#ritsu eventually lets himself lean on reigen when he's tired

[quirkle2]

the angst in your zombie au bREAKS MY HEART INTO PIECES (I LOVE IT VERY MUCH)

okay, okay, so!! if the kagebros got separated from reigen and teru when mob is still fine, i imagine that their reunion would be hEARTWRENCHING also, i'm a bit curious, would mob still be able to recognize teru and reigen? or would he thought about them as strangers?

(tbh, following your lore, i imagine mob would act a similarly like nezuko from demon slayer? but instead of little hums, his zombie sounds would more like babbling and incoherent mumbles :"D)

the reunion is fuckin AWFUL man it's SO gut-wrenching. both reigen and teru feared this for Months while looking for the brothers; pretty much the worst case scenario was that mob or ritsu or Both turned—a lot of humans prefer death over being a zombie any day, so the idea of ritsu or mob having to go through that and wander around aimlessly until starvation or smth else gets them,,,

it hurts them so much to think about. teru forces himself not to dwell on it and he's pretty good at that but reigen thinks abt it a lot and he's honestly not sure what scenario is worse. best case is that they're both alive and unturned, obviously, but what's the worst case? you'd think it's both of them getting killed, or turning, but reigen also knows that if One of them got killed/turned, the other would probably lose their mind, especially if they had to watch. the fact that they're kids makes this all three times worse and reigen has to act like he's Not worrying himself sick over the brothers while he tries to keep teru in high spirits

the reunion itself is rly fuckin gut-wrenching for them. they see mob from afar, wandered off just a bit from ritsu and tome who are just around the bend looting a place, and they book it bc ofc they do, it's mob!! but then they see how pale he is, and when he turns around they don't see that light in his eyes that's usually there and the red is dulled and dead looking,, teru almost moves in for a hug before he realizes mob looks vastly different when he Rly takes him in, and mob doesn't rly react too much besides staring at them blankly. the obvious answer is almost too horrifying to even consider, so it takes them a minute to rly,,realize what's going on

tome comes around the bend and shouts, cuz when humans and zombies mix it's usually guns pointed at zombie heads. ritsu comes running out after her and when he sees reigen and teru his thoughts go, in order: holy shit is that reigen and tero ohmygod oh my god they're alive they're alive ohmy god i could fucking cry, and ohmy god they see shige ohno oh no oh no

ritsu sounds like a lunatic when he pulls mob away from them on instinct and says that he's safe to be around and that he's "still him" and he's "not gone" and he's very aware of that. he's very, intimately aware that he sounds fuckin crazy, bc ofc he does, this is what all the crazy people in zombie movies sound like. but he doesn't care, he doesn't care if reigen or teru dismiss him as nuts—he has to make them understand that his brother is still in there somewhere

and yeah, they both kinda think that ritsu's lost his marbles a little bit, but while teru is focused on that and the fact that mob doesn't look like he's rly tuned into Anything that's happening rn, reigen is a bit more focused on the fact that both ritsu and mob look awful? they're both very skinny and very dirty, obviously barely scraping by. they're cut up and ritsu's jacket is basically blood and dirt with a little bit of green fabric mixed in. and just by the look in ritsu's eyes, reigen can tell, man ... reigen can tell ritsu is like.not okay at this point he's kinda lost it.

i think the most painful thing about this whole reunion in general is that later that night, when reigen and teru r finally like ok we get it he's,, he's still mob. we believe you (they want to believe him... [they Do believe him, later, wholeheartedly]) and they settle down someplace safe, teru asks how long mob's been like this. and ritsu has to answer "since we got separated" and they both have that to stew over while everybody else sleeps

they realize that ritsu likely watched mob turn, watched the entire process, and that process takes a long time. it's at least a week of deteriorating motor functions and cognitive skill, and the fact that ritsu stayed for that to keep mob company is .ough. and it doesn't end there bc ritsu obviously stayed after that too

given how these things usually go, ritsu probably did think about killing mob. it probably did cross his mind, bc that's basically what everybody's been told to do. kill them before they have a chance to do any more damage. and it's obvious that ritsu did not have it in him

ritsu not only did not have it in him to kill him, he didn't even have it in him to leave him there. the kid fucking took him with him. a zombie. and he's somehow made it work, for months. and the next few days are filled with watching him still treat mob like a brother and take care of him and gently steer him away from a bird he tries to follow down the wrong street.ritsu is as gentle and kind as he's ever been with his brother. and even tho they're both hungry and tired and barely making it, ritsu is doing a rly good job taking care of mob with what he's been given

the kid obviously wholeheartedly believes in a cure and that mob is still There. he's gone through the trouble to take care of him, and the grief of continuously seeing a loved one that many would consider effectively dead, to get him that cure. to get him his brother back. and mob doesn't seem to be in any pain or distress, so reigen and teru think that this path ritsu has followed is probably infinitely kinder than the mercy kill method they've been taught to do

i think they have a new respect for ritsu, after that reunion

#qktalks #anon #zombie au #and also yes!! mob Would indeed recognize them and not attack them #i've never seen demon slayer but im assuming ur talking abt the main character's ??little sister?? smth like that #but yes i adore the idea of mob saying rly weird incoherent sentences that Almost sound like real words but like slightly to the left #bein a zombie rewires ur brain completely man .his mind is struggling a lot to say what it wants to say #it takes mob a moment to rly catch onto who's in front of him during the reunion but when he does realize there Is recognition in his eyes #fun fact; if u hug zombie mob muscle memory kicks in and he hugs back! #reigen and teru don't find this out until a few days later. they're a bit.. scared of him snapping at them for a while #but once they see that mob never once snaps at ritsu Or tome they're a little more willing to get near him and touch him #teru finally hugs mob and mob hugs back and it makes teru cry VGEAYEAV #(ritsu has hugged zombie mob enough to where now mob leans into his hugs.just giving u smth to sob over) #still related to the reunion but focusing more on ritsu: #after they reunite reigen notices that ritsu has a lot more..authority in his tone. he's a lot more comfortable taking charge #but he also notices that ritsu looks Exhausted and for a while he has trouble relinquishing the lead role to reigen aka the only adult #and it's entirely bc ritsu is just so used to doing things on his own now that he Forgets he has people to lean on #so it takes a bit for him to remember he has an adult to take care of him now #bro definitely overworks himself a lot in his haste to take care of mob :( #ritsu eventually lets himself lean on reigen when he's tired #poor kid melts into that kind of care after so long of not having that and being the sole provider for him and mob #when tome came around it got easier. but that also meant it was another mouth to feed so.only a little bit easier </3

[serenlyss]

Touch Starved Chapter 2

Rating: G Relationships: Teru&Shou, Reigen&Teru&Shou, background serirei if you squint Summary:  A series of unrelated short drabbles exploring the importance of touch. Chapter Summary:  Shou and Teru play video games, but Shou's not really acting like himself. Crossposted to AO3: Chapter 2

This is just 2k words of Teru and Shou being brothers and sharing a room asmr because I'm a sucker for stepsibling au. Anyway the context is that at some point post canon Teru moves in with Reigen an Shou moves in with Serizawa and when Reigen and Serizawa have been dating for a while they all move into a big apartment together. Hope you like! I didn't feel like proofreading much so sorry if there are some mistakes.

---

Teru sits back in his chair, letting his pencil fall against the paper of his notebook with a muffled clatter. He lets out a long sigh as he stretches his back against the back of the kitchen chair, feeling a few of his vertebrae pop after sitting still for so long. He arches his arms over his head briefly, mussing his hair with the fingers of one hand as he drops it back to the table. In front of him, his math homework lays open, half-finished. He’s been working at it for nearly an hour now, ever since he’d left school to come home earlier that day. His crisp, new high school uniform chafes his arms when he moves them too fast, and with a grimace he unbuttons the jacket and slips it off, letting it drape against the back of the chair.

One of the benefits of being clubless means he gets an extra hour of free time in the afternoons, although the constant onslaught of high school clubs vying for his attention before his decision period ends is an unwanted stress. Who’s idea was it to make clubs mandatory in high school, anyway? he wonders to himself bitterly.

Before he can commiserate any further, the door to the apartment swings open, revealing a tired-looking Shou. His uniform blazer is undone at the neck and his backpack is slung lazily over one shoulder as he slips inside and pushes the door closed behind him. “Hey,” he greets around a yawn, and Teru can only stare as he props his backpack mildly against the side of the couch and immediately falls onto it, on his side, his socked feet kicked up on the cushions.

It’s rare to see Shou looking so drained. Sure, it’s a Friday, the end of what Teru considers to have been a fairly long week, but Shou is nearly always excited for the weekends, usually. It’s an excuse to stay up late playing games and watching dumb movies, which he drags Teru into with all his typical fervor and energy. “You didn’t go over to little brother’s today?” he asks, picking up his discarded pencil as he glances lazily over at his unfinished homework. “I thought you two had plans to hang out today.”

“We did, but Ritsu’s sick,” Shou sighs in reply, muted and muffled by the fact that his head is squished up against the arm of the couch now, his chin tucked into his collarbone. “He said he caught it from his brother. Still went to class, though, the overachiever. He shoulda just stayed home.”

“Shigeo’s sick too?” Teru echoes with a frown. That would explain his best friend’s unfortunate absence from class today. Since they’d begun attending the same high school, they've made it a habit to walk together whenever possible, but today Shigeo had been nowhere to be seen. He ponders the idea of sending Shigeo a text, checking up on him to see how he’s feeling, then turns his attention back to Shou. “He should’ve. He’s going to get you sick, too, and with my luck, I’ll have caught it by next week,” he sighs in reluctant agreement.

They fall quiet for a bit after this, Teru scratching boredly at his paper with his pencil for a few minutes. “You’re quiet today,” he comments to break the unusual silence. Reigen and Serizawa won’t be home from work for another hour or so, but it’s still rare to see this kind of peace when all four of them are living in such close quarters. “Long week?”

Shou hums in affirmation, shifting slightly to peer at Teru over the arm of the couch. “Somethin’ like that,” he replies, letting one arm hang limply off the edge. “What’re you doing homework for, anyway? It’s Friday, you’ve got all weekend.”

“Yeah, but if I do it now then I won’t have to worry about it on Sunday, like you always do,” he points out, jabbing his pencil in Shou’s direction with an accusatory arch of the eyebrow.

Shou groans, flopping backwards over the arm of the couch so his head hangs over it upside-down. “How boring, you’re worse than Ritsu!” he complains, though he doesn’t really seem up to moving much himself. Now that Teru looks a little closer, Shou doesn’t look quite himself, his cheeks a little flushed and eyes a tad glassier than usual. Teru doesn’t pretend to know everything about Shou, but after sharing a room with him for the better part of two years, he’s picked up on little things like this.

Normally, Teru would take the opportunity to argue just for the sake of arguing, a relatively friendly bickering that he and Shou indulge in often, but for all of his posturing, Shou doesn’t really seem up to it tonight. He’s being unusually quiet and still, sure signs that he’s come down with some bug or another. He puts down his pencil again and stands up, the legs of his chair scraping against the tiled kitchen floor as he closes his book and slips it back into his bag. Then he walks over to the television set up against the opposite wall. “Wanna play some games?” he suggests, rooting around for the console’s controllers.

Shou hesitates for a few seconds before pushing himself into more of a sitting position and reaching out his hand. “Hit me,” he demands, and with a grin Teru levitates the controller into his waiting hand. His own controller in hand, he moves to the couch and takes a seat on Shou’s other side, nudging his feet away with his telekinesis to make room for him to sit. Even after that Shou’s legs still take up most of the couch and press against his thigh, but he doesn’t mind the contact much. He’s never been one to worry much over his own personal space, anyway. They decide on a racing game, some Mario Kart knockoff that Reigen had bought secondhand and that had turned out to be more fun that it had originally appeared, and Shou props himself up against the arm of the chair to give himself space to play.

Normally, when Shou goads Teru into video games to distract him from whatever he’s decided to focus on, things tend to get a little competitive. Today is no exception, it seems, as Shou kicks Teru in the leg with one socked foot to throw him off his game three rounds in.

“Hey! That’s cheating,” Teru accuses, shooting Shou a glare with no real malice behind it, but it’s enough to throw Teru off enough that his racer goes flying off the edge of the track, and Shou quickly takes the lead.

Shou just laughs, nudging him again as he flies ahead and steals the win out from under Teru’s nose. “I dunno what you’re talking about, you’re the one who drove off the edge,” he teases, with a smug grin that says he knows exactly what he’s doing.

They play another two rounds of races before Shou declares that he’s played out. He sets his controller down on the ground after Teru beats him in the final race, letting out a dramatic sigh. “I’ve been shamed, go on without me. I need time to recover from this humiliation,” he bemoans melodramatically. He tucks his head back into the corner of the couch, squished up into the corner so his knees are practically touching his chest.

Teru stifles a chuckle and switches to single player mode after that while Shou watches, making snide comments and kicking his legs up into Teru’s lap when he gets tired of being pushed into the corner. Teru shifts so his elbows are resting on top of them, tapping incessantly at his controller as he races to beat the CPU in a time trial race. Eventually they both fall pretty quiet, and Teru sags against the back of the couch and switches from playing games to watching the news, allowing himself a little bit of time to relax now that the weekend is upon them.

A little after five o’clock, Teru hears the sound of someone unlocking the front door, and he glances up from the news as Reigen slips inside and closes the door behind him. “Hey,” he greets with a little smile, which Reigen returns.

“Hey, you kids look like you had an eventful afternoon,” Reigen remarks with a chuckle, making his way over to the couch.

Shou shifts from beside Teru, letting his legs fall to the ground as he sits up and makes room for Reigen to squish himself onto the couch with them. “No Serizawa tonight?” he asks, stifling a yawn behind his hand. He looks sleepy, like he’d been dozing off laying on the couch.

“His study group is meeting up to work on a project tonight,” Reigen explains, glancing in Shou’s direction. He leans forward a little and peers up into Shou’s face curiously, his brow furrowed slightly. “You feeling okay, kiddo? You look pale,” he adds, lifting a hand to press his palm against Shou’s forehead.

Shou hums in affirmation. “M’just a little tired,” he insists, but his flushed face and clammy skin are a dead giveaway.

Reigen clicks his tongue, clearly not buying a word of it. “You have a fever,” he insists, letting his hand fall away from Shou’s forehead. “Damn, I knew I should have shelled out for flu shots this year. Stay here, I bet I have some medicine in the cabinet.” He pushes himself to his feet again and heads over to the apartment’s kitchen, rifling around in their medicine cabinet. “You should stay home from school until your fever goes away. I’ll call them tomorrow morning, let them know you won’t be there. Is there someone you can ask to get your make-up work for you?”

“Lemme text Ritsu, he’s in my class,” Shou mumbles in reply, sinking a little deeper into the couch now that Reigen’s not scrutinizing him. He fishes his phone out of his pocket. “Make-up work sounds like a pain, though… are you sure I can’t just tough it out?”

Teru grimaces at this, shaking his head. “No way, you’ll get the whole school sick if you do that,” he denies immediately, even though the question is clearly meant for Reigen. “Speaking of which, don’t come near me for the next 24 hours. I am not catching this from you.” He shifts himself a little farther into the couch’s corner, away from his kinda-sorta-maybe brother, as though the extra few inches of space is going to make any difference at all.

He knows he’s made a mistake when Shou turns to look at him and a sly grin splits his face. “Stay away from me,” he warns, but Shou is already moving, traitorous arms grabbing him around his middle as he attempts to rub his feverish face against the back of Teru’s exposed neck.

Teru squawks in a manner he’ll later say is entirely undignified, managing to untangle himself from Shou’s iron grasp after a minute of struggling, and Shou is left to fall back onto the couch in a fit of uncontrollable giggles. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” he manages between wheezes of laughter. He pauses to cough into the crook of his arm, but even that can’t wipe the shit-eating grin off his face.

From the kitchen, Reigen curses, a noise that distracts both boys from their antics as he re-enters the living room and heads for the door. “I’m gonna make a quick run to the pharmacy down the street, be right back,” he announces, pulling open the door. Before he closes it behind him, he turns and points a finger at Shou. “Keep resting,” he commands, and then he’s gone, the door falling closed behind him.

Teru sighs and moves to lock the front door, just to be safe. “Reigen can be such a worrier sometimes,” he snorts in amusement.

Shou grins at this, glancing at Teru upside-down from where he now lays sprawled out on the couch. His eyelids are starting to droop again, and he hides another yawn behind his head. “Mm, maybe I should just go to bed now. If I fall asleep fast enough I won’t have to deal with his and Serizawa’s annoying hovering,” he muses, kicking his feet off the couch and pushing himself into a standing position. He stretches his arms over his head briefly, teetering just a bit before he steadies himself.

“They just want to take care of you,” Teru points out, though he can’t help but agree. It’s embarrassing enough to have Reigen bend over backwards whenever he gets sick, and Serizawa is somehow worse with how completely forgiving and gentle he is. “Still, sleep will do you good, too. You’d better hurry, though, the pharmacy isn’t very far.”

Shou stifles a laugh. “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he deflects with a wave of his hand, moving over to the small hall that branches off from the apartment’s main living area and moving to open the door to his and Teru’s shared bedroom. Then he pauses, door half-open. “Teru?” he asks.

Teru glances after him, raising a brow questioningly. “What?”

Shou doesn’t look up to meet his gaze, but Teru could swear he sees the redhead’s flushed cheeks go just a little pinker. “I just wanted to say, um, you’re a good brother. This is a good place. I’m… really lucky.”

Teru blinks, surprised and just a little embarrassed at the sudden heartfelt compliment, and he reaches up to brush a strand of grown-out blond hair behind his ear instinctively. “I think your fever’s making you delirious,” he accuses, but it’s hard to fight the grin that tugs at the corners of his mouth. “Go to bed already.”

The smile Shou flashes him in return is soft and genuine. “Come on, my fever isn't that bad,” he insists. “No need to nag me, you’re like, a year older than me.” He pauses to snort in amusement at his own words, then raises a hand in a half-wave. “Anyway, I’m gonna get some rest. G’night,” he says, and closes the door quietly behind him.

Teru just shakes his head with a helpless little smile and heads into the kitchen to find something to cook for dinner.

(Despite his attempts to keep healthy, Teru catches Shou’s flu two days after him and spends the next two days sick in bed. He passes it on to Serizawa after that, and Reigen only escapes it by giving up and getting a last minute flu shot. Shigeo brings him his homework and keeps him company while he recovers, though, and it makes the process much easier. In the end, Teru can’t help but agree: he’s a pretty lucky guy.)

#mob psycho 100 #mp100 #reigen arataka #hanazawa teruki #suzuki shou #dad reigen #stepsiblings au is so good #even better with tome but i didnt want to include too many characters in a short one-shot #maybe someday.. she will be in one of these too #serendipitousfics

[aranciafiamma]

The Seance

Summary: You should be careful when summoning spirits. You never know who’s going to answer your call. (Mob dies. Ritsu does not cope well and makes some Very Bad decisions.)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 4.5

They agree to meet the following day. Until then, Ritsu does his best to help  around the house. He fixes the kitchen then cooks some rice. He throws out old takeout boxes and collects the dirty laundry. He keeps a glass of water next to Mom and lets Dad nap through the afternoon. He does all of this without using his powers - mostly because he's tired. But every now and again, he flexes his senses, just hoping to catch a glimpse.

He finds nothing. He refuses to panic. At dinner, he makes a suggestion. "Maybe you should go back to work," he says, taking a careful sip of his tea. It's just him and Dad. Mom turned in early. Ritsu will keep some leftovers for her. She tends to wake up at a later hour and wanders around the house. It's a bit creepy honestly. She won't turn on any of the lights, and her footsteps are nearly silent. Just a couple days ago, Dad nearly had a heart attack when he ran into her on his way to the bathroom. Now they keep a couple of lamps on through the night. "Oh yeah?" Dad says, taking a bite. It's just egg over rice because that's all Ritsu knows how to make. He insisted on making dinner just to prove he can. And he did, for the most part. It's not a five-star meal. But it's edible. "You've been away for too long. I know you're worried about us. But I'm doing better. I can take care of Mom." "Is that what today was all about? All those chores... Well then, what about you? When are you going back to school?" "I can miss a month and I'll be fine. But we can't miss a month of paychecks." "Let your old man worry about money. You just focus on getting better." "Dad." Ritsu thumps a fist against the table. His chopsticks held in a wood-splintering grip. "Please. I'm not a kid-" "You're thirteen." "So I am. But that doesn't mean I'm dumb. Or blind. Don't tell me everything is fine when it's not. I want to help."

Dad rubs his temples. "And can you? Just yesterday, you were still spaced out. Where is all this coming from?" "I snapped out of it." "For good? How can I be sure you'll be okay for a whole day?" Ritsu grinds his teeth. He picks at his rice, pushing it around the bowl. His thoughts flip through several possible answers. "A half-day," he finally replies. "Come home early. You'll see that everything's fine. And you don't need to worry." "Not worry," Dad snorts, shaking his head. "Unbelievable. This kid telling me not to worry..." But he thinks about it. Ritsu can tell from the way he trails off. The idea has been planted. It just needs time to grow. The rest of dinner passes by in silence. "It would be nice to see what everyone's managed to do..." Dad mutters more to himself.

'Everyone' must mean his co-workers. Ritsu is sure of it. He watches Dad fold just an inch more. Keeping his gaze low, he picks up his bowl and heads for the sink. He hums a (hopefully) happy tune as he starts washing the dishes. Boy, he does love washing dishes. And he does such a nice job too. Look at him go. He's so capable and responsible. What a good lad, that Ritsu. Geez. What Ritsu wouldn't give to be Takenaka right now. Thankfully, Dad does notice. He sets his plate in the sink then watches him happily wash that too. After an eternity (one minute), he finally comes to a decision. "A half day. I'll be home by one." Ritsu whips around to face him.  "You got it!" "Your mom will probably sleep through the morning. Especially if she stays up tonight. So there shouldn't be much for you to look out for. But you know to call me if anything comes up, right?" "Yessir." Ritsu sloppily salutes him with a sudsy hand. This earns him a slow, timid smile from Dad. It's warm the way old bathrobes are warm in the winter mornings. He pats him gently on the shoulder. "Okay... Okay..."

As promised, the next day finds Hanazawa at the Kageyama doorstep. Dad’s gone to work, Mom’s still asleep. She was up late, rearranging the spice cabinet for no apparent reason. It leaves Ritsu and Hanazawa to do their work undisturbed. Or they would be working if Hanazawa stopped loitering about.

“What are you doing? Come inside,” Ritsu snaps.

Hanazawa just stands there, looking wistfully inside. “I never visited your home before.” He gives Ritsu a goofy-looking smile, all dewy-eyed and lopsided. “Did you know Kageyama-kun was the very first guest I had at my apartment? I think some part of me always meant to repay that visit, but I didn’t realize until now.”

Ritsu huffs out a short breath. “That’s very sad. Are you going to help me or not?”

Hanazawa ignores him, shaking his head, sighing a little, taking his sweet time to walk in. Ritsu wants to find the cameras Hanazawa puts on a show for, just so he can look straight into the lens and communicate his dismay.

They do eventually get started. Ritsu takes him through the house, explaining as they go.

“But you haven’t felt it since?” Hanazawa asks.

Ritsu pauses here, staring at his feet. “... No… Not exactly.”

They’re outside his bedroom. Hanazawa is leaning against the wall. Ritsu chances a glance and finds a blank expression on his face. But that could mean anything. For someone so flamboyant, the older boy can hide his true opinions well. An awkward silence stretches between them.

Then Hanazawa breaks out into a grin, dazzling and stunning - as in Ritsu gets momentarily stunned by it.

“Ah well. It could just be an exceedingly powerful spirit. Those can hide their presences quite well. I understand why it’d be a concern. You haven’t quite developed your powers, after all. It could prove a challenge for you to exorcise.”

“No!” Ritsu blurts out, before clapping a hand over his mouth. Glancing over his shoulder, he listens for any sign of Mom waking up.

“Ritsu-kun?”

He slaps his other hand over Hanazawa’s face, a bit harder than necessary maybe. The contact did make a satisfying smack. And it does manage to shut him up as Ritsu strains his ears. A good minute passes and he hears nothing from his parents’ bedroom. He breathes out slowly and turns back to Hanazawa, lowering his hands. A blue-eyed, baleful glare greets him.

“You were saying?” Hanazawa says through clenched teeth, his grin pulled tight in the corners.

“Ah, yeah. You can’t exorcise the ghost, okay? I just need you to help me find it.”

“But why not?”

Right. Why not. That is a good question… Ritsu should definitely have an answer for that. Somewhere. C’mon, brain. Think of something.

“It could be a friendly ghost,” he shrugs.

Hanazawa gives him an eloquent look.

How the heck did Nii-san think he was smart. It was all a lie. It was a lie so good, even he - himself - believed it. Reigen, the fraudster extraordinaire, had nothing on him, Ritsu Kageyama. He squeezes his eyes shut, thoughts turning into scrambled jibberish and screaming.

Hanazawa turns away from him. His gaze appears to search the hallway, but Ritsu guesses it’s more to avoid watching him breakdown. A nice effort to be tactful, all things considered. Ritsu said something very stupid and if he got called out, then he deserved it. He grudgingly appreciates the courtesy.

“... Well, I don’t sense anything,” Hanazawa says. “But you felt it at night, correct?”

Inhaling deeply, Ritsu tries to appear calm. “Yeah. I did.”

Hanazawa looks at him, catching his gaze. “Then perhaps I should return later. We might have better luck catching it then.”

Ritsu hums, thinking it over. “That… Okay, yeah. We can do that. But… it’s just… Isn’t it a bit early for me to be inviting people over? Dad might be okay. But Mom…”

“What? Oh pfft no!” Hanazawa smiles - for real this time. “Didn’t I tell you? I don’t want to bother you or your family. No one has to know I’m here. Believe it or not, I can be discreet.”

“I don’t believe it,” Ritsu nods. “But I do trust you. I’ll keep my window open and you can come in through there - what’s with the look?”

Hanazawa’s jaw hangs slack, his eyes blown wide open. He’s speechless for all of ten, maybe twelve, seconds before he recovers. “Did you just - What was - You trust me?”

Ritsu will forever treasure those ten seconds. “... You’re gonna make me regret saying this. I mean, yes. You are an insufferable prat. But you come through when it counts.”

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever-”

“Don’t mention it.”

“I’m so touched that-”

“Don’t mention it.”

Hanazawa has the gall to smirk at him. Still, he keeps quiet.

“So we’re good then?” Ritsu asks, crossing his arms. “You’ll come back later?”

“Sure can.”

“I’ll see you then.” Ritsu starts heading for the front door. “Dad should be back after noon. It’s best for you to leave now.” He stops, turns to Hanazawa. “Wait. Don’t you have school?”

Hanazawa shrugs. “I skipped. It’s not like I’ve been doing well during lessons.”

Oh yeah. He couldn’t use the same excuse Ritsu has. He’s no one to the Kageyama family, just a boy who knew Nii-san. He has to attend school and pretend everything’s okay.

“How do you deal with it?” Ritsu can’t help but ask, half-curious and half-horrified.

“I’m not dealing with it. Everyday, it gets a little harder to go. But...” Hanazawa chuckles softly. “Edano’s been helping. He and his gang keep everyone from bothering me. They heard about ‘White T Poison’ and I suppose this was their way of paying respects.”

Ritsu can’t help but smile back - an expression of pain more than anything else. Mutual understanding blooms between them.

“Nii-san was really the best…”

“And he got everyone to do better.”

Studying Hanazawa, Ritsu notes the slump of his shoulders, the hollows of his cheeks, the way exhaustion spoils his every expression. He had been hospitalized after the big, city-breaking incident. It had been at the same hospital where Nii-san was rushed to. But in all the fuss, no one got around to telling him until right before the funeral. Nii-san had died just two floors down from him and he had never known.

Ritsu remembers clearly how Hanazawa looked at the funeral, half-mummified with bandages and barely able to stand. Everyone had been crying but he was stoic, still - the empty eye in a storm of grief. He had been the mirror image of Ritsu.

There’s so much Ritsu wants to say. “I’m sorry” and “You were left behind” and “Me too” and “I wish” - “I wish” - “I wish”. But wishes are only prayers in a different form. If there is some kind of higher being, he sure isn’t counting on them to help. It’s up to him.

So he tells Hanazawa, “Thank you.” It’s all he can say. Everything else gets stuck in his throat.

Hanazawa understands. He pats Ritsu on the shoulder before heading out. It’s not that they weren’t getting along before. But they were never this close. Nii-san would be happy to see it, even if it’s only because he…

Ritsu shakes his head. Tonight. They’ll figure it out - all of it. Then Nii-san won’t have to be alone much longer.

#mp100 #mob psycho 100

[fireflysummers]

Mob Psycho 100 Fanfiction I Have Loved The Stars Too Fondly

Forced to live through his worst nightmare, Mob searches for the strength to overcome himself.

(Mob wins. But at what cost?)

Shigeo hasn't stopped screaming since Hanazawa called him back from the darkness. Although nobody could hear him, he screamed for them to run, begged them not to stand and fight.

(Nobody listens. He leaves them, broken in the rubble behind them. Familiar faces, people he had fought against, fought with...all united to stop him)

There had been a moment of hope when he saw the man--the President of Claw--descending on them to fight.  Whether out of anger or resentment, he'd thought for a brief moment that the man wouldn't hold back. That he could end this, once and for all, before anybody else got hurt.

But people change. He knows that better than anybody, and the disgraced leader of Claw was no different. Although he fights at full power, full of arrogance and pride...the man has a debt to pay.  Even as Shigeo struggles against himself, to contain his power for a fraction of a second, to give an opening that could end things...Suzuki Touchirou chooses to spare him.

After all this time, it seemed the lonely, bitter man was finally growing up.  Shigeo can't even fault him for that.

In the end, he flees, leaning heavily on the son who had despised him.

(It would not be so bad, to think that his words and his actions hadn't been for nothing. It would not be so bad if the cost of good deeds was his damnation.)

And then Ritsu is there.

He doesn't even see him coming, but he's suddenly there, standing directly in Shigeo's path.

There's terror in his little brother's eyes. He's not trying to hide it. Yet he stands stalwartly, trying to hide the tremble in his hands.

No matter how he begs and cries, his brother remains. No matter how he struggles to regain mastery of his powers, it's too much and he's too little.

Despair closes in, and still Shigeo struggles, refusing to stand idly while the world crumbles around him. Begging, pleading, even as his soul stretches and tears under the strain of trying to compare himself. As the threads of his very being begin to fray.

And suddenly, he remembers.

It always comes when he needs it most, the last stand against the darkness.  The strength of the soul he didn't realize he had.

100% Courage

Shigeo feels it come, the swelling power at his very core. Courage to stand for what is right. A power for protection, a power for saving others.  The only thing that he's ever wanted.

It's not enough, he knows, to reign in the massive, animalistic power, as raw and feral as the ancient world itself.  At the est of times, he used it to cap the power, the contain it, but now? The container is broken, and there is no way to capture it all.

And so he lets it go.

Shigeo's footsteps falter, then come to a stop a few inches from his younger brother. The bouquet hangs, barely intact, fingers curled loosely against the ragged celophane. An eerie stillness hangs in the air.

And then, as though the world had been holding its breath, it sighs. The power that Shigeo had amassed, returned to the earth around him.

It should have been an explosion, but it isn't. There's something gentle directing the massive flow of energy, pooling and restoring the mass of destruction left in its wake.  It isn't enough power to contain such massive energy. Perhaps no power on earth could contain it. But he could do this much. Shigeo knew he could.

Ritsu watches in wonder as cracked streets heal themselves, and building erect themselves from rubble. There is a creaking and groaning as the laws of entropy themselves are  reversed. And then his eyes return to the face of his brother, no longer twisted in an empty, feral similitude of the person he knows and loves.

Shigeo looks back, eyes gentle and calm and bright. His hair floats around him, suspended in the air in an ethereal way. Tears trace down his face, down his chin, a peaceful smile lingering on his lips.

"Nii-san," Ritsu breaths out, hesitating, still afraid to touch his brother. "Are you...are you all right? You're bleeding, what happened?"

"I did it, Ritsu." There's satisfaction in Shigeo's words, and they would have sound excited if he didn't already sound so, so tired. "I finally did it.  I was afraid I'd never master it...but I think I won, in the end."

"You...yes, you did, but do we need to go to the hospital, Shige?"

Shigeo's smile turns just a little bit sadder. "I don't think they can help me now, Ritsu."

Ritsu stares, uncomprehending.

"My vessel is broken, and I couldn't fix it. I managed to stop the power from exploding out of me, but....that's all." Mob hums, a bit to himself, "I think Hanazawa is still hurt. Will you...will you make sure that he's okay, Ritsu? And ah. You're friend, Shou. He was here too. And the 7th Division Claw members. And...Ritsu? Ritsu why are you crying?"

Ritsu is looking at the ground (unbroken) beneath his feet, fists clenched and tears streaming down his face. He grits his teeth, trying to control his shaking breath. It's a fight he loses, the words breaking out in broken sobs.

"Why are you so worried about other people!" he manages, "You should be worrying about yourself!"

"Oh. Ah.  I thought. Well. There's nothing you can do for me. There's nothing anybody can do for me." Slowly, as though moving through water, Shigeo reaches his arms forward, pulling his younger brother into a hug. Even then the movements are stiff, and it's up to Ritsu to hold him tight enough to hurt. Shigeo doesn't even flinch.

"I'm sorry Ritsu," he says.

He's out of time. He can feel the last swell of power fading, his soul itself stretching and fading like dying embers.

"Take care of mom and dad," Shigeo says, "And Master Reigen. Please. For me."

"I will," Ritsu mumbles, face buried in Shigeo's shoulder, "I'll make you proud, I promise."

"Thank you. I'm sorry."

And then everything comes to a grinding halt, the world reforming in the wake of a new power.  Shigeo recognizes it immediately, and doesn't try to fight it. Knows he doesn't stand a chance were he to try.

"I don't think that my body will be of any used to you, Mogami-san." The threads tying him to this world are snapping, one by one, but here, in the mind world, time crawls to a halt. Shigeo is so, so tired, but there is still business to attend to it seems.  "I don't have the power to stop you, though, anymore."

The shadow at the edge of his mind doesn't react, but it appears to glower at him. They remain that way, precious limited time slipping, slipping away.

"So you're really satisfied?" the grudge asks at length, aware that time is limited, "You're fine with just...vanishing now."

Shigeo hums without any real commitment, but that seems to anger the spirit more.

"Pathetic. After everything you've done coming to nothing, you're willing to just roll over and die," Mogami snarls, coming closer, a vibrant mass of wrathful energy.

"I did fight," Shigeo says simply, "I won. I think that's why I'm moving on, and I'm not trapped here like you."

"Just because I'm gone doeesn't mean that everything was pointless either, Mogami-san.  Maybe you're right, and that there's no real point to being born. But I think that just because something wasn't born with value, doesn't make it worthless.  I think...I was worth something, in the end. So. I'm not afraid."

Shigeo pauses. "I'm sorry I couldn't help too, in the end."

Mogami rears back, as though struck, then lunges forward as though to attack. Shigeo  doesn't flinch, doesn't try to move. There's not enough power in him left to fight this.

The blow never lands. Instead he feels Mogami's presence rear back, then vanish altogether.

With a sigh, Mob relaxes, expecting the mind scape to fade, and with it the last of his time.

But the mindscape doesn't fade, held together by another power beyond his own. There's somebody else with him  now, a familiar aura. But unlike Mogami's, this one is...comforting.

There's a man standing beside him, tall and dark, eying him with a shrewd, disapproving glance. Eventually, the man lifts a hand and places it on Shigeo's shoulder, solidifying the ethereal form that was beginning to fade entirely.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Shige-chan?" the man asks, annoyed aloofness disguising genuine concern.

Shigeo smiles. "I thought I told you I'd exorcise you, if you ever called me that again Dimple."

The man shrugs and grins, his human form so different from the spirit Shigeo had known, yet so much the same. "You'd be hard pressed to do that now. I've more or less moved on, whether or not I wanted it."

"I see," Shigeo says. He takes a step closer, leans forward, and gently rests his head against Dimple's chest. For a moment, the spirit stiffens, unsure of what to do with this, but eventually settles on rubbing soothing circles into Shigeo's back.

"I'm happy I got to see you again. I didn't get a chance to say thank you."

"What for the broccoli thing? I'm pretty sure I caused the whole trouble in the first place."

"No. More...in general. Thank you, for being my friend," Shigeo explains, "I'm glad that you're here now. I would probably get lost, trying to find my way to rest."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there."  Dimple pulls away from him then, hands on both of Shigeo's shoulders. "What's with this quitter talk? I didn't come all this way just to have you die on me."

"I don't have the power," the boy replies, and his voice is sad but still unafraid.

"I'm well aware." Dimple crosses his arms and scowls. "At the end of the day, it's always about you having enough power to save everybody else. It seems to me that it's about time that somebody repaid the favor."

Mob stares at him, uncomprehending.

Then he feels the aura gently sweeping through him--his physical body and mindscape, healing the cracks and rubble much like he had done to the city around him.  His ethereal form begins to solidify, grounded and gaining strength.

"Consider it a parting gift," Dimple says, taking a moment to ruffle Mob's hair.  The spirit's form is fading now.  "My thanks to you, for showing me the way. And for waiting so long to uphold my end of the deal to come home later."

"I'll see you later, partner.  But not too soon, you hear me?"

And then Dimple is gone.

His mind and soul and body are still fractured, Shigeo is sure of that.  But the way forward is clear now, and so he gathers what little strength he has left...and returns.

#mob psycho 100 #mp100 #kageyama ritsu #kageyama shigeo #dimple #mogami keiji #ekubo #my fanfiction #my doodles

[avecorviidae]

Fic: Aubade - Chapter One

Fandom: Mob Psycho 100 Rating: M Relationship(s): Kageyama Ritsu/Suzuki Shou Word Count: 4196

Ao3 Link

Ritsu takes the overnight train from Grain City. His mother had told him to take the day train, given that they both knew he wouldn’t sleep on the ride home, and it would be better for him to arrive in the evening and go straight to bed, instead of arriving at dawn and spending all day trying not to fall asleep. She was probably right, but Ritsu was more or less an insomniac anyways, and night trains tended to be far less crowded, so. If he didn’t have to sit anywhere near a small, loud child, it would all be worth it.

He leans against a stone pillar on the platform and waits for the train to pull in. Despite the heavy summer air, the stone is cool at his back, seeping into his t-shirt and providing a pleasant contrast to the hot coffee in his hand. It should be cooling down a little soon, he thinks, staring at the sky, painted in soft pinks and oranges that darken into a deep red where the sun has disappeared behind some distant mountains. He cranes his head in the other direction to see where inky blue is starting to appear on the horizon, fading abruptly into the soft light of the sunset in broad strokes. It reminds him of the time he and Mob had found their mother’s watercolours when they were little, and decided to ‘decorate’ Ritsu’s bedroom walls. He spots a couple of white pinpricks in the distance, and distracts himself with trying to figure out if they’re stars or planes until the train pulls into the station, stopping at the platform with a shuddering sigh.

The only other people who would take an overnight train all the way to Seasoning City are a small crowd of salarymen making a commute for work, and Ritsu is infinitely thankful that they all seem to be as tired and antisocial as he is, because he finds himself alone in a passenger car aside from one dead-eyed guy in a suit who sits as far away from Ritsu as he’s physically able. Ritsu dumps his backpack onto the seats across from him and sits down, careful to hold his coffee steady as the train starts to pull out. He’s found that he can usually pack light when he’s going home for breaks, so his backpack just has the essentials. His wallet, phone charger, laptop, toiletries, a couple of books, a jacket, and some clean underwear are all he really needs to grab. While he knows that his brother’s old bedroom has been converted into a sewing room of sorts since he moved out, his mother has been loathe to change Ritsu’s room at all, so all of his clothes and such will still be waiting for him at home.

He settles back in his seat and lets himself stare out of the window as the train speeds up, until the station and the outskirts of Grain City fades away and the landscape turns into an indistinct blur. After a while, he remembers to pull out his phone.

TO: SHIGEO Got on the train, I should get into town early tomorrow

His phone buzzes with a response about a minute later.

FROM: SHIGEO Ok, be safe! You should try to get some sleep :0 If you tell me when youre getting close, me and Teru can pick you up at the station

TO: SHIGEO Im going to get here pretty early, youll probably still be asleep But thanks You should sleep too, ill see you tomorrow

FROM: SHIGEO Ok, see you!! <3

Ritsu wrestles with his pride for a few moments before sending back a ‘<3’ and shoving his phone back in his pocket.

He lets himself sit for another while, sipping on his drink and grimacing. Eugh. Cheap train station coffee is only tolerable while it’s too hot to taste. Still, he’s spent money on this, so he’s committed now. Night’s fallen quickly, and now when he looks out of his window, all he can see is murky blue, and the vague lights of some buildings in a city off in the distance. They’re just far enough outside of the city that Ritsu thinks he might be able to see the stars, except that the glare from the thin LED strips above the window is reflecting off of the glass too much to see anything but his own face.

A chill settles over the compartment. Not a bad one, or a particularly ominous one, but without the sunlight, the speed of the train and the air conditioning is enough to make him shiver in his thin shirt, reach over to grab a hoodie from his bag.

He shouldn’t leave himself alone with his thoughts, he knows, even as he continues to stare off at nothing. He’s notoriously introspective at this time of night, and he knows he’ll work himself into a panic if he just starts thinking, about this past year and himself and what he even wants to do… He shakes himself out of it. Come on, dumbass. You’ve got ten hours in here, let’s make it past the ten minute mark without dealing with this again. He should distract himself. Read, or play on his phone, or something, but as per usual, he can’t really bring himself to drag himself out of his daze. It’s an oddly comforting feeling, his mind retreating to the point that he barely feels real, like nothing actually exists in the pitch black beyond the window.

Time passes haphazardly, like it’s having trouble squeezing into the stale air of the compartment. His eyes lazily trace patterns on the ugly fabric of the chair across from him for what feels like minutes but could be hours, and despite the caffeine, he finds himself nodding forward, eyes blurring and drifting shut. By the other door, the nondescript businessman has pulled out his laptop and has been typing something for an indeterminate amount of time, and he latches onto the steady tap tap tap tap of the keys, the rapid taptaptaptap when he’s hitting the backspace, turns it into white noise in his mind that blocks out his actual thoughts.

He almost, almost jumps when his phone vibrates in his pocket again. FROM: YOUR FAVORITE ;) yo r u awake

TO: YOUR FAVORITE ;) Yes. what do you want, shou? FROM: YOUR FAVORITE ;) omg why r u up its like fuck in the morning s l e e p anyways teru says ur on ur way back to seasoning u didnt drop out right

He squints at the text, momentarily confused, until a glance at his phone’s clock informs him that it’s almost one in the morning. He must’ve actually fallen asleep for a while. He has a sneaking suspicion that the businessman over there has a very, very close deadline.

TO: YOUR FAVORITE ;) I told you what date i was coming back home a month ago. You know. When i planned this trip. Shockingly, shou, college students get summer break too.

FROM: YOUR FAVORITE ;) i was busy!!!! i forgot!!!!!! how long r u in town :3

TO: YOUR FAVORITE ;) Two weeks. Im just dropping by to see my family and sleep for a while, really.

FROM: YOUR FAVORITE ;) and get a haircut

TO: YOUR FAVORITE ;) And get a haircut.

FROM: YOUR FAVORITE ;) anyways it is like 1 am u should be sleeping

TO: YOUR FAVORITE ;) So should you. I’m on a train, what’s your excuse?

FROM: YOUR FAVORITE ;) :p

Ritsu snorts quietly. Stunning argumentation as always, Suzuki.

He wonders absently if Shou will be around. He’d stayed a couple of cities over for high school, but he’d started travelling as soon as they’d graduated. Apparently, there’d been some overseas business of his father’s that he had to take care of now that he was eighteen, so Ritsu hasn't seen him at all this last year, even during Christmas break. It hadn’t stopped Shou from texting him almost nonstop, however, regardless of different timezones. He wonders if Shou’s even in the country right now. Is it really worth it to get his hopes up, though? He’s already excited to see his brother, and Teru and Reigen, and his parents, so there’s no point in being disappointed if Shou has business elsewhere. They’re not kids anymore, it’s stupid of him to expect Shou to drop whatever obligations or responsibilities he might have to show up in Seasoning City, just to see Ritsu.

His phone buzzes with a new message.

FROM: YOUR FAVORITE ;) hey do u know if ur mom still makes those rlly nice weird caramel cookie things i miss them deeply almost as much as i miss ur dumb face ive almost forgotten what ur angry frown looks like

—

He pauses at the front door, hand resting on the doorknob.

Auras are still… interesting, to Ritsu. Even despite six or so years of being able to use his powers, he still doesn’t really get the buzzing frequencies of energy that roll off of espers in waves, resonating with something in the back of his mind, like plucking on a violin string pulled too tight. He’d eventually gotten used to people’s auras, of course. His brother’s, he’d grown up with. Teru’s was a brainfreeze and a burn all at once, a rush of blood to the head that was strange, but not entirely unpleasant. Shou’s was, well. Shou. He hadn’t realized that places had auras as well. Standing in front of his house, though, he can feel it enveloping him like a blanket right out of the dryer, can feel it in the strange places that his powers seem to manifest, climbing in pinpricks up his arms and heavy at the roof of his mouth, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. It’s achingly, painfully familiar, and it’s only been a year, but he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed living in a place that’s lived and breathed psychic powers, that’s still imbued with them despite both of its resident espers moving out, and this house feels like home.

Mob is on him almost before he’s through the door, arms wrapped tightly enough around his shoulders to knock the breath out of him. Mob is only a few inches taller than him, but Ritsu is still struck with the feeling of being encompassed by his brother, and it feels in a sense similar to the aura of their house, but there’s something different, something uniquely Mob about it.

Ritsu lets himself enjoy it, hooking his chin over Mob’s shoulder so that he can return the hug without getting crushed completely. “Hey, Nii-san, what are you doing here?” He should be at his own apartment, theoretically. After all, it’s not like he has a bed here anymore.

Mob loosens his grip on Ritsu enough to take a step back and look him in the eyes. He beams at him a moment before his smile is dampened a little by sheepishness. “Ah, well. We thought we’d spend the night so that we could be here when you arrived.” Ritsu has a moment to think ‘We’? before Teru appears in the front hallway, weird hair and atrocious green sweater and all. “Hey, Little Brother!” he calls out with a wave, before weaving around Mob to give Ritsu a hug of his own. “Don’t call me that,” he scolds, whacking him on the back of the head even as he’s letting Teru try his damndest to squeeze him to death.

Teru and Mob have set up a fairly impressive pillow nest on the couch, and the TV is still on low volume, the tail end of some competitive cooking show marathon. That was a ‘thing,’ with these two, for some reason that Ritsu couldn’t understand. They just tended to be stupid competitions with stupid people who’d decided to embarrass themselves on television. Mob had told him it was “kind of stressful, but Teruki likes it, so it’s alright,” while Teru called it a “valuable bonding experience”. Ritsu wonders, sometimes, if all people in relationships are this weird, or if it’s just these two.

Once Ritsu has sneaked past his parents’ room and dumped his bag in his (as predicted, completely unchanged) room, he collapses onto the sofa with them, infinitely grateful for a chair that wasn’t actively trying to murder his back. For the rest of the train ride back, he’d had the good sense to shove another hoodie in between his neck and the window, and it had served as a pillow well enough, but God, his neck was killing him. Well, at least he’d come out of it better off than the businessman, who’d walked off of the train with an imprint of a keyboard on his forehead. Teru curls the other end of the sofa and Mob sits in the middle between them, pulling a pillow into his lap. Ritsu flops down with his head on it, scooching around until he’s mostly comfortable.

The silence that falls over the room is drowsy and comfortable, despite the muffled screaming coming from the television set. He knows that when his parents wake up in a few hours, there’ll be a barrage of hugs and wet kisses and questions about his school and his dorm and his grades and his friends, and a thousand other things that had always seemed so important this last year, when they took up every waking moment of his time, but thinking back now, feel so minuscule and pointless, just part of the drivel of everyday life. So for now, he’s content to let his eyes glaze over until the light from the TV fades into a blue haze that fills the room and lulls him into a sense of nothingness. He must fall into that grey area between asleep and awake, because at some point he becomes aware that Mob and Teru are talking, but he only catches snippets, keeps drifting off too much to follow the flow of the conversation. He catches, “-opening up the office this week? Shishou said…” from his brother, and something like “Ugh, please, no,” from Teru. Mob comments at some point on Ritsu falling asleep, and he’s not, not quite, but he’s also not nearly awake enough to dispute the fact. The only time he properly wakes up is when he feels Teru’s socked toes poking his head, playing with his hair. “-have got to cut this,” he’s saying, and his voice is soft and syrupy-slow, so Ritsu guesses he’s not too far off from sleep himself. “I mean, I know he’s got college and everything, but would it kill him to buy a pair of scissors?” Ritsu attempts to respond, but he all that comes out of his mouth is a series of jumbled word-sounds that are half-muffled by the cushion in his face, so he has to take a moment to blink himself awake and reorient himself before he can mumble, “I did trim it.” It’s not his fault if his hair is gravity’s natural enemy. And sure, he could actually get himself a proper haircut in between breaks, but in his defense, he doesn’t have to pay Teru.

“This is it trimmed? I’m actually scared to imagine you growing it out.”

Ritsu makes a noncommittal hmm noise, just for the sake of acknowledging that something was said. He blinks slowly at the wall on the other side of the room, having to take a moment to remember where, exactly, he is. The TV has been turned off at some point, so the only light in the living room is coming from the windows, whatever muted grey light has managed to slip above the horizon and filter through the clouds. It’s not quite dawn yet, Ritsu thinks, but it will be soon. He thinks he could probably get up now, maybe should get up, and weighs the option in his mind. Pros: good coffee and food in the kitchen. Actually being awake at a normal time to talk to everyone today. Cons: this sofa is very comfortable and warm. He manages to make himself turn his head to look up, and sees that above him, his brother is either already asleep, or most of the way there. Listening carefully, he can hear Teru’s breathing shift into something that’s just a little too close to snoring to be conscious. The movement, however small, makes something twist in his stomach and crawl up his throat, the weird sort of nausea that screams too early! Waaaaay too early! Well, if nobody else is awake…

—

He actually, properly, really wakes up to the sound of his mother talking, and the smell of something sweet filling the house.

“Shigeo, close the bedroom doors, or the whole house will smell like cinnamon!” Teru shouts back, “You say that like it’s a bad thing!” and Ritsu hadn’t realized that Teru was still on the sofa with him, so it almost scares him out of his skin. He feels toes poking at his head again, sharper jabs than earlier, and he has to take a moment to admire his brother’s willingness to compromise in a relationship, because really, even on a sofa, who sleeps in their socks? Teru’s voice is gentle when he speaks, as if he hadn’t just bellowed halfway across the house. “Hey, Ritsu, you should wake up. Your mom is making breakfast.” Ritsu rolls onto his back, groaning and blinking blearily at the ceiling as he listens to the distant sound of the bedroom doors shutting. Mob has somehow extracted himself from under Ritsu at some point, because his head is a lot lower than he remembers, and he can hear his voice from somewhere else in the house. Not loud enough to catch what he’s saying, but gentle and distinct enough to identify it as him. His mother’s response is drowned out by the clattering sound of a pan or a pot in the sink, but he’s guessing that Mob must’ve been sent to fetch them, because Ritsu hears, or… wait, no, more senses him approaching. He’s always had a little bit of trouble distinguishing his psychic sense from his physical ones when first waking up. He’s staring, eyes half-lidded, at a little dark speck on the off-white ceiling, so he can only really see a vague idea of Mob’s location as he comes up to the back of the sofa, leaning over to speak quietly to Teru. “Is he awake?” “I think so? His eyes are certainly open, but that doesn’t mean much with him, does it?” Mob laughs softly, more of a quick exhale than anything. “Not really. I’m setting the table. I’ll come and get you when it’s done.” He can’t be certain, but he’s pretty sure that Mob just leaned down to drop a kiss on Teru’s head, so he does his duty as a little brother and makes a face. It’s brattish, sure, and above his maturity level by far. He likes Teru quite a bit, and they’ve had mature, adult conversations in which Ritsu described in precise detail exactly what he would do to Teru if he ever hurt his brother intentionally, but, well. He did just finish his first year of college, so he’s reserving the right to be childish and annoying at least once. He leans his head back until he can make eye contact with Teru and stick his tongue out. Teru, smug bastard that he is, just raises an eyebrow and says, “Ah, I guess he is awake.”

Mob, still leaning over the back of the sofa, beams at him. “Ritsu! Morning. There’s French toast, are you hungry?” He hadn’t really noticed until this exact moment, but holy shit, he is starving. Sure enough, as soon as he steps foot near the dining table, his mother and father are all over him. He manages to get through his mother’s almost violent physical affection with minimal injuries, just by virtue of being much taller than her. His father’s bear hug, on the other hand, is a whole other ordeal. Still, he finds himself sat at the dining table with a plate in front of him, with Mob on his left, and Teru sat on the short end to his right. Despite quite a bit of it being about him, most of the conversation seems to pass right over his head, with Teru and his brother fending off most of his parents’ questions. Most of them seem to be just for the sake of chatting during breakfast, seeing as they already know what his roommates are like, how he likes his professors, and how he did on his finals. His mother had made a habit of calling him at least once every week while he was away, “just to check in”. It always feels like family dinners with Teru and his parents should be unspeakably awkward. Sure, his parents seem… okay with Mob and Teru, at least to their faces, although they seem convinced that either Teru and Mob are just really good friends, or that Mob is eventually going to get over this “phase of his” and marry that nice Takane girl he’d gone to school with. Bad enough that he’s not even going to school, he’d overheard his father say once, without this nonsense on top of everything else.

Still, Teru has something of an irresistible personality, a natural charm that has only grown under Reigen’s watchful eye. A single sentence and a sweeping gesture could enrapture a whole room, and he could talk you out of your life savings and leave you thanking him for it. Turning up the charm for his boyfriend’s parents is hardly any effort at all. Spirits and Such is lucky to have him. Ritsu is certainly grateful for the way Teru sends his parents’ questions flying back at them with a smile, leaving Ritsu to work his way through his toast and gulp down coffee until he feels at least marginally alive.

It also doesn’t hurt Teru’s case that he insists on helping to clear the table, and offers to do the dishes until Ritsu’s mother actually kicks him out of the kitchen.

Ritsu’s still feeling a little hazy; Shou has described jetlag to him, and although he knows it has to do with timezones, he’s starting to think it might also be a general lethargy that comes with travelling long distances. Still, he’s awake enough to thank his mother for breakfast, and walk through to help Teru and Mob to fold up just about every blanket in the house, and put them back in their rightful places. Ritsu ends up with an old fluffy blanket piled in his hands, bright green with little cows printed on it, and he’s already halfway through the door to Mob’s old room before he remembers that there’s no bedroom in here anymore. He squints at the makeshift studio, trying to recall what it had looked like before Mob had moved out. The bed had been by the closet… No, they’d moved it so it was by the window eventually, so he could keep it open during the summer. His desk had been replaced by a bigger one, with an old-looking sewing machine plugged in on top of it. He feels like the room had been so much bigger when his brother had been in it, although, admittedly, he hadn’t had much stuff to fill it with. Now, between the desk, the piles of fabric heaped around the room, the… well, he assumes they’re quilts… it feels cluttered. Unfamiliar, certainly. Where did this stuff even come from? I don’t recognize any of it. “Ritsu?” Mob’s voice snaps him out of his thoughts, and he makes his way quickly back to the living room, pausing to shove the blanket into a hall closet as he passes. Teru starts speaking to him as soon as he’s in the room, even as he’s simultaneously typing on his phone at a frankly alarming speed. “Oi, Ritsu. We’re not opening the office this week, but we should probably head over there later today. That way, you can see Da- uh, Reigen, and I’ll take care of your hair quickly. Get it over with, you know? We can go out to lunch and stuff afterwards.” That last bit strikes Ritsu has odd, said with a tone that’s just barely on-edge,  like Teru thinks he needs some incentive to go out with them. Still, it probably doesn’t really matter. He’s probably just trying to think of a way to get Ritsu to agree to eat at one of the bizarre, alleged ‘restaurants’that he seems to frequent. So, Ritsu sits down on the sofa beside Teru, saying, “You just can’t stand to look at my bangs falling in my face anymore.” Teru neither confirms nor denies, just keeps typing, which is enough of an admission in itself. “Yeah, sure, sounds like a plan. I just need to shower and stuff first.” Teru nods. “Yeah, Mob’s already getting ready. I was thinking we set off in, oh, forty-five minutes?” “Alright.”

#/ #// #/// #//// #///// #robin fic #mp100 fic #fic: aubade

[yaminerua]

I Need A Favour...

Pairing: Shou Suzuki/Ritsu Kageyama

Word Count: 5200

Notes: I got a prompt from @science-boner a little while ago for a fake-dating AU and this is what I eventually did for it. It’s more like the set-up to that scenario though. First time writing these two so I can only hope they turned out ok.

Summary: Shou has a favour to ask of Ritsu and it’s one that he could never have possibly seen coming.

(on Ao3)

If Ritsu had learned anything from knowing Shou it was that it was best to always be prepared for unexpected surprises. It had been the same when they’d first come to know each other and it remained that way even now.

There was an explosive spontaneity to his thoughts and actions sometimes that somehow always seemed to catch him off-guard no matter how hard he tried to be ready for it, to be ready for anything that he could possibly say or do. And just when he was beginning to think he knew what to expect, something new and entirely unpredictable would happen instead.

Some things, however, were thankfully much easier to predict than others. There was a certain regularity to their occurrences that he’d grown used to after a while, a pattern he’d learned to recognise, like the sudden visits in the middle of the night or random phone calls in the early hours of the morning… At least he knew to expect those. It made it a little easier to accommodate them when they eventually happened.

And there were other things too that he’d picked up on and adapted to. It was a given, for example, that when they hung out he’d find an arm slung casually over his shoulders, or feel the press of Shou’s weight as he leaned comfortably against him. He didn’t really seem to have any concept of personal space and although that had irked him greatly to begin with he’d found with time that it didn’t bother him so much anymore. It was just what Shou did. He was used to it.

What he was still not used to – and he suspected that he was probably never truly going to be - was the sheer absurdity of the things that left his mouth sometimes. It was as though a spark would suddenly ignite in his brain and he’d just let it shoot up like a firework, too caught up in the spontaneity of the moment to actually pause and consider just what kind of nonsense he was coming out with. It wasn’t necessarily a frequent occurrence, but it happened often enough for him to accept that he needed to learn to be ready for it.

 Dragging his fingers through his dark hair, Ritsu bit back a yawn and rubbed his eyes. Last night’s study session had been a strenuous one and it had lasted well into the early hours, his head finally hitting the pillow at around 5 in the morning and remaining there uninterrupted for the next several hours.

He awoke at 11 to discover that he had one missed call on his phone and somehow he knew without needing to check that he could probably guess who it was from. Who else would attempt to call him at 6:15 in the morning?

There was an unread text notification too, also from Shou:

 Man you must be tired if you slept through 10 rings. Catch ya later then!

 Pulling himself upright into a sitting position, he dug the heel of his palm into his bleary eyes, still heavy from sleep, and frowned groggily at the screen. He’d never understand where all of Shou’s boundless energy came from, especially considering how frequently he stayed up late.

Dragging himself to his feet, he fired back a quick, Long study session, sorry… as an explanation and made his way downstairs for breakfast.

Shigeo, it seemed, was already out. Probably an early exorcism job over at Reigen’s office, Ritsu assumed and he physically felt his face twitch into a grimace at the thought.

A light breakfast and a quick tidy-up later he was soon heading out the door himself. The weather was bright and pleasant out and likely to stay that way. A little on the chilly side, perhaps, but not enough to warrant heavier clothing.

His phone vibrated in his trouser pocket and he flipped it open to be met with an array of various emoticons and an unreasonably elongated spelling of the word ‘nerd’. He rolled his eyes.

 Wandering about for a bit he eventually settled for sitting himself down on one of the benches at Ankle Park, watching his breath make little miniature clouds in the chilly air. He received a message from Shigeo not long after, telling him that he’d likely be back late because one of Reigen’s clients lived further afield.

It took far too much effort to keep from rolling his eyes. He was probably never fully going to appreciate or understand what his older brother saw in his master – especially since all he seemed to do most of the time was use him for his psychic powers – but if Shigeo really didn’t mind all that much he supposed it wasn’t his place to complain…

He busied himself typing out a response for a bit, asking whether he wanted dinner left out for him or whether he’d be getting food on the way back and if he could estimate roughly when he could expect him home.

At some point in the middle, his brows knitted together in a frown as he became aware of a sudden strange prickling sensation spreading along the back of his neck, a sort of barely-detectable resonance present in the air, like static, reaching out and tickling the hairs on his skin in waves. If he’d been anyone else, or the person he once used to be, he probably wouldn’t have noticed it. He certainly wouldn’t have recognised it.

Sending his message away promptly, he then flipped his phone shut with a click and let out a heavy, exasperated sigh.

“Morning, Suzuki…”

As expected, there came a sharp huff of disappointment from behind him, followed almost immediately by the sound of movement as Shou Suzuki clambered his way over the back of the bench and sat himself down in the vacant space next to Ritsu. He was pouting a little but his blue eyes were shining with amusement.

“It’s no fun if you’re not at least a little surprised,” he whined, a playful moodiness to his voice. “I thought you’d be too caught up texting to notice.”

Ritsu scoffed at that. “Speak for yourself,” he said, a discreet little smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

Shou seemed to almost consider holding his pout a little longer but decided against it and traded it away for a grin instead, laughing heartily as he leaned back and draped his arms lazily over the back of the bench.

They fell into easy conversation after that, Shou talking away inanely about his latest misadventures while Ritsu listened and provided commentary wherever an opening presented itself. At one point, in response to a particularly sarcastic remark, Shou gave him a light-hearted nudge in the side and fell against him laughing and when he finally straightened up again he made no effort to re-establish the distance between them, instead opting to remain close, his elbow resting comfortably on Ritsu’s shoulder and his right knee lightly grazing Ritsu’s left.

Ritsu made no comment on this, nor did he attempt to push him off. This was normal for them and truthfully, their close proximity was also helping to minimise the bite of the air’s chill so he really couldn’t complain. It was just the same casual intimacy as ever except - Ritsu noticed with a slight frown - that Shou’s leg seemed to be a lot more restless than usual.

He shot a sideways glance at him, watching as he told some story about something funny his hamster had done. His ears were red at the tips, as was his nose, and he was probably just a little less appropriately dressed for the cool weather than Ritsu was. His frown deepened.

By now he felt he could say quite confidently that he had become fairly good at recognising when someone he knew was feeling off. It was almost second nature to him at this point to be able to spot when his brother was troubled by something and over time he’d learned to recognise Shou’s tell-tale signs of unease too – the crease in his brow, the downward tug at the corners of his lips and an increased fidgety restlessness to name but a few. At the moment he currently seemed to be displaying only one of those.

Sensing his stare, Shou’s words trailed off and his expression faltered slightly, a single eyebrow raised in curiosity. “What?” he asked cocking his head to the side, his lips quirking awkwardly into a lopsided smirk. “You’re staring at me all funny, what is it?”

Ritsu didn’t say anything straight away. He wasn’t really sure what to say. He could ask what was wrong, of course, but he somehow doubted Shou would really give him a proper answer, especially here in public. It would, however, let him know he was free to talk about it later if he so wished, which was better than just ignoring it he supposed.

As it happened, it didn’t really matter what he decided to say. No sooner had he opened his mouth to speak than he was interrupted, a yawn tearing its way ungracefully through any words he might have been going to say.

Shou snorted loudly beside him in response and burst into laughter, the sound erupting forth before he could do anything to stifle it, not that he would have tried very hard. From their close proximity Ritsu could feel the way his body quaked and though he met his amusement with a glare he couldn’t really say he felt any genuine irritation over it. It was his own fault for staying up so late after all.

With a gentle shove and a half-hearted mutter of, “At least I spent my time productively,” which garnered another snort of amusement from Shou, the two settled into a companionable silence.

A reply from Shigeo came through soon after and Ritsu busied himself typing a response, and likewise Shou seemed comfortably preoccupied with his own phone, nimble fingers tapping away with practiced expertise at some game app he had open, his leg still jittering away rapidly - though Ritsu suspected it was more from excitement now than whatever it had been previously. He was still curious about that but he figured that he’d find out what had been behind it in due time if Shou decided to disclose that information - and if he knew Shou, he knew he could probably expect a call later tonight that would explain everything.

Sending his response off to Shigeo, he relaxed a little on the bench and let out a slow breath, watching it spill out into the air, coiling like tendrils of smoke and lingering for a few moments before a soft breeze whisked it away.

The park was relatively quiet today, the only other passing visitors having been a few dog walkers and an elderly couple. Even the little playground, which on warmer days would normally have children clambering all over it and playing happily, was quiet and still. The sky up above was a pale wintry blue, dotted here and there with thin splotches of cloud and the trees all around the park were mostly bare, their leafless limbs swaying gently with every little gust of wind.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ritsu saw Shou lower his phone, slipping it away into his pocket and resting the palms of his hands on the tops of his thighs. Both his legs were moving now, his feet tapping the ground incessantly as his fingers drummed an erratic rhythm into his jeans. He looked uncomfortably restless and it also seemed as though he was deliberately attempting to avoid making eye contact, his head turned just enough away so that his face wouldn’t be visible from where Ritsu was sitting. If he were to guess, though, Ritsu was sure that that little crease had formed in his brow by now and a look of seriousness had taken up residence across his features.

He watched quietly for a few moments, pretending not to have noticed and wondering what in the world was making Shou so antsy. He’d seen him like this a few times in the past and ordinarily he’d just brush off any questions about what was wrong only to call him up later to finally spill the details. Ritsu had just assumed he liked the detachment that a phone call offered. It felt less personal that way and sometimes that was better. Ritsu could get that.

With a brief flash of guilt, he recalled the fact that he had slept right through Shou’s attempt to call him this morning. Had that call been related to whatever this was about?

He frowned, recalling those previous times where Shou had called at some ridiculous hour at night baring a much more vulnerable side to his character that Ritsu had never encountered before. They’d spent hours talking over the events of the attack on Claw and the mistakes Shou’s father had made and Ritsu would listen to him talk it all over until he’d exhaust himself and fall asleep with the call still live between them. It had opened his eyes to say the least and made him much more careful to ensure he didn’t sleep through his phone’s ringtone if it went off.

It had been a while since the last time they’d had one of those calls though, and even longer ago since the battle with Claw had met its conclusion. Ritsu had thought that perhaps Shou had come to terms with the way things had turned out and found some sort of solace in the way things were now but as he sat there feeling him positively vibrate with nerves beside him he was almost certain he had been mistaken.

Lost in thought and gearing up to finally ask what was wrong, regardless of whether he’d be answered, Ritsu didn’t even notice the way Shou anxiously rubbed his palms down his jeans before balling his hands into fists so tense his knuckles turned white, nor did he notice the very abrupt and sudden way that his jittering motions ceased.

Sitting very still and quiet, Shou sucked in a slow, shaky breath in through the nose and then exhaled heavily, forcing the tension he’d been holding in his shoulders to depart with his breath.

“Hey, Ritsu,” he said suddenly, startling Ritsu out of his thoughts, his voice a little hoarse, his throat uncomfortably tight. “Can I ask you a favour?”

Ritsu hesitated to answer, surprised by Shou’s sudden question and curious about what he had in mind. He wasn’t really sure what to expect. It could be anything, really. It could be as simple as asking him to buy something because he’s got no money on him or it could be something much more extreme and much more dangerous. There was just no way of knowing for sure.

His brow creased into a frown as he considered it and then he nodded once, slowly, before realising Shou couldn’t actually see him and instead opting for a cautiously asked, “What kind of favour?”

There was a moment’s pause in which Shou took in another steadying breath, evidently steeling himself for whatever it was he was about to say and Ritsu felt his hands tighten their grips on each other ever-so-slightly in apprehension. He was a little anxious to know what this was all about but he was at the very least certain that he could handle whatever it was – that he was ready for it.

Ritsu Kageyama, it seemed, had still not learned that it was impossible to be entirely ready for anything that might come out of Shou Suzuki’s mouth.

Whipping round very suddenly to face him, Shou’s hands planted themselves firmly upon each of Ritsu’s shoulders, gripping him tightly as he looked him dead in the eye and said with absolute seriousness and a hint of desperation, “I need you to be my boyfriend!”

A beat passed. Then another. Ritsu sat transfixed, frozen in an utterly stunned silence, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging slightly agape as his mind attempted with great difficulty to process what had just happened. It was like adding two and two and ending up with spoons. It didn’t make sense.

He was floundering, and with every new second that passed by he was also becoming acutely aware of how awkward it was that he wasn’t responding but what could he say? What could he possibly say when Shou had just asking him to… to…

The penny dropped and comprehension flooded him instantly, a sudden intense heat shooting up his neck and spreading up into his cheeks and out to the very tips of his ears setting his entire face ablaze. Internally, his stomach seemed to flip so violently that he wouldn’t have been surprised if it had twisted itself into something more reminiscent of his misshapen spoons. Of all the things he could have expected Shou to say, of all the things he could have possibly asked of him, this was honestly the last thing he would have ever thought he’d hear.

He was blinking rapidly now, his mouth flapping uselessly as he grappled desperately to find something – anything – to say in response to this. His whole expression was contorted in a mixture of utter consternation, astonishment and something that looked a little bit like horror.

Shou seemed to notice this, because his freckled face suddenly flushed a vibrant red colour that rivalled his hair and he waved his hands around frantically in front of his face in a sudden panic. “No, no no!” he cried. “Not like that! I mean – yeah, kind of but, like, not official! I just– It’s just– I mean– Ugh…”

He lowered his head and dragged his fingers through his hair, a heavy groan escaping him as he attempted to get himself back under control with little success.

Ritsu on the other hand seemed to have at least managed to recover from his initial shock enough to be able to speak again. He sat stiffly, a curious but wary stare fixed upon Shou’s hunched form as he waited for him to compose himself. “You’re… uh… going to have to explain,” he said quietly, cursing the pounding of his pulse in his wrist as he gripped it tightly with his other hand.

Shou let out a frustrated sigh and sat up, pulling his hands down his face and breathing in deeply. His ears were red with embarrassment and his cheeks had a rosy dusting of pink across them. His hands repositioned themselves either side of his head, index and middle fingers pressed to his temples as he took in another steadying breath and let it out. “Okay,” he said, trying to relax his shoulders a little. “Okay, okay. That came out a little– kinda– you know…”–he gestured vaguely with his hands, trying to find a way to explain himself– “But I didn’t mean it to come out like that! I mean, I did but I also didn’t? I just…”–he paused, frustrated, and pinched the bridge of his nose–“Boyfriend. Fake boyfriend, I mean. That’s what I meant.”

Fake boyfriend. Okay. That still wasn’t making a great deal of sense but it did alleviate some of the initial panic that Shou’s words had injected into Ritsu’s system. It took away some of the gravity of the request, made it something a little lighter, a little less serious, and relieved Ritsu of the frankly terrifying prospect of having to genuinely figure out his own response. A fake boyfriend request he could handle much easier than a real one.

To be quite honest, he wasn’t even all that sure what he’d say if this had been the real deal. The very fact that he couldn’t with 100% certainty say that his answer would be ‘no’ made something strange and unfamiliar flutter inside him and he wasn’t sure he liked the feeling.

Shaking himself from his thoughts and realising Shou was probably expecting him to speak, he gathered his expression into something he hoped looked calm and collected and fixed his friend with a searching stare. “Fake boyfriend?” he echoed, looking for confirmation that he’d heard correctly. “That’s what you said, right?”

Shou nodded twice, stiffly, his expression unreadable. Ritsu, momentarily at a loss for words, simply mirrored the action, processing this information slowly. “Okay…” he said quietly, raising a quizzical eyebrow. “And you need this because…”

He saw Shou breathe deeply and look away, a sheepish expression across his face. Bringing one hand up to scratch awkwardly at the back of his head, he left the other to tap anxiously against his knee, which was starting to jitter again ever-so-slightly. A strangely shaky laugh escaped him, his lips quirked in a shape that was trying its best to resemble a smile and honestly Ritsu didn’t think he’d ever seen such an uncomfortable display from Shou in all the time he’d known him. It was more than a little disconcerting.

“Well,” he started eventually, evidently struggling to find the best way to explain his situation. “I guess you could say I messed up.”

That didn’t really clear anything up – Shou knew that – but it was a start. Under the weight of Ritsu’s expectant gaze however he couldn’t help but feel like the whole explanation was going to sound a heck of a lot dumber than he’d like it to. He really regretted getting into this mess now…

“Okay, so… I’ve been speaking to mum a lot more recently. You know, fillin’ her in on how I’m doing and stuff. And, well…”– he glanced at his knees, fiddling with a stray thread on his jeans, clearly reluctant to make eye contact – “I might have… accidentally told her I had a boyfriend.”

“Accidentally,” Ritsu responded flatly, a dubious expression across his face. “How do you accidentally do something like that?”

“It was an accident though!” Shou cried defensively, brows pinched together in a scowl, his ears reddening again in embarrassment. “I swear! I was just going to tell her I’d made some new friends, that’s all, but… well…”

He trailed off with a shrug and Ritsu knew he didn’t necessarily need to hear the end of that sentence but he finished it for him anyway. “But you said ‘boyfriend’ instead?”

Shou hummed in response, apparently fascinated by the fraying edges of the holes in his jeans, and Ritsu resisted the urge to drag his fingers through his hair in frustration. So Shou had slipped up. Big deal. He could fix that easily couldn’t he? All it would take was a little clarification and then-

“I know what you’re thinking,” Shou said suddenly, dragging Ritsu out of his thoughts again.

“Oh?” was all he supplied in response.

“You’re thinking I could just tell her it was a mistake and clear the whole thing up that way, right?” He didn’t wait for confirmation on Ritsu’s end. “Well, sure, I was gonna do that. Soon as it left my mouth I knew I was gonna have to do something about it but…”

His shoulders sagged and his head lowered and he fell silent again, his expression clouding over into something unreadable.

“But…?” he pressed gently, leaning forwards slightly. “Suzuki?”

Shou closed his eyes and sighed heavily, letting his whole body sink lower into a slouch against the bench. His gaze was fixed skyward, a dull, distant look in his usually bright and clear eyes. “I couldn’t do it, Ritsu,” he said quietly, in a voice he usually only reserved for those private, deeply personal phone calls. “She got so excited the moment I said it and I couldn’t just let her down. After all the stuff that happened with me and pops… hearing something like that was probably some pretty great news for her, you know? So I just… went with it.”

Ritsu blinked. “Went with what?”

“The boyfriend thing. I just rolled with it. Made up some stuff to tell her. I figured I could just keep it going for a little while and then at some point pretend it’d just gone back to friendship or something like that.”

“Why can’t you still do that? Why do you need to get me in on this now?”

Ritsu felt he had a point with that question. Why did Shou need to get him involved? Or anyone for that matter? If he was just feeding her some make-believe stories with a view to gradually talking his way out of this mess then why did anybody else need to come into the picture at all? The only thing he could think of was if perhaps Shou’s mother had asked to see a photo of this ‘mystery boyfriend’ her son was telling her about. He could understand then if maybe Shou needed someone to pose for some probably deeply embarrassing fake couple selfies with him or something but it all still just felt very unnecessary. Shou was clearly making a bigger deal of this than he needed to.

The redhead’s face had crumpled into something resembling a grimace at Ritsu’s words and as he watched he saw him swallow thickly. “Well,” he said slowly, peeling his eyes away from the sky to fix Ritsu with another sheepishly awkward stare. “She’s kind of… coming to visit… Soon.”

Oh.

Oh…

Shit…

Ritsu’s mind blanked. She was coming to visit!? Well, that changed everything. Now it made sense why Shou was so urgently in need of someone to play the role of the fictional partner he’d fabricated but why of all people did it have to be him? And why was this all being thrown at him on such short notice? He had virtually no time to prepare. This wasn’t like a test that could be studied for in advance. This was more like being pulled to the front of the class and being randomly quizzed on a topic you know absolutely nothing about…

Shou seemed to sense the sudden heavy block of icy dread that had dropped into Ritsu’s gut because he let out a short laugh and seemed to nod his head in understanding. “Yeah, I didn’t see it coming either. She messaged me about it last night and I freaked out. Threw all my plans right out the window…” He tilted his head slightly, eyebrow raised and a kind of desperate curiosity burning in his eyes now. “You’ll help me out though, right? You’re the only one I think can pull this off.”

That wasn’t necessarily true was it? Hanazawa actually had dating experience and seemed like the type to be able to fake his way through something like this pretty convincingly. The only problem was that he wasn’t all that well acquainted with Shou. Maybe that was why Shou had gone straight to him instead. That and the fact that past experience had shown Shou just how reliable Ritsu could be, both as an ally and a friend. This obviously was important to him if he was trusting him with it…

He stayed quiet for a moment and then, eyeing Shou warily, enquired, “What exactly will I have to do?”

“Ah, I dunno,” Shou replied rather unhelpfully. “Nothin’ too crazy. Just enough to look convincing, you know? Like…” He placed a hand to his chin, brows knitting together in concentration as he considered what exactly he was going to ask of his friend. The rosiness of his cheeks darkened several shades and his expression twitched oddly a few times before he shook himself and spread his arms in a broad shrug. “I dunno, just simple stuff. Just try to look like you like having me around, yeah? And don’t flinch if I try to hold your hand or something.”

Ritsu felt the palms of his hands heat up automatically at the mere thought of that and he stuffed them stiffly into his pockets, his stomach doing some weird somersault inside him that left his insides feeling very disorientated. What was with all these nerves? It was just Shou, damn it!

He took in a long, steadying breath and let it out again, cursing the tension coiling in his chest and the heat rising up his neck making him feel uncomfortably warm despite the chilly air around him. Okay, he told himself firmly, willing himself to calm down and mulling over his options. If he agreed to go through with this he’d probably only need to keep it up for just a little while and even then he wasn’t going to need to do anything too drastic. Shou had said so himself. He could probably just let Shou handle most of it anyway and just follow his lead. He’d just play his part, help his friend out and then everything would go back to normal.

“Okay…” he found himself saying before he’d even really come to a final decision himself. “Okay, fine. I’ll do it.”

He heard Shou breathe an appreciative sigh of relief beside him and saw him visibly relax where he was sitting, his expression softening into something a little less on-edge, the curve to his lips easing into something a little more natural and a lot more familiar and then it cracked open into a toothy grin and he slapped a firm hand to Ritsu’s back with a yell of, “Thanks, Ritsu! I knew I could count on you!”

Ritsu rolled his eyes and forced his shoulders to loosen up a little. He hadn’t even realised how tense they’d become. “Yeah, yeah,” he said, brushing Shou’s hand off and pushing himself to his feet, deciding that he could really do with something that would settle his fluttering stomach right about now. “You can start paying me back by getting me a hot chocolate or something. Come on.”

There came a whine of protest from behind and Ritsu couldn’t help but smirk at the reluctant pout that formed across Shou’s face at the prospect of paying. “No fair! I didn’t bring enough for both of us!”

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to go without.”

“Nuh-uh! I’m starving! I didn’t eat this morning!”

“Is that my fault?”

“Ritsu!”

“Is it?”

A gentle elbow in the side pushed a laugh out of Ritsu’s chest and all of his lingering tension seemed to depart right along with it. It felt good to fall back to their usual rhythm again after the weird start their morning had taken.

As Shou fell into step beside him, elbow resting on Ritsu’s shoulder trying to pull him down to his level and a moody scowl boring into the side of his face, he was already starting to forget what he’d been so worried about. Maybe he’d even have a little fun with this whole thing. How bad could it be?

 “Oh, hey actually I was thinkin’ I should maybe use a nickname or something for you while my mum’s here, you know? To make things more convincing. How about Ricchan?”

Scratch that. He was clearly making a big mistake…

“Call me that and I will fake break up with you right in front of her…”

But then again… he’d made worse mistakes than this hadn’t he?

#ritshou #shouritsu #shou suzuki #ritsu kageyama #mob psycho 100 #nerua fics #im sorry if this is a little off. i tried