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“I didn’t know you had a kid, Reigen.” Tome says, looking down at the frame in her hands. Reigen looks up, confused, and his eyes catch the empty spot next to his lamp. Panic laces through him as his eyes shoot back to Tome.
“Hey! Be careful with that!” Reigen urges, standing from his seat to take it back. Teru gets to it first, plucking the drawing from Tome’s hands.
“Wow, you had this on your desk? You must really love this kid,” Teru jokes, laughing a bit at the old image. Reigen huffs, because yes, he does love that kid a lot. Then it’s taken by a curious Serizawa, who hums.
“I think it’s cute, sir,” He says, smiling softly at the childish pencil strokes. Then Ritsu deems it his turn to see.
“Wow, your kid must take after you a lot, this sucks.” He frowns, but he’s lying. Reigen is suddenly very amused with this bit they’re doing.
“You think so?” He asks, and Ritsu nods, very sure of himself. “ Well , really shows how much you know, since it was your precious Nii-san that drew it!” Reigen announces. He then begins to cackle at Ritsu’s horrified expression while he attempts to grab the frame back. Ritsu holds it away as he stammers.
“N-No, I didn’t mean that- I think it’s really good!” He tries, his face reddening. This just makes everyone in the room laugh, but the chuckles and giggles die down immediately at the sight of Mob entering the office.
“What’s really good?” He asks, looking around and seeing the frame in his brother’s hand. Ritsu drops it in surprise, and Reigen nearly cries as it connects to the ground, shattering. Silence echoes through the room after, and Reigen can only look down at the shattered remains.
Mob easily comes to the rescue, though, and the desecrated frame is picked up, with every piece of glass. They fuse back together as they land in the boy’s waiting hands.
Looking down at the hairline cracks still visible, he deems it fine, but then his eyes catch on the paper inside. It takes him a moment to recognize it, and his face immediately flushes. Embarrassed, he looks around the room once more, before landing on Reigen this time.
“Thanks for the save, Mob, I don’t know what I would’ve done if that got damaged.” Reigen says, a little breathy in relief. He steps forward to take it back, but Mob steps away, making Reigen frown in confusion.
“You kept this?” Mob asks, eyes darting back down to look at it again. Reigen scoffs, like it’s one of the dumbest questions he’s ever heard.
“Of course I did- it’s like, the most important thing I own.” He answers, stepping forward again, but Mob, in similar fashion to Ritsu, steps back and holds it away.
“I’m sorry, Shishou, but I’m throwing it away.” Mob replies. Reigen’s jaw drops and he takes another hesitant step forward.
“Let’s not do anything too rash, Mob,” Reigen tries, feeling sweat begin to perspire onto his forehead.
“Yeah, don’t destroy it, Kageyama-kun, it’s so cute!” Teru says, smiling at the odd situation. Impossibly, Mob turns more red- he brings the frame up to hide his face.
“Teru-kun saw?” Mob asks, mortification clear in his wide eyes as his hair begins to float. Reigen winces, realizing just how embarrassing this must be for the boy.
“Ah, yeah, he did- but he thought it was cute, not embarrassing, r-right, Teru?” Reigen says, attempting to at least try to deter the boy from destroying it.
“Yeah, it’s adorable- I wish I could know the story behind that!” Teru agrees, and Reigen immediately perks up at the opportunity.
“Really? Well, it was from the early days, about a year and a half after I started Spirits and Such, and I want to say… six months after Mob started working for me? I was having a rough day- rowdy complaining clients, the air conditioning stopped working, my laptop was giving up on me- I was this close to calling it a day when Mob-” His recounting is cut off.
“Shishou…” Mob whines, even more red somehow. Reigen chuckles at his embarrassment, and slaps a hand on the boy’s back.
“Hey, I’m getting to the best part! Mob here comes up to my desk, all shy, and hands me this drawing! It made my day- no- my life! I got it framed as soon as I could- which, I’m sure was the day after. It’s been on my desk ever since!” Reigen finishes.
“That’s so cute! Just thinking about baby Mob-” Tome cuts herself off, actually looking at Mob and thinking about it. “Nevermind, you probably looked exactly the same, just smaller.”
“Yep, same hair, just different clothes.” Reigen agrees.
“Hey, don’t talk about my brother like that!” Ritsu demands, his eyebrows furrowed and his hair fluttering a bit.
“I’m just stating facts, Ritsu- There’s nothing wrong with staying in your comfort zone. He still looks just as adorable now, even without the baby fat.” Reigen replies, reaching up and ruffling Mob’s bowl haircut.
“You’re starting to sound like our mom.” Ritsu says, looking a bit green.
“He’s always sounded a bit like mom.” Mob admits- making Reigen the embarrassed one this time.
“Wh-what?” He sputters, confusion and bafflement clear on his face.
“Oh, yeah, even I can say that- He acts exactly like my mom.” Tome agrees, then she frowns like she’s rethinking it. “Nah, actually, I think he’s worse than my mom.” She continues.
“I am not like your mothers, I am a childless thirty-year-old man!” Reigen argues, not actually too heated about it, but flustered and embarrassed.
“I don’t know, Reigen-san…” Serizawa says in a jokingly condescending way. Reigen’s head swivels to look at him, betrayal obvious.
“Not you, too, Serizawa!” Reigen mourns. These theatrics cause everyone to laugh, and even Reigen cracks a smile- laughs are contagious no matter how you’re feeling.
“Yeah, I mean, I’ve never been really close to my mom, but if I was, I think I’d want her to be like you, Reigen-san.” Teru admits. Reigen feels a little choked up at this, and he finds himself at a loss of words- what are you supposed to say to something like that?
“What? Overprotective and annoying?” Ritsu asks, looking just as confused and baffled as Reigen originally was. Teru shrugs.
“Kind, I guess. Loving? I don’t think Reigen’s over protective. Maybe if he was acting the way he does with a normal child. With the situations we get ourselves into though, I think it’s warranted to be worried like that.” Teru explains, chuckling a bit.
“ I’m a normal child, and he’s just as bad.” Tome argues.
“You’re all normal children- what are you talking about?” Reigen asks, genuinely not sure what they mean.
“We all have psychic powers, Shishou.” Mob tells him.
‘ Oh ’ Reigen thinks, blinking at the ignorance clearly radiating off of him.
“That doesn’t count!” Reigen defends, feeling a bit too strongly on this subject.
“Why wouldn’tthat count?” Ristu asks, because he loves trying to prove Reigen wrong with sound logic. Reigen frowns, but he knows he’ll win- he’s always right about this.
“It doesn’t count because psychic powers don’t change the fact that you’re normal kids. Just because you get into slightly dangerous situations- plenty of kids your age do the same thing, maybe just on a different scale…” He admits the last part slightly under his breath.
“That’s stupid- I could smash every window in this building- I could set off every car alarm on this block!” Ritsu replies, crossing his arms in defiance. Regien scoffs, waving his hand a bit.
“ Anyone could do that! Your psychic powers don’t make you different or-or special- It’s like being book smart, or having high metabolism! None of that matters when it comes down to who you are- or what you are. Clearly, you’re all normal children with too much time on your hands.” He says, passively rolling his wrist around. Mob smiles at the familiar words, while Teru’s eyes sparkle in awe, obviously also recognizing them. Ritsu and Tome roll their eyes though, clearly not accepting the words.
“Now if you guys would… I don’t know- go get some lunch or something- you’re making the air stale with your teenage angsting.” Reigen continues, giving them all a shooing motion. He takes this opportunity to grab the frame back from Mob’s hand. The boy blinks, but accepts it easily, giving another soft smile before walking to the door to hold it open for everyone.
“ You’re stinking up the place.” Ritsu grumbles as he walks past. Reigen gives his hair a tousle as well, not able to help himself. Ritsu gives an undignified squawk, quickly leaning away and reaching up to tidy the strands back down.
Once Tome and Ritsu walk out the door, Teru pauses and gestures for Mob to go first. Mob nods and gives the door to Teru, who follows after him. He nearly lets it swing shut, but he stops to pop his head back in.
“I wish my parents were half the type of person you are, Reigen-san.” Teru says, an odd melancholy joining the awe in his gaze. Reigen doesn’t get a chance to respond before the kid is shutting the door shut fully, already off joining his friends.
Reigen just blinks at the echoing quiet in the office before looking down at the framed drawing, and then to Serizawa, who’s still smiling softly. Reigen’s face burns slightly at the expression, but also the horrible realization that rings through his head.
“I accidentally adopted four children.” He echoes his thoughts, looking back down at the drawing again- and to the hairline cracks showing the evidence of today’s chaos.
“Five if you count Shou- he’s over nearly as much as Ritsu.” Serizawa adds, maybe a bit smug. Reigen glares at him with no real heat.
“You’re trying to give me a heart attack?” He asks with faux annoyance. Serizawa gently takes the drawing from Reigens hands, and Reigen surprisingly lets him. The taller man looks at the drawing with a vulnerable softness, before turning the same expression to Reigen, fondness joining the original two.
“I think it’s sweet, sir.”