Chapter Text
The air itself reverberates when Sukuna laughs. The bone-rattling sound only deepens his menacing aura.
“This is getting better and better…” He trails off, huffs a few more chuckles before settling down. His grin keeps growing impossibly wide as he waves a hand at Megumi in an encouraging manner. “Go on, keep talking. I haven’t been this entertained in years.”
Gojo lets out a startled laugh himself, “Now that was creepy.”
Megumi fixes Sukuna with the most threatening glare he could muster and drops his voice the lowest it could go, “I’m not here to entertain anyone, much less you. So shut up and go hide in the hellhole you crawled out of.”
Sukuna does shut up, though he follows up with something else. Something so outrageous it makes Megumi's insides churn uncomfortably - he flicks his tongue over his lips like he's already savoring the blood of his enemies. That, or fantasizing about Megumi talking down on him some more.
Either way, that horrifyingly disgusting image unfortunately will forever be etched in Megumi's memory.
Despite that, and despite giving the definition of a weapon to Yuuji, now Megumi feels like a weapon himself. It's startling, to say the least, that Gojo wants to use that weapon, but only to threaten everyone into submission.
“See, that's what I’m talking about.” Gojo says vaguely as if finishing off a thought the beginning of which was said only in his mind. “Megumi!” He raises his voice to get said guy’s attention, “What do you choose?”
Megumi stumbles over his words because Gojo's own words feel like a slap in the face.
“What… do I choose?”
“Of course. I’m asking for your opinion.” Gojo proceeds, “After all we made it clear that you're not an item, but a person, so you get to say the final word. Pick your poison.”
Toji's gaze softens the slightest bit, but his jaw is still set tight as he looks at Megumi. His message is clear enough - 'I trust you to make the right decision'.
Sukuna raises a brow. He has hidden his teeth at least, but is still smiling.
And Yuuji looks like he would combust any minute, but is stubbornly standing his ground even though his knuckles are probably white with how hard he's gripping the under edge of the table.
Megumi takes a controlled breath, releases it steadily.
“What are the options?”
Gojo sips his coffee, savoring the moment before answering.
“Stay where you are and assist your father in his war or come with me and ensure peace. Simple as that.” He regards the others, then points out so smugly that it makes Megumi want to throw up, “Look - peace is already due with how everyone's holding their breath until you speak. Shame that they haven't looked at me like that before.”
Megumi’s gaze flicks over to Yuuji against his will, then returns to Gojo.
This whole premise feels like the set-up of some incredibly stupid joke. Even though it really sounds better to be in control of everything and everyone, instead of going through war. Yuuji was right - they don't have to cause needless bloodshed just so they can take revenge on one man.
Even if he considers it seriously and is leaning heavily towards the second option, he settles on “I refuse.”
When he stands up, Yuuji's hand shoots up to grab his sleeve, faster than Megumi can register it happening until he feels a tug.
Yuuji seems like he wants to say something, but all he offers is a pleading –bordering on desperate– look and deafening silence.
Gojo straightens in his seat as if to get up too, but stays put.
“I didn't say there was an option of running away.” He nearly whines, “Where are you going?”
Megumi’s mouth feels like it's glued shut, so he replies with a nod towards the door to the balcony and promptly makes his way to it. Yuuji's chair screeches against the floor. Megumi throws a warning glance over his shoulder - ‘don’t follow me’.
Once out, he slumps over the railing– and slams his forehead on it.
Toji glances between the door and Yuuji and clears his throat.
Yuuji goes to join Megumi without further ado.
“Are you okay?” Yuuji asks slowly. His movements are slow and careful too when he places a hand on Megumi's back. A beat passes and he's back to being carefree, like the fresh air revived him. “I can't believe I’m saying this, but… I think I managed to impress your father.”
Megumi groans, exasperated.
“Somehow that sounds worse than having me decide the future. Why are you so happy about it?”
“He let me come after you.” Yuuji mumbles like he's afraid that if he raised his voice, he would startle Megumi.
He still does startle him though - he slides his hand from the center of Megumi's spine to between his shoulder blades. Megumi shivers, but tells himself it's because of the coldness of the railing still pressed against his forehead.
“Why you?” Megumi speaks up involuntarily, this time questioning himself for his other almost decided choice. His focus turns fully towards worrying about his own feelings.
Yuuji thankfully doesn't catch on to the underlying meaning of why is he the one who Megumi came to admire. Why is he the one who Megumi came to look up to.
“I don't know. He just kinda gave me an eye signal.”
Megumi lets himself smile now that Yuuji can't see him in that position.
“So you ignored my refusal and obeyed my old man’s approval?”
“I–” Yuuji chokes on air, then quickly gathers himself and explains as a matter of fact, “I’d have followed you either way. I don't obey… When you put it like that, it sounds scary.”
It doesn't sound convincing at all, judging by how eager he looks every time he has to obey Megumi's commands and requests. It was obvious from the very start. The difference is that then it was out of curiosity and interest, and from then on it started going off the rails towards something far more dangerous.
But maybe obedience isn't the right word after all - it's willing compliance because he's certain of his capability of being able to flip the roles and dominate in almost every aspect whenever he wants.
Megumi schools his expression back to neutral and straightens up. Yuuji’s hand falls to Megumi’s waist. At this point, it might have a mind of its own - just like Megumi’s, for it to touch such an intimate place so carelessly.
“You know what's scary?” He doesn't stop to wait for an answer - one wouldn't come with how confused Yuuji looks. “You.”
“Me?” The corner of Yuuji's lips quirks up in a nervous smile.
“You.” Megumi repeats, and signs his own death wish as that serves as a confirmation for himself too.
“Why?”
“Because you don't think.” He's cut off by a half-offended, half-confused ‘hey!’ “It's true that you don't obey… You just do. And that's okay, because it works somehow. Works for me at the very least.”
“Ah.”
Yuuji falls silent as he processes the appraisal and only blinks at Megumi with a blank stare.
Megumi doesn't really know what expression he’s making himself, but even if he lets up a smile - so be it. He could stop caring about maintaining his mask of indifference for a bit.
“If this is about me following you…” Yuuji speaks up, and suddenly Megumi wants him to shut his mouth again. “I just, you know. Saw someone I care about lose their cool and wanted to do something about it.”
…What?
Megumi blinks once, twice. He sure as hell steps into an even more dangerous zone than he was in already and is on the way to dig his grave.
Still he dares to tease and eventually deescalate the outward situation while his inner one remains unaddressed for the most part, “Oh? So you care about me? I'm flattered.”
Yuuji pauses for a second before he’s back in action, but this time the action is panicking.
“I– It's not like that kind of care! I mean, it's not not that… I just–” As the closing act for his show he groans, slaps a hand on his face and frowns half-heartedly at Megumi from between his fingers. “I hate you.”
Megumi pauses to try and connect Yuuji's incoherent words. He fails, and finally lets himself laugh, hiding it behind his hand as Yuuji does.
“Sure…”
“You’re doing this on purpose.” Yuuji declares, now slightly more composed after exposing Megumi.
He retreats his hand carefully, as if Megumi could bite him any moment if he so much as took a breath the wrong way.
Now that he gives it a thought, he redirects his attention to Yuuji's forearm where he had really bitten him. He doesn't see anything through the shirt. Although he wouldn't see anything even if Yuuji's arm was bare because bite marks heal over a couple days if they aren't too severe, and more than that has passed–
Wait.
Hell no, he’s not thinking about that!
He definitely shouldn't– mustn't think about it.
Still he asks before he can stop himself, “Did it hurt?”
Yuuji freezes for a moment again, but instead of panicking he takes charge with a surgeon-like precision and a taunting smile.
“If you're implying that I fell from heaven–”
“I mean the bite.” Megumi blurts out, way too quickly for comfort, but not quickly enough to interrupt Yuuji's attempt at f–... the f-word. Not that f-word though. The other f-word.
Yuuji blinks rapidly as if that would help him remember the event in question faster. It surprisingly does help.
“Oh… Nah, don't worry about it.” He pauses, but before Megumi has the chance to relax, he adds, “What, you're considering biting me again?”
Megumi instantly regrets everything. Especially his stupid idea of teasing Yuuji when it's obvious he can't prevail.
He turns away so fast that his neck could snap. It does let out a crack at the motion, but it's nothing compared to the scalding heat spreading from his face and ears through his whole body.
“Is that a ‘yes’?” Yuuji grins, thoroughly pleased with the direction their barely innocent game is going in.
Megumi whips back around to glare. Yuuji leans back.
“Ah, maybe don't do it now–”
“Stop talking.” Megumi grits out.
“Bite me.” Yuuji shoots back.
This time it catches them both by surprise.
“I meant it figuratively!” Yuuji defends, but it's too late - the damage is already done. He still attempts to mask the slip-up, “Why did you ask about that anyway?”
Megumi glances around for an escape route - he could either jump over the railing and into the garden below or storm through the banquet hall.
In the end he deems both options not good enough because if he jumped to the garden, he would end up with scratches all over from the bushes. If he went the second way, well, he would be forced to stay and voice out his final decision to three old men, two of which could and would kill each other if the youngest of the trio wasn't around.
“I, uh…” He tries, whispers a ‘fuck’ at his stuttering. “Just trying to be polite is all.”
Yuuji drawls an “Oooh…” like he just came to understand the secrets of the universe. Which… doesn't go too far off, because Megumi's way of thinking and feeling is a universe in and of itself. Still, that universe is his alone and the mere notion of letting Yuuji understand is way too scary.
“You know, it wasn't intentional. Just self-defense because you were squeezing me too tightly.”
“You did look like you were ready to kill or be killed by Todo.”
Yuuji refocuses his gaze, but Megumi can still see the gears turn in his head.
Mortifying.
The moment stretches on for forever with Megumi forgetting that he has to say or do something to prevent Yuuji from saying or doing something that would only lead to regret and further spiraling on Megumi's part.
And of course he does it again.
“Do you… usually bite people?”
“What.”
“I mean, is it a one-off thing where I’m the exception or you’re doing it to whoever pisses you off?”
“...Do you want to be the exception?”
“Not necessarily.”
Megumi huffs and slumps back against the railing, defeated. Though, oddly enough, he feels more recharged instead of exhausted from the exchange.
Weird.
“Just so you know, whatever you choose to do, I’m with you.” Yuuji says, seemingly detaching himself from the teasing. He leans on the railing and focuses his gaze ahead like he's about to go on a tangent in anime protagonist style. He sighs dreamily… and deals the finishing blow to Megumi's last remainders of sanity. “Even if you bite.”
“Just don't make it into a kink.” Megumi grumbles under his breath.
But Yuuji hears –of course he does– and gasps dramatically, “I am deeply wounded–”
“You will be if you don't shut up.”
“I’m starting to think that you like threatening me.”
“And I’m starting to think that you like being threatened.”
Yuuji seems to be stuck in time for a few achingly long seconds.
“That…” He musters out, his voice barely above a whisper. “That's dangerously close to flirting, you know.”
“And?” Megumi raises a defiant brow, even though he spoke too early - way before his brain could assimilate what Yuuji just said. The dreaded f-word. And now that Megumi jumped willingly in the grave he so carefully dug the past half hour–or longer–, he has to throw his sanity out to finish the job and bury himself properly. “Are you scared?”
It's finally time for Yuuji to shut up and go beet-red and oh, how satisfying revenge feels–
Megumi averts his gaze to the bushes below and takes the silence as an answer of both ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
“Yeah, me too.” He concludes and leaves it at that.
With some kind of a newfound confidence, he strides back in the wolves’ den– and is promptly stopped by Gojo disrespecting him again.
“That was fast! Did you two kiss and make up already?”
“Say that again and I'll bury you in that garden outside.” Megumi tries, but it lacks his bite from earlier.
Heh, bite.
Wait, no–
That's not what I meant at all!
Megumi sighs audibly, admitting his defeat once again.
Gojo lets out his annoying ‘ehehe’ giggle.
“But where's the romance in that? Is Yuuji gonna help you?”
“I’ll leave a flower on your grave. That would suffice.”
With that, and with a sense of finality, Megumi returns to his seat and Yuuji follows soon after like a shadow that lagged in a glitchy game - one moment he's gone and the next he’s there, stuck on Megumi's side.
Not that Megumi is complaining… too much.
Toji on the other hand looks like he wants to file a complaint. Either that, or have Yuuji's head stuck on a pole in front of their house as a warning for whoever else dares to look at Megumi the same way Yuuji does.
What Megumi translates that look as, is ‘you took too long and now I’m pissed’, so he answers with an equally pissed look of ‘I literally don't care, just enjoy your coffee and the chaos’.
Sukuna is also currently observing him, leaning his cheek on one hand's knuckles and drumming his fingers on the table with the other. Megumi pretends not to acknowledge it, but his hand moves out of its own accord to find Yuuji's already painfully familiar knee.
“So that's how it is, huh.” Sukuna narrows his eyes at Yuuji as if seeing his knee being held through the table. He taps a few more times, then moves on with the sharper irritating sound of his nails. Click-click. Click-clickclickclick– “...But I'm not surprised. We have similar tastes after all.”
Megumi makes an audible sound of gagging at the implication of Sukuna having this kind of interest in him, but successfully avoids more humiliation by covering it up with a cough.
Like this isn’t enough, Gojo chimes in to bring the tension back to maximum, “Ah, right, Yuuji-kun. I’m still not over the fact that you somehow became relevant to this whole ordeal. I’m happy about it, don't get me wrong– But you're being awfully quiet. Are you just gonna follow Megumi around like a puppy with a crush?”
Yuuji opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water.
“I mean, when you say it like that–”
“Itadori.” Megumi warns, his own voice sounding foreign. Mostly because he has gotten so used to calling Yuuji by first name that saying his last name sounds plain wrong and leaves a bad aftertaste in his mouth. Definitely not because he just likes the way the first name rolls off his tongue easily.
Yuuji halts. He swallows whatever words he had to say, slumps down in the same manner of a puppet being pulled by strings and gives Megumi an apologetic look.
“Now, with all due respect, which is none–” Megumi proceeds unabashedly as he regards Gojo–Yuuji gasps at that–. “Please shut up already.”
Gojo laughs with his cartoon villain laugh this time.
“Bold of you to say that when you look like the personification of a tomato.”
Something snaps - Megumi's patience. He slams an open palm on the table, slides it until he finds a cookie on the plate next to him, and flings it at Gojo's head.
“I’ve already decided that I’d join you, so don't get on my nerves ever again!”
The next person who snaps is Sukuna - his jaw falls slack for a split second. Then he clicks his tongue and mumbles, “Such a shame.”
Toji sends another murderous glare Megumi's way, though his words of awkward affection don't match it at all.
“You're also your mother's son after all, huh... Unpredictable.”
Just like that, Megumi is sent to spiral by himself, stuck in a loop of ‘my old man praised me’, ‘I wanna punch Gojo’, ‘fuck you, Sukuna, just die already’ and ‘I wanna run away with Yuuji’. The last part of course slips in unnoticed, but nevertheless feels like it always belonged in his mind.
Megumi drags in his gravestone like it's a shopping bag full of bad decisions - heavy, inevitable, and stamped with Yuuji's name as his unmaker.
His downfall comes in the simple act of leaning back in his chair, but his hand on Yuuji's knee also slides up, tugged by the motion.
He immediately finds himself amidst the awkwardness of touching Yuuji's –surprisingly squishable, mind you– thigh instead of knee.
...I'm thoroughly fucked, aren't I.
He swallows down the panic building up once more.
Now, he only tries to breathe, maintaining a good enough level-headedness that his gaze doesn't falter as he speaks with Gojo and Toji or disrespects Sukuna.
But nobody has prepared him for the emotional onslaught or the aftermath of adrenaline in a business deal setting, or whatever the fuck this all is supposed to be.
Either way, Megumi silently –and a little less embarrassingly than earlier– assures himself that everything is fine.
Especially with Yuuji not minding the new kind of touch.