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Megumi thinks his brain is turning into mush.
It's way too hot outside, none of his practice problems are making sense, and he just fought with a nine-year-old over the correct size of a pretzel.
It's too early for this.
Today is Megumi's second day back at work at the amusement park since having the flu, and he already wants to go home. Not only does he have to deal with the sweltering heat and idiot customers, but his impending calculus exam is looming menacingly over his head. He frowns as he struggles with yet another problem, wiping pretzel grease off the side of the worksheet. There is genuinely no good part of this job.
"Yo, Fushiguro!"
Ok, he takes that back. There is one good part of his job.
He gives Yuuji a slight wave as the boy comes up to his stand, dressed in a blue polo identical to his.
"How's Tsumiki doing?" Yuuji asks, punching his employee discount into the small machine. It doesn't matter. Megumi never charges his card anyway.
"She's doing alright." He pushes the pretzel and the orange soda across the counter with a couple of napkins. "Better than before. She really liked the soup, by the way. Told me to convey her thanks."
"Anything for my princess," Yuuji winks, beaming at him, but it's not as bright as usual. Megumi notices the heavy bags under his eyes, the slightly sluggish way that he puts away his wallet.
He frowns. He knows that look. "Did you sleep at all last night? Is it your grandfather?"
Yuuji shakes his head. "No, no, he's fine. Still hanging on out of pure spite, as always. I was up all night running lines with the new hire, Ozawa."
"You're not cancelling the show?"
The play Yuuji stars in is the most beloved show in the park. And for good reason; it's hard not to be charmed by his dashing performance as a knight, where he rescues the princess from her tower, and they ride off into the sunset. It's moving enough to make both the elementary schoolers and their chaperones swoon (and fatten up the tip jar).
However, today the princess is not confined in her tower, but confined to her dorm room with a hundred-degree fever and a big bowl of soup. Typically, when Tsumiki calls out, they cancel the show altogether, given that the park is understaffed as it is. Megumi assumed Yuuji would be able to hang out with him at his hybrid info-concession-souvenir stand like he usually does. He's annoyed at his own disappointment.
Yuuji runs a hand down his face, slumping over the counter. Megumi nudges his pretzel out of the way. "We can't cancel! We have that field trip coming in today, remember?"
The park was already at the edge of death as it was. If they miss out on another field trip show, their future school contracts look bleak.
"So, what? The new hire is going to play the princess?" Megumi doesn't really remember her much, but she seems like a good enough fit. Tall, pretty. Yuuji's type, at the very least.
He returns his focus to his calculus homework, pointedly ignoring the pang of jealousy that pokes at him.
"That was our first thought, yeah. But even after working with Ozawa all night, she still doesn't have even half of the lines down," Yuuji sighs, picking at his pretzel. "You know who does know all of the lines, though?"
Megumi scoffs, scribbling out an answer to another practice problem. "What? You want me to run lines with her? No can do, I have my exam tonight."
"That's not exactly what I was asking." Megumi makes the mistake of looking up and finding himself face to face with his kryptonite: Yuuji's pathetically large and unfortunately convincing puppy-dog eyes.
Oh.
Oh fuck no.
"Absolutely not."
"I didn't even get to ask my question!"
"I am not playing your princess in that damn play."
"But Fushiguro!" Yuuji pleads, somehow intensifying his puppy dog eyes; now he looks more like a kicked puppy on the side of the road. "Think about the kids!"'
"Fuck those kids!" Megumi says, pencil nearly snapping in his hand. "I am not wearing a dress and parading around as a damsel in distress just because I happen to know Tsumiki's lines!"
"You wouldn't be wearing a dress! Kugisaki said she could fix up one of the old prince costumes and—"
"Itadori, no. I barely get paid enough to man this hybrid info-concession-souvenir-stand, I'm not going to add acting to the list of fuck-ass things this job makes me do. Now, please leave. I need to study."
"What if I said Gojo could get you out of your calc exam tonight?"
Now that's interesting. "How?"
"Medical emergency note." Itadori's eyes are filled with resolve, that signature determination that convinces the audience that he'll succeed, that good will prevail over evil. And truly, what's more evil than multivariable calculus?
Megumi mulls over the options. On one hand, he really doesn't want to parade around in a prince costume, spouting the cheesy lines and making a fool of himself in front of a bunch of snotty school children.
But on the other hand, he really needed the extra time to study. It was him with the fever last week, meaning he's sorely behind, and Calc III is kicking his ass more than the first two. And it didn't hurt that he'd be spending the whole day with Yuuji.
"Deal."
Yuuji perks up, surprised. "Really?"
"Yeah. But the note should specify that I had a head injury. It should give me two weeks to 'recover', so I can study," Megumi levels, with all the sincerity of a president negotiating an arms deal.
"Deal! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Yuuji beams at him, grabbing his food and grasping his hands in gratitude. "I'll send Ozawa over to take over the stand, and you can come backstage when you're ready."
"Sounds good," Megumi says, already turning his attention back to his practice problems. He might as well cram as much in now as he can.
"Oh, and by the way," Yuuji calls over his shoulder, "do you know your size in pantaloon?"
What exactly have I gotten myself into?
It takes Megumi a little over an hour to teach Ozawa how to man the hybrid info-concession-souvenir-stand, or what Gojo affectionately calls the "Totality" stand. It's probably the worst job in the park, other than the guy who has to stay dressed in a Panda costume in this sweltering heat. Megumi doesn't even know his name; everyone just calls him "Panda".
Ozawa seems to be picking it up pretty quickly and doesn't seem to mind the insanity of the little place as much. She has stage fright, apparently, and was quick to thank Megumi for saving her, which made it even harder for Megumi to back out of this deal. Not that he would've anyway; he really needs the extra time to study.
After everything is set at the Totality stand, he grabs a milkshake and a pack of sour gummies and heads backstage.
There's already a performer on stage, but it's just a one-man show. It's marketed as a stand-up comedy, but in reality, after the comedian bombs his first few jokes (which he always does), he just starts doing odd shit to make the kids laugh. Currently, Takaba is making fart noises into the microphone. Really riveting stuff.
He's not even sure how a comedian was on theme for a medieval theme park, but Megumi's pretty sure that there were no pandas in Camelot either, so it seems that "theme" is just a suggestion.
The crowd seems much less enthused after the fourth fart sound variation, but the quality of these jokes doesn't really matter. These people definitely weren't here for cringy off-theme jokes; they were here to save spots for the medieval knight show that started soon.
Which Megumi is now starring in.
He shudders, shaking away the thought as he walks into the small shed behind the stage.
"Fushiguro! You're here!" Yuuji greets him with a wide grin. He's already partially in his knight outfit, dressed in red garments. All of the armor was piled on the chair next to him, a silver shield and helmet resting on the top of the heap.
"Stop moving!" Nobara complains, pulling his head back to face her. She continues to assault his face with a sponge, smushing his mouth like a fish.
Yuuji seems unbothered by this. "Yubrughttegmms!"
Nobara glares at him, smushing his face even harder. "What did I just say?"
"I did," Megumi responds, tossing the gummies over to him. Itadori catches it with ease.
"Why do I even bother?" she grumbles, checking Yuuji's face in the light. When she seems satisfied, she grabs the milkshake from Megumi's hand and redirects her ire. "What took you so long?"
Megumi shrugs. "Cotton candy machine malfunctioned. A stuffed penguin fell into it during the demo."
"Nooooo, was it the green one with the really creepy red eyes?" Yuuji frowns as Megumi nods, confirming the toy's death. "I loved that thing. It looked so freaky. Like it could leave a curse on your bloodline if you didn't recycle or something."
Once again, really confusing merchandise for a medieval amusement park, but Megumi stopped caring about two days into the job. They really do not pay him enough.
Nobara looks him up and down in a way that almost makes him feel uncomfortable. She pulls at the collar of his shirt, then inspects the bottom hem of his pants. "Do you really not know your size in pantaloon?"
"Once again, why the fuck would I know that?" Megumi frowns, following her across the room. There's a costume draped on a mannequin, with all sorts of pins and needles sticking out of it.
"Itadori knows his size."
"I'm a smedium," Yuuji chimes in, unhelpfully. "They run pretty large."
Megumi resists the urge to groan. "Can't you just … fit it to me now?"
"I can, but it's going to take extra time now. It's fine, I finished up Itadori's hair and makeup early anyway." She waves him off, fishing through a box of sewing supplies.
Megumi looks around, processing the setup area for the first time. "Wait, where is everyone else?"
Despite being a pretty small production, there were still about 4-5 actors working on the play in total, plus a handful of backstage people. The latter mostly worked outside, but still — it was weird to see the place so empty.
"I'm making Mimiko deal with everyone else's makeup in the next room so I could focus on making this costume work," she says, buzzing around him in a whirlwind of fabric and pins.
Megumi tries to stay as still as possible, but his eyes drift over to Yuuji, who is currently trying to eat sour gummies without smudging his lip gloss. "Then what is he doing here?"
Itadori gives him a thumbs-up after recovering from a particularly sour gummy. "I'm here to run lines!"
"Why?" Megumi sighs. "You know that I know them."
"I know that you know them, but do you know know them?"
"I'm lost," Megumi frowns.
Yuuji throws his hands up in the air. A sour gummy lands in his lap. "It's not just about the words, dude! It's about the chemistry, the tension, the feeling!"
Megumi raises a brow. He seems passionate about this. It's cute. And Megumi has nothing else to do; might as well indulge him. "Fine."
He shoots Megumi a grin that nearly blinds him, and begins to dramatically narrate the story.
The play is pretty simple. It starts with the knight, as a normal peasant, saving a kid from the audience that the villain kidnapped. The benevolent princess sees this good deed and then knights him. The villain, seeing that the man who had stopped him before was now a knight, kidnaps the princess in retaliation, locking her in a tower. The villain has told her that her citizens are dying and that the knight is dead. The princess is distraught and can barely leave the tower due to her grief. The knight comes to save her, but she does not want to be saved — she's too upset at the damage she's caused to her kingdom.
This is the part that gets nearly everyone to start swooning: the knight doesn't "save" her. Not exactly. He says that he can't force her to come out, but that she needs to find the willpower within herself to leave, and the knight would help her. The princess breaks free and leaps off her tower, and the knight is right there to catch her.
Then, they defeat the evil villain together (lots of swords and pitchforks), then, boom: middle-aged women are sniffling, kids are cheering, and people start rushing out to hit the next ride as Takaba comes out to start the whole cycle again.
Yuuji's doing a great job at this one-man play he's enacting so far, reciting both his lines and the other character's by heart.
"Make sure you stay out of trouble, young man!" Yuuji says, wagging his finger at the imaginary kid running back into the imaginary crowd.
That's Megumi's first cue. "You are so brave, kind sir."
Yuuji blinks at him. Nobara pauses her stitching to look up at Megumi, shaking her head.
"What?" Megumi bites, defensive all of a sudden,
"You sound a bit— um, stiff," Yuuji says.
"Let me translate that for you." Nobara offers. "You sound like Siri and Alexa had a male baby who was born in a plastic bubble devoid of emotion."
"What does that even mean?"
"Just, put some more umph in your voice!" Yuuji encourages, popping another gummy in his mouth. "Ok, let's try this again. Make sure you stay out of trouble, young man!"
"You're sooo brave, kind sir," Megumi tries.
Nobara frowns. "Ok, now you just sound like an asshole."
He tries to throw his hands up in the air, but is immediately manhandled to pull them down as Nobara works on the sleeves. "How else am I supposed to say it? That's my normal voice!"
Yuuji taps his chin. "You've got to do it more Tsumiki-like. Like, all light and airy and filled with awe!"
Filled with awe?
Nobara tsks at him, pulling the strings of his shirt so tight that it nearly knocks the breath out of him. "Just look at Itadori with wonder, like you really are amazed that he saved that kid. Should be easy enough for you, loverboy."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Megumi snarks, but it doesn't have its usual bite. He knows exactly what she means. Heat blooms at the base of his neck. His pathetic little crush is apparently clear as day.
Megumi wants the earth to swallow him whole.
"Huh?" Yuuji says, thankfully, completely unaware of what Nobara was implying. He pops another sour gummy and screws up his face at the taste. It's really cute. Megumi's disgusted at his own thoughts. This was his taste in men? Really?
"Ugh, don't worry about it," Nobara groans. "Try the line again."
Megumi takes a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut. Just look at him with a normal amount of admiration. He just saved a kid. That's cool, that's tough. Be platonic. Ok. You can do it.
He opens his eyes. Yuuji's staring at him expectantly, big baby browns trained directly at him. He looks different in the makeup, but not artificially different. The eyeliner smudged on his lids brings out the amber of his eyes, and his skin looks soft and smooth. A blush is forming on his cheeks, a spattering of freckles peeking through the concealer. He looks good.
"You're so brave, kind sir." The latter half comes out weaker, like Megumi's breath was taken away. Partially because it was. It was easy to act awestruck in front of Yuuji.
"That was so good!" Nobara says, slapping his back harshly. Megumi scowls at her, nearly tumbling forward with the force.
Yuuji blinks at him, eyes wide. His mouth opens and then closes a few times, like a fish. When Megumi stares at him expectantly, Yuuji's blush deepens, now reaching the tips of his ears. "Um, line?"
They finish running the lines in no time. Megumi feels himself getting better at it. It's easy when he stops putting so much pressure on it and just focuses on Yuuji. Just be yourself is probably not the best advice for acting, but if it works, it works.
There are only two big issues. One, Megumi has never attended a put-in rehearsal. Meaning he knows what he should be doing on stage, but he's never actually done it. Yuuji tells him that it'll be fine, but it's still pretty nerve-wracking. And two, the ending.
In order for Megumi to steal Yuuji's prince costume, they have to cut the royal wedding scene out of the play (thank god, he doesn't think he could look Yuuji in the eye and say all those cheesy vows). But, they're still keeping the last part, where, after the villain is defeated, Yuuji picks up Tsumiki, spins her around, then dips her down and kisses her.
It's all very romantic, and probably the most swoon-worthy part, but the thought makes Megumi's insides turn upside down. Something about it just feels wrong. Don't get him wrong, Megumi wants nothing more than to kiss Yuuji, possibly pathetically so, but it just feels so fake. A performance. It's too much for Megumi to handle, and he refuses to do it.
They're mid-debate on what to do instead, when Okkotsu bursts through the backstage door, a deathgrip on his clipboard. "Kugisaki, please tell me you guys are done here. I think I saw two families that fell asleep in the crowd."
Nobara sets her makeup brush down and fixes a few of Megumi's stray hairs. She turns him towards the mirror. "Just finished! What do you think?"
Megumi barely recognizes himself in the mirror. His hair is tamed, no longer sticking up in all directions like it normally does, gelled in a way that looks intentional. Princely. The costume itself didn't have much done on it — Nobara had just shoved in an extra shoulder pad to account for Yuuji's width, and safety pinned it a bit near the waist. Despite the short period of time they had, the costume looked good.
"A lot of ruffles," Megumi grumbles, battling the frills on his neck.
"Looking good, Fushiguro!" Okkostu smiles, fiddling with his headseat. There are dark bags under his eyes as always, but today they're deeper than usual and tinged with red. "And thank you for doing this. You're really saving the day."
"Don't thank him, thank me, I'm the real miracle worker here," Nobara huffs, wiping some setting powder off of Megumi's shirt. "Just don't lift your hands too high."
Megumi winces. The one thing they couldn't do much about was the height. Megumi's ankles stuck out, and they couldn't tuck as much of the top garment in, meaning he was at risk of flashing midriff if he moved his arms up too high. Yuuji had been oddly silent when they were testing that part out. "I won't".
"Thank you, seriously. You are a miracle worker," Okkotsu says to Nobara. She crosses her arms, clearly not expecting the compliment to come so easily. "Ok come on, guys, we gotta get this show on the road."
Megumi swallows, giving himself one last once over in the mirror. What the hell was he doing?
Yuuji appears behind him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He looks handsome, the mirror lights casting a glow on his features that makes him seem more polished. Regal. If Megumi didn't know any better, he would think Yuuji was the prince instead of him. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
Outside, all of the cast and crew are huddled together, buzzing with excitement. Megumi can feel their gaze on him and Yuuji as they walk out, and flattens down some of his ruffles, even though they pop back up immeditately. They settle somewhere near edge of the group,Megumi trying to draw as little attention possible. An impossible task, it seems, when you're dressed up as secondary lead, with the main lead on your arm.
Okkostu walks to the front of the huddle, causing them to fall silent immediately.
"Ok, everyone," he starts, clasping his hands together. "I know that the past two days have been a bit … unorthodox. So I wanted to thank you guys for really pulling it together. As you know by now, we have a new prince today!"
The cast and crew turn to him and applaud lightly, making Megumi blush slightly.
"Since Fushiguro didn't get a proper put in, actors, try to help him out on stage, ok? You can tap him slightly, or just move him to the right place if needed, just like how we practiced with Ozawa. Everyone got that?"
There are scattered affirmations and thumbs-up. Yuuji holds onto his arm in support. Megumi ignores the way his stomach flips at the contact.
Okkostu stares somewhere a bit behind the huddle. "Sukuna? You got that?"
Megumi follows his line of vision to see a fully costumed Sukuna leaning against the back wall, smoking a cigarette. Those are definitely not allowed in here. "Whatever, sure. It's either this or prison."
Megumi raises a brow at that.
"Don't worry about him," Yuuji whispers. "He says that a lot."
Whatever that means.
"Ok, people, five minutes 'til places! For the kids!"
"For the kids!" The crew echoes. Megumi abstains, out of his own kid-hating principles. Yuuji yells it the loudest.
There's a flurry of people and sounds, and suddenly, Megumi hears the announcer begin. At some point, someone had strapped a microphone to him, and he fiddles with it as he waits.
"Who's been a bad kid? I'll cut you up and eat ya!"
The show has begun.
Sure, Megumi stumbles through the whole thing, but the first show goes pretty well, all things considered. The other three actors help him out with blocking, and he hasn't forgotten any lines or flashed his midriff yet. It helps that the Totality stand is angled so that Megumi sees all five shows every day he works. That, coupled with his near eidetic memory, makes him pretty confident in what he's doing.
The acting part was the hardest. He's sure he's coming off stilted and weird, but hey, you can't have everything. At least the show is still happening, which is more than what they had before.
He goes through the motions, trying not to make a fool of himself, until he gets to the tower scene. In this scene, Tsumiki decides to "free herself" and jumps out of the tower, where Yuuji is waiting to catch her.
By the time he gets to the top of it, the ground feels much further away than he thought. After a couple seconds of contemplating how badly this play needs to be accurate, he decides he's not jumping off. Megumi doesn't even know how to without twisting his ankle or something, plus he's not 100% sure Yuuji could even catch him. So, he does the next best thing and walks down the back of the prop stairs.
It's not the most graceful move, less princely and more elderly-person-descending-a-pool-ladder, but it gets a laugh from the audience, and more distractingly, a startled laugh from Yuuji.
"I could've caught you, you know," he jokes, going off script.
Megumi startles, but throws him a half grin. "And how princely would that be of me?"
"Princes are allowed to fall."
"Princes don't want to ruin their hair."
"The prince's hair is already a mess," Yuuji says, ruffling it up. It falls back down onto his forehead, almost blocking his vision. Oh, Nobara is gonna be pissed at him
The audience laughs, though, which is all that matters. Yuuji throws him a sword, and the two of them, along with the rest of the cast, begin stabbing Sukuna.
This part is really therapeutic, honestly. Megumi's 90% sure he's been stealing cash from Totality's register, but he can't prove it, so this is the next best thing.
Finally, the moment of truth.
The last part of the play.
The two of them had been ushered out of the room before they could decide what to replace the whole pick-up-spin-dramatic-kiss-swoon thing with, which is stressing Megumi out.
Yuuji is staring at him, a question in his big amber eyes. Megumi has no doubt he would do it, sweep Megumi up and twirl him around, and kiss him like it was nothing. But that was the issue. The selfish, delusional part of Megumi didn't just want it to be nothing.
So he does the logical thing and sticks his hand out.
Handshakes. One of the most romantic things in the world, right? Technically, it counts as holding hands, if you think about it.
Yuuji stares at it, puzzled. He looks up at Megumi, then down at the hand. Silence stretches between them for what feels like eons, until Yuuji finally takes his hand and then proceeds to reluctantly dap him up.
Megumi cringes into the half-hug that follows, but the crowd seems to eat it up.
What's some mutual saving and tearful vows shared between bros? No homo tho, let's dap it up.
Megumi wants to die.
Thankfully, the rest of the cast and crew show up shortly, and after a quick bow, he's freed.
"Good hustle, everybody, that was great!! Next show in 30 minutes, get ready!" Okkotsu yells, giving everyone a high five backstage.
Megumi collapses onto a chair. Nobara finds him immediately and begins to re-gel his hair where Yuuji messed it up.
"You dapped him up? Really?" Nobara groans. "You two are useless, seriously."
"In my defense, I was going for a handshake."
"That's even worse."
A weight plops onto the chair next to him. Megumi looks over to see Yuuji's cheesy grin, infuriatingly bright as usual. "That went great! You're a natural!"
"Thank you," Megumi says, tilting his head away to hide his blush. It's a futile attempt, as Nobara pulls his head back forward to work on his hair.
Yuuji smiles, a matching blush on his cheeks. "You should pursue acting or something! That was really convincing."
Megumi preens at the praise, but it's ruined by Nobara's snort. "Oh, trust me, that wasn't acting out there."
He's going to kill her.
As Megumi imagines all the different ways he could murder Nobara in his head, Yuuji prattles on about how they could make the next performance better. Right. Because Megumi has to go through this thing four more times.
Stupid sister, he curses, you'd better heal fast.
"Thankfully, the first batch of elementary schoolers will come for this show, so we can work on all the kinks from the last one," Yuuji explains. Nobara has moved on to Yuuji, touching up his hair and makeup while taking off his knight armor so he can go back to being a "peasant" again in his red doublet.
Megumi nods. "Makes sense. What do I need to change?"
They talk over all the small issues they had run into, mostly about blocking and certain line reads, until the subject of the tower came up.
"I'm not jumping off of that thing." He crosses his arms and shakes his head.
The two of them had migrated over to the water cooler, clearing the make-up chairs for Nobara and Mimiko to claim their next victims.
"It's not that high up!" Yuuji argues. "Plus, I'll be there to catch you."
"Can you even support my weight?" He's not exactly the same physique as Tsumiki, far from it.
Yuuji waves him off. "I totally can. Watch."
Before Megumi can object, Yuuji lifts him into a full-on bridal carry, like it's nothing.
"What the hell?" Megumi yells, smacking his arms. He's in an awkward position, which causes his shirt to ride up too. Kill him now. "Put me down!"
"Have you been lifting?" Yuuji says, inspecting Megumi's arms.
"Itadori!"
"Sorry!" Megumi's feet touch the ground again, and yet for some reason, blood rushes up to his face. "See, I told you. No problem. Just jump off the tower."
Megumi glares at him. "I'm not risking a real head injury just for the authenticity of this play."
"Tsumiki does it all the time!" Yuuji counters, to which Megumi replies, "I am not Tsumiki!"
Yuuji frowns. "You know what? Fine. We'll figure that out later. We still need to do something about the ending."
"What? I thought the ending was fine."
"Dapping you up isn't exactly giving 'happily-ever-after'."
Megumi crosses his arms. "Well, kissing is out of the question."
There's something in Yuuji's eyes that Megumi can't read. If Megumi didn't know any better, he would think Yuuji is disappointed. But he shakes it off before Megumi can comment on it. "Well, now that we know I can pick you up, what if I twirl you?"
"No."
"Just one twirl?"
"I said, no, Itadori. What about a high-five?"
"What about a hug?"
Megumi ponders it. It's physical intimacy, yes, but it's one Megumi can handle. He's hugged Yuuji before, and it hasn't sent his crush-infected heart into overdrive yet.
"Fine. A hug is fine."
Yuuji's smile is nearly blinding. "Perfect!"
"Ok, everybody! Break's over, places in five!" Comes Okkotsu's voice.
"See you out there," Yuuji winks.
Megumi is doomed.
Having a crush on your best friend in college is not the worst. Sure, school can be annoying, and your friends will tease you relentlessly, but you also get to hang out on the quad, study together, or even crash at each other's dorms to play video games, so it's an overall net positive.
Working a summer job with your crush at your foster dad's shitty, probably embezzlement-front amusement park is considerably worse. It's hot, you barely have time to study for your summer classes, and you have to deal with possibly the most annoying people on Earth. But it's not all bad, because you can watch your crush dress up in a knight costume that makes him look impossibly handsome for a good 60% of your shift, which pulls you through the dark times. Sure, this also means he's kissing your sister, but your sister's girlfriend glares daggers at him the entire time, so it evens out.
Acting alongside your crush in said probably-embezzlement-front amusement park so that they can 'save the place' because your sister has the flu has to be the closest thing to hell that Megumi can think of.
He knows that it's fake, logically he knows that, but god, does it feel so real. Genuinely, how do actors not fall in love with their co-stars all the time? Maybe they just didn't have any as charming as Yuuji.
Despite having zero acting experience, the 'just be yourself' tactic has been working for him so far. The chemistry between him and Yuuji is palpable, and by the fourth show, they're practically swirling around each other like magnets, each push and pull more addictive than the last.
Megumi can't get enough of it. Megumi is going to fall apart the second the show is over.
Because that means going back to polite distance. It means going back to doing nothing about the stupid little crush he's been harboring for over a year now. He's not sure if he can do it, if he can let go of this Yuuji. The Yuuji that catches him like it's nothing, the one that flirts with him, and saves him, and fights at his side, and looks at him like that. Megumi's going to get withdrawals the second the curtains close and Yuuji drops his hand.
It's the final show now. The crowd has been loving it, cheering them on, and laughing at just the right time. The energy is infectious, filling Megumi with spirit. Yuuji's affected by it too, based on the way his smile takes over half of his face.
Megumi jumps off the tower, which he gained the guts to do in the third show, and the crowd goes wild. The play passes on like a blur, grabbing the swords, defeating Sukuna, and now they're at their 'vows'.
"Thank you for saving me. You are a good person, sir knight," Megumi bows to show deference.
Yuuji stops him before he can and pulls him back. "No. It is you who saved me. You saw the potential in me and bestowed upon me the honor of knighthood. And for that, I cannot thank you enough."
"You never needed the title," Megumi says, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You have had a noble heart all along."
The audience melts at that. He thinks he hears someone yell, kiss! Megumi blushes.
"Come, Sir Knight, and we can rule this kingdom together with bravery, side by side."
That's the last line of the play. Megumi holds out his hand, but something's wrong. Yuuji's looking at him, his eyes glinting in the sunlight, and he's moving toward him, and fuck, he's lifting him up!
His jaw drops in surprise as they both realize what has just happened. After the second spin, Yuuji leans forward with Megumi. Pure terror takes over him, and Megumi wriggles away out of instinct before Yuuji can set him down.
Bad move, because Megumi weighs much more than Tsumiki, which Yuuji's muscle memory didn't account for. That push sends Megumi out of Yuuji's arms and careening straight off the stage.
He tries to catch himself, but it's too late; he's already falling off the 6-foot stage and down onto the grassy steps below. There are gasps in the audience as it devolves into chaos. Megumi tries to shield himself until his head hits something hard. His vision starts to go out, along with his hearing.
"Fushiguro!" he hears, but it's fuzzy, getting even fuzzier. "Megumi!"
And then everything goes dark.
THE BENEVOLENT PRINCE: Wha-Where am I?
THE NOBLE KNIGHT: Fushiguro! You're up! Oh my god, I was so worried—
THE BENEVOLENT PRINCE: Whoa. You're [hiccup] you're pretty. Did I die?
THE NOBLE KNIGHT: What? I- you're alive, just loopy from the meds. Don't push yourself too hard.
THE BENEVOLENT PRINCE: Are you an angel? I thought that angels were supposed to be creepy. With like a billion eyes, like a spider. But you're hot. Like really hot. And you only have two eyes.
THE BENEVOLENT PRINCE: [pause] Never mind, now you have eight. Cool.
THE NOBLE KNIGHT: Fushiguro, you're making no sense.
THE BENEVOLENT PRINCE: If you have a plane with the coordinates (4,−3,1), (−3,−1,1), and (4,−2,8), then the equation of the plane would be … 14𝑥+49𝑦−7𝑧=−98
THE NOBLE KNIGHT: What?
THE BENEVOLENT PRINCE: [screams]
THE NOBLE KNIGHT: What?! What's wrong?
THE BENEVOLENT PRINCE: Your hair is pink! But your eyebrows are brown?
THE NOBLE KNIGHT: Oh, that's because I dye it—
THE BENEVOLENT PRINCE: You're going to die? Nooooo, please don't die. You can't die before you kiss me, pretty angel knight
THE NOBLE KNIGHT: I-
THE BENEVOLENT PRINCE: [soft snoring]
THE NOBLE KNIGHT: Good night, Megumi.
Megumi feels like shit.
It feels like he got hit by a truck, and then a piano crashed onto his head. Truly cartoonish levels of aching.
His eyes adjust to the fluorescent lights slowly, all too bright and irritating. There is something rough wrapped around his head, probably gauze, and it hurts to the touch. He's in a hospital, with a couple of machines beeping around him.
There's a figure next to his bed, slumped over on a chair. Pink hair falls over his face, and his head rests on his hand. He's wearing casual clothes, his classic red hoodie paired with some jeans, but there is still eyeliner smudged on his lids.
"Itadori?" Megumi croaks.
The boy blinks, straightening up in his seat once he realizes who the voice belongs to. "Fushiguro! You're up! Do you remember who I am?"
"I just hit my head, I don't have amnesia, idiot," Megumi retorts. At least he doesn't think he does.
Yuuji laughs. "Yeah, it's you alright."
"What happened?"
The boy's face turns grim. He fiddles with the hem of his jacket, nervously glancing at the machines. "It was the last play of the day. We were about to end the show, but then I tried to pick you up, and then you fell off the stage and hit your head. We rushed you to the hospital, and they put you under."
Right. The play. Megumi winces at the memory. "How long have I been out?"
"About a day."
Fuck. "My calculus exam—"
"Don't worry, you got an excuse letter. Hey, at least you didn't have to forge it!" Yuuji tries weakly.
Megumi's unamused. He takes in the bags under Yuuji's eyes and his streaky makeup. "How long have you been here?"
"…about a day?"
"Go home." Megumi turns over, his back facing Yuuji. Everything above his shoulders complains at the movement, but he does it anyway. "You're tired."
"I'm fine."
"So am I."
"You're literally in the hospital."
"So are you."
Yuuji purses his lips. "You know that's not what I meant."
"Itadori, stop it." Megumi sighs, looking over his shoulder. Yuuji is fiddling with something in his hands, staring down at his lap. "I know you, I know that you feel some subconscious guilt for this happening, because you asked me to join the play, and because at the end you tried to … well, it doesn't matter. It's not your fault, it's my own stupidity and lack of balance to blame for this, so just go home and—"
"Why did you pull away?"
The room falls silent, save for the steady beeping of the machines.
Megumi hadn't expected that. He expected some pushback, some more of Yuuji's misplaced guilt, or even the sky falling down before that question. "What?"
"Why did you pull away?" Yuuji repeats, his voice stronger this time. "I've been thinking about it, and it doesn't make sense. We were doing so well. Those last few shows, it was like we were on fire, totally in sync, nearly telepathic, and then at the last second, you pulled away. I don't get it."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Megumi deflects, but he turns back around, lying flat on his back now.
Yuuji soldiers on, ignoring him. "At first, I thought it was my stupid crush clouding my judgment. That I deluded myself into thinking you liked me back just because I wanted to believe it so badly. But I've been sitting here for a while, and I've had time to think. I don't think I was misreading the signs; I think you feel the same way about me that I feel about you. That's what would make sense. The way you'd never charge me for food, all of Kugisaki's little jabs about you being a 'loverboy' today, and the way you're a terrible actor and yet I believed every single word you said on that stage."
Megumi's heart thunders in his chest. He feels like he's being ripped open, flesh torn out piece by piece. His brain tells him to run, but he's glued to the spot, held hostage in his injured body.
"And then, when you woke up all loopy on anesthetics, doing a bunch of calculus and talking about how bad you wanted to kiss me—"
"I did what—"
"I thought, I must be right. Fushiguro must like me back. But one thing didn't make sense. Why were you so terrified to kiss me?"
Megumi focuses hard on breathing, a pathetically shallow inhale fueling the firestorm of thoughts in his brain. One thought supersedes all of them, though. "You like me back?"
It's Yuuji's turn to blush. "Of course I do. I mean, you're you. I thought you knew."
"I didn't know," Megumi exhales. "I really, really did not know."
Yuuji watches him intently, encouraging him to continue.
"You're right, by the way. I like you. I have liked you, for a while now. I guess I wasn't the best at hiding it." Megumi fists the blankets at his waist, now that he's pulled up to a sitting position. "But I didn't know you felt the same way, and I just. I wanted to kiss you so bad, but I wanted it to be real. Not some stage kiss so that we could get more tips. I wanted you to kiss me because you wanted to."
The sun had better look out because Megumi's face is gunning for the hottest surface in the universe. He sinks lower in his hospital bed, contemplating whether or not to throw the sheets over his head. Was this really happening right now? He wonders if this was just an extension of his drug-induced hallucinations.
"Well, the hospital room seems pretty real to me," Yuuji smirks, stalking over to him.
"Oh, does it?" Megumi teases. It's supposed to come out in a playful way, but it's laced with a sort of incredulity, his voice nearly cracking at the end.
"It does," Yuuji is holding his hand now. It's soft, and warm, and real, and Megumi thinks he's going to explode at the touch. "And I'm no 'Noble Knight'."
Megumi quirks his lip, rubbing his thumb over the calluses on Yuuji's palm as he leans over the bed. "And I'm definitely no 'Benevolent Prince'."
Their faces are close now, their noses nearly touching. From this angle, Megumi can see the gold flecks hidden in the amber of Yuuji's eyes. Megumi's breath hitches.
"Can I kiss you?" Yuuji breathes, his eyes flicking down to the other boy's lips.
"God, please."
Megumi grabs his face and kisses him, honest-to-god kisses him with everything he has. Yuuji returns the favor, greedily devouring as much of Megumi as he can take. It feels like free-falling from that tower, knowing that his knight would be there to catch him when he fell. No matter how many times he pushed, Yuuji was there to pull him right back.
He's starting to get dizzy. Megumi's not sure if it's from the rush of emotions, or the rush of blood, or the head injury, but the room starts to spin.
A machine starts beeping loudly, and Yuuji pulls away, concerned. "What was that? Are you ok?"
Megumi lifted his head to look at the offending monitor and blushed.
EKG. His heart rate was too high.
"Nothing. It says I'm going to die of embarrassment," he says, keeping his voice as monotone as possible.
"Oh, you really liked that, huh?" Yuuji says, waggling his eyebrows.
Megumi smacks him with a pillow. "Shut up!"
He laughs, half-heartedly dodging the attacks. Eventually, Yuuji falls back into the chair, still holding Megumi's hand. He's still smiling, the kind that takes up his entire face.
"You're happy," Megumi remarks, not even trying to hide the smile that's growing on his own lips.
"I am. I mean, today was a great day," Yuuji says. Megumi raises an eyebrow at that, which makes him falter. "I mean, other than you, you know, getting a head injury and all. And I guess your sister getting the flu. The rest of it was good."
By all accounts, today should have been a terrible day. Something pulled straight from Megumi's nightmares and his worst stress dreams. Yet, he can't help but feel so much lighter. Happier. Like he was about to ride into the goddamn sunset.
He raised a hand to his lips, still warm and red from the kiss.
"Yeah," Megumi finds himself saying. "I guess it was a pretty good day."
Their phones both pinged at the same time. Yuuji fishes it out of his back pocket and frowns at the screen.
"What is it?" Megumi asks, trying to lean over.
Yuuji purses his lips. "We got fired."
"What?"
He scrolls further, eyes furrowed in concentration. "Correction, everyone got fired. The park is shutting down."
"For good?"
"Seems like it," Yuuji frowns. "The park management is getting sued for felony embezzlement."
"What, did they finally catch Gojo?" Megumi has had his suspicions from the start of the shitty amusement park; there was no way this was actually his 'passion project'. He's totally laundering money or something.
"No, actually. It says here that the embezzlement was committed by a wanted criminal that the park had unknowingly hired, who was— wait, the criminal was one of the park's actors??"
They looked at each other. "Sukuna."
"Well," Megumi smiles, holding an imaginary chalice up in the air. "It seems that the villain, Lord Sukuna, hath finally been defeated."
Yuuji laughed, the kind that vibrated the whole bed frame with his joy. "And the prince and knight lived happily ever after."