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Chapter 10

Story note: alcohol and drug mentions from here on out (nothing hard, just weed)

Haruko slammed the 5th shot glass on the table – if it wasn't for the loud generic club music, that slam would have probably attracted attention.

At first she stuck close to Terushima since she had no idea who any of the people around them were – Teru, though, knew half of Miyagi, so even at the very first club he dragged her to they ran into some of his friends. Which wasn't really a bad thing since they got to share a booth with them when all the other ones were taken.

The further into the city center, the busier it got. Even on a Sunday tons of students were out, none of them having a slightest concern about the hangover they will have the next day. The city was alive, even at this time of night. Terushima had left his motorcycle next to his dorms, which, luckily, were nearby the city center and all the venues he had interest in.

When they arrived, he took Haruko's hands in his and made a promise.

"Today you are with me, so I promise I will make sure you leave all your worries and the real world behind, okay? It's the least I can do."

And that's exactly what he did.

Terushima wasn't known to be the party boy of Miyagi just because he went to parties a lot. He did, but the reason behind his nickname was that he always brought the party with him, and moreover, made sure everyone around him was having a good time.

She was reluctant before the first few drinks, mumbling about how this might be a bad idea, about how she has class in the morning.

But slamming his own shot glass right after Haruko, he looked at her and saw someone who was finally coming back to their old self. Especially compared to earlier today. An hour and several drinks in, she was having a blast already.

Teru reached towards her over the table and took her hand, pulling her away from the booth and towards the dancefloor.

"Come ooon!" he yelled over the loud music, feeling her resist.

"Pfff, noooo, Teru, I'm- I'm terrible at this ahah-"

Just like old times, Haruko wasn't great at handling her drinks. In this case, though, that was a good thing.

First, that meant his bar tab wouldn't suffer much – the girl didn't bring a wallet with her, not even her phone, nothing. It seemed like she wanted to disconnect from the world in every way possible. So the drinks were on him.

Second, she was easy to convince to have fun and was already mouthing the song lyrics and following him with less and less resistance into the large crowd of people and flashing lights.

And soon enough they were dancing, dancing away any worry they had in the world. She wasn't bad at it, either, Terushima knew she was just being sheepish. A lot of time may have passed, but it still felt like he saw her just yesterday. And she danced just like she used to.

Seeing her sing her heart out while dancing, he couldn't help but join in, the two nearly screaming the lyrics out on the top of their lungs.

The drinks were really kicking in.

Haruko noticed him slow down a bit and take his phone out, and before she could protest (not that she had any willpower to do that anyway) he pulled her close for a selfie, quickly swiping over to a dumb Snapchat filter.

"Teru! Don't post-"

"It's posted!" he laughed.

Logically, she knew she should be worried just how many people follow him on Snapchat, and how many of them knew her. But at this point her brain didn't manage to process that and she just laughed, continuing to dance.

Dancing with Terushima was a good reminder of how touchy-feely he was, but Haruko didn't mind. Today his attention was exclusively on her, and his hands running through her hair or on her hips were just a side-effect of that, as well as the drinks they both had.

But that was just how he was, and Haruko knew that. He was always touchy-feely with everyone, he hasn't changed a bit and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Even if it didn't mean anything, it was still nice. It was nice to just do these things with no hidden meanings, no hidden intents behind them. It was just her and Terushima having fun, and no one was there to stop them.

She had forgotten about her worries, the same way how she had forgotten how much fun he was to be around.

Haruko wrapped one of her hands around his neck, pulling him in making their foreheads touch, as they yelled the lyrics of whatever song was playing at each other, laughing and dancing in between.

Terushima knew he did well. A big smile on her face and not a care in the world was all he needed. But the night was long and the adventure didn't stop at the first club they went to.

As he was figuring out where to take her next, Haruko's jumping to the beat became a little off and soon she stopped completely, gripping onto him for dear life, waving her hand a little and saying something he couldn't quite make out, but he got the signal.

She was getting sick.

"I'm on it."

Terushima dragged her out of the stuffy crowd, immediately giving her a little more room to breathe, shoved her towards the direction of the door while he went to grab her jacket, said a quick goodbye to his friends and grabbed an empty plastic cup from their table. He glanced over to the door, catching a glimpse of Haruko successfully making it outside, and made his way to the restroom to fill up the cup with tap water.

Soon after he was standing outside the club with her as she downed the cup of water. Taking a deep breath and putting her jacket on, she looked at him and muttered a small 'holy shit thank you' – Haruko was feeling much better within seconds.

"I'm honestly impressed how quickly you reacted to that…" she said.

"I do this every weekend, who do you take me for?" Teru smirked. It was true, he really knew what he was doing. "You're not getting off the hook that easily. I need to keep you going all night, I've been out with people with way worse stamina and alcohol handling than yours, surprisingly."

She rolled her eyes at the comment, throwing the empty cup out.

"So, what's next on the agenda?" she asked, looking up at the party boy.

"Well," he gave it some thought, "The fresh air is going to sober you up in no time, and that's not what we're aiming at here."

Haruko chuckled. He was right again, she was already feeling much more sober than before.

"So, I think I'll get the heavier artillery out before we hit the next venue. Not here, though, come on."

He motioned her to follow him with his head and threw his arm around her shoulder when she got close. "What do you have in mind?" she asked, putting her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

"I may or may not have stopped by my dealer's place before picking you up." Terushima shrugged, smirking, "Figured you won't handle your alcohol well, so…"

He trailed off and pulled her into a shady-looking alley where she could see a few other people further down, the faint smell of weed coming from their direction filling her nose. Even if it was really frowned upon in Japan, students didn't seem to care much.

"You've come prepared, haven't you?" she raised her eyebrow at him as he leaned to the wall and started rolling up a joint.

"I'm always prepared."

She snorted, then leaned at the wall next to him and crossed her arms, watching him work. It was dark, but she still caught a glimpse of his tongue ring sparkle from the faint moonlight as he licked the side of the joint and closed it shut.

Part of Haruko wanted to be that joint. Part of her really wanted to invite him back to her place. Part of her really wanted to just say 'fuck it' and sleep with him. Just to feel wanted and needed.

But she's done it before and knew all too well how weird things got between them afterwards. Even if that time was partly accidental.

Then she remembered.

"Hey, Teru…"

He was taking a lighter out of his pocket and turned to her. "Hm?"

"Sorry about being so distant back then, when you did our delivery. You didn't do anything wrong, I was just… The whole… Y'know. I'm sorry, I know you were trying to make things be as-"

"Haru-chan, chill. It's fine." Terushima cut her off and shook his head, "It's like you barely know me these days. You know I'm the last person to be upset about things like that."

She sighed. "I know. And I'm really thankful for that."

Terushima was a person who never let himself be tied down by anyone. He always came with no strings attached, and never worried about people coming and going from his life. That didn't mean he was heartless though – he had a small group of people he cared deeply for, a few close friends that were there for him when things went south, while he was there for them too, even when they don't talk for months or even years. They were the very few people that didn't judge him for his carefree lifestyle, too.

One of those friends was Haruko.

"Besides," he continued, "We were both there. You don't have to explain why you don't feel like seeing me, I know why. I chose not to talk about it as well. Actually, you don't have to explain yourself to me even if there's no valid reason. You just… you don't have to explain yourself to me. Ever."

Haruko gave him a slight nod, then turned away to stare into nothing. Terushima knew she was beginning to overthink things again, and he was going to have none of that.

"So, now that all that depressing shit is out of the way, would you like to do the honors?"

She turned to him again to see him holding the joint he rolled up in one hand, and his lighter in the other. Haruko chuckled taking both of them from him, putting her hand around the joint to shield the flame from the wind as she was lighting it up.

It's been way too long since she's smoked pot with Terushima.

Needless to say, a few joints later, paired up with more drinks, made the rest of the night a complete blur.

"Come oooooon!"

"Dude, no…"

"Come on, my treat, I know this guuuuy, he's gonna give us a discount, too."

"Li-Listen, I… I am exsi-.. excesvel-.. excessively too high to be making good life choices right now."

"Okay, okay, hang on, consider this – it's… Wait, hang on, I haven't- I haven't figured my argument out yet, hold on."

"Y'know- Y'know what, screw it, let's do it."

AN: oh wow I am so sorry. me: is writing an oikawa fic. also me: includes zero oikawa in the entire chapter.

Please bear with me, I am getting there! Gotta get through the background stuff out of the way first. Starting from the next chapter it's gonna be full-on Oiks so thank you for being so patient with me! :')

Don't do drugs though, kids. Only reason I'm writing this in is because the first time I saw Teru I'm like... yes, yes this person definitely does weed. It's a headcanon I can never unsee.