Work Text:
Tanjiro walked quietly through the forest, following the map inside my head. Kaigaku was walking behind him, following his lead.
The demon had absolutely no idea where they were going. All he knew was that this was supposed to be a "surprise". He had a bad feeling about this though, for some reason.*
"Tanjiro, where are we going? Please answer me this time." He said with a sigh. This trip was putting him on edge and the fact he couldn't tell why only made it worse.
"You'll see!"
"I'm serious, Tanjiro," Kaigaku stopped walking, refusing to go any further unless he knew where they were going.
Tanjiro,smelling his distress, finally stopped and turned towards him.
He smiled at him and spoke with an excited tone. "We're visiting Himejima-san! I thought it would be nice way for you two to reunite."
Kaigaku had no idea if the boy continued speaking or not. He stopped listening the moment he heard "Himejima-san". Tanjiro couldn't be serious, right?
"You're not serious, are you?" he asked, ten times more nervous than before.
Meanwhile, Tanjiro stopped talking and tilted his head confused. "Why wouldn't I be serious?"
"Because he hates me?! I literally told you about this!"
The other's eyes widened in surprise. "You did?"
Did he really tell him about this? Why didn't he remember it then?
"Of course I did! Don't you remember when I told about the orphan who killed everyone and turned into a demon?!"
"That was you?!" A look of disbelief appeared on Kaigaku's face. How could this boyfriend truly be this clueless? He assumes he was smart rnough to connect the dots.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I was very sleep-deprived when you decided to tell me your backstory," Tanjiro tried to defend himself, though that didn't stop him from feeling guilty.
The demon sighed and ran his trembling hand through his hair. "It's fine. Everything's fine. We're just going to turn around and never come back. Alright?"
The other nodded while averting his gaze. He was already thinking about how he could properly apologize to his boyfriend.
The two started to walk back to where they came from, neither of them saying a word.
They were only a few steps further when they both suddenly froze, feeling the oresence of some else nearby.
The Stone Hashira was closer than they both expected, his presence was pretty hard to miss. The man must've been taking a walk or something, or maybe he was coming back from a mission?
Who cares. Kaigaku didn't even want to think if he was coming their way or not. He simply grabbed Tanjiro's hand and ran as fast as he could.
He ran away like he always did.
It was easier than facing his problems, after all. If he kept running, they would never catch up to him.
He'd rather die than see Gyomei again.
He ignored the way Tanjiro looked at him with soft, worried eyes. All needed to do was get a way.