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Change Was Never A Good Thing

Chapter 2: Present pt. 1

Summary:

“Hello, what’s your name?” Tadashi had asked, clearly not reading the room as Kei was exasperatingly throwing clothes into drawers.

“Kei,” he coldly replied.

“Kei,” Tadashi tested the name “that’s a very pretty name.”

Kei paused, if only for a moment.  Usually, people would yell out his name following along with a string of profanities.  The only person that had ever complimented Kei’s name had been Shouyou.  But even that was years ago before he stopped talking.

Kei nodded his head in acknowledgment, then proceeded to put away the last of his clothes in the closet.

He sat down on what would now be his bed, looking over at Tadashi before finally giving a nod of approval.  A small smile made its way across Tadashi’s face before he quickly shook it away.

Notes:

so... shit went crazy. My grandad died, I got a job, I got obsessed with Little Women, school fucked me over, I had a C in FUCKING ENGLISH. Chem is making me want to kms. I was in my school play as an ensemble, and I'm now in my school musical as tech, someone fell in love with me but turns out they were a stalker and were on probation and went to juvie and are fucked up so... I also realized I need glasses??? I lost my glasses and my eyesight got worse. The idea that my best friends are leaving high school this year is haunting me endlessly. My mom is trying to get me another therapist (update: she got me another therapist and she slays), but my dad still thinks I'm mentally stable. TikTok is now my escapism technique, and I saw Wicked for my birthday. I had psats and homecoming so that's awesome too lmfao. But yeah, enjoy this chapter. This pre-chapter note is being written before the actual story so I'm hoping to write 5k words? let's see what post-writing me has to say about that.
Hi, post-writing me here. This chapter is gonna be split into 2 parts so the first one is 2.4k words and idk how long the second will be but hopefully around the same length. I don't have much of an excuse as to why its taken me so long to update other than "I had writers block whoopsie daisy"

Chapter Text

Two weeks.  It had been two weeks since Kei was sent to live with the Sawamura’s.  Yes, they were extremely kind.  And they lived in the most gorgeous mansion.  It was a four-story house that looked as if it belonged to a king.  The kitchen was made of marble tiling, Brazilian Cherry flooring in all rooms, and the most extravagant paintings on the walls just to fill up empty space.  But what Kei loved most, was the garden in the back of the house.  It was a large garden with a variety of flowers and plants in every direction.  The thing he loved most about it though, what that he knew Shouyou would love it too.

Kei had found a book in the room he shared, regarding plant life and different breeds of flowers.  He hoped if he were to ever show Shouyou this garden, he could point to all the different flora and be able to call out their names.  He had remembered conversing with Shouyou about what jobs they would want when they were older.  While Kei said how he would want to pursue something in the medical field, being able to make loads of money for both him and Shouyou to share, Shouyou had mentioned how he wished to work in horticulture, always amazed by the different plants and flowers around the world.

Of course, Kei knew his chances of ever seeing Shouyou again were now slim to none.  Although his previous headmaster said that the Sawamura’s would come back in perhaps a few months, it was only obvious that it was just to make Kei move faster and leave.  And even if they were to go back, there was no guarantee that Shouyou would still be living there.  

When you get fostered, you live with your new parents for months before you finally switch homes again.  There was barely a 1% chance that Kei would ever get to see Shouyou again.  But he hung onto that 1% like it was his lifeline.  Because without Shouyou, Kei was incomplete.

Kei walked back from the garden and into his shared room.  When he arrived at the Sawamura Household, he was given the option to either room with a rather stern-looking boy, whose name was Tobio, or a more timid, and shy boy, whose name was Tadashi.  It wasn’t much of a decision in Kei’s eyes.  He almost immediately picked Tadashi.  He figured that the boy would leave him alone due to his quiet nature, but his thoughts were soon interrupted when the boy quickly struck up a conversation as Kei was unpacking his bags.

“Hello, what’s your name?” Tadashi had asked, clearly not reading the room as Kei was exasperatingly throwing clothes into drawers.

“Kei,” he coldly replied.

“Kei,” Tadashi tested the name “that’s a very pretty name.”

Kei paused, if only for a moment.  Usually, people would yell out his name following along with a string of profanities.  The only person that had ever complimented Kei’s name had been Shouyou.  But even that was years ago before he stopped talking.

Kei nodded his head in acknowledgment, then proceeded to put away the last of his clothes in the closet.  It was a large walk-in closet, with a small dresser at the very end.  There were no clothes inside the dresser so that was where Kei had decided to put his belongings.

He sat down on what would now be his bed, looking over at Tadashi before finally giving a nod of approval.  A small smile made its way across Tadashi’s face before he quickly shook it away.

~

Tadashi was Kei’s rock while Kei was getting situated at the Sawamura’s.  He was the only person Kei felt he could at least be a little open with.  Other people were living there, like Koushi or Daichi, but they didn’t seem as approachable as Tadashi.  And so it was, Kei would tell stories of him and Shouyou when they were together, traveling from one foster home to another.

When Kei and Shouyou were twelve, the two of them attempted to run away.  They were stuck with a “mother” who seemed to have hated Kei and Shouyou, trying to get them in trouble whenever she could.  She had different ways of abusing different children and would often make the others watch.  Kids called her “Trunchbull,” because she reminded them of the headmaster from Matilda.

They had an entire plan: get jobs, find a small apartment, and eat microwaved rice each night to save money.  They were going to hike to the next town over, try and start anew, and continue to live what little childhood they had left.

Trunchble found their notes with their detailed escape.

They never got the chance to escape.

~

There was another time when Shouyou picked up a sketchbook he found on the ground in Tokyo.  They were seven at the time, and most pages were blank, but it was soggy from rain days prior.  After concluding that the original owner of the sketchbook would most likely not return to find it, Shouyou kept it as his own.  Shouyou had hidden it under his bed at the main foster group home Kei and he stayed in, taking it out every so often to sketch something that may have come to mind.

Kei would often reminisce about the drawings inside the sketchbook.  Shouyou would draw all sorts of things.  But on almost every page, there would be a tiny angel in the top right corner.  Kei had made a joke that Shouyou was blessing the sketchbook by drawing miniature angels, which only fueled the shorter more.  The sketchbook had dozens of pages filled with drawings of angels of all shapes and sizes as well as in different positions and levels.

Tadashi would listen contently as Kei told his stories as if they were some far-off fairy tale from another world.  Kei wished they were a fairytale.  He wished that he nor Shouyou had to endure what they had gone through.  And he wished so deeply that he could just see Shouyou again.  But that was just a sliver past impossible.

Kei hated the impossible.

~

Kei started school a month after moving in with the Sawamura’s.  He had never gone to public school before, as he had always been homeschooled by his foster parents. (Even then, it was barely school). Tadashi had shown Kei around the premises, commenting on which classes they would have together and with their other foster siblings.

 

Kei had often stolen books from nearby libraries as he moved houses with Shouyou.  He would pick up books on biology, history, math, astrology, and other varieties of school subjects.  Kei would read the books aloud to Shouyou in their free time.  However, Shouyou never really seemed to pay full attention, his eyes would drift and he would usually fall asleep not long after Kei would start reading.  Still, Kei was always enamored by the school.  He was always jealous of the kids who would complain about homework or how hard their classes were.  Though perhaps it’s easy to lose interest in something you're forced to participate in.

(No matter how much he hates to admit it, Kei will lay outside, pointing to different constellations as if Shouyou is still beside him.)

~

The memories haunted Kei.  It had been three months since Kei moved in with the Sawamura’s.  Everything Kei did, he realized, reminded him of Shouyou.  His life had revolved around Shouyou and simply surviving in this shitty world that he forgot he had a life of his own.  Kei couldn’t remember the last time he did something that was just to please himself. He just wanted to make it from one house to another unscathed, with Shouyou by his side.  He hadn’t realized how he seemed to let go of his own needs in favor of Shouyou’s.

 ~

Kei looked tiredly at the blackboard in front of him.  His teacher was reviewing some algebra homework the class had needed to do the night before.  Kei understood algebra to an acceptable extent, but never really did the work.  He was averaging a C in the class thanks to his better-than-decent test scores.  But other than that, his grades were mush.  Many of his teachers believed he was cheating on tests due to his incomplete and half-assed homework assignments, saying that “this is a result of his foster home situation.” He’d always ignore them, as did the Sawamura’s.  They were able to recognize his potential, but they didn’t have the time to push Kei enough.  Caring for over ten children is hard enough.

Kei arrived home with a greeting from Yuu, a small boy with a small temper.  Yuu had to be homeschooled after consistent vandalization on school grounds, so after Kei moved in, Yuu gained a habit of eagerly greeting him whenever he arrived home.  Everyone else in the household had extracurricular activities each day, which left Kei alone with Yuu for well past an hour each day.

“What’d you do at school today?  Did you have fun?  Beat up any kids?  I won’t tell if you did!” Yuu berated as Kei walked up the stairs and toward his room.

“Schoolwork, no, no, and I do not care,” Kei replied before closing the door to his room.

“You can’t ignore me forever y’know!”

“I can if I try,” Kei mumbled back.

He sat down and dragged his binder out of his bag.  Scattered notes and homework pages were in shambles.  He poked through the many pages, organizing them with their respective classes.

Various pages of schoolwork and homework were unfinished or just unattempted.  He took out an incomplete sheet of biology homework and pulled a separate biology textbook out from his backpack.  

Kei was pulled from his thoughts by a knock on his door.

“Kei?  Can I come in?”  Kei rolled his eyes, annoyed, but still gave a small hum of approval, noticing that the voice that called to him sounded much more like Tadashi rather than the raging goofball that was Yuu.

“You’re home early,” Kei initiated as Tadashi opened the door and sat on his respective bed.  

“The vice principal told me to deliver a message to you,” Tadashi starts.

“And deliver you shall,” Kei replied, turning in his chair to face Tadashi.

“You need to join a club.  It's mandatory.  You’ve had a few months to get comfortable but it's required you participate in at least one after-school activity.”. Tadashi deepened his voice jokingly, imitating their vice principal.

Kei knew this was coming.  He knew it was the reason all his foster siblings were at school late and it was only a matter of time before he was forced into the same fate as them.

“I do art club on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and baking on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  They’re both really fun and laid back.  I'm, sure there’s a club you’d enjoy too.  Didn’t you say you enjoyed astrology?  I’m sure there’s a club for that!”

Kei slowly started to tune Tadashi out as he continued to ramble.  Sure, he could do with an astrology club, but he already knew from firsthand experience that being forced to participate in such an activity would only make him lose interest.  The one thing Kei had that connected him to Shouyou for so long could just go down the drain.  Kei wouldn't let that happen.  The depressing aroma of school would not get in the way of his past relationship with the optimistic ginger, and it most certainly would not demolish what little connection they still had, no matter how far away.

“You said something about a culinary?”  Kei finally interrupted Tadashi as he was spewing extra nonsense.

“Oh, yes! Baking!  Although, there is a culinary club if you’d enjoy that more.  I never took you for a kitchen man, Kei!”

“I’m not.”

“Oh..  Well, It’s great you're willing to try something new!”

“Yeah, something along those lines,” Kei said, disengaged, as he faced back to his desk to complete his homework, signaling the end of the duo’s conversation.

“You should join the baking club…  It’d be nice to have you around.”  Kei felt a slight blush rush into his cheeks and he was glad he had turned around before Tadashi made his final comment.

~

The baking club wasn't bad, per se, but it most certainly was... A lot.  Seeing as it was the only club Kei had signed up for, he had to be there every day after school.  Sure, he had learned a lot in the club as he was never quite adequate in the kitchen, but the other kids made the after-school activity a much larger headache than it already was.  There were your usual suspects: Kuroo and Bokuto, who would start a food fight at least twice a week.  Kyotani, who pretty much sat in the corner of the classroom brooding.  There was the ever-so-flamboyant Oikawa, who (thankfully) was only there twice a week.  And finally, Osamu, who was probably the only person other than Tadashi who actually took the club seriously.  Kei found himself enamored by Osamu’s cooking, asking for samples every so often of the perfectly made food.  He also found himself taking Osamu’s lead when given a cooking assignment, even asking for advice from time to time.  Osamu was probably the only friend Kei had made outside of the foster system, and for once, something in Kei clicked.

~

Eight months after Kei moved in with the Sawamura’s, the two new foster parents entered his shared room and stood in the doorway, urging Kei’s attention, much like how they did when he first met them.

Kei had gone through this before, they walk into the room, tell you how much they’d enjoyed your presence as a child, and then let you go.  Kei mentally prepared himself, ready to hear their apologies and how they ‘ever so wish’ they could keep him.

“Your friend, Shouyou, he’s back at the foster home we originally picked you up from.”

Kei pauses, blinking a few times to make sure he’s awake and that this isn't just a dream.  Are they really going to go back?  Something in Kei’s chest tightens and he feels his throat go dry.

“Really?” He croaks out, just loud enough to hear.

“Yes, we’re planning on taking him in,” Mrs. Sawamura says.

Mr. Sawamura gives a slight nod in agreeance, before closing the door and leaving Kei alone in his room.

He’s coming back.

Notes:

Ok so this was originally gonna be a oneshot but its 2 am and I forget how to save drafts so what the hell. Anyways I legit dk how to pray but its okay cuz neither do Shouyou or Kei. Im gonna be honest with you, the only thing I can remember from my three trips to church over the course of 15 years is the "may peace be with you" and "And with your spirit" But if yall know any simple memorable things I could include that would also be dope. Anyways, Im hoping to finish off this small project in maybe a week or so, so watch out for new chapters.

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