Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was hard to know what to do; Shigeo hadn’t slept most of the night. He made Ritsu upset with him. He made Ritsu feel like he didn’t trust him. With multiple secrets, REALLY big ones at that. How could he apologize for that? How could he visit Teru again with all of that guilt on his shoulders? 

“Hey kid, you sure you don’t want to go back to your room?” 

Reigen loomed over Shigeo’s limp body, which was sprawled over his couch. 

“Yes.” He managed to respond, his face barely moving and his sunken eyes still stuck in his mind. 

“Even after that, you can’t stop lying, Shige?” Dimple chuckled as he landed on the boy’s chest, laughing until seeing absolutely no reaction from him, “Not in the mood to joke about it yet? Man, this really got you down, huh?”

Reigen sighed and leaned down by the side of the couch, “You are taking up all the space in the consultation couch. Why not open up a bit? We can come up with a solution for this.”

Shigeo sat up, allowing Reigen to sit next to him, folding his wings behind the couch. The young demon’s eyes were still staring into space as he talked, “Ritsu hasn’t talked to me since yesterday and all of today, after we got back…we didn’t even walk to dinner together…what if he never talks to me again?”

“Mob, not to undermine your feelings, but you’re both still kids. You’ll get over this, I’m sure-”

“Are you mad at me, too?” Shigeo interrupted, realizing Reigen was witness to the same things as Ritsu was the other day, maybe he wanted the young demon out of his office as soon as possible.

“Of course not!” Reigen declared with his hands in the air, “It was…very unexpected, yes, but y’know, I’ve never seen you that happy around someone. And he seems like a nice kid…uh, what’s his name again?”

“Teru, Teruki Hanazawa,” Shigeo muttered, even now his face growing red at the mention of the angel.

“Yes, yes, real charming kid,” Reigen said, although now thinking about it, he did get over quite a lot really quickly. Mhm, angels are, in fact, real. My student is in a relationship, wow. And it turns out that the student and the same angel have been dating for the past month, thrilling. But now wasn’t the time to start digging into his thoughts too much. “Maybe you can invite your brother to get to know him more? I’d just talk it out with him. You two care about each other too much to keep playing the quiet game for the rest of eternity.”

Shigeo’s eyes finally moved about, one line of his sunken eyes gone at least. “Yeah. You guys should get to know him. You should know about everything.” A new determination in Shigeo’s eyes as he rose from the couch. “Do you have any appointments today?”

“Uh…shouldn’t. What do you have going on?” Reigen asked, the change in his student’s behavior startling him a bit.

“I was wondering if you’d like to attend my plans today.”

“Ah, right, your 'plans'” Dimple chuckled as he rose to fly above Reigen’s shoulder.

“We meet every other day. Teru should be there soon. We have to hurry, though.” Shigeo declared, and Reigen and Dimple nodded with encouragement. They were gonna drag Ritsu to the overworld whether he liked it or not.

________________

It took three rounds of knocking on Ritsu’s door before they finally got an answer from behind it.

“Busy. Studying. Come back tomorrow.”

“Aw, c’mon, Riichan. We’re gonna leave without you if you keep pouting!” Dimple said through the door, knowing the kid would probably vaporize him if he phased through the door.

“Then don’t come back.” The muffled threat spouted through the cracks of the door.

“Ritsu, please come out. I just want to talk to you, I’ll tell you everything. I don’t want to hide anything anymore; it was wrong for me to do it in the first place.” Shigeo said with his head leaning against the wood of the door.

No response.

Shigeo let out a sad whine as he peeled himself off the door. He turned around to look at Dimple and Reigen. He had no idea what to do now. He couldn’t share everything without his brother listening.

“Maybe I could scare him, and you could form a portal where he falls. Eh?” Dimple unhelpfully offered, although in his mind it was his own rude way of helping the situation.

“Shut it, we’re getting the kid out.” Reigen declared as he went up to the door, giving it a firmer knock, “RITSU! Your brother wants to talk with you, if you’re upset for him not telling you things, but then push him away when he wants to change that, how exactly are you two going to get anywhere?”

“I just want to make it up to you,” Shigeo added after Reigen’s strong opening, “You can listen to everything I’ve kept from you and then choose if you want to keep ignoring me. I’ll understand whatever you decide, I promise.” 

Dimple made a quick gesture towards his wrist to tell them to wrap it up, or if they had any other sentimental confessions for them to at least deliver it as quickly as possible. Shigeo just crossed his fingers while Reigen stared at the shuffling shadow under the door with a sweaty face.

Despite Dimple not having lungs, he also let out a sigh of relief alongside Reigen and Shigeo when they heard a click from the other side of the door. After what felt like the longest reveal of all time, there stood the spiky-haired brother. His hair looked a little messier than usual; you could barely even see his horns. He wore a similar look to his brother in his sharp eyes; both brothers have a hard time sleeping after stressful events, apparently.  Shigeo was overjoyed to see his brother, but it was clear the younger one wanted to get down to business as soon as possible. He stood to the side as he invited everyone in. The usually neat room was a bit more lived in, meaning some papers on the floor and the bed unmade, as crazy as the mature younger demon could get. 

“Can I just…?”

Ritsu nodded towards the floor at Shigeo’s question. Everyone took the hint and stepped back, getting closer to touching the wall than the middle of the room, where Shigeo had begun to channel his focus already. His hair floated as his transformation went through its usual cycle, then the somewhat familiar portal began to crack and open beside Shigeo. The other side glowed a familiar green and blue as Shigeo let out a small exhale as he finished.

“Alright, let’s go.”  

Shigeo simply walked through it, but for the others, now that they had the time, they took a bit longer stepping through it and taking in their surroundings. Like Shigeo, they had to adapt to the brightness, and also to walking on squishy ground after being accustomed to tiles and rocks. Dimple just wore a plain face as he floated along. They all had to get over it pretty quickly, though, because Shigeo was already making his way down his little walk that he could do with his eyes closed now. They were a bit late, surely Teru hadn’t left already? That’s not like him. Before Shigeo could panic anymore, he suddenly found his feet off the ground in a flash of yellow.

“Shigeo!! I knew you’d come!” Teru exclaimed as he spun Shigeo around, his arms wrapped around his waist and his wings unfurled. They had clearly given him some sort of speed boost with how little time Shigeo had to react. Teru then began to speckle Shigeo’s face with pecks.

“Um…Teru…”

Teru stopped as he was about to land another kiss on Shigeo’s cheek and slowly turned to look behind where Shigeo was standing. His lips were still puckered as he was facing three onlookers. Ritsu’s face was tired, dark, and done with an eyebrow raise as he scanned the angel again. Reigen was giving a small wave as he looked away, feeling like he was interrupting something. And Dimple was slyly smiling as he gave an enthusiastic wave to the blonde. 

“Aha…you…have company!” Teru said, trying to break the awkwardness, he put the demon down and patted his shoulders, “Nice to see you all again..!”

After a stiff murmur from the group, Teru coughed into his hands and jammed his hands down his pants pockets. Shigeo was already reason enough for Teru to dress up, but it was quite fortunate since he made a pretty good impression with his styled outfit and hair, even if the colors were a bit blinding, like the rest of the angel. Today, he donned a bright, magenta, cheetah print sweater with a black turtle-neck underneath. His pants were quite baggy and cream colored, no loud belt this time, so only his top half was human wear.

“Sooo what brings you all here? Oh man, I’m not meeting your parents, too, am I?” Teru asked as he slowly inched towards Shigeo’s side again.

“No, it’s just these guys today. I thought that, um, after the unexpected way things turned out, maybe it’d be best to explain everything…from the top. And you remember a lot of it better than I do-”

“Wait, wait,” Teru interrupted as soon as he got the idea, “You mean like…everything, everything?” Teru said as he ran his hand through his hair, a chunk making a small curtain over his face as he looked at Shigeo.

Shigeo gave a firm nod.  Teru tried his best to put on a smile, but after that failed, he grabbed Shigeo’s shoulders and turned them away from the small group. His wings were facing them, giving at least something to look at. 

“Are you sure? Are you really sure they’ll like me after that?” Teru asked as all the memories from the past came flooding back. 

“I did,” Shigeo replied, “You’re great, we all make mistakes. If I like you, so will they.” 

The blonde took a sigh before staring at the demon with soft eyes. “Whatever you say, Shigeo.”

They both turned back around, holding hands. They gathered under the trees, the three new visitors admiring the space. While the two before them were the more pressing matters, they definitely needed another day to fully explore this new world that had been unlocked for them. This was only their second time seeing the sun and what it grows after all.

All of them made a small circle, Shigeo and Teru sitting in front of them. Even now, the blonde’s clinginess did not falter; Teru was wrapped around Shigeo’s arm and his head on his shoulder. The rest of his body was leaning against the demon as well. Shigeo sat simply as he curled up with his legs to his chest and his tail wrapped around them. Ritsu sat with his legs crossed, and Reigen sat with one leg propped up as Dimple rested on his shoulder.

“Alright, kids,” Reigen said with his hands out, “Whenever you’re ready.”

Shigeo gave a more relaxed smile, turning towards Ritsu, who was still tense and dark. The elder brother took a deep breath and tried to find a good starting point. Teru sat next to him, encouragingly patting his arm.

“Well,” Shigeo began, “What first brought me here…was an accidental use of my powers…I think around three or four months ago.”

_____________________

“Great work today, Mob!” Reigen said as he ruffled Shigeo’s hair, “Opened the window just in time, huh?”

“That could’ve been bad master…Messing with souls and almost breaking property.” Shigeo muttered as his master strutted off to close the open window.

“Okay, technically, it wasn’t my fault. We were hired to get rid of the souls. A study room is pretty delicate too, and look! Not a single page out of place.” Reigen argued as he gestured around the room. There were a few books that got knocked over, and some papers were flying down, but other than that, the room seemed pretty untouched. 

Before Shigeo learned to open portals, he usually used his powers to steer them out. Out an open window, door, vent, basically any way to make it someone else’s problem outside of the cluster. This was how the job was usually done: a customer called in reporting a soul in their area (or Reigen had caused it). Shigeo and Reigen went to handle it, working together to get the souls out of the cluster. Then, it was paid and done.  

And as was also par for the course, they would grab food after a job. That was until a scream was heard from down the hall. Both Souls n Such employees looked at each other as they both peeked their heads out the door. Out ran some students near Shigeo’s age from a door down the hall. 

“Where did they come from!?” One of them shouted, trying to usher the other out of the room.

“I don’t know, but we need to call someone, right?” The other said as she ran into the other’s arms.

“Will we get in trouble for this?” 

“Run, just get away from them!”

Reigen and Shigeo ducked back into the doorway as they ran past the room where they were hiding in. They shared a quick conversation only through worried glances as they both booked it down to the other room side by side. As expected, there were souls bustling around the study room. Papers flew out of the big hole where a window was supposed to be.

“Shit…Mob quick! Get them out of here!” Reigen shouted as he took a few steps back. The souls seemed quite wary now. Did they pick up more friends on the brief trip over here?

“S-Should I? What if they just come back?” Shigeo stammered as he watched the airy forms wreck the shelves and furniture. The table in the middle was beginning to float off the floor.

“Who cares right now? They’re bound to end up with someone who can actually deal with them! Is there something else you can do with your powers?” Reigen yelled as his body became more hidden behind the hall’s door frame. He tried reaching Shigeo’s back to pat him forward.

“I-I….” Shigeo stared down at his hands. While his power seemed limitless, using it for handling souls and removing harm for both people and property placed tight constraints. What could he do? There wasn’t a way to do this well; there was too much and too little he could do. All this responsibility is on him. 

Reigen resorted to calling the authorities instead, grabbing Shigeo, and shutting the door. Later that week, there were 5 more soul sightings. Reigen didn’t even have time to contribute. And twice more, they would end up back inside the building, wreaking havoc and scaring students. 

“Must be a war going on or somethin’,” Reigen muttered as he trudged back with Shigeo. Shigeo’s eyes had become more and more sunken as the week went on, and he kept proving he was unable to do anything. “Do you wanna get some food?”

After no response from the teen, Reigen loudly stretched his back and put his arm on Shigeo’s shoulder. 

“C’mon, kid, it’s not your fault. Demons don’t even start developing powers that can mess with souls until they’re in their 20’s! How should you know what to do with them? How about we take a break from calls for a bit?” Reigen offered as they continued to walk back to the office. 

Shigeo just muttered some stuff in return, none of it seemed related to a response to his boss, though. Reigen sighed and continued them both forward, and he fumbled with the keys in his pocket. He held the key up to the door, only to see that the door was cracked open already. Raising a rusty eyebrow, Reigen grabbed the doorknob and opened the door fully to see someone already in the office putting books away and chatting with Dimple, it sounds like. A taller demon with curled horns on the sides of his dark, curly head hummed as he finished putting the final book in his arms on the shelf. His bat wings were so large that he didn’t see the owner behind him. 

“I hope you know I like them sorted alphabetically.” Reigen started with a suave lean against the door frame, his comment causing the taller demon to jump and whip his head around. His curled tail wraps around his leg. "Didn't know you'd be in the area, Serizawa."

“Ah, Reigen, you’re back! I heard about all the soul pop-ups around and how they’re getting quite dangerous. I came to uh…check on you…see if you needed help or if you were alright…” He said as he put the last book away and started fumbling with his fingers, staring at the ground as he approached Reigen. “No one was here, so I uh…thought I’d wait. Try to help clean up a bit.”

“Thanks. Haven’t really had time to clean up lately. You should stop by more often, could use the help,” Reigen said as he also took a step closer. After taking a glance at Shigeo’s drained face, he leaned closer to Serizawa, “And maybe help the kid get a break.”

“Oh…yeah, I’d like to. I’m actually here to help with the soul problems; I volunteered for this cluster. It’ll be more fun if you tag along, of course…”

Dimple rolled his eyes as Reigen let out an ugly chuckle as he ran his hand down his horns, to his head, to his neck. 

Serizawa has had incredible powers since his youth. After some help from Reigen, not knowing how to handle the abilities for years, he now works as someone who helps remove souls from other parts of the underworld. Reigen still considers him an “on-the-field worker for SnS.” Serizawa considered it like that too.

“Well, we just happened to pass by a few spots where they’re sprouting up! I could show you. Mob, you probably have schoolwork to catch up on, right? Why don’t you take the rest of the day off today?” Reigen said as he turned to place his hand on Shigeo’s shoulder.

Shigeo knew Reigen had missed Serizawa a lot since he’s been busy, and he also wanted to make sure his family was okay with all the pop-ups. 

“Are you sure you don’t want my help?” Shigeo asked just to be sure.

“Don’t worry, kid,” Reigen said as he flashed another glance at Serizawa, who was now fixing his appearance in a window reflection, “We’ll be fine! Go on now, and stay safe on your trip back!”

“Okay, see you tomorrow then.” 

They said their goodbyes, and Shigeo went back to the housing areas of the mansion. The few groups of people who had passed by him were chatting about how even the council was seemingly stressed about the number of souls, as well as wondering what the cause was from the Overworld. Shigeo tried not to overthink it, but he sped up to ease his nerves a bit. Crossing the courtyard to the residential rooms, Shigeo looked into the sky and saw a lot more dots than he was used to, filled with small streams full of souls, surrounded by other demons hovering around them. This hasn’t happened in Shigeo’s lifetime yet, but it usually does for every demon; there’s never not a war going on up there. He was a bit disappointed he hadn’t noticed the buildup of deaths until it became too overwhelming for him. 

Shigeo strolled inside, briefly waving every once in a while at neighbors or classmates, before entering the halls he shared with his family and a few others. He quickened his pace to Ritsu’s door, taking deep breaths before knocking on the door.

“Ritsu? Are you in there?” 

After speaking, some footsteps were heard behind the door. It swung open to show a cheery face, “Hey Shige, what’s going on? Don’t you have work today?” Ritsu moved to the side to invite his brother inside.

“I did, but Serizawa happened to be at our cluster. Reigen said I could go home early today; Serizawa knows how to handle it better than I do. Maybe I should’ve asked for help before I left.” Shigeo told him as he stepped inside his brother’s room.

Ritsu gave an eye roll when he faced the entrance to shut the door. “I’m sure they’re fine.” He sat on the floor next to his brother, “So, just come here to hang out in the meantime?”

“Well, that and I wanted to check how you were doing right now. With all the souls out and everything.” 

“Ah, don’t worry, brother, I’m fine. Don’t make them your responsibility.” 

“I know, but since I can help…I feel like I should.” Shigeo muttered as he started scratching at the floor. He held a hand to his face, “I feel like I’m wasting these powers, or choosing to be useless when issues I can fix happen.”

“As thoughtful as ever, huh?” Ritsu responded, “Well, again, it’s not your responsibility. And if I need to talk to Reigen-”

“You don’t! It’s not him…this is a problem I’ve thought about for a while now. But right now it’s a lot easier to think about.”

“I see, well, mom and dad don’t care what you use em for, as long as it’s not melting the silverware.”

The brothers let out a small chuckle, Shigeo’s eyes suddenly perking up.

“Do you know how mom and dad are right now?”

“At work, I bet they’ve either sent most people home or are keeping them longer to help with managing things. Maybe we can ask what their work schedule is gonna look like for a while, and we can huddle up together.” Ritsu said, smart yet kind, a perfect mix for his brother.

Shigeo smiled warmly, “That’d be fun, I’ve missed being all together.” He remembered days when he and Ritsu went up to their parents’ knees. On shut-in days, they would curl up on the master bedroom sheets to read and listen to their dad tell stories while their mom scolded him when he got too dark.

Once demons become teenagers and old enough to hold their own schedule, they usually get their own rooms and share a hallway with other families. They were close by and more private, but sometimes the smaller room was nice to grow up in. The mansion’s always smaller than it seems, though; new families needed that room, and they needed to grow into their roles. At least they had their dinners together; they just had to tune out the volume of the others also eating around them.

“Yeah, but I guess this is just the life of teens.” Ritsu responded, scratching the back of his neck, “But I’m sure they’re f…”

“Ritsu? Are you alright?” Shigeo asked as his brother’s words trailed off, his mouth hanging open beneath his widened eyes. Before Shigeo could ask again, Ritsu grabbed his brother and shoved him to the side.

“Ow, Ritsu, what’s-”

Shigeo saw the problem as soon as he got up. The window behind him had a cloud of figures blocking out the view. Slowly crawling in from under the glass, they didn’t even need an open window now to force their way in. One of them was halfway through; its form resembled less of a human after it had to mutilate itself to squeeze its way in. Once it had crawled down the wall, the other souls behind it began to squeeze under as well, pushing against each other to squeeze their way out of sight of the exorcists.

Ritsu had shoved Shigeo near the other side of the room, right by the door. It’s like the souls themselves could sense the power radiating within the eldest sibling, because they had started to float over towards the younger one. Screaming and crawling over walls and floors as they tried to regain their ability to fly. Ritsu was backed up against the wall, and it wasn’t a huge room to begin with; Ritsu truly was backed up into a corner. His tail was wrapped around his leg as he hyperventilated. 

“Oh, that’s right,” Shigeo thought to himself as he tried to figure out what to do, “Ritsu is a model student; if he accidentally harms a soul, it could ruin his record. I wonder why they’re more aggressive than usual.”

Shigeo decided he would help. Ritsu was scared; he was the only one who could. You could usually tell how the soul died depending on how they behaved; these were definitely reaped from whatever conflict was happening on Earth. Angry from a wasted life, they went out fighting as hard as they could. With all the excorcists about now, the safest place would be the clusters. Full of families and children who couldn’t fight them. 

Shigeo wishes he could just send them far away, a place where they could pass peacefully and accept their deaths. With shaky knees, he stood up and held out his hands. Concentrate on what you need right now, that place beyond their plane, a temporary connection between those two, a world of nothing that goes even lower than theirs. Ritsu had only seen Shigeo do the transformation once, which had also been the only time Shigeo had experienced it as well. But the crimson beneath his dark eyes seemed to bubble to the surface, his horn and wings shifting into the reds as well. The small room shook with the cracks stabbing through the floor. Despite being a few floors up, the cracks revealed a void, surrounded by red shocking auras. Ritsu curled up with his face against the wall as his hair whipped around, the souls that almost grasped his foot now being dragged away and into the void. As soon as the warm view from the window had returned, the forms surrounding it now found a place they could rest; the portal closed. 

Having to force a little more power out to close the rift back up, Shigeo let out a grunt and held his breath as the void slowly patched itself up. After a final huff, the room was back to normal, the souls were gone, and Ritsu’s hair finally rested back down to where his horns were visible. 

When Shigeo’s form finally returned to normal, he immediately leaped to check on his brother.

“Ritsu! Are you okay? It doesn’t look like they got to you, though…” 

Ritsu slowly uncurled himself and saw his room as it was, “Oh…huh. W-what’d you do? Are they…gone, gone?”

“I think so, I didn’t even know I could do that.” Shigeo looked around; there wasn’t even a scrape in the floor left. He’d have to remember that trick. 

“Well…uh…thanks for saving me, brother.” Ritsu said as he slowly calmed down, “You never cease to amaze.”

“I just didn’t want your hard work to go to waste, glad it turned out alright though,” Shigeo smiled. Ritsu returned a small smile of his own. 

Ritsu didn’t have the heart to admit to his brother that he did worry him sometimes. He just wanted to make sure the indescribable powers Shigeo was born with were well-handled, as in, not to bottle up and talk about his feelings more. 

Shigeo stayed with Ritsu a few moments more, just in case. 

___________________

The next day after work, Shigeo went back to his room to do schoolwork. Supposedly. The only thing on his mind was how he did the void trick earlier, and he was too scared to attempt it again today. Luckily, Serizawa was with them, but he got rid of the spirits differently than Shigeo had. Instead of whatever void Shigeo had used, Serizawa had quickened their passing, gathering them together and using his powers to put pressure on them as they fizzled out. It was a little much for Shigeo, but if he wanted to help both souls and the people he cares about, he wanted to know his power better. To protect others around him as well, it’s what he tried whenever he found something new he could use with his abilities. 

Shigeo cleared his room. He was going to practice this ability until he could use it, knowing he had full control. His form shifted with a deep breath in, and he held out his hands as his hair floated out of his eyes. He began to open void after void, on the wall, on the ceiling, right in front of him. Seeing how fast it would take to close and open them, and how much he could control their force. Luckily, it seemed they didn’t affect the location or demons all too much, which was a relief to know. He opened a few more before he was satisfied, looking around the room to close up the multitude of sized voids. Backing up, he gave a final look around before he began to transform back. Just as his hair settled down, he felt himself falling backwards. Foot not landing on the floor, his whole body slowly dropped down into a portal that was on the floor behind him. Letting out a small sound of fear as he flailed to grab onto something, one hand got shocked from the outside frame of the void, while the other grabbed nothing but emptiness as his body was consumed. With his form back to normal, the portal closed, and the view of his room was gone. 

Everything was black and cold. He couldn’t feel anything around him; the air felt like a solid he could reach through with how heavy this pitch blackness was. For a faint second, he would see a soul, slowly curling up with a calm light as it faded from view. Peacefully at rest.

Shigeo had to get out of here. Where was he? Did he aim for a portal up or down? Was this place even on the planes of Heaven and Hell? Whatever, he just knew there was nothing around for miles. Up. Go up. Up, up, up was definitely a better outcome. He transformed and used his frantic fuel to make a portal out of here. Far above here. As far up as he could go. All of a sudden, he felt the wind get knocked out of him from landing on his back, crushing his wings a little. 

A portal floated above the now blue surrounding and closed. Shigeo regained his breath as he transformed back again. Finally having the strength to get up, he flinched at the spiky yet soft feel of the plant that surrounded the whole floor. Shigeo looked down and pressed his palm on and off the grass. Then whipped his head around before squinting a bit. Man, this place was bright. He crawled under one of the tall trees nearby, the shade making it easier to take in his surroundings and not be overwhelmed. Small colorful animals were flying through the air, life surrounding every nook of his view. This is amazing. And that light in the sky, it felt surreal. 

Shigeo sat there for a while, stuck. He had reached the overworld. He didn’t know it would look so…lively. Guess he wasn’t near any places with humans; he couldn’t see any signs of civilization. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but at some point, he had gotten up and walked around. Getting used to the feeling of grass on his shoes was an interesting experience; his shoes did not make the echoey, hard noise he was accustomed to. And there was life everywhere. Flying through the air, scampering up trees, he didn’t even realize that what he was stepping on counted as well. If he didn’t know about the overworld, he’d have assumed he was on an alien planet. Which he kind of was in his case. Shigeo’s eyes followed a butterfly around for a while, but he lost it after having to close his eyes. Yes, the butterfly was incredible, but what intrigued him more was a blinding light he saw from behind some trees and bushes. 

Like a moth to a flame, he started approaching where the light had come from. Quietly placing his feet, he hunkered beneath the bushes that had a view of a clearing. Beneath some big trees, a blinding light was forming, casting a glow on every individual leaf nearby. Shigeo did have to squint and peer down a bit, but once the light faded, he turned back up. And the sight caused his heart to drop in a way that shook his whole body. 

Instead of another Earth wonder, wide, white wings had spread, flapping a few times in sync with the person they were planted on. A faded halo now completely dissolved as the person turned around, blonde hair cascading onto its arms as it continued to stretch, hair that framed the most beautiful complexion Shigeo had ever seen. It let out a sigh and dropped the bag it was carrying, tucking some hair behind its ear as it bent to look through the contents.

An angel. That was an angel. No way it could be anything else. Shigeo had seen handsome and pretty demons before, but he could never really say they glowed quite like this person. While its clothes were more normal than expected, jeans and a bright blazer over its collared shirt, Shigeo couldn't take his eyes off it.

The angel kept sifting through the bag, a pretty smile on his face under his focused eyes. Shigeo just couldn't stop watching. He kept watching until his knees started to ache; he wasn't used to the grass yet, either. Trying to adjust his watching position, he somehow bumped into his own leg and landed face-first into the bush. Quickly pulling his head out with a rather loud gasp, he put his hands on his mouth and hunkered down. 

Shigeo didn't hear anything. He slowly peered back onto the clearing, and it was empty. The bag was now propped against a tree. The demon peered around, before being met with an up close view of the stranger to his right.

“Didn't think I'd get stalked all the way out here.” The angel muttered, a hand on his hip. 

Shigeo yelped and landed backwards. Frantically moving his hands around to push himself back up, the angel moved closer to him and squatted down. He wore an unamused face while leaning on his knees. 

“I have no clue how you found me all the way out here, but I suppose someone living in the woods isn't out of the question.” The angel said, twirling his finger around a piece of string from his sleeve, “But you found out my secret, I'm an angel. And as amazing as that may be to you, I have to do something about it now.”

He plucked the string from his sleeve and let himself be surrounded by a gold aura. The string began to glow and shift in size. The blonde gave it a small whip, and with a flash of light, Shigeo’s torso was tied up. The string quickly wrapped dozens of times around his arms and chest. 

“Uh-”

“Silence. I need to figure out how to handle this.” The angel said as he let go of the end of the string, he grabbed Shigeo’s shoulders, pulled him up from off the ground, and shoved him against a tree trunk. With a wave of his hand, Shigeo was now tightly against the tree; even without the ties, he’d be too scared to move anyway.

The angle put a hand to his face, running it through his hair. His eyes were so expressive, changing shades with the rises and falls of his eyebrows. 

“I-I’m not going to tell anyone…it’s just me.” Shigeo tried to say, but one glare from the angel shut him up. 

“Good to know. Sadly for you, I might have to leave you tied up here for the rest of your life.” 

The demon’s eyes widened. He knew they were meant not to like each other, but this is a bit much, right?

“Also, you won’t mind if I take these off? I find them offensive.” Said the angel as he grabbed Shigeo’s chin with one hand and then grasped one of Shigeo’s horns with the other. With a small tug, Shigeo tried not to wince. He focused on the angel’s puzzled expression. Taking a deep breath, the blonde tried again. Shigeo couldn’t hold it in with how hard the angel was forcing, now swinging his head around a little.

“OW-ow, ow…” 

The angel could feel the sweat on Shigeo's face as he analyzed him. He now saw that the wings flapped slightly sometimes. And…was that tail moving on its own?

The angel stumbled back, mouth hanging open and eyes wide. 

“YOU’RE A DEMON! A-A REAL ONE!” The angel yelled, an accusing finger pointed at the strung-up boy. His soft, pretty face morphed into a scrunched armored expression, “I-I…You tracked me down, didn’t you…hah..I guess I got to you before you get rid of me, huh!?” 

“N-No, I just saw a light and and-”

“Shut up! You’re mistaken if you think you can just sneak up and kill me!” The angel grabbed a stick from the ground. Once it got enveloped in the same golden aura, the end became sharpened, and the bark seemed to glow. The point was aimed right at Shigeo’s forehead.

His wings flapped as he screamed, “Please! I wasn’t going to hurt you!”

“Believe me, you’re lucky I let you get this close. I guess I didn’t expect your appearance to look so…” He glanced back at the demon’s round and simple face. “So normal.”

“...What were you expecting?”

“You know, the usual; sharp claws, sharp teeth, honestly, a lot more animalistic? A stabbing thingy?”

“A trident?”

“Whatever. But this is just appearance, heh, more deceiving than I expected, I suppose!” The stick swatted him on the head.

“Uh…” Shigeo mumbled in confusion, wondering why the blonde looked like he had cracked the case.

“So what is true then? What do you usually do to unsuspecting humans or angels then?” The stick sat next to his neck now.

“I hate to disappoint you, but this is my first time on the surface. Most of us have never gone to the overworld.”

“Are…no y-you’re lying!” Teru stuttered a bit, his face a mix of anger and confusion. “You don’t…drink blood or…steal babies…or at least, I dunno, set a ton of stuff on fire?”

“Of course not!” Shigeo said, himself feeling a bit terrified at what the angel was spouting, “What made you think that?”

“I-it’s just what we were told! And I mean you still look kinda scary with those…things on you!”

Shigeo glanced towards his small wings and tail wrapped around his leg.

“You really think these are scary?”

“Well…not to me, of course, but I’m sure anyone would find it strange!”

“But…didn’t you mistake me for dressing up earlier?”

The angel groaned and stomped in a few circles before turning his back and trying to calm himself down. Shigeo wanted to continue the conversation, maybe calming the situation.

“Are you really an angel?”

“Obviously?”

“Well, no offense, but I didn’t expect you to look like that either.” He quieted down when the angel gave a harsh turn around. “At least…not fully.”

“Oh, yeah? What’d you expect to see then?” The angel asked, twirling the stick in his hand.

“Uh…less person-like, I guess. More wings…a big halo…maybe multiple eyes…”

“That’s ridiculous.” 

“You thought I ate babies…”

“You could!” The angel suddenly stiffened up again, both hands gripping the stick now. “If you’re trying to deceive me… I-it’s not going to work.”

“I’m not…I promise. We could be friends if you like.” Shigeo said, a new hope in his eyes, “I’m Shigeo Kageyama."

The angel gave a muffled laugh behind his hand, a brush through his hair before turning to meet Shigeo’s gaze with a dull look in his eyes. “Teruki Hanazawa.”

“That’s a nice name.”

Teru scoffed. Shigeo wanted to keep a casual feel to their conversation, or at least distract the angel from his psychopathic plan.

“Um…what brings you to the overworld..?”

Teru turned his back to Shigeo, giving him a chance to admire his wings up close.

“None of your business.” 

“Does it have something to do with that bag?”

Teru’s eyes suddenly widened, the stick now pointed at Shigeo’s neck again. Shigeo winced.

“No. Shut up.” Teru grabbed the collar of Shigeo’s shirt as well. “I should be asking you questions. How did you find me? What were you planning to do with me?”

“I-I told you I don’t want to hurt y-”

“Yeah, YEAH, I know. As you keep saying, so I guess that means you’re here to kidnap me, huh? Like you’ve done with other angels.” The point was getting scarily close to his skin now.

“NO! We never kidnapped angels. I promise, I ended up here by accident. You’re the first angel I’ve ever seen…I didn’t even know angels were real!” 

“LIES! YOU’RE LYING!”

The stick was raised above the blonde’s head, full arm ready to strike. When the stick’s point carved a slash into the tree, the angel wore a shocked expression as he realized his target had vanished. He rocked his head around, angrily looking for where he had gone. The strings were still floating, loosely hovering around the tree as Shigeo tried to get up from his knees. Teru flashed him a glare, and suddenly the strings dropped. 

“You do have powers! Show me what you use against the other angels!” Teru grabbed the dropped string and wrapped it around the stick, his powers forming it into a glowing, makeshift dagger.

Shigeo was stumped; he didn’t know what to do. This angel clearly thought he had come here to hurt him. And no matter how many times he’s said he wasn’t, Hanazawa wouldn’t believe him. He made a barrier around him. When Teru tried to slash it, his dagger started to burn a bit. He clicked his tongue and took a few steps back.

“Are you…stopping?” Shigeo asked, trembling with his arms up.

“Why would I?” Teru then surrounded his body with light and became a bolt of sunlight. He zipped into the air and right onto the barrier. The barrier shimmered a little before the light grew, and Teru appeared right before Shigeo. The barrier shattered as Teru tackled him, an arm wrapping around Shigeo’s neck as his feet were lifted off the ground.

“Tell me. What’s your real plan?” Teru asked, the pressure increasing as Shigeo’s legs flimsily kicked the air.

Shigeo coughed, his hands slipping off Teru’s arm as he tried to fight back. He didn’t want to hurt him; he really didn’t, but he knew the chances of this angel killing him were more likely than letting him live.

“P-please…”

__________________

“Wait, wait…” Ritsu interrupted, an icy edge in his voice, “You tried to kill him?”

Shigeo stumbled on his words a bit. Teru was staring at the floor as he leaned on Shigeo’s shoulder.

“I mean…we don’t know if he was actually going to kill him,” Reigen said, as he put a hand on Ritsu’s shoulder, “...Were you?”

Teru finally looked up, still not making eye contact, though, “I…um…No. I had no intention to kill anyone. I was just…really focused on getting answers.” 

“You hurt him!” Ritsu yelled as he stood up on his knees, “Shige, why would you date someone who did this to you?”

Shigeo put his arm in front of Teru and stood to meet his brother’s gaze.

“Ritsu, I promise it’s okay. We wouldn’t be here if it didn’t have a good ending to our first meeting.” 

“He still hurt you. What if he killed you?” Ritsu argued, not taking his darkened expression off the angel.

“He wasn’t going to. I didn’t want to hide anything from you, okay? That includes the stuff we’re not too proud of.” Shigeo said strongly as he gave a small glance to Teru, who was twirling his hair with solemn eyes. “Please, before you do anything, I want you to know the full thing. I told you I’ll understand however you feel after I tell you everything.”

Ritsu kept his snarl, but upon hearing his brother be so honest with him, he settled down a little. His brother seemed different. With the angel, he's standing up for himself, chatting, and more expressive than he's ever seen him. He clearly cares about this a lot, but what if the angel really did have some sort of hypnosis on him? That would break him. What if he's under the angel’s spell forever?

“Ritsu? Does that sound good?” Reigen asked, his hand on his shoulder again, pulling him down.

Now out of his head, Ritsu breathed in and out before sitting back down. His tail was still visibly whipping around behind him. He gave a glance up, Shigeo deciding to take this chance to keep going.

“Okay, uh,” Shigeo started, intertwining his hand with Teru’s, who had his head on Shigeo’s shoulder again to Ritsu’s dismay. “Where was I?”

“I believe it was when Blondie was choking you.” Dimple helpfully chimed in, ignoring the look Reigen was giving him.

“Oh, right, thank you,” Shigeo said as Teru groaned into him. 

______________________

“TELL ME WHAT YOU DO WITH ANGELS.” Teru shouted right next to Shigeo’s ear. 

Shigeo still squirmed and lightly kicked to try to free himself. His eyes shot around, the light peeking through the trees being blurry and leaving dots when he closed his eyes. Then he saw the ditched sharp stick lying in the grass. He took a hand off of Teru’s arm and held it out. The stick shakily lifted off the ground and shot towards Teru. It shot through the sleeve of the arm that was pressing down on the one wrapped around Shigeo’s neck. When Teru gasped and got pushed back, Shigeo scrambled to breathe in as much as he could and crawled as fast as he could away. The stick shot into a tree, making Teru snarl as he tugged at it. Shigeo had crawled into the clearing, and he stared at his dirty hands and hyperventilated. He was trying to focus, make a portal home. He didn’t even think of where he should focus his power to get back home from here. Although the answer did come quickly: down. Shigeo took a deep breath and tried to focus. The tips of his horns began to turn red until Teru got back to him. He now stepped on his back, one hand holding Shigeo’s arm and the other slamming his face into the grass.

“Don’t think you can escape that easily…” Teru said, breathing heavily. 

Shigeo tried to mutter something, but he didn’t want the grass in his mouth. Teru had begun yelling more accusations, pressing down and pulling on him. Shigeo began to hyperventilate again; the strong smell of grass blades up his nose was suffocating him. What could he say, what could he do? It was so loud, everything was so strong. Then, an added blinding of the sun got mixed in. Teru had turned his body over and had his hands wrapped around his neck. The lack of air was adding tons more to the process and made every existing inconvenience 10x worse. His thoughts were booming, and his senses so overloaded that he didn’t notice the yelling change to yelping. The grass blades around him started to wither and dry. Teru had to quickly take his hands off Shigeo because of how hot he was getting. Soon, the demon was covered with a light brush of flames as he continued to breathe in. Teru was standing back, massaging his warm fingers. 

Shigeo still tried to calm down, which was hard to do when your whole body was on fire. Another problem on his list of problems to figure out. He tries to fix one problem, but he causes more. He tries to fix that problem by being extra careful, but then he causes more problems. He’s the only one here. He’s the only one who can fix this. Should he even try, though? If it keeps ending up like this? His powers, the souls, his family, his work, his powers again, the void, Earth, an angel, trying not to die. Was every kid supposed to be prepared to handle this?

Shigeo hadn’t noticed, but he had begun to cry. He sat up to hold his neck, maybe help himself breathe a little better. The tears either evaporated or boiled when they dropped into the dying grass. Teru had inched away towards his bag, grabbing at the straps but not taking his eyes off the demon. Shigeo was still taking in heaving breaths; it was harder to do that with a lump in your throat. His crying was calm enough that he could still get his head to steady, just small sniffles here and there. The flames on his body were building up; strangely, the more he calmed down, the closer the flames were to being released. Teru was too busy staring that he hadn’t noticed the buildup as well. Before he knew it, when Shigeo took one final large huff, the flames dispersed from his body, similar to Teru’s shedding of light after travel. 

Shigeo sat on his knees, wiping the wetness from his eyes and solemnly looking at the dead grass and dry dirt around him. His first sight of overworld life, and he had killed it already. He looked up and quickly widened his eyes at the sight. You see, Teru wanted to get away from the fire before it dispersed, obviously, but you couldn’t exactly get off the ground fast enough. So, what instead happened was Teru opened his wings, and didn’t exactly have the choice but to use them as a barrier for himself, and more importantly, his bag of goods.

So now what was left in Shigeo’s sight was two fleshy, pink wings. I mean, there were some small feathers left on small patches.

Shigeo's jaw was hanging open; he didn’t know what to do. When the person they belonged to started to move, obviously feeling the new chill on his vulnerable wings, he turned to look and had a similar expression at what Shigeo had caused. Another problem, the lump in his throat returned. 

“Y-you-”

“Hanazawa I-”

“No. Do not use my name.” Teru said with his shocked expression not changing; it was quite unnerving. His naked wings were tightly behind him, still too big to be well hidden. “You did this on purpose. Taking away my most important ability…the humiliation you get from me is just another prize for you, isn’t it…”

“I didn’t…it was an accident!” Shigeo pleaded, not being able to resist the glances at the wings that were the same shade of pink as Teru’s cheeks. 

“Sure, sure,” Teru stated as he bent down to his bag and pulled out a bright, furry jacket with some glowing neon pattern sewn around the back. The gold aura surrounded it, and the fabric then shifted into a club-like sword. 

Shigeo would’ve gulped if he didn’t have that lump in his throat. He could fix this, one problem at a time. Maybe if he fixed Hanazawa’s wings (that he caused), he would not want to murder him! Sure! But there’s a mini problem in solving that first problem, a pretty, blonde, psychopathic angel that refused to listen to him was charging at him with an even bigger weapon than before. Quick solution: Dodge. Right now. 

Shigeo threw himself toward the ground as he felt a woosh graze his hair and horns. He had a small gap of time to get up when Teru recovered his footing. He really threw himself with murderous intent; his expression was the scariest thing Shigeo could imagine, that the pretty face he was admiring could become something this terrifying. 

Shigeo then had time to get a small idea when he saw the end of Teru’s weapon get stuck in the dirt. Shigeo ran towards the thickest tree he could find and pressed his back against it. His legs shook as the angel’s now sharp blue eyes landed on him again. Teru ran at him, and with both arms over his head, he whipped the weapon so hard you could hear whistles echo against the coves of trees. Shigeo pushed his shoes against the tree and launched himself, flying by the mass of naked wings behind the angel’s back. While Teru was violently shaking the instrument to get it unlodged, Shigeo shakily stood up and pressed a hand in the middle of the two wings.

“HEY, WHAT ARE YOU-”

A weird ticklish feeling throughout Teru's body cut him off. His body felt warm, like he could feel every individual blood cell heating up and drifting around inside him. He slowly let go of his weapon with shaky hands; his head felt light and flushed. He prepared to yell and slap Shigeo with whatever strength he could, but by the time he slowly shifted his head around, he saw the demon with floating hair and red horns. A reddish aura surrounded him, sharp teeth grated together, and even more grass was dying at his feet. Teru felt too scared yet curious to do anything. That and he felt like all his blood had rusted and left him moving like a tin man. 

As soon as the feeling ended, he whipped his body around, fists up, not caring if he’d get third-degree burns by punching the demon. But all the demon did was stand there, his eyes drained, all the dark features on him, his eyes, horns, hair, wings, even his clothes looked drained and dried. Before Teru could even think, the demon fell against him. Quickly put his arms out, and they wrapped around Shigeo. 

“Demon? Hello?” Teru placed Shigeo on a healthy chunk of grass, looming above his face. “Y-you can’t leave just yet. I still need you to tell me everything…please don’t go…”

His head was already spinning, so the extra heat of guilt for not remembering the demon’s name made Teru’s body feel even heavier. Shigeo didn’t even look like he was breathing, but after putting his ear to his chest, he heard the faint workings of the demon’s body at work, fortunately. Teru sighed with relief, leaning back on his hands, he stared down at the demon again. While he slept like a corpse, he was a pretty sleeper. The subtle opening and closing of his mouth, the gleam in his eyelashes and hair on his face, Teru didn’t think a demon could look human, let alone handsome. He leaned the sleeping demon against a root of a tree as he went to collect his jacket, making sure it wasn’t dirty. 

________________________

Shigeo knew his body was basically drained; his brain didn’t even have enough energy to make dreams. Because of his earlier experience with the void, as he came to consciousness, he quickly opened his eyes and whipped his body up. Looking around wildly, he really did meet an angel. He really did almost die from that angel as well. No need to pinch himself as the lunatic was sitting next to him. Eyes now a calm sea as he scanned the demon. 

“Ah, there you are. You’re…a still sleeper...” The angel told him as he played with his hair, “You…okay?”

Shigeo hesitated a moment, looking the angel up and down for any hidden weapons.

“I won’t hurt you if that’s what you’re worried about.” The angel clarified, his hands held up.

Shigeo still mumbled a bit before turning his head up, his breath then hitched again. When Teru wasn’t trying to carve a dent into his body with a giant magical weapon, he truly was a beautiful sight. His hair perfectly reflected the beams between the leaves, small orbs of light in his eyes shifted with size and brightness as he glanced around, and his now mostly-covered wings flapped slightly behind him.

Before Shigeo answered any of Teru’s questions, he had to make sure he had taken care of an issue for his own peace of mind.

“Are your wings okay? Are you able to get home with them?” 

The wings were mostly covered; the layer of feathers seemed thin compared to the strong, sharp look Teru had landed with. There were still a few patches of pink here and there, too.

“They should be fine. I don’t know what you did, but I’ve never seen anything like it.” Teru responded, stroking a stretched-out wing over the fresh new feathers. “Also, how did you know I needed them to get home?”

“Well…isn’t Heaven in the sky?” Shigeo asked, pointing upward with his legs curled to his chest.

“Heaven? Is that what everyone’s still calling it?” Teru asked with an unimpressed eyebrow raise, “And I mean, I mainly use the light to travel. But you do have to get off the ground and such. Also, how else would I get to school-”

“You’re not from Heaven?” Shigeo interrupted, his eyes widened.

“Are you from Hell?” Teru retorted. He leaned in slightly; it probably wasn’t healthy for Shigeo’s breath to get cut off this much.

“Uh…no…I guess not. But you’re really an angel, you said.” Shigeo muttered as he tried to think about this, his tail uncurling from his leg to bob in thought.

“I am an angel. We don’t live in Heaven, though. If that place is Heaven, then you’re gonna be really disappointed when you die. Uh, well, since you’re a nice…demon, I guess…”

“Huh,” Shigeo said. He was honestly quite relieved. He hadn’t had a life-or-death battle with a biblical creature of judgment. Just another teen like him, confused and tired. “So you’re all just…regular people. Just like us…and…humans, I suppose.”

“...I guess so.” Teru responded, and he put that in the back of his mind to think about later, “So..what did you do? Many angels have tried to find a way to regrow feathers. Powers, serums, spells, you name it. You could make a lot of money with that, er, I mean, we probably don’t have the same currency, but-Whatever, how’d you do it?”

“Oh, well, a while ago, master Reigen had me try to put some energy into some plants to make them grow faster,” Shigeo explained as he slowly touched a finger to the bark that Teru had carved a slash into. “When he saw it worked, he wondered if it worked for humans, too. Turns out I can heal people’s injuries, but it takes a lot out of me. Master wanted me to stop using that ability after that, but I practiced a few more times.” A light bark grew over the gash, while it wasn’t the rough bark the tree was covered in. A smooth, light layer repaired the hole. Leaving the tree well-balanced and healed. “But basically, I used up a lot of energy to help speed up the feather growing. It’s harder to do in the underworld, but here there’s a lot more life to borrow energy from. I’m glad I was able to wake up sooner.”

“I see,” Teru said as he took that in, from what he heard about this “Reigen,” not all demons could do that. Impressive and thoughtful. “Thank you…uh…kuh..”

“Kageyama. Shigeo Kageyama.” 

“Right, right.”

They both sat there a moment longer, gazing at each other every once in a while. Both tired and wrapped up in all the thoughts they had from the past hour. Shigeo didn’t notice though, there was too much to look at and admire. His head was still a bit blurred from waking up, but he felt like the sun itself was charging him with all of the pretty flicks of light and life surrounding the blonde. That was, until Teru broke the silence. 

“Hey, um…I know I’ll probably get the same answer…” Teru started, tucking some hair behind his ear and leaning forward again, “But…do you really not know anything about angels getting taken by you guys? Like, absolutely no contact with any angels?”

Shigeo saw the solemn desperation in his eyes; he felt sad about having to give the same answer as Teru had predicted. “I’m sorry, all of us don’t even know about angels. I had no idea you guys existed, or that you looked like this. If any of our kind interacted at all, I’m sure everyone would hear about it.”

Teru sighed, leaned against the bark of his own tree. Shigeo felt like his apology wasn’t enough; it clearly disappointed Teru. It was incredible; he’d never seen a person have a light dim and glow around them. He felt like he was watching a candlelight flicker and blow with the wind. 

“Do you want to talk about it? You fought so hard to know…You must’ve wanted a specific answer.”

Shigeo didn’t expect much from his question, as well as helping the angel calm down. But today was full of surprises, a teen finally having an outlet; it was expected that he would agree. Who knows if he would see the demon again? Teru considered it like throwing a paper with his feelings on it into a deep hole in the ground with fire at the bottom. 

With a deep breath, Teru turned to look at Shigeo. “You really wanna know?”

“Go ahead, Hanazawa.” 

Teru’s heart fluttered at his name being remembered. With a cough, he began to explain to Shigeo why he was on Earth in the first place. It became easier to spill out as he went along.

He was around 8 when his parents first started taking long trips to Earth. They didn’t have the power to use light like Teru, so he saw them extend their wings some mornings and make that long journey. With just wings and help from a travel expert, the trips down would take a day, and they’d be gone for almost a week. Then, when he was 10, his parents didn’t come back from one of their “trips.” He waited, and waited, no one really knew what happened. Without parents, Teru’s early perfection faltered a bit. Before anyone discovered his parents were gone, he was constantly late for class, hungry from having to be responsible for his own meals now, and dirty from trying to keep the house clean. And of course, never looking like a child should. Instead of being careless and light, Teru’s eyes were full of dull confusion underneath the puffiness and dark bags from crying in random parts of the empty house. He was constantly praised for learning to fly so much earlier than the other angels, but he didn’t have a choice if he wanted to try and keep his life as normal as he could. 

He knew he had powers unlike the other angels, but it wasn’t until he was 13 that he tried to travel like he heard some could with the manipulation of light. After a lot of studying, he had attempted to travel down to Earth for the first time. He was going to learn what it was like down there and what had happened to his parents. While they weren’t the most attentive, there’s no way they cared about their child so little that they had just abandoned their home. Surely Earth couldn’t be that great to sweep them away from the clouds.

Of course, it hadn’t gone perfectly. Luckily, no one was around to see him flailing his arms as his body shifted from streaks of light to flesh again in the sky. With how much sky there was, there was quite a lot of that. A crash landing into the trees was the perfect way to end the worst trip he could’ve thought of. Hair full of twigs and tangles, he climbed out from the bushes and took in his surroundings. It was…really nice, he hated to admit. The plants were…nice. And the forms of life flying around and climbing through the trees were… okay. Not causing him emotional resolution, but still. He spent his first day exploring around, learning what untouched Earthly nature looked like. He had a lot of time to do so, with how he couldn’t figure out how to fly back up in time before the sun set. That was a cold night, and he also then learned that Earth could be scary. 

After months of perfecting the trip, taking another week to make sure he had a good handle on making a smooth, quick trip, he finally continued with his original cause. He would fly for miles some days, looking for some kind of sign or familiarity he could use, but it was just the same view for as far as he went, besides the human town he found. This was also around the time he began to join gangs. Once they found out about his excursions, it felt like having a multidimensional threat with Teru as your friend. He would bring them back certain things from below, candies, clothes, and he even found a garbage can full of trinkets that you could play with. His members would bend to his will at the sheer power he had; he also played it up for some additional approval. 

Since those gang members were the only people he considered to be “friends,” really, he would accidentally overshare now and again. One day, a couple of years later, he had overshared about what happened to his parents, heart-stopping at the silence and uneasy faces he was met with. And for the first time, people were laughing AT him. Only met with responses that a middle school boy would think of for parents going missing,

“Dude, lucky! I wish my parents had been killed by humans or something!”

“Lighten up, you can do whatever you want. Sheesh, you really do have the perfect life.”

“And here I thought you were a straight A student because you had mom and pops up your ass! Are you secretly a nerd and enjoy that shit?”

And then, one that caused a whole eruption of laughter, and one that Teru would try to forget until now,

“Maybe they got taken by demons or something!”

After a good fake laugh and “playfully” punching multiple “friends” in the gut, he flew home. That was the night he decided he would give up. Give up looking for his parents. They were gone. Maybe they weren’t even on Earth and were hiding on the opposite side of the clouds. Who knew. Why bother. 

He wouldn’t, however, stop his trips. While it was just trees and bugs to keep him company down there, they seemed more understanding of Teru’s true self than anyone else did. And while he didn’t know it, he was a completely different person whenever he paid a visit to the human town. Earth truly was incredible; it’s where he found his wonderful fashion sense, new attention from new faces, and all kinds of different, random wonders. He could travel around more, but he liked the familiarity of the few spots he would visit and truly call his own.

Another year or two went by with once-a-week or so trips, doing his homework under trees, or shopping for an hour. And then, this very day, someone else was in the deep depths of the woods with him. He expected it was a human that either lived in the woods or had somehow trailed him all the way out here. He didn’t exactly know how to handle what he’d do until he found out it was never a human at all. 

And while he may have overreacted, he’d never met a demon. And following the pattern of his parents going missing after a couple of years, to now years later, a demon found him; he had just assumed he was going to suffer a fate similar to theirs. He could finally find answers after all this time. Was what he thought. Now his world is truly upside down.

Teru sighed when he had finished his recap, scowling a little because of how much more boring it sounded when laid out. He turned to apologize again to his opponent before his words got cut off by the sight. The demon’s face was dripping with tears. Teru had no clue how he didn’t notice the small sniffles that started halfway through his rant, but he was unprepared for how to comfort a demon.

“Oh, um, sorry. You really don’t need to get too worked up. I really don’t care now,” Teru assured, sighing as the demon wiped his face with his sleeve.

“It’s just…” Shigeo said with a louder sniffle, “That’s so sad. I’m so sorry, Hanazawa.” 

Teru’s whole body tightened; it felt like his whole form was trying to rewind to back then, waiting for someone, anyone, to say something normal to him about his situation. How should you react when, years later, someone who’s supposed to be your mortal enemy is the only one with enough sympathy to care?

“It’s…it’s fine. I told you…it’s fine,” Teru then sported the most genuine smile Shigeo had ever expected to see from him, “Thank you, Kageyama.” 

Shigeo felt his cheeks light up; he was somewhat happy he cried because you really couldn’t tell his cheeks were flushed for more than one reason. I mean, it’s how he got anytime a popular or good-looking person complimented him, he tried to brush it off. 

“Oh, and I’m very sorry for hurting you. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“It’s okay, I understand. You had your reasons.” 

They both gave each other relieved smiles, wings flapping together. Shigeo wanted to pull his eyes away from the otherworldly galaxies that were the angel’s eyes, so he quickly started glancing around, eyes landing on the bag Teru had risked full-body burns for.

“If you don’t mind me asking now, what were you trying to protect?” He bit his tongue before he said something stupid like ‘angel treasures.’

“Oh! It’s uh, human stuff…that I like to collect.” Teru said, unsurely, clenching the bag close to his side.

“Human stuff?” Shigeo said with wide eyes, and Teru responded with a pearly chuckle. 

“Um, would you want to see?” The curiosity caused his shoulders to relax; anything would probably be amazing to this guy. He repeated his laugh when he was met with aggressive nodding.

Teru placed the bag between them and opened up the top, revealing a stack of clothing in every color. Could fabrics really be that bright, or was this more work of powers? Teru pulled out each sweater, shirt, hat, and pair of pants he had been gathering in whatever human civilization he had gotten them from. Explaining each and every detail he loved about them. Shigeo, while personally not wanting to wear something like that himself, was amazed by every piece. Even more captivated by the happiness the angel expressed, he had a very nice voice and a wonderful smile. Something told Shigeo this was the first time he was ever able to share this interest with anyone else.

You know it was a nice time when Shigeo considered this a great day, despite crying twice, getting choked, tied to a tree, sent to the void, and shaving a pair of wings; he had made a friend. An otherworldly one at that. He could count this as some kind of scientific discovery, but as far as he was concerned, this was any other encounter with someone you didn’t like but soon befriended.

For once, Teru didn’t feel concerned that his facade had slipped. I mean, it slipped earlier, but way worse. And yet this demon accepted him. Every part of him in mere hours. This was wonderful, or was he still trying to lure him in? Perhaps it would take Teru a little longer to shake off everything that had been assumed about his kind. For now, though, he decided he wanted to admire the soft expression and crimson eyes the demon showered him with. 

The time went by so quickly that before he could blink, the sun was already turning the sky’s colors. He finished his sentence and groaned, sadly packing up his bag again.

“I liked hearing about them. You can keep going if you want,” Shigeo encouraged, worried he was showing disinterest.

Teru sighed, “It’s not that, I just have to get going soon if I want to make it back home, that's all.”

Shigeo quirked his head. Teru let out a slight hum before explaining.

“I need the sun to be able to use the light to travel. So once the sun’s gone, I can’t use my powers to get back.” He said, clicking the strap on his bag and swinging it over his shoulder. He stood up and offered his hand to help his new friend up, “I’m guessing it’s probably not the same for you, though, huh?”

Shigeo nervously grabbed Teru’s hand; it was cold, but soft. Like a cold pillow you nuzzle into before going to bed. He tried not to overthink it, although even after he stood on his feet, they both didn’t let go.

“Oh, uh,” Shigeo forgot he was asked a question, “It isn’t…I used a portal to get here. But it was accidental…it might take me a while to get home.”

Teru chuckled. He hadn’t laughed this much since…had he ever before?

“You might want to get to work on that then.” Teru exclaimed playfully, finally noticing their hands, “Um, will you be accidentally falling here again sometime?” 

Shigeo was a bit shocked. Did he really want to hang out again? “I could…Earth is quite nice.”

Teru gave him a smile, “You should! It’s got lots more to offer. If you ever need a guide…you can always try and find me.”

Shigeo smiled back, “I will. Thank you.” They finally released their hands, and Teru continued to stare at the demon. Shigeo turned around, thinking he was looking at the sun; it was getting pretty low now.

“Um…shouldn’t you-”

“Yes! Right. Going now.” The angel exclaimed, shaking himself out of it, “It was lovely to meet you, Kageyama.”

“You too. Have a safe flight.” 

Teru gave one more nod and took a few steps back. He spread his newly feathered wings and leapt into the air, halo materializing once more. Shigeo swore he saw the angel wear a smirk as the light consumed him, watching the demon’s jaw slacken at such a sight. He loved making a flashy exit. Then, just like that, he was gone. Small bits of light floated through the air, and Shigeo took one last look around him before trying to get back home. It took a couple of tries until he was able to get back into his room. Some were on different floors or even outside the cluster altogether. But he slowly figured out what his mind and body were supposed to connect to pull it off. Although his attempts took so long, he was able to watch his first sunset. He wonders if that was what distracted him more.

Shigeo stepped back on the hard flooring. He stood there for a good while, wondering if this was just one of his realistic dreams. Could he act normally the rest of the night? Most excitingly of all, he made a friend. A friend of a somewhat enemy. He solved an issue, and everything turned out okay. 

Shigeo smiled to himself; he would definitely try to see the angel again. 

________________________

“...And so that was the first time we met.” Shigeo ended, not really finding comfort in the silence from his group that followed. He began to fret a little, “It started out rough, but it ended alright! Um, the second time is a lot better.”

Teru quickly doubled down, leaning forward with an arm still wrapped around Shigeo, “Yes! The second time is a lot better!” 

“I mean, if you say so…” Dimple muttered, “I’ve honestly heard worse meetcutes.”

“But still…” Ritsu muttered, his head staring down at the grass, “You….”

When Ritsu looked up, Teru was staring right at him. His blue eyes were dull, and he wore a light smile.

“I did. I can admit that, and I know nothing I say will remove that.” Teru held up his hand when Shigeo tried to tell him it was alright again, “But I messed up. I mean, the fever I had that night was punishment enough. Also, the existential crisis? Woof, I mean, how do you go about learning a demon is more angelic than you could dream to be? Hah…” He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair, “What I mean is, nothing can change how we met. But it’s also a little nice in a way…knowing the worst of me was seen because all this pent-up stuff…and yet he still saw the good in me. It’s because of him that I’m a better person now, and I appreciate him very much for it.”

He and Shigeo gave each other small smiles, the sight made Reigen break into a smile of his own.

“Now, I don’t wanna gush to his own brother about how much I love Shigeo. But if you really need me to-”

“I-I think I’m good, thanks,” Ritsu hurriedly said with his hands up, his eyes less shadowy than before, “W-why don’t you just…continue…”

“Yeah, I’m sure you have more fun stories than nasty ones,” Reigen reassured as he leaned back and stretched on a tree trunk.

Teru sighed with relief; they finally got past the worst part. Now onto one of his favorite memories! Shigeo saw the shaking excitement in the angel and let out an amused hum.

“With pleasure!” Teru said happily, proving he could coddle Shigeo with his eyes closed. While his eyes were closed from his wide grin, he threw his arms around Shigeo and held him so close his cheek was smooshed against his. The only good thing that resulted from the constant PDA was that the three of them were becoming used to it by now. Or at least, were getting better at not raising an eyebrow.

The blonde held his free hand to his chin to think of a good place to start, “I believe it was the day after, and I was waiting to see if I’d run into Shigeo again...”

________________________

As Teru plucked the last blade of dead grass from where his new demon friend had burned them the other day, he wondered how much longer he could take sitting around. Almost half the hill was now fresh dirt as Teru stood up to look at his work, making sure he didn’t have any smears on his pants. He had a fairly nicer outfit today too, since Shigeo actually made him comfortable with his fashion, he wanted to wear some after he got back from school. He wore a bright T-shirt with some kind of design on the chest and an unbuttoned collared shirt over his shoulders that had bright purple stripes near the sleeves. Not that he spent all last night planning the outfit in case he saw the demon again, also not that he was waiting around just for the demon either…

Although it was taking a while, it was around a couple of hours after they had met the other day, and while Teru wanted to look around the forest and see if he could be somewhere else, he was worried he might have gotten lost or something. But he kept himself from doing so, in case Shigeo were to show up right when he left. And he didn’t want to physically admit he was outwardly seeking the demon just yet. 

He sighed and lay his back against the tree trunk he had cut yesterday, lowering his hand to feel the healing bark. Shigeo was incredible, huh? He had more questions he wanted to ask him, mainly about his powers. He wanted to be wowed some more, a brief glance at his still regrowing wings, and he gave a stout huff before lifting himself off the trunk and launching himself into the air with a big spread of his wings.

Looking for mainly openings between the trees, Teru glided over the tree tops, not flying as fast as usual, so he could better analyze the areas. He circled around the hill for a couple of miles until he started to feel an ooge in his stomach, and not from flying around so much. What if Shigeo didn’t come today? What if he had forgotten about him already? Or what if he scared him off so bad that he didn’t want to come back? Wouldn’t that be something, and after he had just ditched all of his gangster friends today? He’d be losing another friend as well.

A bunch of birds flying up from the trees and into Teru’s face snapped him out of it. He let out a frustrated noise and flailed his arms around angrily. He watched them fly higher, make small sounds as they became dots in the blue sky. Then, looking down from where they came from, he saw a flash of black through a spot between the leaves. He immediately flew down to land, even if he knew it’d probably end up being a fox or bunny or something. 

Teru planted his feet on the grass and lightly jogged in the direction he saw the blur go towards, near a tree with thin branches; lots of sunlight trailed down between the shadows from all the thicker branches and leaves. He looked by a tree near there and saw a silhouette behind it, his heart fluttered a bit to his annoyance. Carefully stepping forward, he put a hand by the tree as he peeked out from behind it. 

He was met with the sight of a deer. 

He groaned and planted his forehead onto the tree. Of course it wasn’t him, why would it be? Teru shifted his head to look at the deer again, but it just kept walking forward, not caring how much disappointment it had given the teen. As Teru pushed his body off the tree and was preparing to stretch out his wings again, he heard a yelp.

“P-please stop…don’t hurt me…”

Teru stretched his neck to look around the deer and saw the familiar demon, his hair was a bit more ruffled, and his face was sweaty as he crawled away, too out of breath to do anything else. As Shigeo’s back hit the trunk of a big tree behind him, his shaking body turned towards the slow approaching deer, who completely disregarded Shigeo’s requests to stay away. 

The blonde, on the other hand, knew that the deer couldn’t possibly do anything to hurt him, which, of course, gave him a bit of prep time. He wiped his face to get rid of any sweat or bark lines the tree might’ve given him, and then fluffed and styled his hair to try to repair it from the bird attack and flying. He quickly smoothed out his clothes as he stepped forward, having to step closer to a patch of sunlight in order for the demon to notice him.

“Oh, H-Hanazawa! Hi…Do you think you could help me?” Shigeo asked, shaken. The deer was now arching its neck forward to put its nose near him. He scrunched his body up by the tree trunk and closed his eyes to wait for impact.

Teru couldn’t help but let out a laugh as he glided forward and knelt next to Shigeo, careful not to scare the deer off. He put a hand in Shigeo’s hair and ruffled it around a bit.

Shigeo widely opened his eyes, a bit of blush on his bewildered face, “What are you doing?”

“Helping, of course, as you asked,” Teru responded and pulled a leaf that got stuck under a chunk of Shigeo’s hair and held it out under the deer’s nose that had previously been aimed at Shigeo. 

It sniffed the plant and took it from Teru’s hand, also receiving a gentle smile from the angel. It didn’t get to look long, as Teru quickly turned back to see the reaction from the demon, watching the deer chew softly with an admiring look. 

He took Teru’s hand when offered to stand up, their hands lingering together again like yesterday, before Teru eventually let go and looked away. He hoped Shigeo thought he was looking at the deer and trying not to hide his flushed face.

“Um…do you want to pet it?”

“Can I? Will it get angry if I do something?” Shigeo asked, body tightening at the deer sticking its head close to him again.

“They don’t fight as far as I know, but they get pretty scared easily.” He explained as he reached out to demonstrate, placing a hand on its neck gently, “See? They’re chill, why’d you think it would hurt you?”

“I’ve never seen them before, I didn’t know what it’d do…” Shigeo responded, raising a shaky hand to plant on the spot of fur beside Teru’s. His face lit up, a small exclamation of joy as he glided his hand in circles. A happy open smile appeared along with a small wagging of his tail. Teru was infatuated with how cute it was. The deer that is, definitely the deer.

“I was wondering where you were. If I had known you were being chased, I would’ve come to help earlier.” Teru said as he took his hand off the animal and turned to stare fully at Shigeo instead.

“I actually just got here. I was at my club and thought I’d try to see if you were around. But when I got here, I was on my way to our meeting spot and then this…distracted me.” Shigeo responded, still leaning back, when the deer craned its head towards him again.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were in a club,” Teru said, wondering what kind of clubs the underworld would have anyway. He was assuming something to do with fire.

“Mhm, it’s a workout club.”

“...A workout club?”

“Yeah, we run and lift weights and stuff.” 

Was it rude to say the angel was a little disappointed with this answer? Even if anything pyro-involved or scary elements enforced the stereotype, it’d at least be an interesting story.

“I hope you weren’t waiting too long for me.” The demon continued, watching the deer lose interest and start trotting off.

“Oh no, of course not! I was just hanging out, as I usually do when I come to Earth.” Teru said politely, only wanting himself to know how much he wanted to see Shigeo again.

“I see. Well, I’m glad I ran into you again.” Shigeo told him, his nice little smile pointed towards Teru was too much for him to take. His heart skipped a beat, and his mind raced, the only reveal of this being his eyebrows raising and his smile stiffening.

“Me too,” The blonde simply responded, cheesily tucking some hair behind his ear. “So…how was your day? What are your days usually like, anyway?”

They walked back towards the trees, side by side. It was probably good that Teru let Shigeo talk first. Because right after Shigeo’s very brief overview of breakfast, school, and club, he returned the question, and would have to stay in listening mode for the next half hour, he didn’t mind, though. Even with the different amounts of talking time, they both managed to learn a good handful of things about the other. 

They both learned how similar their routines were on school days. Socially, it seemed they were in more different worlds than they already were. Teru was pretty much a school idol, with perfect grades, athletic, handsome, and charmingly kind. There were lots of students who admired those qualities immensely; apparently, he couldn’t go a day without at least a few proclamations of feelings. He was trying to seem cool to his new friend, but he toned it down a bit after it made him more nervous by accident. 

But it made sense to Shigeo; he understood why Teru was probably idolized at whatever angel school he went to. I mean, he couldn’t even look away himself; he was wondering if that was standard for angels or if Teru just happened to be a bit better looking than the rest. 

Teru just finished telling a story from his class, apparently they were let out early because some drunky crashed into a window. The blond lightly chuckled while he finished recalling the event, looking at the demon for hints of amusement. He just wore the same small smile while he listened; it was a handsome sight for sure to the angel, but he promised that very day he’d get that demon to laugh one day.

“So…you mentioned a brother? What’s your family like?” Teru, after finishing his story, asked Shigeo.

“Oh, yes. Ritsu is my younger brother, and my only brother. He’s very cool, I admire him a lot,” Shigeo said with the brightest look Teru had seen from the demon. He didn’t know his eyes could get so shiny after seeing that bored expression, usually. 

“Ah, how lovely,” Teru responded, something panging in his heart, “I wish I had siblings.”

“Oh, yeah,” Shigeo mumbled, recalling Teru’s childhood, “I think you’d be a good brother.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, you’re smart and strong. And you can be firm when you need to.”

Teru chuckles at that last statement, remembering how Shigeo must know that last part after he had pushed all of the bad parts of their initial meeting out of his mind.

“Thank you,” The blonde said softly, feeling the warmth in his cheeks when he rested his head in his hands. Shigeo simply nodded, holding his knees to his chest, his tail idly waving in the grass. His eyes wandered to Teru’s hair, then he remembered what he first wanted to ask.

“How are your wings? Were you able to travel around well?” Shigeo asked, eyes looking over every inch of wing he could see. Already the feathers looked firmer, and the pink spots were less noticeable, but he wasn’t the one who knew what it took to fly.

“Oh! They’re fine,” Teru responded, looking over his back and giving the wings small movements, “I was a little shaky, but I think that’s just cause it was colder with thinner feathers.” Although he wore a smile, Teru looked back at the demon and saw his face looking down with wide eyes, “No need to feel bad! Really, you didn’t mean it, and I honestly deserved it. Don’t even worry about it now.”

“Okay,” Shigeo mumbled into his sleeve with his curled up form, “I still feel a little bad though, what if you couldn’t get home?”

“I’m sure I would’ve found a way, I’ve spent some nights trapped down here,” Teru reassured him, truthfully expressing how confident he was in himself. “Do you think you’ll be traveling here often? Cause y’know…since my wings are fine, I’ll probably still be making my usual trips here.”

Shigeo was successfully moved off their past topic, fortunately for Teru, and was now considering the question, “Mmm, maybe. I’m not too sure what I’d do up here too much.”

“You could…spend time with me.” 

Shigeo pulled himself from his sleeve to look up at the angel who had a finger in his hair. They both had pink cheeks as the silence made the bird chirps and the wind boom with volume. Teru slowly drew his blue eyes back up towards the person, praying he wouldn’t die of embarrassment. Could he have sounded any more desperate?

“If you want to! I mean, not every day you get to spend time with a new species, right?” The blonde nervously chuckled as he turned his head to look at the ground again. They should’ve sat somewhere shadier; the sun highlighted every pretty feature on the demon, and while he was good at hiding it on his face for the most part, he could barely get his thoughts in order. “We should get to know each other better! I’d just…like to take you up on your offer…if it still stands.”

Shigeo quirked his head a little before remembering yesterday when they had learned each other’s names. 

“We could be friends, if you like.”

“Oh!” Shigeo exclaimed, finally sitting in a more open position, “I’d really like to be friends with you, Hanazawa.”

________________________

“Wow, smooth kid.” Dimple chuckled from atop Teru’s head, feeling the heat from his face.

Teru was good at seeming nonchalant when he really tried, but when it came to Shigeo, his face got the better of him sometimes. He looked quite ill with a calm expression, yet red cheeks, like Dimple was controlling him.

“He seemed cool.” Teru simply responded, refusing to look at anyone.

“Leave him alone, Dimple.” Reigen muttered, making a shooing motion with his hand, “This was a day after he thought demons were manipulative monsters, this is well before crushes started.”

“Yeah, I don’t think my crush started until a while after.” Shigeo nodded with an amused smile, looking towards Teru, expecting an approving look, but instead saw the face he usually wore when pretending to be innocent. His eyes were facing away as a finger scratched his chin. Shigeo had seen the face before when he asked Teru if he was serious about waterboarding when Shigeo had asked how to deal with rude people one time. Then, when asked if he’s done it before, Teru responded with another “no” and made the same face. 

“Teru..?” Shigeo asked, with the same smile, concern in his eyes. All Dimple could do was smirk.

“No…Don’t tell me…” Dimple chuckled as he decided to float around Teru’s face while he kept avoiding his gaze. “Did you get a crush on Shige a day after you tried to kill him!?”  Dimple was doing his rusty laugh as Teru’s cheeks seemed to respond for him, glowing a brighter red than Dimple’s somehow.

“I didn’t, actually,” Teru stated, mustering up his confident self. He would need it for the actual truth. “I realized it that day…the actual crush might've started…the night before.”

Reigen and Ritsu seemed to match reactions for once as their eyes widened and eyebrows furrowed. This was apparently new information to Shigeo, too. Dimple was shaking with amusement, too shaky to wholeheartedly laugh like he wanted to. 

Shigeo kept an awkward smile as he was the first to speak on it, “...Really? Y-You liked me that long?”

“Maybe.” Teru responded quickly, “You knew I liked you first.”

“Yeah, but…After we fought? That is a bit…fast.” 

“It was a life-changing day! I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and I thought it was just because it was a day where a lot happened!” Teru exclaimed and threw up his hands, “And now thinking back…Maybe it wasn’t just because it was a memorable experience.” 

Teru also wouldn’t say he kept thinking about how handsome the demon turned out to be; he jotted it down to just analyzing manipulation tactics. Now he realizes he made a list of cute features on Shigeo in his head for no reason other than obviously some other feelings beneath the surface. 

“That’s hilarious!” Dimple exclaimed, laughing up a storm, “Well done, Shige! It only took traveling to another world and burning a kid’s feathers off to have an admirer!” 

Now, both of the kids were blushing and looking anywhere but the people in front of them. Reigen kept trying to calm Dimple down, too distracted to think about how bizarre the situation was. Ritsu was just lost in thought, staring at his brother and the angel, who were red and embarrassed like any other couple talking about their relationship. That and this duo would have had to do a lot more explaining than most couples ever have to.

“Must’ve been expected when he confessed to you then.”

Everyone turned to face the youngest demon, finally talking without malice. His eyes were still calculating, but the shadow in his eyes had lifted, and he seemed more curious than cold as before. It took a moment for the answers to be processed, Shigeo feeling his heart rise as his brother began to talk. His eyes then went wide at the actual statement, turning to look at Teru, who had a wobbly smile on his face, a hand tucking some hair behind his ear.

“Oh, well…” Shigeo stuttered, watching Teru’s smile grow wider as Shigeo gathered his response, “Teru wasn’t the one who confessed.”

That was the most emotional Ritu’s been with his reactions, eyebrows shooting up. His posture even straightened along with Reigen, whose jaw seemed to drop. Dimple just couldn’t stop eating up every answer they were getting today. 

“So what you’re saying is…” Dimple chuckled, raising and dropping his eyebrows atop his fluttering eyelashes. 

Shigeo squirmed in his crossed legs for a moment, hand scratching the back of his neck. “I…confessed to him first.”

________________________

After their official declaration of friendship, it still took around a week to establish some kind of consistent schedule. It took a few days of one of them waiting around the trees for hours, only to be alone for the whole afternoon, and giving the other a sad questionnaire of why they didn’t come. Although not like they could be upset, it's not like there’s an interworld telephone service they could use. It took a few plans and jotting down schedules to keep something consistent. Teru was surprised by how much Shigeo had going on for him, despite thinking he was the social butterfly of the two. But then again, Teru had spent most of his life surrounding himself with fake friends, which he had recently let go of. Not like he had much going on now, maybe with Shigeo’s help, he could find more things he wanted to do, which was hard since he seemed naturally pretty good at anything he tried. 

They finally decided on meeting every other day; it was simple enough for Shigeo to remember, and also easy enough to manage. And boy, was it worth it. Every time they met, it felt like a dream. A whole new planet just for them, no one else around to tell them what was right or wrong. Surprisingly, they didn’t pester each other about their homes all too much; perhaps they were too focused on each other. Teru would actually stop his chatter for once just to admire Shigeo’s beaming eyes watching a butterfly pass by. Shigeo would lose his calm demeanor and become stuttery when Teru began showing more of who he actually was, along with a soft grip on his shoulder now and then, a bit too hard-hitting of a compliment, and then that light and eye-capturing laugh that Shigeo would get almost every time they met. 

During their meetings, Teru primarily showed Shigeo his favorite Earth things or explored the area they found themselves in. Cloud watching, following a bird, or searching for certain plants, while they caught each other up on what their daily lives were like. The hours flew by whenever they met, more lovely details being noticed each time. 

Teru, as he said, fell first. Extremely hard. A crash landing, one could say, since he didn’t handle it all too well. It was the first time he felt ill from something other than his perfect demeanor being beaten. I mean, the most angelic person he could think of: himself, falling for a demon!? How insane. How ridiculous. How unthinkable. How gorgeous does Shigeo look with the sun in his eyes? Usual thoughts, Teru had to push down every time he spent afternoons with the raven-haired boy. He obviously wanted to confess at some point, but he just knew it might not be a good choice. I mean, with how nervous Shigeo got in social situations, and if he didn’t feel the same, how could he look him in the eyes? There’s too much to think about, and would this count as long distance? Although if they did date, Teru would put in everything he could to make sure Shigeo wouldn’t regret taking the risk. 

What Teru didn’t know was that the reason Shigeo seemed to get nervous around him wasn’t just because he got awkward around pretty people. The reason soon became that he had developed feelings for the angel. He felt guilty about feelings a little while after Tsubomi had moved away, even though it had been almost a year ago now. But he realized it after he noticed that every time he seemed to look at Teru, he’d be surrounded by sparkles and glowing lights. The exact thing that would happen whenever he saw Tsubomi. It was where Teru got the idea to start manipulating light to make sparkles around his face after Shigeo had asked if he was causing it and not his fastening heart rate. Soon, he behaved the same way he would act around her, reddened face, quick and stiff movements, and not being able to function as much whenever a question was thrown his way. Similarly to Teru, he didn’t handle it the best either. He didn’t sleep well some nights. He came to terms with it, lying lifeless on his bed as daydreams of fluffed up memories flooded his brain. I mean, who could resist a literal angel? And he liked having a new friend; it was strange that, with how different they seemed, they got along swimmingly. He loved all of his friends, but he knew he wanted to get closer to Teru. From the way Shigeo acted around him, there was an obvious difference in how he perceived Teru. 

Maybe he did have a type. Maybe he was average enough that any perfect person placed in front of him would catch his attention. Or maybe Teru just seemed to get him. To see someone feel mentally outcast for his unique powers, even if he was putting them to great use, he was dealing with it differently than Shigeo, though. Instead of isolating himself or bottling emotions, Teru had fully indulged in his powers to cope with the trauma of losing his parents. Shigeo saw what that resulted in, yet wanted to hear the angel out and forgave him. While not understanding the trauma that almost an entire childhood without parents might do to someone, he understood how powers complicated dealing with emotions and the formation of morals, especially while in one's teens. Shigeo was probably the only person who could. And now Teru could say he does too. With help from the blonde, Shigeo felt happier to use his powers more freely. Unknowingly releasing a huge weight off his shoulders, bit by bit. Shigeo helped Teru use his powers for reasons other than hurting others to get what he wanted; it was the least he could do. He knew Shige was different from other demons, and he loved everything about that. As he loved the rest of him as well. 

Unlike Tsubomi, though, Shigeo wanted to do something about his feelings before it was too late again. What’s worse is that this time, he was completely alone with this issue; he couldn’t exactly open up to any others right now. He also got the feeling that if he introduced the new species to any of his close friends, they would strongly advise him not to try to go out with an angel of all things. But he knew that he wanted this. Someone like Teru deserved to know. Shigeo was well aware of the number of confessions Teru had to deal with daily, but surely he had a better chance than some, right? 

After overthinking it for a couple of weeks, Shigeo just decided to go down a simple route. Also, he dropped some questions for Teru, the best he could without getting found out, at least.

“So…do you like anyone, Kageyama?” 

The question caught him off guard, and he immediately stiffened up and became a stuttering mess again. For the most part, they were having a calm hang-out as usual, sitting under their trees and admiring each other.

“H-huh?” Was all Shigeo could think to respond with. 

“Just a random question! Y’know…school life stuff!” Teru retorted with a slight chuckle and twirling blond locks between his fingers. He’s lucky he had a crush that was as oblivious as someone with a blindfold over their eyes. 

“Um, yeah, I do…” Shigeo shakily responded, deciding that if he didn’t look at his crush, he wouldn’t be found out. But the red cheeks and body language just convinced Teru that Shigeo was head over heels for someone; luckily, Teru’s ability to remain nonchalant assisted, even if he’d have to deal with heartbreak fever the moment he got home. 

“Oh! Do you wanna talk about them?” Teru questioned, playful amusement in tone, malicious need to know who swept Shigeo off his feet in intention.

“O-Okay…” Shigeo mumbled, looking up at the sky instead of the glowing beacon of a person next to him. “He’s very pretty…and talented…and he’s also nice to me. Uhhh…”

Teru just chuckled and pretended like each statement didn’t feel like a slap in the face. He was ALL of those and then some! Whoever this mystery demon was, he didn’t deserve someone like Kageyama fawning over him. 

“So, um,  do you like anyone?” Shigeo quickly asked to change the subject and get some more intel before finalizing his confession plans. 

“Oh! Hah, no angels have caught my interest, unfortunately,” The blonde responded, technically not lying. He didn’t want to put any burden on Shigeo by revealing his feelings right now, of all times, especially with how flustered Shigeo was over this other person. “But it’s fine, y’know? Maybe a confession will work someday....”

Shigeo finally turned to face Teru, eyes a bit sunken. Right, he was competing with just about every student at Teru’s school and any others that he caught the attention of, and who couldn’t look away once they got sight of Teruki Hanazawa? He couldn’t let things he already knew discourage him or his plans, but if years of people probably far better than Shigeo weren’t wooing Teru, what could he possibly do instead?

“Are there any that you might’ve…liked more than others?” Shigeo asked, feeling a sinking in his heart yet needing to know.

“Hm…I guess the ones where they get me something other than a letter they didn’t make themselves,” The blonde responded with a strained laugh, “Candies, trinkets, oh, someone got me a portrait one time. Maybe I can bring some down to show you.”

Shigeo simply nodded, happy his bangs hid his furrowed eyebrows. What could he do to even equate to those? Let alone be better? He can’t draw, make any interesting foods, heck, he didn’t even have enough money to buy something nice. He was going to have to think about this harder than he already was; this was hurting his head.

“But y’know, it’s not really the gifts or anything, it just makes it more memorable! Though, if the right person were to come along…” Teru mumbled, leaning his shoulder towards Shigeo, “I would accept right away.”

Oh shoot, that meant Shigeo had to act fast if he wanted to confess before Teru eventually accepted some mystery person’s confession. It stung, but it also gave Shigeo the motivation to finish his plans. And while it was hard to come up with anything, brainstorming wasn’t exactly Shigeo’s strong suit; Earth always seemed to be there to help. The overworld brought him to Teru, gave them a place to be themselves, and now it gave Shigeo the last bit of comfort to confess. 

Shigeo was a bit impressed with himself, asking only a few revealing questions once or twice, either to Teru or Reigen. He asked Teru that question of what he liked during confessions, and then once he got back from that hangout, he went to Reigen and asked if there was anything he should keep in mind during a confession. He had to ask Reigen for at least a little input, especially for something as big as this; he needed at least a little more comfort under his belt. Reigen seemed a little unsure, deciding to send Serizawa out on a job before getting into Shigeo’s question more. After sticking to the most basic of basic information, Reigen asked afterwards why he had suddenly asked. Shigeo realized it was a pretty random question and started to panic. He realized that he didn’t exactly have an answer that wouldn’t give away everything. If it got out that he had a crush, Dimple would tail him everywhere and would definitely find out about the Earth visits. Shigeo just stuttered something about needing to help a classmate confess.

He would tell them eventually (was what he thought), but if this didn’t go well, he might just give up Earth altogether. 

________________________

Shigeo got to the spot first as usual, but an hour or two in advance, this time. He had a plan for once, the only way to celebrate being to pull it off as perfectly as he could. Bouncing his way towards their usual spot, he took one big look around and took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he let his aura consume him, a feeling he’s gotten way more used to this past month. He felt more at home in his own self, if that made sense, as he trusted himself with these unworldly abilities. Ripping a hole through space and worlds every other day is also a pretty good release, believe it or not. 

But he’d need some time to find what he was looking for. He couldn’t find another time other than the day of to find them, because from what he’s heard about flowers, they apparently die pretty quickly. 

________________________

Teru always felt more powerful when he was in a mood like this. He added to his routine of flying down to visit his good, gorgeous, life-changing friend, to also take a quick fly around in the middle of the flight. Around halfway down, he turned from light to person, fully spreading his wings and utilizing all the open space around him. Yes, Earth felt like a world for him, but he’s learned to share it, and now it’s his and Shigeo’s world. And while that’s nice, lovely, and absolutely wonderful in every way, he still treasured the fact that the sky was all his. Human skies were indeed a bit murkier than his home’s, but once you get high enough where the air starts to thin and only a species like him, or possibly Shigeo, could survive it. 

With his speed and light assistance, he made quick laps around the air, covering every space in the open sky as he could. These flies result in him being late occasionally, but they really let some energy and excitement out. It helped keep at least a bit of the nonchalant persona he wanted to try to keep up. Once the jitters were mostly out, Teru spread out his arms and basked in the uninterrupted sunlight, fully letting it consume him. Feeling his body become even lighter and glow, he smirked. Even traveling at the speed of light couldn’t get him to Shigeo as fast as he wanted. Narrowing down to the specific spot that Teru could now spot from miles up in the air, a soft brush of lightning as he zipped down to it. 

He shifted back to his usual form, stretching his arms as his wings floated him down gently. When he felt his shoes hit the grass, he finally opened his eyes. They widened as he didn’t even have to look around to see if the demon had arrived yet.

There he stood, usual getup on, Teru could tell even with the bouquet that blocked most of his body. There weren’t a ton of flowers; they were just large on their own. Neither of them knew the names, but what Shigeo was holding was a batch of sunflowers. Their usual long stems were cut and tied together with a piece of string. Shigeo, not knowing how to make a pretty bow, would have to do a tight knot instead. To Teru, they were simply bright flowers that resembled suns. Their spiky petals surround the bunched center, reflecting the sun with their glowing yellows. Shigeo was glad Teru was admiring the flowers, and hopefully wouldn’t look at his sweaty, shaky face for a moment longer. 

“Kageyama…what are those? Where did you find them?” Teru asked, slowly approaching with his hand held out to stroke along a petal. He definitely would’ve known if plants like these grew nearby; they’re way too bright to miss.

“I…went portaling around…” Shigeo stuttered, trying to gather what he wanted to say.

“Wow…I’ve never seen these before! They’re gorgeous.” Teru complimented, sticking his face close to one, getting a closer look at the patterned middle.

“They’re for you…Hanazawa.” 

Teru whipped his head up, the yellow from the flowers shining on his face and sparkling through his eyes. He looked up at the demon and back down at the flowers, then repeated a few more times before fiddling with his hands and tucking some hair behind his ear.

“Are you sure? It must’ve been a hard find. I wouldn’t want to take what you had to work so hard to-”

“I went looking for them, for you.” Shigeo quickly added, taking one more breath, “Because I like you, Hanazawa.” 

It seemed like the wind stopped blowing and all noises cut off, yet Shigeo knew it actually hadn’t because of how the angel’s hair kept dramatically waving slightly. He said it, though, that’s farther than he thought he’d get. All he could do now was stand there and wait for what felt like an eternity. He felt his arms ache a little as they held out the flowers. 

“As in you…like-like or…just friend like?” Teru finally said, retreating his hand back to his chest, eyes flickering with thoughts. He would say it back, immediately, without a second thought, he would. But after longing this much, it wouldn’t come this easily, right? 

“Like…I…I’m asking you out!” Shigeo said worriedly, with a bow. He didn’t want Teru to think otherwise; he was prepared for whatever answer awaited him, he just needed Hanazawa to know. 

Teru just continued to stare, a breathless sigh leaving his lips. He had no idea what expression he was making, which probably fit how he felt best anyways. He still couldn’t believe this was real. Shigeo’s back began to ache, and he straightened up again, not enjoying how long this answer was taking. Long answers usually meant a no, and he knew that. But to keep the hope lingering this long was just a little cruel, he had to admit.

“I know you probably get this a lot…But I thought uh, no one’s probably gotten you flowers like these before…But I do think you’re amazing. I feel comfortable around you, although we’re from different places, a-and I know I’m probably now the type you’d date-”

He stopped and shivered when he suddenly felt a hand on his cheek. The angel wore a solemn smile under his glowing eyes. The smile just seemed to glow when Teru felt the softness in his hand. Shigeo was real and in front of him. Confessing to him, with flowers he found, just for him. Shigeo wanted to date him; he liked him! Teru felt his breath increasing with his heart rate, his smile widening so much that he began to chuckle as well. 

Before Shigeo knew it, he was enveloped in a hug/tackle, flying onto the grass, landing similarly to how he first arrived here. Although this time he obviously wasn’t used to the weight of a new friend, plus his huge wings rolling him around in the grass. He had dropped the flowers and was trying to locate them in the spinning and shaking. When it finally came to a halt, he was on his back staring at the sky, turns out they had rolled to the bottom of their hill. Before he continued looking for the flowers, he quickly turned his head around to find the angel he was still awaiting an answer from. Shigeo didn’t even have to lift his torso though, as when he simply turned his head in the grass, he was immediately met with Teru’s bright smile and freeing laugh. 

Shigeo stuttered with his words a bit, wondering whether to ask for an absolute answer or what the point of the tackle was. He wondered if his question made Teru revert to conversation through violence. Before he could get a word out, Teru interrupted boomingly.

“You like me? Like, really like me?” Teru said as he looked at his crush through blades of grass.

“Y-yes, I do.” Shigeo muttered, unsure if he liked how much he had to confirm at this point, “Are you upset? You can just reject me, I’ll understand-”

“No! No…” Teru quickly said, supporting his torso on his elbow, laughing as he gazed down at Shigeo, “I like you too, Kageyama.”

Now it was Shigeo’s turn to wonder if this was real or not. All he could do was mindlessly stare at the pretty face above him as his mouth wobbled. Teru’s grin widened as he brushed some hair out from in front of his eyes.

“I’d be honored to go out with you, be your boyfriend, if you’ll have me,” Teru continued, leaning down to be nose to nose with Shigeo. His blond hair trailing down around his face, to Shigeo, it seemed like they were in a little tent. Now with the shadows over both faces, their blush could be seen by each of them. Shigeo’s tail was swerving around from behind his back, his head absentmindedly nodding, pupils shaking with his mind being blown. He successfully confessed, and Teru actually liked him back? Anyone would’ve known Teru wouldn’t have hesitated to marry Shigeo if he had even hinted at the idea; at least it made things more suspenseful for the demon, thinking he had no chance with the boy of light.

Teru got up and went to retrieve the flowers, wanting to treasure the gift gathered just for him in mind. Shigeo was still lying face-up in the grass where Teru had left him by the time he got back. He simply sat next to him as he played with the petals, waiting until Shigeo accepted the reality. It seemed to cave in at once, though. 

“Y-you accept!?” Shigeo suddenly exclaimed, whipping up with his wings and tail flapping. His sweaty face just kept breathing tensely. Teru simply responded with a bubbly laugh.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I?” Teru replied, hugging his flowers close to his face, his lashes covering his eyes as he peered down to admire them, “I’ve liked you for a while now. Plus, who could say no to someone like you? Lucky me!”

“Y-YOU DID?” Shigeo shouted, ignoring the last statement, and wondered how much bad luck he’d have to suffer in return for all these miracles today. 

“Yeah…? Did you not notice?” Teru said, smile on his face so he could be politely baffled, “I mean, to be fair, it took me a while myself to notice I was flirting. But sometimes it was a bit much…Like when I got jealous of that pretty person in your class and punched a hole through a tree? Hah, or when I then asked what the person you found pretty looked like and scowled every time it was a feature I didn’t have?” Teru giggled, laughing about it now that he knew he was far ahead of any competition. 

Shigeo raised his hidden eyebrows, thinking back, he just assumed it was Teru either agreeing or disagreeing with what he found attractive. Or maybe had too much energy some days when he got extra touchy.

“Oh, I guess I never noticed,” Shigeo mumbled, feeling silly for fretting this much over the confession now, “H-how long have you liked me? And…why?”

“Mmm, would you find me weird if I said it was maybe close to when we first met? And what do you mean, why?” 

“That long? I-it’s just…someone like you…? Why would you like someone like me…especially after our meeting?” Shigeo asked, red in the face from flattery, and curling up with his knees to his chest.

“Excuse me? You said we’re alike, don’t place me on some pedestal. And I fell for you first!” Teru argued, his feathers flaring up. An insult to Kageyama, no matter who it was from, offended him greatly. “I got lucky no one stole your heart before you started liking me, I guess. You’re kind, handsome, amazing, nice to talk to, handsome, incredible-”

“You said handsome twice.”

“Oh, did I? Well, it is true.” 

Shigeo was about to retort, but the look Teru was giving him suggested that he wholeheartedly believed every word he said. 

“Soooo,” Teru started after a beat, “Why’d you get a crush on someone who attacked you?” He ended with a hair flip.

“I mean…you’re great. And…uh…” Shigeo quickly got distracted with the face of his new…boyfriend, giving him starry eyes that shone like gold as they reflected the sunflowers. A look that was just for him.

“Yeah?” Teru insisted smoothly, leaning his head forward.

“Uh…” It was a lot to take in, the fact that he had confessed, been accepted, and now learned the person who was completely out of his league and world had been infatuated with him for far longer, all in one day. All while a pretty face was getting closer to him, he could feel blond hair tickling his cheeks now.

“Go on,” Nose to nose now, Shigeo knew Teru liked compliments, but he was making it hard to say anything. Teru, on the other hand, was relishing the flustered look from the demon. With how accustomed to it Shigeo would get later, he felt glad he had time now, at least.

After a few more moments of stuttering and stammering, Teru just reeled back and laughed. He planted a kiss on Shigeo’s covered forehead and placed both of his hands on his shoulders, dropping the flowers gently in the grass beside them.

“I’m so happy, Kageyama. I promise to be a good partner for you.” The blonde said, determined not to make Shigeo ever regret his decision to confess. Shigeo wanted to say something, as he had for the past moment, but this blonde just kept giving him more to process. He shook his head around, trying to push past, coming up with a response for the earlier question and for the kiss, choosing to primarily focus on the statement at hand. He slowly looked up to meet his new loving partner in the eyes.

“Me too, thank you for…accepting.” 

Teru began to giggle again, “Thanking me for accepting? I really should be thanking you for saying something, but I guess that’s expected. Always so polite.”

Shigeo replied with an embarrassed smile. Who knew his first confession would go so smoothly? He wished he had told his past self that all he had to do was say the word, and he’d have a sparkly partner at his side way earlier. 

“Um, I’ve never really…gone out with anyone before. So I might not be so good at a lot of…“going out things”. Shigeo said, scratching his cheek.

“Don’t worry about all that, I’m very good with romantic things. Well, besides confessing, I’ve dated a few times. I’ll be sure to show you the ropes, but we can always just hang out, but y’know, as a couple now.” Teru explained nicely. 

Shigeo gave a small huff of relief. He also realized that it was good that he did the confessing. Teru was always on the receiving end and never really found anyone he wanted to confess to; it surprisingly made Shigeo the more experienced one. Interesting. “Thanks, Hanazawa.” 

“No problem,” Teru replied breathlessly. He gathered his flowers in one hand and lifted himself up with the other. After that, he held it out to Shigeo. “We could talk about it more if you wanted. Good on you for confessing so early, we have some day left.”

Shigeo gave a happy nod and took Teru’s hand, his body freezing when Teru then intertwined their fingers together. 

________________________

“I honestly think you got more flustered from holding hands than any kiss.” Teru chuckled, leaning his elbows on crossed legs. 

“I’ve just always wanted to hold hands with someone,” Shigeo responded, recalling memories from when he was younger and would see couples in the mansion’s hallways, especially when he saw Tsubomi. 

“I still can’t believe the guy who gets red in the face from hand-holding was able to confess to ya,” Dimple commented, resting between Reigen’s horns.

“Yeah, surprising, but successful. I don’t know how I didn’t notice such a change with you.” Reigen agreed, trying not to nod his head too much so as not to rock Dimple around too much. 

“I guess it was building up. Teru helped me be more confident in a lot of things,” Shigeo said happily, his wings flapping slightly. 

“He seems like the type to know a lot about confidence.” 

“Ah, so you decide to speak now, Little Brother,” Teru chuckled, more amused at Ritsu’s statement than anything. The relief he felt didn’t filter through, luckily. 

Ritsu ran a hand through his hair, his tail flicking slightly. “I just thought it was a nice story, that's all.” 

Reigen gave a satisfied huff. The stubborn Ritsu had finally eased a bit. Everyone else seemed pleased with the change, too. 

“Although…I do want to talk with…him. Alone. Just for a moment.” Ritsu said, shooting sharp eyes at his target, that of course being the angel with his head resting on Shigeo’s shoulder. He seemed a little shocked but decided to take it in stride.

“Of course, whatever helps your nerves,” Teru responded politely, lifting his body off of Shigeo to stand up. 

Shigeo didn’t seem too on board with it, still eyeing the slight rash on Teru’s hand. 

“We’ll go somewhere you can see us, and I won’t be using my powers, I promise,” Ritsu responded, as he stood up as well. Reigen and Dimple also gave each other unsure looks as Teru simply led Ritsu behind the trees they were sitting under, giving Shigeo one more confident nod before turning to face the brother. 

Teru stopped once they were on a nice patch of grass, a fair distance from the others, who were looking at them from behind the trees. The angel spun around to face Ritsu, stretching his arms over his head. It was a little uncontrollable how his wings stretched slightly with him. 

“So,” Teru began, resting his hands back into his pants pockets, “What have you got for me?”

Ritsu prepared to quickly shoot a response, before halting and closing his mouth again. His eyes started darting around. He tried to say something again, and again. He kept cutting himself off and sharply changing how his arms were positioned for every ditched statement. He gave up and sighed, crossing his arms and looking defeatedly towards the grass.

“. . .You really like him, huh?” 

Teru simply gave an understanding smile and a pleasant hum. “I do. More than anyone I’ve ever met. Heh, I’m surprised no one swooped him up already. How lucky am I?”

Ritsu just gave an eyebrow raise; now, he could just be concerned over how head over heels this angel was, rather than if he was a hypnotist. 

“Yeah, lucky you. Y'know, Shigeo is a lot different now because of you. I hope you realize that.” Before Teru could respond with an agreement, Ritsu cut him off, “And you might know that, but trust me, you have no idea. He used to hate showing his powers. Usually, if a demon has powers like his, they get sent to do soul business. And while he's fine working for Reigen, he doesn't want his powers to define him. So he stopped using his powers, and he stopped opening up as much. But…he’s been more comfortable with his potential and what he wants. Socially, too, I didn’t think he could confess to someone all on his own. It’s good for him, so…as long as you’re not using him…and he’s happy…”

Teru’s eyes slowly grew along with his smile. Ritsu finally looked up at him, sharp glare gone, and now soft cat eyes stared at the angel intensely. 

“Then I guess I support you two.”

Before he could blink, the prickly brother was wrapped in Teru’s arms, clearly knowing how to hug a demon comfortably in a way that wasn’t irritable for wings. The head beside Ritsu’s face shook with laughter.

“If I could hypnotize someone, I probably would’ve done the same for you to approve of us, right? I wish it were that easy!” Teru exclaimed, now moving his hands up to Ritsu’s shoulders and shaking him, “I’m glad! Y’know, I’ve always wanted siblings!”

Ritsu continued to be shaken slightly, Teru overjoyed with the brother’s approval. Ritsu wore a different expression; he wasn't as good at the polite act as Teru was. He looked like he was wearing clothes far too tight for him with such a strained smile. 

“So…you’re saying…”

“Yup,” Teru said softly, “I see you as my little brother too.” He finished with a hair flip, as if Ritsu should start thanking him. Instead, his strained smile dropped, replaced with a genuine smirk and twitchy eyes.

“Great.”

"Y'know..." Teru added softly, "Shigeo found out he could make portals trying to save you, right? I kind of owe you thanks, don't I?"

Ritsu raised his eyebrows, his eyes becoming lighter than the angel had seen up until now. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see his older brother, who had a soft smile. Before he knew it, he was pulled into a second hug. This one, Ritsu actually returned, wrapping his arms around his brother happily. Shigeo pulled out first to look him in the eyes, watery and happy.

“I’m still sorry I lied to you, Ritsu. I made it worse by keeping it from you. I just hope it’s okay now-”

“You’re fine, Nii-san. I’m happy for you, as long as you were happy, I wouldn’t have minded if I were introduced earlier.” Ritsu confirmed softly.

“Yeah, I promise to update you on things,” Shigeo said with a smile, tail wavering softly behind him. 

“Thanks. And um, I wouldn’t mind a trip to the overworld now and then, too.” Ritsu admitted, glancing around at the Earthly fauna.

Shigeo happily gave a firm nod and glanced back around to look at Teru, who wore a proud smile. Reigen suddenly came up to them, Dimple hovering beside him. Reigen placed a hand on Shigeo’s shoulder and shook him around a bit.

“Good job, kiddo,” Reigen said after a bit more shaking. “Told you it’d be okay, didn’t I?”

Shigeo went to stand beside Teru, the angel immediately kissing him on the cheek and wrapping around his shoulders. Shigeo hummed and looked back up at his closest friends and the best friend he’s had his whole life. More people he loved that he got to share this world with, no more running around, excuses, and especially keeping secrets. Maybe with time, they wouldn’t need to keep things like this. Between worlds and species. But for now, for today, right now, this was a good start. Everything was okay.