Chapter Text
Genya set his stuff down. His body began to sweat because of all the heavy loads he was carrying to his new bedroom. This was a new move for him, and it would take much adjusting to! This summer would be an interesting one.
He asked his mom one day out if the blue, ‘What if I moved in with Aniki?’ During a dinner. His brother had mentioned it when he visited, but Genya really did take it into consideration. He was getting older and he still clung to his mother like a lost puppy. And to his surprise, his mother smiled and agreed. Though all of his siblings were upset to see yet another Shinazugawa go, they understood his reasoning.
His room was about the same size as Sanemi’s, minus the extra bathroom. It would do nicely, he took note of how Sanemi had painted the walls a light purple. Genya’s favorite color was purple, so he found himself barely containing his happiness at how thoughtful his big brother was.
In his heavy boxes weren’t much, as he was planning to get a job and find the chance to decorate more then. He had most of his clothes that both his older and younger siblings didn’t nab from him, his hygiene necessities, gifts from his siblings and his mom, his gaming console and video games, and pictures of his family. He loved them a lot, so he’d feel a little homesick definitely. Another part of him reassured him that he’d visit with Sanemi a lot.
So now. Here he was! With his own bedroom and living with just his brother! He would be paying his fair share of rent once he got a job, but for now, Sanemi would help keep him afloat.
Of course. That wasn’t without a few tasks to hand him first.
“Hey, shitface. I have something for you to do!” Sanemi emerged from the hallway. I’m response, Genya jumped and whipped his head around to face Sanemi.
“Yes, Nemi?”
“Go to the Kamado bakery. I ordered ohagi and watermelon smoothie,” he began, his eyes darting to the boxes in his room, “It’ll be good for you to get out before you have to unpack all that shit.”
Genya would head off quickly, but he did need locations. Thankfully, Sanemi must have known that he’d ask ahead of time. Because he sent a nasty smirk towards Genya’s way.
“Check your texts. I sent you the address. Don’t mess any of my shit up! The smoothie is for you.”
Genya beamed. The idea of a refreshing drink being his favorite flavor was appealing to him. “Hell yeah. Thank you!” Genya quickly leaned in for a hug, in which Sanemi placed his hand firm on his forehead and turned him to face the hallway.
“None of that, you’re fuckin’ sweaty.” He did ruffle his hair roughly. Genya knew it was his attempt at ‘brotherly love’.
And with that, Genya headed off. He didn’t look the most neat though. His hair was the slightest bit greasy. He didn’t mind that it was growing out, but he’d need the sides shaved soon. he was wearing dark sweatpants and a plain purple hoodie, and he was wearing shoes that were worn with age. Plus, he hadn’t had a good chance to keep up with skincare. But he figured he wouldn’t run into anybody important. So he just headed off.
He pulled up the directions on his phone and smiled in relief. It was a short walking distance, maybe a few minutes because of traffic, but still close enough that he wouldn’t have to travel by other means.
He headed off towards his direction of… he checked his phone… the Kamado Bakery! He took note of the exterior of the building shown on the ‘Official Kamado Bakery Website’. It seemed a bit cozy. It must be run by a family!
Be checked both sides of the street before moving on, eventually catching site of the bakery after a few turns and a few odd stares from people. It wasn’t something he wasn’t used to, people always thought he was a delinquent. Because of his Mohawk, multiple ear piercings(Sanemi refused to let him get anything on his face), and an ugly scar across his face. If you asked him, he wouldn’t tell you where he got it from. But it matched Sanemi’s! Though he was coated in quite a few more scars.
He made it eventually. He opened the door, scanning the area and quickly confirming that it was indeed the Kamado Bakery. But his anxiety still needed for him to confirm. There weren’t many people, so somebody came rushing from the front counter to greet him.
“Your order is almost done! Good afternoon, Shinazuga- Oh!” The boy stopped in his tracks. His eyes burned through Genya’s entire being. And he felt sort of nervous. Was he expecting Sanemi to come here? Did he even know Sanemi had a younger brother?
He carefully picked his words out. He shifted around awkwardly, beginning to look anywhere but at the boy literally staring into his soul “Um. Is this the Kamado Bakery?”
The boy seemed to knock himself out of it, as he smiled brightly and replied. “Yes! I’m sorry, I thought you were somebody I know picking up an order. I’m Tanjiro Kamado, how may I help you?”
Well. He was wrong. Genya was trying to pick up an order.
Genya sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and laughed awkwardly, “Oh. No! I’m here for my Aniki. Shinazugawa Sanemi? I was told to pick up an order by him.”
Genya watched as the gears started moving in that boy, Tanjiro Kamado’s, head. His smile seemed to get even brighter and he immediately moved to grab his order. “Of course! Oh my gosh, I’ve heard of you before! Shinazugawa-san has mentioned you a few times! It’s nice to finally meet you!” The boy speeds around the corner to personally hand Genya his bag, “Just show me the order number and you’re all set!” This guy is a ball of energy, and it’s leaving him not entirely sure how to respond.
“I mean, it’s nice to meet you too. Wait, did you say he talked about me?” Genya asked. He always hoped Sanemi was proud of him enough to mention him. He always felt a bit down over himself, often berating himself just because he can. When Sanemi learned of this habit, he told Genya it was stupid because he was extremely proud of him. So Genya would repeat this in his mind to fight back anxious thoughts.
Tanjiro nodded quickly. “Yes! He even sent a note for this order saying to be nice to you or he’d find find a way to get my… bottom handed to me?” He read over the note added by his online order, confusion and shock blended in his voice. “He sure does have a way with words.” It only made Genya laugh, Sanemi was always so amusing!
“Yep. That sounds like him. It’s nice to meet you, Kamado—“
“Call me Tanjiro!” He blurted out, mouthing an apology for interrupting and going back behind the counter.
“…Tanjiro. It’s nice to meet you. Call me Genya also, thanks for the food.” Genya watched him curiously. The boy seemed to be searching for something, as he was turning his body to look around very aggressively. So Genya just awkwardly stood there with the order number displayed on his phone, wandering what the hell this guy was doing.
“Just a Moment! If you don’t mind, could you sit down at a table for a minute?” He asked quite politely.
Genya nodded and went to sat down in a far corner. He ended up just texting his brother.
To ohagi-devourer:
-Hey, Nemi. Im gonna be here a
bit longer
-Dude at the counter asked me
to wait for a second.
-He’s eager and looks my age
-I’ll feel bad if I leave
5:32pm.
From: ohagi-devourer
-yeah he did that shit w me
-stop fucking spamming
-come back safe
5:34pm
Genya closed his phone shortly after. Well. Presumably, Tanjiro was getting a gift ready. How would Genya even react to that? They had just met. Genya did sort of hope it wasn’t anything that would leave him indebted to the guy. Or better yet, no gift at all.
Tanjiro came from the back, a smile on his face as he presented four mouth watering cupcakes. He placed them carefully in front of Genya. “Your brother mentioned you like watermelon. So here are some cupcakes with a watermelon icing, the black seed looking things are just sprinkles! And I used food dye to change the color of the vanilla flavoring. I hope it’s to your liking! I was experimenting with them earlier, so it’s good that you dropped by!”
Genya marveled at them. Holy shit.
“Woah. Kam- Tanjiro . Are you sure?” He looked back up at him, he seemed a bit tense judging from his stance. Was he nervous?
Tanjiro nodded in response. “Yes! Take a bite of one and you can do whatever you want with the rest on your own time! I’m not sure if they’re the best, but I did try.”
Genya feels very unsure about having someone very intensely watch him eat. But he supposes It doesn’t matter, Tanjiro was just strange. Genya wasn’t much different though. So he continues on and picks one up. It literally looked perfect. Was he even worthy of this? From a stranger no less?
He took a bite. His eyes darted to the ground so he wouldn’t have to watch Tanjiro sway from foot to foot. The sweetness of everything, both fruity and still tasting like a baked good. One bite turned into two, two turned right into devouring that whole thing. He almost grabbed another without thinking, but then he realized that Tanjiro was waiting for his opinion. So he sat up a bit straighter and looked at Tanjiro properly.
“Holy sh- I mean. Woah. This is good, really. This is fantastic. I can see why Nemi likes this place- fucking hell. That was great.” Genya stammers. Was this all for him? “Are you sure I can have the rest? Don’t you want any?”
Tanjiro shook his head, “Oh no! Haha! Don’t worry. There’s a while kitchen behind me, I can make as much as I’d like. And don’t worry about paying, that’s on me. I like making food for friends!”
Genya nodded. He was one of those gift giving/acts of service dudes. Good thing Genya was terrible at accepting and receiving!!!
That was sarcasm.
He couldn’t accept gifts without crying about it eventually…
Embarrassing.
Before Genya could muster up a response to anything, Tanjiro jumped to another question. “Hey, you’re going to Kimetsu Academy once school starts back up, right?”
Genya nodded in response, “Mhm. My brother works there as the math teacher I think? I’m kind of worried about that, I suck at math.”
Tanjiro laughed, “Me too! His teaching habits are quite scary as well!”
“Really? He’s not scary.” Genya said back. Though the bite in his tone made him feel bad, he didn’t mean to be rude. He was just defensive of his older brother.
“Oh. I can tell from his scent that he really cares for you, so I’m glad you don’t think so!” Tanjiro grins, “Just wait till you see his teaching habits.”
That was all Tanjiro said. He chose not to further explain these ‘teaching habits’
Genya waited a second before deciding he should probably respond. “Oh god. He probably uses students as an anger outlet.” He tried to sound concerned, but he found it pretty amusing. Genya hoped he would have special treatment.
Tanjiro sits in front of him and slides his phone so Genya can see the screen. Genya looks down to see his phone number. He looks back up waiting for an explanation.
Tanjiro delivers once he gets Genya’s message, “My contact info! I hope we can be friends, and that you drop by soon! My sister Nezuko would have been real happy to see you. Too bad she’s out sick for the day.”
Genya nods along. He didn’t focus much on his words and instead focused on adding Tanjiro’s contact into his phone. “Oh, I have some more siblings too.”
Tanjiro smiles, “Me too! I’m the oldest out of six!
“I’m the second oldest out of seven.” Genya nods in response, “Nemi is the oldest.”
Tanjiro seems to only smile wider at that, “Oh that’s cool!” He seemed to want to talk a bit more, but he was called back by an older woman who was probably his mother.
He looked a bit sad, but not completely ruined for the day. He just grinned and turned back to Genya, “I hope to see you again soon, Genya!”
Genya watched as he hopped up and sped to the back.
Genya came back home with three cupcakes that soon turned into one because he had eaten one on the way back and Sanemi snatched one while also taking his Ohagi that Genya very diligently delivered. And his drink was already long gone, so there wasn’t much to worry about other than unpacking.
Sanemi had a fistful of Ohagi stuffed in his face as he spoke to Genya who was hard at work unpacking, “So.”
“What?” Genya asked.
“How was it?”
“How was what?”
“Your trip! don’t fuck with me.”
“Damn, chill out! It was good!”
Sanemi scoffed, rolling his eyes at the thought of that bratty little kid, “What did he say?”
Genya grinned thinking about it. He set up his polka dot-purple bedsheets while he spoke, “He said your teaching habits were scary.”