Chapter Text
The saltiness of sweat and his own tears washed over his tongue, arms pulled tight around Yuuji’s frame. Their chests pressed together, slick and heaving.
Blooming tenderness added to the hammering of Junpei’s heart- he felt alive. Alive and in love. His very soul reaching for the one he would name his saving grace. He first found comfort in his words, he discovered peace and healing in Itadori’s presence. Found reverence and passion in his body. Junpei may become overwhelmed, his throat constricting- choking on the words of gratitude and worship. Yuuji would answer in kind. Soft murmurs of praises- adoration and promises peppered with grinning kisses.
Hips colliding, each press sending Junpei reeling and spiraling deeper into the catalogue of sensations. Deeper into Yuuji he’d venture, each motion sparking through his own body and forcing gasped sounds of awe from parted lips. Yuuji would reach with shaking hands, curving gentle and affectionate against Junpei’s heated cheeks.
Sharing breaths and tasting each other.
Tasting of each other and of the sweets they’d shared during a film.
Moving slow and with a purpose, dragging out each motion. He didn’t feel worthy of Yuuji’s friendship, let alone the passion that they shared. But over time, he had begun to believe in it. To believe in the light behind brown eyes. The shade of summer and honey in the sun. Sticky sweet as he kissed all around them. Endless pools that shimmered in recognition and unshed tears- in selfless acceptance without a single grain of trepidation.
His breath caught, stomach rolling with waves of ecstasy and fondness as he stared down into those eyes. Junpei’s lips trembled. Overwhelmed with each new sensation and errant thought that bubbled into his mind. Flashes of memories or dreams lighting against his skull and forcing tears down his cheeks- each drop to land softly on Yuuji’s face. Long legs parted further, dropping Junpei’s hips lower- deeper into Yuuji’s space.
He thought of the easy conversation they always shared. The innocent smiles and laughter, even tangled together this way- a heap of bodies in the throes of passion. Breathless and disbelieving huffs of laughter against kiss swollen lips. Smears of saliva and overwhelmed tears against sweat dampened skin.
Blunt nails dragging across flexing shoulders as giggles warped into pinched gasps and hushed praises. Gentle caresses with shaking palms, a grounding touch as jaws hang slackened.
Rarely uttered curses fall freely from cherried lips, whispered in the dark or against the warmth of early mornings. Junpei lives for these moments. He breathes Yuuji in with every opportunity, stealing glances and praying to hold his heart forever.
He aches to touch and express with actions when words tumble and fall to the floor like the sweet melt of ice cream on his tongue.
Yuuji let’s him.
Yuuji gratefully takes what he is given. He lusts and greeds for everything that Junpei is or could be. Never deterred by the harsh words the man directs at himself- never shaken by the roots of his past. He offers understanding. He brings silence and attention when the light behind Junpei’s eyes dims through a story or thought. He allows him to breathe and speak at his own pace. And for this- Junpei loves him all the greater.
Years together- ones that Yuuji hadn’t dared to dream of- spent in understanding and yearning. Finding home in each other. Finding a home in a tiny apartment with shoddy furniture and dull paint on its walls. Days spent lazily basking with the muted hum of air conditioning battling summer heat. Nights giddily dancing in a too small kitchen where Junpei would insist it was silly- cheeks flushed as his eyes glimmered with awed warmth.
“You’re a fool!” He would tease between giggles and the shake of his head.
“What are you doing? You can’t dance without music- and I can’t dance period!” Short of breath and dizzy either from their closeness or the twirls Yuuji forced him into- he wasn’t sure which. But he knew the look on his partner's face was easily to blame for the storm of butterflies in his stomach.
“What do you mean no music? Can’t you hear it?” Yuuji would press closer- sliding his palms down Junpei’s arms to interlace their fingers, stalling their dance to a gentle sway. Their chests and stomachs flush together, Yuuji delighting in the warmth blooming from his chest.
“Every time. You don’t hear the rain?” One hand left the grip of Junpei’s fingers to trail back up his arm and shoulder, over and down to rest over the hammering of his heart.
“I hear your heart, and you hear mine. When we laugh or step on each other's toes…” Junpei watched the depth of those brown eyes shimmer in the light cast by cheap bulbs overhead, his mouth dry and throat constricting, choking on the strength and weight of Yuuji’s very presence.
“Cooking and living, sizzling pans and coffee pots. Alarm clocks and that loud ass washing machine.” He grinned as Junpei snorted softly, a shake to his head but otherwise silent.
“We make music. It’s us and our lives. Can’t I share a dance with you and listen to what we’ve made? We worked hard for it and I think we’ve earned a dance or two.”
Junpei stared for a moment, lips slightly parted as the notions sunk in. He stared with a lidded gaze and each breath they shared.
He gasped against Yuuji’s neck through the memory, threading pink strands between trembling fingers as Yuuji’s heart and body pulled him in closer.
Some people say that a couple can be too close. But Junpei balked at the idea. He could never get close enough, wishing only for Yuuji to encompass him entirely- in every sense of the word. His heart is dominated by the idea of Yuji Itadori. His thoughts centered on memories of him, on imagining the ones yet to come.
He was a fool in love, finding his way in the world. When he’d felt so alone and beaten- bruised and bloodied by words and actions, he’d never imagined he could ever find a person like Yuji.
But he had.
Basking in the afterglow, gentle fingers carding through his hair as he laid fully entwined with the man he’d give the world…
Junpei bit back the sob that threatened to pull from his chest. He bit it back and let it simmer.
In every moment, every shared evening under starlight and morning laying in cresting sunrise- he reminded himself of why he was thankful to be alive.
He kissed at Yuji’s hair line, trailing wordless thanks and praises against sweat slicked skin as they slipped into a gentle slumber.
He was thankful. Blissfully aware of what he’d been given, only able to wish that what he gave in return was enough to express his gratitude.