The Universe Listened | Kiribaku

That we may fall in love, every time we open up our eyes

Chapter Three

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Nerves lived in his veins, it seemed. Burrowed in. Made the walls their homes, skipped their way through with the flow of his blood. He was Kaminari's best man, and although they'd done the rehearsal several times prior, he felt his stomach churn with the simple thought of messing up.

This was the real deal, after all. This wasn't rehearsal where his fuck ups wouldn't mean anything. It was the actual wedding. And it's not as if his part was all that complicated. He, Katsuki, and Sero were to walk down the aisle and stand at the altar saying nothing. Simple enough, truly.

And they'd already done that. The hard part, the walking was over. They were already up at the altar, standing behind and slightly to the side of Kaminari.

But it was the most important day of his friend's life, and what if he looked odd, standing up there?

Then, a memory. The day Kaminari proposed to Jiro. Where had they been? A cafe, he remembered vaguely. A small cafe tucked away on the corner of one of the busiest streets in the entire city. Everyone had been chatting around a table near one of the larger windows in the place, and by that point, Kaminari and Jiro had been together for so long. Ten years? Longer perhaps. The chatting died as Jiro finished her drink, as she stopped breathing and read the little note pasted to the bottom of the cup, the same tactic that led her to being Kaminari's.

No one had seen it coming. The proposal. Kaminari had kept quiet about it for months, he later said when Kirishima was congratulating him.

Kaminari kept leaning back, turning his head back to whisper his own nervousness to Kirishima. He tried to make jokes in light of his anxieties, and tried to calm his head.

"What if I fuck up my vows, man?" he whispered, chewing the inside of his cheek. "Do I look ridiculous? I feel ridiculous."

Kirishima smiled at his friend, pushed his shoulder with his hand, shook his head. "No, dude. You don't look ridiculous." Kaminari looked the opposite, actually. His suit, stark black and neatly pressed, was accented by a yellow tie and the boutonniere was draped in a shade as deep as plums. His hair, still dyed yellow with his signature lighting bolt, was slicked back.

"And you won't mess up your vows," he continued, "We went over them, remember? You, Katsuki, and me. You did so well."

Kaminari looked like he was about to burst. His smile was unsteady, unsure. "You sure?"

"Absolutely."

Katsuki nudged Kirishima in the side with a little too much force. "Shut the fuck up," he spat.

"Bro, I can't. I'm a nervous talker."

Through blurred eyes, he saw the way Katsuki narrowed his eyes in a warning sort of manner and that was more than enough to shut him up. "You're going to make him even more nervous."

The brides maids began making their way down the isle. Women Kirishima hadn't ever met before, some he'd seen briefly but had never gotten to know, and Mina. His Mina dressed in a beautiful dress clinging to the shape of her curves, the deep purples accented by lighter purples and bits of white brought out the hues of her skin in a way Kirishima was glad he was able to witness. And last, the maid of honour, was Momo. Tall and lanky, dark hair tied up in a beautiful pony tail tied in place with flower hair tie.

Across the way, Kirishima noticed the way Mina's face briefly twisted up into something representing pain. She would never say it out loud, but Mina was hurt when she found out Jiro had asked Momo to be her maid of honour instead of her. They'd been best friends since before she could remember, and assumed she would be standing behind Jiro the same way Jiro had stood behind her at her own wedding. As quickly as the look appeared, it disappeared, and she smiled, doing her best to not let her face falter.