Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

That afternoon, when you are going into town to pick up dinner, you see three boys and a girl screaming bloody murder outside the ice cream parlour.

At first you worry they’re harassing the poor girl, and wonder why nobody has already moved to intervene or call the police; before you realise all four of them are giggling and grinning like idiots; taking big bites out of each other's ice creams and excitedly describing the flavours to each other.

The girl certainly doesn’t seem too distressed either, even when surrounded by a bunch of rambunctious squealing boys. In fact, she seems right at home, jumping and screaming right along with them. You wonder if perhaps she’s a delinquent, going by her short, spiky, dyed hair and obvious scars over her eyes. But you simply shake that thought out of your head, reminding yourself it’s impolite to assume. Her uniform is done up impeccably neatly too.

The boys themselves seem rather… goofy, as well. The boy with black hair is doing an inane dance of celebration whilst the girl cheers, and the green haired boy with headphones beatboxes a tune for him to dance to. The pale boy with red hair is turned away from them, still speaking to the poor, confused woman working the till.

It looks like something straight out of a routine comedy skit. You do consider briefly if perhaps they’re young actors being filmed, but they’re wearing the local Ryuoh high uniform and they’re (or the black haired boy is) cursing up a storm, so you can’t imagine they’ve been trained for television.

The red haired young man soon returns with four new ice cream cones, despite all four of them having already devoured enough to send them on an impressive sugar rush. He passes them out slowly to his friends, each of whom take very different… approaches to eating them.

The black haired boy stops dancing but continues to jitter on the spot as he takes massive chunks out of his double scoop ice cream, devouring it all in seconds, before going over to his green haired friend to seemingly beg for a bite of his. He only shakes his head, and sends him in the direction of the red haired boy, who graciously allows him a few licks of his own.

The scarred girl, meanwhile, is joyfully jumping in place. Looking close to being in tears of bliss. “Thish ish the besht! Sho cold and ishy but sho shweet too!” She screams, loud enough that you’re sure it echoes to the opposite end of Kamakura. She swallows visibly and audibly, and announces; “How indelibly delightful!”

The red haired boy says something unintelligible from your distance, but the girl nods exaggeratedly and screams again, clearly too excited to remember to quiet down in a public space: “Oh yes! Yes! Indeed! Thank you ever so much for bringing me here, all of you! I’m simply in a merry-pin!”

‘Strange girl…’ You think. Almost crying over ice cream, and talking like she just walked out of a period novel

The girl looks like she’s genuinely near tears now, and all the boys begin to panic. The black haired boy begins to do an even stranger jig than his one from earlier, whilst the green haired boy starts to ramble uncontrollably, an expression on his face like he’s about to throw all the ice cream he ate right back up. The red haired one simply passes her a handkerchief, which she accepts with a smile.

You feel your heart melt at the unusually wholesome scene these four paint. Before realising you’ve been standing in the same spot staring at four rambunctious loitering teenagers for ten minutes instead of actually going to get dinner.

Looking around, you don’t seem to be the only one, though. There appears to be a whole crowd of people gathered round to watch the utter spectacle those four make and you remember this is a very public district and some of these people may not be as amused as you are by the kids' energy. Their school is definitely going to be hearing about this from a number of unamused parents and grandparents too. Now that’s a landmine you’re more than glad to stay away from.

As if you’ve willed it into existence by the sheer power of realisation, a displeased elderly gentlemen steps forward towards the four, clearly gearing up for the scolding of a lifetime and you should probably step away for plausible deniability on whatever kind of bullshit is about to go down, but the man moves with such purpose, and the four teenagers are so completely oblivious that your feet are basically glued to the floor.

As his three friends continue to cause a ruckus, the red haired boy seems to notice the approaching man, and quickly checks a piece of paper from his pocket, then his wristwatch, before he shouts to his friends that they don’t have time to dawdle and have to move onto the next place quickly.

The other three seem to share his sense of urgency, as they quickly thank the server and book it down the street, leaving the workers winded and the grumpy old man to shake his fist at their retreating backs.

Part of you is slightly disappointed because you think that watching as the old man gave them the ultimate dressing-down would have been absolutely fucking hilarious, but, admittedly, another part of you is grateful that they didn’t have to lose their happiness from their obvious good time. It’s been a long time since you’ve seen a group of teenagers be genuinely wholesome in public.

And though you would’ve appreciated it if they were less…deafening. You can’t deny the sheer joy on their faces put a smile on yours.

You nod to yourself and turn to head home, before remembering you came here for something that was not originally watching four high school kids lose their absolute shit over some ice cream.

You can’t, however, for the life of you seem to remember what that was.

Chapter Text

“Mogari, Zaki” Eugene states flatly. “What are you doing.”

Mogari, apparently in greeting, waves his arms sporadically in the air whilst the rest of him does a bizarre worm-like wiggle.

“Having a dance battle, obviously!” He yells, before turning to Zaki, who is also currently using the school courtyard as his own personal dancefloor.

“Just give up already Zaki! There’s no way you can beat me!”

“We’ll see about that!” Zaki yells back, and, to his credit, his movements are far more coordinated, but no less erratic. “As if you could beat my moves!” And Eugene’s pretty sure he’s seen that dance on Youtube before. (though admittedly, with far more skill)

Eugene simply sighs, “...Ok, then. Did you have to do this in front of the school gates, however?”

Mogari continues to put his heart and soul into his strange squirming, with one of his arms moving to do a strange windmill swing, whilst the other one waves excitedly at some of the students awkwardly and nervously passing by to actually go to school.

Mogari does his very best to shrug while punching at the sky “Didn’t have time to move somewhere else!” He calls, kicking his feet out in time with the punching. “Kind of an urgent call!” He makes a face like he’s experiencing gut-churning constipation.

Eugene simply nods, “Uh huh…” So either they’d randomly gotten the intense, undeniable urge to have a dance battle in front of the school for fun, or…

“So this is official Phantom Busters business then?” He wonders what kind of ghost would have two teenagers dancing like idiots for their entertainment on their list of unfinished business. Most likely a child, he thinks, though the thought is rather depressing.

Tamon gives him an energetic thumbs up “Yup!” He says, popping his p. He’s sitting on the ground next to a cheap speaker, watching (and likely recording) the ‘battle’ through his phone.

He inclines his head vaguely somewhere in front of Eugene “Lil’ Yuka here used to love playing Dance Dance Revolution with her big sister, but she’s always wanted to see a real dance battle in action.” He explains, tapping his foot to the beat of the pop song playing from the speaker. Which neither Zaki nor Mogari seemed to actually be dancing in tune to.

Eugene hums consideringly. “And this is a real battle then?” He asks.

“Real as it gets!” Tamon laughs, turning the music up a little louder as Mogari and Zaki begin to move faster, the ‘battle’ seemingly beginning to reach a crescendo.

He can hear the snickering from the fellow students passing by, but Zaki and Mogari continue unperturbed, as if the extra sound it generates is just more music for them to dance to. As if nothing else matters but their mission.

Tamon gestures for Eugene to lean down, and whispers into his ear when he does, “I honestly have no idea if either of what they’re doing counts as dancing,” He grins, before his face becomes a strange combination of emotions Eugene struggles to name (fond, exasperated, proud), ”But Yuka seems to be having the time of her life. She’s been laughing and cheering her head off this whole time.”

Eugene closes his eyes, considering. “I see.” He tries to imagine her smile, the sparkle in her eyes, the sound of her laughter. All from having two overzealous teenage boys dance poorly in front of her.

He opens them. “That’s wonderful. You’re having fun then, Yuka?” He asks into the empty air, unsure if she’ll even hear him. He almost wonders if he imagines the cold breeze he feels rushing over him, before Tamon gives him a subtle thumbs up.

He casts one more look around at the students watching them. Some are looking in bewilderment, or curiosity, but most are mocking. He can imagine the same look on his mother’s face right now. The Phantom Busters were the exact kind of people she warned him never to become involved with.

The kinds of people who cause a ruckus in public, who humiliate themselves in front of crowds, kids who don’t as they're told, don’t get straight A's, who don’t let themselves be weighed down by expectations. Who choose the joy of others over their own reputation.

His mother would hate that he’s here right now, that he’s not stopping this, that he’s thinking of joining in. The look on her face would be thunderous, she always insisted that Eugene have friends who she deemed befitting of his responsibilities, his future, her future, that she only wanted to live through him.

She would hate this.

(Zaki dances like no one's watching, and though the shakiness in his legs betrays his nervousness, he keeps going.)

That’s stupid. He thinks, because he can’t think of any better people in the world. Any other people he’d rather be with.

(Tamon claps along quietly to the drums in perfect timing, humming the melody of the song Eugene can tell he’s memorised. His eyes are laser focused on the camera, not daring to dart, but they shine so brightly.)

His grandmother would be so proud of them. He can only hope she’d think the same of him.

(Mogari is loud when he dances, like a one man stampede of elephants. He fills up whatever space he’s in like it’s his God given right, it’s a confidence that almost makes Eugene weak in the knees.)

“It’s wonderful.” He repeats, half to Yuka, half to himself. He turns his head back to Zaki and Mogari, and, well, he supposes there’s no time like the present.

These were exactly the kind of people his grandmother loved, and he thinks he’s beginning to see as she did.

He steps forward and throws off his jacket, not paying attention to where it lands.

“Should I show you two how it’s done then?” He smirks, allowing himself the indulgence to be smug. The grins he receives in response are sharp and eager.

“Bring it on!”

“Just try!”

He can’t even hear the derision of the crowd anymore, as he dances with his friends, listens to their voices, and imagines the sound of Yuka's laughter as she finally finds peace.

This really is my life. He thinks.

It’s wonderful.