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Eijirou Kirishima was an old, gray-haired man. His wrinkled face reflected his age, vitality, and desire to keep living and experiencing life to the fullest, even if his aging body didn't share the same thought.
He hasn't stopped smiling throughout all his life, and now those lines were etched in his skin forever. Every time he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror he fell more in love with himself.
One couldn't deny that he was an old man, that's for sure, but, at this point in life, that was not something that worried him. He had lived a long and fulfilling life and did not regret a single thing.
After 76 years of living, he had managed to collect good and bad memories, funny and stupid, and so on. Some were better, others were worse, but every single one of them was worth it.
Eijioru had done a lot for humanity. He worked as a hero for almost 60 years and had to stop when his body started to be too injured to even get up in the mornings. It turns out that fighting villains every day and visiting the hospital twice a week was not as healthy as he had thought.
He saved many people, managed to become one of the top five best heroes of his generation, made good friends, he even got himself a good boyfriend, the most perfect human to ever exist, the love of his life who eventually became his husband and, finally, had children who filled his heart even more.
Eijirou is an old man who lives in a small, although spacious, house.
Lonely.
All is left behind now, nothing left for this old hero but don't feel pity for him he is happy with what he has accomplished.
The house was just simply so lovely to let it go and so he decided to purchase it when they decided to move in together 54 years ago. It was made for them.
Shit, it already feels like a fever dream, Eijioru thinks, taking a sip of the coffee he was drinking.
The reason? A garden.
A garden full of flowers. Everything was so green, so colorful, full of life. He wanted that for him. For them.
There he was right now. In the big garden of his big house, sitting in one of the chairs arranged around a round table with a parasol in the middle.
It was autumn, and despite the cold in the air and the oh, so gently and still-warm breeze from the summer, the curious sun peeking through the clouds invited one to linger outside just a little longer.
Every time someone came to visit them, and the weather was good enough, they took their friends out to their garden. Everyone loved it. "What a beautiful garden you have" "How are you able to keep it in such a good state?" they asked, and Eijirou smiled. He liked when people said good things about him or the things he liked.
But today he was not with anyone. Today he was alone, he was alone with his memories captured in a small photo album.
He flipped through the plastic pages slowly, his fingers showing how life had treated him. He handled each page with so much care, with so much love, as if they were some kind of ancient relic, afraid of damaging them in some kind. His treasure.
Well, for him they were, indeed, relics. The only connection he had with those memories, trapped in time.
With each photo, he spend five minutes reminiscing about that day as it was yesterday. Just looking, just dreaming. If he concentrated hard enough he could hear the echo of a past laugh.
He took another sip of coffee.
In one of the photos, two young men looked like they were on their graduation day at UA. They posed side by side, happy, well dressed in a pair of black suits. Eijiro with a big smile, warm like a sun, and one of his hands resting on his partner's waist while the other man, with his grumpy expression, had his hand on one of Eijiro's shoulders. He was so young. They were both so young, full of life. Behind them was a chaos of students and teachers.
He remembered that day as if it had happened yesterday. How much fun he had dancing with his friends with some crazy song in the background. And although it took a lot of convincing he also had a wonderful time dancing with his partner, so reluctant at first but Eijirou kissed him stupid and the grumpy man didn't seem so grumpy after.
They danced like seemed forever, just the two of them when the pop song that was playing was interrupted with “Forever Young”.
Ah, it feels so ironic now.
But that made Eijirou smile.
The next photo his eyes stop at is a group photo. His best friends were in it, everyone was smiling and doing something silly. Mina was sticking her tongue out as Kaminari licked Sero's cheek and the photo perfectly captured the young man's disgust. Beside Mina, Eijiro bumped his fists in his characteristic gesture. Still, the funniest part was seeing the grumpy blond boy trying not to laugh while all that chaos happened right next to him, but Eijirou was able to see his dimples even after all these years, even in a picture.
With another sip of coffee, he turns another page, his hands tremble a little, and he has to rub them to keep the blood flowing. A cold breeze chills his fingers and feels like he has done nothing. Then, he flips to the next page, and his old fingers gently caress another photo.
He appears with the same grumpy guy from previous photos but, oh, in this one he is not angry but the total opposite. Tears are running down his red cheeks but is not sad, is not a sad memory, Eijirou can tell. He is crying with that soft smile that conveys warmth and happiness and, god, so much more.
Eijirou finds it impossible not to smile back.
There is another photo from the same day on the next page, Eijirou can tell because Mister Grumpy Man is wearing the same clothes. In this one, the redhead is next to him, they are both in beautiful black suits and white ties with red and orange flowers.
They appear to be in a church and for some reason Eijirou remembers the picture was taken after the “I do”, seconds before their first kiss as husbands.
If it wasn't for the fact that he already married that man, he would do it a thousand more times.
God, how much he wanted to kiss that sweet face one more time.
The following photos are shaky and meaningless but many people are dancing and laughing, and without a doubt, they are memories of the wedding party.
Suddenly, a few wet drops slide down his cheek and fall onto the sheet, but there is no need to worry; the plastic protects the ancient memories.
Despite all that, he doesn't stop. He rubs his eye with one of his hands and turns another page. He can't stop now.
He turns another page. And two more. He stops.
There is something… he brings his face closer to the photo he is looking at, time has not been good with his eyesight and his eyes don't work like they used to, and after that, Eijirou can perfectly tell what he is looking at.
The redhead is sitting on a bench in a park. You could tell it had rained that day but the sun had just come out, casting beautiful oranges in the sky.
However, he wasn't alone. On his lap a girl about 8 years old poses with a big smile, next to him a blond man sits with another girl on his lap, she is younger, about 6 years old, smiling even more than the other kid. The blond, this time, smiles. A pure and soft smile. And Eijiro remembers. Of course, he does. The day the family of two became a family of four.
This time he is unable to stop himself from crying. Tears fall down his cheeks, fast, and not even his hands are capable of stopping this vulnerable moment.
He was an old, gray-haired man.
He didn't want to be alone. But today he was feeling lonelier than ever in his small, big, house.
“Eijirou. ” The raspy voice, now, was closer but the man still couldn't hear it even if he tried.
He was so immersed in his own little world full of memories that he did not hear the wind, he did not hear the birds, the people talking outside his house, and he didn't hear the sliding door of the house being opened, showing another man as old as Eijiro entering the garden.
“Eijirou what ar-” The other man stops talking as soon as he sees those red eyes and red cheeks. Almost immediately places a bag full of food on the table, taking a napkin from his pocket to clean his face.
“What-” He stops, looking around, and again to Eijirou, “ What the hell happened to you?” He questions, anger in his voice. Well, that's what the man wanted to appear, angry, but Eijiro knows that he is just worried, and as soon as he feels the tissue on his cheek he closes his eyes and lets himself be cleaned.
"I leave you alone for an hour while I go shopping and you fill yourself with sadness and melancholia. You are a fucking mess, you know? Like a baby" he scolded, but Eijirou could only hear love in his voice. “ God- fuck, I knew I couldn't leave you alone.”
“ I'm sorry Katsuki..." Eijirou murmured looking down at the photos "I just wanted to remember for a while".
"Oh, yeah?" The man, who used to be blonde, looked at the family photo album that was open on the table.
After a moment, he took the bag full of groceries again and asked "You are remembering, right? And what's your favorite memory?"
Oh, that was difficult. Choosing only one? There were so many good memories in those pictures of young people laughing and fooling around.
There was the photo they took at Jirou and Kaminari's wedding, the day Katsuki became the number 1 hero, their first date, they broke a McDonald's ice cream machine, don't ask Katsuki about that, one of Kaminari's birthdays, a car ended in a lake, again, don't ask about that, when Hina spent his first Christmas with Eijiro and Katsuki or when Sara celebrated her first birthday with them.
All of them good times. All of them good memories.
He couldn't decide... or maybe he could, but his favorite memory wasn't in old photos trapped in the past. His favorite memory was in front of him, his favorite memory was having the opportunity to meet him, to have had the opportunity to love him.
His favorite memory was meeting him. Forming a family with Katsuki, with the love of his life.
"I don't know" he answered instead "all the memories are my favorites". Because he has the feeling that Katsuki already knows.
Katsuki then shook his head, a soft smile on his lips.
"Fucking sappy bastard," the blonde said, kissing the top of his head, before walking inside the house. "I'm going to make coffee, do you want some?" He asked halfway " Later Kaminari and Mina will come and tomorrow Sara and Hina…” Too far away now, Eijirou knew Katsuki was still talking but he was unable to hear more.
Eijiro sighed, looking back at the album. There were still so many memories to photograph, he still had such a long life ahead of him, and the company was the best part. And he couldn't wait to live that.
He closed the album and slowly got up from the chair, making his way inside the house.
"Coffee sounds great, Kat"
Eijiro Kirishima was an old gray-haired man, he lived in a small, big, house but he wasn't alone, and he wouldn't be for a long time.