Ritsu didn't understand soccer.
Not the rules, no, at this point he would have had to be working at it to not have learned the rules. There were a lot more rules than when they played soccer at school. Back at school the gym teacher just sort of threw them a ball and told them not to use their hands. Real soccer had plays and positions and actual dribbling, too, which was harder than it looked. At least it must have been since they'd been out there dribbling for a while now. He didn't really get the point. It looked more physically exhausting than fun.
Ritsu shouldn't have been complaining. He wasn't the one who had soccer practice today.
A whistle was blown. Ritsu didn't really know how everyone knew which whistle was for what. He'd asked Teru before, and Teru said that it was a combination of knowing the time and just sort of knowing what the coach meant. Ritsu didn't really get it but the list of things he didn't get about Teru was long, very longer, longer than the lists he had for most other people.
Well of course it would have been longer for Teru. Teru was his best friend.
There were stares and whispers, but that was normal too. As far as the rest of the world was concerned Teru was his boyfriend and apparently having a boyfriend meant that he was, somehow, into every single guy he laid eyes upon. People were so exhausting like that sometimes. Just because Ritsu was gay it didn't mean that he was gay for every single guy that crossed his path. He didn't even feel that way about Teru, either. Sure he was cute…and watching him play soccer was a great way to spend an afternoon, but Ritsu wasn't his boyfriend. Teru wasn't like that and anyway even if he had been Ritsu already had someone he liked.
But the rest of the world didn't need to know that.
"Hey Teru, how was soccer?" asked Ritsu. He heard someone whispering something about given names. Honestly. Lots of guys used other guy's given names ad that didn't mean a thing…not that Ritsu was going to be correcting anyone. It was in his best interests that people think that he and Teru were boyfriends. He had have some kind of explanation as to why they spent all of their time together.
And it wasn't like anyone was ever going to believe him about Claw.
Reigen didn't even believe him, well he hadn't until they both got kidnapped, and now that Reigen had been kidnapped and he had proof he didn't want to talk about it. Every time Ritsu tried to bring Claw up, how he hardly saw any of their members around or how there hadn't been a lot of ambient auras or even how he hadn't been able to tell if someone was watching the esper kid he'd met at the mall Reigen always just changed the subject and told him not to think about that stuff. That it was over….but it was never over. As long as Claw was out there then there was no way that it would ever be over…not until Ritsu took them down.
Ritsu and Teru, he amended, since Teru was a part of this thing too.
"Get up and keep walking! And don't call me by my given name!" hissed Teru as he walked past Ritsu. He didn't even pause to grab his gym bag and stuff. He just grabbed it and kept on walking. Ritsu rolled his eyes and got up. Teru wasn't as into this whole 'pretend to be boyfriends' thing as he was. Ritsu didn't get what the problem was. They could spend as much time together as they wanted without it being suspicious, it wasn't like Ritsu ever tried to hold his hand or kiss him, and girls loved it when they thought you were gay. They tried to test it and stuff…or maybe that was just Tsubomi. Ritsu was glad that had only been that one really awkward time….anyway Teru liked girls and girls liked it when they thought you were gay and it wasn't like Ritsu ever made him do anything so there really wasn't any reason for him to be all ridiculous like this.
They didn't have time to be all ridiculous like this. Claw was out there.
"Do you really have to watch me at every single practice?" asked Teru. He was out of breath. Maybe it would have made more sense if they stopped so he could catch his breath….but then again if they stopped then all of his teammates might have thought that he caught being gay from Ritsu…at least that was how it went at his school. Right now everyone was avoiding him like he was the kid who always had lice and loved to give hugs and try on hats. Really. That guy was in his class this year and everyone liked him better than Ritsu.
People were so ridiculous sometimes Ritsu didn't even have words.
Well he did…bad ones. The sort of words that if mom knew he knew the meanings of she would take away his phone, his computer, and probably forbid him from ever taking to anyone his own age ever again. That was why Ritsu kept the cursing to himself. He kept a lot of things to himself, actually, since he didn't think that telling people off was a good use of his time. He had information to gather, people to keep safe, and plans to make. He didn't have time to tell off every single idiot who had a problem with the fact that he just so happened to not like girls. He'd beat them up if they messed with him but he was done telling people off. He…did not have a lot of friends…but he didn't mind that. He had a world to save.
Besides, Teru was his friend and that was enough for him…even though Teru could be completely ridiculous sometimes.
"I don't have to but I want to. Not for you. I just don't want to watch Tsubomi. Girls still try and bother me." Said Ritsu
"Well if you keep on following me around to practice and stuff no girls are ever going to talk to me again!" said Teru. Ritsu rolled his eyes. Teru knew nothing about girls. He thought he knew a lot about girls just because he went on a lot of dates and had done pretty much everything. Ritsu wasn't sure how true that was, that he'd done everything up to doing it, actually it didn't seem very true at all considering how little Teru knew about girls and how they worked.
"Girls like it when they think you're gay. They think that they can change you. You should be thanking me." Said Ritsu
"Yes, Ritsu, thank you for making me the least popular guy on my team." Said Teru. Ritsu decided to let it go. Teru was in a bad mood. Ritsu wanted to take him and shake him and tell him that they didn't have time to be in bad moods. They had to take the bus out to the woods and check on the progress of the secret base in the woods, and they had to check on the esper kid and her family, and they also had to be home in time for dinner. Mom was making German food again and she needed Teru to tell her that it was edible. They'd probably end up having a sleepover after that…but before everything else they had to get Tsubomi from tennis before those guys followed her home and tried to flip her skirt up or some other gross thing.
People sucked sometimes.
"Teru, hang on, we have to pick Tsubomi up from tennis." Said Ritsu. Teru didn't say anything. His aura reached out and he immediately turned and walked over to where Tsubomi's tennis class was. She was the main reason that he was here. Not everything he did had to do with taking down Claw. Sometimes he walked Tsubomi home. He had to. Between him and Teru no guys messed with her.
There were other threats in this world besides Claw.
Well threats to people he cared about. He was aware that there was the yakuza and stuff, they worked for Claw, but there was nothing that he could do about them. In his research, not spying despite what Teru thought, he'd learned that the yakuza worked with people stealers to buy espers from the people market from Claw. Also there was a people market. It wasn't here, though, it was in Tokyo and Shanghai…at least that as what his research said. There was nothing he could do about it, yet, he was still too little. Right now he could only protect his own city, the people he cared about, and also that little esper kid he met.
Well, him and Teru…if Teru ever stopped being ridiculous.
"Just wait with her next time, ok?" asked Teru as they made it over to where the girls were finishing up tennis practice. There were stares and whispers, again, but not mean ones. Girls talked about how cute they were, the word yaoi came up sometimes, and which one of them they'd be with. Teru changed the second he realized girls were looking at him. He smiled more, stood up straighter, and did that thing where he messed up his hair but to make it look good.
Ritsu just brushed the grass off of his pants.
"Why would I stay here when it's so much more peaceful where you were?" asked Ritsu. Teru rolled his eyes. He hesitated like he was planning out how to roll his eyes in the cutest way possible…which he did. Ritsu wasn't in love with him. He reminded himself at least five times a day that he wasn't in love with Teru. He thought that Teru was cute but that was it. He was in love with Suzuki Sho and one day Ritsu was going to find him, save him from Claw, and then they'd be boyfriends and eventually husbands if they ever changed the law. And then they'd kiss some more…and maybe the stuff that came afterwards…but not all of the stuff because Ritsu wasn't ready for all of that and he hadn't even done enough research yet, anyway, to know what all the things were.
Teru probably knew…or at least he would have pretended that he knew….not that Ritsu would ever ask him about that or think about him….in ways like those.
"Ritsu, why do you have to be like this?" asked Teru. He was smiling, now, at some girls. Ritsu didn't care about that just so long as he didn't smile at Tsubomi. Ritsu knew how Teru was with girls. He went out with a lot of them and when they didn't kiss him he just went out with another one. He saw dates like videogames…specifically those games that were nothing but quick time events. Teru acted like if he hit the buttons in the right ordered he'd win a kiss. He'd explained it to Ritsu. Smile, listen, be nice, spend a lot of money, and then all the kissing and whatever else would happen. Ritsu didn't care what he did, Teru wasn't his actual boyfriend or anything, but he wasn't going to let Teru treat Tsubomi like that.
She didn't need any of that in her life…also she'd had her heart broken enough times already.
"Born this way, what's your excuse?" asked Ritsu
"Oh Ritsu, you're so funny!...come on, laugh like you just said something funny." Said Teru, his eyes darting to the girls behind Ritsu. Ritsu just cocked an eyebrow.
"If I'm the one who said something funny then why would I be laughing? Who laughs at their own jokes like that?" asked Ritsu
"You're the worst, you know that, right?" asked Teru
"I know. I don't care." Said Ritsu. He didn't get Teru sometimes. Why go after every single girl you met? Why not just find one girl and fall in love with her. That way you had a greater chance to get kissed and whatever else Teru did. That was what Ritsu would have done if he'd been in Teru's shoes. It would have been so much easier if he'd been just like everyone else…but he didn't want to wake up one day liking girls. If that happened then he wouldn't have been in love with Sho anymore.
And he couldn't think of anyone else he would have rather been in love with.
Sho had saved his life. He'd betrayed his family and the evil organization they ran for Ritsu, a guy he didn't even know. Sho was like this…this force of nature…that had come into his life. The first time they'd met Sho had listened to his troubles and even held his hand...and then showed him that psychic powers wee a thing that existed and made the world both a lot bigger and a lot smaller at the same time. The second time they'd met Sho had tried to stop him, to protect, and the third time Sho had saved his life.
If that wasn't love then Ritsu didn't know what was.
Well…maybe whatever he had done to get Tsubomi to love him. She finished packing up and was walking over to him now. The second they made eye contact her whole face just sort of lit up. Ritsu wished that they made cards that said 'I'm gay. Stop loving me.' But they didn't. He knew, he'd asked the lady at the greeting card store….and now they could never go back, mom had said. He could have just written her a note and taped it to her door so whenever she felt like she loved him she could have looked at it…but that would have been mean. This was one of those things that he just had to live with. Tsubomi being in love with him.
And also the hugs.
"Ritsu, hey! I didn't see you out there." said Tsubomi as she hugged him. He hugged her back. Maybe if he hugged her enough then she would end up being all hugged out and she wouldn't have wanted to hug Teru. He looked huggable. He was all dirty and sweaty but in a good way. Like not like he was messy, he was, but in a good sort of way…it didn't make sense. The way his hair was stuck to his head…the way his jersey was all dirty…the times when he pulled his shirt up over his stomach so he could wipe the sweat off of his head….those were good times and…
Oh. He'd been hugging Tsubomi for a while.
"I was watching Teru….are you ready to go yet?" Said Ritsu as he let go of Tsubomi. He looked away from Teru…well he tried to. He was looking at his phone now and chewing on his thumbnail. He was talking to a girl. He always looked like that when he couldn't figure out what to say to a girl. He didn't know why Teru didn't just come out and say that he just wanted to kiss and all the stuff that came afterwards. It would have saved him a lot of time…and the girl he was talking to probably didn't even like him that much. She probably didn't even know him. Like…like how he was really clumsy with chopsticks and tried to pick rice up grain by grain…or how he played really loud rock music while he took a bath because it relaxed him….or how he liked to spend entire days at the weird foreign movie place where everything had subtitles and they didn't have free refills on popcorn….or even how his favorite movie was the weird flying dead pig thing that made no sense…how he made no sense….
There was a lot to know about Teru. That was all.
"I-I'm ready…" said Tsubomi as she brushed some hair behind her ear. Now Teru was looking at her…he stepped between them. He knew that Teru may have been really weird when it came to girl but it wasn't like he was one of those guys Ritsu had to keep Tsubomi safe from. Still…he couldn't let Tsubomi like him. She would just end up with her heart broken. Teru mostly just wanted to feel her up, anyway, he had never said so but Ritsu knew him. He talked about feeling girls up all the time. Ritsu, of course, never said anything about wanting to feel any guys up. That wasn't what this friendship was about.
Also he got the feeling that Teru would have beaten him up, at least a little, if he knew the thoughts that Ritsu sometimes had about him.
Those weren't thoughts that Ritsu wanted to have. He just sort of thought about guys sometimes. Guys who were cute or tall or smelled good or…well he thought about guys sometimes. Teru wasn't special. They just liked each other as friends. The heart wanted what it wanted and there was nothing wrong with that, mom and dad had gotten him a rainbow poster that said that, and maybe there was wisdom in the stuff that mom and dad ordered off of that American rainbow site. His heart wanted what it wanted…and it wanted to maybe….stuff….with Teru but that was it!
He wasn't in love with Teru. He was in love with Sho.
"….form is important but of course there's always natural talent, which you have plenty of Takane-san." Said Teru. He didn't let the fact that Ritsu was between the two of them stop him. If he wanted to talk to a girl then he was going to talk to a girl. There was nothing that could stop him. One time he even left in the middle of a stakeout to go and sit in Starbucks with some middle school girls. Teru just…didn't have his priorities in order.
But Ritsu did.
He walked a little closer to Tsubomi. He didn't care how hot it was. He didn't care if she was all sweaty from tennis. He didn't care if by walking this close to her she was probably getting the wrong idea. Better she fell even more in love with him than she fell in love with Teru. Sure his eyes were this really nice shade of blue and his hair was really soft and yellow…and he always smelled really good…and he could be kind of weird sometimes but he was never boring…and…and a lot of other things! There were a lot of really great things about Teru but also he went through girls faster than he went through clothes, that was something if he was talking about Teru, and Tsubomi didn't need that. Teru didn't have his priorities in order. Not like Ritsu did. Not like-
What was that?!
Teru noticed it too. Ritsu saw his aura. Ritsu saw his own aura. Tsubomi, of course, didn't notice. She was a normal person. No normal person would have seen that…felt that. There. He could…he remembered….that was….he closed his eyes. He stopped walking. He just stood for a moment and felt the aura that had been following his for a while.
He opened his eyes. He was being stared at.
"I forgot something, I have to go." Said Ritsu. He took a step forward and he would have taken another one but Teru grabbed his wrist. It felt like the world's best static shock…but there was no time think about that now…and he shouldn't have felt that in the first place. Not when…not when he could feel….when he knew who he could feel…
He had to get out of here.
"Do you need me to go with you?" asked Teru. He tried to sound casual but Ritsu could see his aura. He was freaking out, he didn't have to. That was Sho and…and Teru had never met Sho...and he didn't want Teru to meet Sho. Sho was…well not his but…but he knew how he looked in comparison to Teru. Teru was…he was cute…a lot cuter than Ritsu and….and stronger too…and taller and…and he knew Sho. Well he sort of knew Sho…he sort of knew Sho….he knew….well he knew that he didn't want Sho to take one look at Teru and decided that he didn't want to be anything with Ritsu!
Ritsu was being ridiculous and he knew it.
"I'm fine. Take Tsubomi home and if any guys try to do that flip up Friday thing then break their ribs…and also meet me at the place….or not. I'll call you." Said Ritsu
"What did you forget? Maybe I could help you-" said Tsubomi
"I'm fine. I wouldn't want your mom to get mad at you for coming home late." Said Ritsu. There. That was a good excuse. Tsubomi's mom was kind of nuts…kind of really nuts…and nobody wanted to deal with her. He shook his wrist free from Teru's hand. Teru gave him one more look, he gave one back and then off he went. He walked like normal until he was sure that Tsubomi wasn't paying attention to him…and then he ran.
He didn't have to run far.
There. Around the corner and leaning against a streetlight. There. With his hands in his pockets. There. Taller than Ritsu remembered him. There. Smelling like mom and dad's anniversary. There. Red hair and blue eyes and freckles…had he always had so many freckles? There. There he was. The boy of Ritsu's dreams…the possible love of his life…the guy who's saved his life….there….standing there….like this was normal….
Ritsu couldn't breathe.
"Hey, what's up?"