Day 1: Hope / [Stars] / Fantasy
Chapter Summary: Goro thinks back to elementary school.
There are star stickers on Goro's elementary school assignments.
No zeroes, no red ink marked all over his homework. They're those golden stars anyone can get at a cheap price, placed onto assignments with the amount of effort you expect from an underpaid teacher.
Goro loved them: the shape, the color, the validation. The stars are the first thing he's ever earned—the first thing he's ever thought he deserved.
But when Akira kisses the back of Goro's knuckles, murmuring, "You've never had to earn me," Goro would gladly let those stickers peel off to witness such a sight again.