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They had only agreed to invite him due to Shinobus and Kyojuro's insistence, most of their reunions were entirely work related except this one was different they weren't only going out, they were celebrating Tengen's victory against an upper moon.
Since the outing was all about him Tengen had gotten to choose where they were headed and obviously the idiot had to choose a god forsaken bar.
They not only offered sake but other beverages that mixed it with juice and other stuff to make it's flavour better. The place was nice, he wouldn't have thought it was a bar form the outside, still he would rather be elsewhere and judging by Kyojuro's and Tomioka's face he wasn't the only one.
Getting Tomioka to come with them had been stupidly easy despite his usual reticence, he had already declined the invitation when his crow had basically crash-landed on the water Hashira's hair. The old crow had insisted it wanted water.
"I'm pretty sure we can find some wherever Tengens taking us to" Tomioka didn't need to know it was a bar and not a fancy restaurant. "I'll go then"
The first thing Tomioka had done upon arriving was making sure the crow had somewhere comfy to rest, food and water. Sanemi had never seen the man being so caring or even showing that he cared about something other than himself.
By the time he was done fussing over his crow they were already being served their first drinks.
Everyone had gotten a small glass of sake for a toast. He often found it fun to gauge people's reactions to strong drinks, just as expected Kanroji looked disgusted, Tengen and Kocho he already knew they wouldn't even react and Kyojuro, as always, just didn't drink it.
Considering his usual demeanor he thought that Tomioka wouldn’t even react nevertheless he had actually reacted, it was the slightest of grimaces.
And then they had started ordering food, more drinks and some desserts that only Kanroji and Kyojuro were eating. He himself had decided to try sweeter options, among the beverages they served there was one with anko paste and that had been enough to peak his interest.
The only other remarkable thing was Tomioka, after the fourth drink his cheeks got a pinkish tint and he looked overall lighter, happier.
Maybe he wasn’t much into drinks.
“Hey Tomioka are you up for a drinking contest or are you as much of a coward as I imagined?”
“Only the two of us?”
He looked around and realized they were alone. When had the rest of their colleagues left? How come he had been so entranced by Tomioka that he hadn’t noticed their absence?
“Do you see anyone else?”
“No”
“Then shall we?”
They had decided to order a bottle of sake just for the two of them and the waitress had brought not only a pair of glasses but also a plate of ohagi that Tomioka had somehow ordered.
“You don’t even like it, do you?” Sanemi asked pointing towards the sweets. “No but I know you do”
How dare he say something like that? Especially after declining his last invitation to eat out, for now he was thankful to have an excuse for the blush that was now creeping up his neck and subsequently his cheeks.
Sanemi busied himself with serving the first round of drinks, out of the corner of his eye he could tell that the water hashira was looking directly at him except it wasn’t his usual blank stare instead it felt warmer, a part of him couldn’t help but describing it as loving.
“You don’t usually drink much, do you?”
“No I just never had the chance, is it that obvious?”
“Not at all, the rosy cheeks and dazed stare are completely normal for you”
The more they drank, the more he caught himself thinking about Giyu. In turn the other man got more talkative and after they drank half of the bottle they decided to leave the bar since it was getting late.
They took the bottle with them, the both of them were drunk enough that leaving the town was a bad idea and their remaining funds wouldn’t be enough to rent two rooms at an inn. Sanemi went and asked for only one room and he gave the key to Tomioka.
“You should take it, Ill be fine in the forest”
“No, I don’t mind sharing”
That wasn’t the problem and Sanemi didn’t care about being considerate but he would rather not have to be near Tomioka anymore, he didn’t want to have more time to think about him or at least he would rather do so in private.
“I’m not sharing a room with you” He started walking towards the exit of the inn however Tomioka managed to grab his hand and pull him in the direction of their room.
He would love to be able to say anything about the situation but he was just shocked, everything was just what he had never anticipated. For starters he was about to possibly share a bed with Tomioka, he was willingly hanging out with him. They had gotten wasted together for goodness sake.
The room was alright, it wasn’t big by any means still it could have been worse, there was only one window that overlooked the entirety of the town.
While Tomioka got ready for sleep, removing his haori, belt and his geta while Sanemi extended the futon, which was thankfully big enough for two people to sleep comfortably in it. After he finished setting it he looked up only to find Tomioka sitting against a wall and using his haori as a pillow.
“Are you still awake?” He asked while removing his shoes and belt.
“Yes”
Sanemi started walking towards Tomioka and crouched down in front of him. “Didn’t you say we were going to share?”
He made sure to give him no time to answer he was certain that if he did the only one who would back away was himself. Sanemi carried the other hashira towards the futon making sure to not jostle him and somehow he managed to lay them both down on the futon, together, in the same futon under the same blanket.
At first he thought that maybe Tomioka would try to get away from him, however Giyu made no move to get away from him so in the heat of the moment he decided to hug him not hard enough to pin him down but enough to get the message across.
“Sanemi” He felt Giyu turn his head towards him “I really like you”
He knew Tomioka would never say something like that lightly, he held him tighter, bringing him closer to his chest. “I do too”