Work Text:
“I love you,” Yuuji says, and he might as well had shot Megumi with the way his heart stops. Megumi’s eyes widen.
“And you don’t have to say it back,” Yuuji rushes to explain, but Megumi’s not listening, still shell shocked by the confession. “I know how you are with that kinda stuff. I just wanted you to know.”
Megumi’s system finally starts up again. “Yuuji—” he starts, reaching down to grasp Yuuji’s hand.
“It’s okay,” Yuuji cuts him off, lacing their fingers together and kissing the back of Megumi’s hand. Megumi’s heart flutters at the gesture. “Don’t force it. I’ll wait. As long as you need.”
Megumi squeezes Yuuji’s hand, as if that explains everything. The mixed feelings swarming his head, the adoration swelling in his belly. He has no idea how to express it. So he just says, “Thank you.”
And then Yuuji’s smiling at him, and opening up his arms, and Megumi lets himself fall into them.
And then and there, that’s enough.
“If you love someone, you have to tell them,” Gojou says one day. Now, Megumi cannot think of what had brought it up, but the conversation had stuck with him.
“Because you might not always have the chance to,” Megumi finishes, rolling his eyes. “Do you get this stuff out of a book?”
Gojou scoffs. “I’m serious, Megumi,” he says. “The life we live, it’s dangerous. You never know when your last moment will be. You have to be more honest.”
Megumi crosses his arms. “What, you want me to sing your praises?”
Gojou smirks. “You got praises to sing?”
Megumi does, actually, but as always, he keeps his mouth clamped shut.
“I know you love me,” Gojou says, grin growing wider. “And I know you love Yuuji and Nobara. You should tell them more.”
And Megumi probably rolls his eyes again, says something else sarcastic, but the idea sticks like a thorn to skin.
And now, more than ever, Megumi wishes he listened.
He lays in the dark beside Yuuji, completely different than he was yesterday—right now, Yuuji is half asleep, but soon he will jerk awake with nightmares plaguing him, guilt coursing through his veins.
Megumi is nowhere near the same, either. He lost practically everything he loved in one night. His teacher, his lover, his best friend—it all went missing in that subway.
He turns onto his side to face Yuuji, watching his face. Yuuji’s eyes open and meet his, devoid of their shine, that light that defined him. Megumi's heart sinks. He thinks back to that night, when Yuuji uttered those words, the ones that made his belly do somersaults.
I love you. Oh, what he would give to hear it now. A little confession, three short words, but so large.
What’s so scary about three words? Three words so overdue, to so many people. Megumi squeezes his eyes shut. He’s not one to express his love much, not through words, especially, but now, we wants more than anything to be able to spill over, say all the things he never said—
Gojou-sensei, I love you. Thank you for all you do for me. I’ll see you again, sometime soon.
Kugisaki, I love you. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to see you one last time. I miss you more than anything.
Maki-senpai, I love you. I’m sorry about what happened. I never wanted to be a part of this family, either.
Tsumiki, I love you. I’m coming for you, wait for me. You’re the strongest person I know. Hold out a little longer.
Yuuji….
“I love you,” he says, and it doesn’t fall easily from his lips, it clings in his throat before being pushed out, unwilling but nonetheless true.
There’s a heartbeat of silence before Megumi’s speaking again.
“And you don’t have to say it back,” he whispers into the dark, “I know we’ve….”
Had a rough night? This is so much more than that. This has changed them, this has changed the world—
“...been through a lot. But I do. Love you, that is. And I’ll wait as long as you need.” His heart feels like it’s clawing up his throat, following the words, and he can’t seem to stop himself from talking— “And I’ll love you as long as you need me to. God, Yuuji, I—”
When he finally meets Yuuji’s eyes, there’s tears welling in them, and Megumi can’t help but lean forward to hold Yuuji’s face. Then, the tears start falling, hot and wet. Yuuji falls forward, into Megumi’s arms, and he accepts him readily.
“I love you, too.” It’s muffled by Megumi’s shirt, but it’s said all the same. “I love you so much.”
They stay like that for a moment, in each other’s arms, before Yuuji looks up at him. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Megumi’s heart clenches. This is dangerous. Sukuna is dangerous. But he remembers Yuuji’s words to Okkotsu—
“You won’t let that happen.”
Yuuji nods, brows furrowing in a look of determination. It’s a little damped by the water building in his eyes. “I won’t,” he says, voice cracking.
Megumi holds him tighter. “Then we don’t have anything to worry about, right?”
It’s entirely untrue. There’s everything to worry about. But right now, in this moment, they can forget that.
“It’s just that….” Yuuji takes a big breath. “People like me aren’t supposed to have people like you.”
“No,” Megumi says, and it’s too desperate, voice too wet, “don’t say stuff like that.”
“It’s true,” Yuuji whispers. Then, louder, “I don’t deserve you.”
Megumi’s all too familiar with that sentiment—he’s thought it far too many times about Yuuji himself. God, he aches thinking Yuuji thinks that—thinks that of himself —
How readily he was to accept that Megumi wouldn’t say that he loves him back. How Megumi complied.
“That’s not true .” Megumi grabs Yuuji’s face, tiling his head up so their eyes meet. “I’d give you the world , Yuuji.” Please, Megumi thinks, please, believe me, please, let us have this .
Yuuji’s quiet for a long moment, looking into Megumi’s eyes, back and forth. Finally, he sighs, a heavy weight, before leaning his forehead against Megumi’s. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
Megumi nods, jostling both of them. “I know,” he sighs, too. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” His eyelashes clump together as he closes his eyes. Their noses bump against each other, and Yuuji’s hand comes up to cup the back of Megumi’s neck.
He loves him.
And for right now, that’s enough.