Chapter Text
Five Years Ago
He hadn’t had to wear his best shirt and khaki shorts in almost a year; they were too small for him now. Yu pulled at the button up, wishing it didn’t feel so choking around his neck. Beside him on the porch, Miss Kiko pulled his hand away. “Don’t fidget, Yu,” she ordered him. “You want to stay clean and presentable.”
If only the waistband on his shorts wasn’t cutting into his belly! Yu couldn’t help shifting as he sat on the top step when Miss Kiko wasn’t looking, trying to find the least uncomfortable position. What was taking the new family so long? Yu didn’t understand why he had to dress up for them anyway. If they were going to adopt him, wouldn’t they have to take him at his best dressed and at his worst?
In the pocket of his shorts, Libra heated up briefly. How about a battle?
Yu slipped his hand into the pocket, closing his fingers over the beyblade. We can’t now, he replied. We have to stay presentable for the new family.
Inside, the phone rang. Miss Kiko frowned, but she stood up and went inside to answer it. Yu took the moment alone to unbutton his collar, loosening the tension around his neck. Then he snuck Libra out of his pocket, relaxing a bit in the comfort of the familiar glittering of its face bolt. Maybe the new family will really like beyblade too, he thought.
“I understand. Thank you for calling.” Miss Kiko hung up the phone, and Yu quickly stuffed Libra back into his pocket as she returned outside. She didn’t sit back down next to him. Didn’t even come around to face him as she said, “That was the family, Yu. They changed their minds. They won’t adopt you.” Her footsteps receded back into the house, leaving Yu frozen on the porch steps, the wind blowing through him and the silence unable to mask the pounding of his heart.
Yu woke in an instant, his heart still pounding in his chest. Instead of the cold breeze and hard wood of the porch, he felt warmth enveloping him and something soft beneath him. Everything had suddenly gone dark, and it took him a moment to figure out that it was nighttime when moments ago it had been a bright and sunny morning. A memory, or a dream? He could still feel the last strains of loneliness from that moment. Nobody wants me…
Something moved beside him. Yu turned his head and saw silver hair spread out in waves, glittering in the moonlight. Tsubasa. He was in Tsubasa’s room, many years removed from that awful day. It was just a dream. Relief washed over him as he realized that memory was long past. Even so, the silence and darkness felt rather isolating.
Carefully so as not to wake Tsubasa, Yu slid closer to his guardian under the covers and rested his head against his chest. Tsubasa’s heartbeat was strong and steady in his ear, his breathing deep and rhythmic. Yu let them lull him back to sleep, his own heart rate calming. Nothing cured loneliness as well as another human being’s heartbeat. Right before he drifted off, Yu could have sworn he felt a hand rest lightly on his back.