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Chapter Text

Twitch streamer, Itadori Yuuji, is known for several things on his channel. The first one is that he is very, insanely good at video games. The second one is his very distinctive pink hair that he has had since his very first stream.

Long-time viewers have long since gotten used to the sight of his messy dorm in the background, since he started streaming during his first year in college. And long-time viewers are also very used to the site of his twin brother, Sukuna, wandering on screen by accident.

Sukuna has become a bit of a meme with Yuuji’s fans, since they only ever see him at the worst possible times. Or when Yuuji decides to stream in the middle of the night and he wakes up to Yuuji screaming at the video game he just lost.    

But the fourth thing is known for with his fans is that he has a huge crush on some random youtuber who reviews books. 

The fourth one usually didn’t seem to make sense to most people. Since it seemed so random compared to everything else he did. Since he mostly played video games and sometimes just did random streams, but nothing related to book reviews. 

But it was enough that his little crush had become a running joke among his followers. 

And frankly, he is starting to think that his followers think it is funnier than him. 

Which is fine, because it is kinda funny. But he will definitely take this opportunity to shoot his shot. He has a huge following, his crush is active on the internet, so the likelihood of his crush finding out is pretty high.

Might as well make the most out of it. At least that was his mentality, but Sukuna thought he was stupid. 

“Someone just asked how my youtube crush is going,” Yuuji squints down at the screen in-between games. The background is dark in the dorm, just the light coming from his computer screen. 

His gaming stuff is set-up on his dorm desk, which was positioned right between his and Sukuna’s beds. It wasn’t the best set up, but they weren’t allowed to move stuff in the room. So Sukuna has just gotten used to wearing headphones when trying to sleep.

He sits back up, excited. “It’s going very well, thank you. He posted a new video yesterday for the first time in a few weeks! And yes, he looked super cute!”

“I am trying to sleep!” Sukuna shouts.

Yuuji glances over his shoulder at him. Sukuna rolls over, it’s hard to make out his expression in the dark and the only light coming from his screen. But he can pretty safely assume that Sukuna is glaring at him. 

“Dude, it’s only like one and it’s the weekend. You knew I was planning to stream.”

“Where else am I supposed to sleep? This is also my room.”

And Yuuji turns back around, “Anyway, as I was saying, it’s been a while since he posted a new video so I was super excited!” 

The chat goes crazy for a few seconds. And it’s moving too fast for him to read everything. Someone mentions they pity poor Sukuna and he chooses to ignore that. 

“Okay, okay, calm down.” Yuuji pops open another can of an energy drink. He hears Sukuna groan behind and complain about his stupid energy drinks. “I’m still not gonna tell you who it is. I thought you all wanted it to be a mystery.”

He reads a few more comments. 

“We do want it to be a mystery, but you’re so embarrassingly obvious about your crush.” Yuuji’s eyes flick up to the screen, unamused. “Don’t judge people’s crushes, it’s rude! Like he has the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

He sighs and he knows he sounds like a love-sick idiot, but it’s okay. “And like, he’s so freaking smart? And like his eyes are so pretty? Did I mention his eyes are pretty?”

“I hate it here.” Sukuna mutters into his pillow. 

He scans over a few more comments. 

Serpentboi22: who lets this man on here to just talk about his crush for five hours?? Like if this was anyone else i would be annoyed but yuuji is a human puppy so he gets a pass

Chickenlegs&wings: his mystery crush literally keeps me up at night. Anyone else want to collab to figure out who it is???

Orangegrass: i know i shouldn’t laugh at sukuna’s suffering, but like it’s an iconic part of yuuji’s streams at this point!!

DrinkABang&Die: if i die before i find out who Yuuji is talking about, I will 100% come back to haunt this world until I do find out 

Picasso’sLeftFinger: Okay here’s what we know. 1) Yuuji’s crush is a guy or goes by he/him pronouns 2) he does youtube videos 3) he has pretty eyes 4) the guy does something with books or recommends books? 

Chickenlegs&wings: ^^^ 5) also reviews books, mostly biographies from the books Yuuji mentioned 

DrinkBang&Die: @Picasso’sLeftFinger you’re doing god’s work thank u

Picasso’sLeftFinger: Alrighty folks, any guesses???

Yuuji makes a face at the chat and looks back up at his webcam. “Guys, you know I love and appreciate you all. But you’re never going to figure out who it is from that information.”

Picasso’sLeftFinger: press f for Yuuji who thinks the internet can’t figure this out 

DrinkBang&Die: f

Chickenlegs&wings: f

Serpentboi22: f

Picasso’sLeftFinger: f

Cheesyman334: f 

Yuuji makes a face at the chat. “Stop making fun of me!”

“You literally spend hours talking about your internet crush,” Sukuna says, “You deserve it.”

“But, like, there’s no way they can figure out who it is!” Yuuji gestures vaguely towards his screen. 

Sukuna flops face first into his pillow, his voice muffled now. “You’re really underestimating the internet here.”

He pauses to think. And because it’s late at night, he isn’t exactly thinking straight. “Oh okay, so now this is a challenge.” Yuuji takes another drink of his energy drink that one of his professors recommended. “If you guys figure it out, I’ll ask said crush out.”

And the chat goes absolutely wild. Sukuna screams into his pillow. 

He laughs. “Yeah, I’ll actually do it! I’m not a coward!”

Picasso’sLeftFinger: Fuck school imma gonna spend the next 24 hours figuring out who Yuuji’s crush is 

Cheesyman334: am i really going to spend my night searching the internet for some twitch streamer’s crush? Yes yes i am

Serpentboi22: i love this man so yes i will absolutely help this man get a date with his crush

Yuuji’sBrother: BROTHER I WILL HELP IN THIS NOBLE QUEST 

HammerQueen: does anyone know why todo hangs out on the chat? From the one time he joined yuuji on the stream, i figured he was straight. todo why are you even here?? This is where the gay people congregate?? 

Picasso’sLeftFinger: can we ban this fool?

Yuuji’sBrother: UNLIKE YOU FOOLS I KNOW YUUJI. HE IS MY BROTHER 

Cheesyboi22: i’m sorry but this dude does realize that probably 99.99% of everyone here is LGBTQ? Right?

HammerQueen: No he’s a straight man

Cheesyboi22: oh right gotcha 

“Oh, hey, Todo,” Yuuji says casually, as he sets up a new game. “You’re not allowed to help with, you know me in real life.”

Sukuna quickly sits up, his head popping into the frame. He jabs a finger at the screen, threatening. “Todo! Stop fucking encouraging him to stream! This is your fault!”

Yuuji just laughs. “Bro, you know that’s probably going to become another meme?”

And Sukuna flops back onto his bed, giving Yuuji the finger. “And give my fucking records back!”

Yuuji’sBrother: BUT YUUJI LOVES STREAMING I WILL NOT STOP 

Yuuji’sBrother: AND I WILL RETURN THE RECORDS NEXT TIME I SEE YOU

HammerQueen: does this man ever not type in call caps??

Yuuji starts a new game. “You all have fun with your impossible task, but I’m going to shoot some zombies.”

Sometimes Megumi wonders why he let his friends talk him into making a Youtube account. And talk him into actually filming videos and posting them. 

He had been making videos and posting them for years now and the most views a video ever got was a hundred-twelve. And he wasn’t really the type to get bothered by it, since he did enjoy making the videos, but it seemed slightly pointless at times. 

“You know,” Nobara says, dipping a fry into mayo, because Nobara is weird. “You could just like, you know, post more often or something.”

Luckily nobody throws them out of the dining hall for weird food combinations. But he wouldn't be surprised if someone threatened to. 

Megumi barely glances up from his phone, scrolling through social media. “I have to read the books to review them, you know.”

“Oh right.” Nobara blinks, thinking hard for a moment. “But you read fast, right?”

“I mean, I do.” He sets his phone down, grabbing one of Nobara’s fries. One that isn’t covered in mayo. She doesn't even react. “But I only want to recommend books I think are actually good and that I think are worth recommending.”

“That explains so much. Bro, you need to be less selective about your book choices. I’m telling you, you need to review some romance or something.”

He sighs, eating some more fries. “But I haven’t found any romance books I like enough to actually recommend.”

Nobara slides down her seat. “Why are you so picky?”

“I’m not, I just don’t think it’s worth it to recommend books I didn’t even like.” Megumi shrugs, “Anyway, I thought you were telling me about that thing you’re doing?”

Nobara sits up all the way, her eyes wide open now. “Oh yeah! So you know that twitch streamer I really like?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, he has this huge crush on some youtuber and everyone is trying to figure out who it is!” Nobara says, like this is a matter of life or death. “And I am determined to figure out who it is!”

He just raises an eyebrow. “What?”

Nobara holds up his phone, showing the main Twitter page. “See? It’s even trending! Like the whole internet is trying to figure out who it is!”

It’s the number one trending thing on Twitter: #FindItadoriYuuji’sCrush

He slowly looks back up at Nobara, making a face. “What if there isn’t even a crush? Maybe it’s like a publicity stunt or something.”

Nobara looks at him like he has lost his mind. “Dude, have you not watched Yuuji’s streams?”

“Do you even know me?”

Nobara thinks for a second. “I mean yeah, you definitely don’t have Twitch or watch video game playthroughs or speed runs. But like, the dude is super internet famous. Like he has millions of followers.”

“Okay?”

“Do you even know what Itadori Yuuji looks like?” Nobara actually sounds distressed about this. She doesn’t wait for an answer and starts typing on her phone. “Look!”
Nobara shoves her phone in Megumi’s face. And he has to lean back to actually look at the screen. 

The guy has very pink hair and seems to be in a dorm in every single picture that Nobara shows him. 

He looks back at Nobara, making a face. “I don’t see how this is relevant?”

Nobara pauses, looking at the screen. “You don’t think he’s kinda cute at all?”

He does not admit that the guy was kinda cute. “Just because I like guys does not mean I like every guy I see.”

Nobara sighs. “I know that, but like, objectively?” 

“He’s okay?”

Nobara points at him, laughing. “Ah! That’s Megumi code for he’s cute!”

He looks away, taking a bite of his sandwich. “Okay, but what does he even do?”

“Video games, speedruns and stuff. He has some of the shortest speedrun records in the world!”

He didn’t see how that was relevant, but he also wasn’t going to mention that he didn’t know what a speedrun was in the first place. He didn’t need to know any more weird video game lingo from Nobara. 

Nobara puts away his phone, finally. “But Yuuji has this huge crush on a youtuber and it’s super cute! Everyone is trying to make it happen!”

He should have known better than to really question why Nobara does things. Anyway, he needs to think about making his next video.

Chapter Text

Yuuji starts the stream about thirty minutes before midnight, while Sukuna is in the shower so Sukuna can’t stop him. And he hopes Sukuna won’t do anything drastic while on camera. 

The stream starts. 

He waves. “Hey everyone! I know I said I wasn’t going to stream today because of classes on Twitter, but I was bored!”

There’s already a bunch of people watching. Which he still isn’t quite used to yet. It’s crazy to think so many people actually are excited to watch him stream still. Even if it’s been years now and he’s kinda well known in the streaming community. 

He looks at the amount of people watching the stream and laughs. “Wow, there’s a lot of you. Do you people ever sleep? You know, if you’re skipping out on sleep to watch this stream, you should go to bed!”

HammerQueen: Sleep is for the weak!

Cheesyman334: you could start a stream at 5am and i could have class at 5:30am and id still watch the stream

Serpentboi22: I’m sorry how can yuuji always look so cute?? Like he literally is streaming in the dark with only his computer light and it’s almost midnight and he looks perfectly fine and not tired at all?

Picasso’sLeftFinger: WAKE UP PEOPLE YUUJI’S STREAMING

Yuuji laughs and grabs the nearest drink stashed on his desk and pops it open. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but my day was pretty nice. The weather here is finally getting nicer, so no more rain which is nice. But I got to go to the movies with a friend today which was super fun!”

Serpentboi22: this boy is too pure for this world

“We watched the new horror movie, the Bees. And honestly, it was something.” Yuuji sips on the Bang he just opened, making a face. “Something as in it was terrible. Like the special effects looked so bad the only way to deal with them was to laugh. But hey, I got popcorn!”

Yuuji’sBrother: BROTHER I AM FAILING MY HISTORY CLASS I REQUIRE YOUR MORAL SUPPORT AT THE LIBRARY TOMORROW 

Yuuji leans forward when he sees all the all-caps. “Oh, hey, Todo. Yeah, we can go to the library tomorrow, I got a test I need to study for anyway. Also you can just text me instead of using the chat you know.”

Yuuji’sBrother: BROTHER I AM SUPPORTING YOU 

“Okay, okay, use the chat,” Yuuji says, laughing.

HammerQueen: Okay but update on the mystery crush????? I need to know!!1

Yuuji leans back in his chair and smiles. Honestly, he had rewatched some of his videos today. Which would maybe be too embarrassing to admit on the internet, even for him. 

But hey, nobody was really judging him. Except maybe Sukuna. 

“Okay, but no judging me!” Yuuji says, pointing at the screen. “I actually rewatched some of his videos today. I mean, as much as I like him, he doesn't really talk about himself ever! Which I get, but at the same time I don’t know much about him!”

The chat blows up, but he doesn’t read it. 

“And I don’t know if he has any other social media handles that are public!” He pretends to wipe away a tear. “I wish he did like a Q&A video or something! Just because he’s so smart and so cute and so interesting. Like whenever he does mention something about himself, it’s so interesting.”

He slides down his seat a little bit. “But then again, I’m pretty sure that someone as cool and cute as him would definitely be dating someone.”

Yuuji’sBrother: BROTHER I WILL HELP YOU GET THE PERSON OF YOUR DREAMS YOU DESERVE THE WORLD TELL ME WHO IT IS AND I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN

Yuuji laughs and shakes his head, sitting up straight in the chair. “I’m not gonna tell you, Todo. Plus you can’t just make a relationship happen. And he might not even like guys.”

Serpentboi22: i’d turn gay for you yuuji

Yuuji’sBrother: DO NOT WORRY BROTHER I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN I SHALL ENSURE YOUR ETERNAL HAPPINESS 

Orangegrass: is anyone else like super curious how these two met?

DrinkABang&Die: I need to know who the mystery crush is!! I need them to meet!

Chickenlegs&Wings: let’s get #FindItadoriYuuji’sCrush trending again!! Let’s go people!!

“I swear to fucking god.”

Yuuji moves one headphone to the side and spins around in his chair. Sukuna stands in the doorway connected to the bathroom, a towel sitting on his head. He is also wearing a white shirt that has a giant blown-up picture of Sukuna’s face on it. 

The picture is of Sukuna half-asleep glaring (Yuuji had woken him up from playing some comedy video game and laughing too loudly). It had been some fan merch that Yuuji bought him as a joke. He used it when he was de-dying his hair, hence the many red streaks on the white.

“No swearing,” Yuuji said, wagging a finger. “Not on my christan minecraft server.”

Sukuna makes a face that could only be called disgust. “Do you know how to speak without using memes?”

“No?”

Sukuna rolls his eyes. “I just wanted to sleep.”

Yuuji snaps his headphones back into place. “Well, you can’t sleep until your hair dries or you’ll ruin your hair dye. So guess I’ll keep streaming then!” He spins back around. “So back to what I was saying!”

He hears Sukuna say a bunch of swear words.

“So, anyway, no Todo. I’m not going to tell you who it is. You’d also never let me live if you knew who it was.” Yuuji says, “And anyway, everyone wants to solve the mystery! And you can’t keep a secret, dude.”

“Oh my god, are you talking about your crush again?” Sukuna appears next to him, looking at the screen with a face. 

“Yes, stop judging me.” Yuuji shoves him out of the frame. Sukuna pushes his way back into the frame. 

“You know, I know who the mystery crush is.” Sukuna says, grinning. Yuuji whips around to him. 

“Don’t you dare!”

“I even know the channel name.”

“I’m going to text Choso right now!” Yuuji pulls out his phone. “Don’t you dare!”

Sukuna laughs and flops onto his bed. “I’m not going to tell the internet your secret crush, that an asshole move. With the amount you talk about him, you're going to accidentally reveal it sooner or later anyway.” He pulls out his phone and starts texting someone.

Yuuji stares at him. “Okay, wow. Rude.”

“Am I wrong?”

No, he probably wasn’t. 

Megumi is reading a book when Nobara calls him eight times in a row. He considers ignoring it for a moment, but he knows that would just lead to more phone calls. So he sighs, setting his book aside and picking up his phone. 

It’s late and he was enjoying the quiet in the house. Sitting in his bed, wrapped up in a blanket with tea and a book. It was honestly his ideal evening. 

He hits answer. 

“Megumi!” 

He moves the phone away from his ear, cringing. “Hello? It’s literally almost midnight, why are you calling so frantically?”

“I need your help! I’m on Twitter and we’re trying to figure out who Itadori Yuuji’s crush is and I need extra help!” Nobara says, rushing together her words. “He’s livestreaming while reading the tweets people are posting about it because, guess what?”

He sighs. “What?”

“Finding his crush is trending again.” Nobara says this with such excitement that she sounds like she expects Megumi to also find this thrilling. “Isn’t that crazy?”

He flips open his book, letting it fall open against his legs that are propped up to hold it. “Uh huh, that’s pretty wild. It’s midnight now, why are you trying to help find some random guy find his random internet crush?”

Nobara sighs. “How did I end up with a bestie who knows nothing?”

“I know plenty of things,” He flips a page of the most recent biography he was reading about the maker of what is considered the first computer. She was overlooked when discussing the creation of computers and their history. “Just not about whatever Twitch is.”

“Oh my god,” Nobara says, like this is somehow offensive to her. “Why are you like this? Like, your godfather is like the most wild, fun, and most internet-savvy person I have ever met, but you’re like…”

He blinks. “Like what?”

“I don’t know,” She pauses for a moment and thinks. “Like oblivious to everything?”

“Thanks?”

“You know, people keep asking me how you’re single and I keep telling them I have no idea, but I’m beginning to see why.”

“Wow,” He flips a page of his book, glancing at the time on his phone. He still should have about ten or twenty minutes before he needs to go to sleep. He turns the phone to speaker. “Thanks.”

“Hey, you should listen to my advice. I’m the one who’s dating and you’re not.”

“Okay, how about we not talk about my love life. Please and thank you.” It was not a topic they needed to dwell on any longer than necessary.
“Sure, but you should keep in mind that your own obliviousness is why you’re single. So if your dad asks, you have an answer.” Nobara says and he can practically hear her shrug. “So anyway, Yuuji is like live-reacting to these tweets and I’m living for it.”

He flips a page. 

It’s not that he’s ignoring her, it’s just that he needs to finish this book. Because it was really interesting and he had been neglecting his Youtube channel. Even if his friends did force him to make it, it was still kind of fun to make videos discussing the books he finds interesting. 

And sometimes people had some really interesting and deep discussions in the comments. Part of him wants to do a live video to do a real discussion, but he wasn’t charismatic or extroverted enough for that.

“Like this man has gone on a five minute rant about why his crush is super cute,” Nobara says, “I don’t know who this crush is, but like I ship it.”

Megumi looks up from his book. Why is Nobara like this? “You’ve never seen them interact, right? How could you even ship it then?”

“Hey! The way he talks about his crush is super cute! Like it reminds me of how I would rant to you about Maki before I started dating her.” 

“Oh lord.”

“Don’t make fun of me.” Nobara says, huffing. “Oh wait, hold on. I’m going to video call you!”

“Wait, why?”

She hangs up and Megumi sighs. But he still waits for the video call to start and the notification pops up a few seconds later and he hits answer. 

Nobara has the camera far too close to her face, mostly on her eyes. She has a face mask on. “What are you doing?”

“Reading?”

“Okay don’t do that and look at this!” Nobara turns the screen around and points it at her laptop. Which has a video of the same guy with pink hair on the screen, sitting in a dark room illuminated with a little bit of screen light and talking very fast and very animated at the screen. 

Was Nobara seriously showing him this guy’s livestream thing?

“And like when he goes off on these random tangents, it’s so flipping cute!” The guy says, a huge smile on his face. “He gets this look in his eyes and gets super into discussing whatever super niche topic he’s talking about! Oh my god, it’s so cute.”
Megumi squints at the screen. 

The guy, Yuuji, leans back in his chair, hands covering his face. “Like you guys have no idea. And his eyes are just so pretty, like I didn’t know people could have such long eyelashes!” Yuuji slides down his seat, looking sad by the fact this crush has eyelashes, which was kind of weird. 

“Like maybe he wears mascara or something, but I don’t think so. He’s so cute.”
Nobara gasps. “We have another descriptor for the crush! Long eyelashes!”

“You do know that a lot of people have eyelashes?”

Nobara flips the screen around, giving him a look. “Long eyelashes! That eliminates anyone with short eyelashes!”
“But what even constitutes as long eyelashes?”

Nobara ignores him and flips the camera again.

Yuuji picks up a can of some drink that says Bang on it and takes a huge drink. “Like if you guys saw him, you’d also be ranting on the internet about it too.”

Another voice appears on the video. It’s the voice of someone who is incredibly tired. “If I have to listen to you talk about your crush for one more minute I am going to request a room change.”

Yuuji looks over to his left, making a face as he speaks to someone. “You’d abandon your twin over me talking about my crush?”

“Yeah, I literally would.”

“Oh,” Nobara says, like she forgot something. “For context, that’s Yuuji’s twin, Sukuna. They share a dorm room together and the man just suffers. He’s a bit of a meme. Everyone in the comments edits pictures of him into memes, it’s hilarious.”

“Wow,” Yuuji says, dragging the word out. 

“I have been listening to this crap since high school, I think I’m entitled to complain about it.”

Nobara screams and Megumi shoves the screen away from his ears. 

“Why are you screaming?”

Nobara is frantically typing something into the chat. “Oh my god, oh my god. Did Sukuna just reveal another important piece of info?”

Megumi blinks and sighs. He flips a page of his book. 

“Yuuji’s had a crush on this person since high school!” Nobara says. He watches what she types into the chat of this Twitch thing. 

HammerQueen: OH MY GOD GUYS DID HE HEAR WHAT SUKUNA SAID

HammerQueen: YUUJI’S HAD A CRUSH ON MYSTERY CRUSH SINCE HIGH SCHOOL 

HammerQueen: I SHIP THIS SO HARD I NEED THEM TO MEET 

Megumi makes a face as a flurry of other chats appear all at once. 

Yuuji looks at the screen, squinting in the dark. “Yo, what are you guys losing your minds over?”

Yuuji seems to read the chat, blinking rapidly. “Oh. Well dang, didn’t mean for you guys to find that out. I still don’t think that’s gonna help you all find out who he is.”

Yuuji keeps reading the chat. “Also, thanks HammerQueen, I ship me and my crush too.”

Nobara screams even louder. “He saw my chat!”

“Oh my god,” Megumi hisses, frantically turning down the volume on his phone. “People are trying to sleep.”

“You weren’t even sleeping!” Nobara says, frantically typing something else into the chat. “Oh my god, did you hear that? Yuuji read my chat, he read it!”

“Yeah, I heard it.” He flips to the next page of his book. 

HammerQueen: OH MY GOD Yuuji my dude i need you to know that i have been shipping you and your crush since you first started talking about him on your twitch 

HammerQueen: and i ship it cause it reminds me of my relationship with my girlfriend!!!! 

Megumi keeps reading his book.

“Oh wow,” Yuuji’s voice says and Megumi keeps reading. “HammerQueen, that’s so sweet! And I can’t believe you’ve been watching my twitch for that long, that’s crazy!”

“If you don’t end the stream in the next five minutes I won’t make you breakfast for a week!” Yuuji’s twin shouts and Megumi looks up in time to see a pillow whack Yuuji in the head. 

Nobara laughs. “Oh, wow, the chat is definitely gonna turn that into a meme.”

Yuuji hardly looks bothered and rubs his head. “You won’t make me the fancy omlette?”

“No fancy omlettes for a week!”

Yuuji pouts, his shoulders slumping. “That’s so cruel.”

“So is not letting me sleep! I have an eight am tomorrow!”

“Okay okay,” Yuuji turns towards the chat, leans forward to type something onto the keyboard. “I’ll stop the stream, but I expect a fancy omlette in the morning.”

“Ah, what a classic Itadori twin exchange,” Nobara says as the stream ends. She turns the camera to face her again. “Okay, so we definitely gained some important new intel from this stream.”

“We?”

“Yeah, you’re helping now.”

He sighs just as a new notification pops up at the top of his phone screen. 

The Godfather: MEGUMI MEGUMI MEGUMI MEGUMI MEGUMI MY GODSON 

“Oh no,” He says, making a face. 

“What?” Nobara asks, taking off her face mask. “What’s that face for? You’ve seen me take off a face mask before.”

“No, it’s Gojo.”

“Oh, gotcha.” Nobara starts putting on lotion. “Well, I gotta go get some beauty sleep now. I have classes and a date tomorrow and another evening of gathering intel, so I need it. See you tomorrow.” 

“Bye.”
They end the call and Gojo keeps sending messages.
The Godfather: Are you ignoring your godfather? That really hurts you know

The Godfather: But why didn’t you tell me your dad is going on a business trip??? You know you can just stay with me!!!! 

Megumi sighs and opens the chat with Gojo. He knows when he first meets people they are always confused by his family situation. A lot of people are confused if biological dad is his dad, Toji, or Gojo. Toji is still his biological dad, but Gojo was his godfather. Somehow. 

It might be a slightly confusing situation to some people. But that’s just how it’s always been. He lives with his dad, Toji. But Gojo acts like a secondary dad. But his dad and Gojo don’t like each other very much. Like they tolerated each other, but they didn’t hate each other either. He doesn’t really question it anymore.

Megumi: It’s midnight, why are you even awake? Don’t you have a class to teach tomorrow?

The Godfather: I mean yeah but i’m going to drink like eight cups of sugar coffee anyway so it doesn’t matter but why are you awake

Megumi: I was about to go to sleep

The Godfather: liar 

The Godfather: you were reading weren’t you

Megumi: yea

The Godfather: SEE??! I know you!!

The Godfather: Anyway your dad texted me in typical grumpy toji fashion and said he has a business trip with Mei Mei coming up and he doesn’t want to leave you home alone for so long alone in the house. So how do you feel like having a fun two week trip with your favorite godfather??

Megumi: I’m literally in college. Why can’t I stay home alone?

Megumi: And you’re also my only godfather?

The Godfather: Okay I was just making sure i was your only godfather

Megumi: What is that supposed to mean? How could I have another godfather??

The Godfather: And you can’t stay home alone cause your dad would be worried and I’d be worried and by extension all my friends would also be worried, then you’d also be lonely and sad by yourself. So this is clearly the best solution and your dad might not like me very much but he still prefers you to stay with me than for you to be alone for two weeks

Megumi: sometimes I question how you became my godfather 

The Godfather: pretty sure it was more of your mom’s influence than your dad’s. She thought I was amazing, but I think she also tried to make Nanami your godfather first. But I’m pretty sure your dad would’ve picked a worm to be your godfather before me

Megumi: Why a worm?

The Godfather: no idea but it makes sense. Now answer the question: two weeks at my super cool house with a pool, dogs, free transport to college, and free food?

Megumi: Is this another elaborate scheme to set me up on a blind date again?

The Godfather: unfortunately no. I need a response so i can start planning for fun events for our two week hang out time :D 

Megumi: ok yeah sure 

The Godfather: AWESOME SEE YOU SOON SMALL CHILD 

Megumi: Why am I still a small child? I’m almost as tall as you?

The Godfather: shush you shall always be little to me

Megumi: ok i’m going to bed now you’re being weird

The Godfather: Good night!! 

Megumi: Goodnight and don’t stay up past 3am looking dating apps

The Godfather: first off: rude 

The Godfather: second off: unnecessary callout 

The Godfather: third off: i’m so single and lonely. Don’t you want your godfather to have a significant other to spend his life with and fall in love? 

Megumi: You already know my opinion on this subject. You don’t need a dating app to find love. Going on random dates isn’t what you really want no matter how much you joke

The Godfather: i know, but I’ve done all I can on that front. It’s not on me anymore

The Godfather: but are we gonna talk about your love life? Cause there’s a student in one of my classes who i think you’d like 

Megumi: Stop trying to set me up. It has to happen naturally 

The Godfather: :( but i think you’d really like this guy. He’s really nice, funny, kinda dorky at times, kinda like a human personification of a puppy

Megumi: no 

The Godfather: fine :( 

Megumi: Goodnight and I’m serious about the dating apps you’ll only make yourself feel worse and I know you don’t actually want to look for anyone else.

The Godfather: Sometimes I hate that you know me so well. But fine, no tinder for me. 

The Godfather: Goodnight!!!

Megumi rolls his eyes and turns off the lights. So much for getting some extra reading done before bed.

Chapter Text

While Yuuji might be a pretty famous Twitch streamer on the internet, he is also a college student. And a college student whose grades are questionable at best. And a college student who really, really needs extra credit to make it through this semester. 

And is now sitting in the classroom during a time he wanted to be streaming and playing video games, but is instead doing an extra credit event. 

He props his head up with one hand, frowning. The powerpoint has some weird diagram on it as he looks forward from the front row of the small classroom. How did anyone actually understand this? And why did he let that academic advisor talk him into taking physics for his science? 

And not to mention it’s freezing in this classroom and he forgot his hoodie. 

“And I know this is super boring,” the professor, Gojo, says, from where he is sitting cross legged on the desk. “But if you guys stay focused for like twenty more minutes, I shall provide copious donuts and candy as a reward! Because I’m just that amazing!”

And at least the professor is chill.

The class tries to focus. 

Yuuji sits up in his chair, tapping his pencil against the tiny desk top. His notebook has zero notes on it and instead is covered in various doodles. He just wasn’t cut out for stuff like physics and science. But he does know someone who is smart enough to understand this stuff without even trying…

Someone who’s super smart and reads a lot…

He shakes his head. No. He will not think about his crush while trying to do an extra credit assignment. Nope. Absolutely not.

But his mind wanders back to that one video where his crush discussed how technology impacted the world wars without even looking at notes beforehand or anything. Just was able to talk about these super complex ideas without thinking about them. 

Sure, Yuuji didn’t pay attention to anything he said. But it was really cool how he just knew.

Yuuji slides down his seat and tries to focus strictly on the powerpoint that Gojo was talking about. 

Green eyes.

No. Think about embarrassing internet crush later. Study now.

“And that pretty much finishes everything I had prepared,” Gojo clicks off the powerpoint with a remote from the top of the desk. He adjusts his sunglasses that he always wears. And Yuuji thinks the sunglasses are kinda cool, like in a vintagey sorta way. Gojo looks back at the glass. “Any questions?”

Yes. Yuuji has so many questions. 

Like what even is physics? But he’s pretty sure he is too far into this class to ask that.

And what was Gojo even talking about for the last twenty minutes?

Who knows? Definitely not Yuuji. 

Gojo grins, tossing the remote into one of the drawers of the desk. “Awesome! I’ll mark you all down for extra credit and I’ll add bonus points to your final grade! Now for what you’re really here for!”

Gojo hops off the desk, grabbing several plastic bags from off the ground and putting them up on the desk. “Sugar!”

Yuuji and the rest of the students at the event also hop out of their desk chairs to go up to the desk. Gojo sets out a box of donuts and various candies. Gojo immediately starts unwrapping the candies and popping them into his mouth.

Everyone else goes back to their desk with their snacks to talk with their friends, but Yuuji doesn’t know anyone else in this class. He’s not a physics major or a science major. He is technically still undecided, but he probably needs to fix that by the end of this semester. 

But he has no idea what he wants to do.

Gojo hops back up onto the desk, eating a jelly filled donut. “So, Itadori, right? Why’re you taking a physics class anyway?”
Yuuji picks up an all-pink donut with sprinkles because he likes the classics. “Uhm, well, I needed a science and my academic advisor told me to. No offense.”

Gojo laughs. “Ah, that makes sense. Cause I was gonna say you’re much more fun than most people that go into physics.”

“Thanks!” 

Gojo was a really cool guy. Very chill for a physics professor. He isn’t sure why people say he’s hard to understand in class. Like Yuuji is pretty sure it’s the physics and not Gojo.

Gojo suddenly looks very serious as he takes off his sunglasses. “And are you dating anyone?”

Yuuji freezes.

What? Why would he even ask that?

That was so random. What made him ask that? How does he even answer that?

“No?”

“Just wondering cause I think you and my godson would get along really well.”

Yuuji blinks. What? 

He takes a bite of the donut. “Are you trying to set me up on a date with your godson?”

Gojo nods like it was perfectly normal. “Yeah, essentially. I’ve been trying to get him to go out on a date. He’s a little introverted at times and thinks people don’t notice him. But he’s just oblivious. But would you be interested?”

Yuuji can’t help but to laugh. And then looks away. 

Did he want to date anyone? 

He thinks of green eyes. Is he really about to say no to a date to a person who’s more ‘real’ than some random guy on the internet who posts randomly about books? Because of a crush?

Yes. Yes he was. 

Wow, maybe Sukuna was right. Maybe he is embarrassing. 

“Um, well, no thanks. No offense or anything.” He holds up his hands. “I’m sure your godson is super nice. It’s just. Oh my god, this is embarrassing, but I kinda have a crush on someone and I’m kinda waiting to see what happens. Thanks though?”

Gojo doesn’t even look bothered. “Ah, dang. Worth a shot though. But I think he would’ve killed me if that worked out and I set him up after he said not to, but hey.” Gojo shoves the rest of the donut in his mouth.

“Someone needs to push him to go out sometime and his dad is perfectly fine with him never dating. He is literally the most stereotypical overprotective dad I have ever met.” Gojo says, sighing. “He really needs to get out more.”

Yuuji laughs and he is really glad Gojo isn’t offended. Yuuji rubs the back of his neck, raising an eyebrow. “How did you even know I like guys? Maybe I’m straight?”

He was not straight, but Gojo didn’t know that for sure.

“You have a pride flag on your backpack that says: I’m bi, deal with it.” Gojo says with a completely straight face with one raised eyebrow. “Unless you’re a weirdly supportive ally, it’s pretty telling. And it’s called having a gaydar.”

Yuuji really laughs at that. 

Maybe Gojo’s godson was nice and maybe it would have been a good idea to try and date a person in real life. But he thinks of green eyes and decides it’s okay. 

The library is quiet this time of day, which always makes it perfect to get some studying done. Mostly empty, just a few people wandering around here and there. The occasional librarian reshelving a book. A tea by his laptop and studying materials.  

Even though he's not actually studying right now. Megumi flips the last page of the biography, only to find a blank page.

That was it?

It was a phonenmally good biography, probably one of the best he has read recently. Though part of him thought it would be more interesting if the author had included some information about how Ida Lovelace had impacted the advancement of technology and computers a little more. But he can always find something of interest to read about it as well. 

He pulls out his laptop, jotting down some main points he wants to talk about in his next video in the notes. He absolutely wants to talk about this book a lot and he quickly finds the notes become a very, very, very long list. It’s fine.

Barely anyone watches these videos anyway, just a couple hundred people. But it’s still fun. 

His phone dings. 

Nobara: Yuuji is going on live!! You should watch it with me so we can figure out this mystery crush together! Like mystery solving besties!!

Nobara: Here’s the link

The link to Twitch pops up a few seconds later. And Megumi quickly types out a text.
Megumi: I’m working on my next video

Nobara: ok? Just multitask? 

Nobara: I need someone else I can rant to about this!! And Maki is in class right now! 

Megumi: Fine, but I’m going to keep working on my video too

Nobara: Fine by me. Just watch, you nerd

He sighs and clicks on the link, following whatever directions pop up. And he sighs as he has to make an account. Making usernames was one of his least favorite things to do. There was something about it that just put so much pressure on him. Like he had to choose the most perfect username possible. And it’s what represents him. 

He frowns at his screen. Did it really matter? Probably not, but he does know that Nobara will probably make some comment about his username no matter what. So he just quickly types in the first thing that comes to mind that Nobara hopefully won’t roast him too much for. 

2Dogs>1Dog

Yeah, he’d just leave it at that. Nobara will probably say something, but that was fine. He didn’t really have any other ideas anyway. So he finishes making the account and the Twitch stream pops up now when he clicks the link. 

Megumi: Why is this so complicated looking? There’s so much on the screen how does this work?

Nobara: It’s really not you old man

Megumi: I didn’t come here to be attacked 

Nobara: What’s your username?

Megumi: It really doesn’t matter

Nobara: It’s something related to animals isn't it?

Megumi: no 

Nobara: I’ll figure it out either way

Megumi rolls his eyes and clicks on the link to Yuuji’s stream and plugs in his headphones. As it loads, he keeps jotting down points he wants to mention in his video later. He definitely wants to talk about the intersection of gender studies and technology. 

The stream starts up. Yuuji is sitting in the same spot as when Nobara forced him to watch the other stream. More lights in the little dorm room and Yuuji is wearing the same yellow hoodie as before. Except that Yuuji is furiously yelling at his screen while holding a controller of some kind. 

Megumi winces at the volume. And quickly turns it down. 

“Ah! I’m dying, I’m dying!” Yuuji screams into his headphones with a little microphone. Panicking, he is frantically hitting buttons on his controller. “Oh crap! I’m gonna die! Why are there so many!”

On screen, there’s a video of a landscape with a bunch of zombies or something and a little figure in military-looking clothing running through a city that looks like it had been bombed. Broken down cars and buildings that are falling apart. Yuuji keeps yelling at the screen as one of the zombies almost grabs him. 

“Holy crap my HP is so low!” Yuuji looks utterly terrified as he runs around a huge group of zombies. “No, no, no, I need to get through this level! Pardon me, Mr. Zombie man, I have places to be!”

Yuuji shoots the zombie in the head and keeps running. “Sorry, Mr. Zombie, but could you maybe not try to eat me today? I’m on a really strict schedule here. Thank you.”

Megumi blinks. 

And it’s absolutely not slightly endearing how Yuuji speaks so politely to the zombies trying to kill him.

Megumi: Why does this city looks like it’s been bombed for years? Isn’t this supposed to be a zombie apocalypse? How could zombies bomb a city?

Nobara: Omg you’re hopeless. 

Nobara: The government bombed the city to try and get rid of the zombies and Yuuji’s character is trying to find any survivors. But he can’t save everyone and sometimes he has to choose who to save. The whole thing is supposed to be filled with really hard moral choices on whether or not someone deserves to live. 

Nobara: How have you not seen anything about this game? It’s literally like famous?

Megumi: Why would I have heard of this? And anyway, that just sounds like a normal war but with zombies. Isn’t war just about hard moral choices about who lives and who dies?

Nobara: Oh my god 

He doesn’t know what he said. It’s true. 

Yuuji screams again as a child zombie stumbles out from behind a car and Megumi has to lower the volume again. “No! I don’t want to shoot a baby zombie! I’m just going to run away! I’m sorry baby zombie!”

Megumi: That seems like a stupid choice. The zombie could literally kill someone later on and he’s just going to run away?

Nobara: That wasn’t supposed to be a moral dilemma moment. It’s just a zombie. You’re just overthinking things

Megumi: I’m right

Nobara: Okay ignoring your weird obsession with debating everything 

Nobara: YUUJI KEEPS MENTIONING ME AND SAYING HOW NICE ALL MY COMMENTS ARE! I WANNA BE FRIENDS WITH HIM

Megumi: Can you even do that?

Nobara: Imma private message him on twitch hold on 

Megumi shrugs and goes back to typing out some notes for his video. He probably should find some images to include in the video as well. Probably something that includes Ida Lovelace in it. It’ll just make the video nicer. 

Nobara: I messaged him!! Let’s see if he responds!!

“I hate this game! I don’t want to pick who lives!” Yuuji makes a horrified face at his screen, eyes wide. He is frozen in one spot with a dialogue thing showing on screen. “Why can’t everyone just live? Like why can’t I just pick the everyone-lives-happily-ever-after option?”

“That’s not how this game works.” Sukuna appears behind Yuuji. He leans down to look at the screen. He tosses his backpack onto the bed. “I told you it wasn’t just a zombie shooting game.”

Yuuji turns towards Sukuna with a look of utter sadness. “Bro, why would you ever even want to play this? It’s making me sad, dude.”

“I don’t know, can you stop screaming before our neighbors think I’m trying to kill you?”

Yuuji turns back to the screen, thumb hovering over a dialogue action. “You are killing me. You suggested I play this.” Suddenly Yuuji hits pause, pushing backwards in his chair. “Okay, I’m going to take a break before I think too much about this. Let’s talk about something not sad.”

Yuuji leans forward to read the chat question out loud. 

Megumi looks through reviews of the biography. He will admit, at least to himself, that having the video in the background is kind of nice.

He will not say this to Nobara.

Yuuji ends the stream and takes off his headphones. He spins violently around to look at his traitor of a brother with a glare. Sukuna barely glances up at him from where he lounges on his bed like he hasn’t completely messed up Yuuji’s vibes today. 

He already had to deal with the extra credit thing today. Hasn’t he suffered enough?

“Bro, why would you ever suggest I play that? It’s super depressing.” Yuuji continues to glare. 

Sukuna still doesn’t look up as he keeps looking at his laptop screen. He types loudly. “How is it my fault? None of it’s real. It’s a video game.”

Yuuji did not care. 

He still felt bad. 

“Now my mental state is all messed up!” Yuuji makes a face and slouches in his desk chair. “I wanted to watch videos of my crush, but now I’m just going to be thinking about whether or not I’m a terrible human being.”

“You’re a terrible human being for making me listen to you rant about your crush for this long.” Sukuna says without missing a beat, looking up from his laptop screen for one second. 

“Stop judging me!” Yuuji spins around in his chair for a second, looking up at the ceiling. “You don’t understand! I mean, I know I only know him through Youtube, but this crush is getting embarrassing!”

“It’s only now getting embarrassing?”

Yuuji ignores him. “Like I wish he would make more videos about himself so I could know more about him. Like what does he do other than read books and make reviews on them? Maybe he likes video games too? Do you think he’s ever watched any of my streams? Uhg, why doesn’t Youtube have a private message feature?”

“From the videos you forced me to watch,” Sukuna looks up, impassive and very much bored. “I’m going to say he has not watched a video game Twitch Streamer. Ever. In his life.”

“Hey, you never know.” Yuuj hops out of his chair and flops down onto his bed. He grabs his laptop and opens it. The last thing he was doing was still up on his screen. A half-finished video of his crush holding up a book.

Yuuji glances once at Sukuna and then plugs in his headphones before he gets mocked again. He turns the video back on. 

“I think that this was one of the best books I’ve read,” He pauses in the video, looking down at the book he is holding. It was some random book called The Book Thief that Yuuji had never read in his life. “So I highly recommend it.”

He keeps talking about the books, Yuuji completely zones out while staring at him.

Yuuji’s crush has become increasingly embarrassing over the past few months. And he doesn’t even know this guy’s real name, only his Youtube account name. 

MegReads. 

And he knows this guy has really pretty green eyes and black hair and is somewhat tall from what he can tell. And that he reads. A lot. 

That’s all he knows. And yet somehow he has a huge crush.

Megumi sits on the steps of the English building, a book on his lap. His class had just ended and he needed to wait, so why not work on his next book? It’s warm out, the sun still shining even though it’s still slightly cloudy. And it’s not too windy that it messes with his book pages. So he flips to the next page. 

Only a few minutes and pages later, does a very loud voice announce its presence. 

“Megumi!”

He looks up slowly. Gojo’s all-white car pulls out on the road right in front of him and stops. Gojo leans out the window, waving wildly like Megumi did not already hear him shout his name. 

“It’s your favorite godfather here to pick you up for our wonderful two week hang out!” Gojo waves again like Megumi did not hear him the first two times. Megumi sighs and closes his book. 

Really what did he expect from Gojo?

Megumi hops into the passenger seat and closes the door. 

Gojo grins at him, sunglasses on as per usual. “How is my dearest godson doing?”

“Well,” Megumi buckles in and Gojo hits the gas. “I just finished class and I have another writing assignment so mildly decent.”

Gojo makes a face and sticks out his tongue. “I still don’t know why you didn’t just go to the college where I teach? We could carpool every single day! And plus then we could get lunch together and I could introduce you to all my coworkers and show off my super adorable godson!”

Megumi rolls his eyes and shoves the book into his backpack. “You know why.”

Gojo keeps his eyes on the road, but Megumi can see him frowning. “I just, I mean, my college has a good English program too.”

Megumi swallows and fiddles with the pen in the cupholder. “You know it was more of who was part of this program. You were the one who thought it was a good idea.”

Gojo grumbles, eyes narrowing on the road. “Okay yeah, and I’m eating my words now.”

And Megumi almost feels bad. 

Then Gojo sits up straight, beaming again. “Megumi! Wanna go grab some food for dinner tonight?”

“What?” Megumi blinks. “I thought we weren’t going out?”

He very much remembers Gojo specifically texting him that they weren’t going anywhere tonight. That they were just going to chill at Gojo’s house. And that is was going to be a chill night. Nothing crazy.

Gojo sniffles and presses a hand to his forehead. “Denying your poor, sad godfather cake? How cruel of you, Meg.”

Megumi rolls his eyes. 

He had told Gojo that the nickname was getting old. But Gojo kept saying he liked it, so he was going to keep using it. Megumi thought Gojo could come up with a better nickname, but whatever.

Nevermind that's what his Youtube account is named after.

The car stops at the lights and Gojo turns towards him, grinning. “What if we stop at the bookstore?”

“Okay.”

Gojo laughs. “Wow, that was easy.”

There is really only one bookstore to go to here. The small local bookstore had a larger selection than most stores. And also doubles as a coffee shop. Everywhere inside the bookstore smells of coffee, steeping tea, fresh bread, baking cookies and sweet desserts.

They get to the bookstore only a few minutes later and Megumi doesn’t even try to act like he isn’t excited as they go inside. 

The entrance has a small table set up with the newest arrivals and the small flower arrangements made by the owners. He hurries over to the table, looking over the new books. The smell of freshly brewing coffee hits him and he lets the smell surround him. 

Gojo steps beside him, looking around. He waves a hand with his usual grin. “Go, be free in your natural habitat, Megumi.”

He rolls his eyes, but continues into the bookstore as Gojo heads to where the coffee was. It was their usual routine at the bookstore. Megumi searches for books, comes back with an armful of books and Gojo gets coffee for them both. And sometimes Gojo grabs some classic literature books as a gift.

He wanders about. 

The shelves keep going back further and further. The smell of coffee is somehow just as strong here as at the front.

The occasional couch is put into corners and between shelves. He heads for where the non-fiction and biographies are located. He browses the old and the new books, running his hand along the edges as he walks down the aisles. 

Megumi stops by a little display table with the newest biographies. And he instantly grabs the title about Dian Fossey. He had been wanting to read this for months since he saw it was coming out. He sticks it under his arm and moves to the next aisle. 

He picks up some other interesting books. 

The best part of this bookstore?

All the books were five dollars.  

His phone buzzes in his pocket. And he shifts so all of the books are tucked under his arms or in his other hand to look at it. 

Dad: Hey I’m bout to get on the plane, so I won’t be able to get texts for a while. But I should land in about three hours. I’ll see you in two week and I’ll let you know when you can call once I get my schedule 

Megumi manages to text with one hand and hold all the books with the other hand. 

Megumi: Okay dad, thanks for letting me know

Dad: Yeah yeah I know you get all anxious if I don’t let you know

Megumi: Stop making fun of me

Dad: I’m not. I think it’s cute how you worry about me. Nobody else worries about me of all people

Megumi: Ok I’m done texting you now

Dad: lol

Megumi: And stop saying lol it’s weird did Gojo teach that to you??

Dad: I’m trying to relate to the youths. Is it working?

Megumi: Oh my god never say lol again or that again 

Dad: lol

Megumi turns a corner, instantly running face-first into someone. He instantly tries to catch the falling books, but moves too late as he falls backward as well. And he almost falls, but a hand shoots out and catches him. Megumi freezes and looks at who is in front of him. 

Geto Suguru looks at him. 

Geto looks pretty much the same. Long black hair, earrings, dark clothing. But the circles underneath his eyes are darker and more prominent. 

And Megumi becomes aware that this is the first time he has seen Geto in months. 

Megumi nervously picks himself up and mutters thank you. And shoots Geto a side look as Geto crouches to pick up his books. And Megumi can’t help to notice that Geto has the Dian Fossey biography tucked under his arm as well.

Did they both pick it up? 

“Sorry about that,” Geto says, laughing in a way that is definitely forced. He stands up, holding all the books and he looks down for a moment, blinking. “Is this the new Dian Fossey biography?”

Megumi swallows and cautiously takes back the books. “Um, yeah. I heard about it in that book club newsletter thing you told me about.”

“Oh,” Geto says, blinking as he looks at Megumi. 

Megumi holds onto the books, unsure how exactly to navigate this situation. 

“Um, how are you doing?”

Megumi looks up, blinking. “Oh, um. Okay, I guess. Just have a lot of papers and writing assignments. But I guess that’s to be expected being an English major.”

Geto’s laugh is just a little too forced. 

And this was not what he expected to happen. He had not seen Geto since, well when everything happened. Let alone seeing him at the bookstore. 

But maybe he should have expected it considering that Geto was the one who introduced him to this bookstore. 

Megumi shifts his weight, swallowing nervously again. “Um, Geto, have you talked to Gojo at all-”
“Megumi!”

Megumi tenses just in time as Gojo swings around a corner, carrying two coffees. “Have you acquired more reading material?”

Gojo stops in his tracks, looking past Megumi at Geto. As if it was only Gojo and Geto in the room, all of his attention instantly focused on Geto the moment he saw him. And Gojo’s mouth opens just slightly, with just the smallest hint of a smile. 

Megumi glances once at Geto. He stares back at Gojo, but far less happy. He frowns and glances away, not even able to look at Gojo.

That never used to happen.

Geto shoves his hands into his pockets, still not looking at Gojo. “Sorry, I have to go. I hope you like the new Dian Fossey book.”

And Geto turns around, disappearing around another bookshelf. All but running away from Gojo.

Gojo’s shoulders slump and he looks down, his grip tightened around the two coffees. 

He takes a deep breath. “I just don’t understand what happened.”

Megumi still isn’t sure exactly what happened between them. 

All he knows is that Geto broke up with Gojo of what seemed like, out of the blue. And Geto stopped answering any of Gojo’s calls or texts. He moved out. And had all but ghosted Gojo. Megumi hadn’t even seen him at the English department at his college. And all of his classes were in the same building as Geto’s office. 

He knows because he used to stop by almost everyday and they would discuss the books they were currently reading. 

Megumi frowns as Gojo keeps looking sadly after where Geto left. He just knows he feels a deep weight on his chest whenever Gojo looks sad. “I don’t know either.”

He tries to sound at least a little convincing. “But do you wanna go grab some cake and mochi?”

Gojo stands up straight, taking a deep breath and very pointedly does not look at where Geto left. “Yeah! This is a fun time to hang out with my godson! No sad times!”

They head back to the front of the bookstore. No sign of Geto anywhere.

Megumi tries to buy the books, but Gojo hip checks him out of the way to hand the cashier his card. He grins at Megumi’s face. “What kind of godfather would I be if I didn’t buy help to feed into your addiction?”

“It isn’t an addiction.”

“Hey, at least it’s books.” Gojo hands him the paper bag full of new books. They walk back to Gojo’s car, Megumi keeping the books up front with him.

He knows Gojo is mostly just pretending to be happy-go-lucky right now. And he knows for a fact Gojo hadn’t seen Geto since the breakup happened and Geto moved out the next day. 

And he knows for a fact Gojo is far from having accepted it. Considering Megumi has also known Geto almost as long as he has known Gojo, it was strange for him not to be here as well. 

Gojo had been a part of Megumi’s whole life, considering he had been in the waiting room while Megumi was born. There was never a time without him. And Gojo met Geto in high school, but they only started dating in college. 

And Geto had always been a part of Megumi’s life as well. Everyone had just assumed they would get married. But when Geto randomly said they needed to break up and pretty much dropped off the face of the Earth, everyone was obviously confused. 

Megumi glances over at Gojo. “Um Gojo?” He fiddles his thumbs. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nope!” Gojo keeps smiling. “Let’s talk about something not even related to that!”

“Okay. What do you want to talk about?”

Gojo thinks for a moment. “How about your Youtube channel? How is that going?”

“It’s going.” Megumi shrugs and doesn’t call out Gojo for completely changing the topic. “I’m getting ready to make a new video this week. I just finished that book on Ida Lovelace, it was really good.”

Gojo gasps. “You should do a little frequently asked questions video or like a Q&A! People love those! People like to watch people they connect with!”

Megumi makes a face and takes a sip of his coffee. “I don’t think people want to watch me talk about myself for a whole video. It would be pretty boring.”

“That’s where you underestimate yourself, Gumi!” Gojo says, as they turn onto the freeway. He barely even glances in his rearview mirrors and Megumi yet again questions how he has a license. “You’re super smart and cute, just like a grumpy cat!”

Megumi continues to make an unamused face. 

Gojo cackles and pokes his face. “Just like that! Also all my friends love your videos!”

Megumi jerks backwards and feels a sense of dread. “Oh my god. Your friends watch my videos? Why ?”

He thinks of Gojo’s friends and tries to imagine them watching his twenty minute videos where he talks about whatever nerdy book he recently read. 

Oh no.

Gojo laughs, nodding furiously. “Yea! Nanami loves them! He actually uses them as reading recommendations and he keeps telling me that you have a really good taste in books. Shoko also loves it.”

Megumi slaps his hands over his face. Gojo laughs. 

“Do a Q&A video!” Gojo says, shaking his shoulder while Megumi continues to cover his burning face. “You can just talk about books or like bookish nerdy things! Everyone will love it!”

“Oh my god,” Megumi mutters into his hands. “Fine, fine. I’ll do it.”

“Yes!” 

Megumi feels like he is going to regret this. 

Chapter Text

Yuuji is scrolling through his various apps because he is incredibly bored and he had stupidly agreed to not stream for a few hours so Sukuna could get a paper done or something. Sometimes he questions how Sukuna is the good student and he’s the one always goofing off. 

The sound of Sukuna’s loud, aggressive typing echoes through the room. Why does he type so loud? Did he have a personal grudge against his keyboard?

He rolls onto his side, clicking out of his Tik Tok account. It was weekend, shouldn’t he be doing something fun. He already wasted enough time not doing fun stuff. Yuuji looks up across the room. “You sure I can’t stream?”

Sukuna stops his aggressive typing, his back facing towards Yuuji. His desk is covered with books, textbooks, and papers. “We made a deal. No streaming until I’m done. You have to deal with it now.”

“Fine. You’re so mean to me.” Yuuji clicks on YouTube as Sukuna tosses a pillow at him which he smacks out of the way. It was a weekend morning and he couldn’t do anything fun. 

Why did he agree to this again? 

“Don’t you have homework to do?” Sukuna mutters, going back to typing too loudly. 

“I mean yeah,” Yuuji shrugs. “But do I want to do equations for Professor Gojo’s class? Not really. I already went to the extra credit thing, I should get bonus points for already trying.”

He doesn’t need to see Sukuna roll his eyes, but he knows Sukuna does. But he doesn’t need Sukuna’s negativity today. He wants today to be a good day. So he turns back to his phone.  

The main page of YouTube pops up. And there’s a red notification so obviously he checks it. 

And he jumps out of bed, staring at the screen. Did he read that right? 

MegReads is live. 

Yuuji should probably be embarrassed by the loud scream that escapes him. But he doesn’t care. Sukuna spins around, actually looking concerned. 

“Oh my god, oh my god,” Yuuji grips the phone like it is his lifeline. His heart is racing. “It’s happening! The gods above me have blessed me this day!”

“The hell is wrong with you?” 

Yuuji shoves the screen in his face. “Look, look! He’s doing a Q&A! He’s doing it! Oh my god, this is the best day of my life!” 

Sukuna shoves the phone out of his face, scowling. “I swear to god. Stop screeching.”

Yuuji hugs his phone and jumps onto his bed, reaching for his headphones. No matter what Sukuna says about his crush, nothing can ruin his good mood. Not when his crush is finally doing a Q&A after years of Yuuji praying for this moment.

 “Screw my stupid homework for Gojo’s class, imma watch this!” 

“Just kill me now,” Sukuna mutters and puts on his noise blocking headphones with a snap. Which is understandable honestly, cause Yuuji can and will probably be yelling like a fanboy and he wasn’t embarrassed to admit it. 

He plugs in his headphones and puts them on. And he clicks on the video. 

Is he seriously doing a video about himself? How long had Yuuji been hoping for a video about him and not his weirdly obscure biographies? Since he watched his first video probably, which was in high school. 

The video starts and Yuuji can’t help but giggle like an idiot as his crush sits in the frame. It looks like his usual video, sitting in front of a large bookshelf that is stuffed with books and a few strands of lights hanging from it.

He sits there, awkwardly fiddling his hands. As per usual, he is wearing a dark sweater. Yuuji loves his sweaters, they are always cute. And his crush is just cute overall.  

“Oh my god,” Yuuji says, feeling his face warm up. He was going to die before this stream is over. “He’s so awkward, it’s cute.”

He sees Sukuna facepalm out of the corner of his eye, but he ignores it. 

In the video, his crush awkwardly shifts, clearly uncomfortable. “Um, so this is so awkward.” He mutters under his breath. “So yeah, I was forced to do this because the people in my life think I should put myself out there more, so um…”

And Yuuji is typing frantically into the chat. 

JigglyPuff48: I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS SO MUCH I DON’T EVEN LIKE TO READ YOU HAVE NO IDEA I’VE BEEN WATCHING YOUR VIDEOS SINCE HIGH SCHOOL AND I HATE READING 

His crush leans forward, squinting at the chat. And then he blinks. How was blinking cute? God, Yuuji’s crush was getting out of hand. Was it normal to find blinking cute? Nevermind, he’ll just ask google later.

His crush looks up. “Wait, really? Huh-” And his face turns faintly pink and he glances away from the camera. Yuuji tries not to scream. “I wasn’t really expecting someone to really watch any of these videos or actually be here for the Q&A. Thank you?”

Yuuji flops back onto his bed, holding his phone above his head and trying not to yell. “Oh my god, he’s so fricking cute. How is this possible?”

On screen, his crush leans forward again. “Also, um, JigglyPuff48?”

Yuuji doesn’t hold back from screaming now. He just said Yuuji’s name. His username, but same thing. 

“Reading is good, you should try to like reading more.” He says it with a completely straight face. “Try reading more.”

Yuuji stares at the screen and whispers. “Anything you want.”

“Someone put me out of my misery.” Sukuna says, hitting his head against a book. “I can’t do this anymore.”

JigglyPuff48: I mean I try to read but it’s hard and you know time consuming 

In real life, Yuuji is giggling at his phone like an idiot as he types it out. Is this real life? Is he really talking to his crush? How is this possible? Sure, they’re talking through a YouTube chat feature and they’ve never met in real life. It was fine.

“Um, so I guess you can ask questions, I don’t know. I’ve never done this before.” His crush says, making a face. “If you even have questions.”

Yuuji starts typing, but a whole bunch of questions already pop up in the chat. Wait, when were there so many people? There were several hundred people now. 

Wait, when did his crush get popular?

FrenchBookLover11: If you want to share, what’s your name? It feels weird calling you by your channel name. You can even use a nickname or something if you don’t want to use your real name 

His crush blinks. “Oh, I never even thought of that. I guess you can just call me Fushiguro?”

Yuuji doesn’t try to stop himself from screaming. Sukuna rips off his headphones. 

Yuuji jumps on his bed, holding on tightly to his phone. “Oh my god, I know his name now! Oh my god, holy crap! I never thought this would happen!”

Was this even real life?

Fushiguro?

It was a nice name, even if it was only his surname. It was fine. It was better than referring to his crush by his channel name.

Simplemanlikescheese: omg i never thought you would do a q&a but i'm super excited!! but my question is: where do you find out about these books?? You always have such good books and I feel like I can never find anything half as interesting 

Fushiguro reads all of the questions out loud. 

Fushiguro rubs the back of his neck. “Oh, um, thanks. I um, follow a lot of book blogs, and um goodreads and I watch a lot of booktubers and I follow a book club newsletter which has some really great books listed there.” 

He shrugs. “And also small bookstores too. And the library. Because, um, it's better to use your local resources, it's good for the library, plus it's free and librarians always have some really good recommendations. And utilizing your public resources is a good thing.” 

Yuuji tries not to fanboy, butt he was just so cute!

This is really the best day of his life.

LeafEater98831: I love your channel!! I found so many good books here!! Question(s) how did you get into doing youtube? how many books do you read per month? and i really need to know, what is your skincare routine?

Fushiguro stares after reading the question for a very long time, like he is having a hard time understanding. And it was a valid question. He does have really nice skin. 

Wait, did that sound weird? Was it weird to say his crush has nice skin?

Fushiguro sits up, taking a moment to think. “Thank you?” 

He smacks his head. “Oh my god, I'm so awkward. Well, actually my friends thought I should make a youtube, I didn't want to at first, but it's kinda of a hobby now, it's fun and plus a nice break from college work.”

Oh. He’s in college too. That’s good. Yuuji grins. This was so much new information already. He never really thought this would happen. 

“Um, I usually read about 10 or so books per month, something more, well usually more, but finals change the average. I calculated it once.” Fushiguro says, half-mumbling. 

Why was he so smart? Smart and cute and awkward? 

Who calculates how many books they read on average like that?

Fushiguro takes a breath. “And um, my skincare routine?” He gets a far away look for a moment, like he is actually trying to think about this. Which is somehow cute. God, what is wrong with him?  

Finally, Fushiguro just shrugs. “Um, whatever my best friend makes me buy? I think it's something from Sephora? I think, yeah that sounds right and wear your sunblock, I guess?”

Yuuji can’t stop himself from giggling.

“And moisturize? Those are both important and from what my best friend said; you really only need a cleanser, moisturizer, and sunblock, I think.”

Fushiguro looks so lost and Yuuji just wants to crush him into a hug. And Fushiguro adds. “So yeah, that's about it for skincare, I think.”

He was so cute it was almost too much to handle. He knows he’s probably blushing like an idiot, but it was fine. He had long since accepted that he was an idiot. He’d willingly be an idiot for his crush.

FlowerGirl99998: what has been the most challenging book you’ve ever read?

Any emotions on Fushiguro’s face were gone. His face is entirely blank and his voice is completely monotone. “Economics: A Macro View of the Economics That Shape Our World, tenth edition revision by Nanami Kento and written by Yaga Masamichi.”

Without missing a beat he adds, “Sorry, Nanami, but it’s true.”

Yuuji doesn’t even stop himself from laughing out loud. He was learning so much more about his crush’s personality. 

This was truly the best day of his life. 

BossMan: Where do you get your sweaters?? I know this is random but you always have such cute sweaters!! I've been searching for the black sweater with the two little doggies on it for AGES and i can't find it anywhere?? Pls help me out??? you're the best and i love your channel

Fushiguro furrows his brows and Yuuji thinks it's adorable. 

But anything his crush did was cute. 

“My sweaters?” He fiddles with the hem of his sweater sleeve. And it’s true. He always has cute sweaters. “Oh um, well, most of these were presents. I don’t know exactly.”

He makes a face like he’s thinking. “My dad never knows what to get me for my birthday, and I once off-handly mentioned I liked sweaters. So now I've been getting sweaters for every single birthday since.” 

Fushigruo shrugs. “It's nice though. I'm not sure why he chooses the ones he does, considering that he wears the same style of t-shirt every single day, but yeah. I don't actually know where he got these.”

BossMan AS BEFORE: PLS IVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR SO LONG DOES YOUR DAD KNOW? 

Fushiguro makes a face, mumbling to himself. “Where does he get these?” Then louder he adds, “You seem really desperate. I guess I could ask him…”

He pulls out his phone and Yuuji’s stares intently at it. He has long since stood by his belief that you can learn a lot about a person from their phone case. So this was a good moment to learn more about him. 

Like people without phone cases were to be feared.

His phone case is clear, a good sign. And there is a picture behind the backing of it. Two dogs. Very very good. Dogs are always a good sign a person is trustworthy. There is also a small sticker. 

Yuuji grins. There’s a frog sticker on his phone. Why was that so cute? 

Fushiguro starts typing something on his phone. “I can text him, but he’s on a business trip right now, so I don’t know if he’ll respond.”

And then a loud ringing noise starts in the room and Fushiguro practically jumps out of his chair. He stares down at his phone, eyes wide. “Oh, he’s calling now. Should I answer?” He whispers it more to himself and a few seconds later he hits a button on the phone and puts the phone to his ear. 

“Hey, dad.”

“Hey, kid.” His dad’s voice is loud enough that it’s pretty clear even through whatever Fushiguro is using to record. “What’s up?”

Fushiguro glances up at the camera once. “Oh right. Um, I’m just doing stuff for my YouTube and I was convinced to do a Q&A.”

“How’s it going?” 

Fushiguro takes a moment. “Good, I think?”

“See? It’s good to put yourself out there more.”

Fushiguro makes a face. “Okay, yeah. And someone asked where I got my sweaters and I realized I don’t know, so…”

“Oh,” Fushigruo’s dad says. “I get em from the amazons.”

And now Fushigruo looks like he is trying not to laugh. “The amazons?”

“Wait, no. I just grab em whenever I’m travelling and I think it looks like something you’d like. I don’t know.”

“Okay, I figured it was probably something like that.”

“How’s the Q&A going? Are you gonna record it later?”

Fushiguro furrows his brows, once again glancing at the camera. “Actually I’m on live.”

“The hell’s that? Is this some kinda youth slang?”

“No?” Fushiguro doesn’t sound too sure either. God, he’s so cute. “I mean, I don’t think it’s slang?”

Yuuji can hear Fushiguro’s dad laugh. “You’re such an old soul. Okay, I gotta go to a meeting, but I'll call you tonight.” 

“Okay, I'll talk you later.” He ends the call and looks like he’s ready to explode. He clears his throat. “Well, he said he didn’t know. I’m really sorry.”

And he doesn’t even have a chance to say anything else before another question pops up. 

BarryBBenson: are you dating anyone??

And Yuuji also freezes. Oh no.

He both desperately wants to know and doesn’t want to know if Fushiguro is dating anyone. Please, please, please say no. 

Please say no. 

He will literally never recover if he says yes.

Fushiguro’s face scrunches up. “No?”

Yuuji lets out an audible sigh of relief. “Oh thank god.” And then he sits up, looking at Sukuna. “He’s single! I have a chance!”

Sukuna smacks a book against his own head. “Did you really ask him if he was single?”

“Hey!” Yuuji points at him. “I didn’t ask.”

“But you would have.”

Yuuji ignores him. He wasn’t going to let Sukuna’s negativity bring down his good mood. But it was true. 

ChooChoo: You should try doing some of the booktube tag challenges!!! i know it's not a question but i think it'd be really fun!!

Fushiguro blinks at the suggestion. “Oh well, I haven’t yet because I just figured nobody would be interested in seeing me do that.”

Yuuji is instantly typing in the chat. 

JigglyPuff48: YOU SHOULD! YOU’D BE GREAT AT IT AND PLUS UR SUPER CUTE

And Yuuji watches as Fushiguro’s face turns completely red and his eyes get wide as he stares at the screen. He keeps looking around frantically. “Oh um, Well, how do I even respond to that? I guess I could do it? Oh my god.”

God, he is so cute. 

ChooChoo: I couldn't help but to notice your phone case, do you have dogs???

Fushiguro sits up instantly, showing his phone to the camera. There was a white one and black one, sitting side by side like they were posing for the photo. “Yes! I have two husky mixes. I love them a lot!”

Gosh, he was just so adorable. The ways his eyes lit up when he started talking about his dogs was just too cute.

“I’ve had them since I was five, so they're pretty old at this point, but they're still really healthy.” He turns on his phone and starts showing pictures. But Yuuji isn’t even looking at the dogs. Why look at dogs when he could look at how his crush’s eyes sparkle? “Their names are Shiro and Kuro.”

Fushiguro flips to the next picture. “I also have a pet snake and also I used to have some pet rabbits! But they passed away a few years ago.” His face falls a little bit, looking a little sad. 

He flips to another picture. “I also want to get some pet frogs at some point. I really like frogs, they're really interesting and there's some really cool ones, especially toads. I feel like toads are really underrated. I mean frogs are cool too, but toads are so funny and their species is so diverse you know.”

Fushiguro suddenly stops speaking and he lowers his phone. The sparkle in eyes dim a little. 

“Oh god, I’m sorry I was rambling. I didn’t mean to do that. I just really like animals.” His voice is quieter now. “I wanted to be a vet for a really long time, but then I found out vets have to put animals down and I just couldn't do it anymore so I ended up doing literature instead.”

And he covers his face with hand. “Sorry, that was probably really boring. I’m really bad at this.”

Yuuji quickly types in the chat. 

JigglyPuff48: NO YOU'RE FINE IT'S REALLY CUTE YOU LIKE ANIMALS SO MUCH THE WAY YOU GOT EXCITED WAS CUTE

Fushiguro blushes again and Yuuji can't believe how cute he is. 

Yuuji knows he’s smiling at his screen, but he has accepted this. “Oh my god, I love him so much.”

“Simp,” Sukuna says while walking by. 

QueenShit: HEY BESTIE IT’S ME YOUR GAL 

“Oh, hey, Nobara.” Fushiguro barely looks concerned. “Please don’t say anything embarrassing.”

QueenShit: im his best friend the one who helps him actually have skincare at all: imma link the stuff below. you're welcome, bestie 

Fushiguro makes a face, but he doesn’t say anything in response.

QueenShit: while i do admit your awkwardness is endearing at times, you also need an extrovert to help ya out 

“Okay, if you say so,” Fushiguro says with a sigh. 

ConsumeStars: I feel like with your exquisite reading tastes you would also have some great music taste as well, so what music do you like?

“Oh, I love music. I mean I think like most people I listen to a lot of different genres and artists, but I really like instrumental music, especially soundtracks for both movies and game soundtracks.”

Good to know. 

Music was another great way to understand someone.

Fushiguro then adds, “I don't really play any video games, though, I do really enjoy the soundtracks. I read an article about how video game soundtracks are designed and produced to make you focus more so they're great to listen to while studying I think.”

BlueBerry: other than reading what are you interested in?

Fushiguro shrugs. “I mean, animals, music, and history. I really enjoy history. And um, martial arts too? My dad does martial arts, so I used to go with him a whole lot so I ended up doing them too.”

Yuuji flops over onto his side, giggling stupidly. He hears Sukuna smack himself with a book again. 

“Also, I like going on walks,” Fushiguro pauses, his face falling. “Oh god this makes me sound like an old person. Why am I like this? And just listening to music I guess okay moving on.”

Yuuji grins. “I think I’m in love, Sukuna. I’m serious.”

Another smack. 

PianoMan: I do martial arts!! What kind do you do?

“Oh, mixed martials arts.”

Yuuji makes a noise. “Oh my god, how is he so cute but potentially scary?”

2838738: i am telling you you need to start doing competitions

Fushiguro looks at the comment for a moment, then raises an eyebrow. “Maki?”

2838738: yeah i’m just saying you’re pretty good 

QueenShit: NO!! Modeling!! I'm telling you!! Like look at his lashes and his skin is pretty much perfect as it is!!! plus he's tall!!

Yuuji sits up. Tall? 

He really was learning a lot today. This was perfect.

Plus, he likes tall people.  

QueenShit: like look at him!! It's a waste of his perfectly good face to not model

Fushiguro’s face is hard to read. “I am not doing modeling, you know this.”

QueenShit: imagine it! an openly pan model who also knows mixed martial arts and is super well-read and knowledgeable you'd literally be perfect for it!! 

Yuuji does not hold back from screeching. He jumps off the bed and grabs Sukuna’s shoulders and shakes him. Sukuna tries smacking him, but he’s too excited to care. 

“He’s pan! He’s pan!” Yuuji shakes Sukuna’s shoulders again. “He likes boys!”

“Stop!”

“He likes boys! I have a chance! Oh my god, this is the best day ever!” Yuuji lets go of his shoulders and Sukuna spins around violently. 

“Please look at him. He’s obviously gay in some shape or form. Cause he aint straight.”

Yuuji deflates. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Sukuna gives him a typical Sukuna annoyed face. “You gaydar is terrible.”

Yuuji turns away from him. No more negative comments. On screen, Fushiguro rolls his eyes. 

QueenShit: your dad would support it!! 

QueenShit: your godfather would too!! him especially!!

“Okay,” Fushiguro says, “Moving on from this topic.”

The rest of the live stream continues and Yuuji just gets used to Sukuna smacking himself with a pillow and throwing things at him. The moment the livestream is over, he gets his Twitch set up because it had been long enough he could do it now. 

And he needs to rant.

The moment it starts, he annonces. “Hello, everyone. Welcome back.” 

There’s a lot of comments in the chat already, but he hasn't read them yet. He looks at the screen. “I have an important announcement. I think I have truly found the love of my life.”
A pillow smacks into the side of his head, which he ignores. 

Yuuji sinks into his chair. “I’m serious! Like, how can someone be so fricking cute, but seriously cool at the same time?”

Orangegrass: yuuji is having a gay crisis 

Cheesyman334: again? This boy is too relatable man 

DrinkABang&Die: anyone else have a huge fricking crush on yuuji?? like soft boy but also could probably pick me up without breaking a sweat???

Chickenlegs&wings: ^ same man same

Picasso'sLeftFinger: ^ same

Cheesyman334: ^ a huge fat crush

BreaktheEgg: he's just been ranting about his crush for the past five minutes is he ok?

Orangegrass: are you new here? this is normal

Yuuji sighs and he knows he sounds like a lovesick fool, but anything for his crush. “His eyes. You have no idea. I want to squish his face and tell him he’s the cutest human I have ever seen.”

In the background, Sukuna pretends to violently throw up. 

Yuuji spins around. “I hope the chat turns that into a meme again”

Sukuna pretends to vomit again, so Yuuji turns away to ignore him. “As I was saying, I want to tell him he’s the cutest human I have ever seen and maybe some kisses, I don’t know man.”

“I hate this place.” 

Yuuji spins around in his chair, imagining it. “And if he wants to talk about his super niche interests with me for hours, I’d be cool with that.”

Orangegrass: oh man does he seem more in love than usual? Did something happen?

HammerQueen: I NEED TO KNOW WHO THIS IS!!! WHAT DOES THIS MAN LOOK LIKE TO MAKE ITADORI YUUJI SWOON THIS WAY I NEED A VISUAL

DrinkABang&Die: ^ agreed like i feel like this person doesn't really exist you know???

Cheesyman334: sometimes i wonder like is someone this perfect really exist?

Serpentboi22: i am so invested in figuring out who this crush is

HammerQueen: @1Dog<2Dogs help us figure this out man!!

1Dog<2Dogs: how am I supposed to figure out who his mystery crush is based on the most narrow, littlest amount of information on a youbter? 

HammerQueen: you're smart aren't you?

Yuuji really isn’t even paying attention to the stream at this point, he is just rambling on and on about his crush. Honestly, this should be embarrassing, talking this much about his huge crush for this long and this publicly. But it had to happen. 

He rants on and on until he realizes he should probably stop.

Finally, he ends the stream. Because he does need to study for a little bit. So he doesn’t fail out of college because he was too focused on talking about his crush. That would embarrassing. 

He grabs his backpack, shoving his laptop into it. “I’m gonna go to that cafe nearby to study or I’m gonna get too distracted again.”

“Finally,” Sukuna mutters, not stopping his typing. “Which cafe? That one with the really fucking good muffins?” 

Yuuji puts on a hat and grabs his all white sunglasses Todo gifted him for his birthday last year. “Yeah, dude.”

“Grab me a muffin on the way back.” Sukuna says, pointing a pencil at him. “You owe me for making me listen to that .”

Yuuji sighs, scrouching. “Okay, fine. Even though I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Sukuna glances up, expressionless. But he knows that’s the look meaning Sukuna thinks he’s dumb. And then Sukuna glances down at his sweatshirt. “Are you wearing your own merch?”

“Yeah!” Yuuji pretends to pose. “It’s my disguise! Nobody will suspect this!”

Sukuna’s expressions somehow falls even more. “You’re so dumb. Just go get the food.”

So he leaves.

The moment Yuuji’s stream ends, Nobara is texting him. 

Nobara: yo wanna go to the cafe for some coffee before I die from lack of caffeine?

Megumi: yeah. The one with the pastries?

Nobara: duh

Nobara: with the muffins sent from the gods

Megumi: cool ill leave now

Megumi gets off his bed, grabbing his laptop, charger, wallet, and keys. And he hurries downstairs to put his shoes on. Luckily, it’s sunny today so he doesn’t have to worry about an umbrella or anything. 

It’s a quick walk to the cafe from Gojo’s house, which is nice. It’s faster to get there from Gojo’s house than his dad’s house. 

And honestly, he isn’t sure how he started watching all of Yuuji’s streams, but it had steadily been happening more and more. He refused to tell Nobara, because he just knows she will gloat about it. And he had already had a lot happen today. 

That Q&A. 

It wasn’t as bad as he thought it would, but it was still so awkward. It didn’t help that he was just awkward in general and he wasn’t the most interesting either. He still isn’t sure why people kept complimenting him so much in the comments. 

And that one person who kept calling him cute. 

Megumi stops in the middle of the sidewalk, his face already warming up. 

No. He was not going to get flustered again. Nope. 

He keeps walking, trying not to think about it. Nobody ever calls him cute. Gojo didn’t count, because Gojo was himself. And his dad doesn’t count, because that’s his dad. 

Nope. Stop thinking about it. 

He thinks back to Yuuji’s stream. He really had just spent the whole time ranting about his crush and Nobara kept giving Megumi ‘evidence’ to try and figure out who it is. 

It didn’t go well. Because he was too busy watching the stream. 

It shouldn’t have been so entertaining to watch someone rant about their crush for almost twenty minutes. But somehow Yuuji made it possible. 

He makes it to the cafe. It’s tucked into between two, older buildings. It used to be a house, so it has a very homey feel to it. Which is partly why he likes it so much. 

Instantly, the smell of baked goods is overwhelming. The chocolate, coffee, and tea is soothing. It also has a bakery inside, so it always smells heavenly. The inside is mostly empty, really only him and the workers. Which is fine with him.

The room is decorated in light earthy tones and natural wood. And it’s probably one of his favorite places near campus. 

Sliding into his usual seat with his back to the door and leaving the chair facing the door empty. Nobara likes to see everyone come into the cafe so she can get outfit inspiration, or at least that is what she says. He sets his laptop out, setting it up. 

The door opens, the bell ringing. Megumi plugs in his laptop and pulls up his next paper for his gothic literature class. 

“Hi!” Someone says behind him. “Could I please have two hazelnut coffees? And one-” The person pausing for a long time. “Blueberry muffin?”

Why did that voice sound familiar?
Megumi pauses where he was glancing over his notes. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but it didn’t sound like anyone he knew off the top of his head.

And a huge group of people come into the cafe all at once before he has a chance to think any more about it. All the voices layering over each other.  

Nobara falls into the seat across from him. She leans forward on the small table, looking past him. “Yo, there’s some dude wearing Itadori Yuuji merch over there.”

Megumi almost looks. But his phone rings. The only reason he answers in the middle of the cafe is that it’s Gojo. 

“Hello?”

“Hiya!” Gojo says, already cheerful, “I’m at the store. Is there anything you want food wise?”

Megumi pulls up the college academic paper journal page. “Oh, can you please buy some veggies? You don’t have any in your entire house.”

Gojo just laughs, like this isn’t a health issue. “I can do that. I’m also grabbing some cake and more coffee. I’ll see you later!”

The call ends and Megumi almost rolls his eyes. Why is his godfather like this? 

“You missed it,” Nobara says, setting up her own laptop. “The dude with the cool merch left.”

“Okay?”

Nobara sighs, narrowing her eyes. “Also.”

Oh no. Nothing ever good ever came from that tone of voice. He just knows she is about to suggest something he will not like. He just wanted to sit here and work on schoolwork for a hour or two. 

“You’re pretty good at the whole YouTube thing,” Nobara says, slowly.

“Thanks?”

“But,” She holds up a finger, “You have the potential to get bigger than this. I know these things and you have a chance to become a big booktuber.”

Megumi sighs, leaning back in the chair. “Why would I want to do that? I’m a full-time college student already.”

“Okay, but consider this. If you get big enough, you can get invited to big book conventions, meet your favorite authors, and get free books from publishers.” Nobara says, grinning. Like she already knows it would be tempting. 

And it was. It did sound nice. 

But at the same time. 

“No offense, I’m not exactly the most out-going, energetic person there is.” Megumi says, “And people who get big have personable personalities.” 

“Make that your selling point!” Nobara says, leaning on the table again. “I’m in that marketing class right now and we’re talking about social media marketing. I really think you could do it! And I’m not just saying that cause I like to flex my abilities, I’m saying that cause I’m your friend. And I think it’s something you’d actually end up enjoying.”

He blinks and he looks down. “I don’t even know how I’d do that-”

“Make some social media like a normal person,” Nobara says instantly. And he wonders if she already had this planned out. She grabs his phone, quickly typing in his password and he tries not to question how she knew it. 

“I’m signing you up from Instagram first and Twitter too.” 

Yuuji lays on his back, scrolling through his phone. 

“I thought you were going to study at the cafe,” Sukuna says, sipping on his coffee. That he barely even said thank you for, even though Yuuji was extra nice for getting it for him. Rude. “What happened?”

“There were way too many people,” Yuuji says, scrolling through Instagram. “And I think some girl almost recognized me. My disguise wasn’t very good.”

He had been recognized by a fan once. It was not a good experience. During classes, he wasn’t as worried about it. Because he can easily leave if he needs to but tries to avoid it.

Sukuna rolls his eyes. “And you aren’t even studying.”
“I’m just checking Instagram real quick.” 

He scrolls through his feed while ignoring Sukuna’s eyerolls. He switches over to YouTube real quick as well, absently clicking on Fushiguro’s channel. It seems like wishful thinking that he would post anything else today after livestreaming. 

But at the top of his profile now are links to social media. 

Yuuji chokes on his coffee.

“The hell?” He hears Sukuna say, but that’s not important. 

Yuuji sits up, aggressively clicking on the first linked social media. The link sends him to Twitter. There are only two tweets. A brand new account. 

God bless. 

Why was he so lucky?

MegReads tweeted: hello i have a youtube i’ve been asked to do this

MegReads tweeted: and i also apparently have to make my instagram public so here’s the link i guess

Yuuji is already clicking on the link, heart pounding. Thank god for whoever made this happen. This was more content from Fushiguro than he had made in the past three months. 

The instagram has about fifty already posted photos. There are a lot of books, animals, more books, and random pictures. But very nice photos, all taken by Fushiguro.

“He’s good at photography too?” Yuuji grips his phone. This was really was the best day ever. “Oh my god. Is there anything he’s bad at?”

There is one selfie. 

Fushiguro is posing with a girl, both of them doing peace signs. And Yuuji has to physically throw his phone away because why was he so cute? He falls onto his bed, burying his face into his blankets and screams. 

“What is wrong with you?”

“He’s so cute and I’m weak and he has instagram and I’m dying.” The words are all muffled by the blankets. “I’m such a fool and he’s so cool and smart. Like, he’s like an intellectual and I’m a silly twitch streamer.”

Sukuna sighs. “You don’t even know him.”

Yuuji sits up, trying to emphasize his words. “I just know it’d work out!”

Sukuna raises an eyebrow. “You’ve never even met him.”

“So?”

Later, he mentions that he has been talking to someone from his Twitch streams. Sukuna looks up from his phone, already making a face. 

“Are you finally getting over your crush? Oh thank god.”

Yuuji crosses his arms. “No. It’s that one person in the chat. HammerQueen?”

Sukuna makes a face. “Of all the people? The one determined to get you and your crush together?”

“She’s actually super nice!” Yuuji says, typing a response back to her. “Plus, she has a girlfriend, man. And I’m not getting over this crush. This is a first love.”

Sukuna just rolls his eyes. 

“I feel like if we meet in real life we'd be really good friends! She's super cool! And she's been watching my streams for a long time! Maybe we'll be internet friends!” Yuuji adds. “I’ve always wanted an internet friend.”

He goes back to talking to HammerQueen about his crush.

Megum isn’t exactly sure how it happens, but he ends up watching all of Yuuji’s streams consistently. The videos are always playing somewhere in the background, almost becoming background noise. It’s nice, even with how loud and chaotic Yuuji is. 

He might not be very loud or chaotic. But most people in his life were.

He won’t admit it to Nobara, but Yuuji is actually very entertaining. And the videos are strangely nice. Especially the ones where he does normal stuff, like cooking or study-with-me videos. Yuuji just seems like a nice person. 

He likes cooking videos. The videos are calmer, usually with Yuuji just randomly talking about something. Plus, the videos are strangely calming to watch after a busy day.

And Megumi doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with watching every single stream he does. Even though he is supposed to be reading this book for class right now, he is instead sitting on his bed, watching Yuuji’s current stream. 

“So then the party started to get a little out of hand,” Yuuji says, gesturing wildly with his eyes wide. “And me and Todo were like, nope, not doing that today. So we leave, but someone just randomly hands us a huge cheese round.”

Megumi stares at the screen.

The way Yuuji could barely speak was almost funnier than the actual story. He just seems to be having so much fun already. And he’s just telling a story. 

Yuuji is laughing so hard, he can’t even talk. Wheezing, Yuuji finally manages to get out. “Like cartoon style, big red cheese round! And this person just looked at us and went. Protect this with your life and then they run away! I still have no idea!”

Megumi can’t help but to laugh a little at that. 

Because it doesn’t even make any sense. 

Yuuji laughs again, almost spilling whatever drink he’s holding. His eyes are practically shining. “And so, like rational people would do when someone hands you a whole cheese wheel at a party and runs away, me and Todo ate the whole thing.”

Megumi laughs out loud. And he quickly slaps a hand over his mouth, glancing towards the door. Did he really just laugh out loud?

Yuuji sighs, trying to calm down. “Oh man, I almost forgot about that. But yeah, anyway. What are you guys talking about?” He leans forward to read the chat and Megumi does the same. 

Pie: hey i really love your videos and think you’re great. I was wondering how you’re so confident in your sexuality and seem so at ease with it??? Like im so scared to come out to my friends how do you do it??

Yuuji’s brows furrow up, his joking demeanor gone. “Hey, I understand what you’re saying. It’s never easy, but I promise it will get better. I mean, coming out isn’t easy for a lot of people. But a big part of it is wanting to live as your authentic self and not giving a crap what other people think.”

It felt very different from how Yuuji usually acted. 

It was almost sweet. 

Yuuji has a small smile. “And honestly, if your friends don’t accept you, that’s on them, not you. It sucks that people you trusted don’t accept you, but you deserve friends who care about you unconditionally. But you should tell them when you’re ready and feel comfortable, because it’s a lot to do emotionally.”

“And there are always going to be people who do accept you without question and it’s the best feeling when you find them, I promise.” Yuuji’s smile gets a little wider. “Accepting yourself is also not an overnight process, but you’ll get there. Everyone deserves to feel like they’re who they really are and are accepted by the people in their life.”

Megumi’s stomach flips. But not in a bad, anxious way.  

And he freezes. 

No, that didn’t make sense.

Megumi clicks out of the stream, sitting up. That was weird. That’s never happened before. Yuuji was just saying nice stuff to someone on the internet. It was no big deal. 

It was just that Yuuji was being nice to someone. 

Megumi shakes his head. Don’t think too much into it. 

“Megumi!” Gojo shouts, his voice echoing. “Come on, it’s dinnertime!”

Megumi hurries downstairs, trying not to think about Yuuji’s stream. Gojo is already at the table, his plate obviously missing vegetables. Megumi sits down beside him, absently picking up his glass. 

“What’s up with you?” Gojo asks, leaning forward with his eyes narrowed. “You seem kinda out of it.”

“Nothing,” Megumi says a little too quickly. 

“Lies.” Gojo is grinning.

Megumi shakes his head. “It’s nothing, just school.”

Gojo looks even more suspicious. “Sure. I don’t believe you for a second. Is it a secret? Cause I love secrets!”

Megumi looks at him. “It’s nothing, why are you acting weird?”
“Why are you acting weird?”

Megumi doesn’t answer him, trying to focus on eating dinner. He wasn’t acting weird. He was perfectly normal. It’s nothing. Yuuji was just being nice to someone on the internet and Megumi thought that was nice. 

He wasn’t acting weird or anything. 

A few more weeks pass and Megumi only keeps watching Yuuju’s streams. He scrolls through his book blogs while making a list of potential new books to read. He’s sitting on his stomach in his room, his laptop in front of him as he scrolls. 

Absently, he glances up to the screen for a second. 

Yuuji is standing up in front of the screen, doing some weird dance where his arms look like worms. 

Uh, Yuuji looks kinda cute today. 

Megumi freezes. And everything around him also seems to freeze.

Did he really just think that?

No, he didn’t just think Yuuji was cute. That didn’t make sense. Megumi shuts his laptop, taking deep breaths. His entire face is warming up now. 

No. That didn’t make sense. 

He doesn’t even know Yuuji. He only knows his internet persona. Why was he thinking that Yuuji is cute? Megumi has never thought random people on the internet are cute, so why now?

Megumi slaps both hands against his face. 

Oh no. He really did just think Yuuji was cute. 

Oh no. 

Oh no. 

Megumi grabs a pillow and shoves his face into it and screams. 

No. He can’t have a crush on some random guy on the internet. But then he thinks about the time Yuuji was talking to the insecure person about their sexuality and how his stomach felt weird. Was that the butterflies? Isn’t that something people get when they have a crush? Didn’t he just think Yuuji looked cute?

He had been watching all of Yuuji’s streams constantly, till they were always in the background.  

Oh no. 

He has a crush on Yuuji. 

Chapter Text

How was he even supposed to process this? He can’t even remember the last time he had a crush? 

Has he ever even had a crush?

Yeah, he had. But only after he had known the people for years and years.

He buried his face into the nearest pillow. He really crushing on some random person on the internet? A random person on the internet he has never even met? What was wrong with him?

The image of Yuuji’s bright, warm smile comes back. And Megumi smacks the pillow against his face and yells into it. 

Why did Yuuji have to be a human personification of sunshine? He almost yells at himself for having such cheesy thoughts. 

“Megumi!” Gojo’s voice carries all the way from downstairs. “Dinner is ready! Are you alive?”

Oh no. 

His face is still burning like he was standing in front of a fire. 

He’s going to have to face Gojo. After realizing he has a crush. And he is going to have to act normal. And not like he is having a full-breakdown right now. 

He screams into the pillow again. 

It is fine. 

Everything is fine. 

He is fine. 

Then he stands up, walking from his room and downstairs. Trying to act as normal as humanly possible, he steps into the kitchen. There are takeout boxes on the table along with some of Gojo’s overly pricey dishes. Gojo is already sitting down, dumping food onto his plate. 

Gojo seems normal. So he can be normal too. 

It’s fine. He’s fine. He’s chill. Totally chill and not about to break down.

He will not think about Yuuji’s smile or the goofy farming games he sometimes plays that he gets so excited about. He will not think about how is always nice to everyone in his comments.  

He shoves those thoughts away. 

Gojo won’t notice a thing. It will be a normal dinner. Completely fine and normal. 

He sits down. 

Gojo glances up once, noodles hanging out of his mouth and the sauce smeared all over his face. He raises one eyebrow high. His attempt to speak is mushed up in his mouthful of food. 

Megumi doesn’t look at him while he grabs the container of dumplings with sharp and awkward movements. 

He is chill. Everything is chill. Gojo is not asking if something is wrong. He is probably asking about something else. Everything is fine. 

Gojo swallows his food and narrows his eyes. The sauce stays smeared on his face. “What’s up? You’re being weird.”

Nevermind. Nothing is fine. 

Megumi grips his cup a little too tightly. “I’m not being weird.”

Just focus on the smell of dumplings and soup. Do not think about Yuuji’s smile or laugh. 

Gojo gestures with a huge wave, directed at him. “You’re sitting weird and you look like a panicked animal. What’s up?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Megumi shoves a dumpling into his mouth. He barely notices how hot it is. His tongue hurts. “Nothing’s up.”

Gojo’s raised brow only gets higher. “You know, you can always talk to your favorite godfather about anything. I’m always here to listen or talk.”

He shoves another dumpling into his mouth. “Yup. I know. It’s all good though.”

The rest of dinner is just as awkward. Gojo keeps sending suspicious looks his way, as if trying to figure out what is happening. Megumi barely talks and he tries very very hard not to think about Yuuji. 

As soon as he is done eating, he takes the dogs out. 

He is not running away from talking to Gojo.

What is wrong with him? Having a crush on a random person on the internet? And someone who has a very well-known crush on someone else. A crush that seems like more than a crush at times. Sometimes he thinks Yuuji’s crush isn’t someone he watches on Youtube and it’s someone he actually knows. It would explain why his crush seems so serious. 

And he has a crush on this person with a crush. Like an idiot.

Shaking his head, Megumi walks from the neighborhood to the small park near Gojo’s house. How was he supposed to explain this to Gojo? Because he knows Gojo is going to freak out if he finds out Megumi has a crush. And he really doesn’t want to see the outcome of that . 

He lets the dogs’ leash loose so they can run a little bit since there is barely anyone here. 

For a second, he considers calling Nobara. But that would end up just as bad as if he told Gojo. Why were all the people in his life like this? Wasn’t it normal to talk to your friends about your crush? 

God, why was everyone in his life so weird?

He sighs. 

He is aggressively pulled forward, half-tripping over his feet. The dogs are rushing forward, dragging him along. He trips over his feet, trying to stop them as they run forward. 

What is wrong with the dogs?

“Stop!” He tries to stop the dogs again, but they keep running towards a person. “Hold on-”

He recognizes the figure. And he knows exactly why the dogs are running towards the person. For a moment of hesitance, the dogs are able to keep dragging him and make it to Geto. 

The dogs are instantly trying to jump up on him, pawing at him. Megumi isn’t sure if he should pull the dogs away or apologize. 

Geto seems stunned for a moment, staring down at the dogs. 

“I’m so sorry,” Megumi says, trying to pull the dogs away. “Sorry-”

Geto looks up, his expression somehow both incredibly worried and incredibly unreadable as he looks at Megumi. Was that sadness?  

And yet again, Megumi is struck by how wrong it feels at Gojo’s house without Geto. He has never known Gojo without Geto. Growing up, it was always Gojo and Geto. They were never apart. 

Geto is just as much his godfather as Gojo is. Or he was.

Maybe Geto was here, at the park only five minutes from Gojo’s house, because he was missing Gojo? 

He tries not to be too hopeful.

Geto moves one hand to rest on top of Shiro’s head and gently pushes him down. Both Shiro and Kuro stare up at him, making loud whining sounds. 

Right. Geto wasn’t here to talk to Gojo. And he wasn’t here to rekindle their relationship. He left. 

Megumi pulls Shiro back, trying not to meet his eyes. His voice comes out smaller than he intends. “Sorry, I was taking them out on a walk.” 

The dogs whine louder. Megumi can’t even look at Geto. He had almost forgotten that Geto left for a moment. He manages to pull the dogs away, though they keep looking at him with confused looks. Confused why he won’t let them go to Geto. 

Geto still hasn’t said anything. 

Should Megumi just leave?

Geto looks at him again, cautiously. “Hello, I’m sorry but-”

Megumi looks down at the dogs, pulling them closer. Part of him wants to respect Geto’s space and part of him just wishes Geto would come home. “Sorry again. I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

He can see Geto shuffle out of the corner of his eye. Geto sighs. “You don’t have to apologize. I wasn’t thinking.”

What was that supposed to mean? Megumi swallows, still not quite looking at him. He can hear Geto starting to take some steps back. “Well, I’m going to-”

He is already walking away when Megumi’s head snaps up. “Wait!”

Geto stops, pausing to look over his shoulder. Megumi bites the inside of his mouth. What was he doing? Shouldn’t he be respecting Geto’s boundaries? 

Megumi hurries forward, moving to stand in front of Geto. “...Are you okay? God, that’s a stupid question.” Megumi wants to smack himself and he can feel his own shoulders lowering. Geto is giving him a familiar worried look. Why did he leave in the first place?

“It’s just, you disappeared and nobody knew where you went. Then all your stuff was moved out of the house. We thought-”

Geto’s expression turns pained. “Megumi.” 

“We’re worried about you, both Gojo and I.” Megumi says, frowning. “And you keep leaving and-”

Geto sighs again, his shoulders hanging in a way that looks like there is a huge weight on them. “Megumi, I promise it has nothing to do with you.”

Megumi frowns again. “I don’t care about that. I’m worried about you . Nobody has heard from you for months now, it’s like you dropped off the face of the planet. Not even Shoko or Nanami have heard from you.”

Geto somehow looks hurt by this. “I’m sorry you got pulled into my mess. It’s my fault and I don’t want you to worry about me-”

Megumi narrows his eyes. “Not be worried? What else am I supposed to do?”

Geto shoves his hands into pockets. “Like I said, it had nothing to do with you. It’s between Satoru and I. We just weren’t working anymore.”

That didn’t even make sense. And they weren’t working, so Geto just ghosted everyone in his life for months with no explanation? But Shoko and Nanami weren’t Gojo. So why did he drop contact with them as well?

Geto gives him a pained smile, which was entirely fake. “I promise it’s probably better like this. Take care of yourself.” Geto pauses, looking hesitant. “And take care of Satoru.”

And Geto might as well have run away. 

Megumi gets back to Gojo’s house, not feeling any better now. At least wallowing in his crush realization wasn’t painful like Geto practically running away from him. None of his questions were answered, only more were added. 

Should he tell Gojo or was it better to say nothing? But it didn’t feel right to say nothing to him.

He opens the door and Gojo is immediately there. His hair is sticking up everywhere, hands in his hair. Completely and utterly panicked looking. 

“Megumi! You’ll never believe what happened!”

Megumi blinks and lets the dogs run into the house. “Are you okay?”

“No! One of my coworkers called me today and asked me out!”

Oh. 

Gojo spins around, hands digging into his hair. “I don’t know what to do! And I said no, obviously. And then they were like, but you’re single and I’m attractive. Why wouldn’t you want to date me?”

Gojo smacks both hands against his face, screaming into them. “So then I full-on panicked cause like I might be single, but I don’t want to be. That’s what I told them and they were like, so why wouldn’t you say yes to a date?”

“And I said no!” Gojo spins around to face Megumi again, dragging his hands down his face. “I was like, you’re not Suguru! I don’t want to date someone who’s not Suguru!”

And tears begin to well up in Gojo’s eyes. Oh no. This was probably the worst time to tell him about Geto.

Megumi sets down the dogs’ leash and hurries over to Gojo, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Oh, um, well, at least you’re honest about it?”

Gojo sinks down the floor, rubbing his eyes. “Oh my god, look at me crying like a teenager over a failed relationship. But I genuinely cannot see myself with anyone but Suguru.” 

Megumi crouches down in front of him. Yeah, it was definitely not the time to tell Gojo that Geto said their relationship wasn’t working anymore. “It’s okay, I mean not that Geto ghosted you, but maybe just try being honest with your feelings.”

“My feelings suck.” Gojo says, sighing loudly. He has stopped crying now. “I’m sorry, your godfather is a mess, I’m such a disaster.”

Megumi has never been the best with words, but he couldn’t just say nothing here. He knows for a fact Gojo would never call his other friends about emotional matters, the only friend he talked to about it was Geto. 

Megumi pushes down the awkwardness he feels for the sake of Gojo and pats his arm. “Crying over a serious long-term relationship doesn’t make you a mess or a disaster. It’s a natural human reaction.”

Gojo covers his eyes with his hands. “I just don’t get why Suguru broke up! Everything was going so well!”

And it’s like the strings holding him up are cut as he falls back against the wall. Gojo stares off, as if looking at something far away. “I just really miss him.”

Megumi sits beside him, also staring off into the distance.

“Me too.”

The rest of the day passes with a strange sense of sadness, though Gojo tries to not show it, it’s still there. Eventually, Gojo says he is just going to go to his room, watch rom-coms, and cry until he falls asleep. Megumi insisted that was probably not necessarily a good thing, but Gojo didn’t listen. 

So Megumi also went to his room, opening his laptop. But instead of rom-coms, he opens up Yuuji’s twitch channel. And much to his own embarrassing happiness, Yuuji was currently streaming. 

So he settles into his bed, wrapped up in a blanket and pillows and puts on his headphones as the stream starts up. 

Yuuji is leaning into the camera, his face distorted from the angle. “Hey, sorry everyone about the stream suddenly giving out. Dorm internet is notoriously crappy.”

Someone is screaming in the background of the video. 

Yuuji glances over his shoulder once, wincing. Sukuna’s voice becomes clear. 

“Stupid internet! Stupid college! Stupid! Why am I even here?” Sukuna’s voice echoes even through the video feed. Megumi can’t help but to agree with the sentiment. 

Yuuji leans away from the screen, rubbing the back of his neck. “Apparently when our internet went out, Sukuna’s paper got deleted.”

“The whole damned thing!” Sukuna appears in the doorway, holding his laptop with one hand and typing aggressively with the other one. “Gone!”

Megumi was really starting to think Sukuna had bad luck. 

Yuuji makes a face at the camera. “This was twenty minutes ago. Don’t know why he’s still freaking-”

“Because,” Sukuna stomps over to Yuuji and leans towards him, glaring. “It was a twenty page paper. That was fifty percent of my grade.”

“Big oof.” Yuuji says and somehow it actually sounds remorseful. “That sucks dude. But like, didn’t you have another copy saved somewhere? Wouldn’t it be saved in the cloud?”

Sukuna disappears from the camera, seemingly falling onto his bed. “Kill me now. Now the whole website is messed up. End my suffering now.”

Serpentboi22; rip sukuna press f for sukuna in the chat

Chickenlegs&wings: f 

DrinkABang&Die: f 

Cheesyman334: f 

Orangegrass: f 

Orangegrass: i swear sukuna is cursed with bad luck or something 

Orangegrass: also here’s a link of how to retrieve deleted files man good luck 

Yuuji seems to be reading the comments and he glances towards Sukuna. “Dude, someone linked an article on how to retrieve deleted files in the chat-”

Sukuna is pushing Yuuji out of the way, taking note of what is on the screen, and he is typing something frantically into his phone. Yuuji pushes him out of the way, rolling his eyes.  

“All he does is bully me,” Yuuji says, shaking his head. “And I try so hard to be nice.”

Megumi can’t help but to note that Yuuji is wearing the yellow hoodie again. How often did he wear that? It seems like everytime he had watched one of Yuuji’s streams, he was wearing it. At this point, he expected it more often than not. 

There was just something nice about Yuuji’s streams. Despite Yuuji’s loud, chaotic behavior they were always calming. Or maybe he was just an idiot. No, he was a bit of an idiot. Crushing on a random internet streamer is not something he would normally do. It happened strangely fast. 

This was all Nobara’s fault. 

“Oh?” Yuuji says in reply to a comment Megumi missed, leaning back in his chair, picking up a Bang drink. “My crush?”

And Megumi can feel himself deflate. Right. 

Yuuji’s crush. 

Yuuji gets a huge smile on his face. “I mean, it’s going pretty normal, I guess. He has posted more stuff, which is awesome! I really hope he’ll post a new video soon, cause like he gets so excited talking about books, guys. Like his eyes look like they’re shining.”

Sukuna makes a noise like he is about to throw up.

“Don’t judge me,” Yuuji says, smiling even wider the more he thinks about his crush. “Like I’m pretty sure he’s perfect. Like is it possible to be any better?”

Sukuna throws a pillow at Yuuji, who easily dodges it. 

And Megumi reminds himself that he had no right to be sad that Yuuji is talking about his crush. Yuuji didn’t know Megumi existed. He wasn’t allowed to feel sad about it. 

Nobara lounges on Megumi’s bed as if it was hers. She was texting somebody who he probably safely assumes is Maki. He is editing the last video he filmed, pausing the video to clip something down and make it flow a little better. 

“Hey, what do you think the best type of pizza is?” Nobara says, without looking up from her phone. “And you better not say pineapple.”

“Garden pizza.” 

Nobara looks up, making a face of both confusion and disgust. “More than meat lover?”

“Garden pizza.”

Noabra rolls her eyes. “You’re impossible?”

“Why did you ask anyway?”

And Nobara jumps up, eyes getting huge. The whole bed moves as she jumps. “I forgot to tell you! Yuuji replied to my private message!”

Megumi blinks. 

What?

“Yeah,” Nobara smugly says, grinning. “And now we’re chatting like internet friends! He’s so cool and he is legit just as nice as he seems in his streams. Which I kinda doubted, but he’s like the human personification of a golden retriever.”

Somehow that just made it worse. Knowing that Yuuji was actually nice in real life as well. Like he needed anything else to make his crush get bigger. 

Nobara narrows her eyes. “You good?”

He turns back to his editing. “Yup.”

He absolutely was not jealous of Yuuji’s mystery crush. 

He had no right to be. 

“Sure, but like the more this man talks about his crush, the more determined I am to figure out who his crush is! It’s so cute!”

The more Nobara gushes about how cute Yuuji is about his crush, the more Megumi can feel himself shrink in on himself. 

He bites the inside of his mouth. He had almost forgotten how determined Nobara was to figure out Yuuji’s crush and make it a thing. But then again, did he have the right to feel sad about this? He wasn’t an irrational kid. 

“Okay, what is up with you?” Nobara says, setting down her phone. She crosses her arms. “You’re looking all sad and stuff.”

“Nothing.” Megumi hits a command on his laptop and the sounds echoes. 

Nobara moves forward on the bed, shoving his leg. “Come on, no lying to me. What’s up?”

Megumi waves a hand, sighing. “Seriously, it’s nothing, it’s just stupid.”

Somehow Nobara looks even more determined now. “Now you’re just worrying me!”

“Okay, okay,” Megumi buries his face in his hands. “Don’t laugh.”

Nobara kicks him. “Just say it.”

He doesn’t move his hands. How does Nobara always manage to force the truth out of him? All he can really do is hope that Nobara doesn’t make fun of him. Maybe he should just make something up. Would that be better? 

Should he lie?

But Nobara always knows. 

“I may have a very very, slight, very small,” Megumi pauses, taking a deep breath, “Almost nonexistent crush on Yuuji.”

Nobara screams.

Oh no. 

Her hands land on his shoulders, shaking him. “I knew it! I knew it! Oh my god, I called this!” He doesn’t even bother trying to make her stop, so he just sighs. 

Nobara lets go, cackling madly. “I called this weeks ago!”

Megumi says nothing. 

After Nobara finally seems to settle down, she turns toward him. “Wait, if you like Yuuji, then…” She stares at him so intently that Megumi almost hides behind his hands again. 

Nobara’s face falls. “Then I shouldn’t want him to get with his crush. Oh god, now I’m conflicted.”

He shrugs, trying to go back to his editing. “It’s okay. Please ignore that I ever told you that.”

Nobara sits up, gesturing around wildly. “Oh no, we have to find you someone! Someone you know in person so you be not sad! I hate it when you’re sad. I guess I’ll just have to set you up with someone then.”

His head snaps up. “You don’t have to do that-”

“Yes, yes I do,” Nobara says, nodding furiously. “I’m in a relationship, Maki is, Toge is, Yuuta is. We all are!”

Megumi sighs. He did not need to be reminded of his lack of a love life. “Okay, okay, I get it. I’m super single.”

“What I’m saying is,” Nobara points at him with her nails. “You need to find someone too, so we can all go on dates together.”

Megumi just gives her a look. 

He was slightly regretting telling her this. 

“Now,” Nobara says, turning on her phone. “Let’s figure out what to do. Should I ask Gojo? He probably has a list somewhere, doesn’t he?”

“No, don’t you dare-”

Nobara is already leaping off the bed and running downstairs. Megumi sets his laptop aside and chases after her. 

He cannot let her add to Gojo’s determination to set him up on a date. He cannot let that happen. He runs after her.

“Hey Gojo!” Nobara’s voice carries through the house. “Do you have a list of potential candidates who can date your dearest godson?”

“No!” Megumi tries to yell over her voice.

“Of course!”

Megumi comes around the corner, glaring at both of them. 

Gojo leans against the kitchen counter. He is holding an instant ramen pack in one hand and an iced coffee in the other one. “I do, but why do you ask? Do you have other potential candidates? I’m always looking for more candidates.”

He slaps both hands against his face. “Oh my god.”

“Well,” Nobara says, grinning. “I need to find Megumi someone to date.”

“I agree,” Gojo tosses the ramen pack behind him, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “So here’s my list. I keep in my phone notes.”

“Oh smart,” Nobara moves over to look at it. 

Megumi questions why this is his life. 

“I periodically remove people from the list who are no longer good enough, uninterested, are straight, aren’t worthy, or are already dating and interested in someone.” Gojo explains, much in the same way Megumi imagines he lectures. 

Nobara’s grin only gets bigger. “This is perfect. Lemme take a picture of this real quick so I can reference it.”

“Go ahead.”

Megumi sighs. 

Yuuji knows that after two years of college he should have had this all figured out. But he hates lectures. And by the time he finishes his lecture, he falls onto his bed. 

Maybe he should take a nap or something. 

The door to the dorm flings open, Sukuna stomping inside. Yuuji throws an arm over his eyes. “Why are you so loud?”

“Why aren’t you bouncing off the walls?” Sukuna says, the sound of him tossing his backpack on the ground and falling onto his bed. “I thought you would’ve lost your mind by now. Not that I’m complaining that I don’t have to listen to your rant.”

Yuuji slowly moves his arm. “What are you even talking about, bro?”

Sukuna rolls his eyes. “You should check out your crush’s youtube page.”

And Yuuji is suddenly wide awake and yanking his laptop towards him. What happened with his crush? Did he post a new video and did he miss it? Did he do a livestream or something? Oh no, did he miss another Q&A? 

He is already thinking of all the important information he might have missed. He quickly signs into his youtube channel. 

There is a little red notification at the top of the page. He quickly clicks on it. A notification from his crush’s channel. 

And if he made a childish squeal in excitement that was between him and his FBI agent and Sukuna. 

He turns on the video. 

18,271 views. 

He has to double check the number. What? When did this happen? His crush, Fushiguro’s channel almost only ever had a couple hundred views.

“Dude!” Yuuji sits up, staring at Sukuna. “Did you see how many views his video has?”

He doesn’t need to see Sukuna’s face to know he is rolling his eyes. “Yeah, that’s kinda why I told you.”

“This is awesome! His channel is really blowing up! Bro, his subscriber count like tripled overnight!” 

This was great for Fushiguro. He knows that Fushiguro doesn’t seem like the kinda guy who would be overly invested in checking numbers, but it was still cool his channel was blowing up. Especially since Yuuji has been watching since high school. 

Sukuna sits up, propping himself up with one elbow digging into the bedding. “Have you even seen your numbers, nerd?”

“What about it?” Yuuji opens his phone to his twitch channel. The numbers of followers has almost doubled. Yuuji stares at the numbers for a long moment. 

“Apparently a clip from one of your streams went viral.” 

Yuuji’s head snaps up. “Bro! Why didn’t you tell me sooner! Oh my god, that’s a lot of people! That’s over a hundred thousand people who’ve followed me since I last checked!”

Yuuji is up on his feet. Holy crap. This is big. Also a huge number on his screen right now. And it all happened in a few days. How did this even happen? When did it happen? 

Sukuna rolls his eyes. “It’s also probably because you keep trending on twitter because of the search for your crush.” 

Oh. That was actually a good point. 

It did keep trending. As Sukuna has been pointing out, in his most annoyed voice. But Yuuji already knew what his idiot brother thought about his crush. But Yuuji was perfectly happy with his internet crush, thank you. 

He looks back at his screen. 

231,873 followers. 

That’s a lot of people. Why would that many people even be following him? It’s almost mind-boggling to think about. He needs to thank everyone! And maybe do a special stream for it! 

His phone dings and a notification pops up at the top of his phone screen. 

HammerQueen: Hey!! Congrats on all the new followers!! 

Yuuji quickly opens the chat. He doesn’t know HammerQueen in real life, but that’s fine. He knows enough that she is a genuine person, has a super cool girlfriend, likes to shop, practices martial arts or something, and is definitely a real person. 

Yuuji: Thanks!! I only just found out like two minutes ago lol!!

HammerQueen: bro what how

Yuuji: classes been killing me honestly sukuna had to tell me

HammerQueen: omg wow i can’t even imagine that but congrats again

Yuuji: Thanks!! So what have you been up to?

HammerQueen: well my bestie has been kinda sad recently 

Yuuji: your bestie you described as ‘half-way to becoming a shut-in?’

HammerQueen: yup the very one

HammerQueen: bestie has been sad about an unrequited crush and all that

Yuuji: Oh yeah feel that 

HammerQueen: so I set him up on a blind date which I finally, after literal years of bugging him, got him to agree to

HammerQueen: crossing my fingers he finds someone he clicks with he’s been so mopey recently 

Yuuji: well i hope your plan works out and your bestie finds someone he really clicks with!!

Why did Megumi agree to this?

What possessed him to actually agree to go on a blind date that Nobara set him up on? He doesn’t even like going to new restaurants usually anyway, but here he was. Nobara had convinced him to go on the date and Gojo chose the person.  

The restaurant Nobara chose was nice. It was smaller, quiet enough you could easily hear someone talking, no harsh lighting. Nice table decorations. A good place for a date. 

None of this helped to calm his nerves. 

The constant dinging of his phone from Gojo didn’t help either. All of them were questions about how it was going, so he ignored them. It didn’t help that he only told his dad about ten minutes before he had to leave. And obviously, knowing his dad, that did not go over well. Luckily, Gojo was able to stop Toji from hunting down the blind date right then and there. 

And he knows his dad is going to ask a lot of questions when he gets back. But honestly, Megumi’s expectations were not very high. He wasn’t exactly the most outgoing person, especially with people he barely knows or are strangers. Blind dates just seem like his worst nightmare. 

But Nobara was worried. Actually worried about him recently and actually expressed it. Then Gojo mentioned something. So to appease the two most nosy people he knows, he agreed to one, singular blind date. Unsurprisingly, Gojo had been ecstatic, saying he already knew who to set him up with. 

Gojo had insisted he and the date would get along. 

It was not going well. 

He had been waiting at the table for about twenty minutes and nobody else had come into the restaurant yet. 

He kept checking the messages Gojo sent with all the details of when and where the date was. Nothing was wrong. But time kept dragging on and on. The waiters kept sending glances at him and stopping by to ask if he wanted anything. 

Several people had given him pitying looks.

So no. So far the date was not going well. 

Someone slides into the seat across from him. 

“Megumi, right?”

The guy is a fairly average looking guy, grinning widely. He is wearing some polo and khaki pants. Megumi tries not to frown. “Fushiguro, please. Only my friends and family call me Megumi.”

The guy just waves a hand. “But we’re on a date, so that counts right?”

Megumi wants to say no. It does not count. They do not even know each other. But he doesn't say that. The guy’s smile doesn’t seem very genuine and he waves over the waiters. The guy goes ahead and orders for both of them. 

Megumi hopes he doesn’t look like he ate a whole lemon right now. For one second, he really wants to find Gojo and demand what in the world he was thinking. And another, larger part of him really wants to just leave right now. 

“So you’re studying at that other college in the city right?” The guy says, the guy who still hasn’t introduced himself. “That little arts college or something?”

“Liberal arts college?” Megumi can’t help the bland tone he uses. 

“Yeah, yeah that.” The guy does not sound like  he is listening at all. “What’re you studying?”

“Literature.” And he was proud of that. Literature was one of the most important aspects of culture, history, and just humanity in general. 

The guy makes a face of total distaste. “Why waste your time? You can’t actually do anything with a degree in that. Or make any money.”

“Waste time?” Megumi echoes. And he really, really wants to hit Gojo for making him deal with this. “On books?”

“Books are obsolete. Everything has moved onto the internet. Like, even money is moving online with cryptocurrency.” The guy says, as if Megumi is completely stupid. “That’s the future and books aren’t. Honestly, your degree is kinda pointless.”

He wants to point out literature is not only books. 

Megumi blinks. “I’m not getting a degree in literature to make money. Anyway, books have played a huge part in the development of our world and culture. It’s what allowed more people to become educated and learn. Not to mention, the stories and information people can access through books.”

The guy laughs and Megumi shrinks back a little. “What do you even wanna do with that then? Be a librarian or something?”

Why did that sound like an insult? Megumi picks up his cup, trying not to glare. He might be failing. “Librarians are important.”

“Sure, sure,” The guy waves his hand. “Who even goes to libraries anymore?”

He knows. He knows that most people think libraries are useless, but he also does not want to start on his lecture on why libraries are important to the community. But he doesn’t think this guy would appreciate it at all and it would be a waste of time. So he doesn’t say anything. 

“You’re really quiet, aren’t you?” The guy says with a laugh that feels more mocking than anything. 

Why was being quiet a bad thing? It wasn’t bad. 

“Nevermind,” The guy says, rolling his eyes. He sounded annoyed by having to ask this question. “What do you do other than read?”

He was not going to mention his youtube channel. Megumi doesn’t look at the guy while he fiddles with the utensils on the table. “I like podcasts, music, writing, hiking, and also I do some photography sometimes.”

“Uh,” Was all the guy said. “I’m super into trying to improve myself, you know? Like learning about business, finances, personal financial security, and investing. I’ve been doing some research into cryptocurrency recently. I really think it’s going to blow up soon.”

Oh good god. Did Gojo set him up on a date with a business major? 

Did he also just imply that Megumi’s hobbies aren’t a form of self-improvement? 

“I also hit the gym every day and follow a really strict calorie deficit.” The guy says, proudly. “Gotta get that muscle, you know?”

Megumi wants to point out that working out every single day isn’t necessarily the best way to quickly gain muscle and also a calorie deficit won’t help him at all. So he just nods a little. 

How much longer until Megumi could politely leave? 

Should he just go to the bathroom and not come back?

Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he could make it through a whole date of this. This guy was just trying too hard and his smiles were forced. The image of a bright smile and pink hair flashes through his mind. But he quickly stops that train of thought. 

Even if he doesn’t know Yuuji in real life, he can be sure that a date with him would be a million times more enjoyable than this. 

The guy has been ranting about cryptocurrency for the past fifteen minutes. Megumi really wants to interrupt to point out that cryptocurrency is not more ecofriendly than physical money. Not to mention this guy thought money was made with paper instead of fabric. 

“Honestly, if people really cared about the environment that much, wouldn’t they switch to cryptocurrency? It’s better for the turtles or whatever.”

Megumi takes a sip of his water, trying hard not to make a face. “The electronic parts required to mine for cryptocurrency are both highly unsustainable and usually unethically sourced. Not to mention the amount of electricity needed to power it.”

For a long moment the guy is completely silent and staring at him. Megumi sips on his water, but says nothing else. 

Then the guy sighs and holds his hands up. “Okay, I’ve been trying to get along. But this has been the most boring date I’ve ever been on. No offense, but you’re kinda boring.”

Now Megumi glares, trying to channel as much as his dad’s looks as possible. “Okay? Then why are you still here?”

And the guy gets up and leaves. 

Megumi sinks back into the chair, sighing. 

He trudges back home, walking slowly. It was only late afternoon and the day had already gone so badly. Honestly, all he wanted was to curl up in a corner of his bed and read.

Was he boring? Sure, he wasn’t the most out-going or adventurous person in the world, but he wasn’t boring. Or maybe he was.

Megumi sighs as he steps onto the porch and fishes his keys out of his pocket. Maybe he will just take a nap and yell at Gojo later for setting this whole thing up. He unlocks the door and heads inside, sighing. 

The moment he closes the door, another door flings open. His dad practically rushes out of his office. Toji places his hands on Megumi’s shoulder, looking at him from head to toe. 

“What happened? Are you okay? Do I need to kill someone?”

Megumi sighs again. “I’m fine.”

Toji’s eyes narrow. “You don’t sound fine. What’s up?”

His dad would pry the truth out of him sooner or later, might as well tell him now. “Turns out the guy Gojo set me up with is a business major and a jerk. He showed up thirty minutes late. And apparently I’m boring or something.”

Somehow Toji’s eyes narrow even more. His dad pulls him into a hug, crushing him into the embrace and Megumi doesn’t move. “I’m going to find that clown of a godfather. This is his fault.”

It was technically. But Megumi knew it was probably because Gojo didn’t think it through. Typical of him. 

So he sighs again and hopes it doesn’t sound too sad. He didn’t even know the guy from the blind date, obviously. So why should he care about his opinion?   

It still hurts to be called boring.

What an experience for a first date. A terrible first date. 

Megumi sighs, closing his eyes. “I’m fine, please don’t kill Gojo.”

Toji does not look any less convinced, but the anger seems to have gone down a little bit now. He still kept his hands on Megumi’s shoulders as a small reassurance. “No promises. Doesn't that clown ever think through things? I know a blind date is probably your worst nightmare, so why didn’t he think of that?”

His dad finally let go of him, still looking ready to call Gojo and give him a verbal punch to the face. Megumi flopped down onto the couch, sinking into the comfortable cushions. “I’m just hungry. I didn’t even get to eat before he left.”

Even more annoyance flashed across Toji’s face. Well, maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned that. Then his dad sighs. “I was about to get takeout for dinner since you weren’t going to be here, but since that little cretin decided to ditch you, I’ll grab some for you.”

Megumi didn’t even say anything about how takeout was bad for his dad’s health. 

As his dad headed out, Megumi could see his dad angrily typing something into his phone. And he held the phone up to his ear as he put on his shoes. “Hey! You white-haired clown. You dare call yourself Megumi’s godfather?”

Megumi sighs. “Dad, it’s fine.”

Toji shoots him a look, as he puts on his jacket. But he went back to talking to Gojo. “You’re his only godfather, who else would be his favorite? No, that's not what I’m talking about. Your stupid blind date upset Megumi. Yeah, this is your fault.”

Megumi shakes his head. Why was his dad so overprotective? He just told his dad it didn’t matter, didn’t he? But it was practically pointless trying to get his dad to not be protective. So he leans back, reaching for a blanket thrown over the armchair. After wrapping himself in the blanket, he sighs again. 

What a day. 

And his phone dings. 

Tsumiki: Hi! I haven’t heard from you for a couple days! How’s my favorite little brother?

He starts typing before he can even think twice. 

Megumi: Just went on a bad blind date because of Gojo 

Tsumiki: You agreed to a blind date????

Tsumiki: It was bad?? Were they mean to you? Did you tell dad? Did you tell Gojo?

Tsumiki: How are you feeling?? 

Tsumiki: Wait was this your first date ever??

He quickly types out the answers to Tsumiki’s barge of questions. 

Megumi: Yes. I guess they were. Yeah he knows. And no, dad told Gojo. 

Megumi: I’m feeling tired 

Megumi: And yes

Tsumiki: I’m so sorry this happened. Gumi, you deserve a much better first date than that 

Tsumiki: Do you want me to drive over? I absolutely will 

Megumi: No, it’s fine. Anyway, you’re an hour away and you probably have homework to finish

Tsumiki: I don’t care about college! I care about my little brother

Megumi: I promise it wasn’t that bad. The guy was probably a business major so just being in his presence was bad enough.

Tsumiki: oh

Tsumiki: Business major?

Tsumiki: WHY IN THE WORLD DID GOJO SET YOU UP WITH A BUSINESS MAJOR???

Megumi: Does anyone understand why he does the things he does? 

Tsumiki: Why a business major??? Gojo’s known you your entire life!! That’s the furthest thing from your type?

Megumi stops typing for a moment to look down at his screen. He might have been feeling slightly down from the wreck of a first date, but now he just wanted to know what Tsumiki meant by that. 

Megumi: My type? I have a type? 

Tsumiki: …yeah

Megumi: I’ve never even dated anyone?

Tsumiki: So? All of your crushes are the same. Sweet, genuine, funny, nice, goofy, and smiles a lot. And did I mention goofy?

He stares at the screen. 

Oh no. 

His stomach sinks. But it wasn’t quite a sinking feeling, more of a jumble of confusing emotions. It was true. Anyone he had ever, embarrassingly , had a crush on had at least a few of those characteristics. 

The flashing image of pink hair and a yellow hoodie. 

Oh no. 

His face suddenly got very, very warm. 

Yuuji met all of those characteristics exactly, didn’t he? 

His face only got warmer and warmer. And he tosses his phone away to bury his face into his hands. 

He had a type? He never even realized. 

The heat now spread and even his ears were hot. 

He thinks about Yuuji’s bright smile and he smacks his hands against his cheeks. 

Oh no. 

Yuuji has never been big on school or homework. He wasn’t stupid, but it was also tiring. So he absouletly wasn’t scrolling through his crush’s instagram to take his mind off of school. It wasn’t his fault that his crush was super cute and smart and smart and also so cool. 

He rolls over on his bed, laying on stomach as he scrolls. 

Then the instagram page reloads and a new pictures appears at the top of his profile. 

Yuuji slaps a hand over his mouth and screams. 

It had been so long since he had posted anything new! 

He hurriedly clicks on the picture. 

It’s taken at a park, overlooking a small pond with a sunset in the background. There’s a book on the ground, which is probably the next book he is going to review on his channel, not that Yuuji has ever heard of the book before. It just proved how smart his crush was!

It was a really nice photo. 

Wow, his crush was really good at photography. Or at least he was assuming he took the photo. But either way, it was a really nice photo! 

And then Yuuji noticed something. This park looked really familiar. 

He jerks the phone closer to his face, zooming in on the pond and background. Did he post another photo of this park or something? Why did it look so familiar? That tree definitely looks familiar, especially the swing hanging from the branch. But where had he seen it before?

He narrows his eyes. 

Now that he thinks about it, the whole park looks familiar. 

And then very slowly, the pieces fall into place for him. He slides off his bed, still staring at his phone. 

“What the hell are you doing?”

Yuuji doesn’t bother looking away from his phone. 

He longer has any other thoughts. 

The park. He knows this park. 

This park is a fifteen minute walk from his campus. In his city. Near where he lives. 

And his crush, his five year long, crush posted a picture of it. 

Did his crush live in the same city as him?

Has he walked past him before?

“Yuuji?”

Oh my god. 

Oh my god. 

They might live in the same city! 

All he could do was continue staring at the picture. 

Sukuna crouches in front of him, looking slightly worried. 

But that didn’t matter. 

His crush lived here!

Sukuna pokes his shoulder. “Are you dying? Why do you look like that?”

Yuuji wordlessly holds up his phone. Sukuna snatches the phone. “What the actual hell?”

Yuuji slides to lay flat on the floor. He stares up at the blank white dorm ceiling. “My crush either lives here or is visiting.”

How is he supposed to process this?

Sukuna sounds a little confused. Which is fine. Yuuji is confused too. “But wouldn’t you have run into him at some point by now?”

His crush lives in the same city as him. 

They could meet. 

Yuuji bolts upright. 

They could meet! 

Chapter Text

“I could meet him!” Yuuji screams as he shakes Sukuna. 

Maybe he should feel bad for shaking Sukuna like he is just a toy or something. But Sukuna deserves this after teasing him about his crush for so long. Especially when Yuuji could actually meet him! Sukuna at least, doesn’t do much but stand there and let himself be shaken. 

“This changes everything!” Yuuji does not lower his voice at all, still shaking Sukuna for each word he says.

Incredibly bored, Sukuna says, “Then go find him and leave me alone.”

Yuuji lets go of Sukuna and jumps onto his bed. His bed moves as he lands. He whips back around and yells each word. “Oh my god, he’s a literature major! Do you think he goes to our college? Do you know anyone in the literature department?”

Sukuna’s expression does not change, but he can already tell Sukun has some choice insults in mind for him. “Why would I know that?”

“Because you’re a nerd?”

Sukuna throws a pillow at his head. Hard. “History does not mean nerd, you idiot! And literature and history are completely fields of study!”

Moving the pillow, Yuuji looks at him. Why was Sukuna so calm? This was huge news! He actually, really, truly had a chance to meet his crush! This was potentially life altering! What if they actually had a chance to meet and they instantly clicked?

He tries to imagine that exact scenario. 

He accidentally meets Fushiguro between classes. Their eyes meet. And they instantly click without even talking to each other. They turn out to be soulmates.

They go to get coffee together. A nice coffee shop. And they both accidentally touch hands. They walk home together. Maybe they hold hands. 

They get married. 

“Whatever you’re thinking, stop it.” Sukuna’s voice cuts through his nice imaginary scenario. Instead of Fushiguro’s nice, pleasant face he has to see his stupid twin’s face. “I can practically hear you thinking something stupid again. You’re going to make me throw up.”

“Listen, if I want to imagine a rom-com scenario where I happen to meet Fushiguro, then that’s my choice.”

Another pillow hits him in the face.

“Why am I here again?” Yuuji mutters, following Sukuna into the building for the major and minors fair. He was perfectly happy with being undecided still. He still had plenty of general education courses to take before he needed to even think of a major yet. 

“Because,” Sukuna says, like each word is painful for him to say. “You’re in your second year. And you don’t have a major. It’s embarrassing.”

“Bold of you to assume I feel shame.”

“You should.” Sukuna then, rudely, shoves him towards the nearest table with some guy in a suit behind it. He does not even know what this major is. But still, he can’t be rude. Even if he absolutely wants to be in his dorm, imagining scenarios where he happens to meet Fushiguro in a rom-com worthy moment. 

That was probably his favorite pastime now that he knew it was technically possible.

The guy behind the table’s name turns out to be Nanami. Who turns out to be very nice and he teaches economics. Yuuji knows for sure he is not cut out for economics, but everytime he tries to leave, he imagines Sukuna swinging a pillow at his head again and he stays. 

And he doesn’t want to talk with the math department people. 

No thank you.

Nanami is in the middle of talking about how to declare an economics major when his phone starts ringing. “Sorry about that. One second.” Nanami says, taking his phone out to answer it.

“Hello?”

Yuuji looks around the room. He doesn’t see anyone he knows. Or more accurately, he does not see anyone with black hair and green eyes. Not that he was spending the whole time looking for Fushiguro or anything. But then again, why would he even be here? Fushiguro already had a declared major. 

Because Fushiguro was smart. So smart. 

Yuuji tries to make himself focus again.

“-Again, I am sorry you have had to deal with him for so long, but unfortunately he is your godfather.” Nanami pauses speaking, sounding very tired. “Yes, I can tell him to stop being embarrassing when he picks you up.”

Yuuji tunes out the rest of Nanami’s conversation. 

Still no sign of Fushiguro. Maybe he should ask around the campus?

Wait, no. That would be creepy, wouldn’t it? The last thing he wanted was to make Fushiguro creeped out. 

He wanted to make a good impression, not that he was a creep or something. A horrible way to start out a relationship. 

No! 

He can’t assume they’d have a relationship. That is creepy and weird. And he is not creepy and weird.

Nanami’s phone call ends and he puts his phone away. “I am very sorry about that. My friend’s godson called. He rarely calls so I was worried.”

“Ah, no problem!” Yuuji says, smiling. 

And when he left the major and minor fair, with way more brochures and papers than he expected, he wondered why he vaguely feels like he made a mistake somewhere by not being nosy. 

Yuuji spins around in his gaming chair. The screen of his desktop gives everything in the dark dorm room a blue light. “Like, and he’s so talented! Good at photography too! And smart! I wish I was that good at so many things!”

“If you don’t shut up,” Sukuna says, walking into the dorm room with his fifth or sixth cup of coffee. “I will end you. In your sleep or right here. You pick. I don't care as long as you stop talking about this.”

“Clearly my stupid brother has no taste.” Yuuji says, turning back to the screen. He picks up his coffee energy drink. “And murder is illegal.”

“I think the law would make an exception if they knew how long I’ve been tormented by hearing this day in and day out for years .”

Yuuji happily ignores him. 

HammerQueen: WE GOT MORE INFO ON HE CRUSH PEOPLE YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO

Serpentboi22: Write that down! Write that down!

Picasso’sLeftFinger: ok so we know said crush also does photography ok that actually can help narrow it down more! Let’s go!!

HammerQueen: WE’RE ONE STEP CLOSER TO SOLVING THE MYSTERY 

Cheesyman334: i feel like we need to actually throw a party when we solve this mystery 

Orangegrass: sometimes i feel for sukuna like poor dude has to hear this all the time do you think he ever gets nightmares of yuuji talking about his crush?

Cheesyman334: yeah i could see that he’s been dealing with years of this i’m surprised that he hasn’t physically fought yuuji over it yet 

Orangegrass: im just imagining sukuna like waking up in a cold sweat and hearing yuuji’s long rants about his crash lmao 

Yuui quickly reads through the chat. “You guys are so funny. If Sukuna does get nightmares, he can move out. Because I have important things to say and he just likes to complain.”

“Talking about the color of your crush’s eyes for an hour does not count as important.”

Yuuji continues on. Because the color of Fushiguro’s eyes is very important, thank you very much. “But anyway, everytime he posts I have to like, rewatch the video like five times. There’s just so much there! And he’s so smart!”

HammerQueen: @1Dog<2Dogs: PHOTOGRAPHY WE NOW MORE INFO ON THE CRUSH GIVE ME IDEAS YOU’RE SMART

1Dog<2Dogs: …

HammerQueen: oh sorry i kinda forgot 

Yuuji is slightly confused about what is happening, but people seem to be having a good time so that’s all that matters. “I really like your username! I agree that two dogs are always better than one!”

The chat blows up. 

Serpentboi22: OOOHH A SHOUT OUT!!

Orangegrass: YOU JUST GOT NOTICED 

Picasso’sLeftFinger: I wish that was me

Chickenlegs&wings: Shout Out from Yuuji!! 

DrinkABang&Die: anyone else got any ideas who’s yuuji’s crush?

Cheesyman334: @1Dog<2Dogs you gotta respond!! Say something to him!

HammerQueen: He’s shy you guys! So he’s just gonna ignore it like an idiot >:(

Really, why did he keep getting this feeling he was missing something all the time?

“Too bad that Tsumiki wasn’t able to make it.” 

Megumi sits down across from his dad, his back facing the entrance of the restaurant. Like always his dad wants to sit outside while sitting so he is able to see everything. Because Toji just had to be able to see everything, because ‘if something happened, he can be ready’ whatever that means. 

His dad is weird sometimes.

“Well,” Megumi says, putting his phone on the table. “She is about to graduate and she’s over an hour away.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Toji says, opening a menu. Even though he is probably going to order the same thing he always orders here. “But why’d she have to move so far away? At least you’re still close by. My kids are trying to abandon me.”

Megumi makes a face at that. “I literally still live with you.”

His dad ignores this.

The sun is not quite setting yet, but it is low enough that there is a great golden color to everything now. Perfect for taking pictures. 

Megumi raises an eyebrow. “Also abandon you? Tsumiki went to school?” 

He takes out his phone and snaps a picture of the golden light coming through the leaves of the tree beside them. The colors look good, even if they are on a phone screen instead of a camera. 

Toji gestures at him with the window. “Don’t you try to move away too. Your old man will get lonely without his kids.”

“You can hang out with Gojo.” Megumi says without missing a beat. His dad’s look of disgust is enough for him to laugh a little bit. 

They had been coming to this same restaurant for as long as he could remember. His dad, Tsumiki, and him would always come here after his dad would finish work, especially when his dad was younger and had to work more as a single dad. 

It seemed magical as a kid. The inside was a weird mix of decorations, lots of stained glass lights hanging from the ceiling, the string lights strung everywhere, and the comforting smell of steaming soups cooking all day. 

He still maintains that this place has the best soup he has ever had in his life. 

Toji closes the menu. “Okay, I know what I want. You want the same thing as usual?” 

“Yeah. Can you ask for extra ginger?”

Toji gives him a thumbs up as he heads inside to order for them. Once he hears the door to the restaurant close behind him, he pulls a book out and opens it to the last page he was on. He was really excited to write up the mini-essay for this book to attach in the description for the video of this book. People seemed to like the little essays he had started to add. 

He was trying to keep them short, but it was hard when he always had a lot to say about them. But who wanted to read the full five page essays he had been writing at first? 

Not many people. 

He keeps reading, making mental notes as he goes. 

Even if he still wants to include the five page essays. But Nobara said it was bad for his ‘engagement’ or whatever. Not that he planned to get engaged for a long time but ok.

A loud voice breaks his focus. He can’t see whoever it is as they walk up to the door of the restaurant. The person is laughing loudly. 

“You’re my twin! Shouldn’t you be nice to me?” The person says laughing loudly. He hears the door open. But he can’t exactly see who it is since his back is facing the door. He hears someone say something back. 

But he’s not paying attention to the second voice.

Megumi pauses, lowering his book. Why does the person laughing sound familiar?

He turns just as the door closes. He frowns for a second. Not like it was probably anyone he knew. If it was someone he knew, he probably would have recognized the voice, right?

Not that he knows that many people.

He goes back to reading.

Toji comes around him, carrying two large bowls of steaming soups. He sets one down in front of Megumi. “Here ya go. Asked for a shit-ton of ginger.”

Megumi closes his book and grabs the bowl. “Thanks.”

Toji flops down into his seat. “I swear you young people are so loud.” He doesn’t sound mad, but more amused. “Other than the clown who calls himself your godfather, he’s definitely the loudest.”

Megumi pauses, a spoonful of soup halfway to his mouth. “What-”

“Some kid in the store was being super loud, looking about your age.” Toji says, pouring chili oil into his soup until the whole thing turns a concerning shade of bright red. “He came in a little bit after me, the one in the yellow hoodie thing.”

Megumi freezes and he looks up sharply at his dad. “...Yellow hoodie?” 

“Yeah?” Toji says around a mouthful of noodles. “What-”

Megumi whips around. 

There was no possible way, was there? He could only think of one person who wears a yellow hoodie. Was that why the voice was familiar? But he can’t see into the restaurant. 

Yuuji always wears that yellow hoodie. In almost all of his livestreams. Any photos on his social media sites almost always feature the yellow hoodie.

“Why are you making that face?” 

Megumi pauses. Right, his dad was still here. Oh god, his dad saw him react like some idiot with a crush. 

Which he technically was. An idiot with a crush. 

He turns back around, trying desperately not to look over his shoulder. Was it Yuuji? No way that was possible? Right?

Toji furrows his brows, adding more chili oil. “Why’re you makin’ that weird face?”

“I’m not making any faces.” Megumi says, trying to focus on eating the delicious soup and he is absolutely not thinking about Yuuji’s smile. No.

“Hey, I know you. Why’re you lying to your old man?” Toji narrows his eyes, eyeing him suspiciously. “Are you blushing? Why the hell are you blushing?”

“Stop!” He can feel his face heat up even more. He eats the soup and tries to focus on the soup and nothing else. “It’s nothing!”

It’s absolutely not that he has a crush on some random guy on the internet or anything. No it was not that. He would rather perish than ever say those words out loud to his dad. 

Toji looks at the restaurant. “Did you know that guy?”

“No!” 

God, why was he so terrible at acting? That didn’t even sound vaguely convincing. 

“You lyin’ to me?”

“No!” The noticeable warmth of his face says otherwise. 

“Fine,” Toji takes out his phone, grinning slightly. “I’ll just ask your sister-”

Megumi reaches across the table, trying to take away his dad’s phone. “Don’t you dare!”

His dad looks even more suspicious. “Megumi-”

“What? It’s nothing, why are you acting weird?”

“Is it a boy? Is this about a boy?” His dad says, looking horrified at the thought. He leans forward suddenly, like he’s trying not to let people overhear. “Do I need to ‘talk’ to this boy?”

“I’ve never met him before!” Megumi says, covering his face with his hands. Why was his dad like this? “Stop acting all weird!”

“You’re blushing!” Toji says, sounding like he was talking about a tragic world event. “You never blush! It was bad enough when Tsumiki started dating!”

Megumi drags his hands down his face. “Just eat your soup, please. I’m begging you.”

“Does your sister know about this?”

“There’s nothing to know!”

Toji leans back in his chair, quiet for a moment. Megumi can’t even meet his eyes. “This is somehow that Gojo idiot’s fault, isn’t it?”

“Please stop.”

Toji opens his phone, flipping open his ancient flip phone he still has for some godforsaken reason. “I’m telling that stupid idiot he’s corrupting my son. You’re too young to date.”

“I’m twenty-one?”

“Okay?” 

Megumi stares at his dad for a long, long time. “Okay, maybe Gojo’s right about you being overprotective.” He tries to focus on that and really tries not to turn around to see if it really is Yuuji in the restaurant.

Toji seems to be texting Gojo something, probably complaining. It takes him double the amount of time since there is no letter keyboard and only numbers. Megumi waits for him to finish. It takes him about five minutes. 

Megumi goes back to eating his soup and glancing just slightly over his shoulder at the restaurant’s door. Nobody leaves the restaurant and definitely not anybody wearing a yellow hoodie. But who else could it be other than Yuuji?

Silently, he tells himself that other people could potentially own a yellow hoodie. 

Not that he was potentially excited by the possibility of meeting Yuuji or anything. 

But he doesn’t see any signs of Yuuji before he and his dad head back home. Megumi is absolutely not disappointed about this. 

Nobara half-yells into her hands that are covering her face and Megumi watches her wordlessly. 

“I want him to meet his mystery crush!” Nobara says, barely keeping her voice at an acceptable volume inside the cafe. “But you have a crush on him now! And if he meets his crush, they’ll fall in love! I know it! Then you’ll be sad and single and lonely forever!”

The waitress for the cafe walks by, casting a vaguely concerned look towards Nobara. Megumi sighs.

“Thank you for that,” Megumi says, trying not to roll his eyes. 

Nobara looks up, distressed and annoyed. “It’s true! Why can’t you have a crush on a person you actually know like a normal person?” 

He flips a page in his book. “To specifically make your life harder.”

“And it’s working!”

“You’re welcome.”

Nobara sighs again and turns back to her homework. All of her sketchbooks and reference books for her fashion design major laid out around her. She sighs again and looks back at her. “So what happened at dinner with your dad? The texts you sent last night made no sense.”

He just word vomits everything all at once. 

“And apparently my dad thinks I’m too young to date at twenty-one, but somehow it was okay for Tsumiki to start dating when she was seventeen. It does not make sense to me.”

The silence drags on for a long moment. Nobara’s eyes are huge. “Wait, wait, are we going to skim over the part where you think you might’ve been near Yuuji? Because I am much more concerned with that.”

Megumi shrugs, picking up his coffee. “I didn’t see him. But maybe, I don’t know.”

Nobara makes a face. “I can’t believe this.” She sounds like Megumi has personally insulted her. “I’ve been a fan of Yuuji’s for years and never seen him. But you might have, after what? A few months?”

Megumi says nothing and just sips on his coffee. 

Nobara sighs. “Fine. Anyway, Yuuji did a surprise stream last night and he gave us another piece of info. Apparently the mystery crush has…” Nobara looks excited and Megumi continues looking at her with a blank look. “Green eyes.”

Nobara types something frantically on her laptop. Probably in the chat she is in about finding the mystery crush. “This is new information. We finally have an eye color. It really helps us narrow down the potential people.”

“Okay?” Megumi goes back to typing out his next essay. 

“Because,” Nobara says like he is stupid. “Green eyes are rare. And there's probably a small portion of green eyed youtubers probably. So that just gives us an advantage.”

He keeps typing. And tell himself that he has no right to feel sad about the possibility of Yuuji meeting his mystery crush. Yuuji didn’t even know Megumi existed. 

 Yuuji has been happily enjoying rewatching Fushiguro’s old videos when Sukuna very very rudely shuts his laptop. Yuuji yanks out his earphones. “Bro, why’d you do that? I was literally matching that.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sukuna pushes back on his rolling chair. “For the third time-”

“Okay, okay I get it.” Yuuji sighs. “But I wasn’t playing it outloud or anything.”

Sukuna crosses his arms. “Can you just listen to me for a moment?”

“Okay?”

“I’m just trying to say that maybe it’s not healthy for you to be pining after someone on the internet who you’ve never met and who doesn’t know you exist. Especially to the point you won’t try to date anyone in real life for a really unlikely chance of dating your internet crush.”

Yuuji just stares at him, listening to every word. Maybe it was true, maybe it wasn’t good to be so fixed on Fushiguro and his channel. 

“It’s called a parasocial relationship,” Sukuna says, holding up his phone to a psychology journal website titled ‘Parasocial Relationships and Online Content Creators.’ Which Yuuji feels is definitely a personal attack. 

“Okay, so first of all, dude.” Yuuji says, sitting up on his bed. “I was just trying to take a break from my physics homework and you come over to my side of the dorm to attack my lifestyle like this?”

Sukuna rolls his eyes. “Whatever, not like I’m trying to help you or anything. Just ignore my wisdom.”

“Wisdom?” Yuuji makes a face and opens his laptop. “Well, let me enjoy my parasocial relationship in peace.”

The screen opens up to Fushiguro’s YouTube page again. But now there’s a small screen showing a live video. Yuuji screams and grabs his earphones. “He’s on live!”

Sukuna slaps a hand over his face.

He clicks on the video. 

Fushiguro is sitting in front of the bookcase again. Several books are out around him and he looks a little awkward. Again.

He types faster than he ever has in his life. 

JigglyPuff48: HELLO I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS

Fushiguro leans forward, smiling faintly. Yuuji tries not to scream. “Oh, I remember you commented on the first livestream I did.”

JigglyPuff48: YESA

Fushiguro smiles, almost a full smile. Yuuji rolls over on his bed, giggling to himself. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Yuuji fights the urge to tell him how much he loves him. But that might be a little weird. 

Fushiguro leans back, awkwardly rubbing his arm. “Um, well, you’re the only one here. This is really awkward. I’m sorry, I’m bad at this sort of thing.”

JigglyPuff48: You’re not awkward at all!!! You’re super smart and smarter than me for sure! Do you like photography? I saw you posted some on your instagram.

Fushiguro seems surprised. “Oh, well I like taking photos sometimes, but I’m not a professional or a photography student. But like taking photos is nice sometimes, sorry if that sounds dumb. I keep randomly ranting.”

JigglyPuff48: You’re fine! I like your rants!

Now Fushiguro looks even more surprised. “Oh.”

JigglyPuff48: congrats on your channel doing really well that's really awesome. your channel is really amazing. I mean, i don't even like to read that much but the way you describe everything makes me actually want to read them!!

Fushiguro really smiles now. Yuuji has to slap a pillow over his face and scream into it for a solid five seconds. “Thank you. It’s nice to hear that, I mean I don’t know. Recently, I had someone tell me that reading was useless. So it’s nice to hear that not everyone thinks that.”

Yuuji feels upset about that on Fushiguro’s behalf. 

JigglyPuff48: SOMEONE SAID THAT? TO YOU???

Fushiguro laughs, though a little awkwardly. “Yeah, I know. He also said my literature degree is useless.”

JigglyPuff48: that asshole! Literature degrees are important!! How dare he! I don’t even really know what literature is but I know it’s important!! 

He laughs again and Yuuji feels proud of the fact that he has made him laugh twice now. “You what, you’re right. Just because you don’t know exactly what a field of study is doesn’t mean that it isn’t important. I still cannot believe that he said that.”

JigglyPuff48: yeah also that’s just rude to say to someone especially if they just said that it’s important to them. Like who even says that?

Fushiguro looks like he is remembering a particularly painful memory. He picks at the sleeve of his gray sweater. “My godfather set me up on a date. It was a terrible experience and I never want to try a blind date again.”

Fushiguro seems to snap out of his thoughts. “I’m so sorry. You do not want to hear about my boring and terrible blind date.”

Yuuji is absently thinking about what would happen if he and Fushiguro went on a blind date. It is a nice idea. 

JigglyPuff48: You’re fine! You don’t have to apologize!

Fushiguro sighs. “Sorry, I’m not very good at this. I’m honestly really surprised that so many people are watching my channel?” 

He shakes his head. “It’s strange really.”

Yuuji had no idea how Fushiguro thought people wouldn’t be interested in his channel. And he tries not to think about the blind date again and tries not to think about what Sukuna said to him either. 

It had been a long day. A long day that was filled with too many interruptions of his routines and plans for the day. All his planned time to work on homework was taken over by a sudden assignment a professor decided to add to the syllabus for no reason that he only had four hours to work on. It threw his entire off schedule. 

So when it was only a few hours before he should really, really go to sleep if he does not want to look perpetually asleep. He was already going to fall asleep later than usual. 

And he is curled up in his bed, wrapped in his softest and comfiest blankets. His laptop on YouTube and these videos called ‘compilations’ of Yuuji goofing around in his livestreams. And the whole time, he can’t stop himself from smiling. He realizes that he has been smiling almost the whole time. 

Megumi sits up and smacks his head into a pillow and screams. This is just too embarrassing!

“Megumi?”

He jerks up and throws the pillow away. His dad stands in the doorway, looking confused. “Why are you screaming? Are you okay?”

Megumi feels his face steadily getting warmer. He rolls over and shoves his face into a pillow. “Nothing! I was just reading!” 

When he moves to look at his dad, he looks truly stupefied. Megumi tries to pretend he was not laughing and smiling at videos of his internet crush and that his dad saw this. otherwise , he would want to disappear from the planet.

“Megs, what is wrong with you? Why is your face red? Are you sick?” Toji asks, furrowing his brows. “What is happening?”

“Nothing!” 

“Are you dying?” Toji asks, sounds like he actually thinks this could be a possibility. “Do I need to call your sister?”

Megumi sits upright. “No! Don’t ask Tsumiki! Please!”

Toji flips open his phone with a snap. “Yeah, I’m askin’ your sister what’s goin’ on with you. You’re acting weird.”

Megumi almost jumps out of his bed to physically stop his dad, but his dad has already called her. “Hey. It’s dad.”

“Stop!” 

Toji raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, it’s your brother. He’s actin’ weird. Yeah, I’ll put you on speaker.” Toji hits some buttons and Tsumiki’s voice becomes louder. 

“Can you be more specific than just saying weird?” Tsumiki asks, sounding far too amused. 

“Yeah, he was actin’ weird when we got dinner, something about a hoodie and then his face got all red and he’s doin’ the same thing now.” Toji says. 

Megumi wishes to sink into his blankets and disappear for a couple hours. 

Tsumiki starts laughing and Megumi covers his face with his hands. “Have you perhaps considered that your son is perhaps experiencing a crush?”

The whole room stops. 

Toji stares eyes open wide at Megumi. Tsumiki is laughing, nicely on the phone. And Megumi can feel his face getting even warmer, his ears, and his hands. 

“Tsumiki!” He finally is able to get out. “I trusted you! Why?”

Toji makes a choking sound. “A what?”

“Please just forget everything she said like forever,” Megumi says, falling backward on his bed and covering his face. “Never mention it again. I’m going to go die in a corner now.”

Silence. 

And more silence. 

“I’m not sure what to say…” Toji starts, in an awkward way that seemed at odds with his usual behavior. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No!” Megumi can’t even look at his dad now. 

“I don’t know, Megs. This kinda seems like something you’d wanna talk about.” He can feel the weight on the bed shift beside him as his dad sits down. “I’m not really good at this sorta thing, but do you wanna talk to someone?”

Megumi slowly lowers his hands from his face. At least his dad doesn’t seem like he is going to tease him. “It’s not a big deal I swear-”

Toji looks suspicious at that. “Does that clown know about this?”

“No!” Megumi says as fast as he possibly can. “God no! If Gojo knew I would never hear the end of it.”

Toji looks really smug about that, but he doesn’t say anything about it. “Was it that kid at the restaurant? Was that why you made that face?”

Megumi covers his face again and speaks really quietly. “I don’t know, I didn’t see who it was.”

“I don’t know,” Toji says, making a face while he is trying to remember. “Weird yellow hoodie, loud, kept laughing.”

Megumi tries to reason with himself that it could have been anyone. That description didn’t mean it was Yuuji. 

“Pink hair.”

Megumi feels like his heart almost jumps out of his body. 

“Pink hair?” Megumi repeats, eyes growing wide. “Pink hair?”

“Yeah,” Toji says, narrowing his eyes. “You do know that kid then-”

“Oh my god,” Megumi runs a hand through his hair, staring off past his dad as he realizes something. “That was Yuuji.”

Which means either Yuuji is currently visiting their tiny college town that has nothing of great interest or Yuuji lives here and goes to college at either the same college as Megumi or the college Gojo teaches at. 

Chapter Text

 Megumi’s Intersection of Folk Tales with Modern Literature class ended early today, meaning he was able to quietly and easily slip out of the classroom without having to have meaningless small talk conversations with classmates who did not read any of the assignments. Which left him to answer almost every single question for the past hour and a half. 

He steps out of the freezing lecture hall to the warmth of the afternoon. He fishes his headphones out of his front pocket of his backpack so he does not have to listen to the loud, unpleasant sounds of traffic on his walk home. But through the sounds of talking students milling past, the sound of blaring loud music reaches him from the adjacent parking lot.

Megumi slows down, staring at the unfortunately familiar white car, parked in the lot. Other students were slowing down from walking out of the lecture hall, looking at the car. As Megumi nears the car, he can hear the students whispering to each other. 

“Isn’t that the hot physics professor from the other college across town?” Someone whispers. 

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Why’s he crying in a car on our campus?”

Megumi walks faster. Once he can see the front window, he can see Gojo. 

Gojo is lying back in the front seat, his sunglasses on, blasting music, and crying.

He stands wordlessly by the driver’s door, watching his godfather sob in his car in a college parking lot, blasting music that sounds vaguely like the pop punk music Toji likes to listen to occasionally. 

Should he say something?

There was an empty ice cream container and a broken plastic spoon beside Gojo in the passenger seat. 

What happened here?

Hesitantly, Megumi speaks up, “Are you okay?”

Gojo raises his head slightly, his crying stopping. His voice is strangely even. “Oh hey, Gumi.” 

Megumi cannot stop the concern from slipping into his tone as he repeats. “Are you okay?”

Gojo forces a fake laugh and makes some weird pose that Megumi is fairly sure he remembers Nobara calling a ‘dab.’ “Nobody can see me cry with my Gucci slides on.”

Megumi furrows his brows, well and truly baffled now. “What happened? And I know those are the sunglasses you bought at the dollar store five years ago.”

“Just saw Suguru,” Gojo laughs again, in an incredibly fake tone while simultaneously crying.

“Oh-”

“With someone else and now I’m questioning life and my purpose for existing.” Gojo says, giving him a thumbs up. “Just average Tuesday things.”

“And that’s why you’re sobbing in your car, in a college parking lot, playing-” He pauses, not sure who the band or singer was that was singing about a break-up or something. 

“Leave Me Loving You by Jackson Wang,” Gojo easily says, like he is vaguely disappointed in Megumi for not knowing this. “You should know this by now. I love Jackson Wang, Megumi.”

“And crying to Jackson Wang with an empty container of triple chocolate ice cream,” Megumi finishes, frowning now. He does not ask why Gojo was here when he teaches at the college on the other side of the bridge. 

Gojo slides further down his seat, still not turning down the music. “I was going to surprise pick you up for coffee and bookstore hangout time with your favorite godfather and for a second I forgot that Suguru teaches here.”

Gojo pushes his sunglasses up. His eyes are bloodshot and the underneath area of his eyes are unusually purple for someone who has religiously used under eye masks since high school. “Did you have to pick the college Suguru teaches at?”

Megumi shuffles awkwardly for a second. “That’s why I picked it.”

Gojo sighs and puts his sunglasses back on. “I’m too cool for this.” He shakes from another sob. “This is so cringe.”

Gojo bursts in through the front doors of Megumi’s house before Meguni can let his dad know that Gojo is here. Megumi drops his backpack by the door, kicking off his shoes before following after Gojo. He walks into the kitchen just in time to hear Toji’s reaction to seeing Gojo in his kitchen. 

“The hell are you doin’ in my house?” Toji says. 

Megumi steps into the kitchen. 

Toji is standing at the stove, stirring a big pot of something steaming. He sends a look towards Gojo, suspicious. Gojo grins and makes some weird pose.

“Hi Toji! Good to see you too!” Gojo makes another weird pose. “I’m here and you can’t get rid of me now.”

Megumi shuffles forward to see what is in the pot. The pot is filled with soup filled with potatoes, carrots, and chunks of meat. The smell of spices and steam slowly rising up. 

Toji narrows his eyes at Gojo, eyeing him like he expects Gojo to do something horrible at any moment. “Why are you even here? You have a whole ass house-” Toji pauses to look at Megumi, the suspicious expression gone. “Hey, Megs. How were classes?”

“Ah!” Gojo says loudly, “Ignoring me! I see how it is!”

“They were good,” Megumi says, snatching the spoon from his dad to take a bite of the soup. He blows on it for a moment, trying to cool it before eating it. Potato soup, one of his favorites. “Nobody else did the assignments though, so it was a little awkward when nobody would answer the professor’s questions.”

Megumi pets Shiro and Kuro as they clamor into the kitchen, shoving their heads into his palms for pets. “Also Gojo had a bad day. Be nice, he is my godfather.”

Toji holds up the spoon, expression flat. “And I would like to point out that I never agreed to that. That was all your mother, not me.”

Gojo hops on the counter, grinning. “But I’m here now and I had a bad day.”

Toji does not look amused. 

Megumi notes Gojo is still wearing his sunglasses. He decides that he will spare Gojo some face in front of his dad and not mention that Gojo had been sobbing in a parking lot while listening to loud music. Some things did not need to be told. 

Gojo fake gasps, putting a hand on his chest. “You would be so cruel to the godfather of your precious baby boy?”

“I’m twenty-one?”

Toji crosses his arms, still looking at Gojo suspiciously. “Why’re you upset.”

Megumi looks between them. Were they somehow both ignoring the terrible new nickname Gojo just gave to him? “So we’re going to ignore Gojo’s new nickname for me?”

“I’m sad,” Gojo says, adjusting his sunglasses and crossing his legs. “I don’t have to answer to you.”

Toji looks at Megumi. “Why is the clown upset?”

Megumi freezes while he is eating another spoonful of soup. “...That’s for him to say.”

Gojo cackles. “Ha! Megumi picked me!”

Megumi eats another spoonful of soup. “You should tell him instead of looking sad and upset. You have to say things if you want help, people can’t read your mind.”

Gojo freezes, his mouth hanging open. “I-” He cuts himself off. “Megumi, rude. I can’t believe you said something like that to me-”

“Just tell me for god’s sake,” Toji rubs his forehead like Gojo is giving him a headache, which he might. Gojo is kind of loud.

“Saw Suguru with another guy today. You know, casually just seeing the love of your life moving on from you after a sudden breakup when you were engaged and then ghosted you and everyone else they knew. So yeah, I’m doing great.”

The silence in the kitchen is almost too loud to handle. Megumi just takes another bite of the soup. Toji said nothing and Gojo said nothing and Megumi eats more soup.

“You asked,” Gojo shrugs. 

Toji sighs like this was a huge burden for him. “Fine, fine, whatever, you can stay for dinner. Since you’re extra pathetic today.”

Gojo smiles brightly. “Aw thanks!” He hops down from the counter and starts running towards the living room. 

Before he has a chance to do anything else, Toji shouts. “Don’t jump on my furniture! Those are nice ones! Not even from the thrift store, you hooligan!”

Megumi still hears the tell-tale sound of creaking cushions to know that Gojo did exactly that. Toji just sighs deeply. “How did that clown end up your godfather?”

Megumi shrugs. “You let it happen.”

After Gojo finally seemed legitimately back to his more cheerful self, he left, heading back to his house across the bridge. Megumi goes back upstairs after his dad falls asleep watching a documentary on folk tales that Megumi was watching for class. He really should be working on readings for classes or working on papers, but instead he finds himself opening up his laptop to Yuuji’s Twitch stream. 

It just feels so comfortable to just curl up under soft, warm blankets and watch the stream, not that he was going to admit that to Nobara, ever. It was bad enough that both Nobara and his dad both know about his embarrassing internet crush already. 

Yuuji was doing a ‘speedrun’ again which always resulted in a loud stream, but Yuuji always made it seem really fun. Even though Megumi did not quite understand the appeal of trying to finish a video game so fast, Yuuji made it seem fun. 

A long message in the chat catches his eye for a moment. 

Serpentboi22: ok so guys i have a theory there's this youtuber i watched for the first time last night but keep in mind i was like so fricking tired i have no thoughts in my brain so i could be like totally wrong about this whole thing but anyway this youtuber like kinda matches yuuji's description

Picasso’sLeftFinger: oh? Word?

Cheesyman334: Wait!! Who’s the youtuber I’ll look it up right now!!  

Maybe Megumi is immature or maybe is too dramatic, but ever since he became conscious of the fact he has a (embarrassing) crush on Yuuji, the less he wants people to figure out who Yuuji’s mystery internet crush is. 

So he looks away, closing the chat so he can just watch Yuuji’s stream instead of pondering over who the mystery crush is. It’s not like it is actually hurting anyone, it was just some random youtuber probably. And Megumi was really starting to doubt there was anyone who actually matched all the things Yuuji had said about his crush. 

Yuuji falls forward onto his keyboard as he fails another attempted speedrun. A loud thud followed as he lurched forward. He is wearing the yellow hoodie. “That’s it. My career as a speedrunner is over. Gone. Forever.”

“Thank god,” Sukuna’s voice comes from somewhere off screen in the dorm room. 

Yuuji sits up, apparently completely ignoring anything Sukuna says. He sighs loudly. “Well, I guess instead of a gaming stream this can be a lifestyle stream? I mean, like, talk about life as a college student or something. I don’t know.”

Yuuji throws an arm over his chair and turns, supposedly towards where Sukuna is off screen. “Is lifestyle streaming a thing? Can I rebrand myself? Can I do that?”

The long drawn out silence is almost comedic. 

“Can I?”

“What? You wanna be an influencer or something?” Sukuna finally says. 

“Hey,” Yuuji says, pointing, “I would make a great influencer.”

“I don’t even know how I’m supposed to respond to that.”

Megumi holds up his phone and opens google to type in ‘influencer.’ He had heard Nobara use this term before, but he never really cared enough to ask what it actually means. He scrolls through the various articles and makes a face. 

Most of it seemed fake. Megumi did not think Yuuji would be good at acting fake. 

He freezes. 

Did he really just think that? Megumi quickly tosses his phone aside and smacks a pillow against his face while trying to ignore the growing warmth in his face. He doesn’t even know Yuuji! How would he know that!

He smacks the pillow against his face again. He is such an idiot. Is this how people with crushes normally act? He really needs to get himself together. It was bad enough that Nobara and his dad knew about it already. He does not need Gojo knowing he has a crush. 

“I’m just saying!” Yuuji says, laughing almost too hard to breathe now. On screen, Sukuna’s leg reaches out to kick Yuuji’s chair while Yuuji continues to laugh.

Yuuji really does have a nice laugh. 

Megumi smacks himself with the pillow again. He had just told himself that he needed to act less like an idiot with a crush! And there he went, thinking about how Yuuji has a nice laugh!

Sukuna appears on screen, his hair covered in what looks like bright red hair dye covering his hair. He points aggressively at the camera. “Can you people stop encouraging this behavior? I’m the one who has to live with his nonsense all day!”

“Bro,” Yuuji starts, finally calming down from laughing so much. “My dude, you can leave. Like, you don’t have to stay in the dorm all the time, you know? Like there’s a whole campus and also like parks and cafes-”

Sukuan stands up, looking down at Yuuji with crossed arms. “I am not letting myself get kicked out of my own dorm room so you can livestream. I have pride, idiot.”

Yuuji smiles brightly. “You can just admit you wanna hang out and be included–”

“I do not!”

Megumi’s phone starts buzzing as the screen lights up. Absently, he picks it up without looking at the ID caller. “Hello?”

“Hey, so hear me out.” Nobara says immediately jumping into whatever she was calling about. Megumi turns fown “Like I was looking my compiled info on Yuuji’s secret crush-”

Megumi can feel himself sink into the bed, frowning. He looks at Yuuji’s bright smile. “I’m content in not knowing actually. Thanks though.”

Nobara sighs, “No, you nerd. Listen to me. Okay, at least hear out my new theory?”

“Fine.”

“So this may sound kinda crazy, but I need you to at least hear me out.” Nobara starts which was never good, it usually meant she was about to say something utterly baffling or so shocking it would probably take him at least a minute to fully process it. 

“But I was looking at my info and you know what I noticed?” Nobara says, continuing before he has a chance to say anything. “I do actually know a youtuber who matches Yuuji’s description.”

Megumi actually pauses at that. “You do?”

“Yeah. You.”

It is as if the entire world shifts. Megumi completely freezes in front of his screen, staring at Yuuji playing Animal Crossing but not hearing a single word. 

Did he match Yuuji’s description? There was no way. Megumi’s channel barely had anyone who watched it and Yuuji had pretty much over a million subscribers, there was no possible way that Yuuji had ever even seen his channel. Right?

That wouldn’t make sense. 

There was no way. 

“You there?” Nobara’s voice finally cuts through his racing thoughts. 

Megumi blinks a couple times and looks away from his screen. His voice is barely there, so quietly. “Nobara, there’s no possible way. Do you know how unlikely that is?”

Nobara sighs. “I know, I know. It sounds crazy, I thought so when I first thought of it. But like-”

Megumi shakes his head, even though she could not see him. He would not even let himself consider that. That sounds like it would be a problem. Like one of those crazy obsessed fans that think they are in a relationship with their celebrity crush.

“That just,” Megumi frowns, “Sounds like wishful thinking.”

He does not even let himself consider it.

“Yeah, I know, you’re probably right.” Nobara sounds actually disappointed. “Also it would probably be bad to feed into your parasocial relationship thing you got going on.”

“My what-”

“Okay, I gotta work on those fashion sketches for classes tomorrow I was telling you about, I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye!” And Nobara hangs up. 

Megumi stares at his phone. 

What was he supposed to think now? No, there was no way he was the one Yuuji has a crush on. Statistically, that seems so unlikely. Impossible even. 

He closes his laptop. He needs some time away from thinking about Yuuji. So instead he gets out of bed and heads downstairs. 

Surprisingly, the light is still on. And his dad is at the kitchen table with his laptop open in front of him. 

“Hey, Megs,” Toji says, typing something and then squinting at the screen. 

Megumi turns on the kettle for tea. “I keep telling you that you need to get glasses, Dad. You shouldn’t have to squint at stuff to read it.”

Toji continues squinting for a moment then he looks up. “I can read perfectly.”

Megumi furrows his brows. “What are you doing anyway?”

“Researching.”

Megumi perks up at that. Finally, something he loves that can take his mind off of Yuuji. He walks over to his dad. “What are you researching? I love-”

“Nah,” Toji says, just as Megumi leans over to look at the screen. And instead of academic journals or peer reviewed papers he just sees a google image page of Yuuji’s face. “I’m researchin’ that kid you got a crush on. I gotta make sure he’s acceptable-”

Megumi jerks back. “What! Why would you do that!” He slaps both hands over his face, his entire face going warm. “Oh my god, why would you do that?”

“Hey, I’m making sure my kid ain’t gonna get his heart broken. You should be happy, you know, soulmates or whatever shit people say, but I got some questions for ya-”

Megumi slowly lowers the hands from his face and he seriously considers disappearing to his room for at least a year. “What even made you decide you needed to research this? I-”

“Well,” Toji leans back, shrugging. “I’ll be better at giving advice than that clown who says he’s your godfather. That clown wouldn’t do research, huh?”

Megumi looks at his dad. Not even sure what to say. But his dad just looks so sincere that he just ends up just appreciating his dad even more. Megumi laughs quietly for a moment at how random this all seems. “Okay, what are your questions?”

“Number one; what the hell is a streamer?” 

Megumi just starts laughing. 

“Hey! Don’t laugh at your old man,” Toji says, even though he is grinning just a little bit too. “I used to be all hip and shit when I was your age.”

Megumi sits down in the chair beside him, still laughing slightly. “No, just, I had no idea what it meant till Nobara explained it. I didn’t know what that meant or live streaming-”

“Yeah, I was gonna ask about that too.”

Megumi pauses. 

“And this,” Toji turns the laptop around to face Megumi. On the screen was a youtube video titled funny yuuji compilation pt 5 . It would not have been a problem except that Megumi had, in a moment of total embarrassment to his current self, watched that exact video two nights ago. 

“Ah, it’s a video…”

Toji raises an eyebrow. “Okay, I know that is, Megs.”

“Like taking smaller clips and sections of other videos and making a bigger one, usually to be funny, I guess.”

“Oh, so it’s one of those meme things?”

“Sort of-”

“Like a vine? I remember vine.”

Megumi makes a face. “You know vine?”

Toji nods, spinning his laptop around again. “Tsumiki explained it to me. One of the new hires at work is round her age and kept saying ‘I have the power of god and anime on my side’ whenever I asked if they felt up to working with the younger kids at the dojo before screaming and running to do it.”

The mental image of a teenager shouting that, then running away and then his dad’s baffled reaction was enough to make him break into laughter. He keeps laughing at the mental image of his dad calling Tsumiki to ask if there was something wrong with the kid. 

“Also, how’d you even meet this guy, doesn’t seem like something you’d normally be into?” Toji finally asks, sounding like this was a question he had been thinking about for a while. 

Megumi awkwardly picks at the sleeve of his jacket. “Oh, um, well, Nobara showed me?”

“That makes sense now,” Toji nods, “Actually that answers a lot of my questions.”

He types something on his laptop then leans forward to read it. “I’m just glad you didn’t meet him cause the clown set you up with him or something.” He starts muttering under his breath. “Always trynna set you up on dates with weirdos. Never picked anyone you’d actually like.”

“Why do you never try to set me up if you don’t like who Gojo picks?” Megumi asks curiously. 

“Well, I’m not gonna pressure you into dating or whatever, my stupid ‘family’ did that to me. Which was shitty of them, so I’m not gonna do that to you.” Toji looks over at him and pulls him into a hug. 

“But if this kid does break your heart, just remember I’m high ranking in five different types of deadly martial arts.”

Megumi laughs and hugs his dad back. “Okay, sure, Dad.”

Yuuji is fairly positive that learning that he and Fushiguro live in the same city has been the most blessed piece of information he has ever learned while also being the most cursed. How was he supposed to act normal when he could technically run into his years-long crush at any moment?

Now anytime he was on campus, he kept looking around. But there was no sign of him so far on campus. On his way to class, he kept checking for Fushiguro, but never saw him. 

He tries to tell himself that he really should stop thinking about his internet crush so much, he really can’t help it. Especially since Fushiguro had posted another picture at a park that Yuuji knows. 

After his class ends, he leaves the building, still glancing around for Fushiguro. But instead he does seem someone familiar. The nice professor he met at the major and minors fair a while ago. Professor Nanami was carrying a giant armful of books.  

“Hi, Professor Nanami!” Yuuji says, walking up to him. 

“Hi,” Nanami says, simply. “Have you thought anymore about declaring an economics major?”

“Ah, well,” Yuuji laughs. He had not really thought about it. “No, not really. I’m not really smart enough to do that, though it’d be cool and all, but I'm not smart enough for that.”

Nanami is quiet for a moment, like he isn’t sure what to say. “You are underestimating yourself.”

Yuuji just laughs again. “I'm kinda dumb with that sorta thing. I'm good at sports though! Just that sort of thing isn't my thing.” He shrugs and adds, “But I'm in physics right now and I'm dying even if the professor is fun and gives us lots of candy.”

“I see,” Nanami says in a weird tone that sounds like he is tired. “Does your professor happen to be Gojo?”

“Yeah!” Yuuji nods. Professor Gojo was the only thing keeping Yuuji from dropping that class. He had never taken a more complicated and boring class. “He’s super cool!”

“My condolences,” Nanami said with an even voice. 

“Oh, do you not like him?” Yuuji blinks, trying to think of a reason why someone wouldn’t think Professor Gojo is a fun person. He always brought snacks or drinks for all the students. Yuuji liked going to his classes because of that. 

“I like him well enough,” Nanami says after a moment, “We have known each other since high school actually.”

“That’s so cool! And now you’re teaching at the same college together!”

Nanami adjusts the books he was holding. “That was a coincidence. I assumed he would teach at the other college across the river with his partner.”

Yuuji freezes, forgetting he is talking to a professor for a moment. There is another college in the city? How did he not know this? “There’s another college here?”

“Yes?” Nanami seems well and truly confused that Yuuji did not know this. “It has less of a focus on mathematics and sciences than our college. They focus more on the liberal arts, arts, literature, and fashion design.”

“...Literature?”

“Yes?”

Yuuji tries to act normal and not like he is about to lose his mind. Is that why he hasn’t seen Fushiguro? Because he goes to the other college in the city? 

“So we don’t have a literature program?”

“We have language arts, but not literature.” Nanami seems more and more confused by this conversation. Yuuji can’t even bring himself to feel bad for confusing him. It was just, this might be his actual chance to meet Fushiguro for real. 

“Oh, I see, that makes sense,” Yuuji says as he is trying not to lose his mind. Before Nanami has a moment to ask what he was talking about, Yuuji instead asks. “Oh, where are you heading to? That’s a lot of books.”

Nanami looks down at the stack of books he is carrying, even though it still appears like he wants to ask Yuuji what he was talking about. “I am giving some books that my colleagues were throwing away to Gojo’s godson.”

Yuuji looks at the titles of the huge stack of books. “Land, Sea, and Sky: The Intersection of Geology, Geography, and History?” Yuuji blinks a couple of times. “That seems like fun reading?”

“I myself am not interested in the topic, but Gojo’s godson is. Megumi reads almost everything.” Nanami says. 

Yuuji laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. “I wish I read more.”

After a goodbye, Yuuji hurries off. He keeps thinking about how maybe he was approaching this wrong. Maybe Fushiguro went to the other college. Either way, it would probably be easier if he knew Fushiguro’s given name instead of only his family name. 

Either way, he hurries back to his dorm. Throwing open the door. “Sukuna! You won’t believe what happened!” He tosses his backpack on his bed and kicks off his shoes in time to see Sukuna step out of the bathroom.

For some reason, Sukuna was dressed nicely instead of looking like a wannabe delinquent. Yuuji freezes, glancing around the room confusingly. “Is Uraume forcing you to dress up for something? Why do you look all weird?”

Sukuna makes a face at him. Yuuji makes the same face back. “Where’re you going?”

“Concert.” Sukuna puts on his shoes. “I was going with Uraume, but they had a sudden shift for triple pay come up for extra pay. I got an extra ticket, you doing anything?”

“Nope!” Yuuji says, smiling already. It had been a while since Yuuji had done anything with Sukuna other than study in the same room. “Where is it?”

“Across the bridge on the other side of town.” Sukuna says, laying down on his bed heavily. “Don’t wear your dorky hoodie.”

“Okay, wow, rude,” Yuuji says, though he isn’t really listening to anything that Sukuna is saying now. He was just thinking about how this concert would be on the other side of the bridge where the other college is, where Fushiguro most definitely goes now. 

So his chances of actually happening to run into Fushiguro would definitely be higher on the other side of the bridge, right? At least, that pretty much makes sense to him. 

And plus, he really, really does want to meet Fushiguro. Like Yuuji is positive that meeting him would cause him to have a possible heart attack. But he was willing to take that risk if it meant he got to meet Fushiguro and actually speak to him in person. 

Yuuji flops onto his bed. “Okay, but is this your type of music or is this music that Uraume likes? Cause if it’s your genre, I’ll just pass-”

Sukuna glances over at him, glaring at him with his usual sour look. “It’s indie or alt or whatever.”

“Cool, so Uraume’s music. Coolio. I’ll tag along then.”          

Yuuji has to rush to change and get ready with Sukuna shouting at him and making snarky comments the whole time. But he has to make sure he looks well-dressed because what if he runs into Fushiguro while he’s on the other side of the bridge?

What does he even do in that situation?

Does he act normal? Does he say he’s a fan? Yeah, of course he should act normal. That’s a dumb idea not to act normal. Acting not normal would ruin his chances with Fushiguro. 

Somehow Yuuji finally makes it to Sukuna’s car where they head off to the concert. 

Sukuan is blasting some loud music and they’re both singing way too loudly. The windows are down while they drive through the other side of the city. 

Yuuji is very busily singing along to whatever crappy music Sukuna is playing when he happens to glance outside for a few seconds. Just in time as they speed past someone walking dogs and holding up a book as they walk. 

Wow. Whoever that was must really like reading. 

Yuuji goes back to imagining what it would be like if he happened to run into Fushiguro at the concert or while he’s on this side of the bridge. 

After a full day of classes, Megumi has been immensely looking forward to walking his dogs. Even better, he had a new book to read called Land, Sea, and Sky: The Intersection of Geology, Geography, and History . Nanami had stopped by his college to drop off a stack of new books that his coworkers did not want anymore, so Megumi was more than happy to take them off his hands. 

So he was currently reading one of the new books as he was walking the dogs. The sun was still out so it was perfect weather for it as well. So he walks as he reads. 

Until someone with a car that sounds like it is about to break at any moment decides to blare music louder than Gojo on his worst days while driving far beyond the speed limit. 

Megumi sighs to himself as the car speeds by, still reading his book as they drive by. There was really no reason for them to be that loud. Either way, they did not have to be so loud. He was trying to read.

And during his whole walk, he tries not to think about Yuuji at all. He needs some peace from thoughts of Yuuji invading his mind constantly, but so far it does not seem to be working. His mind keeps drifting to Yuuj during his streams. 

How kind Yuuji seems and how he really does seem to be so excitable about everything like he truly enjoys everything in life.

Maybe Megumi should try to reach out somehow. They both do live in the same city after all. 

Megumi stops dead in his tracks. 

What kind of thought was that? 

That he should try to bother Yuuji? What kind of crazy fan is he? Trying to become friends with someone who probably does not want to be friends with someone because of Twitch of all things in the universe. That is too far. 

Anyway, Megumi keeps walking, there is no way Yuuji would actually want to meet Megumi. Yuuji does not know Megumi exists. 

“I just want to meet him so bad!”’ Yuuji says, with heavy emphasis, slapping a hand over his face as he practically shouts the words. “You have no idea, Sukuna! Like we live in the same city! Probably on the opposite sides of the bridge!”

Yuuji falls forward onto his bed, burying his face in the mound of blankets. It was like the universe has set out to purposefully torture him. Why else would this be happening? Why else would the universe put his probably soulmate so close but never make them meet? That seems like it should be illegal or something.

“Maybe,” Sukuna draws out, in a tone that Yuuji just knows means he is going to say something Yuuji does not want to hear. “You should consider dating someone attainable and stop pining after some internet rando.”

Yuuji sits up from the blankets, mouth hanging open. Sukuna is sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall and facing Yuuji with the same looks he makes when Yuuji forgets to wash dishes or something. 

Yuuji deflates. “Mayabe, I don’t know, dude.” He sighs and falls forward to lay on top of the blankets now. “It just really feels like it could be something. I mean, what are the chances of him being my age and living in the same city?”

“If you say anything about fate-”

“It has to be!” Yuuji sits up again. “What else could it be?”

“A parasocial relationship you’ve developed with someone on the internet who doesn’t know you exist?”

Yuuji climbs off his bed and starts pacing. “Okay, okay. I know, I know. It’s probably never going to happen, like I’m not exactly smart or cool and he’d probably want to date someone smart-”

“That is not the point,” Sukuna sights and takes a deep breath. “Listen to me. You aren’t actually stupid, just because you don’t immediately understand physics and shit like that. Nobody has ever thought you were dumb, except for me.”

“Thanks?”

“It’s not a compliment, I’ve had to live with you for long enough to know.” Sukuna says without missing a beat. “But dumb is different than stupid. Dumb means you mix up hand soap and soap for dishwashers. Which you have done.”

Yuuji slumps and frowns. “Thanks for the reminder.”

“Hey, I was the one who had to clean it up, so I don’t want to hear it.” Sukuna sighs, “But my point being, you’re not stupid. And anyone who says otherwise can talk to me.”

Yuuji laughs a little, leaning back against his bed. “So only you can bully me then? Wow.”

“That’s how being siblings works. But what I’m saying is that you’re just smart in different ways, just cause you don’t know how to read a book doesn’t mean you’re stupid.”

Yuuji looks at his brother for a long moment. “How do you manage to say nice things while still bullying me? How is that possible?”

“I am stating facts.” 

“Wow, okay.”

“Now will you stop calling yourself stupid and maybe also stop with this parasocial relationship?”

“I will only promise one of those things and it’s not the second one.” 

Sukuna closes his eyes and then throws a pillow directly at Yuuji’s face with perfect aim with closed eyes. Yuuji slips and falls onto the ground from the force of the throw. 

It was not exactly what he was expecting when they finished the concert. But it was kinda nice to get a little pep talk from his slightly-evil twin. It wasn’t everyday that Sukuna said something that wasn’t a vague insult.

“But I’m serious,” Sukuna says, looking down at him from where Yuuji is still splayed out on the floor. “I think your crush has become a parasocial relationship-”

“You hungry?” Yuuji hops up off the floor and skids into the kitchen. He can hear Sukuna sigh all the way from in here. He grabs a pan.  

“Yeah, sure. I’m hungry as shit anyway.”

Yuuji laughs. “Sure, man. Whatever that means.”

By the time Megumi gets home, he still cannot stop the thoughts of Yuuji from creeping in constantly. He tries to distract himself while making tea, watching the pot boil as his dad talks about something that happened at work that day. 

“Megs, do you know what the phrase ‘yeet’ means?” Toji asks, as he types something on his laptop. “The new hire to help with the younger kids at the dojo. The kid’s younger than you and he kept saying I should just ‘yeet’ the kids who weren’t listening.” 

Megumi turns, trying not to laugh. “He said to yeet the kids?”

“Yeah, the hell does that mean? Is it related to that Fortnite thing the kids keep tellin’ me about?”

Megumi just looks at his dad for a very long, drawn out moment. How does he even answer that? He turns off the kettle. “It means to, I think, throw something?”

“He told me to throw five year olds ?” Toji sounds absolutely horrified by this. “The hell is wrong with kids these days?”

As Megumi turns towards the cupboard to grab a tea cup just as the image of Yuuji’s smile flashes through his mind. Promptly, Megumi crashes into the fridge. 

Megumi stands there, not even sure what to say or do, after having just ran straight into the fridge because he was so distracted by the mental image of Yuuji’s smile. 

“What gotcha so distracted?” Toji says and he can already hear the amusement in his dad’s tone. “Ain’t like you to get so distracted.”

“Uhm, nothing?” Megumi quickly grabs a tea cup and starts filling it up, staunchly ignoring the growing warmth in his face. “Nothing.”

“Yeah, sure, kid. I don’t believe that for a second, your whole face is red.”

Megumi focuses harder on making the tea. “It is not!”

Toji laughs, good naturedly. “Sure it is, Megs.” He pulls Megumi into a side hug. “I suppose that you weren’t thinking about your streamer boy?”

“Oh my god,” Megui covers his face with his hands and wishes he could disappear. Why was he like this? He needs to stop thinking about his silly internet crush so much.

Gojo leans over to Megumi, holding out his phone. “Okay, which one screams ‘fashion icon’ more?” 

Megumi looks up from sorting through the two boxes of books Gojo brought when he picked Megumi up from class this afternoon. The two options for the suits Gojo was looking at were; a gemstone one and a hot pink one.

“Yeah, you should absolutely get the diamond encrusted one,” Megumi says, turning back to the books. There were dozens of new history books, which he had not read yet. 

“I should?” Gojo pushes up his sunglasses and squints at the screen. “Hmm, I do think it would look good with my hair, much like a model if I do say so myself.” 

“That was sarcastic,” Megumi reads through one of the books about the first veterinarian. He writes down a couple notes for a script for his next video. “Do not buy that please, for the love of god.”

“Maybe hot pink then?”

“You’ll look like Barbie.”

“Okay?” Gojo sprawls out further onto the couch. Putting one of his legs over the armrest. “Maybe that’s the look I’m going for.”

Megumi hears a loud, worn-down sigh as his dad steps into the living room and spots Gojo in their house. He tosses his bag with his stuff from working at the dojo on the couch. “I see the clown has made himself comfortable in my house. Again.”

“Of course,” Gojo says, grinning. “Someone has to make sure Megumi has a good style.”

Toji looks at him with a blank face. 

“Hey, I have a good sense of style.”

Silence fills the house. 

Gojo turns to Megumi, poking him with his foot. “Megumi, I have good style, don’t I?”

Megumi continues to read his book and take notes, not answering the question. 

Gojo sits up now, a voice turning just slightly panicked. “I have good style. It’s kind of my thing, right? I’m stylish, right? Hey, don’t look at me like that.”

Megumi raises one eyebrow while he continues to read. 

Gojo makes a wailing sound and flings himself on the couch, pretending to cry. “Betrayed! By my own godson! How could this happen? Oh, woe is me!”

Megumi exchanges looks with his dad, who seems to find this amusing. 

“You Fushiguros are teaming up on me now! I deserve respect-”

“Okay, then buy a respectable suit.” Megumi finally looks up, staring Gojo in the eyes. 

Gojo immediately falls silent. 

Megumi does not change his expression and his tone is deadpanned. “Go on. Buy the normal, boring black suit.” He points towards the very boring, basic suit on Gojo’s phone. 

“I-” Gojo sounds actually panicked now. “Megumi, I can’t do that. Who would I be if-”

“You would be respectable.”

Gojo stares at him. “You know who would never bully me this way?”

“I’m pretty sure anyone you know would bully you like this. And it’s not bullying, it’s the truth.” With that, Megumi stands up, picking up the books. “Okay, I have homework I need to do. Please don’t fight with each other while I’m working.”

With that, Megumi heads upstairs to his room. He gently sets the books down by his bookshelf, waiting to be sorted later after he finishes homework. For now, he will save it for something fun to do after homework.

He opens his laptop, aiming to open his 1800s literature homework, but instead Yuuji’s current stream plays from where he had it last open. Megumi freezes when the familiar pink hair comes into view. 

As usual, Yuuji is sitting at his desk, headphones on and talking on the stream. Though, unlike usual, Yuuji seems subdued to his usual excitable behavior. He sighs on the screen, leaning back in his chair as it squeaks with the movement. 

“Yeah, I don’t know, guys. I just kinda feel like maybe my crush isn’t like…” He pauses, clearly searching for a word or struggling to say it. When he finally does speak, it comes out as hesitant. “Healthy? Maybe?”

Yuuji sighs and shoves his hands into his pockets. “I didn’t think it was that much of an issue, but like maybe it is?” He shakes his head, clearly thinking of something. 

It feels almost wrong for Yuuji not to be in high spirits, which Megumi understands that everyone cannot be happy all the time because it is not healthy or realistic, but it seems so much more noticeable when Yuuji does not have his usual bright expressions. 

Yuuji slides down his chair a little. “My granddad certainly thinks it’s an issue. When I went to visit him today, he kept telling me to find someone real and who isn’t on a screen. Doesn’t help that Sukuna thinks I’m in some kind of parasocial relationship now.”’

Yuuji slumps over his desk. “Why does life have to be so complicated? Why can’t I just have an internet crush like everyone else. Just let me rewatch his videos over and over like everyone else on the internet.”

The stream becomes silent for a long, drawn out time. Yuuji looks past the screen with a strangely blank look on his face. Megumi frowns. 

“Anyway!” Yuuji says, as if snapping out of the sudden sadness all of the sudden. “Don’t worry internet detectives, you can still try to figure it out! The mystery crush or whatever the hashtag was that you all got trending!”

Yuuji waves at the camera. “Okay, I have to head out now, I’ll talk to you all later.”

The next few weeks were strange. Or at least, Megumi felt like they were. He was busy working on papers, homework, and trying to survive another semester. He spends time with his dad and Gojo who keeps inviting himself over to their house every night now. Megumi knows it is because Gojo feels lonely and he does not have anyone to talk to at his house now. But at least it means his dad and Gojo actually seem to be getting along better. 

But it is strange because every time Megumi watches one of the Yuuji’s streams, he seems more subdued and almost disheartened, the entire time he never mentions his mystery crush. It felt wrong. He understands that people have low moments, but it seems so at odds with Yuuji’s normal behavior. 

Part of him feels deeply tempted to try to reach out to Yuuji the same way that Nobara did, he had responded to her after all. But then again, Yuuji would likely not want to talk about his problems with someone he does not know on the internet from his Twitch stream. But he is tempted. 

Then today’s stream happened. 

Megumi is lying face down on his bed, buried in his blankets. He can feel Nobara pat his shoulder. “Uh, maybe it’s okay, you know?” She falls silent after he says nothing. “Sorry, I’m not really sure what to say.”

Megumi rolls onto his side. “It’s fine. He doesn't even know me. He’s a person on the internet.” Neither of them point out how he is definitely just trying to convince himself at this point.

Nobara winces. “I mean, I’d be kinda sad if the person I have a crush on went on a date then talked about it for like an hour online.”

Megumi shoves his face back in the blankets and screams. “Thank you for that reminder.”

“I’m just saying, Megs.”

His voice is muffled from the blankets. “I’m just going to lay here for a while and hope that he did not happen to go out with someone I know.”

Sometimes he questions whether he is really an adult. How would he even react if he found out someone he knows went out on a date with Yuuji? He knows he should be nice about it, but it just feels so wrong sounding. 

Perhaps this is a parasocial relationship. He had looked up the proper definition of the word and read some academic journals on it, so he is fairly sure this whole situation might fall under a parasocial relationship actually. 

Maybe it is time he realizes that this is unhealthy and that it is time for him to stop having such a crush on an internet figure. But why does even the thought of forgetting about Yuuji feel so upsetting?

It is not as if Megumi has ever actually met him or spoken to him. He has no reason to be upset. 

There is a knock on Megumi’s door. 

He sits up and tries to pretend like he is not upset about his internet crush talking about a date he went on. “Yeah?”

Toji pokes his head in the door and holds up his phone. “Hey, kid. Just saw on the Twitter that your streamer made some announcement about revealing a mystery crush? Is that important?”

Chapter Text

Yuuji revealed the mystery crush?

Megumi stays completely still on his bed, his dad still standing in the doorway waiting for a response. 

Yuuji revealed the mystery crush? Who was it? Does he want to know? Did someone guess it? Is that why Yuuji confirmed it? 

Did Megumi even want to know who it is?

What if it is someone he knows through Youtube and now for the rest of his life he can never watch that person’s channel again because of the knowledge that they were Yuuji’s mystery crush this whole time.

What is he even feeling right now? Does he want to know? 

Then Nobara is screeching at the top of her lungs, grabbing onto his leg and shaking his leg frantically. Megumi can barely function, so he lets her shake him like a ragdoll. “Who is it? Who is it?” Her voice increases with each word.

Nobara grabs her phone, unlocking it with an inhuman speed.

“I don’t know, I didn’t read the whole article.” Toji says, shrugging. “But is this important?”

“Yes!” Nobara says without looking up from her phone. “Oh my god, I have so much riding on this. So many theories and ideas. All rides on who the mystery crush is. You have no idea.”

“Megumi?” His dad says, seemingly ignoring Nobara. “You good, kid?”

Megumi’s heart is racing and all he can do is watching Nobara with a blank stare.

And Nobara stills, casting a cautious look towards him. Slowly, her entire face falls. “Oh my god, Megumi. I forgot. I-”

“It’s fine,” Megumi forces himself to say. Yes, everything was completely fine. He was absolutely not falling apart at the moment on the inside. “I mean, we all knew it was going to happen at some point.”

“I mean,” Nobara says cautiously, even as she is pulling up Yuuji’s most recent stream on her laptop. “My theory still stands.”

Her theory that Megumi was the mystery crush?

That was somehow even more implausible than anything else he has seen people propose. 

But it’s too late for him to stop Nobara when she clicks play on the recording of Yuuji’s stream. Then Yuuji appears on screen, still wearing the yellow hoodie that has become so ingrained in his mind as representing Yuuji. More than once has he stopped in his tracks while walking to his classes because someone was wearing the same shade of yellow, sure that he just saw Yuuji, but it never was. 

Absently, he notices his dad moves closer to watch the screen over Megumi’s shoulder. Nobara turns the volume all the way up, she can barely hold still. 

“Oh my god, oh my god, I can’t believe this is happening.” Nobara is practically shaking. “This isn’t real. I have to be dreaming right now.”

Megumi just watches Yuuji, who waves at the screen. “Hi, everyone! So I know I already streamed today, but I noticed in the chat that someone may have actually guessed the mystery crush correctly.”

Nobara screams. And Megumi is not sure what he is feeling, only that his whole stomach feels like he is falling from a skyscraper and that he might puke at any given second. 

Yuuji smiles widely, laughing. “I can’t believe someone finally guessed it, I was sure nobody would ever figure it out! But here we are! The mystery is finally over.” 

Yuuji laughs again. “I can’t believe it, I kinda don’t want it to be over. Like, now the world’s going to know the truth, but I did make a promise.”

It seems like every other stream that Yuuji has done. Yuuji sitting in front of his computer, wearing a yellow hoodie, pink hair, the dorm in the background, a soft light coming in from the single window behind Yuuji’s computer that Megumi has never seen, but knows is there. 

It feels familiar, comfortable, even though he has never been there. But for once, he does not want Yuuji to keep talking. 

“So I want to say first,” Yuuji says, holding up a finger. “You people can’t go harass him or something. Because one, he has no idea who I am and he definitely doesn’t watch video game streamers. Two, that’s an asshole move and finally, I have a crush on him.”

Yuuji smiles again and Megumi’s whole stomach flips. 

“This is kinda weird,” Yuuji says, rubbing the back of his neck, making his hair even fluffier. “I can’t believe this is actually happening. But, I guess it’s time!”

Megumi holds his breath. 

Every moment seems to slow down. Each word that Yuuji says seems to go back slower and slower and Megumi feels like he is not even in the room watching this moment. 

“So a little bit of backstory. I found this account in high school because I needed to find some references for an essay I had to write on some really random person in history and I couldn’t find anything else. And when I went to Youtube, as usual, this was the only video about the topic.”

He does not breathe, waiting for the name of the channel. 

How should he react? 

Was it healthy to be disappointed? Was he even allowed to be disappointed? 

“The account is named MegReads-”

Nothing else registers. 

But that didn’t make sense…

“Did he say…” Nobara breaks off, the first noise in the room after Yuuji had spoken. “ MegReads? ”

No. Of course Yuuji didn’t. Why would he say that? That was Megumi’s channel’s name. Why would Yuuji know his channel name?

Megumi feels his whole stomach drop, lurching with hearing the name again. It was not possible, was it? It seemed so improbable to even consider it. 

“Yeah, he most definitely did,” Toji says, his voice strangely subdued. But all of Megumi’s focus is on the laptop screen where Yuuji is still smiling and laughing. Megumi keeps staring at Yuuji’s face. 

“Oh my god,” Nobara says, both hands over her mouth. “I was right.”

Did Yuuji really say MegReads?

Megumi frantically reaches forward to rewind the video to right before Yuuji reveals the mystery crush only a few minutes ago. Megumi is silent as his hand hovers over the touchpad, waiting to rewind it again in case his hearing suddenly went bad and he misheard the whole thing. 

“The account is MegReads-”

He pauses.

It was true. Yuuji did just say MegReads.

“I was right!” Nobara jumps, spinning around and grabbing Megumi’s arm. “I was right! I was right! It’s you! You’re Yuuji’s mystery crush!”

Megumi rewinds it again, barely even breathing, his heart is racing so fast he can feel his own pulse throughout his whole body. “No, that doesn’t make sense. How is that possible?”

He rewinds it again.

Nobara is suddenly very close to him, grabbing his shoulders and shaking. “The green eyes! Tall! Likes to read! Nerdy! Smart! Photography!” Her volume increases with each word. “Pretty! Long eyelashes! Megumi, of course it’s you!”

“Oh my god,” Megumi’s voice is barely there, practically whispering the words. He looks down at his own hands, rethinking every time he watched one of Yuuji’s streams where he talked about his mystery crush. Was there anything he said that did not apply to Megumi?

Even with the many, many rants Yuuji went on, nothing was wrong. 

Megumi turns to Nobara, his voice louder now.  “Oh my god, I’m Yuuji’s mystery crush.” His voice goes up sharply with how loud he is. “ I’m the mystery crush? ”

Then Nobara screams. She jumps off his bed and is pacing while yelling something he cannot even pay attention to as he rewinds the video again. Megumi stays on his bed, eyes still fixed on the laptop, the image of Yuuji smiling back at him and subtitles saying; MegReads. 

All those times Yuuji ranted on and on about his mystery crush, he was actually describing Megumi? 

Every time Yuuji said his mystery crush was smart, he was talking about Megumi?

Every time Yuuji called his mystery crush pretty, he was referring to Megumi?

A sudden realization hits him. “Oh my god, I am such an idiot . We even live in the same city and I never put it together. I-”

The door to Megumi’s room swings open suddenly as Gojo waltzes in, looking at his phone. “So I’ve just learned something interesting. Apparently one of my students is super famous on Twitch and apparently is trending for revealing his mystery crush? Any idea what that's about?”

Megumi’s head whips to the side. “What.”

Gojo looks up from his phone. “What? Apparently one of my students is super famous on Twitch and-”

Megumi is off his bed in seconds, a sense of horror coming over him as he takes in the words fully. “Itadori Yuuji is your student?”

“Uhh, yea? He’s in my intro to physics class.”

Megumi wants to hide himself away from his own sheer stupidity but instead he half screeches in a way that is entirely unlike him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Gojo looks utterly baffled, one hand on his hip as he clicks off his phone. “Well, I did try to set you up on two separate blind dates with him. Both of which, you declined, Gumi.”

Megumi falls back against his bed, staring off as he thinks back to Gojo trying to set him up on a date. Nobara is in front of him, yelling at him for ruining it. 

This whole time they could have known each other? How close were they to actually meeting each other this whole time?

Was it that easy?

“I have to tell him,” Megumi says quietly and barely out loud. Nobara falls silent, staring at him. “We live in the same city, I-”

“Oh, so now you want my matchmaking intervention?” Gojo says, crossing his arms, eyes narrowed. “I see how it is.”

Megumi now also narrows his eyes. “Did you know this whole time?”

Gojo smiles even wider. “Did I?”

“I swear to god-”

“Fine, fine, fine,” Gojo holds up his hands in a calming gesture, “He might have mentioned which dorm he lives in at my school, perhaps. I’ll tell you if you say I’m the greatest godfather ever-”

“You’re the greatest godfather ever.” 

Megumi says it faster than he can think. He says it so fast that all the words mix together. “Which dorm?”

Half-running through an unfamiliar campus, Megumi keeps glancing at the directions Gojo gave him as he runs through the campus. He only knows the science building from the few times Gojo  brought him to his office. But instead of the academic buildings this time, Megumi heads towards student accommodation buildings. 

It is past the time when most classes are, so most students are not on campus or at least less are. So there are less people to notice him running through the winding paths towards the student dorm. Not that he would care right now. 

What was he even going to do when he got there? 

What if he has to sign in or something? It is not as if he is a student here. Would he just stand in the entrance of the dorm like a stalker until he sees Yuuji? No, that would be creepy and he was sure Yuuji would not appreciate that. 

Does he even have a plan?

Because at the moment, he has no plan. The only things he knows for sure is that he knows where Yuuji’s dorm is and that Yuuji said the name of his channel on Youtube. On the Youtube channel he made in high school because Nobara kept bothering him about it and Gojo encouraged it as well. 

How was that even possible?

Megumi did not believe in fate on principle. He did not think that an abstract concept like fate should decide what happens in his life. But he was not sure how else it was possible that he and Yuuji both lived in the same city without knowing it, almost met so many different times, and that they have known about each other for so long but thought the other did not know they existed?

Perhaps it was just a coincidence. 

But what else could it be?

Then, before he realizes, he is standing in front of the dorm that Gojo gave him directions to. He stops walking, standing by a bench and staring at the entrance of the dorm. The two glass doors closed and he stares it for a long moment. 

Slowly, Megumi sits down, still looking at the entrance. 

What should he even do? Does he try to find some way to contact Yuuji? It was not exactly as if he had Yuuji’s number or another way to contact him. 

Even then, what would he even say if he saw Yuuji? 

He was not exactly known for being sociable or charismatic when interacting with other people that he did not already know fairly well. Absently, Megumi turns his phone over in his hands, staring at the screen in thought. 

Should he even be here?

Clearly, over the past few streams, Yuuji had expressed that he was starting to think that his mystery crush was an unhealthy thing for him. And now that Megumi knew that he was the mystery crush, should he even be here? 

But the image of Yuuji during a stream where he showed someone in the chat how to cook an omelette replays in his mind. How excited Yuuji had been just to do something as simple as to help someone learn to cook.

It has been months of Megumi coming to accept the fact, embarrassingly, that he has a crush.   

He knows if he leaves now, then he will lose his nerves and will likely never come back here. 

“You have got to be shitting me.”

Megumi looks up at the strangely familiar voice. Right in front of him, in real life and not his small laptop screen filmed from Yuuji’s dorm, is Sukuna. 

Sukuna, actually in front of him and not standing awkwardly on a screen or throwing a pillow at Yuuji’s head.

Sukuna stares at him and Megumi stares back.

Sukuna is holding onto a huge looking bag of fast food take out and he is looking at Megumi as if he was in the middle of a dream and he could not wake up in confusion. 

Awkwardly, Megumi just waves. And immediately wants to smack himself for acting like an idiot.  

“What the hell?” Sukuna says, his voice entirely flat. 

Sukuna suddenly points at him, his finger shaking. “Oh my god, do you know how many hours I’ve had to listen to my stupid brother rant about you? The suffering I’ve had to go through because of you?”

Megumi cringes just slightly. “Uhm, actually, yes?”

“Do you?” Sukuna narrows his eyes. “I have had to deal with this since high school-” 

“I mean,” Megumi pauses, trying to ignore the anxious feeling. “I watch his stream.”

Sukuna freezes, his hand still stretched out. His eyes wide. “What.”

Megumi looks back at him and Sukuna looks at him, both silent for a long moment. Megumi says nothing, waiting for a reaction. 

Then Sukuna blinks rapidly and takes a deep breath. It takes him a moment longer before he says anything. “How the hell did you not realize he was talking about you?” With each word, his voice gets louder. 

“Why would I assume that? When I started watching his streams my channel only had two-hundred subscribers.”

“He was clearly describing you.” Sukuna puts a heavy emphasis on each word.

“Why would I assume someone like Yuuji would be talking about me?” Megumi says, truly confused now. 

“Oh my god,” Sukuna is shaking his head and looking utterly baffled. “I can’t believe this shit. Only Yuuji would get himself into a situation like this. How are you even here so fast?”

Megumi’s voice shrinks a little bit. “I live five minutes from here.”

Sukuna’s mouth actually falls open.

Another long moment passes.

“And my godfather is his physics professor.”

“The Gojo dude?”

Megumi nods. 

“How the hell is that possible?” Sukuna takes several deep breaths. “Okay, listen, if you break his heart-”

Then Sukuna pauses as if realizing something, narrowing his eyes. “Why are you here?”

Megumi freezes, unsure of what to even say. “I don’t know honestly, I just-”

Sukuna takes a deep breath. “Okay, shit. He’s not here right now cause he’s actually on some stupid blind date that Todo set him up on.”

Megumi can feel himself shrinking down. It was true that Yuuji’s last live stream seemed a little different than usual. Maybe he decided it was time for him to move on from his secret crush. Suddenly, it felt incredibly embarrassing to be standing here, as if he was expecting Yuuji to just be here because it was convenient for him. And for him to be standing here if Yuuji decided to move on. Like he was entitled.

Megumi suddenly wishes he had stayed at his house.  

Megumi picks at the sleeve of his shirt, his voice quiet. “Oh okay, I understand.”

This is exactly what happens when he decides to be impulsive and not think through an action before acting on it.

“Yeah and I don’t like who Todo set him up with.” Sukuna says, Megumi glancing up just in time to see him roll his eyes. “And he has the hugest, most embarrassing crush on you. And if I let him go on a date and leave you here, Yuuji would hold it against me forever. Come on.”

Megumi scrambles after Sukuna who has started walking away. “Uh, what do you mean?” Megumi glances back at the dorm. “And where are we going?”

Sukuna glances over his shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. “We’re gonna go crash that date.”

“ What ?”  

But either way, Megumi finds himself being dragged along to some restaurant on the campus. So many things race through his head as Sukuna throws open the doors to some diner. Megumi races after Sukuna, as he stomps through the restaurant. 

He should not be here. Yuuji was clearly trying to move on from his mystery crush. Megumi was not entitled to have Yuuji end a date because of his mere presence. 

He tried telling this to Sukuna, who just rolled his eyes at him and continued walking. 

Currently, they walk past several tables. And with each step, Megumi’s heart just races faster and faster. 

Megumi starts, “I really don’t think that I should-”

They turn a corner in the diner. 

And Megumi stops in his tracks, looking past all the customers who were staring at both Megumi and Sukuna. Only a few tables away, wearing a yellow hoodie, was Yuuji.

He sits at a table, his arms crossed while whoever was sitting across from him keeps talking. Megumi feels like he cannot breathe.    

“Hey!” Sukuna says, and Yuuji spins towards him. Megumi cannot move or breathe. “Date’s over!”

“Sukuna, dude, what-”

Sukuna looks at the random person sitting across from Yuuji. “I don’t like you, you aren’t good enough for him.”

Yuuji’s whole face turns toward distress. “Bro, seriously not cool dude-”

And then Sukuna spins around, grabbing Megumi’s arms and pushes him in front. Then Megumi is staring directly at Yuuji, face to face. And he pays attention to nothing else around him, except for the fact he is looking directly at Yuuji now, who can also clearly see him. 

In person, Yuuji’s hair is just as pink as he imagined. Yuuji stares back at him with huge wide eyes. He looks like he is trying to say something, but cannot. Megumi knows he should say something, anything at all. But all he can do is stare at Yuuji.       

Yuuji’s voice comes out as almost wheezing. “I-” he cuts himself off. “You’re real. Oh my god -”

“And congratulations, you were right. He does live here.” Sukuna says, shoves Megumi closer to Yuuji. “And he was outside of our dorm looking for you.” 

Megumi’s entire face turns hot. As Sukuna grabs Yuuji’s blind date and starts dragging them away. “Okay, my good deed of the week is done. You’re welcome, I expect you to make breakfast for me for the rest of our lives.”

And then Sukuna is gone. 

Should Megumi say anything? Should he just stand here? What would he even say? Where would he even start? It was not as if he had any plans when he ran out of his house. This is one of the few times he decided to be impulsive. 

Now all he could do was stand awkwardly beside Yuuji’s table. Who was staring up at him with bright wide eyes, his mouth hanging open as if he could not believe his eyes. Part of him wants to look away, the weight of Yuuji’s gaze too much, but then he continues to stare. 

“You’re real?” Yuuji starts, then his entire face turns red and slaps hands over his face. “Oh my god that sounds so stupid I’m so sorry. I just can’t believe you’re really here and standing like right here and that I’m not like making this whole thing up in my mind. Or that like you’re here and oh my god you’re actually prettier in person.”

The intense flaming warmth is back in his cheeks. Yuuji jumps up. “Oh my god, please don’t take that the wrong way. Also I’m so confused, like, what is happening? Do you even know who I am? Wait, how are you even here…”

Megumi tugs on his sleeve, glancing away from Yuuiji’s gaze. “Oh, um, well, I saw your video announcing your secret crush?”

Now Yuuji’s eyes look like they are about to burst out of his head. “What? You watch my streams? ” Yuuji sits back down heavily, a far away look in his eyes. “Oh my god, have you like actually seen all of my streams? Cause if you did…oh my god, I’m sorry about everything I said about you. If you’re here to tell me off for all that then-”

Megumi quickly speaks before Yuuji could even keep thinking that. “I didn’t know you were talking about me.”

Yuuji falls silent, mouth hanging open. “I–wait, how ?”

“Excuse me,” A waitress approaches them, an awkwardly tense smile on her face. “I’m so sorry, but would you two be able to maybe talk outside. You are causing a bit of a scene. So sorry.”

Megumi looks around the diner. Dozens of sets of eyes on him. People who were all standing witness to this incredibly awkward moment of his life. How did he forget about all of these people? 

Yuuji smiles at the waitress. “Yeah, yeah sorry.” He looks towards Megumi, “Oh uhm, do you want to keep talking…”

“Yes.” He says far too fast and wishes he could smack himself. He takes a moment to calm himself down. “Yeah.”

Yuuji’s smile grows. And Megumi just follows him out of the diner without another word, Yuuji’s warm smile repeatedly flashing through his mind. Neither of them speak as they keep walking, though Megumi can feel Yuuji glancing at him whenever Megumi looks away from glancing at him. They keep walking. 

Until Megumi sees a familiar park. The small pond surrounded by a walking trail is familiar. A park he walks to sometimes, just to read or take pictures he occasionally posts on his social media accounts.

Megumi cautiously glances at Yuuji, only to find Yuuji already looking at him. Megumi quickly glances away, the heat rising in his cheeks again. 

They keep walking until they are standing by the pond, standing on the grass. Finally, Megumi looks over to Yuuji, who is already looking at him again. 

Yuuji smiles and Megumi’s entire stomach flips over several times. How was it possible that a single smile did this to him? Yuuji keeps smiling. “I have so many questions. Like how…How do you even know me? I mean, not like I’m not excited that you do but like…”

Megumi is not sure if he should try to act normal or anything other than his usual awkward self. “My friend introduced me to your streaming channel almost seven months ago. She wanted my help to figure out who you were talking about, she’s been invested in it.”

Yuuji looks at him for a long, drawn out moment then he laughs. Then Megumi also has to laugh a little at how absolutely unreal it sounds. Nobara had him trying to solve the mystery of Yuuji’s mystery crush, who turned out to be him.

Megumi shifts his weight, looking away. “It does sound a bit silly when I say it out loud.”

Yuuji’s warm smile does not even waver. “Wow, I can’t believe this is really happening. Like that’s such a weird coincidence like-” He laughs again in total disbelief. “I figured you didn’t know who I was.”
“I thought you didn't know who I was.” Megumi’s voice is quiet. “My channel is not exactly a big one.”

Yuuji sits down on the grass and without thinking too much, Megumi follows him. He pulls his knees up to his chest, watching Yuuji. 

Yuuji runs a hand through his hair, speaking quickly. “I still can’t believe this is real. Like I’ve imagined this so many times and like, suddenly you’re here. I mean, how crazy is it that we were so close this whole time?”

Megumi quietly adds. “Well, I think we might have been even closer than that. My godfather is Gojo. He’s apparently your professor.”

It seems to take a moment for it to click in Yuuji’s mind then his eyes bulge. “Wait, wait like my physics professor?”

Megumi nods. 

“Oh my god,” Yuuji falls onto his back, “Oh my god! He tried to set me up on a date with his godson and I said no!” 

Then Yuuji looks like he is rapidly thinking something through. “Wait, do you know Professor Nanami too?”

Megumi furrows his brows. “Of course, he’s one of Gojo’s best friends.” Not that he was sure how that was relevant at the moment.

“Oh god, Nanami tried to set me up on a date with his best friend’s godson! And I turned him down!”

Megumi stares at him. When did this happen? Nanami has never mentioned it and he saw Nanami recently. How many times have they been so close to meeting, yet did not? Would all it take was one of them agreeing to one blind date? 

“I can’t believe this.” 

“You’re so cute,” Yuuji says and Megumi’s eyes snap toward him. Yuuji looks like he did not mean to say that out loud. Yuuji’s entire face is turning red and Megumi is sure his own looks similar.

He has to look away before he dies of embarrassment. Then Megumi notices Yuuji staring at him with a look that seems fond. “Oh my god, you’re so cute. How is that possible?”

And Megumi, like an idiot, proceeds to blush again. 

Yuuji suddenly leans forward. “Please go on a date with me!” Then Yuuji stops at the same time Megumi’s heart stops. He rubs the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at Megumi. “I mean, we are, kinda, sorta on a date right now aren’t we?”

Megumi glances around the park. The sun is lowering, casting everything in a golden hue, sitting by the pond while talking for the past hour. It was almost like a date. Even though neither of them explicitly agreed or said anything. They naturally drifted here from the diner, easily losing track of time while talking. 

Yuuji panicky leans forward. “I mean, only if you want it to be. But like, I want it to be—well I’m sure you already guessed that since you’ve seen my streams and everything. But like, do you want it to be?” He says everything so fast Megumi almost cannot keep up with him.

Yuuji’s eyes keep going from looking anywhere but at Megumi to looking imploringly at him like his response is the most important thing in the world to him. It is almost nerve wracking.

But then again, why would he say no?

He was the one to run across the city to Yuuji’s dorm afterall. Even if he does not know what he planned to do when he got there.

He speaks quietly. “Of course,” he tries not to sound awkward as he looks over across the water. “We are already here after all. And I did try to find you earlier so…”

There is only silence for a long moment. Slowly, Megumi glances over at Yuuji. He stares back, his mouth hanging open. 

“Yuuji?” Megumi says, furrowing his brow. 

Yuuji’s eyes get even bigger. “Is this real? Am I imagining this whole thing? Because like, what is my life?”

The warmth is back in Megumi’s face now. “Of course it’s real. How could you imagine this-”

“I’ve had some dreams like this before.” Yuuji says matter-a-factly. 

Megumi stares at him. Yuuji breaks into a huge smile, immediately making his whole stomach flip in a way he will never admit to. “So, you’ll really go on a date?”

His face gets even warmer and he cannot even look at Yuuji. “Of course I said-”

Yuuji starts laughing, not in a cruel way or not in a mocking way, like he is shocked. Yuuji falls backward onto his back, arms spread out beside him as he stares up at the sky with a dazed look. “I can’t believe this is real.” His voice is quiet, faint, but full of something akin to wonder.

The image of Yuuji’s smile is enough for a strange warm feeling to settle over him. Normally, Megumi would feel more awkward around someone he has never met, but somehow he does not feel awkward. Or as awkward as he could be. But it did not feel awkward. 

All he can feel is strangely warm. Somehow comfortable despite not having spent a lot of time around Yuuji before, he feels comfortable here sitting on the grass in the middle of a park nearing sunset.  

He turns his head to look at Megumi, his eyes practically shining. “I never thought that-” He breaks off into a small, warm smile. “I can’t believe you’re real.”

“Well,” Megumi says, unable to stop himself from matching Yuuji’s smile. “I am.”

“And we’re going on a date.” Yuuji’s smile gets even bigger. “This is the best day of my life.”

Megumi was pretty sure it was for him too.