sukuna leaving mid-date :(
You knew Sukuna worked too much. Youâd known that before you ever started whatever this was with him. You knew that every extra shift, every callâin, every overtime hour usually meant the difference between him scraping by and actually having enough money left at the end of the week to breathe. You knew that. It didnât mean you had to like it.
The afternoon had started suspiciously well, which shouldâve been your first warning. You and Sukuna had been sitting on a bench outside a convenience store, sharing a carton of fries youâd bought after wandering aimlessly around the city for nearly two hours. Not a date⌠definitely not a date. Just the two of you hanging out. Alone. On a Saturday. After heâd specifically cleared his afternoon. Totally not a date.
âYou keep stealing the good fries,â he complained.
You looked up from the carton. âThe good fries?â
âThe crispy ones.â
âThose are all the fries.â
âNo.â
âYes.â
âNo.â
You grabbed another one, and Sukuna immediately narrowed his eyes. âThat was a crispy one.â
You giggled. âToo slow.â
âI literally bought them.â
âAnd?â
His jaw twitched, and for a second he almost smiled back at you. Almostâuntil his phone rang. The smile vanished instantly. You watched him pull it out, and his expression shifted. Not annoyed or irritated, just tired, which made your stomach sink because you knew that look.
He stared at the screen for a moment before answering. âYeah.â
Silence followed. You kicked your feet against the pavement, picking at the corner of the fry carton while he listened, sighed, and ran a hand through his pink hair.
âHow long?â he asked.
Your stomach dropped.
NOoOooOoOOoOoOooO. Not today. Not now. You already knew. You knew before he even said it. Sukuna pinched the bridge of his nose. âFine.â
You looked away before he could see your face. The call ended. A few seconds passed, then he said, âI gotta go.â
There it was.
You nodded. âOh.â
His brows furrowed. âOh?â
âYeah.â You shrugged, trying to sound casual. Normal. Totally unbothered.
âOkay.â
Sukuna stared at you. You stared at the road. He knew. You knew he knew, but neither of you were going to say it.
âThey need someone to cover,â he said.
âOkay.â
âYou mad?â
âNo.â
A lie. A terrible lie. Possibly the worst lie ever spoken.
Sukuna scoffed. âYouâre literally pouting.â
âMânot.â
âYou are.â
âIâm not.â
âYou are.â
You shoved another fry into your mouth aggressively. Sukuna stared, then snortedâactually snorted, the jerk.
âIâm not pouting.â
âYou look like someone kicked your dog.â
âI donât even have a dog.â
âYou look like someone would kick your dog.â
You glared at him. He looked annoyingly amused, until his expression softened slightly.
âTheyâre shortâstaffed.â
âOkay.â
âI need the hours.â
âI know.â
He rubbed a hand over his face. âYuji needs new shoes.â
Your gaze flickered up. Sukuna looked away. âKid grew out of the last pair in like three damn months.â
You bit the inside of your cheek. âAnd Chosoâs helping with rent already. Iâm not dumping more on him.â
Your chest tightened, because there it wasâthe real reason. Not cigarettes, not stupid spending, not because he wanted to leave. Because there was a fiveâyearâold waiting for him at home who somehow managed to outgrow everything the second it was bought. Because Choso was already carrying enough at sixteen. Because Sukuna had been playing the role of provider for so long that saying no almost wasnât an option anymore.
âI wouldnât go if I didnât have to,â he said quietly.
You hated that, because you knew it was true. He wasnât ditching you because he wanted to. He needed the money. You knew that, but the stupid hurt feeling wouldnât go away. Because for one afternoonâone stupid afternoonâyou wanted him to pick you. Just once.
You immediately hated yourself for thinking it, because that wasnât fair. Life wasnât fair. Bills werenât fair. Rent wasnât fair. And Sukuna had never gotten the luxury of putting feelings before survival.
Still⌠it hurt.
âWhatever,â you muttered. There it wasâthe dangerous whatever.
Sukuna sighed. âDonât start.â
âIâm not.â
âYou are.â
âIâm literally not.â
âYou get this tone.â
âWhat tone?â
âThat one.â
You stood up. âThere is no tone.â
âThere is.â
âThere isnât.â
âThere is.â
You grabbed your bag. âGo to work, Sukuna.â
His jaw clenched. You knew that look tooâthe one where he wanted to argue but couldnât, because he really did have to leave. So instead he stood, towering over you.
âWalk home safe.â
âYeah.â
âYou got your keys?â
âYeah.â
âPhone charged?â
âYes, dad.â
That earned you a glare.
Good. Maybe he should suffer too.
âYou being annoying on purpose?â
âMaybe.â
His eyes narrowed, then he reached over and flicked your forehead. Hard.
âOw!â
âBrat.â
Then he started walking backwards toward the street. âText me when youâre home.â
You rolled your eyes.
He pointed. âSeriously.â
âOkay.â
âPromise.â
You huffed. âPromise.â
Only then did he finally leave, and somehow watching him disappear around the corner felt way worse than youâd expected.
The walk home sucked, mostly because it gave you time to think, which was terrible. Thinking was terrible. You replayed the afternoon over and overâthe way heâd looked disappointed too, the way heâd tried explaining, the way heâd said he wouldnât leave if he didnât have toâand somehow that only made you more upset, because if heâd been a jerk about it, you couldâve stayed mad. Instead, heâd been reasonable, which was annoying.
Your phone buzzed.
Ryođ¤°: Made it.
You ignored it.
Another buzz.
Ryođ¤°: You home yet?
Ignored.
Five minutes later:
Ryođ¤°: Answer your phone idiot.
Ignored.
Thenâ
Ryođ¤°: Donât make me come check.
You immediately typed back:
You: Youâre literally at work.
His reply came instantly.
Ryođ¤°: So youâre alive.
You stared at the screen for a moment, then locked your phone.
Nope. Not doing this. You were too sad and too grumpy to talk.
Three hours later, you were curled up in bed, still grumpy, still refusing to text him properly, and still pretending you werenât checking your phone every ten minutes. The quiet of your room made everything worse, and when the sudden knock at the door echoed through the apartmentâthree sharp rapsâyou froze. It was nearly midnight, and before you could even process who would be knocking at this hour, your phone rang. Sukunaâs name lit up the screen, making your stomach flip as you answered with a flat, âWhat?â
âOpen the door,â he said.
You sat upright, confused. â...What?â
âDoor.â
âSukuna.â
âDoor.â
âYou were literally at work.â
âI still am.â
âWhat?â
âOpen the damn door.â
Still confused, you dragged yourself out of bed and opened the door, only to find him standing there in his work uniform with tired eyes, messy hair, and a paper bag in his hand. You blinked at him. âWhat are you doing here?â
âYou wouldnât stop sulking,â he said.
âI wasnât sulking.â
âYou ignored me for three hours.â
âThatâs notââ
âSulking.â
You glared at him, but the irritation didnât hold. He looked genuinely exhaustedâdark circles under his eyes, shoulders slumped like heâd worked a twelveâhour shiftâand yet heâd still come all the way here. Your anger weakened immediately, traitorous thing that it was.
He shoved the paper bag into your arms, and when you looked inside, you found your favourite takeawayâthe exact thing youâd mentioned wanting earlier but never ended up getting. Your chest tightened just a little.
âSukunaâŚâ
He looked away, scratching the back of his neck, suddenly uncomfortable. âI know today sucked,â he muttered.
You stared at him.
âAnd I know you were upset.â You opened your mouth to deny it, then closed it again, because pretending now felt pointless.
Sukuna sighed. âI justâŚâ He struggled with the words, like saying them physically hurt. âI need the money.â
Your heart squeezed because he sounded almost guilty, like he'd done something wrong when he hadn't. Not really. âI know,â you said softly.
His shoulders loosened slightly, just a fraction.
âI know,â you repeated.
Silence settled between you, and before you could think better of it, you stepped forward and wrapped your arms around him. Sukuna froze completely, like youâd hit him with a truck, but after a moment his arms came around youâslow, heavy, warm. You felt him exhale, the kind of breath someone lets out only after holding it in all day.
âIâm still annoyed,â you muttered.
âMhm.â
âYou left me.â
âMhm.â
âYou suck.â
âMhm.â
He rested his chin on your head. âStill bought you food.â
ââŚYeah.â
âStill came here.â
ââŚYeah.â
âStill got another shift tomorrow.â
You groaned, and he actually laughedâa low, tired sound against your hair. And despite everything, the stupid hurt feeling finally faded. Because maybe Sukuna couldnât always choose you first; life didnât give him that luxury. But even after a miserable shift and an exhausting day, he still ended up on your doorstep at midnight. And maybe that counted for something too.
a/n: Inspireddd by the faaact exams are preventing me from talking to my girlfrieeends :(
lowkey me every time they tell me they gottaaa goo (also, I wrote this while listening to snoozeeee just in case anybooody else wanted to do that toođ)


















