Itadori Yuuji's always lived a pretty normal life. But he doesn't like to let things like that hold him back. Doesn't like to let anything hold him back, really. What's the point in that? He's always figured that while his life might be pretty ordinary, that doesn't have to mean he can't find the extraordinary things that still manage to shine through.
The little, beautiful things like the wildflowers that bloom through the cracks in the alleyways he walks through to get to school. Like the cupcakes Sasaki would bake for him and Iguchi, with little iced ghosts and cute wrappers. Or the music that would play through his headphones as he sprawled out across the living room floor, managing to once again ignore his homework in favour of flicking through another manga. The soft blush of crimson pricking across his classmates' faces when someone would be confessed to, a completely involuntary smile kissing their lips. The way his friends scream and cheer when one of them lands a new trick at the skatepark, hoisting the champion into the air, sweat slick across their skin and bellowing so loud they sound feral as they roar in their shared victory.
His life has always been mundane. But he's always been wildly in love with it all. The earthly routine of his life, while nothing special or exceptional, has always been plenty for Yuuji. He likes going to school with his friends. Likes showing off in gym class, and while he doesn't love failing a large percentage of his tests, he does like when his friends offer to help him study. It means they're always happier than he is when he passes for once.
Likes cooking in his kitchen, Spotify humming and rays of light streaming in as oil hisses and his blunt knives lightly thud against the wooden chopping block. Likes the smiles on his neighbours faces when he knocks with one hand, presenting a fresh plate of cookies or gyoza with his other. Likes the way their smiles reach their eyes, bowing their heads in genuine gratitude, or letting their kids come up and hug his legs as they grab at the desserts.
Likes watching films, and likes watching his favourites more than once. Writing notes about them, previously in an old notebook, before Junpei introduced him to Letterboxd. Likes going home and putting on the soundtrack to a film he's just seen as he goes for a run, pretending in his head like he's the director of his own film. Each step of his feet meeting the concrete on the beat.
Likes smoking weed in the evenings (enough to rot his brain according to some of his friends) (especially when considering the few he had in the first place, according to his grandpa.) Head feeling a little lighter as he sits on his balcony, legs swinging through the railings. As he exhales slowly, a soft burning licking up his insides, the city of Tokyo breathes along with him.
Likes going to parties at weekends, dapping people up and ducking under outstretched arms with a loose grin. Likes knowing the name of everyone in his school, even though he's only a first year. Likes making the older boys laugh along with his jokes, and likes when the pretty girls with their cute tiny skirts and neat braids awe at him throwing down in arm wrestling competitions.
And then he likes doing it all over again the next week when Monday ticks around. Likes finding new recipes and new films and new ways to make the people around him smile. Likes smelling new flowers and winning new games of volleyball and landing new tricks on his board and hearing new jokes from his friends.
Yuuji's always liked finding beautiful things in his normal life. And Fushiguro Megumi is the most beautiful of them all.
He's known this from the first time he saw him. Yuuji had been playing football with his friends one day, right before the last semester of Junior High started. Their goalposts had been constructed from old jumpers balled up and strewn across the grass, and each goal scored had felt like winning the J.League. Dirt was streaked all over his legs from skidding across the grass, but Yuuji had been having too much fun to even really consider how annoyed his grandpa would be with the mess. Sweat dripped down his back and his smile was so wide the entire time it felt like his face might split in two.
He hadn't noticed the spectating boy until their ball rolled right up to him, knocking into his bare ankles. Even then, he hadn't really taken note until he broke away from his friends to chase after the ball, running up and calling out, "Sorry, that's our ball."
And then he kind of felt the wind in his lungs being punched out of him. Because Yuuji was used to looking for beautiful things, but he'd never seen eyes so green. Never seen anything that shade before. Had never seen something so beautiful that it felt almost violent. The boy's eyes stabbed straight through him, and Yuuji stood there pathetically, blood seeping through his shirt and running down his forearms, splattering all over the grass.
The boy was as sweaty as Yuuji, but he was dressed head to toe in luxury sportswear, compared to Yuuji's wearing, mottling shorts. But he didn't look like he was with anyone, and he wasn't running. Just stood there, with eyes the colour of Summer and a scowl that Yuuji was very quickly realising was reserved for him.
Moving before the other boy could, he kicked the ball into the air and caught it in his arms. "You wanna play?" he asked, impressed with the way he carried his voice. Didn't reveal a single shred of the desperation he was suddenly feeling. The boy just blinked at him for a moment, before his lips were curling up and a rejection was being spat from his tongue.
Asshole, Yuuji thought to himself as he watched the boy leave. But his heart was rattling in his chest, and he couldn't help the soft smile that kissed his own lips. He stood there watching the boy walk away until his friends yelled his name, calling him back to their game. For the rest of the day, even as his team lost, and as his grandpa scolded him for getting so dirty, all Yuuji could think about was that colour green.
The days blinked into weeks, into months into a year that had passed since he'd seen that boy. But he'd never really forgotten the colour of his eyes. How could he, when every time he skated past a garden with mottling leaves or played soccer on damp grass or sliced up a new bouquet of flowers for his grandpa, he was reminded?
He had never been much of a romantic, despite the confessions he received, or the lips he found himself smiling against at parties. Had never thought of himself as a romantic, preferring to leave that to the songs and the poems and the professionals. But he figured that thinking of a pair of green eyes every time he cut a damn shiso leaf was as romantic as it was gonna get.
When he met the boy again, bleeding from his head, he was half convinced he was dreaming. Fushiguro Megumi had a way of shifting the world under Yuuji's feet like that, strolling through his mind every second of the day without hesitation.
His whole life, Yuuji always managed to get what he wanted. Through sheer determination, and a smile plastered across his face, he normally ended up exactly where he wanted. It worked exactly the same way when it came to Megumi. Yuuji wanted him, had wanted him since he was fourteen and found himself caught up on green eyes and a pretty scowl, and so he got him.
He was never going to let a silly little thing like sorcery get between them. Between him and a beautiful boy who laughs at books but not the videos Yuuji sends him? A beautiful boy who screenshots pictures of meals on Twitter but can't cook for shit? A beautiful boy with a foul mouth when he plays Valorant and when he's under Yuuji's hands? A beautiful boy with eyes that match the colour of Yuuji's hair and his lips and the underside of his board?
Sorcery never stood a chance. God himself could come down from the heavens and wouldn't be able to get between him and Megumi. Yuuji would like to see him try, actually.
He had never been much of a romantic, but as Fushiguro Megumi fit his way into Yuuji's life piece by piece, he started to realise that maybe he could be.
The sun started to set later, and Yuuji's screen time went up by 100% as soon as Megumi's number was saved. He slept with his window open thanks to the shitty AC in his bedroom, and he heard a shy laugh in every song he listened to. His teachers got on his ass about his finals, and his textbooks were introduced to another boy's handwriting in the margins. He smoked with his friends in their gardens when their parents were out, but Yuuji found himself getting higher listening to Megumi's jokes over the phone, even though most of them went over his head.
His grandpa died, and he had to tell a photograph of him about Megumi because he'd waited too long. He moved in with Junpei, and ran his mouth freely, because he knew Junpei appreciated him enough to at least indulge in his Fushiguro Megumi obsession. He sat his exams, and found himself a brother, and counted the days off his calendar until the holidays finally started. Found out that his boyfriend was a wizard, and found out that he might have like a thing for wizards (or maybe just a thing for Megumi and everything Megumi) but that wasn't even the biggest thing that happened that day. No, that honour was still bouncing between his brother getting a date with maybe the hottest woman Yuuji had ever seen before, or him finally getting to sleep with his boyfriend.
He started seeing the little monster things Megumi had tried to explain to him, but Yuuji had kept getting distracted (totally not on him because why would Megumi try and teach him stuff while he was shirtless) so he still didn't super understand what their deal was. They seemed to just buzz around for the most part, Yuuji's chest tightening as he watched them hang around certain people on the train. People with hung heads and dark circles kissed under their eyes and hair that hung in tired, limp strands. "I feel like I should do something," he'd tried to tell Megumi one day, throat thick.
"You can't," his boyfriend had shrugged, attention focused on something on his phone. And Yuuji understood better now, understood that the text was probably about an important mission, or something that had happened at the school, but he didn't fully understand why Megumi couldn't understand that this was different for him. He hadn't grown up knowing that people's hatred and sadness and fear could physically manifest like Megumi had. And he kind of missed when he hadn't known about all this. Kind of made him sad that his boyfriend had always lived with this knowledge, sodden with revulsion and disgust, but what was there to do apart from fight them off one by one? And he couldn't even do that.
The itch never left. The overwhelming urge to help these people, to do something, to do anything. It was like a graze left to itch, and Yuuji couldn't help but drag his nails over it until it split into an open wound. Megumi does his best to plaster over it, with meaningless words he's clearly been fed since he was a child himself, but Yuuji doesn't love being treated like he's twelve. Instead, he stopped bringing it up, letting Megumi think he's forgotten all about them. Instead, he sits on the train and stares until the people stare back at him, eyes open and sad. Open and sad and almost knowing, and Yuuji always second guesses himself for a moment as he thinks that maybe they can see the curses too. But then they stand up when the train wails to a stop, getting off with sloped shoulders and the curses still follow after them.
But what can he do? He's not a wizard. He's just some guy that fell in love with the coolest boy in Japan, who happens to have walked right out of his own manga. All Yuuji can do is stand by and watch as Megumi saves him, along with the rest of the population, every day.
School had finally ended, along with most of his other obligations like volleyball practice and studying for finals and attending parties as almost all of his friends were strewn across the globe with their families on vacation. Yuuji found himself freely revolving around green eyes and a tight smile, soaking up the last drops of Summer and then entering into Autumn, and Winter, which brought around a whole new two weeks of freedom that Yuuji could use to obsess over his boyfriend with.
Those eyes bare into him now, painted in awed amusement. "You're like a circus freak or something!" Nobara's voice pipes up from the side, and Yuuji tears his attention away from Megumi to grin at her. It sounds like a compliment weirdly enough, so Yuuji nods in thanks, jostling his almost six foot tall, 150-pound boyfriend in his arms. He can't really remember how they got here, with Yuuji fireman carrying Megumi, but he's always down to go with the vibe whenever he's at Jujutsu Tech. He already feels stupidly far out of his depth, that he kind of just trails after Megumi and Nobara like another shadow puppet dog. (He's pretty sure that's not their biological-professional name but who cares.)
"Yeah, yeah, says the fucking witch," Yuuji laughs with a roll of his eyes, even as he places Megumi back down on his feet. "Sorcerer," the other boy corrects softly, but loud enough for Nobara to hear and proceed to imitate throwing up everywhere. She does that a lot after Megumi speaks. It's normally received by him lightly smacking her over the head. Megumi moves as if to do just that, but Yuuji easily catches him around the waist, pulling him in closer to drop his jaw against his shoulder, wrapping his arms around Megumi's slim middle.
"Your boyfriend is such a loser, Ita-chan," Nobara simpers as she tosses her hair over her shoulder. "Stop calling him that," Megumi hisses, jabbing a firm finger in Nobara's direction. Yuuji can feel Megumi's body moving with each word, humming against his uniform. "It's creepy as hell."
"I like it," Yuuji shrugs, mindlessly drumming his fingers on Megumi's stomach.
"Of course you like it, you're an attention whore," Megumi sighs, but Yuuji can hear the fondness in his voice. It makes him smile to himself, even as Nobara pipes up again and her and Megumi fall into one of their meaningless arguments.
It took him a while to get used to how they act around each other, but as he spent more and more time at Jujutsu Tech it started to make sense. They would snipe at each other, with constant insults and grumbles. An endless stream of 'fuck off, Kugisaki,' or 'you're so cringe, Fushiguro,' or 'did you steal my fucking textbook?' or 'if you touched my leftovers I'm going to string you up by your neck.'
But it's always interspersed with a soft, silent kindness. Megumi will always place a third setting at the table when he's cooking with Yuuji, with the seat by the window that Nobara likes the best. She'll bring extra snacks to training, Yuuji watching as she easily tosses them to Megumi when they're finished because she knows he always forgets. Nobara sometimes shows up to hangout in a jumper that Yuuji knows is Megumi's (because it's always technically his jumper, because Megumi likes to 'borrow' his clothes), and he won't comment on it. Megumi would manage to skip out on class, or training, or curfew sometimes to hang out with Yuuji, shrugging and smiling, "Nobara offered to cover for me."
It took Yuuji a while to get used to it, because he's never really been friends with siblings like them before. Not that he's ever commented on it before, because he thinks all he'd get in response is a punch to the shoulder from the both of them.
"Don't call your boyfriend a whore," Nobara snaps, eyes narrowing with the usual amusement she finds in irritating Megumi. "Show some respect to the one person who willingly hangs out with you, fuckface."
"Oh my god," Megumi groans, the sound reverberating through Yuuji's chest. "Stop doing this, asshole. He doesn't even like you, you know?"
"That's not true," Yuuji cuts in easily. "I like you a lot, Kugisaki, for real."
"I know Ita-chan," she nods, nails tapping along her arm. "I'm on all your private stories. And your finsta. I bet you don't even know what that is, do you Fushiguro?" she teases with a mocking pout, skipping forward to lean against Yuuji's back and go up on her tip toes to jut her chin out at Megumi. It's like some sort of weird, passive aggressive group hug, but Yuuji likes hugs enough to take them in any kind, so he just lets Nobara throw her entire weight on him as he tugs Megumi tighter to his chest.
Megumi just makes a face in retaliation, because they all know he definitely doesn't know what that is – the guy barely knows what Instagram is. And It's not like Yuuji refuses to let Megumi see his stuff, it's just that as soon as they started properly dating, Megumi dropped all of his social media pretty quickly.
When he'd found out Megumi only ever really been using it to stalk him, he'd practically mauled his boyfriend. "You think that's hot?" Megumi had laughed in disbelief, head thrown back as Yuuji licked at his neck. "Me being that obsessed with you? You don't think it's weird?" Yuuji had been tempted to tell Megumi there and then that he'd actually been clinically obsessed with him since they were fourteen, before he ever knew Megumi's name. But he thought that might still be a bit much, so he pushed the temptation down and gently bit at Megumi's skin instead.
"You're not missing out on much," Yuuji muses softly, because he's really not. Honestly, most of his social media has turned into Megumi stan accounts, unable to stop himself from posting almost every picture he manages to take of his boyfriend.
"Yeah, you are," Nobara grins, obsessed with needling Megumi. "Ita-chan posts edits of himself."
"Edits?" Megumi asks in confusion, brows knotting like he's an old man. Nobara squeals in laughter, only getting louder as Yuuji lets go off Megumi to scoop her up into his arms this time, carrying her with one arm as he pokes at her side with the other.
"I don't," Yuuji clarifies over Nobara's hysterical giggling, easily tossing her over his shoulder. "I save that all of that for you, baby." And Megumi's face washes with crimson, and as much as he might protest it, Yuuji knows it's because of the nickname. And maybe irritation at his lack of cultural awareness, because he shrugs and murmurs, "What the fuck is an edit?"
"An edit of himself looking hot, obviously. Seriously, I can't believe why a guy like you is dating a twink like him," Nobara hums, tilting her head to rake her eyes over Yuuji, flicking her fingers against his temple as her knees accidentally dig into his back. Megumi bursts out into wrathful protests, eyes wide with annoyance as he moves forward like he might drag Nobara off of Yuuji's back and shove her into the ground.
"He's beautiful," Yuuji answers anyway, because he's pretty sure that this is obvious. But with the way Megumi pauses in his steps, hands still raised in violent fists, face bleaching of all colour and eyes crumpling slightly, Yuuji realises that maybe it isn't obvious enough. Maybe he should have been saying this more. "He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he continues, unable to stop himself even though Megumi will probably be pissed at him for saying all this to Nobara. "I don't know how a guy like me managed to land him."
"Fucking ugh," Nobara cries out, lips screwing into a disgusted pout as she shudders. "That was genuinely repulsive, Yuuji. Put me down right now. I don't want to touch you."
"I'm not a twink," is all Megumi says, and if Yuuji didn't know better, he'd think Megumi was pointedly ignoring him and everything he just said. Which, yeah, he kinda is, but out of embarrassment more than anything. He can tell from the pink dusting Megumi's ears.
"Whatever," Nobara sighs. "That was like the gayest thing I've ever seen," she shudders again, eyes jumping from Megumi and Yuuji like she can't decide who to make fun of. "You kiss women," Megumi points out and Nobara shrugs like that isn't applicable.
"Yeah, that whole thing was still gayer," she yawns, flicking her finger up and down Yuuji's direction. "You're smooth, Ita-chan," she muses, lips pressed tightly together in a smile that he can't really figure out. "I am?" Yuuji laughs, because he really doesn't think so. But he totally won't complain if that's the vibe he's giving out. Maybe Megumi's into smooth guys.
"No, he isn't," said boy rolls his eyes fondly, lightly punching Yuuji across the arm. "Now, let's go. Stop letting her distract you. You promised to train with me."
"He's gonna beat your ass into the dirt, Fushiguro," Nobara chimes in, and Yuuji can't help but laugh along. "I'm gonna beat your ass into the dirt, Fushiguro," he murmurs, voice softer than Nobara's, and green eyes light up that, Megumi shaking out his arms before gracefully dropping into a fighting crouch. Yuuji's mouth goes dry, and he's practically stumbling into the training ring, almost decking it as he vaults over the ropes.
But before he can even touch Megumi, let alone deck him into the dirt, a nervous man in a suit is sliding into the training gym, panting heavily and sighing with relief when he sees them all. "I've been looking everywhere for the two of you," he heaves out heavily, straightening up and wiping at his face with his hand. "You've been called on a mission. Backup for the third years."
"Which ones?" Nobara asks with a raised brow, hands on her hips. "I'm not going if it's Hakari. He's a moron."
"Like Hakari-senpai would need our help," Megumi mutters under his breath before the sweaty, anxious man rushes out, "No, it's Maki, Panda and Inumaki-kun. They got caught up in something apparently. And the other third years are off on a-"
"You should've said it was them sooner!" Nobara cries out, running towards the man before demanding Megumi follow her. "I need to get my hammer from the dorm. I'll meet you two out front."
"I'll see you out there too, Ichiji-san," Megumi says as Nobara sprints out of the room, skirt swishing between her legs and hair tumbling out of the bun she'd tossed it up into. The man nods, eyes jumping between Yuuji and Megumi before he leaves the room, less frantically than Nobara had.
"Is this not like a state of emergency?" Yuuji asks, as Megumi stalks towards him, stupidly long legs flexing under his shorts. "They seem pretty stressed out. That guy was tweaking."
"Ichiji is in a constant state of stress. And Kugisaki is just in love with Maki or whatever."
"Oh yeah?" Yuuji blinks in surprise. He's been over at Jujutsu Tech a lot recently, hanging out with Megumi and his classmates, but he'd never noticed Nobara acting weirder than usual around Maki. Apart from the long looks, and soft nods every time she spoke. "I couldn't tell," he shrugs, grinning at the disbelief in Megumi's eyes.
"They're probably fine," Megumi says as he waves his hand in dismissal. "Panda and Inumaki have started calling the two of us in for backup all the time now. Ever since Gojo told them they could. They're just lazy." And before Yuuji can say anything, before he can ask anything about this insane superhero life his boyfriend lives, Megumi is throwing his arms around Yuuji's shoulders and shuffling in closer.
"So, what're you…uh-what're you doing tonight?" he asks, not meeting Yuuji's eyes as he fidgets with his fraying collar. He never really seemed to get over asking Yuuji out, despite the fact that they're literally dating, always grimacing at himself when he dares to try. Yuuji shrugs, because he likes seeing Megumi a bit awkward about it all, likes teasing him with it.
"Dunno," he murmurs. "Should probably study a bit. Might smoke and read one of those books on your list. I think the next one's another European one." His boyfriend's taken it upon himself to educate Yuuji on his favourite books. Yuuji had agreed, because he would do anything if Megumi asked, but he'd kind of been ready for it to be boring as shit. And it for sure would have been, if not for the little notes Megumi scribbles on the margins. Yuuji memorises those words. And when he can't remember them, he writes them down in his notes app, scrolling through his boyfriend's thoughts when he's bored.
"Oh, yeah," Megumi nods, so close that his nose brushes against Yuuji's when he moves. "That sounds nice."
"Yeah," Yuuji shrugs in response, leaning up to catch Megumi's mouth with his own. "Just ask, Meg," he murmurs against his lips, because while he likes their little back and forth, sometimes he just has to give Megumi a push. Never thought the guy that goes off slaughtering monsters for a living would be such a pussy when it comes to asking his boyfriend to hang out with him.
"You could stay here until I get back, if you wanted. We can watch something off of your list when I'm back." One stipulation of Yuuji reading Megumi's books was that Megumi had to watch Yuuji's films. "Or we could cook dinner."
"You mean, I could cook dinner."
Megumi chuckles, hot air fanning over Yuuji's lips. "Yeah. You can cook dinner."
"Are we really just gonna cook?" he asks, arms wrapping around Megumi's waist and clamping around his own wrists. He's never gonna get over how thin all of Megumi's limbs are. He's kinda like those sexy elves he used to drool over when he watched the Lord of the Rings. He's pretty sure those films gave him some kind of complex, suddenly infatuated with tall women, and then tall men when he realised that he didn't just think Yuto Horigome was the coolest person ever. But Megumi isn't even as waif-like as he appears under his thick uniform, or the boxy t-shirts and baggy jeans he hides himself under. He's painfully strong, with thick calves that Yuuji wants to sink his teeth into, and a broad back that Yuuji wants to live on.
"Yeah," Megumi huffs with amusement, tilting his head at Yuuji because somehow now the roles have switched. But Yuuji's never really had much of an issue begging Megumi for anything. "Unless you can think of something better to do." He steps away from Yuuji, unfolding his limbs back towards himself as he pushes a strand of dark hair behind his ear. Brown eyes follow the movement, getting stuck on the particular boyish part in Megumi's hair – the insuppersible cow lick that makes Yuuji want to devote his life to trying to stroke it back into place.
"I can think of a few things," Yuuji shrugs. "We can trio with Nobara," he suggests, laughing out loud when Megumi's face falls. "I'm joking. Jesus. You're down so stupid for me, Megumi. Respect yourself."
"Shut up. Like I'm weird for wanting to fuck my boyfriend."
"Oh yeah?" Yuuji can't stop laughing, egged on by the pretty way Megumi's lips twist into a frown. "That's what you wanna do?"
"Eat shit," Megumi hisses, and Yuuji can't really tell if his irritation is real or exaggerated, but he grabs onto Megumi's wrist all the same, lightly tugging him back into his chest. "Sure," he hums, laughter still evident in his words, but Megumi seems to chill out when Yuuji presses a kiss to his jaw. "I'll kick around here. I'm sure I can find something in this wizard school to entertain myself. See you when you're back."
"Thanks," Megumi murmurs, fingers running through pink hair before he's moving back and trudging towards the exit. "See you later."
"Don't die," Yuuji calls after him.
"Really high bar you're setting for us, Yuu," Megumi says, but he's grinning, canines biting into his bottom lip. "Figure you guys know more about this shit than I do. You got this, baby," Yuuji dismisses him, and then Megumi is disappearing out of the door with a wave. He stands there like an idiot for a moment, glancing around the gym and just sort of relishing in the fact that Megumi likes him enough to want him to stay. To kind of beg him to stay.
"Yeah," he mutters to himself, jumping from foot to foot as he shadow-boxes for a moment, fists flying through the air. "Fushiguro Megumi wants me. Wants me to stay and hang out. Yeah, that's right," he grins, exhale of amusement leaving through his nose. "He wants me."
He gets the shit scared out of him when the door is nudged open, but breaks out into a laugh when Kon bounds over to him. "Hey dude," he coos, squatting down to open his arms up to the dog. "Meg sent you to look after me?" he asks, smiling harder when the dog licks his face, as if to say yes. "Well, I don't think any monsters are out to get me, but we can kick it together. Let's go, boy." Kon pads alongside him as Yuuji leaves the gymnasium, strolling through the halls and trying his best to not feel like a criminal breaking and entering.
He's never been in a school with halls so empty before. Never really been anywhere this empty before. "Kinda creepy," he says to Kon as they pause in front of every open door, peering into abandoned classrooms with no more than five desks placed in front of a blackboard. "Like a ghost town."
He tries to look for Megumi and Nobara's dormitory, feeling a bit bad for the two of them. Jujutsu Tech is cool, and Yuuji would kill to be a sorcerer, to feel like a protagonist in an anime, but the school seems pretty lonely. It feels more like walking through a cemetery than a high school. Like he's supposed to have a solemn look on his face as he respectfully picks his way through, never straying from the path lest he stroll onto a grave.
Eventually he stumbles upon a dormitory, but it's the wrong one. Or maybe the right one, considering the familiar smell of weed that's lingering. Kon growls slightly when Yuuji sticks his head through the doorway, face lighting up when he finds the three coolest sorcerers (apart from his boyfriend) all sprawled out across a couch. He ignores the hound, scratching behind his ear before he calls out, "Yo!" Kon's just a manifestation of Megumi, he reminds himself. And Megumi is one territorial bastard when it comes to Yuuji and other sorcerers.
"Yuuji!" Ino laughs, lifting his head from where it's resting on Hakari's lap to peer up at him. His eyes are blown wide and Yuuji finds himself laughing back with him. Megumi had tried to claim sorcerers didn't smoke or drink that much, but Yuuji knew that had been bullshit. His Megumi was just too oblivious and apathetic to take note of who the stoners were. Yuuji had a good radar for this kind of stuff.
"Where's your husband?" Hakari needles as Yuuji comes up behind the couch to dap up Ino. It's ironic really, how Hakari likes to ridicule Yuuji and Megumi for hanging out so much when he's attached to Hoshi at the hip. Yuuji shrugs, because he doesn't mind being ridiculed for how much he likes Megumi. Honestly, he likes that everyone knows that Megumi's his. That they're each other's. "Mission."
"And he left you here all alone?" Hoshi coos, blinking up at him from under her long eyelashes. "C'mere, Ita-chan." He didn't know Nobara's nickname had caught on with the other students, but he honestly doesn't mind as much as Megumi probably does.
"Hands to yourself, Itadori," Hakari reminds him as he flops down to join the three of them, even though they're all already sprawled out like some sort of pack of animals. He ends up stuck in the middle, Hoshi's legs over his own, and Ino's head dropped down against his shoulder. Plucking the joint from Hakari's fingers, he smiles when Kon leaps up to join them, even as he wishes it was really Megumi here. "Look at you guys," Ino snorts, shaking his head. His hair tickles against Yuuji's neck. "Corrupting Yuuji. Fushiguro's gonna kill you."
"Fushiguro's gonna kill you," Hoshi objects, even as she giggles. "You're the one who brought it here."
Ino's face bleaches of colour, and this just makes Hakari and Hoshi laugh louder. "Don't tell Nanamin," he pleads with Yuuji, who can't help laughing himself. "Don't worry, man. Won't tell a soul. I'm not gonna cross wizards."
Hakari grins, purple braids dancing around his face as his shoulders shake. "You're cool, Itadori. Way cooler than the rest of the try-hards at this school."
"Megumi isn't a-" he starts, instinct to defend his boyfriend, but Hoshi cuts him off by draping her long arms over his shoulders. "Fushiguro is lovely," she says slowly. "And a very cute boy. But he's the biggest try-hard out of them all. His dad's Gojo fucking Satoru!" That makes them all laugh even harder, and Yuuji finds himself smiling along even though he doesn't really get the joke. Megumi won't really talk about Gojo, and Yuuji's only met the guy in passing a couple of times.
They end up sat around the coffee table playing Poker, and Yuuji wins. "You already knew how to play?" Hakari asks in disbelief, genuine irritation lacing his words as Hoshi giggles slightly manically in his lap. "Beginner's luck," he shrugs, even though his grandpa taught him how to play Poker when he was ten years old.
"That cute little face of yours is very deceptive, Ita-chan," Hoshi grins, long, chipped fingernails tapping at his jaw.
Ino refuses to play another round, citing his current state for his loss despite the fact Hoshi says he can't play for shit completely coherent either. Instead, they file into Hakari's bedroom, and all pile around his PC, taking turns playing Valorant. Turns out Hoshi is way better than all of them, even when Hakari tries to distract her by running his hands through her hair.
Eventually, Yuuji says he should go wait for Megumi to get back to his dorm, grinning when the three start to protest. "But it's your turn," Ino pouts, pointing at the blinking monitor.
"You take this one for me, dude," Yuuji shrugs, slapping Ino on the back as a farewell. "You need the practice. You can't be throwing next time we play, kay?"
"See you around, Ita-chan," Hakari wiggles his fingers at him, slightly occupied with his girlfriend sat in his lap and her hair that he's apparently trying to braid. "I'm taking my money back next time."
"We'll see," Yuuji shrugs as he slips out of the room, Kon on his heels, the dog yawning sleepily. "Megumi should be back soon," he murmurs as they leave the dormitory, crinkling his nose at the smell in the common room. "They better get rid of that," he says to the dog, who's snout is also creasing. "Maki-san'll kill them."
When he finally finds Megumi's dormitory, cursing how big this empty fucking school seems to be, he doesn't enter to find his boyfriend or Nobara. Instead, Gojo Satoru is sat at the kitchen island, a mountain of takeout boxes piled up in front of him. This makes Yuuji frown, because he actually had been kinda excited to cook dinner with Megumi. He loves when Meg sits on the counters, long legs swinging to wrap around Yuuji's waist, keeping him trapped between them until he gets bored and lets him get on with cooking, passing him down spices when he asks and flicking through songs on the speaker but never letting them finish.
"Ita-chan!" Gojo claps his hands together when he sees Yuuji and Kon in the doorway, eyebrows moving under the blindfold he's always wearing. "Hey, Gojo-san," Yuuji smiles politely as he shuffles further inside, Kon running off towards Megumi's room, seemingly bored by the two men in the kitchen. "What's uhh…what's up?"
"Nothing," the man shrugs, which is weird because Yuuji is pretty sure that this guy is meant to be a big deal around here. With the way everyone talks about him, you'd think he was a God. To Yuuji, he is just Megumi's dad. He thinks that this a lot scarier, and would much rather be caught off guard by God himself over Gojo Satoru.
"Wanna eat?" Gojo asks, gesturing to the takeout, and Yuuji nods because this is his boyfriend's dad, and he isn't totally sure that no is an option here. Especially with the way Gojo is smiling at him. Like he knows something Yuuji doesn't. Maybe this is a shovel talk. Maybe Yuuji is about to get his brains smashed in or whatever sorcerers do because he defiled this man's son. Oh fuck.
"What're you doing next year, Yuuji-kun?" Gojo asks, not touching the food even as he pushes a box over to Yuuji. He picks it open to blink down at a pile of fancy looking macaroons. Is this what this guy thinks constitutes as dinner? No wonder Megumi can't cook for shit. But Yuuji has never been one to turn down anything, especially not if it's food and especially not if it's free, so he chomps down on one and smiles happily up at Gojo.
"Going into my last year of high school, I guess," he shrugs, because this is definitely a shovel talk. Talks about the future? That's some heavy parent shit. And he has no idea if his firefighter plan is gonna be enough for Gojo Satoru – the reason why the clothes hanging in Megumi's closet cost more than Yuuji and Choso's entire flat. "I was thinking of joining the volleyball club," Yuuji tries, because he knows Gojo is competitive, that's like the one thing Megumi's mentioned, and the man looks like he appreciates a good sport. He hopes it'll make up for the fact that he's failed 90% of the tests he's taken this year already. Oh fuck, he really hopes Megumi hasn't told Gojo that his boyfriend's a moron. "Or maybe getting a part-time job?" Maybe that'll impress him. It comes out as a question, and Yuuji is almost too scared to see Gojo's reaction.
"Do you like it here?" He looks up at that, brows knitting together in confusion.
"Here?" he asks stupidly, but Gojo just smiles down at him kindly.
"At Jujutsu Tech."
"Well, yeah," he shrugs, scratching at the back of his neck. Yuuji thinks he'd enjoy hell if Megumi was there. "Way cooler than my school, that's for sure. Too bad I'm not a wizard," he laughs, but Gojo doesn't laugh along with him. "Sorcerer," he easily corrects him without batting an eyelash, and Yuuji is really starting to see where Megumi gets…well, everything, from.
"Well, Itadori Yuuji, this is your lucky day!" Gojo grins, teeth so white it kind of hurts to look at.
"I'm not totally sure what's happening here," Yuuji says, because he has no idea if he's supposed to know what's happening here. Gojo seems unfazed, one large hand coming to land on Yuuji's shoulder, but before he can panic into thinking that he's disappointed his boyfriend's millionaire, god-like father, Gojo is declaring, "You're enrolled! Welcome to Jujutsu Tech." He looks immensely happy with himself, grin fading after a moment as Yuuji just blinks up at him.
"Huh?"