Chapter Text
Yuuji never thought he’d experience love at first sight—especially not while doing something as mundane as walking his prickly cat.
He’d been innocently minding his business, walking down the street with his cat Sukuna as he does every morning, only to freeze in his tracks at the sight of a tall, dark-haired, gorgeous boy walking a dog. Hence his current predicament.
How someone can look so good so early in the morning, Yuuji is not sure, but this guy manages to do just that. Unfortunately, the gorgeous boy is walking alongside a pretty girl, and while Yuuji does like girls—especially tall ones with big butts—he doesn’t like that this girl is walking alongside the boy who’d caught his eye. It makes sense though, because it’d be way crazier if such an attractive guy were actually single. Of course, it also means he’s hopelessly pining over someone taken.
It’s when he’s resigned himself to his misfortune that the unthinkable happens: he and his forbidden love lock eyes.
Panic swarms every facet of Yuuji’s being as he watches the gorgeous boy tilt his head slightly towards the girl to say something to her, his eyes never straying from Yuuji’s own. Yuuji thinks he maybe sees the girl look over at him curiously, but it’s hard to say when it’s so preoccupied drowning in the beautiful eyes of the boy next to her.
Just when he thinks his panic can’t get any worse, the attractive couple crosses the street with the rather large dog, seemingly headed directly towards him. His arm jerks roughly, and it’s only then that he’s reminded of the fact that he’d been in the middle of walking his cat before getting distracted by the gorgeous boy currently still headed in his direction. He has half a mind to sprint before the couple can get to him—he’s sure he’d leave them in the dust if he did—but his feet are traitorously glued into place.
“Hi.”
Even the guy’s voice is beautiful; a low, smooth timbre Yuuji is sure he’ll remember even in his dreams. Why couldn’t he have sounded like a 14-year-old boy going through puberty or something!? Maybe then he wouldn’t be so hopelessly enamored right now.
“H-Hey.” His voice cracks and the girl giggles and Yuuji wants to die. But the boy seems to ignore him, busying himself with bending down to hug his shaggy black dog and rub its belly.
“Walk Kuro around the block?” he requests the girl once he stands back up. She looks at him questioningly but does as she’s asked, gently tugging at the black dog’s collar to lead her away.
Yuuji’s mouth goes dry when he’s suddenly left alone with gorgeous boy, his cold expression giving Yuuji chills all the way through his body.
“So you like my sister.”
There are two important things Yuuji learns from that statement: one, the girl is gorgeous boy’s sister, and two, he’s under the impression that his sister is the one Yuuji likes. He’s got whiplash from the shock of it all, and he barely knows how to feel or react.
"Um...no, not exactly..."
"Look,” he starts a-matter-of-factly, “I saw you staring at her like a lovesick puppy from across the street. If you like her, that's fine, it's not like you're the first. However..." Suddenly he's leaning in so close Yuuji can hardly breathe as he tries not to solely focus on just how hot this guy is. "If you hurt her, you have to deal with me."
While the thought of gorgeous boy grappling him to the ground or pining him to a wall does sound pretty hot, he’s confident enough in his physical abilities to feel like a fight wouldn’t end up like this guy thinks it would. But he doesn’t want to seem like a jerk by saying that, so he just nods his head amicably. It’s obviously the right move because the guy seems slightly less tense now.
"Name and age?" gorgeous boy demands abrasively.
Yuuji rolls his eyes, annoyed but still compliant. "Itadori Yuuji, 20 years old..."
"Good to know you’re not underage, Itadori. My sister’s a year older. Hopefully that’s not a problem," he explains flippantly, his tone making it clear that he doesn’t care whether it’s a problem or not.
"Definitely not," he assures flatly, because how can it be when she’s not even the one he’s interested in? But it does make him wonder…
“How old are you?”
Gorgeous boy cocks his head, obviously not expecting to be the one questioned here. “…20, same as you. Why?”
Yuuji scoffs at him and gestures between the two of them. “You asked me, I should be able to ask you back!”
Gorgeous boy makes a barely audible sound of acknowledgment before continuing on with his impromptu interrogation. “Do you have any felonies I should know about?”
Yuuji opens and closes his mouth a few times, utterly speechless. “That’s your next question!?”
“This is my sister we’re talking about; I can’t be too careful. The fact that you’d ask that instead of just answering me makes me feel like you have something to hide though,” gorgeous boy explains with an air of suspicion. And Yuuji gets it, he does, but this still feels like a lot for a first meeting, especially when the guy’s got things all mixed up.
“I’ve never been in trouble with the law,” he once again gives in and complies, exhaustion dripping from every word.
“Good,” gorgeous boy says with a pleased nod. Then he adds, almost as an afterthought, “…Any STIs?”
Yuuji’s jaw drops in absolute shock, his hand almost letting go of his leash. His mind stalls, his mind struggling to reboot itself. There’s no way this guy is serious…? Just how invasive does he plan for these questions to get!?
Then Yuuji notices the faint quirk of the guy’s mouth and the laughter in his eyes and realizes he’s totally being messed with now. Probably.
Well, two can play it that game.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he replies smugly, mentally patting himself on the back. Gorgeous boy just raises a perfectly arched eyebrow at him.
“Yeah. That’s why I asked.”
“No, no, no, that’s not what you were supposed to say!” Yuuji fusses, and the corner of the other boy’s mouth twitches. “We were supposed to have witty banter!”
“Something tells me being witty isn’t one of your strong points,” the guy says with a smirk.
“Hey!” Yuuji cries indignantly, but before he can follow up, he’s distracted by gorgeous boy’s sister returning from her walk around the block with Kuro.
It suddenly dawns on Yuuji that he must’ve been standing here a lot longer than he’d thought. He takes a look at the time and immediately panics; there’s no way he’s getting to class on time. "Shit...!"
"Charming," the other boy snarks, but Yuuji is too busy freaking out to offer a proper retort.
“I’ve got to go,” he says in a rush, already pivoting in the direction towards his house. He pauses when he’s met with resistance from his leash and looks down to see Sukuna—who'd been waiting around eerily patiently—suddenly sashay his way over to gorgeous boy and nuzzle against his calf, closing his eyes and letting out a chorus of loud, pleased purrs. Yuuji gawks at the scene, his eyebrows reaching towards his hair line. Sukuna hates everyone, so to see him so friendly with a complete stranger…
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he tugs insistently on Sukuna’s collar, glaring when he only receives a threatening hiss in return. Yuuji then turns an apologetic look to gorgeous boy, prying Sukuna from his leg and ignoring the cat’s annoyingly sharp claws trying to sheer their way through his sleeves as he gathers him in his arms.
“Sorry about that,” he vocalizes sheepishly to the rather impassive-looking boy, because they might’ve just been having a disagreement of sorts but he isn’t a monster.
Sukuna takes a swipe at his owner’s face which Yuuji barely manages to dodge. Giving the cat a warning glare and flicking him once in the nose, Yuuji once again turns yet another apologetic look to gorgeous boy, who seemed to have settled for quietly observing the two of them.
“Maybe I’ll see you later?” he offers somewhat awkwardly, not sure what else to say in this sort of predicament.
“Maybe,” gorgeous boy replies with a decidedly amused smirk before turning his full attention back to his sister.
Still displeased, Sukuna takes the opportunity to finally get a good swipe in, and Yuuji yelps, mentally mourning his poor face as he finally decides to get a move on.
Honestly speaking, he’s so late now that it’s a wonder if he should even bother showing up to class. But considering his grades, it’s a risk he can’t really afford to take, so he hustles back to his house with his irritable cat cradled snugly in his arms.
It's only after he's settled into his seat in class that he realizes he'd never actually asked gorgeous boy his name. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter since he’ll never see the guy again, but it’s still pretty disappointing, especially when he’d proven to be more than just a pretty face: he’s obviously smart, bold, and cares a lot about the people he holds dear. Even bickering with him ended up being unexpectedly fun.
Damn he wants to see him again.
His heart aches at the thought.
He lets his forehead thump softly against the table; maybe it’s for the best he’ll never see him again when he’s already got it this bad.