Mob woke up to an unfamiliar room. It was too warm, this futon…no, a bed….it was not hers. It was warm and she was warm. The energy around her was wrong, too. Her room was saturated with her energy. This room was…oh. This was Serizawa's room. She sat up as best as she could. Someone was wrapped around her.
Serizawa was wrapped around her.
She tried to make him out in the dark. He was asleep. Still naked, probably. She shifted. She was still in his button down, it was kind of scratchy. The collar poked at her, the buttons pulled at her skin. She still wore it, though. She didn't really feel like being naked again.
Again.
So that was it. So that was how it felt. It was alright. Some part felt good, some parts didn't really feel like anything special. Well, it had felt like something, but not nearly as good as it would have been in her mind. Maybe if she set the rhythm next time.
Next time.
Would there be a next time? It hadn't been bad…just not as good as she had imagined. But did she want this again with Serizawa….had she even wanted it with Serizawa? Or had she wanted it just to have it? She didn't know. He was a really nice person and he would never reject her. He hadn't rejected her. He hadn't told her that she was too young. He had treated her like a woman. He had loved her like a woman.
He said that he loved her.
But she didn't love him back.
But where had love gotten her? It had gotten her heart shattered into a million little pieces.
But she still wanted…oh what did she want? To go home. She wanted to go home. She needed to go home. It was…she called her phone over to her. Wow. Ok, yeah, she needed to get home. Twenty nine missed calls, thirty texts, and five voicemails all from Ritsu. She texted him back.
"I'm sorry brother. I was hanging out with Serizawa and I fell asleep. I'm on my way home now." That wasn't a lie. She couldn't lie to her little brother. She hoped that he didn't ask for details, though, because she had no idea what to say without telling the truth of what happened between the two of them. She held her breath. Three moving dots. Ritsu was texting her something back. He must have been waiting up by his phone.
"OK sister. I'll wait up for you." Mob wondered why he had to type for so long to get so few words. At least he hadn't asked why she was at Serizawa's house. She slid out of bed as softly as she could and called her clothes to her. They were easy to find. She tended to saturate her things with her energy. She pulled off his button down and got dressed quickly but quietly. He stirred, a little, and for a moment she felt…bad…because he had wanted her to stay. She had to go home, though, Ritsu was worried and she had to take her medicine because she was not at all ready to have a baby.
She had done this. She had done this with Serizawa.
She tried to think about something else as she left, anything else. It didn't work so she tried to think of nothing. She just focused on putting one foot in front of the other as she walked. Sometimes you had to run away. She didn't know why she felt like running away but she was. She should be happy. She was over Master Reigen.
She hated telling lies.
Maybe she shouldn't have done it, done anything. Maybe she should have just gone home and cried and gone into work like nothing had happened. If she hadn't run into Serizawa then that was what she would have ended up doing. Fate was funny like that. She had done this, though, and she couldn't undo it.
At least she wasn't alone, anymore.
Serizawa woke up alone.
It was the sun that had gotten to him. He had forgotten to close the blinds, not like him at all. Well, he was awake now and had might as well open his eyes and start his day. Hey! It was a work day! He and Master Kageyama, no, he and Shigeko could go to work together. Or Mob. She liked Mob better even though the nickname made no sense.
As if she could ever blend in.
He reached over and felt for her. Nothing. He opened his eyes. The bathroom door was opened, she wasn't in there. She wasn't in the kitchen, either. He felt for her with his aura. She was out of his range. He took in a deep, shaky breath. He could see the energy around him form and crackle.
Where was she? Why did she go?
Alone. He was alone. She was gone. She had left him. She had gone off and probably never wanted to see him again and-
Wait, no. Right, school. She had school to go to. She had probably just gotten up and gone to school. She just hadn't said goodbye because…because she didn't want to wake him! Yes, she had wanted to let him sleep. She was so considerate like that.
His girlfriend was so considerate.
Was she his girlfriend now? She must have been. She went to dinner with him, which in retrospect was a date, and then she came home with him and they slept together. That was what a girl did when she was your girlfriend, right?
She must have been. He loved her. He knew it to be true. From the moment they came together he never wanted to be apart from her again. How could they ever be apart when they had been as close as humanly possible? When she had been under him? Around him? Wrapped around him. Touching him. Kissing him.
He needed to see her again. He needed to speak to her. He needed to at least hear her voice. He was about to call her but he stopped himself. No. She was at school and she had her own life to live and he would see her at work again today. Maybe they could go on another date. Maybe they could…again.
Serizawa was getting a little dizzy. He rolled out of bed and looked for his clothes from yesterday. She'd change his shirt and underclothes but his suit was probably still good. He found his button down. It smelled like her, he could smell it as he picked it up. That musky sort of arousal smell coupled with her flowery shampoo. It was a shame to wash it but he couldn't just save it forever. He only had to many shirts. He used his powers to toss it in the laundry bag in the bathroom. His pants followed it. Those were absolutely covered in her smell. He could not walk around like that.
He just tossed everything into the laundry basket. There was no saving it. He would have gotten all the way undressed before, if she had given him more warning that she had wanted to…
The mirror cracked. Right. Time to start the day. Time to shower and get dressed and get to work because he had a life now and he had things he needed to do. It was just so hard not to think about it. It had been the greatest night of his life. The day they met was the greatest day of his life. He would see her again today and they could spend time together and maybe kiss again or even do that, whatever she wanted, and it would be wonderful. Everything would be wonderful.
He wasn't alone anymore.
Reigen Arataka was alone. He had drowned his sorrows last night in liquor and a woman he could not remember the name of. Now it was tomorrow. His eyes were crusted shut, his mouth tasted like a pukey ashtray, and his clothes were sticky with…hopefully just vomit.
He got up from his bedroom floor with a groan. Great, now he had gotten himself a back pain curse. He walked towards the bathroom, stripping down with every step. First the tie, then the coat. He unbuttoned his shirt as best as he could, pulling it right up over his head towards the end. He hopped out of his pants and boxers and jumped into the shower.
The water was turned all the way to hot.
His socks were still on.
Well then, wasn't this a wonderful way to start the day?
He showered as best as he could, tossing his socks off eventually. The hit the wall with a splat. He stood under the water and let it wash away the previous day. This was tomorrow, a new day, and he would have to face Mob. What would he tell her? What could he tell her?
She had confessed, he had confessed right back. She loved him, he loved her. It didn't matter how she felt though because she was still only fifteen. Fuck the law, she was too young for him. In her was a world of promise and she would not be kept in bondage. She could learn from all of his failures and do all she was meant to, all he failed to.
He would ruin her.
He wanted to be with her, he wanted her more than anything else in the entire world. She was Mob. She was perfection. A drop of star shine come to Earth in the form of a girl. Her sweetness, her kindness, her devotion, they all sustained him. She sustained him. What would he have done without her in his life? How could he had existed this long? He would have been nothing without her. She made him a better person. She made him someone.
She was his everything and he had pushed her away for her own good. She didn't need to spend her youth tied down to him. She knew him for what he was but she still wanted him. She was young. She didn't know what she wanted or what she was doing. She just wanted, that was the curse of youth. She just wanted and wanted with no thought to the future. Her future. He couldn't give her a future.
He would only hold her back. When she was older, when she was a grown woman, then she could make that choice. When the gap between them was less of a chasm. When she could at least vote and drive. When she could get married and drive and most of the other privileges of adulthood that he took for granted. Her world was still so small, after all. She wasn't even in high school yet. She had her whole life to see what else the world had to offer. To see who else the world had to offer.
Even though the thought of her with someone else makes him want to tip his head back and let himself drown under the scalding hot water. The thought of her looking at someone the way she looked at him. Telling another man she loved him. Offering herself to another man, laying back like he had imagined all of those times when he hated himself.
Those times in the night when the room was stiflingly hot, when he was tossing and turning. When he was digging his nails into his palms and trying as best as he could to stop thinking about her. To stop remembering some little, seemingly insignificant thing about her. The way her hair was so soft he could just run his fingers through it for hours. The soft floral smell of her shampoo. The way she would smile, just a little, when he thought she wasn't look. The curve of her side and it jutted out into her hip. The swell of her breasts against her shirt, even when she wore larger ones. The way her skin was so soft, so incredibly soft.
Reigen banged his head against the tile. Great. He let his head tilt down and he looked down at the predicament he had gotten himself in. He couldn't chase the thoughts of Mob from his mind. Liquor wouldn't do the job and neither would other women. He had it bad for her.
He loved her.
He loved her and he was a terrible person for it. He was twenty nine years old. What kind of a twenty nine year old man was in love with a fifteen year old girl?
Serizawa Katsuya was the first one at work, for once. He checked the clock. He wasn't that early, was he? A glance at the clock told him that he was on time. The room was too empty. No Master Reigen, no Master Kageyama…no Mob. Yes, her name was Mob and she wanted to be called Mob and she had granted him her name, well the name Mob, because she…she loved him. She was his girlfriend. Right?
This would be wonderful. He glanced at her desk as he got the electric kettle going. She'd come through the door and he'd see her again and they'd spend time together and he could satiate this growing need he had to be beside her. It wasn't just about sex. She was someone who he could feel safe around. She was the person who had accepted him fully for who he was. She wasn't afraid of him at all and he would never hurt her. He couldn't hurt her. Not on purpose or on accident.
He stopped moving and closed his eyes, letting the memory of her reaching over and smoothing down his energy spikes. The way that with only a gesture she would calm him down, keep him from exploding, put him completely at ease. How soft she felt, her aura against his. How warm her aura felt. How he could just let her settle over him like the sun on a warm summer's day.
He took a breath and got back to opening procedures. The kettle was going, that was the important thing. Master Reigen liked a cup of tea when he came in. He liked to lean back and have a cup of tea and a smoke and, as he said, 'let the day wash over him.' Serizawa usually just watched him, sometimes he read. It took the day a minute to start. He was the such part of Spirits and Such so he had more to do. Serizawa sometimes spent whole days at his desk waiting for something spiritual to happen. It wasn't boring, though, because he usually spent that time talking to Mob.
What would he say to her when she came in? How as he supposed to greet her? Was he supposed to kiss her, now? Hug her? Tell her that he loved her? She hadn't said it back but…but she had been asleep already. She had been asleep and hadn't heard him. That was it. She loved him back. She must have loved him back. She had shared herself with him. She had asked him to share himself with her.
That had meant that she loved him, right? He wasn't wise to the ways of women, actually most of what he knew about them came from TV and manga, but he knew that they didn't just go around sleeping with people randomly. Right? Not outside of hentai? Right? He couldn't imagine Mob doing that. She was so careful of her person, so guarded. She wouldn't have just slept with him for no reason, right?
He checked Google. It was unhelpful.
Reigen walked into the office with noticeably less spring in his step. His head hurt, his eyes hurt, his back hurt, everything sort of hurt. He needed a smoke and a nice cup of tea. Wait, Serizawa would have already come in and made it. Well, he needed something that could be classified as tea. How the man still could not make a cup of tea was beyond even the great Reigen Arataka's comprehension. He'd have to ask Mob to show Serizawa again. Mob
Would she come in today? Would she ever come back? The thought of going their separate ways fills him with an icy sort of feeling. The thought of seeing her again fills him with that same sort of feeling. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. She would probably come in and everything would be normal. She'd sit at her desk and help him when he needed it, she might even tell him about her day, too. Then after work they'd get ramen and maybe talk about yesterday and they'd come to some sort of agreement.
He would ruin her, he knew that he would, but wasn't that her choice? When she grew up, when she was an actual grown woman, then she could make that choice. When he wouldn't end up hating himself if he picked her up, laid her down on his desk, and made fantasy become reality. When nobody could forbid her from being with him. When nobody would think that he was weird for being with her. Thirty two and eighteen was weird but twenty nine and fifteen was just…not right. People would talk, all kinds of people. They'd say all kinds of things. They'd call him all sorts of names and make all sorts of insinuations.
He didn't want that for himself and he didn't want Mob to deal with the fallout from that.
He ascended the stairs, feeling the familiar prickling of energy that told him that Serizawa was near. He took a breath and opened the door. He needed to look ok because if he didn't look ok then Serizawa would worry. He'd worry and his anxiety would act up and he'd explode. That was not something that Reigen was prepared to deal with. He opened the inner door and took a step through the threshold. He had barely gotten a foot in the door when Serizawa looked up and addressed him.
"Master Reigen? Can I ask you something?" asked Serizawa as he looked up. Google was no help. He just wished that there was some definitive guide to the psychology of women so he would know if she loved him or not. If she didn't love him and they weren't in a relationship then he would look like an idiot. If she did love him back and he asked her he'd look like an idiot. If she loved him back then he'd be happy, the happiest man on Earth. If she didn't love him back then he'd feel like his heart had been ripped out and shown to him.
"Is it important?" asked Reigen as he sat down at his desk. Serizawa got up and poured him a cup of what could only be classified as hot leaf water.
"To me or to you or to work?" asked Serizawa. It was only important to him, he decided. Master Reigen had never said a word about his love life before and it wasn't a work thing either. They were friends too, though, so that meant that they could talk about…stuff…right? Stuff not related strictly to work?
"Just ask me." Said Reigen. He was not in the mood for a game of twenty questions. Knowing Serizawa it would probably be clarification of some social rule. Well, time to be the great Reigen Arataka again.
"How do you know if a girl loves you back?" asked Serizawa quickly. Reigen lifted an eyebrow. So Serizawa was human after all.
"How long have you known her?" asked Reigen. Serizawa and a woman, a human woman. A woman who existed in life. Good for him. It was about time he felt love's cruel and searing embrace.
"About a year." Said Serizawa. Master Reigen would know. He was a smart and good looking guy. He probably knew all that there was to know about women.
"Are you friends?" asked Reigen. He could not for the life of him think of any women that Serizawa might have had a shot with. When did he even have time to meet a woman? He spent his free time building plastic models and playing videogames, not exactly prime woman meeting grounds.
"Yes. We've been friends for a while." Said Serizawa. Google said that it was important to get to know her and make friends first. Love at first sight was just on TV, Google said, and that he should resist the urge to confess to a girl he didn't know all too well because then she would be creeped out.
"Did you ask her out?" asked Reigen. He had actually, and shamefully, pegged Serizawa as one of those guys who had a body pillow for a girlfriend. Well wasn't he just a class A jerk? Rejecting Mob, thinking so lowly of Serizawa…he was the world's biggest asshole.
"We went on a date yesterday…I think…" said Serizawa. He hadn't meant it to be a date. He had just wanted to make her happy. Did it only count as a date if he was trying to be romantic? Or did her feelings decided whether or not they were on a date?
"You think?" asked Reigen. Serizawa was lucky he had someone like Reigen to guide him…even though Reigen's own love life was in shambles. He at least knew when he was on a date.
"I mean, I took her to dinner and then we went to the model store and then she said that she didn't want to go home so she came over." Said Serizawa. He started to turn a little red. He called his umbrella to him. He didn't open it, it was enough to hold it.
"And then….?" Asked Reigen. Well, at least someone in this office was romantically successful…and it was Serizawa of all people! Mob was heartbroken. He was heartbroken and hung over. Serizawa was out there bringing home women with the seductive power of plastic models.
"She um….we um…." Said Serizawa. Reigen watched him for a moment before getting up and smacking Serizawa on the back. Serizawa lost his balance and almost fell over.
"I am so fucking happy for you!" said Reigen. He genuinely was. Serizawa was a friend, his only adult friend. He deserved happiness, even if it was just taking a woman home for the…first time? He had always assumed that Serizawa was pure as the driven snow but then again he did have a whole life spent with Claw. Who knew what those guys got up to when they weren't planning world domination?
"Really?" asked Serizawa. He had been worried that Master Reigen would have thought that it was weird, because it was Mob. Of course Serizawa was also forgetting that he had never said that it was Mob to begin with.
"Of course! This is big step for you, socially. I can't believe that you actually brought a woman home with you!" said Reigen. He really couldn't.
"…thanks…" said Serizawa. He wasn't sure how he should take that. The nice way, he decided. Master Reigen would never make fun of him.
"So, are you seeing her again?" asked Reigen. Even if it was a one night thing this would be great for Serizawa. Someone in this office ought to be happy.
"Yes. Today." Said Serizawa. He didn't know if he should ask her to come home with him again. He wanted to. Last night had been amazing and he wanted to repeat it even if it was only the part where he slept next to her. Skin to skin…so much skin to skin. He hadn't realized how much he needed it until he got a taste.
"Well then she's a lucky lady. Tell me how it goes." Said Reigen. The universe was all topsy-turvey. Serizawa was getting women, he was breaking Mob's heart, Mob was being open with her feelings…what next? Her little brother comes over and tries to make friends?
"That's what I wanted to ask you about. The thing is…I told her that I loved her…afterwards…before I fell asleep." Said Serizawa. Reigen groaned. That was the last thing anyone wanted to hear after what sounded like just a regular, albeit intimate, date. Declarations of love were meant to be stewed on for years and then thrown down like a gantlet. At least that was his, rather limited, experience.
"Don't ever do that! Not this early! You only went on one date!" said Reigen. Serizawa focused on keeping it together. You could say it too early? He had only said it because that was how he had felt in the moment, that moment while he drifted off with her in his arms.
"How many dates until I can tell her. I really, really, love her and I think that she might love me too but I'm not sure. The internet wasn't very helpful. It said that maybe she was in love with me and maybe she just wanted to…sleep with me." Said Serizawa
"More than one, less than a hundred." Said Reigen quickly. There was no set number of dates but that seemed like a good range. Not that he had much hope for Serizawa. The first date? If he was that woman he would head for the hills.
"That's a big range, Master Reigen." Said Serizawa. That left ninety eight possible dates. Was that how long it took for women to decide if they loved you? Well, they had to be very picky. They were the ones that had the babies after all.
Babies….
Oh no.
"Hey, what's wrong? You're freaking out again." Said Reigen. Well, this was probably a lot for him. Relationships were stressful even at the best of times. He risked a glance at Mob's desk. Very stressful.
"I'm a moron…" said Serizawa quietly. How could he have been so stupid?! He couldn't take care of a baby! He could barely take care of himself!
"Because you told this woman you loved her? Yeah, you kind of are but you could always try to salvage the situation. Just tell her you got emotional or something." Said Reigen. Yeah, he knew about emotional. When Mob came in he'd settle…whatever there was to settle. Convince her to wait. Convince her that he hadn't wanted to hurt her. Convince her-
"It's not that. I just…I can't have a baby…" said Serizawa. Reigen stared at him.
"No, no you can't…because you're a guy. Now if you were stupid enough to not use anything, well, then that's an entirely different conversation. Please, for the love of God, tell me that I don't have to take you to the drug store and teach you the facts of life…." Said Reigen with a groan. Great. Well then at least this distracted from his problems.
"I know about that! I just…wasn't thinking. The whole thing happened really fast! I mean, one minute we're drinking tea and hanging out and then she's asking me to come to bed with her! I didn't even think that she would ever want to…with me…I mean we only had dinner alone together once and-" said Serizawa before Reigen cut him off.
"The next time you see her, Serizawa, talk to her. Make sure you talk to her because this is a big thing and, you're right, you can't raise a kid right now. I know how much you make, I'm the one paying you." Said Reigen. Poor guy. It was a scare, it always was a scare, when these sorts of scares happened. Not that he had to worry about these sorts of scares. The only person he really wanted to be with, who he would even consider rolling the dice on this with, was too young and probably hated his guts.
"You're right. Thank you, Master Reigen." Said Serizawa. The next time he saw her he'd talk to her. He had to talk to her. But what was he supposed to say? And what if she did end up with a kid? He did? Then what? Ok, calm down. She's probably not. She wouldn't just take her chances with that. There were things that girls did. He was aware-ish that they existed. Not about what they were but he was aware of their existence.
Yeah, he'd be fine.
Mob knew that she'd be fine.
She'd be fine and everything would be fine. Nothing would be not fine. Everything would be normal. There was no reason for anything at all to be out of the ordinary. She was going to work, the place where she spent most days after school. She was going to work and she would sit at her desk and she'd do whatever she had to and it would be a totally normal day.
Aside from the fact that she had confessed to Master Reigen.
Aside from the fact that she had kissed Master Reigen.
Aside from the fact that she had been rejected by Master Reigen.
Aside from the fact that she had kissed Serizawa.
Aside from the fact that she had slept with Serizawa.
Aside from the fact that Serizawa said that he loved her.
Maybe is she pretended really hard that this was just an ordinary day, that nothing was abnormal, then everything would be normal. The first thing she had to do was open the door and go up the stairs. Yup. Any moment now. Come on. No time like the present.
She, Mob, thought that going to work was the best course of action. The other her, the thing that lived inside her, under her skin, had other ideas.
The other Shigeko wanted them to run away. To run away because it would just be a lot of negative emotion. That she would have to save them in the way that she always saved them. But she also wanted…not that situation but…again. She wanted instrumentality again even though it hadn't even been real instrumentality.
Well she had made quite the mess now hadn't she?
Sometimes you had to run away but she was not going to run away from this. She could not bear it, to go her separate ways again from Master Reigen. Running away was not an option. She just had to face this like she had to face everything else in her life. Just like she had faced the seventh division of Claw, just like she had stopped Toichiro from taking over the world. Come on, Mob. One foot in front of the other. Just like that.
Serizawa felt her long before he saw her. She was outside the building. He waited for ten agonizing minutes. Ten minutes until she came in. He needed to see her. He needed to talk to her. He needed to be around her. He had never needed anyone like he needed her in that moment. Why did it hurt so much, being away from her? Because they had been so close. Because they had been all bodies and skin and auras and feelings and sounds and words…because the barriers between the two of them had come down almost completely.
She was coming in, now. Master Reigen was busy in the other room with a client. He was supposed to be waiting for walk-ins. Well, he was sort of doing his job. He was waiting for her to walk in. She was just outside the door. She wasn't coming in. Why? What was wrong? She usually came right in and got to work.
Whatever was bothering her, he could fix it, even if he didn't know how.
He stared at the door, his anxiety growing with every passing second. After an unknown amount of time, it could have been minutes or seconds or hours for all he knew the door began to open. He got up, he needed to…he needed to be near her. She stepped through the threshold and closed the door softly.
Mob could feel Serizawa. She had been able to feel Serizawa and that was why she had paused. What could she say? What would she say? How could she say whatever it was that she had to say? She hadn't…it hadn't been great and she hadn't been thinking when she…when they…and now he loved her…
Such a mess.
Maybe if she pretended that everything was normal than it would be normal.
That plan went right out the window the second she closed the door.
"Mob…I missed you." Said Serizawa as he stood in front of her. She looked normal. She was wearing her uniform and had her hair the same but to him she was the most amazing girl he had ever seen.
"Serizawa…I missed you too." Said Mob. Well, she had been thinking really hard about him. Same thing, right? He looked at her for a while, it looked like he was thinking really hard for a while. He shifted his weight back and forth a few times.
"Serizawa, are you alright?" asked Mob. He didn't say anything. He just leaned down and kissed her. It was quick, and dry, and kind of off center, but he had kissed her.
"I missed you a lot and I've been thinking about you all day and I really wanted to do that and also are you having a baby?" asked Serizawa quickly. Mob blinked.
"I'm not having a baby." Said Mob. She had made sure of that. Serizawa relaxed.
"Thank you! I was just so worried!" said Serizawa taking her hand in his. She seemed calm as ever. She didn't even blink.
"We're at work, Serizawa. You shouldn't kiss me and stuff here." Said Mob. Maybe she was holding out hope for Master Reigen. Maybe she just didn't want him to know. Maybe she wanted this with Serizawa. Maybe she just wanted someone to love her. Either way she didn't want to get into it with Master Reigen again.
"Oh, ok. Sorry, I just…I really missed you." Said Serizawa letting go of her hand. There was always after work. Would she want to spend time with him after work again? Would she wanted to…again? He didn't care! He just wanted to be near her.
"I missed you too…" said Mob because, well, she had already said it before.
"Do you want to…do you want to do something after work?" asked Serizawa meaning literally whatever she wanted to do. So this was what love felt like. A growing need to be beside her, to please her, and to keep her happy.
"Uh…I guess…" said Mob. Again? Well, it hadn't been that bad…and she did like some of it…and he wanted to…so why not?
"Great! Whatever you want!" said Serizawa taking her hand in his even though they were at work. He just really, really needed to touch her. He hardly ever touched anyone so he had no idea how much he missed skin to skin contact. Was something wrong with her? Why was she looking at him like that?
"Ok…" said Mob. What did she want? She wanted to…she wanted to see Master Reigen…but that was wrong now, wasn't it? Serizawa was still holding her hand, still looking at her. She looked back up at him. He was nice and he wanted to be with her. So why did she still want to be with Master Reigen? He had rejected her, so why did she still like him? Why had she been thinking about him the whole time? Why had she thought about him all night when she got home? Why was she still thinking about him now?
"Can you tell me what's bothering you?" asked Serizawa. Her face was expressionless but he could see her aura. Something was still bothering her, but what? If they were together then it was his job to make her happy and fix whatever it was. Right? He mostly knew about this stuff from anime and manga but he was pretty sure that was his job.
"Nothing. I'm fine. Where's Master Reigen?" asked Mob. She just needed to see him, that was all. Maybe if she saw him then she would remember how much he had hurt her and then maybe she would stop thinking about him and think about Serizawa because he was there and he wanted to be with her and he had been with her and she had been with him and everything should have been great but it just…wasn't.
"He's in with a client." Said Serizawa. He felt something bad, something painful and aching. Jealousy. But he had no reason to be jealous. Of course she would be looking for Master Reigen, they had been master and student for years.
"You should let go of my hand, then, because we're at work." Said Mob. She didn't want Master Reigen to know…but…but he didn't want to be with her anyway…but…ick! Such a mess!
"Oh…ok…" said Serizawa. He took a moment to let her go. She sat at her desk and he sat at his. Opposite side of the room. It felt like a million kilometers.
Mob pretended to look at her phone. The screen was still black. She just…she was still tired. That was it. Between Ritsu asking her over and over again if she had been with Reigen and the sadness from being rejected by Master Reigen and then doing…that…with Serizawa…she didn't get much sleep. She didn't hear a word of anything said at school, either. Just what she had done…she looked over at Serizawa. What she could do. He smiled at her. She smiled back. He had a nice smile. Nice eyes, too.
He wouldn't ever reject her.
She held Serizawa's gaze. Her face was, to him, unreadable. She could be expressive, though, he was well aware of that. The faces she had made. Eyes closed shut, mouth slightly opened. Her biting her lower lip, her eyes screwed shut, her face completely red, her nails digging into his back as he-
A ceramic pot shattered. Dirt flew in all directions. Mob caught the dirt and the plant. She held them up in the air while she tried her best to put the ceramic back together. It was together after a while but it looked like it was covered in scars. She put the plant back where it belonged and willed it to keep growing.
"Thanks." Said Serizawa. Right. His own home might have been reinforced but this room wasn't. Right. He was at work and one did not think about that at work even though it had been beyond amazing and she was with him and oh yes! They could do that again and again because that was what people who were together did and-
"Serizawa. Are you ok?" asked Mob. She could see his power spiking again. She smoothed it down and made it her own before he could break something else. Was he thinking about it, too? Maybe. He had said that he loved her after all and he had said, too, that he had never even kissed anyone before. They were even, then, because neither had she. Heh. They were even.
"Fine! I'm fine…I'm just thinking…" said Serizawa. She was so nice. She was so small and nice and pretty and wonderful and…everything! And she was his and he just wanted to hold her and never let her go but not in a mean way because she was her own person and had a life and a family and he couldn't keep her with him even if she wanted to say because she was beholden to her family but it would just be so nice to spend every single night with her and then wake up next to her in the morning and then they could make breakfast and walk to work or maybe not because she had school in the morning but then they could see each other after work and then they could do it all again and it would be so nice and he wouldn't be alone and she was so wonderful and-
"Me too. I'm thinking about a lot of stuff. You, mostly. Other stuff too." Said Mob. Did he have regrets? Did she have regrets? Maybe. Maybe she should have thought before she acted. Maybe she shouldn't have focused so much on making herself feel better because she had totally forgotten to think if she was acting on good ideas or bad ideas. But she wouldn't say that. Serizawa said he loved her and she knew what it felt like to have someone you loved reject you. She didn't think that she could cause someone that kind of pain.
"I think about you too. I'm sorry that I told you that I-" said Serizawa before a door opened and footsteps filled the office.
"Glad to hear that! My assistant will write you out a receipt." Said Reigen as he sat down at his desk. Mob tore her gaze from Serizawa towards Master Reigen. She couldn't hear anything but her heartbeat in her ears. He was there, at his desk, like everything was normal. Like yesterday never happened. She was vaguely aware that the client was gone. Now it was just the three of them. She stared at him and stared at stared. Serizawa stared at her staring at Reigen. This wasn't odd for her, she did tend to look off in one direction for a while. Master Reigen just so happened to be sitting in the direction of her staring. Reigen on the other hand, was staring at his computer. He couldn't look back towards Mob even though she was staring at him. Maybe she'd get tired and do something else, anything else.
She didn't. Of course she didn't. This was Mob.
"Hey, Serizawa? You mind sanitizing the curse removal table for me?" asked Reigen. Fine. If Mob wanted to talk then he'd bit the bullet and talk to her.
"Sure thing!" said Serizawa getting up quickly. He had been watching her watching Reigen. The more he stared the more he thought about her. The more he thought about her the more jealous he began to get. She was looking at Reigen, so? She did that all the time. He took a moment before getting up. She was still looking at Reigen.
"Mob, let's talk." Said Reigen as he heard the door close. Mob didn't move, didn't give him any acknowledgement.
"We're talking right now." Said Mob after a moment. What was there to talk about? He rejected her. There. Simple as pie.
"I mean about yesterday." Said Reigen with a sigh. How had she taken it? Cried into her pillow all night? Had an explosion and took out a section of the city? Found some guy her own age and spent her night the same way he had spent his night. The thought of Mob with someone else makes him want to rip his own heart out just to make the pain stop…and he knows full well that it's not a healthy feeling.
"What do you mean? What's there to talk about?" asked Mob. She knew a no when she heard it. She knew lies when she heard them. She knew him and she knew that he would tell her anything to make her feel better.
"You know exactly what we have to talk about." Said Reigen. She was being intentionally obtuse. She had confessed to him, she had kissed him. He had confessed to her. He had kissed her back. He had broken her heart. Plenty of conversational material there.
"Do you mean when we had the fight? We don't need to talk about it. I know that you were saying no. I understand, Master." Said Mob. She didn't need him to rub salt in her wounds. She didn't need him to say it again and again and again. She heard him the first time.
"You understand that…that you're too young right now, right?" asked Reigen. Maybe she had decided to think about what she said and had come to the mature conclusion and waited. This was Mob after all. She was more mature than to do what he had done. She wouldn't just jump on some guy because she was feeling hurt. She was better than he was.
"I understand that you think I'm too young." Said Mob. She wasn't too young. Serizawa certainly didn't think so and he was older than Master Reigen. Master Reigen was just trying to make her feel better.
"Then you understand that it's better to wait?" said Reigen. See, Mob could be plenty mature. She could be very understanding.
"I understand that you think that it's better to wait." Said Mob. Wait for three years until, what, exactly? Until he could reject her again? Until he thought that she would lose interest? Until the sun went out and everything returned to nothing?
"Good. See, Mob, I knew that a night to think on this would be beneficial for both of us. Thank you for being so mature and understanding." Said Reigen. He wanted to walk over and pat her on the back at least, but he didn't. Too soon. It was too soon to touch her again, to go back to their old comradery…if they ever could. It would be better when she was older. He could confess to her for real. He could be with her for real. Eighteen was at least a legal adult. Fifteen was…too young. He didn't care about consent laws, fifteen was too damned young.
"You're welcome…Master." Said Mob. She understood just fine. She understood that he wanted her to lose interest while she waited. She understood that no matter how bad things got he would still tell her whatever she wanted to hear. She understood that the last thing either of them wanted was to go their separate ways. Fine then, they wouldn't go their separate ways, but Mob wouldn't hold onto false hope.
The work day went as it normally did. They got called out to exorcise a parking garage of a man who had died of exhaustion looking for his car. Serizawa handled it before Mob got a chance to, then he fussed over her for a little bit, something that Reigen found a bit odd but Serizawa was an odd guy sometimes. Mob was like his only other friend so of course it would stand to reason that he would be concerned about her.
It was even odder when they both turned him down for after work ramen. Mob he could understand, she was probably still a little sour about how things went.
It was downright strange when they both walked home in the same direction. Mob didn't live anywhere near Serizawa. They just walked off in the same direction. Mob nonplussed as ever, Serizawa holding his umbrella between two clenched hands.
Had he missed something?