Chapter Text
Megumi Fushiguro didn’t know very much about his roommate.
He had moved into their shared apartment roughly three months ago, and could count on hand the amount of things he knew about the guy, something Nobara chastised him for frequently, claiming he’d be the next “true crime” story she listened to on those dumb podcasts she adored.
But hey, in Megumi’s defense it wasn’t like the guy was social himself, in fact he was rarely home, and when he was he pretty much avoided Megumi like the plague. In all honesty, he wasn’t complaining, he would’ve lived on his own if student debt weren’t a thing. In his eyes, this was the second best option, he had a roommate who paid half the rent, but was never around and didn’t bother him. A win is a win.
For reference, Megumi was twenty-six, and had managed to just earn his veterinary license and degrees at a young age and had just started work at a rehabilitation clinic for the local wildlife, but still serviced the citizens with their pets as well. But his hard-work and diligence to become a full-fledged vet this early came with a heavy price: student debt.
Megumi could still remember painstakingly hunting down an apartment that wasn’t an absolute shit-hole, and wasn’t completely out of his budget, it had been a royal pain in the ass, but then he saw his roommate’s ad. Cheap rent for a nice place, working AC, on the outskirts of the town, water with heat? Megumi was sold.
At the time, Megumi thought having a roommate was the only catch the place seemed to have, obviously after living in their shared space for the past few months with the shared avoidance, Megumi loved where he lived. However, he was beginning to find himself growing increasingly more curious about his strange roommate.
Occasionally, Megumi would look at the ad for the apartment from back when he had screenshotted it for the first time, but only to read the vague information about his roommate. He’d rather die than admit how intrigued he was, but for some strange reason he couldn’t help himself. Megumi had never been known to be nosy, he had always been reserved and minded his own business ever since he was a little kid. But when you live with someone for three months and have never been in their room, spoken besides a greeting, and almost never see him, you’d start to wonder too.
My name is Sukuna Ryomen, 28 years old, park ranger. Had this place a few years now, extra bedroom, can’t afford it by myself. Looking for a roommate, preferably quieter and around my age.
(No profile picture listed.)
Megumi’s index finger tapped incessantly against the cracked screen of his phone to prevent it from turning off as he reread the ad his roommate, Sukuna, had made when he first listed their apartment. Megumi had obviously fit Sukuna’s preferred roommate standards, and despite his friends warning him about how creepy the vague ad seemed, along with the apartment being on the outskirts of town, Megumi had gone anyway to check it out.
In hindsight, maybe that wasn’t a good idea, but he was lucky and the apartment hadn’t been false advertising, and Sukuna was exactly who he said he was, not some creep that was actually in his forties. Albeit, Sukuna was much bigger than Megumi had expected. Maybe if Sukuna had given himself a profile picture, Megumi wouldn’t have been so caught off-guard when they first met, but he still doubts it.
Megumi could remember the very first time he met Sukuna vividly, simply because it was the only interaction he had with him to this day that was longer than 5 minutes. It was in August, the heat causing Megumi to tug at the collar of his sweater. He had at least worn shorts, but had been vehemently against short-sleeved tops since he was an angsty middle-schooler, and had never tried it again. His hand barely even grazed the door before it was rapidly pulled open, making Megumi blink once in surprise at the speed, twice in shock at the man who had been behind it.
Megumi wasn’t short, standing 5 '9, but this guy, Sukuna, was huge , at least 6' 5. Plus the amount of muscle he was packed with had to be illegal, he was wearing a damn sweatshirt and yet the outline of his biceps still bulged. The veins in his broad hand popped as he gripped the edge of the doorframe, Megumi’s eyes wandered to see a few rings on his fingers, solid bands of dark steel. Etched around his wrists in black ink were solid bands, and Megumi remembers wondering if he had tattoos anywhere else. Megumi slowly tilted his head back to meet Sukuna’s eyes, and his question was immediately answered.
Jagged black lines framed his face in an intimidating (very handsome) way, the design intricate yet deliberate and sharp. The scowl on his face along with deep red eyes that seemed to stab through Megumi’s very soul and send a chill down his spine indicated Sukuna’s personality was just as “deliberate and sharp” as the tattoos lining his skin.
Sukuna’s nostrils were flared as if he was an angry bull, and the unwavering eye-contact almost sent Megumi running for the hills. Sukuna kept it up with the intense stare for a moment, tongue darting across his lips as they pulled into an arrogant smirk, that was until his nose twitched like a dog’s and his smirk quickly faded. His nose twitched again before his pupils seemed to dilate impossibly wide, he quickly raised a hand to his nose and blinked heavily, his pupils returning to normal so quickly Megumi wondered if he had been hallucinating. He pinched the bridge of his nose and averted his eyes, breaking eye contact while mumbling something under his breath about “bloody noses” and beckoning Megumi inside.
He had vaguely shown Megumi around, his shoulders now tight with noticeable tension, their motions stiff and restricted as he walked. His voice was a deep timbre, yet despite the calm way he spoke, he’d occasionally swipe at his nose again and avert his eyes, the tension his large frame seemed to have carrying over into all his movements. Megumi excused it, taking that regardless of his stature, perhaps he was a nervous person, even though the way he walked oozed with smooth and easy confidence.
But that was it, Megumi had signed the lease and that had been roughly the last time he had talked to Sukuna aside from the occasional “good morning” and some small talk.
In his few months of living with Sukuna, Megumi had concluded that Sukuna was a bit, strange.
Now, Megumi wasn’t a nosy person, just
observant
.
Sukuna was devastatingly handsome to say the least, Megumi would be a fool to say he wasn’t easily the most attractive guy he’d ever seen, and he looked like a typical douchebag. But despite how his looks portrayed him, Sukuna didn’t seem to be the “partying” type, there wasn’t a single bottle of alcohol in the kitchen, and he had never brought anyone else to their apartment.
The only time Sukuna seemed to leave the house was at night. He seemed to have a daily routine, he’d leave early in the morning for roughly an hour, and then would hole up in his room and only leave the apartment when the sun had set, and although Megumi was a night-owl himself, he had only been awake a few times to hear the door opening, signaling that Sukuna had re-entered their apartment. He honestly couldn’t tell if Sukuna had a strange work-schedule, or if he was just that desperate to avoid Megumi for whatever reason.
Just from looking in the fridge, Sukuna seemed to have an affinity for meat, all the food he had purchased for himself was bloody and raw inside the sealed white or yellow styrofoam grocery packages, the blood beneath the plastic cover lazily dripping out to the refrigerator’s interior and staining it red. Megumi figured he had to be a frequent member of the gym with the muscle he possessed, and probably liked food with high protein quality, as he bought no simple snacks for himself, just the meat.
Megumi ignored the fact that Sukuna didn’t own anything to cook the raw meat.
Occasionally, Megumi would hear strange noises from Sukuna’s room, slow and drawn-out scraping and tapping along the floorboards, frantic scratching against the wood of his door, quick and unsteady pacing, each floorboard creaking under his weight as he walked paced the same routh, back, and forth. Megumi tried to ignore this, yet the unease it gave him was odd, the sounds giving him an off-putting feeling making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, and his stomach churn.
A few other things would also led Megumi to his conclusion, the strange claw marks viciously torn into the white tile of the bathroom floor and sink countertop, the fact that some of Megumi’s clothes seemed to go missing only to show up outside his door within a few days, the occasional wet-dog smell that seemed to trace back to Sukuna’s room, the growls he heard, so many little things- and yet that wasn’t what set Megumi’s senses into overdrive.
Megumi was a light sleeper, something his sister used to tease him for as a kid, any slight sound enough to pull him out of his sleep.
There were nights when Megumi would be pulled from his sleep, the slow creak of his door being opened as the door-knob jiggled slowly, a clear attempt from the perpetrator to stay as silent as possible. Megumi would stay silent during this time, his shoulders tensing with unease as he felt an impossibly heated gaze boring holes into the back of his skull, eventually this feeling would leave, and when Megumi would turn- he’d find his door wide open and the dim light of the hall streaming into his room, but with no other sign of anyone ever being present.
Despite Sukuna’s strange-habits, he left Megumi alone and gave him time to study, along with a nice apartment with great rent, so Megumi ignored the occasional unease and focused on paying off his loans from vet-school. He was just thankful to have a full degree and good job now, so focusing on his roommate was the least of his concerns.
Megumi had been absentmindedly scrolling on his phone, before hearing the apartment door open and slam shut.
Sukuna had just gotten home.
Megumi checked the time with a furrowed brow, it was only midnight, Sukuna was home early today. Megumi bit his lip and set his phone down, overwhelming curiosity pushing him to attempt listening to his roommate from inside his room.
Sukuna’s steps were heavy and his strides long, reflecting his height and muscle mass. The floorboards creaked and groaned under his weight as he made his way down the hallway. Megumi leaned slightly forward in his bed, his dark hair falling forward over his eyes, a poor attempt to try and hear more of the vague details. As Sukuna continued to walk, his pace steady, Megumi could hear his labored and strained breathing through the door.
Megumi felt his expression twist in worry, was Sukuna hurt?
Megumi’s heart began to beat quickly as Sukuna’s heavy steps stopped outside of his door, the light from the hallway illuminating the clear outline of Sukuna’s shoes from under the door. There was a long pause, Megumi’s heart now beating impossibly fast as Sukuna continued to stand stock-still outside the door, his strained breathing making Megumi’s body fill with unease.
Sukuna’s outline shifted slightly, and Megumi almost sighed in relief, figuring Sukuna was finally going to continue down the hallway to his own room.
The doorknob jiggled slightly, shifting back and forth with slow and deliberate motions in a chilling attempt of silence.
Megumi felt his breath-hitch and his heart pound fast enough as if it was trying to burst directly through his chest then and there, but his body was frozen, and he just stared at the door dumbly in a trance-like state, unknowing of what action he should even take. The doorknob continued to jiggle until the door was pushed open slightly, a slow creak coming from the old hinges as it was pushed open barely an inch.
Megumi held his breath as the door creaked ominously as it was slowly opened, pausing each time the hinges squeaked too loudly, eerily trying to remain silent.
Sukuna’s broad frame was illuminated by the light in the hall, now visible to Megumi as the door was pushed open. He paused, shifting tensely in his stance as he seemed to realize Megumi was awake and sitting in his bed, looking back at him.
His face was cast in shadows, the dim light from the hallway only providing enough light to make out the details on one side of his face. His tan skin along with the dark lines of ink were just barely visible, a strange and dark liquid was splattered across his face, his shoulders impossibly tense. His nose twitched, followed by a sharp inhale and Megumi thought he could see his pupils dilate impossibly wide akin to when they first met, but the shadows cast over Sukuna’s face spared Megumi the details.
Sukuna shifted again, clearly uncomfortable with being caught. And although Megumi couldn’t make out the details of his eyes, he could feel the intensity of the eye contact in the way his gut twisted and told him to run.
“I was just.. Making sure I didn’t accidentally wake you up when I came inside,” Sukuna said slowly, his deep voice wavering slightly, a clear lie. Megumi ignored the lie despite his unease. He’d admit curiosity was beginning to get to him, and if Sukuna wasn’t avoiding him now, it was just opportunity.
“It’s alright, I was already awake before you got here,” Megumi said quickly, still attempting to calm his rabbiting heart and nervous breathing as he spoke, quickly thinking of what to say next to keep Sukuna from dodging him, “Are you alright? You’re still breathing a little heavy,” Megumi asked, keeping his own gaze locked onto the outline of Sukuna’s face, despite his instincts telling him to avoid this entire conversation, to avoid Sukuna himself.
Sukuna tensed even more at that, “Don’t worry about it,” he responded, clearly avoiding something, whether it was help, conversation, or the truth, Megumi wasn’t sure. But he did know Sukuna was trying to close the conversation, and he wasn’t going to let him off that easily.
As Sukuna was about to turn away, the liquid splashed on his face shone in the dim light vaguely, reflecting off his tanned skin. Megumi quickly called out to pull him back into conversation again.
“Are you sure? What’s on your face?” Megumi asked, his tone lowering slightly as he narrowed his eyes in an attempt to see more detail. Was the liquid red, brown, black? Could Sukuna have blood on his face? But why, what would he-
Sukuna cut off Megumi’s train of thought as he paused again, the floorboards creaking under him, “...Mud. I’m a park ranger, remember?” Sukuna huffed slightly, clearly unused to being questioned, before Megumi could ask from what, Sukuna waved a hand to dismiss the conversation and quickly walked away, the door to his room closing quickly.
Megumi sighed as Sukuna stuck to his evasive nature once again, his strange spying habit successfully sending a chill up Megumi’s spine, yet it was strangely intriguing at the same time. Nobara would slap him clean across the face if she heard him say that, or knew anything about this.
If Sukuna wasn’t nice to look at, he probably wouldn’t have gotten away with it.
Megumi’s sleep was futile that night, the faint growling and scratching behind Sukuna’s door, each noise more inhuman than the last. It was just enough to make Megumi’s mind run wild as he tossed and turned the remainder of the night, trying to suffocate the growing sense of unease gnawing at the pit of his stomach.
The next morning, Megumi debated on texting Nobara about the whole thing.
Sure, she could help him figure out a way to talk to Sukuna, and try and figure him out, but a strange part of Megumi wanted to figure out the mystery behind Sukuna Ryomen himself. But Megumi knew if he informed Nobara of any of the details, she’d tell him to move out immediately or punch Sukuna in the face, which definitely wouldn’t go over well.
He decided against texting her.
Megumi thoroughly enjoyed mysteries, despite being an incredibly blunt and straight-forward person, unraveling the truth around situations had always been a thrill to him. And Sukuna himself was a walking, talking, breathing mystery.
Maybe Megumi just had issues, which he was well aware he did, he didn’t believe Sukuna was out to get him with the spying, and there had to be something to explain everything else regarding Sukuna. Megumi hated socializing, and typically reserved himself for close friends, but if he wanted to figure out anything about Sukuna and the strangeness surrounding him, he knew he’d have to speak to the man himself.
He heard Sukuna start his usual routine, the door to his room creaking open and closing soon after, followed by the apartment door signaling his exit. Per his usual routine, Sukuna would be gone for roughly an hour before he came back until the sun set and he left again.
Megumi got out of bed, and began getting ready for the day, black hair falling messily over his green eyes annoyingly and he quickly pushed it to the side. No matter how many times Megumi brushed his hair out, it never seemed to lay flat, constantly looking as if he had just rolled out of bed. His eye bags were especially bad today with the lack of sleep he had gotten, and Megumi grimaced slightly at the way his pale skin seemed to accentuate them even more. He tugged slightly at the collar of the oversized t-shirt he wore, hanging loosely around his body.
He could enjoy how boxy it made him look, thank god for top surgery.
Megumi had been told by plenty of his friends how attractive he was, but honestly, he couldn’t see it in the slightest. He was thin, his body lithe with undertones of sleek muscle, Nobara referring to his frame as “the perfect runner’s body,” which Megumi supposed made sense, running was something he enjoyed in his rare amounts of free-time. But he had always observed most people enjoying more muscular men, and he wasn’t exactly a twink either on the opposite side of the spectrum, so he didn’t quite see the appeal for himself and considered it to be an awkward in-between.
He was ridiculously pale, and remained the same shade year round, no sun-burn or tan, something he absolutely loathed. The inky black untamable mess that he called hair was a stark contrast to his skin-tone, and Megumi had considered dying it a few times so it wouldn’t highlight just how pale he was anymore. Megumi held one of the short black locks next to his ear to the side as he viewed himself in the mirror, and considered going chestnut-brown for a few moments to combat the paleness he possessed. Until he thought about how dumb that would look.
Megumi sighed to himself and quickly threw on a pair of crew-socks, the cold tile of the bathroom floor making him shiver as the lack of heat seemed to spread from the soles of his feet all the way to his chest. He decides to refrain from looking at the claw-marks viciously etched into the white tile of the floor and sink counter.
Megumi quickly dressed himself, tossing on a navy knitted sweater Nobara had gotten for him, and loose-fitting black jeans. He snorted quietly under his breath, the corners of his lips curving into his smile because he knew if Nobara was here, she’d call him a psychopath for wearing jeans while relaxing.
He brushed his teeth and grabbed his phone off the toilet seat he had set it on without thinking, that definitely was a disaster waiting to happen, and Megumi didn’t exactly have the best luck. Megumi padded out of the bathroom, the floorboards creaking softly as he walked down the hall and out to the living room, comfortably seating himself on the couch that was conveniently next to their apartment’s entrance. He managed to distract himself from the unease surrounding his thoughts of Sukuna for long enough, but now he was about to face him again, determined to speak to him. On a normal day, he typically had common sense, but curiosity seemed to have gotten the best of him now.
All he had to do now was wait.
Perhaps knowing Sukuna’s routine this well made Megumi a little strange himself, but he couldn’t really find it in himself to care.
Megumi had been keen on avoiding most people his whole life, but something about Sukuna, his routine, how attractive he was, and the mystery surrounding him and all his habits- it all just seemed to pull Megumi in deeper and deeper.
He nearly got lost in these thoughts, attempting to come up with theories, until he heard the key insert itself into the apartment door, and the doorknob began to turn.
His gaze quickly snapped to the door, eyes widened slightly, just in time to meet Sukuna’s gaze as the door swung open. Sukuna seemed caught off-guard by Megumi’s presence this early in the morning, as he paused and blinked in what looked like surprise as he met Megumi’s gaze head-on, his own slightly widened eyes giving him a deer-in-headlights appearance.
Sukuna found his composure and gave Megumi a curt nod before ducking slightly under the doorframe and turning to close the door again. Megumi’s heart raced as he quickly tried to come up with something to pull Sukuna into conversation before he holed up in his room until sunset.
Unfortunately for Megumi, social skills weren’t exactly his forte, so he settled with a simple, “Good-morning.”
“Morning,” Sukuna responded, his speech just as clipped as the nod he had given earlier. As Megumi’s mind raced trying to find something else to say, he took in Sukuna’s appearance.
Sukuna wore black joggers and a heather-gray hoodie along what seemed to be running sneakers by the looks of it. His salmon-pink hair was slightly pressed against his forehead with sweat and water, and his cheeks pink, whatever he had been doing seemed to have tired him out.
But what piqued Megumi’s interest was the mud splattered on his sneakers and his paints, not just flecks of mud either, but large patches and clumps, some even making way to splash across his neck and jaw. Along with that, some red flecks of liquid stood out next to the smeared mud on his neck and jaw. It appeared to be blood , but why on earth would Sukuna have blood on his neck and jaw? How had it gotten there?
He seemed to be hurt the night before with the labored breathing, but now he looked and sounded perfectly fine. So why would there be blood? Last night he had liquid splattered on his face as well and was rather avoidant when Megumi had asked-
Megumi felt his stomach drop slightly as the only answers he could wrap his mind around all turned sinister.
But he pushed that away for now no matter how uneasily it settled in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to figure Sukuna out, not stare at him dumbly while he locked the door and put his keys away. He had to say something before he walked off.
“What happened to you? You’re covered in mud,” Megumi asked, raising a brow slightly as he spoke, his tone casual enough to hide his unease and curiosity.
“I went for a run,” came Sukuna’s terse answer, causing Megumi to internally groan, trying to solve anything that revolved around Sukuna seemed impossible.
“Outside I’m assuming?” Megumi spoke, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes slightly, waving a hand slightly to try and push Sukuna to elaborate.
Sukuna huffed slightly at that, his brow furrowing as he scowled, before he began shaking his wet hair out like a dog, causing Megumi to chuckle under his breath which earned a vicious glare from Sukuna.
“Yes. I was outside,” Sukuna grumbled irritatedly, running a hand through his now semi-dry hair and pushing it away from his face in the usual style he wore, the scowl on his face pinched the lines of his tattoos ever-so-slightly, making him look even broodier.
The pale yellow of the light fixture near the door flickered and hummed as Sukuna raised his eyes to meet Megumi’s, casting dark shadows over his face in a strange manner each time it went out. The electric hum from the fixture created a faint buzzing that seemed to reverberate into Megumi’s skull, the longer he watched Sukuna beneath the flickering shadows, the louder his ears started to ring, the more his body told him to run.
Despite this, Megumi avoided every instinct in his gut, and pushed forward. Sukuna was intimidating, but Megumi was stubborn and his determination to find out more about the strange man seemed to outweigh his body’s unnatural response to Sukuna himself.
If he could handle his cousin Maki’s fits of rage as a kid, he could force himself to handle Sukuna’s off-putting nature. He was confident he could convince his body Maki was scarier than Sukuna, the feeling in his gut heavily disagreed with the notion.
Sukuna slipped off his muddy sneakers and made a move to exit the living room, but Megumi wasn’t planning on letting his mini-interrogation end so soon. He was on a mission, and despite his awareness that this weird obsession he seemed to have formed was exactly that: weird. He was dead set on seeking out information about Sukuna, the mystery surrounding him and his strange habits, even though Megumi himself wasn’t sure what was fueling him to do so.
“Well? You’re covered in mud. What happened?” He asked again, motioning his hand a bit faster, urging Sukuna to elaborate again.
This, of course, only deepened Sukuna’s scowl as the flickering yellow light shaded half of his face and made his expression more striking, the sharpness of his angular bone-structure pronounced, severe. Sukuna paused unnaturally and shifted while he looked to be formulating a response in his head, the light spilling across his face repeatedly in harsh shadows as his shoulders swayed slightly in a tense motion while he adjusted.
Sukuna turned back to Megumi, shifting his stare downwards to meet Megumi’s eyes, pinning him to the very spot he sat. The intensity from his unblinking gaze was unnerving, his eyes crimson with a thick band of black surrounding the iris, unnatural. The heat from his stare alone was enough to send a cold chill through Megumi’s body, the hair on the back of his neck slowly rising.
Megumi almost squirmed, or maybe he almost melted into the gray couch cushions, he couldn’t tell- his body’s fight or flight response was going haywire all from the sheer ferocity Sukuna’s stare seemed to evoke, but he repressed the urge to do either.
“I fell,” he shrugged, the muscles in his broad shoulders tense, and his eye-contact wavered for just a moment, the intensity behind his gaze gone and now replaced with a clouded haze. He was lying. Megumi chose to ignore the blatant lie, instead just focusing on attempting to make Sukuna speak a bit more, the mystery behind the man too great to fully ignore for longer.
“Pretty nasty fall then,” Megumi started, absentmindedly pretending to look at his phone to fake disinterest, playing it ‘cool’, if you may, “Do you have work today?”
Sukuna snorted slightly at that, yanking his sweatshirt over his head and pulling it off, the dim lighting flicking and swaying with his movement. Megumi pretends not to notice the way his muscles surge as he does such a simple movement, the way his t-shirt slips up, revealing a sharp and elegant V-line along the slope of his abdomen, even more solid etched lines of black ink lining his- Sukuna’s shirt falls back, covering his abdomen once again.
“I work seven days a week,” Sukuna replied, and finally , Megumi got some information out of him. This was good, he could work with this.
“You’re a park ranger right? What do you do?” Megumi inquired again, prying a little bit further as he recalled the details from Sukuna’s personal ad when he had been reaching out for a roommate along with the mention of it during their short conversation the night before.
Megumi leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, peering up at Sukuna through his lashes as he waited for a response, keeping his green eyes fixed on Sukuna in an attempt to engage him in the conversation.
Sukuna licked his lips and averted his eyes from Megumi’s, the light quivered and blinked faster.
He huffed slightly under his breath, lazily dragging his iron stare back to Megumi and before responding, “I mark trails and track the wild-life in the area.”
“I’m a veterinarian, I just officially got my license. If you find an injured animal, you can always send them to our clinic, we specialize in rehabilitating wildlife,” Megumi offered, trying to push the conversation just a little more, attempting to keep Sukuna in the room, if he could keep him talking he was bound to find out at least a little more. Megumi stretched slightly as he met Sukuna’s eyes again, neck tilting to the side as he met the intensity that even Sukuna’s relaxed stare seemed to possess.
The pale yellow light quivered and flicked violently as Megumi tilted his neck to the side. Sukuna’s face was marred by the harsh shadows the light cast, his stare fixed on the delicate arch of Megumi’s neck, the porcelain pale skin contrasting Megumi’s ink black hair in a beautiful display.
Sukuna’s mouth parted slightly, the sharp tips of two canines peering out before the pale yellow of the light completely died out, shading his face in black, Megumi’s gut twisted with unease and panic along with the heartbeat increasing at a dramatic rate, now pounding anxiously within his chest.
The light flared back to life the next second, Sukuna’s lips now pressed in a tight-line, canines nowhere to be seen, his nostrils flared slightly as he took a large breath, the sound accompanying the electric hum in the otherwise silent room.
“Mm..” Sukuna hummed slightly, his flared nostrils beginning to quiver slightly, his nose twitching. It was a motion he seemed to have a habit of, a pattern Megumi had seen from him often.
His pupils dilated impossibly wide soon after, and Megumi tried to discreetly inch closer, a feeble attempt to get a better look and confirm what he was seeing. Sukuna quickly turned away from him however, and raised a large hand to pinch the bridge of his nose slightly as he blinked heavily.
“Yeah, I’ll keep it in mind,” Sukuna said curtly, his tone affirming that this conversation was now over. Sukuna’s thumb and index finger continued to pinch the bridge of his nose as he hurriedly stepped aside and began walking away to his room, his tongue swiping over his lip quickly, and Megumi noticed a sharp flash of white, canines.
The light returned to normal following Sukuna’s exit, the flickering and electric hum completely gone.
Fangs? The lights? His eyes? His canines looked abnormally sharp, jagged even, and the light, he had sworn he saw fangs then too. The light in general was another thing, flickering with his presence and quivering in sync with his movement, but now that Sukuna had gone there was no sign of any electrical issue? And his pupils dilating seemingly had a pattern of doing so after every time his nose twitched- Megumi stopped himself, he sounded crazy, he had to be seeing things, overthinking the causes, trying to fabricate truth to make it more interesting.
He knew he wasn’t.
Eventually, Megumi tried settling on the fact that abnormally sharpened canines could’ve been a cosmetic decision, or natural, and he shouldn’t think too far into it. The eyes, maybe a condition? And the mud, the blood, the way Sukuna had so blatantly lied. Then the lights- No matter how logical Megumi attempted to be, everything he saw only raised more questions rather than answers.
But at least Megumi now knew that Sukuna worked seven days a week, a tiny piece of information that Megumi would accept as a small victory, despite the amount of other questions that surfaced. The little information earned was a small victory.
The next few hours were mundane and boring, Sukuna had his usual routine of holing up inside of his room for hours on end, leaving Megumi to his own devices. A million thoughts and unanswered questions raced through his mind as he laid in bed, absentmindedly scrolling through his phone.
The creeping feeling of unease was continuously clawing through his brain, and for the first time Megumi wished to be at work, at the sanctuary his mind could remain peacefully distracted with his tedious work-load. But now? The questions and bubbling sense of paranoia squirmed under Megumi’s skin, and knowing Sukuna was only a few steps down the hall from him wasn’t helping the case.
Megumi felt like aggressively screaming into a pillow, or maybe punching said pillow, but instead just groaned as he laid starfish-position on top of his olive green sheets, his brow creasing as he stared at the ceiling. He wanted to feel stupid and dramatic, but he knew exactly what he saw, and he couldn’t tell if that was worse or better.
What he did know, however, was that Sukuna Ryomen was a confusing and incredibly off-putting son of a bitch.
Megumi let his frustration and confusion put him to sleep, only being awoken by faint rustling coming from somewhere further in the apartment. He suppressed the urge to groan, and slowly sat up, groggily blinking and rubbing his eyes. He patted down his bed, feeling for his phone he knew had been lost to the depths of his blankets. As soon as he felt the tell-tale solid rectangular shape, he sighed in relief and quickly pulled it out from under the blanket.
Megumi tapped his phone screen and winced, blinking blearily and squinting from the assault of high-brightness against his tired eyes. He quickly adjusted, and tapped the screen again to check the time.
5:55.
Megumi had been asleep for nearly ten goddamn hours. Was he that tired? Megumi sighed and shook his head, raising a deft hand to run through his hair before lowering it to pinch the bridge of his nose. He took a moment before removing his hand and raising his head, shifting his gaze towards the door. His face immediately paled at the sight.
Megumi was the world’s lightest sleeper, nothing could ever get past him without him waking- and yet his eyes were greeted with the unwelcome sight of his door ajar, the dim light from the hallway flickering for a moment before ceasing. An unshakable sense of dread and apprehension flooded Megumi’s senses, knowing Sukuna’s strange spying habit was the reason.
But the fact that Megumi hadn’t awoken this time, the fact that Sukuna had been watching him actually sleep- the fact that now maybe Sukuna would know the difference between when Megumi was faking and when he was genuinely asleep- that made every individual hair on Megumi’s body raise, a cold chill creeping it’s way down his spine.
Megumi bit his lower lip harshly to silence his thoughts, jade eyes wide with trepidation. He took deep breaths in an effort to calm himself down, when he heard the faint rustling again. He quickly shook his head, trying to clear the anxious feeling of paranoia as he slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed and lowered them onto the floor. He stepped out of his room cautiously, as if Sukuna was waiting around the corner to jump out at him.
He realized how stupid that sounded and sighed, but was it really stupid? It didn’t take a genius to know something was off about Sukuna, but what it was, Megumi wasn’t certain. And despite the overwhelming curiosity that had been threatening to consume him lately, Megumi wasn’t quite sure he wanted to find out anymore.
But the sound of plastic being torn followed by more rustling only became incessantly louder, and Megumi decided to find out what the hell it was, despite Nobara preaching “horror movie 101: never follow the noise.”
He slowly and quietly made his way down the hall, the noise growing louder the closer he got. Megumi’s heart began to thump faster, the noise growing louder and closer with each step, the hallway, usually filled with light from the skylights above were now dark due to the early nights autumn provided, shrouding the hall in thick shadows- preventing Megumi from seeing clearly.
Megumi swallowed thickly and inhaled deeply through his nose, the sound was coming directly from the kitchen he was sure of it. Megumi calmed himself the best he could, and slowly peered around the corner to finally figure out the source of the noise. He couldn’t have prepared himself for the sight.
It was Sukuna, in a pair of gym-shorts and a cut-off tank top, greedily tearing into a package of raw meat. Blood smeared across his face, hands, fore-arms, everywhere- messily as he tore into the raw meat relentlessly, grabbing and tearing it to pieces by the handful and shoving it into his mouth ravenously.
Blood lazily dribbled down his chin, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by this, or simply didn’t notice in his hunger induced haze.
Sharp canines, no- fangs, gleamed in the moonlight streaming into the kitchen from the window near the sink. Sukuna tore off more and more chunks of the meat, his nails, claws, black and jagged- piercing it like paper as he picked it up in chunks.
His head shook violently from side to side like a wild animal’s with each bite he took, fangs tearing it to shreds as he snarled animalistically around the mouthfuls in a horrifying display of pure hunger and aggression . His whole body quivered in voracious pleasure with each bite he tore into.
He was in a trance, driven by hunger and hunger alone. Animalistic want dominating over whatever semblance of humanity he usually had.
Megumi’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, his body trembling in fear as Sukuna continued to aggressively tear into and feast on the raw meat, the violent display twisting his stomach into knots.
Megumi wished he had never been curious, because what the fuck was going on. He had known Sukuna was… off- but this, this just confirmed his fear. Sukuna wasn’t just off, he wasn’t even human.
Megumi slowly withdrew his phone from his back-pocket, if he didn’t get a picture he’d convince himself this was all a dream and let curiosity eat at him again- he needed this a reminder to stay the hell away.
His hands shook violently in terror, each drop of blood splashing against the counter making him jolt as he tried to steady the camera on Sukuna’s features, swallowing thickly as a cold sweat began to form around his hairline.
Megumi swallowed against the lump in his throat, and pressed the button to capture the photo.
Megumi made one fatal mistake, he forgot to turn the flash off. Sukuna’s head whipped to the side unnaturally fast the second Megumi's phone flashlight turned on, bathing the room in artificial white light as the photo was taken.
The flash seemed to break Sukuna’s frenzied mindstate, and Megumi clasped a clammy hand over his mouth to prevent himself from screaming in panic. His heart pounded like a snare drum as Megumi hyperventilated beneath his hand, rushing to the closest room possible, Sukuna’s heavy footsteps following closely behind him, the groaning of the floorboards reflecting his rage.
Megumi managed to get inside the bathroom, closing and locking the door as silently and quickly as possible before Sukuna could reach the corner and see him. He closed the lid to the toilet bowl and sat atop of it, curling his knees to his chest as he kept a hand clamped over his mouth. Megumi breathed heavily, eyes wide in terror as he tried to process the events that had just transpired. God he wished he had listened to Nobara for once in his life, and never even moved into this place, let alone investigate Sukuna.
But before he had a moment to think or truly calm himself, he heard Sukuna’s pace slow up a bit, the heavy and wide strides he took causing each floorboard groan as if it were in pain, an ominous song singing to Megumi of the tales of a fool.
Sukuna mumbled curses under his breath, the creaking in the floorboards pausing while his gait slowed to a stop. This allowed Megumi to hear him sniff deeply a few times with a moment in between each inhale before he continued to move. Sukuna was tracking him by scent.
A newfound horror gripped Megumi, the fact that he couldn’t truly hide from Sukuna, that Sukuna was currently sniffing out his exact location, seized Megumi by the heart. Megumi firmly held a hand over his mouth and pressed his back against the fake porcelain of the toilet. It was clear Megumi was prey.
Sukuna sniffed loudly again, and his steps became louder until he abruptly stopped outside the bathroom door, the scraping of something along the floor indicated he had turned and was facing the door that Megumi was just on the other side of.
Megumi felt like he was going to faint.
Sukuna rapped on the door a few times, the silence following hung heavily in the air before he spoke up, “Megumi, was that you?” he asked, and Megumi could tell his tone was anything but friendly.
Megumi took a deep breath to steady himself, he slowly lowered the hand from his mouth and swallowed thickly, “...Yeah, that was me,” he responded, his voice stiff and holding barely concealed panic.
“What were you doing?” Sukuna asked, his tone devoid of emotion and because Megumi was unable to see his face he couldn’t read him in the slightest, which was even more terrifying. What Megumi did know however, was that he needed to come up with a lie, and fast.
“I woke up and heard a noise from down the hall.. It’s dark and I was just using my phone flashlight to see. I’m sorry I ran, you just startled me when you rushed me after I turned the corner,” Megumi lied expertly, impressed with himself for conjuring that up without notice. He just hoped the panic in his voice went with his story, and not the truth.
Sukuna paused for a moment, supposedly mulling over the idea before producing a rebuttal to Megumi’s lie, “Then why are you hiding from me?”
Megumi took a deep breath, trying to come up with a plausible excuse so Sukuna wouldn’t figure him out, the slow drag of a sharp, clawed finger across the wooden door startling him from his thoughts. Megumi shook his head and swallowed again, he needed to talk, and he needed to do it fast.
“I said you startled me, when I turned the corner you came at me pretty quickly. It was just my natural response to find a quick hiding spot I guess,” Megumi lied, licking his lips anxiously, grateful Sukuna couldn’t see the clear panic on his face that would surely give him away.
“Mm.. I see,” Sukuna started, his voice dropping an octave and his tone softening slightly, he had either fallen for it, or knew Megumi was lying but was too scared to say anything about the gruesome scene he had witnessed.
“Did you.. What did you see Megumi? Before I startled you?” Sukuna asked, his tone laced with suspicion, voice firm. So maybe he hadn’t fallen for it, it was too hard to tell from behind the door, unable to read Sukuna’s expression.
“I.. didn’t see much of anything, I got a glimpse of the sink before I turned and you rushed me,” Megumi started, before deciding to take a risk and reverse their roles, to pin Sukuna to the spot instead, “Why did you chase me? What were you doing?” Megumi asked, despite already knowing the truth.
Sukuna was the one who seemed unsure of what to say now, the floorboards creaking under his weight as he shifted uncomfortably from the question.
“The flashlight.. Caught me off-guard, I thought you were an intruder.. As for what I was doing, I was just grabbing a few things from the kitchen before I left for work. I…… apologize.. for startling you,” Sukuna lied through his teeth, each word devoid of emotion, his apology sounding as if it physically pained him to say.
Megumi would’ve laughed if he didn’t think Sukuna would kill him the minute he stepped outside the door.
“Yeah.. I’m sorry I.. startled you too,” Megumi lied, feigning sincerity. Sukuna hummed in acknowledgement, and Megumi could the faint wiping of fabric against a solid surface, Megumi furrowed his brow in confusion.
“Let me in,” Sukuna requested, or more like demanded, his weight shifting against the floorboards as he waited impatiently before sighing, “ please, Megumi,” he added a moment later, his voice stiff and forced, as if he were gritting his teeth.
Megumi’s hands shook in fear, but he knew if he had any hope of convincing Sukuna of his lie, or possibly just appeasing him, he had to act as if he wasn’t afraid, despite the terror that gripped his body. Megumi took deep breaths to steady himself and slowly lowered his feet from his perch on the toilet, and took shaky steps towards the door.
He bit his lip harshly as he gripped the doorknob, slowly turning it, the click of the lock becoming undone as he turned the doorknob making him jump. Megumi took another breath, and opened the door, revealing Sukuna’s hulking frame as he lowered his gaze to meet Megumi’s, the intensity and skepticism nearly making Megumi shrivel back. But Megumi remained firm and held his ground, meeting Sukuna’s gaze head-on and only backing up to give Sukuna space to enter.
However, rather than enter, Sukuna raised his arms above his head, his biceps surging in a display of power as he gripped the top of the doorframe, leaning forward slightly as he did so. The deep crimson of his irises locked onto Megumi’s, his eyes flashing with something unknown as he began to hold the eye contact, the intensity behind it somehow more than usual.
Megumi was surprised to see Sukuna devoid of the blood he had previously been bathed in, the claws, fangs- there was no trace of the beast Megumi had seen only minutes ago. Yet, as he looked into Sukuna’s eyes, it was clear what Sukuna was intending to show him, why he wanted Megumi to stare back.
The longer Megumi stared back at Sukuna, the more a strange feeling washed over him, a sensation Sukuna wanted Megumi to feel the full extent of.
Uncanny-valley, the feeling when something appears human, but yet something about it is just off enough that it clearly isn’t. That was what Megumi felt while looking at Sukuna.
Sure, Sukuna appeared perfectly human, there were no grotesque or obvious mutations about him.
But his eyes- unnaturally vivid and crimson, the feeling that accompanied him, the way the bathroom lights began to flicker from his presence- the unease that settled into Megumi’s gut. It was all to point out the more obvious, Sukuna wasn’t human, at least, not fully or not anymore.
He was just posing as one.
Sukuna didn’t need to speak to show Megumi what he was trying to say, the feeling Sukuna had given him had had a purpose. It served as both a threat and a warning. With this, Sukuna was saying, “I know what you saw. If you tell anyone or try to harm me in any way, I will kill you.”
It was a message Megumi understood.
Megumi averted his gaze, and knew Sukuna knew just as well that he got his message loud and clear. Sukuna leaned away for a moment before appearing to change his mind and entering the bathroom instead, crowding Megumi and cornering him in with his large stature.
His nose twitched, sniffing the air, Megumi now recognized this as Sukuna scenting something, what, he had no idea. Sukuna’s pupils fully dilated, black abysses nearly completely drowning out the crimson of his iris, leaving only a thin band of the intense color remaining.
Sukuna didn’t seem to care very much about hiding it from Megumi anymore.
Sukuna paused for a moment, apparently changing his mind again, before turning away from Megumi, “I should head to work,” he spoke, the timbre of his voice echoing off the tile in the small bathroom. The lights flickered rapidly like a moth fanning flames, and came to a slow stop the minute Sukuna exited.
Megumi didn’t bother mentioning Sukuna wasn’t wearing a park ranger’s attire.