'You found me.'
'Were you hiding?'
Sukuna looked up from the water, rolling his head comfortably on his crossed arms until the lazy grin that stretched the corner of his mouth could be seen against the setting sun, 'No.'
'I came to talk.'
The white kimono draped around him slid gently down the curve of Sukuna's broad shoulder as he propped himself up on one arm, strong fingers buried in the grass as scarlet eyes met ice-blue and his grin stretched wider 'I assumed so, since our date isn't for another two weeks.' He looked for all the world like a pampered king reclining in his courtyard garden, one long leg dangling languidly in the pond he sat beside as the other sprawled lazily beneath him.
'You're the only one here?' Gojo didn't look around; he didn't need to.
'I sent Uraume away' Sukuna said dismissively as he pushed himself up, swaying to his feet, 'the other one is out.' His footfall made no sound in the lush grass as his bare feet carried him unhurriedly towards the white-haired man. There was a playful curl to his voice as its rough, unnatural depth slid free from Megumi's lips, 'what do you want?'
Gojo watched him approach calmly, the air thick with an unknown tension but the atmosphere between them oddly cheerful, as though they were friends meeting over tea rather than enemies destined to tear each other apart, 'You know what.'
It had only been a second but suddenly Sukuna was too close, his hands hidden in his sleeves as he leant in to Gojo's space so that he could look up at the other man through his stolen lashes, 'You want him back.'
Gojo raised an eyebrow at Sukuna bending low to mock him, the other man reducing his unnatural height to parody the Megumi who had looked up at him with the same face and eyes for years. It was an uncanny likeness, somehow perfect, yet wrong in every way.
'We both know you won't give him back,' Gojo said evenly, fighting the smile that pulled at his own lips as he enjoyed the tension of standing so close, as though there were a fine thread pulled taut between them that he couldn't quite stand to break, 'but let me talk to him one more time before I have to kill him.'
Sukuna straightened languidly, suddenly an unsettling half a head too tall, his villainous grin stretched wide across Megumi's too-mature face, 'before he kills you, and then himself you mean?'
It stung lightly but Gojo couldn't keep the grin from his own mouth at the game, 'either way.'
'And what will you give me in exchange?'
Gojo raised an eyebrow, 'What do you want?' He really had very little to offer, 'if it's a fight, you know it will have to wait until the 24th.'
An ember lit in the King of Curses' eyes, 'I'm hungry.'
Gojo didn't blink, a deadpan 'I'm not a snack' tumbling out between them.
Sukuna licked Megumi's lips, his tone sultry and rich as he leant back in until his hot breath played across the other man's delicate ear, 'even so, let me eat you.'
The thread snapped and Gojo flinched away lightly, something sharp firing in his brain at the implication. It was clear what the other man meant, but the thought was so wrong he pushed it right back out of his brain, 'that's not going to happen.'
Sukuna laughed, the rich, deep sound ringing through the small garden they stood in as he pulled back just a little to let his words breathe, 'and yet, those are my terms.'
Gojo eyed him dispassionately, already recovering from the momentary shock, 'I didn't think you'd be into men.'
They both knew that wasn't the problem.
Sukuna's ever-present grin returned 'It's not your body I'm hungry for', he reached out and his fingers pressed against thin air for one long, tense moment, before they sank through Gojo's space to slide firmly against his stomach, 'it's your guilt.' Sukuna's strong hand curled around the jujutsu sorcerer's waist, his palm dragging the tight black material of his shirt against Gojo's skin as a mischievous thumb pressed one long, slow stroke against his abs, 'it's already so delicious.'
Gojo shivered, a tiny crack forming in his usual composure as his mind stalled, already galled by having even allowed the touch in the first place as he considered his options.
'Let me feast on it and I'll let you see him' Sukuna purred, his rough hand at the other man's waist taking advantage of the moment as he pulled him closer.
Gojo slapped a palm in the centre of Sukuna's chest, arm locked and firm as he held the distance without pulling away, a sharp glint in his over-blue eyes 'Alright, but not in that body.'
Sukuna blinked for a moment before he burst out laughing, the deep belly sound filling the garden as his head fell back, genuine amusement clear in the shaking of his shoulders as he let it take him. After a long moment his mirth subsided and he looked back down, finally speaking again between chuckles, 'what do you take me for?'
Gojo shrugged with a smirk of his own, 'a fool.'
Sukuna shook his head with a wry smile, 'Even if you had another vessel, and even if I were stupid enough to swap into it, we still wouldn't have a deal.' His grin widened wolfishly until his sharp canines were showing, 'What's the point if it's not this body that's tasting you?'
He was out of options, and going back empty-handed was unthinkable. For the first time since he'd arrived Gojo turned his eyes away from Sukuna. He looked at the plants, the sun-bathed water, the gentle artificial hills, anything except the man in front of him. Anything to ignore the feeling of the hand that he'd allowed at his side as it slid to the small of his back. His pulse was already quickening, the sound of his heartbeat stark in his own ears as he felt the drag of those fingers against his untouched skin.
'You're going to enjoy it' Sukuna's dulcet tones were laced with pleasure, the other man clearly already revelling in his discomfort, 'so say yes, and I'll let you see him one last time.'
A poisonous fire coiled in Gojo's belly, a shaky breath exiting his lips before he could stop it as Sukuna's right hand made its way under his shirt, clever fingers sliding up his spine as he pressed him closer from behind. Gojo's own arm bent traitorously between them as he allowed himself to be dragged in, until the sudden swipe of a hot tongue against his neck startled a gasp from between his lips and he snapped free from his reverie, 'stop!'
Sukuna didn't press further, allowing the narrowing gap that separated their bodies to remain thin and static, but he didn't take his lips away from the alabaster skin. His teeth grazed against the jujutsu sorcerer's throat as he murmured low, horrific truths against his skin. 'You've already made up your mind' his bite was sharp and delicious, the hot swipe of a tongue afterwards soothing, 'if you want to, then stop me.'
Gojo's shirt was riding up dangerously, the King of Curses' left hand taking advantage of the opportunity made by the right to skate up his side, the tips of his fingers tracing hard lines across the contours of the other man's muscles, leaving prickling trails of sensation in their wake.
Gojo's right hand caught in the dark locks of the incarnation's hair, pulling Sukuna's head away from his neck as he stared at him with disapproving eyes. But their faces were too close, and looking back had been a mistake. A wave of instant, burning shame crashed over him at the sight of his fingers tangled in that black hair, of the striking, mature face drawn sharp in carnal desire as it eyed him greedily, soft lips wet where they had played against his own skin.
It was Sukuna's face, but it wasn't.
A thrill of something illicit and dark ran through him.
Gojo was horrified, disgusted.
And yet- the low fire in his belly only grew hotter with each passing moment, the feeling of how wrong it was only seeming to stoke the flames higher as the muscles of his stomach tensed and fluttered beneath Megumi's hands.
It was so wrong, and yet still he allowed it; what was the alternative?
Sukuna looked at him lustfully through four hooded eyes, allowing his head to tilt back lightly where Gojo tugged at his hair, handsome jawline catching the setting sun for one long moment until the grip loosened, and he let him go.
The King of Curses' grinned, his strong hand pulling Gojo in and finally closing the gap between them as he drew their bodies flush together.
Suddenly a firm thigh was pressing between Gojo's legs, the purposeful drag against his crotch sending a minute but scandalous groan tumbling from his lips, the reality of his own body's reactions growing impossible to ignore even as despair and lust warred within him.
Sukuna's left hand slid down his side to grab a rough handful of Gojo's rear, holding him close as he pressed achingly slow against the growing hardness between them, the rough slide of material against the firm length eliciting a soft hiss from the younger man. 'What's this?' the King of Curses teased, his hot tongue curling around the shell of Gojo's ear before his rough voice tumbled lowly into it 'Are you sure you wanted me to swap vessels?'
It was all a game to him. But it was the sharpest, deadliest game of cat and mouse Gojo had ever played, and he was losing. The fractures in his mask were compounding, cracks starting to form in his composure as he let the monster who stole his student's body tease him. As he loathed and enjoyed it.
'Do we have a deal?'
Gojo sighed deeply, the tension in his muscles loosening slightly as he let his long arms wrap around the other's broad shoulders, one hand returning to Megumi's hair as he gave in to the obscene embrace. 'Yes', his handsome face was calm despite the pulse racing beneath his skin, and the gentle flush that rose in his pale cheeks, 'we have a deal.'
To be continued...
