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Since becoming a Jujutsu sorcerer, Kugisaki Nobara hadn’t known peace—there was always something looming around her, new curses appearing, or people going off the rails. Everything was a daily shitshow. Still, she wouldn’t change for anything in the world the feeling of thrill after a day’s worth of work sinking in her bones—of being able to prove herself time and time again that she deserved her place in one of the most exclusive schools around Tokyo.
With learning to perfect her curse technique, she had come to learn to expect the unexpected. A fucking curse appearing out of nowhere? Check. A dome falling over her school and trapping them all inside, giant, ancient-looking curse spirits threatening their lives? Check. A talking panda being her classmate? Check. A wild enemy that turned out to be her teacher’s ex-best friend—and quite possibly his ex-boyfriend too—wanting to kill them all? Check. At his point she thought nothing could phase her, yet, she should’ve expected something like this at least.
Itadori Yuuji with his bright personality and earnestness had never failed to surprise her. After he had quite literally appeared in her life and wrecked all her reserves about letting anyone in, he had made a home in her otherwise closed-off heart. At this point, the fact she hadn’t expected it had been more surprising at this point, if she was honest.
They were no strangers to being paired up together in missions—not only were they in the same course, but their curse techniques complemented each other quite well, a fact that had been proved time and time again. Being often in synch with each other, she even enjoyed their missions together. Itadori Yuuji had her back as much as she did his, and it was cool to have someone that understood her well enough. It was like they shared one mind, sometimes (“A brain cell,’’ Megumi had scoffed once.)
Nobara’s world got irrevocably tilted into its axis on a mission. It happened on one of the few times Megumi had to split from them to go with Gojou-sensei somewhere downtown, just when they found themselves in a store to get a snack.
A successful mission that could’ve gone really wrong meant they needed to regain forces with food, and since they had at least three hours to kill until Kiyotaka came to pick them up, they decided to get meatballs—it seemed like a good choice, when Yuuji had proposed it, mostly because she loved meatballs. After they bought their food, they had decided to eat it outside; the day’s warmth wasn’t something they often found nor the time for leisure.
Yuuji had already gone past the door with his order, deciding to go claim a spot on the limited tables outside. She was coming out of the door after saying goodbye to the lady behind the counter, when she heard a whine, very dog-like, coming from next to her.
Her head snapped towards the sound and she found Itadori Yuuji lowered to the ground, mesmerized by a cute, big, puppy with pleading eyes as he fed him some of his meatballs. What the hell?
She yelled, fingers snapping together close to his face, “Yuuji! Yuuji!’’
He looked back at her with widened eyes, as if he hadn’t even realized he was right outside the door caressing a big puppy, just right after he had given it all his food.
Yuuji’s lips curled into a pout. “Kugisaki, can we—?’’
“No.”
“You didn’t even know what I was going to say!’’ He scoffed, frowning, looking at her as if she had personally offended him.
Nobara rolled her eyes. “You wanted to ask me if we could keep the dog,’’ she raised her eyebrow, “Didn’t you?’’
He grimaced, the silent admission that she was indeed correct hanging in the air.
Quickly, he grabbed the puppy into his arms and stood up, the dog’s tongue lolling out of his mouth as he licked what was left of the meatball from Yuuji’s hand. Nobara frowned, eyes settling on the dog, a frown furrowing her forehead. He was strangely docile, and she had no doubt it had nothing to do with the dog—this dog who had probably seen anything but kindness in the world, anything but love and warmth—and everything to do with Yuuji and the way he treated him gently, offering him his food even though he was the one that needed to regain strength.
“Come on! Kugisaki!” Yuuji drawled, scratching the puppy behind his ears, eliciting a content purr from his mouth. “Look at him! He’s so adorable, isn’t he?” His lip jutted out as he shifted the dog to face her, big puppy eyes redirected at her. “Look!’’ He was bouncing in his steps, moving closer.
Nobara cursed under her breath at the sight in front of her. The puppy was indeed absolutely adorable, his huge brown eyes looking wide and pleading and screaming at her to take him home and take care of him forever, looking every bit as adorable as a puppy was. It idly reminded her of Yuuji, what with the way he was looking currently at her with his huge heart worn his sleeve, pleading at her to let him take a dog he had spent less than 5 minutes with to their dorms.
Two puppies were in front of her, pleading to go home, together, with her.
She had to stifle her snort with a bite of her own food—Itadori Yuuji was the exact kind of person that would plead to take a stray puppy home, even though they didn’t live at a home per se, but at a freaking school often attacked by curses and evilness.
“How are you even gonna take care of him, idiot? What if something happens in school?” She clicked her tongue, pursing her lips, and trying to convey all the disappointment she actually didn’t feel for him in her gaze. “We can barely keep the school from burning to the ground without a defenseless dog in our care! Look at his tail!’’ She squinted at him when she saw the dog’s head moving towards Yuuji’s chin and licking with his wet tongue all over his cheek. Yuuji didn’t even move. “Look! He’s now licking at your face, even though he already ate the meatballs! There’s not a single thought in his brain.” She gestured around, trying not to let up.
“Kugisaki!’’ he whined, “He’s just excited! I bet no one has given him head pats in a long time. But he’s such a good dog.’’ Immediately after the words left his mouth, he turned to face the dog, cooing at him, and whispering words of encouragement like one would a baby.
She could feel the dejection settling on his shoulders even though he was very focused on the dog in front of him; the way his mouth parted and the enthusiasm dwindled in his eyes made Nobara’s heartbeat stutter wildly against her ribcage, too loud, too big even in this open space.
Don’t let him keep the dog. Don’t let him keep the dog, she repeated in her head like a mantra, fueled just by the image in her head of the way his face would look much sadder when they arrived at school and he was inevitably told he couldn’t keep the dog, of his heartache at having to give him way after getting attached. Don’t let him keep the dog. Don’t—
Sighing, she found herself pinching the bridge of her nose, and saying with resolve shining through, “We can’t keep the dog. But,” Yuuji’s head whipped towards her, perking up at the sounds of the word but rolling from her tongue, “I can go with you to a shelter.”
Yuuji stiffened, then after a minute of looking at her in complete silence, he sighed and nodded. She knew it wasn’t ideal for him to let the dog go, and she hated having to be the one to tell him not to bring a puppy to Tokyo High, especially with the way he was very much puppy-like himself. But they couldn’t keep it, at least not now. Not with the way they were facing something much bigger than themselves each day.
“Thank you.’’ He nodded at her, finger idly caressing the dog’s nose. His eyes drifted towards the store and he licked his lips. “Can we—?’’
“It’ll take too long. Eat this,’’ she interrupted him, eyes fluttering shut for a moment as she regretfully handed him one of the three meatballs she had bought. She only had two now. Well, she was too good sometimes. Nobara looked at him again, lips pursed. “And try not to give half of it to the dog!’’ she scolded, rolling her eyes, “Then, we’ll look up some shelters that are close. I think we’ll be able to get it done by the time Kiyotaka-san has to come to pick us up if we hurry.’’
Yuuji’s smile widened and her lips curled downwards—but this time at herself.
Itadori Yuuji had always been someone she thought was too kind for his own good; he was like sunshine in a bottle, a too-big heart wrapped up in a body that almost always surpassed expectations. She didn’t regret being his friend—even though an execution order hung over their heads that made her heart clench at the thought most of the time.
That was how Nobara found herself walking down with Yuuji, arms full of the puppy, towards a nearby animal shelter, side-eyeing the content hum of his steps and the way the sun shone in his strawberry hair. There was a trace of meat at the corner of his mouth and she had to stop her twitching hand from reaching out to get rid of it, to smooth her thumb over his cheek and over the lines below his eyes. Like this, Yuuji looked lively, bright, and every bit as endearing as always—her heart thrummed in contentment.
He had—without a thought, without a care—unconsciously made a place for him in her heart, in her life, in her daily routine. At this point, she feared the possibility of him disappearing, of him fulfilling a destiny he was too young, too bright, too good, too Yuuji to face down.
“Someday,” he said, wistful, effectively snapping her out of her musings as he scratched behind the dog’s ears, “we might be able to adopt one. Maybe not this one.” He nodded at the dog in his arm, whose tongue was lolling out of his mouth. “But another. When things settle down, we could find a place within the city, get some dogs, and stay there with Megumi.’’
Kugisaki’s heart roared wildly inside her chest. She looked back at him, heart heavy.
“I’ll do all the cleaning!’’ Yuuji chirped, enthusiastic, his thoughts running rampant. He continued nodding as he said, “You could even, maybe, teach people, ya know? You’re good at that—making people listen to you. I like that,’’ he hummed, and it reverberated against Nobara’s heart. “I like it. If you let us have the dogs, you can name them.’’ He smiled at her, warm. Nobara blinked, once, twice, as he kept talking. “Megumi could—sorry,’’ he said to the dog, shifting him higher in his arms, and looking back at Nobara. “Megumi would love to take care of the dogs with us too.’’
She felt tears prickling in her eyes. Itadori Yuuji was a dead boy walking since the day she met him—she knew better than to get attached. But how could she do anything else but that? He was too bright for someone like Nobara, who had always sought warmth and light throughout her life; it was like a losing game.
“Yeah,’’ she laughed, softly, heart feeling no less heavy. “I’ll name the dogs. I’m shit at cooking, though—’’
“I can cook,’’ Yuuji hummed, eyes staring straight into her. “We’ll have so much fun, after this all ends,’’ he said offhandedly.
At that moment, Nobara’s mouth opened and she was going to say something, but the dog’s loud barking interrupted her. She looked ahead and saw the shelter. Yuuji bounced in his place, shifting his weight on his feet.
“Oh, look, we are here!’’ Yuuji cheered.
Even when they went inside the place, Nobara’s beating heart didn’t calm down. Then and there, she wanted nothing more than stay in this moment for a bit longer—here, where Yuuji looked every bit as bright between many more puppies, smiling and animatedly talking genuinely happy, with Nobara’s heart beating wildly inside her chest and a warmth blooming inside her chest.
✸✸✸
They didn’t always have time to purely have fun. Being a Jujutsu sorcerer and having people’s lives at stake didn’t allow for it—they needed to extensively train for everything that loomed above them. But Nobara hadn’t been able to forget the last time she had been with Yuuji alone, when he had talked about a time in the future she couldn’t know for sure would come.
This was why, on the weekend of the next Goodwill Event where the Kyoto students had come to stay for extensive training, right after it had ended, she was sitting down in the dorms looking at Nishimiya Momo as she pursed her lips and said, “We should party... Do something!’’ she said, gesturing around, You’re all too boring.’’ Although she didn’t say Nobara’s name or specify anything at her, she was looking at her.
Nobara almost scoffed at the thought of Momo’s derisive words thrown her way. Still, it felt like a sign—for them to enjoy themselves if only for a moment. It wasn’t often that they were with more people other than the ones from school, much less with people their age that could understand what pressure they were under. Differences set aside, she didn’t have to think twice before deciding to accept—though she was still wary of what they had tried to do to Yuuji that first time they had met, this only meant she had to keep an eye on him.
“Yeah, let’s do it,’’ she let out, and Yuuji, who was a few centimeters beside her, snapped his head towards her and looked at her warily.
“What? Are you sure, Kugisaki?’’
“Yeah, why not?’’ She shrugged. “We should get some time. Before we’re all dead.’’ She rolled her eyes, trying to make it sound disinterested and like a joke, even though the weight of the words fell upon her shoulders.
“That’s the spirit, Kugisaki. Didn’t peg you for the fun type,’’ Kamo chirped in, lowering himself to the floor. “Thought you would be the first one to oppose, followed right next to this,’’ he pointed his chin at Megumi, “party pooper.’’
Nobara scoffed. “Hey! I’m not a party pooper. I’m the most fun of them!’’
Yuuji let out a snort at the same time Mai chuckled loudly, its sound resonating across the room. “Sure, sure, if you say so!’’
“I’ll prove it! Let’s do anything.’’ She crossed her arms, scoffing. “I’ll prove I’m not a party pooper! I’m very capable of having fun, you know?’’
A big, deep sigh escaped from Megumi’s mouth as he said, “Oh, no.’’
Nobara whipped around towards him. “Oh, yes!’’ She then zeroed her gaze on Momo, who had been the one to phrase this like a challenge at the beginning.
Momo hummed. “If you’re feeling as bold as you say, let’s play truth or dare.’’
Wincing, Nobara halted. Truth or dare? Admittedly, she hadn’t had many friends as she grew up—much less with friends that she could go to their houses and play something like truth or dare with. The closest thing to it was what she had read on her phone, a video that she had played once about it.
So, she could only look as they all moved to sit together in a circle, as if they were accustomed to playing this game. She didn’t doubt it—most of them had grown in the same circles of sorcerers, knowing each other’s techniques like the back of their hands. A game of truth or dare was probably nothing for them, just something to have fun about.
For Nobara, it was nothing short of a revelation. She moved to sit down in the circle and quickly realized the only place left to sit was right next to Yuuji, so she sat next to him, tucking her legs below her.
“Curse technique or not?’’ Yuuji asked, hand placed below his chin as Todou put a bottle in the middle of the circle.
Kamo hummed for a moment, pretending to think about it, before he said, “Yes to techniques.’’
“Okay.’’ Mai’s smile was sharp as the edge of a knife as she said, “Let’s start. Megumi, you go.’’
Megumi grumbled next to them, and Nobara’s eyes settled on him. She hoped it wasn’t something as bad, just now realizing they hadn’t further set any more rules other than allowing the use of their cursed techniques.
She certainly wasn’t expecting Kamo to say, voice deceptively light, “Make me a dog.’’
A dog… for a dare… What in the actual—?
Megumi rolled his eyes and sneered, “Is this why you wanted to use techniques? For me to make you a dog? Predictable.’’
Shifting in his place, Kamo just grinned and entwined his hands on his lap, the smile on his face letting them know he was waiting. Nobara was sure they could back down for a dare if it was too risky, but this didn’t seem worth using one of the chances. Megumi must've thought so too, because he huffed and turned slightly to the side, apparently having accepted the challenge.
Nobara watched with parted lips as Megumi placed his hands together in the form of a dog, and made cursed energy flow through his body to call one of his shikigami.
A dog was quickly formed with Megumi’s energy. It jogged towards Kamo and a smile pulled at his lips. Just as Nobara was thinking it was strange of him to make Megumi summon a dog on a dare, attributing it to the fact Kamo was just weird in general, a thought suddenly hit her. She blinked at the dog, realizing it was very similar to the one Yuuji had found outside the store that time they had gone out after a mission. The fact rattled inside her mind, and she vividly remembered how she had felt that day—the yearning to stay there forever.
Suddenly, Yuuji’s presence by her side was much louder.
“Now, for our bold girl.’’ Mai’s voice pulled her out of her musings. She was smiling, sharp as the edge of a knife as she looked at her, and the amusement shining through her voice made Nobara straighten, waiting for the challenge to come. “I dare you to kiss Yuuji—or fight him. Whatever you feel most like doing right now.’’
Her cheeks flamed red at the thought, lips parting slightly. Kissing Yuuji? Fighting him? From her peripherals, she saw him straightening his shoulders next to her, no doubt at the fact she had just been dared to kiss him—or fight him whatever.
Nobara wasn’t sure about the policy regarding backing down, but she also knew there was a long night ahead of them. She felt kind of grateful that they hadn’t gone with bad or hard dares, but she also didn’t want him to feel like she preferred to do anything but kiss him, especially because it was a possibility she had found herself thinking about more than once through the past few days.
In fact, she actually didn’t find this dare as bad, except for the fact the option she was leaning more towards would leave her feelings completely bare.
This game had started because she wanted to prove she wasn’t a party pooper, but Kugisaki Nobara also wasn’t a coward. It felt like her choice was very clear in her mind suddenly.
She let out a deep breath, resolved as her gaze didn’t move from Mai’s defiant eyes. “Okay. I’ll do it.’’ Immediately, she shifted towards Yuuji, only to find him staring at her with the same puppy eyes she had seen last week—the same look that hadn’t left her mind even in her dreams, appearing in the form of wishful thinking and hopeful dreams full of images of the life Yuuji had declared they would have someday.
“Hey, you don’t have to kiss me, okay?’’ Yuuji’s voice was soft, his brows scrunching up together. “I can say I’m out, and they won’t tell you anything.’’ He nodded his head. A soft smile took over his face. “Or you can fight me,’’ he shrugged, smile turning into an amused grin, “Won’t be the first time you kick my ass.’’
Nobara took a sharp breath in, feeling nervous, before she licked her lips—she didn’t miss the way his eyes zeroed in on the motion. In fact, that was what pushed her to murmur, leaning closer, “Do you?’’
“What?’’ Yuuji frowned.
She cleared her throat, looking straight into his eyes now that the sitting position gave her the advantage to be at the same height. “Do you want to kiss me? Or would you rather I kick your ass?’’ Nobara tried to convey a joke in her voice but it came out a lot more serious than she intended.
For a moment, her heart beat wildly against her ribcage.
Yuuji didn’t look away from her, even though his face turned beet red and his lips parted. “Yeah. I wouldn’t mind kissing you, Kugisaki. Actually, I want to.’’ He cleared his throat. “Kiss you, I mean. I want to.’’
This boy, this beautiful, bright, warm boy in front of her, wanted to kiss her—and the possibility that it was at her call was much more concrete than any other hope that hung between them. Nobara didn’t take too long before nodding and closing the distance between them, head moving closer, and she saw the way Yuuji’s eyes fluttered shut at the first contact of their lips.
The surprised gasps and chatter around them soon died in her ears as she felt Yuuji’s soft, warm, pliant lips under hers. Their kiss was slow and soft at first, just lips slotted together and moving slowly, then his lips parted above hers and her eyes fluttered shut at the sensation of his tongue peeking over her chapped lips. Suddenly, there was nothing else but Yuuji and Nobara right in the middle of the room, kissing like they had all the time in the world, like they just weren’t in the middle of a room full of their friends. She returned the kiss with as much fervor, and Yuuji’s hands settled on her waist, bringing her closer to the heat of his body, at the same time her hands traveling towards the slopes of his cheeks. He was warm, so warm, and the comfort of his skin below her skin was reassuring and warm.
With Yuuji, Nobara felt, not for the first time, like she could stay in this moment forever—even though she knew deep down that they had nothing but tonight secured.
A loud whistle coming from where Mai was sitting brought her out of her musings. She opened her eyes only to find Yuuji in front of her, a mere breath’s width away from her, eyes fluttering open and looking dazed. The pink tinge to his cheeks made her own blush return full force to her face.
Shit. She had just kissed him in front of everyone, and they were closely pressed together. Nobara had gotten so lost in the moment, in Yuuji, she had completely forgotten all her inhibitions.
“Ew. Should’ve just told her to fight him instead,’’ Mai said, tone derisive, nudging Momo’s side. “Can you move away from his lap… or do you want to—?’’
“Shut up,’’ Nobara snarled, taking her hands away from Yuuji’s cheeks. She nodded at him, pulling away to sit back down. “Yuuji, come on.’’
He sighed. “Are you okay?’’ He blinked at her owlishly, looking adorable, and bright. Beautiful. “Are we ok—?’’
“I wanted to, idiot.’’ She smiled at him, soft—much softer than she usually was. “We’re good.’’
He smiled, licking his lips in instinct. Her eyes widened at the motion, realizing the wet trail of saliva clinging to his lips was no longer there, the implication making her blush.
They moved to sit down again, falling close next to each other without thinking. Her finger brushed against his due to the proximity and she realized the blush tinging his cheeks hadn’t left his face. Her cheeks were still just as warm too, her breathing was ragged, and her heart beat like a hummingbird’s wings inside her ribcage. Nobara looked ahead with her eyebrow arched, daring anyone to say anything about the way their lips had lingered on each other for a beat too long.
Momo cackled and she rolled the bottle again, putting the game into motion once more. She felt the faint chatter around her, the way now it was Todou’s turn to be dared.
Someday, she thought as she shifted closer to Yuuji’s warmth next to her, maybe they could adopt a dog, live in peace, and rejoice in everything the world had to give them. Someday, she thought, there wouldn’t be threats hanging above them, just moments of peace.
Someday, she wished, Yuuji would no longer have an execution order hanging above his head, and he could be able to live, maybe adopt a dog with her, and his kisses wouldn’t taste so much like hope, instead, they would taste like reassurance and just as warm, and their lips would slot together and move in a routine settled into their bone marrow.
For now, though, Nobara decided she would rejoice in the warmth of having Yuuji’s hands settling in hers, thumb idly caressing her skin without a second thought. She would focus on him and the way her friends—and her reluctant friends, she thought with an eye roll—sat around them, laughing and living, of the thrills coursing through her body at being able to enjoy this moment at least for this night.
Tonight, at this moment, they would just be Nobara and Yuuji—best friends, in synch, and sitting next to each other right after kissing for the first time, in a place to start something. Tonight, for once in their lives, there wouldn’t be sorrow hanging above them, but a thrumming, warm hope for more days to come, of more days to spend together in each other’s presence.
They would be Yuuji and Nobara—without pretenses, wearing their hearts on their sleeves, and having fun for what seemed like the first time in a very long time.