Chapter Text
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It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
They were supposed to keep having adventures, keep saving power spheres.
And not… resigning from TAPOPS because he sustained a permanent limp of his left leg due to a mission gone wrong.
What a sick joke, he had just turned 21 last month.
He’s coping pretty well, all things considered.
He moped in his room. He laid down in bed for days without motion akin to a corpse in all except that his blood still flows and he’s still breathing.
Tok Aba (kindly) gave him 3 days to mourn before he lost his patience and personally stormed into his room, which was now the spare room on the ground floor of the house. Tok Aba dragged him to the bathroom, forced him to shower while he waited outside knocking all the while to make sure he didn’t spiral more (TAPOPS had helped in installing disability devices throughout the house and the Kokotiam, as part of compensation of his services so far), and then pulling him all the way to the Kokotiam to get some fresh air for god’s sake.
Admittedly, even there, he simply just sat at the back of the stall, gazing far away into the distance. Tok Aba didn’t force him to do anything. He ensured that he is comfortable in his place, placed his forearm crutch somewhere where he wouldn’t run into it or spill choco onto it, and just… let him be.
The chatter of the customers registered as a soft buzz in his head, akin to the late night television shows that Tok Aba would turn on on sleepless nights he used to have back then. He would have a nightmare that he couldn’t shake off, then he would come down to the living room. Just sitting on the sofa before going back to his room when the dawn starts to colour the sky. Somehow, Tok Aba always woke up too on every single night he did this despite the fact that he had muffled the sounds of his footsteps with the Earth element. Tok Aba would keep him company, most times they just cuddled in silence with Boboiboy lying down with his head on his grandpa’s lap, and Tok Aba would tell stories of old times. Some other times, Tok Aba would make him hot chocolate to soothe his nerves. Tok Aba dragging him to the Kokotiam felt like those old times. It was comforting. It helped in him rediscovering his footing back on Earth despite how disconcerting it all still felt.
After he had surfaced from the depths of his mind for what felt like forever, one thing came up in his thoughts that was beyond ridiculous for him to even think of at the moment.
He had no job.
Before, he got paid a lot as a TAPOPS cadet. And of course, he also got a lot of compensation due to his forced retirement, and by a lot, he meant a lot- he could choose to not work all his life and even then he couldn’t see the amount ever ending. It was just that much.
He remembered blanking out of his depressive haze out of pure shock back when Commander Kokoci and Admiral Tarung went to visit him at the infirmary and they handed him the compensation. The moment he laid his eyes on the compensation fee and mentally converted it to what it would cost on Earth, he choked on his own saliva.
His two superiors paid no mind to his objection of the compensation fees, saying that the amount wouldn’t even compare to what he had accomplished all throughout his service here, and that they apologize for their oversight; that he would now live with his injury all throughout his life.
Boboiboy could only fall silent at their words. At the reminder that now, no more can he wander, adventure through space like before, not now that he was shackled to the ground.
He didn’t blame them. He couldn’t blame them.
It was not their fault.
No one could’ve expected that he would sustain an injury to his spinal cord, and that the villain of the time managed to delay help from getting to them in time, thus causing Boboiboy to lose function of his left leg forever now, right?
He didn’t say anything to the two heads bowing apologetically towards him.
He didn’t need to.
He asked them whether they would take away his power watch. They asked back if he would want that. He could only look down onto his watch, at the powers that had allowed him to survive and had accompanied him all his life, that had become so familiar to him that he could sense the elements all the time now instead of only when using the watch, and he shook his head.
He couldn’t lose this too.
They let him keep what’s his.
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21 is young for an Earthling. Compared to the aliens that roam the galaxy, 21 is much younger. Though they understood that Earthlings matured at a much faster rate than most aliens out there in the galaxy, even by Earth's standards, 21 is far too young to shoulder the burden of losing a body function one had been using since birth.
Kokoci and Tarung understood the cost— had seen it in countless battlefields they had been involved in.
They had sworn to keep the galaxy safe for the younger generation that will come later.
They mourned the fact that they had let one slip to pay the cost that should’ve been borne by the veterans; under the radar of their protection.
Nothing else could convey how apologetic they were that Boboiboy—the kindest and sincere soul they had been given the grace of knowing—would pay the price.
(They should’ve. The boy had always been too bright for his own good.)
(They had forgotten that even as he stood up after each injury, he still bled.)
(It was only a matter of time until a mission would bring him down for good.)
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It was Captain Papa that suggested it, at first.
Being that Captain Papa had long resigned from TAPOPS and is now living happily with his wife and daughter at their big house that he bought some years back, he was one of the first on Earth that first heard of his condition.
At first, Captain Papa only knew of him when he came on the day Tok Aba forced him to the Kokotiam. Despite the Kokotiam’s open structure, he managed to sit himself strategically where one would have to crane their head from wherever they were coming from to even see him. Tok Aba said nothing when he did so, and only patted his head and gave him a mug of his special warm chocolate before going to the counter to deal with the first few customers that arrived early.
Captain Papa was one of those people. Apparently he went squid fishing last night with the uncle that went fishing last time when they first knew about the Pulau Terapung. It was only after his companion went back home first that Captain Papa noticed his presence there.
Captain Papa greeted him with his usual loud, boisterous antics, wondering out loud why he would sit at the back when there are fine seats next to him all the while making his way to him. Boboiboy initially panicked quite a bit. At the same time, Captain Papa’s unchanging nature in greeting him made him temporarily forget his grievances.
Habit made him stand up. Captain Papa’s loud frame noticeably displayed his confusion when Boboiboy had gotten up using his right leg as a prop to stand up–to greet his teacher–while his left leg remained stubbornly static. He had forgotten for a second. This led him to be half up before gravity took advantage of his lack of stability causing him to fall with a fairly embarrassing yelp before Captain Papa was by his side, propping him up from what he assumed was only carelessness from standing up so fast.
He was in the middle of tutting him for being careless even when he’s an adult already when Captain Papa truly took notice of his condition. Of the barely moving leg. He had been in the fields before, he knows.
His teacher went silent. His arm still remained in supporting him.
Tok Aba sighed quietly, and ushered them both to sit at the counter. Boboiboy took his crutch to walk under Captain Papa’s watchful eyes. They told him what had happened. That he injured his spinal cord and couldn’t get treatment in time which led to him losing function in his left leg. In the midst of the recounting, Boboiboy had distantly wondered if his teacher would act differently around him now.
To his surprise, his teacher immediately engulfed him in a teary hug causing him to snap up his head that he had unknowingly lowered. If Captain Papa was normally loud when normal, and louder when happy, somehow at this moment, he managed to maintain a balanced ground in expressing his sympathy for him.
He tearily wailed about how brave he was. How proud he is of him that he managed to survive such a traumatic thing. How he is glad that he went back to them alive despite losing his leg. Then, he put both his hands on his shoulder. Saying firmly that should he need any help or assistance that he and his family would always be there for him. No matter what.
Normally, he would be slightly annoyed with his teacher’s too boisterous personality. But only that, slightly. After all, he had known Captain Papa ever since his childhood. He knew better about his teacher than anyone that the louder his teacher was, the more sincere he was. And he had always been loud to him ever since his childhood. Always there. Teacher Papa had always been a constant in his life. And he had been afraid that he would leave.
What an idiotic thought.
His teacher, more than anything, has always been so painfully himself (so fixated on justice and kindness) in all the ways that mattered, even when the world was hellbent on breaking his spirit. He should’ve known that Captain Papa, out of anyone, would never leave his student alone when they are in trouble.
Just like that one time in the past. When he had stayed with him from the late evening until night, Captain Papa had patiently listened to his problems, and both brainstormed for ways to resolve the problem. Together. He could have always left him to manage the problem alone, he could see that clearly now. It was just children’s spat back then (despite how ridiculously overpowered they all were), it was bound to be resolved one way or another even without Captain Papa helping him.
But he stayed. He always did.
How could he even think that he would’ve abandoned him just because he is crippled now?
Warmth filled him so suddenly that he couldn’t help tearing up on the spot.
He cried. This time, instead of feeling more heavy and numb like he always does whenever tears spill out of his eyes like a faucet in his room, now he felt his burdens lightened. His mind finally cleared after what felt like an eternity.
Huh, maybe Tok Aba really was onto something when he dragged him out.
Tok Aba handed him a glass of water after his burst of emotion.
Captain Papa jokingly teased him of crying even when he’s an adult while patting his back hard, the only way all fathers do, while his own occasional sniffles could also be heard.
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Boboiboy shakily laughed. The laughter scraping his abused throat dry but it was more genuine than what Tok Aba would get since the day the husk of his grandson came back home to him. This time indefinitely. He got his grandson back, but at what cost?
Tok Aba smiled in relief for the first time in three days.
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Since then, Captain Papa would visit the Kokotiam with his daughter (only occasionally with his wife tagging along) to keep him company. Pipi, being a total sweetheart much like her father, thought of his loss of mobility more as a side matter, and instead spent each time with him exchanging stories, playing board games, reading her family’s new children’s books serialization, helping her with homeworks, and more. It was… normal.
Spending time with Pipi was much like hanging out with a little sister in all but blood. It took no time at all for old pieces of him to resurface. He laughed more. He began to have his appetite back. Of course, there were also days where he was noticeably down and withdrawn, that even Pipi’s cheerful demeanor failed to chase away. On those days, she would simply keep him company by his side, still telling him of her day, not letting him out of her day. Once, Boboiboy tried to persuade her to play with her friends on his off days, to which Pipi just looked up at him quizzically before tilting her head and said in the most honest tone only a child could muster, “But you are my friend, Abang Boboiboy!”
She stretched her little legs off the hut’s seat. “Pipi meant, yeah, sometimes Abang Boboiboy is so gloomy that it’s boring, but Pipi likes spending time with you! Because you still smile at my stories even when you’re like that!”
His right hand rose to his lips. He was indeed smiling. It was barely there but as Pipi had said, it was a smile. Pipi’s expression turned cheeky at his action as she giggled to herself before launching off on another tangent of her family’s new children books stories.
He couldn’t say anything to that.
When about two months had passed, he voiced his grievance of not having a job to his teacher.
Captain Papa had looked at him in puzzlement. “But you have more than enough to last you a lifetime?”
“No, well yes— but I don’t mean in that way, Teacher Papa. It’s more like,” Boboiboy paused to arrange his scrambling, half-formed thoughts to collaborate in a way he can make his teacher understand them.
“All this time,” he started slowly, “I have always been on the move—saving power spheres or dealing with villains on multiple planets. With every adventure, there was another goal to be met.” Captain Papa nodded in understanding.
“But on Earth?” Boboiboy gestured his arm wide to emphasise his next sentence. “There is nothing for me to do—Sure I could help Tok Aba but I have been doing that since childhood, and yeah maybe I could help people around just like what I had done before but I—” Boboiboy grimaced, “—I can’t bear thinking about ‘hero’-ing now—I just.” Boboiboy frowned. “I have no goal here. No purpose, nothing to do. Does this make sense?”
Captain Papa was oddly silent, his demeanor deep in thought.
At the sight, Boboiboy just smiled wryly, handing over the drink that he had made. Restless to move, he had persuaded Tok Aba this morning to let him man the counter and handle what he could from his place as Tok Aba handled the more difficult part. “Don’t worry, Captain Papa. I’ll be used to this soon enough, I’m sure. Don’t trouble your head over it.”
Captain Papa did not in fact let the problem go. He held his chin as his brows furrowed thoughtfully.
“You need to move. Of course you do, you’re young, and too kind for your own good. Thus, a job where you could move and contribute to society at once.”
Teacher Papa continued hm-ing and huff-ing and scratching his head while he watched on partly in amusement as his hands continued on making other customers’ orders. At long last, after about half an hour, Teacher Papa snapped his hand with a triumphant expression on his face.
“Young man,” Teacher Papa started. “What do you say about being a teacher?”
Boboiboy choked. A few coughs, and a hand held against the counter for stability later, he managed to choke out; “A teacher?!” He laughed. “Me? Psh, Teacher Papa,” Boboiboy grinned up at him with a complicated look in his eyes, “When have I ever been good at teaching?”
He still remembered how he barely managed to pass mathematics back then…
Teacher Papa was undeterred however. “How about being my assistant then?”
To be clear, at this point, Teacher Papa had managed to get back his former teaching position for Mathematics at the Rintis Island Primary School a few weeks after he had moved back on the island from the city. But if Boboiboy remembered properly, there’s no such thing as an assistant teacher position in primary school, right?
“Like, a teaching assistant? Isn’t that for universities or something?”
“Meh, I’m sure the school will make an exception for you if you just tutor them instead of being a full-fledged teacher. You’re an alumni of the school either way. Just skim through the materials, and tutor the kids in the evenings, outside of school hours. So, not really a teacher, but tutoring kids. This way, you don’t have to concern yourself with getting an education certificate or any other legal stuff. Just come over in the evenings sometimes in the week and tutor those children. I’m sure I can get permission from the school for that. So, that should settle your restlessness, don’t you think?”
Boboiboy stared blankly at Teacher Papa. “You’re being serious.”
“Of course I am, young man! What kind of teacher am I if I let my dear pupil’s concern go unaddressed?”
Boboiboy chuckled. “I haven’t been your student for years now, Teacher Papa.”
That wasn’t a denial.
The next Monday evening, he found himself at his former primary school.
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