Megumi x Childhood Bestie!Reader Hcs part two
ok I'm continuing this lmfao
so lets get to the part after go/joe kidnaps itadori
and you're just chilling with megumi in his room questioning all life choices
and he's questioning life itself
"crabs probably think fish can fly"
"...what did you eat today"
"tuna mayo"
"istg if you pull the Inumaki crap-"
"bean bags are boneless sofas"
"wHaT"
"...I want a beanbag."
*audibly sighs*
so yeah very fun
and you have a sleepover with him bc like
why not
and drama
so let's say todays that very special once in a lifetime day that you fall asleep INSTANTLY
and like just boom "I'm tired" you're knocked out
and megumi's just there like "gurl??"
my bro is absolutely done cause you're like taking up most of his bed
and personal space
give the man a break 😔✋
so he tries shoving you a lil to the side
keyword: tries
but you're a stubborn person so you don't budge
also you're gripping the bed for dear life in your sLEEP-
you haven't grown out of it lmao
megumi pulls his iconic face and is just
absolutely done at this point
so-
he's known you since childhood anyway right
and you're asleep right
right
so you won't mind if he just plops on top of you and cuddle-spoons you while your sleeping to create space right 😊
just to create space
you don't mind even when you're awake but megumi doesn't know that-
so yes he lies on top of you- wraps an arm around your waist- and spoons you while he falls asleep-
im giggling squealing kicking my feet writing this don't mind me
so yes he's still spooning you while you're asleep-
and in the morning he wakes up first ehe-
bc sleep = none or sleep = all
"all's well thats well for me"
iykyk
but you're still sleeping
and its like 7:30 am
its too early for this shit
so he just stays in bed cuddling you
and boom half an hour later you wake up
but you pretend to be sleeping heh
why
plot
so you two are technically cuddling rn and then my bro realizes that your awake-
and hes like
"oh good morning"
yeah we're totally gonna gaslight
"good morning to you too"
we're gonna keep up the gaslighting
so you turn around and you're facing megumi and you're like what time is it he's like 8:30 am or sum
so you both get up bleh the boring stuff
AND THIS IS THE MOMENT WHERE ITADORI IS GETTING SHOWN HIS ROOM SO-
YOU SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING
so then megumi walks out of the room but you're still inside cause why not
and then itadori and megumi have some bro talk and you just pop up behind megumi-
itadori sHRIEKS
gojos like 'did u two have a sleepover 😼'
and megumi ofc is like 'why do you care'
and itadori goes-
GASPPP ARE YOU TWO DATING???
the way your faces heat up so fast
FACES
WITH AN S
PLURAL
MEGUMI'S BLUSHING TOO
and hes like 'what the f no i'm not dating this idiot here'
you're like 'i wish 😔'
tHE WAY HE BLUSHES HARDER
no this does not go unnoticed by gojo and he whips out his phone faster than lightning mcqueen and bombards him with pictures
'smile for the camera megumi~'
'boy if you don't shut your skin tone chicken bone google chrome no home flip phone disowned ice cream cone garden gnome extra chromosome metronome dimmadome genome full blown monochrome student loan Indiana jones overgrown flintstone x and Y chromosome hormone friend zone Sylvester Stallone Sierra loan autozone professionally seen silver patrone head ass up-'
yes I had to
anyway y'all gotta go pick up the other first year aka nobara
and you're like
"OOH OOH GOJO SENSEI BOY OR GIRL"
"hehe you'll see"
so you make all of them speed to wherever the hell yer picking her up
idt I mentioned you slept in the car and your head was on megumis shoulder eheh
itadori kept teasing him and won't let him live it down fr
so yk nobara and her iconic scene
you have no shame
and you drink your respect women juice
im trying to make this gender neutral 😭
you see the uniform and you're cheering her on so much like
"WOO YEAHHH- PUT HIM IN HIS PLACE YOU GO GIRL-"
and shes like tf is this crazy bish doing
but you're just really excited to have another person in the group cause being around the same uh 7-8 people can get boring
so you meet her and you're pretty excited
"be glad boys, you're getting another girl in the group."
now that drops your opinion
so you have a smol idea
to uh
you whisper something in her ear and the wAY HER EXPRESSION DROPS
guess what you said <3 bc ik ofc I wanna see what y'all think
anyhoo so then shes like WHAT THE HELL and drops it
and boom you pull your feminine/masculine/nonbinary wiles and she's now your bestie
and gojo says we're going sOmEwHeRe
and nobara and itadori get so excited
yk the EJWRHTKWJEHTAUIETHR and the hugging gojo
you're standing next to megumi though cause you know whats coming
the way their face drops when y'all go to that messed up school- was it a school?
anyway yuji and nobara go in and you're outside with megumi and gojo
y'all are sitting down nearby
you're tired af with this shit so you just plop your head down in megumi's lap and no questions he just lets you
<3
and hes running his fingers through your HAIRRRRR
*screaming*
so you have some lovey-dovey time and gojo sneaks a picture cause he low-key ships you two
and after the two come out y'all just walk back very nice day
okay moving on from the boring stuff he goes back to his dorm
is developing a crush ehe
so hes just lying in bed thinking like
WHY TF AM I FEELING THIS WAY OVER THAT IDIOT RAHHHH
poor guys conflicted
but good for you hehe
sigh I'm tired ill write a part 3 later lmao
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BRB thinking thoughts about Taigen's character, the TaiMizu ship, and a big chunk of fandom's perceptions regarding both those things.
(Inspired by @farintonorth's post related to this topic that just got my brain going brrrrr)
OK so let me just... start off by saying that I think that reducing stories to their tropes is seriously detrimental to the way some people are interacting with fiction, and while that honestly warrants its own post about the subject, I wanna talk specifically about how this affects the way some people in the fandom talk about Taigen and TaiMizu.
Because yeah, tropes are useful shorthand to refer to certain dynamics or archetypes etc, and they are indeed the building blocks to any story. But in a well-written story, characters and their relationships, actions, and motivations, are much more complex than just tropes. Because in a story that has characters who are more than just cardboard cutouts, their behaviours, backgrounds, motivations and all of that, are inseparable from the context of the overall story they exist in.
So like, sure, you can say Mizu and Taigen have an enemies-to-lovers or rivals-to-lovers dynamic. I also use those terms because it's easier. But I also think this is where things start to get a bit twisted, especially from an intertextual sense. Because "enemies-to-lovers" is also commonly used to refer to other ships in other media, whereby it tends to be rooted in an imbalanced power dynamic, such as oppressor-oppressed and bully-victim.
And while that's a whole can of worms that I won't be getting into because it can quickly derail into a whole separate sort of fandom discourse, I'd just like to make it clear that Mizu and Taigen, in particular, do not have an imbalanced power dynamic. They are not bully-victim or oppressor-oppressed. The only understandable reason why someone might actually think their relationship is imbalanced is if
A) they only watched the first episode, or
B) they cannot grasp the slightest bit of nuance in a character, or
C) they're being obtuse on purpose simply because the Mizu/Taigen relationship, or Taigen's character in general, just doesn't suit their tastes.
While yes, Taigen, along with his whole gang, had bullied Mizu when they were children, that dynamic does not exist between them whatsoever in adulthood. Whatever imbalanced bully-victim power dynamic that had once existed between them was decisively ripped apart the moment Mizu beat him in that duel in the dojo, and then completely obliterated by the end of the season.
Mizu is not a defenseless victim at Taigen's mercy. Mizu can beat Taigen's ass any time she wants (and she DOES, repeatedly in fact), and could even kill him if she felt like it. She taunts him openly and without fear ("I like your hair"; "I can beat you with any weapon you choose") and all he does is bark back, because that's pretty much all Taigen ever does. Time and time again, he yaps about how much he wants to kill her, but time and time again, his actions prove that all of it is just an empty threat. Because though his words say "I hate you", his actions demonstrate the complete opposite. He's shown how protective he is of Mizu, how unhesitatingly he sacrifices himself up for her, how loyal he is in enduring days-long torture to not give up information about her, how even when near-death and in pain, he's still willing to keep standing back up so he can fight by her side and help her win against her enemies.
And Mizu is not an idiot! She sees that too. She does not see him as a threat, an enemy, or even a bully. Especially not by the end of Episode 3, and definitely not by the end of the season. When she finds him in the dungeon in Episode 6, she smiles from relief, and doesn't think twice to take him with her. Mizu finds him, at best, an annoyance, or at worst, an infuriating hindrance on her quest for vengeance. Which is why, when Taigen is about to say, "It's a shame our duel's set for tomorrow; I have to kill you before you get your revenge," Mizu whacks him on the head without a second thought before he can even finish his sentence, and leaves him lying unconscious, face-down, in the snow.
And this further emphasises how he does not hold any power over her. There is no abusive power dynamic between them. She is more powerful than him, he knows this, and all he's ever done after they've met up again in adulthood is get his ass whooped by her, get mad about it and pester her and follow her around, get his ass whooped by her some more, and put his life on the line to protect her.
"OOoooOOoooH b-but he called her a demon at the end of Episode 7 and threatened to kill her again!!!" Oh my god. He called her that because he's calling her out on her selfishness to stay silent about her knowledge of Fowler's plans to attack Edo. Because to him, loyalty and honour as a samurai is more important than anything. So in his own brash-and-immature Taigen way, he felt betrayed that Mizu did not hold the same principles. That's why he got angry. He wasn't even that mad about letting Akemi get dragged off by the Tokunobu guards. It was about saving the Shogun and the Shogunate as a whole. That's why the first thing he does in Edo is not find Akemi, but try to warn the Shogun about Fowler's attack.
Look, I'm not defending his stupid ass, of course. Because calling her a demon especially after their cute little wrestling time was obviously rude and inappropriate, especially since words like "demon", "monster" and "Onryo" have had such a deep effect on Mizu throughout her life, and continue to contribute to her self-hatred. But like? That's the fun of realistic and flawed characters, and realistic and flawed relationships. They're not perfect, and it's why we as an audience root for them, wanting to see them work through their shit and find a way to prevail despite it all.
Also, him saying that was in the heat of the moment. He was angry, he felt like his initial belief of who Mizu was—a strong and loyal samurai, just like him—was shattered, and so he lashed out. Was it rude? Definitely. Was it immature of him? Yes, incredibly. But it's also very much in line with his character, because even though he's grown a lot over the course of the season, the show isn't over yet, so obviously his character arc is just beginning, as that is also the case for the other three main characters: Mizu is beginning to accept herself, Akemi is beginning to grow into her position of power, Ringo beginning to train under Master Eiji, while Taigen is beginning to simply be a better person.
On that note, when speaking of Taigen's immaturity, I think that's also one of the main things that people tend to gloss over when it comes to his character. Because when you boil everything down to its bare essentials, Taigen is, essentially, a boy. I've talked about this before, but to reiterate, Taigen very much behaves like an unhealed child. Even as an adult, he is insecure, prone to throwing tantrums, and is desperate to latch onto some material goal in hopes that it will make him feel better—initially he was chasing status/glory/greatness, and then when Mizu tells him that "Nothing comes from being a samurai but death," he immediately decides he wants to run away with Akemi in hopes that he will be happy.
And it's a big step, acknowledging that he doesn't truly want greatness, but had always just assumed it was his only path to a good life. But it's clear he still hasn't really figured it out. Because if he did run off with Akemi to get married and live in the countryside, he still wouldn't be happy. Because he still doesn't know who he really is, or what it is he really wants. Marriage at this moment is the last thing he needs, and as he is now, he would be a pretty awful husband. A simple life would be good for him, but would he be good at a simple life, when he still has so much he needs to work through?
So anyway, what I'm getting at here, is that he's trying and he is learning and growing. So yeah, he is flawed, but honestly? So is Mizu. And the funny thing is that they're flawed in very similar ways.
Because Mizu is also an unhealed child. That's why she's so angry all the time. That's why she pushes people away. That's why she, just like Taigen, is so happy when given the chance to playfully wrestle in the forge, laughing and rolling around like children without shame or pretense.
Again, this shows there is no imbalance between them. They had grown up together as peers from the same town. And while Taigen had had the upper hand back then, because he'd had a gang of other kids with him, that is definitely not the case anymore. Today, they are equally flawed, equally strong, equally skilled swordsmen, and equally bull-headed.
However, yes, Mizu is definitely leagues more mature than Taigen. But she still holds a lot of childhood wounds that mirror Taigen's own. And we see this especially in relation to her mother. Similar to Taigen who had an abusive and alcoholic father, Mizu's Mama was an opium addict and had hit her, berated her, had shaved her head without her consent as a child, and as an adult, had constantly emotionally manipulated and guilt-tripped her. Mizu's love for her Mama was what had driven her to a path of vengeance in the very beginning. And when she'd found out Mama was still alive, she had wanted nothing more than her Mama's love, and it was this alone that pushed her to agree to the marriage with Mikio in the first place. And now, knowing from Fowler that her birth mother is someone else entirely, is what makes her agree to keep him alive and haul his ass to London to seek answers.
Thus, integral to Mizu's self-hatred is also Mizu's intense longing for love and family. Just like Taigen, whose pompousness comes from his insecurity about being the son of a poor fisherman, Mizu's goals are also shaped by who her parents are. Remember, her vengeance is not against just anyone who's corrupt or evil, but specifically against the men who she believes had assaulted her mother, the men she believes had made her a monster, the men she believes had abandoned her to die and continue to try to kill her. Her vengeance is against a father, on behalf of a mother. In The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride, Mizu is not merely the Ronin, the Bride, or the Onryo, but also the Child.
This is also why Ringo is so good, not only for Mizu, but for Taigen as well. Ringo is wise and caring and considerate, but above all, he is in tune with his inner child in ways that Mizu and Taigen are not. He is always earnest and positive, he sees the world with childlike wonder, but is not naive or blind to its ugliness. His whole life has been a battle. Ringo brings out the best in Mizu, consistently acting as her moral compass and conscience, and Mizu's choice to save Akemi in the final episode is only because she promised Ringo that she would. Because it's the right thing to do. Ringo inspires her to be a better person, and to think outside of her narrow-minded goal of revenge. At the same time, Ringo also brings out the best in Taigen. While at first Taigen had looked down on both Mizu and Ringo ("Half-limb to a half-wit"), by the end of the season, he's proud to have Ringo as a friend and ally, he listens to Ringo's advice ("What would Master do?"), and asserts to the fucking Shogun that Ringo is a worthy warrior to have by his side.
Okay, I've gone on a bit of a tangent here, but my main point is that Mizu and Taigen are incredibly similar. They are equals. They are both flawed, unhealed children who are chasing some impossible outlandish goal in hopes that it will fill the void in their hearts. They also both have a long way to go in terms of character development if they were to ever build a healthy romantic relationship (either with each other, or even with anyone else). So while I believe things will be rocky (because duh, it's a story, we all live for the drama, etc), I think with Ringo's help, they'll get there eventually.
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