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There’s something in the air, something Sho hasn’t felt in his time since becoming Conductor. Something about Shibuya itself has shifted, leaving a strange feeling vibrating through the faint sense of Song that Sho can hear from the city. Perks of being Conductor.
A job that hasn’t been too bad, he has to admit. Sho wasn’t at all keen on aligning his coordinates with the guy that crunched him beneath a goddamn car, but from what he’s seen he might actually have to thank the guy. From what little Joshua’s let slip about his life as Composer, the role is actually pretty zetta boring, fractionated down into a concrete throne and invisible midnight wandering through the city streets. Joshua has joked before that Sho has entirely far too much energy for him to have ever made a proper Composer. Sho doesn’t think he’s wrong (and he hates that, especially when coupled with that sly smile and the giggling tone that Joshua will give him).
But there’s something in the air , some new variable that Sho can’t quite grasp, so he leaves the Dead God’s Pad to track his way down into the throne room, suspicious. Joshua usually has something up his sleeve.
He despises how much responsibility he’s had to take up to keep up with this guy. Coffee Man even commented on how mature Sho had grown.
Sho had promptly knocked over a barstool upon that comment. It felt good. Chaos and destruction are simply the coefficients he uses to reach his desire solutions, but they work well for his outlets and give him-
Is that crying?
A child’s wail carries down the cold concrete hallways, coming from the Room of Reckoning. Sho breaks into a sprint, mostly baffled by the situation he’s found himself in. Why the hell would there be a child here ?
Sure enough, the Composer, in his RG form, stands over a young child, brow furrowed and arms crossed. He looks up when Sho enters the room. “Oh! Minamimoto, you’ve arrived. Wonderful.”
Sho pauses in the doorway. He knows that tone. This is a trap. “...What?”
“Look at this.” Joshua points at the ground, pointing where Sho is already looking. Between them, sitting on the concrete floor of the heart of Shibuya, sobs a violet eyed child, a pudgy hand gripped into blond curls. Sho glances between the child, who should not be sitting on the concrete floor of the heart of Shibuya, and his pouting Composer. The resemblance is striking. Sho scowls and crosses his arms.
“What the hell is this, yoctogram?”
“ This ,” Joshua says slowly with a look of distaste. With a flick of his wrist, he summons a tiny little stuffed animal- bright yellow, with swirling spots and stripes. It already looks well loved. Joshua tosses the stuffed animal to the kid, grimacing. It would be funny to see the Composer look so off balance, if Sho weren’t aware that it usually ends up with him paying the price. “This is your charge for the day, dear.”
Sho laughs sharply, something in his chest curling in derision. “Like zetta hell it is. Where’s the punchline to this equation?”
“There is no punchline, Sho.” The Composer chuckles, a satisfied smile stretching across his face- until the child reaches out for him and he skips backward to avoid the touch. “This is real. Take him. And be gentle.”
Weird, how the Composer won’t even touch this mini Joshua. Though maybe not that weird. Kids are grubby.
“What even is he?” Sho scowls down at the child, who sniffles and… weirdly enough, actually seems to pull himself together, balking under the look he’s given and glaring up at Sho. He hugs the stuffed cat close to his chest and sinks his teeth into the ear to chew on. Sho rolls his eyes.
“Mm.” Joshua pauses as he thinks things over. Shit. Is Sho going to have to coax the info out of him? He doesn’t have time for that today. Luckily, Joshua decides he’s in a sharing mood. “This can happen on occasion, I’ve heard, though in all honesty it’s never happened to me before. I care for Shibuya the same way Shibuya cares for me. This ,” the word is said with distaste as Joshua eyes the child on the ground. “Is Shibuya supposedly deciding that I need a taste of childhood wonder again, so she produces a replica of… me.”
“Childhood wonder?” Sho asks skeptically. It’s hard to imagine Joshua as a child, much less one with wonder. Joshua laughs, curls dancing around his face.
“Yes, she seems to think I need a refresher course on it. Which I don’t. So I cannot touch him, else I sort of…” Joshua trails off with a shrug.
“But it doesn’t matter what he is.” Joshua fixes Sho with a certain unreadable look. Sho bristles just getting that firm gaze directed at him. “Just keep him safe. Or I’ll be needing a new Conductor.”
Sho rolls his eyes. Joshua likes to keep threatening him, same way Sho likes to carry out the occasional assassination attempt on the Composer, but they’ve long since grown beyond their old heated arguments and have settled most often into petty bickering. Usually.
Sho eyes the violet eyed child in distaste. Protect the little thing, huh? It can’t be too hard, even with a Game going on. Just keep him out of sight of the Players. No big deal.
The child sticks out his tongue and blows a raspberry at him. Sho’s eye twitches.
Be gentle , he reminds himself as he kneels down to squat in front of the kid.
“He’s not a real child, so it should be easy,” Joshua says encouragingly, returning to his concrete throne and laying across it. Sho snorts in derision. “And he should be gone soon enough. Well… at least within a couple days.”
“How close to the function of x is ‘soon enough’?” Sho mutters. He looks at the child. The child looks back. Geez. Zetta creepy. “Uh… hey.”
The kid’s head tips back to look up at him, violet eyes wide. They’re still red-rimmed from crying, but the kid seems to have cheered up considerably from when Sho walked in on him wailing. He starts to giggle brightly, pointing up at Sho’s face. He lifts his stuffed animal to show off. “You look like a cat. Cat man!”
No. Nope. No zetta way. Sho glares up at Joshua, irritated. “I’m not a fucking babysitter, picogram.”
“You are today, Sho,” Joshua says firmly, eyes narrowed. Sho imagines that he doesn’t want a kid around any more than Sho does. What if he starts crying? How does Sho handle that one? Joshua smiles, plastic and firm. “And watch your language. I was a very impressionable child.”
So the kid is his Composer, in one way or another. Guess… It is in Sho’s job description to help his Composer out. He sighs heavily, especially as the kid giggles behind his hands. “You said a swore .”
“I’m an adult, I’m allowed to say a swore,” Sho says flatly. What the hell is he even supposed to do with a kid? Does he have to take him on walks? Damn, who knows how long he’ll stick around. Does Sho need to get the kid clothing? Maybe pops… no. Terrible idea. “You don’t repeat those words.”
“Look at you, already shaping up to the role.” Joshua giggles down at Sho. He feels tiny. And way too responsible. He’s going to teach the mini Joshua to build trash sculptures. “Go on, take him out of my sight. You have a Game to attend to as well. Best make your rounds.”
“With a mini you ?” Sho sneers, derisive. Joshua smiles and chuckles.
“With a mini me. I’m sure you’ll have a fantastic time.”
Sho heaves another sigh as he looks down at the child. God… zetta damnit. He holds out his arms. “C’mon, little digit. Let’s make like a y over x and rise.”
“Yeah!” The child giggles happily and raises his free arm, little fingers grabbing the air. The other clings tightly to his stuffed animal. Sho grimaces as he leans down and slips his hands around the kid to lift him up. The little Joshua kicks his legs and whines a bit until Sho pulls him close to rest against his side. He feels ridiculous looking down into wide lavender eyes, curious and bright as they look around at this new height.
Sho frowns as those eyes, who seem to still know way too much even at this young age, focus on him. He’s unnerved. “So now wha-”
Pap .
Sho closes his eyes as he’s promptly patted on the cheeks with tiny little hands. They’re small and warm- a little grubby- but most of all they feel alive. Most people in the UG are cold to the touch. It’s strange, cradling a warm tiny body against his side. “Hello to you too, yoctogram.”
A whine builds in the kid’s throat as he feels around Sho’s cheeks. “They don’t feel like whiskers... “
Sho does not have whiskers .
Josh points down at the ground, where the bright yellow stuffed animal rests slumped against the concrete. “Up.”
Sho scowls. Little thing is just as demanding as the Composer. “ You were the one that dropped it.”
Josh scowls and kicks his tiny feet. “Up, please .”
Sho stares at Josh for another few moments, then glances up at his Composer, who’s giggles show nothing but amusement. He rolls his eyes and bends down to pick up the stuffed animal. Josh giggles and squeals in delight as he’s tipped backwards. Sho scoops up the stuffed animal and passes it back to Josh. “Here. What is this thing, anyway?”
“This is Tuffie,” Josh accounces proudly, lifting his prize as if to show it off to Sho. It mostly just blocks his view. Sho grimaces at the chewed on ear in distaste as it nearly presses against his cheek.
“Tuffie?”
“Yeah. Tuffie’s my friend. He’s pretty.” Sho rolls his eyes and opens his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by a low rumble. Of course. On cue, Josh’s tiny nose screws up in displeasure. “I’m hungry. I want food now. Can you make people food, cat man?”
Sho turns a flat stare up at the Composer, who just smiles at him. This is ridiculous. All the progress he’s made with not wanting to take the guy’s spot and now he’s making him want to kill him anyways. Maybe that’s the catch 22 of it all. Joshua pushes his buttons with a child version of himself just because he knows Sho’s no longer aching to take his role. The Composer giggles, as if confirming his thoughts. Sho scowls and tucks the kid closer as he spins on his heel for the door.
He doesn’t need to be here if Joshua isn’t going to help.
“ Yeah , I can factor together some people food.” It’s the middle of the afternoon. Isn’t there something about not feeding kids so late so they eat dinner? But Composer Joshua whines anyway if he doesn’t get fed when he’s snackish. Sho doesn’t want to see little Josh’s tantrums for not eating. “What do you want for a snack?”
“I want a hot dog!” Josh chirps, little heels kicking against Sho’s stomach and back as he wiggles, arm tucked around the stuffed animal again. “And chicken nuggets and ramen and fish sticks...”
“That’s all dinner food,” Sho argues, shaking his head. That all makes sense though. Falls in line with the least common denominator of the Composer’s tastes, even if his favorites tend to be pretentiously more refined. Sho hums. “How about we square away with some apples and we’ll calculate some ramen into the plan later?”
Josh stares up at him, brow furrowing as he seems to lag for a moment, like most do when Sho talks. Then his eyes start to water. “But that’s a healffy snack .” His feet kick harder. “I don’t wanna snack .”
Sho closes his eyes to suppress a sigh. He doesn’t have time to be dealing with this. He has a Game to run. And a reputation to keep. And how does he explain away a whole child if he’s caught like this?
What did his mom used to do when he acted like this…? Tell him to eat what he was given or starve? Mmm… maybe not that one, he doesn’t think that would work with Josh. It hardly worked with Sho; he had no issue going to bed hungry if he decided he didn’t like whatever his mom decided he needed to eat.
Besides, he doesn't like remembering those times.
What did his dad do then? Weird choices that never really made much sense, if Sho recalls… But they worked. Sho was happy so long as he thought he was choosing what happened- even if they were two options that had the same result.
Sho grumbles. “Do you want to eat your apples now and have ramen later, or do you just want to wait until then?”
The kid seems to wilt, lower lip puckering out and trembling. He tucks his face against Sho’s shoulder, a tiny hand taking hold in Sho’s shirt as he clutches Tuffie. “...I want ramen …”
“Alright, no snack then.” Sho shrugs as he heads for the exit. He needs to get the kid something to wear, other than the one outfit. The Composer made it sound like he could be here for a while. Besides, Sho doesn’t want to be caught with a child in hand if one of his Reapers come in for a break, as unlikely as it is during the last day of the Game. So he leaves.
Joshua whines pitifully, legs kicking as he pouts up at Sho. Sho raises an eyebrow at him, bouncing him up to resettle his grip beneath the kid. “What? This is the equation you chose, yoctogram. Deal with it.”
“I’m hungry ,” Joshua whines, one little palm slapping against Sho’s chest. Sho can feel his eye twitching, but he just tucks the kid closer and lets him whine it out. He should tire eventually… right?
The kid does not tire eventually. Josh whines and kicks and pouts the whole way through the Shibuya River as they follow the path to the surface, though he never quite gets into screaming- which Sho is reluctantly grateful for. He can’t stand screaming children. The pitches always hurt his sensitive ears.
“Get out of the negatives, kid. Crying isn’t going to solve anything,” Sho says lightly as they exit the tunnels. He just needs to bring the kid with him into the RG as he tunes down.
“I’m hungry,” Josh pouts, though he’s settled against Sho’s chest to mumble about it instead of kicking and whining. Sho’s going to count it as a win.
“I’m taking you to the best take Shibuya has to offer later, so calm your tangent lines,” Sho chuckles as they step into the sunlight, Josh squinting so hard that he’s practically got his eyes closed. He whines again and hides his face in Sho’s chest. And… there’s something off about it.
Josh is shaking in his arms, face hidden with Tuffie squeezed close for comfort.
Sho pauses. This is different. Josh isn’t acting pouty anymore- he’s properly hiding in Sho’s chest. He looks around, frowning.
They have finally reached the RG- Sho had tuned down as soon as they had reached the mouth of the Shibuya River. For a moment, he thinks it’s Noise that’s spooking the child, but they shouldn’t be visible from the RG, much less by a kid of Josh’s size. He tools down at the kid, frowning with a furrowed brow.
“Hey, yoctogram. What’s with the unstable variables?”
“ No ,” Josh whimpers. He mumbles something else, but he’s practically trying to isolate himself in Sho’s arms. Sho shifts to let the kid hide further, gaze raising to look around. There’s absolutely nothing, just the usual garbage that loiters around the area, chatting and hurrying and laughing into their phones. The kid sniffs in his arms, little hands covering his ears. “They won’t go away .”
“What won’t?” Sho frowns and looks around again, then back down at Josh. “There’s nothing here.”
“There is !” Joshua shouts, a sob breaking from his chest. Sho panics as he sees large, wet tears making tracks down Josh’s face. He tosses himself back and forth in Sho’s grip, as if trying to dislodge something, even as he clutches onto Tuffie for dear life. “There is, there is! It’s sharp and loud and noisy! ”
Sho’s begun to feel it himself, the static crawling into the back of his mind as what can only be the Noise surrounding them begins to build his irritation. Fucking Composer, making him deal with this kid .
Sho growls softly and- with a quick look around to make sure no RG resident is watching- dips back into the UG, taking the kid with him.
Immediately, Sho’s eyes are opened to a swarm of red graffiti sigils all around Josh and him. Sho’s lips curl as the child shrieks in fear, grabbing at the lapel of his coat- a handful of Sho’s hair- and pulling it to his face even as he presses into Sho’s shoulder. Something fierce and warm surges in his chest as he lays a hand over Josh’s head against his shoulder before lifting it. He flexes his fingers and snarls as heat gathers in his palm.
“ Factorial! ”
The beam of red light surges and bursts from his open palm, scattering and ripping through each sigil just as they begin to open up to let their Noise forms take shape. Instead, they waver, dissolving into bubbles as they fade away. He breathes heavily, hand back on Josh’s small back to hold him protectively to his chest.
Josh whimpers again, wiping his eyes into Tuffie’s coat.
Sho breathes out, trying to regain control. Something nasty and dark, forgotten and Taboo twitches in his chest before settling. He finds himself running his palm over Josh’s back.
“I took care of them.” Sho winces as his voice comes out sharp and forceful. He forces himself to soften his voice, pushing it to a low, warm rumble. He just wants the kid to calm down before he draws more Noise to them with his fear. “They’re gone now. You don’t have to worry.”
Josh shakes his head, but then slowly lifts himself out of his burrow. The jacket stays clenched tightly in his grip as he slowly looks around. His other fist, tiny and weak, squeezes into Tuffie. “The monsters are gone..”
“I took care of them,” Sho says simply, rubbing at Josh’s back. The kid sounds terrified… Sho frowns. “Hey… how long were those things FOILed into sight?”
Josh looks up at him blankly. He sniffs and wipes his eyes again. “What?”
Sho sighs. “How long were you seeing those things?”
“For forever.”
Sho stares, dumbfounded as Josh looks up at him. He had to have misheard. “...What?”
Josh rubs his nose against Sho’s jacket. Oh god. He needs to get that cleaned later. “I’ve… I’ve always seen them. No one else does.” Violet eyes, red rimmed from horrified tears, widen up at him. “ You see them too?”
“I do,” Sho says slowly, wrapping Josh up tighter. The kid snuggles down against him, still teary.
“They’re scary,” Josh says, voice thin and weak. Sho exhales. He feels like he shouldn’t be seeing this. The Composer, his Joshua, has never even shown sadness in front of him, much less tears. But he did entrust a toddler version of himself to him… He must have known it was inevitable.
Why is Josh able to see the Noise from the RG? Because he’s Shibuya’s gift to Joshua..? Maybe, but Josh seems to be a direct representation of his childhood, right? And Josh has mentioned before that he was able to see the UG as a human…
Sho looks down at the child in his arms, sniffling and clinging close and looking up at him with large, fearful eyes. Trusting him to take care of him.
It’s a far cry from where he and Joshua used to stand, on the opposite edges of a building at sunset, ready to throw down for the role of Composer.
Sho tightens his grip on Josh, who snuggles close. Josh peeks up at him with red rimmed eyes, lips still trembling. Sho’s heart squeezes in… pity?
“Can… can I please have my snack now?”
Sho takes him right next door to Somedrinks. The young girl at the counter is more than happy to let Sho purchase an orange juice and a muffin for the crying child, cooing and passing over a couple colored pens that she happened to have in her purse. Sho props his cheek up against his fist as he settles Josh at a table, watching him scribble away at a napkin with the pens. Tuffie sits on the table beside him, watching carefully as his owner doodles.
Josh breaks from his intense concentration on the napkin to pick up his cardboard cup with both hands, clumsily searching for the straw with his whole head leaning into it. Sho chuckles as he bumps into the cup before finally finding the straw.
Sho peeks at the scribbles on the napkin. “Whatcha drawing, attogram?”
“A battle .” Josh sets his cup down and points at a spikey ball. “Tha’s one of the monsters. I hate them. And it’s coming to get me! But this ,” Josh jabs at a… more oblong shape. It has a large circle on top. A head? “ This is a slammurai! He’s gonna save me! He’s super cool !”
Sho’s gaze narrows. Wait a second… “But I saved your asymptote from the monst- the Noise. I’m cool.”
“You’re not a ninja though,” Josh protests with a mischievous giggle, jabbing at the napkin again. “You’re not as cool as that.”
Sho’s jaw drops. That… what the hell . He scowls. “I’m cool!”
“You’re not a ninja ,” Josh insists. “Ninja’s are cool, and fast, and… and protect things!”
“I do all that. I just did that,” Sho argues. Josh looks at him evenly, then looks to Tuffie. And then he pushes the stuffed animal off the table. Sho stares at Josh as the demon child erupts into delighted giggles.
“Didn’t protect Tuffie! Not a ninja!”
Sho scowls and bends over in his seat, stretching his fingers so he can grab the stuffed animal by the tail and lift it up. He plops it back on the table, where Josh instantly pulls it into his arms. “I rescued Tuffie. Ninjas do rescues too.”
“But you’re not a ninja,” Joshua says slowly, as if wrestling with this new information. “Right?”
Sho crosses his arms. On one hand, he doesn’t need to pretend to be a ninja to make the kid think he’s cool. On the other hand… the kid doesn’t think he’s cool. “If I were a ninja, would I tell you?”
Josh stares up at him, jaw dropped. Sho holds back a chuckle as the kid’s expression grows to look at him as if he’s hung the sun, moon, and stars. He claps both hands over his mouth to contain his giggles and leans in, whispering. Or. Trying to whisper, Sho notes. “Me and Tuffie won’t tell anyone. What’s your color?”
“Uh… my what?” Sho hates how much this kid can throw him off. No one is supposed to be able to do that. Sho calculates for everything except four year old child versions of his already chaotic Composer, he guesses.
“Your color ! You gotta have a color if you’re a slammurai!” Josh looks up at him so earnestly, gaze searching over Sho’s face. He reaches up. Sho squints, expecting another pap to the cheeks, but instead feels his headband tucked under his hat tugged on. “Red!”
“Red?” Sho’s brow furrows. Josh nods fervently, resolutely.
“Yeah! The red slammurai is the coolest of them. His pins have fire powers and he’s really strong too!” The kid launches into a spiel- Sho even kind of looks like the character, apparently. He pulls out his phone to google the character and. Yeah. If he were a fifteen year old ninja in an anime meant for kids, he can see how he looks like the guy.
“I’m gonna marry him!”
Sho blinks at the sudden statement, raising an eyebrow at the kid. His lips twitch in amusement as he looks at Josh’s determined gaze. “Oh yeah?”
“Mhm!” Josh giggles and returns to his scribbles. “And then he can always protect me!”
“You don’t gotta be married to someone for them to protect your digits, attogram,” Sho says, amused. Josh shrugs, little feet kicking at the steel support of the chair beneath him.
“But if we’re married, then he’s gotta protect me. That’s what’s s’posed to happen,” Josh insists.
“I protected your asymptote, and we aren’t married,” Sho points out.
“Yeah,” Josh drawls matter of factly, like it’s obvious, “but you’ll go too. So the monsters are gonna come back.”
“I’m not…” Sho speaks slowly, frowning. He doesn’t know why that bothers him, that Josh thinks he’ll leave. That he’ll leave too . How lonely is this kid?
Not that it matters. He’s not a real child. He shouldn’t be tugging at his heartstrings- except that he was a real child.
Sho thinks of Joshua, his Composer, sitting high and alone on his concrete throne, shooing Sho away with one mission or another. Making him leave before Sho can leave of his own volition. This kid is Joshua.
And even if Sho hates it, his job is to be there for him. (And fucking sue him, he doesn’t want the attogram to be lonely anymore. Sho’s less lonely when he’s bickering with the asshole too.)
He taps on the table to regain Josh’s attention, pulling him away from the drawing. Wide eyes blink up at him, confused. Sho takes a deep breath.
“Look, you remember that other guy, back in that room?”
Josh blinks owlishly at him. “The empty room? The cold one?”
“Yeah, that one.” Sho frowns. Always cold. Always empty. Garbage, that room. Sho shakes the thought off. “That guy asked me to look after you, femtogram. And he’s kind of my boss. So I won’t be leaving you. We’re a whole expression now.”
“We’re a whole… espession?” Josh stares at him like he’s lost his head. Sho’s used to that look. But not when he’s bothering to explain things.
“We stick together,” Sho corrects. He watches the kid’s expression clears, watches as excitement and… hope? Is that hope in his eyes? Sho doesn’t know if he knows how to identify that one.
“We do?”
“Yeah.”
Josh seems to sit for a moment, mulling it over. Sho sits back to lean against the table again, his piece said. Geez. Babysitting sucks. He idly watches as the kid reaches out to grab another napkin, scribbling away at it with the red gel pen again.
“What about Tuffie?”
He tries very hard to not roll his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll protect Tuffie too.”
Sho’s content to sit in silence while the kid processes, only to have a napkin flutter in front of his face a few moments later. He glances down to make out two figures, hand in hand. The taller one has spiky hair with a flat stick coming off his head, with the other shorter one with a bunch of curls around its face. A scribbled mass hangs above the two of them. Something smaller, with stripes, stands beside the smaller looking figure. Sho raises an eyebrow and looks to Josh, who’s beaming happily at him.
“What is this?”
“It’s us! You’re protecting me and Tuffie!” Josh huffs and jabs at the scribbled mass. It looks like the attempt at graffiti Noise that Josh drew earlier.
Sho feels himself grinning- irrational. He doesn’t care. “That’s us?”
“ Duh ,” Josh drawls, crossing his arms. He rolls his eyes. And then he pushes the napkin to Sho again. “Keep it. Don’t forget . You gotta protect me.”
Sho chuckles and reaches out for the drawing. He stares down at it, a silly grin stretched across his face. He doesn’t know why he feels so warm and good… but he does. He won’t complain. “Nah, kid, I won’t forget. Keeping you safe is my main function right now.”
Josh nods, face firm as he stares at Sho. And then he smiles, wide and bright and hopeful.
The trip back to the Dead God’s pad is mostly uneventful, though Sho does have to obliterate another round of Noise that got a little too close to the kid for comfort. The two had decided to just go straight back to the Pad from the restaurant, what with the kid still a little wrung out from his frightful encounter with the Noise.
Sho is… also pretty tired, he realizes as he hip checks the door closed behind him. The keypad beeps happily as the lock engages. Sho’s found himself worrying over the kid, taking care of the Noise discreetly before the kid ever had time to realize after that first encounter on the way back to the Pad. And pausing to pick up the stuffed animal every time Josh drops it- apparently the kid likes being turned to the side when Sho bends to pick things up. Whatever.
It’s been tiring, this emotional role he’s been forced into by his Composer. Not exactly his usual function.
The kid is chatty too, having regaled him with the entire plot of the Tin Pin Slammurai cartoon on the way back, complete with Tuffie being used to act out the most dramatic parts. He’s just as dramatic as his older self, Sho realizes eventually.
Weirdly enough, Sho can’t find it in him to be too annoyed by it all anymore. He still has that napkin tucked away in his pocket, carefully folded so as not to damage the cheap disposable paper. He’s keeping that forever. His napkin now.
He can’t wait to sit down on the couch though. Even with his increase in power from being Conductor, and residual Taboo strength still running through his Soul, carrying a kid around for so long is beginning to hurt his arms. Maybe he could set the jukebox to some soft jazzy bar tune to coax the kid into some sleep or someth- oh zetta motherfucking fractal bastards.
“...Seven.”
777, his half friend half enemy, lounges back against one of the couches with a beer in his hand. He stares Sho dead in the eye, then glances pointedly down at the child that he’s cradling in his arms. He locks his gaze with Sho’s again. “Sup, Sho. Where’d you get the gremlin?”
“I’m not a gremlin !” The gremlin in Sho’s arms protests with a firm pout. He grips tighter into Sho’s shirt.
“Out of the garbage,” Sho says flatly. He glances down at the indignant child, shifting to hold him more securely against his hip, ignoring Josh’s shocked gasp and his whine of ‘ you did not!’ “You subtracting yourself out of the Game for today?”
“I’ve got enough points already to slack off for a few more days.” Seven’s grins sharpens as Josh kicks at Sho with a whine to pay attention. “Don’t think we’re avoiding this pint-sized elephant in the room though.” He jabs at the air, an eyebrow raised in a sharp arch. “Seriously, whose is that? Not yours, right?”
...what?
Sho stares at Seven, even as he shifts to hold Josh out at arms length as the kid keeps kicking at him for attention. He barks a laugh. Him? This gremlin’s dad? Gross. “No zetta way. You’re joking, right? What a gross miscalculation.”
Seven raises his hands in surrender, taking another sip of his beer. His lips twitch up as he notices how Josh is glaring at him. “Alright, alright. What’s the deal with the babysitting service then? Some new Conductor job?”
“Put me down ,” Josh whines, pedaling his feet helplessly as he hangs in the air, glare bouncing between Sho and Seven. Sho obliges, setting the kid on his feet. He absently tracks his movement through the room as Josh stops to stare, fascinated, at the fish in the floor.
“Something like that,” Sho finally answers, tossing himself down on the couch beside his… friend. He grins at Seven, who nudges him with the chilled beer can. “Don’t go questioning my variables. You know I calculate everything down to minute perfection.”
“Yeah fuckin’; right,” Seven laughs, shaking his head. “You so do not. Remember when you made that ‘equal exchange’ for our megaphone? You better be glad we found that thing buried in your art .”
Yeah, Sho remembers that. He and 777 had crossed paths a few times before, but their first real meeting was when Sho, newly promoted and permanently pissed about it, decided he needed to actually pay attention to his new employees. Seven had marched right up to Sho and shouted in his face, then tossed the megaphone at his chest. And then Sho threw it right back into his nose.
They’re decent friends.
“You liked that megaphone,” Sho reminds Seven, crossing his arms as he scowls at his friend. He glances over to watch Josh toddle around chasing the fish in the floor, using Tuffie to pounce on them, until they dive down deep enough to fade from view. The toddler slumps into a pout. “And you fucked up my art.”
“You fucked up my microphone!” Seven barks back with a laugh. Sho rolls his eyes. It was just those crummy Reaper wings. They were fixed before the next Def March concert anyway.
“I wanna play!” Shouts a voice from behind them. Sho twists around to see Josh hanging off of the side of the foosball table, struggling to hold his head up over the edge to peek into the table. Violet eyes peek back at him. “Red- I mean, cat man! I wanna play the game!”
Sho sends Seven a look, daring him to say anything about the nickname, before softening as he turns back to Josh. He chuckles and stands up, heading over to stand over Josh. The kid lets go to rest against the ground again, looking straight up to look at Sho. Sho chuckles.
“I think you’re a few numbers short of this minimum, nanogram.”
“Hold me up,” Josh demands with a playful grin.
Seven laughs, shaking his head. “You gonna help the kid out, cat man ?”
Sho shoots Sevena glare before turning his attention back to Joshua when a little hand pulls impatiently at his jeans. He shakes his head, amused by the little demand, and braces his knee against the table. He lifts Josh up to settle him across his leg, even grabbing the fallen Tuffie as a bonus. He balances Josh, letting the kid grab at the handles now that he can reach them and see into the table. He sets Tuffie at the corner of the table to watch.
“Now what?”
“I told you,” Josh huffs, kicking his legs so they hit the underside of the table. “I wanna play!”
“I can’t hold you up and play equally,” Sho chuckles. He turns to gaze at Seven. The kid in his arms seems to share his idea, twisting around so he can jab at the air at Seven.
“Him! I wanna fight him !”
Seven’s brow twitches at the attention, shooting Sho a disapproving look. Sho just raises an eyebrow back at him. “I ain’t a babysitter, Sho.”
“It’s your function today.” Sho grins as his hands snap to Josh’s sides to balance him when the kid leans a little too far over to twist at a handle. “Play some foosball. And play nice , rock god.”
“That an order, boss man?” Seven drawls, clearly annoyed.
“Positive.”
Seven sighs exaggeratedly. Still, he gets up and makes his way to his assigned side of the foosball table, setting his beer on the side of the foosball table as both he and Sho watch Josh giggle and squirm for the handles. He can hardly move them, but that doesn’t stop him from jerking his whole body side to side. Sho grins. Kid’s having the time of his life.
“Comfy?” Sho asks, more focused on holding the kid upright than helping him twist the handles. He’s got it anyway, having figured out he can use both palms pressed against one handle to slowly spin the little guys around and around.
“Yeah!” Josh frowns and looks around. “Where’s the ball?”
“I’ve got it, kid.” Seven sighs and drops the ball in the middle, loosely grabbing at the handles on his own side. Sho grins. At least Seven looks amused now. It’s easy for the guy to slip into a bad mood, but he tends to dip out of it just as quickly. “You’re lucky I’m playing along. Get ready-”
Josh cuts him off with a squeal and smacks at the ball in the middle with his foos guy. “Slaaaam ON!”
Sho laughs as Seven jerks to twist his own guys into the game. “Oh shit-”
“He swore!”
“No swearing in front of the microgram,” Sho cackles, helping Josh twist the handles to send the ball flying when he can. He watches Seven’s gaze narrows and he guards, shooting the ball back before it can reach his goal.
Seven rolls his eyes. “Whatever.” He laughs. “Bring it on, short stack!”
Josh shrieks in delight and kicks at each exciting movement, nearly falling off of Sho’s leg several times. Sho’s content to sit back and watch Josh struggle with the handles, moving to protect their own goal when he needs to, though it’s hard with the kid limiting his movements. He can’t help but smile down at Josh, chest feeling warm. And then Seven makes a score past him. Twice.
“ Noooo ,” Josh whines, face scrunching up as he wrings at the handles.
Seven laughs, but Sho notices that he does ease up on the speed and force he uses. Not that it keeps the asymptote from teasing. “What’s that? Weren’t you supposed to beat me, shorty?”
“I am gonna beat you!” Josh huffs and leans forward with a determined glare.
“You sure, nanogram? You need some help with your calculations?” Sho laughs, hands hovering over Josh’s tiny ones. “You need some exponential help.”
“No!” Joshua pouts, kicking in frustration as he pats at the handles. He glares up at Sho, insistent. “I got it.”
Sho notices nearly immediately that Seven leaves his defense side a little less well guarded, letting Josh score a point. He rolls his eyes like he’s annoyed, but Sho sees that smile slipping onto Seven’s face. So it’s not just him that’s softened up around the kid. He’s charming, for a whiny little thing.
“Rockstar can’t take down a four year old?” Sho teases.
“Oi,” Seven complains with a sharp look. Sho’s grin sharpens as Josh manages to score another slow rolling point into the goal with Seven’s distraction and immediately screeches his victory, waving his arms as he babbles up at Sho to share the news.
Sho laughs and properly tugs Josh in against his chest to squeeze him. “You did it! Just as you calculated!”
Seven rolls his eyes. “OKay, jeez, don’t get a big head about it, either of you.”
“Haha!” Joshua leans forward against the table to point at Seven with a mocking grin. The table jolts under the pressure, sending Seven’s drink shifting closer to the edge.
“Hey, careful, short stack,” Seven warns, rolling his eyes. He reaches for the can. “I let you win anyway.”
“...” Joshua snatches Tuffie up into a secure hold with one hand and rocks the table again with the other just as Seven goes to pick up the can. It clatters to the ground, beer spilling across the floor as Joshua giggles with delight.
Seven stares at the carnage before turning a glare on Josh. “What the hell, kid?”
“Oops,” Josh giggles, squirming on Sho’s leg. He turns an innocent gaze up at Sho. “Down please.”
Well. Sho’s not gonna call the kid out on being an asshole to Seven. He deserved it. And Sho’s a babysitter, not a parent. He sets Josh down to roam. Sure enough, he immediately takes off to the dartboard, hiding from Seven’s sharp gaze behind the bar. Seven plants his hands on his hips as he turns his glare on Sho, who shrugs.
“What?”
“You’re buying me a new drink,” Seven demands.
Sho points to the bar. “You have a whole bar to divide through.”
“Whatever, man.” Seven rolls his eyes, but he does amble over to grab a new drink and pop it open. He raises another can to offer to Sho but… Mm… Sho shakes his head. Not with the kid around. Seven shakes his head, clicking his tongue in disappointment. “How the mighty fall. Boring.”
Sho rolls his eyes, gaze watching Josh toss a magnetic dart at the board. It falls to the ground. That tiny body gives a great big heave, a stomp, and then he returns to Sho’s side, sleepily grabbing at the air as he raises his arms. “Up…”
Sho raises an eyebrow. “What’s with that vector on your face? You hit your limits already?”
“No…” Josh’s face puckers in displeasure. “Pick me up .”
“I’ll get outta your hair, man. The little guy looks like he’s ready to take a nap,” Seven chuckles. He groans as he straightens up off the bar and stretches, popping his spine. Sho rolls his eyes at the dramatics and looks down at Josh, who’s still pouting up at him, arms lifted.
“Probably from the workout at the foosball table you gave him,” Sho drawls,giving in and stooping to scoop the kid up. The blond blinks, eyelids heavy as he immediately rests his head against Sho’s shoulder.
Seven grins at him as he steps out the door. “It got him tired out, didn’t it?”
Sure enough, the kid is rubbing sleepily at his eyes, mouth gaping as he yawns. Oh. Sho’s chest feels warm.
And then Sho sighs as the kid drops Tuffie on the ground for the nth time that day. Sho sighs and bends to pick it up again, unable to help grinning fondly as he hands it back to Josh, letting him take it into the curl of his arm. “Alright you little digit, try not to drop it again.”
Josh stares up at him. Sho sighs. He already knows where this is going. The kid holds out his arm to drop the leopard back on the ground. Sho’s expression flattens. He ignores Seven’s cackle as he bends to scoop up Tuffie one more time, letting Josh accept it with a sleepy giggle.
“Wait!” Josh calls, waving at Seven. He raises an eyebrow, but approaches the kid. Josh yawns before pointing at Seven. “I won. I get a prize.”
Sho’s lips twitch in amusement at the same moment Seven’s eyebrow ticks in annoyance. “Is that how this works now?”
Josh nods, blinking slowly. A determined pout settles across his face. Sho chuckles. “Well, Seven? You gonna divide out before giving the winner his prize?”
Seven gives a heavy eye roll. “I don’t s’pose the kid has any use for yen pins?”
“Lame,” Josh mumbles, mimicking Seven’s eye roll. “Gimme something cool. ”
“Picky,” Seven groues, but fishes through his pockets anyway. He tosses it at the two. Sho has to lash out and catch it, despite Josh’s best efforts. A Tin Pin Rocker pin. Josh perks up excitedly and takes the pin. “There ya go, kid. Go crazy.”
Josh gasps excitedly as he admires his prize, wiggling as he pops the pin open.
...oh wait, that’s a sharp thing. It… shooould be fine, right?
“Ow!” Josh rubs at his chest. Sho shifts and ignores Seven’s judgemental stare. Wasn’t he leaving?
“You uh. Need help?”
“I got it,” Josh happily announces as he shows off his shiny new pin, successfully attached to his shirt.
“Lookin good, microgram,” Sho says fondly. Josh yawns and immediately rests back against his shoulder.
Seven watches them carefully. “You really aren’t gonna share how there’s an RG kid here that you of all people are taking care of?”
Sho shrugs. “Negative.”
Seven shakes his head, but shrugs. Sho chuckles. Everyone knows they’re beat when it comes to him.
“Alright, alright. I’m taking off. Gonna help my boys with their point gathering.” Seven heads for the door. Sho rolls his eyes, even as he grins fondly. That’s such a blatant lie. BJ and Tenho are both Support Reapers. They get points by guarding walls and issuing challenges. Seven doesn’t need to help with shit.
Still, Sho finds himself grinning and waving Seven off. Josh whines, but snuggles close as Sho carries him over to the couch against the wall and tries to lay him back against the arm of the couch with a couch pillow. A tiny hand grabs a fistful of Sho’s hair.
“Nap time, microgram,” Sho murmurs lowly, trying not to excite the kid with his voice.
Josh whines and shakes his head. “I don’t wanna nap. I’m not... sleepy…”
Sho chuckles as the kid interrupts himself with a yawn. “You aren’t?”
“Nuh uh.” Josh pouts up at him, immediately sitting up with a scowl. “Nuh uh nuh uh don’t wanna sleep.”
Even as he argues, his head bobs as he struggles to keep it up. Sho shakes his head and sits down beside him, grinning. “Whatever you say, kid. It’s kind of a zero sum, no brainer though. You’re sleepy.”
“I’m… I’m not ,” Josh protests, rubbing at his eyes.
“Sure.”
There’s a few moments of silence, where Sho keeps his gaze trained on his phone. There’s some small shuffling as Josh scoots closer to Sho. A smile twitches at his lips. Josh inches closer again. And then he gently rests his head against Sho’s side.
Sho suppresses another chuckle. “Feeling sleepy yet?”
“Nuh uh,” Josh mumbles. He tucks his knees close to his chest, lazily pulling the edge of Sho’s coat around him as he snuggles into his side, Tuffie pressed protectively between his body and Sho’s. Sho’s heart squeezes. He’s so tiny. And trusts Sho . “Wanna play s’more… I was having fun .”
“We’ll have some more fun when you wake up,” Sho promises with a smile in his voice. Dull violet eyes look up at him as he blinks. “You’ll feel a lot more up to playing around when you’re back at 100%.”
“Oh…” Josh seems to consider this for a moment before nodding slowly, slumping back down to rest his head against Sho’s leg with a wide yawn. “‘Kay… more fun with cat-man…” A sleepy smile stretches across his face. “Can’t wait…”
This kid has no clue that Sho has made multiple attempts at his life. Sort of. In a roundabout way.
Sho hesitantly lifts his hand before gently setting it on Josh’s head. The kid doesn’t even react. He’s down for the count. Sho smiles and settles back to let Josh take his nap, petting across soft, blond curls ever so gently.
It’s strange, being trusted so implicitly like this. That Joshua, Composer Joshua, would trust him with something of this kind of importance. Something that makes him so vulnerable, that potentially opens up a past to Sho that he may never have wanted to share. (That he was a lonely kid, that he already anticipated being left alone and forgotten at this young age, that he had seen Noise from the RG his whole life and had no one like Sho to protect him.)
It’s even more astounding that kid Josh, even with all of his distrust and solitude, already trusts Sho enough to snooze against him. Is it because Sho’s still connected as Conductor, even to a Shibuya born figment? Or maybe because Josh just wanted someone to stay, he latched onto someone who told him that he would…
Josh stirs a little, brow furrowing as he whines in his sleep. Sho looks down as violet eyes crack open, looking around hazily. “Monsters…”
“They aren’t here,” Sho says softly, rubbing at Josh’s back. Sho picks Tuffie up and tucks it back between Joshua’s arms, letting the kid curl around it. The kid settles a little, smiling up at Sho.
“Red Slam…murai…”
Sho rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll protect ya.”
Josh gives him a sweet smile before snuggling back down, hand secure in Sho’s coat. Sho snorts softly in amusement.
Or maybe kids are just that quick to trust.
Sho shrugs, slumping back to let his head rest against the back of the couch. He’s still pretty under his own limits himself. Babysitting is rough work, apparently. Sho scoffs, petting absently at Josh’s hair.
It’s not so bad, he guesses.
Sho wakes up without a child tucked into his side. His coat is still tugged to the side, as if there had been someone sleeping beneath it, but there isn’t anyone around. Most alarmingly, there’s a stuffed leopard still resting against Sho’s leg. Why would Josh go anywhere without Tuffie?
He looks around, but doesn't see him at all. Shit. Shit. Who knows what the kid’s gotten into- or if he’s encountered any Noise. He has to find him. Sho made a promise.
He hauls himself to his feet, scratching at his neck as he glances at the door. The keypad is still activated, so he couldn’t have been able to leave out into the mouth of the Shibuya River, so… no Noise encounter at least. Sho’s shoulders relax at the thought. He can remove that variable, at least.
But it doesn’t seem like the kid is in the Dead God’s Pad. Sho had looked, peeking under bars and tables and even in the cabinets to see if he could find any trace of blond curly hair and giggly dimples. He frowns and calls out for the nth time, Tuffie clutched in his hand to return to Josh when he finds the kid.
“ Josh? ”
Silence. The name feels awkward on his tongue. Sho’s beginning to feel the foreign flutter of anxiety in his gut as he jumps a vibe to find the door to the Trail of the Sinner on the Noise plane. He doesn’t know how Josh would have gotten so far without the ability to tune his own vibe, but it doesn’t matter. There’s literally nowhere else for him to have gone.
Sho tosses open the doors to the Room of Reckoning, gaze instantly locking onto his Composer sitting sideways on his throne, smiling in that infuriatingly amused way of his. Sho freezes, but his gaze darts around. No microgram. Where the hell is he?
Sho doesn’t like caring about people if it just leads to this panic. His chest feels like it’s caving in a bit.
“Missing someone?”
The voice is soft and gentle, fond and… sympathetic? Sho looks back up to see Joshua descending from his throne. There’s something different about his expression. He looks almost younger. More youthful. Less jaded, that’s the one.
Sho crosses his arms, trying to contain his nerves. It’s unlike him. “Where is he?”
“Oh, the child?” Joshua shrugs as he approaches Sho, still smiling that little smile of his. “I took him back.”
Sho… doesn’t need to breathe. He doesn’t. But that doesn’t keep him from feeling breathless. Tuffie feels like a lead weight in his grip. “You what?”
“I took him back. Decided Shibuya was right, that maybe I did need a little childhood wonder.” Joshua says it all so nonchalantly. He eyes Sho curiously. “Aren’t you happy? You certainly weren’t invested in being his guardian this morning.”
“He… I don’t…” Sho struggles to find his words, to understand the weird hollow feeling in his chest. One hand rests over his pocket, where a napkin rests safely tucked away. The other clutches Tuffie to his side. Protecting it.
Joshua’s right. He wasn’t happy this morning. And it’s been less than a day. But… Sho runs his tongue over his teeth, trying to explain away the heat in behind his eyes..
It’s not often that people like him . Even Seven only tolerates him half of the time. But that kid giggled around him so much, trusted him to protect him. He held onto him , Sho Minamimoto, for comfort . No one has ever done that.
“...yeah.” Sho rubs the back of his head, then glances at Joshua, who just stares back at him with an unreadable expression. “You integrated with him?”
“Oh, yes.” Joshua shrugs and looks to the side, twirling his hair around his finger. “You see, Shibuya presented a simple copy of myself from that age, as if that would help me at all with seeing childhood wonder .” Joshua rolls his eyes. “I’m sure you saw that I wasn’t exactly the most trusting of children, and certainly not the happiest. Accepting that copy of myself would have only been a bitter reminder of what I didn’t have as a child.
“But you, Sho Minamimoto…” Joshua falters. If Sho didn’t know better, he’d say Joshua was embarrassed. He earns himself a sharp look for that one. Joshua huffs, and it’s a very striking image. Some things don’t change. “You, my dear Conductor, gave my younger self a lovely day. Someone who listened to him, who protected him. No one had ever acknowledged the Noise for me at that age. It wouldn’t be for several years until I learned what it was I was seeing. Most importantly, you… you let him have fun.”
Joshua turns away, hiding his face from Sho. Sho shifts. “You’re being irrationally open ended today.”
“I am, aren’t I?” Joshua laughs and turns back to Sho, expression concealed behind a smile once again. “It all has a point to it.”
“That being?” Sho’s… trying to care. He still feels weird after learning the kid was just gone without a goodbye. But this is his Composer. And he does (reluctantly) care about the guy. Josh was never going to stay. He didn’t have to leave so much behind.
Sho quietly tucks Tuffie into his jacket pocket, fighting a frown.
“You gave me someone that I could ‘integrate with’ without consequences,” Joshua says with a shrug. “To be quite honest, I never expected it of you. At the very least, I anticipated that you and he would manage to get along until Shibuya decided she was done waiting on me and took him back. I thought you’d be relieved.”
Sho shrugs. Joshua only smiles more. “I’m only telling you this so I can thank you properly, Sho.”
He looks away, shrugging again. It’s weird, when his Composer decides to be open with him like this. Something he’s been trying to do lately. Whatever makes him feel better.
“I guess. No problem.” Sho laughs softly. “How much do you know about what happened?”
“Oh, I have his memories,” Joshua says cheerfully. “Has anyone ever told you that you give good hugs? He nearly fell asleep any time you held him.”
Sho scoffs and scowls. The tips of his ears burn. “You’re making fun of me.”
“Only a little,” Joshua promises with a giggle. He steps up to Sho and slips his arm into the crook of Sho’s elbow. Sho’s scowl- and his blush- deepens.
“ And you promised that boy some ramen,” Joshua coos, resting his head against Sho’s shoulder. He snickers. “So take me for some ramen.”
“I promised him some ramen,” Sho argues, even as Joshua drags him towards the exit. His Composer just laughs. Sho rolls his eyes.
“We’re one and the same,” Joshua laughs with a shake of his head. He winks at Sho. “Now, come on, my dear Red Slammurai. You have some promises to keep, dear.”
“Hold your old horses,” Sho mutters, tugging the brim of his hat down to cover his eyes. He still feels weird. He misses the kid.
But who knows. Maybe Shibuya will decide Joshua’s being too much of a grouch again and he’ll get to see him again.
“I’m hanging your art up on my fridge.”
Joshua laughs. “Whatever you say, dear.”