Archive of Our Own ^beta

Sanemi was on a mission.

After Genya closed the door at 11 am today, citing the reason with meeting some friends but sporting a very suspicious blush, he had to see what happened. He had to act quickly or else he'd lose Genya, but he donned his best disguises; aside from ordinary black hoodie over a white t-shirt that he was already wearing, there was a fedora Tomioka gave him at the annual Secret Santa event at their workplace and with sunglasses perched on his face, he was ready to go.

Genya was thankfully walking leisurely and he was easily recognisable with the hair and height, so Sanemi caught up with him in no second. But when he got nearer, he stealthily hid himself behind an electric pole. He did that all the way, moving from one electric pole to another swiftly, angling his body so he was hidden completely by the pole. It was kinda bothersome because his brother didn't even glance back (Sanemi was going to lecture him about the danger at outside later) and he was pretty sure some auntie shot him a dirty look. He gave a menacing smile in return and raised his fist. The auntie ran away.

Sanemi's expression soured. Kamado Tanjirou, the owner of the voice, waved in excitement toward his brother who perked up like dog wagging its tail. Sanemi had to hide further because the Kamado brat had some sharp sense of smell and he was afraid he'd get exposed. Although, now that he knew the reason, he had to see through until the end to protect his brother's honour.

For some weird reason, his brother got along really well with Kamado, who was his classmate. Normally Sanemi would be pleased that his brother whose demeanour looked like a delinquent managed to make a friend and Kamado was a normal, diligent boy. Only, he was  so fucking nice it pissed him off.

Maybe that had to do with how the brat met Sanemi for the first time when he had a fight with Genya and it turned a bit violent. Just when he was about to punch Genya, the brat came between them and headbutted him. Sanemi could confirm he had a powerful forehead; he lost consciousness for a few minutes.

Despite his attempt to separate their friendship, they kept meeting up. He was pretty sure his brother liked Kamado, which okay, after he vented out his anger at the dojo and those straw victims laid around, he finally came to term with. Genya seemed happy, and that was what mattered to him.

Kamado, though. He looked all smiley and shit, but he couldn't trust him. Hence, the following thing.

It was logical, he tried to convince himself, as his brother whose only back he could see from his vantage point, touched his neck again, his nervous habit.

Kamado smiled widely, saying something, and then they walked together side by side. Sanemi moved to step outside the electric pole, when a strong hand grasped his wrist.

The owner of the hand had one of the weirdest hair he ever saw. It was bicolour, majority of the hair was yellow, but the tips were red. He had a handsome face, but what caught his attention was his eyes, which was unnervingly focused on him.

"May I ask what are you doing?" He had no time for this. If he didn't go soon, he would lose sight of Genya. He wrenched his hand away from the grip, exerting more strength than necessary (which he was impressed with. If this was a normal situation he'd invite the guy as his sparring partner).

The guy still stared at him. He didn't seem fazed at all, although he was only standing there was no doubt in Sanemi that if he moved, the guy would fight him. He glanced at Genya who's walking further and further and soon would be engulfed with the crowd soon and he sighed, giving up.

"I'm overseeing my brother's first date." He muttered angrily.

"Hmm," The guy crossed his arms, making his biceps stood out. It didn't help that he was wearing a white t-shirt. Sanemi really wanted to fight with him, "And who is your brother?"

"He's the mohawk in purple shirt," He reluctantly moved his eyes to spot Genya and indicated that it's him with his thumb.

"Oh?" The guy followed the direction of his thumb with his eyes, "You are Shinazugawa Genya's brother?"

"...Yeah. And who the fuck are you?"

The guy laughed and offered his hand, "Very sorry about this! I'm Rengoku Kyoujurou and I'm here for the same purpose as you."

Sanemi took the hand warily and wasn't surprised when his hand was shook firmly. He seemed like that kind of confident guy. But if he came for the same purpose, then he had to come for Kamado.

They had different surnames though, "You're here for Kamado?"

"Yeah! We're not brothers by blood but I consider him one and it's not that I distrust Genya, but a brother just worries, you know?"

"You're not wrong..."

"So what do you think if we tail them together!" His eyes lit up, "They're going to watch a movie and eat somewhere."

This guy seemed to know more than he did. It's not a bad choice plus he could talk and maybe invite the guy. It was a win-win solution.

"Why not," He replied and then asked, "I'm curious, is that your disguise? Did you dye your hair?"

Rengoku blinked in confusion and shook his head, "No, all Rengoku family has this hair colour from birth! I'm not in disguise!"

"Oh..." Well, now he looked stupid with the sunglasses and fedora. Probably suspicious too, since the auntie back there gave him this dirty look. He didn't bring any bag so he had to hold the fedora, but he folded the sunglasses to slip it on the neck of his t-shirt. When he was ready, he nodded to Rengoku, "Should we go?"

They chose some anime movie that was playing. Sanemi didn't know what the movie was about, but it had some robot on the cover so it's probably something mecha.

Sanemi paid for both of their movie tickets, but Rengoku bought the popcorn and cokes. He didn't know where Genya and Kamado were sitting, but he chose the top row to be safe. They entered the cinema quickly and hid under when Genya's hair appeared. They sat at the middle row. Sanemi couldn't hear their conversation but so far Genya was smiling.

"They're cute, aren't they?" Rengoku commented, whispering while he grabbed a handful of popcorn and ate it in one go. His eyes widened, "Oh, popcorn is the best!"

"No, ohagi is," Sanemi retorted but his hand moved to grab some as well, because he wasn't about to refuse free food and watching Genya and Kamado made him hungry for some reason.

"Oh? You like ohagi? My favourite food has to be sweet potato miso soup."

"That's nice too, but have you tried the ohagi at Asakusa? Now that's the shit."

"What's the shop name? My mum's ohagi is nice, I'll bring you some next time."

"It's called Ohagi 3. And thanks-" And then he stopped to think.

He replied instinctively since they were both looking at Genya and Kamado, but did Rengoku just promise to meet up another time?

"Rengoku, wha-"

Rengoku turned to face him, smiling and crying at the same time, "Shinazugawa! Don't you think that's wonderful!?"

"...It is, but why are you crying that hard."

"It's really hard to stop myself from crying!" He tried to wipe his tears, but they kept dripping out.

"...Let's grab some tissues for you."

Genya and Kamado exited and they followed, Sanemi stopping by the toilet to grab tissues quickly, and next they went to a cute cafe.

The waitress looked intimidated when she saw the two men, one with a visible scar on his face and fedora in his hand (She wondered if fedora was in fashion nowadays) and another one with intimidatingly bright smile (Like you couldn't deny him what he wanted), not your usual customers. Regardless, she braved herself and brought them to their seats (More like Sanemi chose the seat so they were near enough with the boys. The waitress wanted to protest, but Rengoku sat there and smiled widely, "Sorry about this!" And that's that.).

The menu offered a huge assortments of parfait, which was themed after the zodiac.

He and Rengoku both chose their own zodiac parfait immediately.

Genya and Kamado finished ordering too. There was a permanent flush in Genya, as he chatted amicably with Kamado, who was also had a permanent smile etched on his face. 

Sanemi still didn't approve of Kamado, but he had to admit they looked good together. They had a rough past with their parents and other siblings died by car accident, leaving just the two of them to take care after themselves. They both had to grow up before their time, but Sanemi was already a middle-schooler by then while Genya, who was 5 years younger than him, was in primary school. They had to stay with their mother's relative, who only took them in because they were given money for taking care of them. 

When he graduated high school, Sanemi moved out with Genya and rented an apartment with the money from his part-time work throughout his high school. The apartment wasn't luxurious or anything, but at least he and Genya lived comfortably. Still, Genya had to grow up without the innocent childhood he was supposed to have and that was something Sanemi still regretted to this day.

So he would do anything to make Genya happy. If Kamado was the person to do that, well then, he had to approve.

"That's the parfait!" Rengoku said, bringing him back to the present.

Rengoku noticed that he was lost in thought and after the waitress placed their orders and went away, he said with a smile, "I hope you approve of them now."

Sanemi furrowed his eyebrows. What did he mean by that?, "What?"

The smile stayed while he grabbed the spoon beside the parfait, "I know you don't like Kamado."

What? Rengoku's smile was unreadable. The guy didn't change expressions that much, preferring to smile and laugh, but Sanemi didn't know he was apparently good at reading people too. There's only one question to ask, "And why didn't you stop me? What if I picked a fight with Kamado?"

"You won't," He sounded so sure, so trustworthy, it made something in Sanemi clenched, "Because you love your brother and your brother likes Kamado."

He's right, but no way in hell he would admit that. Instead, he only said angrily, "You're fucking weird," before digging into his parfait.

Rengoku laughed. 

They stopped by a bakery before going on their separate way, turning back every few steps away and if they happened to glance at the same time, they would smile giddily while waving. It was sickening. Sanemi wanted to hit that electric pole.

"So I'll be going then!" Rengoku said after they were sure Genya and Kamado were out of earshot.

"Wait!" Sanemi yelled before he couldn't stop himself, "Are you good at fighting?"

Rengoku tilted his head to the side, "I do practice kendo from time to time. Why?"

"Do... you want to spar with me sometimes?"

He smiled, "I'd be glad to!"

There's a new contact on Sanemi's phone.

Genya was already at home when he arrived. There's a bowl of fried rice and a plastic bag on the dining table, with the bakery logo on it, the same one that Genya and Kamado visited this evening.

His lips upturned to form a smile before he could think about it. That Genya, even when he was on a date, he didn't even forget about him.

Genya came out from his room, probably heard about the front door opening to signal his arrival. He greeted with a gentle smile, "Welcome home, aniki."

"I'm back," He schooled his expression to his permanent angry face, but apparently that wasn't quick enough because Genya's smile widened.

"I went to a new bakery today," He took out the breads from the plastic bag and offered one to Sanemi, "They make breads from a combination of traditional and modern, so I bought the ohagi flavoured."

Sanemi snatched the bread and took a large bite, "This is alright." In Sanemi language, that meant it was delicious.

Genya knew that too, "I know you'd like it. Aniki..." He looked at the ground, fidgeting with his clothes, "I like Tanjirou."

Well, he appreciated that Genya told him the truth. Still, he snorted, "I know. So what?"

"He's different from the rest," Genya continued, "He... didn't think I'm a delinquent like everyone in the school. When I broke one of the lab beakers and explained that I did it by accident, he was the only one who trusted me from the beginning. I think I already like him from that point."

Sanemi's mind repeated that scene from back then when Rengoku said he believed that Sanemi wouldn't pick a fight with Kamado without any kind of hesitation. That was an absolute trust, given to him unhesitatingly by someone who he only knew for a few hours. Sanemi, with more scars than Genya, wasn't unfamiliar with what Genya experienced. He didn't even bother to refute or explain that his and Genya's scars were from the car accident, instead he just lived up to the view, picking fights with everyone and getting outraged with everything. Because he believed that once a person had decided what to view another person as, it was hard to change that. 

When Rengoku said that, it made Sanemi longed for the acknowledgement that he never had. That if someone could just say that in the past, he would have grown to not be so resentful and angry.

Still, it probably wasn't a coincidence Rengoku and Kamado said the same thing. Rengoku did say Kamado was like his brother after all.

"Aniki?"

Genya's voice jolted him in surprise. He shook his head and grunted, "I'm fine. Thanks for the bread, I'll go take a bath now."

Genya didn't reply but when Sanemi was in front of the bathroom, hands already turning the handle, he said, "If Kamado does something bad in the future, you can come to me. I'll beat him up."

He could hear Genya's smile and his elated tone when the reply came, "Aniki, thank you."

It's just a simple word, but he could feel himself smiling again, wider now that he knew no one was watching.

"And aniki?" Genya called again.

"What?"

"You and Rengoku-san are a good match."

Sanemi turned around in surprise, but Genya only smiled warmly and closed his bedroom door.

It had to be Kamado! He decided after thinking what gave it away. That brat sniffed them out or something! Fuck him!

End.