Work Text:
A Ring Ring resounds through the quiet apartment.
Yuji's phone rings on the side table in the living room. Playing a melodic tune as it calls his attention. It’s one of his favorites actually, a song he really enjoys. He customized it specifically so that when his phone does ring, it will hopefully ease him and put him in a better mood then he was already in.
And lord does he need it. Because who the hell was calling at a time like this?
The clock reads 2:37am. ‘Jesus, it better not be work cause if it is, Hanami is gonna have his ass lit tomorrow morning’. He pads over to the table, gentle feet meet wood as he reaches to see who the caller is. It reads an unknown number. Great .
“Hello? Itadori Yuji.”
[Ah, hello Itadori-San, this is Isaki Masumoto from Shibuya Metropolitan Police Department. We call you in regards to Ryomen Sukuna-san, he has you listed as his emergency contact.]
Oh, this was great .
“I apologize for the late call, it seems…” The officer proceeds to talk to Yuji on the other line. On the other side, low and behold the man himself, Sukuna sits in the chair parallel to him on the other side of his desk. Right elbow propped on the arm rest, his chin resting on his fist. On his left side, blues and purples bloom on his cheek, along with light yellowish greens that rest their as well.
His knuckles also a bit scraped and raw from the fight earlier. A bored and unreadable expression plagues his face.
It’s all white noise really. The sound of one person talking to the other over the phone, muffled to his ears, he doesn’t hear any of it. To zoned out to care.
He does hear one thing though, “Yuji”, after that he knew he was fucked.
‘I still have him as my emergency contact? Shit.’ Sukuna isn’t drunk enough nor high enough to sit through the police calling he ex-boyfriend and roommate that he was at the damn Police Station, and that he probably has to come pick him up.
With a huff, Sukuna takes out his pack of cigs from his back jean pocket, and lights one. Bringing it up to his lips, he inhales. He’s hoping, really hoping, for any amount of relief. Just anything he can get to take away this burning ache in his chest.
It doesn’t do much, does very little at all really, that’s what the several beers were for. That didn’t work out either, considering he only has a buzz right now. Might as well get in what he can now, he sure as hell won’t be able to later, considering Yuji doesn’t just leave his ass here.
“…-m whenever, have a goodnight, thank you.” Sukuna’s lungs constrict for a moment, as if they were being squeezed then let go, causing a pause in his exhale through his nose as he hears the ends of the conversation. Sukuna snaps his head and attention back to the officer hanging up the phone.
Theirs a flicker in his eyes, ‘Ah…’ Yuji’s coming to get him. With that knowledge he can only sit there and collect himself for a few seconds, he calmly stands, puts his pack of cigs on the officers’ desk and stubs his cigarette in the ashtray.
The night's calm, mostly quiet if not for the cicadas, and an easy breeze flows through as Sukuna sits on the steps outside of the police station. Elbows on propped up knees as his feet sit one step below him. His temple rests against his forearm, head between his knees, he closes his eyes. Waiting for his Yuji to come get him.
He wishes he wouldn’t, its fleeting but it’s there. Its always been hard to control himself around Yuji, especially now, he doesn’t even know what’s going on in himself nowadays. Whatever, he quickly leaves the thought as quick as it came. He lets himself be consumed by the dark of the night, as well as his heavy eyes.
A caress passes over him, small nimble fingers card through his hair, a soft touch, something knowing. He opens his eyes and tilts his head up, brown eyes and dimly lit pink hair, similar of that to his stands in front of him. Yuji, stands in front of him.
He retracts his hand, letting it fall limply back to his side. His lips are pulled in a taught line, eyes glaring down at him with irritation, anger, and a look of boredom. Yuji takes his left hand from his jean pocket and brings it to massage his eyelids, letting out a frustrated huff and stuffing both hands in his hoodie, he turns and walks back to his car. The sound of crunching sand and clay steps grows distant.
Sukuna coughs into a fist, he stands from the steps, he checks it. Nothing, ‘Good.’ And he treks towards Yuji. He gave a look before he turned, a flicker in his eye saying “let's go home” as he walked away, they remained unspoken.
They settle into the car, Yuji on the left-hand driver's side, and Sukuna opposite. Yuji’s hands are on wheel, but he doesn’t start it. Meanwhile, Sukuna’s elbow is propped on the window sill, head supported by his forefinger holding his temple. Other arm resting on the center console, his hand dangles down and dips low, fingers grazing his thigh. Ever patient tonight.
He feels ice cold metal graze his bruised cheek, his eyes widen, it’s followed by a brush of knuckle not a moment later. Sukuna hesitantly jerks away, turning to face Yuji. Yuji immediately retracts his arm, as if burned. He finally starts the car, backs out of the space, and pulls out of the station lot.
They don’t talk, no music, its just quiet. The faint hum of tires moving across the road is all that’s heard, it’s reassuring. It gives the sense of really late car travel, or really early car ride vibes, while everyone else is still sleeping. Except there is no pretty sunrise.
In the silence, Sukuna finds himself gazing towards Yuji’s direction. His eyes look more towards his hands than anything, specifically his right hand. It was the one that reached out to him and touched him earlier, it’s also the one that possesses the black ring settled around Yuji’s finger.
He must have been looking to long since Yuji caught him staring and turned to face him, while also keeping his eyes on the headlight lit road. Sukuna snapped his head back to peer out the window instead, not saying anything as he’s been caught.
With a few more unforgiving minutes of silence, they finally reach their destination. Pulling into the brightly lit parking lot of the apartment complex. Yuji parks in a dark spot in the far-left corner, it’s his usual spot, takes less than a few minutes to reach the room and he prefers it. The lights give him a headache, reminding that it’s far to early to be dealing with this.
Yuji turns off the car, takes the key out and just sits. The headlights fading away. Sukuna’s free to go, but he also stays, not moving his arm from the window sill. Yuji’s hands rest at the top of the steering wheel, his forehead presses against leather in-between them.
It’s to damn quiet. Sukuna’s staring out the windshield looking at nothing but a black wall, and Yuji’s just sitting there, both unmoving. Until Yuji breaks the silence.
“Why are you like this?” Yuji lets out a huff, he’s exhausted.
Sukuna looks to face Yuji, looking at him as his head is still pressed against the wheel.
“What are you talking-”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about Sukuna.” His retor is stern but he’s still unmoving, clutching at the wheel a little more. Sukuna’s not trying to play dumb with him, but he doesn’t exactly want to deal with this anymore then the person next to him right now.
“…You already heard from the Po-“
“You’re not high Sukuna, and you’re not drunk, so?” Yuji snaps his head up to finally look at him, and when he does, he’s looking at him right in the eyes. Sukuna shuts his mouth, he opens the door to finally get out and says nothing more.
Sukuna looks behind him as he walks and sees Yuji closing his side door as well, soon following. ‘Shit, it’s quiet again.’
The jingle of keys and an unlocking click sound through out the hallway and inside the apartment. The door opens and they finally toe off their shoes at the entrance, finally stepping in.
Sukuna hasn’t been in what used to be there- now Yuji’s apartment, in quite a while, he scans the space, taking in any changes. He grimaces at the sight of what used to be their photos, now blank wall or replaced with pictures of his friends or other people. He feels a tug at his heart, stab at his lungs, lump forming in his throat and a scratch at his windpipe. He doesn’t let the pain show.
Yuji reaches up behind him, and pulls his hoodie off over himself, hair getting messy in the process. ‘Oh?’ He wears a white shirt underneath, well fitting for his shoulders and chest, gliding over his abs. Red hoodie in right hand, he makes a gesture to the couch, not sparing a glance in Sukuna’s direction as he makes his way down a hallway. Well, he’s been on the receiving end of that one-to-many times.
He stands in the middle of the room, watching Yuji’s retreating back as he walks away from him. He turns to look at the ceiling.
Yuji can hear some shuffling and coughing from where he left Sukuna all the way to his room. He’s shuffling through the absurd amount of blankets he has, trying to pick one for Sukuna. One that they haven’t used together, or one that Yuji hasn’t used at all preferably. He settles on one and trots back over to Sukuna.
When he sees him, he hesitates and stops. Sukuna’s face is blank and his eyes, ice cold. Leaned up against the kitchen counter right next to the sofa (right where he left him), hands bracing him on the edge on either side of him.
It must finally be the beers kicking in, 'cause Sukuna doesn’t feel like himself. He feels so angry, his façade of looking like none of this bothers him has slipped, he can’t control how cold his eyes have become, nor the anger burning inside him. A bloodied tissue sits next to him.
Sukuna looks at Yuji as he comes back. He visually grimaces as Yuji holds a blanket out to him, a distant look in his eyes.
“Hah…” he huffs through clenched teeth, instead of taking the blanket he crosses his arms over his chest. An amused smirk follows over his lips, it doesn’t reach his eyes, as he looks at his crossed arms.
Yuji lets his arm fall limply beside him once again at the rejection. Ready to just turn around and turn in for the night. He can freeze for all he cares.
Sukuna bites the inside of his bottom lip, knowing he’s going to regret whatever is about to come out of his mouth.
“Where did you get the ring, Yuji?” Oh, he went there.
Yuji freezes in his attempt at walking away. He turns back to face Sukuna, to say he looked angry and disappointed would be an understatement. Both emotions rage inside once honey golden eyes. “Seriously Sukuna?” But, most of all, he looks hurt.
‘Don’t look at me like that.’ Sukuna wants to plead. He knows it’s wrong, he shouldn’t care, he doesn’t have the right to. It’s none of his business whether someone gave it to him, or if it’s just jewelry he bought on his own. But he just feels so hurt, so betrayed, so broken. So angry, so, so angry, he just wants to let it all out. Run away from it, he just wants to be able to breathe, just for a second.
He knows it’s wrong to put it on Yuji, wrong of him to make him carry that burden, but at this point, he doesn’t know what to do.
“Honestly, Sukuna, you don’t have anything else to think about besides your own selfish jealousy?”
‘Don’t say that. It’s all because of you…’ He wants to beg. The pain beginning to build.
“You have no idea how I feel about this-“
“Don’t start with me Yuji, you have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. If it hurts that bad, then why did you come get me?” The instant regret hits him like a fucking train. He didn’t mean for it to come out as bad as it did, he was genuinely curios, and it made him a bit happy.
Yuji takes a step back, tears start to prick and well at the crease of his eyes, as a pregnant silence engulfs them.
Thiers no taking it back now. ‘No, no, no! Why did you say that?!’
It gave him hope, to see that Yuji was there, actually there for him, caressing his hair with something kind, maybe even close to loving? ‘Tch, don’t delude yourself.’ The part of him knowing he deserves this, wants to have him suffer, tell him lies. If there was any possibility that Yuji still loved him, he wanted it squashed.
He wanted more, he wants to know that he’s not the only one still wanting, the only one still hurting over all of this, all that they went through. And if he is, he can die hoping that there is someone better for Yuji out their than him.
“I should have left your ass at the station.” Yuji is able to draw out the words, barely audible to be a whisper, but the silence allows it to be heard.
Sukuna breaks. Not able to hold it back anymore, the scratch at his windpipe and prod at his lungs to much. So he coughs, and coughs, and coughs. Bringing up blood, bloody petals falling into his hand, saliva running down his chin.
Yuji’s eyes blow wide with worry, and he tries to reach out to him. But Sukuna weakly puts out a palm to stop him from reaching out, saying that he will be ok if… he just doesn’t touch him. Yuji falls once more, he can’t do anything for him, and he takes it as a rejection.
Sukuna comes too, evening out his breathing as the pain subsides. He goes to finally look back up at Yuji once more, and, he stops breathing entirely. Tears stream down his face uncontrollably, not looking away from Sukuna.
“Does it hurt you that much! For-” Yuji is yelling now, not caring how loud he is.
“Yes!” Sukuna yells back, Yuji stops and just looks at him.
“It’s killing me being here with you! How much I love you, and still want you!” He clutches at his chest as he feels the pain resurface. “I can’t breathe when I think about you! So I tried to get rid of the thought of you.”
Anger fills within Yuji’s eyes once more. With what he just saw, it’s literally killing him. Sukuna won’t let him do anything and pushes him, so Yuji pushes back. Sukuna says to let him die, to leave him, find someone else, that’s what he wants, he knows its unrequited.
And he does, he leaves him there, to die. Alone.
He hates him, he hates him. Everything Yuji’s had to go through, everything Sukuna put him through. He despises him. Why was he ever so kind?
To the person that broke him, to the person that hurt him so much.
“If it hurts so much, then why did you come back with me?”
At least, that’s what he wanted to say.
All the things he wanted to think. He wanted to yell, he wanted to fight. But it all dies when he looks at Sukuna.
Sukuna just stands there, the silence cast after what he said moments ago, stretching. Out of all things he didn’t expect, seeing Yuji lunge at him was definitely the one that baffled him the most.
Yuji just hugs him, and sobs. That’s all he can really do, his arms circle his middle, and his face is pressed to his chest. He can only hold on and hope that Sukuna won’t try to leave him.
Sukuna quickly reciprocates and his hands wrap around Yuji’s hips, pulling him closer. He nuzzles his nose into Yuji’s fluffy pink locks, and they stay like that, just holding one another.
Yuji leans back and cups Sukuna’s face with both hands squishing his cheeks.
“How could you say that?” Yuji asks between quiet sobs, tears still rolling down his now red cheeks. He looks into Sukuna’s ruby red eyes.
“I love you.” Sukuna says, looking into honey eyes slick with tears, it’s faint, but still heard over Yuji’s sobs. And Yuji, pulls him close, hands still on either side of his face, he pulls till their lips connect. It’s soft, filled with unspoken feelings, and many words never expressed. It’s chaste, only a touch of skin to skin for a few seconds, but to them, it was all they ever wanted.
“I love you, Sukuna.” He says as he pulls away and his hands find their way to Sukuna’s hair, entangled and caressing. Sukuna brings Yuji’s hips impossibly closer till their front to front, and claiming another kiss from him. Opened mouthed and more passionate then the last, their lips moving together and Yuji tugging on his hair.
Sukuna picks him up, Yuji’s arms around his neck and his face pressed to his shoulder. Sukuna walks them over to, what is Yuji’s room, and he carefully places Yuji on his back, on the plush mattress. Sukuna flopping on his side next to Yuji.
They pull each other close, never wanting to let the other go, ever again. Yuji wants another kiss, but he knows Sukuna’s holding himself back. Maybe when he’s sober.
Yuji doesn’t even want to look at the time, just imagining him having to get up tomorrow gives him nightmares. So, he doesn’t, he relishes this moment they have together.
Legs entangled, arms holding each other close, warmth spreading between them. They stay like that, cuddling until sleep claims them, where tomorrow, they will still be in each other arms.