Chapter Text
The rain had been pouring down at a brutal pace all day and all night, the street lamps glowing off the slick pavement in a way that seemed to wink at passersby. Disgruntled citizens continued through the streets despite the rain, the sidewalk becoming a sea of umbrellas to brave the storms. There was an almost constant, loud crashing thunder that shook the city to its core as the lightning branched out over the looming buildings and neon lights. One sign hung above them all, the skyscraper seemingly placed right in the middle of the bustling city. Jujutsu Global Technologies. Its purple light read as it ruled over the city from atop the high-rise of offices and cutting edge scientific genius. It was a shining beacon of hope and technological advancement for the people of Tokyo.
The company had been built on the idea that scientific understanding was meant to better the world, not worsen it. JGT focused on projects that would shape the world for the better, such as finding long term sustainable clean energy and cleaning contaminated waters. Though sometimes it seemed more often than not that their goals were unattainable. So many projects had to be abandoned or seemed to only ever end in failure or worse results than before. It could drive a person mad, losing their life’s work to anything from budget cuts to unforeseeable disasters. Tonight wasn’t the first time that one of those disasters had ended in mutation and chaos that wrecked the laboratory space. It wasn’t even the first time the labs had been evacuated in recent weeks, and it wouldn’t be the last. Now, as the employees and passing pedestrians looked up to see the building smoking and not in its usual pristine condition, their hope rested on the one person within the lab who could end the chaos. The Spider-Man.
The sound of the lockdown alarm rang loudly through the empty hallways, accompanied by a loud crashing as one of the walls came hurling down from the main genetics lab. Debris from the wall flew in all directions as it dirtied the clean hallway and from the rubble of the newly created hole in the lab wall, a giant creature emerged. Though humanoid in shape, its body was covered in scales and its hands were more claws than fingers. The beast gave a loud roar before launching back into the lab, claws slashing wildly into the air, just as a foot came into contact with the tough skin just below its unblinking eyes.
“Wow, you’re one big lizard. What the fuck did they feed you here?” Spider-Man said more to himself than the actual foe in front of him as he attempted to sweep the lizard’s legs out from underneath itself after regaining his stance. He dodged past the claws that sought to sink into his skin, barely grazing by as another rip was made in his brightly colored suit. He had already been scratched up by the beast and didn’t really want to get even more hurt in this fight. Spider-man tried to take a deep breath and ignore the sound of his own blood in his ears. The adrenaline was making his heartbeat much louder, that was probably the thing he hated the most about this job. Crashing from an adrenaline high always sucked. He quickly looked around as he dodged the lizard’s onslaught of attacks, looking for any opening he could to end this. He really just wanted to end this. He wasn’t supposed to be spending his Wednesday night fighting a giant lizard, but life didn’t ever really seem to go his way.
Soon enough, one of the lizard’s legs got caught in a web as Spider-man slipped along the floor and attached the end of the web to the ceiling. As the lizard began to lose its balance it chucked a chair across the room at the spider. He ducked out of the way as his senses went off the charts, whirling around to see the lizard rushing towards him before the web on the ceiling stopped its movement. The lizard reached out to try and knock Spiderman down before its arm was stopped by another web attaching to its scaled wrist and the wall opposite where the two of them were currently placed. It tugged against the webbing, the tension only causing the rope-like substance to tighten. Spider-man would be sure to thank the man responsible for his webbing later, his mentor had really outdone himself with the latest formula. It made his job a whole lot easier, even if he had no idea how any of the science behind it worked.
“How tall are you? I feel like you’re the size of two of me stacked on top of each other. That’s impressive.” He says as he steps around the beast, ducking out of the way as the lizard attempts to bite at his face. “Woah, okay, not the talkative type, I can see that now. Guess I’ll just leave you here for the police to deal with.”
Spider-man shot off a few more webs, securing the mutated beast to its spot in the lab using the walls as anchors. Hopefully, it would hold the oversized lizard long enough for the police to get to it. He was pretty sure the beast wouldn’t be there for too long since he had already heard sirens from out on the streets. He ran into the stairwell and up a few floors to where the windows had been broken earlier in the fight, jumping right out into the stormy night air with no hesitance as he began to swing through the hazy streets of Tokyo.
Itadori Yuji had been at this for nearly a year now. Ever since he had made a wrong turn while trying to bring his best friend, Fushiguro Megumi, lunch and ended up in a lab working with some kind of spider that he had never seen before. Next thing he knew that same spider was giving him a nasty bite on the arm. He’d run out and through the halls of Jujutsu Global to his friend’s desk rather quickly. It wasn’t rare for him to be late so Megumi hadn’t questioned Yuji’s slightly disheveled appearance and weird behavior. Megumi never asked about that day, and Yuji never said anything as he kept the sleeves of his yellow hoodie pulled down to hide the bite. He knew how much this internship meant to his best friend, and he didn’t want to be the reason it all got messed up.
Yuji always thought back to that day every time he was in the JGT building, and tonight wasn’t any different as he headed to the alleyway he had left his stuff in. The rain had finally cleared up some as he landed in the deserted alley and threw open the empty trash can with his stuff inside. He pulled his backpack out with a hum as he opened it up to pull out his clothes. He slipped his hoodie on, followed by his pants and shoes as he took off his mask. After putting his phone back into his pocket and his headphones in his ears he disappeared onto the sidewalk with the late evening crowds of Tokyo. Itadori mumbled along with his music as he pulled up his hood, scanning around for the nearest convenience store. He was supposed to be working on a paper that’s due tomorrow before his plans got interrupted, and he’s never been able to focus on an empty stomach. Usually he would just grab some spicy tuna onigiri and be on his way to Fushiguro’s, but as he scanned the options presented to him at the store he decided he was craving something different. He quickly grabbed some cheese sandwiches and shrimp crackers, content that they would satisfy his cravings. Before heading to pay for his things he also picked up some seaweed for Megumi. It had never been his favorite, but his best friend tended to like it. Maybe it would work as an apology for being so late.
After paying for his crappy convenience store dinner, he went on his way, turning his music back up in his ears. Until now, he had forgotten the amount of hits the brute lizard had gotten on him. He could feel the bruises that were blooming along his torso and arms, thankful to his trusty yellow hoodie for hiding them away. Though he healed at a faster pace than the average person, the bruises would still be present for the next day. Yuji was not looking forward to the soreness that always followed a fight, but he knew that if he didn’t do this job then no one else would. He had a responsibility as someone with the power to help people, and he would make sure that as many people as he could didn’t die in accidents and made it long enough to die of something as trivial as old age or natural causes. A proper death. The same kind of death that his grandfather met not too long after he became Spider-man.
It didn’t take him too long to make it over to the Fushiguro apartment, where he knew Megumi would be waiting for him to have arrived almost an hour and a half ago. He hated lying to him, but he knew it was for the best to keep Fushiguro separate from his life as Spider-man. Even with the guilt that he felt at being so late, Yuji didn’t hesitate when knocking at the door.
After a moment and the sound of a muffled voice from behind the door accompanied by dogs barking, it opened to reveal the very grumpy looking, spiky haired, green eyed boy that Itadori had been wanting to see all evening. He gave his friend a bright smile as he pulled out his headphones, undeterred by Fushiguro’s blank and somewhat prickly expression.
“You look like shit,” Megumi stated plainly as he looked over Yuji’s figure, “and you’re late. Did you bring food?”
Yuji nodded enthusiastically as the other boy stepped aside to allow him entry. He quickly slipped off his shoes as he pulled off his backpack and made his way over to the couch, sitting down as he opened the bag up. Maho, the big black dog who had been eagerly wagging his tail behind Megumi, padded up to Yuji and set his head on the boy’s thigh. Raga, the white dog laying on the living room chair, perked up at Itadori’s entrance, tail wagging behind her.
“I brought cheese sandwiches!” he said happily as he started to rummage through his bag, taking a second to pet Maho's head.
“Cheese sandwiches? What happened to the onigiri that you always get?” Fushiguro grumbled slightly, nose crinkled up in what appeared almost as distaste.
Yuji shrugged as he watched Megumi sit down next to him on the couch before digging around in his bag again, “I was craving cheese sandwiches… but I have snacks too!”
Itadori pulled out his shrimp chips and held them out, Fushiguro shaking his head a little before Itadori began to dig around again. Soon enough, he pulled the seaweed out and held it up as well, causing Fushiguro to raise his eyebrows slightly.
“Are they salted?”
“Uhhh…” Yuji looked down at the package, eyebrows furrowed slightly as he looked it over carefully. He really hadn’t double checked to make sure he got the right one. “Yes! They’re the salted ones!”
Megumi then reached out and took the package of seaweed and one of the sandwich packages, shaking his head a little, “You can’t just eat a cheese sandwich, Itadori. You’re going to need something else.”
“It’s not just a cheese sandwich! I bought three packages for myself!” Yuji countered, smiling triumphantly as pulled all his extra sandwiches out. The sandwiches were relatively plain with just a couple of cheese slices on some bread with some mayonnaise-esque sauce layered inside. Each package comes with three sandwiches: a cheddar, a Swiss, and a cream cheese sandwich. The epitome of crappy convenience store food that was somehow so good. Yuji began to open up his first sandwich as he looked around, “Where’s Miki-senpai?”
“She has work tonight, it’s Wednesday.” Fushiguro stated as he set the packaged food aside and pulled his bag over, “Let’s get this paper done before Kugisaki murders you for missing another assignment.”
“You didn’t have to wait for me to do my essay to do yours, Fushiguro… I know how stressed you get doing things at the last minute.” Yuji responded quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. There was that guilty feeling again, wrapping its way around his chest like the stems of a rose–thorny yet soft. His best friend did so much for him, and Itadori hardly offered anything in return.
“Shut up… it's nothing.” Fushiguro mumbled as he pulled out his notebook, looking away from Yuji for a moment to grab the package of seaweed as Maho trotted over and now sat at his feet. Yuji couldn’t see it, but there was a slight blush heating up Megumi’s ears, blocked by his wild hair. In truth, Fushiguro would do anything for Itadori, and this was just one of the ways that he could figure out how to help the other boy.
The two teenagers sat and worked well into the evening, Fushiguro helping to keep Itadori on task when his mind would wonder. His ADHD always caused him to act like a puppy of sorts, easily distracted and full of so much energy. Occasionally they would take a break and Yuji would play with Maho, tossing around his favorite toy–a stuffed toy that Nobara had got the dog around halloween, shaped like some sort of straw doll–for a few minutes as Megumi watched the two of them. Raga would sometimes join in the fun, but the older of the two dogs spent most of her time napping in her favorite chair or begging for Yuji’s sandwiches. The whole time they worked Yuji ignored the pain that had only slightly dulled along his side, and Megumi never asked why he had been late. It helped to ease Itadori’s guilt a little, not having his friend question him about his whereabouts. Itadori hated having to give half-truths or full blown lies to the people in his life. Fushiguro didn’t seem upset about it in the slightest. So, they sat and worked until Yuji was done, and then he said goodbye and made his way back home.
This was his routine. Schoolwork and vigilantism, trying to find the time to be a normal kid somewhere in between the two. Lying to his loved ones for their safety, and feeling terrible about it every time. The past year hadn’t been easy, but the one thing Itadori knew was that having Fushiguro by his side always made it easier to shoulder the weight. Even if he couldn’t tell him everything, Itadori felt relieved everytime Fushiguro gave him the support he so desperately craved. His best friend’s help was honestly what got him through the day. That was a normal feeling to have about your best friend… Right?