~BRAVE~ (Tanjiro X Reader)

Affection

"A whole face full of snow! I got betrayed by my own mother in a snowball fight. Nezuko helped her move the snowballs too!" He cried. He covered his face in betrayal. Though I could see his shining smile through the cracks of his hands.

"You must've felt so left out." I laughed, laying back down. As I brushed through my hair once more. Often blowing it out of my face with every turn.

"It was all good fun." We turned our heads at the soft sound of snoring. All three of them were asleep except for Tanjiro and I. We both smiled at the sight. It was like three little children falling asleep to a bedtime story.

We stayed up late and talked about our childhood. Every so often I would blush because of Tanjiro's teasing or how cute he looked in the moment. We both were in front of each other but we laid down and talked with our pillows under our chins.

"What about hugs?" Tanjiro asked. By this point, our noses were almost touching. But we didn't care. We were sure to care in the morning, but exhaustion took hold of our common logic.

"What about them?" I smiled in confusion.

"Like family hugs. Affectionate ones. The ones Nezuko gives to everybody. She clung to me for three whole days before." I could see the hardship in his eyes. That time must've been a struggle. We look over to Nezuko. Her and Zenitsu's heads are grazing together ever so slightly as they sleep above one another.

I giggled at his reaction to his own story. "Hmm. Hugs? I dunno. My father was mostly sleeping at the time. He worked hard shifts at the lumber company. My Mother was always gone at the restaurant, and Diakoku never gave me hugs. I hugged my pillow a lot when I was little though." I smiled thinking about my little self and her ignorance.

"When was the last time you had a hug?" He asked me with the tilt of his head and a mischievous smile gracing his lips.

I hid my cheeks into my pillow to try and cover up the small blush that rose to my cheeks in embarrassment. "The last thing even remotely related to a hug was when Zenitsu carried me on his back out of the desert village." My eyes shifted to the side.

Now that it had been mentioned, I didn't think I had received any sort of affection for years. For only a moment it was upsetting. To be so young and not receive any form of physical contact of love.

It stayed quiet for a bit until Tanjiro spoke up once more. "Well. I'll make sure that changes." His words were soft, but they held some kind of strength behind them I had never heard of that kind of tone before.

"What?" My eyes glass over as the moons glare hits just right. I couldn't help but to blink the light away. A cloud must have hid the mood for a while.

"Remember what I said about selfishness a few days ago?" He took my hand from its resting place next to me on the floor and started drawing circles on my palm.

"That it's okay to be selfish every once in a while. But I am! I didn't really get what you meant." My cheeks flared up once more at the sudden contact but I couldn't use my hands to hide myself in my pillow. His finger tickled my palm as he continued to draw.

"You haven't been selfish at all. Like what you did with the water in the desert. Or what you did at that bar?" His eyebrows rose up as he looked at me, waiting for my reaction.

He knew.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I pouted and look the other way. But I didn't bother withdrawing my hand. "I was saving that water for myself for later that night. And the bar? That was the Corps money." He laughed at my attempts to cover up my acts and he lets go of my hand to tap his nose.

"I can smell emotions (Y/n). I've smelt it. There's just one smell on you that I can't quite place my finger on." His finger now taps against his chin in wonder, a smile never leaving his face.

At least he couldn't smell the small, itty bitty tiny weeny little crush I had on him.

"It's not important. My emotions are for me. You don't need to know them all." I blushed as a pulled my hand under my pillow hoping he didn't start to draw on it again.

"Ah, but I want to! It's just interesting. If you don't tell me now, tell me later?" He asked. The gleam in his eyes made it hard for me to try and avoid his glance.

"How about never? I don't think you need to know. If you find out? Well I don't know what would happen." I clutched at the cloth on my chest in an attempt to try to stop my heart from beating so loudly. Honestly, I was surprised Zenitsu couldn't hear it.

He chuckled and lean in to kiss my head ever so slightly. Short and chaste. Sour and sweet. A whole mixture of meanings that my mind couldn't comprehend.

My face exploded in a fit of red and I immediately covered his face with my pillow, stopping him from any more unexpected movements on his part.

This could not be some silly game of his. This could not be nothing more than just a small kiss. I would not allow it to just be something small because to me it most certainly was not.

"That's one of the first forms of affection. Kisses. Friendly of course!" He beamed. The bottom half of his face peeked out from the bottom of the pillow.

My heart dropped as well as my grip on the pillow. But as my eyes looked over his, the one time my ability had come to use when reading humans. He was lying.

"You could've warned me?" I stumbled over my sentence and tried to form words. That was all I was able to manage out.

"Then there would be no point to that!" He whined.

"What am I supposed to even do now?" I cried as my hands flew up to my face in flusteredness. He smiled sweetly at my reaction and took hold of my hands with his own, preventing me from hiding my expression.

He wanted to see. To test. To tease me.

"You don't have to do anything," he said. "That's the whole point of affection." My heart thumped hard against my chest. Almost convinced that it would explode.

"I..." I took in the moment to draw in a breath of air. "I don't know." Tanjiro chuckled. I didn't know what to say. But I did know that actions spoke louder than words. I buried my face into his neck as I hugged him. He squeezed me tightly.

His hands made their way through my hair softly, and he brushed them through skillfully, such is having a sister with long hair.

We both laid down in each other's arms. My heart was beating too fast for sleep to come easy, but eventually, it did.

As time passed, Tanjiro too was flustered by the whole scene himself. Personally he had never given anyone kisses on the head other than family members. But he would be lying if he said he didn't like the idea of displaying affection towards me.

He stayed up a bit longer and played with my hair as I slept. His smile grew bigger at every thought and idea of new ways to open me up to a whole different world. He placed a final kiss on my head before he dozed off into the arms of rest.
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Original release date: May 31 2020