Theater Kid's March Comes in Like a Lion

[thestarknows]

⭐ Who: Junna Hoshimi... and you!
⭐ When: Throughout March!
⭐ Where: In Yumemigaoka!
⭐ What: March catch-all!
⭐ Warnings: Junna's grappling with some heavy stuff, so... threads could get into parents not being great, some homophobia, and other things. There's also some implicit sleeping together (nothing NSFW though) in the Lisa and Junna thread, if that's a thing you prefer to avoid!

Comments

[thestarknows]

[Junna laughs again. A little more than she did last time, even.] I'm never going to say no to cookies of any kind.

[She blinks, though, when he pats her head. And it does make her feel a little bit better. There's a moment of hesitation, though, as she looks down for a second. Her eyes focus more on the ground than him while she thinks -- and it's nice reassurance.

Even if she worries a little. Zeke, Keiwa, Ilya, Olruggio. Lisa. Her parents.

But... she didn't let him down, and that's something.]

...I'm glad. I--I thought... you'd all be furious with me, for not... I don't even know, exactly.

[She falls quiet for a second, though. Then, she nods, and she looks at him. There's a small smile, for just a second. She knows -- remembers, honestly -- that he's been there. He gets it too. She hesitates for a second.]

That's... that's a lot of it. I didn't want to burden anyone else. And then it was... like I felt like I needed to be stronger, or like it would be something that you'd blame yourselves. And I didn't talk to all of you until I felt like I was drowning. And...

[Wait. She trails off. Then she sputters, and pushes her glasses up her nose.]

D-Don't you dare. [But that gets a laugh out of her.]

[hanamane]

[He removes the hand from her head to wiggle his fingers a bit teasingly her way, aimed straight at her glasses.]

Ooooh~? But it worked so well before...!

[Not that he knew of Nene's threats during their Night Terror battle-- but then, maybe it spoke to how much they matched their respective freaks that she even had the same idea to begin with!

His hands drop a little as his expression sobers up in turn, the rest of what she had said finally catching up with him. It wasn't as if he had been furious with her over what she did-- he'd be a hypocrite if he was-- but...]

... I'll be honest though, I can't say it didn't hurt a little to know you were dealing with all of this on your own. I mean... I'm supposed to be your Mentor, y'know? You were always a fast learner and a super dedicated Dreamer, so I sorta... stepped back and didn't fuss as much over you, since I thought you had it all under control.

[Or more under control than Nene did, anyway, although he can't deny that Junna seemed to teach herself more than he ever taught her...]

But if I would've just paid more attention and saw how much you were really pushing yourself... I could've tried to get you to chill out a bit, at least. Our Dreamer duties are important, but so's taking a break once in a while, too. We can't fight at full power if we don't recharge our batteries once in a while, right?

[A pause, as he's trying to figure out where he's going with all of this--]

... I just don't want you to think you need to be anything more than the Junna-san you already are-- at least not for my sake.

[thestarknows]

Nene-chan threatened to do that, too, you know.

[They really are alike, sometimes. She looks sideways at him, and she's quiet for a moment when he admits that it hurt. Junna looks down, and she can't deny that she feels a flicker of guilt at that. Then she reaches over, patting him on the shoulder.]

...I know. I... I should have told you. I'm sorry. You didn't let me down, though, okay? You... you've been a great Mentor. You have taught me a lot, looked out for me when I was getting started, and you've helped me not take everything so seriously. Which isn't easy.

[She looks down again, her hand falling back by her side.] I... I know I need to relax more. I'm going to try, really. A-and I'll try to talk to you more, too.

[Though when he says that last line, there's a moment where Junna falls quiet. She pointedly looks away from him for a second -- but then there's a sniffle, and she wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand.]

...th-thanks, Amane-kun. I-- [She sniffles again, and her embarrassment about getting emotional is proving almost impossible for her to hide.] Th-that means a lot to me.

[hanamane]

[He blinks for a second, the news somewhat throwing him for a loop.]

... huh? She did?

[He hadn't had much of a chance to look through the Disturbance reports yet-- if there were any this soon afterwards, anyway-- so whatever had gone down during the Night Terror battle was still a mystery to him. Maybe he should have been surprised that Nene considered doing something as underhanded as that (despite the grief she gives him on similar things) but, then again... she wasn't the type to pull her punches either, literally.

He feels that pat on his shoulder and he glances over to Junna, his expression tinted in guilt. It was hard to feel like he hadn't let her down when he couldn't even save her properly from her own Disturbance, like she had done for him a year before. What kind of Mentor was he that he couldn't even do that much for her? Of course, he keeps his mouth shut on that end-- the person who needed reassuring right now was her, not him, after all. Maybe that went against the honesty he was trying to encourage on Junna's part, but... it was okay if it helped ease the burden on her, right? (Clearly, we have learned nothing from this entire experience, Amane--)

Before he can say anything else, however, that sniffle of hers grabs his attention, sending him mentally floundering. H-Hold on-- he didn't accidentally hurt her feelings or anything like that, did he?? He thought he was being earnest enough, but maybe he hit a nerve without realizing it...

But then she thanks him, and those concerns dissolve away, his shoulders slumping in slight relief. After a moment or two of consideration, he scoots a little closer to her, reaching out to loop his arms around her shoulders for a hug. Never mind the earlier trepidation about Junna maybe not being a hugger-- if anyone needed one at the moment, it was her.]

...mm. I'm just sorry you had to feel otherwise, Junna-san.

[thestarknows]

Y-Yeah. [She laughs while crying, which makes it sound a little rough.] I-It was really something.

[She doesn't jolt or start when he hugs her. Junna is a little surprised for a second, but it's been two very long days and after all of that... no, she needs a hug. There's a second's hesitation, but then she hugs him back with one arm. She wipes at her eyes with her other, but it's futile. She's crying now, and she isn't able to stop with a couple wipes of her hand.

It's what she needed to hear, even if she didn't really know that until she did. She needs to hear it from other people -- her parents, for starters -- but for now, this is enough. Junna sniffles again, and then she shakes her head quickly.]

S-Sorry, I... I didn't mean to get all emotional. It--it's been a rough... a rough few weeks. I, um.

[She sniffles again.] I knew you cared. I just... I just, I'd get so stressed out, I'd start convincing myself of things I knew couldn't be right, either. [Anxiety sucks.] And then I'd be angry at myself for--for thinking such unfair things.

[hanamane]

[He'll leave the further questioning about Nene's involvement in her Boss Fight for another time (despite his growing curiosity), opting to focus on the here and now. Quietly, he pulls back an arm from their embrace, rummaging in his jacket pocket for just a moment until he fishes out a tissue packet from within to pass along to her. It's nothing special-- probably one of the freebies passed along to him on the streets of Kihada-- but it should help with the tears more than just her hand, at least.]

It's fine, I don't mind. You can let it all out if you want to.

[She deserves a luxury of a good cry after everything she'd been through, honestly. He'd certainly shed his own tears during this whole ordeal, though he wasn't so secure in his vulnerabilities to let anyone see it, unfortunately.]

... I get it, though. Sometimes you just wind up so stuck in your own head that you can't really see what's around you. Or... talk to others around you, I guess. It's a hard thing to break.

[Lord knows he can't, anyway--]

This is probably the part where I tell you to "always remember that there's people around who care about you", but I know that's easier said than done, too. I wish there was some simple solution I could offer you, but... [He snorts, a little ruefully:] we probably wouldn't be dealing with all of these Disturbances if there was one, right?

[Somewhere, Zeke and Nikki are just screaming "IT'S THERAPY YOU BOZOS!!!!"]

[thestarknows]

[She takes a tissue from the offered packet, dabbing at her eyes. It's only kind of helping, but the thought is what counts. She sniffles again, before she looks at him.] I-I've had a couple of times I have. Probably... probably a few more, too.

[She laughs again, even if... it's a little weak.]

...yeah. That was it. And I didn't want to bother you all with it, even if.. if that's stupid. I just worried everyone more. [She looks at him for a second, then there's a ghost of a smile at the remark about Disturbances.]

...no, probably not. It was... [He'd know. She looks at him for a second.] I didn't... didn't really understand how bad it was, until I went through it. Being trapped in there, surrounded by... everything, like that.

I guess the solution is complicated. [She looks down.] Talk to people more, remember to share things, and... and maybe stop overworking myself all of the time.