The Universe Listened | Kiribaku

Setting fire to our insides for fun

•Chapter Twenty Eight•

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Nagging nagging nagging. So much nagging was infiltrating his ears, swarming his brain, and clogging his senses. No, Kirishima, you need to stand here. Don't block my good side. No, that lighting is all wrong. It'll make you look blotchy. Wait, you'll wrinkle my suit! No. Touching.

Too many voices all colliding. So many bright lights shining and flashing at him. Hands touching him, constantly directing and moving him around certain areas of the room because his friends were the pickiest people in the world when it came down to how they looked in photos. Mina and Kaminari were the ones complaining the most, his mothers wanted to make sure he looked his best, and Jiro and Katsuki just wanted to get out of there. Photos weren't much of a priority to them.

A group photo was finally taken, after what Kirishima assumed to be ages of standing and blinking back the lights forced upon him. But they were far from clear to leave the house. His moms wanted a photo of him, Kirishima, and Kaminari together, and then the girls together. More shuffling. More flashing camera-lights. More nagging about not standing the way he should have been.

"One more! Just one more, then you kids can go," Kaori told them, camera in hand, giddy and practically jumping in excitement because her little boy was all grown up. A day like this was big for not only him but them for them as parents, too.

"Kiri, Katsuki," Ayami started, "stand together."

Kirishima broke away from the group, felt the presence of his friends disappear from behind him, excluding one. Katsuki was by his side, slack and uninterested. But he was also warm. Heat radiated off of him in heavy waves, and something about it was comforting amongst the chaos.

They were awkward, two teens stumbling around the different ways they could stand and hold each other, not sure as to how they should actually go about it. Every stance felt strange, every hand placement was off, but eventuallyーwith helpーthey figured it out. Their heads ended up being tilted towards another, resting that way, as Kirishima's arm snaked around Katsuki's waist and Katsuki's looped around his neck. The flowers and colours of their suits, now side by side, were clearly matched intentionally by the people around them.

Silence followed once the photo was taken, resulting in awkward shuffling from Kirishima. Then a light gasp, commotion to follow.

"Katsuki!" someoneーMinaーgasped. "Katsuki oh my God you should smile more. It's just... wow."

"She's right, dude. Like, no homo, but damn." Kaminari.

Kirishima flicked his eyes around the room, making out every distorted shadow before turning to Katsuki, confusion dripping from his face. Katsuki smiled. A sight he would never get to see. There have been times when touching Katsuki's face where Kirishima tried to get him to smile, so he could feel all the muscles contract and work, so he could feel the lines and creases. So that perhaps he could make out such a view in the trenches in his brain, in the darkness he lived in.

He always failed. Always. If he were lucky, and if Katsuki was in a good enough mood, sometimes he could feel a whisper of a grin, gone within seconds of his fingers realizing the small change in shape. Kirishima wavered the idea of pulling the corners of Katsuki's mouth up to make a makeshift smile, to beg Katsuki to hold it long enough for his fingers to memorize the shapes and lines. Boundaries existed, though, and Kirishima didn't want to push them.

Everyone was shooed out from the house and into Mina's truck. Katsuki, Kaminari, and Riot took their places in the bed of the truck, enduring the cold while Mina, Jiro, and Kirishima sat inside the actual trunk, enduring the complaints of the others. Kaminari complained, mainly, about the dirt that could taint his suit, and Katsuki mumbled about how they would pay for it later on.