WxS Ship Week: Day 4, "A Fixed Memory"
♡summary: While cleaning with Nene, Rui finds a torn platypus plushie and decides to fix it with Nene.
♡pairings: Kamishiro Rui/Kusanagi Nene
♡warning: none! very fluffy fic
♡author note: Rui and Nene are two of my favorite characters, so I had a lot of fun writing this story! If my engineering solution is incorrect, that's expected since I've never used a screwdriver in my life and I've definitely never built anything out of metal either (and I don't think STEM was a vital part of this story, unlike RuiKasa's accurate astronomy...)
Rui brushed hands with Nene as he moved one of his robots to the corner. “Ah, my apologies. I’m not very aware of my surroundings, as you can tell,” he said, gesturing to the mess that was his entire room. As they did every year near his birthday, Nene came over to help him clean. For being so smart, his attention span when something didn’t interest him was non-existent, so at the age of seven, he started to invite Nene over to help him. It made the work go by faster and it held him accountable, so it was a good system to have in place. He was glad he met Nene, although definitely for more reasons than just having a cleaning buddy.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s whatever. Remember, I’m not doing this for free; you’re giving me cookies later.”
“Yes, I haven’t forgotten. That’s been the reward for eight years, has it not?”
“With you, it’s hard to know what you remember and what you don’t. You remember the exact names of all of the stars in the solar system but you forget to eat, so it’s a fair assumption.”
“The star names would be memorization, not memory.”
“Well, am I wrong, then?”
Rui thought about it, then sighed. “...No, you wouldn’t be.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She went back to cleaning, then nudged Rui’s shoulder to tell him to do the same.
Nene moved his plushies to the side to dust where they were. “Please treat Mr. Charming with more respect, Nene. Instead, tilt him about seventy-five degrees.” Rui demonstrated with one of the plushies she moved. “See? It’s more effective because it only uses the muscles in your wrist rather than the muscles in both your entire arm and hand.”
“Yeah, but we’re not old people; we can use a couple extra muscles just fine at this age.”
“I wouldn’t mind growing old with you to the point that we have to be careful about which muscles we use when cleaning,” Rui replied, stifling a laugh.
“Y-You can’t just say that…!” Nene cried out, pushing him lightly. “Wait! Are you stalling again? Go to the other side of the room and clean the corner.”
Rui closed his eyes and put his hand over his heart and gripped his shirt. “Nene’s so mean…! Punishing me by banishing me to the corner like a child? My heart has truly been wounded!”
Nene groaned, then turned him around and pushed him to the other column of shelves. Rui simply laughed, then turned the platypus plushie exactly seventy-five degrees to the left. However, its tail seemed to be quite a few extra inches away from its body. He stopped to look at it. “Do you know how to sew, Nene?”
The tail was falling off, likely from old age. Nene moved the tail back and forth a few times. “I can’t do it, but Tsukasa’s made a few things before. If not him, then maybe you could ask Mizuki? She’d probably be able to help.”
Rui shook his head. “There must be something we can do. Will the platypus last until they get here? If it’s beyond repair...” Rui trailed off.
“It’s not, Rui.” He still frowned, so Nene gave him a warm smile. “You’ve always been someone who trusts in yourself before anyone else, so if you wanna fix it yourself, I’ll help as much as I can, okay?” Nene asked. He turned his head to glance at the platypus again and its black eyes that shone in just the right way to make his heart melt. He smiled at it, then patted it on the head.
“Dr. Kamishiro will take good care of you.”
“Weirdo…” Nene murmured, making Rui laugh.
Slowly, it turned into what felt like a normal day. It barely felt like he had a platypus he had owned for eight years on his desk. His movements were still as precise as ever, his words were still as thoughtful as ever, and he was still as loved as ever. Nene sang songs softly, powerfully, and beautifully while she cleaned, soothing Rui and making him more focused on the platypus in front of him. It felt like they were meant to be in this exact position and situation by each other’s side. “Do you mind grabbing that box of screws for me, Nene? I would grab it myself, but my position is nearly perfect at the moment.” He couldn’t see her with the angle his head was at, but he assumed she nodded since he heard footsteps after a period of silence.
“Here,” Nene nodded, setting the box on his table.
“Ah, and if it’s not too much trouble, then-”
“You want me to hold the screw in place for you, right? I’m not gonna say no, you know,” Nene sighed fondly. Rui felt his heart melt again (this time, not because of an inanimate object) at her words. He supposed that’s why Nene was so perfect for him: she understood. He had heard of twins having telepathic abilities at times, so was it the same for childhood friends? A part of him wanted the answer to be “no.” If that was the case, then it would mean that Nene truly was just always on the same wavelength as him. They were both lonely, friendless children who were a little too interested in their interests and dreamed a little too big at times, so it made sense to him. “This plushie was the one I won for you at the first arcade we ever went to together.”
“It was the first gift I ever received from someone other than my parents.” He used his free hand to grab the screwdriver, then put it in the slit in the screw. “I remember that day like it was yesterday. So, naturally, can’t you conclude that my memory is actually crystal clear?”
“Maybe if you remember to study for your math test next week.”
“There’s a math test next week?” he asked.
“Ugh! How does Tsukasa, Mr. I-don’t-remember-why-I-want-to-be-a-star, remember it, but not you!?” Nene groaned. Still, her hand didn’t budge. She kept it steady to make his work easier, making Rui give her a silly smile. “You’re an idiot.”
“You still love me, though!” Rui exclaimed.
Nene sighed, but then smiled at him. “...Yeah, I do.”
It took thirty minutes for him to finish repairing it. He added a strip of metal with a chunk cut out of its right side to the end of the body and a strip of metal with a chunk cut out of its left side to the start of the tail, then connected the two pieces of metal with two screws. He spun it around a few times, then smiled at it. Rui held it up to Nene like a child showing off their drawing. “How does it look?”
“It looks good. Your creativity never fails to impress me,” Nene smiled. After suppressing the red on her cheeks, Nene patted the platypus on the head. “He looks like you: cute.”
Rui moved to hold it with one hand instead, then put his other hand on top of hers. “Even with my entire vocabulary, I could never fully explain how amazing you are, Nene. Although, the first word I’d use is, “gamer”, I believe.” Rui laughed at his own joke at the end, making Nene glare at him.
“You know what? I take my compliment back.” Rui giggled and pulled Nene into a hug. “Ugh…love you.”
♡closing note: I hope you enjoyed the story!!
