Notes: This is a modern AU, and also the most self-indulgent thing I have written. Also, I'm kinda sorta out of ideas because KNY ended so if you wanna drop prompts, go ahead.

-

Giyuu has never been exactly tech-savvy.

It took him until he was sixteen to get a cellphone, having grown up in a small village in the countryside where mobile phones were never truly necessary. Sure, his sister's house had a landline, and she and her husband have phones, but they were never used for anything but emergencies. Giyuu only got a cellphone once they moved to the city, his sister's (frankly irrational) concern for his safety pushing him to buy a used iPhone as soon as he could.

He still only used it for calls and eventually, at his friend's insistence (because "Jeez, Tomioka-san, no one likes talking on the phone anymore, you know!"), texts. But, despite his increasing reliance on his mobile, he still refuses to touch social media with a ten-foot pole.

Much to the chagrin of the girl in front of him.

"You should really consider getting some type of social media, at least," she says, sitting at his coffee table and stirring her tea idly, "how are you going to ever make friends if you don't connect with the modern times?"

Giyuu shoots her a look from over his studies, "I have friends."

"Who says I'm your friend?"

"You're in my apartment. You're wearing my sweatshirt."

Shinobu gives him a smile that spells out danger and Giyuu can already feel a headache coming on.

"What if I've just seduced you into friendship to steal your sweatshirts? They are comfortable, you know, even if they are a little tacky," she said, gesturing to the half-red half-green patterned sweatshirt she had nabbed from his closet. Giyuu frowns at her.

"That's a lot of effort," he replies, but as the words left his mouth, he knew that Shinobu knew no limits to the ends of which she would screw with him. A fake friendship for free pajamas was extreme but definitely not out of reach.

She laughs, the sound high and airy, "I'm surprised you didn't try and argue about your fashion taste, I guess even you know it's bad."

Another exasperated look was her only answer before Giyuu turned back to his paper.

"Seriously, though," she starts, and Giyuu was just about ready to bang his head against the table. "You're a bumpkin. You should really get some kind of online profile. It would make job hunting a lot easier-- you don't even have to post anything."

"I'll get one if it means you being quiet," He mutters under his breath, only to regret it immediately as Shinobu lets out a mocking gasp, snatching his phone from the table, "lucky me, then!" She winks, before sliding open his unlocked phone.

He was really regretting never bothering to get a password on that thing.

"See, Tomioka-san," she began again, typing amicably into his phone, "I'll even be nice. I won't get you something where you'll have to socialize out of your little group of friends-- even though heaven knows you need it."

He opens his mouth to point out that she just admitted he had friends, but she was already talking over him again.

"Hmm, what do you want your username to be?" She hums, her bottom lip jutting out like a curious child, "better think quick or I'm picking one for you."

"Tomioka Giyuu," he answers, "or Giyuu Tomioka. Whichever fits."

Shinobu sticks her tongue out at him, "You really are boring, Tomioka-san. Either way, you're tough out of luck. Both of those are already taken."

Giyuu huffs, no avoiding the inevitable, then, he thinks. Shinobu is already typing again.

"There!" She grins, handing his phone back to him, and he's reminded that this girl is going to be the death of him.

He checks his username, unsurprised when the screen reads Grumpy_Ass_Giyuu. He sighs for the nth time that afternoon. "What's my password?"

She tilts her head and blinks up at him in a display of innocence that doesn't fool anyone, "Mm, I don't think I'll tell you that, lest you change your wonderful username!" Her face breaks out into another poised smile, "I already added all of your friends, so you can snap them whenever." She leans across the table and pokes the tip of his nose, he stares at her finger, cross-eyed. "And you better snap me, mister, I'm making sure we keep a streak."

The phone in his hand buzzes and he stares down at the yellow notification on his screen that reads Sabito sent you a message. He slides it open and is met with a picture of Sabito sporting a toothy grin, Makomo's head poking out from behind his shoulder.

did shinobu bully u into getting a snap? lmaooo

Giyuu angles the camera towards Shinobu, where she sits resting her chin atop her fists. "Aww, taking a picture of me?" She coos, just as he snaps a photo.

He stares at it, then looks blankly at the white symbols in the corner, "...how do I add text?"

Shinobu lets out a high laugh, and she proceeds to teach him which mechanics mean what, he doubts he'll use them, or the app, all that much. So he just types out a quick "Yes." and sends it back to Sabito.

She laughs at him again before they settle back into studying, only sitting together for about half an hour more before she hops out of her chair.

Shinobu stretches her hands behind her head as she gets up, the sweatshirt she stole from him falls down to her mid-thigh. "I should get back to my dorm, I have a call with my sisters today." She yawns, packing her books back into her bag. He stares as she walks towards his front door.

"Am I ever going to get that back?" He asks, pointing towards his sweatshirt.

"Nope!" She chirps, "see ya'!"

Giyuu huffs, "stay safe," he calls just as his door clicks shut.

~~~

They have a streak together.

It's not a surprise to anyone, really. If Giyuu didn't snap her back, who knew what kind of act of terrorism she'd commit against him in vengeance.

It's simple self-defense, really, he tells himself. Even as he begins to eagerly wait for the little yellow notification in the morning, or at night. The pictures she sends are never special- maybe a photo of her shoes as she walks to class, or a budding flower on the side of the road, or her goldfish swimming in its tank.

He used to just send her black screens in response, but she chewed him out for it soon after, so he started sending back shots of his floor, or the stray cat that comes to visit. Recently, he's taken a liking to blurry pictures of his lamp.

It becomes another addition to his routine.

Wake up, check his phone, take a picture, continue on with his day. The new addition hardly changes much. And it becomes a simple blip in an already mundane cycle.

Until that is, he gets a snap from her one evening that makes him choke on his dinner.

It isn't that special, it truly, surely shouldn't garner the reaction that it did. It's a simple picture of Shinobu with her two sisters, whom she had visited over the long weekend. The camera aimed down at them as the Kochou's beam back, Getting dinner with the gang ^^ It reads. Simple. Normal.

Except it is none of those things. Because Shinobu Kochou is wearing a tank top, or, well, the only article of clothing he knows to call it is a tank top. But that doesn't seem right, because this is far nicer than any tank top he's ever seen. It's the perfect get-up for going out, he's seen women in these clothes plenty of times, going to restaurants, bars, parties (although he seriously doubts they're going to any bar or party. Her little sister is still in high school, after all). He shouldn't be surprised.

But Shinobu does not wear tank tops. It's not something she does. She's never been one for showing skin, hell, she's even complained to him about it before. She's just more comfortable in long sleeves and sweaters, it's why he needs to stock up on new sweatshirts whenever she comes over.

So, he isn't used to seeing this much skin on his study-mate. It's different. He's inclined to think it's a good different, even.

The timer in the corner runs out, and he replays it before his brain can catch up to his fingers.

He needs to keep this picture. It... intrigues him, in an odd way, seeing Shinobu in what he now realizes is her older sister's top. He takes a screenshot.

She won't know, he rationalizes, I can delete it before she gets back. She won't know at all.

~~~

He doesn't delete the picture.

In fact, he spends the better half of his weekend staring at it.

Not in a creepy way, he doesn't do anything with it. He'll just open it when he's studying, or cooking, or watching television. Shinobu in a tank-top goes from being different to being pretty, and it isn't just in the way the shirt fits over her shoulders. She looks genuinely thrilled, a joy in her face that he hasn't seen in months. Her smile is wide, but it isn't forced like it has been since the stress of school and work and finances bore down on her. She's smiled, sure, at him when he falls for her antics, at her other friends. But those are polite, neat smiles.

This is unrestrained glee. And it's beautiful in a way that makes his lips tilt upwards as well.

She sends him a snap the next morning, a normal one, of the blue sky, I'll be back by 5, if you make me dinner I'll help you study :), it reads, and he thinks it's a talent that she can make a smiley face look so threatening.

He sends back a picture of the stray cat, who he has named Kanza, with a simple Ok.

~~~

Sure enough, Shinobu knocks on his door one minute before five.

He lets her in without preamble and then goes back to the kitchen to finish cooking. Shinobu moves to his table and sets down her bags, taking out her textbooks.

It's silent in a way that's odd, usually, Shinobu would chat with him as he cooked, and procure some teasing remark or another- about his spartan way of living, or his fashion sense- but she just sits quietly at his table, flipping through her binder, a neutral smile on her lips.

She doesn't know, he assures himself as he carries over two plates of salmon, she can't know. There's no way she knows.

"So," She begins, leaning her chin on her hands, "you liked the picture?"

Holy shit. She knows.

He feels his eyes widen and he opens his mouth, closes it, tries again. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Shinobu smiles even wider, her lips peeling back to show teeth. "Snapchat notifies you when someone screenshots your snap, my dear Tomioka-san, don't tell me you didn't know?"

Well, no, he didn't know that, and he wouldn't have kept the picture if he did. This is just adding fuel to a Shinobu Kochou-shaped fire.

He can't seem to form a coherent sentence again, so he just stares, hard, at the stained wood of his table. He can feel heat rushing to his ears.

Shinobu lifts up her glass and laughs into the rim of the cup. "I'm glad you find me pretty, Tomioka-san! Truthfully you aren't too shabby looking yourself, although you're due for a wardrobe change."

He is for once grateful for the jab because at least this tease is familiar. "I like my wardrobe."

"Almost as much as you like mine?" She winks, and he busies himself with his food. It seems she is actually waiting for an answer this time, however, as she leans slightly over the table, not once touching her food.

He looks up and sighs, he does that a lot when she's here, and decides to treat this like ripping off a bandaid. Or swatting a gnat, he thinks bitterly.

"Not your wardrobe."

"My my, isn't that rude--"

"Your...," he interrupts, shifting awkwardly, "your smile. It was your...smile."

This time, it's Shinobu's turn to blink owlishly.

"That's- well, that's--," she begins, before hurridly shovelling rice into her mouth, a flush rising to her cheeks.

When she resurfaces she is perfectly composed, although a red still colors her ears. "We should start studying now, Tomioka-san, your teachers will dislike you more than they already do if you fail again."

Giyuu thinks, with a smile in his eyes, that he can get used to the sight of Shinobu Kochou flustered.

-

A/N: Ok so this... definitely has a lot of mistakes. I started this months ago and only started working on it again last night and then splurged all of this out at three a.m. So I am too tired to edit, and my grammarly has decided to not work on Wattpad, but also I want to post this ASAP because yall have waited long enough lol.

I've kinda fallen out with KNY since it ended. Maybe that love will be rekindled when the movie is release. I still love it, but it no longer lives rent free in my brain. Or, in more technical terms, I am no longer hyperfixated on it, so I'm not producing as much fanwork for it as before. F in chat to all my art WIPs i will never touch.

Fun Facts ab this story: this was originally going to be far more nsfw (or i guess i should say risque, my version of me writing nsfw is tame (it was going to b shinobu sending a pic that was far more salacious if ur curious)) but I got too embarrased and changed it.

Also, the name of the stray cat, Kanza, is a shortened version of Giyuu's crow's name Kanzaboru. But I thought the name was too clunky so I cut it down to a nickname of sorts (also I couldn't find a clear translation of the kanji lol)

Like i said at the top of this: PLEASE GIVE ME PROMPTS. I don't have ideas and if something sparks my interest maybe the next chapter will come out in less than... *checks watch* half a damn year.