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It was Monday evening.
Mondays were the day Megumi decided to choose as his T-Shot day. It felt right to him. Tsumiki told him once that everyday of the week belonged to each planet, and that Monday was for the moon. Maybe doing them this day would help him with the 'transformation' process in some metaphysical way.
Or maybe it was just because it was the start of the week and it was an easy flow.
It wasn't often he got to come back to his room and just sit in the silence. No running around or chattering that could be heard from outside. Megumi didn't know when he started to like the quiet.
Taking a deep breath, he started ripping open the supplies he had laid out beside him in bed carefully. Starting with the base of the needle, then the drawing tip. He rolled the vial between his hands to warm it up before swabbing the top with an alcohol pad.
His pajama bottoms were already pulled down to his knees, leaving his thigh and briefs exposed.
He prepped the part of his thigh he decided would be the stabbing sight today and did the drawing process, changing over to the smaller injection needle tip. Popping the cap off and setting it aside, he carefully nudged the liquid up with the plunger til a drop of it was almost coming out.
It's all starting to become second nature to him. At first, he couldn't even bring himself to stab into his thigh right and it took half a hour for him to even prick himself. Megumi just ended up stabbing two or three different spaces just enough until they bled, not enough to get the needle in. After so much frustration, he had to swallow down his pride and ask Gojo to do it, or else it wasn't going to get done.
Gojo ended up poking fun at him about it, until he seemingly stopped due to Megumi's eyes watering up and voice shaking when he told the man to shut up. The tone then changed to Gojo ratting off about the first time he did his shot, and how he felt and noticed his body reacting to the new hormone being added into it.
"It might go straight downstairs and get all tingly."
"Ew!"
"I'm not messing with you! It did for me. Just warning you."
"I know all I need to know about that, dumbass."
"Okay, okay!" Gojo laughed. "You think that, but they don't always warn you about certain things. At least it's gotten better since I started."
It is thanks to Gojo that Megumi's had such a smooth process with this in the first place, he figured. Megumi doesn't know all the details of how he managed to get hormones as easily as he did, mostly due to Gojo not including them. All he knows is they have the same doctor signing off on their prescriptions. And that he wouldn't want to know how much harder it is if he didn't have someone like Gojo to call in favors and sweet talk the right people, or whatever.
Back to Megumi's room, the door swung open and his eyes widened, almost flinching to the point of stabbing himself somewhere random on his thigh in a similar fashion as his first ever attempt.
"Fushig-" Itadori started before stopping, his feet following suit.
They both sat and stood respectively in silence for a few seconds, staring at each other.
And this went on, for sure for too long.
"Are you-"
"What have I said about barging in?!"
Megumi leaned over, grabbing the throw pillow on his bed and covering his exposed lap up with it.
"It was unlocked."
Megumi sighed heavily, already having internalized the blame toward himself anyways the second he heard the door open. His reaction was to try and override the embarrassment.
He slipped the gap back on the needle before he grabbed and balled up the wrappings from the supplies in his fist, tossing the tiny ball toward Itadori. It missed horribly, losing momentum and falling a whole foot in front of him.
"That makes it better?!"
"Are you okay?"
The softness in which Itadori asked that made warmth trickle inside of his chest.
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Is this a diabetic thing?"
"It is not," Megumi spoke quieter, dropping his eyes down to the needle.
Thickness was building in the air, invisible heaviness pressing down on his shoulders and chest.
"You're not… Hurting yourself?"
"No," Megumi groaned out. "It's not-" He tried to reel in frustration seeping inside him. "It's not street drugs or anything like that you're thinking. It's medical."
He fidgeted the now capped needle between his two fingers, noticing heat flaring up over his whole upper body.
"Do you want me to leave?"
His first thoughts was to tell Itadori to leave when he first entered the room. Now that he was here though, Megumi didn't want him to. Swallowing hard, he simply shook his head.
Itadori must have taken that as a que to walk all the way in and sit on the floor in front of him.
"What kind of medical stuff? I don't know everything, but with my grandpa-" Itadori paused.
Megumi's focus drifted to Itadori's face, his eyes now looking down to the floor.
"I might know some things or have heard of it, is all I mean."
Megumi's chest tightened, heart hammering. Today was the day he gonna tell him, right now he was gonna have to tell him.
Wordlessly, he reached over to the vial and held it out to Itadori. As if this would be some easier way to break down the door than saying it himself.
Itadori took gentle hold of it, the brush of their fingertips sending tingles into Megumi's and up into his arm. The other boy held the vial up to his face, reading the label off to himself.
Megumi watched him closely, an uncomfortable sweat breaking out over his back and chest when he saw Itadori's eyes widen the slightest for a second.
"Okay, I see," Itadori spoke softly.
Itadori started cradling the vial in his palm in a way that made the warmth in Megumi's chest spread.
That warm feeling inside of chest and the uncomfortable heat over his outer body were stark contrasts.
It was just a glass item with liquid inside, it wasn't a huge deal. And yet, something about the way Itadori held it so gently felt like he was holding a part of Megumi in that way. In a way, he was. That substance was going inside his body, changing his brain and body into a thing more fit for him.
He scolded himself for diving in deep about something that was just an action. It was what it was.
"See what?" Megumi asked, unable to help himself from trying to pry more out.
"Hormone shots."
"Is that a problem?" Megumi grumbled, reaching out and snatching the vial out of his hand.
He hoped he framed that question and set of actions in a way that didn't make it obvious he wanted to hear from Itadori's mouth if it was an issue or not. It'd been this long without telling him and it could ruin everything in a flash.
Maybe Itadori will say it's not a problem, and then slowly start treating him differently, even subconsciously. It's one of the things Megumi wanted to avoid.
"No, not at all," Itadori spoke calmly.
Does this change anything?
Do you still look at me the same?
How do you look at me, anyways?
"Does it hurt to do?"
Itadori's question broke him out of his spiral he almost drifted off into, swallowing hard.
"Not as long as it's done right. Some days are just poor draws, though, even if right."
"Really?"
He looked up to Itadori, who had his head tilted to the side slightly. Heat formed over Megumi's cheeks. Cute. Damn it.
"Uh, yeah."
"Like, how?"
"Is it really that interesting?" Megumi tried to play off the line of questioning.
"It is to me."
A breath hitched up into his throat, managing to cover it up enough to pass it off as a deep breath and sigh.
"There was a month when I thought my pain tolerance went to shit. Turns out I was rushing and wasn't letting the alcohol dry on my skin, so I was just…" He mimicked stabbing motions. "Alcohol into a fresh stab."
"Sometimes you stab and you can tell it's gonna suck, so you have to take it out before you fully break down into the skin and try again somewhere near it. Sometimes it goes down a little deeper to where the muscle or whatever is sore for a few days after."
Itadori was nodding his head, looking at him in a way that felt like he was being fully soaked up.
"Can I… Watch you do it? Is that weird to ask?"
Megumi's heart thumped harder and harder, glancing down to the pillow he had covering his exposed thigh.
"Fine."
Itadori's eyes widened before his eyebrows twisted seemingly in a mix of surprise and confusion.
"Huh. I was expecting to get hit for that one," Itadori said with a small laugh.
"I still can," Megumi stated.
He moved to pillow to one side, showing his previously prepped thigh while covering the other. He reached over to his small box of supplies, getting another alcohol wipe. Tearing it open, he rubbed down the same area of skin as before. It was probably fine, he just wanted to be safer than sorry.
Plus it gave him something to do than focus on Itadori here right now, about to watch him inject himself, and how he was not only allowing it, but that he wanted to share this moment with the other boy.
Megumi fanned his leg, keeping his eyes down to it. After a moment, he grabbed a chunk of his skin between his fingertips to give him enough cushion to do the injection.
When he glanced back up to Itadori, needing something other than his leg to look at, when noticed the other's cheekbones looking more pink than usual. Megumi's brow furrowed, concern coursing over him.
"Uh, you good?"
"What?" Itadori seemed to have to peel his eyes off of Megumi's thigh to look him in the face. "I'm good."
"Are you scared of needles?"
"No! No, nothing like that. I'm used to seeing them. Needles. I'm used to seeing needles."
Megumi blinked at him in confusion, glancing around before his eyes landed onto a random part of the floor.
"Alright then."
There was a slight pain when the needle started to break past his skin, but he got it in. He cursed inside his head that today of all day's had to be one where there was more lingering pain than usual the whole time he pushed the plunger down. He kept his expression blank despite it, burying his need to hide his head in that throw pillow and scream into it; mostly from how Itadori is still keeping his eyes locked on him while doing this.
One of his hands went feeling around for the band-aid while the other held the needle in for a little longer.
"Shit," he muttered to himself. "I know I grabbed one."
"This?" Itadori spoke, reached in the floor right next to his bed and picking the band-aid up.
It must have fallen when he first snatched the pillow to cover himself. The next second, Megumi is realizing he could have just gotten another from the box, and that the nerves must have been getting to him more than he wanted them to.
"Yeah."
There was something brewing on Itadori's face, in his eyes that Megumi noticed. Like right before he's about to say something he can't hold in.
"I can do it."
Megumi's lips parted, trying to shove down the rush of adrenaline that brought up in him.
"Fine. Just do it quick."
He slowly removed the needle out of his thigh after Itadori tore the band-aid open. Like that, goosebumps shot up over his leg from feeling Itadori's fingertips brush against his skin when he placed the band-aid over the spot gently.
Itadori stared down at it for a few seconds, before looking up at Megumi from the floor. He was closer now, way too close, exactly.
"Like that?"
Megumi's face flared up with heat, hoping and praying that no color showed up on his face to make it obvious.
"How else is there to put a band-aid on?" He grumbled.
Itadori smiled and giggled, shrugging his shoulders.
Megumi's body followed suit with his face, flaring up hotter.
"You got a point."