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Inosuke excitedly bulleted around the garden of the Butterfly Mansion, emerald eyes wide beneath his mask as he stared, enamored by the soft powdery snow surrounding him. It had been so long since he'd seen this much snow, last time being when they traversed a mountain range stock full of demons a season or two ago.
He couldn't really tell how long ago it really had been, he was never taught how to keep time in an efficient manner. Though, despite his time related short comings he flourished in the shockingly deep snow, his gate wide as he sprinted across it's pearly layers and proceeded to throw himself into piles of it, relishing the cold on his pale skin.
It was so nice, remembering the snowy times on his own mountain, the one he ruled over like a diligent king. As a small child he could recall his mother, in all of her tusky glory, would pull him and his much larger siblings close to her, letting them feel her warm grey fur melt away the ice stuck to them after a long day of tussling in the snow. It was a good memory, placed in his brain next to another childhood memory of him climbing a tree for the first time.
He was buried in the snow by the time Aoi found him, only his head peeking out from beneath his chilling captor. He could have dug his way out as easy as picking up an acorn, but the blue butterfly girl made a huge deal of pulling him out of the snow drift and inside, muttering something about the frost biting him.
Silly butterfly, he thought as he sat on a futon thawing, frost has no fangs to bite me with. He was going to teach her that later, sharing his immense knowledge with his servants was only one way he lead his people to prosper.
Though, it did certainly feel like he was being bitten insistently, only noticing then that his rough hands were an awful shade of violet, reminiscent of the lead butterfly girl's hair. He could hardly feel them, and if that wasn't alarming enough his chest was an unusual pink hue, now reminding him of the box demon's cerise eyes.
Despite the striking fear he felt stab at his newly rosy chest Inosuke tried to beat down his panic, but he felt like a cornered squirrel, shaking with violent tremors from his frozen body.
"INOSUKE-" And then a boy with dandelion coloured hair rushed in, flanked by the same blue butterfly girl as before, a large broom in her hands swinging towards the other in big sweeping motions. The yellow clad boy ducked behind Inosuke, letting him take the brunt of the broom's attack.
"MONITSU?!?! YOU WANNA FIGHT?" Inosuke lunged backwards in a terrifying display of flexibility, but before he could turn back around to tackle his fellow Demon Slayer a stab of pain rushed through his tingling limbs, stopping the feral boar in his tracks.
He bit back a sound of weakness as he stayed crouching on the ground, the ice on his clothing completely melted, therefore leaving a puddle underneath him like a small lake. He cursed himself mentally, showing how vulnerable he was is a surefire way to get killed. Soon enough they'll figure out I'm weak and force me back out into the woods, where there is no tempura, or onigiri, or shrieking Monitsus to greet me.
"Inosuke," Zenitsu tested nervously, unnerved by the freezing boar, well, freezing in his attempt to murder him. "Are you okay?" The older boy could see the tints of purple and pink on his friend's muscly skin, only aiding in his anxiousness. Inosuke opened his mouth to yell about how fine he was but he was cut off by the nearby butterfly girl.
"That guy was out running around in the snow as he is like an idiot." Aoi intervened, her face distorted in annoyance. "Moreover he's soaking wet now, he'll need a change of clothing."
Zenitsu blinked then replied to Aoi without thinking. "I have a spare uniform, he could use that."
"Great, you deal with him as punishment for trying to grope me, have fun idiot." And Aoi turned to leave before giving an uncharacteristically wide grin. "Or should I say idiots?" Then she strutted through the door, broom in hand, leaving Zenitsu to deal with a soggy Inosuke.
The yellow boy blushed wildly before screaming and turning towards Inosuke. "I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THAT, I DON'T WANT TO SHARE MY CLOTHES WITH YOU, SHUT UP, I BET YOU'D LOOK UGLY IN THEM ANYWAYS-" Zenitsu was a peach colour as vibrant as the cold induced ones on Inosuke's chest, it was funny how silly he looked when flustered, especially when it was over something as stupid as sharing a spare uniform.
"I DON'T WANT YOUR DUMB CLOTHES ANYWAYS, I'M NOT COLD!" Inosuke shouted in an attempt to assert his dominance.
"LIAR, YOUR FINGERS LOOK BRUISED AND YOUR CHEST IS MAGENTA!" Zenitsu retorted, looking over the crouched boar once over before adding onto his argument. "PLUS, YOU'RE SHAKING! JUST-"
Then Zenitsu quited, and Inosuke could've sworn his features softened. "Just take my stuff, it's whatever." Zenitsu walked to a few wooden boxes near the wall, housing some of his and Tanjiro's possessions, not Inosuke's though, he never felt any connection to physical items, not counting his boar mask.
Zenitsu opened his box silently and pulled out some folded clothing, placing it to his side as he closed the box and pushed it further back against the wall, before picking up the uniform and placing it in front of Inosuke.
"There, now put it on." The dandelion boy had sat down next to Inosuke, his haori pooling around him on the floor before he rushed to tuck it closer to himself.
"I don't know how." Inosuke stated plainly, his anger from before swirling around inside him before being replaced with a more uncomfortable feeling fluttering in his frostbitten chest. Embarrassment, maybe? But why was he embarrassed, Zenitsu couldn't expect him to understand how to put on belts or do up buttons if he never wore them.
Zenitsu, pushed him down from his crouching position to a fully sitting one, letting his legs splay out in front of him, the damp clothing making a muddy squelch as it met the floor, making Inosuke shiver a tad bit more then before.
"Fine... I guess I'll teach you." Zenitsu's blush increased to a flowery red around his cheeks as he stared bashfully at Inosuke's shaking form next to him. "But you better thank me! I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart!"
"HYYYAAAHH???? I'M YOUR LORD, DULL MONITSU! YOU SERVE ME!" Inosuke roared, pulling off his dripping mask to meet Zenitsu's golden eyes with his own forest green ones. "NOW ON WITH YOUR JOB, SERVANT!"
"..." Zenitsu stared at him incredulously for a moment, before a disgusted look crossed his face. "I really regret blurting out that I'd help you earlier." He huffed, but unfolded the uniform's top before attempting to pull it over Inosuke's head.
"Your shoulders are weird, put your arms up!" Zenitsu commanded in a strict voice he never thought he had. "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, MONITSU!" But Inosuke raised his shaking limbs upwards anyhow, letting the surprisingly soft fabric wrap around his skin, hiding his torso for the first time in years. Zenitsu's nimble fingers did up the buttons without trouble, Inosuke's chest successfully covered.
It was almost a shame to hide such a beautiful body in Zenitsu's opinion, but his thoughts were quickly cut off at realizing he now needed to take off Inosuke's soggy pants and furs.
"C-can you..." He stumbled, before swallowing and completing his request. "Take off your pants?"
Inosuke's sleek brow raised a little, but he lowered his arms and did as told once more, unknowing of how flustered the other was. After a little effort Inosuke was without his pants, nor furs, even his sandals kicked off while trying to remove said pants. All he had on now was his loincloth and the uniform shirt. He admittedly felt more warm now, though, even without having pants on.
Zenitsu never realized Inosuke's legs were as muscly as his torso, but he pointedly ignore the feeling of his face burning up and the sound of both of their hearts racing to end his suffering and pull the uniform's hakama pants on one leg at a time, before tying up said leggings. All he had to do now is put on the belt and find some kyahan to tuck the hakama pants into and Inosuke would be dressed and no longer Zenitsu's problem.
Maybe he had some tabi to lend too, Inosuke needed socks if he didn't want to lose his toes, and if Aoi trusted him to take care of Inosuke. He probably shouldn't break her trust, if he played his cards right maybe he could get her to marry him, then she could protect him.
That'd be great, but he had to focus on the task at hand, and that was dressing Inosuke, who was now laying completely flat on the floor in a star position, staring up at the roof in a bored manner, he seemed slightly distressed by not being able to run around because of his sore limbs.
"Monitsu, my arms feel like music." Inosuke complained, only serving to confuse and mildly disturb Zenitsu.
"How do you feel a sound?!? Are you even with me mentally right now?" The thunder user squawked.
"What's a mentally, Chuitsu?" Inosuke mumbled, flexing his violet fingers to the best of his abilities.
"It's- Just, nevermind. Explain the music thing I'm curious." Zenitsu prodded, intrigued to hear what kind of nonsense Inosuke was going to spill.
"Yunno when you play that thing with strings? It makes shaky little..." Inosuke trailed off as he tried searching for the word.
"Vibrations?" The dandelion head suggested.
"Yeah, vib-ra-bron-s!" Inosuke stumbled through the word like a piglet learning to walk.
"Vibrations." Zenitsu corrected once more.
"SHUT UP! I WAS TALKIN' ABOUT THE SHAKY THINGS YOUR MUSIC MAKER DOES! MY ARMS FEEL LIKE THOSE!" Inosuke didn't take the criticism well, snapping and flailing his limbs on the floor despite the pain. It was a rather sudden outburst, even for Inosuke's notoriously spontaneous attitude.
"... Your arms are tingling? They must still be cold if the frostbite is still bothering you." Zenitsu pondered, before looking downwards and noticing his own haori.
He couldn't believe himself.
Carefully sliding the orange and yellow haori he shuffled over to Inosuke on his knees, pulling the maskless boy back into a sitting position, before sliding the haori onto his arms.
Inosuke almost looked like a blue haired, green eyed version of Zenitsu at that point, but he wasn't fully dressed yet, so the real Zenitsu carried on his task.
Putting on the belt wasn't much of an issue, though the close proximity of his hands to Inosuke's privates was uncomfortable and flustering for the nervous blond.
Inosuke sat rather calmly as Zenitsu put the tabi and kyahan onto him as well. The kyahan weren't as decorated as Zenitsu's own, and were plain black like the rest of the outfit, but like Zenitsu's tied at the front with bows, admittedly making Inosuke a lot less threatening. Zenitsu knew better not to perceive him as a threat however, even if he had the same little bows on him as Zenitsu did.
Inosuke didn't move even when Zenitsu pulled back from adjusting the kyahan, and blushed more than before at the sight before him, Inosuke had his face buried deep into Zenitsu's own haori, his wides closed and features at ease. He was beautiful like this, more so than usual because of his lack of murderous intent.
He seemed uncharacteristically tranquill, and it allowed Zenitsu to bask in the serenity of the moment. Zenitsu couldn't help but let his hands shake, staying completely still being somewhat of an impossible task when faced with a sight as nice as this.
Maybe Zenitsu could live with this. Maybe.
He couldn't believe he lent Inosuke his haori, it was so special to him. Gramps gave it to him, yet here he was, letting the least clean, or calm, or safe person he knew wear it. He should take it back, he really should, that all too familiar pit of fear was clawing it's way through his chest again, but he managed to beat it back, as always.
He let Inosuke wear it, bask in it's scents, and the feel of it pressed against his skin. He knew Inosuke was feeling overwhelmed right then, not being used to clothing touching his hyper sensitive skin, he could hear Inosuke's short little whimpers, so quiet even he would miss them if it wasn't so silent in the estate right then. So he let Inosuke hold on like a life line. It was okay. Inosuke was being okay.
Zenitsu let himself smile at the sight, he was so proud, and they both felt so warm.