#work got wicked busy so it was nice to stew in some shidou thoughts throughout the day

[good-beanswrites]

i’m not sure if you’re still accepting reqs, but if you are, could i get shidou with the prompts memory or dance? thank you!

Ahh thank you! Those are such cool prompts for him omg, these were really interesting to write 👀 I went a more dramatic route for Memory here, and just posted a sillier one for Dance

Shidou had never wanted to ruin someone else’s birthday present before. Of course, in reality, he wouldn’t dream of doing anything rude, but he couldn’t stop the guilty desire to snatch the bouquet of flowers away from Muu and throw them onto the ground. 

He knew the olfactory nerve could trigger memory recall better than any of the other senses. It was still strange experiencing it firsthand. 

Shidou assumed he would have completely exhausted his memories of his family by now. After all, he thought of them nearly every moment since arriving in Milgram. He’d played through every birthday, every milestone, every smile in his mind as he went about his day. He lay awake into the late hours remembering the fights, the tears. He was ripped from sleep reliving those final moments with them. 

He thought keeping them close would ease his mind in his short time left. Since the guard had forgiven him, he felt the time stretch far out across his life. Memories that used to bring him comfort now brought with them a sting of pain.

So when Haruka presented Muu with the bunch of mismatched flowers he’d requested, Shidou’s placid smile nearly broke in surprise. He knew the present moment should have been his top priority. He should have been attentive to the fact that Haruka had finally left his cell after days of avoiding meals. The comments about Fuuta’s strange words following his head injury should have been more concerning. There were a dozen things he should have noticed then, but he was too busy noticing things long passed. It took only a breath of the fragrance to send him tumbling into memories he hadn’t thought of in years.

The flowers smelled of early days at the hospital, when he still turned to examine the get-well-soon gifts in the patient rooms and smiled at the thoughtfulness. It was from a time he made an effort to memorize faces and names, from when he’d return home satisfied with a job well done. 

They smelled of the first blooms to appear in the Kirisaki household. It was a victorious scent, after so much meticulous pruning and care. He was always very particular about how everything was done, and it finally paid off.

They smelled of neighborhood walks as two tiny hands clung to him while crossing the street. Like their father they were very well-behaved. They never ran off too far without him.

They smelled of apology vases, placed quietly on the kitchen table following late stays or back-to-back shifts that kept him away longer than promised.

They smelled of his childhood home, running barefoot through gardens with the girl who would someday be his wife. 

They smelled of nervous first dates, and of comfortable hundredth dates. 

They smelled of wedding arrangements.

They smelled of funeral arrangements.

Shidou wished Muu a happy birthday before excusing himself from the room. He made his way back to his cell. There, he tried to recall one last thing, from those seemingly endless nights studying for examinations. He laid back on his bedding, closing his eyes. 

He ran through the list of everything that could make the human brain forget.