Work Text:
“Giyuu, I’m home!” Sabito slides the door shut behind him and smiles when he hears a grunt in response. Giyuu is curled up on the floor, mostly covered by his red haori with his black hair sticking out in tufts. An arm emerges from the mound of fabric and reaches out to him, Sabito chuckles and obliges him, sitting down and taking Giyuu’s hand. Giyuu emerges fully from his haori, blinking sleepily; Sabito despairs slightly at the sight of the bamboo muzzle. His hand twitches.
It wouldn’t hurt, right?
“Kochou would kill me if she found out about this,” he sighs, removing the muzzle. Giyuu smiles and scoots closer.
“What Kochou doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
“You’re in a good mood today.” Giyuu radiates a steady warmth and Sabito plays with the ends of his hair, a little distracted by the light reflecting off Giyuu’s fangs. He pokes one of them absentmindedly and Giyuu frowns.
“How was the pillar meeting?”
“Ah, the same as ever, Shinazugawa got mad, Uzui was flamboyant and Kochou called me a dumbass.” Giyuu laughs a little at that, eyes lighting up.
“What did you do this time?”
“Not important.”
“Did you trip over your own feet again?”
“Look here you-” Sabito cuts himself off, Giyuu is laughing properly now, eyes bright and shining. But his pupils remain slitted and catlike; and when he covers his mouth to muffle his own laughter, Sabito can clearly see his claws.
His heart aches.
They got four years. Four years of fighting together. Well, one with the two of them, and then Makomo joined them. Giyuu even became the water pillar, even if he didn’t think he deserved the position.
And then...well…
Sabito still has a jagged scar on his stomach from back then; Giyuu horribly injured and out of his mind with hunger, snarling like an animal. His stomach twinges. Giyuu’s little fangs seem cute now, like kitten teeth, and half the time his claws are painted some pretty colour thanks to Kanroji. But Sabito still has nightmares about that day, Makomo does too, and he knows Giyuu hates seeing the scar on his stomach.
Giyuu shifting about catches his attention and Sabito snaps out of it.
“You ok?”
“Mhm.” Giyuu yawns. “Tired.”
That’s another thing. Having a boyfriend who’s nearly always asleep isn’t exactly helpful when trying to maintain a relationship. Not that it isn’t cute.
“Then go to sleep.”
“Hmph, you’ll be here when I wake up?”
“Of course.”
“He’s in a mood.” Makomo is waiting for him outside the water pillar estate, hands on her hips.
“What?”
“He wanted to go on that mission with you, you know that.”
“I also know that he was so badly hurt that Kochou threatened to rip my fingernails off if I so much as moved him.” Makomo sighs.
“Yeah, you’re right, but just...just go cuddle him or something will you? He’ll forgive you in a heartbeat.”
“Thanks for looking after him.”
“He’s my friend too, you know, it’s no trouble.”
“Let’s go for a walk.” Giyuu peaks at him from under the blanket, scowling. “You’re not really mad that I went without you, are you?” No response. “You just want to go outside, don’t you?” A long silence, then, sulkily.
“Maybe.”
Goodness, how can someone be so cute and so annoying at the same time?
That’s problem number three...four? Do the claws and fangs count as separate problems?
……
Whatever.
Giyuu’s mostly recovered his old personality after that brief period of...not being in control...but even when he’s at his best there’s something vaguely childlike about his behaviour. He’s more prone to laughter, and tears, a little slow at times, and extremely clingy. Sometimes he regresses completely and Sabito feels more like his big brother than his boyfriend, wiping his tears when he hurts himself and tolerating every yank on his hair, every last one . If Giyuu was like this when he was actually a child, Sabito feels sorry for his sister.
Giyuu trails behind him, gripping Sabito’s hand and looking all around. The flowers are blooming, the birds are settling down for the night and the whole world is lit up with moonlight. In the past, Sabito would’ve made this a date and fed Giyuu strawberries until sunrise.
He still could, he supposes.
“Sabito.” Giyuu tugs on his hand. They’ve come to the crest of a small hill and there’s a beautiful view of the moon. Giyuu stares up at the moon, eyes wide and mouth parted slightly. “Look, Sabito!”
“I’m looking, I’m looking.” Sabito shoves him with his shoulder playfully and gets an absolutely precious smile in return. With the moon reflected in his eyes, Giyuu’s slitted pupils almost seem to disappear and Sabito can see the boy he grew up with.
But that boy is gone, not even Sabito is the same as he was back then.
And he loves the demon he’s with, not the boy he used to be.
Lifting Giyuu’s hand to his mouth, Sabito presses a kiss to his knuckles. Giyuu blushes.
“S-Sabito?”
“Beautiful,” Sabito murmurs, kissing the back of his hand, his scarred palm.
“A-Ah, I-”
“You were never very good at taking compliments were you?”
“You’re not any better,” Giyuu grumbles, but he doesn’t move his hand away.
Demons can have nightmares. This is something that nobody knew. At least not until Giyuu ripped apart one of the rooms in the butterfly estate and scared the absolute shit out of Aoi with his screaming. Demon screams are...a uniquely traumatising sound. Luckily Giyuu’s nightmares are rarer now but when he does have them, they last for hours. Giyuu sleeps for days at a time and doesn’t wake up for anything (except to protect Sabito and Makomo) so all Sabito can do is watch him grimace and whimper and tremble and pray to whatever cruel gods are out there that Giyuu wakes up soon.
This nightmare seems especially bad, Giyuu shakes violently, occasionally snarling weakly at an invisible threat, Sabito hangs his head but keeps a tight grip on Giyuu’s hand, Makomo holds Giyuu’s other hand and strokes his hair, murmuring soothing words.
Several hours later, Giyuu finally wakes up. Makomo sags with relief and Sabito lets out a long breath. He wraps his arms around Giyuu and pulls him close, then startles when Giyuu shrinks and he’s suddenly holding a toddler. Makomo frowns.
“Oh dear, it must have been bad if he-” Giyuu reaches for her with a tiny hand and tugs firmly on her kimono. Makomo blinks. “Group hug?”
“Mmph!” Giyuu sounds triumphant and Sabito can only smile.
Sabito goes to sleep with a toddler next to him and wakes up wrapped in a man’s arms. Giyuu has his face buried between Sabito’s shoulder blades and his leg slung over Sabito’s hip. Ah, yes, the clinginess, but Sabito can’t bring himself to complain.
“Giyuu,” he murmurs.
“Morning.” Giyuu noses at his shoulder blade and when Sabito turns to look at him he finds that Giyuu’s pretty blue eyes are clear and focused. So today’s a good day.
“Giyuu,” he says again.
“Sabito,” Giyuu parrots back. “Can we go for a walk again tonight?” Sabito remembers his thought from before.
“Will you let me feed you strawberries if we do?” Giyuu blinks and raises his eyebrows.
“Yes?” Sabito grins and kisses his cheek.
“Wonderful, love you.” Giyuu stares for a moment before smiling softly.
“Love you too, Sabito.”