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Shigeo is asleep on the floor of the office, smushed in between the couch and coffee table.
Reigen’s first instinct is to panic, because not only is it late–late enough that the sun has set and Shigeo should’ve left the office hours ago–but he’s on the floor, still, unmoving, curled in what looks like an extremely uncomfortable position. It’s hitting every bad key.
But then, moments before he completely loses it, he notices the empty cans of coffee, the study guides and books and papers sprawled out on the coffee table. Shigeo’s words come back to him, something about entrance exams, and suddenly everything makes sense.
Reigen makes his way over slowly, footsteps a soft thud against the carpet. Shigeo doesn’t respond to the sound of the door clicking shut, or Reigen’s approaching presence. He comes to a stop by the coffee table and takes a knee.
“Mob.”
He reaches out, takes Shigeo by the shoulder, shakes him.
“Hey, kiddo. You can’t stay here, you’ve gotta go home. C’mon.”
He shakes him a tad harder when his efforts prove fruitless, and this time, Shigeo wakes up.
Abruptly.
He snaps upright, so suddenly that Reigen’s hand slips from his shoulder and his head nearly bangs the edge of the coffee table on his way up. He blinks wide-eyed at the space in front of him, as though he’d never seen it before, and it takes him what has to be a full minute to realize Reigen is sitting beside him.
“… I fell asleep.”
He says it like it’s the answer to a pop-quiz and he’s only just realizing it now. Reigen offers a smile.
“Can’t blame you.” He repositions himself more comfortably on the floor, crossing one leg and keeping the other up, resting his elbow on his knee. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink coffee before, let alone…” A jerk of his head toward the cans scattered on the table. “Yeah.”
Shigeo blinks once. Twice.
“Did the coffee help?”
Shigeo doesn’t say anything, just looks at him. His hair is cowlicked on one side, his gaze is somewhere between frustrated, exhausted and exasperated, and Reigen can’t help it. He chuckles.
“Taking that as a no.”
Shigeo blinks at him one more time, before turning to look at his study guides and notebooks still sprawled on the coffee table. Reigen follows his gaze a moment, and then;
“Y’know, I’m pretty crap at math, but if you need help you can always ask me. I’m sure I retained something from high school.”
“Thank you,” Shigeo says quietly, “but I know what to do. It’s just… actually doing it.”
“Right, makes sense.”
A silence falls between them, and Reigen studies Shigeo’s posture one more time. His shoulders are slack, there are dark, dark smudges under his eyes, and the strain has melted from his face, and he looks drained.
A part of Reigen gets it, because entrance exams are right around the corner, and of course the pressure is on. And for someone like Shigeo, who has never been good at studying, or school in general…
Reigen reaches over carefully and ruffles Shigeo’s already miffed hair. He makes it twice as messy, without really meaning to, and the look Shigeo gives him has him stifling laughter behind his fist again. But only for a moment.
“Listen, kiddo, I know you wanna do the best you can with the exams, but pushing yourself into the ground like this is counterproductive. What good’s studying gonna do you if you fall asleep during the exam? Or wind up sick because you aren’t taking care of yourself?”
Shigeo swallows hard, looking down at his hands in his lap. “But–exams are important, I can’t–”
“Your health is still more important, alright?” Reigen cuts in, before smiling softly. “You’ll do fine, don’t worry about it. You’re a lot smarter than you give yourself credit. You’re gonna blow that exam out of the water, I know it.”
“And what if I don’t?”
Reigen exhales shortly through his nose. “Well, then it still isn’t the end of the world. But you don’t have to worry about that. You’ll make it. I bet Serizawa would be able to help you study–the guy’s really good with stuff like that, I’m sure he’d be all for it if you asked. But, before all that, a good night’s sleep is in order. I’ll walk you home, and we’ll see if Serizawa can help us out first thing tomorrow. Alright?”
Shigeo keeps watching his hands for a while longer, but he eventually raises his head with the smallest of smiles. “Okay. Thank you, Reigen.”
Reigen smiles back and ruffles his hair one more time, just because he can. “Anytime, kiddo. Anytime.”