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

No. 4

December 12, 2021

Tanjirou and Nezuko are in charge of doing the dishes after dinner is over while everyone else continues to decorate the house or get ready for bed. Most people opting for the latter option as a blanket of tiredness settles over the residence.

Soft music, quiet enough to not be understandable, plays from a radio sitting on the counter, and Nezuko hums along to the foreign-sounding lyrics. It feels like they're back in high school on a Sunday night, enjoying the peace before the start of another long week begins.

"You think everyone's actually buying it?" Tanjirou whispers over the sound of running water, leaning closer to his sister.

She doesn't ponder the question long before she answers with an affirmative, "Definitely. Mom would've said something by now if she didn't."

He nods as he carefully begins to wash the delicate wine glasses from earlier in the evening.

The whole bottle was indeed finished before dinner was over.

"Also, because it's been bothering me, why weren't you surprised when you saw the dog?" Tanjirou raises his eyebrows as he glances over at the brunette.

"Oh, Oliver?" Nezuko shrugs as she puts a plate in the drying rack. "I helped pick him out on Facetime with everyone."

"There's a family—" Tanjirou makes vague offended gestures to himself— "group chat for a reason!"

.oOo.

By the time Tanjirou gets into the shower, the stream of water is lukewarm at best, though considering he's the last person on the roster, it's pretty impressive. He's thankful for as much because he needs to wash away all the aspects of the day that made him feel like his soul was going to vacate his body.

Tanjirou bites his bottom lip hard, and it throbs.

Maybe it was a bad idea to take the lie a step further instead of coming clean. Tanjirou was never very good at lying in the first place. It makes his skin feel itchy like he's about to break out in hives, and sometimes, he would scratch his arms visibly raw and red.

But it wasn't so bad when the thing you're lying about is something you desperately want to be real.

Tanjirou sighs and reaches up to grab the strawberry-scented shampoo and conditioner off one of the shelves. He wonders if Inosuke used the same supplies or if he brought his own from their dorm. The mere thought of the dark-haired man potentially smelling like him brings an intense heat to the college student's face. It was definitely a mistake to bring Inosuke home for this ruse, all things crush-related considered.

It's not good for his weak heart.

Tanjirou prays fleetingly to slip and fall and die.

The redhead groans loudly and shakes his head vigorously. The water droplets fly from his hair and hit the clear plastic curtain with little quiet thuds. He needs to stop letting his thoughts wander into unwarranted territory if he wants to get through the next three weeks without his affections getting any worse.

He hurriedly finishes up his routine in the shower before the water turns to ice (which it often did in this household). When he steps onto the bathmat, he shivers instantly and scolds himself for forgetting to turn on the fan as he grabs his towel off its hook.

The fluffy towel doesn't warm him up much, but it helps to get the rapidly cooling water off his heated skin. He dries off his limbs and ruffles his hair with the towel until it stops dripping as much, and he keeps the towel wrapped around his neck like an open scarf.