KIRO’S STORY / CHAPTER 18 OF 36
First
by hasira · about 10 min read
The birthday slowly started falling apart.
Not badly.
Just naturally.
Susie's aunt left first.
Her boyfriend followed with two pieces of cake wrapped badly in foil.
Rin stayed another twenty minutes, mostly because he kept finding more food.
Then Martin looked at the clock.
“You planning to move in?”
Rin looked around.
“Depends. What's rent?”
“Get out.”
Rin smiled and stood.
Kiro was still on the couch.
Susie sat on the floor beside the coffee table, going through some of the things she'd gotten.
Rin pulled his hoodie on.
He looked at Kiro.
“You coming?”
Kiro glanced toward the clock.
Late.
Not horribly late.
Still.
“Yeah.”
Something inside him dropped slightly when he said it.
Stupid.
He ignored it.
Kiro stood and reached for his jacket.
Susie looked up.
“You're leaving?”
His paw stopped halfway into one sleeve.
“Yeah.”
“Oh.”
Kiro looked at her.
Just for a second.
Then toward Rin.
“It's late.”
Susie nodded.
“Yeah.”
Kiro finished pulling the jacket on.
Rin had already reached the front door.
“Come on.”
Kiro picked up his phone.
Then Susie spoke again.
“You don't have to.”
Kiro stopped.
Susie looked at Kiro.
Not Rin.
“You can stay a little longer.”
Silence.
Kiro blinked.
“Oh.”
Rin's face changed immediately.
Kiro saw that.
“Don't.”
Rin lifted both paws.
“I didn't say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was literally breathing.”
“Annoyingly.”
Susie smiled.
Rin opened the door.
“Fine. I'm leaving before this gets disgusting.”
“Fuck you.”
“Text me when you're home.”
Kiro stared at him.
Rin pointed.
“Alive.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Then he looked at Susie.
“Happy birthday.”
“Thanks.”
“And hide the snacks from your dad.”
Martin called from the kitchen.
“I CAN HEAR YOU.”
Rin stepped outside.
“Goodnight!”
The door closed.
Not complete silence.
Martin was still moving around in the kitchen.
The television was on low.
Kids could still be heard outside every few minutes.
But compared to before the house suddenly felt much smaller.
Kiro stood near the door with his jacket already on.
Susie looked at him.
“You can take that off again.”
Kiro looked down at himself.
“...Right.”
He removed it.
Slowly.
His ears felt warm.
She asked you to stay.
Kiro hung the jacket back up.
She could've just let you leave.
“Shut up.”
Susie looked over.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You're talking to nothing again.”
“I'm aware.”
“Good.”
Kiro followed her back toward the living room.
They ended up outside.
Not because Kiro suggested it.
Susie did.
She grabbed a bowl of leftover candy and nodded toward the porch.
“Come on.”
Kiro looked outside.
A few groups of kids were still moving between houses.
The streets were quieter now.
Pumpkins still glowed.
Orange lights moved slightly in the cold wind.
“You're giving out candy?”
“Mostly eating it.”
“Fair.”
They sat on the porch steps.
Susie put the bowl between them.
Kiro immediately picked something out.
She looked at him.
“You've been here ten seconds.”
“I helped pay for some of this emotionally.”
“You ate part of my gift earlier.”
“That was Rin.”
“You participated.”
Kiro unwrapped the candy.
“Allegedly.”
Susie took one too.
For a while, they watched people pass.
A little skeleton walked by holding his mother's hand.
Two older kids argued about whether one house had better candy than another.
Somebody farther down the street screamed because a decoration moved unexpectedly.
Kiro smiled.
The cold felt good.
Everything was quieter now.
Less pressure.
Less movement.
Susie leaned back against the step behind her.
“Better?”
Kiro looked at her.
“What?”
“Better than inside.”
He hesitated.
“Yeah.”
Susie nodded.
Didn't ask why.
Kiro liked that.
After a while, she reached beside herself.
The album was there.
Kiro hadn't noticed her bring it outside.
His stomach immediately tightened.
Susie opened it.
Kiro looked away.
Then immediately looked back.
She already had a few pictures.
One of her and Martin.
One of her aunt making a terrible face.
One blurry photo of Rin stealing something from the kitchen.
Kiro stared.
“When did you take that?”
Susie looked.
“Oh.”
Rin was halfway through turning toward the camera with food in his mouth.
Kiro started laughing.
“You need to send me that.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Susie.”
She closed the album slightly.
“Private collection.”
“That's evil.”
“I know.”
Kiro looked at the pages again.
The first page was still empty.
For some reason, he noticed that.
Susie noticed him noticing.
Neither said anything.
Then she reached beside the album and picked up her instant camera.
Kiro's expression changed.
“No.”
Susie looked at him.
“I haven't said anything.”
“You don't have to.”
“I want a picture.”
“You have pictures.”
“Yeah.”
Susie looked at him.
“Not one of us.”
Kiro stopped.
The street noise seemed quieter for a second.
Of us.
He looked at her.
She was already adjusting the camera.
Kiro rubbed his paws together.
“Why?”
Susie paused.
Then looked at him like the question was strange.
“Because I want one.”
Simple.
Of course.
That somehow made it worse.
Kiro looked toward the street.
Then back at her.
“Okay.”
Susie blinked.
“That easy?”
“No.”
She smiled.
“Thought so.”
They looked around.
No good place to set the camera.
Kiro pointed toward the window.
“Your dad.”
Susie immediately frowned.
“Absolutely not.”
“Why?”
“He'll make it weird.”
“Fair.”
A second later the door opened.
Martin stepped outside holding a trash bag.
Susie and Kiro both turned toward him.
He stopped.
Looked at the camera.
Then at them.
“No.”
Susie stared.
“You don't even know what we're asking.”
“I know exactly what you're asking.”
Kiro almost laughed.
Martin put the trash bag down.
“Give me the camera.”
Susie sighed and handed it over.
“One.”
“Sue.”
“And don't say anything.”
Martin looked offended.
“I wasn't going to.”
Kiro stood.
Susie stood beside him.
Martin backed up slightly.
“Closer.”
Kiro looked at him.
“We're in frame.”
“Technically.”
Susie looked at Kiro.
There was a noticeable gap between them.
Kiro looked down.
“Oh.”
Susie smiled slightly.
“You know you're allowed to stand next to me.”
“I am next to you.”
“There's a fucking highway between us.”
Martin looked through the camera.
“She's right.”
Kiro looked at him.
“Whose side are you on?”
“My daughter's.”
“Right.”
Kiro moved closer.
A little.
Susie looked at the remaining space.
Then at him.
Kiro noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Your face.”
“My face is normal.”
Kiro narrowed his eyes.
Then Susie stepped closer herself.
Their shoulders touched.
Kiro's body stiffened for half a second.
Susie noticed.
She didn't move away.
Then, carefully, she lifted one arm and put it around his back.
Kiro stopped functioning.
Completely.
Martin lowered the camera.
“You okay?”
Kiro looked at him.
“Yes.”
Susie was trying not to laugh.
Kiro looked at her.
“Don't.”
“I'm not doing anything.”
“You are.”
“Smile.”
“Fuck you.”
Click.
The camera spat the photo out.
Susie immediately took her arm away.
Kiro almost missed it.
Almost.
Martin handed the camera back.
“There.”
Susie took it.
“Thanks.”
Martin grabbed the trash bag again.
As he passed Kiro, he said quietly:
“You looked terrified.”
Kiro stared after him.
“Why is everyone in this family like this?”
Susie laughed.
The door closed behind Martin.
Kiro sat down again.
Susie sat beside him.
Closer this time.
Their shoulders still touched.
She held the developing Polaroid between both paws.
Kiro watched it.
Slowly.
Painfully slowly.
A little shape appeared.
Then two.
Kiro frowned.
“What if I look terrible?”
Susie didn't look up.
“Then I'll cut you out.”
Kiro turned toward her.
“What the fuck?”
She smiled.
“Kidding.”
“You better be.”
The picture became clearer.
Susie.
Kiro.
Her arm around him.
Kiro looking toward her instead of camera.
Susie already laughing.
He stared.
“Oh.”
Susie looked at him.
“What?”
Kiro took the edge carefully.
“I wasn't looking.”
“No.”
“You said smile.”
“You were busy complaining.”
“I always complain.”
“I know.”
Kiro kept staring.
His expression in the photo was...
Good.
Not posed.
Not careful.
Not something he'd practiced in a mirror.
He looked surprised.
A little embarrassed.
But happy.
Actually happy.
Susie watched him.
“You hate it?”
Kiro's thumb moved lightly along the white edge.
“No.”
A pause.
“I think I like it.”
Susie smiled.
“Good.”
She took the photo back.
Kiro expected her to put it aside until it finished developing.
Instead, she opened the album.
First page.
Kiro noticed immediately.
She placed the photo there.
His ears moved.
“You're putting it there?”
“Yeah.”
“The first page?”
Susie looked at him.
“That's usually where the first photo goes.”
Kiro frowned.
“You already have other ones.”
“Not in this album.”
“That's not what I mean.”
“I know.”
Kiro looked at the picture.
Then at her.
“Why that one?”
For the first time that evening, Susie looked slightly unsure.
Not nervous exactly.
But close.
She glanced down at the photo.
Then shrugged.
“I like it.”
Kiro waited.
Susie rubbed one finger along the edge.
“And...”
She stopped.
Kiro looked at her.
“And?”
Susie sighed.
“I don't know.”
She looked out toward the street.
“It's from tonight.”
“Yeah.”
“And I wanted one with you.”
Kiro went very still.
Susie noticed.
“Don't make it weird.”
Kiro stared.
“You're saying that to me?”
“Yes.”
“You just...”
He stopped.
Susie looked at him.
“What?”
She wanted one with you.
Kiro looked away quickly.
“Nothing.”
Susie smiled slightly.
“Right.”
She attached the photo carefully.
Not perfectly centered.
Kiro almost told her.
Almost.
Then stopped.
It was her album.
Her page.
Her choice.
The photo stayed slightly crooked.
Kiro let it.
They sat outside longer than they meant to.
The last groups of kids disappeared.
Porch lights started switching off one by one.
The candy bowl became mostly wrappers and things neither of them liked.
Susie found one chocolate at the bottom.
Kiro reached for it.
She grabbed it first.
“No.”
“I saw it first.”
“It's my birthday.”
“Not for much longer.”
Susie checked her phone.
11:41 PM.
She looked at him.
“Still counts.”
Kiro sighed.
“Fine.”
She unwrapped it.
Then broke it in half.
Held one piece out.
Kiro looked at it.
Then at her.
“You just fought me for this.”
“Take it.”
He did.
“Thanks.”
“You're welcome.”
They ate quietly.
Kiro looked toward the album beside her.
The first page was still open.
Their picture sat there.
Crooked.
Warm porch light reflected faintly across it.
Kiro tried not to stare.
Failed.
Susie noticed.
But didn't say anything.
Good.
Eventually, Kiro stood.
“I should already go.”
Susie looked at the street.
“Yeah.”
This time she didn't ask him to stay.
And strangely, that was okay.
She had already asked once.
Kiro put his jacket on.
Susie picked up the album and candy bowl.
They went inside.
Martin was somewhere upstairs now.
The house had gone almost completely quiet.
Kiro put his shoes on.
Then straightened.
Susie stood near the door.
For a second, neither of them said anything.
Kiro reached for the handle.
“Happy birthday.”
Susie smiled.
“You already said that.”
“I know.”
“Thanks.”
Kiro nodded.
He opened the door.
Cold air entered.
Then Susie said:
“Kiro.”
He looked back.
“Yeah?”
She stepped closer.
For half a second, Kiro thought she was going to say something.
Instead, she hugged him.
Normal.
Simple.
No panic attack.
No crying.
No nightmare.
Nothing was wrong.
That almost made Kiro freeze harder than before.
His paws stayed at his sides.
Susie immediately noticed.
She started pulling back.
“Sorry, I...”
Kiro hugged her back.
A little awkwardly.
But enough.
Susie stopped.
Her arms settled around him again.
Kiro could feel her hair against his cheek.
His heart was beating faster.
Not panic.
Nothing close.
Just her.
Oh.
The hug lasted only a few seconds.
Maybe five.
Maybe less.
Susie let go first.
Kiro's paws dropped.
His face felt warm.
Susie looked slightly embarrassed too.
That helped.
“Text me when you got home.”
Kiro stared at her.
“...You're turning into Rin.”
Susie's expression changed immediately.
“Oh, fuck.”
“Yeah.”
“Take it back.”
“Too late.”
She pushed his shoulder lightly.
“Go home.”
Kiro smiled.
“Goodnight, Susan.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Kiro.”
He stepped outside.
“Goodnight.”
“Asshole.”
The door stayed open until he reached the sidewalk.
Kiro looked back once.
Susie was still there.
She raised one paw.
He did the same.
Then closed the door.
Susie stood there for a moment.
Quiet.
Then looked down.
The album was still in her arm.
She carried it back into the living room.
Sat on the couch.
Opened it.
First page.
The Polaroid.
Kiro looking at her instead of the camera.
Susie smiling because he'd been complaining.
Their shoulders pressed together.
Her arm around him.
She stared at it for a while.
Then smiled slightly.
“Idiot.”
She closed the album.
She still hadn't found the other picture hidden somewhere in the middle.