Chapter Text
Sanemi groaned as he’s collapsed on his apartment’s old and run down couch. It was already 12:34 am. He’d just gotten back from his shift. Sanemi sighed. He needed to shower. And sleep. And make sure genya was fine. He picked up his phone to check his notifications for the first time since his shift first started and- shit.
“Oh fuck,” He whispered, voice lightly shaking in guilt.
*5 unread messages from genya*
*genya- hey nemi r u busy??
*genya- I was wondering if I could go hang out with with tanjiro and some other friends
*genya- we’d just be going to the arcade. Tanjiro’s older brother can pick me up in case you can’t make it home by 6.
*genya- r u busy?
*genya- nvm
Sanemi’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, before dropping his head in his hand in defeat. There was no point. Genya had likely already said he couldn’t go. And he was likely asleep already. He sighed. God he was such a wreck.
Things had been hard since their family passed. At that point, Sanemi had already been emancipated at 16, and genya was 11. Sanemi quickly found himself swamped. With taking care of genya, getting another job, and his own education, it made it easy for the little things to slip through the cracks. Like forgetting to check on genya. Missing certain events. Not seeing his messages earlier causing genya to not be able to go out with his friends. Still seated on the couch, Sanemi glared at the ceiling. He had decided to take a gap year after high school. Lord knows he hadn’t be able to afford college tuition yet. But now… there was a scholarship program at a nearby college, and if he wanted to do more in his life, more for genya, he’d really have to stop working in different shitholes. He glared at the time once more, before turning his phone and opening the college website.
.
Hi alarm blared. It was earlier than it normally was, despite it being his break day. Sanemi was determined to be better, so yes, that meant making breakfast for Genya instead of giving him money for breakfast at school.
“‘Nemi?”
Sanemi turned around from where he was cooking eggs, to where Genya was standing. He looked sleepy yet bewildered, tiredly rubbing his eye.
“Are you cooking?” Genya asked, incredulous.
Sanemi scoffed, “No im calling with the queen of England,”
“Isn’t she dead?”
“Genya.”
Genya sat down on the creaky chairs as Sanemi handed him his plate. He sat down in front of Genya, with his own plate. Genya looked down at his food. It was just plain eggs, but Sanemi hadn’t cooked in, well, ever, so he appreciated it none the less. Genya glanced at Sanemi throughout breakfast, which was a quiet affair. He looked tired, and had deep eye bags.
“Hey ‘nemi… when did you wake up? Usually you sleep until I come back from school..” he asked nervously.
He watched as his brother grimaced into his coffee.
“Sorry for not responding to your message yesterday, I didn’t see it until after I got home,” Sanemi responded. Genya sighed. He was deflecting the question.
“I’m not upset about that, you should be getting as much sleep as you can,” he hesitated, “I could get a job you kno-“
“No way. Focus on your studies Genya. Don’t worry about that just yet.” Sanemi cut him off firmly. It was a frequent discussion topic. Genya wanted to help, Sanemi wanted him to have fun and retain his youth for as long as possible. Genya nodded, and breakfast continued on with a tense silence.
“Bye ‘Nemi, I should head out now before im late,”
“Bye Genya, be safe,”
.
.
Tomioka groan as he slapped his alarm off his desk. It was too early for this. It was seven, meaning Tanjiro and Nezuko were probably already up and running around. As he expected, Tanjiro and Nezuko were already in the kitchen heating up dinner from last night.
“Good morning Giyuu! How was work yesterday?” Tanjiro asked, loud and cheerful as ever. Nezuko looked up from where she was reading on the torn up couch.
“Good morning!” She said cheerfully, before returning to her book.
“Good morning you both, work was alright, I do have a job interview later today so you guys might have to walk home,” Giyuu responded, tiredly rubbing at his eyes. Tanjiro shot him a sympathetic smile.
“You shouldn’t over work yourself, we’re doing fine as we are,” He said, confused. Giyuu blinked at him, also confused, as he began filling himself a mug of coffee. It was then, that he realizing he hadn’t told them yet.
“Oh yeah, I found the school trip form you two tried to hide from me, it sounds fun and I know for a fact you’d both enjoy it so I began saving up for it.” He said as casually as possible, this being a regular occurrence. Nezuko tensed on the couch and Tanjiro froze where he was eating. The three of them stared at each other in silence, before Nezuko let out an annoyed huff.
“I told you we should’ve thrown it away at school!” She said,
“I didn’t think it would matter! And giyuu, I ask this in the kindest way possible, why were you looking through the trash?” Tanjiro retorted, before shoving more food into his mouth.
“Oh I dropped my car keys on accident,” He responded through a mouthful of food. Nezuko snorted, once again turning back to her book, and Tanjiro just sighed, knowing that nothing he said would change Giyuu’s mind.
“Oh well. Thank you, we should head out now though,”
Giyuu nodded, downing his mug of coffee before grabbing his keys off the kitchen counter, Nezuko grimaced, knowing how bitter the drink was after insisting to taste it back when Giyuu was just their babysitter.
Climbing into the old family car, Giyuu drove both teens to school, light chatter filling the car.