•Chapter Twenty-One•
〄
A simple routine had fallen into place: school, dance practice, and on Thursdays after school and an hour of practice, Katsuki and Kirishima attended therapy. Structure, that's what the two needed. Structure and safety. And it was working, the therapy. Kirishima was the happiest he's been in so long and Katsuki wasn't as irritable as before. Sometimes, if he were lucky, Kirishima could hear a smirk or even a smile in Katsuki's voice. He wondered if it was because of him, he wondered if he made Katsuki happy or if finally being able to talk, to get everything off his chest, just made him feel less heavy, more free. Kirishima didn't want to seem selfish, but deep down in his heart, he wanted to be the source of Katsuki's happiness.
The Saturday sun cast its rays in through the gaps between the curtains, displaying a memorizing line of light across the side of Kirishima's face as he sat on Mina's bed hunched over his phone listening to image descriptions on Instagram. When there wasn't a description, either Mina or Kaminari took the honour of telling Kirishima about the picture, or video if one somehow managed to pop up in his feed. He'd been with them since late Friday night. They stayed up watching rom-coms and eating way too much junk food to even be considered okay.
Kaminari and Mina had their friend back, a friend they could actually recognise. The friend that was always smiling and telling jokes and showing them that even in the face of pain, they could be happy. After all he's been through, he could be happy and that gave them the strength to believe that they could be happy, too. Before, when they looked at him they weren't sure it was actually Kirishima. There was no smile or life or passion. His body was an empty shell functioning out of pure obligation, not because he wanted to him. Seeing him actually smiling, the light behind his eyes, was something they had been wishing for. Both of them had missed his smiles.
"So, I like Katsuki," Kirishima said.
"We know," Mina and Kaminari said in unison.
"I know, but like, this time there isn't an I think. I like Katsuki." A breath. "I like Katsuki," he said again.
"Are you still waiting until after the competition?" Mina asked.
"Yes."
"It's because he's too scared to confess now," Kaminari asked. Mina glared and swatted at his arm.
"I think it's smart to wait, just in case, ya know?" Mina said. "And it's okay if you're scared. Kami was scared."
"Of course I was scared. Have you seen Jiro? She's a violent little thing. A rabid fucking pixie," he stated. Mina and Kirishima were staring at him with raised brows. He just insulted his girlfriend. "My rabid pixie of course."
"Nice save, bro." Kirishima rolled his eyes.
"So, what's it about him?" Mina giggled. She rolled onto her stomach, face propped in her hands as she kicked her feet back and forth.
Kirishima chewed the inside of his cheek for a second too long. "I... I don't know? I guess maybe it's his... touch? Is that weird to say?"
"It's certainly different."
"Bad different?"
"Of course not. What about his touch?"
"It's like... I can feel his heart beating through the palms of his hands and I can feel the calluses and the scars and I can feel where it's smooth and dry. It's like his hands hold all his secrets and stories and thoughts. I want to find them all. I bet I could if I held his hands."
"That's actually really cute," Mina gushed. "You know, I bet you could find the end of the universe in someone's hands."
"Like a map."
"Exactly-"
"Hey extras," Katsuki's voice cut in.
Kirishima jumped in his seat resulting in his phone flying out of his hands, landing somewhere on the bed. Mina held her hand to her chest as if she were trying to recover from the heart attack she just had and Kaminari had pressed his back up against the headboard of the bed. None of them heard him enter the house and no one heard his footfall on the wooden floors in the hallway that led to Mina's room.
Katsuki was barefoot and holding what appeared to be a stack of thin books along with a pack of markers. The kind of markers that smelled good. Each colour had its own scent, though some were far too similar to its neighbouring colours.
"What's with the art supplies?" Kaminari asked.
"Ah, well, Shitty Hair told me he's never coloured before"ーMina and Kaminari snapped their heads to Kirishima, shock taking over their featuresー"so I figured I'd get the shit to do it. I've got colouring books with this weird black shit that covers the places you aren't supposed to colour and these scented markers. I figured if you could learn the different scents, you might be able to pick out the colours you want without us having to help you. So you could be independent."
He might actually cry. Kirishima might actually shed a damn tear. No one has ever gone this far just to make Kirishima come off as a little more independent. Everyone was always offering their help, treating him as if he's a helpless child. He never wanted help, not unless he asked for it, and even when he tells someone he doesn't need their help, they weasel their way in anyway. Katsuki wasn't like that.
Katsuki's weight pushed a section of the mattress down and he dropped the markers and books. He handed one to Kirishima and flipped it to some random page before commanding Kirishima to run his fingers along the outer black part.
It was velvety. The outer parts held a similar texture to velvet and the inner parts where you were supposed to colour were smooth. And all the markers smelled like candy and fruit and soda. They tested him; someone would hold a marker up to his nose, let him sniff it, and then would ask what colour it was. For the most part, he passed. Kirishima struggled in trying to pick out different shades of one colour, they smelled so similar, but the others promised to help him.
Kirishima's fingers glided over the velvet in search of the smoother parts. He was going to colour a deer in the opening of a large field surrounded by pine trees. Kirishima tried to picture the image in his head and failed. Everyone did their best, though.
He got lost in the feeling of the velvet underneath his skin, got lost in the chatting and the words being passed between his friends as they worked on their own pictures. Someone had turned on some music, keeping it low enough so their words wouldn't get lost in the sounds.
"WE'RE OUT OF SNACKS!" Kaminari yelled from the kitchen. "Art makes me hungry."
"Anything makes you hungry," Kirishima said.
"Well," Mina grabbed her phone and turned the music off, "my parents left me their credit card. We could all go shopping!"
"I want Oreos and pizza roles," Kamainari said. He was practically drooling.
"Or, we could get you assholes from actual food. Fruits. Vegetables. I could make dinner," Katsuki said.
Everyone snapped their heads to him and grinned. Katsuki could be nice and selfless? Who knew.
Minutes later, they were packed in the car. Mina was driving, Riot and Kaminari were freezing their asses off in the bed of the truck, Kirishima was in the middle, and Katsuki sat with his head leaned against the door. They could've walked, the store wasn't far from Mina's house, but having to carry back all the snacks in the cold wasn't something anyone was even considering.
"Why're you grabbing two cards?" Katsuki asked once they parked the truck and reached the store entrance. "Are you planning on buying the whole fucking store?"
Mina and Kaminari glanced at one another, evil grins playing onto their lips. "You thought we were just going to shop? Katsuki, that's boring," Kaminari said, disappointed.
"No one wants to go to the store on a Saturday, Katsuki. No one is really here so that means the isles are gonna be pretty much empty. This is ample opportunity to assert your dominance by racing," Mina said. "Prove that you're better than us."
Kirishima could feel the heat, the anger, radiating off of Katsuki. It was overwhelming. Suffocating. But then the heat was gone and he heard Katsuki mumbled something under his breath about how they all deserved death for challenging his superiority complex before snatching one of the carts.
"How do we do this?"
"In teams, obviously. Kirishima won't be able to race so he'll stay in the cart. Maybe Kirishima and me and Katsuki and Kaminari?" Mina suggested. "We can always switch it up."
"Let's go, broー"
"Don't touch me you discount Pikachu looking ass," Katsuki instantly spat when he felt Kaminari's hand on his shoulder.
"You got it, bro." He shot Katsuki those weird, awkward finger guns.
"Whatever. Get inside, shit head. We'll lose if you're the one driving the cart."
"Have faith in me." Kaminari pouted but hopped into the shopping cart despite his urge to argue.
"No, I don't think I will."
Mina laughed and helped Kirishima into the cart first, assisting riot after. "Kiri, they're like an old married couple."
"We fucking are not."
"Aww, bro! You don't wanna marry me? I thought we had a connection." Kaminari leaned back to gaze at Katsuki with fake puppy dog eyes. He cracked a smile and reached his hand around in an attempt to grab Katsuki's. Of course, Katsuki ripped his hand away the second he saw Kaminari try to pull that shit.
"I'd rather pull my toenails out with pliers and then pour bleach on them."
"Are you done? Can you guys please kiss and make up so we can get this started?" Mina questioned and zipped past them, flying through the sliding doors in search of an aisle with absolutely no one in it.
The seasonal aisle turned out to be the one with the least amount of people standing idly. It wasn't warm enough to put out summer activities like slip and slides and lounge chairs, but most major holidays had already passed, leaving the aisle barren, supplied with nothing but leftover items from valentines day. Half off signs were hung up on every shelf, top, bottom, middle, and everything in between; keeping several feet between each sign. Everything needed to be sold. The chocolates no one wanted, stuffed bears and hearts that wouldn't prove someone's love to their significant other. The aisle was the size of two normal aisles, giving them enough wiggle room so they could avoid potential crashes.
"Alright Kiri, on your mark."
Kirishima nodded. "One... two... three"ーa short pauseー"GO!"
Mina and Katsuki took off. Kaminari was shouting about how Katsuki could beat some weak girl and Kirishima was simply enjoying the thrill of the light wind blowing through his hair as Riot nuzzled his nose into his side.
It was a tie. After a second round, Katsuki won by a hair. The third time around, Mina somehow managed to outrun Katsuki by luck; the wheel on his cart fucked out and it tripped him up, giving Mina the few seconds needed to fly by him.
Kaminari and Katsuki wandered down to the deli to pick up some chicken for the dinner Katsuki had planned while Mina and Kirishima picked out various snacks. Fifteen minutes later they met up at one of the few checkouts that were open. And then they loaded themselves and the snacks into the truck before taking off.
The rest of the day was spent in the kitchen. Katsuki cooked their dinner while the others sat around the round breakfast table showing each other video they stumbled upon while browsing their social medias. Occasionally, someone would try to help Katsuki only for him to shoo them away, claiming that their foolishness would fuck everything up. He was probably right and they all knew that. The asshole was hardly ever wrong.
Dinner was done thirty minutes later. Katsuki had made grilled chicken and a white sauce pasta as a side dish. Mina and Kaminari were sceptical. It seemed too good to be true. Katsuki cooking for them out of his own free will without wanting anything else in return? It was a problem mathematicians and scientists alike have yet to solve.
"It's poisoned. I'm calling it," Kaminari said and used his fork to poke the spiral noodles. Mina nodded, following suit in the poking and the jabbing.
"Oh come on," Kirishima rolled his eyes. He stabbed the chicken breast and brought the entire thing to his mouth before taking a large bite out of it. It was fucking perfect. Before he chewed what was already in his mouth, he shoved a fork full of pasta into his mouth and shut his eyes as he enjoyed the different flavours. There was no way it was poisoned.
As the others dug into the food after much deliberation, Kirishima's mind ran away. Oh look, there it went clawing the curtains, oh now it was on top of the fridge, now it's sticking its paws in the fishbowl. Katsuki cooking dinner for him and his friends sparked a thought: What would it be like to eat his cooking every day? What would it be like to come home after a hard day to food like that? The thought of coming home to Katsuki was enough to fill his heart to the brim with happiness and love.
What a perfect world that would be...
-
"Kirishima sweetheart, is that you?" Kaori peaked her out from the kitchen.
"Yes," he replied and kicked his shoes off.
"Are you hungry? I made ribs."
Kirishima smiled at her. "No thanks. Katsuki made chicken with pasta at Mina's."
"Oh, well alright." She moved from the kitchen towards Kirishima, touched his cheek, and tilted her head to the side. "You're glowing, did something happen."
His face flushed red. "I don't know, I guess?"
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I'm just... happy. And lucky. That's all." He adjusted the bag on his shoulder, shuffled in his spot, and turned to move up the stairs. "I've got homework, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay, sweetie."
Once in his room, Kirishima completely abandoned his backpack and the homework within it. He wanted to talk to Katsuki. His homework could wait. Their conversation wasn't much of a conversation as it was more of a meme war and a brainstorming session because at that point they hadn't picked a song to dance to yet.
To: Katsuki
bandito?
Sent at 7:34 PM
From: Katsuki
No, I don't think that works. Doesn't fit the vibe.
Received at 7:34 PM
To: Katsuki
aright... something from sleeping at last? would that fit the style?
Sent at 7:35 PM
From: Katsuki
That could work. Got a song in mind?
Received at 7:36 PM
To: Katsuki
The Grand Finale? they made the song for Cassini after it fucking dove into Saturn
Sent at 7:37 PM
To: Katsuki
dude?
Sent at 7:46 PM
From: Katsuki
I was listening to it. I think that'll work
Received at 7:46 PM
To: Katsuki
sick
Sent at 7:47 PM
Katsuki didn't reply for nearly twenty minutes after that. Kirishima was mid math problem when his phone went off and the text he received caused his heart to both beat at a rate that couldn't possibly be healthy and freeze at the same time. It caught him off guard. He couldn't respond. He didn't know how and he was certain that if were to try to force a response, it would disrupt the delicate peace that had been established. He wasn't able to finish his homework. He chucked his books onto the ground, shoved his laptop to the end of the bed, and laid completely under his covers until he somehow managed to fall asleep.
From: Katsuki
It's gonna fucking suck once we move again. I won't be able to see that shitty face of yours anymore.
Received at 8:03 PM
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Word Count: 2727
October 2, 2019
I POSTED ANOTHER FIC CALLED "NEPENTHE" AND IT WOULD MEAN THE WORLD IF YOU GUYS CHECKED IT OUT BECAUSE I'VE BEEN SITTING ON IT FOR 2 YEARS! THANK YOU<3
and the face reveal no one asked for because i got new hair and am feeling something that slightly resembles confidence
i also have glasses but meh
PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT "NEPENTHE" <3
-StarsNeverLanding