Archive of Our Own

Megumi is a practical person. 

He likes to wake up around eight in the morning when the sun isn’t too bright to blind his still lingering with sleep eyes but not fully dull either, at least the minimum of sunlight to help him reach a fully awaken state. He likes coffee with one cube of sugar and three spoons of milk, not too bitter but not entirely sweet either. He likes to avoid the rooms on the second and third floor because those are the places most frequented by Gojo Satoru, and he likes to keep his sanity in check. Meeting with him and later on having a conversation would mean that Megumi is mostly prone to get a headache, which is definitely and logically something he avoids on a daily basis.  

Which brings in view the most practical side of his character that is keeping away from people. Keeping away from everything that means forming a deeper bond with each other; it’s tiring in the first place. Socializing isn’t one of his best assets, and some would say that he completely lacks that talent, but in hindsight it’s not important when he knows that involving in other people lives isn’t all about just socializing. He can be polite, doesn’t turn his back on anyone who comes to him first, asking for something or starting a mild conversation, but Megumi doesn’t like indulging too much into friendships.  

It could weaken the power of concentration, and Megumi hates distractions. Getting to know someone so well that he’d call a friend could be problematic if they’re on a mission together; then, the attention span would be split in two rather than the one and most needed that should be centered on himself. Friendships are hard and tiring and consuming, and Megumi likes to avert his interests from making any type of relations, instead digging himself into training, trying to better himself with every fight and mission.  

What makes this all much easier is the fact that around him are only reckless and impulsive people. People like Gojo Satoru who has a god complex as big as his ego and whose actions are more questionable every other time, or Kugisaki Nobara who doesn’t know how to let off the steam of her nerves and impulses. Most of all however, Megumi knows that the one and only who ate a cursed body part on the spur of the moment wouldn’t certainly be able to slither his way into his life. Itadori Yuuji is reckless, he thinks more with his actions than with his brain; his instincts might be good and well based, but his urges can be dangerous at best. Megumi doesn’t fully understand how someone like him can hold that much power and control to sustain Sukuna, but that’s one of the many things he can’t comprehend from the other.  

Itadori is the type of person in their field of work that needs constant surveillance, someone to make sure he doesn’t snap or walk directly into a trap. He believes that Itadori needs someone to be there and look out for him, making sure he doesn’t die, and he will not be the sort of person to succumb to it.  

He takes the corner of the hall to open the doors to the kitchen as he slips inside, hands fisted back into his pockets. He walks directly towards the counter blinking rapidly to ease the sleepiness out of his eyes, and he’s about to take a mug and start on his coffee when he feels something bumping into the back of his arm. It's warm and it stings a bit the first time it touches him. Megumi turns around with a frown over his eyebrows and the first thing he sees is a mug filled with coffee, stream rising high towards his face, clearly freshly made. He follows the line of the arm that holds the mug and his eyes fall on Itadori’s warm and hazel ones, creasing at the corners for how stretched his smile is.  

He still can’t look down at the scars under his eyes, still too earie and ominous to acknowledge. He raises his eyes until they’re firmly locked on his own and parts his lips from the involuntary grimace they were in. “What is this?” 

Itadori scoffs and looks down at the mug in his hand, thrusting it into his side more but avoiding directly touching him. “I thought you knew how coffee looks like. You're drinking it every morning.” 

Itadori has been with them for little over two weeks, yet he already knows Megumi’s routine in the morning. It's weird, just a bit, but Megumi tries to ignore it—or rather, his still sleepy self does the work for him. He points down at the mug between them with a flick of his wrist. “Is it for me?” 

“Why else would I want to give it to you? I'm not making a presentation on coffee, Fushiguro.”  

“Right.” he says awkwardly, taking the mug from his hand and cupping both of his around it. “Thank you.” he says, though it sounds a bit like a question at the end. Itadori chooses to take it as it is, smiling brightly and putting his now empty hands in the pockets of his jacket.  

“Have a good morning.” he tells him before walking away and taking a tray of food with him to sit at one of the tables. Nobara is there, already waiting for him with her orange juice and croissant, typing something on her phone. Megumi blows into the coffee and sniffs it quickly before taking a sip. His nose scrunches upwards and he tilts his head back; too much sugar. And it’s obvious that Itadori would put more, he likes sweet foods, and by extension sweet coffee. Megumi should’ve known that this wouldn’t be a surprise.  

He walks towards an empty table with his own tray of food when Nobara’s voice echoes in the room, loud and clear and almost demanding; “Come sit with us, Fushiguro.” 

When he looks back at her, she’s still texting, eyes trained on her phone at whatever she’s doing on it. Megumi chooses to not look for an alternative, which would probably be unnecessary now that she’d called for him especially, and he switches his path to get to their own table. Itadori smiles up and him as he sits down, shoving a sandwich in his mouth and looking down at his own phone, set on a youtube video that Megumi can’t make much out of before he averts his eyes over his own food.  

“There are new stocks at the shop we went to last time, we should definitely go again.” Nobara is saying, turning her phone around to show the page to Itadori. Megumi rests his back in the chair and brings the mug to his mouth, sipping slow enough so that the sugar doesn’t slip fully on his cavities.  

“We should. Are you coming too?” 

It takes a while, an embarrassing amount, until Megumi realizes that the question was meant for him. He looks at both of them in turn and shrugs, “I don’t like shopping.” 

“Boring!” 

“Too bad, I guess we’ll have all those good things for ourselves then.” 

“You two and every last human who knows about the stocks—which would be a  lot.”  Megumi says, putting his mug down and taking the fork to start on his omelet. Nobara mumbles something, her tone low and mildly angry, yet Itadori starts laughing at his side, short and subtle enough for her to let it go unrecognized.  

When his meal is done, Megumi raises from the table and tells both to have a good day, putting the empty plate and mug into the dishwasher and walking out of the room. The sweetness of the coffee still lingers on his tongue, even hours after he had drunk it. 

⇻   

Training is one of the things Megumi enjoys the most. For substantial reasons; he can improve his strength, evolve in working with his shikigami and form an even stronger connection to inevitably become invincible. He likes working to better himself even though sometimes (most of the times) he tends to overdo it until his muscles ache and his hands throb from too much extortion.  

Training is good though, and he does it with great attention and concentration, but what he doesn’t like about it are the combat sessions. They're a bit more strenuous than normal exercises just because they construct in a real fight between real people. Megumi doesn’t like to punch or be punched, though as long as he gets to win and move forward with the training quicker, he doesn’t look at it as too much of a struggle. The main problem however is getting paired up; it’ll be a disaster if he were to end up with Todo, who could only snap his fingers on his shoulder to make him fall. And it would be sad if he would get paired up with Nobara or Maki, not necessarily because they are girls and he doesn’t want to push them too hard, but because he’s halfway convinced that they would be the ones to win, and Megumi would never escape the bickering about that later.  

He starts to walk towards Inumaki when someone grabs his arm from behind and tugs him in. He turns around to see who it is and his eyes narrow when he meets Itadori’s eyes staring up at him with the same soft and easy smile plastered on his face. Thinking about it, he thinks he’d never seen that upturn of his lips vanish from his face, not even when he’s alone and doesn’t need to force it. Maybe he isn’t forcing it at all.  

“Do you want to partner up, Fushiguro?” he asks.  

Megumi opens his mouth and looks to the side. Inumaki is facing Panda, his hands moving around his face gesturing something he can’t make out from the distance until the other launches for him with arms outstretched. He sighs, looking back at Itadori from the corner of his eyes. “Sure,” he says, pulling his arm from his grasp and turning around to sit in the position. 

Itadori flashed a smile, his hands coming in front of his face in fists. They’re positioned on either side of his face so he can see clearly what Megumi is about to do, revealing the eager twitch in his lips and the creases around his eyes making the scars below them a little more prominent. He fixated his eyes so that he can’t see the deep cuts directly, lingering somewhere closer to the center of his cheek. “I’m going to crush you by the end of this.” Itadori says, rolling his shoulders and putting one foot before the other as he leans in. 

Megumi scoffs, raising his hands before his face in loose fists. “We’ll see.” 

The regrettable thing about combat is that Megumi can’t use his animals to fight, instead using the core and pure strength of his own body, trying to take someone down using only fist and kicks and strategy. He'd taken quite a few falls in his years training with Gojo, but those were different. Then, he was fighting with someone with a much greater experience than him whose strength he’s sure that no one could top. At least now he’s fighting with people on his own level.  

Itadori positions himself to start fighting, his arm moving to the side and drawing near the side of his face, and Megumi slaps it away with the back of his wrist as he leans up to punch the other’s shoulder. The other’s swing is all wrong, his strength barely noticeable, and it shows that Itadori has been here for only a month, which means he’s actually, realistically, on a lower level than himself. Which entails that the fight can’t be a hard one to win.  

He squats down to swift his leg in order to knock the other on the ground, but Itadori moves quicker, jumping the moment Megumi’s foot is inches away from his own. When he falls back on his heels, Itadori stumbles a bit, his knees wobbling as he tries to fix his posture and then Megumi goes for it, fist nearly colliding with the side of the other’s cheek. Itadori's head is tilted to the left, his right hand coming upwards between them; Megumi can see it coming and knows there’s not enough time to avoid it. He closes his eyes ready for the punch to connect with his jaw, but when it does come, it feels like it was never there to begin with. The punch is soft, barely a smack on his skin, and Megumi blinks his eyes open confused, staring down at him as Itadori uses his other hand to nudge him back roughly.  

It looks like the other doesn’t really want to fight, or at least he doesn’t want to hurt him too badly, which goes against what the combat exercises are all about. Megumi huffs a breath and sets himself into the position again, watching Itadori’s eyes shifting over his body in order to find a blind spot. He moves first, going in with a punch that Itadori is ready to block when he opens his hand and grabs his wrist instead, pulling him in and quickly moving to the side. He twists the other’s arm behind his back, grabbing his neck into a chokehold and pressing him close into his chest to stop him from escaping.  

Itadori lets out a surprised gasp as his back hits his chest, hands coming up to his arm around the neck and tilting his head to the side as he tries unsuccessfully to free himself. Megumi drops his head near his ear, the soft hairs brushing on his cheekbone. “You shouldn’t go easy on me if you want to crush me.” 

Itadori stammers, trying to get something out that is not just a blabbering mess. Finally, he clears his throat and exhales, his muscles relaxing as he stops trying to push Megumi off. “I don’t want to hurt you though.” 

Megumi lets him go, his arms falling at his sides. Itadori looks back at him with an eyebrow raised, turning all the way around to look him in the eyes. Megumi does a useless wave between them, tilting his head on the side as he regards the other. “Why did you partner with me for, then?” he asks, frowning as he looks at him confused and waiting for his explanation.  

That however doesn’t come. Itadori opens and closes his mouth like a fish, barely producing any sounds as he tries to avoid his eyes, blinking down at the ground below them. He cups his hands together, pulling on his fingers and tapping his fingertips on the back of his palms, and Megumi watches the slight dance of his hands for a while before sighing and setting back into the position. “Doesn’t matter, just do it right this time.” he tells him, watching the other raising his eyes at him from under the fall of his hair.  

Itadori looks down at the way he’s standing, mimicking the way he supports himself on his feet and nodding as he raises the fists to his face. He can still see a frail trembling in his hands even as they’re about to start, can sense the hesitation in Itadori’s muscles and reflexes, almost as if he’s ready to be defeated, and Megumi—even though he doesn’t like fighting in combat—he still wants to be in fair fights. He sighs one last time, straightening up as he talks again. “Imagine I'm Sukuna. You do want to punch him, right?” 

Itadori looks up at him startled at first, just for a few short seconds before his parted mouth closes and forms a sharp smile, darker than any other he’d seen on him before.“I sure do want to punch that bastard.” Itadori says as he’s rolling his sleeves to his elbows, revealing strong and slightly veiny arms as he shakes them before him to prepare the flex of his wrist.  

Megumi smirks, sitting back into the position and looking at him carefully; “Alright then—” his words are cut off from him as he sees the other moving, so fast and sudden that Megumi doesn’t even realize when and how  Itadori came more than a few inches closer from his face. He blinks, startled as he feels something heavy and strong knocking into him from the side, and he stumbles back as he tries to regain his equilibrium when a flash of noise disorients him again, looking up just in time to see Itadori’s leg curving in an arch towards the side of his head. It’s the shock of it mostly that makes him unable to react in any way as he lets the heel of his leg crush with his jawline, powerful enough to bring him down with a resonating thud against the grass.  

His mind is spiraling as he closes his eyes, head throbbing and he brings his hand up to his forehead to feel the burning skin, squeezing the underside of his cheek to feel the swelling skin. There's an itching pain coming from his backside, his neck straining to hurt as he tries to move his head to the side, and then a heavy pressure comes over him, hands fisting around his wrists and knees pushing into his chest, enough to force a cough from his throat. He tries to blink awake, vision still blurry and hazy as he tries to make out the shapes and colors blended in by the sunlight coming down from behind the shadowed figure.  

The noises around him start to fill his ears more clearly and it’s that in the end that makes him remotely aware of the situation and the people that are around, which already sparks annoyance under his skin even when he’s still not fully recovered. The body over him moves suddenly like it’s been nudged forward, possibly by a slap over the back, and the new position he’s in makes it easier to recognize the features as Itadori’s head covers the whole shape of the sun.  

He's smiling, the same sort of soft and curved turn of his lips, though this time it looks a bit strained and awkward, as if he’s trying to keep the worry down. Megumi doesn’t like that look on him.  

“Are you alright?” he asks, his hands loosening around his wrists and it’s then when he realizes the position they’re in, Itadori trapping his arms by his head, towering over him as he supports himself on his knees. His head still blears with slight and numbing pain from the fall, but Megumi ignores the itch and uses all his force to push the other’s hands away, pressing on his chest to guide him slowly off of him. Itadori gets up first, brushing his palms over his thighs and offering him his hand. Megumi stares at it for a short while before looking up at him, face bathed in warm colors and chest still heaving a bit from the fight. He takes hold of his hand, letting him pull him up from the ground.  

“I’m great.” he says as he steadies himself on his feet, stumbling back when the rush of blood goes straight to his head. “Good reflexes.” 

“What can I say, I hate Sukuna.” Itadori shrugs, letting go of his hand and looking up and down at him to make sure he stays on his feet. 

Megumi snorts, even though it’s hard to remember clearly when Sukuna came into the picture. He sinks his hands into his pockets and challenges a measuring look at the other. “We still have around twenty minutes. You'll pay for this.” 

“You told me to be harsher.” 

Megumi rolls his eyes, scratching the back of his head as he steps away a few steps to take stand again. “I’ll show you harsh.” 

Itadori's mouth turns into a clear-cut smirk, eyes flashing with something dark and determinant in them as he stretches the strain in his wrist and positions himself. 

“Try not to break your nose this time.” Nobara says from behind, and Megumi groans as he turns around to face her when he hears the sound of shoes sliding on the ground towards him. He raises his arm in time to block Itadori’s incoming blow, crushing his knuckles hard into his skin.  

As it turns out by the end of the training, Itadori isn’t actually as weak and unexperienced as he believed him to be.  

⇻ 

Amongst the number of things Megumi enjoys doing is reading. He slips into the story laid before him into the pages of the book and forgets about the troubles and strains of his real and existing world.  

It's around six in the evening when he’d started reading his new book. He sits comfortably into his bed, head pillowed into the warm side of his blanket and tilting the book towards the light of his nightstand lamp. He's barely thirty pages into the story but he loves it so far, is so engrossed into the thrill of the mystery, following the interrogation between the characters with gripping attention, and he’s about to turn the page when the door slides open loudly. His fingers twitch so hard they almost rip the page in the corner, and Megumi makes sure it’s still intact before he averts his eyes to his doorstep.  

Itadori stands with a foot into the room and the other still in the hallway, his hand clasped around the doorknob and smile wide that reveals his teeth, eyes bright even in the dim darkness. Megumi is already suspicious about the motive he had come here for.  

“Gojo arranged a movie night! Right in the classroom.” he said, looking even more eager as he finished his sentence and stopped to look at him, waiting for his incoming reaction.  

Megumi regarded him for a while, keeping the eye contact and eventually shifting his eyes back over the pages, snuggling back better into the warmth of his bed. “I’m not coming.” he said through a mumble, turning the page and restarting reading from where he left off. He could hear the huff the other made, the swift and quick drag of shoes as he switched the position of his feet.  

“Fushiguro, it’s a free movie. With free snacks and drinks, you can’t possibly miss this.” 

“Watch me.” Megumi said, looking at him from the corner of his eyes and turning quickly to his reading.  

Itadori walked into his room fully. He could hear the steps the other made as he came towards his bed, fast and short strides of his feet against the floorboard until he reached the side of his nightstand. Megumi sighed and dropped his book on the chest, looking up to find the other staring at him with a thin line of his lips and serious eyes. The image alone made him frown, looking up curiously as Itadori shook his head disappointingly and reached out his hand to haul him up from the bed.  

“It’s this attitude of yours that keeps everyone at a distance.” he tells him, guiding Megumi on his feet and pulling on his wrist sharply to carry him out of the room. Megumi turns to make sure the door is closed behind them, turning as he feels the other’s hand squeeze around his skin light enough to go by unnoticed. The response he wants to give him about how keeping away is actually the whole point stands on the tip of his tongue, but he swallows it down as they exit the dormitories and walk outside towards their classroom. Itadori is visibly getting more and more excited as they keep walking, his hand flexing around his wrist in a reflexive method, and Megumi makes quite a big effort to not snatch his hand back.  

Instead, he keeps it there, lets the other walk him through the garden until they reach the building. There, Itadori lets go of his hand and pulls the door of their classroom open; “I brought Fushiguro too!” he says as he makes space for him to walk inside, closing the door behind them and stepping into the room to sit down, smile stretched over his cheeks.  

The small classroom had been arranged for the night, all the desks and chairs lined against the walls and on top of the desk is placed a television, with the movie paused on the first few seconds. On the floor are mats and blankets, several plates laying around from which they can eat popcorn and different variates of snacks. Megumi looks around the room once, checking all the empty places and his eyes fall on the last one unoccupied, right between Itadori and Nobara.  

He sighs, pushing himself from the wall and walking next to them, sitting down with his legs crossed and staring at the movie with firmly gripped attention.  

“What do you think it’s going to be about?” Nobara leans in to ask him, balancing a can of cold coke in her hand.  

“I hope it’s action or romance.” Itadori says from his other side, moving forward in order to grasp a bowl of popcorn and place it between them. He sinks his hand into the food, stuffing his mouth and munching on them as he hugs his knees to his chest.  

“That’s gross. It has to be something exciting, like a drama.” 

“Knowing Gojo, it’s going to be a horror movie.” Megumi says, looking down and taking popcorn in his hands, eating it one by one as he watches Gojo setting up the last few touches, turning off the lights and pulling down the curtains.  

“He wouldn’t do that, no one wants a horror movie.” Nobara says and leans back on her hands, attention gripped over the screen of the illuminating television.  

“That’s exactly why he would choose a horror movie.” Megumi says in return, eating his last popcorn and going for another handful when the movie starts. Gojo sits into his chair by the window next to the desk, his legs crossed and smirk evident even in the shadows in which his face is covered, sunglasses pushed down on his nose to clearly see the action. Megumi shifts his gaze on the screen again, pushing himself forward in a more comfortable position and putting his elbows on his knees.  

The movie starts off in typical fashion with a family moving into a new house, looking any sorts of creepy from outside, with large and numerous rooms on the inside. The floors and ceilings start to creak, the lights turn on by themselves and there’s screaming coming from the basement, yet all of the warnings do nothing to warn the new owners of evil, another common characteristic in this type of movies. However, it didn’t seem to warn Itadori or Nobara either; or at least they clearly don’t seem to be affected by the horror elements. After all, they do face curses and fight them off, so Megumi supposes it wouldn’t be weird if they wouldn’t get scared in the slightest, though something tells him that would not actually be the case. 

During the movie, Itadori balances in his place, shifting and always making soft noises when something interesting or unexpected happens. Megumi would usually find it distracting, but the sounds end up not bothering him at all; instead, what does  is the now and then brush of the other’s shoulder against his own.  

Or is not really a burden—Megumi can’t find the exact feeling to describe it with; it’s distracting at best, but he doesn’t make any move to get away and he doesn’t tell him to stand still either. It's only when the movie starts to take the turn for the real horror when he feels the press of the other’s body against his own more prominent, more active and slightly irritating.  

Itadori slides towards him, his breath quick and let out in puffs, eyes widely following the characters on the screen, and Megumi looks down to check on him briefly before turning back to the movie. Nobara isn’t any more courageous than he is, but at the very least she can hold herself better in front of the tension, only her hands fisted in her lap and her bottom lip bitten in concern.  

It's on the first serious jump scare that Itadori lets out a muffled yelp, falling on Megumi’s side and prompting him to wobble in the other way. Megumi sighs, using his hand to try and push him off of him, but Itadori takes it as a sort of lifeline, gripping his hand in his own and squeezing hard, still not moving. Megumi, in return, had stopped moving as well, hand frozen in the air as the other grips it tight enough to let white lines along his fingers and form the beginning of a strain spreading under his skin.  

Megumi moves after a while, when the tension on screen is lifted again and Itadori’s hold is hanging loosely over the back of his palm. He nudges the other up with his shoulder and regains their positions from before, but as he tries to pull his hand away, Itadori squeezes down on him again, almost in reflex, or like in a silent plea. Either way, Megumi reluctantly lets his hand where it is, relaxing it and lowering it between them. Itadori shifts, a huff slowly leaving his breath and with the other hand he grabs more popcorn, stuffing it in his mouth and nearly chocking when the ghost appears again.  

For the rest of the movie, they remain in the same way, Itadori squeezing his hand harshly when the tension is too much to bear or when the scares take him by surprise, but Megumi can’t focus on the action anymore. His mind is still on their hands clasped together over the blanket, hidden from anyone into the darkness of the room. Itadori's hand is warm and slightly sweaty from the chills rushing through his skin; but it’s calming somehow, and distracting most of all.  

Nothing can really pull him out of this newly found crisis, not the deaths in the movie or Nobara’s own shoulder bumping into his other side as she hides her face behind him to avoid the scenes she doesn’t want to witness. Through all this, Megumi can only think about the heat of Itadori’s body next to him and feel the press of his fingers on his palm like buds of cigarette burning on his skin, and it’s annoying at best. He doesn’t know what to do or what to say, what should he do and say, and instead, he keeps his hand and head down, biting the inside of his cheek and waiting for the movie to finally end in order to rush back in his own room.  

The movie night ends with a few complains as the credits roll, most of them coming from Nobara, blaming Gojo’s awful taste in movies—something Megumi can agree with. They gather the blankets and leave them on the mats for Gojo to later clean up, and Megumi is the first to exit the room, rushing pass the door and down the hall to reach the dormitories.  

As he steps outside, he hears his name being called behind him, and his steps come to a stop immediately, fear slowly starting to creep inside him even though he knows it’s nothing to be scared about. His shoulders tense as they raise, and he slowly and carefully turns around, eyes adjusting to the darkness around him and— 

“Can you wait for me, please?” Itadori’s voice says clearly right before he appears from behind the door, his steps hurrying to get closer to him and heaving a long and relieved sigh as he stops at his side. Megumi lets out a sigh of his own, trying to ignore the fact that he’d thought it could be anyone—or anything else. “Sorry if I spooked you.” Itadori says as he looks up at him and smirks, the moonlight falling in rivers over his cheeks and making his skin look like silver, hair a soft shade of pastel purple.  

Megumi averts his gaze and rolls his eyes. “You didn’t spook me.” 

“Whatever you say.” he says and follows with slower steps behind him as they move through the grounds and towards the dormitories. Megumi tries to ignore his presence as best as he can, focusing on seeing the path and vanishing all the weird thoughts and scenarios that came to his mind picturing ghosts running towards them from the forest or hands grabbing their feet from under the ground.  

It's not an easy task, especially when Itadori keeps himself so close that he can feel his breath on his neck and the pads of his fingers knocking into the back of his arm. It feels like he’s groping his sleeve, making sure Megumi isn’t going to run or vanish somewhere else. He can carry this on for a few seconds, maybe close to a minute, but ultimately Megumi turns around to face him, his head tilting to the side over his shoulder as he snatches his arm away from Itadori’s grip. 

The other remains with his hands in the air, fingers closing in fists and eyebrows frowning. Megumi sees the way the other looks both sides and swallows thickly, and then he turns his hand up, fingers and palm open in waiting.  

It takes a while for the other to make sense of it, and when he does it’s clear on his face, his trembling lips forming back into a warm smile as he grabs his hand tight, fingers pressing on the back of his palm.  

“I can’t believe you’re so scared after that stupid movie.” he says as he keeps walking, pulling Itadori so they can walk in line together. 

“You got scared of it too.” he assumes, and even though some of the fears tangled around Megumi’s mind for the time being, they’re consumed by the constant thoughts from before, which are only spreading even more so now that he’s holding his hand again, with no apparent motive other than wanting to calm Itadori of his nervousness. It was probably a bad idea, though considering the way the other seems to look more at peace now, Megumi tells himself that at least he’s doing something out of compassion.  

“Not scarier than the curses we’re facing. And you have a living and dangerous curse inside you.” 

“Don’t remind me. I feel as if he’d seen the movie with me and now has several ideas to scare the hell out of me.” 

“You survived all this time, I think you’re going to be fine. After all, you eat fingers, you’re not so far from disturbing either.” 

“Very inspirational, Fushiguro.” Itadori scoffs, though a laugh is quick to follow, released under his breath, and the sound of it pulls at his lips, making them stretch into a smile of their own.  

When Itadori falls silent, he feels him swinging their hands between them a bit, slowly and carefully before he squeezes once, softer than all the other times. And somehow this one squeeze made heat to pool in his chest, quickly spreading on into the rest of his body, and Megumi had to resist the reflex to squeeze back.  

Itadori turns to him and looks from their hands to Megumi, and he’s glad for the darkness of the night to hide the troubled look in his eyes. “Does this mean you’ll let me stay in your room for tonight? Because I'm actually really scared and I don’t think—” 

“No.” 

⇻ 

“It’s too cold.” Nobara says, lifting her jacket over her chin and hiding her face till the nose. “Honestly, we should’ve been inside at this time, drinking hot chocolate and listening to carols. I hate it here.”  

“Do you think the cold affects curses in any way?” Itadori asks, keeping a close distance from her as he pushes his hands further in the pockets of his jacket. The snowflakes fall slowly around them, coming down in a beautiful drop, and Megumi watches the back of Itadori’s hair, where white dissolves into his bright shade of pink.  

“In what way do you suppose it could affect them?” Nobara turns to ask, her eyebrows frowned and half of her face protected by the scarf and neck of the jacket. She wears a hat, white so that the snow doesn’t look too evident on it, though it leaves white trails in between her locks of hair.  

Itadori shrugs, “I don’t know, maybe they’re too cold and lose their strength. Maybe some of them appear only during winter, like snowdrops.” 

“You did not just compare curses to snowdrops.” 

“It wasn’t an actual comparison, just trying to make a point! Fushiguro, you think so too, don’t you?” he asks as he turns to look at him over his shoulder, hair ruffling in the sides and letting snow fall on the ground below.  

Megumi frowns at him, letting his smile curve on the side of his mouth. “I don’t think you know much about curses.” 

“Ironic, isn’t it?” Nobara huffs under her breath and turns to walk straight ahead as Itadori snaps his head back and groans, the cold puff of air spreading all around his face.  

“I hate both of you.” he mumbles, taking his hands out to slide off his gloves as they reach the house, lips turning into a pout as he puts them safely in his jacket and rubs his palms together.  

They step inside, closing the heavy door behind them and letting the sound of it rattle through the halls. Megumi notices the slight shiver in Itadori’s shoulders, sees his fingers twitch before he hides them quickly into his pockets.  

“I’ll take this side.” Nobara says as she points with her hammer towards the few doors on the corridor. “You take the stairs and we’ll meet outside.” 

“Is it okay if we split up?” Itadori asks her in a serious tone, looking back as Nobara pulls down her scarf and loosens the zipper of her jacket.  

“If by that you mean that I can’t handle things by myself, then you’re wrong.” 

“I didn’t—” 

“It’s going to be fine.” Megumi said and started walking towards the flight of stairs. “After all you said that curses aren’t as dangerous in winter.” 

He hears the squeak of boots against the floor before the other starts running to him, footsteps harsh and rapid. “Stop putting words into my mouth!”  

The upper floor of the building is more deserted than the first. The whole corridor is dirty, dust gathering up in the corners and spider webs hanging loosely over the walls, dangling from the ceiling. Megumi kept his distance from any sideways surface as he walked forward, sliding open the first door and poking his head in to check for any curses. Itadori stands close behind, looking into the checked rooms as well and making sure there’s nothing coming from the both sides of the hallway.  

Megumi opens the next door, squinting into the dark room and staring carefully at the darkened wall when Itadori pushes himself in a little closer, looking over his shoulder, his breath hitching before he speaks.  

“So, what drove you into hunting curses?”  

Megumi frowns, turning around to squint his eyes back at him while raising one of his eyebrows. He closed the door and paced forwards. “I was trained for it since I was little, there weren’t many options to choose from after that.” 

“It can’t be true, you can choose to do whatever you want.” 

“Did you choose to have Sukuna in you?” 

“Well, technically I ate the finger, though no, I didn’t want this to happen. It's just a really risky job, you know?” 

Megumi turned to him, lifting his lips into a smirk and saying, “Having second thoughts now?” before he opened the next door.  

Itadori scoffed, his shoes skidding on the floor as he approached him quickly. “No. I do want to help people in any possible way I can, I was just curious about the reason why you’re doing all this.”  

Itadori stood behind him, close enough so that his breath could tickle the back of his nape, air as chilly as the winter cold.  

Megumi swallowed and shrugged one of his shoulders, “I come from a really powerful clan, I guess you can say it’s a hereditary thing.”  

He hears the other chuckle behind him and it forces his lips to turn up. As he begins to close the door something thuds on the floor, and Megumi freezes his hand on the doorknob, widening it enough to gaze into it more clearly.  

There's a book on the floor, fallen from the bookshelf in the back of the room. Megumi watches the space carefully, eyes squinting and ears open for any other new sound, but there’s nothing out there to be seen, just the empty room and the dust spiraling into the air. 

“Do you see anything?” he asks him, stepping aside to let the other look more easily over his shoulder. 

“No,” Itadori says, his voice constricted, leaning in even more over his shoulder. “Maybe we should go in to make sure.” 

“Right.” Megumi said, stepping into the room tentatively and standing on the side to cross his eyes over the entire room.  

Nothing seems out of the ordinary, the room just as bare and dusty as all the others, high walls marked with long windows over which curtains are pulled, furniture made out of old wood and floor creaking as they walk on it.  

Megumi looks around the room one last time before raising his hands to his eye level, folding them into the hand sign, but his fingers snap at the sound of clothing ripping, head turning quickly to the side. Itadori looks down at his jacket with eyebrows frowned, his hand turning the sleeve around to look at the fresh and rather deep slash into the texture.  

“What—” 

“Stop moving.” Megumi said, forming the sign quickly and summoning his dog at his side. Itadori made way for the dog to corner around him, dropping his hand from the sleeve of his jacket as he watched the animal sniffing the air around. 

“Maybe we could,” Itadori started, stepping once forward and getting pushed backwards as Megumi gripped the back of his collar to pull him away, holding him behind his back.  

“We can’t  see  it, there’s nothing we can do now—” his words were cut off as he felt the other being snatched from his back, hearing the powerful collision of Itadori’s body against the wall even before turning around to pull him back in.  

When he did turn around, he saw the other laying on the floor, his eyes tightly shut and lips bared into a snarl, struggling to keep any sounds from being let out too loudly. The side of his face is painted with blood, slowly dripping over his shoulder, pink hair combined with the reddish shades, and Megumi’s legs remained stuck in place, almost as if they were made out of steel, keeping him firm on his ground.  

“Itadori?” his voice cracked, just the tiniest bit, and Itadori opened his eyes at the sound, vision a bit hazy but still finding his own eyes quickly, setting the contact between them as he mouthed something, eyebrows frowning. 

Megumi snapped from his state and rushed towards him, squadding down to feel the skin of his forehead, hot to the touch. His fingers traced over the blood, fingertips sticky as he lifted them again and cleaned them up against his jacket.  

“Are you okay? Can you hear me?” he asked, leaning his head down to look into his eyes, making sure they’re clear and vibrant. 

And Itadori looked back at him, lips twitching and he  laughed,  clear and sharp enough to take him by surprise. “Of course I’m fine. I didn’t crack my skull.” 

Megumi watched as he hanged his head down to let out a short chuckle before raising it back to look over his shoulder, eyes widening a bit at whatever he saw behind him. Megumi frowned, pressing his hand firmer on the other’s shoulder. “Don’t laugh about this, Itadori. What even happened?” 

“Stop being so worried for me, Fushiguro. Your dog found it.” Itadori said behind a smile, his arm brushing his side to make him slide on the other way and prompting himself on his shoulder to lift himself up. His legs were still a bit shaky as he put his weight on them, and Megumi caught his wrist in reflex to make sure he doesn’t fall over himself, the other slipping from his hold entirely as he run towards the dog, taking his knife out from under his jacket.  

Megumi's eyes followed his every move, the swing of his arm as he struck down on the empty space near the dog, who barks and bares his teeth down at the floor. His graceful curve as he turned to the side, pinning down the curse that is quickly taking shape and color beneath him, limbs twitching and teeth struggling to bite down on whatever it can get in his reach. He watches as he slices it clean and kills it, raising his head at the dog to scratch him behind the ear and smile broadly as if nothing had actually happened, and Megumi realizes then and there that he does worry for Itadori.  

He realizes that he doesn’t want to see him getting hurt—hates it whenever he sees it, and he doesn’t want to see it again, either if the cause of it is a curse or a human. He knew from the start that Itadori is the type of person who needs someone to keep him safe from himself, but it’s in this moment when he realizes that maybe he is the one that’ll end up carrying that task. That maybe he wants, actually, to keep Itadori safe from anything and anyone. 

⇻ 

For the next few days Megumi can’t think of anything else; he can’t escape the memory of his thoughts, filling in his brain at every given moment, any time he’s alone or when Itadori comes around to talk to him, sharing the casual and usual conversations they got used to having every day. Megumi goes through it carefully, keeping the thoughts and worries inside and acting as normally as he can. He finds distractions pretty easily either way, may them come from training or falling back into the plot of a book, or just carrying the thrill of a mission, the concentration in it enough to vanish the ideas—until they’re alone. Until something happens or Itadori chooses to walk alongside him and the concern is instantly split, his attention spreading not only to keep himself safe but Itadori as well, making sure he doesn’t step into a trap. It's the exact thing Megumi told himself to never do, knowing it’s harder to keep focus, and yet it comes to him so easily that it feels like a born reflex already, done even before he acknowledges it.  

Most of the time now, when Megumi doesn’t have to be anywhere, he spends his time in his room reading or scrolling through his phone, letting the time pass by and occupying himself with as many different things to make the memory of Itadori’s sharp existence dim in the back of his head.  

It's harder when Itadori barks in his life by himself.  

One of these days, the other came into his room, smile already curved on his lips and digging dimples into his cheeks. Megumi watches him from the bed as he approaches, watching the shift in his eyes as he looks down into his phone at whatever is displayed on its screen. The image of his scars underneath his eyes doesn’t bother him anymore, and when Itadori sits on his bed with his legs crossed and leans in so that the sun hits the side of his face directly, Megumi doesn’t avert his eyes from the marks, raised a bit higher by his smile.  

Itadori places his phone down on the blanket between them, eyes flashing with light as he looks up. “You have to listen to this song, it’s the best thing!” he says and touches play, leaning in with his elbows on his knees as he watches Megumi’s reaction. 

It turn, Megumi doesn’t know what to do. He sets his own phone aside and hikes higher on the bed until his back hits the front of his pillow, pulling distance between them and looking down at the seconds of the song going up. It's Itadori the one who breaks the silence again, as usual, talking over a part of the song he says is his favorite, describing the way the lyrics are written and how they make him feel. After a short while he starts again, on a different part, and then he taps the bed with his palms, visibly eager as he says, “Listen to this, this is the best part!” 

The song is upbeat, though it has a nice rhythm to it, and the lyrics, even though he can’t really make out all of them, aren’t exactly bad. Megumi waits for the song to finish, watching Itadori’s hands fidgeting over the blanket, and then moving to play it again, just because “You probably couldn’t hear much of it this time.” 

Megumi scoffs and leans back, letting the song to fill his ears, eyes blinking up at the other the moment he let out a quick “Oh,” and started talking a bit more calmly and collected, so that the lyrics could be understood clearly.  

Even talking like that however, Megumi found it hard to focus on them. His head tilted to the side, pressing into the cold wall and looking at him with unfazed eyes, staring blankly as he listened to what he has to say. The song was played again, for at least four more times that Megumi could’ve made out, and on the last few Itadori kept quiet, his body swinging with the music and eyes looking down at his screen.  

His eyelashes are rather long, curved upwards and his eyes are a warm shade of hazel, glinting with a light of their own, edges circled by a darker shade of brown, and Megumi doesn’t understand how he hadn’t seen it sooner.  

The other raises his head when the silence falls over the room again, eyes snapping towards his own, and Megumi nearly jolts away. His lips are moving, smile firm on his features, and he has to shake his head once, leaning in a few inches to hear him better. “What did you say?” 

“I asked what you thought of it.” Itadori says, looking back down at the phone and up again at him. “The song.” 

“Oh,” Megumi said intelligently, shifting his gaze to the device between them and forcing the lyrics to resurface in his memory, finding something to hang on in order to remember. “It is really nice.” he said when the bare minimum of the song he can clearly recall is the beginning of the chorus.  

Itadori looks pleased nonetheless, turning the phone around to face him and nudging it under, close to the tip of his fingertips brushing the face of the blanket. “Show me one too. A song that you like.” 

Megumi took the phone in his hand, looking up at him afterwards with eyebrows frowned. “Why?” 

Itadori rolled his eyes, leaning back on his hands and looking at him through his eyelashes; “We’re bonding over our favorite tastes in music. It's a fun thing to do with your best friend.” 

“Are we best friends?”  

Itadori raises an eyebrow at him, the look in his eyes almost as critical as it is comical. “Yes, we are best friends, Fushiguro. Unless you have someone you want to hide from me.” 

His surname from Itadori’s mouth doesn’t sound right. It's something he had noticed a few days ago, Itadori calling him by his family name creating a sort of itch underneath his skin, irritating something within that he can’t clearly explain or put his head around. He doesn’t know what he wants by it, or what he wishes the other would say instead, so Megumi scrunches his nose and picks up the phone again to type the name of the song he’s most recently obsessed with.  

He starts it off, setting the phone back down and looking down at it, keeping silent as the seconds pass. On his part, Itadori stays silent as well, slowly starting to rock his head with the music, hands trailing over the blanket until they come again in front of him, trimming his fingertips on the bed. The song, compared to the one Itadori had shown him, is more silent, slower and calmer. It starts off silently with piano keys, raising the tempo and the speed until the voice begins singing, clear and soothingly.  

He thinks that Itadori wouldn’t like it, seeing the type he likes to listen too, but Megumi watches the shifts in his features, looking for the threat of a twitch along his lips or a bored sense of disinterest in his eyes, but he finds nothing. Itadori's face is as open as any other time, eyes focused on the screen and attention gripped to the song, following the rising tension at the end of it, and when it’s done Itadori raises his head up, eyes warm and smile coming in place on his face before Megumi’s eyes.  

“I knew you’d listen to this type of music.” Itadori says, looking smug and proud of himself as he raises his chin and smirks up at him.  

Megumi sets his elbows on his knees, catching the side of his cheek into his palm as he leans into it to bring himself closer. “Is something wrong with it?” 

“Nothing at all!” Itadori says while flashing a smile showing the whiteness of his teeth, his canines a bit sharper than the rest. “I think your taste is really interesting.” he closed his mouth, eyes staying on Megumi’s own for a while bit longer than needed before they travel downwards, almost skidding over his features and running down on the line of his neck before quickly coming back up. His smile loosened up in the meantime, and it slowly came back when their eyes met, though this time softer, matching the warmth in his eyes and the slightly pink shades in the corners of his cheekbones.  

Megumi doesn’t know what it is, but this sight alone and the words behind it make his chest tighten harder than any other time, heart squeezing in his ribcage painfully. 

For the few days afterwards, Megumi’s thoughts had changed, amplified now by their exchange of songs. And somehow before it was easier to keep himself in control of his emotions; now however they seem to be even stronger, spiraling in his mind and not sparing him any second of rest.  

He keeps thinking about why would Itadori chose to say that and why his smile was warmer in the end, almost touching the limit of intimacy. He keeps wondering until the meanings blur with each other, until he starts to speculate whether the other wanted to say that  he  is, actually, the interesting one—and then he panicks, wondering what could that mean.  

For the days that follow he doesn’t avoid Itadori, knowing that they’ve grown to spend every day together in some sort of way or form, and running away from that would raise suspicions in the other. And he doesn’t want that, can’t think if he could handle the line of questioning coming from Itadori. Instead, Megumi is more evasive than he normally is, keeping to himself and setting a distance in between by using lesser words and avoiding direct eye contact. He's sure Itadori had realized that something was wrong—it's a given in the moments when he stops talking or doing what he’s originally caught up into in order to gaze at him, his eyes burning on his skin as he sees him looking from the corner of his eyes.  

He hasn’t mentioned it however; Itadori hasn’t spoken a word about Megumi’s silence or the reason why he doesn’t seem as invested in their time together as he was before, and he’s glad for that. After all, in this situation, if Itadori were to ask what exactly is going on, Megumi wouldn’t even know how to explain it himself. 

He sits on the stairs as he watches the training grounds, relaxing his muscles from the strain after the run and rotating his ankle in small circles. Itadori isn’t around; he had gone away with Inumaki to gather the weapons from the storage room and bring them to the rest, and Megumi is a little glad that in this break he wouldn’t have to make the other feel bad by closing into himself.  

He tilts his head towards the sky, closing his eyes as he lets the sun heat his skin, hands supporting him on the surface of the stairs. The sun is still a little biting, fresh into the end of the winter, but the light drips nicely over his skin, letting a trail of brief warmth rest on his face. He hears footsteps approaching, climbing up and stopping right beside him as someone sits down, and Megumi opens his eyes certain that Itadori came back, anxiety quickly building inside; but as he opens his eyes, he realizes it’s not him at all. 

Nobara sits next to him, her face turned at him and mouth turned downwards into a sort of disappointing frown. His eyes open up more as he looks at her, sitting up straighter. “What are you pouting about?” he asks, averting his eyes in front of them where Maki swings one of her own weapons, preparing for the actual training that is set to start in a few minutes.  

Nobara groans, leaning in and hugging her knees to her chest. “I’m not pouting, but the reason why I look like this is you.” 

“Me? What have I done to you?” he asks, turning his head to her and raising his eyebrows. 

Nobara however rolls her eyes, like the answer should’ve been obvious. “Not to me. Why are you acting like an asshole to Itadori?” 

“I—” Megumi started, chocking on the air around his windpipe and clearing his throat as he turned his head away. “I’m not.” 

“Yes, you are. And I know because you were tough to get along with from the beginning, and he managed to break your ice. But it looks like you’re trying to piece it back together without any reason.” her tone is sharp, edging and dangerous, but Megumi can sense the concern layered behind it. It's easier to make it out after a while of knowing her; and in turn it shouldn’t surprise him that she picked up on his weird behavior as of late. But now that it happened, he’s slightly amazed at how well she actually came to know him.  

He gathers his knees together, tapping his foot down as he thinks. “I don’t want to be an asshole to him.” he says truthfully, looking down at the ground, following an ant walking in front of them. 

Nobara sighs, leaning in to be closer to him. “Then what’s the problem?” she whispers, the words hushed and dragged. 

Megumi looks to his side to catch her eyes, averting them as quickly and biting the inside of his cheek. His fingertips trimmed over the staircase. It's not a bad thing if he says it as it is—or as he thinks it is. At least he knows that she wouldn’t tell him whatever they discuss here, and it’s that level of trust in her that makes him turn around and say, “He told me he thinks I'm interesting. And I don’t know what he meant by saying that.” 

Nobara's eyebrows rose over her forehead, eyes wide and blinking rapidly. There’s a smile forming on the corner of her lips; “Did he really told you that?” 

“Well, not really like that. He told me he thinks my music tastes are interesting.” 

“Which means you wanted him to say that you are the interesting one.” Nobara said, chuckling under her breath as Megumi turned to her, heat raising over his cheeks.  

“No, that—that's the same thing.” 

“it’s clearly not.” 

“It clearly is.” 

“If I told you I like the fact that you’re getting beaten up in fights, does that mean I ultimately like you as a person?” 

“I don’t get beaten up in every fight!” 

Nobara smirked, waving her hand between them as she looked to the side, her tone still very smug as she said, “Sure, just the vast majority of them.” 

Megumi rolled his eyes, groaning as he turned to look into the opposite side. On the other end of the training grounds, the snow is still melting, soaking into the sunlight of early spring, and Megumi watches a bird as it jumps and sinks into the little snow left intact, flapping its wings heavy with water and cold.  

“You should ask him directly.” Nobara says, pulling him away from the view. He turns and sees Itadori and Inumaki coming back with the cart of weapons, balancing it between them as they walk. Nobara watches them, chin caught into her palm and she speaks slowly and seriously, not sparing a gaze towards him. “You can’t avoid it forever. He'll surely understand, and you’ll get even bitchier if you bottle up your emotions for longer.” she rose to her feet, walking towards them as they set the cart down. 

Megumi sighed, feeling the blush clearly and vibrantly coloring the sides of his face and he brought his cold palms over them, trying to cool them off as he got up as well.  

Itadori takes out a large sword, throwing it in the air and catching it by the handle, leaning back and pointing it directly at him with a sly smile on his lips. “I challenge you to a duel, Fushiguro.” he said in a serious tone, raising the sword up towards his chin. 

Megumi pushed his head back, using his hand to brush the sword away from his face and letting a small curve of a smile lift up at the corners. “Winner gets an extra apple pie.” he says, taking a similar sword from the cart and checking Itadori’s expression as he passed him by.  

The other’s eyes are wide, lips parted still frozen into a smile, and it doesn’t take long before Itadori’s rapid footsteps are heard on the ground, his laughter enveloping around his ear as he steps in line with him, shoulders brushing.  

⇻ 

Megumi doesn’t usually complain about the missions he’s being sent into. He doesn’t have any reasons for it—they have to go anywhere they’re supposed to in order to deal with the curses living in the area, and the people he’s assign with to do the task aren’t some that don’t get along with him. Every other time, the people working with him are the same, and Nobara and Itadori are by far the ones he feels the closest to from their whole group.  

In hindsight, Megumi doesn’t have anything to whine about, but when the mission is set out to be in a forest with no clear point on where to start, he feels like a little bit of complaining is at least justifiable. Nobara is the most vocal amongst them, talking and cursing ever since she found out the location of the mission in the car, and Megumi silently agrees with her all the way, following their steps as they walk further into the forest. 

“How are we even supposed to find any curses in this wildness?” she asks, turning around and raising her phone trying to get any minimal signal. 

Itadori hums as he reads the coordinates on his phone, taking slow and measured steps as if the pacing of his feet would contribute with finding the location that Gojo had send. “I don’t think it’s very far from here.” 

“Are you even sure you know how to read that?” Nobara asks, sighing angrily as she puts her phone back into the pocket of her uniform and crosses her arms over her chest, leaning against the truck of a tree and gazing at the other with frowned eyebrows.  

Itadori stopped in his place as well, checking the space around with squinting eyes. “At least I'm trying to get us to where we’re supposed to be.” 

“Did he mention anything about what the place should look like?” Megumi asked, coming up close behind him to gaze over his shoulder at the phone in his hand, reading the message Gojo had send earlier.  

Itadori's line of shoulders tensed for the first few seconds until he relaxed them back and shifted so that Megumi could see his screen better. “Nothing,” he explained. The message was short in his own style, but Megumi notices that there are two different coordinates. He doesn’t know for certain the exact coordinate in which they’re in at the moment, but the ones written by Gojo are quite at a large distance from each other. 

“Why are there two?” he asks, at which Itadori sighs heavily, shaking his head. 

“I don’t know, maybe he wants us to get to the other afterwards but I don’t—” 

“The other? There can’t be more, we’re going to get lost in this forest like this. Why couldn’t he have given us some better instructions?” Nobara said, tapping the heel of her boots into the ground. 

“Maybe we should just head towards North and—” Itadori stopped as a churning sound erupted from the sides, travelling low and vibrant along them on both sides, as quick as a fast-driving car. The other turned to him, eyes widened and questioning before they averted to look around for the source of the noise that had now died out, leaving them back into silence.  

“I think the curse came to us.” Nobara said, swinging her hammer out, and at the same moment a powerful shake moved the trees around them, branches being nudged into the air forcing leaves to fall down in rivers. The ground below shook from inside out, making so that their legs trembled with the force they faced, knees buckling and threatening to give out.  

Itadori shifted quickly, his hand outstretched and close, ready to catch his wrist when the scenery suddenly changed in front of Megumi’s eyes, colors overlapping and blending in together in the matter of seconds until the mess cleared completely, making him dizzy as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. When Megumi blinks his eyes to adjust them to the normality of the nature around him, he looks on each side and realizes he’s in a different place entirely.  

Megumi steadies himself on his feet, hand placed firmly over the holster of his sword as he turns around to gaze at all his sides. The trees in the area are smaller but raised in a denser way, creating little space between each trunk of trees and making it even more difficult to see at a long distance. Behind him is the opening into a clearing, the sun illuminating the fresh and vibrant green grass below. He tilts his head towards the forest to make sure nothing is staring back at him and walks into the open area, slowly taking his sword out and balancing it in front of him, ready to slash whatever comes near. 

His feet crunch the leaves and branches underneath, stepping in slow motion so that he can hear whether something else is following his footsteps, and as he’s inches away from the opening, he turns around, the light filling in from behind making it easier to discern shapes from each other.  

At the foot of a tree he can see something moving, like a spine curving, coming out from the bushes and laying down on the ground, slithering over the spiky grass. His sword is raised up before him, sharp edge steady as he looks at the moving thing, waiting for it to still and advance. The leaves overhead start ruffling, falling from their trees, and the branches crack, creating several popping sounds while the wind blisters, stopping as soon and sudden as it started.  

The back of the curse moves again, in an upwards motion, and Megumi doesn’t have enough time to see how it looks like exactly when he realizes that it’s moving rapidly towards him, legs speeding onto the ground and mouth open, parted with sharp teeth, head tilted to the side so it could bite more easily. He struck the sword down in reflex, the blunt end of it sliding along the curse neck and pushing it to the side as he moved backwards, back on of one of the trees, supporting him up while looking for the next move.  

The curse is reckless in its moves, acts more out of anger and hunger, and it’s easier for him to find the blind spots where to hit. It comes in waves, retreating more and more the harder he hits, and Megumi swings his sword down on him in slight intervals, keeping it a rhythm that would make it came back each time until it’ll be too wounded to fight back. He turns the sword down, stabbing clean into the center of its cheek and when he slides it back down, he uses the quick sense of disorientation in the other to knock it down with the end of his weapon, feeling the ground shake as it falls down heavily.  

“I got you,” he says under his breath as he swirls the sword on his wrist and catches it firmly into his palm, bringing it down in a swift move to slice clean into the neck. The curse spasms, limbs twitching for a while until they all still completely, breath letting out in a small blow of air one last time before it dies completely.  

He straightens back up, taking out a napkin to wipe the blood off his sword, looking down at the blinding reflection of his face as the sun hits directly into the blade.  

“I have to find the others now,” he says as he drops the napkin aside, throwing it over the body of the corpse. He checks the curse one last time, nudging it tentatively with his foot and he moves to put the sword back into place when he feels cold breath hitting the side of his cheek. It comes so suddenly that he wasn’t even sure whether he imagined it or not, but after another puff of air he knows it’s as real as it can be.  

His shoulders tense, turning the sword around to harm whatever stands behind him, but he doesn’t get to even fully turn around when the force of a blow into the back of his shoulder strikes pain throughout his whole body, forcing a surprised yelp out of his throat. The force with which he’s hit is impressively powerful, and Megumi barely struggles to keep himself up when another hit connects with the side of his head, and he feels his legs drifting from the ground, body flying through the air and stopping sharply into the hard structure of a tree. The wood is rough and cold on his back, and his head knocks into it painfully, making it throb. When he opens his eyes, his vision is painted in black and white spots, blending in together as he tries to focus on the curse coming towards him from the other side of the clearing. 

It's then when he realizes that he’d been thrown all the way over it, his hands and legs aching, muscles screaming as the sensations throughout his body come to life. His fingers twitch trying to grasp tight around the sword, but they enclose around empty air, coming together into a fist, nails biting uselessly into his skin.  

He groans, pushing himself up as best as he can, feeling blood slowly dripping from the side of his face and down his cheek, curving around his mouth and tasting of bitterness and iron. His chest heaves with the struggle to breathe properly, eyes squinting as he makes out the large and tall shape of the curse. He doesn’t make out a lot of it, but the general picture of its physic is clear; it has large arms, hanging low at its sides and weighting till half the length of its feet. Something is shining at the ends of every hand, long and sharp and he imagines they’re claws, curled and painful, ready to pierce through skin and bones. Aside from anything else, what draws his attention are the eyes, wide and crimson, seeming as if they’re sparkling more and more the closer it gets.  

Megumi groans, trying to move to the side when a sharp pain in his shoulder pools all the pain to trail down from there to the wrist, jolting his whole arm away as he lets the pain burn from inside out. He shuts his eyes tight, mind spinning and trying to come quickly to a solution that he can’t seem to find as hard as he tries, and with the sound of a groan and claws snapping together worryingly close to his face, he hears—  

“Megumi!”  

It's not coming from afar, and it’s enough to make the curse retract and head towards the source of the sound. Megumi lets out a relieved sigh, eyes blinking open in hopes he’d get to see whatever it’s happening in front. 

It's all a blur, and his vision swirls closer to blankness, but he can make out the pink hair and the black uniform, red collar moving like a target as Itadori fights the curse in his way. He's about to scream for him to get away, seeing the shadow of the curse hovering over the other dangerously, claws widely spread to trap him in their grasp, but his throat cracks as he tries to speak, words swallowed back harshly. 

It's within minutes, maybe, when the curse is taken down. Megumi watches with eyes forced to stay open as Itadori jumps at the curse’s back, snapping its head up as he stabs clear through his throat. The curse goes down heavily, ground shaking in a similar type of tremor like the earthquake that separated them from each other, and Itadori jumps off the curse back before it even hits the ground, feet slipping in their rush to get to him. Megumi tries to trace the shape of his features as his face gets closer, marked awkwardly into the hazy state of his sight.  

Itadori drops to his knees besides him, his name coming out of his mouth in such a quiet manner that it’s almost impossible to hear, yet Megumi shudders visibly at the sound of it, the vocals of his name a bit breathier than needed yet cursing a calming sensation throughout. The other places a hand over his right shoulder and Megumi jolts forward, breath quickly let out in a shout as he tries to bring his other hand to his injured arm, feeling the pain like needles poking in and out of his skin. Itadori had raised his hand away immediately, apologies hushed over him, and he can feel a few fleeting and tentative touches down his body, fingers passing over his chest and stomach in order to touch somewhere that it wouldn’t hurt. It's so sensitive and careful that it feels like the other fears he’ll break him, and Megumi shifts in his place, raising himself straighter to show that he’s not as damaged as he might seem like—though he himself  feels  like it. His eyes are closing on their own accord, fingers twitching and chest heaving, raising harshly with spasms of air tangled with ragged breathing.  

He hears the other talking though it’s hard to make sense of what he’s saying. It's all broken and scattered, words matching together from different sentences creating a whole phrase, and he hangs onto every word, desperately trying to make the other’s face clear before he passes out completely. He can make out short sentences however, some like; “Megumi. You're going to be alright. You're alright. Can you hear me?” and they’re the ones repeated over and over as he blinks rapidly, sounding after a while like a confirmation Itadori wants to make for himself.  

At one point he can feel the pad of his thumb brushing over his cheek, wiping away the blood and cupping the side of his face into his palm, and Megumi leans into it, swallowing harshly as he raises his eyes towards him in a last attempt.  

His face his closer than before, features outlined sharper by the closeness. Itadori's eyes are wide and filled with worry, bottom lip bitten with sharp teeth nibbling down on it, and he’s almost annoyed by the look in his eyes, by the concern evident in them and the shining of his irises that seem too similar to tears, welling up in his eyes. He opens his mouth, trying to mouth the words and assure him that he’s fine, but his vision is quickly starting to shut down, black spots taking over his whole sight until nothing but darkness is visible, and his head tilts backwards, the warmth of the other’s hand disappearing as he slips from consciousness.  

⇻ 

When Megumi wakes up, it’s the sharp headache throbbing in the back of his head that he feels the first time. His eyes blink open slowly, gazing up at the white and dull ceiling of his room, and he shifts his head on his pillow, craning the sore spots of his neck and sighing when he feels like he can at least feel the back of his head.  

He averts his eyes to the window at his side, looking out at the moon hovering bright and full in the middle of his sky, and he prepares himself to turn away on his side when he feels an added weight over his hand, trapping him in place. He closes his fingers around it and feels the warmth underneath, gripping onto him like a claw, and when he looks down, the first thing he can see is faded pink, laid peacefully over the blanket covering his thighs.  

Itadori sleeps on his bed, one hand clasped around his own hand, head turned towards him with closed eyes and parted lips, puffing the air slowly as he dreams. Megumi swallows, risking to straighten himself up in the bed and look at him more clearly.  

He looks calm like this, collected; and Megumi wonders what he could be dreaming about, whether it’s something as peaceful and nice as his face, buried into the warmth of his blanket. His hair looks spiker than usual, messy as if it hadn’t been combed in a while, and he resists the sudden urge to reach out and ruffle his fingers through, parting the edges into a careful wave over his forehead.  

He licks his dry lips and feels his fingers twitch into a squeeze right before he says the other’s name, trying to get him to wake up. 

“Itadori,” he says, watching the other’s eyebrows coming down in a frown and blinking his eyes awake. He looks up absently, his eyes meeting Megumi’s quickly, and there’s light coming in them from the moon outside, turning the brown into a soft hazel.  

His eyes widen when he makes out the position he’s in, and Itadori snaps his head away from his thighs, straightening himself in the chair he’s been sitting and nearly tripping on his side in his quick attempt to snatch his hand free. Megumi's eyes shift down at his now empty palm, flexing his fingers over and reluctantly pulling his hand towards his lap. “Sorry,” the other says, looking off to the side of his room with puffed cheeks, and Megumi frowns, trying to find the one thing he should be feeling sorry for. 

He slowly turns around, head tilted to the side and eyes fully awake. Itadori looks him directly into the eyes, checking his face for any sign of discomfort and then says, “Are you feeling alright?”  

Megumi looks down at himself, seeing the beginning of a bandage wrapped around his shoulder. He tries to move his right hand, feeling a dull burning sensation pulling at his muscles, and then he turns around, nodding wordlessly. 

“I’ll get you some water.” Itadori says and turns towards the nightstand next to them, pouring down into a glass from a bottle already set ready and full at the foot of the bed. Megumi shifts so he’s sitting straight, but Itadori touches his arm with his hand, warm and tentative, still careful not to hurt him in any way as he instructs him to remain in his previous position. He watches him getting up on his feet, cradling the back of his head and raising it slowly, placing the glass on the center of his bottom lip and tilting it gently as he drinks.  

Itadori's hand is big, fingers skimming into his hair and lightly touching the base of his scalp, and when the glass is empty, his hand retreats from his hair almost reluctantly, lingering over the locks of his hair.  

“What happened?” Megumi asks, voice still a bit rough from sleep and extortion. Itadori puts the glass back down, carefully sitting down in his chair and fitting his fingers between each other as he sighs before he starts to explain. 

“We were out in a mission and got separated. I went to look after you and I found you—unmoving. You were badly hurt.” he says, eyes avoiding his gaze as he fixates them over the shape of his own hands, turning the creases in the blanket around with his fingertips.  

Megumi can remember that much—he remembers taking down one of the curses and being blasted away by the other. And he remembers the moment Itadori came, right at the perfect time, eventually saving his life as he distracted the curse away from his vulnerable state. The visual aspect of the fight is lost in his memory, the blurry images of then completely disappearing from his head right now, but what he can recall the best is the way his own given name sounded from Itadori’s voice, the way the tongue rolled around the vowels, tentative and assertive, and the way Itadori’s fingers pressed around his body, careful to every twitch of his muscles underneath his fingertips. His cheeks flush instinctively at the memories, and he’s glad Itadori didn’t get into detail about those, fearing that if he did, his emotions would’ve been out in the clear even with the dark shading his blush.  

“Is Nobara alright?” he asks, ignoring the pulsing pressure of his blood as he looks ahead. 

“She’s fine.” Itadori says into a relived tone, clearing his throat quickly afterwards. “She got a scratch from landing onto a rock, nothing as bad as—” his voice chokes up, cut off as he shuts his mouth.  

Megumi watches him from the corner of his eyes, seeing the way he’s biting down on his bottom lip the same way he was when he found him, the shape of his face blurred through his thick eyelashes. “I’m fine.” he tells him, rolling his shoulders as he attempts to find a more comfortable position and recoiling from the sharp pain in the back of his shoulder blade as he sits down on it.  

Itadori scoffs, looking away slowly from his way. “I know, it’s just that... never mind.” he sighs, brushing his palms over his knees and scrapping the legs of the chair on the floor as he gets up. “I’ll leave you to rest. It's around midnight so make sure you get a good sleep.” he smiles down at him, looking directly in his eyes for the first time since they started talking. His smile has the usual soft and pleasing stretch to it, but it looks a bit forced even in the dark, but Megumi can’t think of anything that would make the other uncomfortable to be around him at this time. 

Itadori opens his mouth, ready to say something, and Megumi nearly leans in towards him in order to hear whatever he’s going to say better, but he closes his mouth and lets it shut, looking down as he turns away.  

He watches him exit the room, closing it softly behind and hearing his footsteps trailing down the hallway towards his own bedroom. Megumi huffs a short breath, feeling slight irritation slipping under his skin as he pushes himself down on his pillow again and closes his eyes, feeling the sting of a headache pounding at the back of them. 

It takes him a while that feels stretched into hours until he finally falls asleep, and when he does is with the feeling of Itadori’s weight over his legs, hand closed tightly around his own and gripping him into reality.  

⇻ 

If there’s one thing that Megumi hates the most is the idea of not being able to do anything.  

He hates standing uselessly while others are working, improving on their techniques and powers as Megumi sits back to rest and sulk into his own closed space of his bedroom. Reading and listening to music can keep him company and entertain his bored state of mind, but it does nothing to ameliorate the fact that Megumi, in this moment and these days, is nothing but a waste of potential.  

It hurts even to push himself fully into the bed, touching his shoulders into the headboard. Megumi shuts his eyes tightly and grinds his teeth as he pulls himself up, breathing quickly and heaving the moment his spine is lined with the pillow and he rests his head on the wall, eyes looking up tiredly at the blue sky, white and scattered clouds shaping in different and weird patterns.  

He bolts away from the wall when he hears the doorknob turning in, and he prepares a grimace in advance for when he’ll see Gojo on the other side. The snarl in his lips vanishes instantly when he realizes that Gojo isn’t actually the person standing on the other end of the room. The door opens slowly as Itadori pushes it aside with his foot and comes in with trays of food balanced on both of his hands, smiling as soon as he looks up into his eyes. 

He looks fresher than last night when he saw him, smile no longer stretched and showing dimples, though he can see the black spots under his eyes, bags that trail low enough to touch the upper brisk of his scars below.  

“Good morning!” Itadori says as he comes into the room, setting the trays on the bed next to him before walking back to close the door. “I hope you were not awake for too long, I tried to be fast.” 

“Fast to what? Bring food to my bed?” 

“Don’t get used to it. I make such sacrifices because you’re hurt.” Itadori says, sitting back into the chair that he had left near the nightstand from the night before. Megumi averts his eyes as he frowns, swallowing nervously while looking down at the food before him. “I made you coffee. To wake yourself up.” Itadori tells him, placing his tray on his lap and resting his palm over the mug of coffee before he pulls his own tray towards the edge of the bed and starts eating.  

Something tugs at his heart when he realizes that Itadori is eating with him, almost as usual yet minus the evident presence of Nobara sitting closely near them. His hands cup around the warm mug of coffee as he brings it to his lips, blowing off the stream and taking a tentative sip. As the liquid goes down his throat, his eyes snap open and his tongue licks the extra drops lingering over his mouth, feeling the aromas spreading on his cavities pleasingly. “How did you...” he asks quietly, bringing the coffee back to his mouth to sip it again and make sure it’s the same taste as he usually likes to have.  

When he looks at Itadori, his smile is lifted in a proud grin, eyes glittering with excitement. “I paid attention to the way you’re making your coffee, knowing how you scrunch your nose every time I don’t get it right.” 

“I don’t—” 

“You do, but it’s fine. I’m not really skilled at any type of cooking either way.” Itadori shrugs as he goes back to his sandwich, munching slowly as he reads something on his phone. Megumi watches him for a while, wanting to ask, why are you cooking for me, then; but the intention of saying that blurs away when he thinks about it for too long, knowing it would probably be a too intrusive to ask.  

“This one is really good.” he says instead, watching as Itadori’s smile widens, eyes blinking and softening as he leans back into the chair with the sandwich in between his teeth.  

They continue eating in silence, the minutes speeding by unnoticed. Megumi finishes his coffee in record time, putting the mug aside as he finishes the pancakes, dipping them in maple syrup. He's still munching on a slice when he looks to the side and sees the other looking up at him from where he’s leaning into the chair, legs crossed and hand frozen around his phone in a death grip.  

He puts his fork down and turns to him fully, Itadori’s eyes widening the moment they meet but keeping the contact nonetheless, the line of his mouth turning up in a smile.  

“Why did you save me?” Megumi asks, watching the confused look that tears through his sight, lips turning down in an unsure and tense line.  

“What do you mean?” 

“Yesterday,” Megumi says, wetting the top of his bottom lip with a fast flick of his tongue. “You told me you went looking out for me. Why me ?”  

 Itadori opens his mouth, hanging it like that uselessly, eyes searching over his face in order to avert his gaze away from his gaze. Megumi waits for him to say something, anything, his heart thudding against his ribcage with anticipation.  

In the end Itadori clears his throat, switching his eyes towards his in advance before he starts speaking; “I wasn’t far away from you when we got split up. I followed the sounds of you fighting and then I heard a really loud shout so... so I rushed to help you. I found you like—that. Covered in blood and unable to protect yourself, so I saved you.” 

“Yes but,” Megumi says, shifting in the bed with his hands clasping tightly onto the blanket. “Why didn’t you think of looking for Nobara instead? Why did you thought of me  especially ?” his eyes are maybe a bit too easy to read; he can feel how focused and wide they are, almost pleading the other to say something he wants to hear. 

The thing is that Megumi isn’t really sure what he wants to hear from Itadori. The fact that they’re so great friends that Itadori got really scared of anything happening to him it would’ve already been a given in their situation. They both take care of each other while they’re in their missions, keeping a close eye on each other’s moves and not sparing a second thought before protecting the other. If Itadori says that, he can hide behind his answer and accept it as it is, but a part of him doesn’t wish for it to be the real reason why Itadori continued to look for him. A part of him wants Itadori to say that he did it for emotional reasons, did it because he couldn’t bear the thought of ever losing him, the same way Megumi can’t handle the possibility of Itadori ever fading away from his life.  

Itadori takes a long breath, looking down at his hands. “It’s not that, I just...” he struggles to find his words, palms rubbing against each other. He sees the top of his cheeks lighting with color, burning with a slightly faded shade of pink and something in him tells Megumi that maybe he’s right, maybe there’s more than the banter of friendship between them.  

Itadori jumps to his feet suddenly and grabs his tray of food, snatching Megumi’s own as he steps away from the bed and keeps his head down, hair falling over his forehead and making the blush in his cheeks harder to be seen. “I should take these to the kitchen. We'll talk later, Fushiguro.” he says, and Megumi tightens his hold around the blanket as he hears his family name from his mouth again, itching the inside of his head in all the wrong ways.  

The door closes behind him and Megumi watches it slid shut, bringing in the silence of his bedroom uncomfortably over him. Eventually he turns his phone on and puts on a random playlist, reaching for his new book and leaning back into the pillow, careful not to put too much pressure on his shoulder blade. He can’t focus too well on reading, ears sharp making sure he hears any footsteps approaching from the hallway, staring blankly at the center of the page while recounting the events from yesterday and today in his head like a broken record.  

Itadori doesn’t come back for the rest of the day, and Megumi feels even more miserable and nervous than before.  

⇻ 

The next day, Megumi gets on his feet with a little more struggle than necessary, holding himself up straight using the support of the wall as he heads towards the infirmary. There, the bandages around his head are changed, replaced by lighter ones that stop tightening across his forehead, and the ones over his shoulder are cleaned, the wound dealt with care as he tries not to nudge it back into the wrong way.  

There's an ugly and purple bruise trailing from the top of his shoulder down to the middle of his collarbone, and Megumi puts pressure over it gingerly to see how badly he reacts to the pain. It's not as biting as before, mostly a dull sense of burning that spasms slowly down his arm, and he brings his hand back satisfied to let the nurse do the rest of the work. 

At the end she tells him to go back in his room and rest for the remaining of the day. He nods, heading out of the infirmary and walking out of the dormitory, straight towards the kitchens. 

It's around 1pm and he knows that food would be served at this time, though he doesn’t want to stop by for lunch. His hands clench and unclench nervously at his sides as he gets closer and hears the commotion of the people separating food for each other. Megumi takes the corner and opens the doors, eyes surveying the whole room searching for the bush of pink and vibrant hair. It doesn’t take long to notice that Itadori is not in the room; he always sits at the table by the window in the chair near the wall on which he can lean back into when he looks to the side at him or tries to stretch out in order to spy on whatever Nobara is watching on her phone. That table is empty safe from the tray sitting in the chair opposed to where he and Itadori use to sit, and Megumi lets out a heavy sigh as he lets the door close behind him and walks to the counter.  

He puts a slice of apple pie on one of his plates when someone hits lightly the back of his head. He raises his hand over it to protect the fresh bandage as he looks to the side, almost hopeful but meeting Nobara’s eyes instead, narrowed and sharp staring right back at him with a palpable sense of judging. Her arms are crossed over her chest and she leans forward as she talks, making her challenging look even scarier; “Who told you that you can get out of bed in this state?” 

Megumi rolls his eyes, putting the fork down and turning so that his hip bumps into the counter, crossing his own arms in front of him to match her figure. “I’m fine, not invalid. I can walk just fine.” 

“Oh, right, sorry. Forgot you’ve got experience at getting beat up—” 

“Shut up, I don’t!” 

Nobara snorts, though as she looks away from his eyes, she starts checking over his sides, gaze lingering over the bandage around his shoulder poking out underneath his shirt. Megumi shifts on his feet, clearing his throat to diffuse the level of embarrassment building up in him, fingers digging into the soft texture of his sleeves. 

“Do you know where Itadori is?” he asks to fill the momentary silence hanging over them, and Nobara looks up at him with a slight frown over her eyes. She averts her gaze as soon as she reads whatever is behind his own, biting the inside of her cheek and mumbling something incomprehensible through her teeth. “What is it?” Megumi asks, letting his hands fall at his sides. 

She turns to him, shaking her head; “Nothing other than you two being the biggest idiots I've ever got the misfortune to meet.” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” he asks frowning, voice hushed so that the irritation would pass by less evidently. 

Nobara doesn’t make a note out of it either way; she waves her hand before his face, sighing heavily before she explains; “Itadori should be in his room. He's been moping around ever since we got back from the mission and he refused to get out of there for the last two days.” she says, looking off to the side with a deep frown, yet Megumi can recognize that sort of look on her. It comes easier to him now, knowing that whenever she bites on her lip it’s a clear sign of worry, even though the tone of her voice betrays nothing but infuriation.  

“Wasn’t then when we came back?” Megumi asks confused, watching as the frown lifts from her face and her eyes turn towards him with a softer light, looking up almost apologetically, almost as if she doesn’t know how to approach whatever she wants to say.  

She fixates her gaze on him and says, “We came back five days ago. You've slept for three days, and I must say I envy you for that.” Megumi’s eyes widen, lips parting on the verge of saying something that he can’t clearly form on his tongue. It's not needed the moment Nobara continues with, “Itadori hadn’t left your room all that time, and now he wouldn’t leave his  own  room. I really don’t know what his deal is but like I've said, I think you should talk to him.” 

There's something more behind her words and the way she chose to emphasize them. Something that Megumi feels underneath his own skin and had been thinking about for longer than he can remember, and it shouldn’t—really shouldn’t—surprise him that Nobara knows exactly what’s on his mind. He had avoided any possible confrontation with the other on the topic, fearing for whatever Itadori would say to him, or mostly for how he could end up acting around him if he were to know that Megumi had fallen in love with him. It's hard to even wrap his head around the information himself, and he’s scared.   

But Itadori seemed to be scared these days as well; scared of losing him, worried when Megumi didn’t wake up for several days, and taking that into account sparks some level of confidence in him. Megumi leaves his tray of food untouched as he turns on his heels and rushes towards the door, barely hearing Nobara’s shout of “Don’t run!” over the pounding sound of the blood raising to the inside of his ears.  

He runs all the way back to the dormitories, feet strained from the sudden pull of muscles, and he stumbles as he goes into the building, hand outstretched on the side of the wall to keep him up. He leans into it, walking as he trails his left shoulder on the cold surface until he arrives to Itadori’s door, pushing himself away and dragging his feet tentatively towards the front. His hand raises inches away from the wood, closing into a fist and balancing it back and forth for a while, unsure, until he finally knocks down on it quickly, before the nerves gathering in his head would stop him from advancing.  

He can hear a faint groan from the other side, bed creaking as if someone is shifting on the other side, and his heart thuds against his chest, pulling dangerously at its strings. 

He knocks again, only once and louder, clearing his throat before saying; “Itadori, it’s me. Can you open the door?”  

On the other end is completely silent, not even the sound of him turning around in his bed again, and for a short while as long as it lasts, Megumi thinks that the other had already made out his mind. Maybe Itadori got the clear outline of his intentions from the series of questions the other day, and maybe that’s why he locks himself into his room, unable to get out because he’s dealing with the conflicting problem of whether to remain friends or cut the connection before it’ll be too late.  

There's desperation raising underneath his skin, slowly and gradually, and Megumi raises his hand again to try again at least once more when he suddenly hears the shift and thud of feet coming down on the floor, moving quickly towards the door and swinging it open with one quick swift move.  

Itadori's eyes are widely staring back at him, covered by visible layers of worry, but the first thing that Megumi notices is that the bags underneath his eyes are gone, meaning he’d got enough sleep. Meaning there’s nothing that keeps him awake till late hours into the night like him. 

“What are you doing? You shouldn’t be up yet.” Itadori says, eyes trailing down over his body and stopping lingering when he sees the bandage around his shoulder, blinking rapidly as he looks up at him and squinting his eyes to look demanding.  

“I can walk.” Megumi says, shifting on his sore legs to straighten his posture and show the other that he has at least some level of stability left.  

“You’ve hit your head.” 

“That doesn’t matter.” 

Itadori opens his mouth and lets out a short breath of air, looking to the side with a slight display of irritated amusement. “I think it does, actually—” 

“Yuuji.”  

The name slipped from his mouth without thinking too much of it, and Megumi closes his mouth immediately afterwards, biting the inside of his cheek as he feels his mind spiraling with too many thoughts at a time. Itadori stops as well, eyes blinking and turning around to stare at him blankly, mouth slightly parted on the last word and features frozen into a disbelieving expression.  

Megumi closes his eyes tightly shut, breathing slowly on his nose and clearing his throat before he says, “Can I come in?” 

When he opens his eyes again, Itadori steps back and lets enough room for him to enter, closing the door right back. Megumi doesn’t stop to turn around again, instead walking towards the still unmade bed and sitting down on the edge, hands clasped as he puts them in his lap and head hanging low, blinking slowly. In the end when he feels like he’s ready, the slight beginning of a blush disappearing completely from his cheeks, Megumi raises his head and looks up at him.  

Itadori stares back, a little unsure still, hands uselessly balancing at his sides. Megumi sighs heavily, looking slightly to the side and back again, trying to gather up all the courage to look him directly in the eyes as he starts talking. “I’m sorry for yesterday, I was—” 

“It’s fine.” Itadori stops him, bringing his hands behind his back and smiling sweetly, eyes creasing as he looks down at him. “I know you were—” 

“Please let me finish.” Megumi says instead before he gets to finish the sentence, not wanting to know what excuse Itadori made up for his sake. The other stops altogether, hands loosening from his back and leaning into the door behind him, eyebrows slightly raised over the forehead in anticipation. Megumi clears his throat, squeezing his hands together and releasing the tension building from within. “By asking you all those things I was actually looking for something, waiting for you to say something. It's really selfish and I can’t understand it very well, not even now, but it’s been on the back of my mind ever since we’ve listened to those songs together—no, ever since that movie night.” he says, swallowing harshly. Itadori's eyes are widening hearing everything he says, mouth parting and closing as if he tries to find the right moment to come in between his words yet always failing the courage to do so—and Megumi is glad for it. Still, it gets too hard if he keeps looking at him. He averts his eyes back in his lap, watching the dance of his fingers as he tries to calm himself and jump right back on his speech. “I kept thinking about it and... about the reason why you said that my taste in music was interesting, and it’s stupid but at the time I thought it meant something more. I wasn’t aware that I wanted it to be something more, not until our mission with the invisible curse and... seeing you coming after me and saving me... that. That changed a bit the perspective, or rather it made me realize what I was actually feeling. Which is—stupid, really. I don’t get close to people, I don’t like getting too close to others at all but... it’s just... you. It's you, and I—I don’t know...” he sighs heavily, bringing one hand up to his head to ruffle his hair at the side, tugging slightly on the roots.  

When he looks back at him, the air in his lungs almost gets knocked out; Itadori is leaning with all his weight on the door, hands by his sides formed into fists, mouth widely open and looking confused, amazed and unsure all at the same time, emotions changing rapidly behind his eyes. He clears his throat, feeling how dry it really is and his tongue swipes across his bottom lip to wet them, seeing Itadori’s eyes shifting down at the action, tracing all his moves with intense precision. He shudders, taking his hand from his hair and cupping the size of his other palm into it; “I see you as more than just a friend, and I don’t think you—” 

He cuts himself off when he sees Itadori pulling himself away from the door, steps thudding loudly into his ears as he watches him getting closer. There's pink across his cheeks, illuminated and clear the moment Itadori steps into the light coming from the sunlight outside the window. The color matches with his hair, raising to the tops of his ears, but Megumi doesn’t have enough time to observe it before the other leans over him, lips parted and trembling, fingers twitching as they raise to meet him. He jolts away instinctively, bringing his arms over his face in order to keep the other away, but Itadori slides his hand to the side, grabbing the back of his head firmly under the straps of his bandages and bringing him in, tilting his head up to meet him in the middle.  

They connect with a soft click, Megumi’s closed and numb ones under Itadori’s trembling line of lips, catching his in weird places as he tries to fit their mouths together. Megumi blinks quickly, hearing the beating of his heart loud and shakily into his eardrum. His hands twitch brought back into his lap as he doesn’t know what to do with them, breathing on his nose, not wanting to break their position, not even for a moment. Itadori steps back after a short while, letting out an irritated huff and bringing himself down a second time, lips fitting his perfectly as Megumi gets to see the tilt of his head, following him in hopes that they’ll get to kiss properly. It's softer and the press of their lips is lighter, almost as if both of them are afraid to go any further than just lightly brushing their lips together; and then Itadori opens his mouth, pries Megumi’s own to part along with his as he presses into him with more force, pushing his head back as his hand clenches around the locks of his hair.  

Megumi feels his lips slowly and surely loosening enough to follow the other’s, releasing themselves under the marks of wet sounds and meeting again shortly after as if the loss of the other’s touch is something they’re both desperately trying to avoid. His muscles relax under the other’s touch, shoulders relaxing their pent-up tension and Megumi shifts the position of his hands frozen into his lap to hike them over Itadori’s shoulders, gripping the back of his shirt as he brings him in even closer. Itadori lets the hand in his hair lean down over his cheek, sighing happily as Megumi initiates the next kiss, his tongue wiping across Itadori’s bottom lip experimentally and feeling the shudder going through his line of shoulders.  

Itadori pushes at him playfully, making him climb higher across the mess of blankets so he can rest his knee on the edge of the bed, leaning over him and touching his side with his other hand, palm warm and tingling his skin even over his shirt. His arms tighten around his shoulders as Itadori pries his lips more, sliding the tip of his tongue on the edges and teasing the warm inside of his mouth. Megumi slides one of his hands into Itadori’s hair, curling it around in between his fingers and raises to press into the kiss, catching his tongue with the light snap of his teeth, and Itadori yelps surprised as he loses the strength in his arm keeping himself up, palm slipping over the blanket.  

Megumi falls on his back to avoid getting hit by his head, bringing him down with him as his arms press into his shoulders, and Itadori catches himself with both hands at the sides of his head, laughter breaking through his teeth and sounding so intoxicating that Megumi couldn’t stop himself from laughing with him. Itadori chuckles as he presses quick kisses on the sides of his mouth, letting Megumi’s laughter fill the whole room until he hovers over him, lips catching his and trapping the sound in, swallowed down his throat as he leaned back into the kiss.  

Megumi pulls away after a while, eyes blinking heavily as he looks up, smile creeping from his teeth; “Does this mean I interpreted it the right way?” 

Itadori gazes down at him, lips swollen and cheeks bright, hair loose and messy over his forehead and raising up at all sides. He nods quickly, smile stretching and widening enough so that his dimples are clearly dug into the skin of his cheeks. “I really wished you got the memo sooner. It was torture, really!” he says, and Megumi’s lips twitch, hand coming up to brush the air from his forehead and cup the side of his jaw.  

“Really?” he asks, tone shaking slightly, strained.  

Itadori smiles back reassuringly, tapping his fingertip over Megumi’s bottom lip, tracing it down to the line of his jaw. “Well, I liked it. But your teasing was becoming too much.”  

“I wasn’t aware that I was teasing you.” Megumi says, a grin growing on the side of his mouth.  

Itadori rolled his eyes, exasperated; “Which is even worse!” he says, dropping his head in to lightly nip at the line of his jaw, teeth baring and barely pressing into the soft skin of his neck. “At least I get to tease you in return now.” he hushes over his sensitive tingle of skin, running his tongue wetly over the length of his throat, stopping at the beginning of his collarbone where the skin dips and curves nicely over his bone. He blows a warm breath over the bare space, lips touching it into a firm kiss that opened, letting teeth bite and suck around the skin. Megumi felt the blush raising to his cheeks, trailing all the way down his neck; his legs hike over the bed, trapping the other in between, feeling his sides as Itadori pressed into him, his chest falling on his own and enveloping him in welcoming heat.  

He closes his eyes, letting the sensations of Itadori’s lips over his skin and his teeth nipping into it overtake him, tracing out a pattern of red marks pulling him into a dazed state of mind. His hand curls and tightens around Itadori’s hair, tugging more insistently every time the other bites too harshly, running his hands through his hair and lifting his hips off the bed subconsciously.  

The other’s hand slides from his head to the side of his hip, pressing him down into the bed with a huff, and Megumi tilts his head back at the pressure of his hand keeping him still, a moan breaking out through his lips, and it’s only when Itadori stops abruptly and he blinks open his eyes disoriented that he realizes what happened.  

When he looks up at him, Itadori is avoiding his eyes, blush a vibrant red on top of his cheeks as he covers the itching skin with the collar of his shirt. “We shouldn’t go too far.” he says, even though it sounds almost like a warning to himself, eyes lingering on the exposed patch of skin in between Megumi’s shoulder and neck.  

He sighs, ruffling the hair from the back of his head and lifting himself up on his elbow as he brings Itadori down to meet his lips one more time. “Should we go eat?” he asks, grin plastered on his face as he sees Itadori’s thin mouth widening, eyes lighting up. 

He leans down to peck his lips quickly, gazing back into his eyes from inches away. “I love the way you're thinking.” he says, jumping from the bed and extending his hand to help him up, placing his other hand on his right shoulder to make sure he doesn’t nudge it as he gets to his feet. 

When they’re both up on their own, Megumi turns his hand around, fingers clenching around empty air, and Itadori’s smile turns a bit softer, hand trailing all the way down on his arm until he fits their fingers together, securing their hold with a firm squeeze.  

They walk like this all the way to the kitchen, keeping silent as Megumi feels his heart beating strongly against his ribcage, sensing every squeeze and slide of Itadori’s thumb over the back of his palm and nearly visibly shivering every time he does. The kitchen is deserted when they get there safe from Nobara sitting at their table, tray empty in front of her and legs crossed over the surface. Megumi looks down at the other tray placed in front of his chair, the food he’s picked for himself untouched, and he feels a smile tugging at his lips, involuntarily squeezing Itadori’s hand back.  

Nobara looks up from her phone when they close the door behind. Her eyes trail over their posture, lingering as she sees their hands holding each other, and she throws her phone on the table, taking her feet off as she sits straighter and points excitedly in between them.  

“I think she’s happy about it.” Itadori laughs, tugging him onwards towards the table. When they sit down, hands still firmly holding, Nobara slaps her hand over the table with force, turning towards him and sticking her finger in; “I told you, you were both idiots about this.” 

Itadori's hand tightens around his own for a short second, turning to him with a frown evident and deep over his forehead. “Did you talk about this with Kugisaki?” he asks, yet there’s amusement in his tone, and Megumi rolls his eyes sighing heavily just thinking about it.  

“Unfortunately.” 

“Hey,” Nobara exclaims, leaning into the table and showing their hands secured together, balancing between them; “you’re in this relationship now thanks to me, remember that.” 

Megumi smiles, chuckling under his breath and waving her off with his hand, at which Nobara huffs, slapping his hand away with a loud smack. It’s enough to force him to break the hold around Itadori’s hand, caressing the back of his palm as he dulls the stinging pain into it.  

He hears Itadori laughing, his hand covering his own and thumb brushing over the angry-red area. “I’ll go get some food for me too.” he says and leans in to press a kiss on his cheek. Megumi smiles, turning to his side to say something, words stolen as Itadori caught his lips into another kiss, lingering and sweet before he got to his feet, chair scrapping the floor and feet rushing to get quickly at the counter.  

“Gross.” Nobara says from her side; and Megumi would’ve agreed with her in any other situation, but when it’s Itadori, gross isn’t a word that falls into the right category to describe it.  

He watches him walking, gazing at his retreating back and heat spreads into his chest, warming him from inside out, lifting a wide and soft smile on his lips.  

Megumi is a practical person, doesn’t like getting too close to people and hates forming deeper connections, being afraid of the consequences. But for Itadori, he can turn all that upside down. For him, he can ignore all his personal and made-up rules about his life, and make sure that he will never leave his side, however challenging it’ll get along the way.