spirits_and_such_offices

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Minegishi was in the greenhouse. They spent a lot of time there, even when they weren't practicing at using their powers. They felt more comfortable, somehow, being around plants rather than people. Not that they were particularly fond of the people they had surround themselves with.

Minegishi flipped a page int their book, only to glance up as they heard someone approaching. They were hardly surprised when they saw who their visitor was.

"What is it?" they asked. They should probably set their book aside, but they didn't particularly care to. And even if they did, their visitor wouldn't be able to see it anyway. With his eyes, anyway.

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"Nice try. That's the most you're getting out of me for now." Even he had standards...feeble as they were. Mostly born out of self-preservation, but still. Some. "If we got summoned by your father and you were too drunk to function, it'd be my ass on the line."

"Like he'd even care," Shou complained, folding his arms behind his head. "He probably wouldn't even notice."

Most adults would have tried to be reassuring on principle, but Shimazaki wasn't about to play apologia for a man like the Boss, especially not to Shou.

Especially not when the man in question was far worse than even his son was giving him credit for.

Still, even if Shimazaki wasn't nice enough to reassure him, he also wasn't cruel enough to point it out.

"Fine." Shimazaki levitated the bottle back into his hand and poured a few drops back into his glass. "Don't chug it this time. Slowly. Exhale just a bit before taking the drink. Once you've swallowed, exhale the rest of the way. Don't inhale for another few seconds."

"Right!" Shou grinned, then exhaled slightly, took a sip, then exhaled all the way -- exactly as Shimazaki instructed.

"Whoa," he said after a moment later. "That's way better than the first time."

"You sound surprised. You know I wouldn't lead you astray, right?" He did take Shou's instruction seriously enough, whether it was fighting or drinking.

Shou raised one brow and furrowed the other. "You really think I'd believe that?"

"Just a feeling." Shimazaki ruffled Shou's gelled hair. "Now, will you stop barging in on my private time with the others?"

"Are you gonna stop talking about me?"

"You mean the compliment I was about to pay you? Fine, I won't do that ever again."

"You were trying to pay me a compliment?" Shou did his best not to sound too interested.

"I keep trying to tell you! Even if it's just scouting, how could I not be a little proud of you taking on more responsibility?"

"I thought you'd have more than that to compliment."

Shimazaki huffed. "What, need a compliment on your looks or something? I can't see, but I’ll try and think of something."

Edited 2024-04-23 05:34 (UTC)

"No way! It's not a compliment if it's not authentic."

“Fine.” Shimazaki extended his two fingers and tapped around Shou’s face. “Mighty fine bone structure. Just like your dad.”

"What, are you going around touching my dad's face or something?"

"You make that sound sordid." Shimazaki blinked in and out, returning with a bottle of water in hand. "Now. Sleep. But not before hydrating. Even if it was just two shots, I don't need you whining about a headache before your mission."

"I'm not gonna whine," Shou complained, though he plopped his butt down on the edge of the bed and uncapped the bottle. "Go back to Minegishi."

“Easy for you to say.” They were going to get cozy until Shou barged in. Once Minegishi had enough they had no problems letting him know it. Shimazaki hoped they still had some patience when he pulled out his phone and turned it away from himself to send a text. Most people did it with the phone facing them, but he wasn’t most people. He owed Hatori for helping him set up the braille input.

OK, the brats gone to bed. :) On my way back <3 Send.

Minegishi felt their phone buzz in their pocket. They fished it out and read the message on screen. He glanced over at Serizawa and offered the earnest man a tight-lipped smile.

The guard dog's here. he typed back and hit Send. Maybe Minegishi could chase him off.

Oh boy. That could only end one way. Serizawa hadn’t learned his way around…social cues in general but especially not with Minegishi.

Wasting no more time, Shimazaki blipped back into the green house and sure enough Serizawa was halfway through nervously rambling about something that was hard to glean from a second of context alone.

Still, it was impolite to interrupt, so Shimazaki simply meandered back to the bench in full view of them both.

"O-oh!" Shimazaki hadn't immediately stepped directly into their conversation, but he was taken aback by his sudden presence. Though, Serizawa supposed, he should probably be used to this by now. "Hi, Shimazaki-san." Serizawa clutched his umbrella handle tightly. "I was just catching up with Minegishi-kun."

Minegishi scowled at that, but Serizawa was so fixated on Shimazaki that he failed to notice.

This was the part where Shimazaki would have said something like how sweet or don’t let me interrupt but he was here to curry brownie points, not lose them.

“I was just looking for you actually, Serizawa-kun.”

"Y-you were?" Serizawa squeaked out, half-pleased, half-nervous.

“Oh yeah.” Shimazaki gestured for him to approach the bench. “I was thinking we should do something fun together.”