Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

With Mob now working for him and being in the office every day after school, Reigen couldn’t, in good conscience, smoke in there. He’d taken all his ashtrays home and had bought more plants and some air freshener to try and get the smell out of the walls and clean the air. But while it was easy for the room itself to quit smoking and forget what it was like, it was not so easy for him. Reigen couldn’t just quit cold turkey. He still itched for a cigarette after particularly stressful clients, or after long days without productivity.

Mob had clutched the straps of his backpack in his tiny hands and had said, while his round and dark little eyes had stared at the pack on Reigen’s desk, “My dad smokes at home, I don’t mind.”

But he was so small, and Reigen didn’t want to add to the weight on Mob’s little lungs. Mob already got winded just walking up the stairs of the office building, and was probably asthmatic to boot, with the way Reigen heard him wheezing.

It was his responsibility, as the adult, to make sure Mob had a safe and clean work environment that facilitated his health and growth. So, the smoking had to go.

But whenever he just absolutely couldn’t last any longer without a quick cigarette, he would physically leave the office, go all the way down all the flights of stairs, and smoke outside around the back of the building. It was more trouble than it was worth some of the times, which was something that Reigen hoped would help him quit more easily.

Mob would “watch the office” while Reigen went to smoke. The kid had seemed to puff up in delight, but still in his typical subtle and muted fashion, when Reigen had praised him and said he was responsible enough to trust to be alone in the office while he stepped out for a bit. Reigen still made sure to lock the door behind him though, and stick an “Out for a Break” note on the door every time just in case any walk in clients decided to swing by.

Nothing, so far, had gone wrong when he left Mob alone in the office, but he should have known it was only a matter of time.

It was one of his longer smoke breaks. A client that had come in before Mob arrived to work had been particularly zealous in their belief that an estranged family member had put a curse on them through an unexpected and out of the blue letter. They had denied any and all suggestions that Reigen had made for how to lift the curse. They had only wanted not to be free of the curse, but to curse the family member in return, and Reigen had not bent to that request. Even if he had been able to cast a curse, he did not stoop to low levels such as that.

In response, the client had slammed the door behind them, just as Mob had walked through it. The poor boy had squished himself against the hallway closet door as the client had stormed past, but hadn’t escaped being clipped on the shoulder a bit by their angry gait.

Mob had looked shaken, his eyes wide and his face pale, when he had come around the corner into the main office. “Master?”

Reigen finished dragging his hands down his face, and stood up from his desk. He grabbed the cigarettes that he kept in the bottom drawer and then crossed the room to the door, barely looking at Mob, “I’ll be out on a break for a bit Mob, watch the office while I’m gone.”

He shouldn’t have left. Mob had obviously been shaken by something deeper than just an angry client slamming the door. It took a lot to make Mob upset, and Reigen hadn’t noticed because he’d been so frustrated and so focused on just going to smoke a damn cigarette.

When he returned to his office, it was fine. It wasn’t a mess of broken glass and torn books, it was just as he’d left it. But Mob was nowhere to be seen, and suddenly the fact that his office was fine seemed eerily wrong to Reigen.

He stepped in slowly and carefully, “Mob?”

No answer, but there was a shuffle of sound. Reigen went over to Mob’s desk and peered around it.

There, between the wall and the box that Reigen had given him as a desk, was Mob. He was sitting on the ground - the chair he usually used had been dragged over to the front of Reigen’s desk for the client - with his face tucked into his curled up knees.

For a moment, Reigen couldn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say. So, rather ignorantly, and perhaps a bit rudely, he said, “What are you doing? C’mon and get up, we’ve got work to do.”

The desk jittered a little, and Reigen pulled his hand away from it quickly. He looked back at Mob to see the boy uncurling a little, but his body language and expression still seemed somewhat tortured and distant.

So, with a sigh, Reigen leaned on the desk again and looked down at his student, “What’s wrong, Mob?”

Mob looked up at him, and opened his mouth, “I…” But then he shut down again, looking away.

That wouldn’t do. Reigen pursed his lips and stopped leaning on the desk in favor of moving closer to Mob and crouching down more to the boy’s level, “I can’t help if I don’t know.”

Mob, still looking away, clenched his hands on top of his knees and slowly spoke, “Master… when you were my age…. How did you control your powers when you were asleep?”

Oh gosh. Reigen swallowed as subtly as he could, and sat back on his heels. He could feel some nervous sweat dotting his hairline already, “Why do you ask? I mean, it’s different for everyone, of course, so what are you specifically asking about?” He had to pretend like Mob losing control of his abilities in his sleep wasn’t unnerving him, and was just commonplace for espers. Sure, Reigen knew Mob was powerful, especially for such a small child, but losing control in his sleep seemed like a whole different level.

Mob shifted, and hunched his small shoulders up to his ears, “I had a nightmare last night, and knocked over some of the furniture in the house.”

Reigen hummed understandingly, though he didn’t understand at all.

Encouraged by the response, Mob confessed more, “My mom scolded me, and told me that she doesn’t want to have to turn the chairs rightside up every morning. She said I need to get it under control... I don’t know how though. I was thinking all day at school about it and couldn’t think of anything… I’m scared I’ll do it again and really hurt something.”

Stunned a bit by just how much Mob had said - it was the most he had heard the boy contribute to a conversation in one sitting since they had met, that was for sure - Reigen took a moment to think about what Mob had said. The action of curling up behind his desk in despair made a bit more sense now, as Mob was a straightforward kid and usually didn’t do anything without reason or for dramatics, but a day of being unable to solve a problem as impactful on their life as this followed up by being left alone in an office for a while would get to any kid.

Still though, there was the issue of Reigen not knowing exactly how to solve the problem either. And Mob was looking at him with such hope, positive that Reigen would help him.

“Well,” Reigen began, clearing his throat, “First of all, let's both stand up.” He reached out a hand and carefully took one of Mob’s own, encouraged to more firmly grasp it when Mob didn’t flinch or pull away. He pulled the boy up with him until the both of them were standing. Then, he went back down a bit, crouching so he could put his hands on Mob’s small shoulders and look the boy in the eye. Truthfully, he was buying himself some time to think of something to say.

And then he saw Mob’s phone sticking out of his pocket, the same phone that Reigen had given him after their first big job that Mob had been late to because Reigen hadn’t been able to get a hold of him.

An idea forming in his head, and more confident now, Reigen nodded to Mob. He patted Mob’s shoulders rhythmically and said, “Alright, so here’s what you do.” Mob’s eyes shined as he stared into Reigen’s face, already hanging on every word eagerly, “Next time you have a nightmare, or something upsets you,” He moved a hand from Mob’s shoulder to reach into his pocket and retrieve his own phone. With a flourish, he flicked it open, letting the screen light up like a small beacon, “You can call me. I’ll give you some psychic tips for calming down, and then coach you through putting your house back together before your mom wakes up if you knocked furniture around again.”

It was perhaps too much to offer, and Reigen certainly felt like he was overstepping a professional line. But Mob pulled out his own phone and clutched it so tightly as he looked at it and Reigen like they were the most wonderful things he’d ever seen.

And then the professional line that was already being stepped all over was snapped in half as Mob, clearly a bit impulsively and motivated by gratitude, hugged Reigen.

It wasn’t a fast or strong hug. It was small, soft, and hesitant, like the boy himself. Mob moved forward and stretched his arms - one still holding the cellphone - around Reigen’s chest, and burrowed himself close.

“Thank you, Master Reigen.” Mob mumbled into Reigen’s pink tie, unaware of how Reigen’s hands went up off of Mob’s shoulders and hovered awkwardly in the air. His hands were his greatest asset, but in this moment Reigen had no idea where to put them. Mob was a small little warmth against him and he had no idea whether to pull him closer or push him away. No, he at least knew he wouldn’t push Mob away. Pushing Mob away would be too cruel, not when the boy clearly needed some comfort; even the small amount that a lying conman could give him was better than nothing or being turned away.

He settled for letting his hands rest on Mob’s back carefully, uncomfortable with getting too familiar or hugging Mob too tightly. The boy might’ve been the one who initiated it, but Reigen knew that Mob was easily overwhelmed, and also would likely be embarrassed when the hug broke.

But for the moment, Reigen just let Mob hug him. Surely there was no harm in a little hug like this before they got back to work.

Chapter Text

Trees were lit up green by the sun filtering through their leaves. Students and adults alike were all spending their time enjoying the warmth and hanging out outside as school and work began to end for the day. The sky was clear and there wasn’t a single cloud in sight. Overall, it was a beautiful day out, one in which you could wear short sleeves and shorts and not feel the slightest bit uncomfortable.

Which was why Reigen couldn’t hold back a laugh when he saw Mob shuffle in to the office with a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck and face mask pulled all the way up over his nose.

“What, was there a flash snowstorm I didn’t know about?” Reigen asked, laughter still in his voice as he dramatically leaned in his chair to peer through the window blinds out into the street below. The brightly shining sun shot directly into his eyes. With a wince and grunt, Reigen pulled away from the window.

Mob, across the room, was giving Reigen the most withering look he could. It didn’t really have much effect though, since half the fourteen year old’s face was still bundled up, and his eyes had only slightly narrowed when Reigen had begun laughing and teasing him. “I’m sick, Master.” Mob said simply as explanation.

Reigen snorted, “With what, something that makes you feel super cold all the time? At least take your scarf off.” He waved his hand at the offending piece of clothing.

Mob, who had set his bag down by his desk and was coming over to Reigen’s desk to grab the little green chair, averted his eyes from Reigen and shrugged, “I like it.”

As Mob came closer, Reigen could more clearly see the red flush of Mob’s face. It was layered over a smattering of red dots that were clustered around the edges of Mob’s eyes and led down beneath the face mask, and they didn’t look healthy at all. It seemed like Mob really was sick.

The humor Reigen had been finding in the situation dropped a bit, and he leaned forward on his elbows to look at his student with a more concerned eye. “Hey, yeah, you’re not lookin too good, Mob. Maybe go sit on one of the couches instead of at your desk.”

Mob paused, his hands gripping the top of the chair already, and he looked over at the small couches in contemplation. Meanwhile, Reigen found his gaze falling to Mob’s hands, and saw the scuffs and red scrapes across the knuckles. They looked like marks from a fight, from being tossed around and shoved down, not at all like the usual callouses and bruises Mob had after weight lifting.

“... Hey Mob, can you look at me again?”

Complying, not suspecting the place Reigen’s thoughts were going, Mob looked back at Reigen.

And Reigen looked back at the red dots.

Now that he was more alert and looking at them more closely, he could see that they weren’t simply blotches from fever. They were just under Mob’s skin, like tiny burst stars, and varied in size. The ones closer to Mob’s bloodshot eyes were large splotches. On Mob’s cheeks they were closer together and thicker as well, and they were likely framing his lips in thick chunks like they framed his eyes.

Burst blood vessels, from pressure or lack of oxygen, or both , and they were all over Mob’s face.

Dread gripped and twisted Reigen’s heart, but he stayed sitting down and kept his breathing regulated so as not to startle his student. Maybe he was getting worked up over nothing. Maybe he was just jumping to conclusions. But if there was one thing Reigen Arataka prided himself on, it was on being able to read people, be that their mental state or physical history, through simple examining glances of them.

And right now, nothing about Mob was reading to him as sick . Sure, it had been earlier, when he hadn’t been looking, but now that he’d caught on, everything about Mob was screaming choked.

Reigen hoped he was wrong.

“Hey Mob, I really think you should take your scarf off.” Reigen said, trying to sound casually concerned and not like there were alarms going off in his head the moment Mob stiffened up at the suggestion, “You look like you have a fever, I don’t think being overly warm is good for you right now.”

Mob released his hold on the green chair and took a few steps back. “I think it’s fine. I’m going to go sit on the couch.” He said, before hurriedly turning around and heading back over to his desk to grab his bag and bring it over to the couch with him. Reigen let him go, fighting the urge to press the issue. No good would come of it if Reigen pushed too hard and Mob shut down.

For awhile, they both worked in the office in silence. Mob had spread his homework out on the small table between the couches and was hunched over it, while Reigen honestly wasn’t working and was simply browsing the internet. Every so often he would peer over the edge of his laptop over at Mob to see Mob fuss with the scarf and the face mask, clearly getting more and more uncomfortable with them the longer he kept them on, but still refusing to take them off. It was maddening.

“Mob,” Reigen said after a few more minutes of watching. Mob looked up, jolting a bit at being caught in the act of tugging at his scarf and itching at his face mask. His eyes were wide in his pale red face. Reigen sighed, “Just take off the scarf.”

Mob’s hands rose and clenched into the thick fabric, He deliberated silently with himself for a moment before slumping a bit in defeat, shoulders sloping downward. Then, in careful, ginger movements, Mob unwound the scarf.

Mob bruised easily. Reigen knew this. They’d gone on a job one time in the summer, when it had been warm enough for shorts and casual wear, and Mob had tripped on the sidewalk and smashed his knees into the concrete. It had happened too suddenly for him to put up a barrier, and his knees hadn’t been cut, but they had been a mess of purples and sickly yellows for a long time after that. But even that didn’t compare to the bruising Reigen was seeing now, that was wrapped around Mob’s neck like some macabre kind of necklace.

More of the burst blood vessels were everywhere , thick in places between the bruises, where the fingers of whoever had choked Mob hadn’t met. The bruises themselves were deep; dark reds and purples that blossomed under Mob’s skin and left subtle lumps on his neck that would definitely itch later as they healed.

Reigen hadn’t realized he’d stood up until Mob stood up.

“It looks worse than it is.” Mob said, pulling down the face mask so he could be heard more clearly. His hands were twisting on themselves in the fabric of the scarf he still held.

Reigen moved out from behind his desk, slowly, carefully, unable to look away from his student’s neck. He felt sick to his stomach. Who could do such a thing? And to Mob? “Mob, what happened- who did this?”

Mob nervously looked away, “I’ve already made up with them. They didn’t really- they- I destroyed their school, in, uh, self defense, after, and, I think that made us even?” His hands were now clenching onto each other, Mob’s nails scratching at his own scabs mindlessly.

“How- how do you destroy a school in self defense?” Reigen asked, stunned, distracted for a moment by his student’s nervous confession.

Mob trembled, “Sometimes there are moments when my powers go out of control, and its when I’m unconscious to boot. I… I don’t want them anymore.”

Unconscious. Whoever had choked Mob had done it to the point of unconsciousness. Reigen clenched his hands into fists, “That’s not your fault, Mob.”

Mob, clearly, didn’t believe him, “I- He only attacked because I shaved his head, too, but that was an accident.”

What even?

Reigen had many things to say to Mob, but in the moment, he couldn’t watch the boy scratching at his own hands anymore. He went around his desk and crossed the room to Mob before carefully putting one large hand out and overtop of Mob’s two small clenched ones. “Stop that, you’re just going to make yourself bleed.” He said, and Mob froze.

Up close the bruises on Mob’s neck looked so much worse. Reigen moved his hand away from Mob’s hands and instead bent over a bit, motioning to Mob’s neck, “Let me look at this.”

Nervous, Mob hesitated, but eventually he tilted his head up to let Reigen see the full extent of the damage. It really looked like it hurt. The hands that had held Mob’s neck had gone all the way around, and Reigen could see clearly where the thumbs had been crushing Mob’s windpipe.

He didn’t want to think about it anymore. “Alright,” Reigen pulled back, clapping his hands, startling Mob a bit with his sudden action, “I’ve got some salve in the back room that I use for clients who have sore shoulders. It probably will help those bruises. Probably. So let’s slap some of that on your neck for while you’re here.”

Mob was staring at him with an unreadable expression, but at least his hands had stilled. Reigen gently tapped the top of Mob’s head before he could stop himself, taking the opportunity of Mob’s silence to say, “We’ll talk more later about what happened, but for right now, know that it wasn’t your fault, and your powers aren’t bad. It’s all about how you use knives, right? Don’t just focus on the negatives and wish your powers away. You’ve helped a lot of people, Mob.”

The unreadable expression on Mob’s face gave way to a bit of awe and relief at hearing Reigen’s words. Then he looked down and clenched his hands again. Reigen prepared himself to stick his own hand out again to stop Mob from scratching, but he didn’t have to do anything like that.

Because in the next moment, Mob leaned forward and hugged him. He didn’t wrap his arms around Reigen, keeping his hands close to his chest and opting to clutch at the front of Reigen’s suit instead. “It hurt a lot…” Reigen heard Mob say quietly into his chest, and then without a second thought he was wrapping his own arms around Mob’s small back and curling protectively over his student.

Someone had tried to choke Mob, possibly with intent to kill, and Reigen hadn’t been there. Mob hadn’t seemed to defend himself until after the deed had been done either, and Reigen certainly was going to lecture the boy about self defense later. It was alright to use his powers if it meant keeping himself alive, and Reigen had to make sure Mob understood that so that he would never have to see similar deep bruises or bloody scrapes on Mob’s pale skin ever again.

He pressed a hand to the space between Mob’s shoulderblades comfortingly, and sighed against Mob’s hair, “I’m sure it did, it certainly looks like it does.”

Mob nodded against him, quiet as ever, and Reigen patted his back a bit to get him to pull out of the hug.

“Let’s go get that salve on you now, alright? It’ll help it feel better.” He said, patting Mob’s back again reassuringly. Mob nodded, agreeing, and bent to pick up the scarf he had dropped when he had hugged Reigen. He left it and the face mask on the small couch, and then followed his master to the back room. Both of them hoped the salve helped.

Chapter Text

“Okay, so, anyone know a good taxi service that drives out into the middle of nowhere that we can call?” Reigen asked, flipping his phone open and squinting as the bright screen lit up and blinded him in the darkness. The moment his eyes adjusted he looked at his signal to see how strong it was, only to see it was completely non-existent.

Sighing, Reigen turned to face the small group of people with him. There were three kids; Mob, his little brother Ritsu, and some blond kid Reigen had never met before who had introduced himself as Mob’s friend Hanazawa Teruki. Then, of course, there was Dimple, hanging out like a creep as always. Reigen pointedly ignored the spirit as he addressed the kids. After all, Dimple could get home whenever he wanted to since he didn’t have a physical form that could tire out or was bound by walking everywhere, so Reigen didn’t need his opinion on how they would be getting home. “Anyone have any ideas for how we’re getting back to the city?”

“Kageyama and I flew a car here.” Teruki said. He then turned to Mob, putting a hand to his chin in thought, “I don’t remember though, did we wreck it in the fight with Terada or not?”

Mob shrugged, “I can’t remember either.” He said, staring off into the woods around them, “Where did we leave it?”

Reigen groaned and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, “Alright, let's rule that out as an option then.”

“We could just walk until we hit a road and then flag down a car or bus.” Ritsu, the most athletic of them all next to maybe Teruki, suggested. Both Mob and Reigen began to sweat though at the prospect of trekking through the woods for who knew how far or how long.

“No no no,” Reigen waved a hand in the air, swatting Ritsu’s idea away, “Too dangerous, we don’t know how deep this forest is or where the roads are. It’s too risky.”

The scowl on Ritsu’s face, directed at Reigen, was clearly visible in the pale moonlight and through the mess of scratches and scrapes across the boy’s face. Ritsu opened his mouth, no doubt about to begin to verbally fight Reigen for shooting down his idea so quickly - he certainly seemed tired enough to do so even with his older brother standing right beside him - but Teruki interrupted him.

“Ah, I have an idea!” Teruki said, snapping his fingers, getting everyone’s attention on him immediately. He seemed to Reigen like the kind of kid to thrive under attention, so it made sense that he’d know how to get it all on him with a simple action, “Why don’t we, just like how we flew the car here, fly ourselves back?”

“Oh!” Mob lit up, “That could work, except,” his enthusiasm dropped, “I get nauseous sometimes when using telekinesis on myself.”

Teruki reached out and patted Mob on the shoulder reassuringly, “We’ll all move slowly, Kageyama, so that your stomach doesn’t get upset.” Mob looked more hopeful at that.

Reigen didn’t want to kill that hope, but he also had no psychic powers with which to pick himself up and send himself soaring through the air. Dimple snickered on his right side, sneering at him in a knowing way that Reigen, as he stood there sweating nervously, wished he could punch off. If only Dimple wasn’t incorporeal.

“I don’t know how to do that yet.” Ritsu interjected, “One of you will have to carry me if we go with that plan.”

Reigen hopped on that lifeline like a drowning man at sea, “Me too. I used up most of my power during that last big fight.”

Mob and Teruki, the two who had had psychic powers for their entire lives and thus the most experience with them, both nodded understandingly, as if powers being unavailable after a huge amount of use was a legitimate thing. Reigen swallowed down his mild surprise; he’d honestly just been making up a random excuse, but if it were true…

Maybe he’d start paying Mob more after really big jobs in which the kid used his powers a lot.

But that was something for him and his finances to debate another time. In the moment, Teruki and Ritsu were debating over which of them - either Teruki or Mob - would carry Ritsu. Ritsu, obviously, wanted his brother to carry him.

But Teruki, “I think Mr. Reigen should be carried by someone more familiar to him. It’ll help them both stay up in the air if neither one is uncomfortable or anxious. I don’t know him very well, so it probably won’t be as easy.”

Ritsu countered that argument, “You don’t know me very well either, though. And you threatened me the first time we met.”

“Oh, he threatened me too.” Mob piped up, as if that comment was in any way useful to the conversation.

Teruki, waved his hands around frantically in the air, looking a bit shaken, “Both of those things are in the past so why don’t we all just not talk about them right now.”

Reigen watched the three kids debate amongst themselves from the sidelines, his head angling towards whoever was speaking at the time and thus bouncing back and forth between them all as if he really were a spectator at some kind of sport. Dimple was watching too, though he looked supremely unimpressed, and even a bit irritated.

“You all whine so much.” The spirit groaned, caving in, surrendering to the bickering of high pitched childish voices, “Just have Shigeo carry this disgrace, and I can possess Ritsu and help him fly himself.”

“Hey!” Reigen said, indignant at being called a disgrace, and by a depowered blob of a spirit to boot.

Everyone ignored him. “Yeah, that could work.” Ritsu admitted begrudgingly, looking pacified but still not satisfied with the fact that his brother would still have to carry Reigen. Teruki nodded as well.

But Mob’s expression had gone dark, and he stared straight at Dimple, “Take care of my little brother.”

A shiver went down everyone’s spines at the unspoken “or else.” Mob could really be intimidating sometimes, with his blank expression that could somehow become intense at the same time when needed, and the way his voice dropped when he got serious.

Dimple shot quickly over to Ritsu and ducked slightly behind his head pathetically, shaking ever so slightly as he nodded and shouted, “Of course, Shigeo, what kind of friend do you take me for?!”

Appeased by that, the scary aura around Mob instantly dissipated, “Good, thank you.” He said simply, before moving without needing a cue and going over to stand beside Reigen.

“Mm, alright, so we’re all in agreement and ready to go now then?” Teruki asked, putting his hands on his hips, taking charge.

Mob and Ritsu nodded, but after Ritsu nodded, Reigen watched, kind of disturbed, as Dimple simply sunk into the boy’s skull. Bright red spots rose into being on Ritsu’s scuffed cheeks the moment that the last of Dimple’s spiritual tail disappeared beneath his dark hair, giving him somewhat of a comical look. If Reigen hadn’t known that the spots were a result of possession by an evil spirit, he’d say they looked similar to a clown’s make up.

So distracted was he by watching the possession process, Reigen didn’t notice that Teruki had already begun to hover a few feet off the ground, nor did he notice that Mob had shifted closer to his side. Though he certainly did notice when Mob’s thin little arms wove their way around his torso and then squeezed .

Embarrassingly, Reigen yelped, and Mob retracted instantly, “Sorry Master!” He said, holding his hands close to himself like he’d done something wrong, “I thought you were ready. It’s always easier to carry something if I only have to use my telekinesis in one place, like on myself, and then spread it to whatever I’m holding. So I thought I’d hold onto you.”

Reigen took a deep breath and looked up at the other two kids, who were already hovering in the air quite a ways above them. Teruki and Ritsu were looking back down at Reigen and Mob expectantly, not wanting to go too far without them.

He shoved down his nerves and nodded, “Yeah, alright, that’s fine, you can hold onto me. Let’s go Mob.” Then, he stuck his arms out on either side of him, opening up his torso for Mob to more easily grab onto. It’d be awkward no matter what, what with Mob being so much smaller, but at least this way Reigen’s arms wouldn’t get in the way.

Mob’s arms wrapped around him and squeezed again, and Reigen braced himself for take off.

They didn’t immediately lift into the air though, not like Teruki and Ritsu had done with such ease. Mob simply squeezed Reigen a bit tighter, and they stood there for a moment with Mob hugging Reigen.

“Thank you, Master, for coming. For helping.” Mob said, the emotion and gratitude in his voice almost a physical blow against Reigen.

He knew he wouldn’t so easily forget the sight of Mob’s eyes going white, of the power he held in his body beginning to whip up around him and throw off waves and waves of killing intent. He hadn’t thought before jumping in front of Mob, desperate to snap him out of it, desperate to not let Mob hurt himself by forcing himself to fight. There was a difference between self defense and... what Mob had been about to do.

They all had been in a tough situation, for sure. It was frightening to think about what might have happened - what Mob might have done - had Reigen not been there. 

He awkwardly maneuvered one of his arms so that he could pat Mob on the head, glad that he still could, glad that the kid still had his innocence, “Hey, I’ll always come to help. When things get tough, leave them to me.”

Mob looked up at him, warmth in his expression, and Reigen coughed and tried to cover up the sappiness and sentiment of what he’d just said, “Not to mention, you were late for work and not answering your phone, and we can’t have that becoming a habit.”

Mob smiled, softly, as if he knew what Reigen really meant, “Of course, Master.”

With the moment now passed, Mob’s arms relaxed, the hold going from a tight hug to just a firm grip. “Are you ready?” Mob asked.

Reigen moved his hand off Mob’s head and nodded, “Yea-” They were in the air before he could even finish.

Reigen’s arms immediately, in panic, shot down and around Mob’s back to grip tightly on his student’s shirt. Ritsu laughed, the obnoxious laugh of a true thirteen year old, at the sight of Reigen’s legs wheeling and him and Mob tilting a bit on their path up over the treetops to join them.

“Okay okay let’s not go too fast or high now, Mob.” Reigen babbled, eyes fixed on the forest floor they’d left behind.

“Master, please look up, and please stop pulling on me, you’re making me sick.” Mob said, already looking a bit pale.

Ritsu kept snickering off to the side, and Reigen could swear he could hear a bit of Dimple’s nasty chuckle echoing in Ritsu’s voice.

So, with great effort, Reigen dragged his eyes upwards from the ground, to the treetops, to the stars.

And oh, what a sight that was.

It took awhile, but Reigen was eventually able to calm down and not jostle Mob by pulling on him so much. He breathed in deeply while staring up into the sky, desperate not to look anywhere else. They were so far from the city that what felt like every star in the sky was clearly visible, so it wasn’t hard for Reigen to find intriguing pockets of space for his gaze to latch onto.

“This is incredible.” Reigen couldn’t stop himself from whispering, as the four of them hovered carefully and slowly through the air. Not even just the sky, but the fact that they were able to fly at all was incredible too. Psychic powers were incredible, when possessed by the right people; by good people. Reigen was glad that he knew good people, and his student was one of the best.

Chapter Text

The train that went from his work to his home was usually quiet at the late hour he rode it. With the sun just barely beginning to descend below the horizon line, sending warm oranges that bled to cool purples out into the sky, it was far past the usual time that most business men got off of work.

But Reigen made his own hours, and so he went home late every day, hoping that just one more customer might walk in his door.

No one ever walked in his door.

It barely made working so late worth it. He would get home late, fall asleep almost immediately after eating some half-assed meal of microwave noodles, and then wake up to do it all again. His life felt fixed and monotonous, almost unreal.

Sometimes there was something that broke the monotony though. A school boy, coming home far later than any respectable club let out, would sometimes ride the same train the same direction at the same time as Reigen. He always looked terrible; scuffed and bruised, sometimes with something wet dripping from his sleeves - sometimes it was milk, sometimes it was blood. He always clutched his bag close to him and sat furthest away from any person, and stared with trembling eyes at the floor of the train.

He was probably a delinquent, Reigen sneered in his head, seeing the new bandages on the boy’s face any time he was on the train. Or a bullying victim. Either way, it was none of Reigen’s business. He wasn’t some kind of good samaritan. He wasn’t going to help. The kid looked to be more trouble than he was worth. He probably deserved whatever treatment he got.

And when the boy would pass in front of him, pause, and then stare at him with eerily empty red eyes for the entire train ride, that was none of Reigen’s business either. It was kind of unnerving, but he didn’t care about the boy.

He did care when he found the boy sitting outside his office building though, slumped against the wall beside the door that led inside, staring vacantly and with his uniform all torn up.

“Kid, what the hell?!” Reigen blurted before he could stop himself, “Go away, no loitering!” He tried to shoo the boy away, but didn’t want to touch him. Something, deep inside him, was urging him to be cruel to this boy, to hurt him. It was a stark switch from the indifference he had felt seeing the boy on the train, and Reigen was shocked at himself and didn’t want to give in.

The boy looked up and rubbed a drop of blood out of his eye, extremely dazed, “Oh… I’m sorry… I don’t…” He looked around, becoming more and more bewildered the more aware of his location he became, “I don’t know why I’m here…”

Alright, there was something seriously up with this kid, either he was just weird, or he had a concussion, or both, “Well, I don’t care, just get lost.” Reigen made another shooing motion, flicking his hands out towards the kid to urge him to get up and go away.

But the boy was holding his head, and still sitting on the ground, “I don’t… remember…”

“I don’t care. ” Reigen repeated, exasperated, “C’mon, stand up, get out of here. I won’t have you scaring off customers.” Not that he ever had any.

Ever so slowly, the boy rose, steadying himself with one hand on the building. He moved like ice was cracking and falling off of him with every twitch. Reigen watched, not reaching out to help in the slightest, but it was getting aggravating. Grumbling, Reigen pushed a hand through his bangs and said, “Do you need me to direct you to the hospital or somethin? Call your parents maybe?”

The boy shook his head, and then stared at Reigen with his empty eyes like he always did on the train.

But this time, something new happened. A fog or curtain over the boy’s eyes seemed to lift slightly, and an emotion Reigen couldn’t describe passed over that pale and bloody face. Relief? Recognition?

Whatever it was had the boy suddenly but hesitantly reaching out to him, “M-”

Reigen slapped the boy’s hands away roughly, immediately wary and dancing away a few steps, “Oi, hey, what’s the big idea? Tryin to steal my money or something?”

Wide eyes stared out from under scruffy black bangs, “N-no I just…”

Reigen narrowed his eyes, “You were weren’t you! You scoped me out on the train and figured out where I worked, and now you show up here to pick my pockets.” He balled his hands into fists, “I’m not above using justifiable self defense on a middle schooler! You better get lost!”

The boy looked shaken beyond belief as he stood there, knees knocking together. He scrubbed a hand over his face again, smearing blood across his nose, “I’m sorry - I- I thought you were- Someone else? I think- I don’t really remember-”

Reigen didn’t want to hear a sob story. He stepped forward threateningly and raised a fist. The boy flinched backwards dramatically, stumbled a bit on his heels, then turned and ran. Or, well, he ran as fast as he could with what looked like a limp and dehydration.

“Next time I won’t hesitate to call the cops if I see you around here!” Reigen shouted down the sidewalk, lowering his fists as the boy got further and further away.

He never saw the boy again though, not around his building or even on the late train home.

Good riddance . Was a frequent thought that Reigen had, every day he went without seeing that scraggly boy with his messy bowl cut.

Even months later, when the world burst, and Reigen faded from existence with his purpose of isolating and neglecting Mob complete, he thought to himself Good riddance.

Mob opened his eyes, also thinking to himself Good riddance, as Mogami fled from Asagiri Minori and into the open air. The evil spirit was saying something, something threatening, but Mob couldn’t hear through the rushing in his ears. A moment later though, and Mogami was gone, leaving the room cold and quiet.

Reigen watched as Mob shook when Minori apologized to him, putting a thin hand upon his shoulder. “Are you… are you really like that?” Mob whispered.

“Mhm,” Minori hummed, though everyone could hear where the sound cracked as she tried to swallow down the rising tears, “Something like that.” The tears were stronger than her, and broke free. Minori’s face crumpled rapidly as she stood in front of Mob. She curled in on herself, pressing her fingers into her eyes in a pathetic display, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Mob didn’t react. He still trembled and shook, and shifted closer to Reigen when Reigen limped up behind him, but other than that his face was a mask of stone.

It remained stony and emotionless the entire time Reigen, Dimple, and he travelled the path from the Asagiri mansion to the street. Reigen was beginning to worry. Even though he knew his student typically did appear very emotionless and collected, Mob truthfully was always giving small clues as to what he was feeling through the way he spoke or the smallest ways his facial expression changed. But there was none of that now, just ice and emptiness in Mob’s eyes.

They reached the bus stop and Reigen sat down gratefully, his thrown back aching from the relief. Mob shifted beside him, still standing, and Reigen sighed as he patted the open spot on the bench for his student to sit down on.

With both of them still saying nothing, Mob nodded and accepted the invitation, sitting down and curling himself in tightly as if to not take up too much space. It was odd, and something that Mob had never done before - or at least, something that Reigen had never noticed before - and the worry reared its head with more intensity.

“Mob-”

“Master-”

They both froze, having accidentally started speaking at the same time, but Reigen recovered the quickest and motioned with a rolling hand for Mob to speak first.

Mob looked at Reigen for a moment before his eyes flickered down to where his hands were clenched against his knees, “Master… c-can I- Can I hug you?”

Reigen raised an eyebrow, “You’ve never asked before.” He observed. Mob stiffened further, flinching away from the comment, and Reigen quickly tried to recover the situation, “That doesn’t mean no, though!” And he opened his arms for his student, because Mob clearly looked like he needed the hug.

It was a painful hug, the both of them pressed close and Mob still trembling but now with a new intensity. It also seemed to be the strongest hug Mob had given Reigen to date. His already bruised and possibly broken ribs creaked beneath the force with which Mob held onto him, as if trying to anchor them both in the world around them, but Reigen didn’t complain. He held onto Mob just as strongly.

“Oi, Mob, what’s wrong?” Reigen asked, softly, ignoring the way Dimple, who had been uncharacteristically silent thus far, was shaking his head negative behind Mob’s back.

Mob pressed himself closer, if that was possible, “Nothing.” He said, though it was clearly a lie.

So Reigen resigned himself to simply comforting his student with the hug, rather than being able to spin a web of good advice, “Well, if you ever want to talk about it, you know where to find me. I, personally, want to put this mess of a job in the past as fast as possible though. What do you think?” He pulled away a bit to try and look down and get a view of Mob’s face, but Mob had his face firmly pressed into the front of Reigen’s torso.

Reigen’s worry hadn’t lessened any, but he felt reassured when Mob nodded against him and mumbled, “Yeah, me too.”

“I also, personally, think that we both should get patched up and then go out for takoyaki tomorrow. Any thoughts about that?” Reigen said, tired but still able to smile fondly when Mob’s nodding sped up.

Something had happened to his student during the short time he’d been in Minori’s body, sharing the space with Mogami, and Reigen had no idea what it was. But in the meantime, at least he could help in this way.

When the bus rolled up, they stopped hugging, but Reigen didn’t miss the way Mob kept a tight grip on his sleeve the entire bus ride, or the way Mob fell asleep on his shoulder a few minutes into the ride home.

Reigen ached and there was blood all over his suit; the job had left him exhausted. He couldn’t keep his own eyes from drooping when he noticed his student’s state. Ever so slowly, as the bus rattled on down the road, he too fell asleep. His head tilted and his shoulders slanted until he and Mob were leaning against each other, fast asleep in the bus seats.

Chapter Text

They went for ramen, but for the entire walk to the ramen shop they didn’t talk about any of what had just happened.

Reigen found himself at a loss when he was the one who needed to talk or open up. He always encouraged Mob to not repress himself, but then when the time came all Reigen boiled down to was a hypocrite who couldn't even take his own advice.

The truth was, Reigen was scared by how relieved he was that Mob had come back. He had known Mob needed him, had seen it in the way Mobs eyes shone with gratitude when given advice or the way Mob stood taller with Reigen by his side. Even back when Mob had been smaller and younger, and Reigen had simply been using the boy and hadn’t yet cared about him as a person, Reigen had still somehow been able to help and impact Mob. But Reigen was truly shocked by how much he also needed Mob, and how much Mob had helped him in return.

Mob, in his simple Mobbish way, had inspired Reigen, had saved him from being lonely, and had been helping him to become a better person. And Reigen hadn't even realized it until Mob had been gone, had been off with his friends, and Reigen had had no one.

Reigen finished his bowl of ramen first, and pushed it away so that he didn’t end up staring morosely into the soupy dredges.

Mob finished soon after, also pushing the bowl away and then folding his hands quietly on the table. He stared at Reigen intensely, and Reigen felt himself beginning to sweat under the scrutiny from his student. What would Mob say first to break this silence between them?

“Master,” Mob said, “You need to take better care of yourself.”

Reigen spluttered, “Wh- I take care of myself just fine, Mob. I’m an adult!” He didn’t mention that for the past weeks without his student around he’d gone back to smoking in the office in a type of petty rebellion against Mob for leaving him, or that he hadn’t been sleeping because he’d been working overtime trying to do community work as well as film and edit the film of any exorcism jobs he’d gone on.

“Hmm,” Mob hummed, squinting, “You look pale and tired.”

“No need to be so blunt.” Reigen said in response, flushing with embarrassment now at being called out - and by Mob no less, who looked just as pale and tired if not more so.

“Maybe take off work tomorrow?” Mob suggested.

That suggestion though made Reigen a tad suspicious of Mob’s intentions. While Mob being concerned about him and trying to “big brother” him he could understand, there was something in the boy’s innocent tone that just screamed I know something you don’t.

“Why would I? I need to make money, Mob.” He said, raising an eyebrow.

“Mm, it's just,” Mob sat back in his chair and his eyes flickered away, “there will probably be more reporters at the office. Sorry.”

They would all want to talk with Reigen now that he was a “confirmed” psychic, but with the psychic display during the press conference having been done by Mob, it made sense that the boy would blame himself if Reigen ended up getting swarmed by reporters.

“Wh- Hey don’t be sorry.” Reigen said, leaning forward, talking without thinking about what he was saying in his haste to try and reassure his student, “I’d rather there be reporters bothering me because they think I’m the real deal than bothering me because they think I’m a-” Mob looked up, and Reigen’s brain finally caught up with his mouth. He pulled his right hand, which had been gesturing and twisting in time with his words, into a still and loose fist, “... fraud.”

Silence screamed over their tiny table, even as the rest of the ramen shop bustled and bounced with life and noise. Master and student looked at each other, the word finally out in the open.

Reigen coughed, a bit awkwardly, and tried not to let his voice squeak as he asked, “When did you- uh- How did you feel when you found out?”

Mob frowned, just a tiny downturn of the edges of his lips, and pulled his hands from the table to his knees. Reigen, though he couldn’t see them due to the angle of the table, could imagine the white knuckles of Mob’s small fists as he balled his hands up. “Uhm, we don’t have to talk about this, Master. If you don’t want to.”

“That’s,” Reigen shook his head, “That’s not fair to you, Mob.”

Mob didn’t say anything in response to that, and Reigen slumped, “C’mon. I deserve to hear it. Tell me how bad I screwed up.” It would definitely be justified.

Quietly, Mob confessed, “Bad. I felt… really bad. For awhile. It was, uhm, before all this though. I don’t remember when I realized it but, I think I had been denying it for awhile.”

Reigen’s heart clenched in his chest, “I’m sor-”

“But then,” Mob interrupted him, continuing to talk as if Reigen hadn’t begun to at all, gaining momentum as he spoke, “But then, I remembered all the times you helped me, or gave me advice, or were there for me, even when it didn’t have to do with my powers. And… then I realized it didn’t matter in the end if you were a real psychic or not. Or if you’d been using me or not. You’re still…” Mob’s momentum faded, and he hunched in on himself a bit when he saw the way Reigen was watching him as he spoke, “You’re still a good person…”

A good person. There were those words again. Reigen realized with no small amount of relief and gratefulness that Mob genuinely did believe he was a good person. It was reassuring, that in his line of work and through all the morally dubious things that he’d done, he still had managed to appear good in Mob’s eyes.

After a beat, in which Reigen swallowed down the words Mob had said and the emotions he could feel welling up inside him, he slowly smiled, though it was wobbly, “You really have grown up, you know.” He pushed himself up and leaned forward so he could reach across the table and ruffle Mob’s hair. The smile turned to a more genuine smirk at the small sound of protest Mob made when he pulled back and began to card his fingers through his bangs in order to fix them.

Mob really was a good kid. And as he continued to grow he would become a better person than he believed Reigen to be.

Which was why Reigen had to do what had to be done. He took a deep breath in and said, “You don’t have to come in to work tomorrow.”

Mob froze, and stared through his fingers at Reigen, “What?” He asked.

Reigen shrugged, trying to be casual, “Well, now that I know you know I’m a fraud, and you’ve grown up, there’s no point to it anymore is there? And also, all the reporters will be there, like you said, and a kid like you shouldn’t get messed up in this.” He didn’t want to keep using Mob, or holding him back.

Mob had lowered his hands, but he still stared at Reigen, as if he could see the things Reigen wasn’t saying.

Then Mob stood up. Reigen tensed, sure that the boy was going to walk away or get upset, but instead Mob went around the table and came towards him.

“Master,” Mob said, stopping in front of Reigen’s seat, “You’re an idiot.” And then, in a rare display of public skinship, he leaned forward and hugged Reigen around the shoulders.

No one in the ramen shop seemed to notice, or if they did, they didn’t care. Hugs in public were becoming more commonplace these days, after all. Mob didn’t hold on too long either, just keeping the hug long enough to give Reigen a reassuring squeeze before he backed away.

“Where else can I make 300 yen an hour so easily?” Mob said.

Reigen stared at him; at the small quirk of Mob’s lips, at the tentatively hopeful light in his eyes, and then he couldn’t help but to begin barking in laughter.

“Since when do you joke , Mob?!” Reigen snorted, wheezing and rocking a bit in his chair with his laughter.

“Mm, maybe it’s because I’ve been around my friends a lot lately.” Mob explained with a shrug, obviously pleased with himself.

“Pftt, well, good, you should hang out with them more then.” Reigen said, wiping a tear from his eye. Then, he thought to himself for a moment, came to a decision, and added, “On your off hours of course.” He looked up at Mob to see the boy’s reaction.

Mob looked just about as happy and satisfied as he could, which was still rather muted, but more emotion than Reigen had seen on the boy’s face in awhile. It was nice to see. “Of course.”

He was a bit selfishly glad Mob was staying. Reigen’s self doubt was still deeply rooted in his chest, but at least for awhile he could ignore it, supported by the fact that Mob still trusted in him and still wanted to work for him. They could keep becoming better people together, just like they already had been.

Chapter Text

Reigen had never seen an explosion before.

Well, sure, he had seen explosions. The terrible B movies he loved to laugh at always seemed to be full of them. They were always bright and quick bursts of color, or a flash of light followed by a reused segment of stock footage of a cloud of smoke that would plume up into the air like a mushroom.

But Reigen had never seen an actual explosion. He’d never stood there and felt the wind push him backwards or felt the light sting his eyes. He wasn’t about to look away though, not when Mob was there at the center of that blast.

“...Mob?”

“Brother!” Ritsu screamed somewhere behind Reigen, as Reigen stared in a numb daze at the cloud of light and destruction that had become his student. Ritsu rushed by him, moving significantly fast for someone who had been in numerous fights that day and looked as if they’d been dragged through the rubble by the ankles, headed in the direction of the explosion. Reigen almost reached out to stop him, almost, but he wasn’t fast enough. Not as fast as Suzuki Shou, who, while also injured, launched past Reigen just as quickly if not quicker than Ritsu had, and managed to wrap himself around Ritsu’s back and hold the boy still. “Let me go! Suzuki let me go! My brother’s over there! Shigeo!”

Ritsu sounded positiely gutted . He sounded panicked, in pain, and so afraid for his older brother. A wave of psychic power burst off of Ritsu, pushing at Shou and attempting to throw him off, but it only succeeding in making Reigen, Teruki, and any other people around stagger with its force. Shou stayed, holding Ritsu tightly as he thrashed.

Something in the distance distracted Reigen, and he looked up from the emotional display Ritsu and Shou were making as they shouted at each other - one firmly, the other with his voice raw - back to the explosion in the distance. He blinked, wiped a bit of blood from his eyes to clear his vision, and then blinked again at what he was seeing.

“What the hell is that?”

Ritsu and Shou froze at Reigen’s shout, and looked up. Teruki and Dimple were suddenly there in Reigen’s sight as well, also staring at the, well, it wasn’t quite an explosion anymore.

A huge piece of broccoli had revealed itself as the smoke blew away, its frighteningly large leaves and its huge bushy top looming over the destruction that Mob and Touichirou had caused with their fight. It looked like the shape of a typical explosion still, but was bright green, and somehow both ridiculous and terrifying all at once.

Ritsu and Shou both scrambled to their feet, though Shou kept a tight grip on Ritsu’s arms to hold him back still. “Where did that come from?” Shou shouted. No one answered him, because no one knew.

Instead, Ritsu said, “My brother is still over there! We have to go back!”  

Reigen had already been unconsciously moving toward the broccoli, intent on going to get Mob. He had to make sure his student was alright, he had to. No one could survive at the center of such an explosion but if anyone were to survive something like that, it would be Mob.

Shou looked to be deep in thought, as he still held fast to Ritsu. But then, he hummed in agreement, “Fine. When everything really settles, we’ll go back. You can get your brother, and I can get my pops.”

The way Shou spoke was with confidence, as if there was no chance that Mob or Touichirou could be dead. Reigen didn’t want to dispute that, and so he shoved down the dark gross thoughts in his head that were telling him he’d never see Mob again, or that when he did, Mob would already be gone from this world.

They waited for about half an hour for the last of the tremors from the broccoli’s rapidly growing stalks and roots to cease before they approached the beast of a vegetable. At some point along the way, Shou split off from their group, meeting up with some of his lackeys and saying “I can feel my pops’ aura this way, so I’m gonna go. Oh, and about your house, just give us some time and we’ll fix it up for you.”

The rest of them continued onwards, following the pulse of Mob’s aura that thrummed out through the broccoli and straight to Ritsu, Teruki, and Dimple. Reigen couldn’t feel a thing, but he wished he could. He wished he could feel that Mob was still alive, but all he felt was cold.

Now, they all stood at the base of the monstrous vegetable in a loose little semicircle, staring at it and deliberating how to get into it, as Mob’s aura was originating from a place deep inside.

“Should we get tools?” Ritsu asked, peering into a gap in the broccoli and down into the darkness within, “I don’t know if we can get inside without having to cut or dig some of this away.”

“We don’t need tools,” Teruki said, throwing out his hands with a flourish, he still looked sweaty and torn up though, so his actions lost some of their impact, “We can use our powers to cut it away.” With that, a warm undulating yellow glow lit up around his hands, and then slashed out sharply and ruthlessly against the flesh of the broccoli. It made a cluster of deep, but still only surface, cuts, and Teruki pulled back with a successful grin on his face.

Then, right before all of their eyes, the cuts on the broccoli slowly closed right back up, leaving not even a scar. It was as if Teruki had never even cut it in the first place.

“Wh- hey!” Teruki gasped, smile dropping from his face as he stepped forwards as if to threaten the broccoli, “How did it do that?”

Dimple bobbed up to peer at the broccoli, and then he experimentally tried to phase into it. To the rest of them, it looked like Dimple simply was throwing himself at the broccoli and bouncing away. He cursed and rubbed at the place on his blobby head where he had made impact, “This thing is stuffed full of psychic energy! I cant phase through it, and you can’t cut it. Nothin psychic is gonna work on this thing right now, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“So, good old fashioned non-psychic tools it is.” Reigen said, a little more enthusiastically than he should have. He was feeling oddly energetic just standing by the broccoli - it was probably all the built up psychic power.

They came back another half hour later, after having scavenged through the broken city for a hardware store or any discarded shovels. They’d managed to find a still fully stocked store in the end, and Reigen had had to watch through his fingers as the two children he was with broke in eagerly and without hesitation, urged on by the evil spirit cackling nearby.

But in the end, it was for Mob, so Reigen didn’t fuss about it too much.

They lugged their stolen shovels and flash lights back to the broccoli, definitely not returning to the place they had been before, but still able to find the trail of Mob’s aura that lead into the broccoli. They kept watch on it as they roamed the base until they found an opening large enough for them to get in and start at.

Even though they continued to be energized and even healed by the broccoli’s power the longer they worked, Ritsu looked anxious and almost sick the entire time they dug and chopped at chunks of broccoli. Teruki also grew pale the longer he used his powers to guard from the falling chunks of rubble and vegetable that would sometimes drop from the darkness above. None of them spoke, aside from updates every once in awhile about the condition of Mob’s aura.

“It’s fading,” Ritsu choked, as they were coming up on what Reigen thought might have been their fourth hour searching, “It’s so close, we’re so close it’s like he’s in this room , but it’s fading. It’s like he’s...”

“Tired.” Teruki filled in, when Ritsu trailed off. The younger Kageyama was shaking just a bit, and his fists were tight around the handle of the shovel. Reigen watched him worriedly as Ritsu breathed heavily and dug the spade a bit more violently into the green.

“Well, you said he was close, right? We should be finding him soon then. He’s probably fine, just lying around somewhere in here.” Reigen said, trying to reassure, and then dug out another chunk of vegetable.

When he moved his shovel aside though, the tip of a dirty white sneaker came into view through the hole Reigen had made.

Ritsu shouted and scrambled over to Reigen’s side, already holding his shovel at the ready and almost knocking aside Reigen. Reigen was a bit stunned, shocked that Mob had been buried inside the broccoli. Somehow, he hadn’t expected that. He should have been used to expecting the unexpected around Mob by now though. He shook himself from his stupor as Teruki frantically joined in the digging on his other side. He had to pitch in and help dig Mob out, he had to help unearth his student.

“He needs to breathe! You living people gotta breathe yknow!” Dimple reminded them from where he hovered above, “Dig out his face first!”

Ritsu went slowly up his brother’s body, digging out small holes to try and pinpoint where Mob’s face was. But Reigen could see he was afraid to push the spade in too deeply and accidentally hurt him.

They all received another huge shock when Ritsu finally managed to expose Mob’s face, freeing up Mob’s right eye first, which was wide open and staring straight at them all.

“Brother!” Ritsu cried out, dropping the shovel and falling to his hands and knees on the rough slope beside his brother’s eye. It wasn’t blinking, and didn’t seem to be focused on them at all.

“Kageyama?” Teruki said, standing over Mob and also looking worried.

Mob still didn’t seem to be “awake,” and so Dimple and Reigen joined in with the shouting to try and wake him and bring him to awareness - “Shigeo!” “Mob!” - at some point, Ritsu had begun digging his fingers into the edge of the hole he’d made and was trying to pull chunks away with his own bare hands.

Still, throughout it all, Mob simply stared.

Reigen felt fear choke him as he saw his student’s unresponsiveness, and he tried to ignore the way his voice cracked when he bent close to Mob’s face and called his name one more time, “Mob!”

He was probably barely heard under the way Ritsu and Teruki were shouting for Mob, both of them far louder than Reigen could ever be on his own. But Reigen liked to think back on that moment and think it was his call that had Mob finally blinking and his eye finally focusing.

“He’s awake!” Ritsu said, still pulling away broccoli pieces with his now green stained hands, “Brother, can you hear me?”

A muffled sound of confirmation came from beneath the broccoli. Ritsu laughed a bit with relief, a slight watery edge to the sound as he rubbed at his face, and Teruki sat back on his heels with a sigh.

But the moment could not last. They recovered their shovels and set to digging out the rest of Mob’s body as fast as possible. When they were done, Mob sat there, looking torn up and worn, but, surprisingly, without a visible wound on his body. It seemed that, just like the rest of them, he had been healed by the broccoli’s abundance of psychic power.

“...Where are we….?” Mob whispered, his voice rough and soft. It sounded almost like he was sick, or somehow still hurt. Reigen kneeled down beside him, just like Ritsu was doing on Mob’s other side, and reached out a hand to Mob’s forehead in concern. He ignored the defensive look Ritsu tossed his way as he pressed his palm to Mob’s forehead. Mob’s eyes were slow to react and slide his way to focus on him. That was worrisome.

“Well, you don’t have a fever, that’s good.” Reigen said, pulling his hand away, “But can you stand? Rubble keeps falling. We can explain later what happened when we’re all out of here and safe.”

“No one is injured anymore,” Ritsu said, as he looped an arm around Mob’s shoulders and helped him up. “We all got healed, your clothes are quite messy though.”

“Mm, you’re right.” Mob mumbled, slopily pressing his hand to a hole in his shirt that was right above his heart. He was limp in Ritsu’s hold, obviously fighting gravity and losing.

Reigen saw Mob’s head dip a bit too low, and was there before Ritsu or Teruki could react to catch Mob as he pitched forward on weak legs right out of Ritsu’s hands. “Woah there!” He caught his student by the shoulders and lowered him back down to the ground again, “Take it easy, Mob, you just had a tough fight.” He maneuvered Mob a bit in his arms until he was resting on his back and Reigen had a tight hold on him.

“Master, I’m so tired…” Mob mumbled, eyes drooping, the bags under his eyes standing out against his pale skin. “Lately… when I use a lot of my power… I get very tired and cold afterwards…”

Reigen clutched the boy closer, turning the hold into a hug and hugging him tightly as if the hug alone could warm Mob up, “Go to sleep then, Mob. You did a good job. I’m here now, I’m here. I’ll take care of things. We’ll get you out of here and tell you everything when you wake up.”

“Yeah, Kageyama, you put in everything you had. Take it easy. We and your Master have got you now.” Teruki added to the moment.

“Mhm, we’re here for you brother.” Ritsu said, a soft and kind smile on his face for his brother as Mob looked up at him.

A small, exhausted smile spread across Mob’s face as he was surrounded by the care of his friends and family, “Thank you...” He whispered, and then without any further hesitation his eyes slid slowly shut.

They all waited for a moment in silence, making sure that Mob truly was asleep before they could speak again. Reigen continued to cradle Mob, still hugging him, unable to believe just how relieved he was that Mob was alive for Reigen to hold.

When that explosion had lit up the city, he had thought that he would never see Mob again.

“I can take him, Mr. Reigen.” Teruki offered softly, breaking Reigen out of his thoughts as he reached out a hand and enveloped Mob in that undulating yellow glow of his aura. But Reigen only tightened his grip as much as he dared. He didn’t want to wake Mob, but he also didn’t want to let him go.

He stood up with a grunt, fighting the force of Teruki’s powers that tried to pull Mob from him, “No no, don’t worry about it, I’m the adult here, Mob’s my student, I’ll just carry him out.”

“A-are you sure?” Teruki asked, looking a bit shocked at Reigen’s refusal to let go.

“Yep, absolutely. Grab that flashlight, would you?” He gestured with a nod of his head to the flashlight he’d left on the ground, “We can leave the shovels, they’re not important. Let’s get going before any more of this place falls down on us.” He talked fast, trying to distract the other kids and Dimple from the way he kept Mob close and secure in his arms.

Ritsu was staring at him though, with deep dark eyes that were almost like Mob’s but not quite. Ritsu’s eyes were much sharper, much more intense with the way they stared.

“... Don’t drop him.” Ritsu said, trying to sound threatening but only sounding like a young boy worried about his older brother and being protective. He then stepped closer and slid himself into the space at Reigen’s side. Reigen expected that Ritsu would likely keep step with him the entire journey out of the broccoli. Reigen hadn’t been the only one to almost lose Mob that night. He suspected that if Ritsu were larger or stronger, or had a better grasp on his psychic powers, he’d be demanding to carry Mob.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Reigen said.

They followed the trail of dug openings they’d made, the broccoli already healing around many of them and closing up. Thankfully, they found a different gap in the broccoli that led to the outside. The night sky winked at them through it and beckoned them out to the fresh air.

Reigen didn’t think he had ever been so grateful to see a destroyed city before, but after the past hours of monotonous green, anything was better.

Mob, despite being lighter than the average fourteen year old, was a heavy weight in his arms. Reigen knew he would be aching the next day from carrying him from the depths of the broccoli all the way out, but he was determined.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to carry him with my powers?” Teruki asked, eyeing Reigen’s shaking arms. Ritsu was watching too, tense and ready should Reigen’s arms give out and Mob go plummeting to the ground.

“Yes, I’m sure.” He hefted Mob a bit higher up. He wouldn’t give up. It was the least he could do.

Mob had kept them all safe, so now it was his turn to be kept safe. That was what hugs were - they were things to reassure, comfort, and protect. They were things to show gratitude, or show someone how much you cared. And Mob was overdue for a long hug like this one, even if he wasn’t awake for most of it and even if it really wasn't much of a hug.

Reigen resolved to give Mob smaller hugs more often in the future. After all, surely there was no harm in a few hugs now and then before they got back to work.