Wrestling In The Sand | InoTan

"You make him happy"

Inosuke grinds his teeth, jaw trembling, as he watches Tanjirou's shrinking form retreat into the distance.

He wants to run after him, scream at him, and somehow kiss him all over again.

Inosuke wants to tell Tanjirou he knows he feels the unwavering spark that ignites between them with every too-long glance and every brushing of fingers just as much as he does.

Because even Inosuke knows you don't kiss someone back like that with such longing and passion if you don't return the same feelings.

But he stays firmly planted in the spot where he was kissing the redhead only minutes earlier as the rain beats against his skin rhythmically, reminding him how he didn't imagine it.

Tanjirou had run away, and Inosuke began to cry with the sky.

.oOo.

In the following days, Inosuke tries not to let his mind think about red beach waves and freckles painted in the sand, but he can't seem to stop.

He wants to drown in those waves until there is nothing left of him.

After day three, Inosuke hears his mother and his aunt exchanging hushed whispers about him in the kitchen over glasses of wine at around one in the morning.

He had woken up from a new reoccurring nightmare where Tanjirou left him standing alone all over again, sweat sticking to his skin uncomfortably. He was going to take a shower until he heard his aunt mutter his name.

"Inosuke hasn't really been himself the last few days; he didn't even touch his dinner tonight," there's a pause as she takes a sip from her glass. "Do you know what's going on?"

His mother sighs. "The other day, he told me there's this boy from town he has a crush on, and if I had to guess, he was rejected."

There's a small hum of understanding from his aunt, and Inosuke slumps against the wall silently.

So he really was rejected, huh?

Inosuke pushes himself off the wall and decides to slip back into his room without a shower as their conversation switches over to something more mundane.

.oOo.

After a week of no contact from anyone in the group, Inosuke finds himself pacing his room, checking his phone every ten minutes.

His breaths are shuddery, and his limbs are trembling as roaring static overwhelms his senses.

Inosuke flops down on his bed, bouncing slightly as he pulls up Tanjirou's contact, thumbs hovering over the keyboard unmoving.

There's so much he wants to say, so much he could say if he wasn't so scared.

God, why is he so scared?

What about Tanjirou Kamado was so scary?

Inosuke's thumbs start typing on his own, and he hears the small swish as he sends a text message.

Inosuke
I'm sorry about kissing you we can just forget it ever happened

Then he's typing another message and sends it without thinking.

Inosuke
I miss you

The ravenette stares down at the words printed on the glowing screen, and he almost throws his phone across the room when he sees the three tiny dots appear and disappear and then appear again. But instead of throwing it, he puts the device on silent and hides it under his pillow.