Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

I — Itadori Yuuji — am in danger.

Well, these kinds of things happen.

It wasn’t a noteworthy day when it happened, per say. Just that I came to realize a horrifying truth to my reality, one that could potentially threaten my very existence and thus shook me to my core. I glanced to my side, the usually empty seat beside me now occupied by a mass of muscles and black ink, red eyes meeting my own brown ones before they shifted back to pay attention to our professor still doing his lecture up by the board.

I continue to ignore the person beside me, clicking my pen absentmindedly until someone tapped their finger on the desk within my vision.

“Hey.” A low, smooth voice called out quietly, “Were you here last week? I was absent so if it’s alright, can I copy your notes?”

You were here last week, bastard. You sat beside me then, too.

“Sorry, I use loose leaf paper and placed them in another binder back at home.” I lied, my binder sitting inside my bag comfortably.

I glanced at the disappointed look on my classmate who sighed, “Ah, I see. Sorry to bother you then.”

Don’t think this is over, buddy. I scanned the lecture hall until my eyes landed on a certain quiet fellow. Kamo is kind and dependable, he’s a good fit. With a brief glance at my deskmate, I leaned over and tapped on Kamo’s shoulder.

You don’t mind being my sacrifice, right?

“Hey, you were here last week, right? Seems like this guy wasn’t here and needs last week’s notes.” I said. Kamo smiled and nodded, making a gesture that I understood to be switching seats and started picking up my stuff. My former deskmate was surprised, though he made an effort to not let it show too much on his face as he watched me move away from him.

The heated gaze from those ruby red eyes was palpable, trying my best not to give him any attention.

I wish the two of you happiness.

… is what I’d like to say, if I hadn’t witnessed a fight happening between Kamo and some dark-haired senior I’ve never seen before, noting the idol goods bag hanging from his shoulder.

“W-Who is this guy?! Noritoshi, please explain this to me!” Shouted the senior, a hand gripping Kamo’s forearm tightly while the latter glared at him, “He’s my classmate, that’s it!” The Tattooed Muscles guy stood off to the side, trying to explain he had only just borrowed some notes.

Ah, so Kamo already had someone.

Woops.

Sorry.

So, as I said before, I came to realize a horrifying truth to my reality.

My life since I was young had always puzzled me in various ways, ones that only now made sense after I came to that certain epiphany of what was going on.

Such as, for example, the increasing amount of unbelievably handsome guys — often characterized with flowers appearing behind them — or the girls having little to no features at all. The way conversations would shift from finding girls hot to being able to do it with a guy. Often enough, I’d also find my friends being dragged away by other guys, for no apparent reason.

Today, I concluded, after having almost been subjected to such a love flag, that I have come to the terrible realization I am living in a world of manga.

More specifically, a BL manga.

All the puzzle pieces finally fit inside my head, and at first, I was relieved.

I’m not particularly good looking in any way. Athletic, yes, but I wouldn’t say noteworthy. If anything, I’m a simple mob character with no particular interest in guys whatsoever.

How am I so sure?

Because I like tall girls with big butts like Jennifer Lawrence.

But after buying a whole box worth of BL manga online and reading all of them within one weekend, I realized the flaw in my logic.

For one, I realized I lived in this world after almost setting off a flag with a classmate and two, there lies a certain trope that’s popular even today. It’s something present even in regular drama shows that my mother often loved to watch during the afternoon, crying her heart out with piles of tissues in front of her.

“Jun-pyo-sama!” She had cried as I eyed the TV from the kitchen that time, a glass of chilled tea in hand.

A k-drama of an average girl who meets and falls in love with a handsome guy.

I’m sure you’ve heard of this before. Many times, even.

Yes, even in BL manga, most protagonists could be described as plain or average in looks. Yet for some odd reason, the handsome guy will still fall in love with them and find them to be the most beautiful creature in the whole world.

Why?

Do girls really like this even in BL too?

But still, now that I’m fully equipped with information regarding the reality that I now have to live in, there is no way in hell I’m going to become gay. I have my own life plan I want to follow and if it means having to use various methods to avoid these flags, then so be it.

Bring it on, BL world.

“So… i-if a friend of mine was asked out recently a-and they used to be close friends as kids…”

Ah, Megumi is done for.

Both of us were sitting at a booth in a fast food restaurant, having lunch here before heading back to campus for our evening classes. It had been a mildly boring day so far, emphasizing on the mildly part with how dazed and distracted one of my best friends of many years was.

You might be thinking that I wouldn’t know who this close friend happened to be but unfortunately, I do.

During the many years I’ve known Megumi, he’d often blurt out about how ‘Satoru’ is doing or how something would suddenly remind him of ‘Satoru’. How pretty his eyes were or how talented he was. How he often took care of Megumi and then left to go abroad when they were kids.

Are you a broken record or something, Megumi? I already know both of your backstories without having ever met the dude, damn it.

“Must be your imagination or something. Could just be a misunderstanding and all that.” I answered.

Megumi looked at me in confusion, wide eyes blinking. He likely hadn’t expected this kind of reaction, now at a loss as his mouth opened and closed like a fish, trying to come up with some kind of a response. His fingers fiddled with the ends of his straw, unsure of what to do next.

Unfortunately, as we live in a BL world, Megumi has gotten the short end of the stick and is, what you may call, a very beautiful person. With clear skin and soft hair, naturally sleepy-looking emerald eyes that scream sensuality and long lashes, as well as being impossibly thin — often he complained about how I could grow abs and he couldn’t — he was made to be part of a BL pair.

A person of his caliber will definitely be paired with another exceptionally handsome person a.k.a the so-called close friend of his.

I’m sorry, Megumi. Your fate has been sealed and there’s nothing else I can do for you.

We finished our lunch and were about to head back to campus when a tall man appeared behind Megumi, a long arm wrapped around his shoulders.

“Megumi-chan!” He exclaimed cheerfully, bringing my best friend closer to him. Megumi blushed, “S-Satoru! What are you doing here?!”

The man — so this is Satoru — only grinned jovially and nuzzled him, until finally he turned his attention to me and god, my eyes began to hurt from how blindingly handsome he was. With translucent white hair and the most vibrant blue eyes ever, hidden behind sunglasses drooping down the bridge of his nose, he was the very essence of a BL main character. The roses popping up behind him weren’t any better.

Can you stop being so dazzling, please? It’s hurting my eyes.

“Hey there, nice to meet ya! I’m Gojo Satoru, and you are?” He asked, his cold gaze piercing despite how outwardly friendly he was being.

I gulped, “Uhm, I’m Itadori Yuuji.”

“Oh, so you’re the Yuuji I’ve been hearing so much about!” If looks could kill, he’d have done me over several times with how sharp they got. He stepped closer to me until we were directly face-to-face, his grin growing wider but eyes colder with each passing second. He was definitely sizing me up, the way his eyes would move up and down, “You don’t seem like much, Yuuji-kun~”

At this, Megumi tugged the tall man back by the collar, glaring, “He’s just a friend, Satoru! Lay off him!”

Gojo went back to hanging over Megumi, pouting and whining childishly. Of course, it didn’t take long for them to get into an argument of some kind, one that was definitely filled with unnecessary sexual tension and Megumi being dragged away by Gojo, probably to some love hotel where they’ll fuck and talk about feelings or something.

Seriously, can you not use me as some sort of plot device for your love story? It’s annoying.

Whatever, I’ll go back to campus alone then. I wish you two the best in your relationship, Megumi.

Say, for example, you were caught between a rock and a hard place.

You wouldn’t want to be in the middle of a difficult situation where you find yourself becoming a third party, right?

So why is it that I’ve now become a tool used to further the development of romantic relationships, staring dully at the sight of my friend and his love interest as they flirt in front of me with the energy of young high schoolers with budding crushes. We had been trying to do our assignment at the campus library when Gojo showed up from out of nowhere.

“Satoru, I need to focus here! This assignment is important!” Megumi cried out, trying to detach Gojo from himself.

“But Megumi-chan! I’m obviously more important than Yuuji-kun over here!” The older man whined, arms wrapped around Megumi, “Yuuji-kun just wants you all to himself, doesn’t he?”

Blue eyes glanced coldly at me, sending shivers down my spine.

Oi, don’t plan my murder please.

Megumi clicked his tongue, “For the last time, Yuuji is just a friend! Let go of me!”

Yes, I’m just a friend.

A friend with an assignment that’s worth a lot of our grades, Megumi. You bastard.

It appears that their story had developed the last time I saw them together by the fast food restaurant, Megumi coming to class the next day with a slight limp and noticeable marks on his neck. That’s fine and dandy, but I can’t take this charade any longer.

“I’m gonna find another book, be right back.” I said, getting off my seat.

I try my hardest to tune out the sounds of ‘ah’ and ‘Satoru, not here’ that began the moment I left. You couldn’t have at least waited till I was out of earshot?

I walk through the rows of bookshelves, taking my sweet time since I would rather not witness my friend and his love interest going at it if I were to come back sooner. I had a feeling they won’t be done by the time I do come back though.

Absentmindedly scanning through the names on the book spines, hands in my hoodie, I soon stopped in my tracks.

“W-We’re gonna get caught if you keep this up…!” Someone whispered harshly.

Another person hummed and a zipper winding down was heard, followed by a muffled voice trying to not moan.

“We won’t if you keep quiet.”

I left one sex scene to run into another sex scene. Great.

More flurried sounds of muffled moans and restrained voices resounded, leaving me wondering how no one ever hears this considering how loud they actually were. This is a public area, you assholes.

I took a step forward and the sounds stopped.

“S-Someone’s here!!” One person whispered. I can hear you, bro.

The other hushed them quietly and I took a deep breath, pursing my lips as I continued down the shelves whilst ignoring the sounds of skin slapping that continued despite them being aware of my presence now.

“Y-You idiot-! Kento-!” The voice yelped, “T-They’re gonna hear us!”

“Then better keep it down then, Suguru.”

I hear you two loud and clear.

The further I went down the hall of bookshelves, the louder the noises became until I heard the final climax.

By the time I came back to where Megumi and Gojo were, both equally red in the face and visibly panting, I gave an excuse that I was needed at home and left the area.

These two went back to continuing their little thing right as I left. How horny are you two? Where does your stamina come from?

I guess we’ll finish Professor Nanami’s assignment some other time.

I need to go bleach my brain for a while.

This is the world of BL that I live in.

BL has a predominantly female reader fanbase, many of them also likely to be writers or artists of BL content. However, there exists a minority of male readers who enjoy BL. If female readers were called ‘fujoshi’, then male readers were to be called ‘fudanshi’. They are typically closeted and rarely will you ever find them out in the wild, amongst the rotten girls who loiter the BL section of many bookstores.

That doesn’t mean that one can’t be too careful, though.

“Hmm, so you read these kinds of things!”

I froze, phone in hand and food in my mouth, the BL cover on my screen clear for all to see. I glance to my side to see Yoshino — I think we had English together — taking a seat next to me, an excited grin plastered on his face as if to say he had found a fellow comrade.

Shit.

“I never took you for someone into this kind of thing, Itadori. You’ve always been really unassuming, but maybe that’s just your front?”

He kept on babbling about something or other to me, all of it white noise to the sheer horror that I’d been caught with BL on my phone.

Ever since my epiphany, I tried my hardest to keep up with any related BL works to keep up with the world I had to live in. However, I hadn’t been reading BL at the time and the tab had popped up the moment I opened my web browser on my phone, the BL cover — two guys looking at each other angrily, this seems to be a common type of cover — for the whole world to perceive.

I began to sweat, especially when Yoshino started wiggling his eyebrows at me with that sort of fudanshi-knowing look.

“Don’t worry, buddy! I won’t tell anyone about this! ” He proclaims with such conviction.

This was bad, any longer and the fudanshi label would be slapped onto me, thus turning me into a notable character in this godforsaken world. My mind was going haywire, trying not to visibly panic until an idea popped into my mind.

I swallowed my meal, cleared my throat to catch his attention then looked sheepishly at him, “Aww, man! This is embarrassing, haha!”

This caught him a bit off guard, even more so when I wrapped an arm around him to bring him closer, Yoshino becoming flustered at the sudden closeness.

“Ya see, there’s this girl I like at my part-time job and she’s into this whole BL thing!” I said, my voice a tad louder than usual and garnering some attention in our surroundings, all while patting him on the shoulder, “I was looking it up cause I thought maybe I could get closer to her this way. Say, do you know what this is about? Is it good?”

Yoshino jumped off his seat and nervously looked away from me, “A-Ah, sorry! I forgot I had something else to do!”

He disappeared as quickly as he came, his retreating back a victory in my book. I congratulated myself as I got up as well, putting my cafeteria tray away.

“As if I’ll let this world get a hold of me.” I said to myself.

Fudanshi - 0, Me - 1.

Yoshino, after running away, stopped at a corner and covered his face with his hands, red to his ears.

“I can’t believe I almost outed myself just now. That was close!” He leaned back on the wall, hands in his pockets, “I thought for sure Itadori was one of us since he had this air to him, but guess I should know better. Ahh, I wish I lived in a BL world!”

This is a BL world.

“Huh? What?” Yoshino looked around him, wondering where the voice came from, “Was it just my imagination?”

I told you, this is a BL world. Look over there.

Puzzled, Yoshino wasn’t sure where exactly to look until his eyes landed on two guys off in the distance. Yoshino moved closer to observe them, peeking from behind a tree.

One stood still, staring at a flyer pinned to one of the campus boards and the other was a few feet away from them, staring at the taller guy in awe before pumping himself up, hopping in his feet as if he was preparing himself for something. The tall one had dark hair tied up in ponytails, glued to the spot while the other had dyed blond hair.

“You’ve been staring at the flyer for a while, interested in escape rooms?” The Blond-haired guy asked, hands behind his back and a hopeful look in his eyes.

The tall guy glanced aside then back to the flyer, “A little, I went to this a while back with some friends.” He finally moved, putting a hand into his pocket and started to walk away, the other hand waving at him, “You should try it some time, it’s fun.”

Blond-haired guy’s shoulders slumped down slightly, “Y-Yeah, maybe.” He said to himself, sighing.

Yoshino sighed too, leaning back on the tree, “Yeah, I thought as much. There’s no way BL situations would actually happen.”

Think again.

Flinching, Yoshino scanned the area again, wondering where that voice was coming from until he heard something. Peeking around the tree again, he saw the tall guy had come back.

“Hey, you free right now, Naoya? I was about to head somewhere but things came up and it didn’t happen.”

The blond-haired guy — Naoya — perked up immediately and nodded, “Y-Yeah, I am!”

After frowning the whole time, the tall guy finally smiled slightly, “Cool, let’s go do this then.” He said, nodding at the flyer.

Naoya glanced at the flyer, surprised, “I thought you’ve done this already, Chousou?” The guy — Chousou — shrugged, “Yeah, but only one room so far. There are other types of rooms I still haven’t tried yet. You in?”

Ecstatic, the blond nodded and they left, Chousou sneakily grabbing Naoya’s hand who glanced at it then blushed.

Yoshino couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed and tried so hard to keep himself in check. His body was shaking in excitement at having seen an actual BL situation.

“This is a BL world! Yes!” He exclaimed happily, “I’m in paradise!”

Off in the distance behind him, I held my phone in hand after sending a message to my brother, Chousou, that I was too busy with assignments to hang out with him.

“Told you this is a BL world.” I said with a roll of my eyes, “But it ain’t no paradise.”

I wish my brother and his lover a happy life.

I had mentioned before about how girls had little to no features at all.

This wasn’t a complete lie, many of the girls around me had invisible features and I could not recall any particular stand out details about them — save for their huge asses but that’s besides the point.

In this world, while many girls had blurry appearances, there were a few specific girls that do appear to have features and thus, are a notable character. Many of these girls are either relatives or close friends of said characters in BL pairs, all for the purpose of becoming a driving force for said BL pairs to get together.

One such character is my other best friend, Kugisaki Nobara.

With her notable sharp looks and her notable personality, she stands out between Megumi and I for being a girl with actual notable features.

Yes, a very notable character.

Often, these female characters would have their own ulterior motive or hidden story as to why they are such an ally to BL pairs; either they are a fujoshi who wants to use these situations as fodder for their doujinshi content, or they would end up in a pair with another girl.

Nobara was the latter with an ulterior motive.

“You should go after Gojo-senpai! You’re not a wuss, Megumi!” She had said to our best friend, Megumi, after he had yet another fight — do you ever notice how often these BL couples get into arguments yet are supposed to be a happy couple we root for? — with Gojo about something or other, I wasn’t really paying attention.

Megumi hesitated briefly, glancing at both of us before nodding and ran after Gojo.

Good grief, this is way too dramatic for me.

As he left, Nobara chuckled darkly beside me.

“Good, good. Then you can repay me by putting in a good word about me to Maki-senpai and take me shopping.”

Ah, so that’s it.

I briefly thought about our senior — Zen’in Maki — and how attached Nobara was to her.

Well, not my problem.

Thus, you can see that certain girls play a part in this BL world I live in.

Is this the collective intent of fujoshis who enjoy BL, I wonder? To be a part of the story without being fully involved. Whatever the case, I apologize to Nobara whose whole existence was made to be a support character for our friend, Megumi.

May the future be bri-

“Hey!” I cried out, eyes narrowing at the guy who bumped into me.

However, I felt my breath hitched.

Red eyes turned towards me, widening slightly then back to normal, humming, “Sorry.”

Both of us stared back at each other, nervous and unsure of what to do. Can you leave already, dude?

“Yuuji!” Nobara called out, tugging at my arm, “Come on, you promised me that we’d go shopping together!”

Letting her tug me away, I nodded at the guy and walked off, trailing behind my friend.

I sighed in relief once class was over, packing up my things.

You might think this was a sigh of relief that class was over, or a sigh of relief that I can go home and get some rest for the weekend. But you’re dead wrong, as this sigh of relief is neither of those.

It’s a sigh of relief that I had survived another week of this BL world without turning gay. Thankfully, no flags had been set to my knowledge and I’m still in the clear.

So dear parents, please rejoice.

Checking my phone to see a message from Chousou saying he’d be out tonight with a friend — I snorted at this. Yeah right, ‘friend’ — and made my way out the classroom when I felt a hand pat me on the shoulders.

“Hey, you free, Itadori? A bunch of us guys are going out drinking, you should come.” Said Okkotsu, popping up from behind me.

Now, one could propose that the best course of action here is to avoid going to said drinking party with friends as to not get involved with any sudden BL pairing. However, this is actually wrong and in doing so, you’ll get labelled as a mysterious lone wolf that is to be admired by guys from afar.

No, I don’t think I’m handsome enough to even play that role.

So what should one do in this case?

“Sure, let’s go then!” I answered, keeping it brief and casual, becoming part of the background with the rest of the mob characters.

As the both of us left the building, Okkotsu soon spotted a figure sitting on a bench and approached him, “Hey there!”

The man looked up, piercing red eyes going back and forth between the two of us.

“What?” He asked, voice gruff and low.

Okkotsu hardly seemed perturbed, “We’re about to go drinking with some of the other guys. You should join too, Ryoumen.”

The big guy only narrowed his eyes, picking up his stuff then walked away. So your name was Ryoumen? The more you know.

“Sorry, not interested.”

Flipping his leather jacket onto his shoulder, he casually ran his fingers through his hair, showing off his well-toned physique and tattoos that crawled all over his arm and face.

Here comes the lone wolf. I could hear girls swooning in the distance as they admired this handsome hunk of a man.

Give me a break. What part of this guy is attractive?

Okkotsu sighed, “A lot of us have been trying to invite Ryoumen to join us for drinks since we started university, but he’s hardly ever opened up even a little.'' He suddenly explained, catching me off guard with an eyebrow raised. “I heard he came back from overseas, a lot of the girls think he’s really cool in that mysterious kind of way. Don’t think he’s dating anyone despite how popular he is but I heard he’s rejected a lot of girls who confessed to him though.'' Crossing his arms, he continued, “Must be nice to be super popular like that, girls just come flocking to you. I’ve also heard he gets talent scouts coming after him daily since he’s so handsome and all, plus he has really good grades too. He really has it all.”

Oi, oi, oi. Why did you suddenly start talking like a mob character? I didn’t even say anything and you just gave me a brief summary of him. This paragraph is a little bit longer than what’s written so far, you know!

I simply nodded my head as the unimportant mob character that I am.

This is going to be a long night.

Now, I love drinking as much as the next person. Not too much that I could be considered a drunk but enough to be considered a good drinking partner, I would sometimes hang out with my parents, my grandpa and brother at home on some nights with a can of beer in hand too.

Those are some good times.

But with these drinking parties alongside my classmates, I remain vigilant for any BL flags being raised. Many main characters start to pop up in these drinking parties and thus, as a mob character, all I need to do is to simply exist in the background while pushing these flags towards other people.

“It’s been a week since Rika dumped me…!” Cried out Okkotsu, head buried in his arms and drunk out of his mind, a half-empty pint of beer held in one hand.

Like, for example, a guy who had recently been dumped by a girl.

Inumaki patted him on the back and pushed another pint of beer towards the crying man, who only thanked him and downed the rest of his first beer and latched a hand onto the next. Typing into his phone, Inumaki said, ‘Hey, we’re at a drinking party. Forget about Rika and drink the tears away!’

A seemingly quiet guy with a hidden playful streak.

Beside me, Ryoumen was busy eating a bowl of edamame, almost bored out of his mind.

“Is the meat coming or not?” He wondered to himself, his pint of beer left untouched.

A hidden handsome lone wolf.

In the end, you still came with us. Whatever happened to not being interested?

Kamo piped up, “Don’t go too hard on the drinks, do it in moderation.”

Are you the motherly character now?

Thus, the night continued on, all while I merged with the background and made sure I stayed far away from the spotlight as possible.

The real trouble comes after the party.

“Okkotsu-san, time to get up! We’re all leaving! Okkotsu-san!” Kamo shook the faint Okkotsu’s shoulders, currently lying dead after going at it hard with the beer. Ryoumen merely raised an eyebrow, arms crossed, “He’s seriously gone.” Here is main character no.1.

I could just as well leave here and nothing will happen but just to be safe…

“Hey, Inumaki, you know where he lives, right?” I called out to him right as he finished paying for our meals. He slightly narrowed his eyes at me then at Okkotsu before sighing, approaching the drunk figure to pick him up with an arm around his shoulder.

Thanks for being my sacrifice, Inumaki.

Leaving the restaurant alongside Kamo and Ryoumen, someone was already waiting for Kamo the second we stepped outside.

“Noritoshi!” Ah, it’s that senior again.

“Oh, Aoi-san, what are you doing here?” Kamo approached him, at least this time not as mad as the last time I’d seen them together. He was almost happy, even.

This Aoi person gave him a sheepish look, a hand scratching the back of his head nervously, “I kinda saw you from the window just now a-and thought I might as well wait for you to come out. You heading home?”

Kamo nodded, smiling, “Yeah, we’re pretty much done here. You?”

“Y-Yeah, just got off work and all.” Aoi glanced at Kamo up and down, then at the ground, “It’s dangerous at night, let me take you home, at least.”

God, can you two be any more insufferable? Go be lovey-dovey somewhere else already.

I started to walk away, done with the night as well when all of a sudden, it began to rain. Casually, I took out my umbrella and continued on heading home.

This morning the weather forecast said there was only a 30% chance of precipitation. Glancing back at Inumaki and Okkotsu who finally came out of the restaurant, I wonder if this will be a troublesome or blessed rain for them.

Whatever the case, may the rain guide you two BL couples.

Right as I took a step forward to finally leave, someone came into step beside me. Glancing to my right, Ryoumen was beside me with his own umbrella, red eyes staring back at me again. We seem to be doing this a lot and I’m not sure how I feel about this.

“I’m heading this way towards the train station. You?” He asked.

I gripped my umbrella, turning away from him, “I’m heading this way too.”

What is this? Well, we aren’t sharing an umbrella so it should be fine, right?

Both of us walked towards the train station in silence, only the sound of the rain as our company. The tension was nerve wracking, trying my hardest not to pay too much attention to Ryoumen. Thankfully, the walk was uneventful and I managed to part ways with Ryoumen once we reached the crowded station area.

“Itadori!” Someone called out, grabbing me by the forearm and forcing me to face Ryoumen again.

“Eh- uh- what?” I asked, confused and shocked.

Ryoumen studied my face for a while, as if trying to find the words then shook his head, “Never mind, forget it.”

Letting go of my arm, I watched him back up a few steps and nervously pushed his hair back from his face, a little wet since he had ran after me in the rain with his umbrella now unfolded and hanging off his arm from the looped string. He turned back to the train station only to then turn back towards me again, opening and closing his mouth like a fish trying to breathe.

“You…” He started, taking a deep breath, “Are you… going out with anyone?”

Wait, what?

“Uhhh, no.” I answered, utterly lost.

“I see.” Was all he said, “See you then.”

And then he left. Just like that.

I stared at his back and before I knew it, I was suddenly back at home, laying on my bed and staring at the ceiling.

Ah, my head hurts, I think I’ll leave this up to future me and go to sleep.

It was one of those weekends where nothing happened. I was at home watching TV while my parents were chatting happily at the dinner table about something or other.

Chousou came down not long after and sat beside me, quiet and in deep concentration over something.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was having problems with.

“Hey, little brother.” He started, turning towards me and getting comfortable. This is going to be a long talk, isn’t it?

“What’s up, big bro?” I asked, petting our pet cat, Panda. Don’t ask why we named him Panda, he just is.

For a second, he hesitated, unsure if he should talk about whatever he was going through but he made up his mind, judging from the small nod and continued.

“So, say for example, a friend of mine was very close with this other friend of mine and they get along well.” Really? We’re playing with this friend bullshit thing again? I thought I was over this with Megumi and now you too, Chousou?

I nodded, urging him to keep going.

“But this friend, they’re very… friendly, shall we say and even though my friend and this friend have done a few things together like maybe going on dates, they’re still not together.” At this, Chousou turned his head away from me, his cheeks colored in pink. Don’t turn into a maiden now, big bro. Clearing his throat, he continued, “So my friend isn’t sure if my other friend is into them or if they’re just being nice.”

Narrowing my eyes at my brother, I asked, “Well, what sort of things have they done?”

“Ah, well, maybe going to restaurants or watching movies together. Holding hands, maybe even… a kiss or two….”

That’s totally a date, you damn BL couple. There’s a limit to how ignorant you can be, damn it.

This is almost an insult to my single life, when my own brother has a more flourishing love life than I do.

Tsk.

“And you’re asking me this?” I asked, the petty sarcasm dripping off my voice.

I gave him an exasperated look, hoping he’d catch my drift and realize how dumb this was. The answer was literally right in front of him and he still had the nerve to ask me, his little brother, for some kind of advice. I may be a mob character but again, there’s a limit and he’s getting there.

After a few seconds of thinking, his cheeks turned redder than before and cleared his throat, the realization dawning on him.

“A-Actually, I think I understand something now.” He said, getting off the couch, though he did briefly stop to ruffle my head, “Thanks, Yuuji.”

I only hummed gruffly at him.

Don’t use me as part of your BL love story next time.

One prominent thing with BL was that couples could be going at it at any time of the day, regardless of what’s going on later.

Let’s say, for example, your friend decided to do an impromptu home drinking party and had asked for you to buy a few things on your way to their place. Without a list on what to get, I called them up and was greeted with a situation I never wanted to hear right up close to my ear ever again.

“Oi, Okkotsu, what do you need me to get?”

The sounds of restrained ‘ah’ and ‘oh’ is something I do not miss. Thanks for tainting my brain, library from many paragraphs ago.

“J-Just a couple of things…” He said, listing off a few items while he and Inumaki go at it like wild animals.

You’re very loud, you know.

Inumaki had always been silent but now all I could hear was his indecent voice moaning pleasure as Okkotsu hardly stopped his pace, judging from the sounds of skin slapping skin that I could also obviously hear.

“Ah, I got it. I’ll be there in two hours or so with everything then.” I answered, pointedly ignoring everything going on in the background.

“ … Toge, be quiet or he’ll hear you… ah, we’ll see you in two hours then!”

I stared at my phone once we hung up, wanting to forget everything.

Well, either way, I gave them two hours to finish their business. That’s more than enough for them, right? Even they couldn’t possibly think to keep on going at it up until the very last second, right?

Right?

I was very wrong.

“A-Ah, welcome, you guys!” Greeted Okkotsu, breathless and red in the face, tugging his jacket onto his shoulder. Inumaki stood behind him, equally as exhausted as him, eyes off to the side in embarrassment while patting his hair down to cover his flushed cheeks.

Were you two still at it right as we rang the doorbell? Are you kidding me?

“You guys don’t look too good, are you alright?” Asked Kamo, concerned, “We can do this some other time, it’s not a problem.”

The two of them dismissed his concern gently, ushering everyone to come in while sneakily taking peeks at each other. I pointedly ignored them, taking off my shoes then walked in, setting down the plastic bag of ingredients for the home drinking party.

Settling down at the kotatsu, Kamo and Ryoumen joined me while Okkotsu and Toge lingered in the kitchen, hastily preparing everything since they decided to spend their goddamn time fucking each other instead of actually doing the thing they planned for tonight.

Assholes.

Kamo and Ryoumen divulged into small talk about school, leaving me to sink into the background as the mob character I am. The less I talk, the better. I’m just here as background decoration for all of you.

I was perfectly content drinking by myself, completely uninvolved in the minutiae of my surroundings.

As long as I don’t leave myself vulnerable to any flags, I was free to drink as much as I pleased in this setting. Kamo has that Aoi person, Okkotsu and Inumaki were a thing, and Ryoumen…

We don’t talk about Ryoumen.

Inumaki soon joined us at the kotatsu, kicked out of the kitchen by Okkotsu after apparently trying to steal some snacks — and sneakily grope him, don’t think I didn’t see where your hands were going, Inumaki — and turned his attention to us with a cheeky smile.

‘Hey, any of you guys have a girlfriend?’ He asked.

Kamo sheepishly smiled and shook his head, “No, I’m just not interested.” While Ryoumen simply let out a gruff, “No.”

Inumaki typed something and I could hear a notification ring in the kitchen, looking over to see Okkotsu looking at his phone then glared at Inumaki, the quiet fiend grinning at him as if they hadn’t just used the bed a few feet away from us for various activities.

“Obviously no, dumbass.” Okkotsu shouted from the kitchen, back to focusing on preparing the ingredients. Inumaki only grinned even wider, a playful demon despite the lack of spoken words.

All of you win an Oscar for being such great liars, you little shits.

I’m the only one living in reality here.

I was about to take a sip of my beer when Inumaki tugged at my sleeve and pointed at his phone, the earlier question still written on notepad app.

“No.” I shook my head.

As if I could even get a girlfriend normally. Damn you, BL world.

Downing my can of beer, I let out a satisfied sigh, deciding to drink my troubles away and focus on not thinking about this whole BL reality I have to live with. Besides, I know my tropes, as long as I adhere to them and be careful, I’ll be fine.

So let’s drink it all away and forget about everything.

I closed my eyes and chugged down my beer.

“… out of it…”

I hear voices.

“… we do now…”

“… take… home…”

Everything is spinning, I closed my eyes shut firmly.

“… do it… leave now…”

I suddenly felt lighter.

Warm. I thought.

Burying my face into whatever it was, I felt comfortable.

I picked up the scent of apple and cinnamon, humming.

“... nice scent…” I mumbled right as I blacked out.

Opening my eyes, I find myself staring at an unfamiliar white ceiling.

I quickly sat up, observing my surroundings to find myself in an equally unfamiliar bedroom, one that was furnished with high quality furniture, modern and minimal. Looking down, I see that I was still thankfully fully clothed. However, I had an obviously expensive blanket now pooling on my lap after I sat up and panicked.

“Oh no…” I started, fearing for my life.

I had set off a flag.

I didn’t even need to see anyone to know I set off a flag.

Right as I began to sweat in panic over my dumb past self, the door on the other side of the room opened to reveal Ryoumen, shirtless and wet though thankfully wearing pants and a towel on his head. He must’ve just gotten out of the shower, not that this makes it any better for me.

“Ah, you’re awake.” He pointed out. Obviously, I am.

I gripped the blanket in my hands tightly, wondering how I can escape from this fresh hell.

Nodding, I turned away from him, “What time is it?” I asked.

“Early, there’s still time before the first train.” He answered.

I heard the muffled pattering of feet on carpet, approaching my side of the bedroom until I felt a hand gently brushing through my hair, though I still tried my best to not look at him directly.

“Are you alright now? You passed out last night after drinking yourself silly.” Explained Ryoumen, an undiscernable expression on his face.

I pursed my lips and moved my head away, carefully swatting at his hand, “I-I’m fine.”

Getting up from the bed, I realized I had gotten up too quickly and the vertigo hit me, falling forward. I land onto something warm and opened my eyes, realizing I landed right into his arms and onto his toned bare chest, catching a whiff of his apple and cinnamon soap. I felt my face heating up, finding myself staring up at him since he was taller and bigger than me.

This world is fucking with me right now. This whole string of events could only happen in this BL world.

“S-Sorry.” I quickly apologized, pulling away before anything else could happen. Unfortunately, Ryoumen brought me back close to him again and leaned down till our faces were only a few inches apart, a hand finding its way to hold the side of my head.

“Do you…” He started, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes staring back at me so intensely, “… do you… not recognize me at all?”

Okay, what?

Now I’m confused.

“I- huh?” I asked dumbly, narrowing my eyes at him. What is even going on now? “Uhm, I don’t think so.” I answered honestly.

Ryoumen shut his mouth tightly, appearing to be thinking hard about something before he spoke again.

“Kuu-chan.”

“What?”

I stared back at him like he grew two heads, still so confused.

“That’s what you used to call me when we were kids.”

My brain malfunctioned. The information slowly sinking in.

After several minutes, I could hear a ding in my head.

“Wait, Kuu-chan was a gi-” I stopped.

Ryoumen gave me a weird look but I had to stop myself.

Oh no.

Oh nononononono.

Oh holy fucking God no.

I realized my mistake.

I was too late.

When Ryoumen opened his mouth, I had already known what he was going to say. I didn’t even need to guess, this was something present in many of the BL mangas I read. Of all the BL cliches to have happened, of all the flags I could have triggered, of all the dumb luck in the world, I managed to set off this particular trope of them all and I was still a dumb kid back then who didn’t know any better.

“So you really did think I was a girl?” He began, eyes narrowing, “ That’s why you didn’t recognize me.”

Bro, I didn’t even know this was a thing up until few months ago.

I should’ve pretended to not know him and then quickly left, it would’ve been a dick move but being quiet and ignorant of everything is part of what being a mob character was all about. Instead, I triggered a flag unknowingly despite the fact Ryoumen had been acting suspiciously around me ever since I first realized what kind of world I lived in.

What do I do? What do I do? What do I d-

“I guess it doesn’t matter if you do or not.” Said Ryoumen all of a sudden, the look in his eyes changing into something way too dangerous for my liking, “I have you right where I want you and I’m holding you up to the promise we made as kids.”

Promise? What promise?

Don’t tell me this is one of those stories where we promised to get married?

It is, isn’t it?!

He grabbed and kissed the palm of my hand, smirking as he did so, “The name’s Ryoumen Sukuna, you better do well to remember it this time, Yuu~ji~”

The way he said my name sent shivers down my spine, as did the kiss on my palm. He did it all so smoothly that I couldn’t register a single thing of it in my head, horrified at the sheer power of a main character who was made to be the lead in a relationship.

Mercifully, he let me go, enough for me to snap out of my thoughts and grabbed my stuff as I ran past him, making me way out of what appears to be his apartment. By the time I was outside, I glanced back at the building and thankful he didn’t follow me, though I guess he didn’t need to considering we went to the same university and shared the same classes together.

Main characters are terrifying.

Now, you might think that after finding myself engaged in a flag that I’d try my best to ignore or avoid it.

Maybe I should sequester myself inside my bedroom.

Or maybe I should avoid him completely on campus.

But no, that would only cause him to seek me out because I’m reacting in a way that the BL world would want me to. This also happens a lot in BL mangas, after all. That one half starts avoiding the other after the sudden reveal of something and then it would lead to the two having some sort of argument when they finally talk again that would then lead to the two finally confessing their feelings to each other.

I’m not about to follow the path I’ve been placed on and waste all the efforts I put into avoiding this sort of thing.

When I walked into the lecture hall, I sat down in my usual seat and made a point to act as I always did.

Unconcerned and unassuming.

Ryoumen sat beside me as before, though I can’t tell what he’s thinking about with how I was able to act so calmly despite the fact of what happened last weekend.

No matter. Did you really think I was going to crumble after that?

Serves you right.

I paid attention to class as I normally did, acting my part as a background character flawlessly. When class ended, I gathered up my stuff and met up with Megumi and Nobara for lunch. Without even looking back, I continued to appear unbothered with everything, acting like nothing had happened at all between us.

It takes two to tango, Ryoumen.

You better watch yourself, I’m sinking this ship before you can even start giving me a flashback in this fic.

By the time I reached home and plopped myself on the couch with Panda nestling himself on my lap, I smirked triumphantly from where I laid after recounting the whole day. Satisfied at myself for a job well done and imagining how Ryoumen must be fuming towards my attitude the whole time, possibly flustered beyond relief at my lack of a reaction.

Nothing could possibly go wrong now, I’ve truly done it.

I soon heard the sound of the front door opening and Chousou coming in with an “I’m home”. I sat up from my seat and was about to greet him back when I froze at the person trailing behind him.

“Oh, right, look who I ran into on my way home.” He said, nodding over at Ryoumen whose eyes were sorely trained on me, “You guys remember Kuu-chan, right? The kid who used to play with Yuuji a lot.”

Our parents quickly got up to meet him, excited and in awe of how big and tall he had become.

“Oh my, I almost didn’t recognize you until Chousou called you Kuu-chan!” Said my mother with a smile, holding Ryoumen’s face gently as she looked him over, “You’ve grown very handsome since!”

Dad stood beside her, nodding in agreement and patting him on the shoulder, “What a fine young man you’ve become!”

I gawked as Ryoumen smiled back at my parents, charming them both, “Thank you, Mr and Mrs Itadori.”

My parents chuckled and told him to call them by their names, Jin and Kaori. It didn’t take long for them to make him sit beside me on the couch, happy to have a guest for dinner.

“You two haven’t seen each other in so long, I’m sure you must have a ton of things to talk about!” I couldn’t say anything towards my mother’s giddiness at the whole situation, too shocked at the sudden turn of events, “Oh, Chousou! Could you run to the grocery store and pick up a few things? We should do something big since we have a guest tonight!”

Before I could get a word in edgewise, Ryoumen spoke up, “Why don’t I go instead? I’d feel bad otherwise if you put in so much effort just for me.”

Please, don’t fall for this charade, mom!

Unfortunately, he smiled at her and this was enough to convince my mom.

“Oh, then why don’t you go with him then, Yuu-kun~? You two were very close, after all!” Mom ushered us both out of the house before I could even respond, money shoved into my hand as the door slammed close behind us.

Blinking in shock, I wordlessly started walking to the grocery store with Ryoumen falling in step beside me.

Both of us were silent, none of us speaking a word to each other despite being alone together now. I was still trying to wrap my head around how the world was seriously fucking with me to this extent. Chousou recognizing Ryoumen and bringing him home was a curveball to my otherwise perfect plan on staying a mob character.

Honestly speaking, I was terrified of saying anything at the moment. I felt like if I did, everything that I’ve done would have gone to waste.

So I didn’t, I kept quiet all the way to the grocery store and picking up items off my mother’s list. Ryoumen followed me around, one hand carrying a basket and the other in his pocket, observing me closely.

It wasn’t until halfway through did he finally speak up.

“You’re strange.”

“Huh?”

I turn my head towards him, holding a bottle of worcestershire sauce in my hand. Ryoumen fiddled with the price tags hanging off the shelves absentmindedly, eyes now trained on the numbers as he spoke.

“When I noticed you earlier this year, at first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. You seemed fine and maybe I freaked you out when I sat beside you in class all of a sudden.” He placed a price tag back down and picked up the worcestershire sauce in my hand, placing it in the basket he was carrying, “I thought maybe it was just because we hadn’t seen each other in so many years, and both of us would have changed a lot as we grew older. That was common sense. Of course you wouldn’t recognize me, and knowing now you thought I was a girl, understandably so.”

I followed him as he walked towards the next aisle, likely already memorized my mother’s grocery list like the main character he was. I quietly listened to him speak, a sense of dread pooling in my gut.

Ryoumen continued, “But then, as if a switch flipped after we first spoke to each other, you changed.”

Gulping, I didn’t like where this was going.

“You began to act like a completely different person entirely, almost as if you were simply playing a part.” Finally, he stopped and turned to face me properly, stopping me in my tracks as well, “As if you were playing the part of a tree in a school play, except you chose to be a tree on purpose. You chose to be an unnamed inanimate object to avoid the spotlight being casted on to you.”

Shoving his hands into his pockets, the basket dangling on his wrist, the way his red eyes trained onto me sent shivers down my spine while he took a step closer to me as I froze in place.

“And then one day, I heard something very interesting and it got me thinking about things.”

Oh no.

I gulped, hands gripping my hoodie tightly as a bead of sweat rolled down my face.

“This is a BL world, isn’t it?”

Everything came crashing down on me, the dread obvious on my face yet I turned away from him, trying my best to smile as if I hadn’t heard something as equally horrifying as my realization of the reality we live in.

“W-What are you t-talking about? BL world? W-W-What’s that?” I sputtered nervously.

I could hear Ryoumen sigh, feeling a grip on my chin as he turned my head back to face him properly, “Cut the crap. It’s enough.”

So many emotions go through my head, the fact that I was no longer the only person who knew what sort of world we lived in and that right now, I may be in danger.

Finally, I slapped his hand away from me and glared up at him, “Fine! Yes, it is! The world we live in is a BL manga! Happy now?!”

I didn’t expect him to smirk, leaning his face close to me again, “Quite.” He then walked past me to grab something on a shelf, as if we hadn’t just talked about something incredibly dire just now.

Catching up to him, I asked, “Wait, how did you find out?” I eyed him warily, tugging his arm back. He glanced back at me with that smug look on his face, smirking wider.

“From you, obviously.”

I stared back at him in confusion, wondering what he meant by that when something hit me.

Wait, no!

Don’t go into a flashback!

Please don’t switch to his point of vi-

“Ya see, there’s this girl I like at my part-time job and she’s into this whole BL thing!”

My eyes widened at the proclamation from Yuuji after he had been approached by a man with dark hair that was almost covering one of his eyes. Yuuji had his arm around them, showing them something on his phone.

I was sitting a few feet away from them, minding my own business and of course wanting to be close to the object of my affections, observing him from a place he wouldn’t notice me.

What I hadn’t expected was this.

“I was looking it up cause I thought maybe I could get closer to her this way. Say, do you know what this is about? Is it good?”

For a second, I could feel the jealousy bubbling up inside of me.

He had a crush on a girl? Who? Why have I not heard of this before?

When the dark-haired guy left quickly, it was then I noticed the look on Yuuji’s face.

Smug and calculating, as if he had successfully driven someone away from finding out about something he did not want to be seen as.

“As if I’ll let this world get a hold of me.”

This world? What did he mean by this world?

Watching him leave the cafeteria, my mind started to work. I recounted everything that had just happened and pinpointed on a word, one that I assumed was the topic that caused the dark-haired man to approach Yuuji and the reason he reacted the way he did.

BL.

What was BL?

Taking out my phone, I briefly glanced around to make sure no one was spying on me then typed in BL on the search engine.

I was greeted with images of guys being intimate with each other and the gears in my brain began to move, coming to a slow epiphany as I then placed my phone down and scanned the room.

It was as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes, now seeing the reality for what it truly was.

The text on my phone read that BL meant Boys’ Love, a manga genre.

Although I have never read manga much before, this was that.

This is a BL manga world.

When I went back home that day, I did more research about this world and bought as many of these BL mangas as I could, reading up on them all weekend until I was sufficiently informed of everything in regards to BL.

Including my own situation.

There were many that mirrored my situation so perfectly, right down to Yuuji possibly mistaking me for being a girl.

No.

I’m very sure he did, if some of these books were anything to go by. He would most definitely not recognize me until I make myself clear to him that we knew each other since back then.

Laying back down on my bed, arms behind my head as I stared up at my ceiling, I briefly pondered what this meant.

Was I simply going along the whims of this world? Was anything that I felt truly my own feelings or a construct of what this world wanted me to feel?

Am I truly in love with Yuuji as I had thought since we were children?

These thoughts would swirl in my mind to the point I had ended up avoiding him entirely for a while. I didn’t know how else to react other than to simply go about my days in school as if I hadn’t just approached him not long ago with some ulterior motives in mind.

That is, up until I ran into him again with some girl.

His girlfriend?

No, I think I’ve seen her around him before too, with some other guy as well. Somehow, I didn’t like the way she clung to his arm, the petty jealousy bubbling up inside of me again.

As I stared hard at him again, I realized that it didn’t matter.

It didn’t matter if we live in a BL world or that maybe I’m influenced by it in some way.

None of it mattered at all.

I still felt the same way as I did a long time ago.

I was still madly in love with Itadori Yuuji, with his soft pink hair in the same shade as cherry blossoms and the amber hues of his eyes that would leave me breathless every time I saw them. Though he may not notice it, he had one of the nicest smiles I’ve ever seen, the same as it’s always been ever since we were children and would often play together.

So what if this was a BL world?

In fact, I could use this to my advantage.

If my suspicions about Yuuji and this world is true, then all the more reason to use it.

With my eyes following his retreating back, I smirked to myself.

“Basically, that’s it.” Said Ryoumen, pointing up at his scene.

“Huh.” Was the only thing I could respond with, reading through his paragraphs again with my arms crossed then piped up, “You think I have a nice smile?”

He laughed, nodding, “Of course. You’re very cute, you know.”

“Huh, well then.” I blinked, not expecting that.

Wait a minute.

I snapped out of my thoughts and shook my head, glaring back at him again.

This didn’t escape his sight, the smug smirk back on his face.

“So with that said, now you know that I know.” He walked away from me, off to finish my mother’s grocery list like we hadn’t just read a whole ass flashback of his thoughts, “Don’t think you can easily escape from me now, Yuuji. I know as much as you do now and I bet I could pull things off even better to make sure I get to see you as much as possible.”

He glanced back, the look in his eyes was evil, confident he was going to get what he wants.

“You might as well give up now~”

I stood my ground defiantly at him, glaring harder at him than before.

“Fuck you.”

“Gladly, my place or yours?” He shot back.

I groaned in frustration, following after him.

We still had groceries to buy and a dinner to sit through with this insufferable asshole.

This was the worst day of my life.

I felt like total shit.

I laid my head in my arms on the library desk, groaning in agony. I’m sure Megumi is worried about how I was being since I hadn’t done a single thing for our assignment half an hour since we sat down together to work on it. It was hard to concentrate when I had Ryoumen to worry about now that I knew he was also aware of our world, using it to his advantage to get together with me.

Shifting about on my chair, I soon lifted my head up only to bury it into my hands, sighing.

“You alright, Yuuji?” Asked Megumi, concerned.

“I’m good. Peachy even.” I answered back, obviously not peachy at all. After another frustrated groan, I closed my books and packed up my stuff, “Sorry, is it alright if we could reschedule?”

Megumi nodded, deciding to pack up his things too, “Sure, there’s still time anyway.”

We both left the library together, deciding to do something else since I couldn’t concentrate a damn thing right now.

Ever since the night with Ryoumen, my mind was a complete mess and I kept almost slipping up with the other flags surrounding me, only managing to avoid everything by the skin of my teeth. He wasn’t making it any better either by often appearing before me, though I wonder if it was really him or the world thinking it’d be funny for us to constantly run into each other.

Either way, I was screwed.

Sighing again for the umpteenth time that day, I shifted the straps of my bag on my shoulder and thought about going home when, of course, Gojo popped up and started clinging to Megumi again.

“Megumi-chan! I was trying to find you everywhere! Where did you go?” He asked, making a point to ignore me.

God, I did not need this asshole right now.

This time, Megumi sighed, “I was just at the library with Yuuji, we still have an assignment to do, after all.” He didn’t even bother to remove Gojo from him anymore, seeing no point in it after trying so many times.

Now Gojo paid some attention to me, cold eyes boring down on me again though all I could respond back with were dull eyes of unhappiness. This guy was the least of my concerns at the moment.

Taking this as my cue to leave, I turned to Megumi, “I’ll be heading home first then.”

I decided to walk past Gojo, not wanting to get involved any further with the troublesome man when my bag was tugged back to where the two were, now face to face with Gojo who didn’t seem too happy at my attitude.

“Since way back, you’ve been spending a lot of time with my Megumi-chan.” He noted.

“Hah?” I answered dumbly, eyebrows furrowed.

I don’t like where this is going. People were starting to whisper amongst themselves at the scene and Megumi noticed as well, quickly trying to pry Gojo away from me before any more damage could be made. Except Gojo was obviously stronger, keeping a tight hold of my bag.

“Every time I find Megumi-chan, you’re always right beside him. What’s your problem?” Asked Gojo, dropping all friendly facade.

At this point, I was getting annoyed, not caring what I was saying and shot back at him, “Because he’s my best friend of many years alongside Nobara? Because we DO actually have an assignment together since we share a few classes? Because he trusts me and we actually like spending time together as friends?”

Yeah, he did not like that one bit with the way his eyes glared down at me. Whatever I said wasn’t ever going to get through to him ever since we first met and I became his no.1 enemy for the sole reason of simply being a guy who is friends with Megumi. Most of the time, some people are just convinced that you are something you’re not no matter how many times it’s explained to them.

Gojo is forever going to be convinced that Megumi and I have something going on even though it couldn’t be further from the truth.

This was the reality of the BL world we live in.

I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes, expecting the worst.

Instead, I felt myself being pulled away and opened my eyes to see Megumi and Gojo, surprised. Being pushed behind someone and hidden from their view, I brought my gaze up to see a strong back and a dark shade of pink strands.

“You’re causing a scene.” Said Ryoumen, glaring at both Gojo and Megumi.

Both of them stood in their spots, silent and unsure of what to do in front of the newcomer, all while I hid behind him.

Ryoumen continued to stand his ground, now specifically talking to Gojo, “Whatever petty insecure bullshit you have going on here, can you take it elsewhere? You’re being a problem right now and it’s a nuisance to everyone involved.”

This caused Gojo to straighten up a bit, sweating at being called out this way but not exactly backing down either, “Who are you to suddenly come in here and say shit? He’s-” Gojo points at me, “- the real problem here! Getting between me and Megumi-chan!”

At this, Megumi glared and elbowed him, telling him to knock it off.

This also didn’t sit well with Ryoumen, especially when I could tell he had already figured out what kind of dumb BL story these two were in and stared back at Gojo hard.

“God, how disrespectful can you be towards someone?” He started, quickly cutting the white-haired man off before he could speak, “And I’m not talking about you towards Yuuji. I’m talking about you towards him.” He said, nodding his chin towards Megumi, catching both him and Gojo off guard. “You hardly trust him at all nor listen to anything he has to say, how many times has he told you that he and Yuuji are just friends? Fuck, they hang out with that other chick a lot too but somehow, she doesn’t deal with your bullshit. It’s only ever Yuuji.”

This quickly shut Gojo up, his eyes wide and in shock.

Ryoumen continued, “How insecure do you have to be that you go after everyone else around him and not think of yourself as the problem here?” He took a step towards Gojo, causing the man to stumble back a bit, intimidated, “You’re the asshole here, and what’s worst is how you’re so ignorant about it. How about you deal with your trust issues first before you start talking mad shit about other people?”

With those last parting words, he turned to walk away, signalling for me to follow him as well. I did, trailing behind him though glanced back to see Megumi worrying over Gojo who stood still, looking like a kicked puppy.

As much as I also did worry if Ryoumen might’ve taken it too far, I also did feel that Gojo deserved the verbal beatdown.

The both of us walked out of campus together, not saying a word. In a way, it mirrored how we were like the last time we walked together that night.

Eventually, we somehow made our way towards the park and eventually settled down on a bench somewhere by the water fountain. I grabbed some drinks from the vending machine and offered one to Ryoumen, the man gratefully taking it with a nod as I sat back down.

It was me who eventually broke the silence this time.

“Uhm…” I started, holding the soda can in my hands, “… thanks. What you did back there, just now.”

This time, I was being genuine. Somehow, I felt like a load off my shoulder, hearing all those things Ryoumen said to Gojo.

He hummed, opening his canned coffee, “S’fine, I wasn’t just annoyed because he said those things to you.”

“Oh?” I said, urging him to continue.

Ryoumen took a sip, then let out a sigh, “Since I read all those BL manga, I got incredibly irritated at how dumb some characters were. And then seeing it all happening in front of me only just made the feeling worst. Like really? Majority of these characters hardly trust each other and they’re a couple?”

I stared at him, dumbfounded. He stared back at me, an eyebrow quirked. For a while, we just stayed like this, only the sounds of kids playing in the fountain as background noise.

Suddenly, both of us smiled and laughed.

“That does happen, doesn’t it!” I said, laughing as I wiped the tears off my eyes, “Didn’t this happen to you as well right after we first talked to each other?”

Ryoumen laughed, pushing the hair off his face, “God, don’t remind me of that one! You’re the one who set me up for that!”

“I’m sorry! I only just realized it back then too and I didn’t know Kamo had someone else already!”

“You owe me one for putting me through that!”

The both of us continue to laugh until it finally died down, feeling the slight ache in my stomach from laughing too much. A finger soon caressed my face, turning to see Ryoumen now smiling at me, soft and gentle.

“That’s the first time in months since I’ve seen you actually laugh genuinely.”

I had no proper response, moving to lay back on the bench more and tossing my head back to look at the sky above us.

I sighed, “I was shocked when I found out I lived in a BL manga world, I really don’t see how I could be attractive in people’s eyes nor can I trust that what they feel for me is genuine or not.”

I’ve seen everything, after all, how easy it was for guys to fall in love with each other after a small nudge in each other’s directions. How I didn’t even need to do anything and I witnessed how a simple bump on the shoulders was enough for them to be enamored with one another.

How can I trust that this love is true?

Ryoumen hummed, nodding, “That’s how it is?”

I chuckled, a little bitter, “That’s how it is.”

Chugging down my soda, I crushed the empty can in my hand and tossed it at a nearby trash can.

I turned to Ryoumen and smiled at him, “Thanks for earlier. Really.”

He got up as well, canned coffee in hand and his bag in the other, bringing it up to his shoulder. He seemed to consider something in his head for a brief second then nodded.

“You know, “ He started, making sure to face me properly, “why don’t you at least try it? Like, going out with me?”

“Huh?” I asked, confused. He continued.

“I understand that you have some reservations about this whole thing, and I don’t expect a yes right away but-” Ryoumen scanned the park, seeing all the other gay couples within our vicinity, “- at least just think about it. Try going out with me for a while and see how it goes.” Patting me and then giving me a kiss on my forehead, he soon left with a wave of his hand.

I lingered for a while, placing a hand on my forehead, the warmth of his kiss still there.

Quickly, I turned and went back home.

That was how it was, wasn’t it?

In truth, although I made so many complaints about the world I lived in, I wasn’t ever truly bothered by all the BL couples that happened around me.

I had a hand in everyone’s relationships, one way or another. Either directly or indirectly. I made things happened and barely bat an eyelash of what I was doing. Despite my insistence over girls and having a preference for large asses, I never went out of my way to attend mixers or flirt with any girls.

No, it wasn’t the couples around me that bothered me so much.

I wouldn’t have cared who I dated either way.

It was that I worried if the love was genuine or not.

If it wasn’t at the mercy of the world I found myself living in.

Opening my eyes, I found myself seated across Megumi and Gojo at a cafe near our campus, the man now hardly hostile after what happened last week. Instead, he actually seemed guilty and apologetic, no doubt that Ryoumen’s words had gotten through to him.

“I’m truly sorry for the way I’ve acted towards you.” He bowed his head down at me, his forehead almost touching the table while Megumi sat beside him with his hand patting his back, worried over the both of us.

Gojo slowly raised himself back upright, eyes downcast. It was a stark difference to how he was before, now so quiet and sullen.

“It was unfair of me to assume things about you and to Megumi as well for not listening to what he’s been saying.” He brought his gaze back to me again, lips in a straight line and eyebrows furrowed, “After talking it over with Megumi and learning how much of a great friend both you and Nobara have been to him, especially during those few years Tsumiki had been hospitalized while I wasn’t around, I truly realized how wrong I was about you and I sincerely apologize for all the things I’ve said and done.”

I hummed, a look of indifference on my face. This caused Gojo to panic and sweat, knowing he had definitely fucked up with one of Megumi’s closest friends.

“Seriously, it was super irritating.” I said, Gojo flinching, his hands held in a grip so hard that it was losing color.

For how many times since this whole thing started, I sighed and smiled.

“You can start making it up to me by treating us to a good meal.”

At this, Gojo’s eyes widened and soon a wide smile blossomed from his lips, quickly wiping away his tears as he nodded.

“That, I can do! Gladly!”

Megumi soon let out a sigh of relief and smiled, glad that the worst is finally over.

After having lunch with the two, I parted ways with them, Gojo thanking me again for giving him a second chance to make things right and become a better person. I waved at them and made my way to my next class.

On my way there, I ran into Ryoumen, this time hardly giving him a look of any kind.

“Hey there.” He greeted me casually, hands in his pockets as always.

“Hey.” I greeted back, tugging at the straps of my bag.

Wordlessly, we walked together to our next class, easily falling into step as it’s been for a while now.

I glanced at him and cleared my throat.

“Is that offer still available?” I asked

“Offer?” He asked back.

“About us. Going out.”

His eyes widened at this, both of us stopping in our tracks and turned to face each other.

“Is it still up?”

For once, Ryoumen was flustered. Coughing into his hand and rubbing the back of his neck, I chuckled at the display.

He’s cute.

Soon enough, he joined in and chuckled as well, reaching over to hold my hand in his.

“It’s still up.” He finally answered.

“Good.” I smiled at him, squeezing his hand, “What do I do now then?”

He licked his lips and grinned at me, “Well, you can start by calling me Sukuna instead of Ryoumen in your head.”

I huffed jokingly, “Rude! Who told you to read my thoughts!”

“It’s not that hard once I can read it just like that.”

He leaned down closer, with me doing the same and bring my free hand up to tug him down by the neck as well.

“Wow, I’m gonna have to file a complaint against someone for making me easy to read!”

Our foreheads rested against each other, our eyes only focused on the other.

“You’d still be easy to read even without being in a BL world.” He teased.

I could feel his breath mingling with my own, catching the familiar scent of apples and cinnamon.

“Ugh, I’m gonna have to deal with you being insufferable, aren’t I, Sukuna?”

The corners of his mouth twitched up at the name, satisfied.

“Pretty much, Yuuji~”

As our lips met in a sweet kiss, I thought to myself.

I guess the BL world isn’t so bad after all.