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At first, everything was going fine. It was great, even. Tanjiro was going about his day just as he usually does. He wakes up at six, starts a pot of coffee, jumps into the shower, gets dressed, makes breakfast, feeds his new dog, Axel, lets Axel into the backyard for awhile, checks his email, and calls Nezuko. All perfectly normal things for a Wednesday during summer break.
Then, on a call with Nezuko, he calls Axel back inside, puts on his shoes, grabs his wallet and keys, and leaves the house to run some errands. He listens to Nezuko catch him up on everything she’s been up to for the past week, Zenitsu occasionally making comments in the background, and Tanjiro enjoys his day so far.
But it all starts turning to shit when he steps into the grocery store and…immediately trips and falls flat on his face. Groaning in pain and face red from embarrassment, he pushes himself up and grabs his phone, which had slid about a foot away from him, grateful the screen isn’t cracked.
“-jiro? Everything alright?” Nezuko’s asking when he puts the phone back to his ear, brushing dirt off of his knees.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Nez, just tripped and fell. Dropped my phone, too.” He explains with a pout as he walks over to the cart and tugs one out.
Nezuko giggles, the sounds of dishes being washed as she cleans up from the breakfast that Zenitsu had made earlier. “You and your two left feet, brother.”
“Hey, it’s not that bad anymore, okay? I’ve been doing really well at not falling over this week.” He points out stubbornly, forcing himself not to whine like a child.
“Yes, because it’s perfectly normal for someone to keep track of how many times they fall in a day.” Nezuko quips teasingly.
“Tanjiro, don’t make me get out our old fall counter board, we haven’t had to use that since middle school.” He hears Zenitsu call from somewhere nearby Nezuko.
Tanjiro groans again, throwing his head back in exasperation as he pushes the cart towards the back of the store. “Guuuyyysssss!” He whines, unable to help himself. Both of them laugh, finding amusement in his misery. Reaching for a few bags of soba noodles and udon noodles and placing them into his cart, quickly stopping a bowl of pre-made ramen from falling off of the shelf before continuing down the aisle.
“Oh, hey, Tanjiro.” Zenitsu suddenly says in his ear, as if he’s taken the phone from Nezuko. “Have they sent you the email about the new P.E. teacher yet?” He asks.
“Huh?” He raises an eyebrow at the question as he reads the label on a box of crackers. “No, I don’t think so, though it may have just been delayed. I’ll check my email for it again later today, though. Why?”
Zenitsu scoffs. “Apparently the guy’s been in America for the past decade, just moved back to Japan recently. He needs a reminder on how things work in our schools, I guess, and Himejima wants us to be his, like, “buddies”, help him out a bit.”
“Wait, really?” He questions, surprised. “That’s new. Not everyday we get someone who’s been away from Japan that long. Was he born here, do you know?”
“Yeah, he was born here. Don’t know much else though, not like he’s gonna give us the guy’s whole life story or anything.” He hears something on the other end that sounds a lot like sweeping.
“Yeah, I know, I was just curious. Seems like a nice way to make a new friend, though.” Tanjiro hums, adding soy sauce into his cart alongside rice, chocolate mochi, beef, and eggs.
“Yeah, says the guy who’s managed to befriend literally all of our coworkers since we’ve started working there.” His best friend snorts.
“Not all of them.” Tanjiro frowns. “Still haven’t been able to win over Shinizugawa. Either one of them.” He sighs.
“Screw the Shinizugawa brothers, they’re both assholes.” The blonde mutters and Tanjiro can hear the pout in his voice.
“You’re just upset because Sanemi won best teacher over you.” Tanjiro rolled his eyes with a smile.
“He’s the rudest person I’ve ever met, Tanjiro! There’s no way that his students like him that much! Those results were rigged and I’ll accept nothing less!” Zenitsu exclaims indignantly.
He laughs at his friend’s argument, but it quickly dies down when a container of panko slips out of his hand and to the floor, bursting open and spilling all over the place. “Ah, shit!” He curses.
“Tanjiro Kamado, what a dirty word that’s come out of you.” He hears on the other end of the phone, a voice that he vaguely registers as Nezuko again, but he’s only halfway paying attention as an employee comes over, bringing a sign to place over the mess until a broom can be brought over to clean it up.
“I’ll pay for it.” He promises, placing a hand over his phone mic. The employee shakes his head, reassuring him that it’s not necessary no matter how much he insists. He internally sighs. The second disaster in the past hour, not exactly a great start to what he knows is already gonna be a long day.
He takes a moment to speak on the phone again. “Listen, guys, I got some more errands to run and I don’t wanna run out of phone battery, so I’m gonna go. I’ll call again later or tomorrow?” He asks.
“Yeah, of course, Tanji, do what you need to do.” Nezuko reassures him.
“Okay, great. I love you guys.” He says warmly.
“Love you, too!”
“Love you. Give Axel lots of treats for me, okay?”
Tanjiro rolls his eyes. “You’re not supposed to spoil my dog more than me, Zenny.” He points out. All he gets in reply is a laugh and he shakes his head at the man as he hangs up the phone and puts it in his pocket.
The rest of his errand run consists of many more incidents, each one worse than the other. Knocking over a display of boxed snacks, almost accidentally running a red light when it changed too quickly, dropping a few books and grabbing the attention of everyone inside the small bookstore he was browsing, tripping and falling again, this time gaining a few new cracks on his phone. Then, it starts raining in the middle of him walking through a parking lot towards his car, the clouds pouring down on him, a bag of dog food splits open at the pet store and that time, he did pay for it, then his usual lunch place closed early and once he finally made it home, his car decides to inform him that one of his tires has started to lose some of its air.
Pulling into the driveway of his house, he parks and turns it off before throwing his head back and running his hands down his face, moaning out his misery. The universe is truly testing him today. Hopefully, he can still turn it around. He gets out of his car and starts the long process of getting all of his bags of food and other items into his house, thinking the whole time about how much easier the whole thing would be with two people rather than just one.
An hour later, everything now inside and completely put away finally, he stands in the kitchen and looks out the window, enjoying the view. Despite the earlier downpour, it’s still very nice out and the sun has made its way out of the clouds once more. He looks down at Axel, his two year old mixed breed laying on the floor and staring up at him.
He smiles at him fondly. “C’mon, Axel, how does a walk sound?” Tanjiro asks him, patting his thigh and walking towards the front door. Axel immediately perks up and follows him, nails clicking against the floor as he trots out of the kitchen and across the living room. Tanjiro grabs his leash from the hook beside the door and bends down to hook it to his collar, making sure he still has his phone, keys, and wallet on him before stepping out the door and closing and locking it behind him.
Tanjiro hums softly to himself as they walk through his neighborhood and a few blocks farther, going at a steady, easy pace as he makes his way to one of his favorite parks. Axel thoroughly enjoys the walk, panting and trotting along, occasionally barking or yipping as he watches everything around them.
Once reaching the park, they wander around for awhile, Tanjiro smiling softly at all the families and kids running around, watching the animals skitter about, stopping and admiring a few plants and flowers that have started to bloom since he was last there.
He’s been out for about an hour and a half now when, suddenly, Axel starts barking and pulling at his leash roughly, causing Tanjiro to stumble forward as he holds tight to his dog’s leash and tries to keep him in place. “Hey! Axel! Calm!” He orders, though it seems as if Axel didn’t even hear him. He looks around to look for anything that could’ve made him act this way, but he sees nothing out of place from just a few minutes ago. Thankfully, Axel’s reaction doesn’t seem violent, exactly, just excited, but he still needs him to calm down.
Axel tries even harder to get away now, twisting and jumping, gaining the attention of people nearby and Tanjiro starts to panic slightly. “Axel, baby, please, calm down.” He says gently, hoping for a different reaction than before but there isn’t a single change in Axel. And then, right as he reaches out to touch the reddish-brown canine, Axel twists, faces his head downwards, rears back, and suddenly his neck is bare, having managed to slip out of his collar, and Tanjiro is now gasping as his dog starts running full speed across the park.
“No! Axel!!” He shouts, keeping hold of the leash and collar as he sprints after Axel, that small panic he felt before increasing tenfold. He runs as fast as he can after him, praying that there aren't any other dogs around right now. Other people? Axel gets along great with. Other dogs? Not so much. Tanjiro’s learned that the hard way. It’s why they don’t go to dog parks anymore.
Damn this day, damn it all. He curses mentally, completely hating every second that he hasn’t caught up to his dog yet. Every single bad scenario ran through his head, all of them leading to him losing his dog and the pain that rocks through his chest at such a thought makes him grit his teeth.
Finally, finally, he sees Axel coming to a stop. But his relief is quickly wiped away when he realizes that Axel is stopping right in front of another dog. “Shit. Axel!!” He shouts once more, stumbling to a stop right behind him, bending down and placing his hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath, never taking his eyes off of his dog.
“Uh, hey, dude, you good?” Someone asks, most likely the owner of the other dog.
“N-no, Axel, h-he’s not-” Tanjiro pauses, straightening up as he realizes. A fight hasn’t broken out yet. Axel hasn’t attacked. He looks at his dog and watches as Axel simply sniffs curiously at the other dog in front of him, which appears to be an all white husky. “...not good with other dogs…” He trails off, watching the interaction with disbelief.
“Well, seems like he likes my Senshi just fine.” The other man says.
Tanjiro finally turns to look at him and is immediately stunned. Standing in front of him is a man a few inches shorter than him with long, black to blue ombre hair pulled up into a loose bun and the brightest green eyes he’s ever seen. The man is wearing a gray, sleeveless, hooded sports vest with blue outlining and accents, the zipper only halfway up, and a pair of loose, blue track pants. He’s got one hand in his vest pocket and the other hanging by his side, holding onto a purple leash. Tanjiro gulps as his eyes trace over the man’s muscular arms, quickly looking back to his face.
“S-Senshi?” He speaks up, looking to the man’s dog and back to him again. “That’s the pup’s name?” He asks curiously.
“Yep!” The man confirms, popping the ‘p’ with a grin. “She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?” He turns to his dog, looking at her with pride. “She’s part husky, part wolf.”
Tanjiro raises an eyebrow at him. “Seriously? That’s awesome.” He says. He looks to Senshi and Axel and watches as the two of them circle each other slowly, before sniffing at each other’s faces, getting so close that their noses are nearly pressed together. “Axel doesn’t usually get along with other dogs, no matter the gender. I’ve never seen him be so nice to one before.” He admits.
He turns back to her owner as he shrugs. “That’s just Senshi, she’s good at making friends.” The man informs him.
“Usually I am as well.” Tanjiro sighs, taking a step forward to bend down and stop Axel’s friend making just long enough to put his collar back on, feeling much more relieved once it’s secure. “I’m Tanjiro. Tanjiro Kamado.” He stands back up and holds his hand out to the black-haired man.
“Inosuke Hashibira.” Inosuke grabs his hand in a firm, strong grip, shaking it once and lingering. If Tanjiro didn’t know any better, he’d say that there’s a hint of flirtation in the other man’s eyes as he continues. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Tanjiro feels warmth in his cheeks as he pulls his hand back, smiling warmly. “The same to you, Inosuke.” His eyes flicker to the dogs who have now started yipping and playfully pawing at each other, chewing his lip thoughtfully. “You know…considering Axel doesn’t usually make friends, it’d be kinda nice if we could have some playdates every once in awhile with the two of them.” He suggests shyly, looking away from the other man. “I-If that’s something that you’d be o-okay with, it’s not like you have to say yes o-or anything like that.” He fidgets with his hands, holding them in front of him.
Inosuke lets out a deep chuckle that fills Tanjiro up with a warmth he’s unfamiliar with, but it’s not unwelcome. “That sounds like a lot of fun. Besides, I just moved back here not that long ago, it’d be nice to have someone to help me get used to how things work around here again.”
That time, there’s no mistaking the flirty tone of his voice and Tanjiro knows his cheeks are pink as he looks back at him. “Well, I am a teacher, so I suppose it wouldn’t be too difficult to reintroduce you to the basics.” Tanjiro flirts back, as rusty as he may be with such a thing.
There’s a sparkle in those green eyes that pull him in, the feeling only increased with every word out of the other man’s mouth. “What a coincidence, I’ll be starting out as a P.E. teacher in the fall at the high school a few blocks away from here.” Inosuke informs him.
Tanjiro’s eyes widen at his words. “Wait, no way, you’re the new P.E. teacher my friend, Zenitsu was telling me about?” He questions. “Him and I are supposed to be your learning buddies once the school year starts back up again!” I tell him. “He was just telling me about that earlier today.” The redhead laughs at the coincidence.
Inosuke’s eyes light up with surprise as well. “Well, damn, look at that.” He laughs lightly, Tanjiro joining in his amusement. “I can’t wait to get a head start on that, then.” He says.
“Yeah?” Tanjiro asks.
Inosuke steps forward, closer to him. “Yeah. We get together, let the pups play. And then you and I, we can spend some time together.” He says, his voice quieter than before. “Get to know each other a little better.”
Tanjiro bites his lip as a giddy grin spreads across his face. “Sounds good to me.” Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.