Work Text:
Work used to be nothing but drudgery and despair for Sojiro, his feelings on the matter aligning with those of many other Japanese men. He never thought about why he hated to have to go in every morning and attempt to eke food and shelter money out of the world and its random passersby. It’s just how it was. Maybe it was partly because his home life was dismal, even more dismal than work. His government job was bad too though, and that was before he had Futaba with him. So bad that he used to get blackout drunk every night and end up falling into whatever gutter, or more often bed, was closest, again like many of his peers. He stopped thinking. What was the point? It achieved nothing but even more pain, like turning a corkscrew into his own flesh.
But then Rin Amamiya kicked the door of his life down, and suddenly he was forced to do nothing but think. At first that was nothing but salt in the wound, but the more he thought, the less painful the activity became, and soon it was like the deep but satisfying soreness that comes after hard work. His newbie thinking habit sometimes led to some serious problems, but he eventually thought his way to a realisation - work was terrible because he had no love in his life. He didn’t truly love anyone, not Futaba, not Rin, not himself, not even coffee or his memory of Wakaba. There was no reason to work, no reason to live. Real love lock-picking the door of his life put an end to the worst part of the pain of working - the emotional toll, and added great compensations for the physical tiredness.
Husband and wife reel home after the evening shift at the cafe, arms around each other’s waists. They’re not drunk, just happy and laughing about something one of their regulars said. Opening their front door is inhibited by giggles just as it would have been had they been tipsy. Falling onto the couch and cuddling is just as amusing as if wine had been consumed. The only difference is that no one trips upon standing when a whirlwind of footsteps on the stairs warn that offspring are approaching.