Chapter Text
Teruki yawned as he walked out of Black Vinaeger Middle School to go home. It hadn't been a particularly challenging day (when is it ever when you're Hanazawa Freaking Teruki?), but during the previous night, he was kept up by the itchy bug bites on his skin from his first and last try at meditation. His neck had burned with relentless itchiness all night, and it was still itchy as he walked home. He wondered if he should invest in some anti-itch lotion...
He headed to the closest drug store, when he caught sight of a familiar face. Under the tree, sitting on a bench was Mob, next to his permanently hungry girlfriend. He wanted to hurry up and get something for his skin, but he really wanted to talk to Mob. What if Teruki went to buy the lotion, and come back to see that Mob was gone? They didn't see each other as often as he wanted. Not only were they in different schools, but Teruki was in a few after-school clubs while Mob had a part-time job. He should at least say "Hi".
Slightly picking up his walking speed, he made a quiet bee-line to Mob.
"Hi, Kageyama-kun! On another date?" Teruki greeted.
Mob jumped at the sound, and blushed at the word "date".
"H-hello, Hanazawa-kun..." He greeted back, raising an awkward hand to wave at him.
"Hey, you're that guy with the big hair last time." Tome cut in with a mouthful of sweet potato, "Did you get a haircut? Looks good."
"Oh, yes I did," Teruki said, not expecting her to say anything. Most girls he interacted with were so quiet and reserved, especially around guys like him, "Mob did a pretty good job, don't you think?"
"WHAAA?" Tome squawked, turning to Mob, "You're a hair stylist too? Think you can do mine?" She asked, pointing to her own messy 'do.
"I don't think I can." Mob said bluntly, "I can only grow it out. Hanazawa-kun ah... Got his... Head shaved, so I.... Grew it back out for him."
Teruki smiled as the memory of Mob kissing the top of his head before growing his hair back, and forced his blood cells to flow normally before he could blush like a regular person. He'd been having these feelings about Mob lately he didn't want to deal with yet. Especially around other people.
"You shaved your head??" Tome exclaimed, bringing him back to reality, "You totally don't have the face for it, though!" She closed one eye and brought her fingers together like a camera lens, blocking his hair from her view, "I bet it looked super 'ug'."
"It wasn't ug....ly..." Mob added meekly.
Tome merely shrugged.
"Hanazawa-kun," Mob said suddenly, "Why are you scratching your neck?"
Teruki took his hand away once he realized how hard he was actually scratching this whole time.
"Oh, I tried meditating last night, but a bunch of bugs bit the crap out of my neck." Teruki explained, "I was hoping to get some anti-itch lotion-"
"Ah! There's blood!" Mob said, pointing.
"Ewww, there is!" Tome added.
Teruki raised an eyebrow before touching his neck again and bringing his finger to his sight. Yep, blood. He had scratched too hard. Realizing where it came from, he reached up to look at his shirt's collar. Tiny blots of blood had leaked through as well.
"Oh, no, my uniform shirt's stained now!" Teruki groaned. Bloodstains were a pain to get out of white shirts!!
He was about to say goodbye and rush to the drugstore so he could get some stain solution as well, when he felt a small tug at his sleeve.
"May I look at it?" Mob asked. Worry showed in his usually blank expression.
"It's not that bad, Kageyama-kun." Teruki assured.
"It looks pretty bad." Tome chimed in, "It looks like it could get infected!"
Teruki glared at her as he felt Mob's aura grow more nervous. And since bad things happened when Mob felt negative emotions....
"Alright, alright. Just to prove to you that it isn't that bad, I'll just slap some Neosporin on it, and I'll be just fine." Hanazawa said, bending his knees so Mob could get a better look.
The small kiss at his irritated skin caught him by surprise (And Tome too, judging from her disgusted "Ew, you kissed it!!" in the background), and suddenly the itching and burning had stopped. He brought a hand up to his neck, and was happy to feel smooth, healthy skin under his fingertips. He stepped back to look at Mob, who was staring with a neutral expression, save for the small, barely there pleased smile on his face.
"Oh.. Thank you, Kageyama-kun."
Mob smiled another half-centimeter wider.
Teruki suddenly realized Mob had kissed his neck in public, and that he was so caught off-guard, he had been blushing up a storm. He willed his blood flow back to normal, took a deep breath, and got ready to berate Mob about kissing his neck in public. But would it get through to him? He'd probably say "But you were in pain in public." Or something sweet and thoughtful like that. Before Teruki could find the right words to debate with Mob about this, a text-message tone went off. Mob then pulled out his phone to see whoever had texted him.
"I have to go. Master needs me to come in for work." Mob said, tucking away his phone. He began to walk away, but not before he said his goodbyes to Tome and Teruki.
Teruki waved back before turning around to see Tome staring at him.
"Soooo, are you two like, a couple?" She asked.
"You wish, you fujoshi cretin!" Teruki shouted, before recollecting himself, "I'm sorry. I lost my temper. Anyway, he was just healing my neck."
Tome just snorted.
"And aren't you his girlfriend? That's a fairly odd reaction to have." Teruki commented.
"GIRLFRIEND." Tome exclaimed. Before erupting in a fit of giggle-snorts.
"Hey! What's so funny about that?" Teruki asked, genuinely curious. Why would any girl think the idea of getting to date Mob was so funny?
"Why would you think we were dating?" She asked.
"You never denied it when I asked if you were on a date!" Teruki defended.
"Yeah, a friend date to find telepaths!!" Tome retorted, "But that didn't work out. So now we just sit here pointing out strange fashions and hairstyles."
"What's the point of that?" Teruki asked.
"Mob-kun doesn't get out much." Tome said, taking a small bite of potato, "And he has trouble making friends. It's a silly past time, pointing out people while eating on a bench, but it's simple social interaction Mob-kun can handle without worrying about coming up with conversational topics."
"Ah... That's... Very thoughtful, actually." Teruki replied.
"You sound surprised." Tome deadpanned.
"Why shouldn't I be?" Teruki replied.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means I need to go home and do my homework, BYE." Teruki replied childishly. But before he could walk away, Tome poked a part of his back that made him jump.
"Hey, if it's not too much trouble, could you take him out on a friend date next Wednesday? I'm visiting my Grandparents and you two seem close." Tome proposed.
Teruki whooped with joy at the idea of getting to spend quality time with Mob..... On the inside. On the outside, he just said, "Yeah, sure."
"Pick him up at 3:30 at Salt Middle School. I'll tell him to meet you at the sign." She said.
"Alright, cool." Teruki said, fighting back the excitement in his voice.
"Oh, and Hanazawa-kun?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't fall too hard for him. He's head-over-heels for Tsubomi-chan."
"Wasn't planning to." Teruki lied, "Who's Tsubomi-chan?"
"A kind of girl.... Who usually doesn't fall for boys like Mob-kun."
"Ah..."
"But she's childhood friends with him, so he has a deep-set attachment to her. Just. Don't underestimate his infatuation with her."
"I said I wasn't planning to."
"Just be a friend."
Teruki nodded before making his leave. "Just be a friend." As if he could be anything else. As much as Mob said otherwise, Teruki didn't deserve him in his life already, he was just a wonderful bonus in his life. He definitely didn't deserve Mob as anything more than what he had right now. Being friends with him already made him feel a little spoiled. So he wouldn't screw this up and be a boring person to hang out with. He hoped Mob wouldn't be disappointed about him taking him out in Tome's place. But he'd try hard to make it a memorable experience for the two of them.
He walked home deep in thought, excited for the friend-date he had with Mob next week.