Work Text:
Teru groaned as he stomped up the stairs to Spirits & Such, not because he didn’t want to see Reigen or anything, but because he was going without Shigeo.
Recently, it’s all he’s been wanting to do. He’s always wanted to hang out with him; once the two finally organized something, it became quite an addiction. Running into him after school on his way home was the start; now he tries to spend time with him whenever he gets the chance. Kageyama was just the perfect company. After his complete reset, he realized he didn’t actually have many friends he liked. That and a rumor of being bald and naked after a fight leaves someone roaming the halls alone for a while. But even after his loss couldn’t keep his charm at bay, Shigeo has become the only person he looks forward to seeing, despite seeing him the least out of those he hangs out with. But Shigeo hasn’t found the “coincidence” of Teru roaming around outside his school gates every day he doesn’t have club meets weird yet, so in Teru’s schedule it shall stay.
While the bowl cut boy is on the quieter side, you can always tell he listens and cares for every word the blond says. For anyone who talks to him, even a random drunkie in the train station can notice how Shigeo nods for every claim they shout. Teru’s just never met anyone like him before, no way anyone would want to give up time to spend with someone like that.
Once Teru got to the top of the stairs, he opened the door and gave a nod to the conman who greeted him at the desk near the window.
“So, why’d you call me in? Don’t you have Serizawa or little brother to help if Kageyama’s sick?” Teru asked as he scanned around the room.
“Would you stop calling me that?”
Teru quickly whipped his head to look at the younger Kageyama brother who leaned against the wall behind the door.
“Oh! Didn’t see you there! Did Reigen call you in, too?” Teru exclaimed, ignoring Ritsu’s request.
“I only called you in today, Hanazawa,” Reigen said as he got up from his desk, gesturing for Tome to go make some tea. “In fact, he encouraged me to do so and asked to be present as well.”
Teru raised an eyebrow towards Ritsu before glancing around the room. Serizawa was also present, and Dimple soon revealed himself with a smug look. Shigeo was off at his club, giving this group a couple of hours to chat.
“What is this, an intervention?” Teru complained as he tried to read the mixed looks on everyone’s faces.
“Eh, something like that.” Dimple chuckled before nudging Reigen’s head with a small elbow.
Reigen rolled his eyes and put his hand to his head. “Why don’t you sit down, kid?”
With a huff, the blonde made his way over to the couch while Reigen walked over to his chair. Serizawa remained at his small desk, Ritsu was leaning against the chair with a glare-ish type look Teru hasn’t received from the brother since they first met, Dimple was floating above Reigen’s shoulder, and Tome began to re-enter the room with a couple of cups of tea.
“Well…? Why did I come over here?” Teru asked as he sat back, getting frustrated with the glances the people across from him were giving each other. “Are you…no…are we all hanging out without Kageyama?”
“No! No….” Reigen clarified, sighing again, “We just wanted to know…or help with something…man, how do I ask this…”
Ritsu groaned and crossed his arms,
“Do you have a crush on my brother?”
Everyone looked at him, shocked by his bluntness, before turning back to see the underwhelming expression of the blonde.
“....No? Pfft, what would ever make you think that?” Teru said with a surprisingly genuine laugh. No one noticed the small drop of sweat forming on his cheek.
“Are you sure?” Tome asked again, leaning forward.
“Yes? C’mon, why would you assume that?” Teru responded with his arms crossed. “We’re best friends, maybe more than you guys would understand.”
“See, even that sounds suspicious.” Dimple chuckled as he kept glancing at Reigen for reactions.
“Whatever. Answer my question.” Teru pushed as he shot a scary glare Dimple’s way that was all too familiar for the spirit.
With a sigh, Reigen stopped Ritsu from talking first, but the more pressed teen had distracted him; the other one beat him to it.
“Well, for one,” Tome started, “Whenever we hang out as a group, you always ask to sit next to him.”
“But that’s-”
“Don’t cut me off! And then you sit veeeery close to him, you laugh obnoxiously loud anytime he says anything, even if it isn’t a joke…” She was at the realization she could use her hands to count the things Teru is being accused of, “Anytime he’s eating, talking, doing anything really, you lean on your arm and watch with such a lovey-dovey look, you only ever ask where Kageyama is or what he said anytime you run into us. Oh! You held his face and wiped some milk off it once too!”
“Oh, please, I do that a lot.”
“Not helpin’ your case, kid.” Reigen quickly noted Teru's response.
“W-well, whatever! I’d be perfectly fine doing that to any of you! Even Dimple!” Teru said, his voice rising as he shot an accusing finger at the spirit.
“Then why don’t you?” Ritsu started with a cocked eyebrow. “Also, the way you look at him is way different than the looks we receive.”
Everyone in the room gave a small nod or murmurs of agreement, Serizawa even raising his eyebrows with that realization.
Crap, did I really treat Kageyama so differently from everyone else? And not notice? How embarrassing! Kageyama just makes me so comfortable, I get carried away…Dammit, no wonder they think I have a crush on him.
“Hanazawa? You alright?” Reigen asked after the blonde’s long silence of looking into his lap, “It’s nothing to be embarrassed of, we just wanted to know, and we support you either w-”
“I don’t, okay, I DON’T.”
Everyone seemed taken aback by the new force Teru used in his voice. His expression looked more grave than when he was in life-or-death battles in the past.
“I only have liked and dated girls, okay…In fact, I would ONLY ever consider dating Kageyama if he were a girl!” He said with a raised voice, composure still maintained as he rocked in his seat.
“I see…” Reigen said, quickly regaining his mojo, “So…if Mob were a girl this whole time…do you think you would date him?... Her..?”
“Uh- Well- Hm.” Teru had to take a second to think about it. “What does that mean?”
“Just…think about doing your usual hangout stuff with Mob, but y’know…just imagine Mob were a girl this whole time. All the same memories as Mob, same personality, just…different gender.”
“I haven’t really gone on a date since I met Kageyama-”
“Interesting.”
“Shut it, Dimple. I just haven’t dated anyone as the new me. I don’t know how different it’d be.” Teru justified, now tapping his leg.
“Date things are easy,” Reigen said, yet looking away from anyone looking at him, "Restaurants, cafes, movies, y’know Mob enjoys looking at the sky and walks in the park.” The salesman finished with some eyebrow raises and a wink.
With an eye roll, Teru put his hand to his chin as he buried himself in his thoughts.
Hm, well, it was a claim I brought up. Okay then. First order of business: What would Kageyama be like as a girl? I heard he had to crossdress one time for a job, and as curious as I am, there wasn’t any way for me to see that. Well, Kageyama is pretty handsome; anyone could see that, so that would make girl Kageyama quite pretty.
He slapped his brain for immediately jumping to how pretty she would be, but he still had some posh to work off. Also, Kageyama being handsome was just a fact, pretty cute as well.
The image of a quiet girl with around the same facial features as Shigeo formed in his mind, black hair now hanging above her shoulders in a short bob, and translating that handsomeness into pretty little features on her face. He didn’t want to overthink it (even though it was too late), he just imagined her wearing a simple schoolgirl uniform.
Wow, nothing like my past dates, but she’s somehow eye-catching. So “in the background” that she manages to stand out among the other colorful peers. As much as he hated to realize, he would show interest, even in his old ways; he’d take her uninterested look as a challenge. Thinking day in and day out on how to get those small bursts of flusteredness Kageyama got at times. No one would have to know the bounds of his flirtatiousness.
Now the main event: dating…He only has boring memories of his past dates; he and his date only interacted when they were talking about themselves. Additionally, he only pursued popular girls who were getting a lot of attention for their looks. A genuine date…to save time, he turned to the basic date ideas along with their usual hangouts. A little mix of some romance tropes to his daydreams wouldn't hurt either…
Since “She”geo liked to look at the sky and enjoyed easily obtainable foods, I would meet her at the park, and we would walk to a food stall for some Takoyaki or take-out ramen and find a nice hill to eat on. While I know Shegeo likes some small talk during meals, I don’t think I would be looking at the sky much. I can admit, I tend to stare a bit when she talks, but I can’t help it! She was already good-looking, and seeing those small changes on her face as she laughs or smiles is impossible not to gaze at.
She looks like she would have soft hands, cold, but I have perfectly warm hands even without my powers! I love seeing those small sparkles in her eyes when she’s excited. She liked going shopping with me a couple of times. I would definitely take her to some stores and perhaps get her a gift that caught her interest. While holding hands is nice, I always prefer a hand around the shoulder. I’ve already done that to her before, so she for sure wouldn’t mind if I did now that we’re on a date!
Any girl would be lucky to have me, but I’m lucky to have her, too. She’s seen me at my worst yet accepts that, and I would be fully allowed to open up about it! She knows I live alone too…would she be the first person I’ve opened up to about this? Wow, how lucky that the one closest to me is also dating me, we can even skip the awkward getting to know each other part since we’ve already seen each other at our absolute worst…hopefully she’d want to open up to me too, I’m a great pep talker.
This is my imagination, I’m allowed to have a bit of fun, right? I’m a pretty popular guy, I bet all of Shegeos classmates would be jealous seeing us together all the time. She was already my number one person; now it's not any different. I’d walk home with her after school every day. We could stop by a cafe and get some milk, oh! Maybe if I insist, we can watch my favorite movie together again! That was fun, but if we’re dating, does that mean we would like… hold hands and stuff during it? I mean, I guess I wouldn’t mind…She’s never dated anyone before, so I’d have to get used to introducing some of that stuff to her. But she has been getting more bold and expressive lately…if she asked me to hold her hand or cuddle, I think I might pass out. That flustered face, her bangs covering her eyes, her fingers shifting next to mine…of course I’d say yes! I’m getting too excited, aren’t I? That’s not good. There has got to be some downsides to this, right? Is it my daydreams making this too appealing? That’s it, there are so many downsides to this, even if we did date!
Like?
Well, for one…it’d be hard to stay nonchalant when I have a partner that I’m actually interested in. That would ruin my whole brand! And…and oh, I’d have to walk all the way over near his school every day because I’d feel disappointed I couldn’t see him. And it’d be annoying losing the ability to flirt with whoever I please, oh well, I guess I could just flirt with him…? NO. Have I already? Sometimes I get too passionate when I compliment him now and then. Do I really change expressions that much when I look at him? How do I fix THAT? Not my fault, I think about him so much, how could anyone not?
Oh, that’s another thing, if we did date…what would people say? What would Kageyama say? Kageyama accepts everyone, but I don’t think I’d ever want to stress him out with my feelings like that…oh god, would he even be able to look at me…
“Hello? Kid? You alright? It was just a hypothetical question. I didn't think you’d think that hard about it.” Reigen said, waving his hand in front of the teen’s frozen face. “You alright? Your face is a bit pale yet flushed. You kinda look like one of those dolls-”
“What? No, it isn’t.” Teru quickly argued, feeling his face quickly and realizing it was quite warm. Already embarrassed, he didn’t pull out his compact mirror for more evidence. He also realized his hands were quite red from the grip he had on his pants.
“So…did your train of thought give you any insight into the situation?” Tome asked accusingly, causing Teru to shake his head to get any lingering thoughts about it out of his skull so he could focus on arguing.
“I hate to break it to you, but I…eh…” Teru’s breath hitched as everyone leaned in a bit. Even Serizawa pulled his eyes away from his homework. “I…well, I…don’t..know.”
Instead of joining the confused murmuring, Reigen kept his eyes on the shifted expression of the teen. With Teru, he didn’t have to overanalyze to know something was up; the boy’s neutral face was an approachable smile. While he knew the difference between that neutral expression and a genuine smile, the kid’s usual soft expression was now darkened, with his eyebrows furrowed, and eyes shaky, even with a hand covering his mouth; it wasn’t rocket science to assume there wasn’t a big pearly smile underneath.
“Okay, okay,” Reigen said, getting up from his chair and shushing the room. “C’mon, kid. Walk with me.”
With a few shifts in his seat, Teru slowly lifted himself off the couch. As he made his way to the door, Reigen shot a look at the nosy Ritsu and Tome before placing his hand on Teru’s back to pat him through the doorway.
The walk was mostly silent, not that either of them noticed how long it was. The boy was staring at the ground through his blond bangs, and the conman was looking around nervously while getting one word into multiple small talk questions, before mumbling and scratching the back of his head.
“You alright, kid?” Was what Reigen eventually settled on, leaning forward a bit to try to see the expression on Teru’s face. Refusing move his hands from his pockets, Teru shrugged and looked away.
“I know it was probably wrong to corner you like that, you know how Ritsu gets, I just didn’t expect everyone to be so interested as well. I’m sorry about that. You don’t have to answer, I understand how we made you uncomfortable-”
“It wasn’t the question that made me uncomfortable.” Teru said quickly, finally looking up, “It's that you guys might be right…But I don’t really want you to be.”
Reigen’s eyebrows raised, Teru turned to look at him with a scoff after he didn't get a response for a while, to see Reigen’s now pretty sweaty face and his fidgety arms flying around as usual. They continued to do so while Teru spoke.
“What’s up with you? I thought you would…consult me or something? You usually don’t get all panicky, even for something like this. I thought you guys wanted me to respond this way.” Teru accused. Reigen loudly coughed before clearing his throat.
“W-well…I actually agreed to Ritsu’s request to assure him…” Reigen suddenly stopped walking, “...that you didn’t have a crush on his brother heh…”
Teru’s face, which had finally gotten back to neutral once again, twisted into another darkened expression, his eyes widening and teeth showing in his grimace.
“How much were you guys talking about this? You’re lucky I’m not angry over you guys speculating about me. Is it really that obvious that you feel the need to talk about it so much?” Teru yelled as Reigen wiped his brow, leaning on a crosswalk pole.
“I know, I know, I said we’re sorry, didn’t I? It's just, y’know, after everything Ritsu reaalllyy didn’t want to stress his brother out again, and after what they told me, how could I not get a little curious-”
“Alright, I get it!” Teru groaned, hunched over,
“...Was it really that obvious?”
Despite letting out the question that bothered him the most out of all the things he fretted about in his mind, Reigen’s face was soft and eager. He made his way over to lean against the wall near Teru.
“How long have you been feeling that way?”
With his eyes still on the ground, Teru spun to drop his back on the wall as well.
“I mean, I didn’t think it was anything, just a lot of admiration, that's all. I always found Kageyama handsome ever since…y’know. I didn’t think I was staring. I just kind of…it's easy to get distracted with him, okay?” Teru confessed as he played with his bangs, a quick habit he picked up after growing his hair back. Crap, even that reminded him of Kageyama as he was quick to see what he would think after styling it.
Word vomit was starting at this point, trying to bury some of his earlier thoughts so he doesn’t say even more. While he still wasn’t looking up, it was still nice that Reigen’s earlier expression hadn't changed.
“But what I mean is, I guess I lost track of when I started admiring so much. It was a month or two ago when I wondered if maybe I felt something more towards him…but I managed to push those questions away, and then…” The blonde groaned and sank his head again, “Not only did you bring them back…you did something worse.”
Teru gave a small shove to Reigen with his arm as he returned his hands to his pockets. The blond bangs not covering his face enough to hide a small sniffle.
“You proved them right.”
The kid still couldn’t look up, even with the gentle sigh he received. Reigen smiled and patted him on the back before resting his hand on his shoulder.
“No need to be scared about it, happens to every teenager, crushes on your friend, thinking maybe dating them wouldn’t be so bad-”
“Why wouldn’t I try to ignore it!?” Teru interrupted, whipping his head up so fast that Reigen’s arm flinched back into himself. “Have you noticed that Kageyama is the only one who is still calling me ‘Hanazawa’? He respects me so much, he feels comfortable talking to me and hanging out. I can’t stop thinking about him, but I could ruin all of it. I trust him enough that he wouldn’t cause an explosion or something either, I honestly think I might sometimes when we’re together.”
He can’t stop talking. For months, he’s spent arguing with himself, the feelings pooling in his stomach strangling the other, finally being freed from their teenage prison.
“I’ll ruin it, okay? I rarely lose my cool, now I know that I soften just looking at some guy I see almost every day. Yeah, that’s not something that would freak me out a ton.” Teru grunted and kicked a rock he was staring at while his head was down.
“Huh, that’s weird, I would’ve thought someone with a crush on Mob would know the guy pretty well.”
A “huh?” followed by a quick whip of Teru’s head that threw his eyebrow raise at Reigen.
“I’m just saying, have you met Mob? That guy forgave every person who wanted him dead before they had even tried to give up! You think he’d stop being around you just because you have a crush on him?” Reigen said, returning a soft eyebrow raise of his own.
“I mean, maybe, but-”
“BUT NOTHING!” Reigen shouted and suddenly grabbed both of the teens' shoulders, the most eye contact shared between the two for the entire conversation, making both a bit uneasy. “If you care about him, why should you feel like a bad guy? You’re teens! Have as many crushes as you want, and I bet you still wouldn’t even compare to some maniac a grade above you! You’re fine, Hanazawa.”
“I just…” Teru tried to break away from the intense eye contact of the master, “I like things the way they are. Things just returned to normal. It wouldn’t be wrong to wait a little longer, right?... Fully understand what this is first…”
Reigen patted him on the back, a sound smile, “That sounds like a great idea, kid. If you ever need help, you know where to spit out all your feelings.” Teru gave a tired smile back before turning into a strained face as the older man ruffled his styled hair.
All he got was a huff; messy hair could be a fine exchange for free acceptance of his deepest secret, he supposed. Reigen held his shoulder as they walked back to the office. Teru revealed a few last-minute secrets to fully wipe himself clean of imperfections, so he could return to the state he was accustomed to around others. I’m perfect. I’m a perfect teen. Yet I have a stupid crush just like everyone else. Always Kageyama teaching him lessons even when he wasn’t there.
They made their way up the stairs, Teru having his eyes on the clacking noise of Reigen’s shoe before getting a very important heads-up once they got to the office.
“Mob! When did you get here?”
Teru’s face immediately whipped up. And of course, there stood the boy who stole every breath out of his body. He, of course, went to say hi to his master first.
“Hello, master, I just got here. Club ended a bit early today. I’m surprised everyone is here though…oh, even you, Hanazawa.” Shigeo said as he turned to look from Reigen to Teru. He gave a small wave as well. That smile was to die for, and those eyes with the perfect balance of light and void. Teru didn’t want to think about it, but after learning about his uncontrollable expressions around Shigeo, he wondered how he was unknowingly embarrassing himself now.
Ritsu gave a small eyebrow raise; he noticed the differences. At their old hangouts, Teru was usually loud and uncontrollable. He knew Reigen had worked his magic as usual, as Teru now appeared calmer and at ease. The only way you could see all the feelings beneath was the small blush of his cheeks and fiddling with his hair or shirt collar.
“What were you and master Reigen up to?” Shigeo asked, stepping closer, “You look very relaxed.”
Shigeo’s statement became false after his sudden approach. Teru, now even redder, was looking at every person in the room but the one in front of him. “Just chatting…about teen stuff.”
Shigeo turned to look at Reigen, who was now leaning against Serizawa’s desk, watching them talk. He flashed a small thumbs-up. Shigeo returned a smile.
“That’s nice.” He said, “Do you want to go talk with Ritsu and Tome?”
Teru turned to look at the two of them who were whispering to each other and flashing small glances their way once in a while. “Ah, that would be fun, but uh, I was actually about to head home. Y’know, lots of work to do. B-but I’ll see you soon! We should all hang out again sometime.”
Shigeo gave a small sigh at the refusal, but then the soft smile returned to his face, “Sounds good. You’re amazing, Teru.”
With a final wave, Shigeo turned to join his brother and friend. Teru was standing in the doorway, able to catch a quick view of Shigeo letting out one of his elusive, beautiful laughs. The office door was shut, noise still being heard from the other side. He then went down those godforsaken stairs.
Teru walked back to his home. And had an existential crisis along with a fever for losing an emotional battle, like every other teen. And then realized more about how he was feeling, and cursed the world for it. Just like every other teen.