Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mob was skeptical when Reigen tugged up his skirt over his hairy legs. Mob cringed and wondered why didn’t he at least invest in some stockings.

Mob was glad he had psychic powers to use to cut his leg hairs away. He had offered to do the same to Reigen, but he had declined.

“Shishou, I don’t know about this.” Mob murmured and scritched his hair that wasn’t connected to his braids.

“Don’t worry about it Mob! It’ll be fine.” Was all Mob could hear over his pounding heart. He felt his clammy palms make the cheap plastic grip on his bag sticky and folding his soft skin near painfully.

He felt his legs begin to shake as they got closer and closer to the gates. His mouth went dry when he saw the security guard. I was right! Shishou! Let's turn around and never look back. We can’t do this! This is bad! Was what Mob wanted to say, but opted to keep his face straight with no emotions visible, except for the one or two stray beads of sweat trickling down his face which he hastily wiped away and jogged slightly to keep up with Reigen’s long and hairy legs.

“Stop right there!” The booming voice of the guard immediately had its effect on Mob. His heart stopped pounding and opted to pause entirely. He then felt it restart and begin punching its way from under his ribs and thin skin as the words of the security guard kept flooding. “Pervert” “weirdo” “stay away”

Mob blew out a breath and swallowed.

“You can go inside little girl. We’ll deal with the pervert.” A new guard had hunched over Mob, a gentle smile on his face and guiding him past the gate. Mob made a sound that kept breaking off. He blinked the sweat away that drenched his eyes now.

He felt Reigen guide him. He felt the ghosts of two warm palms on his shoulders and a voice saying We’re in! Let's go ahead and find those girls. And all Mob could do was nod and walk into the building.

The girls were even higher up than Mob expected, he thought as he craned his neck to meet the eyes of the clients. He swallowed down embarrassment as he thought of him wandering around in a schoolgirl’s uniform.

They chatted for a bit, the girls insulted him. He said alright. And not before long they were walking around looking for the ghost.

For nearly an hour he could not sense it yet and it made him frustrated. And then a girl screamed.

The trio rushed into the bathroom, careless with the door as they slammed their way in.

“A face peeked over the stall…” The girl in the bathroom whimpered and Mob could finally know which essence was the ghost’s and began following the trail of power it had left behind.

He strutted a little faster than he regularly would and navigated his way to the gym outside, he felt it begin to feel angry instead of pleased.
He frowned and locked the ghost in the gym and strode forward.

The ghost was fairly easy. He felt pleasant inside when the girls surrounding him were cheering him on. Until the ghost spoke.

“You’re just like me.” He said and vanished for good.

One of the girls understood this the wrong way.
“You’re a pervert?” Her shrill voice echoed in the now deathly quiet gym.

“Ah I, no!” He stuttered.

“What was he doing here in the first place?” Another girl’s eyes widened, her voice completely disgusted.

“I actually saw him leave a bathroom where a girl just had screamed!” A third girl piped in, leaving Mob confused since he and the clients were the only ones in that hall.

“You must be the one stealing our bras!” Stealing? Hadn’t they just been floating? Mob wasn’t told about stealing.

“Ah, no.” Mob said mostly to himself. The once before cheerful band of girls turned hostile near instantaneously. He pushed his way past his clients who thankfully let him run away and kept the girls from hurting him.

“Just keep running! We’ll try to stall them!” One of the clients shouted as he ran to the wall near the gym and threw his empty bag over a fence which sadly smacked against the bricks, and if he helped it be pushed over that extra 10 centimeters with his powers, Mob would deny everything and even more.

He was already gasping for air as he ran towards the exit, not trusting if he could climb over the fence fast enough, he opted to just run as fast and far as he could, which wasn’t really that fast nor far. His feet kept slapping against the pavement when he ran past the security guards, leaving them confused in his wake.

“Catch him! He’s a pervert!” A voice screamed that was immediately followed by “No don’t! She’s being bullied!” His clients were doing the best they could, and Mob would have screamed his thank you if he wasn’t so out of breath.

So he kept running for as long as he heard the girls behind him.

His feet were heavy, his arms lagging and swinging about, he kept tripping over his too large feet and kept choking on his saliva that he breathed into his lungs. He felt horrible and wiped furiously at the hot sweat pouring down his face and made a quick right turn and fell rightfully on his ass when he saw where his feet had guided him

“He’s in an alley!” One of the girls who had escaped the security guards grinned manically. Mob was gasping loudly, his voice escaping from his lips every time he tried to drag air in and just as quickly out to get more fresh air. Tears sprang into his eyes when one of the girls gripped his braid and felt it being tugged away. He was about to cut the hair with his powers when someone shouted loudly over the deafening ruckus.

“He was peeping on us!” The girl gripping Mob’s braids said, as if it justified her violent behaviour.

Mob pulled his flushed sweaty face up and stared at the newcomer, and his gaze was met with a boy wearing a purple blazer with a tie. His bright yellow hair glowed like a beautiful halo.

“All I see is a bunch of girls chasing another poor girl and about to hurt her.” The stranger said.

“We’re very sorry Hanazawa.” A girl with a ponytail said, bowing her head at the boy.

“All is forgiven. Now would you let her go?” The boy, Hanazawa, said and made a soft gesture with his hand, and to Mob’s complete and utter surprise the girl gripping his braids let go of him and walked away. He was left gasping on the ground for a moment before was shocked out of it when Hanazawa pushed his hand to Mob, offering to help him up.

“Hanazawa Teruki, but call me Teru.” The boy smiled gently.

Mob stared.

“What do I get to call you?” Teruki kept his hand open for Mob, and finally Mob took it, though shyly.

Mob opened his mouth. “K-, Sh…” Mob frowned. He didn’t know what to say. Shigeo was a boy’s name. “Kageyama.” He rasped, still breathing hard from his running and allowed himself to be pulled up by the blonde boy.

“What, I don’t get a first name?” Teruki grinned.

“... Mob” Mob said after a moment.

“Kageyama Mob.” Teruki smiled brilliantly.

“Can you walk?” Teruki said quietly after Mob had stopped panting.

“I guess so.” He said and took a testing step forward and yelped in surprise when he almost fell had there not been Teruki’s warm solid body holding him up. The blonde chuckled and Mob frowned. “I guess not.”

“I’m not gonna let a lady go wander off if she’s unable to walk!” Teruki’s eyes briefly fell to Mob’s dirty hands and legs. Mob could distantly note that he was full of scrapes and tiny cuts.

“I’ll be fine.” Mob droned. “I’ll call shishou to come pick me up.” He said then realised what he had done earlier. “Ah! My bag!” He exclaimed.

“... Was it a brown leather school bag?” Teruki got a funny glint in his eyes.

“... Yes?” Mob answered hesitantly.

“I know where it is, since it did hit me in the head.” Teruki grumbled, but a bit humorously.

Mob reacted immediately. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there!” He folded his hands over his lap and bent over, ignoring his quivering legs that threatened to buckle at any given moment.

“No no! It was an honest accident, no hard feelings.” Teruki smiled softly at him and Mob felt oddly reassured. “I have the bag just around the corner, so shall we go?” Teruki once more offered his hand to Mob, who took it quicker than last time.

“You took it with you? Why?” Mob couldn’t help his curiosity and the moment he opened his mouth he had already blurted out words before he could stop them. He closed his mouth as fast as he could, his teeth making a loud sound at contact.

“Well, I did plan on to scold the person who dared to mess up my hair, but after seeing you in trouble, I realised I had been at the wrong.” The blonde boy grinned. “Do you think you can walk now or do I need to carry you?”

“I-I can walk!” Mob flushed, but mostly because of annoyance at how this boy thought he was incapable of taking care of himself, so of course the taller boy laughed when Mob tried and failed to regain control in his legs and stumbled.

“You need a moment?” The blonde smiled slyly and Mob felt heckled but didn’t comment on the boy’s sass.
The blonde made a slight sound. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” He said.

Mob blinked slowly. “It’s alright.” He said and let go of the other boy, stumbling forward and falling down, feeling ridiculously exhausted.

“No, it shouldn’t be fine. I was rude.”

“I’ll be fine. Please leave me alone.” Mob murmured, blinking the tiredness from his eyes.

“No. Kageyama…” Teruki began, but decided against it and let his feet guide him out of the dry and cold alley. Mob felt a little bad, but pushed it aside and focused on thinking how he’d get home.

He flinched when his bag landed roughly next to him, the blonde boy looked furious until he saw how the other reacted.

Teruki felt his heart clench when he saw shaky hands reach for the largest pocket and tug out a cheap flip phone, before dialing the only number Teru could see in the entire phone. He swallowed when he saw tears glisten in Mob’s eyes. He made a wild guess that they were out of frustration.

What almost made Teru scream was how the phone let out a few sad toots and how dejectedly Mob slapped the phone shut and sigh.

Mob crawled up on his feet, his legs still shaking from the running and the sudden drop in adrenaline. He began walking home at a pace what Teru would have called a crawl.

“I live nearby.” Teruki said suddenly.

“Excuse me?” Mob asked politely.

“I said I live nearby.” The blonde repeated. “You probably want to take a shower.” He reasoned.

“Oh I’d never want to bother you!” Mob rushed, but Teruki lifted his hand up to interrupt Mob’s any argument.

“I insist! And if you were a bother, I’d never help you.” Teruki took Mob’s hand, his gaze unwavering when their eyes met, leaving Mob briefly admire the blue of his eyes. They’re blue like Tsubomi-chan’s he thought.
“You can rest.” Teruki added and reached beneath Mob’s knees and behind his shoulders, lifting him up in a bridal carry. Mob yelped and immediately wrapped a hand behind Teruki’s back for balance and kept his other hand wrapped tightly around his phone.

“You’re lighter than I expected!” Teruki confessed.

Mob felt a light flush appear high on his cheeks and a few drops of sweat of nervousness. He was about to voice his protest until he felt the exhaustion tug at his brain and eyelids before ultimately falling asleep.

He woke up when he felt a strange surge of power light up that soon passed. Mob was sure he recognised the surge of power as telekinesis.

“Kageyama?” He heard a soft voice.

“Where am I?” He said, though was pretty sure it sounded something else, but his sleep addled brain insisted what he thought he said was indeedly what he really said.

“You’re at my apartment. Just a few hundred meters from that all girl school.” A blonde, Hanazawa? Smiled a gentle smile.

“Why did you bring me here?” Mob rubbed his eyes before he felt how the pants he wore felt oddly breezy, until he saw why that was. He nearly blurted out his confusion until he remembered what shishou had said and their latest job. At least Hanazawa seemed humoured by Mob’s confusion.

“You passed out before you could even give me your address, and I couldn’t just leave you alone in an alley.” The blonde walked to a comfy looking couch and let Mob down there. “You slept for a few minutes, so you’re not gonna have all your energy back quite so soon yet. Just wait here for a moment and I’ll bring you a towel and some clothes to wear.” He said and disappeared behind a door. Just as when Mob felt his eyelids slipping back shut, Hanazawa returned, carrying a pink and green sweater with what looked like a clean pair of lavender shorts. Mob felt a little annoyed that he was offered clothing he could recognize was rather… cute? Though they did look cozy, and beggars can’t be choosers, but Mob was still ticked, though he left this opinion unvoiced.

“Thank you.” Mob bowed his head, feeling his braids tap his back.

“No problem at all! There’s even a bath that you can use if you want to. I’ll be in here making us some dinner.” Hanazawa gave what Mob could almost call a trademark smile by now, and as he walked by Mob he dropped the clean clothes and towel onto his lap and into what Mob deduced as to be the kitchen. “The bathroom is the door next to the kitchen.” He said and left the black haired boy alone.

When Mob pushed the door to the bathroom shut, he immediately shuffled to the front of the mirror and looked at his reflection. He glared hard at the black braids that were pulling a little too tightly for his taste.

He bent down and found a pair of large scissors hanging neatly next to its smaller companions. He gripped the pair tightly in his clammy fists and brought it up to the silky long strands bound with the flimsy elastic band.

The first cut was exhausting, wringing the last drops of precious energy from Mob. But when the delicious snip echoed in the room, he sighed in satisfaction. He trimmed the uneven edges from one side, then brought it up to the other.
He cringed at the way the scissors digged into his soft palms and how his scalp seemed to be sore on this side, but wiggled the scissors to cut through the thick braid.
Once he had even the other side as well, he tugged off the knot around his neck and unbuttoned his shirt then threw both the coat and white collar shirt in a heap on the floor and kicked his shoes off.

He shimmied out of the skirt and let it drop as well, then stepped out of the simple clothing.
He stepped on one foot to pull his socks off, and with a little struggle, he finally got them off. He stared at himself in the reflection and looking at the various cuts and scrapes accompanying the dirt he had over his body, he felt a little weak.

He let his briefs fall down and similarly to the skirt, stepped out of them and then wobbled his way under the shower head.

He hissed at the sting when his skin made contact with hot water, but ignored it and focused on cleaning the bruises he achieved by falling on the ground.

Once he was satisfied with how he wasn’t washing dirt off anymore, he quickly glanced around to see if there were any soaps he’d be able to use. He was pleasantly surprised when he didn’t see a wild assortment of soaps and conditioners, but just a single bottle of shampoo and a single bottle of bodywash.

He quickly rinsed the foam off and felt incredibly refreshed. After he had finished drying himself, he realised he had no underwear.
He panicked and looked down at his dirty pair, that seemed to be fairly clean, and slipped them on. After a moment of internal struggle because he was wearing dirty underwear, he tugged the pink sweater over his head and marveled at how soft and cozy it actually was. He pulled the borrowed shorts on and he had to admit, that it was a good idea not to wear long pants on cuts and bruises.

Unsure what he’d do with his old clothes, so he folded them over the closed toilet seat and threw the used towel into the dirty laundry basket then unlocked the bathroom door and exited the room.

The moment he stepped out of the door, the scent of fresh rice and tofu hit him. His mouth watered and his stomach grumbled.

His feet made a slight tapping sound as he walked towards the kitchen.
He didn’t know what to expect. Maybe he wanted to get a final look at Hanazawa who had been nothing but helpful to Mob this entire time before ultimately leaving the house.

“Hanazawa-kun.” Mob rasped from the doorway, and was slightly amused how the blonde jumped in surprise. He now saw the boy had changed into a too large pink hoodie with deep purple jeans.

He huffed out, “Oh it’s you. You scared me.” and giggled. “I’m not used to visitors.” He explained.

“Sorry for frightening you.” Mob bowed his head slightly, though he wasn’t exactly sorry as he sounded like.

“Don’t worry about it!” He said and turned to Mob. “Oh you wore them?” Hanazawa’s voice sounded like it was an inside joke. Like there was something that Mob was missing.

Mob’s brows furrowed. “Of course. I didn’t have anything else to wear.”

Hanazawa smiled. “It’s just that your bag is near the front door.”

“Oh?” Mob could feel sweat begin to push out of his scalp. “Why do you expect me to have more clothes?” He asked slowly.

Hanazawa smirked. “Well you were chased by a bunch of girls in their gym clothes. I just thought you had gym class.” He waved his hand elegantly, before resting it on his cocked hip.

Mob puffed out a breath. “Oh. Yes.” He agreed. But to what he wasn’t entirely sure. “No I didn’t have gym class.” He said when he realised that Hanazawa was expecting an answer.

“Hmm. Now do you want some rice and some soup?” He pointed at the pot bubbling away greens and freshly cut tofu. Mob’s stomach answered before he could himself. “Alright.” Teru chuckled.

Tery stirred the concoction, looking pleased with himself. “I don’t even know what the soup is. I imagine it to the good though. I just threw some tofu and mustard cabbage together. There’s fresh spring onions on the cutting board if you want.” He stepped around Mob who had moved to the centre of the kitchen, looking unsure of himself when Hanazawa stopped. “You cut your hair?” He asked a little surprised.

Mob jolted out of his small dream world. “Ah. Yes. I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now.” He answered vaguely. Not on purpose, but it worked for his favour.

Teru stopped and tilted his hips, pressing a hand over his mouth thoughtfully. “Huh… looks better now.” He said after a quiet moment during which Mob began to feel nervous.

“Thank you.” Mob said politely, slightly bowing his head and shutting his eyes.

“Well… let’s eat before the rice over cooks!” Teru beamed and dug out two bowls to pile their rice in.

Mob sighed happily during their meal. He could always appreciate a bowl of freshly cooked rice even with nothing to accompany it.

After eating, he once more sighed and leaned back, leaving Hanazawa looking amused in front of him.

“How are your cuts?” Hanazawa said when Mob was done with his food coma.

“Oh! Um. They’re clean.” He said and looked down at his pale legs that were mottled with blues and purples. He felt slightly frustrated with how easily he bruised. He panicked a little when he saw a few of the cuts on his knees had bled, nearly dripping on the floor. “Uh.” He froze.

“What is it?” Hanazawa looked worried for a bit. Mob sweated a river.

“Uh.” Was all Mob could answer while looking at the half dried blood over his legs.

His eyes widened when Hanazawa had gotten up and walked around the dining table to take a look at what Mob was worried about. When he saw that the cuts on Mob’s legs had merely bled, he blew out a breath. “Don’t worry me, silly.” He said and turned around and walked into the bathroom.

“Sorry…” Mob mumbled truthfully.

“Don’t worry about it. Turn around.” Hanazawa folded his legs in half, resting his behind on his heels. He popped open the small kit he had placed over his lap and dug out soft tissue like material, putting it over an open bottle of disinfectant and tipped it over then shut it methodically. “This isn’t supposed to sting, but I don’t know with bigger wounds.” He murmured and gently pressed the tissue against Mob’s right knee.

“It doesn’t sting.” Mob told him.

“Good.” He swiped the blood the best he could, halfway through he took a fresh one and cleaned any residue away. He took a fresh piece of the material, that now that Mob looked closer reminded him of the inside of a bandage. Hanazawa took a fair sized square and pressed it against Mob’s knee who in turn immediately put his hand over the material to keep it from falling down. Hanazawa then deftly taped the material on Mob’s knee then turned his attention to the other scrapes, but with much smaller bandages, and repeated the process with his other leg.

“You sure cut yourself up badly.” Hanazawa murmured mostly to himself.

Mob hummed.

“Well I wrapped you up the best I could. I don’t think you should use your long socks over those bandages.” He quickly wiped a small cut on Mob’s face, then placed a thin square bandage over it. “Show me your hands.” He picked up the material he used to wipe Mob’s knees and put it over the open disinfectant bottle and tipped it quickly, then shut it. It was an oddly calming scene.

Mob turned over his hands, showing the scraped palms to Hanazawa who hissed slightly, then grabbed a pair of tweezers from the little kit as well. “I can’t promise this won’t hurt.” He said and gently took one of Mob’s hands and pushed the tweezers in the tiny cuts, digging out small pebbles and dirt out.

It hurt, that was clear, but Mob kept his mouth shut. He brought his other hand up to wipe the tears gathering in his eyes before the blonde could notice them.

When Hanazawa was done with both of the black haired boy’s hands, he wiped the little blood that had pooled in the bigger cuts with the bandage material, then wiped it dry, before spraying them lightly with disinfectant.

“I can’t wrap your palms up like your knees since you’d just end up accidentally removing them or something.” He hummed and packed everything in the small kit, then standing up to put it back.

Mob stared at his drying hands, blinking owlishly at how gently Teruki had worked, trying his hardest not to cause Mob any extra pain. Mob felt his chest swell.

Mob looked up from his hands to Teruki returning with a pair of ankle socks and placed them gently over Mob’s achy hands.

“Here. You can borrow these.” He said. Mob stared at the clean socks, turning them over in his hands.
They were bright yellow, and when Mob pulled them on, he wasn’t sure with how the colours he was wearing here clashing together, but he didn’t want to complain at Teruki’s kind heartedness. “Can I have your number? So I can get my clothes back, that is.” Teruki flipped out his sleek phone. He turned it around to Mob and pressed it in his hands.

Mob hummed and paused before putting in his number. He stopped once more to check the number then gave it back. Teruki fiddled with his phone and very quickly Mob’s phone beeped by the front door, startling him.

“There! Now you have mine as well.” He looked pleased. “It has been really nice to have you here, but I think it’s rather late. Don’t you have to go to home?” He took Mob’s hand and pulled him up.

“Oh, yes. It is rather late.” He said, turning his head left and right in search for a clock, when his eyes fell on the microwave and saw 18:53 glare at him. His eyes widened and he rushed to the front door.

“I can walk you home. I’d feel terribly guilty for leaving you alone like this.” Teruki said suddenly next to him. He was already pulling shoes on.

“You don’t need to!” Mob stuttered.

“I insist.” He suddenly looked extremely serious and picked up Mob’s bag.

“Ready?” Teruki asked and opened the door.

“Ah. Mm.” He garbled and stepped out, feeling unsure.

The walk was quiet as it was quite dark. Mob enjoyed the sounds their shoes made but kept a slow pace as he was rather tired.

“You live rather far away.” Teruki said after a long but comfortable silence.

Mob hummed.

“Do you want to hang out later?” Teruki asked. “I really like you.”

Mob hummed before he realised Teruki’s question. He turned to him with a surprised look on his face and bashful blush on his face. “Oh.” He breathed happily.

“You’re good company.” Teruki smiled brightly at Mob, bringing a warm fuzzy feeling to the bowl haired boy.

“Thank you… so are you.” He said quietly, a small smile appearing over his face that he covered with the collar of the pink sweater.

“So when do you want to hang out?” When Mob sneaked a peek at Teruki, he was smiling excitedly. Mob grinned down into the sweater.

“Is saturday alright?” He asked shyly. Unsure what else to say.

“Saturday is perfect! Where do you want to meet?”

“Um… I don’t know.” Mob confessed.

“How about I come to your house around 12 tomorrow? We can do anything you want then. Is that ok?” Mob once more glanced up at the blonde and saw how excited he looked, so he nodded into the sweater and buried his face further into it. He jumped when he felt a hand slip into his own and his eyes darted up to look at Teruki whose eyes were glinting happily.

“We’re here.” Mob mumbled after a while, letting go of Teruki’s hand and taking the school bag from him. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” He gripped the bag tightly while looking at the ground with a small smile plastered on his face, too embarrassed to look at Teruki.

“Yeah! See you then!” He said and Mob looked up, still smiling.

“Goodnight Teruki.” He said.

Teruki blinked before saying, “Just call me Teru.”

“Okay… Teru.” Mob pressed his lips together to stop himself from smiling again. He thought he looked like a loon for smiling so much.

“See you.” He said and turned to walk up the short pavement up to his house. He dug his bag for his key and unlocked the door, then quickly turned around to see if Teru had hung back, only to see him waving at him and as yelling as loud as he could his goodbyes and goodnights.

Mob waved back then shut the door, coming face to face with Ritsu.

“What happened?” His brother’s eyes bulged when he saw Mob’s bandages, throwing a dirty look to the door, probably trying to aim it at Teru.

“Oh I just fell.” Mob placed his bag on the ground as he toed his shoes off.

“How badly did you even fall to get this badly scraped?” Ritsu nearly shouted unbelievingly.

Mob blinked. “I really did fall. I was running and I tripped and fell. Teru was there to help me clean up.” He mumbled incredulously.

“Oh…” Was all Ritsu could come up with.

“Don’t worry. It’s nice that you worry for me.” Mob smiled what felt like the millionth time that day. He felt oddly happy.

“Who’s this Teru?” Ritsu hissed his name.

Chapter Text

Mob barely got sleep, excitement flooding his veins, keeping him burning like a candle that just couldn't be extinguished.

Then the next moment he realised was he was blinking his eyes open and his mother was speaking lightly from behind the door.

“Shigeo, there’s a friend waiting for you.” Mob furrowed his brows in confusion. What time was it?

He glanced at the little alarm clock he had placed next to his head and saw the hands pointing gloomily at 12 and 1 and he jumped high. He tripped on his feet, stumbling with the too long pajama bottoms and crashed through his bedroom door.

He fell face flat down near the front door, but picked himself up and came face to back to Ritsu’s looming form and Teru’s languid movements.

To Mob the moment felt surreal for some reason. To Ritsu it felt like he knew the blonde was going to be a threat to him. To Teru it was amusing.

“Mob!” Teru said quickly. “Looks like you slept in.” He said, his tone light and amused.

“I’m so sorry! I missed my alarm, I never sleep in.” Mob cast his eyes downward away from the blonde, feeling embarrassed he gripped his right arm with his left hand to assure him he was grounded on earth and not in memories.

Teru shook his head and ignored Ritsu who hissed when he took a slight step inside. “It’s okay, really. I can wait out here until you’re dressed or in your room. It’s mostly up to you.” He said and placed a gentle hand on Mob’s shoulder, entirely aware of the younger Kageyama’s eyes flicking back and forth from his hand, to Mob, to Teru and finally back to the hand, repeating the process until finally deciding to glare at the blonde’s face. For some reason Teru felt thrilled for challenging the younger Kageyama.

“You can wait inside.” Mob smiled politely then turned to walk to his room. He was surprised when he felt Ritsu’s hand wrap around his shoulder the moment Teru’s hand slipped.

“Nii-san, I thought we’d hang out today.” Ritsu said softly, his voice conveying innocence, making Mob hesitate.

“But I told you yesterday I’d meet Teru today.” Mob felt a pearl of sweat trickle down from his scalp and down his cheek.

“I thought you meant next week, so I made plans for today.” Ritsu pulled a confused and sad look, his face not betraying the victory he felt when he saw Teru’s face twitch in annoyance.

“I… I… I… ” Mob stuttered.

“Ritsu! Can you help me?” They heard a woman raise her voice. Mob snapped his head to his mother standing in front of them with a scolding look on her face. He knew he looked like a deer caught in headlights.

Ritsu reluctantly let go of his brother and followed his mother upstairs, where she led him to Ritsu’s room and shut the door behind her after Ritsu had situated himself in the middle where his futon was just a few hours before.

She spun around to face Ritsu with a frustrated look. “I get that you’re protective of your brother, but this is his first friend in years!” Not dancing around the subject, she opted to tear into it as fast and as gracefully as she could. “I’ve always been worried for you two, and seeing Mob finally make friends brings me nothing but happiness!” She flicked Ritsu’s nose with her finger.

“But mom!” Ritsu whisper yelled back while rubbing his nose. “I have a bad feeling about this guy.” He waved his arms wildly, his emotions breaking through his hard shell. “I’m worried that he’ll hurt nii-san!” He said desperately, but his mother was shaking her head.

“Young man, friendships hurt. You’d know this if you actually spent time with your classmates.” She raised an eyebrow at his son. “God knows how many times you’ve told them that I didn’t let you go out when I’ve been nothing but encouraging.”

“But mom-”

“No! I won’t be hearing this, because seeing that boy walk to our house, to wait outside for twenty minutes before knocking only to ask if Shigeo is awake, and not get frustrated when he saw my son who had clearly just woken up is a blessing! He’s something that Shigeo needs in his life!” She sighed tiredly. “Ritsu, my dear. You must understand that Mob has been in hiding ever since he realised Tsubomi didn’t care for his abilities. Ever since then he hasn’t been able to make friends. Tsubomi was his only friend other than you when you two were little.” She pulled Ritsu into a hug.

“I don’t want my Shigeo to be alone ever again.” She whispered, her voice sounding teary. “And he’s so lucky to have you as his brother. So loyal and loving. But some day I’ll be gone, as well as your father. And some day you’ll have your own life too.” She mumbled into Ritsu’s hair. “You and Shigeo can’t be relying on us all the time. And if this boy turns out to be pure and utter trash and hurts your brother, my son, then I’ll turn a blind eye to what you’ll do to him. I’ll even swear to you in the court of law that you were with me that day for the perfect alibi. And if this boy is something good for Shigeo, then you’ll have to admit you were wrong.” She pressed a long kiss to the top of Ritsu’s head when she stopped speaking.

“I just love you two so much, and I want you two to be happy.” She pulled back and looked into Ritsu’s eyes, who was only slightly shorter than her. “Oh I remember how you two were so little… But look at how the time flies.” She said thickly. “Before I know it you’ll be married and have wonderful children and will be working your dream job.” She said and sighed. “Don’t go ruining whatever happened last night, ok? Let Shigeo go for now. He’ll come back home and he’ll still be your brother. He’ll always be. He will do just fine.” She pulled him into another hug before quickly pulling back to stare into Ritsu’s eyes. “Promise me Ritsu or you’ll be cleaning this house with a toothbrush even in your grave.” Her voice turned deathly serious but still sounded sad.

Ritsu swallowed around the lump in his throat. “I promise.” His voice barely audible.

“Good. Now go talk to your brother and apologise for making him stress. You know how he is when he’s stressed.” She said and wiped away a stray tear from Ritsu’s face. “Don’t be sad. Your brother will always love and admire you.” She said and squeezed Ritsu’s shoulders reassuringly.

Ritsu sighed but nodded then turned around to leave the room, but just before he was out of earshot, he paused then opened his mouth to say, “I love you too, mom.” He thought for a moment. “Not just nii-san.” He decided to add.

“Oh Ritsu. I love you too. Now go talk to your brother.” She smiled and Ritsu knew she was wiping tears that finally flooded her face after the dam broke. He smiled.

Mob had pulled Teru into his room, nervously waiting for his mother to come scold him for some reason or another. He didn’t know why she’d be mad at him or anything really. He hasn’t been bending spoons lately either. He sat Teru down to the hard wooden floor and the blonde smiled up at him that quickly warped into worry and asking if he was ok.

“I’m fine, thank you.” Mob said, though his face was blank.

“You don’t look fine.” Teru pointed out, and Mob felt like chewing his nails until they bled.

He shrugged and stared anxiously at the door and jumped when a knock rang. He was sweating bullets, unsure if he should apologise to Teru for wasting his time, or apologise to Ritsu for wasting his.

“Nii-san?” Ritsu called out from behind the door.

“The door is open.” He squeaked. Fearing the dooming words: Mom wants to speak with you. He swore he was on the brink of crying. He felt awful.

The younger Kageyama had taken this as a permission to enter. “Nii-san, I want to say I’m sorry.” Ritsu said after he had shut the door, unable to meet Mob’s eyes, since he knew otherwise he wouldn’t be able to lie to his brother.

“For what?” Mob asked genuinely confused.

“For…” For lying? For being a terrible little brother? For being the worst thing ever to a big brother like Kageyama Shigeo? “For putting you in that position. I should have kept my mouth shut.” He finally looked up, looking into his docile brother’s eyes, that seemed to be as empty as ever, until they lit up with happiness. “I should have realised how much hanging out with Teru must mean.” He said pointedly and glared at the taller blonde who was sitting lazily on the floor smugly smirking up at Ritsu.

Ritsu turned his eyes to his brother and immediately felt better when he saw his brother smile and look at ease.

“It’s fine, really. I’m just glad I didn’t need to hurt either of your feelings.” Mob blushed happily, the colour returning to his cheeks. It made Ritsu feel momentarily horrible for making his brother so anxious, until he realised he had made Mob happy again. He smirked and glanced at Teru who seemed to look slightly annoyed. Victory. His thoughts fist pumped.

“I’ll be going now. I’m sorry once more, but we’ll hang out next week, yeah?” Ritsu grabbed the doorknob and twisted it open, ready to step out.

“Okay!” Mob responded excitedly.

Ritsu shut the door after he stepped out, leaving Mob and Teru behind.

Mob breathed out and couldn’t stop the slight happy flush on his cheeks.

He turned around to look at Teru who was looking oddly pleased despite the uncomfortable situation.

“I’m so sorry that you saw that. It must have been awkward for you.” Mob murmured rather sheepishly and stared at his pajama bottoms gathering dust from the floor.

“Don’t worry. It’s good that you speak with your family.” Teru waved his hand in dismissal and chuckled. “I haven’t spoken to mine for some time now.” He suddenly got a distant look on his face, before it was quickly replaced with the pleased look he had before he spoke. “Anyways! I had bought us movie tickets for tonight. I thought we’d just go about before it starts.” He dug two yellow tickets from his pocket, breaking the connection between the paper and offering one to Mob, who seemed at awe.

A slight oh escaped Mob’s lips when the ticket touched his hand. It was such a quiet sound that it almost escaped Teru’s ears.

“I’ve heard it’s a pretty good movie, so do you wanna go? I can always give it to some friends if you’re not interested in it.” Mob glanced up from the little ticket, his eyes impossibly wide.

“I’d love to see it.” He breathed out. “When does it start?”

“It starts at 17:35, so no rush.” Mob smiled brightly and nodded, before offering the ticket back to Teru.

“You should hold on to them.” He said and walked to his closet to pick out an outfit.

Teru placed the tickets into his wallet and stood up, following Mob to the closet.

“So what are you gonna wear?”

Mob went into full stop. He opened the door and stared blankly inside. He looked outside from his window and concluded it was a perfect weather for an airy sweater then tugged out a deep red orange large sweater out that had a large loose turtleneck. He absolutely adored the shirt and set it aside to decide on another shirt. He saw from the corner of his eye Teru nodding approvingly, so he smiled and glanced down at his legs when he was reminded of the bandages mottling his pale legs up and down. He tugged out a dusty pair of jean shorts that had suspenders on them. He patted the little dust that had gathered on the folds, then placed it over the sweater. He looked outside once more then decided to quickly snag a white t-shirt as well then grabbed the clothes as he let his feet guide him out of his room to the bathroom where he dumped the clothes on the closed toilet seat.

“You’ve decided then?” Teru said from the bathroom door. Mob jumped slightly, having forgotten that Teru was inside his home.

“Oh. Yes.” He hummed and smiled slightly. “would it be a bother if you waited in my room?” He turned to give the blonde a pleading look. Teru shook his head and walked back, closing the door, leaving Mob blissfully alone with his thoughts.

He grabbed his toothbrush and drowned it in toothpaste then stuck it in his mouth. He let the bristles scrape his teeth as he thought about who Teru was to him. He’s so patient. He shut his eyes and brushed the inner seam of his teeth then promptly choked on a mixture of his saliva and toothpaste foam. He thinks I’m a girl. He had realised and coughed the foam out of his throat and into the sink, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. I’m lying to him.

Mob wiped the tears that formed into his eyes from the choking and looked at his reflection. He could see how Teru thought so now that he looked at his image. He had soft features and large eyes. He glared at the empty pair. Terrible. He thought. I’m terrible. The words rang in his head.

He jumped when he heard a light knock.

“You’ve been there for half an hour. Are you all right?” Teru’s voice was much more quiet than what it really was and it brought Mob back to reality.

“I’m fine.” He answered, his voice croaky from the assault of toothpaste foam and saliva, then violent hacking to get it all out of his esophagus. He rinsed his mouth then toothbrush and threw it in its rightful place in his baby blue cup

“I can come back later if you’re not ready.” Teru offered.

“I’ll be done soon. I just forgot about time.” He spoke as loudly as he could and began unbuttoning his shirt. He wanted to apologise, but he felt as if he’d said it far too often.

“Are you sure?” The blonde asked softly.

“I’m sure.” Mob quickly rinsed his mouth as he kicked his pants off. He tugged on the white t-shirt, then the red orange sweater on and picked up his pants, his nose wrinkling at the slight dusty smell, but he quickly shook it to let it air, before pulling them on and stuffing his sweater in the pants.

The sweater went way past his palms, nearly covering his hands. The shorts rested slightly above his knees and the suspenders felt slightly loose for Mob’s taste, so he quickly tried to tighten them, but figured after fiddling with one it had taken too much time and left it at that.
The sweater's long warm collar that Mob had folded over so the sweater didn’t cover his face, warmed his throat.

He walked out of the bathroom with his pajamas folded over one arm and a slight spring to his step.

“Sorry it took so long. I’ll just put these in my room.” He said and made a beeline there. He placed them neatly on a chair and quickly took a pair of clean ankle socks and slipping his flip phone in his pocket before running to a waiting Teru, who looked amused and not at all annoyed or inconvenienced.

“It’s fine.” He said and took Mob’s hand and began pulling him to the door. “I spoke with your mother for a moment and she told me to show you something.” Was given the reason of the tugging.

Mob blinked and tried to stop. “M-mom?”

“Yes, your own mother. Now come on” The blonde let his laughter bleed into his voice.

“O-okay.”

Teru twisted them quickly away from the sitting room where Mob would have expected his mother to have a long deep speech with him, but instead pulled him to the front door where she was holding a brown box in her hands. It was weird for Mob to see Teru to actually be as tall as his mother.

“Ah… so you’re finally ready.” She smirked and her grip on the box shifted to hold the top that Mob stared anxiously at.

“Um.” He stuttered.

“I thought you might need a little something. Just something I thought I’d give when it was Christmas, but I thought it’d be too cold for you to actually wear them.” She looked entirely too happy for Mob’s blank expression that masked a pounding heart and the slight tremor in his right hand, so she relaxed her face. “Oh calm down now. I’m not here to scold you. I’m here to gift you!” She grinned and put the slightly heavy box in front of Mob’s stiff as iron arms, waiting for him to accept the offering.

“Th-thank you?” The socks fell from his grip, only to be quickly snatched from midair by Teru. Mob’s attention quickly snapped to him and the blonde made a ‘go on’ motion with his hands, clearly curious by the gift himself.

Mob turned and let himself accept the brown box, and he was surprised by how heavy it actually was that his hands nearly dropped it, but he quickly righted himself up and glanced curiously at his mother who had a slight twinkle in her eyes.

“Go on. Open it.” She said with a soothing voice.

He sat down and placed the box over his bandages knees, the action making him slightly wince at the sting, but still ignored it in favor of looking into the box.

He lifted the top off, his palms clammy and his eyes followed the lid instead of turning straight into the box. He carefully placed it next to him then turned his attention to the white thin paper, nearly translucent in nature, shine up to him. He carefully yet quickly unfolded the paper and saw peeks of brown and warm looking knitted thick fabric. He shut his eyes when the last fold was undone before forcing them open and saw a pair of leather boots, a little past his ankles with a warm looking lining. He felt his fingers touch the leather before he even realised his hand had moved.

“I thought it might be nice for you to go around with nice new shoes!” Mob’s mother suddenly said, bringing his gaze up to his mother. “Since your white sneakers are more for school, aren’t they?” She said and with great disdain nudged the said shoes slightly with the tip of her toe. She might as well sneered and it’d have been just as effective.

Mob was deathly quiet and dropped his eyes back on the shoes. Teru became incredibly interested in the thin socks behind him and Mob’s mother began fidgeting her sleeves in her hands. “Don’t you like them? We can return them.” She said.

“I…” Mob opened and closed his mouth until finally looking up at his mother with a small smile adorning his face. “I love them! Thank you so much!” He had put the box down and stood up to hug his mother, burying his face in her neck and saying his thank you’s a few more times.

“You’re very welcome.” She said softly, before pushing Mob slightly. “But go ahead! Try them on! We have to check if they fit.” She said and pushed him to sit down at the slight step by the front door.

Mob eagerly nodded and sat down, then pulled one shoe out and was surprised to see a short knitted dark blue wooly sock beneath the pair of shoe he had lifted. He smiled and jumped slightly when Teru, whom he’s embarrassed to admit that he’d forgotten him entirely, put his choice of socks into his hands. He smiled at the pattern of little frogs stumbling and jumping before tugging them on and covering them with the slightly thicker socks and finally after loosening the shoelaces he slipped his feet in them and wriggled his toes slightly. He tried pressing the tip of the shoe down, but was surprised to feel it unbending and he cast a questioning look at his mother.

“Iron tips.” She nodded approvingly at the shoes and looked smug. “No stick or stone can hurt my child's feet.” She lost her smug appearance and got a more humorous one, that is until Mob’s eyes fell on the shoes again, and she looked over at Teru who knew who she had meant and was nodding carefully. No sticks or stones Hanazawa. Was what her eyes said.

“Well I better leave you two to it! Hanazawa-kun mentioned that you were going to watch a movie. When does it start?” She had taken a few steps back into the house, sidestepping Mob and passing Teru as well.

“17:35” Mob beamed up at his mother and then directed that same happiness to Teru.

Mob’s mother sighed happily at Mob and then glanced at Teru with a look that said You hurt my sweet child I’ll hurt you.. And Teru felt actual fear run down his spine.

“I’m ready!” Mob said suddenly, breaking Teru's and his mother's staring contest. “Did I interrupt something?” He sounded vaguely hurt.

Both Teru and his mother quickly denied this and Teru rushed to put his shoes on as Mob’s mother had turned around and ushered a fourth person from the door further into the house that Mob suspected to be his brother.

“I’ll be home later! See you!” Mob said a little louder than he’d usually would, and let Teru pull him from the hostile home, at least for Teru it was hostile.

Mob half heard Teru’s rambling of the plans for the entire day and was quite content with what had happened at home. He was about to nod and hum his agreement about getting a hot cup of tea when the shrill beeping of his phone interrupted them both. He knew who was calling and he suddenly felt incredibly exhausted, but still pressed the phone up against his ear to and hear Reigen’s slightly tinny voice.

“Hey Mob. I’m having issues with an evil spirit. Can you come?”

Mob swallowed. “I can’t. I’m busy.”

Reigen sputtered in shock. “You’re busy? With what?!”

“I’m out with… an acquaintance.” He whispered at the end, unsure as what to call Teru after just meeting the boy twice. “And I told you not to call at such a short notice.” He added firmly.

“Can’t you help me out just this once?” He heard the tinny response from the phone. Mob sighed slightly.

“I don’t know… I had lots to do today.”

“I’ll give you double for this day. And a free day tomorrow.” Mob furrowed his brows. Shishou is oddly desperate. He gnawed slightly at his inner cheek, before coming to a conclusion.

“I’ll even throw in any food you’d like for three days.” Mob had decided.

“Alright. But this will have to be quick.” Mob said and threw a quick apologetic look to Teru who only looked slightly disappointed.

“So we’re gonna go to your job? Can we grab the cup of tea on the way?” Teru asked, one of his brows arched in a deep curve.

“I’m sorry, but shishou doesn’t often do this. He was really desperate, so I’m worried he’s in trouble.” Mob bowed his head slightly. “It’ll be over soon though. I should be able to deal with it very quickly.” He added and walked up the steps to his workplace.

“You work with a con man?” Teru’s eyes widened impossibly. Mob winced slightly and glanced at Teru who looked just slightly disturbed.

“He’s a good man.” Mob insisted.

Teru shrugged. “Whatever you say.” And hovered behind Mob.

“He usually writes the address on a piece of paper. The wind might have blown it away, but I usually find it.” Mob explained and allowed the two of them inside. He could feel Teru frown in disbelief.

“Why don’t you ask your master the address?” He scowled.

“He forgets it. He usually takes it with him, but every now and then it slips from his mind.” Mob quickly walked to the table and saw a single piece of paper being weighed down by a thick looking pen. “Here it is. It’s not that far from here.” Mob showed the address to Teru, who sighed but nodded.

“This better not be some ploy to lure me into an abandoned building just to sacrifice me to the devil or anything.” He muttered under his breath. Mob stared at him in shock. “Not that you’d ever do that! I don’t think you could. I mean I think you could, but like you couldn’t. I mean-” Teru stopped himself before he would go too far. He pinched his nose bridge and breathed out almost painfully. “I meant that I don’t think you’d be the kind to hurt other people, or any living creature, for your own gain.” He said after a moment of silence.

Mob wore a sad and scared expression. “I’d never want to hurt you!”

Teru took hold of Mob’s hands and looked into the noiret’s eyes “I know you wouldn’t! You’re too kind to hurt me or anyone.”

Mob gulped and cast his eyes down, keeping his mouth shut.

The walk to where Reigen was camping*(AN at the end) was short and uneventful. Teru bought his hot tea and offered to buy one to Mob as well, who had felt terrible when he accepted it.

They had sipped their drinks around half empty until finally they turned a steep turn to the left and approach an old looking building that was in a rather good condition.

Mob nearly dropped his drink when he heard a loud crash. “Shishou!” He shoved his tea into Teru’s hands before practically launching to where the crash emitted. He jumped up several steps, feeling his heart beat almost to the rhythm of his thundering feet.

When he slammed a door open where he thought he had heard the crash he saw Reigen. “Mob! Finally.” He looked unamused as he stood in front of a door that almost looked it was wind and rain beaten.

The bright red paint, like on the other doors, had peeled away, and a deep rot had set into the wood, making it look soft and it had a strong odour. Mob’s face twisted in confusion.

“There’s a spirit haunting that apartment. The other tenants evacuated this hotel a few months ago after it didn’t pass the last health check up. They found mold and rot everywhere.” Reigen lazily shoved his hand into his pant pocket and tilted his hips slightly. “They tried removing the mold and rot, and they did manage to get some away, but only this apartment proved to be a tough cookie to bite into. The more they removed and fixed, the faster the mold grew and the faster the rot spread.” Mob could see Reigen squeezing the cheap bag of salt in his hand inside of his pocket. The way the slight gritting sound reached Mob’s ears oddly calmed him.

“Mob!” He heard Teru shout from behind them.

“Mob?” Reigen shot a look at Mob.

“Don’t scare me like that. You almost dropped your tea.” The blonde scowled slightly.

“Mob why is there a civilian in our workplace?” Reigen jutted his thumb at Teru, looking completely affronted by the invasion. “He might get hurt.”

Teru scoffed. “Aha. At least I don’t lie on a daily basis. If anything you have more worry to get hurt old man.” He squinted at Reigen, his grip tightening around the flimsy cardboard cups.

“Who are you calling old you brat?”

Teru laughed. “Just the liar of us three.”

Mob sweated. Teru disliked liars.

“Excuse me?!”

“I don’t call myself a, quote unquote, professional psychic! You’re lying to Mob and you’re lying to your clients! How can you ever get rid of an actual evil spirit?”

“I exorcise them of course!”

Teru cocked his hips in a very much like him manner. “Oh yeah? Demonstrate.”

“I don’t need to prove anything to you.” Reigen hissed back.

“So, you won’t or can’t?” The blonde smirked.

“Won’t. Mob! Go take care of it.”

Mob nodded. Teru gaped.

“What?! That thing in there is really dangerous! You can’t send Mob in!” The hot liquid in his hands sloshing over onto his hands, the burn went unnoticed.

“He’ll be fine.” Reigen said and put his hand between Mob’s shoulder blades. “See? I’m going in as well.” He waved his hand animatedly, and tried the doorknob. When it didn’t open he set Mob a short distance away from him and kicked the rotten wood in revealing a completely dark room. “Totally fine.”

“No! Don’t go in there! Mob!” The moment they stepped inside, the door was rebuilt and they were trapped inside the inky blackness, the rotting smell reaching their noses.

Mob pinched his nose shut, surprised by the strength of the stink. He heard silent banging on the other side of the door.

“Mob!” It was muffled.

“Shishou?” Mob called out, his voice echoing in the dark room. He couldn’t feel Reigen’s warm palm on his back anymore. It was uncomfortably cold inside the room.

“Shishou?” He said a little louder, ignoring Teru screaming him to return.

“Mob…” Someone gasped.

“Shishou? Are you there?” He stepped very lightly further into the darkness, very wary of where he was walking on.

“Mob…” It began to sound like Reigen.

“Shishou? Where are you?” Mob struggled against his inside voice that screamed him just to light the room up with his powers and eradicate everything.

He felt his throat constrict and eyes water at the putrid smell of decomposing flesh. He gasped and pushed his sleeve over his mouth and nose.

“Mob!” Reigen yelped.

“Shishou!” Mob answered, running further away from Teru and the door.

“Mob get back to the door!” He barely heard over his pounding heart. He choked and felt vomit burn his throat.

He saw light flicker in the darkness and it immediately guided him to it. His rasping breath and beating heart was the only thing he heard in the vast emptiness.

He felt his legs grow sluggish and sweat push out of his forehead.

The light grew bigger and bigger, revealing more. “Shishou?” He saw a man lying on a table. He wondered if it was Reigen. “Shishou?”

“Mob…” The man groaned in pain, and it suddenly became apparent why.

Mob screamed when he saw the crimson drip down the table from Reigen’s legs and arms. He kept running until he was next to the older man, his hands grasping at the feeble bonds over Reigen’s chest.

“Don’t… hurt me anymore…” He rasped. Mob flinched away.

“I’d never hurt you.” Mob choked on the words, he heard someone, himself, speak. He felt them bubble up from his vocal chords. “But you promised me everything.”

Mob slapped his hands over his mouth when Reigen sobbed. He fumbled with the leather belts that squeezed his master’s chest only slightly.

His arms went too far, over to the end of the belt, gripping the bonds and pulling them even tighter, making the older man’s skin wrinkle beneath the tightly wound leather belts.

Mob ripped his hands away.

“Shishou!” He shouted and decided that he should instead focus on stopping the bleeding. He touched his sweater, wondering if it can be used to stop such a vast wound from bleeding, but decided against it. He stepped away from the light, frantically clawing at any sort of fabric to help his master, when he heard him scream.

He twisted his head around so fast his sight spun a little before settling on a short boy with a bowl cut, wearing a black uniform next to a twisting and writhing Reigen.

He gaped in horror when he saw himself dig a fork into Reigen’s thigh and carve a slice of his leg away with a large fillet knife. He gagged when he saw himself lift the bloody ragged muscle into his mouth and chew on it loudly wearing a delighted expression. Mob felt the cloying copper stick on his tongue, then sliding down his throat when he saw himself swallow.

He vomited.

He relished the burn that it brought, barely realising his powers were emitting a light of its own. He fell on his knees, the pounding in his head deafening the sting in his legs and the acidic taste of vomit. He dry heaved until he realised he couldn’t get rid of the taste of the blood.

He finally decided.

He extended his arm outward, towards Reigen’s sobbing mangled body, his powers destroying the image.

He brought his hand down on the ground and purged the ground from the mold and rot, revealing a hardwood floor, shining brightly under his light.

He pawed at the ground. Feeling the realness of it and he craved it.

This room lies. Mob saw his tears on the ground before he realised he had been crying.

Mob woke up to a clean and serene room. He blinked a few times before seeing movement just in his peripheral vision.

He turned his head to see Reigen and Teru argue.

He frowned and sat up, rubbing his tired eyes.

“Shishou? Teru-kun?” He whispered. His throat ached.

“Mob!” The two shouted at the same time, before quickly throwing a dirty look at each other. They rushed to the makeshift bed Mob was lying on, covered by Reigen’s coat.

“What happened?” He rasped, placing a hand over his throat.

The two before him glanced at each other briefly and nodding. Reigen opened his mouth. “What do you remember?”

Mob blinked slowly and tried recalling.

“Don’t over work yourself!” Teru interjected, making Mob bring his head up slightly to peek at the blonde. He looked slightly carefree, but Mob could see the fright and worry in his eyes.

“I remember… I remember entering that room.” He murmured. “I remember Teru-kun was shouting for me to come back. I remember shishou disappearing.” He hummed. “I remember the smell…” He furrowed his brows. “I can’t… I don’t remember anything else.” It was odd hearing Reigen sigh in relief, but when Mob looked up at his master, he saw only a slightly worried face looking at him with an encouraging smile. “Sorry.” He added.

“No, nothing to be sorry about! It’s absolutely okay that you don’t remember!” Reigen said, patting Mob’s bowl hair hesitantly. Mob’s brows furrowed further.

“Hey Mob! We have a movie to catch, remember?” Teru suddenly butted in, the two yellow tickets flashing. “We have an hour to kill before it starts. Want to get going?” Mob agreed, but couldn’t help but to notice the sweat slowly bead on both of their foreheads in front of him. He didn’t push it and started to pick himself up.

“Careful!” Reigen blurted out before he could stop himself. “Or… you… might faint again.” He said, keeping a professional look on his face, his finger raised like he was offering great life choice nuggets to Mob.

“Alright.” Mob mumbled and was beginning to feel worry thrum in his veins when Reigen didn’t even help him up. Teru did. “Thank you.” Mob said, dusting the wall plaster dust and paint chips from his pants and sweater.

“No problem!” Teru answered brightly. Almost too brightly.

Before Mob could go back on his previous thoughts, he decided to speak up again.“I’m sorry for everything today. I’ve been nothing but a burden.” He hung his head slightly. “I’ve been horrible and a great bother. I’ll understand if you don’t want to actually hang out with me anymore.”

Teru was gaping and looked completely in shock. He directed a panicked look to Reigen who, if Mob was sure he heard right, shrugged. “You haven’t been! It’s been exciting. And I was just afraid something bad might have happened to you and your master.” Mob saw more sweat pour out of Teru. “Before this I was having a great time! I mean, we did have a little fun, didn’t we?” Teru nervously scratched the back of his head.

“I did!” Mob beamed tiredly. “I enjoyed spending time with you very much.” He shut his eyes and let a small smile his face. He opened them when he heard a shuddery intake of air.

“That’s good.” Teru grinned. “But we really should get going if we want to buy some food for the movie.” The blonde put a firm hand on Mob’s lower back, glancing worriedly at Reigen, who looked like he was gonna throw up at any given moment.

“Have a good time!” The older man shouted at their retreating forms.

Mob twisted on his futon, unable to sleep. He sighed angrily before glancing briefly at the clock that ticked away happily. He wanted nothing more than to bash it against a wall.

He shuddered suddenly.
He remembered.

He remembered the strong stench of blood and the taste of Reigen’s flesh.

He remembered the way his vomit burned its way up and the way he had lost control.

The way fear had consumed him.

He curled into a fetal position.

“I’m terrible…” He whispered into the empty room.

Chapter Text

When Teru’s phone rang at 8 in the morning and as he was slapping his hand over his nightstand, he wondered who could it be.
He wondered if it was his subordinates, or maybe the girls he had grown bored of, who were now looking for revenge.
He knew that if it was just a telemarketer he’d hunt that person down and feed them that disgusting brown thing his parents sent him during easter. He now knew why he never threw it away.
Any way, he was angered.

“Hello…?” He croaked, his voice cracking and raspy from sleep.

“Hanazawa Teruki? It’s Reigen Arataka. I’d like to talk to you about yesterday. And what you might have seen.”

Teru pulled himself up.

“Where?”

Teru half expected to see Mob sitting next to Reigen while taking small bites out of a sugar dusted pastry or maybe drinking slowly some sweet milk tea, so seeing the fake psychic alone didn’t come entirely as a surprise.

A slight, but still.

“You came!” Reigen blurted out, clearly surprised by Teru’s appearance.

Teru didn’t bother with false friendliness. “Of course. You’re the only person I can speak to about this.”

“Well…” The older man coughed and reached into his pocket, digging out a small white square. “You don’t mind, do you?” He asked as he pulled out a tightly wrapped stick and dug his other pocket for a lighter.

Teru shook his head. “Didn’t peg you for a smoker.”

“Oh yeah. I used to smoke my fair share before I met Mob, but ever since then, I never really had the heart to smoke in front of the kid. The way those eyes would show disappointment whenever I pulled one out…” Reigen shook his head. “I couldn’t with the way things are. By the way, how long have you known Mob?” He jerked his chin up at Teru once he had lit his cigarette.

“I met Mob on friday.” Teru saw Reigen’s brows shoot up. He probably expected the blonde to have known his assistant for a little longer.

Reigen blew out a long breath, the smoke twisting up in the air before finally disappearing. “Oh. I thought you’d have known… never mind. I think this was a mistake.” He rested his hand on his knee, looking hard at the ground.

“No no! We’re talking about Mob, right? We should keep going.” Teru turned to face Reigen, forcing the older man to turn his attention to the other.

“Well. I suspect… it looked like… like Mob wasn’t telling the truth.” * Reigen looked sad and oddly disgusted. Teru nodded. “I know how… I’ve known Mob for years. I think closer to 3 years or something. So I know! I know when people lie. I read people for a living.” Reigen tapped his temple and spat into the bushes behind him. Teru curled his lip back in disgust. “It’s either that or I puke. I don’t like the way spit gathers in my mouth when I smoke.” He shrugged.

“Fine. And you’d think you’d know when someone lies since you are a professional conman.” Teru muttered.

“Reading people is much harder than you think.” Reigen sneered.

“Does Mob know?” Teru promptly ignored Reigen.

“Of course! But don’t try to derail-”

“Really?”

“I… Mob is not a stupid teenager. I mean everyone struggles with grades and such, and sure social aspects can be tough…”

Teru looked at the older man with pity. “You’re not sure.”

“I… let’s just talk about what we came here for! We can talk about Mob later.”

“Sure.”

They both stopped for several beats. “... What did you see?”

Teru drew in a shaky breath.

“I saw me.”

His fists crashed against the rotten door. His heart was pounding against his ribs, adrenaline rushing in his veins. He screamed his throat hoarse, cursing the way his hair fluttered against his cheeks and eyes. It stung.

“Mob!” He slammed his fist against the door once more. He choked on his saliva he accidentally had breathed in and placed his palm at the center. “Go figure.” He muttered.

His powers cracked the surface-

“So you’re an esper?” Reigen butted in.

“I… what?” Teru looked peeved, righteously so.

“You just can’t go through a door that has been really stuffed with ghostly powers.” He laughed and Teru laughed along, although dry and sounding weirded out. “I thought Mob was the only one…” The older man added thoughtfully.

“Wait. Excuse me? Mob is an esper?” Teru felt fear crawl up his back. He swore it felt like nails digging into his flesh. “And by the way you kicked the door in in the first place!”

“Well. Yes. But don’t you remember who did the exorcism?” Reigen huffed, looking slightly amused. “And Mob helped with the door as well. Does things without having to asking specifically. What an angel.” Reigen laughed.

“Well. I suppose so. I’m just angry I was left out of that piece of information.” Teru bit back the rest of his sentence, worried that the older man will gather up Mob’s little brother and their mother to hunt him down if he figured what Teru had in mind for Mob originally.

Reigen looked worried. “Don’t be. Mob is easily stressed. You’ll only hurt people around you with anger.”

“Well alright. But now let me continue and don’t interrupt me.”

His powers cracked the surface and then finally buckling under.

He felt the cool aura of the ghost wrap its coils of strength around Teru and tugging him in. He knew the door had shut behind him when he heard wood creak.

“Mob?” He asked shakily. “Where are you?” His voice didn’t leave his throat.

He heard someone scream.

His entire body reacted to the sound. “Mob!” He ran at a thundering pace then skidded to a stop in front of a tall woman. He gasped.

“M-mom?”

She was screaming. She was holding tightly at something brown. Something folded in half.

He yelled in pain at the sudden burn he felt on his torso and legs.

“You’re useless!” She was screaming so loudly that Teru heard her voice actually hurt her. He almost felt the way her voice was ripping her throat apart. “You thick headed pig!” She brought down the leather belt down onto Teru’s thigh. The blonde fell to the ground crying out. “Don’t cry! Keep your hands down!”

When he looked up he saw his father glaring down at him. He felt an open hand slap against his face. “Listen to your mother.” He hissed. Teru felt silent tears run down his cheeks. “What are you crying for?” He disappeared into the darkness.

“Oh look who’s crying. If it isn’t little Hanazawa.” He felt someone kick him over to his back. He shut his eyes when they threw something on him.

They smelt sweet and felt sticky.

He turned his head to the side and saw chewed up apples.

The sensation changed to something cold and he let out a shuddery breath.

He rolled on his stomach and got up hurrying to limp away.

“Look! He’s running away!” He heard from behind him.

He didn’t see that his breath was suddenly fogging or how his surroundings had changed to a wood terrain. What he knew was that he needed to get away.

The first ball struck his head. The cold seeped into his aching head numbing the small cuts the little rocks left behind.

“Headshot!” Someone cried out from behind him.

His foot caught on a root, bringing him down on the forest floor. The bruises on his sides and legs radiated pain. The boys were laughing behind him.

“You have no chance at winning when it’s five against one!” He heard a girl scream. Someone cheered her on.

He looked up and saw the looming doors of his school in front of him.

Three snowballs landed next to him and he clawed himself up.

“Come on!” Even if those words were for his bullies, he still felt strength pushing into his muscles by them.

He wheezed out a breath and ripped the heavy metal doors open, making it slam against the flimsy old wooden structure that brought a light shade to the door. A sandy snowball missed his foot as he slipped inside.

“What are you doing!” A shrill voice erupted from the inside.

“I… I… h…” Teru gasped, feeling wrath bubble up. “They…”

His teacher ignored him and suddenly the three boys from before were standing behind him.

“Apologise to them.” She said.

“What?” Teru said, his eyes open in shock.

She stomped her foot on the ground. “Apologise!”

At that he felt something click inside his head. “No.” He sneered at her.

She turned her beady eyes to him. “Excuse me?”

“I said no! Enough is enough!” Teru growled and slammed his open palm against her chest, sending her flying away several meters.

“Hey Hanazawa!”

He crashed his energy into whomever it was, uncaring and blind with rage.

“Teru-kun!” He whirled around and before he saw who was in front of him, he had already blasted them away, making them land harshly against a wall.

He felt his voice rip apart his throat rather than hearing it. He knew what he was saying.

“I’m better than you!”

”I’ll never be as you are.”

”You’re beneath me!

The hot tears felt like searing metal on his skin, branding him.

He screamed until he couldn’t, and he burned everything until there wasn’t anything left to burn, and he ripped everything to pieces until all that was left was pulp. He cried until he couldn't, and then, only then, did he lose consciousness.

“That’s about it.” Teru shrugged, feinting uncaring after leaving a few details unsaid. Especially the whole better than you bit. The older man knowing that would probably do something about it.

“You’re lying.” Reigen said bluntly. “But I won’t dig further.”

“Thanks. I guess.” Teru sweated slightly.

“But you should know, having psychic powers don’t make you special.” Reigen suddenly said, looking up. “It’ll only be your downfall if you hold that above other people.”

Teru felt the hair on his neck rise. “What the hell would you know about psychic powers, conman?!” He seethed to himself about letting the older man get a clue.

“That they’re like any other thing someone can be better at. That it’s like being good at maths, or good at gym. It’s not something to hold above other people.” He said somewhat sadly, bringing Teru back to reality.

Teru shifted slightly to have a better look at the conman. “What happened? What did you see?” Reigen buried his face in his open palms.

The moment Reigen heard the door shut behind him he had begun to sweat.
He felt the warm back of Mob disappear from beneath his hand, he had stuffed it in his pocket where his little bag of salt lay. He knew it was completely useless, but still felt oddly secure just by holding the packet and feeling the gritty salt between his fingers.

“Mob?” He hesitated when he took a step forward.

“Where did that kid go?” He mumbled to himself.

“Shishou…” He heard Mob say breathily.

“Hey, Mob! Quit playing around and exorcise this ghost!” He turned around and saw Mob looking up at him. Was it just him or did Mob try to look seductive?

“Shishou…” The word had an odd tone to it. The way he said it. It made chills go through Reigen.

“Hey Mob, stop that. Get to work.” Reigen took a step back when Mob took one forward. His brows furrowed when he saw Mob didn’t have shoes. “Who are you? You’re not-” Suddenly Mob appeared in front of him, pressing his hand over Reigen’s mouth.

“Shh. I can make everything feel good.” Reigen felt his stomach turn when he felt Mob reach grab his hand and put it on his lower back. He suddenly realised he wasn’t in control.

He was pushed to sit down, where? Well Reigen didn’t know. All he did know was that Mob was wearing his usual black school uniform and was now running symmetrical tracks with his hands over his shoulders, chest and back. He felt the small soft fingers reach his tie and tug it loose, then unbuttoning a few buttons from the top. He couldn’t control his hands that went to rip off Mob’s shirt.

He heard his belt open and the slight jerk in Mob’s movements indicated his button had been undone as well.

He couldn’t believe how loud such a small zipper could be, the grinding teeth giving access to Mob. Reigen felt panic well up. He didn’t want this. He felt sick.

“What’s wrong?” Mob asked. Those eyes shining down at him. Worry in them. Those eyes…

He knew he was crying. He knew if he had more power to himself he’d be puking as well. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t even push the boy away from him and make a break for it.

“I thought you wanted me. All of me.” Mob looked so hurt. Reigen felt like dying.

“No…” He whispered. His voice hoarse and he managed to bring his hand up to his eyes and wipe away the tears blurring his vision. “Not like this. This is wrong.” He wanted to say.

“I do want you. Don’t stop.” He said instead. And it was a slap to his face. Mob looked so happy though.(**!)

“Please give me a second.” Reigen had his hand pressed over his mouth the entirety of his speech. He sprung up from the bench he had sat on with Teru and ran behind the bush he had spat in earlier.

The sound of retching and groaning reached Teru’s ears. Then a strong acidic odour burned his nose. He couldn’t help but to feel sick as well.

When Reigen got back, he was pale and was looking sickly with cold sweat.

He slumped down on the bench once more, looking more tired than he had just moments earlier. “God I tried to stop it. I really did. I really really did. But I couldn’t. And I liked it. I liked it and I kept going on. I told Mob not to stop and… we didn’t stop.” He shook sligtly when a breeze blew over them. “I don’t want to do anything like that to… never. I don’t…” Teru felt like he needed to hug Reigen. To assure him that he would be alright.

“You’ll be okay.” The words sounded empty even to his own ears.

“How can it be okay? How can I look into Mob’s eyes without seeing what we did? How can I-” He choked. “How can I… I can ever be normal after what happened. I can never face… how can I?” He rambled, completely ignoring Teru who was hovering his hands just a few centimeters away, looking torn between hugging or patting the older man. Teru felt oddly lucky when he compared it to his own vision.

He decided to place his hand on the shoulder closest to him. “You’ll be fine. It wasn’t real. It was the evil spirit.” He said and patted him a few times before retreating. Reigen stayed silent, his palm pressed against his mouth and his legs clamped tightly together and the tips of his shoes digging deeply into the ground. Teru looked down at the ground, his head low. “It wasn’t real. Any of it. You’d never hurt Mob, I know it.” Teru glanced at Reigen who had pushed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets and his head bent over his knees in an almost fetal position. Teru thinks he heard him say “I know.”

“Excuse me, but are you alright?” A girl with badly bleached hair had suddenly appeared in front of the two, looking clearly worried.

“We’re fine, thank you.” Teru sent her a nod and placed his hand over Reigen’s shoulder who had straightened up and was smiling slightly.

“Don’t worry about it! We’re just talking about a few things.” He waved his hand animatedly, looking extremely lively.

She looked at them skeptically. “Okay. You just never know until you ask, am I right?” She tried lightening the mod. Teru and Reigen joined her.

“Yeah. But thank you so much for your concern.” Reigen smiled and kept on smiling at her until she had finally disappeared from their line of sight and probably earshot. “I forgot we were in a public park.” He muttered. “We should go. I feel bad for talking too much.” Reigen stood up and rubbed the back of his neck while looking down at Teru.

“Oh don’t worry about it. You needed to share it to someone and I was in the same room when it happened. I after all, saw a small piece of it before I ripped it apart. Almost killed you but everything went blank just before I reached you.”

Teru stood up as well. “Yeah… listen. Try to find out what Mob saw back in there. But don’t be aggressive. We were there for over 40 minutes so the probability of seeing something is high. And Mob being Mob decided to keep us uninformed in fear of hurting us.” Reigen patted away invisible dirt from his suit and looked everywhere except Teru.

“Yeah. Sure. We’ll keep in touch, right?” Teru looked anxious, leaning from leg to leg as if he was ready to run away.

“Yep. Send a message if you need to meet up. Anything you need to talk about I can listen.” Reigen made a hand gesture of some kind and turned away from Teru and began to walk away. Teru did the same.

Just before they’d disappear from each other’s sight, they both glanced back, thinking of their petty banter and wondering if they can change it, before shaking their heads and figuring it would be too late to change their behaviour.

Chapter Text

Had Teru not been aware of Reigen, Ritsu or mrs Kageyama, he'd have probably reacted badly when learning about Mob’s little secret.

So he bit his lip in frustration when he saw Mob fumble with a bag of groceries and refused to use those hidden powers he knew loomed just beneath that soft skin that easily bruised.

That, and he found it endearing.

Mob felt his heart break a little when the handles of the groceries bag snapped and the insides sprawled onto the ground.

He heard the eggs crack and felt oddly empty looming over the spring onions that looked stark green against the pavement. He bit back the tears he knew would have pushed their way out if he was younger and knelt down to deal with the mess.

“Is everything okay?” He nearly fell on the slimy eggs and onion mixture, his hand slipping and sliding across it with a stray pebble slicing his palm open. Teru reacted immediately. “You’re bleeding!” Mob said nothing as he stared at the way his bright deep red blood floating on the broken eggs. He almost wanted to draw patterns in the liquid when he saw the way his blood had pooled slightly in different spots. “Are you okay?” Teru asked once again, this time more cautiously as he crouched down next to Mob, his hand hovering before settling on the other boy’s shoulder.

Mob nodded.

“Whose groceries were they?” He asked softly.

He felt the tears begin to push out in response, his hands shook.

“Were they for your mom?”

He nodded.

“Mob, do you remember?”

He hesitated.

Then nodded.

The tears threatened him to not continue.

“What did you see?”

He felt a quiet whine bubble up from his throat.

He felt his knees touch the mixture of eggs and blood, soaking into his light grey jeans. He sobbed loudly and wiped his eyes with his wrists, completely aware of the state of his palms. He felt Teru envelop him in a hug and he hiccuped and buried his face into the crook of his neck. His hands were pressed tightly between their bodies.

He didn’t bother to stop his loud whines or the hiccups that interrupted his breathing. His hands closed around on the front of Teru’s shirt and pulled him closer, before moving to a death grip on the blonde’s back. He felt terrible for messing up the other boy’s clothes with his tears, blood and egg, but he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to.

And for a long time they stayed there.

They stayed still even after Mob felt his legs become numb and his mouth become sticky with how much he had cried. Yet through all of Mob’s discomfort, Teru was unmoving. He wasn’t making a sound and rubbed slow circles on Mob’s back who felt like he was stealing something from Teru.

When Mob finally felt his crying reduce to feeble little hiccups did Teru finally speak. “It’s gonna be okay.” He murmured, making Mob feel all the worse. “You don’t need to tell me now. Tell me when you’re ready. I’ll be there for you if you ever need me.” He promised.

Mob nodded into Teru’s neck.

“Are you ready to go buy new groceries?”

Mob nodded again and Teru softly muttered okay.

When the two finally stood, they didn’t see the way pebbles made a pitter patter sound when making contact with the ground around them and the way the leafless trees reached into the sky as if cracks had formed on the perfect blue with their green leaves covering the street.

Chapter Text

I'm so sorry you guys but I've been so busy lately.
My shortest day is 8 to 14 and my longest is 8 to 17.
(mondays and fridays would be 8-14 and tues and thurs 8-17. Wednesdays seem to be 8-16)

I'm exhausted to say the least. I'm tired constantly and I'm stressing so much.

I hate things as they are right now. I'd rather just do what I want like writing and reading, but honestly I'm so tired it's practically impossible.

I'll try to write during the weekends, but it's not looking good. I tried writing a short story this week, but I've managed about 500 words and it was such a stretch. I'm so sorry for not being able to continue...

But I'll have vacation in 6 weeks. So hang on tight! I'll have 2 weeks of nonstop writing! In 6 weeks...
Still though!

Thank you if you read this! I'll delete this once I have a new chapter up!