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Anya had let Swansea know about Daisuke’s situation. The… regression. Quite frankly, the young woman was surprised he wasn’t first to know.
Daisuke was in his sleeping quarters, doodling on a sheet of an old paper with some words he didn’t really understand on the other side. He was happy to hear his condition had been normal, as Anya’d previously told him. Though, he still couldn’t shake the shame that came with it. She was the only one he really felt okay with knowing.
Though, he’d never directly addressed this with her. Anya really only told Swansea in the off-chance she wouldn’t be around to help the young man out, knowing the man was up far into the early morning much more often than anyone else was. That was why they were out of coffee.
Swansea was heading back to his own quarters for the night, ready for bed. That was, until, he saw the light peeking from under Daisuke’s door.
He raised an eyebrow and walked up to it, knocking quietly.
“Hey, Kid?”
Uh oh.
Daisuke scrambled to hide anything he’d thought might’ve been suspicious, “Yeah?” He shouted back.
“Damn, I’m outside the door. No need to shout.” Swansea slowly opened the door.
“What’re you up to in here?”
“N— Nothing, really. Just… thinking.”
Swansea raised an eyebrow and walked up to the young man, who subtly shoved a paper under his pillow. Of course, he noticed. You had to have a very keen eye to be a mechanic.
“What’s under your pillow?”
“Uhhh— Uh.”
Daisuke couldn’t think of what to say, little tears forming in his eyes.
“I- Uhmm… They’re— It’s…”
Swansea reached his hand out for the pillow, “Here, why don’t you just let me s—“
“ NO! I— I mean- Go ahead… probably not even mine, or something like that… I dunno.”
Swansea looked confused at the boy’s outburst as he pulled the paper from under the pillow. He sat down next to the young man, sinking into the cot as much as his body could really. He took a look at the paper.
“Ahh, it’s Anya. Then there’s you, me, Curly,” He paused and scoffed, rolling his eyes, “Jimmy.”
Daisuke looked at him, confused.
“‘Ts nothing. Some good, uh, art here. Really captured my essence.” Swansea chuckled a bit, the boy had drawn him like a bloated orange.
Daisuke blushed shyly, “I told you it’s not mine— Probably.” He crossed his arms, looking away from the drawing in the older man’s hands. Swansea raised both his eyebrows at Daisuke.
“Really? Why’s it say ‘me’ above your head then? No idea who else’s it could be.”
“Maybe it’s Anya’s… She like, totally could’ve gotten us mixed up or something.” He lied through his teeth.
Swansea rolled his eyes, “Well, I don’t think Anya would’ve labeled you mom.”
Daisuke’s face grew even hotter as he looked down at the paper, ‘ ママ .’ That’s what it said. Typically, Daisuke would’ve referred to his own mother as ‘ お袋 .’
Though, considering he obviously wasn’t feeling… of age, it wasn’t a surprise.
“How do you know what that says anyways…? I didn’t know you could read Japanese.” Daisuke looked back at the old man.
“My wife, she’s Japanese. Such a strange woman, I’m sure she’d love you.” Swansea explained. Daisuke shook his head.
He frowned, unsure of where to look now. He felt embarrassed. Swansea looked at the boy, “Hey, uh, why don’t you… draw something for me, huh? A flower, maybe.”
There was a spark in the boy’s eyes that was shot down almost as quickly as it was shown.
“I’m not doing that… I’m not some toddler.” He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, staring down at his lap.
“Ehhhh, someone and something’s told me otherwise.” Swansea teased, placing an arm around his intern.
Daisuke clutched the shirt now, “This is so stupid…” He whined. His eyes welled up with tears again. Swansea frowned, “Hey, calm down… I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to…”
Daisuke leaned against the old man’s shoulder, “I do, but I shouldn’t… Even if it is normal or a coping mechanism or whatever Anya said, it’s weird! And I’m weird, and I should just deal with it like a big boy!!” His voice cracked as tears began to fall from his face.
Swansea looked away from the young man, unsure of what to say.
“You’re not weird. I mean, you are weird… but it’s not for that. Let’s just calm down, okay?”
“No, no, no! You don’t get it! I— You- Ugh!” He groaned exasperatingly, beginning to flip about as he kicked his legs and tugged on his hair. Tantrum.
Swansea couldn’t say he was surprised, Anya made the boy out to be very sensitive when in this state or transitioning to it. Though, he was concerned.
“Hey, maybe I don’t get it. So what? Sometimes people don’t get things. Sometimes you won’t even get yourself, and that’s okay. It’s okay to not know everything. It’s okay for you to be… how you are.” He looked at the boy, turning him towards himself.
Daisuke had this pout on his face, that just turned into a soft frown. He crawled closer towards Swansea and buried his face in his shoulder. Swansea looked surprised, but understood what the boy needed. A hug.
And he gave him that.
“Now, what about that flower, huh?” He rubbed his arms against the boy’s back. Daisuke kept his head in Swansea’s shoulder silently for a while, before letting himself breathe.
He looked at him, “Okay…”
The boy gripped a clipboard and another old paper, rummaging for the pens he’d hidden under his blankets. Swansea rolled his eyes, “This is where all the pens have been going? Seriously?” He smiled warmly.
Daisuke looked at him, then back at the paper as he sat back further on the bed to give room for his legs to dangle and kick. He began to doodle a flower, tongue stuck out in concentration.
Daisuke felt his stomach growling, his cheeks flushing a soft pink. He looked up at Swansea expectantly, as though he were supposed to just conjure something up. Swansea raised an eyebrow, “Why’re you looking at me like that?”
Daisuke fluttered his eyelashes with big puppy-like eyes. Swansea cringed, as endearing as he found it, “Alright, stop that, I’ll make you something to eat. What do you want?” He stood.
“Curryyy!!” Daisuke said, smiling. Swansea nodded, “Coming to the kitchen or?” He began to walk, and Daisuke followed behind him. He seemed to have this new pep in his step, holding the clipboard with paper and pen in hand.
Daisuke laid on the floor at the night screen and continued to doodle as he waited for food. He hadn’t had any comfort meals in so long, he was excited to have something he was used to.
Daisuke hadn’t requested any rice with his meal, but Swansea made it anyway. It smelled like heaven. It took a little over half an hour, and Daisuke had began to grow a bit sleepy.
“Are you almost done..?” He spoke out, as if Swansea wasn’t carrying a bowl over to him right now. He placed it in front of him, “Eat up, little man.”
‘Little man’ was immediately risen up as if he hadn’t just been half asleep, immediately stuffing his mouth with the warm food. He felt something warm pooling in his stomach, but it wasn’t the curry…
The curry that, in the span of fifteen minutes, had made it’s way into his stomach. He tiredly looked up at Swansea, “Thank you, papa…” He spoke very softly. He tried to finish drawing, but ultimately fell asleep on the floor.
Swansea shook his head and picked the boy up, carrying him to his sleeping quarters. He laid him down on the bed (if you could even call it that) and let the boy rest, resisting the instinct to give him a kiss on the forehead like he would’ve done with his kids back home.