Partners - Muitan Demon Slayer

Crush

Tanjiro

"I still don't understand your post, Monjiro. Zenitsu told me that you and that Muichiro guy weren't friends," Inosuke said in between bites of his apple while they walked out of the school building.

"Tanjiro. My name is Tanjiro." He sighed. "I was just being nice. Stop bugging me about him, okay?"

"You're acting so defensive over him. I don't care if you're friends but people are saying things..It's just weird that you never hang out with him in front of other people. What are you guys even doing behind the school at lunch?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tanjiro stopped walking and stared at Inosuke. What were people saying about them? "There's nothing weird going on, he just doesn't like being in the lunchroom. That's all."

"Right. Well I'm going to Zenitsu's place so come with me if you want." He shook his head and brushed Tanjiro's shoulder as he walked by him.

Ouch. He looked around to see if anyone had witnessed their conversation, and he was met with the eyes of a few confused students who quickly looked away. How embarrassing. He decided to make himself look busy so he leaned against the front wall of the school and pulled out his phone to text Muichiro.

"Are you ready to go?" Muichiro suddenly stood in front of him, and it was obvious that he was trying to hide a smile.

Tanjiro jumped a little as he looked up from his phone. He hoped he hadn't heard the conversation. "You scared me! Yeah, it's not too far so we should get there pretty fast," He smiled then slipped his phone into his back pocket. More groups of people were still pouring out of the school.

He began walking while Muichiro followed close behind him. "You know you can walk next to me, right?" Tanjiro chuckled a little.

Muichiro hesitated but he sped up his pace a little so they were next to each other now. "Sorry. I didn't want anyone at school to know that we're going to the smoothie place together," He glanced behind them at their school. It was farther away now. "I don't wanna ruin your uh, popularity."

Tanjiro shook his head. "I told you, we're friends. I don't care about what people think about us. Stop worrying about it." He nudged Muichiro's shoulder a little which made him smile. His own smile faltered for a second when he remembered his previous conversation with Inosuke.

"If you say so." Muichiro stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked away at the different stores and food places that they passed. "I haven't had smoothies in forever so I'm sort of excited."

"Some kids at lunch said that it's really good so I guess we'll see," While he looked away, Tanjiro took this opportunity to look at Muichiro. He was really cute if he was being completely honest. He liked how perfect his face looked, and how his bangs slightly covered his eyes. His lips...he wanted to kiss them. Wait, what?

"Is there something on my face?"

Tanjiro blinked a few times before realizing that Muichiro had stopped walking and he was staring at him. He rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, no sorry. I just zoned out. What were you saying?" He laughed awkwardly. He could tell Muichiro didn't believe that he zoned out from the way he was looking at him.

"I didn't say anything." He started walking again. "Is that the place right there?" He pointed towards a small smoothie place on the corner of the street then looked back towards Tanjiro for confirmation.

Tanjiro nodded and they crossed the street together. 

Once they were seated with their smoothies, they pulled out their backpacks to work on the project.

"Hey, what flavor did you get?" Tanjiro took a sip of his own smoothie.

"Oh, uh I think it was mixed berry or something like that." He glanced up from his notes and slid his cup towards Tanjiro. "You can try some if you want, I don't mind."

Tanjiro stared at the cup then back at him. "You mean you want me to drink after you?" He stared at the straw.

"I guess so, yeah. I'm not sick or anything. You don't have to though." He reached into his bag for a different pencil.

Tanjiro felt his cheeks get hot but he ended up taking a small sip of the smoothie. "Oh! It's good, I need to get this next time we come here."

Muichiro looked up at him with a small smile. "Next time?"

"I just thought we could come here again...to work on the project"

"Oh right." His smile faded a little and he went back to writing in silence.

Maybe he shouln't have said that? Did Muichiro like spending time with him as much as he did? Even outside of the project?

He began writing down notes as well but he could only think about Muichiro. He knew he liked other boys for a while now, well he liked everyone, but he just didn't think he would ever like Muichiro like that. He sighed softly. It was obvious now. It explained why he spent a whole class period thinking about him and why he was so defensive when it came to him. Why he was so scared to drink out of the same straw as him. He liked Muichiro.