Chapter Text
April 5th, 2020
7:42 am
Fushiguro Megumi prefers to be alone. Well, more accurately he hates having company, and in turn, he hates loud, overly confident and obnoxious people, ( sounds a lot like his caregiver )
It is somewhat a matter of principle; for as long as he has known, he was been relatively alone. When he was young, his father had left. Other than him he had his older sister Tsumiki.
Tsumiki was always the person Megumi could rely on, even when he didn't want to. Their apartment ( before Gojo took them into his care ) was never particularly warm or felt like somewhere you would want to be settled - however she made it feel lived in.
She remembered things Megumi forgot to himself; making sure there was food in the fridge and on the table, assisting him with his schoolwork, nagging at him into letting her tend to his wounds when he would fight another kid at school.
Megumi never asked for any of it; that was simply how Tsumiki was, and that made her his most cherished person.
After Gojo took him in and finally married Geto, he was also aquatinted with Geto's children, Mimiko and Nanako. He sure as didn't love them as much at Tsumiki ( not that he would say that to them ) however, he did find company in the two as well.
Even now, in college, when him and his sister technically lived separate lives, she remained the closest thing he had to stability. She attended a university across the city, yet somehow still found excuses to visits by his dorm two or three times a month. When she couldn't take the train across the city, she would check up on him over the phone and stay with him no matter how dull the conversation was.
And strangely, Megumi did not mind her company.
Tsumiki was one of the few people capable of pulling words out of him without forcing them there. Conversations with her never felt demanding; she would speak enough for the both of them. She never pressured him or urged him to talk.
She simply understood him.
When Megumi gets stressed during midterms, Tsumiki notices immediately. When he is irritated, she could tell from the tone he talks with. When he is exhausted, she would tell him to go to sleep and make him a green tea.
It embarrassed him sometimes, how easily she read him.
But if Megumi hated loud people, hated crowds, hated relying on others, then Tsumiki existed as the sole exception to every rule he had ever made for himself.
But exceptions, Megumi had learned, did not last forever.
That was the issue of relying on people, even slightly. Eventually they left the room, ended the call, went home, got busy, moved forward with their own lives — and all that remained afterwards was the silence waiting underneath.
Rain pressed softly against the windows of the dorm building while the sky outside dissolved from the early blur or sunrise to misted, muted clouds. Most students were still asleep despite the hour; Megumi could hear birds echoing somewhere outside his window, distant leaves rising and falling as the wind pressed against trees, cars rumbling briefly against the tarmac outside before disappearing again.
The lamp on his desk cast a dim yellow glow across scattered papers and half-finished notes while casting soft shadows across his posters and DVD racks. A jacket lay abandoned near the foot of his bed, textbooks stacked unevenly beside an empty convenience store cup that had long since gone cold.
Megumi himself sat alone in his bed, knee locked and aching as he waited for nothing in particular to interest him.
The exhaustion from the past few weeks had begun settling deeper into him lately, not the physical kind that disappeared after sleep, but something quieter and harder to shake loose. Midterms, socializing, lectures, applying to collage — every day blurred together until even simple conversations with his caregiver started feeling draining.
Fushiguro had always dealt with it by isolating himself, it was routine and not uncommon to the people around him.
This way, people could not disappoint him if he kept them at a distance; it was simple.
Still, his thoughts felt unusually restless, unable to settle properly no matter how quiet the room became. He had attempted studying earlier only to reread the same paragraph repeatedly without understanding any of it. Eventually he had given up entirely, letting the textbook remain open beside him untouched for nearly an hour now.
The wired headphones softly played Radiohead, the lyrics barley interpretable through the way the were they half draped over his neck and threaded through his mirage hair.
As the songs shuffled through his favorite artists, he tilted his head back against the side of the bed and shut his eyes briefly. The dorm room smelled faintly of damp walls and wet air drifting through the cracked open window in the corner of his eye.
The dull lyrics passed through Megumi's ears without him actually listening, willing him too and close his eyes again, allowing the music to drown out the restless thoughts circling endlessly in the back of his head. Why couldn't I get a singular dorm? When is my roommate even arriving? Exhaustion sat heavily beneath his skin lately, not enough to force him to sleep but enough to leave him constantly irritated, constantly detached from everything around him.
The dorm was small, barely large enough for two people despite technically being assigned as a shared room. One side remained mostly empty except for untouched furniture and a bare mattress still wrapped partially in plastic waiting for whoever had been assigned there. Megumi had intentionally avoided looking at the roommate information sent to him weeks ago. It's not like he is going to befriend the other, he knew they would irritate them eventually.
Megumi's half of the room looked considerably more lived in, a few unpacked boxes sat stacked loosely beside the desk while clothes remained folded only halfway near the foot of the bed. Posters still waited rolled beside the wall untouched, and several DVDs rested beside the small television near the window.
Truthfully, he had not wanted to come here at all.
College had been less his decision and more something expected of him. Gojo insisted he “needed the experience,” while Tsumiki claimed it would be good for him to spend time around people his own age.
As if that was somehow supposed to sound appealing.
Megumi exhaled quietly through his nose before allowing his head to fall back against the wall behind him once more, his eyes slipping shut as the rain continued its steady rhythm against the murky window. The sound blended softly with the music drifting through the headphones around his neck, creating the sort of atmosphere he usually preferred.
Unfortunately, the campus itself refused to stay quiet for very long.
Even from the third floor of the residence hall, Megumi could still hear the distant sounds of move-in day carrying through the rain outside. Suitcases rolled unevenly across wet pavement below the building while car doors slammed shut every few minutes, followed almost immediately by loud conversations from parents helping their children settle into dorm rooms that would inevitably become filthy within the month.
The semester had not even started yet and Megumi already felt exhausted by it.
He had never understood why people treated isolation like it was something unhealthy, being alone was easier, simpler. Being alone did not ask questions from him, nor did it demand constant participation the way people always seemed to.
People exhausted him eventually, ( some faster than others )
His dorm room itself remained relatively untouched compared to the chaos undoubtedly happening elsewhere throughout the building. One side already looked lived in ( as much as it can be considering it is Megumi ) with several posters still rolled against the bedframe waiting to be plastered up properly, though Fushiguro had not found the motivation to bother yet.
The other side of the room, however, was almost completely empty.
His roommate had meant to have arrived shortly after Fushiguro had ( Megumi arriving early to claim his preferred side of the room ) however, with only 2 days left before term and lectures officially start, they are no were to be found.
A bare mattress sat untouched and stiff on the opposite bedframe, the desk and wardrobe crammed beside it sitting spotless ( except for the empty boxes Fushiguro had stacked there in a haste with no-where else to store them ). All students who were set to dorm with someone had been sent an email regarding his assigned roommate, yet Fushiguro has intentionally skimmed past them whilst glossing over his emails. There wasn't any point in leaning anything about someone he had no intention of getting close to.
Eventually, Megumi’s attention drifted back toward the window blurred with rain that sat beside his desk, his gaze unfocused as another song melted quietly into the next through the tangled headphones. The music barely registered anymore, existing more as background noise than something he was actively listening to, though perhaps that was exactly why he liked it. It filled the silence without demanding anything from him.
Outside, the morning weather had only shifted into something worse.
Bursts of rainwater slid uncoordinated down the dormitory window while the trees lining the campus pathways bent stubbornly beneath the wind, leaves shivering every time another gust swept through the courtyard below.
Fushiguro watched briefly before looking away again, he just could not imagine willingly choosing to share space with strangers so enthusiastically. People were a distraction, a hindrance. People invaded your personal life, managing to slither into his time and consciousness; not learning how to be truly quiet. They were a burden, and that was simply it.
His eyes dragged toward the untouched side of the room once more.
Truthfully, part of him had almost started believing whoever had been assigned here simply was not going to show up at all. Two days remained before lectures officially began and the space opposite him still looked exactly the same as it had when he first moved in.
Megumi honestly preferred it that way,
The room felt calmer with only one person occupying it, more tolerable.
Unfortunately, Fushiguro had learned long ago that silence rarely lasted forever.
Only a few moments later, a loud crash suddenly echoed somewhere down the hallway just a few meters away.
Megumi shut his eyes immediately and sighed, something close to dread curdling in the pits of his organs.
" You have - what? You have to be kidding me! "
An unfamiliar voice spoke, ( presumably to them self ) before being followed by clumsy stumbling and what sounded unmistakably like multiple heavy objects hitting the floor one after another.
Fushiguro, through the noise of his headphones, picked up on a quiet grunt before the person likely began to move their load.
Fushiguro already felt exhausted, he didn't need his roommate showing up this early into the morning.
The commotion continued somewhere farther down the corridor for several more seconds before gradually moving closer, accompanied by awkward footsteps and the scraping sound of something heavy dragging unevenly against the floor every few moments.
Whoever it was sounded completely incapable of carrying their belongings properly, what an idiot. Fushiguro was already dreading having to have a roommate, and he sure hopes it wasn't this guy.
Another loud thud rattled against the wall outside, knocking Megumi's lamp shade and casting thrashing shadows across the dimly lit room.
The noise continued approaching until eventually it stopped somewhere directly outside his dorm room, shortly followed by a brief silence.
Then ( unsurprisingly ) came the distinct sound of gravity taking it's place in the universe.
" Not again, nonono- "
The thump of a suitcase hitting the floor was unmistakable, as well as the sigh that led after. This guy, whoever he was, was going to agitate Megumi to death.
" Shoot, where are the keys? "
The rustling of fabric and , most likely being dug through to search for the one thing needed for his roommate to get into the actual dorm.
Outside, the person shuffled before hesitantly knocking on the dorm door. Three polite rasps that will change the direction of Fushiguro's time in College.
" Uh … this is room 213 right? D'ya mind opening up, m' sorry! "
Megumi stared toward the ceiling for a long moment, visibly debating whether ignoring the situation entirely would somehow make this interaction easier and force the other to properly look for their keys.
Unfortunately, the chances of that happening seemed low.
" I can see you're in there you know, the lights on. "
Megumi finally pushed himself reluctantly off the bed, the ache in his knee flaring briefly as he crossed the room toward the door. The headphones slipped fully from around his neck now, music continuing quietly behind him while rain tapped steadily against the windows nearby.
The moment he slid the rusted latch off and opened the door, it was as if the sun had pushed through the clouds to make a clearing for sunlight. The person ( angel? Greek god? ) was radiant.
Damp ( adorable ) pink hair clung messily against his forehead from the rain outside while the sleeves of his bourbon orange, oversized fleece had been pushed unevenly up his arms, displaying his muscles. His muscles !!
Megumi himself done his fair share of working out, going to the local gym at least once a week with his premium pass Gojo had insisted on purchasing. He was fairly toned, although pretty slim.
The person however, draw droppingly muscular. His arms were plentiful, peeking out from under his sleeves and leaving no room for the veins prodding out of his bronze skin. And his thighs, even though he was wearing fairly baggy jeans, you could still see how thick with muscle they were.
He looked around Fushiguro's age, though noticeably shorter by a couple centimetres from the way he was standing so close, and despite very obviously struggling with the suitcase he was holding ( instead of setting on the floor for some apparent reason ) and multiple bags, his expression somehow remained bright ( and cute but Megumi wouldn't be acknowledge that )
The second both of their eyes met, the stranger smiled without effort.
" Oh ," he said, visibly relieved. " Okay good, I thought I got the wrong room for a second there! "
Fushiguro himself, did not return the same enthusiasm and stared at him silently.
The stranger adjusted the slipping bag against his chest again before continuing casually, entirely unaffected by the lack of response.
" I'm Itadori Yuuji, " he explained, " I think I'm your roommate, unless you don't live here. You probably do though! Right? "
All he replied with was a silent nod, immediately understanding that the peace and quiet he had spent the past week enjoying was officially over.