Work Text:
Reigen didn't think about much during the school day, his mind nearly bare of any thoughts as the time passed. As he walked through the halls of his school, the bell about to ring, signaling the end of their lunch time, he thought.
'Let's get through the day, Arataka. Just a few more hours.' The image of an office appears in his mind, and Reigen is back in his classroom already, waiting for his teacher to arrive. 'Just a few more hours.'
And just a class away, another boy thought the same thing, a boy with curly hair and skin a few shades darker than Reigen's, thought. 'Just a few more hours, a few more hours until you see the boss again.'
Serizawa was in the bathroom. His powers had flared during class and accidentally caused a minor ruckus, it was nothing big, not enough to hurt his classmates, but it was enough to cause a panic. He was absentmindedly answering questions, unaware that his powers had lifted up a few students’ textbooks in his stress of figuring out number four, the scream startled him out of his thoughts and there he realized his loss of control, further making him stressed and causing more objects to float, like a table or two.
He had rushed out of the room, going undetected as his teacher was more focused on getting his classmates to calm down. So now he was in the bathroom, clutching the umbrella he always kept on him tight in his hands as he took deep breaths, everything was fine. He’s done this before, enough that his classroom was thought to be haunted, he won’t be found out, he was fine.
Then the bathroom door opened and he stilled. Serizawa evened his breaths and lifted up his feet and umbrella as the stall beside him opened and closed. The door opens again a few moments later and the other student was washing their hands, Serizawa accidentally drops his umbrella, his grip becoming too loose in his forced relaxation.
A silence falls over them as the student turns off the tap.
“..Are you skipping class?”
Serizawa fumbles as he reaches to grab his fallen umbrella, no use trying to hide now, “No!” He sputters out.
They sighed, “Y’know it’s fine if you admitted you’re skipping, not like I’ll tell on you.”
“I-I’m not, really!” Serizawa gulped, eyes darting around the stall, “I just… had a small freak out, and.. needed to go away.”
Serizawa thinks that his pausing made it sound like he was being genuine, which he is, and he needed some time to gather and word out his thoughts. Or he sounded like a bad liar, and he was regretting even opening his mouth.
The stranger let out a small hum, “You doing all right dude?”
He blinked, they thought he was being genuine? He is being genuine, what is he thinking.
“N- Yea- I don’t know?”
“Do you want me to stay or…”
“I don’t know?”
Why hadn’t they left yet?
“I guess I’ll stay.” What. “Do you want a distraction? A person to talk to? Do you want to vent?”
He considers these options, “..Distraction, please.”
“Hm, uh, did you know that the color purple symbolizes royalty and wealth?”
Serizawa gives himself a small moment to think, this little factoid was familiar to him. “Yeah, I think we learned it in elementary?”
“Do you know why?”
“No.”
“Purple dye was very rare and expensive back then, only the rich could afford it, hence royalty and wealth.” This student did not speak Normally, who even says hence in casual conversation? Wasn’t that meant for essays? Or did Serizawa accidentally miss a new trend in speaking- or something.
He lets out a surprised hum as a response, unsure of what to respond with. But it didn’t seem like it was needed, as the other continued to give more trivia, asking simple yes or no questions here and there. Serizawa didn't even realize time had passed until the bell rang, signaling the end of a class period.
“Crap! I need to get back to class now, it was nice spending time with you though!”
Serizawa blinks as he takes in those words, he panics. “U-Uhm! W-wait! What’s your name?” Serizawa cursed himself as the other pauses.
“Reigen Arataka! What about you?”
“Serizawa.. Katsuya.”
“Nice to meet you, Serizawa! Hope we meet each other again.”
The door closes. Serizawa’s alone again.
“I hope we meet each other again,” He echoes, glee forming inside of him. He hopes so too.
. . .
Serizawa hears a very familiar voice just a few days later, he was outside, about to eat his lunch below one of the numerous trees Salt Middle School had planted on campus. He turns his head and sees three boys, they were all far away enough that Serizawa could barely make out their faces and features, but he was sure that one of them was Reigen.
They were all laughing as the ginger-blond cracked jokes from what Serizawa could assume. Then the other two waved goodbye and left, the ginger-blond said goodbye to them as well, and that confirmed to Serizawa that this boy was Reigen, and now he was standing alone right beside the vending machine. Serizawa took this as an opportunity to talk again.
As he got closer to him, Reigen looked nothing like what Serizawa had expected, first being the off hair color, then it was the neat middle part it had been styled to, contrasting each other’s loud color and clean look. He looked a bit dejected as he got left alone, Serizawa noted.
“You’re.. Reigen, right?” God please let this be Reigen.
He turns to look at him and does a complete 180 from his previous mood, “Yep! That’s me!” Reigen pointed at himself with a smile, he continued speaking, “So, what do you need? Notes? Food? Help for a school project you haven’t started yet? Advice for a girl you like? C’mon give me an idea!”
He talked like a salesperson at the mall.
“I’m- uh- Serizawa?”
It took Reigen a few seconds to remember, “Ah! Bathroom boy! Yeah, how’re you feeling?”
Bathroom boy??
“I’m doing fine, I just.. Wanted to thank you? For - for talking to me.”
“No problem! Everyone needs a person to talk to every now and again, glad to know you’re doing okay.”
They both go silent as neither walked away to end the conversation. Reigen scratches his cheek, “Do.. you have anything else to say.. or..”
Serizawa nearly lets go of his lunch box as he brings it out, “Er- do- do you want to eat lunch? With me?”
Reigen blinks. “Sure.”
They both go underneath one of the trees, Serizawa opening his lunch that his mother had lovingly packed for him, while Reigen brought out a sandwich. Serizawa had severely overestimated his social skills; he wondered if Reigen wanted out already.
Small talk was awkward, it was a pain, and Serizawa never wants to talk about the weather again. Interests were asked, Serizawa’s mind blanked as he thought about it, did he even have an interest or a hobby? He tried to look back in his room, on his shelves..
“I can build plastic models really well?”
Reigen’s immediately interested, and Serizawa didn’t know how to feel about it since, according to other people, building plastic models aren’t that big of a deal. “Really?! Same! I have some plastic models of anime robots in my room!” But according to Reigen, it was just equally as good as any other hobby. It felt nice. Serizawa smiles as he finally makes an effort to talk equally as much as Reigen does.
The bell rings, and Serizawa bids Reigen goodbye as well to go back to his classroom. He hopes that Reigen isn’t dejected as he leaves like the boy’s other classmates had done.
The next day, they meet up again at the same tree at lunch time, they do this every day for the next week or so. Then they decide to walk each other back to their respective classrooms after lunch, where Reigen learns that Serizawa’s classroom was just a few doors away, so he goes and waits for Serizawa outside his door every start of lunch, and they talk to each other on their way to their tree.
From walking side-by-side with a third of an arm’s length between the two, conversations with pauses in between them as they figure out what to talk about next, turned into something that was more comfortable. Less of Serizawa fiddling with whatever he’s holding, less of Reigen looking around trying to spot something that can lead to another topic, and more of Reigen’s fluid hand motions and steady gaze, more of Serizawa no longer replying, but instead fully participating in the conversation.
Reigen had been the one to start using their first names, he hadn’t even brought up first names as a separate conversation topic, like what had Serizawa watched in anime, where the protagonist goes out of their way to bring up first names.
In the middle of Reigen’s borderline endless chatter, he says it offhandedly, seeming so natural and unimportant that Serizawa had nearly missed it, thinking it was another off-topic trivia.
“-And Katsuya! Can I call you Katsuya?”
“S-sure!.. Arataka!”
Hearing your first name come out of a person who wasn’t a family member’s mouth sounded weird to Serizawa, but somehow when Reigen said it, it just felt right. Katsuya. It rolled off of the boy’s tongue so easily. Serizawa doesn’t mention to Reigen that he was the first one, other than his mother, to call him by his first name.
Serizawa felt off at the feeling that he probably isn’t the first one to call Arataka, Arataka.
Serizawa sometimes misses Reigen’s presence when they go their separate ways after school. During Claw meetings, Serizawa finds himself lost in thought, wondering what Reigen does after school ends; he thinks about what it would be like when their friendship extends outside of school hours.
He snaps out of it when Boss calls out his name, “Serizawa.”
. . .
Talking to Serizawa was one of the best decisions Reigen had ever made in his life, competing spots with when Reigen had officially become an employee at Spirits and Such.
He was more or less surprised when Serizawa had walked up to him right after he was deserted by his classmates in favor of their actual friends, it was outright embarrassing. He expected Serizawa to thank him and be on his way, but he stayed, and asked to eat lunch with him.
Didn’t he have other friends to eat with? Why him, Reigen, of all people? The stranger who somehow knows that taking a photo of the Eiffel Tower at night is illegal?
(Kind of, at least. Anyone can take photos of the Eiffel Tower. The Tower’s lighting is protected by copyright and professionals need authorization and need to pay a fee for professional use, or something along those lines. It’s been a while since Reigen remembered that video.)
He thinks about the moment when the two of them met, asking if Serizawa was skipping class, and ending with the both of them accidentally skipping class. He told him his name, and got a name back in return, but in his mind he remembered him as Bathroom boy for circumstantial reasons. And yeah it’s only been a month since they first met, but it feels like Serizawa had been there for forever. It was nice to finally have a friend, a real one who doesn’t ditch and avoid you for others when the bell rings.
Reigen looks up from his desk in the office, smiling a little bit. He had a friend.
During one of their lunches, Reigen musters up the courage to mention his job, small enough to be an off mention, but enough to see if Serizawa would peek into the topic further.
“Did you hear about this ramen place that just opened up a week ago? My boss took me there yesterday after work and the food was delicious!”
“Wow! We can get part-time jobs at our age??” Serizawa fully ignored the ramen place.
Reigen nods with a small smirk, bragging about his job was nice, it made him look more Mature. “I got permission from the school to keep working! Child labor laws and all that.” He pauses for a moment, thinking about if he should mention it or not, Serizawa won’t judge him for his work place, he was nice, and won’t drop him just because of that.
“I work at a psychic consultation office, I don’t have psychic powers myself but it’s nice to help around, you’d be surprised at how many people get haunted or assume they’re haunted,” he laughed, not seeing the wide-eyed look Serizawa had. “I have a mentor too, his name’s Mob! Er, nickname, his actual name is Kageyama Shigeo, he’s really nice and caring, just kind of awkward and distant looking?”
Hearing ‘Kageyama’ made Serizawa’s mind flash to his homeroom teacher, but he shakes the thought off. People can have the same surname and not be related to each other.
“He’s kind of like you, actually! Minus the psychic powers,” Reigen waved his hand.
Serizawa gulped, should he..? Reigen won’t be afraid of him, right? He already works at a psychic’s office, revealing himself won’t be too bad..
“Actually, you can uh- take back the last… sentence… about psychic powers.”
Reigen goes silent, and Serizawa feels like he made a mistake as Reigen’s dark eyes stare into his in disbelief. “No way! What are the chances!” He laughs genuinely.
Serizawa feels like a heavy weight was removed from his shoulders as Reigen started asking about his psychic powers, the questions didn’t feel deep and personal; Serizawa always felt uncomfortable talking about his powers because he was still very much afraid losing control, but Reigen asked about it like he was asking about the plastic models Serizawa collects, like psychic powers were good, and just another thing Serizawa has. Like he was normal. He’s normal.
Later that day, Serizawa goes to the usual Claw meetings, and still giddy from the earlier conversation, he mentions Reigen to them. They were used to him talking about Reigen every now and again, but only now were their attentions caught as Serizawa feeds them intel they never expected to get.
He mentions Reigen being mentored by a psychic at his workplace, intriguing Touichiro, who narrows his eyes. “Who is this.. Psychic, mentoring your friend, Serizawa?”
“Kageyama Shigeo, boss. But Reigen calls him Mob- wait,I never got to ask why he calls him Mob-”
Touichiro’s eyes widen, before he clears his throat, a plan already formulating in his head. “Why don’t we have Reigen and.. ‘Mob’ visit a nearby division? Claw is already big, but it never hurts to have more recruits on hand.”
“But.. Reigen doesn’t have any powers.”
“It’s possible for him to awaken some, only if he and his mentor join Claw. Our boss can give powers to other people, remember? They’ll both be safe in Claw’s hands, just as long as his mentor is also there.”
Serizawa considers it, Reigen getting psychic powers… was scary. Psychic powers are scary. But he’d be in Claw, Claw taught Serizawa how to control his powers, maybe.. It’d be worth it?
The meeting goes on without another word from Serizawa.
It was a weekend when Serizawa had finally mustered up the courage to invite Reigen over to his house. He had already asked permission from his mom the day before if he could have a friend over- no it wasn’t Suzuki with the Eyebrows, Minegishi with No Eyebrows, nor Hatori- (“Just Hatori, mom?” “Hatori with the pigeon sweaters.”) -but it was someone new, his name’s Reigen and they met a month ago.
“Reigen isn’t a part of this little… group Suzuki formed?”
Serizawa shakes his head, he misses the small sigh of relief his mother makes.
When the doorbell rings, Serizawa perks up immediately from his spot on the couch, the skin around his fingernails flakey from being picked, he opens the door and greets Reigen.
Serizawa wasn’t used to seeing Reigen out of uniform, but he doesn’t complain about it. Something about them hanging out in his house while not in school uniform really cemented their friendship to him, it felt nice, it wasn’t like when Boss came over, where Serizawa felt like he needed to be at his best to impress him. Reigen hadn’t even stayed for an hour and Serizawa already felt comfortable with him. Serizawa felt comfortable with Reigen.
Reigen and Serizawa’s mother meet each other formally, with Reigen striking up a smile that felt familiar yet distant to Serizawa, introducing himself with odd formality. But it seems like Serimama was charmed at least, a gentle smile on her face as Reigen’s hands flew everywhere. Serizawa has to take Reigen upstairs to his room before he and his mother could start gossiping about school drama that Serizawa was unaware of.
His teachers’ dating lives were not something he was keen on learning about. (How did Reigen even know about it in the first place?)
Opening the door to his bedroom, Serizawa was reminded that he hadn’t cleaned up in ages. Trash bags piled up in the corner of his room, clothes piled up in the other corner, and random pieces of trash that have yet to be thrown away. Embarrassment filled up in his stomach, he was mortified at how he had taken initiative in inviting Reigen over to see his messy, MESSY room. Oh how he wants to sick into the floor and let the weeks worth of dust swallow him whole.
“I am so sorry! I should have remembered to clean up before you came over- I- y- we can hang out downstairs instead- I’m so sorry for ruining everything!” Serizawa goes to try and pull Reigen away from his bedroom, but Reigen interrupts him.
“It’s fine,” he said with both of his eyebrows raised. Serizawa knew that Reigen raises both of his eyebrows when Reigen was shocked or stunned or some other synonyms to those words, Serizawa worried that Reigen’s shock stemmed from his neglect of self-care.
Reigen always seemed to be keen on self-care, Serizawa having been on the end of a lecture or two, but was often a spectator when Reigen shoves care packages in the hands of overworking classmates.
“Why are you apologizing anyway? You didn’t ruin the day at all!” Reigen says, shrugging as he steps inside of Serizawa’s cluttered space, grabbing a trash bag from a roll that Serizawa had taken from the kitchen before crouching down and picking up the obvious trash from the floor.
Guilt immediately filled Serizawa as he watches his friend clean up for him, he invited Reigen over to play games and hang out, why was he having Reigen clean?
Serizawa’s mouth dries up as his words get caught in his throat, Reigen turns around to look at him, “What are you standing around there for, cleaning up’s much easier and faster when there’s two hands- four hands working.” Reigen clears his throat from the small slip up.
Suddenly, Serizawa was no longer suffocating in his thoughts, minimizing it to a more manageable level now. He steps forward too, and helps out.
Time passed and somewhere along the way, Reigen had pulled out his phone to play some music. Little by little, the room gets cleaned up, and Serizawa’s reminded of how spacious his room actually is,
Taking a step back, Serizawa accidentally knocks over a plastic model he had on his desk, with a slight yelp he crouches down to pick it up. His hand brushes against another, and his hand is on top of Reigen’s. Serizawa’s eyes meet Reigen’s and they stare at one another, neither removing their hand, and neither moving from their place.
Was Reigen’s eyes always this color? A rich, chocolate brown? His hair was brighter, softer looking too, a nice, dull gold color.
Reigen was beautiful.
“Boys? Come downstairs! I have snacks!” His mother called.
They’re both snapped back into reality, and pull their hands away. Serizawa’s face feels hot as he rushes downstairs.
And if his mother says something about their faces, they play ignorant on it and look at each other, a small smile forming on their faces followed by light laughter as if they had spontaneously formed an inside joke.
He doesn’t see Reigen sneaking glances at him as they ate, a small red hue on his cheeks.
Serizawa’s hands were warm enough already, but the feeling of Reigen’s hands beneath his adding extra warmth, he doesn’t mind it, not at all.
The plan falls into action a few days later.
They were going to visit the ramen place Reigen had mentioned before, walking down an oddly deserted street which Reigen mentions, saying how odd it was that there were practically no other person but them, joking about how the stars aligned just for them to have some good ramen, Serizawa smiles and laughs along, and they passed the alley.
Shimazaki teleports right behind Reigen, covering his nose and mouth with a slightly damp towel, and Serizawa has to consciously stop himself from attacking Shimazaki right then and there. They had a plan, after all.
But he couldn’t help but feel a seed of guilt get planted in his stomach as he sees Reigen on the ground, limp and unconscious. He crouches down and feels Reigen’s hand, on his wrist, and feels for a pulse. It was there.
Shimazaki sighs and mumbles something about how he knocked him unconscious not murder him.
Touichiro walks in a second later, placing a hand on Serizawa’s shoulder, guiding him back up standing. “He will be in safe hands, let’s get to the division before night falls and his mentor goes to sleep.”
Serizawa nods, he glances at Reigen’s sleeping face.
He’ll be safe.