Muichiro's pov

It was Sunday, around 8am, I was in the kitchen eating my breakfast while thinking about the birthday party "Tanjiro looked so excited about it... maybe I should go.. just to make him proud.." I thought to myself and sighed.
"Idiot, start eating the cereal already, it's going to get all soggy and gross," Yuichiro said, hitting my shoulder a bit. I just shrugged and kept on just playing with the cereal with my spoon.

"Okay, tell me what's bothering you before I shove the spoon down your throat" he said and sat down next to me.
"So... there is this birthday party Tanjiro invited me to, I just don't know what to do... if I should go" I said looking down. "That's what's bothering you? God you are such an overthinker, well it's your choice, but with all your problems you shouldn't go... but if you really want to, I was invited too so I can keep you some company" Yuichiro said, laying his head on his palm.

"Well... he looked so excited about it and it might be a chance to finally move... I don't think I am making any progress whatsoever... it's like Tanjiro wants to keep moving with me, he helps me all the time but... I am just on the same spot... standing still..."

"Okay this is too deep for me, well all I will say is that, it's your choice and I am sure Tanjiro will respect your decision, he's your friend after all and wouldn't give up on you like that" he said forcing a little smile.

I smiled too and thanked him before pulling him into a hug. He just patted my head and pulled away "okay I'll go now, I'll be late" "late? For what?" I asked.
He stopped and looked at me "a date". "A date?!" I said excitedly "I am so happy for you! Is it someone from your class?" "Thanks and yeah, it's one guy from my class, okay I'll go now, I am already late" "alright! Enjoy your date!" I said and waved at Yuichiro as he left.

....

It was around 6pm, the party is starting in 2 hours and I still haven't decided if I should go or not. One side of me wanted to go and try to socialize somehow so I can make Tanjiro proud but the other side said not to, telling me I will just embarrass myself.

But then I remembered the look on Tanjiro's face, how excited he was about the whole thing. I sighed and buried my face into my hand "if I want to progress I need to go... I need to..." I thought to myself and grabbed my phone.

I turned it on and was about to call Tanjiro but I suddenly stopped. "Maybe it's a bad idea... Maybe I am not ready for this yet... but I need to do something..." I thought and buried my face into my palms.

"Well... Yui will be there so... I guess I can try" I said and called Tanjiro. "Yes Mui?" He said right when he picked up the call.
"Well... I was thinking about the party... and.. I decided that I'll go.." I said and waited for Tanjiro's answer. "What?! Really?! Oh I am so glad you decided to go! I'll pick you up by your house at 7:30!" He said.

"S-Sounds good" I said before Tanjiro ended the call. I dropped the phone next to me and sighed.

7pm

"God what should I wear..." I thought to myself and looked into my closet.
20 minutes later and I still didn't know what to wear, I started panicking "this was a bad idea, what the heck am I supposed to do".

Suddenly Yuichiro walked into the room and saw my by the closet. "What are you doing? You look like you saw a dead person" Yuichiro said, leaning against the wall.

"So I decided to go to that party but... I don't know what to wear.." I said looking down. "Maybe this? Or this?" I asked myself.

"You are overthinking this too much, wear something basic, like you wear every day, you are going to a party, not a wedding" Yuichiro said, kneeling down next to me. "Here, wear this" he said and handed me a pair of light blue baggy jeans and baggy black hoodie.

I grabbed the clothes and looked at Yuichiro "thank you". He nodded "are you sure you want to go? I mean it's a big house where there will be a bunch of people, drunk people at that" he said.
"Well yeah, I need to... I already said it to Tanjiro and he seemed pretty excited about it" I said looking down at my lap. "Well if you say so" Yuichiro said and stood up before leaving the room.

7:30

I walked out of the house and locked the door behind me. I looked forward to see Tanjiro already waiting for me. "Hey Mui, I am glad you decided to go," Tanjiro said, ruffling my hair before walking away. I followed behind Tanjiro while looking at the ground.

"Nervous?" He asked. "Y-Yeah" I said quietly, still looking at the ground. "Don't worry, it'll be fine, I'll be by your side the whole time and as I said, if you start to feel anxious we can go away" Tanjiro said, smiling. I just nodded and smiled as well.

Couple minutes later we arrived at Kanao's house. There were already a ton of people even though the party was supposed to start at 8pm. Tanjiro grabbed my hand and led me inside. One part of me just wanted to push his hand away but the other told me to stay and try to enjoy it here somehow.

We walked into the house and the first thing I saw was even more people inside, some of them kissing, drinking or just talking. My first reaction was to look for some quiet place I could go to, but there was none.

Me and Tanjiro walked around the house before Kanao stopped us "Hey Tanji! I see you invited Muichiro with you" she said smiling "well we can spend some time together, you, me and... Muichiro'' she said, grabbing Tanjiro's hand and immediately taking him to the bar.
She poured us some drinks and then gave it to us. "Drink as much as you want~ my parents are paying anyway" she said gulping down her wine. I looked at Tanjiro with a worried look, still not sure if I should be drinking this.

He just looked at me and smiled before drinking his drink as well. I looked at my drink and sighed before drinking it all as well. "This is disgusting, how could anyone drink this" I thought to myself before Tanjiro poured me another glass. "Well.. Tanjiro likes it... I guess I can handle a couple glasses" I thought and drank some more.

Kanao's pov

My plan is working perfectly, I just need to get them both drunk and then move on to another step... just wait Tanjiro... you'll be mine and mine only.

While we were drinking more people joined us and we ended up playing beer pong. On one side there was me, Tanjiro, Muichiro and one girl from my class.

From the other side, one guy grabbed a ping pong ball and threw it in one of the cups. Tanjiro was about to drink the alcohol from the cup but I stopped him and handed it to Muichiro. He looked at me with a confused look before he looked back at the cup and chugged the whole thing.

Couple games later, it was clear that most of us were already drunk enough to miss every single cup that was on the table... including Tanjiro, who was barely standing without wobbling around.

While Muichiro, he didn't look drunk at all, but he was holding onto the table thightly to keep his balance. I can handle alcohol very well so I wasn't drunk in the slightest.

I suggested we go back to the bar and drink some more. Tanjiro happily agreed while Muichiro didn't answer in any way but followed us anyway.

Couple minutes later while me and Tanjiro were talking, Muichiro stood up and ran off somewhere. "This is perfect! The plan is going perfectly!" I thought to myself and looked back at Tanjiro.

"So... There is something I want to tell you... it's about Muichiro.."

Muichiro's pov

I looked into the toilet bowl with disgust, wiping the vomit off my mouth with the back of my hand. I breathed heavily, trying to calm myself down somehow, everything was spinning even with my eyes closed. I leaned my back against the wall and tried to calm myself down.

Couple minutes later I stood up and went to the sink to drink some water. I turned on water and poured some in my hands before drinking out of them. All I wanted now was to go home and rest, I had enough of this, this was a horrible mistake.

I turned off the water and walked out of the bathroom, holding onto the wall to keep my balance. Right when I was about to leave I was stopped by Tanjiro. "Where are you going??" He said grabbing my wrist, clearly annoyed about something

"Home.." I said quietly, trying to handle the overwhelming nausea. "You're not going home! You said you will stay here!" He yelled out. "I am sorry... I-I can't" I said.

"You're not going anywhere! What happened!? I am here, trying to help you but all you do is hide in the shadows!"
"T-That's not true!... I am t-trying my best!"

"Bullshit! You are not! It has been 3 months already and the only person you ever spoke to was me! I am here doing my best, trying to help you out as much as I can and you are doing absolutely nothing!"

He yelled out, making me back away a bit. I clenched my fists and yelled back at him.

"You just don't understand! You don't even know how hard it is to talk with someone! How afraid you are to even ask for help or anything like that! You just don't get how hard it is to go through a whole day with the constant fear of messing up! The constant embarrassment and fear! Feeling pathetic and embarrassed just because you can't even talk properly! Or even join conversation through a stupid texts!"

I yelled out with tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

"Maybe if you tried a bit harder you would get better! All I do is try to make you talk to someone but you can't do that, am I right?! Because you are so fucking pathetic that even talking can make you break down!"

He yelled out before pushing me slightly away. Before I could yell out anything else I heard people around us laughing, recording our whole fight.

"You are just a pathetic little piece of shit, you know that? Helpin-"

Before he could finish the sentence Nezuko and Yuichiro walked up to us. Nezuko ran over to Tanjiro and started yelling at for saying such things while Yuichiro just grabbed my hand and said "let's leave". I nodded and we both walked away.

Tanjiro's pov

"Are you fucking serious?! What the fuck was that?! Why did you yell at him?! Is this your way of confessing your love or something?! Because it doesn't work! If you want him to fall in love with you then fucking act normaly!"

Nezuko yelled out and walked away. "Don't listen to them Tanji, you did the right thing" Kanao said clinging to my arm. "He wasn't doesn't any progress anyway, am I right? It was a waste of time and he wasn't even grateful for how you treated him... he doesn't deserve you"

...

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