Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Genya wasn't a demanding person. He'd gone from a childhood with a violent father that conditioned him to keep everything to himself to a strict upbringing with Gyoumei that taught him to minimize his desires. Beyond basic needs he had few wants: to keep his plants well and watered, to eradicate demons, to repair his relationship with Sanemi. Presently he wanted to sleep.

He was being prevented from doing so by one Kamado Tanjirou with a nature as sweet as sugar that had (in Genya's opinion) attracted too many flies: first the Kakushi, then the swordsmith, and now some shirtless lunatic wearing a boar's head who'd crashed through the window of all things. Genya considered requesting a different room, but after envisioning Aoi's glower he discarded the idea.

Tanjirou had apologized for the earlier commotion, but he forgot his apology upon Inosuke's arrival and exclaimed, "Genya, did you hear that? We'll be working with the Hashira soon!"

Inosuke spun to the adjacent bed, barked, "Who's there?!" and ripped the sheet off. After a stunned moment Genya sat up angrily while Tanjirou's introductions went ignored. Genya grabbed at the sheet, but the thief jerked it away and taunted, "You beat an Upper Moon? Ha! Prove it. Take it back if you can!" Against Tanjirou's pleas Genya caught a corner of the fabric and tugged viciously while insulting and shoving the provocateur, and Inosuke, delighted that he'd riled someone up, yanked and retaliated while guffawing.

The chaos halted when the door flew open so forcefully that it slammed into the doorstop on the wall before springing back to be caught by a graceful hand. Shinobu regarded them with a joyless smile, and she said with equal parts nectar and venom, "Genya, the Upper Moon literally tore you several new ones. Don't make me add to it."

He pulled at the sheet, which slipped from Inosuke's hands now that he was distracted, tossed it over himself, and tried to become invisible. With the room still, another sound became detectable: the cicadas' cries mingling with Zenitsu's distant but ecstatic shrieks from outside. Shinobu searched for the noise's source, spotted the broken window and scattered glass, and clenched her smile. "Inosuke," she said, and he twitched. "Could we talk in my office?" He grunted and cautiously stepped around her and out the door, but they could hear him breaking into a run in the hall. She exited wordlessly, and although Genya had craved quiet earlier, it now felt suffocating as Sumi entered and tidied the mess. She then secured a board over the open window and left them mired in an uncomfortable silence.

To relieve the tension Tanjirou said cheerfully, "Hopefully Shinobu doesn't murder Inosuke. Speaking of, be careful if he's around when we're eating. He'll steal food, but it's because he doesn't know better. He's rough on the outside, but he's good deep down. Hm, you two are pretty similar!"

He paused at Genya's grumble of "We're nothing alike," and fueled by the reply, Tanjirou continued chattering. Genya seemed to listen as he answered intermittently, but truthfully he only responded because he knew telling him to shut up was useless, and he'd accepted sleep was unviable if Tanjirou was awake because he wouldn't stop talking.

It pleased Tanjirou to have what he believed was a fellow conversationalist. To find someone reasonable and receptive was refreshing because as much as he enjoyed his main party, lengthy discussions were difficult with them: Inosuke grew impatient easily, Zenitsu tended to steer things off topic, and Nezuko was obviously unavailable. They hadn't spoken much in the Swordsmith Village, and now that they were essentially trapped together, Tanjirou sought to make up the lost time. Genya's company so thrilled him that the minutes bled into hours as they cycled through talking, taking breaks, and playing games until their dinner arrived. Nezuko entered and crawled into her bed followed by Zenitsu and Inosuke carrying food trays, but Tanjirou scarcely noticed them because he was engrossed in imparting to Genya the agony of accidentally squashing the earthworms and snails that emerged on rainy days.

Zenitsu was about to ask what in the world were they discussing when Genya said, "But consider when you step in mud, and it sucks the shoe off your foot, and then you stumble and land your socked foot in the mud."

Zenitsu and Inosuke snorted, and Tanjirou faced them. He made introductions between Genya and Zenitsu, and they exchanged glances before Tanjirou asked, "Have you got any petty grievances, Zenitsu?"

"How about when you're crying yourself to sleep, but you've to sit up to breathe because your nose gets stuffy?"

Brows furrowed in concern before they looked expectantly to Inosuke, who removed his mask and stated, "Trying to pee with a boner." Giggling filled the room, but when Zenitsu remembered Nezuko, he demanded that they not cover such topics in her presence. With their dinner finished they dawdled until Zenitsu and Inosuke temporarily left for their nighttime routines. They were both due early tomorrow for work as indicated by Zenitsu's whining, and upon returning they settled into their beds as Genya rose from his.

Tanjirou whispered, "Where're you going?"

"To take a bath and get ready for bed."

"I'll go with you."

This nettled Genya, but when he saw Tanjirou struggling with his broken leg for the dozenth time that day, he sighed in resignation and offered his arm for support. They took their seats in the restroom's bathing area, and as Genya pulled his hair up to tie back, the fluttering muscles in his arms and shoulders caught Tanjirou's attention. He would've continued his observation were it not for Genya catching him staring. "What?"

"This is like when we became friends."

"When we defeated the Upper Moon?"

"Before that."

"When you barged into my room and showed me my tooth?"

"Before that!"

"What… back at Final Selection?"

"That's too far back! Don't you remember the springs?"

"I only knew you as the guy who broke my arm, but you called out my full name, stripped naked, and swam up to my face. We weren't really friends right then."

"We were! I undressed so we'd match, and I admired your physique then just like I'm doing now."

Unsure of how to respond and suddenly self-conscious, Genya mumbled unintelligibly and turned away, and Tanjirou smiled to himself and changed the subject to prevent further torment: "It's nice to bathe after a week. Watch me scrape off a solid layer of grime."

Genya exhaled to compose himself. "Don't stress. They bathed you while you were unconscious."

"Oh no! You must've seen all sorts of ugliness happening with me! Sorry for destroying your eyes!"

"It's fine," Genya laughed. "We've endured worse during work. Seeing the girls manhandle you is nothing."

Tanjirou's mood was restored and maintained as they finished their baths, completed their remaining tasks, and returned to their room. Finally, silence. Or at least it seemed so because he whispered, "I really like talking to you, Genya. We'll talk more tomorrow?" Sure, goodnight, and a yawn concluded the first act.

Tanjirou awoke to a vacant room with some additions: a crutch propped against his nightstand and one of Zenitsu's pulp magazines lying open on Genya's bed. After washing up he considered continuing his letters, but he instead moved to a window to watch people occasionally passing until Genya's voice sounded behind him. He stood in the doorway eating an apple, and Tanjirou greeted him and inquired about his wounds.

"They're fine. Shinobu's saying three or four more days." Genya took the magazine and tossed it onto Zenitsu's nightstand. "He likes that stuff?"

"Yeah he loves love stories."

"Love stories? It's smut."

Tanjirou's face fell, but when the entire apple was consumed, including the core, seeds, and stem, he said with awe, "You ate everything!" At the shrug given in response, he offered a jujube from his bag, and Genya examined the fruit before putting it in his mouth. He crushed the pit between his teeth with a crunch, finished eating, and glanced to Tanjirou, who said, "Your teeth are so strong! How'd you lose a tooth that time?"

"I pulled it out. I pull them out periodically to renew them."

Tanjirou was astonished, and then he took from his bag the tooth in question and proudly declared, "I still have it."

"Fucking trash it! Why'd you keep it?!"

"No! It's my souvenir of you!" He closed his fist around the tooth and protectively cupped his other hand over it when Genya reached for it, and they stared at each other, one gaze defiant and the other appalled, until he opened his hands slightly to sniff the tooth. Genya exclaimed in disgust and lunged forward, but his opponent rolled over to shield his hands with his body. Tanjirou's protests and laughter overpowered Genya's demands and curses, and even when the latter easily flipped him onto his back to try and pry his fist open, Tanjirou just continued shrieking and squirming playfully.

"No roughhousing! Tanjirou, your leg!" The squeaky voice interrupting them was Kiyo, who marched in sternly with a food tray. Tanjirou became keenly aware of Genya's hands on his, but he hid this revelation by withdrawing his hands as casually as he could under the guise of accepting the tray from Kiyo, who cast a withering look backwards before leaving.

With the distraction he pushed the tooth under his pillow and began speaking to make Genya forget his goal, and he snared him for nearly an hour until a lull prompted Genya to rise and say, "I've to finish some stuff in the garden." Tanjirou sank into his bed with poorly concealed disappointment, and Genya hesitated and then asked, "You wanna come along?"

Tanjirou took to sitting on the veranda near Genya as he moved around the garden, and upon completing the chores they took the harvest to the kitchen, where a group including Shinobu surrounded a slayer talking animatedly: "Right when it happened, the lights switched off! Shimizu was there with me and saw!"

The slayer named Shimizu gave his confirmation, and Tanjirou inquired, "What happened? The lights were broken?"

The other two cried, "No! Ghosts!"

The first slayer exclaimed, "Something grabbed my foot while I was sleeping and tugged me half off the bed, and then the lights went out!"

Shinobu said coolly, "It's nothing new. If anything, it's expected since most corps members have horrific histories. Many die here in anguish, and unhappy people often linger after death." The group paled, and Tanjirou was among them. Animals, demons, criminals; he didn't fear them because he could fight them, but an intangible entity that he was powerless against unnerved him. Sensing that she had everyone's attention, Shinobu said ominously, "A while back Aoi was storming to where she heard someone repeatedly slamming a door. When she rounded the corner, she saw it opening and closing with nobody there. She got spooked, and as she turned to leave, something tugged her hair. She screamed to where I thought she was being murdered."

A nervous murmur arose, and Naho shrilled, "The exorcism! Tell about the exorcism!"

"That was just, what, two weeks ago? Himejima was here, and we had a girl who'd been sick awhile. Her roommate said the sick girl's night terrors were awful, and she'd found her sleepwalking and doing other weird things. The roommate confessed to Himejima that she thought the sick girl was possessed or cursed for how crazy she acted. She wanted him to pray for her. When this prayer started, nobody knew about it except for the two in the room, me, and the other butterfly girls. Halfway through, there was screaming next door, so Naho and I rushed over. That adjoining room only had one person, and he was terrified, hiding under the sheets and shouting about something coming out the wall—the wall connecting him to the room with the possessed girl. He refused to name what he saw, and he demanded another room so forcefully that we agreed. And the sick girl? She recovered." The group shuddered, and in an airy voice entirely unfitting for the atmosphere that she'd created, Shinobu chirped, "Well enough of that. Back to work!" and left.

Genya glanced to Tanjirou, saw his anxious expression, and asked, "You alright?"

"The ghost stories that I've heard were always about distant places or things happening to other people, never about a place that we're in."

Genya began leading him back to their room, and he said nonchalantly, "Shinobu tells ghost stories often. You're just unused to them because you're not here as much as me. It's nothing."

"You don't believe in ghosts?"

"I'll believe in them when I see one."

Genya got into his bed to nap, and Tanjirou asked, "You can sleep after hearing all that?!"

"Hell yeah and you should too. You need it more than me."

Tanjirou got settled and willed himself to sleep, and he succeeded until his dreams were disturbed by his sheets moving. It didn't fully rouse him, but he drifted to near consciousness until something pulled his leg and properly woke him. He gasped, kicked, and recoiled to sit up against the headboard. His frantic gaze swept around the room, and he saw he was alone. Anywhere was better than being in a haunted place alone, so he hurriedly reached for his crutch, accidentally toppled it, and leaned down for it. He discovered the "ghost" under his bed: Genya covering his mouth only to burst into laughter upon being caught. Genya continued laughing through the reproaches from Tanjirou, who frowned, collected his crutch, and hobbled from the room.

Tanjirou didn't return until much later after dinner, but instead of speaking he went straight to his letters. After several tense minutes Genya sighed, "Tanjirou, I'm sorry." There was no answer, so he tried again: "I said I'm sorry. I won't do it anymore."

"I heard you." Tanjirou seemed determined to outwardly demonstrate that his letters were of utmost importance, so Genya, not wanting to further agitate him, kept mum for nearly an hour until Tanjirou gathered his things to head to the washroom. He paused at the doorway leading into the dim hallway and sheepishly said, "Genya, come with me."

Once again they bathed side by side, but it was markedly quieter than yesterday. Tanjirou's silence was so unnatural that it became unbearable, so Genya extended the olive branch: "I'm going into the city tomorrow. Wanna come along?"

Tanjirou brightened, but then he wavered. "I'd love to, but I'm unused to cities. I'd hate to inconvenience or embarrass you."

"Don't worry. I'll show you around."

"You're sure? I really don't know anything. I only learned about trains some months ago. Zenitsu nearly went insane dealing with me and Inosuke."

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't want you to come. It's the least that I can do for you tolerating me."

"I don't 'tolerate' you! I want you around. I'll go if you say it's fine though."

Something about Tanjirou's openness and his ability to easily forgive pulled at Genya's heart, but he buried this feeling and said, "I'll wake you at nine then."

"No leg-pulling."

"No guarantees," Genya snickered. Tanjirou began protesting, but Genya shushed him and whispered, "Do you hear that?"

"No more pranks!"

"I'm serious. What is that?" Something was sliding down the hall toward them, and they tensed with dread until suddenly the lights blinked off.

The next seconds were chaos: blind as Justice and screaming like a Fury, Tanjirou instinctively sprang toward his neighbor and unthinkingly threw his arms around Genya, who yelped and reflexively embraced him. After some frightened exclamations the lights turned back on, and Tanjirou stammered, "What just—who—?!"

"I don't know—how—?!" The lights shut off again, which generated another round of screaming and made them tighten their holds on each other. As before, a moment passed until the lights came back on, but this time they looked to the light switch.

On the switch rested a hand attached to an arm reaching in from the doorway, where a half-hidden man stood. The visible half of his face appeared eerily tranquil: he stared vacantly ahead, his mouth hung slack, and he breathed deeply and slowly. In addition to this unsettling man gawking at them, they noticed they were pressed together with nothing between them except the water evaporating from their skin. Each attempted to appear unbothered as he freed himself, but the damage was done: the memory of the sensation lingered. They were flustered into speechlessness, and amidst this ordeal the lights shut off. With an annoyed click of the tongue, Genya said, "Okay you got us. That's enough."

When the lights switched back on, they watched him for a reaction, and he responded by turning the lights out. Tanjirou snapped, "Stop!" but he was ignored. The lights came back on, and their visitor's unfocused gaze and placid face showed no intention of stopping. Tanjirou grew troubled; everything alive had a scent, but this man had absolutely none. Before he could address this, something flew past him toward their tormentor, who dodged out of sight so fluidly that it was like a curtain being withdrawn. The object in question was a water scoop thrown by Genya, and it hit the wall in the hallway noisily and clattered to the ground. Tanjirou chided, "Genya! Don't throw things at people!"

"He deserved it!"

A Kakushi appeared in the doorway and irately motioned at the water scoop. "I can hear you two from around the corner! Are you trying to wake everyone?!"

Tanjirou answered, "There was a man—"

"What man? I would've seen him when I came over."

Genya blurted, "He meant to say cockroach. We saw a cockroach, and we were trying to kill it."

The feeble lie made Tanjirou turn from the Kakushi to face the liar with an incredulous expression, and the Kakushi likewise looked at them with a mixture of exasperation and doubt before sighing, "Upper Moons are fine, but this is how cockroaches are handled? Keep it down."

When he left, they swiftly completed their remaining tasks and then sped back to their room, and as they settled into bed, Tanjirou wondered aloud, "How'd he escape so fast that the Kakushi didn't see him?"

"Don't you dare say what I think you're trying to say. It was just some sleepwalking weirdo."

With things seemingly resolved, peace reigned until Tanjirou spoke again: "Something's wrong though. He had no smell and made no noise. His feet didn't move when he dodged."

"Maybe it was some technique. Forget him."

Not a minute had passed when Nezuko sat up and peered at a corner. She tilted her head, smiled, and softly babbled in the way that she did when she was attempting speech. They looked to the spot, but there was nothing. Tanjirou whispered nervously, "Are you talking to someone?" and she turned toward him and then back to the corner.

She seemed surprised and searched around with her eyes like the source of her interest had vanished. She soon gave up and lay back down, and Genya murmured, "I wonder... Can demons see ghosts?"

This situation was intolerable for Tanjirou, who collected his pillow, leapt onto Genya's bed, and burrowed into his side. Genya hissed, "What're you doing?!"

Tanjirou patted the bed and whispered, "Nezuko, over here. Come here."

"Don't invite her too! It's already crowded! Get off!"

"It's too dangerous to be alone! Let's sleep like this. Don't be shy."

"I'm not being shy!" The flush in Genya's face betrayed him, but he continued, "The bed is too small! Go to yours!"

"It's fine. Let's sleep now. We've to get up on time tomorrow." Tanjirou had closed his eyes and gotten comfortable, so with a defeated sigh Genya lay back and tried not to dwell on the warmth against him and the one developing within him.

Chapter Text

One sun's light roused another, and this second sun inwardly relished the neighboring body crowding him. He remained still to prolong the experience, but Genya awoke and mumbled sarcastically, "This isn't weird at all." Tanjirou hummed in response, but he jolted awake when he saw somebody at the foot of their bed. He relaxed upon recognizing Nezuko, and she smiled. This should've been charming, but something about her expression this morning was too... knowing, like it had more traces of human intelligence than usual. Whatever it was must've unsettled Genya too for he briskly and wordlessly slipped from the bed to start the day. Tanjirou swallowed his unease and followed suit, and after breakfast they set out.

The city teemed with activity, but it didn't hinder them; if anything, people evaded them. Genya knew how others viewed him, and although it was sometimes troublesome being perceived as threatening, it had its benefits, one of which was that they easily carved through the crowds to reach their first stop: an import shop.

The interior was filled with unknown merchandise, labels in various languages, and fragrances that Tanjirou couldn't identify. Cosmetics, food, home goods, clothes, accessories; the panoply was tempered by signs displaying descriptions along with prices. It was a marvelous, exotic world that deserved thorough examination, but a voice called for Genya. A man emerged from behind the counter and approached them while thundering about how the delivery boy had thrown things everywhere and then ran off whining of a stomachache. When he realized Tanjirou was accompanying Genya, he switched to a milder tone to inquire about the new guest.

The shopkeeper was named Kawada and was likable for his witty, exuberant personality. He spoke of how he'd known Genya since said person's childhood, and he mentioned how many of the local businesses knew the Shinazugawa brothers from their past courier work and their willingness to do odd jobs. When it became apparent to Genya that the other two wouldn't stop chattering, he interjected, "Should I get those boxes?"

"I'll help," Tanjirou said, but Kawada dismissed this by pointing out his broken leg. The shopkeeper invited him to browse, but he insisted on receiving a task to where Kawada obliged by retrieving a stack of ads and some scissors for him. Tanjirou became so absorbed in his work that he didn't notice when Genya finished, and his scissors only stopped when something moved into his view.

Genya was offering him the contents of a small, opened box: black cookies with white sandwiched between them. Tanjirou thought they were dark from black sesame seeds, but their scent suggested otherwise. It tasted much different than he'd anticipated, and Genya explained, "It's an Oreo. All the way from the United States."

"It's good! I've never tasted anything like it."

Genya set the open box nearby to encourage him to take more, and then he presented additional treats: crisps from the United Kingdom and marshmallows from France. Tanjirou glowed at being lavished in generosity, but when Genya reached for something else in his bag, the former quickly said, "Don't let me eat all your snacks. I like them, but I'd feel bad if I ate them all."

"It's fine. I got these for you to try." He didn't think his statement was particularly profound, but Tanjirou must've felt otherwise for his expression softened into a heartfelt smile. This Genya contrasted so much with the one whom he first knew as hostile and intimidating, and as he contemplated this with a mouthful of marshmallow, one last gift appeared: a cylinder wrapped in foil that peeled back to uncover white... wheels? A cinnamon fragrance wafted from them, and Tanjirou declared that this was his favorite among all that they'd eaten. The candy's strong, warm flavor swept the previous tastes from his mouth, and Genya told him they were called Life Savers as he handed over two other rolls he'd bought of different flavors.

The ads were returned to Kawada, and after packing up their treats, they wandered through the shop. Tanjirou had a seemingly endless supply of questions regarding their surroundings, and Genya answered him steadily and taught him how to play (and cheat) the pinball table in the corner. As Tanjirou launched another marble, he asked, "Kawada said you're in here often?"

"I'm everywhere. I pick up work in between our corps stuff."

"Don't you get tired?"

"Sometimes but it keeps me busy and gets me paid."

"He said you did these jobs with your brother?"

"Yeah long ago."

Tanjirou sensed an almost imperceptible hint of sadness, but Genya brushed it aside by asking if he wanted lunch after all their snacking. Upon deciding that a light meal would suffice, they went into the streets, and as they walked Genya described different sights and places while Tanjirou observed the variety and views. Cars, urban life, and movie theaters were novel to him, and while he was curious about what a movie was, he kept it to himself to not sidetrack from their goal of lunch.

They reached an opulent hotel, and Genya led him to the back and then knocked on a door that flew open to reveal a girl their age and the aroma of food. Her face shimmered with sweat and annoyance, but she gladdened upon sighting Genya. She greeted them, asked in a syrupy tone if Genya had gotten "it," and proclaimed her gratitude and praise when he withdrew a paper from his pocket. She reached for it, but he jerked it away and said, "Get us lunch first."

Her expression darkened. "You're pressing me during the lunch rush?!"

"Then we'll leave if you're busy."

"No!" she cried desperately before sighing and saying in a strained voice, "Wait."

The door slammed shut, and Tanjirou said sternly, "Will she be okay? What're you withholding from her?"

"She'll be fine. I've got an address that she wants."

This all seemed somewhat morally questionable, but Tanjirou couldn't consider it deeply because she reappeared and pushed two trays at them. Genya led him to the garden, and Tanjirou continuously looked around as they sat at a shaded table. The landscaping was lovely but alien to him for the hotel catered to affluent, international guests. Genya, however, looked reverently over the greenery, commending the plants and designs, and his enthusiasm soon infected Tanjirou, who couldn't distinguish what was more enchanting: the garden or the reaction that it drew from Genya.

They returned their trays after lunch, and before the door closed, Genya caught it and said, "We're coming in." The girl reviled him and tried again to shut the door, but he easily pushed his way in while pulling Tanjirou along with him. Genya handed her the paper to pacify her, and after she pressed it to her chest and nearly collapsed in delight, he took a key from among several others hanging on a board. They exited the kitchen, passed through a sumptuous dining room, and arrived in a lobby shining with wealth beyond anything that Tanjirou could ever envision. Genya asked, "You ever been on an elevator?"

Tanjirou didn't know what an elevator was, much less had he ridden one, so when they entered what he thought was a tiny, packed room, it startled him when the room moved. It ascended slowly, and this allowed him to appreciate how the hotel's splendor extended even into the elevator: the walls were mirrored, there were comfortable seats, and a golden light shone from the ceiling. His stomach fluttered pleasantly from being pressed against Genya, who ended the ride by exiting when nobody else did. Genya knocked at the first door in the hall, and when a voice from within asked who it was, he disregarded it and went to the next door. They continued down the hall like this, and when they reached a door where nobody answered, he used the key that he'd previously taken to unlock a spacious, resplendent room.

The Western furniture was pristine and inviting, the king-size bed was the largest that Tanjirou had ever seen, and a French door led onto a balcony with a grand view of the street below. Tanjirou feared that he might ruin something, but Genya kicked his boots off, went to sit on the bed, and poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher on the nightstand like he'd lived here his whole life. It motivated Tanjirou to remove his shoes and to cautiously approach the bed to settle upon it. Oh... it was nice to say the least. He shed his haori, spotted a foil square embossed with the hotel's logo on each of the two pillows, and unwrapped one to discover chocolate. This he ate and savored, and when he eyed the other chocolate, Genya passed it to him. He politely declined, but Genya assured him he ate them frequently, prompting the question, "From working or staying here?"

"Like I could afford to stay here. Work, yeah, and because my brother and I used to sneak into here."

"Oh! What for?"

"To take the world's best naps, to observe people who live better than us, to steal stuff." Genya nodded toward the toiletries.

"You two sound close."

"We were. Something happened, and now he hates me."

This pained Tanjirou to hear. He couldn't imagine any fault so severe that he'd permanently disown Nezuko, especially when she was his only family. "He's the Wind Hashira, right? I've met him. He's... um..."

"Hotheaded? Coldhearted? Foulmouthed? He's like our dad sometimes. Admittedly I can be too. Sanemi wasn't always like that though. He was selfless, strong, kind. He was more of a father to us than our actual dad."

"Was your dad a difficult person?"

"'Difficult' is an understatement. You asked earlier if I get tired from working. I did more then than I do now. Sanemi, my mom, and I worked constantly because anywhere was better than home and because my dad wasted our money on his vices. When he died, my mom and Sanemi dumped his body in the ditch where cow shit gets drained, and we had hot pot to celebrate." His tirade over, he exhaled and sullenly rubbed the scar on his nose.

Tanjirou waited for an indicator that the story would improve, and when there was none, he asked with tenuous hope, "Your mom's doing better now?"

"She's dead. Everyone's dead. It's only me and Sanemi left, but with how things are, it feels like it's just me." He couldn't conceal the hurt in his voice, and Tanjirou felt the pain like it was his own. Their backgrounds were so similar, yet the gulf between them was vast: his father had been loving, his childhood had been idyllic, and although he too had lost everybody save for one, Nezuko followed him like a shadow. A life where none of that existed would've been unendurable, and unable to summon adequate words, he gingerly embraced Genya, who tensed but timidly returned the hug after a moment and said, "It's whatever. I'm fine. Sorry I dropped all that on you."

"It's not whatever. Don't minimize your feelings, and don't apologize. My family situation is the same as yours, so I want you to tell me these things. Don't bottle everything up."

Genya sighed into his shoulder and mumbled, "I don't wanna weigh you down."

Tanjirou's insides buzzed at being held, and a fragment of him thought, "I wouldn't mind if this is how we spend the rest of the day." He quashed the idea though and instead said, "I like hearing your thoughts, and you'll feel better if you share them. Promise you'll tell me everything."

"I… don't know about that. What if—"

"Promise!" Tanjirou's tone had gone from soothing to assertive, and he gave a threatening squeeze to Genya's torso.

"Fine I promise! But in return promise me you won't let go of Nezuko."

The last part was said with such uncharacteristic tenderness that Tanjirou paused to absorb it before replying, "I won't let either of you go." Déjà vu overcame him unexpectedly, like he'd already made this vow, but he couldn't recall when. Strange memories flickered in his mind, but when he attempted to pin them down, they dissolved into vague phantoms. He released Genya, sat back, and searched his face while murmuring, "You ever feel like we've known each other for a long time?" This earned a questioning look, and he said, "Uh, never mind. Was there something for us to do in here?"

Genya glanced at the bedside clock, remarked about how they still had plenty of time, and began undoing his yukata and the top buttons on his shirt. Their friendship had advanced swiftly, but Tanjirou hadn't anticipated this new breakneck speed that was far beyond friendship. He watched helplessly as Genya… draped his yukata over the headboard, lay down, and closed his eyes. He opened them when Tanjirou didn't budge. "What's wrong? You're red."

"Um! We're sleeping?"

"Yeah. Don't you get sleepy after lunch?"

"You're gonna nap despite not knowing when we'll get to hang out again?!"

"It might be boring because I have work, but you can join me again tomorrow."

"I'd like that." Tanjirou removed his earrings, set them on the nightstand, and sighed contentedly as his head hit the pillow. "Imagine if Shinobu's beds were like this."

"It'd be great. The current beds are fine though. It's only crowded when you cram two people into a one-person bed because somebody's worried about ghosts."

"The crowded feeling is nice. It reminds me of my family."

"Tell me about them. You said our situations are the same, so let's hear it."

Despite how much Tanjirou listened to other people's woes, nobody volunteered to listen to his, so he began haltingly, unaccustomed to talking at length about himself. Something about Genya though made him feel safe, and he went from recounting memories to telling stories he'd never told anyone else to confessing his secret insecurities. He poured so much of his soul out that it manifested as tears, but rather than stopping him or appearing repulsed, Genya gave his full attention. When Tanjirou's sniffling halted, and his speaking became sporadic and drowsy, Genya murmured, "Being conscious sucks, huh? Sleep. You'll feel better afterwards."

A warm breeze, dappled sunlight, and the distant sound of Tanjirou's voice pulled Genya from his nap. The curtains gently billowed, beckoning him toward the opened French door, and he stood, straightened his clothes, and stopped in the doorway when he saw Tanjirou leaning over the balcony railing and calling to someone below. Tanjirou heard footsteps, turned with a smile, and unintentionally stole Genya's breath. The fiery halo of his hair glinting in the white sunshine, his bright countenance that invited trust, and the brilliant afternoon drenched in languor made Genya feel undeserving of such sights, but before he could retreat he was waved over. He combed his fingers through his mane to calm himself as he approached the railing, and he spotted Mitsuri below.

She'd been trying to talk with Tanjirou over the surrounding noise, but he'd paused to motion to someone out of sight. When Genya appeared with tousled hair and undone buttons, it shocked her so much that her words died in her throat, her eyebrows shot up, and her jaw dropped. She jolted back to life when they waved to her, and she pressed her lips into a tight smile as she returned the gesture and then pointed into the distance to indicate that she was leaving. They could see that her eyes were still wide enough that the whites showed on top as she rushed off. Genya asked hesitantly, "Did I... do something wrong? Her face was... never mind. It was probably nothing."

They stood side by side, watching the movements below for some time, and each inwardly felt like their harsh reality had been temporarily replaced by an elysian world where it was just them, the room, and the balcony. Eventually Tanjirou inquired, "What's a movie?"

After tidying up, Genya led him to the theater and bought two tickets, one of which he passed to his companion, who insisted on repaying, only for his insistence to fail when Genya walked around him and into the viewing room. They got seated as the small band at the front picked up their instruments, and Tanjirou, feeling lost, didn't know what to expect, especially when the title card with its foreign letters flickered onto the screen. The presenter then announced in his sonorous voice the film's name, and the experience went from disorienting to fantastic: the crowd quieted as the band played, scenes of novel lands and people came to life, and the story enthralled him. At the conclusion he exclaimed, "That was amazing! Are there other movies?"

"Yeah but the next one won't be for another 15 minutes, and it's a drama rather than an action. You still wanna see it?"

Tanjirou agreed eagerly, and they went to stretch their legs during the intermission. He excused himself and then returned just as Genya was about to buy their tickets. Darting forward, he caught Genya's wrist to stop him, withdrew his own wallet, and made the purchase, and as Genya took his ticket from him, he said, "We won't make it home in time for dinner if we watch this one. You're alright with eating here?"

Tanjirou nodded and took from his pocket a roll of Life Savers that he hadn't yet sampled. He'd tasted the second roll, but he still favored the cinnamon ones and had already eaten a quarter of them. When the third roll's contents were revealed, he found the fragrance medicinal and sharp almost to the point of being unpleasant. Fortunately having an extraordinarily sensitive nose had developed in him a high tolerance for disagreeable odors; additionally he was familiar with foods that smelled odd but were palatable and thus placed a candy in his mouth. What a mistake. Genya watched as the stars left his eyes. Tanjirou grimaced and examined the wrapper, but he couldn't read anything on it. Unable to contain his disgust, he contorted his face, made a displeased noise, and hurried to the trash can to spit the offending item out. Genya couldn't hide his amusement as Tanjirou returned, took a gulp from his water container, and cried, "Ugh what was that?!"

"Licorice. It's my favorite. You don't want it?"

Tanjirou shook his head, handed the roll over, and put a cinnamon Life Saver in his mouth to eliminate the taste. Genya did the same with a licorice one, and when there was a crunch, Tanjirou shuddered. "How can you eat that?"

"It's good to me, but then again I put lots of weird things in my mouth."

"Like what?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Genya smiled enigmatically and deflected any further inquiries by nodding toward the clock. They returned to the viewing room, and Tanjirou became captivated again, this time by The Secret Garden. The positive story and touching finale inspired and uplifted him, but Genya was slouching in his chair, resting his head in one hand, and blinking drowsily. He gave a sleepy smile and asked, "You liked it?"

"I did! You didn't?"

"I've seen it before. It's a little too cutesy for me."

"It had a good message though. The girl was struck by disaster and spent her time fuming at things that she couldn't control, but she learned to instead focus on things that she could control. The grass isn't greener on the other side, Genya; it's greener where you water it."

"You always see the best in things. Aren't you afraid of disappointment?"

"Of course but even if I get hurt, tomorrow is a new day to try again."

"God… you're unbearable sometimes."

Tanjirou beamed. "Not that unbearable since you're spending today and tomorrow with me."

Genya shook his head and sighed, "Okay. Dinner. What do you wanna eat?"

"You're more familiar with the area than I am. You pick."

The sun was beginning to cast the long shadows of evening, and Genya gazed up and down the street until a sly grin appeared. "Wanna see me be an asshole again?"

Chapter Text

When they neared the hotel that they'd napped at, Tanjirou reproved, "You'd better not bully that girl again."

"I wasn't bullying her. She has what we want, and I've got something that she wants." At Genya's knocking, the door cracked open cautiously as the girl peeked out. When she saw them, she tried slamming it shut, but Genya was faster. He shouldered the door open, and she recoiled in surprise. She rapidly recovered though, and she began pushing and berating him while Tanjirou scolded and tugged him from behind. Genya was used to cruel words and even crueler treatment, so all this didn't do much beyond nettle him. The girl stopped to demand Tanjirou's name and his purpose for following Genya, who said, "I thought you might've wanted this, but I guess not." He withdrew a square of folded fabric from his pocket and shook it out. It was a handkerchief with the faintest smear of lipstick on it, and on one of its corners was an embroidered initial. When he dangled it over the stove, she shrieked and charged at him, but he blocked her with his free hand and said, "Trade."

"Fine! God, you're the worst. What'll it be?"

"The strip steak, extra rare. Tanjirou, what do you want?"

"I won't eat if our cook is unwilling!"

As he spoke she stepped toward him to quietly ask, "What's in your mouth?"

"Huh? Oh candy. A Life Saver."

Her eyes glittered, and she inquired more confidently, "Where'd you get it from?"

"Genya got it for me from the import shop."

"Did he?" Her syrupy tone from earlier had resurfaced, and she gleefully grabbed a menu from a nearby counter, passed it to Tanjirou, and said, "Please, Kamado, have something to eat. I owe Genya, so don't stress. I'm Kitano Yuko."

Her shift in demeanor perplexed him, but when he glanced at Genya for an answer, he only received a nod toward the menu. Tanjirou opened it and then wished that he hadn't; there were unknown foods, unfamiliar words, and staggering prices. Yuko stepped aside and pulled Genya along so that she could chat with him while Tanjirou was left mired in indecisiveness. Eventually Genya returned and asked if he'd pick something, and after additional questioning, he decided for Tanjirou: "Yuko! The toro tataki." Tanjirou glanced back into the menu, inwardly panicked at the price, and began whispering that maybe this was too much, but he couldn't finish because she'd hastened away.

When she vanished, Tanjirou said, "Is it too late to change the order?"

"Why? You don't like toro?"

"I've never had it. I never thought I'd get to eat it. It's too expensive. Let's pick something else."

"All the better that you should try it since it's free. The only price that you'll pay is watching Yuko push me around."

She reappeared and led them through the kitchen and out into the dining room. It was much busier than it had been in the afternoon, and a stage occupied by a band and a singer was set at the back. She passed them to the host, who dipped his head at Tanjirou, greeted Genya with familiarity, and guided them up a flight of stairs to a mezzanine, which consisted solely of circular booths, each with a curtain that could be partially drawn shut to shield against prying neighbors. The host led them to their seats, lit a candle on the table, and excused himself. As they settled into this splendid environment, the singer's satiny voice and twinkling notes of distant laughter and chatter floated up to them, and when Tanjirou looked past their table to the ground floor, the grandeur of everything awed and overwhelmed him. He sat back quickly, remarking that he felt out of place, to which Genya assured, "You're fine. Are they giving you looks? You wanna close the curtain for a bit?" Genya drew it as far as it could go, leaving an opening slightly wider than a hand. "Just pretend we're eating at any old restaurant."

"But this isn't any old restaurant! Before we came here I couldn't even imagine something like this. For a country bumpkin like me, I thought I'd live and die without ever entering such a place."

"You're not a bumpkin."

"Genya... I was so far out in the mountains that I only recently learned a global war ended last year."

"Oh... wow..."

Tanjirou said with a defeated laugh, "Exactly! You make me feel so... unsophisticated!"

"Don't say that. There're lots of things that you're good at and know how to do that I don't."

"Maybe but the world's changing so fast that it feels like the things that I know will become forgotten. You watch foreign films, eat international foods, know how to work a gun. How could headbutting and charcoal-making compete against that?"

"Don't undersell your headbutting. I heard you floored Sanemi with it. I don't know about charcoal-making, but your greatest skill will always be valuable."

"What? Headbutting?"

"No," Genya laughed and then said shyly, "What I said earlier about how you always see the best in things. Rich or poor, old or young, country bumpkin or city slicker; your kindness gets everyone." Tanjirou would've never thought their rocky introduction would culminate in Genya sitting with and praising him, and his chest tightened pleasantly until the curtain was yanked back abruptly.

Yuko stood with a determined face like she was aiming to catch them doing something outrageous. She deflated when she saw them just sitting there, and with a sigh she placed Tanjirou's plate before him. She declared proudly, "Bluefin toro tataki marinated in yuzu vinegar, topped with ginger paste, and served with blistered shishito for Kamado," and then she set Genya's plate down and announced, "Beefsteak au poivre, bleeding and breathing, with sautéed mushrooms and haricots verts for the loser." As Genya unrolled his silverware from the napkin, she commanded him to move over, and although he pursed his lips, he obeyed. Meanwhile Tanjirou surveyed his impeccably arranged food, trying to ignore how Genya was now crowding him and how their legs touched. She plopped down, watched them expectantly, and motioned for Tanjirou to eat. The hospitality wasn't extended to his neighbor though for she instead asked, "You'll be here tomorrow?" This he confirmed, and she said, "Come in early to iron your shirt."

Tanjirou asked, "Why's he need to iron his shirt?"

"The Rosewood's hosting a charity auction. The bigwigs, moneybags, and socialites will be here to show off how they're so generous. Better look your best."

"The Rosewood?"

"The very hotel that you're sitting in, silly!"

Tanjirou said to Genya, "That's what you'll be doing? I should probably stay out of your way."

Yuko excitedly interrupted, "You're coming tomorrow too, Kamado?"

"Well I was, but now I'm thinking it's best if I don't."

"Oh no! I don't want you to feel left out! What can you do? Can you cook?"

"I pride myself on it."

"Then you can stick with me. Do you have black trousers like what Genya's wearing? And black dress shoes?"

Tanjirou shook his head slowly and then said, "I know someone my size who does! I'll borrow them from him."

"Are you wearing a white button-up under that?" She pointed at his top, and he nodded. Satisfied, she exclaimed, "You haven't eaten anything!" In between talking and his belief that such exquisite food would be wasted on someone like him, Tanjirou had been watching Genya in horror. Yuko hadn't exaggerated; the steak was seared on the outside but red throughout. The blood pooled in the plate, but Genya was undisturbed as he cut a piece, swiped it through the mixture of juices and sauce, and ate it. She followed Tanjirou's gaze and asked, "Oh? You want steak instead?"

"No it's... Is that meat raw?"

"It's fine. Genya is the last person for you to worry about that. He'll eat anything; he'll eat bones if you let him. He has sharp teeth and will growl and snap at you, but he'll be loyal if you feed him. He's like a dog!" The "dog" shot her a dirty look but continued eating wordlessly, and Tanjirou, who was now more at ease, joined in. The smell of his food indicated that the fish was fresh and of a high caliber and that the marinade and ginger were expertly paired. Each slice had a delicate, white exterior with an even, pink center, and it flaked apart easily in his mouth so that the marinade's flavor shone through. Tanjirou complimented Yuko, and she thanked him profusely before demanding the handkerchief from Genya. She then folded and tucked it into her apron pocket, and her expression softened as she said wholeheartedly, "Thank you. This means everything to me. Tell me if there's anything that you ever want."

"How about dessert?"

"How about you kick rocks?! Ugh, what do you want?"

Genya looked at Tanjirou, who shrugged, so he answered for them both: "The Mont Blanc."

She left, and although it disappointed him when Genya moved to put space between them again, Tanjirou sank into his seat contentedly, gazed down upon the musicians and other diners as he ate, and sighed, "I could get used to this."

"Better not. I can only bribe her so many times."

"Genya... thank you. I don't know how to begin to repay you or if I'll ever be lucky enough to do something like this again. Still, I appreciate you showing me everything."

The candlelight glimmering in his eyes and off his tanned skin made his words feel even warmer, and Genya felt his walls crumbling again. Remaining silent felt inappropriate, but giving an adequate response was even harder; still, he tried: "It's no problem. You owe me nothing. You've given me plenty just by sticking around." His face burned, and Tanjirou worsened the problem by staring intently. Genya continued quietly, "Thanks for being patient. For listening. Nobody's ever listened like you have."

"I made you promise to tell me everything, so I'll always listen. You don't have to constantly be strong or endure everything alone. You can talk to me. I want you to talk to me." His words accomplished the opposite of their goal and instead muted their target. Genya felt unworthy of such kindness, and he reddened as he tried and failed to generate an answer. Tanjirou sensed him struggling and lightly touched him in reassurance, but it only exacerbated Genya's condition. Some invisible thing was beginning to grow in the air between them, but neither risked naming it. Whatever it was, the sound of a throat clearing broke the spell.

Tanjirou jerked his hand back, and Genya flinched. Their heads snapped up to see Yuko holding a plate and gazing into the distance, pretending she hadn't seen anything. She cleared their table and placed the cake, which Genya looked at suspiciously to ask, "Why's it like that?"

She set down two clean spoons and answered innocently, "Like what? It's the Mont Blanc that you ordered," and then she exclaimed, "Enjoy!" and left before any complaints could form.

Genya remarked, "I thought we'd get two normal-sized ones, not one giant one." This didn't matter to Tanjirou, who was instead focused on the decorative heart of chocolate syrup surrounding the dessert. Something about this ruffled him, but to admit to being ruffled meant he was acknowledging that invisible thing in the air. He buried his unease by digging into the unfamiliar treat, and they chipped away at it until only the candied chestnut that'd been at the cake's peak remained, whereupon Genya sat back, sipped his water to indicate that he was done, and said, "You can have it."

"You're sure? We can share."

"It's fine. I've had this before."

"I feel bad for not sharing. Here, I'll split it."

"I'm giving it to you. Just eat it already."

"And I'm saying I'll share it! Now take your half!" Tanjirou savored his portion and then glared at Genya, but when there was no movement, the former warned, "Don't make me feed it to you."

"You wouldn't."

"You think I won't?!" Tanjirou pinched the chestnut half between his index finger and thumb, held it out, and commanded, "Open!"

Genya laughed incredulously, and Tanjirou noticed Yuko was right: he did have sharp canines, not as large or pointed as a demon's but still more than those of an average person. Really his entire mouth appeared marvelous with jasmine-white teeth that were naturally quite even and without any signs of wear. Despite his teeth's immaculate condition, he rarely laughed or smiled widely; the last time that Tanjirou could remember him doing so was during the leg-pulling incident, but they'd been too far apart to see clearly. Now that they were adjacent to each other with an unobstructed view, Tanjirou said, "You've the most beautiful teeth that I've ever seen. May I see the ones in the back?" This was the strangest request that Genya had ever received, and not knowing what else to do, he looked away awkwardly and opened his mouth. Something quickly got slipped in, and with disbelief he realized it was the chestnut; he'd fallen for the ruse.

With Tanjirou appeased they spent the evening watching the whirl of activity on the ground floor and listening to the performance and any conversational fragments that they could catch. The booth had become a cocoon, a fleeting sanctuary away from the storm of their usual lives, and they alternated between engrossing discussions and comfortable silences to conceal the secret wish that there was more to come. More time, more touches, more not-so-subtle glances; the longing was palpable, but the courage to grasp it didn't exist.

All nights come to an end though, and Tanjirou smarted with disappointment when Genya looked at the clock and stood. They left the sparkling realm of the Rosewood, and the breeze sighed heavily as if pained by the anticipation of them returning to the ordinary. The night, however, rejected sorrow by presenting them with the city's glittering lights, humming streets, and nocturnal souls. As they walked they were gradually enveloped by a pulse, a belief that everything would become right if only they could remain together awhile longer. They approached a building, and Genya said, "I've business inside. I'll be right back."

Tanjirou leaned against the wall next to the door to wait, and his daydreams and recollections so consumed him that he barely noticed an old woman until she was next to him and saying, "Young man, your skin is gorgeous. Do you do anything special for it?"

"Nothing beyond regular washing."

"What if I told you it could be even more radiant? That in addition to smoother skin, you could also have a sharper memory, stronger bones, and increased energy? I'm selling vitamins that do all that and more, dear, and here's a free sample to take home with you if you don't believe me. You can chew them. They're tasty." There was that feeling of déjà vu again because he was certain that they'd met before and that she was trustworthy.

He reached to take the packet, but a hand caught his wrist and dragged him away. He only realized it was Genya when he heard him snap, "No thanks."

"Genya! It was free. You shouldn't have been rude to her."

"Don't be naïve. What if she poisoned you or got you hooked on something?"

"I guess," Tanjirou murmured, and he tried again to remember where he'd first seen her. That train of thought exited the station quickly though as he returned to the rosy bubble that he shared with Genya. The city was wondrous to behold at night, but as they exited it nature strove to prove that she wouldn't be outdone. Ivory moonlight replaced the streetlights' amber glow, and the people and buildings gave way to greenery swaying demurely against the wind's caresses. The darkness, normally a source of dread, saturated them with a feeling of freedom, and they spoke and laughed with more abandon from only having each other as an audience. Halfway along this heavenly walk, Tanjirou requested to rest, and he sat on a tree stump. The truth was that he wasn't ready to go home. Sure there was tomorrow, but to go back meant this day was over; one less day of unfettered joy, of idle afternoons tapering into velvet nights, of the illusion of a carefree life. He wasn't used to having someone who listened to him so completely and who lavished him in time and gifts, so although he knew he was dawdling, he reasoned that he deserved respite. Starlight enfolded them as he sat watching Genya observing the fireflies, and then over the sound of the crickets' serenades, he said on a whim, "Genya, carry me."

The Genya who shoulder-checked him in the hallway months ago would've spurned him, but this Genya sighed, kneeled, and offered his back like they'd done this countless times before. And maybe they had if the memories dancing through Tanjirou's mind were any indicator, but he barely noticed them because he was too enraptured. Realizing that this was an ideal opportunity to memorize Genya's scent, he sniffed lightly to discern the notes: gun smoke for obvious reasons; an earthy, green smell that he assumed was a remnant of his Blood Demon Art; and the rich sweetness of... sandalwood? He wondered faintly where the sandalwood came from, but it was hard to concentrate on that when he was drowning in the bliss of being held.

Nighttime has an inimitable power to inspire secrecy and passion that's lost with daylight, and this is doubly true for artificial lights; thus the Butterfly Estate's luminosity felt almost harsh upon their return. Genya lowered him to the ground and handed him his crutch, and when they entered their room, Kanao was painting Nezuko's nails. Upon seeing them Kanao capped the bottle and exited wordlessly, and it became apparent why when not a minute later, Aoi appeared and thundered, "Tanjirou, where've you been?! You're supposed to be on bed rest! You want your leg to stay broken forever?!"

Tanjirou knew she was right, but for someone like him who was vivacious and sociable, a prescription of being still and alone was akin to torture. Regardless he apologized because he didn't feel like quarreling, and seemingly pacified, she left. When she was far enough away, Genya whispered, "What about tomorrow?"

"I'll borrow Zenitsu's clothes."

Genya snickered, "Look at the delinquent sneaking out. You'd better not get caught or else we're both screwed."

Zenitsu loved fantasizing about lying in the lap of luxury, so he was prepared with suitable clothes should the opportunity ever arise. It was these clothes that Tanjirou sought as he pulled Zenitsu's suitcase from beneath the bed. Although it was risky to search the belongings of someone with… risqué interests, minimal digging was involved since the trousers and shoes were easily spotted, and he faced a corner to try them on. He barely outweighed Zenitsu, and it translated to the fabric around his thighs being slightly snug but not unbearable. The shoe fit perfectly on his unbroken side, and after changing back he turned around to proclaim that he was set. There was only Nezuko fanning her hands to dry her nails, and when he asked about Genya, she pointed out the door. Then to his confusion she checked the hallway, quietly shut the door, and excitedly shifted on her feet. Brimming with thoughts but incapable of materializing them, she clasped her hand over his, pointed to their joined hands, and said, "Genya?"

"You… wanna hold Genya's hand? Okay I'll tell him. I'm sure that—" She interrupted with a shake of her head and pressed her finger against him. "Oh you wanna hold my hand? Of course. Anytime—"

She shook her head more vigorously and looked around to find something to convey her meaning, and then she spotted Genya's yukata lying on his bed. She moved toward her brother to tug his haori off, laid it next to the yukata, and pushed them together. When he stared back blankly, she exclaimed, "Genya and Onii-chan…!" but could go no further because the words weren't available to her.

"What about us?"

She searched around with increased agitation and then held up Zenitsu's pulp magazine, pointing to the couple on the cover. He remained clueless, and the exchange continued fruitlessly until she was quite frustrated. Both siblings started at the sound of the door opening, and when Genya appeared in pajamas, Tanjirou cried with dismay, "You got ready without me?! What if I see a ghost?!"

"There're no ghosts. There're other people in there right now, so you won't be alone if you hurry."

"What if those people were ghosts?"

Genya gave him a sidelong look and went to his bed to organize his belongings. Tanjirou walked to the bathroom with trepidation and then felt solaced to see the light on, but the peace was short-lived. Crashing and shouting erupted from within, and two men sprinted out in nothing but towels. When they rounded the corner, the bathroom light shut off, and Tanjirou's instincts screamed to flee. Running away was always the last option in everything that he did though, so he steeled himself and marched in against his better judgment. Ghosts couldn't be scarier than Upper Moons and Muzan, right?!

Incorrect. It was the fastest that he'd ever washed, brushed, and everything in between, and just as he thought he'd escape unharmed, he saw his reflection blink and smirk at him. With his blood chilled he hurried back to his room, where he found Genya comfortably settled and Nezuko collecting some of her things. Tanjirou asked her, "What's happening?" and she grinned, pointed into the hallway, and left. When Genya questioned her whereabouts, Tanjirou explained, "I think she's going to another room," as he placed his pillow next to Genya, lifted the sheets, and crawled in next to him.

Several silent seconds passed until Genya said flatly, "What're you doing?"

"Hm? I'm trying to sleep. What's up?"

"'What's up?!' You're in my bed again! Go to yours!"

"No! I saw a ghost! In the bathroom mirror—"

"Not this shit again. If you don't get over there right now—"

The door rattled in its frame suddenly, and Tanjirou yelped and wrapped himself around his neighbor. "Maybe it followed me."

Genya pried him off, opened the door to check the hallway, and returned to bed to sigh, "See? Nobody's there. It's just us."

After Genya closed his eyes, Tanjirou smiled. "Yeah it's just us."

Chapter Text

This was a new feeling for Tanjirou: being the little spoon with the weight of Genya's arm on his waist. Tanjirou was usually the one holding others, so to instead be held made him feel pampered and cherished. Admittedly this was unusual when they were supposedly just friends, but he shoved that negativity away, mentally thanked Nezuko for giving them privacy, and thought, "Heaven is real." Apparently hell is also real because there came a familiar snuffle.

Inosuke sat on his own bed with his mask in his lap as he alternated combing his hair and his mask's bristles. When Tanjirou heard Zenitsu's voice outside, he realized they must've returned that morning and that Inosuke had been waiting since for Genya to wake, intending to provoke him. Tanjirou's stomach twisted uncomfortably. Had Zenitsu also seen them like this? Additionally there was the problem of the two hotheads; sneaking out would be nearly impossible if they made a commotion, but it was unlikely that they wouldn't fight. He tried to think of how to free himself without waking Genya, but it was too late; Inosuke felt Tanjirou watching him and turned eagerly. He set his comb down, and despite how Tanjirou glowered at him, he tossed his pillow so that it landed on Genya's face. From beneath the pillow came an irritated sigh, and Tanjirou peeked over his shoulder as Genya's arm slid off his waist to pull the offending object from himself. Genya snapped upright and viciously threw the pillow back, and the instigator caught it and jeered, "I was wondering how much longer you were gonna lie there hugging Tamago like a big baby."

"You don't want it with me, pig."

"Yeah I do. Get up! Or would you rather stay there snuggling Totoro all day?!"

Before Genya could retaliate he caught a warning look from Tanjirou, so in a barely restrained voice, he said, "You don't like me snuggling Tanjirou? Why? You envy him?"

The nerve of this punk… Inosuke inwardly swore that he'd smother Genya in his sleep. "Why would I envy him?! What're you even asking?!"

"Don't play hard to get. There's space for you too." Genya motioned to the unoccupied side of his bed, and Inosuke became so discomfited that he lowered his fists, put on his mask, and left while muttering petulantly. When Inosuke was out of earshot, Genya said to Tanjirou, "And you, Totoro, do something about the circus that you run with. What's the plan?" They aimed to depart individually to reduce suspicion and then meet at the tree stump from the night prior, and Genya, being the first to go, took his bag and a pair of black boots in place of his white ones. Then came Tanjirou, who after getting ready and dressed, opened a window, only to nearly die of fright when Nezuko bounded into the room, gasped happily, and ran up to him to motion her hands over his clothes. She watched him trying to climb out with his broken leg, aided him, and waved goodbye as she handed him his belongings. He responded with gratitude, and after a short walk he joined with Genya, who asked him what he wanted for breakfast, only for Tanjirou to return the choice to him. "Hm... You ever had crepes?"

Tanjirou didn't know what to expect as they approached the creperie, but he trusted that like everything else they'd eaten (barring the licorice Life Saver), this too would be delicious. After selecting one from the menu and handing Genya some money, a towering upright cone was delivered to him, and he was again thrilled by new food. "You know where everything tasty is. You're bad for the wallet and waistline."

"Yeah, food is my main money sink, but it's fun trying new things. Eating is essential, so might as well enjoy it. Himejima gets onto me about it though. 'There's food at home,' he'll say. I mean, he's right, and it'd save me money but oh well."

"You didn't tell me you live with Himejima. You must see the other Hashira often."

"Yeah they come over sometimes, but I always go somewhere else or hide in my room."

"Why? It's not every day that you get to see them."

"I don't wanna ruin Himejima's image. What would they say if they discovered the strongest Hashira had a Breathless student?"

"That doesn't matter! No other slayer can eat demons. You should be proud of your unique skill."

"Unique doesn't mean good. Look at Hashibira. He's the most unique among us."

Tanjirou laughed, "Okay but I still think you two would get along if you gave him a chance. None of the other Hashira realize you're there?"

"Shinobu knows because she's known Himejima since before he took me in, and Tokitou knows because he barged into my room. He's wild if you talk to him." It fascinated Tanjirou to hear about the Hashira outside of work, and Genya told him as much as he could recall until they finished breakfast, whereupon Genya led him toward the city's canal.

They walked alongside the waterway, observing the boats carrying their goods until they reached a large bridge. On the opposite side, crowds bustled under enormous canopies, and halfway across the bridge Tanjirou climbed onto the handrails to marvel at the view. "I've never seen so much water before!"

"You've never seen a lake or the ocean?"

"Small lakes, yes, but never the ocean."

"Then we'll go one day."

Tanjirou's eyes gleamed from the sunlight twinkling against the water. "Promise?"

"It's a promise."

When he descended from the handrails, he heard a jingle in his haori pocket, and mystified, he reached in and found money. He didn't normally keep money there, but then he realized it was the amount that he'd handed over for crepes; Genya had paid for them both and snuck Tanjirou's money back into his pocket. Tanjirou tried to duplicate this to return the money, but his virtues made him a miserable pickpocket to where he was caught every time. They playfully bickered about this until they were on the opposite shore amidst a massive marketplace that was a sprawling blur of activity: innumerable street foods, a farmer's market displaying its mouthwatering colors, and sundries ranging from tawdry trinkets to exquisite wares.

Occasionally Tanjirou heard the distant sound of a bell and cheering that'd accompany it, and when he questioned it, Genya guided him to an area full of games, some of which Tanjirou knew, some of which were unfamiliar; the one that they'd stopped at fell into the latter category. They watched from afar as a line of people took turns striking a platform with a hammer, trying to send a puck up a tower to meet a bell at the top. Although Tanjirou was naïve, he wasn't incompetent; demon slaying had made him skilled in following and predicting movements. On the rare chance that someone nearly rang the bell, he could see how the puck slowed unnaturally when it should've continued its journey, and he remarked, "It's rigged."

"No problem for you."

"It'd be easy for you too. Let's both go."

"I can't. The guy running it knows me, and he won't let me. Pay me back for the crepes by winning. Pretend you're hitting Muzan's face."

"Don't say that. I'll go crazy and destroy everything if I pretend it's Muzan."

Genya alerted him to how the operator prevented discouragement by sporadically letting players win, and this was usually when it was a slighter person so that it'd seem like victory was effortless. As predicted the operator glanced at Tanjirou's modest stature and broken leg, assumed he was harmless, and discreetly removed the rig with a mix of pity and contempt. Tanjirou adjusted his grip to accommodate for how the hammer was heavier than his sword and for how he had to balance on one leg, but it didn't take half his strength to ring the bell. The crowd whooped, and the operator loudly challenged, "Will you take your prize now, or will you aim for more by trying for two in a row? You'll get nothing if you fail the second time!" The spectators spurred Tanjirou on, and he accepted and paid. He saw the subtle nod from Genya, and he knew then that the rig was back on.

Maybe it was the operator's disdain or his supercilious body language that was reminiscent of Muzan; maybe Tanjirou had an overactive imagination, or he was motivated by everyone. Whatever it was, Genya saw him exhale to focus his Breath, saw his eyes flash with fire and fury, and before he knew it the puck had torn through the rig and flown to the top. Instead of a resounding "ding" though, a metallic "thunk" sounded, and the crowd murmured in confusion because everything had happened too quickly. Where was the puck? What was wrong with the bell? Someone cried, "It's in the bell!" Tanjirou had struck the platform so violently that it had dented while the puck had flown at such a speed that it had lodged into the now warped bell, and as this dawned on his audience, they surged with exclamations. Their enthusiasm delighted him, and this in turn bothered the operator, who grudgingly unlocked the prize cabinet. Tanjirou briefly considered a giant plushy for Nezuko, but then he thought about having to carry it around. He instead selected something smaller: a voucher for two entrees at any of the marketplace's restaurants.

As he moved through the crowd, they clapped him on the back and praised him so that by the time he exited, he was nearly bursting with exhilaration. Upon seeing Genya's grin Tanjirou's euphoria overflowed, and an irreplaceable instant was born; obligations and pretenses temporarily perished, and the invisible thing between them crystallized into a strand of hope. Hope for these joyous, pristine moments to never stop happening; hope for someone to be brave enough to say something. Tanjirou opted for a safer choice of words: "I did like you said! I pretended it was Muzan's face, and I won us lunch!"

Genya laughed, "You're insane! Muzan's fucked if he sees you."

They wandered the marketplace in high spirits until Tanjirou saw a cook repeatedly throwing a dough disk. "What's that? Food?"

"Yeah it's called pizza. You wanna try pizza for lunch?" They ordered two: one with white sauce and one with traditional tomato sauce, and they swapped them so that they each had a half. This food was extremely bizarre to Tanjirou; it was like a more organized okonomiyaki, but he saw that Genya and the other diners ate it with their hands. Imitating them, he discovered it tasted fantastic, and when they finished, Genya asked, "You ever been in a car?" Tanjirou shook his head, and Genya continued, "Do you get motion sick?"

"I was fine on the train. Are we going for a car ride?"

"Yeah I'm gonna squeeze in a job before we head over to the Rosewood." They left the bustling marketplace behind and went to the import shop, where Kawada explained what was needed as he passed Genya a key. Behind the shop was a car loaded with goods, and Genya helped Tanjirou in before moving back and forth between the front of the car and its interior to get it started. Tanjirou thought it was all horribly complicated, and he became slightly unnerved by how the car differed from the train in that it wasn't confined to a track and instead moved with the driver's will. He adjusted though and fell into a serene spell of chatting and observing the changing scenery. At one point Genya was laughing about something, and he ran his hand through his hair only for the wind to tousle it again. His smile rivaled the afternoon sun's brilliance, and he looked wild and carefree such that Tanjirou's admiration became bittersweet when he felt the transience of the moment and realized he'd miss it once it passed. It was reckless to dream of forever, but something about Genya compelled Tanjirou to allow the strand of hope to thicken.

Upon their arrival Genya helped him out and then went to a door to knock. Out bloomed a bouquet of a woman; perfume, pearls, makeup, and curls. She patted him and said the boss would be right out, and Tanjirou stifled a laugh as Genya stiffly returned her greeting. She spotted Tanjirou with his boyish face and broken leg, and her expression melted like she was seeing a wounded puppy as she cooed, "Who's this darling friend of yours? Why haven't you brought him around before?"

"This is Tanjirou. We've only recently gotten close. Could he sit inside awhile? I've gotta unload some boxes."

She urged Tanjirou in, and he found himself inside a drugstore. She led him to a dining counter; dabbed his face with a cool, damp handkerchief; and asked if he was thirsty, hungry, too hot, in pain, or wanting anything. A passing man said, "Baby, you'll scare him off," as he headed in Genya's direction, but she pouted, continued to coddle Tanjirou, and asked him what flavors he liked. He wasn't sure what she meant, but he thought of the Life Savers and said cinnamon. She invited him to enjoy the reading material on the shelves before she disappeared into the kitchen, and with no other choice than to wait for Genya, he selected a manga.

He was only a few pages in when something got placed by him: a vanilla-cinnamon sundae piled high with whipped cream and cookie crumbs, drizzled with caramel ribbons, and topped with a maraschino cherry. He would've stopped her if he'd known she was assembling this, but now it'd be rude to decline it. Still full from lunch, unsure of what this thing was, and wishing that Genya would arrive with clarification, Tanjirou took a spoon hesitantly. Eventually the subject of his wishes walked by with an armful of boxes, slowed when he saw the dessert, and whispered, "Give me some." Tanjirou held out a spoonful, and Genya took it into his mouth and fled before the woman could see him. What a terrible feeling, to laze around reading manga and eating sweets while Genya worked. Tanjirou compensated for it by sneaking him bites of sundae whenever he passed. Only when the woman went upstairs did Genya dare to stop by him, and as he stood trying to shift a hefty box into a comfortable carrying position, Tanjirou fed him the remainder of the sundae. Genya noticed the cherry sitting at the bottom of the glass and asked, "You don't want it?"

Tanjirou shook his head and held up the fruit by the stem, and Genya caught it in his mouth. When Tanjirou tugged the stem to detach it, the mouth followed his hand to prevent him from doing so, moved up to bite down on the stem mere millimeters away from his fingers, and said, "Let go," through its teeth. There was something bewitching about how those lips had nearly grazed him and how he'd felt the warmth of Genya's breath, and Tanjirou was distracted with trying to calm his pulse so that he barely heard Genya explaining, "The stem tastes good too."

The work was completed, Genya was paid, and they began the trip back. Tanjirou's heart was growing heavy with desire for things that he knew would never happen, and he laid his head back and stared wordlessly out the window during the drive. Tanjirou was honest whether he was speaking or not, so Genya detected something off. "What's wrong?"

Lying wasn't possible, so an alternative truth was given: "I don't wanna go home."

Genya admonished lightly, "You can't just dump Nezuko on your friends. We've still got the rest of the day."

"The rest of the day isn't enough."

After some consideration Genya said carefully, "You want me to keep driving and take us away from our problems? Leave everything behind until there's only us?" Tanjirou couldn't tell if this was meant seriously, and he turned to the driver, who saw his expression and sighed, "No, Tanjirou. I was kidding." The passenger's only reply was to return to facing forward, and Genya sensed his discontent and said gently, "How about this: when Nezuko recovers and you beat Muzan, we'll take a long vacation. You can invite anyone. We'll go anywhere you want and do whatever makes you happy."

There was a pause followed by a cautious question: "Can it be just us?"

"However you want it."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Tanjirou glowed with renewed buoyancy. Genya had said "when" and not "if," and if Genya believed in him, then he'd also have faith in wherever life took them. "You've lots of promises to keep."

"Yeah? And you'd better stomp Muzan if you wanna see any of them happening."

Tanjirou's insides buzzed with optimism as Genya helped him from the car, and as they waited inside the import shop for Kawada to count out some money, the sun shone through a window and cast a rectangle of light upon Genya as if to echo Tanjirou's sentiments toward him. A shadow blemished the sunshine, and a voice chirped, "Genya!"

Chapter Text

The voice belonged to Kanao, who was visiting the import shop to buy gifts for the other Butterfly girls, and she smiled wanly as the boys tensed from the dread of having been caught outside. Genya stepped forward pleadingly, but before he could speak, she said, "I won't tell if you pay for me." For her to verbalize her wants and be capable of reading Genya's intentions astounded Tanjirou, but none of his comments got through because the other two seemed to have formed an invisible barricade within which she spoke with Genya in a decreasing volume that compelled him to move nearer to hear. The strand of hope that'd been snaking through Tanjirou tautened when he saw their closeness, and instances that he once considered inconsequential suddenly had weight. How'd he never discern before that Kanao was the only girl who didn't make Genya shy? How could nobody make her laugh, yet she brightened whenever she encountered Genya, who was drawing a giggle from her now with something he said? And then to top it all off, Tanjirou noticed the notes in her perfume: tangerine, oud, and… sandalwood. Ah, so that was why Genya had the scent of sandalwood. The strand of hope snapped; Tanjirou excused himself and said he'd wait outside, but nobody heard him.

On a bench against the shop's side, Tanjirou boiled with indignation. Had their time together and their exchange of secrets meant nothing?! His fire was soon snuffed when he realized Kanao was ideal for Genya; she brought tranquility to the tempest of his life, and they could commiserate with each other on originating from troubled families and being students of Hashira. Why'd Tanjirou think he'd been granted the special privilege of monopolizing Genya, that he alone got to see him for who he truly was? Genya knew many things he didn't, stood tall despite the looks that he got, was intimidating at first glance but unassuming and diligent at the core; he'd undoubtedly have admirers. This shouldn't have been upsetting; they were just friends after all. Regardless Tanjirou must've been unable to conceal his frustration because a hand rubbed his shoulder, and he looked up to see the old woman who'd been selling vitamins yesterday. She cooed, "There, there," and embraced him, and he was unexpectedly reminded of his late mother.

The problem with crying is that it makes a person remember everything that needs to be cried about, but the more tears are shed, the more sorrows come to mind; this positive feedback loop is hard to stop once it starts. Such was the case for Tanjirou, who had his face buried in his handkerchief while this mysterious woman held him. As if to respect his unhappiness, the city had grown eerily quiet even though it was bright out: the birds ceased their songs, no cars were heard, and every voice vanished. He was too occupied to care, and when he noticed he couldn't smell her, he assumed it was because his nose was stuffy.

It felt like he cried for quite a while, and this made him wonder what Genya and Kanao were doing, the thought of which further perturbed him. When he finally calmed, he was ashamed and began apologizing, but the woman stopped him by taking her handkerchief and dousing it with some water to clean his face. The gesture was so imbued with maternal affection that he nearly lost control again, but she gently hushed him until he was fully composed with the redness gone from his features, whereupon she spoke: "Does it feel like nothing good's coming your way? They say good things come to those who wait, but why wait for them to come to you when you could go to them? I know you've been waiting very long now, Tanjirou." He knew he'd met her somewhere before! How else would she know his name? But as for hers… She didn't seem to hear him asking for her name over the sound of her rummaging in her bag, and after she produced the vitamin sample from yesterday, she said, "Remember: behind the clouds the sun still shines. You can always try again if it doesn't work out this time." She handed him the packet and waved goodbye, and as she left, the city's sounds gradually returned.

It unsettled him, but it also restored him to rationality. He and Genya were still friends, and they'd made memories together. None of that dissipated just because Kanao had entered the picture, and despite how it smarted he resolved to accept it. He heard Genya calling for him from the shop's front, and then Genya rounded the corner, saw Tanjirou, and breathlessly said they needed to hurry because they were slightly behind schedule. Tanjirou barely registered him because he was absorbed by something distressing: in the corner of Genya's mouth was a fleck of pink lipstick. It was distractedly rubbed away, but the stain on their bond remained.

When they reached the Rosewood, Yuko rebuked Genya for not arriving earlier like she'd commanded, but she expressed delight at Tanjirou's presence. She led them to a room adjacent to the kitchen and handed them each a charcoal iron, but their tardiness meant there were only enough hot coals remaining for one iron. Genya allowed Tanjirou to have them and then went to retrieve more, and as Yuko flitted in and out to chat with the latter in between her work, her contagious energy restored him to his usual self.

Tanjirou the domestic prodigy ironed his shirt, put on an undershirt beneath his button-up, and folded his corps top and haori to set aside all in record time. To occupy himself while he waited for directions from Yuko, he loitered at the edge of the kitchen, observing a woman working alone. A sniff from where he stood told him that her simmering pot contained sugar, vanilla, and chestnuts, and he recognized it as the scent of the Mont Blanc that he'd eaten yesterday. Wanting the recipe for himself, he inhaled again to distinguish the ingredients' ratios, and he watched closely as she prepared the mixture for the base. He thought, "It's pretty easy. I just need the baking temperature and time," before returning to the room, but he stopped outside the cracked door at the sight inside.

Genya was topless and turned away as he ironed his shirt, and it granted Tanjirou the rare opportunity to appreciate his scars and sculpted back. Certainly they'd been naked around each other before from bathing together, but etiquette precluded staring. Tanjirou now stared blatantly because Genya had swapped out his corps trousers for a more tailored pair made of a finer fabric, and it really flattered his... asset. Tanjirou then felt off. He'd accepted they were just friends, but was this normal? Did friends check each other out like this...? Something blocked his vision, and he realized Yuko was dangling an apron before him. She said, "Nice view, huh? You should see Sanemi's. You can tell they're brothers even when you're looking at them from behind."

He flushed, took the apron, and slipped into the room to escape her knowing smile, and Genya requested, "Could you grab my undershirt from my bag?" When Tanjirou pulled the shirt out, a small pouch followed it, and he took it, felt some lumps within, and thought it might be candy. Curious to see what else Genya favored besides Life Savers, he peeked inside, regarded it as the strangest candy that he'd ever seen, and poured one into his hand to get a better look. He was appalled when a tooth tumbled out, but before he could fully process it, there was the sound of Genya running over. In his haste to grab everything, he accidentally bumped Tanjirou's hands so that the bag dropped and spilled to create a horrid scene: Tanjirou sitting stupefied in the middle of a floor full of teeth while Genya stood paralyzed with embarrassment.

It took gargantuan effort to summon enough willpower to begin gathering the teeth, and Genya did this wordlessly and as casually as he could. He prayed that there'd be no questions, but he might as well have wished for money to rain from the sky. "Um..." Tanjirou said, and he watched as the teeth were collected. "You owe me an explanation."

"Why'd you dig through my stuff?!" When Genya heard himself, he tried again in a more controlled voice: "They're demon teeth. I eat them."

He hated mentioning this aspect of himself for fear of revolting others, but Tanjirou moved close and said, "Genya... you're scary. I like that, but now you can't complain about me keeping your tooth." It was impossible to stay sore at that face, and Genya sighed, tried to suppress a smile, and turned away to get dressed.

Genya's duties lay out front, so Tanjirou was left behind with the other kitchen staff. He sat with Yuko at a table preparing a heap of vegetables, and when a phone nearby rang, she answered it and then left it dangling to go to the side of the woman making Mont Blancs. The woman went to take the call, and when Yuko started toward the vacated station, Tanjirou offered to take the spot for her because he wanted to learn the baking process. The call lasted longer than the woman would've liked, and she rushed back expecting to have to correct Yuko's work. Instead she found somebody with a broken leg duplicating her technique like he'd been born to make Mont Blancs, and after gawking at him she demanded to know who he was and how he acquired her recipe. Yuko hurried to his side and introduced him to the woman, who he learned was the pâtissier and head chef, and he explained himself. The head chef quirked an eyebrow, and she pointed across the kitchen to a pot on the counter and asked for its contents. After a few sniffs he started naming the ingredients and quantities, and her eyes bulged as he did so. She stopped him halfway through and pointed to another pot, and when he correctly stated it was empty, her jaw hung limp with awe before she gathered her wits to say, "Kamado. Quit whatever you're doing, and be my sous chef."

"I can't quit yet, but I'll keep the offer in mind."

"Please consider it. The offer is open for as long as I'm here. That skill of yours is one in a million, and you should be using it to its full potential."

As he and Yuko returned to their table, she exclaimed, "It'll be so fun if you come work with me! She's retiring soon, and you can take her position if you're the sous chef. Head Chef Kamado has a nice ring to it!"

They resumed working, and eventually a carrot fell onto the ground. When she leaned down to get it, the handkerchief that Genya had given her yesterday fluttered from her apron pocket, and she gasped sharply, scrambled after it, and retrieved it to carefully inspect it. Satisfied, she folded and replaced it, and Tanjirou said, "Is that a memento of someone? I noticed the initial on it."

"It belongs to my... friend. I'm holding onto it until I can return it."

"Is she faraway?"

"Sort of. She used to live in the next town over. Her family moved suddenly, and I thought I'd never see her again. Turns out that yeah, she's a little farther now, but it's alright because I've got her address."

"Was that what Genya gave you yesterday?"

"Yep. He could've lied, and I would've fallen for it. He didn't have to find her for me, but he did. He's really good, Kamado. He may be a dog, but he's a good one."

"He sure is. What's that saying? 'He's not bad; he's just drawn that way.' Will you visit your friend soon? I bet that she's eager to see you."

"Her family dislikes me, so visiting isn't easy. Instead we've been saving up for our plan. She's been doing embroidery orders nonstop, and I've been doing tons of overtime so that she can move here with me."

"Wow! I hope it all works out!"

"I hope so too. She makes every hour worth it. She's... my once-in-a-lifetime although it feels like we've known each other for several lifetimes. You know what I mean?" Her earnest tone sent a pang through him, but he masked it with an encouraging smile, to which she responded, "You're the best! Hurry and come work with me!"

Tanjirou the kitchen god mowed through the pile of vegetables with a divine swiftness, and with that done, Yuko vanished and then returned with a cart stacked with dumpling wrappers, containers of filling, and a bowl of water. She nodded toward the kitchen door and said, "Let's go sit out front so that we can harass Genya," and their target did occasionally stop by as he went back and forth doing his work. The speed and finesse with which Tanjirou folded dumplings amazed them, and eventually he and Yuko were discussing how they each knew Genya. He stated how they were coworkers at their main job, and when it came her turn to answer, she declared, "I'm his wife!"

He broke his streak of flawless dumplings by nearly dropping his current one, and she snorted with laughter. Genya saved him by snapping, "In your dreams!"

She retorted, "More like in my nightmares," and then she said to Tanjirou, "I'm kidding. We were neighbors growing up. It was like The Three Musketeers, poverty edition. Instead of fighting for justice, we were fighting for scraps." He gave a horrified laugh and asked about the third musketeer, and she answered wryly, "Genya's other wife, who lives across the street from here. Speak of the devil," and she pointed to Genya standing on a ladder against the wall.

He was occupied with hanging a large banner, so he didn't notice a figure tiptoeing toward him. This figure reached up with both hands to grab Genya's bottom, and the victim exclaimed angrily and arched forward but could do nothing else because his hands were full. A baritone voice said, "I'd recognize that heart-shaped ass anywhere. How're you? You haven't visited in a while."

"Fucking stop!"

"Your mouth is both your best and worst trait. Are you working tonight? Is Yuko here?"

Genya grumbled some response, and before Tanjirou appeared a captivating individual whom Yuko introduced as Tanizawa Keita. She then presented the other party: "This is Kamado Tanjirou, Genya's honey and our future head chef."

Tanjirou hissed, "Kitano! I'm not—" but she drowned him out with a cackle.

Keita eyed his scar and ingenuous features, mentally dismissed him as a peasant, and stiffened with disdain at the thought of those rough hands touching Genya. He was only a centimeter taller than Tanjirou, but he stretched this minuscule difference as far as he could to look down his nose at him and then sat to observe them with contemptuous interest. When they depleted the stack of wrappers, Keita said, "How about a break? Come over to my place for tea and snacks."

They followed him to the luxury apartments across the road, and while he moved around his kitchen preparing their refreshments, the other two sat at a table in the center of the studio as a breeze wafted in through the open door. The wall in Tanjirou's line of sight was elegantly decorated with an eclectic art collection of attractive male figures in various states of dress and undress, and this made his face burn so that he sought something else to gaze at. He looked over the variety of trinkets and ornaments, the imposing bed, and a small jar of sticks on the nightstand. When Keita approached and saw him surveying the jar, he said, "You've not seen licorice root before?" and then he added smugly, "They're for Genya when he visits." Yuko sensed the danger and changed the subject to a safer one, but not long into them talking and snacking, she heard a voice drift in through the open door. She gulped her tea, said she'd be back, and elatedly chased after whomever the voice belonged to. Keita huffed and went to look after her, and left with nothing else to do, Tanjirou leafed through a book on the table. After a minute Keita shut the door and returned with his blood surging because he was now without Yuko to moderate his behavior. When he saw Tanjirou thumbing through one of his astrology books, he said snidely, "You like horoscopes?"

"I know the signs but nothing beyond that."

"When's your birthday?"

"It's... oh tomorrow. I would've forgotten if you didn't remind me."

"How unfortunate. You're a Cancer, a touchy crybaby."

Tanjirou confessed with a rueful smile, "I do cry easily," and then he continued affably, "but I like being able to experience and express that level of emotion. What about Capricorns? What're they supposed to be like?"

The impenetrable armor of innocence and geniality was already maddening, but for him to shamelessly inquire about Genya made Keita feel ready to slap him. He knew though that Tanjirou was Genya's coworker, and that meant the peasant was a physical hazard no matter how harmless he looked. Keita resorted to deadpanning, "They're workaholics with a bad case of resting bitch face." This earned a burst of laughter, and Keita couldn't help but to chuckle and say, "Well look at him. Am I wrong?"

"I was asking about my sister. She's definitely a hard worker, but I've never heard anyone link the word 'bitch' to her. Were you thinking of someone else?"

The way that Tanjirou upheld his friendliness made Keita feel foolish for his previous behavior, and he sighed defeatedly. "Never mind that. Astrology is just for fun anyway. You know what? I like you, Kamado, so to the both of us: don't give up the chase. We'll see which one of us comes out on top. Or on the bottom. Whichever you prefer." The last part was said provocatively, but it went over Tanjirou's head.

The door flew open, and Yuko appeared and said, "Break's over, Kamado. Keita, we'll see you at the party."

Chapter Text

They resumed working awhile longer until guests started trickling in. Yuko and Tanjirou were stationed as servers at a row of tables while Genya went about delivering orders and fulfilling any other requests directed toward him. Tanjirou befriended many of the other servers working alongside him, and they snuck each other samples until he'd tasted a dizzying number of flavors. Food wasn't the only highlight of the night; the sea of people was a magnificent spectacle: jewels glistened upon throats, arms, and ears, and billows of chiffon and silk stood opposite of starched collars and polished shoes. It was like glimpsing into another dimension, and Tanjirou found the shining, affluent inhabitants of this dimension rather daunting. These were people who'd seen and done it all, who'd grown jaded and veiled themselves in cynicism and distrust, and yet one humble server's charisma and his capacity to easily reach meaningful conversation pierced this veil so that light was let in. His magnetic personality effortlessly closed the gap between him and any other person regardless of their differences, and when Keita arrived fashionably late and witnessed this, he remarked, "We're lucky that you were raised in the countryside. You probably would've used your charms to be a playboy if you'd been born in the city."

Tanjirou laughingly dismissed this, but when he was rinsing his hands at an outdoor washbasin later, Genya ran into him and reinforced the sentiment by saying, "You're great at this. I think you picked the wrong profession because you look like you prefer this to slaying demons. Yuko mentioned that the head chef offered you a job?"

"Yeah. I'd love to take it after Nezuko recovers. I'd have to get used to the city, but I mean, we adjusted to being in the corps, didn't we?"

Genya gave a small smile, gazed into the distance, and murmured, "Life will be good after Muzan dies." The tender note of optimism in his voice made Tanjirou aware of multiple things at once: how they were alone; how neat Genya looked with his hair tied back and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows; and how magical it felt to be swathed in the balmy night embellished with traces of the party's sounds.

He momentarily forgot his inward mantra that they were just friends and exhaled when he remembered it. "You think he'll die in our lifetime?"

"He'd better. God knows we need that vacation we discussed."

Something about how Genya hadn't forgotten his promise stirred a peculiar feeling in Tanjirou, and a voice from within that he acknowledged as himself but also not himself whispered, "Don't worry. He always keeps his promises."

"I know," Tanjirou inwardly answered, and then he wondered how he knew and if he was hallucinating. He couldn't much ponder it because they had to return to work, and as the evening went on, Tanjirou was astonished and giddied by how he received job offers, inquiries on his relationship status, and invitations to other parties and gatherings.

Next to him Yuko shook her head in amazement, collected a basket, and said, "We're running low on champagne, so I'm heading down to the cellar. Watch my spot for me, playboy."

He laughed, "Don't call me that! I'll go. I'm sore from sitting." After placing the necessary bottles in the basket, he wandered in the the cellar's coolness as a brief escape from the smoke and crowds above, but he stopped at some sounds coming from behind a shelf.

He recognized Genya's voice, and it said in a quiet, placating tone, "I want us to be regular friends again. As we are I think it's getting to you."

There was no answer, and just as Tanjirou thought Genya was talking to himself, Keita's voice answered, "And it's never once gotten to you?" Now it was Genya's turn to be silent, and Keita released a trembling breath and said sullenly, "So you're chasing that dream of normalcy that Sanemi has for you? You and your lady can walk arm in arm without getting looks, and she'll give you a socially acceptable, inoffensive family, right?"

Genya said defensively, "Don't go there." Tanjirou didn't wholly comprehend their conversation, but he returned upstairs, not wanting to spoil his mood with the drama of others' affairs.

If only he'd stayed a moment longer, then he would've heard Keita gasp with bitter realization, "No… it's him, isn't it?"

The remainder of the night tapered into a dazzling blur, and as the crowd thinned Yuko passed Tanjirou a money envelope with his name on it, pulled him toward the kitchen, and said, "Let's go get our bonus." Several employees were celebrating a successful job with shots of the rum normally used for desserts, and Genya, who was always sunny after being paid, was among them. Tanjirou thought it'd be unwise for them to both be drunk so he took one shot, grimaced at the foreign taste, and declined any more.

Only a few stragglers remained when Tanjirou exited the kitchen, and he spotted Keita sitting forlornly at a table. He was pressing his glass against his forehead and muttering to himself, and Tanjirou approached, saw his complexion that was ruddy from drinking, and expressed concern, to which Keita replied, "All these years of knowing him, and we can't get farther than being 'friends.' You come along, and in a fraction of the time... How's it feel being loved?"

"What're you saying? Should I walk you home?"

"Oh, Kamado... you don't know what it's like to be wanted but never loved. It's incredible being loved, even if it doesn't last. It's beautiful if felt for an eternity or a day." He groaned and put his head down, and Tanjirou took this as a signal to assist him across the street to his apartment and into his bed. Keita mumbled, "Happy birthday. You're too cute for me to be mad at you," and Tanjirou urged him to sleep. With tremendous effort the drunk gave a final, groggy smile and slurred, "He loves kisses. I hope you're a size queen though."

"What's a size queen?"

There was no answer because Keita had fallen asleep. As Tanjirou crossed the street, he wondered if it concerned Genya's height, and then came shame for how his mind had instinctively pictured Genya. This mental obstacle loomed before him, and it was impossible for him to think his way around it. He was forced to admit to himself that he knew whom Keita spoke of, and he now had to go face that very person, whom he found giggling and gabbing with Yuko outside by the kitchen door. The boys left her with goodnights, and Tanjirou remarked on the smell of alcohol radiating from Genya, who said, "I'm fine. I didn't have that much... I think. Hashira training starts tomorrow after all. Ugh, I don't wanna go..."

The journey home was nothing like yesterday; Genya's comments and the poetry of the moonlit, midsummer night were lost on Tanjirou because he was occupied with contemplating Keita's words. As they neared the Butterfly Estate, he was dragged from his thoughts by a pair of arms circling around him from behind, and his companion crooned into the crook of his neck, "You've been quiet. Are you tired? Want me to carry you?" The victim stood rigidly, and Genya released him and teased, "Huh? You weren't shy yesterday or this morning, so why now?" He laughed and continued walking, and Tanjirou, who was already stressed but was now even more rattled, followed with a scarlet face.

Kanao had kept her vow of not telling, but it didn't matter because they encountered Aoi, who warned them Shinobu had been alerted. When Aoi saw the matriarch approaching, she straightened triumphantly in anticipation of their verbal lashing, but Shinobu just sniffed at their scent of food and drink, smiled, and said, "It's alright, Aoi. Hashira training starts tomorrow, and that's all the punishment they need. Did you two have a fun weekend?" They nodded meekly, and that was that. The remainder of the Kamabokos had been silent spectators throughout all this, but when the authorities left, they swarmed the delinquents. Tanjirou swiveled back and forth at their questions, and then his shoulders sagged wearily for want of a bath and nothing more.

Ghosts were low on the list of concerns that night as they bathed side by side. Something had to be said, but Tanjirou didn't know what. He knew that his neighbor had more experience and better words regarding these matters, so he decided he'd ask Genya how he'd felt about their time together and then proceed from there. Unfortunately Tanjirou had underestimated the difficulty of such a question, and he stumbled over his thoughts to where it made him forget what he'd initially intended to ask. He instead blurted out the first thing on his mind: "What's a size queen?"

"...Where'd you hear that...?"

"Just tell me what it is." The only answer was a snicker so that by the time they were returning to their room, Tanjirou was seething. The alcohol was beginning to fade from Genya. He was still more cordial than usual, but it wasn't enough to tolerate the pillow that flew toward him from Inosuke. Genya swatted it aside, bounded to the bed, and in a flurry of sheets and limbs, trapped the instigator beneath a blanket. On another day it would've been funny: Inosuke hollering and flailing blindly against Genya, who taunted him and pinned him under the fabric, as Nezuko laughed and Zenitsu complained. The weekend had been a roller coaster of emotions and mixed signals though, so the tumult pushed Tanjirou to his limit until he exploded, "Stop!" Everyone froze because he'd never used that tone outside of battle, and after exhaling and saying in a strained voice, "Genya, please come here," he went into the hallway.

Tanjirou hadn't planned this conversation; he'd accidentally let his emotions reign, and now he was mute as Genya stood before him. He looked at the floor, his hands, down the hallway, everywhere except at Genya, who said, "Well?"

Tanjirou's thoughts were in chaos, and this in combination with his pathological honesty led to him blurting, "Why'd you take so long with Kanao in the store?" Genya was perplexed, but Tanjirou interpreted his silence as a snub and snapped, "What's she to you anyway?"

"Where the hell is this coming from?"

"Answer my questions first."

"Okay... I talked to her for five, maybe ten minutes, so sorry if that felt like a long time to you."

"Liar! You were in there for nearly an hour!"

Genya's eyes flashed with offense at the accusation. "No I wasn't. A clock was in front of me."

Tanjirou quieted as he digested this. But what about the crying session and the old lady...? "Fine, I misjudged. Why's she talk to you like that though?"

"Like what?"

"Like she's your girlfriend! You didn't tell me you've a gi—"

Genya irritably turned away, but from behind him came an indignant voice: "You promised you'd tell me everything! Why won't you tell me about your girl—" Genya motioned sharply to shush him and pointed to the bottom of their bedroom door; in the crevice between the door and floor were the Kamabokos' eavesdropping shadows. Mortified, Genya walked briskly down the hall to escape, but Tanjirou, broken leg and all, chased him and demanded, "Don't run from me!" He seized Genya, who reversed the situation by grabbing him back and hauling him into a linen closet.

The only source of light came from the space beneath the door so that they could barely see each other, but the agitation was palpable as Genya hissed, "You're noisy! I don't know why you're mad, but Kanao isn't my girlfriend!"

"Then why was her lipstick on your mouth?!"

"What...? She was playing around! She had it on her finger and swiped it on me!" Oh. Well this was awkward. Tanjirou hadn't expected that answer, so he fumbled for what to say next, prompting Genya to snap, "Why's my relationship with her matter?"

"It matters because I like you! A lot. When you showed me all those new things, I thought maybe you liked me too. The feeling when I saw you with her was also new to me. I didn't know what to do, so I reacted wrongly with anger. Sorry." Revealed at last! Only to be met with... nothing! The relief at the weight coming off Tanjirou's chest became apprehension. "So you... don't like me?"

"I do." Genya cringed when he heard himself and went for the door, but Tanjirou yanked him back. After some scuffling and threats, he continued, "I didn't know if you're into guys, so I thought it'd scare you off and ruin what we have if I spoke up. I wondered why you were so nice to me, but then I'd remember you're nice to everyone. I kept thinking, 'He could get anyone he wants. Who am I to like him?'"

"Why would you think that? Everything I've never done, I want you to show me because things make sense when you're there. You're the coolest person I know, and you're worthy of being wanted and cherished."

Genya scoffed, "I'm the least cool person ever but thanks." Despite the self-deprecation it was clear that he was smiling when he hesitantly asked, "Do you... want me to show you something else?"

Tanjirou could almost hear all his past lifetimes sighing, "Finally!" when they kissed. It was chaste and mild but filled with the surrender that they'd been wanting. There was no more pretending, no more guessing, no more "just friends." Now there were Genya's hands on his waist gently pressing him into the wall and Tanjirou holding him close; there was the assurance that tomorrow and every day after would bring more.

When they detached, Genya muttered, "I should've known something was up. What straight guy jumps so readily into another guy's bed?"

"Maybe it started when I was checking you out at the springs, or maybe it was when you choked me during the Upper Moon fight." Genya looked away as Tanjirou laughed, "You should've said something if you suspected it. Think of all the kisses you could've had if you'd confessed earlier."

"I—! I'm trying to make up for it, okay?!" He slid his thumb down Tanjirou's chin to pull his mouth open, and he leaned back in to deepen their kiss. As they moved from the initial relief of giving in to the thrilling desire of wanting more, he unbuttoned the top buttons of Tanjirou's shirt and latched onto his neck, and when a shaky breath of pleasure was given in response, Genya breathed, "You taste sweet." It was getting good: the kisses intensified, the touches escalated, and the murmurs and sighs increased. He'd just slipped Tanjirou's top from his shoulder so that he could press his mouth to it when Genya suddenly straightened and gestured for silence. Footsteps approached, and Tanjirou frantically buttoned up and then froze when there was a distinctly adorable sneeze—Inosuke.

Genya pressed Tanjirou against the wall coinciding with the door hinge where he'd be out of sight, whispered, "Wait," and stood where the door would open. Inosuke had barely cracked it a hand's width when Genya shouted, frightening him so severely that he fell backwards. Although he couldn't see it directly, Tanjirou could judge what was happening by the shadows, and he struggled to keep quiet as Genya guffawed. Their visitor recovered and yelled, "What the fuck are you doing in there?!"

"Apparently I'm scaring pigs. I was jacking off. What do you want?"

The obscenity didn't accomplish its goal of removing Inosuke, but it did stupefy him briefly. "Okay... Where's Naruto? You were talking with him earlier."

"Who? Tanjirou? I don't fucking know. He went somewhere."

They glowered at each other while Genya blocked the opening with his body, and then Inosuke growled, "Move."

"You didn't wanna snuggle this morning, but now you want in while I'm doing worse?"

"I'm trying to get a towel!"

Genya said ominously, "Oh I'll get you a towel," and he shut the door, took a hand towel, and wet part of it with his mouth.

He opened the door just wide enough to fling the "used" fabric out, and Tanjirou shook with suppressed laughter as Inosuke yowled in disgust and roared, "You're dead!" Tanjirou's mirth became alarm when a pair of arms reached in to drag Genya out, and the ensuing conflict resulted in Inosuke pulling his opponent's shirt off. The sound of them cursing and running faded down the hall, and Tanjirou waited until they seemed far enough away before emerging cautiously to return to his room. Now more than ever, he wanted to share beds and be held, but of course everyone would be here when he craved it the most; of course they'd be here on his last night with Genya. He sat in his bed irked by this and then heard a racket approaching.

Into the room sprinted Inosuke holding the shirt in one hand and a broom as a weapon in the other, and he whirled around to face his target but was too slow. The pursuer tackled him to the ground and made to spew abuse, but Inosuke silenced him by pushing the broom handle horizontally across his mouth as Nezuko had once been gagged. Unlike Nezuko, Genya's monstrous biting strength splintered the wood, and he turned his head to spit out the fragments and then looked back to address Inosuke, who was now lying still and gawking at him. He tugged his shirt from the enemy's hands, stood to put it back on, and got into his bed like nothing had happened, and Inosuke sat up and said, "You're a goddamn animal. Like a rabid dog or something."

"Who are you calling an animal when you're running around topless in a boar's head?!"

"We'll see which animal is stronger tomorrow during training then!"

The lights eventually dimmed, and Tanjirou waited until everyone was asleep. He couldn't share Genya's bed, but he could at least sneak in one last moment between them to conclude this unforgettable weekend. He crept over to cradle Genya's face, and when he felt a hand cover one of his own, he understood that Genya had been waiting too. It was the cherry atop the sundae they'd split, the candied chestnut garnishing the Mont Blanc, the marshmallows, Life Savers, and everything sweet; it was the dawn of a luminous future as their lips met, and in the darkness Nezuko's eyes saw all.

Chapter Text

Shinobu had condemned Tanjirou to a week of waiting for his leg to fully heal, so when he heard everyone waking and preparing to leave for Hashira training, it depressed him to think about how he was going to spend days alone. He could've slept in, but wanting to see everyone off, he instead went to wash up and then returned to a room full of girls. Nezuko exclaimed, "Ha-happy birthday, Onii-chan!" and the others cheered. They presented him with a breakfast of his favorite foods and a small cake as he thanked them effusively, and when Zenitsu appeared, he gifted an alternative to the brush and inkstick: a fountain pen and ink pot. Inosuke didn't entirely understand the significance of birthdays, but he remembered how they'd joyously honored his spring day. He refused to lose to their celebration, so from him came a present that he'd painstakingly crafted in secret: a scarf of mole pelts.

They soon had to part ways, and as the energy and fanfare faded, so too did Tanjirou's appetite until a voice said, "I heard it's your sweet 16."

Tanjirou held his arms out and was rewarded with a hug sealed with a kiss, and although their exposed feelings for each other were only a day old, the ease with which they moved made him feel like they'd practiced across lifetimes. The thought mystified him, but then Genya freed himself, sat on the bed, and presented a score of handmade papers infused with tiny leaves and petals. Tanjirou gratefully received them and said, "I'll write you. Write back to me too. Say you'll visit."

"I'll try, but it depends on how busy we get." Genya handed him two rolls of Life Savers. "You liked the cinnamon ones, right?" Cinnamon indeed because this was what Tanjirou tasted like when he pulled Genya down into a kiss and murmured his thanks, and then he tightened his embrace when he felt a hand slip under his shirt to caress his skin. Paradise was lying in Genya's arms being kissed and touched, and punishment was all that vanishing as Genya got up and said, "Someone will see."

Tanjirou pouted and sat up to gather the Life Savers. "I think I still have some left from the first roll that you gave me."

After some futile digging Tanjirou upended his bag, and out tumbled the Life Savers along with the sample packet of vitamins. Genya snatched the latter away, muttered, "I told you to not take anything from her," and pushed a window open to hurl it as far as he could despite Tanjirou's nagging.

When a distant squawk was heard, Tanjirou chided, "See?! You hit someone!"

It was torturous for Genya to abandon those big, pleading eyes, but he finally bade his farewell while Tanjirou vowed that he'd catch up. Fortunately isolation didn't last long: Zenitsu visited the following day, but he was harrowed and painted the training as worse than the deepest circle of hell. Tanjirou dismissed this as typical Zenitsu, but on day two came another omen: Genya's crow appeared bearing a letter and a sprig of azaleas as a gift. Tanjirou wondered about the flowers since they were out of season, but he was thrilled because Genya had written him first! His joy was short-lived when he discovered it was hastily penned by an exhausted hand and only said, "It's bad. Sorry I can't visit." Inosuke didn't appear at all.

Tanjirou anxiously wondered about everyone on his third day as he walked down the hall. He glanced into an open door as he passed and saw a peculiar scene: a slayer, who like him had also been held back because of an injury, was sitting ramrod straight on her bed's edge, gripping the sheets flanking her, and staring ahead at nothing with terrified eyes. The high of fresh love had eclipsed Tanjirou's thoughts of ghosts, but now the fear came rushing back. It contradicted his nature though to abandon others, so he inquired, "Are you alright?" He stepped toward her warily when she didn't reply, and when he was beside her, he noticed her pupils were trembling minutely. He tried not to visualize the awful things that she might be seeing, but she suddenly grabbed him with both hands while taking gasping breaths.

It frightened him senseless, but before he could say anything, tears sprang to her eyes as she panted, "Shimizu! Where—I've to find him!" She stood and then agonizingly clutched the wound on her abdomen from the abrupt movement, but no matter how much he questioned her, all she did was hobble away crying, "My fiancé! I saw everything! I've to tell him!"

What was that?! What'd she see?! He noticed a familiar packet on the bed: the vitamins that Genya had launched into oblivion. Only one of the two tablets remained, and it horrified him how close he'd come to being poisoned, drugged, or whatever had happened to the other slayer. To take his mind off this, he returned to his room, took a sheet of the paper that Genya had given him, and began a response to a letter from Mitsuri. As his crow departed, Kagaya's arrived with a letter requesting that he put his people skills to use on Giyuu. In four days Tanjirou broke him, and when Shinobu heard this, she rewarded him with an amused chuckle and permission to begin training.

Life in pink. Tanjirou had become so lovestruck that nothing could weigh him down, so he flew through training at an unbelievable speed. There wasn't time to properly write, so Genya instead sent occasional notes and flowers. There was a long letter from him eventually, but it had rained during its delivery. The last paragraph had bled to where Tanjirou could only read "careful" and "Kanroji," but it didn't matter because the first parts had details about what to expect from each Hashira along with how Genya missed and believed in him. It was such effective motivation that Tanjirou had read and reread it until the paper was beginning to tear at the creases when he arrived at the Love Estate.

Mitsuri had been occupied with her training, so she hadn't yet responded to his letter. She told him this, expressed amazement at his swift completion of two courses, and invited him to a pancake brunch. Shinobu was taking a break from her research and visiting, and they asked him suspiciously innocuous questions while he ate his pancakes and daydreamed about sharing them with a certain someone. Once he was done, he took the Life Savers from his bag and placed one in his mouth, and Mitsuri sniffed and said in a voice with barely restrained emotion, "Oh! Life Savers! Where'd you get them from?"

"The import shop."

The corner of Mitsuri's lips twitched, and she said with affected restraint, "Interesting. Country boy Tanjirou somehow found his way to the import shop in the middle of the city." Shinobu covered her own mouth and turned away, and Mitsuri dramatically withdrew Tanjirou's letter to her, threw it onto the table, and demanded, "And where'd you get this flower paper from?"

The conversation had become an interrogation with dire consequences if he opted for honesty, but he couldn't lie without it being evident. He could instead tell partial truths, but even this was a poor choice because his voice was rather feeble when he answered, "It was a birthday gift."

Mitsuri cackled, reached underneath the table to take out something that she'd been hiding, and placed a stack of papers before him. Hers had leaves and sakura petals arranged around the edges as opposed to his that had specks of various colors throughout the sheet, but it was unmistakable; they were Genya's handmade papers. She said triumphantly, "From whom, Tanjirou?! Who gifted you those papers?! Was it Genya?! I think so because I bought mine from him!" He stared helplessly as Shinobu tittered, and Mitsuri declared, "I knew it! You think you can hide these things from me, the Love Hashira?! I would've never guessed you're into bad boys! When Genya walked onto the Rosewood's balcony with his long legs, I thought, 'Okay, Tanjirou's climbing trees!' And then when he was training here in the leotard and tights, I thought, 'Okay, tall and juicy?!' I see you like the ones who don't skip meals! He and the piggy boy—I forgot his name—they've a funny... um... Can you call it friendship when it's so hostile...? Anyway I waited until Genya was done training to ask about you, but he ran away! I should've asked him before we started, which's what we're doing to you right now!"

Tanjirou was speechless, and Mitsuri took his silence as an invitation to continue, "So how was the Rosewood? I hear the rooms are fabulous, but you were probably too busy to admire the furniture." She'd spoken teasingly, but it didn't matter because everything sounded faraway to him. He was reeling with humiliation at being discovered, so she hurriedly said, "It's fine if you're too shy to kiss and tell, but we're dying to know how it was! Don't worry. Nothing can shock us after the things that Shinobu has done." Shinobu scoffed while Tanjirou slumped down in his chair and prayed that he'd spontaneously combust, and Mitsuri cried, "Don't tell me you went in there and just slept!"

"That's… exactly what we did."

Mitsuri was outraged, but Shinobu placed a hand on his arm and said, "Don't listen to that vulgar girl, and don't ever feel like you need to rush things. There's plenty of time to figure out what you want from each other."

Mitsuri countered, "No there's not! Our job has a high turnover rate if you haven't noticed! Think about the centuries of slayers before us who postponed their happiness by saying, 'After Muzan dies,' but who died in the end?! They did! You should have fun and love fiercely because tomorrow isn't guaranteed!" She'd passionately grabbed his other arm, and the Hashira bickered like they were the angel and devil on his shoulders. The devil eventually surrendered: "Okay, Shinobu has a point: everyone has their own pace. That aside, Genya's probably thinking about you right now! How's it feel being loved?"

He'd encountered this question before and couldn't grasp it then, but now he answered breathlessly, "It's everything." After some prodding from them, he recounted details: the spectacular sights, the novel foods, the vacation that Genya had promised him, the floral gifts (unfortunately he couldn't keep these, but he still treasured the gesture), all of it except the more delicate parts.

They listened enraptured, and when he finished, Shinobu dreamily sighed, "It was a date in everything but name!"

Mitsuri ecstatically cried, "Flowers?! I've never gotten flowers before! He's trying to tell you something! He's saying, 'Roses are red—"

"Don't!" said Shinobu.

"—violets are blue—"

"Mitsuri, stop."

"—let me show you what this mouth can do.'" She could barely say this for how much she was laughing, and Tanjirou and Shinobu covered their faces. Mitsuri recovered enough to exclaim, "You said he's taking you on a vacation? You've already planned your honeymoon?! Hurry and marry him! Have his babies!"

Shinobu giggled, "Uh, about the babies."

Mitsuri said with an impish smile, "If it doesn't work, then you keep trying."

She smothered Shinobu's rebukes with laughter, and their conversation lasted awhile longer until Tanjirou gathered enough courage to say, "Um! It's been fun talking about this, but please don't tell anyone."

Mitsuri sobered and said, "Your big sisters would never out you without your permission. Shinobu only knows because on the first day that you were gone, she complained to me about how you disappeared, and I said to her, 'He didn't tell you he was with Genya?'"

Shinobu added, "And even when I suspected it, I said nothing. My main concern was that you were being treated well. You and Mitsuri have only known him recently as Genya who takes you places and feeds you treats, but I've known him since he was Genya the troublemaker who was a handful for Himejima." Tanjirou defended him, but she held a hand up and continued, "I understand you adore him, and he undoubtedly adores you. For someone like you to come along, he's probably ready to worship you, but I'm still gonna be cautious. He's had a harder life and had to grow up more quickly than you, and the last thing that we want is for him to take advantage of the gap between you and him."

"He wouldn't do that! Sure he was initially mean to me, but I could tell it wasn't malicious. Instead I felt like we were meant to know each other, and that feeling increased over our weekend together."

Mitsuri gasped, "I know what you mean! Do you sometimes see weird pictures in your head or get déjà vu even though you've never been somewhere?" When he vigorously confirmed this, she exclaimed, "Me too! It always happens around the same person for me. I wonder what he's doing right now…"

Shinobu said, "Hypocrite. Telling Tanjirou to throw himself into things when you won't do it yourself."

"What if my crush doesn't like me back?! It'll kill me to hear his rejection!"

Tanjirou encouraged, "You should tell him. I wasted lots of time worrying over nothing, and I don't want it to happen to you too. You can still be friends even if he says no, right?"

He sounded so sincere that Mitsuri clutched his hand and said tenderly, "I envy you. Not everyone who's beautiful is loved, but everyone who's loved is beautiful, and you're the brightest star right now. I can't wait to experience what you have."

Shinobu had advocated for prudence, but she admitted, "She's right. The demons have been quiet for too long and will probably appear any day now. Have fun and love fiercely while you still can but within reason." Moved by her support, he took her hand in his free one, and they sat savoring the trust and friendship resonating throughout them until Mitsuri led him away to training as Shinobu called her goodbyes. Upon completing the exercises and proceeding, he found that Obanai's reception of him wasn't half as cordial while Sanemi's was… something else.

One of the downsides of being involved with Genya was the inevitability of encountering his brother, and if Tanjirou was being brutally frank, then he wouldn't have minded if he'd gone for the rest of his life without seeing this man. Did he respect him as a Hashira? Certainly. As a person? Not so much.

Sanemi had known all these years that his brother was in the corps; he knew who was behind that door in Gyoumei's home, and he even periodically passed money to Genya under the guise that it came from Gyoumei. It vexed Sanemi endlessly and immensely that his brother had endangered himself by following him into the corps, and now he was even more disturbed by the display of an inhuman ability: no matter how severely Genya was beaten, he'd be spotless next to his battered peers after an abnormally brief amount of time. In between this, the reveal of him eating demons, and Tanjirou destroying a set of doors in the process of saving Genya, the Hashira was reasonably furious.

Tanjirou thought otherwise; in fact he thought Sanemi was the least reasonable person ever, and he was especially annoyed that his chance at a reunion after three weeks apart had been spoiled. When he'd heard Genya's voice from around the corner, he'd anticipated cuddles, kisses, and laughter. Instead he got the opposite: he and several others were swarming an incensed man, who smelled of aggression without hatred. Amidst this ordeal a new scent appeared: massive waves of hurt and self-loathing radiating from Genya's retreating form as Zenitsu led him away. Whether Sanemi meant his insults or not, he'd wounded his brother deeply, and Tanjirou thought irately on how tough love without the love being clear was little more than abuse.

After being expelled he hurriedly sent a letter to Genya to check on him, and then he accompanied Zenitsu to the Stone Residence. As they ascended the slope, his blood surged at the sight of something that made Zenitsu cry, "What kind of animals live up here?!" Tanjirou was overjoyed because he knew exactly what kind of animal would leave bite marks in a tree's trunk, but his elation was dashed: during the days that he spent there, his letter wasn't answered nor were any more flowers or notes sent. Whenever he asked Gyoumei about Genya, he was told to concentrate on his work instead.

Six days later, Tanjirou lay next to his rock, displeased that he'd made no progress and that he was being ignored, and perhaps someone above had heard his grievances because a divine vision appeared over him to say, "Hey, did the mark on your forehead get bigger?"

Chapter Text

Genya laughed, "Ew you're sweaty," when he was pulled down into a hug, but he returned the embrace regardless.

"Don't vanish like that! I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Sorry I needed some time alone. I should've said something. Sorry for ghosting you."

The scent of hurt and self-loathing had resurfaced slightly, and Tanjirou's chest ached; if only Genya could see himself how Tanjirou saw him. Genya returned the subject to Tanjirou's mark, and the deflection was noticed by the marked, who inwardly made note of it as something that they'd have to improve later. When he confessed to not having a mirror to see himself, Genya offered to loan him his, and they sat catching up, discussing Repetitive Actions, and going back and forth about what Tanjirou had witnessed with the vitamins until a sound in the forest disrupted them; it was Gyoumei checking on the other slayers. They watched him skillfully feeling his way around, and then Tanjirou surprised Genya with a peck to the corner of his mouth followed by a mischievous whisper: "He can't see us, right?" Genya shook his head and gave a disapproving look, but he pressed their mouths together anyway.

Gyoumei believed in a modest existence, so his home was diminutive compared to the other Hashira. As they neared the humble dwelling, Tanjirou spotted a luxuriant garden nearly as big as the house, and when he commented on it, Genya sighed, "Now do you see why Himejima gets onto me about, 'We've food at home?'"

"How does he know when things are ready to harvest if he can't see?"

"I do the harvesting. He'll water it when I'm away, but otherwise the garden's mine."

Tanjirou gushed over this, and Genya shyly downplayed it as they went inside. As they passed an altar, Tanjirou detected a smell that'd initially caused him so much grief: sandalwood. It was from the incense being burned, and it became apparent why Genya had that scent attached to him.

In Genya's bedroom, most prominent were the bunches of drying flowers and herbs hanging from the ceiling, along with a rolling cabinet with four artfully shaped bonsais on it. Tanjirou admired all this and then asked if there were any more, and Genya went to the back of his room to open another door that led out to a veranda adjacent to the garden. The combination of the bonsais, drying plants, and the breeze flowing in from outside gave form to Genya's second scent note: the earthy, green smell that Tanjirou had incorrectly assumed to be from his Blood Demon Art. Genya stepped onto the veranda, pulled something into sight, and said, "This one is my best."

Atop a black, ceramic pot flecked with nacre was a large bonsai shaped so that it had split into many trunks, giving the impression that it was a microcosm of the forest nested upon a starry sky. The tree and its container combined were nearly a meter tall, and it sat on a rolling, circular tray so that he could easily take it indoors and out as needed. He stood looking at it fondly, and Tanjirou was overcome with gratitude; this small, cozy room with its lush fragrance where Genya went to hide and heal was his minuscule corner of the universe, and he'd allowed Tanjirou to see it. "This reminds me: the flowers that you sent me were beautiful. Where'd they come from? You sent me several that don't bloom in summer."

"Don't tell anyone about this."

Genya withdrew from his bag the small drawstring pouch full of demon teeth and shook one out to eat. He then went outside toward a plum tree some paces away, bit into his palm, and pressed the injury to the tree quickly before it healed. As he lifted his hand, a branch nourished by his blood sprang from the trunk to follow him and then burst into bloom on his command. He bit through the green shoot to remove it and took it to set on a table next to Tanjirou, who said, "I would've stopped you if I'd known it hurt you. Still, that's amazing. Your blood, your touch creates life."

"Well they need the sun too. Sorry was that corny?" Genya laughed, and Tanjirou felt the grip of love tighten its hold on him. Genya was a study in duality: gun smoke curling through blossom-laden boughs, a mouth with teeth as hard as diamonds and words as soft as petals, a soul painfully moored to the past that still dreamt of tomorrow.

Tanjirou felt infinitely lucky to have access to all these facets, and he took Genya's hand and said, "I don't care if it's corny. You could talk to me like that all the time, and I wouldn't get sick of it. Come take a bath with me."

"We don't have ghosts, but even if we did, our bathroom is tiny. You can only fit one person in there."

"Shinobu's beds are meant for one, but we made it work."

"You made it work because you didn't give me a choice. You go first. I'll go after you." When it was Genya's turn, he handed over his mirror before heading off. As Tanjirou examined his mark, he saw in the reflection something behind him that he hadn't noticed earlier: a rifle hanging over the door. He gazed at it as he settled into the futon, and when he laid his head on the pillow, he turned his face into it to inhale deeply and blissfully. Genya returned and deadpanned, "You look comfortable in my bed."

Tanjirou said with a brazen smile, "You know how it goes," and then he pointed over Genya's head at the rifle. "What's that? Why don't you use that one?"

"That's my Beretta. Keep it between us, but I hate swords. It's the 20th century; we can do better. My smith refuses to make nichirin bullets for it though, so it's the sawn-off and sword for now until I can change his mind. Anyway the Beretta has two triggers for semi-automatic and automatic fire. God, it's fun to shoot." Genya had sat down on the futon to talk enthusiastically about the rifle and how he looked forward to getting to use it properly in battle.

They segued into discussing other things that they wanted in the future, and it reminded Tanjirou of what Mitsuri had said about how countless slayers had died unfulfilled due to postponing things until "after Muzan dies." So Tanjirou presented a more immediate goal: "After Hashira training ends let's come out."

Genya became disconcerted. "It's not that easy. Maybe you're unaware of this, but everyone is on the menu for me. There're people who know, and they avoid me or give me shit for it. Is that what you want for yourself?"

"What else can we do? You want us to pretend we're just friends again?"

"No it's... I'm warning you. People will have strong opinions, and it can make life rough."

"Fuck their opinions."

This unexpected side of Tanjirou won Genya over, and the latter smiled and echoed, "Yeah fuck 'em."

He leaned down to kiss Tanjirou's mark, went to his closet to retrieve another pillow, and tossed it onto the futon to lie down next to Tanjirou, who murmured, "When we were in the car and you said you'd take us faraway from our problems, part of me wanted you to. I still think about it sometimes."

"We've only known each other for a month, and you wanna elope?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Kawada's car would be easy to steal, and I know where he keeps the money. We could go now while everyone's asleep, live on the run, do odd jobs to earn room and board, and when you're tired of running, we'll pick a place to stop out of all the places that we'll have seen." Such an easy solution was unanticipated, and Tanjirou pensively weighed the consequences. Happiness was within reach, but Genya demolished the fantasy: "No, Tanjirou. Not until all our business is settled; Muzan, Nezuko, Sanemi, everything. I can't believe you're actually considering it!"

"Then don't say it so seriously! That's the second time you got my hopes up for nothing."

"That you'd even have a shred of hope for it! Imagine if we did run away. Everyone would say, 'Shinazugawa corrupted or coerced him,' when the reality is that you're just as bad!"

"I'm not bad; I'm human! How come everyone else except for me can have flaws?"

"Because you're the hero. You don't get to act like us side characters." At Tanjirou's reproving expression Genya continued soothingly, "Try to think of it like this: the sooner you kill Muzan, the sooner you're free. Once he's dead, you can be as bad, selfish, and lazy as you want. We'll go on impromptu trips, we'll be dumb and reckless, we'll waste our money on stupid shit and then laugh about it, but for now we've to work to get to that point."

Tanjirou's eyes watered at this potential future, and he moved to curl against the soul who offered him so much. Genya held him, and Tanjirou murmured, "I wish that we could do everything right now. I'm tired of waiting for this guy to die."

"We're all tired of him, but don't let it get you down. We can't do everything or go faraway yet, but there're still things here that I can show you." As Genya listed options for their next outing, Tanjirou gazed at him like there was nothing in the world lovelier to behold. The moment's luster was tarnished though by the persistent fear that demons could appear at any time and raze all that they'd built. When would they get their next chance to be alone together... in Genya's bed...?

Tanjirou's skin prickled with heat, and Mitsuri's words replayed themselves in his mind. He wavered between caution and eagerness, but then he remembered how he'd squandered his birthday weekend with indecisiveness. He didn't want to repeat that mistake of wasting time, so he tugged lightly at Genya's shirt and said, "Would you... show me something else?"

Genya's eyebrows rose briefly as he tried to determine if this unexpected request was what it implied. He nudged Tanjirou's shoulder to roll him onto his back, leaned over him to kiss him deeply, and parted Tanjirou's yukata to caress his bare thigh. Genya stopped and said warily, "You taste nervous. Are you doing this because you think you owe me something?"

"No it's because I've not done this before. Sorry if I'm no good."

"You've not...? Uh... That's a lot of pressure to put on me..."

"I want it to be you because I trust you."

Tanjirou's expectant gaze and the entreating pressure of his touch was as balmy as the drowsy breeze gliding over them, and his ardor spiked when he sensed that he'd successfully dismantled the inhibitions of Genya, who asked, "You're sure about this? Absolutely 100% sure?"

Tanjirou said impatiently, "Yes I'm sure! Before the demons reappear please."

"We've to be quiet then. It'll be worse than demons if Himejima catches us." Genya moved in to make their night warmer, and despite how it cost them sleep, Tanjirou awoke the next morning with more zest than usual and finally moved his rock.

Tanjirou had completed Hashira training! Now that he knew Genya was nearby, he sent his crow to search for him, and it returned and guided him to a boulder with several scrapes on it level with where Genya's face would've been had he been standing to push it. Tanjirou touched the scrapes, and when he spotted the cause of them, he said, "You did this? On the way up here, I saw that you bit some trees."

"Don't you ever get so mad that you bite random things?"

"I finished moving my rock! Come take a break with me. I saw the pile of vegetables that you harvested. I'll make us stew." It took minimal effort to convince Genya to follow him, and when they arrived at the house to wash up, Tanjirou offered, "You go first. I'll start prepping the food." In the middle of Genya's bath, there was a knock at the door and the sound of Tanjirou's voice. Genya had barely cracked the door when Tanjirou shoved it in suddenly and crammed himself into the bathroom. Genya was startled to where he nearly lost his balance, and Tanjirou said innocently, "I wanna bathe together," as he began undoing his belt.

"I told you there's not enough room!"

Tanjirou said with a cheeky smile, "We're both in here right now, aren't we? It's okay if we're a little close. We were closer last night." Genya sighed and turned his back to him to resume bathing, and behind him he could hear clothes rustling and water splashing. Some small talk was made by the intruder, but he seemed distracted so that Genya began questioning his intentions. His hunch was confirmed when Tanjirou pressed himself against his back and mumbled, "We shouldn't have done that yesterday. It's all I can think about now."

"You're getting out of control! People will say I'm a bad influence when you were already plenty bad without me."

"I told you I'm not bad! Don't you wanna celebrate me finishing training?" So they celebrated while they completed their baths, and then since they had the house to themselves, they leisurely spent the afternoon celebrating, playing games, and lazing around until they became hungry. By the time they cleaned up, it was early evening, and they'd moved to the living room to sit nestled together by the hearth as a stew simmered. There was a sense of inviolable and immeasurable devotion and connection, like they alone had slipped in between the planes of life and settled into a space beyond time's linear march, and Tanjirou said nostalgically, "When we were at that room in the Rosewood, I told you things I've never told anyone else. Even though we were only friends back then, you made it feel safe to talk to you. I wish that I could go back in time and slap myself for not telling you how I felt sooner."

"You wish that you'd confessed earlier so that we could've spent the whole day heating up that room?"

Tanjirou pushed him lightly, and Genya snickered and then said earnestly, "You'd go back to slap yourself for that weekend; I'd go all the way back to the night that we met at Final Selection. Things would've been so different if I hadn't been such a little shit."

"Let's not worry about the past. I'm excited for our future where we're together. I'm sick of being apart. That month without you was awful. I hate that we got interrupted at your brother's place."

Genya said gloomily, "Not nearly as much as he hates me for pulling that stunt."

"He doesn't hate you. He was outraged at seeing you, but there wasn't the faintest whiff of hatred on him. He loves you as much as ever." Tanjirou pressed a reassuring kiss to his jaw and then crawled toward the stew to scoop it into bowls. He handed one to Genya and said, "After this—"

"Toushirou!" cried a distant voice.

Genya growled, "Fucking—! You don't know the shit that he put me through while you were away," and he went to stand by the entrance. Just like what had happened in the closet, Inosuke had barely slid open the door when Genya shouted, frightening the visitor so much that he tumbled backwards off the veranda and onto the grass. Over Tanjirou's scolding, Genya laughed while leaning against the door frame, "That doesn't get old."

Inosuke sat up. "What're you eating in there?!"

"Tanjirou's ass. You come in here, and I'll kick yours."

Tanjirou called out for them to behave, and Inosuke took this as a cue to wrench Genya aside and to charge into the house. He was shivering from having jumped in the river for a rinse, and when he spotted the stew, he avidly began helping himself. Genya stared incredulously until Tanjirou gave him a placating look, and wanting to please the cook, Genya sat tensely to resume eating. Pillow talk wasn't possible with a guest present, so they touched on lighter topics until Tanjirou remembered what he'd wanted to say to Genya before being interrupted: "I'm going to Giyuu's after this. You wanna come along?"

"I can't. I haven't moved my rock far enough yet."

Inosuke exclaimed, "I'm really close to it!"

Genya gave him a sidelong glance. "Well I can't use Breaths, so it's not as easy for me."

Derisive laughter erupted from Inosuke, and a speck of food flew from his mouth onto his victim's cheek. "You can't use Breaths?! Shrimp!"

Genya sighed irritably through his nose and wiped away the speck. He'd tried; he'd really tried because he knew it was what Tanjirou wanted, but he couldn't contain himself anymore and retorted, "Who are you calling a shrimp when you're built like a schoolgirl?"

As much as Genya detested remarks about his Breathlessness, Inosuke despised comments on his androgyny, and the latter sprang to his feet and roared, "This schoolgirl will wreck you!" The invitation to fight was accepted despite Tanjirou's pleas, and their tussle only halted when the arbiter ran in from the side to headbutt the instigator so that it knocked him to the floor, where he was trapped by being sat upon. Eventually calm was restored, dinner was finished, and the third wheel dozed off, allowing the other two to resume their snuggling until Tanjirou was reminded of going to Giyuu's.

He reluctantly gathered his belongings and approached the door with Genya walking behind him, and just as he'd crossed the threshold, he whirled around, embraced him tightly, and pleaded, "You're sure that you don't wanna come with me?"

"I would've but somebody put me a whole day behind."

Genya leaned away to look accusingly at him, and Tanjirou smiled mischievously before pulling him back into the hug and crooning, "I'm eager for you to finish and for people to know about us. Hurry, okay?"

"Easy for you to say when you're naturally strong. You forget some of us aren't blessed with talent."

"I think you're blessed with lots of talent among other great big things."

Genya looked away, reddened, and muttered, "Why're you like this?" as Tanjirou's giggling became outright laughter.

When they'd composed themselves, Tanjirou said, "You know I can't stand when you criticize yourself, but even if you think you're weak, there's still power in that; it's the weakest person who has the greatest potential. Take us for example: you can't imagine how surprised I was when you were first sweet to me. I want you to take the sweetness that you give me and apply it to yourself." Neither would've complained if they'd stood there eternally frozen in each other's arms, but they knew better and grudgingly separated as Tanjirou said, "I'm going now. Remember to respond when I write. Promise me you won't disappear again."

Genya kissed his forehead and answered, "I promise. I'll see you soon," and Tanjirou believed him.

Chapter Text

In every era, culture, and language, the cruelest word is "almost." They almost had a future together. They almost made it. He almost lived.

When a crow announced the results of the Upper Moon One skirmish, Tanjirou desperately thought, "Maybe there's another Shinazugawa Genya in the corps," but he couldn't lie to himself; he knew. Certainly Muichirou's simultaneous demise was tragic, but he was able to look back at his accomplishments proudly. Could the same be said for Genya, or had his death further fueled his belief that he was worthless? The idea of him hating himself in his final moments crushed Tanjirou, and despite his usual optimism he couldn't find a silver lining. Genya had experienced a joyless childhood, endured an arduous life cursing himself, and died agonizingly without reaching any of his goals. What was the lesson in that? You're born, you suffer, you die, the end? Or was the lesson meant to be that there's no lesson, that life's uncaring and unfair, that you might put in everything but still get nothing in return?

The injustice was intolerable. Was everything glorified in novels, songs, and poems utterly false? Was it just random chances, endless struggling, and senseless emptiness that made up this vale of tears? Tanjirou didn't want to believe so, but his confidence was crumbling with his weeping until even Giyuu noticed. The Hashira slowed to a halt and hung his head, and then in an uncharacteristic gesture, he turned around and gripped Tanjirou's shoulder. Giyuu said sternly, "Enough. Your tears won't add another second to their lives," and there was the shadow of an anguished expression before he resumed his sedate countenance. Tanjirou nodded weakly, steeled himself, and pushed onward, pushed until blackness filled his lungs, until weariness clouded his eyes, until sorrow morphed into fury that engraved itself on his soul.

The Kamabokos' effusive crying, laughing, and babbling welcomed Tanjirou's return to the mortal realm. With tears streaming down their faces, Aoi and the other girls rushed in to make him presentable, and they informed him he'd awoken from a month-long coma. After he adjusted to all the sensations that came with consciousness, there were unbelievable levels of jubilation. Waves of visitors heaped stories, gifts, and news onto him so that he was buoyed by the adrenaline of victory and scarcely remembered the casualties. Such a high isn't everlasting though, and as the evening approached, the number of guests waned until it was bedtime.

He should've been ecstatic. It had taken innumerable sacrifices and centuries of toil, but they'd finally taken back the night from the demons. Instead a new demon confronted him now that the day's distractions were absent, and this demon recalled the gravity of how much was lost. All the lives and possibilities that could've been, all the hopes and vows that'd been waiting for Muzan's death, all gone. He and Genya were supposed to come out and go on adventures together, yet here he was alone, listening to the echoes of Genya's swan song and feeling autumn's chill. He limped to the restroom, sat on the floor against a wall, and wept bitterly for all that'd never be.

There came a tap at the door, and he requested that they use another room. The door opened anyway to reveal Nezuko, and she shushed him when he apologized for his condition. She sat next to him and let some time pass where the only noise was his sniffling, and then she said, "I don't know if you know this, but I remember what happened while I was a demon. Because my mind was like a child's, people did things in front of me that they thought I'd forget, but I didn't. I saw when Aoi swatted Inosuke's butt, and he hit hers back in retaliation. They still slap each other, and I'm pretty sure that it's not just for revenge. I saw Zenitsu's naughty magazines. You guys have only seen his pulps, but I know he's got worse." Through his tears he puffed out a laugh, and encouraged by this, she continued, "I saw affairs, heartbreaks, and secrets. I saw you and Genya." He tensed, and she draped her arm around him and said, "It's okay. Why're you scared that I know? You carried us all this time, and I was happy that you found someone to carry you. You've every reason to be sad and miss him. I'm here for you if you wanna talk about it."

When he was finally drained of tears, she helped him back to their room and into his bed, and within minutes her breathing indicated sleep. He, however, lingered uncomfortably in the limbo between darkness and wakefulness until he was fully awoken by a light shake. A laughing voice said, "Did you hear me? You're spacing out."

Tanjirou was greeted by the familiar sight of drying plants hanging from the ceiling, and when he looked around, he found himself lying in Genya's futon with said person next to him. Beyond the bed the room was packed with flowers, and the setting sun's afterglow cascaded in through the open door that faced the garden. Tanjirou blinked and marveled at how his sight was as it had been before his eye was injured, and then he examined his hands, both of which appeared untouched by the fateful battle. He took in his surroundings once more and breathlessly said, "Did you do this?"

"It's all for you. I knew you'd win. Only you could've done it."

Tanjirou laid a hand against the side of Genya's face and took a trembling breath. "I had the worst nightmare. I dreamt that you disappeared even though you promised you wouldn't. I know you wouldn't do that, not when there's still so much that we haven't done."

"Speaking of things that we haven't done, did you decide where we should go?"

"Huh? Go where?"

"Did you forget? I promised you a vacation, didn't I?"

"Our honeymoon! I don't care where as long as we're together."

Genya scoffed, "Honeymoon?! I think a couple steps got skipped," but when Tanjirou nuzzled against him, he relented and murmured, "Fine. To our honeymoon then."

This was how life should've been: Genya's kisses, the fragrance of flowers, summer sun. He pressed against Genya's chest to collect one more detail: the hymn of their love, the sound of his heartbeat. There was only silence, and Tanjirou said, "...We're not going anywhere, are we?" When there was no answer, he pushed away and cried, "Forget everything else! I just want you here!"

"I understand, but what I wanted was to protect you and everyone important to me. Your life is more precious than mine."

"Says who?! We're equal! We—"

"Tanjirou. This has always been your story. My role and everyone else's were to make sure that you made it to the end, even if you had to step over our bodies. Nobody resented you for it or wanted it any other way."

"I wanted it another way! I'll make this right. We'll make this right. We'll make this our story." His crying distorted the rest of his words, and Genya pulled him back into an embrace. He could still feel the grip and weight of Genya's arms as he gradually awoke in his bed in the Butterfly Estate. It had only been two hours since he'd fallen asleep, and he tried to swallow his unhappiness so that he might return to the room behind his eyelids. The effort was futile, and after a wakeful night the following day was a repeat of yesterday with a steady stream of guests. Nezuko must've cautioned Inosuke and Zenitsu because they were abnormally restrained around him. In contrast Giyuu was quite genial during his visit, and he explained he'd cut his hair because he couldn't tie it anymore with only one hand. When he mentioned how both he and Sanemi were learning to use their left hands, Tanjirou said, "How's Shinazugawa? Could you send him here?"

"He's been quiet, but he's hanging in there. I'll tell him to stop by."

After Giyuu left, Nezuko said to her brother, "Are you tired? Don't feel like you're obligated to talk to everyone."

"It's fine. The visits are keeping me from moping."

"If you say so. You should rest though. You were tossing and turning lots last night." Her advice was taken, and he must've indeed been exhausted because he didn't wake until someone jiggled his leg. He jolted awake at the memory of Genya's prank, and he momentarily thought he'd imagined everything and that he'd be back on that day with his broken leg.

There was only his group looking startled, and Zenitsu said, "You won't be able to sleep at night if you sleep all day."

They kept him company until dinner, and when Tanjirou finished eating, he took from his bag the Life Savers and then immediately regretted doing so. Zenitsu and Inosuke became bewildered when Tanjirou's eyes welled with tears, and Nezuko hurriedly took the Life Savers, returned them to his bag, and upended hers to offer her candy instead. Out tumbled multiple choices, and among them was a familiar packet: the remaining vitamin that'd been left behind by the other slayer months ago. Tanjirou took it and demanded, "Where'd you find this?"

"It was in one of the rooms. I've had it since I was a demon."

"Don't eat this. There's something weird about it. I saw someone hallucinating after she ate it."

Nezuko smiled archly. "Sounds like fun to me."

Before he could admonish her, there came a knock at the door. Tanjirou called for them to enter, and when Sanemi appeared, Nezuko hauled Zenitsu and Inosuke out. Sanemi grumbled, "Tomioka said you're looking for me," but his voice sounded hollow.

"I wanted to ask about Genya. In the end did he... Was it fast?"

Sanemi sighed heavily and glanced into the hallway like he was considering leaving, but he reconsidered and shut the door. "No. Neither for him nor Tokitou."

It wasn't what Tanjirou wanted to hear, but he willed himself to continue: "Was he able to talk to you before that?"

Sanemi opened his mouth, but then he pursed his lips, turned away, and took a deep breath. When he spoke, it wasn't as the Wind Hashira who mangled and murdered his opponents; it was as a grieving man consumed with guilt. "He barely got to say anything, and all he did was apologize even though I'm the one who failed him. I found an unsent letter that he'd written to me, and it said about the same thing, just in more detail."

"You found this in his room? Is it emptied?"

"Most of Himejima's house, yeah. He willed it to Genya, but since he's gone, I'm next of kin." Something seemed to be bothering Sanemi, and he ran his hand through his hair restlessly. He said with some difficulty, "I found your letters to him. It would've been nice to have been informed of all that before I said some shit to him about getting a wife and having kids."

"You didn't give either of us much of a chance to speak to you."

Sanemi bristled, and Tanjirou gave him a look that dared him to retaliate. Sanemi was forced to accept that Tanjirou was overwhelmingly right, and he growled, "Outside. Now." Tanjirou anticipated an attack when they went to an isolated area, but Sanemi instead offered his back and said, "In your state we'd be walking for the whole damn night. Get on. You tell anyone about this, and I'll put you into another coma."

He was swiftly carried to the Stone Residence, and upon being set down he ignored the front door and instead went to the side with the garden, which nature had reclaimed. On the veranda Genya's favorite bonsai had withered, and Tanjirou slowed as he gazed dejectedly at how all these former lives had followed their keeper in death. He opened the door, and Genya's room welcomed him slightly barer than how he remembered it. The four small bonsai were long dead, but the dried plants still hung from the ceiling so that he was flooded with memories of lying on the futon and looking up at them. He sniffed at the pillow, but the only smell was of the surroundings. He fluffed the sheets in hopes of stirring up a scent, but when that didn't work, he went to where Genya's tattered yukata lay folded on the desk. Unfortunately whom the gods love die young, and so beloved was Genya that they'd spirited away every trace of him. Sanemi said, "It doesn't make sense. I saw him under the sun, but he healed like a demon when I beat him and crumbled like one when he died."

"You were there for his beginning and end, but you missed the middle. I'm the opposite. We should fill in the blanks for each other." The stars shone fiercely by the time their conversation dwindled, and they returned to the Butterfly Estate uneventfully as nobody was audacious enough to berate a Hashira. Despite all the time that they'd spent being at odds with one another, Sanemi and Tanjirou had now unified under an unspoken accord: neither of them would ever get their wishes.

Meanwhile someone else was getting exactly what he wanted: Zenitsu had taken to lavishing his attention on Nezuko. He'd shown her around the city multiple times, and as she regaled her brother with her adventures, he listened and offered recommendations despite how it ached to see his story being repeated with her. She became so fond of the city that she suggested they make the Butterfly Estate their new home. "Zenitsu and Inosuke agreed to it, and it'll be good for us to stick together. Since the demon slayers are disbanding, we won't need all this hospital space, so Aoi and Kanao are planning to convert it into housing. It'll be a bunch of former slayers, so you can all sit around talking about the glory days. We'll still visit our childhood home of course." He commented on how haunted the estate was, but she hushed him and said that to say so would end Zenitsu. Said person stopped by later to share what he thought was good news: he and Nezuko had confirmed that Kanao fancied Tanjirou. Evidence of this emerged in how Kanao was content to sit wordlessly by him for hours and how she was complaisant to anything he asked of her, and Tanjirou, as was typical of his diplomatic nature, did his part to accommodate her. Time passed like this until the day came when Aoi granted him permission to resume normal activities.

His first priority was to seek out the job that'd been offered to him at the Rosewood, and after showing the head chef that he was just as capable despite the loss of function in an eye and arm, he was whisked away by Yuko and Keita. They sat in Keita's apartment, reminiscing and crying stormily, and when the hiccupping and sniffling stopped, Tanjirou informed them about what had happened and what was presently happening in his life. At the mention of Kanao, Yuko inquired, "How do you feel about her?"

"She's nice."

"I'm not asking what she's like. I'm asking how you feel."

Tanjirou hadn't given this much consideration, and he became uneasy now that it was pointed out. "I... like that she's nice."

Yuko and Keita shared knowing glances, and the latter considered how to phrase his thoughts tactfully before saying, "Choose carefully, Kamado. Nothing is more difficult than being your most authentic self, so we understand if you'd hide parts of yourself for the sake of having an easy life. I wonder though if easiness is worth bearing the weight of that veneer." This was painless for Keita to say, but for Tanjirou, who dreaded breaking other people's hearts but had no problem with crushing his own, things weren't as simple. He inwardly reassured himself over the months that he was making the right choice because Kanao deserved happiness after all that she'd been through, but perhaps he forgot to consider his own wants because it disconcerted him one day to gaze into a mirror and to see the reflection of a bridegroom gazing back.

"You look good!" exclaimed Zenitsu as he straightened Tanjirou's clothes, and Inosuke concurred with a grin. They left him when Nezuko's voice called asking for their aid, and he went to the veranda to watch some fluttering petals and to try and quiet the voice inside him that questioned why he was treating such a significant event so apathetically. A blooming tree made his thoughts wander to Genya, and he remembered that he did have a memento of him beyond his letters: his tooth. Poor thoughtless Tanjirou; he could only examine the tooth for a few seconds before it became ashes due to him exposing it to the sun. It had never occurred to him that the reason Genya's room had lost every hint of its owner was because said person had died as a demon, and his room had been washed in sunlight after his death.

Zenitsu perked up at a sound and ran off, and Inosuke chased after while asking what he'd heard. They found the bridegroom sobbing and clutching something in his fist that he refused to release, and they solaced him and asked what was wrong. If his face wasn't already contorted with crying, then it would've scrunched from dishonesty when he answered, "I'm happy. I'm just happy is all." Inosuke and Zenitsu exchanged worried glances, but not an hour later, Tanjirou appeared for his wedding without so much as a whimper.

The day represented the remainder of their marriage: tranquil if bland. Taste and smell are inextricably linked; destroying one cripples the other and robs life of flavor, but Tanjirou attempted to resist drawing comparisons between his past and present. Kanao's inability to feel boredom was a product of her rough childhood, and it wasn't fair to fault her for that. So he tried his hardest to overlook this aspect, and he must've succeeded because nobody could deny that he loved his family dearly, even if he was plagued by the thought that perhaps his decision to surrender to the expectations of society and the people around him had cost him opportunities at true fulfillment. But what's adulthood if not relinquishing dreams to instead do what's pragmatic and proper? So he drifted through the years, clinging to the belief that everyone whom he'd loved and lost, including Genya, still existed somewhere, even if they'd become separated by too much time to reach one another. As he was contemplating this one day, the sound of squabbling reached him, and he and Inosuke rushed to stop a brawl between two of their children. Inosuke then sighed, "Do you remember Enma?"

Around the clock availability and off the clock training was expected as a demon slayer. That demanding, intense job had consumed every second of each member's lives, and for it to vanish threw everyone into a directionless state. Those who found no glory in battle valued this freedom, as demonstrated by Nezuko and Zenitsu, who both thrived in this peaceful epoch, but for people like Tanjirou and Inosuke who'd graded themselves by their victories, it reeked of anticlimax. Inosuke was especially affected; he'd often pace around restlessly, hungering for the thrilling turbulence of his past. The scene of their children tussling made him nostalgic and prompted his question, and Tanjirou answered, "Genya? Of course. How could I forget the clashes between you two?"

"I'd give anything to have another match with him. He was always down to fight." A few moments passed as they gazed after their children before Inosuke murmured, "I swear that I'll pop up in every life just to fuck with him. I don't care how long it takes. We'll find one where he stays."

The talk of multiple lives reminded Tanjirou of the visions and déjà vu that he'd once experienced, but those had halted when he lost Genya so that he questioned if he'd imagined them. Years later and he still couldn't figure out what they were, and now he'd never know. What could he do though except continue forward? So he smiled wistfully and said, "Yeah we were a bit sloppy this time, but this isn't the end. It might be a while, but we'll make things right eventually."

Chapter Text

"Hey, Kamado. The usual."

"Sure, an anpan and one Spring Equinox with double the matcha and half the vanilla coming up."

There were no other customers behind Sanemi, and as he waited for his drink to be made, Tanjirou chatted with him. The rumors circulating about Sanemi were wild: he had yakuza ties, he was a contract killer, he was untouchable because he was the police chief's plaything. His appearance did him no favors: barring a sliver of skin in the center of his torso, he was covered in traditional art from his elbows to his shoulders to his hips, and he had outlines waiting to be colored extending down his legs to his knees. Most people readily commented on the tattoos, but very few were brave enough to ask about his scars; the handful who did received a curt reply of "I fell down some stairs," and nobody dared to dig beyond that. Nonetheless he'd made a name for himself after tattooing a luxury fashion designer who was known for his loud, flamboyant antics and who'd drawn so much attention to Sanemi's art that Downburst Tattoo enjoyed packed schedules ever since. Whatever the situation, all that mattered to Tanjirou was that they'd known each other for three years since Sunkissed Bakery's only branch store had opened two doors over and that behind the muscles, swagger, and scars was an artist who told entertaining stories and who seldom strayed from his preferred order. Today there was a novel request: "How much time do you need for a cake?"

"It depends on what kind of cake you're wanting. What're you celebrating?"

"My younger brother's arrival. He and I just bought a duplex near here, and he'll be working with me. He's friends with the twins, and those two went and got Rengoku and Kanroji worked up. Now everyone's pressuring me to get a damn cake."

"Wow, a house and a new artist! I'll keep an eye out for him. Let me know what you decide on for the cake."

"You'll know him when you see him." Sanemi took his drink and anpan, and after they said their thanks and goodbyes, Tanjirou pulled out his phone.

Nezuko appeared from the kitchen with a tray of goods, and as she set them into the case, she asked, "Was that Shinazugawa?" Tanjirou confirmed it without looking up, and she snuck up behind him to grab his shoulders and to tease, "And what's got your attention? Let's see, there's a fishing photo, and he didn't clean his room for his other pics. I'm disowning you if you match with him."

She hovered over him awhile longer to jab at the various profiles that he swiped through until he closed the app and sighed, "Online dating sucks. I feel like it's mostly getting ghosted or hooking up."

"Pretty much. Those apps aren't made for finding love; they're made to get you addicted to them. You've had a handful of good dates though."

"I guess, but it's exhausting. Maybe I should take a break from it." He tried to forget the negativity by reminding himself that life was kind in every other way. After he and Nezuko had proven that they were able to balance creativity with number crunching, their parents, who owned the main store, had allowed them to open Sunkissed Bakery's first branch store. Beyond co-managing the place with his sister, his social media endeavors earned him an expansive network and a modest side income, his friend circle was massive and supportive, and he and his family were healthy and kept in touch. There was much to appreciate, but it didn't stop him from craving one more thing: someone to share his world with.

He'd grown up around plentiful love with his parents demonstrating how uplifting and enriching a harmonious union could be, but in his search for this treasure, he discovered the more people he let in, the more that walked right out. He wouldn't be himself without his resilient spirit however, so he dismissed this cloud hanging over him and progressed through the days gracefully until there came a spark of intrigue in the form of the Tokitou twins arriving for the cake. They alternated babbling to the Kamado siblings that Genya would be arriving in an hour and that he'd be doing flashes at discounted prices for a week. "You should come over, even if it's just to browse!"

"Oh! We can show you the pieces that he did on us!" The twins pulled up their sleeves to reveal their arms: palm-sized circles within which there was a scene of a pine branch extending across a misty night sky. The only difference was that the moon in Yuuichirou's was full whereas Muichirou's was a crescent, but both images could've been lifted from a fairytale or a memory for how darkly romantic they were.

The Kamado siblings expressed admiration and then astonishment at how vastly Genya and Sanemi's styles differed, and Nezuko inquired, "Is Genya like his brother?"

The duo answered simultaneously: "Not really," and, "Sort of."

"What's he like?"

Yuuichirou said gravely, "He likes drinking, fucking, and fighting." The Kamado siblings were appalled, and Yuuichirou broke his pretense with a giggle.

Muichirou pushed at his brother and made a reproving face like he was going to scold him, but then he said, "She was asking about Genya, not Sanemi."

The four of them burst into laughter, and Tanjirou said, "Stop! What if he walks in here? You two are gonna make me lose a loyal customer."

Yuuichirou composed himself. "Genya likes quiet things: gardening, painting, walking around and exploring."

Muichirou added, "He tables with us at the monthly craft fair here. He sells stuff with dried flowers." Before anymore could be said, Yuuichirou's phone rang, and the duo exclaimed that Sanemi was calling as they rushed away with the cake. This new character enthralled the Kamado siblings, but they were too busy that day to leave the shop. Tanjirou was left to craft his own image of Genya, and the combination of his art style and the twins' description created a mental picture of a timid and fragile person hiding among plants.

This was proven utterly wrong when some days later, a striking individual entered the bakery, and it was as Sanemi had said: it was blatantly apparent who this man was. The disconnect between Tanjirou's presumptions, the twins' summary, and Genya's actual appearance made the former steal furtive, fascinated glances at the newcomer to try and determine if this was truly Genya, and when Nezuko saw her brother scrutinizing their customer slightly too thoroughly, she nudged Zenitsu as a signal to watch. Tanjirou didn't notice them because he was staring at the ring in the center of the bottom lip and the stud in the philtrum of that terribly handsome mouth as it said, "Hi, I'd like a Summer Day, an anpan, and a Spring Equinox with double the matcha and half the vanilla."

"Sure. You must be Shinazugawa Genya. Your brother usually gets the same thing each time, so I recognized his order. It's nice meeting you. I'm Kamado Tanjirou." The Kamado clan's hallmark was their friendly but brazen nature, and Tanjirou demonstrated this when he shook Genya's hand, glimpsed the elegant flowers on the back, and shamelessly raised the hand to his face to examine the tattoo. Genya was accustomed to uninvited attention regarding his looks, but people usually avoided touching him. For this stranger to defy convention by holding his hand of all things disconcerted him, but Tanjirou coaxed him from his reticence with genuine questions and curiosity.

Zenitsu and Nezuko hadn't caught the whole conversation, but when they glanced over again, their visitor had been persuaded into removing his jacket and pushing up his shirt sleeve so that Tanjirou could see the rest of his arm: a solid black background overlaid by curling smoke and boughs of flowers and leaves that ended at the side of his neck. The art was exquisite, but it couldn't be discerned whether Tanjirou was more captivated by the tattoo or by the idea of how wonderful it must feel to be held by those arms. Genya uttered something, but his voice faltered because he'd become painfully aware of the contact. Tanjirou's gaze moved up to his face, and at the sight of the scar turning pink, he faintly wondered if both brothers had fallen down the same stairs. A voice interrupted, "Hi, we'll probably be seeing each other often. I'm Agatsuma Zenitsu. Here are your drinks."

Zenitsu aimed to rescue their guest by giving him an excuse to free his hands from Tanjirou, and as the tray of drinks was taken, another savior appeared: "Hi, I'm Kamado Nezuko! Your tunnels are so cool! How're you liking it here so far?"

"Thanks, it's nicer than where I was before."

"It helps that we've lots of good food around. Let me know if you want any recommendations." She was as talkative as her brother, and between her and Zenitsu they'd effectively prevented Genya from retreating into his shell. Meanwhile Tanjirou had stepped to the side to put an anpan into a box, and then as a welcome gift he snuck in one of their current limited items: a strawberry champagne tart. There were no other customers, and the moment Genya was gone, Nezuko grabbed her brother's arm and said, "Tall, toned, and tattooed? Don't make that face; I saw you ogling him. I've never seen you into his type though. You're feeling the 'bad boy who's only good to me' trope now?"

"What?! We were just talking!"

Zenitsu scoffed, "You looked like you were about to jump this counter to pounce on him and desecrate the bakery floor."

Tanjirou sputtered, and Nezuko took out her phone and said, "Let's do some investigating." They crowded around her as she opened Downburst Tattoo's Instagram page, where there was a photo of all the staff smiling alongside Genya. The caption welcomed their new artist, mentioned his discounted flashes, and linked to his professional page, and she exclaimed, "I've never seen Shinazugawa so happy before! Aw, look how cute your man is!"

"He's not my man!"

"Yet," she said with a smirk, and then she tapped on the link to Genya's page. In addition to tattoos his other projects were displayed: floral still lifes in slightly off-putting situations and dried plants framed in eye-catching arrangements or used to embellish portraits. His work was breathtaking, but they deflated when they could find no photos of the artist or any peeks into his personal life. Nezuko exclaimed, "Let's go over there and get Genya's personal page! We'll ask to see his other tattoos, and then maybe he'll take more of his clothes off for you." She turned on her heel, but her brother caught her and pulled her back.

The energy faded as they resumed work, but Tanjirou passed the days anxiously until he saw a figure cross the window and then enter. "Genya! How're you? How'd you like the tart?"

An eyebrow twitched at the rapid jump to a first-name basis, but Genya answered, "I'm fine, thanks. The tart? Sanemi ate it, so I'm guessing it was good."

"It was meant for you!"

"Oh whoops. I only bought a drink, so I didn't look inside the box and just handed it to him. Well it's the thought that counts. Could I get a Summer Day?"

"Sure. Are you busy?"

"It's the same as usual."

"No I meant you personally."

"Oh, uh, well my next appointment isn't until three."

"Do you've some time to spare? I still want you to try our monthly flavor. You can also sample next month's too if you're up for it."

After Genya's agreement Tanjirou went into the kitchen, got a plate, and opened the refrigerator to take out a rose-flavored macaron and a coordinating dessert. Zenitsu and Nezuko stared accusingly at him, and just when it felt like Kanao was the only sensible person left, she said, "What's that saying? 'The fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach?'" Tanjirou gave her a disbelieving look, but it was ineffective. She continued piping out macarons with a mellow smile, and all he could do was ignore the tittering from the other two as he returned to the front to pull a strawberry champagne macaron and its associated tart from the display case.

The bakery was diminutive and only had two tables and a counter against the window for seating, and it was at one of these tables that they sat across from each other. After a taste Genya said, "A rose profiterole? It's good."

"I'm glad to hear it! It'll be replacing our strawberry champagne stuff next month." A crash from the kitchen caught Tanjirou's attention before he swiveled back to continue talking, but he was stunned momentarily when he saw himself in a strange place. Where was he? Was he having dinner with someone? Who was with him...? The vision couldn't have lasted a second, but automatically he gazed into Genya's face searchingly and murmured, "You ever feel like we've known each other for a long time?" At Genya's quizzical expression Tanjirou appended, "What I meant was that it feels like we've met before."

"I don't think so, or if we did, then I don't remember."

"Hm. Sorry my thoughts are a mess. I was considering adding Mont Blanc to the menu. You seem to know your desserts too! What're your favorites?" Tanjirou the conversational expert succeeded in snaring his prey for nearly half an hour until Genya's phone lit up with a text from Sanemi, prompting him to make a purchase and leave.

Tanjirou headed into the kitchen to wash the plate, but he was intercepted at the door by Zenitsu, who exclaimed, "You'll hold his hands no problem, but apparently asking for his contact info is too much!"

Nezuko added, "You complain about online dating, but when an in-real-life chance at a goth husband falls into your lap, you goof off!"

Tanjirou retorted, "I already botched the first impression, so I'm trying to slow down and feel out if he's single or even into men! These things are spelled out online, but real life isn't as easy!" They glanced past him through the kitchen door's window, and Nezuko took the plate from him as Zenitsu shoved him back through the door. Tanjirou's stomach dropped when he saw Genya standing at the counter, and he wondered with chagrin how much Genya had heard. He said sheepishly, "Genya. I thought you left."

"I did but then I noticed you didn't give me my card back."

Tanjirou was on the brink of death, but he managed to return the card. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine. I owe you for treating me."

Tanjirou willed for him to leave so that he could release the scream building up internally, but Genya remained stationary, reddened, and looked away. And then, in a tiny voice: "I am single."

"What time do you get off? Do you wanna get dinner?" The speedy recovery astounded everyone, and it took a moment for Genya to gather his wits enough to suggest seven tomorrow. Tanjirou responded by holding out his phone, and Genya added his number and then walked off dazed. The moment that the front door closed, there was a snort from the kitchen door behind Tanjirou, and without turning around he said, "I hope you're all satisfied. He probably thinks I'm insane now."

Zenitsu inquired, "So what's the plan?"

Kanao remarked, "Imagine being known for your candlelit dinners but having nobody to serve them to."

Nezuko laughed, "Damn, Kanao, he can't go on his date if you kill him!"

Tanjirou had landed on an effective formula for his weekly videos: the first half where he detailed the recipe would be filmed in regular light, and then the second half would be a candlelit presentation. When he wasn't uploading cooking demonstrations, it'd be him offering kitchen tips, experimenting with kitchen gadgets, or flaunting his prowess in decorating baked goods. Still, Kanao was right: there was something pitiful about preparing meals so romantically only to turn the lights back on so that he could either eat it himself or bring it home to his roommates. Tanjirou sighed heavily and pouted, and Zenitsu said, "It would be a good idea if you cooked for him."

"I'm not inviting him over on the first date."

Kanao suggested, "How about in here?"

With a strategy in place, Tanjirou went into the kitchen to resume work, and Nezuko watched him until he was out of earshot, whereupon she muttered to Zenitsu, "Let's pray for Genya."

Chapter Text

The Kamabokos shared an apartment, but Inosuke was away on a research trip so that only Zenitsu and Nezuko were present to hug Tanjirou, to alert him of rain, and to wish him luck that night. The bakery's lights were dimmed to emphasize some candles; soft instrumental music adorned the background; and a tasteful rug was placed in the center and topped by a table and two chairs. Tanjirou finished cooking earlier than he'd planned, and he stepped outside to soothe his nerves in the brisk winter air. As he was checking his phone, a voice said, "Dear, your skin is gorgeous." An old woman was smiling pleasantly at him, and after he thanked her she asked, "Do you do anything special for it?"

"Not really. I wash and moisturize it, but that's about it."

"What if I told you it could be even more radiant? That in addition to smoother skin, you could also have a sharper memory, stronger bones, and increased energy? I'm selling vitamins that do all that and more, dear, and here's a free sample to take home with you if you don't believe me. You can chew them. They're tasty."

Tanjirou wasn't dumb, but he was too polite to interrupt salespeople. He wondered if she'd gotten him before because he could've sworn that he'd already heard her spiel somewhere. Regardless he perceived her as harmless and thought she'd leave him if only he'd take the sample, so he reached for it until an arm draped around his shoulders and swept him back toward the door. He only realized who it was when a voice snapped, "No thanks."

"Genya, hi! You look sharp!"

"Thanks. I'm trying to keep up with you."

Tanjirou's confidence soared, and he graciously accepted a gift of wine that'd been brought to drink alongside their dinner. After conquering the initial anxiety that inevitably accompanies every first date, conversation and laughter flowed easily, and Genya's praise for the food made the cook so bubbly that he nearly forgot his plans for dessert. When he remembered, he pulled the other table up next to theirs, went into the kitchen, and returned with a tray of supplies and ingredients to make Crepes Suzette, a dazzling flambé treat. He was concentrating on his technique while Genya was closely watching him such that neither of them noticed the figure approaching the bakery.

Tanjirou had silenced his phone, so he didn't see Zenitsu's text warning of imminent danger. He'd just ignited a glass of liqueur when the door flew open, and Inosuke charged in. The intruder had returned from his research trip early and saw that the bakery's lights were on, and from past experiences he'd learned that if the lights were on late, then it was because goods were being discarded or a video was being filmed. On his quest for free food, he'd accidentally startled Tanjirou, who jerked his hand and tossed some of the flaming liqueur out, but more importantly, the other two were staring at each other with tense recognition. Genya drew first blood: "Inosuke. Wow you've changed. Wearing shoes and buttoning up now, huh?"

"Gaara. Looks like you never left your emo phase."

"Who the fuck are you talking to?! It's Genya! Why're you even here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing!"

Tanjirou looked back and forth between them. "You two know each other?"

They turned to him, and both faces became alarmed. Tanjirou followed their gazes and saw that the spilled liqueur had started a fire that was consuming the rug and the gift bag that'd contained the wine. He ran for the extinguisher while the other two used their coats to beat at the flames. Their flailing upset the crepe pan, and its contents sloshed out and enlarged the fire so that it caught onto Genya's coat. Panicking, he ran outside to fling the garment to the ground and to stomp on it. Left all alone, Inosuke wailed and fought more frantically, and then in his desperation he threw his coat over the blaze and trampled it to try and smother it. Tanjirou reappeared with the extinguisher and doused the remainder of the fire, and from outside came the sound of applause for their heroics. No, wait, that was rain.

An onlooker would've howled with mirth at the scene of Inosuke covered in white froth and Genya soaked and shivering. Tanjirou, however, was speechless as Genya collected his umbrella, which had become pointless since he was drenched, and said flatly, "Thanks for the meal, Tanjirou. Goodnight."

Two unsalvageable coats lay on the ground, one in the bakery and one outside, and Tanjirou stood listening to the downpour and the sound of Genya's car rumbling away until he willed himself to begin attending the mess. Inosuke wordlessly joined in, and when all that was left was the furniture that'd been warped by the heat and a scorch mark on the ground, he mumbled, "Sorry."

"It's alright. You couldn't have known what was happening. Let's go home."

No words were exchanged during their journey (although Inosuke's powdery appearance drew some looks), and when they arrived home, Nezuko peeked out from her and Zenitsu's room expecting to only see one person. She was shocked to find two, and when she reported this to the other occupant, they both emerged, saw Inosuke coatless and dusted in white, and knew immediately why the date had been truncated. After hearing the story Zenitsu accosted the culprit, who scowled and spat out some more apologies, but Tanjirou the champion of mercy defended him: "Let's not fight. I'm sure that Inosuke was excited to be home and just wanted to say hi. There was no way for him to know I was working with fire."

Inosuke asked, "Why were you burning food?"

Zenitsu fumed, "Didn't you see the candles or hear the music?! What're your dates like?!"

Inosuke was thunderstruck and said to Tanjirou, "A date?! With Menma?!"

"You're opposed to me dating him?"

"Yes! I'll shit in my hand and throw it at him if that's what it takes to keep him away!"

Zenitsu was nearly purple with fury. "You do that, and I'll cut your dumb, girly face off and make you eat it!"

Tanjirou laughed, "What's this grudge that you've got against him?"

Inosuke's tale was obviously biased, but they were still able to learn that just as Zenitsu and Tanjirou had met in high school so too had Genya and Inosuke... at the academy for troubled youths. The academy's salient strategy for behavior remediation was to have their students write a brief autobiography upon entry, and based on this essay, each first-year would be paired with a suitable second-year as a mentor until they graduated. This was done to give the older students a sense of responsibility, to help the younger students integrate, and to prevent anyone from saying they had no friends. The feral child that'd been on the news had mostly grasped reading by his high school years but still struggled with writing at that point, so he didn't know what was in his essay that'd made Genya his assigned "friend." In short, they had such a deadly relationship that when Inosuke became a second-year, the academy opted to not provide him with an underclassman so that he could instead focus on surviving a partnership with Genya. They both somehow graduated; had their attitudes adjusted by bills, bureaucracy, and all the other joys of adulthood; and mentally buried those years only for fate to reunite them a decade later.

Nezuko furrowed her brow. "Why didn't they separate you guys if it was so bad?"

"I don't know. Maybe the school hated us and wanted us to kill each other."

Tanjirou reassured, "Well that was years ago. People grow up and change. You've changed. Did you ever think the illiterate boy from the forest would be pursuing a PhD? Maybe you two could give friendship a chance. Look back at the past and laugh about it together."

"And maybe I'll turn into a flying pig. I'm showering and going to bed. Don't say I didn't warn you about him."

It was the coldest day for Tanjirou. Genya hadn't contacted him after last night, and now it was the afternoon but still nothing. He was finishing up a wedding cake, and when he wondered if there'd ever be a day where he'd get to prepare one for himself, he became gloomier. This was unacceptable; there was no such thing as a gloomy Tanjirou. He completed the cake, refrigerated it, and resolved to go over to apologize. Whether they dated or not, Genya was still a paying customer, and it'd be beneficial for them to be on good terms. He called out, "Nezuko, Kanao, I'll be right back," and marched over to the tattoo shop.

He scarcely entered the artists' domain, but whenever he did, he was always received warmly and invited to enjoy the sights. This was no dim hovel that reeked of smoke and blood-borne diseases; Sanemi was picky with his artists, and he ran a tight ship styled after a dojo with an impressive mural of a tattooed Fujin and Raijin on the back wall. None of that mattered though because Tanjirou returned to the bakery on the verge of collapse. Nezuko caught him and cried, "What's wrong?! Was he over there?!"

"No... Shinazugawa tried calling him, but he still wouldn't pick up."

"Maybe he was busy. When's he coming back?"

"Tomorrow but we won't be here."

"I'll figure something out. Even if you nearly cooked him on your first and possibly only date, you can still try for friendship!"

He usually trusted her, but he would've reconsidered had he known her plan was to send Zenitsu over to the tattoo shop to offer samples of next month's limited flavor with an ulterior motive of assessing Genya's mood. Tanjirou couldn't relax on his day off when he learned this. He just wanted to binge and cry over his shows, but she kept pacing around impatiently, waiting for updates so that it made him restless too. She burst into his room and exclaimed, "Zenitsu said Genya isn't mad and that he even asked about you!" Some stressful minutes passed until there was another announcement: "He said Genya asked for your number and that he'll call you!"

His phone did eventually ring from a strange number, and he scrambled to answer. An automated message started telling him about his (nonexistent) car's warranty, and he hung up, tossed his phone aside, and yelled into his pillow. It rung again with Yuuichirou's number, and on the other end Genya's voice said haltingly, "Tanjirou? Sorry for disappearing. The fire wrecked my phone, but I'll have another one by tomorrow. Sorry I ran off the other night, but I was freezing and not thinking straight. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! I'm the one who should be apologizing. I can't believe I destroyed your coat and phone. I'll pay you back."

"It's alright. It wasn't your fault. You can say our first date was literally a trial by fire. What a shitty coincidence that you know Inosuke though. I thought I got rid of him, but here he is, still a disaster."

Tanjirou couldn't imagine how Inosuke could possibly denounce Genya, especially after such generous absolution. A few minutes went by of them laughing about what'd happened, and Genya voiced his perspective about the history between him and Inosuke ("He said he was trying to survive me?! I was trying to survive him!") until Tanjirou asserted, "Let me pay you back. I won't feel right otherwise. Tell me how much everything cost."

There was a pause before an answer was given carefully: "Pay me back with a second date."

"Smooth!" drawled Muichirou in the background, and then there was the sound of Genya holding the phone away from himself to hiss something at the twins, who snickered. Regardless Tanjirou was so ecstatic that when the day came, he had to restrain himself from running the whole way there.

Genya had suggested an afternoon walk through the city so that they could search for spots to inspire his next painting, and then they'd have a hopefully non-flammable dinner somewhere nearby. When Tanjirou found him waiting with a bag containing flowers, he nearly melted with adoration, and as they alternated between wandering the streets and stopping inside various places to warm up, their veins filled with sugar, music, and all manners of sweetness. The radiance didn't dim even as they sat on a train beside an empty cup paired with a crumpled fast-food bag left by some inconsiderate slob.

The debris interested Genya, and he removed the lid from the cup to arrange some flowers within it. They lost track of times that the train went back and forth as they talked and laughed while the decorations were repeatedly rearranged, and although they turned some heads, Genya's presence discouraged anyone from bothering them. When he was satisfied, he took pictures for reference, gathered the plants back into the bag, and sat back so that Tanjirou could lean on his shoulder and peer at the results: drab lighting, graying fixtures, and man-made trash, but amid the ugliness and humdrum, the flowers persisted in their splendor, a parallel for how life's long stretches of bleakness and boredom were made tolerable by pursuits and memories of fleeting, perfect moments.

Such a moment existed for them as they exited the train, scattered the flowers at a park, and returned to Genya's car to head to a restaurant some minutes away. Their dinner was much tamer this time, and they lingered as Tanjirou told a story about how the last time that he'd been to a beach was two years ago with his family and how it was disastrous because they'd seen what appeared to be a person levitating over the water in the distance. Pictorial evidence was produced, and Genya scoffed that it was probably a seabird. After this was vehemently countered, Genya declared, "Let's go then. Right now."

"What...? We can't. It's cold and late, and I've work tomorrow."

"You're the boss. Tell someone to come in for you." Genya reached across the table and laid his hand over Tanjirou's. "Forget your responsibilities awhile. Even if it's only one night, leave everything behind so that it's just us."

Unknown images swarmed Tanjirou's mind, and he was almost positive that he'd missed this exact chance before. Here was the fairytale romance that he'd been craving where he got swept off his feet, and he was about to ruin it because he was considering work of all things. What was wrong with him? "They'll be fine without me for a day. Let's go."

After half an hour through the neon streets, they arrived at an empty beach because no reasonable soul would visit on a winter night. The city's glow overpowered most of the stars, but the grinning moon and vast blackness suspended over the twinkling sea was no less a spectacle. An airport was nearby, and as they strolled along the promenade, they occasionally lifted their faces to the distant roar and glittering lights of planes overhead while imagining a future with opportunities and adventures as limitless as the sky. Tanjirou felt impossibly weightless, like the only thing anchoring him to this world was Genya's hand holding his, and they walked for some time before stopping at a convenience store for refreshments. They returned to the car to warm up, and as they snuggled together in the backseat to watch a movie on Tanjirou's phone, he felt a patch of taut skin on the back of Genya's hand: a scar concealed by the tattoo. Curious, Tanjirou inquired about the other arm, and Genya pushed up his sleeve to reveal a few pictures that left most of the skin on his left arm visible with the telltale marks exposed. It wasn't half as bad as Sanemi's case, but it made Tanjirou remember the rumors. He gingerly took Genya's face in one hand and turned it to him to ask, "How'd you get this?" while tracing his thumb over the scar.

"I fell down some stairs."

Tanjirou scoffed, "The same ones as your brother?"

Genya laughed, "No, different ones," and because they were close, Tanjirou noticed a silver flicker inside his mouth.

"Your tongue… Did that hurt to get?"

"Not really. Afterwards is when it sucks. It felt like I'd bit my tongue."

"But it's fine because you heal quickly, right?"

"Yeah... How do you know that?"

"I'm... not sure. Maybe because you've a lot compared to your brother."

"Piercings? Yes but that's because he doesn't have any. Tattoos? No he's way more covered than me."

"How many do you have?"

Genya glanced away to mentally tally them. "A dozen."

Tanjirou turned Genya's face from one side to the other and counted four in each ear, two on his mouth, and one in his mouth. "Where's number 12?"

Genya smiled mysteriously, put another movie on, and changed the subject: "You never told me how you met Inosuke. Did you find him in the zoo?" When the second movie ended, he retrieved a blanket and exited the car. Tanjirou presumed that they were going to sit on the sand, but Genya led him away from the main beachfront and to a locked gate and then horrified him by beginning to scale it. He disregarded Tanjirou's reproaches, climbed down to the other side, and rummaged through a nearby pile of forgotten construction supplies to produce a key for unlocking the gate.

They were on a pier that the city had indefinitely delayed renovations for, and the weathered wood squeaked and groaned as they made their way to the end. Tanjirou was a model citizen; restaurants, theaters, and other legal activities were standard fare for his dates, not trespassing and sitting on abandoned property, dangling his legs over the water. Still, it was an intoxicating, magical feeling to be wrapped up in a blanket with Genya and to only have the ocean, the sky, and the breeze as their witnesses in a world that felt like it was here for them and only them. At a lull in their conversation, he breathed into Genya's shoulder, "How'd you find this place?"

"I went looking for water to counter your fiery date." This earned an indignant noise, and Genya smiled and murmured, "I promised to take you to the ocean, didn't I?"

Tanjirou looked up at him inquisitively. "You did?"

"I... thought I did?"

"Maybe it was someone else."

"No I'm sure it was you. How weird... Maybe we have met before. Maybe we were too trashed to remember." They searched their memories and offered suggestions of possible places and circumstances, but they gradually diverged into other topics until time felt simultaneously short, long, and nonexistent.

The sky started lightening: pink and orange ribbons wove through amethyst haze to herald the arrival of a star. Tanjirou saw the sunrise every day that he went to work, but to behold the ocean and sky merging their colors into a blazing mosaic was to see it anew. Genya looked to his right, saw the mesmerized expression and the golden skin, and reflexively bent down to kiss the left side of his forehead. Every lifetime and cell in Tanjirou's body sang with elation, and he faced upwards in hopes of getting more. He found the features before him tinged with unexpected emotion though. Was it confusion? Concern? No... it was sadness. Genya glanced at Tanjirou's intact earlobes and unblemished forehead, but he couldn't identify what was off. It felt like he'd missed out on something, but what was it? A chance? A calling? A whole life...? He was brought back to the present when Tanjirou squeezed his hand and inquired, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. You just seem more like a summer day rather than a winter night type of person." Genya leaned down and gently pressed their lips together, and when he pulled away, Tanjirou tugged him back in for a more ardent kiss.

It was transcendent, magnificent, sublime; it was... cold. "Genya, I'm f-freezing."

Dawn dressed the city in frigid shades of blue, but this was lost on Tanjirou as they drove back. He was a morning person who seldom pulled all-nighters, and as a result he'd cocooned himself in the blanket and then fallen asleep almost immediately after giving his address. Genya's nudging awoke him, but he was so cozy that he didn't move and merely hummed in response. Only his face and legs stuck out from the blanket, and in a haze of drowsiness and boldness, he crooned, "Genya, carry me." He was half joking, but he instinctively knew his entreaty would be fulfilled. It had been obeyed every time that he'd issued it, and this time would be no different if the sight of Genya crossing the front of the car to get to him was any indicator. Tanjirou recognized a flaw in his logic: this was the first time that he'd ever uttered those words, so where'd his certainty come from? No matter; his door opened, and his keys were fished from his pocket.

Tanjirou thought his date was being affectionate when he tucked the blanket in more tightly around him before scooping an arm under his knees and behind his back. He didn't think it was so that Genya could sling him over a shoulder and clasp his hands behind his cargo's thighs to carry him like a sack of flour. The blanket pinned Tanjirou's arms to his body and had shifted to obscure his vision, so he couldn't find his center of gravity. He felt like he was upside down and going to be dropped. Fortunately he only lived on the second floor, but the bumping as they ascended the stairs was terrifying and drew yelps and shrieks amidst laughter from him. Genya freed a hand to unlock the door and to pull Tanjirou's shoes off, and then he was directed to the correct bedroom. Tanjirou was dumped onto his bed, and when he heard the courier saying goodbye, he wiggled to free an arm and asked him to wait. A hand extended from the blanket, and Genya sighed, grasped it, and sat on the bed. On his last embers of consciousness, Tanjirou mumbled, "That was scary when you vanished the other day. Promise me you won't disappear again."

Genya kissed his forehead and answered, "I promise. I'll see you soon," and Tanjirou believed him just as he had every time before.

Chapter Text

"It may take more than one lifetime to repay a karmic debt. Sometimes even when the debt is more than paid, a soul doesn't ascend because it's become attached to something. When the powers above notice this, they may send assistance, and we call it a miracle or divine intervention. Ideally though you shouldn't wait for this aid. You should instead practice detachment from desire because that's how true enlightenment is achieved." Gyoumei had come in from out of town to visit his former apprentice and to be a guest artist at Downburst Tattoo awhile. Presently he was lecturing Genya and Tanjirou as they all sat at a table in the bakery, and after a moving thought made the giant's dark eyes water, he thanked the proprietor for his hospitality and left to return to the tattoo shop.

With Gyoumei gone Tanjirou puckishly said, "It's fun to desire things though. I think what I want is sitting next to me right now." Genya shook his head disapprovingly as Tanjirou laughed and leaned against him. The rosy atmosphere was tarnished by a shadow darkening the door, and this shadow now stood glaring across the room.

Thrice a week, Inosuke would arrive shortly before Tanjirou's shift ended, and the former would study or work on his laptop while he waited on the latter. Today Genya had unknowingly disturbed this routine, and Tanjirou sensed the danger and readied himself to intervene. However, as quickly as the hackles were raised, they were lowered because the other two both inwardly decided they were too old for the antics. Inosuke shrugged his backpack off and sat at the counter so that his back faced the other guest in a gesture of pointedly ignoring him, but this defied his confrontational nature so harshly that he only tapped on his keyboard for a few seconds before huffing, "Why're you here?"

"I'm patronizing a business. Why're you here?"

"I'm waiting for Tamagotchi so that we can go work out."

"Right, I forgot how much of a gym rat you are. You trying to convert him?"

"I'm trying to keep all these carbs from getting to him! Don't call me a gym rat when you're no better than me!"

"I take days off unlike you. Where're you even getting money to go to the gym? Are you paying in acorns?"

Inosuke swiveled around in consideration of throwing a chair, but Tanjirou's wrath and the legal implications of publicly brawling weren't appealing. He instead picked up his laptop and pushed it toward Genya. It was the page of the lab that Inosuke was associated with, and he'd opened the link listing all the personnel. Next to an uncharacteristically mild picture of him were his professional contact information and a description of his work, and while he stood boasting, Tanjirou went to the counter to tend to Sanemi, who'd entered to retrieve his brother as well as to make some purchases. Inosuke expounded how he'd earned his bachelor's and then landed his current job, where he was being groomed to be a principal researcher. This position required a higher degree, and in exchange for his continued loyalty to the company, they provided him with tuition assistance. Genya read, "Hashibira Inosuke: PhD graduate student, ecology and evolutionary biology," and then he said sincerely, "Well damn. It took them saying, 'No shirt, no shoes, no science,' for you to clean up, huh? I'm impressed."

Sanemi leaned against a wall to wait, but Inosuke disregarded him as he collected his laptop and said smugly, "And what've you been doing? You look unemployable."

Sanemi growled, "Enough," and then he said to his brother, "You've a client." Tanjirou in his infinite optimism thought art and science were beginning to reconcile, and he continued to believe this as the days lengthened and warmed with spring's arrival. The weather wasn't the only change that'd occurred over the months; for Tanjirou, who'd always followed the straight and narrow, his romance brought an unprecedented array of experiences. Certainly there were typical activities, but what Genya really enjoyed was finding beauty in mundane, unconventional, or lonely places. These places were made less lonesome now that somebody accompanied him, and although Tanjirou's virtues sometimes made him hesitate during these excursions, exhilaration gradually replaced his doubts as time progressed. Genya would bring a projector, and they'd turn the side of a deserted building into their own drive-in theater; they climbed fences and evaded security to explore forsaken sites; he'd find scenic spots hidden among the urban rot to work on his projects while Tanjirou occupied himself on his phone or laptop.

These trips were only possible because there was a practical aspect to dating Genya: he had a car. They lived in a bustling city with excellent public transportation and most everything within walking distance, so Tanjirou had never gotten one because he reasoned that the amount of use he'd get from it wouldn't justify the cost of maintenance, insurance, and gas. The bakery had a delivery truck that doubled as a food truck during events, but it stayed at the workplace and was seldom used as a personal vehicle. So it was Genya's car that carried them to their various destinations, and it would've sighed and swooned for all that it had witnessed if it could talk. Presently it was Nezuko who was sighing and swooning because her brother had just described to her how his most recent date had been a picnic in the yard of an abandoned church. She was almost more thankful for Genya appearing in Tanjirou's life than Tanjirou was because it allowed her to devour these stories like they were leftovers from his trips. She'd listen with gleaming eyes, exclaim her jealousy and fascination with how he got to have fun and live dangerously, and request details about the places they visited. "You know what the biggest benefit is? You netted an Instagram boyfriend."

The follower count had certainly increased. Before, Tanjirou could only do so much with food pictures, selfies, and a tripod, and he'd often be interrupted or gawked at by nosy onlookers. Now there was Genya's presence to deter busybodies, and his adventurous streak and creativity generated imaginative scenery shots and portraits. He memorized Tanjirou's best angles; posed and framed him in enchanting views; and endured the climbing, crawling, and twisting to capture however many attempts it took until his subject was satisfied. Zenitsu and Nezuko would exclaim, "Supermodel Tanjirou!" as they scrolled through his pictures, and he'd laughingly deny this and say it was all strategic shots and photo editing. Truthfully it was that Genya made him feel invincible, desired, important, and when he felt this way, it was easy to convert into confidence and gratitude for the person behind the camera.

These glimmering thoughts so consumed him that it took a noise from Nezuko for him to realize Inosuke had just dropped bad news on them: the Kamabokos' lease was ending soon, and he was leaving for corporate housing. The siblings exclaimed incredulously and then called Zenitsu at work so that he could whine along with them, but Inosuke was obstinate and said, "It'll save me money and commuting time. It's not far, so I'll still come get you for the gym and to hang out." When Zenitsu came home that evening, they discussed whether to renew the lease or not, and if they did, then what should be done with the vacated room. Tanjirou shared this dilemma with Genya, who offered the option to move into his house. Nezuko and Zenitsu urged him to accept while Inosuke dissuaded him, and although this didn't necessarily influence Tanjirou, it did compel him to say that more time was required to mull over living arrangements.

"More time" turned out to only be one night; the mental image of getting to live in owned rather than rented property was dazzling, and he'd decided by the next morning. Thus they'd be divided as such: Inosuke would be gladly chained to his occupation, Nezuko and Zenitsu would downsize to a one-bedroom place, and Tanjirou would savor domesticity alongside Genya. The days were nervously counted down, and then home became a two-story duplex with Sanemi as a neighbor. Of course none of it was foreign to Tanjirou because he'd spent many nights there, but being able to call it his made him feverish with delight. The first weeks were passed joyously but cautiously because he was concerned about overstepping boundaries in a house that wasn't legally his. Genya, however, encouraged him to see their surroundings as "our home" and not just as "Genya's house," so Tanjirou heeded these words: he modified and improved the kitchen to his taste, he'd run next door to share food and conversation so frequently that he began addressing Sanemi by his first name, he invited guests over to flaunt the gorgeous backyard garden.

No eternal paradises exist on Earth though, and living together is the ultimate trial to test a couple's durability. Certainly they'd seen glimpses of each other's faults, but sharing a space meant more chances for personal habits and ideas to clash. Both knew though that they'd found someone extraordinary and that it was what they'd each been seeking: somebody who was equally invested in making things last because while falling in love is painless and automatic, sustaining love requires perpetual, equal effort from both sides. So, yes, there were uncomfortable conversations and unhappy spells, but there were also trusted secrets, inside jokes, and shared experiences. Tanjirou was describing to Mitsuri one of these experiences as they got off the train and walked together: Genya had snuck him onto a high-rise's rooftop to watch the sunset and to gaze down at the cityscape. "The breaking in and trespassing always scares me, but it was amazing up there. He always finds a way to make it feel like it's just us."

"He'll never admit it, but he's such a romantic! Isn't it fun to have someone who takes you walking on the wild side?! I bet your exes look like boring, blanched potatoes now, huh?"

Tanjirou laughed, "I feel like a boring, blanched potato next to him sometimes."

"No way, you're his muse! And anyway how does a potato make an empty gas station look this stylish?!" She held up a picture of him looking luminous and alluring against a moody, stark background.

"That's all Genya's work. I'd never think to take pictures there if it weren't for him. I keep telling him to let me take his picture because his looks suit those settings better, but he won't have it."

"Yeah he's camera-shy, but look on the bright side: you've got this puppy leashed, muzzled, and trained. You know what the next step is: put a ring on it."

"Isn't it a little soon for that?!"

"Obanai and I got married after only three months, and we'll be celebrating our sixth anniversary this year. Yeah we went fast, but that's because it felt like we'd known each other since before that, so we'd already been together for ages if you count that time too." Her determined expression met his bewildered one, and before he could remark on her statement's uncanny accuracy, she cried, "Hurry and join me in the 'bubbly people with somber spouses' club! What else do you want when you've got everything?! He supports and gets involved in your interests; he'd bleed for you, no, would die for you; and he has a killer body that's juicy in the back and front!"

Tanjirou dropped his keys as he was trying to unlock the door. "Uh... How do you know what the front's like...?"

She pushed her hair behind her ears, slowly traced her fingers over the shells studded with jewelry to remind him of her occupation, and said impishly, "You can thank me later for my handiwork." When he deduced her meaning, he turned away, and she laughed, "You've heard of big titty goth girlfriend, now get ready for big di—"

"Don't! You know he gets so embarrassed if you talk about that!"

"We'll discuss this later when Shinobu can join in then. Who else is coming for dinner?"

"Sanemi is already here, and Inosuke will be soon."

"Um... Is it safe for Hashibira to be here...?"

He didn't hear her because he was calling out a greeting to the Shinazugawa brothers. As the table was being set, Tanjirou's phone buzzed with a text, and he went to let the third visitor in. Inosuke should've known something was wrong when he heard food sizzling because it meant someone else must've been cooking if Tanjirou wasn't. It wasn't his first time visiting, but he'd only been over when Genya was away and had expected for the trend to continue. On the other side Genya had assumed it was Nezuko who was joining them, so they both felt rather betrayed by Tanjirou when they sighted each other. The tension was immediately palpable to everyone except for the peacemaker, who cheerfully led his guest to the table as Sanemi shot his brother a warning look. Inosuke didn't want to upset Tanjirou, but he couldn't help but to be suspicious of the food. He was also so accustomed to speaking to Genya coarsely that even when he tried to sound neutral, his attempt at conversation came out rather gruffly: "What's this?"

It was yakisoba, but Genya took his tone as an affront and spat, "Stir-fried dog shit."

Inosuke didn't think he'd been rude, so to be answered that way offended him. "It doesn't surprise me that you'd eat that!"

Sanemi, who just wanted a nice meal together, halted mid-bite and exploded, "Would you two stop with the dick measuring contest?!" Feeling his temper rise, he went to turn on the ceiling fan to cool down, and as it began spinning something slid off the top of a blade and landed on his head. Genya and Tanjirou recognized the object and froze with mortification as Sanemi removed it and identified it: a celadon pair of briefs with indigo seams; they were cute for men's underwear. Sanemi said slowly, "…Whose panties are these…?" It was glaringly apparent whom it belonged to because it wasn't Genya's size, and he didn't wear pastels or anything "cute." As for how it had found its way onto the fan, maybe they'd gotten a little too trashed and a bit too wild, and maybe they'd spent nearly half an hour sloppily searching for the underwear afterwards. Maybe they'd given up, gone to sleep, and forgotten about it. This was impossible to say aloud, so they stayed mute with shame.

Sanemi saw Tanjirou as a baby-faced goody two-shoes, so he struggled to believe Tanjirou could reach that level of misbehavior. He instead held out the garment against Inosuke to indicate that it was his size. Inosuke sputtered at this insinuation, and Genya prayed for lightning to strike the house so that everyone inside would perish and thus end this ordeal. Mitsuri glanced to Tanjirou; saw that he seemed about to scream, cry, or some combination of both; and thought she was rescuing him when she lied, "They're mine!" Sanemi's eyebrows rose disbelievingly, but she took the briefs from him and crammed it into her purse as evidence of her conviction. This created more questions than Sanemi could bear, and he took his plate, cast a disturbed look upon everyone, and left for his home next door. Mitsuri extracted the underwear from her bag to pass to its owner, collected her plate, and said with awkward laughter, "I'll go eat with Shinazugawa. It doesn't seem wise to leave him alone with his thoughts right now."

Inosuke was trapped because he had no excuse to leave. Fortunately the debacle had drained the fight from him and Genya to where they could barely look at each other. This new, tame atmosphere allowed conversation to sprout, and they soon reached a topic popular to everyone everywhere who has a job: complaining about work. Inosuke grumbled, "I'm doomed if I can't get this shit to live for two more weeks until the symposium. We've studied it in its natural environment and documented everything it needs, so I don't know what's its problem."

Genya scoffed, "How do you work in a plant lab when you can't even keep a flower alive?"

"I'm on the genomics side! I don't grow the damn plants! That was someone else's job, but they threw it at me because she ran off."

Tanjirou inquired, "What'll happen if it dies?"

"We'll lose a five-million-yen grant, and then this project, which I've been at for two years, will have to be scrapped until we can find someone else to fund it. I'll rip everyone's hair out if that happens."

"Why don't you bring everything here and let Genya have a go at it?"

"What?! You want me to hand over my job and a flower worth five million yen to this dum-dum?!"

Genya retorted, "Because you clearly know what you're doing. Now do you wanna screw yourself over by killing that plant, or do you wanna give it a chance with me?" He waved over the greenery in his house as proof of his competence, and Inosuke frowned.

Nonetheless he found himself delivering the plant into Genya's hands the following day, and he said apprehensively, "I'm serious here. You kill this and—"

"Yeah I know. Damn, what'd you do to it?" It was nothing more than a frail stem striving to hold onto its last leaves. Genya glanced over the documents, said, "Alright. Consider yourself fucked in two weeks," and slammed the door shut. Inosuke yelled for Tanjirou, but when that didn't work, he could only return home anxiously. The weeks came and went, and that morning while Genya was watering his other plants, there came a thunderous pounding at the door. He opened it to find Inosuke looking extra polished, and he sneered, "Look at you all dressed up for your show-and-tell."

"Give me the flower!"

"Say it nicely. Beg for it."

Inosuke flushed with ire, but with no other choice he clenched his fists and said through gritted teeth, "Please—" before Genya interrupted with a laugh.

"The look on your face is more than enough, and hearing you talk like that makes me sick. Let's just stick to our usual routine." The plant had not only recovered all its color and leaves, but it now sported a precious, blue flower. Inosuke became awed and glimpsed at the papers as Genya said, "I wrote down what I did differently. Hopefully it makes sense. I could barely make sense of what your people were saying."

A moment settled between them, and although it was difficult for Inosuke, he said earnestly, "Thanks. I owe you."

"It's no problem. Let me know if you need more help." For the first time in their lives, they smiled at each other, and then Genya cleared his throat and said, "Enough of this. We've appearances to keep up."

"Right. We're enemies again after this."

"That's the spirit. Now leave, nerd."

Despite this vow there was a clear change when Inosuke joined them for dinner that night, and although he acted like it was because his symposium had gone well, Tanjirou was perceptive enough to know otherwise. As Inosuke watched Genya editing a photo of Tanjirou, he realized he could repay the favor and said, "You two like exploring old buildings, right? I know a place near my former home, but you've to hike to reach it. It was still there when I went two years ago. Phones don't work out there, but I'll map out the route for you."

This was how Genya and Tanjirou found themselves sneaking off the path of a mountain park, and as the undergrowth thickened around them, the former muttered, "He was probably bullshitting us so that we die up here."

But Inosuke hadn't lied. All the landmarks were as he'd noted, and when they discovered a rock over two meters tall, Tanjirou exclaimed, "We're close!"

"Hang on. What's that?" Genya traced his fingers over some small holes that were face-height with him and arranged in ovals on the rock's surface. "Damn, what do you think did this?"

"I don't know. Hm it's... human-sized."

"Well there you go: Inosuke's sending us to the lair of this rock-biting monster so that it kills us."

The number of boulders increased, signaling that they were nearing their destination, and Tanjirou said, "I wonder how all these rocks got here."

"Moving rocks would be nothing for a monster that can bite through them. Oh we're here!" A modest house stood before them with its age highlighted by the afternoon sun, and Genya circled around the building to take pictures. He then tested the veranda's strength, discovered it was sturdy, and stepped onto it to enter the front door.

Tanjirou cried, "Genya, wait!" and said person turned around. The sight of Genya standing in the doorway filled Tanjirou with an unexplainable melancholic nostalgia, and he blurted, "Let me photograph you."

"Ugh, you know I hate pictures."

"I know, but what if… this is the last time that I see you…?"

"…Are you gonna murder me out here…?"

"No! Just… We never know when we might lose each other. You've tons of pictures of me, but I hardly have any of you. Please? Just one?"

Genya groaned and moved out of sight, but he yielded to the entreaty and reluctantly peeked out so that half of him was concealed. Tanjirou commanded, "Stop hiding!" but the only answer was a laugh so that it resulted in a candid snapshot of Genya's partially hidden but still shining grin. To prevent more pictures, Genya disappeared inside, and Tanjirou glanced to his phone to further admire the image. Instead a pallid, bloodied specter stared back, and it was implied that the doorframe hid nothing because that portion of body was absent. He gasped and reflexively flung his phone away, and then he collected it, looked again, and found that everything was as it had been. A fear for Genya's safety suddenly engulfed him, and he rushed inside, scanned through the mostly empty rooms, and spotted a mass under a futon's duvet with a telltale mohawk poking out from the edge. In contrast to the decaying surroundings, the bed appeared abnormally clean and untouched by time, but he nonetheless chided, "Gross, get out from there!" Genya hummed and pulled the covers over his head, and Tanjirou entered the room, whereupon his eyes were drawn to the ceiling.

Patches of the roof had fallen in, but wherever it was intact such that the space beneath was protected from the elements, bundles of dried plants hung from the rafters. His chest tightened but not with the melancholy that he'd felt at the front door; rather, it was everything opposite. Whatever had occurred here must've been wonderful because it generated an immortal radiance that filled him with a profuse awareness of how loved he was, and he sunk into these beautiful thoughts that were half his and half someone else's as the border between the past and present thinned. A cicada flew in and startled him from his reverie, and he said, "Genya, come on." The lump moved slightly and sighed contentedly, and Tanjirou repeated himself more forcefully. The lump answered with a murmur, and all the positivity that Tanjirou had been feeling left him because... that was his own voice. He debated with himself whether to look or not, and upon deciding, he reached toward the sheets with trepidation.

"Ew don't touch that!" Genya's exclamation from the doorway nearly killed Tanjirou, and the former said, "Sorry for scaring you, but what're you doing?" Tanjirou looked to the futon and found it empty with the fabric moldy and discolored, and with bewildered alarm he turned back to Genya, who was staring up at the dried plants. "Huh. Looks like my set-up at home. Anyway this place is incredible! There's no vandalism, trash, or anything! There're some good spots for pictures—"

"Let's leave."

"What?! After all that driving and hiking?! We should make the trip worth it!"

"Something's wrong with this place. Please, Genya, let's leave!" It wasn't unusual for Tanjirou to be occasionally unsettled by their adventures, but there was a unique urgency to his tone this time that compelled Genya to relent.

When they stepped onto the veranda, Genya said, "Stay here, okay? We should rest a little before we head back down," and then he turned to re-enter the house.

"Where're you going?!"

"Just a few more pictures!" This earned an incredulous look, and Genya pleaded, "It's rare to find places in such good shape! It'll only be some minutes. You don't have to go back in there." With obvious discontent Tanjirou sat on the veranda, and Genya said placatingly, "I'll be right back." A snuffle soon caught Tanjirou's attention, and a snout began emerging from behind the boulder nearest him. Because wild boars are aggressive, he quickly shouldered his backpack and stood, and his movement made the animal halt so that only its head was protruding from its shelter. The longer they eyed each other, the more he sensed something off. Anyone who has ever seen a pig knows their noses are in constant motion, but this one stayed still along with the eyes, which were eerie and unblinking. The silence was disrupted when Genya exited the house while excitedly describing what else he'd found, and the noise drew the boar out of hiding and exposed a monstrosity: the head was attached to a human body.

Chapter Text

They sprinted away, but when Tanjirou heard nothing behind him, he glanced over his shoulder and saw that Genya was being pursued in the opposite direction. He didn't want to face that… pig-man-creature-thing... but it was unthinkable to abandon Genya, so he turned around and chased them. He quickly became lost, and since the directions to return to the trails were with Genya, the situation started looking dire until there was a blessed sound: the pop of an illegally owned, sawn-off shotgun normally used for breaching doors on their outings. He ran toward the noise while shouting for Genya and was overjoyed to hear a faint answer, and after some more ground was covered, he called out again. A response came from his right, but a second later, Genya's voice rung out from behind him. Tanjirou stopped and gazed around uncertainly, and then he tried shouting again, only to receive the same result of two answers coming from two different directions. With agitation he yelled, "Don't move! I'll go to you." Only one voice responded, and it guided him as he glanced worriedly at the sky, where the sun was beginning its descent.

A nauseous shock overcame him when he discovered he'd been led back to the house, and he called out falteringly and then was horrified when the answer came from within the building. As he stood in place unsure of what to do, Genya's voice shouted for him from the forest on the opposite side of the clearing. This so dumbfounded Tanjirou that he didn't respond immediately, and during his hesitation his own voice answered from within the house. Tanjirou was stupefied, but before he could react, Genya burst from the undergrowth, harrowed and scratched up but otherwise unharmed. Tanjirou didn't know whether to thank whatever was inside the building or to flee screaming from it, so he instead exclaimed with relief and ran to Genya to embrace him.

Darkness permeated everything by the time that they were off the mountain, and since they hadn't expected for the trip to last that long or for it to take that turn, they were dirty, exhausted, and unsure of how to discuss what'd happened. After driving silently awhile Genya suggested they stop somewhere to rest and clean up, and Tanjirou said, "Will they let us in looking like this?" The driver's solution to this was to head toward a tawdry building with a neon sign reading "Rosewood," and the passenger asked, "A love hotel?"

"Yeah. Check-in is just picking something from a screen, so nobody will see us." A cursory decision was made in selecting the cheapest option for two hours, and they entered a bland room. They'd both brought spare clothes, and after washing up, Tanjirou asked Genya if he wanted food. Genya yawned, said he was too tired to eat, and soon fell asleep. The room had a glass door leading onto a balcony, and a movement outside caught Tanjirou's eye. He initially thought it was heat shimmers or reflections in the glass, but the motions were too irregular, too... human. They were gauzy but unmistakable: two translucent figures in black were leaning on the railing, one taller and one shorter.

Genya stirred when Tanjirou recoiled into him and hissed, "They followed us!"

"What followed us?"

Tanjirou's voice was now coming from under the covers: "On the balcony!"

Genya rolled over groggily, mumbled, "There's nothing," and returned to sleep.

It was getting hot under the sheets, but a sound made Tanjirou's blood freeze: Genya softly calling for him... from the balcony. How could that be when said person was beside him...? The thought that it was trying to lure him out by imitating a familiar voice was terrifying, and he shook the body next to him. Genya turned away, and Tanjirou threatened, "I'll leave you in here with the ghosts!" At the lack of a reply, he steeled himself and then dashed out to grab his shoes before bolting from the room.

They were in a disreputable area, so to minimize his time outside, he stopped at the nearest option for food: a convenience store. Upon trying to pay he realized in his haste, he'd forgotten his wallet, and he apologized to the clerk and made to leave. A hand on his shoulder stopped him, and a soothing voice said, "I'll pay for you, dear." It was the old woman from months ago that'd been selling vitamins outside the bakery on the fateful day that he'd nearly burned it down, and he thanked her effusively until it turned into them sitting on a bench outside and chatting. At a lull in their conversation, she rummaged in her bag for something, and he thought it was unusually loud. It dawned on him that it wasn't loud; it was because the music and noise drifting from the surrounding businesses had vanished, and even the ambient buzzing from the electric signs above him was missing. He tensed uneasily until she pressed a packet into his palm and said, "Sorry to make you wait for your free sample. I know you've been waiting very long now. Be patient, Tanjirou. Good things come to those who wait."

"But why wait for them to come to me when I could go to them?"

She smiled tenderly. "You've gotten better each time. Look, a shooting star!"

He glanced up, but the sky was cloudy. A crackle of static from the store's outdoor speakers startled him, and he found himself alone but with all the burbling of the street and its sporadically appearing patrons. He checked his phone, was mystified by how they had an hour still, and made his way back. Sitting at the table was too daunting, so he ate in bed next to Genya. Upon emptying the bag he spotted the vitamins at the bottom and opened the package to find two white rings with a cinnamon aroma. He ate one, thought it tasted like candy rather than medicine, and set the remainder aside to make himself more comfortable on the pillows until a horrible drowsiness struck him.

He awoke in a room with its floor and walls covered by mirrors, and he sat up and remained still as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. When he noticed his reflections moving on their own, he closed his eyes and thought this must be a nightmare, but he eventually opened them again to peek at the mirror on the floor adjacent to him. It wasn't him as he knew himself presently, but the reflection gazed back with the sureness that they were the same person. As he observed it he could hear sound coming from it, and he gradually found the courage to look over the other mirrors: distant countries, different eras, foreign languages, but he recognized it as all him even if there were differences among the renditions and even as the magic and rules of the world changed. He looked next for the people whom he knew and loved and saw them scattered throughout, sometimes near, sometimes far, but always present even if only for a glimpse.

He wanted to hear what all these facets had to say, but he discovered he could only listen to one mirror at a time and that the longer he watched it, the louder it became until it'd feel like the noise was enfolding him. The universe, the gods, who or whatever oversaw this operation knew that one mind couldn't handle every detail of every life that it had lived, so it limited him to one to protect his sanity. It was illogical to heed an incarnation that he couldn't understand, so he scoured the mirrors until he found one speaking Japanese, whereupon he listened closely, heard archaic language and references to Edo, and thought, "This is centuries ago! Surely there's a more recent one." His search was rewarded with a reflection that had rudimentary electricity and cars, and he let himself become mesmerized until the sounds engulfed him in their world. Someone jostled him, and he flinched. Immobilized as a spectator within a mind that he recognized as his but also not his, he observed himself being carried by a man with hanafuda earrings and whom he addressed as his father…

To live an entire life in the span of ten minutes would rattle anyone, and Tanjirou felt like he'd plummeted from the sky when he jolted awake on the bed. Tears sprang to his eyes as the déjà vu and nostalgia cleared, and he was so overwhelmed that he began sobbing, hiccupping, and laughing. Genya had awoken five minutes earlier to sip some water and thought the movement was from a sleep twitch, but now he watched in alarm as a crazed Tanjirou sat up and looked over himself, particularly his left arm. He noticed Genya, screamed his name, pounced on him, kissed, and sniffed him until the victim held him away with both hands to make him stop. He writhed and shrieked to be released, and Genya asked, "What's with you?!"

"I saw everything! It was that old lady! What was she...?! The vitamin in the bag! It looks like a Life Saver! Why don't they make cinnamon Life Savers anymore?!" He wriggled more violently until Genya lost his grip on him, and Tanjirou collided with him in a hug and rambled, "I've so much to tell you! Like how we've been here before back when it was fancy! Our history—we've gifts from them! I thought I was good at reading others, but it's really that I can smell intentions. I just never knew I was doing that. And your teeth! They've always been sharp and strong! I keep telling you to not crunch things, but you do it anyway with no consequences. You're the rock-biting monster! That was Himejima's house in the forest! Our ghosts are snuggling in your old bed!" Genya looked at him quizzically before taking the vitamin to inspect its packaging while Tanjirou stared at himself in the mirrored wall behind the bed, touched his unmarked forehead, and said, "This is so weird to have two images of everything. Zenitsu has black hair! Himejima has sight! Tokitou—the twins grew taller than me. And you… you promised you wouldn't disappear, so you came back to me cooler than ever. You kept all your promises: the trust, the ocean, the honeymoon; everything and some extra."

"Honeymoon?! I think a couple steps got skipped. Wait… Is this a proposal…?"

"You've said that before! Huh…? You wanna marry me…?"

"I didn't say that! I thought you were proposing to me! Not that our marriage will mean shit in this godforsaken country, but I mean, if you want the official feeling and rings or whatever. We've kind of done it all, yeah? We've had the no-fun conversations about what we'll do when our parents get old or if one of us goes on life support—"

"Genya…"

"—gotten to know each other's families, discussed how kids are 99% not happening—"

"Genya…!"

"—seen each other being gross and ugly, covered what we want done when we die—"

"Genya, let's get married!"

"Well how do you wanna do it?"

They spoke simultaneously: "Elope," and, "Big ceremony."

Genya exclaimed, "Big ceremony?! Think of the headache and cost! Think of how embarrassing it'd be if we mess up in front of everybody! You seriously want us to write essays about why we love each other, and then you want us to read them aloud to everyone?! Imagine if one of us stutters. Imagine if one of us trips while walking down the aisle."

"I don't care if I fall flat on my face and split my pants. I want us to be seen and for it to feel like a big deal! I want the pomp, cake cutting, and first dance! I wanna ugly cry in front of everyone so that they can barely understand my vows while you stand there cringing! Why won't you let me show you off?!"

"You just want a lot of guests so that you can extort honeymoon money from them."

Tanjirou quieted, and then he said resolutely, "I've thought about this, and here's what we're gonna do. When people are coming in, I'll be there, and if they don't put anything in the money basket, then I'll say, 'Oops you're here empty-handed! You'll have to talk to the collection office,' and then I'll send them to a room with you and your brothers for a shakedown—"

"No! We clearly need to discuss this more, and we probably shouldn't be proposing to each other in a goddamn love hotel. Our time is about to be up anyway."

During the drive Tanjirou tried to convince Genya to take the vitamin and to view the correct mirror, but when persuasion didn't work, it became an ultimatum: "I'll give it to Inosuke if you don't take it! I'll reset his progress and make him feral again! Did you like his ghost chasing you on the mountain?!" Not even this worked, and Tanjirou sulked until his expression softened as he said, "Inosuke missed you after you died. He was always acting tough, but I could tell. And Sanemi... His mistake haunted him until his dying breath. He lived because it was your final wish, but I think he died the moment that you did. He once broke down and told me it felt like he'd killed his entire family because he couldn't protect anyone."

"I don't think that was a vitamin that you took."

"Don't laugh! You don't know how I missed you! Even years afterwards, I'd be doing something meaningless like walking home from work, and I'd suddenly remember how you once carried me on that path, and I'd-I—"

He crumbled into sobs, and although Genya was beyond confused, he rubbed Tanjirou's thigh to console him and said, "No more laughing then. Just... tell me what else you saw." After a quavering breath Tanjirou imparted as much as he could, and upon concluding his tale Genya said incredulously, "What...? I died because of... demons? And you lived and got to savor fatherhood at the ripe age of 18?"

"Did you miss when I said we were soldiers?! Old enough to do a deadly job but not old enough for fatherhood. I wasn't even the worst case. Shinobu became head of an estate at 14. Muichirou died at 14. Things were different back then. The life expectancy was, what, 40? And my time was further capped by my mark. But yes, the second strongest demon killed you. Whoa... we could've been demon boyfriends if you'd survived. That would've been a look."

"But life got better without demons, right? Or was it better with? Because you had plenty to say about what happened while you were fighting them, but the after part is, 'I got married. I had kids. The end.'"

Tanjirou said haltingly, "I don't know. Being in the corps was tiring, but it gave me a sense of purpose, and being with you gave me a plan for what would happen afterwards. I felt lost when both of those vanished, so when Kanao said she liked me, I went along with it."

"It doesn't sound like your heart was in it. Why torture yourself like that?"

"I was scared to let myself be that happy again because it hurt so badly to lose everything. I thought if I lived a lukewarm life, then it wouldn't be as painful if something went wrong. And like I said, things were different back then. It was dangerous to love openly if your love didn't fit the mold. You've always resisted the norm though, so being with you strengthened me. After you died, your friends became my friends, and they tried comforting me, but it wasn't the same as having you."

"All that hard work only to spend the rest of your days repressed. Tanjirou, that's... hm..."

"It was doable because the memories of us kept me going. Seasons and people change, but that image of us being young and in love for that one summer stayed constant. Whenever things got dark, I'd remember how you used to make me laugh and forget all my problems, and I'd think, 'That kind of love exists somewhere out there. Maybe I can't have it in this life, but I'll wait until it's mine again.' And here you are. This doesn't feel real. You used to grouse at me for crawling into your bed, yet I still found my way back into it after all this time." It was in this bed that Tanjirou clung to him so firmly that Genya had difficulty sleeping, but there was ample time to rest the following day because the former pleaded with him to spend the day at home together.

It wasn't until the day after that Genya could return to work, and when he warned everyone of the baffling transformation, Muichirou teased, "Did he enjoy too much of your other plants?"

"This is something different, but I don't know what it was. He's not taking anymore as far as I can tell, but it's like... that one time changed him." Changed indeed because Tanjirou seemed freshly imbued with a bountiful, godlike love, and he contacted as many people as he could to tell them how much he appreciated them. He tried to make up time that only he knew had been lost: to Genya's chagrin, Sanemi was repeatedly invited if not outright dragged to their house; Kanao was constantly reminded to initiate conversation with her sisters instead of waiting on them; and he made an unannounced trip to his parents' home and nearly got mistaken for a burglar. It culminated in him cracking a brick over his head to prove its strength, which caused an uproar that he'd become this way because of brain damage sustained from practicing this bizarre, new talent of his. His loved ones feared that he was ill and begged for the truth from Genya, who contended that he knew no more than they did.

Their reactions didn't diminish Tanjirou's newfound sparkle, and even the tedium and burdens of daily life now felt trivial. How quickly time passed then when every day was lived like it had been stolen from death. July was upon them with its days of broiling asphalt and humming fans and its nights of sticky skin and dizzy lights. Tanjirou loved it all, and as he lay facing Genya in their bed, he recalled details of their past as they came to mind. After a vivid description of the Hashira, Genya laughed, "So Kanroji and Sanemi had tits-out disease back then too? They still do now. It's gotten to where she's been trying to get him to pierce his nipples so that he'll match her."

"You should convince him to match your a-apa—How do you say it again?"

"Apa—Why do you keep doing that?!" He was referring to Tanjirou's new habit of using Genya's shirts as a pillowcase.

"It smells like you." Tanjirou was swapping out the current shirt for a different one because the scent had diminished, and when he was done, he pressed his face into the pillow, inhaled, and then rolled onto his side to say, "After your death I looked everywhere for something with your scent. I had your letters, but they just smelled like paper after a while. I had nothing to remember your smell by."

"And now you're making up for it by being nasty and stealing my dirty shirts from the laundry hamper."

"I missed your smell! I missed you. I wanted us to do everything together. Even lying around, staring at the ceiling, I'd think, 'I could do this with him forever. We'll get old together, and it'll be boring and fabulous.' And we will now because there aren't demons to take you away from me." The mention of demons always intrigued Genya, but he couldn't dwell on it because he was pulled into a tight embrace, like it was meant to be felt all the way across the expanse of time. Whether it was the passion in this gesture or how it was the week before Tanjirou's birthday, Genya obliged him, and as Tanjirou dreamt pleasantly of rainbows, petals, and teeth later that night, he was awoken by a spasm from the opposite side of the bed. He groggily opened his eyes and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Uh, nothing. It's just that falling feeling." Genya wrapped himself around Tanjirou and pressed a mouth to his bare shoulder, and this earned a pleased hum. Goosebumps appeared when there was a trace of tongue within the kiss, and Genya murmured, "You've always tasted sweet." Tanjirou pressed against him to coax more from him, which resulted in a weeklong surge in affection that he relished every bit of up to the day of his birthday lunch.

To be crowded by treasured souls filled him with a pulsing lust for life, and like a star surrounded by its celestial bodies, he cherished their radiance as much as they celebrated his until they parted ways in the early evening. He wanted dinner to be at home with just him and Genya, and upon heading upstairs to change, he was delighted to find that the bundles of dried plants hanging around the edges of their room had been replaced with fresh bouquets. The sunset spilled in through the window and coated the scene in its aureate glow, and as he surveyed the color surrounding them, he said, "Wisteria doesn't bloom in summer. How'd you get a hold of it?"

"I made some calls, used some magic." This was how life should've been, and this was how it was: Genya's kisses, the fragrance of flowers, summer sun. They lay in their bed as Tanjirou listened to the heartbeat that he once thought had been permanently stilled, and then the rhythm quickened as Genya said, "There's something else for you." He exited the room and then returned to find Tanjirou sitting up and aiming his phone at him eagerly. Genya stepped back and said, "I don't know what you're expecting, but you'd better put that camera away."

"I should've known better. A body like yours and you refuse to flaunt it. Unbelievable."

"...You're a freak. It's bullshit how everyone calls you an angel or a cinnamon roll. If only they knew the cinnamon roll is full of nails."

"Okay but the nails never stopped you all those times that you ate and iced this cinnamon roll."

Genya strode across the room, grabbed a pillow, and made to smother Tanjirou, who laughingly resisted. Genya sat on the bed beside him and muttered, "You're only getting away with this because it's your birthday," and then he took a deep breath and said, "Tanjirou. I wanted to thank you. You've done so much for me. You saved me. There's no way that I could fully repay my debt to you, but I hope you'll keep letting me show you how grateful I am for you." He withdrew from his pocket a black, palm-sized box shaped like a coffin with an inscription of "Not even death could do us part" on its lid. It was a little edgy, a little sweet, and all very Genya. It was also the right size for a ring...

Tanjirou was smiling to where it hurt, and he remarked, "This is so you," as he took the box to open. It was filled with dried petals, and he parted them to find... a human tooth. Anyone else would've flung this away, but Tanjirou gazed at it blankly. He pressed a finger against Genya's bottom lip and murmured, "Open," but when he saw that all the teeth were present, he returned to staring at the gift, perplexed. He processed the world through his nose, so he took the tooth to sniff. It had been washed, but beneath the scent of flowers was a whiff of the blood of a certain beloved someone.

Tanjirou inhaled sharply with realization, and he opened the nightstand's drawer where he'd stored and forgotten about the remaining vitamin. It was absent, and he felt the prickle of tears. When he turned back, he was at once torn into numberless pieces and restored into a more complete version of himself as the distance between the summer of then and the summer of now closed and blurred into a brilliant compound unfettered by the restraints of time. There to greet him were the eyes that beheld him as the center of their universe, the hands whose caresses made him see eternity, and the smiling mouth that'd been waiting for a century to kiss him again and to say, "Hey. It's been a while."