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love doesn't burn

Summary:

Megumi stands in front of Yuuji's door, shame-faced and meek.

It is three in the morning.

"I'm sorry," Megumi says miserably.

"I keep telling you," Yuuji smiles sleepily. "You don't have to apologize."

And then black blooms across his skin in harsh, jagged lines.

Sukuna hardly takes any time to adjust to Yuuji's body now. He rolls his shoulders and flexes his fingers and rests his gaze on Megumi's shivering form.

"You poor thing." Sukuna sounds uncomfortably sincere. "It's been too long, hasn't it?"

Notes:

title from square by mitski

Work Text:

Megumi stands in front of Yuuji's door, shame-faced and meek.

It is three in the morning.

"I'm sorry," Megumi says miserably.

"I keep telling you," Yuuji smiles sleepily. "You don't have to apologize."

And then black blooms across his skin in harsh, jagged lines.

Sukuna hardly takes any time to adjust to Yuuji's body now. He rolls his shoulders and flexes his fingers and rests his gaze on Megumi's shivering form.

"You poor thing." Sukuna sounds uncomfortably sincere. "It's been too long, hasn't it?"

He almost sounds regretful.

Megumi grits his teeth and tries to hide his trembling hands in his sleeves. He knows he's failed when Sukuna's eyes dart down to track the movement.

"That's why I'm here," Megumi mutters. "Can I come in now? Let's make this quick."

Sukuna looks over him, carefully, and tsks.

"You can come in," Sukuna begins, "but you'll be alone while I forage something from whatever food the brat has. You got thinner."

Megumi presses his lips into a flat line, but nods sharply.

There's a pause.

"Will you be alright?" Sukuna asks bluntly, breaking the silence.

Megumi bristles; he doesn't like being looked down upon.

"I can sit still and wait like a good little boy," Megumi sneers. "I'm not a child, Sukuna."

"Then stop acting like one." Sukuna doesn't even snap the retort; he only intones it calmly and patiently.

Megumi huffs.

"I'll be fine," Megumi says, once it becomes obvious that Sukuna's willing to wait as long as it takes to get a reply. "I just want to get this over with."

At this, Sukuna smiles. It's a subtle movement, just the upwards quirk of his lips.

"One would think you don't need this."

Sukuna's voice is light like he's teasing, but there's an unspoken weight to his words.

Megumi can snark and whine as much as he wants, but the undeniable truth is that he sought Sukuna out on his own.

He may be shaking and snarling like an addict experiencing withdrawals but—

"I'm sorry," Megumi mutters lowly. He stares down at his feet. "I do."

Mercifully, Sukuna doesn't push him to continue. Instead, he curls a finger under Megumi's chin and tilts his head up to meet his gaze.

"You don't have to apologize," Sukuna says, echoing Yuuji's words.

Sukuna considers Megumi thoughtfully and nods to himself.

"I'll return soon," Sukuna says. He nudges Megumi over the threshold of Yuuji's room. "Be good for me now, dove."

Megumi is thankful that Sukuna has already turned away; those words were enough to make his breath hitch.

Yuuji's room is always unexpectedly tidy.

There's a few stacks of books in the corner and some of his posters are peeling, but his bed is neat and plenty inviting.

Megumi slides his slippers off and climbs onto the bed, curling up in the warm spot in the center.

He breathes.

The scent of citrus and spice are the most prominent on Yuuji's pillow, but there are underlying hints of burning jasmine and anise if Megumi focuses hard enough.

The smoky, ancient scent doesn't suit Yuuji, but Megumi likes it.

He breathes a little deeper and closes his eyes.

Like this, Megumi can feel himself begin to drift. It's not drifting in the sense of being untethered from the world, which is a feeling he's familiar with and fears.

Instead, it's like floating in the space just before nirvana.

Megumi's uneasiness melts away; his mind quiets.

No one expects anything from him right now. No one expects him to be strong or great or more.

It's just Megumi, tucked away in this little corner of the world during that odd time where it's too late to be day but too early to be night.

Well.

It's just Megumi and—

"Angel."

Sukuna's voice is full of quiet amusement.

Megumi opens his eyes and watches Sukuna approach the bed through bleary vision.

"You said you would be good for me," Sukuna says, settling near Megumi's hip. "But, as always, you've impressed me. You're absolutely precious, angel."

Megumi blinks lazily as Sukuna rubs his belly over his thin shirt. His hand is warm and his touch is gentle.

It feels nice, so Megumi presses closer.

"You were so wound up earlier," Sukuna hums, another one of those small smiles tugging at his lips. "What changed, hm?"

The search for the right words is long and difficult, so Megumi doesn't even bother.

He shifts, regretfully, away from Sukuna's hand and pushes his face into the pillow.

"It smells like you," Megumi explains slowly. "Like tea."

Sukuna raises a single brow.

"Tea?" he repeats.

Megumi hums and nods, distracted by the scent of jasmine and anise. He thinks there may be notes of something deeper, like sage, but then he realizes he doesn't know what that smells like.

Inexplicably, Megumi begins to laugh.

Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses, smells like tea.

Megumi's laughter bubbles from his lips, fading into giggles when strong hands slide under his arms and lift him onto a broad lap.

Sukuna watches him hiccup and giggle with fond eyes.

"I was looking forward to breaking you down," Sukuna admits. "But I like you like this too."

Megumi's head lolls onto Sukuna's shoulder, so he tucks his head under his chin.

"You like me?" Megumi peers curiously at the plate that Sukuna had left on the side table. "Mhm, you do. Enough to bring me ginger candy, even."

Sukuna snorts.

"Those are a treat," he says firmly.

Sukuna reaches for the plate and settles it next to them. Besides the candy, there are crispy slices of tofu and a variety of fruit.

"Being busy is not an excuse to neglect your body," Sukuna says. He plucks a sliver of apple from the plate.

"You must take care of yourself."

Megumi opens his mouth obligingly and allows Sukuna to feed him, even pressing his juice-slick lips to Sukuna's fingers in silent thanks afterwards.

"Why would I do that when you already do it for me?" Megumi asks. He licks the stickiness from his lips and grazes Sukuna's thumb.

"You're spoiled," Sukuna observes, playing with the plushness of Megumi's full bottom lip. "You act as if you're a little prince, saying things like that."

Teasingly, Megumi nips gently at Sukuna's thumb.

"Aren't I, though?" Megumi murmurs. "I think you’ve called me that before."

Sukuna huffs a quiet laugh and pulls his hand away to bring a slice of tofu to Megumi's lips. It crunches noisily when he bites down and flavor floods his tastebuds.

Megumi hums in satisfaction while Sukuna wipes the oil from his lips with his thumb.

"'S good," Megumi mumbles.

"Of course it is," Sukuna says. "Only the best for the little prince, after all."

Megumi knows he's being teased, but he preens all the same, flushing pink up to his ears.

"Oh?" Sukuna humors Megumi as he continues feeding him patiently, bite after bite. "Do you like that?"

"Don't ask questions that you already know the answer to," Megumi mumbles around a cube of melon. "It's rude."

Sukuna laughs again, even as he catches the juice that had been dribbling down Megumi's chin with his own hand.

"Cheeky and messy," Sukuna muses. "What a needy thing you are."

Megumi scowls.

"'M not needy. And I'm not a thing," Megumi huffs. He petulantly turns his head away when Sukuna tries coaxing him into eating another bite of the tofu.

"No. Call me the special names I like or else I'll leave and go back to my room."

Sukuna sets the plate aside.

"You were being so sweet and easy for me," Sukuna sighs wistfully. "I suppose I should've known that it was too good to be true."

Megumi bristles at that. He can be sweet. He is sweet. Sukuna is the one being mean, making things difficult.

"Tell me, little dove. Who needs this more?"

Sukuna cradles Megumi's cheek in one hand and uses his grip to tilt Megumi's face toward him. His gaze is intent.

"You come here, shaking like a wounded animal, and crawl onto my lap," Sukuna says softly. "You simper and whine for my attention. You eat from the palm of my hand."

Ever so subtly, Sukuna's grip tightens. It's not enough to hurt, but Megumi isn't able to squirm away when he tries.

"So, go ahead. Tell me; who needs this more? You or me?"

Megumi is forced to stare into Sukuna's even gaze.

He sees his own reflection there, flushed and sulky.

Sukuna doesn't have to tell Megumi what he means by "this."

It started in Shibuya.

Megumi had awoken to Shoko poking at him. She'd told him that he didn't have a single scratch on him, which couldn't be true.

It couldn't be true because Megumi wasn't even supposed to wake up.

Megumi had started the exorcism with absolutely no intention to finish it. And it turns out, he never did.

Sukuna did.

Yuuji had confessed after everything had calmed down, telling Megumi that Sukuna had taken over and he only remembered brief flashes of that night.

"Did he hurt you?" Yuuji had asked him. "I remember seeing you and–and some giant monster. It had a wheel? Did Sukuna summon it to hurt you?"

Megumi had shook his head, rapidly connecting the dots.

"No," Megumi said. "I summoned it. It's a curse that can't be exorcised."

Megumi had listened to Yuuji's shocked squawking and unnecessary apologies, but he hadn't focused on any of it.

Instead, Megumi had remembered the unfamiliar feeling of being held.

Of warm, gentle hands passing over his injuries, healing him, bringing breath back to his body.

The memory was fuzzier than the others, but still—

Megumi recalled a steady voice calling out to him. It'd told him to stay alive, commanded him even.

The voice told him to stay alive because he is needed.

Megumi is needed which means he is important which means he matters.

(Deep, deep down, Megumi had dared to wonder:

If he matters enough to be important—to be needed—then is he good enough to be wanted?

Has he given enough of himself away to be filled anew and made whole again?

Does he deserve to be cherished, like he's something precious?)

Megumi hadn't ever felt like that before.

It was addictive.

It wasn't like being needed as a tool or a bargaining chip.

Sukuna needed Megumi for the sole reason that there is only one Fushiguro Megumi in the world.

And that'd been more than enough to keep Megumi coming back.

"...Me," Megumi admits, finally responding to Sukuna's prompting. "But I'm not the only one who needs this. You do too."

Sukuna's gaze travels over Megumi's face, lingering on his eyes.

Megumi doesn't know what he's searching for, but he must find it because he releases him.

"Good," Sukuna says. "Now we're on the same page, my spoiled dove."

Megumi blinks at him blankly and Sukuna laughs.

"Look at you, angel," Sukuna croons. "Aren't you so smart? You've got a king wrapped around your finger, sweetheart. What are you going to have me do, I wonder."

Megumi melts against Sukuna's chest, feeling oddly victorious.

Sukuna is right. He must be wrapped around Megumi's fingers, to feed him by hand and call him such names without any shame.

Megumi feels powerful.

He feels like a fat cat, sated and smug, curled up on its owner's lap.

"I want my ginger candy now," Megumi decides. "It should taste even better than usual since a king is feeding it to me."

Sukuna stares at him. His eyes glint with something Megumi doesn't recognize.

If Megumi would look a little harder, he'd realize that it is raw adoration.

Sukuna turns away to gather the candies and Megumi shifts excitedly at the sounds of crinkling wrappers. Sukuna bounces him on his knee to settle him.

"One day," Sukuna says, "you will come to me and it will not be because you need me."

Megumi frowns.

Is this another game?

Sukuna turns to face him again. His expression is somber, but his eyes are earnest.

"You will come to me," Sukuna says softly, bringing a candy to Megumi's mouth. Obediently, Megumi parts his lips.

"You will come to me because you want me and not for any other reason but that."

Neither of them will ever know what Megumi would have said because Sukuna presses the candy past Megumi's lips and follows soon after.

Sweetness sparks on Megumi's tongue and he finds himself chasing the taste.

It's addictive.

It's more than enough to keep Megumi coming back.