Work Text:
Mob was in a panic.
There’s no way he could have prevented the situation, per se, since all parties involved--him, Shigeo Kageyama, and his rival-turned-best-friend, Teruki Hanazawa, along his mentors Reigen and Serizawa in cahoots with Tome, Ritsu, and Shou--incited chaos at all times. There was no way anything that could be kept quiet wouldn’t be blown out of proportion. It was what they did in their line of psychic work; an esper’s job is never truly finished without a battle of auras and an explosion of power, after all. Mob, however, was solely to blame when it came to the reason why his anxiety was at an all-time high, teetering on a dangerous cliff that could cause a pitfall into absolute terror. He didn’t intend it, but in the words of his mentor, the eccentric yet wise Reigen Arataka, “You made it a bigger deal than it really is, kid.”
There were actually several ways he could have prevented his panic. The reason why this particular episode of nerves is so poignant, however, isn’t because it caused Ritsu to do the impossible and ask Reigen for help, or force Serizawa out of his social shell and reach out to a friend in need, or even because Shou and Teru once again proved to be chaotic forces unto themselves, no; it was important because Mob knew that what he had done up to that point was a
bad idea--
in his head at least--and he did it anyways.
Or more, he refused to do something, and not acting on what was essentially a boiling pot of emotion steamed sky high.
“Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob. Mob,” Tome droned, poking him in the face with the butt of her pencil, chin cupped in hand. “Hey. Hey, Mob. Mob. Mobu. Mobster. Kageyama. Kageyama. Kageya-mob. Kageyamob-?”
“Yes, Kurata?” Mob pleaded softly, putting a hand up to block her attacks. She continued to drive the pencil into his palm, an unceasing rhythmic march against her friend to keep his attention.
“You’ve spaced out for the past fifteen minutes. Normally, at the five minute mark, I just assume you’re thinking about Tsubomi-chan--but at the ten minute mark, then you’re thinking about either esper problems, or Reigen problems. Fifteen minutes either means the world’s going to end,” She stated, cutting her impending stab at his hand short, just far enough to be pointing the pencil directly at him. “Or it means you’re trying to make a decision about something. God forbid we ever hit that twenty minute mark.”
“What happens if we hit the twenty minute mark?” Mob asked in slight terror, mortified that he’s been read so easily.
Tome leaned dangerously close towards his face, effectively pushing him against the wall in his usual panic of being in such close proximity to anyone.
“You don’t wanna know.”
“W-well, it’s closer to what you said about decisions. I’m….at what you could call a crossroads.”
Tome leaned back, setting her legs onto the miniscule table Mob calls his desk in Spirits and Such, the afternoon light that accompanied the 3 o’clock hour sifting in through the cheap blinds that covered the dusty windows. Reigen tapped and clicked away at a computer, while every once in a while sending a quick text to Serizawa through voice-to-text, audibly making sure he didn’t get the office’s collective lunch order wrong. Reigen gave Tome a sour look when she banged her feet on the table top.
“Jeez, could you be any more unprofessional? What’s the point of having you here if you’re just going to mess up my furniture and act like a damn brute?”
Tome smiled widely, throwing him a cheesy peace sign with a wink. “How could you say such a thing? I’m the vision of a perfect lady.”
Reigen snorted, clacking away at his outdated keyboard once again. “Right, and I’m upper middle class with a 401k.”
Mob smiled to himself, before quickly sighing softly, a neutral expression masking the mental furrow in his brow. Tome tapped the table.
“So? What’s making you turn those gears into maximum overdrive in that noggin of yours, Mob?”
Mob pursed his lips slightly. “It’s not as important as you’re making it seem. I’m just…..a little bit confused?” He tried, before shaking his head. “Not just confused; confused and worried about acting on a gut feeling that’s because of my confusion.”
“Yeah? What about?” She pried, shuffling around her backpack for a bag of chips. The door to the office swung open as she shuffled loose papers and notebooks around, an overwhelmed Serizawa carrying boxed lunches into the offices, followed by a carefree Shou and an uncomfortable Ritsu.
“Well…” Mob said, lowering his voice as Ritsu apologized to Serizawa for not helping him carry the boxes in while Shou laughed and reminded him the older man insisted he do it on his own without powers. “I think...I have another crush. And I don’t like the idea of liking two people. It’s not fair to one or the other if I pursue one, and it’s not fair to me to indulge in feelings for those two and pretending like it’s healthy.”
Tome nodded slowly, loudly crunching on her potato chips as she shifted her legs on the table. “Uh huh. Okay, well first of all, it’s actually pretty natural to like more than one person at once,” She said in a hushed yet muffled voice, the food in her mouth hindering her speech. “The heart is a fickle thing, and I’d consider anyone at the receiving end of your affections to be both the biggest sap in the world and the greatest person ever if they’ve convinced you they can do no wrong in your eyes. You’re doe-eyed, but not as naive as you used to be,” Tome praised, wagging a chip at Mob before crunching it down. Shou perked up at the crunch, ignoring Ritsu’s sudden one-sided argument with Reigen and walking over to the two.
“Whatchu guys talking about?”
Tome shrugged. “Mob likes two people, and is confused about it.”
“To-! Kutara, I-!” Mob stammered, flushing as red as a strawberry before shaking his head and looking away in slight embarrassment, pinks still tinged with a flustered tone. Shou cackled.
“Oof, no worries, dude. Everyone goes through it, but I won’t tell anyone; and you shouldn’t have either, Kutara-chan,” Shou chastises, swatting her leg. She gasped quietly, her mouth shaped in an exaggerated ‘O’ as she looked to Mob in apology,mushed chips visible and lips covered in crumbs. Mob waved his hands hurriedly, clearly wanting to move the conversation along.
“No no, don’t worry, I should have told you at the start.”
“Well, if you know that it’s natural now, then what’s the big deal?” Tome asked bluntly. Shou sighed, hands in pocket with resignation.
“Um…” Mob trailed off, his ears turning pink. “Well, it might sound strange.”
“Strange is your middle name and Reigen’s calling card,” Shou joked. “Just tell us.”
Mob exhaled through his nose, smiling at Shou’s quick jab at his mentor. He cleared his throat, laid his hands flat on the table, and looked at them with a quiet determination.
“I like a boy this time.”
Tome hacked sharply, choking erratically on her chips as Shou rushed to slap her on the back in aid. Mob fretted, apologizing for startling her as a bewildered Serizawa and disgruntled Reigen and Ritsu looked on at the sight in annoyance.
“Will you stop causing a scene the moment we step into this shack of an office?” Ritsu groaned, walking over to his brother and friends. Reigen scoffed.
“Right, like a punk like you gets to call my professional business a shack. What’s a ten year old like you going to do to make business booming so I can move out of this shack, huh? You ever think of that?”
“Er, Reigen-san, I think Tome-chan is choking?” Serizawa pointed out. Reigen stood up like a shot, startling his employee.
“Oh, shit. I guess she is. Are you okay, Kutara?”
Tome, who was still coughing like her lungs her leaping out of her chest, had enough energy to shoot him a look so offended by the audacity to ask her such a thing while visibly suffering, and Reigen could tell that the exact thought she was having was, “Are you shitting me right now?”
Ritsu sighed in frustration. “Okay, okay, stop smacking her, that’ll make it worse. If she’s coughing it means she’s breathing, so she’s not going to die.”
Shou lifted his hands up and back away, putting them back in his pockets as Tome’s coughs dwindled down in volume. Mob twiddled his thumbs.
“Sorry for that surprise?”
“No, I-- ack --it’s okay,” she reassured. “You just caught me off-guard, is all.”
Ritsu looked to Mob in worry. “Is there something wro-?”
“No, not at all,” Tome hurried, swinging her legs off the table and zipping her backpack closed in one fell swoop. She threw the bag over her shoulder and pointed at the exit. “But I suddenly feel like esper hunting.”
“You mean esper seeking?” Ritsu deadpanned. “There’ll be no hunting involved.”
“Not if I can help it,” Shou drawled, shooting Ritsu a smile. Ritsu scoffed and walked away, heading towards the door.
“I’m going back home. I’ll walk you part of the way for your esper scout, Tome.”
“I’ll go too,” Shou chirped, winking at a confused Mob before rushing over to Serizawa, who was about to bite into a sandwich, and tugged the sleeve of his jacket.
“Hm?” Serizawa hummed with a small smile. Shou nodded towards Reigen.
“Reigen needs to talk to Mob. It’s something only he can handle. Wanna go for a walk?”
Reigen raised an eyebrow as Serizawa looked at Shou in confusion, then to him for counsel. Reigen simply shrugged and motioned towards the door, and the two left the office, leaving a master and his pupil alone in their humble little hub with a click of the door.
“Er, Master, I’m--don’t trouble yourself too much with me,” Mob said meekly, suddenly anxious as all hell having been left to tell his troubles to his mentor. Reigen tsked.
“Ah, now don’t give me that,” He said, pushing himself out of his chair with an exaggerated groan and striding over to his ward’s station. “What’s on your mind that’s got Tome in a tizzy and everyone in a fuss?”
Mob gulped, sweating visibly under the eye of his master. “Uh, well-”
“Well?” Reigen interjected in a teasing tone, mussing up his pupil’s hair in encouragement.
“W-well?” Mob squeaked.
“Yeah?”
“Y-yeah-”
“Then okay, out with it,” Reigen pushed, pulling up a chair. Mob turned away from his mentor’s gaze, mildly panicking over the small objects currently floating in the room, extremely panicking over the amount of stress he was under now that he was put under the spotlight.
“I-I-I-I, uh, like--uh, someone.”
Reigen’s expression remained neutral. “Yes. You like Tsubomi.”
Mob spluttered. “W-well, yes! That is, uh, true, I like Tsubomi-chan. I, uh, also...like someone else?” He admitted painfully, sweating rapidly like a sinner in church. Reigen squinted, his eyes closing slightly in rising suspicion.
“Someone else, huh? Does it happen to be someone I know?” He asked carefully.
Mob looked away. “Yes.”
“And does this certain someone happen to have been in this office just today?”
Mob blinked, blankly looking in Reigen’s direction. “Uh, yes? I believe so?”
“Believe so?” Reigen asked, eyebrows raised. Mob nods once.
“He should have-”
Reigen coughed once, before clearing his throat harshly and putting his fist to his mouth with eyebrows furrowed. Mob froze at the sight, his sweating at an all time-high and most of the furniture in the room at least an inch off the floor.
“Ah, sorry, Mob,” Reigen finally replied. “That was weird of me to react like that. Anyways, so it’s Teruki, right?”
Mob squeaked. Reigen nodded.
“Yeah, if it’s not a girl it’s not Tome, definitely isn’t your annoying pest of a brother for so many reasons, not Shou because your brother has eyes for him and you’re not one to meddle, and isn’t me or Serizawa or Ekubo because that’s just not how it works. So, naturally, it’s the boy you’ve been ogling for about three months now.”
“Th-three?” Mob repeats in horror. Reigen sighs, patting his shoulder and wondering how he ended being the one having to deal with the bisexual disaster that was his ward.
“Yeah, you definitely are getting some serious advice from me.”
Reigen walked over to the seat he usually took in front of the couch meant for their patrons, and gestured for Mob to sit. He reluctantly does so, and looks at his master nervously.
“Well, before you say anything else; I’m a gay man, so I can only cover one part of this little mess you’ve made,” Reigen sighed dramatically. Mob perked up at the confession, looking at his mentor with wide eyes and open ears. Reigen smiled for just a moment at the sight, a fleeting moment of reminiscence hitting him, before he nodded and left himself with a grimace.
“But I guess I have to try my best anyways.”