There are tissues everywhere.
Heat floods into her cheeks. Then it spreads. Karin can feel it reaching her ears and still it grows, crawling down her neck, further.
It's not stopping anytime soon.
Karin is absolutely mortified.
If she could actually die in this exact moment and forget that this ever-ever-ever happened, then she would in an instant.
Instead, she's still alive and breathing and red-faced and she can't meet his eyes because her incredibly useful knee-jerk instinct of burying her face in her hands kicked in at precisely the right time when her face burnt into the worst flames of embarrassment that Karin has ever known. She can't even look at him.
Her chest just kind of exploded.
Her breasts—
Her boobs just kind of exploded. Right in front of him.
How did that even happen?
One minute it was fine, and he didn't suspect a thing, the next—
Tissues. Everywhere.
It's a tissue wonderland, and Karin is the main attraction.
"Karin." Toushirou says at last, after a long time – and Karin can't even look at him. He sounds… awkward. Karin feels awkward. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
He sounds remarkably calm.
It's a lie.
Karin knows it's a lie because he said it in one breath and now he's never going to let this go. Or rather, he's never going to forget it, and neither is she, and what is she meant to do now?
… there are tissues in her shirt.
"All the cool kids are doing it." She says defensively. And winces.
That is a lie. That is a stone cold lie. Karin is a lying liar who denies everything. All the cool kids are not doing it – Midori is, but Yuzu isn't, and Yuzu is the coolest person Karin knows.
"That's not—" He huffs, and tries to take a step forward. Karin knows this because she peeks at him through her finger. He doesn't get very far, and he twists his body around, face just as flushed as hers, searching for a safe haven. There isn't any.
Well. Now they can both die of embarrassment. Together.
"My office is a mess! I am not picking them up!" His hands fly into the air, and panic mode is activated. Crap.
She is really, really glad that no one has walked in on them. That is a terrible worst case scenario that Karin does not want to think about. If Matsumoto finds out—
"Okay!" Hastily, her hands scrabble to her chest, grabbing the tissues that are still in her shirt, still visible, still sticking out, and her face can't get much redder than this. She proceeds to chuck, toss and dump as many – and there are so many – tissues into the bin as quickly as possible while Toushirou stands still, staring determinedly at his shoes and averting his gaze from this scandal.
Maybe, if she's very quiet, Karin can disappear completely.
She triple-checks his office just in case there's the possibility of him mistaking a lone sheet of paper for a tissue that's been stuffed in her bra and maybe she's being slightly ridiculous, but that's a chance she can't take right now.
"Done." She says meekly. This is not happening again. This is not happening ever.
"… thanks." He mumbles. He can't help it, Karin supposes, but his gaze flicks to her – then to the bin, and the question is blurted out so sudden that she's certain it's meant to be rhetorical. If it was meant to be said aloud at all. "How much did you use?"
"Enough!" Retorting, Karin can't help but answer as well. That's all she's going to say about the subject. In a much more bashful voice, she mumbles, her hand pressed to her neck. "I'm sorry about the mess."
She still can't quite look at him just yet.
"It's fine." He says stiffly, and he can't look at her either. So they stand awkwardly about in his office, until he mutters, "Karin, you know, you can still – there's time for – being older. All that."
He can't say it.
Growing up.
Being taller than him.
Becoming bigger.
Bustier.
All that.
"I know." She murmurs, not knowing how to explain. She doesn't know if she wants to explain it to him how she feels. And she doesn't want to give into that stupid smile either when he's trying to make her feel better.
"So you don't have to feel jealous of Matsumoto."
"What?"
"I don't know!" His voice becomes high pitched and shriek-y. "… are you jealous of Matsumoto?"
She feels like simultaneously dying of embarrassment and bursting into a fit of giggles because that's the most hilarious thing. "No!"
That's not it. That's not it at all.
"Okay then." He blinks, and tries again, stepping closer and looking at her intently. "Well, if being older doesn't happen—" Karin snorts, and Toushirou continues as if he hasn't heard her. "—you should know I like you the way you are."
"Thanks." Fuzzy feelings be damned, Karin gives him her stupidest smile because he's her favourite person in the world.
"But if – on the chance – it does happen. All that. Stuff. Don't," Toushirou says hurriedly, and his cheeks have turned into an adorably dark crimson, "I repeat, do not weaponize them."