"Do you remember that time you were my fake boyfriend for winter break?"

No. 1

December 9, 2021

Tanjirou Kamado always thought people were lying when they said his college years would be the most stressful of his young adult life until he started living them.

He was currently in his sophomore year, and he had to manage all his classes, his shifts at a coffee shop on campus, and a hot, semi-problematic dorm roommate who was often in trouble with the dean.

The roommate's name was Inosuke Hashibira, and he was riding out a football scholarship while studying animal medicine, mainly of the exotic type. He was currently out partying at one a frat houses on the opposite end of the campus if the very misspelled text of his current location he sent Tanjirou an hour ago was any consolation.

It also didn't help his stress levels that the college student harbored feelings for said hot roommate who also, get this, couldn't pronounce his name correctly.

He was constantly being slapped in the face with a new pronunciation, and somehow his mind made it sound endearing rather than annoying.

But also, Inosuke's abs were pretty, and Tanjirou was a weak, weak bisexual.

The writing major still remembers the day he moved in, and Inosuke was heavily making out with another man on what would soon be Tanjirou's bed. At first, he had been thoroughly angered when the other bed was perfectly made a few feet away, but all protests evaporated when his new roommate peaked at him over his shoulder with flushed cheeks and blown pupils.

That was the moment Tanjirou knew he was a goner for dark hair and light eyes.

A piece of dark red hair falls into the college student's eyes, and he sighs as he leans back in his desk chair, pencil clattering across the wooden desk, homework forgotten. He starts counting the holes in the ceiling—a side effect from when Inosuke gets bored and lodges various writing utensils into it.

Then his phones chimes loudly, breaking the still silence.

Tanjirou looks down, and the screen is blindly bright. He sees his younger sister Nezuko texted the family group chat with their mother and other siblings.

He adjusts his glasses, grabs the device, and opens the notification, seeing as it has to do with their winter break starting in a few days and when they should make the drive up. 

Tanjirou was a sophomore, and Nezuko was a freshman at the same college, so it makes things like going home for breaks easier, and whenever they get homesick, they have each other.

He lurks in the chat, reading the messages as they pop up, not bothering to respond. It's boring stuff pertaining to the weather conditions for their future trip, or how many clothes they should bring, or who's coming to the Christmas Eve party this year.

Then Tanjirou sees it.

The question he was hoping to avoid this year.

[Kei Kamado 10:28 PM] So Tan honey are you bringing anyone home this year?

His mother had casually been badgering him about it since his senior year of high school when Nezuko started going out with his best friend, Zenitsu (who is still his best friend, just for the record).

He knew all she wanted was for her children to be happy and taken care of, but Tanjirou was too focused on getting his degree to put effort into a relationship. He was perfectly content pining about his roommate's adonis grade body until further notice. But part of his has always craved that intimate presence from another person and the constant asking didn't help him push that desire down.

Tanjirou's thumbs are frozen over the keyboard, message staring up at him tauntingly.

You'll never bring anyone home to meet your family.