Work Text:
There was a time in Reigen's life where turning 40 was something he never expected.
He had figured with the way he had treated his lungs, how little he cared, and how often he'd get himself into trouble, something would stop the clock right at 39 at the stroke of 11:59, right before midnight.
He certainly hadn't expected to be woken up at 6:50, 10 minutes before his alarm, by his husband.
"Taka," Serizawa says, voice low, shaking Reigen awake.
"Hmph?" Reigen was never a morning person to begin with, but he opens his eyes. "What is it?"
"Happy birthday," he says, leaning in to kiss Reigen on the lips.
"Ah? Already? Really?" The sleep is leaving him as he rubs his eyes and sits up.
Serizawa nods his head. "Yeah, come on. I made breakfast."
Reigen makes a noise but complies, feet hitting the carpet and walks to the kitchen. Not bothering to change out of his pyjamas, he follows Serizawa in a daze out to the kitchen and sits down at the table.
Serizawa sets a plate of food in front of him and follows suit, sitting across from him.
"Thanks," Reigen says, picking slowly at his food. The bleariness leaves him, replaced with remembrance at the day.
He's 40. He's alive. He stops mid-bite and looks up at Serizawa.
"It's my birthday," he says, a statement that causes Serizawa to send him a confused look.
"Yes? It is?" Serizawa asks. "Is it not? I know I got the date wrong a few years ago but today is October 10th."
"I'm 40."
"Yes. You are."
Reigen pauses for a moment, thinking over what this all meant. What did it mean, anyway? It meant he woke up before his alarm (which will probably be blaring soon enough). It meant his husband made him breakfast (which he usually did anyway). It meant he would have to go to work that day (which he always did on a weekday).
And maybe it meant that nothing at all has changed. It was just another day.
"Are you having another birthday crisis again?" Serizawa asks, taking another bite of the eggs he cooked. "Do I need to remind you what I told you last week?"
Reigen huffs and shakes his head. "No, no. I'm not, surprisingly."
At that, Serizawa takes a good look at Reigen, happiness flittering across his lips and eyes.
Reigen taps his fingers against the table, setting his fork down. "I'm actually okay. I'm a bit tired and my back kinda hurts, but that's normal." He places a hand to his chest. "I, Arataka Reigen, Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century, am 40 years old today!"
That earns a snort from the other as Reigen starts eating again.
"I thought you gave up that shtick years ago. Not even Mob buys that anymore."
"He stopped believing that back when he was in middle school," Reigen says, waving his free hand, before sighing. "...Hard to believe he's out of university now. He grew up so fast."
Serizawa hums, a comfortable silence filling the air before Reigen's alarm sounds off and he nearly jumps out of his skin. He fiddles with his phone to shut it off, leaving the screen to show all of his unread messages.
From: Mob
Happy birthday Reigen-san. Have a great day. :)
From: ☆Teru☆
happy birthday old man!! (｀・ω・´) (^_-)-☆ (・∀・)(・∀・)(・∀・)！
From: ☆Teru☆
(that's seri and u + me mob tome)
From: tome 👽
birth.
He smiles to himself and breathes out a laugh.
"Tome just sent me the word birth. again," Reigen says. Plate empty, he stands up and places it by the sink. Serizawa follows suit and stacks them together.
"Better than what I get. I usually get a happy bappy."
"Hey, at least you get a happy," he says, tapping Serizawa against the chest with his knuckles. "Maybe she's finally picking favorites."
Serizawa takes the hand that tapped him and brings it up to his lips, kissing his knuckles, then the ring, then to the palm of his hand.
"I'm swooned," Reigen says, placing his other hand dramatically against his forehead and leaning against the other. "Take me away, fair prince."
Serizawa leans in, bending Reigen backwards and kissing him. Reigen's hand moves to the back of the other's neck, dragging him closer, before Serizawa breaks the kiss. He holds Reigen by the waist, face inches away from the other.
"I'll take you to work," Serizawa says, but makes no move to let go of Reigen.
"Do we have to?" He sighs. "I should have told everyone we were closed today."
"Says the one who wanted to work despite the snow storm last year." Serizawa lets go of Reigen's waist, moving to his hand, and pulls him to the bedroom. "Get dressed. You have a client scheduled first thing."
Reigen groans, but does so as Serizawa goes back to the living room. Reigen's button-up, followed by his suit, then his tie, then moving into the bathroom to stare at his reflection in silence.
He didn't seem older by any means. It's not as if being 39 one day then being 40 the next was going to make the wrinkles deeper or the gray hairs brighter. If Reigen squinted his eyes, forming darker crow's feet, he could barely tell he was older than 30. 28 if he was being generous.
He brushes his teeth, ignoring that tug in his heart and blames it on heartburn, and the two of them are out the door and on the train to Spirits and Such in no time.
On the walk out of the station, the two side-by-side, Reigen thinks it's a beautiful day out. The sun is shining, the grass is green, and the trees are that perfect shade of orange he loves so much.
"So, any info on this client?" Reigen asks, if just to fill the silence.
Serizawa shrugs. "Nothing much, simply an early scheduler. Probably a 'cursed back' again."
"Probably," says Reigen, pulling out his keys as he sees Spirits and Such up ahead. He unlocks the door and shoves his keys back into his pocket, turning around to kiss Serizawa. "See you after work."
"Actually, I took the day off work for your birthday," Serizawa says.
Reigen makes a face. "Why? I just gotta be at the office all day." But Reigen opens the door nonetheless and Serizawa follows him into the building. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter if you already told them. If no one comes in we can leave early."
Pushing open the door, he sees the vague outlines of people inside. For a second, Reigen feels his heart rate increase at the thought that someone's breaking into Spirits and Such. But the lights flicker on and there they are, a group of people yelling "happy birthday Reigen!" at him.
"Woah, hey now, I'm not as young as I used to be," he says, feeling Serizawa push at his back to get him out of the doorway. "Could have given me a heart attack."
"How old are you now? 50?" Ritsu asks, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He hears Tome and Teruki snicker.
Reigen tchs. "Don't you have to be at the school?"
"Took the morning off just for you, Reigen-san," he says. "A guest of honor will be arriving soon, by the way."
"Guest of honor…?" Reigen asks, moving to his chair and sitting down. "Don't tell me you mean that brat you call your boyfriend."
The door closes. "Aw, come on, I'm not that bad," Shou says, materializing out of thin air and siding up next to Ritsu. "And by the way, it's 'brat you call your fiancé' now." He holds up his hand, showing off a gold ring around his finger.
"Congrats you two!" Tome says, giving them a thumbs up. "Who popped the question?"
"Ritsu did, actually," Shou says, arms crossed like Ritsu's. "He was like, 'Shou, I love you so much and I wanna commit crimes with you everyday, but since my job doesn't let me do that, I want some way of people knowing we're together when we see your name on the news for arson'." The room fills with silence. "What a romantic, right?"
"...I didn't word it like that," Ritsu adds.
"But it was implied."
There's silence. Reigen thinks it's probably the weirdest way he's heard someone propose, but he thinks those two make a great couple. Snapping out of his thoughts, he hears the sound of Tome hitting Teruki's arm.
"You owe me 1000 yen!" She says. Teruki makes a face and reaches into his pocket.
"Congratulations, Shou, Ritsu," Serizawa says, smiling brightly. "I'm very glad you two are happy and I hope the years treat you well. This is just the start of your journey together, and if you ever need any help, you know Arataka and I are here for you. For all of you."
Reigen swears he hears Shou sniffle once. "Man, you got really sentimental as you got older," says Shou, wiping his nose. "Thanks, old man."
"So where's Mob, by the way?" Reigen asks.
"He went to buy the cake," Teruki says. "There was some mix-up at the bakery so he's running late."
"Did all of you really take time off work just for me?" Reigen asks, which earns a cacophony of hums or yeahs.
"It is your 50th birthday, Reigen. Gotta be there for seeing you go over the hill," says Ritsu.
"Personally, I'm waiting for him to trip and roll right down it," Shou adds.
Reigen really thinks those two were made for each other, but his eye still twitches. "I'm only 40, y'know! Still 10 more years before you can start making those jokes!" He waves his hands wildly. "Or 10 more years to stop being such brats!"
"Never gonna happen," Tome says, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "They're always gonna be babies to us, Reigen."
"You're only two years older than us, Miss Tome," Ritsu says, rolling his eyes.
"Ooh, you're getting his teacher voice, Tome," Shou adds.
The door opens up again and in walks Mob, carrying a box in his hands. "Sorry I'm late. The bakery accidentally put Happy 50th Birthday so I had to wait for them to fix it," Mob says, setting the box down onto the table.
"Hah, see. Even the bakery knows how old you really are," says Ritsu.
Teruki searches around in his backpack before pulling out a large present, placing it in front of Reigen on his desk. The group gathers in front of where he's sitting and suddenly Reigen feels very intimidated. With this many adults (and most of them psychics), he could definitely be given 40 birthday bumps very easily.
"We all made you this," Serizawa says. "Please, open it."
Reigen pulls the present towards him, taking one last glance at the kids in front of him; smiling faces looking at him expectedly, and Reigen can feel himself start to tear up before even knowing what's inside.
He opens up the present carefully, peeling back one layer at a time, before the present is revealed: a large, black photo album. He takes another look up at the group, watery eyes in some, small smiles on others. His hands shake as opens it to the first page.
Reigen can tell those tears are going to flood out of him the moment he sees the first photo: a larger version of the group photo they took on Reigen's 30th birthday, crowded around the outside of Spirits and Such. The original was placed on Reigen's nightstand, and he has to wonder when Serizawa managed to sneak it out and copy it without him noticing.
On the next page, various photos of him and Mob from when he was in middle school. The two of them, Reigen's hand on Mob's shoulder, in front of various haunted locations Reigen barely remembers. Another one when Reigen took Mob fishing; a pole in both of their hands and Reigen holding up the empty line when he managed to catch nothing but bug bites at the end of the day.
The next page, a photo of Mob on his first day at high school wearing his new uniform and Reigen nestled between Mob's mother and father. A photo of Reigen and Teruki, then with Mob and Reigen's arms wrapped around their shoulders like the proud guardian he is.
A page in between the high school entrance ceremony for Mob is a photo of Reigen and Serizawa, arm wrapped around his waist, holding their hands up to show off their rings. He thinks Mob must have taken the photo because it's tilted and blurry but Reigen wouldn't have it any other way.
A few other photos of them in high school for a few more pages: Tome graduating, Mob and Teruki graduating, a photo of Teruki and Shou, followed by a few pictures of Ritsu and Shou that Reigen had managed to coerce them into letting him keep. A high school graduation photo for each one of them.
When he turns the page, there's a full spread of him and Serizawa's wedding: reciting their vows, the kiss, cutting into the cake with Serizawa's hands wrapped around his own, the start of a food fight when someone used their powers to toss a sandwich at Reigen and Reigen, in his excitement, tossed it back at Ritsu's head. The aftermath of all of it when him and Serizawa are covered in cake and various other desserts and everyone is gathered around them laughing.
He sees tears drop onto the page and he wipes his face, sniffling. He flicks his eyes up to look at the others, smiling at him.
"Thank you," Reigen says, trying to keep his voice steady. "I… really love it."
"There's still more pages, Reigen," Teruki says, pointing down at the book. They weren't even a quarter of the way through.
Reigen huffs but flips to the next page, wipes his face again.
More photos of him and Serizawa: buying their house together, standing in front of it with Tome and Teruki, another of Shou when they held his birthday at their house. A photo of their housewarming party, Reigen's subsequent birthdays and each year another cake thrown in his face and their kitchen ending up in a mess. Photos of Serizawa's birthday which wind up much more civilized and clean.
On the next page, random photos that seems like Tome or Teruki took while Reigen wasn't paying attention: him and Serizawa asleep on the couch after a long day with a difficult client, a photo of Serizawa gardening outside, him and Tome comparing muscle sizes in the mirror.
A picture of Teruki and Mob from their vacation to America, Teruki with the most love-struck expression on his face, the clothing Teruki designs displayed in its first store. A few pictures of Shou and Ritsu's trips every summer, Tome and Tsubomi's random photos from when they went alien hunting across Spice City. A picture of Tome, hand next to Reigen's head, showing how she was almost surpassing him in height.
Reigen's chest squeezes tight, memories of these kids he's spent so many years with flooding back from the simple album in front of him. He keeps flipping pages, taking the time to look over all of them and feel his face heat up with love and tears with every new photo.
A picture of Serizawa holding up his Master's degree next to a blurry photo of Reigen kissing him deeply. Reigen remembers feeling so proud of Serizawa, and he still feels so proud seeing it again.
The next photos were of everyone else graduating: Tome holding her degree high above her head, Mob holding his sheepishly, Ritsu holding his without any flair but with a smile on his face.
As Reigen flips to the second last page, photos of him working at Spirits and Such fill the page. Reigen with various clients he's helped over the years, clipped newspaper articles about his business - ones with good reception, and one photo of all of them minus Reigen, mimicking the way he sat: left leg crossed over his right, a hand across his chin, determination in his eyes.
Reigen laughs, it looks like a recent photo. He flips to the last page and his breath catches in his throat. On it, a white page with everyone's handwriting. In between blips of happy birthday, Reigen! are some messages people have written.
remember when you drove us to the mountains at 5am on new year's to call aliens? i've been keeping in touch with them, they say they want to meet up sometime ;) - tome
Happy birthday, Reigen-san. You've taught me how to be kind and independent and no one else could have been a better teacher. - Shigeo
happy birthday serizawas husband! - shou
Happy birthday, Reigen. If you spend a few years rolling up a hill, you will spend a few years rolling down it as well. - Ritsu
Happy birthday! :)
Thank you for taking me in and caring for me all of these years
I wouldn't have been where I am without the help you two have given me
-Teru☆
Thanks for all of the wonderful years, Arataka. Here's to 40 more together. Love you. - Katsuya
When he's done reading and rereading through them all, wiping at his eyes so as not to smudge anything, he stands up out of his chair.
"Thank you, all of you," he says, rounding the desk. "I love it… I really do."
Serizawa holds his arms out wide and Reigen immediately envelops him in a hug. He feels the others walk up to him and capsule him into a group hug, arms around his back, and his face warm.
When they start pulling back, Serizawa kisses him one last time before letting him go and grabbing the cake. Reigen's pretty sure he hears a few fake gags from beside him but ignores it as he looks at the cake.
It's white, frosted edges, with the words Happy ~0th Birthday, Arataka!, the number being smudged from what Reigen assumes was the bakery's mixup. If he was being honest, he was slightly disappointed he didn't get to see that number pronounced in front of him, emblazoned on a cake.
If only past-Reigen could see him now. His 40th birthday, surrounded by friends and family he was positive he'd never have. He sees the flash of a camera and looks up from the cake, finding Mob holding his phone out.
"You looked like you were taken in by the design," he says, shrugging.
"Here, get one of the cake," Reigen says, stepping back as Mob steps forward and does so. He points to the others. "Before any of you get any ideas about birthday traditions, I want you to know that whoever throws the cake first has to clean it up. I've got clients coming in today."
No one moves, Reigen staring them down. He sees them smiling back at him with the most fake-innocent look he's ever seen, so he turns around.
His face winds up directly against a slice of cake, feeling that taste of icing and sugar. He wipes it off onto the floor and glares at Mob and Serizawa.
"Traitors! Both of you!" Reigen points a finger between the two of them. "I thought for sure it was gonna be Ritsu this year!"
He hears everyone laugh, eyes blurred between the cake and the tears, tastes the sweetness in his mouth before it's replaced by Serizawa kissing him lightly. Then, another piece of cake hits his head with a whap.
"Get a room, you two!" Ritsu says, laughing.
Then the rest of them are laughing as Reigen wipes the cake from his face and chucks it back at Ritsu's head, missing by a mile and hits his shoulder, ricocheting onto Teruki.
Ritsu complains about having to change before his classes, and Teruki complains about having his sweater ruined. Tome, in a fit of passion, wipes Teruki's sweater with her hand and throws it back, and Shou avoids everything thrown his way easily. And the birthday tradition continues on.
Later, when the cake has finally been thrown around enough and no one has had a proper taste of it - as per tradition - they clean up Spirits and Such so it doesn't look like the inside of a bakery's kitchen.
When a client shows up later on in the day, and if she wonders why there were six others standing around the office, or why the floor was sticky as she walked, or why it smelled like vanilla, she doesn't ask it.
Reigen doesn't lie and say the others are people he's training to work for him later, that the floor was sticky because they had spilled some soda, and it smelled like vanilla because that was the new candle smell.
Instead, he introduces himself as Arataka Reigen. "These people are my family, they're here because it's my 40th birthday today," he adds, gesturing for her to sit down.
She smiles at him, telling him happy birthday, and the clients come and go and eventually so does Ritsu, telling everyone he had to get back to work, and the others take that as their cue to leave. With a smile or a nod of his head to everyone as they walk out, he decides him and Serizawa can leave early as well.
"You know, you guys throw me a birthday party every year yet I still wind up surprised," Reigen says as he locks the door and walks beside Serizawa. He wraps his arm around Serizawa's, pulling him closer, the album tucked under his other arm. "This is a beautiful present, by the way. Thank you."
"No problem. We all thought of it together, and everyone helped find the pictures," Serizawa says. "There were some photos I didn't even know were taken - like that one of us sleeping on the couch together."
Reigen laughs. "I wonder how many other candid shots Tome or Teruki have of us. Hell, even Mob probably has some. Sneaky, all of them."
"I wonder if Shou would be able to take photos invisible. Maybe that's another way they could have gotten some of those."
"Hah, yeah, probably." Reigen's nose twitches and he sniffles, feeling the stinging of tears at the corners of his eyes. Reigen will blame his red eyes on allergies later, even if no one believes him anymore.
When they get back to their home, Reigen pages through the photo album again, tears in his eyes as he fondly remembers every event. Serizawa sits next to him and tells him stories about each photo he happens to remember.
In the evening, they go out for dinner at a nice restaurant and head back home, falling asleep in the night with their arms wrapped around one another.
And when his alarm wakes him up the next morning, Serizawa already awake and out of bed, Reigen has to wonder how he got so lucky that he's still here.