Chapter Text
A quiet ticking rings in the ears of those around it. A clock, its hand striking every second. To most they would pay no mind, but to a certain blond boy it’s all he can focus on as the quiet of the night around him drags on. He is Teruki Hanazawa.
Teruki is 16 years old, lives by himself, and is currently laying right next to the love of his life, having a sleepover with the boy. This wouldn’t usually be such a problem, but tonight it is.
The aforementioned boy, Shigeo Kageyama, turns over to the blond, boring his eyes into Teru’s. He looks down nervously, seemingly deep in thought. Then, slowly, he drags his eyes back up, mouth opening with hesitation.
“Hanazawa?” A shy voice calls out. “How– How do you ask someone out?”
Teru solemnly smiles, already knowing what this is about, who this is about. As much as he knows, he can’t help but once again feel his heart shattering into a million pieces.
“Ah, Is this about your dear Tsubomi?” Teru hopes his smile is teasing, but truthfully, he’s too tired to really care. Shigeo's entire face flushes as red as his eyes, a quiet nod in response. “Well, if it’s for her, I could give you some tips.” His gaze landed on Shigeo, a foot away from him, in all his beauty. Red ruby eyes (That he’s sure Tsubomi would just think is brown), striking black hair, slender face, truly a hidden gem compared to everyone else.
The cover resting over both of them shifts as Teru scoots closer, “First, you need to be confident enough to at least get through the confession. I’d also say get some sort of gift — flowers, chocolates, or something personal if you know her well. Last, and most important, be yourself. You’re charming as is, Kageyama. I’m sure if you let Tsubomi get to know you, she’d be swept off her feet.”
I mean, it worked for me...
Shigeo’s blushes fades, and he nods. That soft ticking of the clock starts up again when he stays silent for the next few minutes, which to Teru, feels like eternity. Once again, he looks up. “Have– Have you ever kissed someone?”
The world stops for a minute, blush rushing to Teruki’s face, stunned. Now why would he ask that?? Carefully, Teru nods.
“Can you show me how to do it?”
So, Teruki is 16 years old, lives by himself, and is currently having a mental panic attack because the love of his life just asked to kiss him, for practice.
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Teruki Hanazawa is 27 years old, He’s moving back to seasoning after getting a job offer there, and the love of his life, Shigeo Kageyama is happily married to a one named, Takane Tsubomi, with kids.
Hanazawa hadn’t seen Shigeo since the gender reveal party he was invited to 2 years ago, where the babies– twins, to be exact– were revealed to be both a girl and boy each. Teru specifically remembers Mob raving on for about 20 minutes about how excited he was to be a dad. Shigeo’s and Teruki’s last conversation were over the phone a week after the babies were born, he once again raved about how excited he was to be a parent, then told Teru about how beautiful – and cute – his babies were. It honestly feels soul-crushing that his last conversion with the love of his life and friend, is about the next part of their lives, one where each other aren’t in it.
Anyway, Teruki has moved back to Seasoning, mainly because the brand he designs clothing for has set up shop in Seasoning. Wanted him to work there with some bullshit reasoning like “because he has experience there” or something. Again, bullshit.
The apartment isn’t bad, not at all. It’s big, and beige, mostly pre-furnished because buying his own by himself feels awfully like when he was younger. So, he opts out of that by making someone else do it. All the furniture are shades of brown, it definitely gives him the vibe of, well, his parents. It’s business-like, stale, as if it’s an office rather than a home, even a house. Teruki has a brief thought that any place he lives alone feels like that because he doesn’t feel like a person at all, but he pushes that thought away as quickly as he can.
Boxes litter the studio apartment, mostly waiting to get unpacked at the actual office, instead of his resting place. They hold mainly fabrics and sketch books for designs, nothing noteworthy. What Teru is really excited to unpack is his personal selection of clothes, some dating back to middle school. He didn’t have the chance to go through them all since some had been sitting in a storage container since he moved. It’s like going through memory lane, but, like, pleasant!
Quickly, he grabs a few boxes, stacking up to three at a time and hauls them to his much bigger closet. The excess closet space (and room) must be one of the few positives of living alone, though it gets out-weighed by a lot of negatives, (like living alone). Teruki starts cutting open the various boxes, snatching multitudes of clothing and sorting them. Soon, he would have collections of different sets of clothes, he carefully set in their place.
Teru spends the next hour or two continuing to clean the place, unloading boxes and scrubbing anything that needed to be scrubbed. Shortly after he finished, he had gained quite the appetite.
Oh god, he does not want to cook, he’d just rather go out. Teruki shoots up, grabbing his essentials before heading out.
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A tiny ramen shop sits at the corner of an IT store and a grocery store, a humble little thing it is. It’s no bigger than his front room, standing about the same height of two hot dog stands. Red pillars connect the small row of seats to the same-colored overhang.
He plops down towards the end of the stall, when the owner comes up to him. “Teruki, I had no idea you were back in town!” Onigawara smiles big and slaps him on the shoulder. Onigawara owned and operated this place even before Teru left for Spice city.
“Yeah, I’m back for work,” Teru awkwardly smiles, not knowing what to make of the situation.
Onigaware cocks an eyebrow, “So, bigshot, what do you do?”
“Oh, I design and make clothes.” He laughs it off, like it wasn’t his dream job. Like he hadn’t spent sleepless nights working on his perfect project to get accepted into the job.
“Woah, didn’t know you were into that kind of stuff.” The owner has a face full of surprise, but clearly happy for Teru. That is until his eyes drift over and a big smile graces his face.
“Oh, there’s another old face back in Seasoning!”
Before Teruki can look behind him to see who Onigawara is talking about, he hears something that makes him freeze.
“Why hadn’t you told me you were moving back, Shigeo?”