Chapter Text
megumi resented yuta for graduating and leaving him on his own for roommate pairing, and during his senior year none the less. they had lived together for three faithful years, and now yuta had abandoned him. maki and inumaki were gone too, lost to the horrors of the adult world and the work force. he still had nobara at least, but she had already committed to living with one of her other friends. unsurprisingly, she was far superior in the department of befriending new people.
megumi considered living by himself in a one bedroom apartment, but the prices were astronomical and he refused to ask gojo to spend any more money on him. his adoptive father had already funded his entire college career, and megumi harbored more guilt for it than he cared to admit. so, random roommate selection it was, despite the high probability that he would be paired with someone utterly incompatible with him. but it didn't matter, it was only for a year, and megumi was an expert at keeping to himself.
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"yuu-ji ita-dor-i," nobara enunciated through chews of her sandwich, eyes narrowing on the sheet of paper that held megumi''s roommate assignment, "never heard of him".
megumi hadn't either, but it was a big college and there were surely many names he wouldn't have recognized. he hummed in response and chewed on a french fry, trying to imagine what a 'yuuji' would look like.
"oh here's his instagram!" nobara whooped a few moments later, a toothy smile stretching across her face as she stared down at her phone.
megumi could have feigned surprise, but this was very typical behavior for her. always internet sleuthing her way into finding any information she wanted. "does he look nice?"
"yeah actually," nobara nodded, slurping her drink and squinting at her phone, "he's a hockey player...... posts a lot of pictures of his food..... and has a serious issue with making funny faces in all of his photos".
"wonderful," megumi rolled his eyes and played with his food — his appetite diminishing, "lemme see".
nobara flipped her phone around, "he has pink hair! that's kinda fun," she was looking far more optimistic than megumi feeling was at the moment.
megumi scanned the photos and furrowed his eyebrows. he gathered two things from his quick investigation of the profile.
1. yuuji was a transfer from another college, another D1 college, mind you — so he clearly was a pretty impressive player
2. yuuji could not have been more of megumi's opposite — they were horridly different
the rest of their lunch was filled with nobara vocalizing all of her assumptions about this new roommate and megumi nodding along. their friendship made very little sense, their personalities clashing and their social batteries wildly different — but somehow they were inseparable, a perfect pair. he tried to maintain the positive outlook that if things worked out with nobara, maybe they would work out with yuuji too.
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it was only a couple short days later that megumi was startled out of his sleep to the sound of what could only be described as the world crumbling around him. crashing, breaking, squeaking, and a deep yelp came from his living room, and he begrudgingly rolled out of bed and swung open his door. expecting nobara, a slew of curses were stationed on his tongue — but his mouth fell empty as he made eye contact with none other than his new roommate. his new roommate surrounded in broken glass and spilled boxes, mind you.
the pink haired boy chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the edges — "not a great first impression, huh? i tried to carry too many boxes at once".
"no," megumi concurred, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "not great".
he let out another awkward laugh, "anyway uh, i'm yuuji. it's nice to meet you!"
megumi gave a quick nod, "i'm megumi".
yuuji made an effort to pick one of his boxes back up, and immediately dropped it again. he cried out and grabbed his hand — a streak of red quickly blooming down his palm. a red tipped piece of glass stuck out of a bottom corner of the box, its edge jagged and shiny with yuuji's blood.
"ah shit," he winced at his hand before giving megumi a hesitant look, "do you have-"
"yes, give me a second," megumi turned around and disappeared back into his room before yuuji could even finish his question.
he stood awkwardly in the middle of their now shared living room, rocking from his heels to his toes and scanning the apartment. it was plain and organized, a few plants scattered around. a couch, a small coffee table, and a beautiful flatscreen adorned the living area, but it was otherwise undecorated. but not to worry, yuuji had lots of posters and trinkets to help fill the space. he hoped his maximalism could blend nicely with megumi's clear minimalism — but as of right now this place felt far too clinical and bare.
his mind wandered to the thought of peeking into megumi's bedroom, curiosity crawling up the back of his scalp as he took a hesitant step towards the half-open door. he couldn't see much beyond the darkness before megumi appeared swathed in warm light from his connecting bathroom. the soft flicks of his hair were especially visible with the light glowing behind him, each strand sprouting with a mind of its own. once he crossed the threshold back into the living room, he pulled his door shut behind him and nodded towards the kitchen table.
"go rinse it under some water and then sit down, i'll try my best to wrap it up for you". megumi said as he sat down at the kitchen table, cracking open an old first aid kit he hadn't used since an incident with a kitchen knife sophomore year. he pulled out some gauze, tape, and antibiotic ointment and arranged it in a neat row in front of him.
he worked diligently on yuuji's hand, patting it dry before lathering it in ointment and wrapping it up in a smooth bandage. yuuji did his best to fill the silence with the occasional joke and awkward laugh, to which megumi would muster up a small smile and nod. eventually the conversation became a little more two sided, yuuji asking questions and megumi offering short and simple answers in response.
"have you lived here long?"
"two years".
"you had a different roommate before?"
"i lived with a friend, he graduated".
"what's your major?"
"biochem"
"oh, cool! i'm in sports med. kinda cool that we're both science majors!"
"yeah i guess it is".
"are you in a frat or anything?"
"absolutely not".
"yeah, it's not really for me either. but i'm sure ill get roped into some stuff with the hockey team".
their conversation continued to divulge down various paths and topics, yuuji oblivious and unbothered at megumi's reserved nature, and megumi finding that it was slowly becoming easier and easier to breathe in yuuji's presence.