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He's spent most of his life dealing with other people's bullshit, which was in the form of violence.
But everything changed when those same people are getting their asses handed to them by a kid who was nicknamed the 'The Tiger of West Junior High'—recogniseable through pink hair and the symmetrical birthmarks under the eyes. He even has a front row seat to it too, and he's gotta be honest, it's pretty damn satisfying to see his bullies taste their own blood on the knuckles of a kid younger than them.
It doesn't take long for the beat-down to finish. In fact, it hasn't even been five minutes.
'Pinky' wipes the blood that splattered on his cheek with the sleeve of his 𝘨𝘢𝘬𝘶𝘰𝘯 before setting his eyes on the victim of the unconscious bullies. He walks towards him and Junpei flinches hard. 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘰𝘰? 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘶𝘱 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘰𝘰? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰? 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺? 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘳𝘶𝘯? 𝘕𝘰, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘩𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.
Sweat dripping, heart drumming, breathes became pants . He sees 'Pinky' reach out his hand. He closes his eyes and waits for the impact. He slowly opens his eyes when nothing happened.
"Hey, you okay?" He looks concerned. 𝘞𝘩𝘺?
"Huh?" Was all he managed, still a little shocked.
"We've gotta get your injuries patched up." He frowns. "Wait a bit." He runs off around the corner of the building, and returns fairly quick. He looks through his bag and took out a few patches, some bandaids, a packet of tissues and a small bottle of disinfectant—basically a first-aid kit.
"Why does he have all these in his bag?" Junpei questions.
'Pinky' quickly supplies, "I get into fights quite a bit so I carry this around." Junpei flushes when he realises he thought out loud. 'Pinky' pours a bit of disinfectant on the tissue and dabs Junpei's black eye and bruised cheeks. The latter flinches from the cold dip but otherwise stays as still as he could.
During this process, he realises he doesn't know 'Pinky's name. He's just been calling him 'Pinky' in his head because, well, he has pink hair. But he's too scared to ask. He's never had any friends, the ones he did have were from the movie research club, but they stopped hanging out when he—once again—became a victim of bullying. But he's lucky because 'Pinky' is the chatty type.
"So, what's your name?" 'Pinky' asks without looking at him as he continues down Junpei's arms and hands—that he used to protect himself from getting his head cracked.
"Junpei. Yoshino Junpei." He gave himself a victory pat-on-the-back for not stuttering. "What's your name, Tiger of West Junior High?" 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.
'Pinky' groans, a slight pink in his cheeks. "I'm Itadori Yuuji. And 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, don't call me that name." 𝘏𝘦'𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥. 𝘊𝘶𝘵𝘦. Junpei quickly shakes his head. "I didn't even want it, somebody just made it up." Itadori adds.
"It suits you, since you have the kanji for tiger in your name," Junpei tries laughing, but it came out as an awkward chuckle, instead.
Itadori shrugs. "I guess, but it's still cringe, though." He whines.
Junpei laughs again, more freely this time. "Yeah, it kinda is, if I'm being honest." He sees Itadori looking up at him, before he broke into a bright grin.
"Now, you look a whole lot better," he chirps happily. Junpei was sure he saw an angel right then and there. Maybe he 𝘥𝘪𝘥 die from all the beating and went to heaven. And suddenly, the angel moves closer to his face and Junpei backs away out of instinct. His heart almost stopped but was also beating faster than usual.
"What's wrong?" A frown rests upon Itadori's lips. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮, Junpei immediately thought and it goes away as quick as it came.
Junpei stammers out an apology, "I—I'm s-s-sorry! I-It's just, you surprised me, that's all." He manages to calm his heart down.
Itadori immediately brightens. "Oh, it's okay. You don't have to apologise, I should be the one to do it. Sorry 'bout that." He scratches his head sheepishly.
"What were you trying to do, anyway?" He laughs nervously.
"I was gonna stick patches on your face. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable," he smiles apologetically.
"Oh...that's what it was. You didn't make me uncomfortable, I told you, I was just surprised." He quickly assures him.
Itadori readies his hands again. "If you say so. Here, let me finish," he sticks the patches on the brusied spots on his face and arms; his fingers had a few cuts which were covered with bandaids. "There! All done, Junpei!" He says proudly. Junpei's heart jumps against his ribcage. It's the first time someone's, other than this mother, said his name. It leaves him with a tingling feeling that spreads from the back of his mind throughout his whole body.
𝘖𝘩.
𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺.
𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺.
His lips contort subconsciously into something that indicates the feeling he's experiencing right now: 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦. He hasn't felt like this for a long while.
"You look much better like that," he hears his voice coming from above, so he looks up. Itadori's slightly blocking the sun, making a portion of his face shadowed. Junpei's breath catches when he sees a smile that's brighter than the star behind him. "Junpei, come." He holds his hand out. Junpei's hand moves on its own and places itself atop Itadori's. He's pulled up immediately. The sudden movement disorients his balance a bit.
"Whoa!" He wobbles.
Itadori reaches with his other hand out to stabilize him. "Should I carry you?" It's there again: concern. This leaves Junpei conflicted. The only one who's ever worried about him was his mother; and now, a stranger—even though he knew his name now.
"Uh, no — I'm good. I stood up too fast, so I lost my balance a bit," He smiles nervously.
Itadori smiles back. "Alright! Let's go!" He picks up his bag and slides it over his shoulder.
"Eh? Where?" Junpei startles.
Itadori shrugs and looks to be thinking for a moment, then he looks at the other. "Where do you wanna go?" He waits for an answer patiently.
"You're gonna come with me?" Junpei throws back a question, instead.
"Why not?" He says nonchalantlty.
"Um..." Junpei tries to think but his brain isn't providing any acceptable answers. He saw a flash of a poster of a movie he had wanted to see in his mind, so his mouth works out the words before he could stop it, "Movies."
Junpei gets ready to deny it and say something else, but the other is quick to respond. "To the movies it is then!" Itadori drags him to the nearest theatre. It was then that Junpei realises that they're still holding hands. He blushes but he doesn't say anything to alert the other boy about it, not wanting to let go of another person's warmth—especially Itadori's.
They chat as they walk, Itadori subconsciously swinging their hands. Junpei pretends he doesn't notice. "So, what kinda movies are you into, Junpei?"
"I...watch about anything, but I'm more into horror and stuff," he answers honestly. He's still slightly wary of Itadori but he trusts him a little bit enough to be honest. He wonders if that's alright. "But 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘮 3 was really boring." He grimaces from the memory from watching...whatever that was.
Itadori perks up. "I know, right? But 2 was good, though!" He (𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, Junpei thinks) looks at him and Junpei notices the corners of his eyes crinkling.
"Right?! I think so, too!" 𝘈𝘩, he was getting too enthusiastic. He has to be careful. However, the more they talked, the more he got excited. He's begun rambling at this point and his smile grows bigger with each word.
He becomes aware of himself when he notices that the other is quiet. He flushes and keeps his head down. "A—Ah, sorry. I just kept talking. You must be bored or annoyed," he mumbles. He's so embarrassed. He wants the ground to swallow him up. And suddenly, he's become hyper aware of Itadori's hand in his, and his is beginning to produce sweat.
Instead of the annoyance he expected, Itadori laughs. It was the most magical thing Junpei's ever heard, he can't help but look up at him. "It wasn't, at all. In fact, it was nice to hear about different movies. There's a lot I haven't watched," he looks at him again with that look that says he's enjoying being with him.
The warmth inside him—which he thought he'd lost—swells up. He sees his mouth moving, dull sounds entering his ears, but all he could see was those lips that never fell from its smile.
"— it's really interesting, Junpei." Itadori finishes and suddenly flushes when he seems to be realising something. "Ah, sorry. I was the one who kept rambling this time." He laughs in a carefree way Junpei's never been able to.
His heart aches. "No, I don"t mind. I'd like to hear more from you, too." He gives an easy smile—not the smile he normally gives to everyone else.
But the smile falls when he sees Itadori furrowing his brows and his lips slightly puckering. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. Gods, he just discovered a new side of the boy he may or not have fallen for. But he's still worried, so he asks, "What's wrong?"
There's a little bit of pink on his cheeks and he side-eyes him. "I've already told you my name, so stop calling me 'you'." Itadori mumbles.
𝘖𝘩, 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦. Though, Junpei's a little nervous. "Uh—Itadori...-san?" He tries. He's never called someone else's name before.
The other boy lightens up considerably. "Ehh~ why so formal?" He teases and Junpei blushes this time. "You can call me Yuuji if you want to." 𝘈𝘩𝘩𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. If it were possible, the smile was brighter than before, Junpei thinks.
He gulps. "T—Then," he pauses. "Yuu..ji..-san?" He cringes slightly.
As always, Yuuji laughs. "Just Yuuji is fine." He's been looking at him the whole time.
𝘈𝘩𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩. He pays too much attention to him. He's recieving too much attention from him. What is Junpei to do? He's really fallen for him.
"Yuuji," he whispers. He looks at the person in name with the emotion of a thousand happinesses. Yuuji's eyes widen and quickly looks down, suddenly feeling shy. His cheeks turns 𝘳𝘦𝘥, making him feel a little warm. He realises they've stopped. He feels Junpei's stare on him and his face heats up more from the attention.
He forms sentences in his head of what to say to him and when he finishes, he gathers courage to look up at Junpei, but the words melt away before they could even rise up to his throat. He swallows, "...Yeah." He pauses. He still has that look on his face that says — 'I'll cherish this happiness forever'. His heart clenches and his soul burns. So many feelings are clashing inside him, and that leaves him conflicted. So much to say but no words to voice them. So, all he could say is, "Just like that." His whisper flies with the gentle wind that blew over them to the now setting sun.
With hearts never straying and hands gripping tighter, they walk again.