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There was no way. No fucking way.
It was simply impossible that all Yuuji’s efforts to clear his mind (including but not limited to: meditation, counting backwards from 100, mentally chanting the Buddhist Sutra while skipping alternate words) whenever a certain someone leant just a little too close into Yuuji’s space could not stop Sukuna from sniffing out the butterflies that had begun living in his stomach.
From where Megumi sat next to Yuuji, he leant closer to peer at the pink haired boy.
His eyelashes are so pretty, Yuuji feels the thought come to him unbidden, wrenched out of his attempt at peaceful meditation.
When Yuuji had agreed to let the other boy tutor him on how to make simple warding charms, he did not think it would need this level of proximity, with them both fit snugly into the same side of a the small Japanese kotatsu in Yuuji’s room. With the limited space available, Megumi practically sat on him, with his left leg fully pressed lengthwise against Yuuji’s right one, his shoulder tucked almost into Yuuji’s chest.
‘Yuuji,’ Megumi said, a small (adorable) crease forming between his brows. ‘Are you listening to me?’
‘A-ah, yes!’ Yuuji winced. Even to his own ears that sounded way too high to be natural.
Internally, Yuuji screamed. Why would Megumi need to sit right next to him to teach him charm drawing anyway! Why couldn’t his beautiful, intelligent, kind friend sit across from him like a normal person and spare him all this anguish?
He felt the King of Curses rouse from his slumber like a beast rearing its head at the scent of easy prey.
Yuuji could feel, rather than see, Sukuna’s smirk. Shit.
Shut up. He pre-emptively thinks.
Pathetic. Sukuna scoffed. To think that my mortal vessel would be such a pathetic, impotent coward. You’re not satisfied with betraying your friend’s trust by lusting over him like some depraved dog, so you make it worse by not even having the guts to just take him and ravage him like he deserves. The shame.
Shut. Up. Yuuji thinks with more venom. I’m not lusting over him-
And he really wasn’t, damn Sukuna for always forcing his mind into the gutter! His thoughts on Megumi were of a pure, make-him-a-warm-home-cooked-dinner-every-day-for-the-rest-of-their-hopefully-but-probably-not-long-lives variety, thank you very much.
That’s… kind of worse, brat.
‘Yuuji, if you’re not going to pay attention I’m going to get Nobara to teach you instead.’
‘I am!’ Yuuji spluttered. He put a hand at the back of his head sheepishly. ‘Sorry, er, it’s just really tricky! Charms, real complicated stuff, you know?’
Megumi’s expression did not change, but Yuuji thought he gave off a distinctly unimpressed air.
‘We’ve only just started, Yuuji. Are you sure you’re alright?’At that, the dark haired boy pushes Yuuji’s hair aside with gentle fingers, then presses the back of his hand onto the latter’s forehead. His face was suddenly mere inches away, so close his breath tickled Yuuji’s cheeks.
Yuuji thinks he might explode.
HELP.
You really want me to, brat?
Yuuji’s head is abruptly filled with images of exactly what the King of Curses thought would constitute ‘helpful’ at the moment. Many of which Yuuji thought he might not be legally allowed to see at the tender and innocent age of fifteen. Yuuji yelps.
‘I- I have to go to the toilet!’ Yuuji shouts, leaping to his feet and damn near upending the kotatsu he and Megumi had been sat cozily under. Megumi raises a perplexed eyebrow. ‘I’ll be right back!’
And with that, he dashes out of the room to give his face a cold splash and Sukuna a good scolding.
A hour of flustered unproductivity later, Yuuji is asleep, sprawled across the low table scattered with mediocre charms after begging off for a break.
Next to him, Megumi stares fondly. How he falls asleep so quickly, Megumi will never know.
At least the pink haired boy had seemed to be able to gradually relax into Megumi’s side as the session progressed. That, Megumi supposed, was a start. At least he could casually (but quite purposefully) hold Yuuji’s hand while ‘guiding’ him without Yuuji visibly short-circuiting. That’s progress, right?
With a sigh, he considers the dozing boy who was still tucked close beside him, feeling his gaze trail from the soft, mussed pink of his hair to the gentle slope of his nape, to the light tan line at the base of his neck exposed by a loose t-shirt, to the unexpectedly sharp jawline and tiny trickle of drool escaping from slightly parted lips.
Megumi buried his face in his hands. God he liked him. He liked him so much it was unfair.
A mouth with sharp teeth yawns into existence on Yuuji’s forearm.
‘You’re wasting your time. The brat isn’t exactly going to push you onto the nearest flat surface and have you how he wants.’
Megumi’s cheeks tinted red.
‘That’s not- That wasn’t not my goal, King of Curses.’
‘Well, whatever it is you’re doing, try harder. You don’t have to live with always hearing his pathetic pining. Word of advice, Fushiguro, just spell it out for him. Our boy is a little slow.’ One of the slits under Yuuji’s eyes open, a dark red eye swiveling towards him. ‘Or damn the kid and just take what you want already.’
Megumi frowned, head tilting slightly in an unspoken request for clarification. The mouth of Sukuna grins wide.
‘If he’s too stupid to fuck you, you can pin him down and have your way. I promise you he won’t mind too–‘ The rest of the Sukuna’s sagely advice borne of a millennia of experience is muffled into silence as Megumi clamped a hand down onto the mouth, ears reddening furiously.
Yuuji snores on.