#mob is still friends with teru too

[randomgarbagecan]

Tome would definitely start up Spirits and Such and drag Mob into it.

Like I believe that Tome, much like Reigen in canon, would have exited high school and immediately gotten a decent job. She’d do well at whatever office job she landed in, but it would be so boring and soul sucking that she’d eventually leave to do her own thing.

I’m sure she would’ve picked up some crazy jobs in the meantime. Probably first started with something like telepathy consultations, but without being a telepath herself, she couldn’t do too much. And then eventually she’d land on exorcisms and it stuck. So she made Spirits and Such, working odd spiritual jobs because it’s her special interest and she can handle most of them just fine, thank you very much.

But at some point, she gets in over her head, and idk if it would be a chance meeting, or if she purposely called Mob up to help, but Mob’s there to take care of it anyway. And after this job, she asks him to stick around.

He doesn’t want to. Of course, because he doesn’t have the same character development he gets in the show by being around Reigen, Mob grows up to be a lot more socially awkward with a strong dislike for his own powers. I feel like he would’ve repressed them a lot specifically because he never learned to accept them, and he keeps to himself to avoid outbursts. He gets better when Ritsu eventually unlocks his powers, etc etc, but generally Mob wants to keep his head down and do his own thing.

But I think Mob wouldn’t be able to hold down an office job like he had hoped to. He wants to be a Normal Member Of Society, but his psychic powers (and problems) find a way into his life that eventually costs him his jobs.

It ends up being a combination of Mob’s late bills piling up Tome’s incessant badgering that he finally agrees to be a contractor for more intense jobs, but before he knows it, he’s basically a full time employee. (And I still believe that Mob would try to get any other normal job, but something chaotic always has to intervene which inevitably causes him to leave. Work as a waiter at a restaurant? An evil spirit comes through and trashes the whole place when Mob’s the only one working. Bank greeter? Evil esper organization appears to recruit Mob, destroying half the building and getting him fired. So on and so forth.)

Tome was definitely the weird kid in school, so even if her and Mob weren’t in the same grade, they did have a sort of unspoken friendship that existed through middle and high school that kept them in contact as they both became adults.

Anyway, that’s my two cents on the matter.

as much as i love the new resurgence of ageswap partakers i have to put in my two cents: mob would not start the Spirits & Such agency

for starters, he would be good at it. i mean, he has psychic powers. he’d be a legit psychic. part of the comedic value (and i guess plot value in general) is the psychic kid working for and believing a fraud who can’t even see spirits. you could argue he’d do bad at the consultations part and that’s where my second point comes in

never in a million years would Mob ever start a career based on his psychic powers. he kind of rejected the idea of being a magician when ritsu suggested it. mostly because he lacked the charisma most magicians had. also i swear he’s said that he doesn’t want to depend on his powers for any domestic task, so why would he start a psychic business.

one last nit-pick from me, if reigen was never around for mob when he needed him the most, i don’t think mob would be… out in society? like the advice Reigen gave to him when he was ten was absolutely crucial and i doubt anyone else would’ve said that to him. I personally believe mob would more or less be in serizawa’s shoes. He hurts Ritsu, someone who he cares very deeply about, and without Reigens guidance, locks himself in his room. Whatever happens next, up for you to decide (cough cough i haven’t figured it out)

SO who runs the psychic business then? Who starts Spirits n Such? Well, who else doesn’t have psychic powers? who else wants to be involved in the supernatural? who else wants to do something with their life? Tome.

Tome Kurata starts Spirits n Such

[saltycharacters]

[ID: Digital artwork featuring Shimazaki Ryou from Mob Psycho 100, with some cameos from Serizawa Katsuya and Reigen Arataka. First drawing has Shimazaki in a casual pose as he rests one hand on his hip and the other grasps his white cane. He's wearing a short pink dress with a leather jacket, heels, some pointy jewlery and leggings, smiling smugly. The next image is a rough comic following Shimazaki as he infiltrates Serizawa's home, the text above it stating "Headcanon: Shimazaki likes to teleport into Serizawa's house and steal his food bc he's too nice to stop him". The first panel shows Serizawa flicking the light on, asking in exasperated disbelief, "Shimazaki. Whya re you in my kitchen at 3 am" as Shimazaki casually responds with "Heeeey bud don't mind me just doing a late night food run". Next panel has Serizawa and Reigen sharing a couch as Shimazaki rumages through the kitchen in the background, the words "After Reigen moves in" written near the top. Reigen is facing the kitchen with a confused glare, angrily questioning, "WHY is he in our apartment" while Serizawa stares at the tv in tired acceptance as he responds with "Ignore him". Shimazaki, from the kitchen, inquires "Yo Serizawa did you change the location of the pretzels I can't find them", followed by "3rd cabinet to the left" from Serizawa and a "Thanks" from Shimazaki. End ID]

Shimazaki headcanons for the win

[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.

[mobroccoli]

id love to see your take on my favorite terumob dynamic, if youd like! "boy best friends" u know, esp with post-confessions arc mob whos getting hit with those big waves of emotions hes still acclimating to (i like to think he becomes more physical with people he feels safe with, too!) VS teruki "no wonder all the girls think youre so cool if i was a girl id give you so many chocolates youd have to date me bc youre so so cool and handsome and wonderful" hanazawa who is forever touching and preening him. just the cutest honestly

Hi hi! I've been thinking about how to approach this for weeks. It's interesting to think about yet so difficult to describe.😅

Is Post confession Mob going to take things too dramatic? I think over time he'll get used to express right amount of feelings just like others, but if things get intense(or when teru praises him too much), he won't necessarily struggle to hide his bursting emotion.

[candyskiez]

thinks about teru again. he’s so funny and tragic to me. like. ok so he got targeted by a psychic terrorist organization that sent adults to try and kidnap him at a young age. and he rationalizes it by going “i am the Protagonist this is happening because i am the Main Character” and then lives his life by that idea bc it’s that or face the fact that he’s nothing, that he’s an average person and all these things happened to him for no reason. and then he meets mob and wants to befriend him, has questions he wants to ask- here is someone who might finally understand him. and then bc teru is thinking like a Main Character i think he goes “ok so if i defeat him then we’re friends otherwise we’re rivals” bc he’s still going off of tropes and cliches. and then shigeo fucking curbstomps him and he goes “oh ok i get it im not the main character 👍 KAGEYAMA’s the main character. so i must be The Rival Character then” but it’s just a way he can act as a friend without breaking the tropes he uses to rationalize his trauma

YEAH YOU GET IT! YOU UNDERSTAND! He's so horribly lonely but also literally everything about his mindset is directly standing in the way of giving him any connection. He holds people to such high standards that they're always going to disappoint him, so he spends time with none of them. He craves constant approval and affection but none of it is enough to satisfy the need for actual connection. So he just goes through shallow relationship after shallow relationship going Yep. This is great. I am happy. And I genuinely think he doesn't realize he's NOT happy because like. When you're in a shitty situation for your entire life you don't necessarily realize things can be Better. So Teru is not captured by claw when other people are, and he can do things that other people can't, so his situation is better than most! Nevermind the fact hey maybe there shouldn't be Claw. Maybe people shouldn't be attacking random kids. Maybe this is all insane. He's just like. Wow I'm so strong and smart for evading claw, because the idea that he just was Lucky would be terrifying and take away his entire sense of safety. He needs to be the smartest toughest guy that Has Ever Existed™ because if he's not, then suddenly he could get captured or die at any moment. And that's suddenly way less haha my life is so cool! The denial juice is strong here.

Literally everything about his introduction episodes is so damn telling. He tells the body improvement club everyone always underestimates him. But he conveniently leaves out how this makes him feel, or if he's offended. We see him lose his shit when Mob says he isn't able to hurt him, so clearly he's far more affected by it than he wants to admit. But he can't be upset by it. It's an Advantage in this Battle he's in. No one takes him seriously, and that means he can get away with more shit, and that means it's easier to beat them in battle! Nevermind the fact that he works his ass off, he is not upset at all, because that would be ridiculous. It's an Advantage. He wraps literally everything in his life that hurts him up in a bow of "Actually, this is good." He cannot admit that anything about him or his life is bad. He cannot admit that he isn't perfect, or that his life isn't just a fun challenge, or that he maybe misses his parents a little bit. He like...just fully submerges himself in the idea of being a character so he doesn't have to realize how easily he could die or have his life ruined. If his parents stop sending him money, he's fucked. If claw beats him, he's fucked. He doesn't have actual connections with people, because he views them too lowly to let them in at all, and he is fucking himself over so hard with it. He needs this to not be terrifying. And he also needs to be in the right, I think. I mean, he treats all of the fights at school like a game. It feeds his ego and it means he's safe. People can't touch him and it feels good to take out his anger (he's just angry that they disrespect him, he has nothing else whatsoever to have unresolved anger about, he is completely fine and is just enjoying being able to wipe that smug smile off that assholes face. He is so okay and well adjusted!) He's just. A mess of weird ass coping mechanisms. If he isn't right, which he definitely is!, suddenly he isn't the main character, suddenly he's not just Doing Whatever, suddenly he's just another asshole. Y'know. Do I make sense. He needs to be right because if he's not right it goes from a fun game to he was just an asshole for no reason and he didn't actually gain anything at all.

God. I need to rewatch EP five, because it's insane and also tells you so much about Teru, I'm sure it's even better on a rewatch. I need to rewatch this show soon or I'll die. But like. God. He takes the idea of the only other natural esper his age he's ever met being different than him SO personally. Because he's right. He is doing everything exactly the way he is supposed to. Clearly this guy is an idiot and weak. That's why he's afraid to fight him. Clearly. He can't comprehend that maybe Mob just straight up doesn't want to hurt him. Mob thinks he's better than him. Mob needs to be taken down a peg. And then he can't hurt Mob. Then he can't break his fucking barrier. Hes fought espers before. He knows how to fight espers. He is perfectly capable of it. He has literally everything he needs to beat him and for the first time he very suddenly Can't. And this person is so different and is treating him like he's having a temper tantrum and isn't following his rules that he's formed his entire life around. Can I interest you in autistic Teru. Can I please interest you in the fact Teru has autism. Please ma'am I just want a minute of your time.

I also feel like. The fact he Needed to idolize Mob is very telling. Mob defeated him so CLEARLY he's so powerful and perfect and amazing. He still can't let go of Being Amazing, of the idea he can't fail for no good reason. He needs Mob to be special or else he means nothing. Or else he's worthless. He needs to mean something. His entire identity is hinged around Mob now which. No pressure. He needs Mob to be perfect or else he's worth Nothing. So he puts him on a huge pedestal so he doesn't have to do any reflecting and now he can have the added bonus of a friend and it's Fine! It is totally fine. He is not affected by the fact he almost killed a man on accident. He is not affected by the fact he may have severely injured several people. He is not affected by the fact Mob could've killed him. He is not affected by the fact he was wrong. None of this affects him at all. He is So Fine.

And then he switched the narrative around to haha I was the one who needed to be taken down a peg. This is fine. My world view is not in shambles. I don't need to reassess anything. Everything that happened to me is still cool and fine and I still matter because I'm in the main characters life. So it's fine. He goes from nothing matters except Me to nothing matters except Kageyama, but at first he's done absolutely zero reconfiguring.

Also like. He romanticized that fight so much. Can we please talk about that. God. Hi. This fucking kid. Someone please like. Get him a therapist and maybe a Capri Sun.

I'm too tired to write more right now and think I should probably go ahead and post but like. Yeah. God. This show. Teru makes way too much damn sense. I want to shake him. What is his problem (just spent several paragraphs analyzing his problem.)

[bandtrees]

mp100 is a very very kind show, i love how compassionate it is and how forgiving it is, but i also love how hard it hammers in that there’s no such thing as a perfect person with endless bounds of patience and forgiveness, and that living your life only to please others isn’t living much at all.

the confession arc is very special to me for this reason, and below the cut is some analysis as to why! obviously, this contains spoilers for all three seasons of mp100.

the confession arc takes mob, this very kind loving sweet person who’s compassionate and has been able to see good in and treat with kindness people like mogami, touchirou, etc, and tells you... hey! this kid actually has (reasonable) building resentment and unresolved issues from being constantly people-pleasing and forgiving and not really acknowledging peoples’ flaws!

and no, it’s not a case of mob having this evil dark side who hates everyone, it’s just a case of mob... being human! expecting him to brush off the way reigen treats him and the way he and teru met and the danger to his life shou and touchirou were, as compassionate and mature as he is about them, isn’t realistic! because no human person is just a walking well of love and forgiveness, and for as mature as mob is, he’s still only a kid!

mob, as ???%, is very violent towards teru and reigen, and i choose to interpret this as how intensely he’s repressed his unresolved resentment for them that he swallowed down in favor of forgiveness and being the bigger person - the wider theme of mp100. we never really see mob express any discomfort around teru for nearly killing him, or around reigen for lying to him and generally treating him like trash sometimes, or around shou for burning his house down... and while i can’t express enough how important the messages of compassion and forgiveness are in this story, i think it’s also equally important to see, in ???%’s rampage, it’s not some evil side of mob or some shadowy separate personality in his body who’s deciding to hurt teru and reigen, it’s mob himself, because he never unpacked his conflicting emotions towards them, and now, when he can’t control himself, they’re running wild.

and this isn’t me saying teru and reigen are horrible people who never earned mob’s forgiveness. of course not! they’re very important people to him, he cares for them a great deal, they help to bring mob down from his violent episode... but as we hear in the mogami arc...

mob, kind as he is, isn’t some all-forgiving, forever-loving kid, and the same goes for his relationships with others. he cares about teru as a friend, he has resentment towards him for what he did that he never unpacked until now - these things coexist!

and there’s the ultimate catharsis when reigen tells the truth about himself, revealing to mob that he’s a complete liar who’s been using and exploiting him from the beginning. he lied to him from the day they met, and those lies ultimately led to the disaster in seasoning city that we’re seeing now. it was mob’s honest belief that reigen was a strong, powerful adult who had everything figured out -

- that led to him being unable to accept the contradictions within himself, and so reigen laying those bare, the fact that he’s a liar and an exploiter, that he too, this person mob has admired and learned from for the whole series, has a part of himself he hates for how it thinks of other people, is what’s able to let mob finally accept himself. 

reigen being a liar doesn’t make him an evil monster who deserves nothing but mob’s resentment - and in turn, mob destroying the city and trying to kill his friends doesn’t make him a violent, hateful murderer. it makes him and mob flawed humans, whose relationship couldn’t ever have healthily continued if those things weren’t unpacked - if reigen never honestly confessed about who he was, if mob kept forgiving reigen without looking inward to ask how he felt. at best, it would have been shallow and dishonest for them both until the end, and at worst... well, mob wouldn’t have been able to repress his emotions, dangerous as they are the more he hides them, forever...

this is why the scene of mob breaking down and crying is so important to me. finally, he feels safe expressing ugly, crude, selfish emotions. until now, when we see mob cry, it’s either tasteful tears running down his face, not changing much of his actual expression, or the complete opposite direction in exploding and bawling his eyes out with 100% sadness and 100% rejection - either mob’s emotions are pretty and subdued, or soul-crushing explosions he has no control over.

(sidenote: 100% rejection is one of the coolest explosions in the series to me and i wish it was talked about more!)

now, though, with the reassurance that he can cry, full-on cry, and it won’t hurt anyone, that he isn’t some selfish evil for being a middle school boy devastated he got rejected by his crush, that he’s allowed to feel broken up and miserable and have it not be an explosion that destroys the city... he cries! he feels all those negative emotions he’d held back, and because he feels safe expressing them, they’re not dangerous at all, they’re just... again, a middle school boy crying because he got rejected by his crush.

mob’s emotions, on their own, aren’t dangerous. it’s his refusal to express them, and the violent outbursts that leads to, that is.

something i love so much about mob psycho 100′s ending is that it’s not an ending at all. it’s just the beginning - finally, after three seasons, mob can actually feel and safely express his emotions. he can be on even footing with teru, reigen, all of them. he can start balanced, open, communicative relationships with those around him, showing that the compassion mp100 preaches goes far deeper than simply forgiving those who hurt you, or giving people chances.

mob’s kindness is so, so, so important to me, and where season 2 was about extending kindness to others, culminating in mob sitting down with touchirou after deciding that letting him die alone would only have been needlessly cruel and reinforcing the man’s worldview that he needed nobody, and that extending kindness towards him was what he needed to properly change - season 3, culminating in mob confronting the parts of himself that may have wanted to leave touchirou behind, is about extending kindness to yourself.

[marlshroom]

me and my friend last night were watching an analysis video about teru and just talking through it and i had the idea that teru, well into his thirties, would still be convinced that reigen is a psychic because of the 7th division arc and just nobody has ever told him. for years he talked about reigen as if he did have powers and people in their head would be like "that was weird. thats not true"(ritsu) but nobody would ever actually tell him.

eventually mob would be telling a story about his time at spirits and such. "yeah one time we went to a tunnel and reigen told me to melt all the spirits and i thought it was weird but it makes sense now because hes not a psychic." teru is SHOCKED and is like "oh! oh yeah hahaha thats so funny" and then immediately gets a rejection fever out of nowhere. mob would be concerned, being like "i cant remember anything happening to you to get the rejection fever, let me know so i can help you" and teru is too embarassed to tell mob.

eventually he would tell mob and he would just start laughing at him LOL

[arthrobug]

If you all haven't noticed I am an absolute slut for secret relationships, romantically or platonically

Teruki and Mob are incredibly good friends in the series when originally Teru was a major narcissist with a god complex who literally tried to kill Mob- you completely expect them to at least dislike each other a little, right?

Nope; the animators made the queer subtext between them so damn strong and they literally trust each other with their lives, ✨love it✨

Luffy and Koby met when the latter wasn't even a marine yet and the prior saved his life from pirates albeit being a pirate himself, so you expect them to appreciate each other but still be utter and complete rivals, right?

Hell no; Koby clearly admires (cough cough also with a sprinkle of queer subtext) Luffy while still being a strong and loyal marine, and Luffy still sees Koby as his good friend while still being a powerful pirate, ✨fucking adore it✨

And then there's the fanon romantic sides of these two pairings as well!!

Oh damn the uber powerful shadow leaders of Black Vinegar and Salt Middle have been spotted together? Must be preparing for a super big territorial fight- NAHHHH they're just on a date and Teruki's confidently holding Mob's fingers since Mob is still too nervous to entirely hold hands but you bet they're both red

Koby, the Hero of Rocky Port, keeps the wanted poster of Monkey D. Luffy, an Emperor of the Sea, hidden away in his quarters for some reason? Must be damn devoted to catching him or something- NUH UH he's just gay and misses his beloved, and whenever he and Luffy have a chance to be alone the only hands they're catching is in each other's as Luffy rambles and Koby contently listens

I love love love secret relationships okay

[shigayokagayama]

thinking about teru too long is literally an occupational hazard i was gonna make a post like "oh you ever notice how everyone calls teru by his nickname and -san except for mob who calls him by his actual name and -kun because he's seen the worst side of him and still chosen to be his friend?" but then i realized, wait, did the claw espers call him by his nickname? so i went to check and yea they called him by his last name in the world domination arc, but they also called him by his last name in the seventh division arc. and of course they would know him by that name thats probably what he is in their "esper children to kidnap" database. and now im just like

[isa-ah]

yup! so about that au... what's mob's feelings about teru? does he care about him? does he try to give him the benefit of the doubt? does he hate everything about him but thinks he's attractive? would love to know lol

so to answer that I'm gunna explain that the au is structured like this:

canonically, mogami wants to teach mob to be selfish, and to draw from negative emotions. he uses minori to do it; she bullies him until he snaps and mogami lets him reawaken to his powers in a violent context.

in this au, teruki comes with to the exorcism and ends up possessed to bait mob. except once mogamis in his head he's like oh YOU get it. that's exactly how teru was living as a kid. so you're going to teach him what you already knew how to do.

so mob wakes up in the mirror world freshly transferred to black vinegar and is immediately latched on to by edano and other boys in his gang. this draws terus attention to mob after a few weeks and he starts isolating him to bully himself (terus pretty obsessed w mob anyway, so that thread gets pulled, but also 🏳️‍🌈❓).

it builds until mob awakens to his powers to get teru off his back and teru pounces on it for a hierarchy fight immediately. he's ELATED to find another esper (in the show he says he has so many questions / stop rejecting me / don't leave me) so they throw down but mobs powers are tuned to lose the fight, so teru snaps him up to be his guard dog.

from terus perspective he's just found the perfect disciple. they're two of a kind. and he becomes VERY possessive of mob, and in turn, mob has the traits easily influenced & deeply loyal, so even if he feels prickly about terus attitude, he sucks like a magnet to his hip anyway bc hes the closest thing mob has to a friend.

they're both very lonely and ultimately scared kids right. so the enmeshment is pretty immediate and they start spending about all their time together bc the alternative is an empty grey city. mob fights most of terus fights for him, and thru it develops a much more physical outlet for his emotions (as opposed to verbal gentleness that is largely taught by reigen).

which.. leads to rubs when teru does stupid shit to get mobs attention and it works Too Well bc mob has no idea how to communicate it so he gets In terus personal space, pushes him around, gives him these autistic Stares but ultimately neither of them actually know how to wrangle the like oh God he's a life raft to me and I want to kiss him emotions so they act out stupid instead.

it's like.. idk I want to see their traits laid out in a more toxic light but also they're still obsessed with each other. and ultimately yeah mob does learn to be a lot more selfish and to use his powers for personal gain and teruki has to experience what his life would have been like if mob didn't check him. for fun. and flavor.

and boy does it make for the most awkward post arc reunion ever bc they get back to reality and reigen and dimple are like OH THANK GOD and then they look at each other and it's like. uhm. where do I even start lmfao

I have a lot of specific scenes in mind but mostly that's the gist. pls feel free to talk to me about it tho it's my pet project

[ygodmyy20]

Opps this post got forgotten! But if I don't post it today when will I!?

Okay so, I've been thinking for awhile on the question: why do I like terumob and why did it take over my brain? What is it about it...what caught my interest. As someone who was very NOT into ships when i first got into mp100, why did I crashland into this one?

This post has been in progress for like....weeks now? Nearly a month? 3 months? Yea.

Okay so. Here we go. THOUGHTS! On terumob and why the fuck I like it. Below the cut.

Like I mentioned, when I first finished Mob Psycho 100 in June of this year I wasn't into any ship. I was actually REALLY NOT into ships. I really liked gen. I wanted to explore the characters and I loved the complex relationships between everyone but I didn't want it to be overshadowed by romance. I purposely steered clear of any and all ship art.

But then I started to see some TeruMob fanart and I was like "Aw man, they are so cute and squishy." And I started to like them....just a lil bit. ONLY A LITTLE BIT.

BUT then I read more Teru-centric fics, read Teru analysis' and then I was like. Oh shit, Teru is 100% so into Mob it's like....this kid has it bad. He has a major crush. And even on the rewatch I am like WOW yep, confirmed in my brain, Teru has it bad. The subtext of his pinning is JUST so there for me. I didn't even have to look hard for it. I suddenly was very in on the Teru-one-sidded part of the ship.

But here's the thing, I'm not a big fan of ships like that... feels too unrequited. Hard for me to really like it. I need to have some level of something from both sides. Just how I am.

So that still leaves the question.

When and how does Shiego liking Teru work? Is there any subtext for that or am I just making it all up because I want the ship to work for me?

(which also is fine ya'll, no judgement if you ship two characters that barely interact, thats the fun of fandom stuff!)

I mean, all things considered, Shigeo likes Tsubomi. Scratch that, he REALLY likes Tsubomi. Shiego loves very strongly, like all his emotions. And he definitely likes Teru, they are good friends, so I kept thinking: where and how does that cross into a crush to me, for these characters?

Teru cares a lot, he adores Shigeo—Shigeo is kind, he is powerful, he is everything Teru wants to be. But are there places where I see this same level of intensity from Shigeo?

Annnnnnnnd then I got to their fight in season 3.

Everything Shiego did to Teru was so pointed. So raw and angry. Like I said, I think Shigeo feels his feelings very strongly and, I don't know, just the fact that he PERSUED Teru to humiliate him EXACTLY in the same way again, tells me that their first meeting had an intense impact on him. We don't see a lot of his feelings on his meeting with Teru, besides the brief ??? in that episode. After meeting Teru, it's just...life goes on as normal for them. But deep down I don't think Shigeo ever really tackled his complex feelings about Teru and their first meeting.

So it all comes out, its all be stewing for AGES, and what comes out is mean. It's aggressive. It's almost sarcastic? It's what happens when we let things chew us up inside and comes out all twisted.

Teru evoked such a strong reaction from Shigeo, even if Shigeo didn't admit it or express it, that I can't help but think, after things have settled, after he has spent more time adjusting to his whole self...after they both take time to really examine themselves and grow....

....that Shigeo wouldn't develop stronger feelings for this boy who also turned his world upside down. Who made him feel such strong emotions, who changed his world too.

Teru was forever changed by meeting another esper his age.

I think Shiego was too.

And I think where I started to love them was after the finale, after Teru's acceptance of Shiego for who he was.

I don't want to pigeonhole any of the espers into only being able to date other espers. But I also....yes, Shiego is a normal kid, but he is also Shiego.

Teru is a person who understands the strength it takes to keep that power, who has seen Shiego at all sides. His best and his worst.

But gosh this scene....

OUGHGGH

JUST THROW ME IN A RIVER WHY DON"T YOU

Yeah this whole scene just.....just yea. OUGH.

But yeah I just feel like Teru's crush would only grow after that. He would see Shigeo as a person over an all powerful esper.

While I like to think Shigeo's would develop over time and them smack into him like a runaway freight train. Because Shigeo FEELS so strongly, for all his emotions. He feels sadness strongly, he feels love strongly, he feels anger strongly—he just feels everything SO strongly. That is why he is powerful, that is why he is who he is, that is why ??? became what it is.

Anyway. My thoughts have ended and that's all i got. Thanks for coming to my ted talk of rambling mess that has been in progress for months that I realized whelp with the anniversary of the end of S3 nearly here, mind as well post it.

[etherealhoneybee777]

Okay, the mp100 fandom (and other fandom spaces as well) makes me really hopeful✨

The internet is mostly a cruel and terrible place. It largely exists as an instrument of global capitalism. Governments use social media to push propaganda that either reinforces their fascist, conservative ideals or instills leftists that want to fight back with a sense of hopelessness that paralyzes and scares them. And we’re also getting to a point where much of the content we see online is not only made by AI, but interacted with by AI as well. We’re seeing “art” and ragebait stories that aren’t even made by real humans, but are spread online as if they’re true. Transactions are everywhere, but because everything is a subscription service, we own nothing. Corporations are putting advertisements on even the most sacred corner of the web & encouraging people to constantly consume, to BE consumed with the desire to consume more things, and to fill up the little time we have left with constant, buzzing productivity—because the internet is an instrument of capitalism, and capitalism is about constant expansion, expansion that won’t stop until everything in our lives is quantifiable and our whole being is stretched thin in service of a pointless, unstoppable economic growth.

In the face of that, I think your mp100 art is amazing. I think your fic is amazing. I am glad you decided to share it with us. I am glad you took the time to analyze Mob or Serizawa or Tome. To post screen grabs of Dimple or gifs or animatics or anything else. I’m glad you reblogged my post and added some silly or thoughtful little hashtags. I’m glad you DM’d me or posted a long ramble about Ritsu or Teru or reigen.

People don’t have to do these things. They don’t have to sketch characters or share headcanons or write fic or make watch parties on cute little discord servers. But they do. They do it because it’s a fun thing to do & because they’re talented and passionate. And it makes me happy that on the internet—which is increasingly being used to alienate and control us—still hosts real communities and real people making real art and writing their real thoughts without any kind of profit motive or manipulative agenda. People are literally just posting because they want to share their work and connect with others. It reminds me that no matter what capitalism does, we live in a fundamentally social world & we’re constantly trying to connect with each other about the things we like. MP100 is the thing I like and the people here make me hopeful. I see people post their art/writing/headcanons and I get super happy. I get inspired. I look at people’s bios and all the different countries they’re from and get really happy that the internet can be used as a tool to connect people across the world with the same interest together.

Choosing to create and make friends and be nice and spread positivity over the internet is a uniquely powerful thing. It may not seem like much, (and being on the internet is often framed as “wasting time”) but the Internet is important and the things you do here are actually tangible and real. Making and sharing art—making friends—sharing writing and blurbs and headcanons is a legitimate pushback against the terrible capitalistic machine that the internet has become. I’ve heard a lot of creators say that their art doesn’t get noticed/doesn’t matter because it doesn’t get a lot of attention. But it DOES matter. Because, for every second that someone spends seeing your art, that’s one second that they don’t spend on government propaganda or brain-numbing advertisements or ragebait or AI generated “content”. And even if no one sees your art, YOU spent time making it. You loved it and cared for it and valued it in a way that capitalism can never profit from or understand.

I hope you know that I see your art & love it. I look at it when I’m sad. My gf and I look at mp100 art while we sit outside and feel the world leave our bones. Maybe this is too much, but I’m feeling earnest and joyful tonight & am trying to lean into those feelings.

I’m just thankful. You create and share just because you wanted to create and share. You’re making the world a better place.

[ampheenix]

I need (a human’s touch)

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

SUMMARY:

Set during the last episode of Mob Pyscho 100, in which Shigeo has taken over Mob completely.

But Teru is desperate. He hasn’t given up yet.

And he can only think of one thing that might shock Mob enough to break him out of… whatever this was.

TAGS:

terumob, angst and fluff, love confessions, 1.8k

He was hot.

Dangerously hot.

And well, Teru was always dangerously hot of course, but this was actually a huge problem. Teru was sweaty, all over, and could feel his breath coming faster and faster.

The searing pain of several stitches echoed from his core, cuts and bruises were littered all over his skin, his limbs were so tired he could fall asleep right then and there…

Teru hadn’t felt this degree of exhaustion since the last time Mob had lost control, when he had blown his school to bits.

But this degree of destruction triumphed over that event, easily.

Teru gritted his teeth, staring hard at his friend.

Piercing white eyes stared right through him, unblinking, unflinching, in the worst way.

Usually, those eyes could appear as apathetic to someone who didn’t know Mob well, his expression seeming perpetually bored and aloof.

But after knowing Mob for so long, Teru could always spot a slight gentle tinge to his gaze, a small crinkle of humour to the side of his lips, a shine in coal-black eyes. Just because Mob wasn’t very skilled at expressing emotion didn’t mean there was nothing there.

But this… this was different.

These eyes were nothing. Empty. Single-minded destruction.

It was jarring. Teru wasn’t sure he could even call the entity “Mob” anymore. Even so, he had to keep trying.

“MOB, COME ON!” He yelled hoarsely, breath coming hard and fast as he darted out of the way of another attack. Teru desperately tried to force his voice through the psychic energy swirling all around them. “YOU NEED TO WAKE UP! LOOK AROUND YOU!”

He grimaced, as deep down, he knew there was no point to it. These words hadn’t worked before, in the forest, when he’d tried to gently de-escalate the situation. He doubted they’d work now.

Teru’s brow furrowed. Nothing he was doing was even getting through to Mob. And his psychic barrier was chipped and full of cracks – he didn’t know how much longer he would last.

He had to do something. Now. Before it was too late.

And even whilst his mind was racing, trying to come up with sort of half-baked strategy, rattling through letters of the alphabet to devise a plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D, he was having to dodge rubble, save civilians, save MOB.

And keep his hair this time, if he could. It had been a pain growing it back out last time.

Teru clenched his jaw and fists, feeling his energy slowly come back to him. He had to do this. He owed it to Mob, for getting him out of that toxic mindset that had carried him through the first fourteen years of his life.

He owed so much to him.

Maybe… maybe what Mob needed was a huge shock. That was what Teru had needed back then, something BIG that had turned his world upside down – and at the time, Mob had certainly delivered.

(floating naked and bald in mid-air whilst sapped of all power did that to a guy. Yeesh.)

Could something like that bring Mob back? He’d been fighting against whatever had been consuming him, clearly he was still in there… somewhere… right??

Maybe…

Teru shook the idea off immediately. That would be- be awful of him, it’d be taking advantage, it’d practically be assault and wrong in so many books of moral code. There had to be another way.

That idea probably just came to mind because of Teru’s own biases, there was no way it would ever… It would ever…

Despite himself, Teru paused for a brief moment, feeling his cheeks warm. He… could he really-

A searing pain on his arm brought him back to his senses. He let out a yelp, darting away and instantly regretting getting distracted as he glanced down to see a fresh cut on his arm.

It went deeper than the others.

Teru paled, looking up. “Mob” had become distracted too, seeing as Teru hadn’t been directly attacking him for a while, and had just been frantically thinking up a plan (which he still didn’t have!!) but it seemed the entity had its head back in the game.

This was bad.

Teru had already been tired before, but he was feeling more and more sluggish with every minute that passed. He needed to nip this in the bud.

And as Teru watched the dark, swirling mass that was Mob slowly move forward, sending huge cracks skittering through the ground wherever he stepped…

It was still Mob, at the end of the day. Right?

Steeling himself, and wishing that his heart would slow down, Teru hoped in vain that his best friend wouldn’t hate him too much for this.

(He also wished retroactively that he’d remembered to put on chapstick this morning because his lips were very dry, and that didn’t tend to be the vibe when it came to finally kissing the guy you’ve had a crush on for a frankly humiliating amount of time.)

Teru walked forward, his expression soft. Mob’s eyes (?) narrowed, and honestly at this point, Teru hoped he’d be able to get within a metre of him without being blasted away.

His walk slowly became a jog. Then a run. Then a flat-out sprint, as a he used the last dregs of his energy to dodge and zip through all the attacks being sent his way, breath rattling through his lungs.

Within a blink of an eye, Teru was in front of him.

And he knew he had to make this quick.

Teru’s eyebrows furrowed in determination, pulse pounding in his ears and bruised ribs screaming in protest.

“Mob, I like you.” Teru’s voice cracked, and he hated himself. He continued, eyes shining. “I really, really like you, and I hope you’ll forgive me for this.”

And without further delay, he leaned in and pressed his lips to Mob’s, as hard as he could and with all the feelings brimming in his chest.

Teru had never actually kissed anyone, despite the amount of girls he’d gone out with. The most he’d done was a hold a few hands, and posture and flirt a bit. A dazzling smile was enough to make most of them fall to their knees, anyway.

He hoped, hopelessly, that blind devotion would make up for lack of skill.

(Deep inside swirling black, Mob was absolutely losing it.

“Let me out!! Please!! you have to- Teru just KISSED me!!” He exclaimed, hand on his chest, red as a tomato.

Shigeo Kageyama looked at him with disdain. “We literally are on our way to confess to Tsubomi right now.”

Mob narrowed his eyes, fists clenched. “No, YOU are. We just had that discussion. I want you to let me out so we can stop destroying everything and I can tell Teru I like him too.”

Shigeo’s voice was even flatter now. ��Since when do you like Teru. That has never been a thing.”

Mob somehow, impossibly, grew redder. “I… I don’t think I really realized until now.” He shook himself, determination now defined. “You need to let me out. Y… You can still confess to Tsubomi, but I need to see Teru, right now.”

“Please.” Mob’s voice is resolute. It’s not a question, and Shigeo lets out a sigh, glancing outside to where Teru’s mouth was pressed against his.

“You’re serious? After all of this? And his lips are chapped, you know.”

“Wh- why would I care about that?! Ours are as well!” Mob gave him a look of despair, trying to claw his way out of the space. “Let me out, right now! Before he pulls away – before you kill him!”

It wasn’t like Mob hadn’t been trying before, too, but his desperation was renewed now. He had been lulled into a sense of defeat, watching himself tear everything he loved apart, but now he knew.

“I’ll hold you to it.”

Shigeo’s voice is quiet. Decided.

“Hold you to what?!” Mob exclaims with furrowed brows, completely and utterly frustrated.

“You’ll still confess to Tsubomi. You have to.” Shigeo’s eyes are deadly serious. “You will. Or else.”

“I… okay. I’ll do it, but only if you let me out right n-”)

With a jolt, Mob realized he was in the middle of his first kiss.

His eyes flew wide open, darting all around, but just as he tried to commit everything to memory, Teru’s lips left his.

Teru was looking at him, eyes equally wide. Teru was there, golden hair matted with sweat and covered in blood and bruises.

Teru was alive.

With tears prickling in his eyes, and with equal ineptitude both in kissing and in words, Mob went for the next best option.

Within a blink of an eye, his arms were wrapped around Teru’s torso, tight and snug, head tucked into the other’s neck as he blindly hoped that this would make up for all the thoughts he didn’t know how to convey.

There was a beat of silence. Mob tensed up, ready to immediately draw back the second he sensed he’d made Teru uncomfortable.

And then, he felt the other melt into the embrace, arms winding around him and pulling him closer. A shaky hand cradled Mob’s inky-black head, stroking his hair and trembling like a leaf, as if still in disbelief that it was there.

Then, came Teru’s frantic words.

“I’m- I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He drew further away, hands on his shoulders and Mob instantly wanted to tug him back, to where he had been stroking his hair. “I hope- I hope it was okay, I just wanted to shock you enough to break you out of- whatever that was- I just-”

As Mob watched the stammering, insecure words fight their way out of Teru’s mouth, it felt… wrong. Those words didn’t belong there. That shaky, unsure expression didn’t belong on Teru’s face.

And before even Mob had figured out what he was doing, he was pulling at Teru’s shirt, tugging him closer and shutting him up with another kiss.

It was… really nice. Especially since he got to experience all of it this time. Teru’s lips weren’t very dry at all, they were soft, and Mob liked how the other relaxed into him.

Teru’s hands came forward, cupping his face, and Mob liked that too.

After another moment of savouring the feeling, he slowly pulled back. Teru was looking at him like he’d hung the stars in the sky, cradling his face, his mouth positively agape. “You… you actually…”

Just as Mob was wondering if he needed to kiss him again, to really prove his point (and it’s not like he would mind) Teru smiled, a genuinely happy smile, soaking it in.

Because this was it. This was requited.

“I’m here. I’m sorry I wasn’t before.” Mob said, as he took both Teru’s hands in his. He bit his lip, not knowing where to start. “I… I have a lot to explain.”

Teru gave his hands a reassuring squeeze, sending him  the softest smile he’d ever seen.

“We’ve got nothing but time.”

[angelmachines]

third mp100 post of the night but a theme i dont see discussed a lot online is just how fucking lonely these characters are

serizawa and reigen are easier obvious examples-- one was locked in his room for 15 years and the other is left without his middle schooler employee for a few days and is devastated socially, whereas its harder to remember that despite how fast mob collects people throughout the series, but mob started out alone

the mogami arc displays it best-- even when these characters have communities that support them, the isolation theyve dealt with (esp in regards to whatever allegory you want to apply to them, but most potently the autistic ones) stick with them. forever. they can still grow and change but its a part of them in a way that is never scoffed at or laughed away.

ritsu, shou, and teru... are never seen to have friends. acquaintances like kamuro or the awakening lab kids or each other-- but not Friends. its easy to assume they have people they hang out with that we (as the audience) never see but i think the themes of this show are so much more powerful when you consider it to Be purposeful

like, maybe the reason teru is never seen with the black vinegar gang kids or that girl he dated is less because of character development (because they couldve developed, too) but more because teru never really liked them and only wanted to appear more successful socially than he was. or the reason why shou is alone isnt because hes less involved in the narrative as everyone else but because he grew up in a violent group with kids who have only ever been treated like tools by his dad, or expected to be treated like tools by him. that maybe ritsu doesnt like tsubomi or reigen not because hes bitchy but because... hes a traumatized teenager who doesnt trust a lot of people

and obviously i could say more on each of them, but thats what makes the themes of community in this show so goddamn powerful-- theyre coming from characters who have either given up on connection or have never been given the opportunity to thrive within it. so when you see all of them celebrating together in the end, supporting each other... you believe that its possible, too

[dykeyaoi]

something that's very interesting to me is that in almost any iteration of MP100 (but in this case specifically ageswap versus canon), certain characters (in this case whoever end up being the adults) have to fail miserably in their lives before they can even begin to interact with other characters within the story.

in canon, Serizawa has to grow up as a shut-in and not have any confidence in himself or his powers and get picked up by Claw as a result. Mogami has to spiral into being a horrible person and become the reason for his mom's death and become a shell of an evil spirit. Reigen has to grow up without friends and build up his persona and boister his fake confidence and become distant from his family and be a fraud. none of them could meet the kids and go through everything in the story that fixes them if they didn't fail in the things that they most wanted to overcome first.

in an ageswap AU, Teru has to never meet Mob and grow up thinking he's better than other people and never need anyone to actually like him because he lives alone and can just make them anyway. Mob has to suppress his powers and have no one to tell him things that he'll realize are wrong and not have a mentor and not do well in school and not rely on anyone because he's scared of what he'll do to them if he does. Ritsu has to be scared of his brother and they have to grow apart because they end up being wildly different and eventually he switches honorifics to Onii-san and kind of dreads talking to Shige because they both failed.

in canon, you watch Mob have every person who cares about him be taken away and his falling apart at the seams when they are-- expected, as he's the kid. but you also watch Reigen realize that he doesn't have anyone because he won't let people get close. you see Serizawa lose control when his umbrella is taken away because the president gave it to him and he needs that because god knows people aren't so constant!

in an ageswap AU, you can fix Reigen and Serizawa and even Mogami and Toichiro if you're really intent on it. in an ageswap you can have Teru meet Mob through business but you can also bring a shy, kind of self-doubting Tome to Spirits & Such because she hears a rumor about telepathy. she still wears aliens on her socks but finds the smallest incessant shame in it because her club got torn down as soon as it was made clear that she was the only one who cared about them. you can have Mob spot a grown-up, successful Tsubomi in the streets and freeze up and be too nervous to say hi to her. you can see Shou the struggling single father of a kid he doesn't know how to handle.

the adults all have to fail at first because the point of Mob Psycho is that you have to let the other people in your life change you. you have to let them in because feedback with a sample size of oneself is not enough to judge and base one's thoughts & actions on. they're the kind of characters that cannot exist without each other because they make one another into who they are.

[russenoire]

one thing that strikes me about mob psycho 100 is how closely it hews to shigeo's direct emotional experience. depending on your tastes in worldbuilding and characterization, this can either be a strength... or a weakness.

the only characters fleshed out somewhat are those shigeo is truly close to; almost everyone else is painted with just enough detail to make them feel like people. but not much more... not unlike real-life acquaintances. this rings mostly true for events in the story, too. MP100 also shines very little light on what strangers think of its protagonist, in part because he doesn't notice or care all that much.

and even those people who matter most to him? shigeo doesn't really ask about anyone's inner lives, so we only get to know others at a 'surface' level. what's ON that surface is still rich AF, but it's mostly free of backstory: we get impressionistic flashes of who reigen, and dimple, and ritsu, and teru are almost entirely from what their lives are like in the present. as a result, the story is a very autistic (and for me, relatable) headspace to walk around in.

the mutual bond ritsu and shigeo share would not feel as strong without ONE letting us rummage around inside the younger kageyama brother's head for a bit, of course. shigeo loves his little brother more than anyone else in the world, but he isn't even privy to ritsu's emotional landscape until ritsu lashes out at him in an alley one day.

and we wear reigen's skin the longest, apart from shigeo's, because the boy spends most of his free time at spirits and such. but who was he before shigeo shyly opened his office door in search of empathy? surely he was more than a bored salesman everydude looking for something to give his life meaning, but this is all that we are shown clearly. unfortunately reigen's inner life is terra incognita to shigeo: he doesn't share it with the boy and shigeo doesn't even begin to ask until the story is nearly over.

shigeo in turn shares so little of his inner life with reigen that the man isn't even aware the child has friends his own age. and his immense, map-redrawing destructive capabilities frighten reigen all the more because shigeo never fully trusted him with that knowledge. the wrath of shigeo's shadow self is as ruinous as it is because shigeo couldn't trust anyone with his emotional insides, either.

how well do we really know those we love? how well can we know them?

how well can we know anyone?