Chapter Text
Kusuo woke up to see that Kokomi was no longer in bed. He didn’t think much of it, she got up earlier than him on occasions. He got out of bed himself and walked towards the door. He felt something sinister behind it. He ripped the door off its hinges as he walked into the living room.
There, Makoto stood over Kokomi’s unconscious body, a crazed look in his eyes. Without thinking, Kusuo teleported over, grabbed his neck in his hands, and crushed it in an instant—
Kusuo woke up to see that Kokomi was tucked in, still deep in sleep. It wasn’t even morning; it was the middle of the night. He got up to inspect the house. Obviously, he would have heard Makoto if he was there. He realized the front door was unlocked. Was that all it took to fight off the premonition? He locked the door and sat on the couch. As much as he wanted to continue sleeping, her safety came first. He would wait until morning to see what would come of it.
All night he sat and waited. A time or two he thought he could hear Makoto’s thoughts, but each time it was fleeting and nothing came of it. Surely, he wouldn’t be so stupid as to try and break in again, would he? Kusuo had already made sure to make it perfectly clear what would happen if he were to do so.
Morning came, but Makoto never showed his face. Good. Kusuo didn’t want to kill him over his partner’s unconscious body, that just wouldn’t sit well with him.
But was it really something so simple as locking a door that deterred him? He couldn’t figure it out, but either way, a new day had dawned and Kokomi was still safe.
She stumbled into the living room shortly thereafter, confused and her hair a mess. He sat still on the couch, stoic.
“Where’d you go? I noticed sometime earlier you were gone, but I figured you’d come back. What’s up?” she said, plopping down next to him as she rubbed her eyes.
“I had a premonition. Had to make sure it didn’t come true.”
“Huh, forgot you could do that. So did it come true?”
“No. At least, it hasn’t. It better not come true.” He clenched his fists, releasing and tightening again in an attempt to calm himself.
“What happened in it?” Kokomi asked. She noticed his hands and took them in her own, squeezing them reassuringly.
“I’d rather not tell you. It wasn’t good.” He gave her a slightly pleading look, hoping she wouldn’t press on. She received the message but remained worried.
“Okay, as long as you’re alright and it doesn’t come true,” she stood, pausing first to kiss his forehead, “anyway, I’m going to make a quick breakfast so we can go shopping and get it over with quickly.”
---
Saturday afternoon rolled around. It was a nice sunny day with very few clouds. Kokomi was feeling excited. It had been a while since she’d seen her friends and was ready to catch up. So much had happened in a few months
A knock at the door echoed through the living room.
"Hi everyone, please come in," Kusuo held the door open, gesturing for his friends to come inside. By some stroke of luck, or a curse depending on how you looked at it, everyone had shown up at the same time. At least I only have to get the door once, he thought to himself.
"Have a seat if you'd like," he said, pointing over to the cleared-off space in the living room.
"Hi, Teruhashi!" Kobayasu and Hairo said, waving in unison.
"Kokomiiiiii!!" Chiyo ran over to Kokomi, who was in the midst of stirring up some pudding last second, wrapping her arms around her, nearly causing the pudding to slosh everywhere. Kusuo saw it happen and subtly stopped it.
"BUDDY!!" Nendo picked up Kusuo like he was nothing. Kusuo wanted so badly to phase out of existence, but at the same time was thankful for the hug. He would never admit it, but he had missed his friends a lot and was fairly happy to see them, even if they were rowdy and a little annoying. He was just glad that he was next to indestructible, otherwise, his ribs would be dust.
"Nice to see you, Nendo," he squeaked out. He couldn't actually have the air knocked out of him, but this was as close as it was going to get.
He sat him back down as the rest of the crew finished up their greetings. Kusuo reached out to Kokomi, asking if she needed any help. Kokomi answered by finding that Chiyo had already started taking dishes over to the table. Clearly, she wanted this party to be started as soon as could be.
Chiyo ran back into the kitchen to grab the remaining dish. Kokomi had already taken her seat next to Kusuo and struck up a conversation with Chisato and Aiura. Kaido, Nendo, and Kobayasu had started some small argument between the three of them about something inane, while Hairo asked Kusuo about the neighborhood and where they'd gotten such a lovely table like this.
Chiyo, being the lovely friend she was, began bringing over the final pieces. Unfortunately, she was never very graceful and yet so talented at the same moment. She tripped.
Everything happened in what felt like an eternity. The food began to fly, heading straight towards Aiura and Chisato. Chiyo was poised to fall straight into the middle of the table. The glass table. On the hardwood floors. Everyone began to either brace for impact or try to catch their falling companion and the dishes.
Kusuo didn’t hesitate. He didn't even think. He stopped her and the food mid-air.
It was like time had stopped and then began moving backward. Chiyo was suddenly on her feet again and the food sat neatly on the table in front of her. Time hadn’t actually stopped, but Kusuo did worry for a moment.
Everyone remained quiet as the weight of what he'd done hit him like a train. He’d never broken out in a sweat like this and he hoped he never would again. Aiura and Kokomi exchanged looks. Hairo was the first to break the silence.
"Saiki, and I don't mean to be rude, or to pry, but would maybe explain how the hell you did… that."
Chaos erupted. Everyone began talking at once, asking a million questions, even those who already knew.
Kusuo stood and held up his hand, motioning for them to stop talking. Miraculously, it worked, no powers necessary. He wasn't exactly sure where to go from here. It was hard enough showing and explaining to Kokomi, but now he had to show six other people. Well, five but Aiura was just as confused at this moment.
"Well... it's simple actually. I'm a psychic."
Surprisingly, everyone remained quiet.
"So... you have like supernatural abilities, and that's what you just used to stop me from smashing into the table?" Chiyo asked, eyes wide and still frozen in the spot Kusuo had set her in. She lightly tapped her legs with her hands, mostly in a nervous fashion but also in an unconscious inspection to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.
"Yes."
"Simple. Sure, yes, very simple. Now, how long exactly have you had these?" Kobayasu asked. He leaned forward on his hand, trying to look suave, but had the same dumbfounded look that everyone else had. He trembled slightly. Kusuo peered into his mind a quick moment. Just as he had expected, his mind was about as fried as everyone else's.
"My whole life."
"And how long has Kokomi known?" Chiyo asked. She had her moments of brilliance.
"Since Kusuo got me out of my abusive household," Kokomi said quietly as she gripped the edge of the table like her life depended on it. Her hand was white from the strain. Kusuo could hear her strangled thoughts begging for the moment to be over and not have to speak about this, about anything regarding her previous life.
"Kokomi..." Chiyo's face dropped. While she hadn't exactly been privy to the exact going ons in the Teruhashi home, she knew things were bad. But to the point that Kokomi looked like she'd vomit if she had to speak again? Absolutely insane. Chiyo sat down, taking Kokomi’s hands in her own.
"I can explain everything if you want. But please be patient and no yelling," Kusuo said.
It took longer than anticipated, but he got through it. Everyone actually was far more understanding and accepting than he thought. Plus, he discovered he wasn't as surreptitious as he previously had thought. Obviously weird things happened around him, and now they'd all been explained away.
"So my buddy's a mind reader, who would have guessed," Nendo mused as he downed a cup of pudding.
"I'm a little creeped out by that really, but I guess it can't be helped," Kobayasu muttered, closing his eyes and crossing his arms in contemplation.
"Yeah, I'm not really a fan of that either, but Saiki, how could you hide such cool and awesome powers from us? I thought we were your friends," Kaido said, pouting like a puppy.
"I was afraid," Kusuo said, "afraid that if you knew, you'd treat me differently or maybe..." he trailed off. He didn’t want to admit so much to them but especially he didn't want to admit that he was fearful of them abandoning him. Kokomi, freeing one hand from Chiyo, reached out to hold his hand, unaware of the new can of worms this would open.
"Speaking of treat you differently, wanna explain that too? I mean since we're already here," Hairo said, raising an eyebrow. It wasn't accusatory though but more playful. Kusuo noted that though everyone was still in shock from the brand-new information, they were quick to forgive and move on.
"Oh." He looked at their intertwined fingers. They all knew. They knew from the moment they found out they lived together, but this was just concrete confirmation.
"Well. You already knew that I had a crush on him since... forever. One thing kind of led to another, and well, we've been dating for quite a few months now." Kokomi squeezed his hand, giving him a small smile. Kusuo breathed a sigh of relief. Her smile could cure anything.
Silence. Then suddenly they all burst out in congratulations. They had all been waiting for this moment for so long and their patience had finally paid off. Chiyo was easily the most excited about the whole thing, even though she had been in the know for a while now.
For every moment of worry Kusuo had had about his life and how his friends would react about it, he never anticipated them to accept everything so willingly and without much question. He expected ridicule, poking, prodding, and finally being ousted from the group. Of course, he would have understood had any of that happened, but the fact that it didn’t nearly brought a singular tear to his eye. He’d already shown enough emotion today, he needed to keep that in check.
The conversation changed from raucous jubilation to a somber tone in one fell swoop.
“Kokomi, I don’t wanna upset you, but… what happened? With your home life, I mean. I mean you don’t have to talk about it, but if you need someone to be taken care of, I know a guy or two willing to help,” Koboyasu said with a wink and devilish grin.
Kokomi took a deep breath. Everyone looked at her. Not expectantly, but a layer of anticipation fell over them. Both Chiyo and Kusuo gave their respective Kokomi hands a squeeze of reassurance. She knew that if they could accept Kusuo’s psychic abilities, learning about her home life would be a breeze.
“My brother wanted to have a… a relationship with me. It was getting out of hand, and I couldn’t do anything. But then everything changed so quickly, and now I’m here. Safe and sound.” She tried to look cheery all things considered, but there was a mask covering the vast amounts of pain she was feeling. She looked up quickly, “Thank you, Koboyasu, but I don’t think we’ll need anyone, umm, taken care of. But the offer is appreciated.”
"So why hasn't he been brought to justice? Surely your parents are aware of how he treated you right?" Hairo asked. Always the observant one, thinking of everything.
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you, that he'd been found out. Well, the truth is my parents knew the whole time. They didn't care. Even when I begged for them to do something, even something as simple as getting me a better lock for my door, he could do no wrong," she sighed heavily, closing her eyes momentarily, "but I finally had had enough. That's when Kusuo came in."
"I broke his nose. And his arm. And a few ribs." He stated it so casually and off-hand most had to do a double-take.
"Yes, you did, it was lovely. No, my parents didn't care about me or my well-being because I wasn't bringing in the money. He bought the house, he paid all the bills, he was the golden child. I was just a beautiful object for them to occasionally show off, but I was mostly kept in my case."
Kusuo moved his hand from hers to reach out to rub her shoulder in reassurance. Instead, she leaned into him, practically slumping over.
“Have you heard from him since?” Chisato asked.
Everyone turned to Chisato who had been quietly listening and shoveling food in her mouth while her friends sat enraptured by Kusuo and Kokomi’s tales. She had eaten at least half of what had been put out. That wasn’t of much worry however, Kokomi had made some extras and hid them. She had to chuckle to herself though for being smart enough to not bring out everything.
“Since we’ve moved here, only once,” Kokomi said, “and Kusuo chased him off really quick. I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to come by here again if he values his life.”
“Oh yeah, I bet those powers come in handy when dealing with a guy like him!” Kaido said, his eyes lighting up.
“I have to remember to keep my emotions in check. I nearly killed him last time. I just hope there’s never a next time. Hurting him doesn’t hurt me though, breaking a bone or two does feel good. Especially when it’s his bones.”
“Are you in the mood for breaking bones right now or were you just, ya know, talking?” Aiura piped up from behind the crystal ball she had at some point pulled out of her bag.
“Why, what are you seeing?” Kokomi began shaking, paling at the gush of thoughts filling her head.
She nodded at Kusuo. He gathered the info he needed from her before getting up and opening the front door.
He wasn’t sure how he missed it, but considering the commotion from all the brand-new revelations happening and general brain fog from dealing with people, he shouldn’t have been too surprised.
Outside stood one Makoto Teruhashi. He was a little rough-looking. His arm was in a sling, though he should have been beyond healed from their last spat. His clothes were tattered and covered what Kusuo figured was bloodstains, and he was missing a shoe as the other one threatened to trip him with an unwound shoelace. None of these things mattered in comparison to what he was holding in his unbroken arm.
He held up his arm, pointing a gun directly at Kusuo.
“LONG TIME, NO SEE, YOU KOKOMI STEALING BASTARD.” His arm was shaky, but the gun remained trained on the shocked psychic.
Kokomi and friends slowly but surely peaked around the door to gauge the situation. Kokomi nearly fainted from feeling so many emotions at once. Hairo pulled her back into the living room while Chiyo and Aiura flanked Kusuo.
“You both need to go back inside, now!” Kusuo thought to them.
“Nuh-uh, no way, like I’d miss this! Plus, I saw what’s gonna happen anyway so you, like, totally need my assistance,” Aiura shot back. This was true, Kusuo thought, and any information was better than none.
“I’m not going to let this guy bully our Kokomi anymore!” Chiyo thought, holding up a triumphant fist.
“Chiyo, you do need to go back inside. I don’t want to have to focus on keeping both of you safe from this madman. Aiura, you can stay but only because you have insight.” He lightly began nudging Chiyo back through the door, being sure to keep himself in front of her at all times.
“Oh, I see, you’re just collecting girls to keep for yourself and you just HAD to start with MY KOKOMI.” He was shouting again, but this time he was swinging the gun around like it was a magic wand. Kusuo didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that spell. Yes, he could stop it, but he didn’t want it to come to that, there had to be easier ways to deescalate this scene.
He thought for a moment about replacing a portion of his memory, but that could only change so much. Perhaps if he took off his inhibitors, he could… no, that might do some real irreparable damage. Not that Kusuo really cared, but that might weigh a little too heavy on his mind.
Makoto was a fool, a creep, a danger to himself and others, but he was still Kokomi’s brother. Even if she asked him to kill Makoto, he wouldn’t do it. Would he deserve it? Most likely. Scratch that, yes, he would. But Kusuo wasn’t in the business of killing the siblings of his lovers. Well, lover. Singular. But either way, causing death or damage beyond help was something he was eager to avoid. He had to weigh and sift through any and all ideas.
As he was coming to a conclusion, he realized the trigger had been pulled. He stopped the bullet a meter or so in front of the gun, watching it clatter to the ground. Aiura stopped herself from screaming.
The sound of the gun going off reverberated throughout the complex. Great. Now the neighbors would come to check out the commotion. That could be good, but it could also be very bad. Now there were witnesses, but also potential victims. Kusuo could only protect so many from such a pinpointed issue.
At that moment, one neighbor stuck his head out his door.
“Everything alright?” He asked.
“Oh, just fine, accidentally ran into the railing, you know how squeaky those things can be,” Makoto said, giving the neighbor a blindingly bright smile as he shoved the gun into his jacket.
“Oh. Okay. Sure. Well, be careful then,” he said as he closed his door. Anyone else who had been listening while Makoto spit his lies gently departed, leaving them alone on the balcony.
“You knew what would happen if you returned,” Kusuo said.
“I figured I’d call your bluff. Surely you wouldn’t hurt me, I’m a star! Imagine the outrage it would cause. Not to mention I know you wouldn’t kill me in front of her.” At that, he lightly gestured with the gun off behind Kusuo, towards Kokomi who was hiding behind Kobayasu.
“I don’t want to kill you. I don’t want to kill anyone. But I will follow through on my threat if you come any closer. It’d be best for your health if you left now.”
Kusuo could feel the power within building up. He wouldn’t let it spill out like last time. He knew better, especially with all of his friends present. He took a step towards Makoto. Makoto held the gun out towards him again.
“I know you’re some kind of freak. I’ve known for a while. But you stopping that bullet earlier was just further proof. And now it only goes to show this is not a balanced battle.”
Kusuo nearly hesitated but thought better of it. He continued on, watching Makoto’s hand become shakier and shakier until he reached him. Makoto quickly fired off a few rounds. Kusuo caught them without blinking.
He finally reached his attacker and grabbed the gun. Makoto let off one more round before Kusuo crushed the tool in his hands. He really felt the heat off that one but paid it no mind. The now mangled metal fell to the ground with a clunk.
Makoto looked on in fear. Fear might not actually be the correct word though to describe the look upon his face. He may as well have passed on from shock by the time Kusuo had his hand around his throat.
Kusuo was suddenly hit with the memory of his premonition. He stopped, though his grip on Makoto’s throat did not lessen. He glanced back at Kokomi. She was silently crying. No, she wasn’t, he could hear her sniffles though she tried to hide them. Everything was actually very loud, between everyone shouting and his own thoughts whirring and sirens off in the distance. He couldn’t kill him, even if he really wanted to. He would simply dispose of him another way.
He teleported, Makoto in tow.
Everyone stopped shooting at once, Kokomi’s tears coming to an abrupt end.
“Where’d go!?” Kobayasu yelled.
“Umm, a room? A tea room? Wait, tea rooms aren’t this grey. Like, what am I looking at?” Aiura said, having gone to look at her crystal ball as soon as Kusuo grabbed the gun.
“Oh.” She said, slumping onto the floor, twirling her hair in thought. “He’s taken him to a prison.”
Every who was still in the doorway came inside, shut the door, and sat down, a little lost as to how to respond to her words.
Kokomi, still white as fresh snow, collapsed on the couch, sound asleep.
The group sat in silence.
“What good does that do? He needs to be arrested right? And I mean, they wouldn’t arrest him here, he’s Toru Mugami! No way they’d through him behind bars,” Kaido said, tucking his face into his crossed arms.
“Well… it might not work here. But what if he wasn’t in Japan anymore?” Kobayasu thought. But that thought ended quickly as Kusuo had rejoined them.
“Funny you say that. I thought maybe the Americans might be able to do something for us. Turns out I was right. It’ll be a minute before he ever sees this country again.”
He smiled at that. His first real smile of relief, and was aimed at his friends. But no one returned the smile. He couldn’t understand. Kobayasu came up to him with a kitchen towel and shoved it into Kusuo’s side. It hurt.
Wait, it hurt?
Kusuo looked down to find his shirt and part of his pants covered in blood. His blood. Looks like that last shot had landed, but he’d failed to notice as he was a bit preoccupied in his trying not to murder plot. He wasn’t even aware he could be shot. All power had been diverted away from shields for himself at that moment, so he supposed it shouldn’t be that big of a shot but he’d never gotten so much as a paper cut. This was definitely new.
He sat down; towel pressed in place. No big deal, he could fix himself. It was just off-putting that it took him so long to notice.
Kaido seemed to be most shocked by Kusuo’s self-healing clothes, pulling this way and that at his sleeves, even as Kusuo made his way over to where Kokomi still laid unconscious.
Chiyo had her cradled in her lap. Kusuo gently brushed some hair out of her face before sitting in front of the couch.
“So,” he said.
“So,” Nendo said. Until then, Kusuo had nearly forgotten he was there. He turned and smiled gently at his “best buddy.”
“So we got to see the fortunate ending to this brother saga?” Chisato said, shoveling what was left of the food on the table. No one else had much of an appetite so it wasn’t missed.
“Yes. Didn’t mean for this lunch to be so eventful. I’m glad you all know the truth now. It feels… good. It feels nice.” Kusuo said. He wasn’t so much hesitating as it just felt odd expressing pleasantries after what had transpired.
Silence lightly layered the room as they sat. Chiyo eventually got up and brought everyone water.
Eventually, everyone decided on a movie just so they would no longer have to process in the quiet.
Kokomi woke up halfway through. She said nothing but looked at Kusuo before grabbing his hand and leading them to her room. She shut the door behind them.
“So what did you do with him?” she asked, her eyes rimmed with red.
“I didn’t kill him. He’s in prison. In America.” Kusuo said, taking her hands into his.
“Oh.” She sighed the word and let it roll off her tongue like she was confessing a sin.
Kusuo tried not to, but couldn’t help it. He peaked into her mind and found that she fully expected that he had killed her brother. She was prepared to leave Kusuo had that been the case. Though deep inside her, he could still see she wouldn’t have minded if he had been killed. He was a pest.
Kusuo brought her in for a hug and her tears began anew.
“You’re safe,” Kusuo murmured into her hair, “no one will hurt you ever again.”
---
Three years had passed since the incident and not a peep had been heard from Makoto Teruhashi in all that time.
“What about this one?” Kokomi asked, pointing out a nice house with a pink front door.
“I don’t know, I liked the one with the blue shutters more. I thought the view would be better.” Kusuo said, sipping his morning coffee.
The couple had been out of college a short while but had landed decent jobs that allowed them plenty of freedom. It was time to move, however, and house hunting proved to be slightly harder than apartment shopping. The housing market was one issue they couldn't solve with their therapists.
“Yeah, I guess that one was nice. It's also closer to Chiyo and Auira. If we picked that one, can we paint the door pink?”
Kusuo beamed at her. “Of course. We can get that rug you wanted too. Though we can do that or whatever house I guess.”
She got up from the table and faced him; she took his coffee out of his hands, much to his chagrin. She wrapped her arms around his neck, peppering his cheeks with kisses.
“Can we get married too?” she asked, a devilish grin on her angel face.
Kusuo paused for a moment. He knew this day would come, but he didn’t expect it over breakfast and house hunting.
He leaned in to kiss her. She kissed back. They stayed locked together a few minutes, each enjoying the other's soft skin and coffee breath.
Eventually, they broke apart, tenderly, coming back for small kisses once and twice more before merely holding onto the other.
He smiled at her playfully. “Good grief, I thought you’d never ask.”