The World You Gave Me

"It's finally pay day!" Ori says out loud, lucky he works from home, so noone else heard him. 

He looks around his room, at the walls, then the shelves, his glass cabinet andfinally at his desk. He smiled as if it all looked clean, but in fact, there was one thing that seemed to be everywhere, and it wasn't dust.

"My collection must grow!" he said confidently to himself, almost laughing at his own stupidity. You see, throughout his time working, through all the hard times and the best, there has always been one constant.

The fictional character that seemingly surrounded him...in...EVERY corner of the room.

One look at this room and you'd probably think I'm alone 

He began laughing at his own loneliness as if it wasn't a serious problem, as he looked at the plushie on his desk. He placed a hand on the head of this character and smiled.

Ping

His phone sounded as if something important had happened, and he turned it on to check what the notification was.

"HUHHHHH?!?!" He lets out, almost as if the news he had recieved was both alarming and questionable.

He grabs his plushie and begins to hold it tight to his chest.

" Waaaaa! I was paid less than I normally am! What am I going to do?" he wails, looking through wet eyes at the plushie at his chest...as if that would give him any answers.

"n...no your right, I can manage, I just need to spend less!" He claims, pulling the plushie away from him and patting it on the head.

"What would I ever do without you, Tsuk's?" he questions, looking at the plushie with hope in his eyes.

I'd probably have more money

*

He looks at the clock on his wall, seemingly ticking his precious free time away, but luckily for him, tomorrow is a Saturday. He gets up out of his seat, walks over to the kitchen counter and begins to cook himself dinner. The moonlight shines through his window onto his face, the utensils gleaming in the silver glow.

I wonder if I should go to that convention that's happening

He thought to himself as he plodded about making his pot of ready-made noodles. He let out a sigh and looked at the plushie of Tsuks once more.

"Would there even be any point to me going?" He asks, almost like he's awaiting an answer from the stuffed toy staring at him.

"yeah...maybe I should talk to an actual person," he realises, staring at the never-changing happy expression on the plushie.

He pours the water into the pot and takes it to his sofa, alongside the plushie. Placing the noodle pot on the table in front of him and the plushie on his lap, he begins to try to give himself a reason to go.

"Wait, do I even need a reason to use my free will and the car I pay for to go to a convention that I've paid the admission fee for?" He questions, pausing for a moment to reflect on what he just said.

"I must be stupid...Of course I can go, I'm 20, not 5?!" He answers, and just like that, he decides that going to the convention is a good idea, even if he is going alone.

With the answer now in his grasp, he sets the plushie down and begins to slurp on his noodle. The flavour of the noodles was always the same; turns out having no one else to cook for makes you eat terribly.

Other than the sound of noodles being slurped, the room was quiet, but lived in. The atmosphere was lonley but it was something that Ori had gotten used to and filled with something else. While the things that gave him comfort weren't a living and breathing being, they were plastic and stuffed toys, they still gave him comfort. 

Whether the memories he made were plastic by nature, it didn't matter to him. For he believed that so long as he had Tsuks, he could get through anything. To many, they remain fictional beings, but to Ori, they were a core part of how he processed his own emotions. 

Was he lonely? Yes.

Did he feel it sometimes? Yes.

Was Tsuks there for him? Yes.

"Throughout my entire life, the one thing that has remained consistent is her, even if she is a fake character or something made up...she's real enough for me..." he professed, looking at his entire collection or rather his shrine for this one character.

A sudden weight began to press against Ori's shoulders as memories of times best left unspoken, and he began to feel a little sentimental.

"One could say that she's the reason I'm still here," he recalls, tears beginning to form in his eyes as he looks toward the ceiling.

Before his tears escalate, he wipes them away, takes a deep breath and exhales.

"No...I can't let Tsuks see me like this," He reafirms himself, looking towards the plushie that is exactly where he left it.

He stands up, grabs the plushie and the now-eaten pot of noodles and heads towards the Kitchen. Placing the used chopsticks into the sink and the pot into the recycling. He closes the curtain by the window and heads towards his bed.

"It's 11 pm...i think I should head to bed," he instructs, telling himself empty promises while getting dressed.

Ori cleans his teeth and heads towards his bed that's covered in plushies of Tsuks. He opens is arms wide and collapses onto the bed, plushies surrounding him at every side. He pulls his arms towards him, grabbing as many of them as he can, and he begins to smile to himself. A sense of warmth overcomes his body almost as if he's being hugged.

He asks the voice controls to turn his bedroom lights off and begins to fidget into a comfortable position.

"hehe~ I think I may be in heaven", he giggles to himself, as he is buried by the sheer number of Tsuks plushies.

"G..Goodnight Tsuks", he murmurs through a yawn, as he returns to whatever heaven he imagines. With the only sound being that of his breathing, the room and the house return to a slumber, as the world itself goes to sleep.