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Mob was bad at math. Sure, he could add and subtract at a decent enough level to act as a cashier for his master at Spirits and Such, but he always needed help when dealing with a complicated discount special. In class, he was a laughing stock whenever the teacher called on him to explain a simple algebra problem. During exams, he became so nervous from not knowing the answers, he blanked out for half the class. And another exam was coming up this week.
Thankfully, Mob had friends who offered to help him. Ritsu was always eager to help, but their parents always giggled at the scene of the younger brother coaching his older brother at math. Mob always felt embarrassed whenever they saw Ritsu giving him pointers. Master Reigen was closest to Mob, and seemed to be good at just about everything, but he was always busy, using his laptop to solve some all-nighters. Mob suspected he was just constantly checking his status on the internet, but Mob still didn’t want to bother him. Tome had plenty of free time, and often took Mob out on friend dates, but she wasn’t too great at math either. Better than Mob, but not good enough to teach. Musashi was one of the most helpful people Mob had met, but he was even worse at math than Mob was. Dimple tried to help, but Mob had to kick him out of his room when he changed X and Y to “ass” and “tiddy”.
And then there was Teruki. He was from a different school, but he was like Ritsu: Smart, popular, good-looking, a great conversationalist, good at sports, and most importantly, good at knowing when Mob was struggling with something and needed help.
Which is why Teruki was currently tutoring Mob in his apartment. If he was the Teruki he was months ago, he would have gotten impatient in the first ten minutes and kicked Mob out of his apartment. But part of being humble was being patient with someone who couldn’t understand something as well as you did, in any subject, whether that was math, sports, etiquette, or psychic powers. And Mob struggling had become Teruki least favorite sight, so he kept his cool and stayed strong during their session, even when Mob confused algebra’s X and Y for geometry’s X and Y.
After forty-four minutes, Mob passed his paper to Teruki for the eighth time and asked, “Hanazawa-kun, does this look alright?”
Teruki took it and looked the paper over, eyebrows raising as he checked for any mistakes. There were several eraser smudges, and the problem itself was simplified more than one usually had to, but Mob had solved it. Without any help from Teruki!
“Great job, Kageyama-kun!” Teruki said, “You solved that problem on your own. Do you feel like you’d be comfortable to take the test on Friday, or do you want to practice a little more?”
“Eeeeeeehhhhhhhhh……….” Mob began to sweat. Obviously he wasn’t 100% comfortable, but as his eyes darted toward the crumpled up papers, it was clear he didn’t feel like studying anymore.
Hanazawa smiled. “Actually, we’ve been at this for a while. How about a break?”
At this, Mob perked up. “That sounds good.”
Teruki turned on the TV and brought out some snacks, a little relieved that Mob went for the break. Both teens needed some down-time for the day. And… It was actually nice seeing Mob relax. Whenever Teruki saw Mob, the latter was struggling to improve, struggling to save someone, or just plain struggling. Watching Mob munch popcorn while watching a nature documentary was soothing. Even people like him relaxed in such an average fashion, it seemed.
In time, they both fell into the same state of comfort. Mob commented on which animals he liked best in the program, while Teruki rattled off some trivial facts that the narrator left out. At some point, the nature program featured a bird with a very unique call. So unique, Teruki couldn’t hold in the laughter and ended up doubling over in hysterics. And he was so comfortable in Mob’s presence, he didn’t realize…
“Hanazawa-kun… You still wear a wig?”
Teruki instantly sobered up and brought his fingers to his head- The top of it was completely smooth! He looked down to find his wig on the floor and scrambled to get it back on his head. It was smaller than that obvious giant haystack he used to wear, so Mob must have thought he could have grown it back after all these months.
“Ah… Yes.” Hanazawa replied, “That day when we met… Those knives were embedded with my psychic energy as well as yours. If they were regular knives flying, my hair would have been grown out already. But… Since they weren’t… My hair can’t grow back.”
“I’m sorry!” Mob said earnestly.
“Don’t apologize, please.” Teruki said, trying to adjust his wig properly, “I shouldn’t have pointed them at you. I shouldn’t have done anything that day.”
“But then we wouldn’t have met, and you wouldn’t have changed.” Mob said.
“True, but… I still wish I had known better.” Teruki replied, “I shouldn’t have hurt you, or forced you to do anything. It baffles me that you even let me help you. How can you call me a friend? How can you be so sure I’m not going to go back to my bad habits? How can you- Kageyama-kun, what are you doing?”
As Teruki was talking, Mob had taken his hands and placed them on his own shoulders. His shoulders were hunched, and he was sweating a little.
“Stop talking like that, saying you don’t deserve friends. You’re not the person you were when we met and I,” Mob placed Teruki’s hands closer to his neck, “I know you’re not a bad person.”
“You’re shaking like a leaf! You’re totally nervous!” Teruki pointed out, trying to yank his hands away.
“I might be a little nervous,” Mob admitted, “Whenever anyone touches me near my neck now, my mind goes back to that day and I get scared. I’m remembering going back to those memories right now… The only thing that would make this even worse is….”
The top of Teruki’s head felt colder all of a sudden, as he realized Mob had taken one hand away from his own to pull his wig off before tossing it behind the couch. He had an intense, but unreadable look in his eye.
“Now… It really looks like it did on that day.”
“Why are you doing this, Kageyama-kun?!” Teruki asked sadly. Was Mob trying to give himself a panic-attack?
“If I was really scared of you, I would be doing something about it right now.” Mob said calmly. He wrapped Teruki’s hands around his neck and let go, “Be gentle.”
Be gentle? What the hell did that mean? Slightly confused, Teruki kept his hands on Mob’s neck, putting absolutely NO pressure on it. Instead, he used his thumbs to stroke Mob’s neck as gently as possible, to assure comfort. After about a minute, Mob stopped shaking.
“Thank you,” Mob said, “this is a nicer expression on you to remember than last time.”
Teruki let out a surprisingly long breath of relief, and took his hands away.
“Don’t scare me like that, Kageyama-kun!” He scolded, “I thought you were being self-destructive.”
“I’m sorry.”
“And I’M sorry for scarring you for life.” Teruki said, standing up to retrieve his wig.
“Wait.” Mob said, holding onto his wrist, “Can I see it?”
He gestured to the top of his head. Teruki snorted, amused. “Kageyama-kun, having my hair shaved off wasn’t really traumatic. I don’t have nightmares over this, really.”
“Please, let me.” Mob said, holding up his hand.
Teruki shrugged. Who was he to deny Mob after everything? Without another word, he sat back down and bowed his head in Mob’s direction. His scalp was enveloped by warm, soft hands in an instant. Teruki thought it was silly. Did Mob think he was scared that he might shave the rest of his hair away? At least he wouldn’t look like an ochimusha anymore.
A small kiss on his scalp brought him back to reality. Not that he minded it, but. Did Mob really just…?
“K-Kageyama-kun?”
“My mom used to kiss my scraped knees or cut fingers when I was little.” Mob explained, “She said it helped heal where it was hurting before she put Neosporin and a Band-Aid on me.”
Teruki laughed, “Mob I’m not hurting there, I just- WOAH?”
Suddenly, the top of Teruki’s head tickled. He reached a hand up to feel that his hair had grown back.
“I’m good at growing vegetables.” Mob explained, “I thought I should be able to grow your hair back.”
“You even grew it in layers…” Teruki marveled as he played with his hair, “Wait, if you can grow hair like this, how come you wear a bowl-cut? You could look like a pop star, if you wanted!”
“I…” Mob’s cheeks tinted pink, “Don’t have the face for it…”
Teruki shrugged. If that’s what Mob thought, so be it. Mob gave him a small smile, and went back to watching TV.
“Oh.” Teruki said, just thinking of something, “Your mom kissed your injuries as a kid. You kissed my head… Following that logic, shouldn’t I have kissed your neck?”
Mob turned beet-red. “Ah… The commercials are over. We should watch TV again…”
Teruki complied with a smile.