A/N: This story is a follow-up to the omake "Teaching Mob Basketball Anti-terrorism", in which Teru speedruns his vigilante justice in order to teach Mob basketball.
The omake can be read here:
theinternetisaweboflies•tumblr•com/post/710085797719719936/teaching-mob-basketball-anti-terrorism
"Hanezawa-kun?"
"Hey, Kageyama-kun! I hope you weren't waiting too long. Sorry I couldn't meet up with you until today. I know there's a time crunch, but I was able to brush up on a few drills that I think will really help you out at the inter-class game."
"I didn't realize basketball was such a dangerous sport." If anyone other than Shigeo had said that, it would have been sarcastic, but Teru knew better.
He should have gone to Sephora. Teru had used up the last of his Benefit Cakeless Full Coverage after dealing with Bloody Rain, and the only waterproof stuff he had left was Maybelline Super-Stay.
Teru waved him off. "Oh, this? Ha ha ha. No, Kageyama-kun, I just had a little accident the other night. It's not as bad as it looks though."
"It's not?" Shigeo tilted his head to one side. "Isn't it covered up with makeup though?"
"Oh, uh… Just a little. You know how vain I am! Ha!"
"Why do you keep saying the word 'ha'?" asked Shigeo.
"Ha," said Teru before he could stop himself. "Well, it was pretty cringe of me, I guess. I tripped over my own feet, right in front of the whole school. If that didn't finally destroy my old urabanchou status, I don't know what will." Teru managed something approximating an actual laugh this time. His acting skills had gone to pot since he started this whole honesty thing.
He wanted to be honest with Shigeo, but this was just a little white lie. Everyone told little white lies. Probably even Shigeo.
"You're lying, aren't you, Hanezawa-kun?"
Probably not Shigeo.
"What? No, I-"
"You already said it happened at night."
Maybe Teru's fever was worse than he'd thought.
"You're right, Kageyama-kun. I'm sorry for lying. The truth is that I'm embarrassed about how I really hurt myself, and I'd rather not talk about it."
"Oh." Shigeo seemed to be considering this. "I can understand that. Are you sure you shouldn't be resting though? That shoulder looks pretty bad too."
"Nonsense!" The shoulder had popped right back in, and he had almost the full range of motion already. "I'll mostly just be coaching anyway. I'll only have to demonstrate a few things to get you started. Most of the work is going to be drills. It gets repetitive, but you must be used to that from your club, right?"
Shigeo nodded.
"Great! So the five basic skills that make up basketball are shooting, dribbling, defending, rebounding, and passing. We're going to start with dribbling, because it's the most rudimentary, but also one of the most difficult. It involves coordinating your whole body at once. We'll start with just dribbling in place and then move on to traveling with the ball. Sound good?"
Shigeo nodded again, his nose scrunched up in concentration. Teru pulled a basketball out of the bin and dribbled it a few times to demonstrate the correct form. He'd gotten permission to use the court at Black Vinegar since the Basketball Club was at an away game.
Shigeo was still struggling with his hand-eye coordination after twenty minutes of dribbling, and Teru started to think he should have prioritized this over the terrorists.
"You're doing fine. Try snapping your wrist, but not too-"
Shigeo snapped his wrist too hard, and the ball bounced away towards the bleachers. Again.
"No worries! I'll grab it." Teru jogged over to the bleachers and bent down to pick up the ball. When he straightened back up, the edges of his vision started to darken, like someone had just used the vignette tool on his eyes.
Teru had passed out enough times to know the drill. He sat down before he could fall down and crack his skull open on the gummy gymnasium floor.
"...zawa-kun! Hanazawa-kun, please wake up!"
Shigeo's voice sounded muffled even though he was speaking much louder than usual. Teru couldn't even hear his own voice when he responded, but he could feel his lips form the words.
"I'm fine."
"You passed out."
The world was starting to come back into focus, and Teru realized he was propped up against a very sweaty shoulder.
"I just got a bit dizzy. It's no big deal. A little water, and I'll be-"
"No," Shigeo interrupted him. "I'm taking you home now."
Teru could already tell it wasn't worth arguing, so he didn't even try. He even let Kageyama-kun buy him a juice from the vending machine.
"I'm sorry, Hanazawa-kun," Shigeo said, as soon as they were walking towards the station. "It wasn't fair of me to ask you for what I did. I'm grateful you're willing to teach me how to play basketball, but I can't expect to win a game against experienced players with only a week of practice."
Teru didn't know what to say to that, but his mouth seemed to have its own ideas. "Isn't the person you're interested in going to be watching?"
"She probably won't be watching me," said Shigeo, matter-of-factly. There was a pause while they got on the train and Shigeo ducked between two salarymen to stake out a seat. He maneuvered Teru into it before grabbing the strap above his head.
"Actually, she's part of the reason I realized that I was being unfair to you," said Shigeo. The salarymen were arguing loudly, and Shigeo's soft voice was probably inaudible to anyone but Teru. "When we were young, she would ask me to do difficult things for her, like shooting games and math. Then she would stop paying attention to me as soon as I did them. I don't want to treat people like that. It was rude of me to ask you for a favor when we haven't spent any time together since you helped me save Ritsu."
"No, it wasn't! I'm happy to help! I mean, I will be, once I actually… help…" Teru trailed off anticlimactically. He needed this to go well, or Shigeo wouldn't ask him for help again, and then they'd never have a reason to see each other. Teru could only "accidentally" bump into him so many times.
"I think I would rather help you right now," said Shigeo.
That one was kind of a stumper, but Teru was saved the trouble of responding when they pulled into his station.
The walk back to his apartment was silent, mostly because Teru was concentrating on not passing out again. When they arrived, he fumbled his keys, flushing from a combination of embarrassment and fever.
Teru shouldn't even have a fever. He had taken down Final Dog and Gates to Heck in one night. He'd just gotten a little sloppy when he was dropping them off with Joseph. One of the Final Dogs had grabbed his shoulder, kneed him in the face, and almost unmasked him.
Teru didn't want the psychic terrorists to learn his identity, but he really didn't want the shady government mercenary to learn his identity. He was always careful to keep his aura in check around Joseph, who seemed perfectly comfortable with their backdoor dealings, although he had started referring to Teru as "Deep Throat," which was sort of concerning.
Teru had managed to keep his mask on, mostly because it felt like the fabric was embedded in his skull, but he'd let a little of his aura slip. Between worrying about a surprise government draft and basketball drills, Teru had neglected his household chores.
There were pieces of clothing strewn all over the apartment, some glittering in the late afternoon sun. His industrial first aid kit was sitting on the coffee table, along with his comparatively-sized makeup kit. There was even a cup of instant noodles coagulating next to them. Teru did a millisecond of triage before using his powers to hide the underwear and the noodles.
Shigeo took it all in without a word, and Teru felt his fever go up a couple of degrees.
"Sorry about the mess," he said lamely.
Shigeo cleared a purple windbreaker off the couch and gently pushed Teru into its spot. Then he knelt in front of the coffee table and opened the first aid kit. He rummaged around for a few minutes. Sometimes he would pick up something like a hemostatic bandage or a shock blanket and frown at it for a moment before carefully replacing it. Eventually he found the cooling patches.
Teru held very still while Shigeo swept his bangs back from his forehead and applied the patch. He must have felt Teru's fever through his shirt.
"Thanks," said Teru.
"What's that?"
"What's what?"
He looked up. Shigeo's gaze was focused on the wall above the bookshelf, where Teru had somehow forgotten to hide the single most incriminating item in his apartment. Literally, since vigilante work was probably illegal, even if he was sort of working for the government.
Oni Group
Phoenix
Extermination Club
Psycho Union
Mad Emperor
Final Dog
Espers
Bloody Rain
Gates to Heck
"Hanazawa-kun…" Shigeo hesitated, frowned, but forged ahead anyway, "Are you thinking of forming another gang?"
Teru couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. It was only a little hysterical.