Archive of Our Own

“Reigen?” Serizawa pauses by the door. “You’re not going home?”

Reigen hums from his usual seat, staring intently at the brightly lit screen. It casts an eerie glow all over his face. The office’s lights are still turned off despite the setting sun behind him. He doesn't turn them on until the last minute because of the bills.

“Nah. I’ve got some late night digging to do.” The blonde waves his concern off. “Try not to enjoy your walk home alone without me, hm?”

Serizawa smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’ll try.” He says, gaze skeptical as he watches Reigen’s fingers type in a flurry.

Another moment passes. Serizawa makes no move to leave.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Reigen laughs. “’Course! Why wouldn’t you?” He says, then waves his hands goodbye, eyes glued back to the screen of his laptop.

“Good night, Serizawa. Good work today!”

Serizawa nods mutely and sees himself out.

“Goodnight.”

Reigen does not leave until midnight.

“Geez, take it easy Reigen.” Shinra chastises as he takes a sip of his own drink. “You’re too much of a lightweight to handle a glass of that.”

Haruaki nods, leaning over to pry the drink off his hands. “I think you should switch to water now, friend.”

Reigen groans in protest, but doesn’t do anything when his glass is taken away from him. He can’t complain, especially when they’re right.

And while he’s plastered face first on the cool table.

He didn’t know when he started having Shinra and Yokai Hunter Haruaki Amakusa as his drinking buddies, but here he was. They’re usually up pretty late, Shinra with his patrols of the area and Haruaki with his own brand of ‘patrols’. But what was supposed to be a nice get together, became a little pity party for him. He talked too much and now both of his friends—wow, they were friends—were trying to get him to sober up.

Fucking up the atmosphere, as always.

Reigen grunts, digging his forehead on the table. His thoughts won’t shut the fuck up.

“But you haven’t said anything bad yet, haven’t you friend?” Haruaki chips in to comfort him. He’s been given a quick play by play of his problems earlier, and despite only knowing him at surface level he’s doing his best to help. Nice guy.

Shinra scoffs. “Nah. He’s the type to simmer in the what-ifs, you know.” Shinra definitely knew what was up the minute Reigen had said 'hi' earlier. Espers.

The conversation lulls and Reigen can’t help to fill the silence with his mindless muttering. “Can’t exactly just fire the guy. Still need him.” And isn’t that a selfish thought. “And I can’t push him away just because I have issues.”

“Sounds like you just need to talk, then.” Haruaki observes, chewing through a particularly tough piece of meat.

And he does, but Reigen is a coward. “Can’t do that either.” He says, finally lifting his head off the table to take a sip of his water. “Not the best at being honest, you know.” That and he doesn't know how Serizawa would take it.

“Ehh.” Shinra shrugs, making a motion with his hand that makes Reigen chuckles weakly. “I won’t disagree.”

Haruaki just looks unsure, but leaves it at that. Reigen hasn’t fully told him about the specifics of the business he runs. He supposes he’ll have to soon if he wants to keep being friends with the guy.

Reigen lets himself continue. “Still, I don’t want to keep lying to him. It’ll just end up hurting him.”

"I did the same with Mob once." Reigen mutters into the back of his hand, eyes squeezed closed. "Figured I might slip up and do it again."

It takes a moment for Haruaki to reply. Reigen imagines him exchanging looks with Shinra.

"You're not a bad person, Reigen." He says.

"Arrogant and a pain in the ass, sure." Shinra adds. "But never bad."

Reigen just laughs it off.

Haruaki pays for both his tab and his ride back home. Reigen thinks it’s awful to take advantage of the guy, but reminds himself that he has friends now and it’s normal for them to care.

Serizawa was growing so much.

He's got a good head on his shoulders now, he's so much more composed, and he's getting a degree for christ's sake.

And what was Reigen?

Same old routine. Wake up, go to his office, meddle around with some customers and hope that he'd have enough to pay rent by the end of the week. Hasn’t changed. Maybe has, but he’s not keeping up with his peers one bit.

He's not stupid, and he's not blind anymore. Serizawa was out growing his company, and he can't just manipulate him to stay like he did with Mob. That was his lowest point--trying to drag someone down with him. He can't do that to someone who’d already been deep in misery worse than he has, and is only now trying to make amends.

He's a good person now. At least, that was what Mob says he is.

And good people know when to let go.

“Hey. Knock it off.”

Reigen squints at his screen belatedly aware of the green filter that blocks it. Dimple. He sighs and leans back on his chair, faced with the spirits ire.

“What?”

Serizawa had just left for his class. He thought the spirit would follow like usual, finding the hustle and bustle of a classroom much more entertaining than a dude just sitting on his ass for hours, but no. Here he is floating and meddling with other people’s business.

Mainly, the business of Reigen giving Serizawa another day off tomorrow.

“I know what you're doing.” Dimple points a small finger at him. Reigen turns his head so it won’t touch him. Not that it would, it'll just phase through him. “Keep up this self-destructive shit and it's going to backfire.”

“I don't want to hear that from a floating fart cloud—"

“Reigen.”

Reigen clicks his tongue. He can’t believe he’s being schooled by a literal spirit.

What’s self-destructive about it? He’s only given Serizawa five breaks in a span of a week. Sure he sends him home earlier at times too, but he can handle himself just fine—he’s been able to handle himself just fine ever since and he doesn’t need him to—

Reigen stops himself. That’s a string of words he’s heard from himself before.

“I'm not doing self-destructive shit.” He stresses. “I'm being nice.”

Dimple gives him a look. “Not to yourself apparently.”

Reigen bites the inside of his cheeks.

“No.” It feels bitter on his tongue. “I don't feel the need to.”

A customer walks in and Reigen whirls around his chair, a smile plastered on professionally.

Dimple just scoffs.

“Your tea.”

“Thanks.”

They lapse into a familiar silence. Serizawa over at his desk writing his lectures and Reigen fiddling with what he could on his laptop. He’s forgotten how nice it is to have Serizawa’s presence in the room, it’s calm, peaceful and—

“Reigen?”

--oh no. Serizawa wants to talk. He doesn’t even wait for Reigen to meet his gaze. He’s been able to lead more and more conversations by the day.

“Do you.” There’s a pause. “Do you not want my help anymore?”

Reigen looks at him. Serizawa doesn’t look nervous at all when they lock eyes. Lucky. Reigen can barely reciprocate.

“What gave you that idea?” He drawls out.

“I've been getting paid leaves more often. That's.” Serizawa plays with his kneaded eraser, the only thing that cues Reigen to him feeling uncomfortable. “I don't know what I'm supposed to think.”

Behind Serizawa, Dimple fixes him with a look. I told you so, it reads.

Reigen sighs. Setting down the stack of paper in his hands.

“No. I do want your help.” I want you to stay. “But it's exam week isn’t it? You need the break.”

“It's been a month, Reigen.”

Oh. “Hm.” He looks at a random ant on the wall, genuinely caught off guard. “Must've lost track.”

When he looks back, Serizawa doesn’t seem the least bit convinced. Looks like he’ll have to make use of his charms.

“It's fine. Business has been slow so I've been getting more minor jobs lately.” Never mind the full schedule glaring at him from his laptop screen. “Not a lot of exorcisms in the air.”

Serizawa doesn’t believe him. He knows he doesn’t, because Serizawa had learned to see through his bullshit months ago. He knows the way his tone shifts when he’s trying to get out of something. But he’ll live with the mortification for now.

Despite that, Serizawa doesn’t press on further, only turning back his attention to his homework. Reigen relaxes instantly once he’s out of that gaze.

“Okay.”

When Serizawa leaves for the day, Reigen slumps on the chair out of exhaustion. Dimple surprisingly doesn't chastise him.

The spirit joins him in the bar with Shinra and Haruaki. Seeing him be chased around by the yokai hunter alleviated whatever shitty feeling he had trying to avoid Serizawa’s concern.

"Master?"

Reigen blinks, suddenly finding himself in the company of Mob and his blonde friend.

“Hm? Mob?” He’s been zoning out all day. That won’t do. His shoulders are also heavy as hell. Probably from massaging the hell out of his client today. They had a terribly fucked up shoulder too.

Mob doesn’t respond, but he’s looking up at him like he’s about to keel over at any moment. Teruki is doing a better job at hiding it, but there’s also a hint of alarm in his expression.

“Are you okay?” Reigen scratches his cheek. Does he look that fatigued? He supposes all his all-nighters were starting to show. Might be looking like a walking corpse right now. “You look like you've gotten quite the spook.”

Mob and Teruki share a look, some sort of esper telepathic communication happening. They’re lucky Reigen’s feeling too tired to pry right now.

“Master.” His disciple tugs him by the arm, gentle but firm. All that training with his club has started showing some merit. “Can we get some ramen?”

That was odd. Mob can ask about a lot of things now, but he always has the decency to respect Reigen’s (dwindling) budget. “Uh, I'm not sure if I've got the budget to—"

“Hey, I'll treat us all!” Teruki chirps, taking his other side with a bright grin.

Reigen doesn't know how to feel about being treated by a high schooler, but with the way Mob clings to his arm—almost pleading—he'll agree just this once.

“Okay.” He acquiesces, “But don’t expect me to stay too lo—"

“Great! Let’s go, Kageyama! Master Reigen!”

Reigen finds himself being hauled to the ramen shop by both teenagers flanking his sides. They take the scenic route for whatever reason, but he enjoys their company nevertheless.

He went home feeling much lighter than before.

Reigen is in trouble.

In his defense, he’s not the best at detecting malevolent intent or spirits in general. At best he can see the occasional shadow or two.

But this? Oh, he can feel it.

The office felt smaller, felt like it was closing in and about to cut off the oxygen he breathes. The client doesn’t look any better, he seems like he could use a paper bag to hyperventilate into. Reigen wants one as well, but he needs to look like he's got things under control.

A spirit has latched unto the ring of the client. A parting gift from his lover, he says. No love is felt in the room.

Reigen can feel the chills running down his back. He can’t talk his way out of this one. He tried, and all he got from the spirit was a dark chuckle. He has the sinking feeling that it’s just decided on it’s second victim.

“Mr. Reigen?” The client whispers, breaking him out of his stupor. “Can you…?”

Reigen clears his throat.

“But of course! I’m merely..” Stalling. “..thinking of ways we can stave off this spirit from your memorabilia.”

The client looks partly relieved at his words. Maybe he hasn’t realized that it’s his lover in that ring clawing to take his life. And Reigen’s.

Reigen, however, can’t be more nervous. He just needs to find a way to transfer that spirit into something that he can take very far away from the client. It’s already got an interest in him, so all he needs is a vessel.

A vessel? His hand twitches.

He starts to reach over—

Electricity.

Both him and the client yelp when the room is filled with an energy so intense it shakes the walls of his tiny office. The energy accumulates on the client’s right hand, where the ring rests, and a shriek resounds through the room.

Reigen is pushed back but steadied with a firm grip on his arm. He feels the weight of the darkness lighten and the heavy feeling dissipate, dissolved by an energy neither painful or hostile, but overwhelmingly present. He chokes, his lungs suddenly able to expand to its full capacity yet again.

But the chill he felt earlier is replaced with something worse when he recognizes the person holding him steady.

Serizawa turns to him, face grim.

Oh shit. Why is he here? Wasn’t he supposed to be back at school?

Something green floats over and starts gnawing on the spiritual remains of the ring. Of fucking course, it was Dimple. He doesn’t know whether or not to thank the green piece of shit. He didn’t want to bother Mob anymore with his shenanigans, but he’d rather do that than be faced with a disappointed Serizawa.

Still, he needs to keep up appearances.

“Mr. Reigen?” His client calls yet again, no doubt surprised by the person who just barged in.

“Ah, of course!” He exclaims, voice shaking as he doesn’t avert his stare from Serizawa’s own.

“My subordinate comes to my aid!”

“Reigen. You didn't tell me.”

Reigen winces. He thought if he’d take long enough in the bathroom Serizawa would take the hint and leave. He didn’t.

He moves to sit down on his desk, ignoring the way Serizawa watches him. Reigen can’t handle sitting on the sofa with him.

“In my defense. I thought he was bluffing.”

“Even if you thought so,” Serizawa’s voice trembles. “You could have told someone.”

“It doesn’t matter, I—"

He can hear the seething. He doesn’t even know if Serizawa has the capability to seethe, but he can feel the temperature dropping in the room the moment he spoke. Serizawa is not happy.

He hears the sofa legs scrape the tiles harshly.

“Why do you keep going on these suicide missions alone?” Serizawa questions.

Reigen bristles at the accusation. “They're not suicide missions, they're—"

He hears angry footsteps marching his way. “Mob told me someone had cursed you to death days ago. To death—"

Oh. Was that why Mob looked so pale? Still, Reigen refuses to meet his gaze.

Serizawa is in front of his desk now. “Reigen, I know you think you can shit talk yourself out of most things but you can’t fucking mess with these spirits and expect to get out alive.”

Reigen stiffens at the choice of words because holy shit Reigen had only heard him swear a couple of times, and having it directed at him with the fury of an esper that could easily fold him in half is terrifying.

He opens his mouth, but Serizawa beats him to it.

“Whatever you’re going to say to that--” Serizawa mutters darkly. “--I call bullshit.”

What do you care? A voice snaps in Reigen's head, but he ignores it. Serizawa is just worried. He's not here to hurt you.

“Serizawa, and I mean this okay,” Reigen tries to deflect. He’s too close. “I don't do it on purpose.”

Serizawa slams his palms down on his desk, leaning in and oh damn he’s really mad.

“Really? Because it fucking looks like it.”

Reigen heaves a sigh. He's angry too. He can feel it. He wants to snap at Serizawa and tell him to leave if he offends him so much. But he won't. He won't. He's better than these thoughts floating in his head.

He takes one big breath, finally meeting Serizawa’s gaze. Contrary to the way he sounds, he doesn’t look furious, only dejected. Reigen thinks that’s worse.

“Serizawa, okay. I was reckless these past few days—"

“Months.”

“Months.” He corrects himself, throwing a weak glare at his co-worker. “But I'm not-- I'm not trying to kill myself.”

“Sometimes I just really don't know the shit I'm getting myself into.” Reigen leans back on his seat, hands wrung together on his lap to keep himself calm. “You and Mob both know that by now.”

Serizawa falters.

“We do.” He says it so softly Serizawa what-- “So why are you doing these alone, Reigen?”

And why is he really? He can’t just tell Serizawa that he’s trying to get him to leave, to stop spending his time in his office when he could be pursuing better things for himself away from him.

“Sometimes.” Reigen looks at everything but Serizawa. “Sometimes I just want to feel useful for my own business, maybe?”

Serizawa licks his lips and looks away.

“You're lying.”

Reigen smiles ruefully. Damn espers.

“But. Okay. I'll trust you.”

And Reigen wants to cry because why do they always do?

But he doesn’t cry, and instead says thank you.

“You can't just keep escaping people, you know.”

“Easy for you to say.” Reigen takes a swig of his drink again. He’s been relegated to water yet again. “Isn't that the whole point of our job?”

"I'm an actual psychic." Geez, Shinra doesn't have to use that against him. "And we don't escape, we solve."

Reigen waves a hand dismissively. He doesn’t bother to reply and instead uses his time to swirl his drink around and watch the bubbles form. 

Shinra sighs. "Serizawa won't leave."

And there it is. The whole crux of his crisis.

"He would." Reigen glares at the ice cubes floating inside his glass. "He should."

"You taught him a lot of things." Shinra points out.

"And? He knows a lot more than that now. What use am I then?"

He hears another sigh and Reigen takes that as a signal to take another sip. Reigen can feel Shinra getting frustrated with him. He knows the feeling. He's getting annoyed at himself too. He can't help the way he's spiraling, though. Maybe he shouldn't have drank so much again.

"I'm never going to leave that office. I'm going to stay there." I’m going to rot there, he thinks. But he won’t say it.

Reigen drinks his glass empty and begins gnawing on the remaining ice. "I can't keep him there. Serizawa's outgrown me."

"Why do you act like nobody is going to bother remembering you when they step out your office?"

Reigen pauses. On one hand, it’s a very nice thought, to not be forgotten by someone who has resolved to move on with their life without him. On the other, the thought of someone leaving is—

He crushes the ice between molars and swallows. It’s painful.

"I probably have shitty object permanence." Reigen mutters, more to himself.

"They'd care, Reigen." Shinra says, a hand on his shoulder offered at support. "He'd care."

Reigen shrugs, but doesn’t remove his hand. "What makes you say that?"

"Because Serizawa is a good person too."

And damn, what can Reigen say to that?

He really can’t catch a break.

Here Reigen stands on the rooftop of his business’s building, staring down a very clearly possessed woman with no esper to lend a hand. Not even a certain spirit to help.

He really should have listened to Dimple.

They’re at a standstill. The woman had gone to him a week prior to schedule an exorcism, saying that while she herself wasn’t in a good place mentally, she isn’t ready to die. Her consciousness has been leaving her intermittently, and when she wakes, she finds herself in situation where she’d be seconds away from taking her life.

She didn’t show up in the office, but rather had called him frantically to the rooftop, where he found her struggling to hold on to the fence. He’d thrown all thoughts aside, and grabbed unto her hand to help her back.

But he couldn’t.

Not when he sees the woman now blankly staring up at him with cold eyes. The spirit in her wants her dead, and it will do everything in its power to make it happen.

Even taking Reigen with her.

He grits his teeth, other hand stubbornly holding onto a pole and his feet digging into the concrete.

“Give it up.” Something utterly vile whispers in his ear. It feels like acid. “What are you even trying so hard for?”

“Shut up.” Reigen hisses back. “I’m a business man. She made an appointment.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to go so far for her.” The spirit taunts back. “She already planned to do this.”

“She doesn’t. You’re making her do this.”

“I’m giving her a push.” The spirit contorts her face into an inhuman grin. “Giving her what she wants.”

Reigen doesn’t reply any further, focusing on keeping his footing steady so he can pull her back up.

The spirit tugs back. Reigen nearly slips. Damned supernatural strength, he should work out more.

“Look at you.” The spirit coos, amusement obvious at Reigen’s struggle. “You’re not even the least bit qualified for this, you fraud.”

“Har har.” Reigen scoffs, “Insulting me isn’t going to make me let go.”

They don’t move for another hot minute. Reigen can feel his hands starting to sweat and his arm getting fatigued. But if he lets go of the pole or even lifts a single floor of the ground, he’s sure to be over powered. If he doesn’t do something quick, they’re both going to end up falling over the ledge.

Maybe if he uses the weight of his whole body while leaning, he could take out the phone in his pocket and—

“Stubborn.” The spirit hums.

“You leave me no choice.”

A hand reaches up to touch his cheek and Reigen so badly wants to slap it off him, but he can’t without letting his poor client fall to the ground. Her fingers look blunt but there’s an invisible force that make them feel sharp and ow—

“I’ll just have to drag you down with her.”

Reigen’s sight is plunged in darkness.

He curses. He still feels the cold pole within his grip and the steady heartbeat in his client wrist on the other. He’s fine, he’s okay, the spirit just put some sort of spiritual blindfold on him, if that even was a thing. The feeling of acid comes back, but instead of directed only to one ear, it’s now resounding painfully in his head. It speaks. Unintelligible, but it's like he knows inherently what the voices in his head are saying. Regardless of the fucked up language they're using.

It’s familiar. He recognizes the voices in his head that are trying to make him loosen his grip. But he’s familiar with possessions now. They like to play around with vulnerable thoughts, digging deep into intrusive thoughts and urging people to do them. Unfortunately for this little spirit, he doesn’t even trust himself enough to listen.

And it’s nothing he’s never heard before.

The spirit gawks at the way his hold on the girl doesn’t falter, in fact, it tightens. Reigen can’t see, but he knows there’s hard concrete behind him and does his best to pull.

“Why aren’t you—"

Reigen laughs mockingly. His vision clears, somewhat, and the surprise on his client’s possessed face gives him some sort of sick satisfaction.

“Maybe I’ve had those thoughts too.”

He meets the blackened sclera of the girl, gazing back at the abyss and finding his reflection there.

“I’ve wanted to jump off this damn roof way before you.” Reigen smirks. “Don’t feel so special.”

He hears the sound of shoes scuffing on pavement. 

Reigen chokes as a familiar sensation of heat wraps around him, his grip loosens and he panics, but both him and his client are pulled back from the edge with a quick motion. He squawks and prepares for the inevitable falls he takes, squeezing his eyes shut and positioning his hands behind his neck, and panics because he'd just let go of his client--

--but he’s caught by the shoulders.

Reigen opens his eyes in surprise.

His client is floating overhead, eyes closed and finally in peace.

He meets a familiar and very disappointed looking pair of eyes.

Reigen should be glad, he’s out of danger, but the only thought swirling in his head is—

Uh oh. He’s fucked.

“Phew, looks like you caught me just in time!” Reigen tries to laugh and joke.

Serizawa’s expression does not match his.

“Thank you so much, I—" The lady cries into her hands. The bruise from where Reigen had tried so hard to keep hold on her is hidden by her sleeve. “I don’t know what came over me to have such thoughts.”

Reigen tries his best to smile, despite the tension in the room. The client can’t feel it, because she's probably too engrossed in all that's happened, but Reigen can feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing from the way his subordinate watches him.

“Please don’t invalidate yourself.” He says conversationally. He claps his hands once. “Ah. In fact, I believe after an exorcism, it’s best to reexamine your mental state.”

He rustles through his pockets to offer a card from the therapist that’s in the same building as him. “In fact, I urge you to find someone to talk to about all of this.”

“Oh! Thank you very much!”

His client leaves, and the moment the door clicks shut, a suffocating silence encompasses the office.

Reigen curses. Okay, now Dimple really had a point. He should stop doing all these jobs on his own, and it’s not even because of the jobs itself, it’s because Serizawa is fucking scary when he wants to be.

But instead of another outburst, all he hears from Serizawa is a calm: “I’ll sweep the floors.”

“I can do it.” Reigen protests weakly, trying to stand up and get to the broom first.

Serizawa grips his shoulders and he’s not sure whether or not it’s supposed to be threatening or reassuring.

“Get some rest.”

Reigen sits obediently.

Reigen gets walked back home.

It was nice.

“Mob?”

His student turns to him, just about to reach the last steps of the stairs leading up to his office.

“Master.” He greets, “Um. I was looking for you.”

“You were?” Reigen begins feeing suspicious. “Why?”

“Can we get ramen?”

Reigen runs a hand through his hair. He doesn’t have another curse attached to him again, does he?

“Did you almost jump off a roof?”

Reigen chokes on his noodles loudly.

Okay, Reigen thinks as he cleans himself up briskly with tissues, maybe he prefers having a curse than this conversation.

“What do you mean?” He asks when he’s recovered, smiling apologetically at the other customers he’d inconvenienced. “Who did you hear that from?”

“Serizawa told me.”

Ah, damn. He should’ve known he’d talk. Reigen clears his throat, preparing to talk his way out of worrying Mob when he—

Reigen hears sniffling.

His head swivels so fast he feels his neck crack to see Mob staring down at his untouched ramen bowl.

“Master. Why are you—Why did you—" Mob starts rambling, his shoulders start trembling and oh no Reigen throws out any prior thought he has so quickly because his one weakness is Mob in distress.

His chopsticks clatter on the table from how fast he lets them go. “Hey, Mob. Don’t—"

“Master. I don’t want you gone.”

And the tears start falling. Reigen’s hands don’t know what to do for a moment, but inevitably they carefully pull Mob into an awkward embrace. Mob responds in kind, hugging him as tight as he could. Reigen almost can't breathe. The kid’s workout was really, really, starting to pay off.

In the corner of his eye, he sees some customers take a glance at their direction.

Reigen bites back a sigh. They’re making a scene, he knows that, but he’s not about to tell Mob that while he’s vulnerable. He hugs back with enough strength, patting his student’s back. As much as he’d grown these past few years, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s still a kid to him.

“I’m not going anywhere, Mob.” Reigen tries to wipe his tears with a napkin, but Mob stubbornly turns his head and hides. Reigen chuckles a bit at his antics. “Hey.”

“Serizawa told me he heard you say that you wanted to—To disappear—"

He definitely didn’t say that verbatim, but he’s not about to tell Mob that Serizawa is an unreliable narrator. “Mob—"

“Serizawa said you won’t let him help you anymore too.” Mob’s words are garbled from pressing himself against Reigen’s suit. “Does that mean I can’t anymore, too?”

That guy. Reigen groans, holding Mob to himself tighter. “It’s not that I’m not letting him help, hey. I’m just trying to do stuff on my own too.”

“Master, you’re lying.” Mob mumbles through tears.

Reigen sighs. Espers.

“Mob. Listen to me.” Reigen uses his authoritative tone and pries the kid away to give him a look.

“I’m okay. Your master’s got it all under control.”

Mob lets himself stare up at him, his face puffy and wet from all the crying. He frowns and dives back into his embrace. Reigen wonders what he’d seen in his expression.

“Don’t leave us.” Mob croaks after a silence.

Reigen feels his heart shatter. “I won’t.”

“Come back like Dimple if you do.”

Damn kid. Reigen gives his hair a rough tousle.

“I don’t want to be like that green plastic bag.”

Reigen pays the owner extra for the inconvenience. They don’t seem to mind and even offer Mob some gyoza to take home.

Mob steals another hug when they part at the train.

Reigen glares at the man diligently writing his notes from across him.

“You.”

Serizawa twirls his pen nonchalantly, eyes not leaving his work.

“Me?”

Reigen pinches the bridge of his nose. He even has the audacity to play with him.

“Don’t stress Mob out with this, okay?” He says, desperately needing a smoke after all this. “Kid needs a break from me.”

“He deserves to know how his master’s been doing.”

“He doesn’t need to know the specifics. I’m alive, aren’t I?”

Serizawa closes his book with a heavy thump. It shuts down any more words from Reigen pretty effectively.

“Do you think that’s the only thing that matters to him?”

Reigen flaps his mouth at that. How awfully presumptive of him to say of course, but that would mean discrediting Mob’s kindness. The kid had literally cried for him yesterday.

He settles for shutting his mouth.

The room is stifling, mostly because he knows Serizawa is waiting for Reigen to explain himself. And he can’t just reason his way out of this. Serizawa would want him to be vulnerable. Ridiculous, he knows, because Reigen would never do that while he’s in this office.

He hears Serizawa stand up. Reigen hastens to the door. “Reigen.”

“You need to talk to me about this.”

Look at Serizawa. Already being such a better adult than him.

“I don’t need to because—"

“Don’t tell me it doesn’t fucking matter.”

Reigen hears the door click just as he’s able to hold it. Well, there goes his escape plan.

He feels Serizawa approach from behind. “You’ve nearly died at least three times now and then I hear you tell someone that you’ve thought about killing yourself—"

Again, not verbatim, Serizawa. “That wasn’t—"

“And you’re telling me it doesn’t matter?”

Reigen whirls around to face him, livid. What’s with the tone? It’s still business hours (ignore the fact that he was trying to leave in the first place) and he’s not going to let his subordinate get all cocky.

But all that anger leaves him when he sees Serizawa’s expression.

“What are you running away from?” Serizawa looks both parts frustrated and confused. “What’s so scary you’d rather die?”

“I thought.” Serizawa pauses, and Reigen catches a glimpse of a past Serizawa who was once so scared of himself and others. He looks so vulnerable trying to get Reigen to talk.  “Everything was okay. Was I wrong?”

Reigen’s shoulders slump. That’s unfair, looking so honest and open in front of him of all people. He wanted this to be an unspoken thing, he was so much better at those, but there’s been a recurring trend of people demanding him to be more upfront about himself lately.

He grunts and puts his hands inside his pockets.

“Serizawa.”

Might as well. Reigen closes his eyes and breathes.

“I’m changing your shift. Only come here twice a week.”

Serizawa is taken aback. “Reigen—"

“You want to know what’s up? Fine.” Reigen says, hands help up in mock defeat. “I’m trying to handle things on my own because I need you to leave.”

“You’ve got an entire future ahead of you. You’ve been really good at math, yeah? There are tons of things you can do with that.”

His hands flutter about, as they usually do when he’s nervous, but now it’s from how terrifying it feels to air out his thoughts to the person he’d been hiding it from the start. “I don’t want to keep you here when you can do so much better out there.

“Look. You know what.” Reigen dismissively waves, “Get a different job. You’re not even paid properly here.”

“Don’t stay here.” That hurt to say. “I won’t take jobs like that anymore, promise.” He doesn’t guarantee that especially with the nature of his work. And that’s with removing spiritual stuff in mind.

Maybe he could even change up his business— “Maybe I’ll even rebrand.” Yeah. It’ll be a lot of work to do, but if it keeps Serizawa from holding himself back, then—

“Just—You can’t keep saving my ass like Mob did.” He finishes with a mumble, awkwardly crossing his arms.

Serizawa is silent.

Reigen keeps his attention on the wall to his left. It’s not interesting, and in fact only reminds him that he needs to renovate soon, because those cracks don’t look like they’re going to make any customer feel good. But he’d rather keep his eyes on that instead of whatever expression is on Serizawa’s face right now.

He thinks about it. What would he say if he hears his boss tell him to leave and pursue greener pastures? Depends on how he’s been treated. Anger if he feels like he’s being discarded because he’s useless, or relief if he felt like he was getting held back at work.

Reigen’s line of work didn’t give him a lot of leeway to support himself, much less pay another actual adult to work for him, but he does his best. The again, compared to actual corporate work, the money he can offer is eclipsed in comparison.

Reigen himself isn’t great. He lies as a business for fucks sake. He’s not the shining pillar of virtue that people should work for in the first place and wait a minute. He sounds so lame like this, why is Serizawa even thinking about what to say?

He opens his mouth to hopefully urge his co-worker to just accept the offer when Serizawa finally speaks.

“I’m not Mob.”

What? Reigen runs a hand over his face in exasperation. He doesn’t think Serizawa is getting what he’s trying to say. “Of course you aren’t, Serizawa. That’s not the point—"

“I’m not Mob.” Serizawa repeats, this time catching Reigen’s chin and tilting it up so they finally see eye to eye. “I’m an adult. I’m 30. I’m older than you, Reigen.”

Reigen blinks. So he was.

“Don’t you think you could’ve given me a chance to decide for myself?” Serizawa frowns, and up close Reigen can’t help but think he’s cute. Probably the wrong time to have an epiphany about how attractive your co-worker is though, Reigen. “What I wanted to do for my future?”

“I haven’t been the most confident, or skilled at anything, but.” Serizawa looks upset. “Don’t baby me.”

“Don’t push me away like I can’t handle a simple talk with you.” The hand on Reigen’s chin moves down to hold and squeeze his arms. “God Reigen, what have you been doing?”

And Reigen. Well. He doesn’t really expect the conversation to go in this direction.

“I’m not sure.” He means it.

He knew he could talk about this with Serizawa, but at some point, he’d been thinking too much about the what-ifs that it paralyzed him from making a move at all. Part of him thought Serizawa wouldn’t do well with confrontations, but looking back at it now, Serizawa had been the one to seek him out at every opportunity. He’d just been waiting for Reigen to finally sit still and talk to him.

Reigen groans. What the fuck. When did he get so out of touch?

He tries to take his hands and hide his face in them, but he can’t, not while Serizawa has his arms grasped.

Serizawa guides him to the sofa to sit, and the minute Reigen’s ass hits the cushions he feels like he could collapse right then and there. He feels like he’s simultaneously been relieved of all stress and hit with the heaviest hangover in his life.

Serizawa’s hand covers both his reassuringly.

“Let’s talk.” He says encouragingly.

Reigen stares down at their hands, wondering how he’d gone from wanting to book it out of the door to having a nice conversation with the person he wanted to run away from.

“Yeah.” He rasps, leaning on the couch. He’s so tired. “Let's.”

Serizawa ends up deciding to stay. And Reigen only manages to relieve his apprehension when he's reassured, multiple times, that Serizawa can and will leave if he sees fit.

"You don't need to worry about that so much." Serizawa had told him, tucking hair behind his ear.

A move that should definitely not happen between co-workers but Reigen has an inkling that they’ve been more than that for the past few months. If only he wasn’t so deep in his head.

“By the way.” Serizawa says when they’re waiting for the train to arrive at the station. “Happy birthday, Reigen.”

Yeah. Definitely not co-workers anymore.

He should spiral in thoughts more often.

When he walks into the bar one day with Serizawa in tow, Shinra raises a brow but doesn’t say anything more.