Work Text:
"So, what do you think?"
Reigen Arataka, 14 year old con-artist and psychic-in-training, stood in front of his boss and mentor, Shigeo 'Mob' Kageyama. He swished back and forth restlessly, randomly throwing out hand gestures and posing to show off his outfit.
Mob blinked at his student. In his haste to leave for their next job, he hadn't noticed the boy come in. Now that he had, he was growing very confused– although, you wouldn't be able to tell by his blank, tired expression.
Reigen was dressed in a typical high school girl's uniform, down to his shiny black mary-janes and the red bow on his chest. He even managed to pull his dirty blond middle-part into two stubby pigtails. He smoothed out his blue pleated skirt with a proud grin.
"You look… nice?" Mob said tentatively. Honestly, he didn't know what Reigen wanted to hear because he had no idea what was going on in the first place. Obviously, he answered incorrectly because Reigen puffed out his cheeks and scowled at Mob.
"Wh- yeah, I know! But I'm dressed up for a reason, shishou!" Reigen crossed his arms, pacing absentmindedly with loud clicks of his shoes, "This is my disguise for sneaking into the clients' school!"
Sighing, Mob closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"We are not sneaking in, Arataka, I thought I told you this already." He held the front door open for his student and locked it behind them. With that, they started for the train station.
"But those girls said the school wouldn't let us on campus!" Reigen huffed. He was scrambling to keep up with Mob's long strides. Mob slowed down.
"And I said I would handle it." He squinted down at his dressed-up apprentice, "The costume is unnecessary… Where did you even get that?"
As Mob paid for the turnstile, he felt a small hand twist into the back of his coat. Linked by Reigen, they passed through the turnstile together without paying for two tickets. He felt a little guilty for how little he cared about Reigen's subtle delinquencies– wasn't he supposed to be a good influence on the boy? But, he really couldn't bring himself to scold Reigen for sneaking onto the train or nabbing a few more free samples than was socially acceptable. Hopefully, it was a habit he would grow out of on his own. He shook his head, tuning back into their conversation.
"Did I tell you that my sister's at college again? She left behind a lot of her stuff when she moved out, and she said I could borrow her old school uniform. Too bad she didn't go to the clients' school, but she did have friends there. I tried asking her about the spirit, but she didn't know anything about it…"
He trailed off as Mob poked at one of his dangling earrings. Did he pierce his ears too? They were big and heart shaped, decorated with glittering rainbow rhinestones. Eccentric, but stylish, in Mob's opinion. Definitely belonged to-
"Oh yeah, that stuff is Hanazawa's. I don't approve of his fashion sense, but he has a lot of cute jewellery." Reigen fiddled with the clips littering his blond hair. He lingered on a shimmering butterfly clip by his ear.
Mob hummed, "That was nice of him, to lend you all of that."
Mob's other employee, Teruki Hanazawa, was a newer addition to the Spirits and Such team. He acted as their PR manager– really, that just meant he manned the website (a horrible neon mess of spaghetti-code and 144p gifs) and talked to clients when Mob was busy with exorcisms. Since he joined, Mob's noticed an uptick in returning clients and a significantly more positive atmosphere in the office. Mob was just happy to have someone else talk in his place, as his own demeanour seemed to put people off and Reigen had a bad habit of (accidently) overcharging clients. Plus, Teru got along great with Reigen. That was enough for Mob to let the ex-criminal esper work at his office.
Reigen grinned and Mob could only imagine the fuss Teru had made about getting to play dress-up with his employee. He probably set up an impromptu fashion show in his apartment the instant Reigen expressed his idea for his 'disguise'. Mob huffed a low laugh at the image of Teru and Reigen exchanging office gossip and painting each others' nails like school girls.
They took their seats on the sparsely populated train. Mob dug through his messenger bag, pulling out the MobBoy Colour he gladly shared with his student. It would be easier to let Reigen carry it around, but he had a knack for randomly losing things. And Mob won't deny, he liked to pop in a puzzle game occasionally when commuting to the office. Reigen took the MobBoy wordlessly, turning it around to check that his copy of PokeMob Ruby was still inside.
"Did I tell you I almost have all of my gym badges?" His student boasted, face shining as he looked up at his mentor. Mob peered out the window, trying to remember truthfully if he did know that. Reigen turned his attention back to his game, waving his hand around dismissively.
"I had to train a new ghost-type team, but I finally beat the psychic gym. It was tough, but I handled it flawlessly."
Mob peeked over his shoulder, "Is that why you have so many revives?" His face conveyed no emotion, but Reigen gasped and stammered at the accusation anyways.
"Th-that's nothing! Just a precaution, y'know, for when I need it, eventually…"
Mob smiled knowingly, leaning back in his seat. He hummed fondly at his student's theatrics. They made idle chatter for the rest of the ride as Reigen showed off all of his rare and shiny PokeMob.
Once they got off of the train, they walked the rest of the way to the highschool. Reigen guided them around the winding residential area with a map on his phone. Mob was a little amazed– he didn't even know his phone had a map.
Reigen paid no mind to the people mulling about the streets, skipping the whole way as he talked his mentor's ear off. He jumped from topic to topic at breakneck speed. As always, Mob tried to keep up with their conversation, but he couldn't help but get distracted. Passing mothers chittered about how cute 'that man and his daughter' were and other teenagers heading to school doled out compliments on Reigen's accessories. It was all very nice in a way that was still new to Mob.
As he was lost in thought, they rounded on their destination. Reigen grabbed onto Mob's sleeve abruptly, dragging his mentor to the front gates of the clients' school before he could protest.
A security guard was stationed at the entrance. He perked up as Reigen and Mob came into view, holding out a hand to stop the pair.
"Good afternoon. How can I help you, miss?" He leaned down slightly, smiling lightly at Reigen. In response, Reigen sent him a smile so innocent it was nearly angelic. He looped his arms around one of Mob's.
"We're gonna need to take a tour of the school, to make sure it's exactly what we want. I'm going into highschool next year." Mob thought about stopping Reigen before he could spin an elaborate lie that would surely get away from both of them, but for now, it seemed to be going smoothly. And Mob wasn't exactly keen on making a scene by trying to get to the clients another way. So, he sighed and let himself be a pawn in his student's scheme.
Mob cleared his throat, straightening out his already stiff clothing. He tried to remember how his mother held herself– authoritative and serious in a way that lent her an air of untouchability. Judging by how the guard stiffened and peered up at Mob with wide eyes, he overcompensated.
Reigen nudged his arm, giving him a significant look. Mob couldn't read what he was mouthing, but the guard was extending his hand hesitantly.
Mob realised that he was supposed to be giving the man a handshake, like sensible adults normally do. He tried to be firm, but his hands were shaking a little from the pressure.
"Shigeo Kageyama." He greeted, "And this is my…" Mob faltered, unsure what Reigen was planning.
Reigen caught on immediately, "-Daughter!" He cut in smoothly. Mob stumbled over his words for a second– he didn't know that was the angle Reigen wanted to approach this at.
"...Yes, my- uhm, my daughter… A- Ayaka." Reigen's smile strained, growing noticeably fake the more they fumbled this interaction.
The guard frowned, "I'm sorry, sir, but parents aren't permitted access to campus grounds on such short notice-" Reigen's shiny pink nails dug into Mob's sleeve.
"But-!" He stuttered, eyes frantic with alarm. Mob shut his eyes against the embarrassing scene– it was starting to make his stomach turn watching Reigen grasp for straws. He knew he should step in, but his voice was dead in his throat and all he wanted was to give up on the job and go back to the office.
Then Reigen started to wail.
Mob whipped around to stare wide-eyed at his student. He was crying like a siren, face red and scrunched as tears poured down his cheeks. The ear-ringing sound was punctuated by the occasional hiccup and meek sniffle.
He side-eyed his gawking mentor. When Mob didn't get the message, he stomped on his foot.
"Ah! R-right…" Mob mumbled, tucking Reigen into his side in an awkward hug. Stiffly, he shook his head with a poorly hidden grimace. Mob never claimed to be an actor.
"I'm sorry, Ara- uh!" He swallowed shakily, "Ayaka just gets um, emotional when she's not with me. So…" Mob wracked his brain for anything else to say, but came up empty handed. His face grew hot the longer the silence stretched.
Fortunately, Reigen was a better actor (or liar) than him, "I-if only I didn't have s-s-seperation anxiety!" He punctuated the condition. His fake stutter made Mob suppress a wince– it was a little too put on. Reigen watched slyly as the guard broke out into a sweat.
In response, Reigen squeezed out another round of sobs. Mob was almost impressed that he still had water to shed.
"Oh, why did Mom have to get sick?" Reigen continued dramatically. “And also die!” He added as a final touch. Reigen sniffled loudly.
At least that club he finally joined is teaching him something… Mob thought.
"N-now I can't even be with my d-dad either!" He buried his face in Mob's arm with a final whimpering cry, sealing the deal. Their target was pale and sweaty, with the guilty expression of someone who just made a teenage girl cry.
The guard scrambled to take their names and hand them day passes. He shrunk under Mob's steely gaze, blubbering apologies and platitudes. Unaware of the face he was making, Mob was trying to calm down from the stress of keeping up with Reigen's lie on the spot like that.
As they walked past the entrance and out of earshot of the guard, Reigen pried himself from Mob's side. He wiped his face of crocodile tears, leaving behind a smirk.
"Wow, that guy was easy. All I had to do was fake cry a little and boom!" He brandished the laminated card hanging by his neck on a lanyard, "You're welcome, shishou." Reigen sing-songed smugly. Mob resisted the urge to roll his eyes, choosing instead to pat the top of his student's head.
"Good job." He said, voice flat but sincere. Reigen preened under his praise, swishing his skirt more and more as his walking once again turned to skipping.
"Where are we supposed to meet the clients again?" Reigen popped his head into a random room. Shouting and laughing filtered out of the occupied class and Reigen jumped back, slamming the door in shock. A spitball clung to his hair.
"The roof. They should be waiting up there for us…" Reigen hummed, joining Mob's side again. He eyed the classrooms suspiciously. Mob flicked away the spitball.
As they made their way up the stairs, Mob lagged behind his spritely student. Sure, Mob had started working out at that surprisingly welcoming gym down the road from his office, but he had nowhere near the level of energy a fourteen year old possessed. Unsurprisingly, he was out of breath by the time they hit the top of the school.
While Mob caught his breath, Reigen spotted a group of girls sitting in a circle together. They were laughing loudly, in a way that was cool to Reigen and obviously forced to Mob. A bag of chips sat between them and they were passing around a single measly cigarette. It was kind of pathetic, if Mob was being honest.
Nonetheless, Reigen sauntered up to the girls. He stopped just in front of them, a hand on his hip and the other by his chin. Their conversation fizzled out and each girl wore a varying expression of annoyance. Mob frowned.
"Hey, what's up?" Reigen said with a lazy wave. He wedged himself between two of the girls, sitting down and crossing his legs. He perched his chin on his palm, elbow resting on his knee. A confident smirk pulled at his lips.
The girls leaned away from him. One of them rolled her eyes.
"Nothing, just waiting for you to leave." The girl in the middle snarked. Her friends snickered, sharing grins. Reigen laughed along half-heartedly. He leaned back on his hands, desperately trying for the same cool nonchalance the group of girls exuded.
"Right, right." He nodded, "But uh-" again, he smirked, pointing towards their little pile of snacks in between them, "I mean, what are you guys up to? Skipping class? Maybe… hiding from something?" With a raised eyebrow, he shot them a meaningful look. While Mob wasn't the best at social cues, even he could tell what Reigen was asking– were they the clients who had hired them to exorcise the school?
Apparently not, as they quickly became enraged.
The student on his left leaned into Reigen's space, poking him square in the chest. Her pink hair extension was coming loose.
"What are you, some kinda snitch?!" She snarled, "Back off, kid!"
Reigen reared back, hands windmilling as he scrambled to explain himself. As a hand landed on his shoulder, Reigen stilled.
Mob squatted behind Reigen, leaning over his shoulder to level the girls with an unimpressed stare. His mouth was pulled into a hard line, his eyes shadowed by his dark fringe. The girls paled. One of them quickly snuffed out their single cigarette behind her back.
"Mind if I ask why you girls are out of class?" He asked, monotone voice icy and harsh. They shared a nervous look.
"W-well-!" The girl who had been yelling at Reigen started, fiddling with her single, tame nose piercing.
"And picking on a middle schooler? Is bullying my daughter fun to you?" Mob cut them off darkly. He channelled the glare he had accidentally sent to the front gates' guard. The girl on Reigen's right squeaked– her eyes widened under many layers of black eyeliner.
"Ah! Sir, w-we're so sorry! We had no idea-" the girl with the hair extension nodded along to her friend, "A-and we were just heading back to class anyways! Please don't rat us out!" With that, she grabbed the other two girls by their sleeves and ran to the stairwell. They didn't even take the half-eaten bag of chips.
Reigen stood quickly, brushing his sweaty hands on his skirt.
"Hm. I'm guessing those weren't the clients?" Reigen shot Mob an angry pout.
"Shishou, I can't tell if you're trying to make fun of me or not…" He huffed.
"No, of course not-!" Mob's fumbling reassurances were cut off by a pair of snickers.
Two highschool girls hopped off of a low set of vents and walked towards them.
"You're the guys from 'Spirits and Such', right?" The taller girl asked as her friend continued to giggle at their expense. Reigen stepped in front of his mentor with a perfect customer-service grin.
"Reigen Arataka, future greatest psychic of the 21st century!" He introduced himself grandly. While he was posing smugly, the clients were red-faced, trying to hold in their laughter. Reigen jabbed a thumb over his shoulder.
"And this is my boss, Mob! We're here to solve your supernatural problems, 99% satisfaction guaranteed!" Mob just hummed in agreement, fighting the urge to stare at his shoes.
The clients shared a sceptical look, but explained their dilemma anyway.
The spirit was easily taken care of by a disgruntled Mob and overzealous Reigen, spurred on by the cheering basketball players.
Mob wiped his clammy hands on his coat, expression twisting into one of uncharacteristic disgust. Eventually, he managed to tear Reigen away from girls pinching his cheeks and complimenting his outfit. All Mob wanted to do was crash on his couch and fall asleep to a shitty action movie, at this point.
The clients thanked them at the gates, drawing out small novelty wallets shaped like cartoon characters. Reigen was practically vibrating with excitement.
"No need to get those out. I'm not accepting payment." Mob addressed the girls. Reigen bristled at his side.
"What!? But we exorcised that evil guy!" He exclaimed. Mob shook his head, completely ignoring Reigen.
"If anything else shows up, please don't hesitate to contact us. We will take care of it."
The girls thanked him profusely. They put away their wallets with silent sighs of relief– blowing all of their birthday money on an exorcist isn't something either wanted to explain to their parents.
As they walked back to the train station, Reigen could barely hide his annoyance. He crossed his arms, refusing to face his mentor.
"I hope you understand why I did that, Arataka." Reigen rolled his eyes, but let him continue, "Those girls…" Mob's gaze shifted to the sky, tracing the paths of the birds flying overhead. His eyes shone in the orange afternoon light, conviction glittering in his red irises.
"They needed our help, more than they wanted us to know. Spirits usually scare people who can't fight them, but…" Reigen kicked a pebble and it skittered across the cracked sidewalk, "That spirit was especially upsetting to them. The things it said were very… creepy." Mob's face twisted into a faint sneer.
"It's not right to take advantage of something like that." He placed a tentative hand on Reigen's shoulder. Reigen huffed, leaning into his mentor– he never understood why Mob was so skittish when it came to casual physical contact like that, so he tried to reinforce it at every opportunity. Reigen wasn't much of a hugger, but when your only source of genuine understanding lied in an emotionally stunted power keg, you learned to take whatever you could get.
"Sometimes… we need to help others without asking for anything in return." They boarded the train and took their seats. Reigen turned to look out the window. He sighed.
"Yeah, I get it, shishou." He conceded, "If I'm being honest, that guy did skeeve me out a bit." His earrings clinked together as he fiddled with them.
Reigen wanted to feel sorry for asking for payment, but he really couldn't. The generous cut he earned from each job helped him out more than Mob would ever know. Sure, his parents assured him that rent and groceries and utilities and all other manner of things a middle schooler shouldn't have to worry about weren't his problems, but Reigen wasn't stupid. He could see the instant relief in his mother's eyes when he brought home his paycheck. Sure, it wasn't those girls' fault he was dirt poor, but he couldn't help the feeling of resentment coating the back of his throat. He would just have to suck it up and hope Mob would take him out for dinner tomorrow.
Reigen yawned, loud and obnoxious. That was a problem for future Reigen– present Reigen was too exhausted to dwell on anything depressing. Man, fake crying really takes it out of a guy, huh? He thought as he drifted to sleep, head lolling back and mouth wide open as he snored. Drool rolled down the side of his cheek and Mob grimaced at it the whole ride back.
That night, Mob bid his student goodnight outside his small apartment. As he made his way to his own shitty flat, Mob wondered if he did the right thing.
He wasn't so oblivious as to miss the way Reigen's eyes lit up everytime Mob paid him after a job. Not with greed, but a relief that made Mob's stomach twist. Like a massive weight was lifted off of his shoulders with each bill.
As much as Mob wanted to, he was incapable of prying into his student's home life. Every conversation Mob tried to start by subtly hinting at something being not quite right at home, Reigen would talk circles around him until he dropped it to avoid arguing with the boy. But from what he'd observed, it didn't look great. Mob just hoped he was doing enough by treating his student to dinner whenever he got the chance.
Mob shuffled into his home. He shucked off his loafers, slipping into a pair of bunny slippers (Reigen got them as a gag-gift– Mob genuinely likes them) and hanging up his dark coat.
Without changing out of his work clothes, Mob laid down on his couch. He queued up a movie– one of Reigen's B-movies he must have left in the DVD player the last time he stayed over for dinner.
Mob pulled an old, ratty blanket over himself, curling into its fraying fibres. Sleep pulled at his eyelids, the soft hum of his TV luring him to sleep.
Suddenly, Mob's phone chimed.
He knew before flipping it open who it would be; Reigen had added himself to Mob's contacts the second his mentor gifted him his first phone, setting a very distinct ringtone for himself. Whenever Reigen texted, Mob's phone would scream out the theme song to Reigen's favourite anime: Sailor Moon. The opening lyrics had been burned into Mob's memory at that point.
Reigen had texted him a few pictures he took in the gym– right in the middle of the exorcism, it seemed. Mob was across the room, turned away from the camera as bright lights circled himself and the spirit; meanwhile, Reigen was posing in the foreground with the basketball players whose game they had interrupted. He sent three different pictures– although it seemed the only differences were the faces Reigen and the girls were making. Accompanying the photos was a string of texts: 'can we get one printed for the office?' and then, 'i was thinking of starting a bulletin board' and, 'yknow for like showing future clients how many jobs we've done?'. Mob sent back a single thumbs up.
Reigen continued to send Mob pictures he had taken at each of their past jobs, trying to convince his mentor to print them all. He wasn't dissuaded by Mob's clipped responses– a simple 'Okay.' from Mob was the equivalent of an enthusiastic yes from anyone else. Reigen was well adjusted to Mob's 'grandma texting’ as he liked to call it.
At Mob's light scolding for being up too late on a school night, Reigen reluctantly ended their conversation. He parted with a final photo from the night– Reigen and Mob, mid-conversation and completely unaware of the camera. Mob had a faint smile on his face. The picture was a little blurry, like Reigen had taken it accidentally while talking animatedly with his hands.
As Mob stared at their happy faces, he felt his heart warm. Just a few years ago, he was isolated from the world; never letting himself hope to have any meaningful connections with another person. But here he was– regularly hunting for the paranormal with Tome, finding a new employee and friend in Teru, building a new relationship to his health with the help of his friends at the gym. And continuing to look after Reigen, finally starting to feel like maybe he wasn't doomed to hurt the people in his care. Like he was finally worthy of being someone to care about in turn.
Mob set the picture as his phone background.
He fell asleep on the couch once again, drifting off to the quiet ambience of his apartment.