The Third Path

by four_fiftyfive

Summary:

Megumi is sixteen when he enters the junior boxing series. He keeps on running into the greatest fighter of all time, Gojo Satoru, who beat his father for the championship belt ten years ago. From light, inconspicuous brushes to front-row seats, their relationship seems to be taking a turn neither of them expected.

This is a story about winning and losing in the ring and in real life, filled with first times and second chances.

Chapter 1

Notes:

Hi all! I know I have two wip that I have to eventually finish but in the mean time I have been bewitched by GoFushi … so here it is!

Credits where it’s due 10y ago I read a Ereri fic about Eren and Levi meeting in a bus : https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10242379/1/The-Passengers (fair warning it’s in French) and it haven’t left my mind since. The meeting on the bus is the only inspiration I took from this story, but I wanted to make it clear and who knows, allow other people to read this fantastic work who might’ve missed it :)

So here is my take on a stranger to lover/ age gap GoFushi/ reverse grumpyxsunshine/ mentorxprotegee kind of relationship!

A few things to help your understanding:

In this AU Sukuna is Yuuji older brother (so his name is Ryomen Itadori)
Choso is their half brother but Eso and Kechisu don’t exist.
Saori is Nobara’s guardian (Kugisaki family let them live together so they don’t have to pay for a boarding school)
Toji and Tsukimi’s mother raised both Tsukimi and Megumi without abandoning them.
Gojo here is 12y older than Megumi (instead of 13 in canon) but they don’t meet properly until Megumi is 16 and after that it’s a slow burn! (still don’t like don’t read)

In real life, obviously I wouldn't condone a relationship between a 16/17 year old and an adult. It’s purely fictional.

Disclaimer considering the boxing part in this story : I don’t know anything about boxing lol I tried to look into what I could but I still did things my way and bending the calendar and everything boxing related really to serve my silly little romance purpose so please don’t come at me saying that’s not how it works I am not trying to be realistic haha

Also, english is not my first language, so I apologize in advance for any mistake!

I have a plan outlined for the rest of the story so I should be able to go to the end without too much trouble but I can’t tell you when..

Anyway hope you enjoy reading it as mush as I did writing it!

xx

Megumi was nervously adjusting the strap of his backpack on his shoulder for what felt like the hundredth time already. The palm of his hands were sweaty and he couldn’t help running his fingers through his hair.

It was the first time in years he has to go to school without sharing his bus ride with Tsukimi. His sister was starting her first year of college and since studies aren’t really a thing in their family, her getting a full scholarship is really something that made him proud.

“Megumi!” Nobara and Yuuji’s unmistakable voices were shooting his name in tandem. His best friends were running toward him at full speed. Megumi braced himself for impact and didn’t bother hiding the smile taking over his face when they knocked into him in a tangle of limbs.

"What are you guys doing here?” Megumi asked, righting himself just before toppling over. He Knew both of his friends lived much further along the line and were usually being dropped off by their respective guardians.

“What kind of friends would we be if we let you come on your own for the first day of school?” replied Yuuji with a smile. Nobara didn’t bother commenting but did ruffle his already unruly hair.

A warm feeling spread through his chest and he felt the knot in his stomach untie. He’d missed them.

Megumi spent the summer working at a convenience store. It wasn't the most prestigious job, but it had paid relatively well. The shop had been busy enough to keep the hours from passing too slowly. The only downside was the impossibility to see his friends as often as he wanted to, because their schedules were often incompatible.

Megumi had been trying to make as much money as he could, knowing that he would need it if he wanted to buy things for himself during the year. His father paid for necessities like his bus pass and school supplies, but anything else he had to buy with his own money.

He didn't mind much, as there was always something to eat in the fridge and hot water on tap which was not a given before Tsukimi and his mother came into their lives.

He could still remember a time where his only meal of the day had been provided by his school canteen. As a result, his growth spurs had suddenly came to a halt, eventually alerting his teacher who then contacted social services.

When the social worker came to their apartment and saw how precariously they were living, Megumi had been sent to live on his grandfather's estate until Toji had managed to take care of the legal paperwork.

To this day he was still resenting his father's family. The Zenin would have easily been able to help them but chose not to as a punishment for Toji choosing his own career over the family business.

It had worked for him for a while, and he had made a name for himself in the league—even becoming world champion—before money and fame went to his head.

After testing positive for steroids, he was banned for life from professional boxing. That's when things started to go from bad to worse for them.

After paying the huge fine imposed on him by the league, Toji's gambling addiction swallowed up what little money he had left. He had fallen into the oldest trap in the world, thinking he could win back what they had already lost. But it only caused him to lose their home.

He hadn't missed a single meal since Toji got him back, but money had never ceased to be scarce, even years after his father had stopped gambling. It turned out that for a former boxer with no qualifications, there weren't many jobs available. Those which did exist were often in security and didn't pay much.

That's why Megumi worked to earn some pocket money and even start saving for his future. But ultimately it meant his summer had been rather boring, with his social interactions being limited to the customers he had served.

A far cry from his Megumi's best friends summer. They had both been working as lifeguards at the local swimming pool. Nobara had been thorough-fully enjoying the power trip that came with blowing her whistle and yelling at unruly children running around the pool. As for Yuuji, he had enjoyed teaching the children to swim, taking his role as mentor very much to heart.

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Their first day ended up being quite uneventful, only punctuated by their teachers introductions. They were given a form to fill in with the name of the club they will be joining and that’s the most writing they’d done for the day.

Yuuji was joining the movie club again while Nobara was trying out the fencing club following Maki’s recommendation. As for Megumi, this year too he was going to be using the allocated club hours to walk the dogs from the town's shelter. Students were allowed to exchange their club activities for volunteer work in one of the city's many associations.

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Yawning, Megumi made his way inside the small apartment wondering if a nap could still be on the card for him.

Most of his work shifts that summer had been nights one and he had become accustomed to sleeping late in the morning. Snoozing his alarm until it was too late to take his bus had been tempting and it’s only the knowledge that he would be able to see is friend that had made him got out of bed.

“How was your first day back?” Toji asked, raising the beer he was drinking in lieu of greeting. Not bothering to look up from the TV show he was watching to look at Megumi.

“Fine.” Megumi answered as he was heading to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water from the tap. September hadn’t quite brought the reprieve from the hot weather he had been hoping for.

His father didn’t push, simply humming in answer, eyes never straying from the screen in front of him.

"Is practice starting again soon?"

Finishing his glass of water, Megumi took a moment to consider how best to respond. Boxing was a sensitive subject for Toji, and although he'd pushed Megumi in that direction, they'd never dwelt on the topic for too long.

“Next week I think, I’ll confirm with Tony by text.”

Seemingly satisfied with the answer, his dad made his way through the small living room to join Megumi in the kitchen.

"This year you're going to have to start taking your training more seriously. You can't just rely on your natural strengths anymore, you’ll need to perfect your technique too.”

“I know, I was planning on it”

This wasn't entirely true, because while Megumi didn't mind training and getting into the ring, he wasn't yet sure he wanted to devote his life to it. He was still balancing his desire to find a job that would allow him to spend his life with animals and his obvious aptitude for boxing.

“You know, you have the same raw potential as I did back then. I wouldn’t be so surprised if you ended up in the big leagues too.”

Megumi's answering smile was a little strained, but he was used to these kinds of discussions by now. They had started in middle school, after the school principal had called Toji to inform him that his son had been in a fight.

His father had taught him how to throw punches from an early age, so that Megumi would know how to defend himself in a fight. Instead, when Megumi saw two bullies going for one of his classmates, he didn't hesitate to put his knowledge into practice.

Unlike Tsukimi, Toji had never reprimanded him for it, probably seeing the fights as an early sign of interest in hand to hand combat. Until last year, they'd never been able to afford boxing lessons. So this was his father's way of encouraging him, even if it was a bit twisted.

With a pat on his head Toji finally left for work. His bottle of beer still half empty on the coffee table. With a sigh, Megumi went to pick it up, before trowing it in the recycle bin. The silence had settled again on the small flat but it wasn’t as heavy as he would have feared.

With Tsukimi's departure for university, he suddenly found himself with a lot more time on his own. As sad as it was to part with her, having their shared room to himself was something he really appreciated. He didn't feel lonely in his too-quiet house, rather enjoying the silence for a nap.

He woke up just in time for dinner, proof of how tired he was. After reheating the leftovers Megumi found in the refrigerator, he greeted Tsukimi's mother and went back to eat in his room.

Just when he finished eating, his phone started to buzz with messages. His group chat with Itadori and Kugisaki coming alive. They had renamed it “The Dreadful Three” as one of their teachers had once called them. The nickname had stuck.

They exchanged a few messages and Megumi went to sleep with a smile on his face.

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His school routine had fallen back into place smoothly.

Early morning bus ride which would bring him to the school gate where he would meet with Yuuji and Nobara. They would make their way into class and try to pay attention. At lunchtime they would meet Maki, Toge and Panda to eat. Then they would go back to their classroom and focus back on the last lessons of the day.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 3 p.m., after sending his friends to their respective clubs, Megumi would walk to the animal shelter and take one or two dogs to the nearby park for a little exercise.

It was only by the second week of school that the high-schooler had finally managed to take the bus without falling asleep on it as soon as he was seated. His internal clock finally catching up with the program.

To make the nine stops separating him from his school to go by faster, Megumi had taken up people-watching.

That's when he saw him.

Satoru Gojo.

Megumi couldn’t believe his eyes. One of the most successful boxers in the world was riding the same bus as him at seven-thirty in the morning. The man had won a belt in every category of weight he had competed in.

Gojo had retired a year earlier, aged just twenty-six, in a shocking decision that sent shockwaves through the boxing community. The repercussions of his sudden departure are still being felt today.

Megumi seriously doubted anyone else here knew who he was, but he still drew the attention of the other passengers by his mere presence. The man was impossible to miss, incredibly tall and muscular with bright white hair. Gojo was also outrageously handsome and the expensive looking pair of sunglasses he wore made him look like a movie star.

If Megumi knew who he was, it was because Gojo Satoru had faced Toji in the ring and emerged victorious. Without knowing it, the white haired man had set in motion a series of events that had turned Megumi's life upside down.

It was the only official fight the high-schooler had ever seen in his life, and also the only time he'd ever seen his father in the ring.

Megumi remembered the days leading up to the fight with a strange clarity. He'd seen the fight posters on the street, selling the evening as the greatest fight of all time. He'd even heard one of his father's friends say that betting on the match had reached record levels. The arena would open to a packed house.

At eighteen, Gojo Satoru was still undefeated after going through the junior series and was about to face Toji Fushiguro, the reigning cruiserweight champion for the past seven years. This was the teenager's first professional fight, and it was already for a belt.

Megumi had been seated in the front row, thanks to Shiu Kong, his father's manager. He'll never forget the electric atmosphere of the place, the shouts of the crowd around him.

To find a seat suitable for his six-year-old size, Megumi had to be placed in one of the center seats and not on his father side of the ring. Perhaps that's why Gojo went to him in the first place.

The eighteen years old was always wearing a blindfold before each fight to protect his eyes from the arena light and he would only remove it when getting into the ring. Yet this time, Gojo had moved towards Megumi before taking it off in front of him instead. It was probably because small children where a rare occurrence in an arena and the teenager had wanted to give him a great experience.

“Hold on this for me, yeah.”

He had been nailed to his seat by the most intense pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen. Toji and his team hadn't come out yet and Megumi hadn’t been sure what to do. But he had doubted the white-haired man in front of him knew who he was, so he had simply tucked the piece of cloth away in his pocket with a tentative smile.

Seconds later, the crowd had roared to life, welcoming Toji, their champion, with cheers and applause. Turning around to follow the noise, Gojo’s eyes had tracked his opponent with a hungry smile on his lips.

On December 24, 2008, Toji and Gojo faced off in a dramatic title fight. It had got off to an explosive start, his dad taking the white haired boy down in the first round with a brutal left hand. For a moment there, Megumi thought Gojo would never get up again. Instead, barely a second before the referee's countdown reached to ten, the eighteen years old boy had raised up with a feral look on his face. Megumi, who had been clutching the blindfold in his pocket with worry, had felt himself breath again. But not for long. As the rounds progressed, Gojo gradually came back into the fight, showing remarkable tenacity and endurance. In the final round, Gojo secured a knockout victory, sending Toji crashing to the floor unexpectedly.

His memories after were hazy, Megumi barely remembered being taken away by Kong, his heart pounding under the surprised gaze of the white-haired man, his fist raised above his head in the ring in triumph, next to Toji’s motionless body.

At the time, Megumi hadn’t know that a fighter who remained unconscious on the ground for more than a minute was either dead or under the influence of illegal substances that were delaying his return to consciousness.

That’s how the officials knew they had to perform an additional blood test on Toji, whose urine sample had tested negative. Shortly after that, their descent into hell had begun.

Megumi had never told Toji about the blindfold, which he only realised he still had in his pocket when he was brought home the next day. Without knowing why, Megumi had kept it even during their various moves. He had never shown it to anyone, hiding it like a treasure.

The blindfold should have been a symbol of all the terrible things that had happened to him, and yet he couldn't have brought himself to get rid of it. Perhaps Megumi knew that he hadn't necessarily been happier when they had more money, he just had been better fed.

So seeing Satoru Gojo again after all these years was a shock to say the least. The white haired man had boarded the bus on the third stop after Megumi, which meant it was unlikely that he would ran into Toji. -Small mercies- It was a residential neighbourhood, full of high-end apartments and houses they would never been able to afford, even to rent.

Unable to look away, Megumi had continued to stare at the wide back of the former top athlete until he got off the bus at Rika Orimoto. The area was mostly known because it was the home of the town’s hospital. Named in memory of a young girl who had tragically died after being ran over by a car.

It was also where the Itadori brothers were living, in a loft above Ryomen's auto repair shop. When his grandfather died, Yuuji had to move in with his brother and completely overturn his life from the countryside to the city.

Lost in thought, Megumi had almost missed his stop. Moving through the motion, he went to class and tried to focus on what his teachers were saying but to no avail. Noticing his lack of attention throughout the day, his friends had teased him relentlessly.

When the bell had finally rang, Megumi barely took the time to say his goodbyes before rushing to the bus stop. Of course, Gojo hadn’t been there and Megumi couldn't help but wonder if seeing him had been a one off or if it would happen again.

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A week after what he was now referring to the Incident in his head and with no other sign of the white haired man around, Megumi was starting to wonder if he hadn’t hallucinated him.

The week had gone by fast after that day, and his weekend had been fairly dull as he spent it reading in his room to avoid the rain that still hadn’t stop.

On Tuesday, at the end of his school day, he was supposed to go to the shelter and walk the dogs. But it was pouring rain outside, and the lady who ran the animal shelter had sent him a text message telling him not to bother coming in.

His friends' clubs were indoors, so they weren't canceled, and he had no one to take him back. Megumi hated taking the bus on rainy days. The floor inside was sticky and people were leaving their umbrellas on the bus seats, getting them wet without a care about the next passengers.

Not to mention walking in the rain shower to the bus stop and how his clothes were sticking to his skin, leaving him cold and uncomfortable during what would be the fifty-minute ride from Jujutsu High to his stop.

His only consolation was that, since most of the students were still in their indoor clubs, the bus was not too full at that time of day.

Closing his eyes, Megumi was trying to will the minutes to go by quicker. After a few stops, he felt the seat next to him sink under the weight of another person. Megumi opened one eye to make sure he had left enough room, when he felt his heart miss a beat.

“Mind if I sit here? The rest are full” said Satoru Gojo himself with a casual wave of his hand.

If Megumi had bothered to look around, he would have indeed noticed that the bus had filled up while he had his eyes closed. As it was, he couldn't take his sight off the pair of mesmerising blue eyes that was nailing him to his seat for the second time in his life.

Trying to regain his composure, Megumi simply nodded in agreement.

“Great” replied the white-haired man beside him with a smirk. He clearly found it amusing that he had managed to render silent the younger boy next to him with a simple glance.

That was enough for Megumi to regain his blank face and turn his head toward the window on his left. He clenched his jaw in an attempt to swallow down the humiliation he was feeling. It wouldn’t be smart to antagonise a former professional fighter, whose biceps were as big as Megumi's thighs.

The rest of the ride had gone by in silence until the robotic automated voice had announced the stop where Gojo had gotten in the last time he was on the bus.

“This is me. Do you want to finish that? I don't have a lid to protect it from the rain.”

The white-haired man shook half empty the coffee cup he was holding in his hand with an apologetic smile.

“Um, I don't like coffee, sorry.”

If Megumi could have banged his head against the window without looking even more foolish, he would have done so. Not only was he refusing an obvious peace offering, but he was acting like a child by saying that he didn't like drinking coffee.

Fortunately, Gojo didn't seem to take it badly and merely rose from his seat, laughing.

“No worries, next time I'll make sure to have a soda to offer!”

For the second time that week, Megumi stood there in shock as he watched Gojo Satoru walk away and disappear through the bus doors.

That night, taking advantage of the new privacy of his room, Megumi decided to give in to his curiosity and look up the other man online. But there hasn’t been much.

Gojo hadn’t been seen in public since he announced his retirement. His social media account was obviously run by a professional agency and there hadn’t been any post since his announcement.

No known partner, no children, and his circle of close friends has remained the same since he started fighting in the junior series, with Suguru Geto and Shoko Lieri appearing in photos alongside him from his early days into the boxing world.

They were joined a little later by Yu Haibara and Nanami Kento. And on rarer occasions by professional judoka Utahime Lori who had been rumoured to be his girlfriend.

Their media teasing had been seen by many as flirting, but the lady fighter vehemently denied it.

Since then, speculation about his relationships had reached an all time high when a blurry photo of a white-haired man kissing a long-black-haired man outside a nightclub the fighter was known to frequent had made the headlines. But the photo was blurred and not clear enough to formally identify the two men.

Gojo and Geto had never confirmed nor denied even to this day. The white-haired man only commented that whether it was him or not had nothing to do with boxing, and that people should rather worry about the fact that nobody could beat him.

If his arrogance had enraged many, Gojo's talent had been undeniable and when he retired in the summer of 2017, the man known as “the greatest” had still been undefeated in the totality of his eight-year career.

The speculations had quieted down when Geto had made public his relationship with Yuki Tsukumo, an MMA champion in 2014. Pictures of the three of them smiling and laughing together had since then completely buried the rumours.

After an hour of browsing, Megumi finally decided to go to sleep. Putting his phone down on the stool that served as his bedside table, he slipped an arm under his pillow and closed his eyes, letting fatigue wash over him.

His last conscious thought had been to wonder if he'd ever see the man again. But he'd said “next time”, hadn't he?

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Saturday was his first day back at practice since the end of his first year. The last time he had fought was against Aoi Todo. As Yuuji's childhood friend, Megumi hadn’t been expecting it. But Todo hadn't liked him since their first meeting, and his possessive tendency towards the pink haired boy had only served to worsen their relationship.

Todo had been overly aggressive in his digs since they'd met and it had built up until it exploded. They would never have met in an official fight, because of their weight difference. Compared to him the other boy was a mountain, with something like a hundred kilos of pure muscle. Maybe Megumi should have ran away, but he had years of fighting under his belt and after a year of tension, he had been itching for it.

His memories of the end of the fight were a little fuzzy. He knew that his brow ridge had burst open after a few punches and that within seconds Megumi had been covered in blood, unable to open his eyes because of the sticky liquid. 

This hadn't stopped the big man, and he'd been ready to deliver one last blow which would have knock him out for good when Panda and Toge -his third years friends- had appeared. The taller of the two had stopped Todo, while his mute friend had all but dragged Megumi off to the infirmary.

He vaguely remembered being taken to the town hospital for stitches, while his father had paced angrily back and forth behind the curtain. Megumi had expected to be summoned to the principal's office, but the camera in front of the school had filmed the whole altercation, and it had been clear that Todo had attacked him without giving him the slightest chance of avoiding the fight.

Todo had then been expelled, but Yuuji had told him that he had simply joined the town private school. His pink-haired friend had told him he would stops talking to Todo completely if Megumi wanted to but the dark haired boy had not really cared.

He knew that Yuuji had been furious on his behalf and it had been enough. When his pink haired friend had learned about what happened, he hadn't uttered a word to Todo until Megumi had given him the go-ahead. Oddly enough, this was what had prompted Todo to apologise, and now they were strangely at one with each other.

Not quite friends, but no longer enemies. Figures.

So between his convalescence and his insane work schedule, Megumi hadn't set foot at the Ten Shadows all summer. The establishment was the only public gym in town and was doubling as a boxing club.

Tony, the owner and his trainer, was a bulky, sixty-something man who had once competed in the big leagues. He’d had a somewhat respectable career and earned enough money to open his own place when an injury had forced him to retire.

He had been coaching Megumi for a year. Tony had high hopes for him and even if he didn't insist as much as Toji on Megumi's hypothetical boxing career, he was still harder on him than on his other students.

Which is to say, he wasn't ever soft on Megumi, even on his first day back.

“Have you been training at all this summer?”

And Megumi hadn't, not really. He had kept the stitches for a full month and even if he hadn’t, he had been working too many hours to even think about training.

To not loose completely a year worth of practice, Megumi had still gotten into the habit of running to and from the store, and lifting heavy box to restock the convenience store shelves had kept him a little muscular.

But he was far from his normal form and they both knew it, so he didn’t bother to try and defend himself. He merely mumbled an apology while increasing the cadence of his blows.

“Your form's sloppy Fushiguro” said his trainer, holding the punching bag still for him. Megumi's knuckles were already raw from the hundredth blow he'd had to land on that thing. 

"Yes coach, sorry.” Lowering his head, he tried to concentrate on his rhythm rather than his brute strength. He knew he had the raw power, but as his father had said his techniques were lacking.

The rest of the session went relatively smoothly with no more words exchanged between them. Tony occasionally correcting his posture and the rhythm of his punches.

At the end of the allotted hours, he sagged in the bench under his locker. His whole body screaming with relief before taking off his gloves for the first time since he'd set foot in the gym again.

While he was showering the sweat away, he heard Tony’s voice telling him to meet him in his office for a quick chat when he was done.

So when Megumi had been dressed and ready to leave he popped in his coach office who was waiting for him. The older man wordlessly indicated the chair in front of his desk. Megumi was glad for that as the back-to-school session had been really tiring.

"Look, kid, I'm not going to lie to you, this year it's going to be either you make it or break it. We both know you've got what it takes, now it's a matter of how badly you want it."

Before Megumi had a chance to answer to the statement his coach was barreling trough.

"In the junior series, you can only compete a maximum of four times a year. This December you'll turn sixteen and be allowed to enter them for both 2019 and 2020. After that, you'll be eighteen and depending on how well you did in the juniors you could very well make it to the big leagues.”

“Registration for the next year is closing at the end of the month, but I haven't entered your name yet. I wanted to see you train first. Truth is you haven't lost too much muscle and your cardio is pretty decent. With three months ahead of us, I know we can get you back into fighting shape."

Taking a deep breath, Tony continued with an expression that Megumi couldn't decipher on his face. The young man's heart was pounding in anticipation of what could be coming.

"Look, I know you won't be able to afford everything that comes with tournaments, like traveling to arenas, paying for hotel nights, food and everything else that comes with travel. And I'm not even talking about the fact that you'll frequently have to buy new boxing equipment, pay your federation license etc. To be honest, up until a month ago, I couldn't have done a thing. But it seems that luck has decided to smile on us. A guy came to the club saying he was looking to sponsor the student I thought had the most potential for next season. Apparently, he had just opened a children's toy store in the city and want to promote it by sponsoring a young boxer's career.”

Tony stood up and took a few steps toward the window, which he stared at before continuing.

"I'm giving you an opportunity that every other kid training here would kill for. So if you take it, you’ll have to do more than the bare minimum you've done so far. Raw talent won't get you any further, because going into the juniors you’ll have the same amount as everyone else."

Megumi could feel his heart pounding in his ears and had barely heard the end of what his coach was saying.

How was he supposed to make a life altering choice now, at fifteen? He clearly enjoyed boxing but never thought he would have the chance to make it professionally. Since he was a kid he had always dreamed about becoming a veterinarian. Before his eyes, his life was being divided into two distinct paths.

The one on the left goes like this: Megumi returns home and tells his father that he quit boxing, wants to work with animals and waits for the storm to pass and Toji's anger to subside. It does. As the only thing that really unit them is gone, they drift further apart, but he comes to terms with it and moves on. He spends his holidays working to save money for his future. When he finishes high school, he joins Tsukimi at university and study to become a vet. His life is quiet, he meet someone in college and they buy a small house in the countryside with a garden and a dog. They raise a child who'll never learn what it's like to be hungry. He works at the local veterinary clinic. He still volunteer to walk the dogs from a shelter. In this life, Megumi grows old surrounded by animals, friends and his own family. He gets his shot as the normal life everyone seems so fond about.

The one on the right goes like this: Megumi returns home and tells his father that he's entering the junior series. For the first time in years, he sees a genuine smile distort Toji's scar at the corner of his mouth. He trains hard and win. His life is anything but quiet, as he travels the world from arena to arena, managing fame as best he can. He has no partner and no children because he remembers what it's like to wait for his father, terrified that he'll take a hit from the wrong angle and a stupid accident will knock him out for good. But it doesn't matter, because he has enough money to never lack anything else. When he retires from boxing, he opens a shelter. In this life, Megumi will grow old surrounded by animals, friends and his sister family. He gets his shot as the extraordinary life everyone’s secretly dream about.

So in the end, when it comes down to it, there isn’t much of a choice at all. Megumi deep down knows that if he's honest with himself, his choice has already been made a long time ago by the child who never learned how to stop itching for his next fight. Knuckles flayed raw yet still hungry.

“I won't let you down coach, thank you for this opportunity.”

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He was right about seeing a smile in Toji's face when he told him about the sponsorship. That evening, his father had called in sick for work and made him drink his first beer with him.

Megumi could feel the foundations of his life shifting beneath his feet. So even if it was just for the night, he'll allow himself to pretend he and Toji had a normal father-son relationship.

So later, when Toji insists they call Tsukimi to tell her the good news, Megumi continues to play along. His dad should know she wouldn't be as pleased as he was. She had always been worried when he fought. And despite the fact that she'd support him no matter what he did, she would still be hoping he would choose a normal carreer.

That's why he didn't want her to be put on the spot and warned her by text message beforehand. He just knows, she wouldn’t have been able to sound genuinely happy for him on the first try otherwise and fortunately she played the surprise well enough for Toji to think it was authentic.

Later that night, after Toji had collapsed on the sofa and Megumi had gone to his room, he finally allowed himself to really feel the emotions that were bubbling inside him. He'd finally made his decisions, and even Tsukimi's worried text asking if he was sure of himself hadn't made him waver.

He was exhausted, with a mix of mental and physical strain but he knew he couldn’t go to sleep without talking to his friends first. It was already midnight, but Yuuji couldn't sleep more than four hours a night anyway and Nobara hadn't turned off her notifications since she got her first phone.

Which is why, not even a minute after sending the sponsorship news to them, their group chat had exploded with a dozen notifications. Mostly emojis and exclamation marks from Yuuji and increasingly disturbing gifs from Nobara. Not a single word had been spoken, yet Megumi felt laughter rise from his chest and suddenly he didn't feel so heavy. The boy fell asleep with a smile on his lips.

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The next day, he met Tony at Ten Shadows to sign the papers. The toy store owner was away on business until the end of November, so they wouldn't be meeting until then. This suited Megumi, since the man had already transferred the money and would be back before the New Year anyway.

This gave him more time to train without the added pressure of his sponsor's presence. Tony hadn't yet told him the name of his benefactor -something about it being a surprise- but Megumi didn’t care all of that much, at the end of the day all that mattered was he kept his part of the deal.

The rest of his day had been spent cramped in Tony's small office, talking about meal plans, grocery lists, calories intake to fit the sixty-two kilos limits for his weight division.

Scheduling his training to transition from amateur to professional hadn't been as difficult as he'd feared. He could even continue volunteering at the shelter and incorporate it into his training as a light physical activity on his days off.

MEGUMI FUSHIGURO TRAINING PLAN - Monday/Wednesday/Friday = Run (1h) + Upper body & punching bag (40 min) + Sparing (20 min) - Tuesday/Thursday = 1h30 walk with the shelter dogs & Rest - Saturday = Rest day/ Light cheat meal allowed at either lunch or dinner (not both!!!) - Sunday = Leg day (light jog to the gym for warmup)

They agreed that he would be sparing with Tony's son Antonio. The eighteen-year-old wasn't in the lightweight division at all, but he was available and good enough to be partnered with Megumi. There weren't many capable guys who wouldn't end up on the other side of the ring in the junior series. And their aim was to hide his true abilities for as long as possible. Weakness and strength alike.

Megumi left the Ten Shadows around six and hurried to the bus stop. Luckily, it hadn't taken long to arrive and was almost empty, so he easily found a seat. He took his phone out and scrolled through his messages, catching up on the discussion between his friends. Megumi had also received a message from his cousin Maki, who had heard the news -probably from Tsukimi- and congratulated him.

Pocketing his phone, Megumi realised that he hadn't felt the bus movements for a few minutes. Normally, the only stop between the gym and his neighbourhood was the area where the grocery store Megumi had been working at was. With a quick glance around, Megumi realised that they had stopped moving altogether.

A wide load truck is blocking the road ahead, apparently trying to turn left without hitting the gas station on the right-hand side of the street. The driver seems to know what he is doing, but it is clear that he has to do a lot of manoeuvring to get there. Sighing internally, Megumi was resigning himself to settle more comfortably into his seat as it looked like it would be a few more minutes before his bus could set off again.

By force of habit, he lets his eyes wander to the convenience store he knows to be on his left when a flash of white caught his eye. Gojo Satoru stands in front of the store, his sunglasses perched on his hair like a headband, broad strands escaping in all directions. Between two elegant fingers, he holds the handles of a white plastic bag bearing the store's logo and is looking towards the mess at the end of the street.

Megumi had barely managed to hide the gasp of surprise he'd made behind a cough in time not to draw attention to himself. This was the third time he'd seen Gojo since the start of the school year, and each time it had taken his breath away. Megumi briefly wondered if this was some kind of hero worship, but ended up dismissing the thought. Before he could linger on the subject, as if he had a sixth sense that warned him he was being watched, Gojo had turned his head towards him, before tilting it to the right like a curious cat.

The young boy felt his cheeks begin to burn after being caught staring, but before he could turn his head to look away, the white-haired man was waving at him with a smile. Obviously, the man was used to people staring at him as a world-famous fighter, with several championships under his belt.

Megumi tried to smile back, but only a grimace appeared on his face. That, at least, had made the older man laugh. He raised a finger in the air, which was the universal sign for “one second”, and Megumi couldn't help but be curious, any thought of looking away vanishing.

Gojo pulled what looked like a soda can from his grocery bag and held it up for Megumi to see. Megumi’s heart missed a bit at the clear sign of recognition from the white haired man. This time, the smile on his face turned out more sincere, if a little shy. His already rosy cheeks had then turned a violent red when he had read the word “cute” on the older man's lips. 

Suddenly, the bus jolted into motion and in seconds Gojo was completely out of his sight. Megumi hadn't even noticed that the massive truck had finally made his turn as he hadn’t even looked away from the other man once.

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By the time it finally felt like he was getting the hang of his new training schedule, it was already the third week of October. His body was constantly sore and marred with cuts and bruises now. But as the days went by he got used to it and Megumi was registering the ache in his limbs only distantly anymore.

When it felt a little less like he was drowning in pain, he finally made plans to spend the day with Nobara and Yuuji as the autumn break was starting. He was excited to see them outside of the school or the gym.

Megumi didn't know how he could have stayed afloat with his new schedule if it wasn’t for them. Nobara had joined his gym so Saori could drop the both of them at the Ten Shadows on days where they didn't have club; allowing him to get home earlier in the evening and get more rest.

During class, Yuuji would take his notes religiously and in his neatest handwriting so that he could make a copy for Megumi who would be dozing off more often than not.

His teachers, aware of the new rhythm of his life, had turned a blind eye as long as his grades didn't drop. Even Tsukimi had taken to help him by calling him early in the evening and assisting him with his homework.

Alongside his hectic schedule Megumi hadn't seen Gojo again, and he didn't know whether to be grateful or not. With the new turn his life had taken, he didn't need to add the confusing feelings the older man usually brought with him when they met.

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During the break, Tony and him had agreed that he would intensify his training. Megumi would spend most of his days in the Ten Shadows either training or working out. They would spend the rest of the time confined in his coach’s small office, watching reruns of famous fights in the lightweight division and analysing them play by play. 

Mostly, they watched the previous fights of the current world champion Yu Haibara -notoriously good friends with Gojo Satoru, but Megumi tried hard not to think about that-. He had won his title two years ago at the end of what had been arguably one of the most intense fight within their weight division.

Megumi was also training with Antonio, but even Tony had to admit that it was getting him nowhere. His fighting style was too different from that of a true lightweight, and it was tiring Megumi more than it should have. He was finding it harder and harder to dodge the blows with each fight.

During the second week of the holidays, what had to happen finally did, and Antonio's fist had connected with Megumi's face. It was almost a miracle that it hadn't happened sooner. When he saw the look on Tony's face, Megumi had known that he couldn't escape the massive bruise that would blossom in the hours to come.

He hated drawing attention to himself, and bruises were like beacons for strangers who didn’t know how to mind their own business. And it was always the same thing. Yes, everything was fine at home; No, he wasn't in trouble; Yes, everything was fine in school too.

Rinse and repeat every time he had a bruise in a place he couldn't hide. And this year, Tsukimi was not there to apply makeup to his skin and cover the colours dancing there.

When Megumi got home that evening, Toji had taken one look at him as he opened the door before tossing him the frozen bag of vegetable that was supposed to be their dinner for the night.

He went to sleep that night already dreading the next day as Megumi was supposed to meet his friends who wanted to go shopping downtown.

Panda, one of the third-years they were friend with, was having a Halloween party that Saturday and had invited them. Money being a little tight on Megumi's side, so he would be using the same costume as the previous year. Fake vampire fangs which would sadly go well with the natural dark circles under his eyes and some beetroot juice as fake blood on his chin.

His cousin Maki had introduced Megumi to her friends at the start of his first year. Inumaki Toge, Okkotsu Yuta and Panda. Now he could dare to call them his friends too, even if they weren’t as close as he was with Yuuji and Nobara.

Although Maki was his cousin, he was closer to Inumaki Toge, a small blond, mute boy for whom he had started learning sign language. His senpai was easy-going and funny. After Megumi's fight with Todo, the blond boy had visited the store where Megumi worked several times during the summer to check on him. 

He often came when there were no other customers, so Megumi would let Toge sit behind the desk with him and they got into the habit of doing crosswords together. Sometimes he'd come in with Yuta and he and Megumi would talk about boxing while the blond boy sat on the counter next to them and listen indulgently.

Yuta Okkotsu was a student in their town private school and a good friend of the third-year trio. They had met him when Yuta was volunteering in the town’s hospital, reading stories to hospitalised children during his first year before entering the junior series. Panda had also been a volunteer there, making the children laugh in his mascot costume and performing skits.

But Yuta was also a future big name in boxing, he was still undefeated and had won the fervour of the public by his humble demeanour. Coincidentally, Yuta's last fight as a junior will take place at the same event as Megumi's first fight.

His friend would turn 18 in March, and his first boxing bout outside the junior series would be against reigning lightweight champion Haibara. An undefeated junior going straight into a championship fight hadn't happened since Gojo vs. Toji in 2008.

That summer, Yuta had confined him that he would fight Haibara and that, win or lose, he would move up to the next weight category. With his latest growth spurt -he was around 178 cm now- he was finding it too difficult to stay within the lightweight category. Yuta estimated that his healthy weight was around 66 kg, which would put him in the welterweight division.

Megumi who had been struggling to keep his weight down at the time with the lack of exercise could only sympathise with him.

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As Megumi was getting ready to join his friends at a downtown café, he had wondered whether he should use his step mother’s make-up to try and conceal his bruise, but in the end he'd decided against it. His skin was too sensitive, even a day later, to apply anything other than something cold.

Putting on an outfit he judged suitable for the late-October climate, Megumi left the house, having managed to avoid his reflection. He had gone so far as to brush his teeth in front of the kitchen sink to avoid the bathroom mirror. Megumi had seen enough in the reactions of the people around him to know the extent of the damage. Seeing it for himself was the last thing he wanted.

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Boarding the bus, he was happy to find a seat in the back as he wouldn’t need to hide his face there. Megumi decided to keep his eyes closed until the robotic voice announced his stop in the hope of keeping the massive headache he could feel coming at bay.

Only when he felt something cold on his cheek did he open them. Gojo was sitting next to him, pressing a cold can to the newly formed bruise.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bus leaving the same stop the white haired man had gotten on each time, which meant he only had five minutes before his own. Megumi hoped they would last an eternity.

“Did you get into a fight?”

Megumi didn't want to talk about it with him, didn't want to see the face of one of the most handsome men he'd ever met when he had a nasty bruise right in the middle of his face. So he simply closed his eyes and pushed his sore cheek back towards the cold can.

"Something like that.”

He kept his eyes closed even though he could feel Gojo's otherworldly gaze on him. 

“You're not going to tell me I should see the other guy?”

A depreciatory laugh erupted from Megumi, who opened his eyes as the robotic voice announced his stop.

“You should see the other guy.”

Antonio had look rather well when he left him the previous day. Unlike Megumi the only thing you could find trace of on his face was guilt.

But Gojo didn't need to know that. As a smile began to form on the older man's face, Megumi began to rise from his seated position. He carefully retrieved the can from the large hand that had been holding it, before it fell with his movement. 

The white-haired man hadn't removed it since he'd placed it on Megumi’s injured skin five minutes ago. Emboldened by this knowledge, the younger boy let their fingers brush lightly as he removed it.

With that, he slipped between Gojo's knees and the seats in front of him. Bowing his head in thanks and farewell, Megumi left with just enough time to get off the bus and not miss his stop.

He couldn't help wishing the moment had lasted longer, to enjoy Gojo's presence a little more. But Megumi knew that nothing good could come of this anyway, whatever it was, and that it would only leave him in pieces. With everything that was going on in his life, he couldn't afford that.

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Megumi had barely had time to pull herself together when he arrived at the café where Yuuji and Nobara were waiting.

Seeing his bruised face, they had gawked like fish before Nobara assailed him with what seemed like a million questions, and he hadn't been able to stop them from coming until he had gave them a play by play rendition of what happened. Yuuji had remained strangely silent the whole time. 

“Stop wasting your time with Antonio, we can spar together”.

The thing was that Yuuji was the most athletic person he'd ever met. There wasn't any kind of sport he wasn't good at. And yet he had refused to join any sport related club when he joined Jujutsu high.

He had confided to Megumi and Nobara about his traumatising experience in his middle school track club. How he was resenting his coach for only caring about his laps time.

Forcing him to train harder and longer to secure more records for the school, while he had been begging to be released before the end of the visiting hours at the hospital. How because of it, he had only managed to see his grandpa a few times before he died.

"Why would you want to do that? You hate sport!” 

”I mean, I don't hate sport, it's just that I don't want to be forced to compete or be in a club ever again. But if I train with you, I won't have to fight anyone else, it would just mean spending more time together anyway! I think sometimes I get a little bit jealous when you and Nobara leave school together..."

He said it with a sheepish grin, running a hand through the undercut on the back of his head. The outraged noise that Nobara had made in answer could have been heard from outside the shop.

“Oi dumbass you know you can come with us whenever you want you don't have to give Fushiguro false hope of having a better training partner”

"What? It's not false hope I want to get in the ring with Megumi and help him become the best there is!"

“Well just say that then idiot!”

Letting their bickering wash over him, Megumi thought about how lucky he was to have them. He thoughts about Geto and Lieiri who had been at Gojo’s side since the junior series. He thoughts about Toge always trailing in Yuta’s shadow, followed close by Panda and Maki. He thoughts about Kong who for all his sin had always supported Toji. He thoughts about how hard he was wishing for Yuuji and Nobara to stay at his side too.

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November had arrived and blanketed their town in a surprise wave of snow that had paralysed the city bus network. Megumi had just gotten confirmation that he wouldn’t need to exercise with the dogs because of the snow had been bracing himself for the walk back from the school to his house.

Luckily for him, Yuuji's trip to the cinema had been cancelled due to bad weather. His friend had offered to ask his older brother Ryomen to drop Megumi off when he came to pick him up, and Megumi wasn't selfless enough to refuse.

He knew anyway that if there was one person on earth who wouldn't do something just to be polite, it was his friend's brother. So when the older man told him to get in the car too, he knew he was happy to help.

Megumi was sitting in the back, listening to Yuuji's highly exaggerated rendition of the snowball fight that had broken out in the schoolyard. Ryomen seemed to get it, chuckling in disbelief but remaining silent as he listened to his brother theatrics fondly.

The conversation had quietened down as Yuuji texted the other members of his club to find another date to postpone their outing. And Megumi had felt Ryomen's curious gaze on him in the rearview mirror before he spoke.

“Have you heard that the names of the surprise fighters for the LVBC fight night have been revealed?”

"What? No, who is it?"

LVBC was the name of the charity that raised funds to make boxing accessible to all. Particularly children who couldn't afford to buy boxing equipment. Each year, it organises an evening during which famous boxers from different weight division and eras fights as to raise funds. This year, speculation about the main bout was rife, as the organisers insisted on keeping it a surprise.

“Gojo and Mahoraga.”

If it was true then it that was explaining why Megumi hadn't seen the other man at all since October, and even more scarcely before that. If he had been training for a boxing match of this magnitude.

It was absolutely insane; the LVBC had pulled off a miracle. When Gojo had retired the previous year, he was still the undefeated heavyweight champion. So when he left, his title had to be contested between the two top-ranked contenders behind him.

Mahoraga had won the fight and has been the reigning champion ever since. However, many of his detractors said he wasn't really worthy of it, since he hadn't been able to beat Gojo for the belt before his retirement. Their previous fight ending up in a win in twelve-round for the white haired man.

The mere mention of the man had been enough to make Megumi's cheeks turn pink. Ryomen's gaze was focused on the road ahead and a quick glance at Yuuji indicated that the latter was still looking at his phone. Fortunately, neither of them had noticed his strange reaction.

After all, Megumi hadn't told anyone about his interactions with Gojo. Firstly because there wasn't much to tell, but also because it was probably best to say nothing. So he tried to sound as normal as possible as he was replying.

“No way, that’s like the fight of the century”

With a thoughtful hum, Ryomen stopped the car just down the block from Megumi house.

“Yeah, it’s going to be one for the history book for sure.”

After that, Megumi got out of the car and headed home at last, having thanked Yuuji and his brother for the ride. The walk to his apartment building had been strangely silent. With snow covering the world around him, the only sound to be heard was that of his feet crunching on it.

Instead of going to sleep early that night Megumi, went to his room to watch the charity event. Since he didn't have a computer, he watched the stream on his phone. He tried to pay attention to the other fights but his mind kept returning to Gojo's, which he awaited with a mixture of impatience and apprehension.

Three hours after the start of the event, the commentators finally announced the entry of the two competitors everyone had been waiting for.

Mahoraga came in first, the crowd chanting his name as he went by. Megumi had seen pictures of the man online over the years but nothing could have prepared him for how gigantic he looked through the camera, with his 210 cm and 129 kg.

The difference with Gojo was striking. The white haired man weigh-in had placed him at 95.6 kg and if he measured a more than respectable 190cm he was still at least a head shorter than his opponent and thirty-five kilos lighter. The former champion was muscular too but rather lanky, where Mahoraga was massive.

Yet he remained the undisputed favourite, thanks to his fighting style. It was the speed of his movements that had made his reputation even before he won his first title. His blows, too fast to parry and terribly powerful, had brought many opponents to their knees.

On the other side of the arena Gojo made his entrance too, eyes covered by a black blindfold, walking unhurriedly towards the ring already shirtless and glistening with sweat from his warm-up. Megumi's throat went dry at the sight. When he reached the ring, he removed his blindfold before looking straight at the camera with a wink. The crowd went berserk at that.

He was still the fan's darling even after a year out of the spotlight. They called him the honoured one, the greatest, six-eyes. Gojo had been bringing the crowds to their feet for the better part of a decade and they hadn't forgotten him.

When the two opponents finally stood face to face in their fighting stance, Megumi felt as if the whole world was holding its breath.

On November 16, 2018, at LVBC Stadium, Gojo and Mahoraga fought a heavyweight bout for the ages. The fight had been marked by several intense momentum shifts, Gojo using his speed and boxing skills to take the advantage. But Mahoraga’s relentless pressure had worn him down. Both fighters had suffered knockdowns and the fifth round had been particularly thrilling, with Gojo unleashing a barrage of punches that seemed to announce Mahoraga’s demise. Yet, the current world champion had held through and fought bravely. The tenth round, in particular had probably been one for the history books, with both fighters exchanging excruciating heavy blows. In the end, Gojo had secured his victory with an eleventh-round knock out.

An hour after his phone had switched off and the words "LVBC thanks you for watching. The stream is now closed" had appeared and disappeared from his screen, Megumi was still wide awake.

He felt feverish and couldn't get the images of Gojo standing tall and victorious out of his head. His face covered in blood, his eyes shining with triumph and a feral smile distorting his lips.

This divine vision looped through his mind and Megumi was painfully aware that he'd been half-hard since Gojo entered the arena, but there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't think of anything else that would make it go away, nor could he bring himself to slip a hand down his pants.

That would be... too much. Touching himself for the first time at twelve with the memory of the most mesmerising blue eyes he'd ever seen was one thing -if you could forget the part where the man who possessed said pair of eyes had defeated his father-. But to do it again four years later, after seeing him again, was pure, unaltered, madness.

It wasn't that he was a man, Megumi had understood that part of him long ago. But it seemed like a terrible idea wrapped in an even worse one.

Finally, Megumi took a shower. It didn’t erase all the thoughts he'd had, but at least he hadn't given in to the temptation to touch himself at the sight of a man more than a decade older than him. Yet, he couldn't deny the urge had been there

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A little over a week after the charity event, Tony had called Megumi to inform him that his sponsor had returned from his business trip abroad and was ready to meet him on Sunday at Ten Shadows. 

Megumi wasn't particularly looking forward to meeting him, but it had to be done. After all, this man was financing his boxing career, so the least he could do was thank him in person. 

When Sunday arrived, Megumi was getting ready in the bathroom, slightly anxious when he heard a knock on the door. Toji stood there, an impossible-to-decipher expression on his face.

"Look, I know it's impressive to meet the man who paid for your future, but don't forget to be yourself, okay? No need to grovel, just stay authentic, son."

A snort came from Megumi. He could think of several occasions when their lives could have been better if his father had put his pride aside and crawled a little. He wisely decided to keep that part to himself.

“Thanks for the tip, Dad.”

“No, but I'm serious, Megumi.” The teenager couldn't help but frown at the grave tone his father had taken. Fortunately, he continued on his own without needing to be prodded.

"Look, when I was your age, Naobito was paying for my junior series because we had an agreement that when I reached my eighteenth birthday I'd put boxing behind me and join the family business. So just because I didn't have a sponsor didn't mean I didn't know what it was like for the others. I saw what some of them were asking of their fighters. And what I'm trying to say is, if this guy's an asshole or asks for something weird, you can tell him to fuck off, we'll find a solution".

A wave of something resembling gratitude washed over Megumi. Of course, it wasn't in his nature to grovel at anyone's feet, and he'd rather have lost a sponsorship than done something derisory to keep it. Megumi didn't know why he'd thought his father would be the type to tell him to do anything to keep his contract. But hearing Toji give him priority over the sponsorship. That meant a lot to him.

“Thanks Dad, I'll remember that.”

Toji tapped his fingers against the doorframe once, twice, and left with a small smile at the corner of his lips.

By the time he headed for the gym, Megumi's nerves had settled and he was strangely calm.

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As he entered his coach’s office, it felt as if the world had stopped spinning for a moment. For in front of him was Yaga, Gojo Satoru's long-time trainer. To say Megumi was surprised to see the man here was an understatement. Even more so if you counted the toy store he apparently owned. 

At least it made sense that they hadn't met sooner, as he'd had to be busy coaching the former heavy weight champion for the charity event.

“Does Gojo know you’re sponsoring me?”

The man raised an eyebrow. Megumi would have scolded himself for his manners, but what he was asking was actually a fair question. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tony raise his arms to the sky in a gesture of despair.

“Straight to the point I see, is there any particular reasons he should?”

“You must have saw my name, on the contract. You know I am Toji’s son.”

"And what does this have to do with Gojo? Shouldn't you be more concerned that I retract my offer to avoid wasting my money on someone who might follow in his father's footsteps? Should I be worried about your blood tests?"

Megumi supposed he should feel at least a little offended instead of his father, but Toji had brought it on himself, so he decided to let it go. Tony stood behind Yaga, looking worried, his eyes darting back and forth between his student and the man facing him.

“I suppose you're right, it doesn't concern him. But if you really believed I could be taking steroids, then you simply wouldn't have sponsored me.”

Yaga's laugh echoed through the small office.

"You know what, I like you, kid! I think we'll work well together and a bit of temper is very much needed in our lines of work."

A little less tense at that, Megumi decided that showing better manners wouldn't kill him after all. So he settled on bowing to Yaga to show his gratitude.

“Thank you for sponsoring me.”

When the black-haired boy raised his head, he saw the two men smiling before him. Tony lifted a large cardboard box from the floor in front of his desk and motioned to Megumi to come over and take a look.

Inside was what appeared to be boxing equipment and clothes. Reaching in, Megumi pulled out the first item of clothing on top. It was a pair of standard black boxing shorts cut to mid-thigh in a light, breathable material. On each side, was a wide dark blue stripe, the same shade as Megumi's eyes.

On the elastic waistband was an embroidered brown teddy bear, his arms ending in gloves in the same shade of blue as the side bars.

Seeing his colours on a pair of custom-made boxing shorts overwhelmed him with a mixture of emotions too numerous for him to have any chance of beginning to identify them properly, but he recognised at least a mixture of pride and disbelief.

Yaga and Tony were watching his reaction, and from the matching smiles on their faces, they seemed satisfied by what his face was apparently showing.

Deciding to ignore them, he returned to rummaging in the box. Inside were two pairs of boxing gloves, the same colour as the stripe on his shorts. A teddy bear patch was sewn onto the top of the velcro used to secure the gloves to the hand.

Megumi could also see two other shorts identical to the first one and what appeared to be a few white T-shirts. To get a closer look at one of them, he unfolded it. On the front, the same teddy bear was present. The logo couldn't have been more than ten centimetres long and was on the left pectoral. On the back was his name in capital letters, FUSHIGURO M.

It was thoughtful, it's not as if Megumi was particularly worried about being compared to Toji, but the addition of the first letter of his first name was a nice touch that might help avoid unintentional slip-ups.

The last items were two tracksuit pants in the same blue as the other clothes. The only difference with Megumi's usual model was the presence of the bear on the front, above the left hip bone.

In the Junior series, when you were lucky enough to land a sponsor, you didn't really have a say in the design of what he wanted you to wear. And yet, it was as if everything had been thought out for him. Nothing extravagant, but the colours were unmistakably his own.

Looking at one of the T-shirts, he couldn't help thinking that he'd love to be able to give one to his friends.

“Could I have a couple of t-shirts in different sizes?” 

"Sure, kid, I'll see what I can do. I understand you like them?"

"Yes, I really do."

"I'm glad, keep training hard and you'll be one of the big names sooner than you think."

Risking a glance at Tony, Megumi looked at him curiously.

"I've kept him up to date with your progress, your dedication has really impressed us you know. And since you've started training with that Itadori kid, it's not thinking ahead of ourselves that to say you've really got a chance to make a big impression on your first year."

It was one thing to know in theory that you had what it took to succeed but it was another to hear your trainer say it, and to have the coach of one of the greatest fighters of all time agreeing with him, was... well, a lot.

Yaga rose from where he was leaning on Tony's desk before pressing a broad palm to Megumi's shoulder.

“Keep up the good work, I'll be back to see you soon.”

And with that, he left. Leaving behind a slightly dazed Megumi. Turning back to his trainer, a question nagged at him.

"Does Toji know about this?”

"No, I think it's best to keep it that way, at least until your first fight. What do you think?”

A grunt of approval came from Megumi's mouth.

“I agree. Besides, it's not like he's the one training me anyway.”

At these words Tony let out a thoughtful hum before nodding toward his office door.

“You’re right. Come on, leg exercises don't do themselves.”

That night, before going to sleep, Megumi couldn't stop his thoughts from returning to Gojo.

Did this mean he was going to see him again? Had he decided to move to the same town as his trainer, and why? And why had he retired when he was clearly still at the top of his game?

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While Yaga had returned in November, Gojo had not. Megumi had followed him from afar through the American press reporting on his adventures. It took a photo of him leaving a nightclub with a supermodel on his arm for Megumi to finally resolve to stop looking.

Surprisingly, Yaga had become a recurring character in Megumi's life. He didn't train him, but was often present during his practice sessions with Yuuji. Yaga left him in Tony's care, but sometimes gave him a few tips in passing.

During one of their training sessions, the toy store owner even asked his pink-haired friend if he wanted to pursue a career in boxing. Yuuji had stammered through an explanation that he didn't want a professional sports career with an embarrassed smile. That had made Megumi and Nobara laugh a lot.

With their matching t-shirts, they really looked like a team. Megumi still hadn't gotten used to seeing his name on the backs of people he cared about. It was like being constantly cheered on. Even his father had taken to wearing it at home.

At the end of one of his practice around mid-December, Yaga had asked to speak with Megumi. More curious than worried the younger boy had followed him to his car when he offered to drive him back. Once he was seated, the older man had turned toward him with a smile.

“I am going skiing with my sister and her kids for the first week of the winter holiday. That mean I won’t be here on the 22^nd.”

Under the pointed look of Yaga Megumi felt like he was missing something important.

“Oh come on make an effort I am trying to say I won’t be here for your birthday!”

“Oh! Hm, well it’s not a big deal, I never do much anyway”

“Well it’s not every day you turn sixteen kid. That’s why I wanted you to have this.”

He handed over an envelope to Megumi.

“I’ll be honest with you, it’s something that have been gifted to me. I can’t attend it and I don’t see why a front row seat should be left empty. I was wondering what to do with it until I realised the fight would be on your actual birthday and it just clicked.”

In his hands the envelope felt like it was weighting a ton. Inside was the ticket which probably coasted more than Megumi’s entire wardrobe. Haibara Yu vs Takuma Ino. The lightweight division title fight had been announced for months, and the hype was at an all-time high, as nobody could name a clear favourite, making the incoming fight terribly exciting.

“I don’t know if I can accept.”

His voice sounded weak even to his own ears and Yaga hadn’t missed his hesitation.

“Consider it as homework then, both Yu and Ino are still relatively young and you could be facing them on a ring sooner than you think. Sure watching reruns of fights works too but you have the chance of seeing it from the front row it’s as good as it can get.”

“Oh and of course the drive to and from the arena has already been paid for”

His last reserves had melted like snow in the sun. Megumi couldn't pass up such an opportunity. So he thanked Yaga profusely. He couldn't help feeling that the list of things he owed the other man was getting longer by the day.

With a triumphant smile, his sponsor finally started the car. The rest of the journey passed in companionable silence until they reached Megumi’s building.

“See you in January kid, take care and enjoy your holidays.”

“Thanks old man, don’t break a leg on your ski.”

Yaga's laughter had followed him to his door.

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His father hadn't bothered to find out more when he'd told him that his sponsor had offered him a ticket to see the lightweight division championship fight

He'd simply taken Megumi with him to a nice shop they'd never been to before, buying him two pairs of dark, fitted pants as a birthday present.

"Look, I know you don't really care how you dress, and I'm not telling you to start now. But a nice pair of trousers can get you a long way, you feel me?"

And Megumi did, more or less. He knew than networking was a big part of the game and his sponsorship with Yaga could only take him so far. He would need allies, important one at that. And making a good first impression was crucial.

So when getting ready for the night, Megumi kept that in mind as he put on his new pant. Its dark blue shade was matching strangely well the colour of his boxing equipment. He toped it with the white Lacoste crew neck that Yuuji and Nobara had bought him has a joined gift and left his house without bothering trying to tame his hair.

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Down his block, a black car was waiting for him as promised. Megumi got into the car and introduced himself to the driver. The man, Ichiji, had asked him if he preferred to talk or spend the journey in silence. Megumi was grateful to have the choice, as he wouldn't have wanted to appear impolite if the driver had wanted to chat with him. After admitting that he preferred to remain silent, Megumi had let his gaze drift over the landscape behind the window until they reached their destination.

Thankfully instead of just dropping him off, Ichiji had been instructed to bring Megumi to his seat. They were ten minutes early and considering the maze of corridor Ichiji led him through it hadn’t been too much. Megumi was glad he hadn’t been left to his own devices, as there was no way he would have found the seat by himself.

They entered the main room of the arena by what looked like to be a staff entrance and that’s where Ichiji left him, telling him the he would find Megumi at the end of event and to enjoy his night.

Megumi had wondered if the man minded dropping him off without assisting at the fight but it looked like he hadn’t needed to worry about that as he saw Ichiji join his own seat only a few rows away from the ring.

The arena lights had started to go on and off, probably to draw the public attention and Megumi had sprung into movement before they could start announcing the fighters. He found his designated seat without too much trouble and even had the pleasure of discovering that the seat to his right was empty.

Because he was too young, Megumi hadn’t been able to enjoy the only other boxing night he went to. Even before his dad and Gojo had faced each other, he could barely remember the other fights of the night. So now he was well decided to enjoy every second of it.

The first fight of the night was about to start when the whispers of the crowd reached him. It’s when the realisation had hit Megumi.

His first mistake had been to stop following Gojo’s tour of America at the beginning of December and simply assumed he would still be there.

His second mistake had been to foolishly rely on the idea that Yaga would have warned him about the other man presence.

His third mistake, and in retrospect a huge oversight on his part, was to think that he could forget having been attracted by the sight of the victorious, bloodied fighter.

Clearly he had been wrong on all accounts. Because Gojo was very much here, sunglasses perched high on his nose, walking with a determined step towards the only empty seat in the front row. Near Megumi. Stupidly enough the only semi coherent thought that he managed to form was how glad he was that Toji had bought him nice pants.

The white haired man was finishing settling in and he hadn’t yet noticed him. Megumi was debating wether to get Ichiji to switch seat with him when he felt the other man freeze over, looking in his direction.

A laugh had shaken the white-haired man and they were sitting close enough for Megumi to feel it. The young boy could only hope that he wasn't close enough for Gojo to feel the frantic beating of his heart in his chest.

“I guess we’re overdue for an introduction don’t you think?”

He wanted to tell the man at his side that it wasn’t the time; and it was probably rude to talk while the first fighters of the night were taking position but if there was one person here who would be allowed then it would probably be Gojo.

“Uh yeah guess so, I’m Megumi”

“Well, Nice to meet you Megumi, I am Satoru.”

The man at his side probably hadn’t realised Megumi hadn’t told him his last name on purpose but still went with it. It’s not like the dark haired boy wanted to hide who he was to Gojo, he knew the man would eventually learn it. But it wasn’t the time for a proper introduction and a trip down memory lane.

Also the older man would probably realise Megumi had known who he was all along and he didn’t want to make him dissect all their encounters until now right under a camera nose.

So with a small but genuine smile as his answer, Megumi turned back towards the fight about to start in front of him, trying to focus back on it. Which as then be proven terribly difficult with the white haired man as his neighbour. He was constantly distracting Megumi by running an endless commentary of what was happening. But the young man had to admit that his analysis and comments were more than pertinent.

Yet Megumi wasn't able to absorb a single word. Because their legs were touching. He could feel the other man's body heat through their pants. And it was driving Megumi crazy. He'd briefly considered the idea of pulling away, but he was not about to be the one removing his leg first. And curiously, the other man hadn't removed his either.

Even weirder, he spent the entirety of the night talking with Megumi. From the corner of his eyes he could see other people try to come up to him but Satoru seemed solely focused on him. Having the older man undivided attention on him was intense but exhilarating. And Megumi couldn’t deny he was enjoying it.

Focusing on answering the older man was getting easier as the minutes went by and the handsomeness of the man in front of him had kinda faded into the background. It didn’t go away and Megumi doubted he or anyone could ever look at Satoru and stop noticing the man beauty but at least he wasn’t blinded by it anymore. Allowing to answers his comment on the fight with his on own. Perhaps not quite as an equal, but on right path nevertheless.

At 23h10 on December 22, 2018, the main fight finally started. The two opponent went at each other blow for blow throughout the first nine rounds, but it was Haibara who suffered the most. One of his eyes that just wouldn't open anymore. After ten difficult rounds, Haibara found himself on the mat twice as Takuma seemed on the verge of confirming his victory. However, a bruised Haibara had managed to find the perfect right hand hook to stun Takuma, and a flurry of jabs forced the referee to step in and end the fight, as Haibara pulled off the most unlikely of late comebacks.

Gojo who had spent the fight on his feet, silent for the first time that the night, was currently roaring in delight. The camera ahead picking up on his elated face and fist raised high above his head echoing the newly crowned champion in the ring.

After a few minutes when the end-of-fight frenzy had subsided and Megumi had started to wonder if he was supposed to go and look for Ichiji. People around him were preparing to leave and Gojo had gone to the ring clapping his friend on the shoulder and congratulating him.

Megumi had been making sure he wasn’t leaving anything behind him when the white-haired man had came back to his side. Haibara nowhere in sight anymore. Megumi was bracing himself for the awkward goodbye that would surely follows. He had been almost happy to leave while the older man was busy.

“Do you want to meet him?”

“What?”

“Haibara, do you want to meet him?”

Megumi couldn’t believe his ears. Only the weirdly imploring look on Gojo’s face made him believe he hadn’t hallucinated. He nodded slowly, not sure how to respond.

The white-haired man wasted no time and he felt Gojo's hand encircle his wrist just after he nodded, urging Megumi to follow. His skin seemed to blaze where they made contact.

Taking advantage of the commotion around them, they slipped through the crowd to the backstage area of the arena. A security guard tried to stop them but quickly changed his mind when he recognised Gojo and a moment later they were barging through the door of Haibara’s locker room.

The now third-time world champion was sitting on a bench. A blond man stood over him, holding an ice pack against his injured eye.

They both turned around, Haibara with a smile and the other man with an exasperated sigh. Gojo had launched straight into an animated speech of congratulations to his friend. He still hadn't let go of Megumi.

“Oi Gojo, slow down Yu has a headache.”

Megumi guessed that after a fight of this intensity, a migraine was far from the only thing that must be hurting him.

“Haha don’t worry Kento, I am glad that Satoru had made it after all.”

“Tch, you’re too nice to him, he doesn’t deserve it. And who’s even that with you? You just dragged the poor boy in here without any kind of introduction”

At that, Gojo had seemed to realise he was still holding Megumi and abruptly released his wrist. The younger boy felt the blush spread towards his neck after being addressed like that.

“Oh yeah well everyone this is Megumi, Megumi this is Yu and Kento”

To be honest, it was a very poor introduction, but at least it was self-explanatory.

The door opened again, this time revealing the president of the boxing league. Megumi would have been visibly stunned had it not been for his natural nonchalance, which allowed him to keep his composure.

“Hi Yu, congratulation again. Hope you won’t mind if I borrow you Satoru here, for a minute?”

While Haibara shook his head with an indulging smile. Gojo turned toward Megumi with an inquisitive look on his face. Before the older man could ask him if he was going to be okay or something equally embarrassing, Megumi made a big show of rolling his eyes. With a last smile in the younger boy direction he disappeared behind the man in the suit.

As Megumi was about to make a quick goodbye and leave in his turn, Haibara's voice stopped him in his tracks.

“You’re Fushiguro Megumi right?”

The black haired boy shot a worried glanced toward the door that the older man didn’t miss. Hastened to reassure him, the champion went on.

“Ah don’t worry, I only know because Yaga told me you'd come in his place. I just made the connection.”

“Hm yeah. Thanks for letting me come by the way”

“My pleasure, did you enjoy your night?”

“Yes, you truly were impressive out there, congratulation on your victory.”

Haibara had been about to answer him when a new knock on the door made them turn around. Ichiji head was poking through.

“Ah there you are, I was looking for you. Are you ready to leave yet?”

Turning back toward Haibara and Nanami, Megumi bowed in farewell.

“Thanks again for having me. Please keep my secret for a little longer.”

Reassured by the two men's understanding nod, he followed Ichiji back to the car. Keeping silent, the driver opened the door for him, then sat down in front to take him home.

Somehow Megumi couldn't help feeling a little stupid, like Cinderella hurrying home after the ball. The difference being that his two shoes were still tied on his feet, and his prince -ha!- was unlikely to move heaven and earth to find him.

Megumi had to find a way to make this stupid crush go away, any way he could. The sooner the better.

Chapter 2

With the new year came the unveiling of all his opponent for the 2019 junior series. The day of the draw, he joined Tony and Yaga at the Ten Shadows. The two men were leaning over his coach's old computer, barely glancing at him when Megumi entered the office.

“So?”

“Kokichi Muta, Noritoshi Kamo, Arata Nitta and Kinji Hakari in this order”

“Fuck”

Megumi couldn't help but making a face. The boxing gods were definitely not in his favour. Out of his four opponent only Nitta was in his first year in junior series. Muta, Kamo and Hakari were all well seasoned second year. The only fight that Muta had lost had been against Yuta. Kamo and Hakari were undefeated.

Apparently Megumi hadn’t been able to hide his wince quickly enough behind his usually blank face because Tony shot him a stern look.

“Don’t make this face kid, the draw is not ideal but that doesn’t mean you can’t win those fights.”

Not ideal was an understatement. Three out of four of his adversaries were regularly mentioned as the name of future boxing greats. His only reprieve would be to face Nitta in the summer. Training in the heat was such a hardship, having a normal opponent would allow him to not over exhaust himself at least. Not that he knew enough about the other fighter to think he would be able to beat him easily but practising for fair matchmaking was easier than when you were the clear underdog.

Following his extended silence, Yaga who had still been focused on whatever he was reading on the laptop in front of him had finally raised his head to look at him.

“Tony’s right. You can’t have a looser mindset. Now come sit with us, we have a lot to discuss about the strategy.”

Despite the chock of the discovery, Megumi couldn’t not find it funny to hear Yaga say “us” as the man would repeat to whoever willing to listen to him that he was just here to do the promotion of his shop and not to be a trainer. At all. Not a chance. Been there, done that and all that.

Yet, he was spending so much time in the Ten Shadows that people who knew a bit about the boxing world had stopped being starstruck when they saw him there. As he was now just a part of the decor. And it was not just when Megumi was here to train, Yaga was there with Tony discussing strategy in the morning. He was there when Tony needed someone to cover his class for him. He was even there some evening to help closing the gym.

A quick glance toward Tony, let him know that his trainer had the same train of thoughts and they shared a knowing smile.

Sitting between his two mentors, the three of them spent the day there analysing the fighting style of his opponent with any resources that they could find. The difficulty in the junior series, was the lack of footage. Sometimes local tv channel would broadcast the fights but the replay were often unavailable. They were often reduced to read the fighters' post-match interviews for clues as to how they fought.

That night when he finally got into bed, Megumi felt like his head was about to explode with the accumulation of information he'd had to digest during the day. They had agreed to focus on one opponent at the time and directed their research on his first adversary.

Tony had heard of him. Kokichi Muta, also known as “Mechamaru”. The nickname came from his fighting style. His sequences of punches were methodical and devastating. They were going to have to adapt Yuuji's fighting style to train Megumi to parry this kind of blows. He absolutely had to be able to avoid them, because otherwise it would be a knockdown for sure.

In summary Muta was a powerful opponent, but not invincible, as Yuta had proved. Speaking of which, Megumi was wondering who his friends will face for his last fight in the junior series, decided to ask Yaga to have a look online.

“You know Yuta?”

Yaga was looking at him curiously.

“Hm yeah we’re friends”

“I see, well Yuta is going against Haruta Shigemo.”

“Guess he got lucky then, there’s no way Yuta can loose against him.”

That had made Yaga and Tony laugh.

“You are right, I think the higher-ups decided they wanted to not tire our boy too much before his championship fight at the end of the year.”

“You think he can do it?”

Megumi was curious, his friends was probably the strongest junior to have risen since Satoru Gojo but Haibara had nine year of experience on him and have been a champion out of three out of them. Since Megumi saw him fight on his birthday he was seeing the lightweight champion with a new light.

“Hm maybe gifting you the ticket was a really good idea after all; you really respect Haibara. Not many people would think he could hold is own against Yuta. I am not saying he will but he is stronger than people think. I wouldn’t count him out just yet.”

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Two weeks later, preparations for his first fight were in full swing. Megumi was monitoring his weight and all the calories he was absorbing to make sure he'd be within the limits of his lightweight division by weigh-in time.

Yuuji was adapting his punches to Mechamaru's style, and Tony and Yaga watched every training session with hawk eyes, ready to dissect his every mistake at the debriefing. Nobara even did his homework to keep him one hundred percent focused.

Each training session ended later and later, yet Megumi couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't enough.

One evening when he returned home, he sat down with Toji on their rusty old sofa and told him about the strategy they had devised. Closing her eyes, Megumi let himself melt into the puffy cushions as he’d let his father read the pages of analysis Tony and Yaga had been working on.

“That's good, I wouldn't have been able to do anything better, that's for sure.”

Megumi hummed, he knew it was good but in the end it was just words on paper, by the time he would face Muta he would need to be able to improvise and adjust to the way the fight will be going at the time.

“Yeah I don’t know something is off though.”

Toji's guttural laughter rang out and Megumi felt a weight fall on his lap. Opening one eye, he discovered the bundle of sheets of paper he had given his father earlier.

“This weekend you were planning to skip your rest day right?”

With a sigh, Megumi turned his head towards his father and gave him a questioning look. Since when had Toji taken mind-reading lessons?

“You seem to forget that I have been there too once.”

And true Megumi, tend to forget that his dad didn’t simply spawn at the height of his boxing career, world champion and all. He was one of the few people who could truly understand what he was going through.

“Anyway, we’ll go spar together yeah?”

And that was new. Since he had started taking boxing lessons at the beginning of his first year of high school, Toji had never even hinted at getting in the ring together. Megumi had assumed his old man simply didn’t want to have anything to do with it. But maybe he was just waiting to have a good enough reason.

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Training with his father was... different, that's for sure. First of all, unlike Yuuji and Antonio, his father didn't hold back, at all. Toji may not have set foot in a ring for a decade, but he hadn't lost a thing.

The man was always exercising, that much was clear, and for someone almost thirty kilos heavier than Megumi, he was devilishly fast.

Megumi guessed that training with a literal champion was as good as it could gets and that this was his chance to learn. But sparring with him was very difficult and Megumi’d spent most of his time in the corner of the ring, dodging blows that would have knocked him out if they'd made contact, that's for sure.

It was a good practice, as Muta's blows were somewhat similar to Toji's. When they had finished, Toji, not one to overdo it, simply clasped him on the shoulder and went to the Ten Shadows’s shower.

While Megumi was putting his gloves away, Tony came over to talk to him.

"Hey, kid, that was a good session. I see your old man's still got it."

Megumi, who could barely lift his arms because of how sore they were, replied with a grimace.

“Yeah, I'm grateful to whoever invented the mouthguard, I'd have looked smart for my first fight with half my teeth missing.”

His trainer laughed and slapped him on the back, sending him tumbling a few meters away.

“Don't worry, you've done well for yourself and with a guard like yours, you should keep your dentures intact for a while.”

This made the younger boy laugh. Megumi wasn't completely reassured, but the training had clearly soothed something inside him. Following his father into the ring had been the right decision after all.

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The end of January had finally arrived, bringing with it the fateful night. Megumi had arrived around five o'clock in the evening at the small arena where the first fights of the year's junior series were taking place.

He'd spent the two-hour drive in Yaga's van, wedged in the back between Yuuji and Nobara. Tony, in the front passenger seat, was in charge of the playlist, which consisted mainly of a rendition of the best Italian variety songs of the '80s.

If Megumi wasn't so grateful to have them by his side in their matching “Fushiguro M.” t-shirts, he'd probably be tearing his hair out and theirs with it.

After leaving his friends and Yaga in the public area where they'd met Panda, Maki and Toge, Megumi headed backstage with Tony. The three third years were there to cheer on him and Yuta. Megumi was really happy to do his first bout on the same night as his friend. It was probably the last time he'd be able to enjoy their evening side by side without having to fight.

Their friends would inevitably have to make the choice of cheering for one or the other the next time they met at an event. But Megumi knew this wouldn't change anything between them; he would always consider his three third years as his friends, even if they ended up choosing Yuta. And he knew that the other boy felt the same way about Yuuji and Nobara.

Of course, nothing would change between Megumi and Yuta, even after a fight. Whatever happened, they would remain friends. After all, they were among the few who knew what it was like to step into the ring, and few people could put themselves in their shoes to understand.

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In the area closed to the public were two locker rooms, designed to divide the fighters in two and prevent tension building up unnecessarily before the fight. The rooms also served as an infirmary, and the referring doctor would make rounds in the premises to check that everyone was all right.

As the hours passed, Megumi's heart started beating faster in his chest, but he didn't feel frightened. His fight was taking place just before the evening's main bout, which would see Yuta's last time in the junior series.

In all, five bouts were to be fought that evening. The third was underway, and Megumi could hear the clamour of the crowd cheering on the young fighters. The average fight lasted between 30 and 48 minutes if it went the full twelve rounds. But it could be much shorter in the event of a major knockout.

Today, it seemed that Megumi would have to be patient, as there were already fifteen minutes of fighting and no clear advantage for either opponent.

To stay focused, he had agreed with everyone not to meet until the end of his fight. Only Tony was in the back with him, checking on his equipment one last time while Yaga was staying in the audience with his friends.

Toji wasn't present, but Megumi knew that the event was being broadcast on one of the local TV channel, and that his father had taken the night off work so as not to miss it.

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Yuta was still in the locker room getting ready and performing his pre-fight rituals when Megumi took off his training gear and put on his official shorts. He didn't bother putting on his T-shirt, as he was already sweating after the warm-up Tony had made him do.

He and Yuta weren't particularly superstitious, but they both knew it was frowned upon to wish someone else good luck before their fight. So, to avoid any bad luck, Megumi had resigned himself to simply clasp his friend's shoulder before leaving the room. Yuta's smile in response had been sincere and relaxed. They were on the same page. Tonight, they would not see them fail.

A few rooms away, a small gym had been made available for the fighters to train before their bout, whether to warm up or to keep the pressure down.

When he entered the room, he had briefly seen his opponent using one of the punching bags, but Muta had quickly left the area with a small nod. Megumi wouldn't have minded sharing the space, but he could understand if Mechamaru preferred to limit their pre-fight contact.

Tony had agreed to leave him alone until he had to come and get him for his bout. It wasn't that he was nervous; he'd been training for this for months and everything that had happened in his life had led up to this moment. But he couldn't deny that he was feeling a little on edge.

Moving his jaw from left to right to try and relax it, Megumi decided to do a little cardio to calm his nerves. He and Tony had already done his warm-up to prevent injury as much as possible, but he was allowed to do a bit of running on the treadmill as long as he took it easy. After a few minutes, he finally felt somewhat calmed down and returned to sit on the bench where he'd left his bag, as he still had to wrap his hands.

Megumi had just finished wrapping his right hand in the thin bands when the bench he was straddling creaked under the weight of a second person.

Looking up at the intruder, Megumi felt his heart stop. A strange, annoying occurrence every time he saw this man. Because, sitting before him was none other than the god of boxing himself, Gojo Satoru. The white-haired man faced him, his freakishly long legs on either side of the narrow bench, and looked at him curiously.

Megumi wasn't usually one to engage in conversation, but the adrenalin coursing through his veins from his work out and the pressure of his upcoming fight made him courageous.

“We've got to stop meeting like this.”

A huff passed Gojo's lips. They were close enough together for Megumi to feel the breath of air graze his face.

“Yeah, yeah, I didn't know you were a fighter Megumi!”

“You didn't ask.”

“Fair enough” Gojo answered with a smile that showed too much teeth.

With a swift hand, he grabbed the roll of competition wrap lying in front of Megumi.

“Need any help with that?”

Megumi didn't need it, not really. He'd been learning to bandage his hands alone for more than a year now and could do it with his eyes closed. But like the distorted memory of his birthday and the way their legs had touched, he wasn't going to be the one backing away first. His only grievance was that he already regretted having done one of his hands before.

Delicately, Gojo began to wrap the mixture of gauze and tape around Megumi's hand. His fingers were dexterous and he worked quickly, showing the years of practice he had behind him. He slowed down as he passed over Megumi’s fingers, delicately placing the tape over his battered knuckles.

Gojo ran a finger under the newly wrapped band to check if it was tight enough and squeezed Megumi’s hand once before letting it drop.

Megumi could feel his heart pounding and wondered if the organ was about to burst out his torso before falling into the space between him and the white-haired man in a pool of blood. Would Gojo bandage the gaping wound on his chest as tenderly as he had done with his hand?

Megumi cleared his throat, trying to regain some semblance of control over his mind. He couldn't read the older man's face, so he decided to regain control of their conversation to stop feeling like the ground was shaking beneath his feet.

"Why are you here? Megumi wasn't delusional enough to think it was for him, but the white-haired man's presence didn't make sense.

"To encourage my cousin Yuta. It's his last fight as a junior"

It oddly checks out. Yuta is a generational talent who hadn't been seen since Gojo himself, them being related wasn't so shocking after all. And if he put himself in his Yuta’s shoes, he could understand why he'd preferred to keep this information hidden: if it got out, he'd be constantly compared to the greatest champion their sport had known. Even taking into account the nebulous past between Toji, Megumi and Satoru, he could understand why his friend hadn't dared telling him.

The high-schooler wasn't sure how he should respond; it was, after all, a great mark of trust that the white-haired man had placed in him, and he wasn't sure what he'd done to deserve it. Megumi hesitated for a moment whether he should let him know that Yuta was in fact a friend of his or not, but in the end he simply hummed in reply.

Silence crept around them again, but it seemed less charged this time. Satoru let his gaze wander over Megumi, unhurried. The younger boy was wearing only his boxing shorts and felt surprisingly self-conscious for an athlete who was not only unashamed of his toned body but also used to move around and fighting shirtlessly.

Gojo's attention was then drawn to the Yaga teddy bear logo embroidered on the elastic waistband of his shorts.

“Oh, you're the one Yaga's been sponsoring.”

His eyes glinted strangely as he said it. Megumi was about to reply to the white-haired man when he heard Tony call his name through the glass door of the arena gym.

“Fushiguro you’re up.”

Well, Megumi thought it was as good a way as any to set the record straight. Satoru's surprised gaze fell on him again, as if seeing him in a new light. Knowing that words were useless at this point, Megumi simply waved goodbye to the white-haired man with a sign of the hand Gojo had just bandaged and trotted off towards his trainer.

The corridor leading to the ring he'd crossed in a few strides earlier in the evening now seemed endless. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tony's mouth open and close, but Megumi couldn't hear a thing. His ears were ringing and his arms seemed to weigh tons at his side. Just before opening the double doors to the arena, Tony turned Megumi towards him.

He slapped his comically large hands to Megumi's cheeks and that seemed to do the trick - the world was coming back into focus around him.

"Welcome back, this is no time to disassociate! Head in the game son."

“Yes, coach.”

Tony's smile now reached his eyes and he was the first to walk through the doors, holding them open for Megumi. The small crowd erupted in applause as the speaker announced his entrance. Mechamaru was already waiting in the ring, letting his trainer put his mouth guard for him in the corner.

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On January 25, 2019, Fushiguro Megumi fought his first junior series bout. The fight was an incessant exchange of punches, with both fighter demonstrating their competitive spirit. Mechamaru controlled the opening rounds with jabs and effective right punches, even scoring a knockdown in round four. However, Megumi showed great resilience, surviving the knockdown and engaging in a fierce exchange. The fight ended in a split-decision victory for Megumi, with scores of 114-111 and 113-112 while one judge scored it 114-111 for Muta.

Arms raised above his head, Megumi let himself enjoy the moment. He'd done it and won in his very first fight. And it hadn't been a fluke. He'd gone all the way to the last round and snatched victory with his teeth. He hadn't cracked when it got tough.

In front of him, screaming like mad men, were all his friends. They had left their seats to join him in front of the ring. Even Yuta was there, his eyes shining with pride. Yuuji was shouting over and over “oh my lord Megumi” and Nobara and Maki had their hands clasped as they jumped face to face. Toge was signing “congratulations” over and over, and Panda was shaking his sign Go Megumi and Yuta! in all directions so much that it was hard to make out what he'd written.

Yaga had half-climbed through the ropes to clasp his hands before bringing him into a semi-hug.

"You've done us proud, kid. That's what I call boxing."

When he was released, his cheeks were aching from how hard he was smiling. Tony laid his robe over him and beckoned him backstage. They didn't speak, not right away, but he knew from the strength of his trainer's grip on his shoulder that he was proud of him.

He briefly wondered if Gojo was too, if he'd even watched the fight, before discarding these thoughts. It was his first official victory and he was proud of himself. He couldn't let Gojo or anyone else spoil his moment.

In the locker room after his fight, he had to be examined by the medical staff. As they had feared in their pre-match analysis, he hadn't been able to dodge all Mechamaru's blows and had still suffered a severe knock-down. Megumi had to be checked for concussion.

Tony had stayed in the room with him and the doctor until he was released and allowed to go to the showers. When he returned to his locker, he was joined by Yuta and his trainer.

As much as Megumi would have liked to join their friend to watch the third-year junior's last fight, he knew that if he wanted to last in this sport, he had to listen to medical advice and learn to be patient.

One look at his friend's face told him all he needed to know anyway. Clasping his hand, Megumi dropped onto the bench next to Yuta. Their trainers were chatting away and the doctor was removing the bandages from his friend's hands to inspect them for any injuries.

Yuta didn't look too bad, so Megumi took the liberty of staying by his side to chat, knowing that medical examinations could take a long time and were quite boring. Apparently, they were less invasive in the professional categories, but they had to be excessively careful for the junior series because they were still minors.

“You really did it uh, made it all the way to the junior's undefeated”

A shy but proud face take over his friend’s face. Knocking their shoulders together he answered. So it was it then, Yuta truly managed to finish the juniors undefeated. Oddly impressed, to have the next big in front of him.

Megumi was strangely impressed to have the next big thing by his side. A shy but proud smile spread across his friend's face. Knocking their shoulders together, he replied.

“And you've just won your first fight against one of the league's top prospects.”

Yuta looked up at the popcorn ceiling above them with a thoughtful look on his face before continuing.

“I don't know what the future holds for us, but I do know that I want to enjoy every step of the way as much as I can.”

Humming, Megumi rose from the bench and stretched his aching muscles. He couldn’t wait to find out what was in store for them.

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When he returned home that night, it was nearly two in the morning, but Toji was still awake, waiting for him on the couch. He had a satisfied expression on his face.

“You did it, kid.”

His father didn't try to hug him, or even congratulate him, but when Megumi joined him on the old sofa, he left less distance between them than usual. He even briefly squeezed his knee before grabbing back his beer.

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The main message had been to be careful about the people he was allowing in his close circle. Yaga had looked at Yuuji and Nobara and said “those are the people you wan’t to keep as close as you can, they care about you, not what you can bring them. You can add Yuta and his three friends and wrap the list right there kid.”

Megumi had been thankful for the heads up but he was pretty solitary by nature and he was pretty sure now that he had found his people he wouldn’t be able to add more.

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School since his fight had been... weird. To say the least. Megumi had never been popular, but since he'd won his fight against Mechamaru, things had started to change. 

Students he'd never spoken to before had began greeting him in the corridors. The boys in his class were clapping him on the shoulder and he was catching girls giggling as he passed. 

One of his classmates had even said to him, “Well done, you destroyed him!” Which couldn't have been further from the truth, since the fight had been pretty evenly balanced and he'd won it mainly on his comeback in the last few rounds.

But anyway, Megumi didn't care too much since he knew this sort of thing was bound to happen. Yaga had taken him aside at the end of the first training session after the fight and told him in all seriousness that from now on, and even more so if he won his second fight (which was by no means a given, and both Yaga and Tony had insisted on this part), people would start to take an interest in him.

Training resumed immediately, but Megumi took it easy. His muscles were still sore, even two weeks after the fight, and the bruises on his face were just beginning to disappear. Tony had let him concentrate on his cardio and told him to stick to using the punching bags while he recuperated.

Yuuji was taking advantage of his newfound free time to spend it with Todo. Nobara had never forgiven him for making Megumi bleed and had told Yuuji he couldn't take him to the gym. So they resumed training just the two of them, as they had done before Yuuji started sparring with him.

Megumi didn't mind; his friendship with Nobara was different when it was just the two of them. Quieter perhaps. They were a trio, that much was clear, but as he had his moments with Yuuji, he also enjoyed her presence alone more than he liked to admit.

If platonic soul mates existed, he'd found his early enough in life and would be eternally grateful for it.

Today was Wednesday, February 13, and Nobara had made him skip training so they could find chocolate to ask Maki to be her valentine. Tony had been rather comprehensive, simply telling him to go for a run in the evening to compensate.

His friend had wanted to go downtown to buy it and they'd tried so many different flavour of chocolates that he was on the verge of nausea. Megumi had asked why Nobara had insisted he come, as Yuuji was the one with a sweet tooth and who, he thought would be able to give better advice, but she'd reminded him that Maki's tastes were much more similar to his own and that was why she'd chosen him.

Yuuji had pouted when they'd told him about their shopping trip that morning at school, but as he'd already planned something with Todo, he'd respected Nobara's choice not to want anyone other than their trio with them.

Todo had been hanging out with Mai lately, Maki's twin, as he'd tried to point out to Nobara, but it hadn't really worked in his favour since the sisters weren't on good terms at the moment. Megumi had even tried to put in a good word for Todo, with whom he'd hang out a few times with in Yuuji's company, but it hadn't changed her mind about the other boy. He was secretly grateful, even though water had passed under the bridge and Megumi had even begun to appreciate Todo.

Meanwhile, Toge, Yuta and Panda were sending him increasingly disturbing photos of the state of Panda's kitchen. It looked as if Maki was wreaking havoc trying to make homemade chocolate for Nobara.

Megumi was happy that his friend's feelings were reciprocated, but keeping the secret was becoming increasingly difficult as his classmate kept asking him what made him laugh so hard. But he was bound to secrecy as Maki's cousin, and he'd also kept quiet about their chocolate hunt out of loyalty to Nobara.

Privately, he wondered if he'd have wanted to offer chocolate himself, but quickly erased the idea from his mind because not only was it impossible since he didn't know where he might be. But also because it was setting himself up for certain heartbreak and he was content instead to enjoy the bubble of unspoken that reigned between them.

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The next day was Valentine's Day. But that was the least of his worries when he woke up that morning.

He'd overslept because his father had insisted they watch the Creed rerun on TV when Megumi got home from his evening run. It was his way of sharing a father-son moment, but after his jog he was really exhausted and Toji couldn't finish a movie without falling asleep in front of it to save his life.

So, of course, they both fell asleep an hour in, and when Megumi woke up, he'd already missed the first hour of class. He'd forgotten to plug in his phone when he went to bed after Tsukimi's mother had woken them up, so his alarm hadn't gone off.

He'd arrived at school a little before the end of second period, but fortunately his father had written him a note so that he wouldn't get a detention. After giving it to his school’s secretary, he'd rushed to his locker.

Inside had been slipped what looked like a chocolate bar and a note. Megumi was already very late and hadn't had time to read it. So he decided that if someone had taken the time to write him a letter, he deserved at least to give it his full attention by reading it. Megumi slipped it into his pocket and hurried back to his classroom.

His teacher had raised an eyebrow at his disheveled entrance. Yuuji and Nobara had barely managed to mask the laughter that shook them at his appearance. With a reproachful shake of the head, his teacher had just sent him to his usual seat.

To say he had been glad to leave school was an understatement when the bell finally rang. His face must have been perfectly pitiful the whole day, because his friends' snickers had accompanied him all the way through the gate.

He was tired and on edge, and Mathilda who was running the shelter had taken one look at his face and tried to conceal a laugh. She had taken pity on him though and told him he could take Princess for a walk. It was her way of cheering him up.

Princess was a seven-year-old, medium-sized mutt. Megumi rarely took her, as she was very calm and easy-going. Instead, Mathilda was letting the older volunteers walk her, and asked Megumi to look after the young, energetic dogs they had at the shelter. Although he loved all the animals equally, the young man was happy to be able to take a leisurely stroll behind Princess.

He didn't have the energy to face the puppies today. Even though he'd slept an extra hour this morning, he felt his body still needed time to fully recover from the fight and the knock down he'd received in the fourth round.

He usually took the dogs to the park near the shelter, but Princess didn't seem to want to play, so he walked her to the pond instead and sat down on a bench in front of it. He untied the leash, but as he'd expected, she lay down in a ball on the ground near his feet, happy to take a nap in the sun.

So Megumi stretch his arm high above his head when he felt something fell out of his pocket. It was the note from his locker. Decided he hadn’t much better to do he decided to read it. After looking to princess to make sure she was still happy to stay without moving.

To Fushiguro Megumi

I've always admired you from afar, but since we spoke at school I can't deny my feelings anymore. I think of you constantly. I know this may come as a surprise, but I really like you. I'm not asking for anything in return. I just wanted you to know how I feel even if you don't like me back.

Ninomiya Ami

Megumi found it hard to believe that it wasn't a prank. Ninomiya was a first-year girl he'd helped earlier in the term with her maths lessons once when his teacher was absent and their class had been sent to the library to wait for the next period.

His memories of the moment were a little hazy, as it was the beginning of his intensive training and he'd been very tired. From what he could recall, she was a shy pretty girl with a nice smile and a quick wit.

Megumi imagined that many boys his age would have been thrilled to receive a confession from this kind of girl, and he couldn't help regretting not being able to return her feelings.

“Love letter?”

Satoru Gojo's unmistakable voice made him look up so quickly that he almost got whiplash. In the second it took his eyes to focus on the face of the man who had spoken, Megumi wondered if he'd mistaken his dreams for reality. But no, right in front of him was the man he least expected to meet and yet most wanted to see on this day. Gojo was watching him with a strange look on his face.

“Hm, yes, I suppose so.”

“So you're going to have a girlfriend then?”

Megumi shook his head no. Gojo opened his mouth, probably to continue on the subject, but Megumi couldn't talk about it anymore, not with him. He didn't want to hear him question his love life when Satoru’s eyes still haunted most of his dreams.

“You're not going to ask me about my father?”

That at least had effectively been enough to distract the white-haired man and bring him back to territory that felt safer for Megumi.

“Is that what you want to talk about?” Gojo asked, his eyebrow rising questioningly.

No, of course not but it was still better than this topic. So he just shrugged.

“As you wish.” Gojo crouched down in front of Megumi so as to be on the same level as Princess still curled up at his feet. Megumi felt as if the oxygen level in the air pocket surrounding them had just dropped critically. Breathless, he couldn't look away from the perfect face of the man before him.

After petting the dog, Gojo raised his head to Megumi and restarted their conversation, which Megumi hadn't even noticed had stopped.

“Shouldn't you hate me then?” It was probably a rhetorical question since logically he should have, but Megumi couldn't accept that Gojo might think he loathed him.

“Probably, but the truth is that if it hadn't been you, it would have been someone else in his next fight.” Megumi couldn't have been more sincere, and he had the unpleasant impression of baring his soul. Gojo at least seemed relieved by his answer.

"Hm yeah, I guess so. By the way, I didn't know you were his son when I offered you my blindfold."

“Yes, I suspected.”

“I guess it was a good lesson for me at least, it was the first and last time I did something like that.”

A shy smile appeared on Megumi's face. He looked at the man still crouching in front of him, his mesmerising eyes plunged into his.

They stared at each other for what seemed an eternity, until Gojo's phone rang. This startled them both and was enough to break eye contact. After glancing at the caller's name, Gojo stood up, biting his lip, looking hesitant. "I have to go- I guess I'll see you around, Megumi."

The high schooler thought of a cold soda can on his sore cheek, he thought of fingers brushing against each other, he thought of a hand gripping his wrist, he thought of legs pressed together and he knew he had to at least try. It was the perfect moment and Megumi knew he'd regret it if he didn't try now. Rising too under Gojo's surprised gaze, he bowed toward the white-haired man.

Taking the plunge, Megumi forced the words out from within deep inside his chest.

“Please, come and watch my next fight.”

From the look of surprise on the older man's face, it seemed they both knew this was the closest thing to a confession Megumi could make and get away with.

"I..."

Megumi barreled on, gritting his teeth and trying not to take the interruption as a no.

"You don't have to answer me now, just..."

But he was interrupted by Gojo's phone ringing again. With an annoyed sigh the older man turned it off with a flick of his fingers.

“Look I really have to go now but I’ll see.”

And with that he was gone. Megumi couldn’t believe it because- because it wasn’t an outright refusal. There was no way Gojo hadn’t understood what he was truly asking and yet he still hadn’t rejected him.

Or maybe he had just wanted to be nice and he wouldn’t show up anyway. Maybe Megumi was delusional and the other man had missed the underlying meaning altogether. Yet, the way he had hesitated was making Megumi think that they understood each other. However, he couldn't prevent a warm feeling from spreading through his chest, something that felt suspiciously like hope.

At his feet Princess hadn't moved at all.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Megumi felt invincible. The little flame of hope that had been born in his chest on Valentine's Day had become a forest fire. He was spending twice as much time at Ten Shadows, even coming after volunteering at the shelter to train on the punching bags when he should have been resting. He had only his next fight in mind, desperate to succeed and beat the odds.

Megumi had started sparring again with Yuuji, and both Yaga and Tony seemed to be looking at him with new eyes. As if finally beating Kamo didn't seem so impossible.

His cousin, Maki, who was now officially dating Nobara, had also started joining them at Ten Shadows and was an excellent addition to his team.

Yuuji was a true chameleon and could adapt his fighting style to Megumi's next opponent, which came in handy in training with the variety of fighters he had to face this year. But Maki was also terribly talented. She had been training with none other than Yuta for almost three years. They'd only stopped now, since he was turning professional and leaving to train in Africa until his championship fight against Haibara.

The difference was also that Maki's build was much more like Megumi's than Yuuji's, who, for roughly the same height, had twice as many muscles and therefore weighed twenty kilos more. Megumi's fighting style had managed to evolve thanks to the two of them, and he was reminded once again of the importance of having a good support system around him.

In the last week of February, at the end of one of his training sessions when Megumi had left the ring for a break, Maki and Yuuji had come face to face in the ring. They were having fun fighting under the annoyed gaze of Nobara, who gasped loudly every time one of their fists connected. Surprisingly, she reacted in the same way whether Yuuji or Maki received the blow. Once again, it testified to the strength of her friendship with the pink-haired boy, whom she placed on the same scale as her girlfriend.

Yaga had followed him to the mini-fridge and passed him a bottle of electrolyte, watching the scene unfold in the ring under his amused gaze. Megumi was still watching his friends' fight with laughing eyes when Yaga had turned to him, looking surprisingly serious all of a sudden.

“He talked about you by the way.”

“He?”

“Satoru.”

“Oh.”

It was unexpected. He wanted to demand what exactly Gojo had asked, what the exact words were so Megumi could obsess over them and dissect each one in search of an underlying meaning that didn't exist.

But that would be suspicious, and he didn't even know if Yaga was aware that they knew each other, so he merely hummed to encourage the man to continue without looking too involved. Megumi avoided watching the older man, pretending to be suddenly terribly interested in the list of ingredients on the label of the bottle he was drinking.

"He said it looked like you had great potential. That's a great compliment coming from someone like him. "

Yaga slammed his palm into Megumi's back as he returned to the ring, shouting encouragement for Maki. He left him in the corner of the room, as if he hadn't shaken Megumi to the core. As if he hadn't made the world stop spinning for a minute.

It was no big deal. No big deal at all.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

When the week of Yuta's birthday arrived, Megumi had so much energy bubbling up inside him that he felt as if his skin was about to burst at the seams.

His friend had invited him and the usual suspects to a party at a karaoke hall. Yuta had turned eighteen on the 7th, but they'd agreed to celebrate on Saturday so that everyone could come.

Megumi had to admit that he was a little jealous that everyone's birthday was so early in the year and that he would soon be the only one to turn sixteen. Maki had already turned eighteen in January, Yuuji would be seventeen later this month and even Nobara's birthday was in August. Closest to him was Toge, in October, but he was already seventeen, which didn't help Megumi feel any less like a baby. He couldn't wait to get older.

Megumi was to join them directly in the room Yuta had reserved. He was making the trip alone, as Megumi was the only one living in the southern part of town. He didn't mind; he was used to it by now.

Tsukimi's mother was supposed to take him home when she left the city hospital where she was working as a nurse. It had been a relief when she agreed to do it as there were no bus at night and walking home with all the intensive training he was doing lately would have done a number on his already sore legs, that was for sure.

His friends were already there when he finally arrived, but he had no problem blending into the conversation. A testament to how comfortable they all were together. Megumi was really happy to be able to spend time with them. Even though he knew for a fact that this wasn't the last time they'd be together, there was still an air of finality about it.

The next time they would see Yuta would be for his championship fight in December. Win or lose, their friend would already be in a league of his own. Megumi might eventually catch up with him, but he had a feeling it would be a long time before they were on an equal footing again.

Besides, in just a few months, Maki, Panda and Toge would graduate and things would change for good. Toge would join Yuta in Africa and become an integral part of his team, while Panda would go to the same university as Tsukimi and Choso to become a doctor. Maki, meanwhile, would do an internship in her family business.

Megumi had been surprised by the latter choice, as Maki didn't get on well with the Zenin, but she had explained that Yuta had asked her to become his manager and to become a good one as quickly as possible, she would need accelerated training. She had therefore pretended to be interested in the family's business, so as to learn how to negotiate contracts more quickly than if she took a regular university course. Maki had planned to take online evening classes in parallel, and Megumi had no doubt that she would be ready for Yuta's return.

They hadn't talked about it yet, but Megumi knew he'd offer Nobara to do the same for him and be part of his team. His friend was capable of making a grown man cry on a good day, and he had no doubt she'd be a terrific agent. And he already had what looked like an agreement with Yuuji for his best friend to stay by his side as a training partner.

The group would eventually split up, but Megumi was confident they'd come together again. And even if he didn't sing much, he'd had a great evening enjoying everyone's presence. Despite Yuta being eighteen years old, there had been no drinking, as they were both training for a big fight and couldn't afford a single night's break from their training schedule. Well, they could, but when you were aiming for the kind of career they wanted, you had to do things differently from the rest.

The only time he agreed to be dragged on the small stage was to sing a duet with Panda, in a terrific rendition of “Eyes of the tiger” from the Rocky films. Everyone applauded and laughed, and it was a victory in Megumi's book.

As he returned to his seat beside Toge, his friend wrapped his arm around Megumi's shoulders. It was a reassuring weight at his side. The mute boy tugged him close, seemingly also feeling the strange wave of nostalgia for a night that wasn't even over.

When the bells had rung midnight, Ryomen had come to fetch Yuuji and Nobara and had even offered to take Megumi home, but the high-schooler had assured the pink-haired man that his stepmother was driving him back. Maki and Panda were going straight to another party organised by the students of the town's private school, as her cousin was trying to mend her relationship with her twin Mai and was joining her there.

Yuta and Toge were spending the night together at the latter's house, enjoying their last moments together before a few months. Yuta would be leaving the country the following Tuesday. Megumi privately thought they were looking good together and hoped they would last a long time. But he didn't really doubt it, they were both serious and committed and wouldn't let something as mundane as distance come between them.

The trio were huddled together, trying not to feel the chill of the March nights, when Megumi's phone had vibrated to indicate a message. It was Tsukimi's mother.

Megumi, I'm sorry but as there's been a serious collision on the freeway the hospital asked all the staff to extend their shift to look after the injured, I can't pick you up anymore. Read at 00:15

Shit. This was terrible news. With a sigh, Megumi fired her a quick message to reassure his mother-in-law that everything was fine. It wasn't her fault and it was actually a good thing she was staying to help the victims. But now he had to walk all the way back.

Probably hearing his frustrated sigh, he felt Toge tug at his sleeve before giving him a questioning look. Megumi, who had become quite good at reading his friend's face, didn't need the blond boy to sign his question to answer him.

"My mother-in-law has to stay at work, so I have to walk home.”

Yuta, who had been concentrating on his phone screen until now, had abruptly shaken his head.

“Nonsense, my cousin is picking us up, I'll ask him to drop you off.”

Megumi's heart missed a beat, his cousin? Could that mean-

But before he could finish his thoughts or even express them aloud, a black car that looked very expensive had pulled up right in front of them. Yuta had turned to him with an embarrassed expression.

“Hm Meg, before anything else you should know that-”

“He already knows Yuta”

The sound of Gojo's voice made the three of them jerk towards him. He had rolled down his window and was looking at them with a smile, a little stiff but sincere nonetheless.

“Hm yeah, he told me the night of the fight.”

“Oh.”

“It's okay, I understand why you didn't tell me earlier, I promise.”

Toge looked from side to side with an amused expression before signing in Yuta's direction what looked suspiciously like an “I told you so”. This made Yuta laugh, and he gave Megumi a little reassured smile before turning back to the white-haired man.

"Can you drop him off too?"

"Sure. Hop in"

Yuta and Toge settled down without having to consult each other at the back, which left Megumi, who had only just realised he wasn't dreaming, no choice but to move to the front.

It made sense that both boys would want to sit next to each other, but Megumi's nerves were frayed when he had to settle down next to Gojo. Since he was already out of luck, the white-haired man's car was a manual, and his hand which was resting on the gearshift was dangerously close to Megumi's leg.

After giving the older man his address, Megumi tried to concentrate on the nighttime cityscape that flashed behind the windows, but his eyes didn't seem to take much in, as he was far too aware of the other man's presence next to him.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, he saw that Yuta and Toge were facing each other, the latter signing a story to the boy in front of him, who seemed entranced by it. Risking a look in Satoru’s direction, he was surprised to see that he was already looking at Megumi while they were stopped at a red light. His hand was back on the gearshift and his little finger was brushing against Megumi's, who hadn't realised he'd left his hand on the edge of his seat.

Megumi turned his head completely towards the white-haired man, unable to look away, drawn to him like a magnet. He tried to swallow, but his throat was constricted and Megumi felt a drop of sweat trickle down his neck. The movement caught Satoru's attention and he followed it until it disappeared under the hem of his shirt.

Neither of them had moved until the car behind them suddenly honked, signalling that the light had turned green for a few seconds already. Their car had jumped forward and they hadn't looked at each other for the rest of the journey. Gojo’s gaze now unwavering from the road ahead while Megumi wisely kept his hand in his lap, since Yuta and Toge's attention had been drawn by the honking.

Yuta, apparently oblivious to the underlying tension, began chatting with the white-haired man, and the endless chatter between the cousins occupied the rest of the car ride until they finally reached his block. Megumi's heart began to beat faster, unsure of how he was supposed to say goodbye. But he was saved by Yuta, who asked Gojo to give them a minute together outside.

“So that’s it.”

“I think so, I can't believe I won't see you until December.”

Yuta's shy smile spreads across his face.

"I wanted to give you this. Toge was supposed to leave it in your locker, but I guess now is as good a time as any."

He held out a small black rope necklace with a small jade dog dangling from the end.

“It's a lucky charm and I have one too”

He took an identical necklace out of his pocket and put the two side by side.

"Yuta, it's your birthday, I should be the one gifting you something."

"When you're in the big leagues and start earning a lot, you’ll get me something. Until then, having you as a friend is enough."

Megumi's body moved of its own accord, and he hugged the black-haired boy before him. He was really going to miss Yuta. As much as he loved each and every one of his friends, he had a special bond with him.

After all, he was the only one who could really understand him. Who could really understand the pressure of having a relative who'd been world champion; who could understand what it was like to admire that person and want to surpass them when they'd been at the top. Who could understand what it was like to stand in a ring alone and have everyone's expectations on their shoulders.

Yuta returned his embrace and whispered in his ear.

“I know you have what it takes. You'll defeat Kamo and Hakari.”

Megumi replied just as low, wanting to manifest the truth by speaking it out loud.

“The championship is yours.”

They broke their embrace and spend a moment gazing into each other's eyes. The same flame burned. For them who had never been considered passionate, they wanted it more than anyone else. It was consuming them equally, the hunger. Starving for a win and the desire to prove who they were at the core.

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The rest of the month passed in a blur, marked only by Yuuji's birthday. They celebrated it in small group with Choso, Ryomen, Nobara and Megumi in a small downtown restaurant.

In their trio, they were born into families who did not make a big deal out of birthdays and as they grew up they kept the habit.

Most of Megumi's birthdays had been forgotten, firstly because they often took place at the same times as a boxing events, and secondly because his father wasn't the best at remembering dates. They usually celebrated it on Christmas day when it was just the two of them, then when Tsukimi and her mother had come into their lives, his sister had taken it upon herself to make sure everyone knew when Megumi's birthday was.

It was always a small celebration, what with poverty and all, but Tsukimi's mother would bake a cake between her too-long shifts at the hospital and his father would light the candles on it. Tsukimi, who had no pocket money like him, would give him a big embrace and called it a birthday hug.

Yuuji had grown up with his grandfather, who didn't much like parties and was content to buy a muffin and put a candle on it. Ryomen and Yuuji were twelve years apart, they hadn't been very close during Yuuji's childhood, and the older had moved away when he was eighteen, while Yuuji was only six.

Sukuna had never been close to their grandfather, their relationship being too conflictual as the old man had never wanted to adopt Choso when they had discovered the brothers father's infidelity and his hidden child because he had been born out of wedlock. On the day of his majority, he left their home and never returned.

Ironically, it was the old man's death that had finally bound the brothers to Yuuji. They were very close today, but Megumi knew that her pink-haired friend had suffered not only from their age difference, but from being left out. After all, he and Choso adored each other now, and he blamed himself for not having been able to persuade his grandfather to let him live with them rather than in foster care no matter that he had been to young to properly understand what it meant at the time.

Ryomen didn't care that they'd never had the chance to repair their relationship, but for Yuuji, it was complicated because he'd been very close to their grandfather and he would have liked to see them on good terms.

Nobara and her family barely spoke; for her, her birthday meant an impersonal card and a little money, nothing more. Since she'd been living with Saori, the latter had tried to make the day more festive by making a big deal out of it with lots of decorations and a big cake. Megumi had even taken a day off to celebrate it with them, and he and Yuuji had used a part of their July salary to buy her a dress that had caught her eye during one of their outings.

They always tried to buy joint gifts, because by sharing their money, they could afford something more expensive than if they were alone. It all started at Christmas during their first year, when Nobara told them about a ring she had seen a dozen times, but neither Yuuji nor he could afford it on their own. One day, while she was away with Saori, Yuuji and him stumbled upon the ring and realised they could buy it for her if they shared the cost.

Nobara's family was much wealthier than Yuuji and Megumi's, and even though they didn't get along very well, she always had money in her wallet. At first, she bought them gifts on her own, but seeing that her friends were a little embarrassed that they couldn't return the favour, they finally agreed to only give joint gifts (although they agreed not to split the cost in half, but according to their means).

After dinner, Nobara went home and Megumi spent the night at the Itadori's house. It was fun; they shared Yuuji's bed and fell asleep watching his friend’s favourite movie.

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The beginning of April marked the return of milder weather and his new fight in the junior series. This time, there was no Italian music playing as he sat in Yaga's van. Only a podcast and the silence provided by the noise-canceling headphones his father had won for him at the fair two years earlier reigned.

Tony and Yaga had insisted on taking two cars so they could bring Yuuji and Nobara along without disturbing Megumi, who needed to be 100% focused on the upcoming fight. The high school student let the road roll by as he entered a state of intense, almost meditative concentration.

This wasn't like his fight against Muta. Kamo was... well, there was a reason this guy was still undefeated. Their research file was practically empty, as the guy kept a very low profile. Last year, the draws had been very favourable to him, allowing him to avoid Hikari and Yuta.

But that didn't mean he should be underestimated. He had won every one of his fights in less than ten minutes. Once by referee decision, twice by first-round knockout, and he had won the last fight thanks to his opponent's surrender.

But Megumi wasn't afraid. He was fast and had learned a lot from his fight against Mechamaru. Twelve rounds of high intensity tended to have that effect on someone. He now knew how to deal with an opponent who only threw powerful punches. He knew what it was like to fall to the ground and see the world go black for a second before suddenly coming back to reality and feeling all the pain rushing over him at once.

This time, he was participating in the last bout of the evening, the main event. Everyone was excited. Classmates he hardly ever spoke to had been wishing him luck all week, and even some non-professionals Ten Shadows fighters had told him they would be watching his fight on TV.

His father had remained simple, avoiding talking to him about the fight except when he accompanied him to the van before the trip, giving him a semi-affectionate hug of encouragement that left them both feeling awkward. But he must have talked about it with Tsukimi's mother, because she told Megumi that they had both taken the evening off to watch the fight at home. 

He was really trying not to let all the attention get to him and to carry on as if it didn't matter who was watching him. He would fight as he always had. Megumi had even made a pact with himself not to think about Gojo and his possible arrival. Firstly, because he needed to be completely clear-headed, which wouldn't be possible if he spent his time trying to spot a tuff of white hair, and secondly, because even if the man did come, he would probably be late and arrive at the last minute, as he had done for Haibara's fight. So yes, he was trying not to think about the older man, and so far, he had been fairly successful.

The screech of tires on asphalt echoed loudly in the otherwise empty parking lot when they finally arrived. Only the fighters, their coaches, and the arena staff arrived this early.

The general public would arrive later, which meant his friends would have to wait outside until the arena doors finally opened. At least Yaga was staying with them, so he wouldn't have to worry about Nobara and Yuuji.

He was extremely grateful to his friends who had come even though they knew they wouldn't be able to spend any time with Megumi and were only there to cheer him on and show their affection. 

Megumi knew that his best friends would be joined later by Panda, Maki, and Toge in the arena. They hadn't been able to come earlier because they were relying on Toge's mother to drive them, and she was working all day. 

When Megumi finally got out of the car, after collecting his equipment, he clasped Yuuji's outstretched hand and kissed Nobara on the forehead before heading straight to the locker room with Tony. 

Megumi stayed there the whole time, only coming out to warm up with Tony, but they didn't exchange many words. They had already said everything they had to say earlier in the week. His coach had taken him to his office at Ten Shadows, where Yaga was already waiting for them, sitting in a corner with his arms crossed.

They had him sit down in front of the desk, looking more serious than he had ever seen them before. 

Tony spoke first. "Listen, I'm going to be honest with you, kid, this is going to be a tough fight. For your second bout, facing Kamo is not good news. We know you've been training like crazy and you're very confident, and that's good, but our job is also to prepare you for all eventualities. "

The floorboards vibrated under Yaga's footsteps before he continued. "We're not saying you can't win, because from what we've seen, you're definitely capable of it, but you have to keep in mind that you're the underdog here and no one expects you to win. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing, because if you win, you could really start to make a name for yourself in the boxing world, and if you don't, you can always come back from it. But you must avoid a knockout at all costs, because if you manage to last all the rounds, even if you lose, you'll still live up to people's expectations."

“So you want me to prepare to lose and not try to score points, but just defend myself against a knockout.” Megumi had replied skeptically.

“No, it's more than that, son.” This time, Tony answered. "You train like you have nothing to lose and fight like you're willing to do anything to win. And that's a good thing, because that's what separates the good from the great. It gives you an advantage over most of your opponents, because you have that thirst for victory that is the brand of the greatest fighters and cannot be replicated. But it also means that you throw yourself head first into battle. We've talked about this before, but you should have been able to avoid the knockdown against Muta in the fourth round, but you didn't block it because you wanted to hit harder than you wanted to protect yourself, and that has to change."

The desk creaked under the weight of Yaga as he sat down on it. With a sigh, he looked at Megumi before trailing on.

"Being hungry for victory is a good thing, and I wouldn't have continued to sponsor you if I didn't think it was a sign that you had what it takes to be at the top. But you have to realise that your body is not infallible. I know that right now, you think the worst that can happen to you in the ring is the pain you feel most of the time when you leave it or the violent headaches you get after being hit in the head. But you have to understand that you need to start defending yourself, because one bad blow could leave you leaving the ring on a stretcher or in a coffin."

This conversation may not have been a wake-up call, as he was already aware of his tendency to rush headlong into things, but it had nevertheless unsettled him. Seeing Tony unconsciously place a protective hand on the arm he had broken badly in his past career had shaken him. 

Boxing was a cruel sport, and accidents could happen to anyone. Its gods were capricious, and no matter how high you had flown before, you could always come crashing down to earth in the blink of an eye. 

Megumi hadn't been allowed to bring Yuta's lucky charm Jade dog in his pocket in the ring, but he had kept it in his hands the whole time he was in the locker room, only putting it back in his bag when Tony called him.

The night had passed in a daze. He hadn't seen the minutes go by. One second he was putting his bag in his locker and the next it was already showtime. His trainer rushing to wrap his hands before they had to get going.

This time, walking alongside Tony down the corridor, Megumi wasn't disconnected, and his coach only had to give him a nudge to make sure he was in the right frame of mind. Apparently reassured by what he saw in Megumi's eyes, he simply let the boy head for the center of the arena without a word.

Megumi stepped over the ropes to enter the ring, this time he was the first to climb into it. Tony took off his robe and Yaga helped him put on his gloves. He dangled his mouthguard from the corner of his lips to delay as long as possible the moment he would have to put it in. Megumi hated the sluggish feeling it gave him.

While waiting for Kamo, he did little jumps to stay warm and ready. He took a moment to scan the audience for his friends. He had a pretty good idea where they were, as he could hear their cheers.

Turning his head toward them, he raised a gloved hand to wave hello when something caught his attention. He nearly dropped his mouthguard in shock. Because a few seats behind them sat Gojo, in the flesh. He was wearing sunglasses and a cap with his hood pulled up over it, probably to hide his distinctive white hair, but Megumi knew it was him.

Before he could think about what it meant for Gojo to be here, Megumi heard the crowd grow louder and realised his opponent was arriving. Well, this was no time to analyse the significance of the white haired man’s presence.

Megumi had to clear his mind and do what he did best. And if his last conscious thought was that he now had to win at all costs, that was nobody's business but his own.

The speaker was hyping the crowd, and Megumi realised that Kamo was indeed the one they were cheering for before managing to drown out the noise. Very well- Megumi was going to show them that he was the one who was truly deserving of their encouragement.

On April 13, 2019, Megumi Fushiguro and Noritoshi Kamo faced off in the biggest bout of the evening. Megumi felt as if he had been touched by divine grace. As if in a trance, he could almost see Kamo moving in slow motion and could easily read his opponent's body language, allowing him to anticipate his next moves. Megumi felt like he had all the time in the world to dodge and parry. As a result, for the first time in Kamo's career, his fight went the full twelve rounds. Underdog Megumi Fushiguro had shown the boxing world what he was capable of. Round after round, he dominated his opponent to the cheers of a frenzied, disbelieving crowd. He had taken some serious blows, of course, but this time he had not been knocked down. The fight was a tactical chess match, with both boxers employing strategic manoeuvrers. Megumi's speed and agility were matched by Kamo's resilience and power. In the end the young Fushiguro won by unanimous decision, but the fight was closely contested, reflecting both boxers' determination to show the world who was the best.

His chest rose and fell rapidly as the referee raised his gloved hand toward the sky. At his side, Kamo stood with empty eyes, his gaze fixed on the ground, jaw clenched. And as though Megumi would have wanted to at least shake his hand he knew the other fighter would be gone as soon as the referee would allow it. 

Still reeling in disbelief he tried to find Gojo again in the crowd, but the older man seemed to have disappeared. It didn't matter; they had time after all. It probably wasn't anyway the best time or place to talk about the fact that he had come and what it could mean.

Tony and Yaga were ecstatic, shaking him in every direction and clasping on his back in turn. What they were shouting didn't make much sense, but Megumi nevertheless felt their infectious joy wash over him. It wasn't that he wasn't delighted himself, but he didn't seem to grasp that he had just won a fight that so many people doubted he could win. He knew he was victorious, but it wasn't until Yuuji and Nobara had dragged him through the ropes for a group hug that the reality began to sink in.

After, Tony had taken him back to the locker room where he had let the doctor give him the mandatory checkup. When he was finally allowed to take a shower, it felt like the best he ever had.

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When he finished, Megumi made his way to the parking lot where only his coach was waiting for him. Yaga and his friends had left just after the fight. Tony had hesitated to leave him alone in the locker room, but Megumi had told him he could go smoke his first cigarette of the evening, as he wouldn't be long anyway.

Megumi felt on top of the world. He had won his second fight, just as Yuta had predicted. He had won when no one expected him to, and even the pain from his split lip was drowned out by the feeling of pure triumph coursing through his veins. At that moment, he couldn't think of anything better than having proved them wrong and showed what he was made of.

Everyone he cared about had seen it. Even his sister had left him a voice message that was almost incomprehensible, and it was only because she was very emotional and he had spent years deciphering the meaning of her sobs that he understood she was congratulating him.

Finally, pushing open the door at the back of the arena, he let the cold night air cool his burning skin. He felt feverish, the adrenaline that didn't seem to subside making his heart beat too fast.

Perhaps that was why he almost didn't notice him leaning against the wall. Gojo was standing there, seemingly waiting for Megumi. The white haired man had taken off his sunglasses and was holding his hooded jacket under his arm, but he had kept his cap firmly on his head. He was looking at Megumi with an expression he couldn't quite read.

The only source of light came from the flickering lamp above the door and the moonbeams that gave an unreal glint to Gojo's already otherworldly gaze. Megumi had never seen anything like it. The other man was ethereal, so beautiful that it was almost painful to look at him.

“You came.” His voice was trembling, even to his own ears, but he felt it was on him to break the silence that enveloped them.

“Yaga asked me to as a favour. I couldn't refuse.”

Oh.

In a brief moment of insanity, Megumi wondered if the sharp noise he had heard was his heart breaking. His hears were ringing and he felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on him, the euphoria of the evening vanished in an instant.

Megumi struggled to keep his facial expression under control and wished he could respond casually, but his throat was closed up and he didn't think he was able to utter a word.

With a shaky exhale, the older man stood up to his full height before placing himself in front of Megumi. A myriad of emotions flashed across his face, passing too quickly for Megumi to begin to identify them.

Finally, Megumi looked away. He couldn't bear to see the pity that must have been written there, and it was this realisation that allowed him to find his voice again.

“It’s fine.”

It was far from fine, but what did he expect? That Satoru Gojo, the twenty-eight-year-old multiple world champion, would join him in the back of the arena for a passionate kiss? Megumi realised how pathetic and naive he had been, and he didn't know if he would ever be able to look at himself in the mirror again without cringing.

“Megumi-”

“No really it’s fine, have a good night.”

He had to leave now. He was exhausted and could barely hold back the tears welling up in his eyes. But Megumi was stuck there, unable to return to the car, not right away, not when Tony was expecting him to arrive as the happiest fucker in town.

And he wanted to blame Gojo, tell him that, for what it was worth, he should have kept playing along a little longer. Disappear after the fight and make sure Yaga would have told the dark haired boy he had no choice in coming. Megumi would have gotten the message but it would have been gentler.

Now he wondered how he could ever look back on that evening and see it as a happy memory despite his victory.

Suddenly he remembered a thought he had had after his first fight, when he told himself that he didn't want to know if Gojo was proud of him, because it was his first victory and he didn't want to taint it with disappointment.

He tried to hold on to that feeling, but it was futile, because it was now three months later and Megumi was in too deep and he could only hate himself more for it. He wondered if the white-haired man had found it amusing to caress his hand in the car, to meet his gaze as if it meant something. He wondered if, when he saw Megumi's cheeks blush under his gaze, he went home at night and told his friends the story of this pathetic teenager who had a crush on him.

These thoughts made him feel sick. How could everything have gone so wrong on a night when everything had been going so well until now?

Megumi didn't know how long they had been standing there, face to face, and didn't understand why Gojo wasn't leaving. The white-haired man had told him what he had to say without caring that it was the worst possible moment and what it could be doing to Megumi, so why was he still there? Couldn't he see that Megumi needed to break down somewhere that was not in front of him or his coach? Couldn't he at least grant him that? Hadn't he already caused him enough pain?

But then Gojo tried to say his name again, and Megumi had to turn away immediately. He had never felt so ashamed in his entire life as he did at that moment, trying to cry as quietly as possible. It was a lost cause anyway, because he knew that his trembling body would betray him even if he managed to stifle the sobs that shook him. What did he expect? Megumi was only sixteen, after all, and this was the first time he had ever had his heart broken. Of course, he was unable to hold back his tears.

He expected to hear Gojo's footsteps silently receding toward his car, granting him the privacy he deserved, but instead he heard them drawing closer to him. Megumi felt warmth envelop his body: the white-haired man had draped his jacket over his back. He felt Gojo pull the hood up over Megumi's head, then his chin rest on his skull. Through the fabric, he felt the white-haired man give him a little kiss, and the butterfly lying dead in his stomach gave a little flutter.

The older man's hands were resting on both of his shoulders, holding them tightly between his large palms. He could feel the other man's hair brushing against his forehead, and Megumi was so shocked that his tears momentarily stopped.

"What are you- "

“Megumi you deserve so much better than someone who’s making you cry on a night where your only tears should be of joy. I'm sorry.”

He had to strain his ears to hear what Gojo was whispering, his lips moving slowly against the fabric of the hood still covering Megumi's head.

The black-haired boy was so stunned that he was speechless, paralysed to his core, unable to move. He couldn't even formulate a coherent thought that would help him find the beginning of an answer. But it didn't matter anymore, because he felt the other man take a step back, then another, until Megumi could no longer feel the warmth of Gojo's body radiating against his.

The white haired man left him there, like that, with only his jacket as proof that the moment had really happened and Megumi was once again remembered that Gojo could be a truly cruel man. He didn't know how long he had stayed like that, without moving. Long enough for his tears to dry and his sobs to subside. Long enough for Tony to get worried and come looking for him.

Fortunately, his coach attributed his strange behaviour to the drastic drop in his adrenaline levels. And it was only once he was back in the comfort of his room, in the early hours of the morning, that Megumi allowed himself to break down again and fell asleep sobbing under his duvet.

Why did it feel so much like a breakup when they had never even been together?

Notes:

I'm sorry for the end of the chapter but as it often happens in real life it has to get worse before it gets better. Unfortunately the next part should be even heavier in angst but I promise that they'll find each other again haha

I hope you still enjoyed it because I really liked writing it!

Chapter 3

Megumi is, for want of a better word, broken. Not in the sense that there's anything wrong with him, although some people might argue for that. But he hasn't been able to process his emotions since that night.

Two weeks ago, when he should have been having one of the best nights of his life, he felt his world come to a stop. It was as if colours had suddenly been drained from his life and all he could see was shades of gray.

The hardest part for him is that he has to face it alone. He can't talk to anyone about it, he knows his friend wouldn't judge him for it, but he can't bear to see expressions like “what did you expect?”, that would be the last straw. And somewhere deep down he knows that’s nothing more than self-sabotage, that they wouldn't do that, but he couldn't bring himself to tell them. If he opened the dam, Megumi wasn't sure he'd be able to get up again.

So he doesn't tell anyone, and life goes on. Megumi hides Gojo's jacket in the back of his wardrobe so he doesn't have to look at it, but he's unable to throw it in the garbage can. During his bi-monthly video call with Yuta, he learns that the white-haired man has gone back to America to join his friends Suguru Geto and Yuki Tsukumo.

Rumour has it that she's training to win the belt in the weight division above the one in which she's the current champion. Megumi claims his father needs help in the kitchen to cut the call short and the direction the conversation is taking. He ends up staring at the wall in front of him for the rest of the evening, trying to stop hyperventilating and doesn’t leave his room to eat .

Lately, he feels as if the air is always a little thin. As if he always has to work to find his next breath, somehow. Megumi remembers the time Tsukimi made him watch Twilight with her. He remembers watching the second movie and thinking that Bella was overdoing it. Today, as he too struggles to find the will to move, he decides to offer her a silent apology. Maybe he's also going crazy on top of everything.

The worst of it, ironically, was that he was great at hiding just how bad he was and putting on a convincing facade. Obviously not good enough for Yuuji and Nobara not to exchange increasingly worried glances in his direction, but enough for the rest of the world to fall for it.

With their final exams, Maki, Panda and Toge were crammed into the library most of the time and he had been seeing them less since the fight, which had been a relief. It was bad enough feeling like he was constantly lying to Nobara and Yuuji without having to add the rest of them.

Tony and Yaga also seemed to sense something, but at least they'd put it down to exhaustion after his fight. They've both been in the ring for intense fights, and they knew what it felt like after too. How it could feel like you have been spat out by your washing machine in the middle of a full load.

And maybe he wouldn't feel so bad mentally if he wasn't so exhausted. But he trained too hard before his fight with Kamo, and Megumi knew he couldn't keep skipping his rest days, or his body would give up on him if he didn’t slam the brakes in time.

So he did, taking it easy at the gym now that his big fight was behind him, and even slowing down the intensity with Yuuji, and was even content to go back to punching bags. But it was to no use, he still felt lethargic and slowed down, as if he was underwater and he had to work twice as hard as the others to do the same movements.

But Megumi was trying, really hard , to get better and move on.

About a month later, around mid-May, he had finally started to come out of his sluggishness. He was no longer passive, just angry and irritable, and Megumi didn’t know which was worse.

He had become snappish and very bad at conversation, worse than he had ever been, and there was nothing he could do about it. He felt guilty afterwards but couldn't seem to stop in the moment. His patience was too short to tolerate his classmates stammering.

He blatantly ignored most of the other students, barely responded to his teachers and more often than not had to swallow the rude retorts that came to his mind.

Soon after, Shortly afterwards, the rumour that he considered himself superior to others because of his victories in the ring began to spread as an attempt to explain his behaviour. It got so bad that even Tony took him aside to talk to him at the end of one of his training sessions, trying to find out what was going on. The whispers had even reached the other Ten Shadows amateur fighters.

"You know I don't like to meddle in your business, but you know you can talk to me, don't you? About anything."

Megumi thinks about confessing everything that had happened with Gojo for a second, just to see the look on Tony's face. It would be a face for history books, that's for sure. He had to bite the inside of his cheeks hard enough to draw blood to stop the deranged laughter bubbling up in his chest and threatening to escape, which would definitely not help his case . Still, he managed to get out “Hm, yeah coach thanks but I'm fine” with a semi-serious face.

His trainer looked at him for a few seconds before nodding and that was that. Tony, bless his heart, had always been a man of few words.

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It was only with the unexpected help of Ami Ninomiya that his reputation had began to improve. Seeming to tire of waiting for an answer to her love letter, she had come to see him in person at the end of May.

Megumi had felt bad for forgetting her. Of course, he could blame it on his intensive training, but the truth laid in Gojo's shadows. The day he'd read the letter, the white-haired man like every other time they'd met, had eclipsed everything. Megumi could barely remember tucking the letter away in his pocket and slipping it into the drawers of his bedside table in the evening .

Before him, she had bowed as he had that day toward Gojo and he had felt something other than lethargy or anger for the first time since his fight a month earlier. Not pity, Ami deserved better than that, but perhaps compassion. He knew all too well how she felt. Maybe that's why, instead of pushing her away with a few empty words, he'd been sincere.

"I'm sorry I can't return your feelings , Ami. My heart is already taken and I know how painful it is to love someone who doesn't love you back. I still like you a lot , and if you can find the courage in your heart, I'd be happy to be your friend."

He had bowed respectfully and left her in front of the school gate. He knew there was a chance someone had overheard their conversation, but he hadn't anticipated this interaction spreading like a firecracker. The good news was that people didn't seem to bother Ami about it, she was one of the prettiest girls in school and the other boys seemed to be happy they could still have a chance in theory . The downside was that everyone knew he was in love with someone who didn't love him back and his every move was now spied on, as they were desperate to know who could be better than Ami in his eyes .

Joke on them, he knew they wouldn’t get it anyway. Ninimoya was a pretty, petite girl with long chocolate hair and the most beautiful green eyes, sparkling with life. Athletic and intelligent, she would have been a perfect match for him if he had managed to be attracted to her. Not to mention the fact that Ami was the right age and the right sex.

Why did his stupid heart have to make the worst possible choice? He couldn't help thinking of a tall, muscular man with white hair, that stood out like a sore thumbs wherever he went and the most unnerving blue eyes in existence, to the point where it was just hard to hold his gaze. He was also twelve years his senior and had knocked out Toji to take his championship belt a decade ago . But there was no point in dwelling on it as Gojo hadn't wanted him anyway. Remembering that part hadn't gotten any easier.

His only respite was that, fortunately, none of his friends seemed to believe the gossips , and by telling them it was the least painful way he could think of to reject it, they hadn't looked any further.

At least the rumours that he was full of himself died out, to be replaced by the one about his broken heart, which he guessed, had the merit of being true. Megumi would just have to hope that this one didn't reach Tony's ears, or worse, Yaga's. He didn't think he'd recover if Gojo, through a combination of circumstances, ended up learning about it.

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When mid-June arrived, it was simply an avalanche of bad news, and even the hottest days couldn't seem to warm him up any more, with each piece of news he felt closer to his breaking point. Not that Megumi didn't think he had n’t reached it that day , but it was a new low for him .

For one thing, Tsukimi had found a job in her university town, so she wouldn't be coming home for the summer as she'd originally planned. Megumi had been looking forward to living with her again, even if only for two months. He missed his sister dearly, and hated that they hadn't seen each other since she'd moved out at the end of August last year.

Then his head teacher pulled him aside to talk to him at the end of class. His end-of-year exam had gone as well as it could be expected for a sixteen-year-old trying to become professional in a sport that had nothing to do with what he could learn at school.

E ven with Yuuji's notes and Tsukimi's help, he'd barely made it through the year, and he knew it. His teacher had told him they'd agreed to let him through to third year as an exception , but with grades like that, if boxing didn't work out for him, he could say goodbye to getting into a good university, let alone getting a scholarship.

That had been a blow in itself, because even though Megumi had had to bury his dream of becoming a vet and he'd more or less made peace with it, he now had to face the reality that he couldn't afford to fail boxing or he'd have the same problem as his father, a boxing resume as long as his arm but no other work experience s or degree to fall back on.

Shortly after that he'd stopped counting the things that went wrong when he realised he was going to have to reconcile his training with resuming his job at the grocery store. E very little cash prize he'd won in the junior series had gone straight into his fund for the things Yaga's sponsorship didn't cover.

This year, running to his work place and moving heavy boxes wouldn't be enough to keep him in shape; he'd have to brave the heat and still go to the gym to workout in addition to his boxing practices and his job.

Megumi couldn’t fathom the idea of taking the bus again and being reminded of the time he had seen Gojo in front of the bus stop near the store. So he kept his running habit and told Tony and Yaga to adapt his training plan to include it and that was non-negotiable. It had gotten him two pair of raised eyebrows but eventually they agreed.

Training was also terrible in its own way, not only because he was tired from his summer job or the heat, but also because Megumi could no longer spar with Yuuji. His friend had to work and had resumed his job at the community pool. Megumi could see that the pink-haired boy felt bad about it and had even offered to look for another job, which would allow them to continue training together. But Megumi knew how much his friend loved his job as a lifeguard. Yuuji had been training with him for almost a year without ever complaining or missing a single session, Megumi could put up for two months with Antonio, it was the least he could do to thank him.

Nobara had also taken back her job at the pool and that meant Megumi couldn’t see any of his friends after nine months in each other's pockets. He was really feeling their absence. Maki had started her internship early, Panda was volunteering at the hospital again and Yuta and Toge weren't even in the country. He missed each and every one of them terribly.

Given his physical and mental state, the fight against Tony's son was even more difficult than it had been in the previous year. Parrying had become almost impossible, and he was leaving the training ring with more bruises than he'd ever had before.

Even Toji had begun to notice. One day, at the end of July, after about a month of alternating between Antonio's fist and his busy schedule, Megumi had collapsed straight onto his bed, his migraine a constant throbbing in his head. Tony had sent him away earlier in the day after he'd tripped over his feet trying to avoid a punch and ended up knocking the back of his head on the hard floor. If he ran his hand through his hair, he could feel the bump that had formed there.

He knew he should put ice on it and slip on his pyjamas, but he felt at the end of his rope. Toji had followed him silently to his room and sat down on his bed, placing the barely cold beer he was nursing on Megumi's wounded head. The gesture, or at least the condensation, had been enough to soothe him, and he sank further into his bed.

“What happened to your Pink hair friend? Luigi?”

The high-schooler tried to hold back his snort; only his father could have gotten his friend's name so wrong, which Megumi must have pronounced a thousand times already. Muttering into his pillow, the high-schooler tried to formulate an intelligible response.

"Hm, you mean Yuuji? He's working for the summer, so I'm back with Antonio."

Humming dutifully, Toji's fingers played with the label of his beer still on Megumi's head.

"Oh yeah, that's his name and what about your cousin?”

For his father to be so insistent and show his concern that clearly, it had to mean that Megumi must look really unwell. He'd been avoiding mirrors as much as possible lately, knowing that the dark circles under his eyes, combined with the paleness of his skin after alternating only between his indoors gym workouts and his job, made him look the worst he'd looked in a long time.

"Maki started her internship with Naobito.”

This time, Toji's beer left his head completely and he heard his father take a swing from it . He knew he wouldn't like the mention of Megumi's grandfather and the dark-haired boy expected their conversation to end there, but his father kept going .

“ T s k and Tony can't lend you any lightweights.”

Raising his head to take a sip from his water bottle pocking out from his gym bag, Megumi tried to think of how to phrase his answer.

“ Uh... no, most of them are busy in the summer, either on holiday or working .”

Toji's annoyed sigh echoed around the room.

“ I guess you'll have to grit your teeth then.”

With that, he stood up again and ruffled Megumi's hair. It was already sticky with sweat from the heat despite the fact that he'd washed it before leaving the gym, and the condensation from his father's beer bottle wasn't helping matters, but it was nice all the same.

He knew his father would be the type to worry silently about him and this was his way of showing he cared. It was strangely comforting. Even if the concept of clenching his teeth was almost funny to Megumi, who hadn't loosened his jaw since April.

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Looking back, the only good night of his summer so far, and that was no exaggeration, had been Nobara's birthday on the 7th. Of course, they'd felt the absence of Yuta and Toge, but they'd set up a computer to make a video call and they all had been able to cheer on Nobara as she blew out her candles.

It was the first time since graduation that he'd seen Maki, and he'd been surprised to see her arrive with Mai. Nobara's eyebrow had twitched when she'd opened the door to her girlfriend with her uninvited twin , but she'd let them in without a word of rebuttal, which was an absolution in itself on the part of their chestnut-haired friend. S he would have shut the door in their faces, girlfriends or not, if she really didn't want Mai at her party.

That had been enough for Megumi to greet his cousin. He and Mai had never grown closer growing up, as she'd been more loyal to her family and close to them . But during the short time he'd lived with the Zenin because of the social worker, he remembered they'd gotten on well. She seemed to remember it too, as she greeted him back with a shy smile when their eyes met.

Megumi had mostly rejected the Zenin because of their refusal to extend a hand to his father, especially when he was at his lowest , but he had always made sure not to blame the younger generation for this, as there was nothing they could have done.

When he was allowed to move back in with Toji, he had continued to see the twins, their two families forcing themselves to meet on neutral ground. But one day, when they were twelve, Maki stopped coming with Mai, and when Megumi questioned her, she replied that her sister didn't want to be around the son of a loser like Toji. Maki had insisted that it didn’t matter for her and that she wasn’t speaking to her twin too anyway.

A lot of water had flowed under the bridge; Megumi was now old enough to understand that his cousin was probably just repeating what she must have heard from someone in their family back then, and if Maki, who had always been by his side, decided that Mai deserved to be brought back into their lives, then he trusted her.

So, while Maki danced with Nobara in the living room and Yuuji and Panda were catching up with Yuta and Toge on the computer, he walked over to Mai, alone on the balcony.

"Are you enjoying the evening?"

If Megumi's appearance had surprised her, she immediately covered it up and turned to him with a shrug.

"Yes, but I wish I could have brought Todo."

At this, Megumi felt a grimace creep across his face.

"Ah, sorry, I guess it's my fault. I wouldn't have minded, but..." He stopped, unsure how to finish his sentence. He didn't want to blame his best friend when it was out of love for him that she was so against Todo. Fortunately, Mai simply nodded in understanding.

"It's okay, he brought it upon himself. I just hope she'll give him another chance one day. They're more alike than they seem, and if given the chance, I could see them becoming friends."

Megumi was surprised to hear this, but after thinking about it for a few seconds, he understood what she meant. He guessed there was a reason Yuuji got along so well with Todo and Nobara after all.

"We should go on a group outing or something like that when the year starts."

This had seemed to surprise Mai; it was as if she hadn't expected him to make a gesture. It was normal after all Megumi was better known for holding a grudge than giving second chances. But he could feel himself maturing lately. His perception of the world around him was constantly adjusting, as if things were starting to become clearer, sharper. And with everything he'd already been through in his life, he didn't want to waste any more time harbouring negative feelings.

And after all, he'd already forgiven Todo a long time ago. After the continuous pain he'd felt since April, the one he'd felt during their fight was truly insignificant.

Knocking their shoulders together, he nodded toward the room, urging her to come inside and join back the party. From the bay window, he could see that everyone had gathered on the couch. Nobara, seeing him look at her, winked. She was holding his gift, a golden tiara he and Yuuji had found at an antique shop.

The stones were semi-precious, and as soon as they saw it in the shop window, they knew it was meant for her. Luckily, it was on sale, and with their new salaries and the fact that they were giving a joint gift, they could afford it. If anyone could wear it in public without irony and make own it, it was their friend.

Raising his glass, he let a warm smile light up his face. Yuuji was mocking him from the couch and turned to Maki, saying something about Megumi being whipped and how she had to be careful if she didn’t want to loose her girl. This had made everyone laugh, and Maki shrugged, saying she'd soon face him in the ring for a duel worthy of Nobara. Everyone had doubled down in laughter at that, even Mai.

Semi-professional boxer or not, Megumi wouldn't have had the confidence to face a blood-thirsty Maki. God knows what she was capable of doing for his girlfriend. Joining the group with Mai, he adopted a half-formed fighting stance, extending his fists and almost spilling his drink in the process to pretend challenging his cousin.

At the end of the evening, as he lay down exhausted in bed, he realised he hadn't laughed like that in a long time. And even though he hadn't missed the knowing glances exchanged between his friends who seemed to share the same idea, it didn't bother him. He was simply happy to have people looking out for him.

Megumi suddenly realised he would be okay. Falling in love had never been part of his plan, after all. As long as he had his friends by his side, he would be able to overcome anything. And maybe his heart would always bleed for a man who would never want him. Maybe he would never stop longing for Gojo Satoru, but that didn't mean he was alone.

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Barely two weeks later, the junior championships were back. This time, they didn't bother getting into separate cars. Yuuji and Nobara surrounded him in the back of Yaga's van, just like they had for his first fight, sensing he needed more support than silence. Tony had even reluctantly agreed not to play his music the whole way, and with Yaga's help, they'd even managed to squeeze in two songs from their country's current top 100.

Megumi was grateful to his friends. Neither Maki nor Panda could make it this time, and Toge and Yuta were still in Africa, but they'd bombarded him with messages of encouragement.

His trio would spend the night in a hotel near the arena, too far from home to return that evening. The three of them would share a king-size bed. Yaga had raised her eyebrows when they'd told him, but he hadn't needed much persuasion. Their bond was visible to anyone who saw it, and so was her platonic nature. Nobara had offered to pay for an extra room if it would relax everyone, but she'd made it clear she'd always sleep with the boys, which settled the matter. In the end, all the adults agreed that it would be a waste of money and they simply submitted to the decision of the young girl, who was a force of nature and went through life with such determination that everyone eventually bowed.

Drawn from his thoughts by the fact that Yaga was parking in front of a gas station, Megumi straightened up, smothering a yawn.

"I'm going to fill up the tank. You can go stretch your legs and use the restroom if you want."

Yaga had barely finished speaking when the three of them got out of the car. Yuuji was running at full speed toward the public restroom a little further away. Nobara tried to appear nonchalant, but still trotted behind their friend, rolling her eyes as she wasn’t doing the same thing. In their defence, they had shared a giant soda at the beginning of the trip. Megumi's diet was strictest in the days leading up to a fight; he had to be content with sipping from his water bottle but at least it meant that he didn't need to use the restroom.

So he was leisurely heading towards the gas station shop to stretch his legs. Like most shops on motorway service areas, there was a small section of the store designated for books. Megumi had started reading the back covers in front of him to pass the time, when his eyes were caught by the cover of a magazine on the rack to the left of the book shelves.

Boxing legend and former champion Gojo Satoru spotted in Ibiza with DJ Thomas Anderson in his arms !

Megumi felt his heart stop. He'd been feeling so much better lately, barely thinking about the white-haired man, or at least managing to pretend it. Three months of personal work wasted simply because he'd been stupid enough to forget that Gojo was still adored by the paparazzi.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around, surprised, his heart racing again. Regaining awareness of his surroundings, he realised that Yaga's hand hadn't moved, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yuuji and Nobara arguing over whether they should buy another soda in front of the vending machine a little further away.

Yaga, eyeing the magazine he was still holding, gave him a searching look.

"I didn't know you were interested in this kind of rag."

"Oh, is this the issue where your father is mentioned?" said Tony, who had magically appeared behind them.

Thank goodness, it was the perfect excuse. He remembered now that a classmate had mentioned it to him. One of Toji's famous ex-girlfriends was getting married, and his father's name was mentioned in the article, among her other exes.

"Hm, yeah, Lola Van Der Bruin is getting married."

"Oh? I didn't know they'd been together. Toji's had quite a life, huh." Yaga's face had gone neutral again. Megumi put the magazine down with a huff and shook the book he was still holding in his other hand to signal that he was going to pay. The summary wasn't great, but it was an effective way to end this slippery slope of this conversation.

Quite a life indeed. Megumi vaguely remembered meeting her when he was young. He only remembered a few unimportant details: a thin woman who smelled good and was wildly known for herbeauty. Megumi couldn't really attest to that, as his tastes were apparently more attuned to tall muscular men with white bright hair and breathtaking blue eyes. Figures.

A few minutes later, they were back on the road, but Yaga seemed to be watching him, their gazes meeting several times in the rearview mirror. Megumi was willing to bet Gojo hadn't told him anything about what had happened between them, but Yaga was smart and cunning. Gojo's talent aside, he wouldn't have been able to keep his fighter undefeated all these years without being able to read his opponents' quirks like open books.

So he was more or less expecting it when Yaga's voice echoed through their car, an hour's drive away from the arena when everyone except them was asleep in the van.

"Did you know I asked Gojo to come see your fight against Kamo?"

Trying to swallow, Megumi was petrified, wondering what the safest answer was. He didn't have time to think, so he decided to go for a half-truth.

"Hm, I saw him in the audience, yeah."

Yaga squinted in his direction, and Megumi felt his jaw tighten in automatic response.

"Did you now? It's funny because he said he hadn’t been be able to make it in time."

Oh shit.

"Oh- uh- Hm, well, maybe I was hallucinating. It was a brief second before the fight anyway, so I wasn't even sure it was him." Megumi would have been slapping himself if it wasn’t even more incriminating, what a lame explanation.

And Yaga had seemed determined to hammer the final nail into the coffin when Yuuji woke up with a loud yawn. "Are we almost there?" Turning to Megumi in Yaga's blind spot, inexplicably he winked at the dark haired boy. Was he listening and pretending to wake up only now to rescue Megumi? But why, did he suspected something?

But before he could delve deeper into his thoughts, it was Nobara who stretched loudly this time. Once the two of them were awake, Yaga didn't press the subject of Gojo further until they arrived at the arena.

Getting out of the car with Tony, he said goodbye to Yaga and his friends who were going to check in at the hotel while Megumi went to prepare for his fight. He may have been nervous, but everyone seemed to believe he'd win easily. It wasn't even the main event, as it would be between Kamo and Hikari.

It was the first time since the beginning of the year that Hikari had fought in the same arena as Megumi, so they decided that Yaga, Yuuji and Nobara would stay in the audience to film the fight even as he fight would be over. After all, they would need all the data they could gather to prepare.

In short, no one was really excited about his fight, which made Megumi feel off-quilter. He'd had perhaps the worst three months of his life, and that was including the time he'd had to move in with the Zenin, not knowing if he'd be able to return to Toji.

To top it all off, like life wasn’t difficult enough lately, Megumi had almost missed his weigh-in the day before, ending up at 57.9 kg. The high-schooler had almost been relegated to the featherweight division, whose weight limit was 57.2 kg. It would have been a nightmare for his career. They only avoided the tragedy by making him eat like crazy the day before, which wasn't healthy in the slightest and it wasn’t good for his body to process all that food before a fight and could affect his performance.

The blame lay mainly with Megumi, who should have focused more on his diet and not skipped too many meals on his days off. But the heat had gotten to him, and combined with his growing anxiety, he sometimes missed dinner. It was true that neither Tony nor Yaga had thought to weigh him all summer, which was a mistake on their part as well.

The day before the weigh-in, when they realised he weighed 57.5 pounds, they took him to the town's fast food restaurant and put their anger aside to make sure Megumi didn't fall below the limits for his division. The next day, when he was fortunately over the minimum limit, they sat him down in Tony's office and demanded an explanation. Megumi had to apologise to them for not realising sooner he had lost three kilos. Before his fight with Kamo, he weighed 60.9 kg and the lightweight limit was at 61.2 kg so it had always been a tight fit.

At 57.9 kg, he was three kilos lighter than his usual weight, and despite the only slight difference in the number, Megumi felt his punches had lost some of their power. So yes, everyone was confident he would win easily since his victory against stronger opponent like Muta and Kamo, but Megumi didn't feel ready, and no one seemed to be listening to him. They brushed his concerns aside too quickly.

They didn't stay in the locker room like last time, but spent the hours leading up to his fight at the gym. Tony was by his side the entire time. Despite his training, Megumi couldn't shake the nerves that were eating away at him, and his coach kept giving him worried glances, seeming to understand that Megumi's worries over the past few days were more legitimate than he'd thought. Tony even sparred with him a little, but to no avail; something felt wrong.

When his name was called, Tony kept his arm around him until the last seconds. Yaga was already waiting in Megumi's corner to help him put on his gloves, and he exchanged a long look with Tony. Taking something out of his pocket, he pulled Megumi's head up to look at open palm.

Yuta's lucky charm was there: the Jade's dog rested peacefully in the center of Yaga's hand. It wasn't enough to completely dispel his nervousness, but it certainly helped him catch his breath. Both men looked relieved. Which was strange in itself, since they'd gently teased him about Megumi clutching the lucky charm in his hands during his previous fights, which were supposed to be much more complicated.

August 20, 2019, marked Megumi's first victory by knockout. But while that statistic could be added to his record book, it was far from his best fight. Megumi entered the ring against Nitta and was clearly behind in scores the whole fight. He had taken two knockdowns in one round, and if he took one more, the referee would have stopped the fight for his safety. Miraculously, he found a gap in Nitta’s guard and, with the strength of desperation, managed to knock out his opponent. Driven mostly by the terror of losing his winning streak and all that it would entail. He stood over the other boy in disbelief as the referee counted to ten and watched him unable to get up. He was stunned when he was hugged by Tony and Yaga, without even registering which of them had spoken to him.

"You scared us for a second there kid, but what a blow! Don't think for a second that you don't deserve the win."

After that, he went straight to the locker room with Tony and underwent the medical check up. He was eager to see his friend again, but after receiving two knockdowns in a row, his head was hurting. So it would have to wait.

Megumi knew that if he asked for paracetamol in front of the doctor, he'd be sent to the hospital when all he needed was a good night's sleep. It was maybe not his brightest moment to hide how he was feeling but being sent away with a concussion suspicion was the last thing he needed right now.

Tony seemed to be in agreement because he kept talking to the doctor to distract him. They knew how to take it easy after something like that happened. They wouldn’t give Megumi his phone before the next day and keep the light as low as they could wherever they went.

Fortunately, between his white lies to the doctor and Tony's meddling, they sent him to take a shower without mentioning hospital visits. After a super-quick shower, he let himself be dragged to the car by Tony, sunglasses on and paracetamol hastily swallowed.

Yaga and his friend would join them late in the evening, after filming and analysing the Kamo vs. Hikari fight. The drive to the hotel was in absolute silence, except for Tony humming under his breath; luckily for Megumi’s rapidly developing migraine, he hadn't turned on the radio.

When they arrived at the hotel and the old man showed him to his room, he hugged him before saying:

“You can be proud of yourself. We told you it would be easy, but you still earned this victory, maybe even more than the other two. I don't know what you've been through all this time, but I'm glad to see back with us.”

"Thank you, Tony."

He didn't know why the emotion was coating his throat like that, making it impossible to talk more. But he too could feel the momentum shift around him. It was his third victory against three opponents with very different fighting styles. He'd been equally matched against one, the clear underdog against the other and even the favourite this time. He'd won unanimously, he had won with a split decision, and now with a TKO.

It was like seeing the sky begin to clear above him. Turning blue again, and the clouds finally disappearing. He was far from being healed on the Gojo matter and he felt as it would be the cut that’ll always bleed but at least he had gotten his footing back on the boxing front.

Arriving at his room, thankfully after having showered earlier, he slipped straight into the king-size bed and fell asleep before his body had even touched the bed. He knew Tony would take care of letting his family know he was okay, and that his best friends had been instructed to make as little noise as possible when they came back to the room.

He barely felt the bed sink as they joined him, but was lured into an even more peaceful sleep when his best friends buried his body under a jumble of limbs. He was safe and happy. And maybe his heart was still broken but Megumi wasn’t shattered anymore.

Tomorrow, he vowed to tell his friends the truth and find a way to move on. His future was in his hands, and he'd almost lost it that night. He had to make sure it didn't happen again.

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"So you confessed to him on Valentine's Day?"

It was Yuuji who asked, not even out of curiosity simply like a friend trying to get a better understanding of the situation that had been making the dark haired boy suffer alone for months. Without any judgment in his voice.

"Well, not in those terms, but I asked him to come see my fight against Kamo."

"And he's the one who held your hand after Yuta's birthday?" Nobara interjected this time, focused like a hawk, her tone clearly accusing the white-haired man.

"Well, it was more like we were brushing fingers, but yeah."

Because that was what had happened, right? Megumi had spent months replaying the scene, first with his heart pounding, full of hope, from March to April. Then, after that night, trying to figure out how he could have misinterpreted the signs so badly.

"I guess he never told me he'd come." And that was the million-dollar joke, wasn't it? Gojo wasn't entirely to blame; he'd been forced to attend and hadn't promised Megumi anything.

"But you said he eventually told Yaga he couldn't come, so why didn't he do it from the start?" Nobara really had a knack for asking the toughest questions. Yuuji winced after their friend spoke in compassion, clutching Megumi's hand in his as it lied between them on the unmade bed.

"Maybe he hadn't planned on talking to me after the fight, and when he realised the state I was in after his rejection, he wanted to cover his tracks and make sure Yaga didn't make the connection between us, since I should have been over the moon after my victory."

"Or maybe he chickened out." Megumi closed his eyes at that. The thought that he'd changed his mind was even more painful, because it meant Megumi hadn't been enough to make Gojo want to take the plunge.

"It doesn't matter anyway, since you'll never see him again!" Nobara said, looking terribly serious. And Megumi understood that if he had to watch her waste away for months like he had because of someone, he would want her to never see them again. But in reality, as the other man was a former boxing champion, it was unlikely they wouldn’t cross paths again. The boxing world was smaller than it seemed.

But this time, Megumi had learned his lesson: he would stay as far away from Gojo as possible and keep the key to his heart close. No more illusions, no matter what. Yuuji and Nobara inspected him silently.

"You look better." Yuuji said, the empty bag of chips crunching under his fingers as he was swallowing the rest.

"I feel better, it's like I'm finally back on the right track." And the best part was, Megumi was more sincere than he would have thought possible a few weeks earlier.

"Luckily, that asshole doesn't deserve to be loved by someone like you. Whether he's a coward, an idiot, or just plain mean, you're worth a thousand times better than him."

Instead of answering the sad truth, he hummed non-committally. He couldn't hide from himself, he knew that he'd do almost anything to make said asshole love him back. Lying on his back, he let the combined weight of his friends soothe the ache in his chest.

His phone vibrated, and Yuuji, who'd been reading all his messages to him since they'd woken up, lifted it to see what it was about. Megumi was now certain he didn't have a concussion, but the blows had still exhausted him, and he preferred to avoid the glare of screens until his headache completely subsided.

Fushiguro, I wanted to congratulate you on your third consecutive victory and a very impressive knockout. Keep up with the good work, the boxing world is watching your progress. If you need any advice or anything really, contact me. Mahoraga.

Megumi stood up immediately, which didn't help the throbbing of his headache, but was simply relegated to the background by the magnitude of the news. The heavyweight champion Mahoraga had seen his fight and was complimenting him? Megumi couldn't believe it.

"How do we know it's really him?" It was Nobara who was asking, always ready to express her disbelief at anything and everything. Still, her question made sense.

Yuuji put his hand to his chin, looking thoughtful. "We can ask Yaga; he probably has his number or knows someone who does."

That was probably true. Yaga still had a lot of contacts in the boxing world. Even if you put Gojo's Satoru number aside, he probably had a lot of famous fighters' numbers in his phone.

"Well, we're supposed to meet at the car in thirty minutes, we'll ask him then." Megumi shrugged.

"We won't wait that long." Nobara took Megumi's phone from Yuuji and started typing on it. Less than a minute later, she raised her head, looking at them with a triumphant expression plastered across her face. "Yes, it's him."

Megumi felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. He couldn't stop the nervous laughter that shook him then, before he communicated it to his best friends, and the bed ended up shaking from the force of their peals of laughter.

What a crazy 72 hours it has been. It was as if he'd gone through every possible emotion. From the conviction that he wouldn't win and the terror they felt when they realised he might not make it pass the weigh-in. To the victory and pain mingled. Elation and exhaustion, all at once. It all crashed down on him and vanished the next moment, leaving him at peace for the first time in months.

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Notes:

As you may have noticed, this chapter is shorter and more angsty than the other two parts (it’s still a good 7k but the point stands lol). I did left a warning at the end of the previous chapter so don't hate me haha I'm sorry for that and I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

I can't explain how excited I am about writing part 4 now! It's like a rollercoaster, we've just reached the lowest point in chapter 3 and now we're climbing back up! I also hope I've managed to make it clear that Megumi is starting to do better by the end of the chapter! Oh and obviously I miss Gojo too (as much as you and Megumi lol), I have to make him come back asap haha

And also to everyone who's commented so far! Thank you so much, I can't begin to explain how much this inspires me to write. How I rush to my computer every night because I want to make you happy as much as you've made me happy by taking the time to comment on my work <3 so please keep leaving comments and thank you for your support! I wouldn’t have been able to write so much in so little time otherwise, you really are my muses haha

Ps: I've changed the summary, do you think it's better that way? I wrote 35k in less than two weeks for this story easy peasy but I was tearing my hair out trying to write it.

Chapter 4

Megumi spends the first week after his fight rotting in bed. After three days, his head no longer hurts, but he continues to do what he should have been doing from the start. Taking care of himself.

He's not supposed to resume training until September 2 and has even gotten Tony's approval to have some fun with his diet, as long as he stays reasonable. That means nine days of real vacation, during which he not only has time off, but also no training. It's been so long since this has happened to him that Megumi is rediscovering what it's like to spend his days without adding new pain to his body four times a week.

He catches up on the goofy YouTube videos Yuuji has sent him over the past few months. He resumes his streaks of silly snapchat he used to exchange with Toge and tries out the increasingly unhealthy recipes Nobara sent him links to.

He continues to chat with Tony and Yaga, sharing articles about upcoming big fights in the professional boxing world. Yaga gives his opinion on who he thinks will win and ends up arguing with Tony, who always favours the other opponent. Neither man is particularly good at texting, but Tony's ability to rage bait Yaga is hilarious. Megumi has to take regular breaks while reading their chat thread to wipe away the tears of laughter that blur his vision.

Panda is the only one of his friends whose schedule allows him to meet up with Megumi. His friend ends up coming over several times, and they play fun, lighthearted video games on the portable console he brings with him each time.

Miracle of miracles, Toji even plays a game of Mario Kart with them before going to work. Panda doesn't dare use the blue shell he gets on Megumi's father, who has arms twice as muscular as his own, and Megumi ends up laughing so hard that he can't finish the race higher than 6th place. Toji leaves shortly after, ruffling their hair and telling them that the pizzas are on him.

The only catch is that Megumi is starting to get restless because he is so used to his training schedule. He can't enjoy his days off for too long before getting impatient to get back in the ring. School is set to resume the following Monday, September 2, and Megumi can't wait.

It's not so much the classes that interest him, but rather the fact that he'll get to see Yuuji and Nobara every day. He's also eager to burn off his excess energy in the Ten Shadows now that his body has regained its full strength.

This time, they will have to keep a close eye on his weight to avoid any incidents like the one that occurred before his fight against Nitta, but Megumi is decided to no longer skip meals and is determined to follow his new diet to a T.

On December 22, 2019, Megumi will turn seventeen, and he knows he only has six months of school left before graduating. In 2020, he is expected to fight four more bouts in the junior series before celebrating his eighteenth birthday at the end of the year. If all goes according to plan, his first fight in the professional series will be an important one, perhaps even a championship bout like Yuta, Gojo, and his father before him.

Megumi doesn't want to get ahead of himself, but he's off to a great start with three consecutive wins. If he manages to remain undefeated, he will be allowed to challenge the reigning champion in his weight division. The only other undefeated fighter like him is Hakari, and one of them will see their winning streak come to an end after their fight in November.

Megumi knows that winning will be a huge feat, and just like in his fight against Kamo, he is once again clearly the underdog. But to succeed in this sport, you have to be able to aim for the stars and truly believe that you can get there. So Megumi remains confident. He has always known that he would have to work hard to turn his ambitious future into something tangible.

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When Monday finally arrives, as he prepares for his first day back at school, Tony sends him a text asking him to allow extra time at the end of their session before leaving so that he can talk to Yaga and him. Megumi isn't particularly worried and is even rather happy to finally see his mentors again after their time apart.

That afternoon, at the end of class, Nobara, Yuuji, and Megumi head to the gym. After a little over a week of doing very little, training hurts, but less than he feared. Even his cardio doesn't seem to have suffered too much from his rest. He's still sweating profusely at the end of the first part of his workout, but at least his breathing, though a little fast, is somewhat under control.

This is also the first time he's back in the ring with Yuuji after a summer spent training with Antonio, and the difference does wonders for Megumi's confidence. Obviously, his friend's reflexes aren't as good as they were in June after two months out of the ring, but he's still a formidable opponent.

At the end of the session, after showering and saying goodbye to his friends, Megumi heads to Tony's office. Yaga and his trainer are finishing hanging a new punching bag next to the old one, so Megumi plops down on the small wooden chair in front of the desk and waits for them.

Checking his phone, he sees various messages from Yuta, Toge, Panda and Maki wishing him a happy return to the gym. He laughs when he sees that they have all accompanied their messages with a photo of painkillers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen.

With a smile, he fire them a short text back to let them know that he survived his first training since the fight and then puts his phone in his pocket. As he lets his gaze wander around the small office, he is surprised to find photos of his three fights in the junior series displayed on the wall behind his coach's desk.

Megumi is brought back to the present by Yaga and Tony, who pat him on the back before making their in the other side of the office. Tony sits down in his chair behind his desk and Yaga leans against the wall at the back of the room. Their faces are unreadable, which leads the high school student to wonder if he is in trouble after all.

Tony starts talking first, occupying his hands with the sheets of paper spread out on the desk in front of him.

“Listen, Megumi, Yaga and I have talked a lot and we've come to the conclusion that the talent you've shown this year is more than impressive. I'll be honest with you, when your father first dropped you off here, I didn't have much hope, but you proved me wrong and I'm glad about that.”

After clearing his throat before continuing, Tony took on a more serious tone.

“Look, I'm not saying this to put myself down, I know I'm a damn good coach, but I don't think I have what it takes to help develop a raw talent like yours.”

Megumi opened his mouth to protest, but Tony raised his hand to avoid being interrupted.

"No, let me finish. I know you're going to defend me, and while I appreciate you holding me in such high regard, I need you to really understand what I'm trying to say. I've fought in the big leagues and seen what the big-time coaches are like. And that's not me. Most of the strategies and things we implemented in your training were Yaga's suggestions."

“But coach, we can keep the system as it is,” Megumi exclaims as Tony pauses to catch his breath.

Rising from his seat against the wall, Yaga walks over to the desk before interjecting. "Megumi, I'm only supposed to be your sponsor, and I shouldn't even be spending half the time I do with you two. You know I have a lot of respect for Tony, and I truly think he's an excellent coach. But given your goals, you're going to need a professional trainer.

“So what do you suggest? I thought sponsors weren't allowed to be coaches?” Megumi retorts. The black-haired boy continues to shift uncomfortably in his chair, not liking the turn the conversation is taking.

“You're right, and even if it were allowed, I don't want to get involved in this way anymore. I want to be able to cheer you on with all my heart, without the tensions we would have if I was your coach,” Yaga replied.

After staring at the two men in confusion for a minute, Megumi finally gave in. “So who's going to coach me?”

“How about having the greatest coach of all time?” exclaimed Tony, a broad smile lighting up his face, matched on Yaga's.

Megumi feels as if the world has stopped turning. He is almost tempted to look around for a camera crew and a banner falling from the ceiling with the word “gotcha” written in big, bold letters. Tony and Yaga stare at him intently, and Megumi barely remembers in time that he is supposed to be answering the question.

“Are you serious?”

Interpreting his disbelief as excitement rather than dread, Tony rises from his seat to close the distance between himself and Megumi.

“I know, I couldn't believe it either when Yaga told me he accepted! Word is that you've started to make a name for yourself even among the most famous fighters, so I guess he wants to help train the next big star.”

The black-haired boy feels like his heart is about to jump out of his mouth; he can even feel it beating in his throat.

“Um... I don't think I can accept,” Megumi admits anxiously.

Yaga frowns and crosses his arms over his chest. He watches Megumi for a moment before stepping in for Tony, who’s speechless next to him.

“And why is that?”

Well, too bad, explaining why he really doesn't want Gojo as his coach is out of the question. But he has to find an answer, quickly, and Megumi is good at many things, but lying is not one of them.

“He's a heavyweight champion!” Megumi is about to congratulate himself on coming up with this answer when he hears Yaga stifle an incredulous laugh.

"Well, as you must know, he started out as a welterweight against your father, and before that, in the junior series, he actually worked his way up through several lower weight classes. Need I also mention that Tony and I mainly trained heavyweight fighters before you?"

That's one way to make him look like an idiot, Megumi supposes. He doesn't even know why he was so proud of his retort a minute ago. Silently, he stares at his hands resting on his knees before nervously starting to pick at the skin around his fingernails. He tries to get his brain working again, desperately searching for an answer that doesn't center on his broken heart.

“Megumi, is something wrong?” The concern was evident in Yaga's voice, and the high schooler knew he couldn't keep turning down one of the biggest opportunities of his life without making them even more suspicious.

“No, no, of course not,” Megumi insists. “I guess I just can't believe he really wants to train me.”

Both men seems relieved to hear this. With a reassuring smile, Yaga nods toward the half-open door behind Megumi.

“Well, then maybe you two can talk it over to ease your concerns.”

Megumi feels like he's in a horror movie and remains frozen in place. His head follows Yaga's tilt and slowly turns toward the small office door, which opens slowly to reveal Satoru Gojo in the flesh behind it.

“Yo!” greets the white-haired man as he enters. He wears a smile that seems to be stretched too wide to be true, holding two fingers in the air with his right hand in peace sign.

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Absolutely not. Megumi's angry hiss echoes through the room as soon as they are alone.

“If you think I'm going to agree, you're deluding yourself,” he says, feeling the rage boiling in his chest threatening to burst, causing him to clench his fists.

“Megumi-” Gojo tries, but it seems to remind him to of that night that he stops before taking an uneven breath.

“No,” interrupts the black-haired boy, “I don't even understand why you would say yes, you didn't even dare tell Yaga that you were present during the fight in April.”

Despair is written all over the white-haired man's face, and damn it, how does he manage to wear it so well? He tilts his head to look at his feet and soft-looking white hair falls around his face, making him look like an angel out of a Renaissance painting. Megumi's heart aches at the sight and the high school student began pacing the small room, his only way to stops looking at the other man.

“I know you're angry with me right now...” Gojo tries his luck again, but Megumi doesn't even bother to hide his incredulous scoff.

“Is that the angle you're going with? Really?” He bites his lip to hold back a dozen even meaner remarks. Deep down, Megumi knows how incredible an opportunity having Gojo as a coach would be for his career.

And knowing that he's the only one who's ever beaten Toji makes the moment oddly fitting, like an ouroboros, they’ve come full circle. But Megumi's heart bleeds again at the mere sight of the white-haired man a few feet away from him, and he is unable to look at him without being transported back to that day, to hell with months of personal training.

“Okay, just listen to me for a minute, please. Yaga called me after your fight with Nitta, congratulations by the way-” " Megumi felt like his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets as he listened to the guy's rambling. Gojo must sense that he's on a slippery slope again, so he raises both arms in the air in a gesture of appeasement.

“Megumi what I am trying to tell you is that you have a lot of talent and with me as your coach you could reach your maximum potential. I want to help you get into the big leagues and show the world what you’re made of and how far you can go.”

And who does Megumi think he is, an idiot? Even himself doesn't believe in the front he is presenting. Even setting aside the benefits for his career, there is a universal truth for all athletes around the world. You have to be a bit of a masochist to endure weeks in and weeks out of training and their drastic diets. It's even worse for fighters, because the physical pain they have to endure every time they step into the ring is unbearable. And Megumi is no exception. So if Gojo wanted to train him, what was a little more pain? Is he willing to pass up such an opportunity because this time the pain is mental? No way, not after everything he's had to endure to get this far. But it has to be on his terms. He needs to have some control over the situation, however minimal.

Stopping pacing the room, Megumi turned to the older man, squared his shoulders as if preparing for a fight, and began to dictate his terms.

“You know what? Fine. You want to train me? Perfect. You want to bring me into the big leagues? Even better. I want you to make me the best so that as soon as I'm done with the juniors, I never have to see you again.”

Gojo stood still, towering over him, silent. With his fair skin, white hair, and supernatural stillness, he resembled a statue carved from marble. Only his eyes, which seemed to peer into Megumi's soul, appeared to contain all the life that was within him.

The old man's expression was unreadable, but in truth, he made no effort to understand what he might be thinking. He couldn't afford to worry about hurting Gojo's feelings. The stakes were too high for him.

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes.”

“Good, then we can call Tony and Yaga back.”

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Breaking the news to Toji is easier than he had imagined.

Megumi is not a coward, so that evening, when he gets home, he sits down next to his father and tells him the news straight away.

His dad simply nods thoughtfully and tells Megumi to do what is best for him. It is clear that his father is willing to turn the page on his tumultuous past with Gojo for Megumi's sake, and knowing Toji's pride, that is no small feat.

Later that night, as he goes to bed, he wonders for a moment if he should wait to see Yuuji and Nobara in person to tell them what Tony and Yaga wanted to talk to him about. Finally, he decides to send them a quick explanatory message in their group chat, and less than a minute later, they make a group call.

In summary, Nobara tells him, “I trust you not to let him break you again.” Yuuji tells him, “No more secrets this time, we're here for you no matter what, from the beginning.”

Megumi promises them that he will never let himself be broken again. Until that night, Megumi would have been delighted to take advantage of the opportunity to get closer to Gojo and get to know him better. Now he feels like an animal whose paw has been caught in a bear trap and who must approach it again. He has to go against his instincts, which tell him to stay as far away from the other man as possible, if only for the sake of his career.

Megumi also worries about telling Yuta. He doesn’t want their dynamic to change or their friendship to be put to the test.

He breaks the news to him during one of their bi-monthly video calls, after asking Gojo for permission to tell his friend himself.

“That's great, Megumi, with that, there's no doubt you'll beat Hakari,” said Yuta, beaming through the screen.

“Are you sure you don't mind?” asked the high school student.

“No, I promise, I would never have wanted Satoru as my coach! All my achievements would have been downplayed and attributed to him in one way or another. Besides, I want to face you in the ring one day, and for that, you need to be as strong as possible.” Yuta replied cheekily.

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The night of his first training with Gojo in early September Megumi doesn’t sleep more than four hours in a row. He spends his morning dozing off in class which gets him annoyed looks from his teachers but he has too much on his plate to care about it.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, when the bell rings, Yuuji and Nobara accompany Megumi to the gym as usual. All three are now accustomed to this routine, but the black-haired boy notices that his friends are more tactile than usual in order to show him their support. Megumi is grateful to them, because they don't vocalise their thoughts aloud and are content to be there for him in their own way.

Upon entering the gym, he focuses on the first part of his workout, his exercises, while listening to Nobara talk about the huge shopping spree she plans to treat herself to when school starts again. He does his cardio like this, on the treadmill next to hers, the burning in his legs doing wonders to distract his mind.

When the time finally comes to step into the ring, Megumi feels like himself again. In front of him, Yuuji flashes his characteristic broad smile and tries to push him into sending the first blow

Standing beneath the ring, Gojo watches them. He gives no instructions, so Megumi understands that he wants to evaluate them. But Yuuji is there and provokes him enough that the black-haired boy starts ignoring Gojo again and throws the first punch. His pink-haired friend is probably doing it on purpose to distract him, and Megumi is grateful to him for it.

During the hour they spend in the ring, his new coach's voice is heard only a few times. Either to encourage Megumi to try a new series of punches or to adjust his posture. He congratulates them both when they step out of the ring and asks to speak to Yuuji.

Megumi tries to stifle the stupid pangs of jealousy that stir in the pit of his stomach and signals to his friend to go as he joins Nobara, who has been watching them from a bench and immediately hands him her bottle of electrolytes.

Breathless, Megumi leans his head against the wall and closes his eyes to catch his breath. It's only his second training session since his fight with Nitta, and his arms are already killing him.

His chestnut-haired friend is strangely silent beside him. She simply places a hand on Megumi's tense shoulder. Yuuji joins them a few minutes later, which Megumi only notices when his friend gives him a friendly kick in the shin. Before he has time to say anything, Nobara speaks up to ask Yuuji for an explanation.

“What did he want?”

Shrugging, Yuuji stretches his imposing frame out beside him and grabs the bottle Megumi is still holding before answering.

“He asked if he could email me the video Yaga took of Hakari's fight so I could study it and adapt my stance to his for our training.”

It was a good idea, Megumi had already watched the videos several times to get an idea of his next opponent's form, but if Yuuji could adapt to Hakari, his chances of winning would skyrocket.

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The following training sessions go better than expected. Megumi's level of pinning is acceptable, and exhausted by his training and classes, he hardly feels the pain caused by his heartbreak anymore.

During the first week of October, a month after choosing Gojo as his new coach, Megumi finishes his training and finds the white haired man and Yuuji arguing about the best ramen flavour at their local convenience store.

Rolling his eyes at their antics, Megumi puts on his gloves and doesn't really pay attention to their argument until Gojo declares that if Yuuji doesn't give in and admit that he's right, he'll have to take his place in the ring.

Unfortunately, his pink-haired friend has his back turned and can't see the panic in Megumi's eyes, leaving him with no choice but to pray to any deities who might hear him to make his friend back down.

The black-haired boy is absolutely not ready to face Gojo, shirtless and sweaty, in the ring. With his mental health already hanging by a thread, he needs this stupid argument to end as soon as possible.

Fortunately, his friend raises his arm in surrender and concedes victory to Gojo before heading over to Megumi. The high school student quickly thanks the higher being who took pity on him. Nobara shakes her head at him from a few feet away, having clearly noticed his brief moment of madness.

When the training ends and Yuuji heads over to Sukuna, who has come to see how they are doing, Megumi collapses in a corner of the ring. Some days, training is harder than others, and this time, he is struggling to get up.

That's when he feels a hand ruffling his hair. Too tired to push away the intrusive hand, he simply groans, hoping that Nobara will take pity on him and spontaneously develop the power to levitate him to the showers.

But the deep chuckle that give him goosebumps is definitely not Nobara's. Megumi snap opens his eyes and is met with Gojo's stare, watching him from the corner of the pillar against which the high school student is slumped. “Are you okay, Megumi?” His deep, sensual voice envelops Megumi like honey, and the boy feels like his head is underwater.

He is saved by the sudden arrival of Nobara, who hands him a bottle of water with a knowing look. Gojo is called away by Tony, who is returning with Antonio, and leaves Megumi with a wink.

Megumi has no idea how he's going to survive this for more than a year.

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A little over a month before his fight, Megumi receives a text message from an unknown number on his day off.

Megumi!! Can you free up your schedule tomorrow after your leg training? I managed to get my hands on some new footage of Hakari's fight from last year!!!!!! I think it would be beneficial for us to analyse them together!!

It's Satoru, by the way!!

Of course, the white-haired man is the type to send text messages with a thousand exclamation points. After rereading the message, Megumi quickly replies in the affirmative and tries to bring his heart back to a normal rhythm.

The message was perfectly professional, and it was normal for him to have the older man's number since he was his coach. But his heart was struggling to keep up. With a sigh, he tried to focus again on the silly show playing on the TV next to Tsukimi's mother.

Noticing his lack of attention, she turned to him with a smile.

“A crush from school?” she asks teasingly.

Megumi doesn't know what expression he's wearing right now for her to ask him that question, but it seems impossible for him to answer honestly, so he settles for an evasive grunt. And this isn't the first time he's wondered how the adults around him would react if he told them the truth, before dismissing the dangerous idea.

The next morning, conscientiously ignoring everyone after greeting them as usual, Megumi heads straight for the leg training machines. With his headphones on, he lets himself get carried away by the music until he can no longer avoid going to see Gojo.

He takes an extra-long shower before joining his coach in Tony's office. After knocking, he hears a muffled voice telling him to come in. Inside, Gojo is leaning forward toward the computer, his back turned to him.

The two chairs are placed in front of the computer, and if Megumi were the type to indulge in his illusions, he would say that they are placed closer than they should be. Walking silently toward them, the black-haired boy physically shakes his head to dispel these thoughts.

When he reaches the seats, Gojo finally stands up and turns to Megumi with a dazzling smile. The butterflies in his stomach flutter wildly at the sight, and the high schooler desperately searches for a way to destroy them without hurting himself.

The white-haired man pats the chair to his left, wordlessly ordering Megumi to sit down before doing so himself and sitting to the one on the right. Megumi sits down, unable to refuse the older man anything, even something as trivial as this.

It's a strange echo of Megumi's birthday night, with their legs touching and Gojo's incessant comments on the fight unfolding before him. Except this time, Megumi is supposed to listen without being distracted by the sight of the big hands waving to emphasise his coach's words.

At the end of the second replay, Gojo had asked for his opinion, and Megumi was now grateful for having spent hours over analysing other fights with Yaga and Tony. Because it was now second nature for Megumi to spot the small details that his new coach had missed in his initial analysis. The proud look the white-haired caught his breath and he was scrambling to get a hold on his feelings.

Later, it was only when the phone on Tony's desk started ringing that they realised, with surprise, that two hours of discussion between them had passed. After a few seconds, the noise stopped, and Gojo's sheepish smile as he looked at his watch was enough to snap Megumi out of his trance.

“Um... I should go, but we should talk to Yuuji about the adjustments we want to make tomorrow.”

Gojo runs a hand through his hair before turning to him, smiling. And Megumi wonders for a second how they would feel under his hands, if they are as soft as they look, before managing to chase that thought away. His mind goes blank as they look at each other and the world stops spinning.

They are both sitting with their legs pressed together, and Gojo's body heat, which has been warming him steadily for hours, suddenly seems almost unbearable. The air around them becomes heavy and Megumi is suddenly transported back to Yuta's birthday night, under the red light, before the car behind them honked its horn.

But this time it's different, because Megumi has too much to lose. He has already lost himself once in those mesmerising blue eyes, and the scars on his soul are proof of that. So this time, he looks away first and stares at an invisible point on the wall in front of him.

He hears Gojo clear his throat beside him before getting up from his seat. The sudden withdrawal of their point of contact burns Megumi, and he has to bite his lip to keep from doing something stupid, like letting a whimper out at the loss.

“Um... Yeah, good idea for Yuuji. Keep it up, and underdog or not, you'll still win your fight Megumi.”

Megumi wants to deny the statement, but he also feels it at some level. Since surviving his fight with Nita, it's as if nothing is impossible anymore. The phone rings again and Gojo grimaces before turning his head toward Megumi, who is still sitting in his chair.

“Do you think I should answer it?”

Megumi responds with a shrug. He doesn't think Gojo would do anything other than what he wants anyway.

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So apparently Megumi has a new-found routine that include Gojo Satoru. Figures. Nobara and Yuuji are monitoring each of their interactions closely and it’s starting to get on his nerves.

Megumi’s fine really, Gojo had been his coach for a little more than a month and everything is fine. It’s what he tells them on a Saturday they spend sprawled out in Nobara’s giant bed. Obviously the dark haired boy is a man of his words so he mentions the weird atmosphere that had transpired between him and Gojo the previous Sunday but insists that everything’s under control.

This time he didn’t allow himself to be deluded into thinking that the intense eye contact is anything more than the result of a long, tiring day and Gojo’s mesmerising gaze. Their disbelieving scoff is answer enough but they don’t bother Megumi more about it. Somewhere along the line they had taken a liking toward the older man and had taken to watch their weird dance as a soap opera for their own entertainment.

Megumi would be more mad about it but he knows that his friend only want his happiness. Which is a bit stupid admittedly because it’s quite obvious that he can’t reach it alongside Gojo. Been there, done that and crashed down in flame spectacurlarly.

So in summary Megumi’s fine. It’s not that the longing he feels every time he is near the man had subsided but it does help that they now see each other only in a place were Megumi can redirect and burn away any excess of feeling energy.

Also except from the small, tiny bleep from the previous Sunday their behaviour are the textbook picture of an appropriate relationship between a mentor and his protégé. The physical contact between them limited to the minimum, friendly but not overly so.

And sure lately Megumi would find himself staying longer at the gym that he ever had but Gojo’s the greatest fighter of all time so sue him for wanting to bask in his presence for as long as he could. Not like the older man seems to mind since he would stick around after Megumi’s shower to chat with him. More often than not about boxing but sometimes he would volunteer tidy bits of information about his life and Megumi would hoard them like a dragon and his gold.

Stupid.

In his defence, his only comparison is Tony and he is a man of fewer words after all. He would never mind answering question but he had never volunteer anything about himself unprompted. Megumi only knows that his former coach had been a professional because his dad told him. Tony never mentioned it on his own.

Gojo on the other side is an overload of infos all the time. Not often personal but he is always telling him and Yuuji anecdotes about an arena he visited or a technique of fighting he saw on a particular opponent.

Being around Gojo like that is less hard than he firstly anticipated. And sure they never addressed the elephant in the room. It’s like the abstract-confession and the very real-rejection had never happened. And it would transpires in the way Gojo was sometimes hesitating before patting his back at the end of practice when he didn’t seem to think twice about it for Yuuji or the way they were still pretending in front of Yaga and Tony if the subject came around that he was never at Megumi’s fight against Kamo.

But again, it’s fine and Megumi’s fine and everything’s fine. There isn’t much to add to the subject anyway and sure Megumi could blame the older man for his confusing tendencies but he wanted this book to be closed and never to be opened again.

And they were conveniently never alone anyway, as Yaga and/or Tony were always there to monitor his progress like hawks. Not that Megumi minded after all without Tony as his coach he was seeing less the two men.

The only time were no one else was here was on Sunday. Typically Megumi shouldn’t even be seeing his coach as he is coming in to do his leg work out without climbing on the ring but it also seems to be the day Gojo comes for his personal use to the gym.

Which is a bit weird because with his fortune Megumi’s sure he can afford to go to the private gym Yuta was going to near his fancy neighbourhood but whatever, if he wants to be there on Sunday too that’s on him.

And sure it was a bit distracting to see his crush trainer doing his workout in front of him in the slow hours were it was only mostly them but Megumi’s could use the leg curler machine in his sleep anyway. Not that he is looking because Megumi is stronger than that and he is not going to break his neck to watch the man that broke his heart do pumps or else.

During the week, Gojo was only at the Ten Shadows when Megumi were there. From three pm to whatever time he was leaving that night, three times a week. The process to leaving the gym together was oddly intimate and Megumi’s trying very hard to push away this line of thoughts before it could start to fester and rot in his brain.

Gojo’s here to be his coach and the Ten Shadows is just a place to train him, it makes sense that he wouldn’t stick around after and he’s just being polite by walking Megumi to the bus stop and waiting for him there before going back to his car.

The high-schooler had the weird feeling that he wouldn’t ever be able to stop thinking about the white haired man when he gets on bus for the rest of his life, which was a scary thought in itself.

One night as Megumi was waiting for his bus which was taking forever to come, Gojo had stayed for an hour with him. They were talking about something other than boxing for first time since the white haired man had become his coach and the conversation had been floating easily between them.

When the bus come to a stop in front of him, Megumi is almost tempted to ignore it and to take the next one. But that would be an insane thing to do, so he gets up like a civilised member of society and when he turns again to say his goodbye the look in Gojo’s eyes almost makes him pause.

The older man is looking at him like he doesn’t want Megumi to leave either. And that’s terrible, because Megumi can’t fight his crush at the same time he fights his delusion. The fact that Gojo like talking with him doesn’t mean anything in itself and isn’t even a novelty so Megumi reckons he needs to get a hold on himself, for yesterday. So Megumi chokes on his farewell and get on the bus too hurriedly to come off as casual.

That night if he dreams about Gojo’s hand catching his and making him stay then that’s nobody business but his own.

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His next practice happens on a Wednesday and in a true October fashion it’s pouring buckets. Megumi is already dreading his return home. By the time he gets out of the shower and is ready to leave the weather is even worse.

Gojo is hovering near the locker room door and they collide when Megumi cross the threshold. The white haired man catches him easily before he can topple off and Megumi delude himself into thinking that the shiver that just ran through him is due to the water from his wet hair dripping on his sensitive neck.

“Do you want me to drop you off?”

Gojo’s offer trails off in the air. The sudden question is coming in the middle of Megumi righting himself and to say he wasn’t expecting it is an understatement.

Megumi is torn in half as he desperately wants to say yes, to avoid the rain and the bus in the rain. But all the dark haired boy can think about is the last time he was in Gojo’s car it was for Yuta’s birthday and he can feel knots tying themselves in his stomach in real time.

The paradoxical thoughts clashing in his head are killing him. What if he let our fingers brush again vs What if he doesn’t. Honestly Megumi doesn’t think he would be able to survive either scenario. Desperate to keeps his distance with the older man as much as he wants to keep him as close as possible.

Cross everything he said before, everything is not fine and he is handling Gojo presence in his life terribly. Megumi chokes on his own saliva, probably making a fool of himself in the process but what’s one more time, right.

His only saving grace is that the noise draws Tony closer and his old coach comes to tap on his back. When Megumi feels a little less like he is dying, he raises his head again.

Gojo had taken a step back and is watching with a mix of worry and confusion.

Megumi feels tied up because for some reason he doesn’t think Gojo or even himself want Tony to know that he had offered him a ride back and it’s stupid because Yaga and Tony drop him off all the time but this feels more somehow and it doesn’t make sense to Megumi. Still, he keeps quiet.

It’s Tony who breaks the silence again. “Well kid shit weather, don’t worry about the bus I’ll give you a ride yeah.”

Agreeing quickly, he almost miss the flash of hurt that cross Gojo’s face. But as it is he catches it he closes his mouth so fast that he almost bits his tongue off.

Tony goes to Yaga, probably to tell him to keep an eye on the gym while he drops Megumi off. His sponsor his watching them from afar a strange expression on his face. Megumi tries for a weak smile in his direction and Yaga returns it without hesitating.

Relief flood through him until he hears Gojo clearing his throat. Knocking his fist to Megumi’s shoulder his trainer gives him a mockery of his usual smile and leaves. Megumi feels his throat constrict.

Tony return to Megumi with teasing smile and says “well someone really doesn’t like the rain.” in Gojo’s direction. Megumi tried to make half a laugh get past his lips and follows his former trainer to his car pretending to not hear, drown by the sound of the rain, the roar of Gojo’s car in the distance.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The next time he sees Gojo, the white haired man is fairly normal and whatever has transpired between the last practice is gone. Megumi’s training, is going well and he can feel he is not the only getting his hopes up for the fight.

The last Sunday of October, Megumi goes to the Ten Shadows for his leg training and when he is done cross to the part where the boxing ring and the fighters’s locker room are. As he is about to make a bee line for the showers when he sees him.

Gojo is alone in the middle of the ring. His coach had dragged what looks like a training dummy in the center and is sending powerful and heavy blows to it. Megumi’s water bottle fall to the ground from the chocking images he is depicting and the white haired man turns toward the noise swiftly.

Megumi is rooted to the spot, he can’t look at Gojo, not like that. Not shirtless and sweaty like he had been at the LVBC fights. Because all Megumi can think about is how he had spent hours after it trying to will himself no to slip a hand in his pants at the mere sight of him.

In theory Megumi knows he has to advert his eyes but he can’t seem to force himself to do it and Gojo is still looking at him without saying a word. It should be weird, and it is but not enough for Megumi instincts to kick in and make him leave so he stays and drinks in the sight of the gorgeous man in front of him.

The dark haired boy knows that Gojo’s letting him look and not for the first time he wonders what is going through the older man. His water bottle is still lying on the floor at his feet and so he bends over to pick it ups, but somehow never breaking eye contact with the man in front of him.

Gojo’s otherworldly stare should make him recoil but Megumi can’t seem to muster any other thoughts that he would rather drown in the ocean of his eyes. After standing straight again, Megumi is counting the second on his head for the interruption that had come each time they’ve danced around the limits to appear. In the mean time, he follow the path of a bead of sweat course toward Gojo’s torso. Down his pecs, down his perfectly chiseled abs, down the seams of his pants. Down, down, down.

The doors bursts open.

Yaga’s behind it, makes his way toward the ring. Megumi still hasn’t moved. Something’s going on but he can’t pint point what. Gojo is putting on the shirt that was lying on the ground before turning to face the toy-store owner.

“Since when do you train on Sundays?” The question is directed at Satoru but instead echoes like a statement, like an accusation.

The white haired man doesn’t seem bother by the tone, a lazy smile trailing on his lips with a hint of teeth.

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t come on that particular day?” He retorts but something’s off in his tone and Yaga seems to be thinking it too, his jaw clenching in response.

“You should come on Saturday instead, Megumi must be seeing enough of you already, don’t you think?”

And okay that’s weird, Yaga had never seemed to apply the same standard to him or Tony before.

“Right, well I think Megumi is well capable to tell me if he wants to see less of me.” He says it like it’s nothing, like he wasn’t letting Megumi get an eyeful a few minutes ago. And once again the dark haired boy is reminded that whatever that was, for the white haired man it’s nothing more than some fucked up kind of game, and Megumi is always the one ending up burned.

“Megumi did you finish your work out already? If so, you should go take a shower before the hot water turn lukewarm.” And that’s as clear a dismissal from Yaga it could make it. Megumi isn’t sure of what’s happening here but he knows when to take his cue. With an awkward wave of his hand he hurried past Gojo and Yaga and only took his bag before going back straight home.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Whatever was said between the two men that day, it had led Yaga to come to each one of his training session like clockwork. If Megumi is completely honest with himself, it's not too difficult to understand that the man is simply trying to look out for him, but Megumi doesn't understand what made him suspicious.

After all, it was Yaga who asked Gojo to be his coach. And since then, nothing inappropriate had happened. Except for the two incidents on Sunday, but those couldn't have been the cause of it all, because Yaga couldn't have known about them.

And sure, Gojo had been walking him to the bus stop a few times, but that was no big deal, and he had stopped doing that anyway since Megumi started calling it “the rain gate” in his head. Gojo hadn't offered to drive him home either, since Megumi had let Tony drop him off that night.

When it rained now, either Tony would give him a ride in his car, or Megumi was walking home soaked to the bone from the bus stop to his apartment building. The last time it had rained, Toji had looked at him and burst out laughing, so hard that he dropped his beer bottle, fortunately empty, on the floor. He had muttered something about Megumi looking like an angry kitten. Whatever.

But back to Yaga's strange behaviour. The old man doesn't seem to look at Megumi any differently, so it's unlikely that he's aware of his almost-confession. While Megumi greatly appreciates Yaga and is grateful for everything he's done for him, he's starting to grow uneasy under the toy store owner's scrutinising gaze.

Gojo himself has become even more distant since his conversation with Yaga, perhaps even more so than at the beginning of their partnership. Gone are the idle conversations while Megumi trains on the punching bags; he simply appears when the black-haired boy steps into the ring with Yuuji and watches them, giving quick advices here and there before leaving again the second they step out of it.

This isn't the best environment to be in a week before his big fight against Hakari, so Megumi decides to take matters into his own hands and clear things up with Yaga. After one of his last training sessions before the fight, Megumi asks Yaga to drive him home. With an easy smile, the other man agrees, and the journey passes quickly in quiet silence, disturbed only by the info channel broadcasting very depressing news about the state of the world.

When Yaga parks in front of his block, Megumi gather his courage and jumps in the water.

“Why have you been acting this way toward Gojo lately? I thought you wanted him to be my coach?”

The older man doesn't seem surprised by being asked, but he looks at Megumi in silence for a long moment before answering.

“Is there a reason you didn't want him to be your coach?”

Megumi frowns, not expecting this question. “Um, not particularly, I think I was just a little stressed out by Toji's reaction, that's all.”

Yaga's sigh echoes through the car, and Megumi braces herself for what comes next.

"I see... Listen, Megumi, I've been thinking about this, and you know you can tell me anything, right? If something happened, I wouldn't want you to think I'd take Gojo's side just because I trained him all those years, okay? We were as close as two people working together can be, but I never had with him what I have with you. You know you're like family to me, right?"

Megumi feels his throat tighten. He doesn't know what Yaga is getting at, but he has to hug the older man beside him, emotions bubbling up inside him. In just under a year, this man had taken an important place in his life, in his heart.

Pulling away from his sponsor, Megumi tries to clear his throat before resuming the conversation.

“You know I feel the same way, but please, no more riddles. What are you hinting at?”

Yaga let him sit back down properly, but didn't let go of Megumi's shoulder. The black-haired boy can feel the man's hand trembling as he held him tightly.

“Did he do anything to you after your fight in April?” Yaga utters the words almost in a whisper, and Megumi's heart stopped beating.

“What?”

"I was thinking about how you said you saw him on the night of the fight against Kamo, then changed your story when I told you that Gojo said he didn’t make it. I thought about your reaction when we told you he would be your coach. I thought about how he disappeared to the other side of the world less than a day after your second fight. I thought about how you were out of it for months. And how you had looked at his face in the front page of the tabloid, as if looking at him was causing you pain. So, if he did or tried to do something to you. Anything. Even if you just didn't feel safe with him, you have to tell me, boy. I'll protect you, always. "

His heart had started racing again. No wonder his coach was avoiding him. If Megumi had unwittingly led someone who had been at Gojo’s side for over ten years to believe that the white-haired man had done something to him, Gojo must hate him.

And the worst part was that Megumi could understand what had led Yaga to believe that. If he put himself in the older man's shoes. But he had to set things right immediately. Maybe the trust between the two men was broken, but at least Yaga would know that the man he had trained for years was not a bad person.

“I can promise you that Gojo didn't do anything to me. If anything it’s on me. He only did what any responsible adult would have done.” With a sharp movement, Megumi rests his head back against the headrest and let his eyes close of their own accord to give his strength from his admittance.

“What do you mean, son?”

“I don't want to dwell on it, but as I said, you have nothing to fear. But Yaga... thank you. Thank you for watching over me and for being willing to take my side against him. Thank you for being willing to trust me unreservedly, even if I had accused him.”

“All right, I believe you.” Yaga's hand ruffles Megumi's hair. “It would have been easier if that bastard had been more direct instead of serving me his cryptic answers. I was worried sick that I had sent you straight into the arms of a predator or something.”

Megumi tried to swallow the terrible truth that had been growing steadily in his head all this time, now taking up so much space that it was impossible to ignore. I wish you had. I wish he’ d wanted me back.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Megumi!”

Waking up upon hearing his name being called, the black-haired boy tries to open one eye. His stepmother's smiling face is hovering above him, and Megumi gather the courage to lift his head from his pillow, clearing the fog of his previous sleeping state.

“Yes?” he moans. Megumi would really like to be more eloquent, but that's the only response his still-sleepy brain can muster. He hears a deep laugh, and before he has time to analyse the fact that he recognises the sound perfectly, Tsukimi's mother continues.

“I think your alarm didn't go off. Your coach is here to pick you up.”

What? Megumi feels like someone has poured a bucket of cold water over his head, and he feels more awake than he has ever been in his entire life. He jumps up and looks around. Gojo’s peering at him above Tsukimi’s mother, a mocking smile on his lips.

His stepmother gives him an indulgent smile before telling him she'll make him breakfast for the road and leaving the two men alone.

“Well, Megumi, if I hadn't come, we would have had a big problem,” the white-haired man comments dryly.

Megumi is going to be sick. Gojo is in his room like a strange echo from his wildest fantasy, but everything is wrong, distorded.

“Excuse me, where is Yaga?” A flash of annoyance crosses the older man's face, but before Megumi can figure out what he said wrong, Gojo speaks up again.

“Change of plans. His van got a flat tire, so he asked me to pick you up while he goes to Yuuji's so they can leave as soon as his brother changes the tire.” Satoru's gaze scans Megumi's room, letting his eyes wander over everything that isn't hidden.

Megumi doesn't get time to gather his thoughts to formulate an answer, before Gojo crouches down to his level and starts complaining about him being late, and suddenly, the black-haired boy springs into action. He allows himself a second to feel embarrassed about being in his underwear in front of Satoru, then heads straight for his closet to put on some clothes.

Fortunately, his bag has been ready since yesterday's weigh-in, and all he has to do is brush his teeth to be ready. He tries not to dwell on the fact that Gojo is now lying where he was sleeping peacefully just moments ago, the bed surely still warm from Megumi’s body heat and tells the white haired man to wait for him without touching anything.

In the bathroom, he tries to tame his hair for a minute after finishing brushing his teeth, but quickly gives up when Gojo starts knocking on the door to tell him to hurry up. Megumi is really grateful that Toji is working, because it would have been a terrible way for them to see each other again. The black-haired boy would bet that his father would have lost his temper in the face of Gojo's insistence.

When he finally opens the bathroom door, Megumi receives a garment on his head. Untangling it, he recognises the shape of a jacket and puts it on without examining it further. The black-haired boy mumbles a thank you to his coach.

Ten minutes after being jolted awake, he is ready to go. Gojo grabs his gym bag for him, and Megumi says goodbye to Tsukimi's mother while eating his breakfast, trying to thank her without dropping his toast on the floor as he attempts to zip up his jacket and hold the piece of bread in his mouth.

This time, when he gets into Gojo's car, he is too preoccupied with the fact that he finally recognises the garment the white-haired man had given him to panic at the thought of their hands brushing against each other. It is the one he had given Megumi that night, which had since been relegated to the back of his closet. The one Gojo had worn while watching Megumi fight Kamo and in which he had gently wrapped Megumi on that cold April night.

This time, when he gets into Gojo's car, he is too preoccupied with finally recognising the garment the white-haired man had given him to panic at the thought of their hands brushing against each other. It was the one he had given him that night, which had since been relegated to the back of his closet. The one Gojo had worn while watching Megumi fight Kamo, and in which he had gently wrapped Megumi on that cold April night.

With a trembling sigh, Megumi begins to say, “Is it-” but stops there, unable to utter the words, knowing that the white-haired man can guess the end of his sentence anyway. Gojo's gaze remained fixed on the windshield as he reply with forced enthusiasm. “Yes, you should wear it more often. You look good in it, Megumi!”

Megumi's heart skips its hundredth beat since meeting the older man. What is he supposed to say to that? Megumi wants to get angry. He wants to snaps at Gojo, keep pushing and probing, demanding an explanation. Why are you saying it like that? Why are you telling me that I look good in your clothes? Why are you making me wear the symbol of your rejection? Pick one, damn it.

But in the end, he remains silent. The white-haired man had just returned to normal with Megumi, so if he wants to keep quiet about it, well, that's fine with him. He'd rather keep his doubts to himself than let Gojo put distance between them again. So, with a resigned sigh, he bites his lip for a moment before muttering, “Okay.”

This seems to make his coach smile, who squeezes Megumi's knee once before launching into a tirade about how tires are no longer reliable or something like that. The black-haired boy tries to focus and not get carried away by the burning sensation in his leg, where Satoru's hand had just branded him all over again.

He had forgotten how easy it was to be with the other man when he lets you in. How much he loved listening to the constant stream of meaningless chatter and the many rants that were flowing out of Gojo's mouth. How he always left room for Megumi's comments and was willing to rearrange his train of thought to follow Megumi elsewhere in a whim.

The high school student hadn't realised how much he missed talking, really talking, with the other man until they arrived together at the venue and Megumi was forced to realise that the three-hour drive had gone by too quickly for his liking.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

 

 

 

 

Notes:

Hi!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I can't believe we've reached 45k words, oh my God!

So, how are you feeling??? I promised I'd bring Gojo back, so here he is, but the tension is unbearable!! Our dear Megumi is going through horrible times again, but at least he gets to get an eyeful of shirtless Goojo as a reward.

In the next chapter, we should finally get the romance we've been waiting for so long! Youhoo

We're back to a steady pace of 10k words in four days. I really think I'm possessed by the ghost of GoFushi lol, no, but seriously, I owe it to your comments that push me to write like nothing else does, so thank you <3

Also, as you may have noticed, I've updated the number of chapters to 5. But I haven't decided yet if I'm going to split this story into two parts (or even three, but let's not get ahead of ourselves!). The first part would be this one, which focuses on the years 2018/2019, and the second part would focus on the year 2020.

Please let me know your in depths thoughts about this chapter! xx

Chapter 5

xWhen they arrive at the new arena, Megumi feels his excitement rising. He has never been there before, and when he and Gojo finally stop, it takes him a moment to realise how big the arena is. It is the largest he has ever fought in.

They get out and the white haired man walks ahead of him, unhurried. They talked the whole way there, but now silence reigns between them. It’s not heavy or awkward though, just companionable and Megumi can hear the old gravel crunching and cracking under his feet as they move forward.

On the way inside, they are stopped several times. Mostly by staff members who recognise Gojo and ask him either why he's there or to pose for a photo. Megumi is surprised; he would have thought the news would have spread already, but it seems that Gojo's arrival as a new important figure in the Ten Shadows has been kept secret. The teenager is grateful for the loyalty shown by the regulars.

The white haired man seems to preen under the attention and doesn’t caught on Megumi’s mood souring. He doesn’t mind seeing Gojo bask under the attentions but the five minutes walk between the car to the Arena’s back door had taken them fifteen already since they keep being interrupted.

 

The fact that no one seems to recognise Megumi doesn't help. It's not that he likes being in the spotlight all that much and any other time he would be grateful for the fact that walking alongside the greatest actually allows him to hide in Gojo’s shadow. However, he participates in the main fight of the evening, which completely escapes everyone who stops them.

At one point, Megumi gets tired of waiting for his coach and heads straight for his locker room. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Hakari entering the double room across the hall and they nod, oddly solemn toward eachoter.

Megumi is responding to the good luck messages Tsukimi sent him when the door finally opens to reveal his trainer.

“Megumi, you didn't wait for me! That's not very nice, don't you think?” Gojo whines. The white-haired man closes the distance between them and drops Megumi's bag at his feet, a teasing smile playing on his lips.

The black-haired boy's heart skips a beat at the sight, and he tries to channel his previous annoyance at his coach's antics to steady his voice a little. “Isn't this supposed to be my big night? Why are you signing autographs?”

Gojo's laughter echoes through the locker room, which is fortunately still empty. “Megumi's jealous? All right, I won't let anyone distract me from you anymore.” His gaze is mischievous, and there's no doubt that he's chosen his words carefully. Megumi has the unpleasant feeling that he's being toyed with.

The other man stares at him intently, waiting for a response. So Megumi takes a slow breath, letting the sensation of his chest expanding to its fullest distract him before his anger becomes too obvious, which would make Gojo think he's won.

“Do whatever you want, but let me carry my own stuff next time.” Megumi says while Gojo rummages through the bag.

He feels his cheeks flush at the memory of his coach carrying it for him. It's perfectly normal, but like everything else about Gojo, this gesture seems to have depth and can be interpreted in many ways.

Earlier, he had tried to grab it from the trunk of the car, but Gojo had snatched it away from him with a wink. He is bigger and taller than Megumi, so he can carry it effortlessly, regardless of the contents, but Megumi is not a delicate woman. He has muscular arms and trains almost every day of the week, so he should be the one carrying it.

He had tried to talk to his coach about it, but Gojo had simply replied, “But I like carrying it for you. Isn't that a coach's job?” tilting his head to one side. His hair fell messily over his eyes, and Megumi had to clench his fists to suppress the urge to push them back, forgetting to reply. When he realised it, someone had already stopped Satoru to take a photo, so Megumi gave up.

After hearing Megumi, he snaps his head up. And the black-haired boy can almost see the gears turning beneath his mop of shiny white hair. His head is tilted to one side and his eyes are shining, like those of a cat that has just caught a mouse. When he opens his mouth, Megumi knows it's over for him. Whatever Gojo says to him, he won't be able to find a comeback for it.

Fortunately for Megumi, he is saved by the opening of the locker room door and the arrival of another fighter. It's almost funny to see his eyes widen in surprise at the sight of Megumi's coach. The poor boy opens and closes his mouth several times without making a sound. Megumi would almost feel sorry for him if he weren't too busy rolling his eyes.

Bending down, he grabs his bag from the floor and places it on the bench next to him before rummaging through it to find his change of clothes. Gojo sits down next to him, seemingly ignoring the other boy, and Megumi struggles to keep a straight face and not let any satisfaction show.

When he looks up and meets Gojo's gaze, Megumi realises that the battle is lost. The coy smile on his coach's face clearly shows that he didn't miss Megumi's moment of weakness.

After clearing his throat, Megumi turns around and starts putting on his gear. He pulls his training pants over his shorts, because it's a little cold backstage and he prefers to wait until the last minute to bare his legs.

He knows they have a warm-up planned for later in the evening before his fight, so he doesn't bother to take a shower. He sits back down next to Gojo, who is looking at his phone. The other boy is watching them from across the room, and Megumi tries to smile at him to dispel the strange atmosphere.

The door opens to reveal the two other fighters who share the locker room with Megumi and their coaches. They all freeze when they see the distinctive white hair, and Megumi bites his lip and quickly pulls out his phone. He wants to have something to look at when they come over to greet Gojo without even noticing him.

But a hand closes around it before he even has time to unlock it, and Gojo's deep voice echoes in the otherwise silent locker room. “Megumi, go get me something from the vending machine, I'm dying for a snack.”

Megumi looks up to meet Gojo's gaze, who is pouting. It's not that Megumi needs an excuse to leave the room as quickly as possible, but he is also very weak in front of the man standing in front of him.

The black-haired boy clears his throat and stands up, nodding. He grabs the wallet Gojo hands him with a smile and rushes out the door.

After struggling with the vending machine for a minute, Megumi manages to get two chocolate bars out of it. He returns to the locker room and hands the treats to his coach. After unwrapping his own, he plops down on the bench next to him, and Gojo pats him on the shoulder in thanks.

The room is quiet, but not like it was before he left. The fighters talk quietly with their respective coaches, and no one pays them any attention anymore. Megumi wonders what the white-haired man could have said for a minute before moving on. He needs to get into the trance-like state he puts himself in before each fight.

His coach hands him his headphones. Megumi puts them on without saying a word. He needs to clear his head and the sooner the better. Fortunately, Gojo seems to understand and doesn't try to talk to him.

Tony had done the same, and Megumi tells himself that this is the advantage of having coaches who know what it's like to step into the ring. They know exactly how important it is to be left alone before. Megumi has been training for months, analysing Hakari's style from every angle, and he is as ready as he can be.

Tonight, he is fighting again in the main bout. This is his second time, while Hakari has fought most of his fights in the spotlight. In theory, this could be a disadvantage for Megumi, who is less accustomed to pressure and large crowds, but in the end, it doesn't really matter. He is considered the underdog anyway because of Hakari's incredible power for a lightweight.

But Megumi isn't afraid. He feels good, a little nervous, but he feels sharper than he has since his fight against Kamo. The black-haired boy doesn't want to attribute this to Gojo's presence, but for now, it's two for two.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The hours pass, and at one point, Megumi feels the bench lift as Gojo stands up. His coach waves his phone in front of Megumi, who sees it ringing and nods in understanding.

The man doesn't return for a long time, but that doesn't bother the high-schooler, who is finally in his own world. He plays with the Jade dogs in his hand and runs his finger over its little head. He thinks about how he can't wait for the snow to start falling in their town so he can take some of the dogs from the shelter out to play in it.

He is pulled out of his thoughts by Gojo's head appearing at the door to warn him. “It's time to warm up, Megumi.”

The boy stands up. His heart starts beating faster, anticipation making his blood rush through his veins. He still feels fine, but as he cracks his neck, he starts to feel a little nervous. The warm-up comes at just the right time.

Before following Gojo to the small gym, he checks his phone one last time and clear Yuuji's message commenting on the previous fights. His pink-haired friend is in the arena, waiting for his fight with Nobara, Maki, and Panda.

He knows that Toge and Panda will be watching the fight live, just like his father on the arena's YouTube channel, and that Tony, Antonio, and Yaga complete his group of supporters in the audience. He wants to give them a good time, to prove to them that they are right to cheer him on against the favourite.

When he arrives at the gym, his coach is waiting for him. His face is unusually serious, but not tense. He guides him through his warm-up, making sure his muscles aren't cold to avoid injury.

Once the warm-up is over, there is still more than half an hour before the fight, but he starts to get restless and doesn't want to go back to the locker room. Gojo seems to understand and, without a word, nods his head to signal him to head for the punching bag.

After a good ten minutes, Megumi feels better. His knuckles are sore, but his mind is clear again, and that's what matters most. Gojo is waiting for him, straddling a bench in the corner of the room, the wrapping tape between his open legs.

It strangely reminds him of the night of his first fight against Muta. But Megumi can't let himself be distracted by these thoughts, so he simply joins his coach, straddling the bench too, and holds out his hands in front of him.

He tries to relax under his coach's inscrutable gaze and makes sure his hands don't betray him by shaking. Not so much because of his upcoming fight, but rather because of Gojo's closeness.

Megumi is still not afraid, but he feels that the moment of truth is approaching. He has been waiting for it since the day of the draw. This is his chance to prove himself. To cement his name in the series and prove that his victory against Kamo was not a fluke.

Gojo looks at him intently. If there's one person who knows how it feels, it's him. So he doesn't insist, doesn't ask Megumi to express his feelings, and doesn't waste time with empty words of reassurance.

 

He is pulled out of his thoughts by the white haired man clearing his throat. He gently lifts Megumi's hand and, without a word, makes him hold the gauze between their hands before starting to wrap it around his wrist. They both know that Megumi can do it himself, but as always, if the older man wants to pretend nothing is out of the ordinary, Megumi will follow his lead. No matter how desperate it makes the boy feel, he is not ready to push him away.

 

Gojo's hands seem huge around his, and Megumi cannot look away. He is mesmerised by the sight of the long, calloused fingers moving higher and higher up the thin band until they reach his knuckles. They are pink and damaged from time spent on the punching bag earlier and training in general, but Gojo continues to stroke them reverently with the tip of his thumb.

 

Megumi holds his breath. It hurts, this slow contact between Gojo's skin and the raw spot, but he'd rather swallow hot coal than say anything to stop him. He bites his lips hard to make sure no unwanted sounds, pain or otherwise, escape.

 

After a moment, the white-haired man stops his delicate treatment and finishes his right hand. Out of the corner of his eye, Megumi sees that there are only fifteen minutes left before his turn. He would like to be able to think about the fight, but all of his attention is focused on the small area between their hands.

Gojo places the black-haired boy's hand back on the bench and takes the other one. His left hand is in even worse condition, as it is his dominant hand and there is a purple bruise at the junction between his ring finger and little finger. The white-haired man doesn't even begin to wrap the thin gauze and is already caressing his abused skin.

If Megumi had been having trouble breathing before, now it's as if the oxygen has been sucked out of the room and he finds himself gasping, trying to get air into his constricted lungs. Fortunately, if his coach notices his erratic breathing, he makes no comment and simply starts bandaging his hand.

The clock continues to tick, and Megumi has no idea how much time has passed when Gojo gently places his left hand on the bench next to his right hand.

He looks up, and their eyes meet. Light blue against navy blue. White eyelashes contrasting with black ones. Megumi feels almost dizzy from the intensity of the gaze and almost misses Gojo's words, noticing only that the other man is speaking because he can feel his breath on his face, testimony of how close they are.

“Megumi, I think you're going to win.” He says it in a whisper, like a promise. Part of Megumi wants to argue, but deep down, he feels it too. The strange conviction that now that he has Gojo by his side, nothing can stop him.

The dark haired boy is going to fight the most promising junior of the year. He doesn’t need courage, he is already brave. So before, the clock can strike ten pm, he closes the gap between them and tuck his face in Gojo’s neck.

 

Strands of their hairs mix and Megumi knows they must make an odd pair. He braces himself for the rejection when he feels his trainer hand on his shoulder but instead of pushing him away he pulls him closer.

 

Megumi still haven’t answer and he wonders if he will ever remembers how to talk when he feels Gojo’s lips brush against the shell of his ear. The older man's face ended up buried in Megumi's hair, and the only coherent thought Megumi could form was that it felt like coming home at last.

 

They remain like this for a moment, then when the alarm sounds, signalling to the fighter that it's time to enter the ring, Megumi feels 100% ready. It's as if this embrace has managed to calm his agitation in one fell swoop.

They get up, but it's not in an awkward silence. Gojo gives him a small, discreet smile, which Megumi tries to return. He would like to analyse and ruminate on everything that has happened between them since he sat down on the bench, but now is not the time.

It's showtime.

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When he steps into the ring, Megumi feels like a predator at the top of the food chain. He watches Hakari advance toward him and has to fight the urge to immediately get into a fighting stance. He can't wait for the bout to begin. He's eager to make history. His history. Everything is there for his taking; all he has to do is reach out his hand.

On November 15, 2019, Fushiguro and Hakari face off in the most difficult fight of the younger man's career. The start of the fight is very intense, and despite his training to get used to it, Megumi has never suffered so much in such a short time. In the seventh round, he falls from huge blows to the side of his head and becomes deaf. The world goes silent around Megumi, but he manages to get up before the referee's countdown ends. He should give up, but the stakes are too high. He doesn't need to hear to win, but when he feels blood starting to run through his hair, he gives himself one round to put an end to the fight by TKO or give up for his own safety. Hakari doesn't look great either, but of the two, he's the one who's doing better.

Megumi resumes his fighting stance, still without hearing a sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the referee give the green light. Having to look away causes him to lose a second, which Hikari takes advantage of to rush towards him. In theory, Megumi should block the blow, but with strange clarity, he knows that he has found his chance. It is here. The black-haired boy parry it with all his strength in his right forearm and, with his left hand, delivers a quick but deadly blow. Hakari falls to the ground.

Megumi can't hear the countdown. He can only read the numbers decreasing on the referee's hand. He feels the blood on the side of his head begin to flow down his spine and his vision blurs for a second before he manages to pull himself together.

Hakari's eyes are open, but he fails to get up within the ten seconds allowed by the referee, which means Megumi has won. He hardly realises it until the referee grabs his arm and raises it toward the sky. When he hears Gojo calling his name, he turns around. His coach is looking at him with obvious pride on his face and it takes Megumi a second to realise that he heard him, his eyes widening. Suddenly, the noise returns and he realises that the crowd is chanting his name.

He closes his eyes and tilts his head back toward the ceiling. His head hurts and he feels like he's been run over by a tractor, but he won, and that simple fact makes everything else disappear. He feels a tap on his arm and when he looks over, Tony and Yaga are there. They shout that he did it, that he went undefeated his entire freshman year. Adrenaline surges through his veins and he feels exhilarated.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees his friends at the foot of the ring. Yuuji’s shaking Gojo, tangled in the ropes and Nobara shouts incoherently toward him, jumping up and down messily with Maki. Panda waves his phone in front of him, and Megumi sees Yuta and Toge beaming on the screen.

When it's time for his medical exam, Megumi assures everyone that he'll see them in the parking lot and heads backstage, followed by his coach. They still haven't exchanged a word about his victory, but Gojo's hand on his neck feels branding.

When he removes it, it is only to allow the doctor to examine it, and his trainer hand is red with Megumi's blood. He wonders how badly he was hit on the head, because it awakens something in him that akin to desire. After that, he keeps his eyes fixed on the doctor and lets his flush be attributed to his exhaustion rather than to unholy thoughts.

On another note, he is relieved to hear that temporary deafness is not uncommon and as long as his hearing does not leave him again in the next few days, there is no cause for concern. There is no permanent damage, at least. The doctor sends him to the shower and waits for Megumi to come out clean before putting a bandage on his head. There is no need for stitches, so once the bandage is in place, the dark haired boy is released.

 

 

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The following days are hectic. His inbox is overflowing with congratulatory messages from various people, and some members of the boxing world begin to contact him. On Gojo's orders, he passes on the names of these people to his coach, who tells him which ones to be wary of and which ones are sincere.

Megumi only keeps private when Mahoraga congratulates him again, not knowing what the relationship between the two men is like after the charity fight. He talks about it with Yuuji and Nobara, with whom he is spending the weekend.

He also tells them most of what happened with Gojo and Yaga, and, with rosy cheeks, he manages to tell them about the embarrassing situation from a few days earlier.

They both smile indulgently at him and, as they promised, do not judge him. Nobara seems to be holding back some comments, but she continues to support him. What for, that is the question.

Megumi knows he's getting closer to Gojo, even though he hasn't seen the older man since the fight, they've been texting each other constantly ever since. Megumi tries to contain his hope and limit his responses to the white haired man, but that doesn't seem to deter him from bombarding him with messages.

Most are harmless: Gojo summaries his day, sends photos of pretty things he's seen outside, and even detailed reviews of the various treats he tastes. These aren't the kind of messages you'd expect from your coach, but rather from your friend, and even then, it's a bit over the top, because Megumi never sends that many texts to his friends, even the closest ones.

But now he knows what it's like to burn and crash, so he represses the feelings rising in his chest and allows himself to be happy about the strange friendship that binds them.

He misses the first week of classes after the fight, but his friends takes notes for him. None of his teachers were expecting him anyway, and they had pretty much all given up on him. As long as he doesn't disrupt the class, they leave him alone.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Training doesn't resume until the first week of December, and it's as light as possible. He won't know the name of his next opponent until the first week of January, so they continue to train in a general way, targeting areas where he has shown weaknesses in the past.

His hearing has returned to normal, and even when Yuuji hit him hard in the face, it didn't leave him again. Without needing to discuss it beforehand, he and his coach tacitly agreed to hide the fact that he had temporarily lost his hearing during the fight from those around him so as not to worry them.

One evening, after Megumi had just gotten out of the shower and gotten dressed, he almost bumped into his coach as he was leaving the locker room. Yuuji and Nobara had already left, but Megumi had wanted to enjoy the hot shower a little longer before facing the rain outside.

“Megumi! Do you want me to drive you home, or would you rather run in the rain?” asked the white-haired man standing in front of him. He waved his car keys in front of the high schooler's face, as if to taunt him.

This time, the boy didn't hesitate. He nods with a smile, his heart pounding as he sees Gojo's smile widen.

They run to the car and Megumi fiddles with the radio until he can find a station he liked, under the patient gaze of his coach. A well-known song began to play in the car and Gojo hummed along, in time with the lyrics.

Megumi was worried that it would be awkward to meet up with the white-haired man after exchanging text messages nonstop and not seeing each other for a week, but it wasn’t the case. Even when the conversation stopped, the silence remained comfortable.

“Gojo?” Megumi asks, voice breaking the silence, shifting in his seat.

The other man responds with a grunt, focused on changing lanes. Before Megumi can interpret this as a sign encouraging him to continue and express what's on his mind, he is interrupted by the older man.

“You can call me Satoru, you know? Maybe not in front of everyone.” He stops there, leaving Megumi strangely eager to hear more. “But when we're together, I'd like to hear you call me by my first name.”

Megumi remains silent for a moment, trying to process this request. Satoru. He finds it terribly intimate to say his name, to roll it around on his tongue, to let it spin in his mouth before allowing himself to try it out loud. He whispers it first, then hears Satoru inhale sharply beside him, prompting to try again, louder this time.

They stop in front of his building and the rain falls heavily on the roof of the car, tempting Megumi to stay inside a little longer. In this isolated space with the older man, he feels safe and warm. Everything is slowed down there, the heater fanning over them softly, reinforcing his feeling of comfort. The other man doesn't seem to be in a hurry for Megumi to leave either.

They are in a bubble, reinforced by the night enveloping them behind its curtain. There is no light inside the car, and Satoru's face is lit only by the orange glow of the streetlight above them. He looks ethereal, and Megumi has to look ahead before he does something stupid.

“What did you want to ask me earlier, when you said my name?” asks Gojo. Drawn by the sound and unable to resist the temptation to soak up the majestic sight of Satoru, Megumi turns his head again and swallows, trying to formulate a coherent response.

“Which side are you going to sit on for the fight between Yuta and Haibara?” Megumi has to asks, because he received the tickets from Yuta this morning. His father slipped the envelope between his orange juice and protein shake.

“I'll be in the best seat in the house, right across from you on Yu’s side.” Gojo whispers back to him, as if it was a secret, and maybe it is. Megumi isn't an expert on flirting, but that's clearly what Satoru is doing.

Flirting aside, Megumi expected Satoru to be on Haibara’s side of the ring. He knows they've been friends since high school, and even though he gets along well with his cousin Yuta, they're not as close. But Megumi nerves starts to rise again because it then brings him to his real question.

“Are you planning on bringing a date?”

Megumi has to ask. If he has to see Satoru flirting with someone else in front of him, he has to be ready. He asks the question as casually as possible, but the older man's raised eyebrow tells him he's far from achieving his goal. But Megumi doesn't look away, even though he feels his cheeks flush under the scrutinising gaze.

“Just Shoko and Suguru.” He says it while looking Megumi straight in the eye, without blinking. It sounds like a promise. So the black-haired boy nods, trusting him. Perhaps too much for his own good.

He is about to grab his gym bag and head home when Gojo's voice rings out again. “Are you?” The question echoes in the air around them. Megumi wonders why he is asking him this when the answer is so obvious already.

He knows that, in theory, he's not too bad looking and that he's been receiving more and more declarations of love since Ami's Valentine's Day letter, but he's still single, and Satoru knows it. He was here to witness Megumi’s snort at the end of an interview when the journalist asked him if he had someone to share his victory with.

But it feels like a test, one he desperately doesn’t want to fail so Megumi throws caution to the wind. “Well, no, since you're already taken.” He swears he's going to have a heart attack before his sport kill him, because his heart always finds new ways to race when he's around the older man.

But Satoru just smiles and lets a finger brush Megumi's cheek. It's heartbreakingly tender and Megumi wants him so badly it hurts. The white haired man voice is soft as he says good night to him.

Megumi feels his cheek still tingling from Satoru's touch, even after he's gone.

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That night, Megumi doesn’t get much sleep and ends up spending most of the night staring at the ceiling, wondering what that strange mutual confession meant. Unable to come to any conclusion, he decides to talk to his friends about it.

He, Yuuji, and Nobara had planned to go out Christmas shopping the next day. Not wanting to risk having this conversation with his friends outside, where they could be overheard, he sent them a quick text message suggesting they could have a sleepover after. It had been a long time since they had done that anyway.

Shopping with Nobara is never easy, and when they finally get back to Yuuji's place, Megumi is exhausted, despite his athletic lifestyle. His phone vibrates in his pocket, and when he takes it out to look, it's a new follower on Instagram.

Nobara, still determined to become his manager, had started taking mook classes, one of which dealt with social media strategy. Megumi knew it was important, especially in a league where fighters' popularity could influence their matchups, but he hadn't bothered to create a social media account. Nobara took care of it, and although he still received notifications when someone followed his account, he let her manage it as she saw fit. She had his complete trust.

And the less he knew, the better he was. As he began to make a name for himself, Megumi stopped reading comments or articles. He was a pretty tough guy, but some people, journalists or random fans, were just plain mean.

It had been one of his first and most serious conversations with Gojo, about how to approach social media. The white-haired man hadn't beat around the bush and told him bluntly that even he, who was considered the greatest, didn't manage his account and didn't read the comments and articles.

There was a lot of love, sometimes even too much, in those posts, but humans weren't meant to be seen by so many people and hear their comments, good or bad. His main advice, which had nothing to do with fighting, was therefore quite similar to what Yaga had told him in the past. Find your circle and stay loyal to it. Listen to their constructive criticism and ignore the rest.

His phone vibrated again, bringing Megumi back to reality. On the screen, the notification “Gojo Satoru has started following you” glowed like a beacon. Yuuji was arguing with Nobara about something, and they weren't paying any attention to Megumi.

With a trembling hand, he opened the notification. Megumi didn't really know why he was reacting so strongly; after all, Gojo had made his first appearance as his official coach a few weeks ago, during Megumi's fight against Hakari. But it felt branding. As if the other man was saying, “Yes, he's mine.”

Yuuji's loud throat clearing startled Megumi. His friend looked at him with a knowing smile, while Nobara simply shook her head beside him. Running a hand through his hair, Megumi gave him an apologetic smile, clearly embarrassed at having been caught red-handed.

“Megumi, would you mind settling our dispute?” Nobara challenged, arms crossed over his chest, and a glance at Yuuji made it clear that he had to choose wisely, as they both looked serious. He places his phone screen down on the counter and makes his way to join them.

“Which is better, sweet or salty soy sauce?” Yuuji urges him to answer, waving his hand impatiently. Megumi barely avoids getting hit on the face by the waving hand and tries to look thoughtful.

He thinks for a moment before giving his verdict. Both of them stare at him wide-eyed, getting closer with every passing second, impatient.

“Salty” Megumi finally declares. Nobara nods eagerly while Yuuji swears loudly. The dark haired boy bursts out laughing, finally giving in, and all three end up roaring with laughter.

After a while, as they gather around the table to eat, Yuuji nods toward Megumi's phone, which is still sitting on the counter. "By the way, why did you look so out of it earlier?

Nobara seems to already be aware of this, as she must have received the notification too, and responds quickly. Megumi should probably be annoyed, but at least she’s helping him avoid stammering out a lame explanation.

Megumi decides that there is no better time than now and seizes the opportunity to tell them what happened in the car the night before.

 

“Yep, it's clearly flirting.”

Megumi feels somewhat comforted knowing that his friends see things the same way, but it doesn't help him at all. With a sigh, he rests his chin in his hand and signals to Yuuji not to put any more food in his bowl, as he still has to follow his diet.

Nobara, who had remained rather silent during his story, tilts her head to one side as she asks him one of her infamous lethal question.

“Are you going to try to confess your feelings to him again? You still love him, don't you?” The second question is hardly a question at all, more of a statement, but Megumi nods anyway.

“I'm not going to put myself on the line like last time. That was my last hint that I’m open to more.”

“So you're going to wait for him to make the first move?” Yuuji's inquisitive gaze wander on Megumi’s face, curious as he rarely is.

Megumi takes a deep breath before answering. Last night, thanks to his insomnia, he had plenty of time to think about it, but somehow it still costs him to give an answer.

"I won't flirt anymore, I think, at least not so openly. But I wanted to make sure we both knew where I stood and yet still have plausible deniability. So now it's in his hands, I guess."

“But you hope he will.”

Nobara said it with an air of finality, and it's the truth, isn't it? Remove all the superficial layers, and the essence remains the same. Megumi wants Satoru to want him back. Twelve years older and all.

Maybe it's because of all the difficult things that happened to him during his childhood, but Megumi hasn't been a child for a long time and was never a normal teenager. Especially now, in the junior series and with his commitment to his sporting life, he knows he doesn't have the same life experience as his classmates.

What he is just beginning to realise is that Gojo couldn't have known that several months ago. In April, to the white-haired man, Megumi was a sixteen-year-old boy in love. Today, he might see him perhaps not as his equal, but as someone on his way to becoming it.

A simple crush should have faded long ago, if it had survived rejection, the distance between them would have made it disappear. Yet Megumi's feelings hadn't changed at all, and from the way he'd been catching Satoru staring at him lately, he knew the older man was beginning to understand that too.

So yes, Megumi had made his move, and this time, either Satoru could return to his professional attitude and they could save their mentor/mentee relationship by hiding his unwanted feelings in the realm of the unsaid, or he would have to respond to his feelings.

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They go to pick up Yuta and Toge on the 15th, and Megumi spends the day after their return on Toge's sofa catching up on lost time. Yuta is already back at the gym and doesn't have a minute to himself with less than ten days to go before his championship.

Maki is with him most of the time to fully settle into her new position as his manager, and since Panda is in the middle of midterm exams, it's just him and Toge. They don't really interact much because Inumaki is still suffering from jet lag, but they pass the time soaking up in each other presence, watching old reruns of Friends and dozing off.

Nobara and Yuuji are in class, but Toji agreed to write him a note so he could see Toge. It’s not like he was in condition to go anyway, as he had started training with his father again. They don't do it often or with any kind of regularity, but sometimes his father picks him up at the shelter after his walk with the dogs and they go up into the ring together outside of his training.

They had gone there the night before, and since they hadn't done so since Megumi's fight with Hakari, the black-haired boy had bitten the dust with nasty blooming bruises on his rib cage to prove it. Toji had never been one to hold back, but it had gotten worse since Gojo became his coach.

In theory, Megumi knew his father was okay with it, but Gojo's distinctive fighting style had begun to intertwine with Megumi's, and he knew Toji had noticed. He didn't think his father saw their fights as revenge, but he was still tougher on him than before.

He had confided this thought to Toge before sinking into his third micro-nap since they had started hanging out together, and the other boy had asked him if he couldn't try to incorporate some of Toji's moves into his routine to please his father.

But it was more complicated than that. One of the reasons Gojo and he made such a formidable coach/student duo was that the white-haired man, tall and muscular as he was, had still retained a lightness and speed from his training as a lightweight.

When he started fighting at sixteen, even though he was already 180cm, he was actually very thin, and it wasn't until his majority that he became heavier and more powerful. No heavyweight was as fast as he had been, and his punches were still the deadliest because of their raw power. And while Megumi's blows had less raw power, he had certainly managed to increase his speed thanks to his coaching.

It was also one of the reasons he was also eager to see the match between Haibara and Yuta was that he would have a lot to learn from it. He knew from the previous year's fight that the current lightweight champion had the ability to recover from difficult situations and turn the tables to his advantage, even when injured. But for his friends, it was a bit of a question mark.

His talent had never been questioned, but he had never faced a challenge since he started in the junior series. His opponents were all weaker than him, and he had never been considered the underdog. Even though he was going against the title holder, he was still the favourite. Yet the situation was very different from the junior series, and Megumi was curious to see how Yuta would fare.

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Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long, as the day passed very quickly. Late in the afternoon on the day of the championship, Megumi was getting ready to go to the arena when he heard two sharp knocks on his door. After looking through the peephole and recognising the man behind the door, he opened it abruptly, his heart pounding.

“What are you doing here, Satoru?” Megumi asked in a neutral tone as he finished putting on his sweater. The doorframe of his apartment felt cold against his fingers, and he had to make a conscious effort not to stare openly at the white-haired man standing in front of him. The latter, for his part, made no attempt to hide his wandering gaze and looked Megumi up and down with hungry eyes.

“I'm going to pick up my date.” Satoru announces confidently, shrugging his shoulders.

Megumi takes a shaky breath and bites his lip. He wants to say that's not it, that they just agreed he would drive Megumi and that they would split up as soon as they got to the arena, joining their respective groups of friends and not even sitting near each other. He wants to argue he only asked because the older man was supposed to wait for him in the car. But he swallows his words. If Gojo wants to flirt, he won’t be the one backing down.

With a sigh, Megumi asks him to wait and goes to get his wallet and keys before locking the door. He glances at the white-haired man beside him. “How did you know I was alone?” Megumi asks, sternly. Even if Satoru's tone had been more playful than seductive, it still would not have been acceptable in Toji's presence.

But Gojo just shrugs. “You called me Satoru.” He says it with a small, private smile, a far cry from his usual broad grin.

The loud ding announcing that their wait for the elevator was over rang out around them, and Megumi rolled his eyes affectionately before stepping inside. Gojo walked straight to the back wall and leaned against it, casually running a hand through his hair, and the dark haired boy resolve not to stare at him melted like snow in the sun.

Satoru didn't say a word, but his smile widened and Megumi felt his breath catch. He was about to press the button for the ground floor to distract himself when he heard his neighbour’s voice asking to hold the elevator. He complied.

The fifty something man was bringing an old massive chair to the garbage room in their building, and Megumi finds himself pushed against the mirror next to Satoru to allow the three people and the appliance to fit inside.

The jolt of the elevator causes him to stumble, and Gojo easily catches him by putting his arm around him before manoeuvring the boy so that they both end up pressed against the white-haired man in the corner of the small space.

His coach continues chatting with the neighbour, both men complaining about the weather, ignoring Megumi. Except that Gojo has placed his large hand on Megumi's waist, hidden from the older man's view by the imposing armchair between them.

His thumb slides under Megumi's shirt, and he is unable to fight the shiver that runs through his whole body at the contact. Satoru slowly moves his finger, the corner of his fingernail brushing Megumi's bare skin, and the boy is almost sure he is going to pass out.

But already, the elevator bell rings and the doors open, announcing that they have arrived at the ground floor. Satoru gently squeezes Megumi's hip before removing his hand and offering to carry the chair himself, asking Megumi to wait for him by the car.

The dark-haired boy is grateful for this brief respite and lets the cold air around him cool him down. He feels feverish and knows his cheeks must be bright red. When Satoru returns, they are still red, but far less incriminating.

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When Megumi and bis friends finally manage to get to their seats, Megumi finds himself in between Yuuji and Nobara and resolutely tries not to glance over to the other side of the ring. There are cameras everywhere, and they have already panned back and forth between Gojo and him once to show how he and his coach cheer on each opponent.

Okkotsu VS Haibara is the last fight of the night, and they have to watch three other fights before it starts. Normally, Megumi would be happy to be able to watch and even take notes for his training, but he's starting to feel too nervous to concentrate properly.

Strangely, he has never been this stressed about his own fights, and he doubts that Yuta is as nervous as he is right now. Haibara seemed like a nice, friendly guy, and if it had been someone else fighting him, Megumi would probably have cheered him on, but in this case, he absolutely does not want to see his friend lose.

Megumi tries to listen to Yuuji’s rambling about the difference between the ring where they usually train and the one in front of them, and the black-haired boy realises that this is the first time his friends will be watching a championship fight in a big arena like that. Moved by this realisation, he takes a deep breath and lets his anxiety wash over him to properly focus on his friend. After all, he's here to have a good time.

On December 23, 2019, Yuta Okkotsu and Yu Haibara stepped into the ring at 10 p.m. sharp to the cheers of a frenzied crowd. This fight will be remembered for its intensity and the controversy surrounding it. Yuta clearly dominated the bout, his punches were precise and wore Haibara down. By the eighth round, Haibara could barely stand, and the scores were clearly in Yuta's favor. At the start of the ninth round, Yuta landed a powerful blow to Haibara, causing him to bleed profusely from his nose. Seemingly oblivious to this due to the adrenaline rush, Yu began pounding Yuta's chest with quick and powerful jabs. As the crowd holds its breath when Yuta begins to fall to the ground, wondering if the older fighter had managed to pull off an incredible TKO, the referee decides to stop the fight, judging Haibara's nosebleed to be too severe. Yuta wins the fight by decision after getting back up. The Haibara clan tries to protest after wiping his nose, claiming he is still fit to fight, but the nose continues to bleed and the referee does not budge. Yuta then wins his first championship in the ring amid controversy for his time spent on the ground.

But for him, Toge, and all their friends, it didn't matter: as soon as the referee asked him to get up and raise his hand, they cheered louder than ever. Yuta Okkotsu was the new lightweight champion and they were going to make him feel it.

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Once the fight is over, Panda takes them back to the hotel where they have booked rooms. Megumi is rooming with Yuuji, while Nobara shares Maki's. They are supposed to meet up at the hotel bar, which the Zenin had reserved for the rest of the evening to celebrate Yuta's victory (or to console themselves in the worst-case scenario).

While Yuuji takes a quick shower to freshen up before going downstairs, Megumi stays behind to look at his phone. He and Satoru have exchanged a long series of messages over the past weeks, mostly initiated by the white-haired man so far. They have already seen each other today, but Megumi did not see Gojo before leaving the arena. He was probably in the locker room with Haibara or Yuta. Probably both at one point or another.

Megumi tries to find the courage to make the first move for once. The truth behind it all is simple. He wants to be there for Satoru, a constant presence in his life. That means showing him his support so that he can rely on him in difficult times, like being split between his joy for his cousin and sad for his friend.

Hi, I hope you're doing well. Best wishes to Haibara. Call me if you need anything...

The reply comes almost immediately.

Thanks Megumi, enjoy the championship party! Yu says thanks too!!! I'll call you when I land tomorrow <3

He tries to ignore the rapid beating of his heart as he reads that stupid emoji and puts his phone away after replying, just as Yuuji returns to their shared space. He takes a shower and lets the hot water relax his tense muscles.

Gojo is leaving for the middle east to watch Yuki Tsukumo fight for her new belt. MMA and boxing fans always look forward to the end-of-year championships, and everyone tends to be busier in the professional world. His coach is supposed to be back in time for the Ten Shadows party on New Year's Eve, and Megumi can’t wait seeing him again. Satoru still made him promise that they would talk on the phone every day until then, like he didn’t want to be separated from Megumi too.

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When Maki sends them a group text message to tell them that Yuta is back at the hotel, he and Yuuji head for the elevator to meet up the rest of them at the bar, as the night is just beginning. But when they pass Yuta's room door, Megumi stops abruptly.

His pink-haired friend turns around, his head tilted and his mouth open as if he's about to ask a question, but he suddenly closes it and waves to Megumi. He starts walking toward the door again. Megumi wonders for a moment how they managed to become so close that they no longer need to talk. He tries to suppress his marvel at their connection overwhelming him because he needs to refocus in order to talk to Yuta.

The door opens on the first knock, and it's Toge. With a nod, he invites Megumi in. Yuta is sitting on the bed, his brow furrowed, scrolling through his phone. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's reading the controversial comments about his fight online.

Toge looks up at the ceiling before grabbing Yuta's phone, locking it, and putting it in his back pocket. He slams the door on his way out, looking a little annoyed.

Megumi lets his gaze rest on her friend, still sat on the end of bed, his head hanging low before sitting down next to him.

“Hey.” Megumi doesn't whisper it, but it’s a similar fit. The room is silent, and it seems almost inappropriate to break it.

Yuta doesn't bother to answer, he just rests his head on Megumi's shoulder and takes a deep breath. They stay like this for a few minutes, without talking or moving.

"They say that if the referee hadn't interfered, I wouldn't have gotten up in time. That's bullshit, I had it. I dominated him the whole time. It was a minor knockdown. I swear, Megumi, I need you to believe me." Yuta says it in a hurried whisper, almost seeming guilty for expressing his thoughts out loud.

"You don't need to tell me, Yuta, I was there, I saw everything. You were down, but ready to fight back. Stop worrying about those idiots on the internet who didn't even see the whole scene. If the referee had counted to ten, you would have gotten up two seconds before the countdown ended, and Haibara would have lost anyway, whether he had a bloody nose or not."

His friend exhales loudly and buries his head in his hands before lifting it again, this time with a smile. Megumi wonders how many people have said exactly the same thing to him since the end of the fight, and understands exactly why Yuta had taken so long to let it sink in.

Megumi takes a small package out of his pocket. He grabs Yuta's hands and places it in the center before closing his friend's fingers around it.

He hears Yuta swallow loudly. He's a little shaky, but he manages to tear open the packaging to reveal a small key chain. Attached to it are two small boxing gloves, one white like Yuta's and the other navy blue like Megumi's.

Yuta squeeze Megumi's hand and remains silent. But he no longer lowers his head, his hand is firm again and his gaze determined. He closes his free hand around the chain and stands up.

“Let's join the others, we have a championship to celebrate.”

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On the 31st, the Ten Shadows is throwing a New Year's Eve party. Megumi is the guest of honour for winning four victories with the gym colours, can't miss this event and agrees with his friends to meet up with them shortly after midnight.

He would be staying to wish Tony, Yaga, and the other amateur fighters a happy new year. His stepmother has agreed to pick him up and drop him off at Yuuji's place, who is hosting a party before starting her night shift.

In theory, Megumi knows that Gojo is supposed to be there as Megumi's coach. He is thanked for his efforts and involvement in the black-haired boy's latest victory, but he has not yet confirmed his attendance to anyone. Yaga laughed when Tony mentioned that he had been a nightmare to organise anything with all his career for this very reason. You never knew if he was coming until you saw him at the event.

Megumi and Satoru had spoken on the phone every day since the fight, not for very long because the older man was very busy, but he hadn't been able to confirm to the dark haired boy that he would be on time, as it depended on flight schedules and other factors.

The party started around 9 p.m., and Megumi spent most of it with Antonio and Yaga, while Tony moved from group to group to make sure everyone was having a good time. He gave a very moving speech at the beginning of the evening, and Megumi felt very proud to be a member of their gym.

Every time he heard the door open, Megumi would stop and look at it, expecting to see a tuft of white hair appear. He eventually turned his back on it so he wouldn't be struck by the disappointment that overwhelmed him every time he looked and saw that it was clearly not Gojo.

That's why he doesn't expect a hand to land on his neck and squeeze possessively. He would recognise that touch anywhere, so he manages to keep his cool long enough to finish his sentence without stuttering and turns to greet his coach.

The man's eyes sparkle with joy, and he is already reaching out to shake Yaga's hand. In less than two minutes, the whirlwind Gojo has greeted and touched everyone around him.

The high school student, now accustomed to the older man's extravagant personality, resumes his conversation with Antonio. Tony's son had mainly asked about the championship fight Megumi had attended and talks about Yuta's performance. The newly crowned champion had already officially announced that he was moving up to a higher weight class, and his name was on the lips of anyone remotely interested about boxing.

Shortly before midnight, his phone lights up with a text message from Satoru asking him to meet him in the alley behind the gym. With a shy smile, Megumi excuses himself, saying he needs to go to the bathroom, and slips outside. Gojo is already there, watching the younger man walk toward him.

Megumi walks slowly, but his eyes never stray from Satoru's face. It is quite dark and the only streetlight in the alley is quite far away, giving the scene a somewhat mystical aura. When he finally stops in front of him, the white-haired man stands up straight and close the gap between them. Crowding Megumi against the opposite wall with his imposing frame.

The black-haired boy feels his phone vibrating and realises that it is already midnight. He slips a hand into his pocket and turns off the device, not wanting to be disturbed for whatever reason Gojo called him here.

A loud noise makes them both look up, and suddenly the night sky lights up with fireworks. Megumi doesn't bother to watch the show for long, but lets his gaze wander over the face of the man standing in front of him, lit up by the colourful sparklers.

They still hadn't said a word, but Megumi didn't think it was necessary, and when Satoru looked away from the sky and focused back on Megumi, the atmosphere between them suddenly became heavier. It was a little cold outside, but Megumi didn't feel it, as he was burning up from the inside. He knew his cheeks were red, but he couldn't bring himself to feel embarrassed about it.

“Isn't it a New Year's tradition to kiss someone at midnight?” Satoru wondered aloud, feigning casualness. Megumi would have rolled his eyes if he hadn't been desperately trying to keep his cool in front of Gojo, who had just brazenly asked for a kiss.

He didn't answer with words, but stood on tiptoe to compensate for the difference in height between them, and Megumi found the courage to slip a hand behind Satoru's neck for stability. The skin there was soft, and he ran his thumb through the short hair at the base of his scalp.

Encouraged by Satoru's hands settling on his waist in answer, Megumi lets his gaze rest on the lips of the white-haired man right in front of him. The hands on his hips tighten in an automatic reaction and Megumi's heart leaps into his throat.

Gojo doesn't draw away, even though Megumi’s making his intention very clear. He is not pushy and lets Megumi go at his own pace, and even though it makes the young boy nervous, he is also grateful to be able to control how to approach his first kiss.

Because that's what's going to happen in a second. Megumi is going to close the distance between them and seal their lips together. Megumi decides that even if it leads nowhere, he's happy that Satoru is his first.

He closes the distance, without rushing but with determination, and when he finally feels Gojo's slightly chapped mouth against his own, he almost loses his balance. But the white-haired man's hands keep him upright, and Megumi simply tightens his grip on the other's neck, enjoying the softness of the hair under his fingers.

He feels Gojo's right hand leave from his hip to lightly caress Megumi’s left, still close to his body. The gesture helping the black-haired boy dare to place two more small kisses on the other's mouth before putting his feet back on the ground. Megumi wants more, but he doesn't know what's allowed here, so he just settles to stares somewhere deep into the alley.

“Megumi.”

Satoru whispers his name reverently and Megumi can do nothing but tilt his head back toward the older man, drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Satoru's hand leaves his waist and rests on the side of Megumi’s face, his long fingers tenderly caressing his cheeks.

“Are you okay?” whispers again the white-haired man above him and Megumi quickly nods. He has never felt better in his entire life. He can see his own desire reciprocated in the older man's eyes, and Megumi desperately wants.

“Kiss me again, please.” Megumi manages to croaks out in a hoarse voice.

He feels Satoru's smile against his lips as the white-haired man closes the distance between them again and they exchange no more words. The kiss is less chaste this time, and Megumi surrenders himself completely to Satoru. He lets Gojo unite their lips and guide the dark haired boy into a more intense kiss.

Gojo's kiss is slow but deep, and after what seems like several minutes spent moving their lips in tandem, he feels the older man's tongue brush against his lower lip, asking for access. Megumi opens his mouth in a gasp and lets Satoru lick inside his mouth, unhurriedly.

Their tongues slowly intertwine, and Megumi's inexperience is compensated by the fact that he is a quick learner. When they part again, Gojo doesn't move far away, and a small thread of saliva still connects their mouths. Satoru wipes it away with his thumb and places a soft kiss on Megumi's cheek before taking a step back.

His eyes sparkle and he smiles that intimate little smile he had when he asked Megumi to call him by his first name and Megumi feels like he is in the presence of an angel. His heart is pounding in his chest, but he feels on top of the world.

“Happy New Year, Megumi.”

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Notes:

Omggg hi! Last chapter of part one, how are we feeling? I was so happy to write a happier chapter, full of flirting and with a KISS!!! I kept the angst level to a minimum; just there enough to keep things interesting haha

I hope you liked it! To be honest, it's the one I enjoyed writing the most, even though I struggled a lot with the fight scene between Haibara and Yuta, which blocked me for 3 days! (if you follow on tumblr you know lol)

What an incredible adventure it has been for me: 55k words in less than a month? That's the most I've ever written, and I couldn't have done it without your support and encouraging comments!

So please keep doing it, it means the world to me! <3

Thanks again for reading part one, and I can't wait to come back as soon as possible with part two of the second year of the Junior series for our Megumi on his path to become world champion! I hope you will keep following his adventures and his developing relationship with Satoru !

Notes:

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments and come say hi on Tumblr! xx

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of The third path