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The off season has long been Riko’s least favorite season.
Not only because he preferred to be spending his time on the Court crushing those who were less than him (everyone) but also because it meant that every moment that wasn’t dedicated to off-season training was, instead, dedicated to building his brand as one of the sons of Exy.
This year the off-season is worse than usual as he doesn’t even have Kevin to bother. He sits alone in dressing rooms staring at a seat that had never before been empty and wonders when Kevin will stop playing these games and come back to where he belongs, at Riko’s side ever so slightly behind him.
It feels like just another thing going wrong this year when the car that is taking him from place to place, media event to media event breaks down in the middle of nowhere. He makes his displeasure well and truly known to his driver and Riko demands he do something about it.
The driver heads off, promising to be back with a tow truck or any other assistance they need. He promises that he’ll be back soon . That Riko won’t miss his media engagement because he’s stuck in a spot with no cell service so he can’t even call to let them know what’s happening, a blight on his perfect public image all because someone didn’t get this stupid car checked out. As if promises from someone who can't even properly maintain a car means a damn thing.
He sits in the back seat boiling about it all. He’s more than likely going to miss his media engagement, it’s going to be a whole damn thing with the Master. Riko never knows how the man will react to anything that falls outside of his carefully considered plans. He can’t do much of anything the way he is now, his suit needs to be perfect just in case he can show up fashionably late to the engagement and interview.
An hour passes, then maybe two, then at least three and then it’s dark.
He’s fully run out of stitches to count in the Italian leather seats, he’s run out of Exy strategies to think about, and he’s gotten frustrated trying to come up with ‘funny excuses / stories’ to tell the media about why he’s now missed 2 different media engagements that he should have been at.
He keeps thinking of stories that Kevin can back-up but he’s alone.
He climbs out of the car, figuring he can count a few stars and maybe make Exy plays out of their formations if nothing else. It’ll get boring fast, it always does, but it won’t ruin his suit. Kevin had always been the one who had pleaded with him to sneak out and look at the stars because he wanted to see Orion. The night sky was nothing to write home about as far as Riko was-
He looks up and an infinite universe greets him.
He climbs back into the car and feels overwhelmed by what he has just seen. The stars visible from Evermore had been muted and few. Kevin had complained about ‘light pollution’ and how ‘only the brightest could be seen’ and Riko hadn’t really cared to understand what he had been complaining about.
Who cares if lesser, duller, stars were snuffed out by their surrounding?
Riko sits in the darkness of the rented car and tries to count the stitches in the fine Italian leather by touch alone because they are finite and there is a correct number that he can count to in his lifetime but he keeps getting different numbers every time he tries to check.
He thinks again about what he saw. Thinks about infinity and thing without an end. He looks to the empty space next to him.
He takes a deep breath and climbs out of the car again and looks up.
The universe greets him as if he had never hidden from its gaze and it is endless. He can’t possibly count what is up there, it’s bigger than him, the universe is so much bigger than him. He looks at his suit and knows that he is not going to make it to any sort of planned engagement tonight.
If he does? Riko’s always been pretty good at making up a charming story or two to the media about how it got dirty.
He settles on the hood of the car staring up at something truly endless. He tries to find the stars that he had come to know but they are utterly lost in the sea of stars before him. He feels small and remembers how Kevin had said that when they look up at the sky they’re actually looking up at the past.
The spot next to him is empty and there is no one telling him things about what he’s looking at.
He hears a car pass him and he doesn’t try to stop it, his eyes transfixed by the past.
A few more hours pass like this and he wonders if his driver has abandoned him, fearing the repercussions of improper maintenance of a Moriyama vehicle.
The car hood is kind of uncomfortable.
He looks to the side and thinks about laying down on the grass. He thinks about the insects and the worms and all the things that are beneath him.
Small things that can be destroyed by him so easily, right under his polished shoes.
He’s above them.
He’s so high above them.
He looks up at the stars again, feels small again, and lays with the bugs in the grass.
He thinks about forever and thinks about Kevin and how he should be here next to Riko pointing out stars and stories but he left and Riko doesn't quite know when he's coming back. Kevin is coming back though, that's the one thing Riko is sure of.
His fingers dig into the green grass beneath him and it's a nice feeling even if the dirt under his nails will be a problem later whenever the driver gets the courage to come back or when people start to look for him.
For right now though? This is nice.