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Kenta is four when Tony adopts him. The other children ignore him, some even are outright mean to him. In the fight for Tony’s positive attention, they’re more than willing to turn on each other. Not Pete though. He’s just a couple years older than Kenta but he protects him from the mean children, protects him from getting bullied, and protects him from the stares of the mean man in the black suits.
Kenta is six when Pete steps in front of him when Tony turns his anger at him. He doesn’t know his special ability yet. Pete says it’s normal, that most only develop their ability later on in life. That he doesn’t need to worry. Tony disagrees, tries to slap him across the face to punish him - and Pete rushes to block the slap with his own face. Pete doesn’t get dinner for daring to defy Tony and Kenta sneaks his own food to Pete when no one’s looking.
Kenta is ten when Pete’s special ability develops fully. He soon becomes one of Tony’s favourites, his ability to manipulate objects sought after.
Kenta is twelve when his own special ability develops fully. It’s not uncommon and Tony doesn’t spare him much mind. He tries to tell himself it’s okay.
Kenta is fifteen when he breaks down in Pete’s arms. He by now knows that Tony will never love him the same way he loves his other children, that he has to work harder than anyone else for his approval. “I’ll always love you, Ken” Pete tells him and he wants to believe him.
Kenta is sixteen when Pete starts showing real resentment towards Tony. He never craved Tony’s approval or love as much as Kenta but he also never dared to speak negatively about his hatred up until that moment.
Kenta is seventeen when Pete gives him a choice. Either he can run away with him or stay with Tony. Kenta asks him why Pete hates Tony so much, after all, Tony is nice to him and loves him the most. Pete just shakes his head sadly and tells him it’s not true love.
Kenta is also seventeen when Pete disappears. From one day to another, Pete is nowhere to be found. Tony asks him where Pete is and Kenta just shakes his head, he doesn’t know. Pete left him behind but he’s never going to tell Tony about Pete’s plans.
Kenta is eighteen when Tony changes his training. He said he can’t be sold anymore, isn’t worth anything to Tony anymore unless he becomes his secretary, his henchman. There’s still a little hope flaming in him that Pete will come back for him and how should he find Kenta when he’s somewhere else?
Kenta is twenty-one when he sees Pete again. Tony sends him on a mission to spy on this new up-and-coming businessman threatening Tony’s organisation. Tony says that he’s still no real danger, too small and insignificant to do anything but it’s best to nip it in the bud. When Kenta gets there, he sees Pete walking out of the office. He still looks a lot like the Pete he knew, just a bit taller, a bit older, a bit more confident. He wears a blue suit now, so different from their red and white uniforms. Maybe he works for that new businessman?
Kenta is twenty-two when he learns that Pete is actually the businessman in question and now his enemy. He gives up hope that Pete will come get him.
Kenta is twenty-four when Tony starts to invest in Red Racing. He doesn’t quite understand Tony’s decision but who is he to question the man? Of course, it is about Babe again. The racer is a bit younger than him and he barely spent any time with him when Babe still lived in the organisation, but it’s whatever. Kenta is used to everyone being favoured over him.
Kenta is twenty-five when Tony makes him spy on Pete once more. He’s investing in the rivalling team and Tony can’t have that. He sees Pete shoot arrow after arrow, each of them hitting the mark perfectly. He can’t help the small sense of pride swelling in him. Pete has always been good at those things, with or without his power. He should be scared, his enemy is standing in close distance with arrows, a bow, and perfect precision while he is entirely unarmed. That’s Pete though and Kenta feels safe.
Kenta is still twenty-five when Pete spies on him. He’s supposed to deliver another kid to a buyer’s house. Every time he has to do that, his heart breaks a little. He doesn’t want the children to suffer, he knows he shouldn’t support all that, and yet… It's not like he can stop Tony if Tony doesn’t trust him. He just hopes the children will have a better life in their new homes than they have at Tony’s.
It takes him a few seconds to notice the now familiar blue of Pete’s suit lurking behind the house wall. He charges at him, pressing a knife to Pete’s throat. He tries to ignore just how wrong it feels. Pete is his brother, the only person he’s felt safe within his life. And now he’s threatening his life. It takes everything in him to not drop the knife and engulf Pete in a hug. He’s taller than him now, Kenta notices unhelpfully.
“If you want to do something, please stop.” He begs and hopes it sounds like a threat. He doesn’t want Pete to know just how much this is affecting him. He needs Pete to believe he’s his enemy so that he won’t interrupt his plan. And just maybe, he wants to get back at him for leaving him behind all those years ago.
“Don’t be involved with Mr. Tony”, is what he says. ‘Please. He’ll hurt you. You won’t be able to go against him, not like that. I don’t want you hurt, I need you to be safe’ is what he doesn’t dare to say. Despite everything, Pete still means everything to him.
“Otherwise, I won’t stop next time for sure.” He knows it’s a lie and he suspects Pete knows too. He could never hurt the man before him, even if he tried. Pete’s eyes wander from the knife to Kenta’s eyes, up and down, again and again. Pete could always read him like no one else and Kenta suspects that he can do the same now still.
He takes the knife away, stubbornly holding Pete’s gaze. ‘I won’t hurt you. Will you?’ Nothing in Pete betrays if he understood Kenta’s silent question and nothing shows his answer. For the first time, Kenta is unsure whether Pete still remembers their past. If he still remembers him.
“I think the person who should stop is you”, Pete says and it sends a shiver down Kenta’s spine. It’s nothing like the gentle voice who told him he loved him or who reassured him when he was scared. It’s laced with anger, with hatred, and with disappointment. ‘I can’t’ Kenta tries to tell him over and over again, but the words don’t leave his mouth. It doesn’t seem like Pete can read his thoughts anymore.
“You know that what you did to these children is wrong.” He knows. “You’re the one who can stop this, Ken.” He hasn’t heard the name in years now. It’s swelling in his ears until it’s all he can hear. Ken. Ken. Ken. It sounds like betrayal.
He brings the knife back to Pete’s throat, overrun by anger. He doesn’t even know what to say. ‘I’m trying to stop it’, would be the truth. The truth he isn’t willing to share just yet. The truth he can’t share just yet. ‘My name is Kenta’, is also something he could say. It also would be true. But Kenta fears it’s gonna lace Pete’s eyes with hurt and he can’t have that. It’s okay if he hurts and misses all they had. It’s not okay if it’s Pete. He could say ‘Don’t call me Ken’, but it would be a lie. He wants to hear the name over and over again, wants to feel Pete’s love again. He doesn’t say any of it.
Maybe he doesn’t have to. Pete reads it all from his eyes, can see the conflict in them. Kenta knows because he sees the same in Pete’s face. He sees the pain, the worry, the confusion, and, worst of all, the betrayal. ‘You’re the one who left me’, Kenta thinks. Pete isn’t allowed to feel betrayed. Except his childhood best friend is holding a knife to his throat.
He lets his eyes wander over Pete’s face one more time before he removes the knife from Pete’s throat and runs. He tries his hardest to walk slowly, to walk with dignity and honour. Only when he’s certain Pete won’t follow him he allows himself to break down. He sinks down against the wall and buries his face in his hands.
Kenta is twenty-five when he cries because he lost Pete for good.