There was, somehow, room enough in Reigen's apartment for the both of them.
Sure, there were boxes stacked floor to ceiling but it wasn't like they didn't have paths to walk through. It would be easier once they unpacked all of Serizawa's things…and found places for them. Apparently Serizawa was as much of a packrat as she was. It was always nice to learn something new about him, that was what kept the magic alive, that and pizza.
Really, really terrible pizza.
"How's yours?" asked Reigen as she took a bite of what was advertised as pizza. Hot and ready pizza. You just walked in with five hundred yen and walked out with an entire pizza. It had seemed too good to be true because it was.
Unless, of course, you were planning on doing some home repairs. Then this was perfect.
"It's…um…it's food." Said Serizawa. He didn't want to lie to her. He should have cooked, even if the best he could do was cup noodle and maybe eggs and rice. He had just been so tired. Moving, even if you were using your powers, was exhausting. It was done, though, and now he was living with her…this was their place…
Nothing could ruin this, not even cardboard pizza.
"Way to inspire confidence, Katsuya." Laughed Reigen as she picked her cheese off of the top. It was alright, better without the crust. It was somehow both over cooked and undercooked at the same time…but she was going to eat it. She was too tired to do so much as pour water into a cup noodle cup…and anyway, she wasn't sure where her supply of ramen had gone to. They had gotten halfway through putting their kitchens together before giving up out of sheer hunger.
Apparently, though, they hadn't been hungry enough. Not if they couldn't get this pizza down.
"I'm…sorry. I should have picked a better place." Said Serizawa
"I picked the place." Said Reigen
"I should have been less lazy." Said Serizawa
"I'm the one who was lazy." Said Reigen
"I'm the one who abandoned the kitchen." Said Serizawa
"No, that was my idea too, Katsuya." Said Reigen
"Um…I think that I thought of it first. Sorry, Arataki." Said Serizawa as he put his pizza down and sighed. He really should have taken better care of her, been more thoughtful. They just hadn't felt like cooking or going out to the ramen place…next time he would make her ramen at home, either that or he would carry her on his back, she wasn't that heavy and, anyway, he had powers.
"Are we seriously arguing about who's lazier?" asked Reigen, shaking her head. She put her pizza down on her plate. It made a hollow sound despite the fact that it was a food…and her plate was Styrofoam…
"I-I would never argue with you or call you lazy! I just…I just feel bad, I should have taken better care of you. I mean I live with you now and all." Said Serizawa. He lived with her which meant that he…he wasn't sure. He got the feeling that he needed to take care of her. Because she was small and just so…so fragile. He couldn't afford to lose her. He didn't think that his heart could have survived.
"I'm a grown woman, Katsuya, I can take care of myself." Said Reigen. She cared about him, she did, but she didn't care for any of those outdated attitudes. They lived together, that didn't mean that they were married or anything, and even if they had been she was still a grown woman. She could take care of herself and had been for years now.
"I know but…but I just feel like I should have been more thoughtful." Said Serizawa
"Oh." Sighed Reigen. She didn't know what she had been so afraid of. Of course he wasn't just going to suddenly turn into that kind of guy. She knew him. She loved him. She was just…in over her head…no, not that deep. In up to her knees. This was new, and a lot, but not something she couldn't manage. But should it have felt like managing? She was just moving in with her boyfriend. People did this all the time. Out of all the things that she'd done in her life, all the things that had happened, moving in with her boyfriend was the most normal thing that had happened to her yet.
"Next time we move I'll make you dinner! Or at least get you whatever you want from takeout! Or I can carry you on my back!" said Serizawa
"Well, we'll definitely turn some heads if we walk down the street like that, with me thrown over your shoulders." Said Reigen
"I was thinking more like a piggyback ride." Said Serizawa
"I'd have to change into pants, then. I mean unless you want me to flash the whole neighborhood." Said Reigen with a laugh. He was turning red. She was never going to get tired of that. He was never going to stop being adorable.
"I think that I'd mind that…I mean you can do whatever you want but…um…leggings?" asked Serizawa. He knew that he couldn't tell her what to wear but he didn't want her to be embarrassed, either. Also he didn't like the idea of other people looking at her, which he knew was something that he needed to fix, since girls didn't like jealousy. He'd seen enough movies to know that. Besides, everyone already looked at her. She was the most beautiful woman in the entire world after all.
"Or you could just carry me bridal style." Said Reigen before she could think. He turned even redder, if that was possible, and she…she needed something to do with her hands. She picked up her pizza and tried to bite into it. It still tasted like cardboard only now it was cold, cheese-less, cardboard.
"How do you mean?" asked Serizawa. He wanted to pick her up, to kiss her, to touch her. There was something about watching her eat. He didn't get it, he just knew how it made him feel, and how it made him want to make her feel…and he could, if she'd let him. They lived together now. No more thinking about going home to get things done. Anything that he needed done he could just get done with right here…he looked around.
There was a lot that he needed to get done with around here.
"Just…never mind." Said Reigen. She had given him the wrong idea there. They had just moved in together, that was moving fast enough. If she rushed him, or he thought that he was rushing her, then he might have changed his mind. Most of his stuff hadn't been unpacked yet. He could always have taken it back to his old place, signed a new lease, and then she would have been back to square one. No, she wasn't going to push him too fast, or herself.
They lived together. That was enough for her right now.
"I can carry you however you want me to, I like to carry you." said Serizawa
"I wouldn't want to throw your back out or anything." Said Reigen. She knew he was just being nice, he must have been. He had barely been out of that room of his, out of the organization, just…he'd barely started his own life. He didn't need her putting all of this onto him. She didn't even know if she wanted that…Rei's prediction rang through her mind. Being married to him would have been nice but she didn't really think that it would have been different from what they had right now so…so there was no need to rush him, or herself, no need to spoil anything.
Everything they had right now was perfect. Everything but this pizza.
"I don't mind, I like the way you feel in my arms. You're so small…I mean, not to be mean, you're just a lot smaller than me." said Serizawa
"Is this…is this really about picking me up? I don't want you to think that I'm pushing you to do anything that you don't want to do." Said Reigen
"It's about picking you up…what else could it be about?" asked Serizawa
"Nothing! Nothing, just, uh, yeah. Let me get up." said Reigen as she put her pizza down and got to her feet. He held his arms out. She gingerly stepped over his plate and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pulled herself up, he got the memo and supported her, like he always did…like he always would. Her arms around his neck. Him supporting her….she was so close to him, she could smell him. Stale sweat and that lavender deodorant he had taken to wearing. She liked it. Before she knew it she had buried her face in the crook of his neck.
"I feel like you're about to carry me over the threshold." Sighed Reigen. This was perfect. This was…she had said that out loud. She risked a glance up at him. He was still smiling, thankfully, and looking down at her with a grin that, on anyone else, would have looked dopey. On him it looked endearing. Cute. The sort of thing that made her feel like her insides were going to melt.
How could anyone have been as adorable as him?
"I could, if you wanted me to." Said Serizawa softly, lowly, his voice coming out as more of a murmur than anything. He would have carried her wherever she wanted to go. She felt so small and warm in his arms. He could smell her. Cigarettes, incense, and that new perfume she'd been trying out. Like a heavy sort of vanilla…she smelled as sweet as she was. As beautiful as she was. As perfect as she was.
How could anyone have been as perfect as her?
"You…what?" asked Reigen. She couldn't believe that she'd just heard…did he want that? She never would have guessed that he'd wanted that…that anyone would have wanted that with her…but here she was. She felt light. Apparently she was light. He was holding her up like she weighed absolutely nothing. She felt like she weighed nothing. She felt…good.
Excited even.
"I'd carry you wherever you wanted to go, Arataki. I like carrying you. I like being close to you." said Serizawa
"I…never mind." Said Reigen quickly. She felt heavy, there, but she didn't know why. Of course he hadn't meant what she thought he'd meant…and she didn't know why she'd thought that in the first place. She wasn't going to be that cliched fruitcake ready to drag a man, any man with a pulse, down the altar. They were living together and that was enough. This was more than she'd ever had with anyone else. She liked this. She was grateful for this.
She was grateful to have met him, to be with him now, and to be able to wake up next to him tomorrow.
"What is it?" asked Serizawa
"Nothing. Just…carrying someone over the threshold is something that…you know, just marrieds do…" said Reigen, her face turning red. She wondered if it was possible to die of embarrassment. She wanted to pull her soul out of her body and just haunt the world as a spirit for a while, maybe have Mob exorcise her, anything to escape the embarrassment she had made for herself. She couldn't even look at Serizawa. He was probably going to put her down, tell her that this was a mistake, and then maybe some line about them still being friends.
He didn't put her down.
"Oh." Said Serizawa. She had thought…she wanted that! He kept calm. Arataki was his girlfriend and that was what you did when you had one, you got married and all of that, but he didn't know how to be married! He had never seen anyone be married. His Dad had left his mom and the President's wife had left him…and that was the extent of coupled adults that he knew. Married…the thought of being married to her…
He liked it. It was scary but in a good way.
"Just forget it, I didn't know what I was saying-" said Reigen
"I don't know how to be married." Said Serizawa
"You don't…I don't either. I mean there's not much to it…but then again that attitude might have been what led my parents down the path to divorce." Said Reigen
"Mine aren't divorced, they were never married, and the President wasn't actually divorced his wife just walked out on him…" said Serizawa
"You know that I'd never do that to you, right?" asked Reigen
"I know…and you know that I would never do that to you either, right?" asked Serizawa. He didn't understand why people did that, walked out on the people they loved. It made no sense. When you agreed to be with someone, to even make people with them, then you didn't just get to leave…make people…
He wasn't ready for that.
But he was ready for this. That was a good reason not to get married. If they got married then they'd have to have a baby and if they had a baby then…then he would have probably been a bad dad. He didn't know how to be a dad, how to take care of another person, especially one who was completely dependent on him…so he couldn't marry her….
But he wanted to.
"I know." said Reigen. There was a moment where they just stood like that, him holding her in the middle of their apartment. She didn't know if she wanted it to end or not. If it ended then…then maybe that would be the end of everything…but if it didn't then they'd be stuck like this all night and it was already getting kind of awkward. Her arms were starting to fall asleep, too.
"Hey, Katsuya-" said Reigen
"But I don't know if I want to be married…I mean I do! I want to spend my life with you but I don't want to…to mess things up, because I wouldn't know what to do…and if we got married then we'd have a baby, too, and I don't know how to take care of a baby." Said Serizawa. Arataki was probably going to be so hurt and mad. Any moment now she was going to tell him to get out of her house, that the whole move was off, that she wanted to me married right that second and if he didn't do it then she'd find someone who would…and he couldn't imagine anyone saying no to her…
He had just messed this up, hadn't he?
"And you think I do?" asked Reigen
"Do…what?" asked Serizawa
"Do you really think that I know how to take care of a baby? I don't know anything about babies. The kids are already giving me a run for my money, especially Mob and Tome…but you don't want to know any part of that. Trust me." said Reigen
"I do." Said Serizawa
"And I don't know if I want to be married either. I mean I don't know any more about being married than you do and…and how about we just do this for a while, ok? And then we see how it goes?" asked Reigen. She knew what she wanted, what she didn't want, and those two things were at odds with each other. She definitely didn't want kids, though, at least…at least she hadn't given it much thought beyond the fact that she couldn't afford to be pregnant right now and then the baby it's self would have been a lot of work…but she had help now…
Nope. Too many life changes at once.
"So how about we just try and choke this pizza down and then we get back to unpacking…or…" said Reigen, her eyes darting down to the couch. She wasn't trying to distract him, it was just pure practicality, that was all…and anyway, he'd started it being all big and tall and lifting her up like she weighed nothing.
"Or?" asked Serizawa, hoping to whatever God was listening that he caught her meaning. This had been a lot and…and so was that but…but that was the kind of a lot that he liked. He really liked…and they lived together. They had been spending a lot of time with each other before but now nobody had to worry about getting home and…and they had all night…
"Or." Said Reigen, giving him a look that she knew even he couldn't miss…and he hadn't. One minute she had been trying to slyly proposition him and the next she was being kissed. It was like all the tension and awkwardness was being kissed out of the situation. She knew what she wanted, there, in that moment. It was him.
And he wanted her.
He wanted to be with her as much as she wanted to be with him. There was no reason to overthink it, overcomplicate it, add anything new to it. She loved him, he loved her, and they loved this. They were together and right now this was enough for her. This was all that she wanted. Him, her, this apartment, that couch…but not that pizza.
Not that she knew what she had been complaining about. The ad had said 'hot and ready pizza'. It hadn't said anything about being good…or edible.