kno-”
- “At least tell me first! I wasn’t ready! Do you even know how much I- Sorry. Sorry… I just, tell me beforehand.”
- “If I tell you, all you’ll do is hide!”
- “Gzzz.”
- “Look, you are even starting to sound like a Gundam!”
- “Shut up!”
The days were getting lively. Those kids sure didn’t stop anytime soon. It was borderline stalking, wasn’t it? Should he call the police?
Nah, they were just kids.
Kids who thought his work was, at least, really cool.
- “What am I going to do? I can’t just- Is just- But-”
Haven’t you been waiting for this?
Ever since Tsukasa and the rest left – you’ve been waiting for someone who would take you again. You weren’t made to work alone, Koichi.
Right.
- “But-”
Those were the first friends you ever had, weren’t they?
The shy and quiet Koichi Nanase, the one who his little sister had to save from bullies. Too thin, too weak, too anxious, too meek.
How you opened, like a flower, to those who would listen.
Even if they were aggressive, even if they were loud, they did listen. They were by your side.
A bond so precious like that, will you handle losing it again?
They became your all.
You were never good for anything else.
Next day, the kids showed up at his balcony. Another day, they chased him from the convenience store. A third day, they left a letter on his door.
His heart was too kind to not give it to their effort – if someone was so willing to do that much for him, maybe, just maybe, these kids, as young and naïve as they were, they would be there, right?
Of course, he wasn’t going to depend on literal children. But he could lend them a hand, to thank them.
KO-1 logged in.
And it seemed like half of the GBN stars already knew about him, huh!
His little heart couldn’t handle that.
But it wasn’t all there was for him – for the three – or, dare I say, four – kids had been going through his trash, like Gunpla Raccoons.
But they were there, trying to repair his old friends.
As if trying to fix his broken heart. A heart that was afraid to love wholeheartedly – the heart of a broken adult.
What sense was there, to such a thing?
He didn’t know, but his eyes were tearing up already.
They had already been rejected multiple time. Yet, they were there, mending pieces of his past, with their little hands full of hope.
Shame on him for forgetting how to live, and how to love.
Come on. Wouldn’t hurt to try.
Not that he was coddled by their words, at all.
He was just a little excited.
Even if it went wrong, it was worth a try.
He wouldn’t blame those kids for getting tired of a game.
It was just a game.
Even if it became his everything, he was happy that it was just a game. If it were any other way, he wouldn’t be able to be serious about it.
- “…but only if you build your own models! O-okay?”