Psycho-Pass (Secret Santa for LeapYearKisses), m/m (sorta)

[Guest]

Dear @LeapYearKisses,

I am your Secret Santa! I am a complete anime virgin, I’m afraid, but I’m always up for a challenge, and I decided to meet this one head on by simply choosing the first fandom and pairing in your list. So this is Psycho-Pass, Kougami/Ginoza (only lightly slash). I had a lot of fun watching a few episodes, and reading some other fanfic. I really hope you like it, and nothing is glaringly awful or out of character (I’m hoping the large amount of sneezing makes up for it). It’s set somewhere non-specific towards the beginning of season one. It's not heavy on description because I was so worried about getting the technology or flavour completely wrong. Sorry about that. 

 

Nobuchika Ginoza was sure his room was brighter than it had any right to be this morning, as the beeping of his alarm drilled into his head. Squinting uncomfortably, he turned it off, croaking out “Brightness to 30%.”

The overhead lights dimmed obediently and he sat up, pinching the bridge of his nose. Since Akane Tsunemori was still so new, he had pulled several double shifts in order to train her up as quickly as possible, and it seemed to be taking its toll. Selecting his trademark black suit and tie, he pulled up a quick health diagnostic on his desk screen. As the clothes materialised smoothly on his body, it showed a slightly elevated temperature and heart rate, and a slightly lower than usual breathing efficiency. Which just confirmed what he had already suspected. Ginoza took a shaky breath before sneezing forcefully, spray misting the air and his touchscreen.

“Hu’AASSHOOO!!  AASHOO!!  A cold. Great,” he muttered, searching around for a tissue. Quickly, he took a look at today’s work rota. Him, Akane Tsunemori, Shinya Kougami, a handful of other enforcers. No other Inspectors, and not even Masaoka, one of the most experienced Enforcers. He hadn’t really been considering taking the day off for a cold, he tried to convince himself sternly. And anyway, there was no chance when Tsunemori was still so inexperienced. But nevertheless, Ginoza felt uneasy. His position at the Public Safety Bureau was founded on the others’ respect. They were hardly going to respect a sniffling, sneezing, mess as their superior. He resolved to try and hide it from them as far as possible. Which might be quite difficult…

“Huh’HAASSHOO!!” Yet another sneeze resounded in his tiny room. Ginoza sighed, praying for a light day.

As on most days, Ginoza arrived in the office before anyone else. With a few minutes to himself, he got a cup of coffee, settled down at his desk, and pulled up today’s workload. Scanning it quickly, he was relieved to see it was just routine stuff; mostly paperwork. But they were on call, which meant any emergencies would come straight to them. He sniffed congestedly, feeling in his pocket for a pack of tissues. He was just blowing his nose when Shinya Kougami walked in. Typical.

“Morning!” Kougami seemed unnecessarily cheerful, spinning his desk chair around before sitting in it, humming to himself.

“Good morning,” Ginoza responded coolly, cursing his nasal, stuffed-up voice. Akane Tsunemori then arrived just on Kougami’s tail. She bowed quickly to each of them as they both greeted her. Ginoza wished he could find some way to bring her out of her shell. He was certain she would make a great Inspector if she allowed herself to relax and believe in herself. He gestured her over.

“Today is mostly paperwork, but if we’re called out, it will be the three of us.” He paused. His nose was itching, but he couldn’t allow himself to sneeze in front of her. He quickly rubbed at it with a knuckle, but that only served to intensify the itch. His eyebrows pulled together slightly, as he inhaled. Ginoza forced himself to exhale slowly. The itch receded. Glancing sideways, he didn’t think Tsunemori had noticed. “Anyway, you get to work on file 2604, and ask me if you have any questions. It should be fairly straightforward.” Tsunemori nodded obediently went over to her desk and prepared to start work.

Ginoze sighed in relief, but his nose was still itching. Hoping for a little more privacy, he took his coffee cup into their tiny kitchen. Then, pulling out a tissue, he gave into the urge.

“H’KTCH!” He stifled the sneeze as quietly as he could, but his nose was still tickling. “Huh’ASSHOO!” There was no way to control the second sneeze.

“Bless you,” an amused voice drawled.

Sniffing, Ginoza turned around to see Shinya Kougami lounging in the doorway. He blushed, embarrassed, grabbed his coffee, and swept past him without a word.

 

The day passed mostly in a haze of acronyms and code numbers, as Ginoza tried to concentrate on the paperwork in front of him while his head felt increasingly as though it was filled with sharpened spikes and cement. He managed to control any further sneezes by pinching his nose shut and gritting his teeth, but couldn’t hide his increasing congestion and sniffing. No one had commented, however, so he continued to grind on with his write-ups.

It was almost four o’clock and, miraculously, there had been no call-outs. Although it had been boring, Ginoza was grateful for the light day. He was even beginning to hope that they might just be able to clock off at 5 with nothing else required.

Of course, that was when the emergency phone started ringing.

“Public Safety Bureau, CID, Nobuchika Ginoza speaking.” Ginoza listened to the caller for a few moments, making notes. “Thank you for your call. We’ll be right there.” He hung up, pinching the bridge of his nose under his glasses briefly, before standing to announce the situation to his team.

“Ok, we have a Suspect with a cloudy hue who has refused several instructions to exit his home and go for Sibyl-recommended therapy. I’m sending through the details to your screens now. Suit up, both of you. Akane, take a Dominator. I’ll meet you at the bus in 5.”

Akane scrambled to get ready. Kougami was more languid in his movements, taking his time, keeping an eye on Ginoza, who was blowing his nose and cleaning his glasses.

“Ah-H’ASSSHOOO!! ASSSHOOO! … H’ASSSSHOOO!!” The wet, explosive sneezes came from nowhere, bending Ginoza almost double with their force, and he blushed deeply as he dabbed at his running nose.

“Bless you.” Kougami had crossed to him without him noticing and was standing very close, the heat from his body tangible across the space between them. Instead of the usual wise-guy smirk, Ginoza thought he could see a glimmer of concern. “Are you ok? You seem…off.”

“I’b fide,” Ginoza muttered thickly, tissue still pressed against his nose. He stepped back from Kougami as another shuddering sneeze hit. “H’RRSSHOOO!!” He blew his nose quickly, then drew himself up. “Go and get ready. I’ll meet you by the van.”

“Yes, boss.” Kougami responded, suddenly formal, surprised by Ginoza’s cool tone. He turned on his heel and left at the double.

 

The van pulled up outside a dark, shadowy block. Apartment buildings loomed up around them, while black morasses of alleyways stretched away from their edges. Stepping out, Ginoza gave them their instructions.

“Ok. The Suspect was last encountered in his apartment…” he paused to scan his screen and orient himself. “Third floor, that building. The local Therapists tried to check on him about an hour ago, when he refused and his Crime-Coefficient rose to 150. So, he shouldn’t be dangerous, but we should exercise caution. I suggest we take a covert approach. See if there’s another way into the apartment. If we can paralyze him without frightening him further he may be more responsive to therapy later.” The other two nodded. “Akane, you go up to the front door, but don’t let him know you’re there. Stay on Comms. Kougami, you and I will see if there’s a back route in.”

They rounded the back corner of the building, black uniforms blending easily with the darkness all around.

“Fire escape,” Kougami muttered shortly, pointing to a series of ladders snaking up to the roof. Ginoza uttered a silent thanks that the apartment was only on the third floor. They started up it, Kougami in the lead. Although usually relatively athletic, Ginoza’s head was beginning to swim from the exertion, and as he dismounted the ladder onto the back fire escape, he stumbled. Putting out a hand for the rail, he instead felt strong arms immediately prop him up.

“Steady,” a hoarse whisper from Kougami. Ginoza pulled away. Remain professional, he scolded himself. But it had been hard not to relax into those arms.

Together, they crept in a crouch towards a back door onto the fire escape. There was a window into the apartment to the right of the door and, luckily for them, it was partially open to allow a little air inside. Kougami and Ginoza settled themselves on either side of the window, backs to the wall. Kougami pulled up an infrared scan of the building. The suspect appeared to be barely a foot away from them, inside the room.

Ginoza messaged Akane and Kougami silently to their comms. Alternate entrance found to rear. We will paralyze. Stand by. A second later he got back the replies: Copy that.

Ginoza eyed up the window. It opened upwards and outwards, so it should be possible to stand up, turn towards the room, open the window to get a clear shot, and fire, all in one smooth movement. Easy.

His nose immediately began to tickle uncontrollably.

 

Shinya Kougami had also been examining the window and had come to similar conclusions regarding their best course of action. He was distracted, however, by Nobuchika Ginoza’s sudden intake of breath which cut across their carefully maintained silence. Kougami looked over and, horrified, saw Ginoza’s eyelids fluttering, mouth hanging slackly open, one hand raised helplessly towards his face. It was obvious that he was about to sneeze and, judging by his earlier outbursts, it would be anything but discreet.

“Oh, screw this,” Kougami muttered, raising his Dominator. He stood, turned, opened the window, scanned the room in a fraction of a second, and fired. A bolt of light burst from his gun with a sharp crack, hitting the suspect squarely in the back. At precisely the same moment there was a loud “Hah’KSHOOO!” from beside him.

“Suspect down!” Kougami shouted, climbing into the room as Akane booted in the front door. Ginoza followed sheepishly, sniffling. He had left his tissues in his suit.

“Good work,” he admitted, looking at the prone body on the floor. “Let’s get him down to the van. We can drop him off at Therapy and then clock off.”

 

Twenty minutes later, they were back in the office, out of combat uniform, and ready to leave. Akane smiled at Ginoza.

“That wasn’t so bad!” She beamed. He smiled weakly back at her.

“You started with a really bad one. Most of our cases aren’t nearly so hard. You did well today. See you tomorrow.”

“See you!” She called back at him on her way out.

Ginoza sat on the edge of his desk, took off his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose. The adrenaline had left his system and now he was exhausted and felt worse than ever.

Kougami watched from the arsenal doorway, moving quietly to avoid attracting attention. Of course, he had noticed first thing this morning that something wasn’t right, but now he could see Ginoza’s pallor and red-tinged nose. Even as he watched, he saw his chest flutter, grey eyes closing slowly as he raised a tissue.

“Heh’ASHOOO! ASSSHOOOO!! … HUH’SSHOOOO!!” The sneezes bent his slender frame almost double, reverberating around the small office. As Ginoza raised his head, it didn’t seem as if they’d granted him any kind of relief. He stood for a second, then inhaled again.

“HAH’SSHOOO!!” The force of the sneeze made him stagger, putting out a hand for the desk behind him. And, again Kougami was there, strong arms holding him up, putting him straight. But Ginoza still wasn’t done, and in the flurried movement there wasn’t time to turn away completely as he sneezed.

“H’SHOOO!” A softer sneeze, finally exhausting the desperate tickle in his nose, but the spray misted Kougami’s arm where he held Ginoza’s opposite shoulder.

“Ugh…I’m so sorry…” Ginoza blushed to the roots of his hair, mortified. He tried to pull away, but Kougami held him firmly.

“Don’t be,” Kougami answered gruffly. “You’re sick. Let me see you home.”

“Don’t be silly.” Ginoza sniffed, and shook himself free, drawing himself up to his full height, several inches taller than Shinya Kougami. “I’m not a child. In fact, I’m your boss.” He then ruined the effect by blowing his nose noisily.

“Oh, screw that,” said Kougami, and strong-armed him out of the door before he could say another word.

 

Kougami even insisted on walking Ginoza to his front door. Standing outside it, ready to put his palm to the scanner, Ginoza turned.

“Thank you. For today.” He looked his friend in the eye. Kougami looked away.

“Oh, well, whatever,” he muttered. It was his turn to blush. “Feel better, anyway.” And he turned and walked away into the night.

[LeapYearKisses]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!  Thank you so, so much!  Oh my God. ;___;  I can't believe you wrote me a Psycho-Pass fic.  I'm blown away by your generosity!  Psycho-Pass has been my favorite anime for years now, and I'm so touched that you went out of your way to make this for me, even though you don't watch anime!  So even before I read this little piece of amazing, I was so happy.   (You did a really good job for not being familiar with the show!  It reads quite well as a happier AU version and, honestly, I'm perfectly pleased with that.  There's enough angst out there.)

Thank you for giving me a sick-at-work fic.  The bleary start to the day, Gino hiding in the break room to sneeze and sniffling miserably - that was perfect!  I loved his little moments of embarrassment and Kougami being there, concerned.  And then!  Then they went out to catch a suspect and AHHH.  How wonderful to have the sneeze right at the pivotal moment!  I love it!  And Kougami stepping in - he so would.  That was so great!  And oh, the end which was just the right amount of sweetness... Thank you so much!

You totally made my week!  

[Guest]

Yay, I'm so glad you liked it! It was fun to write something a bit out of my comfort zone, although it's obviously not as detailed or fluent as writing a fandom I know really well. I'm really glad you're happy