Chapter Text
It has been almost 12 years since the Shinjuku showdown in 2030.
Megumi takes public transit to go on a mission around midnight. He had just celebrated his 28th birthday last week. His birthday has been uneventful every year. He celebrates the day by starting with a prayer at Tsumiki’s grave, grabbing breakfast on the way, which includes a black coffee and a chocolate frappe, and choosing a birthday cake. He then heads to Jujutsu High, where everyone eats together and showers him with gifts. Along every step of the way, the pink-haired boy is present with him.
The night, however, ends with Megumi pressed against everyone as Megumi presses his hips into the pink-haired boy and makes him moan in delight. “Yuji,” He groans, and his hands roughly grab on the scarred waist of the beautiful man who was shaking with his mouth open, saliva dripping as he whimpers low.
Now is not the time to think about that. Megumi shakes his head, inserts the wired earphones in his phone and leans against the window as he plays low music. He keeps his eyes open on the road lest he close his eyes and think of his boyfriend in positions that get him hard in public, even though he is the only person on the train.
At exactly around 1:15 am, Megumi feels the shift in the surrounding air. The train is disintegrating into a shelf of polished different colors. Megumi pulls his earphones off and looks around the train as it transforms into different new colors. He wonders if this is the mission. A curse has to activate a domain in the train.
However, Megumi is proved wrong when he sees noisy kids, bored adults, scrawny elders and giggling teens enter the train as it stops. Megumi looks at everyone in surprise and walks off the train. The station has changed, too.
Megumi looks at the station board, and it says Tokyo. Tokyo? The cursed city? That is filled with curses and uninhabitable. How are people living in Tokyo?
Megumi pulls out his phone and sees that the screen is black. He slaps it many times, but there is no response.
“Wow, vintage,” A teen boy whistles, eyes bored looking at Megumi’s phone.
Vintage? His brand new phone.
The worst plausible scenario now engages Megumi’s mind. No way. There’s no way he has time-travelled into the future of all things. He grabs the kid and shakes him lightly, “What’s the date today, kid?”
“22nd December?” He says in a duh tone.
His birthday? Did he go back in time? No.
“Year?”
“2090,” The kid blows his gum and shakes Megumi off his body as he gets into the train.
Fuck. FUCK.
Megumi is screwed. Beyond screwed. He has to figure out a way to get out of here to get back to his time. But he is too far in the future, and now his phone does not work in this future. He knows for a fact his comrades are all dead unless they are living up to 100 years old. Well, he knows for a fact Maki could be alive till 100. She has always been the strongest physically. But that also counts Yuji, right?
If Yuji is alive, he would be 87, and he wouldn’t put it past Yuji to survive that long. But should he find someone he knows or figure out the solution himself?
Okay, calm down. Megumi takes a deep breath and pockets his useless phone for now. He gets back onto the train to go to his sister’s grave. It’s his birthday, of course, and if he follows his routine, he will perhaps find some similarity in the route and make a plan to go back.
Megumi walks slowly. Many things have changed, and people were mostly on this 3D screen that popped out from their bracelets. He can sense the curses, but they were either grade 3 or 4. The output of curses from the non-sorcerers was not bad either. Perhaps that is why the curses are not strong anymore.
A smile makes Megumi’s face as he thinks of the future his comrades have made. People are happy, and the curses are publicly known. They figured out a way to live so peacefully. He wonders when they reach this point in their own lives. He hopes they can achieve this at least by his 50s, so he and Yuji can retire early.
No missions, no fighting. Just them in their home, cozy, quiet and the humming of an old Yuji rolling meatballs as he cooks them as Megumi prefers. A wrinkled face, Yuji, who finally has body aches as he struggles to lift the laundry basket.
Megumi smiles internally. God, he already misses his lover so much. He has to figure out a way to get back and fix their life together for a peaceful future awaiting them.
The route to the cemetery is unusually clean. As if someone just got it done a few minutes ago. Megumi is glad his sister is in a place where she is cared for. He does not recall having any other graves aside from the sorcerers who died on the Night Parade, Shibuya and Shinjuku. He hopes no one is added to the cemetery after. There has to be a peaceful future after Shinjuku.
That’s when something catches Megumi’s eye. A known name. Okkotsu Yuta.
Before Megumi could spiral into thoughts of anguish, he noticed the years. Yuta died not that long ago, probably of old age. A bittersweet smile appears on his face as he stands in front of the tomb. He sits and brushes his hand lightly against the clean tomb. Loved so much even after death. He never changed.
Megumi turns his head to the side and sees another familiar name. Okkotsu Maki. Died a year before Yuta. He chuckles lightly, tears streaking his face. Yuta did not die of old age. He loved Maki so much that his grief took him to the grave.
Looking at the Okkotsu couple’s tombs, Megumi wonders if it is Megumi or Yuji who leaves first. Megumi thinks he is as hopeless as his senior, Yuta. He does not know how he would survive a day without the bubbly, pink-haired man. But knowing Yuji, who lost so much, Megumi can only hope that Yuji leaves before him.
Yuji’s grandfather’s wish. Megumi wants to fulfil that even though it is painful for him. He wishes to send his lover off in a manner where Yuji never has to see his grandfather’s wish as a curse. It breaks Megumi’s heart to have Yuji leave, but as long as Yuji is surrounded by the person he loves the most, Megumi thinks he can handle this. It is a bitter feeling, yet he can imagine how happy Yuji would be to have Megumi send him off.
His lover is stupid. Megumi chuckles, yet he is the foolish one ready to give Yuji the proper death bearing through the pain.
Sighing, Megumi dusts his pants and stands up as he strolls around the cemetery towards Tsumiki. Might as well fulfil his birthday tradition here as well, who knows if he will be living till 88? Sounds like an awful long time, but with Yuji, it probably felt like a breeze.
Every day with Yuji since Shinjuku has been like this. Peaceful and calm. Most days, Megumi would be feeling the worst, missing his sister or Gojo, and some days, Yuji would be feeling the same. However, Megumi learns to slowly and gradually bear the pain of losing their loved ones by leaning on others.
Megumi squints his eyes as he notices a hooded figure. His face is hidden as he is praying at the tomb. Tsumiki’s tomb?
No way. No wait. How can an 87-year-old look so fit? He knows for a fact that this person is his Yuji. He has to be in the depths of hell and darkness not to recognize his lover.
His heart picks up, his feet running towards the man, he does not know when or how he crashes into the man, who is built just like him, yet an inch shorter. The man lets out a sound at the impact, and it is confirmed that this is Yuji. Knowing that Yuji is 87, he should have been softer on him. Yet, the impact did nothing to the other Yuji. Did another Yuji time-travel here by mistake, too?
Megumi pushes the hood off his face, but a smile that almost appeared on his face vanished fast when he saw the eyes. “Yuji?” He caresses the scarred face. Yuji’s eyes are empty, and his hair is pushed back. He is not going to lie about how attracted he is to this handsome voice.
Yuji’s eyes widen in shock, too, as he covers Megumi’s hands on his face with his own. His ring and pinky finger are still missing as his hands lightly shake, holding onto Megumi’s hand. “Megumi? How? How are you here?”
Shaking his head, the black-haired man mumbles, “I do not know Yuji. I was in Kyoto on a train for my mission. I do not know how I got here. It was 2030, now it’s-”
“2090,” Yuji finishes his sentence.
Frowning, Megumi looks around, he sees no tomb for himself or Yuji. Either they are both still alive this year, which is wow, or something messed up is going on. No, no, do not think the worst. Megumi shakes his head and looks at the young man, “When did you come here, Yuji?”
Yuji shakes his head. He leans his face against Megumi’s palm. His eyes closed as his eyelids shook. His hands firmly held onto Megumi. He gulps, yet he says nothing.
Something is wrong. Extremely wrong.
Megumi’s heart starts cracking slowly as he feels his chest tightening. He clears his throat and leans his head against Yuji. Nuzzling, he closes his eyes and feels the man sigh with a shaky breath. Megumi moves his other hand to Yuji’s chest, which is trembling uncontrollably. “Darling, what’s wrong? You are so brave. What happened?”
His thumb rubs against Yuji’s cheekbone. So rough. He misses the softness on his skin. His dark circles are so evident even under the hood. He pushes the hood back, revealing his bright pink hair. So lovely, yet so broken.
His hair pushes back, revealing the deep wrinkles of a frown between his brows. Megumi rubs his thumb between his eyebrows as Yuji keeps nuzzling him. “Yuji, what happened? I am here, aren’t I?”
Yuji responds after a long time. “I did not know this was what you had for me. You are so cruel to me, Megumi.”
Huh? Is he dead? That still does not explain Yuji being here like this.
“Am I dead?” Megumi wonders.
Yuji shakes his head and pulls away from Megumi. He chuckles and grabs Megumi’s hand. “Follow me. It’s not too far.”
Weird. That still does not explain Yuji’s form. Something dark looms in Megumi’s mind. He pushes away all the negative and worst possible things that could be happening. He can only hope for answers.
Yuji’s hand never left his. They passed through the grave of the Okkotsu couple. “They were happy,” Yuji says, a tone that holds nothing but regret for some reason. “Their son disappeared, and I am to blame. Not long after, Maki-san passed away, grieving her son, and Okkotsu-senpai passed away a year later.”
“You are to blame?”
Yuji nods and hums. “He disappeared the day he had a conversation with me. I cannot recall what I should have said to turn things differently.”
Megumi stares at the tomb and keeps following Yuji’s lead. Yuji has been here in this timeline longer than he thought. The question is revolving around his mind, and he figures he should ask, yet he fears the answer.
Yuji continues, “As years passed, my Megumi was having trouble moving, so we couldn’t visit Tsumiki neechan often. So, we moved closer to the cemetery. Megumi said someone will be waiting for me on his birthday, that’s why I am here before him.”
“He knew?” Megumi wonders. How does Megumi know that 28-year-old Megumi will be here from the past? Is this the surprise he had for him? What is even going on?
No, he cannot stall the questions anymore. As they reach the stairs of the house, Megumi stands back, and Yuji opens the door.
His chest vibrates with intense pain he has never felt before. He gulps and asks he has been dreading to ask, “Are you not ageing, Yuji?”
A flinch. Yuji turns back to him, a smile quite not quite reaching his eyes as his eyebrows raise. He giggles and says with a sarcastic tone, “Am I that young to you?”
Megumi shakes his head. The worst fear he never even thought of just became a reality. His Yuji. The boy who becomes lonely so easily has embraced loneliness beyond horror that no one can comprehend.
He steps over the stairs and crashes into Yuji with another tight hug. Yuji’s arms squeezed between their chests as his fists clenched onto Megumi’s shirt. Megumi presses his lips against the man’s neck and murmurs, “Why you?” He grits his teeth, mad at the world, mad at everything and mostly mad at himself.
The boy he saved decades ago is cursed by him. He cursed his father, his father, his sister and the person he cherished so much. He should never have been in his life to begin with.
“Are you lonely?” Megumi asks, fearing the answer.
Yuji chuckles, he sniffles and answers, “Not right now. It feels so good after a while. I don’t feel lonely anymore.”
This man. He will take a bit of warmth and turn it into huge comfort. He is so lonely, and Megumi knows him inside out.