Work Text:
"holy crap, look at this one, kanao!"
kanao looked away from her camera at nezuko, who had run off from her side to look at a tank on the other side of the jellyfish tank, which was the sharks. she finished clicking a photo of the jellies and walked over to the excited nezuko, who was hopping from one foot to the other in all her enthusiasm.
nezuko's finger surged upwards, her index finger wagging crazily as she pointed at one of the sharks in the enclosure. "ooh, kanao! that one's a blacktip reef shark!! you can tell it's one because of all the black marks on its fins. oh, oh, and did you know? they grow up to like, 120 centimetres lengthwise in total! even you and me are taller than them, haha!" as nezuko continued her ramble, kanao raised her camera, which had been hanging loosely off of her neck for the time being, and quietly took a photo of the girl beside her, hoping that in her aquatic excitement she wouldn't notice the clicking of the camera. luckily, she didn't.
as nezuko pointed out more sharks and spouted endless knowledge about each, kanao quietly nodded and snapped pictures of each one, reassuring nezuko that she was still paying attention with small questions like, "really? what are their babies like?" and the like. she enjoyed listening to nezuko ramble on about her interests, especially since she wasn't much of a talker herself. there was something about just listening to her partner infodump that was so much more appealing than speaking, which she rarely did unless spoken to.
after a while, nezuko's interest transferred from the peacefully swimming sharks to a small tank of clownfish. she spoke very softly about these fish in comparison to the sharks, which she had been pretty ecstatic about. she treated them like they were her siblings, little fragile creatures who she had to protect. it was endearing, and made kanao crack a genuine smile. occasionally, she'd look over to kanao nervously as some sort of way to ask permission to continue, and she would always nod at her kindly, reassuring her that her speech was interesting. then she'd turn back to the fish, lightly placing a hand on the tank in a loving manner.
it was then that kanao remembered her digital camera had a video feature on it. so as nezuko continued her infodump on the orange fish, kanao filmed quietly, intent on capturing the life behind nezuko's eyes as she spoke about the little animals behind the glass, and how she looked back at kanao to make sure she was still paying attention. everything about her was enchanting, and her delicate aura was amplified by the low, watery atmosphere of the aquarium. here, she was perfecter than perfect. something ethereal, that kanao couldn't put into words.
here, she was truly nezuko.