#maybe that's another asian thing haha. “it seemed like you'd like it so I go it for you” is how gift giving wars start...

[ikemenomegas]

So its established that the alpha is the one that keeps their silence when things get hard right? but then in the nightmare piece, megumi was the first one to notice that the alpha had a nightmare and wasn't in the right state of mind. And that gave me a thought, megumi noticing that they had a nightmare obv wasn't the first time so i headcanon that when megumi was still a child, whenever the alpha was depressed and needed comfort but shut up abt it to avoid troubling satoru more, megumi was the first to notice and comforted the alpha in his own megumi way like sending one of his divine dogs to play with the alpha

Just to clarify, I don't think the alpha is necessarily unique in the way they deal with difficulties! Most of sorcerer society is like this. Some people are lucky to have someone with whom to share their difficulties, but when they lose that person (like Nanami did), they go silent.

Gojo and Getou were that person for each other, but even then they never got to have that supportive relationships as adults, never learned to seek it out (understandable when you realize they don't consider anyone else their equal), and they seldom seemed to talk about what was bothering them head-on even as students (see the argument Shoko runs away from in the flashback arc). I can only speak to my experiences with the east asian part of my family, but that's pretty typical anyways. It takes trust and you still have to entice your loved ones into telling you what's up to them. It's not uncommon to get just as much information from careful observation as from an actual conversation. (Gojo actually doesn't say much either - he knows there are bad situations you can do nothing about, and in those cases sometimes the most you can do is just be there with someone in the shit)

Also, here's another old jjk fandom joke for you: that these people thought [single] parenthood at about 17-18 would fix them. The odd age gap between Megumi and the adults that inserted themselves into his life is part of what makes that relationship much less straightforward than just parent/child or student/mentor. If you like to read post 1800 British literature, benefactor really suits Gojo's role - he acts like one of those wealthy people in novels, snatching up talent because he knows that it will benefit him later, but also truly caring for his charge's well-being. It's a unique kind of relationship that's seldom recognized or codified in the united states, but it wouldn't be uncommon to cultivate these kinds of relationships for someone raised like modern day royalty the way Gojo was.

Shamans live a hard life. Alpha would definitely have had nightmares about something when Megumi was young, and they probably wouldn't have been very good at hiding it, being young themselves. Plus Megumi was an abandoned kid living in an unstable series of situations. He was probably hyper aware of his surroundings for a good little while until things settled with Gojo taking him in.

That said, this headcanon is adorable. Alpha really did have more room in which to be family to the Fushiguro siblings and that means Megumi in turn has more room to show emotion around them.

(I'm bad at social cues... especially online. I don't know if you wanted to see from my point of view what you're describing, but I blurbed it below <3. Thank you for sharing the headcanon anon!)

When staring at the dead TV screen had faded away into a restless sleep, you didn't know. At least this was a formless nightmare, which was both better and worse. Dreams in which you could fight, even with the world sticky-slow or slippery as ice woke you up irritated. The dreams which were made more from the hazy memory-stuff of too many battles, too many near misses and if only we'd been here yesterday's, left you with no specific images but hung themselves like weights in your chest upon waking, robbing you of much needed true rest.

At least, you thought, your consciousness bubbling rapidly back to awareness, it would be over soon. That was truly the best that could be said of bad dreams.

You snapped awake when a warm tongue licked your wrist and a low whine sounded by your ear - distinctly canine rather than human.

In the dark, the shape of White Jade dog glowed like the moon.

You sat up, looking around the room, but neither saw nor sensed anyone (or anything) else in it. Still you crept slowly through the little apartment.

Satoru and Shoko were out of town and you'd come here because you couldn't stand another night alone and now you were glad. The neighborhood was safe enough, but even so...

You trailed your fingers along the wall, the white dog padding along behind you and then slipping past into the kids' room ahead of you.

They were both in bed still, but if the shikigami were out, then that meant someone was awake.

You knelt in the space between Megumi and Tsumiki's beds. She was doing a much better job at pretending than her brother, but if he was awake, then so was she. You sighed softly to yourself. They were both so nervous, even though they hid it. And you didn't blame them.

Too tired for words, you chose to wait instead, and eventually, when you were almost drowsing sitting upright, Megumi rolled over and cracked open one eye. White Jade dog wriggled a little but at the slightest movement from Tsumiki, it stilled again.

Eventually, soon really, they would need separate rooms. Tsumiki had insisted on staying here until the school year was over, but as Satoru had described it, the situation was delicate enough without negotiating for a non-sorcerer to be exposed to the world of curses.

You reached over and tucked her duvet higher over her shoulder, grateful to see at least that some tension unwound from her.

When you turned back, Megumi was no longer pretending to be asleep at all, although that glaring stare of his was softened.

"I heard a noise," he said to your silence, whispered but still defensive.

It didn't take a genius to figure out at this point that you were probably the noise. When this used to happen on overnight missions, Suguru used to shake you awake and sometimes curl up behind you. Satoru would grumble his own reply to your murmuring until you woke and throw a spare pillow, still warm from his embrace, at your head. Shoko would have tugged you slowly into her arms and soothed you back to sleep with her precise fingers rubbing into your neck.

"Well thank you for sending White to come get me," you whispered back, shaking away the memories. "We should go back to sleep though."

Megumi frowned at whatever face you were making and looked at where the white dog was sitting, head cocked almost like a real dog, at the foot of his bed.

It was sweet that he'd sent his favorite of the two to wake you. Black Jade dog seemed to scare him sometimes, literally making him jump at his own shadow as it melted from the darkness.

When he said nothing in reply, you tried to unfold yourself from the floor. Megumi latched onto your sleeve. His face was turned away.

You carefully crouched back down. "How about I stay here tonight?"

He nodded after a moment, just once, barely noticeable except a shift against the pillowcase, but this time he let you go.

You smoothed down a blanket to sleep on and one to sleep under and pulled one of the couch cushions under your head in between the two beds in the narrow room.

Both of the children responded to your prompting "goodnight" and shuffled around to curl up again. Tsumiki's breathing evened out quickly, but the White dog's presence meant that Megumi was still awake.

It was curled around it's masters legs, head propped on his hip as it watched over you.

"Megumi?--"

Neither child nor dog made any noise apart from Tsumiki's sleepy snuffles.

"--I'm okay."

A barely perceptible little hmph came from the bed on your left.

You could hear a clock - the only thing that still had working batteries when you and Satoru had first visited the kids - ticking in the other room.

Almost five minutes later to the second, White Jade dog settled its head heavily over Megumi's side and disappeared with a sigh.

#ask answered #io.myy #gojo satoru #fushiguro megumi #fushiguro siblings #from the notebook #feel free to tell me if you do or do not want things blurbed #maybe that's another asian thing haha. “it seemed like you'd like it so I go it for you” is how gift giving wars start... #i am not beating the sleepy allegations and we are all going to bed right now #midnight fics #io.omegas