Chapter Text
The clock on the wall let out a sound every time a second passed, marking a continuous and incessant rhythm that could get annoying when your head is trying not to explode—each “tick” a drop of water in the overflowing glass.
Outside, in the quietest residential neighborhood he could find, it was raining torrentially with thunder and everything, as if the universe wanted to finish off his misfortunes with just that. He really hated the rain. The thunder was annoying, irritating; the rain left streaks everywhere, caused humidity, and made his knees hurt.
Worse, it brought back bad memories.
Leaving that aside, there were other things to think about right now, and he only realized it when his laptop screen started buzzing with an incoming video call.
It didn’t take him more than three seconds to answer—he was a little desperate about it…
“Hey, nerd.” His face reflected a false disinterest, as if he could hide something under that mask.
And on the other side of the screen, those beautiful green eyes greeted him just like always, with a pure shine and a smile attached. He could never get tired of seeing him.
“Kacchan! You responded quickly!”
He rolled his eyes. “I was looking at other things and I accidentally pressed it.” Lie. The other boy laughed because he knew it was the worst lie in the world. He didn’t know how to lie.
“If you’re serious—hey, I’ve been browsing the markets here, and look what I got!” The green-haired boy held up a rather nice keychain. He’d recognize that hero suit anywhere—he wore it every day for work. “It’s you! Miniature, I have it on my keys!”
“That’s… too obsessive, even for your nerdy fan ass.”
A giggle—oh, how he loved those giggles. “I think it’s cute. I’ve been here for about a year, and it seems like quite an achievement to get merch of heroes from Japan.”
“You’ve lowered your expectations in goals.”
“That’s not tru—well, maybe, but it made me happy! You should be happy!”
How could he say he wasn’t happy, when it had been so long since he’d seen him beyond a fucking screen? Katsuki was tired of that damn distance he had refused to accept from the beginning. But in the end, it wasn’t his fucking decision. He fucking hated every single person who took his only loved one away! Even All Might was included in that list.
From that day on, everything went downhill. If Katsuki thought that when he entered UA nothing went as he wanted and that frustrated him, then he was an idiot—because after the war, everything became even worse! Saving the world was shit. He would have let everyone die and rot in their misery and—“that’s not a good thought for a hero,” thought Katsuki, scolding himself for his selfishness.
But don’t blame him. He’d had his words stuck in his throat for so many years.
Every day he wondered how they had ended up like this—with a huge ocean in between, on different continents, and a plane trip too long to ever visit each other. How they had reduced their growing friendship to… distance.
Nothing was going well, and he had no idea why he felt so bad. In reality, that was a total lie. He knew it perfectly well. He had experienced it over a year ago. But his current problems went back much further.
And sometimes, he went back in his memory to appreciate those days a little.