Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mob remembers it clearly, the first time he’d ever seen Reigen cry.

It happened just after Mob started his first year of middle school and had been working with Shishou for a few years. He was walking up to the door of Spirits and Such when he heard someone shouting in the office.

“You can’t keep making excuses for him!”

Mob’s first thought was that it was a customer. Most of them were friendly, but every once and awhile someone would get aggressive. It was usually about the cost or they would complain about the quality of the service. Shishou was always able to at least calm them down enough to make them leave, if not fully endear himself to them. So Mob wasn’t particularly worried. As he reached the door, though, he realized it was Reigen who was yelling.

“He’s a monster, Misaki, when will you realize it?!”

No response.

He must be on the phone, but.. Who’s Misa--

“Because you’re my little sister! I care about you, okay?! And I sure as HELL don’t want to get a phone call one day saying he’s beaten you to death!”

His sister? I need to go, I can’t intrude. B-but Shishou is expecting me and I just can’t leave without a word.

Mob’s mind swirled with indecision which left him frozen at the front door.

“What the fuck does that mea--Wait? Are you pregnant?! Please don’t tell me you’re going to let that man near a child?!”

There was a brief moment of complete silence and then Mob heard the crash of something breaking. He still couldn’t will himself to move.

“NO! Y-you can’t!” Reigen’s shouts quickly turned to desperate pleas, “Misaki, don’t do this. Please come stay with me. I-I’ll do anything, just please don’t do thi-- Misaki? Misaki?.....Misaki” The last time he says her name, it’s a whisper.

Mob hears the distinct squeak of Reigen’s office chair and a thump on his desk. Mob still doesn’t know exactly what to do, but he does know that he can’t stay out there forever. He also doesn’t think he can just walk away knowing the state his Shishou is in right now. He takes a breath, counts to ten in his head, and tries his best to casually walk on through.

The room is dark save for some beams of light shooting from the spaces in the blinds. It takes Mob a bit to adjust to the dark, but when he does he immediately notices the broken flower pot just a few feet in front of him. That must have been what made the crashing noise. Mob’s attention is quickly drawn to the heap on Reigen’s desk as it starts to quitely sob. He feels a twist of pain at the sight.

“Shishou?” Mob asks softly not wanting to startle his mentor.

It doesn’t work because Reigen goes from a crumpled mess to sitting upright in .01 seconds. “Oh, hello Mob” He tries to give his usually friendly greeting, but his eyes are puffy, his voice is weak, and there’s a stream of tears rolling down his face.

Mob feels like he’s been stabbed in the gut. He so badly wants to help, but he has no idea where to start. He feels so useless. The only thing he knows how to do is use his powers. So, he swirls his aura around the broken pot, fixing it and setting it back on the desk.

Reigen gives a strained chuckle as he stands up and walks over to Mob.

“You’re a good kid” He said, ruffling his student’s hair. There’s a moment of quiet and Reigen sighs, “Mob, remember this. Guys who hit women are the biggest losers in the world.” There’s a dark edge to his voice.

Mob nods.

They close up shop early and Reigen takes them out for ramen. His eyes are still a little red as he prattles on about a client from that morning. Mob doesn’t know how to bring up what just happened, so he stays quiet. But he holds on tight to what Reigen said.

Chapter Text

The sun was low in the sky as Reigen, Serizawa, and Mob walked back to the Spirits and Such office. It had been a nice, cool, September day, so Reigen and Serizawa had decided to walk the few blocks to their client.

A relatively powerful spirit had inexplicably possessed an office building. The two of them had been running up and down the stairs (not using the elevator for safety reasons) as the spirit moved from floor to floor. This one was fast. Every time they they thought they got it, it fled to another room. After about an hour of constant running up and down the stairs, Reigen gave in and called Mob.

Mob was, understandably, annoyed, but since he was free, he came to help. Once he got there, they cornered it and the two espers made quick work of the pesky spirit.

Now the group was making their way back to the office to pack up their things and pay Mob. Reigen was trailing behind as the other two excitedly talked about how they defeated the spirit. He noticed that Mob had gone through a bit of growth spurt and was now up to Serizawa’s shoulder (Reigen came up to about the bottom of his ear).

Reigen just watched as they talked. He couldn’t help but admire these two. Of course, their powers were impressive, but it was more than that. They both took active steps to change themselves for the better. He felt so lucky to get to be a part of that and watch them grow.

Quickly, his gaze settled on Serizawa alone. Every time he looked at this man, Reigen felt butterflies fill his stomach. Katsuya Serizawa was the kindest, sweetest, strongest, most attractive man that Reigen had ever met. He had fallen for him hard.

Normally in a situation like this, Reigen would have attempted making a move a while ago, but this was a bit more complicated. For one, he wanted to give Serizawa the space to come to terms with and recover from his time at Claw and the time he spent in his room. He also valued being professional at work and didn’t feel right taking advantage of being his employer.

That didn’t mean he wouldn’t steal glance here and there and it certainly didn’t mean he wouldn’t fantasize. Reigen often pictured Serizawa taking him in his big, strong hands and shoving him against the wall kissing him fast and hard. Reigen would imagine running his hands through his curly hair, on his neck, over his broad chest, and down to--

“Have you asked him out yet?” a gravelly voice interrupted Reigen’s thoughts.

Dimple at least had the decency to phase into his head so no one else could hear him. Reigen just rolled his eyes and ignored the question.

“Look, I don’t really care what you do, but watching you give him those love sick eyes every day is getting real old. You should just do something about it.”

“I don’t want to talk about this with you.” Reigen said under his breath “Anyway, where were you today? We could have used your help.”

“Hey, I don’t work for you. I have my own life. I don’t have to tell you everything I do.”

“Uh-huh, sure you do. Just stay out of trouble”

“You think so poorly of me, I’ve saved your life before. And, hey, don’t change the subject. Honestly, I’d be willing to help you out with Serizawa.” He offered.

“Thanks but no thanks. Just because I have feelings for him, doesn’t mean I have to act on them. Bosses who come on to their employees are creeps.”

“Oh yeah? What about the ones who gawk?” Reigen could hear the shit eating grin.

“Why do you do this to me?” He said exasperated.

They were walking up the steps to the office when Serizawa turned back and asked, “Keeping secrets?”

The way he smirked and raised an eyebrow made Reigen’s heart flutter. “Oh, uh, no Dimple was just bugging me.”

At that, Dimple flew from his head and floated among the group.

Mob gave him a stern look “Dimple, be nice.”

“Hey! I’m always nice. Mostly”

“Ha! Even Mob says you have to be nice… to….me?” Reigen started off smug, but lost his train of thought when he noticed a woman standing outside the door of his office.

Her strawberry blonde hair, brighter than Reigen’s, fell just below her shoulders. Half of it was pinned up with a simple back barrette. She turned around and gave Reigen a tearful, sorrowful look.

“Hey, Arataka..” She spoke softly.

The tears had built up quickly in Reigen’s eyes and started to spill over. He barely had time to think before he rushed up the stairs and embraced her.

“I missed you so much. I was so worried about you” His voice was strained as he unsuccessfully fought back the tears.

“Ah, ow” she said as she winced in pain.

Reigen didn’t really get a good look at her before, but as he pulled back he saw the state she was in. Bruises scattered over her skin mainly concentrated on her neck, face, and the outsides of her arms. A cast encased her left hand and stopped midway up her forearm. On her cheek was a large square bandage. And that was just what he could see. Just the thought of the injuries that were hidden made him sick.

There was so much swirling around in Reigen’s head he was, for once, at a loss for words. He didn’t have much time to think before she reached down and grabbed the hand of a little girl. She had dark auburn hair in little pigtails, but that’s not the first thing he noticed about her. He first saw the big black bruise covering her right eye along with a little Hello Kitty bandaid below it.

Misaki held his hand in her casted one, “We’re okay now, we’re safe now.”

Still speechless, he just nodded and rubbed his thumb on her fingers.

“I can explain everything that happened in a bit, but can you introduce me to your… friends?”

“Right, right of course.” He readjusted his jacket and cleared his throat. “Everyone, this is my sister, Misaki.” Recognition flashed in Mob’s eyes. “And this is her daughter… um..”

“Hina” Misaki filled in.

“Hina.” He repeated softly.

“This” pointing to Serizawa, “is my, uh, partner uh business partner, Serizawa. And this” pointing to Mob “is my student, Mob.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you” she said with a bow “thank you for taking care of my brother.”

“Oh, the pleasure is ours.” Serizawa says returning her bow, “Why don’t we go inside though. The sun is setting so it’ll start to get cold soon.”

Dimple gave Reigen a look and said, “Hey what about me?”

Reigen and Serizawa rolled their eyes and Mob glared at him.

“Okay, okay, I know, bad joke. I’ll be out of your hair. I’m gonna go wander for a while.”

Mob waved as he floated away.

Once they ushered everyone inside, Reigen handed Serizawa the envelope with their payment from earlier. “Can you put this away and get Mob his cut? I, uh, gotta--”

“Of course, Reigen, no problem.” He sets his hand on Reigen’s shoulder “Do whatever you have to do to help her. Let me know if there’s anything I can do or if you need to talk, okay?” Serizawa gave him a reassuring smile.

Even with the mess of emotions going on in Reigen, he was still very aware of the hand on his shoulder. He shook his head a bit and cleared his throat. “Thank you, that really means a lot.”

Serizawa nodded and made his way over to Mob. Reigen sighed as he walked away. He turned to find his sister sitting on the sofa while Hina went over to sit in the big office chair.

“So,” Reigen said as he sat down, “what happened? Are you really safe? Are you gone for good?”

Misaki smiled and said “Yes, we won’t be going back to him ever again.” She took a deep breath in and out “Yesterday the police showed up at our door because another parent at Hina’s daycare was worried about me. We gave all the right answers and the officers left without any suspicion.” She gave strained laugh. “But once they left, Yuuta was the angriest I had ever seen him. He started wailing on me and choking me, saying this was my fault and that I betrayed him. All I could do was endure it until he stopped. But then--”

Her breath caught in her throat and she started to cry as she continued talking. “But then, Hina, precious Hina tried to protect me. She stood in front of me and tried to push him away. You see, he had never hurt her before. The entire time I was pregnant, he was so kind and never raised a hand against me. It’s part of the reason I’ve stayed so long because I thought he was a good father. But when she got in his way, he didn’t hesitate to punch her. Not only that, he grabbed her arm and he was going to keep hurting her. That bastard was going to hurt this two-year-old child. His daughter.”

The tears kept flowing. “And that’s when I snapped. I was actually kind of grateful that he broke my wrist last week because I summoned up all my strength and I smashed him in the face with my cast. It caught him off guard enough that he fell and hit his head on the mantle. And then before I knew it, I was grabbing Hina, grabbing the keys and driving away. I knew I had to find you. You were the only one who could tell what was going on. Even Mom was deceived like everyone else. I-I just can’t believe I let us stay in that situation. It’s my fault Hina got hurt and--”

She was getting more and more worked up when Reigen interrupted. “Hey, no no no it’s actually very much not your fault. You didn’t hurt her, he did. And that’s what abusers do. They lie and manipulate and make you do things that you wouldn’t usually do. I don’t blame you for anything. I’ve only ever wanted your safety and your happiness.”

“Thank you, Taka, I don’t know what I would do without you.” She said as she wiped away her tears.

Reigen wanted to give her a hug, but was afraid of hurting her, so he settled for holding her hand.

“Hey, it’s what I’m here for, I’m your brother.” He said, handing her a box of tissues, “But now I think for tonight we need to relax. We can come back to it in the morning, but you’ve been through a lot and I think you deserve a little distraction. Does that sound good?”

Misaki smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. Especially for her.”

They looked over at Serizawa and Mob who were taking turns spinning Hina in the chair as she giggled wildly. It was so cute, Reigen’s heart felt like it was going to explode.

Serizawa noticed them look over, “Ah, oh, I’m sorry. She asked us to spin her and she’s just so adorable, I couldn’t deny her.”

“No, no, don’t be sorry. She needs some fun right now. Plus, if you’re a friend of my brother, I trust you.”

Serizawa beamed at that.

“Shishou,” Mob said, walking over to him, “I need to get back home now for dinner, but, um I just want to let you know I can help out here more.”

“Oh, are you sure Mob?”

“Yeah, I’m not dealing with entrance exams now that I’m in high school, so I’ve got some more free time.”

“I mean I can always use your help and I love having you around the office, but I don’t want you to overwork yourself. Just make sure you’re taking care of yourself, okay?”

“I will, thank you.” He turned to look at Misaki, “It really was nice to meet you and your daughter.”

“Of course, it was nice to meet you. You’re welcome to come hang out with her any time”

Mob nodded and smiled as he turned to wave at the other two. “Bye Serizawa, bye Hina.”

His smile got brighter as they waved back. Reigen was still amazed at how expressive he’s been since that one incident.

“Bye Shishou, bye, miss? Uh..”

“Oh, just Misaki is fine”

“Oh okay, bye Misaki” He said and then made his way home.

Just after the door shut, Misaki pinched her brother’s cheek. “That was adorable, oh my goodness. You are such a good dad!”

“Ah, let go!” He pulled away now rubbing his cheek, “He’s my student, not my son!”

“I know, I know, but I can tell how much you care about him and how much he looks up to you. It reminded me of a father-son dynamic, right Serizawa?”

“Uh, oh, for sure!” Serizawa was a little caught off guard at being brought into conversation so suddenly, “I mean, he does have a great dad already, but Reigen is definitely another father figure to him.”

“See!” Misaki said smugly.

“Alright, if we’re all done ganging up on me in my own office, let’s figure out what we’re doing next.”

“Well, I think I’d like to get some of our things settled at your place, Taka. I’m not in dire need of a shower since we stayed at a hotel last night, but I do want to see where I’m staying and get Hina to bed soon.”

Reigen looked unsure, “I don’t have a problem with you two staying with me, but I just want you to know my place is really small, the bed is old and lumpy, there’s some ash trays here and there,” He noticed his sister’s shock, “I know, I know lecture me later. I just don’t think my place is the best spot for her. I can pay for a hotel nearby or-”

“Well,” Serizawa interjected “I have that spare bedroom that Shou and Teru sometimes stay in. She’s more than welcome to use that.”

Reigen’s eyes lit up. “Wait, really? Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s absolutely no problem. Just as long a Misaki is okay with it.” He looked over at her.

“I would love to! You’re a lifesaver, Serizawa!” She said with a smile. “Oh also, what’s your full name?”

“Oh, right, it’s Katsuya Serizawa” He answered.

“Okay, well Serizawa feels too formal for me, can I call you Katsuya?”

“Uh, sure! Call me whatever you like” He gave her a gentle smile.

Reigen was dying a little on the inside. He had been wanting to call him ‘Katsuya’ for a long time and now his sister got to it in less than an hour.

Reigen pat his legs and stood up as he talked “Alright, let’s get ourselves over to your apartment Ka-- Serizawa,” He chickened out “because it looks like the little one needs to rest.”

They looked over at Hina starting to doze off in Reigen’s chair. They gathered her, locked up the office and headed over to Serizawa’s.

Once they made it in, Serizawa showed Misaki her bedroom and she went to put Hina in bed.

Serizawa gave Reigen’s back a couple pats, sending him into cardiac arrest, and asked “How are you holding up?”

Reigen let out a big sigh, “Actually pretty well. I haven’t seen or heard from her in about three years and I’m just so happy she’s free now. She deserves it.”

Serizawa hummed “I’m really glad. For you and her. And you know what, I think we should celebrate. I got a bottle of wine from a classmate when I graduated and I’ve been waiting for a special occasion to crack into it. What do you say?”

Reigen looked at him dreamily, “Yeah, that sounds really good actually.”

They got the wine out and glasses on the table by the time Misaki came back. “She was a little resistant to go to sleep because she didn’t want to miss out, but the exhaustion won out in the end.”

“Wine?” Serizawa asked.

“Please!” She said emphatically.

They drank, they laughed, they reminisced, and told embarrassing stories about each other. It was all so surreal for Reigen. One of his biggest regrets was not doing enough to protect his little sister. And now she was back and he could do it right this time.

Reigen grabbed the bottle to pour himself another glass. The other two looked at him skeptically.

“Are you sure about that, Taka?” Misaki questioned.

“Yeah, Reigen, the last time you drank this much, it didn’t turn out so well.” Serizawa added.

"See, even Katsuya knows you're not good with alcohol"

“Oh, ye of little faith. I’m almost 30 and It’s only two glasses of wine. I’ll be fine” He insisted.

Thirty minutes later, Reigen was passed out on the couch.

Chapter Text

Reigen’s head felt fuzzy as he regained consciousness. He didn’t know how long he’d been out, but he knew that he had passed out on the couch. The last thing he really remembered was finishing that second glass of wine.

That was a mistake.

He really didn’t have the energy to move or even open his eyes, so he decided to just wait for exhaustion to take over his mind again. But before it had the chance, he recognized voices nearby.

Serizawa and Misaki must still be up.

“Oh yeah, I actually really understand.”

Ah, Serizawa. Reigen could recognize his voice anywhere.

Serizawa continued, “When I was with Cla-- my last boss, um, he lied to me and manipulated me. I did some not so great things for him because I was convinced he was god incarnate and could do no wrong. Reigen and Shigeo-- oh, that’s Mob’s actual name-”

“Oh, I thought it was kinda a weird name.” Misaki laughed.

“Right, yeah that’s just a nickname,” Serizawa chuckled “but anyway they were the ones who helped show me there was another way. They gave me friendship. After that I put in a ton of work. I work with Reigen now, I have my own place, and I finished the high school education I never got as a teenager. Now I’m considering getting a BA in something, not sure what yet.”

Yes, Serizawa, show off. You’ve earned it.

Misaki hummed “That’s really inspiring, Katsuya. I’m sure Arataka is really proud of you. I can tell he admires you.”

You’re damn right I do.

Serizawa gave a nervous laugh, “I don’t know about admire, but I know he’s proud of the progress I’ve made. It’s really the other way around. I really admire him. Hell, so does everyone around him. He’s like a magnet for emotionally damaged people. He really is amazing.”

You too, dummy.

“You’re not wrong. I’m one of those people, but I know my brother. I can tell he really looks up to you. Figuratively and literally. ‘Cause, wow, you’re really tall.” She was emphatic, but her words started to slur.

He’s a tree I want to climb.

“Ha, uh, thanks. Maybe you’re right. I don’t know, it’s hard to grasp the idea of anyone really admiring me. I just know I’m lucky to have Reigen as a friend.”

“Well,” Misaki started and gave a little chuckle. Reigen knew that laugh. If he could see her face, there would be a big mischievous smile plastered onto it. “Maybe you two could be more than friends.”

Damnit Misaki.

Regen heard a loud thunk and Serizawa’s muffled, “Ow!”

“Oh, no! Are you alright?” Reigen could hear the smile in her voice.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry, I just hit my toe on table leg. You kinda caught me off guard there.” There was a nervous edge to his voice.

“Oh, sorry. Don’t mind me, I sorta lose my filter when I stay up late and drink.” She really didn’t sound that sorry.

“Yeah, it is pretty late.” He said before yawning, “Jeez, it’s almost 2am. We should probably head to bed. You got everything you need?”

“I think so” She said, yawning as well.

“Well, if you think of anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” His voice overflowing with care.

“Will do.” Misaki paused then said, “Thank you for all this, Katsuya.”

Okay, that was sincere.

“Hey, it’s nothing. I’m happy to do it. Sleep well, alright?”

“You too, thanks.”

Reigen heard her shuffle to her room and close the door. He wished he could hear them talk more. Even though Misaki could be a little nosy, Reigen liked the idea of his sister and Serizawa getting along and being friends. It felt warm. It felt like home.

He was about to drift off to sleep once more, when he heard Serizawa humming a little tune as he put the glasses away. Reigen could listen to him for hours. Then the humming started getting closer and closer until Reigen knew Serizawa was standing right next to him. Reigen wasn’t expecting anything, but he did start to panic. That is, until he felt a waft of air as a blanket settled on his body.

This man is too precious, oh my goodness.

Reigen snuggled into the blanket. It was warm and cozy and it even smelled like Serizawa. Reigen was in heaven and losing consciousness fast. Before he did completely, he heard something in the back of his mind.

“Night, Arataka.”

The second time Reigen woke up that morning, he actually got up. Since he didn’t go back home, he had fallen asleep in his suit. Even without the jacket, tie, belt, and a few buttons undone, the outfit was not comfortable for sleeping. He was sure he looked like a mess.

Ugh, my head hurts. He thought as he wandered into the kitchen.

Reigen didn’t get very far when he noticed a full glass of water on the counter. Next to it was a napkin with two little pills on it and written on the napkin was an R. He felt like he was going to scream. How was he supposed to hold back when Serizawa did stuff like this?

He thought things couldn’t get any worse, but then Serizawa himself came out of his room.

Oh, this isn’t fair.

He wasn’t wearing anything particularly scandalous. Just a white cotton shirt and some blue sleep shorts, but it gave Reigen a view he usually never saw. Thick forearms and calves, scruffy bed head, and chest hair poking out of the top of his shirt.

This is torture. I’m being punished for something.

Serizawa’s eyebrows were furrowed.

Crap, I stared too long.

“Uh, good morning Serizawa.” Reigen mustered out. He supposed it was better than nothing.

Serizawa cleared his throat. “Right, um, good morning. Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, I slept great. And thank you for this.” He said before popping the pills in his mouth and washing them down.

“Of course! It’s no problem.” His cheerfulness in full force.

“How did you sleep?” Reigen asked, doing his best to just look at Serizawa’s face.

“Pretty good actually, even though I went to bed kinda late” He laughed a little.

Reigen’s mind flashed back to the conversation he overheard last night. He hoped Serizawa didn’t get too hung up on what Misaki said. He would hate for things to get awkward between them because of something his sister said.

Then, almost on cue, Misaki emerged from her bedroom with Hina on her back.

“Good morning!” Misaki sung.

“Goo’ mor’ing!” Hina echoed.

Serizawa’s face lit up “Good morning you two! Did you sleep well?”

“Better than you can ever imagine” She said as she pat him on the shoulder.

“Glad to hear it!” His smile was radiant

Reigen was glad too. Just watching the interaction gave him all kinds of warm, fuzzy feelings.

“Though, I do think we’re getting pretty hungry. I don’t mind making something once I take a look at what you have.” She started walking towards the kitchen.

Serizawa stopped her and said, “Oh, please don’t, you’re the guest. I’d be more than happy to make us all something. What would you like, Hina?”

Her reply was immediate, “Pancakes!”

Misaki let out an exasperated sigh, “We made her pancakes for her second birthday, and she’s been obsessed ever since. Don’t worry about that, we’ll have whatever you have around.”

“Well, if you’re okay with it, I do have a box of pancake mix. It’d be no trouble.”

Hina gasped and grabbed her mom’s face, “Mommy! Pancakes!”

Misaki laughed, “Okay, okay. Can you say ‘thank you, Katsuya?’”

“Thank you Kat’sa!” She said happily.

Serizawa put his hands to his cheeks, “Oh my goodness, you’re too cute!”

You’re one to talk.

“Alright, I’ll get started right away. Please sit at the table and I’ll have it ready ASAP.” Serizawa turned toward Reigen and pointed at him, “You too mister. I got this under control, you go hang out with your sister.”

Serizawa showing his assertive side always made Reigen a little weak in the knees. “Oh, um, of course.” He went over and sat by Misaki.

“Thank you, it’ll be ready in no time.” Serizawa said as he tied a frilly, purple apron around himself. He must have seen the looks of surprise on the others’ faces, “Oh, Shimazaki, one of my friends, gave this to me as a gag gift. But I actually quite like it.” He said with a satisfied smirk.

“It looks good on you, Katsuya.” Misaki giggled.

“Thank you very much.” Serizawa continued getting breakfast ready.

Reigen knew he had to distract himself before he started picturing things. He noticed Hina was coloring something while she waited. “ Hey Hina! What are drawing?”

Hina lifted her crayon triumphantly and sang out, “PANCAKES!” She immediately went back to scribbling.

Reigen chuckled and asked, “Wow, you’re really into pancakes, aren’t you?”

She nodded furiously, stood up in her chair, and started jumping, “Pancakes, pancakes, panca--”

Before Misaki had a chance to stop her, Hina had slipped and fell off the chair. She never made it to the floor though. A bright, purple glow surrounded the toddler and kept her floating in the air for a moment. It then brought her to sit back down in her seat.

Reigen turned and saw Serizawa with his hand outstretched in Hina’s direction.

Shit.

It was quiet for a few more seconds. That silence was soon shattered by Hina’s peals of laughter.

“Again, again!” She shouted.

“Uh, Hina, that’s not very safe. If we want pancakes, we’re going to have to stay sitting in our chairs, okay?” Reigen said softly.

Hina just nodded and quietly said, “Pancakes.”

“Um, I’m sorry, what just happened?” Misaki’s voice was rising in pitch.

Reigen was frozen, he didn’t know where to start. Usually he could come up with something convincing on the spot, but Misaki knew how to see through most of his bullshit. Thankfully Serizawa stepped up.

“Well,” He looked at Reigen, “I’m just going to tell her. It was bound to come up at some point.” He took a deep breath, “Misaki, to be completely honest. I have… psychic powers.” He said cautiously.

Again, there was a moment of silence, then, “Wait, so those terrorists a couple years ago, were telling the truth? They really were espers?”

Sheepishly, Serizawa replied, “Yeah, the guy who lead that was actually the former boss I was telling you about.”

“Oh, wow, I guess that makes sense.” Her voice trailed off as she spoke. She was still trying to process what just happened.

Reigen was getting worried, “But Serizawa is nothing like that. He didn’t really know what wa--

He was interrupted by his sister’s laugh, “No, I didn’t think that. I can already tell he’s a good person. I just needed a second to really take in that, y’know, psychic powers are real. But it’s not really the freakiest thing I’ve ever heard. Do you have powers, Taka?”

Reigen was so glad that Serizawa knew the truth about him, “Uh, no I’m not an esper, per se. But people have said my massages have cleared away evil spirits.” He said with his finger and thumb in a check shape at his chin.

Misaki snorted, “Oh my god, Taka, that is so you!” She leaned down to rest her chin in her hand, “All of this kinda makes sense. I always knew you were going to do something off the beaten path, so I never thought it was weird when you started Spirits and Such. The whole psychic thing took me off guard, but it honestly makes sense.”

Reigen gave a confused laugh, “Thanks? I think. Man, this went way better than I thought it would.”

She gave him a nod and smiled, “So, Katsuya, what all can you do?”

“I can see spirits and exorcize them. But my best ability is telekinesis. Like this.” He got a really confident smirk on his face as he lifted one hand.

My Word.

Suddenly plates, forks, and cups flew from cupboards and drawers. They twirled and spun in the air, never once hitting each other until they landed perfectly on the table.

Misaki sat there wide eyed.

Hina, who was awestruck, started clapping, “Yaaay!”

Serizawa gave a bow, “Why thank you! Are we ready to eat?”

“Yes yes yes yes!” Hina chanted.

Under her breath, Misaki said, "Man, he really is amazing."

Serizawa proudly set out all the food as Hina softly bounced in her chair. Misaki was cutting up Hina’s food when Serizawa asked, “So, Misaki, how can Reigen and I help you during this… time?”

“You guys have done more than enough already. I don’t know exactly how long I’ll need to stay here s-”

“Please, stay as long as you need, we can figure out specifics another day.” Serizawa interrupted

“Katsuya, thank you. That means a lot. Well, I don’t need too much right now. I won’t be leaving the apartment too much for the next few days because I hate going out when I have a lot of bruises. I just get stared at.” She admitted.

Serizawa looked heart broken, “Right of course, we can get you anything you need. Just say the word, okay?”

“Alright, yeah. I didn’t bring a lot. I had a couple of bags for me and Hina in the car just in case something like this ever happened. But those don’t have enough of my clothing to last very long.”

Serizawa and Reigen looked at each other, silently communicating that they were going to fix that.

Misaki continued on, “But at least I don’t have to worry about my job for a little while. The firm is going to let me take some time off. A lot of the people there knew what was going on with me… at home. Plus I have some savings stored away to get by.”

“Oh right!” Reigen interjected, “Misaki is a lawyer! She works with mainly kids and families and is pretty much the best at her job!”

“How do you know I’m the best? We haven’t really talked in a while.” She looked a little bashful.

Reigen sighed, “Yeah, well Mom still brags about you to me. It’s no surprise who the favorite child is, though I can’t really blame them.”

Misaki rolled her eyes, “Well, Mom and Dad never really understood out of the box thinking. I always wished I could be as creative and resourceful as you. I was so sad when you took that boring office job.”

“Ha! That’s stupid.” Reigen said with a smirk

“No, you’re stupid.” She shot back, playing along.

Their banter was interrupted by Serizawa’s laughter, “Sometimes, I wish I had a sibling.”

Misaki got that mischievous look on her face, “Maybe one day you’ll have a sister-in-law as cool as me.” She punctuated her sentence with finger guns.

Serizawa gave a hearty laugh, “Yeah, maybe.” He stood to take his empty plate to the kitchen.

They’re both going to be the death of me.

When Serizawa’s back was turned, Reigen glared at his sister.

“What?” She said, all so innocent.

“Oh, Reigen,” Serizawa started as he came back from the kitchen.

“Yeah?” The reply came from both Reigen and Misaki

It was obvious on her face that she had been waiting for this moment. Just ready to pounce.

“I think he was talking to me, Misaki.” Reigen wasn’t sure what she was planning, but it couldn’t be good.

“Well, how could I have known that. We’re both Reigen after all. And for obvious reasons, I’m not going to go by my married name.” The fake ignorance was thick in her voice.

“But doesn’t he call you Misaki anyway?” Reigen challenged.

“Sure, but if I hear my name-- and Reigen is my name-- then I can’t help but respond to it.” Misaki ended with a shrug.

“I’m not sure what you want us to do then.” Reigen was pretty sure he knew what she wanted them to do.

She could barely contain her smile, “I just think it would be easier if he called me Misaki and called you Arataka.”

There it is.

“Misaki, we like to keep a pretty professional relationship. I don’t want make him cross any boundaries that would jeopardize that or make him feel uncomfortable.” That was essentially true, but not the whole truth.

Reigen was trying to gauge how Misaki was going to attack next when Serizawa piped up, “No, I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. If it makes things easier, I can give it a shot.”

Reigen didn’t expect that. Holy shit!

Before anyone else said a word, Serizawa cleared his throat and started again, “Arataka, I know we’re off on the weekend, but I got an e-mail from a client this morning. It was about the consultation appointment on Monday and I wanted you to take a look at it when you get a chance.” He said it all so naturally, like it was just the norm.

Reigen’s insides felt like they were melting. “Uh, um, right, thank you Serizawa, I’ll take a look at it later to--”

“Now hang on, something’s not right about that.” Misaki chimed in. “He just called you ‘Arataka,’ so it’s a little weird that you were so formal in return. I think it’s only fair that you call him Katsuya.”

Reigen looked at his sister and pleaded to her with his eyes. She only tilted her head as if to say, “Go on.”

“Thank you for bringing that to my attention. Go ahead and forward it to me and I can take a look at it tonight, K-katsuya.” He almost had it perfect until the very end.

“Awesome!” Serizawa said, maybe a little too loud. “Um, I’m gonna go take a shower now. I didn’t get a chance to after running around yesterday. Feel free to help yourselves to anything while I step away.” And with that, he made a swift exit.

Reigen waited until the water turned on to confront his sister. All he could come up with was, “Why?”

“I wanted to help because I can tell you like him. Sorry, that’s not quite it. I can tell you’re head over heels for this guy.” She said smugly.

“How?” Reigen really had to get past these one syllable responses.

“Oh, come on. It’s pretty obvious. You don’t do a great job of hiding it.” She said taking a bite of food.

Panic overcame Reigen, “Wait, do you think he knows?”

Misaki shook her head, “No, I don’t think so. He’s got a good level of confidence, but I think he’s still got some progress to go in terms of recognizing affection.”

“Actually, yeah, that’s true. Clients will flirt with him every once and a while. I’ll ask him about later and he’s always so surprised. Which, he really shouldn’t be.” Reigen’s voice started getting softer as he thought about Serizawa.

“But you should really just tell him already. It’s driving you insane. I’m actually surprised that haven’t already. Weren’t you the one who went after guys in college?” She questioned him.

Reigen sighed, “Yeah, that’s true, but this situation is a little more sensitive than a college fling. I’m his boss, there’s a power imbalance there. I don’t want to take advantage of that.”

“What if he confessed to you?” She posed an excellent question.

“Errrr...I guess that could change things, but I’m not expecting that at all. I don’t even know if he’s into guys.” Reigen’s exasperation was evident. He may have spent a lot of time trying to figure out Serizawa’s preferences, to no avail.

“Does he know?” Misaki asked.

“Does he know what?” Reigen feigned ignorance.

“Does he know that you--”

“Got fourth place in a whack-a-mole competition? Yeah, I may have mentioned it a few times.” He deflected.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, “No, does he know you’re gay?”

“No, he doesn’t. My love life never really comes up and I don’t know how to bring that up causally.” Reigen said, rubbing his temples.

“Well, good thing I’m here to help with stuff like this.” She looked so pleased with herself.

Reigen’s eyes widened, “Uh, please don’t. I don’t want to mess up everything we already have. Like, what if it doesn’t work and he leaves. That would be worse than just pining after him.”

“Hey, I promise I’ll be careful. I understand how important this is, I’m not going to take it lightly.” She hesitated for a second, then continued, “I really want to see you happy and I can see how Katsuya makes you light up. I know we haven’t been as close for a while, but I want to change that. Please, let me be your nosy little sister and help you out.”

How was he supposed to say no after that. Reigen understood how sincere she was being and didn’t really want to take this away from her. Plus, there was a small chance something good could possibly come from this.

Reigen took in a deep breath and let it go. “Fine, go ahead. But if this goes south, I’m blaming you.” He said as he stood up and collected the rest of his suit.

Misaki clapped her hands, “Yay! Thank you Taka, you won’t regret it!” She noticed him getting ready to go. “Are you leaving?” She looked a little disappointed.

“If I have to stay in this suit all day, I’m going to go crazy. I just need to get back home to shower and change and then I’ll come back.” He reassured her.

“Oh, okay! Well, come back soon. We still have a lot of catching up to do.” She gave him a big smile.

“Will do. Don’t do anything weird while I’m gone.” He half-joked.

“Me? Never.” She laughed.

As Reigen got his shoes on, Misaki whispered something to Hina.

“Bye-bye Uncle Taka!” She was just too cute.

“Bye-bye Hina. See you later!” He gave them both a wave and then he was off.

As Reigen walked up to his apartment, he noticed the steps were wet. It hadn’t rained recently, so it was a little odd.

When he got to his door, Reigen saw water trickling out the bottom.

“Shit.”

He opened up the door and was greeted to a sea of ankle deep water all over his apartment. As water poured onto his feet, Reigen texted a picture of the disaster to Serizawa.

Serizawa called him back almost immediately, “Rei-er-Arataka, what happened? Is that your apartment?”

“Yeah, that’s my place. Covered in water.” Reigen said, still in shock.

“Do you need me to come over there and help with anything?” The concern was palpable in his voice.

“No, no, you’re fine. I’m just gonna wade through this to get some essentials, talk to my landlord, and figure out where I’m staying.” He said exasperated.

“Well, come stay here. I know it’ll be a little crowded, but I’m sure Misaki will be happy to have you closer.” Reigen swore he could hear his sister giggling in the background.

Reigen let out a sigh, “Yeah. Thank you, Ser-Katsuya. I’ll get things settled here then I’ll see you guys soon.”

“Yeah, see you soon.”

Reigen put a hand to his face and groaned.

“Adult life is so goddamn weird.”

Chapter Text

By the time Reigen was finally back at Serizawa’s apartment, it was evening. He was on the couch with his head in his hands as Serizawa and Misaki sat on either side of him.

“I’m sure they’ll get it fixed soon!” Serizawa tried to comfort him.

Reigen groaned, “No, I showed my landlord and he said that it would take around two weeks at least.”

“So, what even happened?” Misaki asked.

“He said a pipe probably burst. Between fixing that and replacing the damaged floors, it’s going to take some time.” Reigen look toward Serizawa apologetically, “Sorry, I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible.”

Serizawa put a hand on his back. Reigen could feel it burning its shape into his skin.

“No, don’t worry about it at all! I’m your co-worker, but I’m also your friend. I’m more than happy to help you out. Please, stay as long as you need to.” Serizawa said.

Although Reigen had been yearning for something a little different than friendship, he still felt so lucky. This sweet man was overflowing with compassion for Reigen that he didn’t feel like he deserved.

“Katsuya, you’re so kind, I think I’m going to cry.” Reigen said as he buried his head in his arms. Partially because he was affected by Serizawa’s kindness and partially because his face was red from how much he had been calling him ‘Katsuya.’

Misaki gently nudged Reigen with her elbow. He could almost hear her cheering him on.

“So, what were you able to salvage?” She asked.

“Just the essentials really. Clothes, toothbrush, some documents. I don’t actually have a lot of things in my apartment, which is good I guess. Also, I keep most of my important papers in the office.” Reigen was starting to feel better as he talked it out. It still sucked, but he thought about how it could have been much worse.

“That’s good to hear,” Serizawa said taking Reigen’s hands in his own, “But remember, we’re here to help. Please don’t shoulder the burden of this all on your own. Don’t play down what’s happening for our sake.” There was a slight tremble in Serizawa’s hands.

Fuck. Reigen’s brain was short circuiting. Between the strong eye contact and having his hands engulfed by Serizawa’s, Reigen’s stomach was doing back flips.

Reigen managed to give a weak nod and a soft, “Uh, sure.”

Serizawa seemed pleased enough with the response. He gave Reigen’s hands a pat and let go. Reigen could swear that he saw his cheeks get a little pinker.

“Katsuya’s right, Taka. No matter what else is going on, we’ll be here to help and comfort you!” Misaki throwing her arms around her brother and giving him a hug, “You get in here too!” She pointed at Serizawa.

Serizawa hesitated, trying to find the best way to participate. When Reigen felt Serizawa snake his hand around his waist, a shiver etched its way through every nerve in his body. Just when he thought he was dead, Serizawa gave the finishing blow by setting his head on Reigen’s. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, so they sat there in his lap.

The hug just kept happening. Reigen couldn’t tell if it was an abnormally long hug, or if time had stopped meaning anything to him as a concept. Eventually it got to be too much for him.

Reigen stood up an wriggled out of their grasps, “Ah! Okay! Thank you, thank you.”

“What’s wrong, Taka? Physical touch is usually what comforts you.” Misaki said, then turned to look at Serizawa, “Is he not a tactile person anymore?”

Serizawa chuckled, “No, he is--”

“”I-I’m just really tired. Plus I haven’t been able to shower or change my clothes since yesterday morning. So, I think I’ll do that now.” Reigen started walking toward the bathroom, then paused. “It can be hard for me…. to accept help sometimes,.... but I do really appreciate everything you guys are doing for me.” He flashed a deliberate glance at Misaki.

“Of course!” Serizawa said enthusiastically. Misaki nodded her head in agreement.
Reigen gave them a weak smile then he finished walking to the bathroom.

As he was in the shower, Reigen thought about everything that had happened just since Friday-- just yesterday. He was so happy Misaki was back. She and Hina are safe and Reigen wouldn’t let anything change that now.

But on the other hand, even with everything she’s going through, Misaki is pushing him to be with Serizawa. She wants to help and she wants him to be happy, but Reigen was still struggling with the idea of that being okay.

He continued pondering as he turned off the water and finished getting ready for bed. When Reigen came back to the living room, he saw that the futon couch had been folded out and there were blankets and a pillow stacked neatly on top of it.

Reigen sighed and smiled. Serizawa certainly wasn’t making this decision easy.

The next morning, Reigen stepped out of the bathroom, dressed for the day. It was a little cramped changing clothes in the bathroom, but he wasn’t going to complain.

He made his way to the kitchen to get something quick to eat before heading out for some errands.

“Okay Mr. Fifty-Shades-of-Beige, where are you going today?” Misaki asked from the dining table. She was sitting with Hina as she ate breakfast and was writing something down before talking to Reigen.

“Uh, good morning to you too? I was going to run some errands, but first do you have something against what I’m wearing?” Reigen asked, a little taken aback.

Misaki scoffed, “Arataka, you’re wearing khakis, a shirt the color of dull baby puke, and a freaking cargo vest. I don’t know why you think I wouldn’t be against what you’re wearing.”

Reigen rolled his eyes, “It’s not that bad.”

“I had hope when I saw you in that suit.” She said, ignoring him, “It’s not the most fashionable, but the gray is sensible and the pink tie makes it a little more fun.” Misaki sighed and put her head in her hands, “Honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised. You’ve always had a questionable fashion sense, but I do remember there used to be more sparkles.”

“I’ve heard enough of this slander. I looked good in that sequined crop top and everyone knew it.” Reigen thought back on the days when he had the confidence and the body to pull a look like that off.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Misaki said as she picked up Hina and started walking toward her room. “Grab your bag of clothes and come with me.”

“Wha-- why?”

“Because I’m going to teach you how to dress, if it’s the last thing I do.” She said with a sigh.

What am I getting myself into? He thought as he followed his sister.

As soon as they were in her room, Misaki started digging through Reigen’s bag. He sat with Hina on the bed as her mom muttered to herself.

“No...no...maybe? No, that won’t work.”

Reigen turned to his niece, “How do you think I look?”

The toddler gave a hum and tapped her chin as she looked at him, “Yucky.” Shen then pat him on the hand and said, “Mommy’s helping.”

Before Reigen had time to cope with being burned by a two-year-old, Misaki spoke up.

“Okay, there wasn’t really a lot to choose from, so I had to get a little resourceful.” She said, handing him the clothes she picked out.

“Wait, these aren’t my jeans.” Reigen said, confused.

“I know, they’re mine. But they’re a little big on me now, so I thought they might work for you.”

Reigen was still unsure.

“Look, just try them on and if they don’t fit, we’ll figure something else out.” She reached out her hand to her daughter. “Come on, Hina. Let’s go wait out here so Uncle Taka can get changed.”

“Okay Mommy!” The little girl said as trotted over to her mom.

And now, Reigen was alone again. He debated just walking right back out there without changing, but he knew playing along would make his sister happy. With a resigned sigh, he put on the new outfit.

The clothes weren’t bad by any means, Reigen just wasn’t used to dressing like this. The dark blue jeans fit him better than expected, but what gave him some trouble was the shirt. It was a short sleeve charcoal-gray T-shirt. He bought it a few years ago, but hadn’t worn it because the neck line was a little low. The material was also so thin that you could almost see through it in places.

With a deep breath in and out, Reigen opened the door to the living room. There he found two pairs of eyes evaluating him. He waited anxiously for their reaction.

Hina and Misaki looked at each other for a brief second, then erupted into applause and cheers.

“You look a million times better! How do you feel?” His sister asked.

“Uh, self conscious. I feel like people can see through this shirt.” Reigen said, messing with the hem.

Misaki laughed, “Only if they’re really looking.”

Reigen was then startled by the sound of a door opening behind him. He quickly turned around to see Serizawa standing before him. If Misaki thought Reigen looked good, then Serizawa was perfection. He was wearing a dark green shirt, black jeans, and a black sweater jacket. He looked so warm and comfy, Reigen just wanted to cuddle up with him in his sweater. He didn’t get to see Serizawa in casual clothes very often, but when he did, it was always a treat.

They both kinda just stared at each other for a bit before Serizawa asked, “Uh, what’s going on out here?”

Misaki chimed in before Reigen had to, “We were just cheering Taka on because his outfit is very good today. Don’t you think so too, Katsuya?”

Oh, here comes the torture.

Serizawa looked him over again and nodded, “Yeah, that does look good on him.”

Reigen tried to laugh it off, but inside he was screaming, “Yeah, thanks. Thought I’d change up my look a little.” He felt like he needed to say something to return the compliment, but didn’t want to be weird, “That shade of green looks good on you, Katsuya.”

Okay, that was kinda weird, but it could have been worse?

“Oh! Uh, thank you!” Serizawa gave a big smile as his face went a little red. “Are you ready to go?”

“Go? Where are we going?” Reigen asked.

“Misaki asked me last night if you and I could pick up some things for her.”

“Sorry, Taka, I got caught up in other things this morning, so I forgot to ask you.” She handed Reigen the paper she was writing on earlier. “If you don’t mind could you get this make-up for me? Hina and I want to go to the park later today, but, well…” She gestured to the bruises still on her face. “I can give you mone--”

“Misaki,” Reigen said, cutting her off, “we don’t need your money. It’s no trouble, just leave it to us.

With October right around the corner, the air was starting to get a little chillier. Reigen felt intense regret at his choice of shirt. Well, not really his choice, but either way, it proved to be a bad idea. It didn’t help that the wind was also picking up. Reigen had his arms crossed, holding on to any amount of warmth as Serizawa studied the list Misaki gave them.

“Okay, I’m going to be honest, I have no idea what most of this means. I get eyeliner and eyeshadow, but I’m guessing she’s not asking for concrete when she says foundation.” Serizawa chuckled at his own joke.

Reigen couldn’t help but laugh. Serizawa was just too cute and funny.

“Yeah, no. I can handle the list, I’m fairly familiar with make-up.” Reigen said confidently.

“You seem so sure of yourself.” Serizawa said smirking, “Do you actually know or are you bluffing?” He raised one eyebrow as he asked.

Every time Serizawa gave him that playful look, Reigen had to consciously remind himself to breathe.

“Uh, I actually do know. I sorta used to dabble in make-up… when I was in college.” He sheepishly admitted.

“Oh wow! Really? That’s actually really cool. I wish I could’ve seen it.” Serizawa looked like he was trying to picture it.

Reigen’s eyes widened “No no no no, you don’t want to see that. I was a bit of a hot mess back then.”

Serizawa pondered that for a moment then asked, “Do you think I would look good with make-up?”

Yes, of course. You would look good in anything.

“I think that anyone can look good in make-up. You just need to find the style that suits you the best.”

“I see.” Serizawa was quiet for a bit, then, “I think that would be fun to try sometime.”

Reigen had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. Of course he’d love to put make-up on Serizawa, but he was still worried about crossing professional boundaries. So, they walked in silence for the next few minutes.

Reigen noticed that Serizawa was fidgeting with something in his pocket.

“Are you alright?” He asked the taller man.

“Yeah, I just… didn’t know how to ask this or bring it up. I know that Misaki just wants us to get make-up this time, but she’s probably missing some other things.” He paused, “Things she already has at her.. old house.”

“Oh.” Was all Reigen said when he realized what Serizawa meant.

“We don’t have to go over there if that’s crossing any lines. I just thought it might be easier on her if she didn’t have to replace everything.” Serizawa said still fidgeting.

“Actually, I think that’s a really good idea. That asshole needs to know they’re safe from him and they’re never coming back.” Reigen said clenching his fist. “But, I don’t know where she lived and I’m sure Misaki wouldn’t give me the address..”

Serizawa perked up “Actually,” He pulled something out of his pocket, a little card with writing on it, and held it between his pointer and middle finger. “I may have seen this on Hina’s backpack and decided to take it. It’s got their information on it.”

Serizawa was too good of a person. This man was so kind and thoughtful for someone he met just a couple days ago.

“You really are amazing.” Reigen said before he could stop his thoughts from spilling out.

“Ah, no, it was nothing.” He said, scratching the back of his head, “Are you sure about this? I don’t want you to think we have to because I suggested it.”

“No, we’re doing this. I’ve hated this man for six years. I knew he was no good when they started dating, so if there’s a way to spite him and help my sister at the same time, I’m in.” Reigen’s voice had a hint of malice.

“Okay, but be careful. I don’t want you getting hurt either.” Serizawa looked concerned.

“Oh, don’t worry. He won’t attack me and I’m not looking to get violent with him. Just showing up is going to hurt his pride and I can be satisfied with that for now.” Reigen said with a smirk.

Serizawa let out a sigh and smiled, “Okay, I trust you.”

Reigen’s heart fluttered.

“Oh, yeah, thanks. I’m gonna call a taxi now.” He said turning around quickly.

As they waited for their ride, a gust of wind blew through and caused Reigen to shiver. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. The wait felt like it was taking forever and Reigen was freezing in his sorry excuse for a shirt.

Suddenly, Reigen wasn’t so cold anymore as he felt something soft around his arms. He looked over and saw that Serizawa had draped his sweater jacket over him. His shirt sleeves came to his elbow so now his thick forearms were on full display.

“You looked really cold, so I figured you could use that.” Serizawa grinned.

Now Reigen definitely wasn’t cold anymore because his skin felt like it was on fire.

“A-are you sure? Aren’t you going to be cold now?” Reigen said as he tried to regain his composure.

Serizawa chuckled, “Don’t worry about me, I don’t really get cold that easy.” He said pushing sleeves up to drive home the point.

The taxi pulled up as Reigen slid his arms through the sleeves.

“Heh, if you say so.” He looked away to hide his red face.

Reigen opened the door for Serizawa to slide in first and quietly said “Thank you, Katsuya.” as he got in.

Reigen gave the driver the address and the car pulled away. When it did, Serizawa whispered, “You’re welcome, Arataka.”

The taxi was driving away as the two men stood in front of the house. Reigen started cuffing the long sleeves of the jacket.

“Alright, so the plan is: Get in, give the bastard some intimidating looks, get as much stuff as we can carry, then get out.” He said looking up at Serizawa.

“Okay, I can do that. Is there anything else you need me to do?” Serizawa asked.

Reigen tapped his chin, “Hmmm, I think it might good for you to keep your eye on him. I don’t think he’ll attack or anything because,” Reigen gestured to how tall and broad Serizawa was, “but I don’t want to take any chances. If he tries anything, just put up a barrier or something like that. Also, don’t let him trick you into talking to him.”

Serizawa furrowed his eyebrows, “Of course.”

Reigen nodded and marched forward with his associate trailing behind him. Once they made it to the door, Reigen elected to ignore the doorbell and slammed his fist against the door a few times.

It didn’t take long for the door to open. Standing before them was a man about Reigen’s height, but he was a tad bit bulkier. His hair dark auburn and neatly styled. On his face was a bandage and his forehead had a dark bruise.

Good work, Misaki!

The man was startled at first, but quickly regained his composure with a gentle smile.

“Ah, hello Arataka.” He said he said softly.

“Yuuta.” Reigen scoffed.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your… friend?” He said looking at Serizawa. The tall man had his arms crossed and had a stern expression on his face.

“No. We came here to pick up some of Misaki and Hina’s things.” Reigen said bluntly.

Yuuta blinked in surprise for a second then opened the door further and gestured inside, “By all means.”

The two of them shoved past and Reigen started looking for the bedroom.

“Don’t listen to a word that comes out of this guy’s mouth, Serizawa. Everything he says is probably a lie.”

The house was nice, but fairly small, so Reigen would still be able to hear anything Yuuta was saying. He found the bedroom as the other two stayed in the living room.

“So, your name is Serizawa. What are you doing with little Taka?” Yuuta asked.

There was no reply. You’re doing amazing.

Reigen had found some duffle bags, backpacks, and other bags in the bedroom closet. He was now just going from room to room and grabbing anything that looked like Misaki’s or Hina’s.

“Okay, if you won’t talk about yourself, maybe you can tell me why Arataka is wearing Misaki’s jeans?” Reigen knew Yuuta was getting frustrated, but it was hard to tell when he used that calm and cheery voice.

What? How did he--

Yuuta raised his voice to make sure Reigen could hear him. “She got a bit of bleach on the back of the right leg. It ended up staining in the shape of a heart. My Misaki always thought it was so cute, so she decided to leave them that way.”

This man knew how to pull reactions from people. He knew just what to say and how to act to control other people. If Yuuta had been an actual good person, he would be distraught right now. He wouldn’t have this fake, sinister smile plastered on his face. He was too sweet, too gentle, hiding his true self.

Serizawa stayed as silent as the grave. Reigen felt bad about putting him in this situation, but was really proud of how he was handling it. Evil wants to be debated and challenged. It draws people in by defeating their arguments. Best not to even give it the satisfaction of even trying.

Reigen chuckled to himself as he shoved Hina’s clothes into a bag. Yuuta was so used to having his way with people, this must be pissing him off.

He heard Yuuta sigh, “You know, Serizawa, you should give people a chance before blindly listening to whatever someone else says about them. I could be a really good person, but you’d never know if you don’t talk to me.” The gentleness in his voice started to crack.

Hold on Katsuya, I’m almost done.

Reigen had already gone through the bedrooms and was now frantically searching the bathroom for anything that looked like Misaki’s.

“I even let you two in here to meddle with my life, isn’t that nice? I could’ve said no and called the police, but I didn’t. Doesn’t that show you something?” Yuuta pleaded.

Sorry, asshole, Katsuya’s already seen first hand how deceptive someone can be. You’re not gonna trick him.

It certainly wasn’t everything, but Reigen felt good about how much he had packed. He dragged the bags into the living room and he and Serizawa started putting them on. They each wore a backpack while Reigen held two tote bags and Serizawa held two duffle bags. He was a lot stronger than the blonde.

“Oh, leaving so soon? I didn’t even offer you something to drink. ” Yuuta said feigning his distress.

“Save it for someone who’ll believe your lies. We just came here to get some stuff and rub it in your face that Misaki and Hina are safe. You can’t manipulate or hurt them ever again.” Reigen said with a smile.

Yuuta gave a little chuckle, “Are you so sure about that? She could get in a lot of trouble for the things she’s done to me.” His whole demeanor had changed. His voice was dark and threatening, the sweetness completely gone. This was who he really was. “There’s kidnapping and assault for starters.”

Reigen was going to just flip him off and leave, but he felt a small rumbling and saw Yuuta’s face go white. All of the cunning malice replaced with fear. Reigen looked over at Serizawa. He had a shimmering purple glow and his face was dark and angry.

Suddenly glass started breaking around them. Yuuta was completely cowering as picture frames, vases, and knick-knacks cracked and shattered.

This wasn’t good. Serizawa was losing it. Reigen knew he had to do something fast. He quickly grabbed the esper’s wrist which jolted him enough to snap out of it.

Before anything else could happen, Reigen ran them both out still holding on to Serizawa’s wrist.

They kept running for a few blocks to get some space from what just happened. Reigen found a park and sat on one of the benches. They sat in silence for a few minutes, just catching their breath.

Serizawa’s face was in his hands. “I’m so sorry. I messed up. I thought I could block out what he was saying, but he just made me so angry.” He sat up and clenched his fists, “After what he did to his wife and child, how could he act like that? He reminded me of Suzuki and then I just lost it.” Serizawa was getting worked up again.

“Hey,” Reigen said as he put his hand on the other man’s back, “it’s okay. I put you in that situation and I should have thought about how that might affect you. I was only thinking about myself and I’m sorry. I don’t blame you for what happened. You’ve come a really long way since you left Claw, but no one’s going to be perfect. Everyone has their breaking point and interacting with that low life would make anyone snap.” Reigen smiled at him, hoping he was able to reassure him.

Serizawa gave him a small smile in return, “Can I hug you?” Tears welled up in his eyes.

Reigen was a bit startled, but didn’t let it show as he nodded. He couldn’t let himself think of this as a romantic thing right now. He just needed to comfort his friend.

Before Reigen had a chance to over think how the hug would work, Serizawa had grabbed the smaller man around the torso. Reigen rested his hands on the other’s back.

“Thank you for everything Re--Arataka. You really care about people.” Serizawa said as he embraced him.

“Of course, it was nothing.” Reigen said meekly. He didn’t take compliments well and was glad that Serizawa couldn’t see how red his face was.

They sat and embraced quietly for a minute or so. Reigen was getting more and more anxious and had to break the silence.

“On the bright side we got to see that asshole nearly piss himself in fear. Honestly that’s one of the best moments of today.”

Serizawa pulled away to look at Reigen and then laughed.

“Yeah, that’s true. But I can’t decide which is better. That or finding out that you’re wearing your sister’s jeans.” He said, chuckling.

“Ugh, I can’t believe he noticed that.” Reigen groaned.

Serizawa lifted one brow, “Why are you wearing those?”

Might as well just tell him.

“Misaki was... not a fan of the outfit I had originally put on, so she picked a new one for me. And apparently her jeans were better than anything I had.” Reigen said, running his hand through his hair.

Serizawa considered that for a second, then said, “Well, I think she did a really good job.”
Something about the way he said that sent chills through the younger man.

“Don’t let her hear you say that. It’ll go to her head.” Reigen said jokingly.

Serizawa laughed at that. The sound was like music to Reigen’s ears.

“You’re really lucky to have her as a sister, you know that?” He said wistfully.

Reigen knew it. As much as Misaki could stress him out, he wouldn’t trade her for anything. She was brave and thoughtful and one of the most kind hearted people he had ever known. Reigen always wished he was little more like her.

“Yeah, I know.” He said with a smile.

“And I think she already knows it, but she’s really lucky to have you as her brother.” Serizawa said, playfully nudging the smaller man.

Reigen laughed, but then a frown crept on his face. “I don’t know, I wasn’t able to help her when she needed it. Sometimes I feel like I failed her.”

If only he had been more adamant about getting her out of there. He could have saved her years of torment.

“No, you didn’t fail her. You did what you could, but there’s only so much you can do. Even if she didn’t listen to you, she knew that she could count on you if she needed. Maybe your support gave her the courage to leave when she did.” He said getting more and more passionate.

Reigen looked at him, speechless, but smiled. He didn’t know if he fully believed what Serizawa was saying, but he couldn’t deny that it made him feel better.

Serizawa pat him on the back, “Alright come on, I can’t wait to surprise them.” He said, hoisting the duffle bags onto his shoulders.

“Yeah,” Reigen said, admiring the other man, “me too.”

The sun was high in the sky by the time they made it back home. Rather, to Serizawa’s home.

When the two of them stepped through the door, they could immediately tell that someone had been cooking. Reigen didn’t realize just how hungry he was until he smelled the savory aroma.

“Welcome back you two. I hope it wasn’t too hard to find everythin--” Misaki started to say as she walked from the kitchen to the front room, “Wait, what are you holding? Are those my tote bags? How.. did.. you?” She trailed off.

Reigen walked over to his sister with a tentative smile, “I grabbed what I could, but I was trying to get out of there as quickly as possible.” He held out a bag to her, “This one has your make-up in it, I hope I got everything you needed.”

Misaki just stood there. Shock and confusion covered her face.She looked past her brother for a moment to see Serizawa pulling stuffed animals out of a bag. Hina was squealing with joy at being reunited with her toys.

“Are you okay? Did he… do anything?” Her entire being exuded stress.

“No no, we’re fine. He still wants to come across as innocent. Plus even if he didn’t, I don’t think he’d try anything with this guy around.” Reigen said gesturing toward the large esper.

Misaki’s worry dissolved into laughter as she pulled her brother in for a hug. “Thank you, Taka.”

Reigen pat her back gently and whispered, “I’m always gonna look out for you, okay?”

“As long as you know this means I’ll be helping you out even more now.” She whispered back.

“Yeah, I had a feeling.” Reigen said, resigned

Misaki pulled away and wiped away the few tears that spilled over. She gave her brother a second look and said with a sly grin, “Nice jacket.”

Reigen rolled his eyes, but couldn’t stop the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth.

“Alright everyone, lunch is basically ready!” Misaki announced, “I made a stir fry with just some of the stuff you already had. I hope that’s alright, Katsuya.”

“Absolutely, help yourself to anything in there!”

As they ate together Reigen drank in the joy of the people he cared about and he reflected on what Serizawa had said.

He really was lucky.

Chapter Text

Monday

Mob walked the familiar route to the Spirits and Such office. Even though he wasn’t technically an employee there anymore, he still helped out when they needed him. Mob also liked to visit on occasion and make sure Reigen and Serizawa were doing alright.

This week would be a little different, though. When Reigen’s sister showed up out of the blue on Friday, Mob was reminded of the phone call he overheard years ago. He remembered wanting so badly to do something to help, but being unable to do more than fix a houseplant. He felt useless.

Now Mob wanted to do something more, so he offered to come back and work for this week. The more he thought about it, the more it didn’t seem that much better than just fixing the plant.

Serizawa had gotten a good grasp on his powers and had made leaps and bounds in his socialization skills. Spirits and Such really didn’t really need Mob’s help most of the time. Even so, Mob just wanted to at least be there for his Shishou and show his support.

His mind flashed back to seeing how broken Reigen was after that phone call and it made Mob’s heart ache.

This man gave Mob hope and direction during one of the most confusing and distressing times of his life. Even if everything he said wasn’t entirely true, that didn’t matter. He still took the time to help and comfort a scared little boy. That meant more to Mob than powers ever could.

As he opened the door to the office, Mob saw it was a bit more full than normal. Of course, Reigen and Serizawa were there at the desk going over some paperwork. Dimple was hovering near them. Tome was there, as she often is, but now she was sitting on the couch playing with Hina and talking to Misaki.

The bruises and cuts he had seen on them Friday evening were all but gone. Misaki still had a small bandage on her face and Hina was wearing giant sunglasses. It was presumably to hide her black eye, but the big, red frames made her look ridiculously cute.

A bright smile formed across his face. Seeing Reigen’s sister and niece playing and talking made Mob feel happy. He had only met them briefly, but they were sweet and Mob felt like he wanted to protect them.

“Oh Mob, you’re here!” Reigen said, noticing him. “I appreciate you coming in, but there’s nothing pressing right now. Feel free to do your homework or whatever else and I’ll let you know when we need your help.”

Mob nodded, “Okay.” He said as he exchanged waves with serizawa.

While he did have homework he could be working on, Mob decided to go sit with Misaki, Hina, and Tome.

The aforementioned teenage girl looked at him approaching, “Mob! Did you know Reigen has a sister? And a niece?”

“Uh, yeah, actually I got to meet them on Friday when they got here.” Mob said, scratching his head.

“Hi Mob, it’s good to see you again.” Misaki said with a smile.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you. And you too Hina!” Mob said waving at the little girl.

“Hi!” She waved back.

“Are you visiting the office?” Mob asked.

“Yeah! We wanted to see Taka and Katsuya in action. It’s fascinating to watch them!”

“Oh, Hina! We have to show Mob!” Tome shouted before whispering in Hina’s ear.

“Tome got her to do something super cute. Just watch, it’s great.” Misaki said through her laughter.

Hina adjusted her glasses and crossed her arms before saying, “I’m so cool.”

That’s it. That’s the absolute cutest thing Mob had ever seen in his entire life.

Since the day he destroyed the city, Mob has had a better grasp on his powers and emotions. But this moment caught him off guard so much, he felt like he was about to go 100%.

“Oh my goodness, that was adorable!” Mob said, putting his hands on the sides of his face.

“I know right?” Tome enthusiastically agreed as Hina giggled.

Mob quickly noticed Misaki looking at him weird.

“Um, Mob, how did you do that with your hair?” Misaki asked.

Mob froze. He was worried he’d frightened her.

“Oh, Mob’s got psychic powers, so that happens sometimes when he gets emotional.” Tome explained, oh so casually.

Mob sheepishly spoke, “Yeah, um sorr--”

Misaki just laughed, “You too huh? I thought it was just Katsuya.”

“Oh no, most of the people who help out here have powers, actually. It’s just me and Reigen who don’t.” Tome said. She used to be a little bitter about it, but now she seemed to be proud to be on the same level as Reigen.

“That’s amazing! My brother is really lucky to be surrounded by such incredible people.”

Mob relaxed as Misaki spoke. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that Reigen’s sister wouldn’t be freaked out by psychic powers.

The four of them continued talking at the couch as Reigen and Serizawa saw the occasional client. They were all something Reigen could handle on his own.

Mob noticed the two men kept stuttering over each other’s names. “Ara--Reigen” and “Katsu--Serizawa” peppered their conversations. Each time it happened, Misaki chuckled. Mob had a feeling she knew how the two of them felt about each other.

Reigen and Serizawa’s feelings were painfully obvious to just about everyone excluding the two of them. Mob may not be the best at reading social situations, but even he could see that they had fallen for one another.

“Ah. Mob, Tome,” Reigen said, pulling Mob out of his thoughts. “we’ve got an offsite job scheduled now if you want to come along. A guy thinks his toaster is haunted, so you may actually get to help out.” He said, gesticulating as usual.

Before Mob had a chance to respond, Misaki spoke up.

“Actually, Taka, I was wondering if I could have some more time with them. It’s not everyday I get to talk to my brother’s students.”

“Oh, um, alright. Is that okay with you two?” Reigen asked the two high school students.

Mob was supposed to be here to help out Reigen, but he had a feeling there was a reason Misaki wanted them to stay behind.

Mob looked at Tome and she shrugged in response.

Mob was still unsure, but he decided to roll with it. “Uh, yeah, that’s fine.”

“Yeah, same. I’ll catch the next one.” Tome said.

Reigen pursed his lips, “Okay, just let me know if you need anything. We shouldn’t be gone long.” As the two of them headed out, Reigen gave his sister a suspicious look. Dimple followed them out.

Once the door was shut and the sound of footsteps had faded away, Misaki turned to Mob and Tome and said. “So, tell me what you know about their relationship.”

So this is what she was after.

Tome sighed, “Oh boy. Yeah, they’re basically a meme in our group chat at this point. It’s just so obvious that they like each other!”

Mob nodded. “Yeah, that’s basically it.”

“When did it start?”

“Uh, the first time I noticed it was about a year ago I think? Right after Reigen’s birthday?” Tome said as she looked up to remember.

“Oh wow, this has been going on longer than I thought. Okay, well, I want help my brother out. I think being with Katsuya will be good for him. I know Taka can be self sacrificing at times, so I think he’ll need a little push. What do you think about helping me?” Misaki asked tentatively.

Tome grabbed Misaki by the shoulders, “Oh my goodness yes! If these two don’t get together soon, I’m going to scream!”

Misaki laughed, “Okay, good to know you’re on board! How about you, Mob?”

“Well, I usually don’t like to meddle with other people, but what you’re saying makes sense. I want to help him be happy.” Mob gave an unsure smile.

“Yes, of course. This isn’t about just messing with someone. I really do care about my brother and I want to see him happy too. That being said, you don’t have to help if you don’t want to.” Misaki put a hand on Mob’s shoulder as she talked.
She was so sincere. Mob smiled and said, “Okay, I’ll help.”

Misaki lit up, “Alright, well, if you two want to help, there’s only one thing I request. Please don’t tell either of them that the other one likes them. I really want them to find out from each other first. With everything else, I trust your judgement. You know Katsuya better than I do and you’ve all been around my brother enough to know him well.” She said, “Taka’s apartment flooded and we’re both staying at Katsuya’s, so I have things under control at home. I just need you to give them a little nudge at work. Are you up for it?” She ended with a smirk.

Tome shouted, “Of course! You can count on us.”

***

As Mob walked home that evening, his phone started buzzing like crazy. He opened it to see a barrage of texts from the group chat he was part of.

They had made the group chat for the students who regularly help out at Spirits and Such. Most of the time they just sent memes, but today they were talking about the plan to get Reigen and Serizawa together.

Group Name: future brighter than hanazawa’s wardrobe

Tome: GUYS!!

Tome: FIRST OFF did you know that reigen has a sister who’s a cool badass lawyer and has the cutest little girl in the whole world??? because I found that out today!!!

Teru: wait what? he has a sister? he never mentioned that… ●︿●

Shou: wow I wonder why he’s never talked about her

Tome: I don’t know either but she’s here now! her name’s misaki and her daughter is hina and I just love them already! <3 <3

Ritsu: Oh yeah, my brother couldn’t stop talking about how cute Hina was on Friday.

Teru: shigeo already met them?

Ritsu: Yes, but he didn’t really talk much about the sister, mainly just Hina.

Tome: the best part is that she wants to get reigen and serizawa together!!

Shou: are you for real?

Teru: (」゜ロ゜)」

Teru: WHAT?

Ritsu: Oh boy.

Tome: AND SHE WANTS US TO HELP (ノ＞▽＜)ノ

Tome: well, she asked me and mob, but I’m extending the invitation to all of you

Teru: (ﾉﾟ▽ﾟ)ﾉ it’s my time to shine!! i can be there tomorrow

Shou: me too!

Tome: wait wait wait hold up

Tome: should we all go in at the same time??

Shou: you’re right, we need to be strategic about it

Teru: shigeo, when are you going in?

Me: I’m going to be there all week

Teru: oh thank god

Tome: yEAH

Me: why?

Teru: i trust you stop anyone from going too far

Shou: you’re one to talk mr. waterboard

Teru: oh i know, i’m including myself in that too

Tome: I guess we should just pick a day to come in? I work there a lot of the time and I can really do any day so you guys pick first

Shou: ritsu and I will go tomorrow

Ritsu: Wait, why do I have to help?

Teru: come on little brother, it’ll be fun :P

Tome: dude, reigen’s a good guy. why do you hate him so much

Ritsu: Just because someone’s a good person doesn’t mean I have to like them.

Ritsu: Also I don’t hate him, he just annoys me.

Ritsu: Don’t tell him I said that.

Tome: lmao ok

Shou: so you’ll help?

Ritsu: I guess so.

Ritsu: You’re lucky I don’t have a student council meeting tomorrow.

Shou: ok mr. president

Teru: i can go in thursday

Tome: ok cool, I’ll go in wednesday then. mob are you alright being on your own on friday?

Me: yeah, no problem

Tome: oh! one more thing! misaki asked that we don’t tell either of them how the other one feels

Shou: k

Teru: makes sense

Teru changed the group name to operation: get our dads together

Tome: askjfkldslif

Ritsu: I can already see this ending in disaster.

 

Tuesday

Mob had been in the Spirits and Such office for about fifteen minutes when Shou burst through the door with Ritsu trailing behind.

“Sorry we’re late! I had to drag this one along.” Shou said, pointing his thumb at Ritsu.

“Well, I wasn’t even expecting you two, so you’re not really late.” Reigen said, still startled by the sudden entrance.

Shou and Ritsu took a seat by Mob on the couch as Shou said, “Oh, I thought Tome told you. Ritsu and I will be here today, she’ll be here tomorrow, and Hanazawa will be here Thursday.”

“I see, no she didn’t tell me. Is there a reason you guys are here?”

“Do we have to have a reason to want to visit?” Shou said with a smirk.

Serizawa chimed in, “Oh of course not! You kids are always welcome here.”

“Of course, of course,” Reigen agreed, “I was just a little confused.”

The afternoon brought in a handful of consultation appointments, but no actual jobs in the office.

That is, until an older women came in. She was complaining about her body feeling heavy, which she assumed meant she was cursed. Reigen looked at Serizawa. The taller man just said, “You can take this one.”

Mob knew that was code for there’s no actual curse or spirit here.

Reigen nodded and escorted her into the massage room. Or, as Reigen liked to tell clients, the curse extraction chamber.

Once the door was shut, Shou made his way over to Serizawa and sat on the desk. Mob had been wondering when the other boy would start his plan. Apparently that was now.

“Wow, that guy really is something else isn’t he?” Shou asked Serizawa.

“Uh..” Was all Serizawa could get out before the teen continued.

“I mean, he doesn’t have a lick of power, yet he so casually interacts with the supernatural. I first I thought he was kinda stupid, but the more I think about it, he’s pretty amazing isn’t he?”

“Um, I suppose, yeah.” Serizawa said, a little cautiously.

Shou laughed, “You should have seen him take down the 7th division! Of course he was using Ritsu’s brother’s powers, but Reigen really took them down with his words. It was hilarious.”

Oh, so this is his plan?

Serizawa gave a smile, “Yeah, I would have liked to see that.”

“Hey, I know I’ve said it before, but I’m proud of where you are right now. It’s good to see you working for someone who really respects you.”

Serizawa beamed, “Thank you, Shou. Yeah, Reigen’s a good friend.”

“He’d probably make a good boyfriend too.” Shou said casually.

Serizawa sputtered, “Ha, uh what?”

Ritsu put his hand on his face and muttered to Mob, “I can’t watch, this is too embarrassing.”

Even Mob was feeling awkward.

“I’m just saying, Reigen really cares about the people around him. I bet whoever dates him would be treated well.”

“Right, that’s true I jus--”

“Listen, I care about you too and I think you would be happy with him. Just don’t overthink this, okay?” Shou said hoping off the desk, “Alright, let’s go Ritsu, my work here is done.”

“Oh, I guess I’ll see you tonight.” Ritsu said to Mob

“Okay see you later, have fun!”

Mob could hear his brother complaining to Shou on their way out, “What was that? I didn’t even need to be there.”

***

Later that night, Tome sent a text to the group chat.

Tome: so???

Tome: how did it go today?

Ritsu: Well, basically shou talked up Reigen to Serizawa and told him that Reigen would make a good boyfriend. We left right after that so I didn’t really get to tell if it helped, but it sure made Serizawa uncomfortable.

Ritsu: Also me. It made me uncomfortable.

Me: yeah, it was really awkward after you left. and then reigen came back in the room and I knew he could feel the tension. he was so confused.

Tome: oof

Tome: do you think that did anything???

Shou: of course it did. I know serizawa pretty well, he needs a little encouragement to go for what he wants. I told him not to overthink it.

Teru: that actually makes sense to me. sometimes people need the stress from feeling awkward to push them forward

Shou: YES thank you

Shou: also, this is just one piece of it. I’m not expecting what I did to make everything work out, but after all of us give it a try, I’m sure something will happen.

Tome: okay, that does make some sense. I just hope you’re right.

Teru: are you ready for your turn tomorrow?

Tome: as ready as I’ll ever be

Tome: I’ll let you know how it goes, wish me luck >.<

Teru: good luck! ヽ( ˘ω˘ )ゝ

Shou: you’ll be fine, you got this

Me: I’ll be there too, so let me know if you need help

Tome: THANKS!

 

Wednesday

By the time Mob got to the office, Tome was already there at her little desk. Mob gave a quick hello to Reigen and Serizawa before pulled up a chair to sit with Tome.

“Hey, working on homework?” He asked, sitting down.

“Hey Mob. No I don’t have anything to work on today. I’m making it look like I’m working on homework. It’s part of my plan. I’m going to visibly struggle with my homework until they offer to help me.” Tome whispered.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I found some difficult English questions online. Most of the questions I found were math problems, but I wanted them to have a chance to figure out the right answer.”

That was probably for the best. The two of them always looked so defeated after trying to help with math homework.

“Well, let me know if you need anything, I’ll be right over on the couch” Mob said as he got up.

“Will do!” She said with a smile.

Mob sat on the couch and looked through his school bag to see if there was something to pass the time with. He decided he would actually work on some homework. He did have a few history chapters to read.

As he skimmed through the pages, he was distracted by Tome loudly complaining about her homework.

“Ugh, I just can’t figure it out!” She huffed as she tapped her pencil on the desk.

Reigen looked over, “You alright there, Tome?”

“Yeah, I’m just having trouble with my homework.” She said with a sigh.

“Oh?” Reigen looked a little nervous, “What kind of homework?”

“It’s for my English class.”

“Oh thank god, I was afraid it was math.” He said walking over to her, “I can take a look if you want. English wasn’t my best subject, but I did alright with it.”

“Sure, go ahead.” Tome said, holding back a smile.

Reigen started reading the question out loud, “Fill in the blank: Mother suggests that Mark blank part time on Saturdays. And the options are work, worked, works, and were working.”

“Wow, Shishou, your English pronunciation is pretty good.” Mob said.

“Ah, thank you Mob.” He said looking proud of himself, “Let’s hope I’m just as good with the grammar.” Reigen looked over the question again, “Hmmm, maybe works?”

“Serizawa, didn’t you spend some time in America?” Tome asked, “Maybe you can help too?”

“Oh, yes I did, but I didn’t talk to a lot of people. I can give it a shot though!” He said joining Reigen and Tome at the desk. “I studied English in some of my night classes, but I forgot a lot of the rules once I got my certificate.”

“I’ll say the sentence with the option I think might be right and you tell me if it sounds correct.” Reigen offered.

“Okay, let’s give it a try.”

“Mother suggests that Mark works part time on Saturdays?” Reigen said tentatively.

“I think that might be right. Maybe we should try some of the others, just to be safe?” Serizawa asked.

“Smart thinking!”

As they tried out each option, Tome slowly pushed her chair back and crept over to sit by Mob on the couch.

“Wow, they didn’t even notice me leave. This plan is going better than I thought it would.” She whispered.

Serizawa scooted a little closer to see the paper better.

Mob smiled, “Yeah, it’s going really well.”

Tome took out her phone and snapped the pic of the two men, shoulder to shoulder at the tiny desk, and sent it to the group chat.

Teru: (ﾟдﾟ)

Shou: huh, impressive

Teru: yeah, good work tome!

Tome: thank you, thank you!

“Okay,” Serizawa started, “we know it’s not worked or were working, so it has to be work or works.”

“Right!”

“There’s got to be a rule that can help us, but it also might be an exception to a rule?”

“Maybe, all I know is that it’s a verb.” Reigen said, shrugging.

I’m going to see if I can find the rule online.” Serizawa said, pulling out his phone.

“Good idea! I’ll just.. keep going over it I guess.”

After about ten minutes of Reigen and Serizawa glaring at the paper and phone respectively, a shout startled the room.

“Aha!” Serizawa yells, “I think I got it! So if the subject is singular then the verb also has to be singular. Mark is just one person, so it’s single. That means whichever verb is singular is the right one!”

“Oh! Okay, so if I remember correctly, adding an S can make words plural in English? If that’s true then the answer has to be..”

“Work!” They both say at the same time.

They both pause and scoot away when they realized how close they are to each other.

“Uh, good work Reigen.” Serizawa said looking away.

“Ha, right back at ya.” Reigen said, red-faced.

Mob still couldn’t believe how obvious these two were.

Serizawa turned to Tome, “I hope that helped.”

“Oh, it helped alright!” She said with a bright smile.

“I guess we should have helped you figure it out instead of solving the whole thing, sorry.” Reigen said, scratching his head, “I think we got a little too into it.”

“Oh no, now I can figure the other questions out pretty easily! Thanks for the help!”

“Of course!” said Serizawa.

***

Tome: ok idk if that actually brought them closer to getting together but it made for a cute moment!

Shou: remember, it’s not about one individual plan, each of these will add up

Tome: alright if you say so…

Tome: are you ready for tomorrow hanazawa?

Teru: oh you bet i am!!! _へ__(‾◡◝ )>

 

Thursday

“Alright Shigeo, smile for the camera!” Teru said.

Mob looked over at the blonde boy who had a camera pointed in his face. Mob didn’t remember exactly when Teru started using his given name, but when he did finally notice it made him feel happy. Mob started calling him Teru soon after.

Mob gave him a small smile, “Is this a picture or is it part of your video series?”

Teru had taken up filmmaking since he started high school. He told Mob after a B movie marathon with Reigen that he really admired Mob for training his body without powers. Teru told him that he wanted to do something similar and since he loved movies, he decided to go with filmmaking.

Now, Teru took his little camera everywhere with him and said he was doing a docuseries on his life in high school.

“It’s a video! I have to document the important moments, and I’m sure we’ll want to remember what happens today!” Teru said cheerfully.

“Right, but shouldn’t you be pointing the camera at them?” Mob said pointing to Reigen and Serizawa, who had been talking to a client.

“Don’t you worry, I will. First I need to set the stage and document everyone who was here for this.”
“Oh, okay.” Mob always felt a little self conscious on camera. He didn’t know what to do or how to act, especially when Teru was pointing it at him.

As the first client left happily, a second barreling through the door.

Mob didn’t get a chance to think before he felt the presence of four-- no wait, five spirits on this guy. He could tell they weren’t friendly.

There were tears flowing down his face as he cried out, “Help me!”

Immediately the three espers in the room sprang into action. They formed a sort of triangle around the man. The fact that he was still alive was some sort of miracle.

Luckily the spirits weren’t particularly powerful in comparison to the three of them. Teru was relaxed enough that he was capturing the exorcism on camera.

Once they were done and the man had time to recover, he explained that he and some friends got drunk and broke in to an old abandoned factory. He said that he was trying to piss off any ghosts that were there and apparently it worked too well.

He paid Reigen who was just looking so relieved that he had three espers working for him. Serizawa warned him against doing things like that, and the man apologized and left.

While they were talking, Mob noticed Teru setting up his camera on a bookshelf so that it pointed toward Reigen’s desk. Teru put a finger to his lips and winked at Mob before walking over to the two men.

“Well, that was unexpected. Good work, Serizawa!” Teru said.

“Good work to you as well. It wasn’t a difficult exorcism, but my heart is still racing from the the sudden entrance!” Serizawa replied.

“Yeah, I don’t know what I would have done without all of you.” Reigen said putting his face in his hand.

“But without you, we would have never been here to help him, so you deserve some credit too!” Teru argued, “And since you both work so hard, I think you deserve the rest of the night off.” He said as he unfolded a paper from his pocket and handed it to them.

“What’s this?” Reigen asked.

“It’s a certificate for a complimentary meal for two at this restaurant that just opened. You two can use it together.” he said smiling.

Serizawa spoke up, blushing, “Oh, we can’t take this from you, why don’t you go use it?”

Teru sighed, “I would, but it’s a gift from my parents and you know how much I like accepting things from them.”

“Oh, right.” Reigen said, understanding. He and Serizawa both hesitated.

“Well, if you don’t want to take it I guess I can give it to someone els-”

“Ah, no.” Reigen interrupted, “W-we’ll take it. You know how much I like free stuff. Thank you.” He laughed nervously.

Teru grinned, “Just think of it as an early birthday gift.” He said winking. “Come on, Shigeo, it’s probably time we get going right?”

Mob was confused since he had been planning on staying a little longer, but realized that Teru was trying to give them some space.

“Uh, right. Bye Shishou, bye Serizawa.” He said as he waved.

The two of them waved the teens off as they gathered their things and headed out the door.

Once they were walking down the sidewalk, Teru started reviewing the footage.

“Dang it, I was blocking some of the shots. Well, at least we can hear everything.”

“Teru, do you think they’ll actually get together?” Mob asked.

“Of course I do, Shigeo. The only things stopping them are their own mental walls. And I think we’re doing a pretty good job at knocking them down or at least making them unstable.” He said as he put the camera away.

Mob smiled, “Right.” He thought for a second, then asked, “Do you think it’s okay that we’re meddling?”

Teru replied immediately, “Honestly, I do. I think I would feel worse about myself if I stood back and just watched them flounder around their emotions.”

“That makes sense.” Mob said.

There was a moment of silence as they walked.

It was soon broken when Teru asked, “Do you want to come over and play video games?”

Mob gave him a bright smile, “I would like that, yeah.”

***

When Mob got home that night, he reviewed the amazed responses to Teru’s plan. He had even sent some clips of the video.

Then he got to the bottom of the chat.

Tome: are you ready for tomorrow mob?

Mob wasn’t sure how to answer that. He didn’t really have an elaborate plan like the others. Mob just thought he would try to talk to them each one-on-one and encourage them. That was really the best idea he could come up with.

Me: I think so

Teru: you’re going to be amazing! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*✲ﾟ*｡⋆

Shou: yeah, you’ll be fine

Ritsu: I’m honestly the least worried about you

Tome: we’re cheering you on! ^_^

Mob smiled at the responses. He didn’t know how everything would turn out, but he had a feeling it would be for the best.

Chapter Text

Friday

Reigen was out flipping the Spirits and Such office sign to closed when Mob showed up.

“Shishou? Is everything alright?” Mob asked.

“Ah, Mob! Yeah, everything’s fine. I’m closing up early because my sister has an, um, appointment this afternoon and she wanted me to come with her.” Reigen said, running his hand through his hair.

I guess I won’t get to talk to them today.

“Oh okay, is there anything I can do?”

“Well, Serizawa is going to look after Hina while we’re gone. If you want to, you can help him. She keeps asking about you, it’s actually really cute.” He said with a chuckle.

Mob lit up, “Yes of course! I’d love to.”

He started making his way to the door when Reigen put a hand on his shoulder. Mob looked at him confused.

“Before that, can I talk to you out here for a bit?” Reigen asked.

Reigen usually never asked to talk like this, so Mob was a little worried.

“Oh, sure.”

“Thanks.” Reigen gave a tentative smile, “I just want to be clear I’m not mad or anything. I just wanted to ask you,” He paused and sighed, “what’s been happening this week?”

Oh.

Mob wasn’t sure how to answer, “Um, ah, that. Right, we--I just--”

“Hey, hey, hey, again, I’m not mad,” He said waving his hands around, “I guess what I’m really wondering is, did my sister talk to you?”

Mob let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, “Yeah.”

“About me and Serizawa?”

“Yeah.” Mob confirmed.

Reigen started laughing. Mob didn’t know how to respond.

“I should have figured.” Reigen said rubbing his temples. “I want you kids to know, you don’t have worry about all this. My sister is good at roping people into her schemes, but if you don’t want to, no one will be mad at you.”

“I know, Shishou, but I want to help.” He smiled.

“Why?”

Mob was still amazed that Reigen didn’t understand why people would want to help him. It made him a little sad, too.

I--,” Mob took a deep breath and continued, “I remember overhearing your conversation with her a few years ago. That was the first time I’d ever seen you that upset and it really hurt to see, especially because I couldn’t do anything.” A couple tears fell down Mob’s face, “But now I can do something. I see you holding back from your feelings and sabotaging your own happiness. You’re allowed to be happy-- you deserve to be happy, Shishou.

Mob caught a glimpse of Reigen’s eyes watering before he covered his face with his hands.

“Mob, I didn’t know you overheard that much.” He reached over and put his hands on Mob’s shoulders, “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have to worry about the problems of adults.”

Mob could see the sheen of wiped away tears on Reigen’s face.

Reigen spoke up again, “Besides, this situation is complicated, I don’t think there’s a simple fix.”

“I don’t think is has to be complicated. I think you’re using that as a wall to shield your feelings.” Mob said.

Reigen looked surprised then smiled, “How did you get to be so wise?”

“I learned from the best.” Mob said, returning the smile.

Reigen chuckled and ruffled Mob’s hair, “I can’t believe you’re almost taller than me. It’s gonna be so weird reaching up to ruffle your hair.”

“Maybe I’ll ruffle your hair when that happens.”

They both laughed at that.

“Misaki and I are leaving in a couple minutes, but is there anything you need to talk about before we do?” Reigen asked.

“Actually, I was wondering if you could talk to Teru. I think he took it a little hard that you never told him you had a sister. I understand why you didn’t, but I think he needs to hear it from you, Shishou.” Mob said.

“Ah, yeah, you’re right. I’ll talk to him soon. Thank you, Mob.”

The door then opened, making the two of them jump a little.

“Alright, Taka, I’m all ready to g-- Oh, hey Mob!” Misaki said, stepping out from the office

“Hi Misaki” Mob said, flashing her a smile.

“Hina will be so excited to see you! Feel free to help Katsuya with her today” She said and then turned to her brother, “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” He said then put a hand on Mob’s shoulder, “Thanks for talking with me today. I’ll see you later, alright?”

“Of course.” Mob said nodding.

As the two of them walked away, Misaki turned back to give Mob a thumbs up with her non-casted hand. He laughed a little at that and gave her a thumbs up in return.

He didn’t know if what he said to Reigen would help in any way, but he certainly did his best.

When Mob walked into the office, he saw Serizawa and Hina putting some of her toys in a tote bag. When the little girl spotted Mob, she lit up and ran over to him.

“Mob! Mob!” she giggled as he picked her up.

His heart could barely handle how cute she was.

“Hello Hina! How are you?”

Instead of responding, she grabbed pieces of Mob’s hair and watched them fall back as she let them go.

“Hair?” she asked.

Mob looked at Serizawa confused.

“I think she wants you to make your hair float up like you did last time.” Serizawa said

Oh.

Mob concentrated his power into just his hair so that it started to gently rise. Controlling his abilities like this was as easy as breathing.

“Like this?” He asked.

Hina started clapping her hands, “Yay!”

Both Mob and Serizawa couldn’t help but laugh. This little girl could so easily wrap others around her finger.

“Alright Hina, we can play with Mob later, but we need to finish cleaning up so we can go home, okay?” Serizawa told her.

Hina held tight onto Mob and shook her head, “Uh-Uh!”

My heart!

Serizawa smiled, “Hina, the faster we clean this up, the sooner I’ll carry you on my shoulders.”

Hina gasped and started trying to get down. Mob let her go and and she raced to help clean up.

It only took a couple minutes for them to put everything away and then they were headed out of the office.

Once they were outside, Hina raised her arms up at Serizawa, whining, “Uppy! Uppy!”

“Hina, what do you say?” Serizawa reminded her.

“Please Uncle Kats’a!!” she chirped.

He look over at Mob, “Misaki taught her to call me that. I think my heart explodes every single time.”

Serizawa then bent down, picked her up, and sat her on his shoulders. Serizawa was one of the tallest people he had ever met, if not the tallest. Mob only came up to just above his shoulders. Hina must have quite the view where she was.

The walk to Serizawa’s apartment was a short one-- only about ten minutes. Mob had been here many times before. It sort of became a gathering spot for the kids who helped out at Spirits and Such.

When they got inside, Serizawa set Hina at the table and headed into the kitchen. “I’m going to get Hina her snack, are you hungry, Mob?”

“I’m alright for now, but thank you.” He said, sitting next to Hina.

Serizawa shortly returned, carrying a plate with a cut up banana and crackers on it. He was also holding a glass of milk and had a juice box floating next to him.

He set the food and juice in front of Hina, who took a bite of the banana and said a garbled “Yummy!”

“Here you go, Mob.” Serizawa said, setting the milk in front of him.

It was an unspoken sort of thing. Even when Mob didn’t want any food, Serizawa always got him a glass of milk. Mob couldn’t complain, he could always drink milk.

“Thank you, Serizawa.” He said before taking a sip.

“Of course, thank you for coming over to hang with us while Reigen and Misaki are out and about.” the older man said as he sat down.

Reigen had been pretty vague on why they would be gone, maybe Serizawa knew.

“Where did they go again?” Mob asked.

“Oh, right. I’m pretty sure you know kinda what was going on with Misaki right?”

“Yes, I found out a few years ago.” He answered.

“Okay, well, Reigen thought it would be a good idea for her to get some counseling because of that. She agreed, but didn’t want to go by herself.” Serizawa said, fiddling with his hands.

“Oh! That’s really good. I’m even more glad I could be here then. I want to help them however I can.”

Serizawa smiled at him, “Yeah, me too.”

Hina started pulling on Serizawa’s shirt.

“What’s up Hina?”

She pointed to her food then pointed to the floor.

“Oh, do you want to play the food game?” He asked.

She nodded her head vigorously then grabbed on of her crackers and threw it at the ground. It never hit the floor. It stopped a few inches before landing and was surrounded by a purple glow. The cracker traveled back up and landed on her plate.

Hina was giggling wildly, “Again!” and then she threw a piece of banana this time.

Again, it was saved by Serizawa and placed back on the plate.

“She accidentally dropped some food one night and I saved it and she thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. I know it’s not the best thing to encourage, but I’m too weak to her.” Serizawa admitted.

Mob watched the back and forth of Hina throwing the food and Serizawa coming to the rescue with his powers.

“I really understand. I think I would have a hard time telling her no as well.” Mob said.

In between throwing her food and eating it, Hina started yawning.

“Getting a little sleepy? Maybe it’s time for your nap.” Serizawa asked.

“Nuh-uh” She shook her head.

“Okay, okay, you’re not sleepy. But maybe you should get cleaned up and we can play for a bit.” He offered.

She thought for a moment then said, “Okay!” as she hopped down and ran to the bathroom. Serizawa kept an eye on her as she stood on the stool and washed her hands.

Once she was done, she came back and grabbed Serizawa’s hand and pulled him to the guest room, “Let’s go!” Mob followed the two of them.

“Oh, are you actually tired?” Serizawa asked.

“No no no!” Hina shook her head. She walked to the bed, picked up a stuffed animal, and dropped it on the bed.

Realization dawned on Serizawa’s face, “Well, if we do this, you’re going to have to nap after, okay?”

“Okay!” She said, getting on the bed.

Mob was very confused. He had no idea what they were talking about.

That is until a purple glow surrounded Hina. She started to float higher and higher, until she was about two feet off the bed. Then, the aura disappeared and she started to fall.

Mob was worried for a second before he heard Hina screaming with laughter. She laid on the bed still giggling.

“More! More! Mor--”

Her chanting was interrupted by Serizawa lifting her up again, a little, higher this time.

“Oh no, I can’t hold you for very long,” He said pretending, “I think I might drop--” As he said that, he let go of her. Her reaction was just as ecstatic as before.

“Is that.. safe?” Mob asked Serizawa.

“Oh yeah, don’t even worry about it. I have careful control over what I’m doing, plus it’s actually good for her!” He said, lifting her again.

“It is?”

“Yeah!” Serizawa said, then dropped her, “I read up on this. Kids need to be thrown off of their equilibrium sometimes. It basically makes them calibrate their kinesthetic awareness and helps with their ability to balance.”

“Oh, I see. That makes sense.”

“Plus it’s really fun, would you like to try?” Serizawa asked.

“Uh, sure! So I just lift and drop?”

“Basically.” Serizawa said, “Just try not to let her land on her head or any weird angles. I usually just let her fall on her stomach or back.”

“Okay, seems simple enough. Hina are you ready?” Mob asked.

She only responded with laughter, which he took as a yes. Hina was now surrounded by Mob’s purply-blue aura as she floated up. He made sure she would land on her back and then let go.

High pitched giggles left Hina’s mouth and Mob couldn’t help but laugh a little too. Serizawa was right, this was fun.

They went back and forth, each lifting and dropping her. It reminded Mob of the first night they met Hina. When he and Serizawa took turns spinning her in the office chair.

“Alright, Hina, It’s been ten minutes. I think it’s time for you to take a nap.” Serizawa said putting her stuffed animals on the bed.

“Nooooo!” She cried out.

“Oh, Hina, look! All your stuffed animals are so tired. Let’s pat their backs until they go to sleep.”

Hina gasped and went to pat her animals to sleep. She looked over at Mob, “Help us!”

Mob chuckled and went over to pat a little bunny to sleep.

After a few minutes of patting, Serizawa whispered, “I think they’re all asleep. Hina, it’s your turn now.”

Mob was a little surprised when she said “Okay.” and laid down.

Serizawa covered her with a blanket and let her get comfortable before he started lightly patting her back.

Mob was just going to sit there and watch her fall asleep, but then Hina’s eyes shot open. She sat up enough to grab Mob’s hand and put it on her back.

Serizawa and Mob looked at each other and held back their laughter. Mob scooted a little closer so he could pat her back along with the other esper.

It took her just a few minutes to fall asleep. She was so peaceful. Mob looked at her face and saw the bruise on her eye was nearly faded. That brought a smile to his face.

He and Serizawa slowly slinked off the bed and crept out of the room, desperately hoping not to wake her up.

“How long will she sleep for?” Mob asked, as the two of them sat on the couch.

“Not too long, about an hour. Misaki likes for her to take a little nap during the day. If she doesn’t, she falls asleep really early and then gets up at five in the morning.”

“Oh..” Mob said, “You’re really good with her. I didn’t realize how great you were with little kids.”

He smiled “Thank you, Mob. Part of it was watching Misaki. Though, I did always like little kids. When I traveled with Suzuki, secretly waving back at kids who waved at me would always be one of the highlights of my day. It was so much so that a few months ago, I started doing a little research on taking care of kids. I’d really like to be a dad one day, so I wanted to get prepared.”

“Serizawa!” Mob said, unable to contain the huge smile on his face, “You will make a wonderful dad one day.”

“That means a lot to me, Mob. Thank you.” His smile was warm and gentle.

Mob wanted to try and talk to Serizawa about Reigen, but he wasn’t sure about how to bring it up subtly.

“Are you planning on being a single parent or is there maybe someone you have in mind?” Mob’s tone couldn’t have been less subtle.

“You know, don’t you?” Serizawa deadpanned.

“Uh what? I mean, yeah, I do.” Mob looked down.

Serizawa chuckled a little and sighed, “Do you think he knows?”

Mob knew for sure that Reigen didn’t realize Serizawa’s feelings, “I know he doesn’t.”

Serizawa looked relieved, “Is that why Shou and Teru stopped by?”

“Yeah,” Mob knew he couldn’t easily lie to him, so he just answered honestly, “And speaking of that, did you guys end up going to the restaurant last night?”

Serizawa covered his face with his hands, “Oh, no.” He said, then intertwined his hands and rested them under his chin, “Before I even had a chance to suggest it, Reigen said that he was feeling tired and that we should save it for a special occasion.”

Yeah, that sounds like how he would deflect that.

“Have you ever tried asking him on a date?”

“Well, uh, not strictly speaking, no. I’ve invited him out, but as friends, you know?” Serizawa was getting visibly nervous.

“Are you okay?” Mob asked.

Serizawa took in a deep breath and let it go, “I just really really like him and it makes super anxious when I think about telling him. I’ve improved a lot my anxiety and awkwardness over the past couple years, but romance is one area that I have absolutely no experience in. Plus, I don’t want to freak him out and ruin our friendship.”

Mob thought about that for a second, then said, “Believe me, I understand that,” He thought back to when he confessed to Tsubomi, “but I think you might regret holding back.”

“I know, you’re right. It just doesn’t feel like it’s that simple, though.”

Mob shook his head, “No, I think it is that simple. It may not be easy, but telling someone how you feel is very simple.”

That drew a laugh from Serizawa, “You’re not allowed to be this smart, it’s not fair.”

Mob smiled at that and continued, “That doesn’t mean you need to tell him as soon as he gets back. Don’t rush yourself into it. But if you see an opportunity arise, you should consider taking it.”

“I don’t know, maybe you’re right.” He said, scratching his head.

“Let me know if this is too much, I don’t want to push you if you don’t want that. It’s just that I really care about you, we all do, and I want to help if I can.” Mob smiled and put a hand on Serizawa’s shoulder. Mob didn’t really care one way or another about physical touch most of the time, but he knew it was a comfort to Reigen and Serizawa.

“No, it’s okay. I appreciate it.” He smiled back at Mob.

This wasn’t exactly how Mob pictured these conversations going. He had hoped to be more subtle about it, but now he was actually pleased with how they went. Now he felt like he had actually helped in some way.

It was almost an hour later when Reigen and Misaki returned. Her eyes were a little red, but she looked happy. Her smile got even brighter when Mob gave her a sneaky thumbs up.

Hina awoke shortly after and snuggled into her Mom. Reigen suggested ordering some takeout and insisted that Mob stay for dinner. He gladly accepted.

He felt at peace surrounded by these people and was so glad to consider them all a part of his family.

Teru: how did it go shigeo?

Me: I think it went well. They both figured out that we were planning something, but they still don’t know how the other one feels.

Tome: how can they be this observant and this oblivious at the same time lmao

Teru: honestly

Shou: what did you say?

Me: I basically just told them I care about them and encouraged them to go for it. Separately of course

Teru: that probably did more than all of us combined

Me: You think so?

Teru: yeah for sure

Shou: well only time will tell

Tome: yeah! And good work everyone, thanks for your help

Teru: of course! There was no way i wasn’t helping

Shou: same

Mob smiled at the encouragement from his friends. He was really happy they worked together on this, even if it had been a little clumsy.

He was just about to fall asleep when he decided to send one more text.

Me: Remember, don’t over complicate this. You deserve good things in your life. We care about you.

Chapter Text

It was a quiet Saturday evening. Serizawa hummed to himself as he washed the dishes. He refused to let anyone help him since Misaki and Reigen were the ones who cooked. Misaki sat on the couch and idly watched the TV as Hina dozed off in her lap.

Reigen had been answering some e-mails from clients. Serizawa told him not to worry about work on the weekends, but Reigen needed something to keep his mind off of other things. Despite the distraction, he still found himself repeatedly glancing back at the text Mob sent him last night.

Remember, don’t over complicate this. You deserve good things in your life. We care about you.

Reigen had no idea how to respond to that. It was certainly kind and Reigen appreciated it, but he didn’t know how much he could let himself accept those words. It was tempting. It was very tempting. Mob made it sound so easy, so simple. Like he was allowed to just reach out and go after what he wanted.

He shook his head. No. It was too selfish of him to think like that. Reigen quickly switched back to the e-mails.

A knock at the door startled Reigen from his thoughts.

He looked at the other two. One was busy with dishes and the other had a child sleeping on her.

“Uh, I can get it.” Reigen said as he walked to the door.

When he opened the door, he saw an all too familiar blonde boy.

“Oh, Teru.” Reigen said, a little surprised. He remembered what Mob told him about Teru and Reigen felt the guilt creeping in.

“Hey Reigen.” He said cheerfully, “Can I come in?” Reigen noticed the boy was carrying a small duffle bag.

“Of course!” He said right away, “You know Serizawa says you’re always welcome here.”

Reigen moved to let Teru in and shut the door.

As soon as Serizawa saw who was in his apartment, he came over to greet him. His hands were still a little soapy.

“Teru, it’s good to see you, but is everything alright?” Serizawa’s voice was full of concern.

Reigen knew that Teru would stay the night here sometimes. The kid got pretty lonely in his apartment and came over whenever he was feeling particularly bad. Reigen may have had emotionally distant parents, but he couldn’t imagine being basically abandoned like Teru was.

“Oh I’m okay, I just wanted some company.” The look of concealed sadness Teru shot sent daggers through Reigen’s heart.

Okay, yeah I need to talk to him.

It wasn’t that Reigen wanted to hide anything from this kid. Over the past couple years Reigen and Teru had gotten a lot closer. After hearing that Teru’s parents left him to live alone, Reigen took it upon himself to be a relatively stable adult in his life. He also ended up sharing some personal stuff about his own childhood with Teru.

But he never mentioned Misaki. It hurt too much to even think about her, let alone talk about her. Reigen also didn’t want to put his burdens onto Teru, especially when he had his own. The plan to shield him from that backfired because now the teen was feeling betrayed that Reigen hadn’t told him about something this big.

“Well, we’re more than happy to have you.” Serizawa said with a smile, “Are you hungry?”

Teru shook his head, “No, I already ate.”

“Okay, but you already know if you change your mind you--”

“Can help myself to anything. I know Serizawa, thank you.” Teru said, flashing a cheeky grin.

They both laughed at that.

“I need to finish up a few more dishes, but if you want to play a game, go ahead and get it set up.”

“Okay, cool. I think I can finally beat you at Mario Kart, I’ve been practic- ” Teru said as he started walking toward the couch. He was stopped in his tracks when he saw two pairs of unfamiliar eyes staring at him.

Reigen hopped up. Shit. He had nearly forgotten to introduce them.

“Oh Teru, this is my sister, Misaki, and her daughter, Hina” He said gesticulating like a mad man, “And this is Teru, one of my students.”

Misaki lit up. “It’s so nice to meet another one of Taka’s students.”

“It’s nice to finally meet Reigen’s sister. Shigeo’s told me a lot about you and especially how cute Hina is!” Teru said smiling.

Misaki hugged her daughter, “I know, she’s the cutest thing in the whole world.” She looked back at Teru and asked, “So, do you have powers too?”

Teru chuckled and dropped his duffle bag before cracking his knuckles. He started wiggling his fingers and mini versions of his air whip move were coming out of each finger.

Reigen laughed a little. This kid had been working on refining his powers. He wanted to know how delicate he could get with them. He had recently figured out how to do these mini air whips and used every opportunity to show them off.

Hina, who had still been a little groggy from just waking back up, was now wide awake and mesmerized.

“Are you going to keep showing off, or am I going to get a rematch for the last time when you cheated.” Reigen said as he messed up Teru’s hair.

“Hey, I didn’t cheat. It’s not my fault you thought you saw a cockroach.” He said with a sly smile.

Reigen looked at him skeptically, “Yeah, I’m still not convinced.”

“You’re welcome to try and beat me, if you can.” Teru said as he was setting up the game.

Reigen put his finger and thumb up to his chin, “Oh, I’ll do more than just try.”

“Have fun fighting for second place.” Serizawa said as he came back from the kitchen.

After so many years of playing video games on his own, Serizawa was actually better than most people. He was also surprisingly a little competitive. Reigen very much enjoyed seeing Serizawa get just a little bit aggressive about winning. It sent chills down his spine.

Serizawa turned to Misaki, “Do you want to play to?”

Reigen looked at his sister and he could almost see the fire in her eyes. She was an extremely competitive person and she was the reigning Mario Kart champ of the Reigen household.

“Absolutely!” She said enthusiastically.

Serizawa laughed, “I can’t wait to see what you’ve got!”

Teru finished getting the game set up and the four of them picked their characters. Reigen chose Yoshi because he just thought the little green guy was neat. Misaki always chose Toad. Teru picked Peach and Serizawa got Luigi.

Misaki picked up an extra controller and gave it to Hina, “You’re gonna help me okay? We’re gonna win!!”

Hina’s face was completely serious as she answered, “Okay Mommy!!”

It was now nearly two in the morning. Teru and Hina were passed out in a pile while Reigen sat next to them.

Misaki and Serizawa were the only ones left playing. They kept trading first place when they were all playing and were the only ones still hyped up enough to continue. Teru was able to sneak in one win, but that was only after Misaki had whispered something to Serizawa. Reigen didn’t catch what she said, but whatever it was it made his face go red.

Reigen just wanted to go to sleep at this point. Luckily the round was over with Serizawa coming out victorious. Reigen thought he was so cute when he was excited like this.

“Good game, Misaki. It’s been a long time since I’ve been evenly matched with someone like that.” Serizawa said.

“I can honestly say the same,” Misaki turned back to see the sleeping kids. “Oh, we should probably go to bed.”

“You’re right.” Serizawa said as he got up. He used his powers to gently separate Teru and Hina and set the teen on the futon they had pulled out earlier. They all gave their goodnights as they went to their respective sleeping areas.

Reigen was grateful to be able to go to bed. He waited for sleep to take him, but his brain had other ideas. He just kept thinking about what he was going to say to Teru, how to cope with everyone pushing him towards Serizawa, and some overall anxiety about his apartment.

He looked at his phone. It was about 3:30 am and he still hadn’t fallen asleep. The stress of everything he was thinking about left Reigen craving a cigarette. He didn’t really smoke all that often, but he found himself reaching for them when things would get overwhelming. He probably would have smoked during this past week, but he hadn’t had much alone time recently.

Reigen quietly got up and fished around in his bag for his cigarettes and a lighter. He made his way to the sliding glass door and opened it just enough to squeeze out and closed it again.

Once on the balcony, Reigen lit his cigarette and let the smoke fill his lungs. He knew it wasn’t good for him, but it was such a relief during times like this. He figured doing it every once and a while couldn’t be too bad.

Reigen used this time to force his mind to think of other things. He focused on the way the smoke dissipated after he blew it out. He felt the way the cold October night nipped at his skin. He watched the city lights and saw cars moving in the distance.

He was about halfway done with his cigarette when he heard the sliding door open and shut behind him. Before Reigen had a chance to turn around, the blonde boy leaned against the railing next to him.

“Hey.” The teen said quietly.

Reigen quickly put his cigarette out on the rail. “Hey.” He said back.

“You don’t have to stop on account of me.” Teru said.

“Ah, no, I was just finished.” Reigen lied.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“Yeah.” Reigen wasn’t really sure how else to respond. There was a moment of silence between the two of them and Reigen took in a breath, deciding to start the conversation. “I didn’t mean to hide anything from you.”

Teru looked away when Reigen said that. “I’m guessing Shigeo talked to you. And it’s okay, you’re not obligated to tell me everything about yourself.”

Reigen could tell the boy was covering up how he really felt.

“Teru, I’m serious. I don’t know how much Mob told you about my sister.”

He was still looking away, “He didn’t really tell me anything. He just told me I would understand if I talked to you.”

“Well,” Reigen realized in that moment that he had never told anyone out loud what had happened to his sister. His chest felt tighter, but he powered through. “my sister was in an abusive marriage. I tried to get her out years ago, but we just got in a big fight and stopped talking after that. It was only a week ago that that she escaped and came to find me. I thought of her suffering as my greatest failure.” Reigen’s voice broke as he started to cry a little, “I couldn’t think about it, I couldn’t talk about it. It hurt so much and I couldn’t put that on you, or anyone for that matter. I’m sorry.”

His words hung in the air as Teru put a hand to his face.

“Oh god, I’m so stupid.” Teru said with a laugh as he turned back to face Reigen. He noticed tears reflecting off the teen’s face. “Here I was feeling sorry for myself that one of the only adults I really looked up to didn’t trust me enough to tell me about his sister. I’m sorry, I should have known you had a reason. I can’t believe how insecure I wa--”

Reigen saw the kid getting worked up, so he pulled him into a hug to help calm him down. “I’m the one who should be sorry.”

Teru had his face pressed into Reigen’s shoulder as he let out the tears he’d held back. The teen calmed down as he matched his breathing with Reigen’s.

“I’m sorry.” Teru whispered.

Reigen pushed him back to look him in the eye. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m sorry that I hurt you. I’m not going to leave you out or abandon you, okay?”

Teru wiped the tears from his face, “Thank you.”

“You can’t get rid of me that easy.” Reigen said, ruffling Teru’s hair.

The boy laughed, “Okay, Dad.”

My heart.

“But seriously,” The teen continued, “When are you and Serizawa gonna get together so you can adopt me and really be my dads?”

Reigen ignored Teru’s teasing. “You know, I really have thought about adopting you. I tried getting in touch with your parents, but they never got back to me. I know I’m not the best person out there, but I think I could be at least a little better than the parents you currently have.”

Seriously, who goes off to travel the world and leaves their teenage son behind?

“Okay, I’ll admit, I mostly said that to try and get you flustered about Serizawa, but that was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

Reigen laughed, “Hey, you’re dealing with the master of deflection here, give me some credit. Also, I meant every word I said.” They both exchanged smiles. “And instead of focusing on my love life, how about we talk about yours?” Reigen nudged him with his elbow.

Teru went red and turned away, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Reigen rolled his eyes, “Oh come on, don’t act like you didn’t already tell me. How are things progressing with Mob?”

The blonde boy sighed and turned back. “We’re closer than ever, but I’m scared that if I tell him, it’ll ruin what we have.”

Reigen could relate to that.

“That’s understandable. But I can assure you that Mob wouldn’t end your friendship over something like that. He even stuck around me after I lied to him.”

Plus, I’m pretty sure Mob likes him too.

“I know, I know, but it’s still scary.”

Reigen chuckled at that, “Yeah you’re right, but I think it’ll be worth it.”

“How about this,” Teru offered, “I’ll tell Shigeo how I feel, if you tell Serizawa how you feel.”

Reigen sighed, “You may be waiting a while on that one, bud.”

Teru smirked, “We’ll see.”

Reigen shook his head and pushed away from the railing, “Come on, we should go back to bed.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Teru said with a yawn.

They quietly made their way back inside and nestled in their spots.

“We can switch if you want the couch.” Reigen offered.

“Nah, this futon is more comfy.”

“Ah, okay.”

Reigen had begun to drift off to sleep when he heard Teru whisper, “Thank you.”

Reigen smiled, “Anytime. Goodnight, Teru.”

“Night, Reigen.”

With the worry about Teru gone, Reigen was able to fall asleep quickly.

The next morning was a lazy one. By the time Reigen woke up, it was almost eleven in the morning. Everyone else was already up and had already eaten. Despite feeling a little hungry, Reigen felt more rested than he had in a long time.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” Misaki teased him. Serizawa chuckled at that.

“Ah, good morning.” His voice was more gravelly than he expected.

I guess that’s what I get for smoking for the first time in a month.

“Did you sleep well? We were starting to get a little worried about you.” Serizawa said, cleaning up the table.

“I just had a hard time falling asleep last night, but I slept really well once I did.”

Serizawa smiled, “That’s good to hear.”

Reigen shuffled to the kitchen a to grab a banana. When he made his way to the table, he noticed Teru wasn’t there.

“Oh, where’s the kid?”

“He had plans to meet up with Shigeo. He seemed a lot happier than last night. I’m glad he decided to come over.” Serizawa said.

“Yeah, me too.” Reigen smiled.

The rest of the day progressed as lazily as the morning. Reigen answered a few more e-mails and posted to the Spirits and Such blog, but spent most of the time watching Serizawa play Zelda. He was definitely watching him more than the game. Reigen loved all the little faces and noises Serizawa made.

Though, Reigen couldn’t enjoy watching Serizawa as much as he used to. He used to be able to just watch and think about the man without the pressure of thinking about confessing, but after everything everyone had said to him over the past week, Reigen couldn’t get it off of his mind.

Reigen kept looking back to that text from Mob, still unanswered. He shook his head and went to put his phone away. Before he did, it alerted him to an e-mail.

He quickly scanned the e-mail to see that it was his landlord saying that Reigen could move back in on October 15th.

“Oh!” Reigen said suddenly and loudly, startling not only Serizawa, but also Hina and Misaki who were playing at the table.

“You alright there?” Misaki asked.

“Yeah, actually, my landlord said I can move back on the 15th.”

“Oh, that’s amazing, I’m glad they finally have that worked out.” Serizawa said as he gave a pat to Reigen’s back, “And you know you’re more than welcome to stay here for that time.”

Reigen froze as he realized something. He quickly did the math and the 15th was twelve days away. Twelve days. That was almost two weeks. He would be here another two weeks being confronted with his feelings all day, everyday.

It seemed like a short amount of time, but Reigen didn’t know if he could handle it. His heart started racing and anxiety was taking him over. Without thinking he stood up. “I think I need to take a walk.”

“Taka is something wrong?” His sister was concerned.

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I can’t really explain it right now, I just need to go.” Reigen was already putting his shoes on.

“Dinner is in the oven, it’ll be ready soon.” Serizawa said. He looked worried.

“I know, I’m really sorry. Please eat without me, I’ll probably be back late.” He grabbed his coat and then paused, “I’ll have my phone on me, so if there’s an emergency, please let me know.” He opened the door and threw out one last, “I’m sorry.” before he left.

The sun was setting as Reigen walked aimlessly. He didn’t have anywhere in mind, just taking a step away from that situation was lowering his anxiety.

Eventually he found a park and decided to sit on one of the benches. He took some slow steady breaths and soon his heart wasn’t pounding against his ribs.

Reigen wished he had grabbed his cigarettes before leaving, but it was too late to go back for them now. Instead he just focused on the way dead leaves crunched in his hand. It wasn’t the same as smoking, but it did help center himself.

He didn’t know how long he had been doing that, but it must have been a while because the sun was completely set now. He took in another breath. Regen knew he needed to get his thoughts in order.

First, he went over some basic facts. One fact was that Reigen had fallen hard for Serizawa. It was past the point of a little crush. While this was true, Reigen wanted to hold back his feelings as to keep things professional.

Another fact was that everyone he knew was trying to get him to confess to Serizawa. They all seemed so sure that this would be the best thing for him to do. Of course Reigen wanted to, but he wondered if that would really be okay. Did he really deserve to try?

Okay, maybe the whole ‘keeping things professional’ wasn’t really the main reason.

The last fact was that Reigen needed somewhere to stay for the next twelve days. And he’d already been staying with Serizawa for the last week.

Based on those, Reigen developed some options.

Option 1: Tell Serizawa the truth. Reigen reeled at his mind going straight to that option first. That was technically an option, but he moved on to the next one before he could think about it much.

Option 2: Go back, act like nothing happened, and endure the next twelve days. No. That was a bad option. Only being there a week nearly drove him crazy. Just imagine what two more weeks would do. And who knows what his sister would plan in that time.

Option 3: Find somewhere else to stay. This seemed like the best option at first until he realized that he didn’t really have another place to stay. Shinra lived in another town, so that was out. The former Claw guys were great and all, but Reigen could only take them in small doses. The Kageyama parents would probably let him stay with them, but Reigen couldn’t even think of troubling them.

Reigen couldn’t believe that the most viable option was to just tell Serizawa. That would get Misaki and the kids off his back. And maybe Serizawa wouldn’t be too freaked out by it.

Reigen started laughing. He was feeling a combination of giddiness and extreme fear.

“How did it come to this?” He whispered to himself and pulled out his phone.

Reigen once again stared at the message from Mob.

Remember, don’t over complicate this. You deserve good things in your life. We care about you.

“I don’t know if I quite believe all of that, Mob, but I guess I’m going for it anyway.”

Instead of just closing the text like he had done for the past couple days, Reigen hit reply.

Me: Thanks

He chuckled as he snapped the phone shut and started heading back to Serizawa’s

Reigen was now in the bathroom trying to quickly get ready for bed. By the time he had gotten home it was 9:30 and everyone was already in bed.

He had his clothes gathered and he swiftly left the bathroom. He didn’t get very far when he slammed into a wall of flesh.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” said the wall.

“It’s okay, Katsuya. I should have paid more attention.”

“I heard you in the bathroom and I just wanted to check to see if you were okay. I-I was worried about you.” Serizawa said scratching the back of his head.

“I’m so sorry. I got a wave of anxiety and I just needed some space. I feel a lot better now.” Reigen smiled at him.

Serizawa sighed in relief. “I’m glad. I’m more than willing to lend an ear if you ever need to talk, okay?”

“Yeah, I appreciate it.” He said staring into the other man’s eyes.

Reigen was tempted to spill the beans right there, but he decided against it. He would wait until after work tomorrow when they both had the time really talk about it.

Time continued to tick by as they both just kept staring at each other.

Serizawa was the one to break the silence. “I need to ask you before I lose the nerve. Can I kiss you, Arataka?”

Reigen lost all ability to think. His mind was a jumbled mess. Luckily his mouth decided to take the lead for him.

“Yes.” He answered.

Before Reigen knew it, Serizawa’s lips were on his own. His hands cradled Reigen’s face.

Reigen’s arms seemed to move on their own as they wrapped behind Serizawa’s neck. Their lips moved against each other clumsily, but Reigen was still in heaven.

Serizawa gently bit Reigen’s lower lip, causing a shiver to snake its way through the smaller man. That emboldened Reigen to slide his tongue in a little. Serizawa responded by grabbing at his waist, his hands slightly dipping under his shirt.

They froze when they heard Hina fussing in the other room.

Serizawa whispered, “Do you wanna?” and pointed to his own room.

Reigen had already used up his ability to speak, so he opted to nod instead.

Serizawa giggled and grabbed his hand. He lead Reigen into his room and shut the door with a soft click.

Chapter Text

Waking up in Serizawa’s room was a little disorienting for Reigen. Everything was different than he was used to. The room was bigger than his, the window was in the wrong spot, and most bizarrely, Serizawa was gently sucking at his neck.

He couldn’t deny it felt amazing, but Reigen also couldn’t ignore the guilt and anxiety swirling in his mind.

How did this happen?

He thought back to last night. After Reigen followed Serizawa to his room, the larger man laid him on his bed, kissing him on the way down. Reigen wasn’t really thinking and let himself melt into the bliss of Serizawa’s body pressed against his own. He ran his hands up and down the other man’s back and moaned into his mouth.

“Is this okay?” Serizawa had asked between kisses.

“God yes.” Reigen whispered back before kissing again.

One of Serizawa’s hands was intertwining with Reigen’s hair as the other one trailed down his body to grab at Reigen’s ass.

Reigen squeaked and Serizawa chuckled before moving his mouth to Reigen’s neck.

With his mouth now free, Reigen was quietly breathing out little moans and gasps. He started to get dizzy as he was feeling more and more overwhelmed.

Serizawa dipped his hand slightly under Reigen’s shirt. He felt like he was going to scream. He didn’t know how much more he could take.

“Wait, stop.” Reigen managed to breath out.

Serizawa froze, “Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?” He sounded panicked.

“Oh no no,” Reigen said gently, “I’m just feeling really overwhelmed and I don’t know if I can handle this right now. It’s been kind of an intense day and--”

“Hey, it’s okay, I understand.” Serizawa said, rubbing the back of his hand against Reigen’s cheek. “Is it alright if I just hold you?”

Reigen felt a tingle down his spine. Serizawa was so soft and sweet, it gave him the chills.
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Reigen was so weak to this man.

He really should have said no. He should have gone back to the couch and pretended none of this happened, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that. Serizawa’s presence, his touch, was intoxicating. It was nearly impossible for Reigen to leave now.

Serizawa was much more tentative touching Reigen than he had been before. He stopped and started a few times before actually placing his arm around Reigen’s waist as they spooned.

Reigen couldn’t relax. His heart beating a million times a second. He realized his leg was laying at a weird angle, but couldn’t move it. His nerves kept him frozen in place.

He stared at the clock on Serizawa’s night stand. It read 10:05. If Reigen fell asleep now, he would still get eight hours of sleep. Then 11:00 rolled around. Okay, seven hours wasn’t too bad.

Midnight had come and gone and then it was almost 1:00. Reigen tried to make himself relax, but found it difficult to do with Serizawa pressed up against him, softly snoring in his ear.

There was a part of Reigen’s brain that told him to just enjoy this, but there was a bigger part that was just filling him with guilt.

Why did this happen? Did he find out how I feel? Did he feel obligated to do this?

Reigen wouldn’t be able to live with himself if that were the case. He could feel himself spiraling again and took a deep breath to center himself. He was just going to have to have a conversation with Serizawa. That was fine because he was planning on doing that anyway. He focused on Serizawa’s breathing which helped him calm down.

It was nearly 2:00 in the morning when Reigen finally fell asleep.

The next thing Reigen knew, he was dreaming of Serizawa’s face. He was looking at Reigen fondly and gently stroking his cheek. He felt so warm and cozy just looking at him.

Reigen was no stranger to dreams like this. He reached out a hand and pulled Serizawa in to kiss him. This was the good thing about dreams. It was the only time Reigen really let himself give in to what he wanted.

As he blissfully kissed dream Serizawa, something felt off. Everything felt too warm, too electric, too--

Oh shit!

Reigen wasn’t dreaming. He was really kissing Serizawa. Again.
It was around that moment that Serizawa kissed down Reigen’s face until he was sucking and kissing at his neck.

This left Reigen wondering, How did this happen?

Serizawa peppered some more kisses on Reigen’s neck and one more on his mouth before leaning back to get a better look at him. He was still leaning over Reigen a bit, with one arm propped up holding his head.

“Good morning.” Serizawa said with a smile.

That man could cure diseases with his smile. “Uh, good morning.”

“So..” Reigen started.

“So?” Serizawa raised an eyebrow.

He couldn’t keep doing that, it was killing Reigen’s ability to think.

“I mean, this isn’t how I usually wake up. I think maybe we should,” he hesitated for a moment, “talk about that?” Reigen wasn’t necessarily up for the conversation right this second, but he wanted to get it out of the way if he could.

He knew he probably wasn’t grasping the situation entirely, but he had a feeling that this was too good to be true.

Serizawa sat up and scratched the back of his head, “Right, of course. I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable. It felt like you were okay with it? But that was just my assumption. Oh, god, the last thing I wanted to do was force you into anything. I--” He was talking a mile a minute and getting himself worked up.

Reigen sat up as well and grabbed Serizawa’s hand. “Hey, you’re okay. It’s okay.” He glanced at the clock to make sure they had time.

Fuck.

It was 7:25. He didn’t have a chance to set his alarm last night and apparently Serizawa didn’t either.

Spirits and Such opened at 8:00, but Reigen usually liked to get there by 7:30 to set up. It was only a ten minute walk from Serizawa’s to the office, but they had a client scheduled right at 8:00 this morning. If they didn’t get ready now, they would be late.

“Ah, shit. Okay, I guess we won’t have time to talk this morning. Maybe after work? Is that okay?” Reigen asked.

“Uh, yeah, of course. That works for me.” Serizawa sighed and looked away, “I’m just sorry about all this.”

Reigen squeezed his hand, “Hey, look at me.” Maybe that was a bad idea, because Serizawa’s gaze had Reigen’s stomach doing flips. He cleared his throat. “Listen, you didn’t do anything wrong.” His mind flashed back to kisses and touches Serizawa gave him, “I, uh, really mean that. Honestly, I should be the one saying sorry.”

Serizawa looked confused at first, but then Reigen could see something click in Serizawa.” Oh.” The esper gave a little chuckle. “Okay yeah, let’s talk after work.”

Reigen wasn’t sure what the other man was thinking, but whatever it was it must have helped him to relax.

They got dressed for work in a whirlwind. It was the fastest Reigen had ever gotten ready. He gave himself a once over in the bathroom mirror. To the causal observer he looked just as put together as he normally did.

That is, until he noticed his neck.

Misaki was making her way into the bathroom as well. She scooched past her brother to grab her toothbrush and glanced up at him. She did a double take.

“Um, how did you get a hickey?” She asked and realization dawned on her face.

Reigen was frozen at the mirror. There was a bright red splotch right above the collar of his shirt on the left side of his neck. It was surrounded by other other faint red marks, but the one in the center was loud and obvious.

“I can’t go-- If a client-- What do I--” Reigen was freaking out, unable to complete a sentence.

“Hey, it’s okay. Go sit at the table and I’ll get my make-up.” She said with a sly grin.

Oh god.

Reigen nodded and turned to walk to the table. His movements were robotic. He nearly ran into Serizawa again. They had to stop meeting like this. Reigen quickly covered the spot on his neck.

Serizawa looked a little flushed, but with a small smile on his face, “I was just checking to see if you were ready and I, uh, heard your sister.”

Oh.

“Before you apologize, it’s okay. But do you think you could head over without me? I know we have that client at 8:00, but you can delay them until I get there.” Reigen said still covering his neck.

Serizawa smirked, “Arataka, I’ve been working with you for over a year and a half.” He leaned down and whispered in his ear, “I think I can handle it.” He then kissed Reigen on the cheek and swiftly made his way out of the apartment.

Reigen touched the spot where Serizawa kissed him. This man was going to be the death of him.

“Okay, I’ve got everything I need. Just unbutton the top of your shirt so I don’t get make-up on-- Whoa! Your face is so red.” Misaki said as she walked by him on the way to the table.

“Uh, I just, I, well because I um--”

“Hey, take a second to calm down. And then you can explain everything, okay?” She could barely contain the excitement behind her soft smile.

“Right, yeah.” Reigen said before taking a few breaths and walking over to the table.

Calm. Right, he could be calm. Or at least pretty close to calm. Calm adjacent.

As he sat down, he took off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt a little. His sister had all her products on the table. He was vaguely familiar with them. He recognized the green tube she picked up first. Reigen remembered they needed the green to cancel out the red on his skin.

“Just like old times, huh?” Misaki said as she dabbed green on his neck.

“Yeah.” Reigen smiled.

It really was like old times. When Reigen was in college, he would come home late with all kinds of marks from flings and one night stands. Misaki would help him get them covered up so he didn’t have to explain them to their parents.

Reigen thought back on those moments fondly. Those were the times that they talked about life, school, dreams, and boys, well, boys and girls in Misaki’s case.

“So, see any cute guys recently?” Misaki not so subtly tried to start the conversation.

Reigen just sighed.

“Oh, come on! I’m dying to know what’s going on.” She pleaded.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you. I’m just still trying to process it too.” He took in a deep breath and let it out. “After I got home last night, he, uh, asked to kiss me.”

“Really? What did you say?” Misaki said as she switched out the color corrector for concealer.

“I probably shouldn’t have, but I said yes.” He said, mumbling slightly. “We kissed for a little and then we went back to his room and--”

“Wait, did you two..” She trailed off as her eyes widened suggestively.

“No we didn’t do that.” Reigen felt his face get hotter. “We kissed a little more and then he held me as I slept.”

“That’s adorable! So you two are together now, right?”

“Well, uh, no.” He shifted his eyes away from his sister, “We haven’t even had a chance to talk and who knows what will happen when we do.”

Misaki recoiled in confusion, “What do you mean by that? It’s pretty obvious what’s gonna happen. You like him, he likes you, now hold hands and kiss and be a couple.”

“If he actually likes me and is okay with dating his boss. There’s also a chance that he figured out how I feel and is just trying this out for my sake. You did say that I was being obvious and Katsuya’s smart and kind. It’s not crazy to think that could be the case.”

His sister just rolled her eyes, “For someone who’s so clever, you really can be stupid sometimes.”

“Well, I’m stupid all the time, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong about this.” He quipped back.

Misaki burst into laughter, “We’ll see.”

She finished putting the foundation on him and then dusted it with a setting powder. “Alright, all done. This is some high quality stuff, so you won’t have to worry about it coming off.”

Reiged sighed. “Thank you.” He said before buttoning up his shirt and putting his tie back on.

“Of course! I missed being able to help you like that.” She said as she gathered the make-up.

“How are you holding up?”

She gave a strained laugh, “I’m alright. I try not to think about things too much. Therapy is going to help, but I know it’s gonna be tough. I’m just glad I have some distractions in my life.” She looked pointedly at her brother.

Reigen chuckled and pulled her in for a hug, “I’m glad my suffering brings you comfort.” he joked.

“We wouldn’t be siblings if it didn’t.” She laughed, more carefree this time. “Okay, you better get back to your boyfri-- I mean coworker.”

Reigen rolled his eyes. She was right that he needed to leave though. It was a few minutes before 8:00, so he would definitely be late. He didn’t want to leave Serizawa without help for too long.

Before he headed out, he turned back one more time, “Hey, I’m really glad you’re here.”

“Me too.” Misaki smiled. “Have a good day, let me know what happens.”

He gave a nervous chuckle, “You too, and yeah, I will.” he said and closed the door.

Reigen was exhausted. Not from clients or spirits or paperwork. No, it was all because of Serizawa. All day long they fumbled around each other. Every time they bumped into one another or brushed past each other, Reigen’s anxiety went into overdrive.

He nearly burned himself when he jumped at the brush of Serizawa’s fingers as the esper was handing him his tea. Thank goodness he was an esper and contained the spill before it hit Reigen.

On top of that, he couldn’t look at Serizawa without turning into a tomato. Their eyes would meet and each time it nearly killed Reigen. He was just so much more aware of the man than usual, if that was even possible. He was also too aware of the hidden marks on his neck. His thoughts lingered on how they got there and--

No no no no. Don’t think about that.

Closing time was quickly approaching. Reigen only had one more client left until they were done. Then he and Serizawa would talk and hopefully tomorrow would be back to normal. Well, at least normal-ish.

Reigen was thankful that the last client was a massage. It gave him a chance to collect himself away from Serizawa before they talked.

He prattled to the client about how the oils he was using were both spiritually protective and moisturizing. Reigen had done this for so long, he didn’t have to think much about what he was saying. It just flowed so naturally. It was also a nice distraction from the anxiety welling up inside.

When he and the client stepped out of the massage room, Serizawa was nowhere to be found. The client paid and left as happily as most of them do.

Reigen was wondering why Serizawa still wasn’t there, when he got a text.

Katsuya: meet me on the roof

Reigen shut his phone and put his jacket back on. As he climbed the stairs, he braced himself for what was to come.

He really only saw two possibilities.

The first: Serizawa knew that Reigen liked him and out of his desire to make others happy, decided to make a move.

The second: Serizawa actually liked Reigen and wanted to be with him for his own reasons.

The first possibility seemed more likely to Reigen. He couldn’t imagine Serizawa seeing anything worthwhile in him. He was also very kind, so it made sense to Reigen that Serizawa would do something so selfless. But it also made Reigen feel pitied. Well, he was pitiful.

He pushed thoughts of the second possibility out of his mind. It wasn’t likely to happen and he really didn’t want to get his hopes up.

When he got to the top of the stairs, the door to the roof was propped open with a cinderblock. Reigen took a deep breath and continued forward. The sun was setting and the sky was full of brilliant pinks and oranges.

It was pretty, but it couldn’t compare to the man waiting for him on the roof. Serizawa sat on one of the blankets from the office with another one draped around his shoulders. He was so beautiful it made Reigen’s heart ache.

Reigen pushed his legs to keep going until he sat on the blanket with the other man. He was so nervous. His hands were shaking and despite the cold air, sweat was dripping down the back of his neck.

“Hey.” He tried to sound casual.

Serizawa looked at him and smiled. “Hey you.”

Reigen’s heart skipped a beat. “So, how do we even start this. I gues--”

“I know you like me.” Serizawa said softly.

He knew it. It was option one. He knew this would happen, but he wasn’t prepared for how much it would hurt.

Reigen forced a laugh as tears threatened to spill over, “I guess you got me. You don’t have to pretend to like me just because I like you. Give it time and I’m sure I’ll get over you.” Reigen knew that was a lie.

Serizawa’s eyebrows furrowed, “I’m sorry, but what the hell are you talking about?”

“Come on, you really don’t have to pretend. I know you figured out that I had feelings for you, so you kissed me because you felt bad.”

Serizawa just started laughing, “Everything you said is so wrong, I don’t even know where to start.”

“Wait, what?” Now Reigen was really confused. Was Serizawa doubling down or--

“I only figured out that you liked me this morning. Y’know, after I already kissed you. A lot actually. You were saying that you should be the one who’s sorry and I realized you were feeling guilty about enjoying yourself.”

Oh.

“So then why did you kiss me?” Reigen was in a bit of a daze and not thinking clearly.

Serizawa reached over and held Reigen’s hands. “Okay, I’m going to be very clear about this because I need you to understand that I didn’t bring you up to the roof at sunset to tell you I feel bad for you.” He took in a breath and continued, “I like you. I have for a while. It’s not because I pity you or feel obligated to. I just like you a lot. Romantically and sexually and all that.”

So Serizawa really did like him. Reigen’s heart was beating faster and faster. He hadn’t dared hope for this, but now that it was happening, he still felt guilty. “Even if that’s true, I’m your boss. There’s a power imbalance there.”

Serizawa raised an eyebrow, “I mean, I think if there is a power imbalance, it’s in my favor.” He said raising a hand and letting his purple aura surround it.

Reigen never really thought of it like that.

“Besides,” Serizawa continued, “I think of us more as a team than just boss and employee.”

Reigen sputtered, “No of course. I do see you as an equal, I was just--”

Serizawa laughed, “It’s okay, I know what you meant. I’m just trying to show you that you don’t have to worry about that stuff.” He paused then asked, “What do you want?”

“I just want to make sure--”

“Arataka.” Serizawa said firmly, catching Reigen’s attention. “What do you want?”

“You.”

Serizawa’s smile was gentle and warm, “See, that wasn’t too hard.”

Reigen felt so stupid. Misaki was right, Mob was right. This really could be that simple. He had wasted so much time coming up with excuses. Though he still had a hard time believing he deserved to have this.

“Are you sure abo-”

“Oh my god, shut up.” Serizawa said as he leaned in to kiss him.

Reigen couldn’t help it, he kissed back eagerly. He may not deserve this, but he decided he could be a little selfish, at least for now.

Serizawa laid him down on the blanket, his leg slotted between Reigen’s and his hands exploring the smaller man’s body.

He kissed over to Reigen’s ear and whispered, “Of course, I’m sure.”

Reigen felt a chill race through his skin and let out a soft moan.

Serizawa gave an amused chuckle and went back to kissing him. He slowly untucked Reigen’s shirt and slid his hand under. He relished in the feeling of Reigen’s skin.

Reigen felt like he was on fire. He never wanted Serizawa to stop touching him. His own hands were woven into Serizawa’s hair, holding on for dear life.

Their kisses were urgent, hungry, needy. Reigen knew they probably shouldn’t be doing this on the roof, but was too blissed out to care.

The click of his belt buckle being undone snapped him back. “Wait.” He breathed out.

Serizawa froze, “I’m sorry, is that too much?”

Reigen laughed quietly, “No, it’s not that. I actually really want that, but I feel like I need to take you on a date first.”

“Oh, I’m not too worried about that.” He said before leaning back down to kiss him.

In that moment Reigen realized something and broke their kiss again, “Hang on, have you ever been on a date before?”

Serizawa thought for a second, “Uh, kinda. I thought I was just hanging out with a classmate, she thought it was a date. It was super awkward when we realized and we never talked about it again. I don’t know if that counts.”

Reigen was unsure if that meant he didn’t like women or if he just wasn’t into her. That was a question for a different time. The pressing issue now was that this man had never really been on a date. Not that Reigen had been on a ton of dates, but everyone deserved to go on one at least once.

“Okay, we’re fixing this right now.” Reigen said trying to get up.

“You don’t have to do that, I don’t feel like I’m missing out or anything.” Serizawa protested.

“Katsuya, please. Let me romance you.” Reigen said as he gently caressed the other man’s cheek.

Serizawa blushed at that. He seemed cool as a cucumber when he was undoing Reigen’s belt, but at this he blushed. “Oh, o-okay.”

“We can even use that certificate Teru gave us.” The more he thought about it he was annoyed that Teru’s parents even gave a sixteen-year-old a gift certificate to a nice restaurant. Buying his affection was wrong, but it’s like they weren’t even trying at this point. Reigen would address that later because right now he needed to sweep Serizawa off his feet.

“That’s a good idea.” Serizawa said as he helped Reigen up.

“Alright, if you wouldn’t mind putting the blankets away. I just need a second to, uh, reassemble myself.” He said gesturing to his disheveled clothes.

Serizawa gave a big laugh, “Okay, that’s fair. Take as long as you need.” He pulled Reigen in for a kiss. “I’ll be waiting downstairs.” He said before walking away.

Reigen stared longingly at the man as he walked away. Once he was out of sight, Reigen slapped his hands to his face.

“Okay, okay, okay. Don’t freak out, don’t freak out.” He took in a few deep breaths to still himself

He pulled out his phone and shot off a text.

Me: You were right.

She must have been waiting for this because she replied immediately.

Misaki: YES, FINALLY! I’m so happy for you two! Stay safe ;)

Reigen rolled his eyes and put the phone away before tucking his shirt back in and redoing his belt.

The sun was nearly set with only a faint glow on the horizon. The air was getting colder and Reigen felt it even more so with Serizawa gone. He spent a few minutes taking it in. It helped him calm down a little.

He ran a hand through his hair and let out a laugh before heading back downstairs.

“How did you like it?” Reigen asked.

“It was nice. The food was good, but even in my suit, I felt a little underdressed.” Serizawa said.

“Yeah, I didn’t know it would be quite that fancy, but I’m glad I got to take you there. I hope it was a good first date for you.” Reigen felt bad that they had mainly talked about work and the kids. It was just so much easier to fall back onto familiar topics.

Serizawa squeezed Reigen’s hand as they walked back home. “I loved it. Any time I get to spend with you is a good time.”

Reigen smiled, he couldn’t contain how happy that made him.

They walked together with an aura of contentment until Serizawa asked, “When did you first realize, um, how you felt about me?”

He was so adorably bashful, Reigen grasped his hand tighter. “Honestly, I’ve always found you attractive, but it was about a year ago that I really started getting feelings. It was on my birthday after the party. I was telling you how crappy my twenty-eighth birthday was and how happy I was that things were different. You looked at me with such compassion and care and told me I deserved to be happy.”

“I said that? I mean, it’s true, I just don’t remember.” Serizawa admitted.

“Yeah, you did. At that moment I knew I had fallen for you. I tried to deny it to myself, but I eventually had to just accept it. After that, I kept a little more distance between us because it was just too much.”

Surprisingly, Serizawa started bellowing laughter. It was to the point that they had to stop walking.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He said once he calmed down enough “It’s just that I started falling for you just after that. You were always so tactile with everyone. It wasn’t uncommon for you to have a hand on my shoulder or nudging me in the side. No one had ever been that casual with me and I had grown... accustomed to it.” Serizawa trailed off a little.

“Oh.” Was all Reigen could say.

“Yeah, when you pulled away, I realized how much I wanted you to be closer. And well, now here we are.”

Reigen sighed, “We’re idiots aren’t we?”

“It seems like it. But at least we got there eventually.” Serizawa said before touching Reigen’s neck, “Also, that make-up really stayed on there.”

Reigen blushed, “Yeah, Misaki’s really good at stuff like this.”

“She really is, you still can’t tell there were ever hickeys there in the first place.” Serizawa said.

Just talking about that got Reigen feeling worked up. “That reminds me. I really didn’t expect you to be so forward in that department.”

“Well, I’ve never had the chance to be with anyone like that and since I’ve been yearning for you for the past year, I guess I got a little impatient.”

Reigen felt a flutter in his stomach, “Then maybe we should get home soon.”

“We can go at whatever pace you want.” Serizawa said, smiling.

Reigen lifted an eyebrow, “Shouldn’t that be my line?”

Serizawa chuckled and started walking ahead, “Come on old man, let’s get you to bed.”

“Hey, you’re older than me and I’m only twenty-nine.” Reigen protested as he caught back up.

“Almost thirty!” He teased.

“Thirty is still young.” Reigen pouted.

Serizawa grabbed Reigen’s hand again and brought it up to kiss it. “You’re right, we’ve still got so much time.”

Reigen sputtered. “Stop being so cute.”

“You first.”

They continued their walk as they flirted and joked with each other. Reigen still couldn’t believe that this was happening, but he supposed he would just have to get used to it.

Chapter Text

“Hey, you’re getting better at this.” Serizawa said. Reigen could hear the smug smile in his voice.

“Stop distracting me, Katsuya.”

“What? No, I’m not trying to distract you.” The feigned innocence was palpable. “I’m just trying to compliment you, Arataka.”

That sent Reigen’s heart fluttering. “I know. That’s what’s distracting.” Reigen wildly pushed more buttons on his controller.

Reigen started regretting his decision to challenge Serizawa to a game of Smash. He thought he was pretty good at the game, but he had underestimated the other man’s prowess.

When they were selecting characters, Reigen chose Wii Fit Trainer.

Serizawa chuckled, “Interesting choice.”

Reigen felt a little self conscious, “What? She’s got really good movement, so it’s easy to evade when I need to. Plus I love kicking that soccer ball at people from a distance.” He said with a devious little laugh.

“Wow, that’s the most you thing I’ve ever heard.”

Reigen was about to retort to that when he noticed Serizawa had picked the random option. “Is that a good idea to go random? You might end up with a bad match up.”

Serizawa’s laugh had a tinge of darkness to it. It certainly did something to Reigen. “I know these characters inside and out. I’m confident I can win with any of them.”

Shit.

Now, Reigen was down to one out of three lives while Serizawa still had two. Reigen had soon realized that his normal tactic for winning wouldn’t work. He normally stayed off to the side and made some jabs here and there until it was just down to one person. That person would be down one or two lives while Reigen would be at full health. Even if he wasn’t the best technical player, he could outlast and pull out a sneaky win.

Well, that couldn’t work when there was only one other player to start with. When Serizawa was gifted Bowser by the game, Reigen still thought he had a chance. Bowser wasn’t super fast, so maybe he could still wear him out.

He was oh so wrong. Somehow Serizawa was able to get Reigen in his grasp every time he tried to evade. Reigen realized that Serizawa’s confidence was no joke. A chill ran through him.

His chances were low, but Reigen wasn’t going to give up. He hadn’t taken much damage yet with this life. He just had to be careful.

Right when he thought that, Bowser grabbed Wii Fit Trainer and body slammed both of them off the stage.

Reigen was in shock. “Wh- you- I-”

Serizawa tried to hold back his laughter, knowing Misaki and Hina were sleeping in the other room. He seemed to be having a hard time doing so. “I’m sorry, I just really wanted to see your reaction and I was not disappointed.”

“It’s not fair.” Reigen pouted, “You cheated.”

“Hey, that’s not against the rules.” He said crossing his arms.

“No, I mean when you were intentionally distracting me by flirting.” Reigen pointed a finger at Serizawa as he accused the man.

A sly smile spread across Serizawa’s face as he leaned in closer to Reigen. “Are you saying you don’t like it when I flirt with you?”

Reigen sputtered, “Wha- no, I just uh..” He had lost all train of thought. He was supposed to be mad. He couldn’t remember why.

Serizawa gently held Reigen’s face and brought their lips together. Reigen melted into the kiss. It was still so surreal kissing Serizawa. He thought he might be getting used to it after almost a week of being together, but every kiss was just as electric and debilitating as the first. Reigen felt like a teenager again, only this was even better, and he was soaking up every moment he got.

Reigen didn’t realize that Serizawa was pushing him to the floor until he felt the carpet hit his back.

“I’m sorry,” Serizawa said in between kisses, “But I’ll only stop flirting when you stop being adorable.”

Reigen flushed even brighter red. This man knew just what to say to catch him off guard. He had one hand on Serizawa’s back and the other running through his hair as the esper kissed down to Reigen’s neck.

“Um, as much as I love this, I don’t know if the living room, uh, is the best spot for it.” Reigen managed to breathe out.

Serizawa propped himself up a little higher, still straddling the smaller man. Even though Reigen was the one who brought it up, he already missed the lips on him. “Hmm, you’re probably right.” Serizawa’s voice dropped to a whisper, “Let’s get to the bedroom because I’m nowhere near done with you.”

A shudder ripped its way through him. “God, you’re insatiable.”

“Can you blame me?” The larger man said as he felt up under Reigen’s tee shirt.

Reigen did feel a little bad about that. While the two of them had a hard time keeping their hands off each other, they still hadn’t gone much further than kissing and touching. Reigen was a ball of anxiety and couldn’t bring himself to do more since his sister was usually in the other room. He didn’t want their first time having sex to be rushed and he definitely didn’t want it to be interrupted.

“Isn’t it past your bedtime old man? Are you sure you can keep going?” Reigen teased even though he was the one who was more likely to pass out first.

He expected him to banter a little more, but Serizawa just asked, “Oh! What time is it actually?”

Reigen was confused, but felt around the ground for his phone anyway. Once he got it, he flipped it open, “Uh, looks like It’s just after midnight.”

Serizawa’s face lit up and he gave Reigen another deep kiss. Reigen was definitely not complaining, but he didn’t get exactly what was happening.

Finally Serizawa pulled back up and looked Reigen in the eyes, “Happy Birthday.” He said softly.

“Um, what? It’s not my birthday. That’s not for another couple days, right?” Serizawa shook his head and Reigen went to double check his phone.

There it was. It really was October 10th. Reigen groaned. “I can’t believe I forgot about my birthday again. I knew it was coming up, I just didn’t know it was going to be here so soon.”

Reigen remembered something else and covered his face.

“I know I joke about it, but thirty isn’t that old.” Serizawa said trying to coax the smaller man back out from his hands.

Reigen drug his hands down his face. “No, it’s not that. I just remembered that I’m moving back on the 15th. That’s only five days from now.”

“Oh, right.” Serizawa looked deep in thought.

“After being here so long, It’s gonna be hard to go back.” Reigen said, turning to the side. Well, as much as he could with someone on top of him.

Serizawa leaned down once more and kissed at Reigen’s cheek before whispering, “Then don’t.”

Reigen froze and turned to look at him. “What?”

“Don’t go back.” Another kiss planted, closer to his ear this time.

“Well, I need to live somewhere and I can’t just find another place that easy. Even though the pipes broke, it’s a pretty nice--” Reigen stopped when he saw Serizawa’s exasperated face. The man gave a small smile. “That’s not what you meant is it?”

Serizawa pulled Reigen up as he sat up himself. Their legs became intertwined together. The esper took Reigen’s hands in his own. “I know it’s a little fast, okay actually it’s a lot fast, but why don’t you move here?”

“You want me--you want me...to move in with you?” Reigen stuttered out.

“Yeah, I’ve actually been considering this all week.” Serizawa’s bashful smile left Reigen’s skin tingling.

Reigen had a hard time breathing, “All week?” he wheezed.

“Yes. I know it sounds crazy, but we’ve already spent so much time together. We already know each other’s weird habits and idiosyncrasies. I also certainly don’t feel good about sending you back to a place where the pipes burst.” He stopped and squeezed Reigen’s hands, “And most importantly, I really don’t want you to go.”

Reigen knew he wanted nothing more than to say yes. To be able to wake up to Serizawa’s face every morning and fall asleep in his arms every night was a dream come true for him. But he couldn’t just give in to everything he wanted, right?

He still couldn’t bring himself to outright refuse, though. “I--I don’t know.”

Serizawa brought a hand up to stroke Reigen’s face. “That’s okay. I understand that this is a lot to think about. Just know that the offer is there whenever you want to accept. Take as long as you need, alright?”

This man was too kind and patient and loving. It only cemented how lucky Reigen felt. “Thank you, Katsuya.”

“Of course.” He said before leaning in to kiss him again.

The next thing Reigen knew, he was being hoisted in the air. He felt Serizawa’s hand at the back of his knees as he swept Reigen into a bridal carry. The ease with which Serizawa lifted him made Reigen’s stomach drop.

“Also, I wasn’t kidding earlier. I’m not done with you. Get ready to be kissed until you can’t think straight.” Serizawa said with a smirk.

“You’re ridiculous.” He laughed before Serizawa whisked him away, leaving the video game on and abandoned.

“Happy Birthday!!” Reigen received the congratulations in stereo as he and Serizawa walked out of the bedroom.

Before Reigen had a chance to recover from the surprise, a loud pop stung his ears and he was showered in confetti.

“Oh, dear god!” He said as he clung to Serizawa.

Peels of laughter came from Hina and from Misaki who was holding her. Reigen could feel Serizawa softly laughing as well.

“I see. You guys think it’s funny to watch me almost die.” Reigen said with exaggerated irritation.

“Oh, my darling,” Serizawa said, pressing a kiss into Reigen’s hair, “it would take a lot more than that.”

Reigen couldn’t keep up the facade of annoyance and cracked a bashful smile.

Misaki rolled her eyes, “You two are too cute.” she sighed before grabbing Reigen’s hand, “Come on, I have a surprise for you.” She pulled him toward the dining area.

Misaki gestured toward the table, “Ta-da!”

Reigen was stopped in his tracks, overcome with nostalgia. “Convenience store breakfast?” His voice was weak.

His sister nodded her head fervently. “We got up early to go get everything!”

On the table was a hodgepodge of different foods. There were rice balls, bags of chips, various filled buns, candy, and even fried chicken.

“It’s been so long.” Reigen said softly.

“Am I missing something?” Serizawa asked, confused.

Misaki giggled, “Sorry, Katsuya. This is a birthday tradition we’ve had since we were kids. We would always sneak out the morning of the other one’s birthday to get whatever a few hundred yen could buy us.”

The first time it happened was on Reigen’s 8th birthday. Their parents had postponed his birthday celebration until he could get his math grade back up. Reigen had holed up in his room feeling sorry for himself when he heard a quiet tapping at his door. When he opened it, he found his six-year-old sister with a bag of food. The two of them ate a small breakfast of sandwiches and potato chips.

It was one of those memories Reigen treasured. It was also a memory that tormented him every birthday until recently. Until Misaki was safe.

Serizawa put a hand to his heart, “That’s so sweet!”

“Yeah, Misaki started it. She’s always been the more thoughtful one.” He said with as much sincerity as he could.

Misaki gave her brother a light shove, “Don’t get all sappy right now. It’s time for you to eat candy for breakfast. I let Hina choose most of it to give it an extra element of chaos.”

Reigen laughed and mussed his niece’s hair, “I can’t wait to try it all.” Hina looked so pleased with herself.

The four of them sat down and dug into the smorgasbord of convenience store treats.

“So, you two have any plans today?” Misaki asked as she bit into some gummy candy.

“Uuuh, not really.” Reigen said, his mouth full of fried chicken.

“Actually, there’s somewhere I want to take you.” Serizawa piped up with pink dusting his cheeks.

“Wait really?” Reigen swallowed too quickly, nearly choking on his food. He tried to play it off by clearing his throat, “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.” The esper said with a wink.

Reigen’s heart stuttered. Would he ever get used to this man? “Oh, right.”

“We’ll go after breakfast.” Serizawa smiled.

“Ah, yes, of course, sounds like a plan.” Reigen tried not to appear overly excited.

“You dork.” Misaki said under her breath.

“He’s cute, isn’t he?” Serizawa said.

“Adorable.”

Reigen shot her a half-hearted glare, “Shut up.”

She only laughed in response. “So have you told your childre-- I mean, have you told your students you’re together yet?”

Reigen groaned.

“Wait what’s wrong?”

Serizawa sighed, “He’s worried that if he tells one of them first the others will feel left out.”

Reigen thought about what happened when Teru found out he had a sister. He knew this situation was different, but he didn’t want to take his chances.

“I’m surprised they haven’t figured it out already.” Misaki said

“We’ve only seen Tome so far since then and that got a little dicey.” Serizawa said with a laugh. “I think she’s suspicious for sure.”

Reigen put a hand to his head, “I just need to get them all in one spot.”

Misaki and Serizawa quickly glanced at each other. Reigen didn’t miss the exchange.

“Hey, what was that?”

Serizawa spoke up first, “Oh, I mean, don’t you think they’re going to do something for you tomorrow? We’ll get a chance then.”

“You think so?” He thought back to last year, “Oh, god you’re right. I guess it’ll have to be then.” He said, rubbing his temples

“It’ll be fine.” Serizawa said as he reached to hold his boyfriend’s hand.

Reigen let out a breath, “You’re right.” Something about holding his hand helped keep the anxiety at bay. Maybe it was a secret power that the esper had. And it only worked on Reigen.

Serizawa’s offer still sat in the back of his mind. The pull to accept had gotten stronger and stronger.

“So where are we going?” Reigen asked again as he and Serizawa stepped off the train.

“It’s a little place the Minegishi recommended to me.” Serizawa gave in.

Reigen struggled to remember who that was, “Oh, that’s the plant guy righ--Oh my god, I forgot about my plants.”

Reigen thought back to the plants he had collected over the past few years. And he had just abandoned them. He would be able to salvage the cacti and succulents, but some of his more delicate specimens were probably not looking too good after almost two weeks without care.

Serizawa couldn’t hold back his laughter, “I know, I figured you might want to get some more.”

“I’m such a bad plant parent. I don’t think I deserve another one.”

“That’s not true. You had a lot on your plate.” He said patting Reigen on the back.

“You’re too good to me.” He sighed.

Once arriving at the plant nursery, Reigen combed through, trying to find the right one to revive his collection. He found one that was nicknamed the Chinese Money Plant and he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist getting it.

That earned a chuckle from Serizawa and an “Of course you would.”

Serizawa decided to get a plant as well. He chose a tiny violet colored succulent.

“That’s a great one to start out with. Succulents don’t need much care and they’re fairly resilient. Nice choice, Katsuya.” He said as they walked back to the apartment.

Serizawa blushed at the praise. “Ah, thanks Taka.”

That was the first time Serizawa had used his nickname and it did funny things to his stomach, “Of course.”

Reigen turned away to hide his flushed face, but he could still feel Serizawa’s eyes on him. They were less than a block away from the apartment when Reigen felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned to see Serizawa looking at him rather intently. The man leaned in close and ran his fingers through Reigen’s hair. The smaller of the two did his best to keep his grasp on reality.

Serizawa drew his hand away and pinched between his fingers was a bright pink string of confetti, “Huh, must have been from this morning.” He said with a wink before continuing to walk to the apartment.

Reigen was less worried about the confetti that had been in his hair all day and more concerned about the fact that all the cells in his body nearly called it quits right then and there. He couldn’t believe how smooth Serizawa had been. He could believe it, but it didn’t make him any less affected. Did Serizawa even realize what he had done?

Before Reigen could fully process what he was doing, he grabbed onto Serizawa’s arm. When he turned back, Reigen pulled him down into a kiss. It was a little awkward trying to kiss while holding the plants, but they certainly didn’t let that stop them.

When they finally pulled away, Reigen had a hard time catching his breath, “Did you do that on purpose?”

Serizawa smirked, “Maybe a little. You’re really cute when you’re flustered.”

“And you’re really hot when you’re confident.”

Laughter bubbled from Serizawa, “Come on, we should put these up.”

Reigen sighed, “I suppose.” He reluctantly let Serizawa pull away and they made their way towards the stairs.

Serizawa was unlocking the door when he paused, “Sorry about this.”

Reigen had no idea what he was talking about. His boyfriend looked more pleased than he did apologetic.

Then the door swung open. Reigen was confronted with five teenagers, his sister, and his neice staring back at him.

Reigen hadn’t been to many surprise parties, but he was pretty sure this was the moment they were supposed to say “surprise” or “happy birthday” or something. Instead there was just stunned silence.

Teru was the first one to speak up, “Y’know, I’m not even mad that you didn’t tell us. I’m just so glad that you two actually managed to get together.”

Reigen and Serizawa looked at each other, confused then back at the kids.

“Then how did you--” Reigen started, but was quickly interrupted by Teru.

He pointed to the balcony door, “We were looking to see if you were here yet and well, we saw.”

Reigen was beyond embarrassed, but trying to play it cool as Serizawa apologized profusely. He wasn’t embarrassed about their relationship, but Reigen didn’t intend for anyone to see them kissing. Especially not the teenagers they mentor.

“It’s fine Katsuya, I wanted to tell them soon anyway.”

“I knew something was up!” Tome interjected, “You guys kept avoiding each other, but then staring when the other wasn’t looking. Either you were together or you had reached levels of pining and obliviousness that I didn’t know were possible.”

Serizawa’s worried face broke into a smile as he chuckled at that. “I’m sorry. We just wanted to tell you all at the same time.”

“Don’t worry about it. I knew you guys would be fine.” Shou said.

“Yeah, me too!” Teru agreed, “Which reminds me, little brother owes me 1,000 Yen.” He said looking over at Ritsu, who was doing his best to pretend like he wasn’t there.

“You bet on us?” Reigen nearly shouted.

“It was a safe bet though.” Teru said.

Reigen couldn’t argue with that.

“As much as I love making my brother feel awkward, if we don’t eat this cake soon, Hina is going to just destroy it” Misaki said, gesturing to Hina who was currently mesmerised by the cake.

The table wasn’t big enough for all of them to sit at, so after they sang and cut the cake, they all split up into smaller groups. Misaki, Serizawa, and Tome stayed at the table. Ritsu and Shou sat on the couch. Teru and Mob were in the kitchen. Hina was piggybacking on Mob. She looked like a little koala clung to him.

Reigen walked over to the boys in the kitchen and rested an elbow on Teru’s shoulder, “Enjoying the party.” He said, only slightly sarcastically.

“Actually, yeah we are.” Teru said as Mob smiled and nodded.

“Shishou, we’re all incredibly happy for you and Serizawa. I’m glad it worked out.” Mob said as Hina started playing with his hair.

“Thanks Mob,” Reigen said a little bashful, “Oh and that reminds me, Teru. Don’t forget to hold up your end of out agreement.”

Reigen certainly didn’t forget about Teru claiming he would tell Mob how he felt once Reigen told Serizawa.

Teru turned bright red, obviously not prepared for Reigen to bring that up now, “Right, of course. Later.”

“What’s going on?” Mob asked as he tilted his head in confusing. Hina mimicked the motion.

“I’ll tell you later, Shigeo. I promise.”

As the two of them kept talking, Reigen surveyed the room. Seeing everyone gathered together and happy caused a warmth to radiate inside of him. This space was special. It held important memories.

Reigen’s eye caught the two plants sitting together at the table. They looked so nice together. The contrast of the small purple succulent next to the green money plant with its big, flat, circular leaves.

In that moment, knew he didn’t want to separate them. And he wasn’t just thinking about the plants. He couldn’t imagine leaving this place. At least not now. In such a short time, this was now his home too.

The second Reigen made the decision to stay, his body moved him to the living room. He felt out of control, but he wasn’t going to fight it. He knew what he needed to do.

“Hi, uh, everyone. I want to tell you all something.” If someone didn’t know better, they may not realize this is the same charmer that runs the Spirits and Such office. To be fair, being vulnerable was a lot more difficult than exaggerating (lying about) one’s own abilities. At least for Reigen that was the case.

“I first want to say thank you. Not just for coming today, but for everything really. For your persistence, for your friendship, and for your forgiveness over the years.” He looked at his sister, then Mob and Teru. “Second, I want to let you all know that I’m staying here. I’m not going back to my own apartment. This is my home.”

Reigen looked over and saw Serizawa’s face shining brightly. Reigen was glad that made his boyfriend as happy as it did. He couldn’t only hope that it would continue to be the case moving forward.

Teru chimed in, “So you’ll be here every time I come to stay over?”

“Yeah, kid, of course.” He rubbed the blonde’s hair. Reigen almost felt giddy thinking about what the future would hold for this strange family he found. “I know this is fast and a little crazy, but I think because of everyone’s support, I’m starting to realize that maybe we--that I deserve to be happy.”

He turned to look at Serizawa,

“Right, Katsuya?”

Chapter Text

“Dad, I wanna go play.” Whined the three-year-old. Well, she was nearly four with her birthday next month.

“Hang on Sachi. I’m almost done.” Reigen said as he lathered sunscreen on his daughter’s arms, “Do you want to do your face?”

Sachi nodded quickly, “Yes yes yes!” She said as she put out her hands.

Reigen squeezed out a little of the sunscreen onto her hands. She closed her eyes tightly and frantically rubbed the tiny dollop on her face, earning a chuckle from her father.

Reigen gave her a once over to make sure she was covered, “Okay, go play.” He said with a smile.

Reigen knew everyone was annoyed with how much he reminded them about sunscreen, but since becoming a dad, he was always anxious about stuff like that. Thankfully it would be dark in a couple hours, so he wouldn’t have to worry about it for much longer.

Her face lit up and she quickly stepped off the deck of the cabin and ran toward Serizawa, shouting, “Papa, papa! Chase us!” Her pitch black braids bounced with every step she took.

Serizawa and Tome were playing, what looked to be a game of tag, with the kids. Sachi grabbed Hina and her little brother, Kai’s, hands, laughing wildly as they escaped the two adults.

A wave of warmth overcame Reigen as he watched his little family. This little lakeside vacation was the perfect time to spend some quality time with the people he cared about. Mob, Teru, and Tome were on summer break from college. And Ritsu and Shou only had one spare weekend this summer before they had to go back to studying. They were in their last year of high school after all.

This was also the first vacation he’d taken since Sachi and Kai had entered their lives.

The past three years had flown by in a whirlwind for Reigen. He had started dating and moved in with Serizawa. Within a year they were engaged and married. Soon after their wedding, Serizawa brought up the idea of adopting.

“Katsuya, I--I don’t hate the idea of being a dad, but do you...do you really think I’ll be good enough?” He said, turning onto his back as the two of them laid in bed together.

“Hey, what happened to the guy who was going to the guy who was going to straight up ask Teru’s parents to adopt him?” Serizawa teased, tracing small circles on his husband’s chest.

Reiged sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “I may have been a little impulsive in my thinking on that. I just wanted to give the kid a parent who actually cared about him. At the time, the only one who could fit the bill was me. I wouldn’t have known the first thing about taking care of him though.”

Serizawa brought a hand up and gently brushed the hair from Reigen’s face, “But that’s why I think you’ll be a good dad. You’re coming from a place of love. All parents are bound to mess up, but I think as long as they--as long as we love them and keep trying to do better, we’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Reigen was never so scared of something yet so excited for it at the same time.

“Of course I am. Plus you don’t have to do this alone. We’ll both be there to support each other. I believe in you, trust me.”

“I do.” Reigen said softly.

They were prepared for the adoption process to take years, if would even happen at all. Fortunately, a bit of luck came their way.

Nearly a year after they started looking to adopt, they were introduced to Sachiko and Kai. Despite only being in foster care for a few months, the brother and sister had been in over ten homes. Apparently, the foster families had reported Sachi doing strange things like making objects float and bending spoons. They were warned against meeting these kids.

He and Serizawa exchanged a knowing glance, “My husband and I would love to meet them.” Reigen said never missing a chance to remind people he’s married.

The two of them stepped into the room to see the two-year-old girl clung to the crib of her nearly six-month-old brother.

Did they really leave them in here by themselves?

When Sachi noticed them enter, Reigen saw the panic and fear in her eyes. His heart broke for her.

They later found out that their mother had died while giving birth to Kai. That was when Sachi started displaying her abilities. The stress and shock of having a new brother and losing her mother probably awoke her powers. Her dad was grieving and couldn’t handle having an esper child, so he turned to alcohol. Soon the children were taken from him and with no other living relatives, they were put in foster care.

As Reigen and Serizawa approached her, objects started floating around the room. They were all surrounded in a bright teal light with wisps of white criss-crossing throughout. It reminded Reigen of the ocean.

“Sachiko, you’re amazing!” Reigen was in awe.

The little girl looked surprised, like no one had ever told her that before. It was a shame because she truly was amazing.

Serizawa took another step forward and Sachi flinched. The two of them froze, not wanting to scare her.

“You don’t need to be afraid. I’m like you.” Serizawa said and then, using his powers, picked up a stray rattle from the ground and floated it over to Sachi. The shimmering purple aura was always so beautiful to Reigen.

Sachi’s eyebrows were furrowed as she processed this new information.

“Can we come closer?” Serizawa asked.

She slowly nodded her head. Serizawa and Reigen carefully made their way over to her and kneeled down. The little girl was trembling. All Reigen could think about was doing whatever it took to make her happy.

“If it’s alright with you, we’d like to take care of you.” Reigen said and then saw her grip the crib even tighter, “Both of you.” He amended.

With that, she collapsed into their arms, sobbing. Just that little bit of acceptance and love was more than she’d seen in a long time.

Now, a year later, life was better for her, and for Kai. The two of them still had emotional scars from that time of neglect and abandonment, but Reigen and Serizawa vowed to help them through every step. It also didn’t hurt that the kids had a hoard of people willing to dote on them every single day.

Reigen was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw Serizawa walking over with their one and a half year old son in his arms. He couldn’t help but admire how good his husband looked. Serizawa was wearing the pink and blue floral shirt he got on their honeymoon in Hawaii, black knee-length shorts, and his bright green crocs. Reigen could see a tiny bit of hair poking out the top of the shirt and it made him nearly melt. Not to mention seeing Serizawa’s strong, broad body lovingly holding Kai could make anybody swoon. Reigen didn’t care what anyone else thought, this was the most attractive man who ever walked this planet.

As they got closer, Kai tried to leap into Reigen’s arms. The boy made a frustrated grunt when Serizawa stopped him.

“Hang on buddy.” Reigen said.

Serizawa sat next to Reigen on the deck’s picnic bench and let Kai scramble to his other dad.

“He was getting a little fussy so I picked him up, but then he started asking for you. Not that I can blame him.” Serizawa said.

“Da’!” Kai said as he hung from Reigen’s neck.

Reigen couldn’t contain how happy that made him and pulled his son in closer for a big hug, “You wanted to see me? You are too cute!”

“What about me, Taka? I wanted to see you too. Am I cute?” Serizawa asked with a cheeky smile.

Reigen rolled his eyes a little, “Yeah, Katsu, I’m pretty sure you’re well aware of what I think of you.”

“Maybe I just wanna hear you say it.” He said, leaning in closer.

“Fine, you’re cute”

Serizawa leaned in all the way and captured Reigen’s mouth in a kiss. Reigen was powerless against this attack. Not that he was really complaining.

They only stopped when they heard someone clear their throat. They looked over to see Ritsu turning his head and Shou laughing to himself as he worked the grill.

“Sorry,” Serizawa said, “I forgot you guys were over there.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’m glad to see you two happy and Ritsu’s hilarious when he’s uncomfortable.” Shou said as he nudged the black haired boy.

Before Ritsu could retort, Misaki stepped out from the sliding glass door with a plate of vegetables and brought it over to the boys at the grill.

“Ah, thanks Misaki.” Shou said.

“Happy to help!” She said throwing out some finger guns before taking a seat at the table.

“How’s it coming along, boys?” Serizawa asked.

“We’re almost ready to eat. Shou just needs to grill of the last of these vegetables and by then the meat will be done.” Ritsu answered, seemingly recovered from the awkwardness.

“Awesome! Thank you for doing this by the way.” Serizawa said.

“It’s no problem!” Shou said with a thumbs up, “I actually wanted to be the one to grill!”

“Of course you did, pyro boy.” Ritsu muttered, earning another nudge from Shou. That must have been payback for laughing at his discomfort.

“Papa! Papa!” their attention was drawn back over to the grassy clearing by the cabin where Sachi was calling for Serizawa, “Are you gonna chase us again?”

“Uncle Kats’a, come on!” Hina said. Even though she could say his name just fine, now that she was five, the nickname still stuck.

“Yeah, I need some help, old man.” Tome shouted, out of breath, “These girls are too energetic for just one person.”

Serizawa chuckled, “I guess I’ve got no choice.” He gave a quick peck to Reigen’s forehead and sped off after them.

Reigen couldn’t hold back his smile even if he wanted to.

A bit of movement caught his attention and he turned to see Mob and Teru walking back through the clearing, holding hands.

“How was the walk, you two?” He said once they made it on the deck.

“We went to see the lake and it was so pretty, Shishou!” His eye were alive with his excitement. Reigen had told him he didn’t need to call him Shishou anymore. Mob was an adult now and he didn’t work for him anymore. But old habits die hard.

“Yeah, you were beautiful. Oops, I meant the lake was beautiful.” Teru said flashing a wink at Mob.

Mob’s face turned red as he put his free hand against it, “I don’t know whether to be flustered or embarrassed at your cheesy lines.”

“I think both is always good.”

Mob and Teru laughed.

“You two really are ridiculous.” Reigen sighed as he played with Kai’s inky black hair.

“You’re one to talk. I moved in with you guys at the peak of your honeymoon phase.” Teru chided.

“Yeah, before I moved out, you two were unbearable.” Misaki chimed in.

Reigen couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “Hey, you guys can’t complain about that after you conspired to get us together.” He huffed.

“That’s fair,” Mob said, “And honestly, you two were even harder to deal with when you were just pining after each other.”

There were murmurs of agreement from the others. Reigen rolled his eyes.

“Alright, it looks like the food is ready to eat whenever!” Shou announced, saving Reigen from more teasing.

By the time everyone sat down, the sun had started to set. It filled the sky with peachy orange hues and an aura of warmth that was only rivaled by the one around their table.

After they finished eating, Shou revealed he had brought a big bag of fireworks, stating, “It’s not summer without fireworks.”

So, they went down to the lake to light them. If anything went wrong, at least they had a big body of water to put out any possible fires.

Reigen sat side by side with his sister as they played with sparklers. They watched the rest of their family lighting off little fountains and keeping the little ones at a safe distance.

“Hey, so, do you think you could have Hina stay over next Friday?” Misaki asked, hesitance oozing from her voice.

“Uh, sure. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, everything is fine, I just..” She paused like she was deciding how to phrase it, “I have a date.”

“A date?” Reigen was shocked. His sister had always shut down conversations about romance and Reigen never wanted to push it on her if she wasn’t ready. “How did this happen?”

She laughed, “One of my co-workers introduced me to her and we sorta just.. clicked, I guess.”

“Is she cute?”

She put a hand on her face, “She’s super cute!”

“Where is she taking you?”

“We’re going to see a play and then we’ll have dinner.”

“A play? What a classy lady, I like her already.” Reigen said.

“I’m just so nervous, I haven’t been on a date in a long time.”

“You’ll be fine!” He said, but then something occurred to him, “Does she know about Hina?”

“Yeah and she seemed really nice and understanding about it. That’s not even why I’m nervous though. I’m just afraid I’m going to be too weird or something.”

“Well, that’s just part of your charm.” He teased.

Misaki shoved her brother a little, “Ugh, Taka, that’s not helping.”

“Hey, like I said, you’ll be fine.” He wrapped an arm around her, “You’re smart and funny and confident. First dates are awkward for everyone. She’s probably just as nervous as you. And if for some reason, things go poorly, I’ll be over in a heartbeat with a bottle of wine.” He squeezed her shoulder.

Misaki rested her head on Reigen’s shoulder. “You’re right.” She said with a sigh, “Thank you, Taka.”

“Of course. I’ll do anything for you.”

“I’m so proud of you.” Misaki said softly.

“Really? Why’s that?”

“You and Katsuya have brought so many people together. You don’t realize how many lives you’ve changed. Especially mine.”

“Ah, well y’know, er, um… thank you.” Reigen wanted to deny it, but he promised Serizawa that he would try to get better at receiving compliments. “I have a hard time fully accepting that, but I really do appreciate it.”

She chuckled at that, “I’m glad you could find some happiness for yourself.”

Reigen smiled, “Yeah, me too.”

The last of the fireworks soon died out along with everyone’s energy. It had been a long day and they needed to rest up for all the activities they had planned for the next day.

They all made their way back to the cabin, scrambling to get ready for bed before they passed out.

Reigen was setting their sleeping son in his crib as Serizawa came back from tucking in Hina and Sachi.

“I can’t get over how adorable he is.” Serizawa said as he wrapped his arms around Reigen from behind, “How did we get so lucky?”

Reigen sighed, contentment radiating out from him, “I don’t know, I ask myself that all the time.”

Serizawa hummed, pressing a kiss into his husband’s neck. Reigen turned around and intertwined both of their hands together.

“God, I love you so much.”

Serizawa laughed, “I love you too. More than you could ever know.” He placed a kiss on Reigen’s nose. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

Reigen gave a sly smile, “With you, I’m ready for anything.” He kissed the back of one of Serizawa’s hands.

Serizawa laughed softly, not wanting to wake anyone, “Come on, let’s get to sleep.”

Reigen nodded and followed him to the bed.

They ended up having to squeeze together on the tiny twin bed. But they didn’t mind being that close. Not one bit.