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Yuji Itadori was no class clown, but he was absolutely the type to make friends easier than most. The kind of kid who used to offer his crayons if you were missing your ‘Mango Tango’, and chewed on them absently once you returned the colors. His pinkish hair drew the attention of giggly girls who poked and pulled, and his gritty demeanor kept most boys by his side for full school years and even beyond. He had whole assemblies of friends, more often than not, and then some.
That’s why when Yuji transferred to Urami Junior High in East Saitama, he had no qualms leaving behind his old friends. Setsuko and the others had his number, and it was never a problem to put himself out there, all it took was a smile and a shared lunch or two, and he never minded passing his onigiri around in the first place- made extra sometimes, just to do so.
Yuji’s first few weeks at the school went about as well as he expected. Maybe even better, being that this school was close enough that he could walk to the hospital grandpa Wasuke was admitted, instead of taking the train for a stop or two. And as expected, he charmed his way into these students’ hearts like he always did, confident, kind, and a bit clumsy in a way that made teachers and students alike adore him.
All except one.
It wasn’t as though Megumi Fushiguro hated Yuji- they didn’t even really know one another- the latter just couldn’t seem to get himself onto the older’s radar.
Sure, he was a grade class above him, but Yuji made friends with students in higher grades all the time- Megumi just seemed like he had better things to do than to go around making friends with people.
Of course, it was hard to make many friends when you were known for beating people up.
That didn’t deter Yuji, though. In fact, he enjoyed a brawl or two, here and there, himself. As to why Yuji was so hellbent on becoming friends with Megumi in the first place? Well, it’s hard to explain, when the younger didn’t even really know himself.
The first time Yuji saw Megumi was admittedly in passing, but who wouldn’t be drawn to the steady, erratic thump, thump, thump of fists meeting flesh, of bodies falling and tripping over each other, heads hitting concrete. It reminded Yuji of training with his grandfather, and he was a curious moth to Megumi’s violent, valiant flame. His first thought upon seeing him, as he blew the last bully down, perching atop his spoils, was that Megumi looked like the main character.
The main character of any, if not all of Yuji’s favorite manga, Megumi had pulled out all the stops; cool poses, robin hood motivations, jet black, spiky hair. Yuji could tell this kid was the real deal from how he simply sat there, shoulders slouched inwards, his eyes, though piercing, tired and sulky, like this wasn’t what he had wanted. And yet, his eyes were bored, as though he did this every day, used to a routine that he burdened himself with. (He was so cool! Weren’t shonen protagonists’ hands always forced into duty?)
Yuji didn’t call out to him that time, but went back to class creating a backstory, a fantastical world for the older boy in his mind.
///
The first time the two of them actually speak, is fleeting, quick- Yuji didn’t even have the chance to introduce himself- Megumi had been in and out.
“Move over.”
“Huh?” Yuji sputtered, the juice box in his hand’s contents spilling over; it was clenched in his tiny fist too tightly.
“I need to get to the vending machine,” he reiterates with a sneer, and doesn’t offer a ‘thanks’ when Yuji scrambles out of his way like a spooked cat. Just gets his drink and goes, and Yuji watches without stopping him, wiping his own hand on his uniform sweater.
///
Time passes, and the only reason Yuji even knows the vigilante’s name is because he was apparently a legend at this school, an elusive, silent protector of the weaker students- he comes and he goes. Like a shadow, or so his other, nameless friends had told him.
It helped that Yuji had made nice with his older sister, too.
She thought that Yuji was just the cutest thing ever, and was in full support of his quest to befriend her little brother. And when the latter couldn’t find him, he spent a lunch or two with her, hoping that perhaps Megumi would come to see her during one of those periods, like she had said he sometimes would.
When that time came, Yuji was in a bit of a compromising position- being gushed over and coddled by Tsumiki and her friends. Not exactly the first impression he wanted to make, but what could Yuji do.
“Be nice to him,” Tsumiki told him, gentle chide and guidance, pinching his cheeks- it was like her brother wasn’t even there. “He’s not very good at making friends,” she chuckles, shooting Megumi a somewhat sly look.
Her brother rolls his eyes. “I don’t need your help,” he snaps, seemingly aloof, doesn’t spare Yuji a glance.
Yuji takes this rare chance to glance over Megumi, though. Up close, he exudes even more main character energy. His uniform was askew, loose, speckles of blood on the collar, and Yuji watches silently as Tsumiki fusses over him, until he doesn’t.
“I’m Yuji, by the way!” He beams, holds his hand out for a shake that doesn’t come.
“Megumi,” he introduces himself dismissively, like that was all Yuji was going to get out of him- and it was.
Before Yuji could think to set his very friendly traps, Megumi was gone.
Of course, now that Megumi knew that Yuji existed, all the younger had to do was get this kid to stop scowling at him.
How was Yuji going to do that? Well, he wasn’t quite sure, actually.
He started by keeping to Megumi’s heels. Following him around when he could, spotting his allowance when he came to the vending machine, even dwindling the numbers in his fights when he got the chance. It was no problem to beat up bullies, even if he couldn’t tell his grandfather about it- at least Megumi wasn’t telling him off.
One day when they’re flexing their bruised knuckles, Yuji hands Megumi a towel as they head back inside the school.
“I don’t need your help,” he tells Yuji in a very familiar way, but accepts the towel, wiping the sweat that was stinging his eyes.
“I know,” Yuji replies easily. “But it’s not like you’re telling me not to help, either.”
Cheeky.
Megumi shrugs him off as he heads to his next class, but Yuji had been right, the broodish boy never snapped at him to ‘get lost’, never growled about how the bullies were his prey. He just let Yuji… be. They both got used to sharing the space of bruises and victories, eventually, but the scowl as days passed, remained.
This wasn’t enough for Yuji. Not yet.
///
They’re having lunch silently together one day, when Yuji speaks around his bite of salad.
“What do you like to do outside of school?” he asks when he realizes he doesn’t know.
He’s never seen Megumi outside of school. He was always in his uniform, always behind the school or pressed against a random wall in the hallway. Yuji wondered about Megumi in different settings, mostly the ones he conjured up for himself, but he also imagined what he’d look like if he actually took the chance to relax, for that crease between his brows to finally unravel. He wanted to see Megumi having fun.
“Nothing,” the taller one answered, succinct and gruff.
“Nothing?” Yuji repeated indignantly. “You don’t go to the park?”
“No.”
“Video games?”
“No.”
“Movies?”
“No.”
“You really do nothing!?” Yuji could hardly believe it.
“I already said that I do nothing,” Megumi hisses. “Why do you care so much?”
Yuji shrugs. “Dunno,” he answers plainly. “But that’s pretty boring, right? You really do nothing at all in your spare time?”
They’ve both stopped eating their lunches by now, and Megumi huffs, averting his eyes, feigning nonchalance.
“I used to stargaze with my sister…” he admits in little more than a mumble.
Yuji almost doesn’t hear him at all, but over time, his senses have heightened- he attributes it to spending all this time with Megumi, watching and fighting, for both the school and the latter’s attention.
“But we don’t do it anymore, so it doesn’t matter.” Megumi groans as he stands. “And now, like I said, I do nothing.”
He stands as though to leave- lunch would be over soon- before Yuji stops him.
“If you’re free-” He wants to say, of course he is, since he’d just told him he doesn’t do anything after school. “Let’s go to the park sometime,” he suggests, throwing him that award winning smile that seemed to charm everyone else in every other school he’s ever been enrolled in.
The bell rings before Megumi even opens his mouth, and the two of them part ways from lunch without Yuji getting a definitive answer.
///
Yuji goes a few days without getting an answer, actually, and his other friends seem to notice his dampened mood, even when he seems engaged in their conversations. Sulky at lunch, not as fast when they play tag, there was something wrong with Yuji, for sure. But he shrugs it off with most of his friends, only confiding in one.
“I’ll talk to him,” Tsumiki promises, ruffling Yuji’s hair, and that’s enough for the younger boy to hold tight to his hope.
When Megumi shows up at the park that weekend (clearly forced by his older sister to be there- he was still in his school uniform, though not dirtied like it was in school- yet), Yuji tries not to let his excitement show on his face.
“So…” Megumi mumbles. “What do we do now…?” he asks, kicking at the dirt under his feet.
“We play!”
And play the two of them do, though it’s not the most fun either of them have ever had, it’s a good start.
Because from that day forward, Yuji continues to invite Megumi to play, and the latter continues to begrudgingly agree. They play at the park until there aren’t any left, see a couple of movies, and camp in the backyard. It’s undeniable that over time the two of them grow closer; Tsumiki smiles more, and Yuji notices that at some point, Megumi had stopped scowling so much. At least, around him.
Yuji can’t decipher the itchy, anxious feeling that it’s still not enough.
They’re near a creek now, blue skies, a mile of shade beneath a large tree that Yuji didn’t know the name of. Megumi probably would, if he asked him, but the latter was staring at him, the way that Yuji used to stare at him, before he got up the nerve to speak to his sister.
The wind that day was gentle, but swayed the branches of the tree they lounged beneath, speckles of light filtering over Megumi’s features, as he stared. Stared as though Yuji was the one who’d been ethereal from the start, inexplicably magnetic, like it was Yuji’s face with freckles of sunlight. And Yuji stared back, curiously.
They were sitting close together under the shade, stinging grass under their shorts and wet bark against their backs. They were breathing the same air, shoulders almost flush.
This still didn’t feel like enough.
Megumi jolts suddenly, like he realized it was silent out here, that for those few minutes it felt as though they’d switched bodies- like their roles had changed. Yuji smiles.
“You’re missing a tooth…?” Megumi says a bit dumbly, scrambles for words, anything to break through whatever film had glazed over their eyes.
“Oh? Yeah,” Yuji responds- he’d lost the tooth a week or two ago, actually, and tongued at the new one that was already growing in. “Trained too hard,” was his casual explanation.
Megumi nods and falls silent again, but turns his gaze away. “Sorry,” he mumbles. “It’s just…” the sentence trails, and Megumi sighs, raising up to his feet and dusting himself off. At this angle, there’s no more light on his face, completely shadowed. “Never mind. Want to come over for lunch?”
The abrupt switch makes Yuji laugh, and he mirrors Megumi, pulling himself up as well.
“You know I do!”
///
Megumi isn’t like the others, Yuji realizes one day.
He’s never minded contact from his friends, pats on the back, an arm slung around his shoulders, the girls pinching his cheeks- all normal things that friends did, and again, Yuji didn’t mind it. He was affectionate at heart, and found that sort of thing nice. He was close to these people.
But it seemed like these days, he was just a bit closer with Megumi. He didn’t know when he started noticing how their fingers would brush against each other’s, or when Megumi would let him rest his head on his shoulder after a long day. It seemed like more than it maybe should have been, when Megumi’s own hand reaches up to card through Yuji’s damp hair, instead of tugging on it playfully like his other friends did. Yuji was a naturally loud kid, always yelling, so he didn’t notice when silence had become so comfortable, especially when it was sitting between the two of them.
“When did you two get so close?” Tsumiki quips with a chuckle one day when she sees them sitting on the couch together, closer than need be.
Neither of them had an answer, but neither were complaining, either.
///
“Nobara can’t make it,” Yuji sighs as he hangs up the phone.
“Get off my bed,” is Megumi’s undeterred response when the shorter boy plops down onto it like he owned the place. Then, as though realizing, he adds. “That sucks, though.”
“Yeah,” Yuji agrees and gets comfortable. “But we can still have fun.”
It wasn’t their first sleepover together- wouldn’t be their last- and Yuji knows just what he wants to do first.
They start by building a fort- they need somewhere to hang out the rest of the night, don’t they- and after, it’s movies and games and snacks until their eyes turn to squares and their appetite is ruined for all of the next day. Next is getting ready for bed- they pull their sleeping bags under their fort but lie on top of them- they always seem to find new deposits of energy whenever they’re together. They chat some more, hushedly once Tsumiki announces that she’s going to sleep herself, inhaling one another’s whispered words and sharing a single blanket.
It’s a quiet night for a sleepover, the city’s sounds muted, almost muffled, like everything outside their little safe haven was miles away. And they murmured to one another like this until yawns ring out and sentences slur. Megumi was almost always the one to tucker out first, gets himself comfortable before Yuji even feels the nag of fatigue, but the latter settles in anyway, matching the taller’s pace. They don’t bother climbing into their own sleeping bags- it wasn’t too cold, but it was more comfortable huddled together like this, and Yuji watching Megumi’s words simmer, slow down to incoherency. And in time with Megumi’s lashes fluttering, Yuji flutters his own lips against his.
When he draws back, Megumi’s eyes are open again, wide enough the whites are visible in the dark.
Neither of them speak.
Yuji swears his heart has stopped beating.
Megumi’s heart is beating so fast he can feel the blood in his ears.
The silence of the night draws Z’s between them.
Without mentioning what had just occurred, the boys fall asleep in one another’s arms.
///
They don’t mention it in the morning, either. Or the next day.
They don’t mention the kiss- the ghost of one- for a long while, but the next time Yuji presses his lips to Megumi’s, behind the school, quick like he couldn’t help himself, Megumi doesn’t tense half as tightly as he had in his dimly lit room.
Yuji and Megumi don’t mention that kiss either, and Yuji doesn’t stop kissing Megumi when they’re alone.
It’s still not enough. Not for Yuji.
“Do friends usually do this sort of thing…?” Megumi asks, a breathless whisper the next time Yuji kisses him.
There was a big tree at the park nearest Yuji’s apartment- not as big as the one by the creek, but its branches were better for climbing. The two of them were perched near the canopy, the fall would be long down, but they’d jump it, and see who winced least when their legs turned to jelly and their knees were cut, thighs bruised.
Megumi’s hands were clenched tightly into the fabric of his pants, knuckles white, cheeks the same color as Yuji’s hair as his pupils trembled.
“I dunno,” Yuji answers simply, lets his dangling feet swing. “I’ve never had a friend like you before.”
Because that’s all they were, despite the more-than-friendly kisses. Friends. Despite Yuji being drawn to this boy like positive and negative, almost scientific how well they stuck together, velcro on Yuji’s sneakers. Somewhat kindred spirits, Yuji had wanted the older boy as his friend more than anything else, to be the only one, if he could. And once it’d been made possible, his hands still felt clammy in his presence, he still felt restless being away from Megumi. Yuji had never been the smartest among his friends, but he’d never be able to explain to you why just being friends with this boy would never be enough.
“I’ve… never really had a friend before…” Megumi admits quietly. He had no point of reference, but he liked being friends with Yuji, even before they started touching lips like this.
Suddenly the ground didn’t feel so far away from where they were hidden in the leaves.
“Ever had a girlfriend before?” Yuji asks, and has a gut feeling he knows the answer already.
Megumi blanches, twists up his face at what was honestly a ridiculous notion. “No, I haven’t…” he replies, and manages not to sneer. “Have you?”
“Nope.” Yuji is in his space again, speaking into his face. “Boyfriend?”
“No…”
“Want one?”
Megumi smiles. It’s sheepish- what an embarrassing question. He doesn’t know what his face is doing, nor can he control it.
“You?” he asks for clarification. Even though they’ve kissed a few times now, Megumi’s not sure he could believe it if the answer is
“Yeah.” Yuji’s smiling too. Megumi’s reaction gave him hope, and made his heart thumpthump double time.
Megumi doesn’t answer right away, but doesn’t whisper when he does.
“Sure… Yeah, okay, Yuji…”
Megumi doesn’t stammer when he’s kissed again, reward for the answer Yuji had wanted, and as Yuji’s hand twists into his shirt, he realizes that Megumi had never been like any of his other friends. He’s handsome, and strong, and he opened up to him before he had any one else. He smelled different, spoke to him more thoughtfully, and most of all, unlike any of Yuji’s other friends, Megumi kissed him so sweetly- they were one another’s first boyfriend.
And for Yuji, that was finally enough.