Onyen

Sebastian

While Sebastian knows you’re more than capable of handling yourself, a small part of him has always been terrified when you go to the mines alone. Having grown up next to them, he has plenty of first-hand experience with how dangerous they can be. These experiences have done nothing but feed his anxiety and lead him to catastrophize frequently. As such, when you stumble home looking like you’re on death’s doorstep, he can’t help becoming overwhelmed and yelling (“What were you thinking?!”).

While Sebastian isn’t strong enough to carry you to bed (although he wants to desperately), he’ll do his best to support your weight to the nearest spot he can comfortably examine your injuries. When he’s certain you’re not going to fall or faint, he’s immediately grabbing pain medicine and any first-aid supplies he can get his hands on.

He’s learned a fair amount of first aid from Maru using him as a practice dummy/study buddy for new techniques she learned from Harvey. It also helps that he used these skills frequently when his mother got a little too enthusiastic in a carpentry project or when a lab experiment didn’t exactly go as expected at home.

Every time you flinch or hiss in pain from him cleaning your wounds, it’s like a stab in the heart. He goes back and forth between comforting you and calling you a ‘reckless idiot.’ Once finished, he’ll kiss a few of the more prominent injuries and your cheeks for comfort.

If you’re feeling well enough to eat (because he knows you forgot your food before you left, don’t lie to him) he’ll try his hand at making pumpkin soup or other liquids. While he’s sure you could handle soft foods since you stumbled all the way to the farm, he’s not risking it. 

It’s another sleepless night for him, and no amount of begging or coaxing will change that. He may lie down with you on the bed (for your sake), but with his nerves so strung out there’s no chance that he’d fall asleep. I mean, what if something happens during the night? He’d never forgive himself if your state worsened because he was sleeping.

Throughout the night, Sebastian goes back and forth between holding your hand and checking your pulse. He doesn’t want to wake you, but feeling your pulse and knowing you’re alive is one of the few things grounding him during his panic.

Sam

Considering Sam skateboards and has a rambunctious little brother, he’s pretty desensitized to blood. Despite this, his experience does nothing to quell his panic when you stumble home covered in blood and cuts. He’s never experienced anything this serious, and having to figure this out without his mom by his side is going to be challenging for him.

Sam’s surprisingly good at masking how scared he is in the moment, but it takes every ounce of willpower he has to keep from breaking down and crying. He’d thought he had come to terms with the fear he felt when his father was at war, but seeing you looking like you’d barely survived the battlefield sends him back to that panicked state.

Under no circumstances are you walking to the bed. Don’t even think about it. Sam’s immediately scooping you up and rushing you to rest while showering you with words of comfort. It’s more for his sake than yours, as he knows he’s no use to you if he becomes overwhelmed, and the more he talks the less his brain can run wild. 

First instinct? Call Harvey. He knows the clinic will open for emergencies after hours, but if something happens and keeps Harvey from being able to see you, Sam’s not going to wait. He’d hate himself if you suffer more pain or if your injuries worsen under his care. 

With the state you’re in and how serious some of your injuries are, he’s not exactly sure where to start. It may take a bit for him to develop a plan, but once he gets into the flow of things, it’s smooth sailing. He may not be an expert in first aid, but he’s cleaned enough scrapes and wrapped enough injuries to know the basics. 

When he encounters injuries he doesn’t know how to treat or that he believes are serious, such as deep cuts or bite wounds, he’ll give Sebastian or Maru a ring. He knows the two of them are far more experienced in first aid, so he trusts they’ll be able to walk him through whatever he needs to do to patch it. His mother is also getting a ring for emotional support and for advice as well. 

Anytime you show even an ounce of discomfort as he’s cleaning or wrapping your wounds, he’s showering you with affection and affirmation. From forehead kisses to head pats, nothing is off the table. It’s basically instinct from being an older brother.

Usually Sam sleeps easily, but the stress from your condition keeps him up most of the night. Man’s glued to his phone looking online for anything else he can do to ensure you stay stable. Unfortunately, he also keeps you up too as he’s frequently waking you up to make sure you haven’t died.

Elliott

Honestly, when you stumble through the door battered and bloodied from a mining misadventure, Elliott’s going to need a few minutes to really process what he’s seeing. He’d known the mines were dangerous, but he’s always trusted you’d turn back well before things became unsafe, so seeing you like this is a big shock.

His wide eyes and silent stare have the same weight as standing in the eye of a hurricane, and before you know it, he’s rushing to your side with soft admonishments and words of comfort. Although his words are less eloquent compared to his typical flowery way of speaking, his immediate focus on treating your physical and emotional distress just highlights his deep love and care for you. 

Elliott will not hesitate to sweep you into a bridal carry to the nearest comfortable spot to examine your injuries while he calls Harvey. You're already in so much pain, and he’d be beside himself if he caused you to suffer unnecessarily. 

If Harvey cannot see you that night, you don’t need to be too worried as Elliott is surprisingly familiar with first-aid. Part of it comes from his past in the city, while another comes from his friendship with Willy and Leah. Since their hobbies have a high chance of injury, Elliott has certainly helped the two patch themselves up. 

Any time Elliott has a free hand while he’s examining, cleaning, and wrapping your injuries, it’s holding yours. He likes to gently rub your knuckles for comfort and to distract you from the pain of the disinfectant. Likewise, he also spends this time talking about his novel, his day, the farm, or anything else that comes to mind to keep your focus from what he’s doing. 

During moments when you can’t help flinching or cursing in discomfort, he’s gently shushing you and reminding you that it’ll be over soon. Any particularly painful injuries get a quick kiss and plenty of words of affection. When he’s finished tending to your wounds, expect a flurry of forehead kisses and reminders of how strong you were throughout the process.

When finished, he makes sure to ask if you’re feeling up to eating anything, and if so he’s spending some time searching for recipes high in whatever vitamins/minerals will help you heal/relieve pain. Having the proper amount of nutrients and minerals is critical for a speedy recovery after all. For himself? A pot of coffee (No, you don’t get any. You need rest). He’s not sleeping tonight.

Throughout the night, Elliott spends his time gently running his fingers through your hair, holding your hand, and just doing anything to ensure you know he’s there for you. He’s also certainly searching the internet for anything else he can do to help you recover and to prepare a shopping list to ensure he’ll have everything he needs in case this happens again. 

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I swear on Yoba I am not dead, omg. It’s been way too long since I’ve written anything, and though it’s short I’m really glad I got the chance to write this. My MDD and senioritis/burnout have been really sucking the energy out of me since last year, which has made writing and drawing really difficult as of late. Since I have a little more free time on my hands, I’ve been trying to get back into the hobby, so hopefully my brain will re-adjust and get my creative juices flowing again.

Alsoooo in terms of life, I have officially graduated with my BA in Biology! I graduated in August and have unfortunately had to come back home (nothing in my field here), but I’m keeping my eyes peeled for various jobs in the field and research of interest! It’ll take a while, but I hope to get around to finally reading some ongoing research in the marine science field to get an idea on what I’d like to pursue for my Masters & where I’d like to go. If anyone has experience in the marine science/fish field of bio, I’d really appreciate any tips/good articles you’ve come across <3

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Giyuu’s struggle to navigate social interaction and his self-esteem issues already make interacting with the other hashira difficult, and now he has a new colleague who he’s never met? Good luck. Your promotion would certainly trigger his inferiority complex, and he would likely try to keep his distance from you to avoid the constant reminder. Thus, most of your early interactions would be during joint missions or meetings. 

That said, I think your inability to speak would make him feel more safe to build a friendly work relationship. As long as you don’t mind being around him without striking up a conversation, his struggle to navigate social standards and basic conversations wouldn’t be an issue or cause his self-esteem to spiral. 

Conversations probably wouldn’t be common at this point because I don’t think Giyuu would know sign-language. That said, I feel he would be a quick study—getting him to study would be anything but quick though. He doesn’t want to get close to others because he fears losing them due to his perceived weakness, so purposefully spending time with each other would be out until later in your relationship.

When first building your relationship, shared missions and his perceptiveness would be the foundation for most of your interactions. Are townsmen harassing you because of your disability? He’s there to chase them off. Did you get injured during a battle? Trying to get his attention to show/tell him something? No dramatic gestures needed, he’s just a small wave away. Even if your gesture goes unnoticed (a rare event, but it does happen), it wouldn’t take long for him to realize what happened, apologize, and investigate what drew your interest.

Later, when your bond has strengthened, I feel Giyuu would become more vocal and open to actively communicating with you. It’d start small, with him approaching you to discuss your most recent missions when you cross paths or to request to train together when your schedule allows it. After a while, he’d start seeking you out to spend time together and ask you to teach him sign.

During a lesson about how to inform you about the gravely injured or dead during missions via sign, I imagine you’d both have a conversation about what drove you to become demon slayers. Given the extent of Giyuu’s survivor guilt, I cannot imagine him leading this conversation, but after you break the ice with some of your experiences, I believe he’d tell you about his sister and Sabito. This is also the point when he’d likely ask about how you lost your voice. 

After your talk, I imagine he’d become more visibly protective of you in the same way he is over Tanjiro and Nezuko. While he knows and trusts you to take care of yourself in battle—you are a hashira after all—he keeps an eye out for the slightest sign that you’re in danger. There is no way he's willing to lose another person he considers dear to him.

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Food for those also starving for more GN Reader Demon Slayer fics, especially after the first Infinity Castle movie! They really hit hard with the animation (I wouldn't expect anything less tho) <3

This was supposed to be a full HC + drabble set with all of the hashira, but unfortunately I have 0 energy to write and my brain just isn't in a creative space. I do plan to finish the whole set in the future and post it to my AO3, but it might take a really long time for that to happen so I thought I'd drop this in the meantime. Also, sorry if Giyuu is out of character, it's been so long since I last watched the anime/read the manga. I really need to take time and re-read/watch it.

I'm sorry I haven't put anything out in so long in general too. Things got really crazy for me during the semester, and I had an internship this summer which was very physically/mentally demanding. Plus mental health and now carpal tunnel, yippee!

I've been trying to get back in the swing of things, but literally all of my energy/desire to create has been drained. I think it's from all of the essays, cover letters, and applications I've filled out (and still need to fill out) trying to get a job in my field. Marine bio is so hard to get a position in, esp as a newbie to the space.