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You were in your room as always from morning to a little before afternoon, writing and drawing and keeping track of all the records of the demon slayers. Living at the Butterfly estate wasn’t easy but you had plenty of breaks and time to yourself which were always welcome to you. You were far into your own world at your desk drawing something when a knock at the door and the sudden words of “I’m coming in!” and the door slowly opening as a head poked its way in to see if it was ok. It was Tanjiro followed by Zenitsu, you’d recognized them from the notes and descriptions of them in the records. As they walked in and stood by the door they saw you fumble with your art book trying to hide it. Tanjiro waved a hello and proceeded to speak. “I’m sorry we didn’t mean to scare you. Aoi-san asked us to bring these records to you so you could organize them!” You nodded your head in response and getting up, making sure your art book was hidden enough they couldn’t see the drawing on it and went to grab the records from Tanjiro.
You bowed as a thank you for Tanjiro delivering the papers to you. He seemed a little surprised at how formal you were but it came as no surprise to you. The most you can do to say thank you to people, especially if they don’t know sign, is to bow as a thanks or write it down. You turned around and showed him a note, one you had written. It stated, “I’m sorry I don’t speak much.” and you gave an apologetic smile at him. You’d seen Tanjiro and heard him and his friends inside the estate only recently but never properly introduced since there was really no need and it’s not like you’d see them very often unless you were needed to help treat them. You shuffled for another note on the desk that said “My names [F/N\] [L/N] but you can call me [Y/N].” You took the notes back and placed them in their spot on the table and bowed again at him.
‘Ah- There’s no need to be so formal! It’s ok if you don’t speak! We were just here to deliver the records Aoi-san gave us!” He waved his hands at you trying to ease you away from being so formal, but you only nodded a no in response. You’d realized the blonde one hadn’t said anything this whole time and looked over to where he was, except he wasn’t there anymore. You looked around the room, maybe he entered into the room more? Nowhere to be found. Tanjiro noticed you looking around and he realized as well Zenitsu had disappeared. He only mumbled “Where did he…” before he was cut off by the abrupt sound of someone opening the door.
It was Zenitsu. He held flowers in his hand and his face was flushed. You tilted your head in confusion, which seemed to make him blush harder when he looked up and held the flowers close to his chest. He tilted his face away seemingly trying to his, oh so obvious blush, as he moved his flowers towards you, gesturing they were meant for you. You blinked a few times kind of surprised he’d left to give you flowers. You smiled sweetly and took the flowers from his hands which seemed to make him really happy. You bowed as a thank you to him, which surprised and flustered him as he turned to Tanjiro seeking advice “W- what do I do?!? Do I bow back!? No one’s ever bowed at me when I gave them flowers before!?!” He seemed panicked but mostly just flustered.
Tanjiro called Zenitsu name catching his attention from his fluster. “Zenitsu, [y/n] doesn’t speak. They bowed as a thank you for the flowers.” Your face lit up a little bit at Tanjiro as he explained for you, that you don’t speak. Zenitsu seemed to notice this because he got upset at Tanjiro for both, knowing your name and making you smile. Your smile quickly turned into a forced smile as Zenitsu started bickering at Tanjiro and there wasn’t much you could do. Instead you turned around and started looking through some cabinet in your room. Zenitsu noticed and started staring at you and yelling enthusiastically about how you were going to get a present for him and he couldn’t wait. You pull out a small vase, with a cute design on it and place it on your desk in the corner and place the flowers he’d given you in it. You turn around and see that Zenitsu had absolutely lit up in excitement clearly happy you liked his flowers. Tanjiro looked at you from behind Zenitsu and mouthed something along the lines of “I’m sorry” as he grabbed Zenitsu by the collar of his outfit and started dragging him away.
You giggle to yourself and Zenitsu tries to protest but Tanjiro starts to scold him about flirting with every girl he sees. Soon they’re long gone and you head outside as well. Luckily your room is by the courtyard and you take a few steps onto the walkway looking up at the sky and onto the landscape as far as you could see. You thought to yourself now would be a good time to grab your books and draw for a bit outside and you hurried back to your room to fetch your stuff.
A few minutes later and your perched on your spot on the small bridge the estate has, your attention on both your drawing and on the scenery. When you’re drawing like this you notice all the little things that change, the people who pass by, the birds that build their nests in the trees, and the clouds as they pass by in the sky. And there’s one thing that you know you’ll always notice when he appears. Giyuu. He wasn’t there often but when he was you found yourself always studying his features and haphazardly drawing him in your book multiple times and always assumed he’d never noticed since he never looked at you or even seemed to notice when she stared at him studying his face. At least you thought so until today, when you had finished drawing and decided the bridges lowest rail would be a good spot to rest and you placed your arms and crossed them placing your head in your arms as you closed your eyes. You’d fallen asleep for a few minutes and you’d woken up to the sound of your book pages flipping.
You panicked thinking someone was going through your book and turned to your right to grab it only to be met by Giyuu who was bent down over your book and extremely close to your face. Surprised, you jump back and look down at your book. This close up he really was pretty, you thought to yourself but quickly discarded the thought as the wind blew and your books pages started flowing and you scrambled to grab it before Giyuu saw anything inside it. You held it close to your chest and looked at Giyuu waiting for a response but he gave none. Instead he stood up with a hand gesturing at you to help you up and you hesitantly took it. You stood up on your feet and avoided making any eye contact with him, but you couldn’t help but glance up at his face and see what seemed to be blu-
‘Do you want me to take you back to your room? If you’re tired, you should rest.” He interrupted your thoughts and spoke suddenly causing you to jump again and clutch your book closer to you. He seemed to notice he startled you and apologized “Ah- Sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” He lowered his hand and gave a small bow before looking back up at you with the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. You grabbed your book away from your chest and grabbed your pencil and quickly wrote something “Its ok. If you could take me back it’d be nice”. He seemed confused as to why you wrote it down instead of speaking but he didn’t question it, only nodding his head and gesturing for you to walk.
The walk back was short and kind of awkward since neither of you talked but somehow it was nice. You studied his haori and its pattern, wondering to yourself why he’d had it split between designs, studying his hair and how it was so spiky and how pretty it was. To be honest you kind of wanted to touch it but you made sure you didn’t. You didn’t even realize you’d made it all the way to your room until you’d bumped into him accidentally taking in his scent which smelled like fresh rain that had poured. You quickly backed away when you bumped into him and looked around to see that you’d ended up back in your room. Giyuu looked confused for some reason, which confused you so you both tilted heads at each other, confused… Ah! You bowed quickly as a thank you thinking he was confused that you hadn’t thanked him. But he only stood there still confused. You raised your head and wrote down, “Thank you for taking me back to your room. You seem confused about something though, is there something I can help with?” He opened his mouth to speak but closed his mouth, putting his finger to his mouth in thought.
“[Y/N]?” You blinked a few times as he said your name waiting for him to continue.
“Are you sure youre OK? You seem dazed and even bumped into me when we'd arrived. Is there something wrong with your throat? You didn't try to speak just write it down.” Ah. So he was just worried about you. It was both relieving and flustering to you.
“ah- no I-” You quickly covered your mouth realized you’d just spoken to him despite this being your first time actually meeting him. 'Fuck' you thought to yourself. Seeing your shock and covering your mouth Giyuu wasn’t quite sure what to do. He looked around hoping someone was there to help him but there was no one.
“Sorry was that bad to ask I wasn't trying to-”
You interrupted him “No! It’s just…I don’t usually..” you got quieter as you kept talking. “talk to people is all…” You lowered your hands from holding the book so close to your face when you explained yourself. You can’t believe yourself, you don’t usually talk to people unless you know them really well. You slowly covered your face again in disbelief.
“No, it’s ok, I get it. I don’t really know how to talk to people either.” He shifted slightly seemingly ashamed of admitting that. You giggled a bit.
“Guess we’re in the same boat then, huh?” You raised your fingers to your mouth as you giggled. Maybe talking to him wasn’t so bad. “Maybe we could.. talk more often?” You asked but you weren’t so sure how he’d answer.
“I’d like that.” He’d answered more honestly than you thought. It took you by surprise kind of but you smiled at his response. He seemed to pause for a minute before seemingly giving himself a small smirk and saying “I’d also like to know why you stare at me so much and why I’m in your book so much.” Your eyes widened when he said that. He almost seemed to smirk at that. You covered your face and crouched down to the floor trying to hide your blush overcoming your face. You could hear him giggle slightly to himself, which only made your embarrassment worse.
You looked up at him slowly “You…you saw in my book..?” You already knew the answer but…
“Before you woke up earlier I was just going to pick you up and take you back to your room, but the wind flipped through your pages and I saw a few drawings and then you woke up." So he did see! You had hoped he didn’t see inside your book when the wind betrayed you like that.
“I’m- I’m really sorry!! I should’ve asked for permission first I-”
“It’s ok. You didn’t do anything bad, [y/n].” He smiled ever so softly and faintly. You couldn’t help but smile back in relief. This was a good start you thought to yourself.