Chapter Text
“Just date already!”
Shigeo and Teruki don’t act like friends. That much is clear to Shigeo… but Teruki doesn’t seem to understand that yet. When it started, Shigeo didn’t understand, either.
“I’d date you if you were a girl.” Teruki said with confidence, a smile gleaming even brighter than the sun behind him. They had been looking at clothes, something they did when Shigeo would get his monthly allowance. At every hangout, Teruki would wear a new outfit even more stunning than the last. His friend had the best advice in fashion, something Shigeo deeply admired about him. It was strange how Teruki’s face would turn red when he complimented them, though.
“You would?” Shigeo tilted his head, bangs almost falling over his eyes. It’d been getting long, his hair. The sides fell around his ears, and he’d found it quite annoying. It kept catching Teruki’s eyes, his gaze lingering for long moments, so he must agree.
Teruki grins. “Definietly. I’d take you to a cafe, and we’d share a milkshake. Would you like that, Mob?” His head tilts down, staring somewhere around Shigeo’s chin. It was nice how his friend rarely looked him in the eyes, because it made Shigeo feel less pressured to do the same. Social situations were hard in that way, but it was easier with Teruki. His friend’s face wasn’t any easier to read than other people, though. While the smile and squinted eyes suggested that Teruki was happy, there was something else there.
The light framed Teruki’s face, almost like a halo, as he smiled at him. His eyes were searching– or maybe desperate?-- for something in Shigeo’s.
He thought for a moment. Time spent with Teruki was nice, and although they’d never gone to a cafe to eat before, he could imagine it. They’d sit by a window where the light could shine on his face. A milkshake would sit between them, in an old-fashioned cup with whipped cream and a cherry on top. They both held straws sticking out of the cream, and their eyes stayed on each other as they drank.
The picture made his chest feel warm, like it did after a warm glass of milk. He smiled.
“Sure. But why would I need to be a girl for that?”
Teruki spluttered at that, covering his face with a hand. He opens his finger to peek out from the cover. “W-well.. That’d be a date.”
“Oh. Right.” Shigeo blushed.
They both looked at the sidewalk below them, faces red.
Teruki often talked strangely, his words veiling something else that Shigeo didn’t fully understand. That’s why, after that especially confusing conversation, Shigeo goes to Tome. In their club she’d sometimes brag about romance, like kissing a boy, so she must understand relationships better than him. Since she now works part-time at Spirits and Such, it’s easy to reach her.
The building is quiet today– or at least quieter than usual, since Reigen is talking on the phone. Shigeo looks around the room and finds Tome at the couch, typing away on her phone. In a few steps, he’s next to her and clearing his throat.
“Tome, can I ask you something?”
She looks up, grin ready. “Sure.” She shoves her phone into her coat pocket. Shigeo appreciates how quickly she gives her full attention to him. Tome is cool in that way, where she cares about what you’re saying. “What do you need?”
“Well, it’s Teruki. He’s been acting strangely.” He murmurs, shuffling his feet before sitting on the couch next to her. “I was wondering if you would know why.”
Shigeo feels a bit silly, going to someone else for help about his friend. He’s made a lot of growth when it comes to his emotions since the day he accepted himself, but he still needs help with understanding the emotions of others. A small part of him feels like there’s something wrong with him, and another feels like he’s not a good friend.
He scolds himself at those thoughts, though. Reigen and Ritsu would be sad if they knew he was thinking that way. Besides, Reigen had told him that everyone learns at their own pace. He’ll get there, eventually.
At the confused expression on her face, he explains the interaction he had the other day– as well as a few other confusing instances, like when Teruki held his hand last winter or how he talks in riddles around him.
“Mob, he totally likes you.”
“I know that, we’re friends.”
Tome sighs, shaking her head. “He like likes you.”
The room goes quiet.
“Like… like–” Shigeo's face explodes in a burst of red. His hands shake a little as the warmth spreads, and he can’t help but shrink in on himself. “Like how I used to like Tsubomi?”
“Yes, Mob, he’s liked you forever! I don’t know how you haven’t noticed, he hangs around you all the time and looks at you like–” Tome groans in agony, grabs him by the shoulders, and shakes him. “it's so obvious!”
Shigeo gasps. The room shrinks into nothing until only one idea is left: Teruki likes him. Does that mean… Teruki loves him, too? Does he want to date him? Shigeo hides his face in his hands, the cool of his hands feeling relieving on his rapidly heating face. His time spent with Teruki shines in a new light now, and he wonders why he didn't notice before.
If they did date, would that mean they could go on dates like the one Teruki mentioned? Would they really be able to do that together? Thinking about it makes his heart feel warm, and he realized that he likes Teruki too. Like likes him.
“But, but…” Shigeo squeaks. “Teruki said that.. we couldn’t go on a date because I’m not a girl.” He slumps his shoulders, and Tome’s hands tighten on them.
She scoffs, “He’s just in denial Mob. He’ll come around– he’ll probably make the first move, too.” She smiled proudly, assured of herself.
Shigeo smiles. It’s nice to have a friend like Tome around who knows about this stuff. He hopes Teruki does make the first move, that he asks him with flowers in his hand like Shigeo did with Tsubomi. The thought makes him smile, and then he laughs.
“What?” Tome blanches.
He giggles and then takes a deep breath. “Thank you, Tome.”
Tome smiles back, beaming. “Of course! I’m an expert in romance.” She crossed her arms, grinning.
They both look up when Reigen shrieks, jumping out of his seat and onto his desk. “M-Mob!” With a trembling hand, he points down at a cockroach on the floor. It scuttles under a door, into a backroom of the office.
“Oh.” Shigeo stands up, says goodbye to Tome, and deals with the bug.
The whole time, he thinks about Teruki. About his smile, his patience with Shigeo, and what it’d be like dating him. Shigeo thinks it wouldn’t be that different to their current relationship, except they’d see each other more and–
Would they kiss!?
i.
Shigeo's heart bursts out of his chest. In front of him, in Teruki’s extended arms, sits a heart-shaped box.
Tome had said that Teruki would “come around” to his crush, but this was happening faster than Mob thought it would. He thought it’d take at least a few months for Teruki to confess his feelings, but it’s only been a week.
They’d been taking a walk through the park, looking at the budding cherry blossom flowers. Then, suddenly, Teruki stopped walking and turned around. He reached into his bag and pulled out the box.
Shigeo isn't familiar with emotions. Anyone who’s met him would say that he’s practically obtuse, completely oblivious. But that conversation with Tome had sparked something in him. Every move, every word that Teruki spoke to him was analysed through the lense of, “does he like me?”.
Based on the few romance anime he’s watched, Teruki’s sending all of the signals– his face is splotched with uneven red blush, and his eyes glance from Shigeo's face and back to the ground a few times. His feet shuffle, and his gulp is almost audible. He even decided to do this under cherry blossoms, something that was surely meant to be romantic.
Shigeo steadies himself before taking the box.
“Are these chocolates?” He questions softly, running his hand over the velvet of the box. His fingers bump over the bow holding it together, the ribbon smooth under his hand. He smiles at the feeling.
"Yeah.” Teruki's hand rubs the back of his neck, pushing his hair up. His smile is wobbly.
Shigeo slips his hand under the ribbon and pulls it off. It feels nice, and so he rucks it into his pocket to hold later. He opens the box. Inside lies 12 assorted chocolates, all in the shape of a heart. The lid has a paper inside it which describes them as milk chocolate–his favorite– and some even have marshmallows inside.
He looks up at Teruki's warm gaze. His eyes are soft around the edges and they gaze into his own. If he were anyone else, the intense look would make Shigeo want to hide inside himself, but Teruki has a special way of making him comfortable. I wouldn't mind doing this more, he thinks, when we date.
Then Teruki's eyes widen as he remembers himself.
“A girl left them in my locker,” Teruki laughs nervously, “and I thought you’d like them instead. I like dark chocolate more.” He shrugs, acting nonchalant.
Oh.
“So you didn’t get them for me?” Shigeo frowns.
Teruki pauses, blushes, and shakes his hands quickly, “N-no! Of course not, that’d be–” He stutters, cutting himself off. “I just thought, as a friend, that you’d like them.”
Shigeo is angry.
Not the rage that used to consume his mind a year ago, but a slow crawl of heat going from his heart to his head. Teruki is very smart, and cool, and characteristic, but Shigeo can’t help but think at the moment that he’s completely stupid.
Surely… surely Teruki knows that he likes him? If it was so obvious to Tome, and now to him, there’s no way that Teruki was the only one oblivious to it. What about the lingering touches, the strange wording, the chocolates?!
He glares down at the offending box and decides that if Teruki really likes him, he’ll have to be the one to confess. Shigeo can’t be sure that it’s true, and he’s feeling a bit bitter-- an unpleasant feeling in his chest. So if they're going to date, the responsibility is on Teruki’s shoulders.
And with that, he shoves the box unceremoniously into the bag on his shoulder. Teruki’s eyes follow it.
They continue walking, side by side, like nothing happened.