A Comic Where Serizawa And Reigen Get Into A Tense Conversation About Counsellors And Moms (and Maybe

"I told you, I'm busy right now!" Reigen shouts to his phone. Serizawa is awkwardly waiting for him nearby, in front of an izakaya. Reigen continues, "I'm gonna hang up, okay? Bye!" and does so, comically rushing back to the izakaya. "Everything ok?" asks Serizawa. "Yeah. It's just one of my mom's regular calls. Asking me what I'm doing, telling me to get married, showing me job adverts...the usual," answers Reigen, stepping into the izakaya. "Sometimes I wonder if she knows how to talk about anything else. But forget about that! We're here to celebrate."

The izakaya is welcoming, and steam is rising from the kitchen. "Cheers!" Serizawa and Reigen clink their glasses together. Serizawa's is a big glass of beer, and Reigen has a smaller glass of lemon soda. "Not drinking today?" Serizawa asks. "This is a special occasion. I gotta stay sober," Reigen answers, pulling out a box from his pockets. Both of them started chatting, adding to the lively izakaya atmosphere. "Your new cards, fresh off the printers! Congatulations again for your promotion." "Thank you again, Reigen-san." "I should thank you for your help. Becoming a deputy director isn't an achievement to be taken lightly, you know." Serizawa looks at the card box with a smile. "Within a year, no less! You should be proud. Dimple would disagree, but don't listen to him," Reigen continues, remembering the time Dimple told Serizawa to find another job. "At least it would make for a less awkward conversation with your parents, right?" This harmless remark triggers a memory in Serizawa, back when he just started this job. When he stayed in his childhood house, his mother's house.

Serizawa's mom's voice echoes in his mind. "Ah, when I think about how you used to be, Katsuya..." Her relief was palpable, "I'm so proud of you!" Serizawa's thoughts were broken by Reigen, "Hey, you good? Sensitive topic?" Serizawa pushes the thought away, "I was just remembering how my mom said this job is a little shady." Reigen balks, and the lively chat resumes. "Huh?! Not you too! Should I dock your pay?" "Well, she thought so because we give too many discounts. Charge more, than pay me more instead--" "I told you the most important thing is our clients' smiles! You agree, right, Serizawa?" "Sure... Wait, do I make financial decisions too now?" They continue like that for a while, drinking and nibbling on their food. A couple glasses later, Serizawa gets quiet and vulnerable. "Actually, she's really happy about me working in a consultation office," he admits.

"He's drunk?" Reigen looks at him, worried. He's caught off-guard when Serizawa continues, "You see, I hated counsellors." "...Yeah?" He starts to sweat. "To me, they're full of lies. They just tell you what you want to hear, to make you do what you want." He's positively mortified now. Serizawa, unaware of Reigen spiralling, just continues, "My mom used to bring family counsellors to visit me since I was 12." A memory: A young Serizawa sat in his dark room, hugging his legs. Two shadows open his door, his mother and a stranger. "It was the same year I shut myself in. They were pretty much my only contact to the outside world for a while. They would try to befriend me, encourage me... Clearly in a desperate attempt to bring me out." Serizawa focuses on the memory of his mom, looking at him with wide eyes. Worried, fearful. He shakily continues, "But the way they looked at me..."

The memory cuts off with young Serizawa at the verge of an outburst, and Serizawa continues, "It all ended the same way, me losing control of my powers. I can't blame them for failing. There was hardly any way for them to really understand my problem." He thinks back to the Gundam models left at his door. "I don't know if she really understood me or my powers. But over the years, she kept trying to reach me in the ways she knew." Meanwhile, at the present, the izakaya starts to get quieter as people leave. Reigen fidgets and checks the time on his phone. It's getting late. But Serizawa is not done, "Even when I got out and went to Claw, we couldn't connect much deeper. She just thought my work there was shady and didn't know what we were doing." This, Reigen can relate. He thinks of his mom's salaryman job adverts as he quips, "Oh, I get that too." Serizawa's hand, still holding his beer glass, shakes as he says, "I don't know if this will matter to her as much as it matters to me." Reigen bitterly smiles, snaps his flip phone closed and answers, "Well, if she loves you she will just be happy for you, right? And maybe that's enough..."

"Maybe she doesn't!" Serizawa snaps back. "Maybe I don't really love her, either. It's not like I really opened up to her, or know anything about her." Reigen doesn't know what to say. He can't say much, really, considering all the times he ignores and deletes emails from his mom. One of the very few people who consistently communicates with him. Serizawa starts to tear up in frustration, "And I don't know if I want to. 18 years of this-- After all these years, we can only look at each other with fear. Updating her about work...Is it just my own way of being what I think she wants? Of being normal?" More memories overwhelm Serizawa as he talks. His mom's cautious visits to his room, the day he got out of his room, the moment Toichiro opened the umbrella that he would be dependent on for the next several years. Then a new umbrella, the one he opened just a few months ago, in the middle of a tornado. For this person in front of him, who's trying to calm him down. But he can't pay attention to what Reigen's saying. Instead, he says something that has been festering in his mind. "Sometimes, I wish I'm like you, you know." And that stops Reigen in his tracks.

"You're different, aren't you?" Serizawa bitterly says, thinking of his shut-in days, his years of isolation and fear. Not something Reigen would understand, he's sure, this man who bravely walked into a psychic tornado his disciple wrought to the city. The same kind of tornado he's painfully familiar with. He continues, definite, "You're not afraid of anything." But what Serizawa has yet to know is the day Reigen sat in front of dozens of cameras and reporters demanding for answers, frozen, until the same disciple had to bail him out. Reigen is frozen again at this moment, looking back at Serizawa.

Reigen sputters, "That's-- that's not true! We're not so different! For starters, I also understand your mom's worries, and...esper problems, and..." Reigen hates himself, hates that his first instinct is to lie again. Serizawa is looking at him, unamused. Does Serizawa know his secret? He pauses for a bit. He gathers some courage, and starts again, "You think that...you don't love her, because you're afraid. Because you can't be real to her. But the fear is real. And that comes to real care, too," He doesn't know what he's saying. But he tries his best to continue, "And I know we have talked about showing true selves before, with Mob...But I know some relationships that started from total lies, and worked out." Serizawa is looking at him differently now. Maybe a little hopeful. Oh, and now he doesn't know if he's saying something right. Actually, he lost his train of thought. What is he saying? What face is he making? He backtracks a bit, "No. Maybe I'm not really sure about that. But that's what I hope." And Reigen stops there before he digs his hole further. This is the most honest he has been in a while.

Serizawa is silent for a bit, but he then quietly says, "Maybe you're right." The izakaya is dark now, except at the counter they're sitting on. The staff shouts from the back, "Hey, you two, we're closing!" Reigen and Serizawa quickly pack up and walk out. They slowly walk until Serizawa stops and gestures to his phone. They stop by a nearby street light and Serizawa calls his mom. Reigen waits, stands at a slight distance, for Serizawa's privacy. And the comic ends.

a comic where serizawa and reigen get into a tense conversation about counsellors and moms (and maybe actually about other things, too).

this is a bit experimental, and may be a bit rough around the edges. i mostly did it bc 1) i wanted to explore reigen and serizawa's flaws and relationships, 2) try to make smth out of serizawa mom's OVA drama cd gag, 3) explore the idea of courage, again. (i think it's also hilarious that reigen just insists on not telling seri abt his lack of powers despite telling mob and tome(after like a month??). and seri just knows and rolls with it. despite sincerity being his whole thing, i think he's good at accepting lies.) some dialogues are also intended to have extra weight with context from reigen separation arc and final ???% arc. i'm not sure if they came across well. but if not, i hope you enjoyed it anyway!

thank you for reading! edit: now also on ao3.

4/27 ARTWORK

HAPPY 4/27! god, i can't believe I forgot to post this earlier, when I made it! anyways yes, today is a good day for all parables. i should make a reference sheet for my guys soon, that'll have to come during 4/32 i suppose idk. anyways HAPPY 2ND ANNIVERSARY TO TSPUD AND HAPPY STANLEY DAY !!!

Tags

AAAA yummyyy this is mad cute *MUNCHES ON ART SO HARD

23 notes View Post

lithospherio

4 months ago

Oh my god he's a dork. I love him

136 notes View Post

starcr0ss3d-l0v3rb0y liked this · 2 weeks ago
lithospherio reblogged this · 2 weeks ago
lithospherio liked this · 2 weeks ago
ilovethewaypinklooksonyou liked this · 2 weeks ago
xtransformersgirlx liked this · 2 weeks ago
sketchy-scribs-n-doods liked this · 2 weeks ago
mysteriouslycoraldeer liked this · 2 weeks ago
everything-is-connected reblogged this · 3 weeks ago
ravens-hoard liked this · 3 weeks ago
hanselsbike liked this · 3 weeks ago
imgayestyoutoo liked this · 3 weeks ago
belleblossoms reblogged this · 3 weeks ago
randomlogic liked this · 3 weeks ago
tbhimaybestupid liked this · 3 weeks ago
21stcenturyschizoidfag liked this · 3 weeks ago
mossmanismoss liked this · 3 weeks ago
salmonpiffy reblogged this · 3 weeks ago
beammeupbroadway liked this · 3 weeks ago
mossybuzzkill liked this · 1 month ago
doityourselfbombs liked this · 1 month ago
zimzamzoom liked this · 1 month ago
cuckooclouds liked this · 2 months ago
lunaticmarkers liked this · 2 months ago
moonset liked this · 2 months ago
flopkawa liked this · 2 months ago
theclod3215 liked this · 3 months ago
rainbownightmares reblogged this · 3 months ago
pressedflowerpages reblogged this · 3 months ago
pressedflowerpages liked this · 3 months ago
rainbownightmares liked this · 3 months ago
random-person-3 liked this · 3 months ago
liabilit-e liked this · 3 months ago
queerwizarrds reblogged this · 3 months ago
yesjanii liked this · 3 months ago
felesrubrum reblogged this · 3 months ago
felesrubrum liked this · 3 months ago
synapticfoe liked this · 3 months ago
hauntedhhouse reblogged this · 3 months ago
hauntedhhouse liked this · 3 months ago
clingwrapsweat liked this · 3 months ago
sisislair reblogged this · 3 months ago
sisislair liked this · 3 months ago
beri-lola-186 liked this · 4 months ago
simcardiac-arrested reblogged this · 4 months ago
benjamine1208993 liked this · 4 months ago
venomade liked this · 4 months ago
renegart liked this · 4 months ago
kokonue liked this · 4 months ago
zhael8 liked this · 4 months ago
mashalikegueis liked this · 4 months ago

lithospherio

just your local guy

pronouns: he/they/she| I go by Kari or Kathari (you can chose)| Certified Defender Of Underrated Characters| I'm a pretty chill dude •••••••••••••••••••••PROSHIPPERS DNI.

248 posts

Explore Tumblr Blog

Search Through Tumblr Tags

A Comic Where Serizawa And Reigen Get Into A Tense Conversation About Counsellors And Moms (and Maybe

More Posts from Lithospherio and Others

4/27 ARTWORK