#and serizawa and Reigen kind of?? get together I mean they do but serizawa is pissed about the whole reigen almost dying thing

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I know I haven't posted here in forver but mp100 moots PLEASE tell me you know who wrote the fanfic "Sadness Accident" and if it still exist I can't find it anywhere and it is literally my fav fic of all time I'm going crazy😭😭😭😭.

[urlocallesbiabs-reblog-sideblog]

the last time reigen let dimple possess him, it was, well, — it felt fucking great, despite everything. standing in the eye of the storm, indestructible, fast, strong, agile, powerful, together; having entrusted him with reigen's useless old little body and gotten a 200% return on the investment! so what if he wanted to feel something at least a little bit like that again, if he missed the crowdedness under his skin? so what if he's been feeling kind of lonely lately, especially when off work, what with mob being busy, and himself not being all too close to tome-chan yet, and not letting himself get all too close to serizawa? so maybe reigen starts letting dimple possess him from time to time, just, casually. most of the time the possessions aren't even justified, but it's not weird if they don't talk about it. dimple enjoys being able to breathe, and says exactly that; reigen enjoys being together, and says nothing of it.

reigen never admits any of his reasons, obviously; neither does dimple admit that he deeply appreciates what reigen does for him. it's just a weird little thing that happens between them, largely unacknowledged, mentioned either not at all or through crude lighthearted jokes, with emotions welling in the whitespace between words.

over time, reigen gets his head out of his ass, and him and serizawa become good friends, best friends, boyfriends, even, and later move in together. the thing with dimple continues to happen because there's no real reason for it to stop, and frankly it's not like they ever discuss that; it just carries on. katsuya's been noticing for quite a while that Something has been happening, but he never felt like it's his place to ask, especially when it seemed so silent — nearly non-existent, despite being very real. well, whatever arataka chooses to do with his free time, right?

***

one night katsuya stays out drinking with his school friends a little later than he was expecting, and comes home a little drunker than he was going to. he finds arataka in the kitchen, chopping some vegetables, main lights off and over-the-counter lights dim and amber around his frame; he's so, so pretty, and katsuya hugs him from the back, reaching to try and place a kiss. arataka turns around, his face flashing a wide grin and very bright red cheeks. "oh hi," dimple says. katsuya backs off clumsily, and stammers, "ah, i'm so sorry! i was expecting arataka to be here, but it's you, ah-h-h, this is awkward, again i'm so sorry!"

"no big deal," dimple waves off, and turns back to chopping. "fyi, usually when i'm here, it doesn't mean reigen's not — i don't displace him, yanno? just hanging around in his head, it's like buddy time." he grins again. "right now he isn't, though: i'm just puppeteering the thing. he passed out on the couch waiting for you, and i thought y'all wouldn't appreciate not having shit to eat for breakfast. i'll whip up some stir-fry for tomorrow and dump this back where i found it for a good night's sleep, dw about it"

"ah," katsuya says eloquently, "thank you."

he doesn't leave the kitchen, still — changes positions, getting comfortable, leans on the counter, and watches dimple work. his quick movements, his(?) elegant hands, his concentrated expression, his(?) golden hair, his red cheeks. he looks so handsome like that.

"you look so handsome like this," katsuya says before his brain-to-mouth filter catches up to the rest of him.

dimple puts the knife down and stretches his(? arataka's?) hands out before him, admiring. "it's a beautiful body," he admits. it's not a grin, but smile, softer this time; private, even. "don't tell reigen i said that, but — i really enjoy this; being like this. not just the whole getting to be alive, running around and breathing and eating thing, though of course that too, but also — you know what i mean," he shifts a shoulder up. "possessing anyone is fun, but possessing reigen..." he runs one of his(?) hands down another of his(?) arms, lightly — almost reverently. "it's nice."

katsuya's breath hitches.

he's standing closer than he remembers being. arataka is so pretty like that, in this soft lighting; dimple is so pretty like that, in this soft body.

"i still want to kiss you," katsuya whispers.

dimple's breath, just for a flashing moment, hitches too; he wouldn't admit it. "go ahead," he says, louder than a whisper, but way quieter than his voice.

katsuya does.

it's not chaste and not desperate; gentle-slow and quick-curious, soft, warm, almost exactly the same as every kiss he'd had before, just like this, but so unlike them, and almost tangibly new.

it feels great.

"it feels great," dimple breathes. "it's been a long time, and i've kind of... forgotten what it's like. so i've always wondered how it would feel if i did it."

"you mean, kissing in general, or?..." katsuya makes a terrible, embarrassed pause. "...kissing me?"

dimple shrugs, and turns back to the cutting board again. chop-chop-chop! katsuya stares, maybe a bit dumbly.

***

katsuya wakes up in the middle of the night, slightly less drunk but significantly more disoriented, and stumbles towards bathroom, and gets arataka's phone flashlight shone right into his fucking face (and then quickly towards his feet with a bit-louder-than-necessary apology).

" 'm going to the bathroom", katsuya explains.

"ah, i'm just heading back. samesies moment!" arataka jokes.

katsuya buffers.

"i kissed your boyfriend last night and i'm so sorry!"

"...you are my boyfriend, tsuya," he raises an incredulous brow, and then a hand to brush at katsuya's forehead. "you alright, buddy?.. uh, do you mean you gave me a kiss while i was asleep? if so, it's fine, you shouldn't worry about little things like that-"

"no! i mean kinda yes? agh, i mean dimple-was-posessing-you-while-you-were-asleep-and-i-kissed-him-and-he-kissed-me-back-i'm-so-sorry!"

"ah yea he does that someti- you What? dimple WHAT? wait, did you just call dimple my BOYFRIEND?"

***

the conversation that ensues is horrible. not because anyone's fighting — no one is even angry, unless you count violent bafflement as a subtype of anger — but because a honest, serious, 3-way conversation regarding dimple, gayness, feelings, and gay feelings for dimple, by definition can not be not horrible. arataka takes a smoke break in the middle. (he quit 5 years ago, but a guy needs exceptions). katsuya feels the closest he's ever felt to a heart attack, and that's including all his previous life experiences. dimple grows out a weird little perfunctory foot to tap it in the air.

but they try their best, and they figure things out.

in the end, not much changes; they still don’t talk about too often, but now it feels more like comfortable lack of necessity rather than avoidance; they all just get it. and occasionally, dimple possesses arataka while he kisses katsuya, and oftentimes vice versa.

it's nice.

[superstarfang]

I WANNA BE WITH YOU - serirei quick write

The office had been quiet for a bit, only the sounds of deep breathing, shuffling papers, and the click of a keyboard could be heard. Reigen sat in his office chair, his back folded like a shrimp as he tirelessly searched for new job openings. Meanwhile, Serizawa had been sitting at his little desk, looking over the assignments he had to do before his next exam came up. They were both bored out of their minds, to say the least. 

Desperate for anything besides silence, Reigen tries to spark up a conversation with his coworker, “So…wanna do something, Katsuya?” 

Serizawa's dark eyes peered over the papers and nervously responded, “I mean…sure. What do you have in mind, boss?” 

“I told you that you don't have to call me that. Just call me Reigen. And- I was considering playing Truth or Dare with you. We barely get to talk outside of the office, so it might be nice to get to know each other a bit more.” Reigen's hands were flailing around as he spoke and Serizawa watched them, mesmerized.

“Don't you think we know a lot about each other already?” Serizawa let out a polite chuckle. “But, I wouldn't mind playing.” 

“Great! Then let's get started. I'll go first.” Reigen displayed a cheeky grin as his swivel chair rolled across the floor to the front of Serizawa's desk. Serizawa returned the gesture with a friendly grin.

Reigen set his hands on the desk, folding them together as he began, “Truth or dare?” 

Serizawa sat in deep thought before answering, “Truth.” 

Of course, Reigen could be nice and ask questions about his past life as a student in high school. Perhaps talk about his ambitions in elementary school, or ask about his favorite food. But, he wanted to see a different kind of reaction from him. Flustered. It made Reigen's heart race, and he would give anything just to see him in a puddle of embarrassment.

“Have you ever had a girlfriend?” The question slipped through Reigen's lips and Serizawa noticed an obvious aura change. The once laid-back boss turned into…a desperate flirtatious man. But, Serizawa couldn't exactly pick up on the second part. 

His face was flushed a crimson red as he mumbled, “No…that's an embarrassing question Reigen.” 

“I don't believe so,” Reigen shrugged in response, “I want to get to know you as much as possible. It will improve our work relationship,  I promise.”

“If you say so…I believe it's my turn to ask. Truth or dare, Reigen?” Serizawa had been affected by such a personal question, and he began to fiddle his fingers in his lap. He could feel his face getting hot like a wildfire. 

Reigen chuckled and kicked his feet onto the desk, “Truth. Hit me with anything.” 

The position made Serizawa's heart skip a beat. His legs were tight in his ashy grey suit, and his jawline was defined as he leaned his head back. The pace of Serizawa's heart continued to get faster as he bit his lip, trying to bring himself back into reality. 

“Have…have you had a girlfriend?” Serizawa mumbled nervously. 

“What do you think?” Reigen proceeded to slip his jacket off his shoulders, and let it drag to the floor. “Sorry, I am getting a bit hot.” 

Reigen was aware of Serizawa's embarrassment and only wanted to feed into it more. Even the slight movements of Reigen could melt Serizawa into a pool. So, Reigen began to undo his tie a bit, letting his bare neck be exposed to his coworker.

Serizawa had begun to form sweat on his forehead, the mix of summer warmth seeping into the office and tension starting to make him hot under his clothes. 

“I think so…you're a very charming man Reigen. Any woman would want you.” Serizawa attempted to look away from Reigen, but Reigen tapped his heel on the desk, indicating for Serizawa to look back.

“Would you be surprised if I said that I haven't?” Reigen's grin spoke words as he stared into Serizawa's raven eyes. He looked like he was going to eat him alive. Serizawa nodded in response, his eyebrows curled with an expression of worry on his face. What was Reigen doing to him? This wasn't a normal thing to feel towards his boss. 

Reigen took his feet off the desk and scooted his chair closer to the desk, leaning himself forward which made Serizawa squirm in his seat. 

“My turn. Truth or dare?” Reigen rested his head onto his palms, continuing to stare into Serizawa's eyes. Serizawa didn't want another embarrassing question. So, he responded with a dare.

Reigen sat in thought for a moment, trying to brew up the perfect dare to embarrass Serizawa before he responded, “I dare you to tell me how you truly feel about me.”

Serizawa's eyebrows raised in confusion before he started to think. His mind became a deep sea, the moments of him and his boss crashing like waves against the sandy shores of his heart. The soft palms of Reigen ran along his neck while he was giving him his haircut, making the hairs on his arms stick up like thorns. Their fingers accidentally touch when walking on the street together, then arriving at the bar where Reigen would tease him mercilessly while he was tipsy. Serizawa would have to end up carrying him home, and he could feel the heavy breaths of his boss slip into his ear and it made him feel something he had never felt before. Reigen’s chest pressed up against Serizawa’s back awoken a fire that had kept growing larger since the first time that he saw Reigen. That fire was admiration for his boss. It would set his whole body ablaze and make his cheeks warm to the touch. At times Reigen thought he was having a fever, and would set the back of his hand onto Serizawa’s head, and then glide it down like ice to his cheeks, and hold it gently.  He couldn’t deny it any longer. This feeling he had been feeling this whole time was…love.

“Serizawa?” Reigen snapped Serizawa back into reality, and as he looked into his boss's eye, he wanted to pull him closer. He wanted to shut him up with his lips- what embarrassing thoughts.

“I see you as…” Serizawa bolted his eyes around the room, panic beginning to rush over him. He didn’t want to lie to Reigen, as he was his boss and he looked up to him a lot. But, if Reigen doesn’t feel the same and he told him… he doesn’t want to know what would happen next. 

Serizawa looked at Reigen’s desk and saw the mug that said, “#1 Boss” as he muttered, “A great boss.” 

Reigen rolled his eyes and let out a heavy sigh, slamming his head into his palm. Although it may have just seemed like he got friend-zoned, Reigen knew that he was lying to his face. If he just saw him as “a great boss” then he wouldn’t struggle so much to find the words. He wouldn’t have been acting like a fool every time he saw him. The list could go on forever. 

“Whatever,” he playfully scoffed, “it’s your turn.”

Serizawa let out a sigh of relief as he asked Reigen, and to Serizawa’s surprise, he replied dare. Shoot- Serizawa didn’t have anything planned for this. He was going to ask Reigen how he felt about him- and now his plan was ruined. So he sat in thought for a few minutes before Reigen chimed in. 

“Come on! There has to be something that you want me to do. Anything.” 

Serizawa gulped and muttered without thinking, “I dare you to kiss me.” 

Reigen couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping and the pace of his heart spiked. He couldn’t believe he said it. And, now that he had said it, he felt like he was melting away like lava below. He was so used to being the more “dominant” one that when Serizawa does it- he doesn’t know what to do. 

“Serizawa, that’s very blunt. But, I wouldn’t mind it.” Reigen’s face had become the same shade as a tomato while his palms became sticky. His mind was filled with thoughts he couldn’t even comprehend right now. 

Serizawa noticed the change in aura within Reigen and something inside of him snapped. Serizawa finally had the upper hand, and he wanted more of it. He wanted to see Reigen lose his cool over him. He wanted to see the frenzied look on his face once more. 

Serizawa rose from his chair and Reigen’s eyes followed him. Reigen had suddenly felt so small compared to the beast upon him. Serizawa’s fingers ran along the desk before they pointed at Reigen. His fingertips seemed to glow violet as Reigen felt a sudden force come upon him. The blond rose from his chair and he almost landed face-first on the desk before his hands caught him. Serizawa’s grin sent chills down Reigen’s spine like a frosty, winter night. The now confident coworker let his hand wrap around Reigen’s tie like vines and he tugged gently on it, bringing the two closer together than ever before. 

Their faces were inches apart, and Reigen could feel Serizawa’s hot breath run down his neck like vapor, which continued to make his face even hotter. Serizawa decided to let his hands slide up from the desk to Reigen’s chest and neck, and then finally his cheek. Reigen’s brain still couldn’t even process what was happening, but lord knows he has wanted this for so long. Too bad he couldn’t say it out loud. 

“Do you want this?” Serizawa’s tone was now compassionate, which set Reigen at ease. Reigen nodded before verbally consenting. Serizawa leaned in, and their lips finally parted into a kiss. The world seemed to stop for a minute, as the two sat there. All care they could have had about their job, their past, or their future slipped away into the abyss as the two finally became one. 

But then- the door hinges whined from a distance, which sent a wave of panic through both of them. WHAT WAS THAT!?

Reigen fell into his chair below him, his face still red as could be, and in a daze, as he saw a familiar face pop through the door. Mob. 

“Hello master- uhm…” Mob surveyed his surroundings as he began to talk. Serizawa was…smiling? And Reigen looked helpless in his chair. Perhaps Reigen had gotten sick while he was away? Allergies were spreading around because of the changes in seasons. 

“Hello Mob, Reigen was catching a fever due to the allergies, and I thought I would try and help him. You know how he is…” Serizawa quickly made an excuse, a cheeky grin on his face.

Mob nodded, totally oblivious to the situation, “Oh, alright. I was just popping in because I left my  jacket here yesterday. Sorry to bother you.” 

“No worries. You’re hanging out with Hanazawa today, correct?” Serizawa attempted small talk while Reigen still had his jaw dropped, his eyes darting back and forth between Serizawa and Mob. What was going on? Could Mob really not notice anything? 

Mob nodded and grabbed the jacket before putting it on. He waved goodbye, and the two noticed something before he closed the door. The jacket had an embroidered T on the back of it. They both looked at each other in confusion, before shrugging it off. Then, Serizawa looked at Reigen, his eyes filled with passion and love. 

“So, would you like to continue, boss?”  ---END---

[acermp100]

WAWA WEEK PART 4: WAWA RISING

28/3 – Animals/Food: KITTIES

This one is just silly. Based loosely on this.

Mob and Serizawa chill together during a Reigen sanctioned break. Kittens ensue.

General audience. More implied seri/rei. I think I added it to everyone of these I'm sorry.

2700~ words

----------------------

The sun still hung high in the air with a few puffy, white clouds keeping the air cool enough to be pleasant. This part of town would be busy in a few hours but right after lunch it sat quite empty. They walked past only a few people heading back to work. Bird song could be heard from the row of trees leading up to a small, communal park.

Serizawa had been here before, but only in passing. He found himself distracted by all the nature he had never noticed: butterflies and caterpillars as a squirrel of some sort gnawed at a nut on one of the tree branches.

“Alright crew!”

Reigen stopped walking, causing the others to halt as well. Serizawa went stiff as a board.

“We mistimed that last client.” And there went the hands. Serizawa watched them as they emphasized every word. “And having completed the prior service faster than expected, as well as finishing lunch early, we now have accrued and extra hour before our next appointment.”

All three had been together for the day, Reigen, Mob, and Serizawa, traveling from one home to another after someone got a brilliant scheme to charge even more for house calls. Personal Psychic Visits call today!

“Do we go back for more lunch?” Mob looked up at his boss waiting for an answer.

“Or maybe, um-“ Serizawa turned away as he played with his hands infront of him. “Get some- uh- office supplies?”

“Haha. Your answers are exactly why I have prepared this task for you.” Reigen brought a hand to his face before drawing it down in a long arc. “You two are going to take a break!”

Mob and Serizawa blinked back.

Reigen let out a sigh. “Look just- just go to that park over there and sit down for a while. Ok?”

“Oh.” Serizawa gave a bow. “Thank you, Reigen-san!”

He followed behind Mob through the little gate into a shaded patch flanked by large trees. Their leaves danced in the light breeze creating little rays of sun that shone onto the surface of the small fountain at the center. A few benches circled the meager, but peaceful area. With no one else around they sat down together and took a moment to enjoy that special kind of silence that only nature could provide.

“I’ve never done this before.” Serizawa spoke after a bit. “Just taking a break in the middle of everything I mean.” A concerned grin. “Especially not for Spirits and Such!”

Mob looked out through the park into the street that ran by before turning back. “I think Shishou just wanted us out of the way so he could go pitch salt lamps to that café owner.”

A nod from Serizawa. “Ah, he did bring them up during the meal.”

“And the owner seemed interested.” Mob replied.

Serizawa tried to see if he could spot Reigen from this distance. Through one of the café windows there appeared to be someone doing part of a gymnastics routine. Yeah. That was probably him.

A few birds flitted by, landing on a low hanging branch before hoping up and along to another, singing as they went. Taking time off felt right: a little break to gather one’s self and be in the moment. Serizawa watched Mob start to lightly kick his legs back and forth under him, before he too looked down at his own feet and followed along. When he was in school this would have been branded as a pointless waste of time. In Claw he would have been told to stop goofing off and focus. A butterfly landed on one of the flowers that bloomed around the fountain, lowering its wings before bringing them together.

“Hey, do you hear that?”

Sitting up with a jerk, Serizawa broke from his pseudo meditation. “Hear what??”

“Shhh.” Mob was leaning down, trying to see under the bench. “Not so loud.”

“Hear what?” Serizawa repeated in a barely audible whisper.

All he could manage to detect was the bird song above. But then, one of the calls sounded too different and much lower. Both of them looked up at the opposite bench as the weeds underneath began to shift and rustle.

“Mree!”

A small, white kitten wandered out from the grass. It had little spots of black fur on his face and legs with one front paw being nearly all dark making it appear as if it was wearing one large sock. This was the leg it was lifting up as it cried out, steadily making its way towards Serizawa and Mob.

“Awww!” Serizawa brought his hands up to his face. “It’s so tiny! Is it hurt??”

Mob slid off the bench and crouched down, holding out his fingers. “I think so.” In a higher pitched voice he cooed to the little kitten. “Come here! It’s ok, we’re nice.”

The kitten paused for a moment before trotting over with increased speed, going straight for a headbutt and rub against Mob’s leg. More high pitched mews rang out.

“I wonder if its mom is near.” Mob gently pet the tiny thing as it pawed at his hand. The hurt leg seemed fine now.

“We can check the bushes.” Serizawa joined him, sitting in the cool grass. “His little spots are so, cute like a tiny cow.”

The kitten tripped, rolling over before making sure to give Serizawa’s leg a good rub too. Another round of meows. But this time there were far more, all cascading over one another in a growing choir.

“Oh my-“

Serizawa gripped his chest. Two more kittens came out of the far bush. No, three. Five?

“There’s so many!” Mob found them tumbling over each other to get onto his lap as well as Serizawa’s.

Now eight in total kittens, some black and white like the first, others ginger or tabby, were circling, climbing, and mewing up a storm with their new found human friends. Serizawa hand’s began to shake as he struggled to give each one the attention they deserved.

“Look! This one has little white socks!” Mob held up a dark tabby with lighter paws.

Serizawa was grinning wide, a few tears in his eyes at the momentous and sudden explosion of preciousness. “And this little guy has a black nose! All white and just that spot on his face!”

“Ha ha. I’ve never seen so many before at once.” Mob too was laughing in full, laying back to allow the kitties to use him as a make shift cat tree.

“I used to see ginger kittens all the time when I walked back from school.” Serizawa was now holding one in each hand as they loudly purred, his fingers feeling the happy vibrations. “My mom and I had a joke that every cat in the area was ginger and came from some big orange cat Kami.”

“I hope they weren’t abandoned.” Mob’s voice trailed off while he gave quality chin scritches to the two now lying on his chest.

Serizawa frowned for a bit at the thought. Didn’t matter now because they were here. He watched one crouch, wiggling its butt before leaping to pounce on his shoe. Three others had decided his lap was now their bed. For a moment it was all mews and smiles until one of the ginger decided to climb up Serizawa’s back. The little claws pricked through his suit and he froze while the kitten managed to get all the way up to his shoulder. There it stood triumphant, rubbing against his cheek with its whole body with a rumbling purr.

“Uh- um.” Serizawa’s hands were shaking even worse now. “Shigeo?”

The levels of adorable had been too much and now some of the kittens were hovering a few inches off the ground along with some small stones and bits of grass.

“I’m s-sorry! I’m trying to keep control.” He was tense now, eyes closing.

Mob sat up. “It’s alright! They seem to like it. Look!”

Taking a deep breath, Serizawa opened one eye, then the other. A black and white kitten floated in front of his face pawing at its own tail, purring as it slowly rotated in the air. The ones in his lap were still snuggled together but had their heads up as they gained their bit of altitude. Two more in the air seemed to be trying to play fight but hovered a few inches too far away resulting in excited rolling and pawing.

“Th-they do!” Serizawa raised a hand and gently cupped one of the battling kittens. It plopped into his palm, belly up and paws curled. “They are so cute, how could someone just dump them in a park?”

“I don’t know.” Mob aided the other floating cats to the ground. The mews he got in return made him smile from ear to ear. “We can help them though.”

It was Serizawa’s turn to lie back, letting out a sigh as he marinated in fur and purrs. “How though?”

“They are probably hungry.”

“Oh! Wait.” Turning to his side, Serizawa pulled his brief case closer and started to rummage through the contents. “I have some jerky in here somewhere. Aha!”

He sat back up with a bag of shredded and dried beef. From just the smell, every kitten congregated around him, reaching up to swipe at the food. Serizawa laughed, his free hand trying to garner enough space in the grass for him to place the jerky. Eventually he gave up against the jumping, crowding kittens and simply dumped the entire bag amongst them.

The meowing stopped, replaced now with chewing amid ever continuing purrs with a few growls in between as they all defended their treats. One stepped back, shaking its self. Another had dropped its piece and was pawing at it.

“Oh.” Mob picked up one of the discarded bits. “I think this stuff is too hard for them.”

“Oh no. I don’t really have anything things else.” Serizawa went through his pack again. “What do they need? Milk?”

Picking one up, Mob stared at the little thing in his hands. Ginger with white front paws, it mewed before gnawing at his thumb.

“They are small but probably off milk, or at least close.” The others had given up eating and resumed their needy meows. “We need something soft, like canned tuna.”

Serizawa frowned down. Just then Reigen came across the corner with a bag of fries in one hand, his cell phone in another, and several of the fried potatoes sticking out from his lips while he chewed on a generous mouthful.

“What the-” His shock came out muffled by the food. Swallowing, he held both the fries and cell phone out at arm’s length. “I left you alone for 30 minutes!”

“S-sorry, Reigen-san.” Serizawa turned his head to avoid the angry stare of his boss. “We got a bit side tracked.”

“Shishou!” Mob looked up. “Can you buy some cat food? The soft kind in the cans!”

“I- wait-what?” Reigen wandered over still trying to piece together what exactly he was looking at.

The cat that had climbed onto Serizawa’s shoulder had now made it to the top of his head, making the man laugh. “Yes please! And maybe a box so we can carry them!”

The boss of Spirits and Such stood there over his two employees sitting in the grass covered in mewing kittens. One of the rascals ran over and butted up against his pants leg, looking up and letting out a tiny, happy trill.

“I’m not getting cat food!” He took a few steps back. The kitten pursued. “And we can’t keep them! What are we going to do, take them to the office?”

Mob gazed up with wide eyes and a kitten against his cheek as he held up one of the dark tabbies. “Shishou please? It’s just for the day until we can take them to the shelter.”

“They are all alone with no mother.” Serizawa joined in, giving his best sad face. “We have to do something.”

“But I- you see- we can’t just- and the office and- UGH!” Reigen ended his broken ramble and crossed his arms in front of him. “We have a client to meet up with in like 20 minutes!” Pointing at one kitten, he drew an arm down before bringing it up into an open palm, fingers tensing. “I told you to take a break not adopt half the strays in the area.”

The normally gruff and serious Serizawa spoke in a soft, begging pitch as he met his boss’s eyes. “Please, Reigen-san.”

A bit of red flushed over Reigen’s cheeks and he hid his face in a hand. Can’t say no to that.

“FINE!” He huffed for a moment before crossing his arms again and glaring daggers at what ever happened to be at is right side. It was a tree. “I’ll- call the client and say something came up.” Another grumble. “Then we can take them back to the office.” He looked back at his employees. “Will that make you happy?”

Serizawa and Mob both beamed while covered in kittens. “Yes! Thank you!”

A few moments later, Reigen returned with a cardboard box he had scavenged in the nearby alley, his mind racing. Serizawa took it and gave a bow, smiling at his boss.

“You’re a good man, Reigen-san.”

Reigen turned away, Serizawa failing to notice the blush and distant look in his eyes. After a careful kneel, he began to pick up the kittens one by one with Mob and place them into the box. The task proved difficult as the little guys kept jumping out again, but eventually they got every last one of them secured.

Mob held the box leaving Serizawa to get the rest of their things. Over his shoulder he could hear Reigen muttering on the phone amongst the kitten mews.

“Yes I’m sorry. There’s been a bit of an emergency with- with the client before you. Can we reschedule? Y-yes. I can give a discount. Alright. See you tomorrow.”

Serizawa watched his boss snap his phone closed and drop his shoulders, ending with a long sigh. For a moment their eyes met and Serizawa gave a sheepish grin back. Reigen straightened his back and managed a smile of his own. Just then a kitten ran between his legs and Reigen panicked, chasing after the little thing before tripping into a bench.

“Reigen-san!” Serizawa rushed over. “Are you alright?”

A mumble before Reigen picked himself up off the back of the bench, wiping dirt off his suit jacket. “Yeah. But I think I lost the kitten.”

“No worries, Shishou.”

Mob stood with the box and the now hovering escapee floated over to them. Reigen held out his hands and took the kitten. It mewed, going for the pink tie but flopping over and deciding to remain half curled up on its back.

“Maybe one of them can be the office mascot.” Serizawa suggested as Reigen pet at the tiny ginger kitty.

“That’s what Dimple is for.”

A chuckle from both of them. And yet Reigen’s gaze was fixed on the cat as it purred and made biscuits against his fingers. For a moment he remained lost in thought, relaxed and joyful, but soon snapped back to his expected levels of strained charisma.

“Alright! Let’s head back to the office and see if we can contact the local shelter.”

Serizawa let out a sigh. Maybe one day his boss would learn what taking a break is all about. Until then, perhaps a box of eight adorable, mewing kittens would help.

[ygodmyy20]

🍉, 🍊, 🍍, 🥝, 🍈, and 🍇, please?

Okay this may need to be the last one I do cuz I am on my phone haha

🍉 Do you prefer to write short fics or long fics? Multichaptered works or single ones? Why?

I’m not sure as I have done both! I do love my current long fic right now but i love writing short ones as well. I think the long fic is fun but it is a lot of work and a little overwhelming. Single chapters are nice tho and I kinda wish i did it more. Just to get the idea out there.

I can only work on one long fic at a time I think….but I may change that soon. I dunno haha

🍊 Who’s a character you don’t write for that often, but keep meaning to write for more? (They’re so interesting! But maybe you have trouble pinning them down, or keep getting distracted by another blorbo…)

Reigen. God he is a character I struggle to write but there is so much meat to him. So much I could explore. I’m finding my way through my Ageswap but it took me awhile to get here.

Reigen makes me….angry sometimes haha so that’s also hard to write him.

🍍 What kind of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with?

I’m pretty chill pickle with all AUs. Monster au, mermaid au, Ageswap, space. You name it I’ll be down.

Ofc my fav right now is Ageswap au cuz that’s what I’m writing hahah

🍈 Who’s your blorbo and what are some of your favorite headcanons/ideas about them that repeatedly show up in your fics? Free pass to rant about blorbo opinions.

It’s a hard tie between Teru and Shigeo. But because Teru is more top of mind right now I’ll go with him.

MY fav HC for Teru is….many. So here are a few fun ones:

* he never keeps the same hair forever. But my favorite hairstyle of his, is the side shave. He keeps that for most of his 20s

* Teru loves to cook. He learned how in his late teens after getting way too sick too often when he was a kid living in his own. I think Reigen, Shigeo, Ritsu and Serizawa help him learn how to cook. Once he figures it out teru is all in

* Physical touch is so important for Teru. Him and Shigeo have a lot of past traumas about touch. They work together a lot to find a healthy balance with touch. I think this is platonic or romantic. Teru likely went months without a loving physical touch.

* Teru needs to have control. If he doesn’t he falls apart. There are many times in his life where he won’t ask for help because he needs to be in control. this does not end well.

* Teru has trust issues that he has to spend most of his life working on. He trusts a select few people but would never trust them to take care of him. Teru can take care of himself (he says to himself).

* Teru loves to knit, to create things, to doodle. He likes doing things with his hands.

That’s just a few hahaha

[periwinklecosma]

(tw for r*cism, p*dophilia, tr*nsphobia, and SA)

truly i am not saying this simply for the sake of being mean or a snob but i wish mp100 fans would think more about the type of people they choose to make popular in our community. as a fic reader and writer i've seen all kinds of shit that people come up with and i'm not picky with what i enjoy but you know what i find to be completely baffling? the fact that only a handful of people seem to be willing to be critical of an author who (and i'm not putting this under a read more because you guys need to see how fucking long this is and let it sink in):

wrote touichirou to be even worse than he already is in canon. we're talking about being pro-eugenics, being racist towards serizawa (who is portrayed as blasian), and condoning child impregnation (don't even try to come at me with the whole "well duh he's the villain so what's the problem?!" because let me ask you: why would any of the above be necessary to show that touichirou is a villain? all of this is ultimately unimportant to the fic in question as a whole and imo they're not handled with the necessary care that should entail. something being dark and gritty =/= being better; i thought we've evolved past this mindset). excuse me for disregarding mp100's themes of "it's never too late to change" for a second here, but shit like this makes it extra difficult to buy into his character development post-wd arc. most recently, the author has revealed herself to hc him as having had a white south african mother from whom he learned "his kind of eugenics mindset. outright headcanoning a character to be racist huh? white.

is racist towards serizawa in general actually. the narration is constantly making weird comments about his hair before he starts working at s&s. you see people like REIGEN saying he looks sloppy, and it's never called out.

wrote a graphic sequence where reigen gives birth in a taxi while ritsu watches and helps deliver it. again, it's a completely unnecessary scene and adds nothing to the overall narrative, and it can be very uncomfortable for those faint of heart. also theres a gratuitous r/trei joke thrown in there for good measure.

has very questionable trans rep, according to the trans people i've spoken to. serizawa is implied to have a trans fetish, shimazaki is portrayed as a trans woman chaser (you know for the funnies), and allusions to reigen's transness are mostly through explicit imagery.

is really weird about the kids????? shou is characterized as someone who's constantly making dirty and frankly unsettling comments towards others even when he isn't being aged up, even though that's not a trait he has in canon. he and the others are constantly dancing right up to this really uncomfortable line that stops just short of full-blown gross shit.

WROTE A FIC WHERE REIGEN ASSAULTS SERIZAWA. do you hear me? she wrote a fucking fic where serizawa wakes up to reigen trying to get it on with him. that is assault. this author will tell you that it isn't assault because they're in an established relationship but listen to me: That. Is. Assault.

doesn't tag any of the shit i just mentioned! she doesn't alert her audience to any of these things before she draws in her audience because she's more worried about "spoilers" than actually protecting people. one time someone asked her to tag the fic i mentioned in the bullet point directly above as SA due to being triggered but she refused because they were the only person to have a problem with it (allegedly), and also because they were "rude." wtf. basic fucking decency shouldn't hinge on how polite or rude someone is being, but she has such a huge victim complex despite being 39 years old and too old for this shit that she doesn't even realize it.

again i am not trying to put myself on a soapbox and say that i'm inherently better than anyone but i really am so disappointed in you people. for the most part i find that this fandom is a lot more well put together than a lot of those hellholes out there (save for the standard fuckery that all fandoms are guilty of obviously) but seeing talented artists that i otherwise respect and have nothing against choose to put this person on a pedestal and by extension enable this sort of thing to continue is so disheartening. i'm not trying to attack anyone or accuse them of consciously condoning this content, but please think for a bit before you uncritically recommend it to others just because it has your favorite ship in it or because you enjoy darker and more mature themes.

[loquaciouscat]

Tales of Miku - a short fanfiction about Serirei and Miku Day

On March 9...

Reigen enters the office, with a small snack in his hand. A bit later than usual, he stumbles into his chair without looking around, zoning out, already thinking about how he is supposed to make up for the waiting documents, two clients who are supposed to get in about 15 minutes later, him looking like a hot mess (he fell asleep on his couch yesterday watching a stupid soap drama and he was late) by the way he still needed his morning tea, hell, would the water boil in 15 minutes? He needed to-

His train of thought is disturbed by Serizawa's unfamiliarly cheerful sound.

-Reigen-san, good morning!

Reigen finally tears his eyes away from the nothingness he was staring at, squinting his eyes and looking up at Serizawa. His voice is way too high-pitched for the awful morning he started with. Also well, he looks, uh, different? His eyes are sparkling, wearing a proud bright smile. It is cute, to be honest, wait, you're not supposed to think about that coworker, god not again, we had this convo for the hundredth time now-

-How are you doing today?

Huh. Is that a.. cyan tie?

-Good morning to you too, Serizawa...

-I already made tea!

Oh. He doesn't need to worry about the tea at least. Although, he still needed to figure out what the hell was up with Serizawa.

He stares at Serizawa's hand unintentionally while he is handing the tea carefully. Wait wait, colorful bracelets now? He is wearing colorful bracelets? At work?

-Not quite chatty, are we?

Reigen shrugs, still debating with himself if Serizawa secretly got possessed or not by a teenage girl's spirit. "Not really. Had a not-so-great night. I keep getting reminded by my body after my 20s your body is not so kind back to you if you fall asleep in weird places. Anyways-"

Reigen stops mid-sentence, shuffling a bunch of papers and taking one, pushing it to Serizawa's chest quickly. "-please take a look at these. The next client is coming in -he glances at the clock- 7 minutes, so we don't have much time left. It sounded like a real spirit this time, so I took notes while talking on the phone."

-Oh! You don't have to worry about that, Reigen-san!

Reigen just stares at Serizawa with a dead-pan face.

-Respectfully Serizawa, I am pretty sure by judging the fact running this business for 4 years I know what I'm talking about. Please just read the papers.

-I canceled the appointments already!

Reigen's jaw drops this time, feeling his patience wearing thin. He takes a deep breath, no Reigen, you cannot start screaming out of frustration at 9.23 a.m., just reply to him kindly. There has to be some kind of emergency for Serizawa to do something like that without asking him first.

-Is everything okay Serizawa? What's the reason for that?

-We are celebrating!

Quick fact check. Is his birthday today? Nope, just celebrated it a few months ago. He does know there are still a few weeks before Serizawa's birthday, hmm, is it one of the kid's birthdays? Nope, not that either. Hell, he is not graduating either is he? Then what-

-Today is Miku day!

It takes a few seconds for Reigen to come back to his senses with the blow he has just received by the absurdity of where this conversation is leading to.

-There are many artists' stands opening up around the city, so I thought we can go together! Here!

Serizawa goes through his pockets, offering matching cyan-grey-pink bracelets Reigen has just seen Serizawa wearing a second ago.

-I even got one for you! I figured we can go matching!

Reigen could swear there was a hint of blush on Serizawa's face if he didn't think he was hallucinating.

-Miku as... the robot singer Miku?

Serizawa's face darkens with a single warning. As he speaks, his voice drops 3 octaves.

-She is not a robot.

Reigen takes away with the sudden change of mood, getting worried, and sweating as he speaks.

-O-of course she isn't! I didn't mean it that way! Um, she is...

Serizawa pierces Reigen's soul with his darkened gaze while he waits for Reigen's next words. Reigen gulps a bit too hard, hurting his throat.

-She is um... Vocaloid.. singer?

Serizawa's face brightens as if cherry blossoms are blooming all over the city, getting right back to his cheerful tone.

-Yes! As you know, I am proud to say I am one of her biggest fans, and also I don't need to mention how many events are happening everywhere! We are going to have so much fun together! There are lots of merch dropping just for the day alone, oh my, I don't need to mention...

Reigen zones out, cursing under his breath about how he didn't see this coming. Cyan tie, dark grey suit, grey shirt... It is Hatsune Miku's color palette. Of course, Serizawa was a big fan, judging by the amount of time he was stuck at his house as a hikikomori, it would be weird if he wasn't into anime and Vocaloid or something, he guesses.

-...We are going to have so much fun together! Right, Reigen-san?

Reigen snaps right back to reality, finding Serizawa with that soul-piercing stare again, but with an uncanny smile this time. It was threatening, he knew his expression was unintentional but it didn't make it less scary, like if he said no there would be another accident that blew up the whole city like Mob.

-Haha, yeah! I love Miku! Yay! Yippie! Let me grab my jacket and we can go!

While Reigen grabs his jacket and watches Serizawa buzzing with excitement, he thinks of a way to look up information about whatever the hell these virtual singers are about so he doesn't have to face with terrifying looks of Serizawa.

[audoodle]

something has been on my mind as I look through mp100 age swap content. there's a lot of really good concepts that I like a lot but a lot of these concepts feel kind of unlike how I picture a young reigen and especially an older mob?

the thing about mob psycho as it exists in canon is that we have no real picture of reigen's childhood. he has family but we don't know really anything about them, the history section of the wiki really only has the sports day to fall back on for him (it's a wikia so good chance they're missing something. I may be missing something too). but reigen lived a seemingly uneventful life before the events of the series. his story is about someone later on in life finding his people and his place and I think that's why serizawa and reigen and reigen and 7th division claw as a dynamic works so well because it's about how adults actually do have the freedom to reinvent themselves and find new paths.

I feel like older shigeo in an age swap is often written with this kind of dynamic (sometimes he is literally a serizawa style shut in) and I don't wish to say that is inherently bad a lot of that stuff I really enjoy reading and looking at! and I totally understand the value of it because you get to set a lot of your events in the current day which is what the audience is here for. but also it kind of feels like you've put mob into a time bubble? which feels like there's a lot of missed potential in that.

unlike reigen we know a lot about mob's childhood. obviously that's what the series is about. so if someone is making an age swap I think making a story that plays with that and plays with the expectations that while yes a lot of things were different in his life this still was a kid who went to salt middle and he must have met a lot of the same people right? I think working with that "baggage" could end up being really fun.

like I said I get why fic writers don't do that it means to fill out their story they need to not have characters like reigen and serizawa in the present of their work and fill things out through flashback or implications. you also worry about blowing your exciting stuff before your story technically "begins." (you're essentially doing a no reigen au and an age swap at once it's kind of weird) despite these clear issues I do have a lot of interest in making stories like this. reigen is introduced to a circle of people he does not know and has to piece together a history he was not there for. like I'm imagining him learning about a time shigeo went 100% as a kid and it being like learning your dad got arrested when they were 17. it feels like a concept with a lot of potential to focus on the history of shigeo's life and how it leads to where he is in current day ageswap.

[mosshook]

20 questions for fic writers

thank you sm for the tag, @mangatxt / ani!!! <3

to any of my friends who write fic, feel free to do this if you'd like! (@astertiae, @catbandits) this is just for fun :]

the questions are below the cut.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

12, currently

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

44.5k

3. What fandoms do you write for?

right now, i'm not actively working on anything. but if i get a chance to work on a project over my holiday break in december, it'll probably be for our flag means death or lord of the rings.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

two very old merlin fics, my singular mandalorian fic, and both of my mob psycho fics that are over 1k words.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i usually do, yes! i think it's really cool that people take the time to leave a comment after they're done reading something of mine, be it long or short. it touches me every time, and even if i don't always know what to say in response sometimes, i appreciate them so, so much.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

probably ouranos. it's canon-compliant with the merlin timeline for season 4, and it follows lancelot from his sacrificial death for merlin, to his limbo existence in underworld, to being resurrected by morgana and eventually being killed in combat with arthur.

on a language level, it's also one of the first fics i wrote that started to lean more into what my style currently is! so it's kind of sweet on the occasion i reread it and can see my roots.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

definitely without a question it's this is a life. no fictional character has ever touched me quite like reigen, and i wanted to finish that specific piece on a note that was less emblematic of an ending and moreso felt like a triumphant beginning. like a promise of a new, better tomorrow.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i did once, and in hindsight it's pretty funny. but basically, i made critical comments about a character on twitter, so someone went into my comments section and told me to NEVER write for this one specific pairing anymore. (for the record, i didn't. but that was because i realized the pairing in question was kind of lame.)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i tried my hand at it once. it went horribly, but it was a learning experience. let the record know it was SO MUCH HARDER than i thought it would be.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

not really, no! i mean, i published a self-insert fic as a joke for my friends a few years ago, but that's not quite the same thing.

if we're talking "not published and will never see the light of day" stuff, i did write a little blurb where keanu reeves' jonathan harker meets alex winters' vampire marko from the lost boys.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

yes. the title was taken, as was the premise, from a popular author in the community.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

not to my knowledge!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yeah!!! nothing serious that ever got published, but me and my friends have collaborated on mini-projects together and have old google docs together. i used to write mini fics with my friends all the time on twitter, but sadly i never archived them.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

probably yuuri and victor from yuri on ice. i can't express enough how much yuri on ice changed my life when it came out, or the sheer euphoria i felt as a kid in the closet watching someone so much like me - yuuri - be out, and happy, and brave. i miss my show so, so much.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

my aquarium fic with serizawa as a education volunteer and reigen as a schoolteacher who takes his kids there on field trips. i have so many little scenes from it and an incredibly specific vision for it as someone who loves the sea, has a lifelong appreciation for marine life, and has always wanted to live by the shore.

16. What are your writing strengths?

oh man. i think that i do a good job of integrating leitmotifs and playing into my semi-poetic voice. i also think that over the years, i've gotten better at creating tangible atmospheres, specifically with the quiet. i love portraying the quiet.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

grammatically, i'm a bit of a nightmare sometimes. dialogue takes a while for me to develop, too.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i wouldn't do this unless i knew the other language well (like vietnamese). most likely i don't think i'll end up doing this at all because even with my personal and professional writing, i'm hesitant to write in another language that isn't english.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

merlin. i was 11 and wrote my first fic on my ipad in the pages app...it was a merlin fix-it that was over 15,000 words long, and it was absolutely atrocious. said ipad is at my parent's house locked forever because i forgot the password, and i hope it stays that way. some things should stay lost.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

honestly? i think it's still principles of stellar connectivity. i wrote this for community during lockdown in late 2020, and i conceptualized a lot of it with my friend, @combeferres. (they're credited at the beginning as the person who made the fic's mixtape!) it's got everything i love: rock music, troy and abed being silly, national parks, stargazing, celestial motifs. i wanted to do a serious character study with sitcom characters while still retaining the core of who they are and what makes them so special, and to this day, i think i was pretty successful.

[yaffles-world]

I woke up anxious and wrote this lol. I haven't tagged it with anything. It's just for anyone who stumbles across it, at least for now. Just an info dump to feel better about my gender and expression and to get some cuddles from my babygirls, Reigen and Seri. Pure fluff.

We were lying together on the couch, with the rain pouring down outside. Reigen had come home late from the office. We had an instant ramen dinner, and had settled down on the couch - intending to watch something, but had instead gotten distracted just looking at eachother.

The rain beat down on the roof, pattering, softly then loudly then softly again.

Reigen rested the back of his head on my chest, looking up at the window. I lay with my back on the couch, looking at him. I ran my hands through his hair. My fingers buried in it, running across the base of it with the tips falling off my fingers as I reached the end of his hair. His head rose and fall with my breathing, as we looked out the window.

The raindrops tumbled down the glass, chasing eachother. Sometimes they would form larger droplets by coming together. They would stop and start along the glass, until eventually they disappeared.

Reigen's hair was soft between my fingers. He was comfortably warm. Being kind of skinny and short, he didn't weigh much, but the pressure and weight was nice. I started to fiddle with his hair, picking up clumps of strands and letting them flop back down again.

"You're beautiful," I said, letting another clump of strands flop back down.

I could feel the heat rise from his cheeks. "Thank you. So are you."

"Pfft."

Reigen turned around, flopping his body down with his chin resting up on my chest, very close to my face. Our noses were inches away from each other. He stared at me with his deep brown eyes. In the darkness of the room, they almost looked black. They appeared to be endless, as I stared back, entranced.

He raised an eyebrow quizzacally. "What do you mean pfft?"

"I mean, I don't think I'm beautiful. I think you're lying."

"I wouldn't lie to you," Reigen said.

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow.

Reigen laughed, slightly nervously. "I wouldn't lie to you about this. Where would lying get me? There's no point in it. I truly think you're beautiful."

"Lying," I booped his nose with my finger and he scrunched up his face.

"Dear, I'm really, truly not." He propped himself up on his elbows, on either side of the couch, before leaning to the side a bit so he could have access to his left hand. He slowly ran his hand down from the top of my head, touching the places in question as he spoke softly. "You have the softest, loveliest hair, a beautiful nose, wonderful ears, very pretty eyes."

My cheeks burnt up at the attention and he smiled softly. "The cutest cheeks!" He pinched them gently between his fingers. "A wonderful chin, and dare I say, the finest pair of boobs I have ever seen in my life."

"Pfft."

Reigen raised his eyebrow again. "Again with the pfft? Are you alright?"

"Your only saying that because you don't really like boobs because your gay. The proportion of men with boobs is low."

"I don't know, Serizawa's got a pretty nice pair of honkers."

I laughed. "You know what I mean."

"Well, maybe, but I really love yours. They're perfect."

"Why are you even with me? I'm not a guy... obviously," I said, gesturing.

"What? Are you blind?" Reigen said, gesturing to his boobs.

I paused.

"Your allowed to have physical dysphoria. But you don't have to. And even if you do, your still a guy in my eyes. If you say your a guy, your a guy. Done."

I hesitated. "Okay..."

"What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing, you've already been so nice to me I don't want to mooch off you anymore then I already have."

"I'm Reigen Arataka, I have an infinite amount of true compliments in my arsenal. Shoot."

"Well..." I hesitated, trying to avoid eye contact which was difficult since he was right in front of my face. "Yours are better."

"Why are mine better?"

"They're bigger then mine. Mine are too small."

Reigen laughed. "First of all, yours are perfect. Just because they're smaller then mine doesn't mean they're 'too small' there's no such thing. Also I don't know what kind of huge honkers you've been exposed to but yours aren't even small, so there's that. Even compared to mine you have to REALLY look to see any difference. So if you like mine, yours are basically the same. But finally, I love them, Seri loves them, that's all that matters. Just like we love you." He finished talking and pushed his face in between them.

"Reigen!" I exclaimed.

"What?" He asked, muffled, and I burst out laughing.

"Your so silly," I said, as he lay there. I gently returned to his hair, brushing it through my fingers. I started to braid it, getting the 3 clumps of strands in my hand, and methodically weaving in the extra hair as I went. I could feel Reigen's breathing through my shirt. The rain had quieted down a bit. I checked the time. 10pm. I finished off Reigen's hair, and rubbed his back.

"I miss Serizawa."

"Yeah, I know. Me too, " Reigen said, moving his head so his cheek rested on my chest. "He'll be back soon though. And it's really good for him to be hanging out with new friends."

"Yeah..." I was really proud of him. But I suddenly felt a wave of sadness and anxiety grip my chest. "I'm sorry," I said as I suddenly started to cry. Breathing heavily, I felt myself shaking slightly.

"Hey, pretty baby, it's okay. It's okay. You've been doing really well. Separation anxiety?"

I nodded and Reigen helped me sit up, wrapping his arms around me and holding my head to his chest. I sniffled and felt another wave of tears come on. As if on cue, the door opened, and Serizawa came in.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, as he sat down on the coffee table in front of Reigen and I. I buried my face into Reigen's chest, embarrassed, gripping onto him tightly. Reigen held me tight, running his fingers through my hair.

"He missed you," Reigen said, softly.

Serizawa sat on the ground in front of the couch. I was straddling Reigen, as I pulled myself in tighter to his chest, trying to hide my emotions from Serizawa. Another wave of sobs ran through me. Serizawa rubbed my back.

"Would you like a cuddle?" Serizawa asked softly.

I sobbed.

"I think he would." Reigen responded. Serizawa wrapped his arms under my arms and lifted me up gently off of Reigen. He turned me around so that I was facing him and lifted my legs to wrap around him. Reigen stood behind me, helping to hold up my legs as Serizawa wrapped his arms around me. We stood like that for a while, as I cried.

"I'm sorry," I said eventually.

Serizawa held me tight. "Don't be sorry."

"I don't want you to not go out. I really want you to go out."

"I know," Serizawa said softly, his hand on the back of my head.

"Its just," I sobbed, "anxiety. That I'm working on. And I don't want it to control your life or mine. I was mostly fine."

"Yeah, you did really well babygirl," said Reigen. "He really was doing so good. He only got upset about 5 minutes ago."

"That's great," said Serizawa. I buried my head in his shirt.

"God I'm so embarrassed, I'm so sorry Seri."

"Its okay. I'm so proud of you."

I groaned, but eventually accepted that it was okay, and let him hold me.

"Thank you."

"Its really okay."

"Did you have fun?" Reigen asked.

"Yeah it was so fun! You look very pretty by the way," Serizawa said, gesturing to Reigen's braid.

"Thanks! Ren did it."

"Aren't you clever?" Serizawa said to me, giving me a kiss on the cheek. I grabbed his jacket and pulled it over my head, embarrassed. "You'll have to do my hair tomorrow. But for now I think it's best we go to bed, okay?"

I nodded.

"I'm so proud of you. Please don't feel bad. Your doing so much better but your allowed to still struggle with this. The main thing is, you let me go, and I trusted you would be safe. And you were. I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too," I mumbled.

"I love you both as well," Reigen said, grinning.

[spaceistheplaceart]

I was rewatching BFU and decided that a lot of clips deserved to be reigen and serizawa because. well. what else are you gonna do while waiting for the next mob miércoles?

(pls rb!)

TRANSCRIPT UNDER CUT:

First Clip

Reigen: I wonder what that would look like on me... foot! No, I didn't mean that.

Serizawa holds the bone up to Reigen's crotch to compare.

Reigen: Umm... No.

Tome, Ritsu, and Shou laugh.

(Written next to Reigen is "C'mon Serizawa be serious.)

Second Clip

Reigen: if they do think I'm a ghost, I'm gonna give them the scare of their life right now.

Serizawa: okay.

Reigen screams very loudly for a long time.

Ghost: shit.

Third Clip:

Serizawa: He's probably doing some stupid bit where he's pretending he's a kid.

Reigen, in the woods: (in a high pitched, childlike voice) Oh, hey there, miss! It's just me, a little boy! Oh, I sure hope some lady doesn't show up and kill me! Check this out!

He puts on a hat worn by kindergartners in Japan.

Reigen: Oh, sure would love a little lemon soda! Oh, one thing I don't want is to be murdered tonight!

Fourth Clip:

Reigen: We're not the ghosts, you're the ghost. Unless...

Serizawa: You know, I guess I did get into that car accident a while ago and it was a pretty close call. It is possible I'm dead right now.

Reigen: One time I cut up an avocado. And there was a lot of meat left on the pit. And I put the m- I put the avocado pit in my mouth.

Serizawa: The entire pit? You put the...

Reigen: Yeah. And I started to just kind of-

(Reigen makes slurping noises like he's sucking the meat off of the pit)

Reigen: Get the meat off of it? And at that moment I was like: if I sneezed right now, this thing would lodge into my throat. And ever since then, I've kind of been terrified of avocados. But, the other thing is, I always thought: what if I did die then?

(suspenseful music)

Serizawa: fuck, dude.

Final Clip:

Reigen: are we doing more of this or can I use the Jacuzzi hot tub that we've been blessed with?

Serizawa: are you serious?

Reigen: are we going to spend the night here and not use that?

(they are in a bathtub together. the water is still)

Serizawa: the jets don't work.

(Reigen begins to weakly laugh)

Serizawa: We're just two guys sitting in a tub.

(The laughter continues)

END TRANSCRIPT.

[katyatalks]

Otomedia Autumn 2022 - Mob Psycho 100 III Interviews [Translation]

Otomedia Autumn 2022 contains three interviews with Mob Psycho 100 staff - one with Character Designer Kameda Yoshimichi, one with the voice actors of Mob and Reigen (Itou Setsuo & Sakurai Takahiro), and one with the new director Hasui Takahiro. The interviews contain information regarding season 3 and what we should look forward to seeing.

Translation below!

Short interview with Character Designer Kameda Yoshimichi

Q: The key visual for season 3 is quite drastically different to those of seasons past, isn’t it.

“The order I received was, ‘just Mob-kun this time around.’ I wanted to make it a piece filled with the vibe of season 3’s climax… as a result there’s meaning to be found throughout it (laughs).”

The focus point of the piece is that flipping it 180 tells another story.

Plenty for people who have already read the manga to read into.

Q: How do you feel the response to season 3 will be?

“It’s a serious story, I feel like the atmosphere is a little different to what we’ve seen up to this point. We’ll be revisiting some of the deeper themes touched upon earlier, so I implore those of you new to the world of Mob Psycho 100 to watch seasons 1 and 2 before getting into this season! Season 3 is less about ‘fighting with the enemy’, and more about the relationships between characters, ie. ‘How have the people around me changed and how will they continue to?’ I think it’s the kind of story that will impact just about anyone.”

“A review thus far of Shishou and Deshi” Itou Setsuo (Mob) x Sakurai Takahiro (Reigen)

Q: After 3.5 years, Mob Psycho 100 is back! Please tell us how you felt when you knew the third season was greenlit.

Itou; “For me it felt like ‘thank you for waiting!’, even though I was waiting too (laughs)”

Returning for season 3 felt completely natural to both Itou and Sakurai. It didn’t feel like years had passed, and since there was no huge change in who was primarily working on the show, the atmosphere was as if they had just recorded last week.

Q: Did you feel any change when you were recording your lines?

A big change for season 3 was that the cast were not able to record together thanks to COVID. Since the cast were unable to play off one another’s performances in a natural way, Sakurai worried about what this would do to the quality of the voicework.

Q: In season 3, Serizawa is added to the ‘Spirits & Such’ team.

Sakurai considers that Serizawa has become a bit of a mascot for Spirits & Such, alongside Mob. He then states they’re all kind of mascots.

He states how difficult a thing it is for someone to now be the boss of two people instead of one, and though you might have to squint, you can definitely see this as a visible culmination of Reigen’s growth. “He’s changed a bit. It’s difficult for me to put into words.”

Regarding Serizawa, Mob gets to experience exorcism ‘together’ thanks to him in season 3. In an upcoming scene where the two of them do perform an exorcism together, it’s a nice way to give tangible evidence that Mob’s group of allies has grown.

Itou describes season 2’s Serizawa as having “a low centre of gravity”, and follows this up by saying season 3’s Serizawa has lightened up.

With Serizawa’s arrival, Spirit’s & Such is now home to the strongest espers in the story (Mob and Serizawa given as the visual example).

Q: Please tell us more about the changes that the characters go through in season 3.

The changes the characters go through is said to be subtle, and this is where the story sources drama from this time around. On a total rewatch it’ll be clearer.

Q: Tell us what we should look forward to seeing in season 3 (mid-way only).

Season 3 will begin with a ‘slice of life’ vibe for Mob before delving into something deeper. Season 3’s overall atmosphere is described as “incredibly intense”.

A particular back and forth that Mob and Dimple have in season 3 is Sakurai’s favourite part of the series. “ONE-sensei really knows how to pierce you.”

Hasui Takahiro’s Directorial Recipe

Q: You’re the director now for season 3, how was this for you in practice?

More difficult than he thought it would be - lots of back and forths with Tachikawa Yuzuru.

One idea that Tachikawa came up with regards Serizawa. “At the start of the season there are some episodes that feature Serizawa and some action scenes that the manga isn’t explicit in showing us, so Tachikawa-san came up with the idea that Serizawa should utilise a particular item from the OVA in these scenes. This became a key item, and is Serizawa’s new ‘weapon’.”

Q: Tell us what we should look forward to seeing in episode 1.

“As it’s been a while since season 2, episode 1 of the new season acts as a kind of refresher/reintroduction to the world of Mob Psycho 100. [...] As in, an evil spirit appears, it gets exorcised, Reigen gets in a scuffle, then there’s the appeal of the crazy strong characters (laughs). Tachikawa-san is very good at understanding these crazy strong characters and making them even stronger.”

Q: Please tell us something you were picky about with season 3.

Seasons 1 & 2 are very important for season 3, so callbacks were necessary. You see it with the OP, and you’ll see it with the ED which is very reminiscent of season 1’s ED.

“Up until now huge-scale action scenes have been a selling point of the show, but season 3’s focus is on ‘Kageyama Shigeo’. Season 3 progresses with Mob as a person.”

“As the season progresses you’ll see that Mob hasn’t decided what path exactly he wants to take. How will he choose his path, and finally what perspective will he have? It’s the kind of story that’ll show you this.”

(A huge thank you to @noloryno for being so quick with the magazine scans <3)

[fixa-ryeter]

bc i have nothing to post i just wanna compile some of my favourite lines from my writing so far (for various reasons) which include a long list of:

‘It was the best thing he could think of besides a hug, and the last time he tried to hug Shigeo he got blasted balls-first into the desk.’

‘“Shishou!” “Shishou?” The woman inquires curiously, and Shigeo really, really wants to crawl into a hole.’

 ‘The name made Shigeo jerk as though shot through the heart.’ (AND YOU’RE TO BLAME YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME)

‘Shigeo looked up, and there she was: Tsubomi Takane, in all her pretty glory, the sunset glimmering a little in her blue eyes. Ocean blue, like Teruki’s. He liked their eyes. He had a preference for men though. Fuck, wait, what was he thinking?’

‘Something shattered inside of him that night, and awakening to his powers was the shards of glass raining down somewhere inside. It was a grand and dangerous release.’ (immediately followed by “…hello? Earth to Emo?” (yes it’s Shou @ Ritsu))

‘It makes him want to throw his powers away, but he’s got a lousy arm. He’s never been good at sports.’

‘“Ohhhhh,” Reigen says with an air of understanding-but-not-really, and Shigeo sighs exasperatedly.’

this entire bit

‘His power is his to wield, and his power will not turn against its master. Or so he tells himself. He knows he’s just a coward.’

‘Ritsu Kageyama is a stubborn bastard, as obstinate as you could get, and if he wants to act like his brother doesn’t exist then by God is he going to put on a show. It’s a one-man show for a one-man audience, and they’re all the same person. He should get an Oscar for his bullshit.’

‘It’s like the night sky he stares at when he dangles his upper-half haphazardly from the windowsill, wishing to give himself to the night.’

‘“What’s this?” “I knew it. You haven’t seen food in such a long time you’ve fuckin’ forgotten how it looks or smells.” “Hey, come on—” “I leave you alone for two weeks and you forget what food is.”’ (yes this is more Shou and Ritsu)

‘…he’s even able to pay Reigen adequate money, something that he realised would be a good thing to do for a part-time employee. Granted, Reigen was less hired and more refused to stop coming to his office, but Shigeo has stopped minding a while ago.’ (see? Shigeo doesn’t commit wage theft. get a load of this canon Reigen /lh)

‘“Nintendo Ramen”’

‘“Thank you for being my friend.”’

‘Losing Ritsu is an earthquake, but it’s not the end of the world.’

‘“I’m—I’m glad you’re okay… Arataka-kun.”’

‘He stews in these revelations for a few days, letting some of the thick layers of superficial vainglory fall—now he feels like there’s less holding him together, and he’s not sure how comfortable he is with the feeling.’ (teruki core)

‘Ritsu has disappeared from his life for a while now. Ritsu’s absence used to be a rocky road, but Shigeo’s walked that path so much that it’s been worn smooth, as though the road wasn’t ever bumpy in the first place.’

‘The passenger has let go of the wheel, but the warmth of his hands linger on the rubber.’

‘It’s like Serizawa and Reigen are about to play good cop… and worse cop? on him.’

‘“I kind of tried and failed to fix a leaking pipe and now my ceiling looks like it worked out and developed some ass.”’ (guess who said this)

‘“Oh. I see what you mean now.” “Yeah.” “Ass cheeks.” “Yep. Any idea how to fix that?”’

‘It’s the kind of pain that’s like a huge thorn being pulled out of your arm, slowly, agonisingly, but a part of Shigeo thinks that if he keeps pulling out that thorn, it’ll come free one day and stop hurting.’

‘He feels like a ghost. With aid of Teruki’s ominous optimism, though, he feels a little more corporeal.’

‘What Ritsu feels is Shou’s shorter frame barrelling into him, a ball of bright energy crashing into a frail vessel of emptiness. It recharges him a little, it melts away some of the darkness dissolving his insides.’

‘Shou’s pleasant blue eyes land on Ritsu’s face, scanning out all his sins of not taking care of himself properly. Then Shou points at the table, and Ritsu understands that they need to sit down and eat something or Shou is going to chew up his food for him and spit it down his oesophagus like he tentatively promised two weeks ago.’

‘“Mum’s still sharp, Dad’s a bit senile.” “Huh. Okay. Senile like, blurry old man kinda way, or like, government conspiracy theory old man kinda way?” “Dude, what the fuck?”’

i love my silly little au

[son-flower]

the shigeo "mob" kageyama for the ask game ?

OF COURSE i love him!! (assuming ur talking about canon mob :))

How I feel about this character i rlly love him so much.. hes so great. hes such a good kid. i rlly love his character arc throughout the story and hes so relatable. i think i appreciate his character more the older i get.

All the people I ship romantically with this character teru i guess. hes rlly the only one i can think of... i think it would be a bit one-sided on terus end, though. in general though i dont rlly tend to go crazy over shipping the kids but i can enjoy it and i do think that terumob is a bit funny on a conceptual level (but not as funny as ritshou)

My non-romantic OTP for this character STRICTLY platonically with reigen. they care about each other so so much its truly insane. theyre the kind of characters that u cant rlly imagine by themselves without the other one popping up somewhere.. they fit together too well despite all their differences. their relationship is just incredibly endearing and i could watch them interact all day.

My unpopular opinion about this character ive seen this often enough that ill include it, but i rlly dont see mob and reigen as having a little brother + big brother relationship (not that its bad to see it that way!). i think as someone with an older brother myself i just do not see any of reigens actions as being brotherly LMAO. reigen definitely takes way more responsibility than that and they really dont interact in that way at all in my opinion. if anything i see them more as guardian + child (i mean, reigen literally met mob when he was 10!!)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. i think id like to see a bit more consequence from the mogami arc... this is definitely not an original thought by any means but idk how mob isnt more traumatized by that LMAO. i guess mobs just a tough cookie. i think id also like to see more of him interacting one on one with serizawa. not that they dont already, but they get along so well!! id like to see more moments where its just them!! serizawa is also a bit of "what mob couldve been", so idk. itd just be nice to see serizawa give a little bit of his own input/advice to mob, not just reigen.

[reigenhusband]

Psychic Wedding Time!

Art by @/cowboyologist

After months of holding back, we finally tied the ole knot! Me and the conman are officially hitched today September 10, 2021!

This silly little blonde anime man means an awful lot to me and its really more than I can say. These months with him have been a great help.

When I went through some of the roughest things I've ever gone through, I had him to think about for comfort. He is a little part in what keeps me going and I wish I could thank him for everything. He sparks a lot of joy so I think I'm gonna keep him!

I've never been happier and I'm so lucky to call him husband! He's had such a positive impact and I love him so, so much.

Special thank you to my friends and of course our son Mob who carried the rings!

Under the cut is a little fic about getting ready for the wedding. Thanks everyone for your support!

Reigen squinted at his reflection, dark eyes hauntingly focused on a strand of hair that didn't take to the product he put in it. A grunt of dismay rumbled low in his throat.

"Um…Reigen?" 

"Just a second, Serizawa. Almost got it."

The taller man's voice wavered but he managed to hold fast and keep his confidence. Reigen could almost hear his hands wringing. 

"Er...Well. Its just...you've been staring at yourself for a little over 20 minutes now and you haven't moved and…"

Reigen sucked his teeth and pressed his palm firmly to the side of his head. Damned strand of hair! Slick like the rest of it! Don't you know know day it is?!

"What I mean is..! Are you alright?" Serizawa finally asked, his voice heavy with concern. "Since it's your wedding and all I figured you'd be nervous but you seem really on edge. Is something bothering you?" 

The blonde twitched.

 "W...what are you talking about? Of course not! I'm calm and-" He stopped abruptly and slammed his hands flat on either side of the mirror, his eyes wide and bloodshot upon inspection of his suit. A fleck of black thread pervaded his white vest and he looked around frantically for the lint roller. "You thought you could hide but you can't best Reigen Arataka." He muttered as he furiously went over his all but pristine wedding attire. 

His best man scratched his own cheek nervously and looked on with clear uncertainty. "If you're sure." 

Once he was satisfied after a thorough inspection and having Serizawa scrutinize the back, he dropped into a chair. Nearby was a table decorated in what was probably a thousand congratulatory flowers from clients. He exhaled and stared a hole into the arrangement of colors. His heart was pounding. His brow, coupled with his hands, were visibly slick with chilled sweat. His stomach was full of stones. 

He met his own gaze in the mirror again. He looked well kept and yet...disheveled at the same time. Come to think of it, his face was flushed the shade of his usual pink tie. The last 3 days without sleep also hollowed out dark circles under his eyes. His shirt collar began to feel more and more constricting as time went on no matter how much he tugged on it. 

Maybe he really was scared. 

He didn't doubt that he loved Mitty. In fact, he wanted to be with him more than anyone. A case of cold feet wouldn't change that. It was himself he was wrestling with here. 

Spirits, monsters, and deadly espers. He'd faced them all and came out on top. But they were nothing compared to these looming expectations to be a person to rely on. This wasn't something he could bullshit his way through. This was marriage. Mitty was going to see the warted underbelly of when he was Reigen the man instead of Reigen the psychic. His fiancé was going to experience sides of him he only revealed when he was alone. Would he still like him even then?

Reigen was good at a lot of things but this had to be the one that counted most. Could he really be a good partner forever? 

Was he really going to cut it as a husband? 

"Hey, Serizawa?" Reigen asked, not looking at him. 

The man's shoulders lurched at his name suddenly being called. He straightened his back. "Oh! Yes sir?"

"Do you think we'll be good together?" 

Silence sat heavily for a moment. Every second felt longer than the last. 

His friend seemed taken aback by the question but nonetheless looked at the ceiling as though collecting the right words to answer. "Well…"

Another moment passed and Reigen waited with his hands clasped and breath baited. 

"I've never been with anyone so I can't say for certain what a good relationship is but," A compassionate smile spread across the esper's face before he continued, visibly more sure of his words. "I think you and Mr. Mitty understand each other. You always seem to know what the other is thinking. You motivate each other to be better and you seem happy when you're together. And...and you trust each other too. And I think that's whats important." 

Reigen looked at the velveted floor. "Then…"  

"You've become more honest by being with him and he talks like you're really important to him. So please...get married if it makes you both happy! I think you can really be something!" His friend was beaming with 

what Reigen could only say was genuine assurance. 

"I really believe you'll take care of each other." 

His co-worker actually really was resourceful. Maybe someday he ought to pay him more. The uncomfortable feelings waned slightly and his shoulders slowly slacked. Mitty was waiting for him so now wasn't the time to lose it. 

After a few seconds of letting his feelings iron themselves out, he stood and smoothed his hands over his suit jacket. "Well alright then. If thats what you think then I guess there's no backing out of this one." 

Serizawa pressed his hands together in delight. "YES! I've got your back, Reigen!" 

The door into the hallway opened and a set of black eyes peered into the room. "Master, It's starting. Are you coming?" 

The jarring announcement had him scrambling to fix the piece of hair he'd been fussing with. 

"OF COURSE." He jabbed his thumb into his own chest to feign total confidence. "Right behind you, Mob!" 

He held his breath. Alright, let's do this. 

Mitty POV

Teal eyes darted around the room carefully. 

"Hey...Dimple? You there?"

The whizzing of the spirit materializing buzzed next to his ear. 

"Yeah whaddya want? You're on soon, aren't you?" 

Mitty jabbed his right hook into the air where the voice was coming from. "AGH WHAT THE HELL?"

A swift flash of green dodged his reach. 

"HEY, why are you hitting me?! You asked for ME, remember?" The ghost clucked his tongue in disapproval and floated a few inches away for safety. 

"WELL MATERIALIZE WHERE I CAN SEE YOU, YOU BIG BOOGER! I'm on edge!" 

"On edge? What for? You're the one who wanted this, right?"

"W..well….yeah, sorry." He looked at his clenched fist and opened it. "...sorry." He said again more thoughtfully this time. 

Dimple raised a spectral eyebrow. "Whats wrong? Having second thoughts? I mean it's Reigen so who can blame ya."

Mitty scowled while straightening his tie in the mirror. "Hey! REIGEN'S…." His voice softened closer to a whisper. "A pretty good guy. Get off my case. Aren't you supposed to be my support? You're being kinda harsh!" 

"Well kid, something is obviously on your mind so let's hear it. Wedding starts soon right? Yeesh. Once you do all this he's your problem forever." 

"I'm not worried about him!! I'm more worried about...me."

"About you? What're you talkin' about?! You're too good for him!"

"Thanks for the flattery. You still can't have my body though."

"Well I didn't want it anyways, ya bastard. You're weak compared to Shigeo. I'm just being honest here!" 

Silence.

"So? Out with it, What did you want anyways? You're talking nonsense here!" 

Mitty wrinkled his nose in discomfort.  "I just needed to ask something. But you can't run your mouth off like you always do, you old gossip. You're like a knitting circle."

"TCH. like I'd blabber your business to someone. It's all so boring."

"Yeah, yeah just listen, alright?!"

Another few seconds passed. "So? Say it. We don't have all day, you know."

He was looking at his hands again like he was somewhere far off. "Well. D...D'you think I'll be good at this?" 

"Good at what, exactly?" 

"Being married." 

Dimple's form rippled with thought. "You're seriously worried about that?"

Mitty was going to make a sharp remark but his head dropped and his face buried into his knuckles. "Yeah."

Dimple deflated slightly in exasperated defeat. Humans could be so ignorant. 

"Listen. That fraud never shuts up about you. You think you're not good enough? You should hear him talk. It's annoying how you both don't realize things."

"Realize things?"

He sighed and shrugged his tiny arms. "I hear everything whether you like it or not. You two idiots never stop talking and moaning about the other is too good for the other. It's getting old, really." 

"HUH? He says that? No way! But he's always beaten me at everything! I always thought he was way out of my league." 

 "Kinda the opposite actually but...sure. What I'm saying is…! You're both seeing the best parts of each other. Keep doing that and it'll be smooth sailing."

"Yeah but...what if he stops seeing the best in me?'

"You planning on making things hard?" 

"Not really. I just know I can be difficult to deal with." 

"So is he. You really think you got this far because Reigen's all roses and sunshine? 'Course not. You've seen all the stuff he does and you still like him, right?" 

He certainly was flawed, that was for sure. Mitty spent most of Reigen's antics with his eyes rolled up in his head but that didn't mean he wasn't enjoying the moment either. 

"Right."

"Then it's the same for him. Sure it won't always be fun but that phoney won't give up on you just because you're annoying. He's way too persistent. It kind of ticks me off." 

I'm annoying???  That stung but he shook it off.

Reigen was going to have to deal with him for the rest of his life once they said the right words. But if Dimple was right...would it be so bad to annoy each other for the rest of their lives if the other was willing to put up with it? 

Reigen seemed okay with it so far. Mitty would just have to listen to him make a fuss about his coffee table clutter until he died. But really, he wouldn't have that any other way. His voice was kind of cute when he hit that inhuman octave he had when he was in disbelief. 

The door from the hall swung open and a blond clad in what was perhaps the most blinding and loud suit he had ever seen poked his head in. 

"Oh, You're still in here? It's bad luck to be late on your wedding day! Master Reigen is waiting. " He cocked his head to the side. "Or did you need some help with your suit? Its looking a little plain." 

Hanazawa. This kid would try to accessorize his suit in the worst way possible. He put up his hands to wave him off. 

"N-nah, kiddo that's alright. I'll be right there."

Hanazawa, after a few more attempts to get Mitty to let him help retreated back into the hallway. When it was quiet again he eyed Dimple. He was abrasive and unpleasant. He always had a motive for everything and rarely had something nice to say. 

But he came through when it mattered. 

"Hey Dimple?" 

"Yeah? What is it?" 

"Thanks." 

Dimple wouldn't meet his eyes and levitated towards the hall. He didn't want to acknowledge he was helping, he supposed. It was in character for that tsundere blob.

"You ought to get out of here now if you wanna make it on time." 

He stood and dusted himself off. 

"Welp. Here goes everything."

[ruthiswriting]

heart line

mp100 | serirei, reigen arataka, serizawa katsuya, kageyama ‘mob’ shigeo, AU, 6k | on ao3

It doesn’t really matter, he reminds himself. He’s making a change, just like all of Reigen’s clients. What’s on his hands isn’t set in stone. He just has to make sure Reigen doesn’t see it— even if it might feel nice to have that steady attention, Reigen’s hands that are so much nicer than Serizawa’s folding around his. 

(or: Reigen starts offering palm readings as a service, leading to Serizawa having to confront his feelings for his boss.)

this is pretty fluffy, only real tw is some self deprecating depression thoughts from seri.

-

One day, when he comes into work, Serizawa sees Reigen industriously spreading a new poster on the wall, next to the monthly specials.

“Oi, Serizawa,” Reigen says, head half turning, first in acknowledgment, then in focused interest. “Come help me finish putting up this poster— I can’t get the last corner. Or well, I could,” he allows, stepping away from the wall as Serizawa approaches, “but I don’t want to get the step ladder out of the storage closet, it’s always such a damn pain to dig it out. You had really good timing, you know…”

Serizawa comes in at the same time every day, so he hardly thinks it counts as good timing, but he doesn’t say anything. Reigen passes over a thumbtack that he’s been holding between his teeth— a terrible habit, one that always makes Serizawa’s stomach start doing awful twists when he sees him doing it— and Serizawa takes it, stepping to the wall.

The poster’s half up already, it’s really just this one corner that’s a bit awkward to get to behind one of Reigen’s potted plants. He smooths the corner out, hesitant, and carefully pushes the tack in.

“A little up,” Reigen directs from behind him, and even though Serizawa can’t see him he can feel the way Reigen’s head tilts to look under Serizawa’s stretched arm. “It needs to be straightened out— ah, the other side’s falling out, can you get that too? Serizawa! The bookshelf, watch it.”

After a few more tweaks, Serizawa finally manages to pin it to the wall in a way that satisfies Reigen. Serizawa runs two fingers over the slightly wrinkled corner— he can’t remember if it was already slightly bent, and he swallows nervously. But if Reigen notices, he doesn’t say anything, humming appreciatively. “Right. This’ll be good, people will walk in and see it with the monthly specials.” He stops, hands drumming on his hips. “Unless it should go on the far wall, while they’re sitting during the consultation? It works well as an add on, so maybe if they see it there it’ll drive more sales…”

Serizawa’s slowly processing the actual contents of the poster as Reigen hems and haws to himself. The center of the poster’s occupied with a giant stock photo hand, with arrows helpfully pointing to different creases and hills in the flat palm. A nauseating array of colors pinwheel around it, making it difficult to look away from once your gaze has drifted to it. PALM READINGS, the banner across the top screams out. LEARN ABOUT YOUR LIFE, LOVE, AND FORTUNE. Then, explosions of price points decorate the bottom.

Belatedly, he realizes he saw Reigen working on the poster yesterday during a slow hour in the office— slowly dragging together clip art in a way that he found appealing. Serizawa had avoided asking questions, since Reigen would then want his opinion on the poster, and Serizawa didn’t have the slightest clue about anything to do with design. Now, he could actually understand the poster for what it was.

“No, better to leave it here,” Reigen decides, bringing Serizawa out of his reverie. “Now, I’ve just got to add it to the website.” He sighs, scratching his cheek. “Damn builder’s always so tedious to fiddle with.”

“I didn’t know you could read palms, Reigen-san,” Serizawa says, still staring at the poster.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, I read a couple articles about it over the weekend,” Reigen says, starting back to his desk. Then he half turns back, adding, “when you get to my level, it’s easy to pick up this kind of stuff, you know— it’s good to buff out your skills, too. Sort of…” He spins a hand in the air as he thinks. “Expanding your resume.”

Serizawa nods. This makes sense to him. To Serizawa, Reigen’s never had much of a recognizable aura— or really, he thinks privately, any recognizable ability at all. But he has a very long list of clients, successful exorcisms, and the attention of the most powerful psychic that Serizawa knows, besides maybe the president. Not to mention the entirety of CLAW’s former 7th Division’s admiration and respect. All of those people can’t be wrong, Serizawa reasons, so it must just be something that he’s missing. Serizawa misses a lot of things. And as Reigen’s repeatedly told him, his powers are just more spiritual, so him picking up a new ability with some light reading seems perfectly reasonable. “One of my classmates talk about learning coding a lot, since that’s good to have on a resume,” he says. “So it’s kind of like that, maybe.”

“Well,” Reigen pulls a face as he drops into his desk chair. “That’s a different kind of resume.” He swivels to his computer. “While I’m updating the website, Serizawa, can you look at the client list for the day?”

Serizawa hastens to look at the digital calendar that Reigen’s set up on his phone. “There’s a consultation in the morning, at ten,” he says. “Two massages in the afternoon… An exorcism at four.” Serizawa will be gone by then. Kageyama will be assisting with that exorcism— Reigen’s marked that on the calendar too, although Serizawa’s not sure Mob’s once looked at the calendar Reigen constantly refers to.

Reigen’s practically rattling the keyboard with the force of his typing. “Plenty of down time today, then,” he said. “I’ll be able to get this set up no problem.”

“Reigen-san,” Serizawa begins, awkward. “Should I…” Reigen’s stopped his punitive typing to stare at him, which always makes Serizawa’s words begin to stutter. He clears his throat and tries again. “To better assist the clients. Should I learn about palmistry, too?”

He doesn’t know why he asks. Most of the questions he asks feel pointless as soon as he says them, and this one’s ridiculousness is heightened by the way Reigen frowns. “If you want to,” he says, tone implying he’s not sure why Serizawa would. “I was planning on handling it, since it’s mostly interfacing with the clients, and you’re still getting comfortable there, but I wouldn’t stop you.”

Serizawa can’t stop the way his shoulders sink, and hurriedly, Reigen adds, “you’re doing fine, Serizawa— I’m glad you’ve got the initiative to ask about it. But I know you’re busy with your studies, so I didn’t want to take up your time unnecessarily. You’re already a great asset to the business.”

Again, Serizawa wants to protest, to say that really he should be doing so much more for Reigen than brewing tea and exorcising stray ghosts. But he shouldn’t argue with his boss, so he just nods, swallowing all of his words.

It only takes a few days for someone to take Reigen up on new special— a jittery looking college student with spectacles twice the size of her eyes. She comes about a necklace that she inherited from her recently deceased grandmother. Serizawa can’t see anything on it, and Reigen smoothly steps in to handle it. As he shreds rock salt over it and kept up a stream of gentle questions about her grandmother, the girl’s eyes roams over the wall, and she asks about the palm reading. Within seconds, Reigen has the lights dimmed, incense candles in Serizawa’s hands that are apparently his responsibility to light.

Reigen sits on the edge of his seat, face serious as he looks down into her upturned palm. She watches him with wide eyes. “It’s not so much that your palms determine your fate,” he explains to her, voice taking on a knowing, mystic quality. “It’s more that they’re a microcosm of reality… The big’s encapsulated in the small.” He draws one of his fingers along a crease in her fingers, barely a ghosting pressure.

As Serizawa struggles with the candles, the match in his hand finally catches, and the light blooms across her face. The beginning of a blush is striping across her nose.

“This is your head line,” Reigen says. Then his finger moves across another web. “Your heart line. Your fate line. And your life line.” For this last designation, his finger curves across the base of her thumb and comes to rest against her wrist.

“The life line,” she says, eyes wide. “I heard once that if you have a short life line, that means that you’ll die young.”

Discreetly, Serizawa peeks at his own palm, but he can’t track what any of the mess of creases are supposed to be when transposed onto his own hand. “Not necessarily,” Reigen says, shaking his head. “Your life line has more to do with your vitality. If it’s short or shallow, that’s not necessarily bad, but it might mean you need to make a change.” Reigen’s mouth draws into a frown. “…Have you been feeling disconnected from the people around you?”

“That’s exactly it,” she says, voice a relieved rush. “It’s been so hard, ever my grandmother died…”

The conversation streams on past Serizawa. He watches as Reigen gives her advice, her hand still resting comfortably between Reigen’s long fingers.

The palm readings only happen occasionally, but Reigen seems satisfied enough with their performance— like he said, it’s a nice add on. But on days when someone asks for one, they cling to Serizawa’s mind the entire train ride to his night classes.

Regardless of Serizawa’s perception of Reigen’s aura, he proves himself as a natural when he sits down with a client for a palm reading. No matter what he says, they always gasp in shock at how accurately Reigen’s pinned down their life with just a few sentences. Then, he’s immediately pinwheeling into advice on how best to fix their relationships, their jobs, their life.

He doesn’t like it. The idea that, just by looking at his hands, someone can accurately judge everything inside of him. Reigen never says anything bad about the clients, of course, but he’s sure that he has to see it. All of Serizawa’s mistakes are surely reflected in the creases of his hand— and he’s made a lot of mistakes.

Serizawa spends a lot of time staring at his hands on the train. They’re square in shape, with short, blocked off fingers, and a tangled mess of lines and mounds— what Reigen calls the bumps of flesh on the client’s hands. He doesn’t know what any of it means. He doesn’t think it could be anything good.

It doesn’t really matter, he reminds himself. He’s making a change, just like all of Reigen’s clients. What’s on his hands isn’t set in stone. He just has to make sure Reigen doesn’t see it— even if it might feel nice to have that steady attention, Reigen’s hands that are so much nicer than Serizawa’s folding around his.

The train rumbles under his feet, and hurriedly Serizawa tucks his free hand under his armpit. Like if it hand is out of his sight, the obsessive thought might be too. It doesn’t stop his eyes from ghosting over everyone else’s hands, that all surely say much better things about them than Serizawa’s.

He’s not doing a good job of not thinking about the hands.

Mainly, he keeps thinking about Reigen’s, which doesn’t bode well for Serizawa’s attempts at professionalism.

Serizawa realized fairly early on that his feelings for Reigen exceeded the typical respect one should have for an employer. It even went past the gratitude that one should have for someone who saved Serizawa’s life— because genuinely, Serizawa thinks that Reigen saved his life by giving him this job, when Serizawa didn’t even have a high school education or any practical experience beyond being a reformed terrorist. Even if Serizawa’s managed to stop referring to every manual of business practice as inarguable law, enough of them reiterated the extreme inappropriateness of workplace relationships that Serizawa figured it was a rule he should stick with. Their cautions at power imbalances, lack of professionalism, and the inevitability of messy breakups bang around in Serizawa’s mind every time he looks at Reigen.

Of course, it’s not like Reigen would want anything to do with Serizawa even without these restrictions. Reigen’s a good, helpful person, and he saw that Serizawa was in a bad spot, and wanted to do something about it. That was all. So, it’s up to Serizawa to draw a professional boundary. If he maintains a distance, that’s better for both of them— Reigen won’t have to deal with Serizawa’s messy, inappropriate feelings, and Serizawa won’t get hurt.

But the palm readings make that so much harder than necessary.

Reigen has nice hands, and he takes full advantage of them in every moment. They accent every word that Reigen ever speaks, making his case for him before he’s even begun a sentence. And when Reigen’s hands are making an energetic arc across the room, Serizawa keeps finding his mind going back to the dim office— the candles flickering in the dark, the sweet heady scent of incense. Reigen’s hands comfortably enveloping his hands.

Not his hands, really. It’s only Serizawa’s hands in his flushed, distracted imagination. He wishes, very desperately, that Reigen wasn’t so dedicated to the atmosphere of his services, but if he’s being honest with himself, Serizawa probably would have the same problem if Reigen conducted palmistry under the boring office lights.

It’s just Serizawa’s embarrassing personal problem. It’s something he has to deal with on his own. Another misguided crush on his employer— except he’s so sure that Reigen would let him down gently it burns.

It’s a slow day in the office when Reigen says, tone casual, “Serizawa, let me read your palm.”

Serizawa’s pen jags across the paper. He’s doing homework, which he always feels guilty for, even though Reigen’s repeatedly told him it’s fine, even offering to help him with any assignments he’s having trouble with. Now, he’s punished for slacking on the job by way of an unfortunate ink splatter obscuring a section of his notes. Serizawa feels a static charge draw up around his ears, and he takes a deep breath as he settles the pen against the page. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Serizawa says.

“Why not?” Reigen’s half out of his chair before he’s distracted by a loose set of papers about to escape his desk. He pins them down with a half full mug of tea, then continues his circuit around the desk. “We don’t have a client until later this afternoon, and it’ll be fun— enlightening, even. It’s a good team building exercise.”

He’s pretty sure Reigen just wants to put off the paperwork that he’s been complaining about the whole morning. It’s given him too much time to let his eyes drift across the room and watch Serizawa, probably monitoring any possible mistakes in his work. The palmistry poster’s right behind Serizawa’s head at his desk, so maybe that’s what made him think of it. Regardless, Serizawa does not want Reigen to be enlightened by anything about Serizawa. He clenches his hands into fists and sticks them under the desk, like maybe Reigen will forget about it if he can’t see them.

All the excuses collecting in his brain don’t make it to his mouth in time, and Reigen’s leaning against Serizawa’s desk. “Come on, Serizawa,” he entreats him, voice wheedling. “Don’t you ever unwind? It’s not bad to have a little fun when it’s slow.”

Serizawa can’t think of something less fun than his crush learning all of his secret and not-so-secret inadequacies while holding his hand. Plus, he’s sure that there’s something better both of them could be doing— that’s another thing the self help books harp on, that you can always find something to do to improve your workplace. But he’s not good at telling Reigen no. And so, in a matter of seconds, Reigen’s setting up the office as Serizawa watches, arms locked at his side.

“You don’t have to waste the incense candles,” Serizawa mumbles as Reigen energetically lights a match.

“It’s not a waste,” Reigen says firmly. “Anyway, I do my best readings when there’s a proper atmosphere.”

Since there’s no way to get out of this, besides maybe running straight out of the office and never coming back, Serizawa sits down at the table where Reigen always ushers their clients and waits. Reigen draws the blinds shut and then sits across from him, wiggling forward in his chair.

Reigen’s thighs sandwich the low table between them, pressing close enough for their knees to touch. Even though he’d dreaded the low lighting before, Serizawa’s abruptly grateful for the fact that Reigen can’t see the way his face heats in the dark.

And then, Reigen’s hands are taking his.

His hands are cool, maybe even a little clammy. They rest calmly against Serizawa’s over-hot skin, and Serizawa’s sure Reigen can feel the way that his pulse is rampaging in his wrist. Even before the palm reading’s begun, Serizawa’s hands apparently have the ability to betray him. He tries to swallow his nerves, again, force it all down. He can control himself, even if he’s feeling scared and lovesick. He’s not the person that he used to be.

Serizawa’s reminding himself of all of this, when Reigen says, very seriously, voice a low murmur, “you’ve got nice hands, you know.”

“What?” Serizawa blurts. “No, I don’t.” And then he flinches, immediately berating himself for contradicting Reigen.

Reigen’s eyebrows rise up, vanishing under his bangs. “Sure you do,” he says, insistent. And then, he turns Serizawa’s palm flat, running one electric finger around the circumference. “Square palm— short fingers. You’ve got earth hands. Means you’re reliable, Serizawa.”

Even though his brain is buzzing with this much prolonged contact— Serizawa’s not exactly had a lot of people spend extended time touching his hands, much less Reigen touching his hands— this sentence manages to drag him a little closer to reality again. Reigen just meant that comment in the context of palmistry, of course. He’s probably said similar things to his clients, even if Serizawa can’t exactly remember him saying them in this moment. He breathes.

After waiting long enough to realize that Serizawa’s not going to say anything in response, Reigen returns to tracing the lines of his hands. “Look here,” he murmurs, moving one finger down the center of his palm. “You’ve got a pretty pronounced fate line.”

And Serizawa knows, immediately, that that can’t be right. He’s heard enough of Reigen’s explanations to his clients to have learned that a deep fate line means you have control over your life— that outside actors don’t control your fate. Serizawa can’t think of something less likely to be applied to him. He feels his face sink, watching Reigen’s hand move, back and forth, over his own.

Reigen’s lying to him. He probably doesn’t mean it in a bad way. He probably wants to boost Serizawa’s abysmal self image, because Reigen’s good hearted like that. But it stings that he’d tell Serizawa falsehoods just to make him feel better, against something that demonstrably isn’t true. It calls into question every other good thing Reigen’s said about him.

“Aren’t you going to ask what that means?” Reigen’s eyes move up to look at Serizawa, burning holes in him.

Serizawa sucks in a breath that ghosts over his teeth. “Reigen-san…” He swallows, throat clicking. Every noise he makes suddenly feels so loud and over important when they sitting this close, without even the hum of fluorescent lights to drown it out. “I don’t really know if that makes sense, from what I’ve heard you say to the clients.”

Reigen’s eyebrows work together. “Your fate line can change over the course of your life, you know,” he says slowly. “Just like how you can change. It’s just a reflection of you.”

Serizawa lets his hand drop— it’s only Reigen’s interlaced fingers against the back of his hand that keeps his hand from knocking against the table. “I don’t know,” he mumbles. “I don’t know, if I’ve changed enough to justify that.”

“You’ve made a lot of changes,” Reigen says, still insistently not letting go of his hand. His fingers interlace into a cradle, and Serizawa can feel the press of Reigen’s index finger on one knuckle. “You’re taking classes. You chose to leave a harmful situation, when it would’ve been easier to stay. You’re working here. Serizawa, you’re the one that’s taking charge of your life now.”

But even that’s a falsehood. Serizawa knows, deep in his bones, that he never would have left CLAW on his own. He never would have been able to see past the circumference of his umbrella and his own starry infatuation. The only reason he was able to leave at all was because of Kageyama, forcing him out of the fantasy he was living in, and Reigen, offering him a lifeline when Serizawa was sitting in the absolute rubble of his fake life.

“Serizawa.” Reigen’s voice is suddenly sharp. “Are you really going to doubt an expert spiritualist such as myself?”

“N— no, I didn’t mean—“

“Then accept it. You’re the only one in charge of your life. Let’s look at something else more interesting,” Reigen says, immediately shifting gears and ending the conversational thread. “Your heart line, it looks like it’s pretty—“

And this is something that Serizawa absolutely cannot handle. He yanks his hand out of Reigen’s before he can stop himself. “Reigen-san,” he said, voice climbing an octave. “I don’t know if that’s— appropriate.”

“Eh?” Reigen’s blinking at him.

“I mean,” he pulls his arms back, keeping whatever incriminating information is inscribed on his hands safely hidden. “Isn’t it bad to discuss… Relationships, in the workplace?”

Reigen tilts his head like Serizawa’s said something foreign. “It’s perfectly normal,” he says. “I help Mob with his relationships all the time.”

That’s obviously completely different, Serizawa wants to say, but the words won’t come. Suddenly, he’s seized with the idea— Reigen already knows exactly what he’s thinking and feeling. There’s probably a specific triangle of flesh on Serizawa’s hand that communicates, this person is in love with their superior, and Reigen’s seen it and knows. Serizawa feels the redness climbing all over his face. He can’t stop himself from looking down, palm turning up as he tries to find whatever betrayed him.

And immediately, Reigen’s grabbed his hand again. Serizawa feels his brain misfiring as Reigen yanks it closer. “Look,” Reigen says, eager. “Yours begins below your index finger, from the edge of your palm.” He indicates it, and Serizawa desperately wishes his heart would stop jackhammering in response. His pulse is loud enough to hurt his head, so surely Reigen can feel it pounding in his grip. “Means you’ve got a giving heart, Serizawa. It’s pretty short, so you’re introverted… But deep, so relationships are definitely important to you.”

“Aren’t they important to everyone?” Serizawa asks, floundering for any type of purchase in this conversation.

“Not necessarily,” Reigen says. “I mean, think about it— you’ve definitely met people who’ve put more work into relationships than others, haven’t you? But you value the people around you, so your hands reflect that. Maybe even…” His hand traces a crease, and he wiggles an eyebrow at Serizawa. “Value of a specific person? Someone you have in mind?”

Bone deep shame makes itself known from within Serizawa’s marrow. His fingers automatically curl inward, in an attempt to hide, and suddenly, without realizing, he’s holding the tips of Reigen’s fingers under his.

He expects Reigen to pull back, automatic, but Reigen doesn’t move at all. All Reigen does is go still, not meeting Serizawa’s eyes all of the sudden. His nose dips forward to look down at their hands, hovering above the table. It’s like he’s shy. Reigen is never shy.

“It’s a good thing, you know,” he says. “You’d be a good partner.”

He’s staring down at their hands, resting against the table, still not moving to pull his fingers away, or even to spread open Serizawa’s hand to continue his relentless assault of kind words. It’s like he’s perfectly content to rest there, long fingers trapped in Serizawa’s grip, which is probably too tight and not at all pleasant. Serizawa keeps waiting and waiting for Reigen to pull away, but he doesn’t.

Then, suddenly, the door to the office buzzes, signifying a walk in client. Reigen pinwheels away so dramatically he almost falls off his chair. A little pop of psychic energy spreads out from Serizawa’s feet, lifting everything in the office just an inch off the ground before it drops again. Serizawa stands, frantic, looking for something to do as Reigen hurriedly draws open the blinds.

It’s too late, though. The unexpected customer’s standing in the entrance, staring at both of them. “Um,” he begins, phone held lamely up. “I saw the sign outside, and I was wondering if I could ask about getting some spirit tags…”

Reigen recovers admirably, immediately pivoting into welcoming the customer and acting like it’s perfectly normal for both of them to sit around in the dark with only candles to see by. Serizawa guesses it’s not totally unreasonable— it is a psychic business, after all. You’d only know it was strange if you were a regular customer, and this man isn’t.

The only thing that betrays it as odd is the red blush that’s spread all over Reigen’s face, even staining his ears. It couldn’t be because of Serizawa, of course— it’s just that a customer caught him off guard. It has to be that.

Serizawa stares at the back of Reigen’s flushed neck, and wonders.

The rest of the day is tense.

It’s not exactly like Serizawa and Reigen sit side by side all day, but Reigen normally will get up and come see what Serizawa’s doing. He’ll hang over him as he supervises his work, or offer suggestions on whatever homework assignment he’s working on. In general, Reigen seems to dislike sitting still for long hours. He tends to pace about as he verbally puzzles through work problems to Serizawa, or Mob, or, probably, to an empty room. But after the palm reading, Reigen stays firmly confined to his desk, not saying anything at all as he still fidgets. Even when a client comes for an exorcism and he has to get up, Reigen maintains an exaggeratedly respectful distance between him and Serizawa.

The palm reading plays on repeat in Serizawa’s head, offering new mistakes for Serizawa to fixate on each time. The more they sit in silence, the more Serizawa’s completely sure that Reigen knows exactly how he feels. Why else would he suddenly become so shy? He wishes, fervently, that he’d just managed to keep it to act normally. Maybe if he hadn’t made such a fuss about the whole thing he wouldn’t have made Reigen uncomfortable. Now it’s even more obvious to Reigen where his feelings lie. It must disgust him, to have to deal with Serizawa’s sad, misaimed emotions— pathetically clinging to any basic kindness shown to him.

The whole afternoon, Reigen’s ears stay red as he works at his computer, only stealing glances at Serizawa when he thinks Serizawa can’t see.

He has to say something. He has to to apologize to Reigen for making everything so awkward. Maybe if he promises that he can control his feelings, that it won’t get in the way, things could go back to normal. Serizawa wishes the earth would swallow him whole. But it won’t— not without Serizawa splitting the earth open himself, at least. But if Serizawa wants to have any chance of reintegrating into normal society he has to deal with his feelings in an adult way.

Of course, Reigen beats him to bringing it up, as Serizawa’s dragging up the nerve to say something at the end of the day. He’s just stood, closing his laptop as he says, “Serizawa,” and pauses immediately, scratching the back of his neck. “You know, when you mentioned inappropriate workplace relationships—“

“I promise it won’t get in the way of anything,” Serizawa says in an explosive rush. “Please don’t fire me.”

Reigen stares at him, one hand still resting on the back of his neck. This is a look that Serizawa’s unfortunately gotten to know quite well. It’s the look that Reigen gives him when he’s said something unexpected. Serizawa’s begun to mentally mark it as a sign as conversational failure. “Pardon?”

Serizawa was really desperately hoping that Reigen wouldn’t make him actually say it, but that was looking less and less likely. “When you read my palm,” he stammers out, clutching onto the edge of his desk for dear life. “I know maybe not everything you saw was— appropriate, or maybe it showed something it shouldn’t, but I promise I won’t let it get in the way of working here. I can maintain professional boundaries, and… And…”

His voice trails as he dares to look back into Reigen’s face. It’s completely red again, naked surprise totally dominating his features. His hand’s gripping the back of his chair, like it’s stuck there. Reigen very rarely holds still, but in this moment, he’s completely frozen in place. By shock.

Abruptly, Serizawa realizes he was wrong. Reigen hadn’t seen his feelings in the surface of his fingers. But if he didn’t know about it before, he definitely, definitely knows about it now.

For a split second, Serizawa’s certain the office will collapse around them— his powers going rampant one last time to spare him this complete embarrassment. But all that happens is the furniture trembles, once. Serizawa supposes, under the part of his brain that’s screaming for death, that it shows he’s made good progress on controlling his powers.

He stands robotically. “I should go,” he says.

“No— no,” Reigen suddenly blurts, and he unsticks himself from behind the desk, racing across the office after Serizawa. “Serizawa, wait—”

Serizawa trips over his chair in his rush to leave, which gives Reigen the time to grab his arm before he reaches the door. It would be very easy to pull free and continue his frantic path onto the street and into the horizon, but the feeling of Reigen’s fingers digging into the side of his arm totally arrests Serizawa. He freezes, staring down into Reigen’s still beet-red face.

Reigen’s face is twitching in some kind of worrisome motion— he really looks like he’s about to have some kind of seizure, especially when his complexion is still so totally red. But finally, he manages to speak. “Our heart lines might not be so different, you know,” he says, voice wobbling just a little from— nerves? That can’t be right. Unless Reigen’s so totally disgusted by him that he’s nervous to be around him, now. But he’s holding on so tightly. Like he doesn’t want Serizawa to go.

Serizawa’s eyes slide away, not wanting to look at Reigen dead on, but then Reigen tugs his arm, insistent, trying to get his attention again. “Obviously, the qualities that we have, and the ways that we love— hypothetically— are very different,” Reigen says, voice gaining volume. “But, maybe similar things are revealed if you look closely. Just… A little closer.”

And then he doesn’t say anything, staring wide eyed at Serizawa. He’s clearly waiting for something, as Serizawa’s brain shudders to put the pieces together past every instinct that’s screaming at him to escape. Serizawa can’t conceive of a person being more different from him than Reigen. Any kind of similarity seems like too much to imagine. A similarity of the heart line? Maybe, Reigen has some of the good qualities he’s superimposed onto Serizawa, and that’s what he means. Or maybe— maybe—

Before he can stop himself, Serizawa’s hand slides up to grab the one that Reigen’s got on his arms. This time Reigen’s hand is damp with sweat. So is Serizawa’s, and he can’t imagine that it’s a pleasant experience for Reigen. Still, Reigen spreads his fingers, interlacing Serizawa’s fingers with his as they fall to the side.

“Just a little closer,” Reigen says again, voice almost a whisper as he steps into Serizawa’s personal space. The gap between their bodies narrows, and then vanishes, Reigen’s torso pressing against Serizawa’s.

It seems, impossibly, to be what Reigen wants. So before he can stop himself, Serizawa dips his head and kisses Reigen.

Reigen’s body leans up and into Serizawa, his free hand reaching up to touch his face. Underneath the fireworks happening behind Serizawa’s eyelids, there’s a moment of terror at Reigen touching his face— like he’ll find some patchy place where Serizawa missed shaving, or the pockmarked memory of an acne scar, and abruptly snap out of whatever insanity’s fallen over him. But Reigen touches his cheek gently, so, so, gently, and the fingers encircling Serizawa’s only tighten.

He’s sure, from any objective standpoint, it’s not a very good kiss— Serizawa’s never kissed anyone before, so his skills are probably awful. But it also means it’s the best he’s ever had. He never wants to come up for air.

Eventually, though, their faces break apart. Reigen’s face is still twitching a little, but now it’s up into an almost manic smile. Serizawa’s starting to wonder if the blush across Reigen’s face will ever subside. “This is,” Reigen begins, and then stops.

Reigen’s words rarely stop, and the silence stretches on for a few uninterrupted seconds until Serizawa realizes that genuinely, Reigen’s lost for words. A laugh threatens to break loose from Serizawa’s chest, but he doesn’t want it to seem like he’s laughing at Reigen. He only wants to express that whatever Reigen’s feeling, Serizawa understands. Completely and totally. It’s something he feels confident of when typically, Serizawa feels confident of nothing. So he just smiles, hoping that maybe, Reigen will understand too.

“I should have gotten into palmistry earlier,” Reigen says finally, and at that Serizawa can’t suppress his laugh. “Clearly I should screw around reading articles on the weekend more.”

“This wasn’t the reason you learned about palmistry,” Serizawa says, laugh still making his voice shake.

“Hell no,” Reigen snorts. “I just wanted to find another way to make a quick buck.” Then, immediately, he adds, “and also help our clients find out important truths about themselves, and the universe, of course—”

“While making a quick buck,” Serizawa says. It feels too joking, too disrespectful, but then, Serizawa’s just kissed Reigen. Reigen’s kissed him back. Worrying about professionalism seems suddenly pointless.

Reigen raises an eyebrow at him. “Sassy. Just don’t say that to the clients, Serizawa.”

His hand’s still clinging to Serizawa, gently swinging between them. Impulsively, Serizawa brings the hand up to his mouth, kissing the knuckles. Reigen’s breath pulls in, and Serizawa feels his face heat. He suddenly realizes that really, he has no idea what Reigen expects from this. They could be on completely different pages, Serizawa could be moving too fast, he could be doing everything all wrong.

But Reigen’s smiling at him. It’s a smile that he hasn’t seen before— totally unlike the dazzling grins that he gives his clients, and everyone he’s trying to convince to believe him. It feels different. The other smiles, Serizawa realizes, are something that Reigen puts on, in the same way that he puts on his tie in the morning. This one is real. This one is for Serizawa.

There’s a part of his stomach that’s still telling him this whole thing is a bad idea. Every chapter on workplace relationships he’s taken careful notes on is flashing on the back of his eyelids when he blinks. But, more and more, Serizawa’s realized that Spirits and Such is far from a typical office environment. Serizawa’s not a typical employee, and Reigen— wonderful, strange, perfect, Reigen— is not a typical boss.

When they walk out of the office, Reigen’s still holding his hand. Serizawa hopes, impossibly, that he never stops.