Work Text:
Megumi put his book down on the bed and yawned, checking to see what time it was. His bleary eyes took a moment to register the blurry numbers on the all-too-bright screen of his phone. 00:49. He decided that it was time to call it a night, otherwise, he might hate his life more than usual during his early morning training. Megumi shifted around in his bed, fluffing his pillow and curling up under his toasty covers. It was a rare night, in that he found the exact perfect position he was looking for rather quickly. The bed supported his sore muscles and the covers made him comfortable. He smiled faintly, knowing that the comfort would bring him to sleep quickly.
That was until his stomach growled rather loudly.
Megumi hoped it was one of those instances where he could ignore it and take care of it, but he realised that he had forgotten to have his snack after the mission. This was the type of hunger that would leave him nauseated and cranky in the morning. As much as he wanted to stay, he pried himself up from the safe haven of his bed. He regretted the movement the moment his feet hit the cold hardwood floor of his room. With a deep sigh, he picked up his black hoodie from the floor and toed his slipper on before heading out of his room in search of sustenance. He pulled the hoodie on as he went, muttering curses as his sleepy brain didn’t understand how his sleeves had gotten that tangled. Fuck. After the threat of being strangled by his own sleeves had been conquered, he continued the neverending trek through the quiet hallways towards the kitchen. As he approached the target of his mission, he saw a faint glow of light from the crack of the door, and a shuffling sound carried to his ear.
Before Megumi could think of it rationally, he did the hand sign to summon his divine dog by his side. His sleep muddled brain thought that it was surely much more rational for a curse to be in the Jujutsu high dorm kitchen than anyone else. He gave a quick pat to Kuro’s black fur, sneaking closer to the kitchen door. He took a shallow breath as he peeked in, sighing deeply when all he saw was a pink-haired figure dancing to soft music in the kitchen. Megumi straightened himself and pulled his hood on to hide his messy hair before stepping into the kitchen, his black dog following closely behind.
“Itadori,” He nodded, noticing the way Yuji flinched and spun around. Yuji was holding a pair of chopsticks in one hand and his phone in the other. Megumi watched as Kuro went over to Yuji with a wagging tail.
“Oh, Fushi! Why are you awake? Ooooh, Kuro! So cute, so so cute..” Yuji placed his things down in a hurry and crouched down to pet and cuddle the big dog. Megumi sighed, unable to deny that the scene was rather adorable.
“I got hungry.. What are you making?” Megumi sniffed the air, smelling the delicious scent of cooking ramen in the air. Yuji was too busy cooing at the dog, who was now laying on his back with a wildly wagging tail. Megumi cleared his throat and Yuji looked up, flashing a smile that was too bright for this time of night.
“Right, right. I’m making ramen,” Yuji went back to stirring the noodles, lowering a couple of eggs into boiling water once he was done.
“You want some?” Yuji turned to Megumi, a soft smile on his lips now. Megumi found himself nodding before he even fully thought of the question.
“Yeah, sure,” He went to lean to the kitchen counter to watch Yuji work. Yuji pulled out another pack of ramen and put some more water to boil. He added one more egg among the others, humming softly as he cooked. Megumi noted how once Yuji had drained the noodles, he poured the noodles onto a pan with some sort of sauce.
“What are you doing?” Megumi’s voice was soft and inquisitive as he followed Yuji’s movements.
“Oh, I’m just making a quick sauce. It’s easy, but it makes the noodles taste 10 times better!” Yuji grinned so brightly that Megumi almost wanted to squint a little. Megumi crossed his arms over his chest, humming softly as Kuro laid down next to Yuji’s legs.
“You say it’s easy as if that was true..” Megumi managed a dry half chuckled, recounting the many times he had been banished from the kitchen by Maki-san. Most recently after burning something so badly that the dorm smelled like charcoal for a week.
“Well, it is really simple..” Yuji rubbed the back of his neck, clearly contemplating something.
“I could teach you sometime,” Yuji offered with a small smile, looking at Megumi’s reaction. He saw how the blue eyes widened ever so slightly before he nodded slightly.
“Yeah.. Sounds like a horrible idea but yeah,” Megumi said with a small smile, his posture relaxing slowly. The way Yuji lit up even more told Megumi that he had made the right choice.
---
A bowlful of delicious noodles and a few fits of laughter later, Megumi was back in bed. He cuddled to his shikigami, smiling like an idiot in love as he recalled the way Yuji looked while cooking. The way Yuji looked when he ate. The way Yuji looked when he laughed. Yuji. Yuji. Megumi blushed and pressed his face to Kuro’s soft fur.
Maybe he was an idiot in love.
---
It was a week later and it was finally time. As Megumi entered the kitchen, he saw Yuji already there. The pink-haired boy was tying his apron, clearly struggling to make it fit while also tying the string to a somewhat presentable bow. Megumi went closer, chuckling softly at Yuji’s struggle. Long and slender fingers reached for the messy bow, their fingers brushing together for the briefest of moments.
“Here, let me,” Megumi spoke softer due to their proximity. His hands worked quickly as he untied the apron, slid his hands up to adjust it and continued to tie a neater bow at the small of Yuji’s broad back. He missed the way Yuji blushed softly and took a deeper breath when feeling Megumi’s hands run over his sides. Megumi moved back and reached for his own apron, slipping it over his hair.
“Let me,” Yuji returned the favour, somehow tying a neater bow behind Megumi, making the taller boy smile a bit.
“Right, let’s get started! We’re gonna make meatballs today. My grandpa used to make them this way. Though I did some tweaking to it,” Yuji explained excitedly, moving to pull ingredients out of the fridge. Megumi’s eyes followed Yuji and he tried to hold back his smile as he saw the fresh ginger being pulled out. He looked at Yuji almost helplessly. During missions, Megumi was the more experienced one. The one to take the lead and guide Yuji through it. Here, he felt downright powerless. He knew he’d be lost without Yuji, but he didn’t want to think about that any deeper.
“Great. How do we start?” Megumi asked with a small smile.
---
Turns out, Megumi was great at doing what he was told. He managed to follow Yuji’s instructions easily and things were going great. Megumi was tasked to chop some green onion and he tried to make the slices as thin and even as possible. He was skilled with a sword, but a kitchen knife was a whole other battle. He glanced up at Yuji, almost to get reassurance that he was doing it correctly.
What he didn’t expect was that Yuji had just tugged up the sleeves of his hoodie and was washing his hands. The process caused the muscles of his forearms to move and flex, catching Megumi’s eye. Yuji proceeded to dry his hands on the towel hanging from his apron and run his slightly damp hands through his hair, causing it to get ever so slightly slicked back. Megumi got so distracted that he didn’t notice the knife getting too close to his finger.
Megumi let out a yelp and dropped the knife on the table, pulling his hand up. It was just a small cut on the side of his left index finger, but the reason it was there caused him to flush. Yuji was by his side in a flash.
“Shit, are you okay? Should we go to the nurse?” Yuji’s voice was endearingly full of concern. Megumi smiled faintly, inspecting the cut for a moment.
“No, I think just a bandaid will work,” he watched as Yuji hurried off, soon returning with some cleaning spray, paper and a bandaid. Megumi tried his hardest not to melt as Yuji treated the cut so carefully, so tenderly. Soon the finger was wrapped up with a bandaid and Yuji smiled in a satisfied way.
“There! That should do it,” Yuji looked at Megumi, who could only muster a nod as a response. Megumi could only hope that the blush on his cheeks wasn’t as visible as it felt.
“Here, I’ll show you how to do it,” Yuji laid the first aid kit on the table, washed his hands again and picked up the knife. He instructed Megumi to hold the knife and his fingers in a way where accidents were less likely to happen.
“You try,” Yuji handed the knife back to Megumi, who took it. Megumi tried his best to follow what Yuji had shown him, but it seemed that his fingers just wouldn’t bend the way they were supposed to. He sighed softly but inhaled sharply as he felt someone come up behind him. Yuji’s hand landed on his, slowly aiding his fingers to curl around the green onions.
“Just like that,” Yuji’s voice was low next to Megumi’s ear. It took all of Megumi’s willpower, control and sanity to keep cutting the onion carefully and not pass out from the sheer proximity of the two.
He really was in deep for the human sunshine.
---
20 minutes later the scent of fresh meatballs floated through the air. Megumi crouched down by the oven to peer in at the food. About half of them were neat little balls, whereas the other half were more.. Rustic, Itadori had called them. The recent memory made Megumi smile.
Yuji crouched down next to him and there they sat for the last two minutes, watching the meatballs finish cooking. They were pressed shoulder to shoulder and Megumi couldn’t help but steal a glance at Yuji. Said boy happened to look back at the same time and flash Megumi one of his signature sunshine grins.
“I can already tell that they’re going to be amazing!” Yuji said confidently, standing up to get the over mitts when the timer went off. Megumi stood back to give Yuji room to take the food out of the oven. The scent was even more mouthwatering when the sizzling meatballs came out of the oven. They quickly set the table, just for the two of them. Though the rest were out on missions and business, the duo had made enough food to feed them once they came back.
Megumi made sure they had drinks before he untied the apron and draped it over the back of a chair. He sat down by the table with a deep sigh, inhaling the delicious smell as much as he could. As if right on cue, his stomach rumbled rather loudly. Yuji laughed softly as he sat by the table.
“Seems that we finished right on time,” He grinned as he reached to put some meatballs on Megumi’s plate. Megumi was about to help with the serving but Yuji was determined to handle it.
As soon as Megumi bit into the first meatball, his eyes widened briefly. It was delicious. The chicken, green onion and ginger mixed together to form an amazing symphony of taste in Megumi’s mouth.
“I had no idea you were such a good cook,” Megumi looked at Yuji with a small, soft smile. He had noticed that his cheeks usually hurt after hanging out with the pink-haired boy, showing how much Yuji usually made him smile. But purely in a platonic way, nothing else.
Yuji laughed softly and the sound was like music to Megumi’s ears.
“Ah.. It’s simple enough,” Yuji said bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck.
“But I’m glad you like it,” Yuji added in a hurry.
The two enjoyed their food as the sun was starting to set outside, casting a beautiful variety of orange, red and purple hues to the sky. The food was eaten with a good appetite and silence wrapped around them as they worked together to clean the kitchen.
Megumi couldn’t help the way his mind kept drifting back to that moment they shared with the green onions. How Yuji felt behind him, the subtle scent of clean cologne wrapping around him and a strong hand curling around his. Megumi didn’t notice that he had zoned out until Yuji called his name.
“Hm?” Megumi looked up to see Yuji’s amused face.
“You.. Um.. The dish..” Yuji gestured toward the dishes Megumi was currently washing. As he looked down, Megumi realised that he had been scrubbing his own hand with the dish sponge. He moved the sponge back to the plate quickly.
“What were you thinking?” Yuji inquired, moving closer to Megumi.
“Nothing.”
“Oh really? Nothing had you scrubbing your wrist?” Yuji persisted, much to Megumi’s dismay. Megumi was starting to notice that Yuji had indeed been spending too much time training with Gojo-sensei.
Megumi took a deep breath and turned to look at Yuji.
“Maybe I was thinking of something important.” He tried to keep his voice steady but Yuji was suddenly much closer to him. The little change in proximity caused his voice to waver a little.
“Like what?”
“Like missions.” Megumi rolled his eyes, forgetting how thick the other could be. He shot his shot, no retries. That was it, abort the mission.
Yuji’s brow furrowed.
“But.. You never get distracted by missions. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that zoned out,” Yuji placed a hand on his own chin. The poor boy seemed to be tying his last brain cell into a knot trying to figure out Megumi’s thoughts. Megumi in turn rinsed his hands, dried them thoroughly on the kitchen towel and turned to Yuji.
“I was thinking about our cooking and I couldn’tgetyoustandingbehindme out of my head,” Megumi rushed out before he could chicken out again. Based on Yuji’s wide eyes and blushed cheeks, he had unfortunately caught the entire thing, despite his tied brain cell.
“You.. Me.. Umm..” Yuji looked down with an undecipherable look on his face. Megumi wanted to run away.
“Can I kiss you?” Yuji blurted out after what seemed like an eternity but must’ve been only a few seconds. All Megumi could muster was a nod. His heart had decided to escape his chest and his hands felt slightly clammy. Yuji moved closer and gently placed a hand on Megumi’s side.
Their lips met in a soft and shy kiss. Megumi had kissed a girl before, way back in elementary school but this beat that easily. The kiss was uncertain for a moment before they seemed to find their common rhythm, soft lips moving effortlessly together.
Yuji pulled back and leaned his forehead onto Megumi’s. Both of them smiled like idiots in love. Megumi decided that this was his happy place. His stomach was comfortably full of yummy food, the kitchen was bathed in a beautiful golden glow and more importantly, Yuji was still holding onto him. Megumi looked at the way the golden sunlight lit Yuji up from behind, the sight taking his breath away for a moment.
Megumi decided that maybe cooking was worth doing more in the future.