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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Serizawa swallowed. "Fun?" he repeated with that same timid squeak as before. He had no idea what Shimazaki thought was fun. Serizawa already wasn't great at reading people, but Shimazaki was even harder to figure out.

As soon as Serizawa had sat beside him Shimazaki slung an arm around his shoulders. He was immediately reminded how big the other man was. Shimazaki wasn’t short—he had long since figured that out—but their newest recruit was just that tall.

Not that that daunted him.

It was secondary to Serizawa’s enormous energy just barely dammed up by his thin grip on his own composure. Even with Shimazaki just touching him he could feel a small crack in the dam.

“Have you had your first drink yet?”

Serizawa tensed up at the arm suddenly swung around him. He wasn't exactly used to a lot of having contact with other people -- physical or otherwise.

"Um, well, no," he answered honestly, gripping the handle of his umbrella even tighter. "You don't want to drink, do you?"

“Yeah. It’s fun.” Shimazaki’s hand leisurely floated up to Serizawa’s hair—it had a texture that was pretty uncommon. He fiddled with a frizzy curl between his fingertips. “It’s also a good way to get to know people.”

Serizawa was clearly uncomfortable. Minegishi could see it easily, even if Shimazaki couldn't. Still, Minegishi had a whisper of a smile watching the display.

"You think?" Serizawa asked.

Shimazaki mercifully took his hand back to drape over the back of the bench instead, but—

“Speaking from experience. I’m sure the boss wouldn’t complain if we could found a nice guy for you to spend the evening with.”

"Um," Serizawa started, leaving a long silence fill the space afterwards. "I think I'm okay, if that's okay with you."

At this rate, the only person he’d get to successfully unwind with him was the middle schooler. Pretty sad.

“Fine. Let’s compromise. You do a shot with me and I’ll grab some of that Tonkatsu you really liked from a few weeks ago. Just you and me.”

"Well..." If one of Serizawa's hands wasn't too busy holding an umbrella indoors, he would have been fiddling with his fingers. "...if it's just the two of us..."

"Alright! Then meet me in the lounge later tonight." Shimazaki papped Serizawa's scruffy cheek. "Leave the liquor pairing to me. I can tell what you'll like already."

"You can?" Was that another one of Shimazaki's psychic powers?

Shimazaki leaned in. "I can tell from your breath. You're sensitive to alcohol, so we won't do anything too strong."

Serizawa slapped his free hand over his mouth, hoping that his breath didn't smell poorly. "R-really?" he asked, muffled from behind his fingers. "You can tell all that from just my breath?"

"Hey, don't be shy." Shimazaki scooped a finger under Serizawa's to tenderly peel his hand off. Serizawa's energy was spiking again.

Was Minegishi still watching? Shimazaki hoped so.

"There's a lot I can tell about you. But...we'll just leave it at that for now. I'll see you around 8?"

"Um," Serizawa croaked. "Sure."

He quickly stood and sidestepped around Shimazaki, then rushed out of the room, umbrella tightly in his grasp.

Minegishi let out a satisfied little noise as they smirked. "That was mean." There was no judgment in their voice, though. If anything, there was approval.

“Not as mean as you would’ve been if I hadn’t swooped in.” Shimazaki said with uninhibited affection as he sunk back onto his side on the bench. It was the lesser of two evils, really. Serizawa would be fine. He was already getting the best lot in life—for someone as downtrodden as him, anyway.

“I think I deserve a little something for saving the day, by the way.”

"What were you thinking?"

“One round of truth or dare.”

Minegishi's eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you serious?"

“Yeah. Right now. I’ll even let you go first.”

Minegishi was so off-guard that they couldn't even conjure up a single thing to ask or dare. They didn't like being caught off-guard. They needed more time.

"No, you go first."

His eyebrow raised. “If you insist. Truth or dare?”

Edited 2024-05-03 15:16 (UTC)

"Truth." Minegishi didn't even want to imagine what Shimazaki would dare.

“If you could only choose two other members of the org to be left standing after world domination, who would you choose?”

"Other than you?" It was worth clarifying. If Shimazaki wasn't one of the two, it was going to make things far more difficult.