i'm trying to get better.

Cute… [Oh, that was out loud. Hopefully slurred enough to sound like gibberish.]

Urm… yeah they’re…. uh… Tsubaki….. and…. Kiku….

[Yes, Beetle the beetle was cute. At least as cute as a beetle could be. Once again, a social nuance goes flying over Serizawa’s head.]

“Ah, right! Look it up online!” It was part bad habit to try acting like he was the sole one giving orders around here, and also part being thrown into a tizzy (they just NEEDED to have the ingredients, there was probably no time for the alternative case, else the client would find out his cake had become food for the floor).

His eyes, which settled from his companion to the oversized bowl in front of him, darted back to cautiously look at Serizawa…barely in the corners of his sight since Reigen wouldn’t fully turn his head while saying this, “I’m not asking you as your boss for help.”

It’d been the doing of Reigen and the client’s evil spirit that resulted in the crash. Being in the client’s house with the resulting disaster had nothing to do with Serizawa and-…well, Reigen believed Serizawa wouldn’t abandon him, but Reigen had to be prepared to face his mistakes himself, “so I want your answer whether you’re sticking it out or not. –Before you find out whether we have all the ingredients,” he finally leveled his gaze to meet Serizawa’s, evidentally finding his confidence in something or other. “If your answer is dependent on that, then you’re not really caring whether the client gets his cake back or not. Personally, I’ll make him a damn delicious cake out of vegetables if I have to! You know what I’m saying?” (Reigen didn’t even know what he was saying, he THINKS there was a cake that had carrots or something in it).

Serizawa did not know what Reigen was saying.

But in his time “working for” the other man, he’d grown to trust him very much. He was starting to question some of Reigen’s more... unorthodox methods, but at the end of the day Serizawa believed, in a way that was simple and unshakable, that Reigen was a respectable person. Their clients almost always left happier, even if they’d never had a haunting to being with.

Serizawa glanced between Reigen and his phone a few times and then finally lowered it.

“... R-right,” he said. “I’m with you. Of course. Ah, we don’t really have to make a vegetable cake though, do we? That sounds awful.”

He looked around at the ingredients that were piled haphazardly on the counter... Surely they could at least make something out of it? Flour, sugar... Those seemed like the most important bits.

Vaguely he wondered what Reigen had meant when he said he wasn’t asking for help as his boss. They didn’t usually call each other friends out loud but... surely at this point they were.

Serizawa smiled a little, his confidence growing. “I’ll follow your lead!” he declared.

[….] [Damn, that’s fucked up.]

Probably not. Wha’did you name it? If y’gave it a name it might count. [This is the line that makes it a pet, of course. He nods sagely to himself.]

I never had one but I do keep houseplants, they’re kinda like the busy-man’s pet.

His name was Beetle. [Serizawa wasn’t a creative child.]

[Ah.] [Even though he’d only wanted to see the cat, that was a bit forward. Although Serizawa had offered first, right?

….

Or… well, he hadn’t had he. Reigen’s head is swimming too much for this.]

Yeah… guess so. No cats either then. [His tone is flat - he’s trying to concentrate, although there’s a touch of sulking to it.] 

….You ever have pets growing up?

[Rehabilitated or not, Serizawa’s tact ends at recognizing the difference between Reigen’s sulking and regular drunkenness. He notices nothing but his own relief.]

Only a cat, huh. [Truth be told, he’s soft for anything fluffy that gives him attention but… cats very often didn’t want that. Still–] I wanna meet it. Let’s go now.

Two short open starters because the power was out for a bit.

1.

"No..that can't be right."

Reigen kept on trying, but the sewing machine only let out an angry and loud whir, refusing to stitch any further.

2.

"I'm not being ridiculous! Although baking isn't usually in the job, it's what the situation requires!...But, if you wanted to help, I might actually get somewhere with this.."

(for #2 :3c)

A lot had changed in Serizawa’s life. He was now confident enough in his place at Spirits & Such that he didn’t balk at all from flatly calling out Reigen’s stubbornness. But he wasn’t quite far along enough to remotely know his way around baking a cake.

In his defense, Reigen seemed to be in the same boat.

“You’re alive?!”

It’s admittedly not the most refined way to greet a former colleague but... as far as the ex-Claw members Serizawa has spoken to are concerned Shimazaki just disappeared off the face of the earth. Most of them hadn’t cared much but Serizawa, in his infinite sentimentality, had allowed himself a pang of regret for Shimazaki’s seeming demise.

[He laughs briefly, then his face falls and he frowns at his empty glass.] 

Wish they let dogs in bars…. wanna pet a dog, Serizawa. Le’s find a dog. [He pulls Serizawa’s sleeve towards him, but negates any movement that could have resulted from the limp tug by leaning his head against Serizawa’s upper arm.]

[This is rather touchier than they usually get with each other, but then again this is also drunker than they usually get so maybe it evens out.]

“D... Do you think he’s stuck?”

It didn’t really occur to Serizawa how weird it was to just turn to a stranger and start talking to her like this, but there was an emergency afoot. The two of them stood at the base of a tree, newly bare of sakura blossoms, and in that tree sat a cat. A fat orange cat. But the thing was, he was very high up and looking over the edge of his branch with bland alarm now, as if suddenly realizing he had no idea how to get back down.

This cat needed help! It would be easy for Serizawa to simply levitate it with his psychic powers but... using his powers on living things made him really nervous... just the idea was hiking up his anxiety. Maybe that was why he was being such an anxious weirdo to this poor girl.

“Ah, welcome! Can I get you some tea?”

He assumed the man who had just entered the Spirits & Such office was supposed to be here, even though they didn’t have any appointments scheduled for the afternoon. Most of their clients were walk-ins and wanderers, looking for everything from spiritual guidance or an exorcism to directions to the nearest KFC.

So Serizawa treated this stranger as a client. His lines were well-rehearsed--he wasn’t too great at coming up with new greetings off the cuff--but he spoke with a simple genuineness that somehow made it seem quite personal.

It’s perhaps ironic that Serizawa, himself an odd-job man, is now in need of the services of another odd-job man. Sometimes a job arises that even Spirits & Such can’t handle. It’s rare (after all, they are armed with the internet and Youtube tutorials enough to bullshit through most obstacles), but it does happen.

It’s perhaps even more ironic that the odd-job man Serizawa hopes to hire seems to be seeping supernatural residue out of her neck.

He tries not to stare. It would be impolite.

Serizawaaa! [Reigen makes no attempt to hide his chortle.] Since when were you funny, pthh.

[He necks the rest of his second drink and slams the glass on the bar, leaning heavily on the elbow nearest his companion as he tilts closer.] Do ‘nother one.

[If Serizawa were completely honest with himself he might admit he’s clinging a little to this positive attention. But nobody’s completely honest with themself in a bar, right?]