Work Text:
If this was a dream I wonder how grateful I’d be
The first time Itadori Yuuji met Fushiguro Megumi, his producer, was 3 years after his debut. If it wasn’t for him insistently pestering his manager every time he put out new music, perhaps he would’ve never met Megumi.
And once again after a performance, Yuuji brought it up with Nanami again.
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to meet one of the key contributors to my success Nanamin.” Yuuji was already kicking off his dress shoes before he even put his seatbelt on in the van. “I want to thank him in person.”
His manager, Nanami Kento, gestures to Yuuji to put on his seatbelt while handing him a bottle of water. “Mr Fushiguro does not like visitors. I have asked him already and he thanks you for your efforts, but he would prefer if you do not come to see him.”
Ever since he became a singer, Yuuji has had the same producer. Funnily enough, out of all his co-workers, he’s the only one that has never met his producer. It puzzled him how Fushiguro Megumi always picked the right instrumental, the right lyrics, even the right album picture cover for him yet he doesn’t even know what his producer looked like.
Yuuji thinks this is what a soulmate is.
Nanami says he’s overthinking it.
“Please do not immediately get into a dating scandal right after your dating ban was lifted.” While Yuuji rolls his eyes to this reminder, Nanami opens the script to the next variety show Yuuji will be attending to read the details to him.
Despite being rather lonely and sad on his off-days, Yuuji tries to convince Nanami that “Soulmates can be… platonic” and that he is 100% not trying to hit up his producer. Sure, he doesn’t know what Fushiguro Megumi looks like, but occasionally, if they were in a pinch, Yuuji’s song demos would be done by his producer himself.
Lucky for Yuuji, Megumi sounds like a young man his age with the world’s most soothing voice.
Unlucky for Yuuji, voices can be deceiving.
Suddenly, Nanami receives a phone call and Yuuji can already hear the panicked voice of Ichiji on the other end. Apparently, Japan’s current most popular actor Gojo Satoru has gone missing again. Reluctantly, Nanami drops Yuuji off at his apartment and goes back onto the road to find the missing menace.
Yuuji knows it in his heart that Nanami does not get paid enough for this.
The next day, Yuuji has no activities so he wakes up in the second half of the day and jogs down to his entertainment company building for lunch at the cafeteria.
It is NOT because he would like to snoop around in Nanami’s office for Fushiguro Megumi’s contact information.
As he passes by a recording studio, he sees an unfamiliar face inside. It was a young man, probably his age, scribbling down on some sheet music. Yuuji thinks this must be one of the trainees the company recently recruited and he decides to introduce himself to a future colleague.
“You must be new here! Hi, I’m Itadori Yuuji. It’s a pleasure to meet you and I hope we will be working together in the future!” The man in front of him seems to have frozen up upon hearing his words and twisted around slowly like a rusted wind-up doll. Now he feels kind of bad for intruding on this man’s practice time. “Oh, I’m sorry if I disturbed you. I’ll leave you to it! The music looks good!”
The stranger mutters a small “Thank you” as Yuuji walked into the hallway. The words put Yuuji into a halt as he feels he has heard that voice somewhere before.
Thank you all for your hard work.
Holy shit.
It’s Fushiguro Megumi.
His producer always left a message at the end of the demos he records and Yuuji would be lying if he says it did not bring him massive amounts of joy to listen to it on a very stressful and busy day. He turns around with the biggest smile on his face, he sincerely hopes this does not creep his producer out.
“You’re my producer!”
The young man, or should he say Fushiguro Megumi, only nodded slightly. “How are you doing Mr Itadori?”
Mr Itadori? Yuuji was a little taken back by this title as no one has ever called him anything remotely like that. He would like to think of himself as an approachable person but this wasn’t a problem. Maybe Megumi was just really polite.
Heh. Megumi. What a kind name.
“Mr Itadori?” Megumi’s voice snapped Yuuji out of his trance. He felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him and cursed inwardly. What happened to not being creepy?
“Oh sorry. I’m still a little… out of breath… From jogging! That wasn’t meant to be a pick-up line.” Yup. He was fucking this up.
Majorly.
Yuuji did not like the fact he couldn’t tell what kind of expression Megumi had on his face. “Oh and please, call me Yuuji. Even though this is the first time we’ve met, you’ve supported me through my entire career so there’s no need for formalities.”
“Okay Yuuji. Call me Megumi then.”
It was very difficult to get many words out of Megumi but Yuuji wasn’t intimidated by that. If there was anything his fans have taught him about himself, is that he is The Golden Retriever.
And everyone loves a fluffy boy.
Hopefully, Megumi likes fluffy boys.
Yuuji eyed the sheet music Megumi held in his hand. “Is that your new project?” Maybe it was better to start off by talking about their jobs. And he was right. This finally seemed to trigger the talkative part inside Megumi and before he knew it, they had been discussing this project for 40 minutes.
“Man is this what I’ve been missing out on? Fun discussions with my producer!” Yuuji was feeling so invigorated and motivated. Megumi understood him! He was right to believe that they were soulmates. Even if not romantic, Megumi understood him even though sometimes he couldn’t put it into proper words and that was some sort of soulmate right?
Megumi’s lips curved into a small smile and Yuuji thought he went blind for two seconds. It’s a good thing that Megumi hadn’t become a super public figure otherwise Yuuji was seriously worried about his career. His producer was so pretty. He knew so many people that would kill for those long lashes.
“Is there something on my face?”
“Pretty- Pretty much nothing man. I think your eyelash fell though, hold on let me get that.” World’s biggest idiot goes to Itadori Yuuji. Caught red-handed in simping.
To remedy this major embarrassing episode, Yuuji symbolically blew at Megumi’s face from across the table, very inconspicuously. He was smooth.
Like crunchy peanut butter.
Yuuji pretty much begged for Megumi’s phone number when his producer had to leave to sort out some personal matters. He said it was because he’s finally working with someone close to his age and he’s missed having a friend in the workplace.
Fortunately, Megumi was nice enough to give it to him.
Nanami was actually impressed by Yuuji’s ability to acquire Megumi’s phone number and maintain a semi-regular conversation going over text. And Yuuji was impressed with himself.
He managed to find out several things about Megumi over the past few months. Initially, he asked Megumi questions about previous song choices and general work things but eventually, it lapsed into a “hey look at this cloud it looks like a turtle” kind of exchange.
Megumi has an older sister. Anything on the topic of parents is a no-no.
He was born with those eyelashes, there’s no secret serum.
He also had two dogs. One black and one white. Both extremely fluffy and good boys.
Were they competition?
Potentially.
Yuuji could only hope Megumi likes all kinds of dogs.
As he sat in his van, with Nanami reminding him that the charity night event they were attending today would only require him to be there until 10pm, Yuuji wanted to spend the rest of his night doing something other people his age did.
Shooting his shot.
“Hey, Megumi. How early do you sleep?”
Nanami immediately shot him a weird look upon hearing Yuuji voice out his own text messages but before his manager could say anything, Megumi texted back a reply.
Is that just a polite way of saying ‘You up’?
Words. They apparently have multiple meanings. “No. I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out after 10pm today. I miss seeing you in person.”
The message was read and there was no response for a few minutes.
Okay. I’ll see you at that studio.
“Nanamin look! I got a date!” While Yuuji sat there, beaming to himself like a little overexcited light bulb, Nanami was already planning the speech Yuuji has to give at a press conference once the paparazzi catch him just existing.
The night couldn’t pass any slower to Yuuji. He practically felt like he was sitting on needles the whole night and dashed out of the venue as soon as he was dismissed. Nanami had thoughtfully bought him some snacks and drinks for Yuuji to bring to his ‘date’.
--
Even the murky past that I hid away without a word
If you weren’t there, it’d stay murky forever
Yuuji felt like the clock in the studio was probably broken considering he felt like it has only been 10 minutes since they started talking and hanging out but the clock read 2:34am. His head was dizzy but he was having a blast.
He’s wanted to be a singer ever since he was little. For a contract with his label, Yuuji gave up the socialisation and traded his teenage years of aimless fun with hours of music lessons and singing practices. He would be lying if he said he didn’t wish he had more friends his age and felt the joys of a high school romance or teenage rebellion with a tight group of friends.
Especially when his career started to kick off, he would be running around all over the country preparing for performances, interviews, reality shows, not to mention hours and hours in the studio.
To put it simply, Yuuji was lonely.
Especially after his grandpa passed away, Yuuji felt even more lonely.
Nanami was very nice to him, understood the things he wanted to enjoy in life as a young adult and encourages Yuuji to try and experience the normalcy of mundane life as much as possible. He told Yuuji: “You are a child. There are certain things you shouldn’t have to bear at your age.”
Yuuji loved and adored Nanami but there were certain things that he needed in a someone his age that wouldn’t feel the same with Nanami.
But it was fine.
Yuuji found Megumi.
For the first time in a long time, he had a good friend.
And drunk Yuuji REALLY wanted Megumi to know that.
He got up from his seat on the floor and swung an arm over Megumi’s shoulder and pulled him closer, almost toppling the bean bag Megumi was sitting on upon joining him. “Hey man, I just wanted you to know that you’re exactly the kind of friend my gramps would’ve wanted see me with.” He rested his head on Megumi’s shoulder and continued his drunken mumble. “Gramps was always worried I was going to die alone a workaholic with no friends or partner. Well, he can rest easy now that I have you!”
“That’s… very nice of you Yuuji.”
Yuuji was glad Megumi wasn’t opposed to him leaning on his shoulder, he threw his other arm up to embrace Megumi in a sideways hug. He had, however, miscalculated how drunk he was and slowly started to slip down off the bean bag, his head pressed against Megumi’s waist instead.
He was going to push his luck and decided to just throw himself into Megumi’s lap.
Silence.
No shove to the floor.
Well, Yuuji was going to live here like this for the rest of his life then.
More silence followed and Yuuji was beginning to fall asleep when suddenly Megumi spoke up.
“Do you think every parent and guardian wish their kids had a good friend?”
Yuuji turned his body around to look up at Megumi, whose face was a little red from the beer they’ve been drinking and Yuuji got an even better look at those beautiful lashes from this angle. There was something about the way that question that made Yuuji’s thoughts feel even heavier with the alcohol clouding his judgement.
“Good parents and guardians would wish their children had more people that loved them.” It was the best he could come up with to such a serious question. Even though it was a response not so insightful and vague, it seemed to put Megumi into a trance. Not wanting to upset his little friend, Yuuji wanted to sit up and give him a big proper hug, only to whack his head into Megumi’s chin.
He fucked up.
Yuuji quickly rose to his knees and cupped Megumi’s face in his hands, he must have knocked him hard because Megumi had probably bit into his lip causing it to bleed and his eyes were watering from the pain. “Oh god, I’m so sorry.” Yuuji swiped his thumb over to wipe away some of the blood on Megumi’s lip and even in his drunken state, he recognised their faces were dangerously close together.
And he had been squishing Megumi’s cheeks in his hands.
Yuuji quickly relaxes his grip on his friend’s face and thankfully, drunk Megumi loses all his edges and is just staring at Yuuji with watery eyes in confusion.
And in his hundredth moment of drunken courage, Yuuji kissed Megumi.
Maybe not so courageous considering the split seconds their lips met, Megumi winced from the pain and Yuuji quickly pulled away.
The pain from his bleeding lip must have sobered Megumi up a little after the initial shock of being headbutted in the chin by Yuuji because the next second, the blush from drinking expands and Yuuji can almost see the steam coming out of his ears.
“Maybe we can try this again when your lip isn’t bleeding anymore?” Yuuji doesn’t get a verbal response from Megumi but he saw the small nod.
--
I loved you more than I thought.
I will never forget it, that I am sure of
It was difficult to fight the pain of not being able to see his boyfriend whenever he wanted. Which was every day for Yuuji. All his fans notice he was a bit down in his recent reality programs appearances and seemed to perk up a lot on his off days.
Every chance he got, Yuuji rushed over to Megumi’s house or they met at the little studio where he almost maimed his boyfriend.
Despite Yuuji’s guilt, Megumi continued to joke about how “life does find a way”, as apparently, if that had left a scar, Megumi would look just like his father.
If it were up to him, Yuuji would let everyone know he was in a relationship that made him the happiest person in the world. But he didn’t want Megumi to face the backlash and make Nanami’s life miserable.
Even he wanted people to know, Yuuji didn’t want it to be from a late-night paparazzi stalking to expose their privacy.
His phone was blowing up from the social media notifications and Nanami’s already gotten a few calls from brands cancelling their contract with him.
And now here he was, sitting in Megumi’s living room, clinging onto his dogs while both of them shut off from the world. Paparazzi, angry fans and even the neighbours would show up near Megumi’s house, whether it's taking pictures, throwing random things at the house or just gossiping in plain daylight, Yuuji was so tired of it and he felt awful that he dragged Megumi into this.
“I’m sorry you have to go through this.” Yuuji intertwines his fingers with Megumi’s, he hoped this way, Megumi could feel more supported. “Don’t worry, I’ll be here with you. If they try anything I will throw hands.”
“Don’t do that.” Megumi smacked his forehead with his free hand and sighed. “I don’t care about the squatters outside my house. You’re losing fans, your brand deals, maybe even your career by dating me. What if one day you regret it all?”
Yuuji squeezed Megumi’s hand tighter. “I wanted to be a singer. As long as I have you and myself, I’ll be happy!”
For some reason, this doesn’t seem to ease Megumi’s nerves. “I know but Yuuji, you’re a star. When you’re on stage performing, you shine brighter than the sun. That’s how I fell in love with you. I’m just saying, you deserve the world and what if you lose it because of me?”
“Well, stars are just big rocks in the sky! Instead of being a big shiny rock I’d rather be a tiny pebble in your garden.”
And for the first time in days, Yuuji saw true happiness light up Megumi’s face and he began laughing. “Yuuji… That’s not how stars work.” When Megumi finally calms down, he links his fingers with Yuujis again.
“I think I know why my dad said mom was the light of his life.” It came out almost like a whisper but Yuuji managed to catch it.
“And why is that babe?”
Megumi looks at him in a way that makes Yuuji all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside. He had everything he could ever want right in front of him. Who cares about a few brand deals and contracts, he finally made peace with his regrets as a teen and Yuuji knew that with his soulmate by his side, he can bounce back from anything.
“Because despite all the pestering idiots outside who have disrupted my sleep for days on end, the news seemingly giving us no hope for the future, I want you to know this, Yuuji.
Even now, you are my light.”