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“Guys, wait! Can we stop here?”
Itadori stopped short in front of the small ice cream parlor. Flashing neon lights boldly proclaimed world’s best and home of the famous Choco-rainbow swirl. The very same Choco-rainbow swirl flavor that Itadori had eaten exactly 36 times in the two months since he’d transferred to Jujutsu High. But he wasn’t picky. Chocolate, strawberry, bubblegum, mint, rainbow; in Itadori’s opinion, every ice cream flavor was a good ice cream flavor. It made his mouth water just thinking about it.
“I swear to God if we have to stop one more time for you to eat, I’m gonna lose it.” Nobara huffed.
“But this is my favorite place!”
“You said that about Radical Ramen,” Fushiguro pointed out quietly.
Itadori ignored Fushiguro. “What if I bought some for everybody?”
Nobara thought about it for a moment, shifting her shopping bags from one arm to the other. “Fine,” she said, finally, “but don’t expect me to pay you back.”
“Okay! What do you want?”
“I’d like something with chocolate," Nobara said. "Nothing weird."
“And you?” Itadori asked, turning to Fushiguro.
“I don’t want anything.”
Itadori practically skipped up to the counter. He had a lot of favorite things in life, but food was near the top of the list. Friends were also near the top (although he was never sure if he should rank food above, below, or as equal with friendships). Any opportunity he had to share food with friends, though? It was enough to make his entire day.
Simpleton.
“I’ll have three of the Choco-rainbow swirls,” Itadori said at the window, holding up three fingers. “And can you make those with chocolate waffle cones?”
“Sure thing,” the cashier said. The dessert didn’t take long since not many other people were out ordering ice cream at seven p.m. on a Sunday. Itadori smiled when the cashier handed him the cones. It was a bit tricky balancing three of them at once, but he managed to make it back to his friends without dropping anything. Nobara grabbed her ice cream immediately.
Fushiguro frowned. “I told you I didn’t want one.”
Itadori waved the ice cream in front of Fushiguro’s face. “You have to try it though, it’s seriously amazing. I think it’s probably the best ice cream flavor on earth. And it comes with a big cookie on the top of it, so it’s like you get two treats in one!”
“Fushiguro just likes being a party pooper.” Nobara said. Her cone was already halfway gone. She eyeballed the cookie on Itadori’s cone before taking it and shoving it into her mouth. “So give up.”
“Pleeaassee.” Itadori waved the ice cream back and forth, back and forth.
Fushiguro stared him down, eyebrows furrowed. Sighed. “Fine,” he said, snatching the ice cream out of Itadori’s grasp. “If it gets you to shut up.”
“Yay! Thank you!”
“Don’t thank him for taking something you paid for you, dumbass.” Nobara said, crunching away on the last bit of her chocolate waffle cone.
Itadori’s jaw dropped. “Wait, you finished yours already?”
“Yes, because I don’t waste my time like you morons do.“
“Well-“ Itadori began.
“Nobara!”
Maki ran up to the three of them. It was surprising to see her outside of school, but it surprised Itadori even more to see her dressed casually in a sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers. He looked down at himself and became painfully, embarrassingly aware that he was wearing his school uniform on a Sunday. He just hadn’t had time to think about getting any new clothes recently.
You don’t even have two braincells to rub together. I would know. I have to constantly dodge the only braincell rattling around up here.
“What are you three doing here?” Maki asked. She nodded towards Megumi and Itadori. Itadori awkwardly waved back with his free hand. He felt uncomfortable around Maki, even though he thought she was great. He felt uncomfortable around most people, recently.
“Maki!” Nobara hugged her friend, delighted to see her. “We’re on our way back to the dorms. Why?”
“In that case, will you run a few errands with me? I have some things I need to buy.”
“Yay! Of course! You two will be fine without me, right?”
“Er, right,” Itadori said.
Fushiguro simply nodded.
And then they were gone. The silence got awkward immediately. Being alone with Fushiguro was always difficult. It wasn’t that Itadori didn’t like Fushiguro. It was the opposite, actually. He liked Fushiguro a lot. Admired him. But Fushiguro never seemed happy when Itadori was around, and there was a part of Itadori’s brain that was convinced Fushiguro thought he was annoying.
It’s because you are an annoying, nasty, sniveling, whiny bitch. That’s exactly why he doesn’t like you.
And Fushiguro still hadn’t taken a bite of his ice cream.
Itadori opened his mouth to say something, anything, but for the second time that night he was interrupted by somebody passing by.
“Oh my god,” Itadori heard the person say to their companion. “I’m gonna be sick. Please don’t tell me that thing is going around pretending to be normal.”
Their companion sniggered. “I know. The whole ‘vessel’ thing creeps me the fuck out. They should have put it down when they had the chance.”
Itadori’s face flushed. The two strangers were still talking, but he wasn’t listening. He was staring at his ice cream. It didn’t look good anymore.
Fushiguro’s frown intensified and he opened his mouth. Itadori didn’t want to hear it.
See? Nobody likes you, Sukuna laughed, his voice reverberating deep inside Itadori’s skull.
Itadori threw his ice cream to the ground, untouched.
“Itadori, wait-“ Fushiguro grabbed for his arm.
Itadori ran.
~+~
It was honestly a little bit annoying that Fushiguro found him wallowing in self-pity on the bench. He thought he had found a really good hiding spot, concealed behind a row of vending machines and overgrown bushes. He wiped his eyes quickly with the back of his hand.
“How did you find me?”
In answer, a black wolf peeked out from behind Fushiguro’s legs.
“Oh.” Itadori sniffled. He really hoped Fushiguro wouldn’t focus on the fact that he had just been crying his eyes out.
But Fushiguro didn’t comment on the crying. Instead, he held something out. It was the damned Choco-rainbow swirl ice cream, half melted and wilting dangerously. “Here,” Fushiguro said, holding it right beneath Itadori’s nose.
Itadori turned away. “I don’t want it.”
Fushiguro sat down on the bench. After tossing the cookie to his wolf, he licked the top of the rapidly melting cone and held it back out to Itadori. “Share it with me.”
Itadori had a hard time saying no twice, so he reluctantly took the offered treat and was careful to lick where Fushiguro’s tongue hadn’t touched. It was good. He ate some more. It didn’t fix his hurt feelings, but it was delicious.
Fushiguro didn’t seem to care about the whole tongue thing because when he took the cone back, he licked right over where Itadori’s tongue had just been. Itadori didn’t know why that made his face burn.
“This is good,” Fushiguro said, looking straight ahead.
“Of course it is. It’s the world’s best ice cream.”
Itadori took another bite. The night was quiet, with only the occasional car passing by, and they sat in silence while they shared their treat. Fushiguro broke off pieces of waffle cone and tossed them to his wolf, and Itadori couldn’t help but laugh when Fushiguro showed him the shikigami’s ‘play dead’ trick.
“Did you teach it how to do that?” Itadori said, pointing to the shikigami rolling on its back in the grass.
“Strictly for training purposes. I don’t ever have fun with my shikigami.”
The shikigami in question continued to grovel on the ground for pieces of waffle cone, its tail wagging continuously. Itadori searched Fushiguro’s face and, despite the impassive expression, he realized that Fushiguro was joking. He was actually joking. Itadori laughed again. A small grin appeared on Fushiguro’s face.
“Here. You can have the last bite,” Fushiguro said.
Determined not to let the last bit of ice cream stuck in the bottom go unappreciated, Itadori stuck his tongue down into the cone and scooped the ice cream out. It was the absolute worst moment to accidently make eye contact with Fushiguro. Itadori blushed, panicked, and shoved the rest of the cone into his mouth. Fushiguro looked away so fast that Itadori wasn’t sure if he had seen him blush or not.
He didn’t. He looked away because he finds you revolting.
More silence, except this time it didn’t feel awkward to Itadori. The incident earlier was still fresh in Itadori’s mind, but it didn’t sting as much as it had before.
Fushiguro broke the silence first. “Thank you for the treat.”
Itadori smiled.