Chapter Text
The rain had started without warning.
Not the light drizzle kind — the pouring, soaking, betrayal-from-the-heavens kind.
Tanjiro sighed, standing under a half-broken bus stop sign, watching people rush past with their umbrellas like a moving sea of color. His jacket was already damp, hair sticking to his forehead, but he couldn’t even be mad about it. Just… tired.
He was two streets away from home. He could’ve made it if he ran.
But then—
“Honestly, you’re hopeless!”
Zenitsu’s voice cut through the rain like a flash of lightning — fitting, somehow. He came jogging up, umbrella in hand, water dripping from his sleeves, expression half-scolding, half-worried.
“Tanjiro Kamado,” Zenitsu huffed, stopping in front of him, “do you ever check the weather forecast before leaving your house?”
Tanjiro blinked, sheepish. “Ah— I did! It said cloudy, not storming.”
“That’s basically the same thing, you big idiot.”
Zenitsu moved the umbrella over both of them, tugging Tanjiro by the sleeve until they were shoulder to shoulder.
The umbrella wasn’t big enough, so one side of Tanjiro still caught a bit of rain — but Zenitsu tilted it anyway, grumbling under his breath.
“Seriously… what would you have done if I hadn’t walked this way?”
Tanjiro smiled, the kind that was small but warm enough to melt through the gray sky.
“Guess I would’ve just waited. I didn’t think I’d get rescued by my favorite teacher, though.”
Zenitsu froze. “Wh— I—”
He looked away immediately, ears going red. “Don’t joke like that after I just saved your dumb self from pneumonia!”
Tanjiro laughed softly, watching the water ripple on the road. The rain had calmed to a steady rhythm — quiet, steady, peaceful. Their footsteps echoed in sync.
And when Zenitsu muttered, “you’re lucky I like you, idiot,”
Tanjiro didn’t even pretend not to hear.