This wasn't Teru's bed.
That was the first thought that came to him as he awoke to the feel of silk sheets against his bare skin. Silk sheets, a down comforter, and warm flesh pressed up against his back. He opened his eyes and the world swam into view. A red silk pillow case, a black comforter, a dark wooden headboard hanging out just in the corner of his vision…
It took him a moment to figure out where he was.
He sat up slowly, the arm around his waist sliding down onto the bed. He had to be careful, he couldn't wake him up. Shimazaki had never let him spend the night before….hell, Shimazaki had only brought him here twice before. Each of those times it had been get in and get out…and then bring Teru home. Usually Shimazaki spent the night at Teru's place, popping into existence and folding himself into Teru's twin bed. Teru had no idea why Shimazaki didn't just bring them here, he could teleport and the bed was much bigger…
Softer, too.
Teru sat up and pressed his hand into the mattress. It was some kind of memory foam, soft and comfortable. Not like his ancient twin mattress with the springs that were starting to poke through. The sheets were so soft too…it would have been so easy to just lay back down and let sleep take him. He didn't, though, because he knew what would happen if he did. It would have been the same thing that happened the last time Teru fell asleep here. He'd just wake up cold, naked, and alone in his own bed.
He wasn't ready for that yet.
Not that he was clingy! He wasn't. He knew what they were and what they were was simple. They were two people who sometimes slept together. That was all. Not even friends with benefits. More like…he didn't have a better word for it, more like fuck buddies but without the buddy part. He was going to have to find a better word for what they were, even if he was just going to use it himself. It wasn't like he could tell anyone about this. Reigen would lose his mind and probably do that annoying thing where he got all parental even though he wasn't that much older, and not nearly as mature, as Teru was. Kageyama would probably kick Shimazaki's ass, both brothers, though Mob was more likely to accidentally kill him. Hell, Serizawa might have joined in too and he and Shimazaki were friends!
Sort of.
He actually didn't know if they still hung out. He didn't know if Shimazaki was still friends with any of those guys from Claw. He didn't know if Shimazaki had any friends period. He didn't know what Shimazaki did all day or how old he was or even his given name. He just knew that he liked to get into pointless fights, he seemed to like getting tattoos considering how many he had, he liked being on top, and he really liked having his back rubbed when he asleep. That was it.
This bed was too big.
Teru drew his knees up to his chest. This bed was way too big, heat dissipated too fast, and it left too much distance between them. He liked his own bed better. He liked his own room better, too. At least he knew where everything was. Even if it was kind of a mess, and way too cluttered, he at least knew where everything was. Like his phone charger. Shimazaki had offered to put Teru's phone on his charger, teleported away, and then got back into bed…it could have been anywhere. It clearly wasn't in this room, Teru would have been able to see it.
Shimazaki kept it pretty neat.
That was something new. Teru had always imagined that Shimazaki's living space would have been as chaotic as he was. He had always imagined piles of clothes, shelves full of knickknacks from his travels, probably a mountain of shoes in the corner…so pretty much just a messier version of Teru's room. What he got was a big, and pretty well coordinated room, but incredibly sparse room. There was the nightstand next to the bed, a book resting on it…Teru decided to be nosy and see what it was that Shimazaki read…
Oh.
Right. Braille. No cover art either…of course there wasn't. Teru was a moron. Of course he wouldn't had any books in common with Shimazaki and of course he would have had to be neat, too. He had explained it to Teru once before. He knew the shape of things, how much space they took up, and where they were in relation to him but little things on the floor could trip him up if he wasn't paying close attention. That was probably why all of his clothes were, presumably, in those dresser drawers. Those labeled dresser drawers…
Curiosity had killed the cat but, thankfully, Teru wasn't a cat.
He carefully slid out of bed. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to wake Shimazaki. He didn't want to go home. Not when there were still things to nose through…to be curious about. It only made sense, really. To sleep with someone you had to at least know something about them. Like if they wore the same thing every day or if they secretly had a closet full of the same cool, but drab, outfit. Teru could admit that dark colors suited him but black was such a pity. Dark reds like merlot or mahogany, ruby or maybe scarlet, or maybe even something as light as crimson really did suit him. He would have looked good in blues, too, like indigo or Aegean or maybe even Prussian blue…and purples, too, something lighter though, like wisteria or wine or maybe plum or even something as light as a lavender…and pinks would have been good too but something a little darker to contrast the purples like maybe rose or magenta or maybe even hot pink and if he was going for something like that then maybe-
Wow.
Ok, that was a lot of black. Teru had opened the topmost drawer, the label on the outside apparently saying boxers and socks. All black. Teru had seen him undressed plenty of times to know that he always wore black boxers and black socks but to not have any variation at all was so, incredibly, boring. At least throw some ash or pewter or slate in there if you didn't want any interesting colors…Teru shook his head and closed the drawer. Such a pity…maybe the one under it would be better.
Huh.
So he did just have a million of the same red shirt. Teru dug all the way to the bottom. Same color, same size, same brand…did they sell these in packs or something? He had no idea how a person could have possibly lived like that. The same thing every single day…he shut the drawer. He wondered if the one underneath it would be filled to the top with identical pairs of leather pants.
It wasn't.
This at least had some color inside of it. Pajama pants and shorts. Mostly in black but there was some dingy cloud grey in there along with some dark mahogany and bright scarlet. Different kinds, too, proving that Shimazaki didn't live like a cartoon character…though it was kind of hard to imagine him in pajamas. Him getting out of his leather pants, coat, and red t-shirt was easy. Teru had seen him undress, and undressed him, a thousand times before but imagining him changing clothes…putting on something comfortable at the end of whatever his day was, was just…difficult.
He closed the drawer.
One left. He wondered if this one was going to be full of pajama tops. It would have been weird, pants and then shirts, but putting pajamas in a drawer was weird in general. Teru kept his hanging in his wardrobe like a normal person. When you folding things and put them in drawers they got that musty drawer smell, first of all, and second of all they got these truly horrific creases and wrinkles. No, if you wanted your clothes to last then you hung them on plush hangers, never metal or wood, and you aired out your wardrobe whenever you could. Shimazaki needed to take better care of his things. Maybe Teru could have made him some room in his wardrobe, God only knew that it was time to downsize. He had clothes from three seasons ago lingering in there. Yeah, that would have been good, making room for him, but not in a clingy way.
In a helpful way because that was who Teru was, a helpful guy.
If this last drawer was filled with poorly folded pants Teru wasn't even going to ask…it wasn't. it was filled with all sorts of clothes. He felt the label on the outside. A series of bumps ending in one of those velvet stickers, this one of a flower of some kind. This drawer must have been where he hid his nice…nice-ish stuff. Teru pulled out a t-shirt. It was white, more like a cream actually, with pale yellow flowers and English text that said 'I don't care' which was…interesting. A lot of the shirts were like that. There was English, which he could kind of read, Japanese, which of course he could read, and German, which he was very rusty at reading. There was also what looked like Russian characters on some of these shirts but Teru had no freaking clue how to even begin reading Russian. All of it was covered in leaves or flowers or leaves and flowers. Lots of purple, too. There were even some purple, lavender and lilac mostly, pajamas pants in there…
And Shimazaki did keep this room kind of cold.
It was bad manners, really, to go playing with the thermostat in someone else's house. So of course Teru had to put something on. He saw his own clothes folded neatly on top of what looked like a whicker laundry hamper… but he couldn't just put the clothes he had been wearing yesterday on. Re-wearing clothes like that was really bad for your skin and Teru worked really hard to keep his skin looking nice. So of course the only option left was to put on the only halfway decent clothes in this dresser.
Really, he'd been left with no choice.
They were a little too big but baggy was alright. Too baggy was preferable to too tight. He had to double knot the pajamas pants to keep them up but aside from that these words. He pulled the shirt up to his nose. He had been expecting that slightly spicy mix of smells that could only have been called Shimazaki. Instead he got a nose full of that gross, musty smell that clothes got when they spent too much time in drawers. God, Shimazaki really needed a wardrobe, or to use that closet in the corner…actually if there was some room then maybe Teru could continue to be helpful…
Oh.
So there was where Shimazaki kept his pants. Teru had never seen so many black leather pants in his life. All the same, of course, or at least mostly the same. Some looked more worn than others, some had obviously patched and sewn spots, but they were pretty much the same…wait a second. He slowly pushed the pants to the side, careful not to make that horrible screeching sound that metal hangers made when they rubbed against a closet rod. God, he needed to get Shimazaki some actual hangers. He had a lot of nice pants in there, including jeans, which Teru had never once seen him wear. Black of course, some lighter than others, but still there were some nice labels in here. Oni, Samurai, Monmortaro, and….no way!
Teru may have been a bit too enthusiastic there.
Shimazaki turned onto his side and muttered something into his pillow. Teru should have been more careful but he just couldn't help it. Evisu! Actualy Evisu…Teru checked the size. Way too small for Shimazaki but too big for him…damn it! Wait, if Shimazaki had a belt then…well you couldn't wear just any belt with these. The fit wasn't good for Teru, too, and the wrong belt would completely ruin the look…and this shirt didn't match any of the color blocks…and really, it was best not to mix and match designers like that anyway…he bridled his enthusiasm and looked through the rest of the left side of the closet. More jeans, many of them light wash, and one pair of floral bellbottoms of all things, but nothing else this nice…such a pity.
Ok, these were definitely moving into his closet.
He reluctantly but them back on that metal hanger. Shimazaki needed to learn to take proper care of his things, and to actually utilize the rest of his wardrobe. He had stuff in here that he probably forgot that he'd had, which was weird since he'd only been living here for…Teru didn't know. Shimazaki had just kind of popped onto his radar one day and never left. He assumed that Shimazaki had moved here after the whole 'take over the world' debacle but maybe…well, he knew that Sho's dad had grown up here. It didn't take much digging to realize that the genius, golden boy, kendo champion of seasoning city 1983-1991 with the red hair had been that very same Touichirou Suzuki who had tried to take over the world so it stood to reason that Shimazaki had, too, maybe grown up here…though not knowing his given name or how old he was or…or anything did make digging into his past hard.
Maybe that was it.
Maybe it had nothing to do with Teru, maybe he just wanted to run from his past. Yeah, that made sense. He was a reformed former whatever he did for Claw and now he was trying to lead a peaceful, normal, life. The would have explained why there was barely anything of his in his apartment and why he had been so secretive with Teru…yes…it all made perfect sense. He closed the closet slowly. He could totally help Shimazaki with that and then they could maybe spend actual time together, not in a clingy way, just in a trying to show him that he could be better sort of way and-
-and that would have to wait.
Shimazaki turned again, and this time it looked like he might have been getting close to waking up. He clearly said something like 'Toshi' though of course not because it wasn't like Shimazaki to call Teru by someone else's name. it was just bad manners to call the person you had hooked up with by another person's name. Teru, in his younger and stupider years, had occasionally mixed up girl's names, though of course he had learned his lesson. Shimazaki also, clearly, knew better. Calling Teru 'Toshi' would have been like Teru calling him….
Calling him…
Teru racked his brain but couldn't think of anyone that he'd been with since meeting Shimazaki. Not that he'd slept with anyone before Shimazaki, nobody had been worthy of course it wasn't like he hadn't been ready or anything like that, he must not have just had the time. Between school and soccer and hanging out at Reigen's, plus Shimazaki randomly popping into his life, he just hadn't had the time to go out on any dates or meet anyone. He'd have to fix that, but later.
Right now he had to get out of here.
He just wasn't ready to go home yet, that was all. He hadn't even…even brushed his teeth or combed his hair. Yes, that was it, he couldn't be seen like this. He wasn't trying to prolong anything that didn't need to be prolonged. He was just tiptoeing out of Shimazaki's room to…to find a bathroom, that was all. Every home had a bathroom and there must have been one here. Walking out the door lead him to a short hallway. Down one end he could see what must have been a living room. There was a couch and a coffee table visible so, of course, it was a living room. Down the other end there were a series of doors.
One of them must have been a bathroom.
Though, of course, they could have held all kinds of secrets. Doorways into who Shimazaki was or his past or…or laundry. Behind a large set of accordion doors there was a washer and dryer not unlike the ones in Teru's apartment. On the shelf above the washer there was detergent, store brand, and store brand dryer sheets…no fabric softener though. He made a mental note to get Shimazaki some the next time he went to the store, and some decent detergent too. He checked the washer, if there was a load that needed to be moved along of course Teru would since nothing was worse than that awful mildew smell. Nothing to be moved along, and nothing to be folded in the dryer either. Nothing of interest in there at all.
Teru wasn't disappointed.
He closed the doors slowly. There was nothing to be disappointed about because…well, there just wasn't. Of course he wasn't going to find anything of interest. Not through that door and not through this other one…which held Shimazaki's jacket. A closet. Jackets, Shimazaki leather jacket and a long winter coat, but also shoes along the bottom. Not in a big pile like Teru's but lined up. Shimazaki's black boots, a pair of black high tops, but curiously enough a pair of purple high tops right next to them. Amethyst to be exact…with drawings on the sides. Flowers again. Someone had just taken a pen to the sides and drawn flowers…Shimazaki, of course, because who else's would they have been. Even though they were clearly a lot smaller than the other shoes in there…but they were the same size as the mauve colored sandals next to them so, of course, they must have been Shimazaki's.
Teru shut the closet a little too loudly.
The next door was a bathroom. Perfect. Just what he had been snooping around, looking, for. What he had been looking for. The bathroom was a little less sparse than the bedroom had been. There was at least a shelf. Everything was facing outwards and labeled…on one of the shelves. There was a shelf for towels, a shelf above that with a bunch of unlabeled bottles, and then a shelf above that which could have been transplanted from a department store. Everything, what little there was, was perfectly spaced apart and labeled.
He had no idea what those labels said.
Presumably what was on the outside of the bottles. Hair gel, the cheap kind. Cologne, the expensive kind. A Costco sized pack of deodorant, not Teru's brand. Pomade…Teru took that one off the shelf. He opened it up and took some between his fingers. This stuff rested way too heavy in the hair…but at least it smelled good.
It smelled like Shimazaki.
He put it back. That was all definitely Shimazaki's…though he had no idea who else's it could have been. Shimazaki was…he was clearly the only person who lived here. Even though the shelf underneath said…those weren't the same dots from that drawer in his room. The flower sticker was different, too. This one was just as fuzzy but clearly a rose, not whatever kind of flower had been on the last one. This shelf must have just been…guest stuff?
That would explain the girl stuff.
It was just polite, if you were going to have a girl over, to stock it with that stuff girls needed sometimes. He had read it in a very reputable magazine and it had worked. Girls were impressed when you thought of them like that. And Shimazaki, clearly being much older and more used to having…to having girls over, of course would have kept his bathroom stocked with tampons and those other things, too. He was, apparently, very thoughtful…either that or he had a lot of girls going through his apartment…but that was ok. Teru liked girls too. He could have had a different girl every night if he'd wanted to but he had just been too busy. He took a mental note to make a shelf for girl stuff, apparently girls weren't put off by that.
He'd have to make Shimazaki a shelf, too.
But only because the things he liked were so different from Teru's things, that was all. He picked up a bottle of skin cream…something in Korean with a purple flower on the front. Very different…no, wait, this was just for guests…a lot of guests if he was to go off of how much was missing from this bottle. The deodorant was worn down too, and the cap had apparently gone missing at some point…though why anyone would have used that natural deodorant stuff was beyond him. Whoever's stuff this was needed to learn how to take care of it. Teru shook his head. The stack of facemasks was all uneven and not even organized, the cord for the hairdryer was all in a knot, the comb was missing teeth, and at some point a bottle of wash in hair dye had tipped over. Whoever's this stuff was…it was for guests. Not one person, obviously, because Shimazaki would have mentioned if he had a girlfriend…
If he had a roommate.
That would have made more sense. Seasoning City was expensive after all, as mom and dad constantly told him, so of course someone just starting their new life would have needed a roommate. That explained the shelf with the girl stuff and all those clothes…two room apartments were also very expensive, and it explained the two toothbrushes in the cup on the sink…though only one tube of toothpaste…but that made sense. Toothpaste was expensive too. Everything was expensive these days because of the economy and…and stuff. Why, Teru wouldn't have been surprised if there were two bottle of shampoo and two bottles of conditioner and two bottles of body wash just sitting there on the sides of the tub.
There weren't.
He was both relieved and disappointed. Relieved because, yes, there was more of that natural stuff here in addition to what was clearly Shimazkai's. Natural shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. All with flowers on the outside and all in Korean. Disappointed, though, because what clearly was Shimazaki's was just plain horrible. Teru had never seen anything so terrible in his life. The pitiable horror of it all was nearly more than he could stand to witness but, of course, he had to do his best.
Three in one.
Shampoo. Body wash. Conditioner. Three things done poorly in one bottle instead of three things done right in three separate bottles. All from Costco. Yay. The place where you could get bulk bags of rice, floor cleaner, and magic markers. Who wouldn't want to get their soap from there…poor Shimazaki. How anyone could have lived like that Teru would never know. He must have had a hard life up to this point…a terrible life. The clearly yakuza tattoos and weird scars had been clues but this, oh this, this cinched it.
Maybe there was something nicer under the sink.
There wasn't. Just cleaning supplies and…soap powder? Something rectangular and all wrapped up in plastic. Teru picked it up. Heavy too, but no brand…he put it back down. Nothing interesting there, nothing useful either. Nothing that told him anything about Shimazaki. He had learned nothing outside from the fact that he was very neat and had a roommate, probably, that he had never mentioned to Teru…and had never mentioned Teru to, most likely.
Whatever.
Teru had never told his friends about Shimazaki either so it wasn't anything to be upset about…and he wasn't upset. He was just off of his routine, that was all. Selfcare was the best kind of care and right now he looked completely careless. He locked eyes with himself in the mirror. He was amazed that his reflection didn't nope right out of there. His hair was everywhere, he had bags under his eyes, and it looked like he was on the verge of breaking out.
No thanks.
He borrowed some of Shimazaki's roommate's facewash. It wasn't like she was going to miss it. She had a million half used bottles on her shelf. She really needed to pick a product and stick to it. Girls were fickle in that way, he had read. They liked to move from guy to guy. Whatever was happening here probably wasn't that serious. She would probably leave Shimazaki, the house, soon. Once she found something better. Then there would be space for Teru's stuff on the shelf.
If he was going to be spending the night here then, of course, it made sense that he keep some of his own stuff.
Like a toothbrush. He couldn't go on like this. Skipping brushing wouldn't only lead to tooth decay but also bad breath and plaque buildup. He had no choice, really, but to use Shimazaki's toothbrush. He assumed that the red one was Shimazaki's and the purple one was his roommates. He assumed, too, that the cup that they were in was his roommates. It was bright blue with a yellow submarine on the front. Shimazaki, obviously, wasn't partial to bright colors…another reason that this wouldn't work out. Whoever this girl was her sense of style was juvenile and her hyper fixation on floral prints was beyond boring.
Really, Shimazaki could have done better.
If he was looking for something serious, that was, which of course he wasn't. If he had been then he would have said something. Teru, of course, would have said something about not wanting to be tied down at this point in his life, of course, and then that would have been that. These 'define the relationship' talks were always so difficult and tedious but also very necessary. Teru couldn't remember one of these ever going well…but of course it would with Shimazaki…if they were ever going to, of course. Maybe they were just too mature for that. After all, this was Shimazaki, not someone Teru had met at school or whatever. Adults didn't need to have those kinds of talks, they just kind of knew where things were going.
If they were going.
If they wanted them to go anywhere. Right now all Teru wanted to do was try and look more like a person and less like a zombie. He finished brushing his teeth, finally, and rinsed the toothbrush off before putting it back. It was just good manners. He made sure not to leave any spit speckles on the mirror, he hated when that happened. The mirror was clean and Teru, sort of, looked better. Maybe because he felt better, the outside did reflect the inside, of course the outside could always have used more work. His face was still all red, the angry sort of red that signaled an incoming break out, and he still had some plaque hanging out right at his gumline. Gross. He opened the bathroom cabinet. Shimazaki must have had floss, everyone had floss. Everyone had mouthwash, too, and maybe whitening strips. The good ones, too, the ones that actually worked…and while he was on the subject-
Huh.
Well he did have floss, the bubblegum flavored kind for some reason, he also had a shit ton of pill bottles. Unlabeled ones. Mostly unlabeled. Some of the labels were faded or half torn off…and the pills inside didn't even match. He picked up a bottle that looked more like a candy grab bag than an actual medicine bottle….he put it back. If one of them was sick then it wasn't Teru's business. Probably Shimazaki's roommate. Shimazaki was fine. He'd seen Shimazaki shrug off injuries that would have killed, or seriously injured, any normal person.
Teru never tried to actually kill him during their fights.
It was more like sparring, really, not actually fighting. It was important to stay sharp and, really, who else was on his level? Kagayama? Ritsu maybe…Mob could have killed him if he had half a mind to…but he didn't and that was never going to happen. Teru didn't need to ask either of them, or Sho either, he had someone to play fight with. To spar with. Though it wasn't like they had ever agreed that they weren't going to fight other people.
They didn't need to agree.
But what Teru needed to do was get Shimazaki some actual dental floss. Why did it have to taste like bubblegum? That didn't taste clean at all, it tasted like Halloween. Gross. Teru couldn't wait to get home. He really couldn't. At least then he could have taken care of his skin for real and used his actual toothbrush and stuff and worn his own clothes. These were all things he wanted to do.
Really.
Wear his own clothes and use his own stuff and…and eat his own food, too. He was getting kind of hungry. Maybe he should have gone home…not that he had any idea where he was. He had no idea what Shimazaki's range was when it came to teleporting. He could have been on the other side of the city for all he knew. He maybe should have woken Shimazaki up…but that would have been rude. The polite thing to do, really, would have been to make them breakfast here. That was what you were supposed to do when you hooked up with someone.
He'd seen it before. In movies.
Nobody besides Shimazaki had ever stayed the night with him before. Everyone else he had messed around with had needed to make curfew. He'd never stayed over at anyone else's house either. Parents were pesky like that. He was glad he didn't have any…around. He wasn't an orphan, his parents just trusted him enough to live on his own. That was all. They could see that he was very mature for his age. That was why they didn't come back, even after Claw was defeated and there wasn't any danger to them, they just…really trusted him, that was all.
Teru was more than capable of taking care of himself.
And he was more than capable of making breakfast. He just had to find the kitchen. Logic dictated that this place had to have had a kitchen. Everywhere had a kitchen. Who would rent an apartment without a kitchen…or was this a house? He looked out the frosted glass of the bathroom window. It was high up. He could see a the top of a tree. So this was an apartment. Who would rent an apartment without a kitchen?
Or maybe it was a condo?
It didn't matter. Who would dwell in a dwelling without a kitchen? That was the question. The answer was nobody. So, of course, there was a kitchen. It was probably off of the living room, Teru's kitchen was like that. He left the bathroom quietly, making sure to turn the light off as he left. It was just good manners. He could hear Shimazaki snoring as he crept down the hallway. He had never known Shimazaki to be such a heavy sleeper…of course Teru was usually the first one asleep and the last one awake…
Of course Shimazaki never woke him as he left.
A weird thought to have. Why would Shimazaki wake him up as he left? He didn't need to ask Teru to lock up after him or anything, he could teleport. That was also a good reason not to leave, he didn't know if this was the kind of door that locked behind him if he just pulled it shut. Best not to risk it. There could have been all kinds of criminal elements, former Claw types, who had it out for Shimazaki. Sho had said, before, that the entire thing had pretty much come down like a house of cards after his Dad got arrested. For all Teru knew Shimazaki had been all hush-hush about his life because he didn't want to drag Teru into what could have been an entire secret, psychic, war brewing just beneath the calm surface of Seasoning City.
Teru would have helped, though, if he had asked.
But he hadn't. He was, obviously, the kind of person who didn't like to mix others up in his problems. That didn't matter, Teru could help him in other ways. Because he was helpful, of course. There was more than one way to help a person. Like cooking, that was helpful. Teru had been right about the kitchen, it had been right off of the living, and he had found the front door, too.
And his phone!
There, on the coffee table, attached to a purple charging cord was his phone. It was right next to Shimazaki's plain black one. Teru couldn't help it, he had to check his phone and…nothing. Just random notifications, junk emails, and a missed call from 'scam likely'. Nothing, not even from…well he didn't know what he was expecting. They were busy and Zurich was beautiful this time of year…or had they moved onto Cochem? Weren't they going to Riga too?
He didn't care as long as they sent souvenirs.
He clicked his phone off and put it back down next to Shimazaki's…and kept his hand there. It wasn't like he hadn't seen Shimazaki's phone before, wherever he went it went. Teru had seen it fall out of his coat pocket or his pants pocket a thousand times. That may have been how that case had gotten dented. Scuffed, too, and maybe…maybe he could buff that out with his nails.
Oh.
A notification popped up as soon as Teru picked it up. Apparently Spotify had put together a new playlist for Shimazaki. That was…none of Teru's business. He put the phone back down…and it woke up again. It could have been important, the kind of thing that Shimazaki maybe needed to wake up for. Teru wasn't being nosy at all.
He was being helpful.
"Text From The World's Tallest Asshole. Message: Did you steal my waffle maker again?"
Teru quickly put the phone back down. Right, right, screen reader. His heart was pounding in his chest. Any minute now he expected Shimazaki to wake up and ask him what the hell he thought he was doing. But he didn't. A second passed, and then another, and then another. By the fourth second Teru felt like he was in the clear. That had been close. He made sure that the phone was put down exactly as he had left it. There was no need for Shimazaki to know that he had done something as nosy as snoop through his phone.
Some things were just unforgivable.
Going through someone's phone would have been like going through their search history. Unforgivable…though now Teru was curious…wait, no, Shimazaki wouldn't have had a search history considering the fact that he couldn't see…did they make all sound porn? Well now he was curious…but not curious enough to go through Shimazaki's phone. No. No need to piss him off. Besides, there was plenty to be curious about in here. Like why he had a TV even though he couldn't watch TV, or why he had so many books stacked up in the corner, or why he had a record player even though the rest of the world had moved on…
Lots of records though.
Some of them good. Teru made sure not to put them out of order. Some of these were classics, old stuff from when his parents had been kids. Rock, mostly, which of course was the best genre. Lots of Beatles though. He was extra careful with those. He didn't know about records but he knew that some of these must have been valuable…though maybe the labels on the fronts ruined the value. He traced his finger over them…some of these were very well worn. Some of them were very new.
Shimazaki had good taste.
His roommate, however, didn't. She didn't even bother putting hers back in the sleeves, and from what he could see they were all pressings of modern music. Someone was trying way too hard to be interesting. He hated kids like that, the ones who wouldn't shut up about being born in the wrong generation. It didn't make you cool to buy record or tapes or video cassettes, it just made you look too poor for new things. Shimazaki would never have gone out with someone like that, girl or guy.
He had better taste than that.
Of course he did, he was with Teru wasn't he? And Teru had good taste…not that he was 'with' him or anything. They were both just being casual about this in that effortless way that adults were casual with one another. They just casually slept together and causally spent the night with one another and now Teru was, casually, making breakfast for them both. First, though, he was going to casually get these dirty plates and cups out of here.
Apparently Shimazaki lived with a slob.
He carried them all into the sink with his telekinesis and was careful to put them down gently. The last thing he wanted to do was start breaking things. It was just bad manners. The sink was full now…the only thing left to do was to rinse these off and put them in the dishwasher…and the dishwasher, upon inspection, was full of clean dishes. The only thing to do was to put the dishes away. Just to be helpful, of course. Teru was, if anything, on a much better and more helpful path than he had been before. The kind of path that led him to clean up someone else's kitchen for the purposes of being helpful and only the purposes of being helpful.
There wasn't much to learn about where someone kept their dishes, anyway.
Above the sink. None of the plates and bowls matched. He didn't know how he felt about that. Teru made sure that all of his matched, or at least color coordinated since he used to have a bad habit of accidentally breaking his dishes sometimes with telekinesis, but Shimazaki seemed to just buy whatever. Black and white, red and blue, pink and…purple. Some floral stuff, too. Stuff that Teru ignored.
Such a boring motif.
He'd have to get Shimazaki some matching dishes…if he were to stay here again. You couldn't just have mismatched dishes after all, how did it look? Forks, too, and spoons. Real chopsticks too, not just the kind that takeout places had. Actual kitchen tools, too, while he was at it. It was so hard to cook with just his powers and a big mixing spoon. Some actual mixing bowls, too, and while he was at it some real groceries.
Teru had drank before. He knew that beer wasn't that great.
Not that great, anyway, that he would have devoted most of his fridge to it. The shelves of the fridge were labeled just like all of the others were, even the ones for plates and bowls. He had no idea what the labels said, of course, but he could kind of guess. Probably beer, more beer, and miscellaneous foodstuffs.
Thank God he had eggs.
Eggs, spicy tofu in a Tupperware, and a jar of kimchi. Not exactly a full breakfast but better than nothing. He had been expecting…he hadn't been sure what he had been expecting. Maybe just cereal and milk, or frozen waffles, or pancake mix. Something easy, the sort of thing that Teru had eaten when he'd been little…but of course Shimazaki ate actual food. If Teru was mature enough to get up early and make a full breakfast than of course so was Shimazaki.
Nearly full. He didn't seem to have any fish.
Or natto. Or any kind of vegetables…wait, there was a Tupperware full of mixed vegetables. No fish though. No miso soup, Teru liked to get the premade kind just because it saved time. Half a cake though, in a Tupperware, and another one full of what might have been food at some point in time…
And even more beer.
Teru put everything he had found on the counter. Rice. He must have had rice. Everyone had rice. He looked through the cabinets. Liquor, lots of liquor…how often did adults drink? Probably all the time, since they were allowed to. Teru picked up a bottle of something clear and held it up. He'd drank before but never anything actually strong, it was too hard to get his hands on. He had his hands on it now, though, and it wasn't like Shimazaki was going to miss a little bit…
Nope.
Teru forced himself to swallow. That tasted like fire, pure fire right into his mouth. He didn't spit it out, though, since he wasn't a kid. He could drink. He liked to…he could drink, he just didn't want to right now. It was too early in the morning to be drinking, that was all, and anyway he was in the middle of something. No sense in getting drunk when he was in the middle of very important work…like finding the rice. He put the bottle back and kept on digging. He found cooking oil, a box of candy bars from Costco, a family sized bag of cookies, a jar full of bad smelling dried plants, and another brick of powdered soap before he found a Costco box of instant rice.
At some point they were going to have to go to a real grocery store together.
For important reasons, of course, not just because…because. That was all. Teru didn't have time to come up with good reasons, he had eggs to fry and tofu to do….something with. He wasn't sure what. eat it as it? It looked cooked already but it was so cold…microwaved tofu sucked. Fry it with the eggs? But then they would taste all eggy and the eggs would taste tofu-y….not that Teru still needed all of his food kept separate like he had when he was little. Just for other reasons…reasons that he couldn't think of right now.
He fried them both together. It was just easier.
He made breakfast and had been right in the middle of plating it up before he heard a door opening. The front door. Not Shimazaki's door…but then again he didn't really even need doors now did he? He could have just teleported into the kitchen and asked Teru what in the hell he was doing…not that he would have been anything other than grateful…or at least he shouldn't have been anything other than grateful. It was just good manners. Not that he was sure exactly how Shimazaki would react…but Shimazaki wasn't who he had to worry about.
Shimazaki, obviously, wasn't the one coming through the door.
He heard the door close. That was obviously his roommate. Teru had two options. He could have ran and hid like a scared little kid or he could have stayed where he was and acted like an adult. He chose to act like an adult. Shimazaki hadn't told Teru about anyone…that he knew of…but he also wasn't sure that Shimazaki hadn't said anything to anyone. Besides, why would he have wanted to hide Teru from…well, the age thing….but age was just a number and, anyway, Teru was very mature for his age. He wasn't going to hide. No, he was going to do the adult thing and just stand there and act normal.
Because that was what this was. Normal.
He went back to what he had been doing…but then quickly finished. Plating food wasn't hard when you only had four things to plate, and one of them went in a rice bowl. He knew that he should have just set everything up on the coffee table and let him take what he wanted but he had actually forgotten that people ate that way…it had been that long since he'd had company. Well whatever, this was good too, and it wasn't like he'd had to cook. He'd just done it to be nice and Shimazaki wasn't going to complain and his roommate better not have said anything about his meal…setting up…skills!
She didn't have room to talk, anyway, considering how she kept her stuff.
"Ryou, whatever the hell you're cooking you had better now have used my…what the fuck?" said Shimazaki's roommate…he knew her! Him? Them. The person with he short purple hair and no eyebrows who did things with plants…there weren't any plants in the room. He was fine.
They didn't look like they wanted to kill him. He was fine.
"Good morning to you too." Said Teru. He had done that perfectly. Smooth, disaffected, like he didn't really care that they were there. Like he came here all the time. Like he had just as much of a right to be there as them.
He had this.
They looked him up and down before they said anything. He still had this. Even though he could feel their eyes boring into him. They started with his face, looked right down at his feet, and then trailed back up. Fine, two could play the 'make the other person uncomfortable' game. He looked them up and down too. Their socks were worn through at the toes, the floral decals on their jeans were coming off, and that shirt was way too boxy for them…her? He had never really been the kind of guy who stared at chests before, any idiot could tell that doing so was extremely off putting, but there was definitely-he looked up.
That had been close.
They were glaring at him now, like they wanted to kill him. Teru took a step back. That was…he wasn't scared. He had taken Shimazaki after all and he was, supposedly. Second only to the president of Claw…or had that been Serizawa…whatever! He could take her! Him! Them! There weren't even any plants around. Yeah! He had this! And they better have prayed, too, that they were a girl because that was the only way they'd be getting out of a fight with him.
Because, really, you couldn't fight girls. Everyone knew that.
"Who are you and why are you wearing my clothes?" they asked, finally. Teru looked down. Right, of course these weren't…whatever. They were clothes and he needed clothes so he was wearing clothes and, anyway, these clothes weren't killing anyone over.
"I'm sorry, I hadn't realized that these were your clothes. They were in Shimazaki's drawers after all." Said Teru. He tried his best not to sound too haughty, he knew he still had a problem with that, and he thought that he had done a good job. Only a little haughty. The right amount of haughty.
"No, they were in my drawer and…you know what? Let's start with your name and how you got in here and then we can work from there. How about that, kid?" they asked.
"I'm not a kid." Said Teru. He hadn't whined there, not at all. It had just sounded like that because of…because his voice wasn't fully settled yet and…no, wait, that was worse, wasn't it?
"I'm not." Said Teru, his voice completely settled that time. They nodded.
"Yeah, I'm not doing this." They said
"Doing wha-" said Teru
"Ryou!" they shouted. Teru shushed them. This was terrible. Now not only was he going to wake up and take Teru home but he was going to be so pissed off and-and-and there was nothing that Teru could do now and all of his efforts were going to be in vain and-
-and there was Shimazaki.
"Ryou, get your ass-oh." They said. All that quiet anger was gone. They seemed almost relaxed. They even slouched a little…terrible posture. They were smiling too, just enough to be noticeable…
Fuck them.
"Got me on the first call. What's up?" asked Shimazaki as he wiped his eyes and…oh. Teru didn't know if he was supposed to look away or not. It wasn't that he was grossed out he just…very rarely saw Shimazaki with his eyes all the way opened like that.
"Stop that, you're going to give yourself an infection again and with Fukuda missing-" they said
"Sorry Toshi, sorry, it's a reflex." Yawned Shimazaki. He stopped rubbing his eyes, which was good, and now he was scratching his chest, which was better. At some point between getting up and popping in here he had found his boxers….though since this was his house he could have gotten dressed. Just because he ran the risk of giving this…'Toshi'…person the wrong idea.
Toshi was a guy's name, right?
"Well, just be careful. You're getting careless." Said Toshi
"Am not." Said Shimazaki. He sounded almost whiney there but playfully…not that Teru had ever heard him sound playful or anything. He was smiling too…but Teru had seen him smile plenty of times before.
For him.
"Yes you are. Case and point." Said Toshi. They, he? Teru was being pointed at. He glared. They rolled their eyes.
"Please tell me that this isn't that boyfriend Sho won't shut up about." Said Toshi. Teru scoffed. As if he would ever have gone out with Sho. He was way too young, too immature, and he smelled like a combination of pop rocks and hamster. Honestly. He had no idea how Ritsu could have even put up with him.
"Toshi! How could you even think that I would be capable of something so heartless! You wound me!" said Shimazaki, putting his hand over his heart. That was…he was just being…he had never seen Shimazaki act like that but…whatever. Everyone had different sides to them and…things like that. It was impossible to know everything about a person.
Like how the two of you had a mutual friend.
"Hopefully it's fatal." Said Toshi
"If it is then I want to be buried at sea." Said Shimazaki
"No, you're going to be plant food." Said Toshi
"At least plant something useful over me, like a fruit tree or something." said Shimazaki
"No Ryou, you're going to be a crabapple tree." said Toshi
"Well, at least you can read under me then." Said Shimazaki. Teru did his best to keep control. He could see his aura. He was…he was fine. He just didn't like it when people talked around him like he wasn't there. He wasn't a little kid anymore.
"Will you be-" said Teru
"Seriously though, you know I would never do that to Sho." said Shimazaki, interrupting Teru even though he knew that he had been about to say something. Teru felt kind of like he had just been hit in the chest…no, he didn't, because he hadn't been.
"Uh-huh, then what's he doing here?" asked Toshi
"By the smell of it making breakfast. Thanks, by the way." Said Shimazaki, addressing Teru for the first time. The punched in the chest feeling went away…it went away because it had never been there in the first place and Teru was just being…he wasn't being any way at all.
"Uh-huh, and why is he here?" asked Toshi
"Forgot to take him home last night." Said Shimazaki. Toshi's eyes met Teru's, then they looked up at Shimazaki, and then back to Teru.
"You know that this isn't a dwarf, right? This kid is probably Sho's age." Said Toshi
"Hey! I'm at least a year older than Sho." said Teru. He had never actually asked Sho his age but he knew that he was closer to Ritsu's age than his and…and anyway age didn't matter. If age mattered then he would have asked those two their ages. But he wasn't going to because he didn't need to know their ages and anyway he could guess…
Twenty….something?
"Really? You're that young?" asked Shimazaki. Teru nodded. He was that…old. He was that old. He was…ok, so Shimazaki had no idea how old he was…of course he didn't. He knew the size and shape of people but not their features and…and ok, he knew how old Teru was and…and that didn't matter, right? Shimazaki hadn't thought that Teru was secretly just a short adult this whole time…right? It was an easy mistake to make, of course, but hopefully the truth wasn't going to change anything…
Of course it wasn't. Teru was mature. Biologically he may have been fourteen but he was clearly, on the inside, an adult.
"I'm that old." Said Teru. Toshi rolled their eyes.
"Can you go in the other room while the adults talk?" asked Toshi
"I'm not-" said Teru
"This is pretty damn good." said Shimazaki. Teru turned away from Toshi. Shimazaki was actually eating the breakfast that Teru had made for him! And he liked it! And he-well of course he liked it. It was nothing to get excited over. Teru was well aware of the fact that he was a good cook.
"Thank you. You didn't have much so I worked with what I had." Said Teru
"Yeah, we haven't had a Costco run in a while…speaking of, everyone's free today, right?" asked Shimazaki as he dug into Teru's plate too…but that was ok, it was just a testament to Teru's amazing egg frying skills and not at all an act of unmitigated anything.
"I don't know, I'm not everyone's keeper. Hell, I'm barely even your keeper." Said Toshi
"I don't need a keeper, Toshi." Said Shimazaki
"Fine then." Said Toshi, an edge to their voice…good.
"But I do appreciate you." said Shimazaki. Teru did his best not to glare. He had no reason to. He smoothed down his shirt…their shirt. A shirt which was not his. His clothes were a lot nicer than this. Less itchy, too.
"You'd better with all I put up with…anyway, be careful. I don't care what you do so long as you don't bring it back to me, alright?" asked Toshi. They were, again, glaring at Teru. This time he glared right back. It was alright if someone else glared at you first, especially if they had been as much of an asshole as this person obviously was.
"He's fine, he was a virgin when I met him." Said Shimazaki before he teleported over to the sink and dumped both plates in. Teru didn't have the mental capacity to offer to help or even move from that spot. All he could do was stand there and try to get control over himself again. He knew he was red, unattractively so, and he knew that his aura was showing. He needed to calm down and stop looking like-like this!
Ridiculous. He looked ridiculous.
"I don't care what he says he was, he gets tested every three months and so do you. Fukuda's gone and, you know, I like not having venereal disease. It makes life a lot easier." said Toshi, thankfully turning to face Shimazaki. Shimazaki shrugged as he rinsed off the dishes.
"I know, I know, I'm not a moron. A healthy Toshi is a happy Toshi." Said Shimazaki
"Good, glad we're on the same page. Now give me back my jar and Shibata's waffle maker." Said Toshi, holding out there hands. Their nail polish was chipped. That made Teru feel better.
"But I barely made a dent in-" said Shimazaki
"I don't care, I want it back. When you grow and process your own then you can have exclusive control over the jar. Until then give it back." Said Toshi. Shimazaki did an exaggerated sigh, almost like he was playing around with them, and started feeling around in the cabinets. He pulled out a gigantic jar of sprinkles, and then a pickle jar, before frowning.
A real one.
"Kid, if you're going to go through my cabinets you need to put shit back where you found it." Said Shimazaki. Teru felt small, suddenly, probably because Shimazaki had called him kid. He didn't care if Shimazaki got pissed off at him…he really didn't. They fought all the…all the time. He didn't care.
"Move, I see it. It's behind the cookies…that I know for a fact that you stole from Hatori. Stop stealing." Said Toshi before they slapped him over the top of the head…and he just let them. They even had to stand on their tiptoes to do it…
They were taller than Teru.
"Minegishi Toshiki, I don't know what you're accusing me of-" said Shimazaki
"He wrote his name on them." said Toshi…Minegishi. They weren't on a given name basis let alone a nickname basis.
"Well fuck me then." Said Shimazaki as he handed the box of cookies to Minegishi
"And Shibata's waffle maker? Come on, he's been blowing up the group text all morning about it and it's getting annoying." Said Minegishi. Oh. That had been a group text so…so Shimazaki had other friends. Well good for him then. Teru had friends too. Lots of them.
"That I don't have. I swear on my father's grave-" said Shimazaki
"You went down on me on your father's grave." Said Minegishi. Teru had to turn away. That was…they just came out and said that and…and ok. Sure, whatever, of course they had done that with Shimazaki and…and he could do whatever he wanted with her. Teru had gone down on plenty of girls in his lifetime, two, so it didn't matter. It was just going down on someone. If Teru wanted to he could have called up any girl he knew…some of the girls he knew…a few. Ok, so girls didn't respond well to just calling them up and asking to go down on them but guys might…but he knew even fewer receptive guys…whatever! He was attractive and he wasn't tied down. He could do whatever he wanted to do with whoever he wanted to do!
He didn't what Shimazaki did!
"Fine, I swear on my mother's grave, then, that I don't have it. Try Hatori. He's more of a magpie than I am. I think that Serizawa might even still be going on about that videogame he stole or whatever." Said Shimazaki
"It's rare!" laughed Minegishi in a voice that was probably supposed to be a bad impression of Serizawa's.
"Comiket is go!" laughed Shimazaki, doing a high pitched voice that he assumed was supposed to belong to that Hatori person. He didn't see what was so funny. Inside jokes were really something that you were only supposed to share when people who were inside on the joke were around. It was just good manners.
"You're not going with him this year, are you?" asked Minegishi
"Not if you aren't. Are we still all obligated to celebrate each other's birthdays?" asked Shimazaki
"Do you want Shibata's birthday pancakes this year?" asked Minegishi
"Hell yeah, I got thirty two coming to me." said Shimazaki
"Then I think we are so, yeah, I guess I'm going to the nerd convention again this year." Said Minegishi
"Is Sailor Toshi going too?" asked Shimazaki
"Sailor Toshi is going to kick your ass if you don't stop bringing up sailor Toshi." Said Minegishi. They might have said more. Teru turned them out after that. He just kind of stood there awkwardly as they talked about people he didn't know, made inside jokes he wasn't privy to, and made plans that he knew he wasn't invited to. It could have gone on for another minute or another hour, he wasn't sure. He just stood there until Shimazaki teleported away to take Minegishi home.
Then, finally, he could move.
Because, really, the only thing worse than just standing there would have been drawing attention to the fact that he had been just standing there. If he had moved, or God forbid said anything, then the attention would have been on him and for once he didn't want it. He didn't want to be in their little bubble of…of whatever that was. The only thing worse than his forcible inclusion into that bubble would have been to have popped that bubble entirely.
No way.
So he stood there until they left. The second they left he grabbed his phone and made his way back to the bedroom. He was going to put his own clothes on and then figure out how to get home. He didn't care if he was on the other side of the city, or the country, or the world. He was going to go home and then hang out with his own friends and sleep with whoever else he wanted to or have them over and…and he was going to be much more polite about it than Shimazaki had been. Then whatever this feeling was would go away.
Not that he was feeling anything at all. Because he didn't have to.
He tossed off the borrowed clothes and put on his own from last night. They smelled like….well now he knew what that smell was. Pomade and Costco deodorant, three in one and bubblegum dental floss. Expensive cologne and cheap everything else. Shimazaki. He held his shirt to his nose…it smelled like him….
He didn't want to go.
"There's pancakes upstairs if you want any." Said Shimazaki as he teleported onto his bed…with a plate of pancakes. The big souffle kind. The kind that Teru had never been able to master. Shimazaki dug into them with a fork, seemingly uncaring about the crumbs and syrup he was getting on his bed.
"You're making a-you're still hungry?" asked Teru, catching himself at the last second. It wasn't his place. What did he care if Shimazaki made a mess.
"I'm always hungry, it's my powers or my metabolism or something." said Shimazaki
"And you went upstairs…in your underwear?" asked Teru
"Shibata doesn't care, he doesn't go that way." Said Shimazaki. Teru could have kicked himself for being so stupid. Of course Shimazaki hadn't taken the elevator like a normal person.
"Shibata is…your friend?" asked Teru
"Yeah, friend by default. I mean when you work with someone for a decade you're either friends or you hate each other's guts and, yeah, it's just easier to be friends." Said Shimazaki, talking with his mouth full…somehow it worked for him.
"And you're…friends…with Minegishi too?" asked Teru even though he knew the answer…sort of. They might have just been friends with benefits, which was less than real friends, right? Or more than real friends because there was sex involved? He had no idea. Every time he had seen a movie where there had been friends with benefits the couple had always gotten together in the end…but that had been movies and this was real life and Teru didn't care either way.
"Toshi? Yeah, we go way back. Before Claw, actually." Said Shimazaki as he scraped his plate. Teru cringed, at the sound, just at the sound and nothing more.
"And they live with you too?" asked Teru
"They keep some of their stuff here, it's complicated, it's whatever.. So, you in or not?" asked Shimazaki as he tossed his plate onto his bed. Teru cringed. Because of the mess and not…and not anything else. Especially not the invitation he had just been extended. One that he should have taken because…because it was just good manners…
But what if he did?
What if he had to just sit there and watch Shimazaki and his…and whatever the hell Minegishi was to him? He couldn't do that again because…because it was awkward for all involved. That was it. Teru didn't care what Shimazaki told people but it would be awkward if he was…second to Minegishi or….or equal to…or…or…
He wasn't going to ask. If he asked then he might not like the…then it would have been awkard. They were adults and adults didn't have to talk about every little thing.
"I think that I'll pass." Said Teru. There. Calm, cool, and smooth above all else. Like he didn't care either way…because he didn't. He didn't know or care what, if anything, Shimazaki had told people. If he did then he would have asked and…and there was no reason to care what his friends thought or knew about them.
"Whatever. Come here, I'll take you home." Said Shimazaki motioning towards him. Onto his bed. Teru knew what would come next. He walked over more slowly than was necessary. Normally Shimazaki would have teleported over, grabbed him, and tossed him down onto the bed.
He didn't.
"Normally I'd love to but I have a lot of stuff to do today so, yeah, let's get you home." Said Shimazaki
"What makes you think-" said Teru
"I know you." said Shimazaki. Teru stopped.
"That's not fair!" said Teru before he could stop himself. It was true. It wasn't fair. Shimazaki didn't get to say that he knew him when he knew nothing about Shimazaki. It wasn't fair at all and…and now he sounded like a little kid. He wished that he could take it back but a part of him just wanted…he didn't know what he wanted. To know Shimazaki, maybe, or for things to be even or…or more…
He wanted things to be equal, that was all.
"There are a lot of things that aren't fair, you have to be specific." Said Shimazaki
"It's…not fair that you know me but I'm don't….i don't know you." said Teru weakly. Shimazaki shrugged.
"What do you want to know?" asked Shimazaki
"Wait…what?" asked Teru. That was unexpected. He had no idea what he had been expecting, maybe another fight, but not this. Not Shimazaki leaning back on his bed and just offering himself up to Teru. Normally Teru was the one who offered and Shimazaki was the one who took. This…this was new and…and heady, heady in a way that Teru had never felt before.
"Ask away, I'm an open book." Said Shimazaki, spreading his arms out for emphasis. Or maybe clarification…if it was for clarification then it really wasn't working.
"Seriously?" asked Teru
"Seriously. I don't have anything to hide, not that I ever did. I don't believe in secrets, they're boring. If you want Claw secrets, though, talk to Serizawa, apparently Suzuki gets chatty after sex. If you want the boring details of my life then, yeah, ask away…but make it fast, there are pancakes waiting for me to liberate them from other people's plates." Said Shimazaki
"I…I don't know. What's your…what's your favorite color?" asked Teru. That had been the first thing to come to mind…and now he sounded like a little kid. Again.
"I have no idea what color is." Said Shimazaki. And now Teru felt like a complete and total moron. Of course Shimazaki didn't know what color was. He couldn't see the way Teru could, he sensed things…Teru wondered if Shimazaki could sense a hole for him to crawl into and die in.
"But if I had to have a favorite I would probably say purple. I think that Toshi's purple, or at least that's what people tell me." Said Shimazaki. Teru had never wanted to hit him more than he had ever wanted to in that moment. He hated the color purple now and forever. It was overrated and now completely ruined by that-that-
Teru was calm. He didn't care.
"It should be red, you look a lot better in red you know." said Teru quickly. That was what this was about, the color, not the person. He didn't give a damn about how Shimazaki did what with. They had never agreed to be exclusive and Teru didn't want that anyway. He wasn't a kid. He was ready to have an adult relationship and this was how adult relationships worked.
"No I don't know but I'll take your word for it. Anything else?" asked Shimazaki. Yes. There was a lot else. He wanted to know everything. He felt like he still knew nothing. Not even his…well he knew his given name, Ryou, and he knew how old he was, thirty one, and he knew that he was an orphan…that was a lot…
Shimazaki was getting bored.
He was drumming his fingers. His aura was bouncing around. He had never been good at staying in one place, at sticking around. Not when it came to Teru, anyway. He seemed to be able to stick around just fine when it came to certain people…but it wasn't like Teru didn't have friends. Sure, none he had known for ten plus years but ten plus years ago he was in preschool half a world away. If he wanted to make lifelong friends that kept their things in his house then he could. Someone like…like…he thought to himself. Kageyama! Mob, not Ritsu. Ritsu was cute and all but there was a weird intensity to him that Teru didn't much care for. Plus he was with Sho and Sho was his own brand of weird. Mob was perfect…and he could tell people about Mob. It must have been nice to be able to tell people about your…
He didn't have the word for it.
But whatever it was he would tell people. He couldn't tell people about Shimazaki since they weren't anything, and also the age thing, but maybe people would get it if they were an actual couple…not that he cared. Besides, people wouldn't get it anyway, though if things were more defined then maybe he could have had something to say…maybe he could have shown Shimazaki off or something.
What good was someone as good looking as Shimazaki if Teru couldn't show him off?
"What do you tell people about us…I mean, do you tell people about us?" asked Teru. God. That had been pathetic. That was one step above asking 'what are we' like he was some confused kid. He knew what they were. They were…friends? More than friends? Friends with benefits?
Did they even need a label.
"I don't say anything." Said Shimazaki. That was worse than any punch to the stomach or kick to the head that Teru had ever felt in his life. Shimazaki was keeping him a secret? But he had just said…maybe he meant from people who mattered? Maybe it was the age thing…yeah, that was it! People who knew him before were fine but people who he just met weren't because he was trying to be a better person! It all made perfect sense.
"Oh…well, I haven't said anything either. I mean I won't tell anyone." Said Teru. Shimazaki clicked his tongue and shook his head…and somehow those two actions made Teru feel stupider than he had ever felt in his entire life.
"No, it's not like that. I don't care who knows, people I know just don't want to be informed every single time I bring someone to bed. Shibata, Serizawa, and Hatori were very vocal about that. Toshi just cares that I don't get them sick." Said Shimazaki
"Oh…wait, is that everyone you know?" asked Teru. He must have known more than four people…he was Shimazaki.
"They're the only people who I give a damn about. Well them and Sho, obviously, but it never really came up with Sho. So, you want to ask me anything else? If we're just going to play twenty questions all day I can get Sho over here, he's the reigning champion two years running. Made Shibata put his head through the wall once." Said Shimazaki
"No! I mean, no, that's ok. You don't have to. You can take me home now." said Teru. That could have come out better. Next time he'd be better at this, when he was feeling less off guard, when he was in his own room in his own element. When less had happened. This was…a lot to take in…but he could handle it. He was Hanazawa Teruki.
He could just handle it better if he woke up in his own bed.
