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It wasn't every day that Teru admired the beauty of the sunset in Seasoning City; mostly because it wasn't very often that “beauty” and “Seasoning City'' were seen in the same sentence. Yet, on that particular day, as the sun’s rays cast an orange tint over the building he was standing by, he couldn't help but think that it didn't look half bad. Of course, this was only a fleeting thought, and he quickly moved his attention elsewhere.
He was leaning on the gates of Salt Middle School, as he had been doing for the previous hour or so, consumed by boredom. In his pocket were two tickets; one for himself, of course, and the other for the one he had been spending an hour of his precious time waiting for.
He heard the loud metallic clang of the doors opening and straightened up, hoping to see the soon-to-be recipient of his movie ticket. Instead, what appeared to be Salt Middle’s student council exited in a group, talking quietly amongst each other. Teru returned to slouching, hoping that he didn't look too much like a delinquent. He adjusted his blazer and tightened his tie.
Trailing behind the group was a person who seemed out of place, eating chips by shoving handfuls in their mouth at a time. Teru felt as if he had seen them before. It seemed they felt the same way, for after all of the student council had passed by, they stopped in front of Teru, eyes widening slightly. Expressionlessly, they pointed at him, as if expecting him to understand what it meant. The expectation was true, but Teru still felt slightly insulted.
“Hanazawa Teruki,” he offered politely, turning up the corners of his mouth in what he hoped would appear as a smile. “I believe you're a friend of Kageyama’s?”
“Kurata Tome,” the stranger replied, staring at Teru's face with a bewildered expression. They let their hand drop to their side. “You're here for Mob, then?”
“Kageyama, yes.” Teru stuck his hand in his pocket, feeling for the tickets as if they would suddenly disappear and ruin his plans.
Kurata looked back at the school building, squinting. “He was asleep until a couple minutes ago,” they said. “His brother–y’know, the mean looking one–came by to wake him up, so he’ll be out in a couple minutes, probably.”
“Oh. Thank you.” Teru followed Kurata’s gaze to the main entrance of the school. He took his hand out of his pocket, crossing his arms and slouching even more. “Why was he asleep?”
“He joined the Body Improvement Club a while back,” Kurata replied, turning their head away from the entrance and towards Teru, who met their gaze. They had a badly concealed scowl on their face. “All they do is run and lift weights, but it seems Mob gets anemic very easily. He spends more time passed out than he does actually improving his body.” They giggled quietly. Teru, arms still crossed, tightened his grip on his sleeve.
“Well, if nothing else, he’s surprisingly good at trying,” Kurata added, looking back at the school. Using the hand that was carrying their chip bag, they clumsily pointed at the building. “Well, there they are.”
At the entrance to the building was Kageyama and his little brother, who Teru could never quite remember the name of; he had been calling him “the younger one” (and other names along those lines) ever since they first met.
Kurata muttered something along the lines of that being their cue to leave through a mouthful of chips before rushing off, almost tripping over a crack in the pavement. Teru figured that he probably should have waved goodbye, but he stuck his hands in his pockets instead, looking over at the two brothers.
The differences between the Kageyama boys–on appearance alone–were glaringly obvious, and they were made even more apparent if you looked at their faces while they were talking. The younger of the two was obviously more expressive; it was to such a degree that you could practically read his mind just by looking.
Kageyama, on the other hand, usually had a very flat face, every change in his expression subtle. It wasn't to say that he was impossible to get a read on, but it was a lot less obvious than his little brother.
On that day, as he and his brother walked out of the school, the younger one’s eyebrows were furrowed and he was waving one of his arms around as he spoke, the other one being used to keep a firm grip on Kageyama’s shoulder.
“I'm not saying you should quit,” the younger boy said as the pair made it into Teru’s earshot, letting his head fall to the side in a defeated manner, “but nobody would blame you if you took a break every so often.”
Stubbornly, Kageyama shook his head. “It would be unfair if I didn't work as hard as everyone else.” His voice was emphatic but firm. Teru ran a hand through his hair.
The younger one’s shoulders slumped, resigned, and he released his hold on his brother’s shoulder, waving his now-free hand in the same manner one would swat a fly. “Whatever makes you happy, then.”
Kageyama-kun gave his little brother a small nod, and when he looked away his eyes locked with Teru’s. His eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch. “Oh, Hanazawa!”
Teru leaned against the gate in much the same way guys do in movies. He quickly glanced away, and then looked back, mimicking surprise. “Kageyama! Hey!”
At that point, the two boys had made it to the gate, and Kageyama was facing Teru. The younger brother had distanced himself from the two of them, facing the road; he had always been awkward around Teru.
“Have you been waiting this whole time?” Kageyama laced his fingers together, not making eye contact; he usually didn't, anyway.
“No, I just got here,” Teru said, half mumbling. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Okay,” Kageyama said, waiting for Teru to speak.
After waiting patiently for a few moments of awkward silence, Teru looked at the other Kageyama pleadingly. The boy in question sighed, nodded firmly, and stepped towards Kageyama, placing a hand on his shoulder awkwardly.
“I'll uh… see you later, Shige.”
“Huh?” Kageyama said, cocking his head to the side. “Okay. See you.”
The little brother gave a halfhearted wave before he walked off, giving his brother a few quick glances. He almost tripped over a crack in the pavement, but, vigilant as ever, he skillfully sidestepped it and kept walking.
“So, what did you need?” The sound of Kageyama’s soft voice snapped Teru back to the topic at hand.
“Oh right, um,” Teru began, suddenly feeling a little sick, “I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go watch a movie with me this Saturday.” He reached into his pocket to grab the tickets, and found himself fumbling slightly.
“What movie is it?” Kageyama’s expression gave nothing away, no matter how hard Teru tried to read him.
“Fangs of the Deadly Android from Beyond the Sun.” Teru said with ease, finally managing to pull the tickets out.
“That's a mouthful.”
“Well, most horror movies that I see have titles along those lines.”
Kageyama straightened his shoulders, looking out towards the road. “It's a horror movie?”
“Yeah.” Teru smiled, leaning over somewhat uncomfortably to put himself back in Kageyama’s line of vision. “What, are you scared?” Teasing was a habit he had never been able to drop.
Kageyama hooked his finger on his shirt collar, pulling it away from his neck. “Um, no,” he said, suddenly sweating buckets, his typically evasive gaze locked on Teru. “Nothing’s wrong! I'd love to go!”
As concerned as Teru was for his friend, a more selfish part of his brain spoke up, and his worry was overridden by his excitement. “Great!” He pulled the tickets out of his pocket. “Here, take one–”
Kageyama snatched both of the tickets out of Teru’s hand in a panic, adjusting the way his bag sat on his shoulder. He sped off as quick as he could after mumbling a “thank you.” Embarrassingly, his full sprint wasn't very fast. He almost fell over a crack in the pavement, but managed to catch himself before continuing to run.
Teru stood and watched, enthralled, as Kageyama slowly got farther away before he turned the corner and made it out of sight. Alone once again, he stared down at his open, empty palm.
“He took my ticket,” Teru mumbled to himself before shrugging. He began to walk in the opposite direction of where Kageyama had rushed off, making his way to his apartment. “I'll just have to get it back on our–”
He came to a screeching halt, slapping his hand to his face at a disturbing velocity.
“Oh my god,” he said, voice muffled by his hand. “I forgot to tell him it was a date.”
On the day before his date with Hanazawa, Shigeo was sitting at his part-time job, doing his homework while he waited for a client–or any distraction, for that matter–to arrive. He was at his desk, eyes scanning over his textbook, but he wasn't really reading; his mind was too occupied.
At his own, more expensive desk was Master Reigen, who was frantically clicking away at his computer. (At this time, Shigeo may have thought “wow, Master’s a hard worker,” but make no mistake: he was just playing Cookie Clicker.) Sitting on the couch was Ritsu, who claimed that he was just dropping by to help out, but Reigen had asked him to do a couple tasks and he had instantly refused every single one; he was more than likely just bored.
“Um, I have a question,” Shigeo said after reading the same page five times. Both Reigen and Ritsu perked up immediately.
Shigeo had never asked for romantic advice from anyone before. By confiding in them, he had made the mistake of assuming that those two fine gentlemen had anything good to say.
Master Reigen, like any master, was charismatic and a good talker, and he seemed to get on well with most of the clients. What Shigeo forgot to take into account was that Reigen had not been in a relationship for the past four years at the very least.
Ritsu, on the other hand, was smart, athletic, and overall popular, especially with girls, but, again, Shigeo forgot to consider the fact that Ritsu had never dated anyone and didn't really express any desire to.
“What's up?” Ritsu pushed himself towards the back of the couch, as if preparing himself for a long, thoughtful conversation.
Shigeo closed his textbook and straightened his back, willing himself to speak. He had always had stage fright, so even the gazes of his brother and master made him sweat. “The other day, someone asked me to go see a movie with them.”
“Who?” Reigen’s attention had turned fully away from whatever totally professional work he had been doing. His eyebrows were raised.
“Let him finish,” Ritsu said, shooting a glare at Reigen.
Shigeo took a deep breath in. “Well, h- they asked me to go to the movies with them and I was thinking that it could be...” He pulled on the fabric of his pants, shaking his head. “No, nevermind. I probably have the wrong impression.”
Reigen waved his hands around dramatically, getting impatient as per usual. “C'mon Mob, you'll never know if you don't say it!” Though he didn't add anything to Reigen’s comment, Ritsu was leaning forward, an intense look on his face.
Shigeo had no choice. “I just don't know if it's a date,” he said as quickly as possible, pulling on his fingers under his desk.
Reigen made a small “hm” noise and went back to clicking, though his attention was still on Shigeo. “Did they say it was?”
“No.”
“Then I wouldn't count on it,” he said, taking on the tone of voice that he usually used when giving Shigeo advice, using his free hand to point at his young disciple. “There could be a possibility, but if you assume it's a date, it could get messy.”
Shigeo nodded. “Okay, that makes sense.” It felt as if a weight had lifted off his shoulders, but it seemed to settle in his stomach instead.
“Well, it depends on the person, right?” Ritsu had once again moved forward on the couch, and he was learning forward, arms resting on his legs. “If he knows them pretty well, shouldn't he be allowed to assume?”
Reigen almost looked offended. “Well, does he?”
“Do you?”
The spotlight was on Shigeo again as both Reigen and Ritsu’s gazes were locked on him. “Um, well… I do, yeah.”
Ritsu gestured vaguely in Shigeo’s direction, turning back to Reigen. “See?”
“Wait, wait,” Reigen waved his hands around. “Mob, are you friends with this person?”
Shigeo nodded.
He turned back to Ritsu, a familiar grin on his face; Shigeo knew well enough that it meant Reigen thought he was winning. “So is it really so outlandish that a friend would ask him to hang out? Why would that indicate a date all of a sudden?”
“Well it was obviously different if Shigeo thinks it was.”
“You know how Mob gets, it could just be a misunderstanding,” Reigen’s attention was once again away from the computer.
“Like how?” Ritsu’s tone took on a sort of teenage rebelliousness to it.
“Well…” Reigen leaned his head on his hand. “This friend could have seemed nervous for some reason, and Mob just assumed it meant a date.”
“Again,” Ritsu said, agitation seeping into his voice (and already evident on his face), “Shigeo knows this person. Who are you to say it's a false assumption when you don't even know them?”
“Who are you to say it isn't?”
The office fell into silence as the two stared each other down intensely, but the thick tension that had built up quickly dissipated as they slouched, returning to their previous activities (or lack thereof).
Ritsu turned to Shigeo. “I have no idea, sorry.” Reigen didn't have anything to add.
Shigeo returned to his homework.
Typically, when Teru opens the door of his apartment to find someone already in there, he would try and knock the intruder unconscious at first sight. This intruder, however, had the distinctive appearance of a human-sized lit match, so Teru could rest easy.
“Oh, Hanazawa!” Suzuki, who was sitting at Teru’s desk, spun around in Teru’s brand new swivel chair. Behind him was Teru’s computer, which had some sort of game running. “You're home late.”
Suzuki didn't live in Teru’s house; he lived next door, but the two of them had agreed that they were free to visit the other’s apartment whenever they pleased. That agreement didn't necessarily include acting like you owned the place, but Suzuki had begun to do that, anyway.
“Kageyama was in school for a while,” Teru answered casually, putting his school bag down on his kitchen counter and throwing his jacket on top of it.
Suzuki pressed a button on the keyboard, which was accompanied by the game displaying a large “PAUSE” on the screen.
“Right,” he said, turning the chair to face Teru, “the movie thing. How’d that go?”
Teru crossed the room, and as he walked past Suzuki, he felt the boy’s eyes following him. He sat down on the couch, letting his body go completely slack.
“None of your business,” he pouted, hoping to get Suzuki’s gaze off of him.
“Oh, so he rejected you, then?” His tone sounded like he was teasing, but his face seemed genuine. Suzuki was contradictory like that, so Teru tried his hardest not to think about it.
He slumped down on the couch. “No, he said yes. It's just…” Teru sighed “...I forgot to tell him it was a date.”
He half expected Suzuki to laugh, but he got no response other than a “hm.”
“Well, you better not tell him,” Suzuki said, spinning around in his chair.
Teru turned, craning his neck uncomfortably so he could get a better look at Suzuki. “Huh? Why not?”
“He agreed to see a movie with you as friends, right?” He spoke as if he was bored. “So if you tell him that it's a date, he’ll probably cancel on you.”
“He wouldn't do that. He's too nice.”
Suzuki shook his head. “That makes it worse, then. It would just be awkward.”
Teru sunk even lower.
“It's not a romance movie, is it? ‘Cause you probably wanna ignore the topic of romance if you're going on a not-date.”
‘Is that what we're calling it?’ Teru thought bitterly. “No, it's a horror movie.”
“Great,” Suzuki said conclusively, “so just don't bring up romance, don't be too handsy, and basically just don't do anything you'd do on a date. Shouldn't be too difficult.”
Suzuki started up his game again as Teru shifted to lay down on the couch, gaze fixed on the ceiling. He tried to convince himself that it would be as easy as Suzuki said, but he felt like throwing up, anyway.
When Teru showed up at the theater, there was a line trailing down the sidewalk filled with people who had the same idea as him: to watch a movie on its opening night. Mostly as a jab at himself–but partially out of curiosity–he wondered if anyone in the crowd was pretending not to have asked someone out on a date, too.
As if he could hear Teru thinking about him, Kageyama called out from around the front of the line, waving his arm with reserved enthusiasm.
“Oh, Kageyama!”
Teru joined him in like and instantly felt a little overdressed. Kageyama was wearing a long sleeved button up and some jeans, meanwhile Teru had on what was probably supposed to be his version of a three piece suit.
Kageyama, who either didn't notice or didn't want to say anything, pulled out the tickets from his pocket.
“Here,” he said, handing one of them to Teru. “I accidentally took yours.”
Teru thanked him and grabbed the ticket out of Kageyama’s hand with his pointer finger and thumb, avoiding their hands brushing at any cost.
When picking out concessions, Kageyama was modest and picked only a small fountain drink and a bag of candy, which was dwarfed completely by Teru’s large bag of popcorn, large slushy, and multiple bags of candy.
“I'll share some with you,” Teru said, trying to save face.
“No thanks,” Kageyama replied, because he was nice like that.
They made their way to the movie.
They were about half an hour early, so as they sat through previews, Teru assigned himself the task of keeping his eyes either on the screen or on his phone for fear of staring at Kageyama for too long.
In truth, he was more nervous than he had ever been. He was certain he could keep up the act of not going on a date with Kageyama–that wasn't what scared him. As per usual, his past self had completely ruined things for his future self.
Back when he went out with girls, a common trick he would use would be taking hem out to horror movies, particularly ones that he heard were really scary. It wasn't as if Teru enjoyed horror movies or that he was scared of them at all, it was that all of his dates were. He found that if he leaned close enough to them, they would involuntarily grab onto him for support, and soon enough they would be practically clinging to him.
That would work out just fine if he was on a date with Kageyama, but he wasn't. Pretending not to be totally head over heels for his best friend became difficult when said best friend was going to be clinging on to him for the entire runtime of a movie.
Kageyama tapped him on the shoulder, and Teru hardly suppressed a scream.
“The movie’s starting.”
Shigeo wasn't the biggest fan of horror movies. Apparently, people liked them because they enjoyed getting scared. He didn't really get that, but even if he did, he never found them scary. He would jump at the noises, sure, but the ambience and the scary creatures didn't get to him at all. Perhaps it was just another regrettable consequence of his inability to read the room.
He wasn't all that focused on the movie, but apparently Hanazawa was. About halfway through, Shigeo’s side was pressed against the armrest separating him and Hanazawa. Hanazawa’s arms were wrapped around Shigeo’s shoulder, and his knee was on top of the armrest. His head was half buried in Shigeo’s shoulder. Occasionally, his grip would tighten when a particularly scary part came on, and Shigeo would get pulled even closer.
Shigeo felt dizzy. Of course, he had daydreamed about being that close to Teru before, but he was hoping for less fight-or-flight-related circumstances. Rather than being on cloud nine, he was focused on not vomiting, passing out, screaming, or some sick combination of the three. His hair was standing up on the back of his neck, his lungs were collapsing, and his heart was beating so loud he could hardly hear the movie anymore. He could only hope Teru was too terrified by the movie to notice.
If Shigeo thought it couldn't have gotten any worse, he was wrong. The tension of the movie had a short pause as the two protagonists of the movie hid from the monsters, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with their arms pressed together. They looked each other in the eyes and slowly leaned forward.
Why did there have to be a kiss scene in a horror movie? Why did it have to be then and there, while Hanazawa clinged to Shigeo?
Hanazawa didn't move, but Shigeo felt his head shift to look up at him. Shigeo didn't dare look back. It felt like hours passed as the protagonists just couldn't seem to stop making out.
And then: a jump scare saved them both.
It wasn't Teru’s fault that the movie was good. He had never been even remotely unsettled by horror before, let alone scared.
When the movie ended and Teru came to his senses, he immediately let go of Kageyama, shoving him slightly by accident. He left the room, leaving his not-date behind.
He was humiliated. Not only did it totally seem like he was head over heels for Kageyama (which he was), but he also seemed like some creep who had no concept of personal boundaries. He would be lucky if Kageyama was even willing to look at him after all that.
Blinded by his overdramatic raving and panicking, Teru didn't realize how far he had gone until he was outside. The breeze cooled him down, and he somewhat regained his senses.
'It's fine, Teru,’ he said to himself. ‘It was just a simple mistake. You were scared by the horror movie, nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't have to be romantic.’
“Hanazawa,” Kageyama said from behind him. Teru just about jumped five feet in the air.
“Hey, Kageyama.” Teru pretended to laugh. “Sorry about that; I didn't expect the movie to be that scary, is all.”
“It's fine,” Kageyama said, and all was well in the world.
Teru turned around, facing the road they would have to walk to get to the Kageyama house. “Should I walk you home, then?”
Kageyama didn't move an inch. Teru turned back around, frowning.
“What's wrong?”
The only sound between them was the soft tapping of Kageyama’s feet against the pavement as he stepped ever closer. The pressure in Teru’s chest increased the closer Kageyama got, only stopping when the two of them were close enough that they could hear each other whisper.
“I liked being that close to you,” Kageyama said, his normal voice sounding almost loud at the distance. “It was nice.”
“Pardon?” Teru would curse himself for that response later, but at that moment his cognitive functions weren't quite working.
Kageyama reached down and laced his and Teru’s fingers together. Despite the confidence he seemed to have gained, Teru could feel Kageyama’s hands trembling.
“I know it was just an accident then, when you held on to me, but,” he paused for a moment, then shook his head and continued on. “I’d like it if you could do it more often. On purpose.”
“Yeah!” Teru swallowed thickly. “If that's what you want, I could do that.” Involuntarily, Teru smiled to himself.
Kageyama made a weird looking face. Before Teru could ask him what was wrong, he leaned forward, kissing Teru on the cheek with such speed that the recipient of the kiss barely felt it. Despite this, both boys immediately seemed to panic.
“Well, then, um.” Kageyama stepped back so far that he had to raise his voice for Teru to hear him. “I’ll be going! Thank you!”
Teru couldn't say anything, his brain completely melted by Kageyama’s very brief act of boldness. He pressed his hand to his cheek, grinning as he watched Kageyama very slowly sprint away. He even still smiled a little as Kageyama tripped and fell flat on his face.