Work Text:
Serizawa was, understandably, a bit concerned when he got a text from his boss Thursday morning, just 10 minutes or so before he’d normally leave his apartment to head towards work. Glancing towards the bag of schoolwork he was finishing putting together (to work on only during clientless hours at the office, of course), the esper reached out with his powers to bring his phone close enough to check the message. He didn’t want to be late if Reigen had simply sent him a picture of a neighbor’s dog, but if it was an emergency…
Oddly, it turned out to be instructions for Serizawa to head straight to a customer’s home for an home exorcism, rather than heading to work and traveling together. From a look at the address, the customer was located between Serizawa’s apartment and Spirits and Such, so the esper supposed it made some sense not to go past and then double back.
With a considering hum, Serizawa messaged the blond back to ask what time the appointment was scheduled for, and received the office’s opening hour as a response. Perhaps this was an emergency exorcism then? He sent back a thumbs up emoji as confirmation. With a glance toward the clock, Serizawa realized that he currently had only 15 minutes to finish getting ready if he wanted to ensure he arrived on time.
As he stepped outside and locked his door, he sent Reigen a text announcing he was on his way, along with Mobgle’s estimated ETA. Instead of the “see you there!” that he expected in response, however, he received a confusing mishmash of emojis (including some the esper hadn’t even realized existed), with an excitable “be careful, but you’ll do great! Let me know when you’re done!”
Serizawa froze mid-step, attempting to find some context in the conversational chain that he’d clearly missed. When no further information presented itself, the esper forced himself to keep walking, and texted back a response trying to confirm that the blond would be meeting him at the clients home. Much to his dismay, the response he got was yet another confusing jumble of emojis, and a lot of rambling words that basically amounted to “Nope, you’re going solo. Sorry! I’ll explain when you’re back at the office”.
That didn’t bode well. Still, Serizawa had been working at Spirits and Such for nearly a year and a half now, and if an exorcism had to be done solo, Serizawa was glad Reigen had at least had the foresight to have the esper be the one to do it. And that it meant that Reigen trusted him to be able to accomplish such a task by himself. With that encouraging thought, Serizawa continued onward, doing some breathing exercises to try to make sure he didn’t arrive looking sweaty and anxious.
Thankfully, the exorcism turned out to involve a fairly minor spirit that had been making a nuisance of itself by opening snack packages so they’d go stale before they could be eaten. Not exactly an emergency, but it also only took the esper a few seconds to disperse. With a few minutes to assure the client he’d actually done something, and a couple more to collect payment, Serizawa was back to heading towards the office less than 15 minutes after arriving at the exorcism site.
Despite the easy job, it was a relief to the esper when he arrived at the office to find Reigen sitting behind his desk, chatting amicably on the phone with a client he was scheduling for an appointment at the office. Serizawa thought he heard mention of a cursed fish (a live fish? Or a toy?), but ultimately wasn’t concerned enough to bother eavesdropping, focusing on settling in at his desk instead.
Since the blond was distracted by the call, Serizawa took the opportunity to examine his boss for any hints as to what was going on. In the esper’s experience, Reigen only bothered to adjust an existing schedule for emergencies (for others) or injury (for a member of the office). And even then, if he was the one injured, the blond tended to adjust things only enough to afford himself the bare minimum of care. Given that this morning’s exorcism was far from an emergency, Serizawa didn’t think it was unreasonable to worry that his boss had managed to engage in some kind of shenanigans once again, possibly getting injured in the process.
Unable to spot any obvious injuries from his current distance, Serizawa was finally content to pull out some schoolwork, preparing an outline for an essay he’d need to turn in at the end of the month. Eventually, after no less than 4 attempts by Reigen to get off the phone, the blond was able to hang up, and he gave a gusty sigh of relief.
“Busy morning?” Serizawa asked, looking up from his schoolwork.
“Ugh, in the worst of ways” Reigen confirmed with a pout, propping his head on his hand. “Had a bunch of scheduling conflicts that needed, uh, rescheduling.” The blond trailed off, starting to sweat.
“Uh huh?” Serizawa prodded, raising an eyebrow. “Does the exorcism from this morning have anything to do with that?”
“It sure does!” Reigen chirped, far too sunnily, before abruptly spinning his chair to grab some papers from the side of the desk. The blond then began studiously examining the documents and comparing their contents to something on his computer, like he was expecting to be quizzed on it. Every so often, he’d glance up minutely to see if Serizawa was still watching, before darting his eyes back to the pages.
Serizawa frowned lightly, and considered whether it was worth pressing at the moment. He shrugged to himself. It was early yet, and if something was going on, Serizawa would have an easier time getting it out of Reigen if he caught the blond wrongfooted. With luck, he’d catch the younger man in a lie before lunch, and if not, he could always press more strongly towards the end of the day, when Reigen was more tired.
It turned out that Serizawa didn’t have to wait long for an opportunity to arise, as roughly an hour later found Serizawa looking up at an odd noise to discover Reigen trying to scooch his chair around the side of his desk towards the bookshelf. The esper watched on, baffled, as the blond apparently gave up on his awkward scooching, and started to precariously lean against the side of his chair, stretching for… a book on carpentry?
The chair gave a perilous wobble, and abruptly tipped over, which would have spilled Reigen directly onto the floor in a heap had Serizawa not instinctively caught both him and the chair with his powers, righting the chair before depositing his sweating boss back in his seat. Serizawa then floated the book to Reigen as well, with a raised brow.
“Heh, whoops! Thanks for that,” Reigen stuttered out, raising a hand to rub at the back of his neck. Serizawa stood and walked around his desk, stopping in front of Reigen’s.
“Why didn’t you just stand up to grab it?” the taller man asked, genuinely confused.
“Ha, you know me, always trying to be lazy!” Reigen drawled. He started attempting to scooch his chair back in place in front of his computer, refusing to make eye contact with the esper.
“I’m pretty sure you’ve never done that before,” Serizawa pointed out, unflinchingly. He was perfectly content to make this feel as awkward as possible for Reigen if it forced the blond into honesty.
“Whaaat? That can't be true…” Reigen replied vacantly. A particularly harsh jerk of the chair caused it to almost tip again, and Serizawa grabbed hold of it with his powers again to prevent it from moving further.
“Reigen.” Serizawa just stared at him, causing the younger man to give an awkward, slightly hysterical giggle, before he wilted in his chair.
“Yeah, so uh, by the way, I had to reschedule all our massage exorcisms for at least two weeks out. And, uh, any off-site exorcisms will have to either be rescheduled for 2 weeks out or to be at the office instead. Or you do them solo like today, I guess.” Reigen rattled off rapidly with a grimace, eyes glued to his desk and posture stiff like he was expecting to be chewed out for the inconvenience.
“O-kay? We can do that. Did something happen?” Serizawa tilted his head to the side, re-examining Reigen’s appearance for anything he might have missed before.
With a slight sigh, Reigen made a motion to scooch his chair back towards the bookshelf, only to realize his chair was still being held fast. “Er… this would probably be easier to show if I weren’t… behind my desk?” He said, glancing quickly up at Serizawa, and then back down at his desk.
Taking this as the request it was, Serizawa walked to the side of the desk, and then used his powers to pull Reigen’s chair towards himself, only to stop fast as soon as Reigen’s full form was visible. The blond’s pants had been rolled up to his knee on his left leg, making room for the bulky splint wrapped around his left ankle.
Serizawa glanced between Reigen’s face and his ankle, before letting his gaze settle to glare at the splint. “What happened? Was there a spirit? You said you weren’t going to go on exorcisms by yourself anymore.”
Reigen lifted the ankle into his lap and waved him off, staring towards the office door. “It wasn’t a work thing, my mom asked for my help as a handyman. No spirits involved, as far as I know.”
Serizawa lifted his gaze back up to Reigen’s face, expression softening at the anxious way the younger man was chewing on his lip. “What happened? And why didn’t you mention it earlier?” Serizawa questioned again, more gently this time.
Reigen looked in the general direction of Serizawa’s face, but not quite at him, and shrugged. “I just tripped on something, and heard a popping noise when I fell. The doctor said it was sprained, and to give it two to three weeks to heal. So, no walking to clients’ places or standing to do massages.”
Reigen sighed, glancing down to look at his ankle, before rubbing lightly at the skin just above the splint. “I just feel kind of dumb, getting through exorcisms with deadly ghosts every other day with hardly a scratch, and then wipe out with a sprained ankle because I tripped over a ladder.”
Serizawa stepped closer, and then kneeled in front of Reigen’s chair, daring to place his hand on top of Reigen’s. The blond startled, wide eyes staring as his cheeks turned rosy, and his mouth fell open slightly.
“That doesn’t make you dumb, it’s just… something that happens to people. You can’t try to plan against every misfortune, and not everything bad that happens is because you made a mistake. You and Shigeo-kun taught me that.” Serizawa lectured gently, before smiling fondly. “You need to be more kind to yourself. Give yourself the same allowances you give others.”
Reigen just continued to stare at him in shock, the red in his face beginning to spread to his ears and neck. Serizawa began to feel his own face heating, and he wondered if he’d overstepped a boundary somewhere. He turned to look to the side, coughing lightly to clear his throat, before standing up and moving rapidly back to his own desk.
Reigen cleared his throat lightly, and Serizawa glanced up at him. “Ah… thank Serizawa,” Reigen started, eyes on the floor and chewing lightly on his lip again. His expression seemed to hold conflicting emotions, and he paused for a moment, before seemingly coming to a resolution. He raised his eyes to meet Serizawa’s, and gave the esper a small but honest smile. “I’ll try to keep that mind going forward.”
“I’d appreciate that. And, ah, if you could let me know when you get hurt?” Serizawa responded, trying to project his genuine concern, so that the blond would take his request seriously, rather than just agree in the moment and ignore it when something happened. “Even if there isn’t anything I can do to help… I would want to know.”
Reigen’s eyes darted away again, and his flush (which had been ebbing away) returned full-force. “I’ll… try to work on that. I- hm… I don’t like to feel like I’m… burdening people? With my problems.”
Serizawa’s hands twitched with desire to touch the younger man again, to hold his hands or rub his back, to reassure the blond that he would never be a burden. He’d already crossed that boundary once today, though, and felt it would be impertinent to do so again so soon. He busied his hands fidgeting with something on his desk instead.
“I understand why you would worry about that. You’ve never been very good at asking for help,” Serizawa responded slowly, feeling out the words as he said them, “But you are also always saying that people’s honest feelings should be respected by those around them… and my honest feelings are that I will feel better if I know that I can trust you to tell me if you are hurt.”
Reigen swallowed hard, and then gave a slow nod. He was quiet for a few moments, before sighing gustily. “That’s… fair,” he eventually acknowledged. He finally met Serizawa’s eyes again. “You might have to call me out on it a couple more times before it sinks in.” He warned with a self-deprecating laugh.
Serizawa just nodded seriously. “I can do that.” The esper watched as Reigen turned his chair and started attempting to scooch his way back behind his desk, utilizing only his right foot and his momentum. It was surprisingly slow going, and Serizawa wondered if his right foot was bruised and bothering him too. He considered calling it out and asking, but decided against it, as the conversation had been hard enough already.
“Would you like me to move your chair for you?” Serizawa offered.
Reigen considered the distance he had gone so far, and the distance that still lay between him and his computer. “Haa… yeah. I’d appreciate it, thanks.”
Thankfully, once Reigen had been re-settled behind his desk, the rest of the day went fairly smoothly. Reigen had to field a few customer complaints about rescheduling, but most of their clients were understanding. Serizawa even got to discuss mechs at one point, as a client had to bring her son with her in order to attend an appointment at the office instead of her home. Her “haunting” sounded like a mold problem, from the instructions Reigen had given her, so the esper was extra glad at the shift in location.
Eventually, the work day came to an end. Serizawa paused as he was re-packing his bag, and turned to observe Reigen as the blond collected his own belongings, balancing his weight primarily on his right leg. His balance seemed fairly stable, but the esper noticed his boss wobbled any time he pivoted on his heel to turn around.
“Reigen?” Serizawa prompted, staring at the splint around the blond’s ankle. He received an inquisitive hum, but the younger man remained focused on his task.
“Do you… would you like any help getting home?” Serizawa offered, looking up to attempt to catch the blond’s eyes. Reigen paused at the question, and twisted around to face the esper.
To his credit, Reigen did actually pause for a full five seconds to consider the offer, but he quickly waved it off nonetheless. “Nah, I’ll be fine. The walk here this morning wasn’t bad, and I’ve been resting my ankle all day. Plus, I’ve got a cold pack in the freezer at home if I need it.”
Serizawa watched Reigen, trying to gauge his sincerity, before giving in. “All right. Let me know if you need anything? I can pick something up for you on the way into work tomorrow. Or I can come by tonight if you need help with anything.”
Reigen picked up his belongings, and limped over to Serizawa, patting him on the shoulder. “I appreciate it. I’ve got you and Mob on speed dial if I need anything, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine.”
The two men walked out the door together, and Serizawa paused on the sidewalk, where they normally part ways. “One of my classmates lent me a new movie. I think it’s part of a series with that monster flick we watched last month. Did you want to come over this weekend and watch it together?”
Reigen perked up, looking excited for a moment, before a scowl crossed his face instead. “Ugh, I’d love to, but I’m stuck playing handyman all weekend again.” The blond attempted to kick a rock in the road, and almost fell over as the motion unbalanced him.
“I thought you were supposed to stay off your feet for the next couple weeks?” Serizawa questioned, frowning.
“Tell that to my mom,” Reigen returned with an irritated scoff. “As far as she’s considered, since it’s not broken I’m fine, and I “owe it” to her to finish what I started.”
Serizawa knew the blond’s relationship with his family wasn’t great, but he didn’t know many details. Reigen tended to stay pretty quiet about his private life. If he hadn’t gotten injured as a result of this favor to his mom, Serizawa doubted he’d even have known it was going on.
“That doesn’t seem very fair. Your health is important, and your ankle will heal faster if you stay off of it.” The esper eventually stated.
“I know,” Reigen sighed, already sounding exhausted with the situation. “I’d try telling her no, but it’s not worth the fight with her. Especially when I already know from the start I’m not gonna win. Better to just get it over with and enjoy the quiet after.”
Serizawa hummed in acknowledgement, deciding to hold his peace in the matter. Reigen knew his family better than Serizawa did, obviously, and it wasn’t really Serizawa’s place to interfere.
“Do you know if you’ll be free the weekend after, then?” Serizawa asked, fidgeting lightly with his bag. He wasn’t sure what he’d say if Reigen rejected this attempt as well.
“Hm? Yeah, everything should be fixed by then, probably. And if it’s not, I don’t really care. I’m not exactly getting paid for my help.” Reigen replied. “Would your classmate be ok with you keeping it for that long?”
“I’m sure Akira-kun would be fine with it,” Serizawa stated with a nod. He was not sure, but he would ask, and if his classmate said no… well, he’d find another solution.
“Cool!” Reigen exclaimed with a bright grin, “Sounds like a da- uh, a plan! Sounds like a great plan!” The blond coughed lightly, and pivoted on his ankle. “Well, I should get home if I want to ice my ankle. Have a good night and see you tomorrow!” Reigen rambled off, before quickly moving away via an awkward-looking limping sprint. Serizawa watched him go in worried confusion, wary of Reigen falling, and felt hesitantly relieved as the younger man made it safely around the corner and out of sight.
Friday passed just as smoothly, and Serizawa enjoyed a quiet weekend spent puttering about his apartment and trading the occasional meme with Reigen. He’d even successfully negotiated keeping custody of his classmate’s movie for another couple weeks, though it sounded like Akira-kun thought he had a hot date lined up for it. Serizawa wondered if he ought to clarify the situation next time he saw the man, or if it was better to let it lie.
Regardless, the result of such a successful series of days was that Serizawa arrived at Spirits and Such on Monday morning feeling optimistic and raring to go, and thus felt slightly betrayed when he realized something was clearly wrong shortly thereafter.
The first (and most obvious) sign was when Serizawa looked up from his homework to the sound of the office door opening, and realized it was their first appointment of the day. Specifically, the appointment scheduled for an hour after the office opened, and with the client being the first person to enter the office for the day besides Serizawa himself.
Serizawa apologized to the client for Reigen not being available, and quickly removed the curse from the plush fish they’d brought. After collecting payment and sending the client on their way, the esper dialed Reigen’s cell phone, hoping to find out why he hadn’t shown up for work. This led to the next sign of something being wrong: Reigen didn’t answer the phone.
While the blond did have a tendency towards absent mindedness, he was usually very reliable about answering his phone, especially when it was Serizawa or one of the kids calling. Serizawa suspected the younger man felt responsible for the kids (understandable, after everything they’d been through over the years), and possibly Serizawa as well (which Serizawa wasn’t sure how he felt about).
Serizawa attempted a few more calls, trying to give 15 minutes in between each (in case Reigen was in the bathroom? Or washing a dog? Or… taking a dog to use the bathroom?), but usually giving in to his anxiety and calling around the 10 minute mark. Still, no answer.
Thinking, Serizawa crossed the room to his boss’s desk, and pulled out his calendar to check for any early appointments Reigen might have forgotten to mention. There weren’t any (it had been a long shot, Reigen had gotten a lot better about communicating work things), but there was a note on the page for Sunday, reminding Reigen about his mother’s “project”.
Lacking any other leads, Serizawa flipped through Reigen’s phone book, and felt relieved to find an entry labeled “Mother”. With a few deep breaths to steel himself (and then a few more for good measure… Serizawa didn’t expect this call to go well), Serizawa dialed the number, and pressed call.
“Hello?” Came a woman’s prim voice through the phone.
“Ah, hello, apologies for bothering you. Is this, uh, Reigen Arataka’s mother?” Serizawa stammered, trying not to sound as anxious as he felt.
“Ugh, look, if he owes you money, that’s his problem. I’m not paying his debts for him.” The voice scoffed.
“What? No, that’s not…” Serizawa trailed off, befuddled. “I’m not calling about money, I work with Arataka-san. He didn’t show up for work today and I was worried. He mentioned that he was working on a project for you this weekend, and I was wondering if you’d heard from him?”
The woman on the phone sighed scornfully. “That lazy son of mine… he can’t keep a real job, and now he can’t even be bothered to go to his made-up one? Honestly.” This lady was really starting to tick Serizawa off. It seemed like no matter what he said, she turned it in a way to say something negative about Reigen.
“Ma’am, please. Have you heard from Arataka-san in the last 12 hours?” Serizawa demanded.
“No, last I heard from that ungrateful child was when he told me on Friday that this weekend would be the last that he’d work on the house.” The woman responded, disdainful. “Honestly, after all I’ve gone for him, you’d think helping out with his cousin’s house would be the least he could do, but noooo he has to-”
Serizawa interrupted her “What’s the address for the house?”
“-round h- what? Address?” the woman asked, sounding insulted at the interruption.
“You said he was working on his cousin’s house. What’s the address?” Serizawa clarified, readying a pen and paper.
“I’m not telling you that! She is a married woman, thank you very much, and you would do well to-” The woman started, incensed for reasons that Serizawa didn’t really care to worry about.
“Please stop talking. I want to check on Arataka-san, I don’t care about his cousin. Give me the address.” Serizawa growled. Privately, he resolved to be much more supportive to Reigen in issues regarding the blond’s mother. She was so much worse than Serizawa had ever dared to imagine.
Apparently, the obvious irritation in the esper’s voice had spooked the woman, and it didn’t take much more to get the address. Without bothering to thank her or say goodbye, Serizawa hung up the phone, and entered the address into Mobgle for directions.
25 minutes later found Serizawa standing in front of a modest one-story home, the kind meant for couples planning to start a family. The building did look a bit worse for wear, not as if damaged by the elements, but as if built by careless hands. There were places here and there that looked as though someone much more skilled had made an attempt at repairing them, which the esper suspected was Reigen’s handiwork.
Serizawa walked up to the front door and tried the handle, which turned easily. After a very brief examination, it didn’t look like the door or lock was damaged, which led the esper to assume it had been left unlocked by whoever was last here.
Stepping through the door and into the home, Serizawa examined the entryway for clues. He could sense a minor spirit somewhere nearby (a small thing, the kind that liked to be a pest but was rarely dangerous), which he impatiently exorcized with a wave. He threaded his aura through the rest of the house, but didn’t sense any other lifeforms within the walls.
Walking further in, he noticed the rooms were all bare of proper furniture, and distantly wondered if the cousin was moving out or in. He found Reigen’s ankle splint in the kitchen (concerning, the blond really ought to be wearing that so his ankle didn’t get worse), and a few towels in the bathroom. He even found an assortment of tools spread across one of the bedrooms. What he didn’t find, unfortunately, was Reigen. Or even any notes Reigen might have left explaining where he went. Not that the blond was prone to leaving such notes, but Serizawa couldn’t stop himself from looking for any out of a sense of desperation.
Feeling distressed and out of options, Serizawa attempted to call Reigen’s phone again. While the blond still didn’t answer, Serizawa did hear Reigen’s ringtone… coming from outside one of the bedroom windows! Serizawa bustled over and peered out the window, spotting a ladder lying in the grass, and Reigen’s phone beside it.
Darting back outside, Serizawa investigated the area, even searching around the other sides of the house. The ladder was positioned on the ground as if it had fallen, the cell phone nearby, and a few tools were strewn across the grass as well. Still, there was no blood (thankfully) or any other sign of Reigen.
At his wit’s end, Serizawa stood next to the ladder and started calling out for Reigen, figuring that even if someone called the cops on him, it would be a new resource to maybe help find the younger man. It nearly drove the esper to tears when his shouts were answered by a scuffling sound on the roof, which was followed by a barely audible, raspy voice, and eventually, a bedraggled blond head.
“Oh shit, Katsuya?!” Reigen exclaimed, looking dazed. The blond had a darkening bruise on one temple, edging near an eye, and his hair was grimy, sticking up in tufts. Honestly, the younger man looked terrible, and Serizawa wondered if he’d been stuck up there overnight.
Reigen’s head started bobbing slightly, and Serizawa realized the blond was wiggling closer to the edge of the roof just in time to catch him with his aura as the man tumbled off the roof entirely. The esper gently deposited Reigen into his arms, in a bridal carry.
“You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” Reigen announced, giggling deliriously, before snuggling up to Serizawa’s chest. “I think there’s a ghost here after all. Do you see a ghost? Things kept moving, and I thought it was just me. I lose stuff at home aaaaall the time, and you’d have told me if my apartment was haunted. So it would make sense I’d lose stuff here too. But then the ladder fell over, and my phone threw itself at me! Phone’s never done that before.” The blond continued, rambling excitedly. Serizawa started walking back towards the road (collecting Reigen’s phone and depositing it in his pocket for safe-keeping via his powers), debating mentally whether to take a taxi to his apartment or Reigen’s. He would have considered the hospital, just to be safe, but could already imagine the hissy fit the blond would throw at the “needless expense”.
He tunes back in just in time to hear “-but you saved me! My hero~” and the blond fake-swoons in the esper’s arms. Which is near immediately followed by an actual swoon, as the dramatic motion worsened the already dazed blond’s condition.
“Reigen, would you rather go to my place or yours?” Serizawa finally asked, after checking the blond was ok.
“Oh ho! Taking me home already, and we haven’t even gotten to first base. My, you are feeling bold today,” Reigen crowed.
That… didn’t really make any sense to Serizawa. Bases were a baseball thing, right? Just how long had Reigen been on the roof…? He’d probably gotten far too much sun. Serizawa considered the hospital as an option again, before finally discarding it. With a sigh, he decided that his own apartment was probably the better bet, as at least then he would know where all the first aid items were, and Reigen likely wouldn’t be able to assist in locating things right now. With that resolved, Serizawa finally called for a taxi.
Serizawa was glad when they were finally able to disembark the taxi, and fervently prayed he would never meet that driver again. The driver had clearly assumed Reigen was heavily intoxicated (...fair. Reigen was certainly acting drunk), despite it being barely past 11am, and seemed unable to decide if Serizawa was up to something nefarious.
Using his aura to get past the door (since his hands were full of Reigen), Serizawa walked to the sitting area and deposited Reigen onto the couch. He paused there a moment, making sure Reigen wouldn’t throw himself onto the floor just to see if he could, and then flitted to the kitchen. There, he dug a half dozen bottles of water out of the fridge, and selected an armful of easy-to-eat snacks.
Just as he was finishing up his selections and gathering it all into his arms, he heard a low whine come from the couch. Pivoting quickly, he turned to see Reigen facing him, leaning over the back of the couch and making grabby hands in Serizawa’s direction.
“Katsuyaaaa… come baaaack” the blond whimpered, with a pitiful looking pout. Something about the younger man’s expression pulled at the esper’s every heartstring, and he quickly bustled his way back to the couch, stopping only to use his aura to grab a dish towel from the kitchen on the way. His arrival back at the couch was greeted by a beaming grin, which quickly shifted into a self-satisfied smirk.
Serizawa just rolled his eyes, and opened one of the bottles of water. He poured some of the water onto the towel, and then passed the remaining water to Reigen with instructions to drink it. Serizawa took opportunities between sips to wipe the blond’s face free of grime, and once the younger man was suitably clean, started offering bites of food between sips instead. When Reigen started getting antsy, the esper started up a soothing ramble of stories, talking about what he’d been learning in school, what his classmates were up to, and random bits of gossip he’d heard from Tome or Dimple.
Eventually, Serizawa had thus cajoled Reigen into drinking two and a half bottles of water and at least 4 separate packets of snacks, and the blond was grinning sleepily at the older man. The esper checked the time; it was just past two in the afternoon. Serizawa debated to himself whether he ought to have Reigen take a nap so he could get some rest, or if he ought to ensure Reigen stayed awake, so he could sleep well that night. Or maybe he needed to look up some tests for concussions first?
The quiet time while he debated had evidently given time for Reigen’s mind to work itself back into a frenzy however, as when he turned to examine Reigen’s bruise, he found the blond wide awake and sitting a bit too close.
“Hey, hey Katsuya. Do you have a band-aid?” the blond asked, expression serious. “‘Cause I scraped my knee falling for you.”
Serizawa could physically feel his brain lagging at the odd statement. “You… scraped your knee? Oh! Yeah, I have band-aids somewhere, hold on.” The esper was stopped in the process of getting up however, as Reigen grabbed him by the sleeve.
“Katsuya, hey, Katuya, are you from Tennessee?” the blond interrupted, face slowly shifting from serious to gleeful.
“Tennessee…? Where… is that someplace in America? Reigen, you’ve been to the house I grew up in.” Serizawa replied, frowning.
“Call me Arataka,” Reigen said, with an absent frown before continuing, “Are you sure you’re not from Tennessee? ‘Cause you’re the only ten I see!” The last sentence was said with a roguish grin.
What. Serizawa just stared at him, dumbfounded. Unfortunately, his confusion only seemed to only galvanize the blond.
With a dramatic swoon, Reigen draped himself across the couch, hand over his eyes. “Katsuya, I’ve lost my teddy bear!” the blond whimpered, before peeking his eyes out to continue, “Can I sleep with you instead?”
Serizawa felt a deep flush cover his face, as he suddenly realized these were not serious questions, but were, in fact, really terrible pick up lines. He suddenly wondered if Reigen had somehow developed amnesia, only to just as quickly discard the thought due to the number of times the blond had said his name. His first name, in fact, Serizawa suddenly realized, which he’d only heard the blond use a handful of times before.
“Reigen-” Serizawa started, only to be immediately interrupted.
“Call me Arataka! Ar-a-ta-ka!” Reigen huffed with an irritated pout.
“... Arataka,” Serizawa tried again “Do you think you might have a concussion?”
Reigen just gave a negligent shrug, before his face brightened and he pasted on a sly grin. “If I said yes, would you kiss it better?” the blond asked.
“... that’s it, I’m taking you to the hospital.”
Taking Reigen to the hospital was just as much of a pain as Serizawa had anticipated, but he felt much better when he received the doctor’s official diagnosis that the blond did not, in fact, have a concussion. Instead, he had heat exhaustion and dehydration from being out in the elements for roughly twenty-five hours, as he’d apparently told the nurse he’d been on a roof starting around 10am the previous day. The hospital had also been kind enough to provide another splint, and check that the ligaments in Reigen’s ankle hadn’t been further damaged.
The nurse handed Serizawa the blond’s discharge paperwork, and told him the best treatment was rest, plenty of fluids, and keeping cool for the rest of the day. Serizawa nodded, and went to go to the waiting area to fill out the paperwork, but was stopped once more by the nurse.
“Don’t look so worried, your boyfriend is gonna be fine. A quick piece of unprofessional advice though?” The nurse offered with an amused grin “I’d fill the paperwork out quickly. He’s been talking everyone’s ear off about how cute and perfect you are and how much he loves you. It was pretty cute for the first five or ten minutes, but all the single folks around here are starting to get jealous. You definitely found yourself a keeper!”
“Wha- were not-” Serizawa stuttered, face on fire, but the nurse walked off with a pep in her step before he’d found a way to explain that the two were business partners, not romantic ones. Shoulders hunched in embarrassment, he wandered back to his seat in the waiting area and filled out the paperwork.
With nothing else to do once he turned it in and waited for it to be processed, Serizawa forced himself to consider his feelings for his boss. He had realized, shortly after he started working for Spirits and Such, that he had a crush on the blond, but his therapist had warned him against starting anything immediately. Even ignoring issues of professionalism and power dynamics, she’d said, there was the issue of potential emotional transference from his experience with his previous boss. Simultaneously, Serizawa had also acknowledged the risk that he was just interested in Reigen because the younger man had saved him from losing everything; either due to losing who he wanted to be from Claw taking over, or due to losing his future potential due to being homeless, penniless, and jobless after Claw was destroyed.
Even back then (thanks in part to Shigeo’s memories), he knew it would destroy Reigen if they started a serious relationship and it ended poorly. Thus, Serizawa had resolved to bury his romantic feelings so deep they wouldn’t see the light of day, and treasure any friendship he was able to form with the blond instead. Upon reflection though, those feelings had never faded. Instead, like a tulip bulb planted in warm earth, the feelings had blossomed into honest, genuine love.
It seemed Serizawa was at a crossroads now. Reigen’s exhaustion had caused his guard to be lowered, and his true feelings had shown through… mostly through very bad flirting, but still. This realization also put some of Reigen’s other behavior in a new light, and the esper wondered how long he’d been ignoring the blond’s feelings. Reigen wouldn’t keep trying forever. Eventually he’d decide he’d been blunt enough, and that if Serizawa hadn’t responded, it was because he clearly wasn’t interested, and Reigen would give up. Trying to confess to anything after that point would be cruel, and had the chance of Reigen moving on before Serizawa worked up to it.
No, Serizawa decided, if he was going to acknowledge his own feelings, it would have to be now or never. Reigen deserved to love someone who loved him back, and Serizawa was more than willing to be that person.
As if Serizawa’s firmed resolve had been the universe’s cue to interfere, his phone rings with a call from an angry Tome asking why the office is closed up and empty on the day she’d been scheduled to come in. This has the side effect of causing Serizawa to remember Reigen’s phone, which was still in his pocket from this morning, and had not only his several missed calls to Reigen, but several calls afterwards from clients unhappy about being ghosted.
Serizawa excused himself from the call with Tome via copious apologies and promises of snack bribes the next week, and settled in to return the missed calls and reschedule any appointments who were still willing to be seen.
He also took the opportunity to email his teacher that he would be unable to attend lecture that night, claiming that a family member was in the hospital. He felt a little bad about the lie, but Reigen was currently at the hospital, and at least as close as family. And Serizawa knew he’d never be able to convince himself to leave Reigen to take care of himself for the night.
It wasn’t long after he finished his self-assigned tasks that he looked up to see a sleepy Reigen being escorted to the waiting room by a bemused nurse, who appeared unable to get a word in edgewise.
“-and then there was a woosh! And purple everywhere, and the cards went fwing! And then-”
“Arataka,” Serizawa prompted, interrupting the rambling blond with a smile.
“Katsuya!” And oh, the besotted smile that accompanied that greeting. Serizawa felt his heart melt and his face heat. “I was telling her about that exorcism you did at the warehouse near the wharf a few weeks ago.”
“Mhm, I heard.” Serizawa acknowledged. He wasn’t sure what kind of face he was making, but based on the nurse’s reaction, he assumed it was something lovestruck. “We should probably get you home though, it’s almost time for dinner.”
Granted, it was only a quarter after five, but Serizawa suspected Reigen would wind up falling asleep early that night, and wanted to ensure he had a chance to eat a good dinner first. Better an early dinner than no dinner, as his mother used to say.
While Reigen dozed in the taxi back to Serizawa’s apartment, the esper was considering his options on how to confess to the blond. He knew that whatever method he used had to be serious enough to not be joked off by the blond (the younger man was never good with compliments, and Serizawa doubted he’d be any better with love confessions), but he also knew the confession would have to be significant enough that Reigen couldn’t shrug the feelings off as a smaller type of affection than they really were. The esper wasn’t entirely sure what he’d do if Reigen tried to insist he was only feeling loyalty or gratefulness, or something like that.
Not that Serizawa didn’t feel those things too, of course, but to name his feelings something as simple as “loyalty” would be like looking at a vivid rainbow and naming it “pastel pink”. There was far more breadth and depth to it than just the one aspect identified.
Unfortunately, even after he’d fed the blond and bundled him safely in the esper’s bed (with a borrowed pair of pajamas) to sleep off the lingering exhaustion, Serizawa still hadn’t come up with a satisfactory plan.
The next morning, Serizawa was awoken from an uncomfortable sleep on the couch by the sound of multiple things clattering to the floor in his bathroom. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, checking his email on his phone while he waited for Reigen to emerge. A couple of his classmates had emailed him their notes from last night’s class, and he took a moment to email them his thanks.
When Reigen finally left the bathroom, fidgeting lightly with the sleeves of his borrowed clothes, Serizawa was relieved to note that the bruise on his temple was already starting to lighten into shades of brown and yellow.
Reigen made his way over to the couch, and sat down next to Serizawa, posture ramrod straight and eyes glued to the wall across from them.
“Good morning, Serizawa” Reigen greeted absently, voice lacking the cheer the older man had gotten used to yesterday. It was a little worrying, but Serizawa suspected Reigen was embarrassed by how he’d acted yesterday, with his inhibitions lowered.
“Good morning, Reigen. Ah, how are you feeling this morning?” Serizawa asked, a little uncertain how to reassure the blond without drawing more attention, and thus further embarrassing him.
“Better, thanks” the blond answered. He started fidgeting with his sleeves again. “Sorry about, ah, everything yesterday. I appreciate you helping me… especially with how inappropriate I was acting.”
“I’m glad I was able to help.” Serizawa said slowly. He knew what he wanted to say, just not how to say it. It was frustrating. “I… didn’t necessarily find you inappropriate.”
Reigen scoffed derisively, and glared down at his own hands. “I practically threw myself at you. Multiple times! I don’t know what you’d call that, if not inappropriate.”
Serizawa blinked, he wasn’t expecting Reigen to be this hard on himself about his behavior, and wondered if he’d let himself remain ignorant of both of their emotions for too long after all. “... I think most people would, uh, call it flirting…?” he eventually responded, hesitantly.
“Call it an HR violation, more likely,” Reigen grumbled. Serizawa twisted to try to catch the blond’s eye, but Reigen continued to glare fiercely downwards. “I… I understand if you need to take some time - away from the office. Or if, umm, if you don’t… if you want to leave. I understand my behavior was inappropriate and unwanted, and I’ll of course write you a glowing letter of reference if you want one. I-”
Serizawa couldn’t bear it any longer and had to interrupt. This conversation was going opposite the way he wanted, and Reigen looked like he was one breath away from bursting into tears. He grabbed one of the blond’s hands, where he’d been clenching them against his knees, rubbing circles on the back to sooth the white knuckles. “It wasn’t.” The esper announced.
“-kn-... wasn’t?” Reigen twitched at interruption, but steadfastly kept his gaze downwards.
“It wasn’t unwanted.” Serizawa clarified. He tugged at Reigen’s arm until the blond twisted on the spot to face towards the older man, though he still refused to raise his gaze from his lap. Serizawa let it be for the moment, choosing to focus on his words for now.
“Rei-... no, Arataka.” Serizawa knew if this was to be taken seriously, he couldn’t maintain formality. And technically, the blond had given him permission multiple times the previous day. “Arataka, I could have dropped you off at your apartment at any point yesterday if I didn’t want to be there to help you. Or dropped you off at the hospital. Or called the cops and told them you were missing and washed my hands of the situation. I chose to take you to my apartment, chose to stay with you all day and all night. Chose to take care of you and be here for you, because I care about you.”
“I’m not… as good with words as you.” Serizawa continued. “Not as good with reading other people, either. I don’t always recognize what I want, and even when I do, sometimes I’m too afraid of messing up to pursue it.”
He paused to examine the blond’s face, taking in the wet eyes and red face. The way he chewed anxiously on his lip. The desperate way hope and fear warred for dominance across his expression.
“I know I made you wait far too long to hear this, and for that I’m sorry,” Serizawa trailed off, gathering his courage, before pressing his fingers against Riegen’s chin, forcing the blond to meet his eyes. “But I do really really like you. I… probably shouldn’t say I love you, yet. I don’t really know for sure if I do or not. But if I don’t already, I can tell it would be so so easy to fall into, if it’s you. If you’ll let me.”
Reigen swallowed hard, eyes wide as he searched Serizawa’s expression. “Katsuya…I- you really…?” he trailed off, seemingly unable to decide what he wanted to ask.
Serizawa nodded anyway; no matter what question the blond was trying to ask after that, the answer was probably yes.
Reigen was quiet for a moment, processing, before he gave a strained laugh. “I, uh… I really like you too. Like, a lot.”
Serizawa utterly failed to stifle the snort that burst out after that. Nor was he able to stop the subsequent giggles. “I, uh, haha, I did notice that, yesterday.” The esper managed to force out between giggles.
Reigen pouted at his mirth, so the esper put a hand against his check, brushing his thumb against his cheekbone, and admiring the way the vivid blush that formed as a result contrasted against the blond’s eyelashes. It was nice, finally letting himself stare.
“Can I kiss you?” Reigen blurted out, looking faintly embarrassed by his own outburst.
Instead of answering, Serizawa leaned forward, pressing his mouth against Reigen’s. The pressure started soft, hesitant, before becoming firmer as the pair gained confidence. Serizawa felt a hand grasp the hair at the back of his head, and another grasp onto his bicep. Distantly, he realized the hand on Reigen’s cheek had similarly slipped up, to grab at the side of the blond’s head, while his other hand had found a place against Reigen’s back, just above the waistband of his pants.
Time seemed to slow to syrup, as the gentle glide of warm lips turned moist, mouths opened to explore further, and teeth nipped gently at lips and necks. Eventually, Serizawa pulled away from where he’d been biting a bruise into Reigen’s throat, relishing the way the blond leaned forward to pant against the espers neck.
Serizawa stroked a hand down Reigen’s back, who hummed and nuzzled into Serizawa’s shoulder in return. “We should, ah, probably do something about the office.” Serizawa mentioned, loathe to move, but knowing that they had responsibilities to attend to.
“We’re already late to open, let’s just call it a sick day.” Reigen responded, face still pressed into Serizawa’s shirt.
“We already missed basically all of our appointments yesterday…” the esper pointed out.
Reigen humphed, clearly not caring. “I had to go to the hospital yesterday! We deserve a day off, and any clients who try to complain can suck an egg. Besides, the doctor did say I should take it easy for a couple days, and try to stay off my ankle as much as possible.”
Serizawa couldn’t help but laugh. Trust Reigen to only take a doctor’s advice when it matched what he already wanted to do. Staying off his ankle hadn’t mattered to him this much last week. “Alright, alright. Let’s make some calls to reschedule today’s clients so we don’t just ghost them, and then I’ll make us some breakfast.”
Reigen finally leaned away so he could look at Serizawa’s face again, a small but honest smile gracing his lips. “Sounds good. Oh! Maybe we can watch that movie you mentioned your friend lent you?”
“Sounds good,” Serizawa agreed, using his powers to fetch Reigen’s phone from where he’d left it the previous night on his kitchen table. “... does that make today our first date?”