Title; Memory of long ago

Words; 2,270

Rating; T

Pairing(s); Ginoza Nobuchika x Reader

It was indeed true to say that Ginoza was a very busy man, especially during this time, when he got a couple of unsolved cases weighting tons on his desk. It felt like his desk and head would collapse every moment, so he let out a deep sigh, making Akane look at him strangely, before he grabbed his coat to head out, into the cafeteria to grab a coffee.

"I`ll be returning in a couple of minutes, so don`t slack off, did you hear?" But the inspector wasn`t even waiting for a response, he left with his only goal for the time being a cup of hot, steamy coffee. He passed a lot of other inspectors, but he had already learned that no one greeted you in the hallway if you didn`t have a massive success not too long ago in his first two weeks. But an uneasy feeling began to wash over him as he waited for the elevator to pick him up, because he actually didn`t want to check his Psycho Pass, knowing it`d be darker than usual. By the time the elevator arrived, he had been close to checking on it, but then he suddenly decided not to, it`d only extend the pressure resting on not only the surface of his desk, but his very own shoulders as well. But as he wanted to step inside the elevator, he collided with someone smaller than him, but he was totally taken aback by the sudden pull the person in front of him committed on his coat in order to maintain their balance.

"I am really sorry, sir…" The smaller person quietly said, seeming to actually mean it and as he steadied the person by their shoulders, he tried to snatch a glance at the face of the person, but could only see (h/c) hair, because the person faced his front and not his face.

"It`s alright, but watch out next time." But then they lifted their head and after a few mere seconds, he realized that this face was actually familiar to him, even though it was not quite the same as the face he had dug out from his memory, but it unmistakably belonged to the same person. He could feel his hand grip her shoulders tighter, making her flinch in his grip, to which his instinctively let her go, taking a step back or two.

"Oh, um… Is that you, Gino?" The young woman inquired in a hopeful, but yet polite voice as she straightened her form along with the strap of her bag, before putting on a smile as well and he searched for something to say. It was hard to decide what words he was supposed to use in this situation. The fact that it had been more than two years that he had been confronted with this face didn´t make it any easier at all. But he straightened his own form as well and pushed his glasses up in a nervous fashion, before opening his mouth, not sure if he could actually trust his mouth.

"Yes, that´s me." But luckily, problems while talking had never belonged in the category of things that he´s had conflicts with. It doesn´t matter if it´s his chief or the newbie, his voice wouldn´t let him down. But he also knew that the female in front of him also was gifted with a very polite and steady way of talking, much like him. She took a step forward and he immediately made sure that his figure remained unmoved as he continued to stare at her every motion through his glasses, wondering what on earth had moved her to come here.

"Now, you´re surely wondering why I came here. Well, the thing is, I´ve been wanting to say ´hi´ to you as well as my friend Akane, because she works in your division, right?" He didn´t waste any time answering, not forgetting to cover up his surprise and the slight disappointment that lingered somewhere in his chest that he wasn´t the actual reason for her visit, but the newbie-girl of his division.

"You should actually know better than to come while we´re still working, but I´ll let it slip." He pushed his glasses up once again, making himself feel uncomfortable, but who wouldn´t be uncomfortable with an old crush friend from school suddenly showing up at their doorstep?

"Haha, I missed you too, Gino and you´re right, I should´ve called first… But do you guys still have work to do, because I wanted to go eat dinner with Akane, you see." Sending an apologetic smile, you brushed a few strands of (h/c) hair out of your face, before looking up at him in an awaiting manner and it sent a few thoughts flying through his mind right away.

"Yes, she still has quite some work to do, since she´s new." He wasn´t sure if it was that much, but his mind somehow made him say this without his conscious permission, so he went along with it. There surely was a reason why.

"Oh, alright… Then, where are you heading? Maybe I can pass some time talking to you while waiting for Akane and we can catch up on the ´old times´?" She talked about them having a conversation so easily, it was tempting to answer this question with a positive response. He had always worked quite hard to make her acknowledge him, even if he had to go out of his way or to simply see her smile so prettily. Even though she had said that they were friends back in school quite often to reassure him, he couldn´t help but want to work for her attention to make himself feel accomplished whenever he was graced with her presence.

"I´m going to grab a coffee in the cafeteria." Now that he stepped towards the elevator which was still present on their floor, he got a closer look at her face and it made the hairs on his arm stand nearly vertically up from his skin. Her smile seemed to lack the various features as well as the happy vibe it usually gave off and he didn´t like it one bit.

"Then I´d like to join you, I could use a coffee as well." She said after a moment while he stood between the elevator´s door it wouldn´t close on them. Ginoza didn´t know what to do, so he ended up nodding and waiting for her to get inside the elevator. She also did right away, not wanting to make him wait and as soon as they were both inside and the doors close nearly soundless while Gino took it upon himself to press the button to the ground level, where their cafeteria was located. The way down was awkwardly silent, so Gino chose to take the innovative and start with some small talk, feeling kind of guilty, because he just remembered that he was the one responsible for that that their communication died down.

"So, how have you been?" A laugh came from next to him and he didn´t know anything other than be alarmed how this topic could cause her to laugh. And her smile was still so distant and it was killing him.

"I´ve actually been doing quite fine, thank you for asking. But I´m sure that the question whether you have been doing fine or not is more appropriate. I heard a great lot about you from Akane. She really looks up to you, you know?" That comment was logical and so he had to steer towards a different topic, so the talk wouldn´t fade away into uncomfortable silence again.

"I wouldn´t think that my health surpasses yours, but if you´re interested, I am doing fine as well." He wanted to hear more of her voice. He just realized that it was still the same as when he last heard it, only a bit more mature, but he didn´t really mind. And if her speaking pattern was still the same, she should respond now.

"I´m glad to hear that." Even after she spoke, the smile didn´t fade from her eyes and he had always admired her for it, even though there had been times when there was nothing but a frown and dark (e/c) eyes and he had been the only one to see it.

;;

It had been around the time their future had been decided by Sybil, when (Name)´s grandmother´s Crime Coefficient had raised in an surprisingly high area, which was unlikely to happen to elder people, but as the message came that she had died due to all the stress the intensive care she had been in and as he realized how gloomy she acted throughout the day, he couldn´t keep on watching. As they didn´t even let her pass through the gate due to her darkening Psycho Pass, he had to take action and pulled her away from the gate as soon as she chose to open her mouth for a verbal fight that she had wanted to start with the guard there.

"Do you want to tell me what has been clouding your Psycho Pass, (Name)? My mother says that it´s supposed to help if you talk to someone about your problems." He hadn´t worn the stoic mask of emotionlessness back then, but his eyes were still as stern as always as he tried to get her to look at him. His question was even asked really professional, not something like ´Do you want to tell what is bothering you?´, like it was a casual question, so he wouldn´t sound too interested. He pushed the female besides him gently on the bench, before also sitting down next to her.

"Ahem, m-my grandmother died yesterday… I just really liked her, that´s all…" The tears overflowed anyways, so she simply faced away from him, decently trying to wipe her tears away, before her bad mood affected Ginoza´s Psycho Pass as well. Oh god, that hurt his chest too fucking much. He just wanted to hug her, wipe her tears away, kiss her. But he knew he couldn´t, it could affect the way she acted, the way she acted towards him which he earned himself through hard work.

"This may seem awkward, but can I… hug you, Gino?"

"Don´t say it like that out loud, (Name)." His brain quickly caught on and as she slowly hugged him, as if scared of him rejecting her hug or something, he knew what she was feeling. It was the feeling when someone sought something to physically hold on to after a terrible experience. Wanting to give her that much needed comfort, he wrapped his arms around her and let one hand rest on the back of her head while the other rested on her back, not moving, because he didn´t want to disturb her in any way.

"T-Thank you." (Name) croaked from his chest, against which she rested her forehead and he simply nodded, continuing to hold onto her tightly as she cried silently, staining his blazer, but it wasn´t like the blazer died because of a few tears, so he let her. And also because of the feeling of his heart bursting out of his chest and her hearing it.

"It´s okay, I won´t go before your Psycho Pass has cleared again." Which is basically the same as ´I´ll leave only when you´re better again´.

;;

The elevator had now arrived on the ground level and as they got out, (Name) wanted to step outside and nearly ran in tall officer, but the Inspector behind her grabbed her arm quickly enough to prevent that from happening and then pulled her out with him, stopping a few steps later, but not letting go.

"Um, Gino? What…-"

"Would you mind eating with me sometime as well?" He hadn´t let go of her arm yet, so she was somewhat forced to look up at him and as she saw how his question sparked curiosity in her eyes, he knew he had won.

"Um, sure… How about you let go of my arm so I can look what times I´m free this week?" The young woman asked with a teasing smile and he turned away immediately, trying to cover up his embarrassment as she pulled out her phone.

"How about… Friday? I´m getting off of work earlier that day."

"Uh, yes, Friday is fine with me."

"Well, then. Should we go get our coffee now?

Truth be told, he really didn´t need that coffee anymore, but his character didn´t allow him to say something like that and it´d only take a few words to let the work from his own desk fly over to Inspector Akane´s workplace, right?

;;A/N: Um, here is Mar, you can call me that and I love Gino bc he's a poor bby who's dad has been stolen T^T If you ever have a request or feedback, please feel free to comment it, but make sure the Anime or Manga is written in my profile-masterlist, ok? Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I'll see you around again! ^-^