The Universe Listened | Kiribaku

That one will die before he gets there

•Chapter Thirteen•

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Different. The once thick air between them felt different like it had been lightened somehow, cut in half and downsized so it wasn't so heavy. Different in a way that felt massive, but when expanded and looked at in a more broad perspective, it wasn't all that different. Yet it was unusual enough to notice. Almost as if a revelation took place between them that somehow changed everything. In a way, that's what happened.

Now that Katsuki knew a secret of Kirishima's and saw a piece of him that had been hidden, a space in their relationship shifted. They felt closer, a little more connected. As it turned out, getting to know someone wasn't as treacherous as Katsuki had initially thought. Hearing someone spill the things they hold inside, not that Kirishima did that because he most certainly didn't, helped temporarily mask the distorted feelings he felt most the time. Helped him forget.

It would be a luxury to permanently forget.

With such a personal thing floating in the air between them, practice went by much smoother. Both thought it would go to hell when they started to put the moves to music, but it was fine. More than fine. A little better than fine.

Although things felt much better, Kirishima got the feeling that there was still something that kept the dance from progressing, kept them from progressing. At the end, Kirishima was supposed to drag his hands down Katsuki's face and hold him in his hands, however, just as he goes to hold Katsuki's face, the blonde always jerked away. Like, it hurt to be touched. He's noticed how Katsuki had a tendency to avoid all contact ーoften tense when they beginning practising, though he does relax eventuallyーbut his face was different, almost as if he's hiding something.

Once, during practice, they had gotten to the point of the dance where Kirishima was supposed to cup Katsuki's face. He managed to hover over the skin before Katsuki winced back and made a break for the bathroom, mumbling on about how he'd be right back so Kirishima better not go anywhere.

Mina came in and sat next to Kirishima, backs against the wall, and asked why he was pouting.

"I think there's something going on with him," Kirishima confessed, voice hushed. "He won't let me touch his face."

The hesitance behind Mina's voice, the way she seemed to trip and fall over her own words added fuel to the suspicion that something really was wrong. Mina was never one to fumble out an answer, not like she used to when talking about Sero.

"I, uh, dunno? Did you ask him about it?" she asked. He could feel her shifting around, uncomfortable, as the air grew heavy and shoulder breaking.

"Have you met Katsuki yet? As if he'll actually tell me anything," he mumbled.

She sighed. Her head hung, shoulders slouched forward, eyes focused on the ground. She tried to think of an answer, one that wouldn't give Katsuki away because it wasn't her place to tell Kirishima such a personal thing. But the weight of it on her back was bone-breaking and the worry that manifested in Kirishima eyes when he talked about it was enough to make her feel violently ill.

"You know," she whispered, "I think if there is something wrong, he'll tell you when he's ready."

Kirishima opened his mouth to speak, but lost the words, like they just ran away from his mind, and shut his mouth. Maybe it wasn't that big of a deal. Maybe it was something dumb like acne or a weird mole that protruded out from his skin.

None of it made sense no matter how many times he tried to rework it in his head, look at it from a different angle than before, think of every possibility there could be for why Katsuki acted the way he did.