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In Japan, it's common knowledge that Valentine's Day is for women to give their love interest Honmei choco, their male friends and colleagues get Giri choco, and their female friends typically get Tomo choco.
Zenitsu was also very tired, and very excited to get back to the Butterfly Mansion. He was told that his sparrow would only fly to him during his mission when Tanjiro woke up.
He ignored the weird looks he got as he pulled Chuntaro out of his hair, and rushed into the shop.
God, what the hell am I doing?
The question only crossed his mind for a second, and it was after he had bought the chocolate and was returning to the Mansion.
The exhaustion he'd felt earlier had nearly entirely faded, now just melting into a light headache that wouldn't stop him from running at full speed around sharp turns and wet grounds from yesterday's rain. Trying his best to keep the chocolates in his hand as they threatened to fly away from the speed alone, he turned left, right, ran straight, right, right, then left again. The familiar path leading to Butterfly Mansion. He heard the sound of people loudly talking, and a feminine voice that he'd never heard before stuck out like a sore thumb. Sure, Butterfly Mansion was full of girls, but he didn't think there were so many that he wouldn't have heard even just one of them speak.
But he brushed it off as 'the wind had messed with his hearing.'
He stopped abruptly at the door, gathering his breath after having run about five kilometers, albeit painstakingly.
He gently opened the door, Nezuko being his first sight, speaking to Aoi.
"Hi, Nez-" He cut himself off, confused. "You can speak now?"
She nodded. "Welcome back, Inosuke."
"I'm Zenitsu, but congratulations! Anyways, where is Tanjiro?"
She pointed to a door on an off-wall.
"Thank you!" He smiled, walking off.
"Hey, is it just me, or was that a little strange? He just brushed off the opportunity to speak to you for Tanjiro."
"Hmm. I don't know. I see him very sparingly outside of my box, so I don't know much about his personality."
He walked into the room, and a Kakushi he didn't recognize quickly got up off the floor, said goodbye, and walked out of the room.
"Zenitsu! You're here!" Tanjiro smiled, stuffing food into his mouth.
"Tanjiro! You're awake!" He rushed to his bedside, keeping the chocolates hidden under his haori as he sat next to the bed.
And it was right then when all of his anxieties set in. Right then, he realized how bad of an idea this was. When the hell did I decide this was a good idea? He's surely going to reject me. Doesn't he like Kanao?
"You look red, are you feeling okay?"
No, I'm actually a massive disaster right now. "Yeah, I'm fine! I actually got something for you when I was notified that you woke up." Why don't I ever think before I speak?
"Oh, thank you, Zenitsu! You really didn't need to."
Curse Tanjiro, curse him, and his pretty smile, and his desire to never be a burden, everything about him. God fucking damnit, this plan could never go right.
He quickly put the small box on Tanjiro's food tray, not meeting his eyes.
The box in itself was white with Honmei choco written in kanji in the middle. The atmosphere was so thick that a light movement would cause his katana to cut straight through it.
Silence filled the room, and he could tell that if all of he wasn't blushing so hard then he could feel it he would be as pale as the last demon he was fighting.
"Zenitsu, you realize that this is..?" His voice trailed off into a quiet whisper, and even Zenitsu could barely hear what he said. But, he wasn't sure he was glad that he did. He nodded. "True love chocolate?"
He couldn't tell what Tanjiro felt. Was it disdain? Anger? No, he knew that Tanjiro wasn't the type to get angry. Pity, maybe?
All of his questions were answered by nothing but a small chuckle.
He looked up in confusion, to see Tanjiro, face pink, giggling.
"Thank you, Zenitsu. I love it."