chapter 1/introduction to a fic im making... heh.. Consider it an excerpt? also on ao3. May have typos, but lmk. I wrote this instead of sleeping for my first day of uni tomorrow. Enjoy!!!
Messy Summary: You were a simple office worker with simple office hobbies. Said hobby includes spying on the handsome cyborg who frequents the arcade in front of your building.
It started with a brief glance on one sunny afternoon which swiftly turned into routine every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
You shouldn't be staring out the window like this. Especially at work.
You yawn, turning your head away from the monitor, pushing away from the desk to roll your chair nearer to the window. Hours of writing narrative reports or organizing sheets and statistical charts can take a toll on the human mind due to all the monotonous boredom.
It all changed that fateful Monday afternoon when you caught wind of some android with flashy white hair, blazing golden eyes, and a red jacket, hunched over one of the games at Godfinger, the arcade placed temptingly right in front of your office.
Normally, you'd pay interesting strangers no mind, but this fellow looked strikingly reminiscent of Starlight Knight Ichigo– the first Starlight Knight made for the franchise. You didn't get to make a proper conclusion until Wednesday.
You caught the fellow sauntering out of the arcade with a whoop, carrying the box of the re-released, highly articulated Starlight Knight Ichigo figurine! You would've been seething in absolute rage, if you had not caught a good look of the stranger's face.
You wouldn't call yourself a total enthusiastic nut over Starlight Knights. Instead, you were the most avid, obsessive devotee to its cousin: the Masked Drivers. The art of *Tokusatsu is a genre you've come to appreciate to a blood-pact level, if it were to wither and die, you would too.
When the local cinema on Sixth Street did a reshowing of the Starlight Knight Ichigo movie (in honour of the upcoming anniversary), that was when you were hooked. From that day onwards, he became your favourite variant of the Starlight Knights franchise, and also became one of your biggest fictional crushes of all time.
That was until this totally handsome android started appearing in front of your building!
Sometimes you'd see him with three girls, one with light-pink hair, the other with green chunky headphones, and one with cat ears. Other times, you'd even see the owners of the video store you frequent, Random Play, join him for a few games!
You thought you were imagining it, going crazy, even. It's the third week since you've started watching him, and his facial plate is modeled eerily like Ichigo. You even made sure to rewatch all 49-episodes of Starlight Knight throughout the week! He's like an exact replica-- minus Ichigo's distinguishing red scarf.
You've ran a thousand possibilities in your mind:
A.) The office has a gas leak and you're imagining Ichigo to cope before your inevitable, mortal doom.
B.) Your apartment has a gas leak and you're imagining the robot, and your co-workers have been watching you stare at nothing by the window like some freak.
C.) Some sick, unfathomably more obsessive fan created a robot-replica of Ichigo that escaped containment and now lives an independent life away from his creator, yet he still carries the shackles of his undeniable past--
"...Hey!"
You blink, turning to face your boss' furrowed brows and eyes filled with concern and mild aggravation.
"Boss?" You manage to croak out, caught in-between the internal battle of relentless apologies and excuses.
"Your report. Give me the hard-copy by the end of the day. If I'm not in my office, just leave it on my desk."
"Right." You say.
"You've been loitering around this specific window all the time. What's with that, kid?"
Your eyes frantically shift between side-glancing the window and your boss, who begins to lean over, trying to get a peek of what's outside as well.
You gulp, looking down with wide eyes. This is it. You're getting fired because you just couldn't help but stalk not only some random guy, an android too! Your co-workers are going to start rumours about you, it'll follow you like a paper towel trail from the toilet cubicle after taking a big shat--
"...can't blame ya. I miss being at my prime too."
You pause, looking up with a scrunched up face of confusion as the words finally fade in. "Pardon?"
"Godfinger. I used to be at the top of those leaderboards. Snake duel, to be exact."
"Wow, boss! I didn't know Godfinger had been around that long--"
Then, a shocked mix of a chortle and a scoff echoes throughout the floor. "No! What the fuck? I mean, 2 months ago before I became the boss of this stupid paper company. How old do you think I am?"
The secretary pops up out of nowhere with a reminder of a meeting in 5 minutes, saving you from such an awkward position to answer. Your boss sighs, almost turning around to leave, before a pause:
"Kid, I'll forget whatever you insinuated right now if you can get me one of Godfinger's new prize drops this Saturday. You'll get a day off and a raise if you do.”
Suddenly, you're clocking out with at least 2000 dennies and a credit card (which your boss claims to be used for arcade-expenses exclusively) in your spare wallet and a potential comeback for your savings and income.
The android you've been spying on is long gone as the evening sky begins to set, but the building giddiness you feel isn't going to disappear anytime soon. A part of you hopes you'll meet him, get his name, his number even. The other half wants to dig a hole and scream into the dirt out of fear of embarrassing yourself in front of him.
I mean, either way... What are the chances you'll catch him on a Saturday?
———————————
*Tokusatsu: A Japanese-originated term for live-action films that heavily utilize practical special effects. Examples include: Power Rangers, Kamen Rider, Godzilla, Kaiju, Ultraman, etc.
You work at godfinger. Billy likes going to godfinger.
Billy was in the 3.0 livestream for a hot second that means hes gonna play a major role. This is jc format again sorry he goes starlight mode at the end. No warnings, half of it got deleted at some point💔
working at godfinger was the easiest job you've ever had
maybe a slight exaggeration, but the pay was well, you really didn't have to do much, and your boss was gorgeous
it had been a few months since you started and it was pretty easy to notice who the regulars were
there were these siblings, they ran the video store not too far away, from what you could see the brother was more often than not dragged here by his sister
sometimes they'd even bring in a couple of friends, there was a girl with a shark tail, one with headphones on, the girl with pink hair and finally the one that caught all of your attention; an intelligent construct
they weren't some super rare sight or anything, there was a music disc store owner who was one, a member of an idol group, Angels of...Illusions? You weren't too familiar but one of them was an intelligent construct too
by all means, it shouldn't be a huge surprise to you
thats what you tried to tell yourself, but the guys energy was all over the place
you could hear his voice from halfway across the arcade, even on a busy day!
it was impressive, really, when it got loud in the arcade is got loud
you'd always steal a glance at him, you weren't sure if he ever noticed but the girl that brought in burgers most likely did. She turned at every perfect time, nearly catching you
at some point you had to snap yourself out of it, no weird creepy staring at customers you won't interact with outside of basic worker help
but then perhaps destiny was on your side
it wasn't too busy today, regular amount of people, the intelligent construct strutted in with a pink haired girl and you held yourself back from staring again. First success!
then, the machine broke
You were minding your bussiness aka working when your ears perked up at that familiar jovial voice in despair over the machine stopping
On one hand, Aisha was nearby and she was much better at fixing these pesky machines than you were
On the other hand you had a crush
"Is something wrong?"
Billy was on his knees as he held the machine, the girl next to him trying to pry him off
When he spotted you however, he quickly stood up and brushed his jacket off, his friend stumbling at his sudden movement
"Well the machine it...wait, I swear I didn't do this! I was playing like any normal person and it just stopped when I was just about to beat--"
"Billy! At least say please! Ahem, what he means to say is please help us, prefferably with no charge." She mumbled the last part but you still caught it
You mentally noted that his name was Billy, "No worries, they sometimes do that." You move closer to inspect the issue and spot it, not a hard fix. It'd be fine by tomorrow if you worked on it for the rest of the day
"Well good news," you clap your hands together and turn to the two with a smile, "not a big issue, it'll be fine tomorrow."
Billy beamed at you, you could've sworn there were sparkles in his eyes. He quickly shook your hand, saying you're a life saver. His pink hair friend sighed and thanked you, dragging Billy by the collar to leave
He waved at you as he was dragged off and you stared at the machine. You had a successful conversation with him. That's a start isn't it?
You looked down at the hand he shook. His was large, nearly enveloping yours. It was cold. Metallic, obviously. You shook your head, you needed to fix this thing
The next day rolled around and you were absolutely not waiting for him to show up, nervous about your appearance as if he wouldn't go straight for the games
As he said, he came in, alone and you led him to the now working arcade game
"That's amazing! I thought it'd be super hard."
You wave a hand, "Nah, didn't take too much effort."
A lie. It took too much effort actually
"Cool! It's too bad Nicole bailed..."
You turn to leave before noticing a Starlight Knights pin on his jacket. You weren't a super mega fan by any means, but you'd have to be living in a hollow to not know the series
"Starlight Knights..?" You didn't really mean to say it out loud, but Billy whipped his head around to you, eyes once again beaming in your direction
"You...you're a fan?"
You hold your hands up, "No, er I mean, I guess so yeah?"
He was practically vibrating with excitement, prattling on about how much merch he's collected, every movie listed, and every series he's memorized
You could feel the customers eyes on the two of you, especially Aishas. You couldn't tell if she looked mad or not, but you'd assume so
Billy went on ans you couldn't help but ler your focus shift to his expressiveness. His eyes, body movement, hands, he was even doing small jumps
In the most appropriate way possible, he was cute. You stifled your thoughts as much as you could and tried to listen
"--and it was the sickest move by far!"
"That's really cool," you chuckle awkwardly, "but uh, I gotta get back to work. Not that your stories weren't interesting."
He slaps his forehead, "Oh shoot yea! You're on the clock! That's embarrassing, here I was yapping."
You left him to enjoy the now working machine and get back behind the counter, Aisha giving you a certain look
"Sorry I--"
"Was flirting on the job?"
You sputter and look around, hoping it was out of ear-shot of Billy, "No, I was sorry for not doing my job but now not so much!"
She chuckles, "Whatever you say."
Your face was flushed and you quickly tried to calm yourself down. You weren't doing that. You made a friend!
The next few days went by and Billy really was a friend. There was a routine to it, he talked to you, played a game, talked to you again and left
Sometimes if you were on break when he was there, you'd talk while he was playing. You said it was impressive how he could multitask and you swore you heard fans whirring
He came with the headphone girl who, after a long story from Billy, you found out was named Anby
He started his usual routine with you until Anby intejected
"Billy, is this the individual you were asking Wise advice about?"
Billy quickly slapped a hand on her mouth (ouch), laughing awkwardly, "Anby what are you-- what are you saying now? She gets like this sometimes, ignore what she said!"
Anby elbows his side, "So it is them? Hello. I'm Anby. Billy says you--"
"Aaaaand I think Nicoles calling sorry we didn't get to chat see you later!"
You watch him scurry off with Anby. You didn't get a single word in that conversation if you could call it that. Anbys words caught you off guard. Billy was terrible at keeping secrets. From the short time you've known him, that was obvious
He was gone
Not for that long actually. Two weeks not seeing a customer was normal. But Billy was a special case for you. You knew he did odd jobs but could he be seriously hurt?
Aisha let you close for the day aftee you begged her to let you stay a little later than usual, hoping Billy would drop by
What you did't expect however was an entirely different looking Billy right in front
He was on a bike. There were spikes on his head, a completely different jacket, in color and looks. You couldn't help but be a little starstruck
"Uhm," he got off his bike, "do you come here often?"
"Billy I work here."
"Right!"
He was the same after all. He started sputtering, words failing him entirely
"So, were you getting dolled up for the past two weeks?"
"Oh yeah! New improvements, I'm a real Starlight Knight now."
He struck a pose, elliciting a giggle from you. You quickly covered it up when his head snapped at the sound
"Sorry, sorry, it's very cool. Very you."
He itched his neck, "Thanks uhm...so the reason I cane here was to actually..."
You tilted your head. Reason? He wasn't just passing by?
"I've had a-- give me a second," he turns his back to you and starts doing some weird movements. It looked like he was punching air, then kicking it, then pumping his fist in victory. What was happening?
"Crush!" He stretched an arm out, pointing at you square in the face
You blinked, "You wanna...crush me?"
"What? No, crush on you! I've had a crush on you! Gah, I'm better at fighting than this!"
He grabbed his hair in frustration as the gears started slowly turning in your head. He's had a crush on you?
"Wait, I've had a crush on you! Like, I was staring at you for the longest time--"
"Oh yeah Anby told me about that."
You froze. Of course she did.
"But don't worry," he waved his hands, taking a step closer, "that was why I even started liking you-- hold on you like me too?"
You nodded vigorously
He stood still for a moment before pumping his fist in the air victoriously again, "Yes! A win for Starlight Knight Billy!"
You smile at his antics, "Let me guess, you broke the machine too?"
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