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After Reigen and Katsuya had delivered a very emotional Mob back to his worried parents, Katsuya thought it was safe to say that it was the most exhausted he’d ever felt. And when Reigen had asked if he wanted to stay the night at his place, the esper had agreed immediately. There wasn’t really a good reason to, since the distance to his own apartment was roughly the same, but Katsuya didn’t want to go home to a cold, empty house. And he could tell by the way that his boss sheepishly averted his eyes when popping the question, that he really didn’t want to either.
The pair collapsed onto Reigen’s beaten up sofa with a long let-out of breath. The blonde leaned his head back, dragging a hand down his face.
“Christ. Christ, that was hard.”
With a jolt of alarm, Katsuya noticed a slight tremor in his boss’ voice, and the way his lips were pressed together as if holding back tears.
“Hey… Reigen?” He started, shuffling towards his boss. His friend.
Reigen just shook his head, sucking in a shaky breath.
“It’s just… It was so h-hard. To s-see him like that. What he hides from us.”
Katsuya cautiously reaches an arm to pat the shoulder closest to him, and when Reigen slumps into it, he places it round the shorter man’s back.
“N-Not ‘cause I’m scared of him. He was j-just hurting s-so badly, Serizawa. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to f-fix it.”
Katsuya hums, gently rubbing Reigen’s shoulder as he lets out a quiet sob. His chest clenched at the sight of Reigen trying to hold back his tears. It was clear to him how much he reallu cared about mob.
“I should have pushed on further. You went in there all by yourself.” Katsuya finds that his own voice is rough.
Shaking his head, Reigen sniffs and wipes his eyes enough to be able to look Katsuya in the face. He chokes on a wet laugh. “Nah, don’t be. You did everything you could. I can tell you care about him, too.”
Serizawa smooths a thumb under Reigen’s eye. “I was scared for you, when you were in there. So scared.” Katsuya whispers around the lump in his throat.
“Shit, we can’t both cry,” Reigen says wetly as he reaches to cup Katsuya’s cheek with a look so panicked and serious for a second that it makes Katsuya snort.
“Bit late for that.” Reigen looks a little stunned for a second, eyes refocusing on Katsuya’s, before the corners of his mouth twitch despite his still-wobbling lower lip.
“Se- Katsuya, t-thanks, thank you for being there,”
“I’ll always be there, when you need me.”
The blonde cups the other side of his face with his other hand and nods. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.” Katsuya holds Reigen’s suddenly fiery gaze as he touches their foreheads together for a moment before releasing his face.
They both flop back against the sofa, the esper running a hand through his hair. “I’m proud of us. And Mob. And Dimple.”
Reigen groans. “Don’t say that in front of the stupid fart. You’d never hear the end of it.”
Katsuya can’t help the laugh that bubbles from his chest. As Reigen closes his eyes, he smiles at the sound and leans his head back.
“God, what a day, huh?” He murmurs quietly, as if he were the only person in the room. He stills for a moment, seeming to gather himself, before sitting up straight abruptly, meeting Katsuya’s eyes with a serious look.
“Serizawa, I love you, okay? I want you to know that, but I don’t expect anything in return. Is that alright?”
Hearing the words, Katsuya expects to be shocked, but he finds that the feeling just settles over his chest like a warm blanket.
“I love you too,” He says, “Arataka.” He adds, after a moment of thought.
Arataka looks satisfied. “Katsuya.” He says, testing it out, before standing up. “Right, I’m turning in. You can take the bed, I’ll roll out the futon.”
Katsuya nods, unable to stop the smile that pulls at his cheeks. “Okay, Arataka.”