Fuselage

☆~☆ Prologue ☆~☆

The grass was soft beneath him. The air sweet and hot. Sweaty palms itched against cotton fabric clenched against his stomach. Breathing fell out of sync with the boy beside him as a plane flew overhead; the trail narrow and fanning out further away against a cobalt sky.

"It's so cool." Jin whispered, hand closest to Katsuki raising lazily to trace the chemtrail. "I wouldn't want to fly..."

"Chicken shit." Kastuki smiled.

"Am not." Jin's hand fell quietly, the grass smothering the thud, skin brushing skin.

Katsuki nearly jumped out of his skin at the electricity. Red eyes widened, blinked, breath sped faster, sweat gathered as he dared not move his hand from where their skin touched. It was stupid, silly. God he knew it was. They wrestled and sparred all the time. They tumbled and rolled and swam naked in their special creek.

What had changed this summer? His body twitched, his eyes squeezed shut when they couldn't bare to be open any longer. Did Jin feel it too? Lids clenched tighter to avoid looking. Fire raced as fingers twitched against his palm. Jin's hand was soft, Katsuki knew without looking that his friends skin would be tan against his own pale complexion, that the scar along the back of his hand would be silvery white, that his nails would have dirt embedded underneath.

The same hands they had always been. The same person beside him that had always been there even when everyone else had drifted away. So why-? Heat raced like lava as Jin's words fell deaf against the roar of blood in Katsuki's ears. Eyes fell open as the new emotion reached a pinnacle.

"C'mon!" The blond flew to his feet in a leap, rolling first to his shoulders and pouncing, contact broken, restless energy zipping through his blood like fire. "I'll race you to the train tracks!"

Icy blue eyes grinned in challenge, "You're an idiot!"

"I'm winning!" Katsuki yelled back, taking a leap over the rail; ballast and sleepers falling away under orange canvas sneakers.

Behind him rocks slid and he heard Jin shout a curse, tossing a rock he scooped from where he tripped.

"Missed, you fucker!" Katsuki crowed, eyes glued on the railroad crossing sign.

Wind blew in his face, the sun beat down mercilessly. His eyes shifted upwards as another plane rumbled overhead. This was freedom. This was almost like flying.

Almost.

His heart pounded as they neared the bridge, beyond that the hill. Their hill. His hill. Already he could see the trail from where they'd rolled down countless times this summer; grass crushed and the ground worn into a large groove. Katsuki could feel his feet lifting off the Earth. He could feel the air encompassing him. He could feel that moment of weightlessness and true freedom. He could see the bottom where he would be tangled, legs in arms in shoulders, with Jin. With the boy who made his heart race and blood combust.

Katsuki allowed a look back, steps slowing. Black hair pulled back. Face flushed, grin wide, eyes glimmering, front tooth chipped from when they'd tried to jump their bikes like the street riders they'd seen last summer after staying out too late.

Eyes met.

Red against blue.

Katsuki's world shook. Immediately he snapped around, legs churning harder, chest burning as his bones vibrated.

Is that it? He couldn't breathe. Is that love?

He couldn't think for the way his world was trembling.

"-suki!" Jin's fist tangled in the back of his shirt and he yanked. "Train!"

"Oh shit..." Katsuki slowed for a minute to register.

Nowhere to go but forward. A wild grin lit his face, madness touched his eyes. He grabbed Jin's hand, the warmth sparked and consumed him again at the contact.

"Run!"

He ignored the startled, terrified protested rolling off too pale lips, he closed his eyes against too wide blue eyes.

God, if we make this I'll tell him. Katsuki swore, feet moving so fast the ballasts and sleepers were nothing more than blurs in his vision; one indistinct color moving beneath him. God if we make the end of the bridge I'll stop cursing. Feet thudded unevenly in a rapid staccato that neither could hear. Almost there. Almost there.

The vibration was a rumble that rattled their bones so violently Katsuki wasn't even sure they were moving anymore.

God, if we make this I'll start honoring my parents! One foot, another. White tennis shoes fell in patterns to the orange.

A horn blared so loud Katsuki couldn't breathe for it.

I'M HERE AND I'M GOING TO SMEAR YOU INTO A BILLION PIECES IF YOU DON'T MAKE WAY

He was sure he screamed 'fuck' but he couldn't catch his breath anymore. His lungs were shaking inside of his ribs. He couldn't breathe for the way the train thundered down on him.

Ten steps. Ten steps and they'd be safe. Eight. Five. Three.

"JUMP!" Katsuki leapt, pulling Jin.

They jerked. He went down hard. The beautiful weightless moment broken in a jarring collision with the ground. Feet tangling in a torso. In a fast, painful tumble he saw Jin following just behind, vision jumping and sloppy in a blur. The hill, the grass, the train flying past just barely missing them.

We're safe. A harsh breeze from the train buffeted their fall as the scenery repeated; Jin, hill, grass, train, Jin.

Finally Katsuki rocked to a stop at the bottom, body sore, catching Jin as he slammed hard into Katsuki's stomach, arm swinging madly to catch the blond upside the face in a violent smack. Katsuki hissed but was too stunned watching the train pass to be upset, heart ramming in his chest as the train cars passed.

"Seconds. Holy sh-" He swallowed hard. "Jeez." A hysterical laugh. "Rough landing, eh?" He smacked Jin's arm with rough skinned knuckles, smearing blood on his friends shirt.

Jin was still. Shock probably, usually not one for riskier endeavors. Katsuki felt a little guilty for goading him.

"Hey, I mean, I know I shouldn't have..." Eyes raked from where his hand rested solid, gripped around ribs to trail over shoulders, scrape over twisted tendons, bruised flesh, snapped bone.

A scream. The body fell as feet pushed him away as quickly as they could. The heat of the day peeled away to the frigid cold of terror, sweat chilling him to the bone. Jin's face turned around so it sat nearly completely in the wrong direction. The screaming was coming from him. Katsuki slapped a hand over his mouth but still he couldn't manage to catch his breath. It came quick, shallow.

In, in. Out, in, in, out. In, in, in, in, in, in.

Katsuki peeked up from between his knees, hands fisted in his hair, vision weaving in and out of darkness to rest on the face twisted nearly completely backwards. That mouth he had caught himself wondering about kissing was frozen open. That chipped tooth peeked out. Freckles and skin. The only real giveaway was the growing wet patch on Jin's shorts and the blue eyes that stared without blinking, without seeing.

And his head. His head twisted nearly backwards.

Katsuki couldn't make sense of it. They'd made that jump a million times, ever since elementary school. It had been their area. Their jump. It was tradition. Even racing the train wasn't new. What had gone wrong? What did he do wrong?

Rising to trembling knees Katsuki looked around, helpless. No one around for at least a mile. Did he leave Jin here? How could he - and risk letting the wild animals get to the body? Desecrate his-

God and he had been about to...

Tentative his finger reached out. Jin's skin was still soft and warm. Immediately Katsuki had to step away, striding to taller grass to empty his heaving stomach.

"You..." Trembling knees rocked as unsteady feet led him back to the unmoving corpse of the boy he'd been about to confess to. "You can do this."

He breathed deep, using his shirt to cover the mess and heaving the body over his shoulders. Not looking, not thinking. Unable to cross the tracks again.