𝖲𝖺𝗍𝗎𝗋𝗇

chapter one

You taught me the courage of stars before you left

How light carries on endlessly even after death

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The soft golden light of the break of dawn fills the room despite the curtains still covering the small window on the opposite wall - it swallows the shadows lingering on every corner until all thats left is the gentle, timeless afterglow of a brand new day.

Those stretching seconds in-between the dreamlike and the real in which every possibility is just at hand's reach for you to take.

Megumi stirs under the soft baby-blue linen sheets he doesn't remember setting on the bed and turns around with his emerald eyes still closed, chasing those last remnants of sleep he very much needs lately.

He isn't sure what time it is but he feels oddly rested anyway - body featherlight and stomach settled, no trace of the knot that made its residence there a long time ago, no signs of sore muscles or cracking bones either.

For a shaman, that's quite a rare occurrence - for a depressed person, even more so.

But he feels cozy, content and warm.

In fact, everything feels really warm around him.

Like the scalding hot mint tea he has every morning after working out and every night right before he goes to sleep.

Like the wool fuzzy blankets he's been hoarding like a hermit ever since he moved out Jujutsu Tech into his own shoebox of an apartment.

Like a tight bone-crushing and breathtaking hug, like the sun kissing his skin with all the gentleness of an old lover.

Like him.

Yuuji.

Megumi opens his eyes and he's right there in front of him - already awake, as if waiting for him.

He's serene like a midnight sea and beautiful like the moonlight and stars bathing deep in it.

His eyes are pots of honey under the morning light and his pink hair looks haloed by the rising sun after him.

Megumi's breath gets caught in his lungs when he slowly blinks at him, yet Yuuji doesn't move a muscle until Megumi's the one forced to reach out, stretching a pale hand until his long bony fingers stop barely a couple centimetres away from touching his soft skin.

Something's missing here, but he can't quite piece what it is.

Megumi closes his eyes again and breathes in and out - deep and slow. When he opens them again it all goes down so fast, like every single night.

Yuuji shifts at last, the bed dipping slightly under his weight as he gets close enough to wrap Megumi's slim waist with his arms. He holds him close and tight yet delicately, in a striking contrast considering his natural strength, the width of his biceps in comparison to Megumi's slimmer frame.

The toned muscle under tan skin shifts when Megumi gives in so Yuuji can lift him off the bed and make them roll together until he's pressed against his chest, sprawled atop of it as Yuuji smiles up at him - and it's warm, again.

But Megumi doesn't smile back, not yet.

Careful calloused fingerpads start to trace his spine up and down in an endearing motion and it's then when he realizes he's naked - they both are indeed, only dressed in sunlight and that sweet haze left behind by a good night of sleep.

Yet the thing is Megumi doesn't remember going to bed undressed. He never does.

Yuuji doesn't talk (he rarely does, in moments like this), but his honeyed eyes say everything Megumi wants to hear - they say he's so glad of being alive, of being here with him.