Archive of Our Own

It had been 5, maybe 6 months since Teru started lifting.
He wasn't the fittest guy around, not even close. Of course, at most bodybuilding gyms anyone who's not on steroids usually pales in comparison.
But he didn't mind, he was making progress quickly, even without performance enhancing drugs.

Teru went 4 times a week, different times each day depending on how he felt or what his work schedule was. Leg day, arm day, leg day, arm day, and repeat. It was a tight schedule, mundane at worst, stable at best.

Before his first time powerlifting, he did research for a good 3 days and nights, making sure all the lifts he was going to do were:
A: flattering, and B: effective. It was a Teruki Hanazawa necessity.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't make sure he actually knew how to do them correctly, and had to be saved a few times when he tilted back on squats and almost fell directly on his ass.

So out of sheer humiliation, he stopped going to his first gym.

After a few more days of hardcore research, video watching, and a few hundred practice sessions at home, he signed up for a new one.

Hopefully, Teru knew what he was doing now.

And true to that, no one had to save him that first day back. Or any days afterwards, even when he put a questionable amount of plates on the rack.
But he'd gone through that embarrassing initiation, and it was not pretty.

Which made him especially nervous watching this new guy load up the bench press to 200 lbs.

It wasn't only the fact that Teru had never seen him before (he knew or had at least seen every regular at the gym) but that this guy was skinny. Real skinny.

Teru took a swig from his water bottle, not even bothering to be discrete as he stared daggers at the boy putting together this absolute death trap.

A few seconds later, Teru shrugged and turned his attention back to lat pull downs. He grabbed the bar with both hands. Someone would probably help the guy out before he died.

But when he saw him position himself on the bench with no one around to help, Teru's paranoia got the better of him. This boy was straight up going to crack his sternum and no one even noticed.

Teru cursed under his breath, looking around for anyone else to take the leap.
No one did, and when the guy began to push the bar up, Teru let go of the lat machine so fast, it whipped up and smacked him in the chin.
He didn't have time to pay attention to how badly that hurt and how dumb that looked as he basically sprinted to the bench a few feet away.
Before the other guy actually managed to lift the bar away from the bench rack, Teru waved his hands furiously in front of him.
The boy lowered his arms and sat up, slightly confused.

Thankfully, Teru was quick with his words. "hi, uh, can I work in with you?" he was sweating and didn't even have his bag with him. Totally unprepared.

He looked around and turned to Teru with unreadable eyes. "the other two benches are free..."

Shit, they were, and on either side of him. "yeah but, uh, I like the bar this one has. The others are bent. And misaligned... And sweaty." Saved it.

The boy looked down for a moment, then back up at Teru with a small smile "yeah. sure. Of course."

That was cute. He seemed almost happy to have someone to work out with...
But regardless of his feelings, Teru was just here to help him out as discreetly as possible and get back to his own shit. That's what he told himself.
The other guy held out his hand.
"My name is Kageyama Shigeo. Some people call me Mob. It's nice to meet you."

So formal. He took his hand anyways, "Hanazawa Teruki. Nice to meet you too, Kageyama. You wouldn't mind if I warm up first would you?"

Horrible. Awful. If someone did this to him, Teru would spit in their face. Thankfully Kageyama was so fresh to the gym scene that he didn't even know to be upset. He just nodded and started removing plates.

"how much do you want on here?"

Teru could feel his sore pecs from bench yesterday. Maybe he should tone it down for his own sake.

"How about tens to warm up"

They loaded them up and Teru hit his set of 5 with no problems. Before Mob could put back his 200 lbs worth of plates, Teru asked, "do you... Also want to warm up?"
Smooth.

Mob looked caught off guard, but nodded. He must not have done any research beforehand.

Teru sighed in relief, though. At least this way he'd be able to test his strength without dying.
Just in case, Teru stood a little closer. He'd be able to catch the bar if Kageyama started to falter.

Which turned out to be the right idea because after three reps, Mob managed to pin himself down so hard he couldn't breathe.
Teru hoisted it up with little effort and Mob sat up with a gasping breath. Poor guy was probably anemic.
It took him a few minutes to recover completely and Teru wondered how on earth Kageyama assumed he could do 200 before.

"Thank you for helping me." he said finally, eyes darting around in shaky embarrassment.

Teru leaned on the bar casually, hoping his relaxed tone would help the other calm down. "Of course. Same thing happened to me the first time, too. Dont worry about it." He smiled "you just have to learn your limits and you'll be fine."

Kageyama looked at him with wide, wondering eyes. Teru felt his face flush at the sheer intensity of his gaze.
With the way he was leaning against the bar, Teru and his faces were only inches apart too. Ah, they were close like this. Much too close. And with those eyes... Teru panicked and shot up as fast as possible, looking anywhere but the guy in front of him.
Those eyes... They were so full of hope. This was weird, he should go. He should get back to his own workout.

"Could you train me?"

The wheels in Teru's brain stopped suddenly and he blinked hard.

Did he ask for training?
Teru stared down at him.
On one hand, this guy was clearly weird and somehow made Teru very nervous. Plus he'd have to spend his workout helping him, which could increase it by nearly an hour and Teru was, well, he was a busy guy.
On the other hand, he couldn't just let him break his spine, and Teru had always sort of wanted someone to work out with... God, he needed to say no.

But his body disagreed and before he realized it, he became Kageyamas new trainer.

"Yeah. Definitely. I always come to the gym at around 5:30." That was a lie. Now he was stuck to a schedule. "Why don't I put you on my program? It's Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday". There he is, tying himself down with every word.

"Ok, will you send it to me?"

And then they exchanged emails. Now Kageyama had access to him even outside the gym.
Teru sent him his program and a few videos on form. What was he doing? This was his precious time wasted.

Eventually, the two of them finished up bench press. Mob managed to get up to five reps with the bar only, a solid 45lbs. He seemed satisfied with it despite his ungodly first attempt, and Teru wouldn't argue. Once they were fully done with the bench, Teru sent Mob on his way with a promise that they would pick it back up for real the day after.

Before he left, Mob walked up to Teru, back on the lat pull down machine.
"can I email you if I have a question?"

The word 'no' caught on his tongue.

"Sure." he paused. "but Google it first if you can." At least that was something.

Mob agreed and they parted ways.

Teru pulled down the bar with extra force. What a weird day.

"Ristu? It's late. Is everything OK?"

"Hi brother, everything's fine. I just wanted to call.. You went to the gym for the first time today, right?"

"Yeah. Shou's advice on the 200lbs was" he paused. "bad."

"Ah, so he did tell you that. Sorry, I'll make sure he doesn't do that again."

"It's ok, I have a personal trainer now."

Ritsu raised an eyebrow. "really? Aren't they expensive?"

"Well, he's not a professional. He agreed to work out with me." Mob scratched his cheek. Should he pay him?

"So you made a friend? That's great Shigeo. I'd love to meet him sometime."

Mob looked up at his ceiling. They'd just met. Could he call Hanazawa a friend?

That Thursday Teru showed up to the gym at a cool 5:40, ten minutes later than their planned meeting time, which turned much less cool when he saw Mob waiting for him in the front.

"Kageyama! You didn't want to go inside?"

"I'm alright with waiting for you."

Teru felt like kind of a dick. Kind of. After all, he was doing Mob a favor by training him, right? But he felt like kind of a dick. Ugh.

"At least go inside next time, you'll freeze to death out here."

They scanned their cards in and Teru led him to the yoga area.

"OK, lesson one" Teru said, sticking a finger in the air. "Warming up. You do it so you don't injure yourself during the real exercise." he handed Mob a foam roller, who looked at it like some kind of torture device.
Maybe an explanation was in order.

"this is like stretching, but it doesn't fatigue your muscles." Teru tried to think of a way to explain it better... and failed. "Just copy what I do."

Teru started rolling out his back, lats, legs, etc while Mob struggled to keep up.

In the middle of rolling quads, he finally said "Hanazawa this kind of hurts".

Teru sat up on his roller and put a hand to his cheek thoughtfully. "yeah, it hurts for about a week and then it gets better. It's cause you sit too much, probably."

"Oh."

Teru frowned. Was that rude? He was just explaining. God, Kageyama was hard to read. Teru needed to get better at that if this was going to work.

They finished up stretching and went out onto the gym floor. Thankfully, Kageyama didn't seen too nervous with everyone around like Teru had his first time.
Maybe having a trainer helped.

Teru led Mob through their Thursday workout program, making sure to spot him when he needed and teach him form. Their weight classes weren't actually all that different, maybe an extra 40 or 50 here and there, but not so much that it was annoying. Teru thought this might not suck as much as he'd assumed.
And when Mob smiled after he managed to hit a full set of squats, even at low weight, Teru felt himself swell up with a strange kind of pride.

Mob was weak, but it didn't take trained eyes to see that he was damn determined. It made Teru want to work harder.

He sighed. Only a day and a half and he was already committed to the role of coach.

"We're technically done," Teru said, putting back the last of the weights. "unless you want to do cardio."

"Didn't you say that doesn't build muscle?"

"Yeah, it doesn't, but it does..." he tried to come up with an explanation shorter than a novel, but gave up after a few seconds. "it's complicated. Here, let's just do 5 minutes on the stairmaster."

"Ok"

What a mistake. Teru should've known from the moment he stepped on that death machine. He was barely 3 minutes in and sweating like a goddamn horse. At least with weightlifting he could take breaks. This, this was pure torture. It couldn't get worse.
Or at least he thought.

When he looked at Kageyama, the boy looked like he was about 30 seconds away from passing out. Teru could practically see his spirit leaving his body.

Well that wasn't good.
The blonde reached over and turned down his step rate. Mob didn't even seem to notice him clammering into his personal space. No, he was too busy holding onto the soul that was visibly exiting his body further and further with each step.

Teru wondered why he didn't turn it down himself. God knows he would have.

Determination, maybe. Mob seemed more committed to working out than most of the people Teru saw regularly. Those people are massive, too, with rippling muscles, so that's saying something.
Against his better judgment, Teru turned his own machine up. He needed to work hard too.

Once they were done, Teru had a thick sheet of sweat covering his whole body and Mob was slumped over the machine's railing.

Teru laughed in between breaths. "Kageyama, how do you feel?"

"Like I'm dying"

He laughed harder but Mobs face was serious which was sort of... worrying. They both recovered eventually though, and Teru offered Mob his water which the other gladly accepted.

After finishing up, officially, they decided to cool down some more at a bench outside the gym.
Teru looked up at the night sky. It was full of stars; unusual for the city.

"I feel really nice now. The stairs were a good idea"

Teru nodded, "I feel good after cardio too. Endorphins and all that."

They watched the night sky for a few more minutes before Mob said he had to get going.
Teru waved him off before walking to his car.
Wow, he actually had fun working out today. It's been a while.

"Yo! Kageyama!" Teru waved to the boy outside the gym. In a turn of events, Teru was the one who was early today.

They'd been working out together for about two weeks now, and Teru found himself looking forward to it every day. More than he would admit.

"Hanazawa, nice to see you. Sorry I'm late"

"I don't think 5:32 counts as late" he smiled. "let's go inside."

"Hey Hanazawa," Shigeo began as they checked in, "I wanted to ask.. when did you start working out?"

"Not too long ago, why?"

"I was just wondering how long it would take until I start to see progress."

Teru paused, eyebrows raised. "you are making progress, Kageyama, can't you see it?"

"Huh?" Mob looked confused.

"Right here" Teru pointed a finger right above his knee. "it's not so squishy now I bet."

Teru poked it and Mob instinctively moved his leg away. "ah, sorry, didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
Too forward. Just because Teru basked in others noticing his progress didn't mean everyone loved it.

"It's not that it's just, I'm, I don't feel like I deserve any praise yet."

"You don't have to be so hard on yourself, Kageyama, take pride in the small Victories!" he clapped a hand on Mobs back. It was forward too, but Mob clearly had a few self esteem issues, and Teru was nothing if not encouraging.

"What's this?" Mob asked, sweat already forming on his brow. A month and a half had gone by and he had completely gotten into the swing of the program, so Teru decided it was time to add a few more accessory lifts.

"This," Teru patted the cushion, "is the glute ham raise machine."

"It looks like a torture device."

Teru sighed fondly. "that it does, Kageyama, that it does. Are you ready to use it?"

Mobs eyes widened instinctively and if he wasn't too sweaty before, he sure was now.

Teru gave him a light push forward. "you'll be fine, just lean down and then use your ass to push yourself back up."

After some pointers on proper form, Mob did a couple reps before sitting up. He looked at Teru.

"I feel kind of stupid doing this."

Teru looked back at him seriously, pointing finger in his face. "Kageyama, the number one rule in lifting is that if you want gains, you have to get over your fear of looking stupid."

Mob flushed, embarrassed by his own lack of knowledge but quickly changed his expression to resolute. He nodded at Teru and finished up the rest of his sets, which grew difficult as he tired out. He climbed down the machine with shaky legs, and dropped next to his friend.

"I guess that wasn't too bad." he said between breaths, "Hanazawa are you going to do a set too?"

"On that? No," Teru shook his head. "that makes me look stupid."

"Did you know they have a sauna here?" Mob asked one Tuesday evening. He was making steady progress but didn't seem to notice, or even care. Teru did though.

"Do they really? Where?"

"In the back of the bathroom. Is it for something specific?"

"I doubt it, but that's good to know."

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe we could go in sometime together."
Teru slapped a metaphorical hand over his mouth and stood there mortified.

Mob gave a small grin and began to walk to his own station. "maybe sometime."

By the third month, Teru was getting annoyed.
"Kageyama, you can't ignore it forever."

"Ignore what?"

"You know what I'm talking about. You'll have to accept it sometime."
Teru grabbed his arm. "this is a bicep. You have biceps now. Why aren't you super stoked?"

Mob paused and looked down with a frown. He'd really made good progress. The once skinny boy had died and in his place was one who could actually carry groceries to the house, and likely in one go.

He gulped and kept his eyes away from Teru. He knew it would come to this eventually.

"I feel like, once I acknowledge it, I might stop trying so hard and I'll stop making progress." he said, voice just above a whisper.

Teru held his arm steady and forced Mob to look him in the eyes.
"Kageyama, you are the hardest working person here. Being proud of that work isn't going to stop you, if anything, it'll encourage you too keep going even harder. As your friend, I can't let you keep living in perpetual denial."

Teru pointed him towards one of the many mirrors that lined the walls.

For the first time, Mob really looked at his body. It wasnt amazing, but the difference was noticeable. No one could deny that Mob had muscles. Not even himself.

And Teru called him his friend...

He stood there with his eyes to the mirror for a good few seconds before smiling and looking back down at his gym equipment.

"Thank you... Teruki"

And Teru nearly died.

Oh no, that's not good. Mob had walked back from the water fountain and found himself a man with no country.

"Hanazawa, there's someone in my squat rack."

Teru looked over from his own platform. Sure enough someone was using the rack despite Kageyama's stuff next to it. Teru would let Mob work in with him, but they were doing different lifts with drastically different weights.

"Kageyama, rule number one, never let another man steal your squat rack." he put a hand on Mobs shoulder and took out his phone. "here, I'll text you what to say since it's your first time dealing with this."

Mob hesitantly walked over and waved a hand in front of the man in his rack.
[first, tell him you were working there]

"Excuse me, sorry, uh, but I was working there." Mob said.

The man looked surprised. "oh. Sorry, I was waiting for a little while and I just assumed it was free."

Teru rolled his eyes. Kageyama left his bag and weights there, where was the ambiguity?
[that's trash. He knew full well someone else was using it. Kageyama, let him have it!]

Mob blinked at the text before looking up at the guy. "you can have it."

He looked ecstatic. "are you sure? Thank you!"

Terus jaw dropped.

With nowhere else to go again, Mob walked back to Terus platform with his things in hand.
Teruki knocked his head against the metal rack and let his shoulders slump.

"he seemed really happy" Mob said, not taking in Teru's frustration. He sighed.

"Oh Kageyama, you are too nice sometimes."

"Aah!! Kageyama, don't wait out here for me, it's freezing!!" Teru said as he rushed up to the entrance.

Mob stuck out a hand to test the weather. "oh, it is kind of cold, huh"

Teru scoffed. "yeah, it's like 30 degrees, how are you not dead?"

"I enjoy being here so I don't usually notice how hot or cold it is outside." Mob scratched his nose, having some semblance to be sheepish.

Teru smiled softly. "I like it here too." he sneezed, "but it's cold!!"
Teruki pushed Mob lightly by the shoulders "we gotta go in I'm gonna turn into a popsicle!"

"You doing OK, Kageyama?"

Teru leaned on the railing of his squat rack, watching Mob do his set to his left. The raven's mouth was open and he was breathing hard. With shaking legs, he pushed himself up and re-racked the bar with a clunk.
Mob wobbled his way to Teru's own rack and plopped on the floor, no care for the stares he might get or the copious amounts of chalk spread underneath him.

"Teruki I kind of hate squats."

He laughed. "a lot of people hate squats, but they're really important."

"Yeah" he leaned back and allowed his chest to rise and fall as he tried to recover. Teru definitely didn't think about how handsome he looked like that.

"I have squats now too. It's been a few weeks since I've done high volume, though." he laughed, and scratched his head. "I'm a little nervous."

Mob stood up, brushing the chalk from his shorts "I'm sure you can do it, Teruki, you're amazing at this."

Teru blushed deep red and coughed to try and cover it up.
"Thanks Kageyama.."

it's you who's amazing...

Teru, it turned out, was not as amazing as Mob had thought. He was on his 8th rep out of ten and was struggling to bring his body back up to standing.
This was his fourth set and at 180 lbs, Teru felt like fresh hell.
With a puff of air and a grunt that hopefully nobody heard, he brought the bar up and set it down on the rack.
He rested his head on the iron, breathing hard, disappointment hot on his face. Almost had it. Almost.

"Teruki, are you ok? That was your fourth set right?"

Teru nodded, unable to speak quite yet. After a few more seconds, he turned to Mob, head still rested against the bar and breathing hard. God, he was sweaty.

"I feel like I can feel the wispy hand of death coming to take me to my next life"

"Well..." Mob scratched his nose "You have one more set so tell him to hold off."

Teru burst out laughing, much to Mobs confusion before it clicked in.
He blushed and waved his hands as if to take it back.

"Ah, I mean!.. Don't let him take you at all, not just after your next set!"

Teru's laugh eventually puttered off into a giggle and he clapped a hand on Mob's shoulder.
"aah, I needed that, thanks Shigeo"

And both of them nearly died.

"are you excited, Shigeo?"

Mob raised an eyebrow just barely. They were in the middle of their warmup and he was in an unfortunate position that made his neck twist 180 degrees to see Teru. It was worth it though, Mob loved watching the blonde talk. He had a lot of charm.

He gave a curious frown. "huh? I mean... I guess... I'm always excited to work out."

Teru gasped, "do you not know what day it is?"

Mob looked around in quiet panic, was he supposed to? Today was just.. arm day...?

Teru sunk off his foam roller and grabbed his phone. "right here, on your schedule, it's max out day!" he pushed the device in Mobs face who gently pried it out of the others hand.

Max out? Was that like... As many reps as possible? He handed Teru his phone back. "I don't really understand... "

Teru's eyes widened before he lightly smacked his own forehead. "that's right, you've never had one! It's the day you measure how strong you've gotten. By lifting weights for only one rep until you can't anymore."

Mob's neck was starting to scream from the strain and he sat up, facing Teru completely now.
"That sounds kind of... Dangerous."

"Don't worry, I'll be spotting you as usual. Plus, if you need to drop the weight, you can. It's really fun, trust me."

"Alright..."

First up was benchpress. Mob sat down on the leather seat, ready to warm up but Teru stopped him with a hand. The blonde looked anxious but a small smile was stuck on his face.
He grabbed his bag, holding it on the floor in front of him.

"Shigeo, before you do anything... Uh, you said your birthday was a little over a week ago. First of all," he pointed. "you should have told me, I would've gotten you something!"

Mob went to tell him it was fine but was cut off once again.

"Second of all, I totally did get you something." he giggled and shuffled around in his bag. Eventually, he pulled out a rectangular box wrapped in pink and blue paper and handed it to Mob.

"You really didn't have to get me anything.." Mob replied, but he couldn't hide the small grin that made it's way to his lips.
That smile alone made Teru feel like a million bucks.

When Mob opened it up, he gasped. Eyes wide and mouth open, he took out the gift and placed it in his lap.

Teru scratched his neck, attempting to hide his joy at Shigeo's reaction and failing.

"I felt like, you know, you've been so committed.. and you're lifting bigger weights now, it was time you got some. I hope you don't mind red."

Mob stared down at the lifting shoes as if they were made of solid gold, then turned his stare to Teru. His eyes were shining and the blonde suddenly felt like he was looking at the sun.
Mob shined so bright.

Shigeo's hands shook and he moved like he didn't quite know what to do. Eventually he just asked.

"Can I hug you?"

Terus brain stopped. Though he didn't seem to mind when Teru did, Kageyama didn't ever initiate physical contact. Teruki felt his head nod while his heart raced to catch up.

It never did though, and when Mob hugged him softly with a "thank you. I really love them" Teru felt himself melt.

Oh boy did he have it bad.

When Shigeo's max out day ended, Teru felt both proud and exhausted. Proud because of Shigeos progress,

"150 lbs on squats, congratulations!"

And exhausted because Teru realized just how much he liked Mob. As more than a friend.

After working out with him for over 15 weeks, Teru had seen Shigeo go from skeleton to well oiled machine. He wasn't grossly buff yet, that takes years and sometimes steroids, but he'd made noticeable progress. Very noticeable.

They would always talk between sets and after all this time, Teru was proud to say that he and Mob were good friends. Maybe even best friends.
Teru spent more time with him than anyone else, after all. And he really liked Mob. He admired his kindness, his tenacity... his arms...

Teru stopped his car at a red light and put his head on the wheel, face brighter than the stop light itself.

They hugged in the middle of the gym and he didn't even care what people thought about it.

He really loved Kageyama Shigeo, didn't he.

"Ah, Teru, your back was rounding a little bit on that last set."

Teru stood up from his deadlifts, rubbing some of the tension from his lower back.

"Really? Ugh, yeah, now that you mention it I can feel it. Thanks for letting me know."

"Of course. Has my form been good recently? You don't comment when you watch me so I assumed but..."

Teru choked and broke out into a series of coughs. Apparently he wasn't as discrete as he'd assumed.

Teru recovered quickly and looked anywhere but Kageyama.

"Your form has been, uhhh..."
I have no idea I've just been focusing on how handsome you are, "...it's been good. Nothing I can say you're doing wrong."

Mob let out a quiet sigh of relief. "That's good to hear. I was kind of worried."

Teru let out his own sigh. Thank God Mob was nice enough to assume Teru watched him as a trainer, rather than the lovestruck idiot he was.

"Hey Teru would it be OK if my brother came and worked out with us next Tuesday?"

Teru set down his dumbells. "sure. Why? Is he coming from out of town and needs somewhere to lift?"

"No."

Teru expected some kind of follow up but apparently it was not meant to be.

"Alright then... Just send him our schedule if he needs it."

"Ok, thank you, Teruki"

Teru smiled and picked up his dumbells. "no problem."

Well the days came and went and soon enough, it was Tuesday.

"Teru, this is my brother. Thanks for letting him come today."

So this was Shigeos brother. Sharper features, but they definitely looked alike. He stuck out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Shigeo's brother"

The other accepted it and they shook hands.

"Ristu. You too."

Ristu didn't come off quite as warm as Shigeo, and Teru felt their introduction was awfully professional. But he was Shigeo's brother, and he wanted to make a good impression.

They all stretched and got ready together, Shigeo leading his brother through all the rolls and rounds they did. Teru was impressed by how well he kept up, Ristu must've been more athletic than his brother when he first started out.

Eventually they finished up and went out to the main floor. Tuesdays were usually busy and this one was no different.

"Ah, the squat racks are all taken." Teru said as they walked up to them. "sorry Ritsu, you came on a busy day. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long."

"It's fine." Ristu said. "Brother, do you always do squats?"

Shigeo was on the ground putting on his lifting shoes and looked up at Ristu. "At first. But then I stopped making progress so I switched programs and now I only do them twice a week."

"He's on the same program as me. I thought Shigeo sent it to you." Teru said.

Ritsu scratched his cheek absent mindedly. "oh. Yeah, I was busy so I didn't get to check it. Sorry about that."

Mob finally stood up, shoes now on and a few inches taller to boot.
"Don't worry about it, Ritsu, I'll tell you what to do so you can follow along- oh, that person's done."
The girl on the far side squat rack left and Mob made a quick move to claim it, setting down his bag on the platform. Ristu and Teru followed behind.

"Brothe- Ristu, I meant to ask, why did you come along today? Not that I'm mad you're here, it's just sudden and Shigeo says you're not visiting from out of town so I'm not sure why..."

"To make sure you're good enough for my brother" he said without hesitation.
Those words made Teru freeze in place. Ristu continued on, making it to the platform alongside Shigeo.

A million questions buzzed in Terus head. Did he know? He just met Teru of course he couldn't know. Did Kageyama talk about him? But just as friends, right? Was Ritsu here to make sure he was a good friend? But then why come this late?

What the hell is happening.

Teru made his way to the platform, every footstep weighted like lead.
By the time he made it, Mob had already put weights on the bar.
"Teruki? Are you ok? You're kind of... sweaty."

Teru coughed in his hand as if that would mask the plethora of things storming in his brain. "haha, yeah, I'm just, uh, my lats are sore from yesterday so I'm a little tired."

Not a real explanation, but Mob didn't push it.
"Ristu, do you mind standing outside of the rack? I don't want to hit you."
The younger Kageyama nodded and joined Teru on the floor.

Mob got set up and Ristu asked
"How much weight is this?"

Teru looked at the bar "Well, it's a warmup set so only about 100."

Ristu looked horrified. "Pounds?!"

Teru quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, Why?"

Ristu launched forward, likely to stop his brother from being crushed by the weight, but Mob was faster. He lifted the bar onto his shoulders and stepped back, completing five reps with little effort.
Ritsu looked awestruck. He glanced at Teru, then at his brother, then at Teru again. His posture relaxed and he stepped back. He remained quiet for a minute before looking away from Teru.

"Sorry I doubted you."

For the rest of the night, those were the only words Ristu spoke to him.

Mob stepped off the platform and Teru took his place. From behind him, Teru could hear the brothers chatting.

"Ristu, you should do deadlifts with me. They're really hard but they make you feel very strong."

"Ok, how do I do it?"

"Well, uh, you basically, you kind of just pick the bar up and then put it back down again."

It wasn't perfect, but Mob had learned enough to teach someone else the things Teru had taught him before. As the blonde lifted the bar onto his shoulders, he felt a deep sense of pride.

Kageyama Shigeo was amazing.

"Hey, Teru, thank you for letting my brother come last time."

Teru smiled. "sure, of course. He's welcome to come work out with us any time"

"Thank you. I actually wanted to ask, are you doing anything this Friday? Er, tomorrow?"

Teru put down his dumbells. "well, I'm working out, hopefully with you." he laughed

"No, I mean, uh, after that."

Teru raised an eyebrow. "oh, yeah, no I'm free."

Mob scratched his nose and Teru could see his face turning pink "I was wondering if you wanted to.. Get dinner, or something."

"Like a date...?" he said, before he could stop himself.

Mob couldn't seem to form a coherent answer at that highly embarrassing question. Teru coughed into his hand, feeling his face heat up as well.

"I would love to."

The next day's workout went pretty normally. Teru hit a personal record on deadlifts, which Kageyama made sure to congratulate. Otherwise, it was just a nice evening at the gym. Or, it was in principle.
In the back of Terus mind was a constant nervous buzzing, tipping between giddy and terrified. The feeling only got worse when they finished up.
The two lifters walked to the changing rooms and Teru grabbed his bag from his locker.

"Are you gonna shower?" he asked "I don't really like to in public places, but if you want to I'll wait"

Mob shook his head. "I can never figure out showers besides my own so I'll pass."

As they changed clothes, Teru couldn't help but glance at Shigeo. He'd really come far. His muscles were defined, his waist smaller and chest bigger. Teru couldn't stop looking at just how... Big he looked.

"Teruki?"

Oh shit he was staring. And caught, red handed.
Teru quickly looked away. Too fast to catch Mob's reaction.

"You're, uh, your arms have developed a lot."

This compliment was like the hundreds Teru had said before (he made sure to pass them out freely) but it was different. They were the only ones in the locker room.
For the split second Teru looked back, it seemed like Shigeo was about to book it, but he relaxed and gave Teru a half smile.

"thank you. I couldn't have done it without you, though."

Fuck, this was so gay. Teru thought he might die. Mob worked so hard but he still gave him credit. At this point, all he really did was spot him every so often. Kageyama was totally self sufficient.
God, Teru was proud of him. And Shigeo was such a humble guy.

He was so happy they were finally going on a date.

Teru quickly threw on his sweater and jeans, though, not intent on being caught staring twice.
Mob put on a button down and jeans.
The shirt was intense. It was like a 70s art deco piece had vomited itself all over it. Just his style.

As he admired it, Teru realized he'd never actually seen Mob in anything but workout clothes. It was a part of Shigeo that he was excited to learn more about. That, and basically everything else they hadn't discussed at the gym.

The night before their date was nerve-wracking. Mob couldn't sleep for what felt like decades.
All those light touches, his soft voice and kind actions. Shigeo felt like he almost didn't have a choice but to fall in love with Teru.

He was just perfect.

Mob had been itching to ask Teru out for weeks and finally with a push from his brother, he'd managed to build up the confidence.
Teru was so great, he just... didn't want to mess anything up.
Just don't do anything weird.
Try to be cool and normal like Ritsu.

The next morning was better. Sleep was good medicine for anxiety. Mob felt fine for basically the entire day.
Until he went to the gym, of course.

His workout was a mixture of anxiety and joy. It was strange. Being around Teru made his emotions conflict. It was comfort, happiness, security, but... worry too. Mob felt like maybe all of this was some kind of fever dream. Would he wake up and find Teru gone?
A guy popped into his life just in time to save him from crushing himself under the weight of a 200 pound bar. Seemed pretty unreal.

But Teru had said yes to their date. He was even the one who called it a "date" in the first place.
Maybe Mob didn't need to be so anxious.

They eventually made their way to the changing room. He declined a shower and thankfully, Teru didn't want one either.
At least if they were sweaty, they would be sweaty together.

When Mob took off his shirt first, he didn't think much of it. Only when Terus eyes glued themselves on him did he react. Why was Teru looking at him? Oh god, this was embarrassing, he was still lightweight. Teru probably thought he looked emaciated.

"Teruki?"

The blonde's eyes widened and he turned beet red, quickly looking away and coughing into his hand. Oh god, was it that bad? Mob was seconds away from running and never looking back out of pure shame.

"Your, uh, arms have developed a lot."

He stood there for a moment before it clicked that Teru wasn't disgusted. He actually complimented him.

Mob smiled. Of course Teru wouldn't say anything mean, but his own self doubt, the one that drove him to workout in the first place, could rear its ugly head now and again.

With that, he also realized that that meant... Teru had been staring at him. In a good way. Mob was humble but he couldn't help feeling a little proud of that.

Teruki quickly removed his shirt, noticeably embarrassed that he got caught red handed staring. Pretty cute.

Having Teru in his life was nice. He was lucky to have him. That's what Mob always thought.
It only dawned on him recently that he actually really admired him, maybe even loved him too.

The two of them didn't go anywhere too fancy, a simple restaurant close to the gym.

"I pass by this place every day after we work out so I wanted to try it some time." Mob said as they walked in.
It really was only a few blocks from the gym, Teru was surprised he'd never seen it before.

They sat down at a table and the waiter took their orders.
It was a bit awkward at first, neither of them exactly sure what to talk about, but it got going pretty quickly. Teru was not afraid to fill in the gaps of silence.

"So I was just laying there, my head was halfway in the toilet, and my friend comes up to me and says, completely serious, "I just bought McDonald's" and in my drunken stupor all I could ask was "did you get hash brown's?"

Teru laughed and Mob looked amused. "it was 1 am, too. Just as remote from the breakfast menu as you can get."

"Your school sounds like it was fun." Mob chimed in, "Community wasn't amazing, and medical school was OK, but it wasn't as exciting as yours by a long shot."

Terus eyebrows shot up. "wait, Kageyama, you went to medical school?" it occurred to Teru that he'd never actually asked what Mob did for a living.

"Yeah. I studied to become a pediatrician. I'm only an assistant now, though."

"That's incredible, Shigeo! God, you just keep shining brighter and brighter. Let me catch up sometime alright?" Teru joked.

Mob smiled, ears turning the lightest shade of pink. Terus compliments were nice...

"I'll try.."

The waiter came back with their food then, and they ate in comfortable silence, either of them cutting in with a sentence or two here and there.

Once they'd paid the check and got set to leave, Teru took a deep breath. Now or never.

They stepped out onto the sidewalk outside the restaurant. It was dark out, the two of them only illuminated by the dim lights lining the street.

Teru opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when Mob took his hand in his own.

For a second, Mob paused, keeping Terus hand in between both of his own. Eyes wide and nervous, he blinked hard before pecking Teru quickly on the cheek.

"I, uh," he looked around, anywhere but at Teru. "I-"

He glanced back the blonde when Teru squeezed his hand. He was smiling softly, cheeks dusted with pink, faintly visible in the dim light.

"I like you, too, Shigeo."

Teru kissed him on the lips. It was warm, contrasting the cold night. When he pulled back, both of them looked stunned and embarrassed, the stars in the sky swimming in their eyes.

Suddenly Mob started giggling, which turned into a light laugh. Teru joined him.

This was nice. No, this was perfect.

After that, the gym wasn't quite the same. Of course, neither of them felt comfortable with any real pda, and they kept it as minimal as possible. But certain things felt different.

When Teru spotted Kageyama, something they'd done hundreds of times before, Teru thought it felt... intimate. Not only because they were close, but because Mob put his trust in Teru, completely. He hadn't thought about that until now.
It was the same vice versa.

It was funny, both of them lived in a state of feeling like each other was way out of their league, which ended up in confused, but balanced and blissful harmony.

"Teru"

Mob turned to him one evening while Teru slowly died on the stair master. They'd been officially dating for 2 months now and Teru considered it one of the best things that's ever happened to him.

Especially compared to goddamn cardio.

"Shigeo, please, I'm dying."

"I know. Sorry. I just wanted to tell you I can't make it here next Friday."

Teru nearly missed a step. Woah, Mob had never skipped a day. He was scarily committed.

"That's totally fine, but why? You've like never missed a day."

"Ah, yeah, Ristu is getting married. I wanted to bring you but my parents insisted I bring our cousin with my guest ticket." Kageyamas shoulders slumped a bit and Teru paused his machine.

"That's ok, Shigeo. Just have a good time and tell Ristu I said hi."

Mob perked up a bit. "Thanks Teru, I will."

That next Friday was weird. Teru didn't remember the last time he went to the gym alone. He felt very... Vulnerable. Like he had no place to return to, which was true. When either of them finished an exercise, they'd usually pop by each other's station and say hi. He didn't have that this time. It was uncomfortable.

Teru was halfway into deadlifts when his phone rang. He dug it out of his shorts and answered it without looking.

"Hello?"

"Teruki! Sorry I'm calling you so suddenly. My cousin cancelled and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to the wedding today." Mob said through the speaker.

Teru beamed. "Yes! When and where is it? Should I leave now?"

"It's in ten minutes. I'm actually outside right now."

"Outside the gym??"

"Yeah."

Teru yelped, trying to remove the weights from the bar as fast as possible while keeping the phone balanced on his shoulder. "Shigeo I'm kind of sweaty and I'm in workout clothes, is that OK?"

"I packed an extra suit and some cologne. It's one of mine so it might be a little tight, but it should be fine..." he pondered off.

"Ok," Teru laughed. He wasn't used to Kageyama being this spontaneous, "I'll be out in a second. Bye."

He rushed out, and lo and behold, Mob was standing there, suited up, bag in hands, looking incredibly out of place.

"Teru, I hope this is OK. I'm really sorry about the short notice."

Teru pecked him on the cheek, lifting the bag from his hands. "don't worry about it, I'd rather be sweaty and there with you than clean and away without you."

Mob smiled and Teru reached into the bag, pulling out the gaudiest article of clothing he'd ever seen. Jesus Christ.

"Mob.. This suit is hot pink."

Shigeo choked and made his way to apologize but before he could, Teru stopped him with a deadpan look.

"I absolutely love it. Where the hell did you get this? I've never seen one in this color"

He let out a sigh of relief. His boyfriend was the best.

They pulled up to the wedding 20 minutes late, which wasn't terrible considering they were coming from across town, and walked inside.

It was an outdoor venue, simple and elegant. Thankfully the evening was warm and clear so there was no need to bundle up. Teru didn't know much about Ristu, but he felt like the venue, besides the wild colors they chose for decorations, was extremely fitting.

"Ah, shishou! I'm glad you could make it." Shigeo ran up to a man, just a few inches shorter than him, in a grey suit with blonde hair.

"Mob! I was wondering when you would get here- WOAH you got huge! What happened??"

"Oh!" Mob turned around, gesturing for Teru to join him next to his teacher.

"This is my trainer and, uh" he scratched his head with a shy smile, "boyfriend."

Teru stuck out a hand which the other man took.
"Hanazawa Teruki, nice to meet you." he smiled.

"Reigen Arataka. Likewise."

"Mob, you said he's your teacher?"

"Yeah I was his mentor in medical school." Reigen replied.

"Shishou helped me pass all the required math courses. I wouldn't have been able to graduate without him."

"Ah, I'm not that special." he waved his hand in fake modesty.

"Sorry that it's been so long since I've visited. How is Serizawa?"

"He's good." Reigen scanned the crowd, "he should be around here actually..."

"Then does that mean you finally conf-"

Reigen slapped a hand over Mobs mouth "SHHHSHSHH we're only here as friends and work partners"

Mob wiggled his way out of Reigen's grasp. "Shishou, when will this end... It's been years. You need to confess.."

"New lesson, Mob, mind your own business."

"I'm not in school anymore, Shishou."

They spent some time getting caught up, mostly with Reigens pathetic love life. Teru was shocked by how long this seemingly mutual pining had been happening.
Thank God Mob had the guts to make the first move in their relationship.
They finished up the conversation with Mob making Reigen promise to talk to Serizawa by the end of the week.

"We should go say hi to Ristu and the other guests. It was good catching up, Shishou, we'll see you around."

"Nice meeting you" Teru waved.

They wandered around a bit before Teru spotted the younger Kageyama in the crowd. "Oh! It's Ristu! Over there by the cake."

He and Mob walked over to him, who greeted them with a smile.

"Hey guys, thanks for coming."

"Of course, Ristu. How is everything?" Shigeo asked.

"It's good. Shou hasn't broken into the open bar yet and havoc has been kept to a low simmer so my expectations have been exceeded."

At that, the red headed groom managed to pop up out of seemingly nowhere.

"Yo! You guys talking about me?"

Before anyone could speak up, Teru audibly choked.

"Shou??"

Shou dropped his million dollar smile and looked at Teru, shocked.

"Teru?? What the hell? You're the one dating Shigeo?"

"You're the other groom??"

Mob interjected. "Do you two know each other?"

Teru nodded, "Yeah, me and Shou went to college together. He's the one who bought me McDonald's at 1 AM that one time."

Shou laughed, putting an elbow on Ristus shoulder.
"Many times, more like, and in return, Teru held my hair when I puked for hours." he said wistfully.

"I didn't even need to, your hair stands up in its own."

"I wanted the company."

The four of them talked for a bit. Turns out Teru had a LOT more embarrassing school stories that Shou didn't have the tact to keep hidden, much to Mobs amusement and Terus chagrin.

Eventually the ceremonies got started, and they parted ways.

Mob and Teru got seats near the front of the audience next to Reigen and Serizawa (who turned out to be way bigger than Teru expected) and watched them give their vows. Shou cried, and Ristu nearly joined him during the ring ceremony. They sealed their marriage with a kiss and before anyone knew it, dinner was underway.

And just like Shou wanted, it was open bar.

Teru didn't plan on having too much, but since Shou was there and he had the fresh excuse of: "it's my wedding PLUS I'm playing for it" Teru couldn't really refuse.

For what it was worth, the whole thing was really fun.

"I can't drive like this, Teru are you ok?" Mob asked.

They had decided to leave a bit after the main crowd, around 3am.

Teru brushed a hand through his hair, trying to assess where he was, mentally.
"No. We should call an Uber or something. Hold on I have it on my phone."

They stepped out onto the sidewalk and Teru leaned himself against a streetlight. It was quiet.
Compared to the warm energetic feeling of the wedding, the dark and misty morning felt otherworldly.

Mob silently wrapped a hand around one of Terus.

Eventually the Uber came up and drove them to Teru's apartment.

They walked up the stairs to his place. It was just as quiet, but slightly better lit than the outside of the wedding venue. A deep yellow from the fading street lights colored the atmosphere.
Teru fumbled with his keys before letting them both in. Shigeo had visited Terus place before, but he hadn't stayed the night yet. Even drunk, Teru was aware of this.

"Shigeo if you want me to call you a ride I can, otherwise you can crash here for the night."

"I'll stay here, if that's ok."

Teru walked over to the sink in his kitchen, filling up two glasses for them. "No worries from my end. You could fuckin live here if you wanted to, Shigeo. I'd love to have you around." he passed Mob a glass. "wait that was so embarrassing. Oh my god. I'm sorry I'm kind of drunk."

Mob took a sip of his water. "that's nice of you to say, though."

Teru smiled and crossed the small kitchenette to his bedroom.
"Glad my drunk compliments mean something. You can sleep wherever you want. In bed with me, on the couch, I can sleep on the couch and you in the bed, just let me know."

"I'll sleep with you if that's ok" Kageyama said.

"Sure." Teru stripped off his shirt and started on his belt. "I just. I'm so tired I'm about to die so at most I can only cuddle."

Teru wore pajamas to bed, which Mob thought was ridiculously cute. Unexpected too. He accepted an offered t-shirt from Teru but otherwise stayed in his boxers.

When they climbed in, Teru turned off his lamp and immediately swung an arm around Mob's stomach, pulling him close.

"Shigeo... I'm really happy you're in my life..." he paused. "Also... you smell nice."

Mob buried his head against Terus neck.
"You do too. Besides the booze."

"Thanks. You should see all the kinds of soaps I have."

Mob snorted, breath warm against Terus shoulder.

"Shigeo.." he whispered. "I have a confession to make."
Mob didn't move, but closed his eyes to listen. "that first day at the gym.. You know, when I butted in and took your bench,"

"Shared my bench."

"Alright shared it, I--" Teru swallowed, trying to force the words out. "I only went over there... Because I didn't want you to kill yourself with a 200 pound loaded bar." he hugged Kageyama like a therapeutic teddy bear.
"I didn't tell you cause I didn't want to make you feel bad..." Teru finally finished. He felt incredibly guilty.

Mob was shaking underneath him. Fuck, he made him cry. God, he was the worst.

The shaking got more intense and soon Mob popped his head up to Terus level. It became abundantly clear that he wasn't crying, he was laughing.
At first Teru was confused and disgruntled but the clear and bright sound of Mobs laugh made him calm down. It was rare when Mob laughed, and Teru cherished it.

His giggles puttered off after a bit and he looked at the blonde with warm eyes.

"Teruki, I had no idea what I was doing that first day. I don't feel bad that you stepped in and helped me."

He brought up one of Terus hands from under the sheets and placed a soft kiss on his fingers. "you were the only one there that cared enough to stop me. Not only that but... You stuck around."

Teru leaned in and put his forehead against Mobs.
"with someone like you, how could I not.."

"I really... Love you, Shigeo."

"I love you, too Teruki."