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Through the window, Megumi peeks inside the cafè as spare raindrops hit his face.
Inside, the cafè is clinically cosy, with cream-coloured walls and tables geometrically distanced. One almost disappears under a pile of papers while two guys seem engaged in a last-minute review; another hosts a girl who writes intently on her computer. At the last table in the corner, a boy closes the book he is reading, takes a sip from a mug and looks around. He nods at Megumi when he notices him.
Megumi squints, it takes him a moment to recognize Noritoshi. He has to resist the temptation to turn on his heels and go home, where a pile of books he still has to consult for his thesis is waiting for him. He cannot believe the stunt his grandfather put on him: he came out to be freed from the blind dates bullshit, not for him to keep going as if nothing changed.
But that’s not Noritoshi’s fault, and no one deserves to be stood up like that. Megumi gathers his courage and enters. He orders a coffee and sits in front of Noritoshi, who smiles at him.
“Sorry I’m late,” he says.
“It’s fine.”
Noritoshi hasn’t changed much since the last time they met, the same small eyes and stiff posture, but the short hair suits him better than the stupid braid he wore in their teens.
Megumi wants to make things clear, but it is much harder doing his “It’s not you, it’s me” speech with someone he used to fool around with than it is with nearly strangers – nice girls from good families he had seen in passing growing up in his grandfather’s house. Although, to be perfectly clear, so far, he had managed to give his speech only once.
It’s Noritoshi who pulls him out of the jam. “What are you doing now?”
“Interning while I work on my thesis.” The waiter arrives with Megumi’s coffee. It’s delicious, but it’s not a surprise knowing Noritoshi’s obsession with coffee.
“Vet school?”
Megumi smiles, “Vet school.”
Noritoshi smiles too, open and honest. “You did it.”
“I found a way,” Megumi admits. “You? English literature?”
Noritoshi nods, “I just got back from England. PhD.”
Megumi is happy for him. Despite their family, they both managed to find a way to do what they wanted. “Are you planning to stay?”
“Oh God, no.”
Megumi laughs, and the tension in his shoulders eases. Knowing Noritoshi, he’s probably here for the same reason as Megumi – a sop for his family, so he doesn’t have to hear from them.
It’s never been romantic between them. They were just convenient and it had always been clear. But they got along well, had many things in common and their conversations often dwelled on what they wanted for thier future while their families were against it.
“Tell me about England,” Megumi says, but he doesn’t get to hear the answer.
“Megumi!”
Megumi turns just in time to see the door closing behind Sukuna’s shoulders. His hair is damp from the rain and the golden hoop earring makes him look like a pirate. He didn’t expect him, but he can’t say he’s surprised to see him.
Sukuna orders something at the counter, takes a vacant chair from a nearby table without asking permission and sits down with them.
“You look like shit,” he tells Megumi without dignifying Noritoshi with a glance.
Megumi takes a sip from his mug. “Thank you.”
“How much coffee did you have, today? Do you even try to sleep at night?”
“I sleep better than you.”
Sukuna smiles, cocky, “Wanna sleep with me and find out?”
The tips of Megumi’s ears flare.
Noritoshi clears his throat. “Itadori,” he greets.
Sukuna, annoyed, turns in his direction, “Kamo.”
Noritoshi runs his eyes from Megumi to Sukuna and back. “I see,” he says with an amused light in his eyes. He gets up and retrieves his coat from the back of the chair, “He’s not wrong, Megumi. Let’s reschedule.”
“Megumi, huh? Already on a first-name basis, uh?” Sukuna says.
Megumi ignores him. “Yes. Are you staying until Mai’s wedding?”
“I leave soon after. See you there?”
Megumi nods – as if he has any choice. At least, he’ll have one friendly face there.
Noritoshi is not even out of the door when Sukuna takes his seat. Megumi looks at him and sighs. “OK. How did you know this time?”
“Know what?”
Megumi just stares. The waiter brings Sukuna’s drink, hot cocoa by the smell. “Oh, was that one of your grandfather's dates? I had no idea.” The way he smiles tells a different story. Sukuna swaps the hot cocoa with Megumi’s now cold coffee and takes a sip. “I was just going to the cinema down the street.”
“To see what?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Alone?”
“You want to come?”
Megumi has a lot of work waiting for him at home, but the thought of spending the evening out with Sukuna is tempting – they haven’t seen each other a lot since the trip in Spain.
“Great,” Sukuna says as if he read his mind. “Dinner’s on me.”
Megumi keeps his fists clenched on his knees. The seam of his trousers itches: western clothes don’t agree with kneeling. His grandfather sits in front of him, motionless like the statue of an ancient warrior.
“This is the fourth time,” he begins, barely holding in his fury. “It is the fourth time the elder Itadori interferes.” The contempt is clear in the way he pronounces his name. “We had an agreement. I indulge your… thing with animals, you get married.”
When he proposed the deal, graduation seemed so far away, he would have years to think of a way out. But now graduation was just over two months away and he was no closer to a solution than he was back then.
“He is destroying all of our chances to get you a decent wedding. What is he going to do then, marry you himself?” Naobito Zenin laughs at his own joke, but something clicks in Megumi’s head.
“I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it yet.”
The laughter freezes on his grandfather’s face, but he quickly composes himself. “You’re dating Itadori.”
“It’s still recent, but yes.”
Interest lights Naobito’s face now. He’s always despised the new class of entrepreneurs that made their way into business and politics, and for some reason, he’s had a feud with Itadori since Megumi was thirteen. But he can’t deny that Itadori’s rich, while Zenins are not so much anymore.
“Itadori will attend Mai’s wedding as your companion, I’ll be the judge of this relationship.”
“Mai’s wedding is three months away.”
“And if your relationship can’t last long enough, there’s no reason for you to stop meeting my candidates.”
The brief relief Megumi felt suddenly vanishes.
The movie goes on, but Megumi is not following it. Next to him on his green, broken-down sofa, Yuuji comments on the scene and Megumi hums in agreement.
“...and that’s why I support whaling.”
Megumi jerks up, and Yuuji bursts out laughing. “Nice to have your attention back.”
“Idiot,” Megumi turns back to the TV, the two main characters are running from he doesn’t know who.
“It’ll be fine!” Yuuji said, slightly exasperated. Megumi has lost count of how many times he’s said it, but it’s not that simple.
“Sukuna was never supposed to know.”
“But now he has to. And when you make up your mind and tell him, he’ll back you up.” Yuuji pops a handful of popcorn into his mouth, the sugary smell makes Megumi’s nose twitch.
“You don’t know that.”
With a dramatic sigh, Yuuji pauses the movie and turns in his direction. “He took you to Spain because you wanted to know what paella tasted like.”
“He happened to have a convention in Spain!”
“And he offered you to go with him!”
“You were there too.”
“Yes. But if I told him I wanted paella he’d tell me to buy it at the frozen food shop at the corner and he’d fuck up to Spain alone. Now, can we go back to the movie?”
It’s been three days since Megumi’s conversation with his grandfather, and for three days he has been rehearsing speeches in a corner of his mind. How do you ask a person you’ve known for the biggest part of your life to pretend to be your boyfriend in front of your family who hates him?
Yuuji pauses the movie again, picks up his phone from the armrest and starts a call.
“’Kuna,” he says after a few seconds. Megumi launches himself at him, but Yuuji presses a hand on his face to keep him at distance – damn him and his personal trainer's strength.
“Megumi’s having a bit of a crisis, nothing serious, but can you stop by?” A moment of silence. “Yes, his flat— See you later.” Yuuji looks at Megumi with a cunning smile that makes him actually look like Sukuna’s brother. “You have ten minutes. I’ll get back to the movie.” And he sinks comfortably into the sofa.
Megumi desperately tries to recall one of his half-speeches – why didn’t he write them down? He doesn’t even know if Sukuna is already dating someone. And if he were, Megumi would need an excuse for breaking up the shortest fake relationship in history. Not to mention, the dates would resume.
The doorbell rings, and Megumi hates the sound with every fibre of his being. How can it be ten minutes already? He’s had three days to come up with something, but now he’s out of time. His heartbeat skyrockets as he gets up. It’s only Sukuna, there’s no reason to be this nervous. Still, he smooths his shirt before opening the door.
Sukuna is wearing a dark suit, with a dark shirt and Megumi’s mouth dries – he looks almost a different person in his work attire, with his piercings and tattoos covered, and he makes Megumi feel like a child in front of an adult.
Sukuna scans him head to toe. “This is not a medical emergency, I take.”
“Why would it be?”
“Last time Yuuji called you had ended up in a fight,” Sukuna enters the flat and closes the door.
“I won that one”
Sukuna’s smile is sly, “You did.”
“Get a room!” Yuuji yells from the couch.
Megumi flushes. It’s better to go talk in another room. There are not many options in Megumi’s two-room apartment and they end up in Megumi’s bedroom. Through the closed door, the movie’s sound comes muffled.
Sukuna looks around, and Megumi tries to hide his embarrassment. Between his thesis and the job at the clinic, he didn’t have much time to do chores: there’s a pile of half-dirty clothes on the chair in the corner, and a stack of precariously balanced books threatens to knock over the three used mugs on his nightstand.
“There was no need to call you at work,” Megumi starts.
“It was just dinner, and I needed an out.”
Megumi looks Sukuna straight in the eyes, and he can’t remember why he was so nervous before. It’s just Sukuna.
“I told my grandfather we’re dating.”
Megumi hasn’t often had the chance to see Sukuna caught off guard, and he takes a moment to admire the slightly wide eyes and the frown of his mouth.
“Are we?”
“I needed an out from the dating thing, but it backfired and now my grandfather wants to see us together at Mai’s wedding.”
Sukuna’s eyes glint mischievously now, “So, some kind of fake boyfriend?”
Megumi rolls his eyes, “A real fake boyfriend.”
“When’s the wedding?”
“April.”
Sukuna takes a moment. “I can do that,” he says then.
Megumi eyes him suspiciously, “And what do you want in return?”
“Nothing,” Sukuna’s smile gets wicked. “I like pushing the old Zenin’s buttons.”
Megumi never knew what started the hostility between Sukuna and his grandfather, Sukuna always avoids the question and the one time he tried to ask his grandfather Megumi was told that since he had decided to stay out of the family business he didn’t need to know. But if Megumi can use this feud to his own advantage, all the better.
Megumi extends his hand, “We have a deal.”
Sukuna grabs it, firm, the handshake of someone you would do business with, “Deal.”
They return to the living room, and Sukuna plops down on the couch next to Yuuji. “Can we watch a decent movie?”
Yuuji doesn’t tear his eyes from the screen. “When I’m done with this.”
Sukuna pats the vacant seat next to him and, when Megumi sits, he passes an arm around his shoulders. “You better get used to it, boyfriend,” he whispers in his ear.
Megumi is starting to think he got himself out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Megumi walks out of the clinic, and the frigid February wind makes his eyes water. In front of the clinic, a black sports car he’s never seen before catches his eye. It takes him a moment to recognize the men leaning on it. Sukuna is wearing a long dark coat and is scrolling on the screen of his phone.
It has barely been a couple of days since they saw each other. Did something happen? Has he changed his mind?
But as Megumi approaches, Sukuna raises his head and smiles at him. “Do you need a ride?”
“Why are you here?”
“Can’t I see my boyfriend?”
“Fake boyfriend,” Megumi reminds him, but his face gets hot.
“Fake boyfriend,” Sukuna agrees. “Let’s go get dinner.”
“Where?” Megumi asks in a whine. He knows better than to contradict Sukuna when he gets like that, but he is exhausted – he’s running on four hours of sleep and he spent his day combing a long-haired rabbit who growled at the sight of the brush and waited for the smallest distraction to run hiding behind the vaccines fridge. All he wants is to go to his now clean-and-shiny apartment to get some well-deserved rest.
“Your place,” Sukuna points at the bags on the backseat.
And honestly, having dinner with Sukuna now that he knows he can catch a quick shower sounds pretty good.
They don’t talk much during the car ride, but the silence is comfortable and the radio is set to a rock station that plays ’80 hits. When they reach Megumi’s building, Sukuna retrieves the bags and they climb the three flights of stairs.
Sukuna throws his coat on the couch and enters the kitchen, then starts fishing out ingredients from the bag. “Go take a shower,” he rolls up his sleeves. “It won’t take long.”
Megumi stares. He expected takeaway boxes, not for Sukuna to actually make him dinner.
Sukuna looks up from what he’s doing. “What?”
“Nothing,” Megumi rushes into the bathroom.
When he comes out, the mouth-watering smell of fried tofu is waiting for him. Megumi takes a seat at the counter and watches Sukuna. He moves easily, while humming a song that was on the radio before.
Megumi can’t remember the last time he saw Sukuna cook. When he was in high school, he would often seek refuge in Yuuji’s house, even when Yuuji wasn’t home. On days where Sukuna was there, he would prepare lunch, but he grumbled all the time — it had stated out of necessity, when his granfather had been ospitalized, but Megumi had seen him go from terrible to decent. And After lunch, if Sukuna wasn’t busy, they would watch movies, or play video games. Sukuna was infuriatingly good, and when Megumi protested he said that he needed to be good if he wanted to take back their father’s videogame company one day.
Sukuna puts a plate in front of Megumi and opens a bottle of white wine. “Here,” he says.
Megumi takes a roll and brings it to his mouth. The frying is crispy and light, and the tofu melts in his mouth. It’s delicious, and Megumi has no intention of saying it out loud and inflating Sukuna’s ego more than it already is. But Sukuna must sense it anyways because he smiles before taking a sip of wine and a tasting a roll.
“How did we get together?”
Megumi chokes on a fried carrot. He steals a sip of wine from Sukuna’s glass.
Sukuna’s expression is serious, like when Megumi and Yuuji spent the night watching movies and Sukuna would sit at the kitchen table to study the company’s documents late at night, after a long day of studying for university just so he would be ready to take it back as soon as Yuuji turned eighteen.
Megumi is pretty sure that this situation doesn’t require the same dedication.
“Is it really important?”
“A good story needs good foundations, you should know better than me with all the books you read.”
“I read non-fiction.”
“You read novels on holidays.”
Megumi holds back a cry of exasperation. Sukuna can be exhausting and always want to have the last word. And how did he even know he reads novels on vacation? But he doesn't want this to spiral into another bickering session. And maybe Sukuna has a point, here.
“You got jealous with the dates and confessed?”
Sukuna hides his face behind the wine, “Ah, I confessed first? Romantic dinner and string quartet?”
Megumi scrunches his nose, “Who really does that?” Not to mention that would be tremendously unbelievable for both of them.
Sukuna gets serious. “If you decided to tell your family, this must have been going on for a while. At least since before the dates, if that’s the reason they failed.”
“You are the reason they failed.”
Sukuna smiles, deviously. “And that’s the selling point of our story.”
Megumi pauses for a moment. Sukuna does have a point: if he told his family, the relationship can’t be too fresh, but not even serious enough he would have said something sooner. But still, even before his life went chaotic with the thesis and interning at the same time, he and Sukuna haven't been spending too much time together these last few years. After Yuuji moved out, after his grandfather died, Megumi usually met Sukuna together with Yuuji, they didn’t spend time alone together. Except—
“Spain,” Megumi says, voice closer to a whisper than he would have liked. “It happened in Spain.”
On the second night of their trip, Megumi still remembers it clearly. The terrace of their hotel, the cold November night, and the lights of Bilbao. Megumi and Sukuna had stayed there, a drink in their hand, Megumi was excited about the internship that was about to start. He can almost see how things would have gone: a hand a little closer, one more glass of whisky. An ordinary moment, with a little more touch of colour.
“Spain,” Sukuna agrees. He clears his throat, “Is there anything else I need to know?”
Megumi can’t imagine something about him Sukuna doesn’t already know.
Megumi stares at the gate of the house where he grew up as if it could turn into a portal to the rabbits’ island. The gate stands stubbornly unchanged.
The monthly family dinner – the second Saturday of the month, without exception – is a test of his nerves every time. It doesn’t help that the only person in his family he had ever really gotten along with has run off to Greece the first chance she got.
He picks up his phone and writes quickly. “My cousin Maki is doing a PhD in marine biology in Greece. She should be here for the wedding.”
Sukuna’s answer doesn’t take long, “Roger that.”
Megumi chuckles. Since the dinner they had been texting almost constantly, exchanging little updates about their daily life – things someone you’re going out with should know, mostly. It also means Megumi has become the privileged recipient of Sukuna’s rants. Megumi has learned: that Sukuna hates the bartender at the cafè below his office, but goes there anyways because the coffee at his office is worse; that he wanted to fire half the board of directors, but can’t for some reason; that he had no problem with people asking him a question, but hated when they came to him with the same problem a second time because they didn’t bother listening the first. And that he hated the colour yellow. It was a more childish side of him that Megumi has never seen, and it amuses him.
“I don’t want to go,” Megumi texts back.
“First you go, first you leave,” comes Sukuna’s answer. And Megumi has nothing to say back, and so no other excuse to avoid entering.
He rings the bell. A maid opens the door for him and escorts him to the dining room, as if Megumi hadn’t lived there most of his life.
That house always gives Megumi the same feeling of a dusty cellar, full of relics from the past. He had left with the firm intention of never coming back, but even with the scholarship and the few part-time jobs he managed to find, he still couldn’t cover the vet school tuition by himself and was forced to ask his grandfather’s help.
Family dinner came with the package.
But he has a plan: graduate, start working, repay every last yen his grandfather spent. And then, he will be free. He has a fair share of money already saved, he just needs a little more.
His family is already gathered around the low table, all dressed up in traditional clothes. Mai’s looking bored, beside her, Todo, her betrothed, is talking about who knows what with who knows who – seriously, no one is listening to him. Naoya is talking to his brothers, with the usual sneer on his face like he owns the place, uncle Juinchi and Mai’s father Ougi sit in silence.
Megumi takes his seat and, as if on cue, Naobito Zenin walks into the room. He looks around, like he’s calling the roll, and then nods. The doors open and maids start bringing in food.
Megumi watches the plates carefully, trying to figure out what he can and cannot eat. For the sake of his own peace, he eats fish at these dinners, but still, there’s not much choice and he settles on the tuna. The conversation around him is background noise, it’s nothing he’s never heard – marriages to arrange, business to make, political reforms to support, boring. At least until he hears his grandfather say his name. It’s never a good sign.
“I hope you’ll find a seat for Megumi’s date,” he’s telling Mai.
Around the table, silence falls.
“Date?” Mai asks, teasingly. She looks so much like Maki that it hurts to look at her sometimes.
Before Megumi can reply, his grandfather has already answered for him.
“Yes. Megumi informed me he is dating the eldest of the Itadori.”
The looks Megumi gets go from doubt to open hostility.
“That’s good, isn’t it?” interjects Naoya.
Megumi stares at him dumbfoundedly. Is that support?
“At least, when Megumi decides what he wants to do when he grows up he won’t be lacking cash.”
That checks. He’s used to his family belittling what he’s chosen to do, and he’s lost count of how many times they told him he could at least become a doctor if he really “wanted to cure something”, but the comment still stings.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about my partner like he's a cashpoint.”
Megumi wipes his mouth with a napkin and ris from the table, even though they have not reached the end of the dinner yet. “Excuse me,” he says. “I have the night shift at the clinic.”
He doesn’t look at the others’ faces. He never left dinner early, before. And right now he can’t even remember why he didn’t.
As soon as Megumi steps out of the house, the fresh air clears his head and he realises what he did: he never stood up to his family like that before. And he did it for Sukuna? He expected his family to say something along those lines, before, but he never expected it to strike like that. Now, he has too much pent-up energy to go home, so he texts Yuuji to ask him his plans for the evening and, when he replies, decides to join him at the pub where Nobara works.
Among the few people inside the pub, he catches a glimpse of Yuuji sitting at the bar. Megumi reaches him, steals the shot from his hands and gulps it down.
“Ugh, vodka,” he wrinkles his nose. “Who drinks vodka after sixteen?”
Yuuji laughs and asks Nobara for another vodka for himself and a beer for Megumi. “How was dinner?”
“Usual.”
Megumi’s beer arrives, and with a punch on his arm. Nobara scowls at him. “Hi Nobara, you look great tonight. Did you cut your hair?”
“Hi Nobara,” Megumi repeats dutifully. “You look great tonight. Is that a new haircut?”
Nobara nods satisfied. “Good. Now you can tell me what you’ve been up to.”
“Nothing?”
Nobara glares and Megumi sighs and gives Yuuji a dirty look. “I asked Sukuna to be my fake boyfriend.”
“I knew already,” Nobara pours herself a drink. The night is quiet at the pub – the place usually is, it’s one of the reasons Megumi likes it so much, together with the Irish vibe and the good beers they have. “I’m more surprised he agreed,” Nobara says.
“Why?”
Yuuji gives Nobara a look. “He is very busy this time of the year.”
Nobara changes the topic. “Have you decided what to do for your birthday?” she asks Yuuji.
Outside the clinic, the sky is grey and full of clouds announcing rain. Quite appropriate. Megumi drags himself to the bus stop. He sinks at the thought of going back to his empty flat. He’s done with his thesis, so he doesn’t even have the work to distract himself and he doesn’t feel like being alone, not tonight. But who could he call? Yuuji is too emotional, Nobara is not enough and Maki is somewhere sunbathing in fucking Greece, Yuuta and Toge are with her, and Gojo is… Gojo. Maybe…
Sukuna answers on the third ring. “Megumi.”
“Are you busy?”
“Never too busy for you, boyfriend,” he says with the teasing tone he uses these last few whit him.
Megumi doesn’t answer and Sukuna turns serious. “Not much,” he says. “But I’m working from home. I should be done soon.”
“Can I come over?”
“I’ll text you the address.”
Sukuna lives on the top floor of the building which had exacerbated the hostility with the Zenin. When it was built, the Zenin thought it would be a good investment: it was new and modern in an up-and-coming neighbourhood, but Sukuna had caught a whiff of it and had stolen it under their nose. The news came during a family dinner, and Megumi had been sure his grandfather would burst an artery when he found out.
Sukuna opened the door in a white t-shirt with a wide neckline that let his tattoos show.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, letting Megumi in.
“Not much, no.”
Sukuna guided him to the living room. The house was modern and from the windows the skyline was visible. Megumi sits on the couch, on the coffee table, Sukuna’s laptop is open, surrounded by scattered paper.
“Do you—”
“Double checking some documents,” Sukuna interrupts, starting to put the papers away. “Nothing that can’t wait.”
Sukuna sits beside Megumi. He doesn’t say anything and lets Megumi take his time. Megumi is grateful for that. He can’t really explain what is up to him, and he can’t find the right words right now, so he says the most direct thing he can say.
“I’m not sure I’m cut up to be a vet.”
“Bullshit.”
And Megumi feels like breathing again. He needed this, he needed someone sure of him when he wasn’t sure of himself. Megumi moves slightly closer to Sukuna, who radiates warmth.
“A dog came in today. It was hit by a car. For the first time, they let me assist in the operation room because they were short-staffed. There was nothing we could do. And its owner… it was a little girl, and she just kept crying. I can deal with animals, but people…”
“That sucks,” Sukuna says, putting a hand on Megumi’s leg. Its warmth steeps through the fabric of Megumi’s trousers. It’s a good way to sum it up.
They don’t talk for a while, but somehow it’s enough.
Yuuji’s flat is bursting. Megumi doesn’t know how someone can know so many people. On his way to the living room, Megumi passes some friends of Yuuji he has already met but can’t remember the names of. On a corner, Nobara is chatting with some girls. There is no sign of Yuuji. Well, he’ll have to meet him sooner or later.
The kitchen table is overrun with empty bottles and paper cups. Megumi opens the fridge in search of a beer – his supervisor has sent him the correction of his thesis, and he has to revise it tomorrow, so drinking something heavier is out of the question. In closing the fridge, he bumps into something.
“Megumi! I didn’t expect to see you here.”
What the hell is Todo doing here? And is Mai here too? “I didn’t know you knew Yuuji,” he says, trying not to sound alarmed.
“We’re great friends, like brothers” Todo claps a hand on his shoulder. “He never told you about me?”
“It never came up, no.” Megumi is getting more and more confused.
“I train at the gym where he works. I didn’t like him at first: You know, he’s an Itadori. But he’s a good guy, his brother is the louse, no offence.”
“None taken.”
Mai sneaks between them, running a hand over Todo’s arm. “Oh Megumi, alone tonight?” she asks teasingly.
Megumi has to get out of there before she asks too many questions. “So it seems,” he says and moves away. He needs to find a way to justify Sukuna’s absence.
Through the kitchen door, Megumi catches a glimpse of Yuuji’s hair. In the living room, the couch was pushed aside to make more room, and music plays from the speakers in the corners.
“Happy birthday,” he says, approaching Yuuji.
Yuuji’s face lights up as soon as he sees him. “There you are!” he passes an arm around Megumi’s shoulders, then seems to reconsider and steps away. Yuuji’s face is flushed, Megumi doesn’t remember ever seeing Yuuji this drunk – he was one of the people with the highest tolerance he ever met, his challenges with Nobara were common when they were younger, but Megumi always cared enough of his liver not to try and keep up with them.
“Here I am,” Megumi agrees. “Having fun?”
“Very!”
Other people come their way to offer Yuuji more to drink, and he gladly accepts. Megumi steps aside and lets him. He’s never really been a party person. In a corner, he spots Todo and Mai coming on a girl and remembers what he should do. When the people Yuuji was talking with leave, Megumi steps closer. “Is your brother coming tonight?”
Yuuji giggles. “He said he was coming when I told him you were coming.” Suddenly, Yuuji straightens his back and puts both hands on Megumi’s shoulder, he looks about to tell Megumi something of the utmost importance, but nothing comes out.
“How about a glass of water?” Megumi comes to his rescue.
“Good idea.” Yuuji agrees.
Megumi escorts him to the kitchen and back, then leaves him to the care of some of his coworkers Megumi is not familiar enough to stay and talk to. He finds a spot in a corner and watches around: he can’t understand why people would find any of this funny.
“Looking for someone?” Sukuna’s hoarse voice comes directly into his ear. He smells of spicy cologne.
“I think your brother is drunk,” Megumi says, slightly choked.
Sukuna shrugs and doesn’t step aside from Megumi. “It’s his birthday, let him be.”
Sometimes, the way Sukuna talks about his brother reminds Megumi of a protective father – or what he guesses a protective father would look like.
Out of the corner of his eye, Megumi sees Mai approach and slides his hands into Sukuna’s. Sukuna squeezes, and his hand envelops Megumi’s, warm and solid. Megumi steps closer into Sukuna’s space, an inch from his face. “Mai,” he whispers.
Sukuna’s grip loses, but he doesn’t let go.
“Itadori,” Mai greets him.
“Zenin.”
“It’ll be Todo soon, but I guess you already know since you’ll attend my wedding, apparently.”
“Yes, Megumi told me about your invitation. Don’t expect me to thank you.”
“You should thank my grandfather, not me.”
“I’ll be sure not to do it.”
Mai's smile resembles a snake.”Since you’re family now, I have a proposition for you.”
Megumi freezes. He should have known this was how it was going to go, he never should have involved Sukuna in this mess.
“I’m listening,” he says in a tone Megumi can’t read.
“That building you bought,” she starts. “A gym on the ground floor would be a nice bonus, don’t you think? Just a thought I had. And Aoi,” she gestures to her soon-to-be-husband who is now sitting with Yuuji and discussing something animatedly, “would be the perfect person to run it.”
Sukuna thinks about it for a moment. “I see,” he says. “But I think there’s a misunderstanding here.” He runs a possessive arm around Megumi’s waist. “I’m with Megumi, not with his family.”
Megumi’s heart skips a beat. The smile freezes on Mai’s face – a change almost imperceptible if you haven’t grown up with her.
“What a shame,” she says. “Thought you had a shrewd business sense.”
Sukuna’s smile is cruel when he talks again. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. The idea is good, but if I ever decide to do something like that I already have a brother who would do a much better job. Why would I settle for something less?”
“I see,” Mai walks away.
Megumi is barely containing his laugh, shaking his head. Sukuna returns his attention to him, he still has his arm around Megumi.
“Would you stay in a corner for the rest of the evening?”
“I think so, yes.”
“You’re a bore.”
“You knew that before—” you started dating me. Megumi freezes. “You knew that before asking,” he says, it sounds lame to his own ears.
Megumi holds his graduation certificate with shaking hands. After his turn on the stage to get it, there were others, there were speeches, but Megumi couldn't hear a thing, an eye fixed on that piece of paper in his hands.
He did it. And in a week he will start working in a real vet clinic. It is the moment he has dreamed of for his entire life and has the consistency of candyfloss.
The applause echoes in the gymnasium, and the student next to him starts to make her way to the door. Megumi follows like an automaton until he’s hit by daylight.
Yuuji jumps on him, rousing Megumi from his stupor. Beside him, there’s Nobara. He’s glad they are both here, even if he won’t say it out loud. Megumi told them both they didn’t need to come, but that morning Yuuji and Nobara showed up at his flat, Yuuji holding a bag of blueberry muffins and Nobara disappeared straight into his wardrobe until she found something she deemed “decent enough for his special day” as if he was getting married or something.
“The usual striver,” Nobara commented, passing an arm around him and joining the ramshackle group huh. “Third best in the class.”
Megumi looks at her dumbfounded. He had been so focused on the certificate he hadn’t realised he has been called among the first ones on stage.
Yuuji lets him go. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“We have an appointment with the others for dinner, but until then you can get some rest.”
“You’ve got terrible dark circles,” Nobara agrees, and she seems one step away from pulling the concealer Megumi knows she keeps in her bag – she’s done it before.
They drag him to the park near the university. Although it is still March, it is a beautiful, sunny day. Nobara and Yuuji spread out a blanket, and Megumi lays in the sun, enjoying the warmth on his face.
From his backpack, Yuuji takes a box and gives it to Megumi. Inside, there’s a dark green cylinder with a single, gigantic, yellow rose. It’s beautiful.
“Don’t look at me,” Yuuji says when Megumi raises his eyes at him. “This is Sukuna’s doing.”
Megumi looks at the rose again, the twirl in his stomach he lately gets every time he thinks of Sukuna coming back full force.
“Congratulations!”
Megumi is tempted to shut the private room’s door and leave, but Yuuji drags him inside.
Someone had the bright idea of inviting Gojo, who immediately starts taking pictures of Megumi from every angle to irk him. There is also Kamo, who gives him a quick nod: of all those presents, he’s the one who can really understand what this day means to him. Megumi nods at him in response.
Megumi has barely taken his seat when the door opens again, and there is Maki with Yuuta and Toge, did they fly back from Greece just for him? Maki takes the seat next to him and punches him in the arm, and for once Megumi doesn’t complain.
They order dinner, and the noise in the small private room soon becomes stifling, but just for one evening, he can accept it.
Beer flows easily and Megumi, and then it's sake's turn. Megumi's face is warm and he undoes a couple of buttons on the white shirt Nobara chose for him. The alcohol muffles the world around him.
The door of the room opens again and Sukuna makes his entrance. Megumi knows he’s staring, but he can’t take his eyes away from him. He looks tired – from what he said it was a particularly stressful time at work. Megumi had mentioned to him about the dinner but didn’t expect him to come.
Sukuna approaches him and all too casually kisses him on the cheek, “Congratulations,” he says, and leaves an envelope in his hands.
Megumi flushes, unable to tell Sukuna there’s no reason to pretend tonight.
“Are you going to open it or not?” Maki brings him back to reality. Sukuna has taken the spot on the other side of Megumi, pushing Gojo away.
“Yuuji already gave me your gift.”
Sukuna huffs, “That was another thing.”
Megumi carefully opens the bag and fishes out a blue box. Inside, he finds a beautiful steel watch with a blue dial.
He looks up at Sukuna and would like to thank him, but the words get stuck in his throat. It’s not for the gift. Or rather, it’s for the gift, and the other gift, and for the dinner, and the times he saved him from dates that were announced disasters, it’s because he agreed to take a part in a stupid sham so that Megumi could get his family’s expectations off his shoulders, and Megumi doesn’t know a word who would thank him for everything. But Sukuna nods as if he understood anyway.
Megumi lowers his gaze, “I didn’t think you’d come.”
Sukuna smiles at him, one of those sincere smiles he occasionally gets when no one is looking, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Something warm curls up in Megumi’s stomach and he needs some more sake for his suddenly dry throat.
The conversations around him go on and mingle in an indistinct mutter. Gojo is listening to Yuuta talk about Greece, Inumaki nods from time to time, Sukuna and Kamo seem to have found something they agree on – or disagree – and are talking animatedly, Maki is telling Nobara about her research, and Megumi is so warm and so tired he can no longer keep his eyes open. He’ll just rest his eyes for a moment. Something warm supports his head, and it smells like Sukuna’s cologne. And then the scent surrounds him, and his body moves even though he’s not the one moving it. More indistinct words, and shortly after the cold outside air hits him full on the face.
Sukuna's scent is still surrounding him, so it must be his doing. Sukuna sits him in the car and guides his legs inside, his hands are so gentle on his body as if it were something precious, and Megumi’s heart clenches. The car starts, and little by little, thanks to the fresh air coming in from the slightly open window, Megumi’s world gets a little more defined, with only the outlines flickering. When the car stops, Megumi realises where they are.
“This is my house.”
“Nice hunch,” Sukuna teases him.
Sukuna helps him out of the car and supports him until Megumi’s room. His hands are so gentle with him, and Megumi can’t take it anymore.
“Stop being so nice to me,” he feels like he’s shouting.
Even in the dimness of his room. Megumi can see the outlines of Sukun’as face. He looks tired, and he should be home resting, not here taking care of his drunk ass. “Why?”
Megumi doesn’t quite know what to answer. Sukuna’s lips are thin when he smiles, and the features of his face are sharp but his eyes are warm when they rest on him. Megumi touches his forehead with his, Sukuna is a bit shorter than him – Megumi had surpassed when he was still in high school, and Sukuna hadn’t spoken to him for three days – but his breath is warm on Megumi’s face
“You make me want to kiss you.”
Sukuna’s smile drops, and his expression freezes. Megumi waits and he’s not sure for what, perhaps an answer that is not coming. He seems to have succeeded in leaving Sukuna speechless, exactly when the thing he wants the most is hearing him talk. Sukuna seems to be holding his breath.
“Let’s not screw this up, Megumi,” his voice comes out in a whisper, Megumi hears the unspoken please , and it’s wrong because Sukuna never says please.
It’s like having an ice-cold bucket spilt on him and Megumi steps back and flops on the bed. He doesn’t even know how something like this came into his mind… the alcohol, the agreement, Sukuna’s kindness, none of those reasons are good enough. It must have been a slip of the tongue, they’ve known each other for so long, and nothing ever happened between them.
Megumi lays on the bed without even changing his clothes, giving his back to the door. He hears Sukuna walk away from his room and then come in again and then walk away. The front door closes. When he opens his eyes again, it’s still dark, and he has a killer headache. On the bedside table, there’s a glass of water and aspirin. Megumi takes the aspirin and goes back to sleep.
Megumi starts his new job with scary dark circles under his eyes. He spent the week off he had slumped on his couch, with the fatigue of the last few months finally catching up to him, watching a stupid tv show about a stupid asshole New York lawyer who reminded him a bit too much of stupid Sukuna getting worse and worse season after season.
He feels like he’s been broken up to, but that doesn’t make sense, because they weren’t even together in the first place, not for real. But since the day of his graduation, Sukuna had stopped contacting him at all – it’s been months since they last spent so long without speaking with each other. But Megumi doesn’t want to be the first one to cave.
He can’t say what caused that lapse of judgement – he’d be lying if he said he didn’t find Sukuna attractive, and he had maybe played a teensy part in his gay awakening. But he doesn't look at him like that at all. They are friends – kind? But what will they be from now on? Has he ruined everything? He doesn’t want Sukuna to disappear again from his life, not now that he has him back, that he has realised how much he missed him in the first place. He tried to imagine Sukuna as a boyfriend, and the thought almost made him laugh out loud alone in his flat – he really can’t think of Sukuna like that. And he hasn’t ever seen him with anyone – actually, Sukuna never really talked about his sentimental life, Megumi is pretty sure he hasn’t spent his last few years in celibacy, still, nothing ever reached his ears – or Yuuji’s, or he would have known.
Honestly, this is confusing and frustrating. He needs a break. And maybe it’s for the best that Sukuna is not talking to him. And now he’s starting his new job, he can’t afford to be distracted. He likes his new job – he’s still an assistant, and it’s not much different from what he did during his internship, but he likes it, and the senior who is responsible for him is nice and actually teaches him stuff, so he’s content. And he’s not missing Sukuna.
The hotel they have rented for the reception is downtown, and the banquet room is gorgeous. It’s a large hall, modern, with floor-to-ceiling windows that show the city at twilight.
Sukuna is supposed to meet him here, but it’s almost time to take their seats and Megumi still can’t see him anywhere. Has he changed his mind? Since he and Megumi were on– what? A break? You’re supposed to be together to have a break. Megumi doesn’t think he will go back to his word, but still… his hands are all sweaty.
A waiter passes by with a tray laden with champagne flutes. Megumi takes one and sips, more to have his hand occupied than because he wants it.
People start to take their seats, and Megumi resigns to go alone. He’s made maybe three steps when Sukuna enters his field of vision. For a second they both stand silent in front of each other. Sukuna looks… good, really good. With a total black suit with a black shirt too. He’s not wearing his piercing. It’s cute, almost like he wants to make a good impression on his family – too late for that.
It’s Sukuna who breaks the silence. “You look beautiful.”
Megumi’s ears flare. “You look good too,” he says.
Sukuna stares at him for one more moment, it’s tense and stiff like he’s never been with him and Megumi knows he ruined everything. Sukuna then glances at the room. “Shall we go?”
Megumi nods and follows him to the table. On their way, Sukuna stops to chat with a few people he knows, and Megumi is… surprised. He’s never seen him like this, in his work mode. He’s charming and laughs at the terrible jokes the people make, and Megumi feels like he has a whole different person in front of him.
It is him, but at the same time there is something unfamiliar about his face, the way he speaks, the forced smile he wears. He understands why people are fascinated by him, why they almost queue up to come and talk to him, but it is as if he is looking at a stranger wearing Sukuna’s mask.
Maybe someday Sukuna will find someone who can see that that is a facade because they got to know him for real. His stomach clenches at the thought.
They finally reach the table, but they don't talk and the silence is tense between them. Megumi can feel his grandfather’s eyes bore into them, but he can’t find in him to care.
The bride and groom make their way into the room and are greeted with a round of applause, then dinner is served.
“Wait,” Sukuna tells him. He tastes the dishes and considers them for a moment. “You can’t eat those,” he takes some plates and moves them away from Megumi, “but these are fine.”
Megumi nods and starts eating. He then notices Maki looking at him funny.
“What?”
“What was that?” Maki asks in a whisper, pointing at Sukuna who is talking with someone Megumi doesn’t know, sitting at their table.
“What was what?”
Maki sighs, “Why does Itadori tell you what you can and cannot eat?”
“He doesn’t? He checks if there’s meat somewhere.”
“Since when?”
Megumi has to think about it. It has been going on for so long he can’t remember how it started, was it that time that in a restaurant Megumi had ordered a dish that had pork broth in it? After that, every time they went to dinner, Sukuna would taste the food – even the things he didn’t like – to make sure that Megumi’s food was always meat free.
“A while,” he says.
As the dinner goes on, Megumi keeps feeling his family’s eyes on him. Wine pours, Sukuna drinks, but Megumi doesn’t, after last time he wants to avoid any further mistakes. He needs to talk to Sukuna, to tell him to forget and just go back to how things were before, and he wants to be lucid for it.
Finally, the moment of the cake comes and, as the celebration moves on, Megumi sees his occasion to leave. But Sukuna is nowhere to be seen. Did he leave already?
In panic, Megumi exits the ballroom and he sighs in relief when he spots Sukuna in the hall. He’s handing the concierge his credit card. He seems to sense Megumi’s presence, because he raises his head and approaches him.
“I’ve had too much to drink to drive,” he explains. “I’ll call you a cab, if you want to go.”
Something breaks in Megumi’s chest. This is their last night, and the moment he steps out of that hotel, everything will go back to the way it was before. Megumi doesn’t want it to end.
“No,” he blurts out. “It’d look suspicious—” he tries to come up with something. “It would look suspicious if you book a room and I don’t stay.”
Sukuna scrutinises Megumi’s face like he’s trying to read something there. He sighs, suddenly looking exhausted. “Fine. What do you suggest?”
“I’ll leave when we’re sure everyone’s left.”
Sukuna nods and reaches the counter to retrieve his key. They walk silently to the elevator and through the corridors of the fifteenth floor, and in silence, they enter the room. The tension is palpable between them. Did he make the wrong call? Should he have gone home? Maybe Sukuna doesn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore.
The room isn’t as spacious as Megumi thought, but the beige tones and the reddish wood make it look intimate in the warm light of the bed lamps. Sukuna enters the bathroom and comes out with one of those make-up remover wipes.
“It’s over,” he murmurs, sitting on the bed.
“Let me,” Megumi takes the wipe from his hands and makes Sukuna sit on the bed.
He starts gently cleaning his face, uncovering the dark circle Sukuna hid. Sukuna closes his eyes and lets him do it. He reminds him of a cat basking in the sun. He looks so much younger, and reminds Megumi of the first time he had seen him.
“Do you remember that time my grandfather banned me from seeing Yuuji?”
Megumi was in middle school, and he had just met Yuuji, at the time, and when he had started frequenting him more often his grandfather had opposed.
One corner of Sukuna’s lips quirks up. “Again with that?”
“You never told me how you changed his mind.”
Sukuna seems to think about it for a moment. “It doesn’t matter anymore, I might as well tell you,” he says. “As soon as I came of age, I started receiving reports from my father’s company. Some numbers were not adding up, and with a bit of research, I found out that some people on the board were embezzling money and they were in business with your grandfather. If the news came out, your grandfather would have been involved, and his reputation would have suffered. I fired them the moment I became CEO.”
“You blackmailed my grandfather?” Megumi says dumbfounded. He wasn’t even twenty, it wasn’t even his company at the time, and yet Megumi still remembers him storming into his house and demanding to speak with his grandfather. He had never seen him before, but it was clear on first sight that he was related to Yuuji. Things start to add up in Megumi’s head.
“Is that the reason why my grandfather hates you?”
“One of many, I guess.”
He started a feud, and just because his younger brother had been sad he couldn’t spend time with his new friend. Megumi wants to laugh. And wants to kiss him.
“You’re unbelievable.”
Sukuna smirks, still with his eyes closed. “I know.”
Megumi is sober this time, and he still craves kissing Sukuna like he never wanted anything in his life before. Sukuna opens his eyes, his gaze wandering on Megumi’s lips and Megumi notices how close they have gotten.
“We can’t—” Sukuna puts a hand on Megumi’s chest, but doesn’t push him away.
“Why?”
“There’s no going back.”
Megumi clenches his jaw. He knows that, but he also knows that he can’t go back to what it was before now that he knows what it could be like. “What if I don’t want to go back?”
“Megumi…” Sukuna looks away, he’s struggling. And Megumi connects the dots.
“You’re afraid,” he says, breathless. “You don’t want me to marry, but you don’t dare to take a step forward.”
Sukuna springs up from the bed. “You don’t understand. Dating is fine, they were all idiots anyway. But a wedding… a wedding is different.”
It’s kind of endearing to know that Sukuna thinks so highly of marriage, but Megumi pushes. “You rejected me.”
“You were drunk.”
Megumi steps closer. “I’m here now. I’m sober.”
Sukuna looks at Megumi’s mouth and bites his lip.
“If I leave this room now, everything goes back to the way it was. My family will keep pushing for a wedding, and one day I might give up.”
They both know this is not true, but still, something clicks in Sukuna’s eyes, and the next thing Megumi knows is that Sukuna’s lips are on him. He can’t remember ever being kissed like that, as if Sukuna’s life depended entirely on that single moment. Megumi is on fire, but Sukuna has always been warm, and Megumi surrenders to him.
Sukuna breaks off the kiss and brings Megumi down to put his forehead against his. “Then marry me.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Megumi smiles, and kisses him again.
Megumi is woken up by the vibration of his phone on the bedside table. He answers without looking, and on the other side he recognises his grandfather’s voice, but the only word he can make out in his state are engagement and approved . He closes the call without a word and rests his head on Sukuna’s naked chest.
“What?” he asks, voice rough from sleep.
Megumi grunts and nuzzles against him. “When we get married I’m taking your name.”
Sukuna tenses under him. “When?”
Megumi needs a moment to realise what he said, but he finds he doesn’t want to take it back.
Sukuna’s hold tightens around Megumi, “Fine by me.”