#personally i think mobs parents know about reigen. and that reigen is responsible enough to not hire a child without his parents permission

[cloudbends]

something I feel like isn't nearly appreciated enough about mob's arc in mp100 is that his background is... Completely normal. I see a lot of people interpreting mob's parents as neglectful or distant based on the few scenes we've seen of them, which greatly baffles me because their few scenes aim to establish his family life as.. completely normative. They have the normal, average quips of a normal family. And I think it's very unique and refreshing because it means mob's troubles and internal hardship isn't a product of his upbringing, it's a byproduct of a traumatic experience and of his own personality and how it coalesces with his psychic powers. And I personally think more media should acknowledge that some people, even with perfectly normative and healthy familial dynamics and circumstances, will still develop very complex internal issues and personal psychology. and on the same note, some people with perfectly normal upbringing won't feel comfortable to confide in their parents and seek an external authority figure to look up to, which doesn't necessarily mean them and their parents are estranged. I dont think mob's (or ritsu's) life have to be unhappy to legitimize or explain the fact he has the personal struggles he does. Embracing normalcy is the main theme of this series.

[dontforgetthedragon]

i wanna talk about hanazawa teruki

(preface: written before the eric trump thing)

yes this is a weird time to be talking about mp100 i know but i was rewatching the anime recently and its only starting to occur to me just how bad i feel for this boy

like, i feel that the first time i watched mp100 my impression of teru was just feral wildchild who speedruns his redemption arc and also has the worst fashion sense but, like, there’s a lot more complexity to our boy teru than that

and its not really until s1 ep11 that it really clicked that the root of a lot of teru’s actions is that he is a child who has been fundamentally failed by the adults in his life

we dont know an awful lot about teru’s parents, other than the fact that he doesnt live with them and, from the manga, we learn they are almost always away on business trips. ekubo theorises that the reason for this is that he has had to hide from claw over and over, so it’s possible he distanced himself from them for their safety. but regardless of the exact details, the fact is they were clearly unable to protect him from the threats in his life. those were things he had to deal with on his own

when we the viewers first encounter hanazawa teruki, shadow leader of black vinegar middle school, it is when he is sent for as a last resort and as the school’s secret unbeatable weapon. he is the one everyone else is relying on, while he relies on no-one but himself. no wonder he developed such an inflated sense of his own importance and power!!! no wonder he thinks hes untouchable!!! when has anyone in his life ever been able to do a better job at anything than him??? he can use his powers to solve all the obstacles in his life - cheat at tests, do well in sports, get popular, win fights - when other people have problems, they come to him

when he has problems, he cant really go to anyone - not even his flakey parents. because if he cant deal with them, whats the likelihood anyone else can? he has to solve it all himself - but at the point we first meet him, he’s always been able to. so whats the big deal, right?

but thats a precarious place to stand

teru doesnt get to learn and fail and make mistakes like a child should. he doesnt have that safety net. his entire approach to life thus far relies on him always succeeding, so he needs to already be the best. success has to be a given because it is this belief that makes up the very foundations of his world, that makes him feel safe and stable. so his reaction to discovering shigeo’s existance is about more than just threatened pride, its about threatened stability as well. because if shigeo is stronger than him, then that means people can be stronger than him, that any mundane-looking person could be. that his ability to thrive by himself is not guaranteed

what happens to him then? he doesnt have anyone to fall back on

(its important to stress that feeling safe and secure is more important to him than being safe and secure. the extremity of his reaction speaks more to a maladaptive psycological response than something actually helpful)

and then he is beaten. soundly. and he has to accept that

it puzzled me in my first watch-though how quickly teru goes from extreme aggression towards and nearly strangling mob to genuine friendliness and even affection. but with this understanding it makes perfect sense

we see from teru’s attempts to speak to claw members that on the surface he has absorbed and understood shigeo’s words. no-one is more important than anyone else. seeing yourself as the main character of the world or as inherently more deserving because of psychic powers is a huge mistake. but your subconcious feelings and beliefs are harder to change and by the end of ep 11 it becomes clear that, for teru, these have simply shifted from i am the most important and powerful character in the world and i cannot be beaten to kageyama-kun is the most important and powerful character in the world and he cannot be beaten. which isnt much better

once he accepts his defeat and relative irrelevance, letting go of his pride, it must have been a relief for teru to know an esper more powerful than him. especially one like shigeo, who showed such a stubborn desire for friendliness and civil relations toward him, even in the face of teru’s open aggression. finally, teru has someone he can turn to for help. someone he can rely on when things get too tough to handle himself. someone else to hand that responsibility to

he goes after claw because he feels that with mob on his side he stands a fighting chance. when ritsu and teru both admit their powers arent enough, its shigeo they turn to. when the group are being attacked by multiple scars at once, teru is the voice opposing reigen, screaming out in desperation - while fending off attacks with increasing futility - that mob needs to do something, that he’s the only one with the power to defeat them

the issue is, thats not fair on shigeo

teruki’s unstable and neglectful upbringing has left him with a warped sense of the kind of responsibility a middle schooler should hold. the idea of turning to an adult for help, or even giving an adult’s words any weight, is completely foreign to him at this point because, in his experience, age has little bearing on power or even effective authority. he’s had to make his own way through life without adults to rely on, so he genuinely doesnt understand the issue with putting this burden on shigeo’s shoulders. they need to defeat the scars attacking them, and kageyama-kun is the one with the power to do it. ergo, kageyama needs to use his power to defeat the scars. whats so wrong about that?

teru isnt really a sad character; he’s very practical about his situation and we never see him wallow in bitterness at these injustices. but im also not sure he actually realises how much childhood growth and development space he’s been robbed of, and that makes it hard for him to face his own failings

[writing-radionoises]

afterlife

ship: background terumob and ritshou, implied seirei

genre: angst with a bittersweet ending

prompt: mob tries to cope with death and learns he's really bad at it

notes: autistic mob is canon because im autistic and i said so

--

Reigen was always good at reading people, me particularly.

He was better than Ritsu, who had lived his whole life around me, and better than Teru, who was arguably horrible at the task.

Reigen knew me better than anyone I knew. 

He could tell what percentage I was at before I could even spill the numbers.

Even though he was never as great as he said, and I had known he was a fraud for years, I do believe that somewhere deep down, Reigen did have an ability.

Reigen passed the year after I graduated high school, so I guess we'll never really know.

It was a couple months ago, but I'm still not strong enough to talk about it.

I'm struggling to live as an adult without him.

There's no one who can really understand my situation as much as he did.

Even though I love Ritsu and Teru dearly, and they're working hard to get in the level Reigen was once, they'll never be Reigen.

I'm never going to have a person like that again.

… Probably.

Before he passed, I used to text him when I was starting to get overwhelmed, about to meltdown, and he'd help me ground myself, keep it under wraps.

Sometimes he'd call, he had a comforting voice.

I find myself still texting his old number, I'm sure it goes to some random person now who didn't even know who Reigen was, but that doesn't stop me.

I apologize a lot in those messages.

Partially because it was my fault he passed.

Partially because I feel bad for dumping all my emotional baggage on the person actually receiving these.

I vent about my day, I scroll up and read our old conversations, I take pictures of things that remind me of him and send them.

… Part of me is half expecting him to respond.

Part of me is hoping he's gonna text back and say "Aw, what a cute puppy, Mob! Be sure to give it lots of pets for me!"

And then he doesn't.

I had a meltdown at his funeral, it was embarrassing.

Dimple didn't know what to do with me, Ritsu was trying to get everyone to settle down.

Teru tried to comfort me from afar.

I cried a lot that day.

I couldn't leave the house for weeks.

I got fired from my job because I hadn't come into work so long.

I stayed home alone, constantly at my limit.

100% loneliness.

100% sadness.

100% mourning.

I think the stages of grief work differently for me, I never had a denial, bargaining, or anger stage.

I jumped right into depression, head first.

I'm working my way out of it, though.

Reigen had no living family, but he had put me in his will, so I had gotten most of everything he ever owned. Ritsu tried to get me to get rid of it, but I was already attached to most of it.

So I kept most of his belongings.

Teru wasn't mad when most of our apartment was cluttered with Reigen's stuff, and I was stuck in the middle of the apartment, desperately trying to cope.

He organized it, framed pictures and put away books.

I still couldn't cope. But he insisted that was okay.

I readjusted my routine, trying to keep my lost father figure as far from my mind as possible, but he still forced his way in.

Today, Dimple insisted that I visit Reigen's grave for the first time in months. Ritsu said it was a bad idea, that it would only awaken more grieving, but… Maybe it could be the closure I needed.

The train was loud, so I had worn my ear defenders, and sat close to the window while I waited for my stop.

I felt like a middle schooler again, on my way to the Spirit and Consultation Office after school.

I wasn't, but it was a nice warm feeling to be reminded of. 

My stop came along, and I hopped off the train and headed towards the graveyard. It was autumn, the wind had just gotten chilly and the leaves started to fall. I slipped off my ear defenders and continued walking.

"Dimple," I asked, "Were you ever… Human? Or were you just always a spirit?"

Dimple looked back at me, I'm sure if he had shoulders he would shrug, "Don't really know, Shigeo. I've been like this for as long as I can remember, so I doubt I was ever human. Why?"

I looked down towards the ground, shoving my hands in my pockets, "Maybe… I've been too consumed by grief to think about this before, but I'm wondering if maybe… Reigen is a spirit now."

"Don't get your hopes up."

"I know but… It'd be a nice thought. To actually talk to him again instead of just… texting his old number like he's still there."

"Maybe so, but would it really feel any better to know he's stuck here instead of going into the afterlife?"

I fell silent again, Dimple might've been right, maybe I was selfish for wanting that.

I don't like the idea of him being stuck here forever.

What if he asks me to exorcise him? Would I be able to do it?

Would I… be able to live with killing him twice?

"Don't think about it too much, kid," Dimple reassured, "Think about something else, like… Oh, Serizawa's coming to town soon, isn't he?"

I nodded, "He is, he's going to take over the business, and probably move up here. He left to visit family for awhile… the grief was too much for him."

"And your brother is getting married soon, right?"

"I think so… I hope he and Shou don't feel like Teru and I are pressuring him since we're already married… Teru and I have just been together since middle school."

"Ah, I'm sure he doesn't feel like that, hey look! We're there," Dimple replied.

I looked up at the entry way gate, and headed on in.

I could feel the presence of many spirits, most of which were good meaning, as I moved down the aisles. I remembered which one was Reigen's, I'm not quite sure why I memorized that, as I came across the gravestone.

Reigen Arataka

1993-2025

A father to all,

A lover to one.

I remember Serizawa picking out that inscription, he confronted me about it before confirming it.

It was the first thing to make me smile during the week of Reigen's death.

I took a breath, looking down at the grave, and then getting on my knees.

The ground was cold, and I felt no presence here.

"Reigen…" I started, trying to collect myself, "I'm really sorry. About… everything. About the fight I got you involved in, the people I got you involved in with, not taking over the business like you wanted… I'm really sorry about that one, I should've done it, but it feels so… so… empty without you… Serizawa said he was gonna take it, though. I know he's gonna take good care of it, I'll work under him, too. Maybe someday… I'll let go enough to be able to do it? I don't know…"

I balled up the fabric of my jeans into my hands, trying to keep it together.

"I've been texting your old number, I'm having such a hard time living without you… I love Ritsu, and Teru, and Dimple but… I don't think there's a person in the world who could get me quite as well as you did. You taught me a lot of things, I'm not sure if I'd be the same person without you. Teru, as patient as he is, is probably tired of my mourning and constant depression. I had a meltdown at your funeral, I'm sorry about that, too, it was really embarrassing…"

I fell silent again, biting my tongue.

"I think… I'm happy about the moments we spent together, though. There could've been so much more, you died so young, but the ones we had… they make me pretty happy. A part of me, though, has been thinking about you on the afterlife. Wondering if you're a spirit and wondering… how much damage I can do with my powers. It was my fault you passed, my fault that many people passed and now I'm wondering… am I really a good person? Am I doing good enough? Will I ever… live up to what you thought of me?"

There's silence in the air as I feel the emotions build up once again.

75%.

"I'm really nothing without you, I'm so annoying to everyone because you're all I can talk about. I can't remember the last time I saw my parents, Serizawa left town for awhile, Teru's coping by overworking himself and here I am, crying to someone who isn't here anymore and can't do anything to help. Here I am, texting a dead person and still praying they'll text back and… And… I'm just…"

93%.

"I'm just so… fucking lonely, Reigen, I'm so fucking lonely."

There isn't a response. But I expected that. Nothing but the wind as I still pray to hear a familiar voice.

Just one more time, please.

Just one more hug.

"Hey, Mob!"

I lift my head up, and I'm met with a ghostly figure of someone I once knew.

"Still venting to me from the afterlife, huh?"

[stuck-in-jelly]

The Irony of Life (MP100|One-Shot| Fan-Fic Commission)

A short SeriRei one-shot that was commissioned

In which Reigen reflects on his 15 year old mindset and realizes just how wrong he was.

———————————————

When Reigen was 15 years old he accepted the fact that he was never going to have kids even if he wanted to. With a single glance to his parents, he doubted he would be any better than them and no child deserved a fate like that.  

Yet irony had a way of creeping into his life and taking away his choice, because by the time he was 30 he somehow amassed an army of children who all looked up to him and visited him often, none of which were related to him in any way.  

It had all started with one kid and just ended up snowballing into more and more children before he could even try to stop it. Half of the pictures he has on his clipboard in the office have turned into photos of him and the kids on outings; the time Teru and the Kageyama brothers joined them on their trip to the hot springs, his birthday party with all of them, Ritsu getting thanked by his first client, Rei doing a fortune telling, and so on and so forth.  

He hates to say it, but it’s starting to look like a mother’s scrapbook and he is neither a mother nor in possession of an actual scrapbook (though he has considered investing in one at this rate). And although Mob doesn’t visit the office often anymore, too busy focusing more on his studies and the Body Improvement Club, he accidentally ended up sending more kids his way to replace him.  

More specifically in the form of a bunch of rather loud girls that Tome dragged in hardly with his approval and his office had turned into their hangout spot (much to his dismay when he is trying to work).  

Even now, at the end of the work day, they lay sprawled all over the couch and chairs talking and laughing away as if he hadn't already turned off most of the lights and locked the windows in a subtle way to tell them to get up already.  

Most days Reigen was left alone like this– given that Serizawa typically heads off early for night school– however today was a lucky day and he didn’t have classes which is a godsend since Serizawa is much better with kids than Reigen.  

“Come on, girls. Pack up, we are closing soon.” Serizawa’s voice snapped the girls out of their conversation much faster than his ever would, it was a perfect mix of a stern yet gentle demand that sounded much more like a suggestion making it much more appealing to listen to.

With a ‘tsk’ Reigen looked over to chime in:  

“We are closed,” he sneered before snapping the blinds to the windows shut.  

Imminent whines traveled from the girls.  

“Come on, just a couple more minutes!” one of them pleaded dramatically. It was almost enough to make Reigen roll his eyes.  

“Do you want to be locked in the office?”

“Cool! Like a sleepover!”

“No, no sleepovers in my office.”

Tome leaps up, a tale tell sign she has an idea  

“What if you give me the keys?! I can lock up after we all decide to leave or we stay the night!”

“Absolutely not.” He doesn’t even need to think about that one

“What!? Why?! I'm super reliable?”

A smirk crept on Reigen’s face.  

“Ah yes, like that time you got lost in the cursed woods, or the time Dimple had to possessed you and punch your teacher, or that time you assaulted one of our clients, or when you-”  

“Fine, fine I get it!” the girls were giggling and Tome’s face had turned a bright shade of pink as she slumped in defeat.  

Before he could say much else Serizawa stepped in once again,  

“How about this: Tomorrow we have a case down at Cape Cop Avenue, if we head off now you can tag along for it.”

The girls cheered, accidently having adopted Tome’s curiosity for ghosts and other such creatures. With their minds satisfied somewhat with the idea of a new activity they began to gather their bags and the homework they hadn't even touched the entire time at the office.  

Usually Reigen would scold Serizawa for promising something like that, but the location was an apartment complex that Serizawa had scouted yesterday and as expected there weren’t actually any ghosts there. The scariest thing at the apartment complex was their plumbing system.  

Regardless, Serizawa would be sure to give them a show (thank god none of them were espers).

It wasn’t long until they all began piling out. Somehow it has become a habit for Reigen to walk the girls home and tonight was no exception, the only difference being that Serizawa decided to join them.  

The first destination was for Mika who lived only 3 blocks down from Reigen’s office, she gave an enthusiastic wave goodbye and promised to take a bunch of pictures tomorrow (even though Reigen tried explaining it would be hard to capture a ghost on camera).

Up next was their tall friend whose name Reigen hasn’t caught just yet. She seemed to stare a lot at them when they worked and doodle them but she was the politest of the bunch so Reigen didn’t mind her all that much.  

Then Tome, who groaned loudly as Keiko reminded her of the homework due tomorrow before sulking back into her house with a small wave. Misa lives just two houses down from Tome and jogged ahead since she forgot about the homework too.  

And then last but not least Keiko who without the company of her friends becomes rather bashful and shy only uttering small ‘thank you’s’ and ‘good night’s’ as she scurries into her house.  

With the girls all safely in their houses Reigen without meaning to let out a soft sigh as he stretched, finally allowing himself to relax away from the kids. Usually he’d keep on his facade for Serizawa but lately that illusion has been melting away and luckily, it’s been mutual.  

Serizawa has begun to relax too around him, being more confident and even being so bold as to tease him. They had also begun to work fluidly with each other, understanding what the other needed or wanted with simple quick glances and they practically danced around each other in their morning routines. Reigen even trusted him enough to give him copies of the keys to the office, it was nice to have someone to lean on when you needed it.  

Neither of them said a word but they both began walking in the same direction. Serizawa lived just a bit further from Reigen in a different and better apartment complex than his so it made sense they were sticking together.  

Nights like these were rare but appreciated, his whole life Reigen has always felt like he was supposed to be running just to catch up; but walking like this alongside someone you trust and care about is nice. It makes him feel like he can finally walk instead of run, like there is no rush.

And Serizawa is a good person and perfect company, initially Reigen assumed they didn’t have much in common but as time has moved on it turned out they do and they frequently found themselves talking each other's ear off. Mostly Reigen more than Serizawa but it’s a mutual exchange at least.  

Though right now they seem to appreciate the silence, the girls were a nice change to have in the office but they also tend to drain the two of their energy with how loud and energetic they get, not to mention the trouble and danger they seem to like to get into. The thought alone is already giving Reigen a headache.

“Reigen?” With the sound of his name, he snaps out of it quickly, looking up to Serizawa only letting out a small ‘hm’ of acknowledgement.  

Reigen catches the brief moment Serizawa was looking at him before staring forward instead.

“I know we’ve been busy lately but I was wondering if you would like to join me tomorrow for dinner at my place?”  

Now that was extra new, Reigen has never been over to Serizawa’s apartment. Something about it felt a bit too personal, maybe it's because he hasn’t been over to a friend's place since he was in middle school nor has he had guests over willingly at his own apartment.    

“What’s the occasion?”  

The question makes Serizawa visibly tense, although the man has become more confident in himself, he finds moments like these where he still falters in his choices.  

“Oh! Uh well I just um thought it would be nice to have some company over you know, I wanted to try out this new recipe and I thought it would be nice to have another taste tester and well I’m also trying to get used to having more people over at my place and I-”  

Before he could go on another list of excuses Reigen interrupts,  

“Sure, sounds nice. It’s been a while since I had a home cooked meal anyways.”

The response seemed to calm him down, his shoulders untensing and letting out a not so subtle sigh of relief.  

As casual as Reigen is trying to act though he could feel his heart hammering in his chest in excitement. Every time he’s tried to have a moment alone with Serizawa one of them has always been either busy or with other plans so it would be great to finally have time.  

But Reigen isn't an idiot, he knows exactly why he’s excited for this. He’s noticed how things between them have changed recently and perhaps it’s wishful thinking but he’s noticed from Serizawa too, when his gaze lingers, when he relaxes into soft touches, and the change of his mood from around his friends as opposed to him.

Along with this came a new tension, and not the kind where you want to murder each other or fuck, no it was something different. It was the kind of tension where both parties are trying to read each other and think they know what the other is thinking but they don’t want to make any unwarranted assumptions.  

Reigen’s always been great at reading people, and usually he wouldn’t doubt himself but this is different in many ways. Serizawa is not only a friend but an employee, and he’s being reintroduced to the world away from all the hardships he faced and the trauma he’s brought along with him. If he is right about this, he needs to be careful.

Serizawa is perfectly capable of making his own choices but he needs to go at his own pace and to push anything onto Serizawa wouldn’t be fair.      

There’s another thing Reigen had accepted when he was 15 years old, and it was that no one could ever love him for who he truly is. And that is a firm belief he’s kept, even now as Serizawa leans to be closer to him and he leans back.  

But then again irony loves his company. So maybe 15-year-old Reigen could be wrong about that too.

-----------------------------------------

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If you want this posted on AO3 tell me and I’ll probably do it!! Thank you for reading

[snowstories]

hey anyone wants to hear about the MP100 Lieat AU that I’ve spent way too much time developing? No? Well too fucking bad here it is:

Reigen is the Theo equivalent, obviously. He’s a licensed private investigator who also happens to be a conman pretending to be a dragon with the ability to read minds travelling from town to town looking for money. One day, he wakes up and finds a dragon egg under his bed, and soon has to deal with actual dragon Mob looking up to him for guidance.

The power Reigen pretends to have is less telepathy and more empathy. He generally keeps his explanations vague enough that it’s hard for people to get a good grasp on the limitations of his ‘power’, making conning them easier, but in essence, he says he has the ability to read people’s emotions and intentions to a very high degree of accuracy. Which is true, it’s just not magic. 

The wish Mob was born from was made when Reigen had been run out of town after being exposed as a con for like, the seventh time in a row, and he was pretty done with it, and it made him wish his lies could just disappear. Que Mob.

idk this is subject to change bc it should maybe be a Bit More Serious, but I’m not giving Reigen Theo’s tragic backstory so I’m not sure how to go about this yet.

Reigen generally doesn’t feel guilty when lying to people, which is why his lies don’t manifest for Mob. However, over the course of his time with Mob, he slowly started to feel more and more guilty for lying to him, but he suppresses it, letting everything build up inside him. This is obviously going to backfire sooner or later.

Mob is Efi, a young dragon (about a year and a half old) with the ability to eat lies. Although he is quite powerful, he has little control over his powers and dislikes fighting, so he attempts to use them at little as possible. Unfortunately, since he does need to eat, and since his abilities are very useful to Reigen, he still ends up using them quite a bit, but nevertheless, he’s still pretty small and functionally the equivalent of a human 14-year-old.

For a reason he doesn’t know, he can’t make Reigen’s lies manifest. This confuses him quite a bit, especially after figuring out that Reigen isn’t a dragon and therefore doesn’t have any magic to counteract him. It sort of worries him, but since this is his norm, he figures it might just be a limit of his power.

He knows Reigen isn’t a dragon and figured it out about three to six months into his existence. However, he hasn’t told Reigen that he knows.

In this AU, Mob’s tendency to suppress his emotions/emotionless exterior is because a) he’s autistic and has flat effect, b) he’s autistic and has alexithymia, and c) when he gets emotional his powers go haywire, which he’s scared of. 

I’m not sure yet if ???% is a thing that exists in this AU, but if he does, he’s probably going to some kind of lie ooze monster.

I’m also thinking of maybe giving him an extra power, namely the power to control the lie monsters, since I feel like that would make him suitably overpowered. 

Ritsu is a human(?) kid that Mob picked up after his first job. Ritsu’s parents were murdered, and Mob decided that he deserved good parents, and since Reigen is a good parent, Mob dragged Ritsu with him and Reigen really had no way of protesting.

The three of them travel through towns looking for work and solving mysteries, and I currently have about three to four arcs planned out, More details about those and Ritsu + some other characters in this AU under the cut. 

About Ritsu:

The murder of Ritsu’s parents was the first real job of Mob and Reigen. Ritsu hired Reigen after learning he was supposedly a dragon, because the police weren’t making any progress in solving the murders. It worked out fine since Mob was able to make the killer’s lies manifest and get them caught. During the investigation him and Ritsu bonded and Mob forced Reigen to adopt Ritsu.

Ritsu hates Reigen’s guts, because he recognizes that the man is a con and is pretty livid at him for a) lying to Mob and b) taking up the investigation into Ritsu’s parents’ murders by getting Ritsu to hire him under false pretenses, which yes, that worked out fine, but only thanks to Mob; he could’ve easily gotten the wrong guy arrested just bc he didn’t want to fess up to his lies. In Ritsu’s eyes, Reigen is a selfish asshole with no regard for others using Mob for his own means. He stays with Reigen because he feels responsible for Mob, and also because he has literally nowhere else to go, though he won’t admit that last part.

Ritsu has something of an inferiority complex, believing he brings little to the family because of his lack of powers or even any special skills (like Reigen has), and overcompensates by being unnaturally polite and helpful.

This eventually leads to him subtly lying to Mob and Reigen about his feelings, but since it’s not something Ritsu admits to himself is a lie and it’s more a lie of omission than a real blatant lie anyway, this doesn’t really manifest as a monster and instead just becomes ooze. Ritsu can usually clean it up before anyone sees it, but even if they do, Mob can’t properly figure out what it is or where it came from, so nobody traces it to Ritsu, and so he continues to hide it. 

This will eventually reach a breaking point where Ritsu is consumed by the ooze and Mob can’t really save him anymore because he has trouble eating the slippery oozy lies. Saving Ritsu required the combined efforts of Mob eating whatever lies he could and giving pep talks, and Reigen talking to Ritsu, for the first time admitting to him that yes, he lies to them as well, and that he has similar feelings of self hatred and understands what he’s going through, and that he’s sorry for not noticing what Ritsu was going through, and just generally being completely honest with Ritsu (and Mob) for the first time since meeting him. 

This eventually leads Ritsu to the realization that he’s essentially doing the same as Reigen; hiding his true self because he’s afraid of what people will think of him, and instead using lies to entice people to stay, and this realization is what makes him understand that he can’t keep lying. He knows that Reigen’s way of living is unsustainable, so his must be as well. This realization is what’s needed to finally make him able to break away from the ooze, and have it properly manifest as lies, which Mob then eats. 

This incident improves Ritsu’s relationship with Reigen. While he still doesn’t like him and has justifiable issues with the guy, he does understand him a little better now and sees him as a person rather than a 2D asshole, and makes him believe Reigen has the capacity for change. 

Yes, this is probably going to be something of a combination of the ???% arc and the Big Clean Up arc.

Ritsu may or may not be a dragon. Everyone (including himself) is under the impression that he’s human, but I’m debating whether it’d be interesting if he later turned out to be a dragon, as a parallel to canon.

I also have the basic idea for the world domination arc, so have some characters:

Touichiriou. He is the captain of the police, a human presiding over the dragon department and many crime investigations. He was appointed because the higher ups wanted a human influence on the dragons. Unbeknownst to everyone, he’s still a dickhead bitch who is planning world domination, and he’s grooming the dragons in the department’s care to be his personal army. This eventually leads to this AU’s version of the World Domination Arc.

He and the family have quite a bit of run-ins, because Reigen & Co keep getting tangled up in crimes he’s investigating. He and Reigen do NOT get along, but since Reigen’s technically not committing any crimes, Touichirou doesn’t have an excuse to arrest him. That didn’t stop him from trying once, but Serizawa interfered and Reigen was free to go. Touichirou hasn’t tried it again, since that could attract serious attention, but boy oh howdy is he bad at disguising his hatred.

Touichirou realized pretty quickly after meeting Reigen that he wasn’t actually a dragon, because that’s not an act you can keep up for very long when people actually know a thing or two about dragons. Touichirou knows that Mob is a dragon and he wants him so bad. Mob is very powerful and his abilities could be extremely useful for someone who is planning to be a dictator. Unfortunately for him, everything points towards Reigen being a good caretaker of Mob, and since it’s department policy to not separate dragons from their humans if they don’t want to be separated and aren’t in danger, his hands are tied. It’s one of the primary reasons he hates Reigen so much, and why he tried to have him arrested.

Mob doesn’t really care much for Touichirou, but doesn’t necessarily think he’s a bad guy either, just thinks he’s kind of rude and very no nonsense. Ritsu is somewhat suspicious of him, first because Ritsu is suspicious of everyone, and later because he has more interaction with Shou, and although he doesn’t necessarily see any immediate reason to think Touichirou might be up to no good, having your best friend tell you to keep your brother away from his ‘father’ is not something you forget. Ritsu does not tell Reigen or Mob about this, because he doesn’t want Mob to worry, and because he trusts Reigen about as far as he can throw him. 

Serizawa is a dragon who is nominally Touichirou’s second in command/co-captain, like Brett is to Neil, but in practice, he defers to Touichirou entirely. He is a lot like his Claw self, and is being manipulated by Touichirou.

Serizawa was taken out of the care of his human pretty much as soon as he was born, as his human was scared of his power and kept him locked up in a small room, and called the police to pick him up as soon as she realized she didn’t know what to do with him. He was one of the first dragons placed under Touichirou’s care, and has latched onto him because he had no one else. 

He’s being manipulated, obviously, but doesn’t really realize that the way Touichirou treats him isn’t normal, since he spent so much of his life around him and no one else. He’s slowly starting to suspect something might be wrong after seeing how Reigen treats Mob (i.e. just like a human being), but he’s deep in denial. 

Serizawa’s power is energy manipulation; he can manipulate energies electricity and warmth to form ‘barriers’ that basically roast whatever comes through and attack people with explosions of power or targeted electrocution/overheating. He was most likely born out of a wish to get electricity to become warm, after the electricity in his human’s house stopped working during a snowstorm. 

He’s about five years old in literal years, but about the equivalent of a 30-year-old human, since he’s used his powers quite a lot.

Serizawa and Reigen befriend each other, though Serizawa tries to pretend this isn’t true because Touichirou would murder him. However, they get along very well, and Reigen tries to tell Serizawa to get some self esteem and not let Touichirou treat him like shit, but Reigen doesn’t really realize what’s actually going on and it really doesn’t work for that reason. 

Eventually, during the final battle, he’ll turn on Touichirou to save a bunch of the kid dragons (the Awakening Lab kids) in the department’s care, who would’ve otherwise died from overexerting their powers. He takes over Touichirou’s place at the force, afterwards, and slowly grows into his own.

Shou is a dragon born out of Touichirou’s wish to have someone who would be capable of doing all the sneaky things Touichirou himself can’t do. He has the power of invisibility as a result, and Touichirou frequently sends him on ‘errands’ that are mainly just missions to steal stuff or infiltrate something or another to get information. He’s working to take Touichirou down.

Shou is still very young, only about six months old, but has grown almost as much as Mob has due to his very frequent use of his power. In fact, he uses it so frequently, he’s permanently of the verge of overusing it, and he’s always in danger of dying of it. He’s not planning on stopping anytime soon though, not until he’s taken Touichirou down.

It took Shou about three months to realize what a douchebag Touichirou was, mainly because Shou read some of the comics lying around for the young dragons, and realized that the people who try to take over the world are usually not the good guys. 

Because Shou’s moral system mainly comes from comic books, it’s very black and white, and very oversimplified. He realizes murder is bad, but doesn’t quite understand why, so he even though he doesn’t kill, he still frequently goes too far à la the Kageyama House Fire. He thinks his father is the ultimate evil, and because Shou opposes him, he must be a hero. This mindset doesn’t lend itself to more complex understandings of morality, but that’s to be expected, growing up with a dad like that. It’s kind of a miracle his moral compass is this good.

Shou met the family not long after realizing his dad was a bitch, and immediately related to Ritsu, because Ritsu was complaining about having to deal with a parental figure who lies and manipulates him and his brother and uses him and his brother for his own gain, and Shou immediately went “!!!! same hat!” This led him to project his own negative emotions towards his father onto Reigen, which hasn’t been conductive towards their relationship. He gets along okay with Mob, but frequently gets annoyed with him because, in his eyes, he’s incapable of seeing how Reigen uses him and it reminds him of Serizawa.

Doesn’t like Serizawa, because he’s annoyed by his yes man attitude, and doesn’t really understand that some people react to abuse and manipulation differently than he does.

Shou spends a lot of time sowing the seeds of unrest and rebellion within the dragon police. That’s how he met Fukuda, Higashi, and Ootsuki in this AU; they’re dragon officers who agreed to work with Shou.

One of the main reasons Reigen hates and distrusts Touichirou (aside from clashing personalities and the whole getting arrested thing) is that Reigen is aggressively not on board with the way he treats Shou. While Touichirou obviously doesn’t let people know that Shou does spy stuff, he does frequently bring Shou along with investigations and has him work for the police, and it’s clear that he doesn’t see him as a kid, but rather as an employee at best and a tool at worst. Mob and Ritsu don’t really pick up on how wrong it is, because they’re kids and they have some difficulty grasping the nuances in this situation, but Reigen, as an adult, can see how Touichirou treats Shou completely inappropriately for a child, and he’s Not Having It. 

He suspects that Touichirou may actually be abusive and not just a dickhead, but he doesn’t have any evidence, and since the way he treats Shou isn’t illegal or anything (and even if it was, what’s he gonna do? call the police?), his hands are tied. He does try to get Shou to talk to him, subtly trying to figure out exactly how far Touichirou’s dickishness goes, but Shou trusts him about as far as he can throw him and is unresponsive.

A large part of his arc is going to be learning to be a kid and recovering from everything. It’s mostly going to take place after Touichirou’s defeat, though it starts during it, when Reigen jumps into the fight to try and kick Touichirou’s ass in his place because he doesn’t these fucking kids fighting, damnit. That was a moment of revelation for him, pretty much, and his opinion of Reigen approves afterwards, and so he agrees to travel with him, Mob, and Ritsu.

(Obviously the kicking-ass-thing doesn’t go all that well, and Serizawa and maybe Mob have to jump in to help him, but hey, it’s the thought that counts.)

[witchreflection]

Hello friends, I not only translated from Spanish my MP100/GO crossover, I expanded it a bit 

The one where Mob is the Antichrist (WIP)

As it happens with all important projects, when the moment to set the apocalypse into motion arrived, the infernal powers appointed (or may be, sentenced) a committee to oversee all details, and as it happens with all committees, no one ever agreed on anything and only one person (or in this case, being) did all the work[1].

In another world, the unfortunate sap in charge of the allocation of a human family for the Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan and Lord of Darkness, chose the family of the American Cultural Attaché in the United Kingdom as the best suited for the task, and then devised an ingenious plan (for a demon) where all the actual planning for the interchange of babies was delegated to other even more unfortunate infernal agents.

In this world, however, the outcome of the committee representative’s game of eeny, meeny, miny, moe was different, so the chosen family was that of the daughter of a Japanese home appliances tycoon, and then the committee’s representative forgot to actually delegate the planning until the last moment. This is why the demon Crowley received the following orders alongside a basket with a perfectly average looking, dark haired male baby:

“Corrupt a human so they can be persuaded to steal a child from his mother’s arms, to be unknowingly replaced by our Lord’s son.”

And,

“DO NOT MESS IT UP, CROWLEY.”

Crowley offered ₤100[2] to a nurse he found smoking in the parking lot to do the deed.

And well, many years later Crowley will wash his hands over the whole affair, arguing that his plan would have worked if that same day, at that same hospital, at the other end of the same hall where Hoshino Nadeshiko-san (full-time heiress) was in labor, Kageyama Akane-san (programmer, alongside her husband at the UK for work) was not in the same situation. Or maybe it would have worked if this nurse were not terribly racist, on top of unscrupulous, and didn’t think that “all Chinese people look the same”[3].

***

Eventually, the Kageyama family (now including their much-loved Shigeo) had to return to Japan once their contracts and visas expire. In the meanwhile, the young Hoshino Asahi-kun grew a bit neglected by his parents, but with the constant attention and counsel of his kendo instructor[4] and the housekeeper.

***

Asahi-kun’s 15th birthday comes but no hellhound does.

Crowley and Aziraphale scramble to find out what happened to the Antichrist, and they first search for the nurse who is now in prison[5] and doesn’t know anything of use, then the hospital, where they pick up a paper trail[6] that leads them to Japan.

“Well,” says the demon to the angel. “On the bright side, you do like sushi.”

***

Kageyama Shigeo is a very normal baby. Average size, average weight, reaches the developmental milestones at the expected ages. His parents love him very much and if Shige-chan has an habit of always managing get things he shouldn’t into his hands, they don’t think too much about it and gently correct him, just as they do when he tries to lick the neighbour’s cat or pulls from mommy’s hair.

When things start to float a bit, they take it on stride, because, well, it is not really problem, it is only small things and not very high, and Akane is pregnant again.

It does take them by surprise when Ritsu-chan keeps dropping his pacifier or a preferred toy and they have to keep picking it up for him, which immediately raises a concern about how many things that touched the floor ended up on Shige-chan’s mouth, and relief that they don’t have to worry about that with Ritsu-chan[7].

As Shige grows, so do his powers, and his family also grows accustomed to them. Soon, every time he cries –which is not often– the furniture will rattle, the rain will not touch him and he would make little and not so little animals swim through the air, or the bath water would float in shapes, but is always to entertain Ritsu or their friend Tsubomi. Sometimes the cutlery will bend, or Shige would accidentally make everything in the house hover 2cm over the floor in his sleep, but he is a good kid and it’s not like he does it intentionally.

Then, after an incident where Ritsu returns unharmed but covered in blood and Shige in in tears, and they don’t tell no matter how much Akane and Hisao ask their children what happened, Shige stops using his powers deliberately while the accidents increase, but they can’t do anything about it, because who do you ask about your child ESP problems? 

***

Later, people will debate if the well-timed appearance of Reigen Arataka into Shigeo’s life was in fact as “godsend” as the Kageyamas thought the day their child returned home from school happier and more at ease that they had seen him in months.

The fact that the man would also act as a quick response free babysitter and chaperon also helped to improve their opinion of him[8].

***

Kageyama Shigeo is a very unremarkable boy, but he tends to have a tangible effect in the people who cross his path, and he achieves this despite his powers and no thanks to them, mostly.

Had this been a different world, his powers would have not been obvious, but would have arranged the world around him to his liking. In this one, they never get him what he wants and he has to figure that one all on his own[9].

***

A list of times the world could have ended ahead of schedule:

After the incident when Shigeo lost control of his powers for the first time and believed, for a second, before he heard him cry, that Ritsu was dead.

All the times Dimple tried and failed to convince Shigeo to help him become a god[10].

The time a technician’s shoelace got caught in his desk chair’s wheel, making him trip and smash his keyboard, almost starting up a chain of events that would have resulted in a Chinese Navy ship colliding with an American one, had he not also accidentally disconnected the ethernet connection of his terminal in the process.

The time Mogami almost managed to make Shigeo lose his faith in humanity.

The time Dimple did achieve godhood thanks to Shigeo’s powers, before Shigeo’s powers decided they could do give it a try on their own and Dimple realised his mistake.

That one incident by the end of Shigeo’s second year at middle school, which is not discussed in public by people in the known, for plausible deniability, you understand. Even thought it was not his fault, he is very sorry and very sure it won’t happen again and he helped put everything together again, and he has been reassured that no one died, miraculously[10].

But the important bit is that it didn’t happen.

*** For a being that some of the time is a snake, Crowley has way too much leg to fit into a tourist class plane seat, and he has time to complain about it at length during the 12 hours flight.

You see, due to the intrinsic nature of airlines, miracling two last-minute first-class plane tickets, does not mean that those two first-class seats actually exist in that flight.

The fact that Crowley was responsible for making flying a terribly uncomfortable ordeal for the masses, was an irony lost on him.

So was the fact that he was directly contributing to the flight attendant’s path to sainthood, attained by her infinite patience.

________________________

[1]Except that, in fact, none of them did anything.

[2] The money was fake, but the nurse deserved it.

[3] Yeah, neither I know what Crowley was expecting to happen.

[4] If he’d had the time to pay attention to these things, Hoshino Katashi-san (CEO of his father-in-law’s company and absent but demanding parent) would had made an issue out of the kendo instructor being British. Fortunately, not only he never asked who was teaching his son, but the instructor wasn’t even really British in the first place, nor Japanese as Hoshino-san would preferred, nor anything, simply because the instructor wasn’t born in any country, or region, or geographic zone, as he had been brought into existence by Divine Will before the Creation, and he has been issued the physical form he inhabited after a long and tedious bureaucratic process, and he very much prefers to never have to go through it again, thank you.

[5]After noticing the money she had been paid with was fake, the nurse took a very pragmatic decision by taking the extra baby she found herself with to an adoption agency for rich people, where she received a quite large “fee”. This inspired her to a change in careers and became a full time “recruiter” for the agency, until it was closed under investigations for human trafficking.

[6]Not literally. The paper archive was burnt in a freak accident which was in no way caused by infernal agents with no knowledge about electronic databases.

[7]What they don’t know is that, soon enough, Shige-chan starts picking up things for his brother too when they are not looking. Maybe this is the reason why the brothers built extraordinarily strong immune systems and rarely get sick, maybe it is the other way around. I’m betting in the later.

[8]So did the discreet background check they did(a) on Reigen to make sure nothing untoward would happen. It also revealed that the man had his driving licence and an updated certification in first aid, making him qualified enough to take up child-care professionally.

[8.a] A leftover form their youth, before they decided to use their skills in a more legitimate manner as “cybersecurity”.

[9]With the support of loving family and friends, not that it lessens his effort in any way, but it is nice to mention it and Shigeo likes be reminded of it, too.

[10]But not a god as in God, more like a god as in the inaccurate translation of kami in Shintoism. Unbeknownst, back then, to Dimple, had he succeeded in making a god out of Shigeo, the results could had been less like the Emperor (like he envisioned) and closer (but not quite) to the actual Almighty.

[11]This is still being debated by the people in the known.

[avecorviidae]

Fic: pretty little head

Fandom: Mob Psycho 100 Rating: E Relationship(s): Kageyama Ritsu/Suzuki Shou Word Count: 2780

Ao3 Link

Ritsu isn’t entirely sure how he’s ended up in this situation.

Well, no, that’s a lie, he knows exactly how he’s ended up in this situation: through a combination of his own stubborn pride, and the fact that he keeps forgetting Shou has no concept of personal space.

To be fair, he had exhausted just about every other source of help he could think of. His parents had never taken English beyond a basic level, and Mob had just recommended him to Reigen, which, well, no. Besides, based on past experiences, he would’ve just pulled up Google Translate anyways. Hanazawa had offered to tutor Ritsu himself, and he might’ve taken him up on it, but it was pronunciation that he needed help with, and Hanazawa Teruki’s spoken English was nigh indecipherable.

Somehow, Youtube and the rest of the internet had proven fruitless, and more often than not, overly distracting. So, the only one left to ask was Shou, who was fluent in English and almost painfully eager to help.

(In retrospect, he could’ve asked one of his actual teachers for help, but hey, he still had his pride.) His parents were working late, and Mob was still out on work with Reigen, so they’d ended up sitting in the living room, books lying open around them like the aftermath of a library in a typhoon. Somehow, somehow, they’ve moved from sitting next to each other on the couch, to lying on the floor, to Ritsu being half in Shou’s lap, back pressed to his chest and sitting in the crook of his crossed legs. Shou has his chin hooked over his shoulder, and he’s reading the book open on Ritsu’s lap with a voice so casual, Ritsu could’ve fooled himself into thinking they were just sitting across from each other at a table.

“I reached for the handle,” Shou read smoothly, tracing the sentence on the page with a finger. Ritsu reread it a few times, trying to commit the way Shou’s tongue had rolled over the words to memory. “Right… ‘I… rea… ched fo-r…’ uh,” “For the handle,” Shou says, stressing the vowels, and Ritsu can actually feel his shoulder vibrating with Shou’s voice, which is, well. “For the handle,” Ritsu repeats, slowly, but with less hesitation. He can’t see Shou’s face from this angle, but he can hear him beaming when he says, “Yeah! Good job!” Ritsu sighs, shoulders sagging with relief. It had been the tail end of a grueling paragraph that had made him want to brutally murder either Shou or the author of the book. Possibly both. The way they’re slung awkwardly over Shou’s feet, his thighs are starting to feel numb, so he shifts around in Shou’s lap until the pins and needles are starting to fade, and settles back against Shou’s chest again, asking, “So, what now?” with a yawn. “Um,” comes Shou’s strangled response, more of an undignified squeak than anything. He feels oddly stiff. “Maybe… go back to the first chapter and… see if you’re any better with it? Yeah.” His voice is wavering in pitches, like he’s trying desperately hard to keep it sounding normal.

Ritsu almost moves to turn, ask what’s up with him, but then he pauses and feels something that he’s pretty sure wasn’t there before.

Oh.

Oh. His first instinct is to jump up and get as far away as possible, but he makes himself sit still, flipping slowly back to the front of the book as he considers his options. The way he sees things, there are three of them.

One, he could go with his brain’s first response and freak out, probably embarrassing Shou, and more than likely fracturing their tentative friendship.

Two, he could just keep reading, pretend not to notice, and wait for it to go away. There was no real point in drawing attention to something that was a normal response to stimulus, especially from a hormonal teenager.

Or three, he could… he could… well, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t considered it before.

Option three had as much potential as option one to fuck things up, if he miscalculated. After all, they were high-schoolers. It wasn’t as if he didn’t just get hard for no reason, regardless of the presence of someone he was attracted to. It didn’t necessarily mean anything. Though, thinking back to the way Shou acted around him, the giggling, the looks, and, actually, was Shou as touchy with anyone else as he was with Ritsu?

He flips the rest of the way back to chapter one, abruptly grateful for the placement of the book.

If he’s going to try this, it has to be now. He moves experimentally, under the guise of adjusting to be comfortable again. Now that he knows what he’s looking for, he can definitely feel Shou’s dick through his pants, and he rubs against it, just a little, settling so that it’s more or less pressed up against his ass. A low, choked keening sound escapes Shou’s mouth, and it goes straight to Ritsu’s groin in a way that he didn’t anticipate, had never really felt before even on the rare few occasions he’d seen porn online, a surge of pure heat.

“Y’know,” Shou says, “I think we’ve done enough for just now. Let’s take, uh, a break.” Ritsu feigns ignorance, finding something satisfying about being in control of the situation right now. “Oh? But I thought you said my vowels needed more work?” Shou makes a noise that can only be described as a whine. “I need the bathroom.” Shou went to the bathroom less than ten minutes ago. Ritsu doesn’t move when Shou tries to shift out from underneath him. “Suzuki.” Shou is almost certainly strong enough to push Ritsu off of him, even not taking psychic powers into account, but he doesn’t seem to be thinking much at the moment, trying to move himself instead of Ritsu and only managing to make his problem worse in the process. “Suzuki.” Ritsu tries to get his attention again. When that fails, he clamps one hand on his knee, and as an afterthought, he tosses the book out of his lap somewhere across the room. “Shou.” Shou freezes at the sound of his name. Actually turning around without standing up is kind of awkward, but Ritsu manages to move himself so that he’s more or less straddling Shou’s legs, steadying himself with a hand on Shou’s shoulder, and wow, Shou’s face is only a couple of shades pinker than his hair, the darker freckles standing out like constellations on his cheeks. He’s staring up at Ritsu with wide eyes, mouth hanging just slightly open, and his bottom lip looks red and sore, like he’s been biting on it. The last of Ritsu’s hesitation crumbles. He leans forward until his forehead is pressed against Shou’s. “Shou,” he repeats, just to feel and see the breath go out of him at the word, “tell me to stop, and we never have to speak about this again.” “Please,” Shou hisses, and grabs the front of Ritsu’s shirt to pull their lips together. Ritsu’s entire world is heat. He’s kissed girls before, sure, light pecks for fun behind the gym or outside the school gates, but he hadn’t known it could be like this, hungry and desperate and Shou is everywhere, legs hooking around Ritsu’s waist and fingers digging into his hips, with his teeth occasionally grazing Ritsu’s lips in a way that makes him stifle a moan in the back of his throat. It’s probably not supposed to be this sloppy or wet, and Ritsu’s nose is going to hurt if they keep it up like this, but he can’t really bring himself to care. Trying to keep his balance, and the upper hand, Ritsu threads a hand through Shou’s hair and tugs. He’s rewarded for his efforts by Shou whimpering, actually whimpering, and then Shou rocks forward so that Ritsu is suddenly on his back, on the floor, with Shou above him. The rhythm changes, and now Shou is pressing shorter, harder kisses to his lips, barely giving him any room to reciprocate.

From this angle, Ritsu can actually see the outline of Shou’s dick, and, oh, he has an idea. “Suzuki,” he breathes between kisses, “d’you, do you remember, a few years back? The, the culture festival.” Shou laughs into his mouth, pausing to reply, “I remember your dress.” Ritsu rolls his eyes, giving Shou’s hair another tug. “Well, yeah, but I mean what you said. About if- if me being a maid meant that I had to serve you.”

Shou laughs breathlessly, says, “Well, how could I forget, you punched me,” but his pupils are blown and he’s staring at Ritsu like he’s just offered him the entire world, so Ritsu thinks he’s sold. He presses a hand to Shou’s shoulder and pushes him over so that Shou’s on his back, and Ritsu is straddling his hips again. Shou lets out a shaky breath, and Ritsu lets himself kiss him again once, and asks, “Can I… Can I try something?”

Shou’s nod is immediate and enthusiastic, and his eyes somehow get wider than they already were, so Ritsu takes that as his cue to start shuffling down Shou’s body, pausing to press his lips to his neck on the way.

Shou’s legs fall open easily, and Ritsu settles between them, looking back up at Shou. “Okay?” he asks, just to be sure, because frankly, he’s not sure. Shou is propped up on one elbow, staring at him with his other hand not-quite covering his slack-jawed mouth. His face is still burning and his hair is mussed from Ritsu’s hand, his lips are slick and kiss-bruised, and holy shit, Ritsu wants him. Shou seems beyond words, because he just nods again, making a kind of squeaking sound somewhere in his throat. Ritsu hooks his fingers in the waistband of Shou’s sweatpants and pulls, Shou lifting his hips off of the ground to help him. He stares for a moment at Shou’s erection, straining against the material of his boxers, and tries to reorient himself. It’s not that he doesn’t want to do it, because at this point he really, really, does. But, well, he only knows the theory of the thing, and he’s pretty sure that online porn isn’t entirely reliable, as far as the practice goes. Still, he prides himself on being a quick learner.

When he pulls Shou’s dick out of his boxers, keeping a hand loosely around the base, Shou sighs softly, head falling back to the ground. Ritsu feels fingers threading through his hair, not pulling like Ritsu had, just holding.

Experimentally, he licks a stripe from the base to the head, and watches as Shou throws his other arm over his face, the hand in Ritsu’s hair gripping convulsively. It doesn’t taste… bad, per-se? Kind of weird, though. Nothing he can’t handle.

He takes the tip into his mouth, letting it rest on his tongue for a moment. Strange as Shou can be, he doesn’t think anyone would particularly like their dick being scraped, so he does his best to wrap his lips around his teeth. He licks around the head, feeling for the slit and pressing into it with the tip of his tongue cautiously.

Shou lets out a stifled moan, and when Ritsu looks up, he sees that he’s biting the back of his hand. Ritsu is somehow always surprised, when he remembers that he likes the sound of Shou’s voice, the melodic flow of it, but that moan almost knocks the breath out of him. He really wants to hear it again.

He pulls off with a small pop.

“Nobody’s home, Suzuki,” he says, trying not to let how wrecked he’s feeling show in his voice, “you can be as loud as you like.”

Shou’s arm falls back to the floor, and he pants, “You’re gonna kill me.”

Not if you manage to kill me first, Ritsu thinks, going back to work. This time he doesn’t hesitate before taking Shou into his mouth, and he slides down slowly, figuring out the right times to breathe through his nose as he goes. Figures, that Shou wouldn’t be able to shut up during something like this. Now that he’s got permission, he’s all noise, low, keening sounds and shaky breaths, and there are nails digging into Ritsu’s scalp in a way that makes him think that if it weren’t so embarrassing, he could come without being touched at all. Shou’s hips are making stuttering jumps, like he’s trying to thrust up into Ritsu’s mouth but can’t concentrate enough to establish a rhythm, but Ritsu moves a hand to his hip to hold him still to the ground, leaving the other as support on the ground. He’s painfully hard, and he reaches to undo his zipper before the friction makes him come in his pants, but he finds that he can’t keep his balance if he’s not propping himself up. Based on his lack of experience, he’s not sure that he could call Shou small, but they’re teenagers, and he’s not that... surely, there’s no way he’s big enough that Ritsu couldn’t…? Only one way to find out. He takes a deep breath through his nose before bobbing his head, taking more and more of Shou into his mouth. When his nose brushes the curls of copper hair at the base of his dick, the head is not quite brushing the back of Ritsu’s throat, vaguely tickling but not enough to set off his gag reflex. “Fuck, oh my god, Ritsu.” Ritsu isn’t entirely sure that Shou is breathing. From here, Ritsu’s sense of direction is more fuzzy, but he gets the general idea, and somehow, he doesn’t think Shou is going to criticize his technique. It’s surprisingly easy to get into a rhythm, bobbing his head up and down, occasionally going all the way down and sucking. Shou is letting out breathy moans to the rhythm of Ritsu’s movement, and he’s straining against the hand Ritsu is using to hold down his hips. There’s the sound of moving paper, like rapid flipping through pages, and when Ritsu glances around, sure enough most of the books they’d been studying from are either flipping from front to back, or floating a couple of feet in the air, surrounded by the orange-pinkish haze of Shou’s aura. If he breaks anything, Ritsu is making him clean it up.

“Ritsu, I-” The hand fisted in his hair tightens, and he finds himself being tugged off of Shou’s dick, in time for Shou to gasp, “I’m gonna, gonna-” Shou comes in a few hot spurts, managing to paint Ritsu’s cheeks and nose in white stripes. He is, perhaps, less bothered by this than he should be. Any annoyance he might’ve had is overwhelmed by the look on Shou’s face when he sits up and stares at Ritsu, face still bright red and looking absolutely wrecked. “Sorry, I, uh,” he stutters, before blurting, “you look really good like this.” Wow.

The combination of that, and the novelty of seeing Shou’s blustered confidence fall apart so utterly serves to remind Ritsu that his own dick is aching, and he sits back to let Shou compose himself, shoving a hand into his underwear and planning to make quick work of his own problem. “Oh, wait!” Shou says, scooching back over so he’s kneeling by Ritsu. “I wanted to… can I?” He’s already reaching a hand for Ritsu’s dick, so he shrugs and nods. When Shou wraps a loose fist around him and start stroking, the feeling is so overwhelming that he drops his head forward onto Shou’s shoulder, hissing, “Fuck.” He’s a teenager, so it’s a familiar technique, designed to get the job done quickly, but it feels so different with someone else’s hand, the unfamiliar feeling of Shou’s skin, the small callouses on the pads of a couple of his fingers. It’s been pent up long enough now that it only takes a few strokes before Ritsu is spilling over Shou’s hand, moaning quietly into the crook of his neck.

They stay, sitting for a moment, even as the come on his face and in his pants is becoming uncomfortably cold and sticky. “That was…” Shou begins, then trails off. “Wow.” Yeah, ‘wow’ is one way of putting it.

He murmurs into Shou’s shoulder, “Next time, we should do it somewhere that you can see me the entire time.” It has absolutely nothing to do with him wanting to be able to see Shou the entire time.  Nope, not at all.

“Ritsu, oh my god.”

[fireflysummers]

Mob Psycho 100 Fanfiction

Text to Speech Translation Error

Direct sequel to "And Maybe...Some Things Are That Simple"

After half a decade away from Seasoning City, Teru has a lot of catching up to do. Unfortunately, some people are less than welcoming. Turns out, there's a reason why.

Part of The World Keeps Turning series

When they meet again, it’s at Spirits and Such. The smell of stale cigarette smoke and incense that assaults him the minute the door opens brings with it such an intense nostalgia that it stops Teru in his tracks. It’s a feeling he’s never experienced before, but it brings with it a tide of memories of a lonely young boy, looking for anything to fill the emptiness of an afternoon, weekend, summer. Memories of being wanted. Memories of being safe.

Teru doesn’t realize that there are tears pricking at his eyes until he sees Reigen, clicking away on his laptop, as if he’d never once moved in all the years he’d been gone.

“Oh, hello Mob,” Reigen says, looking up as the door chime announces their arrival, “This is unexpected. Who’s your friend?”

Teru swears he feels his heart drop into his shoes, but the moment is short. The old con artist squints at him from behind a pair of square-rimmed glasses sitting on his nose, and Teru can visibly see the question shift into recognition. Warm relief spreads through him as Reigen pulls himself up, still squinting incredulously over the edge of his glasses.

“Hanazawa?” he asks, as Teru crosses the distance of the small room to greet his old father figure mentor, “What the hell did you do to your ears?  How many holes did you poke in them to get all those earrings in there?”

Teru can’t help but chuckle, clasping Reigen’s hand. Then, succumbing to instinct, Teru pulls the older man into a tight hug.

“Careful, careful now you youngster! You’re gonna break these old bones!” Reigen splutters, but leans into the contact, returning with a hug just as tight. Teru never quite reached Reigen’s height, but for once can’t bring himself to care. He instead revels in the smell of smoke and stale sweat, the feeling of hair tickling his face, the feeling of being safe.

“Welcome home, my boy,” Reigen says, after they break apart, “You planning on staying long?”

Teru swipes at his face with the palm of his hand, grinning despite the clear evidence of moisture on his cheeks. “Forever, Master Reigen. If I can.”

Behind them, he swears he can feel Kageyama smilling.

 The next time is in response to an open invitation from Kageyama, who offered to tour Teru around his office.  He jumps at the chance to tour around the halls of his alma mater, Paprika University, and make a few calls to former professors before going on to meet Kageyama at the designated rendezvous.

It’s incredible, he realizes, how little the halls mean to him. They had been just another stepping stone on this cyclical path of his, with no great affinity for any one location or person. Compared to his feelings upon returning to Spirits and Such, the entire campus feels…hollow.

Except not so much, because now it’s more than just a place he once attended. Now it’s Kageyama’s place, and he wonders if he would feel the other’s aura seeping into the brickwork, should he focus.

“Hey, Haystack!”

Teru startles, and turns to see a dark haired woman approaching him at breakneck pace. For a moment he struggles to place her, but there are a limited number of people who knew him from the haystack days, and even fewer who would dare ever mention it.

“Ah, hello there Kurata-san,” he says, trying to smile pleasantly as the woman bears down on him with the full weight of her personality.  She’s glowering at him, looking ready to spit nails.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” she demands, but before Teru can open his mouth she continues, “And that’s Professor Kurata, to you, you no good air-headed bimbo.”

It takes Teru about a second and a half longer than it should have to recover from the verbal assault. Kurata continues to glare, and this combined with the fact that she has the gall to be taller than him by a couple centimeters, actually irks him. Despite this, Teru does his best to give a good-natured chuckle and grin up at her.

“I didn’t realize that the grounds of my alma mater were off-limits to me,” he says, giving one of his most blinding smiles. It, of course, fails to phase Kurata in the least bit.

“You know as well as I do that that’s not what I’m—”

“Hello Tome-chan.” Neither of them had heard Kageyama approach, and yet there he stands, looking entirely nonplussed at the way his two friends glare at each other.

“Oi, Mob,” Kurata says, placing a hand on Teru’s shoulder in what could have been a friendly gesture. “I just found this lost child wandering about and wanted to know if you needed me to escort him to his next class. Or like. Off the campus. Or to another planet. We have a mutual telepath friend with a record of alien contact, so I could get that arranged.”

Kageyama gives her a fond, albeit strained smile. “That won’t be necessary. Thank you though.”

“You’re sure about that?” Kurata prods, the grip on Teru’s shoulder tightening.

“Yes. Don’t worry, he’s my guest.”

The pair share a tense moment that leaves Teru drowning in the lack of context. Eventually, though, Kurata gives out a heavy sigh, shoulders slumping.

“’Kay, if you say so,” she mutters, releasing her grip on Teru, and patting him on the shoulder twice in a conciliatory manner. “But if you need anything, just holler.”

With that, she stomps off in search of her next victim, or so Teru assumes. At this point in his life, he has fought off all manner of evil spirits and megalomaniacal espers, but he can’t quite recall ever being that terrified.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asks, when he’s sure that she’s out of earshot.

“Oh, no, I don’t think so,” Kageyama replies, crow’s feet appearing between his eyebrows as he frowns slightly. “At least. Not anymore. We worked it out.”

Teru hums noncommittally in response, keenly aware that he’s missing a lot of context here. That said, he really isn’t in a place to demand to be filled in. After all, it seems that the good Professor Kurata has been looking out for Kageyama, while he’s been off doing whatever it is he’s been doing.  Still. The entire thing has left him off-kilter.

“Hanazawa-kun.” Kageyama interrupts his thoughts. “I have a little while before my next meeting, so I’d be happy to show you my lab now.”

Kageyama’s face is…precious. Teru can’t think of any other way to describe it, even as he feels his heart leap into his throat. There’s trepidation there, excitement and anxiety swirling just under the other’s calm façade.  It’s the kind of expression, Teru knows, that his old friend only wore when he was making himself especially vulnerable—sharing a piece of himself that was both precious and private.

The confusion that he’d felt towards Kurata fades away, leaving Teru only with a slight pang of jealousy. She has, after all, gotten to see this side of Kageyama for years.

But again, he doesn’t have anybody to blame but himself. He just hopes she knows how lucky she is.

 This time, Teru finds himself seated at the table in the kitchen of the Kageyama family home. Both brothers had lived away for some time, Kageyama had explained, but after establishing himself at the local university the parents had asked him to move back in. At the moment, they were off traveling, happy to know that their house was being cared for by their eldest son.

“It’s a bit lonely,” Kageyama concludes, “Which is why I’m glad that you and Ritsu were able to join me for dinner.”

“We don’t see each other enough, brother,” Ritsu replies, sincerely as far as Teru can tell. They’re seated across from each other, around the worn wooden table.

“It’s your home too, you know,” Kageyama chides. He’s in the kitchen, finishing whatever meal he’s worked to prepare for them. His request that guests remain seated is being honored, but not without a great deal of tension crackling between the two.  If Kageyama notices, he doesn’t mention it.

“So,” Teru says, grabbing hopelessly at conversation topics. He’d thought he and Ritsu had made their peace years ago, but clearly he’s done something to mess that up again. Despite his best efforts though, he can’t figure out exactly why the other man continues to glare at him whenever Kageyama’s turned back to cooking.

It’s disconcerting. But on the other hand, it’s kind of nice to see that the younger brother hasn’t changed all that much.  Sure, he’s taller (even moreso than his brother, which definitely makes Teru the shortest of the squad), has changed his haircut into something short and prickly, and has quite a few more worry lines, but he’s definitely the same middle school student that had challenged him in the street all those years ago.

Still. They make it to the actual dinner part without lighting anything on fire. That’s definitely a win.

However, the moment that Kageyama has finished setting the table with the variety of food that he’s prepared, a cell phone goes off. It’s an old meme song, high pitched and obnoxious, and Ritsu goes for his pocket with a sigh.  Kageyama doesn’t seem bothered at all that their dinner had been interrupted, waiting patiently as Ritsu grumbles into the phone.

(Seriously dude? I’m chilling with my brother today, I told you that. What do you mean an emergency, what the hell did you do? Okay, okay, just…try not to bleed out until I get there.)

By the time Ritsu is standing, heading for the door, Kageyama has already beat him there, offering his younger brother two portions of dinner to take with him.

“For little brother Shou, when you rescue him,” Kageyama says, words barely loud enough for Teru to hear. “Be safe, Ritsu.”

And then the younger brother is gone, vanishing out the door with his spiky aura flaring behind him.

And Teru is alone with Kageyama.

They sit quietly to eat, silence punctuated by the clack of chopsticks as Teru contemplates what to say next. When he’s absolutely certain that Kageyama is not trying to formulate words of his own, and that he won’t interrupt, Teru clears his throat.

“So…little brother’s job at the bank seems to have gotten more dangerous than I’d have thought.”

Kageyama cracks a worried smile. “Ah well. He hasn’t worked there for three years now. He’s running his own business.”

“Seriously?” Teru asks, flabbergasted. Business running is his shtick, after all. “With a sour disposition like his?”

“It’s not really his business,” Kageyama informs him with a chuckle, “It’s Suzuki’s. Ritsu just signed on as a partner.” He chews his food slowly. “Oh, ah. They’re consultants. For the government.”

Well. That is a bit more interesting than Teru had imagined. And it makes that phone call less mysterious but significantly more worrying.

He decides instead to change the topic.

“You’ve gotten better,” Teru muses. “At explaining things.”

“It’s a work in progress.” His friend is still frowning down at his food. “But you learn a lot, from being a teacher. I’m still not particularly good at it. If I was better, then I suppose you’d be having an easier time right now.”

“An easier time?” Teru asks, the words coming slowly as though he’s tiptoeing on thin ice.

“Mmhmm.” Kageyama finally looks up at him, brows drawn into an anxious frown. “I suppose I have to apologize for that. For the way that others are treating you, since you got back.”

“You mean that wasn’t just my charming personality?”

“No, although it is very charming,” Kageyama continues, “They just don’t believe me, when I tried to explain that you didn’t understand my confession to you, a couple months ago.”

It takes Teru three beats to realize he’s stopped breathing.

 (If anybody were to ask Hanazawa Teruki if he was in love with Kageyama Shigeo, he would tell them the truth: Of course.

But the fact was that nobody asked him. Sure, lots of people knew, given how much he failed in subtlety, but nobody asked. And so, Teru was content never to say a word.

It was too much of a risk, ruining the relationship they had over feelings that he was certain would never be returned.)

“What?” Teru manages to stammer. They’ve been sitting there, in awkward silence. The spoon in Kageyama’s hand is curling rapidly, twisting and untwisting while its owner looks away, ears tipped with pink.

(He’s rewinding now, rewinding to the text messages that he’d left unanswered for three solid months: Are you coming home after? I’ve missed you.)

“I know,” he says at length, still not looking at Teru, “It was a mistake, on my part. I’ve gotten better at communicating, but ah…well. I made a mess of things on my end. I misinterpreted your silence for a rejection, which was why I was so glad when you wanted to meet again.”

(A confession. That had been a confession. And Teru had left him hanging for literal months, thinking that he had been cut off.)

“I don’t…ahm. I don’t know if you would be interested, and if you’re not, then please disregard all this, but I thought it would be best if…” Kageyama swallows visibly, “Hanazawa, I really, really like you. Would you…would you go out with me?”

He’s left no room for the confession to be mistaken for anything else, Teru realizes as his brain finally catches up to the moment. And then that traitorous part of his mind follows it up with, he sounds like a high schooler.

Looks like one too. The nervous earnestness in Kageyama’s face, the way he clutches both hands together in front of him—for all that he’s grown in the past years, he’s still Kageyama.

The realization crashes down on Teru with a flood of relief.

“Kageyama-kun…” Teru says, then stops himself, “Shigeo. I…I’m…”

There are so many words bubbling to the surface right now, in the slurry of emotions that he hadn’t expected. And yet, in all the pomp and glitter that he uses to disguise his true persona, Teru manages to pull on the single truth he knows better than anything.

“I’m sorry.” The words form in a croaked whisper and hang in the kitchen. “I’m not good enough for you.”

He curls in on himself, arms wrapped tight around his middle, fighting off the feeling that he wants to be violently ill. The entire world feels like it’s swaying, turning on an axis and leaving him to try to find the middle ground. But there’s no battle strategy for this, the one outcome he never dared imagine. All there is, is honesty, because Shigeo deserves that much.

“Me too,” he manages to say, eyes screwed tight and blood pounding in his ears, “I fell in love with you…I don’t know. Forever ago? You changed my life. And I can’t…I can’t repay that. I don’t deserve anything else from you.”

There are hands on his face, gentle, so gentle, guiding it. Teru doesn’t dare open his eyes, terrified for what he’ll see. Terrified at the thought that Shigeo can see him—all his selfishness, ever ugly secret he’s ever tried to hide, ever appetite he’s ever tried to curb, and all the failures he’s experienced in the process. Terrified that once he’s seen for what he is, Shigeo will leave.

“It’s okay,” he hears Shigeo murmur, “I don’t think I’m that good either.  Do you think…do you think that perhaps we can try, though?”

Teru opens his eyes, and is greeted by Shigeo, crouching beside him, eyes so soft, so gentle…so hopeful.

And suddenly, Teru knows without a shadow of the a doubt, that Shigeo has always seen him. From their very first encounter, he has always seen Teru, and never recoiled in disgust. And he sees him now.

It’s more terrifying, Teru realizes belatedly, to be seen for who he really is, and be loved.

He knows what to do with rejection. This, however, is totally new.

Frighteningly new, and…exciting. Hopeful.

“Yes,” he croaks, “I would very much like that, Shigeo.”

[recentanimenews]

Reigen Arataka and the Ideal Anime Parent

There are obviously tons of reasons to love this season’s Mob Psycho 100 II, from its glorious visual execution to its thoughtful perspectives on self-worth and growing up. But from the first season right through the latest episodes, one of Mob Psycho 100’s greatest strengths has been the hilarious charm of Reigen Arataka, faux-psychic and altogether questionable role model. Reigen deceives Mob Psycho 100’s young star about his own powers, about his deserved salary, and about much else; and yet, in spite of all this, Reigen is simultaneously one of the most sensitive and fully realized parental figures in anime. Simply acknowledging that to myself felt kind of difficult, so I’ll say it again: Reigen Arataka is, in spite of his duplicity and general manipulation, probably one of the best "parents" in anime.

Of course, Reigen does partially benefit from the fact that anime is pretty light on parents in a general sense. As a general rule, the anime we consider when we think of seasonal shows is specifically late night anime, which is a subsect of Japanese animation that’s mostly aimed at adolescents. Because of this, the greater portion of seasonal anime caters itself to adolescent interests, and “listening to your parents” generally doesn’t feature highly on their lists. Teens who are just experiencing independence for the first time want media that validates that freedom, making it no surprise that a great portion of popular anime either intentionally separates its stars from their parents, or never acknowledges their presence in the first place.

Mob Psycho 100 isn’t a youthful fantasy of competency and independence, though. In fact, the reality that we all have to exist together within society, and must constantly compromise to make room for others, is essentially baked into its premise. Its protagonist Mob is forced to consistently reckon with his own powerlessness, find strength in the support of others, and reassess his own perspectives. Even in the show’s recent fifth episode, his most dazzling display of power yet is precipitated by him being “saved” only when he remembers there are people who care about him. Mob Psycho 100 acknowledges that none of us are strong enough to truly do everything by ourselves, and as an extension of this belief, it is far more willing to celebrate mentorship in general, and parenting in particular.

    And thus, we have Reigen. Reigen’s relationship with Mob stretches between demonstrating the show at its most comical and, at its most, emotionally resonant, and when the show is leaning on the absurdity of Mob’s “employment,” it can be tough to see him as a good influence. But in spite of Reigen’s obvious manipulation, he consistently demonstrates clear concern for Mob, a sense of obligation towards actually helping Mob learn, and the sensitivity to know when he needs to stop and listen to this awkward boy. He tells Mob it’s okay to take pride in his strengths, and also tells him that those strengths don’t put him above anyone else. He assures him that it’s okay when you can’t face problems yourself, and that sometimes you’ll need to reach out to adults for help. He puts in the work and attempts to connect with Mob on his level, presenting not just some distant model to emulate, but an active and attentive supporter for all of Mob’s feelings.

In light of this, I actually find it appropriate and ultimately reassuring that Reigen is often such a mess of a person. Reigen is not an unapproachable icon of unquestionable maturity: he’s a screwup who’s constantly making his own mistakes, awkwardly running from situations he can’t actually resolve, and perpetually reassessing what he’s supposed to be doing. All of that stuff doesn’t make Reigen a bad parent, it makes him a real parent, a parent as portrayed by people who’ve actually done some parenting. Just like how Mob’s consistent failings ultimately demonstrate the difficulty of growing up, and the reality that none of us have truly figured it all out, so too does Reigen’s fallibility demonstrate that just because you’re a mess of a person or unsure of your own destiny, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a profound positive impact on the lives of others. Great parents make mistakes too; they try their hardest, but in the end, it is far better to be an available and occasionally messy person than an infallible example of adulthood to look up to, but never truly connect with.

  And Reigen is growing, just like all of Mob Psycho 100’s richly illustrated stars. Though he’s possessed concern for Mob since the very beginning, he’s lately become more and more attentive to Mob’s emotional shifts, and encouraging of Mob’s efforts to express his own feelings. He's made terrible mistakes, but he's directly acknowledged them, and through this process come to understand that Mob's respect and trust means more to him than anything. Few anime emphasize the perpetual emotional responsibility of parenting, but all through Mob Psycho 100’s second season, Reigen has been doing his best to live up to the person Mob believes him to be. He might shortchange some misguided ghost hunters and puff up his own accomplishments, but Reigen’s concern for Mob is utterly genuine and deeply felt. When Mob doubts him, he doubts himself, and when Mob believes in him, it doesn’t matter if the rest of the world is against him. It’s been a joy to watch Reigen help Mob with his trials, and I look forward to seeing them grow together for many adventures to come.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this discussion of Reigen’s parenting style, and please let me know all of your own favorite anime parents in the comments!

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Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now, and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time, or follow him on Twitter.

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