Chapter Text
Late in the night, silent as could be, Megumi stepped through the shadows into Yuji’s room and stood at the foot of his bed watching him sleep. Bright white moonlight came in from the four-paneled windows and fell upon them both. Megumi was not worried about being caught. He had learned, over many nights spent with held breath, that Yuji was a deep sleeper. So he stared at the place on Yuji’s chest where the blanket wrinkled with each of his breaths and inhaled deeply through his nose.
The room smelt absolutely fucking delicious . Like crisp apples and sun-warm grass. Yuji must’ve been too tired to wash up much before turning in because his heavy, sweaty pheromones clung to him and perfumed the air. Megumi greedily absorbed the comfort it offered, instincts howling. He wanted to crawl into bed with Yuji and gather him close.
Yuji. Yuji. Yuji. Megumi’s heart picked up. He loved Yuji. No, love didn’t describe it - he revered Yuji, he needed him. The first and only omega to fill his chest and heart with want. Compulsively, and against his better judgment, Megumi slid the soft inside of his wrist against Yuji’s blanket. Megumi’s pine cone and minty sap smell was strong. It paired nicely with the Yuji’s sweet, tangy scent. He stepped back through the shadows before he lost himself and scent-marked the rest of Yuji’s room. One day. He tells himself. One day. He leaves with the image of ruffled pink hair and the outline of Yuji’s lips parted around gentle exhales. And, maybe, a pair of dirty socks half-tucked under Yuji’s bed frame that Megumi is sure he won’t miss. The weight of the socks in his pocket thrilled him. He’d visited Yuji many times, but never taken anything. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stop once he started.
Back in his room at Jujutsu Tech, Megumi ripped the socks from his pocket as he seeped from the shadows, balling them hard against his nose while leaning against the wall he’d traveled through to stuff a too eager hand down his pants. Yuji’s smell was more than enough to get him hard. Fuck, he was past hard. His guts throbbed, and he moaned wantonly. Yuji. Yuji. Yuji.
Megumi met Yuji two and a half months ago, on a mission to the outskirts of the Miyagi prefecture, where Yuji lived and operated a small community center. He served meals, rented school books, even responded to calls about cats-stuck-in-trees. Yuji was the kind, multi-purpose tool of his small village, and everyone loved him for it. It was the type of honest life Megumi could admire. That he craved for himself, and the children he’d have one day, and raise much differently than himself.
So he read about the area’s history from a table in the center's corner as he hunted for the cursed spirit that had already killed three young girls, and, even from such a distance, Megumi fell in love. Yuji was perfect. Patient with children and elders, thoughtful, never too proud. And beautiful. His pink hair and light brown eyes were shinier and prettier, too, than any Megumi had seen before. When Megumi got hot inside, with self-righteous flames, wound tight with the compulsion to fight - Megumi thought of Yuji, and the thoughts slipped like cool water down his throat and soothed him.
Megumi breathed a damp patch onto Yuji’s socks, so desperate to get more of his omega’s smell he’s nearly willing to swallow them whole. It took one, two, three, hot strokes of his dry palm across his filled cock for his vision to go white, gray sparks dancing along the backs of his eyelids as he slid to the floor and came hard in his school uniform pants, Yuji’s name on his lips. He panted raggedly into the silent dorm.
Maybe, next time, Megumi could find Yuji somewhere he could formally introduce himself.
After all, Yuji still needed to fall in love with him, too.
The next day, Megumi found himself at the table in the corner of the community center, watching Yuji read to a small circle of fat-cheeked toddlers. Accompanying the kids were a handful of parents, omega mothers and fathers, and a single alpha woman, whose red eyes were too keen on Yuji for Megumi’s tastes. He couldn’t think of an excuse to get closer to the reading group, or he would. Instead, he alternated between drinking in Yuji, dressed finely in gray linen pants tied at the waist, and a light yellow haori, opened over a white and gray patterned button-up, and skimming the book he’d selected at random - Traditions of Feudal Japan.
Megumi’s phone beeped in his pocket. At the sharp chirp, Yuji’s chin instinctually lifted, and his brown eyes met Megumi’s across the room. He’s stunning. Several kids turned to look his way. Megumi blushed hard, looking down and whipping his phone out of his pocket to silence it before tipping his head in Yuji’s direction in sheepish acknowledgment. Sorry. Yuji just smiled and went back to his book. Megumi buried his face in Chapter Three: Industry to hide his flaming cheeks while his heart slammed in his chest.
Yuji smiled at him. He’d done something annoying, wrong even - and Yuji had simply smiled indulgently. He was so good. So understanding. Megumi basked in the warmth that smile had kindled in him.
Megumi waited ten minutes, trying to outlast the reading group, then stood to leave. He was weary to leave before the alpha woman- he didn’t want to leave Yuji alone to deal with a potentially uncomfortable situation- (ie: he wanted to circumvent any flirting) but it was time to answer Gojo’s beckoning. Yuji would be here even after the curses were exorcised. They were soulmates, after all.
In the light of day outside the library, Megumi searched out a dark alley and melded with the shadows, emerging miles away under the swaying branches of a tree in the courtyard of Jujutsu Tech. Gojo waited for him by an idling car. Megumi climbed wordlessly inside as Gojo filled him in, his heart and thoughts far away.
Gojo flicked the side of Megumi’s head, smirking. “You’re distracted.”
Megumi glared at him. “No, I’m not.”
Gojo leaned in and sniffed the air around Megumi’s head. “Scent doesn’t lie,” he sing-songs. “What’s got my student so excited?”
Megumi grumbled but didn’t reply, turning to look out the window at the rolling hills. For now, Yuji was his secret. He wasn’t yet willing to share his omega with the others. Especially prime alpha Gojo, whose scent and pheromones filled every space like they were paid to.
“Well…” Gojo began, uncaring of Megumi’s lack of interest. “The special grade seems to be targeting pregnant mothers…”
Four hours later, Megumi helped a swollen soon-to-be momma to her feet, the rancid smell of her fear and pain curling like a fist around his lungs and squeezing hard. Any moment he’d be suffocated by her negative emotions.
“It’s going to be okay,” Megumi comforted gruffly, the arm he fastened tightly around her waist guiding her down the dank sewer duct.
The woman sobbed in reply. One of her small hands supported her bare belly. The curse had ripped her blouse to pieces as it dragged her into its domain, and her nakedness contributed to her terror. Something unfamiliar pricked up Megumi’s spine as they rounded a dark corner. The walls trembled. Somewhere else in the bowels of the sewer, Gojo was fighting the special grade. It’d been Megumi’s task to track and rescue any survivors. He tried to exude a calming smell, but rubbing shoulders with an omega in such visceral distress made it nearly impossible. His alpha instincts howled. How could anything be evil enough to hurt someone so far along with a pup? He knew he had to smell wild. A little unhinged.
They came to a stop at a steep service ladder. The woman peered nervously up the rungs as Megumi rested his hand in a puddle of shadow and asked, “What is your name?”
“Yachi,” the woman whispered. She was clearly weighing the odds she’d fall off the ladder as soon as she started scaling it.
“Yachi, do you trust me?” Megumi asked.
Surprisingly, she nodded.
Megumi looked at Yachi, then closed his eyes. He’d summoned his shikigami many, many times tonight. Perhaps more than he ever had before. To say he was drained, to call him tired - it would be an understatement. He was past the point of one more time. So he conjured an image of Yuji, taped it to the back of his closed eyelids, and gathered all of his strength. With a tremendous burst of effort and a loud grunt, Nue materialized from the darkness, his feathers rumpled. Yachi stared at the great owl in shock, but recovered quickly. Megumi wagered she had seen many terrible, unspeakable things tonight, and Nue was probably towards the bottom of the list in terms of fear-inducing.
“Wh-what is that thing?” She asked shakily.
“Your ride,” Megumi said while he stripped off his shirt and handed it to Yachi. It wouldn’t fit around her belly, but it covered her pale breasts and shoulders, and she buttoned it gratefully just above the swell of her bump. Less exposed, she stood straighter and prouder. Like a simple shirt had given her strength.
Yuji would be proud of his thoughtfulness, Megumi thought, preening.
“Take her to the surface,” Megumi directed Nue. “Carefully.” Then, to Yachi, “I’ll see you up there.”
Nue did not give Yachi enough time to respond. He gently scooped her off her feet, cradling her between taloned feet, and drove hard toward the surface with his red wings. A stray feather fell from him and spiraled toward the ground, brushing along the side of Megumi’s cheek before landing next to his feet. He snatched it off the floor and stuffed it into his pocket before it could get dirty.
Then, he climbed the ladder and decided mid-way he deserved a visit with his omega. It didn’t feel like yesterday that he’d stolen those socks, and his once every three days rule was self-imposed, anyway. Besides, he reasoned, it was only natural to crave Yuji’s calming scent after a day like today.
Right? He nodded to himself as he climbed. Of course. Yuji, and his sweet-smelling room, were all his . It made sense to be drawn back, and back, and back.
Topside again, Megumi found Yachi under Gojo’s arm, the alpha releasing calming pheromones that had her wilting into his hold. Her bare, bruised feet looked impossibly vulnerable against the moon-splashed blacktop. The unfamiliar prickle from earlier went up Megumi’s spine again, and he shivered.
It wasn’t the sight of Yachi, pregnant to bursting and purple all over, that gave Megumi the chills, but the thought of Yuji in her place . His omega, swollen with his pup, almost naked and scared half to death. Nothing like this can ever happen to Yuji. Megumi wouldn’t be like Yachi’s alpha, or his father, or any of the other deadbeats that left their omega’s behind, let them get hurt. Yuji was Megumi’s. And Megumi, unlike all the others in his field of life-and-death, chose who he protected. That meant he could never afford to slip up - not even a little. He shivered again and released his technique.
Gojo helped Yachi into the car. When he looked up, Megumi’s name on his lips, the distant shadows quivered and Gojo knew they had already carried his student away. If he wanted to, he could peer through the darkness into Megumi’s destination.
But the mission was over. They had thanklessly saved two lives in the middle of the night. Megumi could disappear if he wanted to.
Yuji’s apartment had only a bedroom, a tiny kitchen with a two-burner stove-top oven and a mini-fridge, a bathroom with no tub, and a patio, on which Yuji grew small potted plants and drank tea in the morning. It was a cute place, and quite quaint. Megumi loved each night he spent here. Usually, just stepping into Yuji’s space calmed him.
But tonight, Megumi was a bit off-kilter. Maybe Yachi’s distress had affected him more than he realized; maybe his heart hadn’t stopped beating fast since Gojo told him the curse targeted expecting omegas. Not Yuji. Never Yuji.
Megumi’s blood was a little wild in his veins when he leaned in close to Yuji, who lay across his bed with arms and legs flung in every direction, his right cheek pressed to a pillow, his strong back chorded with muscle. Megumi put his nose as close to the base of Yuji’s neck as he dared, Yuji’s scent gland ripe, and sniffed.
Yuji’s sweet apple smell filled Megumi’s lungs and buoyed him in the middle of a feral sea. Megumi’s muscles relaxed. Yuji was safe. Megumi had not failed. Nothing had happened in the seven hours since Megumi watched Yuji at the community center. Yuji’s neck, gently tanned like the rest of him from days spent in the garden and playing ball with the kids outside, was still unmarked by alpha fangs.
The fear that’d been expanding in his lungs rushed from him like a knife popped balloon. He pressed the heel of his palm to his chest and willed his slowing heart to settle faster. Yuji shifted slightly in bed, and Megumi sprung back, pressing his shoulder blades against the shadowy far wall of the room, waiting with bated breath for Yuji to settle again. Finally, he rolled onto his back, vulgarly displaying his palm-sized maternity breasts to Megumi, and stilled.
Megumi smiled. It’s okay, he thought, and allowed himself a seat at Yuji’s desk to see better. Yuji could be as brazen as he wanted. Megumi would always be there to protect him.
It wasn’t until the sun peeked over the clouds that Megumi felt like he’d seen his fill and prepared to leave. He looked compulsively around the room before he stepped into the shadows, fingers itching to take along another treasure, like a pair of underwear or a sweaty shirt. He snatched the first thing he saw from the top of Yuji’s laundry basket, something white, and, just before leaving, reached into the tattered pocket of his pants for Nue’s pretty red feather, which he left in place of his stolen loot. Megumi disappeared exactly six and a half minutes before Yuji’s morning alarm rang.
Back at Jujutsu Tech, Megumi paced the length of his room and wondered if Yuji would like his gift. Would he see it first thing in the morning? Or not until he changed from his pajamas? Megumi would go to the community center later to visit Yuji and see.
In the meantime, he gingerly unwrapped the white article of clothing he’d stolen. A workout tank.
Megumi made a giddy noise and scrambled into his bed, holding the shirt against his chest like he’d hold Yuji, and fell asleep to the sweet notes of his omega’s scent right under his nose.
It’d been a good day.
Actually? It’d been a terrible fucking day.
Gojo came up beside Megumi and slapped him on the shoulder. He was grinning almost manically. “Look on the bright side,” Gojo said, as the curse’s domain expansion dripped and fell away all around them. “No one got hurt!”
Megumi sneered, annoyed with himself and the situation and his injury. Gojo must’ve seen the blood dripping from his head wound and decided it didn’t count.
Megumi handled this mission alone as part of Nanami’s recommendation for him to ascend to Grade One sorcerer status. It had been an honor. But it had also been a tremendous burden. He was glad it was over. And he was glad no one died, though it was not so simple. The people Megumi saved tonight would see curses everywhere. For some, that would be a fate worse than death.
Megumi turned to Gojo and handed back the special grade cursed tool he’d filched for the job. “Give this to Maki.”
“Why can’t you give it to her yourself back at school?” Gojo asked. He still pocketed the shrunken sword, though. Probably to mess around with.
“I’ve got something I need to do.”
Jujutsu Tech would decide later how he’d done. For now, there was time to see Yuji. Yuji. Megumi hadn’t stopped thinking about him all day. Had he liked the feather? Had he understood it was a gift? His unexpected assignment had kept him far from Miyagi. The community center closed at dusk so Yuji could catch the last bus, so Megumi would have to visit him at home. Megumi was genuinely disappointed to have missed that day’s reading group, but seeing Yuji sleeping peacefully would be more than enough.
Gojo must’ve sensed the direction of Megumi’s thoughts, because motioned toward the wound on the back of Megumi’s head and said, “You need to get this checked out.”
“I will,” Megumi said, and meant it. His head was throbbing. The curse had pushed him through the second floor to slam him against the first, and he wasn’t convinced he didn’t have a concussion. But he needed to see Yuji. Warm blood slithered down the collar of his shirt and he steadfastly ignored it. Seeing Yuji is more important.
Megumi looked around him for a sizable chunk of shadow, and sunk into it before Gojo could comment again, wincing with the effort of traveling through the darkness.
He stumbled from the black corner of Yuji’s bedroom and slammed his hip on the edge of the desk, barely stabilizing it in time to save a tottering pile of books at the edge. He breathed narrowly through his nose and peered over his shoulder at the bed. Yuji slept soundly on his side, his back to Megumi. Megumi lowered himself into the desk’s chair and cradled his cheeks in his hands, letting Yuji’s scent wash over him. He wanted to look for the feather, mostly to make sure Yuji hadn’t thrown it away, but couldn’t bring himself to stand.
More blood fell from the wound at the back of his head. Suddenly, he was exhausted. Yuji’s okay. He’s fine. Megumi closed his eyes and hunched over the desk as blackness tunneled towards him. He lost consciousness.
Megumi did not know how much time had passed when Gojo shook him awake. Instantly, his eyes blew wide. His heart turned over in his chest like a faulty engine.
He’d passed out in Yuji’s room.
“Is this where you’ve been going?” Gojo asked, looking at Yuji’s sleeping body.
Megumi’s scent flared possessively. “What’re you doing here?” he hissed, half glaring at Gojo, half watching Yuji. Don’t wake up. Don’t wake up.
Gojo’s expression gave nothing away. “You kept me waiting too long at the medical bay.”
Megumi grimaced. “This was supposed to be quick.”
“Then you must be glad I woke you.”
Megumi did not reply. He was not sure what Gojo understood of the situation and did not want to give too much of his secret away. Instead, Megumi held out his hand. Gojo touched it with two outstretched fingers. When Megumi blinked again, they were in the Jujutsu Tech medical bay. The school nurse had already left for the day, so Gojo bumbled around preparing bandages and antiseptic himself. While it hardly ever felt it, Gojo was still Megumi’s teacher. Neither said a word as Gojo worked, but he hummed to himself. He was never one to wallow in silence.
After Megumi’s head was cleaned up and bandaged, Gojo lifted the corner of his eye covering to peer seriously at Megumi. “You should try talking to that omega when he’s awake.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“Soon,” Megumi said. “I’m just keeping him safe until then.”
Gojo turned to re-shelve the antibacterial ointment. For a long moment, there was only the quiet scrape of plastic caps on wood shelves. It was the first time Megumi had ever seen Gojo choose his words with such carefulness. “I’m going to ask the higher-ups not to send you on any more omega victim cases for a while.”
Megumi jerked to his feet. “What? Why!”
“I don’t think your alpha is developed enough to handle being exposed to those kinds of scents. It’s not a commentary on your sorcery or technique.”
“I handled it just fine today!”
Gojo slammed the cabinet door. The medicine on the shelves jumped and rattled from the force of it. “Then why do you keep breaking into that boy's house, Megumi?”
“I’m protecting him. He’s going to be my omega!” Megumi defended. The wound at the back of his head throbbed, and he gripped the paper-wrapped bed to steady himself.
“Does he know that?” Gojo asked.
But Megumi’s hand was already reaching for the light switch. The boxy exam room was plunged into darkness as Megumi threw the lights. It took less than a second for Gojo to have them back on, but Megumi was long gone. He needed only a split-second of darkness to vanish.
Gojo threw away the bloody washcloth he’d cleaned Megumi’s face with and silently left the medical bay. There was no point in pursuing the boy anymore.
Hours later, Megumi found the feather in a cup of fancy pens at the community center. A special place, right next to Yuji’s busy computer monitor and a framed photo of him and his grumpy-looking grandpa.
Megumi wilted with relief. Gojo hadn’t known what he was implying.
Yuji liked his gift, and they were in love.