Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a disgrace. A complete embarrassment! And the parents of the Black Vinegar Middle School were enraged. They paid good money for their children’s tuition and now their hard work was being squandered. Black Vinegar was one of the highest-ranking private middle schools in Seasoning City and the payment was according to its status. And now, all of a sudden, these kids from another school just got a free pass because of convenience? Outrageous!

To be fair, it wasn’t at all the kids’ fault and if their opinion had been considered, they would have probably preferred staying in Salt Middle School as well, had it not been for the serious mold problem. Some of the students and faculty had been complaining about breathing problems for over a year by the time it got investigated and when the severity of the problem came out, the school had been forced to shut down almost immediately. It was a health hazard and Salt Mid had a reputation to uphold.

Students had been scattered to stay in other nearby schools for the time being and it just so happened that Black Vinegar was a perfect fit for about a third of the Salt Mid students. Smaller the school might have been, but the principal was nothing if not willing to rub their success to the face of the Salt Middle principal. Why of course they could house a third of Salt Mid’s students, he said. Why couldn’t they? After all, they were top of the line, the man boasted as he accepted the students in. The parents might not have liked it, but the principal assured them that it would only be until the Salt Middle’s renovations would be done, and the original students’ studies would not be affected.

Hanazawa Teruki didn’t care much, to be honest. He didn’t know what his parents thought about the new students, or if they even knew about the situation. It had been a long time since their opinion had affected Teruki’s life. As long as these new students would recognize and respect his authority, he didn’t care what they did. Teruki hardly even noticed when the new students got integrated into his school. They were required to wear the Black Vinegar school uniform, so it wasn’t like they stood out either. Yeah, there were a bit more people to Teruki’s classes, the hallways were a bit more crowded, but that was pretty much it. Save for a handful of unsavory individuals, there wouldn’t even have been any who were able to oppose Teruki’s status as a Shadow Leader had they known about it. As far as Teruki was concerned, all these new people needed to know was the pecking order and he had Edano to take care of that.

He would have probably forgotten all about the Salt Middle School integration in a few months’ time, content with continuing his life as normal. Walking among the average people was getting dull, sure, but he was undoubtedly and unquestionably the king of the school, so what was there to complain about? People recognized power, they could smell it on him and automatically gravitated towards it. As they should. He noticed a few more girls fluttering their lashes his way and considered dating one or two of them. That might cause some discourse among the student body, some trouble between the newcomers and the old girls, but it might bring something new to the monotonous existence of Teruki’s school life.

He could have easily forgotten about the transfer. What are a few new faces on the sea of the commoners? Sooner or later, it would have all just faded into nothingness.

Had it not been for the flare.

The Salt Middle students had been going to Black Vinegar for about three weeks when it happened and it hit Teruki in the gut like a sucker punch.

It happened while he was outside. The school had just ended and he had been on his way out with his current girlfriend, Haruka. Everything had been normal, there had been no warning before it crashed over like a tidal wave. The unmistakable flare of an esper’s aura. It washed over Teruki in an instant, filling his ears with a ringing and his vision with light blues and purples. It damn near swept him off his feet then and there and the surprise left him heaving.

“Are you alright, Teru?”

Haruka’s words hardly even registered with Teruki. He had stopped cold on his feet the moment he felt it, unable to keep going. Teruki was sweating bullets, his hand clasped like a vice around his bag strap. The warm glow of a stranger’s aura surrounded him like a blanket, suffocating him in something he could only barely recognize. It was coming from the school, wafting out of there, an endless stream of psychic power.

The source was close. Teruki whirled around to face the school like he could somehow see who was behind this. But of course he couldn’t see anything, he could feel the aura permeating from somewhere inside the building, but the source was nowhere to be seen. What he knew, was that it was on the school grounds and it was powerful.

“Teru?”

There was another esper in Black Vinegar.

And just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone. The tingling glow that had appeared from somewhere close by disappeared in an instant and it left Teruki reeling, unbalanced on his feet.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay or not? Talk to me,” Haruka was yanking at his sleeve, looking genuinely worried. She was gnawing at her lower lip, looking over Teruki’s face.

He pulled himself free of her hold. He needed to regain composure. For a moment his whole body had frozen up. He’d been caught by surprise. Teruki ground his teeth together.

There was another esper somewhere close by.

Someone like Teruki.

He strained his senses, trying to catch a whiff of that aura again. He should have been able to sense it, it had been so close. Like if he had reached his hand at the right moment, he might have caught the other psychic by their sleeve. But no matter how hard he focused, Teruki couldn’t find the culprit. It was like the power source had just disappeared.

Like it had never been there to begin with.

No, he thought and grit his teeth together tighter. It had been there, he’d felt it.

Teruki turned back to the girl. The worry on her face hadn’t lessened one bit. He drew a quick breath through his nose and forced his stance to drop, running fingers through his hair and putting on a face of tired disappointment.

“I’m so sorry, Haruka,” he said and looked down at his feet in a way he knew looked sheepish. “Suddenly I’m not feeling very well.”

“Oh! You poor thing!” she cooed, moving a bit closer but keeping a distance between them. “You know, there’s been this stomach bug going around lately. They say the Salt Middle people brought it with them. Maybe you’ve caught it now.”

“Yeah, that must be it,” Teruki said with an easy smile.

“We need to get you back home and resting as soon as possible! I’ll come make food for you, Teru. You need to rest!”

“Ah, Haruka, I wouldn’t want you to catch whatever this is. Really. I’ll be alright. I promise to text you as soon as I get home safely. Alright?”

It took a moment to get Haruka to leave, but Teruki was nothing if not insistent. But by the time he’d gotten her to leave, the school had drained empty of its students and whoever the mystery psychic had been, they were long gone.

It did little to lessen the tension in Teruki’s gut.

There was another esper at Black Vinegar.

Teruki was well on his way to turn his teeth into powder.

This was bad. Really bad. And the biggest problem now was that he had no idea what the flare had meant.

For a moment, maybe half a minute, there had been a loud and clear sign of psychic powers being used somewhere close by. Somewhere on his territory, someone had let their aura flare and then it had gone silent again. What had it meant? Clearly it had been a signal of some sort. The other psychic must have known Teruki was an esper as well. He didn’t flaunt his powers, but he didn’t go out of his way to hide them either. And Teruki did use his abilities almost daily. So there was no way that flare hadn’t been intentional.

So what had that been, then? A threat? Or maybe a challenge? That would have made sense. Teruki was at the top of the school hierarchy. Dethroning him would have been any esper’s dream, especially if there was someone new in his dominion.

Claw came into mind, but Teruki dismissed that thought almost immediately. The ones that had been sent after him before, they hadn’t felt like this at all. There had been a different kind of taste, this weird artificiality. But this aura, this blue and purple whirlwind that had almost managed to knock him down, there was no way it wasn’t fully natural.

Teruki started making his way home, hands buried deep in his pockets.

Would they send a natural after him? Maybe. Teruki clearly would have been a considerable addition to Claw’s cadre and it would have been about time they grew a backbone and sent someone else after him. But he still doubted that was it. When Claw had come for him the last time, they hadn’t waited around. They had attacked him head on. So if this mystery psychic was part of Claw as well, he doubted they’d wait and give themselves away this easily.

His phone buzzed once. He had half a mind to leave it be and forget about it. He had far more important things to think about, after all. Gritting his teeth together, Teruki seethed.

He knew none of the Black Vinegar students could be psychics. After all, he’d spent over a year with them already without a single sign of power. None of them had stood up to challenge him, not in any way meaningful anyway. He’d had to show his dominance when he took over the gang, sure, but none of the students had been more than commoners, hardly even able to put up a fight when Teruki had come for them.

The phone buzzed again, reminding Teruki of its presence and he yanked it out with little patience.

Unsurprisingly it was a message from Haruka.

Did you get home already? read the first one. Teruki grit his teeth. She was getting clingy. Maybe it was time to cut this relationship short.

If one of those Salt Mid guys gave you a bug, I’m going to be so mad!

Salt Mid? The thought connected in Teruki’s head immediately. Could the esper be one of the Salt Mid newcomers? He supposed it was possible. Did Salt Mid have a Shadow Leader of their own? Was that it? And the guy had decided to challenge Teruki?

The idea excited him far more than he would have liked to admit. A challenger who had realized how much power Teruki had? Someone who now wanted to try his strength against Teruki? It could very well be, the idea felt plausible to him.

Teruki found himself hoping that to be the case.

But there was no way of knowing, was there? Not with the amount of information he had at the moment. The only thing Teruki knew for a certain was that the source of power, it had without a doubt come from somewhere on the school grounds. And the aura had been powerful. Too powerful to just disappear suddenly like it had never existed in the first place. That was it. That was all he knew.

There was another esper at Black Vinegar.

His annoyance and worry started to shift into excitement.

Well, it was about time someone realized his power. And not just the common power he held at school, his status and charisma. All of it.

It was a challenge. It had to be. Someone thought they could frighten Teruki with a little show of power. It was pathetic, but he would answer it all the same. After all, some people just had to be shown their places before they could get a clue. They thought they could be anything if someone kind enough didn’t show them how the world worked. So, this little esper thought they could just waltz into Teruki’s school and declare their status just like that? Well, they would have another thing coming. No second rate psychic was going to take him down.

The first thing he did the next day when he arrived at school, was send this mystery esper a message. Teruki reached for his power, pulled it into existence and let it pool around him. His knees jerked and he felt the familiar warm glow envelope him. If it was a sign they wanted, then Teruki was going to give them a good one.

His aura flared around him, reaching for the school, zipping around the grounds, the buildings, the road around them, marking it all as his territory. He watched as the yellow glow surrounded the school for a few seconds, making his message clear. The average people of Black Vinegar wouldn’t sense a thing, they just walked past him on their way to school, knowing little about the real power play that was about to begin. It mattered little. After all, this show wasn’t for the commoners. This was a message for the psychic encroaching on Teruki’s turf. It was a message of power, a message of the hierarchy here. Teruki let his powers grow stronger, fueled by his confidence, his aura pulsing with power. A drop of sweat was gathering on his temple, threatening to fall down his face.

Letting up on his hold, Teruki allowed his powers to subside. The glow grew fainter until it was completely gone. And then he waited.

He wasn’t sure what exactly he was expecting. Maybe a response from the other psychic. Another flare to acknowledge that the stranger had noticed Teruki’s presence and was paying attention now.

Students kept passing him, some of them greeting him, stopping to ask how he was doing.

“There you are, Teru!” Haruka said, latching onto his arm. “I know you got my messages yesterday. Why didn’t you answer me? Are you alright? You look a lot better. Teru?”

There was nothing. The air around Black Vinegar was cold and empty, just like it always was. And even though Teruki strained his senses, trying to feel even the tiniest amount of power, he couldn’t feel a peep.

“Teru?”

Must have scared them off, he decided. His lips stretched into a self-satisfied smirk. He should have known it would be this easy. Whoever it had been, they would have been an idiot to challenge Hanazawa Teruki.

Good.

Great.

It didn’t feel very satisfying, though.

Teruki tried to tell himself that he was ready to put it behind him after that. It had just been a weak pulse of psychic power, barely worth mentioning. Hardly even there. He could sneeze and cause a flare like that, he really ought to not think about it anymore. Sure, it meant that there was another psychic in Black Vinegar, but they couldn’t be that powerful considering how they’d ran off with their tail between their legs after Teruki’s show of power.

He tried to tell himself that he wasn’t waiting for another signal. That he wasn’t straining his senses to catch even a whiff of psychic energy during the more boring classes.

It wasn’t his fault, really. It was just that this school was so full of… these… idiots. These commoners, who had no idea what it was like to be as powerful and special as Teruki. They had no idea and they would never be able to understand either. But maybe this esper…

Teruki had been growing tired of his classmates for a while now. The first year had been fine, breaking down and building up the delinquent gang here had been pretty fun, showing them how the world worked and who the boss was. It had been okay. It had taken him some time to make it clear who owned this place, but once that had been established, Teruki had been left to live the comfortable life of a Shadow Leader. Girls liked him, he could pick any of them to go out with, guys followed him like the predictable lackeys that they were. Life was pretty much perfect.

But it was also kind of… boring. Empty. Teruki had reached the highest rank in his school and now he was at the top.

What was there left to do after that?

These people, they didn’t understand. How could they? They didn’t have the capacity to even begin to comprehend what it was like. And all the while, even though Teruki had everything he had ever wanted, he was starting to grow numb.

He tried to pretend like he wasn’t waiting for another flare. He tried to pretend he didn’t care that he had probably scared them off with his strong response without even getting a chance to try his powers against them. But when the next flare happened, Teruki got far too excited to hold onto that pretense.

It happened while he was in class. It was the last class of the day, and Teruki had been faking interest in the teacher’s dull words. And then he felt it. It appeared around the school like a lighting out of a clear sky, reaching out from somewhere in the building.

Teruki was out of his seat before he could even fully register it, electrified by the feeling. His chair fell back on the ground with a loud clank and all the eyes in the class were on him.

He didn’t care. He was out of the classroom with his teacher’s voice following him before he could even think twice.

But by the time he was out there, it was already over. The pulse had come and gone, just like last time and again there was no sign of the source. Teruki’s heart was pounding in his throat and he felt like he was going to be sick. Was this a game for the other esper? Was that it? A joke? Because if it was, he wasn’t laughing.

The teacher was calling for him and she wore the face of shock. For the teachers, Teruki had always been the model student. It wasn’t like him to just dash out like that.

He stood out in the corridor for a few beats longer, but there was nothing else out there. The flare was gone, the power disappeared and Teruki wasn’t sure what to do about it. After a long stretch of silence he returned back to class and seated himself. The other students were throwing looks his way, looking puzzled, some even amused. He apologized curtly to the teacher and resumed back to feigning interest.

But his heart was beating in his throat and it didn’t let up for the rest of the day.

Teruki was watching the Salt Mid teens now, keeping an eye on them, trying to guess who it was that had decided to toy with him like this. There were quite a few of them, a third of a whole school’s worth. It was a miracle that Black Vinegar managed to make do with them.

Quite a few of them had integrated classes with Teruki. Now that he was actually paying attention, he had always at least a handful of them in every class he took. Any of them could be the one, any of them could have witnessed Teruki using his powers at one point and decided to start this game of theirs. And whoever it was, they were doing a good job hiding their intent.

He asked Edano if there had been any newcomers challenging the Black Vinegar gang. Predictably, Edaeno brought up that delinquent guy, Onigawara and his thugs. Teruki looked into it, questioned the delinquents but was left empty handed. None of those morons could be his challenger. He might have accidentally started a turf war with them, though. Well, it was all the same. Edano could deal with it himself.

Clearly the challenger wasn’t one of the delinquents. Unless they had a Shadow leader they refused to reveal. Teruki seriously doubted Onigawara had the brains to keep something like that hidden.

It was getting frustrating.

Teruki was craving for action. He’d been dying for it for a long time now and as far as he was concerned, he deserved it. This little kingdom of his was far too small for two rivaling espers and he was going to find this newcomer and deal with them for good.

The thought came to him at the dead of night. A little thought that snaked its way into his mind when he was tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

What if this person, this psychic… What if they could be turned from an enemy into an underling?

Teruki would have to show him the pecking order, of course, but after that. Nothing would stop the newcomer from working for him instead of against. Teruki could maybe even turn him into his right hand man.

The idea hit and took root with more force than Teruki had been expecting. And it excited him far more than it reasonably should. But then again, it made sense. The only person that could truly understand what his life was like would without a doubt be another psychic. The only one, who he could confide in, talk about the things that truly mattered. None of these regular people could ever understand, one had to be truly above the rest to know what it was like.

The challenger would never be his equal, but he could stand on the second highest ladder of the hierarchy. He deserved it, after all, for having the moxy to challenge Hanazawa Teruki.

Yes. Someone to run his gang with. Someone to stand a little behind him when walking around the school.

It was perfect. Teruki would make it so, because he could.

The only problem was that the mystery challenger was still not showing his face. His game was still unfolding, surely. And Teruki was going to ruin it for him.

If he just could find the other esper, that was.

It turned out to be a complete accident that Teruki ever even found out the identity of the esper. Despite his bravado and boasting, he never would have found the guy had Lady Luck not tripped him over it.

It was kind of disappointing, really.

Teruki had been minding his own business, surveying his territory on his way to art class. He’d broken up with Haruka a week ago and considered asking out a girl from Salt Mid. Maybe that would rouse the attention of the mystery esper? The corridor had been almost empty save for this one guy who barely even registered in his mind. He hadn’t been paying any attention until he heard the commotion.

Then he felt it. The strong sensation of another’s aura and his head whipped up in an instant.

The boy was glowing. And the floating pottery figures were glowing too, enveloped in a bluish purple aura.

“Careful,” the boy said. “You almost dropped these.”

It was clear what had happened. A girl had been leaving the arts room with clay figures on a tray, not seeing the guy just outside and she’d ran into him. The figures had been about to crash on the ground, but the boy had picked them up with his powers.

Teruki was staring, mouth hanging open.

The figures floated gently back onto the tray. Teruki couldn’t properly see the other kid’s face, but the girl was clearly flabbergasted. She stared at the figures, then at the boy, seemingly unable to produce a single word.

Teruki was pretty much in the same state.

The boy nodded curtly and continued on his way. Teruki’s heart picked up its beat, laced with something akin to panic.

A natural. There he was, the natural esper. Right there. The newcomer wasn’t at all like those Claw lackeys and their artificial auras, this guy was pure, undiluted power. He had thought about it, but never truly registered the idea until now seeing it and it hit his head with whiplash.

But that wasn’t what was important here right now. What was important was that he’d found the culprit, the challenger. He burned the image of that kid to his memory, unwilling to forget it.

No matter how… ordinary looking this guy was.

Really plain, actually. Teruki didn’t think he’d ever seen this guy before. Did they even go to the same school? They must have, the boy was wearing the same uniform as him. So it must have been one of the Salt Mid students. But still, this guy rang no bell.

And who even wore a bowl cut? What, had this guy’s mom cut it for him and the kid was too afraid to change the style? It was really embarrassing, actually. Made it even worse.

Who the hell was this guy?

Well, that didn’t really matter either. This boy had threatened Teruki’s status, had dared to challenge him without even knowing what he was getting into and Teruki wasn’t just going to sit idly by and let something like that go unpunished.

Now that he knew who the challenger was, Teruki kept his eyes peeled. He started paying attention, catching the guy always somewhere in his peripheral. He was such an ordinary looking guy, barely even there. He would have been lost to the masses had Teruki not been paying so much attention. Nothing about him stood out much.

By design, no doubt. A perfect little mole he was, hiding in plain sight. He probably thought he had gone completely unnoticed, playing his part so well. What Teruki couldn’t decide was whether the guy had shown his powers that day in the art wing on purpose, knowing Teruki would catch him in the act or if it had been a pure accident.

It couldn’t be, could it? But then again, had it been on purpose, surely the guy would have tried to make eye contact at least? Do something more instead of just getting out of there as if he hadn’t seen Teruki at all.

He wasn’t sure what game he was playing, but Teruki was going to find out. And then he was going to crush him.

Two days later, while during lunch break, Teruki caught the sight of him again. He’d been having his bimonthly sit down with Edano and his highest-ranking cronies. Teruki wouldn’t usually be caught out with them during school days when everyone could see them. He was a Shadow Leader for a reason, after all, but he found it important to make sure everyone could see that he had the thugs in his pocket, that he was in control. The black bowl cut drew his attention across the yard. The boy was carrying his lunch with him and Teruki’s eyes were glued to him, trying to suck in every morsel of information he could get without actually going there and asking.

The boy acted like nothing was wrong, like there was no care in the world. Like he hadn’t challenged the most powerful figure in Black Vinegar. Maybe Teruki’s lack of responses had made the guy feel cocky. Maybe this arrogant bastard thought he had nothing to fear.

Maybe he thought Teruki would never find out who he was.

“Who’s that?” he asked, pointing at the boy.

“Hnh?” Edano grunted, turning to look at the nondescript student. “Helmet hair? Dunno. Never seen him.”

“One of Salt Mid guys,” one of the thug nobodies said, bored. He waved his hand around carelessly. “Doesn’t look like he goes out much. Though, I think I saw him hanging around those buff guys from Salt. The bodybuilding club or whatever.”

Edano scoffed. “Those bastards. Some of our guys have been looking to join their club. We should do something about them before they snatch our gang members.”

Teruki wasn’t really listening to them anymore. His eyes were on the mystery boy. He was so… plain. Teruki watched as he carefully made his way to a group of other Salt Mid students, three guys and a girl. The girl let out a loud shriek, yelling something and nearly whacking the boy with her wide gestures. Bowl cut just sat down without a word.

Who the hell was that guy? Teruki couldn’t feel anything from him, not even a whiff of psychic energy. Had he been wrong? No, he’d seen it clear as day. This was the esper. But the kid didn’t really strike him as someone to challenge a gang leader. Well, looks could be deceiving, sure, but this guy? Teruki was having a hard time believing that.

He was having a hard time imagining someone like that as his right hand man. Never in a million years would he be caught dead with someone so milk toast.

“You want us to go ask him a few questions?” Edano asked, quirking his brows and flashing a nasty smile. He was cracking his knuckles already.

“Calm down,” Teruki ordered. Edano knew nothing about subtlety. “I’m going to look into it myself.”

There was no point in rushing into this. Not now, when he knew who he was dealing with. Now he would know who to look for when the time was right. This guy was going nowhere. He’d made a mistake challenging Teruki on his own turf and he’d soon be finding out just how badly he’d messed up.

Teruki was going to make this kid think twice before going against him again.

The bowl cut… was in one of his classes. He was in the same math class as him.

It was embarrassing. How had Teruki missed him sitting in the same class as him, multiple times a week? The guy registered so little that Teruki hadn’t even realized that he saw him almost daily. He had been paying no attention.

But now he was and the boy sat a few rows behind his back. It infuriated him. The guy was so close, Teruki should have at least been able to tell that they shared a class. But there was still nothing. Not even a whiff.

He must have thought it so funny, made fun of him with those weird friends of his. “Oh yes,” he must have said. “Some Shadow Leader he is, hasn’t even been able to spot me yet.”

Teruki seethed. He couldn’t focus on anything the teacher was saying. Not that it mattered. He could skip classes and still end with straight As. Still, though, he was having a hard time hearing a word the man said, when he could almost feel the other esper on his skin now.

“Who can tell me the answer?” the teacher asked. “How about you, Kageyama.”

“Uh, yes!”

Teruki perked up at the sound and turned slowly around in his chair. The boy was standing up. What had the teacher called him? Kageyama? Teruki fixed his glare on him, taking the guy in without caring if the others saw it or not. He tried to make eye contact with him, But the boy… Kageyama, didn’t seem able to form a coherent thought in his head. He was sweating profusely, looking from window to the door, desperation clear in his stance.

“I… I…”

He had such a small voice, Teruki had to strain his ears to hear it at all. Like a small mouse squeaking.

“I have no idea.”

The teacher sighed in clear frustration. The man had never been one to go easy on his students and he had made his dislike for the Salt Middle School newcomers clear during the passing months. He gave a long look at Kageyama.

“I don’t know what they taught you in Salt Middle School, but this is Black Vinegar and here we take our studying seriously.”

Kageyama looked like he was drowning in his own sweat.

“From now on, you pay attention to what I’m telling you and learn. Do you understand?”

Other students were snickering and Kageyama looked mortified. His pale skin looked even more pallid than before, giving him a sickly look.

“Yes,” he said meekly and sat down. His every movement looked jerky and uncomfortable. “Sorry.”

Was this guy really… the one who had challenged Teruki? He couldn’t be, right? This boy didn’t look like he’d be able to fight his way out of a paper bag, let alone plan to take out someone on Teruki’s caliber.

Could there be… someone else? There had to be, right? No way Teruki’s challenger would be this wimpy kid.

Teruki tried to swallow down his disappointment. There was no way fighting this guy could even be fun.

Well. It didn’t matter, really. The fun of it would have just been an added bonus. But that wasn’t really the point of the fight, was it? He needed to gauge out this kid’s power level, to make sure he’d never even think about opposing Teruki. He needed to show the guy his place, whether he looked like he could actually put up a fight or not.

This guy didn’t look like he’d even be that fun to have as his underling.

Disappointment tasted bitter. Teruki turned back to his notes. His focus was shot through the rest of the day, lost completely. He trudged through the day in a fog, thoughts dark. All the plans he’d had, the built up images of a great adversary, they were all now going down the drain. This surely was no great mastermind or a great psychic he’d built him up to be. No, this was some loser kid who didn’t see enough sun and would probably get winded walking home.

Teruki made his way home, threw his bag against the wall next to his door and sunk down to sit on his bed.

Well, he thought to himself that night, staring at his ceiling. It wasn’t like this was the end of the world. Sure, this Kageyama guy wasn’t exactly what he had expected. Not at all. But that didn’t mean it had to be a bad thing. He was still another esper. And espers could be wily. Maybe this guy was just pretending to be this meek little thing, hiding his true colors under his dull exterior.

It was possible. But somehow Teruki found it unlikely. The boy didn’t look smart enough to try to pretend to be something he wasn’t.

But maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. It might be easier to get him on his side if he wasn’t exactly the sharpest pencil in the drawer. It wouldn’t be as fun or as rewarding, sure, but an esper by his side would be ten times better than these commoners surrounding him, surely.

Mezato Ichi was looking at him with a stare far too sharp. Like she could see right through him with a single glance. Like nothing could stay hidden from her for long and she knew it. Teruki didn’t much care for it.

“I was told you knew everything about everyone in Salt Mid,” Teruki said, crossing his arms and leaning back. He’d told Edano to find him someone who could find dirt on any of the Salt Mid kids. This was the girl he’d brought him.

She smiled thinly, then closed her eyes and shrugged modestly.

“Maybe,” she said. “But what I’m interested in is what is a Black Vinegar celebrity like yourself looking to find out about some Salt Mid student. Who is it and what do you want to know?”

Too sharp for her own good, Teruki thought, narrowing his eyes. He tilted his head to the side. “He’s no one special. Just caught my interest. I want you to find out more about him.”

She pulled out a notebook and a pencil, giving him a pointed look. “A name would be a great place to start,” she said.

“I only now his last name,” Teruki said. “It’s Kageyama.”

The look in Mezato’s eyes snapped, turning from slight interest to something akin to a cat that had caught canary.

“Kageyama, you say,” she said, far too casually to match the look she was giving. “Why am I not surprised?”

“So you know him?”

“Oh, it depends. We have two Kageyamas here. Shigeo and Ritsu. Brothers. I wonder which one you’re talking about.”

The way she said it made it sound like there was an obvious answer to her question. Her attitude got under Teruki’s skin. He didn’t like being made fun of and this girl was clearly enjoying how her half-formed truths made him squirm. He gritted his teeth and placed his hand on the table, leaning over it and towards Mezato.

“How am I supposed to know?” he asked. “The one I’m talking about is a second year student like me. Has a bowl cut. Kind of reserved and quiet. Doesn’t strike me as someone that smart.”

The smile remained on Mezato’s lips throughout his whole description, unwavering and constant.

“Well,” she said. “That’s clearly the older brother. Shigeo.”

“Shigeo.” Kageyama Shigeo. He tasted the name. Even his name was kind of dull. “So. What can you tell me about him?”

Mezato leaned back in her chair, tapping her pencil on the side of her notebook. She made some markings there before lifting her eyes to look at Teruki.

“Not much, to be honest,” she said. “I’ve been looking into him myself. He has been a part of some interesting things and there are some stories about him from elementary school.”

“I don’t care about those. Just give me what you know.”

“Hm. Fourteen years old, birthday on 12th of May. He is currently part of what remains of Salt Mid’s Body Improvement Club. He has and afterschool job. He has a little brother, who was part of Salt Middle student council.”

Teruki tapped his fingers against the table. All pretty basic. The club choice seemed a little weird to him, though.

“What else?” he said. “Give me more. I need to know everything.”

“There’s not much more,” Mezato said, smiling infuriatingly smug. “He’s not very good at school, not too athletic, not too opinionated. Stays mostly by himself. He has made friends with the former Telepathy Club, though. Oh, and he has a crush on Salt Middle idol, Takane Tsubomi. ”

“Telepathy Club?” Teruki said, pressing over the table. There were more of their kind here?

“Don’t let the name fool you,” Mezato said. “By the state of their old clubroom, they mostly play videogames and eat chips.”

“Hm.” He pulled back and crossed his arms. Mezato clearly knew more, but wouldn’t say. Teruki tapped his foot against the ground, thinking whether to ask about the obvious or not.

“Let’s cut to the chase,” he said. “You know what I really want to ask about, don’t you?”

“Why, I have no idea, what you might be implying,” she answered, her smile unwavering.

“He’s a little strange, isn’t he?”

“Strange?” Mezato said. “Well, if you mean the fact that he can bend spoons with his mind, then yes.”

She was surprisingly nonchalant about it.

“Is he the only one like that?”

“From Salt Mid?” Mezato asked. “As far as I know. His brother seems to be completely normal.”

Teruki kept tapping the floor. It wasn’t much. Disappointingly little, to be honest.

“What’s his connection to your school’s gang?” he asked.

“None, as far as I know.”

Very disappointing. But then again, that could mean Kageyama Shigeo was very good at remaining under the radar. And listening to everything Mezato had been saying, that seemed to be the case. His presence barely even registered to the students of Salt Mid and he was an esper! Surely there’d be no one better suited to be a Shadow Leader.

Well. Teruki was obviously a step above, but there was no copying brilliance.

“Thank you for your time, Mezato,” he said, getting up. He’d still gotten enough material to work with for now.

“Hanazawa.”

Teruki stopped and looked at Mezato.

“I have some questions for you as well,” she said, tapping her pencil against her notebook. “I answered yours. It’s only fair that you answer mine.”

Teruki smiled lazily. “I never promised to answer your questions.”

“No, you didn’t,” she agreed, nodding her head to the side. “But I was thinking you might want to answer mine all the same. That is, if you’re interested in having me answer your questions in the future as well. Because if this turns out to be just a one sided conversation, I might not be as ready to tell you anything the next time you find yourself looking for information.”

Oh, so that was how it was? Teruki’s smile gained an edge to it when he sat back down across from her. “Go ahead, then. But I can’t promise I’ll answer all of your questions. If you get too personal, I might just feel hurt and leave.”

“Understood,” she said and clicked the pencil. “What I’m most interested in is what you want to know about Kageyama. It seems to me that I’ve been doing a whole lot of asking around about him and no one cares. Not many even know there’s a Kageyama brother other than Ritsu. And here are you, Hanazawa Teruki, asking questions about someone you shouldn’t even be aware of.”

Teruki said nothing, waiting for her to continue. He kept his polite smile on, didn’t let it slip one bit.

Mezato’s smile was just as unflinching.

“I simply… saw something, that caught my eye,” he said diplomatically. “Something, that I found a little odd. Is it now understandable to want to learn more?”

“And instead of talking to Kageyama, you come to me?” Mezato said.

“It won’t hurt to be cautious.”

She tapped her pen against her notebook. “It certainly won’t. Now. Let me ask some questions about your classmates.”

She had a lot to ask, ranging from current rumors to the dating scheme. She wrote down notes like a savant, pen gliding over her notebook and pages turning. She looked like she’d hit a jackpot. Teruki, on the other hand, was growing tired of this. He drummed his fingers against the table and leaned further and further away from Mezato on his chair, showing clearly just how disinterested he was getting of this.

Mezato cared little for his obvious sings, asking about this girl’s greatest fears and that guy’s embarrassing rumor. It was all very boring. Teruki was, naturally, aware of the things happening in his school, but what the commoners got into was no problem of his.

“Are you familiar with a religious cult called Psycho Helmet? Or perhaps (LOL)?”

“A cult?” Teruki asked with a sneer. “Never heard of them.”

Mezato looked miffed, but made note all the same. “Alright,” she said. “Then one last question and I’m done.”

Finally. Teruki rubbed his chin and nodded. “Shoot.”

“What do you say to the rumors about your involvement with the delinquent gang here in Black Vinegar Middle School. You’re quite chummy with the leader Edano.”

“What are you insinuating?” Teruki asked, resting his hands on the table in front of him.

“I’m asking if there’s maybe a connection with the rumored Shadow Leader of Black Vinegar and the most popular kid in the school,” Mezato said with a smile too wide to be innocent. Teruki answered with one just as big and just as fake.

“I’m sure you didn’t mean to call me the Shadow Leader,” he said. “Even though you made it sound like it. But I can assure you, there’s no connection.”

“I’m sure,” she said, making one last mark on her book before closing it with a snap. “I guess that’s it then. I have no more questions to you. Thank you for answering them, Teruki.”

“No, thank you for answering mine, Mezato. You were of great help.”

“That’s good.”

Teruki watched Mezato leave the café, followed her with his eyes until she had disappeared into the crowd.

Kageyama Shigeo. The name rang in his head, over and over again, as if on loop. Teruki turned to stare at the back wall of the café. Kageyama Shigeo.

The introduction needed to be flawless. And if there was one thing Hanazawa Teruki was, it was flawless. He made sure to look on point on the day. His uniform was clean and sleek, his hair made just so. Today was the day he was going to show Kageyama Shigeo his place.

He couldn’t help it. Teruki was starting to get excited again. Who knew? Maybe Kageyama’s dull demeanor was just a cover up. There could be anything hiding under that bored expression of his. After all, the time Teruki had seen him use his powers, they had come easily for him. That meant Kageyama must have at least above average levels of power. And that in itself was more than any other Black Vinegar student could boast.

Teruki timed it perfectly. He made sure to approach him just after school, before the club activities began. He made sure Kageyama was just leaving class, making his way closer with a confident swagger. Students around him waved and called his name, but Teruki had time for none of them.

Kageyama was walking with that one third year student Teruki had seen around him before and the girl was talking animatedly, a hand on Kageyama’s arm, yanking him to keep up with her faster pace. Teruki picked up his speed.

“Kageyama Shigeo!”

The students in the corridor all fell silent, looking around to see who Hanazawa Teruki was addressing. Kageyama and the girl had stopped and Kageyama was turning slowly to look at him. His face remained disinterested even though Teruki was approaching him. The girl next to him let out a squawk and held tighter onto the guy’s arm.

Teruki let his appearance sink in for a moment, standing confidently with his hands on his hips before striding in closer. In front of Kageyama, he cocked his hips and rested one hand on them, taking a stance of utter relaxation and power. He tilted his head forward so he could stare at the shorter boy with a clear challenge, putting as much self-assurance into his movements as possible. The look was finished with a cocky grin to show who really was in charge here.

“Could I have a moment of your time?” he asked, voice smooth and sharp.

Kageyama blinked once. That was pretty much all he did. His expression didn’t change, he didn’t seem to care that he was in the presence of Hanazaw Teruki right now. He just stared at him dully and Teruki’s stance faltered a bit. His hands twitched and he covered it by leaning back and flicking at his hair.

“Well?” he said.

Kageyama looked down, then up again.

“I’m sorry,” he said, not really sounding like he was. “My club activities are about to start. Can it wait?”

What?

The girl let out another undignified yelp, grabbing onto her friend’s shoulder. “Hold up, Mob!” she barked, pulling at him so hard the boy was struggling to stay on his feet. Mob? What was that, some kind of a nickname? Sounded more like a cruel joke than anything. The girl turned to give Teruki what she must have thought was a charming smile, pushing and pulling Kageyama’s arm. “Do you mind if I borrow Mob for a minute? We’ll be back in a moment.” Without waiting for the answer, she yanked Kageyama to the closest classroom, whisper-shouting something about… telepathy? He couldn’t really hear her, even though he tried to. A moment later Kageyama re-emerged, looking just as indifferent as before, with the girl in tow.

“How can I help you?” Kageyama asked, his voice a silent drone.

The exchange had thrown Teruki off-kilter a bit. This was not how he had envisioned this was going to go. What he’d had in mind was something far more… explosive. Maybe worry in Kageyama’s eyes that he’d been found out. Or maybe excitement.

But Kageyama was giving him absolutely nothing. His reaction was empty.

Like he didn’t even know who Teruki was.

Never mind that. Teruki gathered himself and plastered that smile back on his face.

“Mind if he have a little chat?” he said and rested his hand back on his hip, the other pointing a thumb behind him towards the stairs to the roof. “I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

Kageyama’s eyes flitted to somewhere behind Teruki’s back and when he turned to look as well, he could see he looking at a clock.

The girl was looming in the classroom doorway like a terrifying shadow. She was pointedly looking at Kageyama, then at the direction Teruki had pointed at. Kageyama was starting to look a bit uncomfortable, but clearly not because of the reasons Teruki had wanted him to.

“Alright,” he said at some length. “I hope this doesn’t take long. Lower body training month has started. I need to go do squats soon.”

What did that even…? No. It didn’t matter. Teruki fought to keep his jovial smile on and waved his hand at the direction of the stairs.

“Let’s go, then,” he said. From the corner of his eye he could see the girl lifting up her thumbs for Kageyama.

There was no one else on the roof. Perfect. Teruki was gaining up his lost momentum, making his way to the edge of the roof and peering over it to observe his kingdom, letting Kageyama come to him. He let the uneasiness of the situation sink into the guy, hoping he could feel the power dynamic just by standing there. Teruki turned around and leaned against the railing, with his arms crossed over his chest.

Kageyama was looking him in the eyes, his stare unrelenting and uninterested.

“So,” Teruki said, refusing to be the first to break the eye contact. “Here we are, then. I’m glad you came. I was worried you were going to chicken out.” Teruki let the relaxed smile turn into something a bit more predatory.

Kageyama did not move. He did not look away either. But when he opened his mouth, the words that came out didn’t make sense to Teruki.

“Tome told me to ask you about a new room for the telepathy club,” he said, his voice like a dull blade.

“The… what? Who’s Tome?”

“The president of the telepathy club.”

That didn’t really… answer his question.

“The girl from before?” Teruki asked, motioning towards the door.

“Yes.”

Teruki started laughing. This was absurd. Did this guy have any idea what he was dealing with? Who he was dealing with? Or was this all part of the act too? Teruki’s smile felt strained on his face, like it didn’t fit as well as he would have liked. He bit his teeth together to keep it there and pushed away from the railing.

“Well, never mind that,” he said. “That’s not what I brought you here for. I’m not someone you can just come to asking for favors without doing something for me first, Kageyama.”

“You know my name,” he said.

Here we go. Teruki’s smile stretched wider.

“Surprised?” he said. “I spent quite some time looking for you. You were surprisingly sneaky, but you should have known that sooner or later I’d find you. And now there’s no more hiding.”

“Hiding?” he repeated, his eyes falling to stare at the floor. Then he looked up again, looking all sorts of confused.

“Yes,” Teruki said. “I felt your aura. I felt it reaching all around the school. Did you really think I wouldn’t retaliate? Not very smart on your part, if you did.”

“I’m sorry,” Kageyama said and tilted his head a little. “Who were you again?”

Whatever Teruki had been planning to say got flushed out of his mind the moment the words connected with him. “What?” he asked. “You know who I am. I’m Hanazawa Teruki.” The school idol, he didn’t add, but kind of expected the other to know anyway. But judging by the empty look in this idiot’s eyes, the name meant nothing to him. Alright. Alright fine. Teruki started grinning wider. So he supposed he was going to have to be blunt about it then, huh? He let his powers flare around him, his aura stretching wide and powerful for them both to see.

That earned a reaction. Finally something. Kageyama’s eyes grew larger and his mouth opened a sliver, just a little bit, and the smallest of gasps escaping.

There. Finally he’d made his point. Teruki felt victorious.

“I showed you mine,” he said smugly, letting the other bask in his power. Let the power difference sink in for a moment longer. “Now you show me yours.”

“Huh?” the guy said.

“Show me your powers!”

“Oh. Well… Okay.”

Teruki’s eyes grew large and he took a cautionary step back. Kageyama’s aura flared around him in blue and purple. His hair floated upwards, revealing more of his hidden facial features, all of them just as bland as everything else about him. For a few seconds the roof was filled with something warm, heavy and all encompassing and it left Teruki heaving.

He had no idea it could feel like that. Was that what an all natural psychic’s aura was supposed to feel like? The Claw guys had felt nothing like this, but then again, they had been attacking him and Teruki hadn’t had much time to take it in.

And just like that, it was over. Kageyama’s aura fizzled out, disappearing like it had never been there to begin with and Teruki’s head was spinning at the lack of it.

“If that was all, I’m going to go back in,” Kageyama said suddenly, dragging Teruki out of his daze. “It’s a bit chilly out here.”

“No, wait! Kageyama!” Teruki barked. “We’re not done here.”

“We’re not?” he asked. He looked like he was getting a bit antsy.

“No, we’re not. Because we have a big problem on our hands.”

He stopped and turned to look at Teruki.

“We do?” he said.

“Yes. You’re the first natural my age I’ve met and suddenly you just barge into my school? That’s not good.”

“It’s… not?”

“No. And if we’re going to coexist, there’s something we have to establish first.”

Kageyama was just looking at him now, his mouth slightly open as if trying to convey the confusion the rest of his face couldn’t.

“The hierarchy,” Teruki purred moving closer. “I’m the Shadow Leader of Black Vinegar, you understand me? I can’t have some small upstart barging into my territory just like that. So I say we deal with this as soon as possible.”

It was clear to him that the guy didn’t understand.

“Fight me,” he said, as clearly and simply as he could.

It still didn’t seem to be connecting with Kageyama. He just stared at Teruki like he was trying to solve a riddle that was far too complicated for him. Teruki’s patience was starting to wear thin.

“I don’t want to,” Kageyama said uncertainly. “President Musashi said our muscles aren’t for fighting.”

“Muscles?” Teruki asked incredulously. “What are you talking about? I want you to fight me with your psychic powers.”

He could taste the instant rejection the moment he got the words out. Kageyama clamped shut before his very eyes, retreating back into his shell.

“You’re not supposed to use psychic powers against other people,” he said, the litany of words practiced and soulless.

“I don’t care,” Teruki said. “Come to me after your club. I’ll be waiting for you on the school soccer field. Come there and we’ll deal with this.” He moved in closer, moving into Kageyama’s personal bubble and he could feel the guy growing stiff with his closeness. Teruki pushed his face close enough to feel the other kid’s shaky breaths on his face. “Unless you’re scared,” he whispered.

Kageyama blinked, his mouth opening a little. No words came out, though. Teruki pulled back with a wide smirk meant to goad the guy on some more. Kageyama looked uncertain.

“Alright then,” Teruki purred. “Run along to your club or whatever. I’ll be waiting for you afterwards.”

Teruki ended up waiting for a few hours. He kept telling himself that Kageyama would show up sooner or later, that he just needed to wait a bit longer.

It was around nightfall when he finally had to admit it to himself. Kageyama wasn’t coming.

Chapter Text

Who did this Kageyama Shigeo guy think he was? Playing around with Teruki like that? He must have thought himself so much better, making a fool out of him like that.

Teruki fumed all the way home, spitting proverbial fire. How dared he? Who was he to string someone like him along like that? He had no right! Absolutely no right.

His mood didn’t mellow at home either, twisting and turning in his guts every time he imagined Kageyama laughing with that telepathy girlfriend of his about leaving Teruki out in the cold, waiting for him without a word.

It churned just beneath the surface, stealing his sleep, taking away his calm and leaving behind nothing but simmering rage.

How dared he? Was this some kind of a joke to him? Must have been. Well, Teruki hoped he’d had his laugh, because he was going to make sure it was going to be his last.

No one stood up Teruki and got away with it. Did Kageyama even know who he was dealing with?

Judging by his reaction on the roof, no. Kageyama had no idea.

But that couldn’t be, right? It just wasn’t possible. Everyone knew who he was, he’d made sure of it. He was the damn king of the school. He had control over every clique and every group, what he said molded the rumors of the week, the girls he dated became the most loved and hated for the time they were together and he was the reason Black Vinegar soccer team had won all of its matches since he’d joined. He ran the school, so how could there be someone, who didn’t recognize him?

What if Kageyama wasn’t the only one? What if there were others? Had his hold started to slip already? Since when? Since the Salt Mid kids had joined? The thought that there could be people in Teruki’s own year that might have walked past him in the hallway and not recognize him made his insides twist. It burrowed under his skin and stayed there. The thought of the commoners slowly forgetting about him, moving on to someone else, something else more interesting.

Because what was he without their attention?

No. No!

He saw what Kageyama was doing now. What he’d been trying to accomplish, what he’d almost managed to do.

Psychological warfare. He would not have thought Kageyama capable of it. He looked like such a simpleton. But with just a few simple words he had managed to rock Teruki off his center this much.

A grin started pulling at his lips, involuntary like a tick at the side of his mouth.

Oh yeah, he’d seen through the act now and it wasn’t going to work twice. Wily, wily, just like Teruki had thought he’d be.

He could see now, why Kageyama had run. He must not have been confident in his powers in comparison to Teruki’s, so he’d chosen to try to knock him down first, weaken him before striking. But he’d miscalculated. Teruki had seen through his plan and was already planning his next move.

The fight was going to happen and that was final. Teruki was going to make sure of that.

Kageyama needed to be knocked off his imaginary pedestal.

He wasted no time finding Kageyama the next day. He hurried past the other students, paying no mind to them as they lifted their hands in greeting. Their words washed over him without leaving a mark behind, the commoners meaning nothing to him on his quest to find the one person he needed to talk to.

Kageyama was standing with one of those big, buff guys. The guy towered over him, like a mountain of meat compared to Kageyama’s tiny frame, the tie of his uniform looking miniscule around his neck like it was meant to be a joke. Kageyama was listening to the guy with his eyes large, mouth hanging open while the older student kept talking about squats or whatever.

Kageyama looked like he had stars in his eyes.

Teruki ground his teeth together. Pointless. Why would Kageyama even pretend to be interested in something like that? Was he trying to get something out of this mountain of a man?

What could a commoner like that even offer?

There was a green… something… floating next to Kageyama’s head, the ugliest spirit Teruki had ever seen. It was the first one to notice him and turned to Kageyama. “Shige,” it sad to his ear and Kageyama turned his head.

He spotted Teruki and his expression changed immediately, the shine in his eyes diluting into something more guarded, his head retreating between his shoulders.

Teruki switched gears immediately. His hands had curled into fists at his sides almost on their own on his way to school, his shoulders rigid from the tension he was putting on them. That would not do, not at all. He wasn’t going to show Kageyama how badly he’d gotten to him already. No, he was going to lock it tight and reveal nothing but confidence. He’d hidden the shadows under his eyes with concealer and now disguised the tired and angered edges of his stance away with a more confident swagger.

“Kageyama,” he said. “What a surprise to find you. And here I thought something had happened to you, when you didn’t show up yesterday!”

There was still too much edge to his voice, he just couldn’t seem to bury it deep enough for it not to show.

Kageyama looked at him like he couldn’t comprehend the words that were coming out of his mouth. Like he was speaking some foreign language. His skin looked pasty, sweaty, eyes looking everywhere but at him.

The bigger guy took one look at Kageyama, then turned to Teruki.

“I don’t think we have met,” he said and his voice was far deeper than a middle schooler’s had any right to be. He offered a meaty hand, twice the size of Teruki’s. Was this guy really around his age? “My name is Gouda Musashi.”

“I’m not talking to you, extra,” Teruki said. “Kageyama. If you apologize now, we can avoid any further trouble. I’m giving you one last chance.”

“I’m sorry.”

That was… easier than he had thought it was going to be. Kageyama wasn’t looking at him, but he was clearly showing signs of submission, hunched and apologetic. Just what Teruki had wanted to see.

It kind of took all the enjoyment out of it.

But at least Kageyama had the good grace to back off when he knew he’d screwed up.

Not that he looked like he knew what was happening.

An act. Had to be.

“Good. Now, meet me after school – “

“I can’t.”

Teruki nearly bit his tongue off.

“Look here, little – “

A heavy, warm hand landed on his shoulder and Teruki nearly jumped out of his skin. That muscle bound giant was touching him without his permission!

“Look,” he said. “I don’t know who you are, but – “

Teruki grabbed hold of his hand, infused it with his powers and let his aura zap onto his skin, running electricity through. The big guy flinched back and shook his hand like he’d just been zapped. He stared at it with a mystified look.

“Hm,” he said. “Strange.”

Now Kageyama was looking. Really looking. His eyes had grown a little sharper, his brows were peeking from under his fringe into a small frown.

“You shouldn’t do that,” he said.

Teruki grinned. “What? The commoners won’t get what’s happening anyway.”

That green thing was circling around Kageyama’s head, looking at Teruki with apparent interest. Was that like a pet or something? Kageyama didn’t seem to be paying much attention to it.

Teruki stepped closer, stepped real close and pressed a finger to Kageyama’s chest.

“After school,” he said. “Come, or you’ll regret it.”

Kageyama did not budge.

“I have work,” he said.

“I don’t give a damn. You better show up if you know what’s good for you.”

He didn’t give Kageyama enough time to respond before turning his back on him and walking away. Leave him thinking about what had just happened. He could hear the older student saying something, his voice loud and booming, but unnecessary. If Kageyama said something back, Teruki was already too far away to hear it.

Finally Teruki felt like he could relax a little. God, he was so tired. It was going to be a long day waiting for the end of it. At least now there was some reason back in it, some resemblance of order to follow.

He only realized once the class had already started, that the muscly guy hadn’t known who he was either. But by that point, it was too late already.

Teruki threw his bag on the floor, biting his teeth together so hard his whole jaw was aching.

Kageyama had not shown up today either.

It was fine. It was totally okay, no problem.

Everything was just peachy.

The ache from his jaw wasn’t letting up. Instead it had spread into an all-encompassing headache that would not go away even with painkillers.

This was not a loss. Teruki was not going to get fever out of this. He wasn’t.

He could feel it burning up already. He just refused to acknowledge it.

Did Kageyama even realize how badly he was screwing things up? Surely he must have? No one would poke a sleeping bear unintentionally, right? Not without knowing and understanding the consequences. Kageyama might have put up a good show of simple idiocy, but Teruki was not buying one bit of it.

He must have at least thought he knew what he was doing.

And here Teruki had been trying to be nice, offered the guy a bone. Given him a chance to apologize and start over. Do the right thing and make everyone’s lives better.

And what had Kageyama done?

Spat on the face of his generosity.

Who cared if he had work or not? Some things were more important than work.

And it didn’t stop there. Of course it didn’t. Teruki wasn’t so easy to dissuade. No, he had given Kageyama plenty of chances afterwards as well. Plenty! Stopping him in the corridors, pulling him aside after classes, walking to him during lunch breaks. Asked him nicely, then told him more directly to meet up with him to “settle things over” while everyone was watching. He’d thought the pressure from everyone else’s attention was going to do it for sure, but even that hadn’t been enough to persuade him. Everything from notes in his lockers to cornering him up the hallways was giving him the same answer.

“No. You shouldn’t use your psychic powers against other people.”

Absolutely ridiculous. These powers were meant to be used, that was why they were there, so what was the problem here?

Teruki could tell what the problem was. Kageyama must not have thought he had the power to protect himself from Teruki. Which was understandable. Teruki was powerful and it was easy to see. Kageyama had bitten a bit more than he could chew and had only now realized it. That was completely reasonable.

What was not okay was Kageyama’s response when Teruki had come looking for him. Scared he could be, that much Teruki would have understood. But everything he got out of Kageyama was stubborn refusal at every turn.

How many times was he going to keep turning Teruki down?

“Find me everything you can about Kageyama Shigeo,” he told Edano. “And for crying out loud, try to be subtle.”

Edano gave him a weird look when he thought Teruki wasn’t looking. Teruki turned his head and gave Edano a stare cold enough to freeze and his little thugs floundered immediately, as they should.

“Didn’t you – I mean, what about that Mezato girl?” he asked. “Didn’t she – “

“I need more. Ask around. You know what? Send some of your guys to infiltrate that club of his. Whatever it’s called, the – “

“The Body Improvement club?”

“Do. Not. Interrupt me.”

Edano shrunk back.

Teruki had been so distraught about this whole Kageyama thing that he hadn’t even had the time to find a new girlfriend after breaking up with Haruka. He’d already heard the school rumor mills starting to churn up theories on why that was. Did he have someone else from another school already? Was it a big secret? Or was he looking to date someone else? The rumors floated in and out and Teruki swatted them off like flies. Love letters started appearing in his locker again by the dozens, but unlike before, they hardly even registered now. They failed to give him the high they’d offered before, the rush he felt when others looked at the letters tumbling out of his locker with jealousy was barely there at all. It all tasted like ash.

What the hell was Kageyama’s problem anyway? He’d made no other move to dethrone Teruki, not anything obvious enough for Teruki to see anyway. He was a weird entity, a complete mystery he just couldn’t wrap his head around.

Teruki picked the letters accumulating in his locker and carried them to the closest paper-recycling bin.

Maybe it was true. Maybe he was not the mastermind Teruki had been cooking up in his head. Kageyama was so hard to read, so hard to understand. Teruki could get no hold of him, nothing he’d done so far had left a mark it seemed.

This was all he knew about this Kageyama Shigeo. He was a second year student, just like Teruki and he had a younger brother named Kageyama Ritsu on his first year. Kageyama’s grades weren’t anything special, not too much below average, nothing above it either, although his math was abysmal. He was part of the Body Improvement club, even though you couldn’t really tell by the look of him and he had only a handful of friends, most of them part of that ridiculous, unofficial Telepathy club. Sometimes he had this green spirit thing following him around that had just sort of appeared one day.

It was all surface information. Bits and pieces of the people around him. It said nothing about his personality. Reading him was impossible too, since Teruki couldn’t make up his mind whether he thought Kageyama to be genuine in his actions or not. At one moment he was sure he couldn’t be, the next Kageyama would get flustered by just talking to a girl and look too lost and confused to be fake.

Either he was a brilliant actor, a rival worthy of Teruki’s respect, or he was a confused simpleton who had been at the wrong place at a wrong time.

Teruki could not decide which. He couldn’t just ask either and risk revealing his lack of knowledge to a possible rival.

He kind of wanted to see what was beneath the surface, though. Kageyama must have seen through him already to be able to get under his skin so easily.

Teruki wanted to crack through, too.

He thought about his plans all day, focusing on his little schemes rather than school. During lunch, the people around him were chattering, trying to pull him into their conversations, but Teruki had little time for the words of the commoners. He tired to catch every glimpse he could of Kageyama between classes, but he was so deceptively normal it was hard to tell whether Teruki had missed him or if he had never been there to begin with. It was kind of like a game of hide and seek and it had been a long time since Teruki had been this invested in what was happening around him. Every time he thought he caught a glimpse of Kageyama in his periphery, his heart started beating faster, filling his chest with excitement.

It was just a shame that Kageyama did not seem to feel the same energy.

Teruki spotted him just a little ways off on his way to his last class. Standing there, in the sea of people, as unassuming as ever.

He hadn’t noticed Teruki yet. How Kageyama managed not to see the most important person in Black Vinegar while they were in the same corridor, Teruki couldn’t fathom to tell. Kageyama was looking off to somewhere else completely.

Wait. Was he blushing?

Teruki suddenly stopped on his tracks, staring at him. Kageyama was blushing and his eyes were full of emotion and it honestly… it was making Teruki feel odd.

What the hell was he blushing about? Teruki craned his neck.

The answer came soon enough when the girl came into view. Teruki had seen her around a bit, apparently she was kind of a big deal back in Salt Mid and she had been making waves in Black Vinegar as well. Takane Tsubomi. She walked right past Kageyama and Kageyama’s cheeks grew even rosier when he watched her go by, back as stiff as a rod.

The girl didn’t even look at him and Kageyama looked like he’d been blessed. The green blob of whatever floated around him and said something, but Kageyama clearly wasn’t listening.

“Teru? Teruki, hey.”

Something nudged at his sleeve and Teruki turned begrudgingly to look. It was one of the girls trying to get his attention and for a moment he felt like he was on a completely different planet.

It appeared that maybe he hadn’t been listening that well either.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said and crafted up a lofty smile, running a hand through his hair. “I wasn’t listening. What did you say?”

The girl pouted and huffed, clearly making an effort to look cute as well. Teruki pretended to listen more closely this time, nodding and speaking when necessary to keep up that appearance, even though his thoughts were somewhere else.

When Kageyama walked past him, there was still some of that pink left on his cheeks. He didn’t even look at Teruki when he passed. Probably hadn’t even noticed him there.

Teruki bit his teeth together and balled his fists.

He was going to make Kageyama pay attention to him. He was going to make Kageyama regret being so oblivious.

If Kageyama honestly thought he could just avoid Teruki’s challenges, then he’d be in for a nasty surprise. If he wasn’t going to come to Teruki when asked nicely, then Teruki was going to have to make him come to him by force.

Every guy had his breaking points. And Teruki was preparing to find Kageyama’s. He was always so blasé. Like nothing could faze him. But it all had to be just an act. Teruki was sure there was something beneath that empty exterior and all he needed to do was coax it out. If he had to make Kageyama angry to get his attention, to get him to answer to his challenge, then that was what he was going to do.

The easiest thing to do was to target those around him. Shoot down the lackeys he kept to show his reach in school. That little Telepathy club of his or whatever was easy prey.

It had never been a proper club in Black Vinegar. Maybe in Salt Mid they had had different rules, but here they did not let such suspicious and useless clubs live long. Not that they had enough members to qualify for club status anyway. But they still persisted, skulking in the corners of bigger clubs, namely the so-called Body Improvement club that Kageyama was a part of. Edano told him that they holed up there almost daily, eating away and playing with their little handheld devices.

Pathetic waste of space. Teruki would have probably gotten rid of them even without this whole Kageyama deal had he known what was going on. This was his school and it was his image at stake, after all.

It didn’t take much to cause discord with them. A few well-placed rumors about the club, whispered among the student body. After all, there had been some weird cult activity going on in the city lately. A few deceitful comments in the presence of an older, stricter teacher and suddenly the whole school was doubling down on suspicious activity. All clubs needed to be official, no outsiders were allowed to use club spaces.

And, the best thing of all, their leader got called to the principal’s office and they got her parents involved. It was embarrassing for all the parties involved.

Teruki left it no secret that it had been his doing either.

“You know,” he told Kageyama. “All of this could have been avoided, had you just done what I asked.”

Kageyama did not seem to get it, staring at him like looking long enough was going to reveal some lost secret.

“If you fight me, then I could get your friend’s – “

He shook his head. “No,” he said. “That’s not right. Please stop, Hanazawa.”

Well. At least now he remembered his name. Teruki didn’t even try to stop the satisfied smirk from spreading.

“Well,” he said. “A word of warning. If you keep brushing me off like this, your own club is next on the chopping block.”

Kageyama stared at him with a stricken look. His hands had balled at his sides, so Teruki must have been getting to him on some level at least.

“Why?” he said, struggled the simple word out. “Why are you doing this?”

Teruki was grinning.

“To show you your place.”

His attention towards this one weird background character was what finally got the rest of the school to pay attention as well. They would have continued their existence without even realizing there was someone almost as special as Teruki walking in their hallways had Teruki not pointed out the obvious. Now they were watching as well, trying to decipher what was so special about him. But naturally, the commoners could not see what Teruki saw. They were just as blind as before and Teruki was the only one who could see just how special he was.

Not that Kageyama seemed to understand that.

Taking down the sham of a club was easy. A warm-up. A warning. But it had been clear from the beginning that it wouldn’t be enough.

He met up with Edano after school, behind the school building. A handful of thugs were standing in guard so that no other students would come wandering in on their conversation.

“What do you have for me?” Teruki asked.

He could tell just by looking at Edano, that the news were not going to make him happy. He was skittish, nervously rubbing his hands together, looking at Teruki, away, Teruki and away again.

“What,” Teruki said. It wasn’t even a question at that point, but a threat.

“We,” Edano started. “The, uh… the guys we spent to spy on the Body Improvement club, they, um. Well, they kind of resigned. From the gang.”

Teruki stared at Edano as he was shrinking in his eyes.

“What do you mean they resigned?”

Edano swallowed with struggle. Teruki could see the other thugs taking glances their way and they did not look any better.

They knew what would happen, if they didn’t give him results he wanted.

“They, uh. Um. They just… sent texts. Said they’re not coming back.”

Teruki clicked his tongue and Edano flinched.

“Some leader you are,” Teruki said. “How many?”

“Three,” he said miserably.

“Three guys?” Teruki clarified.

Edano nodded.

“How?” Teruki asked.

“We sent them to spy on them like you asked,” Edano said, spoke fast as if he worried Teruki was going to cut him off. “To ask around. I don’t know what happened. One moment they were just infiltrating, the next time we see them, they’re jogging out there and chanting that weird thing with those jocks. I don’t get it.”

Teruki curled his lip, revealed teeth. Useless.

“Then punish them accordingly,” he said. “Show them what happens to those, who try to leave the gang.”

“We tried!” Edano threw his hands. “We went out there to beat them up, but those jocks were there! They just threw us back out!”

Truly incompetent. Teruki sneered. Of course. Of course Kageyama’s club would be just as unable to get into the flow of things as Kageyama himself.

One more reason to take them down.

A smile started pulling at his lips.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said. “Since you’re clearly too incompetent to do it.”

Edano stared at the ground.

“You have a problem with that?” Teruki asked, voice sharper.

He looked up suddenly and shook his head.

“No! Of course not! Absolutely no problem.”

There we go. That was the response he’d been waiting for. Teruki smiled smugly. At least part of the world still was still spinning as it should.

“Good,” he said.

He might not have had the information he wanted, but in the end, that was meaningless. With his power, knowledge was little more than an appetizer for action. Any situation could be dealt with a bit of power and in that department he was not lacking.

The Body Improvement club had a room on the first floor, near the door to the soccer field in the back. A big room it was not, an old cleaning closet that had been transformed into a temporary club space for a temporary club that would not remain once the Salt Mid students would go back to their own school. The Black Vinegar student council had probably not expected a club with such a weird name to garner enough attention to have more than a handful of jocks in it. Surprisingly, though, it seemed that more and more people were gravitating towards it for whatever reason.

His own gang members were just the newest addition. People got curious. And then they did not leave.

At this hour, students from other clubs were starting to drain away and go home. The Body Improvement club was the same.

Teruki recognized the former members of his gang leaving. They saw him and froze, looking like tiny critters caught in the headlights of a speeding car. Frightened at the sight of him. Teruki gave a feral grin and they scattered.

“Hanazawa,” one of them said. “Please don’t – “

He was on the floor faster than he could finish the sentence.

“Keep in mind who you’re talking to, why don’t you?” he said jovially as the guy hacked and coughed loudly.

The commotion was what drew the rest of the club out. Five of the biggest, beefiest middle schoolers Teruki had ever seen poured out and behind them, just barely peeking from behind the biggest and beefiest of them all, was Kageyama.

Oh. Well, that was just an added bonus, wasn’t it? He had not expected to see him here. All the better. His smile must have been a bit too revealing, a bit too hungry, since it made some of the clearly newer members fidget around nervously.

Not the big five, though. No, not them. Facing the five jocks, they towered over him. Had he been just a simple commoner, he might have thought them intimidating.

But he was Hanazawa Teruki and none of these dumb jocks could touch him.

“I hear you’ve been causing trouble the Black Vinegar gang,” he said, projecting uneasy calmness into the air. It worked like magic, people were squirming, looking away and back at him.

The big five remained resolute, though.

“And when you cause trouble for my gang, you make me look bad. Understand?”

“I’m not sure what you – “ the biggest of the bunch started.

Teruki lifted a hand. “I am not done talking,” he said. “You’ve been quite troublesome for me so far. So I am going to ask you nicely just once. Disband.”

“Disband?” the one with the mohawk repeated.

“Why would we do that?” the biggest one asked.

“To avoid any further complications,” Teruki said and smiled like an angel.

The biggest one took a look at the others, then turned back to him with his arms crossed.

“No,” he said. “I don’t think we will.”

Well then. Teruki did not let his dissatisfaction show. That would have been a show of weakness and he’d rather be dead than let these guys see it.

He could feel Kageyama’s eyes on him, boring into his skin and the bones beneath. He needed to keep his composure, needed keep it together just a little while longer.

In his head, he was already planning, plotting how to deal with the club.

His grin spread wider.

“That’s really too bad,” he said and lifted his hand.

He didn’t dispense that much strength, just a small tap, a reminder of the hierarchy. All five of them hit the wall.

And once more, he had Kageyama’s undivided attention. Teruki sauntered closer to him, smiling wide, letting him know that this had been for him and for him only. Walked up to real close. To… To show his dominance.

Wow. His eyes were actually red. Teruki wasn’t sure why that was such a revelation, but staring down at them, he kind of forgot what he had been about to say.

“I don’t understand,” Kageyama said and the words shook Teruki up from his stupor. “I haven’t done anything to you.”

Hasn’t done anything? Did he think he was going to be able to pull that off now? After all this? Teruki smiled sharply.

“Look,” he said, poking his finger against Kageyama’s chest. “What you did or did not do does not matter right now.” Another poke, higher up. “What I care about right now, is whether or not you do as your told. Understand?” He ran his finger up his chest to his chin, left it resting there without thinking. “We can cut this all of here and now. I’ve already told you what I want. It’s simple. I promise I won’t hurt you too bad. Really. You might even end up liking it.”

Kageyama stared at him, stared him in the eye and Teruki almost got lost again. Then Kageyama’s stare jumped form his eyes to his hand, now cradling his chin.

When had he done that?

Teruki pulled his hand free fast, a bit too fast to be able to mask it as anything but what it was, a panicked move to stop doing something embarrassing. Kageyama did not seem to be none the wiser though, thank God.

“So,” he said, hiding the shaking from his voice as deep as he could. “What do you say?”

“No.”

Teruki nearly bit his own tongue off in his hurry to stop the angry words from climbing up.

“And why not?” he demanded, sounding whiny even in his own ears.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Kageyama said, spoke to the ground, very quiet, barely loud enough to hear.

And Teruki, for a moment forgot that it was supposed to be funny. He swallowed thickly, then managed to force the laughter out, haughty and ridiculing.

“Oh, trust me,” he said. “You don’t need to worry about that. You think that I’m like the others? You have no idea, Kageyama. You couldn’t hurt me even if you tried.”

Kageyama didn’t look convinced and that, if something, was a big blow to Teruki’s ego. He grit his teeth together and pulled back.

“Think good and hard about it,” he said. “Before you force me to do something you’ll regret.”

Kageyama met his glare with that infuriatingly mellow look of his own and Teruki had his answer.

“Too bad for you,” he grit out. “You will want to fight me, sooner or later. Just you wait.”

It turned out, that Teruki couldn’t exactly get rid of the Body Improvement club the same way that he’d gotten rid of the Telepahty club. They were a far better run gathering that had managed to get some good will with the school board and the principal. There was no way Teruki was going to get rid of them that easy.

What he could do was tarnish their reputation. Give them a slow death.

Rumors were such an easy tool to use, they took barely any effort at all to kick into motion and all Teruki had to do was sit back and watch it unfold.

He started talking to his closest cohorts, wondering out loud how any middle schooler could get into that kind of shape with just simple workout. It didn’t take much more than that, a small nudge into the right direction and suddenly there was whispering about steroids being distributed to the student body, someone selling them from one of the clubs.

It was beautiful. Many of the newer members of the club resigned immediately, too ashamed to be a part of a club like that. It got investigated, the most obvious looking suspects got called in one after the other and for a moment it seemed like the principal was just going to throw them out for bringing such attention to the school’s name. It was such a shame it didn’t work out like that. After that, though, there were no newer members, their club money got reduced and they were under heavy guidance. And oh, what nasty looks they got from the students around them. Terrible, horrible looks, whispers behind their hands when they passed.

It wasn’t enough to kill the beast, but it was now bleeding and might run dry if he got lucky.

Kageyama was too stubborn to resign, though. Teruki caught up to him a week later.

“Nasty thing, rumors,” he said smoothly, walking right up to his side. Kageyama went as stiff as a board immediately. “Isn’t it just too bad what happened?”

Kageyama didn’t say anything, just stared dead ahead. But Teruki could see the frown pulling at his face. It was small, barely there, but he could see it. And he reveled in it.

“But you know what,” he said and threw his arm around his shoulders and pulled him right to his side.

He fit there rather nicely, if he said so himself.

Too bad he was ramrod straight in his hold, staring at him with a confused look.

“Now, about that thing you’ve been putting off,” he started and left the sentence hanging so that Kageyama could fill it himself.

He refused to, keeping his mouth tightly shut. There was something in his eyes, though, those deep red eyes, an unreadable emotion churning just beneath the surface.

If he could just get a little bit closer, he could have it. But Kageyama was as stubborn as ever.

“You know, it would be easy for me to fix this,” he said. “Real easy. I have this whole school in my pocket, since you didn’t know. Everyone… but you.” He pulled Kageyama even closer. Kageyama craned his neck to get his face further away from him. “Like I said, it doesn’t need to be this hard. It’s just a necessity. Like… getting your flu shots taken. It might sting for a while, but we’ll all be better for it in the long run.”

“Why do you want to fight me this much?” Kageyama asked, turning his face away from him.

Damn it. This wasn’t at all as fun as he’d hoped it would be. Teruki released his hold and let Kageyama take a few steps between them.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Teruki said and turned to him. “How many other psychics have you met before me?”

“Well…” he said. “There’s Master Reigen. Although… I guess he’s more of a spirit specialist.”

Teruki blinked once. He did not know any Master Reigen, not from school anyway.

“Don’t you want to try it out?” he asked. “Try your powers against someone like you?”

“Not really.”

Teruki was nothing but baffled.

“What do you mean ‘Not really’?” he asked. “How can you say that?”

Kageyama shook his head.

“You don’t understand.”

Teruki grit his teeth together.

He didn’t understand? He was the only person who could understand! He was the only person Kageyama could talk to about these things.

Kageyama just didn’t seem to get the picture.

“You won’t know until you try it,” he said.

“I think I do,” Kageyama said and looked away.

Still not far enough. He still wasn’t enough for Kageyama, was he?

Well. It wasn’t like Teruki was done either.

He still had one trump card left in his pocket.

He offered Kageyama a smile, a grimace more like, but the best he could manage.

What fun was it to goad him into it? Couldn’t Kageyama see that it would be so much better, if he just went with it? That it could be fun, even? Teruki wouldn’t even have to go that hard, they’d just be trying their powers against each other and then at the end they could both rest easy knowing Teruki was the stronger one. They didn’t have to do this whole play and dance, did they? Surely Kageyama could see how much easier it’d be if he just gave up and did as he was told.

It was no fun pushing around a wimpy kid. If Kageyama really was just as he seemed on the outside, then there were no mind games. No fun to be had in any of this. Couldn’t he see that they just needed to get this over with?

Whether he saw it or not didn’t matter. Teruki was going to do this.

And he had the perfect weapon for it.

He needed to find Takane Tsubomi.

Takane was a popular girl. Popular enough that she’d had her own fan club back at Salt Mid, if Mezato were to be believed. Teruki supposed he could see why. She played tennis. She was pretty. They would have probably ended up close even without this Kageyama thing at one point or another anyway.

Mezato told him that Takane was known as a picky dater. She’d had a few boyfriends here and there, all relationships short-lived, all of her past boyfriends athletic and popular. That part was not a problem for Teruki. The thing was, she had not dated for a while and had apparently turned down anyone confessing to her.

This was the girl Kageyama was into. Predictable. Boring. Mundane, even. Anyone could have a crush on a girl like that. Teruki had dated girls like her in the dozens.

Dating one more wouldn’t make a difference.

Well, in this case it would.

Teruki knew he couldn’t just go ahead and ask her out like the others had. That would be a fast way to get dumped before he could make his case. Because apparently none of these Salt Mid students couldn’t take a hint. No, he needed to approach this from a different angle.

So with a friendly smile and a wave he first greeted Takane before her tennis practice.

“Hi!” he said. “Can I have a word with you?”

“Oh,” she said, lifting her eyes. “Hanazawa, was it?”

As if she didn’t know. Teruki smiled with faked bashfulness.

“Yes,” he said. “And you are Takane Tsubomi, are you not? I have heard a lot of good things about you.”

Her smile was pretty, he supposed. Prettier than on some. Maybe he could see, what the big deal was and all. They would have definitely ended up going out at some point.

“You’re so sweet,” she said. “Did you want something?”

“Me and some of my friends are going out to the arcade after school,” he said. “And it got me thinking that there’s been this rift between Black Vinegar and Salt Mid students since you people got here. It’s really too bad isn’t it? So I was wondering if you and some of your friends would like to come hang out with us?”

Her eyes sparkled and she clapped her hands together. All practiced movements, it seemed, cutesy and likeable. “Oh, that sounds like fun!” she exclaimed. “I’ll ask around! Where will we be meeting?”

Teruki gave her a smile wide and warm. “I’m glad. Let’s meet outside the school gates after clubs, alright?”

Takane was already digging up her phone, tapping her fingers lightning fast.

“What a nice idea. Thank you, Hanazawa.”

“No, thank you,” he said. And it certainly was a nice idea. Perfectly planned and served two purposes. Naturally, inviting the most popular girl of Salt Mid among her friends would boost Teruki’s status even further. He would be bringing the cream of the crop as well, helping them and in that way putting all of them neatly in his pocket for the future.

But that was just a bonus.

No, what he needed to do now, was to get on Takane’s good side. As much as he hated to admit it, everything else from before had failed. They had riled Kageyama up, they must have. A little, at least. He was paying attention now. They had not been enough, though, to get him to instigate a fight. So now Teruki could not afford to screw up this part.

This was going to be the final nail in the coffin. One last push that would get the boulder rolling. After this, Kageyama could no longer afford to keep skirting out of his way like the little cockroach he was. After this, he could no longer keep denying Teruki.

By all accounts, the arcade was a great success. Teruki observed as new alliances were built between the best of the best, friendships of necessity more than anything. Recognition of clout. Sure, there were a few in for the sincere friendships, but most of the people Teruki gathered around him were in for just the status boost. And all of it served to lift him even higher.

He made sure everyone knew which of the girls he was interested in, though, to make others keep their distance. They knew that those flirting with the girls he had in his sights would end up kicked out faster than they could apologize.

He kept his distance, then moved close, exchanged a few words with Takane and her friends, made sure to say something funny enough to make them laugh every time, then moved away to another group only to come back around later. Every time Takane’s eyes sparkled. She was clearly having a good time.

She was a hard one to read. Just like Kageyama, Teruki was having a hard time deciding whether she was genuine in her actions or not. She certainly was a good actor, if it was just an act. It made her dangerous.

Teruki didn’t have time to be cautious, though.

He made his strike at the end of the arcade meet.

Takane was at the claw machine with a handful of friends both old and new. It seemed like even in a short amount of time she had managed to capture an enraptured audience and they were all cheering for her while she attempted to get the biggest and gaudiest looking teddy bear from the machine. She was close to getting it, too.
Nothing a little nudge wouldn’t help. Teruki pulled at it with his powers and it slipped.

The machine let out a sad bling and a chorus of disappointed cries rang out from the gaggle of girls.

Takane just looked annoyed.

“Don’t worry about it, Takane,” he said, slipping in close. “These things are rigged.”

Takane turned to look at him and there was an out of place dip in her brows, a frown and a sharp look like she was measuring him. For what reason, Teruki couldn’t tell.

“Here, let me help you out,” he said smoothly and took her place. “I’m a bit of an expert with these.”

“He really is,” one of the girls said. She looked vaguely familiar, so she must have been from Black Vinegar. Teruki shot her a wink and the girl giggled, covering her face with her hands.

Takane just looked at him through narrowed eyes.

Naturally Teruki was an expert in these. Rigged they might have been, but it didn’t really matter, when with just a small nudge of his powers he could have pulled any of the stuffed animals out even without the claw.

“Here, Takane,” he said, offering her the bear. “For you.”

The others cooed and fluttered their eyes, but Takane refused to get with the program. Teruki forced his jaw to unclench. Of course Kageyama would like a girl like this, just as uncompromising as him. They really would have fit together like two stubborn morons.

He pushed his tongue between his teeth to keep from biting them together. Holding onto his smile became a struggle.

The way Takane was looking at him was different from the others. Meeting her stare made Teruki feel like she could see right though him and that she knew exactly what he had done.

But that couldn’t be. She might have been Kageyama’s favorite, but she was still a commoner. Teruki smiled smugly offering the bear to her and she took it, smoothed her fingers over its fur.

After that, he offered to walk her to the bus station and she agreed.

He’d worried over nothing. He was already winning this.

That was the difference between him and Kageyama. He was just hanging out in the background, sniveling around, making no marks on his surroundings as if he just wanted to live his life as a background character. Meanwhile, Teruki used his powers to get what he wanted, when he wanted. Kageyama would have never gotten on Takane’s radar, not they way he acted. Not even if he’d had the looks to back it up.

Kageyama’s looks… Well, he most certainly was not traditionally handsome. Not the same way Teruki was. He was more… simplified. Not very striking. Easy to miss.

But maybe, in his own way, he did have…

He was…

He had a soft look to him. And it could be, if looked from the right angle, quite pleasing.

Teruki caught the thoughts before they could evolve any further and stashed them somewhere deep. Useless, useless thought. He walked a little closer to Takane, gave her a brilliant smile when she looked up at him. She was still carrying the bear he’d won for her, holding it tight.

Teruki wished Takane would stop looking at him. He didn’t like those eyes looking deep enough to see.

He needed to act quickly. He didn’t think his composure would last long.

It was while waiting for the bus that Teruki made his move.

“You know, Takane,” he said and rubbed his neck. “Can I… can I call you Tsubomi?”

Her smile was kind, but reserved.

“Sure.”

“Tsubomi, I feel like had a very good time with you today. You seem like a really interesting person and I’d like to get to know you better.”

She turned to him fully, with one hand on her hip, the other holding the bear. The smile had disappeared and she was now very openly looking him up and down.

The frown was back.

“You seem like an interesting person as well,” she said, but it didn’t sound like a compliment when she said it.

What did Kageyama see in this girl?

She might have been pretty. She had good hair and beautiful eyes, sure.

He just couldn’t see why someone like Kageyama couldn’t keep his eyes off of this girl while Teruki was in the same room.

“Would you like to go out with me?” he asked.

When she didn’t respond immediately, Teruki started to worry. Takane tilted her head and just… stared. Like she was actually thinking it over in her head instead of just answering him.

She was taking too long. Teruki focused fully on keeping his foot from tapping on the ground.

“Okay,” she said. “I guess we can try that.”

What kind of a response was that supposed to be? Not any kind he’d ever heard from another girl from before, that was for sure. There was no enthusiasm, no glee, just resigned acceptance.

Not that it mattered. Teruki’s lips spread into a grin a tad bit too wide. The relationship didn’t need to last long, just long enough to serve its purpose.

“I’m so glad,” he said, voice full of saccharine. “I can’t wait to get to know you better.”

The look she gave him was way too sharp for his liking. That didn’t matter either. He only needed her long enough to carry out the plan to its end and then they could go on their separate ways.

He bid farewell to Takane, watched her climb on board her bus and waved at her until she disappeared behind the buildings.

Close. Very close now.

Teruki woke up with a start, clambering to sit up and breathed heavily, staring at his covers without even really seeing them. The remnants of his sleep still clung to him, like fingers of an unseen ghost on him. He groaned loudly and buried his head into his hands.

So. He’d had a dream. Dreams meant nothing. They were meaningless and stupid. He’d had dreams of his teeth falling out before, of going to school with no clothes on and losing his hair. That meant nothing. Dreams were nothing but useless moving pictures in his head.

Teruki shifted on his bed, pulled his legs closer under the covers and stared across his room.

It had been just a dream. Pointless. Stupid. A nightmare, really.

They’d had the fight, him and Kageyama, they’d finally had it. And he’d won, because naturally he would. And oh boy, Kageyama had been so impressed.

Teruki ran his fingers through his hair.

He could still remember it vividly, how Kageyama had looked at him like he had never looked at him before, eyes large, round, surprised but pleased. Looking up at Teruki with so much emotion. He could have drowned in those red eyes had the dream gone any further.

Teruki grunted in frustration and threw his covers off. The cool air hit him all at once, lifting every single hair on his body up in an instant. He wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep again anyway, he was sure of it. Not after a dream like that. In a few hours he was supposed to be getting up anyway, so… so it was actually a good thing that he was up. A great thing. Because today he was going to put in motion his final plan. Today was the start of it. The beginning of the end. It was good thing he was up early!

He hurried into the bathroom and took a shower. Turned the water as cold as he could bare and grit his teeth, staring at the tiles with blurry eyes.

It had meant nothing. The ghost of a kiss on his lips was meaningless.

He poured shampoo onto his hands, rubbed vigorously. Washed his face, scrubbing hard to remove the feeling.

He was distraught when it actually worked. Teruki tried to push that feeling down with the others as well.

It didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t going to change anything. It just wasn’t. Because he wasn’t going to let it.

And even so…

His mind started wandering.

No. It didn’t matter. No matter how soft it had felt in a dream, no matter how warm and right, it would not change anything. He wasn’t feeling hollow, he was just tired. He wasn’t about to cry, he just hadn’t woken up properly. Teruki just needed to gather himself back together and it would be all over, in the past and forgotten.

It meant nothing.

Unless this was somehow Kageyama’s doing.

Could someone like him affect other people’s dreams? It could be possible. It could be…

No. He was being stupid. Did he really think Kageyama would be the type of a person to do something like that? He would never. He was far too uptight over the stupidest of things.

Teruki stood in the shower, staring down, not really seeing anything.

He should have been dreaming about that Takane. Yes. That’s right, maybe he had it confused. Maybe it had been Takane and he had just somehow mixed it up in his head. How silly, but dreams could be like that sometimes. Silly. Yes. It had been nothing. It was only natural to have dreams like that about girls he was seeing.

Yes. That was right. Nothing at all was amiss.

Teruki turned off the shower and grabbed a towel.

He ran his fingers over his lips, then down his cheek and neck, trying to replicate the feeling. Trying to replace the image in his head with something else.

It felt like nothing.

As it should, naturally.

He didn’t have time for this. He needed to have that fight with Kageyama now. Today, not tomorrow. Not next week. Right now. Then all of this would be over, one way or another. There would be closure and he could stop thinking about it.

He followed Kageyama’s every move during the day, trying to decide how best deal with it. He watched him arrive at school, oblivious to the plots cooking close by. He didn’t notice Teruki staring, never even once lifted his eyes to meet Teruki’s on his way to their first class, math, that they shared together. Teruki wanted to walk up to him, to throttle him and tell him to look at him. But he just bit his teeth together and seethed.

Teruki couldn’t look away. The images of the dream came back to him, uninvited during the class. He looked over his shoulder. Kageyama was making notes, staring at his notebook with a desperate sheen, brows dipped in concentration, sweat running down the side of his head.

Teruki’s mouth opened, forgotten. He felt like he was so close. Like Teruki could reach from his seat and wipe the bead of sweat away. Maybe with just a small flick of his powers, just a little one.

His mouth was dry. He swallowed with struggle, then lifted his hand.

Just a little. His aura extended.

Kageyama did not even lift his eyes from his work.

“Hanazawa.”

Teruki jumped. All eyes were on him. All except the ones he cared about. No, no, those eyes were on the teacher. Almost without meaning to his lips curled to reveal teeth when he started to turn to him. He managed to hide the sneer away before fully facing the teacher.

“Is there something more important than my class going on back there?” he asked as if he was being very smart or something.

Teruki smiled apologetically. It felt forced, even for him, robotic and soulless. Anything would have been more interesting than this drivel. “No, no. Of course not. I’m sorry.”

The teacher huffed and continued on with the class. Teruki could almost feel Kageyama’s eyes on the back of his skull. Almost. But he couldn’t turn around, not now, when the attention was still on him, still so strongly around him. He wouldn’t have dared anyway, because what if it was just his imagination? What if Kageyama was not watching, had not been watching in the first place?

They needed to fight. He needed Takane here, now. He texted her during lunch, asked if she was free to meet after school. Too fast, too desperate, but he didn’t care.

She was busy anyway. Teruki ground his teeth together. No one was ever busy when he asked. Everyone always made time for him. How dared she –?

And then Kageyama entered his line of sight again. He was eating with his brother this time. That green spirit kept going around his head, speaking incessantly, but neither of the Kageyamas was paying attention to it.

His brother. Teruki leaned his face against his hand. Maybe, if things didn’t work out with Takane, he should target him next. Their relationship didn’t look warm, the younger Kageyama was sitting stiffly and offering clearly faked smiles while the older brother ate in near silence by the looks of it. But family was family, right?

Not that Teruki knew much about that.

Yes. If the plan didn’t work, Kageyama Ritsu would be next on the chopping block.

Someone cleared his throat.

Teruki tore his eyes off of the Kageyama brothers and to Edano across from him. His glare made Edano shift uncomfortably.

“If this is… a bad time, we could reschedule,” he said.

Teruki stared at him.

“We don’t need to reschedule, you just need to say what you came here to say and stay out of my way,” he said.

Edano cleared his throat again, sounding a lot less certain now than he had before. How boring. He was starting to make Teruki regret keeping him as the head of the gang. He could be tough to the rest of the commoners and Teruki had thought it better to have him in fear of his power, but this was just sad.

“You see, we have a bit of a problem,” Edano said. “With those Salt Mid guys. Onigawara has – “

Teruki’s eyes wandered back to the Kageyamas. He heard Ritsu was the more popular one of the two. Ridiculous. Once again, it showed how little these commoners understood.

Edano cleared his throat again and had they not been in a public place, Teruki would have silenced him then and there.

“Fine,” he spat, a bit too loudly. Many faces turned to look at them with worry. “Meet me after school, then.”

Edano swallowed with struggle and nodded. He at least realized, when he’d screwed up and was about to have his punishment. And Edano would not be dumb enough to run from it.

When he looked up again, the Kageyamas had left.

Teruki stared at his fists, trembling on the table.

This was not how he’d planned on spending his afternoon. He was supposed to be warming Takane up for his final move, but nothing in his world was working as it should anymore. Everything around him was falling apart and it seemed that even his gang had started to deteriorate without his supervision.

“Explain it to me, one last time,” Teruki drawled.

Edano wiped blood from under his nose, his underlings too afraid to approach.

“Onigawara,” he explained, a little winded. “He and his guys refuse to back down.”

“And?”

“And they keep causing trouble. What do we do, boss?”

Teruki clicked his tongue. Out of all the useless people…

“Then gather up the guys and beat him up. There are only four of them, over twenty of you. Deal with it.”

Edano shifted.

“We… we tried, boss,” he said. “But when he – “

“Deal with it.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Was that all?” Teruki asked, spoke like he would to a toddler. It clearly got under Edano’s skin, but there was nothing he could do about it.

And then Edano was looking at his two closest cronies, looking from one to another, uncertain. Teruki lifted a brow and started tapping his foot on the ground.

“No,” he said, shifting his weight. “No, there was still one thing that I… we wanted to talk about.”

The other two were looking at everywhere but them and their act wasn’t cute.

Teruki crossed his arms and kept tapping his foot insistently.

“Well?” he said. “Spit it out. I don’t have the whole day here.”

“We were just wondering,” Edano said slowly and rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the wall, the pavement, the sky. “And by that, I mean like, the gang’s been wondering and the rumors have kind of been going around and we’re like… I mean, whatever you decide to do, it’s cool, we’ve just been thinking and – “

“Spit it out already!” Teruki snapped. Kageyama would soon be finishing his club activities and be on his way to work. Teruki wanted to be there to see him leave.

“We just wanted to know what your deal with that Kageyama is?”

Teruki’s foot stilled on the ground and both the cronies took multiple steps away from Edano, who swallowed visibly.

“Ah. Like. What the plan is?” Edano said and lifted his hands up. “I mean, we’re cool, but I mean, he’s kind of weird and you’ve been – “

Teruki moved before Edano could finish his sentence. It was a simple show of power, a reminder, like a tap on the nose but instead it was a fist in the gut.

Edano stumbled back and coughed loudly. Teruki stepped away and waved his arm sharply. The cronies swarmed around him at his signal, helping him up.

“Keep your nose out of my business,” he said. “What I do or do not do with him in the future isn’t your concern and you’d better keep that in mind if you want to remain as the leader of the gang, Edano.”

He wheezed and coughed, managed to spit out an answer, that was as close to an agreement as possible. That was enough for Teruki as he rubbed the fist he had just planted into Edano’s stomach.

This gang was a farce. He would have to build it from ground up after this whole thing with Kageyama was over and done with. He couldn’t have something like this under his name.

He left Edano and his crooks behind the school building and walked back into the daylight, letting it blind him momentarily. For a moment he just stood there, eyes closed and facing the sun. He drew in a long breath, then hurried his steps so he could be there just on time to see Kageyama walk out through the gates and towards his work. He had half a mind to follow him, to finally find out where he went to work. He would withdraw for now though. He had other plans to attend to. He had Takane to impress and he needed to do that on record time if he wanted to keep his sanity.

By the end of the week, it would be over. He’d made up his mind and he wasn’t going to change that.

By the end of the week, Kageyama would want to fight him even without prompting.

Takane was a nice enough girl. Smart. Quick-witted. Charming.

Boring.

Teruki could tell there was no spark there. He was used to the feeling from his side, but it was far less common from both sides. The relationship was a sham, but a sham they both were in for some reason.

Not that it mattered. Whatever her reasons to be in on it might have been, it served the purpose well enough.

They both acted through the motions fast, but not fast enough, it felt like. Not fast enough at all. The dream had not been a one-night thing. They were not letting up, every night it was something new.

And it didn’t stop there either. Uninvited daydreams would sneak into his mind during classes, coil around his chest and hold tight enough to make him feel like he was suffocating.

They needed to work faster. Faster. He couldn’t do this much longer, he felt like he was falling apart and all Kageyama did was keep his distance.

In the end, he settled for a dirty trick, a fast solution with no honor in it, no excitement. He just needed Kageyama to be in the right place at the right time. He invited Takane to meet with him behind the school after classes. She was agreeable enough and they both knew what couples did back there.

He planted a faked letter in Kageyama’s locker that day, signed it with Takane’s name instead of his own on the second try. That was sure to get his attention, a letter telling to meet up after school to have a talk. It was going to bring Kageyama running to them. Right on time to see Teruki kissing the girl he liked.

If that wasn’t going to do it, then Teruki wasn’t sure what would.

Well, there was still his brother. Or maybe he should just attack Kageyama out of the blue if he still refused. It didn’t have any style, it would be a bit of a let down, but Kageyama couldn’t turn him down if he was being attacked, right? He’d be forced to act.

But he wouldn’t turn him down this time, Teruki could feel it. Today was the day. This was going to work. It had to work.

Takane was right on time. She was smiling when she rounded the corner, pushing strands of hair behind her ear.

“This is a little forward, don’t you think?” she said.

Teruki laughed, forced the sound out smooth and deep. “I was worried you might think so. Do you not want to?”

He shouldn’t have asked. Uncertainty crossed her features, mouth opening. For a moment cold fear coiled around Teruki’s gut that she was actually going to turn him down at this crucial moment. But then she shook her head and smiled even brighter.

“Let’s just say that I’m interested to see what happens,” she said and giggled, her voice like wind chimes.

Teruki heard the steps approaching, hurried but light. He leaned closer, placed a hand on Takane’s cheek. She was looking expectantly at him and when he leaned closer, she fluttered her eyes closed.

Kageyama rounded the corner and met Teruki’s eyes. He stopped like he’d hit a wall. Teruki made sure he was looking, could see him clearly just a few steps away. When he kissed Takane, he was looking straight at Kageyama.

He had him now. Kageyama looked thunderstruck, like someone had just slapped him and he was still reeling. The kiss lasted barely longer than a few seconds and when Teruki pulled away from Takane, he gave her a cursory glance. Her eyes had just reopened and she looked a little miffed, like the kiss hadn’t been up to her expectations. Teruki didn’t really care. He was too busy watching Kageyama’s every move.

He was trembling now. Teruki could see even from a distance. Come on, he thought. Come on, it’s just us three. Let’s do it. Right here, right now.

Teruki could feel the power swelling in him as a response to Kageyama’s aura flaring. His hair was rising around him, pushed and pulled by the force of his power and Teruki’s heart was beating louder than a drum in his chest.

Here it comes! Here it comes!

And just like that, Kageyama turned his back on them and disappeared the same way he’d come.

What?

Teruki stood still, watching after him. Takane turned around as well, following his line of sight until she noticed Kageyama as well. Her face fell immediately and she let out a small: “Oh,” covering her mouth. So it appeared that she wasn’t all that blind to Kageyama’s feelings after all.

It hadn’t worked. Why hadn’t it worked? Teruki had had it all here. Kageyama should have been on the brink of falling over and now Teruki had given it one final push. Kageyama should have been steaming at the ears, ready to throw down.

But now Teruki was standing alone with Takane behind the school building, his ears ringing from the lack of psychic power around him.

“I think… I think I’m going to go,” Takane said.

Teruki did not remember if he gave an answer or not.

He did not remember getting home either. One moment he was standing there by himself, next he was falling to sit on his bed, staring at his wall.

It…

It hadn’t worked.

Everyone could see he was in a mood. A few students dared to ask he was okay, got close enough to talk, but their words reached deaf ears.

Teruki felt like he was walking in a fog. The air itself tasted stale, the skies were grey, the people around him just talking heads with nothing of importance to say.

Everything just washed over him, nothing reaching in.

It hadn’t worked.

Why had it not worked?

Not only had it not worked, it had left Teruki feeling rotten to his core, a feeling he did not enjoy one bit.

It had not worked.

“Hey, Hanazawa? Are you alright?”

He could still feel it so vividly, the excitement thrumming in his gut when he’d looked at Kageyama at that moment. It had all gone sour now, like milk left on the table for too long. It made him feel sick to his stomach just thinking about it.

Why had it not worked?

“Oh no, Teru! You look awful! Shouldn’t you be at home?”

He didn’t want to see Kageyama. He desperately wanted to see him.

Teruki didn’t know. He didn’t know anything and he hated the feeling.

He hated everything about it. Walking through school felt like there was an oppressing haze over everything. He avoided the places he usually went to during breaks, because Kageyama could be there. But at the same time he was constantly on the lookout for him for just a glimpse of him in his periphery. He felt like he was starving, but at the same time he didn’t want a single bite more.

Edano was the one who managed to pull him aside. Teruki had half the mind to send him flying for talking to him during school outside of their meetings, pulling at his sleeve and demanding his attention.

“It’s none of your business,” Teruki hissed over his attempts to ask what was going on. Unfortunately that seemed to be enough of an answer for Edano, understanding spreading over his features.

Teruki wanted to bite his head off.

“Boss,” Edano said carefully. “You need help with it?”

Teruki snarled at him and he stumbled back as if that would be enough to keep him out of his reach.

“Didn’t I tell you to keep your nose out?”

Edano swallowed. He nodded. “Look, actually, there’s something we do need your help with. We… We tried to deal with Onigawara ourselves. We really did. Me and my guys. But he’s like a demon when he gets angry.”

Teruki finally took a look at him and sure enough, he was bruised and bandaged.

Well. Teruki clicked his tongue. Beating up some lower class nobodies was something that ought to put him in a better mood at least. Just what he needed.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll deal with it.”

Edano looked relieved. His time as the boss was fast reaching its end. He just didn’t know it yet.

Later that day, Onigawara’s look of pure shock when Teruki took him down in a single, embarrassing slap, was priceless.

Teruki would no doubt have enjoyed it immensely in any other situation. Just that look of stubbornness, it would have been so satisfying to wipe it clean.

Not today, though. Nothing was making it better toady and Teruki could tell everyone else saw it as well.

Onigawara hit the wall with a loud crack, then slumped down on the ground.

You shouldn’t use your powers against people, Kageyama would have said.

Teruki’s lips pulled into a sneer. Onigawara lifted his head to give him a sneer, so Teruki sent him flying again. Teach him to look at him like that again.

Afterwards Edano tried to approach him, but Teruki slapped his hand away.

In the end, Teruki did get what he wanted. He always did, that was how the world worked. It might not have been what he’d expected, not the way he’d thought things would take shape, but a fight he had wanted and a fight he got.

He had not planned on finding Kageyama in the eye of the storm, in a turf war of his own creation.

There, behind his Body Improvement club, baited out here by Onigawara’s schemes to fight the gang of Black Vinegar, stood Kageyama, bound and just as confused as Teruki was feeling right at that moment.

Edano was shouting behind him about how Teruki was their shadow leader and how he would take them all down. Edano was so surprised when he was the first one to go down.

Teruki had made it clear that Kageyama was his problem, not theirs. Yet here he was, bound for some reason even though he could so easily remove the ropes.

Teruki was not fully sure how the situation had come to be and he didn’t really care. The sky was rumbling above them, threatening a storm.

He didn’t know how this had happened, but he was nothing if not willing to seize the moment.

A grin started to pull his lips. He could read apprehension from Kageyama’s face.

This was the day.

He was going to fight Kageyama and Kageyama was either going to have to protect himself or get caught in it.

Chapter Text

Okay. Okay, Teruki had to admit it to himself now, as he floated above the clouds over where Black Vinegar had used to stand. Maybe he had been an average guy all this time. At least compared to… whatever this was.

And now that he was pretty sure he was going to die, he could admit to himself that the realization felt surprisingly good. He’d felt so empty, but so full of himself at the same time for such a long time. Like he was the only real person on the planet and everyone else was just an extra playing their part in his play. And now that all of that had been stripped away from him along the hair from the top of his head and the clothes on his back, he felt as light as a feather.

He’d cornered Kageyama. Had given him no more room to run away. He’d known he was close, felt it in the air, an electrified charge of Kageyama’s annoyance. He’d known he was close.

Not as close as he’d thought, though. He’d banished that green spirit of his, belittled him, thrown him around like he was one of the commoners. And then finally, after all that he’d done, Teruki had finally gotten what he wanted.

In a way.

He could still feel Kageyama’s pulse under his fingers, panicked thrumming against the palms of his hands, a clear indication of distress. He’d finally gotten a reaction out of him.

And now he was going to die for it. The moment Kageyama’s powers would stop carrying him, Teruki would fall like a rock and he had no power left in him to slow down his descent.

But all Teruki could do was smile at the feeling of complete calm.

And then he felt it. Kageyama’s aura enveloping him. It was nothing like the violent outburst that had ripped Black Vinegar to pieces around him. It wasn’t like that warm glow he had felt on the roof either. There was an odd sort of coldness to it, desperation.

Slowly, carefully, it started pulling Teruki and the rubble around him down towards the ground. And when the school came into view, his jaw dropped at the sight of it. Every stone ripped from the foundation, every desk and chair and piece of glass, was slowly being slotted back to its place, surrounded by that same bluish purple glow. And there on the ground, on his hands and knees, crying and shivering, was Kageyama Shigeo.

Teruki’s heart dropped at the sight of him. Kageyama had clearly woken up to his own destruction and now he was kneeling on the ground, crying his eyes out.

After weeks on end of giving him absolutely nothing, of showing no greater emotion than reserved boredom, Teruki had finally gotten a reaction out of him.

He was lowered to the ground incredibly gently and the moment he was allowed to stand on his own feet, he lost his footing. He was feeling faint, his limbs couldn’t carry him properly and it took a moment to regain his balance. He had done this, so by all rights he should be the one to do something about it.

But he couldn’t move. All he could do was watch as Black Vinegar was slowly built back up and the tears dried from Kageyama’s cheeks.

Kageyama turned to look at him and Teruki didn’t know what to say. Kageyama took a careful step towards him, saying something, apologizing about the clothes. Like they actually mattered. He looked absolutely devastated, his eyes red and puffy, limbs still trembling. But he was trying to hide it. Teruki could see the familiar look of indifference trying to snake it’s way back to his face.

He needed to say something, needed to put to words what it had felt like when he’d been floating up there. But words were failing him. He struggled to say that Kageyama had been right, that he’d been right all along and that Teruki had been in the wrong. But the words got warped, mixed and he wasn’t sure if he actually managed to say what he had wanted.

Even if he did, it was clear that his words weren’t reaching Kageyama. His attention was back on the school, the building back to looking just the way it had before. Except… not entirely. Closer inspection revealed hundreds of hairline cracks going through the entire structure, showing where the damage had been done. Kageyama had managed to fix it, but not completely.

He couldn’t wipe away what had been done. Teruki stared at the building as if expecting it to collapse under its own weight any moment now. But of course it didn’t. Of course it wouldn’t, not after Kageyama had put it back together. It was as good as new.

But it still wouldn’t hide away what had been done here. The damage couldn’t be erased.

Teruki turned to look at where Kageyama had been standing. He was gone. While Teruki had been too busy studying the school, Kageyama had left.

And Teruki was left feeling empty again.

Alright. Teruki could admit when he’d fucked up. And he’d fucked up pretty bad.

Sitting alone in his home, he felt the entire weight of the day pushing down on him and the familiar flashes of an approaching fever were making him feel weak.

Thinking back on it, he could feel the terrifying embarrassment clawing at his throat. He’d… he’d really done it this time, hadn’t he?

Well, since that was the case, dwelling on it wasn’t going to change anything. There were some things that were easy to fix. Clothes. He had spares. The cuts and bruises. He had concealer. The hair was a bit of a different story. Something like that wasn’t as easy to replace as his torn school uniform. But Teruki had wigs. Wigs that he had been dying to try out for a while now, but too worried over his own image to put them to use. He chose the most inconspicuous one, the one that most looked like his normal hair.

Superficial things were easy enough to hide. Things like that were there and gone again, hidden away from the curious eyes of the world around.

It was the… other things that were the real problem.

Teruki spent the weekend sick in his bed, unable to move or do much more than eat and sleep. Drink lots of water. Try to come up with a plan.

He didn’t have much. And once Monday rolled over and Teruki was feeling good enough to stand on his own feet again, he found himself making his way to school without a proper battle plan.

He just needed to see Kageyama again. To say something.

He couldn’t get the image of him crumpled on the ground and crying out of his head. He needed to find Kageyama and he needed to talk to him.

It was almost jarring to see the building still standing. Like it hadn’t been floating in the air in pieces just last Friday.

Everything just seemed so… normal. Like nothing had happened. It had been on the news and people were talking, sure, but the students were coming in, entering the building, chattering together like nothing at all was out of place. And nothing probably was. Witnessing Kageyama’s power… Teruki wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that every wall and tile, every piece of furniture was exactly where it should be.

Shivers ran up his spine. He could still feel it. Kageyama’s power. It permeated from every surface, like a background hum he could only just barely hear. It was in the air itself, undiluted by the passing time of the weekend, like Kageyama was still here, right next to him.

It was… distracting.

Math was the first class of the day and Teruki was hurrying to get there to catch a glimpse of the guy with the power to rip buildings apart. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was feeling. It was almost like excitement, but not quite. Excitement didn’t usually leave his stomach churning like this. It shouldn’t have made him feel this sick. So it must have been something else.

Kageyama wasn’t in the class when he got there. It wasn’t really that odd, to be honest. Teruki was pretty early and there were barely any students there yet. He left his books and notes on his desk and walked back out of the class to wait outside.

No sign of him yet.

Teruki eyed the wall on the other side of the corridor. He could see the cracks there, no thicker than strands of hair, travelling though the concrete and wood. He moved closer, eyeing them with some trepidation, like just looking at them was going to make the school crumble.

When that wasn’t the case, though, he stepped even closer. Teruki ran his hand over them, feeling for them, trying to gauge out what they felt like. But they were so small, he could barely even feel them. There they were all the same. That should have been dangerous. The school should have been collapsing. But it was almost like some force was holding it all together.

Reaching out his aura, Teruki could feel it. It was like a psychic finger print, something unquestionably Kageyama. But it tasted wrong. It tasted like his aura had felt last Friday, cold and desperate.

Sad.

He flattened his palms against the wall. The hum was so close, yet he couldn’t quite reach it. He would have probably pressed his face against it too had it not been for the other students. Could they not see the cracks? No one was talking about them.

Teruki pulled away, straightening his back. The school bells started ringing just as he did and he flinched. Had he lost track of time? Had Kageyama passed him while he’d been too busy staring at the wall? He hurried back in, straightened his jacket and tie, conscious about his new wig on top of his head.

Kageyama’s seat was empty.

That was unusual. He was always on time. Or, at least that was what Teruki had though, following his actions for the past few weeks.

It wasn’t like him to skip school, right?

Sick as well? Teruki felt uneasy when he sat down at his desk, feeling like turning back to check on Kageyama’s chair every few minutes, like he was going appear when he wasn’t looking. But no. There was no one there. The chair remained empty and Teruki was having a hard time paying attention to his teacher.

He didn’t see Kageyama that entire day. He didn’t see him the next day either, even though he kept his eyes peeled. And all the while his senses were screaming at him that he was here, picking up on the remnants of his aura in the walls. It was insufferable.

On Wednesday, Teruki went looking for him. If Kageyama was avoiding him in school, Teruki was going to have to be proactive about this.

He needed to find Kageyama.

He asked around, but no one really seemed to know who Kageyama actually was. It was starting to bother Teruki how Kageyama just seemed to slip by everyone’s mind even though he had so much power locked inside that body of his. He had been able to rip the school apart and put it back together in a span of minutes like it was no problem and none of these people even knew who he was?

Teruki looked around, asked around, but no one knew about him. His haggard appearances and the sudden silence from the Black Vinegar gang had set out some rumors. He caught the tail ends of them. People had seen the whole school flying, it had been on the news. And now there was talks about some newcomer kid defeating the Black Vinegar Shadow Leader, a guy who was making moves to annex the entire gang. It was ridiculous, really, but people had drawn their own conclusions. Teruki didn’t want to confirm or deny anything and that only seemed to make things worse.

Their words followed after him, weighing down heavy. He had never really paid much attention to the rumors, to be honest. It had used to lift him up to hear them talk about him with hushed voices, worry mixing with admiration. It had made him feel special. But none of that was earned, was it? All of it had come from his powers, not his actions. Not from who he was.

Who even was he, anyway? Kageyama had said that if you took away his powers, he’d be nothing and it had stung so bad. And yet, Kageyama was a hundred times stronger than him and these people didn’t even know his name. Teruki had peacocked his powers around to lift himself up and these people fell at his feet like he was a messiah.

What had he even been doing? He didn’t want to think about it, it made him feel like he couldn’t breathe properly. Like he was going to choke on his own ego struggling to break free.

His eyes landed on that one girl, that third year, the Telepathy club president or whoever. Teruki picked up his pace. If there was anyone who’d know where Kageyama was, it was her.

Getting closer Teruki realized that she wasn’t alone. The rest of the club was there as well and a handful of the Body Improvement club as well. They were all pressed together close, talking. He could almost make out what the girl was saying, she was so loud.

Never mind that. All he needed to do was have a word with the girl, the others weren’t really that important anyway.

“Hey!” he called, stashing one hand into his pocket, lifting the other to a lazy wave. He paid little attention to the dirty glares shot his way when he walked next to the girl, offering her a smile.

Her look was nothing but sour.

“Oh,” she said. “It’s you.”

For one terrible heartbeat Teruki thought she might have known something, that she’d heard what had happened between him and Kageyama on last Friday. How Teruki had choked him out. But then he remembered the Telepathy club fiasco.

Shit. Hadn’t really thought this through, had he?

Never mind that, too. Teruki leaned back and gave one of his most charming smiles to her.

“Have you seen Kageyama around?” he asked, lifting his hand up and waving it carelessly. “I was looking for him.”

The response was immediately cold. The Body Improvement club was staring him down like he was something one of them had found stuck to the bottom of his sneaker and the girl had her arms crossed.

“That’s none of your business, I think,” she said.

“Come on,” Teruki said. “Don’t be like that. I was just – “

“I think it would be for the best, if you left now,” the biggest of the jocks said. “Kageyama is not here. And I doubt he would want to see you even if he was.”

Well. That was a bit presumptuous of him. Teruki let some edge into his smile.

“I simply wish to have a word with him, nothing more,” he said. “I think that much can be afforded to me. If you’re not going to be of help to me, then – “

“Oh.”

Teruki swallowed his words, electricity running up his spine. He spun on his heels to face Kageyama, standing stiffly just a few paces off.

Finally. Finally! Where had he been hiding? Teruki opened his mouth, but was cut off by one of the Telepathy club gremlins.

“Mob!” the blond boy said. “You’re here!”

Kageyama wasn’t looking at the others. He didn’t look like he’d even heard what the other boy said. He had eyes only for Teruki.

And, surprisingly, that was not a good thing.

Every fiber of Kageyama’s being was screaming discomfort, like he’d been frozen solid into a horrified state, eyes just a bit too large, skin just a bit too pallid. He swallowed with struggle, staring at Teruki like he was worried he was going to jump at his throat.

And suddenly, in a corridor full of chattering students, Teruki couldn’t hear a single thing. His ears were ringing too loud, drowning out everything else.

Kageyama’s shoulders were on the rise, his head pulling between them. But even so, Teruki could easily see the bruising on his neck.

His mouth tasted like acid.

“Excuse me,” Teruki said, ducking his head and turning away. He needed to get out, away. All the plans he’d had to strike up a conversation had disappeared into thin air, white noise growing louder in his ears. His lungs felt like they were being squeezed too tight, breathing turned from something so mundane to a terrifying chore he could hardly keep up with.

Oh God. He couldn’t breathe. Oh God.

He stumbled into the bathroom and locked himself into a stall.

Of course Kageyama would hate him now. Of course he wouldn’t want to see Teruki again. He might have easily beaten Teruki in their confrontation, but Teruki had been the one with his hands around his throat.

God. The look on his face right then…

Kageyama had been crying his eyes out, on his hands and knees in front of the school building.

Oh God. He was going to be sick. He slammed his hands on his mouth and his held his breath, staring over the top of the stall and tried not to hear how loud his heartbeat was in his ears.

Of course he would look like that seeing Teruki again. Of course he’d have the same look every commoner had after Teruki had thrown them around. What had he expected? In fact, his reaction being that calm was a miracle in itself. He should have been glad Kageyama hadn’t crushed him then and there.

But he wouldn’t, would he? No, he was so dead set on not fighting, so he wouldn’t do anything like that.

And Teruki had thought he could just walk up to him and strike up a conversation? Like nothing at all hadn’t happened?

He was such an idiot. The worst person alive, the scum of the earth.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

His hands balled into fists against his face. No. He was not. He had changed. Up there, in the air, he had seen the error of his ways. He wasn’t the same person he had been when he’d been hoisted up. What he had left behind on the ground was his old self and now he was something new.

He leaned against his knees, doubled down and wheezed.

Everything was horrible.

No, no it wasn’t. Teruki was a good person. He was.

He needed to get home.

He couldn’t stay here any longer. Who cared if he still had classes left, he needed to get out of this building that felt like Kageyama all around him. He threw the door open and stumbled out, hurried out of the building before anyone could call after him and leapt over the fence around the school in his hurry to leave unnoticed.

Somehow he made his way home. He wasn’t sure how. Everything around him was a blur. Voices of the traffic were too loud in his ears. But getting away from school made him breathe easier. He staggered up the stairs to his home, locked the door behind him and hurried into the bathroom.

Teruki must have sat on the lid of his toilet for half an hour at least, hands on his temples, staring at his knees until he could feel his thoughts moving again. Before that, it was a jumbled mess. He wanted to scream and shout, but there would have been no one to hear it, so what would be the point?

God. He was so pathetic, wasn’t he? One knock on his ego and he was a crying mess in his bathroom.

No. He wasn’t crying. He wasn’t. Teruki pulled his lips taut to stop the tremble.

He climbed up to the sink and splashed water onto his face.

He was going to be in so much trouble for cutting classes, wasn’t he? He’d never done it before, never felt the need. The world had waited for his every beck and call and he had only needed to be there for things to work out the way he wanted.

Now everything was falling down around him. Or maybe it was just him, crumbling like Black Vinegar was supposed to.

His scalp itched. Teruki reached to pull his wig off and it fell into a pile on the counter next to the sink, like something he’d unclogged from the shower drain. He ran his hands over the small stubble already growing on top of his head, then looked at himself through the mirror.

Teruki froze. Swallowed thickly.

His face was red and blotchy, his uniform jacket forgotten on the toilet seat.

This was the exact face Kageyama had been staring at when he’d lost his consciousness.

Teruki felt like he was going to be sick.

He tore off from the bathroom, slammed the door behind him. The wood cracked, his aura warping the hinges.

No wonder Kageyama wanted to have nothing to do with him. He was so horrendous. How it must have felt like, staring him in the eye as everything went black around him.

No wonder Kageyama hated him so much. He had shown him every reason to feel that way. And Kageyama couldn’t tell he had changed, how could he? Teruki had given him no reason to think so.

His hands were trembling at his side when he made a beeline for his closet.

He needed something. Different. New. A clear sign that he was not the old Teruki, that he was better now.

He picked a wig. The most outrageous, the most terrible wig he had. He’d bought it as a joke more than anything. Because who would wear a wig like that? It was too tall, too ugly too much of everything and Teruki had hated to admit how much he’d loved it the moment he’d seen it, because he would never be able to wear it.

Well. That had been then. The new Teruki didn’t care about what others said and he did what he wanted.

He wasn’t the person he’d been before. Kageyama had opened his eyes, forced him to see. He wasn’t like he was before, but he still looked the same. He threw the wig on, didn’t even look if it fit well and sat down next to his closet, pulled out his phone. He started deleting pictures from his social media accounts, removing all the traces of his old self he could find. Gone, away. Removed.

But it still wasn’t enough. Every single picture of him smiling at the camera, every ex-girlfriend, every petty remark, it wasn’t enough. Because why would Kageyama care about any of that? He had never even followed his Instagram.

God. Did Kageyama even have Instagram? Probably not.

He dropped the phone.

What was he doing?

He buried his face into his hands.

This wasn’t helping. None of this was helpful in any way. His troubles had started long before he’d put his hands around Kageyama’s throat. His troubles had started from the very first time he’d introduced himself to Kageyama and decided to make a fool out of himself. From then on, he had made every single thing he could think of to ruin everything.

And changing a wig and deleting his social media wasn’t going to fix anything.

He needed to do something though.

He needed Kageyama’s approval. His friendship. Anything he’d be willing to give, even scraps would be fine. Before he could earn that, he could not, absolutely could not show his face in front of him.

Yes. Good. Great. A goal. That was good, there was something he could do and he just had to find it. He was going to be a better Teruki. The very best version of himself there was. He bit his teeth together tightly, pulled on a smile that was only for him.

He was going to do better. He was going to do better at being good than any of Kageyama’s friends had ever done, he was going to lead a shining example of humility and simple living just like Kageyama. But before he’d have something to show Kageyama for it, he could not approach him.

Kageyama better prepare himself, because soon he would meet the new and improved Hanazawa Teruki.

They were talking about his wig. He could hear it. Whispering about the sudden mass deletion of his pictures and old tweets. He could hear every single thing they were saying behind their hands, the hidden meanings behind their kind questions. And he deflected them all with a smile and few words.

He was so brave, they said, to try something like that, to throw caution to the wind and be a trailblazer. Going so out of norm, wasn’t he just so great? Teru always knew how to shake things up, didn’t he? Wasn’t he so handsome, even in a wig like that? Or maybe it was because of it?

It made him grit his teeth. It wasn’t… That wasn’t the point. But the commoners didn’t understand.

No. No. That wasn’t… He was a commoner. He was. And so was everybody else. He was just like everybody else, they just… But they still didn’t…

He needed to backtrack. He needed to pull himself together.

Everything was fine. Things were different, but they were still the same. At the end of the day, things weren’t all that different, he just needed to adjust a little. Do things like he normally did, without the, uh, problematic parts. Bury everything else so deep that no one would ever be able to excavate his past up. His old self was dead and gone and in his place was the new Teruki, the beacon of kindness and humility in his half a meter long wig. Everyone here already thought he was the best. Well, almost everyone. They didn’t know about his shitty side, he’d blinded them with everything else.

He just needed to adjust things in the background.

It was simple, really. An easy solution to a problem of his own making. Start from the scratch. Pretend like nothing had happened. Plow through it. Teruki knew he had a charming personality, he had known it even when his psychic abilities had been the main focus of his character. So now he needed to put that personality to good use. And start by fixing some of the things he had broken.

He still had math with Kageyama. It was… a problem. Sitting in front of Kageyama made him feel like he was about to explode. Acting like he wasn’t paying attention was the hardest thing he had ever done, a self-imposed punishment he struggled with.

Could none of the other students feel the discomfort roiling around Kageyama? The tangible unease in the air? Or was it all in Teruki’s head? He couldn’t be sure anymore, because everything in Black Vinegar was now tinted with the feel of Kageyama’s aura, it was so strong it drowned everything else. There could have been an army of espers just outside the school limits showing off their powers and Teruki would have been none the wiser because of the permanent marks of blue on everything.

Sometimes, when sitting in math class, Teruki could swear everything was shaking. Like there was a miniature earthquake going around them. Every time Teruki expected either the entire building to collapse over them or Kageyama to burst like he’d done when he’d thrown Teruki sky high.

He had to do something. Soon. They could not continue like this.

The first thing he did was to break up with Takane.

Considering how big of a storm of rumors it set up, the breakup itself was uneventful and one of the easiest Teruki had gone through. The idea of the feeling being mutual should have probably annoyed him. It would have, had he still been his old self for sure. But he grabbed hold of those feelings and strangled them until they were quiet and buried them with the rest of the undesirables.

This was just one mark on a long list of thins he needed to mend.

“Teru,” Takane said afterwards. “Why did you ask me out in the first place?”

Damn it.

“Well,” he said and forced an apologetic smile on his face. “You know. You… seemed like an interesting person.”

She just tilted her head. “Was that the only reason?” she asked, her voice even, eyes sharp.

Teruki bit his tongue. He was a new Teruki now. What he had done before didn’t matter, so the past might as well not have happened.

“Yes,” he said.

She did not look pleased with his answer.

“I’m not entirely sure what you wanted to accomplish with that stunt you pulled behind the school,” she said, her tone growing a little cold. “But you should stop. Try to be more open to your feelings and stop using others.”

Teruki bit down on his tongue. He could feel the words crawling up his throat already and tried to swallow them down before they could be spoken. He wasn’t strong enough.

“Aren’t you one to talk?” he said, his tone too sharp, too ridiculing, head tilting to a mean angle, lips pulling into a sneer. “Like you actually wanted to go out with me anyway. What’s your excuse?”

Her brows rose up so fast they might as well have jumped off her face. Their descent back into a frown was far slower and so much more devastating. Teruki’s insides were already churning. That was not the Teruki he was anymore.

“…I needed to test something out,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll continue dating anytime soon.”

Teruki just nodded. Then his thoughts went to Kageyama and his hopeless crush towards this girl.

A strange mix of relief and despair started churning in his gut. He swallowed, sticky words trying to climb out of his mouth. Takane must have known that Kageyama had a crush on her, she must have seen, her reaction made it seem so.

He wanted to say something about it. Just… something. He was trying to fix things up, wasn’t he? So he should have said… But the words were stuck. He didn’t want to say them.

He wasn’t that good of a guy.

So instead he just smiled.

“That sounds pretty good, actually,” he said. “Well. Good luck!”

Next up, there was the Black Vinegar gang to deal with.

The talks about his wig weren’t the only rumors flying around. Since he’d refused to elaborate on what had happened on that day when the school had been torn to pieces, people had started to fill in the gaps themselves. Now he was hearing whispers about some “White T Poison”.

It was ridiculous. He hadn’t thought anyone would actually buy that bullcrap, but when he cornered up Edano to disband the whole gang, it sounded like Edano had swallowed the whole story without chewing. People wanted to know who had torn the school to shreds and who had taken out the Shadow Leader and Teruki’s quiet termination of the gang seemed only to fan the flames.

Kageyama refused to claim the fame.

He probably hadn’t wanted it to begin with. Maybe the rumors were going right over his head, he seemed to care so little about things like that. How could someone like that exist? Someone who could so easily let others’ words wash over him like water off of a duck’s back? Live outside others’ perceptions, uncaring of what they said about him?

Teruki had thought it was a flaw. Now he was starting to think that maybe it was a strength.

Kageyama was so strong. In so many ways.

So when Edano tried to politely but persistently ask him if Kageyama was the one who’d defeated him, Teruki refused to share. Reminded him as kindly as he could that the gang was now gone and it didn’t matter. Edano would not have been the leader anymore anyway.

Being kind to someone that stupid was a chore. But it was a chore he was going to excel at.

He just wished that Kageyama had noticed how hard he was working.

But, naturally, it was better this way. He was going to have to do a lot of work until he could face him again, so that he would have something to offer to him as a show of his new look in life.

“Look, boss,” Edano said.

“I’m not your boss anymore,” Teruki said flatly. Try to get that though that thick skull of yours, he didn’t say.

“It’s just…” Edano was wringing his hands. “I just wanted you to know. It wasn’t my idea to tie Kageyama up like that. Some of the other guys, they didn’t realize who he was and it was Onigawara who set the whole thing up. When I got there, it was already too late.” He was sweating profusely. “I swear, boss. It wasn’t my idea.”

Teruki kept his feet on the ground, focused on staying still so he wouldn’t give in to the urge to kick Edano down.

“It. Doesn’t matter now,” he bit out. “None of that does.”

Edano looked at him like he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“The gang is over, you hear me?” Teruki said. “Tell me you understand that.”

“But – “

“If I find any of the old gang members running in the same group again, I’ll punish everyone, you understand me?”

He nodded his head furiously and backed away with his hands up.

Being good was so hard.

But it’d be worth it in the end.

The dreams just wouldn’t let up.

Dreams of shoving Kageyama against the lockers even though he was supposed to be a changed man now, kissing him silly in front of everyone, fingers in his hair, legs tangling together. Letting everyone in the whole school know, because their opinions didn’t matter to them anymore. And Kageyama would let him do that. Because he was so good. Because even though he could have flung Teruki aside any moment he wanted, he didn’t do that. It didn’t matter what everyone else thought, Teruki was his and it was the only way he wanted to be.

And then he would wake up and reality would be so different it hurt. Every single time. He would wake up at the best moment, the worst moment, and his chest would feel too small and his breathing too erratic. And then he would go to school and Kageyama would deliberately avoid him everywhere, constantly flunked by friends that were more important to him, friends that had stood by him when Teruki had done everything in his power to pull them apart.

He hated it. Hated it so much. And the worst part was that it was all his fault. He couldn’t deny that, couldn’t blame anyone for it. This was all on him and that was that.

But he wouldn’t have to wait much longer anymore. He almost had everything dealt with now. Soon he could make his move, fix everything up and nothing would be out of place. Just like when Kageyama had fixed the school. Just… just pretend like nothing had ever been wrong in the first place.

He couldn’t afford to screw this up again. He needed to have a solid foundation before he’d approach Kageyama. Needed to have something he could offer him to bargain for his friendship after what he’d done.

He had no idea what he was doing. Nothing he’d done before would help him here, he was sure. His charms were nothing. So he needed bribery. He needed every last scarp of his talent and appeal to get back on his good side. And he was willing to do whatever it took.

And when he’d finally decide it was time to approach again, he was going to be ready for it.

He was not going to be nervous. Why would he be nervous? He had no reason to be.

Except, of course, that Kageyama was probably the most powerful psychic in the world. And. Very. Nice looking. Which was, of course, a completely unrelated thing. But he was powerful. If he wanted to, he could squash Teruki down and not think twice about it. But he was so very kind. He would never do that.

Their powers weren’t meant to be used against other people, right? And Teruki was just another person in the sea of many.

There were so many new rules. He was having a hard time remembering them all.

When Teruki finally deemed himself ready to meet up with Kageyama again, he planned it all. Kageyama left to go to work on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. He walked with his brother on Wednesdays, so Teruki decided a Thursday would be the perfect time to catch up with him.

Starting up a conversation wasn’t easy, though. Not after everything.

Didn’t matter. Teruki was nothing if not resolute.

He spotted Kageyama just outside the school gates on his way out and picked up his pace on Thursday afternoon.

“H- hey! Kageyama!”

There. He said it. He got the first part out. Kageyama stopped and turned slowly to look at him. The moment he recognized Teruki, his guard was up again. It was easy to see. His shoulders shifted, eyes moved away, mouth straightened into a thin, wobbly line.

It was an instant jab into Teruki’s stomach.

Never mind that. Plow through it, he thought and caught up with him.

“Going to work?” he asked, trying to sound as conversational and approachable as possible. Kageyama looked at him with reserve, keeping a closely calculated distance between them.

“Yes,” he said simply, eyes moving to the road ahead, before jumping back to Teruki. He looked like he had questions. He voiced none of them.

Teruki forced his appearance to look relaxed, dropped down his shoulders and buried his right hand in his pocket. Smiling a lazy smile, he tilted his head at the direction they were going towards.

“I’m headed that way too. Mind if I join you?”

It was a lie, of course, but that didn’t really matter. He tried not to look too expectant, tried not to come off as eager as he was feeling. He ought to have just looked ahead as well, not stare at him like he wanted to eat him up. Teruki just couldn’t help himself. It felt like it had been an eternity since they’d talked to each other.

Had they ever really actually talked? It had always been Teruki speaking to him, hadn’t it? What was Kageyama even like? Outside of his head, that was.

Kageyama swallowed. Licked his lips. Picked at the hems of his uniform jacket. He looked like he wanted to say no, to tell Teruki to go away. But he was far too kind to do that. Too awkward.

Teruki took full advantage of that. He tried to feel bad for it.

They started making their way towards Kageyama’s workplace. Kageyama’s step was stiff, like it was a struggle to keep on the move, while Teruki had to shorten his longer strides to keep at his side.

Okay. Alright. Time to put on the charm.

“You know,” he said, leaning closer. “I talked to the student council about relocating the telepathy club and I think there’s a good chance they can get a room of their own by the end of the week. I asked around and there are some people interested in joining, so maybe they can reestablish their club?”

Kageyama said nothing, but he was watching Teruki from the corner of his eye now.

“And!” he hurried to continue. “The Body Improvement club is in the clear as well! All cleared up. Nasty rumors, nothing more. You understand. They won’t be getting into trouble after that, I’m sure. And you know, you might even be getting some new equipment. I heard there’s enough money for that.”

He had been pretty proud of that. His silver tongue had really come to good use now and it was kind of exhilarating to realize how much power he had even without the use of his psychic abilities. It was like playing a game on hard mode and coming out with winning colors.

Kageyama hummed a noncommittal answer and turned his attention to the road up ahead. Was he always this stiff? Or was this still part of the whole… fight… thing? Teruki couldn’t tell. He was desperately looking for some conversation topics that might interest Kageyama, something to tickle his fancy, but his head was ringing empty.

Shit. Where was that silver tongue now?

“So, uh…” he said and hoped he hadn’t. “We… some of us are going out to sing karaoke on Friday after school. You interested in joining?” Lies, lies, lies.

“Not really, no.”

Teruki felt like he was going to choke up.

“It’ll… It’ll be fun! I swear! The people there are really nice, you’d love it, I know you would!”

A small frown appeared on his face and Kageyama pulled a little further away. Teruki was losing him.

“And Tsubomi will be there too!” he nearly shouted.

Kageyama’s eyes flew from the street to him, stared at him with confusion.

“…Really?” A small word, the tiniest opening, a crack in his armor.

Teruki dove forward.

“I could introduce you!” he said, desperation leaking through. “You like her, right? So let me introduce you two to each other, yeah?”

Now Kageyama was looking truly lost.

“But… wouldn’t that be kind of weird with you dating her already?” he asked.

Teruki lost his footing for a moment, flailing mentally at something to say. Of course he hadn’t heard of the break up. Of course he hadn’t! What had Teruki been thinking?

“No. I mean, yes, I guess we dated for a while. But we broke it off a while ago. It wasn’t working out.”

“Really?” Kageyama asked, sounding pathetically hopeful and Teruki wanted to grab onto that hope and twist it until Kageyama was drowning in it.

“Yeah, it was – She wasn’t… I wasn’t really her type, you know,” he said, rubbing his neck with enough vigor to make his whole wig wobble. He pulled his hand back forcibly and planted it in the pocket of his school uniform jacket instead.

“Not… her type?” Kageyama asked, tilting his head a bit. “What do you mean? You’re exactly like her type. You’re athletic, popular and really good looking.”

Teruki tried not to let it get to him, he really did. None of those things Kageyama had said had been said in a way that implied anything but stating the facts, but they still made his heart beat faster and his cheeks warm up. Good looking. Kageyama thought he was good looking. His hand tried to sneak back to his neck, so instead Teruki guided it to go through the hair at the front, flicking it aside.

“Yeah, I mean… true. But I’m also an asshole, so that kind of cancels it out, right?”

Kageyama did not seem to find this amusing in the least. But at least he wasn’t as stiff anymore. There was something else there, an uncomfortable air that was looking to coil around Teruki’s lungs to choke out all of his air.

No. No, thinking about choking wasn’t a good thing. That was the exact opposite of what he should have been thinking right now.

“So, what do you say?” he goaded. “You want to come? I’ll introduce you to everyone, it’s going to be – “

“You already got what you wanted, didn’t you?” Kageyama asked, turning to look at him. “You wanted to fight. Isn’t that enough?”

Teruki was left struggling for words.

“No,” he said. “No, that isn’t – “

“Besides,” he continued, looking up ahead. “Tsubomi already knows who I am. We were friends when we were kids. And she still doesn’t…” His voice faded away.

“But maybe things are different now!” Teruki insisted. “Who knows! You two might really hit it off now! You won’t know until you try!”

God. He was so pathetic. Helping Kageyama together with Takane was the last thing he wanted to do. But… but if there was even a chance…

And Takane had said she wasn’t interested in dating now. She’d said that. So she probably wouldn’t be interested in someone like Kageyama either. But he could still play it like he was going to help them get together while getting Kageyama to owe him one to –

No. No, that wasn’t – He wasn’t going to –

“You could bring your friends too!” He was now clinging to the very last piece of hope he had. He hadn’t done enough. It was like he hadn’t prepared at all for this. He didn’t have enough. He would never have enough.

Kageyama was playing with the straps of his bag. There was a barely-there frown on his face, a thought. Teruki bit down on his tongue so hard he could taste blood. He didn’t want to say anything more. He shouldn’t. If he did, he’d risk saying something that would ruin it.

“I think…” he said slowly, then fell silent. A quick look Teruki’s way and then away again. Teruki had never felt this sweaty in his life. “When will you be going?”

“When are you free?”

Too fast. Too revealing. He had not planned anything. He had nothing and he was showing everything to Kageyama.

“Um.”

“Tomorrow,” Teruki said quickly. “I was planning on tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Kageyama said. “Tome won’t be able to make it, then.”

Who the hell was Tome?”

“And you?” Teruki asked, walking too close now, heart beating painfully loud in his chest. Just a step more and they’d be touching.

“I… I guess,” he said. He still wasn’t looking at Teruki, but he had agreed. He had agreed!

“Great!” Teruki shouted. “I’ll need – I’m going to – Can I have your phone number?!”

Another quick glimpse from Kageyama. He was sweating now, sweating like he did when the teacher asked him a question he didn’t know the answer to, looking at everything that wasn’t Teruki, sparing only the most fleeting of looks his way before looking away again. He was going to say no. He looked like he was going to say no.

Teruki dug out his phone from his pocket, knowing fully well how badly his hands were shaking. He offered it to Kageyama, pleading him in his head to take it.

And he did. He took the phone awkwardly and held it like a rock.

Teruki dared not to even breathe.

“What do I –?” Kageyama started.

Teruki grabbed the phone back to his hands as fast as he could, tapped the code to open it and gave it back, ears burning with embarrassment.

“Your number!” he shouted. “If you could.”

Kageyama pulled back from his outburst and Teruki bit back on his already hurting tongue. Too strong. He was too much everything and it was just pushing Kageyama further away. He needed to reel it back in, he needed his cool persona, he needed to gather himself back up right now or he was going to blow it and he wouldn’t have another chance to make things right.

He’d managed to bully Kageyama’s number out of him. Kageyama gave his phone back to him and Teruki sent a message to him immediately.

Hey! ;) This is Teruki, by the way.

Too much? Maybe too much. Teruki’s face felt like it was up in flames when Kageyama pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared at it expressionlessly. Kageyama said nothing, just put his phone back into his pocket wordlessly.

Okay. Okay! Now he needed to exit to the stage left before he could ruin this somehow.

“Hey! This is where I’ll go!” he said, pointing his thumb at a random direction. “But it was nice to run into you. Right? I’ll… I’ll text you more details about tomorrow. Okay?”

Kageyama hummed quietly.

“Okay! Have a nice day!” He turned on his feet.

Okay. Not a complete disaster! Well, it had been pretty horrendous, but still. He’d still gotten through it easy enough.

“Um.”

Teruki froze on his feet, stopped moving the instant Kageyama let out the small sound like his brain had just switched off on its own.

“Hanazawa,” he said quietly.

Teruki whirled back around, trying to force his nervous grimace into a natural smile.

“Yeah?” he said, his voice too high in his own ears.

He was going to tell him to delete his number. That he wasn’t going. That Teruki was scum.

Kageyama was holding onto his bag with two hands, staring at the space between them.

“I just wanted to say… I’m sorry.”

At first Teruki thought he’d heard wrong.

“Ex…cuse me?” he said carefully.

“I’m sorry about what I did to you,” Kageyama clarified. “I… sometimes when I lose my consciousness, I… things happen and I can’t control my powers and… and…”

Teruki’s heart was a cold lump in his chest. Was he honestly… apologizing for what had happened? His mouth tasted bitter. Kageyama was the last person who should have been apologizing for any of that.

And yet, Teruki couldn’t open his mouth to say a word. He was a changed person, a better person and he had moved on from the guy he was before. Therefore whether he apologized or not shouldn’t make a difference.

He couldn’t get the words out, didn’t want to say them. They were locked deep and nothing was going to make them dislodge from his throat, it felt like. His own apology wasn’t coming out.

Kageyama stared at the ground between for a long time and Teruki was unable to say anything.

“That’s what I wanted to say,” Kageyama said.

And it was horrible. It was absolutely terrible and all Teruki could do was stare at him wordlessly like the dumb moron he was. Kageyama nodded his head, or maybe it was a bow, awkward and stiff, then continued walking towards his workplace.

Teruki couldn’t move.

Kageyama…

He was too good. Too good for him.

Teruki felt like he was going to be sick.

He needed to get home. Like right now.

To get away from Kageyama and from the chance of sticking his foot further into his mouth. But not only that. He needed to get to planning right away. Whose idea had it been to blurt out tomorrow as the day of his imaginary karaoke date with everyone?

He was sure he could scrape together enough people make a crew. The problem was Takane.

He’d promised Kageyama Takane and Takane he was going to get, God damn it. Because Teruki was going to be the most trustworthy, useful, desirable friend Kageyama would ever have. He would be such a great friend that Kageyama would never have to ask for anything again. Teruki would have already gotten it to him before he even knew what he wanted.

Right. And maybe then Kageyama would feel like he could look him in the eye again.

Maybe then Teruki could feel like that too.

It was a dream. Teruki knew it was a dream, because in no other reality would Teruki find himself behind the school building, making out with Kageyama.

It was a simple leap of logic his brain made. In his head, he could remember what it had felt like to kiss Takane and look Kageyama in the eye while doing it.

And suddenly it all felt so real. So much better than it had felt back then. He was such a great friend to Kageyama. The best there was. He didn’t need anyone else.

There was a pulse under his hands, warm skin.

Kageyama gasped for air.

He couldn’t breathe.

Teruki jolted awake with a start. The sweat on his back was cold, his fists gripping tight onto his covers.

Shower.

He needed a shower.

Today was the day. By some miracle, he’d managed to get everyone on board on a moment’s notice. He wasn’t surprised about his own lackeys. Friends. They were his friends, weren’t they? They had all been quick to answer to his call, all so eager to please, happy and ready to do as they were told.

Takane had been… a bit of a harder nut to crack.

Her immediate answer to his message of: Want to go sing karaoke tomorrow? had been a quick: Why?

And Teruki had not known what to say. The truth was too complicated even for him.

Come on, he’d texted. Kageyama will be there.

To which she’d replied: What are you trying to do?

She should just stop asking so many questions and agree to come. Teruki’s remembered how his fingers had trembled on the keys with barely contained rage.

He turned the shower on and started scrubbing away the feelings the dream had left behind from his skin.

He’d had to relinquish much more information than he would have liked to give Takane to get her to agree. That he’d promised to Kageyama and that he was really trying now.

Does this have anything to do with that thing that was in the news? Our school flying?

What else could he have done? He’d said yes.

And then Takane had agreed, saying that she’d bring friends. Which was… it was fine. It was a good thing she was coming. He’d promised Kageyama.

Teruki grit his teeth and washed himself angrily.

It was perfect! A great thing. He was such a trustworthy friend. From now on he could always get Kageyama whatever he wanted.

He’d texted Kageyama the moment he’d found out Takane was coming, fingers trembling like crazy on his keypad, missing the letters he’d meant to push and forcing him to retype again and again so that he wouldn’t come off as a complete failure of a human being.

He’d tried to remain neutral. Tried to limit his use of emojis. Tried to be normal.

What he felt like he came off as, was boring.

Meet me at the school gates after school tomorrow?

Straight to the point. Simple as can be.

There had been no response. Kageyama did not have any of those apps to message with that everyone used, not even any of the older ones. His phone was too old and too simple for that, so there was no way of knowing that he’d even received the message to begin with. Teruki didn’t want to seem overeager, didn’t want to bombard Kageyama with messages, but he couldn’t help doubt biting at the edges of his fabricated confidence.

He did end up sending two more messages, though.

This is Teruki by the way.

And then: Hanazawa Teruki, just in case he’d forgotten his first name.

Next day at school he had to fight the urge to seek Kageyama out and ask him if he’d gotten the message or not. It was so hard trying to be cool about this, when the stress was a constant thrum at the bottom of his stomach.

When the last bell rang, Teruki nearly ran in his hurry to get to the gates first. He scanned every passing face in search for Kageyama so that he would not accidentally lose him.

When Teruki spotted him, he nearly breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he noticed that he had not come alone.

Kageyama Ritsu’s stare was openly cold and full of hostility like he would have personally liked to bury Teruki alive. Had he not been a complete commoner, Teruki might have taken him seriously.

No. No, that was not right. They were both commoners. That didn’t mean he was going to let some impotent rage of a child get to him.

“Ah!” Teruki said and managed to quell the disappointment from his voice. He had told Kageyama that he could bring a friend after all. What he had not considered was that he’d bring his brother. “You came! You had me worried. You didn’t… you didn’t answer my text.”

Kageyama stared at him for a moment, well, somewhere a bit to his left anyway and Teruki moved a little so he could be in his direct line of sight. Slowly Kageyama’s eyes grew larger.

“Oh,” he said. “I forgot.”

He forgot. Teruki had spent the night losing sleep, flinching at every sound his phone made, waiting for his response.

He forgot.

“That’s fine!” he said and waved his hand dismissively. “I’m glad you decided to bring your brother along.”

He was glad he hadn’t had time to target his brother specifically.

He could almost hear how Kageyama Ritsu’s teeth ground together.

“Ritsu isn’t coming,” Kageyama said. “He has been accepted into Black Vinegar student council. They have a meeting today.”

A missed opportunity! Teruki had known the younger Kageyama had been in the student council back at his school, Mezato had told him. He should have spoken about him to the council members. Hype him up since they were already considering it. That way he could have taken the glory for it. Now it was too late, though.

“I could reschedule,” Ritsu said, turned away from Teruki to speak.

Kageyama shook his head. “No,” he said. “It’s okay. You should stay here.”

It was clear that the younger brother did not agree.

“Brother,” he said stiffly.

Teruki felt like this was the perfect opportunity to speak up.

“He’ll be in good company,” he said and smiled brightly. “It’s just a handful of my friends. And Takane Tsubomi, of course.”

There we go. Kageyama turned to him and there was a hopeful sheen in his eyes. Teruki hated how much he loved it.

“We’ll just be having a good time together, that’s all.”

Even though the older Kageyama was so mellow about it, the younger one looked like he would have rather strangled Teruki with his tie than let him leave.

“Brother – “ he started again.

Kageyama shook his head.

“It’s okay, Ritsu.”

“Couldn’t Tome at least – “

Kageyama started shrinking down. Looked away. Ritsu snapped his mouth shut with a click, then produced a smile. At least that’s what Teruki would have liked to call the grimace he was seeing right now.

“Okay,” he said. “Call me if you want me to walk you home.”

Kageyama nodded. Ritsu did not move to walk back. He just stood there and stared at Teruki as if his looks themselves could have killed him. Teruki did not wish to start any beef with Kageyama’s brother since he’d managed to avoid trouble with him so far, but if he kept pushing his buttons, there was going to be trouble. Just because Teruki liked Kageyama did not mean his little brother could just start acting uppity.

Whoops. There he went again. Teruki smiled widely. Oh well. It wouldn’t matter if he thought about wiping the pavement with Kageyama Ritsu as long as he didn’t actually do it.

Ritsu’s eyes went wide, then narrowed into thin slits.

Kageyama stood as stiff as a board between them.

“Are we – ?”

“Let’s get going, then!” Teruki declared.

“Just us?” Kageyama asked.

“Yes! We’ll be meeting the others there. But I thought that since it’s your first time, I’d walk you there.”

And suddenly something was wrong. He felt it in the air, a somewhat familiar but still wrong sense of an aura.

It felt like Kageyama’s usually did. It was short, there and gone again, but Kageyama did not look like he’d done anything.

Had Teruki just imagined it?

“Brother – “ Ritsu started once more, but Teruki had had enough of his whining.

“Have you decided what you want to sing already?” he asked and placed a hand on Kageyama’s shoulder and started turning him away from his little brother. He would have never dared to do that had the situation been different, he could already feel his nerves getting the better of him, telling him to rip his hand off right now, but he kept his composure. Kageyama threw one last fleeting look over his shoulder at his brother, but they were already going.

It happened again. A flare of a sort. Well, not really. Not like it had been with Kageyama, not like what had first gotten Teruki to pay attention. More of a… zap. Like a spark from woolly clothes in the wintertime. There and gone again.

It was weird.

But ultimately meaningless, Teruki decided. Pointless to dwell on, now that he had Kageyama here.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said after a small walk, when the school started disappearing behind other buildings. “Have you thought about what you want to sing?” He had a very soft voice, gentle. Teruki couldn’t wait to get to hear it singing.

He became painfully aware of just how sweaty his hand was on Kageyama’s shoulder, gripping maybe just a bit too tight on the purple jacket like he was worried Kageyama would disappear if he let go for even a moment. He was smooth in removing his hand. He let it slide down his back a little, a respectable, tasteful amount, then pulled back, trying not to think about how fast his heart was beating.

Pathetic. Truly pathetic. Like touching someone’s back was such a big deal. He’d done so much more with his past girlfriends before, a hand on the shoulder was for the beginners. But Teruki’s foolish heart thought they were doing something truly special, trying to break through his ribs with every jab.

Kageyama stared at the ground, looking all sorts of constipated.

Teruki hurried to say: “You don’t have to sing! Not everyone does. It’s all about spending time with friends, really. That’s the point of it, at least that’s what I think.”

What a load of bullshit. Yes, he knew every single person in his chosen group of friends by name, knew everything he needed to know about them, including a handful of embarrassing secrets that could be used against them if needed, but couldn’t give a damn about any of them on a personal level.

But Kageyma didn’t need to know that. He didn’t need to know any of that. All he needed to know was that Teruki was a great guy and an even better friend.

Kageyama was quiet through most of the walk to the karaoke bar. Try as he might, Teruki couldn’t wrangle more than a few words at a time out of him, and even those were spoken mouth downturned, eyes at the pavement. Nothing at all seemed to be enough to make Kageyama open up.

Last time he’d gotten an emotional response out of him had been when he’d made Kageyama cry.

Yeah. Maybe. Maybe it was better this way. Baby steps. Slow and steady won the race.

Yeah. Right. Slow and steady wasn’t in Teruki’s style.

“Right over here,” he said, guiding him in, hand finding its way back to Kageyama’s back, smoothing over the creases on his jacket. “I’ll introduce you to everybody. You’re going to get along with them great!”

This would be the turning point, Teruki decided. He might not have had that warm feelings about these people gathered today, but maybe once Kageyama was there, he could just… kind of… insert warmth into it. Make them feel more like real friendships should.

Everyone was already there. They had been waiting for them to show up. A chosen group of people from different private schools around Seasoning City and from Black Vinegar too. Teruki opened the door to their room and ushered Kageyama in.

For a moment there was silence. All eyes were on them, turning between Kageyama and Teruki, trying to gauge the situation, to see how they were supposed to react to this plain looking newcomer.

Teruki could already see a few of them frowning and knew who to cut from his circle in the future.

“Everybody, this is Kageyama. He is my good friend, and he’ll be joining us today.”

“Mob! You made it!”

Takane was already on her feet and coming closer. Teruki’s gut reaction was to yank Kageyama away from her, to insert himself between them, because Kageyama’s ears had already turned red and shoulders started to rise. He had to actively force the thoughts out of his head.

“It’s been a while, huh?” Takane said and smiled in a way she hadn’t smiled to Teruki before. “How have you been?”

“Um. Uh.” Kageyama was trembling under Teruki’s hand. “Good. I’ve been. Good. Um. How. How have you been?”

Takane placed her hand on his arm and pulled him to sit with her and a few of her friends, pulled him right out of Teruki’s hold like he wasn’t there at all and Kageyama did not look back. Teruki wanted to follow after them, to sit down right there, between Kageyama and Takane. To be a barrier between them, to throw his arm around Kageyama to show everyone in the room how things were going to play out from now on. How come Takane could call Kageyama “Mob”? Teruki wanted to call him Mob too. But he couldn’t do that and risk alienating him.

Takane was already talking with Kageyama like they were the best of friends and Kageyama actually looked like he was relaxing a little.

Teruki didn’t get it. Why was he not feeling better? This was what he had wanted, right? For Kageyama to feel more at ease around him. He was getting the exact thing that he had wanted and all he felt was a hollow pit at the bottom of his stomach.

He wanted to throw Takane out. Couldn’t she tell she wasn’t welcome here?

“I’m going to start!” one of the guys shouted and Teruki nearly jumped out of his skin. Oh yes. The singing. Yes. Right. The others were starting already. The guy singing got whistles and applauds with his performance that went right over Teruki’s head while he tried not to stare so openly at Takane when she suddenly burst out giggling and Kageyama looked like he’d died and gone to heaven.

This was… this had been a mistake. A grave one.

Teruki sat down as far away from them as he could in the small room.

One of the girls turned to him.

“So,” she said carefully. “Kageyama. Uh. Is he…? You said he was… I mean…” She motioned at him with her hands and Teruki knew exactly what she was getting at and didn’t want to help her reach her conclusion.

“He’s, uh,” one of the boys said. “A little plain, isn’t he?”

He was right there. And Teruki could tell Takane had heard as well, she was looking at them now. Kageyama didn’t look like he was paying attention, though.

“I brought him here,” Teruki said evenly and gave the guy a steady stare. “So any insult against him is an insult against me. Got it?”

He lifted his hands in immediate surrender.

“Of course!”

The singers switched. Teruki was bored out of his mind, resting his head against his fist and sneaking peeks at Kageyama with Takane. Kageyama was being awkward, it was clear that he wasn’t fully enjoying himself, but at least it seemed like being childhood friends with Takane bought him some leeway in the eyes of her ring of friends.

The difference between Kageyama here and Kageyama with his friends from his clubs was as clear as day, though.

And yet, Teruki couldn’t help but dream. That soon it would be his turn to sing and he’d choose something sappy, something romantic. Something terribly sweet, Kageyama would like that surely. And he’d sing it all to Kageyama and suddenly Takane would stop existing and it would be just the two of them in the entire world and –

He pressed his fist against his mouth to stop from screaming, bit into his knuckle and tried to think of anything else but that. This was good. Wasn’t it? This was exactly what he had wanted?

Not even close. He wanted to be the one leaning to speak to Kageyama’s ear. He wanted to be the one who made him blush like that, stutter with his words, made him look away only to end up drawn back a moment later.

It was so unfair.

Why couldn’t he have realized it sooner? Like the moment he’d first seen Kageyama? Why couldn’t he have known back then? Instead he’d managed to dig himself a hole he could not get out of, not even with every last fiber of his charisma strung together. Because Kageyama did not care about those things. He could be as charismatic, as powerful, as talented as he wanted.

Kageyama liked kindness. And in that area, he was lacking.

Just look at this! He’d given Kageyama what he wanted, worked to get him the girl he liked and all he could do was wish horrible things to Takane.

He turned forcibly away from the two of them. Turned in a way he wouldn’t see them in the corner of his eye. Forced himself into the conversation happening next to him, his tone too sharp, the people around him looking at him with worry.

He felt like everyone could tell. That everyone could see just how wretched he was. He wasn’t kind, he wasn’t humble and he wasn’t a good person.

He was nothing Kageyama wanted to see in a person.

The karaoke went horribly. Everyone but him had a good time, it seemed. Not nearly everyone sang, Kageyama and Teruki among the few that didn’t. Some of the girls tried to get Teruki to sing, to pull him up forcibly and Teruki almost used his powers to flick them away. Instead he managed to keep smiling and tell them that he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to strain his throat. That earned him coos and free snacks, but not the attention from the one person he would have liked.

And by the end of it, it didn’t seem like Kageyama had talked to anyone else but Takane and her chosen friends. He might have been more relaxed in Teruki’s presence than he’d been in ages, but that was only because he had probably forgotten Teruki was there at all. At the end of it, his friends started leaving home and they were waving goodbyes outside the karaoke bar and Teruki only had eyes for Takane and Kageyama some ways off.

Teruki walked up to them, pulled his lungs full of air and forced his back straight. He put on his best smile, tried to imagine his eyes as soft and kind as he stepped up to them.

“Didn’t I tell you?” he said and placed a hand on Kageyama’s shoulder. “It was fun, wasn’t it?”

The effect was immediate. Where as Kageyama had been relaxed a moment before, when his words connected, the moment Teruki was touching him, his back was ramrod rigid, his mouth clicked shut and eyes started turning as if he was looking for an escape.

Takane’s stare on them was heavy.

Kageyama opened his mouth. Nothing came out. He closed it, swallowed, looked away, opened it again.

God. He could not have made his discomfort any more apparent if he tried.

Teruki pulled his hand off, hid it in his pocket before Kageyama could see how tight his fist had wound on its way off.

“It was nice of you to invite us,” Takane said cordially. Her smile had lost some of its sincerity and in front of her stare he was suddenly feeling very small. She turned back to Kageyama. “And it was so good to see you again, Mob! We should hang out more often.”

She was holding his cellphone. She handed it back to him and Kageyama held it between his two hands.

“I… We… I’m…” Kageyama said.

“I’ll come meet you some time after your club, okay? See you around!” She turned to nod at Teruki’s way. “Teru.”

Teruki’s smile was stale, as hollow as the rest of him. He lifted his hand to wave her goodbye.

Kageyama shifted next to him, looking somewhere close to the ground.

He’d really ruined any chances he’d ever had before he even realized what he was doing, huh? Kageyama couldn’t even look at him. And it wasn’t from the same reason he couldn’t look at Takane. No, much as Teruki would have liked to believe that, trying to fool himself on this matter would have been a wasted effort.

He… couldn’t. He’d fucked up and he couldn’t fix it. Nothing could. Kageyama didn’t want to see him, didn’t want to have anything to do with him and Teruki couldn’t blame him for it. The only reason he could get him to tolerate his presence was to have Takane as a buffer between them and that just wasn’t something his sanity was going to handle.

God. Those two really got along, didn’t they? Better than Teruki had ever gotten along with a single girlfriend for sure.

He… he got the message now. He hadn’t before and had ended up making things even worse. So maybe the message was what he was going to have to take out of this was that sometimes admitting defeat was the best solution.

It stung so much, though.

Kageyama dragged his shoes around on the asphalt.

Teruki swallowed thickly.

“Hey,” he said quietly. “I… I’m glad you came. With. I’ll, uh. I’ll leave you alone from now on.”

He didn’t dare to meet Kageyama’s stare. He could feel it on his skin and knew better than to lift his eyes to meet it and get lost again. He wasn’t going to be able to hold onto his resolution if he met Kageyama’s eyes, he just knew it.

“Okay.”

And there it was. The final word. He nodded and tried to pretend like his eyes weren’t stinging, like he didn’t need to sniff his nose. He nodded again.

“Okay. Great. I’ll get going then. Home. Um. Have a good – No. Never mind, I’ll just go.”

It would be better this way. He hurried away before he could either say something incriminating or – worse yet, Kageyama would say something that killed him where he stood. It was better this way. He should have left Kageyama alone from the start but he hadn’t and he’d ended up doing more harm than good.

Somehow he managed to make his way home without getting hit by a truck. He sat on his bed with his hands on his face and tried to pretend like he wasn’t crying.

God damn it. He rubbed his hand over the stubble on top of his head. What had he been thinking? That he could fix this somehow? Yeah, right. Because things like this would be so easy to fix. Pretend like nothing had happened? As if Kageyama was going to take that.

He took no shit from anybody. And he was right, Teruki was just a commoner, just a normal guy and he’d get no special treatment.

God. He’d really fucked this up, huh?

He dragged his hands down from his head, across his face and pulled at his cheeks.

It was time to learn from his mistakes. Time to take no for an answer. Kageyama didn’t have to say it this time, he’d gotten the message.

He was going to leave him alone from now on.

Chapter Text

Life was great. Absolutely splendid. Nothing at all was wrong in the life of Hanazawa Teruki.

He was, after all, a star student, excelling in everything he did. He was a valuable member of his soccer team, even though he hadn’t been scoring goals as incredible as he had before. He was popular and charismatic, people flocked to him naturally, looking to spend more time with someone as pleasant and charming as him.

Really. Things could not. Have been going. Better. Than this.

He’d really picked up his life. It wasn’t perfect. No, by no means was anything ever perfect, Teruki was just a human, after all. But he was doing his best. And all things considered he thought he was doing better than he could have. Better than some, surely.

He wasn’t lonely per se. He had lots of friends. As it turned out, listening to what they were saying – actually listening, instead of ridiculing them in his head – was an easy way to care more about what they were like. He wasn’t lonely.

Teruki just sometimes… thought about how things could have been in an ideal world.

But dwelling on things like that was pointless. He could only live in the moment, plan for the future, not spend days dreaming of could-have-beens and impossibilities.

And it got easier with time. It did. He still saw Kageyama around, how could he not? Mostly he stayed out of his way, though. As far away as he could, choosing his spots to spend breaks carefully, avoiding certain club areas to the best of his ability. It was impossible to avoid him completely, though. Sometimes he would nod his head towards Kageyama before math. Most of the time Kageyama did not notice or actively looked elsewhere. On some few precious times he gave a stiff nod back and Teruki could not think of anything else for the rest of the class, doodling on the side of his notebook instead of taking notes.

Nothing at all was wrong. He got used to the weird weight of his wig. He had to admit, even though the reason behind it was a little odd, he actually liked it. It was flashy. It got people to notice. Some of his teachers had snide things to say. They spoke of the dress code, hinted at it when in his presence as if they were being subtle. But Teruki was a star student, one of the best. He studied hard and it showed, so he was allowed some eccentricities.

He would have been… complacent to continue living this way. It wasn’t exactly what he wanted and learning that sometimes you did not get everything you wanted was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was tolerable. He was going to survive. He had almost everything he could wish for and could not complain.

He would have been happy to just keep doing this.

But life just didn’t work that way.

Karmic justice, he would come to later call it.

Ever since that day that was not to be spoken of again, the rest of the Seasoning City’s middle school gangs had been on the move. The more time that passed, the more outrageous their stories became. That this alleged White T Poison was so strong and so power hungry that he was going to take out every single gang in the city and do away with them like he’d done with the Salt Mid and Black Vinegar gangs. It was ridiculous, really. Yes, Kageyama was strong. The strongest there was, no doubt. But power hungry? Teruki thought not. He did not need to be, not in his position.

The others did not know this, though. They only had the rumors that they themselves were feeding to go off of. Nonsense, all of it and Teruki would have been more than happy to just avoid it all, sidestep the whole business.

It wasn’t his problem anymore.

Edano would not let him, though.

It seemed like even now he was having a hard time understanding that their gang was gone and that it had been Teruki who had dismantled it, not some legendary White T Poison whoever.

“I think they’ve decided that he goes here,” Edano said.

He had sought Teruki out from the hallway, caring little about either of their reputations and Teruki was having a hard time being as gracious as he’d promised himself he would be about things like these. Teruki tried to walk away from him, but Edano just followed after him like they were having a walk-and-talk.

“The gang is over,” Teruki bit out.

“I know,” Edano said. “But the other schools don’t. Everyone’s talking about White T Poison and they’ve decided that they’re going to come looking for him.”

Ridiculous. “They still believe in that drivel?”

Edano shifted weight. “I just thought you’d want to know. Since, you know. They’ll probably find out it was Kageyama sooner or later.”

Teruki stopped and turned to look at him. Edano backed away a few steps.

“Kageyama isn’t interested in any of that,” he said.

“Exactly. So. Maybe. You want to make sure they won’t reach him. With. You know. Your gang there between him and them.”

Teruki stared at him. Edano swallowed with struggle, but didn’t turn away.

“You’re that desperate, huh?” Teruki asked. He turned away. “Do what you want.”

“Yeah? And you’ll still be our Shadow Leader?”

He just asked that in the open hallway? Where everyone could hear them.

Well. Teruki being the Shadow Leader had always been the worst kept secret in school.

He turned back to Edano, teeth bared.

“Do what you want,” he repeated. “Keep me out of it.”

Edano backed away with his hands up, but his worry morphed into excitement.

“Okay! I’ll do that, boss. I’ll do that!”

A God damned imbecile. Teruki dusted off his jacket. Things like that were beneath him, he no longer would take part in petty squabbles like that. The old Teruki would have, naturally, but the new and improved Teruki was living his best life as his best self and had no time for any of this.

He turned around and almost ran head first into Kageyama Ritsu.

For one moment his heart leapt to his throat. The two Kageyamas did have a similar look to them. The shared blood was obvious. But it didn’t take more than a quick glance to see that this was the pricklier, less likable Kageyama.

Still more popular than the older Kageyama. Inexplicable.

Teruki offered him an inane smile.

“Oh,” he said. “Sorry. Didn’t see you there.”

Here, in front of all these people, Ritsu’s stare wasn’t as openly hostile as it had been at the gates, but Teruki could tell it wouldn’t take a lot of work to pull it out.

Just a few words. Maybe the mention of his brother.

But he was better than that. He shot a smirk at him and walked past him. He could feel his stare at the back of his neck and gave him no satisfaction in turning back to look at him.

He didn’t think much of it then. That should have been the end of it.

People were talking. Teruki noticed it right away when he got to school. There was a loud buzz going around, people on their phones, talking behind their hands. Some new rumor must have surfaced. Teruki cared very little about it. Ever since he’d purged most of his social media, he’d been trying to cut down his use of it. Temporarily, of course, just so the temptation of starting feuds wouldn’t get the better of him before he considered himself reformed enough. It was a pain, but it had gotten easier. The downside was that he couldn’t stay as on top of the rumors as before, but again, that would have been a problem for the past-Teruki. The new Teruki didn’t care about any of that.

He walked to his locker. The whispers followed after him, growing even louder. He opened it.

Oh. It was empty. It had been a while since he’d opened it and not found a single letter.

Well. All the better. He wouldn’t have given the writers the response they were hoping for anyway.

His mind was occupied with something else.

As much as he’d told Edano he wanted no part of the gang trouble, he couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d said.

He was… he was worried. There. He could admit it to himself. He was worried about Kageyama. As brilliant as he could be, a true diamond among lesser gems, Kageyama still wasn’t as quick to see what was going on around him.

If trouble really was looking for him, he deserved to know.

The problem was that Teruki couldn’t just go and tell him about it. Yes, it was completely his fault that Kageyama was in this situation to begin with, so he should have been the one to fix it. He just… couldn’t go talk to Kageyama about it. Because he’d made a promise. He’d promised he would stay away from now on. It was important that someone told him what was going on, but his promise was important as well. Teruki had nothing else he could prove to Kageyama anymore, he had used every last trick he knew. This was his last straw. He was a man of his word, he could show that to Kageyama. Teruki had not betrayed his word. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t bother his peace.

But he had to do something.

Teruki closed his locker and turned. Everyone was... staring at him. Not really a new experience, although he didn’t think he usually got looks like this. He turned his head, met the stares of the closest cluster of people and they looked away.

The whispering had grown quiet.

He was about to ask what was going on, but the bell cut him off before he could. Never mind that. The rumors probably had something to do with him. They often did. But he was above it. He wasn’t going to care, he wasn’t going to give in to the temptation.

No, no. Not when his first class was math.

He’d never loved math as much as he did these days. Really, it was an art form among subjects. Logical poetry. The king among sciences and –

Kageyama.

Teruki’s hand flew up into a wave, but Kageyama turned just as he entered the classroom, so Teruki took the hand and guided it through his hair in a natural manner.

No. He wasn’t going to bother Kageyama about this. Maybe he could go through his brother instead.

If only Kageyama Ritsu wasn’t such a pill, then the two of them could be friends. That way Teruki could easily show the older Kageyama how good of a friend he was.

But, sad as it was to admit it, Teruki had no interest in befriending someone as prickly as Kageyama Ritsu. He was just going to let him know about the other gangs. Ritsu could take the message to Kageyama. Yes. That would be for the best. He would keep his distance and his nose out of other people’s businesses, but still offer his help. That was what good people did, right? They did things just for the sake of being good, not expecting anything in return.

Maybe Ritsu would even have a kind word to say about him to Kageyama.

Well. No. Probably not. But one could always dream.

And Teruki did dream, through most of his math class. He maybe should have started to worry about the amount of time he spent during his classes thinking about Kageyama and not listening to the teacher.

He would worry about that once it became a problem.

Weird looks followed him through out the first half of the day. Teruki didn’t think about it much, being the center of everybody’s attention was something he was used to and trying to pay less and less attention to. It was a little strange to have his friends disperse every time he thought he saw them in the hallway, though. It wasn’t like he was actively looking for them, he was trying to find Kageyama Ritsu, but he felt like he could find no one.

By the lunchtime, it was starting to get a little annoying.

He saw his usual group of friends sitting together in the cafeteria. Barely even registering their presence, he walked to their table and sat down.

The student council would be gathering after school, so if he didn’t find Ritsu during the day, he could always look him up before that. He would have rather just had this whole thing dealt with already. The longer they waited, the more likely trouble was to come looking for Kageyama. He struggled with his studies enough as it was. He didn’t need any of this crap.

Teruki almost got lost to the daydream of becoming Kageyama’s tutor when he realized that the company he was keeping had grown silent around him.

He lifted his head slowly to look around him. He was sure he’d sat down next to people, but now there was a clear ring of empty space around him. The others had pulled their seats away from him for some reason.

Teruki looked at his friends. Some looked away right before their eyes could meet, others did look back, but through narrowed eyes, mouths set in scowls.

A sinking feeling appeared in his stomach.

“Okay,” Teruki said slowly. “There’s clearly something you guys aren’t telling me. What’s going on?” He tried to make it sound light, like he was expecting a prank, but was gracious enough to pretend to play along.

Now most of them had found something more interesting to look at around the cafeteria.

The feeling got worse, tendrils of cold spreading through his gut. What was happening?

“Come on, guys.” He forced laughter into his words, made it sound natural even though his insides were twisting. “Is this a joke?”

“Well, if it’s a joke, I’m not laughing,” one of the girls, Aiko said.

Teruki turned to her. He let his eyes wander over the cafeteria before locking them with hers and he could see that it wasn’t just their table that was acting weird. Most of the people around them were talking in hushed tones, looking his way and then away again.

The looks they were giving him weren’t at all like they’d been before.

Teruki held on to his carefree mask with a steely grip.

“I don’t get it,” he said. “Is someone going to explain this to me or am I –?”

“Is it true?” Aiko asked. “That post? Is it true?”

That post?

“What post?”

“The post everybody’s talking about,” a boy, Nakamura said.

The others, they were listening now. Teruki could see them from the corner of his eye when he pretended to be only looking at his friends. They were all listening, not even bothering to pretend like they weren’t.

“Sorry, sorry,” Teruki said, lifting his hands and laughing. “I haven’t been on twitter or instagram for a while now. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been taking a break from –“

“It’s everywhere, man,” he said. “Don’t act like you haven’t seen it.”

Well. These people just cutting him off left and right today. Teruki opened his mouth, but Aiko’s friend leaned to her and whispered loud enough for the whole table to hear.

“I mean, it makes sense,” she said. “Have you ever seen him hold a relationship for longer than a few weeks at a time?”

This was getting ridiculous and Teruki wasn’t laughing. Someone better start telling him what was going on or heads would end on the chopping block.

“It’s just that…” a more quiet girl, Mio, said. “Someone… someone said that one of your exes broke off with you because you got violent.”

Teruki turned to her and she shrunk back.

“It’s… it’s not true, is it?” she asked.

“It better not be,” Aiko said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” someone else said under his breath.

What? What was this nonsense? This was what these people were talking about? Ridiculous! Anyone could have told that it wasn’t true. Teruki was actually a little offended that his friends would even entertain the idea. It wasn’t like this was the first time someone had tried to spread bad rumors about him.

He scoffed and waved his hand. “Seriously?” he said. “That’s what this is? You should know me better than that. It’s a lie. Someone wants to make a bigger name for themself. That’s pretty petty.” He looked around at the people in his table. “You guys didn’t really believe that crap, did you?”

Ah, but they had. He could tell. His smile gained some unintentional edge to it.

“Honestly, guys – “ he started.

“So it’s not true that you secretly hit your girlfriends?” Aiko asked.

“Of course not!”

“And it’s not true that you’re in a gang?”

Teruki’s smile dropped a little.

“Really, now,” he said. “You should know better than to spread false rumors about – “

“Aren’t you one to talk,” Mio spoke up. “Wasn’t it you who started those awful rumors about that one club?”

“It was him, wasn’t he?” Nakamura said. “Or at least he was spreading it.”

“Come on,” Teruki said. “Be reasonable. Everyone was talking about it at that time, I was just the one who brought it up. Besides, that thing got cleared up ages ago. If you recall, I was the one who helped do that too.”

They were muttering. He could hear them, they meant their words to be heard. Static of whispers going around the cafeteria, circling them, circling him. Teruki felt every pair of eyes in the room on him and smiled like he’d already won the conversation.

“So you’re saying you weren’t the leader of the gang?”

Well. He couldn’t really deny it. Pretty much everyone knew that he had something to do with the Black Vinegar gang. Saying he didn’t would have been dishonest.

He shrugged.

Wrong answer, apparently. He could feel the mood shifting, the expressions around him closing off.

“Come on,” he said. “Someone had to take control of them. The teachers were hardly doing anything about it, so it’s a good thing somebody calmed things down. I’m not saying I did, but you can’t tell me things couldn’t have gone a lot more crazy without intervention.”

“I can’t believe it,” he hear someone murmur. “So it was true?”

“I hear he beat up those Body Improvement club guys.”

“No way! That Shimura guy is in my history class and he’s like the sweetest guy ever.”

The conversation was getting out of hand, the murmurs growing louder around them. He needed to change tactics. This really was just too bothersome. He couldn’t believe his friends had decided that this was the moment they’d choose to have a problem with this.

He turned his smile down, brought a more apologetic tone to it and looked at the table.

“I don’t know that to say, guys. I mean, you know me. This thing about my ex? That’s not really something I’d do, right? Besides, people can change. I’ve recently been thinking about my image, actually, and ¬–”

“I mean, it’d make sense. Did you see the bruises on that one guy he was harassing before? Around his neck? They dated too, didn’t they?”

Blood ran cold in Teruki’s veins and for a moment his hold on his mask slipped. He jumped to his feet, making the others at his table flinch back.

“I don’t – I didn’t – How dare you?” he spat and hit his palm against the table. “I would never – “

But he had, hadn’t he? He had put his hands around Kageyama’s neck and choked him, even though… even though his feelings were… not neutral towards him.

That didn’t make the rumors true, though. The accusations.

“No wonder none of his girlfriends stayed.”

“Who said that?” Teruki barked, turning around. “No, really. Who said that? It’s not true. It’s not! You know me! I would never do something like that!”

But he had. He had. Oh God. Kageyama’s eyes on him the day after the incident. Teruki was slipping. He couldn’t hold onto his cool. That one comment. That one stupid comment about Kageyama.

He needed to reel himself in. Teruki was making himself look guilty in their eyes. If he couldn’t regain his composure, he couldn’t fix this.

Stupid. This was so stupid! How dared these people. Now? After he had made changes, after he had started pulling his life together, after he had actually started to pay attention to them, now they came to him with these half-truths and… and…

“See? See? He can’t even deny it.”

He was! He was denying it, but they weren’t listening to him!

“God, I can’t believe I went to karaoke with them and I couldn’t see it. Did you see how uncomfortable that guy was?”

“No wonder Takane pulled him aside like that.”

“God, he dated Takane for just, like, days. She must have seen right through him.”

“Shut up!” Teruki shouted. “Shut. Up. None of you know what you’re talking about! You haven’t the faintest idea, so shut up! ”

A mistake. A lapse in judgment. Their eyes went from suspicious to sharp and every last one of them had decided that he was guilty as charged. He wasn’t fixing things, he was making them worse.

It had been that one comment. It still burned, his mouth tasted like stomach acid and he needed to get out. He couldn’t take back what he’d said and his true colors were showing through, but he couldn’t leave. He couldn’t stay here listening to these people talk about him like they knew him, but he couldn’t walk out either, because that would have made him look even guiltier in their eyes. “Why didn’t you stay and explain yourself,” they would say, or then: “Why didn’t you just shut up? You just made the situation worse.” There was nothing he could do, they had already decided that Teruki was what they said he was.

Teruki knew how these things worked. He’d used tactics like this against other people many times over.

Nothing he could say was going to convince them.

He stood there, frozen in front of everyone like on a stage, and the others, they were just talking and talking and talking.

It was pure instinct. He panicked. He’d never done that before, had always had perfect control of his powers, but in that moment, it slipped. Just like his mask, it fell and his powers surged. The room rocked, windows above head cracked.

An earthquake, someone yelled. There was screaming and shouting and running and people were covering their heads, hiding under tables, food spilling. The cafeteria was in chaos and during the commotion Teruki slipped out and tried to get as far away as possible.

He pulled his phone out and started scouring his social media.

It was… worse than he’d thought.

While he’d been busy growing as a person and learning the new guidelines of his more humble life, some anonymous source had “leaked” information about some supposed ex-girlfriend of his that had come forward with accusations about violence. Completely unfounded. Teruki was a lot of things, he knew, but not this. There had been no mentions of a name, no specific girls coming forward, but looking through how the rumor mills had started to churn out their own facts, names of his real exes had been brought into it.

Teruki had never, never been that awful to any of his girlfriends. Yes, he’d been dismissive. He’d dated for the status, hadn’t really had strong feelings towards any of them, and had never thought of them as more than temporary. No, he hadn’t been the best boyfriend, he could admit that now, but these things people were saying, they were completely baseless!

He needed answers. He needed someone who knew about this and could tell him how this whole mess had started.

Teruki needed to find Mezato before his next class started.

He hurried through the corridors. Now that he was paying attention, he could see how people were looking at him, how different their reactions to him were compared to how it usually was. Not one of them lifted their hand in greeting, no one had any smiles to offer him. Teruki saw how the looks in their eyes soured when he got close, how they turned and how their mouths twisted.

He needed to fix this right now.

He just… didn’t know how.

Teruki knew how to start rumors. He’d never considered needing to stop them. They always just… ran their course, fizzled out at some point.

He spotted Mezato near the closed off cafeteria, writing down furiously into her notebook.

He picked up his pace.

“Explain to me,” he started sharply and waved his phone with the posts in it, “what this is.”

Mezato turned to look at him and grimaced when she recognized him.

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “It’s really bad.”

“Did you start these rumors?” he asked. He couldn’t think of anyone else better suited for running the rumor mills than her.

“Me?” Mezato squawked. She snapped her notebook shut and waved it at Teruki’s direction. “Why would I ever do something like that? Secrets have no value once everyone thinks they’re true.” She clicked her tongue. “No, this wasn’t on me.”

“Then who?”

His head felt too light, his whole body buzzing. He could hardly believe this. How could these people, his friends, his schoolmates, do something like this to him?

“Honestly? I don’t know. I know they came from high up. From someone with real clout. Wouldn’t have spread this fast if it didn’t.” She dug out her phone and started tapping on it. “You’re lucky your online activity has been so sparse lately. I wouldn’t go to twitter any time soon.”

“Too late,” he croaked.

How was this possible? He’d been at the top of the school food chain!

“Tell me,” Teruki said. “The whole thing. What are they saying? What kind of lies are they spewing?”

“So you’re saying they’re lies?” Mezato asked. “All of them?”

“Yes! No. I don’t know! I don’t know the whole story!”

She lifted a hand and tapped her chin.

“Well, there’s a few things going around,” Mezato said. She was trying to hide it, but Teruki could hear the tremor of excitement from her voice when she spoke. “The biggest one you probably heard already, about some ex of yours spilling the beans about how awful dating you was. But the moment that got traction, people started digging and it’s really crazy now.” There was a sparkle in Mezato’s eyes. “They’re saying you were the secret leader behind Black Vinegar gang all along. That you beat up people you think are beneath you. That you spread false rumors about people that get in your way.”

Teruki covered his face and dragged his hands over his face.

“Who did this?” he groaned.

“So you’re saying they’re not true?”

“No, I’m not saying that – “ he started.

“Because if there’s even a sliver of truth there,” she cut in, “you can bet people have been waiting for a moment like this. It’s like dethroning a king. Makes you feel powerful when you realize you’ve got the ability to kick down someone so far above you.” She pointed her phone at Teruki. “And it seems quite a lot of people have beef with you.”

“What are you talking about?” he said. “Everyone loves me!”

“Mmh,” Mezato said. “Or they were just scared of you. Or they liked the social status being in your good graces brought. But the moment that sours, people are going to be competing on who’s the first one to denounce you.”

This was a nightmare.

“But I’m not like that anymore!” he whined, throwing his hands down.

Mezato shook her head. “Doesn’t matter to them.” A sharp smile started pulling at her lips. “Unless you want to give me an exclusive on your side of the story.”

Teruki stared at her.

“You just want your share of the limelight from this catastrophe, don’t you?” he said.

“Yes,” she said truthfully. “But is that really so bad? You’d get your truth out there.”

Teruki couldn’t believe this. As if things hadn’t been bad enough as it had been already. He’d already had to come to terms with the fact that he’d never get Kageyama’s admiration, that he’d pretty much fucked up any chances he ever had with him. As if that hadn’t been hard enough. Now this?

Like sharks smelling blood, these people had started circling around him the moment he’d been wounded. Who had started it? Where had the rumors come from? He wanted to know. He needed to know, so he could ask the questions from the person themself.

Could they even be called false rumors, if they held the truth?

Didn’t matter. Not really. True or not, the word had gotten out and what mattered was that everyone else thought they were telling the truth and even if they didn’t, that didn’t stop them from spreading the tales with malicious intent.

Mezato sighed and shook her head. “Fine,” she said. “If you don’t want to do that, then the only advice I have for you is to wait it out. Something new and bigger will come out. They’ll get bored and start talking about something else.” She looked him up and down. “Although you are big news, Hanazawa. It might take a while.”

He couldn’t just sit by and do nothing! These people needed to know that he wasn’t like that, that the version they were spreading around was a false description of what he’d used to be, not what he was today. He was changing. He was working very hard on becoming a better person and these people needed to know that!

His lips pulled into a sneer.

He’d rather die than let another vulture to feed on his dying social status, though.

Proof. That’s what Teruki needed. Someone to talk on his behalf, someone who actually knew what being in a relationship with him was like.

Teruki marched away, fists held tight at his sides. His next class was about to start. Like he actually had time to worry about education right now, much more important things were happening around him! But he couldn’t afford to skip class and add more fuel to the fire. It was bright enough as was, thank you very much!

He spent his class staring at his notebook. He was listening with only one ear, writing mechanically everything the teacher said, while his thoughts went round and round in his head.

Haruka, he thought. His last ex before all this madness with Kageyama had started. She wouldn’t still hold a grudge against him, would she? Their breakup had been quick and painless, she’d cried a little, but that was how it usually went. He needed to talk to her. And the others as well. As soon as the class would be over. Right away.

If only this damn class hadn’t stretched into eternity around him! Teruki swore he just checked the clock and it hadn’t budged one bit during the last ten minutes.

When the bell tolled, he was the first one out. He scoured the school until he found Haruka with a group of friends.

Her face scrunched up the moment she saw him.

“What do you want?” one of her friends asked, stepping between Teruki and Haruka.

“I need to talk with her,” he said. “Haruka. Haruka, please. You have to tell them it’s all lies!”

She wasn’t even looking at him fully, turning away from him like she was shielding herself and her friends had formed a protective circle around her.

Because… because they thought he was…

Teruki was just making things worse. Everything he did, anything he did, it was just more reasons for them to turn against him.

He turned and walked away without another word. Their whispers followed after him.

Karmic justice.

Teruki stared at his ceiling, unable to close his eyes.

It must have been. A punishment for his wrongdoings. He’d thought he was going to get away with it with just a broken heart? As if. The truth had come out and now he was feeling the full consequences of his actions.

He tried to breathe easy, tried to calm down enough to fall asleep.

But the moment he closed his eyes, it was like he could see the sea of people staring at him and his insides started twisting again.

It was all deserved, he tried to tell himself. He’d brought it on himself.

It didn’t make the anxiety in his gut go down one bit, though. He knew he’d have to go to school tomorrow. And the day after that. Mezato had a point, things like this came and went, soon enough there’d be something more interesting, something fresher to talk about and this would be left on the backburner.

That didn’t make it feel any easier either. Because he was living this now.

If there was one relief in all of this, it was that at least Kageyama didn’t know. He didn’t listen to rumors. He wouldn’t hear about this.

It was a slim comfort. Kageyama had plenty of reasons to hate him already. He knew Teruki had been a gang leader, that he’d gotten those clubs into trouble and that he really wasn’t that great of a guy in general. He knew all of that and disliked him because of it. What he wouldn’t do was to add the things going around in the school to the pile.

He judged Teruki on his own merit.

This must have been karmic punishment. Yes. It must have been. He had been coasting on his powers for such a long time, acting as if he was beyond consequences, as if he was the center of the universe.

This was just the universe’s way of showing that his bad deeds wouldn’t go unpunished forever.

Teruki squeezed hit eyes shut, his whole body coiled tight.

First Kageyama, now this. He deserved this. He couldn’t really deny that and keep telling himself he was a better person now. He couldn’t be both.

Maybe the best thing Teruki really could do was to sit there and take it.

Yes. Teruki was going to take any form of punishment the world offered him, grit his teeth and bear it. Turn the other cheek. In the end, he was sure to come out through as a better person for it.

There had to be a reason for all of this, surely.

Yes. He closed his eyes and tried not to think about the churning feeling in his gut every time his mind wandered to the fact that tomorrow he would have to go back to school and nothing would have changed.

It was going to be fine.

It was almost like the talks had gotten worse over night. Teruki didn’t dare to check his apps to see if that really was the case. They were whispering about the impromptu mass deletion of his media right before he broke off with Takane. They were whispering about the short-lived turf war between the remnants of Salt Mid’s delinquents and the Black Vinegar gang. About his wig. They were connecting dots where Teruki had previously seen nothing, gleefully spreading more and more outrageous lies mixed with seeds of truth big enough to make it all seem believable.

No one would talk to him. They wouldn’t even look at him, as if being seen in his presence was going to make his bad influence spread onto them as well.

Teruki gave a few fleeting attempts at starting a conversation with the people he would have called his friends. He gave up pretty quick, though. As it turned out, he wasn’t the only one that had been distant in their relationships. Those things worked both ways. None of these people had really known about his personal life, about his personality, so they were easy to remove themselves from his social circle.

It was all part of the karmic punishment. And Teruki carried it with pride.

Of course they would whisper behind his back. Of course they would tear him down. He deserved nothing less!

There were still things he needed to do. Things a good person such as himself ought to do despite his current lowering in status. He held onto that thought with a grip so tight it left him bloodless. He was doing the right thing. He was a good person.

He still needed to warn Kageyama about the other gangs.

Teruki sought out Kageyama Ritsu. He singled him out from a group of student council members in the middle of a heated conversation. It appeared that Black Vinegar had finally decided to recognize the council members from Salt Mid, but the transition was not going smooth. One greasy looking guy in particular was chewing the current council president out in front of everyone.

Teruki didn’t really care about that.

He walked up to Ritsu.

“Kageyama,” he said.

Ritsu looked like he nearly jumped out of his skin seeing him there. He turned to Teruki with his eyes large, mouth in a thin line and hands up as if he was preparing for a fight.

Really. Could he like, not, right now? The other student council members were focusing on them instead of their own problems now. The only one smiling was the greasy guy.

Teruki sighed. “I’m not going to take much of your time,” he said, sounding subdued even in his own ears. Talking to Kageyama Ritsu was like accepting a consolation prize. He just didn’t quite cut it. “I just wanted to talk about your brother.”

Ritsu’s eyes narrowed and his fingers curled into fists. He looked to the student council members, then to him. Teruki could almost see his thoughts running behind his eyes. Ritsu reached to grab his upper arm, walking him away from the council.

Well. He’d not expected that. Teruki fought his urge to rip his arm free. Kageyama Ritsu wasn’t someone he wanted manhandling him.

“Alright,” Ritsu spat out under his breath. “If you want to talk to me, then meet me after –“

Alright. Enough. Teruki stopped and refused to let him pull any further.

“This isn’t really going to take much time,” he said and yanked free. He brushed the creases off his uniform jacket. “I’ll keep it short. You’ve probably heard the rumors already. I used to be a part of the gang here. Because of that, I’m privy to some information on the other middle school gangs around the city.”

Ritsu eyed him with distrust. Teruki straightened his tie and tried not to think about how similar eyes these two Kageyamas had.

“Some old members have let me know that other gangs are looking for the person who… ripped the school to pieces. And that just so happens to be your brother.”

Ritsu took half a step towards him, fist lifting like he wanted to start a fight here, in front of everybody. Teruki just lifted his hands in surrender and stepped back.

“It’s my fault, I am aware,” he said, swallowing down the scratchy feeling in his throat. “They don’t know it’s Kageyama just yet, but they’ll find out sooner or later and they’re looking for a fight. I thought you’d want to know.”

For a moment Ritsu just stood there, half a step away from trying to throw a punch it looked like. Slowly, jaggedly he pulled back, a scowl etched deep onto his face. Suspicion didn’t leave his eyes.

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked.

To be honest or not? Teruki sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Honesty could do him some good. Saying that he didn’t want Kageyama to get into trouble, that he wanted to make amends, might have bought him some mercy in Kageyama Ritsu’s eyes.

But he didn’t want that. He didn’t deserve to be forgiven, so he was not going to ask for it.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “Just… do what you must.”

Ritsu’s shoulders went down a notch, his brows lifted from their scowl, if only a little. There was a weird taste in the air, like electricity, and Teruki hadn’t even realized it was there until he felt it receding. Ritsu nodded his head stiffly and turned on his feet, walking back to his friends.

Good.

He was done. That would probably be the last interaction he’d have with a Kageyama or a friend of theirs. He was glad it was at least a somewhat good one. He was a good person. Well. If not good, then at least better than he was before. He was trying and that must count for something.

What he wouldn’t have given for even the smallest amount of recognition, though. He didn’t really care about what these others thought, but if Kageyama just –

But no. That wasn’t really true, was it? He’d thought he didn’t care, when they’d all been on his side. But now that they were against him, Teruki found himself caring immensely. He had never even considered how heavy their stares could be, when they weren’t filled with admiration or fright.

Even Kageyama’s uncaring look didn’t carry this much of a punch.

It would have all been worth it if he’d had Kageyama here. He wouldn’t care about these rumors. He would see right through them for what they were. Or if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have cared anyway, because he had been able to see so clearly through Teruki, to recognize him as he was. The opinions of others didn’t matter to him.

They wouldn’t matter to him either. He was going to get through this.

He took it one day at a time. He would have been lying if he said it wasn’t hard. It was… an experience. But if nothing else, Teruki was pretty sure he carried his new status with pride, drinking in the looks he was getting, letting them sink in and saturate everything around him.

As far as he was concerned, he carried his shame like a badge of honor, showing everyone around him that he was taking his redemption seriously.

And it got a little easier. It did. He avoided company during lunch breaks, took longer routes between classes to avoid the more populated areas and to not be forced to hang around the classrooms before classes.

New habits started to form. Teruki sapped strength from the few times he saw Kageyama around. Seeing him not react any differently to him than he had before was surprisingly relieving.

He was maybe a week into his self-appointed martyrdom when he met up with Takane again. Since he no longer had friends to spend time with after school, he often times ended up near the river, either walking or just sitting and staring at it. Staying at home got stale fast, being alone in the quiet of his home quickly turned from temporary resting time between days to imprisonment in solitude. Outside at least he could pretend he was doing something with someone. He was on his way to meet someone perhaps, or just enjoying the weather like a normal person.

He heard the steps getting closer to his bench before he saw her. The sight of Takane approaching instantly filled his mouth with the taste of acid. He looked away, thinking that she was just going to pass.

“Still moping?” she asked.

Teruki breathed in through his nose and considered whether to put on his mask of social interactions. In the end, he had it on maybe half a way, crooked smile pulling at his lips when he looked back at her. Takane was holding a soda can, head tilted to the side.

“You don’t want to be seen with me,” he said. “Don’t you know? I’m the school pariah.”

Takane sat down next to him and opened the can.

Teruki sighed.

“Don’t you care about the rumors this is going to set in motion?”

“Not really,” she said and took a sip.

Teruki chuckled and shook his head. No wonder Kageyama was so smitten with this girl, she was every good thing Teruki had been plus everything he could never reach. She was the perfect package, wasn’t she? Pretty, kind, smart, popular, athletic and she didn’t give one damn about what others thought of her either. No wonder Kageyama would go heart-eyed every time he saw her.

“Welp,” he said and sat up straighter. “What can I do for you, then? Not much, I suppose. You might have noticed, but my life has gotten a bit more difficult lately and I’m not really in a charitable mood.”

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. Teruki focused on the river ahead.

“Not that it wasn’t all completely earned,” he continued. “I brought this on myself and this is nothing if not karmic punishment for my past actions.”

“You really love playing the martyr, huh?”

Teruki bit his tongue.

“Now, that’s not a very nice thing to say,” he said slowly, measuring his words carefully. “You can’t tell me you don’t think I deserve every bit of trouble coming my way.”

She hummed and leaned back, looking at the sky with her arm over the back of the bench.

“I’m just saying,” she said. “There are better ways you could spend your time.”

She really just came all the way here to rub it all on his face, didn’t she? Teruki’s scowl was ugly.

“Aren’t you just little miss perfect?” he sneered. “So above this all, aren’t you? Well, I have news for you. You’re just as fake as I am.”

“That’s not news to me,” she said. “I didn’t get to decide to be popular, though. It kind of happened to me. You built your own image from ground up.”

“Oh, boo hoo,” Teruki said. “You can’t tell me you aren’t patching your own image, when you decided to accept the confession of the most popular guy in school.”

She just refused to get mad. Or at least pretended she did. It was like screaming at a wall.

“I guess you’re right,” she said. “Can you imagine the rumors that would have set out? Salt Middle idol refuses Black Vinegar’s most popular boy. She must be so full of herself. Who does she think she is?” She took a sip and licked her lips. “But dating you meant that for a moment, other boys didn’t bother me. I mean, there were some girls who thought they could shove their noses into my business because of it, but nothing is ever that easy, is it? When everyone’s watching your every move.”

He hadn’t really thought about it before. Now, though… Yeah, maybe it wasn’t.

Wind ruffled their hair. It was a nice day out. Teruki bet a lot of people passing them by thought they were out on a date.

“My thought was that now that I’ve dated and gotten dumped by the biggest name in Black Vinegar, I could coast on saying my heart was broken and I couldn’t possibly date anyone else for a while. I thought that would buy me a few months at least. You getting in trouble kind of changed that. Some people just don’t get a clue. You know, I can’t fit my shoes into my locker on the worst days, they fill it so tight with their letters.”

“Aren’t you encouraging that?” Teruki said.

“Not on purpose.” Takane grimaced and even that expression looked pretty on her face, her nose scrunching up and brows dipping down in a perfect angle. “But no matter what I do, someone takes it the wrong way. I just want to live my life.”

Teruki sneered. This was so unfair.

“So you just string guys like Kageyama along, huh?” he said. “Let him think that he has some kind of a chance, even though he never will.”

“That’s not fair,” she said. “We’re friends.”

“He loves you,” Teruki spat out.

“No he doesn’t.”

Teruki bit his teeth together and turned to her. “He’s head over heels for you. You know that he is. He likes you so much it’s… it’s disgusting.”

Takane was as unflinching and uncaring as a brick wall when she stared at him.

“He doesn’t love me,” she said slowly like she was explaining it to a toddler. “None of the people leaving notes in my locker do. They all have a built in image in their head about me. That’s the one they like.” She turned back to face the river and took a long sip. “Even Kageyama.”

It sunk down into Teruki’s gut slowly. What was he getting mad at Takane for? None of this was her fault. It wasn’t her fault that Kageyama preferred her over Teruki or that everybody loved her. It wasn’t really Kageyama’s fault either.

Teruki was just still having a bit of a hard time sometimes remembering that he was at a fault here.

He let his shoulders drop and breathed out a sigh he’d been holding in, burying his face into his hands.

“He is nice, though,” Takane said. “Kageyama. Kind. Simple. But I like him.”

Teruki looked at her from between his fingers.

“So you’re going to… What? Ask him out?”

God. Wouldn’t that be the best?

Takane shook her head. “I like him,” she repeated. “It doesn’t have to be romantic.”

It didn’t? Teruki turned to look ahead.

He supposed the problem was with him. He couldn’t see Kageyama in any other light.

“Does he…?” His voice broke. He shouldn’t say anything. He should just shut up and let it be. But he was a glutton for punishment and Takane was already looking at him with a question. Teruki cleared his throat. “You spend time together, right? Does he talk about me? Ever?”

He could feel her eyes on him, but didn’t want to look up. He knew he’d see nothing he liked in them anyway.

“Not really,” Takane said. “It hasn’t come up.”

Teruki wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

“Did you ever apologize?”

Teruki thought about the school, high up in the air. About his hands around Kageyama’s throat. About the things that had happened before that, the havoc he’d wreaked.

He stared across the river.

“I can’t,” he said.

Takane hummed in question.

“Not after everything.”

“He’d probably forgive you.”

“I know. That’s the problem.”

“Ah. I see.”

Because he would, wouldn’t he? Kageyama, who after Teruki had strangled him into unconsciousness, after he’d harassed him for weeks, after he’d gotten the people around him in trouble, had been the one to apologize to him, as if it had somehow been his fault. Kageyama, who Teruki had brought to the very brink of an emotional meltdown before he’d fight back, who had let Teruki throw him around like it meant nothing. He would take Teruki’s apology, accept it and move on.

Because Teruki didn’t want to acknowledge it. What he had done and what it had caused. Saying it out loud was going to make it real, he thought.

Because too much time had passed already. He’d had many chances to make it better and he hadn’t. Even after Teruki had decided he would change, he still hadn’t been able to do the one thing he should have.

Words meant so little. That was what he’d thought. So it wouldn’t mean anything if he said sorry.

But then again, he didn’t want to hear Kageyama say that he forgave him either.

“So martyrdom it is for you, then,” Takane said.

Teruki sighed. “Please don’t say that.”

“You did blunder pretty bad.”

“Yeah.”

“What are you going to do now? Just leave him be.”

“Mmh.”

“That might be for the best.”

“Yeah.”

He heard how her foot tapped against the ground, a steady, speeding rhythm. Looking at her from the corner of his eye, Teruki could see her arms crossed, mouth twisted. He could tell Takane had been expecting something else, but he just… he couldn’t.

Takane huffed.

“Look,” she said, exasperated. “This is sad. You are sad. You need to pull yourself together.”

“No.” Teruki shook his head. “I need to take my punishment the way it comes.”

“Or,” she pressed, “you could work to make things right instead of wallowing in your self pity.”

“I tried,” he groaned and buried his face into his hands. “Trust me, I did. I did everything I thought he’d like, but I can’t… I can’t erase what I did.”

“I wasn’t talking about that,” Takane said. “Mob is going to need time. So do you. What you should do is try to take care of yourself first. Get your life back together.”

“Is that what you came to bother me for?” Teruki asked. “To be my personal coach?”

“Mob is a very laid back person,” Takane said. “You’re right, he’d probably forgive you, if you asked. What you need to do, is forgive yourself and do something about it. You’re going to start molding if you keep moping around here.”

Teruki sighed. She just didn’t understand, did she? Had anything bad ever happened to her in her life? Her perfect little life where everyone loved the image they had of her in their heads? Probably not. Only that way could she sound so holier-than-thou.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I just –“

“You’re not helping anyone with this. And it’s getting on my nerves. Get your shit together.” Takane set the can on the bench and moved so she was in his line of sight. “You can’t apologize to Mob? Fine. Go apologize to his club leader.” She pointed off to somewhere. “Go apologize to that girl who runs the Telepathy club. I heard what you did and I saw what you did to try to fix it, but now it’s time for you to own up to it. Got it? Start by being honest with yourself, then with others.”

She made it sound so easy, like Teruki was just going to walk up to the people he’d been screwing over and say he was sorry. He could feel it in his gut when he even thought about the idea. He couldn’t talk to them, he couldn’t even show his face to them after what he did. Teruki had seen how they looked at him.

If Teruki walked up to them with an apology, they’d laugh him out.

None of them were going to take him seriously.

A humorless smile spread over his face.

All part of the punishment, right?

He could take a little more embarrassment.

“Fine,” he said. “You’re right. Let them be the judges, they know what happened. Most of it anyway. They know better than any of the others.”

Takane twisted her lips, clearly displeased with his response, but said nothing. She rose up and straightened her skirt, dusting off imaginary dirt. She grabbed the can and tossed it into garbage.

Apologies. Maybe she was right. He had screwed up big time and Kageyama wasn’t the only one who’d suffered because of it. There had been many bystanders who got hurt just because they’d been standing too close to Kageyama. He could do that. Teruki should do that.

Apologies. He should have done that ages ago. Maybe then Kageyama… Ah. But this wasn’t about getting Kageyama’s attention. This was about doing what was right.

He lifted his head, realization dawning on him slow.

“Takane,” he said.

She turned to look at him, lifting a brow.

He pulled his lungs full, sucked air through his teeth, then looked up at her, looked her in the eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “For pulling you into this mess. For using you. I just.” Teruki looked at his hands, tightly clutched on his lap. “I just wanted Kageyama’s attention and I knew I could get it through you. In… in both good and bad.”

Takane seemed to hesitate a moment, then turned back to him fully, a hand on her hip. She gnawed on her lip, looking at the river rather than Teruki. When she looked back, Teruki knew he had her full attention and it made him feel like he was naked under her gaze.

“I’m glad you said that,” she said slowly. “But I don’t feel like I can forgive you just yet. You used me to hurt someone I care about. When you apologize to Mob, you can count yourself forgiven.”

Fair. Teruki nodded. He could live with that.

He sought out the Telepathy club first, because he felt like with them he was less likely to leave the conversation with a black eye. Or… at least an attempted one. He wasn’t sure if he was going to let someone hit him, even at this point.

Even though he’d worked hard to get them a room of their own, when he went to look for them, he still found the club lounging in the room for Body Improvement club. It was as though they’d never even left, their junk food trash, comic books and candy wrappers all around them on the table but on nothing else in the room.

Teruki stood in the doorway awkwardly, waiting for any of them to lift their heads and acknowledge him. Two of the boys were nose in manga, the leader of the group had a handheld game console and one of the members was just napping with his head on the table like he wasn’t surrounded by grease stains and chips.

He’d tried to time this just right. He’d come in ten minutes after club hours had started so that the Body Improvement club would be out on their run instead of their room. This way there was no danger running into Kageyama accidentally. Much as he would have liked to see him, sweaty and mid-workout, that wasn’t the type of distraction he needed right now.

None of the four had moved to indicate that they’d noticed him opening the door and then proceeding to say nothing for what must have been a minute already. It felt longer. Teruki shifted his feet. Thought about clearing his throat. Just one quick cough to get their attention. One of the boys reached to grab a handful of chips. The leader’s console beeped loudly as she played.

Too awkward.

He didn’t understand the nervous turning in his stomach, the squeezing at his insides. By his old logic, these people were far below him, so he wouldn’t have had any trouble invading their space. But then again, his past self was an useless idiot, who had brought him nothing but trouble and couldn’t be trusted with things like this.

“Are you going to keep standing there the whole day?” the girl asked, beeping from her console never dying down. “How long are you going to make us pretend like we don’t see you there?”

One of the boys lifted his head, then jumped, reaching for the other. The one sleeping didn’t stir.

Teruki swallowed. He could taste bile in his mouth.

Apologies. It should be easy, right? Not much to it. I’m sorry. That’s it. He’d already gotten the words out with Takane and she was a big deal, much higher on the social ladder than these people. So saying the same words now shouldn’t have been a big deal.

But Teruki’s tongue was like lead in his mouth, unwieldy and heavy.

The girl finally lifted her head from her console and looked at Teruki with narrowed eyes. Teruki felt the inexplicable need to look down.

“Well?” she said and put it down, shifting to sip upright. “Out with it. What do you want?”

He couldn’t. He couldn’t. The words weren’t coming out of his mouth, it felt like his jaw had been wired shut and it would never again open.

And Takane thought he could apologize to Kageyama too? As if.

“You okay, dude?” the girl asked. “You look a little…”

He was going to end up alone. Everyone in school hated him, from top to bottom, every single commoner had turned against him and they wanted to bring a guillotine for their king. His vision was getting blurry, his head hazy. He could barely see the girl getting up and walking to him, lurking closer, head held down and looking at him like she was a beast getting closer, a carrion eating bird coming to see if he was still strong enough to fight back.

She said something… She was talking. Teruki felt his arm being pulled and his automatic reaction was to snap and pull free. Her words got sharp, she got him in through the door and closed it behind him.

And then he was sitting. And he had a cold drink in his hand. She was still talking, waving her hands, then forcefully grapping at him again, pressing the drink in his hand against his forehead.

And then for a moment it was quiet.

His senses came back to him slowly, the feeling of chill on his forehead and against his fingers first among them. He pulled the can back a little, saw that it was a cheap knock-off brand cola, sweating in the heat. His sense of sound came to him next, the snoring of one of the guys, beeping of a gaming console. He blinked blearily and looked up.

Somehow he’d ended up sitting by the table with them. The girl was back to playing, the two guys with their comics shot glances his way, but looked away just as soon as their eyes met, pretending to read a while longer before trying to look up again.

Teruki looked back down at the can and thought about what to say. There probably should have been a lot of things, but he couldn’t think of a single thing.

So instead he just said: “Thanks.”

The girl nodded her head.

“Sure.”

“You didn’t need to help me. So.”

“What was I supposed to do? Leave you hyperventilating on our door? When someone could come in any moment now and ask to join our club? No thanks.”

It took Teruki a moment to realize that it was snark. His laughter came a bit too late, but it came from a somewhat sincere place.

“Yeah,” he said and stared at the can in his hands.

They said nothing more after that. The silence was oppressing, he could see the two guys thinking so too, but the girl just kept playing her game.

Teruki swallowed.

“I came… I came here to apologize.”

The girl’s console let out a loud screech and she frowned.

“You killed me,” she said.

The guys looked at each other, then at their leader. The girl put the console on the table.

“Okay, then,” she said. “Let’s hear it.”

Teruki looked between her and her friends.

“...What?”

“You came to apologize. So let’s hear it.”

He looked down. His hands had ended up wound together, fingers pulling at the skin on the back of his hand.

“I am sorry for spreading false rumors about your club and getting you in trouble. I’m sorry for causing you this much grief for nothing.”

The girl was tapping her foot against the floor.

“I’m sorry,” Teruki repeated, staring at the table between them. “I only targeted you because of Kageyama and that isn’t fair. You didn’t deserve any of it.” He thought about it a moment, then added: “Kageyama didn’t deserve it either, but I wasn’t… I wasn’t thinking clearly. Or at all, really.”

“Well. That’s good, then,” she said.

Teruki looked up. She was already reaching for her game again.

“That was a shitty thing to do,” she said and clicked the buttons. “You should have heard how my mom screeched. She thought I was running a cult or something.” She snorted. “She’s still pretty mad, though, but I guess she would have found a reason to be mad about something at some point anyway. So.” She shrugged.

Teruki didn’t know what to say. He shifted. Placed the drink on the table.

“But it’s kind of good to hear you saying it out loud,” she continued. “What I heard was that someone put in a good word for us and now we’re allowed back here. So. And what’s happening to you right now is pretty shitty.”

Teruki grimaced. “All well deserved, I assure you,” he said and waved his hand as if it meant nothing.

“Shitty still.”

“I am a shitty person.”

“True.”

He bit his tongue. He had kind of hoped she was going to deny it.

For the first time he looked around in the room. Properly, that was. Despite its small size, the remnants of the Telepathy club seemed to fit in just fine with all the equipment left there, their small table sandwiched between a rack full of dumbbells and the wall. There would have been barely enough room for all the members of the Body Improvement club in there, but these nerds acted like they were right at home.

Teruki knew he had managed to talk a bigger room for them. The school council had agreed to it. They must have turned it down. Or maybe they still lacked enough members to qualify for club status.

“Are you…” the blond boy asked, but when Teruki lifted his head, he looked right back at his manga before gathering enough courage to look back up again. “Are you going to apologize to Mob as well?”

Teruki knew they were looking. He fiddled with his fingers.

“Yes,” he said. “At some point. Trust me, I know I fucked up.”

The girl hummed.

“Just… not yet.”

“Why not?” he asked.

Why indeed?

“I’m not worth it yet.”

“For a top student you sure are dumb as a rock,” the girl said.

Fair. Teruki forced down his sneer. It was fair.

“Well, do what you want,” she said. “But just so you know, none of us are going to put in a good word for you to Mob.”

Again, fair.

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” he said, even though he might have hoped. Just a little.

Now he didn’t know what to do. Should he leave or should he stay? He had said his piece, but leaving meant he was going to be alone again. He didn’t want to leave. These people couldn’t give a damn about him, they didn’t care. They had their comic books and games, the rumors held little interest to them it seemed. The two who had thrown looks his way were now back to reading again, like he’d ceased to exist.

After his apology, he was nothing to them now. Meaningless. He hadn’t realized what a relief it was, when everyone else was staring at him with nothing but disdain, looking for more reasons to hate him.

These weren’t the kind of people he would spend his free time with, not even now. But… right at this moment, sitting with them was a relief.

“I, uh. I realized that I don’t remember any of your names,” he admitted.

“What?” the girl squawked. She looked up fast and her console screeched again as he character died. “You made our lives living hell and you couldn’t even bother to learn our names?”

Teruki shrugged helplessly. What did she want from him?

“Fine. Kurata Tome,” she said.

The blond with the comic book introduced himself as Inukawa, the other as Saruta.

“And the one sleeping is Kijibayashi,” Kurata finished. “Better remember it this time.”

He… was certainly going to try. He was usually good with names. These people just… hadn’t registered as important in his mind.

He would have to change that now.

“You know, you probably should get going right about now,” Kurata said. “They’ve been running for maybe five, ten minutes now. One of them will be dropping Mob off soon.”

Teruki hated it. Hated it so very much that his stomach started twisting at the simplest of words. Kageyama. Kageyama would be here, soon. Weak and tired from running. In need of support. Sweaty and out of breath.

He lifted his hands and ran them over his face.

Yeah. Kageyama would still hold the same feelings towards Teruki as he had before, out of breath or not.

“Good to know,” he said. “I guess I’ll be going, then. It was nice to… nice to have a word with you all.”

“Pleasure is all yours, buddy,” Kurata said. There was, however, no malice in her words. It was all Teruki was going to get and it was something he was going to take with open arms.

He slipped out of their room just in time to hear the familiar chanting of the Body Improvement club running. He hastened his step to get out of their way and saw one of the bigger guys carrying Kageyama like a sack of potatoes on his shoulders towards their room.

God. It was so hard to tamp down the ever more familiar and easier recognizable feeling of jealousy. But he would keep doing that as long as it took. He had no right to be jealous, he’d never had.

It was fine. He had these feelings and they were not going to go anywhere.

It was what he decided to do with the feelings that mattered. Denying they were there wasn’t going to help him, burying them wasn’t going to keep them away.

The only thing he could do was to try to live with them and move on.

Next up on his list was the Body Improvement club. He was a bit more worried about them than he would have liked to admit. Unlike the Telepathy club, they actually had a bit of social clout. Not much and Teruki had managed to chip away a big part of it with his actions, but enough to be recognized. It seemed that his dirty laundry being brought to everyone’s attention had done them good. Teruki watched them from some ways off for a few days. They were getting new members again.

Good. That was… That was good. Kageyama deserved new friends.

Admitting that was like pulling teeth.

He should have joined his club instead of trying to demolish it. Gotten friendly, close. Help him with his training.

Too late now.

He watched them come and go. Kageyama really was… trying his best, huh? No, he wasn’t very good at running, no, he wasn’t fit at all, but he was doing his best.

What else could he do? Kageyama knew what he wanted and he was working for it, despite every obstacle life threw his way.

Teruki set his jaw.

Well, he could do that too.

He sought out the biggest one of them all, Musashi. He was a third year, even though he could have passed for a highschooler. Teruki approached him slowly a few days after apologizing to Kurata and the others. He was an intimidating figure, must have already been the tallest student in school, then decided to bulk up until he was the widest too.

It was easiest to approach him, when he was alone. Not that Teruki was afraid of the physical danger any of these muscle-heads could offer him. No, it was more about the mental weight of it that made him uncertain.

He just didn’t want to be brought low by so many people at the same time.

If Musashi noticed him approaching, he didn’t say anything. Maybe he didn’t. Teruki had found out recently, that not every student’s life in Black Vinegar rotated around him.

“Excuse me,” he said. “Mind if I have a word with you?”

Musashi turned and Teruki realized that he wasn’t as alone as he’d hoped.

Onigawara looked absolutely miserable. He looked like he was actively trying to hide in his size too large uniform jacket and seeing Teruki didn’t seem to lift his spirits either.

“What do you want?” he barked, but there was barely any bite in his words. “You come to mock me too? Go ahead, call me a pervert just like everybody else.”

Teruki looked from Onigawara to Musashi, waiting for either of them to explain to him what was going on. Neither of them did.

“No,” he said and drew a long breath. “I actually… didn’t come looking for you, but I might as well talk to you too.”

Musashi looked at him from his heights.

“Did you come to apologize?” he asked crossing his arms.

Onigawara chuckled humorlessly.

Teruki hesitated a moment, then nodded. It was easier to just get it out and be done with it than to faff around like he had no idea what he was doing.

“I did,” he said. “I’m sorry. I’m the one who spread the rumors about your club. They have now been cleared, but it was still my fault. I am sorry.”

“What?” Onigawara said. “Really?”

Teruki kept looking Musashi in the eye, waiting for his reaction.

But when the guy just nodded solemnly, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with it.

“I’m glad you came to tell me this yourself,” Musashi said, his voice a deep rumble. “Your actions lately haven’t been very becoming.”

He looked down.

“I know,” he croaked. “Trust me… I know.”

Musashi nodded. “Good,” he said. “That’s the first step to becoming a better person!”

What on earth were these people Kageyama gathered around him? These ridiculously forgiving and kind people. His eyes stung.

“Great,” he said. “Good. That’s…” He shook his head. “It’s good. Thank you.”

“No problem!” Musashi shouted and slammed his large hand against his back. It came out of nowhere, Teruki had no time to prepare a barrier and it nearly knocked all the air out of his lungs. Somehow, it just made his eyes sting twice the harder.

“You spread those rumors, huh?” Onigawara said. “Are you the one who planted all those recorders in my bag too?”

Teruki looked at him.

“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said.

“It would appear that someone has set Onigawara up and now he too has some very nasty rumors floating about him,” Musashi explained.

Oh. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Teruki said, “but I’m not really in the clear either. They’re talking about me too.”

“Yeah, but yours was earned!” Onigawara barked.

“Onigawara,” Musashi said and his voice was so filled with disappointment that Teruki could almost feel it too. Onigawara’s head bowed down.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “Rough week.”

Teruki crossed his arms.

“So I’m not the only one being targeted,” he said and started tapping his foot. “Anyone else?”

“Well, I think they got to my old gang mates too,” Onigawara said. “They haven’t been talking to me, I think they got blackmailed. Don’t know about your gang. Maybe it’s them.”

It could be. But Teruki had never considered them smart enough to make power moves that didn’t include using pure brawn.

“I’m going to look into it,” he decided.

“You do that,” Musashi said. “Have you already also apologized to Kageyama?”

This again. Teruki looked away.

“I will,” he said.

“That is good!” Musashi said loudly, placing his big hand back on his shoulder, softer this time. “You are a good person, Hanazawa.”

Oh. Teruki blinked a few times, the words connecting slowly. He craned his head to look up at Musashi, but he had already taken his hand away and turned back to Onigawara.

There were others there as well, other students. When Teruki looked around, he could see some of them turning their heads quickly to look away.

He wondered what this would make them think.

He wasn’t done yet, though.

“Onigawara,” he said. “I’m going to apologize to you too. I’m sorry for giving you grief. Although, most of it was deserved.”

“Tch.” He shook his head. “You’re the least of my worries right now.”

That was as good as he was going to get it right now. He started turning away, almost missing the quietly muttered: “Thanks,” from Onigawara.

Takane had been right. This… this was good. Teruki couldn’t quite explain it, but for the first time in the longest while he felt a little better. He could breathe a little easier, walk a little more upright, like a big weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

There was still work to be done, though. People to apologize to. Now that he had started, he was going to keep going.

The next person on his list he found was Haruka.

She did not seem any happier to see him than last time.

“I’m not talking to you,” she said.

“I know,” Teruki said. “You don’t have to. I just wanted to say something.”

She crossed her arms and huffed, her friends already swarming closer.

“You really shouldn’t show your face around here, creep,” one of them said.

“If you start trouble, you’re in trouble, got it?” said another.

Teruki lifted his hands up in surrender. He was serious about not being there for a fight. He was just doing what he should have done a long time ago.

“I’m not here for that,” he said, tried to make his voice soft even though he could already feel everything tightening in his body. “I just wanted to let you know, that I am sorry. I never had any feelings towards you. I didn’t have feelings towards many of the girls I dated, I just liked the attention it got me and I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”

Haruka stared at him for a long moment, her friends sharing confused looks between each other.

Teruki took that as permission to keep talking.

“From what I know of you, you seem like you made a great and caring girlfriend and I didn’t deserve you. I’m sure you’ll find someone who will appreciate you for who you are. That is all I wanted to say.”

With that, he nodded and started making his way past her.

He did not expect her to speak up.

“I kind of knew,” she started, then grew silent when Teruki turned to look at her. Haruka gathered herself up and continued with a bit of a steadier, quieter voice. “I kind of knew you didn’t feel the same way about me that I felt for you. And… and I knew you never really stayed together with anyone for that long. I just wanted to… I just kind of wished, I was going to be different, you know?”

Teruki looked down. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

She scoffed and waved her hand, not looking at him. “You were a shit boyfriend anyway,” she said. “But you weren’t anything like everyone’s saying you are.”

Teruki hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and laughed humorlessly. “I’m a little bit like they say. Or at least I was. I’m trying to change.”

Haruka looked away.

“Whatever,” she muttered. “I hope these dumb rumors blow over soon.”

That made two of them.

Over the next two days he looked up most of the girls he’d used to date from Black Vinegar and apologized to them. Not nearly everyone was as forgiving as Haruka, not everyone even wanted to hear what he had to say and a lot of them left him with scathing remarks.

Didn’t change anything. It needed to be done. This wasn’t even about Kageyama anymore. It just felt right.

The rumors were still going. His apologies didn’t really change any of that. They just got added into the mix. He was so desperate, wasn’t he? Going around, begging for forgiveness, trying to bribe people to stop talking about him. This was all just him trying to fix his status, they said.

Teruki tried not to listen to them. He knew that he was trying and that was what made him sleep a little easier at night.

Surprisingly, one of the hardest things he had to admit to himself was that he also needed to apologize to Edano. The whole gang, really, but Edano had been the brunt of attention and deserved to be the first one of them he apologized to.

It was kind of awful to realize. He’d been a pretty shitty leader to them, only interested in the fame and notoriety being their boss had brought him and pushing down Edano had felt like the most natural way of remaining special in their eyes. Teruki had had the power, so he’d felt like he could flaunt it and his success in their faces.

But like many things lately, thinking about it now just made him feel embarrassment clawing at his throat.

He wanted to get it done and get it done fast. What made that somewhat hard was that Teruki could not find Edano. For several days he kept his eyes peeled, handing out his apologies to his exes, but there was no sign of Edano. It was such a weird experience to be the one running after him instead of having his head of gang tailing after him. As it turned out, though, Teruki was forced to look up the other high-ranking members of his gang to ask for him.

“Yeah, he’s not here,” Edano’s second in command said.

“Well, where is he, then?”

“At home,” he said. “He got thrown out temporarily for trying to kick that one student council guy’s ass. Heard he’s grounded.”

Teruki bit down on the groan climbing up and managed to quiet it down before it could be heard. What the hell had Edano been thinking? Attacking a student council member? This was why he’d needed a Shadow Leader backing him up. Teruki breathed in through his teeth, then sighed it out through his nose and pulled together an apology to the second in command too. He didn’t seem to get it, but it was fine.

He didn’t know where Edano lived, but he did have his number.

Where are you? he asked as if he didn’t know. Give me an address. I need to talk to you.

It was so hard to get out of the gang leader mode with him. Teruki had only ever seen him in two lights, as a thug about to be taken down and as a subordinate and he had kind of treated both these versions the same.

His phone beeped and he had an address. It was followed by an additional message, though.

Come through the second floor window on west side. Sis can’t know you’re here. I’ll leave it open.

Teruki clicked his tongue. Of course this couldn’t be done the easy way.

He hurried out right after school. It wasn’t that long of a way, he walked it in twenty minutes. Edano’s family had a pretty big house, but so did every other kid in Black Vinegar. Teruki’s house was considerably smaller than most of the other private school kids. Yes, he was living alone and yes, he liked his home, but he didn’t really want the others to see how small it was compared to theirs. That was just one reason among many why he’d never invited anyone over to his place. He hadn’t needed their questions.

Their pity.

Edano’s house, though? Pretty decent. Teruki walked around it until he found the right window. He considered just going and ringing the doorbell anyway, but sighed and shook his head. No, he was here to apologize, might as well play by his rules. He wasn’t here to get Edano in trouble.

Outside, he texted, then with a quick run and a leap, boosted by his powers, he was at the windowsill and pulled in.

Edano scrambled up from his bed, wide eyed.

“Man, that was fast!” he said.

“Never doubt me.” It came out as more of a reflex than anything and Teruki wanted to swallow it right back down.

“Sure boss, understood,” Edano said. He rubbed his hands together, swaying on his feet like he didn’t really know what to do.

Seeing him without his school uniform on was kind of a weird experience. He didn’t look like Edano the gang leader in a t-shirt and shorts. He just looked like any other guy.

That made it a little easier, Teruki supposed. They weren’t at school either, so he wouldn’t have to rely on his old habits. Teruki tried to force some edge out of his stance, replace it with relaxed angles and softer features.

“So,” Edano said.

“What’s this I hear of you attacking a student council member?”

“Attack is a bit of a strong word for that,” he said. “Who told you that? Saito? I told him to keep his mouth shut.”

Teruki crossed his arms, so easily slotting into his old mode. He had to actively think his words before he forced them out softer. “What were you thinking?”

This only seemed to put Edano on the edge. “I don’t know, boss,” he said. “I just punched that greasy guy’s face. He thought he was going to pin me with some bullshit about spying on girls’ locker room or something. He’d been bothering our guys about shit like that for weeks. He had it coming.” He hesitated a moment. “Didn’t lay a hand on that younger Kageyama, though. Just so you know.”

Younger Kageyama? Teruki shifted.

“You spying on girls’ locker room?” he said. “That doesn’t sound a whole lot like you.”

“Right?”

“Where did they say they got their information?”

Edano shrugged. “Don’t know. He was talking about if I wanted them to go easy on me, I’d pin it down on someone else.” He shifted and rubbed his cheek. “I don’t know. It was kind of weird.”

Spreading false rumors then. That hit kind of close to home.

But surely Kageyama’s brother wouldn’t take part in something like that. He seemed like a prickly but otherwise okay guy. Not the type to go around doing something that stupid.

Edano was a lot of things, but a pervert wasn’t one of them. They were really reaching if they wanted to pin something like that on him.

Come to think of it, Onigawara had mentioned something similar too.

He had a bad feeling about this.

“Did you say other gang members had been targeted as well?” Teruki asked.

Edano walked to his desk and dropped to sit on the chair.

“I mean, yeah,” he said. “At first I thought they were only going for the Salt Mid gang, but then they started targeting us as well. About the stupidest things, too. Could try to get us into trouble for the shit we’ve actually done, but instead they pin us down with that pervert bullshit. It’s stupid. My dad almost had an aneurism.”

“They targeted me as well,” Teruki reminded him, arms crossed.

“Shit. You think that was part of it too?” Edano asked. “Good thing I punched that prick.”

“Clearly,” Teruki said. He didn’t like this. Not one bit. So the student council was to blame? And Kageyama Ritsu?

Well, it had been easy to see that the guy had it out for him. For a reason too, he supposed, since he’d seen how Teruki had treated his brother. But still, this was too much. Way too much. And now he was targeting gang members too? Did he want to get his ass kicked? He probably had clean intentions, but spreading lies? That was just about the shittiest thing Teruki could think of and he spoke from experience.

Someone should have a talk with him about it.

Teruki wasn’t sure if he was the right person for the job, though.

“That is not actually why I came here for,” he said.

Edano shifted, looking at him with lowered brows.

“The other gangs on the move?” he asked.

Teruki shook his head.

“No,” he said. “No, it’s… it’s not about the gang. Well, I guess it is. In a way.”

Edano didn’t look like it had even now after all this time sunken in yet that Teruki was no longer part of the gang. Not that Teruki could blame him for it. It had been a part of the game of dress-ups he’d played, after all. Being the Shadow Leader had meant having two masks, one for the public, one for the gang. Saying he wasn’t part of the gang had been his public façade for such a long time that it was no wonder Edano didn’t want to buy it. Teruki had had so many masks that maybe along the way he had forgotten what his real face looked like.

“Mind if I sit?” he said, waving at Edano’s bed.

Edano sprung up immediately, waving at his chair.

“Here, here!” he said. “I can stand.”

“No, really. Sit down,” Teruki said, but did take the chair he was being offered while Edano sat down on his bed. “I came here… to apologize.”

Edano stared at him, waiting for him to continue. Teruki drew a long sigh through his nose.

“I’ve got… a whole lot to apologize for. I’ve been going around, talking to people and this just… this just doesn’t get easier, does it?” That was a lie. It had gotten easier. There had been a few that had come out easy and smooth.

It was just that Edano had been his punching bag through most of it. He’d been the easiest to take his anger out on and he hadn’t ever stopped to think about what that was like.

No one joined a middle school gang without some sort of a reason behind the decision. For Teruki it had just been his need to feel like everyone in Black Vinegar saw him. He’d wanted to have control, he’d wanted everyone’s attention, admiration and loyalty. The others must have had something like that too.

None of them had felt happy with the cards life had dealt them. Yes, they were most from rich families that could afford to put their kids to private schools. Yes, they mostly lived in big houses and had all the money they could ever wish for. Maybe it was the entitlement that made it so hard to realize that you weren’t getting what you really needed, the attention from the right people around you, the help and support you would have wanted. And sometimes it was easier to lash out and gather together to spew venom at others, feed into that loop of separation instead of asking for help.

He didn’t know Edano’s exact reasons, had never bothered to think about it. Maybe he’d enjoyed feeling like he belonged, maybe he liked the control too.

Teruki rubbed his face.

“I’ve been treating you like shit,” he said. “I thought you deserved it at the time. Now that I’ve been trying to look back on things, maybe… maybe you didn’t. Not like that anyway. I’ve been looking back at a lot of things I’ve done and… and, well, what I want to say is that was guess I was… a little… No, I was petty. I was. And I took it out on you and the gang, because it made me feel like I had power.” He drew in a breath, looked at the ceiling. “And I don’t want to be like that anymore. As much as I liked to pretend like it was working for me, it really wasn’t. It just made me into a worse person and I… I literally needed to be thrown into the atmosphere to realize that.” He turned to look at Edano. “So I wanted to apologize to you for being such a bad Shadow Leader. No good leader raises a hand against someone they consider an underling.” He looked down. “I think.”

Edano shifted. Teruki heard it, but didn’t look up to see.

“I mean,” he said. “That’s kind of how we did things.”

Teruki shook his head. “Yes, but that’s not how it should be.”

“But it is,” Edano said. “It’s how we’ve always ran the gang. We beat up whoever disobeys us, we beat up people who try to leave and we take care of our own. That’s just how it works.”

“I get that,” Teruki said. “Doesn’t change the fact that there’s something wrong about using your powers to push others down. You can’t tell me you don’t resent me.”

“Nah,” Edano argued. “You’re the boss.”

“On at least some level.”

He grimaced, looked away and hissed through his teeth, a quiet sound. “Well. I guess. I mean, you do pack a mean punch. And you got a lousy attitude. But that made you a good boss.”

Teruki shook his head. “It really didn’t.”

“Whatever.”

Edano still didn’t get it and Teruki had the feeling that he never would, not fully. Maybe it didn’t matter. He didn’t need everyone to get it, he just wanted to say it out loud, to get it out there.

Not everyone would be able to change someone’s entire worldview in a single sitting. Not at first, anyway. Teruki could learn. Kageyama had been simple in his words, but it had taken his actions to show him what he’d really done wrong and maybe that was how it was supposed to be.

“So, what are we going to do with the student council thing?” Edano asked.

They shouldn’t be allowed to continue spreading false rumors on others. It wasn’t just Teruki on their radar, clearly, but others as well. Yes, it was mostly people who had shown to be disruptive, but Teruki highly doubted this was going to make them better their ways. It would be more likely to make them burrow deeper, get angrier. If the people in Teruki’s gang had had the ability to look deeper into their actions and grow some emotional maturity on their own, they wouldn’t have joined the gang to begin with.

And the thing about power was, that once you got the taste of it, it was hard not to crave for more. There were only so many thugs in Black Vinegar and if this continued, sooner or later innocent people would get hurt.

But Teruki was just a commoner. One of many, a face in the sea of a thousand similar ones. It wouldn’t be his responsibility to fix this. He had his own problems to deal with.

Well. He could just try to have a word with Kageyama’s little brother. At leas make sure that he wasn’t getting into trouble. Surely Teruki telling on the gangs out to get his older brother would have bought him at least a little mercy with Ritsu.

“I’ll look into it,” he sighed.

Chapter Text

Kageyama Ritsu was a hard guy to reach. It seemed that he was never alone.

He was popular. Not as popular as Teruki had been, but still well liked enough that he always had a handful of people around him. Teruki couldn’t tell if he was actually friends with any of them, or just friendly enough to be tolerated. He seemed cordial enough with them, well spoken, humble and lacking the spite he always spat Teruki’s way when they met. Something about the way he carried himself around his friends reeked familiar to him, though. Uncomfortably so. Teruki doubted Ritsu would have cared if every single one of his friends had switched faces during the night.

He doubted any of his friends knew much about him either.

The one he spent most time with, as far as Teruki could tell, was Kamuro, the former student council president from Salt Mid, now an honorary member of Black Vinegar’s council.

“They’re definitely behind the rumors,” Mezato confirmed. “They’re being paraded around as heroes for taking down so may thugs. No one seems to care about how they do it, people are just happy to see justice prevail.”

“Some justice,” Teruki muttered.

“It’s not going to last them forever,” Mezato said. “I hear there’s already trouble.”

“How come?”

“Oh, just gang members from rival schools hanging out around Black Vinegar. Someone’s going to get hurt.”

Teruki would rather it wouldn’t be any of Kageyama’s friends or family. He tapped his foot against the ground.

“There’s going to be a vote for the next student council president at the end of the year,” Mezato said. “If they’d timed this better, they could have gotten lots of votes. But like this? People will have moved on for something else by then.”

“You think they only did this for that?” he asked.

Mezato shrugged. “Could be. Fame is one hell of a drug. Makes you feel invincible.”

Teruki could agree.

He wasn’t sure how he should deal with this. He wasn’t sure if he should deal with it at all. Yes, he did have questions he’d like to ask from Ritsu. That didn’t mean it was up to Teruki to deal with this. He wasn’t the king of the school anymore and it wasn’t his gang either.

There was worry there too. If he did get mixed into this, if he tried to do something about it, could he keep himself from slipping into old habits? He didn’t want to find himself going back after all the pains it had taken to get this far. He knew he couldn’t just march up to Ritsu and demand a fight. That wasn’t how the new Teruki handled things. But at the same time, talking wasn’t much of an option either. When Teruki opened his mouth, things came out confrontational. He knew that. He couldn’t guarantee that if he did go to Ritsu with the best intentions in mind he wouldn’t end up egging him on accidentally.

No one else would speak up, though. They were just glad to see the thugs targeted. And maybe there was a bit of the same thing there’d been with Teruki. Fear of being targeted and shunned if they said anything about it. Watching it from the outside gave Teruki a sinking feeling of déjà vu.

Ritsu was headed to a bad direction.

He wondered if Kageyama knew. Teruki was having a hard time imagining that he did. The two of them still ate lunch together at least once a week and the situation there hadn’t seemed to change. Kageyama would have without a doubt done something about it had he found his brother using such underhanded tactics to get to people.

Teruki didn’t really want Kageyama finding out. He didn’t need any of the trouble. If Teruki did end up dealing with this, he would find a way to do it without pulling Kageyama into it.

A conversation. That’s what they needed. Some civility.

Teruki wasn’t sure if he could do that yet. His apologies had been hard enough and most of the people he’d talked to had been kind enough to listen what he had to say.

He had a feeling Kageyama Ritsu wouldn’t be as considerate.

Maybe if he’d still had at least some of his authority…

No. It was fine. He was just going to have to find a way to have a talk with Ritsu without drawing attention from others.

His chance came after school, catching Ritsu on his way out. For once, he had no one tailing him around, no people swarming around him while he headed for the school gates. It was the perfect opportunity. Teruki picked up his speed, trying to come up with a fitting mask for the situation. The best way to approach. He didn’t think Ritsu was going to buy jovial friendliness, nor cool and casual.

Genuine. That was…

That was going to be a tricky one.

Teruki drew in a long breath and called after him.

“Kageyama, hey,” he said. “Mind if I have a word with you?”

Ritsu stopped abruptly and turned around. His scowl set in pretty fast.

“What do you want?” he asked.

Hostile from the get go. Teruki lifted his hands up in weak surrender.

“I wanted to talk to you about the rumors that have been going around lately,” he said.

Interesting. Ritsu’s tone shifted immediately. For one brief moment he could see through the hostility a glimpse of panic, then Ritsu looked away, brows dipping lower.

Teruki dug one hand into a pocket and lifted a brow. Ritsu grimaced and the expression morphed into a joyless smile.

He spread his arms. “So you found out it was me, then? So what?”

He didn’t even try to hide it, huh? Nothing about his expression was genuine, though and Teruki could tell.

“Yeah,” Teruki said slowly. “I did.” He thought about it for a moment, thought about the apologies he’d been giving. “That was a pretty shitty thing to do.”

Ritsu’s stance faltered a little and his arms fell down.

“I want you to know that I get it,” Teruki said. “And that yeah, it was kind of deserved. But what you did was pretty bad and you should stop.”

There. Clean and simple. Better than going around and trying to decorate the statement to be something it wasn’t.

“I get that you think what you’re doing is for the best, but I can tell you from experience, the end results won’t be pretty. You don’t want to end up like me.”

The smile came back, full of venom.

“Maybe this was about you before,” Ritsu said. “But you should stop acting like everything revolves around you. You’re right, it was deserved and it has opened my eyes to a world that’s far wider than it used to be.”

What was he talking about? Teruki tapped his finger against his hip.

“Though I guess I do have to thank you,” Ritsu said. “I have become much more free because of this. For the first time I feel like I can do exactly what I’ve wanted. I don’t think there’s anyone who could stop me even if they tried.”

Teruki’s mouth twitched, trying to pull into a grimace.

“Look,” he said. “I don’t want to fight you, but – “

Ritsu stepped closer. “I wouldn’t mind fighting you,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind if you just disappeared and stopped causing so much trouble for everyone.”

Teruki bared his teeth.

“Don’t you start acting – “

“What are you doing?”

No. Not now. Teruki pulled back, his eyes going wide. He hadn’t even noticed Kageyama approaching. Neither had Ritsu by the looks of it, staring at his brother wide-eyed.

Of course. Of course. He should have known. The only reason Ritsu had been alone was because he was waiting for his brother. Teruki had played himself.

Kageyama’s tone was level, but colder than anything Teruki had heard from him before. He was staring right at him with his jaw set, back stiff.

“I wasn’t!” Teruki barked. “Fighting! I wasn’t!”

Kageyama’s hand was trembling on his bag strap and his eyes were as wide as Ritsu’s.

Teruki wanted to leave the conversation, wanted to rewind the whole thing. But he needed to fix this now, so Kageyama wouldn’t leave thinking Teruki was looking to fight his brother.

Smile. Teruki forced on a smile and tilted his hip, waving his hand around, carefree.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, his tone ringing fake in his ears. “I didn’t mean to come off that strong. It’s still a work in process. I just wanted to ask your brother something about the student council.”

Kageyama stared at him for a long moment and Teruki could feel sweat forming and then getting absorbed into his undershirt. He could read nothing out of Kageyama’s expression, his eyes were sharp but empty and Teruki felt like he was being held under a microscope.

Was his wig on right?

Slowly, very slowly Kageyama turned to look at Ritsu, who had also managed to school his expressions to mild annoyance.

“You should address your questions to the student council through official means.” Ritsu’s words came out mechanical, his fists white knuckled at his side.

Kageyama did not seem to notice these details. All he heard were the words. His stance dropped a miniscule amount, from alert to relieved and Teruki felt like he could breathe properly again.

“That’s okay, then.”

“Great!” Teruki said. “Well, if that was all, I’m going to be heading out.” He hesitated a moment, though about just leaving. But… When was he going to get an opportunity like this again? He needed to say something. This was his chance!

But his head rang empty. Kageyama was already turning to leave with Ritsu. Soon they’d be gone and Teruki would be left there, standing alone, staring after them like an idiot.

Something.

Anything!

“Have a great day!” he called after them and wanted to shove the entirety of his fist into his mouth a second later.

Kageyama slowed down and looked at him. Well, at the general vicinity of him anyway.

After a short pause he said: “You too.”

Wow.

Okay. Wow.

Teruki had to turn away before Kageyama or his brother could see how weird his smile had turned all of a sudden.

He felt like his face was up in flames.

You too.

Be still his beating heart.

It took him a few hours to realize that his attempt at talking with Ritsu had gone horribly. It wasn’t enough to bring him down from his high.

He had kind of failed pretty badly, though. No going around that. He couldn’t risk trying to reach Ritsu while at school anymore. If things got out of hand again like they almost had back there, the last person Teruki wanted seeing his failure was Kageyama.

Even if Teruki had managed to keep his cool and not let Ritsu goad him into an argument, just seeing Ritsu distraught might have given Kageyama enough of a reason to doubt Teruki. Out of the two of them, Kageyama would always take Ritsu’s side, whatever the situation. Teruki was sure of it, and trying to pretend like he wouldn’t wasn’t going to do him any favors. Care and consideration needed to be put into his plan if he wanted to succeed.

The problem was, that the situation was taken out of his hands. The next day already saw Edano running up to him, fresh out of his grounding and already in trouble. He looked like he’d been running for a while by the time he reached Teruki, panting like his lungs were about to collapse.

“Boss,” he heaved, leaning on his knees. “There’s trouble.”

At this point, would it even have done him any good to remind Edano he was no longer in the gang? Teruki sighed.

“What is it?”

Edano wiped sweat off his face and straightened his back.

“Bean Sauce Mid’s gang leader just showed up on our turf,” he said. “My guys told me he’s headed this way.”

Teruki grit his teeth. Kenzaki. The guy had always been a bit too quick to try to prop up his gang’s status. If he had decided that he’d had enough of sitting around and waiting, that meant the others wouldn’t be far behind.

They must have thought that since Black Vinegar’s gang was a bit in a bind right now, they could just walk in on their turf without any trouble.

They must have thought they were going to find that stupid White T Poison of theirs.

Well. They could pry Kageyama from his cold, dead hands.

No.

Teruki forced his stance to relax.

“You should tell a teacher,” he said.

Edano looked at him like he’d personally offended him.

“You can’t be serious,” he said. “And then what?”

Teruki shook his head and shrugged.

Finally. Finally it was sinking in. Edano’s face soured.

“You know the teachers won’t do anything about it,” he barked. “They never do!”

“It’s none of my business, actually –“

“Boss!”

Edano’s second in command, Saito, ran up to them, looking just as winded as Edano had.

“Boss,” he heaved at Edano’s direction, then looked up and realized Teruki was there as well. “Boss,” he said to him. “Kenzaki is here.”

Edano turned to Teruki, looking at him expectantly.

“Edano,” Teruki said.

“Kageyama went with him,” Saito said.

Teruki froze.

“What?” he hissed.

“Which?” Edano hurried to ask. “Which Kageyama?”

“Student council one,” Saito said.

Teruki relaxed a little. It still wasn’t good.

God. Every time he was sure he got things under control, he just got dragged back into it, didn’t he? He curled his hands into fists.

“Fine,” he spat. “I’ll deal with it. But this has better got to be the last time.”

The grin Edano gave him told him it wasn’t going to be.

He was going to talk it out. He wasn’t going to use his powers for this. Well. Maybe just a little, if he was forced to. Only as self-defense, though. Or to make his case. He wasn’t going there looking for a fight, no matter what Edano might have liked.

He was going to be fine. He was just going to… borrow his old persona to separate Ritsu and Kenzaki and make it clear that the Black Vinegar turf was still off limits.

He hurried out. People had gathered around the front gate and they were talking loudly to each other, huddled into groups and already churning out gossip as fast as they could. Some of them were pointing out through the gate, even though there was no one there.

Teruki must have just missed them. Ritsu had already left.

Curse that fool. Picking fights with thugs? Was he out of his mind? Some false rumors weren’t going to protect him from Kenzaki’s fists.

“Where did they take him,” he asked the closest group.

The people pulled out of his way. Teruki clicked his tongue. He didn’t have time for this.

“Someone better tell me where Kageyama Ritsu went, right now,” he said.

“They… It was just like, a few minutes ago. Looked like they were headed to the river.”

“Should we tell a teacher?”

“What’s going to happen to him?”

“Is Kageyama going to be alright?”

Teruki pushed past them. He was going to drag Ritsu out of the fight by his ear. Kageyama didn’t need any of this crap.

Whispers followed after him, loud like hissing snakes. Teruki could see the others watching him as he marched through the gates and towards the river. Kenzaki had always had a taste for the dramatics. He watched too many martial arts movies. The riverside would make for a pretty scene for a fight.

What was Ritsu thinking, following after someone like that?

Teruki tuned out their whispers, paid them no mind.

A strange feeling washed over him when he’d gotten maybe ten or steps away from the school grounds. It was like a slap to the face, a shocking zap of electricity. Another person’s aura. For a short moment he thought it was Kageyama’s, it had a familiar tint to it. But just a moment later he discarded the idea. He’d been living in the background hum of Kageyama’s aura for a while now, feeling the constant radiation of it on his skin. He would’ve recognized it anywhere now.

No, this was someone else.

Some other psychic was close by.

The aura was weak, far weaker than Teruki’s and barely noticeable compared to Kageyama’s, and it had come from the direction of the river.

A bitter taste spread into Teruki’s mouth.

It couldn’t be. He didn’t want to think about it.

Teruki picked up his pace.

He made it just in time to feel another zap and see Kenzaki fall down hard.

Ritsu looked very pleased with himself, admiring his hand like he’d just performed a miracle.

Teruki stopped and took in the scene. Kageyama Ritsu, alone with Kenzaki, standing by the riverside, down a slope from Teruki. Ritsu was saying something, something about being much stronger than Kenzaki could ever be and Teruki just stared at him.

Since when had the younger Kageyama had powers?

Ritsu was laughing. He was enjoying his little power trip, wasn’t he?

Freshly awakened, then? Teruki was damn sure had Kageyama known about his brother’s psychic abilities, he would have taught him better.

Teruki ran his tongue over his teeth. Ritsu clearly had this situation under control and he wasn’t going to get hurt by Kenzaki, not when he now had powers like these. He might have been new and clumsy with them, but against regular people even that could be enough.

He shouldn’t interfere.

Teruki backed away. He hadn’t been seen yet. He could just leave. It wasn’t his place, after all. If Teruki intervened, he might just end up making the situation worse. He turned his back on them.

He didn’t particularly want to fight Kageyama’s little brother.

But wait, a pathetic voice at the back of his mind whispered. Just think about it a moment. What would Kageyama think if you helped his brother off his power trip? Ritsu was clearly new to his powers, untrained and inexperienced, he needed a guiding hand and for some reason he wasn’t going to his brother for it.

Teruki could… Kageyama would be so impressed, if he…

No. He couldn’t. He needed to stop thinking his actions through a lens like that. What was important here was that there was an esper using his powers wrong, hurting others with them. Any relation to people Teruki might have known was irrelevant, any good he did that might win him a favor with a Kageyama was pointless.

He was doing this to be a good person.

He bit his teeth together, turned back around and walked down the slope to Ritsu.

“Really?” he drawled, putting on his most condescending tone. “This is how Kageyama’s dear little brother decides to use his time? I’m sure Kageyama would be disappointed.”

Ritsu flinched and turned to look at him over his shoulder. The recognition was immediate, the disgust nearly palpable. Teruki could feel his aura flaring, zapping and cracking. He couldn’t be very used to his powers yet, unable to contain them even during the simplest of conversations.

“Hanazawa,” Ritsu said slowly. “What do you want?”

Teruki clicked his tongue and nodded his head towards Kenzaki on the ground.

“I don’t think Kageyama would like to see you using your powers for something like this,” he said.

Ritsu’s eyes grew larger and he turned to face Teruki fully.

“Powers?” he said. “You know about those?”

Teruki tilted his head, then spread his arms wide, letting his own aura coil around him.

Ritsu took half a step back, then seemed to change his mind and took one forward.

Kenzaki scampered to his feet. He still had some fight left in him, despite his scrapes and bruises. He had his uniform jacket open and no shirt under it. Teruki fought the urge to roll his eyes.

“Hanazawa,” he spat out. “Have you come help me take down White T Poison?”

Teruki lifted the corner of his mouth into a halfhearted grimace.

“No,” he said. “I’m no longer in the business. You should leave if you know what’s good for you.”

That did not calm him down in the slightest. Kenzaki roared and ran at Ritsu with his fist up high. Ritsu just lifted a hand and knocked Kenzaki down with a clumsy shove of his powers. Kenzaki fell back with a grunt.

“Now, now,” Teruki said, leaning one hand on his hip. “That’s not way for Kageyama’s little brother to act.”

Ritsu turned from the thug to shoot a glare at Teruki.

“As if you care one bit what my brother would or wouldn’t like.”

Kenzaki backpedaled, but he had clearly not given up yet.

Teruki lifted the corner of his mouth. The expression he’d been going for had been a smile, but it came out as a more of a grimace. Kageyama Ritsu really was nothing like his brother. Just a damn teenager taking out his anger on everyone around him. All sharp corners where Kageyama was soft, cold where he was warm.

Teruki hated how much of himself he could see in him.

“I have sincere advice for you,” Teruki offered, softening his words. “The way you’re headed is going to get you hurt. One way or another. You should take a look at yourself and think before you act.”

Ritsu’s aura zapped around him, growing stronger, yet remaining so far below Teruki’s it would have been pretty funny had he been the Teruki from few months back. Now it was just sad.

“I know what you’re trying to do,” Ritsu said, tilting his head. He had a smile on, but there was no joy in it. “Trying to snake up to my brother’s good graces. I’ve seen you, I see what you’re doing. You’re riling him up to another meltdown, aren’t you?”

“I am not!” Teruki barked before he could swallow down the words. He pulled back and lifted a hand, repeating a bit softer: “I’m not. Before? Yes. But not anymore. I just want to be his friend, if he’ll allow me.”

Ritsu frowned. He swayed on his feet a little, as if he was unsure whether to step forward or to turn around and walk away.

“You will stay away from my brother if you know what’s good for you,” he said.

Oh? Teruki bit his teeth together. This time he managed to catch and swallow the words trying to climb up his throat and replace them with a smile.

“I think out of the two us, I’m not the one acting in a way Kageyama would disapprove of right now,” he said. “Honestly, little brother, what would Kageyama even say if he saw you doing this?”

Ritsu’s eyes grew larger, then narrowed into slits. His aura crackled.

“You’re not going to tell him,” he hissed and pointed a finger at Teruki. “Do that, and I’ll make you regret it.”

Ohhoo, so now he was threatening Teruki? On what grounds? Teruki kept his smile on by force. Ritsu was acting very childish and he wasn’t going to fall for his goading.

It was odd to see it now. See how he’d used to act, how petty the threats were. Teruki, of course, had had the strength to carry out the threats he’d made, but that didn’t make them any less immature. It was kind of sad seeing his own mistakes on mirrored on someone else. You’d think that Kageyama’s presence in Ritsu’s life would have made him grow to be a better person, but he supposed it took only the most special kind of people to recognize their previous mistakes and learn from them.

Kageyama didn’t need any of this.

“He doesn’t have to know,” Teruki said, trying to make it sound placating.

What he sounded like, though, was aggressive, apparently.

“You won’t use me against my brother!” Ritsu shouted and lifted his hand as if he was going to attack.

Teruki was going to have none of that. He lifted his hand as well, meaning for it to come off as a sign of peace. But Ritsu jumped back like he was expecting an attack. He didn’t get far, though, realizing his mistake and masking his embarrassment by doubling down on his bad decisions.

Ritsu’s aura flared.

“I’ve been wanting to try my powers against another esper,” he said.

Cold shivers ran up Teruki’s spine.

“You really… don’t want to do that,” he said.

Ritsu rushed forward and Teruki sidestepped his clumsy attempt at attacking.

“Stop that,” he said.

There was a sheen to Ritsu’s eyes he recognized. He was looking for a fight and wasn’t ready to take a no for an answer.

Teruki needed to diffuse this. He couldn’t exactly throw him up to the sky to teach him a valuable life lesson like Kageyama had done. He doubted very much it would have the same impact on Ritsu. But he’d seen the error of his ways when Kageyama had shown him the difference between their powers. Teruki knew he was more powerful than Ritsu, that he could kick him down here and now.

But he didn’t want to, that was the problem. He’d fucked up enough as it was, he didn’t need to add assaulting Kageyama’s little brother to the list of reasons why Kageyama hated him. So he dodged every push and punch Ritsu tried to give him. He’d clearly never been in a brawl before. His form was weak. He relied too much on his powers, powers that he didn’t control fully yet, and that made him sloppy.

It would have been easy to just incapacitate him.

“Please,” he said instead. “You’re wasting both our times. Cut this out and we’ll call it a draw. Would that make you happier?”

Ritsu roared and failed to punch him. He had a really weird redness to his cheeks, unnatural even.

“You can’t hurt me with your powers,” Teruki said. “Trust me. Here. I’ll let you use them on me, see what happens.”

Ritsu’s aura rushed against Teruki’s barrier uselessly, too weak to break it.

“See?” Teruki said. “You can’t beat me. So stop acting like a child and cut this out. You think your brother would like to see you like this?”

“I don’t care!” Ritsu shouted. “I don’t give a damn what brother thinks!”

Now that right there was a lie if Teruki had ever heard one and it was a pretty funny one too. He didn’t mean to laugh at him, he really didn’t, it just came out by accident. Naturally, that didn’t endear Ritsu to him any further.

He just wasn’t going to take the hint, was he? Fine. Teruki was done playing around. Sometimes you needed a little reminder, a small tap on the nose.

Ritsu tried to plant his fist to Teruki’s face, so Teruki just grabbed his wrist and twisted it.

He didn’t use a lot of strength, barely any of his power. He just meant to show Ritsu the difference between their levels to get him to reconsider, but the aura he sent through their connected hands had Ritsu’s knees giving out under him. Ritsu gasped and for a moment Teruki thought he’d hurt him.

Kageyama would have his head for this.

But then Ritsu was back on his feet and running.

Running away, that was.

Teruki’s gut reaction was to chase after him, but he thought better of it. He couldn’t really get anything out of chasing Kageyama Ritsu down.

Maybe this ought to teach him. If he was smart, he would use this experience to think his actions through better.

Somehow, Teruki doubted that very much.

He made his way home, mulling it over in his head. He’d thought he could deal with this himself, to take care of the situation without having to tell Kageyama.

He closed his front door after him and dropped his bag to the floor. His jacket got shrugged off and left by his kitchen table.

There was no going around it anymore. Teruki couldn’t deal with this himself. That was just how it was. Ritsu wouldn’t listen to anything he had to say and he couldn’t soften his tone enough to get through to him. Everything Teruki said just egged him on and that was really counterproductive to everything he wanted to achieve.

He should… tell Kageyama about this.

Teruki sat on the edge of his bed. He couldn’t skirt around the subject and act like he didn’t know what was going on anymore. Kageyama needed to know. It was his brother, after all. It wasn’t fair to keep something like this away from him.

The realization had his stomach twisting. He. He needed to contact Kageyama. He was going to have to.

Teruki’s heart was hammering hard against his chest. The nervousness shifted into something else, his palms growing sweaty and face hot.

It was… a perfect opening. A chance. His little brother was misbehaving and Teruki could bet all that was left of his status that Kageyama suspected nothing. Teruki could tell him, could tell him everything and that would be his apology.

His heart rose slowly from his chest to his throat and he felt like he couldn’t breathe properly. Teruki leaned his arms against his legs and tried to focus on breathing for just a moment.

If he played his cards right, he could show Kageyama just how helpful he could be. How, even though they weren’t friends exactly, Teruki was still looking out for his best interest. If he did this right, Kageyama would be so impressed.

He pressed his hands against his face and breathed in, breathed out and stared at his floor.

If he messed this up, Kageyama would think he’d tried to use his brother against him.

Teruki swallowed with trouble.

He was going to tell Kageyama everything. Start with the Ritsu thing, then build it up from there, ending it with his apology. He could do it. To hell with promises, to hell with what he’d said, this was more important.

An olive branch strong enough to hold.

He needed to act fast, while the news was still fresh. He knew that. But…

But.

Teruki’s eyes moved slowly to his phone next to him on the bed.

He felt like he was going to be sick.

Teruki could call him. Right here, right now, he could pick up his phone and call Kageyama, spill the beans, let him know he’d gotten information that would surely interest him. Make plans to meet tomorrow after school.

His fingers curled around his knees and held tight.

He should call him.

Teruki reached for his phone.

He stood up and turned his back on it.

Oh God. He couldn’t call Kageyama.

A text! Yes. That was neutral enough, it would give Kageyama enough space to think things over. Teruki turned back to his bed.

But what if he didn’t answer? He’d forgotten to before.

Teruki turned away, marched to the far end of his room.

But this was important.

Dragging his feet, he returned.

He was going to have to call.

Slowly, very slowly he reached for the phone and picked it up. Teruki felt like his entire body was going to burst into flames any moment now, while he chose Kageyama’s number and pressed it with a trembling thumb.

Then he immediately shut the call before it could connect and dropped the phone back on the bed.

He couldn’t just call Kageyama! He hadn’t planned what he was going to say! He started walking back and forth his house again, hands behind his back.

Something calm and collected. Like: “Hey, Kageyama. How have you been?” or “I was just thinking about you and decided to call,” or “I think about making out with you like once a day at least.”

Teruki buried his face into his hands and groaned. Come on! This wasn’t some romantic call, they weren’t close and they weren’t going to be afterwards either. He was just doing the right thing letting Kageyama know his brother was in trouble.

Yes. That was right. This wasn’t a social call. If he played his cards right, he might end up salvaging at least something between them, but he wasn’t here to do that, he was here to be a good guy for the sake of being a good guy.

Right. Exactly! Teruki stopped in front of his bed and picked up the phone.

Was he sweating too much? Was he trembling? Would Kageyama even be able to tell through the phone? Probably not. Teruki moved his phone from hand to hand.

Okay. Okay, he was just going to have to do this. Right now, in fact, when he could still be the first one to break the news to him. It was like ripping off a band-aid, right?

Teruki lifted the phone and looked his face over with his front camera, made sure his wig was on just right and smile was fresh. Appearances were half his confidence, after all. He did look a little sweaty, but not so much it would be a problem. He offered himself a shaky smile and a wink through the camera. Good. He was looking good. He could do this.

He breathed in, breathed out, closed his eyes and concentrated. Only once his trembling had died down enough did he lift his phone up again and press his finger on Kageyama’s name.

It started ringing. He licked his lips and swallowed, straightened his back and took a confident pose. It was fine. Nothing at all was wrong, things were going great, in fact! He wasn’t nervous, he was just excited. Yes! Excited to be on his way towards friendlier terms with Kageyama.

That was right! He was confident. He knew he was good with words. Kageyama wouldn’t even know what hit him when Teruki showed him his new, truly improved self.

Yes. It was working. He was gaining back his confidence.

He wished his heart wouldn’t have been beating so loud in his chest, though.

The phone rang and rang. The longer it rang, the more sweaty Teruki felt, like he was about to melt into a puddle then and there, in the middle of his room.

And then it changed into a generic voicemail.

Teruki just stood there a moment, staring into nothing while the automated message told him no one was able to respond and to leave a message. Slowly, he brought the phone down from his ear.

Ah. Yes. Maybe he should have sent a text instead. Surely Kageyama would see his name flashing on his phone and decide it was better to leave it unanswered completely. With a text he might have been able to get at least enough words in to buy him a chance.

Teruki nearly dropped his phone when it started ringing in his hands. He scrambled to lift it up and his heart froze in his chest when he saw Kageyama’s name flashing on the screen.

Oh God.

Oh God. He was calling him.

This time he really did drop the phone, only barely managing to catch it with his powers before it hit the ground. He answered the moment he got a good grip on it again.

“Hi, Kageyama!” he shouted into it.

The answer was far more muffled. “Um,” Kageyama said. “Hello.”

“Hi! Um, yeah. Hey. It’s Hanazawa.”

“I know.”

“Oh, yeah. Naturally, naturally. Sorry.” He needed to sit down. This wouldn’t work, not at all, he was going to start pacing if he didn’t stop. Teruki hurried to his bedside and sat down. He started tapping his foot immediately, but at least his voice came out a little steadier. “Hey. Look. Sorry to call you out of the blue like this. Is this… is this a bad time?”

The line was quiet for a while. Teruki felt like when he swallowed, it sounded thunderous.

“No,” Kageyama said. “It’s fine.”

“Great! I wouldn’t have called you if it wasn’t important.”

He waited for a moment longer in case Kageyama wanted to say something more, but there was nothing but dead air. Teruki had to check and recheck that call was still ongoing.

Right. No small talk. He needed to get to the point. His heart was hammering in his throat and he squeezed his free hand over his knee to keep his focus.

“I was just on my way out of school and I happened to see something bad,” he said. “Something that… I think you’d really like to hear about, so I was thinking that maybe I could come see you. I think things like these would be better, uh, talked in private, you know?”

“Um,” Kageyama said.

Crap. Shit. He was making him uncomfortable.

Out with the truth. He needed to show him what he had, get his foot through the door before Kageyama slammed it shut.

“Did you know your brother awakened his psychic powers?”

Another long silence. Teruki was going to vibrate through his bedframe, the floor and into his neighbor’s apartment bellow.

“Really?”

He had never, as far as Teruki had known him, been a big talker. Teruki realized it now. Before he’d at least had the scant expressions and stiff body language to go off of, but with a phone conversation, he had absolutely nothing.

“Could I maybe bother you to ask to meet up after school tomorrow?” he said, trying to put at least some charm into it instead of the shaky pleading it felt like. “I’m a little worried about him. And! And I don’t mean like how I was worried about you and your powers before, trust me. I’m not… I’m not about to start a fight with him or anything. I just got the feeling like… he was looking to start a fight with me?”

This one-sided conversation was going to be the death of him. Every second waited for Kageyama to say something, even a single vowel to acknowledge that he had even heard what Teruki had said, was like dying of thirst, knowing there was the spring was just out of his reach.

He was going to crush his own damn phone if he didn’t ease his hold on it.

“When are you free?” Kageyama asked.

Yes. Yes! Teruki felt like jumping up from his bed.

“Well, actually I’m free right now.”

A pause.

“But, you know, like I said, tomorrow would probably be better. It’s starting to get a little late, you know?” His natural laughter got strangled somewhere along the way and came out a little hysterical. “Not that I wouldn’t love to see you any time.” God. Shut up, shut up, shut up. “Maybe meet up with me after school?”

A hum. Teruki reached to tap the volume a little higher.

“I guess,” he said and Teruki hung from each word he was willing to give him, “I’m free after club tomorrow.”

Teruki bit down his teeth hard enough to keep the cheer from climbing up from his chest.

“That’s great,” he said, as neutrally as he was able. “I’ll meet you there.”

He didn’t sleep a wink, it felt like. In reality, he must have, at least a few hours here and there, but it certainly felt like he just spent the whole night tossing and turning, without any rest, thinking about the next day. What he was going to say. How it was going to go. So when his clock started ringing an hour and a half before he needed to be at school, his eyes felt like they’d been sprinkled with sand.

It didn’t stop him. He stumbled into the bathroom and put in eye drops. He concealed the shadows under his eyes, covered every little imperfection from his face and opened the drawer where he kept his chapsticks.

Which flavor to put on? His lips felt dry enough to crack. Teruki drummed his fingers on the bathroom counter and just stared at the selection. Mango, strawberry, vanilla and mint.

He wondered which one Kageyama would like the best.

Like it would matter. It wouldn’t. Ever.

He drummed his fingers faster.

Strawberry. Strawberry was fine. Everyone liked strawberry. Not that it would even matter.

Cologne or no cologne? Would it be too much? Body spray ought to be enough anyway. He already felt like he was sweating and he hadn’t even left his house yet. He licked his lips, tasting the strawberry.

Strawberry wasn’t adventurous enough. Maybe mango would be better after all.

His hand stilled, reaching for the mango flavored lip balm.

Kageyama did not strike him as an adventurous type. He’d like strawberry better. Or maybe even just vanilla.

It didn’t matter! Teruki squeezed his hands into fists. No one else was going to be tasting his lip balm today, so it didn’t matter!

But if there was even the smallest chance –

There was. No chance.

He shoved all four chapsticks into the pocket of his uniform jacket.

He spent way too long making sure his wig was on correctly. It felt like it was constantly leaning at a wrong angle. He would take a step back, shoot a wink to the mirror and say: “Hey, Kageyama, long time no see,” then cringe and reach forward again to move it.

Teruki didn’t even realize how long of a time he’d spent already. When he checked his clock, it felt like all the air had been punched out of his lungs.

He should have left ten minutes ago already. He couldn’t afford to be late today! This was not going to be the first time he’d get detention, this was not the day he could stay after school.

He ran like crazy, boosted his speed with his powers. All his hard work on his hair was ruined in an instant.

It was fine. It was totally fine. He’d still have time to fix it at school, he was only meeting Kageyama after it. He had all the time in the world!

He felt like he was about to burst. During the first class he caught his pencils flying at least twice, rising gently from his desk the moment his thoughts would wander.

He had never felt like the clock had moved slower than it did on that day. Every minute felt like an hour, every hour like a century and no matter how fast he was tapping his foot, time just refused to move faster. His teachers’ voices grew into a mumble, the people around him into a haze. The only thing he could feel sharply was how sweaty he was.

And when the last bell rang, he was out of his seat and on his way to the Body Improvement club’s shared club room.

He realized, with the rational part of his brain that they’d agreed to meet after club hours, but the emotional part didn’t care. He was just going to spend time with his new friends with the Telepathy club. Kurata and… the others. Yes. That was right. He was currently a bit short on friends, so he might as well do some networking.

Good. Good. Very good. Teruki straightened his tie nervously.

Most of the club was already there, some loitering close by. Teruki recognized the few former gang members and did his best to avoid looking at their direction so as not to come off as aggressive. A fight was the last thing he needed right now. He tried to be subtle about craning his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of Kageyama, but he must have failed on some level, since Kurata spotted him immediately.

“He’s already changing clothes.”

Teruki jumped without meaning to, turning around to face her

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said. “What? Who? I don’t – “

“Mob said you’d be meeting him after the club,” Kurata said, crossing her arms.

“Ahm. Hm. Right. That. Well. I happened to have this day free, so I thought I’d come here to spend time… with you. For the time being.”

Kurata looked skeptical. She shook her head.

“Fine,” she said. “Fine. But you got to play by the club rules if you want to stay in the club room. Got that?”

He didn’t remember any complicated rules the last time he’d been here, although the last time he’d been here, he’d been pretty out of it through most of it.

He opened his mouth, but clasped it shut right away when he noticed a familiar face rounding the corner. Kageyama stopped when he spotted Teruki and so did Teruki’s heart in his chest. For one terrifying moment he was sure Kageyama was going to turn right back around and walk away. But then, by some miracle, Kageyama looked like he relaxed a little. His shoulders went down a notch and his expression remained the same.

Teruki’s heart started beating faster.

“Oh,” Kageyama said. “You’re here.”

Teruki opened his mouth to explain, but every excuse in the world had escape from his head, his confident pose dropping off him, leaving his knees weak.

Kurata’s hand clapped on his shoulder.

“Yeah, bad boy over here is going to be playing Kirby with us,” she said.

“I wasn’t –“

“Really?” Kageyama looked a little surprised and there was a pleasant tint to it, the most positive sound he’d ever heard from him while Teruki was in his presence.

“Yep!” he squeaked. “Absolutely.”

Wasn’t Kirby like a game for kids or something?

Kageyama looked between them, shifted weight from one foot to another.

“Hanazawa!” Musashi’s voice boomed loudly over the hallway. “Did you come to apologize to Kageyama?”

Oh God. Teruki felt like his face was on fire and he slapped his hands over his face. The worst of the worst had just happened and he was going to –

“No,” Kageyama said. “He came to play Kirby.”

…

The realization hit Teruki slow. It was like lifting his head and realizing there was a sun in the sky. Something that was so obvious from the start but something he hadn’t thought about before, because it was just something that was just so, well… obvious.

He…

Teruki was pretty sure that somewhere along the way he…

He had kind of

Sort of

Fallen for Kageyama.

His hands squeezed together in front of him, fingers twisting around each other. It was so obvious. So clear. Of course he had. But… but he hadn’t…

He hadn’t realized.

Teruki was staring. Kageyama turned to look at him, then looked away fast and Teruki’s heart was beating painfully hard in his throat.

Of course. Of course. He wanted Kageyama. In any way he was willing to give. Anything he was willing to offer, Teruki would accept and sing his praises if it meant Kageyama would look at him twice.

“Dude,” Kurata muttered under her breath.

Teruki swallowed with trouble.

“Right,” he managed to force out. “Kirby.”

He was going to die. By the end of this day, he was going to be deceased, because he could not get a word out to save his life. He was going to sit down with Kageyama and just slowly wilt away from embarrassment.

And justice would prevail.

“Riiight,” Kurata said, throwing her arm around Teruki’s shoulder. “How about we go ahead and get started while Mob goes running, yeah?”

Teruki was starting to get the feeling that Kurata thought he was an idiot.

And honestly? Fair. At least that meant she was willing to show him enough kindness in dragging him away before he could embarrass himself further in Kageyama’s eyes.

He hadn’t looked scared. Uncomfortable, maybe. A little. But not at all the way he’d been before.

His friends. Of course! His friends were here, he could feel relaxed when they were around. What a blessing. He allowed Kurata to drag him in and sat down by the table without much fuss.

A game console was placed into his hands. Teruki looked up.

“I thought you were kidding about this,” he said slowly.

“Oh?” Kurata said, raising a brow. “Well, that’s too bad then. I better go tell Mob you don’t want to be friends after all.”

“No wait!” Teruki said before he could think. Only once the words were out did he spot the pleased smile on Kurata’s face.

He’d been played like a fool.

“Oh, you’re here again.”

Saruta. That was his name, right? Teruki nodded stiffly at the second Telepathy club member who hadn’t been sleeping while Teruki had been here before.

Playing Kirby was… surprisingly fun. It had been a while. Kijibayashi and Inukawa came in soon after with just as little to say as Saruta. Kurata seemed to be having a blast yelling about how bad he was at playing and the others were quick to follow.

It took a moment for Teruki to realize that they weren’t really laughing at him.

They were trying to laugh with him.

He died again. The game played its jingle and Kurata screeched like hawk.

Maybe it was a little funny.

Fifteen minutes in, one of the Body Improvement guys dropped Kageyama off. Kurata rose to help him sit down and brought him a drink, placing a wet towel on his head and Kageyama’s heavy breathing was calming down a little. He looked like he wasn’t really seeing anything, too caught up with trying to stay upright. He might have been so out of it he wouldn’t have noticed Teruki helping out as well, wiping some of that sweat off his face and… something.

Teruki turned back to the console in his hands and pretended to play a moment longer, even though his concentration was completely shot now. He looked back up.

Wow. Kageyama really was…

Teruki bit his teeth into his tongue.

Handsome.

Kurata snapped her fingers in front of his face.

“Bet you can’t reach the next level while he’s here,” she said under her breath.

Like hell. Teruki sneered. It was a kids’ game. As if he wasn’t going to be able to beat that.

Kageyama’s breathing evened out somewhat over the next ten minutes. Teruki tried so hard not to look his way, but alas, he was too weak. The allure of the sweaty shirt glued to his back was too strong and dear Lord, he was going to have dreams again.

This time he would welcome them with open arms. It was the only intimacy he was going to get. Might as well make the most out of it.

The rest of the club came back from their run half an hour into it and then they were doing muscle exercises with Kageyama and Teruki was paying so much attention to his game console that he thought he was going to crack it. Inukawa must have noticed, since Teruki could see him throwing worried looks. The console was his, apparently.

All in all, it was kind of a miracle that Teruki survived the experience. He was so sure that at one point or another he was going to burst and blurt out something and then there would be no going back.

When the club left for the showers, Kurata gave some pointed looks at her friends, who vacated the room a moment later. That was the point when Teruki knew he was screwed.

“So,” Kurata said, dragging her chair closer to Teruki’s. “Mob, huh? How did that happen?”

“I don’t know what you’re implying,” Teruki said stiffly, knowing exactly what she was implying.

“When exactly did you realize you have a thing for him?” she asked, leaning closer, eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. “Before or after you started harassing him?”

Teruki swallowed. He knew that Kurata could in no way hurt him physically, he had psychic powers and she had nothing. But Kurata held a power much stronger than that over his head.

She was friends with Kageyama.

“A- after,” he said. “I didn’t realize before…” He looked away. “Before it was too late. So.”

She looked him up and down, one brow lifting slowly.

“You really are as dumb as a rock,” she said. She pulled back and crossed her arms. “What are you planning to do today? Asking to meet him like that after school.”

“It’s, uh, private.”

Wrong thing to say. Kurata’s hackles were up immediately, storm brewing in her eyes.

“Nothing like that!” Teruki said quickly, raising his hands. “I swear.” He slouched a little, hands falling to his lap. “I already know I screwed those chances the moment I breathed in his direction. It’s just… something came up. About his brother.”

Kurata relaxed a little.

“Okay,” she said. “Well, that’s good then.” She started tapping her foot, leaning back on her chair, arms crossed. She seemed to be weighing her words and Teruki waited for her to make the decision whether or not to say what she was thinking about. “You know,” she said slowly. “You aren’t really as big of an asshole as I thought you were.”

Ah. Teruki looked down.

“Well,” he said slowly. “I mean, I’m trying. If it makes you feel any better, I used to be just as big of an ass like you thought I was. I’m just, you know. Trying to change that now.”

Kurata nodded her head. “Yeah, I can tell,” she said.

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Keep it up,” Kurata said.

Teruki chuckled a little. “I’m just glad you aren’t telling me to go apologize to Kageyama like everyone else. I’m still working on that.”

“That reminds me,” Kurata said. “Go apologize to him!”

“I will, I will!”

The idea of apologizing didn’t feel quite as overwhelming as it had before. Maybe he could do it. Maybe it would be okay. Kageyama would forgive him. Maybe…

Maybe he could forgive himself too.

Maybe and maybe. It wasn’t really a problem he needed to think about right now.

“You know,” Kurata said slowly. “I was thinking… that I could, technically, tell Kageyama how hard you’re trying to be a better person. I’m sure he’d really like to hear that.”

A current of electricity ran up Teruki’s spine and he sat up straight.

“You could?” he said.

God. He could see it now. Kageyama walking up to him. “Hey,” he’d say. “I was talking with my friend and she said you’ve been working really hard lately and I think you’re actually pretty cool and I’d like to be your friend, actually.” And then Teruki would accept his friendship request humbly and then they’d start making out in the middle of the hallway and –

Stop.

His hands were trembling on his knees, squeezing tight.

“Yeah,” Kurata said and her smile told him she was messing with him. “If you buy me that new console that just – “

“Deal,” Teruki spat out before she could finish the sentence.

Her brows dropped into a frown and Teruki realized his mistake.

Friendships didn’t work on bribes.

“That’s pretty sad, dude,” Kurata said. “Maybe you’re not ready yet.”

“I am! I am, I swear,” he said. “It was. A joke. I was joking!”

She tilted her head forward and gave him a look that screamed with everything but words: “Really, dude?”

Teruki fell into a slouch and dropped his head into his hands.

“It’s still a work in progress,” he said miserably.

“Yeah. Keep at it. Don’t try that shit with Kageyama, okay?”

Too late. He’d tried to bribe his admiration once already. He could learn from his mistakes. He would. He already had and he was getting better. He shouldn’t punish himself too hard for making mistakes every now and then. It was only natural.

Loud steps from the outside had him pulling his back up straight and some of the jocks came back, Kageyama with them.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to stay with you?” the shortest of the bunch asked.

Kageyama nodded. “Thank you, Sagawa. I’m fine.”

The guys were patting their hands on his back hard enough to make it look like Kageyama was about to collapse. They waved their goodbyes and Kurata got up as well. Before she left, though, she shot him one last look.

“Don’t screw this up,” the look said.

God forbid if he did. He was going to try his very best, if nothing else.

He rose up a little unsteadily while the others drained away. Kageyama wasn’t looking his way exactly, somewhere close to him and away again, but at least he didn’t look like he was hunching between his shoulders. His movements were a little stiff, but Teruki was pretty sure it was because he’d just been training hard.

So hard. Doing so well. Teruki had to clamp down on his tongue not to say something inappropriate then and there. Sure, he would have had good intentions behind it, but he didn’t trust his tongue right now.

Instead, he said: “Want to get out of here? There are a few nice cafes around here, if you want to go take a bite before we talk? My treat.”

Wow. That came out pretty smooth, actually.

Kageyama hummed. Still not looking at him.

“My parents aren’t home right now,” he said slowly. “And Ritsu will be gone for a few hours.”

Was he…?

“Your place, then?” Teruki said, hiding the nervous tremor with expert ease.

Kageyama nodded.

Oh, wow. This wasn’t how Teruki had thought this day was going to go at all. He tried not to beam as brightly as he felt like he was doing. This was nothing. He was just there to offer his help with Kageyama’s rowdy little brother. Invite in meant nothing.

Was he going to be invited to Kageyama’s room?

Teruki bit down on his tongue twice the harder, following after Kageyama when he walked out.

He was on a roll here. Doing so much better than he’d thought he was going to. If he managed to keep this up, he might even get to show Kageyama just how much of a better person he was now. Maybe even a bit of a change would be enough to show him he was really trying now.

People muttered when they walked past them on their way to the school gates. Kageyama didn’t seem to notice and Teruki tried very hard to copy his carefree attitude. They didn’t matter. Their opinions wouldn’t change anything.

That was right. Teruki walked a little closer to Kageyama. They didn’t know anything about him, about the real him. And if they decided they’d rather spread rumors, then they never would. That was fine. Not everyone’s life needed to revolve around Teruki.

The weather outside could have been a little better. It was a bit overcast. Not really the best weather for a date.

Not that it was a date, that was. Just. A random thought Teruki had, nothing more.

He supposed any day would be beautiful with Kageyama.

“Hey, silly question, not really anything important,” he said to break the silence. “Which do you prefer, mango, strawberry, vanilla or mint?”

Kageyama threw a confused look his way.

“Like… like ice cream flavors!” Teruki said quickly. “I was just wondering. Something that came into mind. It’s not important. Don’t worry about it.” He lifted his sweaty hands behind his head and wrangled his trembling lips into a confident smile.

Kageyama looked back up ahead and seemed to thought about it seriously.

“Vanilla, I guess,” he said after a while.

Right! He’d known it! Teruki reached for his pocket and grabbed the vanilla lip balm, spreading it on quickly.

Just in case.

But now he knew that conversation was okay. Kageyama was ready to talk about silly nothings. That was good! Like really good. Like he could just pick any other subject and keep the conversation going and they’d get along together so well.

His head was ringing empty. Anything. Any subject.

“So,” he said slowly. “How’s… how’s school?”

God. Bury him alive right now, he was going to die of embarrassment.

“Good.”

Teruki nodded. “Yeah? That’s… that’s great. Ugh. Last Wednesday’s math class, am I right? I feel like the teacher has it out for us, right?”

Okay, okay, good! Common ground. Kageyama turned to look at him, face neutral, no noticeable expressions to latch onto. He did nod, though.

“I mean,” Teruki surged forward, “he made it clear before that he doesn’t like the whole Salt and Black Vinegar merge thing, but does he have to be such an ass about it? I swear, that man doesn’t even like teaching.”

“Hmm.”

“I guess I’m really lucky, because, I’m like really good at math, so he doesn’t have any reason to pick on me, but he isn’t really good with any students. He just has a new target for his attention now and it’s you guys.”

Kageyama turned back to look at the road, then slowly back at Teruki and Teruki felt like he was at the top of the world.

Here we go. Here we go! This was how it should have been from the beginning. He was doing great.

“I mean,” he said, moving a little bit closer, just a little. A friendly amount. “If you ever feel like you need help with your homework, then…” He waved at himself. “You know. I’m free. Whenever.”

Kageyama looked at him for a long time. At least it felt like it took a long time. Teruki didn’t dare to look away, but at the same time he feared he was going to trip on his feet and make a fool out of himself in front him.

“No… thank you,” Kageyama said slowly.

Take it in stride. Teruki kept smiling and waved his hand dismissively. “That’s fine, that’s fine,” he said. “I get it, I was a prick before. I wouldn’t want to spend time with me either. But. Just so you know. The offer still stands. If you feel like it.”

Kageyama hummed quietly. Teruki had to turn to look at the road as well. There was only such a long time he could defy the fates until he found himself face first on the asphalt.

It took them about half an hour to reach Kageyama’s home. Teruki could have probably made it in half the time walking by himself, but Kageyama didn’t seem to be in any rush and any chance to spend time with him, right? Teruki kept talking, because he could. Kageyama might not have been a big talker, it was almost like the more Teruki talked, the more relaxed he got, so Teruki was planning on never shutting up again.

The house was nice. Nicely sized compared to the other suburban houses, with neatly trimmed bushes reaching over the fence, red tile roof and white walls. Looked cozy.

Teruki felt like he was treading on forbidden ground when he stepped in, like he was breaking some great rule by removing his shoes and following after Kageyama into his home.

Everything felt like him here. The whole house was saturated with his aura and it was nothing like the cold sadness of the aura at school. No, this was arm and soft and comforting and Teruki felt like he could have melded into the walls and never leave, comforted by the feel of this place.

But he couldn’t do that. He could not act weird in front of Kageyama. He couldn’t breathe in too deeply to let him know that he was sniffing the alluringly familiar smell of his home. All he could do was hold onto one of his softer smiles and follow when Kageyama went into the kitchen to make them tea. Kageyama took an electric kettle and filled it with water.

Alright. Alright, he’d gotten here. Now it was time to be helpful.

“Where do you keep your cups?” he asked.

Kageyama stared at him for a moment like he hadn’t registered the question. Teruki waited nervously for him to thaw enough to point at a cupboard and Teruki went to get them two mugs.

“No, not that one,” Kageyama said. He reached past him to take another, identical cup and replaced one with it. “That one is Ritsu’s.”

“Okay,” Teruki said. “Mind if I use this one?” He lifted the cup up.

Kageyama shook his head and turned back to the electric kettle. “That’s fine.”

“So,” Teruki said slowly. He supposed he was going to have to start at some point. “I… kind of ran into your brother yesterday.”

Kageyama was looking at him from the corner of his eye. Teruki leaned on the counter, leaving enough space between them not to make it weird.

“Yeah,” he said. “I actually stopped running the Black Vinegar gang after we – After. Hm. But Edano still keeps in touch and he let me know that apparently some other gangs came to start trouble. I found your brother there.”

Kageyama turned to him.

“Is Ritsu okay?” he asked, more force to his words than Teruki knew to deal with. “Did he get hurt?”

Teruki lifted his hands up, placating. “Looked to be just fine to me. At least physically. Looked like he’d just awakened his powers and he was using them.”

Kageyama mulled over this for a moment.

“He was clearly looking for a fight,” Teruki continued.

Kageyama looked down, then up again. There was something to his expression Teruki couldn’t read. An edge that made him feel uneasy. “Are you sure?” he asked slowly.

“Absolutely.”

“But you thought… that I wanted to fight too.”

Ah. Teruki bit his teeth together.

“Well,” he struggled to say. “I did. But back then, I was the one looking for a fight. I’m not really interested in any of that anymore. Did you hear? I actually disbanded the gang after our… um. After that one time. I never actually told you that, but I did.”

It was like his words just washed over Kageyama, leaving no trace behind them. Teruki played with his fingers, twisting them around.

“To me, it looked like Kenzaki was the one who started it. But your brother was encouraging it.”

“That doesn’t sound like Ritsu.”

Oh. Oh no. Teruki had not considered that Kageyama might not want to believe him. Kageyama’s voice was sure. He didn’t think Ritsu was looking for fights and if he didn’t believe Ritsu was starting fights, it meant he would think Teruki a liar and add that to the list of things he didn’t like about him.

Diplomacy. They needed diplomacy.

“Maybe not,” he said and spread his arms. “You would know him better than I do. But there’s been these awful rumors going on lately and I’ve heard people saying that… the student council might have some part in it.”

Kageyama’s eyes on him were sharp. He didn’t say anything, but Teruki could feel the weight of his own falsely set rumors weighing down on him.

“I just wanted to make sure that you knew,” he said. “That the two of you… that you should talk about it. It’s not really my place to get mixed up with this, but I wanted to make sure you heard about this from someone before your brother gets hurt.”

There. That was pretty good, right? A perfectly polite and kind thing to do. He’d gotten his words out and he should leave.

The kettle rattled and clicked, letting them know it was ready. Kageyama poured two cups.

Teruki wanted to stay.

He should leave and give Kageyama space.

But the tea…

He could stay for tea.

Things were going pretty good, if he said so himself.

Not that much had changed. The rumors around him had died down somewhat and people no longer dodged out of his way outright when he entered the room, but they were still there, underlying everything. Teruki had caught a handful of his old friends sending awkward looks his way like they were planning on saying something, but then didn’t. It was still kind of painful and going to school was no fun because of it.

But never mind that. Never mind that at all.

Teruki felt like he was at the top of the world. Why, today, just before math, he exchanged good mornings with Kageyama. Now that they were sitting in and listening to the teacher ramble about angles and triangles or whatever, Teruki felt like maybe they were best friends now. Or at least well on their way towards it. That of course meant, that his focus was completely shot afterwards, his thoughts wandering on wonderful little side tangents instead of the mathematical tangents he was supposed to be calculating. Truly, this day could not get any better.

It had been only few days after his tea-date with Kageyama and he hadn’t been able to think much since. He’d been a true gentleman, he was sure. Very polite in conversation and manners and had not overstayed his welcome. He’d shown Kageyama he was good company now. Reliable and pleasant.

Time would only tell how things would change from now on. Dare he even hope that they’d eat lunch together every now and then? Walk home together?

One could only dream.

The bell rang and their lesson was over. Teruki gathered his things and threw a quick look towards Kageyama’s desk to see what he was doing, but he must have already left.

Except that he was standing next to Teruki’s desk now.

Teruki jumped from a slouch to straight-backed attention. Kageyama was looking at him, looking at his face, even if not his eyes and he didn’t look like he was trying to walk past him either.

“Kageyama!” Teruki squeaked. “Hi! Again.”

“I tried to talk with Ritsu,” he said without a preamble. “I think… I think you’re right. Something is wrong.”

And he came to Teruki for help? He felt like his heart was going to melt.

“Hey,” he said, softening his word to the max and reaching a tentative hand to place it on Kageyama’s shoulder. “You want to tell me about it?”

Kageyama looked at the hand on his shoulder, then back at Teruki and said nothing about it. “He doesn’t want to talk to me,” he said slowly. “He is avoiding me now.” A pause. “I don’t know what to do.”

Teruki thought about it for a moment.

“Hmm,” he said. “That’s tricky. How about I walk you to your next class and we talk about it?”

Kageyama nodded.

Nice going, Teruki! Smooth! He was on a roll today.

He didn’t take his hand from Kageyama’s shoulder when they started walking, just kept it there. Since Kageyama didn’t mention anything about it, he was in no hurry to do remove it or anything. It was just a friendly gesture. Was he building up muscle? He was pretty sure he could feel Kageyama building up muscle. Neat. He rubbed his thumb on Kageyama’s shoulder.

“So, what happened, exactly?” he said. “If you feel comfortable enough telling me.”

Kageyama stared at the ground. His expressions were so hard to read, but there was a small dip to his brows, the slightest frown on his lips and Teruki would have just loved to… reach and… smooth it away with his fingers.

Kageyama was saying nothing and Teruki wasn’t sure if it was because he was still thinking about it or if he wasn’t planning on saying anything at all.

“Speaking as someone, who has recently been forced to think back on my past actions,” he said and pressed his free hand to his heart, “I’d say the best thing you can do is try to talk to him. I’m sure you’ll be able to reach him if you try.”

“I did try that,” Kageyama said. “I don’t think it worked out too well.”

“Do you want me to come and talk to him with you?”

Kageyama glanced at him.

“Not really,” he said.

“Fair, fair. I think he kind of hates my guts. For a reason. Hm.” He pursed his lips. “But I kind of get what he’s going through. He’s just got these powers, right?”

“I don’t know.”

“It can be pretty empowering to realize that you could take down pretty much anyone you wanted to in a fight. I think what he needs right now is someone like you showing him that’s not all there’s to it.” He chuckled and curled his fingers tighter around Kageyama’s shoulder. “I mean, it worked for me, right?”

Kageyama was looking at him. Teruki could feel it in his skin and bones, but didn’t dare to look back. All he heard was his quiet hum of consideration and he felt like he might burst if he said something more.

He was saved by the bell. He let go of Kageyama’s shoulder with some internal struggle and lifted his sweaty palm to a wave, walking backwards away from him.

“Hey, I can help you try to find Ritsu after school, if you want to,” he said. “If he thinks I’ve been talking to you, he’ll want to make sure you’re okay, so it’s the perfect solution, right?”

Kageyama thought about this for a moment. A long moment. Teruki struggled to keep his good smile on while he mulled it over.

“Tome asked me to go look for telepaths with her today,” he said slowly.

Ah.

“But I think this is more important.”

Yes!

“Good! That’s a great decision, these things, they don’t get better with time, you know? I’ll be waiting for you at the school gates, okay?”

If Kageyama said something in response, Teruki didn’t hear it. His heart was beating too loud in his ears. He pulled out the vanilla lip balm from his pocket and applied a fresh coat. He was going to run out soon, he was using it too liberally.

He’d just buy another one.

Waiting for the day to end was exhausting. Every five minutes he was checking the clock, devastated to see that it had barely moved. They’d only gotten past the first lessons of the day! There was till so much time to be wasted.

But the prize waiting for him at the end was worth all the waiting in the world. He was going to be spending the afternoon with Kageyama!

It was almost enough to send his heart soaring. As long as he didn’t think about the fact that they were going to go out looking for his brother, that was. A search like that could take time, hours even. And Teruki was going to be the most pleasant company Kageyama could hope for.

The second surprise of the day came during lunch.

Teruki had kind of gotten used to the idea of eating alone, so when a shadow fell on him, he was expecting it to move on soon enough when the person realized they were approaching the school pariah.

When that wasn’t the case, he lifted his head and saw Haruka with a handful of her friends standing next to his table.

“Is this free?” she asked.

“Sure,” Teruki said and let no ounce of uncertainty shine through his smile. It wasn’t like there weren’t any free tables to go around. “What a pleasant surprise.”

Haruka didn’t exactly look at him when sitting down, but the gesture was nice enough.

Loud, too. People were watching. An ex sitting down to eat with him was like blowing a horn. Everybody was paying attention.

“So,” she said. “I hear you haven’t been going to soccer practice. What gives?”

Teruki was pretty sure it was clear why he wouldn’t go play soccer with people who wanted to bench him permanently, but it was an olive branch. He could recognize one now and was thankful to have that much.

Talking with Haruka and her friends was surprisingly easy. They were nice enough people, even if a little stiff in his company, but that was how it usually went when meeting new people and not wearing his mask of extremely well-liked and approachable persona. Being a little bit closer to who he was made it harder to get their approval, but at the same time, it felt… Well, he wouldn’t say it felt better exactly, but there was something to it. A certain amount of vulnerability. Excitement, too.

People would be talking about this later. Some would probably want to twist it out of shape, into a pity move from Haruka’s part. And maybe that was what it was. He wasn’t going to spend time wallowing over it, though, because in the end, it didn’t really matter.

“So, when are you going to start dating again?” Haruka asked. “This has got to be like, your record time not having a girlfriend.”

Teruki could hear the real question under it.

“Well, actually,” he said slowly. “I think I kind of… found someone I like. I mean, like more than usual.”

“Oh?” She lifted a brow and masked her disappointment almost perfectly. “Someone from our school?”

Teruki played around with his fork, ran his tongue over his teeth.

“Yeah,” he said slowly. He thought about it for a moment, trying to go over the pros and cons. “His name is Kageyama.”

“Oh?” This time she couldn’t hide the surprise from her voice.

Teruki stared at his food, knowing fully well that he was turning red-faced.

“Yeah,” he said. “He’s really… nice. I…”

One of Haruka’s friends leaned to whisper something in her ear and Teruki shifted on his seat.

“Oh!” A third of it’s kind, uttered as Haruka connected the dots. “He’s the bowl cut guy!”

Teruki covered his face with his hands and muttered: “Yeah.”

“So the rumors were true on that one, huh?” she said. “So… are you dating or not?”

“Not,” Teruki groaned. “I kind of shat the bed on that one.”

There was some pity on Haruka’s face and it just made Teruki feel that much worse.

“Turns out when you pull their pigtails, they don’t really like you back, huh?” one of her friends said.

Teruki sagged down.

“Yeah,” he said miserably.

They were laughing at him. But like before, with Tome, Teruki realized that it wasn’t actually that bad of a thing. They were just having fun. Trying to have fun with him.

Teruki found himself smiling at his lunch.

Yeah, this day had been pretty great, actually.

Things were going to get better. It just took time and effort.

Teruki didn’t have to wait long for Kageyama, although the few minutes that he was forced to stand all by himself by the gates felt like an eternity in themselves. Kageyama came into view from the sea of people and suddenly Teruki felt like he could see nobody else. He lifted his hand into a wave, remembered to make it smooth half way through it.

“I tried to look for Ritsu in the student council room,” was Kageyama’s way of a greeting. “He wasn’t there. He hasn’t been there in a while, that’s what the person in there told me.”

“Then how about we try to look for him together?” Teruki suggested. “Where does he usually spend his free time at?”

Kageyama opened his mouth, but then said nothing at all. He looked down at his feet and moved them around aimlessly.

Was Teruki making him nervous again? The last thing he wanted to do was making him nervous.

“Or,” he said quickly. “We could try and see if we can feel him using his powers. Those are easy enough to track once you know what you’re doing.”

Kageyama was still deep in thought.

“I don’t… know what Ritsu does on his free time,” he said slowly, like the thought was just dawning on him and it made him horrified.

Teruki needed to fix this. Right now.

“You know,” he said loudly, waving his hands to gather Kageyama’s attention back to him. “It’s never too late to learn. Let’s try to find him and you can ask himself.”

Kageyama didn’t… smile exactly. His expression just got a little lighter.

Teruki, on the other hand, was smiling from ear to ear.

The plan was perfect, as far as he was concerned. He’d be helping Kageyama, which would paint a better picture of him in Kageyama’s mind. And while they were looking for his little brother, they’d get to spend more time together. Even if they wouldn’t find Ritsu, they’d still get to walk around together and Kageyama could see that Teruki wasn’t a complete disaster anymore.

Well. He’d get to see that Teruki wasn’t an awful person anymore. He couldn’t be sure about the disaster part. Those things snuck up on him.

But to his immense disappointment, the moment they got out of the reach of the school’s aura, Teruki could feel another, very similar force flaring somewhere close.

“Did you feel that, Kageyama?” he said.

He looked at Teruki and shook his head.

“Come on,” Teruki said. “I think he’s close.”

The flares were stronger than they’d been before. More confident. No longer were they like zaps of electricity, but streams of power. Still nowhere near Teruki’s strength and light-years away from Kageyama’s, but too powerful to be used on other people for sure. Teruki was running. Kageyama was close behind and he could hear him huffing already, even though they’d only ran a few blocks. When he looked over his shoulder, though, he could see the look of determination on his face. He wasn’t going to slow down, not when it was about his brother.

They got closer and Teruki rounded a corner.

A fight. They’d gathered far more people this time, Teruki could recognize the uniforms of Pasta Soup, Soy Sayce, Miso and Mayo Middle schools. Even some of Kenzaki’s goons were here.

And Ritsu had beaten down them all, just flattened them on the ground like they were nothing and now he was laughing, clearly enjoying himself.

Next to Teruki, Kageyama gasped softly. Teruki turned to him, tried to read his expression, but it was just as bland as before. After shifting for a moment, Kageyama stepped forward.

“Ritsu?” he said, sounding like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Ritsu’s laughter died off and he turned to look at Kageyama over his shoulder.

“Brother,” he said.

Teruki grimaced. This… really wasn’t his place. He’d promised Kageyama he’d help him find his brother and here he was. What they needed right now was privacy, not some stranger butting into their business.

He backed away slowly when he heard Kageyama saying something. Maybe… maybe Kageyama would tell him afterwards how it went. Or maybe, once he had fixed whatever this issue he was having with his brother, Ritsu wouldn’t let him anywhere near Kageyama.

Welp. That sounded about right. It was still a good day, Teruki wasn’t going to let go of that. Many good things had happened and just because he had to cut his day with Kageyama short, Kageyama had still come to him to ask for help and that must have counted for something.

That was right. Even if for just a moment, Teruki had gotten to play Kageyama’s trusted friend and he’d be treasuring this moment in his heart forever.

He turned and walked away, leaving the two brothers alone.

Chapter Text

What to do next, then? Teruki buried his hands into his pockets and watched the sky. He hadn’t made any further plans for the day, thinking that the whole thing with Kageyama was going to take a little longer. Now he had all the time in the world and he didn’t know what to do.

Teruki was loitering around, in no hurry to be anywhere. To be honest, not that far back in his mind he thought that maybe if he walked around slow enough, the Kageyamas would be done with their little spat faster and the older Kageyama would have time to run up to him and thank Teruki for helping to find his little brother.

Teruki would naturally be very happy to tell him that it was no big deal and if he ever, and he meant ever, needed help, Teruki would be there for him. As a good friend and a confidant.

His original plan had been that he and Kageyama would get to walk around town a little longer. They could have talked about things, nothing specific. Just… things. Go to eat together and Teruki could have paid for him. Afterwards, maybe the streets would have gotten a little crowded. They would have gotten separated and Teruki would have almost lost Kageyama, but then he would have reached for Teruki and held his hand and then…

But you took what you got and Teruki had gotten quite a lot today. He shouldn’t be greedy. He should be grateful that things were going as well as they were.

He’d gotten maybe five blocks away from where he’d left Kageyama with his brother, not that he was counting, meandering slowly and kicking his feet while staring through the boutique windows, when something green and formless zoomed into his line of sight.

A spirit.

Teruki’s eyes grew larger when he recognized it.

A familiar spirit!

Pathetically, his first thought that came to his mind when he saw the gas-like green spirit that had used to follow Kageyama around was: Oh thank God, I didn’t kill it after all. And the one after that, the one that kicked him even lower was: I can’t wait to tell Kageyama!

“Hanazawa, was it?” the spirit asked. “Quick! I need your help.”

Teruki opened his mouth to respond, but couldn’t get a word out before the spirit had spoken again.

“Shigeo’s in trouble!”

And he was off running to the direction he’d just come from.

He tried not to feel excited, he really did. It wasn’t a good thing that Kageyama was in trouble. Whether it was because of his brother, the gangs or something else, hearing that something was enough to give him so much trouble he needed help should have been a big red flag. In that moment, though, he didn’t care.

This was it, he though. He could show Kageyama, show him once and for all, that he was such a great guy. This whole day had been one home run from start to finish. Teruki was going to appear like a knight in shining armor, help him out against whatever it was that had caused him trouble, tell them that if they wanted to get to him, they’d have to go through Teruki first.

He paid no mind to the fact that anything that could cause trouble for someone as powerful as Kageyama would no doubt be a hard nut to crack for him as well. It was irrelevant. After all, he had far more important things to think of. Like what he was going to say. How he would announce his presence and appear in front of Kageyama, ready to recue him.

“I heard you needed help,” he said to himself.

“What?” the spirit asked.

“Nothing!”

Simple. He was going to keep it simple. Leave him wanting more. Maybe have a mysterious presence, appearing whenever Kageyama needed him most, but keeping his distance otherwise. Then Kageyama would grow curious. “Why, Hanazawa, you have changed so much,” he would say. “I hardly recognized you as the same person. But now I can’t help but feel drawn to you and your good looks.” Because Kageyama thought he was good looking. “Of course I can forgive you, you don’t even need to ask!”

Wow. This was going to be it, wasn’t it? Gone were the thoughts of avoiding Kageyama for the rest of his life, admiring him from a distance. In their place were plans, so many plans.

“This way!” the spirit shouted. He wouldn’t have needed to. Teruki had been counting his steps away from Kageyama, he knew exactly where they were going.

What he had expected was a fight between brothers. Kageyama wasn’t the type of a person to lift a finger against his little brother, while Ritsu seemed much more willing to pick a fight. What Teruki had expected he needed to do was to jump between them and keep them apart, maybe whipping some thugs out of the way while he was at it.

What he did not expect to arrive to was the aftermath of a disaster.

Pavement, walls, everything in pieces, and in the middle of a sea of cheering middle school gang members stood Kageyama.

Unconscious.

His first feeling was terror. Kageyama in this state could be dangerous.

His next, far pettier thought was that he wanted the thugs away from Kageyama so that he could be the one putting his hand on his shoulders.

He warned them, told them to stay back. After all, Kageyama was much more dangerous like this. They recognized him, knew him by reputation and made way for him.

There was no sign of the little brother.

“What happened here?” he asked, walking slowly to Kageyama with his hands held up in a sign of peace. Kageyama didn’t react to his approach, didn’t start pulling away from Teruki like he usually did.

The danger was gone. The objective completed. The lights were out behind his eyes, but he was still standing.

“Some grownup jumped down from the roof,” one of the thugs said, Teruki didn’t bother to turn to see which. “But White T Poison kicked his ass!”

“Where’s Ritsu?” the spirit asked, looking around.

“Where did Kageyama’s brother go?”

They muttered to each other and Teruki turned to glare at them.

“He… the scarface took him.”

Teruki had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what had happened. A scar-faced adult fighting kids, kidnapping psychics?

That screamed Claw to him.

Which meant Ritsu was as good as gone.

No wonder Kageyama had lost it.

“Hey,” he said softly and waved his hand in front of his face. “Kageyama? You awake? Do you recognize me?”

He stood completely still, staring ahead unblinking. Teruki could not feel any of the malice he had felt back on the day-that-was-not-to-be-mentioned. His hand trembled when he placed it on his shoulder, ready to pull a useless barrier between them if Kageyama decided he was a threat.

There was nothing. No reaction, no recognition, nothing going on behind his eyes. Teruki craned his neck a little, tried to get into his line of sight, but it made no difference. Kageyama was reacting to nothing around him.

“I’m taking him home,” he declared.

“Good idea,” the spirit said, circling around them.

Teruki looked at the others. “You should leave as well. I doubt that guy’s planning on coming back for you, but just in case.”

They weren’t moving. They just stood there like idiots, staring at Kageyama with looks of wonder. Teruki hated to admit it, but he could recognize the awe in some of those eyes and it wasn’t just admiration for Kageyama’s power.

He didn’t need the competition, not when he’d already managed to get off to such a bad start. He needed to get Kageyama out of here, away from prying eyes and somewhere where he could take care of his cuts and bruises.

Kageyama did not look like he was going to be able to walk on his own, though.

Teruki was going to have to carry him.

God have mercy on him, he had not thought of that. His hands twitched at his sides, reaching, then falling back down. He could maybe use his powers for it. In theory. Yes, that was a very good idea, surely. But then again, wasn’t it Kageyama who had insisted that using powers like theirs on other people was a no good, very bad, not allowed thing to do? So clearly Teruki had not other choice here than to carry his dearest friend Kageyama home himself.

Kageyama wasn’t going to like… attack him or anything, if he tried to lift him, right? Teruki shifted weight from one foot to another. Surely not. But then again, last time in his unconscious state he’d been very volatile and unwilling to listen to reason, so there was no telling what was off limits.

How should Teruki even do this? Just lift him up? Carry him like a bride? Tempting, tempting, but maybe not very practical. A piggyback ride would be the easiest and least exciting option, and in this situation going the easy and predictable route was probably for the best.

The thugs were still there, standing around, watching him closely. They wouldn’t listen to him unless he talked to them in their language, huh? Teruki worried his tongue over his teeth. Fine.

“One of you big lumps help me get him on back,” he barked. “Excitement’s over.”

“Where will you be taking him?” Bandai, the leader of Soy Sauce Mid’s gang asked.

Someone always had to question his authority, huh? Teruki tilted his head and looked at Bandai down his nose.

“Home,” he repeated, like Bandai was an idiot. “Does he look like he’s in any condition to be left standing around here for?”

“My home’s close by!” Fuji from Miso Mid said. “You can bring him there!”

Teruki turned to him, sauntered closer and tilted his head. The guy was taller than him, had more mass than him, but he knew Teruki by reputation and Teruki had the upper hand here. He wouldn’t even need to use his powers here.

“I told you,” he said, voice as smooth as silk, “that I’d be taking him with me. He and I actually know each other. Do you think he’d want to go with the lot of you? After you tried to assault his darling little brother?”

It was so enticingly easy to slip back into his old persona. Everything worked so much smoother this way. The other leaders and their thugs made way for him, fearing him and his reputation and it would have been so easy to just give in to the temptation.

But it was just a means to an end. He wasn’t enjoying it, but –

Well. That was a lie. Teruki did like it. He just also didn’t like the fact that he liked it.

It was just for now. A momentarily use of his authority. It wasn’t like he was going back to old habits.

Fuji helped Teruki lift Kageyama onto his back. Teruki worried Kageyama was going to go back to his battle mode, but his reaction to being hoisted off his feet was the opposite. The moment they had him in place, Kageyama went limp, head lulling against Teruki’s shoulder. He was like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Teruki successfully masked how wobbly his knees got in that moment. He couldn’t afford to show any signs of weakness to these people, they would descend on him like vultures if they thought they could fight him.

Teruki wasn’t about to let them have Kageyama. Not in this state. Kageyama could do his friendships later, convert these idiots into his life of kindness once he could stand on his own feet again, but for now, Kageyama was his to care for.

He felt so frail on his back. Not exactly light, but not a burden either. Teruki jostled him a little to lift him higher, and Kageyama didn’t stir. He just rested heavy on Teruki’s back, breathing calm.

If Kageyama was a burden, he was burden Teruki would have carried every day for the rest of his life without a word of complaint.

“Do you live far?” the spirit asked.

Teruki shifted Kageyama again and started walking.

“Not far,” he said.

Well, it wouldn’t have been far if he was walking by himself. Carrying a person made it a little difficult. Teruki wanted to hurry, to get Kageyama away from the streets. He might not have cared about people whispering behind their hands about Kageyama’s disheveled state, but Teruki didn’t want their attention to turn from worry to actions.

There was no hurrying this, though.

When he finally reached his apartment building, his legs were burning like he’d been doing heavy exercise. It wasn’t that Kageyama was heavy… No. He was heavy. Teruki had to admit it now. Teruki might have maybe gotten a little too used to boosting heavier objects with his powers to make carrying them easier in the past, but he’d rather die than be caught doing that with Kageyama. Yes, he was a burden Teruki appreciated, but maybe he could appreciate him while both of them had their feet on the ground in the future.

God. There were stairs. He’d forgotten about the stairs.

He had the distinct feeling the spirit was laughing at him, but he didn’t particularly want to turn and see it. It was all worth it to get to carry Kageyama on his back.

Teruki might have cheated a little. Just a little. On the last few steps and to open his door without taking his hands off Kageyama. He hurried in and did his best not to drop Kageyama like a rock onto his bed.

How did those big, buff jock-friends of his carry him on their shoulders so easily? Was Teruki going to have to start training more seriously again?

Well. As sad as it was to admit, it wasn’t very likely he was going to get to carry Kageyama again any time soon.

Legs trembling from the strain, Teruki stumbled to remove his shoes and leave them at his door. Then he dragged himself into his kitchen corner and poured himself some water. He drank deep, closed his eyes and tried to think.

Now what?

He glanced at Kageyama. He hadn’t moved an inch since Teruki had set him down on his bed, deep in sleep.

Teruki set his glass down and approached carefully. There was no outward reaction out of Kageyama to his presence, so Teruki just tiptoed right next to the bed.

He stared down and suddenly his throat was very dry.

Wow. There, on his bed. Kageyama Shigeo.

He’d had… thoughts about this before. Dreams. Scant fantasies he’d tried to snuff out before they could get too rampant.

They hadn’t been quite like this, though. No, in his thoughts Kageyama hadn’t been unconscious, with his clothes in tatters, skin cut and bruised. In his thoughts, Kageyama had always been quite happy to be there with him.

Teruki didn’t know what to do with his hands. He looked away.

Okay. Okay. Bandages and disinfectant. That much he could do. Maybe try to rouse Kageyama enough to let him know what was going on and where he was, help fix him up a bit. Teruki rubbed his hands together nervously. Yeah. He could do that. That was good.

He hurried to pick up his first-aid kit from the bathroom. He sat down on the bed, next to Kageyama and fumbled with the disinfectant bottle and bandages, dropping several on them on the bed in his hurry to get them out.

“Kageyama?” he said softly, reaching for his shoulder. “Kageyama, hey. Wake up.”

Kageyama groaned quietly, but didn’t wake up. Teruki’s heart was beating in his throat.

Okay. That was fine. It was okay. He could do this while Kageyama was resting. No problem! Better this way, right? So that Kageyama wouldn’t notice the sting of the disinfectant.

But what if he would? What if that was what woke him up and he’d see Teruki and immediately connect the thought of pain with him?

Teruki twisted his hands around, then steeled himself.

It didn’t matter. Kageyama needed his help and his help he was going to get.

Teruki cleaned the worst of the cuts that he could see, the ones on his arms, face and where the knees of his pants had given out. And Kageyama slept like a log through all of it, didn’t stir one bit when Teruki delicately lifted his arm and cleaned off the grime and blood, not when he covered the scrape on his cheek with a bandage and maybe let his hand linger just a moment too long. He seemed aware of none of it. Teruki started to worry that something was wrong. But then again, using powers left him tired afterwards and Kageyama had so much more power stored in him, so it followed that he’d be that much more tired afterwards.

Let him rest. He’d earned it and Teruki was in no hurry to see him wake up and leave. Just for this moment, this selfish, short moment, he was going to have him here and pretend like everything was okay. He looked so soft in his sleep.

Let him rest. Teruki stood up and shrugged off his uniform jacket. He changed into more comfortable clothes, a nice sweater and jeans for home use. He turned to look at the condition of Kageyama’s clothes.

They were about the same size. Close enough anyway. Teruki licked his lips and looked into his closet.

Lending clothes meant nothing. It didn’t matter that Teruki would never have borrowed his clothes to any of his old friends. It was just that he was the new Teruki. That was the only reason. Surely he would have lent clothes now to any of his good friends given the chance.

It had nothing to do with the smallest of thrills the thought of seeing Kageyama wearing one of his shirts sent through his spine.

Go easy, Teruki thought and picked one of the most boring shirts from his closet. Start with something small. Blue would look good on him.

He folded a shirt and a pair of pants at the end of the bed.

Kageyama was still fast asleep. Teruki moved his hands back and forth, filled with nervous energy.

He couldn’t exactly just go about his day normally with Kageyama here. He couldn’t just sit down and watch TV now.

He grabbed a chair and pulled it to the bedside, sat down and started to mess with his phone.

His eyes wondered to Kageyama next to him.

Don’t think about it, he told himself. Teruki was just helping a friend in need, nothing more. This meant nothing.

But he did look so peaceful in his sleep. It was so much easier to rest his eyes on Kageyama than to keep going through the same apps on his phone.

It wouldn’t hurt. It was just the two of them. It wouldn’t hurt anybody.

He reached his hand slowly, expecting Kageyama’s eyes to snap open the moment he got too close. No such luck. With hesitant movements he wiped some hair out of Kageyama’s brow, ran his fingers over his forehead. Just for a short moment. It wasn’t hurting anyone.

“What’re you doing?” the spirit asked.

Teruki pulled his hand away as if burned. The spirit had pulled to the furthest corner of his home to watch them with narrowed eyes and for a moment Teruki had honestly forgotten it was there at all.

As if it wasn’t suspicious enough to have Teruki touching Kageyama’s face without a reason, his reaction to realizing he was being watched was a dead give-away that he didn’t have the best of intentions in mind.

“Nothing,” Teruki said, a bit too late.

It didn’t seem to satisfy the spirit and he kept his sullen expression.

The spirit was keeping his distance, much like Kageyama had, and for a reason, Teruki supposed. Unlike Kageyama, who had been slowly warming up to him in the smallest of ways, the spirit showed no signs of wanting to get closer.

“I’m,” Teruki started, then said nothing for a beat. He gathered himself up and offered the spirit and apologetic smile. “I’m glad to see I didn’t manage to exorcise you fully.”

The spirit kept its dour look, but huffed. “Kid, stronger men than you have tried.” He shifted a little, flickering where he floated. “How’s he doing?”

“You can come closer,” Teruki said and looked away. “I’m not going to exorcise you.”

The distrust was evident, but the spirit did slide a little closer.

Kageyama was completely swaddled in covers and blankets, only his pale face peeking from under them. Teruki thrummed his fingers against his chair.

“He’s,” he started and swallowed. “He’s going to be fine.”

“Hmm.” The spirit circled over Kageyama’s head, watching closely.

“He’s strong,” Teruki said. “He’ll wake up.”

“Yeah,” the spirit said slowly. There was apprehension in his voice. Teruki looked up to him to see the spirit turn away.

“What happened back there?” Teruki asked. He didn’t remember seeing the spirit there when he’d left. It was a lucky break he’d been able to find Teruki so easily.

Lucky. Or calculated. Teruki wasn’t sure yet.

The spirit didn’t say anything. When Teruki tried to meet his eyes, he stared stubbornly down at Kageyama.

If that wasn’t suspicious, Teruki didn’t know what was.

“What?” he asked slowly.

“I didn’t see most of it,” the spirit admitted at length. “I went to get you when things started to look bad.”

Teruki wished he hadn’t left at all. Screw being polite, he’d ended up getting Kageyama hurt again. If he had stayed, he could have fought side by side with him, maybe even save Ritsu.

“Did they really get his little brother?” he asked.

Again, the spirit was quiet.

“Well?” Teruki snapped.

“Yes.”

That was it, then. Kageyama Ritsu was gone for good. Teruki rubbed his brow. He hadn’t liked the guy, sure, but no one deserved a fate like that. He wasn’t sure what exactly Claw did to the people they kidnapped. Brainwashing could mean a lot of different things, none of them anything good.

He leaned away from the bedside and Kageyama.

He didn’t want to be the one to break the news to him.

Teruki rested his elbows on his knees. He didn’t think he had much of a choice in this matter.

The bed sheets rustled softly and Kageyama shifted. He groaned quietly and Teruki turned to him.

Kageyama stared bleary-eyed at his ceiling and blinked a few times. He turned to look at Teruki and for a moment it didn’t look like was registering him fully.

“Hanazawa?” he croaked.

Teruki felt his face melting into a genuine smile before he could even think about which mask to put on.

“Hey,” he said. “Good to see you awake. How are… how are you feeling?”

Kageyama blinked a few times more and moved to sit up. He winced and Teruki’s hands rose from his side on their own.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he said, forcing his hands to stay away from his shoulders. “Take your time, there’s no rush.”

Kageyama didn’t listen to him, pushing into a sitting position and looking around.

“Where –?” he started.

“Your friend here came to get me,” Teruki explained quickly, pointing a thumb at the spirit. “I found you passed out in the alleyway where I left you. Do you remember?”

Kageyama looked down at his hands.

“What happened to Ritsu?”

A lot of things happened very fast after that. Kageyama decided that he wanted to throw himself head first into danger and what else was Teruki supposed to do but offer his humble services to his aid? They went to a place called Awakening Lab to find out who leaked the knowledge about Kageyama Ritsu’s psychic powers to Claw and waterboarded a guy. A pretty eventful evening, if Teruki said so himself. And he got to spend it with Kageyama, which made it even better.

Seeing Kageyama like this, being close to him when he got into this mood of his was… Well, Teruki wasn’t sure what he was feeling about it. It wasn’t exactly how he’d though Kageyama would be like, but at the same time it was exactly how he thought Kageyama would be like. The fact that he was now too busy to think about what had happened between them before now that they had a bigger fish to fry was a bonus too. Kageyama was far too busy thinking about getting his brother back to question Teruki’s motives to want to help.

The spirit, Dimple apparently, was a little more suspicious. They couldn’t turn down his help, though, not when they were going against someone like Claw and despite Teruki’s hesitation to go against a group as dangerous as them, he was more than willing to go along with Kageyama to help. It was a trial by fire, he thought, the true test of his new and improved outlook of life. He was being the best version of himself by helping his good friend to get his brother back.

Getting into the Seventh Division hideout wasn’t much of a challenge. The guy they’d sent after them was a joke and gave out everything in just a few quick dips into the bucket. Teruki was glad Kageyama was far too occupied with his own troubles to consider the implications of using torture to get what they needed.

They did meet the man who had apparently kidnapped Ritsu once inside the hideout, though. The ease with which Kageyama took him out was almost embarrassing.

Teruki had no time to feel ashamed for him. Not with how loud his heart was beating at the sight of Kageyama’s show of power. It had looked like child’s play to him. Not even that. It hadn’t even broken a sweat.

So graceful it was.

He could do that too!

When they inevitably had to part ways to look for Ritsu, though, Teruki felt his insides squeezing.

This was the Claw, after all. They were feared for a reason and despite his boasting and telling Kageyama he could definitely help him with this, he was maybe a little, only a small amount, only just a teensy tiny bit worried.

They were strong. Dangerous. Grownups too, allegedly.

This trip might not be as easy as getting in, getting little brother and getting out.

“Alright, then,” Dimple said. “See you guys in a bit.” And with a wave of his new meat suit he started walking off.

Kageyama was heading off to another direction as well.

Teruki bit into his lip. This might be the only good chance he was going to get to apologize to him properly. After this, who knew what was going to happen?

The decision was made hastily, leaving Teruki with nothing to stand on.

“Kageyama,” he said, his heart hammering in his throat.

He might not get another chance.

Kageyama turned to him, a question in his eyes. Teruki should say he was sorry now. Get it off his chest. It should have been easy. Just two words. Easy as that.

It just didn’t feel like the right time. It didn’t feel like the right place either, here in the middle of an enemy infested base, where they were about to start poking a hornet nest with a stick too short. Two words would never be enough to contain what he felt, what he’d done and what he wanted to apologize for, but two words was about as much time as he had right now.

Kageyama didn’t deserve Teruki half-assing his apology here behind God’s back. But now he’d gotten his attention and Kageyama was waiting for something. Dimple was already rounding a corner, disappearing out of their view and Teruki was standing so close to Kageyama, Kageyama who was wearing his shirt.

In this moment, surrounded by enemy forces, they were alone. Just the two of them. Teruki swallowed with struggle.

The idea was terrible. It blindsided him by appearing out of nowhere, uninvited and loud in his head. It was a terrible idea, really, Teruki thought, looking deep into Kageyama’s eyes.

He hadn’t even brought his lip balm.

“Hanazawa – “ Kageyama started. Teruki grabbed and held onto his face with two hands before he could finish the thought.

It was a terrible idea, so he didn’t think about it. He wasn’t going to get another chance like this. Probably ever. So he was going for it.

The kiss was brief, closemouthed and everything Teruki could have ever hoped for. He was in heaven. Kageyama’s lips were soft, his face was soft, everything about him was so soft Teruki would have just liked to curl up into his lap and never leave.

But this wasn’t the time for that. There would probably never be a time for that. He pulled away.

Kageyama was looking at him like he didn’t understand. Teruki pulled himself together and gave him a cocky smirk, sharp and flirty and all on reflex, a familiar mask that felt so very comfortable right now.

“Just in case I won’t make it,” he said.

Kageyama blinked slowly. He lifted a hand to his lips, looked down, then up again.

Teruki wasn’t going to say he was sorry. He was saving that for later, in case both of them made it out safely. So instead he winked and started running off the corridor to the left.

God. That had. That had been.

God. He covered his face with his hands, feeling like it was on fire.

He shouldn’t have done that.

He really shouldn’t.

But it had felt so good! Teruki’s insides were as light as a feather. He felt like he could have started floating with just the smallest of pushes from his power and never get down again.

It wasn’t like he was going to get another chance. He wasn’t going to fool himself on that one. Yeah, he could have his fantasies and little daydreams, but none of those were ever going to be a reality and that was just a fact he was going to have to learn to live with.

But this, he could have. It was all he needed to win this. He could be the hero to Kageyama, save his brother and then…

And then continue living out of his way.

It stung, but that was the reality of life. No amount of his powers was going to change the feelings Kageyama had for him, but at the same time, they couldn’t erase Teruki’s feelings for Kageyama either. It was just something Teruki was going to have to learn to live with. He would help save Kageyama’s brother and then he would apologize.

It was going to have to be enough.

In the end, Teruki didn’t even get to pull half the cool moves he’d thought up on the fly to impress Kageyama. In the end, it was Kageyama’s master, the legendary Master Reigen, who defeated the evil with the only way fitting for someone calling himself Kageyama’s teacher.

And then, just like that, it was over and they were in car on their way back to the city.

The car ride was quiet. Mitsuura from the Awakening Lab had sent them drivers to get them home, Teruki with the Kageyamas and Reigen, the rest of the kids in the other car.

He kind of wished he’d had a better chance to talk with the other espers his age. He was going to have to look them up later. It’d be interesting to talk with other espers that weren’t the Kageyamas, ones who he either didn’t have an embarrassingly massive crush on or who didn’t outright hate his guts.

Even though, he felt like his standing with Ritsu had gotten a little better. They’d had a long time to sit alone in the cell while Kageyama had been unconscious. Teruki still wouldn’t call them friends, but… it was better than it had been before, that was for sure.

Reigen sat at the front with the driver, giving directions, while Teruki sat with Kageyama and Ritsu in the back. Both of the Kageyamas looked like they were dozing off, Ritsu’s head lolling against the car window while Kageyama between them was staring into middle distance nothingness, his mouth forgotten slightly open. Teruki couldn’t blame them, he was tired as well. It had been a long day, full of ups and downs.

Kageyama turned to look at him and suddenly Teruki couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss. He turned to stare through the window instead, pretending like he couldn’t feel his cheeks burning.

They were going to have to talk about that, huh? Teruki had kind of wished they… wouldn’t. That it would remain as some wacky accident during the heat of the moment. What happened at the Claw base stayed at the Claw place, right?

He could feel Kageyama’s stare boring into his skin and bones. He stared resolutely into the passing scenery.

What a day, huh? Teruki breathed out a long sigh and hit his forehead against the cool glass of the window. He’d ended up burning his shirt, scuffing his jeans and losing most of his wig! Such a tragedy, that one. The crazy guy with the sword had even had the gall to tell him he looked better this way.

What did he even know? The guy looked like wore the same suit every day. As if that gave him any right to comment on the looks of a superior dresser. No sense of style whatsoever.

Well. His own hair was getting long enough that maybe he should consider switching back to a life without a wig. Maybe. He’d have to think about it once he wasn’t about to fall asleep on the back of a car.

He could feel Kageyama’s leg pressing against his, pushing gently like a question to him. He was so very close. It would have been easy to just… rest his hand on his own thigh and then just accidentally slide it closer to the area between them.

But they hadn’t talked about the kiss. There hadn’t been any time, they hadn’t had a moment to themselves to breathe. He couldn’t bring himself to try to reach for him, not after something like that. It would be better to just leave it and…

Teruki turned his head, just enough so he could look at Kageyama from the corner of his eye, because he was a glutton for punishment.

Kageyama was looking right back at him. He looked tired, he was bruised and disheveled, but the look in his eyes was clear enough.

He was looking right at Teruki and Teruki felt his breath catch in his throat. What was he thinking about? The kiss? Teruki certainly was. What had he thought of it? Teruki hadn’t waited long enough to find out. Did he hate it? He didn’t look like he’d hated it.

Reading his expressions was impossible. Teruki was going to go crazy!

“You guys want to get food before heading home?” Reigen asked.

And then Kageyama’s attention was on his master.

Teruki felt like breathing either a sigh of relief or disappointment. He wasn’t sure which, so he just turned back to look at the scenery. They’d just passed the city limit and streetlights were lighting the road around them. After the dim darkness of the woods it was like stepping into another world completely.

“I’m a little hungry,” Kageyama said quietly.

Teruki thought about it. The idea of going home right now, going back to his lonely apartment, it didn’t sit well with him.

And he was a little hungry too.

“Yeah,” he said, realized how hoarse his voice sounded and cleared his throat. “Yeah, I could go for food.”

Ritsu was too far gone to answer, his face mushed against the window.

“Ramen it is, then,” Reigen said and turned to the driver with an address.

They ended up getting dropped off near a small shopping district. Reigen guided them into a small corner shop, warm and well lit and just like that the whole Seventh Division thing was over and Teruki felt like it had gone by way too fast.

It was over and he hadn’t even had the chance to show Kageyama most of his moves.

Sitting down with Reigen and the Kageyamas felt a little surreal after everything that had happened lately. They were the only customers in the ramen shop at this hour, the only other person there besides them the cook behind the counter and soon they had four steaming bowls of ramen in front of them.

It felt like they’d somehow ended up on a completely different plane of existence, where they hadn’t just faced one the most dangerous collection of espers in the world. Here they sat, all four of them plus Dimple, looking scruffy and tired and the guy behind the counter hadn’t said anything about it. Ritsu was staring off into the distance looking like he hadn’t really woken up after getting out of the car and had just sleepwalked in with them.

Everything felt just… a little bit too normal. Too calm. He was sitting across from Kageyama and everything was fine.

He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be feeling, but whatever it was, he was feeling it strongly.

He became aware of Kageyama’s stare a little ways into the dinner. He just looked up and it was there. He wouldn’t have even noticed had he not looked up. Kageyama was looking at him expressionlessly like he’d done in the car and suddenly Teruki was feeling a little less tired and a little more alert.

Teruki swallowed carefully, ran his tongue over his teeth, then dared to offer him a small smile. Just a small one, not too presumptuous, not too forward, just… a small smile.

Kageyama looked him over for a moment without any outwards reaction to it. Next to him, Ritsu looked like his head was about to drop into the ramen bowl in front of him.

“Thank you for coming with us, Hanazawa,” he said at length.

It was the simplest thing. But Teruki couldn’t look him in the eye. Instead, with his hand reaching for his neck, he looked down.

“Of course!” he said. “It was the least I could do.”

The chair next to his creaked and Reigen got up.

“It’s been a long day,” he said when they turned to look at him. “I think I’ve deserved a smoke. I’ll be right back.”

Kageyama watched him leave. Ritsu looked like he was no longer in this world.

This was it. This was his chance.

“Um,” he started.

“You kissed me,” Kageyama said.

Aaaaand there went that. Teruki’s face felt like it was in flames.

“Yeah, I did,” he said, laughing a little mechanically. “It was a bit… spur of the moment. I wasn’t thinking.”

Kageyama hummed in thought and Teruki couldn’t really read the emotion behind it.

Okay. This was it. This was his moment. He swallowed thickly and drew his lungs full of air.

“You know,” he said with some struggle. “I’ve… I never really. Apologized. For what I did.”

Kageyama didn’t say anything. His lackluster reaction was almost too much for Teruki to keep going, but he’d gotten this far. He might as well get it all out in one go.

“I don’t… I didn’t know what to say at the time. When you apologized to me, that is. I guess it was still too fresh on my mind. I’d been… There hadn’t been any other psychics my age before, you were my first and I panicked and I wasn’t thinking. I was – “ He closed his mouth and shook his head. His fingers curled around his utensils, squeezing tight. Kageyama didn’t need his explanations. They wouldn’t make the situation any better. When he lifted his head, Teruki met Kageyama’s eyes head on. “What I wanted to say was that I’m sorry. I really am. About what I did. Not just the fight and the… the choking thing… Those too, naturally, but the other things also. I was…” He started laughing a little, had to turn away. “I was so desperate for your attention that I didn’t stop thinking for even once.”

Kageyama’s stare was heavy on him. There was nothing there, no frown, no tilted head, no twist of his mouth and Teruki for the life of him could not read his expression.

He swallowed again and shook his head.

“I get it if you still want nothing to do with me. I do. I just… I want you to know, that I know what I did was wrong and I’ve – I’m trying to change.”

“I can tell.”

Teruki’s heart leapt to his throat. “Yeah?” he managed to croak out.

Kageyama nodded.

“Captain Musashi told me you apologized to him. And Onigawara.” Teruki could see him rolling his chopstick between his fingers. Was he nervous too? The good type of nervous? Or the bad. “And Inukawa. Inukawa told me you came over. Hm.” He moved his mouth around, going side to side. “That was very nice of you.”

Nice. Teruki’s smile was a little wobbly and he didn’t have the strength to make it into anything more than that.

“It was just… something that felt right,” he said. “After everything. I felt like… I needed to build up to apologizing to you, you know?”

Kageyama blinked slowly. “Not really,” he said.

“Yeah,” Teruki said a chuckled. “Maybe you’re right.”

“You are an interesting person.”

“Said the pot to the kettle!” Teruki laughed.

Kageyama tilted his head a little.

“Nothing, nothing,” Teruki said and waved his hand. He felt like he was going to bounce right out of his skin if he didn’t start moving. He started tapping his foot against the leg of the chair he was sitting on. “I just think that out of the two of us, you’re the far more interesting person. I’d… very much like to get to know you better.”

Kageyama’s smile was small and kind. Far kinder than Teruki deserved.

“I would like to be your friend as well,” he said.

Ah.

Well.

Friends.

They could start with that.

Teruki needed time to buy more vanilla lip balm anyway.