Work Text:
Things were a bit slow and comfortable these days. Since his birthday, Reigen only saw things brighten up around Spirits and Such, even if Tome-chan had been pulling his teeth to increase her wages. Now that she finally was able to back him up when talking to clients, he justified increasing her wage. Serizawa was coming into his own really well, and while there'd been a long stretch of Serizawa carefully maintaining independence to make sure he wasn't relying on his boss...
Reigen glanced over at his boyfriend. They had only recently decided on that, and Reigen was pretty sure Serizawa only accepted since, during their date, Reigen had cried a little when they were discussing whether to go on another one. Serizawa met his eyes, and after a moment of eye contact, Reigen realized he'd been staring rather than just glancing, like he thought. "Hey, Katsuya," Reigen said simply, rocking in his chair a bit, testing his luck on the unstable perch. The older man just turned a bit pink - he clearly still wasn't used to his first name being used like that.
The two of them jolted to attention at the sound of a knock on the door, which naturally resulted in Reigen getting punished for pushing his luck by collapsing on the floor. Rolling her eyes, Tome called from her spot on the couch, putting her video game away. "Come in!"
The door slowly opened, and behind it was a familiar face, and a familiar unease on it.
"Reigen-shou..."
There was a silence sitting in the room for a moment. Next to Mob, attached by the collar to a leash, was a dog on high alert, folded ears perked up as she stared into the office. Mob led her inside, closing the door behind him. The click of the door had Reigen snapped back into reality, and he scrambled closer, kneeling in front of the dog and holding his hands out excitedly. "Mob!! Who's this??" Reigen asked excitedly.
"Well, 'Midnight', I think..." Mob began, watching carefully as the dog approached Reigen and let her ears relax back, licking at Reigen's chin. Ah... he couldn't help but grin at his 'shishou' turning bright red and smiling ear-to-ear. "My brother and my mom found her wandering on the side of the road, and brought her to a vet... she has a microchip, but the only thing on it was the word 'Midnight', so we took her in. But we can't seem to find the original owner."
"Oh noooo, poor baby," Reigen cooed, starting to scratch the mutt along her neck and shoulders. She seemed to enjoy it, lapping at Reigen's chin the whole while. He stood up, and she also stood on her back paws, gently patting Reigen's chest with her front paws. "Ah, what a gentle girl! Your old owners don't deserve you. You're too good for them. What a superstar," he fawned, becoming somewhat less coherent.
"I was wondering if you could take her in, Reigen-shou," Mob finished, and a pained look crossed his former teacher's face. "...Mom and dad said we couldn't really afford to keep her, and we don't have the energy to take care of a dog, dad said..." he elaborated, which only worsened the agonized look on Reigen's face.
"My apartment doesn't allow dogs," he said in a hushed whisper, like he was apologizing to a homeless orphan he had to turn down for adoption. He sat on the couch, beckoning the dog to join him - she was a bit too nervous, and settled for exploring the office, quietly sniffing around. Mob looked to Tome, who shrugged and said her dad was allergic. The atmosphere got a bit heavy, but Serizawa soon found a hopeful gaze on him from Mob himself. After a tense pause, Serizawa laughed a bit nervously.
"I can check."
Serizawa had been surprised by work before. Really, working with Reigen, it was nearly impossible to not be taken off guard by something eventually. But walking a dog home from work when he hadn't brought her there in the first place was probably top on the list of things he didn't really expect to happen from an office called "Spirits and Such". Still, she was a well-mannered dog, if a little high strung... though Serizawa's pretty sure he read somewhere that dogs pick up on the energy of the person they're with. "Sorry," he mumbled, just in case his nervousness was rubbing off on her. She didn't respond, naturally, just wagging her tail a little at being looked at and quietly following. After being with her all day, Serizawa was actually pretty surprised that he never heard her bark or seen her misbehave.
They stopped at a pet store on the way home so that he could pick up a few things for her... the most important of which was a dog bed, he figured. And a dog bowl and some food, of course. And a stop by his landlord, to inform her of the new dog... thankfully, she was more than happy to see such a mild-mannered pooch, and with one last signature, Serizawa was ready to take Midnight inside his home. He opened the door, closed it behind them, and unhooked the leash and hung it on his coat rack.
He pondered for a while where to put the dog bed, looking around his apartment. The bedroom space seemed like a good bet, but he also spent a lot of time in the living room... as he shuffled back and forth, Midnight followed him, whining softly. Serizawa looked down at the anxious looking mutt, and pet at her head to try and comfort her. "Let's eat dinner first, I guess. Then we'll figure out going to bed," he said to her, though it was mostly him working through his plan himself. He ate leftovers and gave Midnight a can of wet food, watching as she scarfed the whole thing down. "Pretty hungry, huh?" he teased a little, rubbing her side. Midnight was very receptive of that, leaning against Serizawa's legs and wagging her tail happily at the attention. "Alright, alright... one more walk, then bed time."
They didn't walk too far, since Serizawa just wanted to make sure she didn't pee in the apartment. He settled on putting the dog bed in his bedroom, in case she woke up in the middle of the night, and he stripped to his boxers before climbing under his sheets. As he relaxed and started drifting off, he was interrupted by the feeling of Midnight hopping onto the mattress. He glanced out from his sheet, finding her nudging her nose under his outstretched hand, trying to cuddle up. With a small laugh, he rubbed her side, and coaxed her into laying down and snoozing on the bed with him. "Good night, Midnight."
The biggest problem with 'Midnight' was the nervous whining. Serizawa noticed that the dog would stay right outside the bathroom when he closed the door behind him, and refused to not be in the same room as him. Most heart-breaking was every time he left his apartment to get groceries or something else, he'd hear her whining and crying behind the door in the apartment, and would still be hearing the whining when he got back. Thankfully, when he asked Reigen if he could bring her into work, there was no complaint - not that he expected anything else from Reigen if he was really being honest with himself.
Every day was a pretty relaxing one, even if he ended up answering phones and attending to customers more often with Reigen eager to spoil the dog rotten, playing with her and taking her for walks during work. By the end of the week, Midnight was whining every time Serizawa and Reigen parted to go home, too. But Serizawa didn't want to leave her home by herself all day, feeling too guilty about it... after all, he could understand, a little bit. He remembered his sad and lonely years, and thinking about Midnight walking along the side of the road without her family looking for her was a little heartbreaking.
"Tome-chan, get the camera," Reigen's voice cut through Serizawa's worrying. He glanced over to see Reigen with Midnight on the couch and the blanket over her, draped over her head. Midnight's naturally worried-looking face peered out, but she ended up panting and licking a bit at Reigen's chin as he made kissy faces at her. "Look, Tome-chan, she's a babushka. Aren't you, baby girl?"
As Tome took a picture (not without rolling her eyes well in advance), Serizawa couldn't help but smile at them all. The atmosphere at the office was always so comfortable, and everyone was happier all together. Aside from Tome, at least, who acted properly like an employee compared to how Serizawa felt he was acting. It couldn't be terribly professional to be dating your boss, after all, even if the two of them had entertained thoughts of becoming more like business partners so they could stand on equal footing. Serizawa was certainly excited to advance his relationship further, after all.
With that thought coming to mind, he paused and looked at Reigen again, who was hugging a dog that was desperately wiggling to escape the cuddling. Suddenly, the solution seemed pretty obvious, even if he was getting a lot of butterflies just imagining following through with that.
"Serizawa," Reigen suddenly piped up, having let Midnight wiggle free only to cuddle into Reigen's lap where she was more comfortable, "We should rename her, don't you think? Midnight doesn't fit her, it's too dim."
"Ah... yeah, maybe," Serizawa agreed, walking over to sit on the couch with the two of them. "I thought so too, she isn't really cool enough to have a name like Midnight. She's more cute."
"Exactly!" the psychic agreed with a flourish, "I do like the M name. Maybe something like... Mei? Midori? Maybe Mami..."
"Not Mami!" Tome groaned, eliciting a laugh from Serizawa. A relieved one. He didn't exactly want to explain that he'd watched a magical girl anime... at least, not just yet.
"Maybe Masumi, or Miki..." he added, watching Reigen ponder it. After a moment, Serizawa nodded, making up his mind. "I like Miki. What do you think?"
"She's your dog, you know, you should pick the name you like."
"You're her other dad," Serizawa chuckled, watching the pink darken into red all the way to Reigen's ears. "She always whines when it's time to go home. It's really sad, you know."
"A-ah, well, you know," Reigen stutters, taken off guard as usual before clearing his throat. "She'll eventually get used to it, and it's probably healthier for her not to be dependent on--"
"I already know how to fix it," he said, cutting off his boss and giving him a playful elbow to his side. Reigen let out an ungraceful 'eep' at being elbowed, turning his very red face to look at his boyfriend. Serizawa hadn't felt this calm in a while, and somehow, seeing Reigen losing his cool always made it easier for him to settle down and think clearly. "You should move in with me."
Moving Reigen into his apartment was a lot easier than either of them had anticipated. Aside from Miki seeming far calmer than before, Serizawa knew for sure he was feeling a lot better too. It felt surprisingly mature to sell their old beds for a newer, larger one that they could share, and to clean up and arrange to share their living space in Serizawa's apartment. Reigen had to get used to Serizawa's model collection, and Serizawa had to get used to Reigen's morning and evening smokes, but the distance being closed between them did wonders for their collected loneliness. Miki really had been just like them, nervous and lonesome and desperate to be with people she loved.
During movie night, she hopped up onto the couch after the two men pulled their hefty blanket over themselves, snuggling up and wagging her tail eagerly. Reigen scratched at her neck, and Serizawa pat her side, and the three of them eased comfortably onto the couch as the cheesy B-movie started rolling. It was the weekend, so Serizawa was a bit scruffy again, partially because he preferred to save his razors and partially because he liked rubbing his stubble on Reigen's cheek to make the man squirm and complain a bit. "Next weekend, Arataka, I'm going to show you my favorite mecha series."
"Well, that'll have to wait until after Miki's appointment with the groomer," Reigen protested, though half-heartedly. He was tired, and content to lean against Serizawa. Serizawa wormed his arm out from being squished between them to wrap it around Reigen's waist, tugging him closer.
"Yeah. I look forward to it."