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Uh oh, your friendly neighborhood Tanjiro got hurt during a mission with a super scary demon. (Oh no!) And it has left him totally beddridden.
No worries! Inosuke and Zenitsu have been put in charge of (hopefully…!) nurse him back to health!
Can they do it without Aoi’s help? Only time will tell!
(Or you could just read this fic and find out…)
………………
The blaring morning sun in one of the curtains woke Tanjiro up. He tried to sit up a little too quickly, not realizing that he was in one of the hospital rooms in the butterfly mansion and that he was likely hurt. He groaned loudly as he flopped back down into the bed.
What had happened? Was he on a mission and got hurt? Where was Inosuke and Zenitsu? And…
“N-nezuk-”
He found out that his throat also wasn’t working. God, what had he not broken? Now that he thought about it, he could feel the pain in his body. His chest hurt the most, still painful from trying to sit up. And of course his throat. Had he lost his voice?
But then Tanjiro noticed something that hurt worse than his throat. From his chest even.
His leg.
Crap. He attempted to pull off the blanket that was laying on top of him. His leg was completely covered in bandages. He could barely feel it. He really needed to find out where the others were.
The door creaked open, Tanjiro whipped his head around to see who it was.
Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Aoi. They all trailed into the room, Aoi walked over to his bed and huffed, “You know this blanket keeps you warm, right? So put it on!” She lightly pushed Tanjiro onto the bed and stuffed the blanket on top of him, wrapping him up a bit too tight. Huh, he was kinda cold.
Zenitsu and Inosuke looked uncomfortable. Zenitsu kept shifting around and Inosuke hadn’t said a word. And Nezu-
Nezuko! Is she-? He made an attempt to speak but he just ended up sounding like a dying pig. It looked as if Aoi was about to say something but a loud bang came from outside the door, followed up by a word Tanjiro doesn't like saying.
Aoi looked distraught about what to do before suddenly turning to Zenitsu and Inosuke who jumped at the sudden movement. “You two! I have to go check on that. Give Tanjiro the red drink on the bed stand. Thanks.” She flashed a half smile before rushing out of the room.
Zenitsu shriveled up, spouting a “W-wait…” before turning to Tanjiro. He and Inosuke sprinted up to Tanjiro. Zenitsu gripped at the bedsheets, whining, saying sorry over and over. Inosuke still didn’t speak. Something was wrong.
Tanjiro stupidly tried to speak again, failing misrably. Instead, he poked Zenitsu between the eyes. He looked up and Tanjiro pointed at his throat and then made a ‘X’ with his hands. Zenitsu looked confused before going ‘Oohh’ and turned to the bedside table.
He grabbed one of the cups and handed it to Tanjiro. He chugged it all. Inosuke finally decided it was a good time to talk.
“...Uh Zenitsu? Didn’t Moi say the red drink?”
Zenitsu looked as if lightning had struck him down. Then started absolutely bawling.
“TANJIROS GONNA DIE AND IT'S MY FAULT!” Tears flowed down his cheek and he crumpled to the floor. Sniffing. “...I-i’m so sorry…Tanjiro…”
The door opened. It was Aoi.
Zenitsu ran over and started grabbing Aoi’s shoulder’s and shaking her, “I killed Tanjiro! I KILLED TANJIRO!”
Inosuke grabbed the cup from Tanjiros hand. He put it up to the nose of the boar head mask and took what Tanjiro (assumed..?) was a sniff.
“It's water.”
……………….
Well, Zenitsu felt dumb. He had really thought he killed Tanjiro. Sigh.
Tanjiro was speaking now. Aoi gave him the right medicine and was currently asking Tanjiro to try and move certain parts of his body, seeing if anything else was broken.
He and Inosuke were back at their original spot across the room. Zenitsu looked at Inosuke and sighed again. He felt bad. He knew Inosuke felt bad too.
Now for the big reveal. What happened to Tanjiro that was so bad he got all of these injuries? Well, it was a mission.
Inosuke, Zenitsu, and Tanjiro had all been put on a mission. Which should have been fine. The demon wasn’t even all that strong. But the demon looked exactly like a spider. It was super small, super fast, and worst of all, had super big fangs.
Zenitsu was scared shitless. It looked exactly like the other spider that Zenitsu had faced. You know, the one that almost killed him!?
Inosuke tried to fight it, but he got pinned up by the webs it produced and was unable to fight.
And Tanjiro, being the kind man that he is, fought it by himself while Zenitsu and Inosuke just sat and watched. He ended up beating it, but may or may not have gotten his leg chewn to all hell first.
So Zenistu felt terrible. Inosuke probably felt the same.
They both sat there in their own self pity when Zenitsu noticed a very fast heartbeat, he just ignored it, thinking it was someone from another room when-
“A-a shot? Are you sure?” Aoi sighed and massaged Tanjiro’s arm, when she hit a certain point, he jumped. “If you want to get better, then yes.” She glanced at Zenitsu and Inosuke and scoffed. “If it makes you feel better, one of those two idiots can hold your hand.”
YES! That’s it! Zenitsu can hold Tanjiro’s hand as payment for his injuries!
“I wanna hold his hand!”
Everyone stared at Zenitsu.
…
The silence was loud.
…
Is it getting hot in here?
…
Ok, ok I think that enoug-
“Nuh uh! I wanna hold Tanjiros hand too!”
Why Inosuke? Why?
…………….
Zenitsu and Inosuke were currently in a predicament. Aoi was cleaning a needle and they were holding Tanjiro’s hand. Zenitsu on the right, Inosuke on the left.
It was embarrassing.
It didn’t even help Tanjiro, as Zenitsu could hear that his heart rate had gone up even more. Crap.
Too late to back out now.
Aoi walked back over to Tanjiro and wiped his arm off with…something.
Oh.
He tightened his grip.
Aoi clearly didn’t see Zenitsu’s freaking out face. He turned to see how Inosuke was holding up and- Oh, he still has the boar mask on.
That was so unfair! Lucky Zenitsu could see right through Inosukes mask! …N-not literally. But, just by leaning a bit closer, he could hear that…
Inosuke’s heart was beating almost as quickly as Tanjiro’s. Ha! So he really was freaking out!
Aoi finished wiping Tanjiro’s arm off a bit too quickly for Zenitsu’s liking, “Alright Tanjiro, you can do this! Now breathe in…”
Tanjiro breathed in right as Aoi stuck in the needle. And he gripped Zenitsu’s hand harder.
And harder. And harder. And-
Zenitsu’s hand was going to break. Why did he have such a tight grip?!
Aoi was reaching the end of the needle thing. “...and breathe out.” And the needle quickly came out of Tanjiro’s arm. He turned to look at Zenitsu and Inosuke, his heart was still racing, “Uhm, I really appreciate…this…but could you let go of my hand now?”
Zenitsu snapped his hand back as fast as he could, he didn’t even realize-
“..he…hehe…he.”
Inosuke was still gripping Tanjiro’s hand. He grabbed the top of his boar mask, revealing his…incredibly pink face?
He stuck his tongue out at Zenitsu, “I held on longer! The great Inosuke wins again! Haha!”
Huh? What? “Wh-what are you talking about? Won at what?”
Inosuke headbutted against Zenitsu and grinned, “I won at love! And you lost! Pleh!” Inosuke started dancing around.
Did… Inosuke just licked his face?
“Did you just lick my face?! WHAT THE HELL?!” Zenitsu leaped at Inosuke. They both fell to the ground. Zenitsu was about to get up when the door opened.
“My, my. It seems as if we are having a bit of fun here.” Shit. Fuck. Crap. It's Shinobu. He’s a dead man.
Shinobu slammed the door open. She was still smiling though, of course. “Although, I thought it was pretty clear that when there are people resting, you should be quiet, right? So if you all would like to fight… Leave.”
Zenitsu booked it out as fast as he could. He wasn’t risking it with Shinobu.
…
His hand feels cold.