Chapter 7: Serenade for Strings

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mysterious flickering lights, circuit breakers tripping, and outages were all affecting the Seasoning City metro line for weeks. The trains weren't on time and neither were the people of Seasoning City. Timely bosses who usually chided their salarymen underlings for their tardiness were huffing and puffing as they raced from the subway in a desperate attempt to make it to their desks before the clock ticked down to 8 AM.

They weren't the only ones huffing and puffing, though; Mob and Reigen had chased their target down and cornered him before he could make his way to another train line and the two were exhausted. It was nothing short of a miracle that the two of them had managed to make it to the last train of the night before the doors closed behind them.

Mob collapsed one of the train's empty seats, his damp palms pressed down atop the poly-cotton blend of his gakuran slacks. It was only by sheer miracle that they weren't soaked through. Sweat seemed to be pouring from every pore on Mob's body.

"Sorry," Mob said apologetically. "If I had been faster, we wouldn't have had to do so much running."

Comments

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob paused, contemplating. There was only one explanation that Mob could conjure.

"So that man was your boyfriend?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen spluttered. "I--WHAT--NO! Why would you even--LOOK! That guy's a bartender. Understand?? It's different. He's like that with everyone."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"So it's okay if I'm a bartender, but not if I'm your friend?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Was Mob seriously trying to debate him on the fairness of calling him by his first-name? With cutesy honorifics?

No. Puberty willfulness be damned, Reigen had never lost an argument with anyone, and he wasn't going to start now with his own student. Especially not ever this. Never over this.

"Mob. Think about this fairly. Do you call everyone by their first names like that?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"No. Just my brother and my friend, Teru."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"And Tsubomi-chan. ...You see where I'm going with this?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"No," Mob said honestly. "I call all my friends by their first name and you're my friend (right now)."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"There are certain terms of endearment you reserve for special people," Reigen said through grit teeth. He knew being vague wouldn't work on Mob, but this was the one time he would have rather jumped out of his window than be direct.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Like you," Mob stated plainly. "Or...do you think you're not a special person to me?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

He was gonna start crying. His student was gonna make him cry.

"Don't you--Mob! First names with honorifics are not allowed." Despite his attempts to sound stern, it came out like a plea. "Before you ask why, I'll tell you. It sounds like you're coming onto me!"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob made a note of that. "So I shouldn't even call you Arataka-san?"

A beat as realization dawned on him. "Does that mean the bartender was coming onto you?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"He's like that with everyone, remember? Plenty of adults flirt without it meaning anything, especially those in the service industry. Adults. Understand? Adults." Reigen was absolutely not letting Mob set foot outside his apartment until he got this through his head. If anyone in his neighborhood saw a middle schooler leave his place calling him Arataka-chan he'd--he didn't even want to imagine it.

"...Is it this important for you to call me by my first name?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"I call Teru 'Teru' and I haven't known him nearly as long as I've known you."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"I wasn't asking about Teru-kun."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"I guess... it's not that important."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Are you sure about that?" As easy as it would have been close the book on that and pretend like it never happened, Reigen couldn't help but pry a little more. He opened a drawer and pulled out the peeler. "You never argue the point this much."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Well..." Mob appeared to give it some serious thought. "I'd really like to call you by your given name like I do Teru. It made me feel like we were really close when I started doing that, even though it was by accident. But... I don't want to make you uncomfortable, either."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

So that was it?

Mob didn't feel close to him?

Reigen further occupied his hands by searching for the right-sized pot for the potatoes as he digested that. Closeness was never the priority Reigen placed onto their relationship. Trust, obedience, guidance--yes. But now Mob was getting older and he was wanting something more from him. He wanted to know more about him. He wanted to stay over. He wanted to call him by his first name.

...

"You know..." Reigen set the pot on the counter and handed Mob the peeler. "Just because our relationship doesn't resemble the kind of friendship you have with kids your own age doesn't make it less special."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"What do you mean?" It was the second time Mob had asked it tonight. There was a lot that Mob didn't understand and he had learned that the only way for him to really understand it was to ask, even if sometimes he felt a little out-of-touch, like this was something everyone knew except for him.

But it was still better than being in the dark.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"You're the one I already spend the most time with. Even if it is at work. You're my only student." Reigen set the pot in the sink and started running the water. "Even if we're friends right now, my first priority is to make sure you're growing up well. That was my promise to you, remember? I would teach you how to use your powers."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Yeah, I remember." Mob placed the potatoes on the cutting board and began to cut. "You think you'll ever get another student?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Maybe one day." The thought hadn't occurred to him. Reigen transferred the pot to the hot plate. "But you and I--you have nothing to worry about. We're always gonna be together. Okay?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"So, then... does that mean Reigen-san okay when we're not working?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

'Tch. Damn persistent kid', Reigen thought with a mixture of frustration and grudging affection as he salted the water.

"Fine. I'll allow Reigen. No honorifics needed. But, as we've established, not at work. And only when we're alone."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Okay, Reigen." It felt stranger for him to say Reigen without "Master" next to it than it did for him to say Arataka-chan. Maybe it was because he had said Reigen so many times that saying "Master" whenever he said the name just came naturally.

Mob continued chopping away. "I asked earlier, but... did you mom cook for you a lot, too?"