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As the deep blue sky glittered with stars dusted above, the festival lights illuminated two young men, one with pink hair and the other with black hair standing face to face.
“Hi Fushiguro!” Itadori greeted. “Sorry I’m late– the yukata was a bit of a hassle…”
Fushiguro sighed, judging the poorly styled yukata. “It’s left over right, not right over left,” Fushiguro chided, neatly rewrapping the delicate pink fabric. “Idiot.”
“Thank you Fushiguro!” Itadori smiled and planted a small kiss on the other’s cheek. “C’mon, let’s go into the festival!” He grabbed Fushiguro’s hand and dragged him along.
Fushiguro felt his ears warming, and smiled. The festival lights bathed Itadori’s face in a golden glow, making him look ethereal. Fushiguro felt lucky to be beside him.
The pair plunged into the crowds, still hand in hand. After threading through game stalls and folks dancing, Itadori pulled Fushiguro to their first stop.
A yakisoba stall sat glittering in the evening light, wooden stools under a red awning, and a short menu detailing the delights hidden inside.
“Yakisoba?” Fushiguro asked, but Itadori had already sat down at the stall. Fushiguro shrugged and sat beside him. “What do you want to order?”
“Hmm,” Itadori considered, “I’ll probably get sosu yakisoba… you want shio yakisoba, right?”
“Yeah,” Fushiguro replied. “How’d you—?”
“I know this because you’re my favourite person in the whole wide world!”
Fushiguro almost couldn’t take it. He was about three seconds away from launching himself at Itadori and kissing him silly when the cook popped their head out of the booth to ask what they wanted to order. Damn it.
After the boys had ordered their food, they struck up a conversation— or rather, Itadori talked his soul out while Fushiguro gazed adoringly at him. It was a regular occurrence, but Fushiguro never got tired of it. He remembered before he started dating Itadori– ages ago– when he would catch himself doing the same thing and force himself to look away before Itadori caught him. Now he was free to admire as he pleased, much to his delight.
Itadori’s eyes glinted in the golden light. “You like what you see?” Fushiguro felt heat rise into his cheeks, dusting them a vivid red colour. “Called it!”
Just then, the yakisoba arrived, cutting off Fushiguro from flirting back. Damn, I need to get quicker on the uptake, he thought. Aloud, he suggested: “Do you want to get taiyaki afterwards?”
“Absolutely!” Itadori grinned, practically lighting up the whole area around them. “Should we do games before or after taiyaki?”
“Hm,” Fushiguro considered, pausing to slurp down his noodles, “I think before, so I don’t have to listen to you nagging me about dessert the entire time.”
“Hey!”
Fushiguro smiled. It was too easy to tease Itadori, and the reward was always worth it. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to buy you two so you won’t finish them too quickly.”
“Thank you Fushiguro!” Itadori sang, throwing an arm around him.
“Go back to your yakisoba, idiot,” he chided affectionately, halfheartedly shrugging him off.
•••
After the yakisoba was finished, Fushiguro paid the cook before getting dragged off into the crowd by a very eager Itadori.
“C’mon Fushiguro,” he whined. “You walk slowly!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Fushiguro huffed. “If you’re gonna complain about me walking slowly, just hold my hand.”
“Okay!” Itadori laced their fingers together, and Fushiguro swore he started walking even faster, weaving through stalls and dodging the ever-moving throngs of people.
As the lanterns bobbed lazily from wire strung between the buildings, Fushiguro shivered with excitement. It had been a while since he had gone out with Itadori on a date, going out in public with Itadori all to himself. He admired as Itadori danced through the crowd, trying to find a taiyaki stand.
Spotting one, he said: “Itadori, I think there’s a stand right—”
“Ignore that, Fushiguro,” Itadori exclaimed. “Look right in front of you!”
“Dancing…?” Fushiguro asked dubiously, already guessing where this was going.
“Yeah!” Itadori tugged his hand. “We gotta go join! It’ll be so much fun, I swear!”
Fushiguro sighed, accepting his fate. “All right, but we can’t dance for too long or we’ll get sick from just eating dinner.”
“Okay!” Itadori pulled him into the dancing area and spun around so he was holding both of Fushiguro’s hands. “Now we dance!”
For some time, the couple danced under the night sky, surrounded by the warm light of the festival and the whirling of people in the crowds. Inhaling the light trace of smoke from the lanterns and the perfume of the people surrounding them, Fushiguro felt strangely relaxed. Maybe it was because he was here with Itadori, dancing with him and knowing that his eyes were for him and him alone.
“Are you having fun, Fushiguro?” Itadori whispered into his ear, pulling him closer.
“Yeah,” he replied. “Do you wanna get taiyaki now?”
“Sure!”
The two boys wove out of the dancing area, hand in hand, and made their way over to the taiyaki stand that Fushiguro had pointed out earlier.
After ordering, they sat down at a small table to wait.
“Are you enjoying the festival so far, Itadori?” Fushiguro asked, returning the earlier question.
“Of course!” Itadori grinned, his face lighting up. “I’m here with you, so obviously!”
Fushiguro buried his face in his hands. “You’re too sweet,” he muttered through his fingers, feeling the warm press of his cheek against his palm.
Fushiguro felt Itadori ruffle his hair affectionately. “I’m gonna go get the taiyaki– they’re ready now!”
“Okay,” Fushiguro replied.
About thirty seconds later, Itadori arrived back at the table with three steaming hot taiyaki. He handed one off to Fushiguro, and took a bite of one of the other ones. “Ow! Crap, it’s hot!”
“Idiot,” Fushiguro chuckled. “That’s what you get for eating it immediately.”
“Oh, you say it like you don’t want to inhale yours right now,” Itadori countered.
“I do, I just know better than to burn my mouth.”
“Well, that’s what my second taiyaki is for anyways,” Itadori replied. “It’ll cool down while I’m eating this one, and then I can enjoy one without burning my mouth! Perfect solution!”
Fushiguro sighed. “Sure, whatever makes you happy. Just remember to ask me to kiss it better later.”
“Will do!” Itadori gave a silly thumbs up, still holding taiyaki in each hand.
•••
After they had finished their taiyaki (mostly… Itadori was still munching on the second one,) the couple made their way towards the game stalls.
“Oh, Fushiguro!” Itadori exclaimed, mouth full of taiyaki, “Let’s do the ring toss game!”
“Deal,” Fushiguro agreed. “Winner owes the other a favour.”
“You’re on!”
The two boys lined up at the game, ready to play. “Three, two, one, start throwing!”
Fushiguro lost. Not just once, but three times in a row as a result of Itadori calling for a pity match and saying he’ll go easy on him each time.
“What do you want as your favour,” Fushiguro grumbled, displeased at his repeated losses.
“Well,” Itadori sang cheekily, “I want you to hold my hand and stay by my side for the rest of tonight!”
Fushiguro rolled his eyes. “Idiot. I was planning on doing that anyway…”
“Aw, really?”
“Obviously,” he muttered. “You still have two favours left… you beat me thrice afterall.”
“Hmm,” Itadori wondered. “I’ll come up with something later! For now, let’s just play games and have fun!”
For the next hour, Itadori dragged Fushiguro along to every game he found interesting, and vice versa. At the end of their game run, the final score was:
Itadori: 18 wins, 6 losses, 2 ties.
Fushiguro: 6 wins, 18 losses, 2 ties.
“Ha! I got triple the amount of wins you did!” Itadori celebrated.
“Of course you did, you’re stupidly athletic and coordinated and talented,” Fushiguro pointed out.
“Fushiguro, you flatter me so~” Itadori joked.
“It’s a fact,” Fushiguro replied, knocking his shoulder against Itadori’s. “What do you want to do now?”
“Well, it’s almost time for the fireworks, isn’t it?” Itadori asked. “We should go find a spot to watch them!”
“Sounds great.”
A few minutes later, the couple found themselves on a boardwalk next to the bay. The sky was a dark, clear blue, the bright moon reflecting off of the shimmering water. The boardwalk spanned out across the entire beach, leaving plenty of empty room for Itadori and Fushiguro. They leaned against the railing, gazing up at the sky, and waited for the fireworks to commence.
A cheer went up on the boardwalk as a golden burst of light lit up the night sky, glittering streaks trailing down like water flowing in a river. As fireworks kept erupting, Fushiguro pulled Itadori in close.
“I love you, Yuuji,” Fushiguro whispered into the other’s ear.
“I love you too, Megumi,” Itadori replied. “I burnt my mouth earlier, will you make it feel better, please?”
Fushiguro smiled softly, placed his hand on the back of Itadori’s head, and slotted their lips together.
The fireworks in the distance illuminated two silhouettes so thoroughly pressed flush against each other that it was difficult to distinguish where one ended and the other began. All an onlooker could tell is that the two were very much in love with one another.