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Teru and Shigeo had developed a routine of walking home from school together. They both had to go a bit out of their way, and share a path that, admittedly, took longer to get them both home. But Teru had been the one to insist on it, and Kageyama had gone along without complaint (as he was known to do) and so it became routine.
They'd come a long way from where they'd started. Teru, himself, had come a long way. As he got to know Kageyama, he now understood how deeply he'd underestimated his character (let alone his power, god). They'd been through a lot together, and now they were allies. So it was natural that they should walk home, hang out, and talk like average, regular kids when they had the luxury of peacetime. Kageyama never seemed to mind the transition to being friends.
Hold on. Never seemed to mind? No, no, Kageyama sought his friendship just as much, if not more so than Teru. He'd been trying for that since the beginning, after all. Even when Teru was busy choking his lights out. Kageyama was a hard to read guy, duh, that's Kageyama, but Teru was confidant he was thrilled to be his friend now. Who wouldn't be, right?
Their sneakers scuffing the path, steps slightly out of pace with each other, provided the white noise to their thoughtful silence. Suddenly, Teru was hit by a realization. It was precisely that kind of thinking that had gotten him in trouble before, wasn't it? Stuff like letting his own ego color his assumptions about others. Especially unreadable, unguessable Kageyama... Regardless, Teru was still awesome, though. Shigeo was likely incredibly thankful to have him as psychic backup and a friend. But it wouldn’t hurt to... check.
"Hey, Kageyama-kun?" Kageyama looked up, blinking at being addressed so suddenly. "We're friends, aren't we?"
The question seemed to throw him off. Shigeo's expression didn't exactly change, but he took a while to find his voice. "...Eh? Yes, we are."
"Right! Just as I thought." Teru flashed a self assured smile. Then he looked ahead again. "...Do you like walking home together?"
"Yeah, I do." Shigeo answered him.
"That's good..." Teru said quietly. "Do you... You trust me and stuff, right?"
"...What?" He was visibly taken aback.
"That was a weird question, huh? Haha! I wasn't sure how to say it, but all I was thinking was... we've had quite the history, haven't we? And now look at us. I don't know about you, but anybody I teamed up with to take down an evil global organization, I’d call a friend. Wouldn't you agree?" Teru grinned playfully. Then he said, with the slightest hesitation, "I mean. That's how I see it. On the other hand, you... well, I suppose I just want to make sure we're good. No hard feelings about that time I tossed you around like a potato sack, right?" He laughed.
And his laugh died down. And the silence stretched. Teru glanced worriedly at Shigeo. "Kageyama-kun?"
"Huh?"
"I... I mean... I was a pretty big bully to you, trying to push you into using your power and all, but... you'd tell me if you had a grudge or something, right?" Teru's casual voice didn't waver, even as his clutch on his backpack strap tightened.
"Oh... no, there's nothing like that. You don't need to worry about that, Hanazawa-kun." Shigeo's tone was warm, and his eyes seemed to sparkle a bit, "I'm happy we're friends."
Teru heaved a sigh of relief. "Good! You almost scared me for a second, Kageyama-kun!" Elated, he clapped a friendly hand over the back of Shigeo's neck, playfully shaking him a little bit.
Something felt wrong at once. Mob was frozen in place, glazed eyes and breath halted.
"Oi... Kageyama-kun? Hey!" Teru called, more and more frantic, until Shigeo snapped back into focus and tore away from him. His dark eyes swirled with fear and panic—animalistic panic.
Then, before Teru could get another word out, it was like the emotion drained out of him. A veil went over Kageyama's expression before Teru's eyes. His face was stitched back into neutrality, as if the entire reaction was stuffed into whatever box Shigeo forces any errant emotion into— a secret stormy pool, bubbling perpetually closer to the surface.
"Kageyama-kun." Teru's voice was heavy with dread. His mouth went dry. "You still don't trust me, do you?"
Shigeo shook his head frantically, palms up. It only communicated more defenselessness in his body language. "No, I do-"
"That's not true, Kageyama-kun." Shigeo's soft protests were cut off as Teru stepped towards him. Mob stepped back. It hurt Teru even more. "Don't hide it from me. You're just trying to hide the unpleasant truth so you don't make waves. Look! The way you just reacted was proof enough! Just tell me the truth, or else I'll... Kageyama-kun?"
Teru barely noticed that his voice had been rising with every step he took towards Shigeo. By pure coincidence, the afternoon sun was beginning to set in the direction Teru's back faced. His exaggeratedly dark, elongated shadow cast over Shigeo, whose back was pressed to the fence. At any angle, it looked bad for Teru.
"Hey, come on, Kageyama-kun..." Teru hesitated. "You're not... afraid of me, are you?"
Contrary to the implications of their positions, Shigeo answered easily enough, "Not really. I have a lot more psychic power than you."
Teru snorted. A long time ago he might have taken offence, but knew better at this point than to disagree. Right now, in fact, it was a relief. "Then what the hell was that reaction? You looked scared. Really scared."
Shigeo's big, shadowed eyes stared blankly at him, offering no answer.
"Why'd you flinch when I touched you?" Teru pressed stubbornly, grabbing his arm. Still, Shigeo said nothing to being manhandled, as passive as ever while people did what they pleased with him. Complacency aside, he didn't look particularly afraid.
Teru reached out to poke his neck. "Was it this?"
A blindingly fast swell of aura forced him back.
Behind arms shielding his face, Teru gaped. Kageyama just used his psychic ability against him. ...Kageyama. Had just used his ability. Against another person. Kageyama.
Honestly, though, it barely counted as using his power; all he'd truly done was make the space around himself denser to gently push Teru away. Even this, however was unheard of for Shigeo. He only resorted to psychic ability when every other option had been exhausted once, twice, three times over. Or after being throttled to unconsciousness.
"I'm sorry." Kageyama's distress started rising as soon as he'd realized what he'd done. "I'm sorry-"
Teru held a hand up to cut off his frantic apologies. He spoke calmly, "It's okay. I get it. I think I get it, now... Maybe it's something even you're not really conscious of."
Silence, for a moment. Teru asked, "Are you? Aware, I mean. That you are traumatized. I've changed from the person who choked you to unconsciousness, but it's still affecting you."
He saw a single bead of sweat run down Shigeo's face. He said, soft as could be, "I don't think that's... I don't think that will happen again."
"It really scared you, though."
"...Yeah."
"Has it been like this ever since...?"
Shigeo's hand floated awkwardly up to his neck. Another bead of sweat ran down his jaw. "...After that, I can't help it, I react strongly when people touched my neck. Even Master," He confessed.
Teru didn't often reflect on life before he'd grown up and faced reality, except to occasionally cringe at some of the egotistical nonsense he'd used to spout. These days, he didn't think about his fight with Shigeo much at all. But suddenly, right then, he felt a drowning wave of guilt crash over him. Kageyama had changed his entire life for the better, made him wiser, happier, more confident, a better leader and a better friend. Teru had given Kageyama post traumatic stress.
He fervently felt like he had to do something. He couldn't let this fear sit in Shigeo forever, and still have the nerve to call himself his friend. Even if Shigeo said that it was fine, that he didn't hold a grudge, this was a burden that Teru had forced upon him. He scrambled to think of a way to make up for his wrongdoing. How could he set something like this right...?
"Kageyama-kun..." Teru pleaded. "Can you let me... prove I won't hurt you again?"
Shigeo stared. And stared. "Um... what do you mean?"
"I mean..." Teru sighed in frustration. He held his hands up, fingers relaxed, harmless, without malintent. Shigeo's eyes locked to his hands, tracking their approach like a cautious prey animal.
Teru slowly stepped closer. "I won't touch your neck." He spoke softly, trying to ease Shigeo's tension. One of his hands reached up, his fingertips brushing a path up Shigeo's arm. He rested his palm on his shoulder, grip loose, easy to slip out of if he chose.
After a tense moment, Shigeo relaxed. It was only possible for Teru to notice because he was so close, he could feel Shigeo's shoulder slump slightly under his hand.
Teru leaned in and whispered. "Let me overwrite the old me. I won't do anything to scare you. I just want to show you that you can trust me."
Shigeo's eyelashes fluttered a bit. "I trust you..."
Teru smiled, genuinely relieved to hear those words. "Then meet me in the park tomorrow after class. The big one, by my school. You know it, right?"
Shigeo nodded, though confused.
Teru stood up straight. He flashed a brighter, more confident smile, the kind he used on crowds and shy girls. "Great! See you there."
Teru looked up from his book when he heard footsteps rustling through the fallen leaves. Kageyama had found the general location from his texts, but hadn't spotted him leaning against one of the trees yet. Briefly, Teru felt the urge to telekinetically float a leaf down to brush against his neck, to see how he reacted, if he did even to little incidental things like that. He quickly and firmly trashed the idea. He'd promised Kageyama he wouldn't scare him.
"Over here." Shigeo's head swiveled towards the sound of his voice, hair fanning a bit with the motion. He joined Teru in sitting against the tree.
They just sat there for a moment, the only sound being the wind rustling the foliage. Teru felt awkward. Shigeo, though, could have been called an expert at silence. His knees were drawn to his chest, and he seemed content to sit like two weirdos under the tree forever if Teru didn't initiate anything.
"Kageyama-kun... do you want to be rid of your fear?"
Teru looked over at him. Shigeo stared hard at his own shoes, the peace of his blankness shattered. He opened his mouth. "...I've tried to change it. I tried... hard."
Teru said slowly, "I think I have an idea of how to make it stop affecting you... that is, if you want me to help."
Shigeo didn't look up. "You can't change my feelings through psychic powers or anything. It won't work on me."
"That's not what I mean. And I think you know that."
His pale hands tightened on his knees.
"Kageyama-kun..." Teru's put his hand on Shigeo's shoulder. He tensed, but all Teru did was rub his hand up and down his shoulder blade. Just that, just rubbed his back a bit. After a little while of this, Shigeo gradually came to relax.
"Listen, Kageyama-kun." Teru said gently. "I won't do anything you're uncomfortable with. I'm with you, not against you this time. Okay? Let's work together to help you. We're allies now, aren't we?"
"Friends..." Shigeo mumbled.
Teru couldn't help but break into a wide, happy smile. "Friends." He agreed. "Kageyama-kun, what I'm going to do is... just touch your neck. One finger. Will that be okay?"
Shigeo took a deep breath. "...Okay." He exhaled.
Teru kept his hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing his thumb into his collarbone. He gave Shigeo time to relax at least a little bit. His hand began to travel farther up. Teru gently ran one finger, feather-light, from the fuzzy short hairs at the shave of Shigeo's haircut, down his neck, down to the nape, until he dipped into the collar of his uniform.
Shigeo's lip was bleeding. He had bit down hard enough to draw a little blood.
Teru didn't stop yet. He traced his finger back up, and then down again. With his other hand, he reached for Shigeo's hand. Shockingly, he latched onto him in a vicelike grip. This was probably the most intense emotion Shigeo had shown him while conscious, ever. Somehow, Teru couldn't feel too proud of the "accomplishment", not when Kageyama was miserable thanks to him.
"Can you handle a bit more?" Teru asked softly.
After a moment, Shigeo nodded silently. The muscles in his jaw were jumping. As light as a butterfly's landing, the pads of Teru's other fingers touched to Shigeo's nape. His hand vaguely curled around the back of his thin neck.
A sudden crack echoed in their eardrums, as a sizable branch broke off a tree a few meters away and plummeted to the ground. It was a girthy and healthy looking branch that, short of a lightning strike, was unlikely to be broken off by anything natural.
"We should stop." Shigeo said, staring ahead with a look of muted distress. "This is dangerous."
"It's okay, Kageyama-kun." Teru soothed, "I picked this place to do this for a reason. There's nothing around but trees and rocks. You can let out as much steam as you need to, I made sure there's nobody around to hurt."
Shigeo looked like he wanted to say something very badly, but in the end he swallowed it. Teru started stroking his neck, almost a petting motion. Tree roots shrieked as they were torn out of the earth, and a huge, robust tree crashed to the ground with a deafening impact.
"I don't... like... losing... control." Shigeo forced out through gritted teeth.
"You haven't lost control. You're doing well, Kageyama-kun." Teru murmured into his ear. "You're fine. You're fine."
He lightly pinched Shigeo's neck, a bit reminiscent of how a mother cat picks up her young by the scruff. With them at the center, a sonic boom of energy exploded outwards; all the grass flattened under an invisible, crushing weight. Flowerbeds tore out of the earth and spun violently through the air, savagely beating themselves against trees until they disintegrated into bruised petals.
None of this concerned Teru, until Shigeo slowly began to slump forward. Teru was about to ask if he wanted to stop when he saw that Shigeo's eyes had rolled into the back of his head. He had passed out so slowly and gently that Teru hadn't even realized it initially.
Teru shook his shoulder in a panic, calling his name repeatedly. Shigeo opened his eyes, and he was paler than could be considered healthy, but awake and aware again.
"What...?" He sounded disoriented.
"Y-You passed out, Kageyama-kun. Just for a second. The blood must have rushed out of your head too fast."
"You were so close, just now..." Mob whispered.
Close to what? Teru wondered. A breakthrough, or something? "Do you... want to continue?" He asked cautiously.
"Not right now. I'm... tired."
Teru had never heard Shigeo sound so exhausted. They rested there for a moment, sitting shoulder to shoulder. Wordlessly, they looked out at the ruins of what had once been a beautifully forested public park. Teru suddenly realized that for Kageyama, who feared his own destructive potential more than anybody else did, this was probably a pretty depressing sight.
"Y'know..." Teru spoke up, "This park is expected to take some damage, anyway. From a storm coming next week."
"...Oh." The tone was difficult to place, but Shigeo definitely seemed attentive.
"So, don't even worry about the property damage. Nobody's going to bat an eye at this." Teru waved a hand.
For a reason unknown to Teru, that made Shigeo show a strange expression. He looked sincerely touched. "You've changed a lot, Hanazawa-kun."
"Huh?"
"You're different from back then..." Shigeo gave him a smile, a rare sight. The sight of it, the fact that it was aimed at him, made a confusing warmth jolt through Teru's body. "You've become kind."
The simplicity of those words shook Teru to the core. His mouth may have curved into a handsome grin and his voice laughed, "That's because you turned me into a support character, Mob!" But even as he went through his lines, kept in his character, he felt like nothing in his development had prepared him for this. For Kageyama, hurt Kageyama, the Kageyama he'd physically attacked, to go and say a thing like that.
It occurred to Teru that Shigeo had never been good at playing his role properly.
Their next big chance to meet up again came during the following week. They decided to find a different place this time, because damaging the park too much could run the risk of a bulldozing order if the city deemed it beyond repair. While Kageyama's school only issued its students an early dismissal, Black Vinegar Middle happened to sit right in the middle of the storm advisory, so all classes were cancelled for the day.
There was only one student who’d shown up today. Teru sat on one of the white resin-topped tables of his Home Ec class, listening to the rain pick up outside.
"Finally." He said to the door creaking open on rusty hinges.
"Sorry. Am I late?" Shigeo entered the room, toting in hand a cheerfully vibrant umbrella. Even in the dim room, the natural lighting from the windows bounced off the obnoxiously cute, frog-themed thing and cast the walls in green.
"What the heck? Kageyama-kun, why did you bring an umbrella?" Why that umbrella, Teru wanted to ask too, but he decided to pick his battles. They can walk out empty-handed in any damn weather they please, they have psychic powers. Teru stared incredulously at Shigeo, whose person was as bone dry as himself. Even the umbrella was blatantly dry.
"You shouldn't go out in the rain without an umbrella. You might catch cold." Shigeo informed him.
"...Can't argue there." He really couldn't. He wouldn't know where to begin. Teru patted the space next to him on the wide table, "C'mon, sit up here."
Shigeo did, after neatly placing his umbrella on the floor. He braced his arms and hopped up to sit next to Teru. He kicked his feet a little bit, in something of a playful way.
"What?" Teru quirked a brow.
"Doesn't it feel kind of fun to sit on the desk when there's no class?" Shigeo murmured. "It feels kind of... rebellious..."
It was possibly the most ridiculous statement a person like him could ever say. Once again, Teru wanted to tell him, we have psychic powers, we've done and seen things the most rebellious middle schoolers on Earth can't imagine, can't possibly fathom.
But, in some little commoner way, he could kind of see where Kageyama was coming from.
"Guess so." He finally said, leaning back on his hands. There really was some weird, intangible specialness about being the only ones in an utterly empty school. Like you could almost still feel the ghosts of the bustling student body. There was an ESP-related joke there, somewhere.
Teru sighed. He was almost loathe to break the contented peace between them right now. To invade Shigeo's perfectly peaceful mood with more discomfort, anxiety and distress. But... "Well, do you wanna get started?"
Shigeo nodded.
"What- What are you doing? Uh." Teru's voice rose to a pitch he would never admit to, as Shigeo had started undoing the buttons of his jacket. His fidgeting completely stilled when he zoned in on Shigeo's neck.
"What is..."
After shrugging his jacket off, Shigeo reached up to gently touch the thin black cord, tied round his neck with a neat wiry bow. "It's for practice."
"Have you been..." Teru swallowed, throat suddenly dry. "...wearing that, since last time?" Shigeo nodded again. A million questions raced through Teru's head, and not a one of them had the guts to make it past his mouth. As someone praised throughout his youth for being exceptionally bright, Teru's mind was struggling to catch up to all of what this meant. He wanted to know so badly-- even in class? Even when you slept? Even when you showered? This whole time, really, even when we walked home together?
Most people, discomforted by the silence, would naturally at this point be pushed by awkwardness into explanation, but with Shigeo you only got exactly what you asked for.
And Teru, instead of asking any of the questions that were really burning him up, asked, "So. Like, did anybody at home see that? Did you tell your parents anything?"
"I covered it with a jacket mostly. Ah, Ritsu did walk in on me changing one time." Shigeo recalled. "I'm not very good at lying, but I told him that Master had me wearing it, to ward off evil spirits. I think he believed me, but I'm not certain. He seemed kind of angry..."
"Maybe your brother was just worried about the 'evil spirits'...?" Teru offered.
Shigeo hummed thoughtfully in agreement. He began to tug at his neck, pulling the string until the bow shrank and shrank and finally came loose. Where the black cord had been taut around his neck, only a thin, white line lingered, almost a specter on his pallid skin.
More exposed now than before in his loose white tee, Shigeo looked at Teru expectantly.
A funny twinge happened in Teru, deep down low. Pulling himself together, he said, "How do you feel about me using one whole hand again, right now?"
"I think it should be fine. The string was to help me get more used to the feeling."
Teru stared into Shigeo's eyes, searching for any signs of discomfort. His hand reached out, slowly, hesitantly. His fingers acted of their own accord, brushing Shigeo's jaw, a touch as loud as a whisper.
An ear-splitting crack jolted them both, sending two young hearts pounding a million beats per minute. Teru had almost completely forgotten about the storm, honestly. Now that it had demanded their attention... things sounded like they were getting intense outside.
Kageyama twisted to stare out the window. He was totally mesmerized by the storm. His eyes were wide, glassy, chest visibly heaving, neck craned and exposed.
Teru had no way, not with all the power in the world did he have a chance, against the brute strength of the urge that gripped him then.
Shigeo throat was in his grasp. Before he could even think, there it was, captured in his palm like a struggling rabbit-- Shigeo's thumping heartbeat. Already panicked from the thunderclap, it kicked up even more of a fuss in his hand. Kageyama's hands gripped his wrist, expression twisted in fear, spine arching in response to the body's airway being threatened. Small, shallow breaths told that he could potentially be hyperventilating.
Whatever fire had taken hold of him, it was smothered by a chill that sank as deep as Teru's bones. The blood drained out of his face. "I'm sorry-- I'm so sorry--"
But his hand clung to Kageyama's neck like a sculpture carved out of the same stone. His own hands were pale now, in comparison to Shigeo's rosacean skin. He wasn't gripping nearly as hard as when it had been for real, all that time ago, in this exact room.
(Why had he suggested coming back to this room? Of all the classrooms in the entire school, or all the schools in the entire district?
He'd tried to take it back almost as quickly as he'd blurted the suggestion out. He tried to explain, he didn't know what had possessed him to think that would be a good idea--
"No," Kageyama had stopped him. "I feel the same way.")
He wasn't gripping tight enough to actually cut off Shigeo's breathing entirely, but the pressure on his carotids gave him a pretty alarming complexion, and it was absolutely more than enough to put him in a state of pure panic. Kageyama looked at him with an expression like... that expression you get from a loyal dog you'd accidentally trodden on, staring up at you and begging to understand what it did wrong to deserve the pain.
If Teru let go now--
If he let go now... neither of them would have the stomach to try again. He certainly wouldn't. If he left it at this, Kageyama would never be rid of his fear.
"Shh..." Teru hushed. "Shh, Kageyama-kun..."
Swallowing down the feeling that he was lower than he’d ever been before in his life, Teru put on a face of total composure. Warmth. "I'm your friend, Kageyama-kun. You have to trust me..."
Shigeo's panic was visibly rising faster than he could suppress it. A few strands of hair at the top of his head were floating from an unseen source of static. The thunderclaps were happening more and more, the time between shrinking.
Somehow, in the midst of the utter bedlam, Teru managed a serene smile for Shigeo.
"I'm not going to hurt you." He said gently. "Just let yourself relax. That's right. Relax. Trust me to let go in time. Don't fight it. Trust me..."
Shigeo's hands slid off Teru's wrist like water. But it wasn't like last time, it wasn't the slackening body of a boy fading from oxygen deprivation. His eyes were open, alert, watching Teru with an overwhelming expression for Teru to be the recipient of, something naive and deific and curious and trusting.
Careful to neither increase or decrease the pressure on Shigeo's throat, as neither would be helpful right then, Teru slowly tilted him back, guiding him to lie back on the wide table. At the same time, he fluidly slipped his leg to the other side of Shigeo's body. Shigeo's head settled slowly on the table surface, sleek hair fanning slightly, almost regal in appearance.
His pulse still fluttered wildly against Teru's hand. Once he was comfortably straddling Shigeo's waist, Teru's other hand joined it's twin. Kageyama's throat was utterly and fully possessed, now, by him. It felt, in some sick, hedonistic way, good. Natural. Teru was used to things coming to him naturally.
Teru looked down at Shigeo with nothing but fondness, tenderness and caring. He tensed both arms and applied a stronger pressure.
"Shh, shh..." He hushed Shigeo softly again as his expression tightened. Kageyama relaxed as much as he could under him. He was limp, prostrating himself for all intents and purposes, but Teru felt more like he was the one doing the worshiping. Shigeo never broke eye contact with him, and it filled Teru with a feeling like standing in the light of stained cathedral glass.
Shigeo's lips were trembling, by now a bruised mulberry purple. His chest stuttered uncontrollably, trapped breath slamming up against Teru's blockade and trying desperately to get to where it was needed. Still, his twitching arms lay flat at his sides, chin tilted back, communicating as much as he could in his position that he was consenting to this.
Trust. It hammered into Teru's mind and eclipsed everything else. Trust.
"Thank you, Kageyama-kun." He said, reverent.
He finally let go. He watched the colors under Shigeo's skin rush to adjust, as capillaries flooded with blood back in it's rightful places. Dizzily, he thought of a businessman arriving late to work because of a transport jam. Haaa. He wasn't even the one who'd been choked, so why did he feel so lightheaded?
He had the presence of mind to get off of Shigeo and slowly help him ease into a sitting position. He was hacking violently, but he was politely trying to curb himself as much as he could. Teru helped him up with a hand on his back, rubbing him comfortingly. There was an obvious, livid bruise already staining Kageyama's neck. Teru reached up and stroked it gently.
Kageyama looked at him then, and Teru awaited his judgement. Having more or less caught his breath, his cheeks were only slightly flushed. The most Teru could read about his expression was the notable lack of fear.
Shigeo gave a little sigh, strangely, of relief. His eyes drooped. Seems he was tired. He hung his head a bit and leaned ever so slightly into Teru; Teru's arm found itself naturally wrapped around his lower back.
"I'm relieved." Shigeo exhaled. "I was so afraid you were gonna get hurt..."
"What?" Teru blinked.
"But it seems to be over now..." He looked towards the window.
Teru noticed for the first time that the storm seemed to be long over. Sunlight filtered in through the windows, though the serenity was a bit marred by the spiderweb cracks littering the panes. Apart from the damage to the windows, however, the rest of the Home Ec classroom seemed to be in fine shape.
Teru balked, incredulous. After all that, and after the display in the park, this was it? "Wow, Kageyama-kun, it's like we didn't even need a secluded place."
"Ah, actually, I just tried to keep the damage outside. I really didn't want another accident with you in here..."
Teru ran a hand through his hair, shuddering briefly. Then his mind caught up. "But, wait, what do you mean? Keep the damage outside..."
He froze. "Mob. Don't tell me, you... No way. If you’re about to tell me you're the cause of the storm..."
"Sorry." Mob offered.
Teru sat back, groaning in protest of the situation. "But that doesn't make sense. How? This storm was predicted like a week in advance."
Mob nodded. "It, um... started building since that first time you touched my neck, when we were walking home... I was feeling pretty anxious about this whole thing all week. I tried to calm down, but just couldn't. All week it built up and built up..." He admitted. "The best I could do was keep it outside. What I was really afraid of was passing out and my powers acting of their own accord again. I was really afraid of that."
Then he looked at Teru. "But, you said to trust you, that you'd know when to let go before that happened... and I do trust you."
Teru was touched, enormously so, but... "So then, what you're saying is, I was closer to death back there than you were?"
"Probably."
He sighed, but by now was forfeiting his right to be surprised. This was Kageyama, after all. All Teru could do was smile, and throw an arm around his strange, quiet, immeasurably kind friend's shoulder. "Well, what else is new."