victory_road

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[By now, you've probably seen it. It started on a teenager's Instantlergram, and then migrated over to Chatter, Timbr, and you might have even seen a video or two on your For You Page on Joltiktok about it. The Daily Dottler ran an article about it sourced by no one.

About what? About how the hot new band Chicken Choice Judy was recently "caught in the wild" at a child's birthday party dressed head to toe as giant torchics.

And the internet, as it often does, has been having a field day with it:

"guess there's one entertaining thing at my brother's dumb party. #chickenchoicejudy #torchic #canileavenow" - Original Poster MimiKissyKyuutie

"cake is very bad for torchics this is completely irresponsible" - Chatter user badbreedertipsonly, famed meme account.

"what the heck is a chicken anyway" - Timbr user newgearhoothootdis, followed by hundreds of replies of increasingly bad guesses.

"this isn't news, call me when the torchics kiss" - Joltiktok user luvdisco, with a filter that adds sparkles to the picture and a music clip that seems to be Celine Brionne's My Heart Ball Will Go On played badly on a Pokéflute.

And so on and so forth. So it probably isn't a surprise when Ryan pops up after a day or so of this.]

hey so

i get how things go on the internet but how do you take them off

like forever

is just deleting the whole internet an option, or...?

you know, for no reason whatsoever.

[Except you know exactly what reason it's for. Because everyone in all of Johto and Kanto has seen it somewhere recently.]

[ooc: Thank you to

knuxiechan, who Joey commissioned this art from!]

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[Someone else might have to wonder why Ryan thinks that's cool, but not Min. He hates that he doesn't even expect that from him, but he knows exactly where he got the idea that most people wouldn't care what he does.

He goes quiet for a bit, annoyed. Not because he minds worrying about Ryan. That feels natural. But it isn't fair to Ryan that he's the only one who does. It never has been.]

Did I ever tell you about the first time your dad came into Dumpty's after I started working there?

[It's a question he already knows the answer to. It's impossible for the other Akagis not to come up sometimes when their families have known each other their entire lives, but it doesn't always lead to good memories and Min-Gi avoids it when he can. This seems like a good time to make an exception to the rule though.]

[This is a turn Ryan clearly wasn't expecting, for a number of reasons.]

What? No! I-I don't think so?

[If he did, Ryan doesn't remember, but he's pretty sure a story about his dad after he left home would have stuck out in his memory. He pulls away from Min so he can turn and look him in the face while he tells this story. He has no idea what to even expect of his family now that he's left them in the dust, and the part of him that always craved their attention is so, so curious.]

What happened? Are you gonna tell me now?

[There's a story here and even though he knows it might hurt, he wants to know.]

[He slightly regrets bringing it up. Partly because he knew bringing it up would either lead Ryan to pull away, or force him to so he can tell him the story properly. Less selfishly, he knows talking about his family comes with the risk of upsetting Ryan.

Though in this case he's pretty sure the end result will be gratifying. At least he hopes so.]

Yeah. If you want me to.

[God, why is he stalling when he's the one who brought this up? It had seemed like something that would help perk Ryan up, but now he's worried it may have the opposite effect. It's not as though he can back out now though.]

I guess he didn't even know we weren't talking. When I came over to his table he was acting all friendly. [He puts on a voice that doesn't actually sound anything like Ryan's dad.] "Oh! Hi, Min-Gi. I thought you ran off with Ryan."

[He makes a face, already clearly annoyed.]

He tried to make small talk, but to be honest I didn't want to think about him or you so I told him we were short and I needed his order. It was sort of true? It was one of the first times Horace left me to do a shift on my own, so...

[He shrugs. It hadn't been busy. Dumpty's often wasn't. It had been a convenient excuse though, and he hadn't argued. He doesn't even think Mr. Akagi had noticed there was no one else there besides a couple of kids drinking shakes and throwing balled up napkins he'd have to clean up later.]

Anyway... I just wanted to make his food so he'd get out of there. But I kept thinking about how you were wherever, and I was stuck at Dumpty's, and he hadn't even known that. I was so pissed off I wasn't timing things right. I left one of the pans too long, and you know how light your dad likes things done.

I thought; what if I leave it a little longer? He's already going to make me redo it.

[Ryan can probably see where Min's going with this, but he pauses anyway. It seems like a good time to look at him properly. To check he's okay hearing this.]

[He didn't know Ryan left on tour alone.

Ryan seems a little stunned by that information at first, since it feels so obvious to him. It was heartbreaking and devastating and it colored everything about leaving home. But, when he thinks back on it...it makes sense. He didn't exactly have the best goodbye with his family.

For now he keeps that inside, and just listens to Min tell this story. It sounds like his dad for sure - friendliness and smiles for the public but totally clueless about anything outside of his own life and interests, including his kids. It's totally like him to just dump that nugget of information on Min without thinking about what that would mean or asking any sort of follow-up questions.

He knows exactly how light his dad likes things toasted. It's a preference they share, though Ryan kind of hates thinking about it that way. He gasps when he realizes where this story is heading, choosing to be more interested in how Min handled it than what his own dad had to say.]

What! No! Really? Holy shit, you actually burned it on purpose?! Min-Gi!

[Ryan looks and sounds delighted by this. He can only imagine the look on his dad's face, but it would have been so cool to see it for himself.]

[Ah. Validation. A smile starts to creep over Min-Gi's own face now he has confirmation that Ryan is, in fact, enjoying this story. At least the parts he'd intended him to.]

I wasn't going to burn it! Not at first. But Horace wasn't there, so what was he going to do if I did? There wasn't anyone there to complain to. Then I figured, why stop with one thing? Why not really make a point if I'm going to?

So I... burned all of it. It's actually sort of weird the smoke detector didn't go off.

[Actually, why didn't it go off? Why didn't he think about this at the time? Did they even work? He looks vaguely alarmed at the realisation, but it's not like it really matters now. He's going to just... focus on how gratifying it had been at the time, and how good it makes him feel to see Ryan smile that wide.]

I basically gave him a plate of charcoal. No one could have eaten it, especially not your dad.

[Ryan's gone from a look of delight to full blown laughter in the span of a few sentences, enough to make his sides ache. He brings a hand up to his mouth to try and stifle it enough to get a word in edgewise, but the entire story is just hysterical.]

You didn't! Oh my god! [WHEEZE.] What did...what did he even do?!

[He can't imagine. His dad isn't a socially anxious person by any stretch of the imagination, but nothing really prepares someone for their son's childhood friend burning their food probably on purpose.]

Wish I could have seen his face!

[Any trepidation he had about telling Ryan all this has gone by now. He sort of wishes he had sooner if this was the reaction he was going to get out of him. He's grinning broadly as he waits for Ryan to stop laughing enough for him to answer his questions.]

His face made it so worth it. I don't think he could even believe it at first. He sat there looking at it. Then he finally looked at me... and he was not happy.

He was over it by the time I remade it, so I basically thought I got away with it. Until he thought my parents would find it funny.

[His parents had not found it funny. He'd convinced them it was a mistake and that Mr. Akagi had exaggerated, but he can still hear his mom's voice and feel his dad's disappointed gaze from when he'd had to explain himself to them.]

[This all sounds about right to Ryan, right down to Min having to remake the whole thing and his dad being instantly over it. But then--]

Oh no...I'm so sorry dude, that sucks. Did you get in trouble or anything?

[Because he knows Min's parents and he also knows his dad and he has a feeling he knows how that conversation went. His dad has never once considered the consequences of his actions, ever.]

...It does sound totally worth it though.

[He can't help it; even knowing Min might have gotten in trouble it's still the funniest thing he's heard in a while. It might even be the funniest Dumpty's story ever.]

[Min shrugs, making a non-committed noise. He hadn't exactly got in trouble, but then he's never needed to be in trouble to feel bad about things. Disapproval is usually enough to dissuade him from repeating his mistakes.]

You know my parents. They were disappointed.

[But...]

It was still so worth it. They believed me when I said it was a mistake, so it could've been worse.

[This story would have been way different if he had felt terrible about it, so Ryan's glad it didn't turn out too badly.]

That's good. But wow man, I can't believe you actually did that! That's amazing.

[He's still amused, but it comes out with such awe. Amazing. It's truly amazing.]

Let me guess - not a single follow up question from my dad, right?

[He sort of already knows the answer though. Not that his family had any way to contact him, but if he's right they didn't exactly try either.]

Pfft. Figures.

[He likes the feeling he gets from impressing Ryan. Usually the only exciting way he can do it is when they're working on music together, so he's pleased he's succeeded through other means.

Though at question of his dad... he has to shrug, making a small noise as though to brush it off. He wants to keep it light, but at the end of the day a story about Ryan's dad was always going to be loaded.]

Not really. He tried to make it into an in joke, I guess. It's amazing I ever got employee of the month when he brought it up literally every time he came in.

[Thankfully it wasn't like he was a regular regular. Often enough to make it annoying, but not often enough it was unbearable or anything.]

[It's a good direction to twist it in, because Ryan snickers.]

You should've just kept burning it.

[He knows Min couldn't, not without risking his job, but it still would have been pretty great. Ryan can't imagine having to be nice to customers making the same shitty jokes day after day after day.]

Honestly, you probably deserved employee of the month for putting up with him. Not even all the other customers, just my dad. Or like, a special "You Put Up With Mr. Akagi's Bullshit" award.

No way.

[It's not even worth considering as a joke. If one time got him this much teasing, he dreads to think what would happen next time. The way he'd acted was almost like he thought they were friends. Any time he'd been tempted he'd been haunted by visions of him forcing his way into the kitchen "to show him how it's done" or something.]

Besides, I wasn't the one who lived with him for 18 years. Maybe you should get that award.

[Ryan just echoes that answer right back at him.]

No way, man. It's more impressive to put up with it when you didn't have to live with him. Plus, it's not like he was even around a ton anyway. And I left, so, you know. I'm probably out of practice by now!

[He's here trying to compliment Min; he doesn't want this award he completely made up explicitly for the purposes of complimenting Min.]

I left too!

[You know. Eventually. After being kidnapped by a weird train, then again after being forced to do a lot of soul searching.]

I guess we'd both be pretty out of practice by now.

[Min's absolutely right, but Ryan still chuckles anyway. It was kind of a dumb way to put it and he deserved that call out.]

Yeah, guess so. But hey, that's something I'm super glad to be out of practice with.

[It's a skill he doesn't need anymore that can be thrown straight in the garbage.]

Good.

[It's difficult for him to understand how Ryan feels about his parents, and he doesn't like to ask. His own parents are overbearing and it feels like a miracle they even let him go off with Ryan after he disappeared for so long. They make him feel smothered sometimes, even when they're hundreds of miles away, but when they find themselves trapped in worlds where there's no way to contact home he misses them. He doesn't like to think about Ryan regretting the loss of contact.]

He never deserved the effort anyway.

[Ryan's feelings about his parents are...complicated, and he doesn't usually like to talk about complicated feelings. He's taken every chance to avoid the subject, because indifference is easier than taking a hard stance.

There's a lot they've done wrong and none of them erase the happier memories fully. He doesn't want to go back, but there's still an empty space in his heart where a family should be. Sometimes he catches himself wondering about them, even though he's sure they never wonder about him. Regret might be too strong a word, but he does feel some sort of indescribable way about the loss.

Did his dad deserve the effort? It's a difficult question for Ryan to answer. But Min saying never with such certainty brings a smile to Ryan's face.]

...Thanks, man.

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