Mind of Mine || ʙᴀᴋᴜɢᴏ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

chapter 53

Song: Like Everybody Else by Lennon Stella [Alexandra Porat cover]

Question: Do people prefer long paragraphs or short paragraphs? My last couple of chapters are made up of long paragraphs with occasional short ones, but is that too long for some? Does it make y'all wanna skip all that lol? Honest opinion, please! I don't mind including more breaks between my words.

Enjoy!

...

As you lean back on your arms, your feet dangle over the edge of the roof, and you face the sun, feeling the warmth kiss your skin hello. The days were getting shorter, the clock was still ticking, and somehow, you felt yourself become overwhelmed by the weight of the sky.

"How did you find me?"

He steps carefully on the scales of the roof, making sure not to slip and fall to his doom. But then again, you wouldn't let him come close to that. "If I recall perfectly, your big brother taught you everything you know. Of course, I was going to find you." Touya states proudly before plopping down next to you, his shoulder brushing yours as he copies your pose.

The two of you look up to the sun together. How many nights did the both of you spend together in a cold room dreaming about days like these? Besides the upcoming doom of death, you've spent every available minute catching up with your brother. Reunited at last. The journey may not be easy, but life never was. There was always going to be a bump on the road, a killer hot on your trail, and cruel men trying to manipulate you into doing their dirty work. But beyond that, the sun always rose and fell, bringing forward a new day to live life. Today was one of those days.

"How can I forget. You always make sure to remind me," you tease back, glancing at Touya with a snarky smile before looking back up at the sky blissfully.

"I forgot how much of a little shit you were," he grumbles, shoving you slightly like the annoying older brother he was. "Why are you hiding from the world?"

"I'm not hiding."

You can already picture the look he's giving you because he's right. It's funny how after being apart for years, he still manages to read you perfectly. Touya hears you sigh and knows that he hit the jackpot. You were laying down on the roof of the dorm building, no soulmate or friend around, and just staring up at the sky with that defeated hunch on your shoulders. It didn't take a genius to figure out that you were running away from something. Was it someone? Responsibilities? Nightmares, again? Many things could be affecting you right now, but hiding away from the world like a coward? That wasn't your style.

The silence begins to stretch, and he assumes you were trying to put what you were feeling into words, but sometimes words fail to summarize what you were feeling. Instead, Touya resorted to another method. "Alright," he says, laying down on his back with his hands clasped behind his head, "Let me hear it. Sing it, just like the good old days."

The statement makes your lips quirk up to a smile. When the soulmate bond first appeared, Touya was the first person you told. At first, he didn't believe you, because what were the odds, you know? But he saw the look in your eyes and the way you kept on rubbing on the quirk suppressor bracelet and quickly stopped laughing. Since then, he always encouraged you to shout, sing, or punch out your feelings. One of the three always worked. At the moment, punching wasn't an option because he didn't want to become the punching bag. Shouting was good, but you couldn't figure out what to yell exactly. That left the last option: to sing.

"Been drilled in my head forever
Be better
Turns out I'm just like everybody else
Don't even go near a mirror
It'll kill ya
Trust me you don't wanna see yourself
Fuck the noise
It's too late
It's the choices
Now I don't even wanna be someone
What made me think I was special
I'm not special
Turns out I'm like everybody else"