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It was a Saturday afternoon, the cold breeze drifting through Teru’s hair as he waited outside of the local arcade business that was planted in the middle of Salt City. He seemed to be acting as cool as ever; hands in his jean pockets and leaning against one foot as he looked around the street. One quick glance at him and you’d think there was nothing wrong, just a teen hanging out. Secretly, however, he was anxious as he could possibly be.
It took all he could muster to ask Shigeo out. At first, for a date. Then as he continued talking, the nerves got the better of him and in the end just sounded like any other hang out day. As friends. Teru swallowed thickly as he thought back to the conversation he had with Shigeo, now seeming to visibly sweat. He should have kept his cool, sweep Shigeo off his feet in one simple sentence. Instead Teru had stuttered and messed up his words. He was surprised the raven had even understood most of what he was trying to tell him.
Shigeo seemed delighted by the idea so not all hope was lost, Teru thought. Maybe he still had a chance at this. Don’t screw this up, he thought.
He wasn’t entirely sure when he started having these feelings for Shigeo, he just knew he ended up finding himself thinking about him constantly and fantasising situations together. Then they got worse and eventually thought about more… un-friendly kind of things. Thinking about these things brings a small blush to Teru’s face.
The cold air hitting his face was what brought him out of his trance for a moment. It was starting to get cold outside and darker much quicker. It was a good thing Teru thought to wear a jacket over his shirt, decorated in fashionable patterns of a monkey mascots face in all sorts of bright colours. Shigeo would love this, he was sure of it. They both knew this mascot and would sure to bring back good memories from shopping together in the past.
Starting to run out of patience, or simply having anxiety run over him, Teru quickly looked at his phone for the time. He had managed to get the the destination much earlier than was intended just to make sure. It was starting to close in on the due time, and it wasn’t like Shigeo would ever show up to a meeting such as this later than intended. It should all be fine, no worries.
As if on cue, Teru’s head shot up a little as he heard a small voice call out his name in the distance. He turned his head and gave a smile, almost without knowing. Shigeo was somewhat rushing towards his direction, hands in his hoodie. His outfit seemed nice; it looked as if he was wearing a blue turtle neck underneath a somewhat baggy hoodie that was loosely zipped halfway up his body. Jeans, sneakers. Teru also noticed that as Shigeo raised a hand to wave at him, the sleeve of his hoodie revealed his hand and they looked as if he was wearing fingerless gloves.
Clearly he had help with his outfit, anyone could tell that Shigeo just wouldn’t have decided to wear this on his own request. Or could he? They were both growing up faster than they thought, so maybe Shigeo’s taste in clothing was getting better?
Gosh, he sure was cute.
Shigeo huffed a little as he soon came to stop in front of Teru, a weak smile on his face. Past Teru probably wouldn’t have noticed the small smile placed on Shigeo’s face every now and then, but over time he has learnt to notice all the small features he gives out. He enjoyed noticing these hidden secrets about him.
“Hanazawa-kun, good afternoon,” The raven muttered with his hands now resting at his side, his eyes placed on the other teen before him.
Teruki still tried his best to appear cool and collected, his hands still in his jeans as he leaned from one foot to the other.
“Ah, Kageyama-kun! Good afternoon!” He seemed to have sounded a little too excited but he didn’t seem to care. “You doing alright? Hope it’s not too cold for you yet, haha.”
Shigeo shook his head and adverted his eyes for a moment, thinking. “I’m okay, thank you.” He awkwardly started to scratch at his chin, still looking around the place for a moment before landing his eyes back on Teru. Then he lowered his head a little in a small bow.
“Thanks for inviting me to hang out, Hanazawa-kun,” he slowly began, much to Teru’s surprise. “I’m sure today will be fun for us.”
Laughing a little awkwardly and waving his hands a little at Shigeo, Teru made sure he didn’t sound too surprised by this sudden act. “Hey don’t worry about it!” He then placed a hand on Shigeo’s shoulder. Gently squeezing it caused the raven to raise his head again, just ever so slowly.
He then nodded and hummed. He didn’t seem too bothered by the fact it took Teru maybe a little bit longer than needed to remove his hand from his shoulder.
“So uh,” Shigeo began again, his attention to the door behind Teru. “Should we go inside?”
“Ah, of course!” Standing up straight, Teru nodded and placed his hands back into his jean pockets. He spun around almost too dramatically and made his way into the arcade. He was glad that he could hear Shigeo’s footsteps not that far behind him.
The arcade itself was brightly coloured with all sorts of machines everywhere, ranging from gacha’s to gaming machines and claw machines. A few kids where here and there and so was a few adults, who were mostly focused on either the dancing machines or a drumming rhythm game, it seemed. The prizes themselves seemed to be worth it, most inside the claw machines were plushes of all sorts of animals and mascot characters. Even a couple of expensive looking figurines and devices were stashed inside a few. This arcade really meant business.
Now, Teru thought. What was the plan from here? They were inside, now what? He had a plan; he needed to impress Shigeo at something in this arcade, anything.
For a moment, he hadn’t had noticed Shigeo now no longer near him but a few feet away, looking inside a couple of the claw machines. He seemed to be interested in them, so they’ll do this first.
Teru walked up to Shigeo and placed a hand on the side of one claw machine and leaned in, trying to take a closer look at what the prizes were. This one just seemed to be a huge shark plush that you had to push past some pipes to make it fall. Seemed easy enough.
By the look on Shigeo’s face and the way his eyes sparkled just ever so slightly spoke a million words to Teru. He was going to win this for him no matter what it took.
Clearing his throat a little to catch the raven’s attention, Teru then dug into his pocket to reach for some change. “I’m pretty good at these, ya know.”
“Oh? Really? Shigeo seemed to be slightly surprised by this, pulling slightly away from the machine to give the other some more room. “I wouldn’t have known.”
Teru chuckled a little as he placed his coins into the machine. It sung a song and lights were shining, awaking itself and letting them know it was ready to be used. The taller teen grabbed the joy stick and began moving it into position. He had to line it up just right to make it fall. He pressed a button and it lowered, but no luck, it didn’t budge. Teru swallowed a little nervously.
He tried again. No luck yet again. Now he seemed to be a liar in front of Shigeo, who was watching him maybe a little too intensely. Teru has done this kind of thing before; coming to the arcade with a past date and winning them a prize to try and show off a little. But this was different. Before he’d use his powers, but this time he couldn’t for two reason;
He knew Shigeo could sense any amount of power so he couldn’t just say he won it on his own, and he wanted to win this for him without his power to show how much he has changed. He can be normal, good.
A deep sigh left Teru when he noticed how often he was missing the shark, inching closer and closer to the goal. The more he played the more he noticed Shigeo paying more attention, anxious yet patient. He was silent, other than a couple of “oh”’s every time it moved just an inch.
He had one more shot left from his remaining change. If he missed again he’ll need to get some more, which would be even more embarrassing than this instant. He could do this. He could! A small comment left Shigeo’s mouth, something along the lines of “if you can’t get it then it’s fine, Hanazawa.” But Teru wasn’t having any of that.
He was going to do this.
And eventually, the claw inches closer to the side of the shark and pushed it aside, finally loosening it from the bars, making it drop with a soft thunk. Teru froze for a moment as he bathed in the glory before jumping, punching the air with a huge smile on his face. Shigeo smiled as well, clapping a little at Teru’s winning.
“Haha, yes!” Teru shouted, turning his attention now to Shigeo again. “I told you I was good at these!”
Shigeo just simply nodded with a small smile on his face, pleased and happy for the other. This caused Teru to smile even more and felt his cheeks warm up a little. It was always nice seeing Shigeo smile, no matter how small or long it lasts for.
He noticed the raven bend down a little to pick the shark plush up from the machine. Seeing it in Shigeo’s arms really showed how big of a prize it was. Or how small Shigeo was. Then Teru was a little surprised when Shigeo began handing it towards him.
“I won it for you, Kageyama.” Teru commented, keeping his hands to himself to further his point. He felt his smile widen as Shigeo gave him a slightly confused expression, lowering his arms a little with the shark plush along side him.
“Are you sure? You won it after all…”
Nodding, Teru placed his hand on Shigeo’s shoulder again, however now running his thumb against it just ever so softly to reassure him. “Of course!” When he felt Shigeo’s shoulder loosen a little under his hand, he continued. “I won it, and I say I’m giving it to you.”
Shigeo was frozen a little in his spot, as if processing what Teru just told him. Then shortly after, he brought the shark plush closer to himself, practically hugging onto it now. A small smile came across his face again as he look from between the animal in his arms and Teru in front of him.
“Thank you, Hanazawa.”
Upon seeing this, Teru couldn’t help but feel himself smile some more, a lump somewhat in his throat he couldn’t seem to swallow properly. Was it even possible to act so cute like this…? It had to be illegal, right? Shigeo must surely know what he’s doing to the taller teen, tugging his heart on thin strings.
The both of them stood in place near the claw machine for a moment longer, and before Teru could open his mouth to talk he noticed a small sparkle in Shigeo’s eyes. The raven wasn’t looking at him, more focused on something behind him, it seemed. He looked so determined. Then before he knew it, Shigeo had shifted the plush into one arm and grabbed Teru’s hand with his own free one, now practically pulling him along in the direction he was staring at.
This surprised Teru for many reasons but could only find himself smiling and chuckling a little to himself, interested in what Shigeo was so determined about. And the way their hands were lightly gripping one another didn’t help the slight burning sensation in his cheeks either.
It seemed that their walk wasn’t that long considering how they stopped a few inches away from another claw machine, however the prize was slightly different. It seemed to be another animal, Teru could have guessed. Upon further inspection it seemed to be a puffer fish, a light yellow one at that. Was this what Shigeo was so interested in?
“Do you want this one too?” He couldn’t help but ask the other, tilting his head a little at the machine before them. He guess he could get some more change for the claw machines, if Shigeo really wanted it.
Shigeo hummed and shook his head, setting the shark down next to his feet so he could go through his pockets. “No,” he simply started. “I’m winning this one for you.”
Teru watched the raven place a couple of coins into the machine, waking it up. He found himself letting out a confused sound, almost a little flustered by this act. Hands waving a little, he tried to get Shigeo’s attention but didn’t seem to work, too focused on the machine.
“Huh!? You really don’t have to, Kageyama!”
Did Shigeo really wanted to win something for him? He felt… warm inside just from thinking about this. Not once did he think this would happen, that he’d be the one receiving a gift such as this. Shigeo didn’t seem to avert his eyes from the prize in front of him. He had missed his first try. Teru felt no power coming from the raven. He was trying his very best too, huh…?
“I want to.” Shigeo’s voice was small but caring. If he looked close enough, he was sure he could see a slight tint of colour go across his cheeks. This soon shut Teru up, staring at the other teen for a moment before giving his attention to how he played.
Shigeo didn’t seem to be the best at these type of games, but he really seemed to be giving it all he had. He kept missing the prize, and when it finally did hit, the claw had a weak grip and wouldn’t move the puffer fish more than an inch from where it just was. It seemed to be taking more tries than Teru just had, more coins pouring into the machine.
The teen was visibly starting to get anxious, hands slightly shaking over the buttons on the console. Teru thought this was probably far enough. He spoke up, his voice high enough to catch somewhat of Shigeo’s attention.
“Maybe we should stop for now.” He looked around, searching for anything else they could do.
Then he heard it, a thunk from the machine. Shigeo was still as Teru turned his head back to the machine. The puffer fish was no longer there. He managed to win it. He smiled at Shigeo, a little too wide, clapping a little. “Kageyama! You did it!”
Shigeo let out a deep sigh, almost as if he was holding his breath the entire time. His nerves seemed to have died down a little and kneeled down to collect his prize. Even this plush seemed big against Shigeo’s hands, lifting it up and presenting it towards Teru.
“Sorry it took more tries than you,” He started, averting his gaze. “I’m not very good at these.”
Teru smiled a toothy grin, his hands slowly gripping the prize Shigeo had just won for him. He couldn’t believe it, he actually managed to win him something, all on his own. He seemed so serious, so determined. He really wanted to win this for him.
His cheeks were once again flushed, but at this point didn’t seem to care. Taking the plush into his own arms, he nervously chuckled a little.
“You kidding? You actually won something! Half the time these things are rigged!”
He noticed Shigeo’s gaze now back onto Teru as he spoke, which only resulted in his voice wavering just slightly at the sudden expression the dark haired teen wore on his face. His face may have been a blank state but his eyes spoke a million words that only Teru could understand in that moment.
A small cough came from Teru as he tried to collect himself from the other, which only caused him to worry a little. But soon enough, they both settled down and was interested in playing something else.
The arcade was slowly decreasing in people so the teens had more chances at playing on the other machines. Teru was sure playing a game of DDR would be fun for the both of them but not even a minute into playing and Shigeo was wheezing on floor, his head lowered and on his knees in defeat. Why’d he think setting the level on the hardest setting, neither of them knew. To calm Shigeo down, Teru bought them both a drink and before long they were back on their feet trying to find something else to play on.
A drumming rhythm game soon popped up and Shigeo was eager to have a go. Much to Teru’s surprise, the raven was actually pretty good at it; keeping in time with the music and winning almost perfect scores. Teru himself had a go and wasn’t entirely sure why the notes weren’t in beat with his drumming but he still tried his best. He found Shigeo playing on it longer than he had hoped him too, but he didn’t mind. As long as the raven was having fun, that was all that mattered.
He played many songs, however most of them neither of them really recognised, though a couple were from anime’s the both of them knew about so it was entertaining to say the least. Eventually Shigeo was starting to get worn out again, especially by all the arm movements he was giving off so on to the next machine, they thought out loud.
“What would you like to do next?”
“Hm.. maybe this one.”
The both of them saw a huge machine sitting not that far away from the drumming game, looking like a care covered in creepy decorations and a screen on the inside. It seemed to be a horror game of some sort. Fake looking photoshopped sprits were on a sign, shouting “enter if you daaare!!”. Teru snickered at the poor attempt and Shigeo seemed to show no react at all.
That was until a couple of teens came out of the machine, looking horrified. They were pure white and shivering, one of the teens on his knees as soon as he got out of it. This seemed to have caught Shigeo’s attention for more reasons than one, Teru noticed.
One of the teens staggered up to Shigeo, gripping his shoulders tight and shook him around a little. Teru had every right to throw him off of him but listened to what he had to say.
“Don’t… don’t go in there, man,” he stuttered out, his voice low and waving. He wasn’t meeting eye contact, and soon took his hands away from the raven. Soon enough the two other teens had somewhat collected themselves and escorted the other away from Shigeo, now heading to leave the arcade without another word.
Teru scoffed.
“No way this thing is that scary,” he muttered, shaking his head and he propped his plush into one arm. “Just some scaredy-cats who can’t see how crappy this thing must be.” Teru was already starting to turn away and find something else to do, however stopped himself when he didn’t hear Shigeo following behind him.
Turning back around towards the machine, Shigeo was staring at it, lost in thought. One free hand was starting to clutch into a small fist, then back to being relaxed. Something was bothering him, Teru could tell. Before he could ask what was wrong, Shigeo spoke.
“I think a spirit is possessing the machine.”
This caught Teru off guard a little bit. He couldn’t seem to sense anything coming from it, was Shigeo really sure about this? He wondered back to the raven and hummed in thought.
“Are you sure, Kageyama?” When he heard a small hum in response, Teru tilted his head in thought as he continued to stare back and forth between the machine and Shigeo.
“Yes,” He soon replied, one arm loosening his grip around the shark plush. “The machine isn’t on right now so I don’t sense anything myself. But maybe when it activates, so does the spirit.”
A small thoughtful hum left Teru’s mouth as he nodded. Thinking about the situation, it honestly didn’t seem that impossible, especially by how the other kids reacted to being inside of it. Before long, he shrugged and stepped closer to the machine.
“I suppose the only way to get rid of it is by using it ourselves, correct?” Teru asked, turning his head a little to look towards Shigeo. In response, the raven nodded his head and stepped closer as well, not really looking all that fazed by this fact.
The both of them had made their way inside of the dimly lite car-model, the curtain acting as a door soon covered behind them, making the inside much more harder to see if it wasn’t for the screen in front of them. It urged them to insert a certain amount of coins, which Teru provided in no time at all. While he did this, Shigeo had carefully placed both his and Teru’s prize plushes in between them in the fake car seats, then gave his attention to the main screen when it made a loud noice to alert them the game was about to start.
It seemed to be somewhat shooting and driving game; in front of Shigeo was a fake steering wheel and pedal, while in front of Teru was a fake gun that you could pick up and shoot. It was connected to the car by a thick cable. The game soon started up, music and sound affects loud in the teens ears.
Zombies and ghosts appeared on the screen, all fake, of course. Shigeo turned the wheel every so often which in return caused the screen to shift and the car they were in to slightly move up and down, left and right, to make it seem somewhat realistic.
Teru had picked up the gun and started shooting at the zombies and ghosts. He wasn’t sure how a gun was able to shoot down ghosts but that was a different situation entirely. So far, neither of them could feel anything; no real spirits or the sort alike.
That was until Shigeo had lifted his hands from the wheel, and much to Teru’s surprise, it continued to twist and turn all on its own. Shigeo did not look impressed at all. And neither did the game, it seemed. The attitude of the game changed instantly upon this action from Shigeo; the creatures of the screen was determined to go after them, almost seeming like they were going to come out of the screen at any moment.
Teru was having a hard time trying to shoot down all of them at once, not even noticing the fact that Shigeo had now raised a hand towards the screen, igniting his powers. A flash of blue and purple light filled the room, the raven’s hair somewhat fluttering inside of the machine. Small wails came out, and in an instant, the screen turned off, completely surrounding them in the darkness. All was silent. A little too silent.
A small sound came from Shigeo, as if about to say something, but as soon as he did the screen turned on again. It almost blinded the two, the screen only showing a solid white colour and static was sounded through out the car. Then a gust of wind broke out, causing the teens hair and clothes to flutter. Teru let out a surprised yelp but Shigeo was more interested in what was happening in front of them.
A large spirit had broken free from the machine, body almost made out of smoke. Trails of dust and grime came pouring out of the creature as he moved, large hands gripping either side of the screen as it leaned in above the teens. His eyes flowed red, teeth penetrating out from its mouth, tongue long and dripping.
Out of instinct, Teru slowly raised his hand and started shooting the gun to see if anything would happen. Of course, it didn’t, but this seemed to have amused the spirit, laughing out loud as he got closer to Teru’s face.
“Such a naïve little boy,” it shouted, voice cracking and deep.
Teru gulped, lowering the weapon. “It was at least a good effort…” he muttered to himself, causing another loud laugh to fill the car. Then the spirit’s attention broke, now slowly leaning towards Shigeo. The raven showed no surprise in his face, just a blank stare. This did not seem to amuse the spirit.
“You are not afraid,” it spoke slowly and carefully, looming in closer. More trails of smoke was now covering Shigeo, causing him to cough and clear his throat just a little bit. “My enjoyment comes from those who scream. You do not.”
“How do you find enjoyment out of that?” Shigeo simply replied, ignoring the way Teru was staring at him with a slight ‘are you crazy??’ sort of expression. His attention was all on the sprite it seemed, which was understandable.
The creature laughed once more, his mouth forming into a toothy grin as his tongue slid out of it, inches away from Shigeo now. His reaction didn’t change. When no reply was given, Shigeo raised a hand and it glowed.
In an instant, the room flooded with colour as the creature screamed, body slouching as the new found light trapped around him. It seemed to be struggling, shouting as he tried to break free, but moment later it seemed to have curled in on it self and soon enough, only left a small trail of dust and smoke. Then soon into nothing.
It was over faster than it even started, Teru still just sitting there a little dumb founded as to what just happened before him. Shigeo soon coughed again, which brought him out from his trance. The room was still very dark, so trying to rest his hands over Shigeo was a little difficult but he managed to find him. Gently, he patted his back to try and help.
“Are you alright?”
A small hum was heard, then the coughing soon died down. Before long Shigeo spoke, voice now somewhat low.
“We should get out.”
Before long both of the teens were out of the machine, only to be greeted with a few people waiting outside with worried and shocked expressions on their faces. Looking back at the machine it looked slightly worn out and covered in dust. Teru looked down at themselves and noticed that so were they. Shigeo seemed to be covered in it worse, his face slightly blackened too.
A women walked up to them, wearing clothes that gave away that she worked in the arcade. She was asking what had happened and if the two of them were okay, as well as explaining that people were complaining that the machine was acting dangerously and was on her way to turn it off before the two left the car.
Despite Teru trying to shrug her off and explain the situation, it was no use and she went to get a first aid kit to not only clean them off but to also check to make sure they weren’t hurt. Shigeo was first to get cleaned up considering he was covered in it the most. Much to either of their surprise, it seemed Shigeo’s cheek had been scrapped and was soon cleaned out and covered up with a bandage. Thinking back on it, the spirit was very close to Shigeo those last few moments, so either his teeth or something else must have caused the marks. Teru’s chest tightened a little at this.
Teru was then checked up on next but they found no markings or injuries, much to their relief. Dusting off their clothing and hair, the manager and employee from before was very apologetic about the whole situation, even if they didn’t really understand what just happened. The machine was soon closed off for inspection and both Shigeo and Teru was given a card, which allowed them to use any of the other arcade machines for free as an apology.
At least they got something out of it, Teru thought, gladly taking the card as he continued to listen in to the conversation the manager was having with Shigeo. Because he was the one that got hurt, even a little bit, the manager was all over him, making sure he really was okay. And that neither of them would sue the arcade, Teru also thought.
Eventually the staff left the two teens alone, much to Shigeo and Teru’s relief. They both sighed loudly, before making sure the both of them and their plushes were dusted off properly.
“So, what would you like to do next?” Teru asked, a small smile on his face to try and lighten the mood back up again.
Shigeo turned to him again and gave a small smile of his own, before humming just a little in thought. Neither of them knew what to really do next after what just happened, so the two decided to walk around the arcade to find something to do.
For the next hour or so they continued to play on any machine they could get their hands on, especially considering that everything was now free to play. The only thing that wasn’t was the gacha pon’s, which wasn’t really a big surprise. Either way, Shigeo spent a little of his money on those to win himself a couple of keychains of some manga characters he was actually interested in. He gave one to Teru, causing him to smile a little too wide in excitement. But Shigeo smiled back at him, which only caused Teru’s cheeks to burn.
They had spent a lot of time in the arcade before either of them started to feel tired of the place, but Teru had one last request the two should do before they decided to leave and part ways. The both stopped in their tracks, now standing in front of a photo booth.
“C’mon, lets take some pictures!” Explained Teru, one arm raising the curtain to the machine. “It’ll be fun to mess around with. Besides, we could keep the pictures to remind ourselves of this day!”
Shigeo didn’t seem to sure about this idea at first. He wasn’t really the type of person to like having pictures taken of him, and he’s been told by many people that he wasn’t very good looking in any of the pictures he’s been in either. Eventually, however, he had nodded his head and entered the booth, soon being followed in by Teru himself.
They still continued to hold their plushes as they took the pictures, at one point Teru raising his towards the camera with a proud and energetic expression on his face. Teru seemed to be much better at this sort of thing, Shigeo thought. The raven had no clue what to really do, just awkwardly staring at the camera whenever it went off. He tried copying whatever Teru was doing but looked much less professional.
However, the more pictures they took, the more Shigeo seemed to be getting better. Teru kept swiping the card into the booth to take more pictures of the two of them, which made Shigeo a little uncomfortable at first but was soon finding himself enjoying it.
Teru loved the small smiles Shigeo was giving off and the attempts he was giving with all the small poses and slightly hand gestures. He found it extremely cute. Looking back at some of the pictures they were taking, he noticed himself looking more at Shigeo than the camera itself, which caused him to blush just ever so slightly. Shigeo didn’t seem to notice anything wrong, however, so no need to stop, right?
One of the last couple of pictures they decided to take, Shigeo was looking more at Teru and wasn’t entirely sure why, which just only caused his face to burn even more. The , in between one picture, Shigeo had managed to lift his hand a little, running it through Teru’s hair. This caught the blonde in surprise, staring at Shigeo to wonder what he was doing.
“You’ve got dust in your hair still,” Shigeo commented, continuing to run his hand through the others hair.
Teru couldn’t help but smile, despite it wavering a little. Neither of them noticed the camera shutter going off, then another small pause.
The raven watched as some of the dust fall from Teru’s hair onto the nose, which caused Shigeo to now rub his thumb against it to get rid of it. Teru stayed still, trying his best to avoid eye contact as he now noticed how close Shigeo really was against him.
Before long Shigeo must have noticed as well, soon pulling away and taking a small step back, a small tint of pink against his pale cheeks. He just continued to get cuter and cuter, didn’t he, Teru thought.
After a couple of seconds of thinking, Teru run his own hand through Shigeo’s hair, much to the raven’s surprise. Despite how soft his hair felt, he could tell some dust was still remaining in the black hair, blending in. He pulled his hand back and noticed some of the dust remaining on his fingers. Then, with a small smile, ran his fingers against Shigeo’s face.
This caught him off guard again and let out a small yelp but still stayed still. He wasn’t sure what Teru was really doing, even when the hand left his face and he saw Teru’s smile turn into a smirk as he chuckled. Shigeo turned his head a little towards the camera to better see himself. Then he understood; Teru had drawn on his face a little with the mess he had in his hair. A small black nose with tiny lines going across his cheeks, looking like whiskers of a cat. He also noticed a tiny heart looking shape near the side of one cheek.
Before long Shigeo was silent for a moment, which worried Teru just a little. Then a laugh came from Shigeo, a hand covering his mouth a little. This caused Teru’s heart to burst, feeling accomplished. He heard the shutter noise and prayed that the camera had managed to get that picture taken.
Not long after, Shigeo’s laughs had died down, only leaving a smile across his face. His arm came up to wipe away the marks on his face however, and it seemed the both were done taking pictures for today. They left the booth and waited for the remaining pictures to come through.
Teru had made sure that there was a copy of every simple picture they had taken, making sure the both of them got to keep every picture together. Some of the pictures had stickers on them, such as hearts or sparkles or even English words saying ‘cool!’ or ‘cute!’ on them. Giving Shigeo his half of the pictures, Teru smiled widely at the last couple of pictures. The camera had managed to take the pictures he had hoped for after all. He’ll treasure these forever.
Leaving the arcade made the both of them realise how much time they had spent together; the air was colder than they both remembered and it seemed to be getting pretty dark outside, street lamps glowing with light ready for the rest of the night to pour in.
“I’ll walk you home, Kageyama.” Teru spoke up, catching Shigeo’s attention. “It’s getting dark out, I’d hate to have you walk home by yourself.”
“What about you, Hanazawa?” Shigeo asked, starting to head in the direction of his house, soon followed by Teru. “You’ll be walking home alone afterwards.”
Teru shook a hand in his direction, reassuring him a little. “Don’t worry about me! My place isn’t that far from yours so it’s not that long of a walk. I’ll be fine.”
Content, Shigeo hummed and nodded in response. They continued to walk together, mostly in silence as Teru tried to think of something to say while Shigeo’s attention drifted from the path in front of them and the sun setting sky above them.
The day was very eventful for the both of them; spending a lot of quality time together and having a lot of fun, even if the day was interrupted by a spirit possessing a horror game machine. Teru could tell Shigeo had enjoyed himself, and that was enough for him.
Inching closer towards Shigeo’s house, the raven stopped in his tracks for a moment as he noticed a certain white cat was walking along the top one of the fences of the neighbours garden. Teru stopped as well, wondering if everything was okay. He was a little surprised when Shigeo decided to walk towards the cat and it jumped from it spot, seeming to welcome the raven’s attention.
“I say hello to this cat every once in a while,” Shigeo began to explain, noticing how Teru tilted his head in confusion at them. “It’s a really nice cat.”
As Shigeo was starting to get into a crouching position and placed his plush on the ground beside him, the cat meowed very loudly at Shigeo, now eagerly walking up to him to nuzzled against his hand. It purred and welcomed another hand running through his fur. Teru watched the two as he slowly approached them, smiling all the while.
He had no idea Shigeo was this kind towards strays such as this, but wasn’t surprised in the slightest. He noticed how a small smile was planted across Shigeo’s face as he continued to pet the cat, resulting in the feline to purr and meow in response.
“How have you been today?” Shigeo was directing the cat, running a hand over the cats head to scratch at its ears. In response, the cat meowed again, then jumped into Shigeo’s arms. This seemed to have been a surprise to the raven, considering how he almost stumbled backwards from his position, but chuckled a little as his arms gently wrapped around the cat.
Teru was now crouching beside Shigeo with a wide smile on his face, enjoying the way the two were enjoying each other’s company. Teru couldn’t help but think how cute Shigeo was being in this very moment, cuddling up to this cat as they were acting like they were talking to one another, noticing how the cat was also nuzzling it’s head against Shigeo’s every so often.
Shigeo never seemed to stop amazing Teru in every little way.
Teru’s attention was soon brought back as he noticed Shigeo was now looking at his direction, his smile now widening when he noticed Teru was watching them. The taller teen also noticed that the raven’s cheeks were slightly pink and that the heart dust from before was still present on his face. This caused Teru’s heart to scream at him now, fishing he could just kiss him then and there.
“Do you want to pet him?”
He heard Shigeo ask, also noticing the way the cat was no longer nuzzling against Shigeo but now had his attention on Teru as well, eyes wide and slowly blinking at him. Teru seemed to have hesitated at first, but then brought his hand closer toward the cat. He wasn’t expecting the cat to suddenly bring his head closer to him, nuzzling the hand extended. This caused Teru to smile again as well as making Shigeo chuckle a little, seeming amused by this.
The two of them continued to play with the cat for a moment longer before they decided they better get going, considering it was getting dark and had little time to do much else. Eventually it seemed the cat agreed, jumping away from Shigeo’s arms and into one of the neighbours gardens.
They seemed happy, smiling at each other as they stood up and collected their things, soon returning to their walk.
Eventually they made it to Shigeo’s house, causing them both to stop walking and face each other. Shigeo seemed to be thinking, scratching at his chin with one hand and holding his shark plush close to his chest with the other.
“Thank you for today, Hanazawa,” he started, now meeting his gaze back with Teru, who could only smile in return. “I had a lot of fun today. We should do this again sometime.”
Teru nodded and his smile widened some more, running a hand through his own hair for a moment. “It’s no problem at all! Yeah, I’d like that.”
Shigeo nodded, and before turning around to leave, Teru noticed how close the raven was getting towards the slightly taller teen, then noticed that they were now hugging. It was a short hug, but enough for both of them. Teru chuckled a little and his cheeks burned a little.
The hug was over before it started, Shigeo now seeming a little embarrassed by this.
“G-Goodbye! I hope you have a safe journey home.” He quickly commented before making his way to his front door. They both waved a each other and before Teru knew it, Shigeo was in his house and their time together had now ended for the day.
Teru took in a deep breath and then sighed loudly, pleased with today and how it went. As he slowly made his way back to his own apartment, his phone shortly went off with two messages. One from Shigeo and one from his brother, it seemed. He read them as he walked.
‘Thank you again for today, Hanazawa. What would you like to do on our next hang out day?
- Shigeo’
‘What the hell did you do with my brother?
- Little brother’