Chapter Text
The digital clock on the bedside table clicked over to 6:00 a.m., its soft blue light illuminating Megumi’s room in a glow.
The peace lasted approximately three seconds.
Without warning, the alarm began blaring a video Gojo had chosen for the sole purpose of waking Megumi up as violently as possible: Yodelling [2 hours Extended Version] off Youtube.
Megumi slammed his hand down on the clock, nearly knocking it off the bedside table. His irritation only grew when a small lock symbol appeared on the screen, reminding him that Gojo had somehow password-protected the ringtone so Megumi could not change it.
Of course he had.
Megumi sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes while the final echoes of aggressive yodelling continued to ring inside his skull. Tomorrow would be his first official day of university, and truthfully, he was still slightly surprised by how quickly it had arrived. Seven months ago, university had felt like some distant problem for his future self to deal with, yet now his bags were packed, his courses were chosen, and Gojo had apparently decided that psychological warfare was the best way to prepare him.
Stepping into the kitchen, he found Gojo leaning against the counter, already holding a steaming mug of— “—Wait, what is that?” Megumi asked, looking at the concoction in Gojo's hand.
“Why, it's my boiled milk with 2 shots of espresso, 3 marshmallows, and whipped cream!” Gojo replied cheerfully.
He didn't actually care for the thing, he only drank it to annoy Megumi every morning. But, it did give him good energy.
"Early start Megumi?" Gojo asked with a grin, "Big day tomorrow."
"Just getting a head start on the prep," Megumi replied, reaching for the kettle. He glanced out the window just in time to see a flash of red and blue across the street. Spider-Man was crouched on a lamppost, webbing up a defeated criminal against a brick wall before swinging away into the New York skyline.
Megumi watched the figure disappear behind the skyscrapers. "Huh, what an interesting guy," he muttered to himself.
–
The professor opened the doors to the enormous lecture hall and gestured for the students waiting outside to enter.
“Welcome to orientation. You may choose any available seat within the first eight rows.”
The room was much larger than any of the classrooms Megumi had attended in high school, with rows of seats descending toward a wide stage and massive projector screens hanging from the walls. Although he would never admit it aloud, it was difficult not to feel intimidated by the sheer size of the space and the hundreds of unfamiliar students slowly filling it.
Megumi walked inside and chose a seat six rows back, not too far, but not close enough to be caught off guard by random questions.
He remembered it was only seven months ago when he applied to the university on a whim, still unsure of what he wanted to pursue. Well, he was certainly here now, reluctantly trying to make it through his first day.
Right then another person plopped down next to him. Megumi thought that was weird since there were so many different empty seats, but didn't care much, that was, until the guy started talking to him. The first thing Megumi noticed was the pink hair, settling over his light caramel brown eyes.
“Hey! It’s nice to meet you. I'm Yuji Itadori, from Queens!”
“Fushiguro.” Megumi muttered back.
“Wow, not much of a talker is he?” Megumi leaned forward to see a girl sitting to the right of Yuji.
“Don’t be mean Nobara, some people are just quiet,” Yuji said in response.
“Eh…sure. It’s nice to meet you Fushiguro, my name’s Nobara and I'm from the countryside. Yuji and I met on the walk here!”
“Nice to meet you too,” Megumi responded.
“So Fushiguro… whatcha studying?” Yuji asked.
“Oh, I’m studying biochemistry for my undergrad.” Megumi explained. “How about you both?”
“Ooh that’s so cool, I’m doing Chemical Physics, I thought it’d be cool since I like Chemistry and I like Physics you know, and I feel like this university prepares me really well for that. It’s also just such a cool subject and niche field and I think it will really help me to understand these new pow—” Yuji screamed suddenly, “—New concepts!”
Megumi stared. Nobara stared. Everyone in the room stared.
“Wow uh, you sure know how to ramble on don’t you, I’m doing fashion. I’ve always loved how beautiful I looked in my clothes so why not learn how to make every woman look beautiful, y’know?” Nobara said as the two others nodded in agreement.
“Thats nice of you, ignoring the part of you pampering your own ego I suppose.” Yuji said, holding a smile as Nobara started screaming at him about respect.
Megumi sat in his seat, wondering how he got stuck listening to 2 random people on his first day here. He had always been more introverted than most. Nevertheless the professor started talking as soon as they quieted down and they sat and listened to orientation.
Most of the orientation consisted of explanations about university policies, student services, and a lengthy tour of the facilities and residence buildings. Megumi had wanted to continue living at home, but Gojo had insisted that he stay in residence because he needed to experience the complete “university lifestyle” whatever that was supposed to mean.
During the campus tour, Yuji repeatedly drifted away from the group whenever something caught his attention, forcing Nobara to grab the back of his jacket and drag him into line.
At one point, he stopped beside a laboratory window and stared inside at a collection of high-powered microscopes and fabrication equipment.
“That’s incredible,” he said quietly.
His usual playful expression disappeared for a moment, replaced by an intensity Megumi had not expected from him.
“You like laboratory work?” Megumi asked.
Yuji looked over, startled, as though he had forgotten anyone else was nearby.
“Yeah. I like building things, fixing things, figuring out why they stop working,” he paused, “Sometimes knowing exactly what went wrong is the only way to keep it from happening again.”
There was something heavier beneath the statement, but before Megumi could examine it, Yuji smiled again.
“Also, lasers are cool.”
–
When orientation ended, they invited the students to go to their dorms, look around and start settling in. Megumi wished Nobara and Yuji goodbye as he went to his single dorm where he could sit in the quiet while he studied and—this was not a single dorm? What had Gojo done?
“Yeah, sorry about that Megumi! I may have changed it to help you get outside of your comfort zone a little bit,” Gojo said with a smile on his face.
He had already been in the dorm unpacking some of Megumi’s clothes. He probably came up while Megumi was in orientation to help get him set up, no matter, Megumi was annoyed. “Why in the world would you do that, I don't want to share a room with some—”
“No way! Fushiguro?”
Megumi whipped around to see Yuji standing in the doorway with a few boxes of miscellaneous stuff.
“You already know your roommate Megumi? I had hoped you would talk to people but already making friends on your first day? Im… so proud!” Gojo said, wiping a fake tear from his eye.
“I– uh– its nice to meet you…”
“Gojo.”
“Nice to meet you Gojo,” Yuji said as he set his boxes down.
“Im Megumi's dad—”
“—Stepdad” Megumi chimed in.
“Guardian, mentor, financial sponsor, beloved father figure—”
“—Menace.”
Gojo pointed at him. “That one is not legally recognized.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Yuji said, putting some weird looking metal pieces on the shelves by his side of the room.
Before Megumi can question it, Gojo says he’s leaving, giving Megumi a big unwanted hug “Byeeeee Megumiiiii, you're going to have so much fun! Ill miss youuu!” Gojo says as he starts to leave.
“Bye Gojo!”
“Will do!” with that Gojo was off, and Megumi was left in the room with Yuji.
Megumi is still quite annoyed with Gojo for doing this without even telling him, but he is slightly less annoyed when he realizes it will cost less for rooming with another person which he desperately needed. American universities are already expensive as they is.
Yuji comes up to him patting him on the back saying “I can't wait to get to know ya Fushiguro or should I say Megum—”
“Fushiguro.”
–
Yuji had woken up very excited for his first day of university only to be throwing himself out a window as he swung from lamppost to lamppost to catch a purse snatcher running down the street. He still had no clue where his powers came from, he just remembers it starting after that spider bit him while spelunking for fun with Todo.
“Phew, you really shouldn’t steal from your elders, it's not nice to bully the weak!” Yuji advised, restraining the perpetrator to the post while returning the purse to the lady.
“Well what kind of idiot picks on the strong,” The thief spat forcing Yuji into channeling a deep thoughts.
He did not find one. "Eh — fair enough, but you're going to have to face penalties for your crimes,”
The police quickly showed up on scene to see another thief webbed up, with Spiderman swinging off into the distance. If I don’t hurry up I'll be late for orientation!
Yuji hurriedly swung back to his apartment to change before running out the front door in his red sneakers. In a rush, he barrelled through the streets, his spider sense just barely allowed him to stop himself from running into a girl.
“HEY WATCH WHERE YOUR GOING YOU PINK HAIRED POTATO!” the stranger yelled as he stumbled out of her way. “YOU COULD'VE RUINED MY BEAUTIFUL DRESS AND ATTIRE IF YOU PUSHED ME YOU HEAR ME, YOU WATCH WHERE YOUR GOING FROM NOW ON YOU HEAR ME!”
Yuji profusely apologized like his life depended on it for the next 5 minutes, of course it seemed like it did, as the women punched him multiple times.
Finally, she relented “Ok, I think you’ve got the point, just watch where you're going next time. Say, are you also a first year heading to orientation?”
“Yeah,” Yuji grumbled as he tried to stand up straight again.
“Well, since were friends now-"
"We are?
"Yeah."
"Oh, ok?"
"As I was saying , my name's Nobara, I’m heading there now if you wanna walk with me?”
“Oh sure, my name is Yuji Itadori! Let's go!”
Despite the fact that this woman had just punched Yuji four times, they walked together, no doubt arguing about every single thing they could.
–
As he entered the room, a little late, but the professor was still setting up. He scanned the room for where to sit. He liked sitting near the front, but not too close he could be caught off guard with a question and he decided on a third row and sat next to the guy beside him.
The guy seemed to glance quickly before looking away, obviously being the quiet type, Yuji didn’t mind and sat down beside him. “Hey! I’m Yuji Itadori! From Queens!”
At first he didn’t hear much, maybe this guy just didn’t hear him talking but then he heard the guy mutter ”Fushiguro.”
“Wow he's not a talker eh?”
“SHHH! Kugisaki some people are just quiet!”
As they talked, Yuji couldn't help but stare at his pale green eyes, equating it to lakes drifting through mist on a mountaintop and— “How about you?”
Fushiguro was asking about something but he was too busy staring to remember the conversation.
Think Think — oh wait — they were talking about what they were studying. Yuji proceeded to ramble about what he was doing, still caught off guard and “I think it will really help me to understand these new p…” WAIT I almost slipped up. How could I be so silly? I nearly told these people I’m Spider-Man, I need to respond “New?… CONCEPTS!” yeah, thats it, definitely a normal way to respond to comments Yuji thought, smacking himself internally.
Nobara led the conversation as she talked about herself for a while and Yuji was thankful as he was still trying to recover from that embarrassment of a conversation, even if Fushiguro seemed relatively unphased. Finally the long orientation was over and students headed up to their dorms.
His Uncle had dropped off his boxes outside his dorm, as Yuji dragged them inside. He had booked a double room since he always wanted a roommate so he was happy to see once he stepped inside a roommate already there. Wait, that's—?
“Fushiguro?” Yuji walked into the room watching Megumi and a taller man with white hair and blue eyes standing beside him.
And whose that beside him, his dad? They don't really look alike.
Yuji noticed Fushiguro's… well whoever this was… exclaiming something, wiping a tear off his face, and revealing Fushiguro’s first name: Megumi.
“Hi! It's um nice to meetcha!”
“Hi! You must be my son's roommate, I’m Gojo, Megumi’s dad.”
Yuji watched as Gojo quickly packed up his boxes and smothered Fushiguro in a hug before making his exit, leaving the two of them in the dorm together.
The silence stretched, filled only by the muffled sounds of the students moving in and saying goodbye to parents outside. Yuji broke it first, grinning as he started organizing his belongings. "So, biochemistry, huh? That sounds really cool but challenging."
Megumi finally looked away from the window, a small, begrudging smile playing on his lips. "It is. But I think I can handle it. Just don't expect me to be as loud as you."
Yuji laughed, the sound bright and genuine. "Deal. We're gonna get along great, Fushiguro!"