Work Text:
“You’re late,” Maki complains as Toge walks into the common room. She throws a rice ball at his head, and he just barely manages to pull his hands out of his pockets in time to catch it. “And after we went to all the trouble to get you onigiri.”
“Konbu?” Toge asks, skeptical.
“Well, no, not just for you—but still, I would have thought you’d appreciate it. I texted you thirty minutes ago to get your ass out here. Were you sleeping?”
Toge snorts, moving past her so that he can sit on the counter to eat. He uses one hand to hoist himself up onto it, then raises the other to his ear to make the sign for ‘phone call’.
“Calling someone?” Itadori pipes up. He and Nobara are sprawled on the couch, phones in hand, while Megumi and Panda lean over a chessboard on the other side of the room. It’s all very domestic, with the last of the evening light outside streaming through the windows and turning the floorboards a warm hue of brown.
Toge nods, and Maki laughs openly. “I should’ve assumed,” she says. “Yuuta always keeps you so long.”
“Yuuta?” Itadori asks, tilting his head. “Isn’t that the Okkotsu guy Todo mentioned? The special grade training in Africa?”
At this, Nobara perks up as well, and her and Itadori peer over the back of the couch to look at the second years in the kitchen. “The guy who stopped us from going to Kyoto!” She adds, and Maki snorts.
“Shake,” Toge confirms. He unzips his high collar to take a bite of the rice ball, signing his gratitude to Maki before he forgets. She waves him off.
“Wait, a phone call? How do you…” Itadori trails off, as if perhaps realizing the question is a bit rude. His eyes flit unbidden to the cursed seals on Toge’s mouth, and Toge makes sure to smile at him in reassurance. He sticks the rice ball in his mouth in order to sign, ‘mostly we video call.’
Itadori nods in understanding. “I see,” he says. Then, his face brightens. “Cool, though! I want to meet him!”
Across the room, Megumi groans. “Don’t waste his time, please. He’s probably crazy busy.”
Itadori pouts. “But he has time to call Inumaki-senpai?”
In unison, Maki and Panda burst into laughter, but Megumi just sighs. “Yeah. That’s already bad enough.”
Toge chews on his rice ball and watches the others, feeling a gentle warmth in his chest at the easy interactions. ‘You can meet him next time we call, Itadori. I’m sure Yuuta won’t mind.’
With Itadori inevitably crawling his way up towards “special grade”, it would probably be good for the two to meet, anyways. And besides, Toge has a feeling that Itadori’s boisterous and friendly personality would work well with Yuuta’s more reserved nature.
“Really?” Itadori asks, grinning. “Okay!” Then, he turns back to look at a video Nobara leans over to show him, and Toge focuses on the meal in front of him. Across the room, Panda cheers and puts his paws in the air, declaring a very loud checkmate.
It’s almost a week later when Toge and Yuuta’s schedules finally line up again. Due to Nobara and Maki’s training and Panda’s tea with Yaga, Toge decides to just sit in the common room. He curls up on the couch and presses the call button, pointedly ignoring the way his heart speeds up in excitement at the prospect of seeing his friend.
It only rings a few times before a beep sounds and Yuuta’s face fills the screen. He looks tired but healthy, dressed in a simple black shirt and a glow to his skin that suggests a recent shower. The bags under his eyes are even darker than Toge remembers them, his hair slightly messier than usual. Toge can hardly hide how immediately his heart bursts out of his chest at the familiar sight, overwhelmed with the sudden urge to reach out and touch him, to hold Yuuta in his arms and press his nose into that soft hair. If only he weren’t on the literal other side of the world.
“Inumaki-kun,” Yuuta greets, a grin splitting his tired face as his eyes dart across the screen, obviously taking in Toge’s appearance as well.
“Konbu,” Toge says, lips quirking up at the edges. He’s forgone any sort of face cover, like he usually does when he’s at home and on call with Yuuta. “Okaka?”
Yuuta chuckles and reaches up to scratch his neck. Toge’s eyes follow the movement, trying not to think about how large that hand is. “I’m doing good, just tired.”
Toge makes the sign for ‘I know’ and raises his eyebrows pointedly, earning a scoff from his friend.
“Are you bullying me about my eyebags? Again?” Despite his affronted tone, Yuuta doesn’t seem very upset at all. In fact, there’s a soft little smile on his face, and he sinks back against the headboard of his bed as if he’s only just now allowed himself to relax. He looks comfortable, safe, and Toge feels warm at the thought.
“Takana,” Toge says with a half-smirk, tilting his head teasingly. Don’t worry. They’re kinda hot.
Yuuta freezes, as if not sure he’s understood correctly. A light blush rises to his cheeks—he’s always so reactive, so fun to poke at—and his eyebrows furrow down ever so slightly. He opens his mouth as if to say something, but a sudden voice interrupts him.
“Oh, Inumaki-senpai, you’re still here!” Itadori greets loudly as he enters the room, immediately honing in on Toge and walking over to see what he’s doing. “What’re you up to?”
Wordlessly, Toge holds up his phone and points at it. Itadori leans over his shoulder to squint at the screen.
“Hey! You must be Okkotsu Yuuta! I’m Itadori Yuuji.”
Yuuta gives a polite little wave and an amiable smile. “Sukuna’s vessel. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Itadori laughs sheepishly. “Yeah… all good things, I hope.” He vaults over the back of the couch in order to sit next to Toge, keeping one arm on the back as he sprawls out. “I’ve been wanting to meet you for a while!”
He leans closer to Toge so that they can both fit in frame, arm not quite slung around his shoulders but pretty near to it. Toge has realized over the past couple of months that Itadori is a very tactile person, and not exactly the best at recognizing personal space—but he doesn’t actually mind much. He’s not like Fushiguro, who always looks like he’s about to combust or run away anytime Itadori so much as brushes against his arm.
“Yeah, me too,” Yuuta says, but he seems distracted all of a sudden. The smile has dropped from his face. “Where is everyone else?”
Itadori yawns. “Kugisaki and Maki-senpai are out training. Well, flirting. Training. I’m not entirely sure. It’s hard to tell with those two.”
Toge snorts at that, the sound escaping unbidden, and Itadori glances at him.
“Here, senpai, I’ll hold the phone so you can sign if you want to.” Toge obliges, patting Itadori on the hand gratefully and earning a dazzling smile. “Anyways, they’re outside and Panda is…”
‘Having tea with Yaga,’ Toge finishes for him.
“Yup,” Itadori agrees, evidently recognizing the signs for ‘tea’ and ‘Yaga’. “So it’s just me and Inumaki-senpai for a while!”
“Very cool,” Yuuta says. He looks awfully stiff as he sits, though, the comfort from before having vanished. Toge is a little confused, furrowing his brow in worry. Is Yuuta nervous around a new person, maybe? He seems to have gotten more self-assured while he was away, but he is still the same boy, after all…
Or maybe Yuuta is less recovered from his most recent mission than Toge assumed?
‘How did your mission go?’ Toge asks, trying not to let his concern show on his face.
“It was fine,” Yuuta responds. “Much longer than it needed to be… I made a stupid mistake early on and missed my chance to kill the curse in the beginning. But we got it in the end.”
‘Of course you did,’ Toge signs. Maybe Yuuta really is just feeling frustrated from a prolonged curse hunt. ‘Are you hurt at all?’
A stupid question, really. With Yuuta’s RCT and Rika’s overprotective nature, there’s no way that he’s walking out of any reasonable curse fight with so much as a scratch on him.
“No,” Yuuta assures, eyes crinkling with a smile as he realizes that Toge is worried about him. “It was probably a Grade 1 by Japanese standards at most. It’s hard to tell, though.”
Toge nods in understanding, but Itadori makes a hum of confusion. “What do you mean?”
‘Curses vary vastly based on the region they’re manifested in,’ Toge explains, making sure to sign extra slowly for his kouhai. ‘They’re influenced by the culture and history of an area, so Yuuta encounters many different curses with his travels. It’s difficult to rank them with the grade level we use here in Japan. Very unpredictable.’
Itadori squints hard at his hands. “I think I understand? They’re inconsistent across countries, so Okkotsu-senpai can’t rely on his knowledge of Japanese curses while he’s overseas?”
Toge smiles encouragingly at Itadori. “Shake!”
Yuuta clears his throat, and the two turn back to the screen. “So you’re learning sign language, Itadori?” There’s an odd note to his voice.
“Yes!” Itadori says cheerfully. “I want to be able to understand Inumaki-senpai like the others can. It’s really hard, though. I need him to sign super slow, and I always have to piece together what he’s trying to say…”
‘Don’t listen to him.’ Toge smiles at Yuuta. ‘He’s picking everything up very fast.’
For some reason, this just makes Yuuta’s expression darken. “That’s very nice,” he says.
“Yuutaaaa, who are you talking to?” A familiar, rumbling voice echoes through the phone. Yuuta looks up at something past his screen, surprise evident on his face at the fact that he unknowingly manifested Rika. Toge huffs, a little amused, but Itadori frowns next to him.
“What is that?”
Yuuta tilts the phone to the side and a hulking, ominous curse comes into view, smaller than usual in order to fit into the room but still making Yuuta look tiny by comparison. The large eye shakes in excitement as it registers the images onscreen.
“TOGE!” Rika croons, sinking down closer to the phone. “Toge, we miss Toge!” She pauses, going still, then leans a bit closer to the screen. “Who is with Toge?”
“That’s Itadori, Rika-chan,” Yuuta explains patiently. “He’s a friend.”
She doesn’t move, still staring at the screen consideringly, eye trembling. “We don’t know him! Why is he with Toge?”
Yuuta presses mute, turning the phone back towards himself as he says something to Rika. Toge can’t quite make out the words formed by his lips, but after a few seconds he turns back to the screen and unmutes himself. Rika appears to be gone. “Sorry,” Yuuta apologizes. “I think she’s still riled up from the hunt. I don’t know why she came out.”
Toge shakes his head. ‘It is good to see her. And you.’
Next to him, Itadori has not moved a muscle. His eyes are still wide as he stares at the screen. “What the hell was that?”
Toge realizes that no one has told him about Rika, and he can’t help the huff of laughter that escapes him. ‘That’s Rika,’ he signs, offering no further explanation. ‘She’s harmless. Well. She’s harmless now.’
Itadori doesn’t look like he entirely believes that, and he turns his head to Toge to say, “That thing is about as harmless as Gojo-sensei.” His kouhai is so close that the words brush air against Toge’s skin, causing him to shiver lightly in response.
There is a storm on Yuuta’s face, his smile tight and fake—perhaps unnerved at having accidentally summoned Rika. Toge wants to reach through the screen and comfort him, wishes he could teleport to Africa and wrap him up in a hug.
Yuuta would probably be so nice to hug, now… Inumaki can tell through their video calls and pictures that Yuuta has, well, grown. He’s no longer small and reedy, and Toge can only imagine how those newly developed muscles would feel pressed against him, holding him.
Not to say that Toge didn’t like hugging Yuuta before he left for Africa. Toge had always liked hugging Yuuta.
Suddenly, Toge desperately misses the warmth Yuuta provides. He misses watching movies with him, pressed side-by-side on the couch together. He misses sneaking into each others’ rooms after a particularly difficult mission, talking late into the night and leaning against each other in the dark. He misses going to the grocery store together, watching Maki train with Panda, running inside after a sudden rainstorm, cooking a late dinner after coming home from a risky encounter with a first grade curse.
Toge is suddenly very grateful for Itadori’s tactile nature, leaning into his kouhai in an attempt to stave off the sudden longing in his heart. Itadori seems to instinctively register Toge’s mood, arm dropping from the back of the couch to Toge’s shoulders.
“So,” Yuuta says in a way that is probably supposed to be casual but comes out incredibly strained. “What do you have planned for tonight, Inumaki-kun?”
‘Itadori and I are going to make dinner for when everyone gets back,’ Toge signs. ‘Probably watch a movie.’
“Ah. That.. sounds fun.”
“Shake.”
“Yuuta!” A voice calls from the background of Yuuta’s side. Toge recognizes it as Miguel from the many times he’s heard him in the background of their calls. “What the hell is going on? Your cursed energy is stinking up the whole house!”
Yuuta sighs, a sharp little exhale, and reaches a hand up to run through his hair. It’s getting long. “Sorry, I have to go. Call me later, Inumaki-kun. Alone.”
Toge can hardly hide his disappointment at such a short call, but he nods nevertheless. “Okaka, Yuuta.” See you later. I miss you.
Upon hearing his name, Yuuta’s face breaks into a genuine smile, eyes lighting up. “I miss you too, Inumaki-kun. I’ll see you soon.” His smile tightens a bit. “It was nice to meet you, Itadori.”
Itadori waves fervently into the screen. “You too, Okkotsu-senpai!” Then, he pauses, furrowing his brow. “Wait, Inumaki-senpai, did you just say his name? You can do that? Since when? Can you say my name?”
Looking at each other, both Itadori and Toge miss the way that Yuuta’s face drops into something downright deadly, dark eyes boring into Itadori.
“YUUTA,” Miguel shouts from the background. “Seriously, what the hell!”
Yuuta abruptly hangs up the call.
“So you met Yuuta today?” Maki asks, wiping sweat from her brow as Nobara leans against her, panting dramatically.
“Yeah,” Itadori confirms, mixing the soup they’re cooking on the stovetop.
“What do you think?”
“He’s so cool! You can tell he’s powerful even just talking to him. But he’s kind of really scary, too.”
“Okaka!” Toge exclaims, turning around in surprise. What are you talking about?!
Itadori rubs the back of his neck. “Well, I feel like he was glaring at me the whole time! I couldn’t say anything right!”
Toge waves his hand dismissively. “Konbu.”
“No, seriously, Maki-senpai, it was like he wanted to kill me! And then there was that terrifying special grade curse–”
“He brought out Rika?” Maki interrupts, furrowing her brow. Nobara lifts her head up in confusion.
“Rika?”
“Yeah!” Itadori exclaims. “And it loomed over the phone and everything! So threatening!”
Toge shakes his head. ‘He just had a bad day, I think. Itadori’s being dramatic.’
“No, I’m not!”
Maki looks between Toge and Itadori, watching them cook dinner together, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Oh,” she says. “I see. Poor Yuuta.”
“Huh?”
“Okaka?!”
“He’s an idiot, of course,” Maki continues. “But I can’t help but feel bad for him.”
“What do you mean?” Nobara asks, ever the one to hang onto every word that Maki speaks.
Maki doesn’t explain, just sighs and crosses her arms. “I’ll have to talk to him later. For being a special grade sorcerer, he sure is a fool. It’s amusing, honestly—maybe I’ll let him suffer for a bit before I say anything.”
“Okaka??”
“No, I don’t think so. That’s for you to figure out. Come on, Nobara, let’s go wash up. I’m hungry.”