Chapter Text
Giriko had been in cuffs quite a few times in his life by now, but they never really got less annoying. Such shitty metal that they never put on correctly and made his shoulders bend around all wrong. What was bothering him right now though wasn’t that though, it was that his nose itched. This weird holding cell that looked like it had be fucking centuries old with it’s rotten wood benches that smelled like ass. This whole place was dusty and gross. It was making Giriko’s nose run.
It took forever for someone to come back in… and it wasn’t the person who had originally brought him here either.
The person who came in was a straight up fucking kid. He walked as if he was supposed to be here, not a prisoner himself or just ducking in for a second to figure shit out. Giriko didn’t really know how the fuck to react for a second. It was so weird he was at a loss. What was this? The kid didn’t explain, staying quiet as he moved through some shit and got the keys to the cell Giriko had been sitting in for way too long.
This didn’t feel right.
“Hey brat, what the fuck are you doing here, did ya get lost?” The boy blinked before looking over to him with such a tired face it really seemed like he understood why Giriko was asking, but didn’t want to bother to respond. For a second Giriko thought he wouldn’t, that he’d just ignore Giriko and keep going on here with a creepy silence like an ass.
“I’m the executioner. I’m not here to kill you though, just to get you on file and to your own cell.” Giriko’s lips peeled back in… disgust? Annoyance? He wasn’t really sure. It was a little insulting that they were taking him so lightly to have a kid try to rein him in, but more than that it was just stupid. A child as an executioner? What on earth were they thinking?
“...You can’t be serious, can ya? I don’t think even the DWMA is that stupid. Do you just call yourself that to sound intimidating?” The boy’s face didn’t shift even the slightest bit, there was no reaction at all. No upset at his title being questioned. It made Giriko uncomfortable and wondering if the fact he was an executioner was actually true. It was starting to feel that way and… that made Giriko feel intimidated not by this kid, but more so about what the academy would be willing to do here.
“Get up, we’re moving to the east wing.” Completely dismissed. God this kid was annoying. He already was giving Giriko a bad taste in his mouth.
“Ya sure you want to be the one to try to move me?” Giriko knew he probably couldn’t afford to provoke here. After all this seemed like the best chance to run… but also he knew it wasn’t actually. He had done this enough times to know that right now he was being focused on. The new guy, the one being watched closely to note the behavior of. Even if this boy really was the only one here, trusted to do this on his own for some reason, Giriko knew the chances of getting out of this whole city during the bright day weren’t high at all.
“Yes. Get up, I don’t want this to take much time. I’m busy. I don’t think you want to really waste time with this either.” The boy unlocked the cell, coming in and grabbing under one of Giriko’s shoulders to force him up. Well, part way at least, he wasn’t tall enough to actually get Giriko up that much. It was kinda cute to see him try, so Giriko humored him and stood all the way up. Then for some reason, got shocked when the boy started touching him.
It made sense after a second he was getting pat down again, one last check he had nothing interesting on him. They had already took his workers belt off, all his tools and shit. They did that fast , and that was all Giriko really had. He wasn’t fucking expecting to get arrested today after all. For once he wasn’t really doing anything, doing normal contractor work and was just here on suspicion.
Which also was why he was being so obedient. They didn’t have shit on him yet, there was no proof he had been doing anything shady. Giriko wasn’t 100% sure that would help him or not, but it was worth a try. The academy really was willing to imprison anyone without a trial or any shit, but sometimes did to save face. That was something that’d help Giriko out and would just be way easier. He’d be cooperative until he was sure they were gonna ignore all that.
It didn’t take too long for the kid to finish and before long they were just walking to wherever Giriko would be kept. A pretty boring thing and something Giriko didn’t really dwell on… it was surprising how shitty this place was, not updated with the times and only lit with candles. That was even worse than Giriko’s and people always complained about him being old fashioned.
The two of them stayed silent for a while. This kid really was weird. Rude as fuck and just didn’t look at all like someone who was supposed to be doing this shit. He was in a choir outfit and was pretty cute. They were dressing him like someone who would be forward facing, dealing with people other than prisoners and helping the academy’s misleading image grow. Well, maybe not if he always was this standoffish.
All the kid had said so far was snappy commands and he hadn’t given Giriko a single expression with any kind of emotion in it. He did seem kinda scary now that Giriko was thinking about it. At least scary to observers, people who didn’t know anything about the academy’s true nature.
The boy didn’t seem dangerous, but the way he acted could very much affect the DWMA’s appearance, and not in any kind of helpful way. No amount of beauty or fancy outfits could cover his off putting behavior. There was no ignoring that he was a child that looked so dead it felt wrong. That something clearly had been done to him. Most people wouldn’t ignore that.
“Hey, what the fuck are you doing here? Why are you bothering to do something like this? Are they forcing you to?” The words were real tame considering they came from Giriko, but he still wasn’t able to act like normal here. Giriko had to be all mild tempered about this mess. He wanted to yell about it, but bit his tongue.
These annoyances still thought he was Saw, if he wasn’t careful they might realize he was an impersonator. A man hiding behind a smile… but still he had to ask that question, all of this was just too fucking creepy. Enough so that he was certain no one would find that question suspicious anyway.
“No… I just finished my schooling very early. I had a lot of training young. There is nothing more to it.” That “no” felt a bit too unsure for Giriko to really believe it. Plus “training young” didn’t sound much better than what Giriko had originally been accusing the school of. The boy didn’t seem easy to convince of anything though, they never were, so Giriko just dropped it.
The rest of the walk was done in silence and they entered the personal cell quietly. Giriko didn’t really like children and wasn’t around them often, but he really was surprised how quiet this kid was. He was in the running for the quietest person Giriko had ever met, not picking from just kids, and weren’t kids supposed to be loud? Giriko knew he had already called the boy off putting but with every second he spent around this kid things just felt weirder and weirder.
“You have a sink, bathroom and bed. A desk over there. Someone will be around at some point to take you to the showers. There's about a 7 day period before most cases as serious as this are heard.” The information was curt and the kid uncuffed him pretty quickly, clearly planning to leave without waiting for any questions at all. Giriko had to wonder if that was because he wasn’t sure how to do this or if he was just an amazing fucking asshole. It seemed like the latter with how this had been going so far.
“As serious as this? I didn’t do shit. Is that just what the paperwork said? Why the fuck would you think that? Are you that vanilla? That sheltered?” Finally Giriko got a bit of an annoyed expression, something filled with exhaustion. It was something Giriko could kinda get. After all there was no way this kid picked out the sentence, waiting period or whatever… That understanding Giriko gave him didn’t last longer than a second.
“It's what the paperwork said, I don’t know what you’ve done. I’m not allowed to know until the verdict is met. To avoid bias in treatment.” For a second Giriko was in a dull shock, that then transformed to a bit of disgust and then just confusion. What the fuck was this?
“If they didn’t tell you then why are you doing this? What if I’m innocent? Locked here for no other reason than corruption?” The boy’s face looked over at him, finally looking him in the eyes for longer than a second. His eyes were blue, a dirty blurry kind that looked real fucking tired. More tired than Giriko’s did, and that was an incredible feat with how sick of this world Giriko had been getting the past few years.
“Lord Death would never make such a mistake.” Giriko snorted. He couldn’t help it. None of these idiots knew Lord Death as well as him. Knew him for as long as Giriko had. Still the boy said the words without hesitation. Said in such a way that Giriko had a good fucking suspicion that they had been said verbatim to this kid his whole life. Probably taught that exact way, taught the very tone it should be in and taught to say whenever his stupid Lord was questioned.
“You trust that bastard far too fucking much.” Giriko knew it was risky to show any of his personal distaste of Lord Death. With being in such a cock-sucking town it’d give everyone a terrible bias against him instantly. That was exactly how it seemed to be going over with this kid. His little nose wrinkled and he gave a reaction here, even if only one Giriko hated.
Surprisingly though, the kid didn’t go on some rant, didn’t scold him or go on any speech about how great his Lord was… He didn’t say anything, perhaps used to such blasphemy and knew there was no point in scolding “heretics” that had already made up their minds. That made Giriko feel a bit better, he liked knowing there were still enough opposers to have people be used to hearing it.
Honestly what Giriko was thinking about most was how quickly this kid had uncuffed him. He was still in the cell with Giriko, placing soap and other necessities before going out. What a fucking bad idea that was. Giriko could’ve just snapped this kid’s neck. How had the academy gotten this stupid over the years? Lord Death used to be a threatening power, had he really fallen apart so much? That would of course be great for Giriko, but a bit disappointing as well.
Watching the kid lock the door Giriko stayed quiet for a bit, but then found a question he wanted to ask before this idiot disappeared for, what Giriko assumed, would be forever. This all had to be just because they were understaffed right now, right?
“Hey, what's your name?” The boy stopped dead, freezing mid step before relaxing hesitantly. Getting both feet back on the ground, waiting a second, and then turning. That had really affected the guy far more than Giriko would’ve ever expected. He stayed silent for a bit. Long enough that it actually made Giriko uncomfortable. Long enough Giriko was the one that had to break it.
“Has no one ever asked you that before?” Another weird second passed before the boy’s lips pressed together, tight and uncomfortable. He didn’t answer the question… but he didn’t need to. This reaction was answer enough. One that was almost sad in a way. Giriko had to raise an eyebrow to it. A beat passed… and then there was a breath Giriko could hear.
“It’s Justin.”