— a jjk fanfic // yuuji itadori coughs out flowers again.
"hanahaki disease" is a fictional, fatal disease born of unrequited love where flowers start blooming inside the sufferer's lungs until they rot from the inside out.
synopsis: yuuji itadori has been suffering from hanahaki disease for as long as he can recall, having lost the love of his life. however, it seems like fate has more in store for him than he can accept.
wc: i am not even gonna check girl.
cw: NOT PROOFREAD AT ALL. yuuji is masssssive. feral!yuuji. cunn*lingus. bl*wjob. throatf*cking. excessive c*m. org*sms (m and f). size k*nk. tummy b*lges. babbling. p*ssydrunk. "making it fit." marathon s*x because yuuji has endless stamina. yuuji is also a softie so he cries but not in s perverted way you sicko. let me know if I missed any :p
the insides of his throat scraped raw, another bout of fresh petals overspilling out of his lips and onto the floor. sweat beaded on his temple and lined his back under that oversized t-shirt he had worn to bed. strands of hair stuck to his nape. he felt like he burned from the inside out, yet, none of it phased him. it was routine.
itadori yuuji gripped his bedside table, digging his fingertips into the sturdy wood frame until his knuckles turned white. he braced himself upwards as he felt the burn in his trachea subside, if only slightly.
"this again..." he groaned as he trudged to the end of his room, bringing over the vacuum cleaner to clean up the mess of mismatched, half-rotten flower petals on the wooden floor of his bedroom.
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
"hanahaki disease", that's what kugisaki had called it when he had finally confided that he was coughing up flowers to fushiguro and her.
he had blinked slowly at the redhead, "hana... haki?"
"it's when..." she had furrowed her brows, confused. "i thought it was a myth... how could it...?"
"kugisaki." yuuji had asked again, more desperate as the familiar sting of bile rising to his throat burned through him. "what is it?"
"it's a disease. it makes you cough up flowers." fushiguro had cut in, looking down at the ground in deep thought. "it develops when someone has... an unrequited love."
as soon as the words left megumi's mouth, your face came to his mind. you, the new student at jujutsu high. you, who was so bright and beautiful and holy. you, who was charming and sweet and gentle. you, whom itadori could never have, whom he could never deserve, not even in his wildest dreams.
"nice joke." yuuji almost laughed at the absurdity. "as if a crush can make me spit out flowers, hah."
nobara had blinked at him, her voice grave. "itadori. it's no joke. you can die. it can literally rot you from the inside out."
that had wiped the smile clean off his face. his speech slurred, "w-what?"
fushiguro had only nodded once, "she's right."
"how do i fix it, then?" there had been a desperation in yuuji's voice, the kind that seemed out-of-character for the pink-haired man.
"until they return back your feelings."
he had been too young to die, and for someone who had already taken on the burden of being sukuna's cursed vessel, he surely didn't need another way to terminate his pre-determined, short life. so, itadori yuuji made a plan.
he bought you your favourite foods, listened to your incessant ramblings, played your playlist every morning as he got ready, took you out to the movies, made you laugh, made you blush. and then, he decided that he would confess to you. ask you to be his girlfriend once and for all. and then when you'd accept his offer, that sting in his chest would die down. he were to ask you, just as soon as he was done with this incoming mission, he would ask you to be his girlfriend.
that was 69 years ago, when yuuji was aged seventeen.
he never got to confess. it was too late. he lost you in the shibuya incident. honestly speaking, he didn't even have the heart to face your corpse. he left shoko to it and ran away from that truth like a coward. but running was no use, the flowers plagued his lungs already. and now, they had been festering within him for the past 69 years.
truth be told, yuuji itadori had learnt to accept the dull pain in his chest, learnt to wipe his mouth every morning and vacuum his bedroom floor when the flowers spilt out, learnt that out of all the horrid things that he had experienced in this lifetime, this dull ache of the hanahaki disease was certainly not the worst.
yuuji itadori had learnt to live with it.
sure, it was inconvenient. but what was the taste of rotten flowers inside his mouth when compared to gods and monsters? what was it to the sting of losing everyone he had ever loved? what was it to the pain of outliving every person he had ever met? what was it to the feeling of seeing his own, boisterous face in the mirror knowing he could never see yours? could never hear you laugh again? could never buy you those abhorrent soda combinations you loved?
though kugisaki, aged seventeen, had told him he could die from the disease, gods had refused to show him such mercy. he couldn't die - effectively the strongest, effectively immortal, effectively, always and perpetually in pain. kugisaki was wrong. he was unkillable. even this disease couldn't hurt he strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the new gen.
so, he had made his peace with it. or whatever closest resembled peace in his life. the taste of rotten flowers wasn't so bad, after all, when compared to the rest of it all.
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
the soft jazz of the cafe played in the background. people chattered about around him. he tapped on his phonescreen, his fingers flying as he played a new game. somewhere between five minutes and thirty, nobara came to settle in the seat across him.
"kugisaki," he put his phone down and pouted at the visibly older woman, "have some respect for other people's time, ya know?"
"tch. itadori." she rolled her eyes, her sass evergreen despite her age. "have some respect for your elders, ya know?"
he huffed, "we're the same age."
"and yet your skin looks so good." she cussed, "i will rip it off and wear it one day."
"god, you never stop being scary, huh?" he laughed airily and felt his chest burn at the rumbling. nobara placed her face in one of her aged palms. she smiled at him, warm and familiar, "what do you wanna order, then?"
"anything, really." he shrugged, partially because he couldn't taste anything over the rot that plagued his mouth and partially, because he knew how much nobara enjoyed picking out food orders for him.
nobara busied herself with the menu and he went back to his phone, scrolling away as the chitter-chatter of the cafe around him muted. after a few minutes, the redhead tapped the table to get his attention, "i want a caramel latte. how about this coconut matcha for you?"
"sure." he shrugged, "i'd go place the order. wait."
"ah?" nobara leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms across her chest. as she smiled, her crows feet deepened, "is the strongest paying the bill today?"
yuuji shrugged, "well, i don't wanna disrespect the elderly." he slipped out of his booth as nobara muttered, "punk."
he walked up to an empty counter. he called out, "hello? anyone?"
a voice came from the kitchen door, muffled but cheery enough to qualify for good customer service, "just a moment, please!"
yuuji busied himself with the lines of sweets in the glass display. they looked exquisite. though, he couldn't really enjoy any of these because of the forementioned rot in his mouth, and kugisaki couldn't enjoy these because of the risk of fucking diabetes, he still considered buying two pastries in the honour of gojo. before he could decide on which ones, a familiar voice chirped from behind the counter.
"hello! welcome to haven's! how may i help you today?"
Yuuji lifted his head up, parted his lips to answer and froze. despite being the strongest, the most revered curse technique user of his generation, yuuji itadori froze.
the girl standing in front of him, separated from him by just the distance of a counter looked exactly like... you.
"what's your name, sir?"
his ears rang. his heart hammered wildly against his ribs. his palms itched. his temple beaded with sweat. the burning in his lungs intensified. he closed his mouth, opened it, just to close it back again — like a fucking fish out of water.
69 years and here you were, back in front of him in flesh and blood as a random, twenty-something year old who didn't even know of his name.
"hello...?" your voice came out muted, the cheery expression in your face swaying to give room to concern the longer yuuji didn't respond.
"sir?" you leaned forward over the counter and yuuji immediately staggered backwards, his bulky figure swaying with unease at the proximity you were aiming for. you were still talking, still furrowing your pretty brows in a bunch. "sir, should i call you an ambulance?"
"no need." kugisaki's voice came by sharp and collected as she pressed a hand to yuuji's bicep to ground him, "i think he's feeling slightly under the weather."
you blinked at the older woman who had come to preoccupy the space next to this pink-haired man, "uh, are you family?"
nobara looked at yuuji, immediately nodding, "yes."
"are you his grandmother?" you asked genuinely and saw a muscle tick in the older woman's jaw as she grit out, "yes. sure."
"are you sure I shouldn't call for an ambulance—?"
"no! and keep the tip." nobara was already slipping a few notes on the counter and tugging the catatonic man away, a man who wouldn't stop staring at you.
as the odd duo left the cafe, you found yourself muttering as you pocketed the money, "such odd people..."
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
the ringing in yuuji's ears could only be replaced with a new kind as nobara slapped him.
"oi! snap out of it!"
yuuji blinked, suddenly aware of the shady alleyway he was standing in. he cocked his head straight, blinking at nobara. his maw fell agape, "that... that was..."
"not her." the redhead replied, sharp.
"right. it's not... she's dead." yuuji swallowed, somehow the sting on his cheek was milder than the one brewing under his skin.
"i know..." yuuji's voice faltered, his knees weakened, the goddamn sweat trailed down his spine.
"no. you don't understand." nobara pierced yuuji's bicep with her manicured nails, a savage attempt to keep him sane. "that wasn't her but this could be it. the way to cure you."
yuuji blinked slowly, "what?"
"if she falls in love with you, then your hanahaki disease, it'll be gone—!"
yuuji stepped back, his back thudded against the cemented, high wall. "no."
nobara furrowed her brows, "what?"
"i can't." yuuji shook her head, "it's not her."
"itadori." nobara groaned, frustrated. "does it matter? she looks like her!"
"no."
there was a beat of silence. one where itadori found it hard to believe that kugisaki hadn't resorted to violence again. one where itadori found it hard to believe that his knees didn't just buckle and give up.
the woman in front of him pinched her forehead with her manicured fingers. "yuuji..." he voice softened as she looked up at him, "everyone you know and love is gone."
yuuji winced, averting his gaze away from kugisaki. she continued, unrelenting, "fushiguro. sensei. even maki and yuuta. one day, I'm going to—"
"kugisaki." yuuji warned lowly.
"die." she finished her sentence nonetheless. "then, you wouldn't have anyone."
she took his hand in her own and yuuji hated how he could feel the wrinkles on her skin so clearly. "hey."
"so be it, then." he found the courage to meet her eyes, "if i'm to be alone for the rest of my life, so be it. one day, when the world's have had enough of yuuji itadori, i will die."
"and you'd be lonely till then—?" nobara pleaded.
"yes." yuuji cut in. "you would rather i ruin that girl's life?" his voice dropped, "i... she can't have a life with someone like me, someone she can't grow old with. what's the point? i can't give her my life. my death."
"SO, YOU PLAN TO COUGH UP FLOWERS FOR THE REST OF YOUR GODDAMN LIFE?" nobara heaved, "ROT FROM THE INSIDE TILL THEY FIND A WAY TO KILL YOU FROM THE OUTSIDE?"
yuuji's answer was simple, "yes."
"GODDAMNIT. YOU THICK-SKULLED ASSHOLE—!" nobara pushed at yuuji's chest weakly, "why... why won't you just..." her eyes fell to the road, her voice quiet. "just fix it?"
silence plagued the two of them.
yuuji pulled the woman closer, embracing her in a hug. "ive lost everyone i love once. how can i ever live through losing her again? especially if you're gone too? it would be awfully lonely without any of you, kugisaki."
nobara wrapped her arms around yuuji, burying her face against his chest. "yuuji..." her voice was raw, "why are you this selfless?" nobara looked up at him. the wrinkles on her face softened, "being the strongest is a lonely thing to be. don't subject yourself to that loneliness. please."
"kugisaki..." his voice trailed off and she cut him off with yet another punch in his stomach. groaning, she rid himself off the man. "don't."
"hey." he tried but she was already stepping back, "you decide as you must, itadori. you're a stubborn bastard, anyways. always have been."
with that, the woman turned on her heel and left yuuji in the very same dark alleyway. yuuji could only make out her gray strands flying as she turned the corner and left.
yuuji felt his knees finally give out as he staggered backwards and supported himself against the coarse concrete wall.
bile rose to his throat, bringing the taste of rot with it. he pressed down on his chest with a resigned sigh.
no matter what kugisaki had asked of him, yuuji couldn't possibly live with the fact that he had tormented you — or well, someone who looked like you — by his presence. it was better if he stayed away. he would live for atleast 300 years, and the taste of rot wasn't as bad as mourning you again would be.
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
gods weren't merciful. atleast not to yuuji itadori.
the sun was harsh, but didn't bother him much with his hoodie pulled all the way over his eyes. his gaze was fixated on his shoes, and the granite under it. his feet fell one after the other. right, left, right, left. he avoided stepping on cracks, a game he had made up in his head to pass the time as he walked back home.
yuuji was just returning from exorcising a curse. the mission was simple, just a flick his hand and it was over, despite the threat being a special grade curse.
truthfully speaking, yuuji sometimes thought to leave such missions to the youngins but being a child was not a sin, and he would have hate to see a kid lose his life to a curse he could exorcise with just his thumb and forefinger.
his feet fell neatly in line. right, left, right, left, right, left— SMACK!
"oh— my god!"
yuuji moved quickly, without looking or thinking, extending his arms forward to catch the woman he had accidentally bumped into.
he felt his hood slip off as his hands wrapped around the woman's waist. he planted his feet steadily on the ground, stabilizing her from falling and hitting her head on the pavement. but when his eyes caught up with his body, he gaze fell upon your face.
"y-you!" you started off, widening your eyes as yuuji helped you stand straight. "you were at the café yesterday!"
yuuji felt his tongue thicken in his mouth.
figures he would run into you of all people. gods hated him.
he opened his mouth, but closed it again. instead choosing to nod once.
you tilted your head slightly to the side, "are you... sorry, are you mute?"
"wh- no." yuuji winced inwards. "sorry."
"oh!" your eyes widened, "no! im sorry. i— god... that was such a stupid question to ask."
"no, no." yuuji quickly shook his head, averting his eyes from you as he tugged on his hood and put it on again. "you're... fine. i am sorry i wasn't looking at where i was going." he paused, "and i mean, i am sorry about yesterday. i, uh..." he wrung his hands once, "you reminded me of someone and i was just taken aback."
"oh?" you nodded, slowly. "it's not a big deal. if anything, i wanted to thank you and your grandma—"
"grandma...?"
you blinked, "the lady who was with you? the one who left me the tip?"
"kugisaki?" he mumbled. though, he couldn't remember the part where nobara had declared herself as his grandmother, with eyes wide as saucers, he corrected himself, "right. yeah. grandmom. meemaw. granny. yeah."
"well, uh, can you tell her i was really grateful for the tip? it was a really big amount and... yeah. thank you." you bowed out of respect.
"please don't do that." his voice came quick, he stepped away. "i will... i will let her know of that."
"okay, well..." you chewed on your lip, your eyes falling down to the ground. "do you mind if i make you a drink then...?" your eyes shot up to meet his, "at the cafe?"
yuuji staggered back, pulling up his palms in defense, quick and desperate. "no."
your face fell, "oh..."
and at the bunching of your brows, he stepped forward again, "no, it's just i-"
"it's just i-" you started at the same time as him. the two of you cut each-other off, standing stiff and awkward. you chewed on your inner cheek and started again, "that... that large tip helped me cover my expenses for the month." your fingers fiddled together, nervous. "and i don't know how to make up for it to you and your grandmother. so, can you please accept just a drink?"
yuuji blinked at you. curse, kugisaki! that witch set him for this failure!
but he couldn't deny you, not when you were looking at him with such an adoring look in your eyes, not when your entire body shook with nervousness and your lips were pursed shut.
yuuji smiled, hesitant but gentle. "okay. one drink is fine. just one."
you clapped once, "thank you! okay! i was just walking to the cafe, do you mind accompanying me?"
and itadori yuuji could have made atleast fifty different reasonings to not tag alongside - ranging from having work emergency to having to go check on his grandmother. but instead, he nodded once, "okay."
he argued with his psyche, reminding himself that as an upstanding member of the jujustu society whose job was to keep the civilians safe and sound, walking you to your job was the least he could do.
and after all, it was just a drink.
itadori yuuji promised to disappear from your life once that coconut matcha cup was empty.
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
the next time itadori yuuji ran into you, he was sure that somewhere up above there existed a deity just to torment him.
"oh!" you chirped at him, "it's you! yuuji... right?"
his heart hammered against his ribcage at your voice. the thumping of his heart was in sync with the ugly swirls of rot in his trachea. his fingers twitched as he came to pull down the hood of his hoodie. you beamed at him as soon as his face came out of obscurity, "hi!"
the ugly florescent lights of the department store did nothing to dull your beauty. though the aisles on either sides of you were stacked with junk and other crap, you look ethereal in the midst of it.
he nodded, slow to react. "uh, hi. how did you uh- recognize me? through the hood?"
"well, it's hard not to remember your face." you laughed, as if it was obvious. "also, this is the third time i've run into you."
he was sure, that despite being over 6 feet of burly muscles and taut skin, his face was probably flushed red and steaming. he stuttered, "o-h? yeah, yeah. makes... makes sense."
you nodded to the packs of ramen in his shopping cart, "shopping for groceries?"
yuuji looked down to his own cart, shooting his gaze up to your face, "yeah. you too?"
"yup!" you nodded, enthusiastic, "it's actually my first time at this department store! i don't live in this part of the town, but i was here visiting a popular cafe and thought i might as well buy groceries from here!"
yuuji nodded, slow, because he didn't come this department store either. he had made a commute of 35 minutes just to not run into you in your part of the city. but somehow, through fate or trick, you had managed to haunt him here.
"it's such a huge store." you started, and yuuji thought, yet you managed to find him.
you looked around, "i honestly almost got lost." looking back at him, you explained, "actually, i am from a small rural village! i came to tokyo a month ago. i've never been in a store this big before."
"oh?" yuuji barely managed, already imagining you in a rural setting. your hair blowing in the wind as the sun shone down at you, the endless stretch of paddy fields around you. cute.
"are you from 'round here?"
"me?" yuuji tilted his head, pointing his thumb to himself.
you giggled, "yeah? who else am i talkin' to?" and he swears he can hear the slight accent of yours poke through.
"uh, yeah." he looked away from you, "born and brought up here."
"that's so cool. you must have a lot of friends around, then!"
the words hit yuuji like a freight train. blood rushed through his ears. rot rose to his tongue. he swore he didn't mean to flinch, but he does.
you blinked at the sudden change in his demeanor, clamoring to correct yourself, "sorry. i just meant that—"
"i did." he gulped, looking down at his cart, to the flavour of buldak that fushiguro used to enjoy, and the packed milkcake that gojo used to devour. he eyes gloss over for a fraction of a second before he's blinking it back. his words were somber, "i did have a few friends here."
his face lifted up to yours, a small smile plastered onto his full lips. "they all ended up moving away, though. now it's just me and well," a laugh, "my grandma."
"oh..." you scratched the back of your neck, shying back into yourself, "sorry... i didn't mean to."
"nah," he waved you off, giving you a grin that you couldn't help but feel was artificial, "it's not a big deal. it's okay."
you stayed silent, your feet shuffling closer together, "can i ask you something, yuuji?"
the way his two-syllabic name rolled of your tongue already had him nodding his head before you could even ask something of him. how could he ever deny you? how could he even think to deny you? how?
"i have no friends around." you looked nervous, "and... i ended up buying two tickets to this movie, thinking my roommate will come along but..."
"she cancelled?" yuuji predicted. you winced, "yeah... and now i have an extra ticket. and i really don't wanna go all alone."
yuuji leaned against one of the aisles and the plastic packaging rustled under him. he crossed his arms across his broad chest, shooting up an eyebrow, "which movie?"
you found heat blossoming against the apples of your cheeks at his stance. he looked so much more intimidating staring down at you. you swallowed, starting off your pitch smoothly, "okay, it's kind of weird. do you remember those old human earthworm movies?"
yuuji's eyes widened to the size of jupiter, his ears perking up in delight as you rambled on, "super vintage, like some 60-70 years ago. they are making a remake of one of them and i really wanna watch it."
for a second, itadori yuuji could only think of a time in your last lifetime. one where after the jujutsu practices, he would beg you to watch those movies with him. you would whine and groan and make faces but agree nonetheless. somewhere between watching the marathon of the first installment and the fifth, you had fallen asleep on his chest, drooling all over him. yuuji was sure, he still had that shirt tucked somewhere in his apartment. he never did have the heart to wear it again.
"i know it's weird," at his blown out expression, you backtracked. "but if you don't wanna, that's totally fine—"
he blinked at you, as if coming out of his muddled head at your urgent words.
"yeah." he nodded, surprising even himself at the ease with which the answer came, "i mean, yeah sure. i'd love to come. i love those movies."
"really?" your eyes sparkled as you took a step forward, "you don't think it's weird?"
"no." he laughed, the sound genuine as opposed to all the manufactured expressions he had given you prior. he tousled his hair backwards, smiling, "i used to watch those movies all the time as a kid."
"really?" you quizzed, "they're so old that i thought nobody really cares for them anymore."
his expression faltered at your words, as if the time he wasn't referring to wasn't that far behind for him. "well, i used to drag some old friends to watch them." he paused, "my uh, grandma too."
you giggled, "okay! it's a date then—"
the two of you staggered at the same time. you held up your palms, shaking them vigorously as you noticed his eartips go red, "no. no! not- not a date-date. just like..."
"just a movie." he swallowed afterwards, nodding quickly as you continued, "yeah just a movie. as friends."
"yup. okay." yuuji searched for his phone in his pocket, holding it out to you, "give me your number. you can text me the details."
you typed in your number, asking him with the same twinkle in your eyes that he had loved in your last lifetime, "text me?"
yuuji pinched his hood, ready to cover his face back up. you watched the slightest of smiles pull at his lips before he turned away from you, "yeah. i will."
as yuuji itadori walked away from you, he was acutely reminded of how wrong all of it was. how he was supposed to go far away from you. but... but you had no friends here. how awfully lonely must that be, huh? he knew a thing or two about being lonely. he didn't want you to go through that. he couldn't. not while he still loved you.
his chest burned from the inside out, his tastebuds feeling of plague as he looked at your name in his phone. this was wrong. but it was just one movie. just one. nothing more.
itadori yuuji would disappear from your life once those three hours were up.
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
it didn't stop after just one movie. after one movie, came another, and another. he offered to show you around tokyo, and you giggled with delight at the question. his favourite restaurant became your favourite. his regular spots became both of yours. your name on his mobile became one of the most frequent.
month after month after month, you became everything to him. everything he was running away from.
he smiled down at his phone, texting back easily: i might be a tiger if i wasn't a human. idk that's what my friends used to tell me. what do you think?
"hm." kugisaki cleared her throat, peering at yuuji over her reading glasses, "looking very happy lately, hm?"
yuuji put his phone down immediately on the wooden table, losing his thoughts to the chatter of the people around. he exhaled sharply, "no. nothing like that."
"oh, quit it. you like the girl." nobara brought her attention back to the menu in her hand, humming as she pondered what to order for lunch.
"i don't." yuuji leaned forward, "she has no friends around tokyo and—"
"how's the pain in your lungs?" nobara raised an eyebrow, "still throwing up flowers every morning?"
yuuji slowly leaned backwards, looking at her with narrow eyes, "what?"
"answer the question." she didn't bother looking at him, instead perusing the menu, "still hurting inside? still taste death on your tongue?"
and truth be told, the taste of rot had subsided inside his mouth. he couldn't remember the last time he had thrown up rotten flowers on his hardwood bedroom floor. perhaps a few weeks back? the taste of rot had lingered for so long, that it's absence felt like a phantom wound. not that itadori would mention that to kugisaki. he didn't wish to be physically assaulted in the middle of the restaurant.
he swallowed, softly answering, "not as much. it's gotten... better."
"after nearly seventy years of suffering?" yuuji refused to answer the question, and nobara asked rhetorically. "think it's because of her?"
yuuji knew the answer better than nobara, of course. but he leaned into the booth seat, crossing his arms in defiance, "i don't love her. i... she's not her. she's not who she was in her last life."
"your disease pleads different." nobara raised a hand, beckoning over a waiter to their table without looking away from yuuji. "if you're getting better, you know what it fucking means. you love her."
yuuji's stare was broken by the chime on his phone. his home screen lit up by a text from you. one that read: yuu, do you wanna do a marathon for all the human earthworm movies tonight? my place.
nobara's voice wrung out in the background like an ominous threat, "worse. she loves you back, itadori."
yuuji met nobara's sharp glare. the redhead quirked her lips up in a sad smile, "you know that, right?"
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
you swung open the door to greet him with a broad smile, "hey! did you get the food?"
yuuji held up one of his hands, showing the white plastic packaging. pursing his lips, he stopped his expressions from falling into one of delight.
you took the white polybag from him, quickly shuffling inside without paying much attention to the hesitance on his face, "lock the door."
in the past few months, yuuji had come over to your place twice or thrice. your apartment was small — just a studio apartment with a small kitchen and bathroom. but somehow you had made the small apartment cozy and so inherently yours.
as soon as he stepped inside, he could smell your fragrance on each crook and nary. he could recognize your trinkets on each shelves. you were so much like your old self despite being nothing like her. it nauseated him.
he watched you as you set the food down on the coffee table, already opening the packaging and rummaging your hands inside. you were in one of your big sleep shirts, your shorts almost hidden under the sheer length of it. you hunched over, mumbling something about how they didn't give enough sauces and his lips twitched into a smile.
yuuji watched you, not saying anything. he noticed your nimble fingers as you set down the food, your hair as it hung over your face and your eyes as you swiveled your head to look at him. you smiled, "sit down. why are you standing?"
awkwardly, yuuji set himself down at the end of the couch, watching as you opened the containers of food with a delighted sigh.
a few minutes later, yuuji and you were sitting on the couch watching at the monstrosity play out on your television screen while emptying out your respective containers. although there were mere inches between you two, it seemed like lifetimes apart.
yuuji had to stop himself from closing the difference. the only reason he had come here today was to tell you that you both needed to stop talking. that it would lead to nothing to ruination. both his and yours.
and he was supposed to tell you this as soon as he entered, but you both were 45 minutes into the first movie and maybe, just maybe, he should wait till the marathon was over to confess his thoughts. i mean, that was the polite thing to do. right?
"ugh." at one specific scene, you grunted in disgust and inched closer to him, "ew."
yuuji laughed, easing as your head rested against his shoulder and your arm brushed against his chest, "this isn't even the worst part."
"i know." you winced, laughing, "why did we pick these movies to watch while eating?"
yuuji shrugged, "because the story is phenomenal, of course."
you rolled your eyes, looking up at his handsome face. a speck of sauce lingered against his lips, and you reached out your index to wipe it clean.
his eyes met yours as your gentle touch wiped away whatever mess he had made at the corner of his lips.
he laughed, somewhat awkward, "got it?"
not looking away from his eyes, you brought your finger down to your lips and sucked, "yeah."
yuuji looked to your plump lips, swallowing in vain, "t-thanks."
you smiled, looking back at the screen, "yeah, don't worry- mmhph-!? yuuji?!"
you felt his lips press to yours, his strong hand holding your jaw captive. he slotted his lips against yours, moving against your soft lips in a haphazard rhythm.
oh no. yuuji was barely lucid to know what he was doing, but lucid enough to know it was wrong. he could hear your hands clamoring to set the takeout on the coffee table, quickly thereafter fisting his t-shirt to pull him closer. and instead of resisting, he let you. leaning into your touches, he gasped as your hands fisted his strawberry hair and tugged on it.
the sounds of anguish spilled out of your television speakers but neither of you minded it, not as he manhandled you to pull you atop his lap. you straddled him, placing your core right over his apex as he pulled you by your jaw to deepen the kiss.
you licked the seam of his lips, delving your tongue deeper in a messy tango. spit dribbled down the curve of your bottom lips, all spoiled and desperate.
"fuck." he rasped, humping his half-hardened cock against your clothed pussy. you gasped in delight, feeling your eyes roll back as his huge palms sneaked under your shirt squeezed your waist.
"yuu-ji." you breathed out, parting from his lips as your head became lightheaded. your foggy vision met his. ravenous hunger in his eyes. sinful glimmer of spit on his lips. he heaved, "we're- y'know what we're doing, right?"
because you had absolutely no idea what kind of demons itadori yuuji was holding back. you had no idea how carnally he wanted, nay, needed you. you had no idea how disgustingly he wanted to sink his teeth into your skin and taste the raw taste of iron underneath, feeling you coat over every inch of his teeth. all he wanted was to touch you, feel you, smell you, devour you.
your teeth sunk in your bottom lips as you felt him roll his hips in tandem to his words. you nodded, feverish, "y-yeah."
"you sure...?" his voice trailed off as your fingers grabbed ahold of his jaw, your fingers brushing against his bottom lip so softly. his eyes locked in against yours, his hands rubbing your smooth skin. you said nothing and he breathed out, soft and shaky, "i wouldn't be able to... hold back."
you leaned forward, licking a stripe down the map of his jaw, whispering, "then don't."
a forlorn laugh escaped him. airy. manic. "you have no idea what you're talking about."
"i do." you traced his cheekbone with your finger, "i do. really- ack!"
your back met the springy couch as yuuji flipped you over. his hungry eyes met yours, his canines glinting in the flashy whites of the television screen.
"no" he grunted, animalistic. "if i go forward, i'd lose my fuckin' sanity. i'd lose it all. all."
your lips twitched into smirk, "that so?" you bucked your hips upwards, purposefully brushing against his erection in an open challenge, "betting your sanity on me, yuu-?!"
"yes." he cut off your dramatic sentence with a grunt and the sound of fabric ripping. you barely fluttered your eyes down to your legs and noticed the peeling scraps of your shorts. "i am." he grunted again, "and i know i'm losing."
you blinked, "y-yuuji?"
"sorry," he sounded anything but sorry, peeling off those scraps off your skin, leaving you only in your panties. he mumbled against your thighs, inhaling like a madman and mumbling against the smooth skin. "i'll buy you more. p-promise."
before you could think to respond, you felt the man kneel in between your thighs, kissing your cunt through your flimsy panties.
"shit." you groaned at the hot feeling of his tongue prod against your folds through the fabric. he hummed against you, pushing the fabric of your panties inside your folds with the thick tip of his pink tongue. "so fucking sweet." he babbled, suckling your honeydew through the fabric like it was his very last means of survival. his words muffled and muddled together, slathered with spit and sticky arousal. "'m gonna stay buried here forever."
the suction of his mouth pulled at your clit through the fabric, and you gasped at the hot feeling of his spit and the delicious friction of the fabric in between you two.
one of his rough hands pushed up your sleepshirt, revealing your scantily covered chest. you pulled at the straps of your bra, letting the fabric fall and bunch under the curve of your breasts.
you ground against his face as he pinched your nipples. as your hips circled his nose and mouth, he grinned against you. pulling at the stiffened peak, he instructed, "touch yourself here."
you bit down your lips, feeling your own boobs. the fat rolled under your flat palms, hot and soft.
you felt his teeth tug at the flimsy fabric, tearing it at the core with a shrill rip. his hot breath fanned your bare cunt. goosebumps erupted over your sensitive flesh as you felt him bury his face against your dripping sex.
his nose nudged against your clit, his tongue deep into your cunt. he was messy, desperate with each lap of his tongue. his tip pushed and prodded inside the fleshy cavern of your vagina, the tip of his nose nudging the hood of your clit with each brash swipe.
one of his palm came to knead at the fat of your hips, chasing the soft, warm feeling with a sharp sting of a slap. he felt your calls clamp down against his tongue at the sudden slap and grinned.
"fuck," your voice was guttural, scared at the intensity of his actions. "yuu-?!"
he massaged the stinging skin, rubbing smooth circles over it before he smacked down another hit. and another, and another.
you jolted, your back arching off of the couch as the stinging of his slap migrated to your cunt with a sharp twist. your nimble fingers pulled at your nipples, twisting and rolling the sensitive flesh with ease. his nose stimulated your clit while his tongue fucked in and out of your cunt.
the muscles in your thighs tightened, your entire spinal column buzzing with heat, "yu-yuuji. fuck, fuck, fuck imgonnacum. gonna, gonna cum-"
at your ramble, the man seemed to bury himself in deeper, till you were no longer sure how he was breathing, or if he was breathing at all.
all you knew was the rush of blood in your ears, and the sinful shake of your thighs around his face as you came. juices gushed out, trailing out of your spasming cunt and straight into his mouth. he drank down every wayward drop like it was his sole job, as if it was all he was made for.
when he picked himself off, he wiped his drenched lips with the back of his hand. your eyes trailed down to his sculpted body. down, down, down to the pair of sweats he had- he had... a wet patch?
you furrowed your eyebrows, raising yourself on your elbows to quizzically tilted your head, "yuuji, did you...?"
but you didn't get a chance to finish your train of thought, to ask whether he had come undone with just your apex on his tongue. because he was ridding himself of his clothes, throwing those wretched sweats and boxer off to reveal his flushed, throbbing cock.
you blinked up at the sinful of curve of his heavy erection, littered with tendrils of vein lining the skin. you breathed in heavily, gulping wayward struggle, "you're big."
his ear tips flushed red, embarrassment strewn into the apples of his cheeks, but the rabid look in his eyes refused to abandon him. he spoke with resolve, "it'll fit. i'll make it."
your eyes zeroed in at the dripping pearlescent cum from his weeping cock. it dripped down to the couch with a pathetic pitter-patter. your cunt fluttered in the anticipation of his length in you.
you raised yourself fully, sitting before you crawled over to him and pushed him down to the couch. he settled down with a rough groan, watching you as you kneeled on the floor in between his meaty thighs.
you traced his skin with your nails, watching the muscles under his thighs tremble with each soft scratch.
one of your hands came to fist his bottom and fuck, you could barely close your fist around him. he was so... god, he was so big. your throat went dry just at the prospect of fitting him in your mouth. "this isn't gonna fit in me..." you whined, looking up at him with helpless eyes.
and though, yuuji itadori, was by no means a sadist, a smile tugged at his lips as he guided you by the back of your throat and brought you to his cock. his canines were in display, like a predator. "it will. just try, yeah?"
you brought your mouth to the tip, licking the slit in small, kitten licks. hesitant.
yuuji hissed above you, feeling your slick tongue lick around his tip to taste the previous round of cum. he threw his head back as his strong hands weaved into your hair, "yeah, fuck. like that. see? 's easy."
you hung open your jaw, slowly easing his fat tip in. it rested so heavy inside your mouth, so big that it was hard to even breathe. and he was barely two inches in.
you applied suction to the tip, sucking on the sensitive mushroom tip as it eased to the back of your mouth, filling you up inch by inch. even after what felt like eternity of taking him in, you were barely halfway through.
you couldn't possibly take any more of him into your mouth, so, you used your hand on his lower half. your fingers moves sluggishly, tugging his cock up and down as spit dribbled down your open jaw and onto him. his length was obscenely wet - courtesy of your spit and his previous orgasm.
you were still working your hands and mouth when you felt a pressure to the back of your nape. yuuji was pushing you in, forcing your throat open to take more of him in.
your eyes widened, helplessly looking up at him. you noticed a carnal flash in his eyes, one which terrified you just as much as it terrified him.
yuuji pushed you away from his cock, ridding your mouth free of him as he pulled out. you coughed, stringy spit dribbling down your chin as you heaved mouthfuls of air.
"sorry, sorry." he chanted, using his thumb to clean off your drenched mouth, "i'm sorry, i shouldn't have- i just-" he rambled, "i know that was a lot."
"yuu." the hoarseness of your voice surprised you more than it did him. you placed your hands on either of his thighs and pleaded, "i'm okay... i can handle it."
he smiled, this time in sympathy, "you can't, and that's fine-"
but you were already cutting him off, "use me."
yuuji blinked at you, slow and sluggish like he didn't know what you meant, "what?"
"don't hold back." you kissed his tip, not breaking the eye contact, "why are you so scared?"
because you had no idea who itadori yuuji truly was. you had no idea that you were asking the strongest of the new gen jujutsu sorcerers to "not hold back". that was akin to signing a death certificate.
"no." he shook his head, gasping as you swirled your tongue around his tip, "you have- fuck... no idea what you're talking about."
but you weren't even hearing him out, too busy sucking him back into your warm mouth. yuuji instinctively bucked his hips up, flooding your mouth with more of his lecherous inches, and you accepted.
planting both of your hands on this thighs, you lowered yourself down on his cock, relaxing your throat as you went forward. even at your max, there was on 2/3rds of him that you could accommodate.
"fuck," you felt his thighs tighten under your palms as your throat reflexively tightened around his weeping cockhead. the saline taste of his cum painted your throat.
"okay, if- listen." he panted, barely restraining his animalistic ruts into your velvety mouth. "if you can't take it, scratch my thigh. slap it. whatever. i'll stop immediately."
you managed a nod, and unbeknownst to you, that was the last moment of ease you had throught the night.
instantly, yuuji buried one of his calloused hands into your hair, another supporting your nape as he thrusted into you with quick, small thrusts. your eyes watered almost immediately, turning the world glossy and hazy in front of you.
spit pooled down his shaft and onto his lap, wetting his thighs and toned v-line. a gag rosed to your throat at the feeling of his tip puncturing your throat, brushing against the deepest parts of you that nobody had ever reached before.
your clit throbbed in protest, left neglected. you could feel your arousal drip down your thighs, leaking so embarrassingly so to the hardware floor.
you pressed your thighs together, attempting at whatever stimulation you could get, in time for your throat to flex around his cock again. a few drops of salty tears fell down your cheeks.
yuuji groaned as he maintained his shallow thrusts inside of you. his stomach tensed into knots, his toes curling as he felt another set of orgasm wash over him.
"fuck, fuck, fuck." spluttering, he pressed your head down as he shot ropes of milky cum into you. you swallowed it down, feeling the hot guzzle travel down your body and pool in your stomach.
some more of his cum pooled at the edges of your mouth, dribbling down against his shaft.
slowly, he pulled you back up, rid you off his cock. his eyes met your bloodshot ones, and immediately yuuji was picking you up into his lap, wiping the white sheen of his cum from the edge of your lips like you were something holy.
he held you tight against his chest, like you would fall apart otherwise. your sticky arousal pooled against his lap, sticking to his skin with his own. he didn't seem to mind it at all, though.
"hey." his voice was breathy and soft as he squeezed you harder, "you okay?"
you nodded, "y-yeah."
his forehead rested against yours, ragged breath somehow in sync with yours. "that was too much, right? i knew it. i'm sorry."
"yuuji." you smiled, brushing your nose against him, "shut up."
"did i hurt you?" with the earnest expression on his face, you couldn't help but press a chaste kiss to his lips, shaking your head after. "no. i'm okay."
you looped your arms around his neck, "fuck me. please."
you heard him exhale heavily, "sorry..." his fingers trailed down your skin, down your chest and into the juncture of your thighs.
your eyes fluttered shut at the feeling of his rough fingertips tease open your pussylips. he pressed a kiss to your jaw, "can't right now. not without prepping you first."
his thumb stroked your engorged clit, pinching the hood up so that he could play with it easier. you arched against him, "shit, yuu..."
he moved you around, having your back to his chest. his legs pried yours open, keeping you wide for his fingers.
he kissed the shell of your lips, teasing the opening with his rough fingers in circles around the periphery. you eased into his warm skin as another one of his hands came to play with your chest.
he licked down your jaw, easing a finger in at the same moment.
you moaned, and he wasted no time inserting a second one. your walls clamped around him, fluttering shut just around the thick fingers.
"attagirl." he breathed down your cheek, kissing it thereafter. "feels good?"
you nodded, whimpering as he begins to curl his fingers inside you. his pace fastens, turning violent as his fingertips kiss your spongy, sensitive spots.
"oh, god—" your back arched off of him, and he snaked his hand around your waist to hold you back. you thrashed around him, pushing back against his chest at the overwhelming feeling of his fingers inside you, knuckle-deep and probing. "yuuji, fuck.. there."
"there?" he scraped the same spot with his fingertips again and you felt electricity zapping across your spine. "there... mhm."
yuuji pet the same spot again, gently rubbing his fingers against it in a rhythmic motion. the waves of pleasure ebbed and flowed inside your body, flowing from your cheeks and pooling down to your ribs and sternum, before finally collecting in your belly.
your high felt just around the corner, just there but yuuji stopped. before you could groan and ask him why, you felt a third finger intruding your delicate insides.
you threw your head back, "y-yuuji, 's not gonna fit..." your eyes widened, "it's too much. it's too full... nghh- f-fuck."
"if this won't fit" he smiled, although the cocky baritone of his voice gave him away, "then how would you possibly take all of me in?"
your face flushed at his question, at the dawning of the fact that yuuji itadori was simply preparing your cute, tight cunt for his fullness.
"'sokay." he guided your lips to his, "i'd make it fit."
and so, he does. scissoring his fingers inside, you moan at the feeling of his third finger in. you feel overwhelmed, each of his digits pushing and prodding in sync, massaging each crevice of your slick walls.
"attagirl... just like that." he kisses you again, using another hand to rub on your clit.
it is barely a few minutes in when you find yourself gasping for air, twisting and writhing in throes of pleasure against his hand. you whimper into his mouth, crying, "yuu... fuck-"
he drowned your syrupy cries, drinking them in with each languid swipe of his tongue against yours. shushing you, "shh... i know. i know, baby."
as your orgasm died down, you slumped against his chest, your body too spent to do anything else. your muscles felt slack, and you couldn't do anything as yuuji guided your jaw left and right, dominating your tongue with his own.
when he parted from you, both of your mouth glittered with saliva. your eyes glossed over, cheeks flushed and breaths heavy.
you met his gaze and crumbled, "yuuji... inside me now. please. jus' fuck me."
yuuji felt his breath still, "maybe i should prep you some more-"
"yuuji." you whined, on the verge of tears as your cunt clenched around nothing. "i- i don't care if it doesn't fit. just the tip, then."
"just the tip?"
you nodded, feverish, "anything. please. an-anything, now. wanna feel you... wanna feel you bruising my insides, please."
his irises darkened over with lust, "if I'm gonna fuck you, I'm gonna do it well. none of this 'just the tip' bullshit." he grabbed your jaw, kissing it, "that okay with you?"
you nodded, "yes, yes, yes. anything."
and then, you felt his merciless tip kiss your entrance as he slowly lowered you down on it. the thick circumference of his cock plunged inside you, slowly easing in inch after inch.
you felt yourself full till your chest, your lungs and stomach feeling crushed together as he pushed inside you. you gasped and moaned and heaved, feeling the sinful stretch of your pussy around his hot, throbbing cock.
"fuuuuuck—" you hissed, "how... how much more?"
behind you, yuuji chuckled, "you're doing good, pretty. just a little more. think you can do it?"
you nodded again, rendered useless to say anything else. his nimble fingers swiftly moved your hair to one side over your shoulder as he kissed your nape, "juus' a little more."
itadori yuuji was so big he couldn't even possibly bottom out inside of you without making you feel like you were all but impaled on him. lonesome inches of his cock still remained unsheathed inside you by the time you were gasping and clawing at his forearms, crying about how utterly full you were.
"yuu... yuu, fuck—" a gasp cut through your words, your head lolling back in pleasure, "i feel like i can't— nghh— fuck... i can't... can't even breathe."
yuuji whispered against the shell of your ears, "can't?"
you shook your head, "i— i really can't."
"that's okay, pretty." his breath came laboured as he began to rock you on your length, "i can make do with just this much."
"oh god—!" your eyes rolled back as he rolled his hips upwards into you, bringing your hips down to him at the same time. your overused pussy clenched around his length, weeping out creamy globs of his precum and your sticky arousal. and that mess did nothing but encourage yuuji to fuck into you faster.
plap, plap, plap! the lecherous sounds of sin rung loudly in the room, deafening you in all its glory. his thrusts were relentless, bludgeoning his cockhead into you again and again and again, like clockwork. his ridges and veins massaged your sensitive walls, and when he managed to graze your g-spot with a hit, you squirmed against him, all but retrieving your pussy away from him.
yuuji's arms tightened around your waist as he pulled you back to his cock. "hah." a laugh hit the back of your neck in stiff pangs! "are you running?"
tears pricked your eyes, voice hoarse and mindless, "too— 'stoo much."
"no it's not." yuuji cooed, kissing your jaw, then your cheek and tempe. "it's not. sit here. and take it."
"yuuji..." your voice was broken, raw and rimmed with exhaustion. your walls squeezed him, begging for him to finally unravel inside you, to finish what he had started.
"yeah?" he picked up his rhythm again, fucking your pussy with reckless abandon. you squirmed again, thrashing against him with guttural cries of pleasure. your walls clenched around him, tighter and tighter as another orgasm washed over you.
your eyes squeezed shut, your nails digging into his bicep as you tried to hold on whatever semblance of sanity you could. all muscles of your body seemed to lock down, to give up as itadori yuuji continued to fuck you through your orgasm.
"yuu-ji." you managed, crying and heaving. but he was a beast, a man who refused to stop.
"i know." he cooed again, "i know. just a little bit, okay? fuck." he snapped his hips into yours harder, sinking you down more and more on his achy cock till he was bottomed out. his balls smacked into your ass, stinging the skin red.
"just a little bit more." he grunted, and you weren't sure if he was consoling you or validating himself. eitherways, you could do nothing but sit there, jaw-slacked and slumped as he used your pussy to get himself off. "god."
his thrusts somehow increased in intensity, each one more powerful than the last. your ass burned with the hits, your entire body lurching forward with his powerful strokes. he had to pin you down against his chest, for the fear of you falling off him, or the constant need to have you against him.
his teeth sunk into your skin, his languid tongue coming to lap up at the indents like a rabid animal in heat salivating over its meal.
the constant scrapes of his cock inside of you made you gasp as another orgasm began to brew in the pit of your stomach.
"fuck." you groaned, carnal, squeezing him again. "shit, yuuji— fuck 'mgonna— again."
"yeah? yeah." he grunted, not letting his pace falter even as you clawed at his arms or thrashed against his chest. "i know. fuck, cum f'me. cum with me. cum over my fucking cock, baby."
you gasped, feeling your entire body tighten with need, with this unfaltering release that made you scream yuuji's name.
as your orgasm died down, left as a puddle of heat in the bottom of your stomach, you felt his jerks lose their punch as he struggled to keep up the same pace — his face buried into your neck, his breath now coming ragged and disheveled, hips smacking so strongly into yours that they make your innards jolt. "fuck, fuck, fuck please— mmph—" his words were a wet please against your skin, and you were not entirely sure who they're directed at.
all you know is the wet, hot feeling of his cum sloshing inside you as he heaved.
"stay w'me. fuck—" he slurred, tightening his grip around you till his entire body weight pressed against you. "just— jus' stay with me."
"im right here." you managed, pressing a kiss to his temple as he shoved his face deeper against your neck.
slowly, his breath evened against you and you felt droplets fall to your neck. you laughed at the sticky sensation between his face and your skin, "you're sweating like crazy, huh?"
slowly, you turned and snaked your hands under his face, pulling it up. only to met with a sight of a teary-eyed yuuji.
you blinked, surprised. your tongue felt thick in your mouth. what you had presumed to be sweat had been tears.
immediately your grubby palms scrambled to his face, cradling his cheeks, "yuu, what's wrong?"
he shook his head, an earnest smile on his lips, "n-nothing."
"it's not nothing!" you argued back, wiping his tears with your thumb in time for more to flow down his flushed face. "god, did I hurt you? was it too much? do you feel sick?" you rambled, only for yuuji to answer by pressing his forehead to yours.
his breath staggered, eyes closing, "you're here."
you stroked his cheekbone, "of course I am."
"no..." he breathed in, shallow and stuttering, still with his eyes closed, "you're here. with me."
"yuu?" you kissed his cheek, tasting the salt on your lips. "are you okay?"
he opened his eyes slowly, "i have to tell you something." he started.
you laughed, somewhat airy, "what?"
"i don't expect it to make sense but..." he sighed, "don't freak out on me."
"okay...?" you cocked your head to the side.
"i'm immortal." he winced, "well, somewhat. kind of. not totally."
you blinked, "huh?"
"i think I would live atleast 300 more years."
you blinked again, pressing your hands to his forehead and cheeks, "are you feverish?—"
"no." he held your palms in his own. "and uh, i knew you in your last life."
he watched your expression change from mild confusion to utter shock, "oh god, has sex triggered some sort of an aneurysm—?!"
then, yuuji itadori slowly lifted you off his lap. cleaning your apex with his discarded tshirt, the man sighed and began explaining the lore of the jujutsu universe. you blinked slowly at it for the most part, eventually just resigning to understand.
your positions had flipped somewhere along the way. you sat on the couch, while yuuji paced the room in front of you.
it wasn't until yuuji pulled out his phone and shoved an old photo of what appeared to be him, a younger version of his grandma, a black-haired scowling man and... you...? that you took any of it seriously.
"that's me?" you held the phone up to your nose, zooming in for good measure.
"not you you." he explained, "but yeah, kind of. i wasn't gonna tell you this because..." he sighed, "because frankly, i was going to ask you to stop seeing me after today."
your eyes widened at his confession, but he continued rambling, "but we- we ended up having sex and now, i don't wanna leave and make you feel like I just used you or something..."
"so you're... telling me you're a immortal sorcerer instead?" you deadpanned, "as if that's the more believable thing to say?"
he knelt in front of you, his eyes heavy with desperation. "i know how it sounds, and I don't blame you for not wanting to be with a man like me. i can't... i genuinely cannot be anything good for you but— but I wanted you to know the truth."
you looked from yuuji to his phone in your hands, the one still opened to that photo where he had his arm slung around your shoulder and smiling wide.
you looked up at him, soft, "what if I told you that i did want you in my life?"
yuuji gave you a smile that never quite reached his eyes, "then I'd tell you you're crazy."
"i mean..." you put your hand on his cheek again, and the man leaned into your touch. "i mean, you found me before, you found me now... im sure you'd find me again."
"and tell you what?" yuuji smiled, "that I'm an immortal sorcerer who has been in love with the past two versions of you?"
you nodded, laughing. "I'm probably going to be reincarnated as a hopeless romantic, so... that might work on me."
yuuji sighed, "it's easier said than done."
you put his phone to the side, now pressing both of your palms to both of his cheeks. "i know what I'm demanding is too much. you would have to see me grow old and die, and I will never get to see you like that..." you sighed, squeezing his cheeks as if it'll ground you. "but I'm willing to endure that heartbreak over and over again, if you are."
yuuji blinked at you, his eyes rimmed red again, "r-really?"
you nodded, "do you want to— mmph?!—"
yuuji practically lunged at you, kissing you mindless till you were thrown back into the sofa.
you couldn't help but giggle, "yuuji! stop!—"
he pulled back and scratched the back of his neck, flushed a deep, berry shade. "sorry. got carried away..."
"you're so cute, who would've thought that you're the strongest sorcerer." you beckoned him closer. he crawled over you, brushing your nose with his own. his eyes fluttered close, "i am, really."
"i believe you." you smiled, "i should have known something was up with you looking at your stamina."
"yeah?" he lazily smirked, "i haven't really done anything with anyone in a long time."
"hm?"
"guess i was waiting around on you."
"eugh, cheesy pedophile!" you pawed at his chest and he offered you his best offended expression.
his body weight pressed down on you as he wrapped his arms around you, "shut up, im like a vampire. they can't be pedophiles. only hot."
"oh, as if!" you laughed, stroking his hair as he melted against you. over six feet of muscles and bones all turned to jelly as he embraced you in his arms properly for the first time in a long, long eternity of suffering.
"by the way, that one girl looked a lot like your grandma." you hummed, referring to the photo. "like a younger version of her."
"oh, kugisaki?" he looked up, his hazel eyes burning with mischief. "cause she's not my grandma."
you smacked his forehead, "you told me she was your grandma!"
"well, i couldn't exactly tell you i was an immortal sorcerer and you were my sorta-girlfriend in your past life the first time we met, could i!?"
you scoffed, rolling your eyes in pretend. he gave you a big grin, something that upturned the dull, fading cuts under his eyes.
you sighed, feeling your eyes droop down in exhaustion. "im so tired."
"want me to carry you to the bedroom?" he asked, already moving to scoop you up in his arms.
you giggled as he wrapped his strong arms around you and kissed your lips, before pecking your face all over. you laughed and itadori yuuji could not lie — there was no rot plaguing the back of his throat anymore.
a.n: did I cook with this or did I cook with this? yes. this might be one of my favs that I've done in recent times. do I expect anyone to read this long ass, VERY self-indulgent slop fic? no. but if you have, may you sleep well tonight ❤️😋
You adopt a tiger hybrid - he’s had a rough life, having been treated as lesser due to his species. You find that he has trust issues and a bit of ptsd from what he was put through. Some shitty place called ‘Jujutsu Tech’ specialized in capturing and building up hybrids for domesticity, though that was clearly just the umbrella name for ‘any and all weaponry’ - so to have managed to buy one out feels almost liberating. For him and you both.
You never thought you’d be here, collecting what you’ve bargained for. Tokyo held an exchange event for rare breeds in the Asian region; a woman with light blue-ish hair and a voice of faux velvet showed you to the option you chose, her far younger assistant trailing after with a clipboard containing files and documents regarding their… stock. An expensive beauty, exotic and trafficked into your hands as if he were merely an import. You finally meet your supposed pet and companion, Yuji Itadori. He’s a Japanese humanoid with a full-bred tiger hybrid, making his features fascinatingly unique. He’s a true beauty. Just not enough to be human, let alone treated like one. However, you never saw him as a piece of meat, nor a pretty coat. Not like this, not as if he was a lesser being. If anything, you were shocked hybrids didn’t surpass the human race - having superior genes that made up for man’s constant need to simplify things. People always glamorized hybrid enslavement, using the excuse, “they’re just animals!” As if humans aren’t, as well. You felt sick to your stomach when the woman who sold him to you made the boy prostrate - as if worshiping you. You held your stomach, looking absolutely baffled as Yuji bowed like his service was his purpose. You’ve never seen such a fascinating, beautiful creature, yet here he was, following orders like a mindless brute. Your heart ached.
“Ah… no need!” You chirp sheepishly, dismissing the act of devotion in replacement of simply paying and getting the hell out of there. You yearned to take that stupid leash and collar off him, but you knew having an unchained hybrid could result in endangerment to the public. You didn’t know what to expect from him just yet, but judging by his description, he wasn’t so easily broken. He must be a fighter, too, seeing those scars across his eyebrow and down along the right side of his nose bridge in a jagged bolt of scar tissue. Another, in which seemed to have pinched off the left corner of his lips in a sharp looking heal-over. His eyes, amber and utterly beautiful like this, held red-ish irises, a pupil sharp and unknowing of anything soft. He was a hex in the flesh, and you couldn’t help but feel entranced. Instead of holding his leash, you slipped the noose-tie around your wrist and extended your hand to him, to which he gazed at with confusion and distrust. You couldn’t blame him, but softly reassured anyway,
“I won’t hurt you, y’know. I just wanna help.” Your smile was intended to further coax him to trust you, in which he didn’t fall for it so easily. Though, you could tell by how his tail cautiously flicked, that he actually weighed the consequences of possibly trusting a human. A Pure-breed—as his kind calls humans like you—weren’t easily trusted. After all, they dehumanized hybrids altogether. Just another form of power play by shitty higher-ups with no sense of diversity. It’s always been this way, really. Even before the hybrids. But seems how most were in the classified ‘humanoids’ for physique and demeanor, that didn’t make them any less tapped into their senses. And seems how most tigers are around this area, yet not truly natively collected, it wasn’t like Yuji was a ‘once-in-a-blue-moon’ kind of bid. Just the bloom of an Asian decent in both tigers and humans, making him a bit more wanted than others. Nonetheless, he couldn’t trust that your eyes were any different from those who saw beautiful coats and pelts or even expensive, illegal flavors in him. It’s smart of him, really. He was a truly remarkable creature, you came to observe. Something so unique about his eyes and hair, patched fur patterns and soft stripes guiding along his elongated paws to make up for human fingers, his large canines and slightly pink-ish blackened gums… he really is the carnivore predator those other full-breds depicted him to be.
The first night with him was… rough. He had his own room, sure, but you nonetheless offered your bed. It was swimming with your domestic human stench, so he just hissed and declined ferociously. He wasn’t aggressive, but clearly ticked off and overstimulated. Most felines, of any descent, get this way. And with such a big move? You couldn’t blame him. You just cook something up and offer it; he doesn’t eat.
The second night- no, the whole day was just him being hellbent on self-sabotage, in a way. Didn’t sleep. Stayed curled protectively with talons curled into your precious, clean floors, eyes and shoulders sagged with fatigue but never once letting up. You had to stay home during the day, as not to let him escape while you’re off. Yet, he didn’t seem to like that any better. In fact, he even seemed all the more defensive. Apparently he could speak, but just wasn’t literate, so you made light and easy conversation—more one-sided, like a monologue—and let him rest and listen. Well- he didn’t rest, he observed. Judged. Calculated. He wasn’t all that smart academically, seems how he never went to school. Not to mention the seller briefly joking about ‘anything difficult to understand being flushed out from one ear to the other’. That didn’t matter too much - you made do with the small chats and whims of your day outside of stay-at-home working. He was street-smart though, knowing instinct and survival and how to (somewhat) handle furniture.
The third day, you wander into the kitchen. You’ve been up since 6 o’clock AM, and noticed that he’d finally crashed. He must’ve been so paranoid.. so terrified in the hauling crates and constant clatter of humans rustling to see all the different hybrids up for bidding. It wasn’t uncommon for hybrids to be used in some forms of domestic enslavement, as well. Aside from entertainment, some took it a step further, and decided their bodies were more than fascinating to do more than look at. Yuji was the exception, seems how: a) you aren’t a weirdo. And b) he’d pop your corkscrew head off your neck like it’s new years if you even dare lay a finger on his fur. Which, you wouldn’t, but never reassured him during those mini-snaps of his. He didn’t need that - didn’t need a quick solution. Just hearing him stressing his boundaries meant he was comfortable enough to voice them, and not enforce them - so you just listened. Offered foods that smelt good but stayed to his palette, not wanting him to starve over distrust.
Three days turned to 6, and from a week came 2, then 2 more. Time was passing, yet no progress. You felt like a parent of a teenager - and much like the world of business you familiarized yourself with, you feel as if not ascending simply means you’re descending from progress. Which, you aren’t, and try your hardest to keep up with the distinguishable truth between reality and worry. It seems you both have quite similar natures, in a sense. To live for something.. to have purpose.
You never lingered.
Never prodded nor pried - always kept busy,
Kept up with him.
And despite his awfully poor performance in charisma, you don’t blame or criticize him. You guide; you tweak those minor chips, not looking for perfection, but progress. He needs that. Needs a… back to look at, as he strides. Not that he isn’t a leader - no, there’s times he’ll break from his bubble of isolation to give cooking tips (he’s surprisingly good at it..?) or vague memories he had before his ‘necessary domestication’ as if it’s not humans who do most of the damage. Perhaps another reason for enslavement, or maybe just room for more apartments. Didn’t matter. From the inside of the box, you made things… stable. Not that he trusted nor liked you - he just tolerated your act. He didn’t believe anybody could be that adaptive, especially not some prissy full-bred like you. You’d only been able to shuffle him into the bathroom, giving him a brief introduction to how it worked. You asked that he calls if help is needed, but he just brushed you off. Sprayed the water too hot, yelped, and didn’t shower for a week. You could literally smell the consequences for not being more thorough - never even an afterthought being that it was his fault. He’s stubborn, but he knows that. Anything or anyone that saw him negatively? He could cast aside. Anger? He could manage. Envy? Flattering, if not too derogatory. Hell, even hatred was manageable - he could handle that. But you… you just never paid any mind to those things. You pretended like ‘hate’ was for your shitty airfryer, for that chipped coffee cup you hold by the mug and burn your fingers with but never toss it out, the lag in your computer as you sift through endless emails. He wasn’t a people-pleaser, and he couldn’t get attached to such an insignificant group of people. However, you were just so.. odd. He couldn’t handle what he couldn’t understand, which was a lot of things. You just let him be, talked to him like a person - not a beast, not a brute, not a man nor human. A person. Yuji was out of his element, having a hellish amount of physical strength, but barely enough motivations to keep himself afloat. You opposed him in that way, being some feeble human, yet so… you. Individualism, humanism, art bound in flesh. You are human- no, you are beautiful.
He doesn’t say that - doesn’t really think it, either, if not anything. It’s more like the feeling you get when eyes are on you - as if simply aware of the presence, and in his case, the label. Beautiful. How could a human, the one living species he hated, be something so special when elegized? He felt so silly; Yuji didn’t like feeling that way. Like some jester - mere… entertainment. He couldn’t help but slowly grow an unconscious attachment. Not to you, really, but more-so your presence - like mentioned earlier.
It’s been two months, now. You had to return to work, seems how he was eating on his own and could bathe himself. You sadly had to negotiate with him this time, so he felt that he didn’t have to break free or attempt to escape.
“Yuji, please- just make yourself comfortable while I’m out, from now on. I’ll meal-prep and make sure you have plenty of entertainment, alright? My bed is up for use, but make sure you bathe, as well.” You would meekly list off, trying to stay in your usual element while also more-gingerly avoiding any casualties with your presence being caught in the whims of work. Somebody had to pay the bills, and buy his expensive food, and keep up with monthly subscriptions.
He rarely spoke, but on this occasion, he was up for debating his role.
“Yea, yea- leave your pet unattended.” He bitterly mused, still as snappy as some hormonal brat. But you didn’t falter - you couldn’t show fear. After all, animals fed on that kind of submission.
“Yuji,” you plead calmly, “There’s no need to give yourself those kinds of labels. We’re equals, here - this is your turf, now, too.” To which you received a scoff and irritably flicking tail, warning you to back down. But you didn’t - you persisted.
“..I’m serious.”
And finally, finally, he offered you a glance. He really was a tiger… anything of a cat’s descent was clearly gonna uphold the standoffishness of them, too. You shake the stereotype of a thought away, cursing yourself inwardly for such a ‘typical human behavior’, as Yuji calls it. He leaves the room, blowing off your attempts at negotiation.
You start going to work, and the world keeps spinning. He luckily didn’t want to risk ‘freedom’, ergo, getting put down in the street for being supposedly rogue, over his chill owner who was actually offering him a radical alternative - equity. He was so boyish sometimes, even he forgot his own ripened adolescence.
Which reminded you of something: a tradition amongst humans, and utterly foreign to the world of dehumanized humanoids, aka hybrids. Birthdays. He’s an ‘02 baby, but because he’s a hybrid, he’s humanly about 23 now. You read through his certificate the dates, 3/20/02 - well, the ones that had been most recently updated - which was 2018. Jesus, they didn’t care for their stock. This poor hybrid probably didn’t know his birthday, nor any family outside his grandfather who passed back in 2018. Probably explains why the certificate hasn’t been updated. You had hoped, that by finding something to look forward to, perhaps he’d grow more comfortable with you. Instead, it just seemed… jarring. To be fair, your own parents had stopped caring for your birthday at a whopping 14 years old. Even your (not-so) sweet 16 was lame, seems how Highschool was a whole clusterfuck you intended to wash away with your success. Oddly enough, it returned to sender something rather uncomfortable in your chest. You empathized with Yuji, in a way - silently hoping to bring him something akin to being noticed. You had a few months, of course, but you were already eager to find out what all he liked. Slowly but surely, you researched all you could find about hybrid-friendly environments. You found three semi-decent choices, aside from literal parks and food parlors that made the idea of fun seem more like testing their chivalry. What a fucked up system. The choices landed on the Cinema, a small strip mall, and a farmer’s market hosted during summertime. Of course, so long as he was well-behaved and respectable, grocery stores, beaches, and other more-open and friendly areas were allowed. But that was the bare minimum - you were gonna do this boy right! So, slowly but surely, you eased said ideas into his curiosity. During your after-work rants, you ‘ironically’ mention the cinema, and some shitty movie airing. Something about a ‘human earthworm’, which was easily a dog whistle for hybrid-human equality. You thought he might like it, seems how the lead actor was, obviously, a hybrid. It was rare for hybrids to be accepted - and his ears, usually flattened to his skull, precariously flicked up. He showed a flicker of interest; he bit the bait, so you’d reel him in.
“Oohhhh, yea! Hybrid-friendly, too- a coworker brough-“ you’re quickly interrupted by a rather enthusiastic bark from Yuji, chirping out,
“Human Earthworm 4??”
His nape dusted a soft peach tone, amber eyes averting as he strangled his excitement in the face of having taken your set-up. You can’t help but stifle a laugh - not mocking, but genuine and beaming, like you were just happy to see him show interest in something.
“Yes, the…. Final act, I believe? I got two free tickets, so..-“ you’d lie, knowing damn well you were gonna purchase said tickets right after he just cracked open a little more about the subject. He, once again, lost his restraint to obey the rules of being a pet, and gasped:
“We HAVE to go!! Yh-you don’t understand, I’ve been a fan since Human-Earthworm 1!” Ballsy, indeed, seems how any other owner would be lashing him for such an outburst. You never treated him like some mutt, though, and instead matched his energy.
“Of course!! I thought I’d invite you out, seems how you’ve probably had cabin-fever this whole time!!” You were giddy, maybe a bit too ambitious. He finally had his interest probed, and you weren’t wasting that chance to wow him with a fun little side-activity. Was this ambiguous? Maybe - being a ploy to simply get him more comfortable around you. And by that, it possibly meant seeing the more ‘bratty’ side of him. He clearly never got to be a kid, and grew up far too fast with no family or guardians, so it’s no coincidence he came off as boyish when comfortable.
You, for one, could give a damn less about this shitty Hollywood pocket-pincher of a film, but standing at the front lobby, you couldn’t help the giddiness it brought. Seeing a movie.. ah, you used to do this before monthly subscriptions meant selling your soul to online movies. And wow, was it nice. The theater was well-tended to, and a decent amount of people had showed for the sake of their movie roster. The familiar waft of artificial butter and over-carbonated cold drinks filled the lively, chatter-layered air, which had you more-so overwhelmed than you were accustomed to. It was as if you forgot the heavenly dews of teenage freedom, like it wasn’t only so many years ago. Yuji was having a ball though, albeit the eyes on him weren’t easily brushed off. Especially the amount of mothers tugging their kids closer, as if he was dangerous. That upset you in a way, for some odd reason. You hadn’t meant to, but you unconsciously closed distance with the tiger boy, as if keeping guard for all the little brats ogling. Yuji paid it no mind, ecstatically showing the worker his and your tickets. You two were given two cups and a big, cardboard cylinder of a bowl for popcorn, and you even paid the extra dime so he could purchase the candy he’d been eyeing. He seemed so… happy, and you couldn’t be more proud of yourself. He filled and adorned the popcorn with whatever he wanted, and you filled the cold drinks to his desired flavor, guiding him down the lanes of airing movies. Seated in the upper left corner, the rows of dimly-lit seating offered guidance for the crowd filling out the space with every few minutes. You and Yuji hadn’t spoken much casually, only with things needed or brief. But there, in that chatty, stuffed cinema, you and him hypothesized this movie’s whereabouts. You even got him to go on a yapping spree during all the ads, explaining all the overused tropes and over-complicated lore. He’s never even paid this much attention to you, let alone speak this much, so you sat your happy ass down and soaked up every tone and expression he graced you with like the suck-ups at your work. It was an innocent kind of joy, seeing him so… expressive.
The ads died down, as did the lights, and soon the studio credits rolled in preparation of the movie’s beginning. You and Yuji shut up lightning fast, his latest rant about how ‘Human-Earthworm had a daughter with a human’ forgotten the moment the screen lit up with the intro.
Throughout the movie, you can’t help but feel that the action became background noise, more-so caught up in the comfort of his tail slowly wrapping around your ankle. It was a sign of comfort - trust. You never once fully focused on the movie, instead frozen in your reclined seat, afraid that moving would pry his subconscious act of excitement from you.
By the end, he was in tears, but stifling it as much as he could manage with sharp sniffles and covering his face from your sights. You nonetheless saw it, laughing softly - not in mockery, but endearment at his expressiveness.
The tiger couldn’t help but pout, grousing his frustrations for not quite soaking up the full plot. You found it so nice, finally seeing a side of him you waited a good long few months- almost three, by now.
“Ugh.. I really wish I focused more! Feels like I missed half the dialogue over the intro- and because the last movie was a cliffhanger, there was just too much info dumping to collect in one go!” Yuji rambled on, seemingly both amazed and frustrated by the way the series came to a close. You were the one soaking up info, but it wasn’t the movie you cared for; you were more interested in this new, far more passionate person he offered you. He seemed a bit more loosened up, so you had the grand idea to keep this winning streak by offering to take him to a hybrid-friendly restaurant. You had saved plenty after emptying your poor wallet even purchasing him, so you were just fine with a little joy spending. He seemed confused, almost declining, but overall deciding he’d take advantage of your kindness. You were brought to a ramen shop, seems how supposedly, he didn’t know what all was really available. Though, if he knew about ramen, surely he understood other human things. You let him pick out his choice, which was the utmost loaded up bowl, and slowly taught him how to use chopsticks. He looked upset for some odd reason, so you observe his feeble attempts, and couldn’t help but snort with a mix of shock and amusement. His claws, albeit retractable, kept losing the thin weight of the chopsticks. He looked like a child, really. You don’t mean to, but your hand is on his, pressing on his palm with a soft gasp in fascination.
“Wow, Yuji! Your body is so cool- I never knew you had these!! Are they able to stay unsheathed?” You tried hyping him up a bit, not wanting the poor guy to be humiliated. He grumbled out a weak “yes..” although he seemed clearly irritable for the lack of experience, he watched you slowly guide his fingers into place. His hands were huge and slightly curled at the heel of his palm, which was clearly the genes of his animal descent, and you couldn’t help but love it. You never voiced that joy, however, not wanting to seem like those people who get obnoxious about any kind of diversity.
He ended up needing help, which you obliged instantly, but offered a sheepish apology for being weird over his need for assistance. He brushed you off like usual, but you couldn’t help but feel so giddy to lift the noodles to his open and eager maw. He didn’t seem to grasp the concept of noodles, chewing softly and confused to why they spilled over and dangled from his closed lips. You couldn’t help but laugh, which surprisingly made him snicker too. You were really connecting with him for once, helping show the hybrid that slurping them up worked better than biting down. The noodles were far too soft for chomping the way he was used to, and even the soft fatty pork stripped to the side was tender enough for gentle chewing. He learned quickly, fortunately, despite you being a bit reluctant to give him his chopsticks. Though, the night was overall great. Even when you got back to the house, he seemed comfortable and stuffed and well-entertained. He did grumble about his feet, though, so you drew a bath and let him laze around for the rest of the night. In the meantime, you were so thrilled and motivated that you finally blew through the countless emails you’d been procrastinating to sort since earlier in the week. He gave you a boost, in a way, like a good omen.
The fun settled in your heart in a bittersweet manner, reminiscing the moments shared and wishing you’d soaked them up more - if that was even possible. Yuji bathed and settled in his bed that you finally got him to accept, watching carefully. Your emails were well-filtered, papers in place. Tomorrow would be the last day of work until the weekend, so you were more than ready to relax a little. After all, you weren’t all that keen on the public. After adopting Yuji as your pe- companion, you’ve had no desire going anywhere without him - nor did you want to bring him everywhere, as if flaunting him. So, you settled in your bed for the night, calling it a day and catching sleep your body finally melted into with ease. You felt like a melting candle - wax of warmth, the slow trail of light filling you, the sheer comfort of being held in the arms of your bed. A candle, truly.
Your time together slows and eases itself into a calm, mutual coexistence. You work and return, offering food or entertainment, all while keeping the company of your friend. You’ve gotten used to that title, and call him that, too. He’s slowly gotten to your last name, not quite casual yet, but still better than the ‘master’ bullshit the Kyoto exchange demanded of him. You two were easy and calm, and with due time, Chinese new year came around. You’ve been a unit in that house for maybe 4 months now, and his birthday was just around the corner, which aroused more leniency and sugarcoating when you mentioned ‘a special day’. He had not a clue what you were on about, but was excited because you were excited - and pretty much played off those next few weeks like a party he knew he was attending, but had no full knowledge in its whereabouts. Ironically enough, the month slipped around: and now it was March.
Yuji was lounging on the couch that morning, sleeping on his back with his tail limp against the cushions under him. You wake at your usual 5:30 AM and shower, suiting into your uniform for work and brewing a bowl of coffee to pour in your thermos. The day is long and it feels as if it shaves down hours of the night in place of more work time. You don’t mind the drain- rephrase, you can’t choose said hours, so you endure it. You sit beside the tiger in a moment of calm, sighing and tapping your cheeks of their chilled clamminess from washing your face. He grumbles at the weight shift but doesn’t stir much, simply adapting to the change and curling closer into the cushions, winding by the upper half to hide his face into the warmth his body provided the cushions. You can’t help the soft smile gracing your semi-tired lips, seeing him slowly accept your presence instead of getting on high alert. You felt silly, but cast the feeling aside in a moment of peace. For once, he didn’t jolt awake. It wasn’t an extreme and intense moment of acceptance - no, it was the quiet, slightly chilly and underwhelming morning that he decided not to growl and snap. Didn’t scramble back in muscle memory, didn’t sniff the air and snap awake like you were an intruder. That simple, trusting gesture left a feeling deep in your heart. You thought, at first, it was just the joy of acceptance. Your hand subconsciously reached out, too caught up in the moment, and gently stroked along the crown of his head. You then, embarrassed, caught yourself too late. You’d went and laid a hand on him without consent - pet him like some animal. Expecting a lash out, you wither into the not-so comforting couch’s back, when you feel—not hear, but feel—something unexpected.
A soft vibration.
Not degrading as long as the hybrid stayed dormant, but to you, it was fascinating. You’ve never felt a humanoid produce the same stimulated reaction of pleasantness in a physical way, not without it being sexualized, that is. This aroused a sudden surge to continue petting him, and before you knew it, your hand rested atop his head with the utmost gentle scratch to his lax ears. They flicked at first, foreign to the comforting sensation, but his purrs slowly reverberated loud enough to hear. Your heart melted - not like an owner gushing over their pet, but an understanding that bonds were being made.
You almost don’t want to leave for work. Sadly, however, no hybrid has yet to become a breadwinner. So, you lift yourself, gently tracing the white stripe horizontally clashed along the velvet of his ears before picking up your work back and retreating to the front door. You glance back, smiling with a slight crease in your eyes that softened your usually stoic face, knowing you’d slowly melt into his cold core until his heart was laid bare. Not for control, but connection.
When you leave, Yuji stirs, eye cracking open lazily. He looked as if he not only unconsciously pulled the stunt to see what you’d do, but was awake enough to recognize you. Your scent was slightly left behind, the faint musk you always spritzed twice—one to your neck, the other close to your abdomen—just to be semi-presentable for your work. He liked your shampoo more, though, often using it instead of the weirdly expensive one you purchased for his fur’s sake. You were such an oddball, he mused… so thoughtful it was borderline ridiculous how badly you overthought half the things to consider when tending to him. He lived luxuriously, and Yuji was more than grateful. He also learned the TV, with your help, so he often ‘accidentally’ purchased movies online to skim for the time you weren’t home.
Speaking of not being home, you blew through the day with more energy than ever before; the coffee wasn’t the reason for this motivation booster, either, but your beautiful companion with a knack for unintentionally leaving receipt messages in your email from the movies he bought. You let it slide though, more than happy to give him entertainment. It was still the beginning of the month, but you just couldn’t wait- you needed gift ideas asap!! How else could you go about your day? Aside from your mini hobbies you took on, in which he’d always watch then pretend he wasn’t curious, you weren’t all sure what to do with yourself in the homestretch of his birthday. Yuji didn’t even know it was his birthday coming up, to be fair.
You'd been lucky, deciding all those weeks ago it's best to start saving by now, because now you had quite enough money to actually celebrate the guy's special day! You did wonder, however, just how you'd be able to decorate with him in the house worried you. So, you called a friend. Before you knew it, Nobara had shown up at your house. She was around the same age as Yuji, so it was nice knowing they were somewhat relatable. So while you planned what all to do in a day, you forced Nobara to set up decorations you'd purchased hastily in panic. Taking him out wouldn't be too bad, but it was very clearly a struggle seems how there was so few places hybrids were openly accepted. You didn't want to embarrass him; you knew he hated the collar, you knew he hated the hierarchy of wearing it. The leather rubbed soft yet somehow irritable against his jugular, and you were almost positive that was one of many reasons he stayed home, not wanting the trouble of overstimulating himself. You never tugged his leash, never scolded him, never lashed out. And in return, he didn't run off, didn't hurt you. Sometimes he'd even show hints of trust, a small gust of genuine emotion other than longing for freedom or just being difficult on purpose. You knew this because, first of all, nobody flicks their tail that harshly against the pillows. Secondly, you've never met a more stubborn creature. Whether that's choosing the same order for the "eating out" day of the week (you're a hypocrite for doing the same but he never mentions it), or to the more 'extreme' according to him, actually soaking his fur in the tub. He literally refuses to clean with anything but his sandpaper-ish tongue and a breath fatal enough to rival the black plague, which makes you both disgusted and concerned. You know damn well he had to clean himself with no privacy in front of hundreds for the few years he was strung up on sale, but you'd never assumed he'd stick to that lifestyle, even with the luxury he's gained - a home.
Aside from his rather odd and animalistic habits, here you are, gently guiding him by his clawed hand and into the large establishment. You'd decided it would be best feeding him first, so here you two are, over 45 minutes away from home and in the more wide-ranged half of your region, hoping to spoil him in a more city-like evironment. There's a lot more leniency in the city, which makes for more hybrid-friendly adaptive establishments. Where you guys had stumbled into was a semi-high classed restaurant along a strip of chain buildings, mostly random shops adorning windows with their product or business logos. They're refined and clean along the half of the block you two walked along, and you open the door for him, being shot a couple confused or even disgusted stares from passersby - it was definitely weird doing that for a 'pet'. You pay it no mind however, turning your head to him with a reassuring smile.
"You ever have this kind'a food?" You'd sing-song, trying to change the subject so he didn't feel so out of place. The tiger just shrugged, seemingly neutral. You guys are offered a table for two, and the host offered to scoot his chair towards your side as a sign of ownership, but you declined softly. Furthermore, a very stupid Yuji would then seat himself opposite to you instead of to your side, making the harsh stares intensify. To oppose one another in an event's seating arrangement might as well be a sign of equity, which many obviously didn't condone. You didn't care - couldn't. He was your main focus, especially because of his special day. You couldn't ruin this for him.. and to even your surprise, you'd often catch yourself contacting Nobara for updates. Soon enough, you and his food came in - seteaming, warm, smelling of expensive english butter and a rich meat you knew he wouldn't care to cut before tearing into it. You'd tried to make conversation, bringing up plenty of fun markets around the city. He'd mostly just hum or nod faintly, trying to keep himself under control from blowing your ear off with his own wants and interests in the places he saw during the drive here. You found it cute, indulging his rather coy demeanor by countlessly mentioning everything you'd noticed having caught his eye.
He broke gradually. His final straw snapped at the mention of how many nice posters there were, including a reference to the most recent show he'd forced himself to watch, seems how he'd never really indulged shows. Yuji always said they were boring and rather slow-paced, something his attention span couldn't handle - but, somehow, one single show managed to pique his eye. As he began to speed off on his fever dream of a rant, you gently guided his plate to you, mindless as you cut his steak into strips. He watched, breathless and not from his rant, because you'd just done somebody of lower class a favor so casual it was almost intimate. He wasn't sure why, but it struck him as jarring. He'd thought he was already jaded enough not to take cynical or mundane tasks to heart, yet you simply cutting his steak into bite-sized porportions somehow got to him. Not in a heartfelt, dumbfounded way, but he simply couldn't understand why you'd done such a thing.
He owes you nothing, and he still doesn't, even as you pass him the plate. His words died in his throat, nodding a soft thanks, a bow but something slow enough to show his way of processing it. He even hesitated with it, like he was out of his element. He wondered why you were being so weird - so nice, driving all this way and buying him this expensive ass meal for... what?
You never did anything wrong, in his eyes. It kind of upset him, somehow. Yuji felt.. powerless. He had no reason to hate you, even as you bargain his humanity like he was ever… human. He’s not. He’s humanoid, a monster. He shouldn’t even be allowed any of this, let alone on some random day. You’d never told him just why you had this all planned, but by the time he ate and semi-spoke with you throughout the eventful evening, the drive home was alright. Until you both returned to the residence. The home smelt different - like something sugary and a bit overwhelming, and maybe even… rubbery? Like…
Balloons.
Everywhere.
Too many, in fact.
The things, colored and bouncy and a little too free for his liking, jiggled and shifted across the floors as the door cracked open. There was one more new smell, too. Another human smell, in fact.
Yuji got on high alert, tugging you closer, looking.. protective, for once.
“Somebody’s in here. This seems.. off.” He murmured, clawed hands tightening around your ribs.
“Yuji, relax!! It’s a special day, remember? You gotta trust me!” You’d laugh softly, and while you wished he was as physically comfortable as he is defensive right now, you just pry his paw off and guide him closer.
“Why don’t you protect me, hm? Just come on over to the kitchen with me, let’s see this intruder!” You, ever the extraordinary at calming him down, would jest. He obeyed—as always—and followed with ears pulled back and teeth bared.
When he saw Nobara, you shout, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YUJI!!” And the woman repeats it with less optimism, which makes him.. confused. It isn’t welcome, but not exactly unkind, either. Maybe just an unfortunate participant.
“..Birth..?” He grumbled, unimpressed by the preposterous idea.
“Yes!”
“…What even is that?”
“..Well, y’know.. it’s to celebrate your birth. The wonders of your creation, and how grateful we are that you’re in our lives!” You attempt to explain, withering in your shoes by his dull response.
“Who’s we??” Nobara butted in, and you glare.
“We are grateful. You two are gonna be friends, from now on!! Remember, Noba, I spent a lot of money and time and effort on this hybrid. You will show him hospitality.”
The room goes quiet aside from Kugisaki’s grumbled “fine..”, and you fell the awkwardness of first impressions set in.
“…”
“..Nobara, this is Yuji. And Yuji Itadori, this is one of my friends from college, Nobara Kugisaki. Let’s try to get along for his birthday, okay?”
“Grown man by the way.” She scoffed, nonetheless offering her rag-tag last minute gift with a pout.
“Here, dude… it’s fer’you, or whateves’. ”
And he accepts, skeptical but clawing his way through the paper cover of the bag. The hidden goodies consisted of some weird snack brand you mentioned he liked and a kind of hybrid-friendly utensil kit, seems how his claws made everything an absolute hell. Sure, they’re retractable. Sure, he could probably trim them up a bit. But, you always complained about the difficulty in getting him to eat on his own, so Nobara being observant and utterly classy with useful gifts, she went ahead and researched what’s necessary for most other feline humanoids. What a clutch.
He actually eased up from that, testing the mechanics and finding that they were actually a good size for his large hands. She’d done it.. she’d won Yuji’s almost always unfruitful favor.
The night went on pretty nicely, aside from that, with a movie marathon and whatever snacks or topics he was open to sharing. It was also full of Nobara’s work gossip, as a cosmetologist, and Yuji was surprisingly.. invested. They honestly bickered like an old couple, which had you bittersweet because it meant he was comfortable enough to even put effort into arguments, let alone one of your most loyal and trusted friends. Because he’s a bit territorial, however, Nobara’s goodbye hug was intercepted by Yuji’s massive hand tugging your back to his chest. You giggle, petting his forearm a bit to feel the soft fur pattern ease into normal body hair.
“She’s not gonna hurt me, it’s just a goodbye hug. She can give you one, too!” You suggest, trying to introduce the exposure of physical connection, as well. He growled and pushed you away, not meaning to have done it that hard, because your body jerked with a light gasp of air being knocked out. You put on your brave face and pretend it didn’t affect your pride, however, and just hug her goodbye with a gentle wave.
While you cleaned up, you sulked about his little stunt back there, and your mind felt silly with how your heart’s weight still lingered. Yuji was curled on the couch, as usual, but he had something else completely on his mind.
Hugging.
It’s just contact, right? That’s what you had explained to him, at least. He didn’t wanna think about it too long, so he just began cleaning, thick sand-paper tongue dragging along his furry forearms and the back of his hand to drag through his hair. You, personally, always wanted to know what it felt like to be bathed. It must’ve been so intimate and sweet… but back to Yuji. A day passed, sure. Then another. Than another. And finally, he realized something: he hadn’t truly gotten over the idea of hugging. To be held, to be touched, to make contact. He wanted to.
And finally, when you got back from your wardrobe after having showered, you gasp when two thick arms rope around your middle, copying the motion you and Nobara made in departure only almost a week prior. Bashfully, his face tucked close, chin hooked on your shoulder. Then, a huff. You even felt his tail swish, unsure, then start wagging when your own arms crossed his in reciprocation.
“..Yuji? You okay? I thought you didn’t like touching.” You point out, careful with how you worded it as to be sure he couldn’t antagonize you. This isn’t rejection, this is curiosity. Luckily, he isn’t that dense, and finally understood something aside from your body language.
“..You asked if I wanted a hug. I did.” He hesitated, but spoke up anyway, unsure why he got so giddy over a bit of contact. He felt like a cub all over again.. getting all up in his feels and playful from the sheer volume this action pressed onto him. Even though your hair was wet, he loved the smell from this close. He was even growing accustomed to human scents.
After the slightly adorable, slightly awkward interaction, you made it apparent just what hugs were for; they were for everything! Any occasion. Though, you specified they’re best expressed during grief, reunion, or celebration. He only got ‘hug me whenever, but especially when this’ out of that.
He was usually so snappy, you couldn’t help how happy it made you that he was open to contact!! Finally, you thought. After almost.. well, you lost track of time. His tail, haphazardly swaying—languid, even, which you didn’t mind if it brushed your knee’s backside.
Yuji, slowly, learned you. And he liked you, too. He liked how easy you were to exist with, how malleable the atmosphere was. He likes that in somebody, and even more-so, he loves that you celebrated something as trivial as his birthday. You made him feel special - something no human made him feel. And you… You didn’t mind this. This slow, eventual level of comfort - and trust. He was really melting into your lifestyle, and into your heart, all the more. Even if his happiness costs you a bit more than you could’ve bargained for. You hoped to crack his shell, and lucky as you are, that luck wouldn’t last forever.
Next chap ->
Hiiiii!! Thank you for 100 followers again, I’m really interested in this kind of project so I’m hoping people like it just as much. I might split it into a ‘one chapter a week’ thing, but this one was exceptionally long for the sake of warming up reader and Yuu’s dynamic. I do want to specify, things won’t be so peachy in these next chapters. If you read the tags on its main master list, you’ll understand that this very much is a fluff-trap. This series—this post alone, so far, being my longest yet—will get into deeply corrupt historical topics. You have been warned.
Warnings: His daddy's forehead. Aged-up characters (both characters are eighteen): suggestive content, heavy makeout, clothed grinding, groping, hands under skirt, condom mention, interrupted first time, mentions of grief over a grandparent’s death, minor mentions of hospital/medical bill mentions, post-Shibuya trauma, post-Culling Games fallout, injury mentions, scars, blood/injured sorcerers referenced, Sukuna vessel disclosure, possession/body-horror implications, guilt over deaths, implied PTSD, home intrusion, door breaking.
A/N: Feel free to not take the lines from the "knock" as this fic's canon. Added more suggestive content as per @canthinkproperly's comment last chapter.
Ch 1 | Ch 2
Ch 3 - Epilogue
One night Yuji invited you to his actual home before Jujutsu Tech, the home he’d inherited from his grandfather, and pretended the condom box on the table was not there.
You were both eighteen, the futon was already pulled out, and Yuji had taken your cardigan from your shoulders earlier to fold it over the chair because he still did things like that with a seriousness that made you want to bite him.
The convenience-store bag sat open by the table with iced tea, onigiri, and the big sushi variety takeout you had insisted on buying after your work anniversary in the Jujutsu Tech kitchen as its junior live-in cook.
The job revolved mostly around prep work, yet it paid better than the store and the repair shop combined, and it no longer took every hour of your day, letting you finish high school through correspondence and check up on Yuji.
Yuji had looked guilty when you told him about the offer letter because better work was something he should have found for you sooner, so you had flicked his forehead and told him it was gonna be fine now and Yuta was the one who recommended you after the Culling Games when your repair job and grandmother’s hospital got disrupted.
After your grandmother passed, the first year was the hardest, and Yuji had tried his best to be there, but he wasn't the same after Shibuya, and with how often he was away during the culling games, it was hard, but he didn't abandon you. Stayed with you whenever he was not on a mission.
Then slowly you start to realize that your grandmother had been in pain, and it would have been selfish to keep her here. Your grandmother had been tired. You missed her and wanted her back but understood, slowly, that laying her to rest had been the last debt left.
Still, grief came sometimes when you opened a pharmacy app by habit or saw a woman your grandmother’s age counting coins at the register, but it no longer dragged you under for the whole month. In fact, now you make enough to offer to pay a few of those bills and even donate a small sum to charities.
Your grandmother had met Yuji before she passed. That mattered so much more than you could say without making yourself cry for hours. She had liked him too much, actually, kept calling him a good boy with both hands around her tea, and Yuji had taken it so seriously he brought her the exact same brand every visit until she was gone.
Life kept moving forward with your new work being good to you in certain regards that your other jobs hadn’t been. The kitchen manager made you eat before the lunch rush, corrected your knife grip without making you feel stupid, and sent you back to your dorm when your hands started shaking from exhaustion. Nobody dumped a full shift’s worth of work on you under the “training” label, nor did they treat your age like an invitation for exploitation, calling it proof of maturity when they needed extra labor.
You washed rice, chopped vegetables, packed late trays, managed deliveries, learned which herbs from the garden went into broth and which ones the infirmary staff stole for tea. Sometimes you carried food up to the dorm rooms yourself, soup balanced on a tray with steam still rising from the onigiri—the sorcerers always looked surprised for half a second before they thanked you like you had brought something greater than just dinner. A simple bowl of miso could make someone bleeding from the shoulder hum into the spoon. Rice could get a half-dead student to sit up. Tea could make a teacher stop pacing outside the infirmary door.
After some more time, you started wanting the real thing: culinary school, proper training, your license, a kitchen that was yours one day. You wanted to become a chef because food was the one kind of care nobody had to apologize for accepting.
But that wasn't the only reason—you'd learn early that Yuji didn’t just say he cared, but he cooked to show it. He brought food, shared it, noticed who hadn’t eaten, made too much because someone might need it, and thought of feeding people as a way to keep them here. That made your ambition feel honest because through everything Yuji had always been honest.
Though he got red every time you’d talk about it with the girls at Jujutsu Tech, who teased him relentlessly.
Today, you wore the tennis skirt he'd given you his last birthday, back when he graduated from Jujutsu Tech as a special-grade sorcerer and looked embarrassed about buying you clothes, even though he had picked your exact size after only a few times of fooling around.
Yuji kissed you first, which was rare and made you weak in your knees before his mouth even settled properly against yours.
He usually waited and gave you room to decide the pace, even after a few years of dating and stopping just before either of you got brave enough to cross the line you had both been circling.
Tonight he did none of that because you’d talked about it earlier. His hand came up to your cheek, cold from the iced tea can he had been holding, as he kissed you with the nervous hunger like he hadn’t spent the walk there pretending he was chill about any of it.
You made a small sound against his mouth that had his fingers tightening on your skin.
His other hand slid to your waist, pulled you down into his lap, and held there with a pressure that made your fingers curl in the front of his shirt. The top buttons were already open because he had gotten embarrassed earlier and complained that the room was hot. Now the gap showed skin, the dip of his collarbone, the faint mark near his shoulder from a fight he had shrugged off when you asked. You pressed your palm there as Yuji sucked in a breath and kissed you harder.
The table knocked against your knee, making the convenience-store bag crinkle, and the condom box bump right in the corner of your vision, and Yuji must have noticed you seeing it because his whole face went red against yours even while his hands tightened on your waist.
“I bought the normal kind,” he mumbled into your mouth, mortified.
You laughed, breathless. “Yuji.”
“I panicked. There were too many options.”
“You looked at the shelfs that long?”
“Please stop talking.”
You kissed him again because his embarrassment was going to kill you. He answered immediately, mouth open this time, less careful after the first few seconds, his tongue meeting yours. He tasted faintly of the ice tea and bubblegum he’d been chewing earlier.
His hands squeezed at your waist until you shifted closer, and then his fingers spread along your back through your shirt, gathering fabric because even the distance through the cotton was unbearable to him. You felt his breath catch when your hips settled heavier over the heat of him, making you instantly know how badly he wanted you.
The heat was getting syrupy sweet and making him stupid, and Itadori Yuji was absolutely not about to come in his jeans like a loser before anything had even happened, so he dragged his mouth away just enough to breathe and pressed his forehead to yours. Spit connected his lips to yours even as his eyes kept dropping to your mouth and climbing back up.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Are you?”
He nodded fast, then slower when you looked at him through half-lidded eyes and a small, wanting smile.
“Yeah,” he said, voice rougher than usual. “More than okay.”
You carded your fingers into his soft, messy pink hair, longer since the war and grown out unevenly because he kept forgetting haircuts were supposed to happen before Nobara threatened to do it herself. Yuji tipped his face into your palm, and his mouth found your neck, then the skin behind your ear, then your exposed shoulder, teeth and lips dragging lower in a kiss so hot and clumsy it made your stomach flip.
His hands moved lower, slipping under your tennis skirt. His palms flattened against your ass, half-covered by thin panties. He squeezed hard, dragging you by your hips and grinding the two of you together.
“Yuji,” you whimpered softly against his hair, chest heaving, and he came back to kiss your mouth at once.
Your hands moved to unbutton the rest of his shirt, one after the other.
His breath hitched each time your knuckles brushed him. His hands came up as if to stop you, then changed their mind and moved to squeeze your breasts over your top instead, careful yet firm enough to let you know what he wanted.
You loved his cute self so much it made you a little cruel. You rolled your hips once, slowly, and his head fell back against the wall with a broken little sound he didn’t bother hiding. His fingers tightened on your body. You kissed the line of his jaw, then the corner of his mouth, and felt him tremble under you.
For all his strength, for all the terrible things his body had carried, Yuji was still the boy who brought melon pan when he did not know how to apologize, still the boy who carried your grandmother’s medicine and asked whether you wanted him to know. He was still trying to be good to you with his shirt open and his chest heaving and his hands shaking because wanting you mattered less to him than keeping you safe.
You kissed the scar at the corner of his mouth.
His whole body went rigid under yours.
“Wait.
You crawled off his lap immediately.
Yuji looked down at his own body as if the scars belonged to someone who had left them behind. “Before this goes further, I need to tell you something.”
You finally relaxed. “Okay.”
“I wasn’t just a sorcerer.” He swallowed. “Sukuna was inside me—the curse everyone was afraid of. He’s gone now, but he was there. I had to carry him so he could stay caged. But people died because of him. Because of me too, sometimes. I don’t know how to separate it cleanly.”
The tea bottle clicked suddenly as the gas settled, making you almost jump out of your skin.
You turned back to him and asked, “Is this a metaphor?”
“No.” He frowned.
“Because if this is a very weird virginity panic thing, I’m going to hit you with the pillow.”
A laugh broke out of him too fast and came apart at the end. He pressed the heel of his hand into one eye.
You moved closer then, carefully, and touched the scar again.
“Yuji.”
“Yeah?”
“I loved you when you bought melon pan and apologized better than the boy who kissed me first.” Your thumb moved once over the raised skin. “I can handle your curses.”
His mouth trembled before he hid it against your shoulder.
The futon stayed untouched for another hour.
That was fine. You had time.
The End
Bonus
Then the knock came before he could undress you.
Three soft taps.
Yuji went still against you.
You looked toward the door. “Expecting someone?”
His hand slid from your wrist to your waist and held tight enough to hurt. “No.”
Another knock.
The next second the door broke down with a loud sound.
Then a voice from the hallway, low and familiar, turned the room cold. “Yo, Yuji. Missed me?”
Yuji’s face emptied of his soul.
Outside the door, Fushiguro Megumi smiled with stitches across his forehead.
A/N: How do you like my curse technique, readers? JK, feel free to not take the lines from the "knock" as this AU's canon. But seriously, the line was inspired by fan art by @/KoaBoaaa.
Let me know which ending you took—the good or the dark?
Ch 1 | Ch 2
Masterlist
Dividers are mine, engagement banners are from @saradika-graphics; images are from anime & Pinterest.
Seeing him with her, whatever her name was. From his middle school. Pretty, slimmer, she dressed so neat, nice. She understood why it wasn't her. There was history between them.
Her? She was new, something unfamiliar in an already overwhelming and confusing world he was thrusted into. She wasn't... normal, like her. She isn't familiar with a world that isn't fighting.
Until him. Yes, he had incredible strength. Yes, he was special despite the fact that he was new to this whole curse thing. But he was so normal. He loved things with such a strong emotion.
He loved movies, and sushi, and those Earthworm movies, his old but trusty shoes, and the color red. He didn't care for what he did despite being good at it and wanting to save.
But the two just... fit together. She didn't fit with him, at all. He was good, too good, normal, bright, every positive adjective that came to mind. It wasn't like she wasn't, but not like that.
She looks up as someone calls her name. There he stood, that girl beside him, holding onto his arm. They both smiled, and she could help but to smile back. "You coming?"
She shakes her head, making him falter as she stood. Not like she could see, too busy stemming over emotion and turmoil to see his concerned and disappointed expression.
yuuji won't normally admit he's jealous. he won't admit he's jealous at all.
it's stupid. all megumi did was go to gojo sensei for cuddles (a hug, but it always evolves to the former when gojos involved) post mission. it was a difficult mission, and gojo sensei is his father in every way but blood. its megumis right.
so yuuji doesn't know why he's jealous. he tells nobara that, naturally.
she shrugs. "maybe you're jealous that he has a parental figure to take care of him and youve never had one." ouch. she's blunt as usual, but it's necessary.
"thats never bothered me before." he groans.
she smirks. "maybe its because you've gotten close to gojo sensei. you probably see him as some sort of father figure, don't you? its just jealousy because he doesn't reciprocate." blunt again. thanks kugisaki.
"fuck. i hate this feeling." yuuji falls back onto the mattress of nobara's comfy bed, earning a scowl from her. "how don't you get jealous?"
nobara pauses. "i do. god, yuuji, of course i do. you've just got to deal with it and move on."
that's obviously not the response yuuji wanted with how his face transforms into a grimace.
"fine. i guess im stuck dealing with it. i mean, its normal, right? every teenager wants a dad."
nobara snorts. "most of them already have dads, yuuji."
"not my point! im just saying, im not crazy for being jealous, at least-"
"dont you have, like, nanami?" nobara says, curious. she always thought the older man would naturally become a father figure to yuuji.
he groans at that.
"he doesn't...its not like that."
put aside whatever jealousy he's feeling with megumi and gojo sensei, his situation with nanamin sucks wayyy more and he does not want to think about it.
to be honest, yuuji did see the blond as some kind of parent figure at first. or at least thought that kind of bond would develop over time. the man watched over him, helped him train, even allowed yuuji to vent his feelings to him a couple of times! he thought nanamin wouldn't mind deepening their bond, seeing as the other man didn't seem to have much family either.
he thought wrong. nanami was still as closed off as ever. he trained yuuji, yes, and monitored him carefully, but that was it. he rejected his offers to grab lunch, didn't engage in the casual small talk yuuji tried to start, and just...didn't tell yuuji anything about himself. when the pink haired boy asked him what movies he liked to watch, he simply told him to focus on their training session! he thought he would eventually melt the older man's icey walls, but maybe he just always saw him as some annoying kid.
it was exhausting. yuuji just wanted a father someone to watch over him. like megumi has gojo.
nobara hums. "what does that mean?"
yuuji grabs one of her ultra-soft pillows and buries his face into it. "dun wanna talk ab'ut this" comes out muffled.
the three reasons yuji itadori stayed, and the one reason he couldn’t.
needless to say, yuji itadori was every girl’s type. handsome, funny, kind— yuji was the type of boy you wouldn’t hesitate to bring home. mothers loved him, children adored him, and you? well... you loved him. at least that’s what he tells himself every night before he goes to bed.
you and yuji had known each other since you were children. he had grown accustomed to your habits and your fussy attitude. both your families have always known you two were made for each other. from the second you’d met, you clicked immediately. yuji’s first reason. because his mind simply didn’t believe that you two weren’t fated for each other. you went to the same school, rode the same bus, lived in the same neighborhood, were classmates for years, and you were even in the same friend group, not to mention how everyone expected you to be the perfect, untouchable couple. the two of you were meant to know each other. the universe was practically shoving you together. it simply didn’t make sense for whatever higher being or supernatural force it was, to set all that up, only for the two of you to not end up together.
and so came yuji’s second reason. you were all he’d ever known. honestly, he thought you were all he’d ever need to know. the more time you spend with someone, the harder it is to imagine your life without them, and so naturally, yuji thought you were his. for a lifetime. for this lifetime. in retrospect, he sees how stupid it is. but he was fifteen and dumb, and so were you. so he doesn’t blame you for it— more like he can’t. because yuji itadori, the gentleman that he is, could never hate you.
which is exactly what yuji’s third reason is. he simply doesn’t have an ounce of hatred in his perfectly chiseled bones, and certainly not for you. no matter how hard his friends convinced him that you were bad for him, that you were toxic, that you were this and that, yuji’s mind simply did not function like that. he believed that if you truly loved a person, that love would stay within you always. maybe it’d get smaller, or perhaps get buried with all the love you have for other things, but love wasn’t something you could get rid of. his understanding of love was that similar of a scar; imperfect, yes, yet resilient. timeless, if you will, because to love is to endure and feel and wait. and wait, he did. for 6 years, yuji waited. he practically gave you his youth.
and so on your 18th birthday, he finally musters up the courage. he’d ask you out. the stars shone brightly as they decorated the evening sky, the breeze dancing around the two of you as you both sat up on the rooftop of your house. 12:32 AM. yuji sighs.
“i like you.”
“...i know.”
“do you...”
“i can’t give you what you want, ‘ji.” your voice cuts through like a knife, and despite the message, yuji hopes. he clings onto the use of his nickname like his life depends on it. slowly, subconsciously, he looks at your face for traces of familiarity. not love, neither adoration, just... plain familiarity.
he comes short.
“i get that.” yuji looks down, fidgeting with his fingers. he lied. he doesn’t get it, but yuji’s nothing if not a gentleman. he’d rather lie than put you in an awkward position. “i just figured...” he trails, ending up in a scoff. “figured i’d at least try, you know?”
and finally, you look at him. tears well up in his waterline as his gaze avoids yours. if you look closely enough, you can see his heart breaking and God, you never meant for it to come to this. you let out a shaky breath as you wrap your arms around him, unable to speak.
yuji shrugs your arms off, giving you a slight chuckle. “i’m good, i’m good. sorry, i just...”
“no, come on, ‘ji. don’t be difficult. let me console you,” and there it is again— that stupid, stupid, stupid term of endearment. you wrap your arms around him once more, bringing your bodies closer together, only this time, yuji can’t find it in himself to reject you. he lets you hug him as he sniffs, clearing his throat. he tries his hardest to pull himself together.
“i’m really sorry—”
“shh, shh. don’t worry about that right now.” you lay your head against his back as he slouches, pressing your cheek against the warm, navy blue hoodie of his that he wears like a uniform. “but you do know why i’m doing this, yeah?”
he nods, eyes finally meeting yours for the first time tonight as he looks back at you. “you’re not ready.”
you bite your lip, gaze lowering almost in shame. “everything i touch turns to ashes,” you say, “i can’t lose you like i have everything else.”
yuji knew all too well about your constant attempts at self sabotage. truthfully, it was one of the things you loved most about him. despite everything, he stayed. despite everything, he chose to understand and love you.
because love is a choice, and yuji itadori wakes up everyday to choose you.
“you could never lose me,” he says.
“this way, i won’t have to.” you blink up at him, lips wobbling as you start to tear up.
“for what it’s worth, ‘ji, if i could choose anyone, it’d be you.”
he has as much energy as them, so he’ll run around with them constantly, which helps when you want to put them to bed early. he’ll take part in any game or creative imagination the kid has conjured up.
a tea party? okay, he’ll be the king. oh, he’s getting a call from elmo? he takes the the small toy phone into his hands and has a full on conversation with him. and lastly, he loves just picking them up into his arms and airplaning them around the house.
it’s why when you first saw him interact with kids, you couldn’t help but almost tear up at the sight. it’s like him and the kid would match each others energy, bouncing off the walls together. and you didn’t miss the way the kid would automatically smile and reach their grabby hands up for him as soon as you two entered.
and when you looked at yuuji, you just knew, he would be a perfect dad.
maybe you two were too young to even be thinking about that. kids thinking about having kids is crazy. but you didn’t want kids now of course, but when you were older. you guys kinda had your future planned out for each other. you can call it cute, wholesome, or optimistic. but either way, you knew you wanted to spend your life with itadori yuuji.
but can people really blame you? living in a world full of curses and being a sorcerer meant that any moment could be your last, every breath could be your last, and every smile could be your last.
that’s why whenever you and yuuji were together, you’d spend it like it was your last.
you were already head over heels for him, but seeing him be so playful…so innocent with not just kids, but with you, it struck a chord in your heart in a repetitive thrum. and you found yourself constantly wanting that same melody to played.
you guys were kids, but with what you did for a living, you were forced to act anything but. which is why you loved these kind of moments. the moments where you can do simple teenager things, you know, actually act your age.
the mental and physical toll of being a sorcerer was hard on you both, especially yuuji. and it was your job to hold him up whenever he fell down.
“boy or girl?”
he looks up from his milkshake, eyes landing in your own as you sit across from him. the comforting diner offering a sense of peacefulness. he mulls over your words before answering. “either.”
an eye roll. “no, pick. if you had to choose one, boy or girl?”
“and what is the context of this situation?” his head tilts in that adorable way you love, pink hair ruffled after he runs a hand through it.
“children.” you say.
he stills for a moment, eyes just locked with yours. the silence is deafening, but not tense. it’s like he’s trying to decide if you’re being serious or not. because in all honesty, he had no idea you wanted kids. which is a little ironic since you talked about your future all the time, and kids just found themselves drawn towards him whenever you guys hung out with your side of the family. but, for some reason, having kids of his own one day felt odd, felt strange.
his lips purse and eyes travel to the ceiling. “i guess, if i had to pick, maybe….a girl?”
your head tilts. “not a boy?”
“well, i wouldn’t care. i would love them equally.”
“but you want a girl.”
“i’d want anything, as long as i get to have it with you.” he looks at you again, dopey smile on his face. “if it was a girl, i’d have two precious girls in my life. if it was a boy, i’d have a little warrior.”
you smile back. “the girl can’t be a warrior too?”
“she’ll be my precious warrior.” he says, hand reaching across the table to find yours, fingers interlacing like its second nature. “just like you.”
and god does he always know what to say to get your cheeks red, embarrassed. “and what if i want a boy?”
his thumbs rubs across the back of your palm, sliding the milkshake over to you, to which you sip from. “then we’ll have both.”
“how can you be sure we’ll have both?”
“i’m not, but anything is possible with you.”
your eyebrow raises playfully. “you’re really sweet today, huh?”
his eyes roll and he scoffs. “baby please, i’m always sweet.”
and well, he’s right. he’s always sweet, always thoughtful, always perfect when it came to you. you loved him so much, it felt like you couldn’t ever love anything more than him.
but years later, that all changes when you two first see the sonograms. how can you love something you’ve never even seen, touched, felt? but that’s what a parental love is all about, isn’t it?
you instantly feel protective, like you want to shield them from the cruelness of this world. like you’ll do anything for them, including….dying. however sometimes, you can’t protect them.
itadori’s world stops, shatters and crumbles as he hears the news. he doesn’t even feel his legs moving but suddenly, he’s no longer in the comfort of your guys’ home, but in the hospital. the nurses and security are nothing compared to his strength, the strength of a father, and the strength of a husband.
it’s almost insulting, or comical. after everything you two have been through, one would think a sorcerer would die from fighting a curse, not from a drunk driver.
burying people has never been a foreign concept to him. but you know what is?
burying three people all in one casket. his wife and unborn twins. a boy and a girl.
