Chapter Text
Giyuu's like 78% sure he's been dreaming this entire day up.
At some point in the morning, he had gained the ability to hear the thoughts of whoever he had touched and it's driving him insane.
The comic books made it looked so fun to be a telepath, but if Giyuu had to hear someone in the office thinking [Damn, I need to take a shit] one more time, he swears he's gonna lose it.
The worst part was that he didn't even know how this.. this ridiculous curse even happened!
Just yesterday, he was a mere socially stunted accountant at the Demon Slayer Law Inc. and then boom, today he's a socially stunted accountant with too much knowledge about the people around him and nothing he could do about it.
The only notable thing that happened yesterday was that the most respected CEO, Mr.Ubuyashiki had wished him a Happy 30th Birthday right before Giyuu tripped and faceplanted ungracefully onto the floor in front of him.
Giyuu winced at that memory. Yeah, not his best moment. Anyway, he highly doubted that utter embarrassment would be the source of his newfound powers, so there's that.
You would think that avoiding physical contact with people would solve the problem, but given his daily routine of squeezing in crowded buses, traffic light stops, lifts, and the occasional pat on the back by his too-friendly colleague(mostly just Rengoku), it was beyond impossible.
With his senses overwhelmed by all the unwanted thoughts(I get it, Rengoku, you really love sweet potatoes!), it's only reasonable that he's currently curled into a ball under his desk.
"What the fuck are you doing?" A gruff voice asked from above his desk.
Giyuu sighed. Sanemi's usual hostile temperament is not really something he want to handle right now.
However, he knew that ignoring Sanemi would just start another fight, so he patted the floor noncommittally before replying, "Finding my pen."
There was a snort, and then silence.
Giyuu assumed that he had left and blew out a breath, leaning his head back onto the side of the desk.
"You know I can see you, right?"
Giyuu jolted in surprise and hit his head on the bottom of the desk with a muffled groan. He reluctantly got out of his safe space and turned to face Sanemi, who was leaning against the open side of his cubicle with a raised brow.
"I lost the pen," Giyuu concluded.
Sanemi gave him a flat look.
They held each other's gaze in silence.
Aaaaand they were doing it again.
It being a staring match for god knows why. For Giyuu's part, it's because he doesn't have anything to say so he's waiting for the other to start the conversation. For Sanemi's part, it always seemed like he had something to say but he just.. doesn't. And then somehow it became like a challenge to keep eye contact anyway, from the determined look on Sanemi's face.
A normal person would probably find it awkward but since Giyuu had never gotten the hang of social etiquette, he finds that he didn't really mind. Sanemi has quite an interesting face and Giyuu likes to map out his scars mentally. It always seemed like each one has a story to tell - if only Sanemi wouldn't mind him asking.
He had witnessed his intern, Inosuke, making that mistake once - and the ensuing chaos almost got Sanemi suspended from work. Although, Giyuu admits, Inosuke's question of "Did you fight a squirrel with your face?" would make anyone go berserk, least of all Sanemi.
Nonetheless, Giyuu had tried asking once, if Sanemi had something he wanted to talk about. He had said "No?" defensively and continued staring, so there's that.
Giyuu waits until Sanemi's cheeks gets increasingly red from the inevitable awkwardness from prolonged eye contact and looks away with a huff.
Then, Sanemi abruptly whipped out a pen from his back pocket and held it out to him wordlessly.
"..That's not my pen," Giyuu stated, because it really wasn't. He had bulk bought his preferred brand of blue ballpoint pen so he could tell the difference at one glance.
Sanemi narrowed his eyes dangerously and Giyuu realised that that was the wrong answer.
"Just take the damn pen, Tomioka," he growled.
Giyuu vaguely wondered how he got himself coerced into taking a random pen as he reached for it and felt their fingers brush.
[I can't believe I'm in love with this fucking idiot.]
Giyuu startled at the sudden voice in his mind and dropped the pen.
"W-What?" He gasped.
"What? I didn't say anything," Sanemi grouched with a scowl.
For awhile, Giyuu had his doubts about this telepathy thing being real or just a trick of his mind. Now though, he's a 100% sure that it's definitely imaginary because there is no way in hell Sanemi would ever have those thoughts about him.
The next question was why had Giyuu been hallucinating about Sanemi liking him. Was he secretly harboring a crush on this perpetually angry man? Well.. he is pretty much your classic mysteriously grumpy guy with a not-so-secretly soft heart but no, hold up. Giyuu's not going down this rabbit hole of falling for a straight man again - even though his friendship with Sabito still turned out fine in the end. His heart can only take so much breaking in a lifetime.
"Oi, stop zoning out on me, asshole!"
"Right, sorry," Giyuu shook his head to clear his mind and retrieved the pen.
"What the fuck is up with you today?" Sanemi scoffed in annoyance and watched him expectantly.
Giyuu blinked. Was he.. actually concerned?
No wait, stop it, brain. Stop imagining things.
A sudden cool hand on his forehead pulled him out of his thoughts.. right into Sanemi's voice in his mind.
[Is he running a fever? Maybe I should bring some lotus soup for him tomorrow.]
Giyuu jerked away from his hand, feeling his cheeks heat. Sanemi retracted his hand stiffly and cleared his throat.
"If you're sick, you better rest. If it burnt any more of your meagre brain cells, you won't have any left," he commented gruffly.
Giyuu nodded with averted eyes and Sanemi finally left him to his devices after a hard glare.
Giyuu sat down heavily in his chair and held his hot face in his hands.
God, what was wrong with him? How could he have thought of such absurd things?
He closed his eyes and exhaled out harshly.
It's okay. Everything's fine - today was just a fluke. He's gonna go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow to realise that it was indeed all just a crazy dream...