Work Text:
Inumaki poked Maki’s shoulder.
“Tuna. Tuna Mayo.”
They were in the middle of cleaning the training equipment, the assigned chore for the evening, pulled via lots. It had rained that day, so everything had gotten especially muddy and as such was taking a bit longer than usual.
“Oh? Today?" Maki thought for a moment before nodding, “You’re right, it’s getting late. It’s not a problem, the two of us can finish up here. But you’ll owe me one.”
Inumaki flashed a quick thumbs-up before placing his cleaning cloth in the sink and gathering up his shoes from the locker. He thumbed them on and waved briefly at Itadori before jogging off towards the dorms. Itadori returned the wave politely.
“Where’s he going?”
“Toge?” Maki said, nonchalantly, “He has a phone call to make.”
Itadori raised his eyebrow, “A phone call?”
“A phone call,” Maki repeated.
“How does he, uh,” Itadori struggled with his words for a moment, wheels refusing to turn in his brain before deciding to just ask flat out. “...Do...that?”
“Well,” Maki replied, not missing a beat, “There’s this device called a cell phone. You can enter a number on it and it can connect you to another phone anywhere el--”
“Alright, alright,” Itadori cut her off, feeling the sting of sarcasm. “Forget I even asked.”
Maki shrugged and continued cleaning the training equipment. The younger boy attempted to do the same but only lasted about 2 minutes before his curiosity got the better of him.
“So...who’s he calling?”
“How best to explain...” Maki hummed at that, contemplating a moment before simply replying. “Our missing piece.”
“Huh?”
“Mine, Panda’s and Toge's,” She wiped off the last of the dirt from the staff she was holding and looked at it closely, finalizing her inspection, before placing it in storage. “He’s been gone for a long time.”
“Oh… I didn’t realize…” Itadori was starting to fit the pieces together, simultaneously feeling like he had maybe breached a sensitive subject. “Dead?”
“Idiot,” Maki laughed, “If he were dead how would Toge call him on the phone? As far as you or I am aware, speaking with the dead is not one of his curse speech techniques.”
Itadori scratched his head, “So he’s... what?”
“Overseas. Working.”
“Ahhhh,” Itadori nodded, finally understanding, “Another sorcerer, huh… Gojo-sensei said the classes were small. I kinda figured three was the limit or something?”
“Nah,” Maki smirked and then decided to goad the kid a bit, “Maybe you’ll meet him one day. Wonder if he could kick your ass.”
“Someone that strong?” Itadori perked up at that, finding the topic way less awkward and way more interesting all of a sudden.
“Oh yeah,” Maki smiled fondly at his enthusiasm, “The strongest.”
“No wayyyyyyy…” Itadori crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall of lockers, “Someone better than Fushiguro? Better than... you?”
“Ask Toge about it,” Maki grinned. “Or even Gojo-sensei if you’re feeling brave.”
“Boooo~” Itadori shot back, knowing he’d never get a straight answer from either. “You’re no fun.”
“Rude,” She threw a cloth at Itadori’s face which he dodged. “Now stop slacking! I don’t want to be here all night.”
“Alright, alright…”
○○○
Inumaki fell back on his bed, phone in hand. He looked over at the clock and with a few time adjustment calculations figured he’d be calling around midday. That should be fine.
He tapped a few numbers on his phone. It rang once, twice, and then the line picked up.
“Kelp.”
“Hey,” came a rough, tired-sounding voice from the other end. “I wasn’t sure if you’d call.”
“Bonito flakes,” He hit the video button, sending a request to switch to a video call. “Tuna tuna.”
“Alright, alright,” the video on his screen flickered on and took a second to connect. “I guess I should say, you didn’t have to call. We could have just texted like we always do.”
Inumaki stared at the face on the other end of the call. The connection was a little rough and the image was coming through a little pixelated, but he felt a warmth grow in his chest. The moment Okkotsu relayed to him he might have a few hours for a call, Inumaki had made sure to set every calendar reminder possible.
This was the first time Inumaki had seen Okkotsu in three months.
He missed him in ways he didn’t know how to express and that was not just because of his limited vocabulary.
Even though three months was not the longest time ever, Inumaki noticed the changes in his friend right away. Okkotsu was getting taller, filling out and losing the baby-face softness in his features. It was an attractive change and it suited him. Inumaki felt a pang of disappointment that he wasn’t able to experience it in real-time.
Inumaki also noticed that Okkotsu looked more exhausted than he'd ever seen him.
Inumaki’s brow creased and he frowned. “Mustard leaf.”
“Hey,” Okkotsu quirked his mouth up into a weird expression Inumaki assumed was an attempt at smirking but it just looked comical, “The first thing you do can’t be lecturing me.”
“Mustard leaf,” Inumaki repeated, rolling over onto his stomach, holding the phone out in front of him. “Tuna tuna.”
“Maybe it is getting a little shaggy,” Okkotsu ran his hand through his hair, which pushed it out of his face and showed off the sharper cut of his cheekbones and jaw, “But you don’t have to be so mean about the bags under my eyes. I sleep when I can, which is less than I’d like.”
“Tuna…”
“Bring it up with Gojo-sensei then,” Okkotsu grimaced, which only made him look more tired, “You know this whole remote training thing was his idea. To ‘toughen me up’,” he air quoted with the hand he wasn't holding his phone with. “I didn't ask for it.”
“Salmon, salmon roe,” Inumaki stuck his tongue out and Okkotsu laughed.
Okkotsu’s face looked so much better laughing. The crinkle of his eyes offset the bags and a bit of his old liveliness returned. Inumaki decided at that moment he wanted Okkotsu to laugh forever.
“You should say that to his face,” Okkotsu huffed out once the laughing subsided, “Seriously.”
“Tuna mayo!”
“Okay, okay. Listen, I do have some good news,” Okkotsu continued, “I think I should be able to come back home in early November. Unless something crazy happens. All the current commissions here should wrap up around then and I need to check back in with Gojo-sensei before moving forward with a few things anyway.”
Inumaki smiled, “Salmon.”
“Yeah,” Okkotsu agreed, smiling back and for the first time since the call started, genuine and full of feeling, “Me too, I have so many things I want to tell you about when I get back. I can’t wait.”