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Finals week at Kimetsu Academy was nearing its end. It was an unfortunate time for both the students and the staff. Students would spend their days studying to improve their grades or save themselves from failure. On the other hand, the staff had prepared themselves for the busy week by creating their exams, adjusting to the final week schedule, and trying their best to keep the students at bay.
Standing at the front gates was Giyuu Tomioka, the terrifying gym teacher. Despite his naturally aloof nature, he was extremely strict regarding the rules. He had often chased students down for being tardy, running in the halls, and going against the dress code. Although students constantly found themselves in trouble with the intimidating teacher, many admired him. All in all, Giyuu was a great teacher and made it a priority to provide a safe environment for his students.
Today was different from usual because Giyuu had a gym final to instruct during his first period. Normally he would stand in front of the school for at least an hour to ensure no students would arrive tardy, but today was the first day of finals, and Giyuu needed to come to class on time. In a rush, he sprinted to the gym, where he would have his students complete their final.
Giyuu was a harsh enforcer of the rules, but as a gym teacher, he was less strict. A switch would turn on once Giyuu was off patrol. His naturally introverted character took over when he was instructing. This was probably why he was so admired; he was a fun gym teacher despite always having the same look on his face. It was apparent Giyuu truly cared about his job; he went above and beyond for his students, which did not go unnoticed by anyone at Kimetsu Academy.
The rest of the school day went by in a blur. That's how it went during finals considering both students and staff wanted to leave as soon as possible to enjoy their break. Giyuu would have been able to leave after doing his final patrol after school, but unfortunately, a particular student decided to be a bit more crazy than usual. So, at around 4 in the afternoon, Giyuu was busy chasing Inosuke Hashibira through the schoolyards at a breakneck speed.
Inosuke was usually in trouble for violating the dress code, being tardy, starting a fight, or anything else. Today was different, however, since the enthusiastic boy decided to break into the cafeteria to take some of the desserts handed out to celebrate the end of finals. He would have been successful if he didn't decide to break a hole through the walls to sneak himself in. The young student was stronger than he was smarter. His good friend, Tanjirou Kamado, told him that his plan was terrible, but Inosuke saw it as a challenge, and now he was being hunted down by his favorite teacher.
At the time, people still in the school could catch a glimpse of a boar-human hybrid running away from a man in a tracksuit with packages of ice cream flying through the air. Giyuu was getting close to catching the troublemaker but was interrupted by a loud yell that stopped the two in their tracks. Someone else was even scarier than Giyuu, and that was Sanemi Shinazugawa, the math teacher.
"TOMIOKA PEOPLE ARE WORKING HERE YOU DUMBASS," yelled the math teacher.
Sanemi was known for his horrible attitude, especially for those who couldn't understand basic algebra. He was extremely hardworking, always preparing worksheets for his students and always giving at least ten pages of work each day. The crazed math teacher was dedicated to his job; he just didn't have patience for idiots, making it difficult to stand the sight of Giyuu, who always managed to cause a disturbance.
At the sound of the screech, Inosuke stopped dead in his tracks, not that he wanted to, but Sanemi somehow got a hold of his shirt collar, holding him mid-air. While holding the angry student in one hand, Sanemi turned to Giyuu, who always had the same blank stare.
"Why can't you handle this shit outside? It's the last day of finals, I got shit to do, and here you are making a fucking mess," Sanemi said.
Giyuu didn't know what to say. He was doing his job like Sanemi was, so he didn't understand why he was getting yelled at. Any other teacher would do the same thing; Giyuu didn't understand why Sanemi always got so mad at him. It was upsetting, to say the least. It was hard for Giyuu to be yelled at by the man he was pining over. But Giyuu felt that whatever he said would worsen the situation, so he stayed quiet.
"It's bad enough we have idiots like this one at our school, but then there's you, who will destroy the entire building just to catch them," The white-haired man said.
"Sorry," the gym teacher replied.
"WELL, IF YOU WERE SORRY, YOU WOULDN'T BE DOING THIS SHIT EVERY DAMN DAY!"
During this exchange, Inosuke was very uncomfortable. Even someone as clueless as him could tell there was something weird between the two, and at this moment, he felt he was overstepping. He tried to rip his shirt, but since Tanjirou buttoned it up for him that same morning, he couldn't figure out how to take it off. After a while, the angry boy just gave up, hoping the two teachers would stop whatever they were doing so he could go home.
"Sorry," Giyuu said again.
"YOU SAID THAT SHIT ALREADY."
"Oh, sorry."
The scarred-covered man knew nothing useful would come out of this conversation, so he just saved his breath to handle the Inosuke situation. While yelling at the delinquent, he saw Giyuu quietly leave from the corner of his eye. Sanemi has been in love with Giyuu since they started teaching together. It had been a few years since then, and their relationship was still the same. It frustrated Sanemi, but he knew he was difficult to love. As long as he could deal with Giyuu's annoying antics every day, it was enough.
Luckily for Inosuke, he could leave without dealing with his teachers. If he were Tanjirou in this situation, he would have stayed to check up on Mr. Tomioka, but this was Inosuke, and he was too bored to do anything about the teacher's dispute. It was for the best that the young boy left school right after because a thunderstorm was starting to brew, and only two teachers would be stuck at the academy.
With the sound of thunder softly rolling in, Giyuu was debating on what he could do to fix his relationship with Sanemi. He knew he didn't like how mad he made the math teacher. Although Sanemi would say Giyuu would cause trouble on purpose, that wasn't true; he just had a habit of taking things so seriously.
Usually, on the way to school, Giyuu would stop by the convenience store to buy his lunch so he could eat in his usual spot by the stairs. A long time ago, they had some pleasant moments before the two teachers got into their daily disagreements. There was one time when they spoke of their love for Ohagi. Sanemi had noticed Giyuu enjoyed pastries, and from there, the topic of favorite sweets was brought up.
Giyuu wasn't sure why he did it, but he found himself buying about fifteen packages of the dessert, hoping that maybe Sanemi would be happy. He didn't know how to give it to the angry man. For the next 30 minutes, Giyuu would sit in his seat in the teacher's office, coming up with several ways to hand over the sweet rice balls. Fortunately for the blue-eyed man, it was at that moment Sanemi roughly opened the door.
"God damn it," he breathed out.
Drenched wouldn't begin to describe the math teacher's appearance. Sanemi hoped he could get home to visit his mom's house to see his younger siblings, but he didn't realize how bad the storm was until rain attacked him. He was completely soaked from top to bottom, and his opened-up shirt was hardly doing its job. Giyuu typically was very good at hiding his secret glances, but today was more difficult than usual. In front of the gym teacher was the man he had been crushing on for so long with a tight, see-through shirt, practically putting his chest on display. Giyuu could feel his blush spreading from his face to his neck.
Excited and anxious were what could best describe Giyuu's thoughts. He wasn't the only one uneasy, though. Sanemi usually did his best not to show his nervousness around Giyuu. However, he was sure the beautiful blue-eyed man would find him pathetic after embarrassingly fighting with the storm. In a hurry, Sanemi sat down, thinking that working on something would help calm him down.
Giyuu felt this was his chance to get on Sanemi's good side finally. He took a deep breath before finally saying,
"It's raining." I did it.
That two worded sentence was enough for Giyuu. He was proud of himself for saying something, even when nervous. Sanemi, on the other hand, thought he was talking to someone else, even though they were the only two in the room. Nonetheless, Sanemi wanted to be polite to his unrequited love, so he took a deep breath and decided to respond.
"It is." Okay, good job.
On opposite sides of the room, backs facing one another, the two men were blushing messes even though a total of four words were said. The only sounds in the room were quiet breathing and harsh rain. In that office, it felt like they were the only two people in the world, and it was exciting. For the past few months, they had these moments that felt so small yet had the power to wreck them. Giyuu knew that today was the day, to be honest with Sanemi.
"I have something for you," Giyuu said.
The rain settled down. The words were soft, but Sanemi always paid secret attention to Giyuu. That was how Sanemi fell in love with the beautifully striking man. Sanemi found himself always looking at Giyuu when no one else was; this was how he could see how genuinely pure the silent man was. Giyuu was not the type to draw attention to his good deeds; he was the type of person to observe someone in need quietly and then, behind the scenes, help them out. He wanted to care for people without any of the glory. Sanemi found that endearing; before he knew it, he was in love.
"You aren't going to chase me down the school, are you," Sanemi asked.
At this point, he had turned from his spot to speak to Giyuu directly. Almost like Giyuu knew this, he also turned. Once the two made eye contact, each man began feeling a warm sensation throughout their chest. Simply looking into their favorite person's eyes made their hearts race. Purple to blue. Blue to purple.
"No. I only run after troublemakers," Giyuu said.
"Some would say I'm a troublemaker."
"I don't think so."
"Are you sure? I have a shit attitude."
"Yes."
"Yes? So I have a shit attitude?"
Sanemi tended to read too much into Giyuu's words. Even when the raven-haired man meant no ill will, Sanemi always assumed the worst. He didn't have a lot of confidence in himself; he also wasn't blind to his personality. Sanemi knew he had a temper and knew he would be seen as this sort of bully. He didn't care how others saw him, but the thought of Giyuu thinking of Sanemi as this terrible person was enough to send him down a spiral.
"I didn't say that," Giyuu said.
"But you think it don't you," Sanemi asked.
"You do have a temper."
"What did you just say?"
Sadness began to fill in the gym teacher's eyes. He thought this would be the time to fix his relationship with Sanemi. Things were starting to go wrong, and it was all because Giyuu couldn't read the room.
"I'm making you angry," Giyuu said.
"You always do that," Sanemi said.
"Really?"
"Really."
The atmosphere shifted aggressively. On one end, Sanemi's insecurity was eating at him, and he was doing the only thing he knew how to do, get mad. On the other end, Giyuu was starting to believe it would be better for him to leave and go home, but the thunder told him that wouldn't be happening.
On an average day, Giyuu would quietly walk away, not wanting to anger Sanemi anymore. But that wasn't possible today. If Giyuu had to deal with these weird back and forths any longer, it would slowly eat at him every day until Sanemi decided Giyuu wasn't worth the extra words. In a quick breath, Giyuu got himself together to fix this situation.
At the top of Giyuu's desk was the bag of several ohagi packages. If words angered Sanemi, he would have to rely on his actions. He got up from his seat and walked over in a hurry to loudly slam on the bag on top of Sanemi's desk. The math teacher's eyes went wide, and surprise was evident on his face.
"Huh, what the fuck?" Sanemi was beyond confused.
"Ohagi."
"Huh?"
"In the bag."
Sanemi skeptically opened the bag to find small pouches of the sweet rice snack he loved. He was even more surprised than before. How did Giyuu know he loved Ohagi? Sanemi made it a point not to talk about himself at school because he found it annoying for students to try to bribe him for better grades. How could the man in the blue tracksuit standing before him know?
"How did you know I like ohagi," Sanemi asked.
"You told me. When we first became teachers at the academy."
"But that was five years ago?"
"You smiled when you told me. You never smile." The blue-eyed man said.
Giyuu had wanted to see that smile again ever since that day. Sanemi was such a force to be reckoned with that to see that same man smile over a simple dessert was enough to keep Giyuu interested for the rest of his life. That made it harder for Giyuu to continue in this constant bickering. He wanted to take care of Sanemi. Seeing the man covered in scars always trying so hard to help his students succeed, even when it means Sanemi has to come on the weekends for tutoring, was beyond inspiring. To Giyuu, Sanemi was the best of people. Watching Sanemi be so strong and caring made Giyuu want to improve.
"Why the hell would you remember that?" the purple-eyed man asked.
The rain slowly stopped, the clouds parting away, letting a small glimpse of light fill the office. It made Giyuu look angelic and even more beautiful than usual. Sanemi felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest. He didn't want to get his hopes up, but this situation was heading in a direction that Sanemi might not be prepared for. But that didn't matter because standing in front of him was the man he had longed for since they were 20.
"Because I like you," Giyuu said.
Standing before Sanemi, Giyuu's face slowly started to become the prettiest shade of pink. He honestly looked like a piece of art in the warm sunlight. If Sanemi had a weak heart, he would have passed out. Instead, his face turned a fierce bright red all the way down to his chest, and his heart was beating so fast, he was sure Giyuu could hear it.
"Why," Sanemi stupidly asked.
For the first time in a long time, Giyuu laughed. It was small, it was short, but it was Giyuu. Sanemi smiled at that heavenly sound. If it were appropriate at this moment, he would have asked Giyuu to laugh again so he could record it, but he figured that this wasn't the time.
"Why not?" Giyuu said.
Now it was Sanemi's turn to laugh. It was a full-sounding laugh, the type to fill an empty room and have the power to make other people laugh along with it. It was the best thing Giyuu could ever hear.
"Well, now is a good time to tell you I like you too."
More sunlight broke out from the clouds, illuminating the room to show the two men, one standing in front of the other sitting down, smiling brightly at one another. It was well past six now, and the two teachers desperately needed to go home, but this moment was too perfect to end now. Especially after the two stubborn men finally admitted their feelings to one another.
"There's too fucking many to eat," Sanemi said.
"Oh, sorry. I was in a rush this morning." Giyuu said.
"We'll just have to stay and eat them now. In case they go bad."
"I don't think they'll go bad."
Sanemi could have smacked himself on any typical day at this response, but now he was in the same room as the man who shared his feelings. So on any other day, Giyuu would just be an idiot, but today, he was Sanemi's idiot. That was enough to make Sanemi happy.
"Giyuu. I meant I want to share them with you."
Sanemi could tell he would have to work on his patience regarding Giyuu, but that was more than okay. It was comforting to know that he wasn't the only one clumsy in this new relationship.
"But I got them for you."
"Just sit down and eat with me, please?"
That was enough for Giyuu. The two men sat down and ate all the snacks. While they ate, they talked about every misunderstanding and used these next few hours to be open and honest. Many of their issues were because they were always so nervous around one another, but they both responded differently. Once they found out about this, they laughed. Sanemi and Giyuu didn't want the day to end, so they decided to go home together.
The walk to Giyuu's apartment was sweet and gentle. The two would playfully walk into each other while discussing everything and nothing. You couldn't possibly understand how happy they were to be together. While they continuously annoy each other, they are comforted that their love outweighs any bickering.
The next time they would see each other at the academy, they would smile brightly at one another. Sanemi would go back to his usual screaming at his students while Giyuu would go on his terrifying patrols. But at the end of the day, the two would meet in the office and walk home together, hand in hand, more in love than the day before.