We Were Born Under Burnt Skies (Yakulev)

Chapter 8

Pain shot through Mori's body. He's had a headache for hours and he'd been standing for even longer; hunched over a table. Every-time he glanced at the clock and saw how much time passed he chewed his nails, the skin now cracked and bleeding. Even internally he ached. He's confused and lost, he can't put it into words, he couldn't even draw it out. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts. The 10:06 turned to a 10:07 to a 10:10 then a 10:30, laughing at him, mocking him as he sat there helpless.

"Mori-" The noise shook him and he snapped his head down to the weight in his hand. His phone displayed the idle screen of a phone call, "Lev" plastered in bold above the various buttons. He hadn't meant to call him.

Lev's sister had come to visit for the past few days and only left yesterday night. Lev's been busy; they haven't been able to talk since...

"Mori...? You're really freaking me out saying something."

He took a deep breath before pressing the phone to his ear, "Hey." It was all he could manage. He hadn't figured out what to explain the phone call as "I miss you" would be odd, "I didn't do this intentionally, I just kind of moved" sounded crazy, and just as odd as "I miss you".

"Hey," Lev sighed, "If you call me then don't say anything I get worried." There was a small thud on the other end, he was getting ready to leave- all because Mori was silent for a bit. How witless.

"So what's up? Everything good?" Lev spoke again when he was met with white noise. Mori glanced at the clock once more and set his phone to the speaker while he went through the motions of cleaning.

Small talk, he could handle small talk, "How's your sister?"

"Oh! She's great. Energetic as ever. Talked about my classes, how stuff back home is, and-..."

"And?" Mori prompted calmly.

"And you."

SMASH

"Mori?!"

"I'm ok! I'm ok," He jolted, "I just- dropped the stuff I was carrying-"

"Oh... ok."

Mori's face was ablaze and he crouched down to pick up the scattered art supplies. Examining each item to make sure they weren't damaged.

"Did you really call just to ask about my sister?"

Mori froze before he remembered a perfect scapegoat, "Kuroo."

"Huh?"

"Oh! Sorry, Kuroo is flying in today, this afternoon. I know your sister just left but I thought I should ask if you want to come pick him up from the airport with me?"

"Yeah, I'd uh like that. It's a good chance to see you."

"Whatever just... come to the studio and don't take super long," Mori hung up the call before Lev had a chance to respond. Well, now he's for sure screwed. He still hasn't figured himself out. He can hardly speak to Lev, let alone be in the same relative space as him. He's even had to cover his pieces of Lev, they fluster him... which he acknowledges sounds pathetic.

He decided not to make his anxiety worse by spiraling through everything that could go wrong, and continue cleaning. His hands were still wet from the sink when the knock at the door came. He set down the paint brushes and barely remembered to turn off the tap before bounding to open the door. As soon as the ashy hair came into view his heart moved into his throat and made it hard to breathe. Then Lev smiled and Mori could have, quite truthfully, thrown up. He moved to allow Lev inside and went back to his bathroom. It was but a mere excuse to put some space between them. His body became hot regardless of his subconscious telling him it was nothing to be flustered over.