Chapter Text
Giyuu snuggled down under his blankets, watching the sun cast dull shadows across the room. He hadn’t left his bed in four days except to eat minor amounts of food, drink some water,or go to the bathroom. It was quiet, but when he fell into these lows that’s what he preferred. Just him and him alone…
A rapping at the door.
“Giyuu! You there? We miss you back at headquarters!”
Douma.
The slayer was always cheerful and always ready to socialize. The exact opposite of Giyuu. And yet, he found himself feeling rather fond of the blonde slayer. All his quirks, like how his emotions seemed rather forced at times, or how his appearance would cause random passerbys to grab his uniform and pray. That was still something Giyuu had NOT gotten used to.
“I’m going to come in, okay?”
And with that he slid open the door, quickly shutting it behind him as he moved inside.
“Oh, you don’t look so good…”
Douma stepped a little closer, bringing him more into Giyuu’s line of sight. The demon slayer unform with the gold buttons, slightly too tight for him, with that red haori over it that had a sort of dripping substance design in black at the neck, sleeves, and hem. Long platinum blond hair, the weird section near his scalp where his hair was stained red, those rainbow eyes. Attatched to his belt were two Japanese war fans that looked fairly harmless, but were actually razor sharp and made of nichirin metal. That was definitely Douma. Oddly enough, the sight of him brought Giyuu a strange sensation of warmth. Just for a moment.
Douma walked toward a few more steps and knelt on the floor by Giyuu, a hand reaching out to tuck some of his black hair out of his face. Giyuu flinched a little at first, but then allowed it.
“What’s wrong?”
What’s wrong…
“Just not feeling great.” He mumbled back, closing his eyes.
“Any particular reason?”
Giyuu frowned a little, confused. He had never heard the ice hashira’s voice sound so…caring. And genuine.
“I think I just miss someone. It’s nothing major.”
“That sounds rather important to me.” His hand started going through Giyuu’s hair in slow, even motions. It felt nice. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. I just…” There was a lump in the shorter’s throat. “I miss Sabito, I miss him a lot. He should have been the water hashira, not me. I feel so inadequate compared to the rest of you, I’m not worthy-“
And with that, the dam broke. Tears started spilling out of his eyes. Slowly, then faster. He was shaking, body and mind overcoming by emotions he had been slowly dealing with since his sister died, since Sabito died.A hysterical sort of noise left him as a hand reached for his hair, only to be intercepted by Douma grabbing it gently.
“Hey, don’t hurt yourself. I’m right here, okay?”
The words didn’t make sense to Giyuu, brain racked with grief and loss. He was so overcome by everything that he didn’t even realize Douma was holding his body and rocking him softly in an effort to calm him down. When he did realize though, he hid his face in the taller man’s haori to hide his moment of weakness. Douma just sighed and rubbed his back, humming some sort of song.
“It’ll be okay, I’m right here…”
He was tired. So, so tired. The emotional outburst had drained Giyuu’s energy, and as the tears gradually dried up he could barely hold his eyes open. Seemingly aware of this, Douma gently rested him back down on the mat and pulled up the blankets.
“There we go, nice and warm.”
He smiled and begin to rise, but Giyuu reached out and gripped his hand with all his strength.
“Stay? Please?”
He felt bad for asking, but his dreams were often filled with scenes that caused him to wake screaming. Having someone there would be a nice change.
Douma blinked in surprise, rainbow hues catching what little light there was. With a nod, he sank back down to the floor by the older. “Of course, anata.”
Giyuu smiled a tiny bit at the nickname, not at all objecting, and slowly slipped into sleep. And if he felt Douma intertwine their fingers or press his lips not the others forehead while he slept, he didn’t complain in the morning.