Chapter Text
It started when Justin first fell asleep on him.
A quiet night in their apartment where the scythe was so worn out that he slumped over and started to let out tiny snores against Giriko’s shoulder. Giriko didn’t have any other reaction except to freeze up, completely caught off guard by the fact that Justin was even able to relax enough around him to sleep. He spent most of that night still as stone, scared to even move in fear the executioner would wake up and somehow blame him for this. It took him a couple hours to get the balls to slip away and leave the brat passed out on the couch alone.
Neither of them said anything the next morning, although Justin had the characteristic grumpiness of someone who had just spent all night sleeping in an uncomfortable position. Things seemed to be back to normal… for about a week. Giriko hadn’t even realized coming home that Justin was already asleep. He had sat down heavy besides the kid, starting to say something when he realized Justin was drooling the slightest bit, his head lulled over the top of the couch.
Again he felt himself tense up, scared that just the motion of sitting down would wake Justin up. When a minute passed without so much as a stir Giriko realized he was safe, that Justin was still unconscious and unaware of him. He wasn’t sure why Justin had started sleeping out in the shared space, there was a chance he had done this before Giriko was around and was falling back into the habit but it was still… it was hard for Giriko to imagine how the brat could do this without being scared. They were enemies mere months ago.
Justin didn’t seem to mind though, he was breathing heavy sleepy breaths that somehow made the tension in Giriko’s shoulders melt away and left him with the desire to fall asleep right beside the other. In fact… there was no way Justin would know if he just got closer for a second and-
A loud banging slammed against their door and made Giriko jump out his skin. He was so fucking screwed, Justin was going to fly awake and… and… he didn’t. Justin’s face barely twitched despite the loud noise and stayed asleep, completely unaware of the loud banging of some asshole on the other side of their door. It was fucking amazing, how deep of a sleeper was this kid? He spent a moment awestruck before the person outside started getting louder and sent his temper through the roof.
“Goddammit shut the fuck up!” Getting off the couch with an ugly glare he went to rip their door open and throw the bastard over their railing, unsurprised to find some drunk asshole outside thinking their apartment was someone else’s. They weren’t exactly in a bad part of town but they weren’t in the best either, it wasn’t like they had to worry about their safety when looking around. The man cowered away at Giriko throwing the door open into him and scaring him off, running off before the enchanter could get his hands on him.
It was annoying the guy managed to get away but Giriko would at least take the fucking silence. It was too late for that shit. Justin was already asleep and- slamming the door back closed he flinched at how the whole apartment seemed to shake. Fuck. He had to have woken Justin up with that, there was no way a Death Scythe would be so unaware. Sneaking back into the main room he looked to see if Justin was up… shockingly he wasn’t. He had shifted slightly and his face was knotted into a glare but he clearly still wasn’t awake.
Moving over to the kid Giriko found himself amazed, did nothing wake him up? Was he that fucking tired that he was just out, a complete corpse until morning? Moving around Justin in a cautious semicircle he went to hesitantly brush his fingers against the scythe’s cheek, Justin pushed back slightly, chasing the warm feeling, but otherwise didn’t react. It was like the breath had been knocked right out of him. Giriko didn’t even know how to process this. How to handle this. The feeling in his soul was overwhelming as he felt Justin’s warm skin press against his own.
Justin really wasn’t going to wake up and he was giving Giriko complete control over whatever happened until he did. It was a display of trust that the enchanter was certain no one had given him before. If people did fall asleep around him it was usually people like the fuckin Mosquito who didn’t have a choice while they were traveling around with Arachne, and even then the old fuck was hesitant to do it. Giriko wasn’t sure what Mosquito thought he was going to do as he didn’t want to get within 30 feet of the bastard at any given time, but regardless he still hadn’t wanted to.
So that just added to the amazement that Justin, someone who had far more reason to worry based on their interactions in the past, was trusting him with this. There was a chance it was just because Justin was really that dumb, but Giriko wasn’t convinced of that. The scythe, as much as he hated to admit it, wasn’t stupid. He managed plenty of shit that left Giriko amazed, convincing the academy to pardon a war criminal like himself and somehow getting him to agree to the academy’s conditions. He had a way with people that was far more than just innate, it was practiced and filled with a logic and understanding that rivaled even Arachne’s.
The brat fast asleep leaning into his hand and drooping towards it, dancing right on the line of completely falling over to the side was scary. Justin planned out everything, this had to be on purpose. Right? Giriko wasn’t sure what the kid could possibly be doing here but it felt like something… maybe he was just paranoid being in this town but he didn’t feel unwarranted in his fear at all. Justin was always worth being scared of. It was a good precaution to have.
“You awake in there? Laughing at me?” Justin didn’t move, didn’t smirk or make any indication that he heard what had just been spoken. He was really out, his face surely should’ve at least twitched if he was awake. Giriko frowned as he pushed Justin back so he fell against the couch. When Justin actually woke up from the impact it scared the everloving shit out of him. He had been under the impression that literally nothing woke the kid up, but apparently as soon as he was moved that went out the window.
Justin groaned and held his head as he got up off the cushions and tried to pull himself out of his dreams. It was clear he wasn’t ready to get up and this rude awakening had left him entirely out of his element… Giriko wondered if he should run now before Justin figured out what exactly had happened and came for his throat. He decided to risk staying still and as the scythe stretched out and looked around for the guilty party he felt his face go pale. Justin was surprisingly beautiful waking up, droopy eyes framed by golden lashes and a softness that couldn’t be seen on him any other time.
“Giriko? Wha- Why’d you push me?” Justin didn’t sound as angry as he did confused, it was too much of a relief to know he wasn’t about to be killed for messing with the other while he slept, but it was also fucking shocking. Giriko wasn’t really sure how to respond, he wasn’t really sure what his plan once Justin had been forced to lay all the way down was. He had really just been looking to see how much he could get away with. Apparently sudden movements were what woke the little beast.
He wasn’t able to come up with any good excuse and he was met with Justin huffing off to sleep in his room, leaving Giriko feeling weirdly cold the rest of the night. He thought for sure that’d be the last time he’d see Justin sleeping out there, he thought the kid would’ve learned his lesson to not doze off where he could be distrubed… but the next night he was out there again. And again the next night. And again.
Every single time Giriko was at a loss of what to do, he felt himself drawn closer even though he knew he could just ignore the brat or push him over and force him to wake up and go to his own fucking room. It wasn’t like he was bothered anyway… there was no need to wake the brat up especially once he started to notice that he liked Justin’s silent company. There was something about having the kid next to him heavy and asleep that felt amazing, Giriko couldn’t get enough of it. He quickly fell in love with the rhythm of having Justin fall asleep in the shared room every night, sometimes even having the kid lean into him and sleep propped up on his shoulder.
It was something Giriko found himself not only allowing, but trying to make happen. It didn’t take very long for Justin to try to snap himself out of the habit, complaining one day about how his back hurt and how annoyed he was with himself. Giriko would never fucking let anyone know how upset that made him, and how lonely he felt the nights Justin went back to his room. It wasn’t like he ever slept with Justin, he always left to his own room when he got tired but those precious moments now seemed to be the only thing that got him to calm down enough to sleep.
Justin didn’t sleep out in the main room for a while and Giriko found his temper go through the roof, he got in trouble more times than even he wanted to admit. He couldn’t fucking relax anymore, he didn’t have anything that seemed to help him vent out his excess anger now that Justin wasn’t sleeping around him and giving him that ridiculous sense of… what? Giriko wasn’t even sure why he had suddenly become so dependent on Justin, the kid was really just his warden here.
Still, the day Justin finally ended up falling asleep in the main room again Giriko was there. Soaking in the moment greedily and holding the other’s sleeping body in a warm grasp. He was getting way too invested in this. When he eventually found himself starting to fall asleep and knew he had to go lay down he didn’t leave Justin out on the couch this time. Carefully he lifted the brat up, making sure not to jostle him too much and wake him up, and carried him to his bed. He felt fucking ridiculous doing it but surely if Justin found that his back didn’t start hurting from this he wouldn’t feel a need to avoid it.
Setting the kid down he watched Justin twitch trying to figure out the new area he was on. It was a moment where Giriko could feel his throat knot up with the fear of Justin waking up and catching him in his room, somewhere the enchanter had definitely never been before. Luckily the scythe didn’t, and instead rolled over to grab onto his mess of blankets and snuggle in. The shock of watching it happen left Giriko’s throat dry, he didn’t know how to handle this display… he wanted to touch Justin more. Instead he left, making absolutely sure he didn’t push too hard and get caught in the act.
The next morning they didn’t say anything again, but Giriko couldn’t shake off the feeling of Justin staring at him the slightest bit, knowing he was the one to have brought him to bed. Justin was starting to catch wind of what was happening, and Giriko was having problems denying it himself. He liked being around Justin, liked feeling the brat’s soft skin pressed up against his own and the weight of Justin against his shoulder. How the fuck did that happen?
He wanted to ignore it all, to pretend it didn’t happen and it wasn’t true, that he hadn’t carried Justin to bed like some kind of… boyfriend .
No, he hadn’t.
That wasn’t what was going on, he refused to believe it. He did not like Justin like that and fucking Death knew Justin certainly didn’t feel that way about him. The scythe hated him, had only brought him back and looked desperately for his survival because he had some kink for ‘reforming’ him. Seriously, there was clearly no other reason, Justin never fucking shut up about it. He really fucking wanted Giriko to be his first success case so he could… uh… Giriko honestly wasn’t sure why Justin wanted it so bad. Maybe it was some kind of weird dream, a power fantasy, something like that.
Whatever it was didn’t matter though, Justin’s ill fated mission to manage something that was just clearly impossible wasn’t the problem right now. The problem was that he needed to regain their distance, to prove he didn’t like Justin and to make sure Justin didn’t get the wrong idea about all of this. It didn’t really work out the way he wanted it to.
The next time Justin fell asleep on the couch Giriko went to go push him off, to wake him up with a harsh slam onto the floor… he didn’t care if this was Justin’s apartment and the scythe could sleep or do whatever he damned pleased since he paid for it, the scythe wasn’t allowed to sleep in the living room anymore- Giriko couldn’t handle it. He was going to bother the kid until he gave all of this up, or at least that was what he was planning to do.
That wasn’t what happened.
Justin’s eyes were weirdly wet when he got close, he was having a nightmare… fuck.
Fuck .
Moving Justin over on the couch he sat down to let the scythe onto his lap, hating himself the entire time. Still after the horrifying moment of thinking Justin woke up from the movement, the kid fucking snuggled in, trying to hide in Giriko’s awkward grasp. God, this shit wasn’t fair. He would’ve woken Justin up from his nightmare if he had pushed the kid over anyway! What on earth was he doing!?
Justin finally settled with a teary but happy hum and the tears slowly started to dry as the scythe… as the scythe found comfort in him. And if that wasn’t shocking enough on it's own, Giriko found he fucking loved it, he loved having Justin on him like this, it felt far better than made any sense. And because of that… he started drifting off before he could even realize what was happening, until he woke up in a cold sweat by a very confused sounding
“Giriko?”