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It’s not uncommon for them to go slay a demon to protect a village, but it’s a bit less common for them to be revered as heroes for it.
“Most people don’t realize what you guys do behind the scenes, and it’s a shame,” One very loud and friendly man named Momosuke throws an arm across Tanjirou’s shoulders and gestures towards Zenitsu and Inosuke. Nezuko is safe in her box on Tanjirou’s shoulders. Tanjirou blinks as he’s guided towards the village’s center, where people cheer and clap for them. It’s bright and sunny. “Make yourselves at home here for the evening, please, be our honored guests!”
The whole village cheers and claps for them.
He doesn’t mind that demon slaying is mainly underground work, but this is a bit refreshing, Tanjirou can’t lie. He smiles a little as a child waves a flag around, chasing his sister, shouting “victory” over and over. Tanjirou doesn’t think any of those kids know the extent of the danger they were once in. That’s his job, as a demon slayer, to protect people without their noticing.
The kind townspeople don’t know about Nezuko -- he wishes he should show her off, he wishes he could allow her to celebrate with them, because she helped defeat the demon just as much as the boys did. But she’s asleep, and she’s safe, and trying to explain her existence here might do more harm than it would good.
As Momosuke and Inosuke move towards the entrance to the woods, Tanjirou goes to where the man’s wife, a woman named Chiyo, sits. She’s watching a young couple share takoyaki with a warm smile on her face. Tanjirou gives her a polite smile.
“Do you mind if I sit with you?” He asks.
“Aren’t you going to partake in the celebrations?” She asks, turning to him.
“Ah, I’d like to relax for a few minutes, if you don’t mind.”
Chiyo smiles warmly at him. “If that's the case, certainly. You’re free to do whatever you’d like.”
Tanjirou puts Nezuko’s box down gently and then sits down beside it, turning to watch the festivities.
Zenitsu talks to a gaggle of girls, a smile of slight amusement on his face. He really is something else; Tanjirou would almost be impressed, if he didn’t think it left such a mess wherever Zenitsu went. Inosuke is with the rambunctious man, who’s gathering up quite a few of the able-bodied adults in the village.
Tanjirou pauses, furrowing his brow. “Is something wrong?”
“Oh no. After our village is blessed with fortune as we were last night, we fish.” Chiyo says. “The lake within the forest is full of fish, but it’s said that good fortune brings the largest and tastiest ones to the shores. My foolish husband likes to make a competition of it, you know.” She laughs, tucking some hair behind her ear. “You’re welcome to accompany them if you’d wish.”
“Ah.” Tanjirou relaxes, and shakes his head. “I think I’ll stay here, but I appreciate the invitation.”
Tanjirou watches as Inosuke, in his boar mask, puts both hands on his hips and shouts something unintelligible to the rambunctious man. Tanjirou wonders if he should go, just to make sure Inosuke doesn’t offend anybody, but then Momosuke claps him on the shoulder and Inosuke swings his arms around, making vaguely confusing gestures.
He’ll be fine. Inosuke may be an oddity, but so are these villagers, Tanjirou is noticing. He has full faith in his friend that he’ll be fine.
Chiyo makes Tanjirou some tea, and he thanks her, taking a sip of it. It’s bergamot, and the flavor is nice. The afternoon air is crisp, so the heat from the hot water warms Tanjirou as he takes slow sips, looking around the festival.
“KENTARO!” Inosuke suddenly roars, and Tanjirou pauses mid-sip.
“I don’t know anyone by that name!” He calls out to his friend, lip twitching in good humor. Chiyo hides a giggle behind her hand.
“I’m going out hunting with Minosake!” Inosuke announces, as though Tanjirou hadn’t said anything in the first place.
“It’s Momosuke!” The rambunctious man corrects.
“Whatever!” Inosuke spits, slicing his blades in the air in front of him. Rather than being scared, the villagers watch him in fascination and awe. Inosuke clearly loves all of the attention. It warms Tanjirou’s heart to see him look so happy with other people around him.
“I’m going to come back with the best fish in this whole village! Remember that!”
“Ah! Good luck!” Tanjirou says.
“I don’t need something as stupid as luck!” Inosuke roars, “I have skill! I am the king of the mountain. You can save your luck for yourself!”
“Ah, okay then.” Tanjirou smiles, closing his eyes. Even if he can’t see it, he can feel Inosuke’s expectant look on his face. “I’ll offer my luck to Zenitsu instead.”
Zenitsu laughs loudly, but it doesn’t appear he’s heard. He’s laughing at something one of the girls said.
“That’s right! He’s the one who needs luck.” Inosuke scoffs. “Minion number one! Keep the party going while your master is away.”
“I’ll be sure to do my best!” Tanjirou says, waving to Inosuke. “Come back safe!”
Inosuke pauses, makes a confused noise somewhere between a gasp and a snort, then points a finger at Tanjirou.
“Don’t tell me what to do, Monjirou!”
“It’s Tanjirou!” Tanjirou corrects.
“AWAY WE GO, HATSUMOTO!” Inosuke points towards the forest now instead. The wind makes the fresh green leaves dance in the sunlight, glittering from last night’s rain.
“It’s Momosuke!” Momosuke says, but he’s laughing, as the other men behind him start to sing a song -- some sort of hunting song, which sounds rather contradictory to Tanjirou as it would scare off the fish, but who is he to deny them their fun?
Tanjirou turns towards Chiyo, who’s stifling laughter behind her hand. “He reminds me of my husband, that boar-boy.”
“Inosuke.” Tanjirou says, smiling. “I’m sure you never have a dull moment if that’s the case.”
“Not at all.” Chiyo says. The hunting song fades and Tanjirou is fairly sure he can hear Inosuke screaming something at the helm of the party. “He seems very fond of you.”
Tanjirou laughs, tucking his arm behind his head and scratching the back of his neck. “I’d hope so. He’s one of my best friends.”
Chiyo gives him a warm, motherly smile. Tanjirou is reminded of his own mother. He’s reminded of his family everywhere he goes. He sees them in the laughing children chasing each other around with flags, he sees them in the teenage girls huddled together and giggling as they exchange their spoils from the celebrations with one another. It’s pleasant, and leaves a warm feeling blooming in his chest. He thinks that must be what Nezuko feels for the people they pass by. She views all humans as family, after all.
“Ow -- hey,” Zenitsu pouts as one of the girls flicks her hair and walks away. Tanjirou gives him a patient smile.
“Everything alright, Zenitsu?” He asks.
“Yeah,” Zenitsu sighs. “Where’s Inosuke?”
“Didn’t you see? He went off with the fishing party.” Tanjirou says. “They should be back before sunset.”
“Sunset!?” Zenitsu says. “What if there’s another demon out there or a --”
“We’d sense it. Besides, Inosuke is strong enough to handle himself.” Tanjirou does worry, though, about the other villagers. He doesn’t think Inosuke would ever deliberately hurt someone, but to forget about them in favor of fighting the enemy? That’s like him. Still. He thinks back to all the times Inosuke listened to him and saved someone he didn’t want to. He likes to think Inosuke would know that he’d be coming back to him, that if something happened, he’d be on the receiving end of a disappointed frown.
“You don’t look confident!” Zenitsu whines.
“I am! I’m just not so confident in Inosuke’s -- “ He sees Chiyo, out of the corner of his eye, still within earshot and talking to one of the villagers running a game of darts. He grabs Zenitsu and pulls him closer. “I’m just not confident in Inosuke’s priorities."
Still. Tanjirou takes a deep inhale. He doesn’t smell any ill-intent. He smells takoyaki, and katsudon, and fried dumplings, but no demon aura, no blood. He gives Zenitsu a reassuring smile. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
Zenitsu is distracted by a pretty girl whisking him off to go play one of the stall games, leaving Tanjirou again. He approaches Chiyo again with one of the takoyaki snacks.
“I saw you looking at that stand, I hope you don’t mind.” He says, offering it to her. Chiyo looks a little surprised, before she thanks him and accepts the gift.
Beyond the mountains, the sun is starting to set. Tanjirou looks out to the woods. He worries, a little bit. He told Zenitsu it would be fine. He believes in Inosuke, and he believes they’ve exterminated the threat. But by golden hour, when the ground glitters like gold, he’s starting to worry they’ll be gone into the night.
There’s the sound of rumbling from the forest, and suddenly, two of the children run up to the bell in the center of the plaza and ring it. “They’re returning! They’re returning!”
Sure enough, right through the entryway of the woods emerges Inosuke, his boar's head still on. He looks unscathed but has a plethora of fish skewered to his sword. He’s met with cheers and applause as Momosuke approaches from behind him, carrying significantly less fish. The crowd only cheers more as each and every member of the village appears.
Suddenly, the crowd disperses.
Tanjirou furrows his brows as Momosuke approaches them with a sudden fire in his step and scoops his wife into his arms. And suddenly, they’re kissing, and Tanjirou stares with wide eyes. It’s not that it’s a bad thing, that Momosuke is affectionate with his wife. It’s just that the timing of it, with him sitting right here, startles him. He looks away with a flush on his face, purposefully staring at the soft color of the sky instead.
Chiyo laughs as they pull away, and she’s glowing, gently patting her husband on the chest. “Really, must you all make such a show of it every time -- "
And then Tanjirou looks around, and notices all of the party has gone to other people. One man bends down and gives his two children pecks on the cheek. One has dipped his partner into a dramatically low angle. One, Tanjirou notices to his amusement, has gone right for the girl Zenitsu was talking to and taken her into his arms. Zenitsu looks like he’s about to cry and Tanjirou would maybe feel bad for him, had he not been proposing marriage to his sister for their entire journey here.
Inosuke is the most confused, and Tanjirou looks over, seeing Inosuke’s boar-head looking around frantically. “What is this, Konomoto?!”
“It’s a celebration, son!” Momosuke says. “It’s tradition to find the person waiting for you, and give them a kiss! The more passionate it is, and the better your bond is with who you return to, the better your catch will be!”
Chiyo gently hits her husband on the chest again, blushing, criticizing him about teasing the kids between her giggles.
“Strength?! Passion?!” Inosuke asks. “How is this strength?! How does this make the fish better?!"
Chiyo is laughing. “You don’t have to do it, you can just ignore my husband.”
Inosuke bristles. Tanjirou can almost read it from his body language: well, now I want to.
“How do you pick your victim?!” Inosuke demands to know.
“Victim? No no, you pick the person who was waiting for you to come home.” Momosuke says. “Someone important to you.”
Tanjirou laughs. He doesn’t know who on earth Inosuke would even try to kiss. The whole village, maybe? He’s struck with the mental image of Inosuke trying to kiss everyone in the village, and it has him clutching his stomach in a fit of laughter.
Tanjirou senses it before he opens his eyes. Footsteps stomping over to him. He opens his eyes and Inosuke already has his boar’s head off, a blistering expression on his face. The boar’s head falls to the ground and before Tanjirou knows what’s going on, hands are cupping his cheeks and he’s pulled into an aggressive kiss.
Kiss is a generous word for it, because Inosuke clearly doesn’t know what a kiss is aside from a clash of mouth-to-mouth. The impact is so strong that Tanjirou feels his lip start to bleed. It’s honestly more like a headbutt but with their lips. He barely has time to react before Inosuke pulls away, a pleased expression on his face, grabbing the boar’s head and cheering. “That was the most passionate one! Mine is going to be the best!”
Tanjirou snorts, suddenly, bringing a hand to his mouth and dotting at the blood. Chiyo is looking at him with concern.
“Your lip -- “
“I’m fine.” Tanjirou says.
“That wasn’t very passionate, you know!” Momosuke says. “That was just aggressive!”
“HAH? Isn’t that what you just did?!” Inosuke rounds on Momosuke. “Sukamoto, I did what you told me to do!”
“It’s Momosuke!” The man complains. And suddenly, everything is back to normal. The sound of laughter from the crowd reaches Tanjirou's ears. Inosuke is acting no different, yelling with Momosuke, helping the villagers collect their harvest for the feast tomorrow.
Tanjirou wipes at his lip. It throbs. He stares at the back of Inosuke’s head. His heart is racing.
As usual, the three boys and Nezuko share a room.
Tanjirou wishes he could give his sister the privacy she deserves with her own bedroom, but she’s used to coming out of her box only when they’re all alone, able to stretch her limbs in the dark when none of their kind hearted hosts are there. Nezuko is back in her box, the door ajar, snoozing to regain her strength after their last battle.
The three of them are invited to the feast tomorrow, which Tanjirou is excited for, but not nearly as excited as Inosuke is. He’s practically frothing at the mouth, even through his boar mask. It’s just as impressive as it is concerning.
“And my fish is going to be the best! No one in this village has as strong a bond as me and Momojirou!” Inosuke says, proudly.
Zenitsu snorts. “If you mean no one else tried to knock out the person they kissed, sure.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Inosuke roars.
“They only wanted to knock everyone else out of their way” Zenitsu whines, rolling around on his mat in overdramatic agony. “Matsukaaaaaa...”
Ah, Tanjirou thinks. That must be the name of the girl who had been whisked off by one of the guys in the hunting party. Zenitsu had looked absolutely crestfallen when she’d been whisked into his arms, but Tanjirou hadn’t felt that bad for him.
“Stop crying! Explain!” Inosuke demands.
“I think what he means,” Tanjirou says, sitting up and turning towards Inosuke, “Is that it wasn’t really a kiss.”
“Hah?!” Inosuke stares at Tanjirou. “Are you doubting my ability to kiss?!”
“No, I’m just saying what you did to me wasn’t a kiss.” He says.
“HOW WOULD YOU KNOW THAT, GONPACHIROU!”
“It’s Tanjirou,” Tanjirou sighs, “And I know what a kiss is.”
Zenitsu gives him the dirtiest look he can physically muster. Tanjirou can’t help but flush at the implication and shakes his hands in front of him. “Not like that! I mean that I’ve seen other people kiss, so I know what it is. It’s not that I go around doing it often.”
“Hmmm.” Zenitsu goes back to wallowing. “I bet you could if you wanted to, Tanjirou. You’re good looking.”
“Ah. Uhm. Thanks?” Tanjirou laughs. He turns towards Inosuke. Tanjirou can’t see his facial expression behind the boar’s head that sits on top of his shoulders.
“Show me, then! Show me so that I can do it better than you can!” He demands. Zenitsu is laughing on his mat on the floor. Tanjirou blinks, then the flush is back. He feels it creeping up the back of his neck.
“Uhh…”
“SHOW ME!” Inosuke demands.
“Well when you demand it like -- “ Tanjirou runs his fingers through his hair. “You know, it doesn’t really matter if -- “
“IT DOES MATTER! I want to be the best at it!” Inosuke says. “If I’m not the best at it then how can I call myself the king?!”
“The king of kissing…” Zenitsu snickers.
“YES!” Inosuke says. “The king of kissing! I need to be the king of it!”
“Who would willingly kiss you long enough to make you the king of it?!” Zenitsu snorts.
Tanjirou looks over at Inosuke. He can sense the earnestness of his request. So, he smiles and says, “Okay. I’ll show you, Inosuke.”
“Hah?!” Zenitsu fully turns around, looking at Tanjirou, concerned. “Tanjirou, you’re not seriously -- “
“If he wants to learn, I’ll show him. Not that I’m an expert at it, though.” He laughs a little.
“HAH! I’ll defeat you easily, then!” Inosuke says. He’s sitting on the floor, cross-legged, his mask still on and his arms propped up on his knees. Tanjirou sighs and looks at him.
“You can’t kiss with the mask -- “
“I BET I COULD!” Inosuke says, pointing a finger right in Tanjirou’s face. “Only the true king of kissing can kiss through a mask.”
“This is hopeless,” Zenitsu hisses. “He’s hopeless."
Inosuke is stubbornly keeping the mask on. Tanjirou waits for a beat, in the hopes that Inosuke will remove it anyway, but he doesn’t.
“Sure, Inosuke.” Tanjirou decides to humor him, much to Zenitsu’s annoyance, “But if that’s the case, why did you take your mask off to kiss me earlier?”
“Because -- “ Inosuke stops, and Tanjirou can practically hear his brain trying to formulate a proper thought. “Because, Gonpachirou, no one else had a mask -- !”
“It’s easier to kiss without a mask on, for most people.” Tanjirou says, “And since it would be easier for me that way, could you take it off, for my sake?”
“Feh, you minions ask for too much.” Inosuke clicks his tongue and raises the mask off of his face, shaking his head to keep hair out of his eyes. Blueblack strands finally settle and Inosuke meets Tanjirou’s eyes, grinning with determination. They’re the brightest thing in the room, surrounded by shadow.
Behind them, Tanjirou is conscious of Zenitsu clamping his hands to the sides of his head. “I don’t want to see this.”
“Then don’t watch!” Inosuke says, then he turns to Tanjirou, looking like he’s ready for a fight.
“You know what?! Maybe I won’t.” Zenitsu stands, brushing his pants off. “I’m going for a walk with Nezuko-chan. Her pure soul doesn’t need to see this either.”
“Be careful.“ Tanjirou says, watching as Zenitsu picks up Nezuko’s box and hoists it over his shoulders. Zenitsu gives him a look.
“I could say the same thing to you right now.” He says, “C’mon Nezuko-chan, let’s find sanctuary.”
Tanjirou watches as Zenitsu takes Nezuko out of the room, a pang of protectiveness hitting him. He doesn’t like to be kept away from his sister for anything. He trusts Zenitsu, though, Zenitsu who’s proven time and time again that he’d do anything to protect her. So he takes a deep breath and focuses back on Inosuke, who’s glaring in the direction where Zenitsu took Nezuko.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” He asks.
“Don’t worry about it.” Tanjirou says. He stares at Inosuke’s face, at his earnest eyes, and feels the flush returning to his cheeks. “Anyway. Uh. Kissing.”
“Yeah! Teach me, Gonpachirou!”
“It’s Tanjirou.” Tanjirou reaches over and goes to cup Inosuke’s cheeks, but gets nervous about it at the last second (not because of the gesture itself, he tells himself, but because of the connotations of the kiss that’s going to follow) and places his hands on Inosuke’s shoulders instead.
“First off, when you kiss someone, you should probably know their actual name.”
“Why?”
“It’s just rude not to. Besides, it makes you look unprepared. You wouldn’t want them to catch you off-guard, would you?” Tanjirou says.
Inosuke narrows his eyes. “You can’t catch me off-guard, Tanjirou.”
The sudden use of his actual name catches Tanjirou off-guard instead. His heart flutters for a second, and he gives Inosuke a patient smile. “Ah. So you do know it,” he teases.
“Get to the point, Gonpachirou!”
“Right,” Tanjirou shakes his head with a small laugh. “So you don’t actually headbutt the other person. If I was a normal person, you probably would have knocked me out earlier today with the force of that hit. You want to be gentle.”
Inosuke narrows his eyes further. “How can you be passionate and gentle at the same time?”
Tanjirou sighs and leans in. “Just close your eyes.”
“WHAT?! So you can sneak up on me?! No!”
“If I was going to sneak up on you and attack you, Inosuke, I think I would’ve already done it. Do you want to learn or not?”
Inosuke frowns, Tanjirou can practically hear Inosuke’s thoughts as he weighs the pros and cons of listening to Tanjirou. In the end, listening must win, because Inosuke closes his eyes and huffs.
Looking at Inosuke like this is different. Tanjirou doesn’t see him with his eyes closed very often. Most nights, Inosuke sleeps in his boar’s head, and if the head is off, his eyes are open and he’s rearing to fight. His eyebrows are twitching and Tanjirou’s eyes bounce down to his eyelashes, long as they brush against his cheek. He's beautiful.
Tanjirou swallows.
“Now what?!” Inosuke demands.
“Sorry! Hold on, it’s like…” Tanjirou takes a few deep breaths to calm his body -- a practiced technique that works quite well thanks to his training with Shinobu -- and leans in, pressing his lips gently to Inosuke’s. It’s feather-light, the touch, and Inosuke’s lips are chapped. It’s Tanjirou’s first kiss, too, so he doesn’t know what else to expect aside from the slight pressure of another set of lips on his.
After a second, Tanjirou opens his eyes and gives Inosuke a patient smile. His hands fall down to rest in his lap.
“There. That’s a kiss.”
Inosuke’s eyes fly open, blown wide, and then he grabs Tanjirou by the shoulders. “My turn now!”
“Wha -- “
“Close your eyes, Gonp -- Tanjirou!”
Tanjirou feels the flutter in his chest again at the sound of his name and takes a breath to calm himself, closing his eyes shut.
Inosuke is not nearly as gentle as Tanjirou is, pulling him in roughly by his shoulders instead of waiting for Tanjirou to lean into the kiss. Inosuke’s lips crash against Tanjirou’s, and Tanjirou reaches up to grip something -- he winds up finding purchase on Inosuke’s shoulder, squeezing it roughly. “Ino -- “
It’s probably a mistake to try to speak in the middle of Inosuke’s attempt at kissing, because their teeth clash together, rough. Tanjirou winces as Inosuke pulls away with a confident expression.
“I did it better! Ha! I even used teeth.”
“No, that wasn't better. You should be much more gentle than that!” Tanjirou protests. “You’re too rough. A kiss isn’t supposed to be that rough. It should be more..." he struggles to think of a way to describe it. "Romantic?"
Inosuke pouts at him. It's a look of genuine frustration. Tanjirou feels his heart warm at the sight. Inosuke is really so determined. He admires that.
“But I even knocked our teeth together." Inosuke says.
"Inosuke, you're really not supposed to do that." Tanjirou laughs a little.
Then how do you make it passionate?!” Inosuke demands to know.
“Well -- you. Uh.” Tanjirou looks to the side and runs his fingers through his hair. “Practice just moving your lips, I guess?”
“Then let’s practice more!” Inosuke demands, and Tanjirou finds himself being pulled back into Inosuke again, their lips pressing together.
Tanjirou would’ve pulled away and given Inosuke another lecture about being too headstrong, but he’s actually changing technique, Tanjirou notices. Instead of just roughly smashing their lips together, he’s trying to mimic Tanjirou’s actions from before, even down to the hands pressing against his shoulders rather than yanking him. He’s trying, Tanjirou thinks, and he respects that earnest effort.
Tanjirou kisses back this time, twisting his face to the side. Inosuke tries to mimic the gesture but only succeeds in knocking their noses together, so Tanjirou lifts up one of his hands and cups Inosuke’s cheek, guiding his head to the opposite angle. Their lips slot together more easily now.
“Tilt your head opposite mine,” Tanjirou says, when they pull away, their lips still practically touching, “So our noses don’t touch.”
Inosuke makes some kind of grunt in response, the sound muffled by him pressing their lips together again. Tanjirou smiles against his lips.
When he opens his eyes again, he’s greeted by the sight of Inosuke staring right into his own. His cheeks are flushed, and there’s an unreadable expression on his face. The sight sends a wave of heat that coils in Tanjirou’s gut, like the feeling he gets when he’s freefalling through the air.
Inosuke pulls him back in, and Tanjirou slips his eyes closed again, his hand staying where it is on Inosuke’s jaw, keeping him in place. Inosuke presses against Tanjirou with too much pressure, slipping, his lips sliding past the left corner of Tanjirou’s lips and pressing against the skin of his cheek instead. Tanjirou has to resist the urge to laugh when Inosuke opens his mouth to complain about it.
“Gentle,” Tanjirou mutters, gently pressing against his friend’s lips in a light kiss. “Like that.”
“I am being gentle!” Inosuke says, and Tanjirou can’t fight a small smile, a small giggle, before Inosuke tries and fails to immediate Tanjirou and be more gentle, only succeeding in pushing Tanjirou’s lips apart.
Kissing is fun, Tanjirou thinks, even if he didn’t have much experience with it before. At some point he forgets that he’s supposed to be teaching Inosuke, really, and he winds up sliding one of his hands into Inosuke’s hair, running his fingers through the strands. Inosuke still kisses rough, pressing against Tanjirou with almost too-much pressure, but the more they kiss the more Tanjirou starts to think that he likes it. Especially when their mouths open and their breath tangles together -- nothing else, just their breath. Those moments are always brief, almost too brief, before their mouths close and they press them back together again.
Wait. The more they kiss?
This was supposed to just be a one-kiss situation, maybe two, so that Inosuke could know what it was. Tanjirou pulls away to catch his breath, looking over at Inosuke. When he really gets a look at him he sees that Inosuke’s lips are swollen from the kissing and his chest is rising and falling quickly. His cheeks are flushed. Tanjirou’s hands are still woven through Inosuke’s hair, and he’s catching his breath, looking over at Inosuke. Moonbeams are making Inosuke’s lips shine, and Tanjirou can’t look away from them.
“Kissing is fun!” Inosuke says, and Tanjirou finally pulls his eyes up to look into his friend’s. Inosuke’s eyes are bright with excitement, his face still close to Tanjirou, his hands gripping the back of Tanjirou’s shirt tightly. Tanjirou’s not exactly sure when they got there. He just smiles at his friend, their foreheads practically touching.
“We can practice any time you want, you know. I don’t mind helping.” Tanjirou says before he really has time to think about what it is he’s promising.
“You liked it too?!” Inosuke asks. Tanjirou hums.
“I thought you’d expect me to?”
“Well -- duh. I’m good at it!” Inosuke says, but Tanjirou saw it, the hesitation, the worry that he hadn’t actually been any good. Tanjirou bites his lower lip, and he notices that Inosuke’s eyes flick down towards it, following the movement. Tanjirou steadies his breathing one more time and then pulls Inosuke closer to him, by the back of his head, pressing their mouths back together, the only way he can think to prove to Inosuke that he actually liked it.
It’s addictive. Tanjirou really should notice when the door opens; he does, actually, somewhere in the back of his mind. He senses someone else’s presence approaching their room, but it’s a familiar presence. He doesn’t sense danger, so he keeps focused on what’s in front of him, entirely entranced by his friend when he feels Inosuke’s hand mimicking his own, tangling in his hair, pushing their faces even closer.
“Oh no,” Zenitsu says and Tanjirou’s eyes fly open and he pulls away, looking up at their friend. Zenitsu is watching them with a look that’s a confusing mix of disgusted and jealous, “You two really were kissing in here.”
“It -- “ Tanjirou doesn’t have to apologize for anything, he knows, and it’s not like they were hiding what they were doing. Still, Zenitsu walking in on it like that embarrasses him.
“I’m going to be the king of kissing, Zenbutsu!” Inosuke says.
“It’s Zenitsu!” Zenitsu howls. “You’re so cruel. How can you two kiss like that but no girl even wants to go on a date with me?”
“Well don’t try practicing with Gonpachirou!” Inosuke says, rising to his feet and pointing a finger at Zenitsu. “If you want to practice, find your own opponent!”
“Opponent?! Are you -- ” Zenitsu gives Tanjirou an exasperated look, and points to their friend. “That’s your type, Tanjirou?!"
Tanjirou just shrugs, scratching the back of his neck. He’s doing breathing exercises to calm himself down from the embarrassment of being caught and the words Zenitsu is saying. “It’s not like that.”
Zenitsu sighs and puts Nezuko’s box back where it was. He opens the door and Nezuko pokes her head out. Tanjirou smiles at her, and she curls up against the wall, ready to go back to sleep. Zenitsu gives Nezuko a warm smile and a pat on her head before he goes to his own mat.
Tanjirou looks over at Inosuke, who’s already got his boar’s head back on and is turned away from him, ready for sleep. Tanjirou stares at the back of his head for a second, eyes softening, before he exhales and closes his eyes.