Chapter Text
They end up sleeping on the office couch, which is far too small for the two of them. Neither seem to mind, making up for the lack of sleeping space by being as close as physically possible.
They’re both lying on their sides, both facing outwards. Serizawa is braced against the back of the couch, one arm trapped under Reigen’s head like a pillow, the other slung over the other man, holding as tight as he can while still making him comfortable. Reigen seems oblivious of the tension in Serizawa’s body, however, and lies limp and exhausted, still naked to the waist. He’s taken Serizawa’s hand in his own, and has wedged himself in a way that gives the impression that he’s using the bigger man as a blanket.
Serizawa shifts, slightly, to get a better look at Reigen’s back, to make sure for the hundredth time. He doubts he will stop checking for a long, long time, searching for any trace of the nearly bone-deep curse. There is none, of course. Serizawa is nothing, if not good at his job.
As Serizawa deflates a little with relief, Reigen murmurs something in his sleep, snuggling closer. Serizawa obliges, pulling him back into a bear hug, burying his face in the thin shoulder blade and forcing himself to be still.
Even with his eyes closed, though, Serizawa can still feel the way the other man relaxes into him. Can feel each breath as it rattles through a curse-exhausted body. The muscles Reigen had toned had atrophied as the pain prevented him from continuing his personal training, leaving him too thin. Whithering away.
It dawns on him that this is possibly the first decent rest Reigen has had in…weeks? Months? How long the curse had been burying into Reigen’s flesh, eating away at his strength and endurance, Reigen would not reveal. He was also pretending not to know who could possibly have cursed him, perhaps for fear of what Serizawa would do.
It’s not unfounded, Serizawa knows. There’s still a rage unlike any other that he’s ever felt, burning at the back of his mind, and he honestly doesn’t know what would happen if he had somebody to direct that rage towards.
He still hates that Reigen won’t tell him the truth.
(It’s been a long time since Serizawa had learned to differentiate between lies, truths, and things that ran between the two.)
“Katsuya?” At the sound of his name groggily whispered, Serizawa lifts his head. Only then does he realize that he’s crying again, the warm tears slipping from his eyes against his will.
“I’m okay,” Serizawa says, knowing that there’s no way he can hide the fact that he’d been literally crying on Reigen’s shoulder.
“Okay,” Reigen agrees, with a soft sigh, and for a moment Serizawa thinks that he’s fallen back asleep. But then Reigen shifts again, turning his head just enough to see Serizawa out of the corner of his eye. “Katsuya?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
Serizawa fails to stop the strangled sob that works its way out from the ache, deep in his chest. If Reigen notices, though, he doesn’t acknowledge it. He shifts back into a more comfortable position, head resting against Serizawa’s arm once more.
“I was just thinking about the future,” he mumbles, tracing patterns into the hand he still has captured. Serizawa shudders slightly, and finds himself burying his face into soft, ashy-brown hair. “I haven’t done that in a while. Well. I have, but it was more like. Funeral arrangements, and making a will and stuff. A future without me here, I guess?” He pauses. “I was going to tell you and Mob soon.”
“I’m so glad that I didn’t have to break your heart.”
Reigen’s voice is thick and heavy, but Serizawa doesn’t move to see if he’s crying again. Honesty is no easy feat for the man, this he knows, but the grim honesty now only brings home how close Reigen thought he was to the grave.
“Anyways,” Reigen begins again, clearing his throat and giving a telltale sniff. It’s clear he’s still not fully awake, or else is too exhausted to exert his usual liveliness into his speech. Or maybe, Serizawa fancies, he knows it’s safe now, to not put on a show. That Serizawa is going nowhere…and neither is Reigen. “I was thinking about the future and thought. That’s kind of scary. Big. And so I wondered…Would you, Katsuya, like to spend it with me?”
His voice has tapered off into a whisper, worry and exhaustion causing the words to fizzle out.
“Of course,” Serizawa hears himself murmuring.
“I’m glad,” Reigen mumbles, and Serizawa can feel him smiling against his arm, “I’m so glad.”
And with that, Reigen drifts off to sleep once again.