Chapter Text
After spending the last few years traveling around, Shou still has some trouble getting used to staying in place. He’s used to exploring and constant movement. He’s been to one Claw base after another, taking in the information and formulating a plan to stop his dad from doing something stupid.
But he doesn’t have to do that anymore. Claw was stopped. His dad was stopped. No world domination for him.
It’s been a year and Shou is still getting used to things. He tries to find a routine for himself, a nice way of keeping busy while he adjusts to the new normal. He gets into new hobbies, he explores art and goes on a lot of walks. He finds himself feeling the need to keep busy.
Shou thinks he gets the hang of it. He’s able to find activities to fill up his day, and he stops himself from feeling bored. He makes full use of his new found freedom and Claw suddenly feels like a distant memory.
For a while, it’s fun.
Until it isn’t anymore.
Lately, Shou’s been...bored. Having all of this freedom suddenly doesn’t feel the same, it doesn’t feel as exciting as it used to. It’s beginning to feel...well, boring. There’s only so many activities one can do before feeling like they’ve run out of options.
And Shou feels like he’s finally run out of options.
Which brings him to Spirits & Such Consultations. He isn’t sure how much he trusts this place, but he knows Serizawa works there, and the guy who owns the place did help prevent his dumb dad from taking over the world.
So he figures it’s worth a shot.
When he has the time (which he always does, he’s just been trying to avoid the problem), Shou pays a visit to Spirits & Such.
The office building is easy enough to find, the huge sign out front serves as a landmark. He stands outside the building to look at it, wondering how the owner, Reigen if he remembers correctly, got such a sign in the first place. It doesn’t look like there’s any other signs on the building, and Shou wonders what sort of hoops Reigen had to jump through to get it. It doesn’t look expensive, but he’s curious if the owner of the building was pleased with attaching a sign to the place.
With that thought in mind, Shou steps into the building and heads up to the floor where Reigen's office is on. He makes his way up the floors, feeling calm. He isn’t really nervous about whatever they’ll end up discussing. He can probably act like he was stopping by for a surprise visit, and ease the conversation in a direction that’ll get him an answer without directly asking for one.
It’ll work, he decides.
He makes it to the office entryway and as he knocks against the door, he relaxes his posture. He lets his shoulders sag and he wears a smooth smile on his face. To top it all off, he puts a hand in his pocket. Perfect.
“Come in!”
Shou reaches out and grabs the doorknob, twisting it open. He pokes his head in and sees Reigen sitting at his desk, typing away on his laptop. Serizawa sits at his own desk a few feet away, writing something down on paper. Shou almost has to do a double take, for the Serizawa in front of him is not one he remembers.
First of all, his hair is completely different. Shou always knew the man to have a head of brown curls, but that hair is gone. Instead, it’s been cut and it’s much shorter now. On top of that, the stubble that was once decorating his face is also gone. Now, Serizawa is clean shaven, and with this new look comes a new energy of sorts. Serizawa looks more like a productive adult rather than the lackey of a man who wanted to take over the world.
The old Serizawa was always a nervous wreck, anxiety written all over him. His shoulders were constantly hunched, and he was always looking around, taking in his surroundings.
But this person in front of him is not familiar. This Serizawa looks...relaxed. His eyes are focused on the work in front of him, and he’s even got a little content smile on his face. It’s almost hard for Shou to believe but...he seems more confident. Good for him, Shou thinks.
Oddly enough, it’s also Serizawa who notices him. Reigen is still focused on his laptop, he hasn’t even looked up to see who’s at the door. Serizawa, however, is the one to look up and spot him. “Ah, Shou-kun...what a surprise, hello.” He looks surprised to see Shou here, but he doesn’t look rattled or overly anxious by it.
“Yo. It’s been a while, Serizawa.” As Shou steps into the office, Reigen finally looks up from his laptop.
“You’re that kid from that Claw incident way back when.” The man says.
Shou looks at him with a lazy grin, “Name’s Shou.” He says casually, walking over to one of the green chairs in the office and flopping onto it. “Felt like dropping by and catching up.” He hums.
Reigen looks at him, quirking a brow, “Y’know this office isn’t a place for friendly chit chat. We’re both working adults who have scheduled clients coming in.”
“Relax dude, I won’t be here long.” Shou replies, haphazardly waving his hand in a placating manner. He ignores Reigen’s outcry of protest as he directs his attention to Serizawa, “How have you been, Seri?”
Serizawa jumps in his seat as his name is mentioned and he glances cautiously at Reigen before looking back to Shou. “I’ve been good..! I’ve been attending night classes for nearly a year now and making up for lost time.” The man answers, giving Shou a hesitant smile.
Shou hums and nods. “That’s good. Glad things are going well for you then.”
“Mm, I thought it’d be hard to readjust, and I mean it has been a little difficult, but it’s a lot easier when you have people supporting you!” Serizawa’s smile is less hesitant and more confident, growing as he speaks.
There’s something about what he says that strikes something in Shou. He isn’t entirely sure why, but it does. Instead of focusing on it now though, he’ll file it away for later.
“How have things been on your end, Shou-kun?” Serizawa questions, looking at him. Reigen lets out a sigh, making it clear he isn’t happy that Shou is distracting his employee.
Shou pays him no mind, practically reclining back in his seat. He throws his hands behind his head, “Eh, it’s been the same old same old. Ever since dad’s world domination plot was thwarted I’ve been enjoying not having to do his dirty work.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Serizawa hums in response.
“Yup. Started drawing a lot more and it turns out I’m not too bad at it.” Shou replies.
The door to the office opens and Shou glances at it curiously. Reigen’s head snaps up and he plasters a smile to his face, “Hello! How may we help you?” He asks as a man in a suit walks in. The man glances in Shou’s direction as Reigen gets up and leads him over to the chairs.
Reigen, seeing the man’s look at Shou, says, “Ah, excuse me one moment, sir!” He then turns to Shou, “Alright kid, you’ve done your ‘catching up’, but we’ve got a client now, so your conversation will have to wait until after hours.”
Shou sits upright in his seat and looks at Reigen, “It’s cool. I’ll just wait till you’re done.” He replies with a grin before getting up and going over to Reigen’s desk. He flops onto his chair, causing Reigen to splutter at the boldness of his actions.
“Y-You..! That’s my seat!” The man exclaims.
Shou shrugs, “You left it. Besides, don’t you have a client?”
“Why you little—”
“Reigen-san, the client.” Serizawa cuts in. Reigen glances at him and then to the man. His shoulders sag and he takes a breath.
“Right, my apologies!” The smile is back in an instant. “Come take a seat, sir! What seems to be ailing you?”
Shou snickers to himself as he sits in Reigen’s chair, finding entertainment from Reigen’s anguish. Coming here might have been one of the best decisions he’s made in a while.
Shou gets to stay in Reigen’s chair until the client leaves. Turns out the guy just had some back pain, and after a forty minute massage from Reigen, the guy was just fine. Better than fine, actually, if the dazed look and relaxed smile on his face had anything to say about it.
Once the guy leaves, Reigen turns to him and says one word, “Out.”
Shou shrugged and got up from the chair, walking back over to the cushioned seats. “Anyways, Serizawa, where were we?” He asks, reclining on the seat once again.
“Oh! Um…”
Reigen suddenly interrupts their conversation, looking at Shou, “Y’know, for someone who’s just ‘stopping by’, you sure are lingering around the office, kid.”
Shou blinks, bringing his attention over to the other. “Huh?” He asks before he can think. Has he really been found out already?
Nah, there’s no way that’s possible. No one’s ever figured him so easily, there’s no way this Reigen guy could’ve done it. Shou’s mask is perfect, it can’t be seen through. It had to have been when working around those guys at Claw. No adult has ever gotten through him, and Reigen isn’t going to be the first one to do so.
Shou’s fine, his act is still going, no hints of what he’s really thinking for Reigen to pick up on.
He puts on a relaxed smile and leans back against the seat, “Heh, if by lingering you mean catching up with Serizawa, then I totally have an excuse to linger.” He hums, still certain that he hasn’t been seen through.
Reigen looks unimpressed and he quirks a brow. “Oh really?”
Shou nods, “Yup.”
Serizawa simply looks between the two of them, watching and waiting.
Chair creaking, Reigen leans back in his seat and sighs. Shou finds himself relaxing as the man’s no longer looking at him. He felt all tense before. Reigen definitely seems like the type who could easily pick out your worst insecurities and display them to you.
It makes Shou wary of him.
“You know, I’m having a hard time believing you. You could’ve left after that client came in, but you didn’t.” Reigen notes, and Shou wonders if he’s imagining the sweat rolling down the back of his neck or not.
“Maybe I felt like waiting. It has been a while after all.” Shou retorts, trying to ignore how…open he feels.
Reigen still looks at him with this stare that screams his disbelief. He isn’t swayed. He crosses his arms and looks at Shou, “Or...maybe you just want some advice. After all, this is a consultation office, and you definitely seem like you’ve got something on your mind.”
Shou simply stares at him, unable to speak. No one has ever just...read him so effortlessly before. It’s startling, truly. He’s always been able to keep up an act around adults. No one ever bothered much to read into it, so Shou was never found out. It’s probably one of the reasons why he was able to successfully hide his plan from his dad and the other adults around him.
He’s always had an impenetrable mask, but this Reigen guy is the first to have actually broken through it.
It leaves Shou feeling exposed, as if he were an open book, and Reigen is simply reading how he feels and what he’s thinking right from the pages.
He decides he doesn’t like it. At all.
Regardless, he did come here for advice, and the opportunity is right in front of him. He can’t resist giving the man a hard time though. “Really? Then tell me, Mr. Psychic, what do I have on my mind?” Shou challenges, and it seems to rile Reigen up.
Leaning forward in his seat and resting his chin on his palms, Reigen replies, “My guess is you’re probably trying to figure out what to do. I can make a couple guesses on what life was like for you while your dad was building up Claw. I don’t know the guy, nor do I know you too well, but I can figure out enough from the short conversation I had with him.”
Shou stares at him once again, speechless. But Reigen isn’t done.
“Judging from what you were saying before, it doesn’t sound like you’ve had much free time within the last few years to pursue things you enjoy. Now that your dad has been taken care of, you can take your newfound freedom to explore, and by the sound of it, you have. Except now you feel like you’ve explored enough and you’re bored. So you came here for advice. That sound about right?”
Shou feels himself scrambling for a reply, a retort, anything , to get Reigen off his scent. If Shou had been feeling exposed before, now he feels as if he were a glass windowpane, completely see through. He’s quickly growing to hate this feeling.
“Something like that.” Shou brings himself to say, trying to cover up the fact that he’s been thrown off balance. He looks away from Reigen because the eye contact is making him uncomfortable. They always say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and Shou would do anything right now to keep his soul closed off like it always has been.
He hears Reigen hum, “Well, if you want my advice, get yourself into a regular teenager routine. You talk about all of this free time, and how you used to do your dad’s dirty work, so it sounds like to me that you aren’t enrolled in school. You should talk to whoever your legal guardian is and get on that.”
Shou blinks. That...isn’t actually too bad of an idea. He’s always been kind of curious about school, so...maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try.
“So….normal teenager routine and school. Got it.” He recaps, getting up from the chair. He starts to walk toward the door, “Well, I should better get going—”
“I’ve got one more thing for you, kid.” Reigen interrupts, causing Shou to stop. He whirls around to face the man and he sees him sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m probably going to regret this but,” Reigen looks at Shou and offers, “Why don’t you work here part time with Serizawa and I?”
“What?” Shou questions, blinking. Serizawa also looks at him in shock.
“Some middle schoolers do have a part time job, so it wouldn’t be too out of the norm. Besides, I think working here might be something beneficial for you. You seem like you’d enjoy a good exorcism, and it never gets boring around here.” Reigen explains.
Shou’s a bit hesitant to agree. He can’t get a good read on this guy, no matter how hard he tries. He wonders if Reigen’s mask is as good as Shou used to believe his own was. He’s definitely wary and on guard with this guy, but he’s also curious about him. He knows Ritsu and Ritsu’s brother and he helped with taking down the Seventh Division and preventing world domination, so Shou knows he’s most likely a decent guy.
Plus, he helped Serizawa, and Serizawa seems to be doing pretty well here. And Shou does trust Serizawa, who had been a victim in his dad’s plot just as he was.
But...there’s also the factor of his powers. He said he wouldn’t use them anymore after seeing how much of a...taboo, they were. If he agrees to working at Spirits & Such, does that mean he’d have to use them again?
Part of him wants to decline the offer because of it. He wants to say no because he doesn’t want to use his powers. Another part of him wants to accept because, well, he’s bored. He’s been stuck in the same loop of activities for what feels like forever, and this will help break him out of this loop.
When he puts it that way in his mind, the answer is fairly obvious.
Looking back to Reigen, Shou shrugs and says, “Sure, why not.”
Serizawa gives him a smile, and Shou can’t help but give him one in return.
“Great. Before you leave, give me your phone number and we’ll work something out.” Reigen replies.
Shou fishes his phone out of his pocket and hands it over to the man. He had only been planning on coming here to get some advice, not a part time job. But...he can’t say he’s not happy with the results.
Besides, Reigen is fun to mess with.