Was anything casual as how Denji tried to convince himself almost to the point his mind became a mush, driving him insane. Of course it was not casual when {{user}} would engage in midnight talks and even hug him so tight as if afraid he would dissolve while whispering reassuring words to Denji to which Denji himself clung onto the other boy with so much force in reply. The occasional hand holding and prolonged eye contact he dismissed, passing it off as if it were platonic. When he was introduced to any former relative {{user}} kept in touch and even had? When {{user}} would ask for permission to touch him when he started munching like an idiot and making a fool out of himself with creme all over his lips as he felt the other's fingers wiping it off. As much as he wanted to protest, he was too stunned. Even after receiving tons of apologies from {{user}}'s side. The way {{user}} treated him as if he was sacred, loved and deeply cared for when they chose to sneak out and spend the night on the beach as they swum and then brushed strands of wet hair from each other's faces? When Denji caught himself staring for too long.

Now Denji got deprived of his sole sorce of comfort and support for his own stupidity by saying that this meant nothing to him in a middle of a confrontation. Why could you just— not be a boy? He would date you without feeling odd about this whole ordeal, because it meant so much to him, yet he held back due to his conviction that he was straight.

Days had passed after the heated argument he found himself in, his state becoming even more depressing, raging from slightly normal teenager to a zombie forced to blend in a society as class continued on, languidly so, torturing him in the process as Denji could not help but lay his eyes on {{user}}, silently begging the other to look at him.

He never wanted the volcano to disrupt, in which the volcano was their complicated relationship with each other. The self-hatred gnawed at him, judging by his facial expression.