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After taking over the flower shop his grandfather owned when he passed, Yuuji fell into a content pattern. He split his time between tending to the gardens and arranging orders, not feeling the need to fill his life with much else. He had his friends, his plants, and his brother (sometimes), so that’s all he really needed. Life was easy and quiet, up until his landlord stopped by to let him know he would be gaining some new neighbors. Yuuji watched as they moved in the next day; it was just two people. The guy had dark hair and a seemingly permanent scowl, plus some very nice muscles in action as they were moving equipment. Along his muscles were intricate tattoos, ranging from animals to plants to geometric designs. Those were probably the nicest arms he had ever seen. His business partner was a red-headed woman with floral tattoos crawling up her arm. A woman after his own heart. She seemed a lot happier and open than the guy, at least judging from their expressions. Maybe they could be friends.
Yuuji possibly had a staring problem, because he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of his brother’s voice. “Stop drooling and just go ask for his number already,” Sukuna muttered.
Yuuji’s face burned, and he quickly turned to the plants in order to hide it. “I was just- I just zoned out. And how'd you know I was looking at the guy and not the girl?” he said, but Sukuna only rolled his eyes.
The next day, they seemed to be fairly settled in, so Yuuji decided introducing himself would be the appropriate and professional thing to do. When people moved into a neighborhood, their neighbors usually brought over pies or casseroles, but that felt a little too intimate. He ended up settling on a cute succulent. People liked succulents, plus they’re not too extravagant and are very easy to take care of; a perfectly appropriate gift from a florist.
Yuuji had the succulent in his hands, but his feet were glued to the floor. What if he tripped and made a fool of himself? Or they don’t like plants? Or what if he says something stupid? Or-
“Christ, would you just go over there already?” Sukuna interrupted, jolting Yuuji out of his thoughts. His face was once again turning redder than a tomato.
“Why are you even here? You never come here,” he retorted, but before his twin could come up with a snarky and probably emotionally scarring comeback, Yuuji was out the door. His feet moved on their own, while his mind was trying to drag his body back into the safety of the floral shop.
Before he could convince his feet to stop, he was already standing outside of the tattoo parlor. Chickening out now would just make him look stupid, so he pushed the door open. Most of his blush had faded by then, but his cheeks were still dusted pink. He felt way too warm, were his hands clammy? What if they wanted to shake his hand?
The dark-haired man raised his head at the sound of the bell jingling. The shop was empty other than him; he was sitting at a desk, drawing. Yuuji noticed how his sleeve was pushed up to reveal his forearm, and the sight of taut muscles made him sweat more.
The silence had dragged a beat too long, causing a look of confusion to cross the artist’s face. Yuuji blinked, yanking his gaze away from the arm and forcing himself to meet the pair of eyes boring into his soul.
Before he could overthink what he was going to say, a grin grew on his face and his eyes lit up. “Hey, I’m Yuuji Itadori! I own the flower shop next door, so I just wanted to come over and introduce myself and drop off this little, uh, house warming gift!” He held up the succulent as if it would provide an explanation by itself.
The man considered him for a moment before responding. “Megumi Fushiguro,” he said, his voice falling flat. Yuuji’s grin faltered, just slightly. He knew his energy and excitement were typically a lot higher than other people’s, but this guy seemed to be the exact opposite.
His face felt hot, and he scrambled to try to salvage the situation teetering over to too awkward. “Nice to meet you. You’re obviously super busy, so, um, I’ll just leave this and head out,” he said, walking over to the desk and setting down the succulent. He hated the way he could so clearly see Megumi’s eyelashes now that they were closer. Why did he have to be so pretty and so mean?
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Megumi said, his hard exterior slipping ever so slightly. “And thank you for the succulent.”
Yuuji hated that he could feel how red his face was getting; he wanted to run right out of the store. “Yeah, yeah, of course. Um, well, I’ll let you get back to it. If you need anything, feel free to stop by! I’m there most of the time anyway.” And then he more or less bolted out of the tattoo shop, leaving Fushiguro staring after him.
As he exited the store, a woman on the phone was coming in. He recognized her as the woman who had been moving in, so he gave her a polite smile and held the door for her before continuing his escape.
Once he was safely surrounded by his plants again, he groaned and shoved his face into his hands. That was mortifying.
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Back in the tattoo shop, Nobara was hanging up the phone and looking at Megumi with a questioning look. “Who’s that?”
“Our neighbor,” Megumi responded, not looking up from his drawing.
“He’s cute,” she commented, dropping her bags on her desk and turning on her computer.
“Then go ask for his number,” Megumi said, still sounding entirely disinterested. Nobara wasn’t going to accept that.
“I don’t think I’m the one he’s after, at least judging by his face. You should talk to him, it’d be good for you.” Her suggestion was only met with an eye roll. Maybe not today, but Nobara was now determined to get these two idiots together.
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It took two weeks of harassment, but finally, Megumi headed over to the floral shop next door. He pushed open the door, causing a bell to jingle, just like the one in his parlor. Yuuji stood at the counter with his back turned. When he finally did turn to face him, Megumi’s eyes went wide. Sure, it had been two full weeks, but Megumi was shocked to see how drastically he had changed during that time. His pink hair was styled differently, much neater, and then there were the tattoos. They covered his face, and he could see them peeking out around the collar of his shirt and down his forearms and wrists.
Megumi swallowed, quick to recover and hide his surprise. He came here for a reason, which he was reminded of by the weight in his hands, plus Nobara’s nagging voice echoing in his head. “One of my clients gave us some cookies, and I just finished up my last appointment, so I figured I’d bring some over to share,” he started, forcing away his nerves. It was just a conversation, nothing more, despite what Nobara had said.
Yuuji seemed unimpressed at best. “Thanks,” he said, his gaze heavy. Megumi could see that he was thinking deeply over something, but he had no clue as to what. Maybe he thought Megumi was rude and didn’t want anything to do with him. But he had seemed so nice before...apparently, Yuuji had a pretty drastic attitude change along with the tattoos. Before Megumi could think too much about it, Yuuji was walking closer, seeming to have made a decision. He took the box, very purposefully covering his hands with his own for a short moment.
Megumi swallowed as Yuuji looked him over, wondering why he was still standing so close. “So you’re free for the rest of the day?” Yuuji prompted, not bothering to step away to put them at a more appropriate distance. Megumi couldn’t blame how fast his heart was beating on awkwardness. It would be pretty accurate to blame it on the way Yuuji’s eyes flickered down to his lips, and he could see mirth and a bit of mischief dancing behind his eyes.
“Yeah, I was just planning on heading home and making dinner,” he said, having to put in a lot of focus on not tripping over his words. It had been a long time since he had flirted with someone; the way Yuuji looked at him was just a little overwhelming.
“How about you come over to my place instead? I could whip something up for us,” Yuuji said, leaning in just a little closer. The tip of Megumi’s ears were burning; how was he so smooth when the first time they had met his face had been bright red?
Unlike their first meeting, now Megumi was flustered, to say the least, and his brain was running through a million different possibilities to determine how he should answer. Yuuji just stood there patiently, a smirk spread across his lips.
Megumi was saved by the bell, quite literally. He took the opportunity to step back, turning to look at who was entering the store. He didn’t miss the look of annoyance on Yuuji’s face before he did, though.
“I know you told me to go home and relax, but I forgot my phone, I promise I’ll go right-” Yuuji started, stopping flat when he made eye contact with Megumi. Megumi’s eyes were wide, and his mouth was open in a silent question.
He whipped his head back to look at Yuuji, no, not Yuuji, before his eyes returned to the person who entered the store. Hair floppier, messier. Smiling. Eyes bright. No tattoos. That was definitely the real Yuuji. Megumi did another double-take, looking back and forth between the twins. His face grew red, and the man standing close behind him laughed.
“Sukuna, what did you do?” Yuuji practically wailed, face beet red. He rushed over to them and promptly shoved the man, who must be Sukuna and his twin brother, into the back room.
Despite closing the door, Megumi could still clearly hear their conversation. “Please don’t tell me you did anything embarrassing,” Yuuji said, exasperated.
“I was just trying to help you, Yuuji. We both know you weren’t going to make a move on your own, so I was...helping move things along,” Sukuna argued.
Yuuji let out a loud groan, muttering about how Sukuna was going to ruin his life. Things grew quiet for a minute, and then Yuuji came back out to the main room, face still red. Megumi was still standing in the same spot, trying to figure out exactly what happened.
“I am so, so very sorry,” Yuuji started, rubbing his face. “Sukuna is...something else; he enjoys making my life miserable.” Despite looking so irritated and embarrassed, Yuuji was still smiling.
“Hey, no worries, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m sorry for, uh, not realizing that I wasn’t even talking to you,” Megumi said, forcing his eyes up from the floor to meet Yuuji’s. He couldn’t help but think he was cute, looking all flustered.
Yuuji let out a light laugh, his cheeks pink enough to match the color of his hair. He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s okay, it happens all the time. I think he got all of those tattoos because he hated when people would mix us up, but he used to use it to his advantage all the time. I even sat in and took some of his tests in school until the teachers started to catch on.” He laughed again, and a warm feeling settled in Megumi's chest at the sound.
A beat of silence passed before Yuuji spoke again to fill it. Megumi had a feeling that there wasn’t much silence around Yuuji, which was something he was definitely not used to, but maybe he could learn. “But, um, anyways, I’d understand if you’d want nothing to do with me ever again because of my crazy brother, but can I make up for all the awkwardness with a cup of coffee?”
Megumi smiled, a brighter smile than he had given in probably an entire month. “Sure, that would be great,” he said, to which Yuuji grinned.
“Awesome!” he said, before remembering why he had come back in the first place. “Oh! I just need to grab my phone, did you want to go now?” Megumi nodded in response, and Yuuji ran off before coming right back to Megumi’s side.
They left the flower shop together and spent the next three hours talking away at the coffee shop around the corner. Megumi was already learning to enjoy the constant noise and feeling of life that surrounded Yuuji. He was more than happy to sit and listen, letting Yuuji’s lifeforce fill his own.