Chapter 1

How Did We Get Here?

Fushiguro Megumi

Megumi woke with a jolt. His dreams broke apart hazily when Gojo's voice carried into the room.

"Good morning, sunshine." Too loud, too annoyingly cheerful. "I need you for a quick second."

Megumi opened one eye and located the man in the dark, leaning against the door, white teeth shining in the moonlight. So it was that early. "Cannot it wait?"

"I'm afraid not. Now get up. Early bird gets the worm and all that." Gojo pushed himself off the door and left the room, leaving the door ajar, some light pooling into the room from the corridor.

Megumi pushed himself up and rubbed his eyes. He glanced out of the window. The moon was high in the sky, a cloudless night.

Gojo was a headache. His unpredictable behaviour made everyone feel as if they were walking on knives. Yet, despite his cockiness, Megumi could see a caring man underneath, which made him follow and trust the teacher. Gojo was the strongest sorcerer, and Megumi wanted desperately to learn and become strong himself, so he had no option but to deal with the man's capriciousness.

He washed his face, dressed, and walked into the corridor. Gojo was standing before a window, his blindfold on, deep in thought as he was looking at the quiet landscape below. A few lights were on that late, which left ghostly shadows on the man's uniform.

Such strength. How does one even contain it? How can you put a lid on something like that and expect it to stay sealed?

"Where is it that we're going?" Megumi asked and suppressed a yawn.

"Nowhere!" Gojo beamed and turned to face him.

Megumi raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean nowhere? What did I wake up for?"

"Aren't you excited to spend time with me, 'gumi?"

"With all due respect, we can do that during the day." Megumi turned on his heel to head back into his room but was stopped with a hand on his shoulder.

Gojo pulled him back and Megumi turned around to face the man again. There was a frown on the teacher's face, and the hand lingered on his shoulder a moment longer than necessary. "You trust me, correct?"

Megumi nodded slowly.

"I need you to follow me to my room." Gojo said quietly and equally slowly.

"Excuse me?" Megumi took a step back.

Gojo raised his hands in defence. "Don't be like that. I know that I'm handsome, but my intentions are nothing but pure. Your innocence will not be harmed."

Megumi's eyes widened at the meaning. He mumbled another excuse me, but it came out mangled and died somewhere on his tongue. It was so early that he thought he imagined things, but there was no denying that those words had left Gojo's lips.

"Now that this is settled," Gojo chimed as if nothing was amiss. "Please do follow me. Try to be discreet. It is not good to be seen together this early."

Following a teacher into his room at night, yeah, I wonder what's wrong with that?

He didn't want to argue and decided to just go along to see what was so important for a late-night visit.

Gojo wasn't his babbling self and kept mostly quiet as they climbed the stairs to the teachers' floor. The man opened his door to what Megumi assumed was his room and stepped aside, so he could enter too. The room was surprisingly clean and minimally decorated. A corridor gave way to a moderate living room with a few chairs and a large bookcase. A door to the bedroom was ajar and Megumi spotted a very high and large bed with messy deep purple sheets.

Gojo followed him inside and locked the door behind them. He sat down in an armchair, legs up on an ottoman. Megumi stood awkwardly, not knowing whether the talk would be long enough for him to sit down.

"Make yourself at home," Gojo finally said when he realised that Megumi wouldn't sit without being prompted. Megumi chose the chair furthest away from the man. Gojo pouted but then laughed lightly. "You wound me."

"Can we get to the point now?" Megumi pushed, feeling uneasy in a teacher's apartment this early in the morning.

"Do you maybe want a drink? Water? Coffee? Beer?"

"Let's get this over with, please."

Gojo sighed.

"Very well. I have a proposition to make and think you should accept." He seemed to be picking his words carefully, which was odd for a man who didn't know what a filter was.

"I won't agree to anything if you don't tell me what it is you want first." Megumi's voice was even, not in a mood for games when his bed was still warm downstairs.

"So pushy." Gojo took his long legs off the ottoman and leaned forward on the chair, elbows on his knees and chin rested on his knuckles. Megumi could feel him stare into his soul through the blindfold. "Okay, very well. There might be a way to save Itadori, so he doesn't have to die when we eventually have all the fingers and execute Sukuna."

Megumi frowned. "Why are you only now bringing this up? And why with me?"

"This method wouldn't be," he chewed on his lip. "Conventional."

Megumi wanted to help Itadori. He might share some characteristics with Gojo—mostly that they were both awfully cheerful and annoying, but due to everything they had went through, he considered him a friend. Itadori had died once, and Megumi didn't want to mourn his loss again. "Okay, what is it that you want from me?"

"I need you to win Sukuna's trust."

"What?" Megumi exclaimed and huffed. "He is a curse. He doesn't have one decent bone in his body."

A sly smile pulled on Gojo's lips. "Didn't think you were the type to back down from a challenge?"

Megumi deadpanned. He wasn't, not in normal circumstances, but what Gojo was asking was hare-brained.

"I do have a plan," Gojo continued. "I wouldn't throw my student into certain failure. After all, I am a considerate teacher." He stood and walked to the window. "There might be something that Sukuna wants more than freedom and destruction. He knows that he cannot escape, not when I am around. He could make Itadori eat all the fingers and try to overpower him, but I would still be there. What he wants, is hope and maybe some fun while he's spending his time in his domain."

"I am to entertain the king of curses?" He couldn't believe a word coming out of Gojo's mouth.

"Yes." Gojo turned to face him again. "And provide him with some hope that there may be a way out after all. It would all be very safe for you of course. I will be there and let nothing happen to you."

"Please shine some light on how you intend to do that." His mouth was dry, this whole situation was insane.

"Of course!" Gojo sat down on the floor in front of Megumi, legs crossed, a bright smile on his face. "Now that you are on board, there are some rules. First, no one can know, including Itadori. Sukuna has something that would help us divide him from Itadori, but it's something that he can only give willingly. So, we must make sure he thinks everything you do, you do willingly."

"I didn't say I was on board—"

"Shh," Gojo leaned in and placed a finger on Megumi's lips to shut him up, making his eyes go wide from the unexpected contact. "Second, you need to enter his innate domain, so you two can interact. With only a few fingers, he is weak, and it's easy for me to break you out if something happened. I will protect you with my curse energy even if you are in his domain so he cannot hurt you."

Megumi grabbed Gojo's hand to tear the finger from his lips. "He could sense your energy. Why would he trust me?"

"He won't." Gojo grinned, sinister.

"I don't think I follow," Megumi said drily.

"He will expect there to be some trick anyways. He's the king of curses. So, we give him something to be suspicious of. It will be very difficult for you to act warm towards him at first, so you will tell him that you were sent there against your will, to learn more about him and curses in general. As time goes by and you start getting along... better, you will play the part of the betrayer, turning against us."

"This whole plan is insane. He would never fall for this."

Gojo leaned in again and pulled his blindfold down. His eyes looked kind, pleading almost. "You do trust me, don't you?"

Megumi felt himself sink in the endless galaxy of Gojo's eyes. He swallowed heavily and nodded once.

"Everything will work out in due time," Gojo reassured him and brought a hand to Megumi's cheek, caressing softly. "This is all you need to know for now. You are in good hands, and I know you will do good."

Megumi couldn't help but lean into his teacher's hand a little, finding hope and reassurance in the warm skin.

When he returned to his room, he couldn't fall asleep again. He remembered every painful detail of meeting Sukuna in the past, trying to find one good thing he could focus on to play out his part, but couldn't think of one.

Gojo had explained that they were to start the next day, so he should get as much sleep as he could. From now on, he would go to Sukuna's innate domain for a few hours every single day.

He wasn't sure why he had agreed to the impossible. But somewhere deep down, he knew that from the second Gojo brought the subject up, he would agree. Gojo had asked if he trusted him, and even though the man was insane, Megumi really did. He wanted to save his friend and he wanted to be good. What would it matter if he had to suppress his own morality and put himself in danger to execute the plan?

The plan itself wasn't very complicated. They had stored a few of Sukuna's fingers at the school until Itadori would be ready to consume them. Megumi would hold one and Gojo's technique would help him enter his domain. What was to come afterwards was the difficult part.

He tried to visualise how it would be when he entered the domain for the first time. What would it look like? A throne built of skulls would be fitting. What would he even say? Hello, I am very sorry to disturb your peace, oh king of curses. I am to spend time with you every day now, so get used to it.

He sure hoped that Gojo knew what he was doing because Sukuna would tear his throat out for that.

Begrudgingly, when the first sunrays peeked into the room, he fell asleep again.

"—now remember, Gojo-sensei won't let him hurt you." Gojo smiled down on him, holding one of Sukuna's fingers in his palm.

He had cast protection on Megumi, which would last for a few hours. Gojo himself would be weaker during this time because he was lending his energy to Megumi, but he had assured Megumi that he had more than enough to deal with any threat. The protection would be recast every time he entered the innate domain.

He looked up at his teacher who smiled reassuringly. Megumi took a deep breath and grabbed the finger.

Immediately, the world around him turned dark, and he had to squint his eyes to see. When his vision returned, horror came with it, as he saw that he had been right.

Sukuna sat on a throne of skulls, leaning on his right hand, and looking down in amusement. Megumi tried to take a step back but hadn't considered the blood that covered the ground and stumbled, falling on his back. For a moment he couldn't breathe, head underneath the blood, the taste of it in his mouth. With a gasp he emerged from the pool, still feeling like he was drowning.

"How curious, Fushiguro Megumi. Do tell me, to what I owe the pleasure of your visit." Sukuna's voice was so damn deep and calm, a hint mirth on his tongue when he pronounced Megumi's name.

Megumi gaped.

Everything, he had practised the night before, died on his lips. His body was paralysed in shock, disgusting blood dripping from his hair. In his mind's eye, he saw the sea of blood parting in two as the ground swallowed him up whole.

"You reek of Satoru. What did he send you for?" Sukuna didn't sound amused anymore, and as the mortification ebbed, Megumi started to feel fear.

"I—" Megumi started but couldn't continue with how vulnerable he felt laying on his back in front of the king of curses. He pushed himself up and coughed, the blood making him gag. When he was on his knees, he looked up again. Sukuna smirked, and Megumi realised that he was humiliating himself. With trembling hands, he pushed himself up and stood to face the curse. When he spoke, he managed to keep his voice steady. "I am here to learn more about your kind, the curses."

Sukuna raised an eyebrow, but that was the only reaction Megumi got. "If Satoru wants to learn more about me, he should come himself."

"He is otherwise occupied," Megumi lied and as the words spilled from his lips, he understood that Sukuna would see straight through them.

"You are terrible at lying. That is a good thing. I understand that Satoru wants something, and you are the unfortunate soul he's using. Since I'm not going to give you anything and Satoru is stubborn, we will see a lot of each other." He leaned forward on his throne, crimson burning like hellfire in his eyes, as he looked Megumi up and down. "Let's get one thing straight, boy. As long as you are wrapped in Satoru's energy, you are unwelcome here."

In a blink, Sukuna was in his face, his fingers—no claws—around Megumi's throat.

Gojo was wrong, it didn't work. He will die here.

He felt nails dig into his skin, the hold tightening. Sukuna was taller than him, stronger than him, his body pushing Megumi's backwards, down into the blood again. The grin on the curse's face was so sharp it could have cut stone, his eyes wide and red, and so bloody eager to tear Megumi to pieces.

He shut his eyes tight, not wanting to have the wild red eyes be the last thing he saw.

A push.

Ears ringing.

There was a force so strong he was thrown backwards, sliding several meters before he came to a halt. He lay there, eyes squeezed shut, expecting the other to end him.

The blow didn't come. He let his muscles relax and peeked one eye open to see what had happened.

Sukuna was on the other side of the domain, the force had made him crush into his throne, the skulls a mess around his unmoving body. For a moment, Megumi thought that he had died from the blast. But then there was laughter, and Megumi let his head fall back into the blood, closing his eyes softly.

Why had he agreed to this?

"Oh, this is truly brilliant, Satoru!" Sukuna exclaimed through the laughter, his voice filling the whole room. "Protecting your pet by giving him your own cursed energy. Truly, a masterpiece. Makes sense why it reeked of you the second he popped in."

Megumi opened his eyes again and looked in the direction of the voice, curious if Gojo had entered the domain, because Sukuna was clearly speaking to him. However, it was still the two of them. Sukuna had gotten up, laughing, and speaking up into the ceiling as if Gojo was above them.

"Tell me, Satoru," Sukuna continued, completely ignoring Megumi's presence. "Have you considered that maybe the boy isn't a halfwit and will actually use the energy you have loaded him up with? He is a fucking Armageddon, given the right release."

Sukuna glanced at Megumi at the last word, a playful glint in his eyes, the eyes under his eyes smiling in unison.

Now that the attention was back on Megumi, he felt himself shrink. The curse was manic, like an asylum patient who had finally escaped, ready to take on the whole world.

Hope.

Gojo had wanted to give him hope. He had loaded Megumi up with his own energy for Sukuna to use—or to think he could use.

How much had he given him to get such a reaction? Megumi didn't feel any different from before.

"Oh, we will have a lovely time together indeed," Sukuna said as he appeared in front of Megumi, his hand out to help the other stand. Megumi blinked. He looked up at the red eyes and down at the outstretched hand before he reached out his own to clasp their hands together.

Sukuna pulled him up and, in a moment, Megumi's clothes were dry and clean, the blood on the ground parting around his feet. The throne was fixed, back to its previous terrible height.

Sukuna stood in front of him, completely at ease as he waited for Megumi to lead the conversation. He hadn't thought this through, hadn't thought they would get this far. Megumi had expected the other to try murder him, and Gojo pull him out.

"So—What is it that you do all day?" He forced the words out and grimaced at how terrible it was to small talk with a curse.

The corner of Sukuna's mouth tugged up. "Do you wish me to show you?"

"If it is acceptable," Megumi said softly, wanting to add Sukuna-sama in the end with the authority he felt, and had to kick himself in his mind.

The next moment, Megumi was seated, and as his brain registered what his eyes were seeing, he came to a sick conclusion that he was looking down the innate domain… from Sukuna's throne.

"I spend most of my time here." Sukuna's voice came from his right. Megumi turned to see the curse sitting on the armrest of the throne, leaning over Megumi, and making him feel incredibly small in the large seat. Even sitting on his throne, Megumi was dwarfed by Sukuna's size. "Do you find the view agreeable?"

Megumi wanted to answer that the view was fine, but then realised that Sukuna wasn't speaking about the domain. He tore his eyes from the other and looked down the mountain of skulls again.

"Doesn't it get monotone? All this blood and gore?" he asked instead.

Sukuna hummed.

"Indeed, I wish there was more blood. If I had my body again, I would make the streets flood with blood and guts." His voice was dreamy, and the mental image made Megumi shudder. "But tell me, Fushiguro, why did Satoru really send his pet here?"

"I want to learn more—"

"Stop," Sukuna ordered. "I thought we were friends. You should not lie to your friends, Fushiguro."

Trust.

Megumi looked up carefully. Sukuna was wearing a contemptuous smile, oozing authority as he leaned over him.

The air started to feel moist, making it hard to breathe. Even though he wasn't covered in blood anymore, it still reeked and had left an iron taste on his tongue. Panic rose again. He couldn't fall apart here, not now. He had promised to Gojo that he would see this through.

Sukuna read him like an open book and his smile fell, followed by an annoyed sigh. A snap of his fingers, and Megumi found himself seated... in a garden. The air was cool, but the thread refused to leave as his brain was trying to figure out the punchline. He scanned his surrounding, expecting blood and gore to start raining from the sky, but seconds ticked by, and the garden didn't lose its serenity.

It was a small garden, with flora that Megumi had never seen before. The sky was dark, a few stars peeking through. Some of the flowers glowed, their shine giving the garden a blue and purple hue. He breathed in deep, and relaxed visibly against the bench, when he found the air fresh and pleasant.

"Is this more to your liking?" Sukuna asked, his voice bored. He sat on the opposite bench, legs parted wide, one arm lazily on the backrest. He didn't wait for an answer before he snapped his fingers again, and a warm evening breeze blew over Megumi. "You humans are so predictable."

"Thank you," Megumi said sincerely. If they had stayed in the throne room a moment longer, Megumi would have had a panic attack, and he didn't want to find out how Gojo's energy mixed with him losing control.

Sukuna dismissed the gratitude with a wave of his hand. "Now, I helped you, you help me. Why did Satoru send you?"

"I- I cannot tell you," Megumi said honestly, hoping that it would be enough, and knowing that it wasn't.

The curse hummed again.

"It's progress that you didn't lie this time, but I do not deem this an acceptable answer."

Megumi's hands were sweating as he fixated on them on his lap, trying to find the right words that wouldn't disappoint Sukuna and give away Gojo. A butterfly landed on his laced fingers. Its wings were red with black lines and dots, resembling the curse's tattoos.

"I am here to entertain you."

Sukuna eyed him, considering the answer.

"Well, in that case," Sukuna said, voice dripping with honey as he realised that Megumi was telling the truth.

He snapped his fingers again, and they were in a room, completely engulfed in red light. Sukuna sat on a black leather couch, legs parted, both arms stretched out on the backrest. The expression on his face was so nasty that Megumi had to glance down to see whether he was still wearing his clothes. Sukuna's white kimono was off, only a pair of black pants on.

Sukuna leaned back, his whole body on display. "Do entertain me."

The immense and immediate change in cursed energy made Megumi's head spin. He was frozen on the spot, mouth hanging open stupidly, trying to form words, but what the hell can one say in such a situation?

"Please, take us back," he whispered.

Sukuna leaned forward, every movement precise and slow, as if he was the one giving Megumi a show.

"It was your proposal." Sukuna laughed. "Is this what they teach sorcerers these days—to entertain curses? You are awful at it, but don't worry." A grin so predatory, Megumi took a step back. "You will learn."

There was no blood, no gore, but Megumi felt even sicker than he had before. The air had a slight smoke to it, the room warm and air still.

He was going to break. Right then and there.

Yet, this was the exact reason he was there—to charm and distract Sukuna, to be of use to Gojo. He had known that entertaining wouldn't mean art museums and opera. Of course, it would be something twisted. This probably wasn't even the worse of Sukuna's interests.

Megumi thought of his friend. Itadori would be free. He could live a long life and find a good death on his own terms. Sukuna would be gone, and a large part of the curse problem would be solved. If Megumi played his part, everyone would be alright. Itadori's life and the balance of the whole world hung on Megumi's shoulders now. He couldn't let everyone down just because he felt sick to his stomach.

"Teach me," he said and locked eyes with the curse. He looked down Sukuna's body and felt his throat seal up when he realised that this was essentially Itadori's body. This was his friend.

How the hell had his life come to this point?

But this also wasn't real. It was a metaphysical place, two abstract bodies. He wouldn't cross any boundaries with his friend by engaging in this.

He can sacrifice himself so everyone else may live.

"Good," Sukuna said, his voice gravel, but the praise felt good. "Come here. On my lap."

Megumi turned the rational part of his brain off as he followed the orders. He put trembling hands on Sukuna's naked chest and lowered himself down to his lap. Sukuna's face was inches from his, but for once, he wasn't below the other. A tattooed tongue slid out of Sukuna's mouth to wet his lips, and a hand slithered up Megumi's back.

"You will eventually tell me the truth, Fushiguro," Sukuna amended, other hand gripping around Megumi's waist to pull him closer. "But for now, I will play along with your game. I hope you know what you have signed up for."

Sukuna pulled him flush against his chest, Megumi's face buried in the nook of his shoulder. The curse let his hand roam over his back, and it felt warm. It felt good to be touched.

Megumi hadn't realised how touch deprived he was. He found pride in his solitary behaviour, his unreadable expression. It was a strength to never let anyone close.

This was the absolute opposite of strength. This was letting go, trusting—and not in Sukuna, but in Gojo—that he would be safe. He felt Gojo on Sukuna's fingers, as if guiding them to not cross an invisible boundary the two had agreed upon.

Megumi's eyes snapped open when he felt Sukuna's hand on the one side of his neck, and his lips on the other. Reflexively, Megumi pulled back, but the hand detained him, the lips giving a low laugh.

"Maybe I was wrong, you aren't as awful at this after all. Does it feel good grinding against me?"

This time Megumi did pull back and stared down in shame. He hadn't realised, but now he did feel it. Sukuna's dick was hard against his ass, his own equally so. He wanted to pull back further, but Sukuna held him by the waist.

"You moan so prettily when you do so." The curse chuckled and put the hand that had held his throat on his chest, slowly moving it downwards. He was still wearing his uniform, but he felt terribly naked under Sukuna's fingers. The curse stopped at the waistband and looked back up at Megumi. "Do you derive pleasure from having me under you?"

Megumi chocked and turned his face away because he didn't trust himself to speak.

"I take that as a yes." A smirk. The hand left the hem of his pants and grabbed his chin, and Megumi whined, the sound coming out so needy that he didn't even recognise it as his own.

"If only Satoru could see you now." The curse laughed darkly.

Sukuna tilted his head upwards and licked all the way up from Megumi's collarbone to his jaw, then tilted his face down again and kissed him on the lips, raw and brutal. Sharp teeth clawed at his lower lip.

Then there was nothing.

Megumi blinked in confusion and found two blue eyes staring down on him.

"Go- Gojo," he managed, but it escaped as a moan, and he clasped his hand over his mouth to stop himself for making any other sound.

Gojo's face was serious when he spoke. "Are you okay?"

Megumi nodded, his hand still covering his mouth. He was so damn hard that he had difficulty not grinding upwards towards Gojo... who was leaning over him, because Megumi... was lying on the floor. This was becoming a theme of his life as of late. He was panting hard, the hand on his mouth making it more difficult to breathe, but he was absolutely against humiliating himself further.

Gojo stood and gave him a hand to help him stand. Flashbacks played from when Sukuna helped him up, and where it had led them. He bit the inside of his hand to shut his betraying mind off. He lay there a moment longer before he let his hand fall from his mouth and accepted Gojo's to get up.

"We can go now," Megumi said when he had his breathing under control again.

Gojo gave him another look before he wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "You look terrible and need to rest. Others cannot see you like this. You can use my room until you feel better."

Before Megumi could argue, they stood in Gojo's living room. He wobbled slightly, but Gojo held him upright.

"Rest, I will see you later and we can talk then."

With that he just left.

Megumi went to the bathroom to see what Gojo meant by saying he looked terrible, and almost turned right around when he got a glimpse of his reflection.

His hair was a mess, eyes bloodshot. A blush ran all the way from his cheeks to his nose, even the tips of his ears were still red. There was dried drool in the corner of his mouth that he wasn't certain was his or Sukuna's.

He shook his head because it hadn't been real. The reflection he saw was how his physical body had responded to what had happened in his mind. He blushed further when he envisioned Gojo standing over his body, seeing god-knows-what, while Sukuna tormented his mind.

He groaned and proceeded to wash his face. He wanted to brush his teeth, but since his toothbrush was downstairs, he had to squeeze toothpaste on his finger to clean his mouth that way. Sukuna's lips hadn't really been on his, but he still felt the taste on his tongue.

When he deemed himself clean enough, mouth scrubbed to a dull ache, he fell in Gojo's bed, pulled the purple sheets over his head, and dozed off.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I also publish this fic in Ao3 under the same name if you enjoy that site more.