Kageyama Shigeo, aka Mob, an Esper, came to the shocking realization as soon as he opened his eyes one otherwise beautiful weekday morning.
The alarm hadn't woken him up. The thing must be broken again.
No, that wasn't it. He had had the same problem yesterday.
He was sick.
Unbelievably so.
Mod didn't even try to rise from under his fluffy blanket fort. Keeping his eyes open and trying to breathe seemed hard enough tasks to achieve at the moment.
In the end, instead of getting up and going to wash himself, he let out a huge sneeze followed by weak groaning. He wouldn't budge today. Not even an inch.
It was official, Mob was sick. Very sick.
Wait a second, he had school today. Master was sure to call him later to come in and take care of some low-level spirit once again, too.
'It's all for your own good! It's training!' Arataka Reigen, Mob's Master and a con artist, would tell him. He was too powerful to take care of such small things anyways, so he'd leave them to Mob.
This couldn't be anything but perfect. This day was going to be absolutely perfect.
How did Mob get sick in the first place?
How could a powerful Esper get sick?
Let's just say that forgetting to bring your umbrella on the rainiest and coldest day of the autumn so far was the first mistake.
His weak presence didn't help either, since no one offered to share their umbrella with him. Not even out of pity. Mob hadn't made any friends in his class in the first place, so the likelihood of someone offering their umbrella to him was slim to none.
The second had been that Mob's little brother, Ritsu, the Mr. popular, hadn't been there to tell him to dry off. Mob had taken a warm shower before going to bed though. He wasn't stupid.
The third and final step had been the whole of yesterday in general.
Mob had actually gone to school, despite having an obvious fever. That's how good of a student he was, despite having absolutely no academic talent.
After a long and tedious day of school it was off to club activities. It was leg week and Musashi, the President, had told Mob that he had come up with a schedule for the newest member or the Body Improvement Club. Musashi had been worried of the small one since day one, thinking that Mob must have anemia. He had even promised to make a list of foods Mob should eat to get his strength and iron levels up.
And Mob really couldn't say no. Not after the President was so nice to him. He had even asked if Mob was okay since he looked a bit paler than usual, which really was something when the little guy was white as snow already. The other members had told them he looked like a geisha with the combination of white skin and red cheeks.
Kurata Tome of the Telepathy Club told Mob the same. She told him to take a break and join them, and maybe the club in the progress. Mob politely declined.
Mob ended up doing squats with weights for two hours mixed with excessive stretching. His poor stamina was pushed to the limit and far beyond.
To say the least, Mob felt like crap when he finally managed to crawl back home. It had taken him an hour and the sun was already down when he rang the doorbell of the house. He simply didn't have the energy to look for the house key from the bottom of his bag.
Ritsu had to actually carry Mob upstairs after coaching him to take a shower. His big brother smelled like sweat and men.
Yesterday was nothing compared to the current situation, honest. Mob could even say that he'd gladly return to yesterday, if he could.
If yesterday was crap, today was something straight out of this world.
Mob felt like the whole world had decided to rest its enormous weight on him this morning. His head felt like it was near exploding and his body must've turned into lead somewhere during the night.
His sore legs were the only reminder that there was still life in his small body.
"Nii-san? Are you alright in there?" there was a quiet knocking on the door of Mob's room. It was Ritsu, checking to make sure that Mob had woken up in time for breakfast. His big brother had slept in a couple of times and their parents didn't want that happening again. Bending spoons and other silverware was enough trouble. The parents had bought a whole set last week because the old ones' handles looked like noodles, silver noodles.
"Ri-Ritsu?" Mob coughed weakly and tried his best to support his upper body on his elbows. A sad attempt.
"Can I come in? You sound terrible", Ritsu's voice was laced with concern.
"Okay", Mod managed to whisper. He could kill for a cold glass of water right now. His throat felt like sandpaper.
Ritsu carefully opened the door, which creaked slightly. They'd need to fix that. He then stepped into the room after making sure his big brother's psychic abilities posed no risk.
"Nii-san? You look terrible", Ritsu commented as he crouched down to get a better look and feel his big brother's forehead, "You're burning up too! Wait a sec, I'll go get a thermometer and tell mom and dad."
Ritsu bolted out of the door, "I'll bring you some water too!"
"Ri-Ristu", Mob mumbled as he sunk back to his bed's sweet embrace.
Progress towards Mob's explosion, 39%.
"Mom and dad said that you were asking for it", Ritsu smiled a bit, sticking the thermometer to Mob's mouth, "Coming home soaking wet and all. You went to school yesterday? I told you not to."
The older brother just hummed, waiting for when he could snatch and empty the cup of water Ritsu had brought with him.
"Wow, you really have a fever! I should go get you some medicine", Ritsu whistled as he checked the numbers on the screen, "How are you feeling."
"I don't know", Mob gulped the water down. And just as he had guessed, the cold liquid worked wonders on his sore throat
"Nii-san", the younger brother sighed. His big brother hid his feelings, even in the stupidest of times.
"Bad", Mob finally mumbled, burying his face to his pillow when a sudden coughing fit stuck.
"Should I get you some warm tea too? Maybe it'd help", Ritsu couldn't bear seeing his brother in such pain.
The coughs wrecked Mob's small frame, draining him of all the energy he had left. The coughing had no effect in making Mob feel any better either as his throat was still raw and aching. It only made it worse.
Progress towards Mob's explosion, 41%.
Ritsu decided to play hooky from school today. His big brother needed him and that was the only reason he needed. Mother and father had already left for work so they wouldn't even notice.
Ritsu was also afraid of his big brother's psychic abilities getting out of control in his current, feverish state. Not that he could do much to prevent it. All he could do is stay by Mob's side and offer him some comfort. He hoped it'd prevent Mob's abilities from going haywire.
"Are you sure you don't want any medicine? It might help with the aching", Ritsu asked as he came in with a pitcher full of ice water and a cup. He had gone to check the family's medicine cabinet and crabbed a few items from there too, but now Mob was refusing to cooperate and take the meds.
"Noo", Mob mumbled from inside his cocoon of blankets. His voice still as blank as ever, despite the slight whiny undertone.
"It's the cough syrup that tastes bad. The rest are all pills", Ritsu tried to coach Mob out of his nest, "I'll make you some soup later if you take the pills and go to sleep."
"Nooo."
"Nii-san."
Nooooo."
"Kageyama Shigeo", this was serious, Ritsu was using the full name and not even nicknames, "You will take the medicine I give you and get some rest."
"It hurts to swallow", Mod tried to weakly argue and ended up with yet another coughing fit.
"It hurts to be stuck with coughing all the time too", Ritsu sighed, "And your throat might feel better after the meds."
"I don't like them."
"Quit acting like a baby. You're the big brother here."
"I don't want to take them."
"Fine", Ritsu threw his hands up as a sign of surrender, "I'll call your Master or whatever and tell you that you're not taking your medication."
"You don't have his number", Mob's voice was down to a whisper, his raw throat not letting him do much else.
"Don't think that I don't know your passcode", was Ritsu's simple reply as he went to the corridor to make the call.
"Talk About Spirits Agency, Reigen Arataka speaking", came the voice of Reigen, the self-proclaimed psychic and the Master of Ritsu's big brother, after only one ring. He really must have nothing to do.
"It's Kageyama Ritsu", Ritsu simply told the man.
"Ah! Kageyama! If it's an exorcism you need then just ask Mob. He needs all the training he can get", Reigen told him. There was the unmistakable sound of eating and clicking of a keyboard coming from the other line. It was breakfast time then.
"We don't need any of your cheap exorcisms", Ritsu said, voice cold as ice, "Nii-san is refusing to take his meds. He is sick and I'm afraid how his psychic abilities will react. You were the only one I could call since you seem to have some authority over him. Maybe he'd listen to you."
"An Esper getting sick", Reigen mumbled, clearly inhaling the rest of his food now, "That's a first. I'll be right there."
"How about your customers?"
"They can wait for now! My student is sick!"
'You just don't have any without Nii-san around', Ritsu sighed. He didn't even want to know how the man seemed to know their address. Ritsu was quite sure his big brother hadn't given it to the man.
The doorbell rang in half an hour. Ritsu ran to answer it.
Despite being a psychic, as he said, Reigen Arataka had dragged himself low enough to use a bike. God knows where he had gotten that from though. If Ritsu would have to guess, he'd say the man had stolen from an innocent kid he came across in the street.
Reigen was panting hard, cheeks flushed rosy red. He wasn't fit enough for this.
"Hello", Ritsu greeted the man, offering a cup of water for him out of sheer pity, "Come in. Nii-san is upstairs and hopefully sleeping."
"Thank you", Reigen said after finishing the drink, "Let's knock some sense to the boy!"
"Remember that he is sick", Ritsu tried to remind the man now stomping up the stairs.
"Nice house by the way", Reigen commented after he finally admitted that he didn't really know which one of the doors belonged to his student, "Shouldn't you be in school?"
'Don't try to be all polite', Ritsu huffed.
"No. I called in sick so that I could look after Nii-san", he then said, opening one of the doors, telling Reigen to step in.
"Mob! You look terrible!" Reigen went straight to the bed as soon as he was inside, crouching down to check closer.
"If I remember correctly, I told you he was sleeping", Ritsu growled, "How long do you think it took to manage that?"
An hour was the right answer. After the fiasco with the meds that is.
"Master? Why are you here?" Mob mumbled, blinking to make sense of the situation. Reigen was a busy man after all, as he himself had told Mob. He usually didn't have time for home visits.
"I came to exorcise the bug bothering my sweet little Mob, of course!" Reigen told him, feeling Mob's forehead for a fever. He quickly took his hand away. Damn, he could've cooked a sunny side up egg on that.
"What is it?" Ritsu saw the distressed expression on the face of their guest. No matter how much of a hoax the man himself was, he seemed to really care about the older Kageyama. Remembering that, the man's reaction must've also been honest.
"The fever", Reigen mumbled, "He's burning up."
"He is?!" Ritsu crouched down too, and felt his brother's forehead. And indeed, Mob was burning up. His fever had spiked somewhere during the morning. Ritsu cursed for not forcing the pills down his big brother's throat earlier.
"We should get those meds into his system and fast", Reigen continued as he checked the collection of pills and other medication the younger Kageyama had brought with him. He picked out a couple and poured a generous glass of water to help his little friend get the pills down with. He also hoped that the cough syrup would go down without a fight.
"Ah, Nii-san won't drink that. I tried already", Ritsu pointed out as he watched Reigen prepare the meds. He had no idea why he let the man take care of them but since he had already begun Ritsu didn't have the heart to take over.
"Don't doubt my skills!" Reigen huffed, "Let's mix it with something he does like!"
"Wouldn't it still taste like the medicine?" Ristu mumbled, thinking of anything his brother liked that would mix with cough syrup. Conclusion, there was none.
"Do you have any juice concentrate?" Reigen asked as he measured the liquid as if doing some very important science project while the teacher was right next to you, watching your every move.
"Juice concentrate? Why?"
"It conceals the taste very well."
"A-Alright. I'll go check if we have some", Ritsu was seriously beginning to doubt the man and his remedies. What if those were a hoax too? Would his big brother be safe? Didn't concentrates have all kinds of chemicals in them?
"Don't make me take it", Mob weakly mumbled as he woke up once again from a short fever induced nap. He had been taking those a lot. It was getting hard to tell apart reality and dreams.
"What are you, a kid?" Reigen huffed as he popped out a couple more pills onto a plate. The man had told Ritsu to make some porridge too. Taking medicine to an empty stomach was never fun.
"Master", Mob whined, turning to face his Master properly as if doing so would make his words have a greater effect. He would've also liked to remind that he was only 14 and technically, still a kid.
"Mob", was Reigen's simple reply. He had already taken his jacket off and was now untying his tie. He was really getting into this.
"What about work?"
"Took the day off. I'll scare the spirits away from this area for a week or two with just my presence."
"Then why are you here?"
It was hard to talk to the boy when his voice was hardly louder than a whisper and was raspier than a broken record player.
"I came to take care of you, of course! How many times do I need to remind you?" Reigen sighed loudly and ran a hand over his face dramatically.
"Ritsu is here with me."
"Brother Ritsu called me since a certain someone was refusing to take his medicine."
"Huh?"
"I'm talking about you, Mob."
"Any progress?" Ritsu asked as he pushed the door open with his elbow and stepped in, carrying a tray.
"Not really", Reigen sighed loudly, clearly just as frustrated as Ritsu was, "We argued and then he just fell asleep on me. I didn't even get to finish my sentence."
The duo fell silent. The only sound in the room was the quiet snoring coming from the bed. Mob didn't usually snore, not that he knew. But when your nose was clogged, everybody suddenly began snoring.
"Force feeding?" Reigen broke the silence.
"Guess so."
Lucky for the two, Mob woke up when poked once or twice. He was very groggy though and hardly registered the two in his room.
"Huh? Wha?" Mob mumbled, sneezing loudly and coughing right after.
"Mob, you need to eat", Reigen told him, getting straight to the point.
"We'll either force it into your mouth or you work with us and eat it yourself", Ritsu added, "So, which one is it?"
"You'll take the meds too", Reigen pointed to the plate of pills sitting by Mob's pillow. The sketchy-looking liquid, which Mob had tried his best to avoid, was there too.
Mob seemed to be facing the fight of a lifetime inside of his own head as he thought about the situation he found himself in. He should've just stayed asleep.
"Alright, I'll take them", Mod finally sighed, facing his two new caretakers.
Ritsu and Reigen, in turn, seemed to brighten up. Mob had finally given in. After about four hours of constant battle later. The two felt like they had won something here. Maybe not the whole war but something smaller. Any victory they could get was significant at this point.
Progress towards Mob's explosion, 49%.
"I thought about making soup but you haven't even had your breakfast yet", Ritsu explained as he tried his best to prop his big brother up and to a sitting position with a pile of pillows, "I decided to make porridge instead."
Ritsu then continued to present Mob the meal, making sure his brother was comfortable.
"I added in some blueberries too", Ritsu explained, blowing on a spoonful before feeding it to Mob.
That earned a smile from the sick one.
The smile lasted until Reigen came to the scene with a glass of the dreadful cough syrup.
"Here comes the train", the man sing sang as he waved the glass in front of Mob's face, "Drink it."
Mob gulped loudly, eyeing the liquid swirling in the glass. It had changed color somewhere during the morning. If Mob remembered correctly, the thing had been brown the last time he had seen it. Now it was purple if anything.
"Open up", both Reigen and Ritsu encouraged.
And finally, after spending the whole morning trying, Mob drank the cough medicine.
If the thing didn't work now, the two would smash their heads to a concrete wall.
Mob continued to surprise the two, swallowing all of the pills presented to him.
His face spoke of pure disgust though, and not puking seemed to be a hard thing to achieve. He managed in the end and kept the thing down.
"Good job!" Ritsu praised his big brother, feeding him another spoonful of porridge.
Mob took the food and a long sip from his cup of honey tea. The combination worked wonders on his sore throat and warmed him up nicely too.
Reigen was cleaning up after the trio's fight of wills. He didn't want to go in between the brotherly moment, so he tried to busy himself in any way possible.
Mob seemed content as he finished his small and bland meal with a long sigh.
"You should lie back down", Ritsu told his big brother, "Your fever still hasn't gone down as much as we want it to. Rest should help with that. It'll give the meds some time to take their effect, too."
Mob did as told. He was getting really tired too and keeping his eyes open had been a bit of a task for the past fifteen minutes.
Ritsu tucked Mob in before sneaking out of the room, Reigen hot on his heels. The little brother opened up a window and shut the lights to give the patient the best possible environment to sleep in. Fresh air was important.
"So, what now?" Reigen asked as the two made their way to the living room. He flopped onto the couch and took the remote controller, flipping the TV on. Well, at least he was making himself at home.
"Now we wait", Ritsu said as he washed the dishes, "Nii-san needs all the rest he can get. We'll need to check his temperature in an hour or so though. Let's hope that the pills do their job."
"What am I supposed to do here?"
"You help me."
"I have a job."
"You just told Nii-san you took the day or the next two or three weeks off."
"So you heard", Reigen mumbled. Damn it.
"I look forward to working with you", Ritsu smirked, flipping through a cooking book to see what he'd make for dinner.
Reigen had actually ended up helping the younger Kageyama make some chicken soup. He didn't know how it had happened, but there he was, chopping up vegetables as he listened Ritsu bark orders to him.
"I'll go check on Nii-san", Ritsu told Reigen, "Try not to blow the kitchen up while I'm gone."
"Got it", the man mumbled, sucking on a finger he had almost chopped off alongside some carrots.
Ritsu hoped for the best as he ascended the stairs to his big brother's room.
"Nii-san, how are you feeling?" Ritsu asked and sat down next to his brother's head.
Mob was sleeping rather peacefully but woke up when he sensed his little brother next to him.
"Ritsu?"
"Yes, I'm right here", Ritsu told him, "How are you feeling?"
Mob only hummed. His eyes were squinting as he tried his best to see his little brother in the darkness of the room. Ritsu had pulled the curtains in front of the window, making the room semi-dark.
"Nii-san, don't make the blanket float", Ritsu scolded his big brother, pulling the fabric back down from somewhere mid-way to the ceiling.
"It's hot", Mod whined, albeit blankly.
"It's not hot."
"It is."
"It's the fever. Your body is freezing cold."
Ritsu had to go fetch a stool to get the blanket back down. After which, the thing still tried to get back up.
Ritsu swore to god he was going to get a stapler next, if his big brother didn't calm down.
The stool was the next thing to take off. Luckily, Ritsu wasn't on it.
"Nii-san", Ritsu sighed, "Stop it."
No answer.
"Shigeo."
Still nothing.
Ritsu checked his big brother. He was dead asleep.
Damn it.
Ritsu took off and ran downstairs.
"Nii-san is making the whole room float!" Ritsu came huffing to Reigen's side, who was almost done with his vegetable killing-spree. He was now stirring the boiling pot of chicken and noodles.
"Huh?" the man turned to see the panicking Kageyama, "Mob is what?"
"First he made the blanket float! Next up was the chair!" Ritsu screamed, "And he's asleep!"
"That can't be good", Reigen mumbled as he cut the gas and took the pot off the heat, "I'll go check on him."
"That's dangerous!" Ritsu argued, "What if 'it' wakes up? I mean Nii-san isn't unconscious but still."
"What 'it'?" Reigen looked at Ritsu as if he had grown a second head, "What the heck are you talking about?"
"N-Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" guess Reigen had no idea. Maybe it was better that way.
"Alright", Reigen went upstairs like nothing had happened.
'Good luck', Ritsu whished the man along with a small salute.
"Mob, quit goofing around. Your brother looked like he was going to piss himself back there", Reigen pointed out as he stepped into the room.
He barely had the time to dodge a flying bookshelf coming his way.
"Mob!" Reigen breathed out. Forget about Ritsu, he had almost pissed his pants right there, "Stop it!"
No reaction.
Mob was red as a tomato and sweating buckets. His breathing was shallow but hard.
The blanket had left, leaving Mob lying on the bare mattress. At least the pillow had remained still, for now.
"A change of plans", Reigen mumbled as he went to fetch a couple of things from a closet he had seen on his way upstairs.
Good five minutes passed before the man was back. And he was armed. From the tips of his toes all the way up to his head.
He had found the brothers', Ritsu's, sport stuff and had taken all of the guards and pads he could find.
He had an ice hockey helmet on with a neck rest guarding the skin left bare. His chest and back were protected by yet another piece of ice hockey gear. Guess even Ritsu had had his ice hockey fever at some point.
His crotch area seemed to be the best protected though. This man wasn't going to take any risks. Maybe he had some previous experience. A trauma?
He had padded pants on too. A huge sack of salt rested on his thigh. From the local super market, of course.
The salt was a force of habit. There was no way Mob was possessed, after all. Sick or not, the boy would've smacked that spirit to pieces.
"I'm coming in! You better have calmed down!" Reigen shouted from the other side of the door.
A small knock was all the reply he got. A book must've hit the door or the wall next to it.
Reigen decided that it was time, for better or worse.
He slammed the door open with a little more strength than necessary and rolled to Mob's bedside, trying his best to avoid any flying objects. A thing that hadn't crossed his mind was that the padding he had on made it extremely hard to move. It looked like a whale had stranded itself in Mob's room and was now making its way to the sleeping boy.
"Mob. Hey Mob!" Reigen shook Mob, albeit gently, "Wake your ass up! Ritsu is worried!"
Mob mumbled something incoherent before turning from one side to another and continuing his rest.
Reigen stuck the thermometer to Mob's mouth since that seemed to be all he could do for now.
"Damn, that is high", he muttered as he wiped some sweat off of his forehead. The armor he had on was protective but also hot as hell.
"How is it?" Ritsu whispered from the doorway. He had finally mustered up the courage to come and see the situation. He had an umbrella as protection. It would keep the smallest items from hitting him but it wouldn't stop a piece of furniture.
"His fever is rising again", Reigen told him as he bit his nails in stress, "We need to get it down."
"An ice bath?"
"You try lifting an Esper in his sleep!"
"You're one too, aren't you?"
"O-Of course!"
"Then get to it. I'll run the bath", Ritsu turned to leave, "The second door from the left."
"Damn", Reigen sighed.
He took a pose, preparing to strike.
He closed in, slowly.
And then he moved.
Mob was light, very light.
Was he eating correctly? Wasn't he supposed to hit puberty? Didn't little boys grow into big men during that time? How come Mob was so little then?
Reigen made a mental note to give his student an extra serving of octopus balls the next time they ate together.
It almost looked like Mob calmed down when picked up. Maybe hearing someone else's heartbeat and feeling their body heat told him that he was alright and that no one would hurt him.
"Let's hope that you're as cooperative as you are now when we stick you into the tub", Reigen mumbled looking at his student's calm sleeping face.
"There you are. Look at you, no bruises or scratches", Ritsu greeted Reigen as he stepped into the bathroom carrying the older Kageyama.
"Shut up. I'm his master. Of course he won't hurt me", Reigen huffed in annoyance before setting Mob to sit down on a closed toilet lid. Of course, the man had to stay to keep the sleeping boy up.
"Let's just put him in, clothes and all", Ritsu felt the water. It was ice cold.
"Yeah, he could lash out if we touched them", Reigen agreed as he saw it was his turn to put Mob into the tub.
The boy went it without a fight but after his clothes were soaked through and the cold water finally hit him, hell broke loose.
"Co-Cold!" ah, Mob woke up.
"Nii-san, your fever is too high. You need to stay in the tub", Ritsu was glad to see his big brother's emotionless eyes once more. He got a splash of cold water to the face as his only greeting though.
"But it's cold? Why is it so cold?"
"I told you, it's an ice bath."
"The water is floating", Reigen pointed out from where he was seated on the toilet lid, ready with a towel.
And just as Reigen said, the water in the tub left little by little. Not by draining, but by floating away.
Ritsu had do dodge one particularly big blob of water. He briefly wondered if he could drown in one but quickly dismissed the thought and focused his attention back to his brother.
"Nii-san, stop it", Ritsu tried his strict voice, hoping it would snap his big brother out of whatever daze he was in, "The bathroom is flooding. There will be water damage. Mom and dad will be super mad."
'Just how afraid is Mob of his parents?' Reigen mused as he watched his student slowly calm down a bit. The only thing floating now was the rubber duck that had been forgotten in the tub.
"I think this will be enough", Reigen said after fifteen minutes.
Mob's lips were turning blue and purple, too. It was definitely time to stop.
Ritsu helped Mob rise from the tub. The older brother's legs wobbled like jelly and he looked absolutely exhausted.
Reigen wrapped Mob up in several towels that he had collected from around the apartment. He then turned on a hairdryer, trying his best to dry Mob's raven hair. He didn't have a comb, so the previous bedhair went up a few levels.
"Then we go back to bed", Ritsu explained as Reigen carried Mob back to his room.
Mob was half asleep by the time the duo got him tucked in.
"I wonder if he'd like some of the soup you made", Ritsu mused from his big brother's bedside. He was glad to see his brother's face had regained some of its usual color.
"Let's try", Reigen shrugged, going to fetch the soup, "You want some too? I made a lot."
"Sure, thanks. You take some too", Ritsu said, brushing stray hairs off Mob's forehead, "You're a guest, after all."
"A guest who made the soup", Reigen laughed.
"Here, say 'aah'", Reigen guided the spoon to Mob's open mouth.
Ritsu would've done the job had he not noticed how hungry he actually was when Reigen returned with the reheated and finished pot of chicken soup with noodles. Ritsu was currently watching the two, enjoying a big serving of the soup.
"Thank you", Mob showed the two a rare smile as he was done with his dinner.
"You're welcome", he two smiled back.
"Though there's really no need to thank us", Ritsu pointed out.
"We would've done it without asking", Reigen added.
'The heck you would've', Ritsu glared.
"How about you get some more sleep?" Reigen suggested, checking Mob's fever once more. Good, it had come down.
Mob shook his head, no.
"Nii-san", Ritsu sighed.
"It's not that", Mob shook his head, "I just don't feel tired at all."
"Let the boy stay up if he feels like it, mom", Reigen waved his hand.
Ritsu growled at the man, "Then, what should we do, dad?"
Mob smiled at the two fighting. It felt warm to be together with people who really cared about him.
"Can we watch a movie?" Mob suddenly suggested, "I-If that's okay with you."
Ritsu's mood took a complete turn, from hanging on the self-proclaimed psychic's neck to facing his big brother with a wide smile.
"Yes Nii-san! Of course we can watch a movie!" he smiled as he helped Mob stand up, "An action one, isn't that right?"
"Hmm", Mod nodded.
'There's two people! Two people inside that boy! Forget Mob, he's the dangerous one!' Reigen breathed as he followed the two. Staying two or three steps behind, just in case. The younger Kageyama could be scary if he wanted to.
"We have the new superhero movie and the apocalyptic one", Ritsu went through the family's TV cabinet, "Which one do you want?"
"Can we watch the first one? The one with the heroes", Mob said from the fluffy sofa. He was surrounded by all the pillows in the living room and he was wrapped in a soft, warm blanket on top of all else.
"Of course!" Ritsu smiled as he put the disk in.
Reigen came in from the kitchen, carrying a bowl of popcorn. Mob was sure not to eat them, but the two others might want some. The man got some soda too.
"Which soda?" Reigen asked Mob as he sat down by his side, shaking the whole sofa.
"Cola", both brothers answered.
"You go get your own", Reigen mumbled, eyeing Ritsu.
Yes, it seemed that the two got along just fine. Perfect, you could even say.
"Alright", was Ritsu's simple reply as he rose from the floor and went to get his drink. He shot a glance at the man before exiting though, sending chills down Reigen's spine. Scary.
When Kageyama family's mother and father came back, they were faced with an adorable sight.
The movie was still playing in the background, but the three hadn't been watching it for a long time.
Mob had fallen asleep first. Ritsu was leaning on his shoulder, he too, asleep.
Then there was Reigen. Ruining the mood once again. He lied on the sofa in the starfish position. His legs and arms pointing to every direction. He was snoring and drooling too.
"Who the hell is this man?!" the boys' mother screamed. Their father was probably already on his way to fetch his shotgun.
Yes, even Espers could get sick. What was the hardest part was taking care of them. And maybe explaining the strange man in their living room. The fact that their precious Mob seemed to know him was a shock, and that he was in good terms with him too.
After that day, Mob learned not to get sick ever again.