Chapter Text
Daisuke shot up in a cold sweat. Shaking, panting, scared. Why was he scared? Thinking back to the dream- well nightmare that he just had he fearfully shivered. He looked to his side and grabbed his (ICONIC ✨) pink over-shirt before slipping it on and slowly heading to the living room, wearing socks but no shoes so he could get there quieter. He didn’t want to bump into anyone else. In his mind, Anya was getting the rest she needed and deserved. Curly was already in enough pain as it is. Jimmy would just get angry and shout at him. (JIMMY😡) Swansea would get annoyed and call him useless, he can’t even succeed in sleeping without messing up and having a stupid nightmare. He hated being useless…. It was the thing he hated about himself the most.
His vision started getting blurry so he moved his hands to his eyes. He was crying….? Why was he crying? Oh right- the nightmare. He wiped his tears away and picked up the pace, quietly speeding towards the living room. The nighttime screen was somewhat comforting so he guessed it would be a good thing to help ground him.
He made it to the screen and sat down in front of it, wiping his tears away and trying to think of home. His mother…. She does love him! He’s so sure of it! Sure, she does lock him out of the house sometimes…… but it was for his own good! That’s what she claimed at least…. But Daisuke bought it. At least she doesn’t hit him anymore…. He shook his head violently. He didn’t need to think of this right now. He needed to take his mind off this. Looking around he spotted his Nintendo switch that he bought with him. Reaching for it, he slipped off of his seat and fell onto the floor, earning him a small bruise on his right knee. He could worry about that later! Grabbing his switch and turning it on, he didn’t even bother getting off the floor. It was comfortable enough anyways! He turned on the first game he saw; animal crossing.
It was now a whole two hours later. His eyes still pink and puffy from crying. Not that he cared, not like anyone was gonna see him like this. He was busy grinding bells in animal crossing, not paying attention to anything else around him. He let out a quiet yawn while looking back up at he nighttime screen. He thought back to the nightmare he had. It was his father…… yelling at him…. Hitting and slapping him so hard that he lost his balance and fell over. Being slapped back down every time he tried to stand up, every time he tried to get away.
This wasn’t just a just a random nightmare. This was his life, his memories, and his ‘normal’. He knew it wasn’t actually ‘normal’ but it was at least his version of it. It was the real reason he signed up for the internship. To get away, to escape. The only option that his parents wouldn’t shun him for. The only thing that they would deem an ‘acceptable’ reason to leave.
Without even noticing, he started crying again. He curled into a tight ball and clutched onto his switch like it was was lifeline, a soft whimper escaping his lips. Staying in the fetal position and crying to his hearts content. He stayed like this for a few minutes until he heard the sound of the door slide open. He froze, making himself smaller and covering his mouth to stop himself from making any sounds and exposing that his position. A quiet sob escaped his lips. Mentally kicking himself, he prepared for some sort of confrontation and tried guessing who it was by listening to how heavy the footsteps sounded. He could roughly guess who it was based on how loud each step was an how often they stepped. He learned this as a child to avoid certain people for certain reasons.
He listened closer, deducting that it was probably Swansea with his slower, slightly louder footsteps. Swansea’s footsteps sounded awfully familiar to Daisuke’s father’s….. it couldn’t be… no! Of course it wasn’t his father! It’s physically impossible for **him** to even get on the ship! They’re in space! It can’t be him. It can’t be him. It can’t be him. It can’t be him. It can’t be him. It can’t be him. It can’t be him.It can’t be him.
Daisuke felt a hand on his shoulder, suddenly violently flinching and shuffling away. His eyes too blurry from his tears to tell who it is. Wiping his tears as fast as he can and breathing fast and heavy. He hadn’t realised he’d been hyperventilating. Shit. He looked back up at the figure and recognised the silhouette; it Swansea. It’s only Swansea. Why is he panicking so much?! Why can’t he stop?! Why-
Swansea placed a reassuring hand on Daisuke’s arm, trying to ground him. Trying to let him know that it was only him- not whoever Daisuke thought he was, and that he wasn’t a threat.
It was working.
Daisuke’s breathing slowly started to calm down. Wiping excess tears from his face, earning him a concerned look from his mentor. “Explain.” Daisuke looked up at Swansea as he said that. “u-uhm- I didn’t mean to wake anyone I swear-“ Swansea cut him off: “I meant ‘explain why you’re crying.’” Daisuke looked down as he heard this, not knowing what to say in response. Swansea notices that Daisuke doesn’t want to talk about it and sighs before reassuring him “you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to”.
Daisuke looks up, before looking back down in shame. No one was supposed to see him cry. He vowed that he’d never show any ‘bad’ emotions in-front of anyone again…. Yet here he was. Crying in-front if the person he looked up to the most. Daisuke sees himself as pathetic. ‘Boys don’t cry!’ His father used to say to him. He hated it. He hated disappointing people….
Swansea sees the younger boys distress and decides to engulf him in a tight hug; tight enough to feel warm and wanted, but not too tight so it doesn’t hurt him or feel too overbearing. Daisuke immediately relaxes into the hug, almost on instinct. His parents never gave him hugs… so why did Swansea…? Maybe…… maybe Swansea cared about him afterall!
Swansea has kids. This is how he learned how to comfort people. While Daisuke is ‘technically’ not a kid anymore, he sure does act like one sometimes. He copies what he remembers seeing his wife doing to comfort their kids while they were still young and slowly starts rubbing Daisuke’s back in a circular motion. It seems to work as the younger one seems to melt into the touch. Yawning, Daisuke starts drifting back to sleep, the older of the two lets him as he looks tired and decides that he will ask him about it in the morning- when he’s more stable.
***Daisuke falls asleep***
Sighing, Swansea re-positions Daisuke, holding him so the younger’s head is leaning against his chest comfortably before falling asleep himself.