Work Text:
Yuuta had always wanted a pet of his own, but dealing with cursing his childhood fiancé and getting thrown into the jujutsu world, he never really had the time.
That didn’t stop him from ogling at all the animals in pet shops, though.
All his classmates, including the first years, decided to take their shared day off to the shopping center. Nobara refused to go to the local one, saying it was “too small, it reminds me of home”, so they asked Ichiji to take them to a much larger one an hour away.
When they arrived they split off into four groups, Nobara convinced Maki to let her buy her a few outfits, Itadori immediately dragged Megumi away to the indoor arcade and Panda said he could make a few extra bucks if he pretended to be a mascot for children.
That left Inumaki and Yuuta at a loss standing in front of the giant directory map.
“So…anything you had in mind?” Yuuta asked after a few minutes of staring.
Inumaki hummed, glanced at Yuuta then pointed to a shop, “Shake.”
Yuuta followed his finger, “Oh! The pet shop?”
Inumaki nodded and pointed at Yuuta, “Takana.”
“I mean…yeah I’d like to go, but I asked you!” Yuuta laughed.
“Ikura.” Inumaki said pointedly, he didn’t give Yuuta a chance to respond and started in the direction of the store.
Yuuta should know by now that whatever he likes to do, Inumaki likes to do. And it wasn't because Inumaki thought it was absolutely adorable to see Yuuta light up like he does in front of small creatures.
It was one quick escalator trip to the second level to arrive at the shop. Yuuta kept telling the cursed speech user he didn't have to if he wanted to go somewhere else, but Inumaki ignored him.
When they walked through the double doors, Inumaki immediately realized the jump in energy from Yuuta, he chuckled at him.
“Oh my god, Inumaki,” Yuuta said urgently, grabbing onto his shoulder for dear life, “they have hamsters!”
Inumaki laughed and grabbed Yuuta by the hand to drag him over to the hamster cages.
Yuuta immediately glued himself to the glass of the enclosure with shining eyes, “They’re so…small.”
It was always so funny (and endearing) to watch his now burly classmate fawn over small creatures, so while Yuuta stared at the hamsters, Inumaki stared elsewhere. Sue him.
They spent around thirty minutes walking around the store, stopping at every enclosure there was and having Yuuta coo at them.
Inumaki felt his phone insistently buzz from his hoodie pocket and took it out irately while Yuuta crouched next to the chinchilla enclosure.
It was the group chat he was in with all his classmates and Gojo, minus Yuuta. The day they had off today actually had a plan, to get a gift for the newly returned second year.
It was all Gojo’s idea really, the teacher enjoys spoiling his students too much. His phone kept buzzing as he unlocked and tapped on the group chat, it was mostly Maki asking if Inumaki had bought his gift already.
He mentioned before that Yuuta had always wanted a pet, complaining late into the night how he could have a cat to snuggle up with as he went to bed (Inumaki didn’t get jealous over that at all). So, what’s a better gift than that?
And no, he’s not one of those irresponsible parents who buy their kid an Easter bunny and release it in a week because it was “too much work” even though it was a living being. He asked everyone beforehand if they would like to pitch in, kind of like a class pet, everyone agreed to taking care of it to some degree. Itadori even offered to make a schedule for who should feed it and play with it, so even if it was going to be under Yuuta’s name, they would all care for it some way or another.
Inumaki sent a quick “working on it now” and a thumbs up emoji, he pocketed his phone and tapped on Yuuta’s shoulder to get his attention, “Tuna tuna,”
Yuuta looked up at him with the most blissful face and Inumaki smiled, “Shake,” he pointed back to the hamster cages.
“You want to look at the hamsters again? They were really cute weren’t they?” Yuuta grinned and stood up from his crouched position.
They made their way over and, again, Yuuta was immediately glued to the glass, “Sujiko.”
“They’re just so tiny…I watched this video on a day in the life of a hamster and even though they’re so small, they have a lot of fight in them! Not that they’re aggressive, just very…spunky creatures.” Yuuta rambled.
Inumaki outwardly laughed so hard he had to clutch his stomach, “Hey!“ Yuuta blurted.
Inumaki wiped his tears and took a moment to breathe again, Yuuta grumbled about being made fun of and all Inumaki did was pat his back.
“Well, I think we spent a lot of time here, we should see where the others are.” Yuuta unstuck himself from the cage and turned towards Inumaki.
He shook his head and held up a hand to have Yuuta pause, he pulled out his phone and typed something, “Actually, this was all planned. I’m not very good at surprises, so now is better than ever.”
Yuuta tilted his head after reading the message.
“We all pitched in, even Gojo, and agreed to help out, so there’s no need to worry about taking care of it alone even with missions.”
“Wait…you mean..?”
Inumaki nodded and gestured to the whole store, “Your pick, Yuuta.” Inumaki smiled wide enough to make his eyes crinkle.
He surely wasn’t expecting to have something slam into him and envelope him in warmth, “Thank you!” Yuuta blubbered into his shoulder.
Inumaki huffed lightheartedly and returned the hug just as hard, “Shake!”
After they broke apart (reluctantly), Yuuta returned to the hamsters, “Y’know…I have been eyeing this one,”
Inumaki stood next to him and peered into the enclosure, “It kinda reminds me of you,” Yuuta smiled softly, “Small and cute.”
Inumaki was too caught up on how he turned a violent shade of red from the comment to actually be offended from behind compared to “hamster size”.
Inumaki lightly kicked him in the ankle, “Okaka.”
Yuuta giggled and waved down a store attendant. Luckily, Inumaki did a ton of research on owning small animals before today, and Yuuta had some knowledge from all the videos he watched too, so they bought everything they needed right then and there.
They asked for the hamster last, so they could leave quicker with it, and sure enough, Yuuta asked for the one he had compared the cursed speech user to. Inumaki definitely did not pout all the way back to the dorms.
When they had everything set up for the hamster, Yuuta letchered everyone on some basics and told them they shouldn’t handle him for a few days, just so he could get used to the new environment.
It had been a week since they gained the new pet, and everyone was infatuated with him (oddly enough, even Panda). They all cooed at the small hamster when he would show himself to run in his wheel or stuff his face with his food, but they all waited until Yuuta handled him first before they even dared touch him.
It was a night where both Inumaki and Yuuta had returned early from their solo missions. Yuuta ushered him into his room right when he got home, he tilted his head curiously when he shut the door behind him.
“I wanted us to both handle him first,” he gestured over to his floor where he made a makeshift area to let the hamster roam free.
Inumaki smiled and grabbed his hand to pull him to the ground with him, “W-wait! He’s still in his travel carrier on my bed,” Yuuta laughed.
Inumaki got himself situated in the corner of a blanket and propped himself up on a pillow. Yuuta slowly and carefully grabbed the carrier and stepped onto the blanket, he set it down and flipped the lid open to let him come out on his own.
“Now, they say you need to let him come to you first, act like how’d you normally do so he gets used to you.”
Inumaki nodded in understanding, “…Takana?”
Yuuta paused, “Oh my god…I haven’t given him a name…”
Inumaki bursted into laughter at Yuuta’s tone, the air buzzing slightly making Yuuta feel giddy from Inumaki’s leaking cursed energy, “I-It’s hard giving pets names!” He tried to defend himself with a smile.
“S-sujiko!” Inumaki continued to giggle.
Yuuta rolled his eyes playfully, “You’re insufferable!”
They both devolved into laughter, making both of themselves giddy.
“Fine then, what about…Rice? He’s pure white like a rice ball anyway!” Yuuta offered.
The other had to hold himself back from teasing, like the person in front of him didn’t optimize rice ball ingredients, and instead nodded, it was a cute name.
“Then, Rice it is.” Yuuta determined, placing a hand down for the hamster to sniff as it approached him, “Hi, little guy,” Yuuta went to rub down its back with his pointer finger, but the hamster was quicker and nipped the tip on his finger.
Yuuta forced himself not to yell (it didn’t hurt, just startled him), and Inumaki loudly snorted. Rice quickly scurried over to Inumaki’s end of the blanket and placed his small paws on his knee. Inumaki reached down just as Yuuta did and Rice sniffed his finger before placing a paw on it.
He had to hold back a coo and gently rubbed his head with his other finger, “This is…no fair..” Yuuta wailed.
Inumaki looked up from the adorable animal and saw Yuuta cradling his finger to his chest (like the big baby he is) and held his phone in the other, “Okaka!”
“No, I won’t delete them! You both look too cute!” Yuuta said with no restraint, which made him instantly flush.
“Rice, ikura.” The hamster looked into the cursed speech user's eyes, he almost seemed to nod and immediately ran back over to Yuuta to nip at his knee, “Hey! You’re supposed to be my pet! There was no agreement to you being an attack animal!” He whined.
Inumaki snorted again and crawled over to scoop up the hamster. He sat back down right in front of Yuuta to where their knees were touching from sitting crossed legged. He cupped the hamster in both hands and brought him closer to Yuuta’s face, Rice seemed to have calmed down and softly booped his nose with Yuuta’s.
Inumaki saw how his eyes welled up with tears as he stroked down his back gently, “Thank you, Inumaki, truly.”
Pink lightly dusted his cheeks again, “S-Shake..”
Yuuta grabbed his hands and guided them down to let Rice back onto the floor where he hopped off to explored more. He didn’t let go of them once the hamster was on the floor and pulled them closer.
Inumaki stared at him with wide eyes as he got closer to his face, he shut his eyes quickly, nerves catching up to him, but he only felt something bump into his nose. He opened one eye cautiously and saw Yuuta smirking at him, “Just a thank you.”
For the ninth time that night, Inumaki fell into a laughing fit along with Yuuta, the air buzzing.
He bumped him back, “Shake, Yuuta.”