fatealteration | (no subject)

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"Hey, looks like there's a town up ahead."

Reigen obviously saw it --- he was the one driving, so he saw just about everything. But Max wasn't sure that the others in the back had. She looked over the shoulder of her seat as she said it, making sure that her voice wasn't drowned out by the sound of the 80s citypop CD they acquired at the last town they ran into.

Max turned back around and squinted her eyes, trying her best to filter out the rays of blinding light that seemed to reflect off of everything.

"I think it might be near a beach, too," she said. "That looks like a seagull, right?" Max pointed at the figure of a bird flying overhead.

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Before Reigen could clarify to Hitomi, Doppio was already tripping over himself to take blame that Reigen wasn’t even preparing to dish out.

“Whoa, whoa. Easy. You can tell me about it in the morning.” Reigen gave a firm pat to both their shoulders. “Get a snack. Take a bath. Put your feet up.”

Hitomi rubbed the back of her neck, feeling guilty. He was right. They should probably try to go to bed for real this time.

"Good night, Reigen-san," she said. "Thank you, Lisa Lisa." She bowed at both of them before heading towards the stairs.

“Hitomi!”

Hitomi turned around, surprised.

“Um.” Doppio gazed up at her from the foyer, gently pressing his lips together as he figured out the right words to say. He couldn’t find them, so he just said what was honest. “Thank you for listening and…everything else.”

Hitomi smiled. "I'm always happy to help you, Doppio."

~~

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Like a painting.” Reigen sighed to Max as he soaked in the morning sun. Even if the rectory was humble, having his own room felt like a luxury. And the balcony they were seated on that overlooked the delightful Sardinian garden, teacup in hand? God could have struck him down then and there and he’d die happy. He could breathe. He could stretch. He didn’t have to hike down to a cold river or sneak in sponge baths while the others were busy.

"Yeah, sure does. But I didn't expect you to be up this early. Thought you'd sleep in now that you have the opportunity for it."

Reigen’s head fell forward. “…I am a nice person.”

"Hey, hey, I wasn't judging you," Max said with a laugh, hands raised in front of her in surrender.

"I know. What I mean is...I didn't sleep. I was wondering how to get ahead of something." Reigen made a face. "I think our little road show just got more complicated."

Max raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"Teenage love."

"Wait." Max's eyes widened. "Doppio and Hitomi?"

"Well...our cute Doppio got a little too excited about Lisa Lisa-sama getting up close and personal. I've never seen Hitomi-chan seethe before."

"She was seething?"

"I swear, he didn't even notice! ...Though, if he had, it definitely would have just made everything worse."

"Wow. Well, that's awkward."

"You ever have to talk a kid through heartbreak?"

"Well... college students." They were kind of kids.

"Mob has this little crush, but it's not like he had the nerve to act on it." Reigen scratched the side of his head. "Maybe I'm not giving either of them enough credit here, but I'm worried. I didn't think the party could split so suddenly."

"So you think Hitomi's going to act on it?"

"No clue. If this were Mob, I'd just tease him a bit and be done with it, but..." Reigen slurped at his tea nervously. "I just hate seeing her cry, you know? Maybe you wouldn't guess what with me being so sagely but I'm no good with that kind of thing."

Max hummed to herself. "So what do you think we should do? I mean... Doppio's probably going to stay here."

“Probably…”

Reigen took another moment to think as he stared at the ounce of tea he had left. Then, movement caught his eye in the gardens below. Doppio was up around with Father Serra and Chid. Reigen couldn’t fully make out what they were saying but when Father Serra patted the lemon tree they were near, Doppio’s eyes seemed to light up with some kind of recognition.

Yeah. He looked happy.