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Reigen was late today.
Mob was alone in the office and felt a lot more lonely than he would have liked it to be. He was sitting at his desk, his computer open in front of him and an abandoned cup of tea off to the side.
Maybe something came up and he didn’t have the time to text him, Mob reasoned with himself, attempting to answer a client email. He probably had a club meeting to go to or something. He couldn’t quite shake the feeling of foreboding rising in his chest.
He perked up when the door opened and shoved down his disappointment when Ritsu walked in.
“Nii-san,” Ritsu greeted. His eyebrows furrowed when he looked around. “Where’s Reigen?”
“He’s late today,” Mob said.
Ritsu placed his bag on his own desk and sat down. “But he’s never late.”
“I think something happened, Ritsu,” Mob said, putting his hands on the table. He cleared his throat to hide the worry leaking into his voice. “Something’s wrong.”
“Let's wait a little longer,” Ritsu offered. “He probably just got caught up with something.”
Both of them glanced at the empty table where Reigen would usually sit and do his homework.
Ritsu sat down at his own desk, and Mob stared into space blankly. The minutes ticked by, and he couldn’t help but fidget. He busied himself with his laptop again, painfully reading and rereading emails without registering a word.
The door opened quietly.
“Welcome to Spirits & Such, how may we help you?” Mob said on autopilot, closing his computer. He looked up.
Mob shot up from his chair.
“Oh my god,” Ritsu said.
Reigen was standing in the doorway awkwardly. His clothes were wrinkled, specks of gravel clinging to his school uniform. One of his eyes was turning dark from a slowly forming bruise, and there was a bright red scrape across his eyebrow. He had a bloody nose that he rubbed at roughly, doing nothing but smear blood across his face. Dark forms of fingers were slowly growing on his neck, bruising in a way Mob was painfully familiar with. Whoever did this wanted it to hurt .
“Hey, shishou,” Reigen said quietly. His voice was hoarse.
Mob was at Reigen’s side in an instant, Ritsu a second later. Mob’s hands hovered for a moment before resting on his shoulders. Reigen bit his lip, looking down at his feet.
“What happened?” Mob asked, forgoing greetings. He hoped he was able to keep the white-hot rage building inside of him from showing.
Who did this.
“It was nothing,” Reigen said. His hands were shaking as he shoved them in his pockets, and Mob took a steadying breath to keep himself from grabbing him and demanding who did this to him and who had to pay .
“Kid, this doesn’t look like nothing,” Ritsu said, crossing his arms. “Who did this to you?”
Reigen mumbled something.
“Just tell us what happened,” Mob said gently.
Reigen mumbled something else.
“What?” Ritsu asked.
“It was just some kids from school, okay?” Reigen said loudly, voice cracking. “It’s fine.”
“What did you do to deserve this?” Ritsu asked, motioning to his face.
“I always deserve to be beaten up,” Reigen said, just a bit too seriously for Mob’s liking.
He shoved past Mob and collapsed onto the couch. He attempted to lean back in it casually. “They were talking smack. Taught them a lesson.”
Ritsu sighed. “I’ll get the first aid kit. You two, talk it out.”
Before leaving, he sent Mob a weighted look. Figure out what’s wrong.
Mob nodded gravely. He sat down next to Reigen, who stuck his tongue out at Ritsu’s back.
“Do you wanna tell me what really happened?” Mob asked.
Reigen sniffed. “It was just a dumb fight.”
Mob didn’t say anything, prompting him to continue.
“It’s not like I’m not used to it,” Reigen said, slumping down in his seat. “All the talking and the whispers-”
“Talking and whispers?” Mob couldn’t help but ask, his chest tightening.
Reigen huffed, refusing to look at him. “Is it really that much of a surprise that the transfer kid who carries spirit tags in his backpack gets bullied?”
Mob had to keep his hands from balling up into fists, denial on the tip of his tongue.
“Anyway,” Reigen continued. “This group of 8th graders was not being subtle about it at all. I think they wanted me to hear them. It was the basic mocking that you would expect, like how I’m stupid, how I’m too loud, how I look weird…” Reigen trailed off, staring down at his scraped-up hands. His mouth twisted before snapping back to normal when his eyes flickered to Mob. Reigen cleared his throat, straightening up and waving a hand casually. “But it doesn’t bother me, it was fine.” Reigen’s expression went dark. “But then they started talking about you.”
Mob tested the waters. “What did they say?”
“They were talking about how you were a fraud,” Reigen spit, and Mob blinked in surprise at the fury in his tone. “And how the spirits are fake and I’m just making everything up, that you were in on it too. They called you powerless.” Reigen’s hands curled into tight fists. “It made me so angry .”
He took a deep breath. “I called them out, turns out they didn’t like that so much. They dragged me behind the school and beat me up.”
He coughed into his fist. “And that’s what happened.”
Mob’s rage surged before he forced it down. The bookshelves rattled. “Reigen I-“
“Wow, Ritsu’s taking a long time to get that first-aid kit!” Reigen said loudly, choking out a painfully fake laugh.
“Reigen.”
“I’ll just go check up on him,” he said, getting up from his seat.
Mob grabbed his arm gently. “Arataka.”
Reigen looked at him, his eyes pained.
“We need to talk through this,” Mob said.
Reigen’s shoulders slumped and he sat back down. “What is there to talk about?”
He looked at Mob out of the corner of his eye. His gaze was heavy. “I ran like a coward.”
“You’re not a coward,” Mob said firmly. “You went through something traumatic and reacted accordingly. You were very brave, Arataka.” He put his hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay to run away. You don’t have to do things alone.”
Reigen’s eyes were shining in the light of the office and he rubbed them frantically with his sleeve.
Mob channeled everything he wished he could’ve told himself when he was younger.
“It’s okay to get upset, to be angry,” he said. “But you don’t owe these people anything. You don’t deserve to be treated this way. Sometimes people don’t have a reason to act the way they do. I know you, Arataka. You’re kind and considerate, you put others before yourself. They just don’t understand who you are and lash out at anyone who seems remotely different. I’m proud of you for coming to us and talking about what happened, even though I know it must be upsetting.”
Reigen’s experience was painfully similar to his own middle school experience. He could feel the phantom milk soaking into his hair as he pulled Reigen into a tight hug. “It’s okay, you’re okay.”
Mob was bullied in middle school, just like Reigen, but he had Ritsu. He had Ritsu who would yell at his tormentors and patch him up after a bad day. He had Teru, who showed him that there was more to life than he thought. He had Tome, Shou, he had people he could depend on.
Did Reigen have anyone he could depend on? Did he have anyone outside of Spirits and Such?
He opened his mouth, but thought otherwise. Asking the shaking middle schooler in his arms if he had any friends after being beaten up was cruel, no matter how much he wanted to know. So instead, Mob hugged him closer, running a hand through Reigen’s tangled hair.
Reigen’s hands slowly rose to fist at his shirt, pressing his face against Mob’s shoulder.
“It really hurts,” he murmured into the fabric.
“I know,” Mob soothed. “I know.”
“Is it worth it?” Reigen asked.
“Hm?”
“Is it worth it?” he repeated. “Being here?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I dunno.”
Mob took a deep breath. “Yes. Yes, it is.”
Reigen nodded, and melted into his touch. And when Mob’s shoulder grew wet with stifled tears, neither of them mentioned a thing.
Ritsu poked his head out of the kitchen, face pinched with worry. He looked at Mob. Good?
Mob smiled tiredly. Good.
Ritsu’s lips quirked up into a small, relieved smile.
“Alright,” Ritsu said, walking up to set the first-aid kit on the table, along with an ice pack. “Let’s get you patched up.”
Reigen reluctantly pulled away from Mob, glaring at Ritsu half-heartedly. “What took you so long? I’m bleeding out over here.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ritsu rolled his eyes. He sat on the couch next to them, handing over an ice pack. “For your eye.”
Reigen mumbled thanks, wincing as he pressed it against his face. Ritsu took out some bandages and antiseptic, making Reigen groan at the sight. “I’ll be fine, no need to break out the rubbing alcohol.”
“You’re the one who said you were bleeding out,” Ritsu said. “Now tilt your head so I can clean that gash.”
Reigen grumbled but did as he was told.
Ritsu worked dutifully, cleaning and bandaging any scrapes or bruises he saw.
“All I can do for your neck is some ointment and wrap it with some gauze,” Ritsu said.
Reigen’s hands started to fidget in his lap. “Okay.”
“Alright, kiddo.”
“Don’t call me that,” Reigen said without heat.
“Alright, you brat.”
“Better.”
Ritsu laughed and ruffled Reigen’s hair. His eyes went soft as Reigen protested loudly, fussing with his messy hair.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Ritsu said, tapping Reigen’s head with his knuckles. “Don’t know what we would do without you. You’re important to us, you know.”
Reigen’s eyes went glossy and Mob nearly laughed at the stroke of panic on Ritsu’s face. Reigen tackled him in a hug, newly bandaged hands gripping Ritsu’s coat tightly.
“Hey, what brought this up?” Ritsu said nervously, hands hovering over Reigen’s back.
“Thank you for helping me,” Reigen mumbled.
Ritsu’s arms came down slowly and hugged him back gently. “Of course, kiddo.”
“Don’t call me that,” Reigen muttered.
Mob bit back a smile, shuffling closer to hug them both, with Reigen in the center. Reigen hummed, cuddling closer. He yawned, blinking blearily.
“You can take a nap if you’d like,” Mob said, letting go. “You’re probably exhausted after what just happened.”
Ritsu let Reigen pull away, taking some salve out of the first-aid kit. “Just let me wrap your neck first,” he said.
With all of Reigen’s injuries tended to, Mob forced him to lie down on the sofa.
“What if there’s a client,” Reigen whined childishly as Ritsu gave him a pillow to rest his head on. “I’m in middle school! I don’t have to nap like an old person, I’m not Ritsu.”
“Oi!” Ritsu protested. “I’m not that old, I’m younger than Shige!”
“It’s a Wednesday. No one is coming,” Mob said. He draped a blanket over Reigen, brushing Reigen’s hair away from his eyes. “Rest up.”
Reigen grumbled, but shifted under the blanket to get comfortable.
Mob’s previous anger had slowly changed into something painfully fond, and while the idea of getting revenge was still sweet, he knew Reigen would not be happy with him.
Mob sat down at his desk and opened his email. He stared at it for a moment, before shifting his attention back to Reigen.
The middle schooler seemed to be asleep, cuddled into the couch, and at that moment Mob realized how attached he had gotten in the few months that he had been working with them. He glanced up at Ritsu, saw the same thoughts mirrored in his mind, and smiled softly.
Mob locked the door with his telekinesis and turned the sign on the front to “Closed”.
They could handle a day without clients.