his train of thought had taken to the tracks with "I can take this" and now ends at a station called "please kill me"
Their graduation is a descendent into some sort of strange version of "adulthood." The ceremony: an over-celebrated, ostentatious explosion that gives Shizuo a headache, making him turn away and forcing him to watch the gaping Shinra sitting beside him. As the last of the fireworks are cast into the darkening sunset sky, Shizuo watches the multicolored sparks fade and die. His wings flinch.
He scans the crowd after the ceremony, other graduates now joining their parents, and sees Shinra practically fly into his girlfriend's arms. Shizuo had first been introduced to Celty briefly in their third year. It had been no surprise to find out Shinra's interest of affection wasn't exactly what one might call "normal," but what had stunned him first and foremost was not her mysterious, vague form, or the unusual craft of her wings — a dark, shadowy substance, material yet shapeless like how ink billows and curls in water — but the aura with which she regarded him. For what seemed like the first time in his life, Shizuo was not questioned for his existence.
It was, in an odd way, comforting.
A smile creeps onto Shizuo's lips as Shinra deliberately ignores his strange father, whose face he has still not seen and does not particularly want to see. Instead, his eyes sweep over the sea of people, glancing up at the few groups who have launched themselves into the dimming sky and flown home. Shizuo has still not found his parents and brother.
He doesn't want himself to think he's beginning to tolerate the damn insect, or that his gradually growing desire to know more about Izaya's personal life is in any way diminishing his hatred for him, but the curiosity is ravenously eating him away until he finally finds the short, thin figure off to the edge of the flock.
He is alone.
Watching the empty, starless sky.
"Nii-san."
The hand on his shoulder is something he has long grown used to, but nevertheless it still startles him. Shizuo finds normality in the matte mocha eyes of his brother and the congratulatory gazes of his parents. The tight hugs the two of them give, pressing his defunct wings into his back, are an all-too-constant reminder of his personal malfunction. He tries his best to smile for them, but his heart is heavy on the walk home.
It is years until Shizuo sees Izaya again.
Sorry this chapter's a little short!
All the positive feedback is really encouraging :D Thank you for reading~