Chapter Text
Opening the front door to the apartment, Sukuna stepped into the threshold of the mudroom— slipped off his work shoes and hung his coat on the rack.
He'd just gotten home from a long shift. Unfortunately his day wasn't so great. So he was grumpy, tired and definitely not in the mood for anyone's bullshit for the rest of the night.
And by anyone, he meant Yuuji — his roommate.
Walking towards the living room, the first thing he noticed was the luminance coming from the tv.
Typical. He thought. Yuuji was always on the God damn TV, watching his stupid shows.
When he entered the living space, he didn't even glance at the animated screen.
“For fuck sake Yuuji, turn it down. I don't want to listen to whatever you got going.” Sukuna grumbled irritably.
Yuuji barely looked over his shoulder. Swaddled in a blanket and hot chocolate in hand.
“It’s not even that loud this time.” He argued back. Though more whinny than upset.
Sukuna responded from the kitchen, the sound of the fridge opening ‘n closing, “I don't care. I've had a rough day. I don't want to hear your loud, over-exaggerating gamer videos.”
Yuuji rolled his eyes and mouthed off an inaudible response. Though he reached over and grabbed the remote and decided to put on something with less excitement.
Scrolling through his YouTuber subscription list, he noticed one of his favorite tubers had just posted a new video forty-five minutes ago.
A smile lit up on his face and he called over to the other man in the other room.
“Hey! —Kuna, come check this out!”
A loud frustrated grumble could be heard from the kitchen before Sukuna stepped into View — a lychee soda in hand.
“What?” He asked flatly.
Yuji sat up a little, reaching over to pat the cushion beside him.
“Sit, sit. I have a channel I want to show you. I think you'll like it.” He said eagerly.
Sukuna didn't move at first, he turned to the TV —A user profile was up on screen. Lifewithmemi. Just at a glance, he could see a couple thumbnail videos that read— Cozy Vlog, My mourning routine, so on and so forth.
A scowl screwed up on his face. Though before he could say anything, Yuuji clocked the disgusted expression written on his face.
“Don't judge it yet. You have to at least watch one of his videos. They're really good and quite comforting,” He started.
“Memi just does day in a life videos. They're really calming and I believe you'll enjoy it. Maybe it'll relax you too.”
Sukuna shook his head immediately and pouted his lips. “Yeah no. Watching someone else's cozy life—while mine is shit, doesn't particularly interest me.”
Yuuji didn't respond right away, instead he pressed play on the latest video. “Just shut up and watch. Give it a chance. You'll be surprised.” he insisted.
Reluctantly, the tattooed man took a seat on the plush couch cushions. The relief off his feat was immediate and he knew for sure he wasn't getting back up any time soon.
When the video started, the first thing that was heard was light jazzy, lofi style music. It wasn't loud or flashy, it just gave the video a subtle beat.
Bubbly text appeared on screen, it read — Sunday Cleaning Vlog. Then it faded into an area of a house that could only be assumed a bathroom.
Then a voice was heard. Calm, soft-spoken but not airy.
“Good mornin’ to everyone. Today is cleaning day. As you know, I always have to start my new week with a fresh house.—”
Sukuna listened to the guy on screen speak and at the same time he had his own commentary about it.
“I don't understand what's so appealing about these kinds of videos.” He muttered, while gesturing to tv. Though his eyes never once pulled away.
Yuji sipped on his hot chocolate and shrugged, “Well personally I just really enjoy the atmosphere, y'know? It feels safe. So it makes me feel safe.”
For once Sukuna took a moment to glance in Yuuji's direction. “I see…”
A pause. His attention is pulled back to Memi gathering a basket full of laundry and dumping it into the machines. The sound of a plastic scoop digging into the detergent made for sense tingling ASMR. —And the way he pepper shakes it around the lumps of mono-colored fabric.
“And so like what? You're basically saying watching this guy doing day to day chores around the house makes you feel a certain way?” Sukuna inquired, still a bit puzzled by the concept.
Slowly nodding, Yuuji leaned over to set the mug on the coffee table. “Actually yeah. It does.”
With an arch of his brow, the tatted man pried for better explanation. “Okay—— what is he making you feel now?” he asked.
Yuji watched the video for a moment. Watched Memi organizing random items in his kitchen cabinets and wiping down white marble counters.
“Well, I actually feel like cleaning right now. I probably won't, but the days I do, I'll turn on something like this. It just gets me into that spring cleaning kind of mood. Just in the middle of winter.” He chuckled.
Then he turned to Sukuna, arm rested on the back of the couch. “What about you? How is it making you feel?”
Sukuna was oddly caught off guard by the question. He wasn't quite sure how to answer that.
His gaze flickered from Yuuji and then back to the young man on screen.
Opting to watch a little more before giving his answer.
Memi was now reorganizing his living bookshelf. Setting a few on the coffee table at asymmetrical angels to give off a contemporary look.
It was so domestic. Almost intimate in a way.
Sure, he didn't fully understand why anyone would allow the world to see this much into their personal life. Regardless he could not deny the tension he felt before was slipping away.
“I suppose if I had to put a label on it. It makes me feel…placid.” He admitted quietly, as through trying not to be heard.
A big fat grin spread across Yuuji’s face, “ I knew it! I told you I'd like it.” He laughed.
Sukuna’s head snapped in his direction, “I never said that!” He snarled.
“You didn't have to. You're encouraged with it. Which is a good sign. It means you're interested.” Yuuji declared.
Sukuna's upper lip curled up, nose screwing up like a snarling dog. Fuck you. He thought. He hated it when Yuuji was right. Though he'd never admit it out loud.
Turning his attention back to the video, the next thing he knew Memi had transitioned them back to the laundry room. Then tastefully cut them to their own personal couch and showed him folding each piece of clothing.
The way he narrated his actions in between light banter was amazingly fluid. Every tuck, smoothed wrinkle and carefully placed articles of clothing was precise.
It amazed Sukuna how one would take such consideration into doing the bare minimum. And when the video panned to Memi putting away his belongings in his bedroom drawers, each one was color coded. Neat. Even.
It got to the point that Sukuna stopped drinking his lychee soda. Instead he leaned over the couch, elbows rested on his knees. He was actually paying attention.
By the end of the video, Memi did his closing speech.
“—if you stayed towards the end, I just want to say, thank you. It means a lot that you enjoy my content. And as always, I'll see Wednesday for our evening live streams. Memi, out.”
And then silence.
Sukuna didn't say anything, he inhaled through his mouth and exhaled through his nose. “Welp…I'm going to bed.” he stated simply.
Yuji glanced over, opened his mouth before closing it just as quickly. He wanted to pry, but he figured he should just leave it at that.
“Yeah, I should hit the hay myself. Thanks for humouring me though. I hope you liked it.” was all he mentioned.
A low ‘hmph’ sound could be heard from him. Rising from his seat, Sukuna adjusted the collar of his shirt to loosen it. Already getting ready to strip for the night.
He didn't say goodnight or make any further comments, just straight to his bedroom.
Upon arriving, Sukuna did his usual nightly routine. Take a quick shower, brush his teeth and change into his pajama bottoms. Climbing into bed, the pink haired man laid on the foam mattress, got comfortable and then pulled out his phone.
It was common for him to put something on while he tried to fall asleep, because for him, sleeping without background noise makes it a rough night.
Scrolling through the device, he skimmed each video to determine if they interested him or not. Some of the ones he clicked on he'd change the speed to 2x because he didn't watch it. All of it was just too slow for him.
After what felt like hours—just thirty minutes— Sukuna stopped for a moment. His mind wandered back to the earlier video Yuji had shared with him. The soft music, the gentle voice, the subtle ASMR. All of it sounded appealing right about now.
“Fuuuck…what was his name again?” He spoke to himself out loud.
Gripping the phone, he tapped the search bar, proceeded to type random key words that might trigger the algorithm to remember.
He typed lifestyle, ASMR, cozy, cleaning— anything under sun, but unfortunately there were so many other people who did the exact same thing, it was harder to find a smaller creator vs the big ones.
Sukuna was starting to get frustrated. Not on the phone, but at himself for not remembering. For not paying attention for the first few minutes of the video.
That's when he decided to take to Instagram. Which for a second thought he was silly for doing. However, it was his best bet, because he could go through Yuji's following list. That soft-spoken prick has got to be among the many celebrities that Yuuji follows, right?
After another thirty minutes, Sukuna finally found him. Lifewithmemi. Before he could even stop himself, he had tapped the guy's profile faster than he'd realized.
And his page was filled with cutesy type photography. Each one is different from the last. Some were food related, others were of himself and then it turned out that he had two dogs—Kuro and Shiro.
As he scrolled through the feed, he stopped on one photo. A top down view of Memi. He was wearing an oversized sweater, knitted with chunky yarn. A thick scarf was wrapped around his neck, partially hiding his rosy cheeks.
Sukuna couldn't stop staring. Why did he look like that? The thought wasn't meant to be disrespectful, but his brain couldn't register that a human being could even look so—soft?
He tried to back out of imagine, but as he did so, his thumb double-tapped the screen without realizing it— before it was too late.
A red heart bloomed on screen.
Sukuna's thumb froze. Eyes growing wide and face turning red. It was an accident. I didn't mean too! He scolded himself.
“Fuck..”
In his panic, he tried unliking it, believing that if he continued to rapidly tap the screen it would fix the issue. Rather it made it worse. Next thing he knew the image was dropped into his saved file.
“God damn it!” Sukuna cursed, slamming the phone into the comforter. Running ahead through his hair, he tried to give himself a second to breathe.
“It's fine.. it's fine. He probably gets a shit ton of likes anyway. This?—This is nothing.” he tried telling himself.
For now, all he could do was just leave it as is.
Picking his phone back up, Sukuna scrolled back to the top of Memi’s profile. Reading the bio that has extra links to more content pages.
Sukuna hesitated only for a second, then with self assurance he opened the link.
The website opened up and shared all of Memi's socials.
Lifewithmemi on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch and Tiktok. Plus another thing. Something called the wishlist. Sukuna didn't open it up, his thumb hovered. Instead of investigating further, it got filed away. Something worth saving for a rainy day.
However, another thing drew his attention. Less scary in hindsight. The very thing he came for. The YouTube channel. It was familiar enough.
Opening the funnel to Memi’s YouTube channel. Once he opened that door, the first thing Sukuna noticed was the scheduled video countdown.
For a livestream set to start on Wednesday at 7:30 pm.
just as Memi had announced during the end of his Sunday Cleaning Vlog.
Sukuna didn't really need to watch that. He had plenty of material to watch that he hasn't yet seen, but something about interacting with a person living a different life through the other side of the screen felt—exhilarating.
I could just..get notified of it. He thought. No harm in that—right? That's what he told himself.
But wait. Sukuna realized he didn't have a YouTube account. And all his social media pages had his real name. He didn't want to expose himself by engaging with lifewithmemi’s content. Especially during a live stream. One he was sure Yuji would be watching too.
“Shit. What should I do?” he asked himself.
Though the answer was easy. Just make a new account. Not just for YouTube—but for all of them.
Yeah. That's exactly what he could do. A safety net. A barrier that protects him from the world. Sukuna wasn’t afraid—not really. Still, it was a sense of comfort. A zone he wishes not to leave if it could be helped.
Either way, the decision has been made, and it did take a long time for him to get everything set up, but the hardest part was finding a username. Most were already taken, so that was frustrating.
Plus he really didn't know what to be called. It took a moment of him just sitting there, staring at his phone or objects in the room to give him ideas.
Finally something came to mind. Sukuna just so happened to glance at his wrists, nothing having two symmetrical black bands around them. He also had the same ones on his upper forearm, along with other black sigils. That's when a light bulb dinged in his head.
Stripez. That's what he could be called. Sure it's not original, but it's simple, yet eye-catching. It took a couple modifications, like str1pez_666 was technically his user ID, but the display name would be the one he chose.
So with that, Stripez was born.
And the first person he consciously follows is Lifewithmemi. His one and only following.
Sukuna hits that notification button without giving himself a chance to reconsider.
With a heavy sigh, Sukuna ran hand through his hair and decided it was finally time to go to bed. Picking a random video, he let the bouncy lofi melodies serenade him.
Eye-lids growing heavy, pulse slowing and breathing settling. Sukuna allowed Memi’s velvety utterance to entice him into slumber.