Chapter Text
Suguru wakes up on the couch. It’s not unusual, he’s been sleeping on the couch at Satoru’s place for a good month now, the only difference is he’s not at Jujutsu High School.
Suguru stands up and stretches, he can feel the kinks and knots slowly going away as he rolls his neck and shoulders a few times. The couch isn’t particularly the most comfortable sleeping arrangement, but he doesn’t mind.
He walks to the kitchen to find his mom cooking. She turns to him with a smile, “Good morning! I’m making omelets, does Megumi like those?”
“Yeah.” Suguru is just glad they’re not having pancakes for once. Megumi’s love for pancakes has caused Suguru to have a dislike for them.
“Perfect, coffee’s already made in the pot.”
God, Suguru didn’t realize how much he missed waking up to his mom cooking. He goes and grabs a couple of mugs, setting one aside for when Satoru wakes up.
“Suguru?”
Megumi’s calling his name from the other room, “In here, Megs!”
Megumi walks in a few moments later, a rather large octopus stuffed animal in hand.
Suguru forgot the thing was on his bed. “I see you found Seymour.”
Megumi nods, holding the toy up to show Suguru. “It’s a Blue Ringed Octopus. You can tell by the markings.”
“Yeah?” Suguru bends down to look Megumi in the eye, a feeling of pure fondness blossoming in his chest. “What else do you know about Seymour?”
Megumi pauses, his face scrunches up in thought. “Well, he has three hearts and no bones. Oh! And Octopi are colorblind!”
Suguru’s smile grows, he loves seeing Megumi get so excited about animals.
“Wow, aren’t you smart?”
Suguru watches as Megumi bristles at his mother’s voice. He pales, pulling the octopus close to his chest. “Hello.”
Suguru frowns at the sudden change of attitude.
His mom however doesn’t seem to take it to heart. She merely smiles at the kid. “It’s nice to meet you, Megumi. I’m Suguru’s mother.”
Suguru watches Megumi scoot closer to him. “Nice to meet you, ma’am,” his voice is small, it makes Suguru’s chest hurt.
Suguru decides to divert the kid’s attention. He scoops him up, placing Megumi on his hip before continuing to talk. “Is Satoru still asleep?”
Megumi nods before resting his head on Suguru’s shoulder. “He must be tired.”
Suguru hums in agreement, it’s been a while since Satoru’s slept in. “We’ll let him sleep. Mom is making omelets, what did you want on yours?”
Megumi worries his lip. It’s something Suguru’s noticed he does a lot, especially when nervous or upset. “Maybe cheese? And bell peppers?”
“Coming right up!”
Choso wakes up feeling better. Not quite at one hundred percent, but still leagues better from how he felt last night.
He heads to the kitchen. Finding the other three all there. Sukuna and Yuji sit at the table, swinging their legs as they wait for Nanami to finish cooking.
“Morning,” Choso shuffles in, moving to join the twins at the table.
“Choso! Are you feeling better?” Nanami doesn’t look over at him, too focused on not burning the food on the stove.
“Yeah.”
“That’s good. Your mom called last night.” She did? Choso hopes that she’s doing ok, she tends to neglect herself when work is busy. “I told her about how you weren’t feeling good.”
Choso frowns, “what did she say?” He’s hoping that she didn’t start blaming herself, after all, he could’ve remembered too.
“She said that she wanted you to skip school and just take it easy. She says it takes a couple of doses after missing one to start feeling a hundred percent so she just wants you to relax.”
Choso is a little relieved, it’s hard for his mom to take off work, so more often than not he just has to tough it out. He’s glad he doesn’t have to this time.
“That means we can play all day!” Sukuna’s excited voice rings in Choso’s ears, “Too bad Megumi’s away, he lives really close. We could’ve all played together.”
“Well, you boys still have to let Choso take it easy.” Nanami comes over, plates in hand. He sets the food in front of them. “You like bacon and eggs, Choso?”
Choso nods, he doesn’t have bacon very often. Usually, something so expensive would be saved for special occasions. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” Nanami ruffles Choso’s hair, “You boys eat. I’m just going to be in the other room working on schoolwork. Let me know if you need anything.”
Megumi sits in Suguru’s lap, sipping his hot chocolate as he eyes Suguru’s mom warily. She seems ok, for now. Megumi can’t really be so sure, she’s been nice and patient, but adults can be complicated.
His mom was nice too, she was kind to Megumi and took care of him, but she’d always make excuses for his dad. She would lie, whether or not she believed the excuses she spewed was debatable. Anytime he’s reminded of that, the kind image of his mother is distorted, and a twisted feeling of betrayal buries itself in Megumi’s gut.
Suguru’s mom doesn’t seem to be like that, and Megumi knows that Suguru wouldn’t let her treat him poorly. So really, he needs to just relax.
“Alright, breakfast is ready!” Mrs. Geto places the plates in front of them. Megumi’s omelet was decorated with a ketchup smiley face.
“Where’s dad?” Suguru moves Megumi so that he’s sitting off to the side rather than in the middle of Suguru’s lap.
“He should be up soon, he had a long day at work last night.” Mrs. Geto sits down with them, a coffee and her breakfast in hand.
Megumi eats his omelet. He’s not really up to talking so he’ll listen instead.
“The winter festival is going on right now. I’m sure Megumi would like it.”
Suguru hums, “Not a bad idea. I’ll bring it up with Satoru when he wakes up.”
A festival? Megumi’s never been to one of those before. He turns to face Suguru and tugs on his sleeve. “What do you do at a festival?”
Suguru smiles at Megumi, he pushes the kid’s hair back. “Well, there’s food and games and even some rides. We’ll just have to go.”
Megumi giggles softly when Suguru places a kiss to his forehead.
Everything is perfect, for a moment, Megumi forgets all about Suguru’s parents and the stress they were causing him.
But then a gruff unfamiliar voice comes from somewhere out of Megumi’s field of vision, and that’s all it takes for reality to come crashing back down.
Megumi flinches violently, moving to bury his face in Suguru’s chest.
“Megs?” Suguru’s hand is on Megumi’s back.
“What’s with him?”
“I think you scared him, Dad.” Suguru begins to rub circles into Megumi’s back.
“Scare him? I didn’t even do anything!”
Megumi feels bad, Suguru’s dad hadn’t meant to startle him. He had just caught Megumi off guard is all.
“I know, Dad. It’s complicated.” Suguru pauses, “I did have a feeling you might make him skittish.”
“Me?! Why me? I didn’t do anything!”
Megumi listens as Suguru explains. He doesn’t go into detail, just giving his parents enough information to understand why Megumi is the way he is.
“Oh yeah, your mother did try explaining it to me. I did think it was weird you were bringing some kid up here.”
Megumi can hear Mrs. Geto begin to scold her husband for ignoring her explanation. He takes this opportunity to poke his head out and get a good look at the man who just walked in.
Suguru’s dad is big, tall, and muscular for a man his age. His hair was black, like his son’s, but his was cut short. Megumi thinks he would’ve looked intimidating if it weren’t for the sheepish expression he wore as his wife tore through him.
“Hey,” Megumi looks up at Suguru, finding his eyes on him. “You ok?”
Megumi nods, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok, if it’s too much we can go outside.”
Megumi frowns, that wouldn’t really be fair to Suguru. When was the last time he’d even gotten to see his parents? “No, I’m ok.”
“Alright, just let me know if that changes, ok?”
This show Yuji likes is…interesting. Now, admittedly, Choso’s not really paying attention, but there’s a spy and some really weird bad guys. But if Yuji’s happy he doesn’t mind
Choso feels bad they can’t really go outside and play like Sukuna wants. It’s not that he doesn’t want to, but he’s still a little tired, and running around doesn’t sound like a good idea.
Sukuna groans, letting his puzzle piece fall to the floor. “What’s the point of this stupid thing?!”
“If they were easy then they’d be no fun.” Choso puts his piece in its respective spot.
“But it’s too hard,” Sukuna huffs, clearly frustrated.
Choso frowns, he wants his brothers to have fun too. And, now looking at it the puzzle probably is too hard for a four-year-old. “We can play a board game instead.”
“Good idea! I’ll go ask Nanami for one!” Sukuna runs out of the room before Choso can even suggest a game. He must’ve really hated that puzzle.
Satoru wakes up with a chill in his bones. Why is it so cold up in the mountains?
He stands up, shuffling out of the room. He’s still tired and groggy, but he can’t go back to sleep.
“Just tap it on the side like that.” Suguru’s voice travels across the house. “Gently, we don’t want it getting everywhere.”
Satoru follows the voice, shuffling his bare feet across the floor until he finds his two boys standing in front of a mixing bowl.
Megumi holds an egg in each hand, even with the step stool he has to stand on his tiptoes. Order to see properly.
Suguru stands behind him, hands guiding Megumi on what to do. He smiles, looking at Megumi with nothing such fondness and care that it makes Satoru’s heart swell.
Satoru slides into the kitchen. He silently creeps behind Suguru before resting his head on his friend’s shoulder. “G’morning.”
Suguru moves to run a hand through Satoru’s hair. “Morning, how did you sleep?”
“Good,” and this time, it wasn’t a lie. Satoru has managed to sleep the entire night uninterrupted. A small miracle if you asked him. “What are you making?”
“Shortcake! Suguru says that his family makes it every year for the Winter Festival!”
“A winter festival?” Satoru moves to stand beside the two. He glances at Megumi before turning to Suguru. “You didn’t tell me there was a festival going on.”
“Of course I didn’t, you just woke up.” Suguru hands Megumi a spoon to mix with before continuing. “It started a few days ago.”
“If you boys do go out be sure to stop by at Ms. Suzume’s.” Satoru startles at the sudden voice, turning to meet an older woman.
She smiles at Satoru, and there’s no doubt in his mind that this is Suguru’s mother. Her eyes are kind of like his, and they share the same color. “I’m sorry, dear. Did I scare you?”
“No, not at all,” he was a little embarrassed. People aren’t supposed to be able to sneak up on him with his eyes. What’s with him lately? “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am. My name is Satoru.”
“It’s very nice to finally meet you. Sugu has told me so much about you!”
Satoru can hear his friend grumbling about the use of the nickname.
“Did you want something to eat, Satoru? I can make you an omelet.”
“I don’t wanna bother you, Mrs. Geto.” Satoru doesn’t mind waiting till they go out to get something to eat, after all, everyone else has probably already eaten.
Mrs. Geto, however, waves him off. “Nonsense! It’s no problem! There should be some coffee still in the pot, you three have fun, I’ll only be a minute.”
“Thank you,” Satoru tries not to let his surprise show, but it’s hard to keep the disbelief out of his voice. He can’t think of a time when an adult has been so kind to him.
“Dad!” Satoru turns to find Megumi holding out the spoon to him, “It’s your turn!”
Satoru smiles, coming over to take the spoon to stir the batter.
“Suguru says we have to mix in the ingredients a little at a time.”
“Are you sure you want him helping? Toru has a habit of ruining every dish he touches.” There’s a teasing lilt to Suguru’s voice.
“Hey!” Satoru feigns offense, but there’s a smile on his face.
“It’s ok. He’s had practice.”
“Thank you, Megumi. At least you have my back!”
“He’s not that horrible anymore.”
“Hey!”