Earth and Sparks

"I didn't find anyone attractive that way in the last 30 minutes." Star Skyline replied slowly, having trouble with the words.

She knew she was saying it that way for a reason… but she forgot why. Her mind felt sluggish, like when you have something you want to say, but forget. Trying to think felt like trying to remember what you had been talking about that triggered the thought before you lost it. Like something nagging on your mind, but just out of reach. It was such a strong tug that it felt like she could physically reach out and grab it, if only she could see it.

But she couldn't.

She couldn't see anything actually. Nothing she saw was sticking in her mind, like when your eyesight blurs as you lose focus and feel compelled to stare as you zone out.

"Hey!" Someone shouted near her, surprising Star out of her fixation on the table in front of her. So that's what she had been seeing.

The voice that spoke next to her ear felt like the vibrations underground. Low and powerful, but buried.

"So you'd kiss them if they were attractive enough?"

"Nooooooo!" Star whined, yawning.

She could barely focus. Maybe her blurring vision was because she was tired. Yeah. She was really tired, how much had she had again? What time was it?

"I don't like strangers! I only like people I know!" She said dramatically, frowning.

Like Katsuki. She liked Katsuki. She should tell him that when she sees him. With his spiky thoughts and spiky mind. The calluses on his hands when he steadies her. The adrenaline that courses through him when he pushes her to be stronger. The way his voice changes to trickling water parting for river rocks when he apologizes-

"Good."

The voice near her ear leaned back a bit, and sounded less buried, and more earthy, like it was mixed with the soil in a rainforest.

She stopped processing the words around her, unable to focus on them and her thoughts at the same time. And she could've sworn she had been thinking about something important earlier. What was it? There was that tugging again. If only she could reach out and grab it.

She tried reaching out, instead finding her forehead against a warm shoulder. That wasn't what she had been aiming for. What was she aiming for again?

Her head spun, and she tried to lift it off the warm surface, but found she couldn't move it at all. This wasn't good, was it? She should be able to move, right? Why had she been wanting to move again? It smelt like caramel, she didn't mind staying here. Her eyes fluttered close, surprising her since she wasn't aware they had been open.

Suddenly, the warm surface and caramel smell disappeared, and she let out a whimper of protest. That wasn't fair, she hadn't even gotten to taste the caramel.

Something cushioned her head, telling her that she had been falling? Something to do with caramel… what was it? There was that tugging again, making her furrow her eyebrows as she tried to recall.

She desperately wanted to sit up, but found she couldn't. She felt so heavy, like every limb on her body was falling asleep. She couldn't move her arms to help her other limbs recover, it felt like her brain couldn't command anything because of the phantom tingles filling her veins.

A new voice was near her ear. This one sounded like… sparks. Not like fire, but the sparks that flew out of the fire pit that you used to worry would set something on fire when you were young. Heated and fast, constantly changing direction depending on the wind.

Or maybe she was changing directions?

She tried to open her eyes, but it took a minute before she was able to. She couldn't process any of the moving colors around her, feeling pressure under her knee and on her back.

She was taller, maybe. When had she grown?

It was getting quieter. The hands around her tightened, and she finally got the words out of her mouth that she had been trying to ever since she felt the person's arms.

"...Katsuki…?"

For how drunk she felt, she sure didn't feel warm.

She couldn't have been positive, but the next thing she thought she heard was a spark filled giggle above her.

And then she felt the pain.