Mob was not avoiding Shimazaki on his birthday.
No, she'd given him his gifts and sang him happy birthday. That was all she had to do. Birthdays wee important so she never would have ignored one. She had done what she had to do and now…now she had to go to work…and also she hadn't ever brought Serizawa to Tokyo HQ or any HQ…and it was good for him to get more used to leaving his room.
So, really, it made the most sense to bring him to Tokyo HQ as soon as she could…and that just happened to fall on October 25th…..which just so happened to be Shimazaki's birthday.
"And this is dad's office. This is where dad works when he's not hanging out with Hatori in his room. That's his desk where I work sometimes and….are you ok?" asked Mob as she led Serizawa into dad's office. It was kind of getting a little dusty. He hadn't been here since the earthquake. She didn't know why, the building was safe, maybe because something was bothering him….
She had no idea what.
She didn't know what could possibly have been bothering him. If he was still upset with Sho then he needed to stop it, not hide in his room. Sho was gay, lots of people were gay, and dad needed to learn how to deal with that. Mob didn't have any problem at all dealing with that. She loved Sho and when you loved someone then you loved them no matter what…and Sho liking other boys didn't even count as 'what'. Dad was so ridiculous sometimes…she almost wanted to tell him that he needed to get a clue already…that there were some people in this world who had real problems….
No, not her.
Serizawa. His aura was flaring outwards. He was scared, anyone could have seen that, and…and maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to bring him out of the house…but they hadn't been out in a while…not OUT! Not like when Shimazaki said that he wanted to go 'out' with Mob. No, she didn't like Serizawa like that and even if she did she never would have said anything. She didn't want to put him in this position, the kind of position where someone like you and you had to like them back. She didn't ever want to make anyone feel like that, especially Serizawa…
He had enough to deal with as it was.
"I-I'm fine….Miss Suzuki." Said Serizawa. He wasn't fine but he couldn't tell her that. She didn't need to know that it was too bright…that he was up too high….that it was too big. This was even worse than the times when he would go places with his friends. Normal people were easier to be around. Espers all had auras and there were so many and everything was just red….
He held his umbrella in both hands.
She reached over and put her hands over his. He let himself focus on her. She was a pink and blue dot in a sea of red…he wished that he knew why so many people had red auras…he wished that he knew a lot of things. He wished that he knew how to make it stop…his head…his heart….the shaking. He was shaking so badly…she was right there and he was still shaking….he needed to stop. He need to stop it right now. Miss Suzuki was busy, she had a lot to do, and she was taking the time out of her day to take him outside so he could learn how to get used to the world.
He couldn't let her down.
"It's ok if you're not. This was…maybe kind of a lot for you. I'm sorry. I should have thought more about how you feel….sorry. I can be sort of selfish sometimes." Said Mob
"Miss Suzuki! No, you…you could never be selfish! You're the least selfish person that I have ever met in my life…I mean I don't know a lot of people but you're really selfless." Said Serizawa. He could have gone on and on but he managed to stop himself. He either talked too much or not enough…and he would much rather have talked too little than too much. At least he wouldn't bore her this way.
"Thank you….but I don't really feel that way…I don't know. It's not important, you are. You're important and…um…we can take a break…or we can ever make this the last stop on the tour. There's not much else to see. There's just the break room and the washing room and the linen room….oh! And there's the haunted bathroom, well I've never seen or sensed the ghost but a bunch of the Awakened swear that if you stand in front of the mirror and picture someone dead then the ghost takes you to meet them." Said Mob
"But…does the being give you back?" asked Serizawa
"I think so…I don't know. Nobody said if you came back…but they must have been brought back if they know the story." Said Mob
"I never…um…when I was in school they said that if you stood in a dark room and stared at yourself in the mirror while saying Bloody Mary she'd come in and kill you…um…I never tried it! I mean I wanted to live but…I always wondered how people knew what happened if she killed you." Said Serizawa
"They talked about that one at my school, too. Sho tried once and nothing happened. I wasn't brave enough. I don't know if she's real or not, though, because ghost don't really bother me or Sho because we're espers." Said Mob
"Oh…I didn't know that. I've seen ghosts but they never bothered me either." Said Serizawa
"That's just because you're so powerful, that's all. Dad says that the more powerful an esper is the more spirits know to leave them alone. Dad knows a lot about this kind of stuff." Said Mob
"I-I wasn't going to argue! The President is really smart…he knows more about everything than anyone I've ever met-not that I think that you're dumb! I mean I think that you're really smart. You're one of the smartest people in the world." Said Serizawa
"I'm not….I'm really not. I don't even know my times tables past ten." Said Mob
"I don't know them past five so…so you win." Said Serizawa. Miss Suzuki was smiling now…yes! He'd made her happy. That was good. She was such a good person…and she'd been really unhappy lately. She had been spending a lot of time with him and he'd noticed. Her eyes just seemed sort of sad. Her aura, too, had been sad. She had so much going on….the President was a very nice man but also he could be sort of mean and he had been really mean to Sho. Serizawa didn't know why it was such a big deal that he liked boys….but Serizawa didn't understand a lot of things…and it wasn't like he was going to argue with the President.
No, that wouldn't have been good at all. Friends weren't mean to friends like that.
"Thank you…but let's call it a tie." Said Mob. She didn't think that this was a winners and losers sort of thing…and also she never wanted to beat one of her friends. That would have been mean and the last thing that she ever wanted to do to one of her friends was be mean to them. She was selfish but she wasn't that selfish.
"Ok, I can do that…but if it weren't a tie then you would have won." Said Serizawa
"If I win then I forfeit and then you can be the winner." Said Mob
"But it's just the two of us." Said Serizawa
"You're the winner by default, then, like when you play a one player game." Said Mob
"No, you can still lose against the computer. I used to sometimes play two player games against the computer…well more than two player games. I used to play Mario Kart when I was a kid and I would pretend that I had other kids to play with and sometimes I would let myself lose just so…sorry! Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Said Serizawa. He shouldn't have talked about that. He was just going to make himself sad…and if he was sad then she was sadder. He knew that she would, she was really sensitive like that. He was such a terrible friend. She had done so much for him, she had saved him in every way a person could be saved, and this was how he repaid her? She was the best friend a person could have and…and she would have been so much better off without him…
Everyone would have been better off without him.
Everyone would have been so much better if he had never even left his room…or been born with powers…sometimes he even felt like everyone would have been better off if he had never been born at all. He used to feel like that when he was a kid and the world was just him, mom, and his TV. That had been the main thought in his head…and then later on one that only popped up when he didn't keep his brain busy…he had to keep his brain busy…he had his DS and…and he should have just played that and not said anything to her and…and he just….
He felt the energy around him shift.
He heard the clink of glass…oh. She was pouring herself a drink…two drinks. He wondered why she didn't just wait until she had finished her first before she started a second. At least then she wouldn't have had to wash so many glasses. He didn't want to make her mad or sad, though, he didn't know about drinking so he wasn't going to question her like that. She could drink as much as she wanted and in whatever way she wanted to. She was his friend and he was hers and the last thing that he wanted to do was make her feel bad…
Worse than she must have felt now.
"Here, drink this. Um…it might be old tea, though. I told the Awakened to fill these with brandy but my dad might have filled them with tea again. He did that to get me to stop drinking…I don't know why. I don't know why he would even care. It's not like I'm making him drink." Said Mob. She didn't know why Serizawa was so sad, maybe it was because he had talked about when he was a kid. She knew that he'd had a really hard life. She almost wished that her life had been hard, at least that way she could have understood him, but she knew that wishes didn't come true….and also she knew better than to wish for something like that.
"Thank you, Miss Suzuki." Said Serizawa. He hoped that it was tea that she had handed him, not brandy, he didn't mind old tea. He used to drink old tea, stale tea, tea that he hadn't been sure how long it had even been there for. The minutes and hours and days just sort of blended together back then. He pressed the glass to his lips…
It burned.
That wasn't tea. That was brandy. He didn't know the difference between all the different kinds of liquors, he didn't like to drink, but he knew that he did not like whatever this was. It burned…but it left some sweetness behind….but the sweetness didn't cut down on the burning. He had no idea how she could drink this. She tipped her head all the way back and drank it all in one gulp…she was so cool like that. He never could have done anything like that and he was older than she was.
She was so amazing….and he just so…wasn't.
"You're going too slowly, don't sip it, if you do then you're going to end up burning the inside of your mouth." Said Mob. Serizawa didn't know how to drink yet. She hadn't known that there could have been adults who didn't know how to drink, Shimazaki had said that it was something everyone needed to know how to drink…but she should had have figured. Serizawa had spent most of his life in his room and he hadn't had anyone to teach him the things that he needed to know to be an adult…but that was ok. Mob was her friend, she would always be there for him no matter what he needed.
"Oh…um…you're right…but you can finish this! I mean I know how you like to drink and I know that you haven't…um….you haven't had as much as…you usually would and I just thought that you would like this so…so here!" said Serizawa. He held out his glass. The energy around him shifted and the glass left his hand. It hadn't been her, though, the energy was the wrong color…and now he could see. He shook his head…he'd been way too focused…it felt like time had slowed down for a second….
But it was back to normal now.
Shimazaki didn't teleport all at once. He had always thought that he just sort of popped in and out but now he knew that it took a second for him to fully enter a place. In that second he had fully entered the room, taken Serizawa glass from him, and drank it. He threw his head back like Miss Suzuki did and drank it fast.
He was so cool!
"Thanks, I needed that." Said Shimazaki as he tossed the glass across the room. He mostly just wanted to hear it break, he loved the sound of breaking glass, but Mob caught it…which worked out even better. He loved the sound of Mob's aura….he loved being around her. She was like Toshi but not Toshi…and he already had Toshi. They were spending time together today since it was his birthday, he didn't care what people said thirty two was a milestone, and the only thing that would have made this totally a milestone birthday was Mob.
But it looked like she was busy.
She was in Suzuki's office but Suzuki was nowhere to be felt. He was probably still hiding in his room or whatever. He did that sometimes and when he did that then a lot more of his work fell right onto Mob's shoulders. That was the only reason why she was here and not doing it up with him and Toshi…and she'd brought Serizawa with even though she knew that he was always up for spending time with her was because….she wanted to hang out with him or…or whatever…
He really didn't want to add jealousy to his list of character flaws.
But he knew what he was feeling and…and it was so stupid. He knew he could get…a little like this…especially when it came to Toshi…but he was done with that! He'd settled that when Toshi told him that they were also Matsuo's partner. He didn't own Toshi and he didn't own Mob and…and this was Mob…it wasn't like she was trying to replace him. She just…she was just really busy and she had to take care of Serizawa too since he was so helpless he would die without her.
Mob wasn't the type to let people die. He knew. She'd saved his life.
"You-you're welcome!" said Serizawa Miss Suzuki reached out with her powers, caught it, and put in on President Suzuki's desk…without a coaster….he wondered if that had really been a good idea…not that he would ever start a fight or something over something like that.
"Hi Ryou….um….happy birthday again?" asked Mob. She didn't know why he wanted to see her now. He was hanging out with Minegishi today and she knew that they would have been kissing and doing more than kissing and…and if he could do that with them then what did he want to be around her for? She stepped closer to Serizawa…she knew that Shimazaki was going to kiss her…he always tried to kiss her. He didn't care who saw…and…and maybe he wanted to do more than kiss, too, since it was his birthday….
Not happening.
Mob didn't even fully know what it was that people did that came after kissing. She knew how people fit together but there were things that came before that. Minori was always trying to tell her about them but she tried not to listen. Those things were….kind of….too much! Way too much for her and kissing was already kind of too much but at least she'd done that with someone else before and she still loved Teru and if Teru wanted to do something like that with her and she knew where he was then she would have but…but….but Shimazaki was not Teru!
She needed another drink.
"H-Happy birthday! I mean we told you this morning but…but happy birthday!" said Serizawa. He wondered how many times you were supposed to say happy birthday to someone. He'd spent his birthday in is room and Miss Suzuki had been the only one who even knew that it had been his birthday….birthdays were complicated….everything was complicated…people were complicated.
"Thank you, thank you both. I couldn't have done it without you." Said Shimazaki
"Y-You're welcome!" said Serizawa mostly out of reflex. That was just what you said when people thanked you do things…even things that you had no idea that you had even done. Well…been his friend…yes! That was something.
"Um….you're welcome? I mean I don't know what we did but I'm glad we could help." Said Mob
"You helped me beat the reaper for another year with the power of friendship." Said Shimazaki. He smiled…and she didn't. Serizawa was just confused….and he would have understood if she had been confused…but she didn't seem like anything. She was just standing there and staring at him…ok. Tough crowd…that was ok. She hardly ever laughed at his jokes these days…so this was normal.
"Um….ok?" said Mob. She didn't know if there was a reaper or not but she knew that friendship was the best thing ever and a force second only to love…and also Shimazaki had said friendship and not love so that as good. She didn't know what she would have done if he had been in love with her. He was in love with Minegishi and she wasn't going to ruin that. She wished that she knew what it was that had made him like her, what she had done, so she could tell Minegishi to do it so Shimazaki would like them and only them.
"Yeah, you're damn right it's ok. Mob, please tell me why my birthday is just ok." Said Shimazaki
"Because Shibata didn't make you all thirty two pancakes so I had to but I was tired so I cheated and used frozen ones?" said Mob. She had been kind of selfish again…she had been really selfish lately…he wished she knew how to stop.
"No, no, well…yeah…but no. My birthday is only ok because you're not there with me. Come on, I was thinking that me you and Toshi could take some of that Molly you got me and then go to the botanical garden." Said Shimazaki. This was going to work. Mob loved uppers. She loved uppers and she loved Toshi and….well she loved him too but not in a romantic way. Not in the way that he oved Toshi. He was into her, he was really into her, and she…may have been into him…he wasn't sure. They had never sat down and defined the relationship but….no, this was the insecurity talking.
Shut up, insecurity!
"I…um….have a lot to do. I have to…to fill in for dad and…and I have to…to spend the day with Serizawa." said Mob. She was lying…but just a little bit. It was selfish to lie but it was even more selfish to tell him the truth. She didn't like him back, she didn't want to kiss him, and she didn't want to do any of that other stuff that came after kissing. She just…
She wanted another drink.
"You-You don't have to stay with me. You can spend time with Shimazaki if you need to, Miss Suzuki." Said Serizawa. Miss Suzuki was sad, she must have been, since she was such good friends with Shimazaki and she liked spending time with him. She shouldn't have had to stay here and be bored when she had something fun that she could have done.
"Great! Ok, first we can-" said Shimazaki. He reached for her hand…but she took Serizawa's. He…he was fine. He took a deep breath…and…and he was fine. He…this was his birthday and she always went all out on birthdays but…but…he was being insecure and needy. That was what he was. He was just this taped together thing of…of insecurity and neediness and uselessness…
"I-I already promised Serizawa but…but…um….we can hang out later. Later." Said Mob. He was sad…his aura felt sad. She didn't want to make him sad but….but she didn't want to kiss him either. She really didn't want to kiss him or any of that other stuff…and he always tried to kiss her and she would have been happy to spend time with him if he agreed not to kiss her anymore…but if she asked him not to kiss her then it would have been mean and she didn't want to be mean to her friend.
And she didn't want to break his heart, either.
"But-" said Serizawa. He wanted to tell her that she didn't have to be so nice to him, that he really didn't mind, that she deserved to have fun but she didn't let him. She pressed her hand to his mouth.
"We'll hang out later. Later." Said Mob
"That's…that's alright. Yeah, if you don't want to share a date with Toshi then I get it. We can hang out later…I mean I'm going to be thirty two until next October so….yeah. See you….see you around. Have fun with Serizawa." said Shimazaki before he teleported away. Toshi was waiting for him. He never spent time with Toshi…well he did but not…what in the hell was he complaining about?! Toshi wanted to spend time with him and he should have been doing flips. Toshi, Molly, and their mutual love….yeah…he felt a hell of a lot better.
"Miss Suzuki, you don't have to stay here with me. You can go-" said Serizawa
"I want to spend time with you! I…I really do…so let's spend time together. Did you bring your DS? Do you want to come and visit me in my farm? Or I could visit you." Said Mob. She didn't want to talk about this with Serizawa or anyone. She just wanted to have a nice day…as nice as day as she could have had. She had been selfish again. Two of her friends wanted to spend time with her and….and she should have just gone with…but then she would have had to spend time with Shimazaki and…and Minegishi would have been there too…
She knew that they were in an opened relationship but…but she still felt like a b-word for kissing their boyfriend.
Mob didn't know what she could possibly do to be less selfish….to be less of a b-word…so she did nothing. She just…she did things that she had to do, that she wanted to do, that needed doing. Like spending time with Serizawa. He needed to get used to spending time with people and he felt comfortable with her so…so they needed to spend time together. They were friends. They were friends and…and they were just friends. She felt happy when she was around him, not sort of nervous like she had been when she spent time with Shimazaki. This was….this was going to be a fun day…even if she was avoiding Shimazaki…
No, she wasn't avoiding Shimazaki on is birthday…one of her friends just needed her more. That was all.