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]

"Maybe we could go together?" Hopefulness danced in Mob's eyes.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Just you and me?" 'Say yes because I seriously cannot shell out for more than two tickets.'

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Well... maybe Ritsu and Teru might want to go."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Ah. ...Why don't you ask?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"I will. After we finish watching Bambi." The opening credits were almost over.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen sunk back comfortably into his couch. The beer had sapped his energy and he had to resist the urge to make himself comfortable against Mob's head that was perfectly suited height-wise for an arm rest. He fidgeted and wriggled until he found a comfortable position with one leg pulled up.

There was something very relaxing about the movie. It was a movie about nature, after all, centered around a little deer who was curious and naive and really shy around girls to the point of mutism. Of course, he couldn't help but compare him to Mob immediately.

Maybe it was because he had been thinking about his own family all evening, but there was something very comforting about seeing such a close bond between Bambi and his mother.

"Winter sure is long, isn't it?" Bambi asked.

"It seems long. But it won't last forever," his mother reassured him.

Then.

That scene happened.

Reigen had to pause it immediately.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Tears welled in Mob's eyes as he watched, threatening to roll over his cheeks. He sniffed, then swallowed, trying to push the sadness down far within.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen was about to make another excuse about needing to pee when he heard it—

Sniff.

He took one look at Mob, eyes glossy and his nose reddened. ‘Shit, shit, shit, shit.’ He had been confident he could have held it in until he had a few minutes of privacy but his own vision was quickly going blurry. Goddamn mirror neurons.

“H-hey, it’s okay…”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Why did they have to kill her?" Mob brushed away his tears with the back of his hand.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

For once, Reigen kept his mouth closed. He couldn’t say ‘that’s nature given the context…or really anything. Sometimes things were just tragic and happened for no particular reason. But, he couldn’t exactly that that either.

Reigen couldn’t say anything but he couldn’t do nothing either. It was hard being a teacher.

He lifted his arm from behind the couch. “Come here.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob shifted over and allowed Reigen to hug him. Reigen could show physical affection -- usually a pat to the shoulder or head -- but he wasn't much of a hugger. Somehow, that just made Mob want to cry more.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen summoned every ounce of willpower he had (and every ounce he didn’t) to not start bawling himself as he tugged Mob into his side. Even if Mob couldn’t see his face now he could feel his body if it so much as trembled. He cleared his throat.

“It’s okay,” he repeated, quietly. “That is…it’s okay. To cry.”

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"I know that it is." Mob wiped away the tears with the back of his hand again. "Sorry, I need a few minutes."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Good, he wanted to say, but he didn’t trust his voice not to wobble. He was, after all, on the verge of combusting with the effort of not doing it himself. He leaned forward to bring the tissue box on the table to Mob’s lap.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Thanks." Mob blew his nose loudly on one of the tissues and then a second one, then peered over at Reigen. "Are you okay?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

While nothing made it out of Reigen’s mouth at Mob’s small voice, an eruption of tears from his eyes more than made up for it.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Oh. Mob swallowed hard, then pat the back of Reigen's head. "There, there," he said. It was something that his mom would do when he was little. "Here." He passed the tissues over to Reigen to take.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Thanks,” Reigen uttered in the thinnest voice imaginable. He merely sat and inelegantly mopped up his face and blew his nose while letting Mob pet him like a spooked animal.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"We should watch the rest of the movie, then put something happier on afterwards," he said, still patting Reigen.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Yeah.” Nothing sounded better. Reigen was about to go for the remote again when Mob’s phone buzzed several times in a row between their thighs, making him jump.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Oh, it's probably Teru." Mob fished the phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.

[mp_npc]

Honey, are you doing alright? I heard there were more outages. We just got power back here.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Yeah I'm fine he typed back.

"It's mom," he informed Reigen.

[mp_npc]

Reigen murmured in acknowledgement as he rubbed his tired eyes.

Just making sure. Are you having a good time? Make sure to mind your manners for Mr. Reigen.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Yeah we're watching Bambi