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The future was a great thing. Zenitsu dreamed and hoped of marrying some beautiful girl who would always put up with him and take care of him, love him for who he was. They would go on Friday night dates and he would always pay. Seeing a horror movie while his significant other clings onto his arms in fright and him calmly reassuring them that it’s fine. Feasting on buttered popcorn that slides across your tongue smoothly and drinking it down with fizzy soda. Anything but this.
The continuous and obnoxious ticking of the wall clock brought Zenitsu back to the cold harsh reality. His amber eyes drifted towards the sound of ticking and mentally noted that it was 12 p.m. It’s probably been over half an hour he was stuck in Shinobu’s office with a sprained ankle to add on.
He wouldn’t complain being near her pretense (in fact she was a very pretty lady), it was just that she’s kinda of scary.
Zenitsu has first hobbled on over to the nurse’s office with Tanjiro trying to support him with his free hand and on the other holding a pink slip. Shinobu has glanced up from her stacks of papers and smiled, but it was more of a ‘what the fuck happened’ kind of smile. The blonde had wailed and cried, snot dripping from his nose to not let Tanjiro go but with an apologetic grin he sprinted off with Giyuu chasing after him. Apparently it was that Tanjiro had forgotten to take his earrings off, that idiot, and Giyuu had been monitoring the hallways with hawk eyes.
Worried expression relaxed as Zenitsu stared back at Shinobu’s beautiful face. Ah, a beautiful woman like her was all he needed in his life, he sighed.
“So, Agatsuma. Would you mind telling me what happened?” Shinobu had piped up abruptly. She had set her butterfly pen down on top of the papers she was looking at gently, careful not to spill any ink. And moved her attention towards the body part Zenitsu was holding tightly. Her empty eyes bored into Zenitsu’s tear stained eyes as she waited for a response.
“I- I uh tripped over a rock,” he stated bluntly. Well it was half true. The whole reason was because Inosuke, that damn hog, ran off the course so Zenitsu being the responsible one raced after him. Inosuke had them decided that this was a fight that he was declaring and charged towards Zenitsu at full speed, to which he stumbled backwards and misplaced his footing so he tumbled backwards. Getting caught in an embrace within Tanjiro’s warm arms. Yay.
Shinobu raised an eyebrow while Zenitsu’s face flushed recollecting the events that happened today. However she didn’t mention it and instead gave him some bandaid.
“You can stay here if you want but the school forbids teachers from giving students medication so you’re out of luck,” Shinobu vocalized leaving the room. Resting a hand on the doorframe she looked deep in thought before replying with, “If Tanjiro comes back tell him that the ice is in the second cupboard to the left.” And then she left, with her sound slowly following after her.
Zenitsu sat there mouth agape. Shinobu did not just leave a poor student like him beyond before she went frolicking who knows where. And what was that with her telling him where the ice was? Ahh, he was doomed! He was surely left here to rot! He would die without every having a girlfriend! He’d without having his first kiss! Unacceptable! Una-!
“Oh hey Tanjiro,” Zenitsu remarked seeing the familiar boy with the hanafuda earrings but this time out of breath.
“AHHH! TANJIRO WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!! REPENT REPENT, WARN ME BEFORE YOU ARRIVE YOU IDIOT!” he finally yelled. Fingers already in his blonde hair he tugged and threw himself onto the clinic bed with continuous screeches.
“QUIET MONITSU! PONYTAIL DUDE IS GONNA CHASE AFTER US AGAIN!” Inosuke chimed back rather loudly as he jumped on top of Zenitsu, earning a squawk from the older.
“INOSUKE! Don’t do that! You’ll hurt Zenitsu even more!” Tanjiro had finally came in breaking apart the two in which Zenitsu was currently trying to choke the blue haired boy with both hands.
“AARGH!” Inosuke snapped back at the two and dashed out of the room.
They both immediately silenced. The only audible noises in the was the clock ticking periodically and the gentle heartbeat of Tanjiro.
“So uh...” Zenitsu started hoping to break the awkward moment of silence.
“Ah yes! Where’s the ice! You need ice for the pain,” Tanjiro recalled speaking rather hastily. His round carmine eyes darted around the numerous cabinets bolted against the wall and bolted towards them.
Ice. What did Shinobu say about the ice?
“The ice is in the second cabinet to the left,” Zenitsu contributed, remembering what the older woman had said. An audible ‘thanks’ was voiced from Tanjiro that went detected by the blondes cursed ears. He could feel the tips of his ears turn the same shade of red as Tanjiro’s hair but attempted to cover it up by flattening his hair. Patting it smoothly onto his head he carefully studied the scene as Tanjiro took out a bag and poured a generous amount of ice into it.
His hands were sun kissed tan and calloused from all the hard work he would do. He could just see them holding hands, Zenitsu’s pale slender fingers fitting perfectly with the rough scars on the other. Possibly them holding hands and running into the sunset while the sky was full of pink and orange color bursts and they would whisper cute confessions into each other’s ear—
“Zenitsu, will you mind if I stay here for a while,” Tanjiro mumbled his eyes focused on the white tiles of the floor. “I don’t think Tomioka will be very fond of recounting what happened before.”
Nodding briskly, Zenitsu allowed Tanjiro to stay, moving just a bit to give him some space. The paper of the clinic bed shifted under the movements and loud noises of ripping and crinkling filled the silent room.
The clock ticked 1.
Tanjiro moved closer to the blonde.
Zenitsu immediately started panicking, his brain already preparing for shutdown. He could feel the back of his neck sweating bullets and the collar of his uniform was getting uncomfortable too.
Another ticking of the clock occurred.
Tanjiro placed his hand over Zenitsu’s.
Haha, is it hot in this room or is it just you? Zenitsu hazily thought before he felt himself going limp on Tanjiro’s shoulders. The only recollection he had of that moment was his shoulders tensing and the rough calluses on his hand comforting the others smaller hand.
“Say Tanjiro what do you think of the future?” Zenitsu asked the other who planted a kiss on his cheek. This common show of affection was all it took for Zenitsu to want to melt into a puddle of goo but he held on with his calm composure.
“Anything as long as it’s with you,” Tanjiro smiled fondly still holding onto Zenitsu’s hand despite the loud protests. A polished ring adorned his ring finger and he glanced back to look at the shiny gem that winked back at him. A similar ring was found on Zenitsu’s finger but it was covered by the protective hand enclosing his hand in warmth.
Zenitsu beamed looking back at the ocean waters that splashed gently onto the shores, spraying salty sea water onto them. It didn’t matter though, they were in their own paradise, in each other’s hands. Leaning into the taller boy’s body Zenitsu finally relaxed and he closed his eyes. He could hear the close heartbeat of Tanjiro’s hopeful rhythm that sparked joy in Zenitsu’s own soul. It skipped a beat and the steady rhythm then accelerated which meant embarrassment or love. He grinned softly into the fabric of his lover which smelled like home. He was loved.
When Shinobu walked into her office she saw to her surprise (not) two sleeping boys cuddling with each other on the clinic bed, hands entangled with each other, sleeping peacefully. She couldn’t help but suppress a smile as she realized the two students had given her a soft spot in her heart that she didn’t want to show. She tucked a strand of purple hair behind her ear as she gazed at the mess they had made in the room. It was going to be a long day.
“Hey Tanjiro,” Zenitsu whispered, which the addressed only gave a hum for him to continue.
“I love you.”
“I love you more.”