Chapter Text
FUSHIGURO MEGUMI.
"You have twelve hours. Do not change anything. Let the past stay as it is. Do you understand?"
"I know how this works, dude!"
"Not what I asked!"
Megumi groaned as he dropped his hand to his side, far away from Yuuji before he could get the ideaa to touch his hand before they finished this conversation.
Yuuji followed the movement with his eyes, teeth digging into the skin of his lips as he held back a grin.
It was as infuriating as it was charming—trying to stop the smile from forming on his handsome face. The one that alway made his dimples show and the skin around his eyes crinkle; an expression Megumi had grown rather fond of during the past few years.
They had things to do, though. Itadori was wrong if he thought a small smile and some giggling would get him out of this.
"So?", Megumi asked, feet tapping against the floor, impatience visible on his face as he glared at the other. One of his eyebrows was raised in what he hoped seemed condescending enough to get the other to repeat his words, but knowing Yuuji, it would later probably just earn him a stupid comment about how Megumi was acting like he was his mother again.
"But—"
He cut Yuuji off before the other could continue any further, grinding his teeth in an attempt to stay as composed as possible.
"We won't start until you repeat it"
Yuuji rolled his eyes, although there was a fondness behind it that Megumi couldn't miss. It made his face feel slightly warmer, but the feeling was quickly dismissed and not acknowledged.
"Don't change the past, listen to everything Megumi says, keep in mind that I only have twelve hours, don't get distracted like last time, and so on…", Yuuji finally listed off, tapping his fingers for every rule. He grinned widely as he finished, tongue pushed against the back of his teeth as he waited for Megumi's approval.
What he had said was all correct, but Megumi wished that he didn't have to feel like Yuuji wouldn't follow it anyway whenever they did this. There were some rules that were meant to be broken, but not when it came to time travelling.
Megumi sighed, shoulders dropping as he brushed his fingers through his dark hair, the strands of his bangs not staying out of the way for long, before falling in front of his eyes again.
Maybe he should let Yuuji and Nobara cut it again soon. It wouldn't necessarily look good, but it was free and he didn't care much about it anyway.
"Glad to know you're aware of the rules", he said, threateningly shoving his fingers in Yuuji's face, "now make sure to actually follow them, Itadori"
"Order some food and I'll think about it!"
"Itadori, I swear—", Megumi punched Yuuji's shoulder, voice raised despite his initial plan of staying calm and not letting his friend's childish behaviour get to him.
It was the same thing every damn time. Yuuji claiming he was able to follow the rules just fine, not listening at all, and then he would still end up breaking them in one way or another.
Small things, usually. It did not guarantee that they couldn't get more dangerous, though. Things could go terribly wrong if Yuuji wouldn't start taking this seriously soon, and Megumi didn't even want to imagine the consequences they would have to face if anything were to actually happen.
"Come on, nothing has happened yet!", Yuuji exclaimed, one hand rubbing the spot Megumi had hit, hissing as he put too much pressure on it.
Idiot.
"Don't let that get to your head, Itadori. I won't help you if anything happens"
It was a lie and they both knew it, but Yuuji didn't seem bothered enough to point it out and instead, very maturely, stuck out his tongue.
He dodged the fist Megumi was swinging at his shoulder again, laughing as he took a step back.
"Let's hurry up, they're showing the human earthworm movies on TV later", Yuuji said, as if he hadn't been the reason this took way longer than it had to in the first place.
Both raised their hands, exasperation and misplaced joy contrasting on their faces.
"Those movies suck"
"They do no—"
There was a clap as their hands met, and then Yuuji vanished.
━━━━━━━━━ ✦
Silence filled the photo shop as Megumi let himself drop onto the sofa, one arm slung over the headrest and the photo they had been given earlier in his other hand. Kuriyama—the woman who had hired them—had come into the shop this morning with it, almost not wanting to let it go.
Her fingers had stayed on it as long as possible when she had passed it to them, despite having been reassured that she would be getting it back once they were done.
The light of the afternoon spilled into the room through the windows, painting it in its warm colours.
The light brought no comfort to Megumi, but there was little time to think about himself right now. The momentary silence as Yuuji adjusted to the situation made it difficult to not let his thoughts wander, but there were no excuses for not being concentrated when he kept scolding the other so much for it.
He looked at the photograph again. Two women embracing each other. They had been friends since childhood, Kuriyama had said. Both in their twenties, smiling brightly at the camera. The picture had been taken in 1997.
Her friend had died shortly after the picture had been taken. Car accident. They had parted ways like it was nothing; like they would see each other again. A goodbye way too casual for it being the last one they would get.
Kuriyama wanted to tell her that she loved her one more time; that's she couldn't imagine a friend greater than her. That's why she had come to the photo shop. Why she had followed the rumours about what they could do.
"Ready?", Megumi asked into the empty room, eyes trained on the photograph held between his fingers.
It was what they did, after all. Dive into the past, deliver messages that wouldn't change the future (if Yuuji would listen for once) and then come back to the future. It was as simple as that in theory, although much more complex for those who actually had to do it. Especially when your partner seemed to not want to cooperate anymore whenever it was getting important.
"As ready as I can be!", Yuuji responded, the voice only audible in Megumi's head, although he was sure that judging by the sheer volume of Yuuji's voice, anyone who tried hard enough would be able to hear him.
"Good. Let's do this then"