Warning: strong language

—+

Ritsu was in trouble.

Maybe. Well, Shigeo was sure that Ritsu was in trouble.

He was having nightmares at least.

But not just regular nightmares that woke people with his screams. No, these were worse. Ritsu was having nightmares so bad that it sent tremors through the house.

At first Shigeo hadn't noticed them, the tremors were so small that he slept through them so much so that he still wasn't sure how often they happened but one night it had been so bad that their mom had come running into his room screaming and crying so loud that he could only make out 'Ritsu'. But that was enough to get him out of the bed and into the halls.

It took him a second too long to realize that things were shaking. Like a low vibration was going throughout the entire house, attacking the floors just enough to make them feel funny and the walls enough to shake the photos. He heard a couple of clatters from the bathroom, sure that their toothbrushes had fallen due to being close to the edge.

He yawned and walked to his brother's room, unsure as to what could have his brother do such a thing and so late at night too. He knocked without an answer and opened the door.

It was a… shock to see Ritsu's room. It was absolutely destroyed. Everything was tossed around, papers, clothes, knick knacks and pillows. It was like a whirlwind had ripped through it. But most importantly was Ritsu. He was in the middle of the chaos, floating practically to the ceiling and obviously in the throes of a horrific nightmare. He kicked and punched in the air, body twisting around in a circle as he fought invisible enemies. His face was covered in sweat and twists in fear or pain or both. And his lips moved but no sound came out.

It was horrible.

"Ritsu!" Shigeo called out. He used his own powers to stop the tremors and pulled Ritsu down to his level. The boy was still sleep, still fighting things that weren't real and weren't there. "Ritsu, it's okay. Wake up." He wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug. "Wake up. Wake up, Ritsu. I'm here. Shigeo is here."

"Nii-san!" Ritsu gasped, jerking back as though to escape then changing his mind to return the hug. He shivered violently and practically clung to him. "Cold. Alone. So cold. So alone." Shigeo made noises that he was sure sounded soothing as he led his little brother back to his bed and laid them both down. The discarded pillows were easily summoned to them, going under their heads to add comfort that he thought his brother might need.

This was the right thing to do.

"What's wrong?" He asked, running his hand through the sweat drenched hair.

"I… it's nothing. Just a nightmare," Ritsu was… lying, probably. It made sense if he was. This was no normal nightmare in his opinion and just the way he held onto Shigeo made him know that his brother was keeping a secret. But if Ritsu was lying then he wouldn't tell the truth, it was that simple.

"Okay," he smiled. He patted the younger boy on the head and made to get up only to be trapped by the tightening arms.

"No! I need… please, can you...?" Ritsu trailed off. He seemed to fight with himself and slowly released him but Shigeo was glad to stay the night and protect his brother's dreams. He leaned over Ritsu to grab the fallen blanket and threw it over the both of them, making sure that his brother was tucked into the warmth. Then he grabbed Ritsu's hand and twined their fingers.

"Good night, Ritsu," he whispered, snuggling down into the pillow. Ritsu squeezed his hand and in the next second was sleep once more.

Yes, Ritsu was definitely in trouble.

—+

"Wow, you say he shook the entire house?" Teruki handed him a mug of hot chocolate. Teru made the best hot chocolate in all of Japan no matter the time of year, he was sure of it. Shigeo nodded, taking a sip of the delicious liquid. The other boy let out a long whistle, "They must be pretty intense nightmares. He can barely do that while he's awake. I've shaken a house or two when I first was on the run from those claw bozos. I was terrified… er, maybe not terrified…" a hot blush blossomed across his face.

"I would be terrified," Shigeo shrugged. If there were people more powerful than him willing to torture and kill anyone weaker, he would live a life of constant fear and if they were targeting him personally he probably wouldn't sleep a single wink. But Ritsu wasn't being pursued… was he? No. That was very serious and he would definitely tell his big brother about that. He knew it wasn't something to be kept secret. Then again Ritsu was sometimes a mystery to him and he did things that didn't make sense.

"You don't think he's gone back to showing off his abilities and attacking people, do you?" Teruki frowned. Shigeo immediately shook his head. There was no mystery there. Ritsu wasn't a bad person and he wouldn't go back to a place where he acted like one. No, he definitely wasn't doing that anymore.

"He spends most of his time with Amethyst now so I'm not sure what he does but it's nothing bad," Shigeo was sure of that or Garnet would have seen their behavior and put a stop to it or Pearl would have noticed and put a stop to it. Or their parents, though he haven't met the Mrs. Quartz who took care of Pearl and Amethyst.

"Well, you know what you'll have to do right?" Teruki took a long sip, waiting for Shigeo to come to the answer himself. Shigeo truly appreciated it but he also wasn't much of a detective, never really liked detective mangas or shows. Well, Death Note was a good anime and manga—the live action movie wasn't so bad either. Of course he meant the Japanese live action as he heard enough bad things about the Netfl—.

Oh.

"I'll have to ask Amethyst," he concluded suddenly. Teruki raised his mug and gave him a swift nod.

—+

Finding Amethyst was easy because he and Garnet stayed in almost constant contact through text messages. They talked about nothing and everything all the time. He's never used his phone as much as he did now and he liked it almost as much as he liked their mental conversations. It was like a visible representation of how he was changing and growing. He really liked it. The girls were in the middle of having lunch when Shigeo knocked on Garnet's door. It was thankfully just the three of them there so he was welcomed with smiles and a plate already made for him.

"I made burgers," Amethyst said around a mouthful of said burger, "Garnet said you'd be around."

"Would you like privacy?" Garnet asked, standing close enough that he could feel her body heat.

"Um, no. I don't think so," Shigeo gave her hand a squeeze, fingers brushing against her warm gem. She leveled him with a stomach tightening smile. He smiled back before dragging his eyes off of her and to Amethyst. He needed to focus, for Ritsu. Amethyst looked bored as she chewed her food, ketchup on the corner of her lips and some stained on her T-shirt. "Hello Amethyst."

"'Sup?" She gave him a little nod.

"Ritsu has been having nightmares—I don't know for how long but they're bad—and he will not tell me why or what they are about. I thought you may know." There. He did it. Amethyst took another bite and spoke around it, a bit of food falling from her mouth.

"I fuse with him when we're alone. My brain is kinda intense so that's probably why he's got the nightmares." Shigeo stared at the girl. He understood her words but not in the sentence that she placed them. But Garnet and Pearl did. Especially Pearl. The skinny girl jumped up so fast that her chair clattered to the floor, her face twisted all up.

"Amethyst! How could you do that?" She shrieked. Garnet's hands tightened around his and he knew that whatever their sister had done was bad.

"He wanted to help me so I let him. It's not like I forced him or anything," Amethyst folded her arms across her chest and stubbornly fixed her eyes anywhere that wasn't them.

"Amethyst, that was foolish and dangerous, what if you had hurt him more than you already have, more than what can be fixed?" Garnet murmured but the words weren't gentle. They were hard and smooth as ice.

"He said he could handle it," the grey haired girl insisted. Pearl slammed her hand against the table so hard that a crack appeared, spreading all the way to the other side. A piece of wood broke off and nearly slapped Shigeo in the face but Garnet caught it without ever taking her eyes off of the youngest sister.

"No!" Pearl shouted. "No! You can't do that! You can't just let a kid—!" Amethyst threw her spoon at the girl before she could continue, causing the skinny girl to snatch it out the air and throw it back. It smacked loudly Amethyst in the face but she hardly seemed to notice.

"Shut up! Just shut up! I'm a fucking kid too! You don't think I deserve some relief? He offered! I didn't force him or do anything bad!" Amethyst shouted, tears suddenly pouring down her face. Pearl growled, her hands curled into fists and her body trembling.

"Yes you did! Not only was it bad, it was irresponsible and stupid!" Pearl spat.

"I don't understand," Shigeo finally spoke up. Concern creeping into his psyche. He didn't want the sisters to fight.

"Do you remember my butterflies?" Garnet drew his attention before either girl could speak. Shigeo nodded, he didn't think he would ever forget the feeling of utter terror and desperation. "Amethyst went through something—."

"I was abandoned in the spirit world as soon as I could walk—G, if you're going to make me a villain at least tell the whole truth," Amethyst growled.

"You are not a villain," Garnet sighed with a shake of her head, "what happened to her was horrible and, to alleviate that pain she shared it with your brother. Perhaps only seconds at a time, perhaps longer. She does this by fusing their minds and becoming one person."

"His eyes are red from crying," Shigeo realized. He had thought that the girl was giving her brother lessons that were stressful or maybe tiring but he had been wrong. Very wrong.

"Or not sleeping through the night," Pearl cast another angry look at the youngest sister. Amethyst glared back but could not hold it, her watery eyes landing on the damaged table once more.

"You have to stop," Shigeo concluded with a nod. It seemed the most logical and reasonable conclusion.

"What? No! It makes me feel good!" Amethyst protested.

"It is hurting my brother." He was confused again. He knew that the girl wasn't a bad person but the response she just gave was a bad and selfish one. He didn't understand.

"I don't force him to fuse with me! And you can't make us stop either!" Amethyst pounded her fist on the table, causing it to collapse. Before anyone could say anything else the girl was up and running out of the house. Shigeo jumped to his feet, mouth open and hand out to stop her but Garnet's gentle hand caused him to pause. He looked to her in confusion. He had to stop her and get her to understand that what she was doing wasn't right and had to stop. Why would Garnet stop him from doing that?

"Amethyst went somewhere you cannot follow," she murmured, her lips barely moving. A thought suddenly crossed Shigeo's mind as he stared at the girl.

Progress to Mob's Explosion: 65%

"Did you know that she was hurting him?" He didn't demand or accuse her. At least he didn't think he did. But her silence sent unhappy bubbles through his stomach and the plates once floating through someone's power slammed to the ground, the glass shattering and the burgers smushed.

"I… I was hoping that she wasn't. It was an unlikely future that required so many coincidences to line up that…" Garnet chewed on her lip and looked up at him. Shigeo took a step back until her hand was no longer touching him. Then he took another step as things simultaneously rose and fell and the temperature began to fluctuate. Garnet had known that his brother was being hurt, had known that her sister was doing it and chose to… ignore it. She let it happen. She saw it and just… just let it happen.

"Shigeo, please," Garnet reached for him but did not rise or make an attempt to pull him with her powers.

"What? What am I going to do next?" He whispered for some reason. Everything felt dark around them with just her in the center with that single light shining down on her but this wasn't a good light and the tight feeling in his chest wasn't the good tightness. It was a bad one. Everything was bad. Everything hurt. Garnet had known. She knew and hadn't said anything. Hadn't tried to stop it or warn him or even try to talk Ritsu out of it. Why would she do that? Why did everything hurt?

"Leave. You're going to leave," a single tear fell from under her glasses and trailed down her cheek. The door closed slowly, gently until he could no longer see the girl and her reaching hand. He hadn't even realized that he was still moving, hadn't realized that it was him who closed it. Somehow he still felt like he was there, the questions still swirled in his mind and the pain hadn't faded and he could still see her right in front of him. And he could still feel the coldness creeping into the room then the heat attempting to beat it back and—

"Damn kid, that's rough," Dimple grunted.

Oh.

He was in his mentor's office. And Dimple was there. So was Teruki. His throat felt dry and his hands were warm because there was a mug in his grasp. He looked down at the tea and suddenly realized that he was thirsty. He had been talking, had told the three males about what happened. He was so thirsty.

"I knew that girl was trouble. I said it," Master Reigen nodded firmly mostly to himself. Shigeo swallowed hard and blinked back sudden hotness behind his eyes. Garnet wasn't trouble, she wasn't. But he hurt. Why did everything hurt?

"Oh shut up you fucking idiot. As a gem she has her pick of humans and—no offense kid—but you're not exactly the highest bar and neither is the other one. You should be happy she even looks at you," Dimple shrugged. Oh no. Shigeo's eyes widened as he looked down at his almost empty mug. He hadn't thought about that!

Dimple was right. He was so, so, so right. Garnet was amazing. She was beautiful, strong and full of talent and potential. She could spend her time with anyone, any boy or girl. But she had chosen him all this time, time and time again. He saw her. He saw her turning down offers to hang out unless he too was invited, he saw her say goodbye to her sisters to join him, he saw her always come to him, over and over. Her attention was solely on him and what did he do? He squandered it! He threw it away like trash. He had… he had to go back. He had to go back and apologize right now! He left her. Shigeo felt paralyzed in his chair.

"Ugh, you're both idiots. Why do you hang with either of these fools? Kageyama-kun, let's go on a walk," Teruki stood. He waited only a second before realizing that the paralysis still held onto the black haired boy. Teruki clicked his tongue disapprovingly and snatched the mug out of Shigeo's hands. He levitated it carelessly to the table and roughly yanked his friend to his feet. Quickly he pulled the boy out of the office and into the cool air. After looking back and forth, noting where the majority of the people were headed, he yanked Shigeo the opposite way.

Silently.

"So…" Shigeo started, unable to stand the utter silence between them. The events from just moments ago kept swirling around his head and the single tear kept falling down that brown cheek. He didn't liked it. He couldn't stand it. Car alarms went off as they continued to walk, rocked by an invisible force. Shigeo swallowed hard. "So what were you doing at the office?"

"You called out to me. It was… new," Teruki frowned, looking at him with curiosity making his eyes sparkle brighter. Shigeo looked away, a small wave of guilt lapping at his toes.

"I used mind speech… I am sorry. Garnet taught me but…" he hadn't meant to do that. He hadn't meant to make a nuisance of himself or force his mind into someone else's. He hadn't meant to screw up everything so fast like he screwed everything up. How did he manage to mess up in only minutes? He had to go back and apologize. Garnet didn't deserve that, not after how good she was to him—not when she was so amazing and he was so… so him.

"Stop. It," Teruki demanded, rubbing at his temples and glaring at him with one eye. Oh. Shigeo was still projecting, still using his powers like he always did. When would he improve? When would he ever be the way he wanted to be? When would he be like Garnet?

"I…" he started to apologize again but was stopped by his friend holding up a hand.

"I mean all of it. Stop it. I don't care if Garnet was the Queen of the Universe! I don't care if she shitted gold bars! If she made you upset you're allowed to be upset!" Teruki said adamantly.

No. That didn't make sense.

"But she didn't…"

"She didn't what?" Teruki snapped, crossing his arms across his chest and stopping directly in front of them. People walked around them without missing a step, talking amongst themselves but not of them. They had their own lives. Teruki and he were insignificant to them. He was insignificant to everyone. Except Garnet. Teruki slapped his hands down on his shoulder and gave him a shake. "She didn't what Shigeo?!"

"She didn't know," he looked down at their shoes.

"Bull. Shit." Teruki spat, starling him to look up. His friend's face was twisted and starting to become red, "she sees every possibility that can happen. Every. Single. One. She even admitted to a suspicion! And that's enough. She took no action and that makes you upset and you're allowed that Shigeo. I'm not saying you have to be mad forever or never forgive her but right now? You're allowed to feel."

Oh.

Oh.

"I… I think you're right." There were no rules that said he wasn't allowed to be upset with other people even if he told himself not to feel. He could be upset or angry and he had a right to it. He did. Just like anyone else because he wasn't an emotionless monster. He was just a human like everyone else and even if he had to keep things tight inside, the people around him weren't allowed to hurt him. They just weren't.

"Of course I'm right. Now, let's get your stuff and let's go to my place. You're spending the night," the blond turned him around and practically dragged him along. The tightness in his chest loosened just a bit and the pain felt a little better.

Teruki wrapped an arm around him and he leaned into it.

—+

TBC

Drama! It was going too well in my opinion but I also don't feel good at drama so it took me sooo long to make this chapter.

I hope you enjoyed!