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WHY TABLE SO MESSY QUESTION

She loves her dad, but he's very sick and possibly going to die soon, so she feels anxiety and pre-emptive grief while also still hoping he'll get better

She loves her sister, but Dess has been missing for years. And Noelle has never stopped missing her or looking for her online, and she says it herself that ever since Dess disappeared her life got so much worse

She cares for Catti and Berdly, but they both do that thing that pretty much everyone else in her life does: treat her like a delicate maiden that is in constant need of protection and can't make her own choices. They both make assumptions about her and can be pretty annoying sometimes, even if they mean well

She cares for Kris deeply, they're one of the few people she feels comfortable saying no to, and understands them on a deeper lever than pretty much anyone else, even Susie who's only known them for a few days and thus can't tell that they've been acting out of character lately. But Noelle and Kris are nowhere near as close as they used to be, and its hinted at the fact that their relationship was always complicated even as kids, possibly due to outside forces. But with how often Noelle brings up and reminiscences on stuff that happened in their past, its pretty clear that she's haunted by how distant they've become but can't bring herself to make the first move because what if it was all in her head? What if they were never as close as she thought? If Kris wanted to reconnect, they would have already tried to do so, right? So she keeps her distance, because she has no idea how to approach them anymore

Even with Carol, I dont think Noelle HATES her, but she's definitely scared of and frustrated with her

Hell, she's so good at hiding it but this girl is already barely hanging on by a thread by the time the game starts and the weird route is just us pushing her over and over towards the edge until its too late

But with Susie? Sure she's worried about how her mom will take it, but for the first time in such a long time, things feel easy and freeing when she's with her. She doesn’t have to stress about how Susie feels about her or mold herself to meet her expectations.

And I get why that uncomplicated nature of it may make them as a couple boring to some (again i don't go here) but you'll never catch me saying that it doesn't work narratively.

With that being said I do think its possible that the next chapter will introduce some suselle angst. Rudy may actually be dead or very close to dying and Noelle said that part of the dark world's appeal for her is that every injury/wound in there can simply be healed with magic, obviously thinking about her dad while she said it. So its not off the table that when she finds out that Susie lied to her about the dark worlds not being real, she may not take it well.

but now i’m curious on other ideas (that you have) for fics about jjk that you may or may not get to after sea glass gardens.

see the sad thing is that letting a bunch of 16-17 year old bitchy disaster gays discover the magic of teen parenthood is actually a step up because he had already sold Megumi to the Zenin and feral wolverines would be a better alternative to them. This was the best parenting decision toji has ever made.

(Time travel!Megumi: look we don’t have any other options. Anything is better than the Zenin.

Gojo, in the distance: they’re what three? That’s old enough for a red bull

Geto: I will actually kill you over this satoru

Time travel!megumi: *deep breath*)

A loose catalogue of my jjk fics, which may or may not exist one day:

Sea glass gardens verse:

I am forever compelled by the siren call of expanding my fics into universes because one story is never enough for me. I’ve got threeish stories in this universe, with no promises of how many, if any, I’ll write.

1. The Teen Parenting Chronicles: Gojo, Nanami, and Shoko’s expert guide to raising children when you are, in fact, children. Featuring what the fuck happened with the Zenin the first time around.

2. Megumi’s pov of what just happened leading up to sea glass gardens: someone asked me if I’d ever write this and it has the highest chance of existing because I have. Sort of. Started writing it. I have impulse control issues.

3. Okkotsu Yuuta and the world’s longest distance panic attack: crack fic of Yuuta on his study abroad trip becoming increasingly more frantic at the other second year’s updates as to how His Boy’s first year as a jujutsu sorcerer is going. What do you mean sukunas there. What do you mean he doesn’t have a shirt. Well put one on him!

Time travel AU:

1. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Fucking Shit Up And Living Well: following another attempt on their lives by the higher ups, the first year gang is forced into a desperate, high stakes gamble with a time-centric curse that puts their very existences at stake. If they want to survive, they have to complete one task of their choosing in the past before the clock runs out. Their mission?

To punch fushiguros shitty bio dad in the face, something which will surely have no long term consequences on the timeline.

See this one has the most chance of actually existing one day because it is by far my FAVORITE jjk fic I have. It even beats out sea glass gardens. I desperately want to write it.

2. The 2006 Gang and the Art of a Good Union: following a confusing incident with the star plasma vessel and three unknown sorcerers, the 2006 Tokyo jujutsu high first and second year class inexplicably goes off the rails and retires from jujutsu sorcery, claiming that they’ve discovered the magic of teen parenthood and can in no way risk themselves in such a dangerous profession now that they have kids to think about. At least, not with the way things are run now.

No one knows where they got the children from.

3. Toji Fushiguro and the Dead Beat Dad Chronicles: in which toji fushiguro succeeds at being a dead beat baby daddy to two teenaged gay boys and their crew of bitchy lgbtq compadres, who in no way want him to be involved in their children’s lives.

Standalones:

1. “Fushiguro is unleashed in junpei’s school like an invasive superpredator” AU: I’ve talked about this one in way more detail in another post for an ask game, but the idea is that itadori discovers junpeis abuse at school and says Not On His Fucking Watch and escalates the matter to gojo, who decides the funniest possible solution while they try to draw out mahito is to unleash his all star delinquent son into junpeis high school to bully the bullies.

Fushiguro resents this as a problem solving strategy.

2. The Zenin raise Megumi AU: also discussed in more detail in an ask game. In which people took Tsumiki’s little brother from her, but she’s trying to get him back, she promises.

Or, in which the Zenin take megumi, leave tsumiki, and they both spend every day after fighting to get back to the other.

3. Sort of a no curse AU: Itafushi romance story, in which local himbo Itadori Yuuji falls for delinquent Fushiguro Megumi when his grandpa is placed in the room next to Fushiguros comatose sister. Starts as a no curse AU… except there’s totally curses, Tsumikis mom just moved them to Sendai without telling anyone so the Zenin never found Megumi, and he’s just never told anyone about the curses he sees because he’s worried he’s schizophrenic. He thought the shikigami thing was a metaphor for self actualization or something.

4. Fushiguro Megumi and the World’s Most Inconvenient Custody Battle: pre JJK0, Geto decides to be a shithead magic terrorist at a local school that represents all the worst of monkey society: it’s known for a rampant bullying issue, which is a breeding ground for cursed spirits, and it contributes to the risk to jujutsu sorcerers by feeding a local legend of a haunted bridge that could explode into a serious curse any day.

What he didn’t count on? Finding the new Ten Shadows in the student body, who’s fully willing to kamikaze them both if it means saving his sister’s life.

And who doesn’t seem to be aware that he more than has the potential to take suguru in a fight.

In which Fushiguro just wanted to shut up, go to school, and go home, and instead finds himself in a binding vow to give cult life a whirl to save the lives of classmates he doesn’t even like all that much.

It involves oddly more parenting than he expected.

5. Fake Fiancés AU: prodigy and noble prize winning physicist Gojo Satoru, following a very ill advised fuck buddies arrangement with fushiguro toji, has settled down into domestic bliss with the two kids he took from the relationship despite them not, in any way, being related to him. The problem? His ex is back in town. The hot one. The one who broke up with him and started a cult. The one who he wants to convince he got over when he absolutely did not do that.

The solution? Tell everyone he’s happily engaged to Nanami Kento, who cannot express enough how much he does not want him to do that.

… until, all of a sudden, he needs a show of domestic bliss himself. His adoptive son’s older brother, sukuna, has crawled out of the woodwork and decided to make a play for custody himself. And Nanami does not know what Sukuna truly wants, but he knows it does not have Yuuji’s best interests at heart.

I share custody of this story with my best friend, who cocreated it with me over deranged text message. I may convince her to joint write it with me if I ever get her to publish her fanfic.

6. Todo Aoi and Schrodinger’s Boyfriend: Todo’s beloved brother, who is most assuredly a man, suffers some kind of terrible brain damage that leads him to confess he loves an assless boy. Todo cannot abide by this, until it’s pointed out to him that if Fushiguro’s type is his brother, that would make him the most interesting man alive. If it is not, he continues to be a boring and uninteresting boy.

Todo sets off on a mission with two goals: determine if fushiguro megumi is interesting, and get him to do some squats. because there’s simply no ass there.

Fushiguro wonders why his life is suddenly harder.

7. Choso and the Art of Being a Big Brother: choso discovers the truth of kenjaku early and does the only logical thing in response: he kills his father in his sleep, cuts out his brain, and delivers it in a jar to his new brother Itadori Yuuji as the first step in wooing him into domestic sibling love.

Megumi doesn’t know where these people come from. Or why all of them think itadori is their brother.

8. SatoSugu realizes their little boy is all grown up when he gets his first crush on a boy when he meets yuuji.

They do not fucking take it with grace.

Also co-written with my best friend via text message.

9. The instagram chronicles: crack fic in which the jujutsu sorcery personnel crisis gets worse, because nobara Kugisaki keeps trying to hard launch her instagram influencer career, and keeps accidentally making every jujutsu sorcerer instagram famous except for her

10. So I don’t actually ship Yuuta and Megumi, but I do really like the idea of low stakes relationships? Like, especially for teen romances. You tried it, decided you were better off as friends, and just went back to being friends. I just like the idea of fumbling around in relationships and getting a sense of boundaries and what you’re interested in without it being a big, world-shaking romance. It seems like a more realistic portrayal of high school relationships than every one of them being this world-defining mature love.

Pre season 1 but post JJK 0, Yuuta and Megumi dated for maybe a month and half, held hands maybe twice, and decided that they were better off as friends and parted on good terms. The issue?

No one realized they were dating. And when it is realized, everyone thinks their relationship was torpedoed because the second years kept inviting themselves onto their dates.

As a character he's masterfully written, and him being a deadbeat dad is an absolutely vital part of that.

Toji and Gojo exist fundamentally as mirrors of one another. Equal and opposite images. Infinite cursed energy and absolute zero. Both were born as the most powerful members of their clan alive, but Gojo was lauded for his gifts, whereas Toji was rejected.

Even the way the universe itself treats them (and the way they treat it in turn) are inverses of one another. According to Gege, Gojo is naturally good at everything he tries, and so he doesn't try most things. In converse, Toji is a natural failure who can't stop trying. He's a gambler who loses all of his money but is still parked at the tracks, placing bets that never win. As foils they work so so well.

Taken alone, Toji himself is fascinating because of how much he's aching with failure and lost potential. It reeks of a true tragedy--and, like most tragedies, a good deal of it was of his own making even if circumstance can't be denied. He's Hamlet: introduced to his own downfall by events outside of himself but fuck if he didn't help it on plenty on his own.

Toji is a character who was cast as cursed from birth. He was born extraordinarily powerful in a clan that refused to see it and actively vilified him for his abilities. And as the audience, we can see the sheer affront of that, because we can see him for how he truly is. He's very, very plainly one of the most powerful characters in the franchise. Gojo himself initially loses to him, and if Toji had listened to his instincts that day and left the second he saw Gojo returned? He'd probably have remained undefeated against him. He'd have survived to cause problems in canon even farther down the line.

And it's especially interesting in the fact that Toji is a character who can do something that no other character in the series can do: he can destroy fate.

Toji himself is a functional loophole in canon. From a meta perspective, Gojo functions as this archetype of the Unbeatable, but Toji is the exception. When it comes to the Star Plasma Vessel, fate should have ensured that the merger happened anyway, but Toji, again, catalyzed the exception. Gojo and Toji colliding is the unstoppable force meeting the unmovable object, and the sheer waste that the Zenin out of hand rejected someone that could rival Gojo Satoru stings at the audience with a particular sort of irony. They really did throw away with both hands the person that could have made them rival Gojo, and they did it because of their own prejudices and egos. Toji's story really is one of a tragedy, but the execution of him really does function uniquely in the genre.

And to speak briefly on tragedy--if we're talking about the classical conception of tragedy, it's defined by a reversal of fortune. It's good fortune to bad. Peripeteia. That's legitimately what makes a narrative a tragedy--the audience watches as the character's fortune reverses over the span of the narrative.

In the term of the broader narrative, Toji himself acts as peripeteia personified. He is what reverses Gojo's fortune. Gojo was his downfall, but at the same time, he was still Gojo's.

Gojo starts his interaction with Toji in a state of good fortune. He is already One of The Strongest. And, more importantly, he isn't the strongest alone--which is something he spends the rest of the narrative trying to reclaim. Every single time he teaches, he's trying to encourage the students to become his equal, with Yuuji, Megumi, and Yuuta being the most notable exceptions of this. Yes, he's doing it for their own wellbeing, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still trying to cultivate a status quo that he had and lost with Geto Suguru for other people. And he says this explicitly: he does not want them to be alone. It's the loss of Geto that truly defines Gojo's tragic arc, and it was Toji himself that caused Geto's loss.

He made Gojo The Strongest when he pushed him to the point of unlocking reversed curse energy. But, more importantly, he sent Geto on his descent into madness. Even calling himself a monkey was what fed into Geto's ideals--if it weren't for Toji, it wouldn't have happened.

The other thing that defines a tragedy is that tragic heroes are meant to be sent on their downfall because of some kind of fatal flaw. Hamartia. Outside circumstances set the ball in motion, but it's the character's own flaw that truly dooms them. A very famous example of this is Hamlet, who was set on his path to destruction by his father's ghost and his uncle's deceit, but what's widely considered to be the source of his change in fortune is his decision to not kill his uncle as he prays. Hamlet is a famously clever character, and this works against him as he decides to play god and try to not only revenge his father, but ensure his uncle's eternal damnation. It's only then that he begins to make the mistakes that ultimately doom him. If he had killed him in the moment and left his uncle's soul to God's own deliberations, then he would have likely survived the play just fine. He damns himself just as much as circumstances did.

If we accept the premise that Gojo's story is one of tragedy, then we have to ask what his fatal flaw is. And I'd argue that it's his own isolation.

Gojo is strongest on his own, but every thing he's ever lost can be linked back to the isolation that comes with that. Most notably, again, being Geto Suguru, and the fact that Kenjaku was able to use Geto's body as the way of sealing him. Gojo's own untouchability is what leads him on the path to his own destruction, and it's something that Toji specifically takes advantage of in the course of their fight, and it's something that he exacerbates when he inadvertently leads to Gojo's permanent loss of Geto. Toji really is the one to best expose Gojo's fatal flaw and take advantage of it.

But the interesting thing about Toji is that he really begs the question as to whether his own journey is that of a tragedy or a comedy.

Okay, so not to open this huge can of worms with classical infighting, but all of the definitions that we get regarding what makes a tragedy comes from Aristotle's Poetics, and the second book of it where he defines comedy is lost to history. We've been fighting about what exactly he meant to say ever since. The book's gone. People say we have ideas about what's in it but the book's fucking gone. It's gone.

Anyway Aristotle's fucking dead and it's my turn to wear the philosopher hat, and I'm saying that it's also a reversal of fortunes from bad to good. If there's any classics scholars reading this please keep walking i can't go back to this war.

There's a really good argument that Toji is a tragedy. Fuck, he has a fatal flaw flying so blatantly that he says it out loud in his death scene--his own pride. His inability to admit to his own failure or potential for it. He wants to win, even when he knows he can't. It's what leads him to fight Gojo a second time. It's what leads him to place bet after bet when he never, ever wins.

But there's one glaring issue: if tragedy is a reversal of fortunes from good to bad, did toji ever have good fortune to begin with?

If it just starts as bad and stays as bad, it's not a tragedy by definition. It feels tragic to the audience, but it's not a tragedy in narrative form. So what is Toji's good fortune in this narrative?

I'd argue it's actually Megumi. And we are left to decide whether or not he lost or gained his good fortune in his last moments of his life.

I've talked about Megumi's function in the narrative with the concept of fortune in other posts, but fuck if I know where they are. Megumi himself, as a character, is not fortunate. He's actually sort of fucked. He's doomed by the narrative from the start, but he does seem to be a sort of fortune for other people.

It's literally in his name. Blessing, but not blessed. A blessing is something that's bestowed on other people; blessed speaks to your own state of fortune. All of Megumi's seeming fortune only exists for the sake of other people, with the most notable example being his Ten Shadows Technique.

Megumi as Gojo's foil is another conversation entirely that I won't go into, but it's interesting how Gojo's relationship with his technique is indisputably one of being blessed, and Megumi is stuck as a blessing. Again, it’s almost explicitly said—Gojo states “I alone am the honored one” when describing his own relationship with his technique. But the Ten Shadows Technique is what consistently dooms Megumi in his own narrative, and it’s usually because of other people.

He was trapped into life as a jujutsu sorcerer because of it, and his relationship with it is interesting because he does not understand its true value but everyone else does. The higher ups. The Zenin. Sukuna. Megumi has no space within the narrative to breathe and grow naturally because other people have taken his existence as a boon to them and use that to his direct detriment. He’s a blessing. He isn’t blessed. He is good fortune for others and it robs him of his own.

And he was Toji’s Blessing first.

In order to really, properly analyze whether Toji’s narrative is a tragedy or comedy or neither, we have to analyze his relationship with his own fatherhood. It’s time for a massive departure into that.

The thing is that toji sort of fucking sucked at being a dad. He was a deadbeat. I’ve seen a lot in fandom that tries to construe his actions as a father in a more favorable light, but I think doing so robs him of his narrative depth.

Specifically, I’m talking about his decision to sell Megumi to the Zenin.

And like. I’ve personally seen a lot of posts that sort of justify it as Toji doing what was best for Megumi, that his family would take care of him better than they did Toji because he had cursed energy, but that's sort of patently untrue? Like, parents who are worried about their kid's wellbeing and are trying to get them guardians with better means don't put off the actual transfer of guardianship because they're still negotiating the purchase price. They don't sell them to a family they know is abusive to begin with. He already knew Megumi had cursed energy. They were just waiting on his technique to appear, specially so that they could settle on the final price, and in that time, Megumi was left with Tsumiki to fend for themselves. If he really thought that the Zenin were going to take care of him, he should have tried to get them to take custody sooner.

Moreover, there's just a lot of steps you can take before selling your kid to your abusive family when it comes to their wellbeing. Namely, actually stepping up to the plate and raising them yourself.

"They'll treat him better because he has curse energy" was Toji's justification for selling Megumi, and it's one he plainly didn't believe himself in the long run, because in the end he risked it all on this sixteen year old gayboy who just killed him rather than actually trust his family to take care of his son. Up to the point of his death, Toji just wasn't a good dad.

He was never around. He left a four year old in charge of a three year old and left them both unattended. He gambled away their money at the tracks instead of, you know, feeding them. The money that he did leave them for food was canonically a part of the down payment for selling Megumi. He was so absentee that he straight up forgot what Megumi's name was.

But, undeniably, it's Megumi who he thought of as he died. It's Megumi he tried to take care of.

Remember that tragedy is classically defined as good fortune to bad, but Toji didn't have any good fortune to start with. Like, he wasn't even living a particularly good life. He was an eternally broke absentee dad with a gambling addiction and an insecurity complex so big he needed to kill those teenage homosexuals over it. I'm pretty sure he only owned one pair of pants.

But if we accept Megumi, the son he once loved so much that he named him blessing, as his one good fortune, then he didn't have him either at the start of action. He had abandoned his only good fortune and left him, ultimately, at the mercy of his family.

And that's what changes on his death bed. Toji finally becomes the type of dad that takes care of his son.

If Toji hadn't died, there wouldn't have been the catalysis for change. He probably would have gone through with the sale. I'd like to think that he'd live to regret it, that he'd go back and save Megumi, but it's really up in the air as to whether or not he ever would. But undeniably, when he tells Gojo about Megumi as a last ditch effort to save him from his family, that's the first moment we really see in canon where Toji doesn't have any ulterior motive when it comes to Megumi. He doesn't get any benefit out of it anymore. His kid is going to be sold off to the Zenin in a few years time. Do with that what Gojo will.

This is even more interesting when it comes to the only moment in canon where Megumi and Toji interact: in Shibuya, where Toji is resurrected and fights Megumi.

To my understanding, Toji was compelled to fight whatever was most powerful in his immediate proximity, which made him go after Megumi. The second he realizes that it's his son he's fighting, he stops the fight, asks for his name, and kills himself to stop the resurrection spell, with his last words being that he's glad Megumi's Fushiguro instead of Zenin. He didn't even hesitate. He didn't take care of his son in life, but he died for him without even needing to think about it.

Saving Megumi from his family (albeit, partially because he was the one who endangered him to begin with) was the only really good thing Toji did with his life that we know of, and he dies glad. He dies knowing that Megumi was raised as Fushiguro instead of Zenin.

So. Was Toji's journey one of bad fortune to good? Or good fortune to bad? Or just... bad fortune to still bad fortune? It can be argued for any of them, but it's really undeniable that Toji's failures and successes as a father are integral to his character's complexity.

if gojo was on the verge of a mental breakdown from just giving Megumi The Talk, i can’t imagine just how hard it hit him that his little sea urchin was growing up so fast.

What must be understood is that the second years have been following their relationship from its inception like it’s their favorite soap opera. Maki clocked it when Megumi tried to kill Kamo Noritoshi with an elephant over him and all of them have been overly invested in it since. Those are their beloved kohais. They’re both so stupid and vulnerable. Like idiot babies. They want them to be happy idiot babies who hold hands.

Yuuta would fight special grade curses with one hand and text Maki with the other to find out if they were dating yet and maki would text back “no but they each killed a special grade and megumi has a domain expansion now” and Yuuta would text back “what am I MISSING”. Inumaki thought if they gave them nine years or so megumi would work himself up to a hand graze and Yuuta would freak out because they don’t have that kind of TIME. Panda texted Yuuta in a panic weeks after everyone else figured it out to tell him that he thinks megumi and the kid who’s sukunas vessel like each other and Yuuta had to pretend to be surprised as if the entire matter was not giving him stress sweats from Africa.

The unofficial reaction was that maki sent a gif of a ship coming into port into the group chat and everyone celebrated like it was new years and the ball had just dropped because thank fuck it finally happened.

As a side note, the second years all consider themselves parents of three and are only half joking about that fact. It’s so hard raising teens. The little shits keep fighting things. None of them have any social skills. All three of them are completely feral. They’re pretty sure nobara bit a purse snatcher the last time they went out into the city.

But that was the unofficial reaction. They can’t tell Megumi or Yuuji about that.

Yuuta actually gets a call from Megumi to tell him that he has a boyfriend, and he had to pretend like all this was news to him as if he had not spent the past three months more invested in this than anything in his own life. Yuuta told him that he was happy for him, and that he couldn't wait to meet Yuuji, and lived in blissful ignorance about the fact that Yuuji screamed into his own pillow for twenty minutes that night because Megumi came and told him that Okkotsu-senpai was important to him and he'd like it if they got to know each other.

Maki started a campaign of teasing Megumi about his new boyfriend, because she sort of loves giving her little nephew shit. Megumi wonders why life has to be this hard.

Inumaki and Panda had already given Yuuji the shovel talk (it was part of what made Yuuji realize he was completely in love with Megumi) and had a stunningly moving congratulations and dating advice speech for Yuuji that featured a power point presentation.

Its moving nature was slightly impacted by the fact that Inumaki gave it.

Inumaki patted him manfully on the back, and Panda gave him a brotherly hair ruffle, and Yuuji continued to be confused as to what the hell was up with the second years.

The issue with Gojo is that they can never tell when he's taking the piss or if he's being genuine. Like, Gojo loves giving him a hard time. It's a classic "Fushiguro is getting hit on" conundrum. Is he actually devastated that his little boy is growing up or is he just doing it to fuck with them?

Megumi insists that he's doing it to be an idiot and refuses to speak to him for days, which does not help with all the weeping.

Whatever the case, it's enough to annoy Nanami, because he keeps agonizing over how his baby was swept up by some jock who was going to steal his sweetness and Nanami would take offense on Yuuji's behalf because Itadori Yuuji is a gentleman and a delightful young man and Gojo should be glad that Megumi is dating someone like him.

Megumi wonders why life has to be this hard sometimes.

They find each other when Megumi goes looking for Sukuna’s finger.

He’s not looking for Yuuji when he gets sent to Sendai. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up, and Yuuji’s better off without him anyway. Megumi would just hurt him again.

And he’s—not okay, but better. At least a little. He’s talking again. It doesn’t hurt as much to wake up every day. Or at least he’s telling himself it doesn’t. Either way, he decided he couldn’t pin all his hopes on finding Yuuji when he came back to Sendai. He’s just there for the finger.

Which isn’t fucking there.

Yuuta, also there: awww that’s too bad

Maki: yeah you really fucked this one up fushiguro

Inumaki: tuna

Megumi, looking heavenward for strength: why are you here

Maki: you said we could come

Megumi: I said Okkotsu senpai could come

Yuuta: guys come on let’s not fight

Panda: yeah we’ve got to find that finger. You know the one that Fushiguro lost.

Megumi really wishes they did not all come.

He doesn’t need all of them here. He doesn’t need any of them here. He’s “under review” for special grade status, which he thinks means everyone’s pretty sure he’s a special grade but Gojo’s threatening to kill people if they assign him to the kind of missions that would fully test that and everyone’s too afraid he’ll follow through on that so his grade is just in limbo. He could have done this mission himself easily.

But Yuuta asked if he could tag along since missions are better with two people, and besides, he knows the area. It’ll be fun.

Yuuta was supposed to study abroad this semester, but he apparently was “briefly wanted for some alleged terrorism” and “still not allowed on planes” and he’s had to defer going to Africa until everything’s sorted. Don’t. Don’t worry about that. People get off the do not fly list right?

Anyway as soon as everyone else found out that Yuuta got to go they would not shut the fuck up until they got to go too.

Which means Megumi’s stuck in Sendai with these assholes.

They don’t do anything that night. They get rooms. They meet up the next morning to go check out the school, where, if anyone asks, they’re students visiting from another school and Panda is the weird kid who’s really intense about being the school mascot.

Megumi tells himself that he’s not looking for Yuuji. But he still wears Yuuji’s hoodie.

He proceeds to power walk the fuck away from his senpais to disassociate himself from their cringe asses as much as possible.

Yuuta is nicer about it and says they’re splitting up to cover more ground. He and Megumi will be a team. The rest of them… can. Go. Somewhere.

There’s a lot of schools in Sendai. Megumi’s checked. The odds of Yuuji attending this one are slim. He knows better than to get his hopes up.

But he was so focused on telling himself that he wouldn’t find Yuuji that he doesn’t know what to do when he sees him standing in the middle of the crowd.

He looks happy. He looks healthier than when Megumi last saw him. The leg must have healed.

Megumi should go, right? Before Yuuji sees him. Yuuji’s better off without him. It looks like he’s happy again, and that’s what Megumi wanted for him. He can’t just… ruin his life a second time.

He doesn’t move. He’s frozen. And he doesn’t really notice Yuuta calling his name until he says Megumi instead of Fushiguro

Yuuji’s head snaps towards them. He drops the ball in his hands.

One of the onlookers, confused: did that count

Yuuji ignores everyone. He doesn’t look at anyone but Megumi. He shoves his way through the crowd and nearly knocks half a dozen people to the ground trying to get over to him.

Yuuta decides that’s his cue to intervene. That’s His Fucking Boy. So he hauls Yuuji to a stop before he can reach Megumi. And he’s like. Hi. :) does he need something?? :) :) that’s Yuuta’s kohai he’s headed for :) :) :)

Yuuji grabs Yuuta by the shirt. For a second, Megumi thinks he’s going to take a swing at him.

It’s fine. He’s fine, senpai. Megumi knows him.

Hey Yuuji.

Yuuta, realizing this is Yuuji: :o

Yuuta lets him go. Megumi starts to tell Yuuji that he’s really, really fucking sorry—

Yuuji buries him in a hug.

It takes him a second. But Megumi hugs back.

Yuuji’s shaking. He thought Megumi was dead. He thought he was murdered and that it was Yuuji’s fault. He’s so fucking sorry. He’s so, so fucking sorry.

Is it really him? Like. Really, really Megumi? He’s not been killed and replaced or possessed or body snatched or whatever. He needs this to be him.

And Megumi’s like. Yeah. It’s him. It’s hard to explain. But it’s him.

And Yuuji says that’s good. That’s really, really good. Because it would absolutely suck if he did this with anyone but Megumi.

Yuuji proceeds to kiss him in front of God and everyone.

Yuuta, also here: •_•

Panda, in the distance: is Fushiguro SMOOCHING someone

Yuuji’s classmates have no idea what the fuck any of this is. They’re happy for him though. Yuuji’s a really great guy. Everyone’s super supportive of him and how he apparently likes guys. Good for him.

His coach tells Yuuji he either throws the damn ball or he forfeits.

Yuuji could not possibly care less about the fucking ball throw right now. But Megumi insists it’s fine. He should go and take care of it. Megumi will wait for him.

And see he says that but Yuuji’s brain is convinced if he lets go of Megumi’s hand, Megumi will be lost from him again, potentially forever.

Megumi promises. It’s fine. He’ll wait here.

Yuuji is reluctant, to put it lightly. But he lets go of him and goes back.

Yuuta is staring straight ahead.

He is not looking at Megumi or anything that may or may not be touching Megumi. He went briefly blind actually. Didn’t see any of that.

So uh. That’s. That’s yuuji.

And Megumi is like. Yeah. Uh. That’s Yuu—

No, sorry, Yuuji absolutely cannot risk it. He marches back over to Megumi and grabs his hand. He then drags him through his classmates to the center of the crowd. This takes some effort, seeing as everyone has unearthed the need to slap Yuuji manfully on the back, whistle, cheer, etc.

Megumi is. Fire engine red.

Yeah and Yuuta, he’s. He’s just gonna squeeze on past here. Yep, he. Yeah he came with Megumi so he should probably. Just gonna come on through. Don’t mind him. Haha. He’s just.

Also here.

Yuuji’s coach tells him he shouldn’t have bothered. Yuuji will never be able to beat his scor—

Yuuji picks up the ball and, without letting go of Megumi’s hand, hurls it hard enough to break several world records and also a steel goal post.

Yuuta, simply also here: … huh

Yuuji could not possibly care less about any of this. He starts pulling Megumi back out of the crowd. This, once again, takes considerable time. He is offered a fist bump every three feet. Someone shouts “nice pull Itadori” which uh. Megumi could have done without.

And Yuuta just. Yep. Back on through. Don’t mind him. Just gonna slide on by. Haha yeah he probably. Probably could have waited at the edge of the crowd but uh. Yep just. Just squeezing past for a second.

So Yuuta’s gonna let the two of them catch up. They obviously have a lot they need to talk about and he’s just uh. Not going to be there when they do. Super, super cool getting to meet Yuuji though. He’ll, he’ll go look for the thing? And Megumi can do… Well it’s not Yuuta’s business.

Inumaki, hasn’t been able to get through the crowd yet, scandalized Yuuta’s letting Megumi walk off with some passing whore: SALMON

Yuuta: WOULD YOU LET THEM HAVE THIS

Someone, in the distance: is that a fucking panda

It takes time to get out of there. Suddenly Yuuji is a very popular man. Everyone’s super happy for him. Like, something kinda fucked happened to him in his last school, people say, and he’s been super sad since. But he’s got a boyfriend now, apparently, which is great. Everyone’s super supportive.

Megumi is hiding his own face in his hoodie. He is mortified.

Yuuji’s ghost club senpai, staring at Megumi: Nice pull—throw! Nice throw! On the ball throw

Yuuji, wants to go smooch Megumi again and find out how the fuck he’s alive: thanks

Yuuji’s senpai, still looking at Megumi: but yeah. Nice pull

Megumi:

Yuuji’s senpai: *subtly fist bumps Yuuji*

Megumi:

Inumaki and Panda, specifically: *breathless with scandal*

Look they do not care how established of a biter Megumi is or if he’s being evaluated as a special grade or if he may have briefly entertained plans of mass murder. That is their baby bird kohai with a broken wing. He is so sad and small and they are cradling him gently between their palms. They raising him like the flour sack baby in health class. He is the village baby and he’s far too little for such indecencies. Why are all these passing sluts looking at him with lust in their eyes back off

Panda, eyeing Yuuji’s hand, now around Megumi’s waist: and WHERE is the room for Jesus

Yuuji, staring: is he a talking panda

Megumi, could not be more mortified: senpai you are not Christian

Yuuji: cool cool is he a panda though

Yuuji leads him up to his club classroom. He feels he has rights to it since he thinks he just saved the club or whatever. The second years follow him. There’s far too many people looking at their little boy with EVIDENT IMPURITIES for inumaki and panda to leave him unshielded. Back OFF sluts.

Yuuji gets to the door and looks back at them with what Yuuta can only describe as gay aggression.

He says, “well bye” and slams the door in their faces.

Is Megumi okay with those guys? He mentioned boy slavery—okay he didn’t mention those words but how else is Yuuji supposed to interpret being sold in childhood. Are those guys part of it because they can climb out the window. Also how is he alive?

Megumi explains to him. Not all of it. Just enough. That his family didn’t want to kill him. They wanted to keep him. That it wasn’t good. He couldn’t leave after. Not for a while. And then he couldn’t find Yuuji when Gojo came to get him.

Yuuji says that implies he looked. He looked for Yuuji. Which means he wanted to see him again. Right?

Megumi thinks Yuuji is way too close to him to be asking these questions and for Megumi to be normal about it.

Megumi tells him that he shouldn’t have kissed him.

Yuuji’s face falls. Oh.

No. No, he’s sorry. He should have realized Megumi wouldn’t still—after how Yuuji fucked it up Megumi must not still be interested—

And Megumi’s like. No. No. Yuuji’s the one not interested in him.

Yuuji can absolutely assure Megumi that that is not the case.

No, Megumi shouldn’t have done that. It was fucked up. He shouldn’t have just… shoved his feelings on Yuuji right before sort of dying. He probably fucked up Yuuji’s feelings with all the guilt and grief and whatever

And Yuuji’s like. Nope. He liked Megumi before then. He liked Megumi from the moment he saw him. He thought Megumi was the prettiest guy he’d ever seen. He felt like an idiot, sitting there, because Megumi was trying to tell him something important and all Yuuji could think of was how pretty he is.

So Megumi does like him, huh?

Yuuji’s unbearably smug about it. Megumi’s the prettiest person he has ever seen and he made a move on Yuuji first. This is a new high point in his life. So Megumi had feelings for Yuuji already? Can he please be detailed about that? Be specific actually.

Look Yuuji spent a solid two and a half days with a beautiful Etsy witch frantically making mental lists of all the signs that he APPARENTLY was bisexual and most of the items on the list included “boy pretty want to kiss him right now” and he somehow glitched right past the months of silent pining and straight into passionate smooching before being torn tragically asunder and he’s supposed to NOT bask in that a little once the torn asunder part is over?

Yuuji is but a man.

Megumi’s in hell.

Yuuji is. Weirdly confident and touchy when he’s flirting. He’s in Megumi’s space. And Megumi does not mind that nearly enough for someone who has three of the biggest assholes on the planet and also Yuuta outside the door

But this is great for Yuuji. Megumi’s a beautiful and unflappable boy with powerful magicks and a stone cold bitch demeanor and he gets flustered whenever Yuuji leans in towards him. Yuuji’s pressing that button every day for the rest of his life. The prettiest boy he’s ever met in his life blushes when Yuuji smooches him he can’t not take advantage of that

Panda starts trying to pipe a recording of a religious sermon on abstinence through the air vent.

Yuuta, agonized: please just let them have some time together

Maki: shut up Yuuta

Panda: yeah shut up Yuuta

Inumaki, on pandas shoulders, trying to watch through the window: tuna tuna

Panda, gasping: his hand is WHERE NOW

Megumi is begging them to fuck off.

But they will not. They are coming in.

Hey there, slu—Itadori. Yeah yeah they gathered his name from all the people shouting it at him with the words “nice pull.” So they’re Megumi’s senpais and also sort of his parents no the fuck they are not would they please just stop just stop this and here to find a fucked up finger and not to see Yuuji at all that wasn’t on the agenda at all.

Oh. The thing from the shrine? Yuuji has that thing.

Everyone stares.

They hadn’t felt the aura. It’s actually sort of impossible to feel anything with Yuuta so close. It’s like trying to hear your phone ring when you’re next to speakers of a heavy metal concert. It was a terrible idea to bring him to this specific task but also they thought it’d be in the fucking shrine.

Yeah Yuuji’s in the occult club. Don’t look at him like that. It worked with his schedule. And he was sort of hoping he’d find something real.

He was trying to find out what happened to Megumi. He thought maybe a real sorcerer would show up if he found something real, and he could ask then.

But it’s right here. Yuuji was carrying it around in his backpack. His senpais wanted to try to open the thing and Yuuji sort of thought it was maybe a bad idea so he insisted on hanging onto it so at least they couldn’t do it without him there. But since he’s found Megumi again they can have it.

Yuuta, taking it from him, profoundly disturbed: oh my god you guys could have died

But that’s what they came here to do. Task: completed. Time to head back to Tokyo where Megumi can stop. Touching boys.

Yuuji sort of forgot Megumi would be leaving at the end of this.

He doesn’t have to. He can stay in Sendai still. He can live with Yuuji. He knows those fucking Zenin don’t have him anymore but it’s not fucking cool that Megumi was fucking bought by the people in this society and—

He could stay. Yuuji would keep him for as long as Megumi lets him.

Panda: haha. Sweet. But he won’t

Megumi:

Panda: but he won’t right

Megumi: I’m still thinking

Maki, incredulous: you need to think about it

Also! Megumi, babe, can he talk to Yuuji’s grandpa. Yuuji sort of told him everything after everything that happened. And by that he means that he crawled into bed with his grandpa sobbing and confessed the whole mess, but there’s no reason to admit that out loud.

He sort of thought that his grandpa would think he was crazy but he actually totally believed it all because apparently his mom was like. Killed and replaced before his birth. Yeah like. Apparently she died in a horrible car accident and then something inhabited her body like a hermit crab moving into an empty shell and whatever that thing was had Yuuji. And then it probably killed his dad too his grandpa was less clear about that. But he figures Megumi sees this kind of thing all the time.

Maki: when did he become BABE—what was the second thing you just said

Yuuji: this thing is normal for you guys right. you see it all the time right.

Maki: no no we fucking do not

Panda: the thing you just said was absolutely not normal holy shit

Inumaki: tuna

Yuuji: i’m sorry so we’re just not going to explain the panda or the food thing?

Panda: oh and youre not going to explain the fact that your dad apparently fucked the thing that ate your mo—

Megumi: PANDA

Yuuji: I… was seriously hoping this was a problem you guys face all the time

Everyone: *turns to Yuuta, the most cosmically fucked of them all, also still struggling to beat the monsterfucker allegations so this feels like his wheelhouse*

Yuuta:

Yuuta, eyes wide, blowing out a slow breath: honestly I have no idea what that could even be

They call Gojo.

Gojo has no idea why the fuck they are calling him. This is the most overstaffed mission in the history of jujutsu sorcery. This mission requires maybe one grade two sorcerer if they’re really playing it safe. This is a stationary prepackaged item that they were supposed to pick up and put in their pocket. They have two special grades already and they need a third??

Yuuta, has a headache: sensei we need you to come in this guy’s grandpa says that his mom was a possessed corpse

Gojo, bewildered: weren’t you supposed to be looking for sukuna’s finger

Yuuta: yeah yeah we found that already this is a new thing

Gojo: how did you even get on the topic of who some guy’s grandpa was

Yuuta: no no his mom was the corpse according to the grandpa

Gojo: uh huh and are we sure the grandpa’s all there

Yuuji: *offended noises*

Panda, grabbing the phone: SENSEI. Fushiguro is out here SMOOCHING BOYS and he may RUN AWAY with one you need to get here immediately

Gojo:

Gojo:

Gojo:

Gojo: I’ll be there in three minutes

Panda: phew

Megumi:

Panda: this is an all hands on deck kind of problem Fushiguro

*two minutes later*

Gojo: okay who is Megumi smooching

Yuuji: *tentatively raises his hand*

Yuuta, pained: can we please stay on topic

Megumi, at the exact same time: that is NOT what we’re here about. Yuuji put your hand down.

Megumi is gritting his fucking teeth.

And gojo is like. Megumi. Who’s your friend.

Yuuji introduces himself. He’s kind of nervous. But he’s glad Gojo’s okay sir. They were really worried for a bit.

And Gojo is like. Haha. So sweet. Do we. Have we met.

Well, no. But Megumi talked about his dad a lot when they met

Megumi: wait

Gojo, tearing up: his what

Megumi: wait

Gojo: dont wait did he say the word dad did he say that word exactly

Megumi: i didn’t

Yuuji: haha. You’re just how he described

Gojo: and that description included the word dad

No but seriously who is Yuuji.

They don’t need to talk about that right now. Megumi. Knows him. He’s important to Megumi. They can leave it at that. Let’s just focus okay.

Gojo does not want to focus on the grandpa thing. He wants to know who the fuck Megumi is smooching. And also he’s discovered Megumi may or may not have once thought of him as a father and he needs to weep at finally having confirmation.

But also he has no idea what the hell this kid’s grandpa is going on about. Sounds super fucked up though. They should probably go talk to him about whatever the fuck that was.

Gojo: *clapping his hands* okay! Time to go have a chat with whoever this kids grandpa is

Gojo: *starts to leave the classroom*

Panda: NOWAIT

Gojo:

Panda: can you like teleport us or something so we don’t have to walk through the school grounds

Gojo: why would I do that

Inumaki: salmon roe

Gojo: in what way is this an emergency

Panda, immediately: it’s all Yuuta’s fault

Yuuta: okay hey

Gojo:

Panda: fucking yuuta brought us to this den of frivolous whores who won’t stop REGARDING our little kohai

Inumaki, nodding fervently: tuna tuna

Gojo, stone faced: Regarding

Panda, emphatically: with their eyes

Gojo, turning to Megumi, still stone faced: Megumi. Has there been. Regarding.

Megumi: *fire engine red* please don’t do this

Gojo, turning to Yuuta: well

Yuuta: *avoiding eye contact like his life depends on it*

Gojo: Yuuta

Yuuta:

Gojo:

Yuuta:

Gojo:

Yuuta, reluctantly: there has been SOME… regarding

Gojo, heavily: I see.

Gojo: This is an emergency.

Megumi: All of you stop just for once in your life stop

Panda, turning away from him: I can’t even look at you right now. Someone put more clothes on him

It does not help that the second Yuuji leaves the classroom someone says “nice work Itadori” and high fives him while looking at Megumi

Megumi, wants to crawl in a hole: that was about a ball throw from earlier

Gojo: was it

They stop by the flower shop on their way over. Yuuji always brings them for his grandpa and it’s just—if they’re okay with it, it’s just for a second.

It’s the same one that Megumi and Yuuta went by before visiting Rika. Megumi almost laughs.

Yuuji asks if he can talk to Megumi for a second.

Then he gives him a dahlia.

Megumi doesn’t have to like it. Really. He’s just thought about it for a while. He thought about it every day. What he’d do if Megumi had made it back to Sendai with him and Yuuji—if he had a chance to do it all right. He thought he’d buy Megumi flowers and then he’d. He’d know if Megumi liked it. He’d get to know that kind of thing.

Yuuji would have been the happiest man in the world to find out that Megumi hated his fucking guts over what happened. Because if he hated Yuuji, then he was alive to hate him. And Yuuji wanted him to be alive more than anything.

He doesn’t think there’s a word for how lucky he is to have Megumi alive and liking him back. So he doesn’t want to have regrets. He wants to find out if Megumi likes flowers.

Megumi decides he likes it. It comes from Yuuji, so. He likes it.

And the thing is. He’s also thought about what he’d do if he found Yuuji again. And a lot of it involved “not fucking this all up by never showing how he felt the way Megumi did with every single relationship he’s ever had.” So he swallows his fucking pride long enough to kiss Yuuji on the cheek. Ugh. This personal growth think absolutely sucks. He feels perceived, which he hates

But it’s kind of worth it considering the goofy fucking grin Yuuji gives him. Yuuji says if he likes them that much then he’ll buy him flowers every day.

Everyone else very quickly turns around and pretends they weren’t spying.

Megumi immediately regrets this again. Personal growth is a mistake. Stop perceiving him.

Yuuji’s still flustered. He knows it’s soon. But he wants Megumi to meet his grandpa

Megumi: I thought that was what we were already doing

Yuuji: yeah but like, as my…

Megumi:

Yuuji, realizing they have known each other for maybe three days collectively and kissed but have no label for what they are: … Megumi

Panda, in the distance, screeching: AS YOUR MEGUMI???

Megumi:

Yuuji, fire engine red: as Megumi. Just as Megumi

Megumi:

Megumi: okay

Megumi is refusing all eye contact when the rejoin the group. He hates all of them.

Gojo: … so where’d you get that flower megu—

Megumi: shut up

By the grace of god, they make it to the hospital. Yuuji’s grandpa is not a fan of the crowd. Megumi has a solution to this. He closes the door in his senpai’s faces.

Yuuji, tugging Megumi forward by the hand: grandpa this is Megumi he’s the guy I told you about

Gojo: i’m sorry how long has this been going on fo—

Yuuji’s Grandpa: the beautiful etsy witch? i thought he was dead

Megumi: the wha—

Gojo: THE WHAT

Yuuji: *fire engine red* he survived grandpa just. not the point.

Yuuji’s Grandpa: he cried for you for like six weeks you know

Gojo: how long

Yuuji’s grandpa: honestly he never stopped crying. I caught him all misty eyed yesterday too

Megumi: i’m sorry I got him involved. I never wanted to hurt him.

Yuuji’s Grandpa: don’t be. as long as you’re not a possessed corpse yuuji’s surpassed his father’s taste. *squints* you aren’t are you

Megumi: no

Yuuji’s grandpa:

Yuuji’s grandpa: show me your forehead

Megumi: …

Megumi: *lifts back his hair*

Yuuji’s grandpa: you can never be too safe with these things

Speaking of. Gojo actually needs a second.

He comes back shepherding a tense Okkotsu Yuuta. Haha, you know what every situation needs? That’s right. It’s Yuuta.

Gramps, hold his hand.

Yuuji’s grandpa simply will not be doing that. It’s weird Gojo asked him that actually.

Megumi puts it together first.

He’d only bring Yuuta in for reverse curse technique. Gojo saw something when he looked at Yuuji’s grandpa. And Megumi knows how to read Yuuta’s face.

Gojo doesn’t think Yuuji’s grandpa is going to live to the end of this conversation. He needs to hook Yuuta up to him like a life support machine.

They tell Yuuji in the hall to tell him first. He doesn’t take it well. His grandpa figures it out after one look at Yuuji’s face.

It makes sense. He sort of already knew. He woke up with the feeling.

He figures the last thing he ought to do with his life is give Yuuji a chance to avoid his father’s fate.

He tells him about Yuuji’s dad. About his mom. About what happened to them. About how Yuuji came to be.

Gojo: wait wait wait. So if you knew Kaori died in an accident why didn’t yuuji’s dad know

Yuuji’s grandpa: no he knew too

Gojo: … then why did he sleep with whatever was in her body

Yuuji’s grandpa:

Yuujis’s grandpa: honestly in the twilight of your life sometimes a man has to admit that he raised a bit of a freak

Yuuta, also here: •_•

And Gojo wants to say it’s the ramblings of a dying old man, but some of the details give him pause. And the closer he looks at Yuuji, the more he realizes something’s off about him

Gojo thinks he’s a vessel.

They’re like. Stupid forbidden. All knowledge about how to make them was supposed to be destroyed hundreds of years ago. So of course every single clan kept records on it.

No one makes them nowadays, really. They’re pretty labor intensive. And he means that in the child birthing sense. You have to find someone willing to both take dick and go through nine months of pregnancy to make one. And then raising the vessel until they’re old enough to be taken over—it’s a lot of work.

They’re meant to house curses. Special grades. The ones strong enough for sentience. To give them the one thing they can’t get on their own: a body. Most bodies can’t sustain them. They burn out.

But Yuuji’s strong. Stronger than any human should be. He’s like maki, almost, but he doesn’t have a heavenly pact. It shouldn’t be possible.

He’s not sure which curse they made Yuuji to house. But there’s only a few candidates.

Ones in Yuuta’s backpack.

The room gets tenser.

Kaori died a second time not long after having Yuuji. Not super surprising. But Gojo doubts they’re lucky enough that whatever was inside of her actually died. It may have just found a new shell to crawl into. And that’s a problem, if so. It’ll probably come back. People tend not to forget the projects they had to put out for.

They can’t just let her come back for Yuuji, Megumi insists. He’s not an empty fucking jar for her to fill.

Of course they won’t let that happen. Yuuji will come back with them.

They can keep an eye on him at the school. Maybe draw out whatever made him and kill it once and for all. He can just be as normal a student as they can manage at magic high school, or he can use cursed tools like maki. Up to him. Gojo will sort out the details. He doesn’t see it being a problem. People have been very accommodating to him lately.

Megumi still doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want Yuuji in their world. He’s normal. He wasn’t supposed to get caught up in this.

But Yuuji sort of wants that.

Apparently he wasn’t ever normal. He was always supposed to be in this world—just as like. A goldfish getting plucked from its bowl. Getting to learn magic weapons sounds a bit better and gives him better odds.

From Gojo’s perspective, he would have just disappeared.

Megumi went looking for Yuuji because fundamentally he just couldn’t deal with any of his emotions regarding what had happened. His own belief in Gojo was a foundation that was now fractured. He needed to fall apart but didn’t feel safe where he was to do that. So going to Yuuji was the only way he could think of asking for the help that he desperately needed.

Yuuji would have accepted him with open arms if Megumi had randomly showed up in Sendai.

I think it would have helped Megumi to have the breathing room, after everything. I think he just desperately needed space to even try to put himself back together. With Yuuji, he was hidden and away in a way that made him finally feel even a modicum of safety. If they couldn’t find him, they couldn’t hurt him.

But Megumi running away to be with Yuuji was never permanent, even in his own head. His sister was back there. Importantly, his sister was back there with Gojo.

To a degree, Megumi can’t help but still trust Gojo no matter what the Zenin told him. Otherwise he would have never left his sister in Gojo’s care, with no direct incentive to keep her alive. If she’s just a way to manipulate Megumi, what happens to her when Megumi leaves anyway?

He left believing that Gojo would keep her alive. That he would keep her safe. He still trusts him, in a way. He believes some part of Gojo cared about them. He just needed space to heal.

Megumi would have stayed up there in Sendai with Yuuji for months. But he would have gone back eventually.

But I don’t think he would get the luxury of going back in his own time. He’d be forced back when yuuji’s freak of a mom came back in Geto Suguru’s body and tried to cram Sukuna’s finger down his throat.

The entire mess with the finger the first time around never happened. Megumi said “do not fucking touch that thing” and confiscated it for safety reasons. He took a day trip to Kyoto to hurl it over their school’s fence and power walked away. That’s a them problem now. Yuuji never swallowed it.

But Kenjaku didn’t fuck Yuuji’s dad because he liked the man’s personality. And he didn’t suffer through nine months of morning sickness, lamaze classes, and a maternity photoshoot to just forget about his fucking vessel. Yuuji’s old enough that they’re not shoving the worlds most evil man into the body of a third grader. And their plans for Gojo Satoru are only a few months away. Things are going to start moving very quickly. They need Sukuna to make his appearance.

So Kenjaku comes back for Yuuji. He ambushes him as he’s leaving school. Yuuji’s involved enough with Megumi by now—and knows about the monster who crawled into his mom’s skull and left a row of stitches across her forehead from his grandpa—to know he needs to run the second he sees Geto with his goddamn forehead scar. It buys him time.

And Megumi’s always got Kuro following Yuuji from the shadows.

Megumi’s a very serious threat in this au. The ten shadows is no laughing matter. It’s the kind of thing that caught Sukuna’s attention. It’s been considered the rival of the six eyes for centuries—without its full potential ever being unlocked. Mahoraga’s never been tamed, but it’s still regarded on the same level as Gojo’s ability. Megumi’s special grade.

It’s not that he has nothing left to lose. he has a lot to lose. That’s why they should be afraid of what he’ll do.

He’s able to hold his own in the fight. I can see different storylines spitting off based on whether he wins and saves Yuuji from the finger in the moment, or if Yuuji ultimately still ends up swallowing one, but both of them would end the same way: with Megumi taking Yuuji to Gojo for help. It would be Yuuji’s turn to be on the run from freak family members.

Megumi feels insanely weird doing it. “Hey it’s me I know I fucked off without a trace months ago and never called or wrote or gave any sign of my continued survival. However I need a favor so I came back.” Like he’s just bracing himself for everyone to be pissed at him or for him to have to start trading pieces of himself to ultimately save Yuuji.

Gojo’s so relieved that Megumi can’t even talk to him at first. He just buries Megumi into a hug and will not fucking let go.

And then Gojo’s in. He’s helping Yuuji. Who the fuck is Yuuji. This is Yuuji? Okay he’s helping Yuuji.

He missed Megumi. He missed him so much.

Gojo would have spent these last few months legitimately worried that Megumi was dead. Megumi was in such a bad place when he left that they were terrified he’d gone to kill himself and had managed it in a way where they just hadn’t found the body. So to find out no, he was just so unbelievably fucked up by what happened to him that running away to be with the beautiful himbo he never told them about was literally the only way he could even imagine healing… honestly it was a massive fucking relief. They’re not thrilled that they had to lose Megumi for the past few months but he’s alive and he’s talking again and he’s so obviously in a better place than he was when he left. Like this is the absolute best case scenario for where Megumi could have gone.

… well the best case scenario would be if he had holed up with some lesbian he experienced purely platonic feelings for instead of running away to hold hands with a boy but they’re so overwhelmingly relieved that Megumi’s alive at all that they’re willing to forgive that