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Inosuke can feel his hair stick to the back of his neck with sweat, as he does push-ups under the warm afternoon sun rising over the outer courtyard of the Butterfly Mansion. He has no idea how many he's done— he hadn't bothered trying to keep track of them— but he doesn’t mind. The only thing that matters is that he’s sure he has done more than Tanjirou and Zenitsu, who are exercising by his side. And that in itself is a great incentive.
It's not like Tanjirou is doing badly, he begrudgingly admits. But he must be finding it a bit hard to concentrate when Zenitsu won’t shut up, wondering aloud what the girls were doing and wanting to go see them. No matter how many times Tanjirou tells him that he shouldn't even think of interrupting them, and that he better concentrate on his workout.
"I'm not going to interrupt them!" Zenitsu exclaims defensively. “Come on, are you going to tell me that you're not even a little bit curious?” He bumps his shoulder against Tanjirou's, a goofy grin working its way across his face.
Tanjirou opens his mouth to answer him, but hesitates for a second. He does a couple more push-ups before speaking, not even turning to look at Zenitsu: “That's not the point. They asked us to wait until they were ready. It would be rude of us to go spy on them.”
Inosuke swears that Tanjirou’s cheeks had turned a little red as he said that. Probably because of the heat, he guesses. They had been exercising in the sun for a while now.
“I bet Nezuko-chan will look even prettier than she already is. I don't know if I’ll be able to take it!” Zenitsu rests his elbows on the grass, getting lost in his fantasies and leaving his training aside. “Kanao-chan and Aoi-chan will look very pretty too for sure.”
"Stop imagining them and go back to exercising." Tanjirou interrupts him, grabbing the collar of his uniform to get him back into position to do the push-ups. Zenitsu complains at Tanjirou’s apparent roughness and Inosuke’s patience starts to run short.
"Stop whining Monitsu!” Inosuke shouts.
Not willing to let those two catch up to him, he increases the speed of his push-ups, ignoring Tanjirou telling him that he was going to end up hurting himself. It doesn’t matter. Inosuke has never been the type to back down, after all.
X
Earlier that day the mansion had received a visit from the Love Pillar. Mitsuri had arrived with a collection of beauty products that she had received as a gift from a wealthy couple, as a thanks for saving their daughter from a demon on her latest mission. Her initial intention in going to the mansion had been to give Shinobu the makeup as a thank you for treating her injuries on a previous occasion. But seeing the interest Sumi, Kiyo and Naho showed at the cosmetics, she decided to give the makeup to them instead so they could play with it.
After seeing the Pilar off, the girls wasted no time in dragging Kanao, Aoi and Nezuko into one of the available rooms, announcing that they were going to give them a makeover, and leaving the boys to continue training on their own. It had already been over an hour and in all that time Zenitsu had not stopped rambling about how the girls would look with makeup.
Once they finish exercising they return to the building. They end up running into Sumi, one of the girls from the mansion, who invites them into the room they had taken.
"We just finished doing their makeup. You can come see them if they want," she tells them.
That alone is enough for Zenitsu to rush into the room. Tanjirou sighs and gives the girl a smile, as if apologizing on behalf of Zenitsu's behavior, before going after him. Inosuke is about to take advantage of the situation to be the first to use the bathroom. But his curiosity ends up winning and he enters the room to see what was the reason behind that much scandal.
X
The girls had not only put makeup on them, but they also had braided their hair with colorful ribbons. The makeup itself looked pretty simple. Not at all like that disguise the Sound Pillar had made them wear to infiltrate the Red Light District a while ago. From what Inosuke could notice they had used something to highlight the blush on their cheeks, and they had painted their lips in a reddish tone.
Zenitsu screams and looks to be about to faint at the sight of them. But he manages to (barely) compose himself, and starts to utter exaggerated compliments about how beautiful they looked. Almost like a group of angels— no, of goddesses fallen from heaven! Or something like that. Aoi quickly grows irritated by his behavior and sharply asks him to shut up.
Inosuke expects Tanjirou to scold Zenitsu for being so loud again. Instead he finds him with his eyes wide open and his cheeks blushed, staring dumbfounded at Kanao's made-up face, as if he had forgotten how to speak. Kanao seems to notice this as she blushes as well, a barely noticeable smile gracing her features.
Tanjirou clears his throat.
"All of you look great," he says, looking away and avoiding meeting Kanao's eyes. As if to distract himself, he reaches out a hand to pet Nezuko's head, trying not to mess up her hair. Nezuko happily accepts that little display of affection, humming with appreciation. Tanjirou smiles warmly at her and turns to see Sumi and company. “You girls did a great job,” he tells them, making their faces beam up with pride.
“Much more than that! You have turned them into masterpieces!” Zenitsu exclaims, pointing at them as if to emphasize his words.
"I don't get it," Inosuke says, crossing his arms. “They look weird.” Inosuke immediately feels the attention of the others (except for Nezuko, who barely seems to have heard him, too busy looking at the cosmetics scattered on the floor) turn to him. “What?”
Before Tanjirou could answer him— probably to tell him that what he had just said was very rude (for some reason he wouldn't quite understand anyway)— Zenitsu lunges at him and starts shaking him by the shoulders, shouting something about how dare he insult the girls' honor like that, and that only a huge idiot would be unable to appreciate female beauty while having it right in front of his eyes. And Inosuke couldn't care less about that, but he's not going to let Monitsu —of all people— call him an idiot. And if he wants to fight him so badly, then Inosuke is not going to refuse or be the one to stop him. He breaks free of his grasp and grabs him by the uniform. But before he could shake him back, Aoi interrupts them.
"Can’t you two shut up? I’ve had enough of your screams!” she scolds them with a frown.
Inosuke is about to yell back at her, but Tanjirou stops him, lifting his mask to cover his mouth with his hand. Zenitsu trembles at the girl's anger and mutters something about how scary she could be even when she was so cute. Aoi sighs and turns to look at the girls, her face softening.
"It was fun. But we should start making dinner, don't you think?" she says, and Sumi, Kiyo and Naho nod in response.
The four of them leave the room to go to the kitchen. Kanao and Tanjirou go with them, offering their help with dinner. Zenitsu, on the other hand, goes straight to the bathroom, leaving Inosuke alone. Or, well, not really, since he soon realizes that Nezuko has stayed behind instead of following her brother and the girls.
Nezuko kneels on the floor, grabbing the cosmetics and looking at them with curiosity as if it was the first time she'd seen similar objects. And that may actually be the case. He vaguely remembers Tanjirou mentioning that their family hadn't been able to afford expensive things before, so Nezuko had probably never had the chance to use such expensive products when she was human.
Inosuke turns around to go back to the courtyard for fresh air while he waits for Zenitsu to leave the bathroom, not wanting to be in the same room with him after he had been acting so extra annoying. Then Nezuko turns to look at him, as if she had just now noticed his presence.
"I-Inosuke," she calls him. Her voice still shakes when she tries to speak, but at least she can pronounce his name now.
"Boss Inosuke," he corrects her automatically.
"Inosuke!" she calls him again, motioning for him to sit next to her on the floor.
Inosuke grumbles under his breath but ends up doing exactly that, more to know what she wants from him than anything else. Nezuko smiles at him. Inosuke stares at her painted mouth just because, noticing that the makeup the girls had put on her mouth made Nezuko's lips look like cherries. It’s a nice color.
He gets distracted by that thought and doesn't notice until the last second that Nezuko was holding one of the lipsticks dangerously close to the muzzle of his mask.
“What do you think you're doing!” He flinches away, causing Nezuko to blink in surprise, as if she didn't understand his reaction.
"A makeover," she tries to explain, tilting her head to the side. “S-so Inosuke will look good too.”
And Inosuke could easily refuse it and walk away. He still remembers how ridiculous he had felt that time when he had to spend days undercover as a girl, not even being allowed to speak because of his voice, and he doesn't want to repeat that experience in any way. He could just walk away— but he doesn't. Perhaps because of Nezuko’s pinkish gaze fixed on him, looking at him expectantly. Or that he knows that Tanjirou wouldn't be happy if he made his sister sad— or anyone, really. He doesn't know why and he doesn't even bother trying to find out. He fidgets in his position, holding Nezuko's gaze for a couple of endless seconds.
Finally, Inosuke shrugs. Since he was going to take a bath anyway he wouldn't lose anything by keeping Nezuko entertained.
"Okay, but make it quick," he says, and Nezuko's smile widens. But right before she can grab the lipstick again, Inosuke stops her again. “Wait! I don't want you to stain my amazing mask with that thing!”
Inosuke takes off his mask, leaving it in the space between his crossed legs. He waits for Nezuko to only paint his mouth, but instead she grabs a comb from the floor and starts to untangle his slightly sweat-dampened hair, brushing it carefully so as not to accidentally yank it. The feeling of getting his hair combed makes Inosuke close his eyes instinctively. He keeps his eyes closed even when Nezuko sets the comb aside and starts brushing his cheekbones and nose with something. After that Nezuko carefully puts the lipstick on him and considers her work finished.
“I’m done!” she announces. Inosuke opens his eyes to find her watching him with bright eyes. "Inosuke you look good!"
"Of course I look good! I’m the King of the Mountain, after all!” Inosuke exclaims, crossing his arms against his chest.
He waits for Nezuko to say something, but gets no response. Nezuko continues to look at him silently, a soft smile on her face and her eyes slightly narrowed. It's an expression Inosuke doesn't know how to read— and Nezuko has always been a little hard to understand, especially back when she couldn't even communicate with words— but this expression on her face is different. He doesn't think he's ever seen it before.
The point is that Nezuko stares at him and Inosuke is unable to ignore it— to ignore her. Not with how sensitive his sense of touch is. So, since Inosuke has never been the type to back down, he stares back at her with what he hopes is the same intensity.
He’s about to ask her if he has something on his face (well, other than the makeup, obviously) when Nezuko reaches up and tucks an unruly lock of hair behind his ear. The contact startles him, but he tries not to let it show. He keeps his eyes on Nezuko's, trying to ignore the strange hammering in his chest. Instead of removing her hand, Nezuko moves it to his cheek. Then she repeats the same action with her opposite hand. She holds his face carefully, trying not to hurt him with her claws.
"Inosuke is very pretty," Nezuko says quietly before Inosuke could manage to utter a word.
And under normal circumstances, Inosuke would have been quick to take offense on being called like that and tell whoever had said it to shut up. Even challenge them to a fight if necessary, which was almost always. But he’s surprised to realize that comment from Nezuko hadn't bothered him at all.
It doesn’t bother him. And that probably has something to do with the feeling of her hands on her cheeks and how close they are to each other. He hadn't even realized how close they'd gotten, but now that he has he's no longer able to ignore it either.
Nezuko opens her mouth as to say something else, but she stops and instead her lips curve back into a smile. Inosuke can't help but break eye contact and fix his gaze on Nezuko's red lips. Red like cherries. Or like a juicy apple.
Inosuke feels hungry, suddenly.
This time it's Inosuke who tries to say something. Anything. But then—
The door opens suddenly, causing Nezuko to let go of his face out of surprise. Inosuke takes advantage of this to put his mask back on right before Zenitsu peeks in from the door, drying his hair with a towel.
“There you are Inosuke. The bathroom is already…” his voice trails off as he finishes taking in the image in front of him. Of Inosuke and Nezuko alone, sitting so close to each other.
Zenitsu doesn't take long to put on an alarmed face and start to shout something that Inosuke doesn't stay to hear. He pushes the blonde aside to dash out of the room without looking back, not even because of Zenitsu's exaggerated yelling. He’s sure that even Tanjirou and the girls must be able to hear him from the kitchen with how loud he is being. How exaggerated. It's not like he and Nezuko had been doing anything. Not really.
The memory of the look on Nezuko's face crosses his mind for a second. For no particular reason.
Inosuke decides on a whim that after taking a bath and removing that makeup from his face, he would try to sneak into the kitchen to steal something to eat before dinner and satiate that weird hunger pang.
He feels in the mood to eat an apple.