Maybe... things wouldn't be so bad.

--Warnings for language and emotions, oops --


“JUNO!” 
 

The namesake knew the meaning behind that tone. He looked up and stared at the door, feeling a drop in his stomach immediately. Ever since his mother had been admitted full time, things had really changed... 
 

His eyes swept down to the door handle, still locked, in a vain attempt to keep some portion of privacy to himself. Conflicted, Juno quietly considered the consequences of not answering, pretending he couldn’t hear and hunkering down into bed and bot, adjusting her insides and ignoring his problems as if they didn’t exist. 
 

But the turn of the door handle and the wooden frame opening took up all conscious thoughts. It wasn’t a struggle to get inside, and yet there he was, laying in his bed while the brute of a man stood filling his entire door frame. 
 

It was all he could do, stare up at the man and fight the thousands of questions rushing through his mind. 
 

“How many times do I have to call your name before you answer?”
 

Juno could only recall the one call of his name, but he let that go, looking between his precious bot and the door at a loss for words. The logic behind such an appearance seemed completely invalid, false. The man waited, clearly expecting an answer, but when none came he became frustrated.
 

“I just called the school. I thought I told you to join one of the sports clubs.”
 

“You called the school?” Juno stared up at him. “Wha-Why?!”
 

“Because you aren’t listening to me, Juno!” Ibrahim was a very large, very intimidating man. He was broad, muscular and stood at easily 6’5” at the very least. Straight blonde hair was cropped short and never ever looked out of place. Juno, on the other hand, was slight, skinny and couldn’t have been more than 5’5” in his freshman year with wild, black locks that were completely untameable. Save for their shared eye shape, there was nothing these two had in common — neither physically nor mentally. 
 

Juno didn’t answer, fidgeting uncomfortably in his place and debating as to how to diffuse the situation. Usually his mother would sense the tension, walk up behind him and say ‘Ibrahim, mon amour, please, let the boy be. He is trying his hardest.’

...But she wasn’t here. 
 

“We agreed that you would join one of the sports groups. We had a deal.” 
 

“We? Wh-When did I ever say that—.”
 

“We had a deal!” The words were spat at him with a great force that startled Juno and made his words leap back into his throat. “You will go to the school tomorrow and you will join a team or there will be consequences.” 
 

Juno opened his mouth to speak, sitting up and looking ready to pounce. But he didn’t get the chance to speak. 
 

“You will!” His large fist slammed against the doorframe accompanied by the booming bass voice, startling Juno enough to jump in place. “God f***ing help me I’m not going to raise some deadbeat, faggot of a son who wants to waste his life rotting behind computers. Do you hear me?” 
 

Before any answer could be choked out, Ibrahim had reached inside and snatched the bot right out of Juno’s trembling hands. 
 

“Wh-What are you...? D-Dad, no!! Stop please, give it back.”
 

“No more. No f***ing more of this sh*t, do you hear me?” The hand not holding his bot reached down to hoist him up by the front of his shirt until he was brought to his knees. Juno fought against it, but resisted the urge to hit him. “It’s useless. Garbage. And I’m gonna show you how little it means.” 
 

The teen was tossed back down on the bed and Ibrahim turned to storm into the living room. 
 

“Dad...?” Juno heard his voice, but it sounded distant in his own head. Panic ran through him, and though he wasn’t sure why, he knew right away that he had to run after him. “Dad? Wh... What are you doing?” He took to his feet and ran after him, stumbling a little with his socks against the polished wooden floor that made him trip. “Dad?!”
 

“You’ll learn to do what I tell you to do.” Juno reached the back of the couch, holding tightly to it for support. Ibrahim stood in front of the fireplace, bot in hand, and Juno yelled out immediately. He tripped over himself, reaching out and trying to jump over the couch and stop the motion, but it was too late.

She had already been swallowed up by the flames. 
 

He didn’t know what to do. His knees buckled and he fell face-to-face with the fire, he could see it, his years worth of work gone. Destroyed. Melting to nothing. He couldn’t even manage a whimper of noise, but he could feel everything inside of him collapse. It was as if something broke, his heart plunged into a bucket of ice water as the heat of the flames licked at his face. 
 

“I’m sorry it had to come to this Juno.” The teen could tell immediately by his tone that he wasn’t sorry at all, not in the slightest. “But as long as you are in my house you will do as I tell you. No more games. No more playing. This is the real world. You will go to your classes, you will join either baseball or soccer, and you will go out with that Maria from class 1-A. You will do these things and maybe, -maybe- we can see about getting you an old car for you to tinker back to life.”
 

Juno heard him turn and his footsteps walk away. In the kitchen, he heard her. -Her.- “Ibrahim, darling!~” Her bubbly voice cut through the air, reflecting her youth that was no more than five years Juno’s senior. “That was amazing. You are so powerful and strong!~”
 

Juno’s eyes stayed on the flames, watching the outsides melt away to show the guts of the little bot. Instincts kicked in and, without much thought, he reached into the flames and snatched it. The fire caught the cuff of his sleeve and Juno moved quickly, waving his arm to stifle the flames before they could burn him too badly. 
 

The next moment he took to his feet and ran as fast as he could back to his room. The guts of his bot were tossed on the bed and Juno slammed the door, turning the lock and testing the grip only to find out that somehow Ibrahim had disabled its functions. 
 

Juno couldn’t see straight. Never, in all his life had he been so furious, so livid. He thought for a moment that he might pass out from the downright fury that was swallowing him whole. In his adrenaline, he found his book shelf and pushed it, grating loudly against the floorboards, until it came to a stop in front of the doorframe. 
 

Roused by the disturbance, Juno could hear his father running his way, hear his fists trying to open the door and the yelling of his name, but it was distant, minuscule in his ears. In front of the bookshelf went the desk, and in front of the desk went the bed, and in front of the bed went Juno — crouched and ready to brace against the force. Even Ibrahim, in all his height and muscles, couldn’t push past that. He heard the man consider circling outside and breaking through his window, but stopped after -she- asked what the neighbors would think if they saw.

Freshed by his adrenaline, Juno could feel the anger ebbing away, but remaining ever present in his mind as he sat on the bed and pried the innards of the guts apart. Most of it was ruined. Melted together and destroyed by the flames, except for that. That tiny little circuit board, the beating heart of what had once been his beautiful robot. 
 

She might have been down, beaten up and scorched by the flames, but she wasn’t dead. Not yet. 
 

Hayami still clung to the tiny breadth of her life. 


-- End dramatic scene --


1.
Everyone was talking about the game. Apparently it had gone well, if Sarah was anything to go by, but Juno paid little attention to his peers. He never really had in the first place, but now he felt especialy inclined to shut them out as he compared fliers from the baseball and soccer clubs in his hands. It seemed this whole clubs nonsense was really unavoidable. 

Squeezing past the seniors who felt entitled enough to take up the whole doorway, Juno resisted the urge to huff irritably as he sat at his desk and kept his gaze lowered. He didn't even need to look to know who it was he had squeezed past. George, and the infamous team captain Shiro. 
Still, he wasn't as bad as George. George was annoying, loud and, naturally, liked to mock those he didn't know. Shiro hadn't ever bullied anyone as far as Juno could tell, but he did choose to let the man stay in his company, sooo... How good could he be?

His mind was focused on the papers on his desk when he heard the footsteps getting colser, instinctively hunkering down further in an attempt to hide his face. He had so much work to do, he didn't want to socialize. But this Shiro guy seemed bent on making eye contact.

Reluctantly, and very awkwardly, Juno peered over the pieces of paper in his hands and blinked at the senior curiously. Since when did the senior jocks care about what he wanted...?

He blinked again, lowering the papers ever so slightly to see the guy better. He hadn't ever bothered to take a moment and get a look at the guy, but now that he was here, Juno could clearly see that he had really good bonestructure. And, his body language seemed almost... friendly?

Lips parted with a soft intake of breath when he'd finally come up with a reasonable response, but the words would retreat back after something flew through the air and smacked him in the face. It startled him, to look down and see that an eraser had collided with his forehead, so he said nothing and fell otherwise comletely silent, not even bothering to look back up to Shiro again. There was nothing he could say anyway. All he wanted was to go away, to be left alone. But he was rarely ever that lucky anymore.




3. The trip. Juno was quietly dreading the trip, just knowing that it meant he'd have to socialize and be active with his classmates at some point. But on the first day, he took every single opprotunity to isolate himself. The sports club had fallen through since his applications came in so late, which had put his dad in an extremely bitter mood. 

One good thing about the trip was he could finally get away from his dad and that little floozy clinging onto his arm. It made him so mad to see her face. Any time he woke up and saw her in the kitchen, he always ended up having a bad day. And today was no excpetion.

Fortuneately, he was gone from that for a while, free to do whatever he wanted -- until someone inevitably broke the rules and they were paired into a 'buddy system.' For now, he enjoyed the peaceful bliss of the gameroom as he read his book of ancient Chinese lore and let his mind rest at ease.

That peace did not last long. The door burst open and in came some seniors, which made Juno instinctively groan and consider running off. Not all the seniors were bad, but he really just wasn't in the mood to deal with George and his stupid 'wit.' Juno began to close his book, but felt himself stop.

Shiro. Sure, the seniors were jerks, but this guy... Anytime he was around, things seemed more tame. Maybe it was just because the guy was so big and charismatic that no one wanted to mess with him or dampen the mood, but things always ran just a little more smoothly when he came around.

So, in the next moment, Juno leaned back into his spot and stayed there. It was surprisingly easy to block them out, although he was now acutely aware of their presence from his ever-present anxiety, but he let it pass. A good passage came up and he was captivated, momentarily losing himself in the world of literature. 

The slight ding beside his head caught his attention, but Juno was determined to finish what he was reading before letting himself be distracted by technology again. His reach was slow, but the passage eventually came to an end and he snatched the phone and turned over onto his side, examining the photo that had been sent to the group chat. 

An odd feeling invaded his thoughts, though he couldn't quite place what it was... His eyes slid up from the phone and he looked towards the game table for a moment, analyzing the surroundings. For a single, foolish moment, Juno thought that maybe the text was for him -- maybe Shiro had sent it when he saw Juno sitting down alone but was too shy to say anything himself. The thought brought warmth to him and he flopped back over on his back, considering accepting the offer, but his hope was dashed when he heard the voices of them. The fangirls who swooned at the vaguest request from one of the star athletes.

Juno heard them coming and all those positive thougths were shoved from his mind. What was he thinking? Of course the message wasn't meant for him. When someone had the choice between hot, impressionable fangirls and one overly-cynical, awkward teenage boy, who would possibly take the latter?

Despite getting the feeling from his own delusions, Juno felt a little hurt. Maybe he'd just read too much into it. 

"Juno, move! If you aren't going to socialize make room for the ones who are!" 

He felt the pillow pulled out from underneath his head, falling to the couch with a vague thunk as one of the preps pulled it from him and shooed him out and away.

"Alright, alright! Jeez..." He huffed and left the gameroom, feeling rather ridiculous for thinking the team captain had even the slightest idea who he was. But nevermind that, there were plenty of other places to curl up and hide.




4. Assembly. What had it been about? If he was asked, Juno most certainly couldn't give an answer. His mind was preoccupied with other pieces of information, namely the surprising amount of success he had had with patching together the scraps of Hayami. He hadn't slept in days, his mind too preoccupied with worrying thoughts to even care or notice the people leaving around him.

His notebook was popped open, pen hovering meaninglessly over the page. If I skip chemistry, I can make enough time to finish testing her cicuit board and test-run her by the end of the night. I can stay at home for a bit, but I'll need to be out by eight before he gets back or else he'll lose it again... Maybe it really would be best if I just left like she said. What's the worst that could happen? It's not like he'd come looking for me.

His thoughts came to be intererrupted, Juno jumping as he heard the quiet echo of the strong voice in the empty room. He turned to face the guy, blinking with surprise and looking a bit taken aback. What did he say? Oh, right. Assembly. 
His mind buffered for a moment while he stared up at the guy again. Here he was, looking out for him. Again. This wasn't the first time Shiro had reached out and gotten Juno out of trouble, and for some reason Juno felt like it wouldn't be the last.

He closed his notebook and made quick work of springing up to his feet. "Sorry, sorry..." He muttered, feeling somehow endebted to him. How was he supposed to thank someone he'd barely spoken to for keeping his space-cadet mind reeled back in? 

He wanted to say something, but had no idea how to even begin. And before he could think of something, just like that, Shiro had gone.

....

What a weird guy. What is he hoping to gain by looking out for me? He must need something. He probably wants me to do his homework for him, or get him out of some class event. Why else would a senior possibly have any interest in a freshman? And why me? I'm not anything special. He probably just wants something. I should keep my distance in case things get out of hand, I don't want to owe him anything. I should just keep out of his way...

Still, his eyes were nice. Brown, welcoming... He almost seemed sincere when he spoke. 

Maybe the seniors aren't all so bad.




5. Of course Juno heard him, how could he not? The guys voice carried even when he didn't mean for it to, so something as pointed as that wasn't likely to go under the radar, and there was no one else in the halls that George could be talking about.

On a normal occasion a phrase like that might have gotten under his skin, but not today. He didn't care today. There was way too much on his mind for him to give two sh*ts about what some future 'highschool  has-been' said about his outfit. Today was a big day, how could he not go all out? It wasn't dressing up for career day like most might assume, but rather an outfit for a real life job interview. Someone was interested in his mechanical skills, and he sure as hell was going to skip last hour to go. And then after that he was going to try and see about apartments he could rent out -- if there even was anyone who would rent to a teenager still in highschool. 

No matter, he still had to try. Living in that household was becoming unbareable. 

His head was down as he passed by and looked to be blocking the athletes out, but his curiosity got the better of him and he tuned in to their conversation. What he heard made Juno's heart soften somewhat. He had been avoiding this athlete for the past couple of weeks, worried this was all just an elaborate prank set up so he would let down his guard and let Shiro get close to him. Then it would all go south and Shiro would end up saying something like, "HA! You f***ing nerd, who would want to talk to you?!" 

He still believed that, to an extent, but he couldn't help but smile a little after he passed them. Maybe the guy wasn't so bad...








Even know, that insecurity still played with his head. As they sat there on Shiro's couch, the athlete's head resting on Juno's lap while his fingers combed carefully through those curly locks, Juno still half expected Shiro to sit up staight and yell "HA! Got you, nerd!!" and then run away. Run away and just leave him there, picking up the pieces of a relationship he was foolish enough to actually believe.

But here he was, in a relationship that just continued to keep going. Most of the time he believed what Shiro said, but sometimes... He had his doubts. He couldn't help it. It was so engrained in his mind that he couldn't help but believe the voices in his head, that it was all just some long, cruel joke designed to mock and humiliate him.

"I love you, Junebug."

Four little words, their impact likely never known. For it was then, in that moment that Juno believed it. It was real. Maybe in the next few moments he'd fall out of that belief, but right now all he wanted was to spend every waking moment with Shiro. Shiro, who had always looked out for him with his little acts of kindness. Shiro, who stopped others from mocking him and wasn't afraid to speak his mind. Shiro, who, despite all odds, chose to stick with a shy, awkward loser instead of the cascade of skirts and shirts that were thrown off the moment he walked in to any room. 

Juno smiled, the type of smile that only Shiro could pull from him.

"I love you too, Shiro."