Work Text:
“So what is this game like?” Itadori asked as the others finished sitting in a circle on the floor—Fushiguro on his right side, Kugisaki on his left side, Maki next to Kugisaki, and Panda and Inumaki in front of him and next to Fushiguro. Maki left the soft drinks they bought in the middle of the group. “Like, truth or dare? Truth or drink?”
“Nothing of that.” Kugisaki said, already grabbing a soda from the pile. “It will just be a game of personal, embarrassing or random questions. You can choose the question for everyone, for some of us or just for one person. So, who starts??”
Itadori could feel the energy surging through Kugisaki as she finished explaining it. It was enough to make Itadori feel at home. They had barely had time to relax as a group like that.
“I start myself.” Maki said, resting the weight of her body on her hand, leaning slightly to the side. “For Panda and Inumaki; would you wear all your clothes inside out for a whole day for a hundred dollars?”
“Salmon.” Inumaki agreed without hesitation, signing with his hands, ‘I would even wear a skirt.’
Itadori held back a smile when he understood that.
“Maki, I don’t even have clothes. I’m a Panda.”
“Alright, this one goes for everyone.” Kugisaki said next, ignoring Panda. “Who do you think is the worst dressed person in the room?”
They all pointed their fingers at Panda, as if their minds had connected just because of that ridiculous moment.
“I repeat, I have no clothes!” Panda spread his arms to the sides, throwing his head back. Despite that, his eyes sparkled with amusement at them. “And I’m a Panda!”
Itadori heard the beginning of Fushiguro’s short laugh before everyone else’s and his own. His grin grew just because of that.
“For Maki.” Fushiguro spoke, still with the spark of laughter in his expression. “How do you recognize that someone is stupid?”
Like lightning speed, Maki raised an eyebrow and locked her gaze on Itadori, keeping her silence as a clear answer. Itadori straightened, looking at her in disbelief, offended.
“Did you just call me stupid right to my face???” Itadori pointed to himself. He then shoved his shoulder at Fushiguro when he saw him lean in from the corner of his eye. “And don’t laugh, Fushiguro!”
“I’m not laughing.” Fushiguro tried to hide his own amusement from him, but to Itadori’s surprise, he seemed to fail.
Itadori’s heart skipped a beat. That sight of Fushiguro was a crack in the wall that he was more than willing to want to continue watching it crack.
“If you say so,” Itadori grinned, looking at Kugisaki as the next question popped into his head. “Kugisaki, have you ever had a romantic dream about someone here? If so, of who?”
Kugisaki didn’t even hesitate to throw a glance at Maki and blink charmingly at her, making Maki laugh heartily. Itadori let out a half laugh. He had to give credit to Kugisaki for how direct she was.
Inumaki signed with his hands then, looking at Fushiguro. Panda translated it for everyone—Itadori and Kugisaki weren’t that familiar with JSL yet.
“Fushiguro, what attracts you most in a person?”
Itadori looked at him curiously, fidgeting with his fingers to distract himself. Fushiguro grabbed a soda and placed it near his leg, but he didn’t open it.
“Their personality.” He answered without further detail.
“Ugh, boring!” Maki snorted, smirking.
“God, Toudou told him that same thing at the Goodwill event.” Kugisaki stated proudly towards Maki, giving her a knowing look.
Fushiguro frowned, “You two shut up.”
“Okay, I’m going to put more spice on the questions!” Kugisaki squealed excitedly, forming fists in the air. Itadori didn’t like the mischievous smile she gave him at all, so he mentally prepared himself. “Itadori, what person was on your mind before you went to sleep last night?”
Oh. Well, mentally he hadn’t been prepared for that question at all. Anything but that was expected. Still, Itadori thought about it; he would answer that it was Sukuna, because he was always on his mind even when he didn’t want to, but he didn’t think a curse counted as a person… Itadori bit the inside of his cheek, thinking about the other answer some more. In the end he chose the truth.
“Um, it was—Fushiguro?”
Itadori rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, giggling in embarrassment. Just a little.
Kugisaki tapped her chin with her fingers, as if she were figuring something out. Maki raised an amused eyebrow as did Inumaki, Panda made an adorable ‘o’ with his mouth, and Fushiguro—well, Fushiguro was staring at him in a way that made him shudder right there.
Itadori had been thinking about Fushiguro because he remembered that he really liked the smile he gave him that day after a successful mission, with his hair messy and a small wound on his lip. In fact, Itadori had liked Fushiguro since the first few months, but he couldn’t just go and blurt that out of the blue, though, right? Itadori wanted to go at his own pace and do it his way.
“Fushiguro, huh?” Kugisaki whispered to Itadori, hiding her amusement from him. She failed at it, of course.
Itadori shrugged, “I—I spend most of my time with you guys, so…”
Fushiguro, legs crossed, rested his elbow on his knee and his cheek on his hand. Itadori glanced at him and saw that Fushiguro hadn’t stopped looking at him that way.
Okay, calm down, heart of mine.
“It makes sense.” Was all Fushiguro said, offering Itadori a small smile that disappeared when he took a sip of his soda. Itadori looked away and swallowed.
Yeah, a lot of sense. Of course.
The others didn’t give much thought to his answer either because Kugisaki decided to continue, too immersed in this than Itadori expected.
“Okaaay. My question this time goes to Fushiguro!” Kugisaki announced, smiling evilly at him. “Have you ever had a romantic partner?”
Fushiguro tilted his head and—wait… did he just shot him a look? Itadori looked him in the eyes again, but he saw that Fushiguro was looking down at his hands in return, distracted. He didn’t think it was a hallucination… did he?
“I have never been interested.” Fushiguro replied, and Itadori kept those words as Fushiguro’s eyes turned soft, “Not until I met—”
“No??? But you’re so ho—” Itadori suddenly covered his mouth with his hand, opening his eyes wider.
Maki nearly breathed an incredulous smirk at what he almost said, nudging Kugisaki silently. Fushiguro parted his lips and looked at him in surprise at having been interrupted, maybe. Itadori hoped it wasn’t for something else.
“So what?”
Hot. So fucking hot. “So—uh.”
Itadori started to fake a cough, grabbing a soda from the center.
Kugisaki laughed, placing a hand on her abdomen, “Itadori, have you seen your face?? You’re all red!”
“That’s not true!”
“Let’s leave him alone before he blows up.” Panda said, chuckling.
“I actually want that to happen to him with some more questions.” Maki spoke.
“I hate all of you right now.” Itadori murmured to them.
“My question is for you, Itadori. Have you ever fallen in love?” Maki asked him.
Hmm. That one was easy, “Yup.”
“Mentaiko.” Inumaki spoke, signing. Panda translated it, “Have you dated any girl?”
“Double yup.”
“Have you kissed her?” Kugisaki asked next, leaning forward with an interest that was even scary.
Itadori blushed, “Um. No.”
“How is it possible that you dated a girl and didn’t kiss her? Not even a peck???”
“No???” Itadori answered her with the same energy Kugisaki asked him that, feeling the heat of his blush increase.
“How.” Kugisaki narrowed her eyes, and Itadori briefly glanced at Fushiguro and the others before focusing back on Kugisaki.
Itadori ran a hand through his hair and answered, with all his natural sincerity,
“Because my first kiss wasn’t with a girl.”
All his friends suddenly became silent. He earned every look from them in that long pause, as if the screws in their brains had gotten stuck. Itadori pressed his lips into a line, trying not to get nervous with each passing second—it was the first time he had confessed that.
To his embarrassment, he witnessed Kugisaki’s expression light up until she let out an excited squeal, grabbing Itadori by the shoulders with a new energy and shaking him non-stop.
“OH MY GOD, IT’S HAPPENING, EVERYONE STAY CALM!”
“You’re the one who should calm down!” Panda hissed as the silence was broken, wagging his paw.
“ITADORI IS BI.” Kugisaki laughed maniacally again, and Itadori was already starting to get dizzy from her frantic movements. “HIS BISEXUALITY HAS FINALLY COME TO LIGHT.”
“KUGISAKI STOP!” Itadori shouted at her, trying to get out of her grip. His face was burning red hot. Shit.
“Kugisaki, for God’s sake, shut up!”
“Fuck you, Maki, I was right! You owe me twenty dollars!”
Oh, no. Incredible.
Itadori felt how strong hands on his arms successfully pulled him away from Kugisaki, and the second he knew was that from that small tug, he fell backwards, straight into Fushiguro’s chest. Itadori blinked a few times and looked up. It was Fushiguro who had pulled him away from Kugisaki, holding him, and now he was looking at him again with that intensity of his that—
Itadori straightened up immediately.
“Itadori, you…” Fushiguro began.
“Yeah, alright.” Itadori urged in resignation, starting to get stressed already. He barely felt his cheeks because of the embarrassment that Kugisaki had caused him. “What’s wrong with me kissing a boy before a girl? I was a kid! Although I would like to clarify that it wasn’t exactly on his lips, it was on his cheek… But I… I liked it. And yeah, I may like women and men equally now, so what with that?”
Itadori was dying. He needed someone to dig his grave now or he would be an embarrassed ghost for life.
He saw a small smile tug at the corners of Fushiguro’s lips and his heart murmured in response, slowing its beats at that calm.
“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Fushiguro reassured him, sliding his hand off Itadori’s arm. Oh, he’d been holding onto it. Itadori already missed that contact when he realized it. Damn.
“Kugisaki made a scene for nothing?” Itadori muttered, deflating. But not before glaring at Kugisaki when she laughed again.
Itadori groaned as Inumaki and Panda reached out to pat his shoulder.
“It seemed very normal to me.” Maki said, looking at him understandingly before pinching Kugisaki’s cheek, making her whine. “Have you calmed down yet?”
“Yeah yeah.” And then her eyes sparkled, as if she had realized something. “Fushiguro, since you are—”
Fushiguro had been quick to reach out to Kugisaki to pinch her other cheek, shutting her up instantly. The movement had been too fast for his eyes, too. Itadori blinked, moving slightly out of his way. What—
“Don’t, please.” Fushiguro warned her calmly. “My way.”
Kugisaki smirked, slapping Fushiguro’s hand away. Fushiguro returned to his spot, letting out a half sigh. Itadori watched their exchange with more questions than answers.
Kugisaki then motioned for Maki, Panda, and Inumaki to stand up with her, and they all moved away from the circle they had formed to listen to whatever Kugisaki had started whispering to them, leaving Itadori and Fushiguro sitting alone on the floor. The three of them nodded, holding back wide smiles. What were they plan—
“What are you planning?” Fushiguro asked, raising his soda to his lips. He gave them all a suspicious look as they sat back down.
Itadori almost grinned at the perfect timing of their thoughts.
“I have a question for Kugisaki,” Panda said, trying with all his willpower not to burst out laughing right there. Itadori frowned. “If you had the power to make two people here kiss, who would you choose?”
Fushiguro tensed next to him. Itadori’s frown turned into realization.
“Ooohhh, good question Panda, good question!” Kugisaki tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smirked like the monster she was. “I would choose Itadori and Fushiguro.”
Fushiguro almost choked on his soda and Itadori’s jaw dropped to the floor.
Okay, it was one thing that Itadori was attracted to Fushiguro, but quite another that his friends had read him so well. Had he always been that transparent? Was he like that even to Fushiguro?
Itadori looked at Fushiguro, suddenly feeling in crisis with the situation. He slid his gaze over Fushiguro’s face as their gazes met, searching for some expression of discomfort or pure shock, but all he found were eyes that looked back at him with something in them.
“You two have too much chemistry with each other.” Kugisaki told them, amused, “Even in curse fights, don’t deny me.”
“Although we don’t realize it most of the time, Fushiguro has a very soft and tender side only with you, Itadori.” Panda nodded, crossing his arms.
“Salmon, salmon!”
“You literally almost called Fushiguro hot earlier.” Maki mocked.
“Oh my God, can you please stop, Maki???” Itadori groaned, returning to his tomato state in the middle of summer.
Fushiguro had put a hand to his mouth, and it seemed like he was smiling behind it. Itadori noticed, after the seconds it took him to calm down, that Fushiguro was even chuckling softly at the way his eyes were curling. Itadori sat still, his heart melting. Was that… a good sign? Didn’t Fushiguro mind it one bit?
After a pause where Inumaki caught their attention, he began to sign something to Itadori with his hands, nodding towards Fushiguro.
“I’m not going to ask him that.” Fushiguro said to Inumaki, narrowing his eyes.
Panda lightly slapped Fushiguro’s head, “Technically Inumaki is asking it, you just translate it for Itadori.”
Fushiguro looked down before turning his head towards Itadori.
“Alright, Itadori… How would you describe my eyes?”
“Wait, your eyes or Inumaki-senpai’s?”
There was a small twitch on Fushiguro’s lips as he said, “Mine.”
Oh.
Itadori stared at him then.
Looking at him this closely, directly into his eyes, Itadori shifted in place when he noticed that Fushiguro’s gaze dropped to his mouth for a second—had he done it without realizing it or on purpose?—before staring at him again. Itadori had looked into those eyes so many times that he was going to lack words to describe them. He knew that he was going to get sentimental, but he didn’t care anymore. Itadori was determined to tell him the whole truth, after all. He thought he had decided when the game started. He wasn’t going to miss the chance to do it his way.
“Your eyes…” Itadori licked his lips, ignoring the presence of the others. “Every time I look at them… I feel like I’m lost in myself in a thousand different ways. I love how you can say so much with just one look, although sometimes it’s hard for me to decipher it, and it may seem silly, but every time I look at you I feel like I’m falling more in lo—”
Fushiguro was also quick to cover Itadori’s mouth with his hand, stopping him. He caught Itadori off guard.
“Enough.” Fushiguro said above a whisper, his ears a faint pink color.
Itadori blinked.
Itadori felt his warm hand against his lips. Fushiguro’s skin was soft, unlike his. Their eye contact never broke, and Itadori knew it. It had taken him a while to realize it, but he knew that Fushiguro knew it too. Those unspoken words, those desire to let them go. Something in Itadori felt incredibly light, purposeful, and full of hope.
When Fushiguro moved his hand and gaze away, Itadori blinked at the lack of contact, returning to the present. They both looked at their friends— Kugisaki’s expression was priceless.
“After this palpable tension in the air, guys,” Kugisaki winked at the two; Fushiguro rolled his eyes and Itadori rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, “my question is for you, Itadori. What’s the craziest thing you would do for love?”
Itadori thought about it, clearing his mind of what happened a moment ago.
“If you say ‘die’, I will kill you myself.” Fushiguro deadpanned.
Kugisaki gasped, “He said it, Maki! He said the thing!”
“Itadori would definitely die for Fushiguro.” Maki nodded, smirking.
Itadori blushed hard, blurting out, “I would, though.”
Fushiguro brought his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes slowly. If he didn’t know better, Itadori would say that Fushiguro was keeping his composure, but he was probably just as embarrassed as Itadori.
Despite that, it was now or never. Itadori took a deep breath and spoke,
“Fushiguro, here’s my question for you.”
Fushiguro looked at him, and Itadori knew. He got straight to the point.
“What is the most effective technique to seduce you?”
Kugisaki and Maki gasped in unison. Inumaki murmured an onigiri ingredient and Panda put his paws to his cheeks, starting to grin. Everyone was caught off guard by Itadori’s renewed courage.
Actually, it had always been there, but they hadn’t let him let it go properly.
Fushiguro was looking at him again with that same intensity, and he said, smiling softly,
“Being yourself, even if you’re an idiot, making me laugh or having a good sense of humor, helping me through difficult times, fully trusting each other… Though all that has already been done, hasn’t it, Itadori?”
Then, Fushiguro—all that time—
Itadori’s heart skipped a beat. There it was. That desire to let go the unspoken words.
It was so natural to confess everything to him.
“I admit that you’re on my mind more than just sometimes.” Itadori told him.
Fushiguro’s smile grew, following the game of two with him as he said,
“I never had any interest in dating anyone, because you have everything I have been looking for.”
Itadori grinned like the sun, asking him, “Is it hard being the most gorgeous guy in the room?”
“I don’t know, you tell me.” Fushiguro smirked.
“Gods, how can someone like you be real?” Itadori covered his face with his hands and chuckled angelically, blushing profusely.
Itadori let his forehead rest on Fushiguro’s shoulder, not knowing when they had gotten so close to do so. He couldn’t believe that Fushiguro had confessed to him first like that—his way, with their perfect timing.
“Wow. Just, wow.” Kugisaki clapped, drawing their attention again. “Fucking finally! Okay, idiots. Because you are a couple of idiots in love… if you had to choose someone from this room to go on a date with, who would you choose? I’m making it fucking easy for you.”
Itadori turned his head on Fushiguro’s shoulder to respond, “Fushiguro. I want to be by his side until we get gray hair.”
Fushiguro held back a laugh at his silliness—Itadori felt that laugh vibrate against his cheek, though. Fushiguro answered in turn, gently resting his head against Itadori’s,
“Itadori. I love how comfortable I am around him.”
“Salmon roe.”
“You guys are disgustingly adorable.” Maki told them, looking at Kugisaki afterwards. “I can’t believe your plan worked, Kugisaki.”
Kugisaki fell to the floor on her back, huffing, “Ugh, I know! How exhausting it is to have a good eye for tension and romance.”