My brother, Sora, is not exactly the most social person ever.

Surely you must think otherwise. How could he be antisocial? With that luxurious skin, pretty face, and kind attitude. Everyone crowds him whenever he enters the room. I’m kind of jealous. Wish everyone would give me that kind of attention for me.

Except I won’t be, because he’s what I would describe as an “Unintentional-Two-Faced-Bitch”.

He’s not an asshole, although he could be at times. Whenever he gets home, or hangs out with people he’s close with. He suddenly acts like he’s a whole different person. He’s usually quiet when he’s at school, but he’s extremely obnoxious and loud around me. No one’s ever going to like him when they find out who he really is.

I won’t let that happen, I want my brother to be happy. And it seems like he’s very happy when he’s with me.
Sometimes I’m not though. He’s very oblivious to things that happen around him.

Like that one time he asked me for the “Ultra Rare once-in-a-lifetime-ever video game release!” while I was crying over my break up.

Seriously, he could be the best and worst person ever.

But I don’t blame it on him, some people are just like that after all.

He’s mostly a shut in after all, so I don’t have to worry about him when he’s with other people.

Which is why I got a bit shocked when he asked me to go to an anime convention with him.

“But Leeee! They’re giving away free extra deluxe gleaming Pokeangels there!” Sora is pleading to me, his cute puppy eyes won’t work on me this time. Is it because our savings are slowly disappearing? Maybe.

“I already said no once, Sora. Plus, I’m busy with my work today.” I responded back to him, I would’ve gone with if I was into the same geeky stuff he is.

No one knows this, but Sora is a MASSIVE geek. His room is filled with anime girls, you can’t look anywhere without seeing those weird faces around his room. Especially his action figures. The amount of times he has cried over losing a single part of those figures has been exhausting. Not to mention his crippling gacha addiction, I caught him spending all his Christmas money over one single banner one time.

I realise I talked a lot about him, maybe he isn’t too bad…. Just maybe.

“Leeee! This only happens once every 5 years!” He begs me one more time. I’m kind of slightly convinced.

“Pleasee?”

Maybe I should give him a chance. It’s not always that Sora would willingly go outside. Maybe I could land him some friends too? 

I think about it for a while.

“…Fine. But we’re only going for the Pokeangel, okay?” 

Sora’s eyes begin to sparkle. He seems really excited about going to the convention. I must admit, it feels really nice to see him this happy. Sora doesn’t really act happy a lot, just bratty. So these moments are really precious for me.

“Yay! Okay, I’ll get ready! It’ll be in an hour!” He exclaims.

Wait. An hour? And I barely have anything nice on.

“You didn’t tell me it would be in an hour. But alright, I’ll go get changed for you.”

Seems like Sora didn’t notice what I said. He was digging around in his closet, looking for something to wear. 

But then he realised, he didn’t have anything to wear since he almost never goes outside.

“Uhm.. Lee?”

I glance over at him.

“Yeah? What’s up?” I look back into my closet, looking for clothes to wear.

“Can I borrow some of your clothes?”

——

Sora keeps clinging onto me.

I understand though, he doesn’t like this many people around him this close. Especially when he’s not at school. He doesn’t take the train and I always drive him to school.

So i’d understand that he’s nervous while taking the train for the first time in years.

I don’t understand why he has to close his eyes while he holds onto me though. Not like there’s anything scary in broad daylight.

“Hey, if you keep closing your eyes, everyone’s gonna think you’re weird.”

Sora starts shaking his head. I let out a deep sigh.

“No! I shouldn’t have stepped outside in the first place!” Sora’s starting to get loud again, you’d think he’d pull out his calm, cute, popular boy act while he’s outside of his house.

“Keep it down will you? Everyone’s gonna start staring at us. Plus, it was your idea to go outside in the first place.”

I could hear my little brother mumble something incoherent, but he probably just tried to say “what else could I do?” 

The train stops, and a couple get off, leaving open a seat for us. We decided to take it so Sora wouldn’t have to clench my arm like his life depends on it.

The clothes Sora put on were too oversized for him. Sora was still 15, and I’m already 20. And he’s definitely way shorter than me, close to 5’4, if I’m estimating it.

I wish I was still near his height though, it was fun playing with him while we were little.

The white shirt I had him put on was almost covering his legs. Good thing he had his own pants though.

Now that I think about it, Sora looks entirely like an eboy. Although his personality completely contradicts it.

The train stopped once more, only two stops left until we got to our destination.

An elderly woman gets on the train. Looks like she doesn’t have any seats left.

I’m starting to consider giving her my seat. That’s until Sora decided to stand up.

“Please take my seat!” 

Woah.

Did Sora just talk to a complete stranger? Without stuttering?

“Oh please dearie, you can take the seat.”

“No, I insist! Please.”

And he’s suddenly all polite too.

This is the “Unintentional-Two-Faced-Bitch” I was talking about. Charming and Nice on the outside, while completely annoying on the inside. 

The elderly woman takes his seat.

“What a nice son you have.”

She seems to be thinking Sora is my son. That’s so not true! But at this point, I guess he is.

“No, no. We’re actually brothers!”

 Suddenly, I see him stand in front of me.

“Move your hands. I’m gonna sit there!”

He points to.. My lap?

Looks like he’s back to his normal state.

Wait, what does he mean he’s sitting on my lap?

“That’s gonna look weird. We’re brothers-“

He swiftly moves my hand away from my lap and sits on it.

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, it’s been a while since he sat on my lap. When did he ever decide he’ll be this close to me again?!

“Geez, stop making it weird then, it’s normal right?”

He’s right, I’m the only one making this weird. I should probably just… calm down.

“You’re right. I guess.”

Sora starts to lay low, leaning his head on my chest.

It actually feels nice, being this close with Sora again. It only happens once in a blue moon, when he feels really sad or when he just feels like it. Usually when I try to get close to him, he just immediately dismisses me.

He gets bratty from time to time. But on special occasions, he acts soft like this.

Guess it does feel nice being close with someone.

——

We finally made it to the convention, just in time for them to start opening too.

I could recognize some of the people cosplaying there. I always see Sora watching them. He seems really intrigued by the cosplays.

I could tell, because I could see him staring intently at them.

His mouth may as well be watering, he has never seen cosplayers in person before.

“Lee, they look so cool!!”

He points at one of the cosplayers. I recognize them.

It was one of his favourite characters, Senior Just. The red cape made him stand out of the crowd.

Sora really seems like he wants to talk to Senior Just. But he can’t talk to people unless he’s offering to help them or something similar.

“You wanna talk to him, Sora?”

He looks at me with determined eyes. I take his hand and attempt to lead him there.

“No, wait! I want to do it alone!”

He looks really daring. It looks like he actually wants to pop out of his shell this time. So I let the little bird fly.

The small boy starts walking to Senior Just. His walks get more and more frantic as he approaches him.

Sora finally gets close to the cosplayer, and pokes him in the back. The man looks around and sees Sora, his eyes getting teary from both nervousness and happiness.

“Hello kid! Are you also an ally of justice?” The cosplayer seems to be really in character.

“Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y!” Sora is starting to stutter a lot. This won’t end well if I help him.

“Y-Yes! I love you, Senior Just!”

Or not. Looks like he’s doing alright by himself, even though he’s already intensely sweating.

He’s acting like a toddler right now meeting Santa Claus in the mall for the first time.

“I like your energy, kid!” Senior Just gives him a big pat on the head. It causes steam to pump out of Sora’s ears. It may be enough to make him faint too. He’s actually already crying tears of joy now.

“Can I take a picture with you?!” He shouts, the energy getting ahead of him. Senior Just agrees and takes a picture with Sora. Sora looked like a living mess in the picture.

Finally, he waves bye to him and finally comes back to me.

And immediately collapses.

“Sora?! You okay?!” 

He gave me a thumbs up. And a satisfied groan.

I take a sigh of relief, and look around the convention.

I see one of his favourite characters again, and point it out to him.

“Isn’t that Lady Just?”

He immediately bolts up from his collapse.

“WHERE?!” I could just feel the death stare from him already.

Sora approaches Lady Just immediately, it went the same for the most part.

He pokes the cosplayer.

Stutters for the first part.

And finally decide to speak.

Asks them if he could take a picture.

And collapse into my arms.

It wouldn’t be so stressful if he didn’t have to do it with every single cosplayer he could find.

Guess he just liked every character in all of anime.

——

They ran out of Pokeangel cards.

Seems like Sora is still very upset about this.

He said he’s fine, but I could see him tearing up.

He just wanted to leave as soon as he could, he had no reason left to be here. He thinks this is all a big waste of time.

I told him I needed to go to the restroom first if he wanted to go home. He’s already really upset, so he just told me to make it quick.

I made sure to do so.

While I was in the bathroom, I saw someone very familiar. It was Senior Just.

He was washing his hands right next to me. I don’t mind though, I’m not really a big fan of his show. So I decided to head out the bathroom and head straight home.

“Hey, you’re that kid’s guardian right?” I heard a familiar voice from behind me. It was Senior Just.

“Uhh, yeah. Sorry for his weird behaviour earlier, he’s just really socially awkward.” I apologise to the cosplayer, and he shakes his head in response.

“Nah, it’s fine, I was like him once before. I hated talking to strangers.”

He seems like he really empathises with Sora.

“I’m glad he’s starting to open up though!” He smiles, I feel him.

“So, why did you want to chat?” I ask him.

“I heard he was really upset that you guys ran out of Pokeangel cards, so I wanted to give him one. I really liked his energy from earlier, and he seems like a great kid.” He pulls one Pokeangel card from his small bag. 

I was at a lost for words, Sora acted like this was all a big deal, so it should be a big deal that he gave us a card just for free.

“Oh no, it’s okay-“

“Shh, just take it, but promise me you’ll say that you magically got it. You seem like a good guardian of his, I want him to like you more.”

I start to get flustered. Am I really a good guardian?

I guess I did this all for him, didn’t I?

I nod, and go back to Sora.

He still looks upset that he lost his opportunity to get a rare Pokeangel.

I think I’ll surprise him later when we get home.

——

The entire journey back home was painfully silent.

Sora doesn’t look upset anymore, he just looks tired. 

We were just walking home, the sun is starting to set now. The orange colored skies feel nice to look at.

“Sorry for being mad earlier Lee. I just felt really disappointed.” 

I suddenly heard my little brother’s voice, he looked really sad now.

“I’m so ungrateful.. You skipped on work today just to go with me to some stupid convention.” He stops walking, and I look at him.

He really has the saddest look on his face, he’s trying to stop himself from crying.

He really does feel sorry.

“And all I did was shout at you!”

His voice started to crack.

I know it’s not Sora’s fault, and he knows it’s not his fault either, but he can’t feel but have a bad taste in his mouth.

I do what I do best, and comfort him.

“I’ve been through worse with you. Do you really think a bit of shouting is going to hurt me?” I chuckle.

“You’re still going to be my little brother, and I still love you, nothing can ever change that.”

That’s right.. I’ve been through worse with him.

Ever since Mom and Dad died, I’ve been left to take care of him. That’s when these weird behaviour shifts started too. It’s like he really treasure those who are close to him.

I slowly pat him on the head, soothing him.

“I love you too, big brother!”

He cried harder in my arms.

I know he’s still not over our parents' loss yet. I could just feel it.

He’s starting to sob now, good thing no one was around. I could feel his arms around me grow tighter.

Then I remembered the Pokeangel card that Senior Justice gave me.

“Oh right, I have one more surprise for you.”

I let go of the hug, I see him a hit happier now.

I show him the card, he seems even happier.

“A.. Pokeangel card? But how?”

You tell him it just appeared in your pocket out of nowhere.

He seems to giggle at my joke, and he’s really grateful I somehow got the card for him.

“Are you kidding?! I got the most super ultra rare gleaming legendary Pokeangel too!”

Sora pauses.

“But, this card feels worthless to me now, all I want is my big brother!”

I stand speechless, and smile.

Guess it does feel nice to be close to someone after all.

——

P.S.

This story was posted in Ao3 as well!

Go add me there if you want to support. @noeko

Thanks for reading!