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The first time Tanjirou saw Inosuke, he was alone.
He was alone a lot it seemed, always playing around by the creek with his shoes left in the grass and his clothes soaked to the bone. He had no friends splashing through the water alongside him, nor any Parents that waited nearby for him to finish or to scold him for running around in the creek in the first place. Just him. The constant flow of the water along the river bed, and the objects he’d pull out of the depths in curiosity.
Tanjirou always wondered what he was doing in there, what he was searching for at the bottom while hunched over in order to submerge his face. He wondered why he always spent so much time there instead of just going home after school like the rest of them. Although...he couldn’t recall ever seeing him in any of his classes. Did he even go to school?
The first time he spoke to him was the same day that he finally convinced himself to stray from the path and descend the grassy knoll that stood between them. His Mom would probably get worried if he didn’t come home soon but he figured as long as he didn’t stay too long and returned before sunset, she wouldn’t be too upset with him. Especially if he arrived to tell her that he’d managed to make a new friend.
He hoped he would, at least.
The boy didn’t appear to be very lonely despite what was seen on the surface, but that didn’t stop him from trying at the very least. He called out to him from the shoreline, with his feet adorned of polished black shoes just barely dormant at the edge of the water. They were brand new, afterall–bought from his Mother’s hard earned money–so he didn’t want to get them dirty. He was probably one of the only first graders in their town who happened to be that thoughtful, but really, he just wanted to make sure that they would stay in good condition for his newest brother once he was old enough for school. Well. As long as they had the same shoe size...
“Who’re you?” The first time Inosuke looked at him, he scowled. His presence was clearly unwelcome, but his expression wasn’t as fierce as he probably wanted it to be. At such a young age, it simply flew right over Tanjirou’s head as a warning to stay back and he ended up moving not even a single inch, but rather raising a hand to wave instead.
“I’m Tanjirou.” He rolled on the balls of his feet, feeling giddy. “I walk by on my way home a lot so I wanted to come say hi to you.”
His scowl deepened, but to him it only looked like a childish pout. “Go away.”
Tanjirou didn’t go away.
“Are you collecting stuff?” The young Kamado instead took a few steps back so he could strip off his shoes and place them neatly together somewhere they’d stay dry. “I saw you pick something out of the water yesterday. It looked shiny.”
“It was.” The other boy mumbled, wading further into the creek to where the waterline rose higher, up to the middle of his thighs. “I like shiny things. Rocks...acorns...coins...whatever.”
“Can I help?”
The creek was cold, even in the summer. Tanjirou had to take a few breaths to brace himself before charging in, with his shorts rolled up and his school bag left behind in the grass. This surprised Inosuke, noticing his first splashes immediately and turning around with wide green eyes and mouth agape.
“N-No! I said go away!”
“Well... I’m already here.” Tanjirou frowned, and for the first time, they stood side by side.
He didn’t get Inosuke’s name that day...and he got a lot of small rocks tossed at him since he refused to leave when he was told. None were thrown with actual intent to hurt him, at least. In fact, the boy’s tantrum eventually stopped and it wasn’t long before the two of them were getting along and smiling with each other. It soon became a regular thing for Tanjirou to arrive and play with him for a little while after school. He actually looked forward to it. Practically skipped all the way to the creek to see his new friend once he was able to leave his classroom.
The first time he saw Inosuke’s guardian was the day he finally got the boy’s name. They’d been hanging out at the creek together for at least a week at that point, the rock collector had finally gotten used to his presence completely and had even started showing him his finds when he thought them worthy for collection. He always stuffed them in his pockets when he decided they were keepers, filling them up so full that when he left the creek, some rocks would fall out and his shorts looked sort of funny all bulging from the sides.
They were going over some of them one last time as they dried in the warm summer heat, when an old woman had called out Inosuke’s name from the top of the hill. His new friend blushed, even at the tips of his ears, as he whipped his head around to shout at her. “Go away! I don’t wanna’ go back!” was what he’d barked out, and Tanjirou couldn’t help but wonder why he would ever say such a thing.
He’d always had a Mother and Father to return home to after he’d started school, even when he was walked to and fro by one of his parents, he at least knew there’d be someone waiting for him somewhere. He enjoyed the feeling of having family at home, family to see and spend time with, so it was only natural that he’d find it strange to hear another child say something of that nature. That he didn’t want to go back. But what about his Mother? His Father? Or was it only his Grandma that he lived with, who wandered down the road to call out for him with her patient smile and neatly tied grey hair?
He just wouldn’t quite understand until he was older, just what sort of world Inosuke lived in.
“I don’t have a Mom and Dad.” He’d told him one day, after he asked. “That’s not my Granny either. She just takes care of me. Her house is real big and empty though...and everything stinks of old lady. I’d rather be anywhere else.”
It was hard to understand what that meant when he was only a first grader. Innocent, naive Tanjirou could only imagine that must have meant they were gone a lot and had an old friend or Grandparent take care of him in their place and he just didn’t like to be around her or stay at home without them. And so, the next day, instead of taking his shoes off and rolling up the bottoms of his shorts, Tanjirou invited Inosuke to come over to spend some time at his house instead. To give him a place to get away to that wasn’t cold or wet or always baking under the rays of the hot summer sun.
That was when he first met the Kamado family; Tanjirou’s Mother and Father and his younger siblings too. Looking back on that day, he remembers that Inosuke had been a little overwhelmed with the reception, though taking him into the living room to watch some tv and have snacks while he did his homework helped him relax. He and Nezuko got along nicely too. She was only a year younger than them but she was smart and clever, never letting the older boy push her around or outsmart her when he thought he was being high and mighty. She definitely knocked him down a few pegs...and she was only five years old.
Inosuke came over a lot after that day. Perhaps so that he could continue to challenge her to board games or staring contests or whatever it was they were always doing while he was busy with his homework. Or maybe it was so that he could eat their Mother’s home cooking since he seemed to like it so much. It could have been Tanjirou, too, that he wanted to be around, considering he’d become his first friend and started to follow him up the hill and over to his house before he even got the chance to come down and greet him by the water.
Over time...the creek was mostly forgotten.
Inosuke was either at the Kamado household...or he was at home.
Because of this, Tanjirou’s Mother was on the phone a lot with Inosuke’s Guardian; the old woman who had come by once in a while to check on him but would then leave in understanding once the young boy commanded her to. She seemed to care for him yet at the same time, it was as if she didn’t want to butt into his business either. The Kamado’s would have respected the wishes of their children too, but surely after a few hours, his Mother would have come to grab him by the hand to take him home.
She did care, didn't she? Was it because she was old? Perhaps she didn’t want to slip and hurt herself...
“Are you happy with your Grandma?” Tanjirou asked the other thoughtfully one night, as they waited for supper on empty stomachs. “You don’t like going home much but she’s nice to you still, isn't she?”
“She's not my Grandma.” Inosuke replied, with his limbs sprawled out all over the couch and his grassy eyes boring into the ceiling. “...but yeah she's nice. She makes me my favorite for dinner a lot and always makes sure I’m tucked in for bed.” Well, that was a relief. Though...he still didn’t really understand why he kept saying that she wasn’t his Grandmother. “She even cleans Tusket whenever he gets dirty.”
“Tusket?”
Inosuke turned his gaze to him and smiled wide. “My boar!”
The first time he got to meet Tusket was when the old woman that watched over Inosuke insisted that he came home early for once. The wild boy had thrown a tantrum in front of them both, saying he wanted to spend more time with Tanjirou and wouldn’t be going anywhere unless she dragged him, but the old woman–who he later learned went by the name Hisa –had retaliated by kindly inviting him to come as well, so that he could come home early and see his friend at the same time. She and Kie were familiar with each other over the phone after all this time, so...Tanjirou had accepted.
The boy was embarrassed for some reason, as Tanjirou peered around his bedroom for the first time, with his cherry eyes locking on to every detail and every object he could see. It was a bit messy, yet at the same time, there weren't many toys or books or games to play with. It was a rather bare room, with the only thing truly standing out to the naked eye being the enormous rock and acorn collection he kept on top of the small desk in the corner. That, and the stuffed animal sitting on Inosuke’s bed right between the pillows.
The other boy nearly thrusted the thing into his face as he introduced it.
“This is Tusket!”
A stuffed boar, with buttons for eyes and tusks soft to the touch, even when he poked them at the very tip.
It was cute...like Inosuke.
Ah.
The first time he thought Inosuke was cute, he convinced himself that it meant nothing. That they were just a couple of first graders who liked to play in the creek together and that was it. Inosuke may have been energetic and sweet and would grin charmingly bright whenever he found something he liked, but the sort of feeling that it manifested within him–the tickling in his stomach and the smile that bubbled up onto his lips–was nothing special. Finding him cute was no big deal . He was cute just like how Nezuko was when their Mom would put on her favorite show. He was cute like his baby brother Takeo, who would giggle at just about anything he did, with a smile that squished his cheeks and made Tanjirou want to hug him incredibly tight. Like the ducks and their tiny ducklings that followed them across the creek. The same ones that Inosuke liked to chase, with his arms thrown in the air and his cackling laughter echoing across the surface of the water and into the nearby neighborhoods.
Despite telling himself these things...he couldn’t help but wonder for some reason, if Inosuke ever thought he was cute too.
But he didn’t know why he wanted to know that...so he never asked.
Maybe he should have.
Some time came and went and it wasn't ever brought up...in fact, Tanjirou practically forgot all about it by the time his first year of school was over. It became such a constant thought in his mind that it was normal. Inosuke, his friend, who he met by the creek and walked home with on a daily basis, would always be cute in his own way but there was never any reason to think of it as more than that. There was especially no time to think about it once the second year started, once he’d found a new friend, a black haired boy who was so scared of so many things that he saw him crying more often than not.
The first time he and Inosuke had an argument, it felt like the end of the world, but looking back on it, there wasn’t all that much at stake; just a boy who felt like he was being left behind because his friend had found another. Inosuke had gotten worried, he thinks, since he didn’t show up at their usual spot one day and he’d wandered upon the two of them walking home together instead. Tanjirou had hung back in the classroom to wait for his new friend, since the boy had lost his composition book and couldn’t find it no matter where he looked. It turned out to be that one of their classmates had thrown it out the window as a prank, and since he felt bad, Tanjirou offered to walk with him part of the way home.
Inosuke didn’t like that. So they fought.
A childish fight, one that made his new friend cry, one that made them all cry, and it felt like it went on for hours.
Inosuke didn’t show up to see him for over a week after that. He’d stormed off in a furious fit after everything, and because Tanjirou couldn’t remember how to get to the house he lived in, he had no choice but to go home and wish he knew how to make the other boy happy. It was only after the week had passed that he finally voiced his concerns to his Mother, while clinging to the side of her leg and crying softly as she cooked their dinner. She cooed at him with a gentle voice, brushing a hand in his hair and reassuring him, and as she let the pot boil on the stove, Kie left to make a call in the other room.
The next day, his Mom drove him over to Inosuke’s house and as she and Hisa spoke over tea, Tanjirou tried his best to reach Inosuke.
It wasn’t easy, as he was a very stubborn boy, immediately putting himself under his bed so that he wouldn’t have to face him when he entered the room. He wasn’t angry anymore, however, he could tell by the look on his face when the door first opened, the small pout that pushed at his lips and how hard it was for him to make eye contact. It was only guilt now that nagged at him, that influenced him to run away and get out of sight.
“I’m sorry I made you upset, Ino.” Tanjirou sat down on the floor and pulled his knees into his chest as he leaned on the bedside table, but the room was quiet, with no reply from the other boy, leaving him to his thoughts and the memory of their argument. “...when I said those things to you the other day...I didn't say them because I didn’t want to be your friend anymore. I just...wanted you to know that I can't help making other friends when I go to school...” He couldn’t just leave Zenitsu to cry all on his own, it wasn’t in his nature to do so. Just like how he’d felt when he saw Inosuke spending so much time by himself...but just because he’d done that, it didn't mean that their relationship had changed . He was still his first friend. No, even better...
“...you're still my best friend.”
There was some rustling under the bed, but Inosuke didn’t come out.
“...your best friend?” came his small voice instead, and Tanjirou nodded and smiled, even though his friend couldn’t see.
“Yeah!” He released his knees and tipped over to press his ear to the floor, with red eyes peering beneath the bed frame to find Inosuke laying with his face half hidden behind his folded arms. His big emerald eyes gazed back at him, with their usual shine absent in his uncertainty, but Tanjirou reached over to pat his arm reassuringly. “I like Zenitsu, but I like you lots more...and if you want to, I’m sure you guys can be friends too. But if not...I understa– OOF.”
Inosuke grabbed him by the wrist and tugged him beneath the bed, though not without bumping his forehead on the frame and his knees on the floor too. “I asked Granny if I could stay here for good.” The boy then announced, with a voice that burst out of him as if he were holding it in for longer than just a few days. “And-And...I ...well, I told her that I want to go to school too!”
Tanjirou forgot the ringing in his ears as soon as he'd spoken those words. “You did?”
His friend nodded quickly. “Yeah, but only so that I can make sure that stupid crybaby kid doesnt try anything funny!” His expression was fierce, and Tanjirou could tell that he’d made this decision a while ago. No doubt sometime after they had their argument. Inosuke had left as soon as he was at a loss for words, sometime after Tanjirou had explained to him that making friends at school was only natural. It seems that Inosuke had managed to accept this fact...but now he wanted to come to school too so that he could make sure that Tanjirou thought of him and only him as his friend.
Though no matter how happy Tanjirou was to hear this, he felt something pressing at the back of his mind. Something that pulled his lips into an unsure frown.
“...don’t do it just because you think you have to. Especially for me.” He didn’t want the boy subjecting himself to something he didn’t want to do just because he wanted to see him more.
Inosuke shook his head. “Granny said I needed to start school soon anyway. I’m behind.”
“Will you go to my school?”
He nodded. “Mhm. Made sure of it.” One of Inosuke’s hands then reached out to pat the top of his deep red hair, even with what little room above their heads there was. “No need to worry, little Monjirou, your boss Inosuke will be with you again soon.”
“It’s Tan jirou, silly.”
“Whatever.”
And about two months into second grade, Inosuke had his first official day of school, arriving at the classroom with quite the wild appearance and a grand entrance that none of them would ever forget. He slammed the door open with a bellowing laugh, with unkempt hair, no shirt and his shoes nowhere to be found. Somehow he’d managed to skip the first grade since Hisa was trying to homeschool him during his stay with her, but since they’d come to an agreement for him to stay with her for good, she was able to officially enroll him, and from then on, even though the teachers were always in disagreement with the boy, Inosuke never left and would from then on be a part of his classes from only a couple desks away.
The first time Inosuke and Zenitsu had a civilized conversation wasn’t for another few months. Ever since the fight on the way home, Tanjirou’s friend had been very afraid of the wild boy. He couldn’t keep up a brave face seeing Inosuke stomp around without his shoes on and always rolling up his sleeves like he was some kind of delinquent. He always tried to reassure him that Inosuke just thought clothes were silly and didn’t like to be too restricted, but it didn't really help his case that he’d always glare at the timid boy when he got the chance.
When they finally got along about something , it was over Nezuko.
She was in first grade now, after all, and so she hung out with them at times between classes. Zenitsu adored her, liked to talk to her lots, and because Inosuke also carried a certain fondness for the younger Kamado, the two of them were bound in a pact made in the middle of the classroom that they would both help to protect her from any sort of bully or jerk that may look down upon her. Of course, Inosuke couldn’t go on without picking fun at him and suggesting that he would never be brave enough to stand up for her, but that had also been the day where Zenitsu, for the first time since they’d become friends, actually stood up for himself.
Inosuke didn’t glare at him as much after that. In fact, once they were second graders for more than half a year, the two of them were much closer, albeit still bickering amongst themselves once in a while whenever there was anything to go back and forth about. But it showed that they’d both grown past their indifferences, that Inosuke had let the past go and decided to let the timid boy in...that they were actually friends now.
But Tanjirou would always be his best friend. He would not let him forget that.
At the end of the day, it was always Tanjirou that Inosuke smiled at most. It was always the warm and familiar red-haired boy that Inosuke wanted to be around. Who he followed home after school with his bag hung over his shoulder nonchalantly and his mouth running on about all the things he’d experienced that day.
The first time Inosuke spent the night was sometime after they started third grade. They were a little bit older than when they first met, capable of staying over longer over at each other’s houses without worrying their guardians too much. One night, the spring season had brought them a heavy shower, one that most likely flooded their creek with how long it poured and it was that night that things had changed. Kie wouldn’t let Inosuke take a single step out their front door once it was his usual time to leave, and instead, she ushered him upstairs to have a bath and then had Tanjirou offer him an extra pair of his pajamas before she called his Grandmother to let her know he’d be staying.
They were small enough to both fit in his bed, under the blankets and facing each other with even breaths.
Well..somewhat even breaths.
That was also the first night that a very unexpected thought crossed Tanjirou’s mind. As he laid beside his best friend, watching quietly in the darkness of his room, with the dim shine of his night light from behind Inosuke’s head, he thought for the very first time, so pretty , and felt his heart jump in alarm.
Inosuke looked like a girl when he slept. A pretty one, with long lashes and round, soft looking pale cheeks. Tanjirou never thought of him that way before but after that night, it was hard to see him in any other light.
He wasn’t just cute anymore...he was pretty too.
Tanjirou didn’t know what to do with that knowledge...so he kept it to himself.
They were just kids, after all. There was nothing to it.
But as they got older, his appearance didn’t change all that much, so it was hard for him to let go of these fleeting, inappropriate thoughts he harbored deep down. That his best friend was pretty like a girl, but cool like a boy and would always be a force that pulled at Tanjirou like a moth to a flame, no matter what he did.
The first time they held hands, Tanjirou’s heart felt like it grew wings and flew away.
It meant nothing; he and Inosuke had just been running along the creek like they used to when they were younger but when he’d jumped up onto a stone wall, he reached out for balance and Tanjirou took his hand and just...didn’t let go.
Holding his hand was nice. Nicer than he ever expected it to be, and if Inosuke thought so too, he didn’t show it. Although, he did let him keep their palms against one another after he’d jumped down, as he pointed forward and asked him if he could come over again just like the day before...and the day before that. As if he even needed his permission at this point.
It went like this for so long...that his feelings felt normal again. That holding Inosuke’s hand and thinking he was pretty when his long, dark lashes fluttered and his verdant eyes sparkled was all just a part of having a best friend in the first place. He didn’t think about Zenitsu in this way, so that must have been it. The timid boy didn’t make his chest feel tight, nor did his almond gaze ever make his stomach tingle. Just the stare of his wild friend, the boy who challenged everything he could, who collected shining objects from the riverbed and would climb any tree, no matter how tall, if it meant proving he was the best at it.
His best friend, who defended him when bullies picked on him for the scar on his forehead, or pulled at his earrings once his Father had given them to him.
Who consoled him after some time of mourning his Father’s passing, by climbing up the side of his house and through his window...so he could hold him and pet his hair while he cried.
Inosuke didn’t get it–the feeling of losing parents–since he’d lost his own before he could even remember anything, but regardless, he tried his hardest to be there for him, to listen to and distract him from the grim thoughts that crept at the back of his mind, and Tanjirou would always remember the feeling that churned in his heart and lungs that night. He didn’t quite understand them then but he knew that someday, he would.
That day, however, would come almost a little too late.
Their world was changing; they were getting older and the boys around them were looping their arms around girl’s shoulders instead of tugging at their pigtails and sending them notes in the middle of class with messages to meet after school instead of outright picking on them for liking light colors and breaking their dolls at the playground. Zenitsu even looked at Tanjirou’s younger sister with a different sort of adoration in his eyes, and for some reason it was really beginning to bother him. When he confronted his friend about it, the boy had expressed to him his change of heart, his inability to look at her without wanting to hold her hand or put his head in her lap. He liked it a lot when she’d play with his hair and tickle his ears when he’d come over to the Kamado house to hang out.
He was beginning to .. .like her.
“Of course you like her.” Tanjirou had shrugged it off. “We’ve all been friends for years.”
“Uhm...no,” Zenitsu’s cheeks looked pink and he took a step back from him like he was afraid of what his reaction would be. “I think...I like , like her...”
Oh.
Oh.
Like how his Mom and Dad had liked each other.
And just like that...as if the world had set it all up for him, at just the most coincidental time in his life, he met Kanao.
It was their last year of junior high and this girl he’d only ever seen from afar had been assigned the seat next to him in homeroom. Inosuke was only getting further and further away from him as the years went on and it was unfortunate that upon gaining this new face in his life, his best friend was put into a different class at the end of the hall and nowhere in sight.
He and Kanao didn’t talk much at first, but over the course of the first semester, they eventually warmed up to each other, and he learned more about what things she liked and why she normally kept to herself. She liked butterflies, and appreciated flowers too since her family owned a garden shop in town. The pin in her hair, fashioned to look like the very insect she admired, was a staple among her sisters, something they all shared and wore in their hair.
He had to admit...it was pretty . She was pretty. Pretty like Inosuke but actually a girl. He didn’t question it much though...not until he realized he’d already felt a similar way when he was with his best friend.And that was when the confusion set in. The conflict of interest, the questioning thoughts burning at the back of his mind returning ten fold, as Inosuke and Kanao met for the first time by his own introduction one breezy fall afternoon. Two pretty people before him, face to face, one calm and collected and the other about ten seconds away from tearing anything and everything around him to shreds.
Kanao had eventually integrated herself into their friend group after that day, even though he was sure that Inosuke hated her for taking yet another place in Tanjirou’s heart. His best friend had changed the way he acted around him after that too, a bit more distant and certainly on edge at about every second of the day. It was as if he were mad at him, but every time he tried to ask about it, he’d shrug it off and change the subject. Sometimes he would just ignore him all together.
But like every year, once summer break came around, after they’d finally started high school, they were just the two of them again, and things eventually fell back into place as they should have been.
Sort of.
Despite just being the two of them again, able to run free in the summer heat and staying together at the Kamado house for days at a time, there was a rift between them that was ever so subtle, but nonetheless growing increasingly more unsettling the more he noticed it. Inosuke stopped sleeping in the same bed as him when he stayed the night, and while on the floor in his futon, he kept his back turned and wouldn’t whisper nonsense to him like when they were younger. He stopped holding his hand too, kept his own in his pockets whenever they’d walk somewhere together, or at least kept them occupied so that Tanjirou wouldn’t feel the urge to reach out and take them.
He realized eventually, after Inosuke started going off to do his own thing on his own time, that this was all just a part of growing up ...and he would have to accept it.
When they returned to their first year in high school after that summer, Inosuke looked very different, yet unchanged in a lot of ways too. He never noticed, since they were together all the time, but the boy was always moving forward–always getting stronger–so that he could be the best at sports and win fights whenever other students challenged him by taking a stab at his pride. He was a bit more muscular than he remembered, arriving in his summer uniform with the shirt unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up further than where they usually covered. Though, despite this, his face remained the same. Pretty and pale, with soft looking cheeks and long lashes.
Tanjirou’s stomach still turned.
The first time he finally understood what feelings may have been stirring up inside him after all this time, he also realized that Inosuke probably didn’t feel the same.
It happened when he was talking to Kanao between classes about if they, as a friend group, should go out and do something to celebrate returning from their break. She had placed a hand on his arm as they spoke, like it was nothing, with her pale eyes looking up at him from above her patient smile. Inosuke had come around the corner then, calling out his name but stopping mid-voice as if he'd been instructed to shut up by some invisible force. When he looked, Tanjirou could see what appeared to be disbelief on the boy’s face, his green eyes darting down to the space between them, how close Kanao was and how the red-head had done nothing to move her or her hand away.
Inosuke didn’t let him ask what was wrong, as he clicked his tongue, spun at the heel and stomped away.
But he didn’t have to get an answer. Tanjirou was starting to put things together on his own.
After he and Kanao had first met, Inosuke changed. He was angry at first, but he’d gotten over it quickly and actually spoke to the girl once in a while if he needed to. He was fairly nice to her when he wanted to be too, something that always surprised Tanjirou when he observed him, since he’d never been like that toward anyone else he spoke to. He was jealous of Tanjirou’s attention when it came to other people...but when it was Kanao involved, he would always just...turn around and leave it be.
This all started with Kanao...so...did that mean that Inosuke liked her? Liked her in the same way that other boys liked girls...that Zenitsu liked Nezuko? Like...How his Mom and Dad had liked each other? That was how people should like each other.
They didn’t talk that much but when they did...there was always something so strange and tense in the air. Something that weighed on Tanjirou’s shoulders and made him feel like he should be looking away somewhere else.
This peculiar tension went on for over a month.
Until the week of the Halloween school festival, where their classes would put on performances of all shapes and sizes, as cafes, plays or even walkthrough haunted houses. Their first high school festival, filled with food and laughter, games and company spent with friends. Their class couldn’t decide on a theme for what they’d do, so they ended up doing something similar to most of the others by serving food in their classroom, all made from recipes shared among the students. The Kamado’s had always been proud of their bread and pastries, so he offered up the idea of his Mother’s favorite fruit tarts and helped everyone learn how to make them. They were simple, after all...simple and refreshing. Certainly a good snack to have before wandering into a haunted house built by a bunch of rowdy teenagers.
There was a pageant too...which was new to him, since their middle school had never done one. Zenitsu had raved about how excited he was for it, to see all the girls that would be lined up and how they would show off how cute they looked in dresses and make up in front of everyone. He kept crying about Nezuko, however, when he was reminded that she wouldn’t be able to participate since she was still in middle school. She would come though, he reassured him, just to spend time with them and have fun and even though Tanjirou still didn’t like it all that much his friend was so bummed that he wouldn't see his baby sister parading around in a dress on stage...he was at least comforted by the fact that he could still trust the girl with him if he were to be needed elsewhere.
Which it seemed he would need to be.
Alongside the pageant, there was also the crowning of their years King and Queen as an event put on by one of the classes on his floor. For the first time ever, Tanjirou had been nominated for something unexpected, put on a list with four other boys and girls for his fellow student body to vote on who they thought could be the best of... whatever it was that made them qualified.
Over time, Tanjirou had come to know a lot of people in their grade...but he never thought he'd win something like that. Not in a million years. But...it still surprised him. It still sort of... excited him.
He wanted to tell Inosuke about it, but the boy was difficult to find in all the commotion. He was helping in their classroom the entire day of the festival, making pastries and cutting fruit with sloppy coordination, but conveniently on his break whenever Tanjirou found the time to approach him. When he’d finally found him, Inosuke was standing with his forehead against a wall and an apron still tied around his waist, but unhooked from his neck and hanging down from his middle. It was a secluded area, just outside from the stage where the winners would be presented, where the sun never managed to reach, so the wall must have been cool to the touch. It must have felt nice on his forehead.
“Cool.” Inosuke mumbled, after he’d told him about his day. “Go away.”
Huh.
“What’s wrong?” Tanjirou’s smile instantly dropped, sensing something very wrong. Inosuke hadn’t asked him to go away like that in a long time...not since the day they had their first fight, and even before that, when they had first met. Back then, it was a lot easier for him to forgive, but after all these years of being so close, he couldn’t just ignore it. It didn’t sit right at all. “Did I do something?”
His hands balled up at his sides. “....no.”
Tanjirou pursed his lips and came closer, reaching a hand out to take one of his. There was little resistance, as Inosuke’s palm opened up and allowed his fingers to slip by and hold onto him with a solid grip. “Come on. I want to watch it with you.”
“Go with Monitsu.”
“He’s watching the girl’s pageant with Nezuko.” Tanjirou insisted, squeezing his palm. “It’s a separate event so they’re in the auditorium.”
After a moment, Inosuke finally stepped away from the wall, but his green eyes stayed glued to the ground between them. Tanjirou felt disturbed with himself for thinking at that moment that he was beautiful. His cheeks were dusted pink, with black lashes fanned out across them, casting shadows that were distracting to him as they emerged in better light. He thought that if Inosuke could participate in the beauty pageant, then he would have won. If it were up to him, Inosuke would have won everything, even this King and Queen event that he wasn't nominated for. If it was about looks and strength and kindness and tenacity alone, Inosuke would win. If it was about being an incredible friend, and someone who was brave and usually always looking ahead with his chin up...
With radiant smiles and dazzling and mesmerizing emerald eyes...
Ah...why were feelings so complicated?
“I...I know you’re upset that I've been spending time with Kanao lately.” He brought this up probably at the worst of times, but he was starting to feel bothered by what was still between them, ever since before Summer, when he and the girl met, they had been living like this. No longer a rift, it seemed, but an entire canyon, with only their conjoined hands aiding as the glue that stuck them together now. “B-But I don’t want you to think that I’m...getting in the way or anything.” In his peripheral, he saw Inosuke face him, though he couldn’t see what sort of expression he wore, as their classmates finally began their announcements on stage. “If you want to...y’know...if you need help approaching her, I’m more than willing to—”
“Are you stupid ?” Inosuke tore his hand away forcibly and, stunned, Tanjirou looked up to meet his fierce gaze. No longer a child, his eyes were as sharp as he meant them to be, the wrinkle in his nose actually intimidating and bringing about a snarl that even had the red-head taking a step back. “This isn't about Kanao.” He nearly growled, with a voice a lot deeper than he remembered it being.
Tanjirou opened his mouth to ask what it all could have meant then, but he was interrupted by the very loud blaring of his own name coming from the speakers by the stage. Suddenly, he’d been announced as the winner for apparently having such a friendly demeanor. For being someone that everyone felt like they could approach about anything. It was ironic to hear such a thing said by his classmates, as his own best friend could hardly come to him about his troubles now, stepping away with a frown on his face as everyone turned to find their winner among the crowd. And so, before he and Inosuke could finish their conversation, the other students wrangled him up to lead him onto the stage. For the first time, Tanjirou received a plain reward for being a rather plain...friendly person. But for some reason, he felt like he wasn’t. He felt like he was the opposite. He felt like a terrible friend, who’d abandoned Inosuke when it was possible that he was about to open up to him. For the first time, Tanjirou ignored everything and only kept his cherry eyes burning into the sea glass pane of Inosuke’s from a distance.
Until he was forcibly turned away in order to receive his sash and congratulations alongside the girl who’d won for Queen.
He didn’t even know her. Some friendly face he was.
“Since the festival is ending soon, we’ll be putting on an after party by the baseball field where the King and Queen can make an appearance and have a first dance if they’d like, and we—”
Tanjirou stopped paying attention after that. His eyes darted back across the crowd of students to where Inosuke was standing but to his dismay, the boy was gone.
For the first time...he lost sight of him.
Tanjirou jumped off the stage before anyone was finished talking, causing a large group in front of the crowd to audibly gasp and step away. “Sorry,” He muttered, moving through to the back, to where he’d last seen his best friend, and then even further away toward the front of the school when he couldn’t immediately find him.
He was nowhere to be found, without a single clue, with no way of knowing if he’d gone back to the classroom or if he’d found another secluded spot to stick his nose in a corner. No way of knowing if he’d wandered to the back of the school instead, if he’d gotten in any arguments along the way or stirred up trouble in any other form.
His only chance...was Kanao.
She stood near the entrance of the school, with one of her sisters–Aoi, he thinks her name was–holding a drink in one hand and offering a ticket to one of the classroom shows with the other. When he approached them, she didn’t just look at him, she saw him, set down her things even and met him halfway like she’d been waiting all day to speak with him. His heart twisted painfully in his chest as she did this, as Aoi watched from a few feet away in silence, only to see her sister get rejected the very moment she tried to say anything. These past few weeks the suspicion that the girl liked him was only growing stronger, building up into what he assumed would be an inevitable confession. Here, in the middle of the festival, after he’d won an award and celebration, seemed as good a time as any...
“I had a feeling you’d come this way.” She said in an airy, quiet voice, almost too hard for him to hear over the crowd of festival gowers. He sucked in a breath of air to prepare himself for whatever was going to happen. If she were going to mention anything about her feelings or Inosuke’s feelings or something he didn’t want to hear right now. He was so focused on those words Inosuke had given him, that this wasn’t about Kanao , that Kanao’s very presence had him on edge. Had his stomach moving violently in a way it had never spun before. “Inosuke looked pretty angry. He left to walk home, I think. You should probably go find him.”
Huh.
“...I...should?”
He knew he should. His legs were dying to move, to start carrying him across the city and to wherever Inosuke was, but...
“Mn..he didn’t say anything to me but...you’re the one who knows him best.” Kanao nodded her head to herself and held her hands in front of her calmly, as if she were nervous somewhere deep inside her usually blank facade but refusing to show it. “I don’t want to come between you two anymore.”
She didn’t want to come between... them?
Oh.
Not for the first time in his life...Tanjirou realized he was an absolute idiot.
“Okay. I’ll go talk to him.” He was going to anyway, but now he really needed to go. Tanjirou bowed his head to her, to her sister and then he sprinted out the front gate and down the road toward where he believed his friend would go at a time like this. Their new school was in a different part of town, but the road that followed the creek was still a familiar part of their commute, although he had to run along it the opposite way in order to get to Inosuke’s house these days. If anything, that was probably where he was going, back to his room in the place he’d been raised in after years spent in foster care. It was either there or...the creek.
The spot they always met up at, along the way, the perfect place to sit down, reflect and forget about one's problems if they were distracted enough.
They hadn’t gone to the creek together in a long time, but for the first time in years, that’s where their paths had crossed. Tanjirou stopped along the top of the hill and looked down with ragged breath to find Inosuke standing with his feet in the water and his shoes discarded haphazardly in the grass near his bag. His hands were in his pockets, dry and unmoving, the apron still wrapped around his waist just how he’d found him back at school, and despite showing up after running heavy footed on the gravel up to his point, Inosuke did not look back at him even for a second.
“Hey.” Tanjirou called out to him. “What are you doing?”
Inosuke ignored him.
Tanjirou bit the inside of his cheek. “Inosuke.”
Finally, the other teen glanced over his shoulder at him, appearing genuinely confused at his presence and slightly irritable too. “...what the hell are you doing here?” He asked him, and Tanjirou couldn’t help but roll his eyes before descending the hill and making his way over to the water.
“We weren’t done talking.”
As he kicked off his shoes, Inosuke watched him carefully, but before he could step into the water beside him, he turned forward again and began to walk forward deeper into the creek. “What about the festival?” He then asked him offhandedly.
“It doesn’t matter.” Tanjirou shook his head, following him further into the water.
“...Well what about the whole King thing?” Green eyes found him again, from over the boy’s shoulder. “Arent they expecting you?”
“I don’t care.” He replied, serious. Inosuke froze where he stood and looked back at him. “I’d honestly rather be here, with you.” His pants were getting soaked at the ends, but it was worth it. His chest hurt from all that running, but it was worth it. Whatever he had to do to be here, to make things up to Inosuke and help him understand after all this time. “I’ll only go if you go with me. So I can dance with you.”
Inosuke’s expression shifted into a suspicious leer. “...what about Kana o?”
“This isn't about Kanao.” Came his response, and it caught the wild boy in headlights once again. His cheeks were rosey but he wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold that was beginning to befall them in the autumn season or if it was the chilled water that was soaking around their feet and up the fabric of their uniform pants like sponges. “This is about me...and you. Okay? It should have been from the start. I’m sorry.” Inosuke faced him more and the red-head raised his hands up to gesture to the sash on his chest. “This doesn't mean anything if it’s only going to put more strain on our relationship.” He pulled it back over his head and then tossed it into the creek so that the current would sweep it away and as it went, green eyes followed it until it got caught on a rock a little further down stream. “Kanao too. She...she wont come between us anymore.”
“You littered.”
“I-I know!” Tanjirou squeaked, balling his hands into fists. “I was trying to make a point!”
Inosuke looked at him again and he suddenly felt very bare and open to him, as if the sash was the only thing he’d been wearing and he was now completely stripped away of it. He felt embarrassed, saying those things, only for his friend to comment on something that he normally wouldn’t have done on any other day. So instead of standing his ground, he spun on his heel and traversed down stream until he reached where the sash had gotten caught, rolling it up into a wet ball of fabric and turning to throw it onto the shore where their things were.
As he turned back to face Inosuke, he was too late to prepare for the oncoming force of the other teen’s embrace, nearly tackling him with the power of an athlete and the both of them tumbling into the shallow creek with graceless finesse. He scraped his elbow on a stone, for sure, but he could hardly pay any mind to the sting while Inosuke sat on top of him and hugged him so tight that his breath was forced from his lungs. Tanjirou managed to put his arms around him after the initial shock, hugged him back and buried his nose in his shoulder, feeling wet and uncomfortable sitting along the wet stones of their small local river, but somehow warm, enveloped in this childhood friend who’d become something...more.
When Inosuke leaned away, the air finally felt cold, but then he looked into his eyes, bit down on his lip apprehensively and leaned forward to steal Tanjirou’s very first kiss.
It happened so quick that he almost didn’t register what had happened, as his best friend leaned away again and stared at him with fear shaking in his large green eyes. Once it finally began to settle, Inosuke’s body shifted, and as he moved to stand up, Tanjirou realized he was now trying to run away again. His hand shot forward and grabbed at the ties of the apron around his waist, stopping him just long enough for it to start coming undone. Desperate to keep him there, the red-head moved his weight to lean closer, hands finding the fabric of his shirt and holding him tight.
“You’re just going to kiss me and run off?”
Inosuke scoffed as he turned away, but he stopped fighting against him, stopped moving all together.
“I didn’t mean to.” He uttered, just barely audible over the natural sounds of the flowing water beneath them.
“You did.” Tanjirou decided, as he got up to his feet. “Look at me. Please. I’m not angry at you.”
It took some time, but at least he didn’t have to tell him more than once. Inosuke eventually turned around, and when he did, he got to see just what sort of face he’d been wearing this whole time. Bright red all across his cheeks, to his ears and the back of his neck. His pretty lips pursed tight and verdant eyes staring back at their own reflections along the surface of the creek in shame.
Tanjirou released a quiet sigh. Relieved, but...also sad. This could have all been avoided if they’d just.. .talked to each other.
“...why didn’t you say anything?” He asked him, ignoring the voice in his head that asks the same question back.
“I was going to!” Inosuke barked, with his hands squeezing into fists at his sides. “By the time I even realized what I felt for you, you’d gotten so close to Kanao and I–” He retreated into himself, taking a step back with a frustrated click of his tongue, but Tanjirou kept their distance short; taking a step forward to keep up every time the other boy tried to move away. “E-Everyone was runnin’ off with girls so I thought it was the same for you. I thought you two...”
“I like Kanao.” Tanjirou told him, as he came even closer. “But I don’t like Kanao like I like you.”
She was in fact a pretty face to look at, and she was nice and easy to get along with, but there was no way that her company could ever compare to Inosuke’s. Exciting and bubbly Inosuke. Who was courageous and smart in his own ways. Who loved adventure and collecting shiny objects like rocks and acorns and coins. Who slept beside him multiple times comfortably, helped him feel safe when the entire world was crashing down on him. Who made him smile, no matter what. Who made him laugh even at the silliest things.
Who made his stomach feel ticklish and flip around in thrill as his heart and lungs swelled with warmth and what he now knew as adoration and love..
They were just teenagers but gosh ...he swore he knew this feeling as something so intense that he wanted to cry sometimes. For a moment, when he’d thought that Inosuke could have had feelings for someone else...he felt that he held it together quite nicely but at home..as soon as he was alone, he knew he would have been completely distraught. He would have broken into a million pieces. He almost did.
But now he wont.
“It’s like how...when you were jealous of Zenitsu for being my friend. I told you that you could be my best friend.” Tanjirou was close enough now to put his hands on the other’s face, his palms resting against his soft cheeks, thumbs tracing just below his long bottom lashes. “But now...instead of me liking her...I’m saying that I like you . I like you a lot . A lot more than a best friend, now.”
“Stop.” Inosuke’s voice shook, cracking under pressure. Quiet. He practically punched him in the chest with his palm as he leaned forward to kiss him back, keeping him at a certain distance, with a wild look in his eyes. “...don’t do it just because you think you have to. Especially for me. ”
Nostalgic words, ones that he thinks he’s probably said to him in the past.
He was smiling up until then, but now he was frustrated too, with his eyebrows pinching above the bridge of his nose and one of his hands slipping down to ball up a fistfull of the fabric of Inosuke’s shirt. Without saying anything, he kissed him. He didn’t know how to make it feel like it would in the books or in the movies, but he kissed him like he’d seen other people do it because he was determined to show how true his heart was. He kissed him like how he saw his parents when he was younger and pretended not to look, as they exchanged affection in the kitchen or at the front door before his Father would leave for work. He moved his lips to fit them better over Inosuke’s, who shook initially at the start but eventually warmed up to it, even putting his hands on the sides of his arms and releasing a hot breath through his nostrils.
He could hope all he wanted if it was a good kiss, but he knew that Inosuke wouldn’t care either way. He didn’t know what they were like either. They were just kids for now, kids that hadn’t ever kissed anyone else before. Kids who stood in the place where they first met...to share their first real exchange of love.
Nervous wrecks they were. But...satisfied.
When he pulled away, feeling out of breath and giddy, Tanjirou smiled and bobbed his head forward firmly.
“I want to.” He then said, and Inosuke’s red hot cheeks brightened.
Then, in what was most likely an attempt to hide the dumbfounded expression on his face, Inosuke clung to him again and hid his face in his neck with a tight grip on the back of his wet shirt. Tanjirou released a soft laugh, relieved and content, and put his arms around him in return. He started rubbing his hand up and down his back until the two of them stopped shaking from their own rush of adrenaline.
Then...an idea came to him. One that would certainly change everything.
“Inosuke.” He waited for anything; a hum, a nod of the boy’s head, maybe even his foot coming down on his toes underneath the water. What he got was a small grunt against his neck, one that made Tanjirou squeeze him a little tighter and feel his heart jump in delightful anticipation. “Will you be my boyfriend?”
Inosuke immediately tore himself away from him, with an extremely flustered flush of his cheeks and he shouted. “Of course I’ll be your stupid boyfriend!” before hugging him again, this time with a much tighter and more purposeful hold. Enough so that he could lift him and carry him away back to the shore from over his shoulder. Like he was being tested for his strength or showing off what was finally his. “God damn it, I wanted to be the one to ask! You stupid, monjirou! Stupid! You're making me so happy right now, stop it!”
Tanjirou laughed openly to the darkening world, as the sun began its descent in the sky and his childhood friend whisked him away back to somewhere dry. He curled into him from over his shoulder, closing his eyes and basking in the feeling of being carried by his strong arms, and when they got back to that familiar old grassy knoll, they laid down and laughed together. Happy. Relieved. Content. And as Tanjirou sat up so he could take off his blazer, a small rock that must have gotten trapped in his sleeve when he fell in the water rolled out and into his lap. It wasn’t all that impressive, but it was smooth, and the lines were unique to everything in Inosuke’s collection. He hadn’t added to it in a while though, but he was sure he would like it anyway.
So, with the rock in hand, Tanjirou turned back to him, and as the sky lit up in a brilliant orange and purple splash of color, he offered his very first gift to his very first boyfriend, and the smile the other boy wore in response was one that would always surpass the feeling anyone else could ever give him. His first love, young and blossoming in his heart since childhood.
He will never lose sight of him again.