Chapter Text
Megumi was going to have to kill Nobara about ten times, by his current count. Once for suggesting he give her most ludicrous idea in a while a try. Thrice for every time she pushed him to go until he agreed to be here. And now six times for every guy that had hit on him with a horrible pick-up-line at this godforsaken speed-dating event.
At least he didn’t have to look any of them in the eye for longer than a few minutes when he countered their obscenities with cold indifference.
You do martial arts? Oh, you can flip me on my back anytime.
You’re a vet? I’ll be a good boy for you.
And so on, and so forth, though the last one was the first that managed to make him feel physically ill. He didn’t want to think about … whatever that dude was implying … when speaking about his adorable animal patients that had way better manners than anyone here.
What made it worse, of course, was that Gojo was here too, having the time of his life whilst throwing a few questioning looks Megumi’s way every once in a while.
The scheduled hour for the event finally, finally comes to an end, and Megumi doesn’t stick around to find out if any of the guys he offended today will try to come back for seconds. Instead, he leashes up his dogs which he was thankfully allowed to bring inside – it was one of the very few topics of conversation he actually enjoyed, though he and the guy who mentioned it didn’t really click on anything else – and steps outside into a golden autumn day, waiting for his guardian. Well, ex-guardian. He’s in his late twenties. It’s not like Gojo actually still holds any legal power over him, and yet, he still successfully bullies his way into Megumi’s life. And he lets him.
A small part of him thinks that it’s nice someone – besides his sister – cares, but he’ll be damned before he ever mentions that to Gojo. It’ll make him more insufferable than should be humanly possible.
He doesn’t have to wait long – one of the remnants of Gojo being responsible for him in his childhood seems to be that he always know where he is – until the white-blonde exits the bar with a last, roaring blast of laughter behind him that almost makes the windows shake.
“Aw, Megs, that was hilarious! Thanks for letting me tag along.”
“Like you’d have accepted a no …”, Megumi grumbles, but there’s no bite to the words as they start walking to Gojo’s car. Not really.
“Excuse you, I am perfectly capable of accepting a no. I just also know when you mean it and when you don’t.”
Megumi opens his mouth to protest at that, but Gojo has already continued. “Anyway, did you enjoy yourself? That guy who wouldn’t stop yapping about his record-breaking amount of hookups truly was something.” He winks at Megumi, who feels himself smile just a little, despite everything.
“Most of those were … pretty bad, huh?”
“Pretty bad is an understatement. We must have missed the disclaimer in which they warned us about scraping the bottom of the barrel here.”
“Please tell me it’s not like this everywhere. All the time.”
It’s not like Megumi would know. He hasn’t really dated before – not interested in it in high school, too busy for it during university and also perfectly content with simply being around his close friends. Only when he took a much more intense liking to one of his university professors than any of the others, it dawned on him why he’d never even considered dating Nobara. Or any of their other female friends.
Though, since Megumi would rather die than ever come onto one of his professors, he got over it. Finished his degree. And has now, that he has had some time to mull it over, decided he’d like to give dating – or at least meeting people – a try.
Just his luck that Nobara used that to promptly scare him off with her stupid ideas. Maybe a whole hour of talking to a different stranger every few minutes was a tad ambitious. He might try one of those apps. Or just give up on this altogether until his social battery has recovered.
“I promise you, it’s not that bad everywhere”, Gojo interrupts his thoughts. “There are some great, perfectly normal people out there, and a lot of them would worship the ground you walk on. This was just a fluke – and to be fair, some of those in there were really okay. Just – no sparks flying, if I’m reading you correctly?” Gojo winks at him behind his sunglasses and Megumi only nods. “This whole speed-dating-thing also just usually attracts the more direct types, so we could have maybe foreseen that it wouldn’t be your crowd. Better luck next time.”
Megumi sighs. “I’m not sure I want there to be a next time.”
“Then that’s alright, too. No one is going to force you to meet anyone, Megs. You can also just enjoy your life, and if you happen to accidentally meet someone that improves it – not adds labour, or stress, but really just makes it better – then you can decide to give it another go. If you want to. It also took me a while to get back into it, after … everything.”
This is uncharacteristically earnest for Gojo – he must be referencing the friend-best-friend-maybe-something-more who he lost touch with after high school, who only ever makes an appearance in their conversations if Gojo’s feeling particularly glum – or particularly drunk. So Megumi decides to not shrug him off.
“Thanks, I guess.”
“Anything for my favourite protégé! Now, is there anywhere I can drop you and your monstrosities off?”
“They are Alaskan Malamutes and if you refer to them as monstrosities one more time, I won’t speak to you for a month.”
“You wouldn’t!”, Gojo shouts, clutching his chest, then quickly quiets down. “I’m sorry. They are real beauties. See, they can tell that I was joking.”
True to his words, the two dogs seem completely unbothered by Gojo insulting them, leaning into his hands when he scratches them behind the ears. “Whatever. I don’t need a ride, I think I’ll walk, we all need a bit of movement. See you around?”
“Alright, Megs. Take care.”
Gojo pulls him into a brief hug that Megumi only half-heartedly resists, then jumps into his way too overpriced sportscar and waves happily as he drives off.
Megumi stills for a minute, just to breathe. In, out. In, out. No more annoying strangers. Nobody prodding him with invasive questions or undressing him with their eyes. Not even somebody he just has to struggle to keep up a conversation with. Just him, Kumo and Kage, the way he likes it best most nights.
Most.
Definitely today, he thinks, deciding on a lengthier route across a park that he doesn’t go to that often because it’s usually crawling with kids. With the cooling weather and darkening sky, it shouldn’t be too bad now, though.
He’s correct, as there’s only one faint set of voices, a little girl sitting on the swing set and begging to be pushed higher, papa, higher, whilst the man behind her gives her just enough momentum that it doesn’t get dangerous.
Normally, Megumi would have walked straight past them, maybe acknowledged them whilst already forgetting their faces in the next few seconds. Normally, Kumo and Kage are very well-behaved around strangers, especially children, they know not to scare them. Normally, he can hold the dogs back when something catches their interest, since he knows what gets them to bolt.
Not this time, though.
As if both dogs had decided they absolutely had to put a disastrous end to his bad night, they jump forward at the same time – as if it were a coordinated attack, did they plan this telepathically? – dragging Megumi down into the grass and with him before the leashes slip through his fingers.
He knows that they aren’t aggressive, so he’s not worried about them biting the girl or her father, even now, but he still bolts to his feet as quickly as possible whilst they bound for the dad, who does not even hesitate for a split-second and steps in front of his child. Tails wagging excitedly, the dogs straight-up knock him over, ignoring Megumi’s commands to stop it right now. Megumi can only hope that he won’t get sued for a broken tailbone.
“I am so, so sorry, oh my God, Kumo, Kage, come here! Right now! They are usually so well-behaved, they don’t bite, they know not to jump, I don’t know what’s gotten into them – I’m so sorry.”
He finally manages to get a hold of both dogs and to pry them of the stranger whose torso and neck they have been excitedly sniffing. “Are you alright?” To his immense relief, the stranger doesn’t seem too upset, just a little surprised before a laugh breaks out of him. “Yeah, I’m alright. No harm done, don’t worry about it.”
He takes the hand Megumi offers him, then immediately turns around to his daughter who has been watching the whole exchange, seemingly not scared, but excited instead. “Are you alright, princess? They didn’t touch you, did they?”
The little girl pulls up her nose, for some reason sounding disappointed. “No.”
“Alright, good …” He lifts her out of the swing, hoisting her on his hip like she weighs nothing, which she probably does. Megumi’d be surprised if she was older than five. She looks a lot like her father, though, the same, almost pinkish hair – is that natural? It has to be, maybe it’s just a really light red – and brown eyes, though hers are a shade darker than his. And she’s, of course, way smaller. Whilst he is about Megumi’s height, but a lot broader in the shoulders. As far as Megumi can tell under the jacket, at least.
“I really am so sorry”, he repeats, again, because he is ashamed. Not just as a dog owner, but as a vet, he knows how dangerous it is to be unable to keep your dogs under control, even if they mean no harm and simply want to play.
“Hey, it’s really alright. I pulled a long shift at the restaurant today, I probably smell like a mixture of several delicious snacks.” The smile still hasn’t left his kind face, even though a hint of fatigue is showing now.
“They haven’t had dinner yet, so that could be it … Still, that was dangerous and irresponsible and it won’t happen again.”
“That’s a shame”, the stranger replies, which makes Megumi blink whilst trying to process the words. “I love dogs and so does Miyu.”
“We want one”, the little girl chimes in, her voice earnest for someone so young. “But papa says the apartment is too small at the moment.”
“It won’t be forever”, the man says to his daughter, even though a pained expression is spread across his face. “Someday, we’ll live in a big house with a garden for three dogs.”
It seems like such an intimate, raw moment that Megumi feels like he’s intruding, but he’s not exactly sure how to disappear without making everything monumentally awkward. So instead, he can hear himself saying, “You can play with them for a bit if you want to – I promise they will behave from now on.”
“Really?” The child’s eyes go comically wide as her gaze flicks between her father and the dogs who are now sitting by Megumi’s feet, the picture of angelic innocence. “Please, papa, please, please, please, I want to, I want to …” The man hesitates for a second, fixating Megumi with a look that asks if he’s absolutely sure, and he nods.
“We’ll stay beside you, though. And what do we say?”
“Thank you”, the little girl gasps out, though her eyes are locked onto Kumo and Kage already. She’s lowered to the ground and carefully extends her hand for the dogs to sniff, who seem to take a liking to her immediately and lay down on the ground to be more accessible for scritches.
Miyu squeals in delight, everything else seemingly forgotten, and the man besides him relaxes when it becomes apparent that the dogs have no further intentions except for getting thoroughly spoiled.
“She could probably ride on one of their backs, if she wanted to …”, Megumi mumbles, more to himself than anyone else, but her father shakes his head rapidly.
“Please don’t give her any ideas or I’ll never know peace until she’s done it.”
“Headstrong child?”
“Mhm. Not that I’d have it any other way.” He smiles at her with such sincerity, completely different from the laugh he directed at Megumi before, and something in him thinks, I want him to smile at me like that.
Ahem.
What?
Megumi quickly decides to switch topics. “I’m Fushiguro Megumi, by the way”, he introduces himself, since the dogs and Miyu have already gotten acquainted with each other. So he might as well.
“Itadori Yuuji. I haven’t seen you around here before, did you just move?”
“No, I usually just walk a different route.”
“Lucky for Miyu, then. And me. What brought you here?”
Megumi tries not to read too much into that added And me. It is very likely sarcastic, since Itadori got jumped by his dogs on sight. Unfortunately, it distracts him so much that the truth tumbles from his lips. “I was at a speed dating event …” Then, when he realises how that sounds, he quickly adds, “It was my best friend’s idea, she basically forced me to do it. She owes me big time, it was a disaster, I haven’t heard this many bad pick-up-lines in my life.”
“You don’t happen to mean the monthly event at the Green Room?”
Megumi’s eyebrows shoot up. “You know it?”
Because that means that Itadori knows at least something about the queer scene around here. Which is … just good to know.
“I went there with a buddy of mine once. It was fine, but I get what you mean, you get a real mixed bag over there. And I swear, some of the guys there really only attend to see how many innuendos they can get away with.”
“It definitely felt like it”, Megumi sighs. They look on as Miyu pets the dogs for a few more minutes, until Itadori tells her softly that it’s time to go. She protests, but blinks tiredly at the same time, so the fight she puts up ends as soon as her head rests on his shoulder.
“I’ll see you around?” Itadori raises his hand in what seems to be a greeting before he hesitates, then gestures towards Megumi’s forehead. “Can I …? You’ve got something in your hair.”
“The whole time?!” Megumi blushes indignantly, but Itadori has already gently plucked a piece of bark mulch from his face.
“I only just noticed, you’re good”, Itadori quickly reassures him, then smiles a little sheepishly. “Good night, Fushiguro.”
“Good night.”
Megumi tells himself that his voice has gone soft at the end because he doesn’t want to wake the dozing Miyu. There is no other reason.
And yet, the next day, he walks the same route and keeps an eye out for pink hair at the park.