#And Reigen isnt that good at taking care of himself he's still in a moment to moment mindset. You don't want him as a father

[noisytenant]

i feel like fandom people love to put characters into archetypal family roles, especially like "adoptive parent", and it's so fucking annoying because half the time the characters in question are not parental at all, and should not under any circumstances act in a parent capacity. they just have a meaningful intergenerational friendship/mentorship and that's inconceivable

it's worse when the younger character has a canon family that's actually decent. the idea that an adult mentor should only function as a replacement for or extension of the family is so perverse. you familypilled fascists

[orangepeelsandvanillaextract]

there's glass in his feet. his arm is around mob as he cries and reigen can feel his own hair and shirt tails fluttering with mob's power as the tension and emotion leaks out of him. he walks over and leans down to grab his jacket and shoes when he finds them, slides the shoes back on to feel slick, warm, wetness seeping through to the soles. his body aches too much to consider moving his shoulders and arms into the jacket, so he goes to drape it over mob instead. the kid's fragile shoulders shake so hard with each sob it looks like he'll break apart without something wrapped around him to hold together. mob doesn't say anything but reaches his hands up to grasp at the edges of the jacket, pulling it tighter. reigen's not a broad man but his jacket dwarfs mob on an average day, with him curling into himself like that, he looks even tinier. reigen is struck suddenly with the image of the timid, scared elementary schooler who knocked on his door years ago. "....Master?" he blinks hard, looking down at mob for a second, dazed as he realizes he spaced out standing there for long enough that mob's mostly quieted. his face is pink and puffy, with dried tears and snot running down his face. "Sorry, let's find everyone else and make sure they're okay." his voice sounds far away and a little garbled, but mob nods like he understands and takes reigen's hand. his feet are bleeding and he doesn't remember why. the next time he's aware they're sitting in a crowded hospital waiting room, and he vaguely wonders when the roles switched from him leading mob to mob leading him. there's a blanket draped over his shoulders even though he isn't cold. mob still has his jacket-- and his hand. he squeezes lightly, and plasters on a signature smile when he notices the held hand is trembling. wait-- is that his hand or mob's shaking? mob is quieter than ever, staring blankly at his the small space between his feet. he doesnt look up to see reigen's smile, but regardless he mumbles, "We're waiting to see if Hanazawa is okay..." "Oh." "...Serizawa caught up to us and brought us..." that explains a lot even though he doesn't remember it happening. on second thought, maybe mob hadn't lead him very far at all. his placid stare is into the middle distance now, it takes effort to spot the difference between it and his normal bored look, but reigen's had years of practice. he's not sure how much longer they sit there, quiet, blank, holding hands which might be shaking just a bit. the bustle of the waiting room is muted around them, reigen isn't sure why but he appreciates it with his growing headache. he hopes it's muted for mob too, the kid never did well in large loud crowds. "Ritsu came too." "Is he hurt?" the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could catch them, he should know better than to ask a stupid question like that. mob would be some kind of wreck if ritsu wasn't okay, the hospital wouldn't be standing after he-- wait, no, that's not right. mob can deal with these emotions now. wait. Reigen jerks like he's been shocked awake, and in a way he feels like he has. The waiting suddenly turns bright and loud and SHARP like a fog just cleared by blazing sunlight, he's hyperaware of everything. People are chattering crying screaming the news is blaring on the television about what happened about natural disasters his pulse is POUNDING in his ears chest feet (his feet?) and has he been gasping for air this whole time? Mob's hand tightens on Reigen's and he says, "No, I didn't hurt him at all. He came to help." Reigen's too busy trying to slow down the blur the world just became to answer eloquently. "O-oh." Mob finally looks up at him, and the tear tracks are fresh now, like even after his sobs stopped the tears from years of his complex won't stop streaming. he smiles a little tiny bit through them. "I didn't hurt him." he says again, more emphatically. "I knew you wouldn't." reigen's not sure where the words came from but he knows they're true. mob couldn't hurt the people he cares about any more than he could kill a harmless bug crawling across his desk. he always gently floats them outside. the tiny smile puckers into an equally tiny frown, "I hurt Hanazawa though...and you." "No you didn't." the lie rolls of his tongue easier than the words up until now had. "Master, you're hurt." he does hurt, but it's not mob's fault, it never was. "Hanazawa too....maybe really badly..." mob's breath hitches and maybe he isnt out of sobs after all. "It wasn't you that did that, you--" "NO! It was! It was me! It was always me!" he gets cut off so abruptly and loudly if he weren't staring at the kid he would have never thought that it was mob saying, no-- shouting, so many words. everything in the room slams back down to the ground from a several centimeters up. he hadn't noticed that either. mob's crying hard again, and now everyone in the waiting room is gaping at them. reigen takes a deep breath, words still aren't coming to him like they should. instead, he wraps both arms around mob, squeezing him tight into his chest, one hand in his hair. he doesn't know how long they stay there, but it's long enough the waiting room returns to chaos, then muffled to reigen's ears again. his head hurts and his body hurts and his feet are becoming sticky with drying-- Serizawa comes out for them at some point, awkwardly and gently seperating them. He says it's their turn for treatment and reigen idly wonders why, he's fine. he thinks of what to say to mob when theyre done poking and prodding him. there's a lot of ground to cover. if mob even listens to his lying self again. of course, reigen's full awareness returns again right as theyre pulling the shards out of his feet. he claps a hand over his mouth, nauseated suddenly by the feeling of the stitches tugging his skin, although there isn't pain because of the analgesic. thankfully, the cut that goes into his hairline gets glued shut instead, for less scarring. mob too. they're both put on concussion watch and reigen gets a lecture and questioning on why he thought running through the crumpled streets would be a good idea. and then why he kept walking for so long, pushing the shards and rubble and dirt deeper. he doesn't tell them what really went through his head when he took his shoes off. he spins a story about how his stiff dress shoes were too hard to run in, how the slippery soles wouldn't give him any traction. he laughs the stupid decision off as a moment of hurried thinking in a panic. mob scoots so close to him he is pressed against's reigen's side, and his hand squeezes hard enough reigen's bones will ache for days after. reigen lets him.