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“Can you just stay still for God’s sake.”
Nobara is currently straddling his chest, a look of intense concentration on her face as she grumbles under her nose about how much of a hassle he’s being. Megumi feels another stroke of the brush in her hand tickle under his nose and flinches without even realizing.
Nobara looks at him like she’s about ready to pull out her nails and hammer him to death.
“It tickles! It’s not my fault you guys ganged up on me for no apparent reason?” Megumi huffs out, a look of annoyance on his face. He honestly has no idea what brought this on. They were all hanging out in his room, just enjoying a quiet uncommon moment of peace, when all of sudden he was being tackled onto his back by the other two. He barely understood what was going on before they took out brushes and a pot of white face paint.
Yuuji, who has been uncharacteristically quietly drawing on his right arm, looks up at that and grins, his eyes crinkling in the corners. His hair is sticking out in all places as his gaze flicks between Megumi and Nobara.
“Come on, Fushiguro, stop being a grump. We’re doing this for you, you know, since you won’t stop staring at our scars,” Yuuji proclaims and ducks his head back down to focus on the flowers he’s drawing into Megumi’s arm.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Megumi murmurs, trying to avoid Nobara’s gaze as his cheeks flush with embarrassment. She just smirks, brown hair falling over her face, and snickers before bending down and holding his face still with a hand on his cheek.
The truth is, Megumi has been staring at their scars for a few days now. Okay, ever since they healed after the whole encounter with the cursed brothers that he wasn’t a part of. Yuuji and Nobara were fighting for their lives, while he was passed out under the bridge. He’s not really mad about it, they managed just fine without him, but it still stings a little bit. He was supposed to be there, with them, as a team.
And then the scars started forming on their bodies. They’re not extremely noticeable, but Megumi has spent months with these two idiots, he would notice any changes about them, no matter how small. That includes the thin, pale lines of scar tissue slowly forming into rose-like patterns across their faces and arms.
The flowers were beautiful and a constant reminder of the pain they had to go through when he wasn’t with them.
Megumi isn’t even sure when he started staring at the scars. But once he noticed them it’s like he couldn’t look away. His eyes seemed to just naturally find their way to the patterns on whatever piece of skin he could see peeking from under their clothing. He would never admit it, but there definitely was a moment when Yuuji was calling his name repeatedly, but he was too distracted by an especially intricate tangle of crinkly lines on Nobara’s neck to respond.
“Uh huh, sure you don’t. Do you think we’re stupid?” he can feel Nobara’s breath on his face as she continues grumbling under her breath. Anybody else would think she’s genuinely angry with the dark shadow taking over her eyes right now, but he knows better, knows that she just hides her softer side underneath. After all, they’re similar in that way.
“Don’t answer that, Fushiguro, I don’t need a reminder of how dumb you think I am,” Yuuji says as he raises Megumi’s hand to look at the progress of his drawing. He looks at his arm with such focus, such gentle eyes, as if the drying paint on Megumi’s skin is the most important thing in his life. Megumi’s breath catches when Yuuji bends down to softly kiss his knuckles and looks back at him with a huge smile on his face. He can only feel a few puffs of air on his cheek as Nobara chuckles to herself, watching him blush all over again.
The three of them have been almost inseparable already, be it on missions or just hanging out at the dorms. Until a few months back. There’s always been a sort of gravitational pull between the three of them, always bringing them together. He honestly doesn’t even remember when their dynamic turned less platonic and shifted into the ambiguous territory. Can’t really pinpoint when friendship turned into morning cuddling sessions, napping together in one bed, soft mindless touches, forehead kisses and playing with each other’s hair. Looking back, it feels like the most natural progression, like this was exactly where they were always meant to end up. There is no universe, no alternate reality where the three of them are not together, in every sense of the word.
But even then, he’s always been a little jealous of how easily Yuuji and Nobara seemed to get along. He would never admit it, not even to himself, but those two clicked so instantaneously it sometimes feels like he just needs to get by with what little space is left in between them. And he knows that’s unfair, because he has his own dynamic going on with both of them and he never feels like they love him any less than they do each other. But a tiny part of him always wonders. Wonders if that bond will somehow overpower his presence in their lives, if that bond will become enough of a reason to leave him behind.
It’s dumb, he knows it’s dumb. But he can’t get rid of these worries, not when they crawl into his subconscious without any input from the logical part of his brain. And, unfortunately, their flower scars have started acting almost like a trigger. A physical manifestation of their bond that he’s not a part of.
Of course he’s not jealous of what they had to go through to get them. But some tiny part of him, the part that’s usually hidden far away, buried deep under snarky remarks and carefully restrained expressions, wishes he’d gone through it, too. Wishes he’d fought alongside them, cae out of it just as battered and bruised.
He should have known better than to think this would go unnoticed. After all, it’s only these two idiots that know him better than he knows himself.
Cue in the mess he’s in right now. Half of his face and most of his right arm is covered in white paint and the two troublemakers grinning at him from where they’re currently perched above him, admiring their handiwork.
“Are you guys done? Will you let me move now?” Megumi grunts out, already reaching out to Nobara’s waist to lift her up from his chest. Yuuji moves out of his way as he scrambles off the bed, grinning from ear to ear. Megumi goes straight to the full length mirror perched against the wall across from his bed.
Oh.
He knew what they were drawing into his skin, it was quite obvious from the second they mentioned his own obsession with their scars, but actually seeing it makes his chest tighten slightly. One half of him is fully covered in white lines,spiraling and tangled into extricate patterns, as if roses are growing straight out of his pale skin.
Megumi raises his right arm to his cheek and gently presses against the drying paint, a slight gasp escaping his mouth. He’s been beaten up so many times in his life he’s lost count but he’s never felt quite such ache in his chest as he does now. His bottom lip starts quivering softly as he continues to stare at his reflection.
Suddenly, he feels a tender touch on his other arm. A strong hand, with calloused fingers wrapping around his own and squeezing gently. He looks up to see Yuuji’s face in the mirror, right next his own, with the softest smile, nothing but love and affection in his eyes. Megumi has to look away from the sheer intensity of emotion he sees in their reflection.
“Now we all match,” he hears Yuuji whisper as he presses a soft kiss to his temple. Megumi squeezes his hand again, but he can’t get himself to look at his face. He’s not really used to being so overcome with emotion and over something so miniscule, something of no consequence whatsoever, he doesn’t know what to do with himself.
He hears sheets rustling behind him before Nobara is by his other side, dragging away his right hand from his face and pressing it against her own cheek.
“Aww Fushiguro, don’t get all emotional on us,” she says in a mocking tone, but he knows she doesn’t mean it since she takes that same moment to press a kiss to his palm before squeezing his hand in between hers.
He looks up then, looking at their reflection in the mirror. They’re all still recovering from the last mission, all covered in bruises and cuts, a collective mess. But now there’s a pale thread of roses connecting all of them, as if moving from one person’s limb to another, covering their faces in petals. They might be broken but they’re still all here, together.
“You guys are so dumb,” Megumi grunts through his teeth before pulling both his hands free. Yuuji and Nobara look almost offended for a second before Megumi manages to pull them both into him, wrapping his arms around them as tight as he can.
I love you. I love you both so much.
That’s what he means to say at least, but he’s never been good with words. But for once he doesn’t have to be, because they understand. Yuuji and Nobara wrap their arms around his torso, nuzzling their heads into his neck. He can feel their breathing against his exposed skin, raising goosebumps and calming him from the inside at the same time.
“Whatever stops you from staring at us so much, Fushiguro. Seriously, it was getting weird, even Gojo started noticing!” Nobara mumbles into his shirt, but he can hear the smile in her voice. It triggers a laugh from somewhere deep within his chest, and once he’s started it’s like a flood. He’s laughing and the two people that mean the most to him are right here, giggling with child-like glee.
He’s not sure when they move back to his bed, a tangle of bodies and limbs trying to get under the covers. He falls asleep with both of them resting on his chest, holding hands covered in scars over his abdomen. His last conscious thought before drifting into blissful sleep is how lucky he got, meeting them. How lucky he is they destroyed his armor and replaced it with roses.