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Megumi dreams of his soulmate and he dreams of pink. Pink lips, pink cheeks, pink hair.
Vague memories of pink, and soft words that wrap him up like a blanket. Megumi wakes every morning with a warm feeling in his chest and idle praises still whispered along the edges of his consciousness.
He dreams of strong, calloused hands that run up his sides, while pink lips with sharp teeth hiding just behind them, with whispered words of love and reverence like something out of a novel.
He wakes every morning with a longing in his chest that can’t be eased, as though half of his heart is missing.
People date, before meeting their soulmate, it’s common. Some people never meet their soulmate, or meet them late in life. Megumi has dreamed of his soulmate since he was ten, and can’t imagine himself with anyone else.
Then he meets Itadori Yuuji and everything seems perfect.
Itadori Yuuji is the perfect boyfriend. He’s polite, he’s enjoyable to be around, he’s excitable. He doesn’t seem as eager as Megumi is to start dating. Megumi is the one who asks him out first, and Yuuji gives him a slightly confused look, and then a smile, and the rest of the world is supposed to fall into place.
It’s everything it should be.
And yet, disquiet settles in Megumi’s stomach despite everything being perfect. Yuuji is everything one would want in a partner. He’s doting and caring, he compliments Megumi’s reserved personality, there’s no reason for Megumi to be unhappy.
His dreams do not stop, with their meeting.
It’s the strangest thing of all. The dreams were meant to stop, once you met your soulmate. Why would you dream about them, when they’re in front of you?
He dreams of more pink, of calloused hands that drift up his thighs and sweet whispered words of reverence and the feeling of love so deep, it almost makes him cry. He wakes up next to Yuuji after they lay with tears on his cheeks and a voice that is not Yuuji’s echoing in his head.
Megumi’s dreams become brighter, more vivid. It doesn’t make sense because Yuuji is here, in front of him, with everything pink and honey golden eyes. There must be something wrong with Megumi.
Gojo Satoru is the first person, including Megumi, to notice he’s unhappy. They’re getting drinks one day when Satoru looks him up and down, frowning slightly down at him. Megumi has always been a more guarded person, but Satoru stares like he already knows.
“So, when am I meeting this soulmate of yours?” Satoru asks. Megumi flinches slightly, hand tightening on his beer.
He’s never met Satoru’s soulmate, in all of their years of friendship. He’s heard Satoru describe them once as ‘cute’ and brush off any additional questions. Megumi isn’t sure Satoru has actually met his soulmate, or just pretends so people won’t ask questions.
“Some day,” Megumi answers vaguely. “He wants to move in together.”
He’s been dating Yuuji for three months now. Megumi shouldn’t be hesitating at the thought of being with his soulmate, moving in together, everything people were supposed to want.
Satoru lets out a little hum. “You should break up with him.”
Megumi chokes on air, cheeks coloring as he looks at the other man. Satoru looks at him with nothing short of amusement, bright blue eyes sparkling.
“What?” Megumi snaps. “He’s my soulmate.”
Satoru laughs again. “So? If you’re unhappy, break up. Find someone else. Enjoy the dream version of him better. Some people never find their soulmates.”
Megumi pauses, fingers twitching, rubbing his wrist as he lets go of his drink. He doesn’t feel much like drinking anymore.
“Seriously, Megumi,” Satoru says, no longer looking at Megumi with those piercing blue eyes, “if you’re unhappy, no amount of ‘but he’s my soulmate’ is going to fix it. You should break up with the guy and spare his feelings now before it gets worse.”
Megumi doesn’t know what to say because Satoru is right. It would be easier to cut the cord now, if he’s unhappy, then later.
Megumi leaves Satoru to drink in the bar, and returns home late to Yuuji, unable to bring himself to do what he needs to do.
Yuuji does not make love to him in the same way that the dream version of him does. Yuuji is doting, too slow and steady and concerned that he’ll hurt Megumi. Dream Yuuji is sharp nails and rough bites and fills him perfectly.
Megumi is content, not happy, but content.
Yuuji seems happy, and Megumi tells himself that it’s fine, because he’s happy as long as Yuuji’s happy. Because Yuuji is his soulmate, and his happiness is Megumi’s happiness.
He can be content, happiness will come later.
Sukuna dreams of his soulmate and he dreams of emerald. Emerald eyes like jewels that sink into his soul.
He dreams of bright emerald that engulfs him in deepness and wonder, eyes that look at him like he’s the only thing that matters. He dreams of hands that cradle his face and lips that gently press into his own.
Sukuna wakes every morning feeling like his arms are empty, and he can’t seem to find the person to fill them.
He tries, for a while, until he decides that he doesn’t need anyone else. No one else is worthy of being in his arms. Uraume makes due for a while, but they confess that they have no dreams of soulmates, but if they had one, they would want it to be Sukuna. Sukuna stops their flings before it can become anything more damaging.
Sukuna first meets his soulmate when his twin brother shows him a picture of his boyfriend.
Bright emerald eyes look at him from a phone, eyes that have watched Sukuna in dreams and lips that have whispered of love so deep, that Sukuna never thought anyone would feel that way about him.
“That’s your soulmate?” he asks Yuuji, already knowing the answer.
Yuuji flounders, cheeks staining pink. “He’s not, but everyone dates before they meet their soulmate!”
Sukuna arches a brow, and Yuuji’s blush grows deeper, into a bright burning red as he struggles under Sukuna’s gaze. There’s a simple mistake here that Sukuna could fix, with one sentence. Yuuji would understand, Sukuna tells himself, he already knows Fushiguro Megumi is not his soulmate. Yuuji’s never been one for dating either, it’s better to break this off before it has a chance to grow into something with deeper roots.
“He’s not your soulmate, he’s mine.”
Yuuji’s next words are quieter, not meant for Sukuna to hear. He hears them nevertheless, and the echo in his mind as he looks down at the picture of his soulmate.
“He asked me out first, and I really like him. I think he likes me a lot.”
Sukuna is not a patient man. It doesn’t matter, he tells himself, if Yuuji likes Fushiguro Megumi, or if Fushiguro Megumi likes Yuuji back. Sukuna is his real soulmate. The one who has dreams of whispered love and emerald eyes that sparkle brighter than any jewel.
He isn’t sure what holds him back from telling Yuuji that he’s dating Sukuna’s soulmate. Sukuna only realizes it’s too late when his brat of a brother is walking out the door, telling him that he’ll get to meet Fushiguro Megumi eventually.
He resolves that he will tell Yuuji the moment that he sees him next. In the meantime, he calls Uraume, because though he has stopped himself from their flings, Uraume has proven to be a loyal friend who will happily come over with beer and a distraction, if Sukuna demands it.
His resolve flies out the window the moment that he sees Fushiguro Megumi for the first time. Yuuji has an arm around his waist, introducing him to their grandfather, and Fushiguro Megumi looks happy .
Yuuji had told him that he was going to bring Fushiguro Megumi to meet their grandfather. It was why Sukuna was there. He had requested the day off from work, and resolved that this was the day he fixed whatever mess had become of this situation.
He pauses in the doorway, unnoticed by the group, and watches as Yuuji gushes about the things he likes about Fushiguro. Fushigruo’s cheeks turn pink under the praise, shifting in Yuuji’s grasp, but he looks—
Happy, with his brother's arm around him, meeting their grandfather.
“Sukuna’s coming by later,” Yuuji says, to both Fushiguro and their grandfather. “He said he wants to meet you, Megumi.”
Unrest settles so deeply in Sukuna’s chest that he steps back, and he leaves before anyone notices that he’s even arrived.
Before Yuuji can introduce Sukuna to his soulmate.
He’s resolved himself in the past that no one is worthy of him, and yet he thinks about it. He thinks of his brat of a twin brother with the person who loved him so deeply in his dreams, who was happier with someone else.
Sukuna is not a man built for love, but nevertheless, he thinks about it. He has emerald dreams that grow deeper, and he does not think about his brother dating his soulmate. And Sukuna contents himself with dreams that will never become reality, and feelings that will never come to fruition.
As long as Fushiguro Megumi is happy, Sukuna resolves that he does not need him to be by his side.
Megumi wakes from a dream of pink, besides his lover Yuuji, and wonders, not for the first time, what could be missing when he has everything.
He has everything. The doting boyfriend, a place over his head, a stable job. They have everything together and yet for some reason, disquiet settles itself in his heart, becoming even worse as time goes on.
His dreams are still full of pink, and love that doesn’t exist in the real world. Yuuji loves him, Megumi knows this, he’s said the words, tentatively, awkwardly, in bed one night, and didn’t seem bothered when Megumi couldn’t bring himself to say it back.
The love he feels in his dreams is so encompassing that Megumi doesn’t think it exists in real life.
He has a day off, for once, that doesn’t overlap with Yuuji own. Not that he minds, spending time with Yuuji, but sometimes he enjoys the time away, when he can relax, and nap on the couch without interruption.
(The Yuuji in his dreams kisses his knuckles and promises him the world.)
He thinks nothing of it when Yuuji texts him later in the day and says his brother, Sukuna, will be coming by to drop something off. Megumi stretches after his nap and picks some things up to prepare for a guest.
He’s never met Sukuna before, but he’s heard of him. He’s heard Yuuji complain that his brother has stolen everything from him at some point, in typical sibling culture. Megumi is in the kitchen when he hears the front door open, and pokes his head out from the doorway, expecting Yuuji.
Except it’s not Yuuji, but someone who looks like him. Megumi’s breath catches when he looks up at pink hair, pink lips and slightly pink cheeks, and startling red eyes.
Oh.
Oh.
Dreams of pink and soft-spoken words with love and adoration come rushing to the surface so quickly that Megumi feels the breath knocked out of him. The man who’s not Yuuji but looks like him rubs the back of his head.
“The brat said you wouldn’t be home.”
Megumi feels like he’s choking on air as he shakes his head. “It’s my day off.”
Sukuna stares at him, brow furrowed, and Megumi can’t really think. Otherwise, he would be thinking of what he meant when he thought Megumi wouldn’t be home, he would be thinking of the distance between them, and he would be thinking of the last six months of his life spent with the wrong person.
Sukuna enters the apartment, shutting the door behind himself as he walks up to Megumi, a few inches of height making it so that he can look down at Megumi. He has tattoos on his face and a stare that could melt steel.
Megumi stares down at it, feeling frighteningly small.
He’s seen those crimson eyes in his dreams, he realizes. Never Yuuji’s honey brown ones, but Sukuna’s piercing crimson. Everything falls into place at the same time.
“I’m Ryomen Sukuna,” he greets. He’s sharp smiles and teeth, black nails on his hands that Megumi has felt in his dreams.
The dreams that haven’t stopped because his soulmate is not one Itadori Yuuji, but his brother, Ryomen Sukuna.
“Fushiguro Megumi,” he says back, taking the hand he's held in dreams. The hand that belongs to the man who’s loved him so deeply, in his dreams.
Sukuna smirks, something he’s done in Megumi’s dreams, and pulls him forward, until Megumi’s close and has to bend his neck to look up to see the other man.
Sukuna’s lips crash into his own and everything fits in the world.
“I’ve waited too long to do that,” Sukuna says, when he pulls back, his lips pinker than ever.
Megumi laughs, a smile across his lips. A piece of him that has been missing is finally home. A sliver of himself held in Sukuna.
And Megumi is happy.