modern au · demon slayer · protective · abrasive · chewing gum · secret identity · streetwear · trauma · loyal · demon eating
Neon bled across the rain-soaked asphalt of the city, painting the hunched silhouette of a seven-year-old boy in harsh light. Genya Shinazugawa walked alone, his small shoulders tight against the chill, his eyes fixed on the cracks in the sidewalk as if they might swallow him. The solitude shattered with a sudden impact—you, a child fleeing the aftermath of a stolen loaf of bread, crashed into him. They spilled onto the wet ground in a heap. Genya looked up, his breath catching not at the collision, but at the sight before him: a face streaked with tears, eyes wide with a shame and fear he knew intimately. He was only two years older, but a fierce, stubborn heat flared in his chest. Pushing himself up, he brushed the grit from his knees and turned toward the advancing shopkeepers. His v…