#i need to find some soul crushing angst to be unreasonably poetic about again

[virtue-and-beneviolence]

Candid

A lil photographer!shuji fluff for the dash. V short and unedited bc I need to clean my drafts up p badly so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It started as a joke.

"Take a picture Shuji, it'll last longer." You'd said as you handed him his first camera. It was your uncle's old Polaroid camera. Still loaded with some forgotten color 600 film.

You'd meant to tease him for the unrelenting feeling of his eyes on you. You'd meant for it to be playful and sassy, to suit the banter you two enjoyed daily.

What you got instead was Shuji carrying the damned thing like a bespoke albatross around his neck. You were met with bright eyes and a huge hand around your wrist, insistent that you take an adventure right then to take his new treasure for a spin.

Months after the initial gift, you were routinely cutting your senior classes to accompany Shuji on trips or getting wrapped into his hijinx to acquire more precious film. You found yourself squatting in alleyways flapping developing film around as if it'd make the image appear faster, laughing with your best friend.

You gifted him the camera not knowing what it'd do to his life. Not realizing it'd give him a purpose and an outlet. You gave it to him as a joke of a gift never expecting anything to come of it and certainly expecting nothing in return.

A year to the day, however, your best friend handed you a little bundle of photos tied together with a length of twine. Unravelling his scant wrapping, you were met with white plastic lined square photos of your likeness...

Your head rested on your folded forearms and all that was visible of your face was a slight pout and your closed eye. Sunlight washed over your napping form and bathed you in a romantic glow.

A photo of your face scrunched up with Shuji's hand imprinted with punishment pinching your cheek like a proud father, smoke curling all around you after your bestie had blown it in your face.

Your back, arms spread wide and chest puffed to the sky with accomplishment as you stood a top a cliff.

A hazy photo, half blocked by two of your fingers though traces of doubles of the image further obscure your face. Your nose is scrunched in annoyance, eyes narrowed as you try and snatch Shuji's camera. You swear you can hear his laugh.

At the bottom of the last photo in the collection of candids, in Shuji's signature scrawl you read: still doesn't last long enough.

You couldn't help the way warmth creeped from your cheeks to your ears. This was a surprise. It shouldn't have been, you supposed, not with how Shuji's eyes were always glued to you, or given how inseparable you lot were. You knew the pair of you were close, even had an inkling that you loved each other but neither of you would say it in so many words. You'd never crossed that line.

Shuji shifted his weight to his other foot. He opened his mouth, but his apologies for being weird died on his tongue when you cut him off, speaking through a cheeky smile. "When did you get so cheesy Shuji?" Without waiting for an answer, you threw your arms around his shoulders to draw him in for a long, long overdue kiss.

#your honor i love him #hanma shuji #hanma shuji fluff #beep bop #virtue writes #once again #im really trash at wfoting out these cute little ideas #i need to find some soul crushing angst to be unreasonably poetic about again