#toge x reader

[louddinosaursblog]

where is my mind! ✶⋆.˚ toge inumaki x choice paralysis!reader

summary: toge helps reader out through a small bout of choice paralysis.

content: fluff, f!reader, mentally ill!reader (depression, anxiety, and adhd mentioned), in universe but reader is not a sorcerer, use of cursed speech

wc: 1.4k

a/n: this is self indulgent, and emotional/mental descriptions come from my own experiences. this deals with a much smaller/lighter choice paralysis situation. do not disregard/delegitimize simply because you happen to experience similar situations to a different/heavier degree <3

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹

you had been dating toge for around three months now; you weren't a sorcerer, but you had met him while after he had exorcised a particular nuisance of a curse, offering to help get him patched up and taking meds. due to this, you at least knew the general idea of him as a sorcerer, cursed energy, and curses, and this also meant you knew about his cursed technique (and unique approach to language).

you had shared with toge earlier on about your anxiety and other mental illnesses - the adhd preventing productivity some days, which would cause spikes in your nerves and drops in your moods, creating a terrible feedback loop of anxiety, depression, and inattentiveness. toge listened intently during each conversation you shared regarding your mental health, always tucking away pieces of information that he could use to help you through those episodes later. he also made sure to take notice of various skills you had learned and incorporated to help accommodate yourself when in those episodes.

during one of those various conversations, toge had passed you a written inquiry: would you be comfortable with me using my technique if it could help you out in some way during your episodes?

your heart swelled when you read the question, smiling over at your boyfriend.

"toge, are you sure? i'm entirely trusting of you, even enough for you to use your technique on me. but won't it hurt you?" you respond.

"bonito flakes."

"if you really want to help during those times, i'd love it, but only if you won't hurt yourself doing it."

toge nods. "salmon," he says in response, letting you know he understands.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁

since it was a saturday and toge didn't have any scheduled missions, he had texted you the night before about meeting up to spend the day together: the two of you would meet for lunch at a diner just off of his campus, go to the nearby park to have a nice walk and to feed peas and birdseed to the ducks and birds around the pond, and then finish your day by going to a video game store on the way back towards your apartment, where he would walk back to after your day together.

you had slept through your alarm, jerking out of your bed when you rolled over to check the time and realized you had lost half of the time you planned on using to get ready for your day spent with toge. you rushed to get ready, nerves already high compared to how they usually are when you start your day. on your way to the diner, you didn't notice a rock lodged in the crack of the sidewalk, causing you to trip and fall forward. not only did it scrape a tear into your pants, it also went as far as to slightly break the skin on your knee, putting you in an even worse mood.

the sight of your boyfriend, toge, standing outside of the diner caused you to internally let out a sigh of relief. he was leaned against the front wall, a bit down the building from the front door, eyes trained on his phone in front of him. as your footsteps grew closer, he glanced to his side to check who was approaching, and straightened up when he saw it was you. toge pocketed his phone, raising his hand in a wave as you approached him.

"hey baby," you breathed out with a small smile, immediately wrapping your arms around his midsection to bring you some comfort after your hectic morning.

toge wrapped his arms around you as well, eyebrows furrowing in concern. "mustard leaf?"

"just been a morning, i'll fill you in over food, i'm staaaarved," you said, dragging out the last sentence. he nodded in response, turning to walk you both into the restaurant, but leaving his arm wrapped around your waste.

with his eyes trained in front of him, he glanced down, noticing the tear in your pants. he stopped the two of you before the entrance, pointing down.

"tuna tuna?" he said, pointing to your knee.

"ugh," you said, sighing. "part of the morning. tripped and fell on the way here," you pouted, raising your leg to bring the tear into view. "and i really loved these pants, too."

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁

once in the diner and seated at a booth by the window, you and toge both started looking over the menu. once he had made his choice, you saw him pull out his phone, hearing yours chime a moment later: i think your pants look cooler like that, gives them character :)

you checked it once you heard it ping, since toge usually isn't on his phone when the two of you hang out unless he's messaging you or if it's something important with jujutsu. after reading the text, you looked back up at him, seeing him already watching you to wait on your reaction. you responded with a small smile and a thank you, ducking your head to go back to looking over the menu.

your waiter comes to collect drink orders, and toge's eyes dart over to you when, after the waiter asks if you needed longer with the menu, you reply with a hesitant, "yes, please," voice cracking in the middle of the words. the waiter nodded, heading back to where they came to prepare your drinks, leaving you to the inner turmoil in your mind regarding what you should pick to eat.

you knew what you usually got from diners similar to this one, but should you try something new this time? you also weren't sure if that would mean you pick something you end up disliking. not to mention that you and toge planned to be out all day, so you wanted to ensure it was something that would keep your energy up, but nothing too much that would make you want to curl up and nap.

toge kept an eye on your mannerisms after hearing how you sounded responding to the waiter. you hadn't explicitly disclosed that having to make certain choices, or making decisions at certain times, would cause your anxiety to spike; however, toge knew the signs of your anxiety flaring in general, and he had come to notice every once in a while that the symptoms would appear during decision-making. sometimes the choices were simple like this, just choosing what to eat, and sometimes it was something more related to if you wanted to go on a trip or stay in for the weekend.

regardless, toge started picking up on your common actions when you have an anxiety episode as you were looking at the menu: fidgeting with your hands under the table, biting your bottom lip and pulling it between your teeth, eyes darting around and seemingly unable to focus, as well as the pace of your breathing speeding up.

"tuna mayo?" you heard him ask, drawing your gaze up to his eyes. he glances between the menu and back up to you, his way of asking what you were getting. maybe he was connecting choice-making and the anxiety prematurely; maybe the anxiety habits were stemming from something else, but he figured this would help him get a gauge on the situation.

your inhale at the question was sharper than intended, and the exhale was wavering. "um, i haven't decided just yet," you said timidly, throat going tight at the end of the sentence, causing you to be done with your current piece of the conversation whether you were originally intending to or not.

"mustard leaf?"

"i'm okay, just a lot on my mind after everything this morning," you attempted to comfort him, letting out a halfhearted laugh to try and ease his own mind at the thought of yours racing.

toge watched you for a few more moments, and once he had decided that yeah, he's pretty sure it's the choice getting to her, he kept his eyes on your face and quietly instructed, "make a choice."

your mind immediately made itself up, causing your eyes to widen at the realization of what your boyfriend just did. your neck craned to look up him, only to find him already staring back at you, mouth hidden by his collar but you could see the slight, comforting smile he wore due to the small creases near the outer corners of his eyes. you returned a smile back, finding his hand under the table and squeezing, muttering a 'thank you' to him.

"salmon, mustard leaf." no worries; i've got you.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹

tags!: @oksukuna

jjk: @swxxtchxrrixs @pinkskeletonbones

toge: @slowdeive @cateleya21

[crazykinkrottenkiwi]

༺❦ toge archive ❦༻

"he speaks so little... yet every word keeps you."

✧ Prankster

↳ ♡ read here

↳ ♡ extra chapter

✧ after hours

exclusive drabbles, bonus scenes & things that never made it into the main stories...

♡ toge drabbles & bonus content

↳ ♡ coming soon

"the quietest love often leaves the deepest scars."

↬ back to main masterlist

[louddinosaursblog]

i wrote to you ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ toge inumaki

summary: writing or drawing on your skin also creates the same temporary markings on your soulmate, allowing for communication (save for specific or identifying information).

content: soulmate!au, (at least somewhat) canon compliant (set/follows jjk0, some canon divergence), yuta's cousin!reader, reader can see curses but is not a sorcerer, when it gets to the soulmate convo via the writing: reader's notes are just italic, toge's notes are italic and bold :)

wc: 2.4k

part of the i'll find you in every universe series

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹

throughout your youth, as did everyone once they were old enough to start transcribing messages to their soulmate, you'd find yourself doodling or writing small messages to your own soulmate, the medium of passing notes being your own skin.

sometime close to the end of elementary school, most kids would start to be able to share notes via temporary skin inking. some started developing the messages earlier, some later, but virtually all eventually.

you spent your younger years growing up alongside your cousin, yuta. he had found his soulmate almost right away once he was able to trade notes, easily being able to pick out his best friend rika's handwriting. the handwriting that would occassionally grace your limbs was not a familiar font for you.

it saddened you some, knowing that this constant in your life up until now would now also be a constant in another's, but those thoughts gradually quieted until they were silenced entirely as yuta, and now also rika, still included you in their adventures.

being around yuta so often meant you had already been around rika by association, the three of you becoming quick friends, although the two of them had been the closer two of your trio. this made sense when they discovered they were each other's soulmates.

you were there with them, walking along the sidewalk that afternoon, when the accident happened. while rika manifested on yuta, you still were not spared from the world of curses, still developing your own resistance to cursed energy as a result of being present for the accident, and still having a strong friendship with both rika and yuta. the resistance, unknown to you, gained in its strength the longer you were around yuta, and therefore also rika, following the event.

you were glad to be able to be there for yuta through the aftermath, keeping him company and being a grounding presence during his years getting bullied in school and trying to understand rika's company, even looking like a scary ghost, even after death.

you refrained from sharing much of anything, if anything at all, about your soulmate notes after the accident. you were worried it may seem unfair to yuta, that you still had a soulmate to meet and be with, while he had to watch rika suffer as horrifically as he did.

after a brief period of this, yuta seemed to catch on, and made sure to reassure you that he didn't consider it that way - he wanted you to share about your soulmate and their notes to you. he wanted to be involved in your life and your experiences still, despite his life playing out differently.

you remember crying into his shoulder that day, unsure what to respond with - an apology? a thanks? - instead letting all of your emotions out through the water coming from your eyes.

from that point on, you opened up more, sharing little jokes or pictures that your soulmate would write on their skin to share with you. they seemed funny, and also caring. they'd ask about your favorite flower or your favorite food, asking about your day and your friends, and you'd do the same. you'd share all of your discoveries with yuta, and he'd be there to share your excitement, just as he had said he would be.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁

when yuta woke up face to face with who he now knew as satoru gojo, the first thing he asked about was you. gojo assured him you were fine, and for then, that was all that could be done about that conversation.

however, yuta started pressing gojo further about you and your whereabouts once he learned what this school was truly for. he knew you were able to see rika, and you had voiced your fears with him previously after times where you would see scary figures that no one else seemed to be able to.

at hearing this, gojo starting investigating more into you and your life, and it wasn't long after that he figured it would be smart to at least bring you to the campus until he could find out if you had any cursed energy - maybe you had gained something at the same time, or in the meantime while being near rika. he even considered the idea that you were similar to maki, but when he confirmed that you could see curses but had no cursed energy output, gojo was sure that you should stay at the school in order to be kept an eye on.

yuta arrived at your door one day, smiling widely and seemingly vibrating with excitement. there was a taller man standing behind him and to the side, wearing a similar uniform to your cousin, but also donning a blindfold.

yuta introduced him as gojo, his new teacher. he also informed you that you'd be coming with them to his new school, and that you'd be staying there with him as well. as much as you weren't incredibly fond of the idea of going to a new school with new people, the idea of being with yuta again was enough solace for you to give a nod in response.

you packed a few things with you before leaving with your cousin and assumingly your new teacher as well.

when you arrived to tokyo jujutsu high, you were shocked almost into silence at the surrounding greenery. the school grounds were beautiful, and you almost couldn't believe that this was where you'd be living, at least for the foreseeable future.

these thoughts flooded your brain until yuta and gojo stopped to introduce you to the other students, yuta's now friends since he had been here for a bit already before you were brought in, one of which was effortlessly competing (and winning) in a beauty competition with the surroundings.

you were introduced to maki, who, despite outwardly seemingly otherwise, said she was excited to have another girl on the campus, as well as to have another person who wasn't chock full of cursed energy. you smiled softly at her, nodding in recognition.

next was panda, who was… well, a panda. you stared in confused awe, unsure how a panda was standing in front of you and holding a conversation. He waved at you during the introduction as a hello, so you waved back to return the gesture.

lastly, you found yourself meeting eyes with the man that you found yourself intimidated by, even if just by his features. he stood out to you immediately, the one you thought might even be more beautiful than the outdoors. you caught his name during introductions, toge, just barely, as you were close to zoned out just from looking at his amethyst eyes.

you found yourself unable to meet his eyes after that, heat nipping at the tips of your ears as you nodded in greeting while looking at your shoes. your head jerked back up to analyze the student in front of you when, after introductions, he gave you a short wave and a mumbled 'kelp'.

when he saw your eyebrows furrow in confusion, he directed his attention to gojo, pointing in your direction.

"tuna mayo," he said, which aided no further explanation, but did cause more confusion for you.

your gaze turned to gojo as he chuckled, "oh, right, i forgot," gojo said, "just like how yuta has rika's cursed energy, toge can utilize cursed speech. it's a family technique, from the inumaki clan, but he can imbue cursed energy into his words. this causes his words to incite action, regardless of if he means to or not, so he sticks to a vocabulary of rice ball ingredients to make sure nothing happens accidentally."

you nod in understanding, not fully getting it all but sure it'll all make sense soon enough. you would be living here, after all.

you noticed toge tugging on his zipped collar, pulling it down far enough to display the markings on his cheeks. you realized that he was doing so to allow you further understanding, and you hoped the look in your eyes portrayed your thankfulness at his thoughtfulness.

you felt a slight disappointment at the realization that you wouldn't be able to properly talk to the cute boy, but if he was able to communicate with others still, just using his own language, maybe you'd be able to get the hang of it, too.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁

for the next few days, despite the introductions and having yuta to accompany you and help you acclimate to your new surroundings and neighbors, you kept to yourself for the most part. it was still a new place, new people, and new world views regardless (because who would have thought jujutsu sorcery was more widespread than just yuta), and you found yourself requiring more time before opening up.

later one night, while you were lying awake on your bed in your dorm room, you grabbed a pen to start talking with your soulmate. you hadn't noticed any new notes since you had been here, and you had been so busy getting used to your new surroundings that you also hadn't had time to send any their way.

you opened the pen, situating it on your wrist to start writing, hoping it would be visible enough to catch your soulmate's attention quickly.

sorry for the lapse in messages! been a busy few days for me, got a last minute change of scenery haha

sitting in his own dorm bed, toge immediately notices the new writing appearing along his wrist. it had been a few days since he had last heard from his soulmate, and he had already planned to write an opening note of his own soon if it was radio silent for much longer.

he read the words as they appeared, smiling softly at them, glad that it wasn't that they just got bored of him or something along those lines. he grabbed his usual pen from his bedside table, starting to write under the message that his soulmate had just written.

long time no write, stranger! family move or something?

toge knew any specific or identifying information wouldn't get transcribed to his soulmate, so he tried not to ask anything that would result in a more specific response, one that he wouldn't be able to see.

you were excited to see that your soulmate was writing back quickly, that your silent spell didn't drive them to thinking you disliked them. you continued to share your written conversation with the other person.

something like that :) had to switch schools, but i've really been enjoying it!

toge smiled at the response, glad to know that his soulmate was still doing well despite having to go through some change.

i know you can handle anything, even big changes! that's kinda cool actually, my school also got some transfer students in recently

you stare at the new message appearing on your arm, unable to stop your heart from starting to race at the idea that the boy with the pretty lilac eyes and kind disposition could be the person on the other side of these notes. surely not, though, you find yourself thinking to yourself. what were the odds of this one person being your one person?

toge was having similar thoughts, curious if the pretty new girl was who he had been trading notes with for most of his life. what were the odds that you just transferred schools, and that his school, for the first time in ages, just got new transfers?

toge notices your hesitation, unsure if it was more from intrigue or worry, and comes up with an idea.

he knows he briefly showed you his clan seal the other day, hoping for the visual to give you a better understanding of gojo's explanation of his technique, knowing it likely all sounded confusing to you.

so if he were to draw his seal, and it wasn't you on the other side of these notes, there wouldn't be any harm - his soulmate would just think he was doodling, or maybe think he was crazy. however, if it was you, you'd know it was him, and the idea that there was even a small chance it was you was enough for him to start drawing right under his last message.

toge could feel his heart dropping the longer that went by without a response from his soulmate, fearing he did genuinely scare them off now.

what he didn't know, though, was that you recognized the seal drawing the moment you saw it. you knew it was him.

that was enough to send you bolting up out of your bed, not even bothering to change out of your set of mismatched pajamas as you left your room and entered the hallway. you eagerly made your way to toge's room, knocking timidly on the wood of his door, nerves finally catching up to you, as you were waiting for him in the hallway.

toge jumps at the sound of knocks on his door, but with the small hope that it could be you on the other side, he found himself scrambling off of his bed and quickly going to open the door.

and, as expected, you were each met with the other when the door opened, each of you meeting the gaze of the other.

after a few moments of looking at each other, you softly smiled before holding out your arm with the markings on it. you watched his face as he looked down at your outstretched arm, his hand coming up to brush against the drawing on your arm, an exact match to the one he had drawn himself on his.

when he looked back up at you, he had a small smile on his face as well, which shifted into a smirk as he lifted up his index finger to you, wordlessly telling you to wait a moment. he retreated back into his room, grabbing his pen and meeting you back at the door again.

he extended his arm, writing something more, but positioning his hand to where you couldn't see as he was writing, instead having to wait to see it transcribe itself onto your own arm.

you gave him an unbelieving laugh when you read his message: so eager to meet your soulmate you didn't even think to match clothes ;)

he chuckles smugly at you, pointing into his room as he steps to the side of the doorway.

"you want me to come in?" you asked, realizing you'd need to get his onigiri ingredient language down so that he could more comfortably communicate with you verbally.

"salmon," he says with a smile, nodding.

"that means yes?" you ask again.

his eyes glittered at your desire to learn how to talk to him, other than the writing on your skin. he nodded again to confirm, eyes creasing from a smile behind his collar as he repeats, "salmon."

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹

a/n: sorry for the delay!! i've been working on a move with my husband and it's just much slower going than i was expecting it to be. i have some things this week that i am able to write during, but not pack/move things, so i'm hoping to get a few more for this series taken care of in the meantime so i don't have to delay more updates for the series! part 2 for jotaro's is in the works, and will be out sometime hopefully this week before this soulmate saturday!

tags!: @oksukuna @slowdeive @pinkskeletonbones @swxxtchxrrixs

as always, reach out via comment or dm to be added to the tags, for the entire series or just a certain fandom or character!

[bbunisre]

y/n and my toge ☠️

[veronicalosr]

if anyone has requests please ask, my requests are open for any character on my masterlist, and im looking to start filling up my masterlist

[slowdeive]

i have a very wild hc that ts!toge is a freak (i need fanfcis NOWWWWW)

[yumeekoi]

who knew your soulmate would be inumaki toge, the guy who spoke in riceball ingredients? 𐔌՞. .՞𐦯

cw: a little bit of blood and injury during a mission

you were six years old when the words first appeared on your collarbone. you knew what the words meant, and little six year old you was ecstatic. who wouldn't be? those were the words of your soulmate. their first words spoken to you by the person the fates had destined you to. you were practically bouncing off the walls!

but, as excited as you were, you were also...confused.

tuna mayo. the words permanently inked on your collarbones, your soulmates first words to you was...a rice ball ingredient. not exactly the stuff of romance novels. no sweeping declarations of undying love, no poetic promises. just…tuna...and mayo.

you’ve spent the last ten years of your life thinking about it. googled it, obviously (but all that came up unsurprisingly were pictures of tuna mayo). asked your older sister, who squinted at your collarbone through her glasses and said, “maybe they’re really into rice balls?” before breaking down into uncontrollable laughter. which wasn’t helpful.

you even asked your friends! unfortunately, they only offered increasingly unhinged theories: maybe your soulmate’s a chef, maybe they’re a mermaid, maybe they’re just really passionate about rice balls.

after a while, you’d kind of given up, honestly. the mark had become just another part of you, like the mole behind your ear or the increasing weird curses you came across on your day to day life. a weird, unexplainable detail you stopped trying to rationalize for the sake of your own sanity.

and then you transferred to tokyo metropolitan curse technical college—jujutsu tech for short cuz god was that a mouthful to say.

it was an adjustment to say the least. you go from “normal person with normal problems who could see curses” to “shaman who now had to fight said curses” in the span of about three weeks.

it’s a lot. thankfully the other students are more than helpful. there was panda who was...a literal panda (you tried not to think too hard about it), yuuta who was nice, but you kept some distance due to not wanting to get smacked into the next dimension by rika, even though he insisted she won't.

maki was the only other girl in your year, and also your best friend. it had taken the green haired girl a while to warm up to you, but you managed to crack down her sky high walls and weaseled your way into her heart after multiple shared missions and a near death experience where you saved her life from a curse that had tried to ambush her.

on rare occasions that the two of you would have a day off, you would spend the day watching movies well into the night, sparring, and talking shit about the zen'in clan.

and then there was toge inumaki. you’d heard about him before you even saw him. "the inumaki clan," gojo-sensei had explained with a lazy wave of his hand, "they use cursed speech. everything they say is a command. so, our dear inumaki-chan has to be very, very careful with his words."

which is why he only speaks in rice ball ingredients.

you’d thought it was a joke at first. but no. the guy walks around with the collar of his uniform covering the lower half of his face, communicating exclusively in variations of salmon, kelp, and okaka.

it’s confusing. it’s endearing. it’s, frankly, just a tiny bit ridiculous.

despite spending a few months at jujutsu tech, you haven't actually interacted with the white-haired boy until now that is. maki and yuuta had been partnered up for some mission in yokohama, and panda was still away on his, the only people left were you and inumaki to partner up.

it was supposed to be easy. just a few grade 3 curses at a decrepit, run-down mall. the urban legends and ghost stories surrounding the abandoned building had been festering curses like a moth to a flame.

so yes, it was supposed to be easy, so you really couldn't explain why you were standing face to face with a grade 1 curse, all alone you might add since inumaki was finishing up with the final sweep of the mall.

you let out a strangled yelp dodging to the side as the curse's sharp claws narrowly missed your abdomen. you weren't weak, not by any means having already climbed up the ranks to grade 2. but this curse was fast.

again and again, it lunges at you with murderous vigor. you dodge, weave, scramble backward—but it doesn't let up, doesn't give you an inch of space to actually fight back. your feet stumble over debris, and when you look up, you realize your mistake.

you're cornered.

the curse looms over you, something like a grin stretching across its twisted face. your back hits the wall. there's nowhere left to run.

oh god, you think, your heart hammering against your ribs. i'm going to die. i'm actually going to die right now, in this gross, abandoned mall, and my soulmate is never going to find me and tell me about the tuna mayo—

"stop"

the word crackle dangerously through the abandoned mall like a. it's not loud, but it holds weight. power. the curse freezes mid-lunge, claws frozen inches from your face. any closer and you would be saying bye-bye to your arm.

your eyes snap open, frantically searching for where the voice came from, finally landing on a tall figure.

inumaki stands at the entrance of the food court, collar pulled down, his violet eyes blazing. he looks furious. he looks terrified. the curse screeches, struggling against the command, and inumaki's voice drops lower, as he forces out another word.

"shatter."

the curse convulses once, twice—and then crumples in on itself, dissolving into black smoke with a pained shriek.

the silence that follows is deafening.

you're still pressed against the wall, heart pounding, trying to process the fact that you're not dead. inumaki takes a step toward you. then another. he's pale, paler than usual, and when he coughs, blood spatters against his palm.

shit.

you're moving before you can think, your legs carrying you across the food court as his knees buckle. you catch him just before he hits the ground, your arms wrapping around him as you ease him down carefully, your back against the wall, him cradled against your chest.

"oh gods, are you okay?" the words tumble out in a panic. one hand grips his arm, the other reaches for his face, tilting his chin gently to look at the blood smeared across his lips. "you're bleeding—we have to get you to the infirmary fast—"

he's looking at you. even through the pain, through the blood, through the obvious strain of overusing his cursed technique, he's looking at you with this strange, intense focus.

his hand lifts. trembling slightly, his fingers brush against your collarbone.

your breath catches.

your collarbone. the one hidden beneath your uniform. the one with tuna mayo permanently inked into your skin.

his thumb traces the spot where you know the words are, right over your racing pulse. his eyes haven't left yours. and then, so softly you almost miss it, he whispers:

"tuna mayo."

the world around you seems to freeze in place.

you stare at him. he stares at you. his hand is still resting against your collarbone, warm and impossibly gentle despite everything. the words hang in the air between you, soft and clear and exactly the ones you've spent ten years wondering about.

tuna mayo.

not a rice ball ingredient. not just a random phrase. his words. his first words to you.

you'd imagined this moment a thousand times when you were younger. fantasized about it. wondered who would speak those words and where you'd be and what you'd say back. you never—never—imagined it would be like this. in a cursed mall, covered in dust, adrenaline pumping through your veins, holding your soulmate in your arms while he coughs up blood.

your voice comes out strangled. "what did you just say?"

his eyes crinkle at the corners, that same shy smile you've seen directed at everyone else, except now it's just for you. his thumb presses ever so slightly against your collarbone, right over the mark.

"tuna mayo," he repeats, quieter this time, like it's a secret meant only for you.

you're crying. when did you start crying? hot tears spill down your cheeks, cutting tracks through the grime. a sound escapes you, something akin to a half laugh, half sob, and you tighten your grip on him, pulling him closer.

"it's you," you whisper. "all this time, it was you."

he nods weakly, but his eyes are bright, brighter than you've ever seen them. one hand comes up to clumsily wipe at your tears, and the gesture is so tender, so achingly gentle, that it makes you cry harder.

"we have to get you to the infirmary," you manage, even as you're laughing through the tears. "you're an idiot, you know that? using that much cursed energy—you could've—"

"salmon," he murmurs, and you don't know what it means, but it doesn't matter because you found him.

you help him stand, keeping one arm wrapped securely around his waist. he leans into you heavily, but he's standing. he's alive. he's here.

as you half-carry, half-drag him toward the exit, he mumbles something against your shoulder.

you glance down. "what?"

he pulls his collar up, then seems to think better of it, leaving it down just for you. "call me toge," he rasps, his voice cracking on every syllable from the strain on his damaged vocal cords.

your throat tightens. you squeeze him closer, careful not to hurt him. "okay," you breathe, your own voice coming out thicker than expected. "okay, toge."

[cursedlinework]

Toge x Reader

you’re testing his patience and he shuts you up with his cursed speech ꉂꉂ◟(˃᷄ꇴ˂᷅๑)༡ ((i know the way his technique works here isn’t canon but just let me have this))

Be Quiet

You’ve been talking for five straight minutes.

Toge sits across from you on the dorm couch, chin propped on his hand, eyes half-lidded and this close to snapping. He types out [“SHUT UP”] on his phone and tries (in vain) to get you to look at the screen. “Mustard leaf,” he mutters flatly, which for him is already a warning.

You just keep going.

He exhales through his nose, glances up at you, then pointedly looks away—like ignoring you might physically shut you up. Of course it doesn’t. His knee starts bouncing. He taps his fingers against his thigh. He looks annoyed.

Finally he locks his phone, leans forward, and gives you a sharp look. There’s something dangerous flickering behind it—irritation, sure, but also that familiar spark you always seem to poke at on purpose. “Bonito flakes,” he says, voice low.

You still don’t stop your rambling.

Toge’s lips press into a thin line. Cursed energy hums quietly in his throat and before he can even think:

“…Be quiet.”

The words hang heavy in the air—sudden and absolute.

A second passes. Then he freezes, eyes widening just a fraction, like ‘oh. I actually did that’. He looks away immediately, ears faintly pink, pretending he’s way more focused on the wall than on you. “…Salmon,” he adds, smugness creeping back in despite himself.

You open your mouth and try to continue but nothing comes out. All you can do is open and close it frantically. At first you glare at him a little panicked, then annoyed. You point at him accusatory over the coffee table between you.

Toge watches you with lazy amusement, one eyebrow lifting as he leans back into the couch. His fingers are still drumming against his knee—slow, deliberate taps that now only serve to frustrate you further. "Tuna mayo," he says casually, like it’s a fact and not a taunt.

He pulls out his phone again—not to type anything helpful (obviously)—but to scroll through his insta feed with exaggerated interest. Every so often though… He sneaks glances at you from the corner of his eye. He looks somewhat pleased with himself.

His nonchalant act is starting to get on your nerves. Frustration wins over and you get up to slam your hands down on the coffee table with a loud ‘thump’.

That gets his attention. Toge's head jerks up at the slam, his eyes widening for a split second—before narrowing into something between annoyance and dark amusement. The coffee table rattles from the force of your hands. You point at your mouth intently than at him again, throwing a silent fit of rage on mute.

"Mustard leaf," he mutters, but there’s no real bite to it this time. He watches you seethe with an almost fascinated tilt of his head.

Then he does something even more infuriating: he pulls out a piece of paper and writes in big, obnoxious letters—["CANT TALK? WEIRD."] —and holds it up like it’s some grand revelation.

Your hands clench into fists, trembling with barely contained anger at your sides. If you would have been able to talk you would have hurled all kinds of colorful insults at him.

A beat passes. His smirk grows when you don’t back down, so he scribbles again: ["WANNA FIGHT ABOUT IT?"] with an arrow pointing toward himself like saying ‘go ahead.’

You snatch the paper from him fuming and wrestle the pen from his fingers. In angry big letters you scribble on the other side: [“ILL KICK YOUR ASS IF YOU DONT CUT IT OUT!”] You throw the pen back at him, missing by a lot which makes you even more angry.

Toge doesn’t even bother dodging the pen and just watches it fly past him. He laughs once, loud and surprised, as the pen clatters to the floor somewhere by the armchair. He watches you, expression bright with something between playful challenge and smug disbelief at your childish outburst.

You just threatened him. In writing. You. Tiny, adorable you. It's absolutely hilarious.

"Salmon," he mutters, shaking his head. His laugh turns more quiet—more mocking, but no less amused. He reaches for his phone. [“Like you could even touch me."] he types on his phone after you had so rudely discarded his pen.

Your eyes narrow slightly at the challenge and you give him a sinister smile that says ‘Try me, bitch’. Then you lunge forward grabbing his arm to shake him. Not being able to talk kinda limited you to getting physical with him.

Toge's smirk drops the second you grab his arm—because, okay, he didn't expect that. His eyes widen for a split second before narrowing. "...mustard leaf," he mutters low in his throat, like a warning while you're still shaking him.

His free hand snaps up to grip your wrist—not hard enough to hurt, but firm. "Bonito flakes." The words come out sharp between clenched teeth as he leans forward slightly—('you really wanna do this?').

You pout when he grabs your wrist but don’t pull back. If anything you close in even more aggressively and try to grab his phone with your other hand to maybe have some kind of leverage. But he snatches it away too fast and your fingers curl around nothing. You let out an annoyed huff since you still had no other way of communicating.

He laughs again when you lunge for his phone with no success. Like you're just some angry little animal to him. He casually tosses the phone on the couch out of reach for you where it lands with a soft 'thud.'

You huff again, annoyed you can't get to his phone, annoyed at the stupid sound of his laugh, annoyed at his smugness, just…annoyed all around. You glare daggers at him. It just makes him smile wider. "…Tuna mayo." He smirks, watching you.

His stupid smile finally makes you snap. You rip your hands away and grab onto his collar. Toge's smirk freezes for half a second—because fuck, you just yanked him by the collar. That’s… unexpected. He blinks at you, pupils slightly dilated in surprise.

You lean in trying your best to look threatening which of course doesn’t work. You shake him again, frustrated that you couldn’t insult him like you usually would and had to resort to doing this instead.

"Fish flakes," he mutters under his breath again, but this time it sounds more like a choked-off noise than anything else. His hands hover awkwardly near your wrists—not pushing you away yet (he totally could), not pulling closer either (absolutely not).

A beat passes where he just stares down at your grip on his shirt. "...Salmon." The word comes out lower than intended—less mocking and weirdly strained instead.

You see the shift in him and tilt your head slightly, then stop shaking him. But you don’t let go of his collar yet. Your eyes wander over his face scanning his expression. They narrow a little. Is he… flustered?

Toge's jaw tenses the second he realizes you're studying him. His eyes dart away, but it’s too late—you already saw the flicker of something in his expression that wasn’t just annoyance. "…Bonito flakes," he mutters, voice rougher than before. It sounds more like a curse at himself than anything directed at you.

His hands finally move—one to grip your wrist, and the other to swat weakly at your shoulder as if physically shooing away this entire situation—like ‘let go.’ But there's no real force behind it. Just… awkwardness? Maybe panic? Who can really tell with him?

You see that what you were doing was finally getting to him and a sinister smirk appears on your face. You raise an eyebrow as if to say ‘giving up already?’. Then push even closer, pointing at your throat. The message was clear: ‘Give my voice back and I might stop.’

Toge's entire body goes rigid the second you push even closer. His fingers twitch against your wrist—like he can't decide if he wants to shove you off or pull you in. "Fish flakes," he hisses. His ears are burning now, dark pink all the way up.

He glares at your pointing finger like it personally offended him before exhaling sharply through his nose. A beat passes where he’s visibly at war with himself… then finally mutters:

"Talk."

The curse lifts instantly. And then immediately after? He leans back and flicks your forehead hard enough for it to sting. Like an asshole who regrets nothing except maybe that smirk of yours making him fold so fast.

((if there’s any demand for a spicy version of him using his cursed technique on you PLEASE let me know cause i’m all about that)) ૮꒰ྀི >⸝⸝⸝<꒱ྀིა