Play Hell With ✔ // MEGUMI X SUKUNA

[ 20 ] Beach Episode

"This is our 'special mission'?" Megumi deadpanned. Nobara and Itadori were already having a field day. Junpei hung back not out of disdain for the activity, but for being a stick waiting for Itadori to pull him out of the mud.

Megumi's brow twitched in irritation. Gojo had been hyping up a mission that involved travel to the countryside for the past week. It was the last good day before snow was due to arrive.

"I've been misled as well," Nanami reported, which gave Megumi only a moderate sense of relief.

"Your mission today is to relax and have fun," Gojo said.

Nanami sighed. He was the first to relent, and Megumi figured it was due to the fact that work wasn't actually involved. As Nanami slouched ahead onto the sandy beach, Megumi hung back to get his hair ruffled by Gojo.

He swatted Gojo's hand off.

Megumi realized that Gojo's insistence that they pack swimsuits wasn't specifically for a motel pool. It would be the last warm, sunny day of the year, so Megumi relented to the idea of a beach day. The water would be bitter cold, but Itadori and Nobara didn't seem to care.

At the hotel, keys were distributed. A nervous coil had built up in Megumi's stomach as Gojo distributed a key to Nobara, one to Junpei, and stopped in front of Megumi and Itadori.

You've got to be kidding me, Megumi thought, imagining the worst.

A room with one bed.

Megumi's brain immediately went to Sukuna. All was still quiet on that front, but as each day passed without word from Sukuna, the most sick Megumi felt. It felt wrong to not check in on Sukuna after what he'd done.

What they had done.

Megumi's ears went hot as Gojo raised a single key and waved it at the two of them. "Turns out there's a wedding going on, so they had to rejig the rooms. You two are in the two bed."

Megumi let out the breath he'd been holding. He swiped the key out of Gojo's hand. "That's fine. Two beds is perfect," he said.

Due to the overbooking, they disbanded to separate corners of the motel. Megumi fiddled with key packet as Nobara and Junpei left them at the stairs to the second floor. They continued on down the row facing the parking lot.

Megumi discovered that there were two keys in the packet. "Do you want your key or...?"

"You can hang onto it," Itadori said, and it filled Megumi with a rush of delight. He looked down and smothered his smile with pursed lips.

It was always the little things with Itadori. He was already dreading the day Itadori no longer depended on him and knew that this was a distinct feature of their complementary dynamics. Itadori would make a good sub to someone else. One day.

If he lives that long, Megumi reasoned, his joy going cold.

At the second floor, Megumi turned the key in their door and pushed in. Internally, he'd already determined their sleeping arrangement.

"You take the bed by the bathroom," Megumi directed, and Itadori saluted him.

Megumi relaxed into the comfort of having Itadori close and with Megumi between him and the door. He hoped that he'd sleep lightly so as to pick up on when Itadori would come and go— if he came and went.

Itadori unzipped his bag and fetched his swim trunks, claiming the bathroom first. Megumi was quick to tug the blinds over their room window and change while Itadori was out of view. He kept his sweatshirt on to ward off the faint chill in the air, sneakers on, and towel tossed over his shoulder.