Chapter Text
“So, how’s your second semester been? You barely talk about it!”
Tanjiro slammed his phone face down onto his desk. He’d been far too caught up in whatever was going on with the device to notice his sister slipping in. She was leaning in the doorway, the papered door having already been slid open since Tanjiro had burst into his room rather hurriedly when he’d gotten home. Nezuko was wearing a pink kimono, and house clothes typically leaned towards the traditional for the Kamado's.
In fact, a lot of things about the Kamado’s were traditional. They had a lot of kids in the family, six to be precise. Tanjiro, Nezuko, Takeo, Hanako, Shigeru, and Rokuta, in that order. Then there were his parents, his father Tanjuro ran a successful natural gas company, and his mother, Kie stayed home to care for the children.
Of the siblings, only Tanjiro and Nezuko were presented. Tanjiro was an alpha, while Nezuko had presented omega. The rest of the siblings were still too young.
His mother was an omega. Beautiful, kind, loving and a model house-mate.
His father was an alpha. He was handsome, gentle, supportive, and worked to fund the house.
Yeah, it was about as traditional as you could get. Tanjiro didn’t mind it.
What he did mind was his sisters insistent needling over his high school life.
“Yeah, everything is fine.” He muttered flatly, still keeping his palms over his phone.
Nezuko raised an eyebrow at that, and Tanjiro elected to ignore the obvious question behind the gaze. She seemed to recognize there was no point in asking and pivoted.
“How’s judo?”
Tanjiro blinked once, twice, three times, before he managed to speak.
“Good.”
Nezuko gave an exasperated sigh. “That’s all? You have to have made some new friends!”
Tanjiro shrugged, leaning back in his chair and conveniently sliding his phone into his lap. He then hooked an elbow over the back of the chair so he could turn to face Nezuko more. A smile appeared on his face. “Yeah, I have. Everyone in the judo club is great.”
She beamed at his words. “Really? That’s great! You know, Mom’s been worried you wouldn’t branch out once you got to high school.”
“She’s always worrying over stuff like that. I’m fine, I’m doing all my work, keeping up with judo, everything’s fine.”
Nezuko blew at a strand of black hair that was escaping from her bun. “If you say so…I wanna hear more specifics at some point though!”
“Sure, sure.” Tanjiro stood and walked across the tatami floor, waving her out the door.
“Thanks for looking out for me.” He shut the door a bit faster than perhaps necessary.
Within a few instants, he was back at his desk, raising his phone up again.
On the screen was the main reason for his vagueness with Nezuko, as messages lit up one after another.
Kyo <3: So are we going somewhere after school tomorrow?
Kyo <3: I believe the ice cream store near the park is good.
Kyo <3: Then again I haven’t been there in years.
Kyo <3: My brother just said it’s still good.
Kyo <3: So that should be fine.
Kyo <3: Are you reading these?
He texts just like he talks…
Tanjiro considered to himself as he scanned over the messages.
They were from his court-mate. Yes, he had one of those. A very unlikely one at that. Well, when they’d first gotten together, as it were, it wasn’t exactly your average situation.
Well, nothing about Rengoku Kyojuro was average. Not his height, not his strength, nor his intellect or skill or manner of rapid-firing words so quickly Tanjiro felt like was getting buried in an avalanche.
In the best possible way.
Because long story short, he’d gotten locked in the storage closet for the judo club with the omega Rengoku Kyojuro. They’d been vaguely acquainted, but Tanjiro was a 1st year, and Rengoku was a well-established leader of the club, a 3rd year who represented their school in pretty much every competition. They’d been sitting there on painfully close quarters, nearly shoulder to shoulder, with Kyojuro making the most random small talk Tanjiro could possibly imagine.
Something about how he’d wanted to run to school that morning, but running in a skirt wasn’t easy for someone tall as him, and then he was talking about how he felt like it would rain the next day but he hadn’t checked the weather…and his scent…was so nice.
It was one of the most wonderful scents Tanjiro had ever picked up on in his presented life. He’d always had a peculiarly sharp nose, even for an alpha, and it wasn’t like he had to try that hard considering Kyojuro was sitting on the ground right next to him.
Tanjiro genuinely drew a blank on what happened after that. According to Kyojuro, he’d blurted out how nice the omegas scent was. To which Kyojuro had been a bit confused on how to reply.
When exactly they’d wound up making out was another leap in and of itself.
Did I start it? Couldn’t be…it was dark in there…and I don’t really remember…it was like something out of a rom-com movie.
That was how he’d dropped a brick on the accelerator of his relationship with the omega. Tanjiro had felt so utterly humiliated about the whole thing, and yet he couldn’t deny he found Kyojuro fascinating for more than just his looks and scent.
Though both of those certainly don’t hurt things.
Tanjiro gazed down at the phone screen fondly. He’d been rather traditional when it came to a courtship gift, too. He’d gotten Kyojuro a promise ring, and he’d threaded it onto a silver chain, knowing with the amount of practice Kyojuro did for judo he’d be unlikely to wear it on his finger.
The ring looked like two separate strands interlocking, and Kyojuro had rather flatly asked him exactly what it was for.
I want…will you court me?
Kyo <3: Hello? Hello? Are we going or not? I need to know to pack extra clothes.
Tanjiro gave a happy sigh, thumbs lowering to the screen.
You: Sorry, my sister barged in! Yeah, I’d love to go get ice cream tomorrow if you’re free!
The rather unpredictable beginning aside, Tanjiro was blissfully happy with his sudden high school love life. At the moment, he wasn’t trying to get much more complicated than that.
The Next Day.
“I think Tomioka was lying to me.” Kyojuro stated this rather matter-of-factly, lips pressed into a thin line. His golden eyes flicked to the window and then back to Tanjiro, the straw of his milkshake just shy of his mouth. He’d already downed almost the entire thing before Tanjiro had even gotten a quarter of the way through his. Kyojuro did everything quickly, and Tanjiro had long since gotten used to it.
Tanjiro gave a bright chuckle. “Tomioka-san? Lying? Never.” He had both hands wrapped around the milkshake cup he was holding. They were sitting inside the sweets shop that was a popular spot for high schoolers from the local academy. The main shopping district was a street over, so it also made a great place to people watch.
“You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?” The omega demanded, before his lips curled into a smile again.
“Well, it doesn’t matter!” He declared, speaking just slightly louder than necessary.
“What did Tomioka-san tell you anyway?”
“That apparently Shinobu conspired to lock us in the storage closet that day.”
Tanjiro snorted on his mouthful of milkshake, eyes watering. “W-What? She did!?”
“Well, I don’t know for sure. Like I said, he might have been lying. And I’m not particularly worried about it either way.” Kyojuro took another sip from his shake.
“You’re not? You don’t want to know who did that?” Tanjiro certainly wanted too, but his omega just gave an affable shrug.
“Even if she did, I wouldn’t be angry with her. Why would I be? If she hadn’t have done that, you and I would never have wound up together. And I’d never have known what I was missing, if I even could miss you without knowing you like that.”
Tanjiro felt his ears burning and groaned. “You say the most embarrassing stuff so easily!”
“Hm? But it’s true. Don’t you think?” Kyojuro prompted, leaning his elbows on the table between them.
From the collar of his tee shirt, the silver ring swung out, bouncing once off him before resting on his collarbone. In the past six-odd months since Tanjiro had given him the necklace, the alpha had never seen him without it on.
Maybe he never takes it off?
The thought sent a warm fuzzy feeling through his chest, and he turned his gaze to the window as he forced out a reply. “Y-yeah…it’s true.”
He swore he saw Kyojuro’s smile grow in his periphery, but what he’d just focused on was of far more pressing concern.
“Nezuko!” Tanjiro yelped, and he immediately flattened himself to the booth, hiding from the view of those beyond the window.
“What are you doing?” Kyojuro looked out the window to see what had caused the fuss, only to see a dark haired girl with very similar features to his court-mate walking up the sidewalk with several friends. Kyojuro watched her go, before leaning back against his side of the booth. “If it was the girl in pink you were worried about, she’s gone.”
Tanjiro popped his head up, peering over the window sill. “Ugh, I forgot she said she was going shopping with some friends today.”
“So who was that?” Kyojuro prompted, tilting his head to the side.
Tanjiro, who had been kneeling on the both still peeping out the window, immediately returned to sitting properly. “Oh, she’s my little sister.”
“Your sister? The one who interrupted you when I was texting yesterday?”
“Yeah, same one.”
Kyojuro had set his milkshake cup on the table and now folded his arms. “And…what would have been so bad if she saw us?”
Tanjiro flinched, because all of a sudden Kyojuro’s gaze had gone from casual to piercing, and he knew he was in hot water if he tried to wiggle out with some excuse. He wilted under the pressure. “She…we…my family doesn’t know about you. Us. That I’m courting someone.”
Kyojuro’s previously blank expression turned confused. His eyebrows knitted. “They don’t? Would they not approve?”
“No, no, it’s not that! It’s just…well…” Tanjiro groaned, grasping for words to explain things properly.
“They’re super traditional. And not in, like, that kind of way where they’d kill me for starting a courtship! Just like…I’m the eldest, I’m the responsible one, I…I dunno. I’ve never talked much with them about what I do at school. And when it occurred to me to try bringing it up, I just…”
Kyojuro fixed him with a deadpan stare. “You’re embarrassed, aren’t you?”
Tanjiro sputtered, and Kyojuro rolled along talking.
“Is it because got together after we kissed in the closet? And you started it? You can leave that part out, I don’t mind.”
“Kyo, can we not talk about that in public? And I don’t remember who started it!”
“Does it matter?”
Tanjiro was trying to figure out if it bothered him that Kyojuro posed that question a lot.
Regardless, the alpha slumped back into his seat from where he’d half-stood up in his excitement.
Kyojuro was still watching him, before his eyes slid to the window again. His expression shifted and his shoulders hunched upwards. “…is it because of how I am…not exactly typical?”
“No. Never that.” Tanjiro shut that down in a heartbeat.
They’d been courting for a little over six months, but in those months they’d spent a lot of time together. Time enough for Tanjiro to pick up on the fact that Rengoku Kyojuro, starting member of the judo team, well-respected and equally as feared 3rd year, who’d wiped the floor both verbally and physically with most alphas who’d tried to bother him was painfully insecure about his secondary.
As far as Tanjiro had gathered, it wasn’t that Kyojuro disliked being an omega, it was that he felt he didn’t fit that mold very well. The academy uniform skirts were ill-fitting due to his height, and he’d been dealt plenty of not-so-pleasant commentary concerning his martial prowess and muscular build. His eyes were bright and round, and his hair was two different colors, which in and of itself wasn’t odd considering some of their other classmates. Unfortunately all of it combined with what few snippets Tanjiro had picked up about Kyojuro’s pessimistic father had made him pretty accepting of the fact that he’d never catch an alphas attention.
Then the closet incident happened.
And next thing he knew, he was courting an alpha whose attention he’d most certainly caught, and never released.
Tanjiro knew there was still plenty to unpack in the conclusion Kyojuro was drawing, so he carried on hoping to dispel any misunderstandings.
“I’m just not sure how to talk about it with them. I never really talk to them about anything. They’ve only met Zenitsu and Inosuke maybe once or twice, and they’ve been my best friends since junior high! It’s got nothing to do with you. I promise.”
Kyojuro finally brought his eyes to him again. Then, as easy as always, a steadfast smile climbed upon his features, his eyes brightened up again and his shoulders relaxed.
“Thanks. Sorry I said something so ridiculous.”
He’s amazing.
Tanjiro tried to ignore the happy little backflip his heart had just done, feeling for a moment like that beautiful expression was reserved especially for him.
He pressed on. “Of course! And I…I do need to talk to them about it.”
“Didn’t you tell them where you were going today, though?”
“I just said I was going to hang out with some friends and left. My Mom didn’t question it, usually ‘friends’ just means Zenitsu and Inosuke, and no one ever asked me to name names, so…yeah.”
Kyojuro hummed, nodding. “I suppose in that case…you’ll just have to tell them today!”
He declared this without a hint of hesitation, dropping a fist onto the table in front of him.
Tanjiro flinched. “Huh? Today? I dunno…”
“Text me tonight and tell me how it goes.”
“But I…”
“And I’ll know if you lie about it.”
Caught under Kyojuro’s burning stare again, all Tanjiro could do was tap out. He gave up, and promised his omega he’d broach the topic with his family that day. The rest of their date went as routinely as ever, but all the while Tanjiro had words rushing half-formed through his brain.
How was he going to explain this?