Close To You (Inotan)

Cute

Inosuke nuzzled into something warm in front of him. It felt good. He felt safe.

Bright green eyes slowly fluttered open, only to meet with a tanned chest. The top three buttons were undone on Tanjiro's pajamas.

"Monjiro?" He looked up to confirm his question. Tanjiro laid there with his eyes closed.

"Hmm?" The redhead was awake.

Inosuke's whole body was suddenly feeling very warm and tingly. His heart beating faster. It was that weird feeling again.

Instinctivly, the savage pushed his limbs out in front of him, shoving the redhead off the bed and onto the floor. From the force, he had also knocked himself off the other side of the bed. Both boys hit the floor with a loud thump.

"Ugh!" Sleepy dark red eyes shot open and met nervous emeralds underneath the bed. "I-Inosuke? What's wrong? Why did you do that?"

Inosuke blushed and immediately shot up from the floor, his forearms on the bed. "Why were you in my bed? You have your own!"

Tanjiro rubbed his head and then copied Inosuke's position with his forearms on the bed. "I figured since you had a nightmare that you would need some comfort."

The blue tipped boy blushed. "W-well, you figured wrong, Santaro! I don't need anyone's comfort. I'm Inosuke Hashibira. I'm not weak. I can handle it on my own!" The boar boy lied through his teeth, and it was obvious to the other boy, scent or not.

"Either way, I'm so glad you're feeling better than last night. I was really worried, you know." Tanjiro said as he got up and walked around the bed, offering the boy a hand, which he hesitantly took.

Inosuke sat on the bed, crossed his arms, and looked away from the redhead. "There's nothing to be worried about. It was just a stupid dream. Just.. don't tell anyone about it, okay?" His voice was low, so only the pair could hear.

Tanjiro had expected that. The savage was becoming more and more open with the scarred boy, showing more emotions. But he couldn't let anyone else know his weakness. Only Tanjiro.

"Of course." The boy smiled at Inosuke with that warm, gentle smile. It always made him feel weird, in a way that he liked. It made him feel special.

Although recently, it had been making him feel a little different. His heart speeding up, and stomach feeling weird. He didn't know if he liked it or not. But it was getting really annoying.

"Inosuke?"

"Hah? What?"

"Did you hear me? You were kind of spacing out. I asked if you wanted to get some fresh air with me? We should leave Zenitsu to sleep since he went to bed late again."

"I would like to if I could walk." He gestured to his wrapped ankle, clearly annoyed by the injury.

Tanjiro grabbed Inosuke's crutches and held them out. "Remember you have crutches. They're used for getting around when you're injured. Would you like some help with them?"

"I dont need any help! I can figure it out myself!" The boar boy snatched the crutches from the other boy and attempted walking with the crutches, and of course, he fell right onto his face almost immediately.

"Inosuke!" The redhead ran after him.

The said boy pushed himself into a sitting position as Tanjiro caught up to him. "Just.. Show me how to use these damn things, and we'll both pretend that didn't just happen, alright?"

Tanjiro smiled. He was happy to hear Inosuke actually asking for help. It wasn't often that he did, so the redhead was grateful.

The scarred boy showed Inosuke how to use them, and as a dual blade user, the boy picked up on it very quickly. Inosuke even tried to get Tanjiro to race him to the garden. Which, he obviously declined and then scolded the boar boy for being too rough with himself.