Chapter Text
Fushiguro Megumi had always been a natural musician.
You could put it down to him being raised in a home surrounded by it, with his embarrassment of a father figure being Satoru Gojo, the infamous music professor of Tokyo Jujutsu college. He and his sister, Tsumiki, had been taken in by the bumbling idiot when he was six years old, after their own parents up and left out of nowhere. He had been taught how to play the guitar at the age of seven by Gojo’s boyfriend, Suguru Geto, who owned the most successful Music and instruments store in the city, Six Eyes Music Outlet, which he worked at part time.
Despite his best efforts, he never escaped the stories of the two being in a band with their other friends in college. They talked about it so much that Megumi figured it must be worth the hype. Thus came the decision to start Rizumu, the band he shared with Nobara Kugisaki and Maki Zen’in.
He and Nobara had been childhood friends for years, after a haphazard meeting In which Nobara had stomped over to Megumi on the playground and declared he was her friend. She seemed like the type that you wouldn’t want to fight so Megumi let her do her thing.
Maki, on the other hand, was his cousin but had been raised in the same quirky household as him. The Zen’in family treated all the women in it like shit on their shoes so it was no surprise that they left Maki in the care of Gojo as soon as they got the chance. Despite the interesting dynamic of his family, it seemed to work for the Zen’in/Fushiguro/Gojo household.
Rizumu actually worked out pretty well, Megumi was a guitar prodigy and had spent most of his middle school days in his room writing complex melodies and experimenting with new chord combinations. Nobara, although intense and unfiltered, was a complete badass on the drums- to the surprise of nobody, she seemed to excel at most things she tried- and Maki had this awesome singing voice.
She was a deeper alto with this raspy quality that always added a lot more flavour into any song they played. She also had a natural indication towards the bass, which came in handy when nobody else at their school had any interest in the band.
Now that they had both just graduated high school, Megumi and Nobara were just about to join Maki as first years in Tokyo Jujutsu College. When he saw the live-in dorm option on the sign up sheet Megumi immediately snagged that opportunity- living with Gojo Satoru for almost two decades really starts to get to your head after a while.
He had always showered him, Tsumiki and Maki with love and countless gifts, holidays were always filled with warm fireplaces and good food, summers filled with trips to the zoo and the aquarium. Despite Gojo being the absolute overbearing menace on Megumi’s life that he was, he really had outdone himself when it came to raising them.
Yes he had been a surprisingly good parent, but that didn’t stop him from trying to intrude on any possibility of a peaceful existence for Megumi. The second he heard about Megumi’s decision to attend the same school he worked at, he called him up in the middle of Megumi’s shift to gloat about it.
“Hiya Gumi-bear~”
God he was such an idiot.
“What do you want? And don’t call me that”
“Hey that’s no way to talk to your adoring father! And after all the hard work I put into raising you kids…” he said with mock sadness “THIS is what I get in return-“
“Get to the point dumbass.” Megumi sighed, already tired of whatever this conversation could be about.
“Fine, fine. A little birdie told me that you finally decided on a school.”
Megumi took a deep breath to prepare himself for the amount of irritation this phone call would surely bring.
“…”
“Your silence tells me that birdie was right hmmm? I knew you loved me so much you just HAD to attend the same college as everybody’s favourite teacher and parent! Oh I’m so proud of my little Gumi-bear going to the old TJC just to be near his papa!”
If he had to listen to another minute of this incessant teasing he was gonna throw his phone out the window.
“Shut up. I chose TJC because it has one of the best veterinary courses in the country.”
“Ok, ok I’m sorry, I really am proud of you though, Megs! I can’t wait to see all the impressive nerd stuff you’re gonna do here!”
“Thanks Gojo.” Megumi said with sincerity.
“I also can’t wait to see if you finally snag yourself a boyfriend-!”
“I won’t be dating if I can help it.” He found that speaking matter-of-factly sometimes made Gojo back down quicker, “what makes you think it wouldn’t be a girlfriend even if I did want to date??”
“Megumi, my boy, let’s be for real.”
“Goodbye Gojo.” He said with an eye roll and yet another sigh.
“Bye kiddo. See you lateeerrr!!” He added with a sing-song tone that made Megumi want to claw his eyes out .
He pocketed his phone with a huff, Gojo really was draining when he was excited about something. He decided to get back to work and continued stocking boxes in the back room and displaying amp cables and new cymbals in the window of Getos music store, Six Eyes Music Outlet
🎸⋆⭒˚.⋆
The next day as megumi walked down the street on his way to work, he put in his headphones and let the sound of the Arctic monkeys fill his ears. It was a bright mid-spring morning and his mind was now consumed with a sudden worry about the coming school term. He still hadn’t fully wrapped his mind around the fact that he was starting college in a week from now, he came to the realisation that he was starkly unprepared.
He had no idea what the dorm system was like at Tokyo Jujutsu college or who his roommate would be. He strolled into his usual cafe, Beans and blooms, and ordered his regular choice of a vanilla chai latte (of course it was a black coffee to anybody who asked what his signature drink was).
He payed for the latte and stood by the end of the counter to wait for his drink. As he tapped his foot to the rhythm of the song playing in his earphones (crying lightning) he let his gaze wander around the coffee shop. There were fairy lights strung around the beams that hung from the ceiling as well as some flower pots and plants dotted around the room, keeping with the theme of the place.
He took notice of the other people in the cafe as well - a business man on a laptop who seemed to be working on a presentation of some sort, a young mother bouncing a baby on her knee, an elderly couple enjoying a warm drink on the slightly chilly morning and a group of middle aged women who were talking too loudly about how some kid called Katsuki got kicked off the school soccer team which was totally unfair - before he let his attention fall on a young man sitting in the corner of the coffee shop.
The first thing Megumi noticed was a bright head of pink hair with a brown undercut that fell in soft curls around his face, a really striking combination. The boy seemed to be around Megumi’s age and he was wearing a yellow hoodie, black sweatpants and red sneakers with a pair of headphones slung lazily around his neck.
The boy suddenly looked up at Megumi with Honey brown eyes that stared directly into Megumi’s own. He felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment - how long had he been staring?? - before he heard his name be called from the counter and he was forced to break eye contact with the mystery boy to collect his drink. He almost walked out of the cafe without looking back, but found himself turning his head around as he stood in the doorway to leave only to find the pink haired man looking back at him still.
He felt his face go red as he stumbled out of the building to continue his route to work - what was that about? - before falling back into the familiar rhythm of his commute. He had been working on and off at Six Eyes since he was 12, but only began getting payed at 15 when he actually needed money for the band. Geto was always really considerate with his hours so Megumi was allowed to work as little or as much as he wanted. He chose the latter seeing as though college is infamous for draining your bank account faster than you can keep up .
He removed his headphones as he stepped into the store, wiping his feet on the mat that read ‘welcome in’ as he went. He took the regular path to the back room where he hung up his black messenger bag and took off his jacket before hanging that up too.
He quickly finished his chai latte before tossing the empty container into a nearby trash can and rolling up the sleeves of his sweater. He begrudgingly put on the name tag that all the employees had to wear yet he never understood why.
Why should a complete stranger be able to call you by your first name without even remotely knowing you?
He fixed the laminated pin to the left side of his chest before wandering out into the main shop. He had a full list of things to do today that was longer than usual as Geto wouldn’t be here. Gojo had planned a surprise trip for the two of them, so while Megumi was stuck here restocking shelves and dealing with incompetent customers all day long, Geto was off having the time of his life in Kyoto.
Megumi didn’t mind though as he enjoyed the quiet time to himself. Mondays usually didn't bring many customers into the shop so he was confident he wouldn’t see many people in here.
He was in the back of the store, hanging up the new acoustic guitars they had shipped in last week and admiring them.
He picked one of them up and decided to play something since there was nobody else around to hear him. He plucked at the strings to check it was in tune - good to go - and began playing a song he had learned when he was around 10.
It was a fairly simple melody that he had always found comforting, and he sensed himself slip into that familiar zone he always went into when he played, his own little world etched into every note.
He felt the world around him begin to blur as he moved his hands over the strings, manoeuvring them to make the specific sound he wanted and he almost didn’t notice the little ding of the bell that hung from the door, signifying somebody had entered the room.
He looked up, put the guitar down and began to make his way to the front of the shop. Megumi wasn’t the best at dealing with customers, and never had been. He had no patience for people who were rude or disrespectful at all.
When he finally emerged from the aisle he had been walking down, he saw the figure that had appeared and was now browsing through music books and pamphlets lined up evenly on a shelf.
There was no way.
The person looked up at Megumi with those same honey brown eyes from the cafe and they widened with recognition.
Megumi wasn’t sure how long they just stood there and stared at each other in complete silence before he finally said, “welcome in, do you need help with anything?”.
To which the boy just smiled and uttered, “do you know where I could find a guitar pick?”.
Megumi stared incredulously - the picks were clearly displayed with a bright sign at the checkout counter.
He wasn’t sure if this guy was being for real or not so he just pointed behind him.
“They’re right there at the register…” he cautioned.
The boy looked embarrassed, like he knew he should have realised where the picks were almost immediately after walking in.
“Oh yeah, sorry ‘bout that” he said with a sheepish grin and a sideways glance.
Megumi strolled over to behind the counter where he waited for the stranger to choose a suitable pick. He never took his eyes off the boy, it was like this kid had a magnetic pull that seemed to make in incredibly difficult for Megumi to look away.
When he finally walked up to the counter with a singular pick in hand - an electric blue 73mm - he placed it on the counter and pull out some coins from his pocket.
“Thanks for all your help” he peered slightly closer to look at Megumi’s name tag, “Megumi”.
Megumi immediately disliked this guy.
”No problem, have a nice day.” He said in a rehearsed tone that he gave to all customers.
The boy let his gaze linger on Megumi for a beat before he turned around to leave. Just as he was walking out the door, he whipped his head back around to look at the now very confused employee.
“I’m Itadori Yuuji by the way!” The boy said with a wide grin as he stretched out his hand in an awkward sort of wave, cheeks still flushed pink, before stumbling out the door and into the busy Tokyo streets.
What the hell was that? Megumi thought as he put the change the boy - Itadori - had given him into the register.
The semester hadn’t even started yet and he was already tired of people his own age.