the little paths we find ourselves upon

By: Aviantei

[Twelve Shots of Summer: DECK 6/12]

[Parameters: "X-Fortune" & "XI-Strength"]

June

A moment with you
fills me with more than enough
joy for a lifetime

Sometimes I thought it was funny the things that you could learn to live without, despite what you'd insisted on beforehand. The thing that had brought that thought to my mind?

It was summer, it was hot, and there was no air conditioning whatsoever. Pre-isekai me would've cried.

Post-isekai me was a bit more tolerant of it, having adjusted to the flow of the seasons. Maybe it was just the area we lived in, but there seemed to be a gradual change. By the time the heat waves sunk in, you'd already been living in decent warmth, so it wasn't too bad. Plus if push came to shove, there was always the possibility of running away up north to where Tanjirō and Nezuko lived in the mountains, so I wasn't too worried about it.

That said, we'd managed to get ourselves in the rainy season, so the humidity was a bit much to handle sometimes. It had gotten bad enough that I'd been thinking about dragging Zenitsu to a local pond to take a late night dip or something, but the incoming storm had made that not such a smart plan.

So instead I went ahead and did the just not as smart plan of heading out into the courtyard, stripping down to my lower levels of clothes, and laying on the ground to soak in the ground. The rain was pouring down, and it soaked through my kimono and jinbei before I'd even taken a few steps. Still, the water itself was warm, so I wasn't about to freeze for the time being, though I did have every plan to be the one responsible for washing the mud out of my clothes in the aftermath.

Until then, I was content to lie there in peace, the heavy sound of rain coming down enough to drown any other thoughts out of my mind. Lightning forked across the sky, but even that wasn't enough to make me feel concern. I was a student of Thunder Breathing, after all; both the flash of light and the rumble in the aftermath felt like natural extensions of myself, even when the sky was responsible instead of my swordplay.

I felt right at home in the middle of that downpour, grateful for the water falling from the sky like it was cleaning me out of every feeling bundled up inside me. Sure, if you wanted to be logical about the whole thing, I wasn't anywhere out of the emotional turmoil woods yet, but I couldn't be blamed for wanting just a little extra bit of mental peace where I could get it.

With all my zoning into the moment, it was pretty obvious whenever the rain stopped falling on me, and I opened up my eyes a bit to see Zenitsu. He hadn't brought an umbrella out, it was just that he'd leaned over to check on me, his bright hair sticking out amongst the gray sky above. "Hey, sweetie."

"Hey." He leaned down to give me a quick kiss, then he flopped down on the ground beside me. By now, there was more than enough mud and puddles, so he caused a splash, but we both considered taking each other's hands much more important. Considering Zenitsu had once been struck by lightning, I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd stuck inside, but, regardless, I was glad to have his company.

We stayed that way, soaking in the rain and thunder until the sky turned to the dark of evening and the chill soaked deep into our bones.

Kimiko-san would've had every right to be pissed off at us for dragging a very avoidable mess into the house, but we were spared such wrath because she was smart and spread out some towels for us to scoot along on, keeping most of the mud and water out of the halls. I'm sure the fact that we both promised to do our own damn laundry also helped matters, though it did bring up one complication.

Which one of us is going to use the bath first? I felt pretty confident that waiting around for the other to have a quick wash wasn't about to get us sick or anything, but I was cold now, and nothing sounded better than a long soak in hot water. Well, it's not like I care about that kind of stuff, either way.

"Are you comfortable with sharing?" I asked, since I would respect whatever boundary Zenitsu had about the matter. Welp, his face had just exploded into red, so maybe I'd gone too far. Well, the best thing to do when he was panicking was wait it out until he calmed down, so I wrung some rainwater out of my braid and started undoing it to make washing it easier.

"I-I-I—well—" Oh no, I might've broken him. "I guess, like, if we soak back to back, then it shouldn't be…" I didn't feel like that was all that necessary, but I supposed it wouldn't be the worst. Zenitsu, on the other hand, was taking several deep breaths, in what I assumed was an attempt to psych himself up. "If we're doing that, then, um, sorry, I wanna go first—"

"Go ahead. I can wait a bit. Just call me whenever you're good for me to wash down." Zenitsu nodded, zooming into the bathroom without another word. That didn't give me much else to do but strip out of my muddier outer layers and add them to the pile of laundry we'd have to deal with later on. Ah, well, the mess of it all was worth it, as far as I was concerned. Sometimes, you just had to enjoy the moment.

By the time I'd dumped all my muddy clothes into a pile and bundled them up into a ball on my used towel, I could hear Zenitsu's voice, muffled, say, "You're good to go, Senpai."

"Don't have to call me 'Senpai' anymore," I said, earning a string of bubbles in the water from Zenitsu as a response, and pulled open the door to the wash area. While it and the tub weren't separated, there was plenty of space. Being in Kimetsu for so long had made me used to the whole public bathing thing, though the last time I'd done so had been back at Butterfly Manor. Either way, dumping a nice bucket of warm water on top of me was the goal, so I finished stripping down and sitting, removing my prosthetic to the shelf we'd installed for it before getting to lathering myself up with soap. My hair was a fucking tangled mess, as per usual, but I'd attack it with a brush after I was done soaking.

Finished rinsing off, I stretched a bit before crawling over to the tub. In an ideal world, my prosthetic would have been able to handle water, but the materials weren't quite able to agree with it, so I'd learned to make do. The good news was that I'd had enough time to get used to hauling myself up over the edge and into the water, though I did make a bit of a splash in the process.

There was more than enough room for multiple people, let alone the both of us, so it wasn't like space would be an issue. Zenitsu had been sitting with his back turned while I'd been washing up, and he was in the same spot now, looking like half his face was under the water. Since he'd mentioned back to back, I was alright to do so, so I adjusted, getting into a comfortable position before leaning back against Zenitsu.

To his credit, Zenitsu didn't let out more than a squeak before he eased into leaning against me. If I wanted to tease him way harder, it would've been simple, but he seemed embarrassed enough as was, and that would just be mean. Though considering how worked up he was about things…

Wait, am I the weird one for not being embarrassed? Should I be embarrassed? Once I started thinking about it, my face started burning, and I couldn't even blame the bath for it. Oh, god, what the fuck was I thinking? I can't just run away now, though; that would make it obvious I'm panicking. No, wait, Zenitsu can hear what I'm feeling anyways, so it doesn't matter! Jesus Christ, Rairi, do yourself a favor and think before you go and do something like this!

Like, yeah, Zenitsu and I were a couple now, but we hadn't even full-on kissed yet! The most we did was hug and hold hands and give quick pecks on the cheek or forehead—hello, calling the idiotic me, you skipped a few steps there!

I buried my face in my hands, splashing the water as I did so. "…I'm so sorry I suggested this without thinking anything through."

"I-it's okay, r-really! I mean, I-I agreed to it, so I'm just as much at fault as you are!" His voice echoed in the room, though that just made the awkward silence stretching out afterwards all the more awkward. That said, I did manage to still catch Zenitsu's next words as he mumbled, "You don't…hate it, do you?"

How unfair of him to ask a question he could already hear the answer to. But it wasn't like I could just let it go unanswered when he'd worked up the courage to ask, so here went nothing. "No, I don't." The urge to just dunk my head underwater and stay there for a while was rising, but I forced myself to press on. "It's a little embarrassing, but it's kind of nice. I…wouldn't mind doing something like this again." Aaand I'd just keep the rest of my thoughts on that matter to myself for the time being, thank you very much.

"O-oh. Oh." Hey, hey, hey, what's with that tone like you've just understood something important? Zenitsu straight up refused to elaborate, instead starting to chuckle. "You sure are cute, Rairi. I'm glad."

"Glad about what? Don't go keeping secrets from me now."

"You're keeping secrets, too, so it's just fair I can keep something to myself for a while! Unless you were planning on sharing…"

With me backed so well into a corner, we left the conversation at that and stayed in the bath until the water started to cool.

Outside, the rain was still going strong, but the sound of it lent a peaceful atmosphere to the house. With a little bit of maneuvering, we both managed to get dry and dressed without any further incident. I'd still need to take care of braiding my hair—the humidity would doubtless make it even more of a mess if I didn't—but for the time being, I was working on pulling it into a bun as I exited the bathroom.

"Oh, hey, sweetie," I said upon seeing Zenitsu waiting in the hallway. While his face was still tinged pink, it seemed we'd both managed to calm down enough to interact normally again, which was a victory in my book. "It sounded like Kimiko-san was working on getting dinner ready for us. Wanna go see if it's ready?"

"Yeah, sure." With that agreement taken care of, I set off in the appropriate direction, just as Zenitsu called, "Um, Rairi." I paused, looking over my shoulder, catching Zenitsu as he blushed even harder than I'd already seen him today. "I meant to ask earlier but…tomorrow. I want to take you on a date tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay." Zenitsu looked way more relieved than he should've been, and I stepped forward to pinch at his cheeks. "Come on, don't look so surprised. We're partners. Of course I'd love to go out with you." Not that I had a lot of date experience, but I felt that was a pretty normal desire. I mean, what wasn't there to like about spending time with someone you loved?

"R-right, of course." I raised an eyebrow, and Zenitsu put his hands over mine to ease my poking and prodding. "Sorry. Sometimes I worry that I've just been dreaming this whole thing where I'm courting you. I-I thought about it for so long, you know?"

Damn, how adorable. It was so cute I couldn't help but reach up to ruffle his hair, and Zenitsu leaned into the contact without hesitation. "Well, in that case, might as well make it reality, yeah?" Besides, going on a date was a Couple Thing to do, so no sense in not going on a few here and there. "Though I'm not sure what all we should do." A lot of my concept of dates just happened to involve things that didn't exist in Taishō Era Japan, which was a problem seeing as I just happened to be in, you guessed it, Taishō Era Japan.

Zenitsu didn't look anywhere near as concerned as I felt, instead puffing up his chest in pride. "No need to worry! I've gone ahead and planned everything out already. We can go ahead and leave after breakfast." He giggled, looking beyond pleased with himself, and all I could feel in my heart was love, plain and simple. "Hehehe, a real date with Senpai…"

And the more I thought about it, the more excited I ended up feeling, too.

On the one hand, the rain hadn't gone away by the time we woke up the next morning. On the other hand, it was no longer a raging storm, and instead it was a comfortable drizzle that was easy enough to handle. With an umbrella, it would've been downright pleasant to take a walk in, but Zenitsu had pulled out all the stops, having requested a covered wagon to give us a ride. Even if it hadn't been raining, it didn't seem very romantic to run to our destination and end up all sweaty, so it was a well appreciated gesture.

Not that we'd dressed up fancy or anything. I'd thought about it for half a second before remembering that the one nice set of clothes I had were for way more formal occasions than a date, and that was even assuming the things still fit, considering I'd gotten a bit taller since I'd worn them a handful of years ago. Zenitsu was pretty much in the same boat, though his changes were far more in the bulk of muscles he'd put on since his early training days, so we both settled with wearing non-mud-stained versions of our usual outfits and called it a day.

"Still, I don't think that a walk into town would be too bad today," I said, sitting at Zenitsu's side in the wagon, listening to the rain patter on top of the covering. "Sure, it might be a little muddy, but I've gotten pretty good with my prosthetic. The mud shouldn't give me too much trouble, you know."

Looking smug in a way that was more cute than obnoxious, Zenitsu held up a finger. "Ah, but you see, Rairi, we're not just going into town. We're going into the nearby city." Well, I hadn't expected that one, that's for sure. The city was in Total Concentration running distance, but it was just far away enough to not be a place we went to often—I think I'd been there two, three times max in my entire couple of years of training with Sensei. "I thought about going into town, but this is our first date, so I gotta make it extra special! There's lots more to do there, plus I've been saving up for this occasion. Everything today's on me, Rairi, so let's have a blast!"

If you wanted to be technical, he and I shared funds thanks to Sensei, but that was just splitting hairs, so I let it be. I may have been blunt, but even I wasn't about to dunk on Zenitsu's sweet gesture. Instead, I took his hand, leaning my head against his shoulder for the rest of the ride there.

With how much time I'd spent wandering around the wilderness and rural towns, I sometimes forgot what it was like to be in a much more modern place. Of course, the Taishō Period aesthetic was still miles away from the twenty-first century, but it had just a certain vibe to it that I enjoyed. In addition, with the rain, the area wasn't as crowded as it would have been on an ordinary day, so we pretty much had a lot of the place to ourselves.

"Man, this is kinda nostalgic," Zenitsu said, looking way more at ease than I'd have expected as we glanced in the various shop windows. "I used to wander around places like this all the time when I was younger, you know. Not that I could buy anything, but I always daydreamed about picking up gifts for the girls I was crushing on at the time…" Realizing what he just said, Zenitsu turned to me and added, "Of course, I just have eyes for you now, Rairi, I promise!"

"I never said I doubted that, sweetie." With how affectionate he was towards me, it would just be mean of me to doubt him—plus we'd been homebodies the past few months, anyways, so it wasn't like he had anyone else to see in the first place. "Besides, nowadays, you can just imagine what you're going to get for me, yeah?" I'd been joking, but Zenitsu nodded in earnest anyways. "But you're a city boy, huh? I don't know why, but my brain doesn't process that. I bet it's cause we got to know each other at Sensei's, and it's kinda out of the way, huh?" When you looked at it that way, it was kind of lucky Sensei had even found Zenitsu to train him in the first place.

Zenitsu chuckled. "You say that, but I bet everything we consider modern seems super out of date to you, huh?" He looked back out to the streets, with their phosphorescent lights and rail car tracks running through them. "It's funny to think about how much things will change in like a hundred years…" It sure was, considering how much of the technological boom was still looming in the next couple of decades. I doubted I would live long enough to see things get back to the level I had been used to, but it would be interesting to watch things evolve over time, regardless.

"Well, whatever happens," I said, stepping a bit closer to Zenitsu's side as we walked, "I'll be fine, since I'm going to get to see it with you."

As I'd hoped, those words brought a flush of deep red to Zenitsu's face. "N-no fair, Rairi! If you go around taking the lines like that, what am I supposed to say to flirt with you?"

"Ohhh? Then you'll just have to get quicker on the draw, now won't you?" Leaning over, I gave him a kiss on the cheek. Judging by the way his face twitched, Zenitsu couldn't decide whether to commit to pouting or being giddy about the affection. "Don't worry, sweetie. You manage to make me swoon plenty." Not to mention make me flustered to all get out, as last night had proven, but I wasn't quite ready to talk about any of that yet, and very much not in public, thanks.

"Yeah, but I wanna hear the cute sound you make when I flirt with you more!" What an unfair advantage he had on his hands. For not the first time, I couldn't help but wonder just what he heard with those ears of his. Like, did I sound weird or anything? "Alright, that's it! I'm gonna make it my mission to sweep you off your feet today, Rairi!"

"My, my, how romantic." I was looking forward to it, though. "If that's the case, I'll have to flirt with you more, too, just to make it even. But with that settled—did you have someplace in mind that you wanted to go today, or is this just a 'do whatever we feel like doing' kind of date? I'm fine with both; just curious."

Using the hand that wasn't in the middle of holding mine, Zenitsu held up a finger. "As a matter of fact, I did pick out a few places. Come on, one of them's right up the street." He pulled me along, making sure to control his pace so I didn't trip over myself, taking us to a storefront near the upcoming street corner. From a quick look through the display window, it was a clothes shop, which wouldn't be out of the ordinary anywhere were it not for one particular defining detail:

Everything inside was western, rather than Japanese.

The Taishō Era was a funky little pocket of time. A decent chunk of Japan was still rural and holding onto traditional customs—a bit of layover from their isolationist policy days—but plenty of global influence had started to sink in at major cities and the like. It was a slower process, making it hit or miss whether you could find something. In fact, back during my training days, the shop I was now staring down hadn't been around at all, making it a much more recent addition.

"I've been wanting to see you in western clothes," Zenitsu said, pulling open the door. "I mean, I'm sure things are different from what you used to wear, but I figured why not?" Glancing around, I could get a clear idea of the kind of style we were dealing with here, and it was just a bit morbidly fascinating to think about how what was considered in fashion today would become historical stylings a bit down the line. "Besides, Rairi, you're attractive already, so I'm sure you'll look good in everything." Zenitsu flashed me a grin that so meant he'd heard the way my heart skipped a beat. If we were the type to keep score, we'd be at a tie.

But though we weren't keeping score, I wasn't about to go down without a fight, either, slipping my finger under Zenitsu's chin so that he couldn't look anywhere but me. "Alright, but I wanna see you try on some stuff, too." In my experience, clothes shopping was a lot more fun whenever you were doing it with someone else. And, besides, if we both picked out stuff we liked, there was a chance we could match, which I was super down for.

"Welcome, dear customers," called an attendant, crossing the shop to us. "What can I help you out with today?"

Realizing the flirty position we were in, Zenitsu (with visible reluctance) pulled himself away from me and cleared his throat. "We were hoping to browse and try some things on today, please."

"Of course. If there's anything you wish to try on, please pass it to me, and I'll prepare a room for you."

And with clear instructions in place, there wasn't much else left to do but sort through the hangers and see what we liked. Zenitsu got right to work of pulling off hangers and creating a stockpile, though I couldn't help but notice half of them seemed to be things for me, rather than himself. Well, two could play at that game, and I went about doing the same thing. The trickiest part was the whole sizing thing, since a lot of the clothes were, as one would expect, made for Japanese women who were much more petite than me, but that didn't mean I had zero options. In the end, I wouldn't be surprised if we'd picked out pretty much the whole store, but we were here to have fun, so might as well go big or go home, yeah?

There was nothing to do except start from the front and work my way through it. The service of the store was evident in the way that the salesclerk had arranged things into semi-matching outfits, which made my job easier. The first couple of things I tried out were a bit too tight on me, but that wasn't the worst issue.

There sure are a lot more dresses and skirts than I picked out, though. It was Zenitsu's handiwork, no doubt about it.

"Um, Rairi?" Zenitsu's voice was muffled through the wall, since he was in the adjacent changing room. "You don't have to try anything on you're uncomfortable with. I just figured if you wanted, I wouldn't mind seeing it, but it's not a big deal."

"No need to worry. I'm okay." When I was younger, I cared way more about projecting some androgynous image, since that seemed to be the best way for people to get the hint. But nowadays, the people I cared the most about respected me, and I didn't have the time or patience for anyone that was going to be an asshole about it. I wasn't about to fill up my whole wardrobe with dresses and nothing but dresses, but a few wouldn't hurt. Besides, once I'd put on a skirt with some frills and a blouse to match, I didn't think it looked half bad.

If Zenitsu likes it, it'll be worth it. With that thought in mind, I stepped out of the changing room, trying not to feel too subconscious. The salesclerk saw me, chapping their hands together. "That looks wonderful on you," they said. Even if half of it had to be service flattery, it was nice to hear so, and a few moments later, Zenitsu stepped out of his changing room, and my brain sort of stopped functioning.

Maybe it was because I'd never seen him in anything aside from his Slayer uniform or traditional Japanese clothes, maybe it was a lingering effect of the fact that Zenitsu had once just been an anime character to me, and so it was unusual to see him in such a different aesthetic—either way, Zenitsu had donned a button up, some slacks, and a pair of suspenders. In addition, he'd pushed aside some of his hair, keeping his bangs partway out of his face, and if that wasn't an unfair combination, I had no idea what was.

"Dear universe, thank you for blessing me with an attractive partner," I said to the ceiling. If there was some sort of deity out there, it was just polite to give credit where credit was due.

"Aaah, Rairi, you look so cute! I love youuu!" Shouting at the top of his lungs, Zenitsu tackled me into a hug. My prosthetic slipped a bit, but I managed to catch myself on the nearby wall, so no incidents for us. "Sorry, I can't help it. I knew that would be a good match for you."

"I could say the same about you." Zenitsu did his blushing and giggling thing, which was a treat in itself, even if it ruined the smooth appearance he'd put together. The best of both worlds, as far as I was concerned. "I think that look's a winner, though. If you like it, you should get it."

"Alright! I'm gonna go try on some other stuff, too, so tell me whatever you end up liking, okay, Rairi?"

"Make sure you get something you want, too!" I said, knowing full well Zenitsu could still hear me despite already having ducked into the changing room. Smiling myself, I went back to my own room, setting aside my current outfit in a pile of maybes and getting to the rest. From there, we had our own little fashion montage. It had been years since I'd done something like that, so it was kind of fun to go all in and appreciate Zenitsu's various picks. He also gushed over everything I tried on, which might have been unwarranted, but I didn't mind the compliments. In the end, it took us over an hour to get through everything, and then we had an even more difficult task on our hands:

Deciding what to get.

"Let's just buy it all!" Zenitsu said, and I could tell he was serious. "You don't expect me to pick, do you? Like I said, it's on me, so might as well go all in, right?"

With that kind of attitude, it wasn't all that surprising that he'd gotten himself into debt over girls before Sensei had picked him up. I had no intention of taking advantage of that, though, instead giving him a light chop to the head. "I don't need that much; I'd never wear it all." The salesclerk doubtless disagreed, but I had my own concerns aside from their bottom line, such as Zenitsu giving me his puppy dog eyes to try and convince me otherwise. I tore my eyes away from him, but most of the damage had already been done. "I'll get a couple. Like, three or four, okay?"

"Why four? Can't we do five?"

"Fine, fine—but no more than that!"

And so we ended up with bundles of clothes to take home, a very happy salesclerk behind us, and new outfits to wear for the rest of our date.

From there, we did a bit more window shopping, but we had enough to haul home already, so I was able to hold Zenitsu back. That didn't stop him from spending money, though, since he insisted on splurging on fancy sushi for dinner, which I wasn't about to argue with. When the fish was high quality, it was high quality, and we gorged ourselves while making small talk, more than satisfied with the way our day had gone. After that, all that was left was to haul ourselves back into another cart for the ride home.

"Man, that was fun!" Zenitsu said, grinning as he stretched his arms above his head, the cart rattling along through the evening drizzle. "I'm glad we came all the way out here. Since this was our first time taking a date, I wanted to make sure it was extra special."

"Well, you succeeded at that." It had been the perfect date for the two of us: spending time together and having some peace. "I was curious, though," I said, and Zenitsu glanced at me. "You were just so insistent on going on a date today of all days. I was wondering why, is all."

"Oh, that's an easy one!" Zenitsu gave me an even wider version of his smile than he'd been wearing all day, and I already could feel myself filling up with all sorts of extra affection for him, goodness gracious. "That's because, well…today is the day that I realized I was in love with you."

Oh.

All these revelations would never stop just ramming right on into me, now would they? Where I'd been giddy before (and I still was, yes), that hot rush of unexpected embarrassment raced through me. Hadn't he mentioned before that he'd been in love with me for a while? How could he even remember that in the first place?!

It didn't help that Zenitsu giggled a bit at my reaction, which just flustered me even more. I groaned. "Sorry, sorry," he said, "but you're so cute when you get embarrassed, Rairi, I can't help it." Blushing harder, I buried my face in my hands, but Zenitsu peeled away my fingers. "Come on, don't hide, I wanna appreciate how adorable you are. Besides, you embarrass me all the time!"

Yeah, well that's different— I didn't end up saying because it was a childish argument. If I was going to lovingly tease him, then he had every right to go ahead and tease me right back. "How did you get so good at flirting?" I asked, lamenting the situation in jest.

"I mean, I've been imagining what it would be like to court you for so long, so I've had plenty of chances to practice—um, in my head at least." He squeezed my hands, and I looked up to him, the love beyond evident in his expression. "But today was the day that I told you about my ears and you…you didn't shun me for it." I opened my mouth, but no words came out as I realized. I thought his superpowered hearing was cool, but not everyone would react the same. Had he not mentioned it at the start of his training with us because he was afraid we'd judge him for it? "And, well, it was a bunch of other things, too, not just that. You were kind, and beautiful, and you believed in me like no one else did. And I guess that back then it was more that I realized I had a crush on you, but still, today is important." He raised our joined hands up, pressing them against his forehead. "I know in the story I would have found love with Nezuko-chan, but I'm beyond glad that who I fell in love with this time was you."

Tears were welling up in my eyes already, and I shuffled as close to Zenitsu as I could in our current positions, not even giving a damn about how hot it was. "Me, too," I whispered. "I'm glad I fell in love with you, too." There was that comfortable silence for a while, the one we so often fell into these days. "Sorry I don't have as good of a story, though. It was just—after the battle, when you asked me, it all came together, I could tell…" Maybe I'd started to love him before that, and I wouldn't doubt that all his little kindnesses were supporting me through growing these feelings, but it didn't change the fact that so much else had happened on that day that I suspected it would take years—decades, even—to think of it as something happy.

"I know. It's okay." Zenitsu pressed a kiss against my knuckles and rested his forehead against mine. "That's why I wanted to make today special. I mean, if in the future, you don't feel up to doing anything on the actual day, that's fine, because I figured…we could use today as our anniversary?" Near the end, his voice trailed off into more of a question than anything, but I was still touched regardless. "If you don't mind? I don't know, I just wanted something to be special, and I thought today was the best, sorry if you—"

"I love it." Zenitsu fell silent, and I nuzzled my nose against his (trying my best not to get snot all over the place). "It's a great idea. I'd be more than happy to use today as ours." Zenitsu tried to blink his own happy tears away, but I couldn't help but think that he was beautiful anyways. "Zenitsu…can I kiss you?"

Since I'd always been a physically affectionate person, we'd been sharing plenty of hugs and held-hands over the past few months, along with small little pecks on the cheek and whatnot. But we'd been so focused on piecing ourselves together, with handling all the rubble of our lives after the final battle that escalating our relationship further wasn't on our priority list. But the current day, the current moment was so filled with love and brightness that I wanted to make it more precious than it already was.

I felt Zenitsu's nod more than I saw it. "Y-yes," he said, tongue-tied enough that he couldn't even handle a simple word. "Always." I almost did it then and there, but I caught the swallow as it bobbed through his throat, so I held off a little bit longer. "C-can I…?"

"Always," I whispered back. There was just a moment longer of hesitation, both of us sat where we were, our faces burning hotter until I leaned closer, and Zenitsu did the same until our lips touched.

I was used to the rough calluses on his hands, but Zenitsu's mouth was soft. Having very little experience in these sorts of matters, all I could do was hold the position, but it was still nice, still amazing, and my way too active brain had to hold back the urge to slip my tongue over his, just to see what he tasted like. I didn't mind embarrassing him, but I didn't want to rush him too far—and I didn't think I was quite ready for that, either, even though I wanted to.

But for now, what he had was more than enough.

"Hey, Zenitsu?"

"Y-yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

[Author's Notes]

Hm, this is one that I didn't focus too much on the prompts for. I'd already known long away that I wanted this chapter to be the first date fluff, so I went with that as the main focus! I'm sure you can apply the tarot cards if you squint tho.

Thanks to everyone who keeps reading these; I super appreciate you.

Big update: I finished drafting all the chapters for this collection! We'll see smooth sailing on updates until the end of the summer!

I'm still waiting on news about my job interview, but I have another interview this upcoming week, so here we go. But in much more important news, I got a kitten, and today he is two months old! His name is Vani, and he's in my lap as I type up this author's notes. He's making me super happy.

This week I'm promoing PunkTrashNoiz's House of the Dragon [Twelve Shots of Summer] one shot, "the shackles of duty." Go give them some love; they're busy with school and still betaing this fic and cleaning up all my typos!

Next Saturday: July, featuring the prompt "XII-Hanged Man." Please look forward to it!

[07.08.2023]