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Spring
The season of cherry blossom, of flurry of pink painting the landscape every which way. But for Mob, that one red (orange?) always seemed to appear on his vision.
Maybe he's bored , Mob thought. Maybe he's trying to befriend another esper. Maybe he's lonely?
Ever since their talk on the rooftop the first day of school, Shou had been greeting him in the most bizarre ways possible. Startling Mob from behind, jumping out of a trash can, falling and landing right in front of Mob, talking while being invisible, tugging at Mob's shoe mid-step with his psychic power, physically tackled Mob to the ground. The last one caused Mob to reflexively bursted his energy to send back the “enemy” who was trying to harm him.
Because Shou was putting a bit of his power in his tackle, the two powers collided and flung Shou far like two magnets with the same pole. He fell on his face.
Mob hurried over to the body lying on the asphalt. The redhead looked up from his position, blood ran down from his nose and a shit eating grin adorned his face ear to ear. But that quickly turned into a frown upon seeing Mob, upon seeing his face.
Shou ignored Mob's extended hand to get up, dusted his uniform, and walked away with his hands tucked in his pants pockets. Maybe Mob had imagined it, but he thought he could hear Shou mumbled “boring”.
Shou's bizarre morning greetings ended as abruptly as it started.
Mob wondered if he had upset him. Maybe I didn't get the clue?
Summer
The name Suzuki Shou of Salt High had become somewhat of an infamy. He went by some nicknames, including but not limited to; the Purger, Fire Rat, and Red Devil.
(When the names reached Ritsu's ears many months later, he idly wondered if even highschoolers still suffer from chuunibyo )
Mob heard of the rumor too, and by chance saw the very reason why as he was walking home from school. There in an alleyway, lied a mountain of motionless bodies, the only hint of them being alive were the echoing groans that was creepier than the loud mewling sound cats let out pre-fight.
Deeper in the alley, stood a familiar boy figure -- heaving and gasping for air -- and a girl trembling from fear. When the boy looked to the girl, concern plastered on his face, the girl screamed and ran away. Maybe it was because the bright blue eyes and the bright fiery orange, but Mob could clearly see every shift of expression on Shou’s face, even under the shade of 2 buildings. If Mob was better at reading expressions than he actually was, he would know the shift went from concern, to sudden surprise, to confusion, to understanding, to sadness and finally resignation. Mob wasn't, so he only registered how animated Shou's expressions were compared to his own, or even his brother's. No, maybe even to Teruki-kun’s, he later thought.
Mob took a few steps closer. Shou immediately realised he had another company and steeled his eyes, softening upon seeing who it was.
“Yo, Kageyama nii-chan!”
Mob doesn't respond to his call. He simply looked around the area, registering every body count, every crack in the walls, every tools that was probably used as a weapon, and every blood splattered. Blood.
He looked up to Shou, finally seeing him clearly from a close enough distant, to notice the blood that ran down his temple, nose, and arm that was visible due to the cut on the sleeve. In short, Shou looked ragged and torn. Mob looked straight to Shou’s eyes, not missing the forming bruises below them.
“Why are you bleeding?”
Shou tilted his head and creased his brows. It was a very odd question for Shou. He knew Mob could be slow, but nobody was that slow. So he shrugged, gesturing his surrounding with his whole body, and looked back to Mob with raised eyebrows. It was a sarcastic gesture, he realised, but that was also a stupid question.
But Mob's stare didn't change. Not a blink, not even a twitch in his mouth, as he once again asked, lifting his hand and pointed at Shou, “Why are you bleeding .”
The tone did change a bit. It was no longer a question, but a demand for explanation. It struck Shou what Mob's actual, unvoiced question meant.
“Aaahh…. Well I don't really want to leave any permanent damage, yanno. I mean, they got numbers sure, but me packing a punch filled with psychic power to guys who can't put up barriers may result in, yanno, murder. I did put out some to protect me, here and there, but again, they got numbers. Plus, a brawl is no fun without getting a bit... exciting .”
Shou smiled pridefully, gesturing his body when speaking the last sentence. There wasn't particularly any reaction from Mob, so Shou simply rolled his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. Then came the second question.
“Why were you fighting?”
“Uh, well, that girl -- the one just now, did ya see her? -- anyway her, she was asking for help, really did look like she was in a pickle then. I came along, ambushed, yada yada, and here we’re.”
Mob went back to staring at him. It got more irritating by the second so he prepared to leave. But then he was stopped when Mob called forth some of his power, immediately demanded for Shou's attention.
(In the future, when asked, Shou would deny feeling nervous at this point)
“You have a good heart,” pause, “but you're trouble.”
Ignoring the cold sweat on the back of his neck, Shou grinned, “Makes things more fun, don’t’cha think?”
Mob looked Shou dead In the eyes, “If you want to see my brother, you have to calm down,” Weirdly enough, to Shou, it sounded more like a request than a demand, “I won't let you drag him into your messes just because you don't know how to act like anything besides a destructive, impulsive troublemaker.”
To say Shou was surprised would be an understatement. His eyes went wide and jaw hung open. But he collected himself, and started grinning again. Mob didn't like the new glow that was now present in Shou's eyes.
“That's fine. That's fine!” Shou exclaimed excitedly, and in three quick, giant steps he was inches away from Mob, snagged his arm by the elbow, “It just means I can drag you around instead, right? Right?”
Mob didn't even blink, but his eyes bugged out. “...I don't think that's really necessary,” Mob whispered. The last thing he needed was to get caught up in delinquent activities again.
Autumn
Shou had taken an unexplainable liking towards Mob. He seemed to appear anywhere where Mob was. He was also surprisingly obedient towards Mob's requests.
“Please don't keep dangerous company anymore.”
(When Shou told Ritsu of this while adding “Ain’t your brother the most dangerous person anyway?” Ritsu threw him out of his room with all his might and actually managed to hurt Shou. Shou returned everynight to apologize)
“Please don't appear in Ritsu’s dorm in the middle of the night anymore.”
(Shou started dropping letters instead)
“Please don't try to pick a fight with Teruki-kun in the middle of the city.”
(He wanted to say he didn't technically threw the first punch, but the hurtful look on Mob's face refrained him from voicing it)
“Please don't prank shisou anymore, he really thought he was cursed for a while.”
(Shou grinned)
“Please don't call me nii-chan.”
(Shou laughed)
“Please don't skip class just because you see me having problem in PE. In fact, don't skip class at all.”
(Shou pouted)
“Please stop jumping on me every morning.”
(Shou yelled, “NEVER!!” )
Winter
Mob, Ritsu and Shou spent New Years together. Teru wanted to come, but he was occupied by his prior promise to the soccer club to practice with them for the upcoming friendly match with a rival school. He sent a text full of crying emojis, kaomojis, stickers, and an actual video of him apologizing profusely.
During New Year shrine visit, however, Ritsu met his student council friends from middle school that invited him to join them. Mob told him to go, so Ritsu, while reluctant, went with them, promising to meet up again near the entrance in an hour. Shou, grumbling, resisted the urge to follow his best friend.
After the obligatory pray in the shrine, Mob and Shou went to find a seat a bit away from the crowd. To be more specific, Mob pulled Shou away from the game booth he was sure to win by using his power. The idea to punish the cheating vendors by cheating themselves was admittedly quite tempting. Mob blamed his frequent hang-outs with Shou for that train of thought.
So they sat, and simply waited for the last half hour to pass before meeting up with Ritsu.
Mob had given his scarf to Ritsu because the younger Kageyama had forgotten his. But now it was Mob's turn to shiver with every blow of the chilly wind. Shou rolled his eyes, then held Mob's neck between his palms.
Mob flinched in surprise, but soon felt a heat radiating from Shou's hands that was pretty much not normal for a normal body temperature. He realised it was generated from Shou's psychic energy. Instinctively, Mob leaned closer to Shou's hands, putting his on top of them.
Shou explained how he might not be able to make fire, but channeling his energy to become heat is pretty easy. Just as he said that, he could feel Mob’s energy enveloping both of them in warmth.
Genius bastard , Shou mutters under his breath, not exactly having any bite.
They stayed like that for a bit longer, until suddenly Mob threw his head up, pulling Shou's hands down, and stared, wide-eyed, to Shou. He had reached some kind of a revelation, and Shou prepared to hear any stupid comment Mob would throw. The question was, to say the least, very much unexpected.
“Are we dating?”
For all his 15 years alive, Shou could count in one hand moments where he truly, positively, at lost for words. This was one of them.
A bunch of thought or none at all swam inside his mind. He figuratively tried to grasp at anything to say that wouldn't make him look stupid. He didn't remember feeling this flustered before and didn't want to try remembering now because honestly, he was about to explode as is from information overload.
Are we dating? Does he like me? Do I like him? What is dating? Is it fine for me to date someone? Date him? A dude? Do I want to date him? He wants to date me? Why is someone so powerful want to be with someone who's weaker? Is he rubbing on his own ego? Why is he looking at me like that? The fuck do you want, man? Why are you staring? Oh he's waiting for an answer. Hold on what was the question? Are we dating? Are we dating ??
“Uh, yes?” is the most intelligent respond he could come up with.
A beat passed, two beats, a really really long beat, and finally, “Oh.”
And they returned to silence.
An uncomfortable silence.
Uncomfortable for Shou, at least. Mob looked just fine.
“Uh, so… that's it?” Shou dared to ask.
“Yes,” Mob answered.
Maybe it was just Shou's imagination, but he could see a pink tint on Mob's cheek. Or maybe that was from the cold. Or maybe that was because he knew his face was also burning red, and hoped to get a leverage by imagining the tint.
Came spring, and Ritsu’s smile went rigid and stiff and he could not exactly think of anything to say. It got better once both of them assured he was still their number one.
Came spring, Teruki genuinely congratulated Mob for having his first partner, but threw a stink-eye towards Shou that could almost put Ritsu’s to shame.