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The moment Zenitsu's class finally finishes, he slams his laptop shut, barely telling his teacher goodbye before leaving the call abruptly. He gets out of his desk chair, strides across the room, and jumps on top of his crumpled, undone bed with a loud groan.
The softness of his bed does not greet him warmly like it used to. He just lays there, not necessarily because it's comforting, but because Zenitsu doesn't know what to do with himself, listless and lost. This sucks. This really just sucks.
The ever-presentness of—just. Boredom. Boredom, boredom, boredom. It swirls in his head till it aches. It rests deep in his bones, makes his joints pop and crack, weighs him down. It's made a place in his chest and he can't shake it off. He is so. Bored.
Zenitsu is about to sleep, just because . He has better things he should be doing, like working on his homework that's been piling up, or cooking something for himself and his Gramps, or actually cleaning up his room, but instead he lies there, uncomfortably on top of his crumpled blanket, eyes drifting closed as he’s gradually lulled to sleep, the restlessness and sluggishness in him overtaking him and his vision.
TING.
Zenitsu groans again, wincing from the loudness of his phone's notification. He always has that stupid thing silenced, but lately he's been practically forced to keep his ringer at full volume, having placed 7 consecutive alarms in a row for the morning, because lately, nothing has been getting him out of bed to go through his pointless (Maybe not pointless, he tells himself. But stupid and tiring and awful) online classes.
TING. Another text message from his phone. Zenitsu sits up, seeing pinpoints of stars spinning around his heavy head when he does, having gotten up too quickly and abruptly. He has a headache.
He blearily looks at his phone, annoyance pricking as he angrily swipes his phone away from the charger with more force than necessary.
When he checks the message, though, the annoyance dissipates. Instead, heat clenches in his stomach. He shakes his head and squints closer at his phone in disbelief when he reads the text message he got again, and then a third time—because what ? What...?
[3:38 PM] Ino <3: u looked cute today
[3:40 PM] Ino <3: miss u!
Zenitsu’s daily routine has certainly broken down from what it traditionally was, but he still has one, nonetheless. A pathetic one, at that. His seventh alarm blares at what feels like the very crack of dawn, piercing through his skull, still heavy with hazy sleep, before he jumps up in a heated panic to snatch his laptop and join his class’ call in an impressively short amount of time, still sporting a stylishly in-season bedhead with ragged, wrinkled pajamas as he turns on his computer’s camera as per his school’s rules. It isn’t pretty, but Zenitsu can’t bring himself to care anymore, barely having time to answer “ Present! ” before his teacher calls for another student’s attendance. His classmates will deal with his messy hair and ratty, oversized Doraemon shirt that he keeps on for three days straight.
So, he can’t say he expected his dark circles and ratty head of hair to be enough for his boyfriend to compliment.
Even after embarrassingly asking Inosuke out, and officially becoming boyfriends, Inosuke has never been the verbally affectionate type. Zenitsu can't blame him. He's never been very good with words, mostly opting to do things physically. Or voicing things loudly. Shouting and yelling has always been more his thing. Where a boyfriend might normally comment that they like you, Inosuke would instead just shout in Zenitsu's face that he's his boyfriend, and he'd give a huge, dumb smile before headlocking Zenitsu and throwing him on the ground, finally lying down on top of him, effectively blockading Zenitsu’s flow of breath to his lungs in a show of affection. It's a language that has taken Zenitsu quite some time to perfect, but he certainly prides himself on his fluency in it. As much as it confused and frustrated him at first, it still somehow made Zenitsu's cheeks warm up and made him giggle like a dumb little lovestruck kid when he found out that Inosuke pulling at locks of his hair wasn't him being mean. It was him dealing with liking him. Though, through lots of talking (and nagging), he finally got Inosuke to physically hurt him less as a means of showing his affection.
Zenitsu should reply. He should, right? He can't leave his boyfriend hanging like that.
But he stares. He's left dumbfounded, staring and gaping like a fish, eyes beady and blank and unblinking. Okay, he should seriously reply.
[3:47 PM]. Who's the bad boyfriend now? Zenitsu needs to respond.
But when coming back to his senses, looking at the text messages, Zenitsu feels so much embarrassment and shyness heating up his face and jumping under his skin that he needs to physically turn away from his phone, using his free hand to cover whatever parts of his face that he can reach, as if anybody could see him burning up all red now. Something feels like it shoots through Zenitsu’s body, like a flickering firecracker, and he feels a cold breeze on his heated cheeks from how sensitive they are now.
Zenitsu just puts his phone down, slowly. Places it back into the charger. Carefully steps out of his bed, splashes cold water on his face in the bathroom, and walks to the kitchen to cook something for the first time in what feels like months. Clearly, he just needs some time to process his boyfriend telling him something as small and simple as “you’re cute” and “miss you,” so Zenitsu might as well distract himself by mechanically cooking something for Gramps, Kaigaku, and himself. (Even if Kaigaku will inevitably complain about his food). The firecracker still feels like it’s crackling in his chest, and he seriously needs to chill out.
Zenitsu shakes his head and squeezes his face, as if that’ll slide the embarrassment off of him.
Zenitsu lies in his bed when the stars show themselves outside. His small room is dark, barely any starlight lighting up his desk and drawer. He lies in bed for long enough that he doesn’t hear Kaigaku typing away on his laptop in the room next to his, and long enough to hear his Gramps get up from meditating and finally drifting off to sleep.
His eyes are open, though, and he hears wind blowing outside where cars might’ve once been heard from.
Zenitsu rolls over the side of his bed, where his phone is on his nightstand. He checks the time—a couple of minutes passed after midnight. Zenitsu takes a deep breath once, and twice, and opens his phone to swiftly type a message in reply to the one that’s been in the back of his mind for hours.
He hesitantly contemplates the message before sending. Just looking at it makes his stomach churn.
[12:05 AM] Delivered: i miss you too, inosuke :)
Zenitsu turns off his phone’s ringer before shutting it off, finally falling to sleep.
“...are held together by two hydrogen bonds, whereas the guanine and thymine bases bond together via three hydrogen bonds…”
Zenitsu feels his head sink deeper where it rests on his palm as he’s about to blink off to sleep. Between the panic of waking up late to class after sleeping late, the surprising warmth and comfort of his old plaid pajamas, and his teacher’s lecture acting more like white noise for Zenitsu, he really can’t help himself.
His eyes snap open when Inosuke talks. Zenitsu vaguely registers that the teacher just asked Inosuke a question.
Inosuke, unlike Zenitsu, looks the same way he did on the first day of online classes due to quarantine: cranky and sleepy, probably shirtless, his words slightly slurring, dripping with sleepiness, as he responds to the teacher. Inosuke hasn’t cared since day one. Zenitsu can slightly respect that.
He focuses on Inosuke’s voice, how deep and nice it sounds despite the distorted crackling of his laptop’s audio. He’s heard it time and time again, as usual, but it brings butterflies to his stomach this time, pours warmly in Zenitsu’s chest like a tea kettle to a cup.
Apparently he answers correctly, considering the delighted and surprised (and maybe slightly disturbed) tone of his teacher, which Zenitsu zones out again in favor of looking at Inosuke through his tiny box on the screen. The school requires them to turn their cameras on for class, as horrible as that is.
Zenitsu tilts his head and sighs. He honestly misses him. Inosuke was incredibly touchy in ways Zenitsu hadn’t even noticed previously. Not in the warm and kind way Tanjirou might be touchy, but more in his own, Inosuke sort of way. Arms slung around shoulders, rough nudges and (annoying?) noogies, the slightly painful yet playful punches on the shoulder. Zenitsu learned early on that hugging Inosuke tends to calm him down when he’s being excessive, makes him sort of melt before he hugs Zenitsu back with his full, bone-crushing strength. Sometimes it only aggravates him, though, and makes him push and shove Zenitsu away while he tries to hide himself blushing, despite the fruitlessness of his efforts.
It makes Zenitsu sort of shiver. He sure misses his friends. Not to mention—Inosuke looks way prettier in real-life, but Zenitsu doesn’t really want to think of that.
He taps his fingers on his laptop, slightly restless and anxious, absent-mindedly watching Inosuke.
Then Inosuke looks at him. Right back at him, like he noticed him looking at him. It makes Zenitsu’s eyes widen, slightly surprised. He can feel heat rising to his cheeks, slowly and gradually. Until Zenitsu slightly shakes his head at his own stupidity, and, well. Lovey-dovey-ness—honestly, he sort of expected to be above this sort of thing by now. Inosuke probably isn’t even looking at him, and is probably just zoning out while absently staring at the screen like Zenitsu is.
But either way, for whatever reason, Inosuke smiles—the kind of gummy and sweet, childish-like smile that he’d give Zenitsu when he catches him staring when they were actually able to be physically together.
Zenitsu gives a hesitant, confused smile back, because is Inosuke smiling specifically at him? His cheeks are heating up again. Zenitsu drums his fingers on his heated cheek, almost feels compelled to hide behind his hand or tip his head down to hide behind his hair.
Inosuke’s expression changes into one of slight confusion, but mostly amusement. Zenitsu is lost in his thoughts when he realizes Oh, shit, the teacher is calling my name.
“—enitsu.”
“Y-yeah!” His head shoots up and now he’s definitely blushing when he hears a couple of snickers from some students.
“Answer the question.”
Oh boy. Can’t this teacher cut him some slack? He hasn’t left his house in more than 4 months, hasn’t thought of school since two weeks after being quarantined, and now has to deal with being gay and deprived while staring at his pretty boyfriend in class.
Zenitsu stupidly fumbles and stutters between some random words, but sneaks a fast, panicked peak at his phone when he feels it vibrate to indicate a notification.
[9:27 AM] Ino <3: answer is helicase :P
Zenitsu perks up in faux-realization. “Helicase!” He says, like the answer just dawned upon him, and the teacher smiles in approval before continuing with her lesson.
Zenitsu exhales, suddenly realizing how tensed up his shoulders got. He subconsciously gives a small smile to Inosuke on the tiny screen in his laptop, and Inosuke is already smiling by the time Zenitsu looks at him. The smile is rather mocking, Zenitsu knows he's hiding a laugh, but it still makes him brighten warmly.
Zenitsu isn't able to focus in the rest of his classes that day.
“This is getting ridiculous!” Zenitsu shoves his head in his pillow as he whines loudly, happy that he can at last vocally release the emotions that have been threatening to spill out of him since the start of quarantine. Tanjirou would tell him Now is a good time to get closer with your brother!, or something responsible and optimistic light that, but Kaigaku will never be willing to hear Zenitsu basically cry in his arms over his general life woes. Inosuke, on the other hand, simply sticks his pinky finger in his ear (gross) while furrowing his brows at Zenitsu, confused and vaguely annoyed, in Zenitsu’s laptop screen. The two don’t video chat too often, making Zenitsu wonder for the life of him why not, because it’s been too long since he and Inosuke have spoken like this. Zenitsu didn’t even realize he missed it so much.
“Inosuke, stop doing that. It’s gross.” He chides quickly, before frantically adding—“But Kaigaku is driving me crazy! I don’t think I’m gonna get out of this in two pieces,” he moans.
“Are you saying you think he’s going to kill you.” Inosuke asks, deadpan, serious expression and all. Zenitsu can’t tell if he’s simply humoring him or if he’s asking him seriously.
“Maybe. Yeah, honestly.” Zenitsu’s voice muffles from having his head buried in a pillow, but he peeks his head out when he hears Inosuke gruffly chuckling behind his hand. “DON’T laugh at me!” Zenitsu all but screams, but he quickly melts sadly when he hears a muffled SHUT UP! from the room next to him.
When Zenitsu grumpily huffs and shoves his pillow away, he catches another glimpse at Inosuke’s shaky image in his laptop, and Inosuke is picking at his hands with an odd sort of concentration, face scrunched and almost angry. It makes something warm flood into Zenitsu again, the small dumb mundane things going lost when he doesn't see Inosuke in real-life so often anymore.
His voice is caught in his throat as he’s about to say something, hesitating as his chest’s warmth becomes hotter, into something more restricting. “—I miss you—” he bursts out, and suddenly his brain catches up with his ears and Zenitsu explodes with red, again.
He wanted to say something more like, We should video chat more, or You've been really nice to me lately, but instead something a hundred times mushier comes out, because Zenitsu is convinced the universe hates him.
Inosuke, again, chuckles slightly and his outburst, and Zenitsu shoves his face in his pillow again while wailing. "Shut up! I didn't say that. You heard nothing. Shut up!" He says again, more forcefully as Inosuke only laughs more.
"You shut up!" He starts off, with faux annoyance. "I am not laughing at you for saying that," he says, slowly, sort of condescendingly, but Zenitsu should've seen that coming, "I am laughing at your weird reaction." He smiles confidently and surely.
"Gee, that sure helped, meanie," Zenitsu deadpans as he rolls his eyes. He glances at Inosuke pathetically and pouts.
"Hey! I miss you, too!" Inosuke has a grumpy pout to match his now, and Zenitsu wills himself not to smile at how Inosuke's cheeks are coloring. "Obviously I do. You're my boyfriend," Inosuke grumps, voice lowering considerably in volume.
Zenitsu deliberately laughs out loud at Inosuke. Inosuke looks like he'd shove him if Zenitsu was around in real-life, but ha, ha, Zenitsu is protected by the barrier of his laptop. "Love you too, Inosuke!" Zenitsu says in his cheesiest voice, a cheesy, toothy smile to match.
Inosuke groans under his breath as he holds his head, but sneaks a peek at Zenitsu when he says, "Yeah. Love you too. Idiot."
Zenitsu's dissatisfaction and general anxiety with the state of the world probably won't go away until this whole issue is resolved with, but Zenitsu knows having Inosuke with him will get him through it.