i have made a comprehensive list as to why i think that itadori yuuji and fushiguro megumi love each other and are soulmates (platonic or otherwise)
edit: i also may or may not have an entire stanza by stanza analysis of the first year trio’s songs if anyone wants that too….
i read the entire series from start to finish in one sitting for this. here it is:
saving each other without question or second thought (volume 1)
megumi: “i don’t want to let him die.”
gojo: “personal?”
megumi: “yes.”
yuuji eats the finger to save megumi.
note: in the manga he is not trapped in a curse’s mouth
their entire interaction during the detention center (cursed womb arc)
yuuji: “fushiguro! please.”
yuuji to megumi before fighting finger bearer alone
Megumi: “it was a selfish, emotional decision.”
megumi telling yuuji why he saved him
megumi running back to grab the name off the body of one of the inmates because it’s what yuuji would have wanted
“what kind of woman is your type?” “as long as the person is compassionate (see also: has unshakable character, unwavering kindness, etc.), i can’t ask for more.” (chapter 17)
yuuji’s kanji quite literally translates to unwavering humanity. could be a stretch, but an interesting connection considering that gege does not just throw things around like that
not necessarily a moment where i think they love/care for each other, i just love it, but… (chapter 33)
“i don’t know what he was up to while he was gone, but if it comes down to a brawl without any cursed energy involved… itadori would win.”
nothing special, just megumi appreciating and acknowledging yuuji lol
before the exchange event, megumi noticing something happened to yuuji (junpei’s death) (chapter 33)
megumi: “itadori, you okay?”
yuuji: “well, it’s a big job but i should be fine.”
megumi: “no, something happened, didn’t it?”
yuuji: “huh, what are you talking about?”
megumi can tell that something has been/is bothering yuuji, even after his insistence that he’s fine
megumi being worried about the kyoto students trying to kill yuuji; specifically, he’s the one who figured it out (chapter 36)
yuuji stepping into the fight with hanami after fushiguro gets the bud curse (chapter 48)
yuuji: “fushiguro, don’t worry”
btw, this is a direct parallel of point two, back in the detention center
megumi: “if you die again, i’ll kill you”
yuuji: “i guess i can’t go dying on ya then”
yuuji checking on megumi at yasohachi bridge when tsumiki was mentioned to have gone to the bridge and being worried when megumi tried to send him and nobara back to the school so he could exorcise the curse by himself (chapter 56)
megumi telling yuuji to go after kugisaki from the domain, parallel of the detention center when yuuji told megumi to go after kugisaki (chapter 57)
yuuji: “if you get in trouble, you better get out too!”
after the fight at yasohachi bridge, both megumi and yuuji are protecting each other from their burdens (chapter 63)
megumi: “don’t tell him.”
explaining to nobara that yuuji eating the finger caused curses to start killing people
yuuji: “hey! don’t tell fushiguro. don’t you dare tell him”
yuuji to sukuna after being told that because of him people were going to die.
see: cursed womb arc; “why’d you bother saving me then?
this one is just another funsie thing that i wanted to add, but in It’s Like That, megumi is the first person that yuuji notices when he arrives at the diner, completely bypassing nobara and ozawa (chapter 64)
the entire fight with the inverse guy was just peak duo-ism, you can’t even deny it, there is so much content in there (chapter 94–98)
megumi: “itadori!”
yuuji: “no worries, it’s just a scratch!!!”
giving parallels with gojo and geto when toji first snuck up on gojo
megumi, using rabbit escape: “let’s retreat for now.”
yuuji picks up a bunny, bc of course he does
inverse guy: “man up and come at me!”
megumi, pointing at yuuji: “that’s really more his style.”
yuuji: throwing a fucking car
yuuji: “i’m heading into the station”
megumi: “fine, but–”
yuuji: “’if you die, i’ll kill you,’ right”
them just working together in general, we love to see it
fellas, is it gay to think of your friend during your last moments? (chapter 117)
“i’ll see you later!”
“sorry… itadori…” megumi summons mahoraga and apologizes to yuuji.
post-shibuya arc, yuuji spends the entire time between shibuya and the culling games avoiding megumi in order to protect him (volume 16)
megumi and yuuji taking on the burden of the deaths in shibuya arc together (chapter 143)
yuuji: “i killed people! because of me, lots of people died!”
megumi: “it’s our fault, don’t be selfish and give up all alone.”
megumi tries to explain to yuuji that they need to save who they can
parallels grandpa itadori’s last wish
yuuji: “no, fushiguro, it’s because… as long as i’m around… you will suffer!”
megumi: “so start by saving me, itadori! … i’m begging you, itadori. i need your strength.”
yuuji has a purpose and a reason to keep going (see chapter 212: “thank you for giving me a role to play”)
yuuji telling yuuta to kill him if he ever switches to sukuna, without hesitation, in order to protect megumi (chapter 144)
yuuji: “sukuna is plotting something involving fushiguro”
megumi not caring about the dangers of sukuna so he can stick with yuuji (chapter 146)
megumi: “if that happens and i die, just have him (yuuta) kill you”
yuuji: the point is to not let that happen
they just care about each other, your honor
yuuji trying to avoid megumi once again before the culling games (chapter 146)
megumi panicking at yuuji getting beat by hakari (more so than panda was) to the point where he was about to jump over the rail and start interfering (chapter 157)
megumi: oh no! if he gets hurt anymore… “itadori! that’s enough!”
yuuji (again) trying to avoid being with megumi during the culling games in order to protect him from sukuna (chapter 160)
yuuji: “i’m just worried!”
megumi: “are you going to say that every time? it’s annoying a waste of time!” (he is stubborn, refuses to be separated from yuuji)
they are bickering like an old married couple here imo
megumi and yuuji are split up and start working to find higuruma. they are each told different locations and immediately think of each other (chapter 162)
megumi: “shinjuku…” i hope itadori is on his way there too…
yuuji: “ikebukuro?!” is fushiguro there too?
another cutesy one that i just wanted to add: megumi smiling when he realized that yuuji got the points to add a rule to the culling games (chapter 168)
megumi waking up and immediately speaking to yuuji (he doesn’t acknowledge hana or anyone else in any way, shape, or form for like an hour (chapter 199)
megumi immediately notices something is up with yuuji when they learn about “the disgraced one,” and this has one of my fave duo interactions with them (chapter 200)
megumi: “itadori, what’s wrong”
always so akin to yuuji’s feelings bruh
yuuji switches with hana to communicate to megumi that sukuna is the disgraced one. hana is just staring lovingly at megumi, megumi is only concerned about yuuji
their cute little charades act, oh my god they are so fucking silly bro
megumi: i don’t get it. what’s he trying to say?
oh my god bro pls
yuuji: *nod nod* did he get it?
yuuji is fully resolved in dying because megumi and tsumiki (as far as they knew) are safe, so he is okay with dying as long as they can live
megumi is immediately worried about yuuji killing himself and dying to end sukuna
my god they are both so worried about each other all the time
megumi is quick to notice yuuji’s disposition towards hana (chapter 210)
megumi: “this isn’t like you.”
yuuji: “you sure about that?”
megumi: “don’t be dumb.”
yuuji: “i’ll apologize later…”
can they stop flirting in dire times?
yuuji thinking of both gojo and megumi as they gave him a role in the world (chapter 212)
maybe i should have done it sooner. i could have helped fushiguro and disappeared. thank you for giving me a role to play
megumi suppresses sukuna’s technique when he first incarnates in his body (chapter 214)
literally any point during the fight with sukuna where yuuji is locked in on saving megumi (shinjuku showdown arc)
“wake up, fushiguro.” (chapter 251)
i’ll do it as many times as it takes! “wake up, fushiguro!” (chapter 263)
“you’re right, sukuna. i have the ability to end your life. if you release fushiguro and return to me, i will spare your life.” (chapter 265)
literally all of chapter 266 bro this entire fucking chapter hurts me so fucking bad??????
megumi just wanting a peaceful life with his sister and yuuji
yuuji knowing and understanding megumi’s pain to the point where he knows it isn’t fair to force or expect him to want to live
“i’ve started to understand and emphathize with the decisions made by people who encounter unavoidable realities, like grandpa. for that reason… for that reason, i can’t tell you to continue living, fushiguro.”
megumi: “huh? what’s with that face?”
yuuji: “nothing, it’s just that… it’ll be lonely without you, fushiguro.”
what if i was suicidal?????
megumi hears yuuji telling him it’ll be lonely when he’s gone and sees one (1) tear form in his eyes and immediately locks in, using his technique to throw sukuna off guard and allow yuuji to land a hit
yuuji smiling when he realized that megumi was fighting back
see chapter 168: megumi smiling when he realized yuuji got the points for the games
EDIT: OH MY GOD CHAPTER 268????????
megumi: “i think i’ll try to live for someone else.”
also, see yuuji and megumi’s theme songs that were selected by gege:
yuuji’s songs:
heart ni hi o tsukete by 9mm parabellum bullet – a song about two people struggling to recover from their traumas and pain and wondering if they will find love within each other.
the last line of the song is “will we love each other? will we not love each other? will we turn to ashes?”
itsuka dokoa de by kuchiroro – this song overall seems to be a sort of conversation that the narrator is having with an unknown person. there is mentions of belief, love, and a desire for a simple, mundane life.
love is mentioned a lot throughout this song (it’s 13 minutes long and translations are hard to find online though)
megumi’s songs:
hakujitsumu by uchujin – the song is about wanting to save someone, but also battling with their own internal struggles as they try to navigate their trauma.
“don’t disappear yet, i’ll rescue you.”
island in the sun by weezer – this song is about a narrator and their desire to run away with someone and live a peaceful life, away from their troubles so they will “never feel bad anymore.”
this song i feel reflects most with that idyllic life that megumi wanted to build for tsumiki and yuuji
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part 1 | part 2
(these make one big story, you won't understand this part without the others)
day 03: first kiss
a/n: not sure if I vibe with this part, but I hope it's okay. also don't think you're getting fluff
A broken heart is such a thing that will make you live either in the past or in the future; never in the present moment. Lovesickness feels like a virus is attacking the very fabric of your universe, distorting time and space and leaving you floating; directionless and hurting.
That is how Steve feels as he goes through the motions of his life, getting his kids ready for finals, for their oral and written exams, or planning end-of-year school trips. While school provides a great distraction and he has mastered the art of switching into teacher mode almost effortlessly, he feels like he’s just an inch or two beside himself. Beside where he should be.
He’s dwelling in the past or mourning dozens of possible futures, an infinity of them that will end up unrealised, unlived, unloved. His heart is heavy all the time, his head hurting, and his phone chiming with an endless string of messages that go unopened, unreplied.
It’s been a few weeks since the engagement party, since he last saw Eddie — who asked if he was okay, who has been asking to see him again, to hang out, have a drink, just catch up. But every time he does, Steve just hurts, and he finds excuses.
— Sorry, it’s finals season, I’ll be spread thin for the next few weeks :(
Eddie had replied with a litany of sad, brokenhearted emojis that were at equal measures ridiculous as they were exactly what Steve was feeling. Is feeling. Will probably always be feeling, for the rest of his life and beyond.
So far, Eddie hasn’t asked him to be his best man. Steve sort of doesn’t want to give him the opportunity for that. He’s cowardly enough to wish he could avoid Eddie forever if only that meant he wouldn’t have to see his face fall and crumble when he tells him, No.
No, I can’t be your best man. I can’t make it to the wedding. I can’t make it, I can’t do this, I can’t stand by and watch as you show me and the rest of the world that your dream life is not with me. Never with me. I can’t hand you over when all I wanna do is hold you. Hold your hand. Walk you down the aisle and then sweep you up in my arms, just to run out, run away; anywhere, as long as it’s with you.
It doesn’t make sense. There won’t be an aisle, there won’t be any sweeping, there won’t be a future for them. Never has been. Not like this.
Although there was a brief moment in time where their futures almost aligned. Almost. The timing was never right, though, stumbling through the motions and currents of two lost boys’ emotions. But it was almost there, almost enough.
And it's what's been on Steve's mind all week, playing and replaying, tearing at him from the inside out, leaving him with a jigsaw puzzle of infinite pieces of could have beens, would have beens, and what ifs.
"You know," he tells Robin one evening, who has practically moved in now, claiming that broken hearts are best nursed together. "I was actually Eddie's first kiss."
To her credit, Robin doesn't drop the carton pizza at Steve's non-sequitur. She just swallows hard and looks at him in that careful way she has now, where she's trying to read him and ask his eyes to tell her what it is that she should say next. It's frustrating. It's the greatest kindness anyone has ever shown him. It makes him want to punch a wall, and it makes him want to wrap her in the warmest hug and never, ever let her go.
"You were?"
Steve just nods, his lips trembling as his throat closes up again.
"No," she says in the gentlest voice, taking his hand as she guides him to the living room couch. "I didn't know that. Do you wanna talk about it?"
He shakes his head, tucking his feet under her thigh and leaning sideways against the backrest of the couch. His head is heavy and he's tired. He's always tired, even though he doesn't cry as much anymore. It's been four weeks since the engagement party.
"No, I just, uh– Just wanted to say that."
She nods, her eyes boring into him for two, three, four seconds before she finally turns to her pizza.
He looks past her, his eyes unfocused as his mind travels back to that day when they were still in high school.
~*~
The day that Eddie told him he was gay. And Steve had asked how he knew, because he'd been wondering about his own sexuality.
"I don't know, I just know."
"Well, have you ever kissed a boy?"
And Eddie had blushed a little, charred with his feet in the dirt like he always did – still does. "No."
"Okay."
And Steve, ten years ago, had thought, why not kill two birds with one stone. "Would you like to?"
"Huh?"
"Well, I mean, I'm kinda on the fence about it? Sometimes I think I might like guys, but then other times not so much. But I've never kissed one either, so," he shrugged. "If you, like, want to? We can."
"You want me to kiss you?" Eddie sounded incredulous, but his eyes were very big, very dark, very vulnerable. And it was not a no.
"Only if you want to."
A grin split Eddie's face then and he raised his eyebrows suggestively, but there was something forced about it. "Well, what If I fall madly in love with you, Steve Harrington, hm? What then?"
"Oh, please," Steve had only snorted; the thought that Eddie would fall for him out of all people was just too absurd.
And then something had shifted between them, the air turned into something sizzling as Eddie's smile fell and he stepped closer to Steve, raising one hand to his cheek.
"Here goes my first kiss," he murmured.
"Ever?"
"If we discount Lisa from kindergarten, then yes."
Steve huffed, looking down at Eddie's lips, the moment strangely intimate – but not uncomfortably so. Being this close to Eddie wasn't something new, Steve was used to his friend's tactile nature. "Fuck Lisa from kindergarten."
"I'd really rather not," Eddie smiled before finally, finally leaning in and capturing Steve's lips in a kiss.
To this day, Steve is not sure why he went and deepened the kiss like he did. Was it because he knew this was Eddie's first and he wanted to make it good, make it last? Was it because something deep inside of him knew that he liked boys, too, and that he liked Eddie, even though that realisation wouldn't come for another year at least?
He doesn't know why, but he feels it on his lips still, the memory of their first kiss. Their only kiss. A spectacular one that ended with twin smiles after Steve showed Eddie how to move his lips, how to tilt his head, how to open his mouth to let him in. How to capture the little sigh that he would make.
Eddie had looked at him, a little dazed, and Steve grinned at him, delighted at his expression more than at the kiss itself.
"A-And did you," Eddie started, pulling his hands away from Steve and shoving them deeply into his pockets. "Did you get any closer to, uh, to finding out?"
"If I like guys?"
Eddie nodded.
Steve thought about it; about the kiss and how it wasn't as soft as making out with Nancy or Allison. How he would swallow their moans and run his hands along their soft bodies. Eddie wasn't like that. Eddie was just Eddie.
"I think I'll just stick with girls for now," he shrugged with a smile, patting Eddie on the shoulder and squeezing lightly when the other boy began to sway a little.
"Suit yourself, Harrington," Eddie said, shoving him a little. "But you're missing out."
Years later, Eddie had drunkenly confessed to him that he'd had a crush on Steve back then. For years. And Steve had wanted to ask about it, ask if it's still there, that crush, that connection on a deeper, closer level; but then Eddie told him, "Remember Chrissy? We're official now."
And all the words had died on Steve's lips. All those questions, or the confession that, Yeah, me too. Though Steve's crush on Eddie was much later, years after their first kiss, – and it never really ended.
Still hasn't. And it's not a crush. It's more. It's everything.. He's in love. In it. Caught, stuck, trapped inside, while Eddie and everyone else is on the outside, just watching him struggle.
~*~
Later that night, on his umpteenth re-run of the First Kiss Episode that's keeping him from falling asleep, leaving him frustrated and sad and wondering, his phone rings. Eddie's name pops up on the screen, the impersonal Eddie Munson feels like a knife through his heart. He couldn't bear any of the silly nicknames that Eddie's always had in his phone, and needed to go back to a clean slate.
It hurts, though. He watches, considering to let it go to voicemail – but he hasn't talked to his... to Eddie in four weeks. Barely even talked to him on his engagement party.
And even though there's a chance opening for Eddie to ask him or to talk about his wedding, Steve answers the call.
"Stevie," Eddie says, somewhere between a sigh and a hum, and immediately takes away Steve's breath.
"Hi," he rasps. His heart is racing, his hands begin to tremble and he's shaking even under the thick, warm blanket.
"Did I wake you?"
He hums a negative, not trusting himself to speak, and it comes out a pathetic croak, because God, he missed Eddie. Part of him was missing – part of him will always be missing now, he knows –, and it makes him cry. It's not a sob, not a wail, not anything that Eddie can hear or something that would alarm Robin in the other room.
They're silent tears, and he presses his face into the pillow. He should hang up.
"Stevie?" Eddie asks again, his voice so small, so gentle, so worried. "Are you okay?" And after a moment of Steve being unresponsive because he can't catch his breath without gasping, Eddie asks, "Are you crying?"
And just like a kid that tries to be brave through the pain after falling down, but breaks the moment someone asks if they're hurt, Steve lets out a tiny, broken little sob.
"Oh, Stevie baby," Eddie sighs, and he sounds so sad, so compassionate, Steve never wants to hear his name like that ever again. "Do you want me to come over?"
"No," he croaks pathetically, hitting himself once, twice, three times for not keeping it together. For not being strong enough.
I can't do this.
"What do you need?"
"Sleep," he sniffles, stupidly.
"Okay. Then I'll stay here and be silent company, yeah? Don't need to be alone. Is Robin there?" He hums again, affirmative. "Good. Want me to say something? Read to you, tell you a story? Play you some music or–"
"Eddie," Steve manages. I love you. "Just silence? But you don't have to."
"Nah, I'll stay with you," Eddie says before Steve even finished his objections. "Until you've fallen asleep, yeah?"
Steve just nods into his pillow, even though Eddie can't see or hear it.
He's watching the seconds turn into minutes as the time passes. He's so tired, but he doesn't want to let go yet. Not when Eddie is right there. Not when there's still the phantom feeling of his lips capturing Steve's, a memory that is ten years old and still as strong as the very first second.
He should have known, then. Should have leaned in for another kiss, should have told Eddie that he knows he's into boys now, too, and ask Eddie to keep kissing him.
He shouldn't have taken years.
He should have created a new world just for the two of them, with an infinite amount of futures, and all go them happy. All of them SteveAndEddie.
But he didn't. And he wants to apologise. For being so slow, for not knowing until it was too late. For pulling away these past few weeks when that's the last thing he ever wants to do. For not being strong enough; for being too weak.
I'm in love with you, he thinks. Over and over and over. Mouths it voicelessly into the silence between them. Says it out loud when after almost two hours, Eddie hangs up with a quiet, "Good night, Stevie. I miss you." He says it when Eddie's gone, the beep of an empty line the only response he gets before that cuts out, too.
And then he's all alone again.
tagging: @sexymothmanincarnate @mcneen @livsters @eddiemunchondeeznuts @abstractnaturaldisaster @steddie-as-they-go @hyperfixationgoddess @goodolefashionedloverboi @stxrcrossed186 @imzadidragonfly @eddiemunsonswife @bidisastersworld @ghost-ly-s @romanticdestruction @walkingaftermidnight07 @anaibis @rainydays35 @mightbeasleep @sunfloweringstories @korixae
and thanks to everyone who said nice things about this 🤍🌷
come back tomorrow for: here come the tears (and hurt/comfort, maybe) | read part 4 here
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