Work Text:
Reigen didn’t think a lot about his childhood. Or his family for that matter.
He knows they thought about him, however. No matter how condescending. Beggars can’t be choosers, he supposed. His mother’s emails, followed closely by his several aunts’ emails (which indicated an in-person talk about how we just really wish Arataka would pull things together had transpired) weren’t as disconcerting as they used to be. The disdain his family felt towards him wasn’t anything new and he was accustomed to sidestepping their probing questions about getting married, having children, moving nearer to the small town they resided in and where he grew up. It was better to send things to the trash folder unopened, or to let the calls go to voicemail, or to toss the sealed envelopes into one of the kitchen junk drawers.
He was really good at avoiding thinking about his family. In fact, he, Reigen Arataka, was the expert of it.
So why was this striking such a raw nerve?
He held his cousin’s wedding invitation in front of him numbly. His mother’s handwriting was clear- Bring a girl or don’t bother showing up.
It shouldn’t bother him.
It really, really bothered him.
“Shishou?” Mob asked from the sofa where he laid on his stomach doing homework, “Is everything alright?”
Reigen glanced up at him but quickly returned his eyes to the parchment paper. He ran his thumb over the roses that lined the edge of the card, blurred slightly in printing. He said, “Yeah, everything is fine,” and leaned against the edge of his desk, turning his back to Mob and looking out the window.
He could go on a tangent about how ridiculous it was that not bringing a girl to a wedding should negate your invitation to see family, but the iciness of his mother’s words had left him frozen. He knew how it looked, dodging his mother’s inquiries time and time again. He knew how it looked, being nearly thirty and not having a companion to speak of. He knew how it looked, despite when his mother snapped at him, “Do you know what the neighbors think?”
Yes! I do, he had wanted so badly to shoot back, and maybe they’re right!
He crumpled up the invitation with unsteady hands and tossed it neatly into the wastebasket. “Well!” He said with flourish, “Doesn’t look like we’re gonna see much action today, Mob. What do you say we close up shop early and grab a bite, my treat. Wherever you wanna go.”
Mob looked up. “But we don’t close for another forty-five minutes.”
Reigen pouted, “Fine, I’ll get dinner all by myself. And I’ll be so lonely. And very, very sad-”
Mob rolled his eyes- something he’d absolutely picked up from Reigen- and closed his textbook. “Give me a second to clean up my things.”
At dinner, Mob was unenthusiastically telling Reigen about some project he had to finish by the end of the week. “-the history of it. I don’t know, it’s just really time-consuming more than anything.”
Mob had requested they get fast food, knowing in equal parts that Reigen’s need to provide for him wasn’t negotiable, and exactly how much Spirits and Such made, because he did the bookkeeping. He wouldn’t ever ask for something expensive, but plainly denying the invitation to save Reigen money would only be met with more nagging.
So fast food it was. And Reigen nodded along, being a good listener for once. However, he didn’t offer much conversationally, which put up the final red flag for Mob.
“What was in that letter you received earlier?” He asked hesitantly.
Reigen sighed, but it was without it’s normal melodrama. He was quiet for a moment, considering, and then spoke up. “My family has a real problem with me not being married yet. I come from a family of mostly women, so… they really want their grandbabies. You know how girls are.”
Mob decided not to comment on that overgeneralizing statement. “You got a letter asking you to get married?”
“No, but that would’ve been better.” Reigen took a bite of his burger and tried somewhat successfully to talk around it while chewing. Over the noise of the restaurant, Mob had to learn forward slightly to understand. “My cousin’s getting married, which makes me the last one still single.” He swallowed. “So the pressure’s really on now. It was a, uh- a wedding invitation. And my mom wrote on it to bring a girl or to just not attend.”
Mob chewed on his lip in thought. He was silent briefly before commenting, “I don’t think it’s that important to have a wife.”
Reigen threw his hands up, nearly smacking a waitress’s tray though he didn’t seem to notice. “Thank you! How a kid can get it and my entire family can’t, I have no idea. There’s more important things in life than getting hitched, Mob, remember that. Focusing on yourself, perfecting a craft, being a good friend- that’s the kind of stuff that actually matters in life. Not everyone is fit to get married or even wants to-”
Right around then was the part of Reigen’s rants that Mob decided to stop paying much attention. He picked at his food a little and waited for him to finish up naturally. With a lot of practice, it wasn’t impossible to ignore Reigen’s dramatic schpiels once they were structurally familiar to you. He thought about his plans for this weekend. He and his brother were going to see an action movie with Teru, so that was exciting. Oh, and he had a day trip planned to see his grandparents in a few weeks. He wondered what he should pack when he went. He should ask his mother what to expect from the weather...
“-but I digress.” Reigen took another drink of his soda, punctuating his speech. “My mother is very much the kind of lady who has to have control over everything. Even her twenty-nine year old son, I guess.”
He wasn’t sure what came over him to ask, seeing as Reigen had been perhaps deliberately secretive about the big picture of his childhood, but Mob asked quickly, “What was growing up like for you?”
Reigen paused and looked down at his food. “I mean-” he cleared his throat, “Well… bland. Not a lot to say. Hey, finish up your food, c’mon. We gotta get you home soon.”
Mob decided that he was definitely being deliberate when he didn’t talk about his adolescence. He conceded to leave Reigen alone about it for now, and hoped sincerely that he was in a better mood tomorrow.
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t an expert on avoiding thinking about his family.
Reigen shouldered the door open sluggishly and entered his dark apartment without much grandeur. The light took a moment to turn on after flipping the switch, and it was colder than he’d expected, a signal that perhaps his already wavering heating unit was finally on its deathbed.
It would undoubtedly be easier to move home. He knew that. Rent was cheaper and he could probably find an honest job. He’d have a wider social circle that wasn’t a few middle-schoolers, an annoying and puny excuse for a spirit, and a minor god’s power all packed into a single clumsy man who had yet to figure out how Reigen liked his coffee or file invoices correctly but was a dutiful employee nonetheless. He tried earnestly not to be so bitter. He didn’t think his family deserved to have enough power over him to put him in such a bad mood.
He dropped his keys onto the kitchen counter yanked off his tie. His suit jacket was discarded and tossed over the back of the futon and ran his hands over his face tiredly. Of course, it had to be then, like clockwork, that his phone rang.
He took it out of his pocket and stared at the blinking name of his mother for a moment before denying the call.
There was no follow-up.
It was then that he gave Mob’s question at dinner a second thought. What was his childhood like? The simple answer was “shit”, probably. Shitty enough to put a clear end of whatever scraps of positivity in the relationship between he and his mother. Reigen wasn’t great with deadlines. Or expectations. Or the suffocation of his divorcing parents when he was a kid and throwing himself into strange ambitions to distract himself from it all and the other thing that was equally-if-not-more distressing not that it was anyone’s business and especially not his mother’s, but it was fine, whatever.
He collapsed onto the futon.
Tentatively, he tried out how I don’t really have a family felt on his tongue. He discovered that it felt something like vomit, so he swallowed it back down and turned on the television.
School was closed because of some holiday Reigen couldn’t be bothered to observe at the risk of losing profit for the day. Thus, Spirits and Such became a little cramped with the kids doing what Reigen could only assume was everything they possibly could to drive him out of his mind. They spread out on the sofa, in chairs, on top of tables, and stole his food, his office supplies, and most importantly his favorite mug. With every sip of hot chocolate Teru took from it, Reigen felt it grow more and more necessary to kill him, powerful esper or not.
It wasn’t long before they found his stack of board games that he kept around for client’s children. They went largely untouched, seeing as most parents didn’t like to bring their kids around while discussing hauntings and evil spirits, but the teens took to them quickly. Tome rounded them all up into a heated game of Go Fish (Reigen nonchalantly walked behind Ritsu and mouthed to the rest of the players what cards he had until getting caught), then Chutes and Ladders (a bad move, it got violent quickly and Serizawa had to put an end to it via telekinetically separating Teru and Shou), and finally they were all engrossed in Monopoly. Reigen dealt with any clients at his desk and instructed them to ignore the children on the other side of the small office’s half-wall as they bickered over fictional land development. If anything, the clients found it sweet that Reigen was taking the time to babysit his nieces and nephews while their parents were at a funeral and that sadly, no, he couldn’t make it because he couldn’t afford to close up shop and pay his bills. This was all muttered quietly so as “not to upset the poor kids” and if the small white lies earned him some sympathy that generated a couple thousand extra yen as a tip, well, then at least he could afford to get the little ones some decent dinner.
He locked the front door when the time came and stood over the little circle of middle-schoolers and, of course, Serizawa, who was sat on the ground with them offering tips but not playing himself. He put his hands on his hips, “Alright, time to go home.”
In unison, each of them (Serizawa included) looked up at him like he had just killed their dog. They cried out in protest about staying a little longer but Reigen shook his head.
“I’m tired and I have stuff to do at home, brats,” he said not without affection. “Just count up your money now and whoever has the most wins.”
Tome argued, “Mob has a key! Serizawa does too! We could go home when we're finished.”
Thinking back to the Chutes and Ladders incident, Reigen decided, “Yeah, I’d rather not come to work tomorrow morning to find this place torn up.” The chorus of pleading was deafening and not at all deterred by Reigen rolling his eyes and walking away. “My heart breaks for you all, it really does.”
“Shishou--”
“Mr. Reigen--”
“Oh, come on!”
Tome quipped, “Why do you have to leave so bad? Got a hot date?”
Reigen replied, “Ha, ha.” And tried very hard not to take it personal. It seemed like everyone was obsessed with his love life these days. “Actually, I have boring adult paperwork to do at home,” back at his desk, he knocked a fresh pack of smokes against the back of his hand, “and besides, don’t you guys have homework or something?”
The bellowed no that came from them all wasn’t helping Reigen’s case.
Reigen stuck a cigarette between his lips. “I’m serious, kids. Playtime’s over, daycare is closing for the day. This old man wants to go home.”
“What if we all went back with you?” Teru offered.
Ritsu quietly commented with a groan.
Shou nodded eagerly, “Yeah! And we could all get dinner and finish our Monopoly game and-”
Reigen shook his head, “Hey, hold on-”
“That would be fun!”
“We can pay for our own train fare home even!”
“Please, Reigen?”
“We’ll be quiet too! So you can work-”
“Who’s gonna bring the Monopoly board? I think it’ll fit in Serizawa’s backpack!”
“Everyone count up your money-”
Mob softly added, “Shishou owns a PlayStation as well.”
There was a brief pause before Shou exclaimed, “You’ve had a PlayStation this whole time and didn’t tell us!?”
If Reigen thought these kids could be loud before, the answering eruption and voices eager to climb higher than the others was enough to rock his world. He liked to consider himself wise, and so he could identify a losing battle when he saw one. He took a long drag on the cigarette and ran his hand over his face while children shouted at him. He glanced tiredly at Serizawa, who was giving him a sympathetic look but appeared nearly just as eager as the rest.
Fine.
“Fine!” Reigen threw his arms in the air, “Just keep it down, would you? I’m not the only person in this office complex.”
Triumphantly, the kids noted their assets on the Monopoly board in Tome’s phone and packed up in a rush. Reigen stood at the door, swinging his keys around his finger and waiting on them. Mob approached him quietly, “Thank you for letting us come over.”
Reigen switched his cigarette to his other hand and ruffled Mob’s hair a little before he was swatted away. “Yeah, well. I don’t mind too much. You run with an okay crowd.”
Mob smiled with pride in reply.
“Okay,” Teru announced, “We’re all ready to go!”
And off they went.
But first, of course, Reigen had to get them dinner. He led the tiny scoundrels (and Serizawa) out of the office building and in the direction of his apartment. He felt his heart warm when he opened the door to a small restaurant that he often got takeout from and saw how much the kids were delighted by the surprise. (“What, did you really think I wasn’t going to feed you?”)
He and Serizawa stood at the counter fishing meager bills from their wallets and splitting the cost of the takeout together. Mob offered to help pay, but was met by a decisive “absolutely not” and was sent on his way. Thankfully, the worker ignored the horde of hellions this patron brought upon the establishment and was patient as Reigen deducted from the order a couple minor snacks he’d added for himself upon the realization he was short a few hundred yen. Meanwhile, the kids remained oblivious and crowded around a large fish tank in the lobby and teased one another about what aquatic creature they looked like.
Once the meal was paid for and all that was left was to wait on it’s preparation, Reigen and Serizawa collapsed tiredly onto a bench near the door and watched the middle-schoolers argue over exactly how angelfish-like Teru was.
Serizawa chuckled, “Children are cruel to each other.”
“They sure are,” agreed Reigen.
The kids carried the bags of takeout back to Reigen’s apartment; they were proud of this polite gesture and didn’t know that Reigen was going to make them do it anyway.
Once home, Reigen announced, “I don’t care where you eat, but make a mess and it’ll be last time you see the light of day, understand?” Though this threat went primarily ignored as the middle schoolers descended upon his living room and fought for space on the futon and who was getting at what food first and where the spare PlayStation controllers would be and…
Reigen made the spectacularly wise choice to eat his dinner in the kitchen.
Serizawa followed behind him and the two sat down at the small, unsteady table in the dining-room-I-guess-maybe area of his kitchen. From here, they could see out into the living room and keep an eye on the children. Shou was leading Mob through the basics of some fighting game Reigen forgot entirely that he owned in between mouthfuls of dumplings, and the sight actually made Reigen chuckle to himself. They were clamoring and arguing and poking fun at one another, the easy nature of adolescence so foreign to those that supervised them but comforting nonetheless.
Reigen didn’t notice the smile drifting from his face nor that he had put his spoon down.
“Um.” Serizawa broke the quiet of the kitchen awkwardly, “Reigen?”
Reigen blinked. “Hm?”
“You’ve been- well, it’s none of my business really but- you’ve been a little… out of it for the last few days? I just wanted to check in. Make sure you were doing alright.”
Reigen chewed on his lip. “If Mob mentioned something to you, you can say so. It’s really alright.”
Serizawa poked at his food. “We just… care about you, is all.”
Reigen reached for his beer and took a drink slowly. He hesitated before asking, “Was your mother ever the type to really want grandchildren?”
“Not really.”
“Yeah, well.” Reigen swirled his beer around in the bottle and watched Mob get absolutely destroyed on the game. “Mine is. My mother is the type that likes everything done her way and she can’t stand compromise in the slightest.” He tried not to think bitterly about his parents’ divorce. “She acts like her son not getting married is the tragedy of the century.”
Serizawa made a thoughtful noise then said, “I heard about the invitation.”
“It’s such shit.” Reigen bit out, “There’s an infinite amount of things more important than settling down and having kids. I mean, look at me, am I really the kind of guy to be a father?”
It was then that Ritsu ambled into the doorway. “Hey, Reigen? Do you have any blankets? It’s a little cold in the living room.”
“Yeah, they’re upstairs. Is Teru chilly? That kid is always cold, I swear.” Reigen shook his head. “Grab the duvet off my bed, it’s the warmest- oh, and hey, share the PlayStation, yeah?”
Ritsu nodded dutifully and disappeared back out of the kitchen.
Returning to his line of thought, Reigen stuck a forkful of noodles into his mouth and said around it, “I don’t know, just not my thing. Kids are a handful.”
Shrugging, Serizawa commented, “You seem pretty alright with these ones.”
Reigen snorted, “Yeah, well that’s different.”
Before Serizawa could ask why, Tome peeked into the kitchen. “Do you have anything to drink?”
“Yeah, ‘course,” Reigen answered, “Check the fridge. Don’t touch the apple juice, that’s for Mob. Or if you do, keep it between us.” He joked with a wink.
Tome winked back, “I’m on it.”
Serizawa looked between the two of them, considering, but said nothing.
“Anyway, anyway, anyway,” Reigen swirled his fork in the air at nothing. “It’s not like my mother and I particularly get along, so maybe it’s for the best that I don’t attend the wedding.”
“Are you not in contact with your dad?”
Reigen shrugged. “I don’t know, tell you the truth- hey, not the glass cups, use the plastic.”
Tome turned around the cupboard and argued, “I’m not a little kid.”
“It’s not you I don’t trust, it’s the boys. They’re animals.”
Tome rolled her eyes but got a clear plastic cup to pour the stolen apple juice into.
“So,” Reigen continued, “my dad lives a few cities north, and we talk for, y’know, holidays and what have you. He and my mom never really got along- well, I suppose they got along enough to have a child, but it’s not like there’s a whole lot of prerequisites to that. They split when I was a kid, and I mean, it was for the best, really.” Reigen lowering his voice at the end gave Serizawa the impression that there was something deeper there that really make it for the best.
Regardless, he nodded slowly. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Meh, don’t be. That’s life.”
Tome ambled over and leaned on the back of one of the chairs. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Very fun adult things.” Reigen said, and Serizawa nodded.
Tome made a face and exited the kitchen.
After a beat, Serizawa asked, “So… are you not gonna go to the wedding, Reigen?”
“No.” He replied decisively. “I’m not.”
“Would it be so hard to find a girl? I mean, you’re a--”
Reigen cut him off, “I’m not going back there and pretending to be someone I’m not. It doesn’t matter how easy acting would be, that’s not the problem. They think I’m--” He cleared his throat and awkwardly drew his fork through the air with a grimace.
Serizawa asked softly, “There’s… nothing wrong with-- I mean, are--”
“Reigen!” Shou shrieked from the living room, prompting both of the adults to look up.
“What?” Reigen called.
“There’s a spider!” Teru answered, laughing, which was never a good sign.
Tome added, “He’s making it fly!”
Reigen put his head in his hands. “Teru, put the spider down, just-- take it outside!”
There was no answer other than mixed laughter from Teru and Ritsu, alarmed shouting from Shou and Tome, and Mob in the midst of it all, pleading for peace. Reigen rubbed hard at his closed eyes until he saw stars. Serizawa tried his best to keep his chuckling quiet.
Evening drew closer, and Tome had left to do her homework leaving the rest of the much less responsible boys behind. Reigen was sitting in an old recliner watching Ritsu and Shou play some game purchased electronically that Reigen had reluctantly forked his credit card over for. Mob was curled up on the arm of the chair and at the sight of him nodding off, Reigen ordered the rest of the kids to keep it down. Now, he was blissfully drooling onto Reigen’s shoulder. Serizawa found it funny until a very sleepy Teru put him in the same position on the futon.
“It’s about time to send you kids home, you know.” Reigen commented.
Mob’s eyes darted open, “Wh-what?”
“Hey, drooly.” Reigen grinned, “Have a nice nap?”
Mob rubbed at his eye. “Are you kicking us out?”
“You make me sound so mean.”
Shou piped up, “It's really late though. The trains are gonna stop soon.”
Reigen looked at the clock. It was barely ten o’clock.
Mob nodded in agreement. “Maybe we can… maybe we could just stay here tonight? I'm really tired, and I'm sure Teru just wants to sleep too, and--”
Reigen and Serizawa gave each other a look. Today was all about losing battles with preteens, it seemed.
Ritsu said, “I don’t wanna stay here.”
“I’m not making you.” Reigen told him.
Ritsu shrugged in reply and Reigen decided to just let him have that one.
“I don’t care if you stay here,” Reigen conceded, “As long as you clear it with your parents.” Shou and a now half-awake Teru snorted at that, so Reigen said, “Okay, Mob and Ritsu at least clear it with your parents.”
Mob nodded dutifully and went to retrieve his phone that was charging across the living room. The room itself was positively wrecked despite Reigen’s best effort to keep the boys in line. Spilled soda had been thankfully wiped up, but the grapey stain was there to stay on the arm of the couch. Cushions had been arranged on the floor much too close to the television screen and an array of half eaten plates were all over the room like grenade shrapnel. However, Reigen didn’t have the heart to get mad at them for it. They were happy, and that’s what mattered.
Now free of the sleeping kid at his side, Reigen stood up and grabbed his pack of cigarettes off the living room table. “I’m gonna have a smoke, I’ll be back in a minute.”
“I’ll come with,” Serizawa said.
The two of them headed out the door and down the hallway that let out to a sort of shared tenant patio area out back. It was deserted at this time of night, however, so Reigen sat down on the stoop of the door and heaved a sigh before lighting a cigarette.
Serizawa sat beside him. They watched the last stragglers of working men and women heading home tiredly for the day pass by in silence.
“I’m sorry this business with your family has upset you so much.” Serizawa broke the quiet.
Reigen chewed at the inside of his mouth for a long while before replying, “I’m not really upset. There’s no one to be mad at. I know it comes from a good place and sometimes, y’know, people just can’t see eye to eye about things. It doesn’t make either of them a bad person. I just wish… I wish it wasn’t like this.”
Serizawa nodded, “I know the feeling.”
Reigen took a breath, prepared to offer Serizawa a long tangent about expectations and happiness and being true to yourself but he found that he simply didn’t have the energy to do so. Instead, he merely said, “You just can’t please everyone.”
Serizawa considered this. “I think you did a pretty good job today, you know that?”
Reigen furrowed his brow and tapped ash off the end of his cigarette. Out on the street, a lamp flickered and buzzed loudly in the unforgiving dark. “What do you mean?”
“You made the kids really happy.”
“Oh, well-- I was just doing my job. And I don’t mind. I’m sure their parents could’ve used a break from them being a handful.”
“Yes, but… you say how much you don’t want to be a father, but you’re doing a lot for those boys. Especially Teru and Shou, I mean-- they don’t really have a father to go home to. I think you’re being a good role model.”
Reigen looked down. “Well, I wouldn’t say that--”
“I would.” Serizawa said decisively, “You got them dinner. You let them tear apart your living room, you’re letting them stay the night, you’re doing a lot.”
“They do things for me too, though.”
“Of course they do. I just mean… I don’t know. It’s nice to see. You’re happy when you’re with them and they’re happy when they’re with you. Even if you don’t believe that.”
Reigen took a long drag. “When my parents broke up, I didn’t see a lot of either of them. It’s… important to me that children have adults around that care about them. Family is one of the most important things to a person and it sucks to not have one. I know that for sure.”
There was another pause before Serizawa hesitantly nudged him, “I wouldn’t say that you don’t have a family. Sure, the Kageyamas have parents but… Teru never sees his, and Shou, well.” Serizawa shrugged, and Reigen knew that was an open wound for them both. “What you’re doing is good. And… and I’m happy when I’m with you too. You’ve helped me out a lot and I wasn’t ever close with my family, obviously, so it’s nice for me too. I… I like coming to work and seeing you. And everyone else, too!” He added, “What I’m trying to say is that--”
Reigen turned and looked at him. “Thank you, Serizawa.”
Serizawa cleared his throat. “Um, Reigen? Are you… are you crying?”
Reigen swiped quickly at his eyelids which were, admittedly, maybe a little damper than usual but not by much. “No-- no, I just… you’re right. You’re right, I… I love these kids like they’re my own. I’d put any of them before me, I wouldn’t even have to think about it. When they stop by after school, it-- it makes my day. I like helping them with homework, and taking them out for dinner, and giving them presents even if I really can’t afford it.”
“I know.” Serizawa chuckled.
“I love them. I love watching them grow up, I love taking Teru to school when he stays over, I mean, that kid is on my couch two or three times a week. I love teaching Tome how to do stupid office crap that doesn’t even matter. I even love letting Ritsu poke fun at me.”
“I’m sure he appreciates that as well.”
“So, y’know, who actually cares about going to a damn wedding? No one is ever gonna support what I’ve done with my life but-- but I’ve made five kids know that they’re loved no matter what and I don’t need a wife to prove that.” Reigen chucked his cigarette out into the street. Apparently he did have the energy for a tangent after all. “I don’t want children to feel that someone’s love for them can only extend as far as their parents’ marriage does. When they’re with me, they don’t have to worry about arguments or grown up things. All they have to do is focus on growing up. I don’t want any kid to feel like an afterthought, especially not those guys. They’re important, not only to me, but to each other and to the rest of the world. I want them to have a place they can just… put it all down.”
“They may not know how to tell you, but I’m sure they’re more than grateful for that.”
Reigen waved him off. “I don’t need them to thank me. I just need them to grow up into the best people they can be. And hopefully turn out better than me,” he chuckled.
“Turning out with a heart like yours wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Serizawa said softly, and Reigen didn’t quite know what to answer that with, so he remained quiet. “And if your family can’t see that, well, it’s their loss.”
“I know.” Reigen agreed, “It doesn’t quite feel like that yet, but… you’re right. I don’t need other people to define me or what I do. I can just do it.”
Tentatively, Serizawa put his hand on Reigen’s shoulder. “You can’t please everyone. What you can do is give your all to the people that you can please.”
Reigen nodded and rubbed at his eye with the back of his hand. “You’ve gotten pretty wise, Serizawa.”
“Well, I’ve had a good teacher. And a very good friend.”
Inside, Reigen locked the door tight behind him as he entered his apartment. Serizawa had gone home for the night, and Reigen felt a lot less heavy than he had this morning. Of course, he’d waited till his face no longer exclaimed that he’d been crying, because no matter how much he loved the kids, they were still ruthless middle-schoolers. In his absence, the boys had cleaned up and even half-heartedly done the dishes, it seemed. The living room was (mostly) straightened up, the television was turned off, and Reigen stood at the foot of the stairs looking over the kids. Shou, Teru, and Mob were crammed together on the futon, and Ritsu was nodding off peacefully in the armchair. Carefully, so as not to disturb him, Reigen pulled the blanket off the back and draped it over him. Ritsu snuggled into it unconsciously. Mob, the last one awake, gave Reigen a small smile.
“Shishou, can you shut off the light?”
Reigen nodded. “Sure thing. Sleep well, kiddo.”
“Thank you again for letting us stay.”
“Of course.”
“Do you think we can do this again sometime? It was fun.”
“Yeah,” Reigen replied warmly, “Whenever you kids want.”
Mob closed his eyes and buried his face in the blanket.
Upstairs, in his bedroom, Reigen sat down on his bed. In truth, he was exhausted, because no amount of love he had for these boys would ever negate how wild they could be. But it was quiet and calm, and the open window and gentle sounds of Seasoning City reminded him that he was not alone, that there was a whole wide world out there of people who needed things and perhaps people who needed him in particular. He wasn’t wasting his life, regardless of what his family thought, or even what he thought sometimes. He was doing good. He, Reigen Arataka, might not be the expert of doing good, but he was getting better at it.
He tested out how I have a family felt on his tongue. He discovered it tasted sweet, and it tasted right.
Or it did, until he realized those goddamn kids still had his only duvet.