Achoo Cough Cough Cough Aching Euaghgh Fkwahkahahhwhh

accidental confessions!

a/n: absolutely loved this request so i decided to do it both ways and the reader accidentally confessing will be in the next post but it may have a few different characters!

" JUST THE WAY THINGS GO "

─ BASED OFF THE SONGS " THE WAY THINGS GO " AND " GLUE SONG " BY BEABADOOBEE .

Sophomore was a year that you will never forget. It was the fall of your life, your school and importantly your relationship with him. Which resulted in your disappearance for 2 years.

But you came back, and so did his hatred.

──────────────

pairing: megumi x fem!reader

genre: ENEMIES TO LOVERS, crack, fluff, ANGST

status: ONGOING

CHARACTERS:

MEGUMI, NOBARA, YUJI || YUUTA, INUMAKI, Y/N, MAKI

SIDE CHARACTERS:

SHOKO, GOJO, GETO, TSUMIKI, ???

CHAPTER 00: BEFORE

CHAPTER 01: STARTING OVER

CHAPTER 02: DETAILS

CHAPTER 03: FIRST DAY BACK.

CHAPTER 04: HIM

CHAPTER 05: ..YOU..

CHAPTER 06: THE PAST

CHAPTER 07: SNEAKING AROUND..

CHAPTER 08: SCHOOL DAYS..

CHAPTER 09: YUJI'S BROTHER

CHAPTER 10: NEW NEWS.

CHAPTER 11: MEETING YOU AGAIN.

CHAPTER 12: OPERATION HIDE.

CHAPTER 13: BEACH DAY 1

CHAPTER 14: BEACH DAY 2

CHAPTER 15: BEACH DAY 3

CHAPTER 16: UNKNOWN NUMBER

CHAPTER 17: MEGUMI'S LIFE

CHAPTER 18: COMFORTING TIMES

CHAPTER 19: NEW EVIDENCE

CHAPTER 20: THE NAME

CHAPTER 21: SPEAKING TO BART

CHAPTER 22: ...

Geto’s DM: babe, I miss you

Twitter: GRARTSS

… guess who got into grad school… #indidid

my absence was due to my GRAD SCHOOL GRIND 😤😤😮‍💨😮‍💨

and now i’m literally going to japan for a month lmao whoopsies 😄👍🏼

Fall away (p2)

Inumaki Toge x fem!reader

The night was full of loud, uninterrupted visions of humanoid creatures. Screams that weren’t my own filled my ears endlessly. I could feel the fear radiating from my bones, from my core. My entire body shook relentlessly, as if seizing without content. I knew it wasn’t real, I had felt this and seen these things before, but it all felt new and different, stronger and more powerful.

In a cold sweat, I awoke with a start, a soft knock echoing on the door. Terror had subsided for the most part, remaining purely for its own enjoyment and thrill. Shaking, I stood to open the door.

I was met with crazy brown eyes staring back at me. Itadori’s piercing gaze threw off my mental balance just enough to bring the fear I had tucked away boiling back over.

“I felt some serious energy coming from down here, I was worried something had come after you.” He invited himself in, giving me no other warning. He studied the room thoroughly, the gaze that had just held mine scanned the room intently to make sure it was safe for me to reside.

“Are you alright, y/l/n?” He sent me a confused but worried look. I nodded.

“I’m alright, sorry to startle you, Itadori.” He ran his hands through his pink hair.

“I could’ve sworn I felt something in here.” He mumbled to himself. “Didn’t you feel anything?” I only shrugged.

“I think I was having another nightmare.” I answered, hoping to give him some sort of relief.

“Do you mind me asking of what?” He had sat on my bed now, watching me as I slowly shut the door.

“I’m assuming of those cursed spirits Satoru had explained to me earlier. I’m not too sure what was happening if I’m being honest.” I shoved my hand behind my neck, rubbing it anxiously as if it would fix the awkward situation I had been forced into. He snapped his fingers in one swift motion, smiling slightly as his eyes lit up. He patted a spat next to him, beckoning me to sit. Reluctantly I did so, hoping this didn’t look as terrible to an outsider as it felt.

“That’s probably what I felt. You did seem terrified when I opened the door. I’m sorry if I made it worse.” He sheepishly grinned.

“You didn’t, I can promise that.” He smiled at me further before continuing.

“It feels different being taken from your home and forced into an environment you aren’t used to. It probably triggered your cursed energy without you realizing it.” I was suddenly aware of the cold air around me, the sweat clinging to my body as the boy next to me continued to speak. He eyed me curiously.

“You speak as if you know from experience.” He laughed lightly, playing with his hands.

“You’d be correct. I’m still new to a lot of this stuff, but I don’t think I’d trade it for the world.” His eyes had become glossy, his body stiff.

“How’d you get here, Itadori?” I asked, hearing the silence ring in my ears afterwards. He took a deep breath before continuing.

“I ate a finger.” I gasped, forgetting to let out my breath after. “It’s not as terrible as it sounds, believe me.”

“It sounds pretty terrible.” I said, giving him a deadpanned look.

“After my grandpa died, I had an incident with a school club. It was alright once I got here, but I remember the helpless feeling I got when I shut my eyes every night. Sometimes even the strongest people can’t hold back their own haunting memories.” The first genuine smile Itadori had ever given me radiated from his features. I felt my heart crack at his words.

“I’m sorry, Itadori.” I said, taking his hand and squeezing it gently. He looked surprised I had done so, his iris’s growing slightly as he smiled down at me.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. You’re going through a similar situation. If anything, I should be comforting you.” He squeezed my hand back, causing me to smile as he did so. “Your parents really never mentioned anything about jujutsu sorcery? How’d they know to send you here and not to the Tokyo institution?”

My brain rattled at his question. My eyes scanning a nonexistent folder of my recollections on the subject.

“Now that you mention it, I think my parents used to talk about it when I was younger.”

I remembered my parents leaving me a lot when I was young, equipped with weapons of all sorts. I don’t remember any conversations well enough to tell Itadori about them specifically, but I told him of these faint memories. I tore through my past, attempting to find anything that could be of significance. I remembered talk of danger towards others in Tokyo and other cities alike, small towns that I hardly recognized the name of.

“I think your parents were sorcerers like us, y/n.” I believed him, but it was hard to come to terms with.

“I’m just not sure I’m ready to put two and two together, Yuji.” He nodded in understanding, pulling his hand from mine after squeezing it one last reassuring time.

“I think you should sleep on it, or at least try your best to. I know how difficult things like this can be to process.”

Yuji waved before exiting my room, leaving me in my same seated position on a bed that felt foreign to me. I felt a tear fall from my eye, wiping it just as fast as I let it slip free. Crying about it would get me nowhere, and Yuji had a point, even the strongest of people couldn’t face their own past within their dreams.

Before I knew it, the alarm on my nightstand was ringing and the day was beginning. I wasn’t sure what to make of last nights encounter, and I hardly slept because of it. The thought of my parents being like Yuji and the others threw my mind into a frantic tizzy.

Had my life always been destined to start here? Had my parents set me up for torment all of these years or had they simply been trying to shield me from the truth? I shook my head to rid the thought. I hadn’t received word from my parents since my departure at the school gates. They had refused entry and allowed me to walk in free of their presence. I thought they had been trying to allow me a sense of freedom and maturity, but maybe there was more to that than I had foreseen before?

I walked into the classroom full of commotion. Gojo had yet to make an appearance and the others were caught up in conversation. Yuji sent me a greeting that I happily returned. I felt eyes on me as I walked over to reclaim my seat from yesterday, looking over to see who’s they belonged to.

My eyes were met with the raging violet of Inumki’s stare. They smiled at my own, softening with kindness as he waved at me. I smiled back happily, hoping he hadn’t sensed my fear last night as Yuji had. I watched him stand from his seat, Yuta nowhere in sight. He walked over to me and crouched beside my desk.

“Kelp.” He said to me, his hand extending for me to shake as the others had done yesterday. I was confused but shook his hand anyway. His warmth surrounded my smaller hand as he did so, shocking me still in my seat.

“Are you hungry?” I asked, confused still. I heard a snort from somewhere behind me before the conversation continued. Inumaki shook his head.

“Bonito flakes.” He stated confidently. I deadpanned, not sure how to respond. Seemingly frustrated, Inumkai pulled his phone from his pocket, anxiously typing away as I sat and stared at him. His eyes were fixed on the screen, giving me a chance to study his seemingly flawless features without interruption from the violet orbs that radiated thoroughly. His bangs fell perfectly to shield the top of his eyes, his collar hiding the rest of his face without effort that made me almost disappointed.

“I’m a cursed speech user. I have certain things I can say that don’t affect me much, it’s mostly why I speak in ingredients rather than words themselves. I greeted you before, then denied your question afterwards. I apologize for the confusion, but im sure Satoru will explain further later today.” It read. I smiled at the boy in front of me. He unzipped his collar, sticking his tongue out to reveal the markings that bound him to the curse.

“I’m not sure I would’ve ever caught on had you not explained it. Thank you.” He smiled brightly at me before zipping his collar and taking his phone back, tapping around on the screen once more. He handed it back to me with a questioning gleam in his violet eyes. He wanted my phone number.

I felt my face flush as well as hearing some snickers behind me. Inumaki glared at the source of the laughter while waiting patiently for me to fill out the information. I did so quickly, my heart beating slightly faster than before as he quickly went back to his seat when Yuta entered the room.

I almost immediately got a text from Inumaki, just letting me know it was him. At that time, however, Gojo stalked into the room with a cocky smirk.

“Hello everybody.” He said, dragging out the ‘o’ slightly. Maki facepalmed. “How do we feel about only training today?” He said, looking around at the others. My mind went blank. I’d never done that before. He seemed to notice my panic and lifted his finger. “With exceptions, of course.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. I was scrawny, not built for the physical just yet. I wasn’t even sure what they did out there that qualified as training. As the others mumbled their agreements and started to file out of the room, Nobara stopped in front of Gojo, not moving.

“I’m staying too, I feel like you might need a demonstration at some point.” She grinned at me with two thumbs up. Gojo didn’t object, only pushing her lightly back towards her seat. Inumaki spared me one last glance before stalking out the door with the others and shutting it behind him.

I giggled at Gojo and Nobara, they were bickering back and forth about who was really the teacher here.

“Anyways, Even if Nobara is right, im still your teacher, meaning I know best.” Nobara rolled her eyes, huffing out a breath.

“So, what exactly is happening?” I asked, their attention returning to me. Nobara smiled at me slightly.

“I’m teaching you the art of cursed energy!” She exclaimed, happy to get the point across. Gojo sent her another small glare with his lip puffed out slightly.

“She means WE are going to teach you the art of cursed energy.”

The two continued to bicker for about thirty minutes before I finally stepped in and decided to ask some questions of my own. I figured I’d never get a word in edgewise, but I suppose asking the burning questions I knew they’d love to answer would allow them to put their differences behind them, even though they continued to one up each other like siblings.

“So, how can somebody manipulate cursed energy? I thought it was just to scare children growing up.” I asked. Both stopped arguing almost immediately before Nobara grinned wildly.

“Cursed energy comes in many forms, y/l/n.” Gojo spoke, gaining a somewhat serious attitude. “You can’t just ‘manipulate’ it. My students have trained to harness the power of their cursed energy, something I can only hope you’d work for as well.” He finished.

“My cursed energy is focused through my hammer.” Nobara spoke, pulling the hammer from her back. That was odd, I’d never noticed it before. She smiled smugly.

“We believe you have potential to do these sort of things, y/l/n, we just aren’t exactly sure to what extent.”

Nobara continued to explain her technique, Gojo watching from the sidelines. The two thought it would be a good idea to show me how it worked, though I found it quite frightening as they took me out to the training yard to watch the others train for a while.

The beauty of the courtyard was breathtaking. The breeze felt nice compared to the stuffy classroom I’d been in all morning, and getting to watch Nobara in action against Maki was something I’d probably never forget. The two danced with elegance in their battle, neither holding back on the other. As we continued, Gojo would explain to me what was happening.

“Maki uses cursed weapons to her advantage. She can’t exactly see cursed spirits the way we can, y/n; that’s what her glasses are for. She possesses no real cursed energy of her own, meaning she doesn’t manipulate it the way Nobara can.” He rambled for a while, I listening intently in the background. I would occasionally nod and try to understand what he was explaining to keep him entertained.

My eyes were fixed on Maki and her diligent grace in battle. Nobara seemed to gain an upper hand, launching her cursed nails at Maki and damaging her to the point I thought she would resign, though she never did. Maki seemed to heal quickly and learn Nobara’s moves almost instantly after being wounded. She summoned a weapon from almost thin air, which Gojo explained was her technique. The two fought wordlessly and breathlessly without as much as a blink towards the other. I was astonished by the ending.

The two walked towards us, not worried about the others training behind them.

“Interested, y/n?” Maki chided with a cool smirk. It’s almost as if she hadn’t been touched by Nobara at all.

“Quite.” I said with a smile. She handed me the spear she had been using against Nobara. I inspected it, feeling the writhing energy within it seeping into my skin. Was it supposed to react this way? Gojo chuckled from beside me.

“You’ve never come into close proximity with a real cursed object, have you?” He asked coolly. I deadpanned, letting the look sink in before dropping my gaze back to the spear.

“I use it to channel energy I cannot manipulate myself as Nobara can. I’m sure Gojo explained that to you?” She questioned. I nodded.

I looked up, handing back the spear and feeling the release of the energy. Its presence, however, left a weird tingling residue on my hands where I’d touched it.

I saw the others in the background, throwing punches and jabs and kicks to their opponents. I heard a yell from somewhere behind them.

“Don’t move!” It sounded calm, smooth. I saw Panda standing still in the courtyard as a punch was thrown his way by the person who hid behind the voice I had heard. I watched intently as he fell to the ground, still stuck in position as Inumaki hovered over his body. His collar was unzipped. He had spoken something other than ingredients?

He caught my gaze, giving a sheepish smile as the markings on his face rose with his dimples. Panda had slowly regained his movement, angrily shouting something at Inumaki that went unheard by my ears. He moved to see the direction Inumaki was facing and caught my gaze as well. He smirked before waving in my direction.

“Cursed speech works like that of Nobara, though entirely different. The user can manipulate words in ways like no other, causing their opponent to stun temporarily depending on the power of the manipulator.” Gojo spoke beside me once more. It seems as though he had followed my eyes to reach Inumaki’s brawl with Panda.

They walked over to our position in the grass beside the courtyard, sitting next to us without a word.

“That was impressive, Toge. Panda couldn’t move for several seconds even after falling to the ground. Your strength has improved. “ Inumaki nodded in thanks to Gojo, who seemed to be in a good mood if he was offering praise. “Have you been meditating?”

“Salmon.” He replied enthusiastically. Panda was rubbing the side of his face where Inumaki had punched him earlier.

“This is going to bruise later.” Panda said, leaving us all staring in his direction.

“Panda’s don’t bruise.” Nobara retorted, voicing what the rest of us were thinking.

“Salmon.”

“Just because I’m not human, doesn’t mean I don’t bruise.” He yelled playfully. Maki rolled her eyes, not keen on being the referee in another argument. Inumaki’s stomach growled next to me, I giggled as his cheeks reddened slightly when we made eye contact.

“Hungry this time?” I asked playfully, slightly elbowing his arm. He smiled a toothy grin.

“Salmon.” He replied. This was definitely going to take some getting used to.

“On that note, who wants lunch?”

We returned to the classroom, Inumaki staying beside me until we entered. He pulled out a small bag that held what I was assuming some sort of food inside. His smile made my face redden. He hadn’t zipped his collar back since the fight and I was able to see his facial expressions clearer than I could before. He walked to his spot in the back, motioning for me to follow him. I obliged, intrigued by the silent blonde male.

I sat beside him, allowing for Yuta to take my seat up front. Inumaki pulled a box out of the bag he had been holding. Looking around, I saw everyone had had some sort of food with them. I had felt singled out, being the only one unprepared.

“Tuna.” I heard from beside me. My attention returned to Inumaki who was holding out a small onigiri in his hand. He pushed it towards me, offering it to me. My cheeks flushed at his kindness. I shook my head slowly.

“Im really not hungry, Inumaki, but thank you.” I smiled, not wanting to take food from the person who suggested we eat lunch in the first place. Like the traitor it was, my stomach growled loudly. He chuckled, shoving the onigiri into my hands. His fingertips grazed my palm, sending a shock of what I wanted to call cursed energy through my skin. I flushed red, taking a bite as I did so. I moaned as I tasted the onigiri. I must’ve been hungrier than I had anticipated.

“Did you make these?” He nodded, offering me another. I eagerly took it as I finished the other.

He pulled out his phone, typing away as he had done this morning. I felt my phone vibrate from my pocket.

“I enjoy cooking, I like to think I’m rather good at it 😊.” I smiled at the text he had sent me.

“I think you are too, Toge.” His face reddened slightly. He averted his attention to the onigiri, eating one himself and smiling at his own culinary abilities.

“Salmon?” He asked, i assumed he was asking for my approval. I nodded eagerly in his direction.

“They’re amazing.” We smiled at each other once more.

As the day had come to an end and we all retired to our rooms, I had a small frown lingering on my face. I turned the lights on in my room, hoping to keep the darkness at bay for a while longer before my attempt to sleep. I decided to shower and hopefully clear my mind a little.

My thoughts lingered on the darkness for the majority of my shower. As I scrubbed myself clean of the dirt from the courtyard and the invisible germs I had started to wonder more about my own cursed energy. Was I really able to do the things these students had been doing earlier? Or was there some sort of mix up and I was just a normal human being. The incomparable strength they had in order to fight in hand to hand combat was one thing, but the stamina to concentrate cursed energy and fight all at the same time was something I couldn’t entirely wrap my mind around.

I ran my hands through my hair as I dried it, detangling it and staring into the mirror in front of me. My thoughts wandered further until I heard a small ding from my phone. It was Yuji.

If you need me tonight don’t hesitate to call me, you probably don’t know where my room is yet, I’ll come to you. I’m turning in for the night, but I mean it. Sleep good, y/n!

I smiled at his message, sending a quick thank you before shutting off my phone and returning to the mirror in front of me to do my skin care.

Another ding interrupted my thoughts once again, thinking it might have been Yuji, I unlocked my phone to see what the commotion was about. To my surprise, Inumaki had sent me a waving emoji. I smiled, my stomach fluttering and leaving my mind blank.

Inumaki 🍙! : 👋

y/n: Hi Toge!

Inumaki 🍙! : Do you usually eat breakfast?

His question threw me off, it wasn’t what I was expecting whatsoever, but I went along with it.

y/n: not usually no, but I probably should 😅

Inumaki 🍙!: okay! Sleep good, y/l/n, im headed to bed.

I tapped my chin, grinning about the conversation but being just as perplexed about it. Why would he ask me something so random? Especially as I was about to sleep.

I turned out the lights, trying not to think about the things that lingered in the shadows that I was unaware of. I shook my head, focusing on the comforting warmth of the sheets that surrounded me.

I stared blankly into the darkness, deciphering the shapes that I was still not completely familiar with. I find it hard to tell what things are real and how much of the black I was hallucinating because of my horrid imagination. I knew outside cursed spirits couldn’t enter Jujutsu high, Gojo had explained that yesterday, but something Yuji had said didn’t sit right with me

I wanted to make sure nothing came after you.

Was it possible for such a thing to happen here? Should it be something to worry about? Or should I simply just prepare myself in case the time arises.

My thoughts lingered for a while, I knew my mother had been widowed before I was born, but I wasn’t sure the situation completely. My step dad had always been my father, I didn’t consider him anything other than that, but was it possible I had been born into one of the Jujutsu clans and been completely unaware of it? I just couldn’t understand why they hadn’t told me or bothered to reach out to me after dumping me off here.

The room had started to spin, I felt a hot tear roll down my cheek without my consent. Why had all of this happened so suddenly? I thought I would’ve been happier here than back in Tokyo, and while I am happy with my new friends, why had my entire life been flipped so mercilessly so quickly. It felt like the door had been ripped from the hinges, or my home had been pulled from the foundations and placed in a new spot.

Ding!

Was that my phone? I had forgotten it was there.

I thought I told you to call me if you needed anything, at this rate you’re going to wake the whole school up. I’m coming over.

Before I could respond, my door was opened frantically by Yuji.

“Y/n, are you crying?” He hurried over to my bed to wipe the tears from my face. I sat up, attempting to compose myself in front of Itadori. He stopped me, sitting on the foot of the bed.

“What are you thinking about y/n?” He asked. I suddenly felt like a therapy patient.

“Everything, Yuji.” I let another tear fall as I pulled my legs to my chest. He smiled at me slightly.

“I know it’s hard to process, you’re going to struggle with that for a while.” Silence rang loudly after he said that. I allowed myself a shallow breath.

“Do you think I’m going to fit in here? I haven’t figured out anything about my parents, about my past. I don’t even feel like I fit in with them very well anymore. I don’t even feel like I know them. I dont really feel much of anything other than that if you want me to be honest.” He looked at me genuinely, sweeping over my features.

“I think you’ll be just fine. I’m sure they don’t mean any harm by it.”

“But do you think they care anymore? Do you think they ever did? Why would you dump your own kid in a place like this with no guidance, not even a word of affirmation after the ordeal-“ before I could finish my sentence I was being crushed by Yuji’s embrace. He held me there, letting me cry on his shoulder without release.

“I don’t know the situation, y/n, but I do know that you’ve made friends here and we all care for you, even if it is your second day.” He pulled away from me, smirking a bit. “I’m sure Inumaki would argue with you if he heard you speaking such nonsense.” My heart thudded at the mention of Inumaki. I wasn’t sure why my pulse increased or my cheeks heated, and I wasn’t exactly sure why I didn’t argue with my body’s decisions to do so.

“What does Toge have to do with this?” He smirked harder at me, wiping the remaining tears and poking my cheek.

“If you haven’t already noticed, he seems quite fond of you. He never offered any of us his number except Yuta, and that was an exciting encounter for sure. Toge doesn’t do social interaction with other people, y/n, much less willing sit beside them after a training session.” My gaze settled on his face, he was being genuine. I figured Toge was only being nice to me, but here I was being proven wrong again.

“It’s only my second day, Yuji.” He glared at me, puffing out his bottom lip.

“We’ll just have to see then. But you seem to like the thought of being on his mind. Either way, I got you to stop crying so I see this as a win in my book” he flashed his teeth at me. I grimaced.

The rest of the night was spent with me tossing and turning with Inumaki on the back of my mind. I hated the thought of someone already being fond of me, I hated it so much that I found myself enjoying the thought. I hated the way my cheeks reddened when he touched me, when he spoke to me. I hated the way that I wanted to text him in the middle of the night when I needed guidance for these sort of things. I also hated the fact that he was surprisingly a good cook.

I glared a hole in my door, someone was knocking on it in the earlier hours of the morning. Thinking it was Yuji, as it usually was, I went to open it and was met with a fragrant smelling Inumaki. I let out a gasp.

He had a small box in his hand with a smile on his face. He was in his pajamas, not bothering with the uniform yet, so his face was completely uncovered and visible to my eye. My face flushed completely as he motioned for me to take the box.

“Tuna, tuna.” He said, waving it in front of me. Reluctantly I took the box, eyeing him carefully. He started at me expectantly, waiting for me to open it. I did so, smelling the contents before seeing it. I covered my mouth with my hands to stifle another gasp from escaping my lips.

“T-toge you didn’t need to-“ he grabbed my hand, earning my attention once more. He shook his head vigorously to show me that he wanted to, I didn’t need to worry.

My eyes trailed back down into the box, it continued a few croissants inside with a small note that had a smiley face on it. I smiled back up at Inumaki, who smiled happily back at me.

“You need to eat.” He mouthed to me, keeping me focused on the way his lips moved when he did so. His violet eyes seemed to glow as he looked at me. I couldn’t help but blush further, he still hadn’t let go of my hand and I was overly aware of it.

“Thank you, Toge.” His face reddened and his eyes darted to the side. He nodded slightly before dropping my hand and giving me a wave. He then darted back down the hallway, leaving me speechless with my door wide open.

The day continued something like that. Toge also made me lunch, forcing me to take it regardless of how I felt about it. One thing was for certain, and that was that he knew what he was doing in the kitchen; but why had he bothered to do so much for me? His eyes had dark circles under them, leading me to believe that he had stayed up to do this for me. I couldn’t help but feel guilty regardless of how generous he was being.

Yuji continued to give me smirks throughout the day, as well, which didn’t help the way I felt towards Inumaki’s kindness. Though, it left me wondering, maybe Yuji had a point. Maybe I liked being on Toge’s mind.

⊹₊ ⋆༄｡° love letter! (pt.4)

synopsis ; in which the jjk characters send an anonymous love letter out to you !

requests are open!

summary ; fem!reader, fluff, crack !, slight suggestiveness

including ; inumaki toge , takuma ino

pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3 !!

inumaki toge

takuma ino

likes + reblogs are appreciated ! <3

chose emoji pls for a tag

🪼 PLS AND THANK UUUUU or 🧙🏻‍♀️ either or kisses 😘

bro there's this majestic as guy in my school that has the same hair as yukimiya 🤤🤤🤤🤤

(we've never interacted before)

STAPH gift that boy a pair of glasses 👓🤓

(lowkey me fangirling over a random human who doesn’t know i exist)

i missed u my beloved child 💔

can i get a jjk matchup for a reader who always tends to put herself down in order to make others look better; she does it out of the kindness of her heart, but everyone’s got a sneaking suspicion that she genuinely thinks of herself as less. even so, she’s usually the one to bring life to a party, and is often described a ball of sunshine :3 TYSM

i match you with SUGURU GETO ᥫ᭡

You had a habit.

A habit that Suguru never liked.

When he wasn’t goofing off with Satoru he’d be reserved and in his head.

Or his favorite, admiring you.

He’d always watch from afar as you’d converse with Shoko or Nanami, a small smile on his face. It’s not like he never talked to you, he did, he made an effort too. He didn’t really have to because you were a bright person. Always so positive and caring.

Suguru found everything about you endearing. Yet he hated how you viewed yourself. You’d talk so highly about your comrades, however when it came to yourself you never had good things to say. Always saying you needed to improve in this or were terrible at that.

He wished you could see yourself how he saw you. You were truly perfect to him and he’d do anything to protect you.

Suguru read you like an open book. He probably knew you better than you knew yourself. You were like Satoru, in a way at least.

You weren’t obnoxious and loud. You were kind and thoughtful. A smile that lit up his world and any room you were in. But he could see through it, the act you’d put up to disguise the ugly thoughts you had of yourself.

It pained him to see how sometimes you’d be laughing your heart out with Shoko, just to turn around and look almost empty.

Night creeps around and you were practically third wheeling with Suguru and Satoru. He was showing off, as usual. Proving how much cooler he was than Suguru.

“That’s amazing, you’re really strong Gojo.” He flicks his white hair and Suguru rolls his eyes.

“Don’t feed his ego. He doesn’t need it.” You gaze at him and Satoru laughs.

“You jealous Suguru?” Suguru would pout and turn away.

“I could teach you how to do it, you know, personal lessons.” Satoru gazes at you with playfulness, a small grin on his lips.

“Oh no! It’s fine, I wouldn’t be able to do that, I’m not strong.” You laugh but now Suguru is pouting for another reason.

“Well obviously, no one’s as strong as me.” He laughs again and you laugh along with him. However Suguru is staring straight at you, his brows furrowed. Satoru announces he’s gonna shower, trudging down the hallway.

“Why do you do that.” You turn to him and he’s upset, something you rarely see, at least towards you.

“Do what?” You softly smile and he almost caves.

“You’re always putting yourself down, like you’re lesser than us or something.” Your eyes widen just a bit, your hands fiddling with your shirt.

“No I don’t.” You laugh awkwardly.

“You do.” He says more sternly and you look ashamed.

“You’re a beautiful girl, inside and out, I wish you’d see that.” He says, a small blush on his face. You’re blushing as well, just the both of you sitting on the couch in the dormitory.

“I like you.” He mumbles and you turn to him.

He’s blushing even more and you feel yourself heat up. Then he turns to you with such gentleness in his eyes you’re captivated.

“I’d like to show you or prove it to you. If you’ll let me.” He whispers and you smile.

“I’d like that.” He mirrors your soft smile, the both of you leaning closer and closer.

“I’m gone for 10 minutes!” Satoru yells and the both of you shoot apart.

“I gotta say I didn’t think you had it in you.” Satoru laughs, rubbing the towel over his hair and the rest was history.

Suguru made it up with a nice date the next day.

© yuuuhiii 24 : don’t plagiarize, translate, or post my work on other platforms

ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE ─ MEGUMI F.

synopsis: upon graduating and landing your first job outside of college, you soon realize that being in your twenties suck. outside of working nine hours everyday, setting time for the gym, and making shitty home cooked meals, you have a new stressor joining your team on monday - your ex.

MILESTONE EVENT || MILESTONE MASTERLIST

contents: gn!reader, second chances, office romance, lots of awkward tension, background satosugu, alcohol consumption, company mixers and gossip thrown around word count: 7045 (im sorry) a/n: thank you so much for requesting this @mymegumi !! this is my first time writing for megumi so i hope he isn't too ooc!! :3 this was def one of my fav ones i've received hehe also shout out to @popponn for beta reading this like a champ because wow this was a MESS and shes helped w a lot ;;

Walking into the office on a Monday morning and seeing your ex first thing is something you wouldn’t wish on your enemy. 

To make matters even slightly worse, the team manager announces that he’s going to be the new software engineer on your team and that his assigned seat is, surprise surprise, next to yours. 

So this is how things are going now. 

Things have changed drastically between you and Megumi, having today being your one-year break up anniversary, and you’re still finding your ground here. And, it goes both ways, you suppose. The initial shock on your face was hard to hide and you could’ve sworn Megumi felt like putting in his two week notice the moment you walked through those doors. But you don’t blame him when he excuses himself to the nearest bathroom and you don’t blame him when he spends a suspicious amount of time in there.

“Does the new guy have IBS or something?” Your manager, Satoru Gojo, plops himself down at the corner of your desk, completely ignoring the fact that his ass is resting on the pile of documents that you’re planning to review. He’s wearing his usual black circular lenses inside despite it being not sunny on this cold, gloomy December morning. Gojo thinks he looks cool with them on, definitely not trying to gain a certain regional manager’s attention. He’s also disregarding the fact that you’re squirming uncomfortably in your seat. 

You cough loudly into your fist and manage to shimmy a packet from Gojo’s ass pile, trying to drown yourself in work and not engage in the conversation, knowing full well that Gojo can’t keep his mouth shut if he finds out about your relationship history.

“Maybe it’s just first day nerves,” you shrug back.

“I’m not paying him to take a shit at work,” Gojo huffs back, hands on hips like a mother hen. “There’s some Pepto Bismol in the first aid kit in the break room, go hand him that.”

You sigh, clicking the pen repeatedly in your hands in hopes that your manager gets the hint that you’re busy, but he just repeats it, emphasizing that ‘hey, no need to create a toxic work environment’ and that ‘everyone here is family’. 

“You can’t grab Nobara to do it?” You grumble out.

“I’m talking to you right now, aren’t I?” he replies back before hopping off your desk. Gojo adjusts his tie and smooths out his hair before sending finger guns in your direction. “Make Megumi feel at home and I’ll give everyone an extra five thousand on top of the initial holiday bonus, yeah?”

If there’s anything that Satoru Gojo is good at, outside of drunk whining about his ex, it’s bribing. You’ve been working at this company for just under a year and the amount of times he would throw money out in order to get others to do his responsibilities might be more than you can count but, in hindsight, it’s not a bad trait to have. He’s a good listener, attentive of other’s needs, and not a micromanager. And, while you desperately want to say no, you have to admit that having an extra five thousand bonus does sound incredibly nice.

“Fine,” you give in and push yourself out of the seat. “But that’s all that I’m doing for the rest of the week. I’ve got other things I have to catch up on before the end of the year.”

It’s not a lie. You’ve got meetings with clients scheduled back to back until the last week before Christmas and most of them are being indecisive about their app designs. Though, that’s the normal life of being a graphic web designer on a regular day.

“Yeah?” Gojo briefly glances over your calendar that you have pinned against the wooden cork board in your cubicle and hums in deep thought — which is usually not a good sign. “Y’know what? Megumi should join in on the meetings too.”

“H-Huh?”

“Why are you giving me that look? You give him the designs, he makes it look pretty, and then we have profit.”

“Yeah but,” you gesture your hands towards Toge’s desk behind you, who’s currently hunched over and deep into whatever line of code he’s attempting to fix for a particular picky client. “I’m already partnered up with Toge, I don’t think Megumi needs—”

Gojo enunciates your name, loud and slow, tilting his glasses down so you can see the intense blue of his eyes. “Can’t you see I’m trying to hook you up, right now?”

Oh god, so this is why he’s being so persistent.

You heave out another sigh and pinch the bridge of your nose in frustration and embarrassment. “Gojo, are you self projecting right now?” You swear he always does this.

“Am not!” Gojo quickly shoots back with crossed arms. “You look like you haven’t gotten laid in a while and I’d figure I play office cupid with you and the new guy!” Then, a small pause followed by a loud Teams’ message notification comes from his phone. You don’t need to guess who sent it judging by Gojo’s exasperated gasp. “Inumaki, please focus on your tasks instead of listening in on people’s conversations!”

Ping!

DESIGN TEAM - SUB GC [Toge Inumaki]: gojo needs to get laid lolol [Maki Zen’in]: say it louder for the ppl in the back

Gojo manages out another grumpy sound, more a whine than anything else; your grin widens and pat him on the shoulder.

“Pepto Bismol, right?” You snort.

“He’s still going to join—” Gojo starts to respond, but then gets cut off by another notification, and gives up. “Ack—whatever! Just make sure you look after him today, alright? Me and Suguru are going to plan for the holiday party for the rest of the day, so no interruptions!” He announces the last part louder than the rest, staring down at everyone else on the office floor. Gojo is met with a couple of weak ‘yeah, sure, have fun, bud’ before turning his attention back to you. He says the next part in a hush whisper, “Gonna increase it to ten thousand, you spend too much time at work anyway.”

You roll your eyes, nodding away just to agree and end the dreaded topic. “Aye, aye, captain.”

Then, Gojo has the audacity to drink some of your morning tea and sighs, content and relaxed as he’ll ever be, before strutting to the otherside of the floor and into Geto’s office. You and the others are pretty sure they have a secret room connected in there. No one’s ever been able to go inside Geto’s office without a special lock pad code. Something about protecting the company’s patented secrets or whatever. Doesn’t help the allegations that only Gojo has access to said special code.

Ping!

You look at your computer and see that Toge had sent you a private message. 

[Toge Inumaki]: u actually gonna flirt w the new guy?

You glare at Toge, who’s now flashing you a knowing smirk underneath the turtleneck that extends over his mouth. You know he’s celebrating inwardly because, yeah, you see that little glimmer in Toge’s eyes that indicates that he does know your dirty little office secret. How do you know this for a fact? Toge always looks up everyone’s personal and employment history.

It’s always the quiet ones who are freaks.

“No way,” you reply, probably with even more indignation than Gojo, if that’s even possible. “Also, keep the info on the down low and I’ll share some of my bonus with you, please?” If you’re going to survive this job, you might as well steal some of your manager’s tactics.

Without any opposition, Toge sends you a thumbs up.

This is going to be an interesting year.

“You’re making it so not obvious,” Maki starts, sarcastically, as she refills her liter sized tumbler by the company’s only fancy coffee machine. It’s also the only functional one on the floor and Geto claims that it’s worth more than your entire yearly salary. What an absurd purchase but everyone abuses the shit out of it, so you guess it’s worth the price. 

You stick out your tongue in disgust as you watch her put five shots of espresso into the container and wonder how the hell is her body still functioning correctly. “You could’ve at least told me that he applied for the job, y’know?”

“And what? How was I supposed to know he was going to be on our team? Were you going to look for a new job just because he got it?” Maki shoots you an unimpressed look and totally catches the way you chew your lips as your fingers twitch at your sides. “Listen, as your friend and his cousin, I’m not really sure all the details that went down but I know that Megumi isn’t out to hurt you — you should know that too.”

“I do know that,” you angrily place down your mug underneath the machine, firmly pressing the cappuccino option on the touch screen. “We just… didn’t really talk after he had to move, like at all.” You frown.

Maki leans against the break room counter and sips her beverage. “Mind running it back to me again?” 

“It’s long, Maki,” you try to deflect, “Trauma dumping first thing in the morning is rather—”

Ping!

[Satoru Gojo]: did ya hand him the anti poop meds yet? 

“Wait, give me a second, gotta reply to…”

Maki laughs. “All good, take your time.”

[You]: not yet, getting coffee [Satoru Gojo]: losing employee of the month status as we speak  [You]: u being deadass rn [Satoru Gojo]: you wished your ass was getting aidhwkakha 

The sudden keyboard smash and offline status change is enough to lose your interest in the conversation. A chill runs down your spine at the immediate imagination of your supervisors getting it on with each other. As a small distraction, your eyes begin shifting focus around the break room before settling on the small first aid kit in the corner. And now you’re reminded again of the side mission that somehow became a main mission in your twenties’ story line. 

Handing your ex bowel medicine was not part of your bingo card. 

“I’ll talk to you later, Maki,” you release a groan when she laughs again. It’s light hearted, you know that for sure, but it still feels humiliating. 

You round the corner down the hallway leading to the restroom with the neon pink bottle in hand, mumbling to yourself ways to avoid talking to Megumi, before crashing dead on into something, or rather someone, hard. 

“Oh, fuck, I’m so sorry—”

“No, it’s my bad, I—”

You regret ever opening your mouth. A heartbeat pause passes before you could gather your thoughts, coherently. You’re pretty sure you have this dumb, gawking, expression plastered over your face because Megumi is doing all that he can to avoid having proper eye contact with you. 

Instead of half expecting him to brush past you, he points at the neon bottle and asks, slowly, with all seriousness, “Is that for you?”

“F-For me?” You look down at the bottle and look up again, feeling warmth in your cheeks from embarrassment and… anger? You hastily shove the bottle into his hands, strongly ignoring the fact that he smells really good for someone who just spent the last half hour in a bathroom. “It’s for you, idiot!” 

For a split second, Megumi looks wildly offended that you would even consider that he needs something like this. You watch as he’s about to give it back to you or, knowing him, throw it away, when suddenly a tuft of pink pokes out from the corner of your eyes.

Yuuji had somehow acquired a ridiculous bright strand of Christmas lights that he’s looped around his neck. He’s got a Santa hat on, also holding an extra pair too, and you want to question where he managed to get the overly festive attire from, and if there’s some sort of weird in-office holiday event that you weren’t invited to. 

“Hey, hey! I was told to bring this over to the new guy!” Yuuji chirps brightly and stops in his tracks when he sees Megumi in front of you. “You must be him!”

“Megumi,” you wince at saying his name finally, pushing aside your previous strained thoughts due to the new company, and run a feverish hand through your hair. “This is Yuuji, he works in our sales department. Yuuji, this is Megumi, he’s part of the design team.” You reply in a sickly-sweet tone. 

“ ‘Sup! How are you?” Yuuji pops the ‘p’ and whistles.

“I’m charmed,” Megumi sighs and stares him down for a moment, before he finally grips the festive hat when Yuuji presents it to him. “Do I have to?”

“Of course!” Yuuji flicks on the switch to his necklace and it nearly blinds your eyes from how bright it was. The festive colors alternate, and there’s a small jingle that plays right after. Talk about a seizure warning. “It’s part of the company’s tradition!”

Megumi breathes through his nose, rolling his eyes. “The company was founded this year.”

“Yeah, starting today, it’s a company tradition,” Yuuji corrects. 

“Starting today, I’ll write up my notice,” he grumbles, only audible to you. 

You have to admit, you appreciate the dry sarcasm. There’s no denying that Megumi looks like he’s a second away from quitting all within the first two hours of his first day. But, as you noted earlier, you don’t blame him. 

“You guys are coming to the end of the year party, right?” Yuuji snaps a quick selfie with the three of you in it, explaining something about posting on the company’s Instagram story reels and gaining clout. Though, you’re pretty sure that only Yuuji was smiling in the photo.

“I was actually planning on staying home,” you answer sheepishly, not wanting to give away the obvious reason.

Yuuji frowns and immediately pulls out his signature puppy dog eyes. “Aww, wait really? You seemed so excited for it earlier last week.”

You’re shaking your head. “No, I wasn’t—”

“Yuh huh,” Yuuji fishes out his phone to pull up the fucking group chat receipts, showing it to both you and a perplexed Megumi. “You said you went out and bought an ugly Christmas sweater the next day!”

“It was a joke!”

Yuuji pulls up a photo of you in said ugly Christmas sweater. You die a little on the inside.

“You’re wearing it right here, though!”

“Yuu—” 

“A joke, huh,” Megumi kicks the bottom of his loafers against the floor, shoving the red hat deep into his pants’ pocket, before excusing himself, again. He holds up the pink bottle and turns around, back towards the restrooms. “Turns out I’ll be needing this, thanks.” There’s a hint of malice oozing from the last word, one that you pick up quite easily while Yuuji looks around confused. 

“So Gojo wasn’t overreacting about the IBS thing…” Yuuji muses.

It’s now midday and a total of less than thirty words have been exchanged so far between you and Megumi. You two have been working in silence for the past hour at the cubicles and you’re beginning to feel awfully guilty about the earlier exchange. 

It wasn’t your intention to make him feel unwelcomed. Maybe you’re thinking too deeply into this than needed?

“Are you feeling okay?” You arch a brow, pulling your eyes away from your monitor for a moment to look at Megumi. Megumi stops typing and makes a small appreciative sound, nodding quickly enough. You know better though, whenever he has a far off look on his face, that his mind’s a mess. 

“Yeah,” Megumi tries to sound casual as he goes back to coding. “This is probably not easy for you either, right?” He lets an ear bud dangle from his side.

“That noticeable?” You let out a short laugh, knowing that you both know each other still pretty fucking well. “It’s just… been a year, you know? Haven’t seen much of you since you moved.” You’re waiting for him to take the bait as you have your suspicions, and you don’t voice them, but you swear, just for a moment, there’s a strange expression on Megumi’s face. Then, you blink, and maybe you’ve imagined it all, because his face goes back to looking as stoic as he always did.

“I’m,” he pauses his fingers, sinking back into his seat, eyes downcasted. “I’m sorry. I know I should’ve called you, at least.”

“I was worried sick like crazy,” you suddenly admit, the words seemingly flowing out at this point. “Was almost debating calling the missing person’s hotline until the mailman, of all people, told me that your family packed up and dipped.”

Megumi isn’t the most expressive person when it comes to apologies, having an already wildly unconventional childhood was enough to shell himself out from everyone else. Though, it’s hard to deny that he should’ve and could’ve done something earlier. 

Megumi chews methodically down on his lips. “Yeah, I’m sorry.”

You nod slowly, making note of the way his voice strained, and face back to your monitors. “It’s fine, I probably shouldn’t have brought it up at work,” a pause and then you continue, “Also, I’m sorry about acting like you’re the plague, too. It’s just—people don’t normally work with their ex’s, you know?” You whisper.

He sighs, there’s a finality to it, and puts back his ear bud. “Mhm, I don’t want to think about it.”

Yeah. It’s stupid. It’s stupid and somehow it really sucks, too. You’re absentmindedly nodding and maybe, you think, there’s a quick flicker of that same unnamed emotion you keep noticing from Megumi, one that somehow forces your stomach to twist up, making your insides all confused. 

“Okay, that’s fair enough,” you say, and you forget about it, at least for now.

After a few days, working with Megumi is like clockwork. 

Greetings are short and brief or none at all. If he needed something, he would contact Toge or Maki since they’re the ones supposed to be in charge of him. If he ever needed to grab something from you… well it’ll just be exchanged via email or the work group chat — nothing ever in person. Which you’re happy that you’re both on the same page. Also, thank god for Zoom Meetings having a recording option. There was no way in actual hell you were going to sit through a two hour long call with your ex sitting across from you.

It’s halfway through the work week and nearing the end of the day. You’ve successfully got off the call with a client and just sent over the finalized web design to the rest of the team. 

Yuki Tsukumo, a self-made billionaire, reached out to the company three months back regarding a new app launch she had in mind. Ironically for you, it’s a dating app specifically designed for second chances and heartbreaks. Did you mentally suffer a couple of breakdowns from this? Of course.

Are you going to suffer another one because Gojo is currently ordering a last minute meeting with you and Megumi in a conference room? Yeah.

“What the fuck,” you say, intelligently. “Are you—are you crying?”

“W-What makes you think that,” Gojo sneezes into an already damp tissue. He’s got a stupid Christmas-themed sweater on, even got a themed set of earrings in, too. A little necklace with red and white candy cane beads hangs from his neck, and he’s got a dumb temporary reindeer tattoo on his cheek. Gojo is so themed that it’s almost disgusting. “Why would I—why would I—” and he bursts into tears.

You outwardly groan and Megumi stays quiet but makes his annoyance evident with a deep furrow of his brows. You do not like where this is going. Gojo breaking down combined with Geto suddenly taking off only means that—

“You want us to take over the planning.” Megumi concludes in a flat tone.

“F-For the party—yes,” Gojo hiccups and, fuck, is he also drunk on the job right now?

“Did you and Geto have a fight again?” You deadpan. 

“No.” Gojo frowns, going cross eyed. It’s not adorable at all, completely different from how he usually depicts himself to the rest of the office, which is why both you and Megumi stealthily slip out your phones and snap a quick picture… for blackmail purposes. “I-I was just…”

“We’ll do it,” you actually didn’t want to know the details, but you are slightly amused by how things turned out the way they did. “So, why are you drunk?”

Gojo opens his mouth, closes it, and opens it again. “ ‘m not drunk enough to tell you the whole story,” he gravely replies.

Megumi scoffs as he graciously gets out of his seat. “Well, if that’s all then I’m going back to my desk.”

And, of course, in the end it comes down to Megumi fucking Fushiguro being your co-assistant to organizing the biggest end of the year dinner celebration. A ten thousand bonus is on the line and you could really use a long vacation afterwards. 

Gojo sends you to a file containing the event plans that they’ve completed so far and what’s missing. Food has already been covered, Gojo has a fancy restaurant catering information listed down, one he raves constantly about their tiramisu. Below that Geto makes a brief comment about needing an after party reservation at any local bar. Holiday decor still needs to be ordered and a DJ still needs to be booked. Not to mention setting up the office, organizing activities, creating and sending out emails to every—

“I’ll handle coordinating with the vendors, you can focus on the internal tasks.”

You blink. “What?”

He blinks in return. “What do you mean ‘what’?”

And, when you don’t say anything back, he continues.

“I’ll stay out of your way,” Megumi has his back turned to you. He’s unable to catch your slight frown. Those words should be a good sign. The less contact, the better. But hearing it makes your stomach clench uncomfortably, and you find yourself casting around for something to say back. 

You try to open your mouth to speak, but it’s a bunch of gibberish, nonsense syllables, the only recognizable word being a bleary, “together”. 

“Together?”

“We can work on it together,” you rephrased it more clearly.

Megumi tenses his shoulders and whips his head around, holding a slight sneer, though you aren’t sure if it’s meant for you or just towards the odd situation. “We are, that’s why I’m splitting the responsibilities up.”

“No, I mean like—”

“You don’t have to force anything.” Megumi says, running fingers through his unkempt hair. “I don’t want to make things more awkward than they already are.”

Of course, that sets you off a bit uneasily. You look around in the office and, once you realize that it’s just the two of you, you pull Megumi by his sleeves and find the nearest empty conference room. 

“You look upset,” you huff, completely ignoring the way he’s pouting. 

“I’m not upset,” Megumi shoots back, but his words are far too quick, a little bit heated, and he flushes instantly. He knows that he’s not fooling anyone, especially you.

You sigh, leaning your back against the wall next to the door. “Maybe not to others,” you begin, “I don’t want to sound like an ass but…” and you instinctively cringe when you think back to Gojo’s words from the beginning, “We have to work together for this project, at least.”

“I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable,” Megumi confesses, and you see the weight coming off of his shoulders as he says it. It sounded like he wasn’t planning on bringing this up at all, but the words are soon tumbling out. “Just… trying to get out of your way, you know? I still kinda need time to process everything.”

“Ah,” you’re looking down at your shoes, suddenly feeling… shy? Confused? You're watching him out of the corner of your eye. 

Megumi breathes out a long sigh, fixes the wrinkles in his sleeves, and leans forward, brushing shoulders with you as he reaches for the handle. “I’ll cooperate,” he forces out.

“Megumi,” you say quietly, and you’re watching his knuckles turn white as he grips the knob just a bit too tightly. “Let’s just start over, okay?”

He frowns, and he masks it after a moment, you know how to get him stirring in his emotions, because the thought appears to give him a pause. Megumi’s eyes widen a bit, and he’s back to chewing his lip, a bad habit he’s always had, before smoothing out again.

“That’s complicated, you know that,” Megumi says finally. 

You have no right to judge his answer, considering that you also played along in this weird tip-toe dance that you’ve both set. But is it really that complicated? Sure, you’re still pissed about what transpired during the relationship and ‘break up’, if you even want to call it that, but how long are you going to pretend that he’s not an important figure in your life?

“Life is complicated,” you stare into his eyes. “So work with me here, Megumi.”

You begin to feel better when you check off the final bullet point on Gojo’s ridiculously long event planner. Miraculously, the two of you manage to have everything prepared before the end of the month, even if it means working slight overtime together. Not that either of you had minded, it seemed after that conversation, there’s been less tension. You’re both trying to move on from the past and that’s the part of growing up, like it or not, and things don’t really fall neatly in place anymore. 

So, when you get to the restaurant, you realize something real fast.

The seating arrangements are absolutely staged. 

It’s a small izakaya, so the price to rent the whole place out wasn’t as expensive as some of the places Gojo had listed down as recs in the previous email but, because of its limited space, you knew it was going to be a tight squeeze for all twenty of you guys.

For starters, it was apparent from the moment you sat down that no one wanted to sit next to you. You were wondering if it had to do anything with your body odor before noting two very important things — one, Megumi was going to be the last one to arrive because he’s picking up the cake and two, everyone was staring intently when he entered the restaurant and had no choice but to sit next to you. You were trying so hard not to get distracted but the scent of his familiar cologne and the proximity of his body heat traveled to the forefront of your mind.

Three shots of tequila followed by five lemon drops later and both of your supervisors have disappeared from the dinner table. You vaguely make out a trail of unraveled ties and belts down the restaurant’s bathroom hallway in the corner, no surprise guessing what your bosses are doing — hint, it’s probably with each other. Aside from that, you’re currently trying not to let yourself get distracted by the obvious questions that your other coworkers are currently throwing to you and Megumi.

“We heard from a little birdie that you two are ex’s?” Todo throws the fucking rock out there. 

Everyone is either currently drunk or getting to the point of being tipsy. One look at Toge and he has the word ‘culprit’ written all over his smug, redden face. You’d imagine that he told everyone at the table about it when you and Megumi excused yourselves to the restroom separately earlier in the night. Mai is giggling up a storm and Yuuji looks like he’s one sip away from making weird hand puppets of you two kissing. Maybe it’s hypocritical on your part, but you don’t get why they’re making such a big deal out of it. It’s not like you and Megumi are actually making the work environment uncomfortable and it’s also not like you guys are getting back together by seeing each other every day… right?

But you have to wonder, vaguely, when your body’s going to stop doing that weird, fluttering thing it does every time Megumi does look at you. You almost spill your drink everywhere when you catch his eyes again and mutter a string of curses under your breath, forcing your attention back to actually doing some damage control before it gets out of hand. 

The only way to stop them from spreading unnecessary rumors is to own up to it. The more you deny, the more relentless teasing you’ll receive. Both you and Megumi drain a shot of tequila for the sake of courage before answering Todo’s unwarranted question.

“Yes.”

“No.”

You stare at each other in disbelief before switching your answers in a panic. 

“No!”

“Yes!”

Yuuji starts nervously laughing and scratches his cheek. “Uh, guys…”

“We’re not—”

“We broke up—”

“You gonna take him out on a date?” Todo digs into his food, eyes never leaving the two of you. For some reason, you think he’s enjoying this a bit too much.

Megumi seems to pick up on this and groans. “I’m going outside for a bit,” he removes himself from his seat and pointedly avoids all the disappointed drunk mumblings from his coworkers as he makes a beeline towards the entrance with his coat in hand.

Okay, yeah, he’s smart for not falling for that. You, on the other hand, start pawing at your lap. 

“We’re not dating,” you correct Todo, and basically everyone at the table.

“What if… he thinks you’re dating and you don’t?” Yuuji slurs his words, half of his body is basically leaning against the tabletop.

You highly doubt anything you’ve done together would be considered date worthy. You’re pretty sure Megumi feels the same way and everything is exaggerated at this point. Suddenly, you feel really out of your element here, and this burst of anxiety, one that leaves you squirming in your seat, has you itching for fresh air.

“I’ll be right back,” you quickly excuse yourself, grabbing your belongings along.

It didn’t take you long to find him. Megumi is standing off to the side underneath the building’s overhang, eyes glued to the road, silently watching the first snowfall of the month before taking notice of your presence. He flashes you a soft nod and scoots a little to the left, inviting you into his space, which you end up taking.

“When are you planning to leave?” Megumi asks. His face is flushed at this point, the first couple of buttons of his collared shirt are open, and his sleeves are rolled up. He’s got his jacket tossed across his shoulder and, you soon realize, that your ex looks stupidly mesmerizing under the shitty neon lights outside the restaurant. 

The answer had been “in about ten minutes” but somewhere between your brain and mouth, the words had taken a detour to Megumi’s long lashes, because instead you say, “Whenever you leave, I guess.”

It’s not like you actually have plans after this anyway. Your apartment might need a deep holiday cleaning after wasting the last couple of weeks working overtime, and you might need to pay the grocery store a little visit to actually start cooking yourself a healthy meal, but that can all wait. 

Megumi makes a strange straggled noise at your response and hides his surprise through a long sigh, “So…” 

You cock a brow. “So?” You echo back.

Another sigh from Megumi and he finally floods out his words. “The next train arrives in fifteen, we can both make it if you’re fine with leaving now.”

It’s a rare invitation and, despite the initial tension, there’s no way in hell that both of you are letting this opportunity go. 

You say yes in an instant, fixing your winter coat around your body and doing a quick three-second check to see if you have everything only to notice that your phone is missing.

“Oh, um—”

“I’ve got it right here,” Megumi fishes out your phone from his pocket and hands it over. “Figured that you would’ve accidentally left it behind.”

For a moment, you wonder if you’re on one of those hidden camera shows. But the look that Megumi gives you, the look that you’re all too familiar with a year ago, it’s there written all over his face. You realize that you are, fortunately, not on a reality show — the alcohol and snow might be paid actors — and your ex, tipsy and but wildly attentive towards you, is completely still infatuated.

You take it without questioning. When you check the phone battery, it doesn’t surprise you to see it almost fully charged too. He’s always been the worry wart, even if he doesn’t show it half the time. 

“Gojo recommended this new book series to me,” Megumi says with a small grin, changing the topic. You’re grateful for that, slightly. Even though you can’t quite meet his eyes, your gaze lingers on the way his hand is idly tugging at a loose thread on his shirt, or the way that he’s subtly kicking at the growing pile of snow in the corner, like he can’t stay still. It’s endearing, and you’re left wondering what’s actually going through his mind outside of all things surface level.

You find yourself mimicking his smile, already knowing what might come next. “Bet it’s either a series about friendship and adventure or the nastiest smut he could find in the romance section.” You reply, rolling your eyes. 

Megumi lets out a choked laugh, and almost drops his coat. You hide a giggle of your own. “Not anything like that, but I wouldn’t be surprised.” Megumi momentarily eyes you, but then reaches for his phone, pulling it out and thumbs the title ‘Sorcery Fight’ into the search bar. Tons of images pop up, many featuring fanart of who you assumed to be the main character — white hair, wears a blindfold, oddly charismatic in its character description — wait, this all sounds oddly fishy. 

“Another self projection?” You realize, instantly. 

“Maybe,” Megumi agrees before shifting his weight around, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Did you want to check it out tomorrow…?” He briefly makes eye contact and diverts his attention back to his phone. “If you’re free, that is.” He quickly adds.

You pretend to be in deep thought for a moment, leaving Megumi wondering if he said something he shouldn’t have, because the look on his face screams ‘oh god, have I gone too far’ under all of his aloof persona. 

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll be free.”

Almost uncharacteristically, Megumi lets out a, “Fuck you,” and that seems like the wittiest response in the world, in that moment. 

It descends you into a full on giggling fit, and Megumi can’t help it, your laughter is contagious, and now you’re both giggling, on the verge of leaning against each other helplessly as the winter air is howling rough and bitter around. It’s a damn good thing that the alcohol is still running through your veins, giving you both that hot feeling of dumb immortality. 

“Let’s go catch that train,” he looks forward but extends a hand towards you, when you firmly clasp around his fingers, the slightest shade of red coats his cheeks and you’re positive it wasn’t from the weather. 

Of course, Megumi ends up at your apartment after you decided at the last minute to pick up crappy, greasy takeout food on the way back at nearly one in the morning. The buzz from the drinks have worn off, but you find yourself slowly gaining confidence scooting besides Megumi as both of you take a seat on the carpeted floor in front of your incredibly dusty coffee table. It’s covered in finger smudges and scratches from all the other previous nights of takeout meals and accidental bumps. You pray that Megumi doesn’t point them out, but a part of you is glad when he wordlessly starts cleaning some of the spots away. 

Kinda feels like the old times, you think.

“You ever think that we’re the ones who can’t see what’s going on?” You ask during an opening scene to a British comedian podcast show. It’s a news channel that Megumi likes to watch sometimes, despite not believing half of whatever that’s being reported. Out of the corner of your eyes, you could’ve sworn Megumi’s cheeks are flushing, but it’s hard to tell in the dark.

It’s the takeout food talking. The fries and milkshake combo is making your stomach do weird little flips—or maybe it was from Megumi being close? 

You tip your head back, looking out your window, because the thought of looking at Megumi is… hard right now. It makes your heart tight, your throat dry. You’re wondering if he’s even going to show up at your door the next morning, or if you’ll see him the next work day and he’ll make a passing comment about how dumb everything was. Hell, would you even remember this tomorrow with how late it’s getting?

“I’m pretty sure we’re the ones who know what’s up,” Megumi replies, but the words sound hollow, coming from his lips.

“Maybe,” you say, quickly, and the laughter you force out carries the same empty sound that his voice did. “Next time, we should probably have a drink limit to keep them from chatting their asses off.”

“Or never letting them drink again,” Megumi agrees, somewhat, before stealing a piece of fry from your plate.

You hum before testing the waters and letting half of your body go slack against his shoulders. Everything is experimental at this point, so you’re glad when he doesn’t push you away, instead, Megumi leans into your touch, just a little.  

“How’s your family? Are they well?” He asks over a news segment. It’s about a modern urban legend, sort of like Bigfoot, but it’s just a guy cohabiting with a giant crocodile. This makes Megumi laugh. 

“They are! Parents finally retired so now it’s just me working while they’re relaxing at home.” You let the story wrap up before firing back the same question. “And you?”

“Dad’s still working overseas,” Megumi says with a slight frown. 

He’s never really talked about his father, even when you two were together, all you know is that it’s been a complicated relationship since his mother passed away when he was young. His father tried his best raising him all on his own while balancing work, though half of the time Megumi rarely saw him growing up. There’s a bit of resentment, you think, it’s understandable but you can also tell Megumi still holds him high to a certain degree. 

“You guys have been talking more though, right?” You vaguely recall a faded memory. 

To this, Megumi smiles fondly. “Yeah, we have. Once a month, if he’s not terribly caught up with whatever he’s doing.” 

Turns out neither of you have figured out his father’s occupation, which might be for the better. Megumi thinks it’s gang related, and doesn't give it too much thought as long as his father is safe. You, on the other hand, have thought of it being related to overseas construction work, something less… imaginative and dangerous.

“I’m glad to hear that, and also glad you’re doing well for yourself.” 

“Yeah,” and Megumi shifts a bit to get a better look at you. There’s fondness in his eyes that steels you to sit up a bit straighter. “I could say the same thing for you.”

“Well, my apartment could use a bit more loving,” you laugh, “It’s a bit hard to manage everything sometimes.”

“Maybe I can help?” Megumi says this with a straight face and you’re wondering if somehow the apple juice with his takeout order is somehow spiked with hard cider. 

When somehow you didn’t pick up a hint of alcohol from his breath, from how close you’re sitting against him, you choke on your saliva. “You’re serious about that, Megumi?”

“What? Don’t believe me?”

“No,” you say the words instantly, far too quickly, and feel the immediate warmth spreading to your cheeks, even if you’re trying to look cool and collected. 

“Well,” Megumi tips his head to the side, eyes narrowed. “It’s getting late,” he points out.

You glance at your wall clock and, sure enough, it’s three in the morning. You weren’t tired before but, somehow with him pointing it out, your eyes start to grow heavy. You’re grateful for the distraction and you think you just want Megumi to go away, but you know the second he does, you’re going to be obsessing over this conversation. Over the implications, the unsaid words between the fine lines, and well… just about everything that’s been there and been overcomplicated. And maybe Megumi is taking pity on you because he shifts his gaze to your face before settling a firm grip on both of your shoulders.

“Let’s get you to bed.” Megumi scoots a little closer, and you have a moment of panic. Then, you realize that he’s silently asking for permission to lift you up. “Are you planning to sleep out here?” 

“Are you leaving right after?” You catch yourself staring at him, a bit too longing, and jerk your head down but he catches your chin, before you can fully pull yourself away. 

“No, I’m staying,” he breathes out, his voice a low rumble in your ears. “Is that fine?”

You weren’t expecting that particular answer. You slowly lift your head away, gently freeing yourself from his touch, but staying close enough to nudge your shoulder up against his. Megumi is trying—he’s trying really hard to be open and you feel like your nerves are raging in your body again, although this time, it’s not an entirely uncomfortable feeling.

“I would like that,” Megumi smiles at that, and he lets you lean a head on his shoulder while he slips an arm around your waist, pulling your sleepy figure up, and both of you slip into a comfortable silence. 

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