Chapter Text
Teru leaned on the back of his apartment’s door with a sigh, throwing his shoes off and taking off his jacket. He continued walking with just his thin sweater on as he placed his wallet on the table. The sun was setting now, and he spent a few moments recharging his energy by simply staring out the window. It was a nice view of the sky, although the teen didn’t really appreciate it at this time, as his head was fondly replaying the events of the day. It’s not like he knew what to do when he got home, usually. No doubt, Shigeo was already back with his family, recounting the day he had with Teru over a warm dinner and lively house.
In his small apartment, it became routine to wait a few moments to regain some motivation to make himself something to eat. That, and also planning how much time to leave for doing his homework and still making it to bed by a good time. He loved spending time with friends, especially if it was Shigeo, but it did take some getting used to after finding himself surrounded by a new crowd. A group that he actually enjoyed spending time with, it was shocking how much less time you have at home after not having to make excuses to leave early for your own mental health.
Spending time with Shigeo was a bit of a mix as of now. Ever since Reigen gave Teru a realization of his feelings, it's been going as most teen crushes go, which was somewhat of a relief to Teru. Their hangouts were always fun, it was just that nagging voice at the back of your mind that won’t leave. One that’s much louder now and can’t be pushed aside after Teru first started overadmiring Shigeo, it was inevitable, how else could you handle such feelings towards someone you owe your change of character to? But it was a bit weird, a small draining of your energy as you try to restrain from doing anything weird around someone you’re interested in. Not only was it a crush on a boy, but it was Teru’s first crush ever. He didn’t even know how to handle a regular crush, let alone one on a person who probably wouldn’t even be interested in him at all. Which Teru also wasn’t used to.
At some point in between wondering if Kageyama would wear the shirt Teru bought for him, and Teru wondering if cup noodles would give him enough energy to finish up his schoolwork, he fell asleep in a less-than-comfortable position, faceplanted in the cushion of his couch with his legs hanging over the side. He’d regret the ache in his back later, but when you have this much on your mind, there’s not much you can do but accept the lull of sleep.
****
Teruki suddenly found himself sitting on his couch, not that he remembered sitting up at all. Also, it was daytime, and most strikingly of all, Shigeo was there too. The boy sat quietly in a polite position with his hand resting on his knees. A blurry program was playing on the TV, Teru couldn’t care less about whatever seemed to be happening with that, though. The room looked exactly like his, but when he tried to look around more, he found that his vision was quite dizzy. He felt his body as if he were an outside viewer; either he died in his sleep, or this was a dream. As he started to feel the scene around him, Teru could say he felt eased into this world, especially when Shigeo started talking to him.
“Thank you for inviting me,” Shigeo said with his usual soft smile, “This was fun.”
Teru’s lips basically moved on their own, like his brain was trying to keep up with dream Teru’s consciousness, “Of course! You’re always welcome anytime.”
Teru just continued to watch Shigeo, as he usually did. Ritsu told him about this habit, and as much as he appreciated it when Ritsu would snap him out of it, that was an exclusively hangout habit. It was just the two of them; Shigeo wouldn’t notice anyway, so was there any harm in admiring? It was a mystery for the ages why the girls weren’t fawning over Shigeo. Teru couldn’t believe he wasn’t grouped with a large number of Mob admirers; he was the kindest, most caring, and amazing person anyone would ever meet. Not to mention extremely handsome, those dark eyes, soft face, and while Teru thinks he could do something more with his hair, Shigeo Kageyama was definitely the only person who could look that good in it.
Leaning against his hand that rested on the back cushion of the couch, Teru continued his viewing for a moment before a harsh banging woke him out of it. Both of the teens snapped their heads towards the door; the banging wouldn’t let up for even a second. Teru turned towards Shigeo with wide eyes, quickly fixing his face into a polite smile as he got up and walked towards the entrance of the apartment. Teru lightly tiptoed towards the door, each loud knock shaking through his socks and the carpet, his body feeling like they were making electricity buzzing through his body. He wasn’t expecting anyone today, and just from the sound, he felt an unease.
He took a deep breath and wrapped his slightly shaky hand around the doorknob, trying to hold his polite face as he opened the door. His eyes widened and shrank in a flash; meanwhile, his plastered smile took much longer to fully droop down his face.
“Hello, Teruki.”
As Teru stepped back, letting the door creak open fully, he got the full view of the couple filling out the door frame.
It seemed that the Hanazawas had returned from their almost decade-long business trip. It was uncanny; it looked like his parents hadn’t aged since he last saw them. Even in the last outfits he saw them in to top it all off. His father was a chiseled man, the kind of face that locals loved to see. Bright brown hair that always seemed to have something holding it in its mold, they were a slightly different color than the light beard that coated around his mouth. There were a couple of coats over his broad shoulders, small flashes of freshly polished jewelry around his wrists and fingers when he moved a certain way. An imposing presence that weighed down on anyone. Teru had a hard time remembering his dad’s eye color because he would usually stare at the ground instead of up at his father.
As lucky as most of Teru’s life was, he got all of his mom’s pretty features over his dad’s handsome looks. Her blond hair bounced around her framed face; the color and way it curled and swayed were identical to her son's. But Teru at least remembered her eyes, mainly because he’d spend years of his life alone trying to figure out what she felt towards him. They weren’t ever hostile, just more…“amused” was the best word Teru could land on. At least he had one or two nice memories with her; it was lucky that Teru got her looks, not just to be attractive, but he believed it was the only reason she would play with his hair sometimes as a kid. He never saw his mother without jewelry draped around her neck and on her ears through the curtain of her hair. She was a pretty woman; the dark clothes she wore emphasized her makeup-coated face.
The Hanazawas were always cuddled up with each other. Teru wondered if their honeymoon phase continued after they left him, and for how long.
“Mom…Dad…What are you doing here?” Teru asked, shaking, as he tried getting a vibe from his parents.
“Well, Teruki,” His mother started, her eyes shifting up and down, “We heard some big news about you, we wanted to come and check in.”
“Oh…” He responded, a hand pinching the tips of his bangs. There were too many questions he wanted to ask, but he didn’t know where to start. He never thought he’d have to deal with this one day.
“Are you mad at me?”
That was a stupid question; out of all the questions he had to choose the dumbest one. But in the moment, it felt good, a mix of his lifelong and new questions.
“Well, that depends,” His father said, his voice slightly robotic, “Is it true that you like a boy?”
Teru felt his heart sink into his stomach. Who told them? No one knew except for a few Spirits n Such employees and Ritsu, unless one of them blabbed. But how did it reach his parents?
“Teruki? Is this true?” His father prodded. It was extra unnerving how his parents’ bodies didn’t seem to move at all except for their mouths, “You know something like that could put a stain on the Hanazawa name, right? We know we haven’t been around much, but we know you wouldn’t be that selfish. You’re still a good boy, aren’t you?”
The Hanazawa parents looked even more imposing now that Teru was on the floor, crawling away slowly as his mind tried to come up with an answer and the confidence to back it up. His face felt like it would split in half from the furrow in his eyebrows and rumble from his quivering lip.
“Hanazawa?” A soft voice called from behind him. Teru twisted his neck to look at Shigeo, who was now standing behind him, dark eyes staring down.
The energy making Teru’s heart palpitate was finally put to use as he got back on his feet and tried to use his body to block the sight of Shigeo.
“Not right now, sorry, I-I’m dealing with something-”
Before Teru could finish his whispered plea, the blood-freezing voice of his father halted any action he wanted to make.
“Don’t tell me this is the boy you’re trying to woo,” Mr. Hanazawa grumbled, “You chose a commoner? I can’t decide which is worse: having a son who likes other boys or one who shows interest in people like this.”
“Are you trying to kill your parents, Teruki? Ruin everything we’ve worked so hard for? That gave you such a privileged life?” Mrs. Hanazawa said, her face still unmoving, but tears still coursed down her face.
“Don’t say stuff like that-”
“Are they talking about me?”
Teru turned to look at the person who had interrupted him, his crush’s face that always brought him joy now replaced with discomfort and confusion.
“You like me…?” Shigeo continued, a small tremor in his voice, hoping that it was some joke.
Teru looked between the people shooting him accusations, sandwiched between them both, not knowing what to say or how to prove it. He knew which was more important to him, though.
“Kageyama,” Teru said, reaching a hand out to place on his shoulder, trying to block out all viewing of his parents, “I didn’t want you to know this way-”
“Don’t touch me,” Shigeo said firmly as the kind boy shoved Teru off of him, the blonde’s head slamming into a now gravely floor.
The view above him had no ceiling; he saw the dark sky with clouds blowing with the wind that flew his hair around. His warm room was gone, but at least it seemed he was alone. That was, until a shadow made the dark skies even darker. A smug face looked down at him with blond hair framing the head.
Oh no.
“Hello, commoner,” said a Teruki with tussled hair that fell over his face, dressed in a Black Vinegar Middle School uniform, “How’s that life treating you? From the looks of it, it seems you’ve truly reached commoner levels of being pathetic.”
Teru just continued to look up at his past self, the smug look on his face shifting Teru’s anxiety to annoyance.
“Oh, shut up,” Present Teru told him, rolling himself up onto his feet, “I’m doing just fine.”
“Really?” Past Teru said with a malicious giggle, placing a hand on his hip and the other up to his mouth, “I would’ve noticed it wasn’t going well right when I started spending so much time with nobodies. Especially, a certain loser…gosh, what was his name again? Oh well, I wouldn’t want to waste my time on a person who doesn’t even function like one.”
Present Teru flung his fist at the cocky face; he wouldn’t mind giving himself a beating. Past Teru vanished before the impact, suddenly zooming behind present Teru and grabbing his hair. Present Teru could only grunt before having his face shoved into the ground, the force breaking the floor. Even with his ears buried in the dirt, Teru could hear his past self laughing at his expense. Teru felt the grip on his hair tug again, and suddenly his face was back above ground. That annoying, smug expression peering at him again.
“Someone’s gotten soft,” Past Teru chuckled, “I guess you’d have to dumben yourself down to that level if you want someone like that to date you.”
“Oh, please, as if you weren’t setting up this path for me,” Present Teru muttered, pulling his head out of his past self’s grip and getting into a fight stance. “First of all, this? This was ALL you.” Teru said as he pushed his knees together to start building up his power.
“It’s a stance that helps power flow for us. I don’t get how wanting the attention of a loser helps you improve in any way.” Past Teru said, copying the stance with his knees tightly buckled next to each other, “We could’ve had any girl we wanted, if even one person at school found out you liked such people, say goodbye to ever catching a chick’s attention ever again.”
Present Teru shot off the ground and grabbed his past self’s wrist, trying to fling him. His target just grinned sinisterly and lifted Teru off the ground and smashed him into the wall of Black Vinegar Middle School that had suddenly appeared behind him.
“If you love the attention of girls so much, why did you feel satisfied seeing some boys in the hallway blush? You even winked at them sometimes!” Present Teru said forcefully, trying to yell as loud as he could despite his fast self’s hands shifting to his neck.
“I’m just that handsome and popular! Not many can say they can woo anyone, but I can! I, Teruki Hanazawa, would never be interested in the likes of anyone besides pretty girls! Not my fault, any attention is still attention!” His past self screamed, putting increasing pressure on his future self’s head, “The downside of being as popular as me is accidentally attracting those kinds of people, too.”
“You may be able to get girls to like you…but you could never keep up the idol charade…” Present Teru gasped, squeezing his comebacks through gritted teeth and tightening throat, “Remember that time we went on a date with that girl last year…? You asked where she got her top, and then went to that place on that very same date! You bought a woman’s top in front of her! I know you noticed that weird expression she gave you…us…”
“SHUT UP!” Past Teru shouted as the wall began to crack from the force, “I don’t care what other people think…I can pull off any clothing; my fashion taste is flawless, I could pull off anything and still get lines of admirers! What will drive everyone away is word getting out that you have a crush on a boy, an absolute waste of a person, too, nonetheless!”
Suddenly, Teru felt his body pummeling as the wall behind him caved in. He fell on cold, dusty tiles, sliding towards the back of the room. He caressed his sore neck and breathed in lungs full of delicious air. His shaking eyes looked up through his hair, watching as his past self stood in front of the cracked wall. The light of the sky casts shadows over his psychopathic face as he raised a glowing hand, the sounds of drawers opening as a flock of knives flew to his sides. He picked one up with sly fingers.
“Hasn’t this been a familiar fight?” Past Teru said, checking his reflection in the gleam of the knife, “You really have gotten less sharp. Physically and mentally. You think someone you did all this to would ever like you? It’s not even a gender thing, but you as a person. I mean, what’s worse than having a crush on a loser? Getting rejected by him, or knowing you have absolutely no chance with him?” He ended his remarks with a villainous laugh, letting the knife he held join the others.
Teru was truly at a loss. He didn’t know how he could win his way out of this one. He’s been up against harder opponents, way more difficult. But in the span of however long he was paralyzed by his parents and beaten by himself physically, emotionally, and mentally. He couldn’t lose to himself, though. That would add a huge mental crisis on top of his growing pile of them. He supported the weight of his head on the wall, getting an uninterrupted view of the egotistical person he used to see in the mirror as he approached. Knives swarmed around his past self as he took off his tie. He crouched down to look at Teru, aiming the tie sword in his hand directly at his forehead.
“As much as I’m disappointed in you,” The uniformed teen said, “I’m glad I don’t have to deal with the outcome of this. You, on the other hand, oh, you’ll be haunted by this for the rest of your life! That’s what going soft gets you, though.”
After a deep breath in, Teru could feel the fight returning to his eyes. His glared daggers into the person he used to be.
“Whether you like it or not, we lost to him. We faced the same humiliation, the same loss, and the same realization,” Teru said, grabbing the wrist holding the knife and moving it away from his head. “It was going to happen no matter what you did. So if anything, it’s not my fault. It’s yours. Everything you’re yelling at me for is all because of what YOU did.”
Teru suddenly felt a rush; he flung his body up, swinging his arm around and turning the knives to a new target. Before his past self could blink, the knives had punctured the baggy parts of his uniform’s jacket and pinned his body to the wall. So much force behind the knives that they made cracks in the formerly undamaged wall. The tie sword collapsed to the ground and crumpled into a pile.
“You are an egotistical brat who needed to be put in place. You were always a closet case, a lonely child, and a person who needed someone like Kageyama! Far before I was even in the picture!” Teru shouted, forming air whips with his powers and wrapping them around his past self.
He pulled, and the jacket was ripped from his past self’s body as it was pulled in. Teru now stood close to his past self, bright purple gone from his outfit, and was now sporting the plain white collared shirt and dark pants.
“You’re a commoner. You always were.” Teru said tiredly, realizing how true it was that emotions fueled psychic powers. He felt mentally and emotionally exhausted; his bright powers were flickering like a lightbulb at this point. He slowly put his hands on past Teru’s shoulders, “But I also thank you. Again, without you, I might’ve never met Kageyama.”
Teru looked himself in the eyes. His old eyes were so dark and devoid of life, like pretty stones covered in dirt. Despite their fight that ruined both styles of hair, they both knew they still looked pretty good. Teru tried to give a nice smile, a soft one like Kageyama’s. His past self just started chuckling, looking down at the debris-ridden floor.
“I suppose so. Ugh, losing to my own powers, how existential,” He said, seeming to finally let the violence go, “But still, won’t be me dealing with what happens.”
Teru raised an eyebrow as he tried to look under his past self’s bangs. When he looked up again, his hands weren’t on the shoulders anymore, but were now around the neck. And he quickly realized it wasn’t himself he was holding onto anymore, but now the sobbing expression of Shigeo was looking at him, his eyes shaking with a plea.
****
Teru flung up, his sleeping position and jerking awake left a horrible ache in his back that would no doubt follow him throughout the day. He gripped the fabric of his shirt and panted, his head looking around the room. It was dark, the light of the kitchen area being the only help in confirming that the space Teru was in was his own apartment. He threw his legs over the couch cushion, pressing his feet onto the floor after one more deep breath. He slowly walked around the apartment, turning on every light and getting his blood flowing to help his pale face. It was fairly late. He definitely wouldn’t be going to sleep for a while if he wanted to finish his work. It was silent for the next hour; the TV stayed off, the kettle loudly fumed as Teru wrote down everything he could remember from his dream. He made sure splashes of cup noodle broth didn’t get on the paper as he ate his “meal” one noodle at a time.
After a splash of water on his face and playing with his hair until every chunk stuck out, he picked up his phone and scrolled slightly down his list of contacts. Teru laid out his uniform for tomorrow as the phone buzzed in his ear. It took two attempts at calling until someone picked up.
“Urph…yeah, kid? Do you know what time it is?” Reigen mumbled into the speaker.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Teru apologized quickly, a hand quickly returning to his hair to twirl some bangs, “I was just wondering if you had an opening tomorrow. There’s something I’d like to talk about.”
“Uhh…” Was all Teru heard until he was met with clicking and some grunting. It sounded like Reigen might’ve stubbed his foot while making his way to the computer, “Yeah, I can fit you in. Does three o’clock work?”
“Yes. Thank you, Mr. Reigen.” Teru said with a sigh, typing the time into his calendar for tomorrow. Er, later today, with how late it was.
“Don’t mention it, cya tomorrruhh…”
Teru waited on the line a while longer before hearing the sound of snoring, gracing Reigen by hanging up once it was confirmed he had fallen back asleep.
It took a shower and a bit more snacks to get Teru up and ready to get all his work done before he had to get ready for school. It’d be a nice distraction, at least.