Chapter Text
It was a warm day in March when it happened.
Mio, Arata and Endomoto were going over their coursework because Gojo-sensei had actually given them homework for once.
“I don’t think this is right,” Arata said as she pointed at what Mio had painstakingly written down.
Mio squawked, “What? But that’s how Sensei explained it!”
“No.” She shook her head. “Hey, Endomoto, look at this, do you thi—”
“There is no helping you two.” Endomoto didn’t even look up from his textbook.
Arata pushed Endomoto’s face away. “Hey!”
“What is that supp—”
And then the front door slammed open, urgent voices and hurried footsteps filtering down the hall to where the three of them were sitting in the common area.
“—should be here soon, I—” Kugisaki-senpai.
“—make sure there aren’t any more—” Gojo-sensei.
“—already talked to Principal—” Nitta-san.
Mio frowned, straightening up at their tone of voices. Something must have happened, they sounded—
Their voices came to an abrupt halt as they rounded the corner and noticed Mio, Arata and Endomoto. Mio’s eyes widened because the other three were not alone. Itadori-senpai was with them, steps not once faltering.
He was carrying Fushiguro-senpai. An unconscious Fushiguro-senpai.
Mio looked up at Itadori-senpai and felt his face pale in two seconds flat.
He had forgotten—kind of. Sukuna’s Vessel. Had forgotten about that; confronted with all of Itadori-senpai’s smiles, his easy laughter, his good-naturedness, Mio had forgotten that he was housing the King of Curses. Faced with this Itadori Yuuji though, Mio felt it all rushing back, and it made his hands clammy.
Itadori-senpai didn’t look as if he was aware of what was happening around him. His scowl was menacing, his lips drawn back and turned down at the corners. The skin around his cheekbones was stretched thin, jaw hardened. He looked like he was on a warpath, but—
Mio lowered his gaze to where Itadori-senpai was holding Fushiguro-senpai and—
They looked gentle, his hands. Cradling, caressing. Like he was holding something precious—which he was of course, but also—something fragile. Fushiguro-senpai was tall, muscled, supremely capable. No one in their right mind would attribute the word fragile to him on any other day, but right then, face hidden in Itadori-senpai’s neck, he looked made of glass.
“Arata,” Gojo-sensei said suddenly—jarringly because Mio had never heard him address her by her last name—tearing Mio’s attention away for a second. When he looked back again, Itadori-senpai had already vanished behind the doors leading towards the bedrooms. Kugisaki-senpai followed them quietly, face white, but Nitta-san stayed put with Gojo-sensei, wearing an exhausted expression.
Gojo-sensei’s face was blank. No traces of his usual sprite or exuberance. He looked serious, dangerously so. Mio felt a shiver run down his spine.
“Yes, sensei?” Arata replied hesitantly, looking from Gojo-sensei to Nitta-san and back. “Is everything alright with Fushig—”
“You’ll assist Shoko with everything she may need, clear?”
Caught off guard, Arata looked at Mio and Endomoto before nodding once, twice. “Yes, of course. You can count on me.”
“Good.” He followed the third-years out of the common room, and Nitta-san stepped outside again.
Arata, Endomoto and Mio were quiet for the next few minutes, each of them staring at their assignments, but Mio doubted anyone was thinking about coursework. The image of Fushiguro-senpai cradled in Itadori-senpai’s arms wouldn’t leave his head, and his chest tightened with worry. He hoped it wasn’t anything serious. He hoped Fushiguro-senpai was just unconscious because he hurt his head or something and not because—
The door opened and closed quietly, the sound followed by the click-clack of heels on the wooden floor. A few seconds later, Ieiri-sensei rounded the corner, wearing a white coat, face grave. She twirled an unlit cigarette between her fingers and waved at them with her other hand as she passed by without a word. Mio bowed his head, felt Endomoto do the same beside him. Arata sprang up and hurried to Ieiri-sensei’s side.
“Gojo-sensei told me to assist you,” she said—almost a whisper. Ieiri-sensei nodded, and then both of them vanished behind the door. It was quiet. Quiet enough to make Mio overly conscious of the fact that he was basically useless in a scenario that had everyone else so high-strung that the heaviness in the atmosphere was palpable.
Mio sighed, thinking, thinking, thinking on what he could do to help, what he could do to make it easier on Fushiguro-senpai. He closed his workbook and leaned back in his seat, staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t do anything right now because he didn’t even know what was going on exactly.
So he sat there, and next to him, Endomoto continued his work. Mio didn’t understand how Endomoto could possibly be this unfazed by everything—and then he felt guilty for thinking that. He didn’t know Endomoto well enough to know how he coped with stuff like this—with uncertainty. Just because Mio felt restlessness itching underneath his skin didn’t mean everyone else would handle this the same way.
Exactly twenty-three minutes later, Kugisaki-senpai and Arata stepped back into the room, looking pale and drawn.
Mio sat up immediately. “How is he?”
Kugisaki-senpai sat down on the closest armchair, shoulders sagging, and sighed. “He’s ok. His cursed energy was almost completely depleted during the last fight. He got hurt but he’s ok.” She said it all with a monotone voice, eyes closed, but Mio saw the way she clenched her jaw, her balled hands. Arata sat down next to Mio again, nodding at everything Kugisaki-senpai said. It must have been a hard fight then, to bring Fushiguro-senpai this close to his limit.
Feeling the restlessness rear its head again, Mio said, without thinking, “Can we visit him or—”
Kugisaki-senpai barked a laugh, lips twitching. “Oh boy, no, you shouldn’t.” She put a hand across her eyes, but it didn’t hide the genuine smile that began to spread across her face. “Itadori almost bit my head off just now. I don’t think you should be near him right now.”
Frowning, Mio leaned forward, clasping his hands as they started to shake. “What does Itadori-senpai have to do with this?”
Kugisaki-senpai’s hand fell in her lap and she looked at him, wide-eyed and stunned. “You—what?”
Foot starting to tap a hurried rhythm on the floor, Mio repeated, “What does—”
But she interrupted him with a “No, no, I heard you the first time.” She stared at him for another couple seconds, and Mio felt his neck heat in embarrassment. He didn’t exactly know what he was embarrassed for, but he couldn’t fight down the feeling that he’d done something wrong—that he’d messed up somewhere.
“Oh god,” she groaned and leaned her head back, muttering something under her breath that Mio didn’t get. He looked over at Endomoto to see if he could make sense of anything their senpai said, but Endomoto was still working on his assignment, seemingly not listening.
Kugisaki-senpai sighed again, rubbing her face. “Look, Hiroko, god, I cannot believe I’m gonna say this, you’re forbidden from telling anyone I said this, clear?” She opened one eye and gave him a look.
Mio swallowed, feeling a chill roll down his back, and nodded.
She continued hastily, “I’m sorry. I didn’t think this would go on for so long—”
“‘This’?” Mio tapped his foot faster and his knee started to shake.
Kugisaki-senpai looked at him with something akin to pity in her eyes and Mio was all the more confused because of it. “Fushiguro an—”
A door slammed open, the boom echoing down the halls, and Kugisaki-senpai whipped her head around right as Gojo-sensei and Ieiri-sensei stepped into the common room.
Kugisaki-senpai stood up. “How is he?”
Ieiri-sensei wiped her hands down Gojo-sensei’s button-down that probably cost more than all of Mio’s possessions combined, and let out a long breath. Gojo-sensei squawked, but surprisingly didn’t say anything. A tiny smile made Ieiri-sensei’s eyes soften. “He’s alright. There isn’t much more that you don’t already know, Nobara.” She turned to Mio and Endomoto who’d finally lifted his eyes from that goddamn workbook. “Your senpai is on bedrest for the next couple days, and he needs lots of rest. Try not to disturb him at all if possible.” With that and a poke into Gojo-sensei’s side, she left.
Gojo-sensei forced out a chuckle, smoothing down his shirt. “You heard your sensei. Yuuji-kun has everything under control.” And then he added, seemingly to himself, “A bit hot-headed, isn’t he?”
Kugisaki-senpai rolled her eyes but didn’t disagree. “Well, what did you expect? You didn’t see what he did to that special-grade.”
Slowly, Gojo-sensei’s mouth widened into a bright, bright smirk that made Mio kind of fear for his life. “Oh!” He laughed. “I’d have loved to see it.”
“Of course you would have.”
Gojo-sensei clicked his tongue. “Well, now, Nobara-chan. You should go and rest. You haven’t slept in more than twenty-four hours.” He waved his hands, chuckled. “Go on, sweet child.”
“Call me sweet child one more time and you’ll taste my hammer.” But she stood up and, right on cue, yawned. Gojo-sensei threw her a knowing look, which she countered with her best death-glare. Mio wanted to disappear into his cushions.
Kugisaki-senpai threw a wave over her shoulder and didn’t even tear Gojo-sensei another one for his smug smirk as she left.
Gojo-sensei clapped once and turned on his heel, threw a look at Endomoto, Arata and Mio’s half-finished work. “Well, you should get to this. We’ll talk about that tomorrow.”
And then he started whistling and left.
Mio blinked, looked down at his workbook, and paled. He was fucked.
*
Walking into the common room a couple days after the incident, Mio had to suppress a sigh. The mood was absolutely shitty. Instead of fighting about it, Panda-senpai and Inumaki-senpai were quietly doing the dishes, not even talking. Kugisaki-senpai, who was usually painting her nails and singing off-key to whatever was playing on the radio, was sitting in her usual armchair, mutely reading her magazine. Maki-senpai was sitting next to her, drawing in her sketchbook, and even the second-years were silently playing chess, which was honestly almost the most disturbing thing of all. It usually looked like Chibana-senpai was this close to take the board and hurtle it at Gushiken-senpai’s head.
Mio hadn’t seen Itadori-senpai since the day he had carried Fushiguro-senpai inside. He wasn’t on the training grounds during the day, wasn’t eating dinner with them in the evenings. But sometimes, when Mio walked into the kitchens to get a glass of water before bed, he saw two sets of dishes cleaned and drying in the rack. At least they seemed to be eating something.
Kugisaki-senpai was usually the one giving them updates on Fushiguro-senpai. Mio really wanted to see Fushiguro-senpai with his own two eyes, but he didn’t think he was particularly welcome.
Once, during the fourth day of Fushiguro-senpai’s bedrest, Arata had been tasked by Ieiri-sensei with bringing him medicine, and when she’d come back, her face had been as white as a sheet, and she’d looked close to fainting.
Alarmed, Mio had steadied her by her shoulder, and had asked, “What is it? Is he hurt? Should we call Ie—”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Arata had said, waving him off. She’d shuddered, eyes unfocused. “It’s just… just—”
“Just?” Mio had prompted, having to stop himself from shaking her.
She’d looked up at him, eyes wide. “Itadori-senpai is freaking terrifying.”
And because of that, Mio had decided to wait and see.
A few days later, on day six of Fushiguro-senpai resting, Mio walked into the common room and stopped in his tracks as he saw Itadori-senpai standing at the stove.
He was wearing a black hoodie, something that struck Mio as unusual for some reason; maybe because he was usually wearing bright colors when he wasn’t wearing his uniform?
Feeling his heart start to beat faster, Mio almost stumbled over air as he approached him. “Senpai!”
Itadori-senpai glanced at him and tried to smile but there were dark circles underneath his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept a wink in days. “Hiroko. Good morning.”
Mio looked down into the pan where a couple meatballs were sizzling away. “Good morning.”
Following his eyes, Itadori-senpai chuckled. It sounded a bit rusty, but genuine. “He’s craving them.”
“Fushiguro-senpai?” Mio’s eyes widened at the unexpected piece of information.
Itadori-senpai hummed, and the next smile came easier to his lips. “I’m just glad his appetite is returning.”
Feeling his head buzz with all his questions, Mio asked, “How is he?”
Itadori-senpai’s shoulders sagged down a bit, but Mio thought he looked more relieved than defeated. Itadori-senpai started plating the meatballs, and when he was done with that, he put rice in two bowls. “He’s better. Nagging already, so all is well.” He chuckled, and it sounded unbearably fond. Mio stared at him and startled when Itadori-senpai threw him a look over his shoulder. “Would you mind grabbing that ginger drink out of the fridge and coming with me for a second?”
Mio, mute, shook his head, then nodded, and then shook his head again. Itadori-senpai looked at him with an amused expression, and Mio felt his neck flush hot. He went to the fridge and grabbed the ginger drink.
He followed Itadori-senpai who was carrying both bowls of food towards Fushiguro-senpai’s room, and Mio held his breath for a second. He hadn’t seen Fushiguro-senpai in six days and his heart was already racing.
Itadori-senpai opened the door and slipped through, and before Mio could follow him, he heard Fushiguro-senpai groggily say, “Where’ve you been?”
Mio stopped in his tracks, couldn’t help but listen in.
Itadori-senpai chuckled again, and there was a soft clack, probably the bowls being set down. “Making food for you, Gumi.”
There was a soft whine, and then Fushiguro-senpai said, the sound softened as if he was mumbling against something, “Missed you.”
Mio felt his breath catch in his throat, and his shoulders drooped. Well, wasn’t he stupid.
Blankets rustled suddenly and Mio startled, his foot pushing the door open a little more, giving him a view of the room behind it. Itadori-senpai was sitting on the edge of Fushiguro-senpai’s bed, lightly caressing Fushiguro-senpai’s face, fingers threading through his dark hair. Fushiguro-senpai’s eyes were closed, but there was a warm and relaxed expression on his face that made Mio’s chest tighten for a second. He looked—comfortable, easy, relaxed. He was wearing a bright blue shirt that looked a little big on his frame.
Itadori-senpai seemed to have forgotten that Mio was there, or maybe he just didn’t care. He took hold of Fushiguro-senpai’s hand and lifted it to his mouth, kissing his knuckles. “Do you want to eat now or take a nap?”
Mio looked at the steaming bowls of food Itadori-senpai had lovingly prepared, and didn’t say anything.
Fushiguro-senpai opened his eyes and looked at Itadori-senpai from beneath lowered lashes, a soft smile playing around his lips. “Food first, then nap.”
Itadori-senpai chuckled. “Alright, babe. Whatever you want.”
He reluctantly let go of Fushiguro-senpai’s hand and reached out for the bowls he’d set aside. His eyes flitted up and he startled a bit upon meeting Mio’s gaze.
“Hiroko!” he exclaimed, a flush creeping onto his face. “Sorry, I…”
Fushiguro-senpai turned his head and lifted his free hand, the hand that wasn’t clutching Itadori-senpai’s hoodie, to wave.
Mio bowed. “It’s alright. I—” Not knowing what to say, Mio stepped forward, set down the drink he’d brought, and bowed again.
Feeling his face heat up, he said, “I’m glad you’re feeling better, senpai. If you’ll excuse me.” He turned on his heel and bit his lip, heard Fushiguro-senpai mumble a “Sure, thank you, Hiroko,” and stepped out of the room. He closed the door softly behind himself and leaned against the wall next to it, trying to catch his breath, trying to parse his thoughts. He was… not sure if he was surprised, to be exact. In a way, he was, but also… thinking back, he couldn’t help but feel like he was the biggest idiot on the planet.
*
Mio dealt with this revelation in the same way he always did with unrequited crushes. He mourned them for a week and went on with his life. It hadn’t been his first crush, and it wouldn’t be his last. He was more aggrieved at the fact that there had been so many hints he hadn’t picked up on than the fact that Fushiguro wasn’t—and had never been—interested in Mio.
Well, he could live with that. There wasn’t really any other choice.
A few days after the revelation, Mio stumbled upon Fushiguro-senpai and Itadori-senpai training in the room they usually used for close-combat practice during winter. Fushiguro-senpai looked good, he looked healthy and whole, save for some fading bruises on his bare arms and shins. There was another one, a deep red one, in the crook of his neck that Mio was sure hadn’t come from any fight.
He flushed hot and looked away, was glad he’d done so when he heard a body hitting the floor heavily, followed by Itadori-senpai’s breathless laughter and the comment: “If you wanted to get me on my back, Gumi, there are better ways to do so.”
Mio high-tailed it out of there, couldn’t believe their shameless flirting had gone right over his head the whole time. Especially since now that Mio knew, it was so painfully obvious.
They flirted all the time.
Hands brushing here, something whispered into an ear there, laughter, smirks, innuendos everywhere. Mio couldn’t escape and kind of wished he were back in the hopefully-crushing-and-oblivious state.
Now that Kugisaki-senpai knew that Mio knew, they started sharing commiserating looks before Kugisaki-senpai would inevitably yell something along the lines of “This is fucking gross, keep it in the bedroom,” which was a sentiment Mio couldn’t help but share.
Even now, on their way to the Kyoto branch of Jujutsu High, Itadori-senpai was not leaving Fushiguro-senpai’s side for more than a minute. Mio wondered if they had always been this close and he’d just not noticed or if the Incident had fed the fire.
They stood in a loose circle, waiting for the principle of the Kyoto branch and the students to appear for the annual Goodwill Event to take place, and Mio had the misfortune of standing almost directly across Itadori-senpai and Fushiguro-senpai.
Itadori-senpai had a hand wrapped around Fushiguro-senpai’s waist and used it to hold the latter close as he leaned in to whisper something to him. Fushiguro-senpai didn’t seem to think anything of it, nodded and replied in the same quiet tone. Itadori-senpai chuckled and looked up for a second, at Fushiguro’s face, eyes flitting down to his lips. Mio grimaced when he saw Fushiguro-senpai catch the look, when he started to blush.
Mio shook his head, turning away. God, they were worse tha—
Bright hair caught his eye, and he turned even more as he saw Principal Gakuganji approach with Iori-sensei in tow. And there was—her. Blue hair, a little older than Mio and possibly even the third-years since it didn’t look like she was taking part in the Event. A fourth-year then. Mio couldn’t tear his gaze away as she looked up from her tablet, eyes taking them all in. She smiled and waved as her gaze met Mio’s senpais’, and Mio felt his heart stutter in his chest.
After the introductions were over, she stepped away from the principal and walked towards Kugisaki-senpai, who was close to punching Itadori-senpai; Mio absentmindedly noticed Fushiguro-senpai bowing respectfully to her.
They started talking and Mio didn’t notice how long he had been staring until someone—probably Arata—gave him a push forward. He squawked and when he looked up to see the third-years and the blue-haired beauty looking at him questioningly, he flushed bright red.
There was nothing to do except bow, deep. “Hiroko Mio.” Head still bowed, his eyes widened against his will. Did he—did he just introduce himself without someone prompting him? Oh god, he wanted to ask Kugisaki-senpai to just put a few nails in him and end his mis—
“Miwa Kasumi,” a light and amused voice said. Mio straightened up and met her dark blue gaze. She smiled. “Nice to meet you, Hiroko Mio.”