Work Text:
“That guy was lying, y’know.” Ritsu hums it out boredly. Now that the customer is gone, he sits up, shoving his arms under each and every couch cushion. He hears, rather than sees, Reigen shuffle and turn to look at him. With a glance over his shoulder he sees Reigen seemingly melt in his office chair.
“Uh, and how do you figure that?” Ritsu makes sure Reigen can hear him snort at that. He abandons the now disheveled couch, down on the ground looking under it. “He said he was grateful for your help,” Ritsu says, cheek pressed to the ground, “but he was lying. He actually thinks that your whole back massage routine wasn’t worth what you charged and he wants to leave a bad review on your website.”
Reigen rolls his eyes, flipping open his laptop. “Well, I figured he wasn’t all that happy... but I don’t have psychic powers to help me, obviously,” he hesitated a second before saying it, making Ritsu roll his eyes, “so sorry that I can’t catch every little thing. And jokes on him, he can’t leave reviews on the site.”
“It’s not psychic powers, it’s having eyes.” He dragged himself to his feet, shuffling over to the mini fridge tucked away in the corner, digging through it. “Aren’t cons like you supposed to be better at reading people?”
“Even I can’t read minds. Also, what are you doing?” There was footsteps behind him and Ritsu nearly hit his head on the fridge door, jumping at having Reigen leaning over his shoulder. “You don’t usually come here on your own. Why not go home?”
He sighed, stood straight, making sure to grab one of the bottles of pop hidden not so secretly in the back. “One of my mathematics textbooks mysteriously disappeared,” he hummed, pausing as he took a sip, “and Tome mentioned that she saw Suzuki bolt away from our school and vanishing into thin air when she was hanging out with nii-san. So, I thought he hid it here.”
At that, Reigen shrugged, hands in his pockets. He moved around Ritsu to get to the counters beside the fridge, opening a cupboard. “Haven’t seen him at all today. Sorry, kid.” Ritsu watched as he pulled out a mug, putting a teabag in it and reaching for the electric kettle. “Maybe Hanazawa-kun’s place? He hangs out there a lot too, right?”
He glared at his back. First of all, at the lies he told, leaving an acrid taste in his mouth. Secondly, Ritsu wasn’t a kid.
As Reigen went to grab the jar of honey from the cupboard, Ritsu flicked a finger, the jar flying out and over him. Reigen yelped, wincing like he expected it to shatter right in front of him, and then whipping around to scowl at the jar firmly in Ritsu’s grip.
“You’re lying.” Ritsu stated the obvious, just a little amused at the surprise flashing over Reigen’s mind for just a second. “You have seen him today. At your apartment this morning, and around lunch, right?” reigen sputtered, arms jerking and flailing around as he tried to stutter out an alibi.
“U-uhm, okay, maybe I did!” He screeched, then jumped back into his tacky facade of composure. Really, Ritsu knew he was feeling uneasy under it all. “But, that doesn’t mean anything! I didn’t see him for more than like, two seconds. Besides! Suzuki-kun didn’t have a textbook on him.”
He crossed his arms, smirked, leaning back against the counter, and threw a hand out for the honey like it was some grand trophy. Ritsu just narrowed his eyes at him another second before nodding and placing it in his open palm. “See,” Reigen began, “you should just go--”
“He’s trying to hide in my room with it so he can jump out at me, got it.” He said before taking a large swig of the pop, humming into the rim of the bottle, then spinning around on his heels.
“Wha-- hey!” He hears Reigen yell after him as he makes his way down the stairs and out the door. “That’s more then just intuition, kid!”
Okay, maybe Reigen had been the first one to point it out. But Ritsu didn’t have a good track record of listening to him. So, he didn’t even consider it.
Ritsu tried to take the less crowded routes through the city as he walked home. He wasn’t so concerned about taking too long to confront Shou; he was in his own home, after all.
So he walked by slowly, taking his time to admire the flowers out from of a small shop, looking at the pots and hanging baskets. He saw the florist out front, a small old woman with her hair in a tight bun, monotonously watering the flowers. She grunted as a curt greeting as he walked past.
Yet, Ritsu could see what was actually there; the woman was happy on the inside. The thought of a nice night with her family ran through her mind. Ritsu turned and walked on with a little smile.
A restaurant he walked by had a couple out front, sitting at a small circular table, hands clasped over the top. Ritsu didn’t pay them much mind, although he could hear one cooing their love to the other. When the returned ‘I love you too’ left the rancid taste of a lie, Ritsu silently hissed through his teeth. The smitten one’s thoughts of anxiety and a ring burning a hole through his pocket made Ritsu walk a little faster. He really didn’t want to witness that train wreck.
Maybe that level of intuition, being able to feel someone’s vague thoughts, sense their underlying emotions, and have a metallic taste that reminds him of blood paired with the scent of something just slightly burnt that he recognized as lying , wasn’t normal.
The road got busy just a few blocks down from his house. A man in a suit with a phone to his ear and a calm tone on his tongue was furious with whoever was on the other end; a woman walking with a man was laughing, yet it left a tinge of fear on Ritsu’s tongue (and if the man, who was thinking of thoughts that Ritsu couldn’t quite make out but knew he didn’t like, tripped on his feet and fell flat on his face, only to look up and see the woman gone then, well, Ritsu didn’t see anything.); a young girl around his age was telling jokes with a group of students, but her heart wasn’t in it and her mind was back home, alone, in her room.
And then the road was empty and Ritsu was walking down his home street, not batting an eye at the sensations of people that were just all around him.
Because that wasn’t abnormal; as far as Ritsu knew, everyone could do that.
He’d heard so many times others calling him a people person, intuitive, able to read others like open books. He’d always been perceptive; always could read a room well, always had a hunch when his parents weren’t feeling their best but wouldn’t show it, always knew beforehand when some classmate he didn’t care about was going to confess to him, always had a sense of what some people felt about him-- and when he was being used. It was innate, something he never found strange, because it was something he always could do. No one ever hinted at it being all that weird. So he never figured it was out of the ordinary. No one ever told him otherwise.
So charismatic, so perceptive, what a people person! Can read anyone like an open book, huh?
He opened the door to his house, tapping his shoes against the entry mat and then kicking them off and into the corner neatly. At the sound of socked footsteps, he glanced up to see Mob walking down the stairs towards him.
“Oh, Ritsu!” Shigeo looked up and beamed at him, Ritsu sure to smile back. “You’re home! Did you take the long way around?”
Mob was the only person he couldn’t quite read right, once. Then, when he couldn’t look Shigeo in the eyes without putting on a smiling mask first. When Shigeo would answer only with a ‘I’m fine’ when Ritsu had the slightest inkling that something was a little off with him that days. He didn’t know which it was about, exactly; if it was his own fear, or Mob’s fear of himself that clouded Ritsu’s judgement.
That was long ago, though. Now Ritsu could feel that Shigeo’s smile was genuine, that there was no bitter taste on his tongue, and that his thoughts were on him.
Ritsu stilled himself for a second, so he didn’t look too ridiculous and sappy in his smile back. “Sort of,” he answered, putting his book bag on a hook in the wall, “I stopped by Reigen’s office. I was looking for Suzuki-kun. By the way, have you seen him?”
Shigeo considered lying for a second, then visibly shrugged that idea off for a half-truth. “He told me to tell you no.” Ritsu yelped out a laugh, clapping Shigeo on the shoulder as he headed up stairs past him. “You’re amazing, Shige. I’ll see you later.”
Mob just nodded simply, his thoughts off on Teruki, so Ritsu brought that up. “You going to Hanazawa’s later or something?”
Shigeo’s whole body both seemed to inflate like a helium balloon and fizzle with something between giddiness and nerves. Ritsu didn’t need to peer any deeper to see all that; it was all right on his face. “A-ah, going to his place to watch movies after supper. Did you want to join us--”
“No, I’m busy,” Ritsu interrupted, cutting off an invitation Mob really didn’t want him to accept, anyways. “I think I’m going to be busy with Suzuki-kun, anyways.” He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, Shigeo snickering at that.
Going up and standing outside of his door, it was completely silent inside. Of course, that didn’t deter what Ritsu knew to be fact-- for one, Shou was definitely in their, because when his name was last mentioned, an image of his room flashed in Mob’s mind. And second, he wasn’t an idiot. Shou was predictable, and he really seemed to like Ritsu’s room, for some reason.
The door squeaking was the only sound as the only sound as it opened into near darkness. His window was open just a little, although he remembered leaving it that way this morning. Everything was in place where he left it. There were no signs of life; however, Ritsu new he was there.
Maybe it was just the effects of his powers, or maybe it was how it was less a verbal lie and a psychic one, but the taste of Shou’s invisibility was on his tongue, like he had licked a battery. Ritsu wrinkled his nose, sighed, closed the door and then leaned back against it. He left the dark as it was.
“I know you’re here, Suzuki.” He said confidently, eyes scanning around. “And I know you stole my book from my classroom. If you wanted help with math or something, you could’ve just asked.”
The air right beside him shook like the static of a tube TV. Shou materialized right beside him, slammed a hand over the light switch with a loud thwack, and leaned right into Ritsu’s space with wild eyes.
“Hey, it’s not my fault the teacher is always giving me shit!” He groaned, throwing his head back for a second before slamming his forehead right into Ritsu’s shoulder, nearing hard enough to hurt. “Ohhhh, Suzuki! You need to take the proper steps! Ohhh, Suzuki! You’re not supposed to get to the answer that way. OOOOOOHHHHH, Suzuki! Stop drawing all over everything!
“Why should the steps matter so much, huh! I got the right answers!” Shou groaned, now all too caught up in his dramatics, grabbing Ritsu’s shoulders and spinning them into the center of the room. “And if anything, I should be getting extra marks for all the art masterpieces I’ve been giving her. For free! You know those hamster sketches could go for a couple thousand yen a piece!”
Ritsu couldn’t take it anymore--he burst out, laughter welling up and overflowing, bouncing around the room. Shou felt surprised, and a little indignant, although Ritsu couldn’t see that through his tears. Fingers dug into the flesh of his arms as Shou grabbed and shook him, surely seeing Ritsu like he was nuts, laughing his ass off. “You laughin’ at me, huh? After all I’ve done for you, you laugh right in my face!”
Shou shoved him back on his bed, Ritsu falling with an exaggerated oomph. He cracked one eye open and saw Shou standing over him with his hands on his hips, frowning at him. “What a friend you are, laughing at my plight.” He said it, trying to look pissed off, but Ritsu could feel otherwise-- Shou was happy. And that made Ritsu’s heart feel so full.
He lifted himself up onto his shoulders, jerking his head to get his hair out of his eyes. “You know I agree with you. That teacher is being a jerk.” Shou fell back beside Ritsu, the whole bed jerking and dipping down under his weight so they ended up right side by side. Ritsu didn’t mind. Shou’s mind was occupied with something else, he probably didn’t notice the heat of Ritsu right there.
“But, fuck, really, does she have to be such an asshole? I’m already--”
“Watch your language.”
“No. I’m already like, two years behind my age or whatever, and she’s breathing down my neck! It’s not like I’m just doing shit all, I get it done! Just not how she wants me to!” he huffs, closes his eyes and jerks his head back into the mattress. “Maybe I should just ditch again. This whole ‘normal kid’ stuff is boring anyways.”
Ritsu clicks his tongue, like that will get the taste of Shou’s lie off of it. He shook his head, humming out; “no, you don’t find it boring.” And then he closed his eyes, basking in the silence of Shou’s thoughts, so erratic and hard to read.
There was a nice beat of silence, calm and warm between them. He feels Shou shuffle, their shoulders now side by side. “Okay, maybe.”
“You like math, especially.” Ritsu grins, catching the tail end of Shou’s thoughts about that subject before it dispersed to something else entirely. “It’s a new, different kind of challenge to you.”
“Okay, stop right there.” Shou huffed, leaning up on his elbows. “What, you trying to one up Takenaka now, pretty boy? Enough psychoanalyzing me.” Ritsu blinked his eyes open and grinned. “Oh, you think I’m pretty?”
Shou sputtered, sounding like whatever he was going to say melted in his mouth. Ritsu laughed at that, delighting in Shou’s pout. Then another thing came to mind, cutting into his thoughts. “Oh hey, Reigen said something like that earlier.”
Shou raised an eyebrow as a response, a silent request for him to continue. So Ritsu did; “there was this customer in when I went over to the office, to look for the book you stole-- I want that back by the way-- and the guy was all, ‘oh no a ghost cursed me with a bad back.’ It was bull, of course, so Reigen did his whole massage routine. The guy thanked him, all seemingly genuine and stuff. But he was obviously lying. Reigen apparently didn’t feel that the guy was thinking of leaving some bad reviews on whatever yelp page he could find on the Spirits and Such office. Which was weird, since the guy was so caught up on it.”
Ritsu snickered, rolling his eyes. “Then, I pointed it out to Reigen, and he was all ‘ohhhh well I don’t have your super special gifts!’ Like, c’mon.” He looked over to Shou expectantly, looking for a laugh or a remark on Reigen’s behalf. But instead he found eyes digging into him and a furrowed brow. The confusion and surprise under his skin was palpable.
“You said-- this guy never said any of that?” Shou lifted himself up to a near sitting position, leaning over Ritsu. “Like, you said he thought that?”
It was Ritsu’s turn to be confused, frowning. “Uh, yeah? The guy felt he paid too much. So what?”
Shou didn’t respond, leaning into his space even more. “and-- and when you said I liked math a lot. You were right, but I’ve never told you that. But, but I was thinking it then. Is that how you knew?”
Okay, he was feeling a little-- no, a lot lost now. It must’ve been evident on his face, because Shou’s own expression of wonder receded just the slightest bit. As Shou leaned back on his haunches, Ritsu pulled himself up completely, brushing his hair out of his face.
Shou wasn’t looking at him anymore. Well he technically was, but he wasn’t seeing him. He had his chin in his hand now, elbow digging into his knee, a little pout turning his lip down that Ritsu thought looked cute before he could stop himself.
“Ritsu.” He said, finally, sounding slightly muffled. “We gotta talk about your new power.”
“I don’t have a new power!” His hands clawed down at his face as he huffed, Shou’s brow furrowing the only response he could get in. “I’m just, I don’t know, perceptive? Like maybe you can’t pick up when someone is lying through their teeth or when they’re saying something but thinking of another, but I guess I can. But it doesn’t take some psychic powers to do that. Trust me,” he crossed his arms over his chest, “all I have is telekinesis, okay? Nothing more-- ow!”
He didn’t move after flicking Ritsu right on his forehead. He did the opposite, if anything.
“I thought I heard you a word away from devaluing yourself, my bad.” He shrugged it off, Ritsu going to whine something out, only to be taken by surprise by the sudden weight on his shoulders.
Ritsu could feel his breath on his cheek just barely, his eyes searching, looking for something. “You’re telling me,” he coughed up a word at a time, curt and stern, “that you knowing exactly what’s on their mind without them saying it, and that’s not fucking amazing? That that’s not something extraordinary? ”
He might always say otherwise, but Ritsu was damn well convinced in that moment that Shou knew pyrokinesis; his hands felt like they were burning holes in his shirt, down to his very bones, liquefying him. He bit off the bizarre urge to lean into it, swiping Shou’s hands off him. “ No, ” he hummed out, mimicking Shou’s tone, “it’s not amazing. Because it’s nothing. Some people can just… read others. Like Reigen and Hanazawa.”
The hands gone from burning into him grabbed his hands, Ritsu engulfing into flames. Shou must’ve felt the heat, felt how Ritsu tensed, his hands sweaty, but he said nothing. He held sternly, raising the hands up between them. “Are you kidding me? ” He huffed out, and if Ritsu didn’t know that he was really just a little frustrated mostly ecstatic underneath it all, he would have thought he was genuinely pissed.
“Look, I usually love your stubbornness,” --Ritsu was melting at this point-- “but this? No. Ritsu, seriously. That’s not… something that just anyone can do. You hear me? Not even Reigen. Or your brother. That’s you. ”
He was recoiling now. This was ridiculous. Shou was being stupid, idiotic. Ritsu wasn’t devaluing himself; Shou was the one making him out to be something he simply isn’t.
“That’s…” He was at a loss, didn’t know what to say. He looked away, eyes downcast. The emotions Shou was feeling were curdling into something else. “Can… can we drop this? Like, these… that’s not a power, Suzuki. It’s not, okay?”
Ritsu turned cold when the contact was taken away. Shou sighed, looking dejected. But he shook it of, quick to shrug and bounce up, into the air, hovering and twisting up above Ritsu.
“Fine, fine.” He groaned. “You’re right, I’m wrong. Whatever. Oh, to get back on topic, your--”
The words didn’t even get to leave his mouth before Ritsu was on the ground, reaching under his bed, pulling a precalculus textbook out and holding it up like a trophy.
“Yeah, that’s definitely normal.” Shou said under his breath.
Shou didn’t bring it up again. But Ritsu felt like it was all he ever heard, now.
The school halls were near empty, the only sounds and sight of people were through the open classroom doors. He didn’t bother with paying any mind to the conversations, the laughter, the chatter, the waves out greetings in his direction.
He wasn’t paying attention to what he heard, letting it turn into mindless background noise. He tuned into what he felt: a girl showing off her new shoes to her friends while thinking about how uncomfortable they were; a jock type guy talking about whatever sport he played last night while thinking of that one cute guy on the other team that caught his attention; a teacher lying through her teeth when a student stopped to ask if they were going to do the test tomorrow instead.
Shou had put the idea into his head that all this information he was getting wasn’t normal. Now, it was stuck there. His words were stuck to the inner side of his skull, protruding, digging into his brain.
But the thought of it, having a power like what Shou thought, ran off his skin like water. It couldn’t be, it was impossible, it didn’t make sense. This perception was something he always remembered having, could always do. At two years old he’d cry as soon as any one of his family members felt sad or angry or frustrated. He knew when their parents lied to him, the feeling of it, metallic and coppery on his tongue, having made him nauseated at five. He knew that Reigen was a fraud as soon as he had met him, each word having felt slimy, tasting wrong.
But, everyone else felt such things, right?
His so called ‘telepathy’ wasn’t anything like Takenaka had described it. The only time the thoughts and feelings of others had felt overwhelming was when he’d first met Shou. Yet everyone else’s felt so simple. Like a gut feeling, or smelling something in the air, or tasting a hint of it on his tongue.
So, it was obvious; this wasn’t a psychic power. Shou was just oblivious to it all.
Ritsu was cursing Shou’s name under his breath as he stood outside Takenaka’s classroom.
“I swear,” He sighed to himself, glancing into the open doorway, “I’m going to kill Suzuki-kun for putting this into my head.” He could see Takenaka clearly, seated in the middle and minding his own business at his desk. His headphones were in, pencil in his hand, slouched over whatever he was walking on.
He must’ve sensed something, his head suddenly snapping up to meet Ritsu’s eyes. One eyebrow raised up. At the silent question, Ritsu didn’t bother to say a word before he turned out of view of the door.
Not even a second went by of leaning against the wall before Takenaka walked out. His eyebrows were furrowed, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth and taking one earbud out. “You have questions.” He didn’t even bother hiding the fact that he was annoyed.
“How do you know you’re telepathic?” Ritsu didn’t beat around the bush either. A feeling of slight surprise, something he very rarely got from Takenaka, brushed at him like silk against his organs.
His laugh was more for show than anything. “You don’t mean, like, how I tell thoughts from what people say, do you?” Ritsu shook his head, arms crossed. “I mean, how do you know that you’re telepathic?”
The thoughts and questions and worries that here sitting in his gut bubbled up, Ritsu leaning forward intently. “What if everyone is able to read thoughts and you’re not the only one? How do you hear thoughts? Is it just the same as what people are saying? What to thoughts feel like? Can you read everything that anyone’s ever thought or just what they’re thinking in the moment? What about emotions, can you feel that or do you just have to infer their feelings from their thoughts?”
His mouth snapped shut, top lipped pinned beneath his teeth, when he clued in and say how horribly overwhelmed Takenaka looked. His shoulders pushed back, he hissed through his teeth, running a hand through his hair anxiously. Ritsu had the decently to feel a little bad; that, or he was getting second-hand anxiety from the emotions rolling off of him.
“These aren’t random thoughts,” he chewed out slowly, “are they?” he didn’t even need to form a full thought before Takenaka’s back straightened like a board, something ecstatic and energized underneath his skin. “ Holy shit, you think you have telepathy.”
“Ah, hold on, no.” Hands up like he’d been busted doing something, he shook his head almost frantically, frowning. “ No, I don’t. Suzuki-kun put this idea in my head just because I can tell when someone’s lying or whatever and I know it’s shit but he’s the delusional one and--”
The laugh bubbling up from his throat was genuine, this time. “You wouldn’t be here, skipping class, just because Suzuki told you something if you thought it was bullshit, Mr. Honour Role.”
He was backed in a corner, gritting his teeth as Takenaka leaned in with that stupid, shit eating grin on his face. The giddy satisfaction of one-upping Ritsu was stark in his mind; “Okay, tell me everything. I’m willing to answer whatever.” Swallowing his pride, he went to do just that. Only his eye caught on movement through the classroom doorway, seeing Takenaka’s teacher leaning over his desk, displeasure in his mind.
“Not now,” Ritsu said out quickly, “you’re teacher has noticed your absence. He’s also looked over your work and thinks your slacking off, by the way. Might want to put more into question three, specifically.”
His eyes were owlish, mouth open as if to say something, only for his head to snap in the direction of the door. He spared a glance at Ritsu, something like realization on his and that same feeling of giddiness twisting Ritsu’s gut.
“Meet me on the rooftop once the bell rings,” he said over his shoulder, “we can talk during that break.”
It was settled, then; Ritsu was the only sane person he knew.
Takenaka’s hands were sliding down his face, dragging at his cheeks. Ritsu glared down at him from atop the fence, arms crossed and stance wide as he held himself up with his telekinesis. Takenaka’s groan was probably loud enough to be heard two floors down.
“You’re the worst kind of person in the world, you know that?” Ritsu rolled his eyes at that, hearing it for probably the fifth time today. “Like, absolutely the worst. Horrible. I don’t know how Suzuki puts up with you, honest to god.”
He snorted, at that. “I’m not the one being unreasonable--”
“ Holy fuck! ” Takenaka yelled, Ritsu trying to hide his wince, “ that right there is what I’m talking about! I told you what I thought! And that’s that you have telepathic powers!”
He groaned, hands digging to his scalp through his disheveled hair. “It’s-- it’s not possible. ” Takenaka looked like he was to say something, but bit his tongue, so Ritsu continued. “It’s… not the same. You get a constant stream of people’s thoughts, always, and I just… I’m just good at reading people. Good at being able to tell when someone’s lying. Nothing about that sounds like psychic powers.” The midday sun didn’t do much, didn’t warm them as they engaged in their silent staredown. The wind brushed by every once in a while, not doing anything to make Takenaka’s glare waver. It was obvious, to Ritsu, that he felt he was full of shit. He could feel it, in the way he stared, his stance, the silence.
But there was also the fact that Ritsu could feel how pensive he is, feel how Takenaka’s reading him, dissecting him like a bug under a magnifying glass. The feelings of frustration, annoyance, curiosity; those emotions under Takenaka’s skin weren’t visible whatsoever.
Yet Ritsu knew it was there. He knew that was how Takenaka was feeling. Was that normal, to know something like that with even less than a glance?
His eyes slipped from Takenaka’s face; was it not normal for people to do that? Sense emotions and thoughts? Know with near perfect accuracy their intentions?
As soon as his mind slipped, squirming through the cracks of his denial to the possibilities , Takenaka’s eyes lit up.
“Kageyama,” he said, his stare suddenly feeling like it was digging through his skin, “why is this so hard to believe for you?”
Somehow, that took him by surprise. He blinked once, twice, taking a step out into nothing and drifting slowly down from his perch. “Because,” he said as his feet touched the rooftop, “it’s… impossible.”
“Why?” He rebutted it instantly, eyebrows furrowed, arms tightly crossed, leaning forward. “What makes it so impossible? Why, Kageyama Ritsu, are you so against the idea that you might have more abilities than you think?”
A spike of some sort of bitter anger shot through him, up from the Earth five stories below and through his bones like lightning. “What the fuck do you think?” He bit out, stepping forward, “why are you even asking? You’re a mind reader, aren’t you?” He jabbed a finger at Takenaka’s chest. “Why don’t you tell me?”
He didn’t look impressed. “I can’t read your thoughts,” he said slowly, carefully, “when you don’t even fully know yourself.”
He deflated. The hot air in his veins dissipating, his chest feeling both full and hollow at once. His mind was jogging circles around his skull, thoughts rampant; what does that mean? How? I can’t have those kinds of powers. I can’t.
The bell rang, cutting through the air. Ritsu tuned back into reality when he heard Takenaka sign. He was already walking towards the stairs down, Ritsu following blankly. They didn’t bother saying anything, although Ritsu could sense Takenaka’s apprehensive thoughts-- and him wishing Ritsu good luck.
“ Don’t. ” Ritsu hissed out. Takenaka stopped to grin at him, that horrible look of success on his face. “What?” He hummed out oh-so innocently, “I didn’t say anything. Text me if you need anything else, Kageyama-kun.” He said finally, a wave over his shoulder.
The halls were bustling, now, as Ritsu pushed through the crowds of people either talking or trying to get to their next class just the same as him. Takenaka always talked about his mind reading, how it felt to him like he was constantly in a crowded space. That it felt like people telling him their deepest darkest secrets, breathing down his neck, speaking it into his ears. It sounded so suffocating.
It was completely different for Ritsu. He could hear the tail ends of a passing conversation, feel the lies someone said in it, and move on without it being too strenuous. It was nothing like a constant conversation yelling at him from his own mind. It was nothing like that.
The feelings of others, the thoughts, the lies, it all felt like it was built into his senses. He could feel someone thinking about what they were going to do later tonight as if it were just some loose thoughts brushing against his own. There wasn’t any sounds involved; feelings, emotions, were something tactile in the air, to him. Someone’s underlying happiness brushing against his skin, setting his own nerves on fire, letting butterflies loose in his own stomach. The lies, the bad intentions, those sometimes caught him up; they always tasted metallic on his tongue, bitter, rotten, like he was the one telling lies.
But, it was all so normal to him. It wasn’t something added on to the noises of the crowds he passed by, pushing past a girl holding a mountain high stack of books in her arms. Or the people milling about, talking about a new teacher that’s been here for a week. The fact that the girl with the books was stressed and busy thinking of her after school job, or that the girl giggling about the so called hot new teacher thought he actually looked like a walrus; the fact Ritsu new all these things was as simple as glancing past them.
That wasn’t mind reading.
He pushed his classroom door open, threw himself into his desk. No one seemed to pay him any mind, although he didn’t care what anyone thought as he slammed his elbows into his desktop. He clutched his head in his hands, eyes downcast.
If it’s not mind reading, could it be something else entirely?
The bell rang. The teacher instructed everyone to their seats. He was saying something, probably important to whatever subject they were going to be working on next in pre-calculus, but it didn’t even filter through Ritsu’s brain.
He felt choked up. Something was catching in his throat. He didn’t get it. He didn’t understand how, if he even did have it, he could have some power like this throughout his entire life without knowing it.
Was Takenaka so sure? That people didn’t have these same experiences? That this was something specifically only an esper could know, specifically him? And what made Takenaka so sure of this?
There was a presence in front of him, Ritsu realized too late, before familiar scar-ridden hands slammed down in front of him with a loud slap. Ritsu hissed, jumping out of his skin, hair standing on end from his powers. If red hair and blue eyes hadn’t invaded his sight right that second, he would’ve accidently sent them flying.
Shou snickered, looking more than overjoyed with having scared the ever living shit out of Ritsu. “Oh wow, Riichan,” he sighed, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye, “I haven’t been able to get the drop on you in so long. Damn, bringin’ me near to tears.”
He steadied his breath, finding that it was still too quick, instead going to blurting out words like that would calm the anxiety in his blood. “What’s with you? Why are you in my class?” he huffed out, glancing around, although no one was even paying them any mind, let alone thinking about them. “Don’t you have work to do?”
Shou snorted, floating up and around a bit before Ritsu stood up to lean forward and push him to the ground by his shoulders, hissing something about how they’re in public. “Nah, no. nothing important.” He wrinkled his nose like there was something rancid in the air. “Well, the teach’ was going on about how I wasn’t doing the work right, that I’m supposed to do it step by step with equations and no more drawing damn triangles, Suzuki!”
He laughed it off as if he wasn’t genuinely annoyed and frustrated, with a little bit of self-deprecation in his head and thoughts of how he couldn’t do it quite right -- and there Ritsu went again.
He groaned, hands over his ears like that would do anything to get rid of this… this… whatever this was. But it was still there: his teacher so very done with classes today and just wanted to go home so he could lounge around in sweatpants; the girl two desks to the left behind him was considering how she would confess to that one cute girl on her basketball team, and what flowers she’d like; someone walking past their door glanced in and wondered why the Ritsu looked like he was in pain.
Ritsu’s head hit his desk with a solid thunk. He tried to stop it, to block it out, but the sudden silence of Shou’s voice was harmonic with the feelings of his concern and worry.
A rough hand found itself in his hair and Shou’s warmth was even closer and oh, he wasn’t usually that...gentle. But the feeling of Shou’s hum and the soft pads of his fingers against the back of his skull made the ice cold tension in his muscles melt just a little.
“Hey, Ritsu?” And his voice, so soft, made Ritsu’s first name sound calming. “Are you okay? You burnt out or something?” He shook his head no, forehead grinding against the desktop. Shou breathed in through his teeth.
“It was that whole telepathic powers thing, wasn’t it?’ Ritsu didn’t bother to nod to that one; Shou knew he was right, if him continuing on thinking aloud didn’t confirm that. “Wow, I didn’t think you’d get so caught up on this. You even went to that Takenaka weirdo because of some thoughts I was vomiting up, huh? I’d be honoured if you weren’t so distraught--”
He snapped his head up at that, Shou and Ritsu practically nose to nose. “You knew about that?” he huffed out. “Were you spying on me?” He wasn’t surprised, not really, but Shou at least had teh decency to go red and look sheepish, leaning back to rub the back of his neck.
“H-haha, yeah?” He gulped. “I mean, I told you, it’s been so long since I’ve gotten the drop on you, powers n’all. I, uh, saw you walk past my class with Takenaka and… are you mad?”
He thought about it for a moment, and easily figured out he couldn’t be mad. In a way, he was a little glad; he didn’t need to explain to Shou now. Although Shou’s thoughts of regret that managed to breach the surface of his rampant, constant whirlpool of thoughts were appreciated.
Something must’ve showed on his face, because Shou’s expression melted into something farm, a smile that made Ritsu’s chest ache in the best ways. The fingers against the skin of his wrist warmed him in a similar way.
“Let’s get out of here.” he leaned in a whispered it like it was a secret, looking like he was about to get down on his knees and beg Ritsu to skip with him. Although, Ritsu was always a sucker for Shou.
It didn’t take many months, or even many weeks into their friendship for Ritsu to realize that Shou loved the forest.
Seasoning City looked so new, with all it’s sparkling, shining skyscrapers and streets and tightly packed buildings. But it was old, some signs of houses probably ten times Ritsu’s age or older around the outskirts, in between new complexes being built or upgraded. The city was constantly being built on top of itself.
Shou once told him that it was like they were just packing on newer, fancier buildings overtop all the pre-existing ones, like the city was layers of generations worth of housing. That stuck with Ritsu, for some reason.
But out in the outskirts, between the suburban homesteads and the rice fields, were near untouched forested. Not completely untouched; that was where they could find the old, decaying buildings. Homes that might have been lived in a long, long time ago, now crumbling in on itself. The cafes and shops with their busted appliances, begging for Shou to smash them.
Ritsu didn’t like these places that much; the rotting buildings were the perfect reminder that things didn’t last, that everything would one day be taken over by the passage of time and be consumed to nothing, it reminded him of his insignificance in this world. Shou was the opposite; he’d tell Ritsu to lighten the hell up and then throw a rock through a window.
One of such places is where they found themselves now. The sun was pouring through the dense trees, shining down in an ever moving mirage on the forest floor. Shou was humming some tune he had stuck in his head under his breath, walking along the top of a decaying brick wall like it was a tightrope. Ritsu was silently watching him, sitting on what probably was once a bedroom wall, now a slab of square pink-tinged wood on it’s side.
Shou jumped down, right onto a busted old mattress, the springs jumping out from the fabric, all rusted and disgusting under his weight. “So,” he sighed, brushed the dirt and dust already collecting onto his school uniform off. He flickered out of existence, Ritsu glancing to his side just a second before the light shimmered and Shou appeared there. “What’s on your mind, pretty boy?”
There it was again, that stupid nickname. Ritsu wanted to take a jab at it again, tease him or say something to show that it was strange, saying that. But he never did, especially not now; he liked how it sounded too much. But it sent his mind into different whirlwind of thoughts, this time.
He didn’t say a word, for a while. Ritsu just sat there, his knees pulled up to his chest. Its cold, he feels, and quiet, save for the sound of rustling leaves and birds chirping overhead. There’s the sound of Shou’s soft, subtle humming, too. Shou otherwise doesn’t say a word, doesn’t pressure Ritsu, just lets him mull it over himself. Shou’s mind isn’t calm, it never is, but Ritsu can feel all of his attention on him. There’s the feeling of Shou’s understanding, thoughts of Ritsu struggling with himself in the past. He sees himself through Shou’s perspective, right then and there for a split second, and the feelings associated with that make his nerves alight.
And then it makes him feel horrible.
“It’s…” Ritsu starts saying, because he has to say something now, he has to. But no other words make their way out or feel right in that moment. He goes to pull at his hair, throat feeling tight. Shou leans closer.
“I… I can’t have powers, like this,” he says it slowly, like he himself is trying to make sense of his own words. “I… I’ve always been able to do these things, Suzuki. I always knew when my mom was hiding something from me, was thinking about something, or when she lied. I always have known what’s on someone’s mind. Always. And… and I thought that was normal. That everyone could do all that.
“But, if it’s psychic powers…” He grit his teeth, clenched his fists. His own nails dug into the meat of his palms, feeling close to piercing the skin. His eyes were hot, stinging. “Then… th-then, I’ve had these powers my entire life. I’ve been using these powers all this time and… Shou…”
Shou was a blur of red and skin tones and blue, blue eyes as Ritsu looks at him through his tears. “Y-you don’t know how much I wanted powers, just like Niisan, Suzuki-kun. I was… obsessed. I was afraid of his powers, and so, so envious. All the things I’d done… and now I find out I’ve had powers all this time?” He sniffles, rubs his eyes with the back of his hand, laughs something bitter and dark that turns into a gross sob. “I… I’ve done shitty, shitty things, Suzuki-kun,” he chokes it out like he’s admitting something dire, “all because I… I didn’t have power like Shige’s. And now I found out I’ve had powers, have been using powers, all along? I-I can’t… fuck!”
He threw his arms down, jumped up to his feet. Debris shivered up off the ground, the leaves rustling and quivering without the wind. His hair was standing on end, spiked in a translucent blue glow. His nails were digging into his arms.
“I’m an idiot.” He growled out. The trees groaned with an invisible force pulling at them. He whipped at his eyes with the palm of his hand so harshly it hurt. “Everything I can do is just some watered down version of my brother’s powers, and now I find something unique about me, and I can’t e-even be happy about it. I just re-remember all the people I hurt. ”
He turned on Shou, lips twisted into a broken grin. “I-Isn’t that so pathe-pathetic of me?” He laughed it out. “ God, how w-weak, right?”
“Shut up,” Shou finally spoke up. His voice was bitter, rotting from his tongue, the feelings associated with it so oily and disgusting it made Ritsu recoil. He looked up at Shou, truly looking at him, choking up when he saw pure anger and frustration.
He stood up. He walked over, a harsh movement of his body. Ritsu didn’t know what to do; something like panic bubbled up in his chest, a feeling of fight or flight, but he just stood there frozen. A hand grabbed at Ritsu’s shirt, yanked him closer.
“Don’t you dare, ” Shou hissed out, voice so bitter, “say that about yourself, Ritsu Kageyama.” Ritsu went to say something, to argue back, maybe yell right into his face. But a soft, warm hand touching his face, wiping at his tears so smoothly, made him fall completely silent.
The hand bunching up his school uniform softened, holding his face. “Can I say,” he hummed it out, quietly, like he was afraid to scare Ritsu off, “what I think? About you?”
He didn’t have the voice to speak, nodding his head ever so slightly. Shou breathed in, deeply, like he was trying to soothe his own mind first. “I think you’re afraid that… what you did, before, was pointless now. You… and correct me if I’m wrong, you lashed out at your brother, at people who were stronger than you, because you wanted to feel powerful, right? You were afraid of your own brother, and wanted to feel like the kind of person who beat down on people, yeah?”
He gulped, nodded slowly, Shou looking like he understood more than Ritsu could ever know. “Right,” he hummed out, “and, now that it turns out you’ve always had some sort of power, you were powerful all along? And so, you feel guilty all over again.”
“If this is meant to make me f-feel better, you’re doing a shit job of it.”
“H-hey! I’m not good at this whole heart to heart shit, okay!” His face was red as he whined, shaking his head as if to shake it off. “I’’m… what I’m trying to get at is… you can let yourself be happy, Kageyama-kun.
“You always get so caught up in beating yourself up. You always feel so… inferior. Like you’re not good enough, and that’s bullshit. Any time something good or cool happens, you always find some horrible ways to twist it into a stab at yourself. And that’s horrible. You’ve done bad things, sure, and I don’t know exactly what’s gone on with you before I met you, but trust me . You’re not a bad person. You’re strong, and amazing, and the biggest smartass I know, and you’re really good at playing poker and making up comebacks and--”
Ritsu smoothed a shaky hand over Shou’s mouth, a muffled sound of surprise following it. He sniffled, one last time, putting his other hand over Shou’s. “Hey,” he sighed, “you’re rambling on again.”
He had the audacity to look sheepish, seemingly realizing that he was still cupping Ritsu’s face and letting go. He pulled Ritsu’s hand off his mouth, breathing in through his teeth. “Was… did I even make any sense?”
Hands suddenly grabbed at Shou, pulling him into Ritsu. He gasped out, hands gripping at the back of his shirt tightly. The breath of Ritsu’s face, shoved deep into his neck, paired with the hair’s brushing against his skin made Shou feel like he was going to explode.
“Thank you,” Ritsu’s voice was muffled, and watery, but Shou heard him perfectly. His heart, so warm and tight in his chest, was pressed against Ritsu’s ribs. A swarm of butterflies in his stomach burst to life when Shou laughed aloud, arms wrapping tight around Ritsu’s torso. He nestled his face into Ritsu’s collarbone.
“You’re amazing,” Shou hummed it out like it was easy, like saying something in kind back to him didn’t make Ritsu’s whole body quiver, “you’re extraordinary, and improving every single damn day, to the point it pisses me off sometimes.”
Shou’s mind, always so busy, so full, overflowing with every thought and idea that bursts in his mind, was completely and entirely centered on Ritsu right then and there. Ritsu saw it, felt it.
But he couldn’t say anything, couldn’t bring himself to mention the raw, unbridled affection he felt. He just hugged him even tighter, hoping that got his the message across.