Work Text:
Blood clung to his boots.
With each heavy footstep, it flung, splattering the pavement in streaks and perfect circular dots. Sukuna would almost be impressed with the artistry of it, if exhaustion didn't beat so heavily on his bones.
Beams of moonlight tickled the exposed skin of his skin. Where pieces of the sleek uniform, now tattered and torn, let the cool brush of night hit the otherwise warmness of his flesh. The blood from his wounds now healed was cooling, sticky and crusty at the edges. Flaking off like snowflakes or scabs with each swing of his limbs.
His neck rolled, trying to slide down the stiffness that accumulated over the last 72 hours. Some mission on the other side of Japan, where two special grade curses lurked instead of the one reported. They had put up a good fight, good enough to wound him. But never kill him.
They never could. Not before, and not now, when Sukuna had something, or someone to return to.
He continued his trek through the clearing; his home lying on the outskirts of Tokyo. Close enough to the city, far away enough to forgo the pollution of Shibuya and Shinjuku's pollution.
The night sky was clear, overcast with dozens of twinkling stars. Sukuna's gaze caught Orion and let it linger, before focusing back on his destination.
The house he approached was traditional, neatly tucked away. The faint sound of the lapping koi pond caught his ear, and were the moonlight just a fraction brighter, he would've seen the water's surface break with glistening red scales.
Next, Sukuna brushed past a hedge of hydrangeas. Their delicate petals browned at the edges with the winter air that shooed autumn away, but still no less beautiful. Stubborn to maintain their vibrancy. He stops, plucks one to run between his fingers and feel the softness turn coarse and crackly for no other reason than to admire its beauty, the night was not yet old. But soon, Sukuna's eyes would be shut, because he now loved something much sweeter than moonlight.
Light bled.
Spilled over the engawa, fluttered through the shut windows. From here, as the wood creaked under his heavy weight, Sukuna smelled the scent of spice. Growing stronger and stronger as he moved forth, his mouth began to salivate.
Groaning as he slips his boots off outside to ensure the floors stayed clean. Sukuna wiggled his toes from inside his socks, enjoying the simple pleasure of movement. He'd need to replace those boots; send in a request for another uniform. Ensure that Ijichi was the one who delivered it for no other reason than he enjoyed the man squirming like a worm at the sight of him.
Stepping inside is like stepping into Nirvana; a sense of peace overtakes Sukuna. Envelops his heart in a gentle embrace, quells the malice in his blood. As he exhales, he exhales all the rot from his bones.
"Sukuna!" Yuuji appears in the blink of an eye. All warm smiles, the apples of his cheeks lifting and scrunching his eyes with the stretch of his lips. Around his waist, an apron is cinched, enunciating the thinness of it. Reminding Sukuna of how perfectly his hands cupped the skin, his fingers brushing as he made a near perfect circle.
It was dark red with the words "kiss the cook" written across it. And oh, Sukuna happily will.
"Yuuji," all the gruffness melts from his throat. Rolls down the inside back to his tummy, tasting of sweet peaches. It was only a tone Yuuji could evoke from him. Oblivious to the hold he held over his husband. "You shouldn't have stayed awake so long."
"Says the one who likely hasn't slept since he left." Yuuji tsks, wagging his finger in the air like a disappointed mother. Then, he giggles a bit. Closing the short gap between the two to embrace his husband.
He has to lift to the tips of his toes to press a kiss to Sukuna's lips.
One that the sorcerer happily welcomes, slotting his nose against Yuuji's like the click of lock and key. Sturdy arms wrap around his neck, uncaring that his tattered uniform may sully the clean press of Yuuji's exposed arms if it meant he was able to pull Sukuna down, not that he ever would. Sukuna would always meet him halfway.
Sukuna's palms find Yuuji's hips, settling upon them like they belonged nowhere else. He pulls his lover closer, until their chests bump and the kiss deepens, tongues running over each other while their lungs burned.
Sadly, the kiss must end. Sukuna's stomach gives a rather pitiful, aching growl that has the sensuality of the moment breaking. Yuuji's mouth is still on his, but smiling now. Suppressing his giggles.
He gives a light pat to Sukuna's belly at the same time he gives a final chaste kiss. "Go shower, I've already laid out fresh clothes."
"What'd I do to deserve you?" Sukuna mumbles, sighing. His chin rests on the fluff of pink hair, burrowing his nose into it a second later. Inhaling the scent of artificial soap with some silly name, the cologne Sukuna recently bought him. And the faint whiffs of honey and peaches. It's addicting, an addiction he would happily give his life to.
"You must've been a saint in your past life." Yuuji theorizes.
Sukuna snorts. "Something like that."
After a shower, Sukuna almost feels like a new man.
Almost.
His stomach is still sadly empty, hunger pains were pinching his insides like sparks of stars birthed. He would've eaten on his mission if allowed, but the double special grades had double the innate domain. Creating a maze of staircases and hedges he wandered around, hours spent exploring loops and dead ends to finally kill the curse. Hours tucked away from his beloved.
As punishment, he might've spent a few hours expertly stripping their flesh. Waiting for it to grow back, and stripping it again.
That was the past, now. But the memory still served to bring pleasure.
As he steps back into the foyer, Yuuji is sat at the kotatsu as an autumnal chill slipped in their home, two bowls of Imoni steaming and hearty keeping him company.
Sukuna's stomach gave another growl.
Honeyed eyes lift, peeling away from his phone screen where mindless sounds played over each other.
"Feel better?" He asks, looking like a saint sat at their table. Delivered in holy cloth with a pretty halo to boot.
Yuuji is undoubtedly, Sukuna's best kept secret.
The non-sorcerer had came into his life sweeping like a hurricane. A flurry righteousness and an over abundance of "I'm not going to take your shit." It was as if fate decided to bless him in the form of a taunt, wherever Sukuna landed, Yuuji was somehow there. In the same city, restaurant, they had even met at the urinals at one point. But that's another story for another day.
As it became routine for Sukuna to stumble upon the pink haired brat, it became routine for Yuuji to challenge Sukuna. His way of thinking, life, mannerisms to poor souls who happened to walk by or were unfortunate enough to serve him at a dinner table. But for some reason, one that Sukuna still had yet to understand, Yuuji just wouldn't leave Sukuna alone, either. Following him like a stubborn puppy when given a scoff and cold shoulder. Confused, genuinely confused to his core, Sukuna didn't understand why he was so determined to give Sukuna a piece of his mind.
He's grateful now that he was.
Each snap, argument, or terse conversation, Sukuna let a little more slip. Felt something chip away at his defenses, unaware it was Yuuji with a chisel and gentle hand. Until the ire in golden eyes softened to something foreign, kindness, pity.
Yuuji's resolute changed; now adamant to wedge a part of himself in the sorcerer's life. Adamant to be a shoulder to lean on, adamant to teach him of life's simplicity. And in doing so, he hadn't just carved a place for himself — he became Sukuna's whole soul.
But.
Souls were finite things; once shared, they were easily pulled apart. Pulled too taut as other souls, lost and incomplete, wished to be whole again. To feed the void inside themselves. Sukuna knew many hungry souls, ones that would take a look at Yuuji — and take him for himself.
It's why the non-sorcerer only had the limited knowledge of Jujutsu Society, other sorcerers, curses, that there were things that walked at his heel and stared at him from above that he couldn't see. Sukuna almost expected to scare the one he had come to love off, expecting for Yuuji's resilience to finally crumble. But instead, only a thoughtful look gleaned his eyes, wide and dimmed like a sun hidden by clouds, lost in a recalled memory.
"But you save them, right? You save people?”
"By killing curses? Yes, I suppose I do."
"Alright," his eyes had closed, a saddened smile gracing his lips. "Good."
And just like that, Yuuji had accepted Sukuna's truth. Just like he accepted the half-truths, the edges of honesty. Accepted being tucked away from prying eyes.
"It's not just curses who will want to take you away from me." Sukuna whispered, pressing a chaste kiss to a cool ring. Imbued with his cursed energy to ward off curses that came too close, thinking Yuuji unprotected and weak. "But other sorcerers, too. They seek to control me like a dog because of my blood lineage, and they'll do so by using you against me."
His lips continued their blazing trail, until he tasted the inside of Yuuji's palm. "Please," red eyes lifted. "Just trust me."
"I do trust you," Yuuji cupped Sukuna's jaw, ring catching the light with their eternal promise. "I love you."
Yuuji's freedom wasn't completely stripped from him. On Sundays, he went on their grocery run, on Tuesdays, he liked to visit the cafe that sold an array of sweets and tea, often bringing enough home to ensure that Sukuna got his fill as well. On Thursdays, he went and had lunch with some old school friends, though he was only a few years post-graduation, still unsure of what he wanted to do with his life — that had been an intense conversation. An angry one.
"I am yours," Yuuji gritted his teeth. "But it was still my life first, even if I'm not killing curses like you— I can't stand to live a life where I don't help someone, somehow. It would kill me, Sukuna."
And Sukuna knew that, obviously. It was the very thing to draw him to Yuuji in the first place. But it was the exact same thing that made Sukuna greedy, eager to hoard him away like a dragon does its jewels. Clouded by puffs of smoke and cradled under talons sharp enough to cleave stone castles and bones of old kings.
"You're thinking," his lover muses, poking Sukuna right where the side of his face gave ways to scars and blindness. The simple action was enough to make his heart thump, how Yuuji never shied away from what Sukuna laid down. His height, his stature, his personality, the disfigurement of his face. Yuuji looked at it all and accepted it without a second thought. "Haven't you ever heard about resting your brain?"
Sukuna's bowl is scooted to him, a silent nudge to eat. Broth threatens to spill over the edge. "Maybe you should try turning yours on." He grumbles.
"Rude," Yuuji sticks his tongue out. "And hey— aren't you supposed to say thanks?"
Stubbornly, Sukuna spoons his food. Yuuji rolls his eyes and says his thanks twice for the both of them.
"But really, what're you thinking about?" Yuuji glances through his eyelashes. Still half preoccupied with stuffing his mouth full until his cheeks were rosy and puffed like a hamster. Sukuna ponders making the comparison aloud to see Yuuji do that little scowl of his.
"That you look like a rodent when you eat."
Scowl earned.
"And you're a bad liar." Yuuji huffs, but eats with more decorum now.
Sukuna smiles, coy. "Really? I think of myself as an impeccable liar."
Gold eyes roll. "Only to those who don't know you, I think you're forgetting who you married."
"I could never forget that." The words come too soft, too raw. The irritation sparking like flint in Yuuji's soul is smothered before it could ever roar. Now, Sukuna's throat feels sticky, thick. Like he ate too much dango. But the palpable tension in the air thins to a much sweeter scent.
Inhaling it, Sukuna's eyes flutter closed. It still wasn't easy to be vulnerable no matter how much Yuuji made it easier. As a teenager, when Sukuna fought back against his handlers it was only rewarded with sharper punishments. As a child, when Sukuna cried he was only mocked for his tears. As a man, Sukuna shielded himself with his techniques and prowess, making it so that no one could touch or mock him, a shield of nothing but his name and the fear it inspired alone.
"I was thinking of you."
But when does a shield become a prison?
"That's what I was thinking of."
"Well with that look on your face you would've thought someone died," Yuuji gripes, the dusting of pink on his sun-kissed skin betraying his tone. "Am I that bad to think of?"
"Only because you're a brat," Sukuna sighs more forlorn than needed. Taking Yuuji's in to trace the golden wedding band kissed with a crimson diamond encircled by smaller, white diamonds. "You are the only thing I treasure in this rotten world, Yuuji. Make no mistake about that."
And Yuuji has — many of times — misunderstood the depths of Sukuna's words. The world of Jujutsu was still of mystique of him, a fairy tale in which Sukuna donned the armor of a hero.
But sorcerers are not heroes, and Sukuna would never claim to be one.
Sukuna would level cities for Yuuji. Bring him heads still crowned as kings and queens so that their stolen rights may sit upon Yuuji's brow, their kingdom built by bones and their shrines worshiped in blood.
Birdsong giggles lay their feathers on his pool of blood. Steely red eyes — one intact and the other milky — glance upwards, pleased to see Yuuji's lopsided smile. Bashful and a little sad.
"You were thinking of the other sorcerers too, right?'
Sukuna grunts his reply.
"You worry too much." Yuuji sighs, absentmindedly twisting his wedding band. "C'mon, Kuna. Haven't we taken enough precautions?"
In an ideal world, Sukuna would mercilessly cleave any that Yuuji loved so it was only him left standing. In that ideal world, Yuuji would be wrapped only in the finest silks instead of the hoodies he insisted on wearing. Never to be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. Any that committed such an unforgivable crime would be brought to heel, their mercy a painless death. But death nonetheless.
In another life, this ideal world would come to fruition.
"We have, my treasure. I just wish to keep you safe is all."
Yuuji's eyes turn wet with unspoken fears. Fears that shown in the picked nail beds when Sukuna returned home, bloody and exhausted. Fears that couldn't be weaseled away when Sukuna spoke with the Elders, received their grace for letting him merely exist. And became avoidant, angry, as a response.
"I want you to be safe too." Yuuji whispers, cracked at the edges. Sukuna takes his hands before they become raw and bloody.
"I am the strongest," Sukuna chases eyes hidden by pink eyelashes. "Nothing will kill me, nothing will harm you."
"Yeah?"
"Yes."
"Alright, then. Mr. Strongest better finish his food so all of it can go to his big bones." Yuuji grins, tongue darting out in a tiny blep.
His hands tighten in Sukuna's, the sorcerer lets it slide.
Yuuji dives into bed.
Or rather, belly flops into bed.
"Ahh! I can't wait to sleep! I've been so tired!" He bemoans, nuzzling into the pillows and blankets much like a puppy. Sniffing their mingling scents and chasing it like a high.
"You're tired?" Sukuna huffs as he pulls his shirt up and over his head. It's some cheesy graphic T that Yuuji loved to buy with a picture of a sad cat. He had been too tired upon exiting the shower to realize the ridiculous front on the worn fabric. He's sure that was intentional on Yuuji's end too.
Yuuji turns, pouting. "It's hard to sleep when you're not here."
Then, his eyes rake over the exposed torso, the muscles and veins and tattoos he hasn't tasted in too long. "Well hellooo there, handsome. Come around these parts often?" He fixes himself into something of a 'sexy' pose, tongue running over teeth and all.
Sukuna snorts, joining him in bed. "I do."
"Yeah?" Yuuji perks, wiggling forward to sap up Sukuna's warmth.
"Mhmm," the sorcerer draws out the sound. "But you see, I got a pretty thing waiting for me back at home. So I'm gonna have to decline any…" his arm curls around Yuuji's shoulder blades to pull him close enough that their nose tips are touching. Eyes locked with eyes and mouths split into grins. "Advances."
"Dang." Yuuji sighs dramatically. "That's a shame 'cause my husband works long hours and surely would've never found out—"
"Oi!" Sukuna scowls and Yuuji shriek-laughs as an attack of fingers dancing up and down his ticklish spots is launched. They become a wriggling mess of limbs, shouts, laughter until they're bright faced and breathless.
And Sukuna may or may not have a bite on his bicep.
"I did not appreciate that." Sukuna grumbles, even though he is still pink faced and his chest rises and falls in quick succession. Yuuji wiggles from where he's pinned by Sukuna's arm in a tight cuddle.
"Oh don't give me that look," he's flicked in the forehead and then kissed shy of his mouth in the same second. "You know you're the only one for me."
The words are said with such levity, that they soothe any unwanted feeling deep in his gut. His cheeks turning a dark darker.
Yuuji smiles and kisses him again, this time on the lips. They connect like fire and ice; melting into one.
"Missed you," he sighs in between chaste gentle pecks filling the air in smacks. "Please don't tell me you have a mission any time soon, Kuna." The plea is small, tired, lonely. Sukuna's heart aches for it.
"No." He'd shove it off on Gojo, return the favor in kind. “There's none for the next few days."
Pleased, Yuuji hums and settles himself down for sleep. Ear resting above Sukuna's beating heart and eyes droopy. “Then… maybe tomorrow we could go to Shibuya, or Shinjuku."
Sukuna thumbs the warm skin of Yuuji's elbow. "Yeah?"
"Yeah, we'll hit up your favorite restaurant and go shopping."
"My favorite restaurant is your cooking."
Yuuji grins, dopey. "Then I'll make you your favorite meal tomorrow, and we'll drink sake and maybe walk through Meiji Jingu Gyoen."
Sukuna's own eyelids are beginning to droop. Lulled by Yuuji's words and sweet promises of a kinder day.
"Sounds nice."
"M..hm." Sleep claims Yuuji, and a second later it claims Sukuna too.
In his dreams, there are shrines and petals painted with blood. In it, Yuuji stands enshrined in bone and brimstone.