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Everyday is the same day in the Chiikawa island
The chiikawas wake up, get ready and go on about their day, whether it’s to go out to experience new things or isolate themselves in their house to sleep for eternity.
Most chiikawas would go out hanging out with their buddies. Sometimes they would go hangout to eat, watch a movie, and shop with their own money.
But most of the time, when they need money they wake up early to take working positions from the job recruiter, also known as Labor Yoroi-san.
Every morning when the sun rises, he would ring his bell announcing the available working positions for weeding or hunting.
The chiikawas would gather around, collecting the wooden tabs from the booth. Some would argue over the tabs, some would exclaim in excitement from the positions they got, some would whine in disappointment.
Roudou doesn’t, he records names and earnings, stores weeds in respective places, and prevents chiikawas from going maniac which result in them turning into chimeras, the predator of the island.
Chimeras will come around and attack chiikawas by devouring them alive, if the chiikawas somehow survive they won’t for long. The trauma buried in their head will psychologically destroy them thus ending up into a chimera themselves.
By avoiding this, hunting became a job position though it isn’t exactly recommended as it basically puts your life on the line, one wrong move and you're dead.
Who knows when a chimera would come from behind and maul you like a hungry hyena, who knows when a chimera will come after your friends and eat them alive in front of your very own eyes.
Although it’s not like hunting is the only job position, weeding on the other hand only requires picking up weeds and turning them in, it’s more relaxing and less overwhelming which is why most chiikawas prefer weeding over hunting.
—-
When chiikawas have enough money to pay off their basic needs they would usually end up with some extra money left, so they would go out shopping, especially in the street market.
Chiikawas would go out and buy mini snacks to satisfy their non-growling stomach, sometimes even go buy attires to show off their fashion sense.
But of course we can’t ignore the elephant in the room, the most beLOVED Yoroi-San by the chiikawas, Pochette Yoroi-san.
He’s known for selling cutesy stuff for the chiikawas including pajamas aww how cuuUuttee!!! he’s one of the most cutesy wootsy yoroi-sans among the army and god is he STUPID!!!!
*THRASH!!*
Roudou (Labor yoroi-san) pants heavily, his hands numbed along with his chest rapidly rising and falling. The helmet dangling over his head as he stares at the destroyed desk he messed up just at the thought of him.
He despises him, just even a thought of it drives him crazy.
Whatever, it’s pointless. It's childish to throw tantrums over someone just because they have more admiration. But then again, what does Pochette have to give other than his stupid arts and crafts. He’s useless compared to Roudou, he’s gullible compared to Roudou, he’s an idiot compared to Roudou.
No.
He can’t get this thought in his way, he’s still friends with Pochette anyways, in fact he’s still living under the same roof as Pochette.
But still, despite their close bond he still deeply despises Pochette.
——-
“Yoohoo!! How are you doing Ru?”
Pochette opens the door with grocery bags in his hands, the room filled with a dark gloomy atmosphere; it's almost as if he stumbled upon a haunted house.
He drops his grocery bags on the ground searching for a pulling switch, and as soon as he feels a dangling chain he immediately pulls it down. The room suddenly lit up exposing the dirty secrets that were blended in the dark.
Roudou stared back at Pochette with a broom on his hand, the stack of books laid down on the ground with a broken lamp next to it, behind Roudou was an unstable desk barely able to stand on its own, this whole situation is kinda odd right now.
“Hey ru, what’s uhhh… what’s going on here?”
“Accidentally crashed onto my desk, it’ll be fine”
Roudou continued to sweep the glasses into the dustpan hoping that Pochette wouldn’t notice the obvious punch hole in the desk.
“Hey maybe you should go rest, you didn’t injure yourself or anything right?”
“Pochette, I’ll be fine I made the mess anyway”
“Come on, don’t be such a burden to yourself, I can be the one to clean it instead”
“God just let me do what I need to do.”
Pochette immediately backed up as soon as he noticed Roudou’s body language, almost as if he’s about to snap, he didn't want to push him to his limits.
“Oh okay then, if you need help you can call me!”
Pochette happily skipped away to go out to do whatever he’s up to now, probably hanging out with others like always.
Though, it’s not like Roudou can bring himself to do the same, last time he tried to socialize he just ended up making himself look like a total loser, he cringes to himself just thinking about that memory.
He hates how Pochette is able to socialize without embarrassing himself, how does he even do that?? Is he really that skilled or is god on his side all the time. Well it definitely can’t be the first one, the only thing he’s skilled at is his childish arts and crafts bs.
Maybe god is on his side.
—
Roudou arranges back the broom and the dustpan to its original position, the desk still unstable but at least his books are organized now. See? He didn’t need that good-for-nothing’s help after all, he can just do everything by himself.
Roudou immediately collapses on his mattress, face forward. He wanted to scream, he wanted to scream all the build up hatred he had for that man, Pochette. He can’t believe that guy asked to do the cleaning as if he was better than him, who does he think he is??
That man. Oh how he hates that man. Worthless and pathetic. Too stupid to do anything. Too cowardly to say the truth in his face. If he really thinks he’s better than him he should have said it earlier.
It’s getting late already, the chiikawas are going back to their houses and the owls are hooting outside.
Before Roudou could fall asleep and get some shut eyes, he got up from his bed to close the windows and unlocked the door in case Pochette came back.
Even though Roudou hates him, he still cares for him. Well, at least a little bit.
—
“I’m backk, thanks for not locking the door on me”
Pochette closes the door behind him to see Roudou sleeping on the mattress.
“Oh, are you asleep?”
Pochette hangs his pochette on the hook wall before he climbs on the mattress, sitting next to him.
“Roudouuuuuu, are you asleep?”
Roudou dismissively waves his hand backward as if he was a pigeon about to eat his bread. It slightly irritated Pochette but he eventually lets it go since he assumes Roudou has had a rough day lately.
“So you're technically awake?”
Roudou lightly punches Pochette’s arm
“Be quiet , I'm sleeping.”
“Ow sorry I guess, just curious if you were awake”
Roudou sighs in a way that it sounds like a groan, he flips himself to the side turning his back towards pochette.
Pochette’s smile shortly falters into a small frown before he lays down next to him. His body was shivering from the cold, he tried to grab the blanket from Roudou for himself only for Roudou to immediately pull it away from him.
Pochette gets furious, he grips on the blanket but then he stops himself before pulling it towards him, should he take the blanket or is there any other way to this.
While Roudou is taking a peaceful nap he gets interrupted by a sudden adjustment behind him, he turns his head around to see what’s happening to see Pochette buried with him in his blanket.
“dude, what are you doing.”
“What? It’s not like I want to shiver in the cold for the rest of the night”
Roudou glares at him before going back to sleep, not bothering to fight with him any further.
Pochette rolls his eyes as he makes himself comfortable under the blanket.
There was a silence between them, a long and a cold one. The gentle hum in the air with a swoosh of coldness was like a lullaby to Pochette’s ear, it’s difficult to not fall asleep to it.
Before Pochette could let his body rest he turned his face sideways to see Roudou probably asleep by now.
“goodnight ru”
…
*lamps close*
—
The sunlight beams through his helmet like a lazer. Roudou covers the bright light with his hand, his eyes slowly opened to see the sun slowly rising up from the window.
Roudou stood up stretching his back, not even bothering to wake up Pochette. He should go take a shower, he probably stinks like shit by now.
Roudou takes off his armor and helmet before turning the shower on.
It’s been a while since he actually took care of himself like this. He has always been insecure about his body which is why he rarely takes showers.
The water streams down on his back, tracing every scar Roudou pretends doesn’t exist. The showering process feels like hot scorching lava pouring onto his back, he presses his head against the tile gritting his teeth. But of course he’ll eventually have to get used to it anyway.
The pain is unbearable, not just physically but emotionally. That mark still clings to him like a leech sucking on his skin, every time he acknowledges it he gets reminded of the cause of it. He doesn’t want to remember what happened.
Don’t cry
Men don’t cry
That’s what he’s always been told
Men don’t get emotional over small things, they must stay strong
Hasn’t it always been like that?
Showing any extreme emotions portrays you as weak and it will stick to you forever
He’s not weak, he’s strong
Right?
So why is he crying?
Is it the emotions he had built up for years or was it because of him
Perhaps it could be both
Roudou tries to stop himself from crying but no matter how hard he tries the tears keeps coming out. He hates it
He doesn’t know why out of all places or moments, why does he have to cry now? Why is he crying? He doesn’t want to cry, it’s a sign of weakness
If anyone sees him curled up in the bathroom floor drowning in a puddle of tears, it would put shame into his name
Roudou slaps himself, he wants to stop crying
But the emotions he’s feeling all at once is just too overwhelming for him
He needs to be strong, he needs to be tough, he needs to be valid to others
…
…
Roudou dries himself with his towel before wearing his armor again
He steps out of the bathroom to see Pochette still asleep on the mattress peacefully.
Roudou stares at him longer than he should
How come when Pochette shows his childish behavior he doesn’t get shamed. Is it because everyone just likes Pochette more or maybe it wasn’t supposed to be something to be ashamed of after all.
Maybe he still hasn’t moved on. Even if he forgot most of it, it still left a mark on him. He doesn’t wanna remember it, no, just not here.
Pochette rubs his eye slowly sitting up, he opens his eyes to see Roudou standing in front of him.
“Uhm, morning pochette”
“Oh morning ru, why didn’t you wake me up earlier”
“Didn’t bother to”
“…” “Is something troubling you?”
“What?”
“To be honest it feels like you’re angry all the time, every time when I try to talk to you it’s like talking to a ticking time bomb, what’s up with you lately?”
“I don’t know what you’re on about, maybe you’re just overthinking again. You should go shower now, training starts in 8”
“Oh crap I forgot about training”
Pochette grabs his towel before closing the door behind him.
Roudou lets out a big shaky sigh
He doesn’t know what’s wrong with him lately, he doesn’t know where this sudden depressive episode came from. He wants it to go away. He needs someone to help him. He needs… someone.
He’s a mess.
—
He wrote the last name and their earnings on the report before putting his pen down, his shift is done for the day.
He returns the paper to the chiikawa and their rewards. It’s been a long day for him even though it’s just the same routine as every other day. He packs his stuff before going to his house and closes the booth.
As he was walking back home he notices a familiar squirrel approaching him, it’s that one troublemaker again. Roudou didn’t bother to even talk at this point, he turned around and walked another path instead, though his mind started to feel dizzy.
Every step feels heavy like chains weighing him down, everything just feels like a blur, he might even puke at this point.
It’s gonna be alright, just a few more steps until he can collapse onto his mattress and call it a day.
—
After selling the last pajamas for the day, Pochette found himself on his way to his house, he also thought about wanting to collapse on his bed for the entire night.
While daydreaming of how he’s gonna make his little bed nest to sleep on, he realizes that he’s already in front of his door.
The door creaks open, to his disappointment Roudou is on the mattress taking all the pillows and the blanket just like the selfish bastard he is.
Pochette forcefully grabs the blanket and pillows away from Roudou leaving him lying down with nothing. He doesn’t care if Roudou is gonna shiver in the cold, he didn’t care for him when he was the one shivering in the cold anyway.
He surrounded pillows around him then tucked himself under the blanket. The nest along with the cold air together is a great combination for sleeping.
Before Pochette could even close his eyes he suddenly gets his pillows and blanket snatched away by Roudou.
“Hey what the hell?”
“Could’ve at least asked to share blankets”
“As if you weren’t the one who took the blankets last night”
Pochette sighs, slowly placing his hand on Roudou’s shoulder.
“Hey, honestly I don’t know why you’re acting this way lately, you’ve been acting so strange and so angry. So please, please tell me what’s wrong and don’t lie.”
Roudou grits his teeth, slapping Pochette’s hand away from his shoulder
“Why are you so desperate to know? I’m perfectly fine, I’m still the way I am”
“Maybe because you became more distant from others, you used to talk to the other yoroi-sans but now you’ve been locking yourself up in this house. I need to know what’s happening and… maybe we can solve this together—“
*SLAP*
The slap echoed in the atmosphere.
Pochette stood there stiff as a stick with his hand on his cheek, in disbelief of what just happened.
Roudou’s hand numbs from slap, it was the only way to shut him up anyway.
“Why did you slap me?”
“Even if I did have a problem, there’s no way a power of friendship can solve it. You’re stupid for thinking that honestly”
“Now you’re calling me stupid, where did this sudden attitude come from? Why are you suddenly like this??”
“To be honest with you I don’t know either, maybe it’s because… actually nevermind it’s none of your business”
“Roudou. Don’t hide it please.”
“Fine. You wanna know why?”
Pochette nods his head
“I hate how things are so easy for you”
“…what?”
“Just as I thought, you’re not even aware yourself. I don’t get why so many people love you even though most of the time you act so stupid and gullible. I don’t get why people praise you even though you act- I don’t know… ‘feminine’ sometimes. It’s always you that has everything worked out for you. I really don’t get it I don't know why I don’t- God- I really hate your guts.”
Hate?
“But… I didn’t do anything wrong?”
“I know, that’s why it pisses me off more. The fact that I can’t actually hate you because I know you have no intentions in ever harming me. But I don’t think I even mean shit to you, you live so carefree in your little world I doubt you’ll even remember me after all this”
“You don’t think you matter to me? That’s bullshit, I don’t know if I should tell you this but you’ve been driving me insane lately and I mean in both ways, I was the first to concern about your mental state when I noticed that you stopped coming to social gatherings, I tried so hard to show that I care but I guess that wasn’t enough huh? I want you to be happy, I want you to feel comfortable, I want you to feel worthy, I want you… and I don’t think you’ll understand”
Pochette grabs Roudou’s hand
“I don’t know what I’m doing so wrong to harm you so I’m… I’m sorry”
Pochette is practically in tears right now, holding Roudou’s hand tight, who's currently a bit shocked from the sudden confession.
“You know you can’t just freely say that right.. I mean it can really mess with my feelings”
“Maybe because I’m not messing around, I have felt this way for like, almost a year now”
No
This can’t be true, he has to be lying. What date is it? Screw it, it’s not even April, why’s he saying this?
What does he even mean by this, is he saying he has feelings for him, he can't get himself involved with this kind of situation, why does he like him, does he like him back too, should he even like anyone?
…
Wait,
Who is gonna judge him anyways?
He’s far too long away from that place, perhaps the community here could be different from the other…
Maybe that’s why Pochette doesn’t get shamed for his cutesy interest. Maybe that’s why people still talk to him despite his childish behavior.
If that’s the case, why does he still have this feeling that he’ll get judged for acting soft.
Will he get judged?
He doesn’t know.
Maybe not.
Suddenly he felt a hand, Pochette’s hand to be exact; wiping the tears on his face.
Before he knew it he was already crying.
God damn it, out of everyone he wants to cry in front of, it had to be the last person he wanted and he’s already wiping his tears, there’s no way to hide now.
There was nothing he could do, all these years of bottled up emotions now pouring out. He wanted to cry for so long but he always beat himself up if a single tear ever dropped out.
But maybe he can cry now, maybe he can cry freely with no shame anymore.
“Pochette?”
“Yea?”
“Can you not tell others that I cried?”
“Sure”
“Thank you”
Roudou slowly wrapped his arms around Pochette tightly as tears poured out like a river causing Pochette's shoulder pad to soak up.
“Sorry”
“Don’t be”
Pochette didn’t care, he didn’t care if Roudou’s tears stained his armor, hell he wouldn’t give 2 damns if Roudou even vomited on his face.
He still loves him like a dog even in his most vulnerable state.
—
Pochette’s thumb brushes against the healed wounded scars on Roudou’s back.
“Oh wow, that campus really did a number on you huh”
“Rude, but yeah”
“Sorry I’m kind of startled by this…”
“Startled you mean disgusted”
“Well uhm I wouldn’t say disgusted, more kind of like disturbed— I mean uh sorry I don’t mean to say your disgusting or anything I’m just—“
“Yeah I get it no need to clarify more”
Pochette stares back at the scars once more, the light marks on his dark skin, some with lumps, some with a little dent. The most noticeable one is the giant X mark on the top.
He shivers at the thought of how painful that one must have felt.
“Hey, just curious... How long were you on that campus?”
“Almost my entire life”
“Yikes- sorry I need to control my words huh”
“It’s alright, I’ve heard more kinds of words before”
…
“Do you want a massage?”
“What? sure I guess…”
He faces his palms sideways and starts doing a chopping gesture against his back.
“This is what you call a massage?”
“Is it not?”
“It is, I was just expecting another kind of massage”
Roudou sighs
The feeling is nice though
It’s almost familiar
—
“Does it hurt?”
“Kinda, can you be softer”
“Of course son”
“Better?”
“Yeah”
The water starts to overflow from the tub causing the little duck toys to almost float away
“Ma, can you stop the water?”
“Too hot?”
“No the ducks are swimming away”
The lady grabs the switch, turning the shower off.
“Feel relaxed?”
“Mhm”
His body eases from the massage, it kinda hurts but more in a good way.
He closes his eyes. He doesn’t want this moment to end.
“Ma…”
“What was that?”
“Gh— n-nothing..”
He caught himself daydreaming, worse he even acted it out in real life
“I’m assuming you missed your mother?”
“Well… biologically speaking she isn’t my mother but she was one to me”
“Figured”
“Pochette”
“Yes?”
“Is my… body disgusting to you?”
“Disgusting? No, I find it quite fascinating to be honest”
“You really mean that?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Pochette slowly slides his hands down to Roudou’s waist, wrapping him from behind
“Your body isn’t your fault, if anything is disgusting it would be what they did to you”
Pochette leans towards Roudou’s face planting a small kiss on the cheek
Roudou shivers from the kiss, when was the last time someone cared for him like this?
He doesn’t remember, maybe he shouldn’t remember
The last time someone cared about him was a misunderstanding, it wasn’t affection, it was traumatizing to say the least.
At least the warmth doesn’t feel like a threat.
“Can you do that again?”
“Then beg for it”
“Nevermind”
“Good grief I’m obviously joking man”
*kiss* *kiss*
“Want more?”
“Please”
Pochette turns Roudou’s shoulder around, kissing his neck and sucking on it.
“Yo— that was fast, you're gonna leave a mark!”
“They wont see it, the armour covers it up anyways. Does it hurt?”
“Not at all k-keep going”
Pochette planted a soft kiss on Roudou’s lips before diving in and kissing every inch of his neck. In each soft kiss he takes it between his teeth and bites it hard enough to leave a mark.
Roudou threw his head back letting out a soft noise of a hiss to a moan. He rocked his hips against Pochette, desperate for any kind of stimulation he could get.
“Someone’s enjoying this a lot”
Roudou whines in a groan
“sorry, I c-can’t help myself”
“pfft it’s alright, I don’t mind”
Pochette smoothly grinds his hips against Roudou while syncing along with his rhythm. Roudou grips onto the bedsheet tight, hiding his face with a pillow embarrassed to show his face.
“G-Gahh.. You’re driving me insane”
“Does it feel good?”
“Fuck off…”
“Hehe, I’m just teasing you”
The feeling is too overwhelming, each time the armor brushes against each other, it makes Roudou tremble onto his knees. It feels so intense yet so good, if Pochette keeps on going he might even—
“P-Pochette… ggh… I might c-come…”
“Oh? Do you want to stop?”
“Uh… I don’t know… it’s too good to stop to be honest…”
“Hm, you sure you wanna continue?”
“Yes please”
Pochette nods, continuing to grind his hips above Roudou’s, determined to get any noise or reaction from him.
Each stroke feels like a pump to a balloon that’s about to burst, even though they’re in clothes he feels like he’s about to burst inside Pochette at any moment now, how is he so good at riding?
On the last stroke, Roudou buried his face onto Pochette’s neck with his finger dabbing deep into his hard-metal’d armor, finally lifting his hips against Pochette letting out a cry.
Roudou laid back on the bed exhausted, his pants now uncomfortably filled with fluids he didn’t wanna think about. Pochette held onto him for a while before sitting up with his leg trembling.
“That was amazing dude”
“…” “How did we go from confessing to literally fucking eachother…”
“Yeah… that was a quick turn now that I think about it.” “Wanna go take a shower?”
“Definitely.”
“I’ll go get the water ready and the extra pants”
“Pochette?”
“Yes?”
“I love you”
“Oh— I…”
Pochette looked away for a second, his face started to flush a bit. That sudden confession did caught him off guard but he does appreciate it, it made his heart warm and fuzzy.
“I love you too Ru”
“Call me when the water’s ready”
“I will”