Chapter Text
The day Hatori started working at your company was a day you would be hard pressed to forget. After all, it wasn’t every day that such a strikingly handsome man came into the office. Your manager introduced him to you, and told Hatori to direct any questions to you.
“Nice to meet you, Hatori-san.” You told him, shaking his hand and smiling.
“It’s very nice to meet you too, [Y/N]-san!” His smile was small and terse, as if he didn’t really mean his words. But that was whatever. You didn’t really mean yours either. They were just words, after all.
By the third day, you realised that something was different about GHatori. He was very smart, yes, and had already been a huge help with your team’s coding issues, but there was something about him that seemed… Off. His first night on the team, you all went out for drinks, and he refused to drink. Not entirely abnormal, you only took a couple sips yourself, but it was more his attitude that was strange. Haughty. Almost as if he was a Vegan looking down upon the Carnivores around him.
Things only got stranger from then on. He evaded all questions about his personal life, answering up until what university he had attended but shying away from his life after that.
“I worked for a small company abroad, doing IT” was his answer to every question prying into the last 4 years of his life. Suspicious, maybe a little. Sexy? Absolutely. You loved a man of mystery, after all.
But the final nail in the coffin for you happened on that third day. You had been handed a stack of papers tall enough to block your vision, and you were told to bring them to HR. Ever the hard worker, you took this mission upon yourself, solo. Like an idiot, some would call you. ‘Some’ being, in this case, Gatori.
“Hey, [Y/N], you need some help?” His voice came from behind you, startling you. As you turned around to face him, the stack of papers began precariously leaning to the side, beginning to fall. Without thinking, you yelled out “STOP!” and focused your mind on not letting the papers fall. As you did, your aura swelled and the papers froze in mid air, their time stopped.
Realising what you had done, you suddenly panicked and released your powers, letting the sheets fall unceremoniously to the ground. You looked at the man, expecting a look of disgust, or anything at all, but instead were only greeted by a small smirk and what seemed like mild surprise.
As he leaned down to help you clean the mess you made, you thought you heard him say “Looks like we have more in common than I thought.” But that couldn’t be, right?
After that day, you found Gratori becoming more and more friendly towards you. From bringing you your go to drink at break time, to specifically sitting next to you in all meetings, both professional and after hours. Your confusion peaked when, after exchanging work mails, you received a text asking if you were free to hang out the upcoming weekend. He had apparently been given two amusement park tickets, and none of his other friends were around. (More specifically, he stated that none of them had the mental capacity for enjoying rides, which you decided to interpret how you wanted).
The date-not-date came around, and you found yourself having a wonderful time Gratorin was a lovely companion, even more kind outside of work then you had ever seen him. Not only did he check in with you after every ride, he offered to pay for all your food (though you declined), and even went out of his way to buy you both candy floss while you were recovering from a particularly intense roller coaster.
Turning towards him, candy floss in mouth, you asked “Is there anything else you want to ride while we’re here?”
He looked out into the park, a pensive expression painted on his face. Suddenly, his eyes hit something, and you saw a spark in his eyes. “The only thing left is the Ferris Wheel, I think. And, if you’re not too afraid of heights,” he said with a joking tone, “I would love to ride it with you”.
You blushed a bit at this. He must know the connotations of all this, right? Could it be, that he felt the same way you did?
The line for the Ferris Wheel, thankfully, wasn’t too long. You managed to snag a carriage just for the two of you, and you watched with glee as the world fell away beneath you.
“Do you like heights, Gritorin-san?” You asked, still facing the window.
“I’ve always loved heights. I was lucky enough to go up Seasoning Tower, once, and that’s the best view I’ve ever gotten.”
“Ah, that must’ve been before that whole incident, what, two months ago? I always wanted to go up, but I guess now I never will.”
As you turned back to face him, you saw his expression sour.
“[Y/N]… I have a confession to make.” You leaned forward, wondering why he seemed so tense. “I… Well, I know you’re an Esper. I am too.”
You jerked back in surprise at this confession. “Really??” You almost shouted. “I’ve never met someone like me before!” You reached out and grabbed his hands. “If it’s not too personal, can I ask what your abilities are? Since, you know, you’ve seen my little parlour trick already.”
His eyes were fixed on where your hands were intertwined. You wondered if you should let go, but felt his hands tensing against yours, holding you like you were holding him. “It would be too dangerous to do it here, but… I can control electronics. That, uhm, brings me to my second confession.”
“Go ahead.”
“I was, well, I was a member of Claw. I… I was there two months ago, when everything went down.”
The booth went ice cold. Griftori had been a member of the terrorist organisation Claw? Thinking back, this did explain a lot of his… affects, but you would never have gone as far as to assume that, well, he was a former terrorist. But, you had heard stranger things. You knew people who had lived on the darker side of society. You could see past that.
You squeezed his hands, hoping you hadn’t misread the signs, and leaned in and kissed him.