Hot Chocolate & Hairdye (itafushi)

:)

They meet when they're five. Itadori's family moves into the same apartment building as Megumi's. Itadori is thrilled, to say the least.

He knocks on the apartment door one Thursday afternoon, hiding behind his grandfather's legs when an older woman answers the door.

"Is - is your son home?" Itadori stutters, eyes zeroing in on the two big dogs behind her.

"Of course, he is. Are you his friend?" She kindly asks, turning around to see what caught the child's attention.

"Nuh-uh. But, I want to be!" Itadori exclaims, "and with them too!" he adds, pointing towards the dogs.

His grandfather explains that they live a floor down, and when his grandson found out another child was moving in he got excited and refused to stop asking if he can go 'say hello to his new friend'. The woman laughs at the story and invites the two into the house.

"Who are you?" the dark-haired boy asks the other child that's entering his room.

"My name is Yuji! Itadori Yuji!" He introduces himself, almost tripping over his feet as he bows excitedly. The other boy looks at him for a beat before he's also standing.

"I'm Megumi! Fushiguro Megumi!" he repeats the introduction. "Do you want to play with these toys?" he asks, pointing to the array of toys spread between them. Itadori almost immediately agreeing as they both move to sit on the floor. They end up playing together for the rest of the day, only to be stopped hours later by Itadori's grandfather who suggests it's getting late, and they should go back to their apartment. The two slowly drag their feet to the front door in defeat, not wanting to stop the fun they were having.

"Can I come back again?" Itadori asks as he puts his shoes on, the other family agrees in response.

"Promise?" He asks for good measure, looking hopefully at his new friend.

"Promise!" The other answers, the two guardians smiling softly at the exchange.

"Promise we will also be friends forever!" Itadori asks, or more so states, as he throws his hand with his pinky finger out towards the other.

"Promise!" Megumi swears, as their pinky fingers wrap around each other.

_________

The pair keep the promise. They become inseparable, really. Doing everything from joint family vacations to making bad decisions together.

"Do you think I'd look good with pink hair?" Itadori asks, eyes never leaving his screen. Megumi can faintly hear the sounds of some TikTok playing through the speakers, and it's far too late to be thinking about anything, let alone making an appearance change.

Megumi turns to face Itadori as he thinks about it, observing the soft features of his friend's face, "Yeah, probably, why?"

"We should go dye it." He says nonchalantly. Megumi tries to convince Itadori that he shouldn't do it and that he should probably wait until the morning. Those propositions going out the window when he feels a warm hand grab his wrist and pull him out the door, the sounds of Itadori's voice yelling back at him "get your shoes! We're going shopping!" fill the dorm.

The two get to the store at 2am, the bell chiming alerting their arrival to the man behind the counter, who throws a groggily hello to them. They walk around the store absentmindedly, Megumi scolding Itadori for trying to buy too many sweets this late at night. They stop when they get to the hairdye section, although it was limited and scarily overpriced, Itadori's eye lit up when he sees a woman with pale pink hair smiling back at him. 'This is the one!" he exclaims, as he grabs the box and heads to the cash.