Now I'm in It

by pintpotjudas

Summary:

Reigen has been lumbered with a huge crush on Serizawa (who is surely about to move onto better things). It would be great if that was the extent of his problems, but now he suddenly has a toddler aged Mob on his hands and a whole gang of teenagers trying to 'help' him. And maybe the Sun Psychic Union has put out a hit on him?
(or Reigen thinks he has his life together but he kind of really doesn't, but maybe he will by the time this is all over) (rated for later chapters)

Chapter 1

Reigen doesn’t usually silence his phone on investigations. Seasoning City is still awash with supernatural activity (and people with chronic back pain) so Reigen keeps his cell phone on his person at all times; usually with the ringer turned up to maximum volume just in case he gets a call mid seismic exorcism. He has to pay Serizawa a full time wage now, as well as give Tome some money for whatever it is she claims she does (which mostly seems to be putting glittery stickers on his files and eating all the snacks). The point is they need the work, and luckily business is steady and that is mostly down to Reigen answering every call he gets.

However, a quick glance at the traditional lacquered interior of the restaurant, not to mention Mrs Oshido’s thin lipped glare in the direction of the dinky silver cell phone in Reigen’s hand tells him that he is going to have to be mostly unreachable for the duration of this particular investigation.

With a small professional smile, Reigen taps the mute button and slides the cell phone into his pocket away from Mrs Oshido’s disapproval. It’s only polite after all- and absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Mrs Oshido is one of those perfectly neat, intimidating women in their seventies who always seem to glare at him if he gets in their way at the supermarket.

“Perhaps you could tell us a little bit about your ghost, Mrs Oshido.” Reigen prompts.

“It isn’t my ghost. My useless fool of a grandson has been messing around with a spirit board in here; he thinks because my restaurant is old then there must be ghosts! Well, he has certainly managed to summon something.” She looks sharply around the room as if she expects the crisp white tablecloths to suddenly take flight.

Reigen feels kind of sorry for Mrs Oshido’s grandson and he knows that if people didn’t try and commune with the dead whilst being woefully under-qualified to do so, he’d have a lot less work on his hands. Still, it wasn’t on him to drag the idiot out from under the bus.

“Ah yes, spirit communication with Ouija boards is very dangerous when one isn’t properly trained, right Serizawa?” Reigen asks, glancing up at his assistant who has been quiet since introducing himself to Mrs Oshido.

“Potentially, yes.” Serizawa agrees, offering Mrs Oshido a polite smile of his own.

It goes down better than Reigen’s smile did, as Mrs Oshido’s demeanour softens a little.

“Would you both like some tea?” she asks.

“That would be lovely, Mrs Oshido.” Serizawa says, with a slight bow.

Of course, Reigen thinks, no one is immune to The Serizawa Affect. Reigen has discovered that there is something about Serizawa that makes even the most difficult customer relax and even become polite. Perhaps it’s because Serizawa is unfailingly polite himself, and that being anything other than nice to him back shames people into behaving better.

And of course, Reigen thinks as he watches Mrs Oshido smooth back her already perfectly coiffed bun before going off to make them tea, it doesn’t hurt that Serizawa is a very tall, very good looking man.

“So you getting anything?” Reigen asks, as soon as Mrs Oshido is out of earshot. She has probably gone to find her nicest tea set.

“Yeah, there’s definitely something here. It doesn’t feel malignant though, more sort of… playful.” Serizawa replies.

“No melting today then?” Reigen asks.

Serizawa laughs a little, as he always does whenever Reigen uses entirely the wrong terminology for describing exorcisms. It may be part of the reason that Reigen has never bothered learning the right words to describe exactly what Espers do to ghosts.

“No, I don’t think so. We might have to have a conversation with the spirit, though.”

“A ghost haunting a sushi restaurant… maybe it just can’t quality sashimi in the afterlife?” Reigen offers.

“Actually, I think the ghost is linked more to Mrs Oshido than the restaurant itself, remember how she told you on the phone it kept patting her shoulder?”

“Oh yeah. So she’s got herself a friendly ghost?”

Serizawa nods and then glances quickly off to a point just beyond Reigen’s shoulder. Instinctively Reigen turns his head, and is unsurprised to see absolutely nothing. When he looks back to Serizawa he is smiling softly.

“You can’t see her at all?” Serizawa asks.

Serizawa had taken it very much in stride that Reigen had absolutely no psychic abilities, and beyond being able to see Dimple and some very powerful ghosts, he couldn’t perceive a great deal of the supernatural at all. A few weeks after Reigen had told him they were at their favourite Ramen shop when Serizawa had thrown down his chopsticks in the middle of their meal, pointed at Reigen and said, in a slightly awed tone “You went up against the President with absolutely no powers whatsoever?” Reigen had shrugged, like ‘yeah, it took you that long to realise it?’ and they had never brought it up again.

“Nah, just a lot of fresh air to me, I’m afraid.” Reigen admits.

“Hm. You know I’ve been working on a theory, I think I can give you a psychic boost; mind if we test it out?” Serizawa asks, taking a tentative step towards Reigen.

“This kind of sounds more like Tome’s deal.” Reigen says, and then watches Serizawa’s face fall. “But obviously the little brat isn’t here so I guess I can be your guinea pig.”

Reigen really wishes that he could engage his brain sometimes and not say really dumb stuff like ‘I can be your guinea pig’ to Serizawa out loud.

Serizawa’s smile is back and he holds out his hand in the universal gesture of ‘please give me your hand’.

Reigen stares at Serizawa’s hand like an idiot.

“Uh…” he says, intelligently.

“I’m working on the idea that perhaps touch can increase psychic powers. Like when Shigeo was able to give you the power to stand up to the 7th Division.” Serizawa explains, patiently.

“Mob told you about that, huh?” Reigen says, trying to be real casual as he clasps Serizawa’s hand with his own, desperately hoping that he hasn’t started sweating profusely in the last two seconds.

Serizawa only nods again and points with his free hand to the spot over Reigen’s shoulder.

“Look.”

Reigen looks, and at first all he can see is a swirling, blueish mist. But when he looks closer he can start to make out more, and very quickly he can see a small figure wearing an old fashioned school uniform, with a long wool skirt. The details of her face steadily come into focus; a sharp little chin, large eyes behind a pair of even larger glasses, her dark hair tied in two plaits at either side of her head. She looks about Mob’s age, obviously still in school when she passed. He wonders how long she’s been wearing that uniform.

“Hello.” He says, making the spirit’s aura flare in response, and she darts under one of the nearby tables.

“I think she’s shy.” Serizawa says quietly, squeezing Reigen’s hand.

Reigen turns back to Serizawa, and yeah. The Serizawa Affect. Reigen is The O.G research subject of this particular phenomenon and the results are pretty abysmal. Oh, Reigen’s not unhappy. Sure he gets wistful from time to time, drinking lemon sours and thinking about strong jawlines and hair that’s just getting long enough to curl. He tries not to mull over the fact that Serizawa is taller than him so would probably have to dip his head to kiss Reigen, and his big strong arms would definitely have to catch Reigen around the waist and hold him tightly because Reigen would be too weak in the knees to stand up straight if anything like that were to happen.

And he certainly doesn’t dwell on the fact that seeing Serizawa in the office first thing in the morning never fails to brighten his day, or how stupidly proud he’d felt when Serizawa passed all his exams or that just hearing Serizawa say his name makes his chest feel tight.

Thinking about all that stuff would be stupid because a) it’s never going to happen and b) Serizawa is his employee and he isn’t one of those skeevy bastards who thinks he’s entitled or something and c) it’s super never going to happen.

Reigen realises that he’s basically just been staring at Serizawa for the last thirty seconds in complete silence, holding his hand and not looking at the ghost, which is the whole reason he was holding his hand in the first place.

Serizawa is probably used to Reigen’s weird behaviour but this is pushing the boundaries of freakishness even for him.

Weirdly though, Serizawa doesn’t seem that bothered. He’s bent at the waist slightly, trying to spot the ghost under the table, not really paying any heed to Reigen’s weirdness.
A tea tray rattles and Reigen drops Serizawa’s hand as Mrs Oshido bustles back in, carrying a beautiful hand-painted tea set.

Ha Reigen thinks, knew she’d bring out her finest for Serizawa.

“We found the ghost.” Reigen says, as Mrs Oshido sets the tea things down.

“Hmph. Can you get rid of it?” She asks with a scowl.

“That’s just the thing, Mrs Oshido, I don’t think she wants to leave.” Serizawa says.

Mrs Oshido blinks at him.

“She?”

Reigen spots the ghost bobbing up from her hiding spot and drifting towards Serizawa. Presumably some of Serizawa’s psychic mojo is still affecting him, as he can see the ghost float up in the air and lean in to the side of Serizawa’s face, to whisper in his ear.

“Does the name Hara Fuyumi mean anything to you?” Serizawa asks after a few seconds of listening to the ghost.

Mrs Oshido spills the tea she was just beginning to pour all over the pristine tablecloth, but she barely seems to notice. She sets the teapot down and clasps her hands together.

“Yumi is here? Are you serious?” She asks, her voice very high.

The ghost floats away from Serizawa leaving swirling blue patterns in the air as she goes. She settles at Mrs Oshido’s side, tapping her lightly on the shoulder.

Mrs Oshido bursts into tears.

It isn’t quite what Reigen is expecting, but he’s always ready for the unexpected, and he pulls a fresh packet of disposable tissues from his pocket, and lets Mrs Oshido cry onto his shoulder when she grabs him instead of the tissues.

“I’m sorry.” she says, a little while later once she has calmed down, and Serizawa has served the tea. Reigen sits across from Mrs Oshido and Serizawa. Yumi floats just above Mrs Oshido’s shoulder, looking concerned.

“It’s quite alright.” Reigen says, and she gives him a weak smile.

“I’m not sad, exactly.” Mrs Oshido says, taking a deep watery breath. “Yumi was my best friend. Actually, she has always been my best friend, I never made one better. We were in school together, from pre school right the way through to high school. Thick as thieves, as they say. We did everything together. We were going to go to university together, travel the world together and then… And then Yumi was killed. A freak accident, she slipped between a train and the platform. Back then there weren’t the safety measures there are now, and people tried to save her but she was crushed.”

Mrs Oshido’s lip wavers for a few seconds, but she manages to compose herself.

“I wasn’t there that day. I had always thought if I had been at the station then maybe…” Mrs Oshido shakes her head and looks down at her tea.

“We were seventeen. I have thought about her every day since. I don’t know why I didn’t realise it was her when she tapped me. She always sat behind me in class, and would always tap me like this” Mrs Oshido demonstrates, two quick pats on the shoulder, “and I would always turn around and be the one that got in trouble with the teacher! Even though it was her, every time!”

Mrs Oshido smiles at the memory, and a few fresh tears escape, sliding down her cheeks unheeded. Yumi floats nearer to Mrs Oshido’s face, trying to comfort her.

“She sounds a real mischief maker.” Reigen says.

“Obviously she hasn’t changed!” Mrs Oshido says, looking around. “I wish I could see her.”

Serizawa glances at Reigen, who gives him a slight nod.

“Ah- Mrs Oshido… perhaps there is a way…” and he leans over to take her hand.
***
Half an hour later Reigen and Serizawa leave a very happy old woman gossiping and giggling with her dead seventeen year old best friend, loaded up with more sushi than they can possibly eat. Mrs Oshido had been so happy to see Yumi again that she insisted that they take a metric tonne of food along with their pay.

“Another good day’s work and it’s barely lunchtime.” Reigen says.

It’s a pleasant day in Seasoning, not too humid as they had been fortunate in getting some cool rain overnight. It will definitely get hotter, though, seeing as they have just entered the first week of the summer break. Maybe they can fit in an office trip to the beach this year.

Serizawa hums his agreement.

“It was a nice case for once. It’s always good to get rid of bad spirits but it feels great to have given Mrs Oshido her best friend back.”

Reigen grins. “Yeah, I nearly got misty eyed back there when she finally saw Yumi again.”

“Oh yeah, nearly.” Serizawa teases, “I saw you wiping your eyes.”

“Slander! Besides it’s allergy season.”

“It’s always allergy season with you.” Serizawa says, smiling.

“I’m allergic to a lot of things.”

“You were allergic to the ending of that film we watched the other day, then?”

“Violently.” Reigen agrees, giving Serizawa a quick grin.

Reigen has no idea if they are flirting or not, it’s been so long since he’s done it genuinely with a person he actually likes. And it isn’t as if he can get an objective perspective on this situation; that would involve telling someone he likes Serizawa. He imagines telling Dimple, who’d laugh his non-existent ass off, or Tome, who would probably charge him a romance consultation fee (he really is teaching her everything he knows) or Mob, who would tilt his head to one side and say something like “what’s wrong with liking Serizawa, Shishou? I like him very much as well.”

They walk along in comfortable silence for a few minutes, enjoying the sunshine.

“It’s a shame we have to get this sushi back to the office, there’s a nice gelato place near here.” Reigen says.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, just off in that little park. I’ll take you sometime.” Reigen says, before realising how that sounds. “And Tome, obviously. Spirits and Such outing. I was just thinking it would be nice to get to the beach, too, before summer is over and all the kids are back in school.”

“And me as well.” Serizawa says. “Hopefully I’ll be graduating high school by December.”

“Yes, of course.” Reigen says, with a rather fixed smile.

Obviously he’s proud of Serizawa and his accelerated education, managing to cram years of missed education into short months of hard work, but his looming graduation is something which Reigen selfishly doesn’t want to think about.

There’s no way that Serizawa will want to stay at Spirits and Such once he has actual qualifications under his belt. Serizawa is smart, he could apply to university or get a decent entry level job with a big company. His customer service skills are pretty much impeccable at this point.

Staying in a crumbling little office with a conman whose main skills lie in the fields of bullshit and aromatherapy massages isn’t anyone’s idea of a dream career.

Instead of thinking about it, Reigen fishes in his pocket for his phone, one of the plastic bags laden with sushi twisting tight around his wrist as he does so.

“Wonder if I have any messages?” he mumbles as he flips the phone open.

He has seventy three missed calls.

“Shit.”

“What?” Serizawa asks.

“Can you take these?” Reigen asks, shoving his two bags of sushi at Serizawa, panic rising in his throat. Serizawa grabs the sushi off him and probably has to use his powers a little to stop the bags spilling everywhere, Reigen is in such haste to discover what’s going on.

Twelve of the calls are from Teru, nineteen from Tome and forty-two are from Ritsu.

Well. Actually they are from the number saved in Reigen’s phone as ‘Mob’s little brother’ because he is under no illusions about how Ritsu feels about him, and Reigen is not above being petty towards a teenager.

He calls Ritsu back and is unsurprised to have his call answered before the first tone rings out.

“Why was your phone off, your phone is never off?!” Ritsu all but screeches down the line.

“What’s happened?” Reigen asks over Ritsu’s panicking. The kid can yell at him later if he needs to vent, right now he needs to know the problem.

Instinctively he knows it’s about Mob. Only a Mob based problem would get Ritsu this shrill.

“It’s- it’s Nii-san, he- something’s happened to him.” Ritsu says, stumbling over his words.

“OK? But what has happened to him, Ritsu? Is he in danger? Is he with you? Where are you?”

“I can’t… it’s really hard to explain. We’re at your office, can you just get here?” Ritsu asks.

“Can I speak to Mob?” Reigen asks.

Ritsu lets out a noise that might be a laugh but also might be him getting punched in the throat. Ritsu is very obviously trying not to cry, and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Reigen isn’t going to get the information he needs from this phone call.

“Alright, don’t worry, we’re on our way. We’re about ten minutes from the office, alright Ritsu?”

“Please hurry.” Ritsu says.

It’s probably the first time Ritsu has ever sincerely asked for anything of Reigen and it doesn’t exactly reduce Reigen’s panic any.

“Of course.” He says and hangs up.

“Is Shigeo alright?” Serizawa asks, as they hurry down the street.

“I don’t think so.” Reigen replies.

Seven minutes later Reigen shoves his way into the Spirits and Such office, Serizawa hot on his heels. He’s not sure what to expect, perhaps an evil spirit possession, perhaps Mob completely white eyed,  with a furiously glowing aura floating a metre off the ground and destroying everything around him.

The office is completely calm.

It takes a moment for Reigen to spot the problem. He takes in Dimple floating worriedly, if a spirit can float worriedly, in the corner. He sees Tome giving him a wide eyed stare. He sees Teru trying to look calm, and Ritsu seated on the floor with his knees gathered up to his chin, not trying to look calm at all.

And then he sees the problem. Standing on Reigen’s desk chair, a large red t shirt bulldog clipped ineptly to his body, is a child. Probably about eighteen months old, barefoot and grinning, holding all of Reigen’s felt tip pens in his tiny little fists.

“Shishouuuu!” the kid yells happily, as if the bowl cut wasn’t already a dead giveaway.

“Hello, Mob.” Reigen says.

Chapter 2

“I can see why this was hard to explain on the phone.” Reigen says to Ritsu, once they’ve refrigerated the sushi and managed to coax Ritsu into sitting on a chair.

Ritsu looks miserably down at his feet.

“It’s all my fault.” He says, twisting his hands in his shirt.

Ritsu has always struck Reigen as one of those people who has a heart attack in their office at age thirty five and then goes back into work the next day. He is without a doubt the most stress filled kid that Reigen has ever met; and Reigen has seen Mob literally explode at least twice.

“OK,” Reigen says, trying to steer him away from a complete teen-angst filled breakdown, “Can you tell me what happened now?”

Ritsu takes a deep breath, at which point Teru leaps in.

“Well, little brother, Kageyama-kun and I were taking a walk through the city, enjoying our summer time freedom, when little brother mentioned that we were near an occult shop and that we should check it out.”

Reigen has no idea if Teru knows that Ritsu twitches every single time Teru refers to him as ‘little brother’ and normally Reigen finds it hilarious. Today he just wants some answers.

“An occult shop?” Reigen asks.

Ritsu shrugs. “I used to buy books from there, before I discovered my own powers. I thought it would be funny to go and look at all the fake stuff in there again.”

Reigen doesn’t miss how Ritsu’s eyes flick towards him as he says ‘fake’ because even when the kid is in the depths of despair, he can’t resist a dig.

“So you went into the shop and then what happened?” Reigen presses.

Teru sighs thoughtfully.

“That is much harder to figure out. Almost as soon as we opened the door the owner started screaming at us, some old guy standing near a big mirror. He kept yelling that we’d ‘stolen it somehow’. It was super weird. And then Kageyama-kun was suddenly just- like this. We panicked, the shop owner got more enraged, we grabbed Kageyama-kun and came back here.” Teru says.

“They left his pants at the store.” Tome helpfully supplies.

Reigen rubs his eyebrow with his thumb, and turns to look at Mob, who is calmly sitting on the floor, drawing on some printer paper with the felt tips.

“So to answer my questions, you don’t actually know what’s happened to him, or how it happened, or why.” Reigen surmises.

“Precisely.” Teru agrees cheerfully. Ritsu shrinks down in his chair.

“And it definitely isn’t a curse?”

“Nope.” Teru says. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

Reigen taps his chin, the beginnings of a plan forming.

“OK, well. Do any of you have that Takenaka kid’s number?”

Tome blinks at him. “I do. Why?”

“We have to work out what’s going on with Mob and it’s not like he can tell us. We need to know if he’s actually, you know, a real baby, or if he’s a sixteen year old who has been turned into a baby. Those are two very different problems. If Takenaka can read Mob’s mind he might be able to tell if he’s actually… in there.” Reigen explains.

They all turn to look at Mob again, who is still colouring, his tongue sticking out slightly, obviously in deep concentration.

Ritsu gives him a long look and then glances at Reigen. “That’s actually not a stupid idea.” He concedes.

Tome nods, and grabs her phone. “I’ll text him.”

“Thank you, Tome.” Reigen says choosing to ignore Ritsu and his damning praise, “OK, so other problems. I assume you don’t want your parents to find out about this and that’s why you came to me?”

“You’re the shadiest adult I know.” Ritsu says, and Reigen is shocked to find that he can actually detect a smile of the kid’s face before his grim mood returns. “But yeah, mom and dad would freak out.”

“We might still have to tell them, eventually.” Reigen says, quietly.

Ritsu bites his lip and stares down at his sneakers again. Reigen blusters on.

“So, obviously we need a cover story for where Mob is during the duration of this uh, situation.”

“We can say he’s staying with me.” Teru says, blithely, “It’s not as if they can call my parents to check.”

Reigen winces internally.  Teru is highly capable of looking after himself; it’s just that he really should not be living alone. Reigen has at least gotten him to agree to call him if he gets sick or if insane Espers try to break into his apartment again.

“In fact I think Kageyama-kun should stay with me! What an excellent thing it will be to care for my best friend and rival.” Teru beams at them.

“Uh, Teru, Mob is going to need round the clock supervision, feeding, and diaper changes.” Reigen points out.

Teru’s smile doesn’t fade but his eyes do widen slightly. “Obviously the thing that my dear friend and rival would want me to do is to entrust his care to his beloved Shishou in this situation, and I will graciously do so.”

“Thanks Teru.” Reigen says, flatly.

“Do you know how to look after kids, Reigen-san?” asks Ritsu, sceptically.

Reigen shrugs. “Can’t be that hard. Complete morons do it all the time.”

He does, actually, know how to care for young children. He spent a lot of time with his niece and nephew before his sister’s relationship with their parents had broken down so completely she and her family had decided to leave Seasoning forever. Ritsu doesn’t need to know any of that.

“I do know that kids need stuff; clothes, food, toys, all that. We can’t just leave Mob wearing that monstrosity.” Reigen says, gesturing to Mob’s t shirt with bulldog clips ensemble.

“Hey!” says Dimple, “We did the best we could!”

“I think I can help with that, actually.” Serizawa says.

He’s been so quiet that Reigen had almost forgotten he was there.

“My friends Eiko and Yuki have a little boy who is nearly two, he’s growing really quickly. I was texting them and they are really happy to give us some of his old things.”

Reigen just manages to stop himself from saying “You’re amazing” out loud, but it’s a close run thing.

“That’s great!” He settles on instead.

“I’m going to meet them at the train station near their apartment in an hour. Perhaps you could come with me, Teruki, and help me carry everything back?”

“It would be an honour.” Teru says.

Serizawa seems to find Teru’s bombastic way of speaking amusing, and when Reigen catches his eye, Serizawa winks at him. Apparently Reigen isn’t the only one to notice that Teru’s relentless cheerfulness doesn’t mix too well with Ritsu’s deep cynicism. And it isn’t like Ritsu is about to leave Mob any time soon, he keeps glancing at his brother like he might disappear through the cracks in the tiles on the floor. Better to get Teru out of Spirits and Such for a bit.

“Great, well. Obviously we need to check out this occult shop but I think that’s going to have to wait until tomorrow. Why don’t we all eat something?” Reigen suggests.

It seems that everyone is hungry and happy to eat Mrs Oshido’s sushi, including Mob, who Reigen patiently feeds unrolled maki so he doesn’t choke on the seaweed.

Ritsu gives him another one of his looks.

“So you do know what you’re doing.”

“Believe it or not.” Reigen says as Mob chews his cucumber and rice.

“Takenaka’s on his way.” Tome says, after checking her phone between mouthfuls. Reigen has discovered that Mob’s friends are all very different but all of them inhale food like locusts going through crop fields.

“Ah, we better get going Teruki.” Serizawa says, checking his watch.

Teru shoves a few more nigiri into his mouth before grabbing his jacket.

Serizawa hovers by the door. “We’ll be back soon.” He says, mostly to Reigen.

“Yeah, thanks for doing this.” Reigen says.

Mob waves a chubby little arm at Teru and Serizawa as they leave and Serizawa blesses them with one more smile before heading out. Dimple floats off as well saying something vague about checking things out.

There isn’t much to do but wait for Takenaka to show up, so Reigen flips the sign on the door. They haven’t anything scheduled for the afternoon, thank god, so they are free to try to work out what to do next.

Ritsu, unsurprisingly, wants to go to the occult shop all guns and psychic powers blazing.

“We need to teach him a lesson.” Ritsu insists.

“You don’t even know for sure what happened to Mob was deliberate, Ritsu. You can’t teach someone a lesson if they don’t know what they did wrong.” Reigen points out.

Ritsu glares at him until Mob pulls on Ritsu’s sleeve and drags him back to the colouring in.

Mob certainly doesn’t seem like an ordinary little kid, but it’s not as if Reigen would know if he was one the first time round. He met Mob when he was much older than he appears now. He’s very quiet and thoughtful, much like his teenaged self and Reigen is definitely used to toddlers being loud. Reigen hopes desperately that this condition is temporary; partly because he has no idea what they are going to if it isn’t, but also because Mob has done so much work on himself in the past few years. He’s a very different kid from the one who walked into Spirits and Such looking for advice.

Reigen grabs his laptop and sits on the floor near Mob and Ritsu and googles the name of the shop the kids visited. Krystals and Karma (“Yes it’s really called that Reigen-san”) is owned by one Bando Yasashiku and a few clicks around his website bring up his picture, which Ritsu confirms with a nod. Reigen also learns the annoying yet seemingly inevitable fact that he’s a member of the Sun Psychic Union, their smug little emblem in the footer of every page of the site.

“Ugh, really?” Tome asks, crouching down on the floor next to him. “Those guys all suck.”

“Shinra’s OK.” Reigen points out.

“Yeah, but that Roshuuto guy is the worst.” Tome says with a shudder.

“Not disagreeing with you there. But it’s definitely for the best if we at least try to approach this situation with minimal hostility.” Reigen doesn’t exactly want a run in with the Union.

“They aren’t even a proper trade union. Can you imagine that Jodo weirdo demanding safer work environments for psychics? He nearly fed us to that thing in the woods.” Tome says.

Reigen snorts. “You know Mob exorcised the Mimic in like, two seconds? I bet Jodo’s still mad about it.”

“Uh, hello?” Someone calls from the hallway.

“Come in Takenaka!” Tome shouts, heedless of how close she is to Reigen’s eardrums.

“Hey… why is everyone on the floor?” Takenaka asks as he pushes the door open. He drops a sports bag and a tennis racket down, and wanders over.

“Sometimes we just feel like being on the floor.” Reigen says.

“Cool.” Takenaka pauses, glancing at Mob and then double taking. “What the hell happened to Kageyama?”

 “He’s still in there, right?” Ritsu asks, his voice tight.

“Oh yeah, he’s definitely in there… how is this even possible?” Takenaka crouches down to get a better look at Mob.

Relief floods through Reigen’s veins, like a nicotine rush whilst Ritsu explains everything in double time. Once Ritsu gets to the end of his story Takenaka whistles.

“Fuck.” He says.

“Language!” Reigen admonishes as if he hasn’t been thinking that exact sentiment for the last two hours. “How can you tell that he’s still Mob, then?”

“Well, he definitely has thought patterns which are more like an adults, usually kids of that age are just like. Food. Happy. Mum. That kind of thing. He’s having much more complex thoughts and memories but it’s like… it’s like they are being compressed?” Takenaka shakes his head. “Sorry, it’s really hard to describe. It’s really weird.”

They watch Mob as he keeps drawing, seemingly unaffected by the state of affairs.

“Is he… upset or anything?” Reigen asks. He has absolutely no idea what they are going to do if Mob reaches one of his emotional peaks as a toddler.

Takenaka shakes his head. “No, he seems pretty content.”

“Really?” Reigen asks. Because that doesn’t seem… right.

“Yeah, he seems fine.” Takenaka says with a shrug.

“Hm.” Reigen says.

“Hey, Takenaka, check this out, I got to the Dark World, finally…” Tome says, dragging Takenaka over to her desk and her Gameboy.

Reigen looks at Mob, who is still drawing his random colourful squiggles.  Something isn’t adding up.

He shakes his head. His teenaged assistant is suddenly pint-sized, a lot about today isn’t really adding up.

About ten minutes later, after Takenaka has eaten the last of the sushi and thoroughly critiqued Tome’s ability to play Legend of Zelda, and Tome has told him to fuck off, and Reigen has had to shriek “Language!” again, like a scandalised housewife, Serizawa calls.

“Hey, so uh… there might have to be a slight change of plan about us coming back to the office.” He says.

“What, why?” Reigen asks.

“Well, I told my friends that we didn’t really have anything appropriate for an eighteenth month old so they’ve been pretty… zealous in helping us out.”

“OK?”

“Yeah, apparently their families didn’t talk over who was buying what for the kid, and long story short, they’ve given me a crib.”

Reigen blinks. “Score.”

Serizawa lets out a little huff of laughter down his end of the phone.

“Yeah, it’s great but also, we’ve got a lot to carry, clothes, toys and stuff- I actually called Shou to come help us.”

Reigen hears a muffled shout of greeting, presumably from Shou.

“So what do you want to do?”

“We’re not far from your apartment actually; we could meet you there?”

It hits Reigen, suddenly, that this is actually happening. That somehow, he, Reigen Arataka, the guy who had to change his shirt two minutes after putting it on because he spilt coffee all over it this morning, is going to be looking after an actual human child for the foreseeable future.

The wave of panic, which has slowly been growing inside him is beginning to crest.

“Reigen-san?” Serizawa asks.

“Uh- yeah, that’s a great idea, we’ll head over and meet you there.” Reigen says.

They say goodbye, Teru and Shou shouting down the phone again, and then Reigen turns to his own gaggle of teenagers. And Mob.

“Ah.” Reigen says, realising another problem.

“What?” Ritsu asks.

“We have to go to my place, Serizawa is taking the stuff his friends have leant us there, and I’ve just realised that we’re going to have to take Mob on the train.”

Tome frowns at him. “He’s not scared of trains, Reigen-san.”

“Yes, but I’m scared of being arrested for taking a nearly naked baby dressed in bulldog clips on a train, Tome. I’ll have to see if I have a blanket.”

In the end, Reigen gets Mob swaddled in a fleecey thing Reigen normally uses for draping around the shoulders of their more traumatised clients. Mob is unsurprisingly docile, accepting being wrapped up like a parcel with his usual equanimity.

The train journey is fairly easy, no one seems particularly interested in them, beyond giving Mob a few smiles. Reigen had forgotten how heavy toddlers can be, so he’s grateful when someone offers him a seat so he doesn’t have to keep swapping which hip he has Mob balanced on.

They make it to his building without incident and more or less bump into Serizawa, Teru and Shou at the bottom the stairs leading up to his apartment.

“Woah.” Shou says, touching Mob on the cheek, very carefully with the tip of his finger, “this is so fucking weird!”

“Language.” Reigen says tiredly.

Serizawa just gives Shou a fond smile and a light cuff on the shoulder.

“C’mon, let’s get all of this upstairs.” Serizawa says, chivvying the kids along.

There is a lot of stuff. Serizawa is carrying something big in a flatish cardboard package, presumably the crib, as well as a large pack of diapers under his arm, Teru and Shou both have large cardboard boxes. Teru carries his box diligently whilst Shou levitates his with his powers, and drops back to talk to Ritsu.

“He didn’t do that on the train, did he?” Reigen asks Serizawa, who smiles and shakes his head.

“He’s just trying to impress Ritsu.” Serizawa says, and then bursts out laughing when Shou lets out an indignant splutter from somewhere behind them.

Somehow, Reigen has five teenagers, a toddler and Serizawa in his not-really-big-enough-for-two-people- apartment. There’s a massive pile of shoes next to his front door, and he doesn’t have enough slippers to go around so everyone is just in socks. He’s really not sure why Tome and Takenaka bothered coming on this little journey.

“I’ve never been to your apartment.” Tome says, as if that is somehow an explanation, and Takenaka just shrugs.

“Nothing better to do.”

“Great-OK.” Reigen shifts Mob in his arms again.

First things first, he needs to get Mob into actual clothes. Mob, thank god, has managed not to do what most toddlers seem to do constantly, but Reigen will definitely feel a lot better when he’s got a diaper on the kid.

Serizawa hands Reigen a large bag of clothes from one of the boxes, and Reigen takes Mob off to the relative privacy of his bedroom. He can still hear the onslaught of teenagers apparently investigating every corner of his not very big apartment, and frankly, he’s starting to get a headache.

“Ok, does anything speak to you?” He asks Mob as he tips the bag of clothes out onto the bed. They had both managed to get through the experience of putting a diaper on Mob with their dignity intact.

Mob eyes the bundles of bright fabric and selects a t shirt with a frog on it. There’s a pair of leggings which match and Reigen gets him dressed, easing Mob’s chubby arms and legs into the soft fabric. It doesn’t look like much of the clothing has been worn more than once, and he remembers his sister complaining about having to buy his niece and nephew new clothes almost every other week. Serizawa’s friends obviously have the same problem.

He tidies the rest of the clothes away, sorting them into piles and leaving them on his dresser. There’s a lot of decent stuff, including a couple of pairs of shoes, stuff for Mob to sleep in, and even a little raincoat.

“Happy?” He asks, brushing Mob’s bangs. Mob nods and Reigen smiles at him. The kid is adorable, if you forget the fact he should be sixteen years old. He toddles towards Reigen, his arms held out.

“Up.” He says.

“You are alright, right? You aren’t frightened or…?” Reigen asks, once he’s obliged and Mob is settled in his arms again.

Mob gives him a blank look.

“Can you understand me?” Reigen asks.

Mob nods, and then shakes his head. He doesn’t look worried, though, and that’s the thing that’s throwing Reigen the most about all of this. If Mob really is in there, and Reigen is sure that Takenaka isn’t lying, then why isn’t he more concerned about suddenly being an infant again?

“Alright, buddy, you’ve got to help me out here. Do you know what happened to you?”

Mob looks at Reigen, his large round eyes very serious. He shakes his head slowly.

“Well, shit.” Reigen says, and Mob slaps his tiny fist against Reigen’s chest.  That at least, makes Reigen huff out a little laugh.

“Yeah, I know, language. C’mon then, let’s go see what’s happening.”

What’s happening is barely controlled chaos. Tome and Teru are on the couch, going through the box of toys and books, with apparently little to no regard to organisation, Reigen’s coffee table looks like a toy shop barfed on it. Takenaka is on Reigen’s balcony, looking at his plants, for some reason. Shou is trying a one man comedy routine out on Ritsu, who looks like he’s having a nervous breakdown. Serizawa is leaning against the kitchen counter, reading the instructions for setting up the crib, with a vaguely worried expression on his face.

Ritsu makes a beeline for Mob the second Reigen enters the room with him.

“He’s OK, right?” Ritsu asks and then blinks in surprise when Reigen makes to pass Mob to him.

“I- I never really- we carried him with our powers and I don’t-” Ritsu says, panicked.

Reigen rolls his eyes. “Ritsu, he’s your brother, you aren’t going to drop him. Give him a cuddle, you’ll feel better. Just support his spine and don’t let his head fall off.”

“Ritsu!” Mob says happily, as Reigen passes him over. Ritsu holds Mob like he’s a live hand grenade, but Reigen figures he’ll work it out quickly enough. He staggers off to show Mob the toys Tome, Shou, and Teru are currently testing.

Reigen turns his attention to the only other adult in the room.

“How’s it going?” He asks Serizawa.

He looks up from his reading. “I think… OK. If you own an electric screwdriver, that is, otherwise this is going to take about ten hours to put together.”

“Of course I own an electric screwdriver. Can’t fix apartments haunted by bad wiring without them.” Reigen says, giving Serizawa his best salesman smile.

“That’s a relief.” Serizawa says, and he smiles back.

Reigen feels his face shift into something more genuine. Serizawa has taken his jacket and tie off, and rolled up his shirt sleeves, and it’s an unreasonably good look on him.  His hair is getting a little bit on the long side, Reigen’s been meaning to suggest a haircut session for weeks, although he has to admit he likes the curls.

Reigen only realises that he’s staring fatuously at his co-worker when Shou breaks him out of it by making the worst noise ever heard. He’s gotten hold of a cutesy electronic keyboard thing from the toy pile and is apparently trying to torture it to death with his psychic powers.

“For the love of- Shou put that down!” Reigen yells over the electronic whine.

“It’s fun!” Shou insists.

“Shou.” Serizawa says, and apparently he can inject the right amount of admonishment into his voice, because Shou lets out a huge sigh and the noise stops.

“Thank you.” Reigen says. “Alright, I think we need to make some plans for the next few days.”

“I have tennis training.” Takenaka calls from the balcony.

Reigen resists the urge to scream.

“You do your tennis stuff, then. OK, so Tome-”

“Oh no. I know what you’re going to say.” Tome says, waving a teddy bear at him.

“You do?”

“Yes, and I’m not doing it. Just because I’m a girl you assume that I have some kind of natural motherly instinct, well I’m not looking after Mob-kun at work. No way.” She says, crossing her arms.

Reigen takes a moment to digest that.

“I-uh- can honestly say I have never assumed that about you, Tome. I was actually going to ask you if it was alright if you handled the diary this week, and could you make sure to reschedule all none urgent clients for next week at the earliest?”

Tome perks up, and even smiles at him. “Will you pay me overtime?”

“Why would I pay you overtime if you’re just doing your normal job?”

“We’ll buy you dinner, Tome.” Serizawa says, diplomatically.

Reigen turns to glare at him, which is a mistake, because Serizawa just smiles back, which completely disarms him.

“Alright fine- we’ll get dinner. Just make sure you call everyone, alright, I’m not going to be able to do massages this week.” Reigen says.

Tome salutes. “Aye-aye, Captain.”

She’s a weird kid, but a good kid, Reigen thinks, smiling at her.

“When are we going to Karma and Krystals?” Ritsu pipes up.

“We can probably go tomorrow afternoon, I want to see what Dimple finds out.” Reigen says.

“I’m coming with you.” Ritsu says, looking mutinous.

“Alright.” Reigen says, because he’s never been able to argue with the iron will of either Kageyama brother.

“We also need to do some research. Considering what has happened to Shigeo and where, I suspect witchcraft might be involved.” Serizawa says.

Reigen blanches. “What? Witchcraft is real?”

Serizawa shrugs. “There’s some debate in the Esper community, but certainly curses exist which require rituals deviated from ancient practices. And it isn’t a curse which has affected Shigeo but it might be some sort of spell.”

“I’m very good at research!” Teru says, throwing up his arm like he’s in class.

“I can probably find stuff out too, the government didn’t seize all dad’s files.” Shou says, ominously.

Reigen doesn’t really want to know what that means.

“Great! You two can work in the office if you like.” Reigen says.

“Will we get paid?” Shou asks.

“You can be paid in the satisfaction of helping your friends, Shou.” Serizawa says.

Shou makes a face, but then he grins. “But we get dinner, too, right, Reigen-san?”

Reigen would really, really like to lie down in a dark room with a cool compress on his forehead. Instead he has five teenagers ganging up on him and an indeterminate amount of childcare ahead of him.

“How about we discuss this more tomorrow? Reigen-san and I need to sort out his apartment now, and I think it’s time everyone else went home.” Serizawa says, in his most reasonable tone. Reigen wants to kiss him, even more than usual. He settles for giving the man a grateful look.

There’s a cacophony of muted grumbling, but the kids get to their feet and start looking for their shoes. All except for Ritsu who sits in Reigen’s armchair, holding Mob tightly.

“Can I stay here?” He asks, in a small voice.

“No, Ritsu, you can’t.” Reigen says, gently but firmly, “What would your parents say if neither of you came home?”

“We’ve done it before.” Ritsu argues, which is true, but not exactly a great example. Besides, the time that the kids got held at the 7^th Division Reigen still got them home by eleven. Somehow.

“Yeah, but you have to go home and maintain some kind of normalcy right? You have to tell your parents Mob’s at Teru’s.”

Ritsu looks at Reigen balefully. “Can I come here tomorrow morning?” He asks.

“Yes. But after eight a.m., alright?” Reigen says, pleased they’ve reached a compromise.

Ritsu stands, and hugs Mob tightly before handing him back to Reigen.

“See you tomorrow, Nii-san.” He says.

“Bye, Ritsu!” Mob replies, cheerfully.

The kids all head out with various calls of farewell, Tome and Teru arguing about something, Takenaka swinging his tennis racket and  Shou putting his arm around Ritsu’s shoulders as they walk away. Reigen feels exhaustion seeping into his bones, but they’ve barely even begun.

“Right.” Serizawa says, into the sudden silence of the apartment, “let’s see how badly we can mess up constructing this crib, then.”

Notes:

Summary of fic: Reigen *looks at Serizawa* ~muffled 'I really like you' by Carly Ray Jepsen playing in the distance~
I have worked out the plotline properly now and oh boy, lads. This is gonna be a big one. Thank you so much for the comments and kudos!

Chapter 3

“I’m not sure these bits fit together.” Reigen says, about an hour later, faced with two bizarrely shaped bits of wood which don’t seem to hold any purpose other than to confuse him.

Serizawa looks over at him, from where he’s half crouched inside the partially constructed crib.

“Well, no, because I need that part you have in your right hand, and the other thing is from one of the shape puzzles Tome was messing with earlier.” He says after a moment of scrutiny.

“Ah.” Reigen says.

Serizawa smiles at him, and Reigen passes him the part he needs. Serizawa gets back to carefully screwing stuff in place and Reigen relegates himself to instruction reader. For the first time since Ritsu’s frantic phone call there is some sort of semblance of peace.

Mob is asleep on Reigen’s couch, apparently worn out from his busy day. Reigen checks on him every few minutes, but the noise of the electric screwdriver and occasional muffled curses don’t seem to bother him in the slightest.

“It’s great that your friends had this on hand.” Reigen says, gesturing to the crib.

“Oh yeah- Yuki said they’d been intending to donate it but it was one of those things that kept getting relegated to the bottom of their to-do list. Apparently raising a kid takes up a lot of your time.” Serizawa says with a rueful smile.

“Still, there must be a massive breakdown in communication when you end up with two cribs.” Reigen says.

“Yeah, well, they weren’t expecting anything from Eiko’s parents because they are giant homophobes.” Serizawa explains as he screws in another joist. “But when they found out that Eiko was having a baby they decided having a grandchild trumped prejudice. They just act like Yuki isn’t also Kaida’s mom which sucks. ”

“Oh.” Reigen says, hoping to hide his surprise that Serizawa’s friends are a lesbian couple, “Yeah; that does suck.”

“Yuki’s parents are apparently great about all of it though.” Serizawa says, which might just be an innocent comment, or it might be him subtly asking ‘and which category of parents do yours fit into?’

Reigen isn’t exactly the most upfront about his personal life, but he had come out to Serizawa quickly and matter-of-factly in the first week of Serizawa’s employment at Spirits and Such. It had actually been the first time that Serizawa had ever properly looked him in the eye when Reigen had asked him if his being gay was going to be a problem for Serizawa.

“No. Not at all.” Serizawa had said, the first time he had managed a sentence without stuttering.

“Good. Obviously if you did have a problem you’d be out of a job.” Reigen had replied.

It was really the only time they’d talked about it. It wasn’t that Reigen was hiding anything from Serizawa, there wasn’t anything to hide. He had maybe been on two dates since meeting the man. And there wasn’t much to tell, Reigen thought, without revealing a lot more than Serizawa would be interested in hearing.

As it is, Serizawa is still working away at the crib, not pressing for more information. It’s up to Reigen to choose if he wants to tell Serizawa anything.

“It must be nice. Having supportive parents, I mean.” Reigen says.

“Yours aren’t then?” Serizawa asks.

“My father is very disappointed and my mother prefers we not talk about it.” Reigen says, getting up to check on Mob again. “I haven’t cared about what my father thinks in years.”

“You don’t get on?” Serizawa is studiously focussing on his work.

Reigen laughs. “That’s one way of putting it.”

Reigen leans over Mob, making sure that he’s still breathing. He lets out a little snuffle in his sleep.

“I swear it’s like he knows he’s cute.” Reigen says turning to Serizawa.

“Perhaps he does.” Serizawa replies, giving Reigen a small smile.

Reigen can’t help feeling a little flustered. Willingly giving honest information about himself coupled with Serizawa smiling gently at him is a real one-two punch for his fraying nerves.

“Hey, I should probably make dinner, right? You must be starving.” Reigen asks, realising as he says it that it isn’t just a subject change, and that he is actually pretty close to starving himself.

“That would be great.” Serizawa says.

Reigen hightails it off to the kitchen, only to find his fridge almost empty. He doesn’t think he can make Serizawa and Mob dinner out of coffee grounds and a single egg. Of course, today would be the day he normally goes to the supermarket and instead his life decided to turn upside down.

He abandons his tragic fridge and goes to break the news to Serizawa.

“Change of plan, we’re going to have to order-in. You OK if I just get a dinner menu thing from that place near here that you like?” Reigen asks.

Serizawa frowns at him for a second before he works out where Reigen means.

“The place with the nice soups?”

“Yeah.”

“Sounds good.” Serizawa replies.

Reigen fishes his laptop out of his workbag and sits down next to Mob on the sofa.

“Are you going to wake up for some food, Mobbu?” He asks as he boots up the laptop.

Those are clearly the magic words, because Mob had managed to sleep through any amount of DIY but ‘food’ rouses him almost instantly. He rubs one of his little fists across his face and gives a jaw cracking yawn before blinking up at Reigen.

“Hungry.” He says.

“Yeah, buddy, I know, we’re getting some food.”

“Good.” Mob says, burrowing into Reigen’s side. He’s asleep again within seconds, basically trapping Reigen on his own sofa.

Reigen’s not sure how much more he can take of this.

“It’s sweet, how much he trusts you.” Serizawa remarks, smiling across at Reigen as he slides some of the last few pieces of the crib into place.

“He’s holding me prisoner, you know.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s much too heavy to move.”  Serizawa agrees, knowingly.

Reigen focusses on entering his credit card information and a discount code into the takeout website app. He’s trying to push down another wave of panic brought on by the absolute trust that Mob seems to have in him.

He doesn’t want to dwell on why Mob’s simple faith in him feels terrifying, given the circumstances.

Fortunately a distraction arrives in the form of a very harassed looking Dimple seconds after Reigen pushes the ‘order confirmed’ button.

“That Karma and Krystals place is fuckin’ weird.” Dimple declares, floating agitatedly.

“Weird how?” Serizawa asks.

“I couldn’t get anywhere near it! I tried to get through these weird barriers for hours but it was like throwing myself at a brick wall. The entire building and half the street just blocked off by this big dome of energy. It’s covered in anti-spirit wards, as far as I can tell.” Dimple says.

Reigen frowns. “Anti-spirit wards?” He asks, confused.

“Like spells, to keep spirits away. Teruki and Ritsu didn’t notice them so they probably don’t work on Espers…” Serizawa says, thoughtfully.

“Mob isn’t an ordinary Esper.” Reigen points out. He remembers meeting the… being, for lack of a better word, inside of Mob very clearly.

“You can say that again. Kid’s energy would blast through wards like those.” Dimple says.

That isn’t exactly what Reigen means, but he’s sure Dimple is right. Serizawa is frowning though.

“How did the wards feel to you, other than strong?” He asks Dimple.

“Eh?” Dimple replies.

“Did they feel… overwhelmingly negative? Like how an evil spirit would feel?” Serizawa explains.

Dimple floats around thoughtfully.

“They didn’t ‘feel’ much of anything, other than annoying. But they didn’t feel… bad. No, it wasn’t as if there was evil power behind them. Just a lot of power.” Dimple says.

“Well, that’s better than an evil spirit, right Serizawa?” Reigen says.

Serizawa doesn’t look convinced. If anything his frown has deepened, which actually looks kind of hot on him.

Reigen is so screwed.

“I don’t really understand why a shop which caters to people with an interest in psychic powers and the supernatural would want to guard against spirits like that.” Serizawa says.

Reigen shrugs. “Perhaps they had a bad experience with a negative spirit and decided to invest in some protection? That’s what these wards are used for, right, protection?”

“Sometimes.” Serizawa says, cryptically.

“Well, we’re heading there tomorrow, so we can all check it out together.” Reigen says.

The subject of Krystals and Karma gets dropped for a while, as Serizawa finishes the crib and tests that it’s safe enough for Mob to sleep in, and Dimple discovers the electronic keyboard thing and somehow gets it to make an even worse noise than Shou did.

“That thing is going in the first dumpster I see.” Reigen says.

Mob wakes up properly then, and decides he wants to be on the floor, which causes a panic because they haven’t cleaned up all the tools yet. Reigen scoops Mob up and hands him to Serizawa.

“You hold onto him I’ll clean everything up.” It’s only fair, seeing as its Reigen’s apartment and Serizawa literally did all the building of the crib.

Serizawa takes Mob with more practiced hands than Reigen would have expected, balancing Mob on his hip with a little bounce like a pro.

“I have been roped into babysitting Kaida before.” He explains at Reigen’s surprised look.

“Oh. Cool.” Reigen says.

Reigen gets to cleaning up as Serizawa settles down on the sofa with Mob on his lap, angling the laptop so they can both see the screen. Dimple settles over Serizawa’s shoulder apparently deciding that he is also exempt from helping clean up.

Logically he knows that he doesn’t really have a right to know about Serizawa’s personal life if Reigen volunteers nothing about himself, but it still throws him a little. Serizawa is such a big part of his world but Reigen has no idea if he plays an equivalently important role in Serizawa’s. Maybe Serizawa just thinks of him as his boss who has sort of become his friend.

Reigen shoves his toolbox back into the cupboard under the kitchen sink with a little more force than is necessary. He’s hungry and tired and doesn’t need to go down any mawkish thought tangents when his current reality is already ridiculous enough. Reigen isn’t a jealous five year old; Serizawa is his friend and Serizawa having other friends doesn’t change that.

The food arrives just as he finishes tidying up, and Serizawa is fine with eating it straight from the containers, neither of them has the energy to bother with dishes. Feeding Mob is pretty easy, the kid is always happy to eat, although he manages to get noodles and gyoza filling all over his new bib. Reigen starts compiling a mental list of extra things he’ll need to pick up from the store; more wipes, baby shampoo, something for Mob to drink out of easily. They make do by carefully supervising Mob with a plastic cup half full of milk but that won’t work forever.

“Shigeo hasn’t used his powers at all.” Dimple says, after Reigen and Serizawa have sorted out the leftovers. Mob has fallen asleep again, this time leaning against the arm of the sofa.

“I noticed that too.” Serizawa says.

“We can ask Ritsu if his parents remember when his power started manifesting… but I guess he still knows he has power? Maybe he just doesn’t want to use them.” Reigen says.

“Hm.” Serizawa replies, his speculative frown making another appearance.

Dimple leaves not long after that, saying that he’s going to ‘interrogate’ Ritsu. Reigen doubts it, somehow. Dimple is probably just going to check that Ritsu is OK. He’s gotten pretty soft for a malevolent spirit who wanted to be god, once upon a time.

“I should probably get going as well.” Serizawa says, glancing at his watch.

“Oh, yeah, of course.” Reigen says, because obviously Serizawa has to go back to his own place, there isn’t space for him at Reigen’s, particularly now that a crib dominates most of Reigen’s living room.

He clears his throat. “Thank you so much for today. It would have been much more difficult without you.”

Serizawa smiles at him.

“I guess it’s all in a day’s work. Although this is unusual even for us.”

“You want to take some leftovers home?” Reigen asks.

“That would be great. I’ll just-” Serizawa gestures vaguely towards the bathroom before excusing himself.

Everything’s going to be fine, Reigen tells himself as he finds a plastic bag for Serizawa to take the food home in.

Sure, Mob is completely dependent on him after possibly being struck by some kind of spell which has turned him into a child and yeah, they have no idea what caused it or why or if it can be reversed, and Reigen has basically agreed to care for Mob indefinitely despite the fact he is not qualified to do so, and it isn’t as if Reigen trying his hardest has ever been good enough for anyone before, especially when it’s for people he truly cares about-

“I was thinking I would come over here early tomorrow morning, help you get Shigeo sorted out-” Serizawa says, coming to an abrupt halt in front of Reigen.

Reigen looks up at him.

“Hey.” He manages to croak out.  It really has become incredibly hard to breathe in the last few minutes.

“Why are you on the kitchen floor, Reigen-san?” Serizawa asks.

“Oh- just- vibing I guess.” Reigen says.

“Vibing?”

“That’s what the kids say, right?”

“It is, yeah. I don’t think this is what they mean when they say it though.” Serizawa says, crouching down next to Reigen.

“Who knows what they mean. Kids huh? You want your leftovers?”

“Reigen-san-”

“I found you a bag, but-uh- I can’t seem to let go of it right now? That isn’t very convenient, sorry.” Reigen says, showing Serizawa his balled fist clutching the plastic much too tightly. He can see all the veins in his hand. It’s kind of freaky.

“OK.” Serizawa gently takes his wrist and pulls Reigen’s fist away from his own face. “Let’s just focus on breathing for now, alright?”

“Weren’t you going home-?” Reigen asks. It isn’t like he wants Serizawa to leave, but it’s getting late.

Serizawa ignores him.

“Deep breath in, Reigen-san.” Serizawa says, his voice low and soothing.

Reigen tries, because it’s only polite, but it’s a pretty shaky effort.

“Long, slow breath out.”

That’s easier.

“Deep breath in.”

This time it’s a little smoother.

“Long breath out.”

Easier again.

Reigen gets lost in the steady rhythm, coupled with Serizawa’s voice and the anchoring weight of Serizawa’s large warm hand around his wrist. By the time he properly comes back to himself he is both much calmer and incredibly embarrassed. And, apparently, covered in sweat.

“Uh- sorry about that.” Reigen says. He realises that in his panicked state he must have slid down onto the floor without really being aware of it.

“It’s alright. Believe me, I know this feeling.”

“Yeah, but. Talking me through a freak out isn’t in your job description, Serizawa.” Reigen says, ruefully.

Serizawa frowns at him. “No, but I’m your friend. And it isn’t as if you haven’t done the same for me in the past.”

Reigen can hardly argue, the first few months of Serizawa working at Spirits and Such there was a constant game of ‘how is Serizawa going to freak out today?’ going on.

“You’ve come so far.” Reigen says, because it’s true.

Serizawa smiles softly at him, his eyes very warm. Reigen is suddenly incredibly aware of Serizawa’s closeness, and the fact that he hasn’t let go of Reigen’s wrist yet. In fact he’s started rubbing little soothing circles into Reigen’s skin with his thumb, just against his pulse point.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without help.” Serizawa says.

Reigen knows a leading statement when he hears one.

“I know.”

“So will you let me help you? What’s going on?”

Reigen laughs a little. “It’s pretty obvious, Serizawa.”

Serizawa tilts his head to one side. “Well, yes and no. What specifically is worrying you?”

Reigen doesn’t really want to answer, but there’s no point hiding. Serizawa has him cornered.

“What if- what if I can’t help him this time? What if I mess it all up and he’s- he’s a baby, Serizawa. He won’t understand that I’m fallible; that isn’t how babies think.  I can’t mess it up but I don’t know if I can- I don’t know if I’m capable.” Reigen says his concerns spilling out of him in a miserable rush.

“Reigen, this is Mob you are talking about.” Serizawa says.

“Yeah, I know, but-”

“Name one thing you wouldn’t do to keep him safe.” Serizawa says over Reigen’s protestations.

Reigen gapes at him. And then shuts his mouth.

“I’m pretty sure that means you’ve got the most basic element of childcare down.” Serizawa says.

“But it isn’t just that! What if we can’t fix him? What if he’s stuck like this?” Reigen says, feeling the hysteria clawing back up his throat.

Serizawa just keeps his steady soothing of Reigen’s wrist going. Reigen wonders if he’s been reading the massage textbooks Reigen has kicking around the office. He’s good at it.

“If we can’t find a way to help Shigeo then we tell the Kageyamas and work something out. But we have some plans and there’s nothing we haven’t been able to fix so far- and don’t tell me you want to give up before we’ve even tried anything.” Serizawa says.

“No, of course I don’t.”

“Well then.” Serizawa says, widening his eyes, as if to say ‘there’s your answer then, you complete idiot’.

“Yeah- I. Yeah. Sorry.” Reigen says. He’s not entirely convinced, but he feels a little less worried, which he guesses is the main thing.

“Don’t be sorry. Although I wouldn’t mind getting off the floor if that’s alright with you.” Serizawa says.

“Shit, yeah. Of course.” Reigen says, pulling his wrist out of Serizawa’s grasp and hauling himself to his feet.

“I should check on Mob.” He mumbles, because Serizawa is still looking at him in that soft way and it’s making Reigen think about things he shouldn’t.

Mob is still sleeping angelically on the couch and he lets out another of his endearing sleepy gurgles when Reigen picks him up. Mob tucks his little head against Reigen’s chest, and Reigen can’t deny that he still feels more than a little panicked about everything, but he’s doesn’t feel as close to breaking apart anymore.

“You’re already a natural at this, you know that right?” Serizawa says, apparently not willing to let Reigen abandon the conversation completely.

Reigen gives him a deliberately blank look, hoping that Serizawa will just let it go. Apparently he isn’t going to.

“You are.” Serizawa insists.

Reigen lets out a little laugh. “Oh yeah, sure, I’m great with all this emotion and affection stuff.”

“You were great with Mrs Oshido earlier.” Serizawa points out.

Reigen rolls his eyes. “Sure, but she was a paying customer.”

Serizawa raises an eyebrow. “You can only give affection to people who pay for it? That sounds like a different kind of job to the one you have.”

“Shut up, you know what I mean.” Reigen says, feeling his ears turning red.

Serizawa grins at him. “Hey, I’m not judging you if you want to broaden your services at Spirits and Such.”

Reigen snorts. “I doubt anyone would be that desperate.”

He kind of expects Serizawa to laugh and agree but instead the other man just frowns at him.

“I don’t think-” he begins but Reigen just talks over him. 

“Aren’t you cutting it a bit fine with your last train?”

Serizawa blinks and then looks at his watch. And winces.

“I would have been cutting it fine half an hour ago.” He says.

“Shit, I’m sorry.” Reigen says, because obviously it’s his fault that Serizawa, who has been nothing but helpful all day, has missed his train because of Reigen’s stupid freak out.

“It’s OK.”

“You can stay here.” Reigen blurts out.

“Are you sure?” Serizawa asks.

“Well, obviously I’d prefer it if you slept in the train station and got mugged by delinquents...” Reigen says, with a grin.

Mob lets out a little yawn, his head drooping. “OK, well we better get this guy ready for bed.”

“I’ll be fine on the sofa.” Serizawa says, as he follows Reigen to his bedroom to change Mob into his new pyjamas.

“No, you won’t, that old thing is almost as bad as the one we have in the office. You can sleep in here, I can take the sofa. I’m the reason you missed your train.” Reigen says.

Serizawa shakes his head. “What about your back?”

“I’ll live.”

“We can just share. If you don’t mind?” Serizawa says, glancing at Reigen’s bed, which is definitely big enough for two people. Not that it’s had two people in it often, Reigen thinks ruefully.

He can either be weird and make a big deal about it, alerting Serizawa to his feelings or he can just suck it up and share a bed with the man he’s been trying incredibly hard not to fall for. He’s between a rock and a hard place, but there’s no denying his sofa fucking sucks.

“Sure, that’s fine. I’ll find you something to sleep in a sec.” Reigen says with a blitheness he does not feel.

Getting Mob into his pyjamas and settled in the crib is easy, the kid is so out of it he’s happy to be guided through it.  Deciding to leave him alone for the night is not so easy, Reigen finds. He knows how Ritsu felt earlier.

“We’ll be one room away with the door open.” Serizawa says, when Reigen lingers in the living room.

“Yeah- I know he’ll be fine.” Reigen says, almost curtly, but Serizawa just gives him a reassuring smile which makes Reigen feel like a dick.

Reigen gives Serizawa first use of the bathroom once he’s found him a t shirt to sleep in and told him that there is a new toothbrush in the cabinet. Reigen dumps his suit and shirt into the laundry basket and pulls on his own pyjamas.

Serizawa returns from the bathroom smelling of toothpaste and Reigen’s deodorant, wearing only his boxers and Reigen’s t shirt. Reigen’s shirt is pulled distractingly tight across Serizawa’s shoulders, and noticing that is Reigen’s cue to beat a hasty retreat to the bathroom.

“Take whichever side you want.” He says as he leaves.

He stares at himself in the mirror as he brushes his teeth. Given the nature of the job he has chosen for himself, it isn’t like he ever expects two days to be the same, but the last time he was in his bathroom brushing his teeth he certainly wasn’t expecting this.

When he returns to his bedroom Serizawa is already in his bed, looking at his phone. He looks up at Reigen and smiles.

“Do you mind if I charge this?” He asks.

“Of course not. Although I don’t know why you bother with that thing, mine holds charge for days.” Reigen says, sliding into bed. He decides it’s better to be obnoxious and throw Serizawa off the scent; at least that’s normal for them.

“Yes, but if I got a phone like yours everyone would think we were both drug dealers.”

“They would not!” Reigen insists.

Serizawa plugs his phone in and then turns to face Reigen. “They would too.” He says.

Serizawa’s face is very close to Reigen’s, just the width of half a pillow away.

“You’re too nice to be a drug dealer.” Reigen says, which makes Serizawa laugh.

“Thanks, I guess.” He says, his voice a deep rumble.

Reigen tamps down any and all feelings which the sound of Serizawa so close evoke in him.

“We should probably sleep.” Reigen says.

“Yeah.” Serizawa agrees, and the lights shut off immediately.

“Nice.” Reigen whispers.

He can sense Serizawa smiling in the dark.

Reigen expects to lie awake for hours, worrying about everything from Mob’s situation to the fact that he’s somehow sharing a bed with Serizawa. Instead, the exhaustion catches up with him and he’s asleep within moments, slipping away to where his problems can’t find him for a few hours.

***

Notes:

Got a little bit more serious this chapter but do not worry! Plenty more idiocy is on its merry way.