Work Text:
“Okay, so you have the app downloaded, yeah?”
Yuuta looked up from the little progress bar on his cell phone screen, displaying the installation process. “Uh, it’s downloaded, but it’s not quite...”
“Yeah, yeah,” Nobara Kugisaki cut him off, freshly manicured fingers tapping away on her respective device, “I can brief you on the information we need while it loads.”
Momentarily distracted by the way the sunlight above the Jujutsu Tech training field caught in the fly-aways of her hair, Yuuta gawked at the first year seated on the steps next to him. The warm rays of golden hour turned the copper strands to fire, illuminating Nobara in a heavenly glow. The topaz flecks in her hazelnut irises glimmered, shadows accentuated her dramatic pout and her furrowed brow. She resembled an oil painting that could be hung in a world class gallery, a candid portrait of the beauty of mere humanity .
Because Nobara was beautiful.
Er, not in that way, Yuuta mentally corrected himself.
It was more... like... she was beautiful in her reality, in the way that she was living, breathing in the same air as Yuuta, filling her own lungs and wow , Yuuta had really missed his home.
There was something about spending the better half of a year exorcising curses with little company other than the posthumous entity of your childhood-sort-of-kind-of-fiance and, well, Miguel, that had rendered Yuuta almost embarrassingly sentimental about returning to Jujutsu Tech.
He had forgotten how such a small cast of characters could make the campus feel so alive. The spring blossoms on the trees wafted their sweet scent in his direction, carrying Yuuji’s laughter from where he sat across the field with Megumi. The rustle of pages from the latter’s book flipping in the light evening breeze harmonized with the former’s joyful shouts as they watched the sparring match between Maki and Panda. Clouds of disturbed dust exploded around Panda’s prone body as he was pinned to the ground with that damn polearm yet again, a grumbled protest that poorly veiled his admiration and amusement echoing around the field. Toge bounced on the balls of his feet, skipping around his fallen friend and waving a score card decorated with a crude illustration of Maki, marking her victory for the seventh consecutive round.
“Get up, you lazy ass,” Maki taunted, smirking as she nudged Panda’s side with her weapon.
Panda whined, “Gimme a break, you sociopath. Take on Toge for a bit?”
“Okaka!” Toge’s eyes widened dramatically. He tossed the score cards to the side and took off around the track lining the field in an exaggerated attempt to flee.
Yuuta smiled softly, a familiar tightness in his chest as he witnessed such a nostalgic event.
He was home and it was beautiful.
And if there was a tiny voice in his head that was actively trying to suppress memories of last year, of those golden sunrays glinting off platinum blonde locks and violet eyes... well, Yuuta didn’t feel like now was the time to unpack just how much he had missed his best friend while overseas.
“Oi, Okkotsu, are you even listening?” Nobara jabbed her finger into his bicep, startling him out of his thoughts.
“Uh...” Yuuta figured his guilt was on full display.
She rolled her eyes, huffing, “I told you that your app is loaded, dumbass.”
Yuuta was pretty sure he heard her mutter, “Can’t believe this is the idiot who robbed me of my trip to Kyoto,” under her breath, but he chose not to comment.
He took one last glance at the wholesome scene before him, “And everyone else is on here?”
“Duh,” Nobara seemed to be getting impatient, leaning into him to tap on the app, starting the tutorial. “We all now know to avoid Itadori if Mercury is in retrograde.”
“Why?”
She stared at him like he had just offered her a cabbage smoothie, “Because Mercury is in retrograde.”
Yuuta had no idea what she was going on about, but felt it was best to awkwardly chuckle and nod in faux comprehension.
She walked him through the setup process while Maki chased Toge around the training grounds, their playful jabs and teasing shouts making for the best possible soundtrack Yuuta could have asked for. He was especially grateful that the app prompted him every step of the way. It even suggested a username in his stead while he worried over whether he wanted to sound cool or funny.
Nobara had hit the Next button before he could come up with anything clever, but whatever.
“Let’s see...” Leaning against him, cheek rested on his shoulder in such a comforting, familiar manner (Yuuta figured that the shared trauma between sorcerers was more of a silent glue than the quantity of time spent together. It didn’t matter that they had met a few days ago. They had each other. They all did. And Yuuta was thrilled to be included), she began to read his astrological chart.
“Right, you’re a Pisces sun. I already knew that.”
Yuuta hummed in affirmation.
"Oh, cool. You're a Virgo moon. That makes sense."
"It does?"
"Yeah, it means you're a little bitch who needs therapy,” Her tone was level, matter of fact.
“Yeah...” Yuuta blinked. Wait - "Hey!"
She mumbled something about being a Libra rising or whatever, and then promptly snatched his phone out of fingers. The tip of her tongue jutted between her lips as she compared her device to his, tapping furiously.
“What are you doing?” Yuuta made to grab his cell back, but she dodged with impressive speed.
She scoffed, “Chill. I’m adding everyone to your friends so you can have a personalized experience.”
The last time Yuuta had felt this lost, he had been ushered into a candlelit room decorated in the creepiest décor possible of cursed talismans, blindfolded and chained to a chair after failing to kill himself. He had been confused and distraught and terrified.
Though, when his gaze flicked back to the group game of tag that had spontaneously broke out across the field, back to the smiling, happy faces of his peers, Yuuta decided he didn’t so much mind. He’d get lost any day if they were the ones who found him.
***
Yuuta woke to the sound of the group chat blowing up.
With an exhausted groan (because why did this always happen just as he was falling asleep?), he blinked the tiny bit of sleep out of his eyes. His phone screen was always so bright, scorching his retinas in the shadows of his dorm room. Judging by the sliver of pale pink filtering in through his curtains, it was very early in the morning.
- 6:15am – cutiesaki ♌️ in Whore-oscopes
“Don’t sweat the small stuff! If you play your cards right, you can get multiple goals completed today. Stay focused – disciplined actions will reap results today, Leo.”
Also Co-Star wants me to “complete a career-based project” with Fushiguro.
Meet me on the training field, sucker.
And I’m avoiding Earth moons, so stay the fuck away from me, Okkotsu.
- 6:17am – more like SUCKuna ♓️ in Whore-oscopes
OH, sounds like a good day for you!
Mine is:
“Today’s the day of your parade, and the forecast calls for rain. Though it may feel like one step forward, two steps back, try not to let these negative, restrictive energies hold you back. Be confident in your abilities.”
Anyone have an umbrella I can borrow? 🤪
- 6:20am – cutiesaki ♌️ in Whore-oscopes
It doesn’t mean literal rain, dumbass.
- 6:20am – more like SUCKuna ♓️ in Whore-oscopes
Ew and it says I should go for dinner with Gojo-sensei. Guess I’ll just kill myself.
Yuuta pulled himself out of bed, throwing on the closest pair of sweatpants, not bothering to change out of the t-shirt he slept in. It was a day off from missions and training. He could change on his own time.
- 6:20am – please do not feed divine dog table scraps ♑️🙄 in Whore-oscopes
It’s Saturday. I’m not sparring with you.
- 6:21am – more like SUCKuna ♓️ in Whore-oscopes
Dude, when are you gonna change your name? 🤨
- 6:21am – please do not feed divine dog table scraps ♑️🙄 in Whore-oscopes
When divine dog stops puking in my bed.
…
I'll see you on the training field, Kugisaki.
- 6:23am – cutiesaki ♌️ in Whore-oscopes
I fucking dare you to tell us yours, fushi.
- 6:24am – please do not feed divine dog table scraps ♑️🙄 in Whore-oscopes
…
“Your ego and physical vitality should experience a boost today. Is your gloomy attitude weighing heavy on the shoulders of others? Hone in on the stabilizing energies around you to come to term with your emotions.”
- 6:25am – more like SUCKuna ♓️ in Whore-oscopes
🤣🤣🤣
As Yuuta made his way through the hallway, he heard a door open behind him. Looking over his shoulder gifted him witness of a cellphone flying through the air with incredible speed. He was shocked the device didn’t shatter into a million pieces upon impact with the wall, a loud smack echoing through the dorms.
Yuuta wasn’t sure if the Toge who stood in the entrance of his room was even human. He looked more gremlin than man... and this gremlin was angry.
Silky, soft, perfect Platinum hair stook up in all directions, disheveled, his bangs defying gravity. His pretty violet eyes glared venomously, narrowed into tiny slits. Exposed lips curled over teeth clenched in a snarl, his cursed seals on full display, not unlike his toned stomach as his shirt rose, hand that hadn’t chucked the phone absently scratching just below his navel and...
The morning light from a nearby window just happened to bless Toge in a perfect beam, as if the clouds had moved in that exact moment, casting him in a spotlight.
He hissed. At the sun. Like a cat. His expression contorting to one Yuuta was sure many curses had seen before exploding in a shower of guts and viscera.
But Yuuta was too busy captivated by the planes of his abdomen, firm and slender, a dusting of blonde hair trailing down to the elastic waistband of his briefs and oh god Toge was just in his underwear and it was the morning and Yuuta was obviously very familiar with what often happened to men in the morning and...
Toge’s door slammed shut with an unnecessary amount of force.
Yuuta let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, telling himself that Toge hadn’t even noticed his presence, preoccupied with the traitorous phone and the hellish sun. Yuuta was in the clear.
Still, he did feel a little guilty. He hadn’t meant to look there.
He wondered if his daily horoscope could have predicted him accidentally ogling one of his best friends before 7am on a weekend.
“I see Inumaki is still not a morning person,” Yuuta hummed, rubbing his eyes as he stumbled into the common area. He was grateful that his words hadn’t fallen into the void, Maki and Panda already seated around the kitchen table and sipping coffee. “So, this is the norm, now?”
Maki raised an eyebrow as she looked up from her phone, “You mean the daily horoscope exchange? Yeah.”
His cell vibrated again.
- 6:32am – zenAINT shit ♑️ in Whore-oscopes
Apparently I should scrapbook, and I shouldn’t play the blame game.
Yuuta looked up in surprise, “You too, Maki?”
She shrugged.
“If Nobara’s into it, Maki wants to be into it too,” Panda snickered.
She swatted his shoulder with a scowl. Yuuta found her protest to be unnecessary. He had picked up on his friend’s crush on the fiesty first year the moment he had stepped onto campus.
Yuuta smiled, “I see, and Panda?”
Panda shook his head, “I can’t help but feel like the stars don’t have as much power over me based on my whole birth being, you know, unnatural.”
“It’s all a load of bullshit anyway. You could have just made stuff up to appease her,” Maki scoffed, prompting Yuuta to chuckle.
Wow, Maki really was head over heels.
What would he do if Toge really wanted everyone to participate in something?
The fleeting thought sent a chill down his spine, his heart skipping a beat as his skin burst into gooseflesh.
Oh no.
He was definitely only considering that because he had, um, seen a part of Toge he really shouldn’t have, right?
That stupid voice in the corner of his mind reminded him that he had thought about Toge that way before. He was a teenaged boy. It was normal.
Yeah, totally normal.
Being horny was a part of nature. That didn’t mean there were feelings involved.
Because if there were?
The memories of Rika flooded his mind. Rika in the sunlight filtering through the dusty hospital window, her smile the brightest thing in the room. Rika on the playground, the melodic sound of her giggle lifting Yuuta’s heart to the heavens like a ferris wheel. Rika presenting him with an engagement ring, a promise.
Rika with her head smashed in, bleeding out on the pavement, her soul clinging to Yuuta because he couldn’t let her go.
Oh no, and then he’d have to talk to Rika about Toge, too.
It was best if he just forgot this stupid train of thought.
...Or was it?
“And what about Inumaki?” Yuuta tried to keep his face straight, praying that his friends wouldn’t notice the awkward pause in the conversation as he had panicked internally.
Panda nodded, “He participated. Though, he typically doesn’t chime in much on weekends. The discussion is too early for him.”
“Ah, yes, that does make sense,” He grimaced, fixing himself a coffee. As he was stirring in a spoonful of sugar, his phone buzzed to life once more.
Maki gasped, “Oh, wow, holy shit. Panda, is it raining blood outside? Is there a swarm of locusts coming to kill us all?”
Beady eyes narrowed in confusion, “What?”
“I’m saying it might be the apocalypse, idiot. Toge is awake at 7am, on a weekend. He just joined our convo.”
Yuuta bit his tongue to stop himself from adding that it was Maki’s precious Nobara and the first years that had woken that terrifying gremlin he had witnessed earlier.
- 7:03am – onigiri ♏️ in Whore-oscopes
Stfu its too early
“The next four weeks are in your favor. Though you may find it difficult to get up and go, if you push the ball it’ll keep rolling towards success.”
- 7:04am – cutiesaki ♌️ in Whore-oscopes
Well that’s boring
You always find it hard to get up and go
“You going to share, Yuuta?” Maki looked pointedly to the phone in his hands.
Yuuta paled, “Um, yeah, sure...”
He opened the Co-Star app for the first time since Nobara had set it up for him. Reading the bolded print at the top of his home page, he flushed from his toes to the tips of his ears, a soft pink creeping over his too tight skin.
Absolutely not.
“Yeah, um,” He stammered, placing his phone down, “I’m not sharing that one.”
Panda went to grab his phone, but Yuuta was faster. As he trotted down the hallway back towards his room, coffee in hand, he reread his daily message, actively feigning ignorance to the shouts of disapproval from his friends.
“Are you pining after a certain someone? Current planetary energies have you itching for adventure with someone new. Tread lightly and allow your confidence to blossom with time.”
Reluctant to even consider the meaning of such blunt words, he locked his door and flopped onto his bed, scrolling down the app to see what all the hype was about.
The top half had his daily horoscope, as well as a prediction on his strengths and struggles for the day, accompanied by links to a more in-depth analysis. Two lists titled Do and Don’t listed six... questionable activities and subjects that were apparently supposed to help guide him through his day. Though, he couldn’t imagine himself ever wanting to read Greek tragedy or wear costume jewelry, as the app begged him to avoid.
Ah, so that was where Maki had come up with her scrapbooking comment.
The bottom half of the home page was based around his registered friends. There was a segment called an “Icebreaker”, which Yuuta assumed changed daily and was the same for everybody.
Today’s was topic was “how they sneak back into your life,” Yuuta‘s claiming that he does so “by asking to hang out as ‘friends’.”
Yuuta winced.
Did cursing Rika qualify as friend-zoning her corpse?
Below, listed three of his friends:
@itadoriiiii: saying “dreamt about you the other night. you were 20 years older and chasing me around my childhood home with a knife. Anyway, hope you’re doing well.”
@fushiguro: painting a public mural inspired by your relationship a year after it ended.
@callmemaki: mailing you a throwback photo they took with their grandma’s film camera, complete with eyes scratched out.
And lastly, there was a highlighted friend and a little blurb about why the two of you were compatible thanks to the position of the stars. He supposed that Nobara’s had highlighted Fushiguro.
A groan escaped his lips, so loud that he scrambled to clap a hand over his mouth. He didn’t need anyone hearing him curse his entire existence, and it was common knowledge that the dorm walls were paper thin. Actually, it was a shock that Toge’s cell phone hadn’t brought the whole building crumbling down.
Speaking of...
“Start a cover band with @inumaki: You don’t have to hold your body still. They won’t see you like a storm cloud, even if you feel overwhelmed by the rain. Let them in.”
The app was mocking him. He was sure of it.
What were the odds?
A message flashed across the top of his screen. A private text from Toge.
- 7:12am – onigiri ♏️
Mine or yours?
Yuuta wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Just reading Toge’s display name released a balloon full of helium in his chest, a tank of laughing gas into his stomach.
- 7:15am – special grade special boi ♓️
Hi Toge, what do you mean?
He regretted hitting send instantly. That was way too formal. Toge was going to catch on that something was wrong.
- 7:16am – onigiri ♏️
Room. To come up with the setlist for our cover band.
His relief vanished just as fast as it had coursed through his system, like a flash flood. There one moment and then gone the next, leaving destruction in his wake.
Yeah, he could hang out with Toge. They were best friends. They always hung out. It didn’t have to be weird. It didn’t have to mean anything.
So when Rika manifested behind him, looming overhead as he frantically searched for that one shirt that he knew Toge liked (He had complimented the design once), he ignored her playful, omniscient giggle.
- 7:23am – special grade special boi ♓️
Feel free to come by anytime 😊
Only if we can open up with A-Ha's “Take On Me”, though.
- 7:24am – onigiri ♏️
I’ll start practicing my falsetto.
Do re mi fa salmon tuna mayo.
Toge slid through the door with the entire coffee machine unplugged and cradled in his arms, a grumbled “Konbu” muffled by a fluffy white scarf that looked equal parts comfy and cute. Yuuta thought it brought out the brighter strands in his hair, the ones that hung above those deep lilac eyes, so soft and always styled perfectly, just grazing long lashes and wow, did his stomach just do a full somersault?
Ah. Yes. This was a crush.
“Takana?” Toge looked up from where he had already begun brewing coffee, blinking his tired eyes slowly.
“Oh, um, I have my own, thanks,” Yuuta gestured to his mug on his bedside table as he slid down to sit criss-cross-applesauce on the floor. He nearly knocked it over.
“Okaka,” Toge’s brow furrowed in a frown.
Yuuta sighed. Of course, Toge knew Yuuta could understand him with ease. Pretending to misunderstand his question had been a bad idea. “Sorry, Inumaki. I’m fine, I promise. Are you okay? You didn’t get as much sleep as you like.”
He tugged his fluffy scarf down, revealing a bright smile that squinted his eyes. “Tuna mayo. Shake.” Sipping from the piping hot coffee, he regarded Yuuta with a meaningful stare.
“You don’t mind because you get to see me?”
Did Yuuta’s heart just stop in his chest?
It was very possible.
Was he about to pass out?
Would Toge have to give him CPR? Would that count as making out?
“Shake,” Toge nodded, waving the hand that didn’t clutch his mug animatedly, “Tuna tuna. Mentaiko.”
“Yeah, I guess we haven’t really had a chance to catch up since I got back, eh?”
He tried to flash an easy grin, a genuine smile, to somehow emote without words just how important the man sitting on the floor across from him was to him. There was some sort of cautious affection in the depths of Toge’s violet eyes that told Yuuta he got it.
His daily horoscope nudged at his brain.
Perhaps it was all vague statements crafted to encourage a feeling of being read and understood, based on little science at best, but he was grateful the stars had decided to pair Yuuta up with Toge today.
***
“Now, now, Nobara!” Gojo lounged on the steps of the training ground, his long legs stretched out as if he needed to take up more space to fit his massive ego. His head was facing Toge and Panda as they sparred off to the side of the field, though it appeared his eyes were actually on Nobara and Maki to his left. “I know you can do better than that.”
“It’s no fair, sensei! Co-Star said that I’m experiencing pressure in self today, and that it’s okay to give myself a break. My Jupiter is in Sagittarius in my first house, so days where I'm unsuccessful in my self-image goals really hit me hard,” Nobara pouted, crossing her arms over her chest as she folded in half, dodging a swing from Maki’s polearm.
Gojo simply laughed, “Isn’t your Pluto also in Sagittarius? You should be welcoming your personal goal to transform your self and your ideals. I push you for your own benefit!”
Maki chuckled as Nobara stilled, narrowing her eyes at her teacher just in time for the polearm to slam into her side. Clutching her gut, the first year hissed, “Says the man who could just destroy the planets that fuck with him when they get in the way.”
Tilting his head to the side, Gojo pursed his lips, “Do you want me to destroy Pluto? Would that help give you a blank slate of self? You wouldn’t be able to blame poor performance on the stars then, though.”
She gave him the finger. “Go bother someone else.”
“He has a point,” Yuuta leaned into Megumi’s space, muttering quietly. The sat on the steps above Gojo, having been granted a fifteen minute break before they were to get back to sparring. “It’s all how you interpret it.”
Megumi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “Your Mars is in Leo, isn’t it?”
Yuuta wasn’t sure he had ever felt more betrayed in his life.
It had been a week. Thus, a week and three days since Yuuta had returned to Jujutsu Tech, and everyone was still obsessed with this astrology app.
If Yuuta was being honest, he just didn’t get the appeal or entertainment of it like everyone else. It seemed so silly to base your day around the stars, to justify your actions on the position of the planets and not, well, you .
It was starting to irritate him.
Though, he wasn’t about to tell his friends that. Not when he just got them back.
Not when Co-Star seemed desperate to pair up him and Toge at every possible opportunity.
In the time he had installed the app, it had recommended the following:
- “Make an emo playlist with @inumaki.”
- “Paint a landscape with @nonokugisaki.”
- “Sneak out with @itadoriii.”
- “Get the band back together with @inumaki.”
- “Have a heart to heart with @inumaki.”
- “Challenge @inumaki to a thumb war. Whoever wins buys pizza.”
- “Are you hiding something from @inumaki? Now is the time to talk it out.”
The last one really took the cake.
See, Yuuta had begun to get so paranoid about Co-Star shipping him and Toge, that he had...
He was embarrassed to even think it.
He had checked their compatibility. Yikes.
The results had been fascinating.
The internet claimed that Pisces and Scorpio were highly compatible lovers, ranking a 9/10. Apparently, both signs communicate with their heart, and with high emotional intellect, communication comes easy. Scorpio is said to be passionate about everything – which Yuuta could see in Toge’s competitiveness, in the way he tended to the gardens of the school, his language he crafted to avoid accidentally harming anyone – and Scorpio loves to involve Pisces in their plans. The article stated that Pisces is fascinated by Scorpio’s drive and intensity, and if that wasn’t exactly how Yuuta had felt after their first mission together in their first year.
Yuuta had stared at Toge in awe as the other boy had tried to take care of the curse on his own, twisted finger and bloody mouth and all.
He was so kind.
There was a small part of Yuuta that knew he was a goner from that point on.
Interestingly enough, it was mentioned that the only problem to surface with a match of Scorpio and Pisces was Scorpio’s temperament, which could intimidate gentle Pisces. Yuuta had scoffed at that. Maybe it was simply his unique circumstance, but he knew he could take down Toge at the end of the day – not that he would ever want to.
Well...
The article had spoken excessively of Scorpio’s sensual nature and excellence in bed.
It’s just, why wouldn’t he fall for someone like Toge Inumaki? The man was...
There were no words.
There was no one Yuuta would rather trust with his life, no one Yuuta would rather see at the end of long day. He could do anything with Toge and it would be the best time of his life – whether that was cooking together (or Toge cooking while Yuuta tried not to set the kitchen on fire), or listening to music, or watching funny YouTube videos or reading obscure manga. He had thought of holding his friend’s hand far more frequently as of late, trying to shrug away the anxiety that his feelings weren’t reciprocated.
Yuuta wondered how soft Toge’s fingers were, how they would feel cupping his face.
He wondered what his lips tasted like.
It didn't matter if their astrological signs were compatible or not. He was still going to love Toge, whether the stars liked it or not.
They literally didn't have lawyers to sue him, so...
“Konbu.”
Yuuta nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Megumi?!” He yelped, whipping his head to the right to find his sparring partner absent.
“Mentaiko,” Toge jabbed a thumb over to where Megumi had replaced Toge, now stuck to Panda’s frame in a vicious headlock.
“Oh,” Yuuta’s breath was shaky, his stomach ready to toss his breakfast all over the steps on which he sat. “Gojo-sensei sent you for a break?”
“Shake,” He took a long sip from his water bottle, high collar of his shirt unzipped, pointed chin lifted. Yuuta tried not to stare as a drop of liquid spilled from his lips, trailing down his throat, hugging his Adam’s apple as it bobbed.
He failed.
“Takana?”
“I’M FINE,” He answered far too quickly. And loudly.
Why was he just... the worst?
With a heavy sigh, he accepted the water bottle offered to him. He lamented his sanity as he unscrewed the lid, momentarily stunned by how pretty Toge looked – hair a little ruffled, skin a little sweat-slicked. A soft rosy hue clouded the apples of his cheeks and... Were those freckles? How had Yuuta never noticed them before?! Cute little freckles all over the bridge of his nose!
Toge tugged his phone out of his pants pocket, opening up his Co-Star app.
He scrolled to the bottom of the home page.
“Are you hiding something from @y.okkotsu? Now is the time to talk it out.”
Yuuta glared at the screen.
Was it the right time, Co-Star? Did the stars really say that? Or were you stripping him of his free will by putting him in an awkward position?!
Toge was watching him, forearms on his knees, leaning forward on the steps.
Yuuta couldn’t help but think that it was almost the exact same hour as when Kugisaki had set up the app on his phone. Golden hour. Warm light washed over the training field, casting soft shadows over Toge’s immaculate features, his hair glinting more blonde than Yuuta had ever seen it before. Toge smiled patiently, a dimple creasing the dark seal on either side of his full, perfectly shaped lips.
Yuuta bit the bullet.
“Uh, so, why do you think Co-Star wants us to hang out so much.”
Toge pointed to the rest of the group.
He plowed forward, “Well, yeah, I get prompts for them too, but it’s almost always you. I looked it up, and um, Pisces and Scorpio are very compatible...”
Toge blinked.
“What’s your, er, moon or whatever?” Yuuta’s hands were shaking. They were probably clammy to the touch. Wait, what was he even supposed to do with them? Shoving them under his thighs, he decided that was dumb, choosing to fold them in his lap instead.
Toge shrugged. He was playing it cool, Yuuta could tell. There was a glint in his eyes though, a searching hesitation, like he was waiting for something.
“Wait,” Yuuta frowned, “You don’t know?”
You’re an Aries moon, he wanted to add, I can see your chart on my friends list.
But he didn’t, far more interested in what Toge had to say next.
“Shake.”
Yuuta gawked, “You...don’t care?”
Toge snorted this time, “Shake.”
“Then why,” Yuuta’s brain felt like it was buffering a video at 1080p when he was really only compatible with 240p at best, “Why have you been hanging out with me?”
“Tuna mayo,” He raised an eyebrow, his tone stating the obvious.
Yuuta could have sworn the earth stopped spinning on its axis, entirely still. He considered holding his index finger to his wrist to check his pulse, then decided that was unnecessary because his heart was pounding a mile a minute .
“You were only checking it to see if we had an excuse to hang out?” He managed to choke out after a pause.
“Shake. Takana?” There was a flash of concern across Toge’s face.
“No, of course I don’t care. Inumaki, I – ” He cut himself off as a searing heat rushed to his face.
“Toge,” Toge nodded in gentle encouragement.
SO KIND.
Yuuta’s heart had freed itself from it’s confines, like a bird from a cage, flying up, up, up towards the stratosphere and beyond, because Yuuta felt like he could take on so much more than the world if Toge even so much as looked at him with such care each day.
He had to say it.
“Toge, you could have just knocked on my door. At like, literally anytime. In the middle of the night, during a thunderstorm, doesn’t matter. I always want to hang out with you.”
There was a pause.
Yuuta’s breakfast had been loaded into the catapult that was his stomach.
But then, it was Toge’s turn to blush.
“Yuuta. Tuna mayo,” Toge rocked to the side, tugging down his scarf to place a chaste kiss against Yuuta’s cheek. It happened so fast that Yuuta could hardly process the soft press of his full lips on his skin, on Yuuta himself and oh god, what did he have to do to get Toge to do that again?
Briefly, Yuuta cursed himself for thinking that was in the nature of an Aries moon – spontaneous and reveling in victory. Not that it mattered, at all.
Toge flicked Yuuta’s forehead, his eyes crinkling in a bright smile as he chided, “Mentaiko.”
And then, Yuuta felt grounded in reality once more.
The scent of the budding trees wafter over to the steps, carrying the melody of Yuuji’s laughter and Megumi’s grumble in response to one of Panda’s terrible jokes. The swish of Maki’s polearm accompanied the sharp screech of Nobara’s hammer on steel. Gojo chirped a completely unnecessary or entirely inappropriate comment here and there.
His home bloomed to life around him, framing the amusement of Toge’s eyes, glittering lavender in the warmth of the golden sun, and Yuuta had that same sensation of experiencing humanity, of returning home.
It was beautiful.
And Toge was beautiful.
Yes, in that way.