Muichiro's pov

“Mom?!” I yelled out in shock and immediately pulled away. Tanjiro just looked at me with a horrified expression and pulled back as well.

He touched his lips and then looked back at me, shaking his head. He seemed panicked, I had no idea what was wrong but it creeped the heck out of me.

“Tanjiro..? Are you okay?” I asked carefully and he just nodded “y-yea.. I need some air” he quickly stood up and went outside, leaving me all alone in the living room.

Tanjiro's pov - couple years back

“Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, Tanjiro, byebyee!” Kanao said excitedly before walking towards her mom's car who picked her up that day.

I turned around to also see my mom's car that was supposed to pick me up. I got in the car and put my bag between my legs. My mother looked at me with a smirk and said “you like her, don't you?”

I tried to hide the feelings but the blush on my cheeks exposed me, making me nod “yea I do.. is that a problem?”

“No not at all” she smiled and began to drive home. Everything seemed fine, nothing felt off so far which.. was a weird thing.

My mother had this habit of overly asking stuff that she was interested in.. and it was weird that she wasn't asking now.

…

The evening came and I was in my room, preparing to go to bed when suddenly my mother came into my room.

She and my father had a fight again, it was clear by her wide grin and bloodshot eyes. I knew what was coming so I just sat down on a bed and waited for her to hold me again but she didn't.

She just sat down next to me and asked “tell me about that girl you like”

My eyes widened a little bit with a small smile I replied “well she's in class with me, her name is Kanao and y-”

“Do you know how to kiss a girl?”

My eyes widened and I shrugged, mumbling “well.. it's nothing new I guess? What can be so hard about it so.. I guess?”

She smiled and leaned closer, her eyes still wide “it's kinda hard to be a good kisser, maybe you could..” she leaned even closer and pressed her lips against mine.

My eyes widened, I tried to pull away but I couldn't, she was holding me by my chin and wouldn't let go until she pulled away with a big smile “not bad, but not good enough to get a girl like that.. practice more, yea?”

With that she walked away, leaving me in a complete shock.

“Mom..?”

Muichiro's pov

I walked outside to check on Tanjiro who was sitting on a bench, smoking a cigarette which he only did when he was stressed. I sat down next to him and asked “wanna talk about it..?”

He looked at me and let out a low sigh, mumbling quietly “no.. not really just.. sorry”

“It's okay, I won't ask” I say reassuringly and move a little closer, feeling worried and confused. He placed his hand on mine and gently squeezed it, saying “am I a good kisser?”

I blushed a little and shrugged “I never kissed anyone before so.. I guess so yea” I smiled a little. He just gave me a smile nod and took another drag of his cigarette.

It was clear that there was so much he wasn't telling me, so much that bothered him and probably made him act the way he does but I couldn't bring myself to ask.. feeling scared to hit a bad topic again.

After a while we went back inside and quietly watched TV. Tanjiro was slowly running his fingers through my hair, something that comforted him a lot so I let him do it as much as he wanted to.

“There's a.. nice lake in the forest, wanna maybe go there tomorrow?” Tanjiro asked and I looked up at him with a smile, nodding “sure! I'd like that”

…

Around 1pm we decided to head towards the lake. It was a quiet walk but pretty comforting and nice. I felt calm and happy, it felt so good to just walk around in the forest and admire the scenery but.. Tanjiro wasn't so calm.

It felt like he was eyeing every corner of the forest, every tree and every bush like he was scared of something or someone walking out. “Everything okay?” I asked and looked up at him.

He nodded and said “do you think that anyone is here?” He paused before continuing “just.. don't want anyone to recognise you or.. you know”

“Ohh right right, nah i don't think so, just relax, yea?” I said with a smile and reached out to grab his hand, giving him a reassuring squeeze. He smiled and nodded “yeah.. thank you”

We continued to walk for a while, just talking and enjoying our company. Soon enough we got to the lake and I immediately took my shirt off, only being in my swimming trunks “you coming too?” I asked and turned back to look at Tanjiro.

He shook his head and just placed a blanket down on the ground before sitting down on it. I shrugged and got into the water. It was cold but so refreshing.

I looked back at Tanjiro who just sat there, preparing some watermelon for us, deciding to play a little joke on him to maybe force him into the water too.

I giggled to myself and let out a scream before swimming under the water. I held my breath for a couple seconds, thinking that Tanjiro didn't even notice or knew that I was just playing with him but then within a couple minutes, Tanjiro jumped into the water and pulled me back up.

I laughed slightly, thinking that Tanjiro would laugh as well but no. His face was filled with anger and fear, yelling out “are you fucking kidding me?! You think that this is fucking funny?!”

My eyes widened, knowing I messed up but before I could apologize, he grabbed me by my shoulders and pushed me back under the water without a warning. I wasn't able to take a breath before I got pushed under so I was desperately trying to swim up but without success.

My nails were digging into Tanjiro's arms while he still held me under the water, refusing to pull me back up as I slowly ran out of air inside my lungs.

After a couple seconds he pulled me back up. I coughed violently as he kept yelling “not so funny now, huh?!! Do you have any fucking idea how worried I was?! Don't even fucking do this again!”

I wiped the water off of my face and looked at him, seeing tears in his eyes, mumbling “Tanjiro I.. I am sorry I didn't mean to.. it was a joke”

He shook his head and quickly pulled me into a hug “don't ever do this again.. understand?”

“Understand..” I mumble quietly and return the hug. I felt horrible for doing this, it was supposed to be a silly joke but it turned into something horrible again.

…

“Here, eat some” Tanjiro said and handed me a slice of watermelon before wrapping a towel around my shoulders. “Thank you..” I mumbled quietly and sat down on a blanket, taking a bite of the watermelon.

“Sorry again.. it really was supposed to be a joke, I didn't mean to worry you” I apologized once more and he shook his head “it's fine, just don't do it again, okay?”

I nodded slightly and looked down, taking a small bite of my watermelon.

Tanjiro sat down next to me and pulled me into a soft kiss “I love you”

I returned the kiss but still couldn't bring myself to say “I love you too” do I just gave him a small smile and turned away

...

Word count : 1336