Work Text:
Spirits and such was quiet today. It wasn’t uncommon for them to get a slow day or two but that didn’t make the boredom any easier to deal with. Reigen languidly leaned back in his chair, pointing his face up to the ceiling and letting out a heavy sigh. He had done everything he could, or well everything he had the energy to do. He could organise the filing cabinet which had accumulated a pile of unorganized case reports, payment records and the like but that was best left to when they were closed. When there was no chance of a client walking in as a mess of paperwork and boxes was strewn across the floor.
Reigen looked over as a noise disturbed the quiet of the office. Serizawa was making his third cup of tea in an hour. No doubt the slow day was affecting him as well. Reigen turned his head to see how Mob was faring.
He was hunched over his desk, a look of confusion taking over his features. From where he was sat Reigen couldn’t make out what Mob was working on but it was likely math. They both shared that struggle.
He took a moment to watch Serizawa sit back down with his new cup of tea before Reigen clapped his hands together. He leaned forward and stood abruptly, the office chair rolling back further than he intended, with the force of his movement.
‘’Right, I think it's time for a break. Anyone up for some takoyaki?’’ Reigen exclaims, both espers' heads turn, a look of relief for a distraction on both their faces.
‘’Serizawa mind holding down the fort?’’ Reigen asks shooting him a slight apologetic look for leaving him here but they’d get a distraction soon enough once he was back with the piping hot takoyaki.
‘’Of course! I mean ye-ah yeah I can’’ Serizawa responded stumbling over his words. Reigen had watched how Serizawa had grown so much more confident since his first day here. Pride overwhelmed him for a moment, knowing how he could trust Serizawa to deal with walk-ins or calls without worry. His customer service skills had improved so much, and his confidence even more so.
‘’You wanna come with me Mob? You look like you could use a break.’’ Reigen asked, earning a small smile from Mob.
‘’Thanks Master but I want to finish this question first. I’ll take a break when you come back’’ Mob replied earnestly. He had been working hard at his studies since he became a third year, which often meant he had less time to come by the office but it made Reigen happy to see him working so hard.
‘’I’ll be back soon’’ Reigen said as he grabbed his phone and wallet. Near running out of the office at the chance to stretch his legs and get some fresh air.
—
A lone man watches as the psychic ‘Reigen Arataka’ leaves the building, hiding in an alley nearby.
The same man who had cursed him.
Made his life miserable.
His face contorts to one of anger, a snarl spreading across his face. He begins following behind him, sticking close but far enough so as to avoid being seen.
—
A chill runs through Reigen as he walks, a feeling of nervousness takes hold. He looks around briefly but doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary. He shakes off the feeling not being one for baseless paranoia.
He continues forth making it to the usual takoyaki spot, buys it and begins his walk back. He forgets about his previous worry as he settles back into a confident stride.
A hand creeps out from the alley as he passes by.
His mouth is covered by a strong hand as his back is forced against a dirty wall. The rough surface scratching against his back. The hand over his mouth is removed but is quickly replaced by a forearm pressed against his throat. He tries to push the assailant but finds his right arm is being pinned by the man's free hand and his left side held down by the man's body.
‘’Son of a bitch you fucking cursed me didn't you!’’ the man yelled, spit flying onto Reigen's face as he holds his breath to avoid gagging at the smell of the man's rancid breath. Reigen takes a moment to collect himself before attempting to talk the man down. There wasn’t much point yelling, the street was empty at this time and he couldn’t risk angering the man in case he had a weapon.
‘’I’m sorry sir but you must be confused, I assure you we don’t offer such services’’
Reigen says putting forth his best customer service smile hoping to placate the man, trying and failing to talk with his hands.
The arm across his throat presses him closer to the wall.
His back digs further into the wall behind him, the cold damp seeping into his skin causing him to shiver.
‘’B-but we do offer cleansing rituals if-’’ Reigen is cut off as the forearm across his throat presses him impossibly closer into the wall leaving him sputtering. He tried desperately to breath gasping again and again uselessly for air. His hands twitch trying to get free but the man just tightens his grip. His wrist would likely have an ugly bruise to match his neck after this.
‘’I know you fucking cursed me that bastard Takeshi was in here just last week don’t lie to me! He fucking got you to curse me and I fucking lost my job and my wife left and it’s all your fault you piece of shit!’’ The man snarled, rage contorting his features.
Reigen remembers a man by that name coming in, asking to have a coworker of his cursed. Reigen had refused, but after hearing the client out suggested he take his problems to his superiors. From what Takeshi described the man was often harassing the women in the office and being aggressive to the men. Takeshi in particular due to his cubicle being next to the man. At this moment Reigen wished he actually did have the ability to curse people, at least then he might not be shoved up against a dirty wall struggling to breathe.
Well he guesses he was partly to blame for this guy losing his job but from this brief encounter Reigen surmises that that was going to happen one way or another.
The man continues to scream in Reigen's face about all his bad luck. Going on and on about things that had nothing to do with Reigen whom the man had decided was to blame for all this.
Guess it was his fault for being unlucky enough to enter this guy's orbit.
His arm loosens momentarily giving Reigen the chance to talk his way out of this. Something he’d usually excel at, but the lack of oxygen to his brain was making it hard to think.
Still he tried again offering apologise and cleansings through his coughs and gasps for air. Before he’s able to finish a fist swiftly lands across his cheek.
Pain blooms across his cheek.
The man continues his tirade.
Reigen takes this opportunity to try and fish his phone out of his pocket, the man having left his arm free in order to get a hit in. He fumbles around in his pocket, trying as best he can to dial Serizawa’s number without the man noticing.
The man finishes his yelling. No longer distracted, he notices the movement of Reigen's arm ripping it from his pocket.
His phone falls. Half of Serizawa's number on the screen.
The forearm over his throat is removed, letting Reigen take in a much needed lung full of air before he’s thrown to the ground. He lands harshly, the side of his head smacking down on the concrete. Before he has a chance to recover the man climbs on top of him, using his body to pin his arms and legs down.
A punch is thrown and another, and another.
He could try calming the man again, now that the arm that was once shutting off the air from his lungs was now preoccupied throwing punches but what would be the point. There would be no trying to reason with a man hell bent on venting his frustrations.
Reigen was just unlucky enough to be this man's target.
That didn’t mean he was going to lie down and take it though. He may not be able to get his way out of this but he sure as hell wasn’t gonna let this guy wail on him without getting a few jabs in.
‘’You wanna know the real reason you lost your job and wife’’ Reigen slurs out. The man pauses in his tirade.
‘’Cause you’re a piece of shit asshole that couldn’t treat a person with respect to save your sorry ass. In fact your head is so far up your ass tha-’’ Reigen's cut off as his head is slammed into the concrete beneath him.
His vision blurs, bile rises in his throat.
Time passes.
A phone rings.
—
Serizawa’s leg begins to bounce under his desk.
Reigen had been gone far longer than he should’ve been, the trip there and back should’ve only been around 15 or 20 minutes. It had been over half an hour.
He had gotten better at regulating his stress, objects didn't float around nearly as often as when he first started working. They no longer had clients asking if a poltergeist was in the office at the very least.
However, the ferocity at which he was shaking his leg rattled the desk to the point pens began rolling off.
‘’Calm down, I’m sure that guy’s fine’’ Dimple began, not wanting to watch the two worryworts in the room have full meltdowns. Mob was just as bad as Serizawa, his fingers tugging at themselves, a bad habit Reigen had been trying to get him to break.
‘’It’s never taken this long for Master to get takoyaki before’’ Mob adds, his worry growing by each passing second.
‘’He’s probably trying to shirk responsibility and is taking the long way back.’’ Dimple adds. Trying to avoid the two espers wrecking the office as their powers grow with their unease.
The air was thick with a nervous static energy.
‘’Master wouldn’t do that. He always comes back fast with takoyaki so it’s still hot and he doesn't like to leave the office long’’ Mob states.
Dimple quiets at that knowing that Reigen was too much of a workaholic to skive, and loved his takoyaki too much to wait long to eat it.
Worry festers in Serizawa's chest as Mob and Dimple go back and forth. His hand clutching his phone looking down at the string of messages he sent. It had been 10 minutes since the first message and still no reply. Reigen always answered his phone quickly.
‘’Maybe we should go look for him. We could do with stretching our legs anyways’’ Serizawa says his attempt at a calm smile coming out more strained than intended. He wasn’t good at putting on a smile for people like Reigen was.
The three of them head out of the office, putting up the closed sign and locking the door. Reigen wouldn’t like that they closed early but both him and Mob were becoming too anxious to focus, a client coming in now would prove disastrous.
They walk down the streets taking familiar turns down to the stall they often go to after a long day.
‘’Did you guys try calling him yet?’’ Dimple says, floating along behind them.
‘’Well I left a couple messages but no’’ Serizawa replies as Dimple heaves a sigh.
Serizawa quickly puts in Reigen's number, fumbling around for a moment before successfully calling him. His phone began to ring and in the distance another rang.
Mob runs ahead turning the corner first.
He’s met with the sight of a large back and a fist reared back with specks of blood decorating the knuckles.
He reaches his arm out holding the man back with a swirl of pink, purple and blue. His aura swirls around the man before another is added, the combined force sending the man flying back. Mob looks back briefly watching as Serizawa's aura crushes down on the assailant holding him in place before running to his Master's side.
He watched on as Reigen gasped harshly, his throat covered in ugly bruises. Blood trickled down his head covering the ground around him in a blanket of red.
‘’Master!’’ Mob exclaimed.
Glazed eyes turn to his direction a moment passes before recognition kicks in.
‘’I-I’m alright Mob’’ Reigen tries, his voice tight, teeth grit.
‘’I thought you were going to start lying less? you look half dead.’’ Dimple states unconvinced by Reigen's attempt at undermining the situation. Hovering over his face he takes note of the damage.
Reigen flaps a hand over his face lazily, lacking the finesse of his usual gestures. He places his hand back down on the floor and starts pushing himself into a sitting position.
Mob's hands flail as he tries to both support his master in sitting and get him to stay still. Serizawa rushes over, the assailant now hovering just outside the alley.
‘’Dimple-’’ Serizawa starts.
‘’Yeah yeah I’ll possess the creep’’ Dimple cuts in floating away.
‘’Reigen please stay still, we need to get you to a hospital’’ Serizawa tried. His plea landing on deaf ears as Reigen continues to try and stand, blood flowing in heavy streams down his face meeting with the blood steadily flowing from his nose painting his face a messy shade of crimson.
Mob reaches his hand out steadying Reigen with his powers, too scared to touch him more than that for fear of adding to the damage.
Reigen lurches forward and begins to dry heave, before throwing up blood and bile. Serizawa takes over and holds Reigen steady, rubbing his back gently.
‘’Mob could you call the police and an ambulance?’’ Serizawa says, his voice tight with anger and worry. Mob nods, fishing out his phone.
‘’No no don’t need’’ Reigen tries his voice slurring between harsh coughs.
‘’You need a doctor Reigen’’ Serizawa replies, his voice firm with no room for argument. Reigen quiets his protests. He didn’t have the energy to argue.
Not right now. Not as his vision blurs with every wave of pain that hits him. Not as warm arms hold him steady.
Not as his consciousness starts to fade.
—
Bright light shines down on him.
His eyes struggle to focus. White encompasses all he can see.
As awareness creeps back in he notices alongside the white he can feel warmth. He tries to move his wounds screaming in protest. Though the pain feels duller than it should.
He manages to look to his side.
Mob lay asleep on his right, holding his hand and using his bed as a pillow.
He hopes it isn’t a school day. He’s not sure what day it is or even the time everything feels fuzzy.
On his left a large hand holds his. Serizawa leans back asleep in his chair. His expression is peaceful but the grip on his hand is firm.
Maybe it would be okay to just rest right now. He has his two favourite people next to him, it would be selfish to disturb their peace.
He closes his eyes and focuses on the warmth to lull him into a gentle sleep.