Chapter Text
The mist estate was always quiet. The silence filling the halls gave the impression no one lived there, yet the boy who occupied the space simply wasn’t home often. The job of slaying demons had him traveling nearly every day, and those days where he could spend in his home were few and far between. But the silence was comforting, and Muichiro liked it, at least when he didn’t remember anything.
After the events of the swordsmith village, Muichiro found the silence overbearing, only slightly, and it felt painfully lonely. He began spending more time at the Butterfly estate, where he talked to Tanjiro and Genya. It was nice to be able to piece together the forgotten memories and make friends with the two slayers who were close to his age.
As of now, the silence was a welcome change of pace compared to having a mission told to him every few hours, or compared to the cries of the demon slayers that were put through his hashira training. The period of training was the only time his estate was ever loud, the only thing that made it bearable was letters from Genya, and when Tanjiro and Genya were in his training.
Now, the silence of the estate was only filled with Muichiro’s breathing as he wandered one of the halls to the empty engawa. This time there weren’t any demon slayers who needed training, and there weren’t any demons to worry about.
Dressed in a pastel blue yakata Muichiro stared out while a cold breeze pushed past him, a small smile formed on his face. A sense of peace washed over the world now that the corps had rid of the demons, and the corps was disbanded. Muichiro and the others don’t have to worry about the threat of demons.
It’s been months since the final battle, it’s a miracle most of them got out alive. Muichiro couldn’t be happier, because now, he can take time to himself to piece together the last pieces of his memory and make new ones. Including his beloved boyfriend who’s moved in with him after they’ve recovered from the battle.
While the demons are gone and the battle is over and most are alive, they didn’t all escape unscathed. Muichiro’s missing his left hand, which he’s adjusted to surprisingly quickly, and the demonic effects of Muzan’s blood in Genya’s system leave his tall boyfriend with a more demonic appearance. They aren’t sure if it’ll fade away with time, but no matter, Muichiro has shown his full support to Genya when the male spoke of his worries.
Everyone has made incredible bounds in recovery and Muichiro still finds it odd that he now has time on his hands. He’s not traveling around with a sword attached to his hip hunting down man-eating demons. Technically he’s not even the mist hashira anymore. Just Muichiro Tokito, ex-hashira, and demon slayer.
Settling into a peaceful life was harder than adjusting to the loss of his hand, but the experience turned to the bright side knowing Genya was never too far. Genya and Sanemi are yet to have a conversation with each other after the battle. Especially with the scare of Genya, and Muichiro, nearly dying during the battle against upper moon one.
Sanemi was distant with Genya during recovery, at least whenever Muichiro was awake to notice. They were filled in by the small girls that Sanemi would visit their recovery room every so often, but the white-haired male didn’t seem ready to approach Genya yet. Because of that Genya returned the action and kept to himself.
While Muichiro is more sour towards Genya’s older brother, he would much rather the two of them talk it out already. He can notice the sad expression in Genya’s eyes when Sanemi turns his head away. It’s not like before when Sanemi would yell at him any time he tried to talk, more so just avoiding, like he doesn’t know what he wants to say just yet, and thinks avoiding the situation until then is a better idea.
Muichiro doesn’t agree with it, but he gives Genya his support and continuously mentions he’ll drag Sanemi to talk if Genya wants him to. Genya said if they had talked and Sanemi had accepted him it was likely he would have stayed at the wind estate for a while, which Muichiro understands, doesn’t mean he likes it.
Genya was still sleeping in bed when Muichiro had removed himself, begrudgingly, from his boyfriend's warm embrace. But the younger one felt a need to walk around, he wasn’t used to being able to sleep in for long and he’s always been moving in one way or another, whether it was traveling or training. He woke up in the early hours of the morning, the sun bright, yet not at its brightest point.
This time the sun hits a layer of white snow on the ground. The freezing air hits Muichiro to his soul, but it's not a crushing cold but rather a comforting cold that makes his breath leave a puff in the air. His cheeks are already a faint rosy pink even if he hadn’t been exposed to the air long.
The cold was a pleasant reminder he was alive, and this was real. Taking deep breaths Muichiro closed his eyes and listened to the sound of his breathing and the wind blowing the branches of the trees. Snow was still falling from the sky, and Muichiro found a warm comfort in the winter season even if it was cold.
When he was younger he and Yuichiro only played in the snow a few times. Their parents wanted them inside most if not all of the time just so they didn’t risk getting sick, that or they were helping their parents. He didn’t have anything to worry about now, and there was a part of him that wished he didn’t miss out on being young and being able to play in the snow like a kid would.
He didn’t speak up on what he felt like he missed out on often, rather keeping it close to his heart as though it would show weakness. Even with no worries he still felt like he’s grown too fast, and while annoying he can’t do anything about it.
“Mui…?”
Muichiro turned his head behind him, seeing Genya standing with a tired expression. He rubbed his eye and ran a hand through his messy mohawk that had strands of hair sticking up everywhere. The few strands of yellow dyed from white because of his demonic transformation a strong contrast to his black hair. The younger offered a small smile watching as Genya yawned and walked closer.
Genya was wearing a purple yakata, basic and similar to Muichiro’s, he approached closer. While his expression was mostly tired he looked confused and curious at the same time. “What are you doing up?” he questioned, his voice sounding deeper and gravely, as he yawned again and blinked away sleep.
“Just woke up not long ago,” Muichiro responded softly, leaning some of his body onto Genya who wrapped an arm around him to make sure he didn’t fall.
Muichiro felt the vibration of Genya humming in understanding, a comforting feeling washed over him, and the wind no longer felt so cold.
“It snowed a lot last night… huh…” Genya commented, looking out at the white landscape. Just by appearance, it was clear the snow wasn’t very thick, but it covered everything with a sheet leaving no green grass in sight.
“God it’s too bright to look at it this early…” Genya trailed off with a grumble as he turned his head away, Muichiro could only laugh.
“Let's make breakfast,” he commented, removing himself from Genya’s side and softly taking his hand and giving it a small squeeze. He turned towards where the two of them had first entered from and felt Genya return the squeeze to his hand and easily kept up by following behind him.
“You could have slept longer you know,” Muichiro commented, “you still seem tired.”
In response, Muichiro earned a weak shrug while his boyfriend awkwardly stretched while keeping their hands together. “I got woken up by your movement, at least half woken up. It wasn’t until I fully processed you were gone that I got up.”
Muichiro rolled his eyes and faintly laughed, “missed cuddling that bad?”
“Oh shut up,” Genya responded rolling his eyes before muttering a small yes.
A fond huff of air left Muichiro, but he didn’t speak up again as the two made their way to the kitchen to make themselves food. Neither of them was the best cook per se, but they made it work got themselves a decent breakfast, and sat down together to eat.
Comfortable silence washed over them as they sat in each other's presence and ate the breakfast they’d gotten themselves. But the silence was interrupted by Genya, who finished eating faster than Muichiro. While it was often known he didn’t eat much, especially during his time as a demon slayer, he began eating more, but smaller portions.
Genya had offhandedly mentioned in general didn’t eat a lot, even when he was younger, but he stopped eating some days altogether in cases where he’d have to eat a demon. Muichiro understands it only a little bit, but now that both himself and Genya are well off because of their work in the corps, Muichiro’s attempting to get him used to bigger portions.
He’s not allowing his boyfriend to die from starvation or sleep his hunger off. Muichiro took a moment to register Genya’s voice speaking among the silence, distracted with his thoughts as he glanced wordlessly up from his food to Genya with a lifted eyebrow as the male addressed him.
“Did you hear me?”
Muichiro blinked shaking his head no, rather than being annoyed like some would if they weren’t heard the first time, Genya just smiled.
“Tanjiro sent a letter over, saying he wanted to get together at the butterfly estate today…” Genya trailed off, he fumbled with his hands before bringing out a parchment from his yakata. He slid it over to Muichiro who’s teal eyes glanced effortlessly down the page within seconds.
“Huh… I suppose it is approaching more of a holiday season…”
“Yeah, apparently he wanted to have a small celebration just our group. To show his appreciation or something… and I think Tanjiro and Nezuko just celebrated more holidays than most if not all of us…” Genya’s voice trailed off, and Muichiro nodded in agreement.
“I guess it won’t be that bad,” Muichiro said returning to his food.
Genya hummed in agreement, “he said the butterfly girls were willing to make all of us food, and said that they wanted to decorate the place a bit to make it more festive… to bring something bright to the place even if someone doesn't celebrate holidays…”
“I don't understand that,” Muichiro muttered, “the corps is disbanded… so… why does it matter if others see it?”
“Well… I think… Kanao mentioned the girls were making it a hospital to help those who are sick while not necessarily demon slayers…” Genya shrugged, “I don't know, but I think they just want to do something good for people even after everything.”
“That's nice I guess… did Tanjiro mention when? I didn’t see it on the paper.”
“Oh shit,” Genya fumbled again and took out another piece of paper, “sorry there were two sheets, he just said sometime in the evening or earlier, he and the others have been staying there for a while. They are also getting their respective estates built, I think Tanjiro and Nezuko have been going back and forth between Tomioka’s estate and the butterfly estate…”
“Right he did mention that… are the other idiots just following him around?”
Genya’s face contorted in slight annoyance and sighed, “Probably, I don’t think Inosuke or Zentisu know where to go without Tanjiro or Nezuko…”
“Can’t wait to see you and Inosuke fighting again,” Muichiro muttered and Genya leaned back in his chair running a hand through his mohawk.
“It’s not my fault Inosuke is the one starting the damn fights!” Genya scoffed crossing his arms as Muichiro finished eating.
“You can beat him anyways, right Genya? You’re strong like that aren’t you?” Muichiro said with a small smirk.
Genya’s face flushed a faint pink while Muichiro watched him roll his eyes and scoff again, “Of course I could.”
“If he bothers you too much I’m sure I could easily take care of him for you Gen, I wasn’t a hashira for nothing.”
“Yeah yeah, thanks, let's hope Tanjiro keeps him in check so no one has to fight, if anything he’ll pick a fight with Zenitsu… hopefully, I might actually punch him if he tries to attack me or scream at me.”
“I’m sure you’d win,” Muichiro muttered, “do you have anything you want to do before we go?”
“Not really, you?”
Muichiro shook his head no. With nothing to do, they cleaned up from their small breakfast and took to making some tea and sitting out on the engawa with a warm blanket around them looking at the light snowfall. They leaned against each other, and Muichiro figured out quickly that Genya had fallen half asleep against his shoulder.
He looked up at his boyfriend and rolled his eyes, leaning his head against Genya’s head and seeing strands of his mohawk already falling into his face. Muichiro wasn’t complaining though, and it wasn’t like Genya’s weight on his shoulder was overbearing, rather it was extremely easy to keep him up and the both of them comfortable.
Much to the couple's distaste, Muichiro had to shake his taller boyfriend awake for the both of them to get into more presentable clothes and start making their way to the butterfly estate. It wouldn’t take long being as they're used to longer travels, but they’d like to get there before risking more snow slowing them down.
Genya woke up easily, and the two got ready quickly before walking towards the familiar building with no butterflies in sight. The colder seasons cause the butterflies to hibernate so the home is left without the pops of color flying about. Muichiro finds it a little disappointing as the insects provided a peaceful distraction similar to the way clouds distracted him, but he quickly got over it.
The couple walks up and through the familiar entrance, though now covered in a cold white layer of snow. They welcomed themselves in as they had done many times previously, this time it wasn’t that they had a check-up, or that they were hurt from a mission. This time it was just them to spend time with their friends after all that had happened.
Compared to the mist estate the halls of the butterfly estate have always been louder, whether from the girls rushing around tending to others, or the slayers that had too much energy. Muichiro never spent much time here, especially when he couldn’t remember himself, he never found it important to stick around and the wounds he gained were always small and unimportant.
After he regained them, he nearly spent all of his time there unless it was during training. Genya and Tanjiro stayed there often, but other times he was at the stone estate where Genya resided after healing quicker than most.
While the halls weren’t as loud as they used to be with the corps disbanded, Muichiro and Genya could hear faint shouts in the distance, as well as quick excited movement elsewhere. The smaller butterfly girls had far more energy and excitement when they didn’t have to worry about a new slayer coming in on death's door, and the shouts were no doubt coming from Zenitsu and Inosuke.
Genya could already feel a headache coming on without even seeing the group that claimed him as a friend, but he supposes he also called them friends. Even though the annoyance they bring, Genya would hate to lose them, but when thinking about it, he would have been the only one to die out of the ‘kamaboko squad’ if the battle against upper moon one had gone worse.
He feels Muichiro squeeze his hand and Genya looks down at the male, “You zoned out, I'm not dragging you, come on.”
A smile tugs at his lips and he silently agrees with a nod following after Muichiro leading the two. The younger knew his way towards the sounds far better than he did, and within moments Genya and Muichiro were greeted with the sight of Inosuke physically on top of Zenitsu while Tanjiro tried to pry him off.
Nezuko and Kanao were both standing to the side, silently laughing with each other and watching the events unfold as Zenitsu whined because of Inosuke ‘cutting off his airways.’
“Huh…” Muichiro mutters, “And I thought Nezuko and I were the youngest…”
“Tokito!” Tanjiro’s head snapped up, “and Genya! It’s great to see you both!” he said while struggling with a wild Inosuke in his arms, “sorry about this..!” a small laugh left his mouth as he held Inosuke to him while Zenitsu scrambled out.
“Hey, you two!” Nezuko said waving to them as she watched Zenitsu move towards herself and Kanao to get away from Inosuke, “how have you been?”
Genya looked up at the shorter female, though his voice fell silent as he looked at Inosuke being tamed by Tanjiro for once. “We’ve been fine,” Muichiro commented, “those two can’t stop fighting can they?”
“Nope, not really!” Nezuko said laughing, “Thank you both for coming though, the girls will appreciate the help in brightening up the place! Aoi also said she’d make some hot chocolate or tea for us!”
Muichiro hummed, “sounds nice…”
The group fell into silence before Tanjiro started speaking about the group's goals. While they would be working mostly together in the same areas, Tanjiro had to get Inosuke to promise not to attack anyone, challenge anyone to a fight, yell and anyone, and not break anything no matter how tempting it was. Thankfully Aoi came in with bribery food which Inosuke gladly listened to given it was food.
Genya couldn’t even imagine having as endless of a stomach as Inosuke had, but it worked in their favor knowing Inosuke was likely to listen to Tanjiro and Aoi more with food in the equation. With Inosuke distracted and willing to listen Aoi gave the group a run down.
“The girls have spent hours working on decorations, and we’ve found some old decorations kept away in the closet from previous years. We don’t want to go overboard on the decorations and don’t want anything to be in the way of movement. We might not have slayers coming in every day, but we still have some people that come looking for help and therefore don’t have time to move things out of the way.” Aoi said, her arms crossed against her chest and her head slightly tilted. “Most decorations are hanging, either from the ceiling or just on the walls, we do have some step ladders but Genya you’re likely to do most of the hanging.”
Genya blinked, seeing the group all looking at him now, he expected it sure he’s the tallest after all, but that doesn’t make it any less nerve-wracking. He’s always nervous that he’d break something easily within his hands without meaning to, but Gyomei has helped him relax. He’s able to shoot a gun without shaking, and he’s able to carefully care for a bonsai tree without breaking any leaves even with his large rough, and scared hands.
Muichiro squeezed his hand and Genya just nodded in understanding realizing he hadn’t responded to the makeshift order.
“Great.” Aoi said, “Otherwise, Tanjiro and…” she sighed, “Inosuke. You’ll help with hanging as well, and I’m already assuming Tokito you’ll be helping Genya?”
Muichiro nodded in confirmation, opting to silence as his expression was mostly blank unless looking up at Genya or speaking with Tanjiro. He didn’t have anything against the others, Nezuko, Aoi, and Kanao were the only bearable ones, but put him with Inosuke and Zenitsu and he might treat them the same way he treated the other idiots during hashira training.
“That leaves Kanao, Nezuko, and Zenitsu with the wall decorations we have. I’ll help you three out if I can, but it’s less work than what the others are doing. I have a few things I need to finish up, and I’ll need to start making dinner for everyone as well. If any of you finish early feel free to relax. Me and the girls can finish dinner quickly.” Aoi finished, while the group as a whole nodded in understanding. Minus Inosuke who ate away at the food he’s been given and barely listened to what Aoi said.
“If you need anything me and the girls will be in the kitchen, Kanao… you can take everyone to the decorations yes?” Aoi questioned.
“Yes,” Kanao said simply, her voice spoke louder volumes after the battle, and a genuine smile crossed her face. She spoke more often, and made her own decisions, looking back at the before and after, many things have changed for everyone. Of course, Zenitsu and Insouke haven’t changed too much. But surprisingly Zenitsu has gotten himself more in check when it comes to females, his eyes are always on Nezuko and Tanjiro is always intensely watching the blonde.
On the other hand, while Inosuke is still hyper and loves to take on challenges, he listens more often and doesn’t challenge everyone to sword fights. He’s still the hardest to get control over, but after the final battle he and Kanao seem to have a sort of friendship, he’ll listen to her, and as always he’ll listen to Tanjiro and Aoi. But who doesn’t listen to Tanjiro when the boy’s an endless ray of sunshine?
Aoi disappears down the hallway, and Kanao takes the lead toward a room where the butterfly girls have been storing the decorations they need to put up. The room is empty minus the boxes of items and a bed covered in a sheet, but there's also a table against the wall. On it there are strings of paper snowflakes, Tanjiro carefully picks one up.
“I'm assuming the girls made these?” he questioned, turning to Kanao with a smile.
“Mhm, they… made a bunch of them,” Kanao said, moving toward a box. “The… boxes on the floor should mostly be filled with lights, and some garland, which… will be hung up on the ceiling on the sides of the hallways. There should be enough to cover the most important hallways and the front entrance.”
Genya opened and looked into a box to be greeted by a forest green garland that looked similar to a pine tree. It gave off the faint smell of one too. “The snowflakes the girls made should be hung from the ceiling if you could do that as well…” Kanao commented, Otherwise, we have some wreaths, some stars, and some small white trees we can put onto some tables…”
“Sounds good!” Nezuko said, excitement in her voice as she stood next to Kanao looking through a box. “We can probably also make some more decorations to put up on the walls! I think some more snowflakes or some bows would be nice!”
Kanao nodded, “I’m sure the girls would like to help make more…”
“How about we put up what we have right now, and then after we can help with dinner and make some more decorations as we see fit? Just so we can get as much as we can put up before making more! But I think it’s a great idea!” Tanjiro suggested.
“I'm surprised there aren’t any fake flowers in the decorations,” Genya commented, the others looked over at him. “What?” he questioned confused.
“Nothing! That's also a great idea! I’m sure we can do some more decorating tomorrow as well! Don’t want want to overwhelm ourselves with too much work in one day!”
“Putting up decorations is nothing,” Muichiro commented, now it was his turn to be looked at. He stared at the others blankly and shrugged, “Just saying. Fighting countless demons during one night wasn’t even much work either.”
“That's just because you were a hashira,” Zenitsu commented, “some of us didn’t get that far.”
“We got close though!”
“Might just be you and Kanao, Tanjiro,” Genya commented glancing to the side. Muichiro looked up at him with a slightly concerned expression.
“Okay okay guys let's not argue or anything!” Nezuko interfered, “Let's just enjoy ourselves okay? It doesn’t matter now, even if some of us were used to larger workloads, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the same breaks as everyone else. Alright?” Nezuko questioned as she picked up a box into her arms, “Let's work for a few hours and check on Aoi and the girls to see where they're starting dinner so we can help them. After all their letting us stay here!”
“Of course!” Tanjiro agreed with his sister.
The others were silent but nodded in agreement with the siblings. As everyone grabbed the respective boxes for their jobs and headed off to the different areas to start.
Tanjiro and Insuke decided they’d start decorating the main entrance, and while Tanjiro’s one arm gave him a disadvantage in helping and doing a lot, Inosuke seemed more than willing to do most of the work of hanging stuff up if it meant hearing praise from Tanjiro. However, it didn’t come without some arguing that was quickly dismissed by Tanjiro's way of simply convincing people.
Genya and Muichiro worked together easily, after all, they expected it. Muichiro would give strings of lights or garland to Genya who would hang the items up where the wall and ceiling meet. Muichiro guided his hands to the location and made sure everything was spread out as evenly as possible. The two made incredible work and Muichiro didn’t hesitate to give his boyfriend a moment to rest and put some stuff up himself with the unfortunate help of a step ladder.
No matter, Genya and Muichiro made quick work of their decorations, being the fastest group to decorate and make it look good even if Muichiro was at a disadvantage of being short and missing a hand. While nothing like being a hashira and slaying demons, it had given him a will that caused him to be unable to falter. Genya was there for support. They finished with their boxes and the hallways they were assigned the fastest, leaving them to wait on the others.
Nezuko, Kanao, and Zenitsu weren’t far behind, being that there weren’t as many decorations for them to put up and they didn’t have to worry about evenly spacing lights or garland to make it look nice. They just had to spread out their decorations nicely to not overwhelm a specific area with more decor than another. Which was easier said than done when Nezuko struggled to figure out what looked best as she thought all of it looked good everywhere in the building.
The wall decorating committee finished second, leaving Tanjiro and Inosuke last as the two boys finished decorating and made the entrance to the estate look good. It is a surprise when the rest of the group hears it was Inosuke who did most of the hanging. Zenitsu was the most surprised one.
But before the other groups had finished, and it was just Genya and Muichiro, the two took to the courtyard where they’d looked out at the scenery so many times together. It’s the first time the two of them have seen the place covered in a neat layer of snow, mostly unruined minus the three small snow angels placed farther to the right.
Seems the girls had some fun out here earlier. Genya and Muichiro sit down on the engawa and look out at the frosted sight, the snow covering the trees and the ground. The white snow sparkled in the places where it was untouched. It was a sight unlike the greenery and the butterflies, but both gave the same tranquil feeling.
Genya pressed Muichiro into his side and wrapped an arm around the younger, who complied and cuddled against Genya’s side and partly his chest. They didn’t have to say anything to be happy with the arrangement and the moment of happiness they’ve been able to savor more often.
Muichiro closed his eyes, a quiet sigh of relief leaving his nose as he fell mostly limp into Genya’s side, the male pulled him closer and looked out at the scene with half-lidded eyes. The moment was quiet, and while both were slowly becoming colder, Genya could shrug off the cold. His body ran hot and his whole demonic transformation made him more resistant to the cold air, so he provided the warmth for Muichiro who shivered every so often in his what seemed to be an asleep state.
Genya was almost positive Muichiro wasn’t fully asleep, but he let him be and gave him warmth while they basked in the silence of the cold winter air.
It lasted longer than Genya thought it would. He was ready for Inosuke to burst their bubble at any moment, but rather it had been the girls and Zenitsu quietly joining them for the time being until Inosuke did in fact, ruin their bubble. Tanjiro attempted to quiet Inosuke down so they could join in the silence, but Inosuke didn’t do silence.
Genya thinks he would have been the same if he hadn’t lost his siblings, the younger ones were always so talkative. He missed it. But now he had Inosuke and Zenitsu's endless bickering to fill the silence, or Muichiro’s endless information about the clouds, or when he’d teach Genya how to make certain animals out of paper. While he missed the presence of his family, he had a new one now.
“Well… It was nice while it lasted…” Nezuko trailed off with a faint laugh, her hands combed through her hair, “we should go see if Aoi and the girls need help in the kitchen.”
Nezuko stood from the ground, offering both Kanao and Zenitsu a hand when they got up, even if the two could’ve gotten up on their own. Genya softly nudged Muichiro, who glanced up at him with those teal eyes that shined beautifully. “You can get lost in my eyes later Gen,” Muichiro commented under his breath with a small smile. He pushed himself from Genya’s side and got up, offering his hand to Genya whose face was a rosy shade, his eyes darted away.
Genya was about to take Muichiro’s hand and stand up like the others were before his face felt extremely cold all of a sudden, and whatever hit him fell to the wooden boards with a small plop. He looked to see a now flattened ball of snow on the floorboards with water surrounding it as it had already begun to melt.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see Inosuke standing in the snow of the courtyard, hands on his hips, unaffected by standing in the snow noticeably barefooted and laughing like a maniac. Genya felt frozen when moving his hand and feeling the cold of his cheek. Muichiro looked down at him before looking back at Inosuke with his eyebrows furrowed.
“Inosuke!” Tanjiro shouted, “You can’t just throw a snowball at someone! Are you okay Genya?” Tanjiro questioned, but Genya was already pushing himself off the ground.
Tanjiro as well as the others were all confused, Muichiro could only smile as he watched his boyfriend run from the engawa into the snow and quickly put together a ball just to throw it at Inosuke. Hitting him square in the face. Turns out that having fantastic aim with a gun translates to throwing a snowball.
“Holy shit. Their such idiots.” Zenitsu said, but the moment he did both Inosuke and Genya looked at the blonde no longer at each other as the snow fell off of Inosuke’s face. The two in the snow gathered it into their hands and packed it into a ball, before launching the snowballs directly at Zenitsu while he had no time to react.
He was only able to scream and put his arms up in defense as if it would help the two snowballs hitting against him and already soaking into his clothing, causing him to yell further about how cold it was.
“You deserved that,” Muichiro commented, “and Genya’s not an idiot, that’s Inosuke’s job.”
“I did not deserve that!!!” Zenitsu shouted back, only to see Nezuko covering her mouth from laughing, and Kanao already quietly laughing.
“Oh come on guys… you might get sick!” Tanjiro said, his expression worried to match his tone.
“Monjiro!” Inosuke shouted, another snowball already in hand as he threw it towards the redhead. Only for Tanjiro to dodge it and the snowball to lose speed and fall to the ground.
“Inosuke!” Tanjiro shouted as if he’d yell at him, but it was easy to see Tanjiro’s smile.
“It’s on you idiots!” Zenitsu shouted, his expression gave the impression he would rather not be in the snow, but the blonde jumped into it anyway. His body immediately shivering as he gathered the cold snow into his hand and threw it at Inosuke who dodged and quickly picked up another ball.
Genya’s lips tugged into a smile before shock as his body tensed and he felt the cold snow in his mohawk and the melted water fall down his neck. He turned to see his boyfriend smiling at him and tossing a snowball up and down in his hand.
“Oh. Okay. I see how it is Mui…” Genya trailed off, eyes narrowing at his boyfriend. His tone sounded serious, but Muichiro easily recognized it as playful.
The courtyard erupted into laughing and screaming while snow flew in the air towards other people running around and dodging the snow that was directed at them. What was one snowball thrown by Inosuke at Genya, turned into a fully-fledged snowball fight that led all of them to being involved.
Genya and Muichiro fought a mini battle of their own, which was called a tie figuring as the two both hit each other enough to be called even. But even if their battle was a tie, didn’t mean they’d let their other battles be the same. While Inosuke and Zenitsu fought against each other, Kanao ended up being convinced onto Inosuke’s side to nearly everyone’s surprise, and Nezuko joined in on Zenitsu’s side. The groups fought each other.
Until Genya and Muichiro butted in and attacked both groups simultaneously. Quickly becoming the target of both groups, but neither was able to land any snowballs on the two while the couple landed multiple on each of them. Genya’s aim was too good, and Muichiro’s hashira instincts were extremely hard to avoid. Kanao ended up dodging the most, while Zenitsu got hit with the most.
Zenitsu called it unfair and he quickly called for Tanjiro who was the last to join the fight. On the opposite side. Tanjiro joined in on Genya and Muichiro and the three were unstoppable, no matter the number difference, Genya hit too many shots at them, and Tanjiro and Muichiro were quick to avoid theirs, even when they targeted Genya, his teammates would aid him.
They were victorious in the end as all of them removed themselves from the snow and wiped the remaining flakes from the clothes that were all completely soaked. But it was all in good fun and Kanao went off to get them some towels as well as everyone a fresh change of clothes which all of them were excited to change into. Other than Inosuke, claiming the snow and the cold couldn’t beat him.
He was thankfully convinced by Kanao and Tanjiro, saving all of them from having to deal with a potentially sick ending Inosuke.
“That was fun and all, and thanks for the clothes Kanao! But we should go see if Aoi and the girls need help with the food!” Nezuko suggested, and everyone quickly agreed.
The girls took the lead while Zenitsu followed behind and Tanjiro and Inosuke behind him. Tanjiro turned to Muichiro and Genya, “you both coming?” he asked.
They nodded in unison, Genya stepping forward, just to see Muichiro still standing in his place, this time he was looking back out at the courtyard again. Genya hears Tanjiro’s footsteps moving away, and Genya’s expression becomes confused.
“Are… you coming?” Genya questioned.
“I’ll catch up,” Muichiro said, his head still facing the courtyard with the snow a mess from them all running through it.
“I… are you okay Mui?” Genya questioned he didn’t want to leave Muichiro alone if something was wrong, and something just seemed off. Genya just couldn’t place what.
“Yeah… I’ll catch up Gen,” Muichiro responded, Genya didn’t budge as Muichiro looked back at him, “Seriously, I’m fine, just want to look at the snow a little longer, it reminds me of the clouds.”
Muichiro looks back to the snow and Genya doesn’t want to leave Muichiro alone when something feels off. Especially after their entire group had so much fun acting like children in the snow, it just seemed weird. Genya didn’t want to, but he trusted Muichiro.
“Alright…” Genya trailed off, “catch up then.”
“I will,” Muichiro said, his voice giving off the tone that Muichiro was smiling, but Genya was already turned around and slowly walking in the direction where the rest of the group went.
Nezuko, Kanao, and Zenitsu already speaking with Aoi and the girls as they were preparing dinner and making enough tea for their group. Genya arrives behind Tanjiro and the male looks at him confused, as if asking where Muichiro is without having to say it.
“Said he’d catch up…” Genya responded simply while trailing off, his hand rubbed and held at his arm. Tanjiro seemed a little confused and concerned but he nodded along.
Genya’s paranoid at the suddenness of Muichiro wanting to stay by the courtyard, something seemed off and now he can’t stop thinking about it, and Muichiro has yet to join them in the kitchen. Aoi is nearly done preparing the tea for them, he wonders what distracted Muichiro so much that he decides to stay alone for the moment.
He has to relax himself from overthinking it. Knowing Muichiro is most likely fine, sure it's sudden, but Muichiro likes the silence and his alone time every so often which is something Genya respects. A quiet sigh leaves Genya’s mouth as he’s patted on the arm by Tanjiro giving him an understanding smile.
Muichiro had his eyes closed as he moved himself to sit on the edge of the engawa. He doesn’t touch the snow again, he just watches it falling slowly from the sky. He wasn’t lying to Genya when he said that the snow distracted him and comforted him similar to the clouds that floated along the sky.
The cold nipped at him, and while the new clothes didn’t protect him much from the chill in the air, it was a pleasant grounding reminder as he was lost in his memories. While Muichiro has regained most if not all of his memories other than when he was too little to remember, he often looks back at them. Savoring the happy moments while wishing to forget the bad ones. He doesn’t like storms very much, but other types of weather he likes. Snow is one of the more pleasant types of weather he likes.
He and Yuichiro alongside their dad would play in the snow every so often, but never for too long in the fear of them getting sick. But the times Muichiro remembers playing in the snow it was pleasant. He wished he got to enjoy it more before everything fell downhill their parents died, and Yuichiro became even more serious. Then eventually Muichiro was left alone without memories or a second thought to care about the snow.
During the first winter season with them back he can’t help but remember and wish he had more time to play in the snow like a child. Muichiro’s still just 14, but he doesn’t feel like it, and it haunts him to think that he’s too old to play in the snow when he’s not, he just feels too old.
For a moment the cold is getting to him, but a comfortable warmth is wrapped around his shoulders and a weight is pressed against him as he notices a blanket is now wrapped around him. Muichiro is confused before looking up and seeing Genya having organized the blanket on him and picking up two cups of what Muichiro guesses is warm tea.
Genya sits next to him, without a blanket but Genya isn’t shivering like he is. He offers one of the cups of tea and Muichiro looks at it and carefully takes it in his one hand. Looking at the liquid in the cup, swirling it around, and smelling it while the heat rises off from it into his face.
“You didn’t follow so I brought you tea,” Genya muttered, already taking a small sip of his tea even if it was still freshly hot.
Muichiro’s silent but he’s smiling and leaning his head on his boyfriend's shoulder as he hotels the blanket around him and holds the tea in hand.
“Do… you want to talk about it?” Genya questioned quietly, his purple eyes looking down at Muichiro, “You seemed pretty out of it, and… I guess I was a little worried about why you didn’t want to come with us.”
Muichiro hummed still looking at his tea, not yet drinking it and rather basking in its and Genya’s warmth. “I remembered a few times when Yuichiro and I played in the snow when we were younger before our parents passed.”
Genya nodded silently, clearly listening with open ears to what Muichiro said, and would continue to say, “just wanted to take a moment to think about them, try and keep them in my memory longer. Did you play in the snow with your siblings?”
“Sure, not all the time, and not often. Obviously, Dad was an asshole, so when he was around we couldn’t ask him to let us go play, especially when most of my siblings were too young to be unsupervised by a parent. And our mom was often working, Sanemi would try to look over us so we could mess around but it’s not easy looking after everyone…” Genya trailed off looking into his cup of tea, “Once Dad was gone for good, Mom and Sanemi kept working incredibly hard, leaving me to look after our siblings. It was either mom who was working or Sanemi, and I was helping him. So it wasn’t often we’d be able to all go out.”
Muichiro looks to see the faint sadness in Genya’s eyes, and he realizes how deprived the two of them were of a typical childhood where they could’ve done more childish things and had more experiences. A series of unfortunate events affected both of their lives and even when both of them were still young, it felt like they were already in their twenties.
“I remember our mom managed to make time for all of us to go out in the snow though. She didn’t work and made sure Sanemi wouldn’t work himself so we could all have a snow day.” Genya said with a smile, “It was fun. We had a small snowball fight and we made some weird things in the snow, I don’t remember but they definitely weren’t snowmen.” A laugh left Genya’s mouth and Muichiro couldn’t help but smile fondly at the male.
“Either way we didn’t have a lot of opportunities, but that was by far the best one. We didn’t have many chances until mom turned into a demon and… well… yeah…” Genya’s eyes closed and he took another sip of his tea.
“Do you feel too old to play in the snow Genya?” Muichiro questioned, looking at the mess of snow.
“Yeah, I feel too old to do a lot of things now. Which is shit, when I and even you and the others aren’t that old. Yet we’ve suffered so much and have gone through the pain of our pasts and a battle where it was likely we all could have died. But the snowball fight earlier was a nice reminder.” Genya said.
Muichiro nodded in agreement, “I agree, it was nice… do you think it’s possible to fix what we missed in our childhoods?”
“If we tried hard enough, yeah, I think we could relive some of those experiences the both of us missed while we were too busy killing those damn demons.”
The tea in his hand cooled down enough so that Muichiro could take a sip, the tea felt pleasing down his throat and the warm liquid warmed his body against the cold. His teal eyes looked and met with Genya’s purple eyes. “What do you say we try to fix some of it? Now that we have time we don’t have to worry about that.”
“Yeah I’d like that, I’ve always wanted to go to a festival… we never had the money, what do you say?” Genya questioned, looking at Muichiro.
“Never been, me and my family watched fireworks from a far distance once, but that's about it, a festival sounds nice. Make it a date when we figure out the time of the next festival.”
“Perfect,” Genya said.
The two fell into silence again. Comfortable and peaceful like all of the other times they sat by the snow and looked out at it in each other presence. It was nice to reminisce about the good memories of their pasts rather than the sour ones, and now they had all the time in the world to make new memories.
“Guys! Dinners ready!” a voice shouted. Genya quietly groaned at their moment being ruined again, but his sourness didn’t last long realizing it was Tanjiro announcing to them, “I’ll make sure your plates aren’t eaten by Inosuke! But hurry before the food gets cold!”
Tanjiro disappeared again and Muichiro looked up at Genya with a small smirk, “You really can’t stay mad at him very long can you?”
Genya playfully and softly hit Muichiro’s arm and rolled his eyes, “I don’t understand the effect that guy has on people. I want to be mad at him but it’s impossibly hard to stay mad when he’s just… so nice .” Genya said with a sigh.
Muichiro laughed, “he’s better than the others at least,” he shrugged, “Let's go, I want food, and I’m going to make sure you don’t give half your plate to Inosuke.”
Genya blinked but quickly rolled his eyes again as he helped Muichiro to stand again, Muichiro kept the blanket around him. “It’s not my fault the butterfly girls make so much food I can barely eat any of it…”
“You're eating more than half of it this time,” Muichiro said, taking the lead toward where Tanjiro disappeared, “I’m not even saying you have to eat all of it, I don’t care how long it takes you to eat it all too, just take your time, I’m going to help you get used to eating more food, because you surviving on the bear minimum and demonic flesh is not enough.”
“Fine fine…” Genya trailed off, “thanks.”
Muichiro’s heart warmed, knowing Genya was willing, and Muichiro wasn’t going to hold him to eating too much, knowing his boyfriend would likely get overwhelmed as he typically does with the amount the girls make for food. Either way, it's reassuring Genya is willing and Muichiro just can’t describe how lucky he feels to have met him.
Muichiro can’t even describe or begin to understand what drew him to Genya, but he’s glad whatever did, did.
The two make it to where the others are and sit down where there are open spots for them to eat. Right next to each other of course. The others are already talking amongst themselves, but they see Tanjiro mouth a ‘welcome’ to them. It's small but nice, the two of them look at their food, before looking back at each other and smiling.
Winter’s become one of their favorite seasons to spend together already, there's a warmth in it that doesn’t come from the chill in the air, but rather from their time with each other and the ones they care about.
