Chapter Text
It's three o'clock in the morning and someone won't stop ringing the damn doorbell.
Normally, Sanemi would just ignore it until whoever it is gives up. But he has to teach an 8am course full of freshmen who are only there for their maths requirement, his sleep has been shit lately, and he had finally started drifting off when the bell pulled him back to the world of the waking. So he's exhausted, pissed off, and ready to take it out on whatever drunken idiot thinks this is their house and they just have the wrong key. Especially when the obnoxious ringing is joined by frantic knocking as he's heading toward the door.
The insults he has at the ready die on his tongue, however, when he flings the door open to find a pair of familiar china rose eyes looking up at him.
“I– Is Genya home?” Nezuko asks, her voice thick with the tears that are trailing down her splotchy, red face. Her arms are wrapped tight around her middle, and she’s clad only in a short plaid skirt and thin white blouse, both soaked through by the rain pouring just behind her. The hair she usually wears in some sort of updo drips down the length of her back.
Sanemi shakes his head slightly. “No, he got called in. Won’t be back for a few more hours at least.”
“Oh,” she says in a small voice, curling further into herself. She bites her lip to stop its wobbling, looking down at the ground. “I’ll– I’m sorry to bother you, I’ll just– I’ll go somewhere else.”
Contrary to what most people think, he’s not heartless; he’s not gonna turn out a girl who’s shivering and crying at his door in the middle of the night just because the Shinazugawa she was looking for isn’t here. So he opens the door further and steps back to let her in.
“C’mon.”
Her head jerks up, eyes wide. “Really?”
After he nods his head behind himself, once again indicating for her to come in, Nezuko steps inside. Right away, she takes off her shoes and sets them on the rack where she always does. Then she just stands there, stocking-clad feet curling in the doormat as she continues to drip rainwater.
Without a word, Sanemi turns on his heel to rummage in the linen closet for a couple towels. “Here,” he says, gruffer than he means to be when he hands them to her. “Go take a shower, warm yourself up before you catch a cold in those wet clothes.”
“Thanks,” she mumbles with a sniffle, offering him a wobbly smile.
He grunts. “I’ll grab you something to wear while we get those dried out for you.”
Nodding, she shuffles back to the main bathroom, knowing where it is from the hundreds of times she’s been over to hang out with his brother.
Sighing, Sanemi scrubs a hand over his face. Clearly something happened; even if she weren’t crying, how subdued she is would be a dead giveaway. She may not have the same amount of boundless positivity and energy as her older brother, but in the two years that Sanemi’s known Nezuko since she and Genya met through Tanjirō, he’s never seen her be anything other than cheerful and a little bit mischievous. For her to be so shaken, it must be serious.
Whatever it is, it’s not his business: he’s not going to ask any questions unless she starts offering information herself.
Digging through the drawers in his closet in search of something that might fit her tiny frame, he finds a pair of pajama shorts and an old t-shirt from his MMA competing days that he didn’t realise he still had.
“Yeah?” Nezuko’s voice calls when he knocks on the bathroom door.
“I’m gonna leave clothes for you right outside the door, all right?” he says, loud enough for her to hear over the running water.
After she gives her thanks, he pulls a clean set of sheets out of the linen closet to change out the ones on his bed; he’s not going to be getting any rest tonight, so he’d feel like an ass making her use the sofa. Hopefully some sleep on a decent mattress in a place where she’s comfortable will do her some good.
Once the bed is made, Sanemi grabs his glasses and a stack of papers that he still needs to grade and takes them out to the dining table. Putting the kettle on, he pulls out a couple mugs and the stress relief tea his mother gave him for his birthday last year; he’s not usually one for herbal tea, but this one ain’t bad and he figures Nezuko could use it right about now.
A few minutes later, she comes padding out on light feet just as the kettle starts whistling. As he suspected, she’s swimming in his clothes: the shorts look more like pants on her and the stretched out collar of the shirt looks ready to slip over her shoulder – but at least they’re clean and dry.
“Thank you again,” she says softly, as she finishes tying her still-damp hair into a braid, the long end draped over her shoulder.
Grunting again, Sanemi offers one of the mugs. “Here.”
Small hands wrap around the ceramic and she cradles it just beneath her round face, eyes closing as she breathes in the fragrant steam. Her fingernails are bitten down to the quick, polish chipped. Another sign that something is up.
“Sit,” he says, nodding toward the mismatched chair across from him. “You look dead on your feet. Once you’re done with your tea you can take my bed, get some sleep.”
In the middle of a cautious sip, Nezuko looks at him with wide eyes. “Oh no, I couldn’t,” she protests once she swallows. “I wouldn’t want to put you out, the sofa is more than okay.”
“You’re not putting me out, I’m the one who offered,” he says with a roll of his eyes.
She looks at him, brow furrowed and lip between her teeth. “If you’re sure…”
Lifting an eyebrow, Sanemi looks at her over his glasses, which have slid down his nose from looking down at the tests in front of him. “Have you ever known me not to be?”
The smile is small, but it’s much steadier than the one she gave him earlier, so he’ll count it as a victory. “I suppose not,” she acquiesces.
The next several minutes are spent in relative silence, broken only by the sounds of them sipping their tea, the scratching of his pen as he makes corrections, and his quiet grumbling to himself about students who don’t fucking pay attention. It’s comfortable in a way he wouldn’t have expected, given they’ve never been alone in a room together more than a few minutes at a time. When he glances up at one point, she’s staring off into the distance, her finger absently running around the rim of her mug. There’s a blank expression on her face and heavy bags beneath her bloodshot eyes.
“Nezuko,” he says, his voice soft in a way it so rarely is. He can't help it with how fragile and lost she looks. When her eyes dart to him, he gently pries the empty mug out of her hands. “Go to bed.”
Her eyes search his face before she gives a tired nod. Pushing her chair back in after she gets up, she shuffles into his room without another word.
Sanemi returns to his grading, shoving his concern to the side; Genya’s the one she came here looking for, so he’ll be the one to help her with whatever crisis is happening in her life. Not Sanemi.
⦿ ❀ ⾵
It’s 6:30 in the morning by the time Genya gets home from an unscheduled shift at the hospital where he works as a radiology technologist in the emergency department. It was busy, especially for a weeknight, but he put it down to the flash rain they had due to it being peak typhoon season. Every fucking year people forget it’s coming and get into all sorts of accidents.
Exhausted and ready to crash, he’s thrown by the sight of his brother making breakfast. During the week, they both usually just eat something quick and easy, particularly since Sanemi has to teach an early class most days. If Genya doesn’t have to work, they meet up later and get brunch at a place near campus.
Collapsing with a groan into the chair closest to the door, he asks, “What’s this about?” There are two used mugs sitting beside stacks of graded maths tests and a red pen, tea bags still inside. “You have a guest over you’re trying to impress or something?”
Sanemi glances over, his own exhaustion clear in the dark circles beneath his bloodshot eyes and the way his body is tensed up more than usual.
His insomnia must be bad again, Genya thinks with a sigh.
“No, but you do,” Sanemi replies.
“Huh?” Genya furrows his brow, confused. He’s not seeing anyone right now, and he doesn’t have a phone book full of friends with benefits who will just show up out of the blue, unlike someone else in this room.
Huffing, Sanemi turns back toward the stove where he’s making tamogayaki. “Nezuko showed up a few hours ago, drenched and crying.”
That makes him sit up from his tired slouch. “What?” he exclaims. “What happened? Is she okay? Where is she?”
“Relax,” Sanemi tells him. “She’s fine – physically, at least, from what I could tell. Emotionally’s another story, but I wasn’t about to pry. ‘s not like we’re really friends, and she came here looking for you anyway.”
Mixing up the next batch of eggs, he nods toward the plate he placed in front of Genya, chopsticks already set on top. “Go take that to her, eating something will do her some good. She’s in my room.”
Genya lifts his eyebrows, surprised. “You could’ve just put her up in mine,” he says as he stands, grabbing the plate. “She’s slept in it before.”
Sanemi gives him a flat look. “When’s the last time you changed your sheets?” When Genya grimaces because it has been awhile he snorts. “Exactly. Now go check on your friend – and make sure she eats.”
It will never fail to amuse Genya when Sanemi goes all mother hen like this. No doubt it comes from him being the eldest of seven, taking over the role of father for their younger siblings even before their useless old man bit the dust and doing what he could to take some of the pressure off their mother. He doesn’t get this way for just anybody, though; he may say he and Nezuko aren’t friends, but he obviously cares about her quite a lot if he’s fretting over her like this.
Shaking his head at how dense his big brother can be when it comes to people and feelings, he gently pushes open the door to Sanemi’s room. In the bed, just barely peeking over the edge of the blanket is a familiar head of black and flame-tipped hair. Genya steps lightly around the foot of the bed and sets the plate on the side table before cracking the blinds open to let in some sunlight.
A whine sounds from the bed, the head disappearing completely beneath the blanket, the outline of her forming a curled up ball in the middle of the mattress.
“C’mon, Nezuko,” Genya wheedles, wafting the scent of the food over to her, more than familiar with the best methods for getting her out of bed.
Slowly, she starts to emerge, squinting up at him. Her eyes are red and he can see dried tear tracks on her cheeks, her bottom lip raw from the way he knows she bites it to stifle her sobs.
“Hey,” he murmurs, sitting down on the bed next to her. A stray bit of hair escaped her braid in her sleep, so he tucks it behind her ear. “What happened, koneko?”
Nezuko sniffles as she sits up, blanket pooling in her lap. Interestingly, it looks like Sanemi lent her some of his clothes as well as his room. “What d’you think?” she mumbles, avoiding his eyes as she reaches for her breakfast.
The moment Nezuko gave in to Zenitsu’s advances Genya knew it wasn’t going to end well. Zenitsu’s not a bad guy overall, but he does have some issues he needs to work through when it comes to women and relationships – such as seeing women more as beautiful objects to be ogled and protected rather than people in their own rights and a ridiculous level of jealousy and possessiveness. He’s also not the best at doing things for himself, needing others to nudge him along. As the eldest daughter, Nezuko is used to putting others before herself and doing things on her own; she needs someone who’s going to treat her as an equal and the capable, independent woman she is or she isn’t going to flourish. That definitely wasn't something she was going to get from the anxious blond.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for Genya to be proven right, Nezuko coming to him to vent frequently.
Biting back a groan, he asks, “What was his problem this time?”
“Started out like usual,” she says between bites. “Needing to know who I'm with all the time, what I'm doing, why I can't do it with him. Then he started accusing me of cheating on him with you.”
Genya jerks back, eyebrows raised. “Me? We haven't even hung out the last couple months unless it was in a group and he was there.”
“Exactly! I haven’t been able to spend time with my best friend for months because whenever I did he would get even needier than usual and accuse me of infidelity – which I pointed out. And I said that that wasn’t fair, especially since he was still allowed to see whomever he wanted.”
“What was his response to that?”
Nezuko sets her empty plate aside with a sigh. “He said I was gaslighting him,” she mumbles, watching her fingers play with a loose thread on Sanemi’s blanket.
“That–” He’s not even sure how to respond. The very idea of Nezuko even thinking of doing something like that is preposterous.
“I’m just–” She breaks off with a sigh, scrubbing the tear stains from her cheeks. “I’m sick of it all, Genya. I’m so tired of having my every thought and action examined. And I swear I’m gonna snap the next time he implies that I can't do anything for myself because I’m too delicate.”
Humming in sympathy, Genya grabs her hand and gives it a squeeze. “You are one of the kindest, sweetest, most capable people I know. Don’t you ever forget that.”
She gives him a tired smile, though it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Thanks, wanwan,” she says with another sniffle. Scooting forward, she wraps her arms around his neck, tucking her face in his shoulder. “You’re the best.”
A flush spreads over Genya’s face at the praise as he returns the hug. “Just telling the truth,” he mutters, ducking his head to hide it in her hair that smells like his shampoo.
“That's why I'm done.”
Pulling back slightly, he stares at her. “You’re done?”
“I’m done,” Nezuko says in a firm voice, looking up at him with bright, clear eyes. “I broke up with him last night.”
Relief floods Genya. He’d been so afraid that she was going to stick with Zenitsu for the long haul, too determined to be a positive feminine force in the other man’s life to worry about her own mental health and happiness. Especially since he knows she also would’ve been worried about the effect a break-up would have on Zenitsu’s friendship with both him and Tanjirō. But she’s finally putting herself first for once.
“That’s great,” he says, squeezing his arms around her. “I’m proud of you, Nezuko. I’m sure that had to be really stressful.”
That draws a humorless snort from her. “That’s putting it lightly. He kept trying to convince me to stay and give him a second chance; I told him he had gone through multiple second chances and they ran out a long time ago. Then I left.”
“I mean, I get why you’d wanna get out of there, but why would you just leave in the middle of the night like that?” he asks, his brow furrowing. “Especially in the middle of a rain storm during typhoon season.”
“I just really needed to get out of there and coming here was the first thing I thought of.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you needed me,” Genya says, sagging with regret.
She waves him off. “You have an important job, you can’t help that you were called in. Besides, Sanemi took great care of me. I’m really going to have to think of a way to thank him.”
Genya hums. Another point in favor of Sanemi actually caring deeply about her – a rarity for people outside of their family. It’s not surprising, though; Nezuko is easy to love.
“I’m glad,” he says with a small smile. “So you’re okay?”
“Other than being homeless now, I’m great,” she says, her sarcastic tone showing just how much time she's spent around him and Sanemi.
Right. That is a problem.
Without taking a moment to think about his words first, Genya blurts out, “Why don’t you live here?”
❀ ⾵ ⦿
Nezuko blinks at him, taken aback. Surely she didn’t hear him right. “Pardon?”
“Come live with us,” Genya repeats, dark purple eyes earnest as he grips her hands tight.
Okay, apparently she isn’t hearing things. “Don't be ridiculous, Gen,” she scoffs, pulling her hands back so she can climb out of the bed and grab her dishes.
“What's so ridiculous about it?” he says, trailing after her as she heads to the kitchen. “We have the room.”
Stopping at the sink, she turns to face him. “That guest room is for when your family visits,” she reminds him. “Plus, Sanemi uses it as his office the rest of the time. Taking up that space just because I was stupid enough to move in with Zenitsu would be a huge imposition.”
Genya looks at her for a moment before turning and heading down the hallway between his and the guest room, calling his brother’s name. Swearing, Nezuko scrambles after him.
“What?” Sanemi asks, rolling up his shirt sleeves as he steps out of the guest room; he must’ve grabbed some clothes earlier so he didn’t have to disturb her in order to get ready for work. The dark green vest he wears in the warmer months sits draped over his shoulders, yet to be buttoned.
“Aniki, can Nezuko move in with us?” Genya asks before she can stop him.
The elder Shinazugawa looks between them with a smirk, as if he’s amused by them. He lifts an eyebrow in question.
“What happened to your old place?” he asks her, gesturing for them to move out of his way.
“That’s sorta why I came here last night,” she reluctantly admits while shooting Genya a glare behind Sanemi’s back; he just gives her an encouraging smile. “I was living with my boyfriend, but I broke up with him last night.”
“Ah,” Sanemi says as he sets about making green tea, which Nezuko knows he drinks almost religiously. “Yeah, that’ll do it. You got any other friends you could stay with?”
Now that he mentions it… “No,” she sighs, her shoulders slumping. “Most of my friends either live on campus or in apartments that’re like shoeboxes, so they don’t have any room. There’s Mitsuri and Shinobu’s place, but–”
He grimaces, sending her a sympathetic look over his shoulder. “Yeah, Kanroji wouldn’t be the best person to live with when you’ve just gone through a breakup.”
That’s putting it lightly (especially for Sanemi, who thinks Mitsuri is an annoying ditz); the love-obsessed comic artist would insist on finding Nezuko someone new to date, no matter what she said.
“Which is why I suggested here!” Genya says.
Straightening up off the wall and placing her hands on her hips, Nezuko glares up at the taller of the two men. “I already told you, I’m not taking up your guest room and kicking Sanemi out of his home office!”
In the kitchen proper, Sanemi leans against the counter and lifts a mug to his lips to drink his tea, a travel mug already filled next to him. “I wouldn’t mind.”
Nezuko whips her head to look at him. “I’m sorry, what?”
He shrugs. “I honestly don’t use it that much, so you wouldn’t really be kicking me out.”
“But–”
“Ma can keep sleeping in one of our rooms when she visits,” he continues over her attempt at a protest. “And the kids always just use futons anyway, so they can sleep wherever.”
Conflicted, Nezuko bites her lip. She really doesn’t have anywhere else to go since Tanjirō moved back home to take over the family business a few months ago – that was the very reason she had agreed to move in with Zenitsu in the first place, despite the fact she had only just agreed to go on a date with him. Up until that point, she spent most of her time outside of class here, so it wouldn’t be that strange. Still…
“You’re sure you wouldn’t mind me living here? Having a woman living with you wouldn’t, like, put a cramp on your conquests or something?”
Tipping his head back to finish his tea, Nezuko tries not to stare at the way his throat bobs, oddly transfixed. Apparently he can feel her eyes on him, though, as the smirk’s back on his face once he’s done.
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about my love life, hime,” Sanemi says, winking.
For some reason, Nezuko feels her face heat with a blush as she sputters at the pet name. Crossing her arms, she looks away only to meet Genya’s eyes. Her best friend raises an eyebrow at her reaction to Sanemi’s teasing, which she should be well used to at this point.
She thought she was, but something about it this morning feels… different.
“I’ll think about it,” she acquiesces, turning back to Sanemi, who’s still smirking at her.
⦿ ⾵ ❀
After Sanemi and Nezuko head off to campus – Genya melting a little when she gives him a peck on the cheek for the first time in four months – he’s getting ready to take a shower before he finally heads to bed when his phone rings. Looking at the caller ID, he swipes to answer.
“Hey Tanjirō.”
“Hey Genya!” his friend replies, as chipper as ever. Once upon a time all that positivity and seemingly endless energy got on his nerves, but now it never fails to bring a smile to his face.
“I’m guessing I know why you’re calling,” he says, checking the clothes line on the enclosed patio to see if Nezuko’s clothes have dried yet; looks like the stockings and her undergarments are good, but her shirt and skirt need a little more time. Not surprising given just how heavily the rain was coming down earlier.
“Hey, it’s not the only reason,” Tanjirō insists, pout audible in his voice.
Genya laughs, “I know, I know. Just teasing.”
“Oh,” Tanjirō exclaims, making Genya shake his head in amusement; it’s too easy to pick at the two eldest Kamado siblings with the way they take things too literally sometimes.
“I just wanted to check on her, see how she’s really doing,” Tanjirō says, his voice softer. “I know if I asked her myself she’d just put on a smile and say she was fine.”
Humming in understanding because she most certainly would, Genya lays back on his bed and stares up at the ceiling. “She really does seem fine. I know she wasn’t happy, so it was just a matter of time until she decided she was done putting up with his shit.”
“She wasn’t happy?” Tanjirō sounds crestfallen. No doubt he thinks he’s failed his sister by encouraging her to just give Zenitsu a chance, always seeing the best in others.
“I really should let her tell you the rest when she’s ready. But yeah, it wasn’t a good relationship.” When Tanjirō lets out a sad, strangled sound, Genya hurries to tack on, “But hey, she’s got plenty of friends here to take care of her, so don’t worry! She’s already got a new place lined up too.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, Nemi and I offered for her to move in with us. Hope that doesn’t make you uncomfortable or anything.”
There’s a soft laugh from the other end of the line. “No, not at all! Well–” Tanjirō corrects himself. “Maybe a little bit, but even if your brother and I aren’t friends, I know Nezuko will be safe with the both of you. You’re a good friend, Genya. I’m glad Nezuko has you there.”
“I do my best.”
There’s a lull in the conversation, but it’s not an uncomfortable one. It never is with Tanjirō.
⾵ ❀ ⦿
Finished with his last class and office hours for the day, Sanemi heads toward the carpark. He’s just thinking he should have gotten Nezuko’s cell number earlier so he could check if she needed a ride anywhere when he hears a commotion up ahead.
“Nezuko-chan!” a voice whines, sounding vaguely familiar. “Please take me back! What did I do wrong? I’ll do better, I swear!”
Rounding the Sciences building, he sees the source of the crying.
There, standing in the middle of the quad, Nezuko looks deeply uncomfortable. A young man with a blond bowlcut lays in the grass next to her, his arms wrapped tightly around her calves, preventing her from leaving – and she looks like she desperately wants to, her eyes wide and darting around her, searching for an escape as other students nearby whisper to each other while they just watch.
With that sort of behavior, this kid – Nezuko’s ex, he presumes – clearly doesn’t know how to take the word ‘no’ as an answer. The sheer audacity of the way he clings to her in spite of her obvious discomfort has Sanemi’s blood boiling and his fists clenching by his sides; he has no doubt that, if given the right catalyst, this kid wouldn’t hesitate to force himself on Nezuko. Hell, who’s to say he hasn’t already? She’s so passive and eager to please others, Sanemi wouldn’t put it past her to cut the kid slack and say he was just very eager or some other bullshit like that.
Before he can think better of it, Sanemi finds himself making a beeline for the two. When he reaches them, he throws an arm around Nezuko’s shoulders, making sure to speak before he does so in order to startle her as little as possible with the sudden contact.
“Hey, ready to head out, hime?” he says, pitching his voice in that low murmur he knows women like but loud enough for the blond kid to hear from his position on the ground below them.
Nezuko’s head jerks up, those large eyes of hers wide. They’ve never been this close before, so he’d never noticed the faint reddish-brown freckles across the bridge of her nose, the stream-like pattern of her irises with three different shades of pink to them, or how her hair has natural auburn highlights in addition to the ginger tips. He knew she was pretty, it was hard not to. But here, with their sides pressed together as she looks up at him, still dressed in his clothes and her sandstone skin glowing in the light of the setting sun–
Her beauty takes his breath away.
“Sanemi,” she stutters, blushing prettily just like she did when he called her ‘princess’ this morning.
“Him?” the blond brat screeches, finally releasing his hold on Nezuko’s legs in order to scramble to his feet. Wild brown eyes flicker between them. “Genya was bad enough, but him? He’s old and a dick!”
Raising an eyebrow, Sanemi looks down at Nezuko, who still hasn’t stepped out from under his arm. In fact, as soon as the kid let her go, she moved in closer.
“Zenitsu thinks I was cheating on him with Genya,” she explains, her tone making it clear how stupid she thinks that accusation is.
That’s what the kid’s name was. Sanemi only met him a couple of times when Genya first became friends with him. Knowing Sanemi and his temper well, however, Genya stopped bringing the brat around whenever he invited friends over. Not long after that Nezuko started coming over.
Sanemi keeps his eyes on her as he clicks his tongue and says, “Well, obviously Zenitsu doesn’t know you that well if he thinks you’d ever do something like that.”
This earns him one of her eye-crinkling smiles, filling him with an unexpected warmth. “Thank you, Sanemi. I’m glad you believe me, at least.”
“Of course,” he says softly, giving her a private smile. A surge of satisfaction goes through him when he feels the slightest shiver go through her at the way he’s skimming his fingers up and down her arm – something he didn’t even realise he’d been doing until just this moment, an unconscious gesture of comfort.
“Nezuko-chan, you can’t–” the brat starts to sputter before Nezuko interrupts him.
“You have no say over what I can and cannot do, Zenitsu,” she says, her voice hard in a way Sanemi’s never heard before. It’s kinda hot. “I can spend time with whomever I want. And I would appreciate it if you no longer used that honorific with my name, as I am not comfortable with it.
“I hope you get the help you need in order to treat women with more respect, because I really do think you’re a wonderful person otherwise,” she continues. “And maybe someday you will find someone who wants to be doted on the way you like to do. But I’m sorry, that person just isn’t me.”
With that, she looks back up at Sanemi. “I’m ready to go home now.”
Nodding, Sanemi starts leading her toward the car, both of them ignoring Zenitsu as he calls out after her.
❀ ⦿ ⾵
Back at the house, Nezuko falls face first onto the couch, muffling a scream into one of the throw pillows. From the direction of the hallway she hears Genya ask what happened.
“Ran into the ex,” Sanemi's voice says from above her as she feels something cold touch the back of her neck.
When she peeks out, she sees him offering her a glass of something. Sitting up and taking a sip, she discovers it's umeshu mixed with green tea, a drink he let her try a sip of once a long time ago that she said she liked (and which she knows he mixes himself instead of buying premade, being very particular about the types of each and the ratio). “Mm, thank you, Nemi. I needed this,” she sighs, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze before he pulls away.
He pats her on the head. “‘Course,” he says, turning back toward the kitchen.
Genya sits down next to her, stealing a sip even as she pouts at him. In retaliation, she puts her sweaty feet in his lap, though he doesn’t seem to care. “What happened?”
While she tells Genya about Zenitsu following her around all day and how Sanemi came to her rescue, Sanemi hands a drink to Genya and then sits down on Nezuko’s other side with his own glass. Even though they’ve never been touchy feely the way she and Genya are (though it took a bit for Gen to not blush like a tomato every time they touched, even when it wasn’t sexual), she gets the sudden urge to lean back against him. When she does, Sanemi just wraps his arm around her shoulders again, allowing her to more comfortably use him as a pillow. As if it’s the most natural thing in the world. And honestly, it sorta feels like it is.
“And now I need to figure out how I'm going to get my stuff out of his place and over here,” she sighs, taking a big gulp of her drink, the sweetness of the plum and the smooth umami of the gyokuro mixing wonderfully on her tongue. “Preferably while he's not home.”
“Wait, you're accepting our offer?” Genya asks, perking up and looking like the puppy Nezuko calls him sometimes.
She laughs and nudges his leg with one of her feet. “Of course I am, silly. Now help me figure out how I'm gonna get my stuff!”
The rest of the night is spent brainstorming, trying to figure out around their schedules when at least one of them can go with her to help her retrieve her belongings, since they both have cars and she doesn’t. Plus, she points out, Zenitsu is a little scared of them both, so he'll be less likely to try anything (which Sanemi seems to like). Genya makes the suggestion to ask other friends to help as well to make it go by faster, so Nezuko makes a group chat.
“Oh, that reminds me!” she says, shoving her phone under Sanemi’s nose. “Gimme your number. I don’t know why I didn’t have it before.”
Huffing but otherwise not protesting, he does so. After he hands it back, she opens the camera app. “Now say cheese!”
Of course, rather than posing with her, Sanemi instead chooses to stay facing forward and raise his middle finger, slightly obscuring his face. Nezuko clicks her tongue at his rudeness, but takes the picture and sets it as his contact photo anyway because it really is fitting for him.
A few minutes later, the guys both laugh when she can't stop yawning.
“Go to bed, koneko,” Genya says, pulling the glass out of her hand. “You can use my bed until we're able to get one for your room.”
“Mmkay,” she mumbles. Before she gets up and shuffles off, though, she turns and kisses Sanemi’s cheek, the slightest bit of scruff pleasantly pricking her lips, and then leans forward to do the same to Genya. “Thank you both for being such great friends. I don't know what I'd do without you.”