Chapter Text
There are a number of reasons this mission is unfortunate, Yuuta considers as the clock on his Mimicry ticks closer and closer to zero.
The first is that Toge and himself have to miss the Kyoto exchange for it. Yuuta was looking forward to it; as a fourth year, this could have been the first time he scouted one of his kouhai for a promotion. He wanted to see how much Megumi-kun, Itadori-kun and Kugisaki-chan have improved.
The second is that their intel is bad; the Curse User, known only as Kiku, was supposed to be blind, according to the intel from HQ.
Hence why Toge was chosen to come with Yuuta as backup.
Kiku is most assuredly not blind, and is instead deaf, and lording that particular fact over them with smug expressions from his complete immunity to Toge’s cursed speech. It’s not insurmountable, but Yuuta would have liked to have known beforehand, if only to save Toge’s throat.
The third issue is that HQ was correct on the rest of their info; judging by the number of curses, and transfigured humans, this Kiku is in possession of one of Ryoumen Sukuna’s fingers. That there are transfigured humans, and the timing of it, lends to it being one of the ones stolen during the Kyoto Exchange by Mahito and his cohort.
Yuuta isn’t keen to examine why now, of all times, the finger is resurfacing.
He’ll have to call Satoru and see what he thinks once the object is retrieved.
“Help us,” Toge’s cursed speech cuts through the wet undulation of the transmogrified humans, and they stumble. Yuuta is close enough to one to count the veins on its bulbous brain through the transparent skin of its forehead, and can see the drip of blood from its nasal socket, the drip of tears through bee-sting eyes.
Inhumane.
His palms sweat on the hilt of his katana where he holds it.
It would be kinder to free them from their misery.
His link with Rika wavers as she senses his reaction to the transmogrified humans, pausing where she’s tearing open a pair of higher grade curses attracted by the finger. Yuuta does his best to soothe her, aiming her attention back to keeping the curses away from Toge as the transmogrified humans fall under the sway of his technique.
The fluorescent lights of the abandoned hospital ward flicker, casting their shadows across the old surgery room dividers, and the moment before they go out, Yuuta catches sight of a new human silhouette.
There!
Yuuta leaps across the room, with a burst of cursed energy, and thrusts his katana through the medical divider. If he can stop Kiku, they’ll be able to help the transmogrified humans faster.
It sinks into human skin as a pleasant smell fills the air, floral and dripping sweet as honey. Kiku lets out a shuddering breath, laughing as something wet bursts behind Yuuta.
Rika tears the last of the curses into shreds, her anxiety spiking as their Mimicry timer runs out.
Yuuta catches Kiku, and lowers him to the ground, his blood streaked face just visible in the dark. Toge comes to stand guardian at Yuuta’s shoulder.
“Where’s the finger of Ryoumen Sukuna? I’m sorry it came to this over something like that.” Yuuta asks, sure to enunciate clearly. His hopes that Kiku can read lips is fulfilled, as Kiku’s eyes follow Yuuta, reading his lips as Yuuta speaks.
He hopes that if Kiku had people he cared about that he said goodbye to them.
An awful heat starts to raise in the room, causing Yuuta’s collar to stick to the back of his neck, Rika’s tail knocking over old catheter stands as she moves restlessly along the walls. Something’s wrong.
It all still smells so sweet.
Kiku raises his palms, and signs something with trembling hands. Toge’s hand clenches on the shoulder of Yuuta’s jacket, trying to pull him back.
He doesn’t react quickly enough, and Kiku wheezes his last laugh right into Yuuta’s face, his breath saccharine and heady.
Immediately, Yuuta’s pulse begins to thrum through his ears pleasantly, a bead of sweat rolling down the back of his neck. The heat in the room coalesces under Yuuta’s skin.
His face flushes when Toge pulls him back and away; the fabric of his uniform is hyper sensitive over his nipples. Rika pauses, and comes over to rake a gentle claw through his hair, “Y-u-u-u-u-ta?” She asks, voice high and small with the insecure worry Yuuta can feel washing between them.
His heart clenches, and he’s struck, absurdly, by how much he loves her. While the sentiment is always true, he generally tries not to think too much about it while standing over corpses.
He turns to face Toge, and tries not to stare at his lips, distracted and hot under the collar.
Yuuta has an abrupt, terrible, premonition. “Inumaki-kun?” He asks, trying to catch Toge’s eyes in the dark.
Toge’s face, from what he can make out of it, is similarly flushed, some of his bangs sticking up from his forehead, similar to how he wore his hair in their first year.
Cute.
He’s really too beautiful.
Yuuta tries to shake his head to clear it.
“Could you understand what he signed?” Yuuta asks, just in case – he doesn’t know if Toge speaks sign, but it can’t hurt to check.
Toge raises a hand and wiggles it back and forth, “Mustard leaf,” he says. Yuuta infers from his concerned expression, and the way that he’s fussing with his own collar, that he has his concerns.
Concerns that are shaping up to feel a lot like arousal, caused by a cursed technique.
Yuuta tries to force the inappropriate urge to touch Toge down. He would be happy to touch Toge. He wants to touch Toge. The issue is that this is not Yuuta’s choice to feel this way. It’s more than his usual affection. He isn’t worried about angering Maki, or betraying her. He’s already talked with Maki about this, but they haven’t spoken to Toge yet. He’d meant to, but there was never a good time.
It’s silly to think of, but Toge has been a steadfast friend, doting in his own way, and Yuuta’s afraid to ruin it. Maki would roll her eyes at him, if she was around to watch him flustering. His stomach flips, twisting at the thought of her lips curling up into a reluctant smile, the way she looks when she bites her lip to keep quiet.
It isn’t normally this hard to control himself. It’s the technique – obscuring inhibitions or eliminating them entirely.
Yuuta clears his throat, and reaches for Toge’s hand. “We should get going. I think the technique is lingering in the room.” He shouldn’t touch. Yuuta should just keep his hands to himself, and wait until this technique wears off.
Yuuta wants to touch. Yuuta thinks his arms might fall off if he doesn’t touch. This isn’t normal.
If it’s sex pollen, Maki will never let him live it down, and Panda will be worse.
Toge takes his hand, peering up at him with too wide eyes, his lips parted and shiny. Toge’s palm is just as hot, just as damp with sweat as Yuuta’s. Yuuta can practically taste the salt of his skin on his tongue.
Yuuta sighs, and brushes his knuckle under his nose as he guides them from the room. “Rika, can you lead the way?” He asks.
There might be more curses here, for the Finger.
This is no time to be getting distracted by a cursed technique or his crush on Toge.
They trail after Rika into the derelict halls of the hospital, stepping over rusted equipment and ripped packages. Rika’s pace feels agitated, even though her power recedes, faded until only her head and hands trail from their shared curse.
The humid, sticky feeling lingers, pressuring Yuuta to twine his fingers into Toge’s. To stop moving, and press his nose into the soft looking strands of Toge’s hair. Yuuta curls his toes as he walks, trying to focus on keeping his blood flowing correctly as his face heats up.
“That technique was… ah,” Yuuta rubs his nose again, and can feel the cursed energy lingering throughout his body. He tries to heal the effect, holding a palm to his chest as he imbues his hand with reversed curse technique.
All it accomplishes is soothing his sore muscles, a pleasant shiver running up his spine.
“It was an aphrodisiac, I think. Or something like that.” Yuuta manages to admit.
Toge is silent as they walk down a hall of the hospital, toward where the barrier Yuuta has put up for them lays. His grip tightens on Yuuta, and he slows, coming to a stop between two broken windows, overlooking the hospital’s old courtyard.
“...Salmon.” Toge agrees.
His eyebrows are furrowed, and his hair is still mussed, collar undone, his mouth twisted in thought. He tugs Yuuta by the hand, back the way they came, until they come up to a private room.
Most of Yuuta’s thoughts and blood rushes out of his head, and he follows Toge obediently.
This can’t be happening now, can it?
Yuuta really had been intending to make his feelings known in a better way; how couldn’t Toge second guess him? It’ll look bad if Yuuta can only confess under duress. He owes it to Toge to be more confident in how he feels.
Yuuta knows, from Toge and Maki’s snickering, that they both found it hilarious that Megumi-kun could only confess to Kugisaki after she proverbially twisted his arm after their own similar run in with a cursed spirit. Yuuta doesn’t think he’ll be able to handle being teased by both of them for doing something similar.
Especially not after defending poor Megumi-kun from their teasing.
The private room is, like the rest of this ward, a good decade or three out of date in its decor. Abandoned during the recession in the 90s, with some nasty weather staining by the broken window. The bed has a vinyl covered mattress which isn’t completely disgusting, however, covered in heavy fabric as it is.
Yuuta can picture Toge on it, quite clearly, Rika holding his wrists above his head, her tongue curled around his jaw, while he commands Yuuta “Don’t Stop,”
Yuuta shakes the image out of his head, and tries to focus past the impact of the technique. It doesn’t work, and he focuses on the pink skin on the shell of Toge’s ear. Would it be soft if Yuuta kissed it? Would he sigh? Or gasp?
“Tuna tuna,” Toge breaks Yuuta’s line of thought, coming to a stop alongside the bed, brushing some of the dust off of it. His face is red, and his eyes are hazy, but there’s a furrow to his brow as he looks around the room.
Yuuta’s tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth, and he sways on his feet. This isn’t how he imagined things with Toge going, but they’re going, so he just needs to open his mouth, and say something.
Maybe, if Yuuta is lucky, Maki and Toge will have mercy on him, and not tease him too much.
Maybe, if Yuuta is brave, the words will come out well, and they’ll have no reason to tease. Toge will understand how he feels, if Yuuta’s honest with him.
Toge lets go of Yuuta’s hand, smiling to himself, having clearly found what he was looking for. Yuuta, immediately bereft of the contact, reaches after him as Rika drifts in, her head tilted in curiosity.
“Wha-a-a-t wrong, Yuuuuuuta?” She trills, coming close to curl her head over Yuuta’s shoulder, brushing her cool cheek against his.
Of course the technique doesn’t affect her, she’s not human. At least Yuuta knows something more about it.
Toge pulls a roll of parchment paper down from one of the half broken cabinets, showing off his find with a beaming smile, wiggling his hands to display it. Yuuta laughs, “Oh! So we don’t have to touch the bed! That’s a good idea, Inumaki-kun.”
Toge’s expression twists, and for the first time in a long while, Yuuta can’t read it.
He steps around Yuuta and Rika, and stretches out the paper across the mattress before patting it for Yuuta to climb up.
Yuuta’s head spins.
He wants to kiss Toge first.
He leans, reaching out again to touch Toge’s face, but Toge pulls away, and pats the bed more insistently before pulling out his phone. He wiggles it at Yuuta, and before Yuuta can ask what Toge’s doing, his fingers are flying over the keys.
Yuuta bites his lip, and pulls himself up onto the bed. His dick reminds him that there is not any comfortable way to sit right now.
Rika’s attention narrows in on him, and she coils around him, her hanging form heavy around him, embracing, one large palm wrapping around Yuuta’s thigh.
Yuuta leans back into her with a sigh, eyelashes fluttering shut. If he just closes his eyes to where they are, it’s like being back in the dorm, he can pretend that he and Rika and Maki have asked Toge properly to join them.
His imagination starts to carry him away, thoughts of Rika holding his arms behind his back while Maki slowly pushes Toge down, flat on his back, face turned up to meet hers as she leans in to kiss him, sharp eyes on Yuuta.
Toge’s phone taps Yuuta on the forehead.
Yuuta’s eyes flutter open, and he clears his throat again, keenly aware of how hard he is, and how he’s already spread his legs for Toge to stand between them. Yuuta glances down, away from Toge’s face, and sees he’s pulling his sweater down over his front.
Yuuta wants to pull him up into his lap, and push away all the layers between them until Toge can’t hide from him.
“Tuna,” Toge repeats, shaking his phone in Yuuta’s face again.
“Ah, sorry, I – I’d like to kiss you, after I read this. Can I?” Yuuta asks. He can’t help the nervous smile, looking up at Toge through his lashes. He needs to convey that he wants this, that it’s not just about the technique.
Toge’s chest rises and falls sharply, and his hands are trembling as he shakes his phone again. “Bonito flakes, tuna.” He insists, again.
Yuuta swallows, and Rika peers along with him, though the words are meaningless to her. She just gets jealous when Yuuta does things that she can’t.
He sees her arm raise in the corner of his eye, and catches it before she can reach out to touch Toge, taking Yuuta’s reaction as permission to act on her own. She pouts, but tangles her hand in his to help him hold Toge’s phone for Yuuta to read.
The note’s app is open.
I’m going to try and command the technique to leave you. I don’t know if it’ll work.
Yuuta reads it twice, and feels the words tangle inside his head, made cloudy by the pollen cursed technique.
The part of him that’s sane, somewhere under all the cloudy arousal, knows that Toge has a point. The part of him that’s had a crush on Toge since he was a first year, is screaming at him to stop trying to think at all, and start paying attention with more important parts of his anatomy.
“Okay,” Yuuta nods, forcing down the arousal, and twining his fingers into Rika’s to tether himself.
If he focuses on Rika, on the pure emotion she is composed of, he can ignore his own for a moment.
“Dissipate.” Toge says.
Yuuta’s lungs seize, and the two of them start to cough in unison. Something squirms in Yuuta’s throat, and he gags, coughing harder even as Inumaki starts to take wheezing, reedy breaths.
One of Rika’s fingers presses, cold, soothing, into Yuuta’s mouth, and eases into his throat, nudging whatever is inside until she can hook her claw into it, deliberately gentle in a way she only is with him.
She pulls her finger out, and Yuuta gags again as she pulls small, golden blossoms out, speckled with saliva and blood.
The hazy, aroused confusion leaves Yuuta with them. He’s still hard, but no longer to the point of distraction, confusion.
The petals fall to the ground, and burst into sodden pollen.
Oddly, however, he can feel the aftershocks of Toge’s technique inside him, not entirely dissimilar to how it feels when he uses it with Rika’s Mimicry.
Toge wavers on his feet, and Yuuta’s arms shoot out to catch him, pulling him to collapse forward, onto Yuuta’s chest, rather than the floor.
Each clear breath clears Yuuta’s mind further, the technique rapidly dissipating now that the bloom is dislodged.
Toge’s breathing is still wheezing, and Yuuta can see the pollen technique’s cursed energy spreading slowly through Toge if he tries to. “It worked, Inumaki-kun!” Yuuta wraps his arms tighter around Toge, scooting backward to let him sit between Yuuta’s thighs and lean his back on his chest.
The feverish heat of his body feels good.
Yuuta lets his forehead tip down, and land on Toge’s shoulder. Toge shivers, his breathing hitching. He’s still under the effects of the technique. Yuuta needs to learn more about it.
“Rika, can you eat those flowers? We might be able to…” Yuuta says, letting the thought trail off as he wraps his arms around Toge. Yuuta can’t mimic any techniques yet. He and Rika still need time to rest. He’ll be able to soon, but if the technique is going to hurt Toge, it won’t be soon enough.
Both of Toge’s hands have bunched the hem of his uniform up until the fabric has creased, and he holds it down over his lap.
The line of his erection is still obvious through the fabric.
They need to find some way to help him.
Yuuta’s mouth waters. He’s not opposed to doing this the old fashioned way. What’s most important, however, is making sure that Toge will be fine. It’s easier to put his needs first with the clouds cleared from Yuuta’s mind.
They’ll do whatever Toge needs. Yuuta’s heart stutters. Fulfilling his own feelings is secondary, but they sit ever present in the back of Yuuta’s mind.
Rika shifts behind him, “O-K, Y-u-u-t-a!” She sings, and leans down to gather the pollen on her tongue, swallowing it down.
As she does, the technique clicks into place, stored within her.
Yuuta analyses it quickly; a scent based technique, carried on the breath of the user. Any applications have to be practised and crafted specifically, over and over until the aroma and pollen is perfected to have an immediate effect on those who smell it.
Not very useful to Yuuta, as far as mimicked techniques go.
The effects linger after the death of the user, and feed off the cursed energy of the host, until they’re expelled, or fully nourished, at which point, they sprout from the body harmlessly.
Yuuta blinks.
“Inumaki-kun,” he whispers, trying to get Toge to look at him. Toge’s head lolls onto his shoulder, and violet eyes drift to Yuuta’s mouth.
Yuuta’s stomach floats, giddy. “Inumaki-kun, if we feed the pollen, it won’t be able to hurt you.”
Toge blinks, and reaches up to brush a knuckle along Yuuta’s cheekbone.
Rika huffs, jealous, and Yuuta laughs, catching Toge’s palm, holding it to his cheek. “I know you were trying to fix this so we didn’t have to do anything,” Yuuta says, and it makes sense now that his head is clear.
It also, oddly, makes what he wants to say easier. “I do like you, though. I want to. It’s okay with Maki. We can all talk about this when we get back to the school. I’ll take care of you right now, I promise.”
“But.” Yuuta can see that Toge’s trying to focus on his words, curling his head toward Yuuta so his words pass soft over Toge’s ear. Like being closer will make things more clear.
Yuuta hopes that it’s because Toge feels safer closer to him.
“But you have to be okay with Rika too,” Yuuta says, and feels Rika finally stop her jealous fussing, coming around to hover behind Toge, her talons hovering over his hair. “I know she’s hurt you before, so I –”
Toge nods, and his lips part.
Yuuta expects to hear his customary affirmative, Salmon.
“Please, touch me,” The cursed speech curls as sweet as the pollen’s aroma through Yuuta’s blood, and he’s moving, hands sliding up under Toge’s sweater to drag his palms over the sweat slick skin of Toge’s stomach.
He’s thin, a little bit more muscular than Yuuta himself is.
Yuuta presses a kiss to his cheek as Toge sighs, letting his head fall away to expose his neck to Yuuta. Rika’s claws sink into Toge’s hair as she giggles, twirling the blond strands around her fingers. “P-r-e-t-t-y,” She says, overenunciating each syllable with a wiggle of her fingers. “Soft,” she floats lower, as if to lay in the air beside the bed, petting Toge’s hair.
“Inumaki-kun is pretty,” Yuuta agrees, pressing kisses along Toge’s neck, feather light as he works to get the top half of Toge’s uniform off. As the fabric falls, Toge’s hands come to rest on Yuuta’s knees, clinging until his knuckles turn white, arching his chest into Yuuta’s hands.
Rika’s hand closes, careful, until the grip she has on Toge’s hair is firm, her other hand coming up to stroke a finger up and down the apple of his cheek, giggling.
Yuuta watches, transfixed, kissing along Toge’s neck as Rika holds him still for Yuuta. Between his thighs, Toge’s hips roll against nothing, the mattress creaking loudly beneath them. Yuuta pinches the pale brown nubs of Toge’s nipples as he nips at his pulse, and is rewarded with a moan punching out from Toge’s lips.
Toge’s whole body trembles, but he doesn’t jerk his head in Rika’s grip. His legs curl upward, kicking the bottom of their cot briefly before extending again; full of restless arousal, needing to get it out somehow.
Yuuta’s cock aches between his legs, but this isn’t about him.
Toge already saved him, it’s time Yuuta returned the favour.
“Rika,” Yuuta says, making sure his breath blows over the wet bruises he’s been sucking onto Toge’s neck. Toge sighs, his shoulders tensing as he squirms between Yuuta’s thighs again.
Rika pauses where she’s been petting a claw over Toge’s parted lips, the very tip of her nail shiny with spit. “Would you let go of his hair, please? We’re going to move now.” Yuuta tells her, keeping his voice soft and gentle, the way she likes.
She means well, he knows, and she’s doing a good job being kind and gentle. She deserves her rewards.
Rika pulls her arms back, her mouth hanging open, saliva dripping along the needles of her fangs. “I good, right, Yuuuuutaaa? Want to kiss,” Her tongue lashes when she’s done talking, and Yuuta nearly blacks out from all the blood rushing between his legs, leaving his brain to flounder.
Toge gasps, and Yuuta can see his jaw dropping for a moment, before he nods, first hesitantly, and then so quickly Yuuta is afraid his head will fall off.
Rika chirps, and as Yuuta moves to lay on his back, she helps Toge sit on his chest. Toge blinks, and his throat works. As his lips part, about to speak, Rika settles into his shadow, hanging over him, her hands framing his head to tilt his face upward. Yuuta stares, riveted, at the way Rika’s talons look draped over the pale skin of Toge’s throat, dripping down over his shoulders to dig red marks into his chest, her thumbs cradling his skull as she worms her tongue into his mouth.
Toge moans, his hips rocking upward as he reaches to grasp one of Rika’s fingers in each of his hands, dwarfed by her and melting under her touch.
Yuuta moans, and grabs Toge’s hips, scooting him upward until he hovers over Yuuta’s chest, his knees folding over Yuuta’s shoulders.
Toge rocks again, thrusting against the seam of his trousers, making muffled sounds around Rika’s tongue.
Wordless, but Yuuta can feel the pleading in his tone like the weight of him on his chest.
With fingers overly sensitive with excitement, Yuuta undoes Toge’s trousers, not even bothering to pull them down, going straight for where his erection tents his briefs. There’s a warm damp spot darkening the fabric where the head presses, and Yuuta teases his fingers there for a moment.
Toge whines around Rika’s tongue, and she pulls away, licking the sweat from Toge’s brow with the very tip of her tongue.
Toge smiles, and wraps his arms over his eyes, pressing his hips up into Yuuta’s hands.
Yuuta can’t wait any longer, and reaches into Toge’s underwear, pulling his cock free, giving it a few tugs. He feels Toge throb in his palm, and his own erection aches in his pants.
“Do you want to keep kissing him, Rika?” Yuuta asks, and leans his head up to lick along the slit of Toge’s dick. Toge hisses on his next inhale, arching toward Yuuta’s mouth. Yuuta smiles, and kisses the crown of his cock. “I’m going to kiss him here,” Yuuta says.
Rika wiggles, giggling. “Rika wants to! Wants to kiss a–a-a-all over!”
Toge’s arms drop, his throat working, and he moves to reach for Rika’s hands, as if curious, as if trying to see if she’ll show him what she means.
Yuuta laughs, breathless, and swallows Toge down, grabbing his hips to help him thrust into the heat of Yuuta’s mouth.
Whatever thoughts Toge had been entertaining fly out of the window, and he moans, unabashedly, his hands falling to Yuuta’s hair, tangling into the black strands, cupping his head. He only moves his hips shallowly, his head hanging to watch where he fucks Yuuta’s mouth, lips parted, and tattooed tongue peeking out between his lips.
Toge looks even better than Yuuta imagined he would. The only thing missing is Maki. Next time. Once they get home, out of this creepy place.
Rika slinks lower over their bodies, her head dipping down below Toge’s shoulders. One of her fingers begins to caress Yuuta’s cock over his pants, careful of her claws, lining up the length of her finger to the length of him before rubbing him in firm strokes.
Up. Down.
Mimicking the bob of his head over Toge.
Yuuta moans, lifting his hips up into the press of Rika’s hand.
Though Yuuta cannot see, he hears a familiar wet slurp, and the accompanying breathy giggle.
Toge gasps, jolting forward, and arches his back, hips moving thoughtlessly into the heat of Yuuta’s mouth, the velvet of his throat. A moan punches out of Toge’s throat, guttural, shaken out from low in his stomach as he sinks back onto Rika’s tongue where she licks into him.
Yuuta’s familiar with the feeling, the ghostly give of her tongue, real and unreal, writhing and wet, and thicker the deeper she pressed in. Cold at first, but warming quickly in the heat of a human body. Pointed and flickering at the tip, serpentine. His lashes flutter and Yuuta hums, rubbing his nose into the coarse hair at the base of Toge’s cock as he swallows him.
Rika’s finger presses harder against Yuuta, almost painful, in her excitement. With his mouth full, Yuuta can’t remind her to be gentle. Luckily, he doesn’t want to. He spreads his thighs, and moans instead, welcoming the harsh, inhuman, feel of her.
Toge’s hips start to move faster, chasing the heat of Yuuta’s mouth, the tightness of his throat, holding Yuuta’s head still as he fucks his mouth. Despite the mounting desperation, Toge’s hands remain careful, gentle in Yuuta’s hair, sure not to pull even as he bruises Yuuta’s lips with his cock.
Yuuta starts to thrust in earnest back against Rika’s finger, his heels slipping on the mattress, tearing the flimsy sanitary paper they laid down on the bed. Drool drips down his cheeks as Yuuta sucks, working his tongue along Toge’s length as he thrusts in.
Soft sounds begin to pour out of Toge’s mouth as his rhythm starts to fray, and he yanks one hand out of Yuuta’s hair to bite at his own wrist to hold them back, always careful not to let his technique get out of hand.
Yuuta melts, staring up at Toge, as smitten as he was following Toge's wake in the shopping centre, three years ago. Yuuta would be alright if Toge lost control, and spilled all his desires into Yuuta, uttering his desires into Yuuta’s beings. Toge meets his eye, and his hips stutter then still, as warmth fills Yuuta’s mouth, dripping down his throat.
A golden flower blooms on Toge’s lower stomach, shedding petals, pollen floating on the air like motes of dust as the cursed energy peters out. His chest is flushed red, beaded with sweat, highlighting the silver skin where numerous tiny scars mar him. Yuuta pulls his head away slowly, letting Toge’s softening length run along the breadth of his tongue, pressing it firm against his soft palate.
Toge’s hand twitches in Yuuta’s hair, and he stares down at Yuuta, looking as soft as Yuuta feels, lowering his arm from his mouth. He glances over his shoulder toward Rika, hips still slowly moving with her.
“It’s time to stop, Rika,” Yuuta says, once Toge’s fallen from his lips, spent and damp over Yuuta’s face.
Rika whines, but moves as she was asked, head hanging dramatically over her chest, chewing at the shadows of her form. “B-ut Yuuta,” She says, her finger stroking over him.
Yuuta’s eyes squeeze shut, and he pants, thrusting back against her.
Toge glances over his shoulder, watching Rika as she strokes Yuuta. Yuuta inhales deeply, getting harder in his trousers from the attention.
“Salmon roe,” Toge says, to Rika, catching her attention as he twists on Yuuta’s chest. Yuuta lifts his head, blinking his eyes open, about to ask what’s going on when he feels Toge’s fingers, small and agile compared to Rika’s, undoing his belt. Pushing his shirt up.
Yuuta’s eyes roll back as Toge pulls his cock out of his underwear for Rika, and her smooth, cool skin pressed against his overheating cock.
Yuuta throbs, and he can feel it to the tips of his toes.
Toge stays twisted on his lap, golden flowers crumbling to pollen on his stomach, watching as Rika rubs Yuuta’s cock with her finger.
She rotates the pad of her fingertip along the underside of his glans, rolling his crown against his stomach, and Yuuta’s balls start to tighten. He clenches both his hands into fists and plants them into his eyes.
Toge’s hand comes to rest over them, while he rubs the slit of Yuuta’s cock with his other index finger.
“I- I’m close,” Yuuta pants, and unclenches one hand to wind his fingers together with Toge’s.
Toge squeezes his hand, and rubs more firmly at Yuuta’s slit, a counterpoint to Rika’s firm pressure. Each time she drags her finger away, Toge pushes his forward, constant, firm pressure on Yuuta’s cockhead.
Rika leans over him, and her cold saliva drips over Yuuta’s cock, slicking all of them, before her tongue wriggles into his pants, wrapping around his balls to press into his perineum. Yuuta groans, and tenses as he cums, his climax pooling on his lower stomach, painting Toge and Rika’s fingers.
Rika pulls away, and squeals, delighted. “Love Yuuta! I love Yuuta!” She clasps her hands, and twirls around the room before coming to settle again at the bedside, resting her head by Toge’s knee.
She seems as surprised as Yuuta is when Toge reaches out to pet her head.
That only lasts a moment before she starts to hum, however, rocking her head under his hand.
Yuuta lets his head fall back, and breathes as deeply as he can with Toge on his chest. “We’ll have to get cleaned up and head out,” He says.
“Salmon.” Toge agrees.
Yuuta swallows his rising nervousness, and leans up on his elbow. Toge slides off of him, fixing his uniform shirt. His cheeks are still pink.
“I mean it.” Yuuta says, and Toge’s face gets redder. He puts his hand on Yuuta’s face, but that doesn’t stop Yuuta from seeing the wide smile trying to peek out from where Toge’s pulling his collar over his mouth.
Yuuta misses the tattoos on Toge’s cheeks immediately. The dark ink on his tongue, so sharply contrasting to the wet red of his mouth.
“Tuna tuna, salmon.” Toge says, and tucks hair behind Yuuta’s ear.
Yuuta can’t keep the smile off his face either. “Okay. We’ll talk later. After we get back and wash up.”
Toge nods.
“Do you want Maki there too?” Yuuta asks.
Toge thinks, “Bonito flakes,” he says, shaking his head. He believed Yuuta when he said that he and Maki’d already talked about it. Good.
They both laugh when Yuuta hops off the bed, and his legs quiver. A quick check of his pocket confirms the Finger is still there, and safe, and once their clothes are as righted as they’re going to be, they begin to make their way out of the hospital. Yuuta lowers the barrier as they pass through.
They’ll have to file their report, and Yuuta isn’t looking forward to trying to dance around writing specifically what happened. Maybe they’ll just write they found the Finger. Yuuta sighs to himself, and accepts he will have to call Satoru. And not tell him what happened, exactly.
Why didn’t he consider Satoru in his embarrassment factor? Lack of foresight.
“Satoru-sensei,” Yuuta says, in the lobby of the train station as they wait for their train back to Tokyo. Toge sleeps on the bench next to Yuuta, on the opposite shoulder from where he’s holding his phone.
“Yuuta! You’re the cutest, calling me ‘sensei’ still! You’re my favourite!” Satoru sounds too chirpy for a conversation held after midnight, but that’s the way he always is.
Yuuta smiles, comforted, if somewhat exasperated, by Satoru’s unchanging personality. “That’s not true, Itadori-kun’s your favourite,” Yuuta says. He’s aware that Satoru stuck his neck out for both of them, and kept it out for Itadori-kun.
He turns over the Finger in his pocket, rubbing a thumb over where the ofuda has begun to lift from its seal. Yuuta presses it back down. They shouldn’t be unsealing at all. Clearly, the ripples of the butterfly’s wings have touched each of Ryoumen Sukuna’s fingers.
Satoru’s voice pitches higher as he laughs, “No! Yuuji-kun isn't my favourite, he’s just so earnest! Ah, you’re cute like that sometimes too, you should be sweet more often.”
“No, that’s okay, Satoru-sensei,” Yuuta says, and decides to cut to the chase, “Speaking of Itadori-kun, there was a Finger. We have it. There’s a seal on it, but it’s lifting. There have been a few curses trying to follow us for it.”
Yuuta glances down the platform where Rika floats, half-obscured in the shadows, steadily gnawing on the arm of the curse which had previously dwelled on the tracks, only to rise up to try and devour the Finger for greater power.
Yuuta pulls his hand out of his pocket. “So… Kiku was associated with Mahito, and those other curses. He even used a technique like the flower curse’s.” Yuuta finishes.
Satoru falls silent.
There have been no direct sightings of Mahito, the flower curse, or the volcano curse that Satoru encountered since they stole the fingers the first time. Yuuta thinks of their faulty information, and Satoru’s request that Yuuta look out for Itadori, in his place. He wonders if the Elders know, or if Satoru asked him while he was still overseas to confirm they couldn’t.
Before Satoru can keep talking, Yuuta does. “And… our information was bad,” it doesn’t seem like a harmless mistake, anymore. “Kiku, the curse user, was supposed to be blind, so they sent Inumaki-kun with me, but he was deaf. We made it out okay, but I’m just…”
Worried.
Yuuta doesn’t say.
Satoru seemed to hear it anyway. “Yuuta,” his voice is serious, in a way that Yuuta can only recall hearing a few times before. Generally around Christmas-time, or around the topic of Geto Suguru. “I don’t want you to report the Finger, say it wasn’t there.”
Yuuta’s stomach drops, but he finds himself nodding. “Okay,” he says, when he remembers that despite the Six Eyes, Satoru can’t see through phones.
“When you’re back, hand it off to me, I’ll take care of it.” Satoru says, and then breaks the heavy atmosphere, “Great Teacher Satoru will handle it!”
The usual then, diverting attention with obnoxious jokes. Yuuta turns over Satoru’s comment to him so long ago in his mind, “You’ll get lonely.” Yuuta wants the impossible. If he can catch up to Satoru, if he brings Maki, Megumi-kun, and all the others, will Satoru still be lonely?
Yuuta snorts, trying to cover his laugh so as not to wake Toge up. “Ah, you can’t be serious for five minutes? No wonder you’re still single, sensei.” Yuuta jokes along, unable to keep the smile from his face.
Still.
Satoru’s asking him to commit treason against the Elders.
Yuuta glances at Rika.
It’s not like he feels really bad about it.
“Hey! I’ll have you know I’m single by choice! Women are a lot of work! You should know, Maki’s a handful.” Satoru whines away, and Yuuta laughs again.
“She’s not.” He says.
Satoru hums, exaggerated, like he doesn’t believe Yuuta, before sobering. “I’m sorry to involve you in this,” Satoru says, instead.
Yuuta blinks, and pauses to listen as the automated announcement system declares the next train arriving. It’s not theirs, so Yuuta tunes it out. “In what?”
Satoru sighs, “Politics.” He spits the word like it’s poison. “The usual.” He trails off, and Yuuta holds his breath, waiting for Satoru to finish his thought. The gap between them closes an inch more. The distance that Satoru maintains remains insurmountable, but every lapse of the infinite space between them feels like a victory to Yuuta.
“Utahime and I think there are spies,” Satoru says, low and slow. “One student, probably in Kyoto, and someone in HQ. They’re too good at hiding. They know where we’re looking. I’ve already told Kirara-chan and Kin-chan about this, and I didn’t want to involve you, but…” Satoru laughs, without humour. “Seems that you’re involved anyway.”
Yuuta wonders, not for the first time, what happened to Gojo Satoru, and Geto Suguru, to have made them turn out the way they did. “It’s okay, Sensei. Do you want me to keep this from Inumaki-kun? From Maki-san?”
“...No,” Satoru says slowly. “Get them to help, if you can. Pass along the message, if they find any Fingers, bring ‘em to me, not the Elders. Actually, don’t worry about Maki, I’ll tell her.”
Yuuta’s stomach twists with excitement, his throat tightening. “Okay,” he says. “Are you going to give them to Itadori-kun?” He asks.
That’s dangerous. They still don’t know how long he can keep control over Sukuna, or when the curse will be too powerful for Itadori to contain.
Satoru snickers. “I’ll let them know about a few of them! Maybe after Yuuji-kun swallows them. Don’t worry Yuuta, I’ll be there. It’ll be fine.”
Yuuta sighs, and realises he’s been bouncing his knee. He forces it to still. “Okay, Sensei.”
Satoru breaks the mood by cooing, loudly enough that the electronic tone of his voice startles Toge awake from Yuuta’s shoulder. “Ah! You woke up Inumaki-kun,” Yuuta admonishes, wincing. Satoru isn’t going to care, but he feels he needs to say something.
“Oh?! Did I? Tell Toge I say hi! Did he have a nice nap? Will you guys be stopping in Osaka on your way home? Bring me some Kinako dango!” Before Yuuta can even think to reply, Satoru hangs up.
Yuuta sighs, and shakes his head.
Toge blinks, and stretches. He glances around them, checking for their train, and then for Rika. Absence and presence registered, he settles, lowering his head back to Yuuta’s shoulder. His hand slips into Yuuta’s, intertwining their fingers.
Yuuta rests his cheek on top of Toge’s head, and sighs again. “Satoru-sensei asked me to hide any of Ryoumen Sukuna’s fingers from Headquarters.” He says.
Toge shifts, looking up at Yuuta before settling again. “Tuna.” He taps his finger on his knee before taking out his phone, typing. It’s slow one handed, but they have no where better to be.
How come? Toge types out, balancing his phone on their thighs, rather than letting go of Yuuta. It’s silly, but Yuuta’s glad.
“He thinks there’s an Elder who’s working with Mahito,” Yuuta answers.
Oh.
“Yeah.” Yuuta says. There’s a small surge of cursed energy from his connection with Rika as she finishes eating, and then quiet as she sinks further into the shadows.
I want Kinako dango too. Toge yawns again, and snuggles in closer.
“Should we get some for Maki-san?” Yuuta asks.
Yeah. Do you think she’ll still get mad if I steal her skirt?
Yuuta laughs, and the announcer calls out the arrival of their train. “I don’t think you should risk it.”
Toge sighs. “Salmon,” he agrees.
He keeps holding Yuuta’s hand as they get up, waiting for other passengers to disembark before finding a pair of seats for themselves. Yuuta lets himself feel hopeful, as he’s learned to, while they settle in for their trip back to Tokyo.