Chapter Text
Fushiguro Megumi is afraid of the dark. Well, not really, he’s afraid of being alone in it. The dark is such a complex idea. So big yet so small at the same time.
One time when Megumi was only eight years old, he got lost in one of those mirror mazes you find at carnivals. It was pretty dark out, so he was almost blind in there. He had come to said carnival with Gojo Satoru, but he had run off to go fuck around with his “not boyfriend”, Geto Suguru. Megumi didn’t know what had come over him, but it was something with being alone in the dark room, seeing fragments of his reflection every time the moon shone in just the right spots. He had started to panic, like really bad. His throat was all tight and he couldn’t breathe; tears were threatening to spill out of his eyes.
Megumi kept on seeing little pieces of his pathetic reflection, like the dark room was mocking his breakdown. He felt ashamed, but there was nothing he could do, so he just curled up into a ball and shook himself back and forth, still unable to breathe.
“Kid! What the hell happened?!” Megumi heard an all too familiar voice rushing up to him. He was too…he didn’t know what he was, but he couldn’t respond, so he just threw himself into Satoru’s arms. “Wha-are you okay?” Long arms wrapped around Megumi, he was feeling a little embarrassed, but it didn’t matter, he could breathe again.
”S’nothing.” Megumi sniffled slightly, as if he was taking care of tears that had yet not fallen. He relaxed slightly into Satoru, but still heavily shaken. He could smell Suguru’s familiar cologne on Satoru’s shirt, a scent he had long ago recognized.
”You sure? Didn’t seem like a whole lotta nothing.” Satoru smiled softly, a warm feeling overtook the emptiness in Megumi’s body. As much as he hated to admit it, he truly loved Satoru as if he was his own brother. “You wanna talk about it?” Satoru whispered as if it was some sacred secret.The truth is, Megumi didn’t know what had happened. He was fine one second, and other he was on the verge of an entire mental breakdown. So instead of expressing that feeling, he pushed it down and shrugged to Satoru, who just frowned in response. “Suguru’s waiting outside, you ready to go, or you need more time?” Satoru said after what had felt like five minutes.
”Yeah, whatever, can we go home?”
”Sure, Suguru’s sleeping over anyways so it wouldn’t matter to him.” Satoru had a goofy grin back on his face, to which Megumi scowled at.
As they were walking out, Megumi was still attached to Satoru’s side, if Satoru had any problems he sure hadn’t shown it.
When they had walked out of that nightmare of a maze, Suguru was there scrolling on his phone, waiting for Satoru with a warm smile. Concern flashed across his face when he had noticed Megumi’s grim face. “Something wrong?” Suguru asked both of the two.
”No.” Megumi quickly replied, letting go of Satoru’s arm and drifting away slightly. To which Satoru raised an eyebrow at, offering his hand to Megumi. He scowled at the hand and walked over to the right side of Suguru.
Satoru first introduced Suguru to Megumi within the first few weeks of Megumi and Tsumiki moving in with him. Megumi liked Suguru, he was nice, very calm person. He would play with their dogs sometimes and take Megumi and Tsumiki out to the park on walks when Satoru got too busy. It was very clear that Satoru and Suguru were both very much madly in love, but it didn’t take a genius to figure that out.
If anything, sometimes Megumi liked Suguru better than Satoru. Satoru was a little shit.
Megumi is now in collage, majoring in literature. He has a pretty boring life. He goes to work most days of the week, goes to class, has lunch with Kugisaki Nobara every Saturday and Wednesday. It’s just rinse wash and repeat.
He is currently in the back of his communications lecture, with Nobara doodling on his hand and talking his ear off. “Ugh, you just don’t get it! This douchebag just comes up to me and asks me for my number!”
”Why is that a problem, Nobara? Was he nice about it?” Megumi sighs, clearly uninterested.
”He knows full well I’m dating Maki! And he was very cocky about it, all puffing out his chest and trying to look cool.” Nobara says with a smack to Megumi’s shoulder.
“Nobara! Ow, that hurt.” Megumi winces and glares at Nobara, who just sticks her tongue out mockingly. Megumi rolls his eyes and focuses back onto the lecture, taking occasional notes but mostly just listening to the sound of his professor’s voice turn into a blur in his mushed-up mind.
”Oh! I met a guy in my stats lecture; he’s totally your type!” Nobara takes out her phone, and it takes a moment for everything to register in Megumi’s mind. After a few seconds Nobara is tapping Megumi’s shoulder and pointing at the screen on her phone, where lies the most beautiful person Megumi had ever seen. And holy shit he was incredible looking. Nobara was sitting next to a man with the brightest smile in the world, in the photo.
“Why do you have a photo with…with…who is he?” Megumi sheepishly squeaks but clears his throat in embarrassment.
“Itadori Yuuji, that’s his name, he’s hot right?” Nobara flaunts her picture off like a trophy, Megumi isn’t sure how he didn’t faint on the spot, hot was an understatement. This Yuuji guy was something from another world. Just from the photo he could tell that Yuuji was built like an absolute god. His shoulders were so broad and big, almost as big as Megumi’s head.
”You could say that I guess.” Megumi shrugs in an attempt to look nonchalant. But on the inside, he was dying. He felt all hot and sweaty; over a guy he had never even met. Really Megumi? This guy is probably an idiot and a total jerk, don’t go falling for him. Megumi silently berated himself.
“He invited me to go see a movie with him this Friday, come with!” Nobara tugged on Megumi’s sleeve.
”Would he…would Itadori be okay with that?”
”Pfft, I’m sure of it, Itadori’s really chill.” Nobara grins
Itadori was in fact chill, but do you know who wasn’t? Megumi. As soon as he saw Yuuji flash a grin at Nobara and Megumi, he practically combusted and died five times over. He was even more gorgeous in person. Would he ever admit that? No.
”Hey! You must be Fushiguro! Kugisaki said you would be coming, nice to meet you!” Yuuji grinned. He had a small scar on the corner of his lip and a big, long gash down the middle of his face. Megumi was working overtime to prevent blush taking over his face. What was it with this Yuuji guy, anyways?
”You’re Itadori, right?” Was the only thing that Megumi was able to say. Way to be smooth.
”Yep! The one and only.” Yuuji’s smile puts the lights to shame with how bright it is.
“What movie are we even watching?” Nobara groans. “Some wormo-man movie?” Nobara looks at Yuuji, unimpressed.
"I've told you a million times, Kugisaki! It's Human Earthworm the fourth movie!" Yuuji groans. "You've heard of it, right Fushiguro?" He looks up at Megumi with annoyance.
As they walk together, Megumi notices that although Yuuji is broader than Megumi, he's taller than Yuuji. With the way Yuuji is looking at Megumi, it makes him slightly angry. He doesn't know why, but his stupidly handsome face makes him feel anger. Like he's so cocky and thinks he's better than everybody else. "Nope, never." Megumi replies as emotionless as possible. It was such a sudden and strong feeling, but Megumi didn't like Yuuji. Talk about sudden change in mood.
"Jeeze, how are you both so uncultured?" Yuuji sighs before leading the group inside of the slightly crowded theater.
The smell of over buttered popcorn takes over Megumi's nose. It's a sickeningly salty sort of smell, one that gives Megumi a headache. Ruins his appetite, not that he had much of one in the first place. Nobara gets in line with Yuuji for snacks while Megumi waits outside of their theater room. The two come back to Megumi after what feels like a few minutes.
"Brought you some M&M's, ya' know, because you like them or whatever. You're welcome." Nobara throws a box of candy at Megumi with a dumb grin. He once got M&M's at a candy store with Nobara, he's surprised she remembered.
"Thanks." He mutters, following behind Yuuji into their theater. He settles down into a seat, unfortunately next to the living lightbulb. The lights start to dim, and the previews start to play. Yuuji is chattering to the both of them about the past three Human Earthworm movies. Megumi pays no mind and just aimlessly scrolls on his phone to pass time, which earns him a smack on the arm from Nobara.
"Pay attention, you nitwit." Nobara scowls at Megumi, snatching his phone.
Megumi makes a sound of protest but is unable to act as the movie starts.
The movie itself was terrible. He isn't surprised that someone like Yuuji would like that type of movie. Nobara slept through the second half of it, not surprising. It was quite boring and very cheap looking; all of the gore scenes were terribly made. Nobara had eaten all of the M&M's that she had gotten for Megumi. Throughout the movie, Yuuji had the exact same starstruck face, one that left Megumi feeling dumbfounded, he looked as if he was watching the world's greatest piece of cinema.
"So where to next?" Nobara had said, breaking Megumi's train of thought and the awkward silence that had been surrounding the group.
"Dinner?" Yuuji suggested. "I'm starving!"
Megumi rolled his eyes, he didn't quite feel like eating, he wasn't hungry. "I'm not too hungry, one of you can pick." Megumi shrugs.
"There's a cafe around campus that I like, wanna go there?" Nobara asks, typing something into her phone. "It's kinda far away though, do you have a car, Itadori? Megumi and I just took an Uber here." Nobara looks up from her phone to shoot a quick glance at Yuuji.
"Yeah, I brought my car, it's just over there!" Yuuji gestures to somewhere in the distance.
It's around evening time and golden hour. The sun shines down onto Yuuji in a way that makes him look like an angel. His pink hair in illuminated in gold rays, and the light shines onto his honey golden brown eyes so beautifully even words cannot express what Megumi is seeing. So instead of actually putting thought into what he is looking at, he shoves his feelings deep into a corner of himself and zones out, focusing on the now very interesting floor.
The three make their way over to Yuuji's car, which is a dumb red G-Wagon. Stupid rich kid. Megumi thinks to himself, not that he has any room to be talking considering his guardian is a multimillionaire Nobel prize winner and show his love through throwing money at Megumi.
Megumi climbs in the front seat, ignoring Nobara's voice of complaint and protest, he likes the view better up front. The view outside of the window...not Yuuji. The seat was very squishy, covered in smooth black leather. It was cold. Shit. Megumi had forgotten a sweater and the ac was cracked up to the max. Even with just his ac off, he was still cold. Stupid short sleeves.
"Fushiguro, will you put on my playlist? My phone doesn't use a password, just choose whatever playlist you see, or you can put on whatever." Yuuji says to Megumi and he softly scoffs. Of course, that idiot doesn't use a password. He thinks as he nods slightly and takes Yuuji's phone, opening it up to shuffle a random playlist called, "Yuuji's super awesome playlist!!!", the name made Megumi slightly chuckle to himself. He had noticed that Yuuji's lockscreen was of him and some brown-haired girl. It made his eyebrow twitch slightly. "Your piercings are cool, Fushiguro!" Yuuji says, looking at Megumi through the car mirror.
"Thanks." Megumi flatly responds as he starts to instinctively mess with his facial piercings. He has one eyebrow piercing, a septum, a lip piercing, and a tongue piercing he did himself when he was fourteen at two in the morning with a sewing needle. He thought they all looked pretty cool and kinda got addicted to the feeling of metal in his skin. Yuuji started to ramble on about what had happened in one of his lectures, Megumi wasn't paying attention enough to hear which one.
At some point, Megumi started to shiver slightly from the cold, unable to notice if you were a stranger who didn't watch Megumi like a hawk. Megumi thought that Yuuji wouldn't notice, but of course, he had tossed Megumi his hoodie. "I don't need it." Megumi protested.
"You look like you do, plus, I run hot. I don't need it." Yuuji smiles at Megumi and they lock eyes for a split second. Yuuji probably was the type of guy who wants everyone to like him, but Megumi will not fall for his beautiful brown eyes or spikey pink hair.
"Why is your hair pink?" Megumi thinks to himself but actually says it aloud. He flushes slightly when he hears himself, he usually doesn't like to speak to people he doesn't know well unless he has to. Yuuji was annoyingly getting through that barrier.
"Why isn't your hair pink?" Yuji quickly quips back.
"Because I don't want to ruin my hair, it's already messed up as is." Megumi gestures to his spiky black hair.
"Your hair is cool. But anyways, my hair is pink because of my uncle. He wanted to dye his hair but had too much dye so he made me do it too. Turns out I really like dying my hair pink, so it just sorta stuck." Yuuji shrugs. "My natural hair is dark brown."
"I can tell, idiot, you have an undercut." Megumi sighs in annoyance. Yuuji just laughs in response. A soft bubbly sound that drowns out everything and anything else in the entire world. Very attractive.
Before he knew it, they were at the cafe. Megumi stepped out of the parked car first, going around to where Yuuji and Nobara was getting out of. They walked over to the cafe, Megumi and Yuuji occasionally bumping elbows and Nobara scowling at the two. "They have good salads here, Megs." Nobara says to Megumi.
She says this because recently Megumi had been eating a lot less. Eating things with fewer carb and calorie intake, including salads. Nobara must've noticed as to why she told Megumi. Although he hadn't eaten anything yet that day, Megumi was probably not going to order anything, as usual. Maybe just a black coffee.
"Thanks." Megumi says in what feels like the exact same tone he had been using for the past hour, dry and emotionless. Yuuji tilts his head slightly at the interaction, narrowing his eyebrows in question, though he gets ignored by both Nobara and Megumi.
They walked inside the cafe, and Megumi had finally put on the hoodie given to him by Yuuji. It was oversized, the sleeves were too short, cuffing at his upper wrists, and the neckline was positioned on his mid collarbone. Megumi didn't mind it though; it was very warm and he could catch a faint smell of what must've been Yuuji's cologne. They sat down at a table and just sat in a comfortable silence for a while.
The sound of others chattering around them, a warm smell of coffee and bread, and heavy, comforting air surrounding them, filled Megumi up with a sense of peace and calm. When Yuuji and Nobara weren't bickering, or talking even, they were pretty good company.
After about ten minutes of light conversation and brisking over the menu, a waitress came over to take their order, a young woman who must've been a student at their university with short blonde hair and greenish blue eyes, she wore a warm smile and a calm demeanor.
Once their food arrived most talking came from Yuuji. Gushing about how good his sandwich was and how hungry he was. It was annoying but Megumi could endure, he has to deal with Nobara every day talking about what she and Maki had done, and that way worse in Megumi's humble opinion. So yes, Megumi could endure Yuuji's seemingly endless yapping.
Megumi quietly sipped on his black coffee as he watched Yuuji and Nobara argue over who has the best chance at becoming the world's greatest sorcerer if there was such thing as powers and shit like that. It made no sense; they were most likely talking in some alien language.
He stole a cucumber from Nobara's plate, which earned him a glare, lovingly of course.
"Does anyone wanna hear about my dream?" Yuuji grins.
"No." Both Nobara and Megumi say in unison.
"So basically," Yuuji says undeterred. "I became a monkey and was in a cult where everyone had to donate a strand of hair a day to be able to live. But they had to pluck out the hair with their own teeth."
"What the fuck is wrong with your head?" Megumi scoffs, absolutely dumbfounded from Yuuji's idiotic words. To which Yuuji just smiled and burst out into laughter while Nobara sat silently with an annoyed expression on her face.
They all finished their food and got up to pay and leave.
"Together or separately?" The cashier asked, gesturing to the three of them.
"I'm paying." Megumi answered for the group, taking out his credit card that Satoru had given him for his bank account.
"What? No." Yuuji protested before getting shushed by Nobara.
"Let the guy pay." Nobara says to Yuuji in a hushed voice. "Don't argue with me." Nobara glares at Yuuji as if to make her point even clearer.
Megumi had tried maxing out Satoru's credit card with Nobara once in his teenage years, it seems like it never ran out of money no matter what he bought. Hence, why Nobara was letting Megumi pay with no arguments or protests. Yuuji huffed in annoyance as Megumi's card went through the machine. When Megumi finished paying the three of them left the cafe and to Yuuji's car.
Megumi sat at the front seat yet again, still in Yuuji's grey hoodie, it had what looked like cigarette burns and a broken zipper. The strings were chewed and it was clearly well loved and ratty. Megumi felt Yuuji and Nobara's voice melt out into a soup of nothingness as he relaxed and disassociated into his own little world. Completely serene and calm, a monotone and emotionless face resting. He lets out a long sigh and releases whatever tenseness he might have; he focuses onto the steady feeling of the car moving and voices buzzing around him.
Yuuji was a pretty good driver, and as much as he hates the way that his car looks, it was very comfortable and easy to nap in. Megumi wanted to fall asleep. He was warm. He could smell Yuuji all over himself. It was a very calming scene.
The drive what pretty short over to the dormitories, Nobara parted ways with Megumi and Yuuji, heading over to her sorority house which was nearby. Megumi started walking alone, but as time passed it felt as if he and Yuuji were walking alongside each other, still bumping elbows.
"You a stalker or something?" Megumi said as Yuuji kept on going the exact same way that Megumi was going.
"What? No! I live just around that corner!"
"You seem very defensive about it." Megumi smirks and Yuuji groans in frustration, but a grin still tugging at his lips. "My dorm is riiiiiight...there." Megumi says. dragging out the 'I', and points to a dorm at the end of a hallway after they pass by another hallway.
"No way! We live right next to each other!" Yuuji exclaims.
"Great." Megumi sarcastically says with an overly fake smile.
"You look so happy." Yuuji teases, which earns him a smack to the arm. "Ow! Jerk." Yuuji pouts.
"Stop that, you look stupid." Megumi scowls at Yuuji's pathetic face, which Yuuji laughs at.
"Gotta go, Fushiguro! It was nice hanging out with you and Kugisaki. Oh! And can I have your number?" Yuuji grins. "So that I can like text you to hang out sometime again." Yuuji sheepishly adds, scratching the back of his neck probably as a nervous habit.
"Phone." Megumi opens up his hand, asking for Yuuji's phone, to which Yuuji happily obliges. Megumi adds his number and hands his phone back. "Text me whenever, but don't expect me to answer, got it?"
"Mhm, yeah. Thanks! Seeya sometime, Fushiguro?" Yuuji's grin reaches an impossible length, and it nearly blinds Megumi.
"See you sometime around, Itadori." Megumi gives Yuuji a polite smile and goes to his dorm. Still wearing Yuuji's hoodie.