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Saiki hated touch.
It always came as a result of teasing, or pain, or just pure coincidence.
He never batted away his mother’s hands when they reached up and pinched his cheeks, because he'd feel bad (he’d kick off his father’s hands if he touched his leg while grovelling at his feet though). Aside from that, touch from his parents were minimal. Saiki wasn’t like the others around him anyways, he didn’t need touch to function like they did. It was mutually agreed on that he'd stay in his own little bubble and they respected that.
Kusuke’s touch came with a poke, a pinch, an examination. One more test that would attempt to leave him below his brother. Even if no pain followed, it still burned and itched his skin. He remembered a time as a kid where he shoved Kusuke into a wall and made him bump his head because he wouldn’t stop touching him after he'd told him to stop- something mother would just call ‘brothers being brothers’ over a talk with her mum friends. He kept that grudge to this day, and didn't let Kusuke come two feet near him.
So he loathed touch, and he wanted nothing to do with it.
Except.
Nendou was a conundrum, a thing that broke laws in biology a person shouldn’t. He was someone that should have been squashed out years ago during natural selection. And Saiki’s least favourite trait about him was his thoughtlessness when it came to physical contact.
Saiki was his first friend at PK, so it started with him, then bled out to the others. Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, manhandling him with unintentional carelessness, and occasionally even ruffling his hair.
Saiki… didn’t know if he liked it or not. No, he had to hate it. Just like he hated all touch, just like how he wanted to be alone, in his own bubble, for the rest of his life. He couldn’t like it, because that didn’t make sense. His parents were familiar, warm even, so he should feel the same about both.
Right?
Ah. There was the third kind of contact he especially despised.
Strangers.
Ever had a stranger tap your shoulder to get your attention, or have your hand brush with another as you grab change from a cashier? To Saiki, these sensations were like thousands of miniscule bugs writhing and slithering under his skin, leaving a burning desire to itch the sensation away until it was never there.
It was one of the many reasons he hated crowds. Bumping shoulders with others as you tried to get to your destination combined with the condensed range of thoughts and spoken word; it was a cacophony of sounds and touch that had him fight the urge to curl up and tug at his hair. It was an issue his parents had a hard time understanding, because he wasn’t a difficult child, and it wasn’t often he got upset at nothing.
But Nendou was always at the scene of the crime when it came to him, wasn’t he?
Of all the ramen places he could have chosen, why the mall? Because there was a sale? The mall prices are more expensive anyway, it’s the exact same price as café Mami. There was really no point in doing this.
In the grand scheme of things, that detail mattered little. Because Nendou was still pushing through a crowd of people at the busiest hour of the day, leaving Saiki to follow behind. There was no way to use his powers without being seen, a thought that left him exposed before he even stepped into the mass of people.
There were people scraping his shoulders, people catching their bags on his arm, people digging into him from behind. He glared into Nendou’s back as his fists clenched to the point of turning white.
A sudden force on the left side of his back made him stagger forwards into more people, slightly away from Nendou and into more contact. The thoughts of people complaining rang in his ears.
The jumper he wore over his collar shirt today chose that moment to untuck from where he’d perfectly folded the sleeves and he felt a stinging sensation crawl from his wrist, up his forearm. He scratched his wrists as he pulled the revolting material back to its correct spot.
The thoughts of everyone in the mall pushed in his brain: personal details he couldn’t care less about, perverted thoughts he’d rather die than know of, children whining, people finally acknowledging just how overwhelming this whole crowd was. The synthetic lights in the mall building. People pushing and prodding and poking. The blaring noise only got louder and he couldn’t take it anymore.
Without thinking, he grabbed Nendou by the arm, sending insects through his skin. Ignoring the shout of surprise from the man, he dragged him somewhere, anywhere, away.
He couldn’t think. Not with the people here. More brushed against him. More prickled against him. More bugs. He couldn’t breathe.
They were on some side road, outside of the mall. He didn’t care. Nobody was there, but he still felt wound up. He ripped the jumper off, cursed himself for thinking this was the day he was free to be fashionable. Look where that got him.
A stab to his shoulder, and he whirled around, barely able to stop himself teleporting. Nendou retracted his hand where he seemed to make contact. Although, knowing that it was Nendou that touched him made the pain lessen, for whatever reason.
“Woah buddy, no need to be scared,” he wasn’t scared, that’s not what this was. If Nendou misunderstood this whole situation, oh god that would be embarrassing. More than this already was.
Saiki turned around, heat pooling in his cheeks. Breathing felt hard, so he wrapped his arms around himself and tried squeezing with all his force. The pressure helped, but the grip required hurt his arms.
It was funny how crushing weight made it easier to breathe. But that’s how things were, and Saiki didn’t care as long as it fixed him. Maybe he should go back to that waterfall after this.
“Buddy?” Nendou said, reminding Saiki that he was there. His shoulders hiked up. Not out of defensiveness, he hoped, so he could at least save himself the humility of responding so childishly. Nendou circled around him, rubbing his neck with his hand. He wasn’t awkward, despite what his posture suggested, “You want a hug?”
What?
No, of course he didn’t. Saiki didn’t do hugs. They hurt, and were forced onto him without any say on his part. They were done because it was polite. Not because you got any enjoyment from them. Maybe things were different in Nendou’s warped world.
When Saiki didn’t respond, Nendou kept going, “You’re hugging yourself, when you got a buddy right here to do it for you! Doesn’t hurt to try.”
Saiki wasn’t ’hugging himself’. He was trying to put pressure on his chest to keep everything out. The touch, the noise…
It was getting easier to ignore with Nendou’s presence, but in the back of his mind discomfort still lingered. If he went back into the crowd, it would barely be any time before he was overstimulated again. If Nendou could do what Saiki was, but more effectively… And if nobody saw…
Maybe he could try. Just for a bit. Until the touch hurt.
Saiki used sinking into Nendou’s chest as a yes, and almost immediately arms wrapped around his back. Saiki could feel the pressure all across his chest now, firm and stable around him. He didn’t know how to wrap his arms back around; he hadn’t done this for so long. He just felt Nendou unwavering, like an anchor, holding him together.
The touch never burned, nor did it start to burn when he felt like it should have. It didn’t make sense, but he didn’t care right now. He felt like he could breathe for the first time since entering that crowd. Not only because of the pressure. Slowly, the tension melted out of him, and he felt himself returning to normal again faster than ever.
He didn’t know how long they stood there, or if Nendou got uncomfortable or not, because the moment he started to feel out of place, he stepped back, grabbed his jumper from the brick wall he dropped it on, and walked off. Nendou followed, treating the hurried steps Saiki was taking as regular steps. Saiki watched his arm swing lazily beside him as they walked before snatching his gaze away and focusing on the floor.
“We going to get ramen now buddy?” Nendou asked, even as they walked off in the opposite direction. No, they were going to a local ramen shop this time. No more crowds. He was done for today.
He might even thank Nendou. No. That was only a present thought. When the heat cleared from his cheeks, he’d pretend none of this ever happened.