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It was another wet day. Mid-June, and they’d been in the old capital for two days with no sign of the demon. Tanjiro hadn’t been able to pick up the slightest whiff of one, and Inosuke had been too distracted by the city itself to have noticed anything, even if there was something to notice. Genya was beginning to suspect that there wasn’t, that the trail had gone cold.
“It’s impossible. Really impossible, Tanjiro. You’d have to be inhuman to just stand there ignoring all this beauty! Ah, I just can’t do it, I’ve got to--”
“Shut it, Ganpatsu,” thankfully, Inosuke shoved his hand at Zenitsu’s face, pushing him aside as he moved determinedly towards the two men pounding mochi across the street. “Oi,” he was saying as he approached, “what kind of weak hits are those?”
Zenitsu, only briefly silenced, was already yelling after him. Genya’d had a near constant headache since his crow had directed him to meet up with Tanjiro’s group in Arashiyama.
“It’s good the rain’s stopped,” Tanjiro said as he came to stand at Genya’s side. They both remained under the awning of the confectioner’s watching as Zenitsu followed Inosuke across the street.
Genya grunted an acknowledgement. There’d been no new disappearances for days. It was seeming ever more unlikely that the demon was still there, yet he knew they wouldn’t be able to leave either until they’d tracked it down and killed it, or their crows relayed them a new directive.
“Maybe we should try Arashiyama again?” Tanjiro said. He followed this up immediately with a sigh. “I’m sorry Genya, my nose is just about useless in a city like this, with all this rain.”
“The hell are you apologizing for? S’not like any of the rest of us could smell out a fucking demon, give it a rest with that shit.”
Tanjiro, inexplicably, smiled. “Ah, thank you, Genya, it’s just that I’m not used to--”
“E-excuse me, I’m really sorry to bother you, but is that, ah, gentlemen with you?”
They both looked from the store clerk to where she was pointing at a now-destroyed mortar, mochi laying in a sad lump on the ground. Inosuke stood next to it, hands on his hips and looking, even with the mask, extremely pleased with himself.
“No,” Genya said.
“I’m so sorry, yes he’s with us!” Tanjiro said. Genya stayed where he was, feeling his headache digging in worse, while Tanjiro continued apologizing, bowed to the clerk and moved to collect his friend.
Think of it as team-building! Kocho had told him before he’d split ways with her to head west to Arashiyama. She’d been nearby when he’d been assigned a mission outside Nagoya, and had ended up joining him. At the time, Genya had thought that she’d talked incessantly. Now, post-Zenitsu, he knew better.
“Team-building, my ass.”
+
He didn’t care, he really, truly didn’t care, but he found himself asking nonetheless: “Where’s Zenitsu?”
“Harassing women,” Inosuke answered, not even bothering to look up from his food. His mask had been shoved up just enough to allow him to shovel food directly into his mouth, so it wasn’t like he could even see, Genya reasoned. Pissed him off all the same.
“Checking out a lead, he said,” Tanjiro added.
“So harassing women.”
Tanjiro looked like he was going to say something else, but decided against it, instead turning to continue brushing out Nezuko’s hair. She was already nodding off, despite having been sleeping at the inn all day. Tanjiro had said she’d gotten tired out on their prior mission. Genya wasn’t exactly sure how Nezuko worked as a demon, but he trusted Tanjiro to know what he was talking about where his sister was concerned.
“Inosuke wanted to go see Takigi Noh tonight, would you like to come with us, Genya?” Tanjiro asked after a while, setting the brush aside.
Genya looked over at Inosuke. “He even know what Noh is?”
“The man said there’s going to be ghosts and samurai!” Inosuke said, mostly unintelligibly, as his mouth was full.
Genya looked back to Tanjiro, who shrugged. “I’ve never seen it before, figured since we were in Kyoto,” he trailed off, shrugging.
“Think I’ll pass,” Genya said.
“Ah, alright, you’ll be at the inn?”
“Yeah, I’ll be here.”
“Do you think you could keep an eye on Nezuko for me?”
Genya nodded, not even needing to think about it. She’d probably just sleep anyway.
+
She didn’t just sleep. She roused herself almost immediately after they’d left, and Genya’d had to follow after her while she padded first around their room and then out into the halls of the inn. He knew she wouldn’t hurt anyone, he’d seen what she’d done at the swordsmith’s village, after all. But Tanjiro cared about her more than anything else in the world, and like hell was Genya going to let anything happen to her.
She mostly just explored, picking up decorations and setting them back down. There were few other guests, and the ones out and about paid them no mind. Nezuko led them outside, first to the garden, where she sat for a while next to the pond, watching the koi. Genya sat with her, squatted down with his arms resting on his knees. It was humid out, from all the rain, and the inn was close enough to Heian-jingu that the noise of the crowd gathering for the Noh performance was reaching them unhindered. Still though, it was kind of nice, Genya thought.
“Genya,” she said, drawing him from his thoughts. He looked up to see her pointing at the far end of the garden where a sign marked the entrance to the outdoor baths. “Bath,” she said.
“Yeah, it’s the baths,” Genya said.
Nezuko gave him a look and said again, “Bath.”
“Uh, you want a bath?”
Nezuko nodded, and Genya felt himself at a loss. There was no signage denoting the baths were split by gender, so he wouldn’t have to abandon Nezuko while she bathed, but he also didn’t want to be there while she bathed.
“Shit, alright, let’s go then.” He could just stand with his back to her, fuck it.
They collected a yukata and some towels for her from their room, and then Genya followed her back outside. Thankfully, no one else was visiting the bath. Genya sat down at the entrance, and after a while, the soft splashes began to lull him to sleep.
Half-asleep, his mind began spiraling hazily around the image of Inosuke pounding mochi. Genya had been watching him briefly, he’d lifted the mallet over his head, muscles in his arms and back shifting beneath his sweat-slick skin, and then brought it back down to smack loudly into the mochi. He’d done it a few times, and Genya’d turned to Tanjiro when he’d spoken to him, but the image was there now, repeating.
“Genya.”
He jumped, had the sense not to strike out at the hand pressing his shoulder. It was only Nezuko, done with her bath. She’d already changed into her yukata, and had her things bundled up in her arms. She yawned, looking again like she was going to pass out at any moment.
“Bedtime, huh?”
Nezuko nodded, and Genya took her things from her so she wouldn’t drop them. Lent her his arm as she stepped out of her geta once they got back to the room. He set the bundle of her clothes at the side of her futon. She was already nearly out, but Genya still waited till she fell completely asleep before leaving her to take his own bath.
He stripped down, washed off first before sinking into the uncomfortably hot water of the bath. The steam rising from the water combined with the humidity of the summer night was making his breathing sluggish. Genya closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the rock-lined edge of the bath.
For a while, he thought about where all they’d searched these past two days, where all they had left to search. Maybe they should try leaving the city proper, see if Tanjiro could pick up a scent, or if Inosuke could find anything, once he was less distracted. Tanjiro professed that Inosuke had good instincts, but Genya still wasn’t sure that hadn’t been some kind of joke. Inosuke really only seemed to know how to be instinctively annoying.
The excited hum of the crowd from earlier had died down. The play must have started, Genya thought. Noh lasted a while, didn’t it? If they stayed for the whole set of plays it’d be hours. Genya snorted, couldn’t imagine a world where Inosuke’d manage that long. Tanjiro was pretty patient though, wasn’t he? Maybe he’d really like Noh. Shame he wouldn’t be able to enjoy it with Inosuke there. Genya imagined them both, Tanjiro attentive, sitting straight-backed in the flickering light of the torches while the boar’s mask swiveled from one side of the stage to the other. Genya wondered if the actors would even be able to make it down the bridgeway before Inosuke broke into an outburst.
He’d watched a Noh play once, years ago with Himejima. A demon had been posing as one of the actors. It had been a particularly strong demon, and had worked its way through dozens of demon slayers before Ubuyashiki had sent in a pillar. Himejima had brought Genya as part of his training, not so he could help, but so he could “watch and learn.”
“Pay close attention,” Himejima had said. “See if you can pick out which actor is the demon.”
He hadn’t been able to. Had forgotten, actually, what had been asked of him. He hadn’t ever seen anything like Noh before. The costumes made the actors look bigger, made the main actor look huge. They spoke strangely, like jagged chanting, and everything was so slow, dreamlike. Genya’d watched the play of shadow on the main actor’s mask, the way it shifted as he shifted his head. It was a demon mask.
When the play ended, Himejima nudged him, asked him, “Well?”
Genya had merely stared at him, still somewhere the play had taken him.
Himejima had smiled. “I’m glad you liked it, Genya, but now we have a job to do.”
It had been the supporting actor. Himejima took him out with little trouble.
He should have gone tonight after all, Genya thought. Imagined sitting there with Tanjiro and Inosuke. Imagined Inosuke merely falling asleep rather than getting increasingly loud about how bored he was, as he was no doubt doing now. It would have been nice, seeing how the torchlight would have added to the actor’s movements, seeing how it would have cast Tanjiro’s skin in orange. Even Inosuke, still and sleeping, half-bare to the torchlight, would be swept over with flickering light. Sheen of sweat on his skin still, his chest rising and falling steadily. Tanjiro rapt at his side, staring straight ahead at the play, the familiar small, soft smile at his lips. He’d shift, getting comfortable, and his arm would press up against Genya’s thigh, a solid line of heat.
Genya felt floaty from the heat of the bath, pressed his palm flat to his stomach, slid it down.
They’re in the back, cheapest seats, and Tanjiro doesn’t mind when Genya moves to press against him. Inosuke jerks in his sleep, turns over so his arm flops across Tanjiro’s lap, the backs of his fingers just managing to touch Genya’s thigh. The sharp sounds of drum and flute punctuate the night, and Tanjiro turns into his side, his breath hits Genya’s jaw. His hand lands next to Inosuke’s on Genya’s thigh, moves inwards.
Genya, in the bath, moved his own hand to shadow it.
Tanjiro’s fingers press into the meat of his thigh, his lips are against Genya’s throat, and when Genya turns to face him he mouths at Genya’s neck, pulling away slowly, slowly. Genya follows him, lifts his hands to cup Tanjiro’s face and hold him still as they kiss. Inosuke shifts again in his sleep, and his arm is a sudden weight across Genya’s lap. When Genya moves to more fully face Tanjiro, Inosuke’s arm brushes against his dick, and he moans into Tanjiro’s mouth.
It’s almost unbearably humid out, and Tanjiro’s panting, Genya moving to pull his haori down, still sucking at his mouth, at his tongue. Tanjiro reaches down between them and presses his hand into the bulge in Genya’s pants, curls his fingers around Genya’s dick through the fabric of his clothes. He’s got Tanjiro’s haori and shirt off, is biting at his throat, his shoulders, bending down to get at Tanjiro’s chest. He sucks and nips at the skin there, tasting the salt of Tanjiro’s sweat.
“Oi, hold it!”
Genya was too concerned with the fact that he’d been caught with his dick in hand in the public baths, that the innkeeper was likely about to throw him out, to even process the immediate “Inosuke, no!”
Genya’d barely had time to get his hand off his dick when another circled it, he jerked back to hit the fucker, when the boar’s mask came into view. “Tanjiro,” Inosuke said, “you said no fucking. How come he gets to--”
“Inosuke, let Genya go!”
Inosuke stroked his cock instead.
Genya grunted, shoving a hand up at the boar’s mask, which caused Inosuke to snarl at him. “What’re you doing? I’m helping--”
“Don’t fucking touch my dick with that thing on your head!”
“Inosuke, stop!”
Without relinquishing his dick, Inosuke used his free hand to rip the mask off his head. Genya had seen him without it a few times now, but it still struck him dumb everytime, just how stunning Inosuke was.
He wasn’t exactly pleased to be feeling that just then.
“It’s off, so it’s fine now, right?” he tried to resume stoking Genya’s dick, and Genya grabbed his wrist to halt him.
“Like fuck it is--”
“Inosuke!” Tanjiro shoved his hand into the water, apparently trying to help. What ended up happening is Genya then had two hands on his dick. He didn’t quite stifle his moan in time.
Tanjiro froze. Inosuke saw his chance and took it, reaching down with his free hand to pull Genya’s hand off him so he could resume stroking. Tanjiro’s fingers twitched, brushing Genya’s dick, and Genya’d had about enough of this. He surged to his feet, dislodging both of them, splashing water everywhere as he went to get out of the bath, turning on Inosuke. “Fucking piece of shit,” he got a hold on Inosuke’s hair and started to pull him up out of the sprawl he’d landed in. Tanjiro was trying to get in between them. “Genya, hold on!”
Genya froze, not because of Tanjiro, but because Inosuke’d gotten his hand on his dick again. He sneered, all teeth, his eyes gone bright.
“See Tanjiro,” Inosuke said, not breaking eye contact with Genya, “I told you he’d want to fuck you.”
“What,” Genya said.
Tanjiro made a noise like he’d swallowed his tongue and was trying to hock it back up.
“You wanna fuck him, right?” Inosuke pressed his thumb just under the head of Genya’s dick. “I can tell.”
Tanjiro, in trying to get between them, had ended up plastered mostly against Genya’s side. He’d frozen with one hand on Inosuke’s shoulder and the other wrapped around Genya’s arm. When he exhaled, it was shaky. “Inosuke, let him go,” he said.
“He wants to fuck you,” Inosuke said, jerking his head to indicate Tanjiro. “You wanna fuck him, or what?”
“What,” Genya could barely get the word out.
Inosuke, the fuck, actually rolled his eyes. “How bout this, then? I’ll fuck him, you can decide if you want to join in or not.”
He let go of Genya’s dick, grabbing for Tanjiro instead. He shoved him until he was pressed with his back to Genya’s front and started in on the buttons of his uniform shirt. Tanjiro’s haori was already gone, Genya noted absently, probably because of how hot it was out.
He felt like he’d gone crazy. “The fuck are you doing.”
“Just told you,” Inosuke untucked Tanjiro’s uniform shirt, flicked his belt open and yanked it off. All practiced motions, Genya noted. Tanjiro’s breathing had picked up and when Inosuke slipped his cock out of his pants, it was already hard. “He’s been like this since he saw you jerking it in there,” Inosuke said.
Genya’s cock jerked, from both the sight and the words. He looked down over the top of Tanjiro’s head at Inosuke looking up at him. Inosuke grinned, licked his lips, and bent to take Tanjiro’s dick in his mouth.
Tanjiro moaned, his left hand gripping Inosuke’s shoulder, his right jerked back to scramble for a grip against Genya’s thigh. “Genya, is this okay, is this--” he cut himself off with another moan. Inosuke had managed to fit all of him in his mouth. He pulled back off, sucking at the head, then swallowed the whole length down again, staring directly at Genya the whole time.
Genya was not entirely sure what was going on, not entirely sure he wasn’t just having a weird fucking dream, but like hell was he going to lose to this fucker.
He pressed his hands to Tanjiro’s sides, gently. Tanjiro didn’t move to get away, merely breathed out his name. Emboldened, Genya worked his hands past Tanjiro’s open shirt. He trailed his fingers up, marveling at how soft Tanjiro’s skin was, at the sudden contrast of scars. He kept his eyes locked with Inosuke as he brushed his fingertips over Tanjiro’s nipples. Tanjiro squirmed, his head tipping back against Genya’s chest. His hair tickled. Genya pinched both of Tanjiro’s nipples.
Tanjiro knocked his head back against Genya’s chest, moaning loudly. Inosuke had picked up his pace, his lips stretched wide around Tanjiro’s cock, and his hair, wet from the water Genya splashed out of the bath, stuck in clumps to his face. Genya couldn’t stand to look at him anymore.
He bent to Tanjiro’s neck, pushing the collar of his shirt away so he could get his mouth on him. Run his tongue across his skin. He shoved Tanjiro’s hair up out of the way so he could place a kiss on his nape. Encouraged by Tanjiro’s moans, by the way his own name sounded as Tanjiro breathed it out, he sucked a mark there into Tanjiro’s skin. He pressed down with his teeth, not enough to bruise, just enough for Tanjiro to feel them.
“Hey,” Inosuke said, and Genya looked up to find that he’d stood to start pulling off his own pants. “Get him down at the edge of the bath there.”
Genya bristled at the command, but Tanjiro had already started moving, peeling his clothing the rest of the way off and kneeling down where Inosuke had directed him. He looked back over his shoulder at Genya, smiled. He held out a hand and Genya took it.
Tanjiro laid down, dropping his legs down into the bath. Inosuke had already gotten in, and he moved over, pulling Tanjiro’s legs apart to stand between them. Genya watched as he pushed one of Tanjiro’s legs up, holding him open. With his other hand he first cupped Tanjiro’s balls, then trailed his fingers down behind them. From that angle, Genya couldn’t make out exactly what he was doing, but he could guess. Tanjiro let out a breathy little gasp as Inosuke worked a finger into him. He had an open tin of salve next to them on the edge of the bath, and he kept dipping into it, using it to slick Tanjiro open.
“Genya, come here.”
Genya tore his eyes away from Tanjiro’s dick and balls and where Inosuke’s hand disappeared below, and focused on Tanjiro’s face. He was flushed, and holding himself up on his elbows, eyes heavy-lidded but trained on Genya. “Here,” he said again, reaching out.
Genya moved towards him, kneeled where Tanjiro wanted him. His knees bracketed Tanjiro’s head, and his own breathing picked up. “Tanjiro,” he started, not sure what he was going to say. Tanjiro reached up, fingers closing around Genya’s dick. He pulled it down towards his mouth, pressed a kiss to the underside.
Genya moaned, couldn't help himself. Tanjiro echoed him, then: “Ah, Inosuke, there, so g-good.”
Genya started to turn back to Inosuke, but then Tanjiro’s mouth was on him, his tongue circling the head of Genya’s dick. Genya held himself still, let Tanjiro open for him, take more of him in. He was panting, his whole body feeling overhot. He reached down to support Tanjiro’s head.
“Fuck him,” Inosuke said. Genya looked up. Inosuke was thrusting in between Tanjiro’s legs. He looked absolutely wild, absolutely beautiful. The look he was giving Genya was hungry, and he practically growled repeating himself, “Fuck him, fuck his face, come on.” He thrust harder himself as if to prove a point, and Tanjiro moaned around Genya’s dick, which pulled a moan from Genya in turn. “He wants it,” Inosuke said, “come on.”
It was impossible for him to think. Tanjiro was so hot and wet around him, grabbing for him as he tried to shove more of Genya’s dick down his throat. Genya wanted it so bad, fuck.
He braced himself, held Tanjiro steady, and thrust.
“Fuck,” Inosuke hissed. Genya couldn’t speak, couldn't do anything except thrust again, then again. Tanjiro was moaning around him, the vibrations running through his dick, and Inosuke’s thrusting was hard enough to shove Tanjiro forward onto Genya’s cock. Genya lost himself there for a bit, it felt too good.
Inosuke reached forward for Tanjiro’s dick, which was red and leaking onto his stomach. He timed his strokes to his thrusts, and Genya watched his hand on Tanjiro’s dick, looked away to Inosuke’s sweat-slick skin, to his flat stomach, to the swell of his chest, his muscles perfectly defined. His face was flushed, and he was biting down into his bottom lip. His eyes fixed on Genya’s dick in Tanjiro’s mouth.
Tanjiro’s back arched, and he was coming. Genya managed a few more thrusts before his own orgasm hit. It felt like it was being pulled out of him. His vision went white, and Tanjiro was working him through it, swallowing as Genya came down his throat.
It took him longer than he liked for him to collect himself, to ease himself out of Tanjiro’s mouth. Tanjiro didn’t seem to mind. His eyes were glazed over, saliva and cum all over his face. He moaned, his voice gone all wrecked, as Inosuke continued to thrust into him. Genya bent down over Tanjiro, who looked up to meet his eyes. He closed the distance between them and kissed Tanjiro, tasting himself when he swiped his tongue out over Tanjiro’s lips, when he worked it into his mouth.
Inosuke called Tanjiro’s name when he came and promptly fell over on top of him. Tanjiro grunted at his weight, but reached down to tangle a hand in his hair. He reached up to do the same to Genya, to pull him back down into a kiss.
+
“Ah, Genya-kun, you’re back.”
Genya ignored her, knowing it was useless. If Kocho wanted to talk to him, she would.
True enough to form, she quickly fell into step beside him. “Well? How was your mission? Did you all get along?”
Genya felt himself blushing, knew there was no possible way she could know what happened, but instantly suspicious as hell, all the same. “Fine,” he bit out, and picked up the pace.
She chuckled and, surprisingly, let him get away.