Inside the house, Yushiro was crouched behind the door, peeking one eye through the crack, watching the direction Tanjiro had left in.
When the silhouette disappeared completely among the trees, he relaxed visibly. "Finally one of them left... now there's only one m—"
"Only one what?"
"WAAAH!!"
Yushiro jumped so hard he nearly smacked his head on the ceiling. He whipped around and there was Marcus, right next to him, with Nezuko under his arm and a calm smile.
"You... when did you...?!"
"Since you said 'finally one of them left.'" Smiling, Marcus placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Come on, you and I need to have a serious talk about how you treat Tanjiro."
Yushiro went stiff as a board. "I-I don't treat him any way! I'm just saying he's too loud!"
"Oh, yeah?" Marcus's fingers squeezed his shoulder just a little, and Yushiro's face twisted in pain. "Because I could've sworn you were saying something else a moment ago."
"That was your imagination!" He squirmed trying to break free and discovered that at some point the arrows had hooked him again, immobilizing him without him noticing. "Let me go! I have to help Tamayo-sama organize the equipment!"
"That can wait."
Putting his other hand on the remaining shoulder, Marcus grabbed him like a doll and started pushing him toward the stairs to the second floor.
"As new roommates, first things first: we need to divide up the bedrooms."
The word "bedrooms" triggered every alarm in Yushiro's system. He slammed on the brakes—or tried to, since the arrows kept dragging him—and spun his head around with wild eyes.
"The bedrooms are already divided! I've always lived next to Tamayo-sama... I-I mean... under the same roof as Tamayo-sama! My room is right next to hers!" His cheeks colored when he mentioned her, but when he looked at Marcus they turned green. "YOU GRAB ANY OTHER ROOM ON THE SECOND FLOOR AND THAT'S IT!"
"Next to hers?" Marcus raised an eyebrow. "What a coincidence! I loved that room the moment I saw it."
"THAT'S MY ROOM!" Yushiro felt like he was going to have a stroke. "I've been living there for years! YEARS!"
"Exactly my point." Marcus dug in his ear with his pinky. "That long in the same room can't be healthy. A change of scenery would do you good. The room at the end of the hall is perfect: great views, great ventilation, plenty of space all to yourself. Luxury."
Yushiro opened his mouth to protest, but it was already too late. The arrows had hooked him by the waist and were dragging him toward the back, his feet sliding across the floor.
"LET ME GO!!" Yushiro clung to the doorframe with nails and teeth—literally. "I want to live next to Tamayo-sama! I have to be close to protect her!"
"Protect her?" Marcus looked at him with amusement. "With me here, you still think she needs protection?"
He stepped closer, one step at a time, and his smile sharpened. "Or is it that... you don't trust me to take care of her?"
!
Yushiro froze for an instant, and then something ignited inside him. Something he'd been swallowing all night long.
"MY Tamayo-sama doesn't need a pervert like you protecting her!!"
It was the bravest, most suicidal, most idiotic sentence he'd let out all night.
And he knew it the moment he said it. Because Marcus smiled wickedly.
SWISH
Yushiro shot upward like a rocket and was pinned to the ceiling, nailed by the arrows with his abdomen as the center.
Arms spread, legs spread, flattened against the wood like a starfish.
And then two more arrows appeared.
One on his head. One on his feet.
Yushiro felt them hook on, and his soul left his body.
'N... not again...?'
Without giving him any more time, the arrows pulled in opposite directions and Yushiro started spinning again.
But now stuck to the ceiling. Like a ceiling fan.
"STOOOPSTOOOPSTOOOOOP!!!"
"..."
Marcus watched him from below with his arms crossed, enjoying every second.
Until hurried footsteps came up the stairs.
"What is going on up here?"
Tamayo appeared in the hallway, having just come up from the basement, and the first thing she saw was Yushiro rotating on the ceiling at full speed.
Bringing a hand to her forehead, she sighed. "Marcus. Get Yushiro down from the ceiling."
"But he started it—"
"Marcus."
Marcus recognized the tone instantly, and his movie-villain expression evaporated, replaced by the most innocent, most angelic face he could manufacture.
"Whatever you say, Miss Tamayo."
He withdrew the arrows.
Yushiro stopped spinning. He floated in the air for a second, disoriented, eyes still rolling, and—
▄█▀█●
He plummeted face-first into the floor like a sack of potatoes.
"Buaagh—!"
...
Two minutes later, after listening to Yushiro's tearful complaint, Tamayo shook her head.
"Yushiro, Mr. Marcus is our guest. If he wants that room, we'll give it to him. Can you move to the end of the hall for a few days? For me?"
Yushiro opened his mouth. That last part disarmed him completely. "But…"
"Do as I say."
"...Yes, Tamayo-sama."
Turning around with his jaw clenched and his fists trembling, he walked to his room to collect his things, dragging his feet, with a back so desolate it looked like he was heading into exile.
All that was missing was the sad background music.
"..."
Watching his back, Tamayo's chest tightened a little, but when she turned and saw Marcus's satisfied smile, she couldn't help but laugh too.
"Tanjiro was right," she said, shaking her head. "You love making people suffer."
"Me?! Making people suffer?"
Marcus put on an offended face as he walked over and, naturally, took the beaker she was carrying from her hand. "What I'm doing is fostering bonds between roommates. Look, after everything tonight, wouldn't you say Yushiro and I are much closer now?"
Tamayo looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What you two are is on the verge of killing each other."
"That's emotional closeness."
"That's sophistry~" She gave him a tap on the arm and turned to head down to the lab. But Marcus followed.
"I'll give you a hand. Not like I've got anything better to do."
Tamayo looked at him over her shoulder as she went down the stairs. "Don't you need to rest? After everything earlier, you must be exhausted."
"Exhausted?" Marcus waved his hand. "Being with you, how could I possibly be tired?"
Tamayo didn't respond. But she picked up her pace, and Marcus could see perfectly how the tips of her ears turned red.
Smiling, he followed her downstairs without saying another word.
…
In the lab, most of the equipment was already in place.
Tamayo was methodical to the point of obsession. Every beaker, every test tube, every instrument had an exact assigned spot. Everything labeled, everything measured, everything perfect.
At first, Marcus genuinely helped. He carried boxes, moved shelves, placed things where she directed.
A model assistant.
That lasted about ten minutes.
"And where does this go?"
"Third shelf on the left, second level."
"And this?"
"On the table to the right, away from the burner."
"And th—?"
"Marcus-kun." Tamayo closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "Could you stop clinging to me and asking me everything? Every time I turn around, I bump into you."
Because that was exactly what was happening. Marcus was practically glued to her back, holding a test tube rack with a face that said he knew exactly what he was doing.
"It's just that I don't know where this goes."
He whispered from up close—so close that his breath grazed Tamayo's ear.
And that breath came loaded. The essence of his blood mixed with the rosy current of his breathing hit her, and her cheeks lit up as if someone had set them on fire.
But she stepped back quickly, putting distance between them. "P-Put it on that table. I'll organize it myself later."
"Oh..." Marcus set the rack down obediently and moved back half a step.
But the next second, he was right back, leaning toward her.
"Your face is really red. Are you okay? Want me to open a window or something?"
"Th-That's not necessary!" Tamayo turned her face away and tried to focus on what she was doing, but her hands were trembling and a test tube nearly slipped from her fingers.
With a wicked smile, Marcus continued "helping."
Only his way of helping grew increasingly suspicious.
When Tamayo stretched her arm to reach something on the upper shelf, Marcus casually stretched his arm at the same time. Their fingers brushed. "Oh, sorry."
When Tamayo crouched down to organize the lower cabinet, Marcus crouched down too to "pick up something" he'd dropped. Their shoulders touched. "Oops, how clumsy."
When Tamayo turned to grab the burner, Marcus turned in the same direction and they ended up face to face, centimeters apart. "Well, what a coincidence."
And with each contact, each brush, each "accident," the rosy current of his breathing intensified more and more. Raising the temperature slowly, like someone turning the knob on an oven.
The lab gradually filled with a subtle pink haze that could be felt with every breath.
Tamayo was getting redder and redder. And it wasn't from the heat. Her breathing quickened, and her fingers failed her every time she tried to grab something.
She tried to ignore it.
But when Marcus "accidentally" cornered her against the edge of the table for the umpteenth time, his body nearly pressed against hers from behind, surrounding her without touching her yet being everywhere at once—
"Mmm~"
A faint moan slipped out. Her fingers went slack and the test tube she was holding slid toward the floor.
"Ah…!" She reached out, but it was already too late.
Or it would have been, if an invisible arrow hadn't hooked the tube mid-fall, stopping it centimeters from the floor and floating it back up to rest gently on the table.
The crisis was resolved, but the position... became even more uncomfortable.
Because now Tamayo was completely trapped between the lab table and Marcus. His arms braced on either side, his chest against her back, the heat of his body passing through her clothes and burning her skin.
"M-Marcus!"
This time it was clear she was angry.
Because flirting was one thing, and nearly making her break a test tube was something else entirely. Those instruments were her life. Her research. Her weapons against Muzan. Her obsession!
Pulling away with difficulty, she faced him with a frown and eyes full of reproach.
"Stop—!"
But she went mute.
Because Marcus, who a second ago had been pressed against her back, was now looking at her head-on with a completely different expression—and he was holding a flower between his lips.
Tamayo had no idea when he'd pulled it out.
It was simply there—him holding a flower, looking at her with eyes of genuine apology and at the same time something more… something warm, something that made her forget in an instant why she'd been angry.
"...Th-That's…!"
____
Thank you for reading! 🙏
Between torturing Yushiro and flirting with Tamayo, Marcus is making himself right at home. What was your favorite moment? Leave a comment and drop your Power Stones below!
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