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Megumi almost has a skip in his step after school.
Tsumiki is staying over at a friend’s house, leaving Megumi with the house to himself until sometime tomorrow. He’s excited to have some time alone. No nagging sister and no annoying white-haired weirdo.
Megumi’s good mood evaporates as soon as he steps through the door. There’s a pair of shoes already resting on the shoe rack and he hears music and a voice singing off-key with it coming from the kitchen.
Megumi has to stop himself from turning right around and leaving. He had thought he was going to have a peaceful rest of the day, but any prospect of that has been thoroughly ruined and he’s been home for barely five seconds.
“What are you doing here?” Megumi demands when he enters the kitchen. The music suddenly stops and Gojo spins around from where he was facing the stove. He presents Megumi with a bright smile, glasses perched on his nose and hair falling into his eyes.
“Megumi! Welcome home!” Gojo exclaims. His smile doesn’t falter at Megumi’s unimpressed stare, but he still relents, “I heard you were going to be spending the night alone so I decided to invite myself over.”
This was definitely Tsumiki’s doing. Megumi should have known that she wouldn’t knowingly let him stay home alone overnight, nevermind the fact that he’s eleven years old. He doesn’t need adult (he uses that term loosely in reference to Gojo of all people) supervision to sleep in his own house.
“Well uninvite yourself. You’re not welcome,” Megumi says. He didn’t ask for this and he doesn’t feel like dealing with Gojo today.
Gojo gasps, mouth dropping open in feigned shock, and places a hand over his heart.
“How could you say that after I generously decided to make you dinner?” Gojo asks. Megumi rolls his eyes, unamused by Gojo’s theatrics. Megumi has gotten used to it over the years that Gojo has regrettably been in his life, but it never fails to annoy him.
“Whatever,” Megumi says before retreating to his room without another word, closing the door behind him. Megumi tosses his backpack onto his chair and then flops face first into bed. He doesn’t appreciate being treated like a baby.
Megumi rolls over onto his back and sighs. He hates when either of them do stuff like this, it makes him feel like he’s seen as incompetent. Like neither of them think he can be trusted to take care of himself.
Megumi sits up with a huff. He should probably get started on his homework.
Before he can push himself out of bed to go grab his backpack, his hand goes numb. Pins and needles shooting through it like it suddenly fell asleep despite it being perfectly fine a second ago. Megumi flexes his fingers a few times and shakes his hand, but nothing changes. In fact, it seems to get worse as the tingling numbness is now climbing up his arm.
Megumi can feel himself beginning to panic, his breath picking up along with his heart rate. He’s not sure what’s going on, nothing like this has ever happened before. Maybe he just needs to wait it out. Or maybe he should go to the hospital. Maybe he’s dying. Probably not. He thinks there would be more going on if he was dying, but it’s just his arm that’s being weird.
While he’s lost in his anxious thoughts, the tingling continues to spread. Now his whole arm up to his shoulder is numb and he can feel the tips of his fingers on his other hand tingling, too.
As he stares at his hand that’s just beginning to go numb, too overwhelmed to do anything else, his hand disappears.
That’s not quite right. He can still feel the tingling so it can’t be gone. Megumi moves his hand to make sure it’s still there. It definitely is, but he can’t see all of it.
He moves his gaze all around his room, breath catching in his chest when he realizes that he can’t see how he could before. A blank spot sits in the center of his vision, obstructing his sight.
Tears sting his eyes as his panic increases tenfold. He has no idea what to do, and this is a lot scarier than it was only moments earlier.
All at once, Megumi remembers that he’s not alone.
He wrenches his door open and runs to the kitchen. He ignores how pathetic it makes him feel, this is just proving that they were right and that he really can’t take care of himself.
“Gojo!” Megumi yells, too panicked to be properly embarrassed by the fear in his voice. Gojo immediately appears in front of him.
“What happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Gojo asks as he frantically checks Megumi up and down.
“I can’t see!” Megumi cries through a stuttering breath as tears fall from his eyes and over his cheeks. Gojo crouches down and places his hands on Megumi’s shoulders.
“Megumi, I’m gonna need you to take a deep breath, okay?” Gojo says before taking an exaggerated breath. Megumi does his best to copy him, breath hitching from his tears. His mind is still nothing but panic and fear, but the instruction gives him a task to try and focus on instead.
“Okay. Now, what’s happening?” Gojo asks once Megumi’s breathing has turned into something steadier than it was. Gojo keeps his hands on Megumi’s shoulders and the warmth of them helps reassure Megumi.
“I can’t see,” Megumi says again, voice thick, “I can only see the edges of your face when I’m staring right at you. The middle is just blank. There’s nothing there,” Megumi can feel his breathing start to speed up again and more tears slip from his eyes, terrified that he’s going to lose his vision permanently or completely. He didn’t even do anything. He was just sitting in his room.
“Breathe, Megumi,” Gojo reminds him as he moves one of his hands to rub up and down Megumi’s back. Megumi takes a deep breath, comforted by Gojo’s touch.
“Was there anything else, or is it just your vision?” Gojo asks. Megumi nods.
“My arm is numb, like it’s asleep,” Megumi answers, wiggling his arm a little. He doesn’t like the persistent tingling that he can’t do anything about. It’s incredibly uncomfortable and impossible to ignore.
“Does your head hurt?” Gojo asks. Megumi blinks at the unexpected question.
“No,” Megumi says immediately before stopping to think about it. He closes his eyes and focuses his attention on his head, “well, maybe a little?” Megumi corrects. There’s no throbbing pain or anything, but there is a little bit of an ache present, just enough to be noticeable
Gojo nods, “sounds like a migraine,” he says.
“A migraine?” Megumi asks with a sniffle. He thought those were just really bad headaches and his head barely hurts. How is this a migraine?
“Yeah. Here, blow your nose,” Gojo offers him a tissue. Megumi has no idea where he pulled that from and he’s not going to think about it. He takes the tissue with a muttered thanks, glad to be able to get the snot off his face.
“It’s just your brain gettin’ a little silly with it. You should be fine in a couple hours. I’ll get you some medicine,” Gojo stands back up and goes to rummage through the medicine cabinet.
“Hours? I’m not gonna be able to see for hours?” Megumi asks. He’s relieved to know that it’s not permanent, but he’s still not prepared to have to spend hours like this.
“That part should clear up pretty quick, actually. But if your head hurts, that’ll last a couple hours at least,” Gojo says, returning to Megumi with a glass of water and something held in his other hand. Megumi takes a moment to blow his nose, trying to not think about how weird it is to be using his arm like normal without being able to feel it like normal, before responding.
“Are you speaking from experience?” Megumi asks. The way Gojo speaks so matter-of-factly about it makes Megumi think that he’s personally familiar with it. He doesn’t see why else Gojo would have this kind of knowledge on the subject.
“Yep. Now, take these,” Gojo takes the used tissue from Megumi and swaps it for what he’s holding, pressing the items into Megumi’s hands. Thankfully, Gojo places the glass of water in Megumi’s hand that isn’t completely numb so there’s no worry of him dropping it. He can’t even tell that something is in his other hand through the pins and needles he feels.
“What is it?” Megumi asks, shifting his gaze to see what he's holding. There's two pills resting on his palm.
“Painkillers,” Gojo says as he tosses the tissue in the trash.
“I’m not really in any pain though?” Megumi’s statement comes out like a question. Sure, he can feel a little bit of an ache in his head, but he doesn’t think it warrants painkillers.
“If it hurts at all, it’ll only get worse, in my experience,” Gojo says with a shrug. Megumi takes the medicine. Usually, he’d be more skeptical about all this, Gojo often spouts nonsense, but he’s been surprisingly serious so Megumi will trust him this time.
“Do you feel up to eating?” Gojo asks when Megumi finishes the water and hands the empty glass to him. Gojo turns and sets it on the table behind him before returning his gaze to Megumi.
Megumi shakes his head. He’s too bothered by this whole situation to eat right now. Plus, he ate something on the way home from school so he’s not even hungry yet.
Suddenly, feeling returns to Megumi’s arms. The tingling disappears with no warning, leaving a strange warmth behind for a moment before that disappears too. Megumi flexes his fingers and moves his arm and everything feels like it should.
“Figured. You wanna take a nap, then?” Gojo asks. Megumi makes a face at that.
“I’m not five!” Megumi protests, immediately distracted from how nice it is to be able to feel his arm again. He doesn’t need a nap, he’s not a baby. He doubts he’d be able to fall asleep like this anyway.
“And? That doesn’t mean you can’t take a nap. I do it all the time and I’m not five,” Gojo says, crossing his arms.
“Could’ve fooled me,” Megumi mutters. Shockingly, Gojo doesn’t react to the retort. Instead, he crouches down in front of Megumi again.
“Seriously, you should get some sleep if you can,” Gojo says, expression lined with concern. Megumi, thrown off by the uncharacteristic reaction, simply stares at Gojo. He quickly notices that he can actually see Gojo. His vision is normal again, no more blank space in the center. Megumi looks all around him, making sure that he really can see like normal. Everywhere he shifts his focus is fully visible, and he feels like he can breathe easy again.
With the restoration of his vision comes a pulse of pain through his head that has him wincing. Megumi looks back at Gojo. Gojo definitely noticed the wince, but he doesn’t say anything, just keeps staring at Megumi with that concerned face. It’s making Megumi kind of uncomfortable.
Megumi nods, unsure how else to respond. This whole situation has really put him off-kilter, and Gojo’s reaction isn’t helping. Although, he’s not sure that Gojo’s usual kind of reaction would be helping either.
“Good. You go do that,” Gojo pats him awkwardly on the shoulder before standing up. Megumi nods again and heads back to his room.
Megumi changes into more comfortable clothes and then tucks himself into bed. His head has begun to throb with a vengeance, easily already the worst headache he’s experienced. It comes and goes in waves and Megumi tosses and turns, unable to find any relief. Every time he thinks he might be able to relax, the pain ramps up again.
As he’s lying there trying not to lose his mind, the door opens and Gojo steps inside. Megumi watches, eyes squinted in pain, as Gojo comes over and sits on the edge of Megumi’s bed, turning his body to face him. Gojo reaches up and lays a cold cloth across Megumi’s forehead. Megumi flinches at the temperature, briefly thinking Gojo came here just to torture him, before relaxing at how it helps distract from the ache. His eyes close before he realizes it.
A hand settles on the top of his head, gently massaging it, and Megumi relaxes further, soothed by Gojo’s careful touch. His head still hurts just as much as before, but the other sensations give him something else to focus on. His eyes feel weighed shut as exhaustion suddenly envelops him.
Despite the persistent throbbing in his head, he slips into a doze. He becomes aware in spells, always accompanied by the pounding in his brain and a hand in his hair, before slipping back into a fitful sleep every time.
Eventually, he wakes and is able to stay that way. The aching has reduced to an easily ignorable level, barely humming in the back of his mind. Gojo’s hand is still gently rubbing his head and Megumi refuses to move for fear of Gojo stopping if he notices that Megumi’s awake.
Megumi keeps his eyes closed and his breathing steady. He gets the feeling that Gojo knows he’s awake anyway, but Gojo continues his ministrations without a word and Megumi is more than content to let him. Megumi basks in the pleasant treatment he’s receiving from Gojo as it pushes him back towards the edge of sleep.
“You need to eat something before you fall asleep again,” Gojo says, disrupting the silence. Megumi simply hums, too comfortable and tired to even think about moving right now. It would be so easy to just roll over and let sleep reclaim him.
Unfortunately, his stomach doesn’t agree with him and lets out a growl in protest. Megumi feels his ears warm and slaps Gojo’s hand away from his head as he sits up, ignoring Gojo’s chuckling.
“I’ll go reheat dinner,” Gojo says, ruffling Megumi’s hair as he stands up. Megumi gives him his best unamused stare and Gojo laughs again before leaving Megumi’s room.
Megumi checks the time. It’s already after eight, well past dinner time. Did Gojo actually stay with him for hours? Megumi’s not sure what to do with that, Gojo taking care of him and helping him. It makes him feel strange. Kind of mad, but also kind of happy? It’s also not something he’d like to examine too closely right now, so he shoves it down to think about later.
Megumi’s stomach rumbles again and he exits his room, ready to get some food.