Title: Give Me Some Time
Pairing(s): Sukuna/Fushiguro Megumi, Itadori Yuuji & Fushiguro Megumi
Rating: Mature
CW: major character death, non traditional story telling, implied sex (nothing explicit), falling in love, marriage, growing old

/emphasis/
//inner thought//

A/N: That’s right, my debut into writing for the JJK fandom is a sukufushi one shot in which there’s MCD and no explicit sex... enjoy

The first time it happens, Megumi had almost just died.

“I need ten minutes with him.”

They’re in the showers after the fight, dirt and sweat and blood still caked on their skin from taking on the special grade cursed spirit.

Megumi’s hobbling a little, favoring his left side, but he’s still standing, and there’s a fierce determination in his eyes.

“Is this about what happened?”

Yuuji feels terrible.

Maybe he shouldn’t—Gojou sensei had said as much, but he hadn’t been strong enough to protect Megumi—Sukuna had had to do it.

“I told you I can’t control when he takes over like that… I don’t even remember making that stupid deal—“

“No,” Megumi shakes his head and water droplets fall from his hair. “It’s… well it is, but I’m not angry.”

He doesn’t offer any further explanation, which Yuuji supposes is normal for him.

Megumi had done much less opening up in the few years they’d known each other than would be expected of classmates.

But there’s no ill intent in his eyes, and it’s not like Gojou sensei isn’t close in case anything goes wrong.

Still, opting to hand over the reins for a full ten minutes without the conditions of the bond to keep Sukuna from hurting anyone is a gamble.

“It’s okay. I just want to thank him for saving me.”

Now /that/ rings of less truth, but it’s always hard to tell with Megumi.

Still, Yuuji thinks it can’t be that big of a gamble.

How much can Sukuna realistically do in ten minutes?

So he nods and gives Megumi one last chance to call it off before shifting and counting down the time by the second.

When Yuuji comes back to himself his lips feel swollen and there are scratches on his back that sting.

Megumi doesn’t look him in the eyes.

The next time it happens, Megumi is mad.

Like, /really/ mad.

Yuuji hasn’t seen him like this before, not outside of a fight, but the curse has been exorcised for over an hour and he’s still fuming.

“What the fuck was that out there?!”

Yuuji’s lips part to respond, but the glare that’s sent his way makes him think better. He may only have around one brain cell on a good day, but right now it’s still in survival mode.

“I will never understand your goddamn hero complex!”

Yuuji wants to argue, to explain that that’s what being a Jujutsu sorcerer means to him, but he’s heard Megumi argue this point before, and he knows it’s no use.

“Could you /for once/ in your fucking life just be selfish!? How hard is that?”

He’s pacing and ranting and saying more words than he’d usually speak in a week. Yuuji doesn’t know why Megumi’s so worked up. It’s not like he was the one in danger of dying.

“It’s fine, we got out of there, Gojou sensei—“

Megumi rounds on him and //oh no, god no, time to be quiet again.//

“Why didn’t you let Sukuna help? Why keep trying when you were so outmatched? There is nothing /honorable/ about dying when you have the means to live, you self-righteous idiot!”

They’re rhetorical questions, Yuuji knows as much. Megumi wants something, but it isn’t answers. Especially not ones Yuuji doesn’t have.

“I’m sorry…”

“YOU COULD HAVE DIED! SUKUNA—“

Megumi chokes and snaps his mouth shut so quickly that Yuuji’s own jaw hurts from the sound.

He grinds his teeth and the silence envelops them, thick and suffocating like drowning in oil.

“I need ten minutes with him.” Megumi’s voice is back to a normal volume but it’s hoarse and emotionless.

“I-I don’t know if that’s—“

“Five then.”

His jaw is set, mouth in a thin line. Yuuji’s always thought he’d be a little more scary if he wasn’t so pretty, but right now his thick lashes don’t really detract from the anger in his eyes.

So Yuuji complies, however reluctantly,

and then switches back at five minutes on the dot.

This time it’s his cheek that stings, but his lips still tingle.

Megumi’s no longer in the room.

//Well it’s definitely a thing now,// Yuuji thinks after the third and fourth and /Nth/ times.

This time it’s after a fight. //Why is it always after a fight?::

Megumi’s worked up again, high on adrenaline.

They’re just walking back to the dorms but he’s on the balls of his feet, his movements fluid like he’s ready for an ambush.

Yuuji’s just not sure if he plans to be attacked or do the attacking.

They go for their rooms but Megumi’s looking at him, his fingers twitching on his door handle.

“I want—“

He stops himself and shakes his head, muttering out a self-admonishment that Yuuji only just catches.

“What’s up man? We’re friends, if you want to ask me something you can.”

Yuuji has a feeling he knows what this is about, but he doesn’t want to presume anything. It’s just that Megumi had asked to speak with Sukuna the last time the King of Curses had used the bond to

+

save his life, too.

“Listen, if you want to talk with him, just ask. I can give you—“

“I need an hour.” Megumi rushes it out on an exhale like it had been burning his throat, his cheeks dusted with pink, and he’s staring at the ground so intensely that for a moment

+

Yuuji thinks it’ll catch fire.

For a few seconds all Yuuji can do is blink, because like, sure he was going to offer a few minutes, but /an hour!?/

//What the hell could he need an hour for?//

But Megumi is his friend, and he’s acting strange, and Yuuji trusts him,

+

doesn’t he? So he finally gives in with a nod.

It turns out counting an hour is a lot harder than counting minutes, but he thinks he gets it pretty close, because Megumi isn’t there when he takes back over.

It’s different than the other times though, because now he’s naked—lying in his bed with a thin sheen of sweat on his skin. His body aches, but there’s a warm sort of calm that’s washed over him and the sun is down, so he shrugs it off and relaxes into his pillow,

+

pulling his sheets up to his chin.

It isn’t till he’s drifting off to sleep, floating in that strange space between the conscious world and his dreams that it hits him.

His bed smells like Megumi.

“Give me the night, that’s all I’m asking for.”

Yuuji bites his lip and stares at his friend.

Megumi’s in a suit. It looks good on him. The wind rustles his hair and Yuuji can smell the salt and hear the waves break as they crash against the jagged rock face below.

He doesn’t want to miss this. They’ve been friends for years, and Yuuji almost can’t remember a time when Megumi wasn’t around. But this isn’t for him; it’s for Sukuna.

Yuuji nods, but takes the time to pull Megumi into a hug.

He squirms a little, and it messes with Yuuji’s own suit, but eventually Megumi relaxes into it—and maybe, if only briefly, he wraps his arms around Yuuji’s waist too, and Yuuji allows Sukuna to take over.

Time is strange when he’s inside of his head, but he can almost tell when it’s time to return, as if his internal clock has been fine tuned.

When he comes back, the sun is just breaking over the horizon.

Its light streams in through the open window, catching the gauzy white curtains that dance in the morning breeze.

Yuuji’s lying naked in a bed with his arm around Megumi, black hair tickling his nose.

It feels nice, quiet, /intimate./

He knows he needs to get up, that this wasn’t meant for him, but Megumi is warm and peaceful, and Yuuji is hesitant to wake him, so he lets his eyes flutter closed and succumbs to sleep once again.

Of course, he’s woken with a slap—Megumi stomping out of the room in a grumpy ball of sheets, which is fair.

There’s a ring on his finger now, and he doesn’t know what to do with it. It feels odd and out of place in a way.

Megumi makes them both breakfast despite his earlier assault. There’s a matching gold band on his hand.

Yuuji asks about the ring.

Megumi tells him to leave it on.

The last time it happens, they’re old.

/Well,/ Megumi is old. Yuuji had long since stopped aging thanks to Sukuna inhabiting his body.

There’s an oxygen tube running to his nose, an IV in his arm.

The machinery beeps along with every stuttered heartbeat, and Yuuji sits in an odd state of mourning.

In a way, he’d spent more time with Megumi than Sukuna had, and despite Todo’s constant insistence, Megumi is Yuuji’s true best friend.

They’d lived their lives together in a strange state of being, Yuuji in and out of consciousness for parts of it, but it was worth it, wasn’t it? To keep his promise—to lead the person closest to him to a proper death.

“How much time do you need?”

Yuuji’s voice is soft, his thumb on Megumi’s cheek softer.

Deep green eyes sparkle, a lifetime of memories held within.

“I need...” he takes a breath and his chest rattles. “Ten minutes with him...”

Yuuji smiles and there’s wetness on his cheeks as he takes in the man whose life has been so intertwined with his.

He hands the reins over to Sukuna, but this time he doesn’t count; he doesn’t need to, because in the end, Sukuna chooses to give up control willingly,

+

much to his surprise.

And when Yuuji comes back to the world his ears ring with the ominous sound of a heart flatlining, and he understands.

Sukuna doesn’t want to be in the world if Megumi isn’t in it.

Yuuji can’t help but feel the same.

~end~