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randomprose · 1 year ago

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// part 3 of platonic itafushikugi. set after the kyoto goodwill school event//

i. the one where nobara and megumi cope | ii. the one about yuuji

In the days concluding the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event, Nobara and Yuuji had camped in the infirmary beside a bed-ridden Megumi until Shoko declared him clear of all the residue of the cursed buds that special grade curse planted in him and promptly kicked them all out.

They insisted on hanging out in Megumi’s room after that, even taking all their meals together by his bedside.

Nobara and Yuuji enter his room each carrying breakfast trays with bowls of food. Nobara’s has two bowls of gyudon over rice, two bowls of miso soup, and a plate of meatballs which she puts down on the floor as she sits down. Yuuji puts his tray over at Megumi’s lap and the latter frowns when he sees it only has a bowl of clear soup and a plate of cut-up fruits on the side.

“The pizza last time might have been a bad idea,” Yuuji sheepishly says as he sits down in front of Nobara who’s already dug in.

Megumi makes an annoyed noise but doesn’t contest. He did end up throwing up later in the day after that box of pizza.

“Ieri-san said you no greasy food and nothing too heavy for a week.”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it.” Megumi grumbles as he brings the bowl to his lip, sipping at the broth miserably.

Yuuji tells him it’s bone broth. It’s not bad. It’s quite good even. Just the right amount of flavor even without meat and just a couple of sliced vegetables. Yuuji is a decent cook and Megumi has yet to eat anything bad he’s made. It’s just that…his mouth is looking for something more as he looks down and sees Nobara pick up a meatball with her chopsticks.

“Hey, is that—”

“Not for you and yes it’s Itadori’s ginger meatballs,” Nobara cuts Megumi off and is unaffected by the following scowl. “You can have a bit of rice but that’s it. No meat for you yet.”

“Tch. You didn’t even help make these. Who made you in charge?”

“Hey!” Nobara points her chopsticks menacingly at Megumi. “I helped!”

“Bringing the food here doesn’t count.”

“I cut up the fruits!”

“Oh, yeah. Big help.”

“Alright then, tough guy. I’ll do the cooking next time. See how you like it.”

“That’s—” Megumi deflates, remembering the last time Nobara was in charge of dinner. “Right. Sorry. Don’t do the cooking ever.”

“That’s what I thought, you—hey!” Nobara flicks a grain of rice at Megumi. “What’s wrong with my cooking?!”

Nobara and Megumi argue throughout dinner while Yuuji laughs, glad that he isn’t the one involved in the argument and genuinely finding his friends’ verbal sparring hilarious. Nobara ends up caving towards the end of it and granting Megumi half of a meatball. She thinks his small, content smile while he chews on the bit of meat is a good consolation and reminds herself to make him take a stomach pill before bed.

Megumi attempts to get up and help with the clean up but Yuuji gently pushes him down.

“What are you doing, moron?” Nobara scolds him as she stacks up the bowls. “Don’t worry about it. We got this. Just stay right there and don’t move.”

“Sorry, Fushiguro. Doctor’s orders and honestly I’m kinda scared of Ieri-san.”

Megumi doesn’t hide the displease on his face and his tone when he says, “I’m not an invalid.”

“Well, you kinda are right now. So.” She shrugs. “Just do as we say and don’t get in our way. At the rate we’re going, you’ll find a way to repay one of us sooner or later.”

This practice of not letting Megumi do anything continues. Yuuji and Nobara are practically at his every beck and call, albeit very reluctantly and outwardly annoyed on the latter’s part, even for the simplest things like getting the TV remote or handing him his phone after it finished charging. And for someone who’s used to doing everything practically on his own since he was a child, it’s just about driving Megumi up the wall and near insanity. They only finally let up on him when he bursts out after Yuuji tries helping him go to the toilet.

“I can fucking pee on my own, Itadori!”

Yuuji’s hands are frozen to where he is moving to help Megumi up. His hands drop to his sides with a deflated “Oh. Right. Sorry.” and Megumi soldiers through the guilt of blowing up on his friend’s face who he knows only has the best of intentions.

Megumi throws his feet over the bed and just barely keeps from wincing at the sharp pain that shoots to his sides. He braces a hand against his bedside table, white-knuckling the edge, as he psyches himself to stand up. When he does, un unbearable pain flares up in his torso and he stumbles back to his bed with a gasp and a shiver as his body breaks out in cold sweat.

Nobara, who’s standing by the side watching the scene unfold, has finally had it and lets out an annoyed ‘tch’.

“Itadori,” she calls out to the boy hovering unsure by the bed and looking helplessly at Megumi. “Help him up.”

“I said I can—”

“Listen, dipshit. The sooner you recover, the sooner you can get us out of your hair,” she says, leveling Megumi with her meanest glare. “Now, do as we say and just be grateful you have two wonderful friends taking care of you.”

“Fushiguro?” Yuuji calls out, still hesitant. “Can I…?”

Megumi doesn’t answer for a bit as he catches his breath and lets the pain slowly subside. It’s silent except for his heaving breaths while Yuuji and Nobara just hover at the side.

“You’re right,” he sighs after a while, sounding resigned. “I…I’m sorry. I am grateful. Really, I am. It’s just—I…” He seems to struggle for a bit, trying to find his words before he settles with a quiet, “Thanks.”

“Hm? What’s that? I don’t think we heard you.” Nobara teases, cupping a hand over her ear. “Right, Itadori?”

“Yeah, we didn’t quite catch that, dude. The cicadas are really loud tonight. Say that again?”

Megumi, still half lying down, turns his head to glare at them. “You guys suck. Get out of my room.” His glare eases up when he remembers that he still has to pee. “Right after Itadori helps me to the bathroom.”

For some reason, there’s an unspoken rule that Nobara is in charge of cleaning and changing Megumi’s bandage, and once, in a rare act of charity, she offers to wash his hair.

Megumi agrees and lets her if only because he’s already feeling really gross and bothered by how long he hasn’t washed his hair since he can’t take a shower lest he wets his bandages.

With Yuuji’s help, they get him settled over his sink. Someone has the foresight to put a rolled-up towel by the sink’s edge so Megumi’s nape has something to rest on instead of directly on the cold hard porcelain.

Nobara makes a face at the 3-in-1 drugstore shampoo she discovers Megumi uses and promptly decides that will not do. She leaves Megumi, head tilted back with his hair under the running tap, and returns with two bottles.

“Listen, I normally don’t like to share my products because they’re expensive but I’ll make an exception just this once.” She puts the bottles by the sink and pops open the cap in one of them. “Sakura scent, okay? You’re not allergic or anything?”

“No, it’s fine, but what’s wrong with my shampoo?”

“Fushiguro, you use the cheap 3-in-1 drugstore kind,” Nobara says in a tone that implies something is very wrong with that. “What, do you also use it as a body wash?”

“Well.” Megumi looks at Nobara like the answer is obvious. “Yeah.”

“Dude,” Yuuji says with the same horrified look Nobara is giving Megumi. “Why do you hate yourself?”

“Damn.” Why did I think Gojo-sensei raised you better than this.”

“What? It’s economical!” Megumi reasons, sounding defensive when even Yuuji comments on it. “And it was on sale!”

“Man, at least get a proper conditioner.”

“Shut up, Itadori. As if you don’t buy your toiletries at the sale bin.”

“Excuse you! I take my hair care very seriously! How do you think I keep my hair healthy after consistently dying it?” Yuuji jumps to his defense. “Plus! It’s strawberry-scented! Sometimes peach. To match the color to the smell. Also because I like smelling fruity.”

“Yeah, you’re fruity alright.” Nobara snickers which pries a chuckle out of Megumi as well. “But good job on that, Itadori. I’m actually kind of proud of you right now.”

“Thank you.”

Nobara’s hands are thorough as they card through Megumi’s head with her Sakura-scented shampoo—which Megumi will admit does smell way better than his ‘sporty aquatic aroma with clean citrus notes, underlined with warm woods and musk’ and whatever masculine bullshit scent was listed on it shampoo. He fingers massages his scalp with short trimmed nails lightly scratching at it in a way that has Megumi closing his eyes for reasons other than to not get the suds on his eyes. That coupled with her and Yuuji’s low conversing voice and the sound of running water as she rinses his hair to apply conditioner next is enough to lull Megumi to a half sleep.

A couple more minutes later, Megumi feels a light tap on the side of his face and he slowly blinks his eyes open. Nobara tells him she’s done and doesn’t comment on his dazed eyes as they help him sit up so Yuuji can towel dry his hair.

Megumi fully wakes when Nobara and Yuuji laugh themselves to tears at his wet look, and then again at his towel-dried hair, before Nobara finally blow-dried it for him—at which point they realize Megumi’s hair just spikes up naturally and is not at all the work of hair gel or any hair products.

Yuuji and Nobara laugh about it until they are wheezing and bent by the waist. Megumi sat through it annoyed and scowling at first before finally deciding that, yeah, it is a little funny.

“You didn’t see him, Kugisaki. I—the plants they—” Yuuji heaves a shaky sigh as he goes to turn on the rice cooker. “They were coming out of Fushiguro in thick stems. It was like he was stabbed by multiple swords if the blades had vicious flower buds in them. It was like straight out of a gory nature horror movie.”

“Stuff of nightmares, huh?” Nobara comments, remembering how Megumi talked about seeing Sukuna ripping Yuuji’s heart and Yuuji plopping lifeless right in front of him. “You guys really have seen each other at your worst, huh?”

Worst so far.

Yuuji chuckles humorlessly. “I guess you could say that.”

Nobara hums. “Hm. Must be cursed energy residue of those plants. I’ll ask Ieri-san about it.”

She sends Shoko a text and gets confirmation that she’s right. Shoko assures her it’s nothing serious and perfectly normal. In fact, it’s good that his body is dispelling it, and tells her to just make sure he doesn’t hurt himself in the process. Nobara tells this to Yuuji and expresses her annoyance at Megumi still refusing to ask for help.

“Yeah, well,” Yuuji shrugs as he stirs the pot of miso soup. “That’s Megumi.”

“He’s an idiot is what he is,” Nobara grits, clutching her phone thoughtfully. “Alright. That’s it. We’re sleeping in his room tonight. I’ll take the wall and you take the edge of the bed just in case.”

“Just in case what?”

“Just in case he needs to barf in the middle of the night, you can guide him to the bathroom.”

“What? Why me?!”

“Because I don’t want cursed energy puke on me.”

“And you think I want it on me?!”

“You literally have the King of Curses inside you. You’ll be fine.”

“That doesn’t even make sense! I don’t want cursed guts on me either! It’ll be a bitch and a half to get out!”

“Rock, Paper, Scissors?”

“Best of three. Let’s go.”

(Yuuji loses three out of three and proposes a best of five. He still loses.)

Nobara crosses over to the boys’ dormitory with her laptop, a pillow, and a blanket. She was about to knock in Yuuji’s room when she hears his voice from Megumi’s room and decides to go straight there instead.

“Knock, knock. I’m coming in,” she says to announce her presence before closing the door behind her. She walks to Megumi’s bed and dumps her pillow and blanket on the space by the wall. “I’m sleeping here tonight, but let’s watch a movie first.”

“Wha—”

“Hey, no fair!” Yuuji protests from where he’s sprawled on the floor by Megumi’s bed surrounded by manga and some other shounen magazines. “I wanna sleep here too!”

“Oi! What’s with this? I never said—”

Megumi’s protests fall on deaf ears as Yuuji rushes to get his own set of pillows and blanket while Nobara scrolls through their shared Netflix account. There’s a scowl on Megumi’s face when Yuuji gets back and positions his pillow on Megumi’s other side by the edge of the bed.

“Scooch over a little, man. My ass is hanging off the edge.”

“That’s because this bed is not meant to fit three people!”

“Shut up and get comfortable already. I’m gonna start the movie!”

“Pray tell, Kugisaki, how we’re gonna get comfortable in a twin-size bed.”

“Tch. You’re such a whiner. Here.” Nobara perches the laptop on Megumi’s lap. She maneuvers herself on her side as she gently tugs Megumi closer to her leaning her head on his arm while Yuuji mirrors her position at Megumi’s other side, both mindful of their friend’s injury. “Everyone comfortable? Yes. Okay. I’m pressing play.”

“Why does it have to be in my bed?” Megumi grumbles settling down as well, apparently resigned by the fact his stupid friends will be invading his space for the night. “Why couldn’t we just watch in the common room?”

“Because, dumbass, moving you there and back here will just be too much trouble and we’ll probably fall asleep halfway anyway so might as well just watch it here.”

“Tch. What are we even watching anyway?”

“March of the Penguins.”

“...Fine.”

“Man, you’re so easy.” Nobara snickers along with Yuuji.

“Shut up and press play already or I’ll kick you both out.”

Nobara falls asleep not even halfway through the documentary while Yuuji makes it until a quarter of it. Megumi silently shuts off the laptop when it’s finished but it still startles both Nobara and Yuuji awake.

“Oh, you guys finished it?”

“I finished it. You guys fell asleep halfway through.”

“Hey, I lasted longer than Kugisaki.”

“Whatever.” Megumi rolls his eyes, but it’s extremely fond. Why bother watching a documentary if they’re just going to sleep right through it? Idiots the two of them. Megumi’s extremely considerate idiots. “Thanks.”

Yuuji takes the laptop and stands to put it away on Megumi’s study table and turns off the light, replying a half-hearted “Yes, yes” to Nobara’s threats of skinning him alive if he drops it. Megumi already has his eyes closed and is breathing evenly when he settles back in bed. Yuuji watches the steady rise and fall of his chest. When he snakes an arm over Megumi’s body to rest on his torso, his hand brushes against Nobara’s hand already there.

Across Megumi, he meets Nobara’s eyes. She’s using Megumi’s arm as a pillow, her cheek squished against his shoulder. Her hand shifts to squeeze his under the blanket and Yuuji is reminded of their conversation over dinner prep.

Nobara mouths, ‘He’s fine. Stop worrying. Go back to sleep.’ and Yuuji was about to reply when Megumi speaks.

“I can hear you guys.”

“Wha—we weren’t even saying anything.”

“I can just tell you’re talking.”

“Wow, Fushiguro. Are you an ESP too or something? Is that another curse technique of yours? Another family lineage or some shit? Wow. You really are a prodigy.”

“Shut up, Kugusaki. You’re literally using me as a pillow. I felt your mouth move. You guys are noisy even when you’re trying to be quiet.”

“Careful, Fushiguro. My hands are over your injury, you know.”

“You wouldn’t. You’re above hurting the injured.”

“Am I?”

“You’ll have to redo the bandages.”

“Fine. I won’t pinch you then.”

“How merciful.”

It’s silent then. Nobara and Yuuji’s hands are still intertwined above Megumi’s bandaged torso.

“Itadori said you’ve been puking.”

Nobara feels Megumi’s chest heave and his mouth open to spout his denials before she cuts him off.

“Don’t lie. He said he heard you.”

“I’m literally right next door, dude. And the walls aren’t that thick.”

Megumi makes an offended noise and tries to shoot Yuuji a betrayed look.

“What? I heard you retching bad! You didn’t expect me to not tell Kugisaki and do something about it, did you?!”

“I asked Ieri-sensei about it. It’s nothing serious. Says it’s actually good that you’re body is getting rid of the excess cursed energy. Just…” Nobara sighs. Her hand untangles from Yuuji and moves up to lightly pinch Megumi’s cheek before giving it an affectionate tap. Megumi’s getting sleepy enough to not react to it. “Just ask for help next time, alright? Or at least let Itadori know since he’s closest. It’d be embarrassing for you to die choking on your own puke after surviving a special-grade curse.”

“Not to mention disgusting,” Yuuji adds, shifting closer and resting his head on Megumi’s other shoulder.

“Do you really want ‘choked on his own sick’ written on your death certificate? That would be so lame even for you, Fushiguro.”

“Plus, I’m pretty sure Gojo-sensei will never let you live it down.”

“Fuck.” Megumi breathes out. “Fuck. Fine, I get it. You’re right.”

“It’s good that you finally see our point.” Nobara’s hand doesn’t leave Megumi’s face and in his groggy state, he leans into her touch. It’s uncharacteristically cute that she finds her lips quirking at the corners “So, quit being stubborn already, okay?”

“‘Kay.”

Nobara makes a contented hum while Yuuji hides his grin pressed against the sleeve of Fushiguro’s sleep shirt.

“Alright. Let’s sleep. Good night, you two.”

“Good night!”

Megumi only manages to mumble a half-slurred “g’night”, already halfway to sleep as he’s lulled by the warmth of his friends by his side and the low timbre of their voices reminding him he’s loved and safe.

#jjk #jujutsu kaisen #itafushikugi #itadori yuuji #fushiguro megumi #kugisaki nobara #jjk first years #writing #your honor they are my babies #the next installment will be about my best girl nobara #i miss them :<

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