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Rain tapped on the window, little, quiet pecks of liquid. Shigeo silently watched, riveted as they ran down the pane, pooling a little where the panes were connected by sills. There was a nervous pit in his stomach, it had been nearly 15 minutes since Teru was supposed to be there. He eyed his phone for what seemed like the millionth time. Should I call him? He thought, bracing his fingers against the cool condensation on his drink glass.
They were supposed to be meeting at a new cafe that day, one that both of the boys had been excited to see open. It was all strawberry everything, pastries, candies, drinks, snacks, salads; everything came with strawberries, or in the shape of them, at least so they’d heard. Shigeo was excited to try some of their strawberry milk ever since he’d first taken a look at the menu a few weeks back, and he was even more excited to share the new experience with his best friend. You know, that is, if he were there.
It wasn’t like teru to show up late anywhere, usually, it was quite the opposite. Mob made efforts to show up early or even on time, but he was just the sort of person who would always be a few minutes late. Whether it was because he had forgotten something, or become dazed or distracted by another, he always found himself to be running just a bit behind. It wasn’t enough to be terribly noteworthy, however, but it certainly made for open opportunities for Teru (and others) to poke and prod about it, in a silly, joking way of course. Now, however, the situation had been flipped on its head. All it made Shigeo feel was bad. Anxious. Like he had an oncoming stomachache. The rain didn’t help either, even though a downpour usually made him feel calm and relaxed. He wondered if Teru had gotten stuck in it on his way there to meet him.
He took a tiny sip of his drink, if the motion hardly even qualified as that, and spun his phone around in circles a few times, watching the moon charm that Teru had given him become a little blur as it went round and round. It made a little noise as it whirred about, similar to the way a marble sounded when it rolled on metal. He inhaled sharply and looked back out the window, the rain had only gotten worse since he arrived.
Where is he... thought Shigeo, stopping the motion of his phone abruptly and flipping it open to check the notifications. Nothing new, not since Teru had said he was on his way. He padded the menu button lightly a few times without pressing it fully, then committed, finding his way to Teru's contact and hitting the dial button. Ring, ring, ring , over and over, but no answer, just the voice machine. He tried again to no avail.
It’s ringing so it must be on... I wonder if he left it at home... thought Shigeo, pulling the phone away from his face again and closing it when he had glanced at the time. It had been nearly 25 minutes now. He was getting worried. Teru wouldn’t just..not show up? Would he? That would be extremely out of character for him, thought Shigeo. He sat there for a few more moments, immediately perking up after hearing the little jingle of the doorbell as it was opened. He focused his eyes on the scene, a couple of people soaked to the bone, they were smiling and laughing, pointing to each other’s hair and making silly little comments about it. That should have made him feel some sort of positive emotion, yet it only deepened the pit of anxiety in his stomach. Finally, he could no longer take sitting around and waiting for Teru to come to him. I’m going to find him.
It was not as though this was a new experience for him. He had before wandered about in the rain looking for a few different people. He recalled one time, that he had recovered Ritsu in a similar manner; Shigeo had just turned nine. They were supposed to walk home together from the park, but it had begun to storm heavily and Ritsu, scared of the thunder, had run off for cover. Shigeo had searched and searched for him for well over an hour, in and around the park, even the entire route all the way back home. He had the idea of checking the enclosed tubes in the playground before leaving the park for a second time and had, to his relief, found that his brother had not moved from that spot the entire time. He had been covered in snot and dried tear streaks that immediately became wet with new tears upon the arrival of his brother. “SHIGE, YOU’RE HERE! I WAS SO WORRIED YOU’D LEFT ME!” he remembered that his brother had shoved his wet, snotty face into his yellow parka and gripped his sides so hard he thought he might burst.
The second time he had done this sort of search was after he and Teru's big fight when searching for Dimple. He hadn’t found any trace of his little green friend then, but it had turned out well in the end he supposed.
He paid at the counter quickly and left the cafe, standing in the space of the little awning that covered the entryway. There was no real rational thought that had gone into this plan, and he realized that after he had been walking aimlessly around the city center for about 10 minutes. He stopped, already soaking wet, beneath a tree, and sat on an equally soaked bench. He needed to clear his head from the panic that had gripped him earlier at the cafe. Now, if I were Teru and I got stuck somewhere on the way to the cafe, where would I be, he thought, taking into account the steadily increasing wind and darkness. Is it going to storm? He wondered, standing up again and heading in the direction of the nearest train station, the one that Teru took in all his long commutes to this area, the one he should have been to today.
It was a brief walk to the station, where he searched every nook and cranny he could find. Teru, as he’d suspected somewhere in the back of his mind, was nowhere to be found. Shigeo leaned heavily into one of the station’s support beams and sighed an equally weighty sigh. So, what route would he have taken there I wonder... he pondered on this for a few moments before deciding that Teru would have probably taken the shortest possible route to the cafe. Perhaps even a shortcut he wouldn’t have been too familiar with. Maybe he didn’t get stuck...maybe he got lost! Thought Shigeo. This was an area that Shigeo was extremely familiar with, however, Teru lived clear across the other side of town, and he only ever came here when he wanted to see his friends that lived this way. He could have easily lost his way if trying to use a shortcut. Especially without his phone to guide him back if he got lost.
Shigeo took down a path that he thought might be the shortest way to get back to the cafe. He made a few wrong turns on purpose, hitting a few dead ends in the process. Finally, he felt a familiar sensation raise the hair on the back of his neck. He could sense the spark of a familiar aura nearby. That has to be him, he thought, making an extremely abrupt about-face in the middle of the sidewalk, and running head-on into someone in the process. He felt the thud of his body against another, and another, more painful thud as he hit the ground, but he took no note of the who or what he had just rammed the full weight of his body into because he was simply too surprised to notice.
“Ow,” he said absently as he raised up scraped palms to his view before looking to see who he had hit. He blinked a few times in disbelief before feeling another soppy impact hit him, causing him to stagger backward from his sitting position.
“OH SHIGEO!! I’m so sorry! are you alright? You found me I can’t believe it! I’ve been wandering around trying to get un-lost for like an HOUR in the POURING RAIN! I’m so glad you’re here now!” it was a lot of words and a lot to take in at once, but Shigeo immediately felt much of the weight of anxiety leave his stomach.
“Teruki, are you okay?” said Shigeo, returning the dripping embrace with more enthusiasm than Teru had expected, because as he squeezed, teru let out a little noise of surprise.
“Am I okay? I should be asking that about you!” Teru pulled away to get a good look at his friend and moved his grip from his arms to his shoulders, “Really Shigeo! You look like you might be running a fever,” these words were in a much more serious tone than the previous greeting. “Just how long have you been out looking for me?”
“I don’t know. Maybe an hour and a half,” said Shigeo, sniffling in some snot that had begun running from his nose. Now that he thought about it, he was feeling a bit dizzy. Heat began to crawl into his fingertips, and there were a few strange spots in his vision. His single-minded focus may have been telling his brain to ignore it, but he definitely felt sick; he leaned a little more of his weight into Teru's hold on him and blinked a few more times, much more sleepily than before.
“That’s it, I'm taking you back to my house, no complaining, you need to get inside. You’re not even wearing so much as a jacket!” Teru stood, careful not to let Shigeo lose what little balance he had left. Then he came around to the side of him, put one arm behind his back and the other beneath the crook of his knees, and lifted Shigeo up rather effortlessly, “upsy daisy,” he said gently “at least I'm pretty sure I know my way to the station from here,” Shigeo blinked another few times, with each blink his surroundings grew darker until there was nothing to be seen, and nothing to be heard.
...
When he woke his surroundings were very different. The light was dim, he was warm, and he could make out bits and pieces of a few different voices as he faded back into reality.
“So you went and took a short...instead of...the way you knew?”
“Well, I was running...a...late”
“You shouldn’t have done...without....on you!”
“Yeah...sorry that’s...bad,”
“It’s a wonder you....a fever since...always getting them.”
“Shut up!”
The last words came to his mind like a train that had just run past its ending barrier and he let out a groan from the pain in his head. His eyelids fluttered open fully, and he could see the warm beige of an apartment ceiling, as well as several faces crowded along the edge of the bed he was on.
“Shige!” it was a gentle exclamation, he recognized his brother’s relieved face that hovered right next to both Teru's, and Riegen’s as well.
“Hey, kiddo. You doing okay?” said Reigen, tilting his head in a considerate manner. Shigeo blinked a few times and forced out a simple,
“Mmmmh,” and a worried crinkle of his brow.
“Well, that’s to be expected. You were running a hell of a fever when Teru brought you in.”
He heard the creak of a door from the corner of the room and saw two more faces pop up above the others, on the right was Serizawa, wearing a similar look to Reigen’s, and Shou to the left. He was holding a bowl of water and a couple of fresh face cloths and was in the middle of asking Serizawa something when he finally noticed Shigeo's state of consciousness.
“So do you know when the storm is supposed to calm- Hey! He’s awake!” he floated the bowl of water into the air so he could squeeze himself between Teru and reigen, even though his height didn’t exactly allow him to do it easily.
Shigeo was grateful for everyone’s presence. He remembered that his brother had been over to the reigen-Serizawa household visiting Shou that day and had probably already alerted their parents, that is if reigen already hadn’t the minute Teru stepped inside with his unconscious body in tow. He let out another groan, he tried to make this one less pained and more grateful, although he still felt pretty shitty. At least he was here, and safe, and surrounded by his friends, and more importantly Teru, who he was especially glad he’d found.
Serizawa set both of his hands on Shou and Reigen’s heads respectively, “I think he’s gonna get overwhelmed if we all are crowding him in like this,” he turned to face Shou, who was now floating in midair to get a good view of Shigeo, “give the water and towels to Teru, he can take care of Kageyama.” Shou did as he was instructed and returned to the ground, waving happily to Shigeo and trotting back out the door. All the rest but Ritsu and Teru followed, leaving just the three of them. Ritsu eyed the pair of friends who couldn’t seem to tear their gazes away from each other if they tried.
“Shige, do you want both of us here?” his little brother asked gently. He could tell that this was Ritsu's way of giving teru permission to be alone with his brother, he had done this a few times before in similar situations, albeit in a less dangerous context. He was just looking out for his brother’s wellbeing; and of course, his emotions, as a good sibling would. Shigeo gave the warmest smile he could to his brother and shook his head slightly.
“Can we be alone...for a little while?” it was an honest effort to vocalize but all that came out was a whisper with a slight croak. Ritsu nodded and stood up, leaving the room and closing the door gently. Shigeo set his gaze back on Teru, who was busy soaking a fresh facecloth in the cold water. He studied the deft way his hands wrung and folded the small white towel, following them to where they hovered over his forehead and exchanged one towel for the other. The cool sensation made him jump a little bit, and teru responded to this with a small shush, rubbing his thumb softly over Shigeo's cheek. Shigeo leaned his head into the gesture, letting teru rub small circles over the area for a few moments before retreating. There was a combination of feelings bubbling up inside of him, he just wished he had the energy to do anything about it, but he just lay there waiting, waiting for teru to say something.
“It was very sweet of you to come looking for me,” he started, floating the bowl of water over to the small desk that sat on the opposite wall, “but it was also very stupid. No jacket? No umbrella? On top of that, you were already stressed out,” Shigeo looked away from teru and considered this. The thought of his own wellbeing hadn’t even crossed his mind when he’d gone out looking for teru. The only thing that possessed him was the drive to get him back, to recover him safely, to hold onto him and never let go. It was awfully cliche now that he thought about it, but at that moment, his actions had been purely driven by instinct, it was not cliche, it was very real. He redirected his gaze back to the worry spread over Teruki’s face and smiled again.
“I don’t care if it was stupid. I found you,” he croaked, using all his willpower to inch a little closer to the edge of the bed where his friend sat hovering over him.
“You’re stubborn as ever I see. Even if I told you not to do something like that again I know you’d never listen to me,” said Teru, bringing himself closer into Shigeo's space, “I'll make sure not to be stupid and forget my phone next time too...” the space between their two faces was so small and yet to Shigeo it still seemed like miles.
“I don’t want to lose you again,” Shigeo's voice was returning with each word.
“You didn’t lose me. I’m right here.” Teru’s voice was solid, almost tangible, so closely within reach. Even though he knew it was probably a stupid idea, he inched closer, and closer and slowly, he closed the gap between them. Teru's lips were soft, warm, inviting. Shigeo kissed him gently, and Teru kissed him back, pushing his fingers into Shigeo's dark hair, wrestling to find a better angle. Shigeo followed his lead, reaching out his own hands from beneath the covers to assist him, sliding them down Teru's sides just above his waist, where he pulled with all the strength he could muster to get Teruki as close to him as he could. They laid there in that awkward position, interlocked for a few moments before Shigeo had to pull away and catch his breath.
“Sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?” Teru was practically beaming, but his voice stayed low, and calm, and gentle.
“I’m probably going to end up getting you sick now.” Teru couldn’t help but let out a giggle.
“Do you think I care about that? I just got to kiss you!” he tilted his head a bit and softened his gaze even more than Shigeo thought previously possible, “and if you don’t stop me I'm gonna do it again.”
“Why would I ever stop you,” Shigeo whispered, barely getting to finish his sentence before he felt Teru's lips connect with his own once again. In that instant, Shigeo was a little glad teru had gotten lost, so he could find himself, here at this moment, when being afraid of losing someone was the best thing that ever happened to him.