Work Text:
Reigen hated his life today.
His gaze lingered on the depressingly empty box of reusable contacts sitting on the edge of the sink. A rush of angry frustration came over him and he held back the urge to throw the package against his bathroom wall. He could go without them right? No need to do anything drastic. His vision wasn’t that bad…
Reigen squinted into his bathroom mirror, trying to make out the details of his face. Unfortunately, what greeted him was nothing but a blurry blob with bright hair. He leaned in closer to the glass.
Still a dumb, blurry blob.
Cursing in his head, he leaned in closer still, determined to prove himself.
Aha! There’s something! He yelled in his head. He squinted just a bit harder and BANG! Reigen snatched a hand to his forehead, rubbing at it earnestly to quell the dull pain.
“God dammit,” He spat. Trying desperately to get a hold of himself. This morning was just about as terrible as it could get. He needed a smoke badly; however, a glance at his watch told him he wouldn’t even have time for that.
For a brief moment, the idea of just closing the office crossed his mind, but his embarrassingly light wallet screamed at him, reminding him of the reason he was in this predicament to begin with. Business was alright, but paying two employees, even with the shitty salary they received, was enough to wear through his expendable funds with a vengeance.
With agonizing reluctance, he opened the mirrored cabinet door. There they sat. The bane of his very existence: his ancient pair of thick, ugly, annoying, god forsaken glasses.
He rested his head against the shelf they sat on, jostling the pill bottles beside them, and sighed. He felt on the verge of tears.
Suck it up Arataka. Just take them. You need the money. You want to start living on shitty noodles again?
Shooting them one final disgusted glare, he snatched them up and shoved them in his breast pocket.
The walk to his office only soured his mood further. Barely two minutes into his daily commute he had tripped, eating total shit. He cursed God above and anyone else who would listen before he righted himself, shakily dug out both his cigarettes and his glasses, lighted up, and shoved the glasses on, trying not to blink at how suddenly clear the world was. If he had to wear these, he was smoking on the way.
---
Once he actually arrived, Reigen adjusted his glasses for what felt like the millionth time in five minutes. He was utterly unused to wearing them and the bridge of his nose was getting slipperier by the second. He was jittery. His leg was bouncing up and down and his eyes jumped to the clock way too often. Admittedly, he was slightly nervous about other people seeing him, and the time grew closer and closer to opening he grew more and more anxious.
The door gave a click and a typical squeak as it was swung open. A familiar voice muttered a light hearted greeting before the source peeked his head around the corner. Reigen stiffened, curling his fists reflexively. Oh god what if Serizawa laughed at him? He might just fall over and die right here….
“You would not believe the traffic today Reigen-san,” Serizawa said, moving to take off his outer jacket. He didn’t look at him. Oh god why hadn’t he looked!? His open and slightly amused expression made Reigen’s heart skip. “I barely made it across the street just now....”
Serizawa trailed off after finally, finally, making eye contact. He stood frozen, staring, and Reigen could do little but stare right back. His face had turned to that one of confusion and Reigen coughed into his hand nervously, not knowing how to react under his undivided attention. A few seconds ticked by until the corners of Serizawa’s lips twitched upwards.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses…” he said.
“Oh, well...I do....” Reigen replied. All of his charm and charisma flew out the window as soon as he opened his mouth. Why was he always such a mess in front of this guy. Oh god here comes the laughing….
Serizawa smiled at him. “They look good,” He said simply.
Reigen’s eyes widened and he narrowly avoided pushing the frames back into place.
He’s just being nice. You probably look stupid as hell.
Reigen waved him off, muttering a small ‘thanks’, and shuffed the papers on his desk needlessly. He couldn’t help a small blush creep across his cheeks and looked away in horror when he caught Serizawa staring even at that.
Serizawa must have noticed that he was just standing in the middle of the room because he suddenly moved to place his things down at his desk. Reigen quickly tried to gain his composure back until he realized that neither of them should be sitting right now.
“Oh Serizawa,” He called, gaining his employee’s attention again. “As early as it is, i’m afraid we have an early appointment.” Reigen said as if he hadn’t been thinking of an excuse to get out of here since he arrived. The compliments and staring were confusing. He didn’t want to embarrass himself more than he already had.
“Really?” Serizawa asked. Reigen was painfully aware of the fact that Serizawa had never held his gaze so strongly in his entire time working for him.
“Yes,” Reigen replied, trying his best to look cool and collected. “I wanted to get it done before some of the other clients come in. Should be an easy job. Won't take long.”
-----
It was not an easy job.
The spirit was slow to show itself at first, so the two had chosen to split up and search the old abandoned warehouse. That, as it turned out, was the worst idea possible. As soon as they had gotten sixty feet away from each other, the spirit appeared and flung Reigen across the room.
Eventually skidding to a halt, he whipped his head around to get a visual on just how serious this spirit was. It was an odd shape, and less defined than what he was used to. It was essentially a massive multicolored blob of fuzz. He could hear Serizawa’s cry of alarm and Reigen suddenly realized why the spirit looked so weird.
“Fuck! My glasses!” Reigen cried, flipping to his hands and knees. “Shit shit shit! Where are they!?” He frantically searched the floor with his hands, desperately hoping he’d run his fingers over the hard plastic. He could hear the monster charging at him. The roar became louder and louder.
“Reigen-san!” He heard Serizawa scream just before he was hit with a massive burst of psychic energy. He tumbled across the floor again and promptly decided he was much too old for this. The blurry room was spinning. His head hurt. He rolled over onto his back and zoned out for a good minute. God he hoped he didn’t have a concussion. Suddenly, a dark figure appeared over him, and on instinct Reigen spastically threw up his fists in an attempt to punch the crap out of whoever was there. He missed twice before his wrists were easily caught by two strong hands, the owner calling out to him.
“Reigen-san! Calm down! Its me, it’s me!”
Reigen squinted up at the figure.
“Serizawa?” He croaked, ceasing his struggle.
“Yes, yes, it’s me! The spirit is gone,” the dark blob said above him.
Reigen exhaled in relief and let his head flop back down against the floor. “Oh, thank god,” He panted.
He felt Serizawa’s hands traced over his face. “You’re bleeding…. Are you alright?” He asked, worry clear in his tone.
Reigen nodded. “Yeah yeah, he just got the drop on me. I could have taken him.”
He heard a scoff from Serizawa and felt a strong arm move under his back and lift him up into a sitting position. A cold bit of plastic was placed in his right hand and he squinted up at Serizawa’s face in question.
“I found your glasses. I’m sorry I wasn’t quick enough,” He offered shyly.
Reigen shook his head in dismissal.
“Don’t apologise. It was kind of my fault that we split up in the first place.”
He prayed silently that the lenses weren’t broken as he slid them on. The world blinked into focus and he turned to look at Serizawa to give his thanks when he noticed just how close their faces were. Reigen was struck by the deep color of Serizawa’s eyes and noticed just how strongly Serizawa stared into his own. Serizawa’s short curls were mussed up from the exorcism and he had somehow ripped the top two buttons off of his nice dress shirt, allowing his tie to hang loose. The tension was tangible and Serizawa’s gaze flicked to his lips.
Reigen looked down, feeling utterly out of his element. He looked up again after a second, going to spit some witty comment to try and defuse the atmosphere, when Serizawa gently brushed a piece of his hair away from his eyes. The tension was back tenfold and Reigen was made painfully aware of the firm arm wrapped around his back.
Serizawa seemed to suddenly come back to himself. Reigen felt his body stiffen and watched as he muttered out:
“They do look good on you. Your-your glasses.”
Reigen placed his hand on Serizawa’s chest, looking at his torn shirt. “You think so?” He asked.
Serizawa’s eyes stayed locked to his face. Reigen peered over the top of his glasses when he didn’t respond right away and saw a dark blush spread upon Serizawa’s face. Reigen, realising what he had just done, grew red as well.
Unable to stand it anymore, Reigen stood up, noticing how Serizawa’s touch lingered a little longer than necessary. The two dusted themselves off and shared a laugh about the so called ‘easy’ job. As they moved to leave the building, Reigen decided he hated his glasses a little less.