Chapter Text
It’s jarring how they had uniforms that fit everyone perfectly. He could already tell he looks like a huge idiot with the black pizza hut shirt and red bomber jacket, with a black baseball cap to match.
No one disagrees with Hina’s narration. The strain in her voice is evident as she tries not to laugh, but the rest of the room exhibits no restraint. The image of Takemichi in garish Pizza Hut red has the entire theatre in stitches.
Chifuyu and the Mizo Mid Five are having the time of their lives heckling him when the camera pans to the other new employees.
Makoto also sported a baseball cap, but his was red. “I don’t even know a thing about making pizzas.”
Takuya scoffed from where he was standing behind them, putting on a Yellow (?) baseball cap. “Yeah, we know. You burnt your grilled cheese to a crisp.”
Makoto and Takuya’s faces drop so suddenly Takemichi gets whiplash.
Yamagishi cackles at them, elbowing Makoto none too gently. “You’re so shit at cooking!” he howled.
“Shut up!”
“Says the guy who set microwaveable popcorn on fire.” Akkun snickered, his hairstyle perfectly in shape even after taking off and putting on a shirt.
“I’ll cut that fucking pompadour.”
“You’re a bitch, Akkun,” Takuya nodded along with his on-screen self.
“How scary…” a voice whispered next to Takemichi.
Emma jumped at the sudden whisper. “He surprised me!” she laughed anxiously. Yuzuha glanced at her incredulously out of the corner of her eye, looking away quickly when Mikey clambered over the seats to join his sister.
“I know…” He whispered back until he realized he didn’t know the voice.
The blonde turned around to come face to face with a boy that couldn’t be only a few older than Takemichi. And if that Chris dude from earlier could’ve been mistaken for Kurt Cobain’s twin brother, then this boy could’ve been mistaken for his little brother. Or to put it simply, an off-brand Kurt Cobain.
Mitsuya lifted an eyebrow. “There’s another one,” he mused out loud. Draken nodded, eyeing the stranger on screen warily.
The bags under his eyes look worse than Takemichi’s, and that’s saying something.
Chifuyu grabs Takemichi by the chin to get a better look.
“Ow! Chifuyu, what are you doing?” Takemichi squirms uncomfortably, jostling his head in an attempt to get away from Chifuyu’s bruising grip on his face.
“Hey!” yowls Mikey from his place crammed into his sister’s side. “Hands off, Chifuyu.”
Chifuyu rolls his eyes but acquiesces, not wishing to anger his captain.
“So?” Mikey asks impatiently.
Draken interrupts, exasperated. “‘So?’ what, moron? Use your words!”
“Does Mitchy have bags under his eyes?” Mikey clarifies imperiously. “Obviously. What else would I have meant?” He turns to Chifuyu then, dead eyes boring into him as he awaits the answer.
Chifuyu shrugs. “I mean, a little bit.” His voice is unconcerned, but he shoots Takemichi a little glance that has the boy shrinking down in his seat. Okay, so maybe he hadn’t been sleeping well recently. So what? That was nobody’s business but his own!
“Did I scare you…?” His eyes boring holes into the ground as held onto a mop handle. “Sorry… not really good at speaking to people. My therapist says I need to get better at that.”
Therapist? That was a can of worms that Takemichi was dutifully going to ignore.
Takemichi calmed his jack rabbit heart. “Ah, it's just that you appeared out of nowhere. Do you also work here?” And that could be the dumbest shit Takemichi had said all day, for the boy was wearing the exact uniform as they.
Makoto and Yamagishi turn in disturbing unison to stare at their friend with faux-disappointment. Wholeheartedly ignoring them, Takemichi facepalms at his own idiocy.
He felt Akkun flick his ear. “Are you blind? Of course he is, just look at him.”
The boy had such a thick depressing aura surrounding him it almost made Takemichi lay on the cold ground and become one with a pepperoni.
The theatre rumbles with familiar laughter at Hina’s narration, the captains in particular taking great pleasure in Takemichi’s humiliation.
Hakkai and Yuzuha heckle the gloomy teenager on screen, voices lowered as they whisper among themselves until something Hakkai giggles has Mitsuya bopping him over the head.
Yuhuza cackles as her brother wilts under his captain’s reprimand. “Deserved,” she decrees with a wide smile. The tension in Hakkai’s shoulders melts at the sight, happy to provide his sister with some joy despite his indignation at the treatment.
“Yes… I work here as well. My name is Tyler and I’m sure you’ve met Christopher already.”
“Who?” Takuya asked.
Akkun leans forward to stare at Takuya around Makoto and Yamagishi’s fat heads. “The other creepy blond, obviously.”
“You mean Yamagishi?”
“Hey!” The boy in question is now kneeling up on his seat to defend his honor, crushing Makoto beneath him as he leans over Makoto and pushes down on his shoulders for stability. It’s an entirely unnecessary maneuver that has Makoto shoving Yamagishi to the floor with great annoyance.
“You’re all creeps,” scolds Takemichi, basking in his friends’ indignation from his comfortable place nestled between Chifuyu and Draken. “Now sit down and let Hina keep reading!”
“Sorry, Miss Hina!”
Nahoya grits his teeth at the rambunctious lot, murmuring to his brother with a deceptively light voice, “Takemitchy’s friends are very loud, don’t you think?”
Souya nods.
The boy flickered his eyes towards the blonde before staring holes into his shoes. “My older brother. His name is Christopher, but just call him Chris. I bet he bribed you guys into working here.” He heaves out a world-weary sigh, the grip on the mop tightening. “He’s like that.”
Kisaki and Mikey’s eyes narrow. So, this had happened before, then?
This strange duo of Cobain look-alikes made no sense and set Kisaki’s teeth on edge. Were they unique to this other universe? He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of them during his recon and research. The theatre rumbles with familiar laughter at Hina’s narration, the captains in particular taking great pleasure in Takemichi’s humiliation.
Well, now that he said that, Takemichi could certainly see the similarities between them. Just like Chris' (Christopher) overwhelming blue eyes, Takemichi could just barely get a glimpse of Tyler’s eyes whenever he mustered up enough courage to look them in the eye for more than a split second.
"He's a shy one, isn't he?" Yuzuha's voice is wry and knowing.
Tyler had pitch black eyes. There’s no light in them but mostly void less. Empty. (It's unnerving how much it reminds him of Mikey’s eyes.)
Mikey wilts into Emma’s waiting arms. He wants to argue the point, but can’t. He wants to be sad about it, but can’t muster up the emotion. He isn’t angry at the revelation that the Takemitchy of that universe is vividly aware of what a broken thing he is. He wishes he could be.
Takemichi presses further into Chifuyu’s side, avoiding curious eyes. He doesn’t want to see the tension in everyone’s shoulders. Still, he’s well aware that Hina isn’t reading out anything unknown to Toman. It’s an unspoken thing, the void behind Mikey’s eyes, but everyone knows.
Hinata steals a glance at Takemichi, huddled miserably at his friend’s side, and longs to reach out. He doesn’t notice and she, eager to clear the tension in the room, dutifully continues reading.
Besides the eyes, the two siblings gave off the same vibes. One gave off angry, depressed college student with homicidal urges and the other sad, sad, high schooler whose only goal in life is (probably) to hold eye contact throughout a conversation.
Okay, so not exactly the same, but it was his first impression of them.
The kids chuckle half-heartedly at the description, still uneasy.
“I was wondering where everyone was!” Yamagishi says, appearing out of nowhere.
The entire theatre jumped in their seats as the boy popped up unceremoniously on the screen. Kisaki cursed up a storm at Takemichi’s idiot friend, but Yamagishi just flipped him off with joyful pride and Kisaki’s furious countenance had Takemichi and Chifuyu worrying for Yamagishi’s continued wellbeing.
Seriously, what's up with everyone appearing out of thin air? From where they’re standing, they should be able to see whoever walks up to them.
“Yes!” called out Nahoya, Souya nodding fervently by his side. “Exactly that! Stop jumpscaring us.”
"Or just stop being scared," shrugged Draken, mostly impassive if not for the amused twitch of his lips.
Souya scowled harder, one hand on his brother's arm to keep him from attacking.
Yamagishi slung his arm across Tyler’s shoulder, who visibly cringed at the contact. “Looks like you guys met Tyler! Isn’t he great? Anywho, we have a customer, so I’ll show you guys how to make pizza while Tyler takes care of them!”
Takuya sighed, unsurprised at his friend's behavior. "Yamagishi, leave that poor guy alone."