Chapter Text
Megumi Fushiguro did not directly cause his friend, Yuji Itadori’s, death, but he sure as hell felt like it.
It has been a month and a half since Yuji died, and Fushiguro hasn’t been able to stop thinking about his friend the whole time. He could have done so much more than he did at the time, and the more he imagined the other possible outcomes that could have happened, the more guilty he felt. If he had just fought harder or convinced Itadori that letting Sukuna take control of his body would end horribly, then maybe he would still be here, and Megumi could talk to him again.
He can't remember the last time it left his mind. He doesn't even escape it in his sleep, plagued by nightmares of the night he died.
Everytime he thinks about it, he can't help but feel his chest go tight and his eyes start watering up. He has experienced this feeling before, like when he was old enough to comprehend his mother's death, but that was a lot different because he never actually knew her.
Megumi loved talking to Yuji about benign things like their favorite movies, or what new fast-food restaurant opened in Roppongi, not that he would ever admit that, but still. They used to talk at any opportunity they could get, conversations always ranging largely from important training to stupid things that happened at school.
Sighing, Megumi heaves himself up in bed, ready to start his day. He has thought about this too much already in the past month; there is no use in ruminating on the situation over and over again.
Reaching over to his bedside table, he picks his phone up off the charger and opens his notifications, not that many people message or call his phone, but he still checks to make sure he's not missing out on anything. Reading over his texts, he sees a new message that makes him nearly drop his phone straight on the floor.
Yuji Itadori
Im kinda bored wanna come over and watch some movies with me or smt
Megumi looks back at the contact name immediately. Did he read that correctly? There must be a mistake or is this just some prank. Clicking on the contact, he checks the phone number to make sure this isn't just someone else pretending to be Yuji.
No, that's definitely his phone number, maybe someone else just has his phone?
How is Yuji texting him? Is this some joke? Is Megumi seeing things? Well, that is definitely a possibility since he just woke up about fifteen minutes ago. Without thinking anything out logically, Megumi presses the call button next to Yuji’s contact. After the phone rings three times, someone picks up. He hears a rustling through the phone and someone breathes into the microphone, so much for just seeing things.
“Hey Fushiguro! I was wondering when you were going to call me back!”
The sound of Yuji’s voice is enough to make Megumi gasp. Is he hearing things as well? Could Megumi be going insane, or is this actually Yuji? And if it is him, how could he possibly be alive? Megumi watched him die, saw his heart get ripped out.
“Itadori? Is t-that you?” Megumi stutters out, sitting up fully and putting his phone directly against his ear.
“Are you okay? You sound like you just saw a ghost.” Yuji says, sounding actually concerned.
So it's not just a group of pranksters. Yuji is actually calling him right now, there is no denying it anymore. He is somehow alive and talking to him, acting oblivious as ever, or maybe he's just really that stupid.
Does he not know that he's been dead for a month and a half? No, Yuji is stupid, but he's definitely not that dumb.
Whatever the reason behind this all is, Yuji had better tell him soon before Megumi loses his cool. He just goes missing for about two months, then suddenly texts Megumi asking to see a movie of all things.
Megumi tries to reel himself back in so that he doesn’t yell at his friend over the phone without understanding the full situation. He takes a few deep breaths to help himself relax, finally speaking after what feels like a minute passes.
“Yuji, how the hell are you alive?” Megumi asks slowly, still slightly angry.
A few seconds pass before Yuji breaks out in a fit of laughter, his giggles are cut off by a rough slapping sound and a loud “Ow!”. Over the phone, Megumi hears a bunch of static and other noises that sound like fight between Yuji and someone or something else. The sounds cut off after a few minutes and are replaced by Yuji breathing hard, gasping for air.
“Son of a bitch,” Yuji mutters under his breath, still breathing hard.
Fushiguro takes this time to gather his thoughts and try to figure out what the hell just happened. So, Yuji is somehow still alive? Or could this just be a really vivid dream? Megumi pinches himself quickly to make sure he’s not imagining all of this.
"Fushiguro, are you still there?” Yuji asks after a minute or two, not replying to Megumi’s previous question.
Megumi simply hums in response, at a loss for words.
“Listen, I would rather tell you in person than over the phone,” Yuji says quietly, no longer in his happy tone from before.
“Fine,” Megumi replies after a few seconds, not in the mood to deal with something like this so early in the morning, “Where do you want to meet up?” He finishes swiftly, realizing he has no clue where his friend is at the moment, only recently finding out that he was even alive.
Yuji laughs for a second before saying, “Oh! Did I forget to tell you?”
Megumi sighs at that question. There were a lot of things Yuji had “forgot” to tell him recently.
“I’ve been living with Gojo for the past month! He’s been forcing me to watch movies and make sure this little guy stays asleep; it’s been really fun! I mean, it’s fun when I can keep the guy asleep because when he wakes up, he doesn’t get too happy, but I usually can keep him calm.” Yuji finishes excitedly.
“Alright, I’ll be over in fifteen minutes, Itadori,” Megumi replied, sighing in relief that his friend was still alive, finally coming to terms with that fact surprisingly quick. Because even though Yuji has been dead for the past month and he's been grieving him for just that long, he never actually accepted that he was gone, it was a hard fact to swallow, so he just never did.
“See ya!” Yuji responds enthusiastically before ending the phone call shortly after.
Yawning, Megumi finally stands up from his bed, stretching his legs and walking over to his dresser to get dressed for the day. After brushing his teeth and fixing his hair, he heads over to his front door to put his shoes on and walk over to Gojo’s house. Opening the door, he starts his walk.
---
When Megumi arrives at Gojo’s home, he stops and knocks on the door two times before Yuji appears from behind the door and opens it, guiding Megumi inside. After not seeing Yuji for a month, laying eyes on him in person is definitely a pleasant surprise, and he can’t help but sneak glances every few seconds. Megumi notices that he is holding one of the principal’s cursed-dolls in his hands, to train using cursed energy he presumes. A moment passes where Megumi is just looking, he decides it would probably be a good idea to start a conversation instead of just peaking at Yuji and waiting for him to break the silence.
“So, are you gonna tell me how you have just been alive and hiding in Gojo’s basement for a month, letting everyone believe you’re dead?” Megumi asks, not amused by any of this.
“Uh, yeah, I should probably explain that, shouldn’t I?” Yuji responds, laughing dryly and smiling widely, “Follow me, I’ll show you where I’ve been living for the time being!” Yuji exclaims, waving his hand in a guiding motion and walking across the hallway, not looking back to make sure Megumi is following him.
After making their way down to the basement, Yuji sits on the couch and glances at Megumi, looking to the other side of the couch, inviting him to have a seat next to him.
Accepting Itadori's offer, Megumi takes the seat next to him and turns towards him, lifting an eyebrow, encouraging him to explain what has been going on for the time that he has been missing.
"Okay, Gojo told me that I wasn't supposed to let anyone know I was alive, so don't get mad at me for that, I was just following orders," Yuji explains quickly.
"Wait, so if you aren't supposed to tell anyone you're alive, then why did you text me?" Fushiguro asks incredulously, sitting back on the couch and looking around the room. There are piles of movies scattered around the room, disorganized and obviously tampered with. A movie he doesn't recognize is playing on the TV, and there are fast-food wrappers littered all around the room. Itadori obviously hasn't been doing much down here, since he couldn't even bother to clean up anything.
"Well, I might've forgotten I was technically supposed to be dead for a second," Itadori replied, laughing a little at the preposterousness of the situation.
Megumi's lips raise slightly as well before he suppresses his grin and looks back at the TV in the middle of the room, realizing Itadori still hasn't told him how he is alive. Glancing back over at Itadori, "How are you still alive? And what are you even doing down here besides rotting on Gojo's couch and watching movies all day?" Megumi inquires.
"Well, I don't exactly know how I'm alive; all I remember is that I made a deal with Sukuna and he brought me back. As for this," Itadori says, using one of his arms to gesture at the room around them, the other one holding on to the cursed doll in his lap. "Gojo wanted me to train my ability to use cursed energy better, so whenever I don't put any energy into the doll, it well, beats me up, I guess? And this doll is actually a lot stronger than he looks." Yuji finishes, putting his other arm back around the doll.
Megumi simply hums, looking back at the TV. He is still very curious about what happened over the past month, and while he doesn't yet understand everything, he is very happy to have his friend back with him. Megumi would probably never admit that, though, because of how mad he is at Itadori right now, since he didn't tell him he was actually alive and instead let him freak out and believe he was dead.
After a few minutes of staring at the movie he has no intention of actually watching, Megumi looks back over at Itadori, who happens to already be looking at him, clearly in thought about something, and thinks of something to say since he has no clue how to respond to a situation like this. Should he forgive him, or would it be more reasonable to stay angry at him for a while? Deciding that, since he hasn't seen his friend for a long time, he would rather talk to him about all the things that have happened while he was gone instead of yelling at him, for the time being at least.
"So, you said we were gonna watch a movie, what do you want to watch?" Megumi asks, deciding to move on from their last conversation.
"Oh! Have you ever watched the Hunger Games series? Jennifer Lawrence is in it!" Itadori replies excitedly, waving his hands around ecstatically. Before he notices his error, the doll wakes up and immediately throws a punch at Yuji's face, causing him to fall off the couch with an "Umph!"
Before the doll can land another punch, Megumi picks it up and puts cursed energy through it, already familiar with the training technique from doing it previously with Gojo when he was younger.
"Thanks, Fushi!" Yuji says, sitting back down on the couch and rubbing his cheek.
"It was no problem," Megumi grumbles out, not accustomed to the new nickname Itadori called him, holding onto the doll and controlling it with little to no concentration.
Itadori stands up and walks over to the piles of movies, picking out the first Hunger Games movie, putting it into the player, and turning it on before going to sit back down on the couch next to Fushiguro, slightly closer than before so that their knees are almost touching.
"Want some snacks?" Itadori offers, not waiting for an answer before reaching over to the chips on the table in the middle of the room, picking them up, and placing the bag between where they sit.
Megumi grumbles something about not even asking the question if you aren't going to wait for an answer before taking a handful of chips, turning back towards the TV before eating them.
Truthfully, Megumi wasn't actually paying attention to the movie, even though it seemed very good and was one of Itadori's favorites. He couldn't stop thinking about how his friend, whom he had mourned for almost two months, was actually alive. But most of all, he was just grateful that Itadori was alive, and that was a little scary because he didn't understand how much he cared about him until he was gone. He realized how much he had taken for granted after he died, and now that he was back, he had no clue how he was supposed to act around him.
He should probably just act as if nothing happened and move on, but the reality was that something did happen, and he wasn't just going to forget about it. In all honesty, he figured out the extent of his feelings for him while Yuji was supposed to be dead, and he didn't think that he would see him or talk to him ever again, so it didn't matter.
Sneaking a glance at Yuji, Megumi tries to gather his thoughts, inevitably failing. The lights are turned off, but he can still see him clear as day from the glow of the TV in the center of the room. It dips below his nose and hits his hair perfectly to highlight the pink and fluffy texture. He wonders if he touched it, it would be as soft as it looked.
Almost immediately after that thought, he receives a rough right hook to his cheek, halting his thoughts at once.
"Shit!" Megumi screeches, flowing cursed energy back through the doll before it can land another punch. "I really hate this stupid thing," he finishes glancing over at Yuji, who looks like he is trying to suppress a laugh.
"Is something funny?" Megumi asks, glaring at Itadori. He is really not in the mood to deal with this, especially after getting punched in the face by the doll Yuji was supposed to be taking care of in the first place.
"No," Yuji says, barely stifling his laughter before he looks back over at the TV.
Megumi continues glaring at Yuji for a few seconds before he hears a laugh that he knows came from a certain pink-haired boy. Yuji, almost immediately spotting his mistake, puts his hands over his mouth and looks back over at Megumi fearfully.
"You little shit!" Megumi yells, throwing a punch directly at Yuji's nose. Yuji attempts to block the punch, missing, by half a second.
"I wasn't laughing at you, I swear!" Yuji screeches, scrambling for cover as Megumi moves towards him, preparing to throw another punch at Yuji's face.
Leaning over Yuji, Megumi pulls his arm back, ready to swing at him, but before he can smack him, Yuji puts his hands up to cover his face and rolls over, falling off the couch and taking Megumi with him.
Megumi lands underneath Yuji with a thud, looking up at Itadori's face. Megumi swallows, staring at the man above him. Lights are accentuating his facial features, making his nose and cheekbones stand out more. His hair has fallen over his forehead, nearly covering his eyes, which are a mix of shades ranging from hazel to brown. He has a few bruises on his face and what looks like a new one forming on his right cheekbone. Overall, he looks cute sitting over Megumi like this.
Wait… What?! Since when does Megumi describe Itadori as cute?
Blinking a few more times, Megumi scoffs, pushing Yuji off him before pushing himself up using his forearms. Looking back at Itadori, Megumi gulps. What was he just thinking about just now?
Sighing, Megumi looks over at Yuji, who is holding onto the cursed doll like it's a baby.
"Here," Megumi says, using his hand to motion towards himself. "Hand the doll over to me, I can exorcise it." He finishes.
"Thanks, Fushi! I was getting really tired of being hit in the face!" Yuji says excitedly, looking over towards Fushiguro, passing the doll to him, a small glint in his eyes, the one he usually gets when he's happy or energetic.
"Can't believe I didn't think about this sooner," Megumi grumbles, taking the plush and concentrating on it before removing all of its cursed energy, making it fall limp in his hand.
Megumi drops the plush, and sits down on the couch, back in his previous spot. Looking over at Yuji, Megumi lifts his eyebrows, asking him to have a seat next to him. Itadori takes his offer and plops down on the spot next to him, chatting his ear off again about every scene in the movie.
---
After the first movie, Yuji turned on the second one, continuing his rambling. Megumi doesn't actually hate it too much since it's surprisingly comforting to know that Yuji is there, with him.
Throughout the movie, they had subconsciously scooted closer to each other, Yuji sitting against the corner of the couch with his arm around the back, Megumi sitting directly next to him. Their knees are touching, which neither focus on.
This was another thing Megumi missed while Yuji was gone, the comfortable hangouts, sitting on the couch and watching movies until they both fell asleep. No one else Fushiguro knows likes to watch films, or even hang out much with him, since he doesn't talk too much and isn't very close to anyone besides Gojo and his sister, Tsumiki. But now that Yuji's back, he can really focus on the pleasant environment that is always present when they hang out.
"Hey, Itadori," Megumi says, looking over at Yuji and cutting off his previous mumbling about the current scene.
"Yeah?" Yuji replies, glancing over at Fushiguro, slightly taken aback since his friend doesn't usually interrupt him when he is rambling.
"Ireallymissedyouyouknow," Megumi rushes out quietly, slightly embarrassed to tell Yuji how he feels.
"What'd you say?" Yuji asks, unaware of Fushiguro's confession.
Megumi sighs. Why did he even bring this up? Yuji definitely won't let it go now.
"I said, I really missed you," Fushiguro finishes, biting his cheek and looking at the floor, crossing his arms in front of his body.
Before Megumi realizes it, his eyes start swelling up with tears, and he quickly uncrosses his arms and uses his thumb to wipe them away before they fall.
As soon as Megumi puts his hands back down on his lap, he is pulled into a hard body and swarmed by two arms wrapping around his chest, immobilizing him. Megumi simply blinks a few times completely caught off guard by the random act of affection.
"I'm so sorry, Fushi. If I was allowed to, I would've called you as soon as I woke up," Yuji explains, holding onto Megumi with a bone-crushing hug.
Usually, Fushiguro doesn't like physical touch, but for some reason, whenever Yuji touches him, it is surprisingly comforting. Which is slightly unsettling, especially for someone like Megumi.
"It's not your fault, Itadori," Megumi assures, subtly leaning into the hug. Suddenly, Fushiguro can't hold back the tears anymore, basking in the feeling of Yuji's arms around him, for the first time in a month.
Before Megumi can hold it back, the tears start flowing out as he lays his chin down on Yuji's shoulder and sobs.
After a few minutes, Megumi pulls himself together and signals for Yuji to let go of him, lifting himself off his shoulder and pulling back.
"If you ever fake your death again, I'll kill you," Megumi threatens, wiping his eyes and hiding his face.
All Yuji does in response is laugh and nod, plopping back in his spot on the couch.
Although this time, Yuji and Fushiguro are sitting slightly closer, shoulders bumping, and Yuji's arm is still around the back of the couch.
They finish the second movie before putting on the third, then the fourth, meaning they've been watching movies for nearly eight hours today, yeah, not one of Megumi's proudest moments, he thinks. But can you blame him? He just found out his friend was alive, give him some space.
Halfway through the last movie, Megumi felt too tired to keep his eyes open. He hasn't done much today, but the emotional drain he feels is definitely real and tiring.
Closing his eyes, Megumi falls asleep to the sound of the TV and Yuji's voice.