#and he’s like grabbing at mob or serizawa while absolutely bawling

[chaos-cubed]

Yall know that one trope were a character gets split into multiple versions of themselves? I think it would be pretty funny if that happened to reigen actually

[dartlekey]

A walk in the park

~For the MP100 Valentine’s week challenge, Day 1~

Category: Gen, M/M

Pairing: Serizawa Katsuya/Reigen Arataka, mention of Terumob

Word count: 2363

Warnings: Child neglect, Child abandonment. Also some Death (well, you know. Dead people. It’s a show about espers, ghosts and exorcists; what do you expect)

Notes: Yes, I managed to take a cute, fluffy topic and turn it into an absolute angst fic - although it does have a fluffy ending, so please forgive me ;)

***

"Cinnamon Park?"

The client, a young mother with tired eyes, nodded nervously. "I always go there with the twins in the afternoon, because there's a great playground. Lots of my friends bring their children there too, and the kids have lots of fun together - or at least, they used to. Since a few days ago, a spirit has manifested in the tube that connects the play structure, and violently attacks anyone that goes near - even the adults! My friend Mina still has the scratches to prove it!"

As if on cue, the small girl on her lap started crying; whether she understood the words or just got frightened by her mother's fearful tone, Reigen didn't know. He couldn't even tell how old the kid was; he'd never been good with children. Dealing with Mob from a young age had only worked out because the small esper was so insensitive to social interaction, and despite his naiveté so very mature for his age. (As Reigen had learned, the two weren't mutually exclusive.)

To make matters worse, the other twin, a small boy resting at the mother's feet, looked up because of the noise and realized his sister was crying - and suddenly his lip was wobbling as well.

The mother herself winced, looking exhausted already; she'd probably suffered through a lot of this in the past few days. "There, there," she said half-heartedly and patted the girl's back, but the kid didn't let up, and the boy started sniffling.

"E-excuse me - may I...?"

Both Reigen and the mother looked up at Serizawa, who'd previously been standing off to the side, taking notes, but now had stepped up to them, looking nervous.

The mother shrugged, while Reigen hesitated; he had no idea what Serizawa planned to do and also doubted it was the best idea to let someone with strong social anxiety near a crying child - but surprisingly, Serizawa didn't wait for Reigen's okay. Instead, he crouched down, picked up a toddler with each hand, settled them on his lap and said, "Hey, do you like sparkly things? And colors?"

The girl ignored him and continued bawling, but the boy looked up and wrinkled his tiny nose at him in confusion. "Oh, you do? I love them as well. Blue, yellow, green... my favorite is orange, you know. What's your favorite color?" The boy hesitated, then stammered out: "W-wed..."

The girl looked over suspiciously, seeming almost irritated that her brother was hogging the attention, and started to cry louder. Serizawa, on the other hand, beamed at the boy. "Oh, yes, I love red! A strong color for a strong boy... Oh, maybe I can call it here... 'Red! Red, appear!'"

Even though he still wasn't very susceptible to such things, Reigen could feel the aura charge collecting around Serizawa - and suddenly the dark-haired esper and kids were surrounded with pulsing red swirls and sparkles, flowing and weaving around them. The kids stared at the sparkles, completely baffled. The girl even stopped crying, she was so surprised.

And then the boy started laughing and clapping his hands. "Pwetty!!!", he squeaked, bouncing up and down on Serizawa's knee. "Pwetty!!!" Serizawa smiled, and turned to the little girl, who was still pouting. "And what's your favorite color?"

The girl pressed her lips together, then mumbled, "Blue." Serizawa's smile widened, and he said, "How fitting, a cool color for such a cool little girl. Could you call for it, do you think? Call for blue?"

The girl frowned, then hesitantly nodded. "Blue. Bluuuue!"

Serizawa flicked his fingers, and more swirls burst foward, the blue mingling and intertwining with the red, creating a starburst like fireworks. The girl, fascinated, reached out to grab one of the strands, and it flowed towards her and nuzzled against her cheek; there was no other word for it. "Warm!"

Reigen and the mother stared down at the little scene, lost for words. "How does he do that?", the mother asked. "No idea," Reigen responded, not realizing she meant the aura manifestation. How does this guy get more amazing every time he walks into my office...?

Then he shook his head to regain his focus. "Anyway, this spirit, you want it exorcised? No problem at all, as you can see, this office has three strong, capable espers to take care of your problem."

The woman frowned. "Where's the third?"

Reigen scowled, about to retort angrily - until he realized his mistake. "Oh, right, Mob isn't here today. He has his date..." He frowned. "That Hanazawa kid better not mess this up, Mob's been excited about it for days..."

He turned back to the woman, who gave him a confused look. "Ah, no matter. Lets discuss the different exorcism courses..."

*

An hour later, Reigen and Serizawa were walking through the park, on their way to the playground. It was a beatiful day, the sun was shining and the first cherry blossoms were opening on the trees despite that sudden frost five days prior. Wow, Reigen thought drily, such a wonderfully romantic setting for an exorcism. The spirit will be thrilled.

Why not you?, an unacknowledged part of him whispered. After all, you're here alone with Serizawa...

No! No, shut up, brain!

Even so, Reigen couldn't help but glance over at Serizawa, who was marveling at the cherry blossoms. It had been more than two years since Serizawa had joined the Spirits And Such office, and in that time, Serizawa had grown so much. In the beginning, Reigen had actually thought that he'd be dealing with just another frightened child, but he'd been so wrong that it made him cringe now. Because once he'd finally managed to coax Serizawa out of his shell of fear, Serizawa had turned out to be so much more. So thoughtful, so dependable, so kind, so gentle, so sincere... always so sincere.

Not someone a fraud like him even deserved to be working with. Reigen was constantly afraid of the day when Serizawa would shed his past insecurities completely, and realize he could do so much better than Spirits and Such. But Reigen had no right to keep him tethered here, and definitely no right to ask for anything more than friendship.

No matter how much his heart ached.

"Uh, Reigen-san? Is there something on my face?"

Reigen blinked, and realized he'd been staring. "Ah, sorry, no... I was just, uhm. Thinking. That you were really good with the kids back in the office. Amazing, actually. I hadn't expected that."

Serizawa smiled, flushing at the praise, and Reigen felt a stinging in his chest. "Ah, thank you, Reigen, but that was nothing. Children are easy to understand, it's the adults that are difficult... Not that I think you're difficult," he quickly added, "but-"

"It's fine, I understand," Reigen quickly interrupted, "but well. You know. I couldn't have done it. I'm terrible with children, and always have been. Maybe it's hereditary. But I always feel like their big round eyes are judging me, like they see right through me. And that makes me nervous, and that makes them dislike me."

Serizawa chuckled gently. "Huh. Well then, I guess we'll just have to stick together." Then his eyes widened and he blushed. "F-for balance, I mean. Socially. Dealing with adults a-and kids. Um. Ah- sorry. Forget it."

Reigen swallowed, and forced a smile. Of course he doesn't want to stick with me for other reasons. "Right."

They spent the next few minutes in silence, only broken when they finally reached the playground. Reigen slowed his walk, letting his gaze trail over the swings and monkey bars. "Do you sense anything?"

"Only a slight presence," Serizawa responded, frowning at the tube.

Reigen chuckled. "Then I guess this'll be... a walk in the park."

Serizawa paused, then snorted, a grin sneaking on to his face. "Indeed."

Reigen felt absurdly proud of himself.

He walked over to the tube slowly, and started doing what he did best: talking. "Hello? Spirit, are you in there? Can you hear me?"

He stepped closer, but as soon as he neared the opening, an angry array of something spiked and broken lashed out, narrowly missing him as he jumped back.

Reigen inspected his tie. About half of it had been torn off and ripped to shreds. "Um. Well then."

"Reigen-san!" Serizawa was immediately at his side, staring alternately at the deceased tie and the tube. "I... the aura just expanded tenfold. I think the spirit was hiding it... I apologize for not noticing -"

Reigen waved his hand airily, hoping his legs weren't shaking. "Ah, it's fine, no harm done... Spirit? Why are you here?"

A buzzing like of a thousand bees, and a distorted voice, "gO aWAy;.!"

Reigen frowned. Not a good start. "Spirit -"

"gO aWaYyy; . aND dO''Nt caLL mE ThAt;;!"

Reigen stepped closer again, frowning. "What? 'Spirit'?"

Another explosion of spikes, this time blocked by Serizawa. Reigen felt his hair stand up on end, but remained still.

"My nAMe iS kaITo.,."

"Kai-" Reigen faltered. Something about the way that the spirit spoke, petulant, almost whining. So adamant about it's name, but only giving its first name, not the surname. Could it be -

"Are you a child?"

The spirit was silent. Then, "I dON;t AnsWEr tO StrAnGeRs,,."

Reigen exchanged a worried look with Serizawa, because that answer was as clear as any. They were definitely dealing with the spirit of a child, and those were violent and unstable at the best of times.

Serizawa stepped forwards, and crouched down to the tube even though he couldn't see in - the entire opening of the tube was blocked by dark, writhing aura tentacles, shimmering like oil slicks. What a powerful spirit, Reigen thought and shivered.

"Are you..." Serizawa wet his lips and tried again. "Are you waiting for your mother?"

A pause, then. "i DO';nt HaVE a mOTheR;.,."

Did it sound sad? Reigen couldn't tell through all the buzzing.

"Then, your father?"

The spikes flashed out again. "hE,,'S CoMiNg:., HE prOMiSeD!!.-,!"

Was it... agitated?

Serizawa slowly shuffled closer. "He's coming for you? Did he say when?"

Another pause. "DadDY wOrKs LonG. loNG. DaRk alReaDy. KaITo WaiTs."

Serizawa smiled softly and inched towards the psychic mess leaking out of the tube. "Because you're a good boy, a very responsible one. Practically an adult."

The tentacles withdrew a bit, became a bit more see-through. "ThAt'"s RIgHt.,. i;'M stRonG.. NoT cOLd.;,,-. Don#;T fEEl coLd--.,,,."

Reigen leaned closer, confused. "You're cold?"

"NOT COLD!;::!!;"

If not for Serizawa's shield, they would both have been shredded. "NoT cOlD. ,, nOT slEePy.;:: i WaIT.;;;:.-,-"

"Yes, you wait, like a grown-up," Serizawa said soothingly, then turned to Reigen, worry evident on his face. He mouthed, Should I excorcise him now?, but Reigen held up his hand, signaled him to wait. Because he had a horrible feeling in his gut and a growing suspition in his head that he needed to prove.

"How long Kaito? How long have you been waiting?"

"i,::,"

The spirit paused, became even more see-through. Reigen and Serizawa peered into the tube; they could just make out something small and lumpy at the bottom of it.

"I wAit.;::"

"More than a day?"

"i wAIt.;:-"

"Two days? Three?"

"I WaiT..,;:-"

"A week?"

Silence.

Reigen clearly remembered the weather report. '- experiencing a sudden cold front despite the previous approach of spring. Be sure to bring your jacket if you're going out at night, because temperatures are dropping below zero degrees celcius-'

"Five days?", he asked.

The spirit paled even more, almost translucent now. Reigen leaned as close to it as he dared, staring into the tube and confirming the shape of of the lumpy thing.

"I----:;;--:... hE PrOmiSEd.;:!:;,"

Reigen looked up at Serizawa, and swallowed hard. Exorcise it, he mouthed, feeling close to throwing up. Now.

Serizawa blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Now!"

And Serizawa - Serizawa shook his head.

He shook his head, and said to the spirit, "Of course your dad will come. He'll be here. Because he loves you."

And suddenly, there was a little boy crouching at the edge of the tube, form glowing green, looking up at them with empty eyes. "he dOEs,,:?;,.,"

Serizawa smiled softly. "All parents love their children. But your dad? He loves you the absolute most."

The spirit smiled, and glowed gold - and then it dissapeared, gone forever.

Reigen swallowed.

Then he reached into the tube with trembling hands, and pulled out the corpse.

The former body of small Kaito smiled blissfully in death, happy with a promise that may or may not have been true. "Not all parents love their children," Reigen said hollowly, gently brushing the hair back from the bluish tinged face, not even caring about the smell of five day's decomposition.

Serizawa gently pulled the body away from him. "They do. Even yours did. Even if they weren't there when they should have been."

Reigen stared at him.

Stared at Serizawa, his insides exposed; opened and closed his mouth without words coming out. "How...?"

Serizawa smiled. "Reigen-san... if anyone, I know what real fear looks like. You were projecting onto Kaito."

Reigen suddenly feels a tear running down his cheek without being sure how it got there. "I..." He swallowed again. "I guess I was, huh."

Serizawa reached out, hesitantly, and brushed the tear away. His hand was so tender, and Reigen leaned into the touch.

"Don't worry, Reigen-san. I'll never leave, as long as you want me to stay. Because you're important to me, so, so important. Because I -"

Serizawa hesitated, then plunged onwards, "Because I love you."

Reigen's breath hitched, but Serizawa didn't notice. "And I know you don't love me back, not in that way, but that's okay. I don't have to be your lover, and I won't leave just because I can't be... I just want you to know that you always have a shoulder to lean on."

Reigen stared into Serizawa's warm brown eyes, and thought, I don't deserve you... But I want to, I want to, so much.

And Reigen leaned forwards and as his eyes closed, he brushed his lips against Serizawa's; carefully, tenderly. Serizawa froze, at first, but as Reigens hand came up to cup his face he melted into the kiss, a soft sigh escaping his lips and warming Reigen to his core. Never cold again.

He pulled back and smiled softly, saw his blush mirrored on Serizawa's face, as the esper stuttered, "R-reigen-san?"

And for the first time in too many years, Reigen thought he'd like to hear his own first name again.

"Please, call me Arataka."