Archive of Our Own ^beta

There were a lot of things Sukuna never suspected that you’d do. Ever. 

Tax fraud, insurance fraud, mail fraud–any sort of fraud, really. Sukuna just didn’t think it was up your alley. You were a goody-goody at heart. 

So why you chose Sukuna was beyond him, and it’s that sentiment that had him baffled to the fucking core.

He never thought you’d really fall in love with him, and not once did he consider that you’d actually say yes to his marriage proposal, especially after finding out that he’d gotten you pregnant only after couple months of dating you–which he didn’t think you’d want to keep, considering Sukuna’s long (very long) criminal record, which was definitely putting a wedge between you and your family.

However, you proved him wrong. You did fall in love with him, you did say yes to his proposal, you did have a baby with him, and you did let Sukuna’s reputation drive a wedge between you and your family. 

He hoped that after all of that, you’d stop proving him wrong. After all, he had everything that he wanted, nothing more, nothing less. Sukuna deemed his life nearly perfect.

But then you slapped him in the face with those divorce papers–and yes, he knows why you did it, but that didn’t make it sting any less. You were angry with him for the fall he took for Jin’s crimes, which sent him to prison for two years, leaving you to raise your daughter alone. He could admit that you had every fucking right to end things with him, but…

But part of him never suspected that you ever would.

So now, after it’s all been said and done, there was only one thing that Sukuna could have never suspected you of doing after years of being divorced.

And that was breaking into his house in the middle of the night, waking him out of a dead sleep by slapping his cheek, and asking him to keep you company since your husband was away on a trip, ditching you and your daughter, who was spending the night with your parents. 

Naturally, alcohol consumption ensued, leaving you both to run on liquid courage–the very liquid courage that saturated your sex lives, which you’d both been finding to be bone fucking dry lately. 

The next morning, when you woke up, still sticky between your legs, the urge to vomit prodded in the back of your throat. You shifted on the bed, ready to slide out and make it to the bathroom, until you felt the oddest sensation of something soft slipping out of your pussy. It was that feeling that brought you back to earth and placed you right in your ex-husband’s bed. 

“Oh… fuck-” 

You managed to keep the contents of your stomach down until you reached the bathroom, to fall onto your knees in front of the toilet. When you felt as though you were empty, you rested your cheek on the arm you were clinging to the toilet bowl with, gasping for air while your head throbbed and ached in all the wrong places. 

“I’m fucking dying,” you groaned, nearly in tears. 

“No, you’re not,” Sukuna argued, entering the bathroom next to grab his toothbrush from the sink. “But sure as fuck look like you are-”

“Fuck you,” you snapped, only to see him pause, toothbrush in front of his open mouth that slowly spread into an arrogant grin. 

“Again?” he questioned, “Last night wasn’t enough for you?”

That question only reminded you of the massive–no, monumental–fuck up. You cheated on Hiro, and of all the people you could have cheated on your husband with, it was your ex-husband? 

Your stomach tightened again, leaving you to bow over the toilet again to throw up the little bit of dignity that you had left–you were still fucking naked, for fucks sake. You heard Sukuna chuckle as he brushed his teeth, seemingly fine without a lick of a hangover. 

“Want me to hold your hair back?” he cooed after spitting the minty foam into the sink, beginning to rinse off the brush. 

“Fuck off.” You spat into the toilet, wiping the drool from your bottom lip with the back of your hand. “The fuck is in tequila that makes it so miserable?”

“The tequila you brought was pink and strawberry-flavored. Filled with sugar, which makes the hangover worse. It was also more than half empty when you decided to shove it in my face, so I didn’t have as much as you.”

“So, you weren’t even drunk? You took advantage of me.” You raised an accusatory, shaky finger at him, one that he eyed with disinterest. 

“Sweetheart, you broke into my house and woke me up so you could ride my dick. And while I wasn’t wasted like you, I definitely wasn’t sober after you forced me to drink your shitty tequila.” He leaned down beside you, handing you his toothbrush, which you curled your nose at. 

“Don’t be disgusting. I’m not putting that in my mouth after you’ve just had it in yours. Who knows where it's been-” Your lips fell flat when you realized your mistake, one he ate up like it was candy. 

“Oh, you’re making this too fucking easy. Let’s see, where has my mouth been recently? Maybe we should figure out where it hasn’t been. That might be easier.” He stood again to grab the toothpaste tube and load the bristles with the paste. “While we’re at it, let’s go over where you’ve put your mouth, too. You’re definitely no better than me. In fact, I’ve never seen you act like such a slut before in my life.”

You were seething by the time he capped the toothpaste to put it away, handing you the toothbrush again, which you took.

“I really fucking hate you.”

“You shouldn’t say that to the one you begged to spit in your mouth last night.” He shrugged nonchalantly, leaning back against the sink to add, “Twice.”

“Fuck off, no, I didn’t!”

He tutted at you in disapproval, “And you shouldn’t be so disrespectful to the one you called daddy, either.”

You felt a heat cover your face as your stomach rolled again. “No.”

“Mhm. Moaned it in my ear all night long.” 

Vaguely, you recalled something like that happening once or twice. 

The guilt and humiliation must’ve lit up your face all over because Sukuna chuckled and pushed away from the sink. 

“Brush your teeth and shower. I’m gonna check your car before you leave, see if you need an oil change or anything.”

“Why bother?”

He paused on the threshold of the bathroom before giving up his half-assed response. “You’re driving my daughter around in that thing. Just wanna make sure it’s running okay.” You cleared your throat as your gaze flickered between him and the floor a few times. Obviously, he noticed and was quick to point it out. “What?”

You shrugged, looking really sheepish. “There are a few warning lights on the dash, and it started making a weird noise… after I hit a curb.”

“When?”

“A month or so ago.”

His eyes widened. “Why the fuck didn’t you say something?”

“Because I can’t afford to take it to the shop!”

“You don’t need to take it to the shop! I would have done it myself. For free.”

That conversation led you to follow Sukuna outside to his driveway, after you both dressed appropriately, of course. You, in a massive, oversized borrowed hoodie and just as big sweatpants that needed to be cinched in at the waist, and Sukuna in a similar ensemble that fit him perfectly. You made sure to grab a pair of sunglasses before stepping outside into the too-bright sun and following behind him to your car. 

You gave him the keys and allowed him to slip into the driver's seat. Per usual, the second your car started up, all the little warning icons on the dashboard popped up. He blinked at them before turning to you in the passenger seat. Rather than remaining bashful about it, you sniffed and pushed your sunglasses up on your face. 

“How do you even let it get this bad? We were married. You know I’m a mechanic–you know I like to make sure shit is running right-”

“Didn’t want to ask you for help.”

“And look how well that turned out for you.” He sighed and tossed the door open again. “You’re a fuckin’ idiot-”

You followed after him. “Fuck you. Just ‘cause I didn’t want to ask for your help doesn’t make me an idiot. I want to be away from you.”

He propped up the hood of your car. “If that were the case, you wouldn’t have come here in the middle of the night.”

“That was a mistake.”

“Clearly.”

“It won’t be happening again.”

“If you say so.” When he saw what it looked like under the hood, he raked a hand through his hair, most definitely irritated. “Does Hiro have an extra car that you can borrow?”

“No. He brought his car to the airport while he’s away on the business trip. He won’t be back until next weekend.”

“Wow, two whole weeks away from you. How lucky is he?”

“Can you just fix my damn car, please? Or just give me the keys. It runs fine.”

He scoffed, “Yeah, that’s not fucking happening. This is a death trap-”

“Sukuna-”

“Don’t even try to argue with me about it. It’s true–look at it.”

You huffed and faced the underside of your car’s hood. “I’m looking.” And as Sukuna went on to point out everything that was wrong with your car, you groaned, “Stop. I don’t understand what any of that means.”

“It means-” He dropped the hood of your car to shut it. “-that you’re gonna drive my car until I get this one fixed.” 

“No way-”

“Not up for discussion, actually.” He led you to his garage and lifted the door to reveal a white Lexus. 

You frowned at it, pointing to ask, “Why do you have a car that looks like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like a car that I would drive. It’s just that you’re so… rugged, you wouldn’t own something like this.” You motioned to the familiar vehicle next to the car. “You still have your truck, so why do you have a car?”

“I got a good deal on it,” he answered quickly, tossing you the set of keys.

It was all so much, so quickly, with such a pounding headache.

“But I’m not even insured to drive under your policy.”

“You are.”

“No, I–what?”

He shrugged. “I keep you insured just in case of emergencies.”

Your lips parted in surprise before you shook away the feeling. “Sukuna, that’s so much money that you don’t need to be spending-”

“It’s just in case,” he spoke flatly, leaving no room for discussion. 

“I-I… okay. If you’re sure. When can I get it back to you?”

He brushed you off and began gathering tools from his garage to use on your car. “Whenever. I’m not worried about it.”

And Sukuna really wasn’t worried about when he’d receive the car again, because the car was for you in the first place. The truth is, he knew yours was a POS, and he had been itching to check it over so he’d have an excuse to give you the new, safer car. You made it all too easy this morning by telling him about the lights on your dashboard.

A check engine light and low tire pressure light–both should be relatively easy fixes for Sukuna, but you didn’t need to know that. And the sound it makes when you start it up is as easy as replacing the muffler. 

As far as you needed to be concerned, your car was in terrible shape, which is why you didn’t reach out to Sukuna again about giving the Lexus back–not that he minded in the slightest. At least his daughter was riding in a car that didn’t have low tire pressure anymore, and that thought gave him a little, tiny, minuscule peace of mind.

The next time he met up with you was two months later at a certain after-school event for Ryo–parent-teacher conferences, which Sukuna knew you were not looking forward to. Your texts to him about it were even more bitchy than your usual messages to him were. 

He drove separately from you, after just getting off work, and parked on the opposite side of the road. When he knocked on your window, he heard your sharp intake of air, muffled by the glass that was between you both–you hadn’t been paying attention to anything besides that stupid game on your phone. Clutching your chest, you rolled down your window to cuss at him. 

“That was a dick move,” you gritted out, fueling Sukuna’s playful spirit.

“So sorry. Didn’t mean to make you lose that round. What level are you on anyway? 15,000?”

“23,511, actually.”

Sukuna blew out a breath, leaning in closer to whisper, “Holy fuck, that’s the most pathetic thing I’ve heard all day.”

He noticed the way your head tilted to the side, even if it was slight, but you’d leaned into the feeling of his breath brushing over your neck before snapping out of it. “Screw you.”

His teeth sank into his bottom lip to suppress his grin. “You’ve got a key to my place. Just lemme know when. I’ll make sure to leave the porch light on for you this time so you don’t have to fumble around with the lock in the dark.” 

You swung your door open harshly, though Sukuna had prepared for it and braced for the swing. When you stepped out, kitten heels clicking on the pavement of the road, you eyed Sukuna with a deep glare. His eyes raked down your body, taking in your cute office attire and slightly tousled hair, which showed just how stressed you were about this parent-teacher conference.

Sukuna knows he should have tried to offer you some sort of comfort or even a distraction before you both had to go in there and act like real parents, but the bigger part of him couldn’t pass up the opportunity to poke fun at you. It was his favorite pastime.

He grinned and pointed at your face. “Do you know that this little glare right here almost looks like your cum face?” Naturally, your glare deepened again, which, naturally, left him delighted. “Which isn’t to be confused with how you look with cum on your face, because that’s the complete opposite; always has you smiling like a little whore-”

“You asshole!” you cursed, swinging your purse to whack his bicep over and over again, not giving a single fuck who saw it happen either. “I hate you!”

The playful hums that escaped him felt too good as he dodged the swings of your purse, which only made you angrier until finally, he caught your wrist and used that to pull you closer to him. 

The abruptness of the moment caught you off guard long enough for his hands to meet the sides of your face, keeping you still as he leaned down and kissed you–and he kissed you hard, backing you up until your ass was pressed into the Lexus.

Luckily, the parking lot was empty since it was after school, and the meetings were by appointment only. But that didn’t mean there weren’t windows to the inside of the school, and Sukuna knew he was risking a lot just to kiss you–mostly your sanity and Ryo’s teachers finding out–but it felt too good to stop before he was finished. 

You had other plans, though, and pulled out of the kiss, panting just as heavily as he was. “You aren’t allowed to do that. I-If Ryo finds out, o-or if Hiro-”

“If they find out what? That we like to kiss and make up for fun? Or that we sometimes pretend that life’s how it used to be before you left me, but only when your husband leaves for work trips, right?”

Your lips parted, brows furrowing in silent contemplation, when your phone rang, startling you out of the conversation. You swallowed thickly and pulled it out of your pocket, answering it without checking the caller ID. In real time, Sukuna watched the smallest fake smile spread over your mouth, and you pushed him away from you. 

“Thank you. We’ll be right in.” You ended the call and began to fix yourself up, which included putting on that mask you liked to wear when you were forced to interact with Sukuna in public. “Do I look presentable?”

His red eyes flicked to your gray slacks, then to your white button-up, then down your heels before looking at your face again. You were flustered, he could tell by the warmth on your cheeks and the slightest pout on your lips.

You look beautiful, is what he wanted to say, but what came out instead was, “It could be better. Maybe open a few of these,” he taunted, reaching up to undo a few buttons of your top. “Makes you look less like a stiff stick in the mud.”

You batted his hand away with a scoff. “At least I tried. You came in grease-stained pants, and you reek of oil.”

“Mm, that’s because I just got off work, where I’m not allowed to sit around all day and look pretty so I can get compliments from my work husband.” 

Sukuna knew he had made a mistake with his words when you faced him with a little grin, the insult already forming on your tongue. 

“Aw, I’m sorry, Sukuna. I didn’t realize you had it so hard. Not being able to get all dolled up for Toji’s compliments must suck.”

“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes and nudged you toward the entrance of the school. “I basically gave you that one for free, so don’t look so smug.”

Both of you continued to bicker quietly as you navigated the empty elementary school building, the sound of Sukuna’s snickering echoing through the halls. You weren’t having it on a regular day, but on this day in particular, you really weren’t having it.

“Can you stop acting like a child?” you whispered harshly as you hit his bicep with your purse again.

“I don’t know why you’re so stressed about this. They didn’t even want to bring my dad in for parent-teacher conferences, so it’s a good thing they even asked to see you.”

“I can’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to face Wasuke and have to figure out a nice way to tell him he’s the father of the twin spawns of satan.”

“Despite what you think, Jin was always well-behaved in class.”

“So, he was just a menace to society outside of school?” you countered, cocking a brow at your ex-husband. “And you were a little shit all the time?”

“Precisely, but I never got caught for anything too bad.”

You kind of found that hard to believe.

“What was the worst thing you got caught for?”

“Graffiti. Toji and I broke into the gym before a basketball game. Neither of us knew what we were doing, so we painted dicks all over the floor. Looking back, it’s kinda stupid, but what eleven-year-old boy didn’t think cartoon dicks were funny?”

Your eyes widened. “Eleven?” 

He nodded. “We were caught by the janitor, and every afternoon after school for the next month, we had to scrub the floors by hand to get them clean.”

“I bet your dad was pissed.”

He chuckled, but agreed with you. “I’ve never seen him so mad before, except maybe when Jin…”

Sensing his wandering thoughts, you asked, “Alright, so what’s the worst thing you did without being caught?”

“Hm…” he trailed off in thought. “We stole the principal’s car one time.”

“Christ, Sukuna.”

“That principal was a jackass. He deserved it. Besides, I learned how to hotwire a car that night and how to drive a standard. Also learned that the man who runs the chop shop was an excellent chef, and that he had a kid the same age as me and Toji.”

“Uraume,” you surmised.

“Mhm.”

The conversation concluded as soon as you stopped in front of your daughter’s homeroom, which you were quickly ushered into by her teacher, and forced into tiny children's chairs. Sukuna eased his weight down onto the one beside you, listening to the material crack and groan under his weight before he stood up again. You and the teacher both looked up at him expectantly. 

“I’ll stand,” he offered, motioning for the teacher to begin.

She sighed, forcing a smile before gathering her stack of papers in front of her. “Well, as you’re aware, Ryo is experiencing some behavioral issues. With multiple calls home, nothing has changed-”

“Multiple calls home?”

The teacher’s eyes snapped to the man looming over the table and swallowed thickly. “Yes. There have been weekly occurrences-”

“No one told me about that.”

“That’s because I’m the primary contact,” you said with a sharp edge to your tone, a cadence that was telling Sukuna to shut up, but you should know better than to think he would heed the warning. “I’m called first, and when they can’t get a hold of me, they’ll call you.”

“So, that’s not going to work for me-”

“Sukuna.”

The teacher cleared her throat. “I apologize, I wasn’t aware that you two weren’t living in the same household. I can make a note in her files to make a call to each of you for behavioral incidents-”

“Yeah. Do that. Actually, make two calls for anything regarding her.” The look the teacher gave him was a bit disgruntled, probably because it meant more work for the office, but Sukuna didn’t care. “You know, since we’re co-parenting. At least we’re supposed to be.”

The next time your husband was away on a business trip and your daughter decided to spend the night with your parents, you found yourself on Sukuna’s doorstep, which was only a few days after you saw him for Ryo’s parent-teacher conference, and two months since the last time you’d caved into coming over. 

You used the key that he’d given you to sneak inside and went straight for his bedroom. On the way, you passed the bathroom door with the sound of the shower running just inside. For a moment, you contemplated entering, but decided against it.

In his room, you peeled yourself out of your clothing, leaving you in your underwear and knee-high socks you had rolled down. You opted to grab one of his shirts to cover the rest, before lounging on his bed to flip through the TV channels with a bored expression. Without any luck in finding something good on cable, you moved to the streaming platforms next. 

Netflix was the first one on your list.

As soon as you clicked on the app, the profile panel popped up, displaying the ones you’d made when you two were still married. There were four: one for your daughter, one for you, one for Sukuna, and one for both of you to use when watching a show together. 

More often than not, that was the profile you used because whatever show you were watching, Sukuna was watching it, too. He never really had a preference, always just letting you decide, no matter how boring it was.

The sight of it twisted painfully in your chest, bringing you to outwardly wince and rub away the feeling with your palm. You clicked on that profile out of curiosity, and fuck, you really wished you hadn’t. 

All the shows that remained in the Continue Watching list were the ones you’d started just before the divorce–the ones you’d finished with Hiro–save for the first show in the list, which was a new one that had just come out a few weeks ago. 

Which meant that Sukuna had been using this profile.

Before you could help it, your emotions got the better of you, and tears welled in your eyes, spilling over in thick streams down your cheeks. You wiped them away just as quickly as they’d fallen and curled up under the comforter to stare at the ceiling and wait for Sukuna. 

It wasn’t much longer until you heard the water shut off, followed by the sound of him brushing his teeth.

And for some goddamn reason, that made you cry, too. Not because you were sentimental about dental hygiene, but because it sounded so fucking lonely in this quiet, empty house. At least you had Hiro at home on the days that Ryo stayed with Sukuna, but when it was your turn with your daughter…

Was he not lonely?

When he entered, you didn’t move, only watching as he went for the dresser with a towel wrapped around his hips and a smaller one messily drying his hair. He definitely hadn’t noticed your presence yet.

You watched the way his tattooed back muscles contorted and flexed with the movement–usually that was a sight that would cause arousal to prickle over your skin, but you were too depressed to be horny in that moment. Instead, the sight of them filled you with comfort and longing; you wanted a hug from him.

More tears spilled over as you felt sorry for yourself–

Until he unraveled the towel from around his waist, hanging it up on the edge of the dresser to change into the sweatpants he’d pulled out. For seconds, you were blessed with seeing his bare backside, and that included those thick banded thigh tattoos, too–those were your favorite.

“...damn.”

It was a sniffling whisper of appreciation from you, one that you couldn’t help but let slip because dear god, the man was perfect.

The sound of your voice made him freeze before peering over his shoulder to find you lounging on his bed.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, anger lacing his tone, but you knew it was only because you’d startled him. Sukuna hated being snuck up on, which was something you used to use against him when you two were still married. “You can’t just break in like that. Get the fuck out.”

“I didn’t break in. I have a key-”

“Not anymore. Leave it on the table on your way out. You’ve lost your fucking privileges-”

“No. I’m staying.” You crossed your arms, meeting his stare head-on as an act of defiance.

“The hell if you are. The key was for emergencies only-”

“You didn’t care that I used it last time!” you argued.

“Yeah, well, I was surprised by you trying to ride my dick, not the sight of you sitting in my fucking bed like you have a right to anymore! That’s not how this works. I don’t care if you come over for the free fuck, but you let me know first-” Your sniffle caused his rant to stop, his glare softening before he surmised, “You’ve been crying.”

“No, I haven’t,” you said, voice wobbling with the tears you were holding back. 

Sukuna sighed and slipped into his pants before making his way to the bed. The mattress dipped under his weight when he shifted closer to you, but you scooted over to add space.

“Nu uh. Get back here.” He grabbed onto the shirt you’d borrowed and pulled you back to him, positioning you at his side, head resting on his shoulder. “If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it right.”

“This is inappropriate.”

He snorted, “You should stop using your morals as a baseline for what’s appropriate or not.”

“Thanks for making me feel worse.”

You felt him give a half-hearted shrug. “Can’t feed into your delusions all the time, sweetheart. Gotta keep you humble.”

“By reminding me of all the mistakes I made with you?”

He scoffed, “Contrary to what you may think, I don’t see anything we’ve done as a mistake.”

If that were true, why did it feel like he was still hanging onto the weathered memories of your marriage?

You swallowed down your emotions, licking the salty tears off your lips to ask, “Not even the divorce?”

You weren’t even sure if you wanted the true answer to your question because if it were anything like what you assumed he’d say, it was going to sting so fucking bad.

“It’s hard to say.” Alright, maybe it wasn’t that bad. He could have said something worse- “It feels like a mistake not to have you around, but if you’re happier now-”

You pressed your hand over his mouth to shut him up. “I take it back. I don’t want to know the answer.”

He rolled his eyes and batted your hand away. “You already know the answer, idiot.”

“Well, I definitely don’t need to hear you say it out loud.”

“Fine. I won’t. But you have to tell me what you came here for.”

Your fingers traced over the black markings of his chest tattoos. “Hiro’s away, and Ryo is staying with my parents. I was lonely and feeling sentimental, I guess.”

“Sentimental, huh?”

You didn’t appreciate the smug cadence of his. “Mhm. And what's a better place to feel sentimental than your place? It’s like you’re stuck in the world right before the divorce, living in a stupid little time loop.”

“If that’s your way of telling me to move on, save your breath, and if you don’t think I’ve tried, then you’re a dumbass,” he grumbled, pulling you closer to his side. “I still have our cheap, shitty wedding photos stashed in the closet. Right behind your ass plug and vibrator, too.”

“Okay, that’s…” you trailed off with a giggle, “pretty pathetic.”

“You broke into my house to change into one of my shirts and cry on my bed. Don’t call me pathetic. And that vibrator was fucking expensive, I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. We had to save up for it, remember?”

Using the sleeve of the t-shirt, you wiped away the stray tears and nodded. “It was expensive.”

“Mhm.”

“But it was a good one.”

For a moment, he was quiet, mulling over an idea before offering it to you. “You wanna see if it still works?”

It didn’t take much convincing to get you on board with the idea. Two minutes later, your beloved vibrating magic wand was in your hands.

“You haven’t used this with anyone else, have you?” you asked, inspecting the device as he settled to his knees between your open legs.

“No. I’d have to go through the wedding photos to drag it out, and that would have been a total boner killer.” You kicked at his chest, but he was quick to catch your foot before you did any sort of damage. “I’m kidding. Kind of-”

“Sukuna-”

“I haven’t used it with anyone else,” he stated as he pushed your shirt up to your waist, eyeing your choice of underwear while snickering, “Nice granny panties.”

“Oh, my god, you’re such an ass.”

“You can really tell how loved they are with all the holes and frayed seams. These are so sexy.”

“You wanna point out anything else to make me insecure?”

He grazed his hand up your calf. “Besides your unshaven legs?”

“Fuck off.” 

You kicked at him again, but this time when he caught your leg, he pushed it back and lowered himself between your thighs, pulling the underwear to the side to hum, “Haven’t shaved here, either-”

“I actually hate…you…” Your voice tapered off into a shaky whisper as he pressed his flat tongue against your slit, delving in between to your clit. 

You held the lifeless device to your stomach, gripping your shirt in that same tight fist, while your other hand moved to his head, carding your fingers through his damp hair to pull him closer. Against you, his lips turned up into a grin, red eyes meeting yours in a way that sarcastically said, ‘sure, you hate me, sweetheart.’ 

Maybe you hated Sukuna, but you didn’t hate his tongue. Or maybe your pussy was just in love with all things related to your ex-husband. Yeah, that seemed more likely.

His mouth lowered, tongue slowly teasing inside your cunt with just the tip while his nose was pressed into that patch of hair you’d forgotten to take care of while in the shower for the past few weeks. 

Since your last sexcapade with Sukuna, you’d been sexually distant from Hiro–not that he truly minded, he was basically abstinent, but the times when he did want sex, he wanted you clean-shaven, too. 

Personally, you weren’t into the bare look on yourself, deciding that trimmed looked the best because keeping yourself bald down there was always such a chore. There was more that went into it than slathering yourself in shaving cream and taking a blade to it. 

Each time you had to repeat the process of treating yourself for razor rash outside of the shower was a time that you found yourself missing the lack of expectations that Sukuna had when it came to this sort of thing.

He wasn’t the type of person to send a dish back if he found a hair in the food–his words, not yours–and he’d eat you out, bush or not. You appreciated his lack of preference in the matter. 

However, what he didn’t need to do was embarrass the fuck out of you by pressing his nose in it and inhaling. You squealed at the sensation and pushed at him. “What are you doing?!”

You felt his raspy chuckle hit your skin. “Appreciating the fine dining.”

Warm-cheeked and skin prickling with humiliation, but also arousal, you whimpered, “You’re fucking disgusting.”

“You love it,” he simpered, resuming the task at hand while you continued to get lost in the feeling of it. 

“And…you’re a…freak.”

Against your pussy, he hummed in agreement while sucking on your clit and bringing his free hand to tap your hip a few times. “Lift your ass.” 

“Why?” you asked, a little delirious from the tonguing.

“As hot as these are, they’re in the way.” The finger he had hooked in the gusset of your underwear released, letting the fabric snap lightly against your skin. The most you could manage in response was an annoyed groan. 

As soon as you raised your hips, his hands met the worn waistband of your underwear and leaned back to peel them off your legs. He tossed them off the bed before reaching up and taking the vibrator from your hand. 

Like muscle memory, you spread your legs and brought your knees back toward the bed, leaving you splayed open for him. You propped yourself up on your elbows to watch, anticipation thrumming in your blood to be fucked while he toys with you using the vibrator. 

But instead of pulling out his dick, he bent down to spit right on your pussy, smearing it around with the head of the vibrator before turning it on. Your breathing hitched when the device buzzed to life, and the deja vu of the moment hit you hard–the number of times you’d both done this before was too many to count. 

But that memory wasn’t enough to remind you of the little shit that your ex-husband was. 

All too quickly, he clicked the device up to a higher setting, which had you whining and writhing to get away from the overstimulation while he held you in place, amused by your reaction. 

“F-Fucking pr–ick–stop!”

“What do we say?” he playfully goaded, rubbing the head of the vibrator horizontally over your slit to add to the overwhelming feeling.

Too overstimulated to play into his antics, you quickly gave him what he wanted. “Please!” 

That answer earned you his fingers, but not less vibration. They made quick work in your cunt, flicking up to abuse a spot that Sukuna found in you so long ago.

“Please, what?”

You were clawing at the sheets for a break.

“Fu–ck you! I’m not-” Your brain short-circuited when he upped the vibration once more–how was that even possible? Who the fuck enjoys max intensity on this thing? It was torture.

“That wasn’t the answer I was looking for.”

“Ry–omen S-Suk-kuna, I will k-kill you!”

“Oo, using the full name, huh?” He tutted at you and, against all things holy, was able to up the vibration again. If your brain short-circuited before, it was fried now. Tears were spilling down your cheeks from how overly sensitive you’d become in such a short amount of time. “Come on. You don’t wanna say it for me this time?”

“Please, ‘kuna, ple–fuck-” You fell back on the bed, back arching off the mattress. Your body was working against itself by bringing you to an orgasm against your will, but it was building, maybe even too fast. “Too much, s’too much! Please–baby, please!”

He groaned, “That sounds so fucking good coming from you, but that’s not-”

“I love you!” You gasped, eyes squeezing closed as you sputtered, “Love you, please-”

The vibration lessened to a tolerable level, giving you a chance to breathe, not that you’d be able to anyway because the weight of your words crushed your lungs completely. 

What the fuck did you just say to him? Why would you say that? What is wrong with you? He was going to be so put off, or he was going to get the wrong idea, or-

“Damn, you really are feeling sentimental, aren’t you?” he snickered, dragging the vibrator over your clit in slower circles. “We can play house for the night, if you want to. We can even put on our wedding rings again and hold hands, maybe recite our vows-”

You propped yourself up on your elbows to bat the vibrator away and sniffle, “You’re fucking with me, right?”

He grinned and slipped his fingers out of your pussy to pull down his sweatpants. “Well, I pawned our rings years ago, and I couldn’t even tell you the first line of our vows, so yes, I’m fucking with you.”

Your brows drew together. “You pawned our fucking rings?” 

“The complimentary rings they gave us at the drive-thru wedding chapel? Yeah, I did. For thirty bucks.” With the look you gave him, he rolled his eyes and added, “I needed money for gas and a pack of smokes.”

You scoffed, slightly offended. “I liked that ring.”

“You always complained it turned your finger green,” he countered.

“Yeah, but the nail polish trick worked.”

“And your hand always smelled like a nail salon.” He cocked a brow, waiting for the next gripe you were about to throw at him when you finally shut your mouth. He pushed the tip of his cock into you then, pausing to ask, “What’s it matter anyway? We’re divorced now.”

You shrugged, wrapping your arms around his neck to pull him down to you, legs locking behind his lower back. The irony of the situation was not lost on you, but you were getting high on the situation, and that was enough to dull the morals that were screaming at you to stop. 

“Whatever,” you huffed, rolling your hips against his, hinting at him to continue. “Just… get it over with already.”

A tiny smirk formed on his mouth before it dropped, and he grabbed the toy from the bed, handing it off to you. With a determined hum, you clicked it on and pressed it between your legs. Your knees pressed back into the bed under the push of his hands as he thrust inside, bottoming out in one stroke. You both exhaled a shaky sort of moan, eyes locking for a moment before each of you averted your gaze to your pussy.

After three back-to-back orgasms with the vibrator, it was enough for you to click it off and toss it on the bed, choosing instead to wrap your arms around Sukuna’s neck and bring him in close. Your vision was a bit blurry under the welling tears, both from the pleasure and the moment itself. While he was fucking you hard, treating you like an absolute slut, you could still appreciate the moment of closeness–it was intimate.

You were glad that he wasn’t able to see your tears, since you had him pulled so closely, though you’re sure he knew you were feeling some type of emotion because Sukuna always just had a way of reading you perfectly. Part of you felt relieved that he could; it meant he could give you what you want without you having to say it out loud.

However, this time, you felt as though he wanted you to say it, and with how needy you were feeling, you didn’t mind breaking down your own integrity for what you wanted.

“Sukuna, can you–can we…”

When you trailed off, his raspy, knowing voice rumbled against your skin, “Ask for it.” A whimper escaped your mouth, knowing that he had caught you and was about to taunt you for it. He chuckled, “I wanna hear you be pathetic, so ask for it, or we can carry on as fuck buddies.”

You bit at the inside of your cheek before murmuring against his shoulder, “Can we do it like before? Pretend that we still love each other or something?”

“Sure.” The scornful hiss in his voice burned. “We can pretend.”

The biting against your neck turned to sucking, then to light, peppering kisses. His thrusts became softer, choosing to slow his pace to a languid roll of his hips against yours, and the degrading dirty talk was traded in for praise and compliments, especially when his hand met the curve of your waist and slid underneath to pull up onto his lap.

You grabbed one of his hands from your hips, interlocking your fingers, which was a gesture that had him quietly snickering, “You want it extra soft and slow, huh?”

“Please,” you breathed, “Please, just be nice.”

“Just for tonight.” 

His lips met the side of your neck, right over your pulse, in a quick kiss before you brought your palms to either side of his face, lifting him from your shoulder. The black lines of his tattoos contrasted with the slight pinkish shade that colored his cheeks; they were warm as you traced the markings with your thumb.

His red irises eyed your mouth as you repeated him, “Just for tonight,” before flicking up to meet your stare again. He blinked a few times and leaned forward to close the gap and kiss you. 

You released his hand and brought both of yours to his shoulders, while his settled on your hips to guide your movements against him. For the most part, you both kept the pace pretty consistent and steady, not once faltering or pushing for more.

Eventually, you broke the kiss to breathe, and with that, he leaned back on one hand to stare at your pussy grinding over his lap. A quiet moan met your ears before you felt him start meeting each roll of your hips with a gentle thrust–not to quicken it, just to get deeper. And it was deep–so deep that the tiny bit of pain had you clenching around him, drawing an even deeper groan from his chest.

“That’s it, sweetheart,” he breathed, tongue tracing his bottom lip before bringing it into his mouth. He offered up another soft moan, “Fuck, just like that.”

“Sukuna,” you slurred, gasping when his thrusts went just a little deeper. Your voice drew his attention back to you, bringing you two closer again. “S’too deep, I don’t think-” Your brows twisted up when he pulled you down against him, holding you still while he grabbed the vibrator from the bed and pressed it to your clit before turning it on the lightest setting.

“You got it,” he cooed, drawing it over your sensitive skin. He stopped thrusting so deeply and allowed you to just grind, offering you words of encouragement that sounded so foreign, but so good coming off his tongue. 

“F-Fuck,” you stammered, hips stuttering against the vibration. Your movements grew sharper as you desperately tried to get off. You were climbing there, so close, but dancing around it after your previous orgasms. “‘Kuna, I-I-”

“So good for me, you’re doing so well.” It was a condescending sort of praise, the kind he’d use if he were mocking you, but it was working. With your foreheads pressed together, lips almost tracing the others, and your eyes daring to roll back, he knew you were right there. The corners of his mouth ticked up in a small grin. “You’re right there, sweetheart.”

The whimpers that left you were incomprehensible, but he understood you just fine–understood that you just needed a little push to get there. 

Your head was about to tilt forward, leaning into his shoulder, when he grabbed your face with one of his hands, using the other to click the intensity of the vibrator up a notch. Your fingers wrapped around his wrist as his sank into your cheeks just a bit to hold you steady.

“Let me see it,” he ordered softly against your pout, “Show me how pretty my wife is when she cums.”

And there it was–the push you needed. 

Your brows furrowed, eyes rolling back as you bucked into the vibrator, leaving all of your moans to hit Sukuna’s lips as he watched you ride out one of the best orgasms of your life. You muttered your delirious thanks to him over and over while a tear or two dripped down your cheeks. Your cries were quickly silenced by Sukuna leaning forward to actually kiss you. 

He tossed the toy aside to grab your hips, not even bothering to turn it off, before he was guiding you to ride him faster. Your overstimulated sobs met his mouth, mixing with deep groans when he finally came, so much that it was already dripping out of you before he’d even finished.

And when it was said and done, the only sound remaining was your labored breathing and the vibrator still buzzing on the bed. 

“F-Fuck,” you whispered, leaning your forehead against his shoulder, trying to piece together everything that just happened between you both. 

He shifted forward, holding your body to his, to grab the device and turn it off, leaving you in the deafening silence, so quiet that you could hear each other’s heartbeats. The feeling of his fingers tracing up and down your spine was soothing, but reality still hurt like a bitch.

“We should clean up,” he rasped, pulling you off his lap as gently as possible. When you finally had the chance to see his face again, he wouldn’t look at you. “You can go shower first. I’m gonna smoke.” He didn’t give you the option to say anything else before he was out of the bedroom door.

After showering, you contemplated whether you should just leave–maybe he needed time to process what happened, like you did. That wouldn’t be an outlandish thought–you both just got off to pretending you were still married.

However, as you tried sneaking out of the bathroom after your shower, about to get your stuff and leave, he stopped you, having caught you from the kitchen. 

“Thought we weren’t doing the whole fuck buddies thing for the night,” he mused through a plume of cigarette smoke that he was blowing out the open window. “You were really about to just cum and go, huh?” 

Your mouth dried immediately. “I-I… well, we just–I thought-”

He smirked around the next drag off the cigarette before snubbing it out in the ashtray. Voice muffled by smoke, he said, “It’s probably best not to think about it, so just go back to bed. I’ll be there in a second.”

You blew out a breath, but turned on your heel to return to his bed. After shucking off the clothes you just put on, you curled under the blankets and waited in the dark for him to return. It wasn’t long, maybe a few minutes, before you felt him sink into the mattress beside you.

He didn’t pull you closer, he didn’t cuddle you, he just… laid there, probably thinking about what happened just like you were, not even heeding his own advice. 

You knew that to be true when he spoke again.

“I lied to you before. I do think the divorce was a mistake.”

* * *

The next morning, despite having had no alcohol the night before, you still felt like shit–nauseous and dizzy, which sent you stumbling out of Sukuna’s bed and into the bathroom, only to throw up nothing since you hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning. Your hand cupped your mouth as you heaved in breath, falling away from the toilet bowl when the clenching of your stomach lightened up. 

As most would, in a situation like yours, you panicked, coming to the worst conclusion possible–pregnancy.

As quietly as you could, you grabbed the sweatpants Sukuna abandoned on the floor sometime through the night, the shirt you stole from him, and quickly changed into them before searching all over for your car keys. 

If your ex caught you now, he’d know something was bothering you, which would only lead to a long, prying interrogation until you handed over your suspicions. And for all the obvious reasons, you couldn’t tell Sukuna about a possible pregnancy–not until it was confirmed, at least.

The second you rushed out the front door, your face collided with a thick wall of chest muscles. It didn’t take much more than feeling that to know who you just walked into, and running into him was probably the second-worst case scenario. 

Stumbling back with a gulp, your eyes met the arrogantly amused ones of Toji. His scar moved as he grinned down at you, about to open his mouth and utter anything you weren’t in the mood to hear. 

“What are you doing here?” you both asked at the same time, though you sounded more squeaky than he did.

“Alright, I’ll go first,” he playfully sighed and crossed his arms. “Megumi is borrowing my truck and Emi took her car to visit her sister, so your man and I are carpooling for work.”

“He is not my man.”

“Then why are you coming out of his house at seven in the morning, wearing his clothing and looking like that?” He motioned to your face, which prompted you to take your phone out and see what he meant. Your heart dropped to see the thick streaks of yesterday’s mascara running down your cheeks. Toji cleared his throat, holding back a laugh. “It’s okay to admit it, I mean… we’re adults and it’s natural. Nothing to be ashamed of… except for the obvious-”

“Shut up,” you hissed as you brushed past him to get down the porch steps. 

After narrowly escaping Toji’s taunts, you made your way to the nearest pharmacy and grabbed a couple of different test options from the shelves and a big bottle of water. You drank as much of it as you could on the drive home, and by the time you made it, you were only fifty percent sure that you were ready to face whatever answer the test would give you.

The next time Sukuna got to see you was two months later, and this time, it was for Ryo’s birthday party that she so desperately needed at an indoor waterpark.

Humidity clung to Sukuna’s skin, and the screams of other kids filled his ears–it was misery, and the only thing that was keeping him sane was watching Ryo dunk all the boys that swam too close to her. Watching her take down a significantly bigger kid and hold them under the water until they tapped out filled him with pride.

Ryo only had two friends who were her age: two twin girls, Maki and Mai, who hailed from Toji’s family. The rest of her ‘friends’ came from Sukuna’s side. That being said, the entire group was fairly close-knit, and that was for good reason. 

Most regular children couldn’t handle Ryo; she liked tormenting the ones who came near her as an act of entertainment, much like her father. It only made sense that the only ones who could keep up with her came from the family that raised Toji, which was about the only person who could keep up with Sukuna, save for you and Uraume, of course.

And speaking of Uraume…

“The cake is set up.”

Sukuna looked back at Uraume, who was taking their gloves off that were tinted with red and purple icing–a terrible color combination, if you asked Sukuna, but it’s what Ryo wanted for her birthday cake.

“Thanks. How much?”

They brushed him off. “Don’t worry about it. With the invite to the party, we can just call it even.”

Sukuna snorted, “What a god awful payment, but if you insist.”

They both glanced toward the sound of children shouting, particularly coming from the child that Ryo was manhandling.

“She’s definitely yours, isn’t she?” they joked, taking their place next to Sukuna at the table that was furthest away from the rest of the random children who were enjoying the waterpark.

Sukuna nodded, a small smile gracing his mouth as he watched her put the boy in a headlock. “She’s good, right?”

However, Uraume didn’t get a chance to answer before Sukuna heard your voice echo in the loud indoor waterpark. “Ryomen Sukuna!” 

He pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair to see you a couple of tables down, motioning to your daughter’s perfectly formed headlock with a look that said, ‘It’s your turn, fix that.’ 

“I’ll be back,” he told Uraume before shuffling past the random running children.

“She’s acting like you,” you snapped when he was close enough. “She won’t listen to me, so get in there.”

“I can’t.”

“What? Why?”

Sukuna motioned to the sign on the wall that strictly forbade anyone with tattoos from entering the water. “I sent you waterparks that were tattoo-friendly before you booked the reservation. Didn’t forget I’m covered in them, did you?”

“She didn’t want to go to any of those because they didn’t have the fun waterpark equipment.” You chewed on your lip. “Okay, it’s fine. Hiro can stop her. Maybe.”

He snorted, “Doubt it. Look at that headlock.” Sukuna leaned back so you both could get a look at your daughter, who was telling the struggling, red-faced boy to tap out.

“Sukuna, she’s going to kill him.”

“Nah, she’ll drop him when he starts to go limp.” When Sukuna turned back to you, meeting your unimpressed scowl, he nodded toward you and your big black dress that you were drowning in. “Why can’t you do it? You don’t have a bathing suit on under that sorry excuse of a parachute?”

“It’s a dress, asshole.”

“It’s ugly, is what it is.”

“Look at what you’re wearing, you dick.” You motioned toward his jeans and band t-shirt. He glanced down at it before fixing his knowing eyes on you. 

“I know without a doubt that you like this band, and I know the things you like to do when you listen to them, so-”

“Sukuna-”

“Just take off the dress, sweetheart.”

“She said no, Sukuna.” That small, measly voice came from behind you, bringing a warped grin to Sukuna’s face. He looked over your shoulder at your husband sitting in your shadow.

“Wow, Hiro, you look so tiny back there. Can’t believe you actually took a day off, but it's nice to see you joining the family-” He was cut off by a swift jab in the side from your elbow, but brushed it off with a grunt, cursing you out under his breath. “Yuji and Choso aren’t going to be here until one, and Toji’s family won’t be here until one-thirty. If you don’t trust her not to kill someone, you take care of it. Or send Hiro out there. At least then I can live vicariously through Ryo when she kicks his ass.”

Hiro made a sound of discontent and argued, “I’ve done nothing to you-”

“You married my ex-wife.”

“More like she married me.”

“Good to know who wears the pants in the relationship. You takin’ her strap up your ass, too?” 

Your two hands met his chest and pushed him back. “It’s Ryo’s party–can you act civil for more than an hour?”

“Sure, I can. As soon as the peanut gallery of pussies sitting behind you shuts their mouth.”

“He barely said anything.”

“Yeah, I barely said anything.”

As soon as you heard your husband parrot your words and stand up next to you, your eyes closed as you sighed, preparing yourself to take Sukuna’s commentary. “And even that was too much. Our lives are so much better when you’re away on your work trips, I wish you’d leave more often-”

“The hell do my work trips have to do with you anyway?”

“I don’t know, the air just feels lighter without you there suck it all down like a goddamn mouth-breather, and shit gets to go back to normal for a little while-”

“Sukuna,” you sharply scolded, slapping his chest, only to get moved aside by him when your husband moved forward toward Sukuna, wishing desperately to bump chests with him as a sign of dominance, only for Hiro to realize how much shorter he was than your ex-husband. He swallowed the embarrassment of that and pushed at Sukuna instead, yet he was met with zero resistance. “Hiro, stop, please-”

But he didn’t stop. Instead, he asked, “What are you even talking about? What does my life have to do with yours at all? There’s nothing tying me and you together, your ex-wife is called an ex-wife for a fucking reason-”

“If only you knew how close-” 

The angry haze of his argument with Hiro subsided when Sukuna caught sight of you pulling your dress off over your head to get into the pool, revealing a part of you that was definitely not there two months ago. Hiro followed Sukuna’s eyes to you before looking back at him with a shit-eating grin. 

“Oh, you didn’t know she was pregnant?” he taunted, placing his hand on Sukuna’s shoulder as you walked through the pool to where your daughter was fighting, and began prying Ryo off the boy. “Yep. Four months ago.” 

He harshly brushed Hiro’s hand from his shoulder, eyeing it with disgust.

It’s Ryo’s party, he told himself, choosing to stare at your protruding stomach as a means to ground himself while your husband continued to chatter away. 

“Did her nice and slow after I got back from one of my work trips.”

It’s Ryo’s party, it’s Ryo’s party–if Sukuna blows up now and ruins everything, it’s not just Ryo who will be disappointed, but you, too.

“She smiles when she cums, by the way. Did you know that?”

But a statement like that was worth some jail time.

It took about .5 seconds for his words to register and take root in Sukuna’s mind, and about one more second after that for his fist to bash into the side of Hiro’s smug face, sending him reeling back to crash into the tables. The commotion was loud, echoing around the park and gathering the attention of everyone. Faintly, in the silence of the place, Sukuna heard you saying his name.

Hiro knocked the tables over and ended up on his back with Sukuna’s boot on his chest, keeping him pinned there. A wad of his spit landed on Hiro’s cheek while blood gushed out of his nose and split lip. 

Despite therapy telling him that violence is never the answer, Sukuna had to admit that getting to punch Hiro in the face was fucking cathartic.

“If she’s still smiling when she’s done, you weren’t doing it right to begin with.”

The therapist looked between you and Sukuna, giving you both forced smiles. “It’s lovely to see you two again.” Her eyes slid over to the newest addition in the therapy room. “And welcome, Hiro. We’re happy to have you.”

“Maybe you are, but I’m definitely not-”

“Sukuna,” you scolded. 

“I’m not happy to be here either. Being in the same room as him is traumatic-”

“Hiro, please.”

The therapist cleared her throat. “I can sense the animosity is flowing. I can also see it–Hiro, you keep giving Sukuna dirty looks.” 

Out of curiosity, Sukuna tilted his head to look at Hiro, who was definitely glaring–or at least he was trying to, but with the nose cast and swollen black eye, he wasn’t entirely sure. 

“You don’t seem to like him. Why is that?”

“Why do you think? He broke my fucking nose-”

Sukuna scoffed, “You’re lucky that’s all I did-”

“I know you're pissed about the pregnancy, but she’s not your wife, she’s mine. I can knock her up whenever I feel like it-”

Sukuna let out a dry laugh, one that signified that he was getting pissed. “You’ll shut the fuck up or I’m breaking your jaw next-”

Hiro stood and pointed a stiff finger at Sukuna. “No, you’ll shut the fuck up, or I’m filing a report with the police and sending your ass back to jail-”

“No, you won’t,” you and Sukuna at the same time. “Hiro, please, just sit. Try to be the bigger person-”

“Good luck.” You shot Sukuna a glare. “What? He’s half my size-”

“Hiro. Sit. Just ignore him.” You patted the seat next to you, and when he took it, you turned back to the therapist with a sated smile. “Okay. We can start the session now.”

At the sight of you standing on Sukuna’s porch, donning an oversized hoodie to hide your pregnancy bump in the middle of the night, Sukuna whistled lowly, bringing you to press your lips together and wait for the incoming hounding. 

“Mm, this isn’t a good look for you, sweetheart,” he tutted, “Makes you look a little desperate, if you ask me.”

You took the insult with grace since you’d already ditched your pride back at your house before you decided to drive all the way to Sukuna’s for a booty call. “Whatever. Can you let me in, or not?”

“Dunno. Where’s your husband? And our daughter?”

“Hiro’s away on a trip and Ryo’s with my parents,” you answered quickly, toying with the sleeves of your hoodie. Your eyes flicked between the ground, Sukuna’s chest, and his eyes while you waited for him to come to a decision, which was taking a long fucking time. “Christ, Sukuna, how long are you gonna make me wait out here?”

He pursed his lips and leaned against the door frame, blocking you from entering so he could toy with you some more. Little did he know, you had urgent business that needed to be taken care of as soon as possible, and didn’t have time to dodge all of his witty remarks.

“You know, we should bring this up in those therapy sessions you make me go to with you and your husband. I’m sure the doctor would find this little secret of yours to be insightful-”

“Please let me in! I drove all the way here after drinking an entire root beer float, and this baby is pressing right on my bladder–I’m about to piss myself!” He eyed your body, honing in on the way you had your thighs clenched together. “Sukuna-”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth? This could all be a ruse to get into my house-”

“The truth is about to start dripping down my legs. Let me in, you stupid bitch!”

He stared at you for a few more seconds before rolling his eyes and stepping back out of the doorway to let you in. You were already halfway to the bathroom when you heard him shut the front door to follow the path you’d taken down the hall. He came to stand in front of the bathroom door that you didn’t shut, too eager to get your pants off and piss. 

So eager, in fact, that you did piss yourself a little bit. 

He watched you shuck off your bottoms in an irritated, huffy motion and caught them as you threw the pair at his face. “Since you made me wait, I’ll need something to wear while you wash them.”

He didn’t even pretend to entertain your snarky order and asked a question of his own. “Since when are you knocking on my door instead of just breaking in?”

Your jaw clenched, a warmth taking to your cheeks. “Forgot my key.”

“The anticipation of asking me to fuck you cloud your mind?”

“Fuck off.”

A low chuckle left him as he stepped out of the doorway with your clothes in hand. From the laundry room, you heard him call out to you. “What do you want from that Korean place downtown?”

“You’re getting takeout? It’s almost midnight.”

“They’re open until two.” 

“Uh…” You flushed and stood to wash your hands. “Kimbap is fine. Oh, and that fish-shaped dessert–it’s like taiyaki-”

“Bungeo-ppang,” he corrected you.

“Yeah. That.” You caught your reflection in the mirror, noting the small smile that slowly fell as you realized what you were doing again–staying at Sukuna’s house while your husband was away. Swallowing thickly, you looked away from the mirror as if that would save you from your guilty conscience. “I’m going to shower.”

He didn’t respond, but with how quiet his house was, you knew that he heard you. 

You stripped out of the rest of your clothes and stepped into the bathtub, hissing under the cold water that shot out from the shower head. When it warmed, you eased into it and went to grab one of the soaps from the tiled alcove, but faltered when it came time to make a selection.

Among the soaps that you knew to be Sukuna’s, you noticed a new, colorful bottle that was also familiar. It was the new brand of shampoo that Ryo insisted on because it had her favorite cartoon character on the front. It was a minuscule detail, but it felt… significant. 

And it also hurt you–burned you. 

Because of you, Ryo had to have two of everything instead of just one. Two bottles of soap, two different bedrooms, two different homes, and two separated parents.

At least she got two Christmases, but how long would that be something for her to brag about before she realized the rawness of what it actually meant–that her parents couldn’t stand to be around one another, not even for her sake. 

How long would she think her father was bad ass for rocking Hiro’s shit at her birthday party before she realized that her parents would never be normal? How long until she figured out how embarrassing it was to have parents like you and Sukuna?

And you weren’t just blaming Sukuna for this–you were definitely at fault, too. The divorce was your decision, after all, and if you really tried, you could behave through all of his taunting and teasing. Probably. 

Stomaching Sukuna’s insults would make the separation better for Ryo, and forcing yourself not to argue with him over all the little things would help. But you couldn’t help but fall victim to his nature; you’d always been susceptible to it. 

You thought that maybe the therapy sessions you were forcing Sukuna and Hiro to go to would help–that it would make this divorced-co-parenting situation a little simpler, which could make it a little more normal, but it wasn’t fucking helping. 

Because not even in divorce were you and Sukuna normal. 

To everyone else, you two were separated. But in secret, you were anything but separated–you both liked to pretend the divorce never happened.

Sure, you asked for it last time, but Sukuna played into it. Maybe that was only for your sake, but he was still living the life he had before you two divorced. He hadn’t changed anything, he hadn’t moved on, so was he any better than you?

You suppose that most would say, ‘Yes, he is better than you. He isn’t cheating on his spouse.’ 

True.

But in terms of keeping this separation normal, he wasn’t innocent.

By the time you stepped out of the shower, you’d cried enough that your eyes were red and puffy, and you definitely added quite a bit to Sukuna’s water bill.

You remember in the beginning, when you two were first married and struggling to pay your bills, you had a rule to keep your showers under ten minutes. Of course, at the time, you were pregnant, and when you’d inched closer to your due date, being able to shower in under ten minutes was a feat, so Sukuna never fussed at you for taking so long then.

But that was a different time. You two were married. Sukuna was obligated to treat you as his pregnant wife instead of his pregnant ex-wife turned fuck buddy. 

So you couldn’t be too surprised when you stepped into the dining room, where he was playing on his phone while picking at the takeout, and having to hear him complain. He didn’t look up from the screen as he said, “Water isn’t free, you know.”

You snorted and sat down in the chair adjacent to his, in front of your food that he’d set out for you. “It should be free. Comes from the sky.”

“Shower at your own place next time.”

“I did, asshole.” You grabbed the chopsticks beside your plate. “But then you made me wait on the porch until I was about to piss myself. After having Ryo, I can’t hold it anymore. You know that.”

“Should have thought of that before drinking a root beer float, then.” His eyes slid up from the phone to meet yours, watching as you shoveled the first piece of kimbap into your mouth, before returning to what he was looking at on his phone. 

“Whatever,” you grumbled around the food before looking around the table for the usual side dish you’d have with this takeout, and finding it right beside Sukuna’s plate. Readying your chopsticks, you reached across the table to get some of the spicy cabbage, only for him to block your attempt with his own chopsticks. “What the hell?”

He sighed and clicked off his phone before bringing the bowl of kimchi closer to him. “I don’t want to hear you bitch and moan later about having heartburn.”

“I have antacids in my purse.” 

Lies, you’d take the last of them yesterday after lunch, but Sukuna didn’t need to know that.

He eyed you for a moment before conceding, sliding the small bowl toward you to watch you happily pick at the kimchi. You were definitely going to regret it later when the spice burned the back of your throat for a second time, but that was a problem for future you. 

For now, you’d worry about the present.

Which included dodging Sukuna’s pestering. 

“What were you crying about in the shower?”

You knew it was coming, yet you didn’t prepare an answer for him before coming out of the bathroom. Truthfully, you were too eager to eat the takeout. However, as it’s been said before, you left your dignity at your own house before deciding to drive all the way to Sukuna’s. With that in mind, you offered up the truth.

“I saw the shampoo you have for Ryo.” You shrugged, shoveling another piece of kimbap into your mouth while you listened to Sukuna chuckle.

“Always so sensitive. Why’re you crying over soap?”

“Because it’s the same shampoo she has at my house.”

Sukuna nodded, not really understanding what you were getting at. “Right. Because it’s got her favorite cartoon character on the front. She wouldn’t let me leave the store without getting it for her the last time we were out. Said she had to have it, or she’d refuse to shower.”

You held back a giggle as you swallowed your food. “She said the same thing to me.”

“Besides the fact that our daughter knows how to manipulate both of us, why are you crying over that?”

Your smile slowly faded as you huffed. “I just… feel bad, I guess. Split custody sucks for everyone involved, and I just wonder if she hates it as much as I do–we do.”

“She’s not too bothered by it,” Sukuna began, “she doesn’t like having to switch between houses all the time, but only because she hates not being able to take my PlayStation back to your house. I’m getting her a new one for Christmas, by the way. So, don’t take my idea.”

You perked up then, a little confused. “She’s talked to you about it?”

He paused mid-bite. “Yeah. She wants this new game, but my console’s too old to run it-”

“Not that. I meant the split custody.”

“Only when I ask her about it,” he answered, taking the bite then, watching you mull over his words. “She hasn’t said anything about it to you?”

“No, but I guess I never ask. I always just kind of try to… give reassurance that we love her, and that none of this is her fault-” Sukuna exhaled a laugh and reached for his drink. “What's so funny?”

“She’s not an idiot, you know.”

“I do know that, thank you,” you scoffed, taking offense, “You don’t think she needs reassurance?”

“I didn’t say that, but she’s pretty self-assured already. She knows it’s not her fault.”

You cocked a brow. “And how do you know that?”

“Because I asked her.” An arrogantly knowing grin tugged at the corners of his mouth as he picked at his food. “If you weren’t so afraid to hear her opinions, you would have asked her, too-”

“Screw you. I do want to know her opinions-”

“Then why haven’t you asked?” He raised both brows, waiting for your rebuttal, and when you had none, he continued, “You don’t want to hear your daughter tell you that she’s unhappy with what you’ve done-”

“What we’ve done,” you corrected.

“Sure. What we’ve done.” He rolled his eyes. “But besides agreeing to the divorce, I’m not ashamed of anything; therefore, I don’t have to be afraid of hearing my daughter tell me I’ve messed up somehow.” 

You dropped your chopsticks and snapped, “I’m not ashamed of anything–not even the divorce.”

“That so?” You hated the way he tilted his head to the side in a cynical, questioning sort of way. “You moved her into a new house with a stranger and said she had to treat him like family, and I’d bet anything you haven’t asked for her thoughts on that. If you had, you know that she doesn’t like Hiro-”

“That’s what's expected with you constantly running your mouth about him. Kids are impressionable, you know?”

A dry, unamused laugh met your ears. “I’ve not said one word about Hiro in front of her-”

“Yeah, right,” you huffed, pushing your food away from you, stomach tightening in knots with your rising anger. 

“It’s true. Why would I? So she has more of a reason not to like you?” You paused, as did Sukuna, and in real time, you watched his face slacken as he realized what he’d said. “That’s not what I meant-”

“She doesn’t like me?”

“I didn’t mean-”

Tears spilled over as you pushed away from the table. “That’s what you just said.”

“She doesn’t like the situation you’ve put her in-”

“That we’ve put her in!”

“No! That you’ve put her in!” he snapped, meeting your anger, “I didn’t marry someone else! I didn’t move her in with a stranger! In my house, there’s not some third person I’m forcing her to call mom! It’s just me, you, and Ryo–just like it was before, and just like it should be now! The situation she doesn’t like, the situation that you put her in, it’s fucking unstable and inconsistent! And it’s your fault!”

“You know what’s fucking unstable and inconsistent?! Having a father who’s in and out of prison because his brother means more to him than his family!” You stood up then, leaning over the table toward him. “You know what else is unstable and inconsistent?! Jumping between friends' houses to homeless shelters with a fucking toddler! And standing in line at the fucking food bank, hoping to god there’s enough by the time it’s your turn! And praying the pack of diapers is enough to last until you’re able to scrounge up enough money to get some more! I couldn’t do all of that on my own, and you left me for two years!”

The crestfallen look on his face was almost worth the pain you were reliving, but it looked so fucking blurry through the tears that were streaming down your cheeks. 

You pushed at him when he stood up, stepping closer to you, but you were met with zero resistance. He only let you hit his chest a few times before he grabbed both of your hands to hold them still while you continued to rant.

“Don’t fucking talk to me about being inconsistent and unstable when that’s how you left us! Marrying Hiro was just fucking damage control, to make sure the next time you needed approval from a fucking ghost, at least Ryo could have some stability and consistency! Her stepfather might not be there all the time, and she might hate him, but we have a house and food on the table. She gets to demand her favorite shampoo, and choose a theme for her birthday, and know what it's like to be a normal fucking kid! 

“And she gets to know her grandparents– I even get to have a relationship with them again now that we’re divorced– we have support from more than just you and whatever you deem is enough for us! And ensuring all of that makes me a bad person?! Wanting more for our kid than what you could give her while you were in prison makes me a bad mom?! I should be ashamed of that, while you get to feel guiltless?! Don’t fucking play self-righteous with me, Sukuna, because I’ve done more for our child than you ever have!”

For a moment, your cries were muffled by his shirt when he pulled you into his chest, hugging you, before you started pushing at him to let you go. His hold never wavered, and just when you were about to exhaust yourself, you heard him say the words you’d been waiting to hear for years.

“I’m sorry.” 

Despite every nerve in your body telling you to pull away, you didn’t. You melted into it, rigid limbs liquifying against him as you cried, “You left me first.”

“I know.”

“You left me alone, and I-I fucking hate you for it. And you weren’t the same when you came back, and I…” You fisted his shirt in your hands. “I couldn’t fucking do it again. I didn’t know when you’d be back–I didn’t know if you’d just leave us again-”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“That doesn’t fix anything.”

“I know, but I don’t think I’ve said it to you before, and it’s nice to hear, isn’t it?” You swallowed thickly and nodded against him. His hand met the back of your head when he pressed a kiss to your hair. “I’m so fucking sorry. If there was something I could do to make it up to you-”

“There isn’t. The time for that was before the divorce. Now, what’s the point? I already have Hiro. I don’t need you like that anymore.”

“Then what do you need me for?”

You sniffled, finally calming down a bit after your outburst. “Who says I need you for anything at all?”

“Mm, somehow you keep ending up in my house, so obviously you need me for something.”

And he had you there.

“To make me forget, I guess. To keep me from feeling so lonely.” You tearfully snickered, “To feed my delusions, which you should stop doing, by the way.”

“At this point, why stop now?” His hand moved to your stomach, palming the side of it over the loose shirt you’d borrowed from his closet. “What are the chances this kid is mine?”

“A lot higher than it should be,” you answered, voice wobbly.

“And what are you going to do if they are mine?”

You sucked your quivering bottom lip into your mouth as you shrugged, burying your face into his shirt again. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever fucked up this badly before, Sukuna. You were right, Ryo probably does hate me, and it’s my fault-”

The sharp flick against your ear had you reeling back, cupping it while letting out a hiss. “What the fuck?”

“Don’t make me hold you and then start feeling sorry for yourself. That’s pathetic, even for you.”

Your eyes widened. “Feel sorry for myself?!”

He rolled his eyes and stepped back to the table to begin gathering up the food. “You know damn well Ryo doesn’t hate you. You’re a shitty spouse to Hiro, but you’re not a shitty mom.”

You blinked, feeling a little dumbfounded. “I don’t know if I should take it as a compliment or an insult.”

“You can take it as the truth. Ryo isn’t stupid. She can see you’re trying your best, that’s what matters. And no matter who the runt belongs to, you’ll be a good mother to them, too. So stop it with the tears. I’d rather listen to you yell at me all night for being a terrible husband for leaving than have to listen to wonder if Ryo secretly hates you–she doesn’t, by the way. You’re definitely the top contender as her favorite parent.”

You sniveled and waved him off. “Now I know you’re lying.”

He chuckled, “I’m not. You should hear her. Mommy this, mommy that. Every time we go to the store, it’s Mommy would like this, wouldn’t she look so pretty in this, we should get this for her.” 

A warmth covered your cheeks. “Oh.”

“Mhm.”

You held a tiny giggle behind your hand and followed him into the kitchen while he worked on putting away the leftovers. “She says the same things about you when we go out.”

He paused then, briefly glancing at you over his shoulder to ask, “Does she?”

“She does. Pisses Hiro off like you wouldn’t imagine.”

Sukuna turned back around, snickering, “Knowing her, she’s probably only doing it because she knows it pisses him off.”

“Yeah. Probably,” you laughed, growing silent as your smile slowly faded while you watched him put the food away in the fridge. The entire moment felt so domestic, and had you longing for what you once had before. Not just the marriage, but the relationship you had with Sukuna overall–it was always so perfectly put together. 

You two just… meshed. 

You fit together.

Eight Years Prior

You eyed all of the passing inmates through the plastic divider, patiently and anxiously waiting to see the one you came for. Just when you thought he might have turned down time in the visitation booth, Sukuna sat down in front of you, biting back a pleased grin as he took the phone off the wall, leaving you to mirror his action.

“You know, khaki is not a good look for you,” you teased, eyeing his beige uniform that appeared to be a bit too small around the arms and chest. Or maybe he was just that muscular. “I was expecting the bright orange jumpsuit, if I’m being honest. Gives more of the prisoner look.”

“Mm, well, we’re in the county jail, not a prison. The uniforms are different. But, truthfully, I didn’t look good in the bright orange, either. Now, the red jumpsuit did me a lot of favors. The lunch ladies loved it.”

You cocked a brow, leaning closer to the glass. “Did they?”

“Mhm. Gave me extra food whenever I asked.” His breathy laughter sounded staticky over the receiver. “Until the guards found out and told them to stop. Practically starved me after that.”

With his explanation, your eyes lit up. “Oh, speaking of being starved, that reminds me. I added money to your commissary.”

Sukuna’s face fell. “No, you didn’t.”

You nodded. “I did. It wasn’t much since my dad cut my allowance. He’s still mad about me hiding you from the police, but it should be enough for you to get food, right? If not, I saw a flyer in the lobby about sending care packages. I’ll have to go through the approved vendors, and I don’t know how long it will take to get here, but I can put something together-”

“You don’t have to do that, sweetheart. I’m only here for a couple of months.”

Your smile flickered. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to be hungry-”

“Trust me, if I’m hungry, I’ll eat.”

“If you say so,” you huffed, leaning your chin into your hand. “So, when do they allow conjugal visits?”

He hummed out a soft laugh. “You miss me that bad?”

“You have no idea.”

“I probably have just the right idea, actually.” 

As if to prove his point, his eyes raked down your neck to your chest, appreciating the top you decided to wear that was quite low-cut–a conscientious fashion decision on your part; you wanted to tease him a little bit, even if it was considered cruel. 

You leaned over the table just a bit and hooked a finger into your shirt to pull it down just enough that he could see your tits. His smirk fell as his eyes followed the motion, staring intently at your chest before you released your shirt, letting it slide back into place.

“Fucking tease.”

“Maybe I can send you some photos through the mail or something.”

He released a groan, “As lovely as that would be, don’t fucking do that. They check the envelopes, and they’d definitely keep the pictures for themselves.”

A small pout formed on your mouth. “That’s not fair.”

“Tell me about it.”

The guards gave out a five-minute warning, which only made your pout deepen. You sighed, “I really miss you. And it’s not just the sex, I just miss having you around. You’re like my best friend, you know.”

His smile was small as he looked at you through the plastic divider. “I know, but you can always spend time with Emi until I get out.”

“I do. I’m always over at their place when I’m not working, but Emi just got a job, so she’s like… never there. And when she is there, I feel bad intruding on their family time. She says she doesn’t mind, but I think she’s just being nice. Toji, on the other hand, lets me know when I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

Sukuna brushed you off. “You know he’s only saying that because Emi’s spending time with you instead of him. He’s an attention whore.”

“I know,” you giggled, falling into a bit of silence for a moment. “You think they’ll let you out early for good behavior.”

He snorted, “Doubt it. They wish they could keep me in here all the time. I think all the COs have their dicks hard for me.”

“Keep it appropriate, Sukuna,” one of the guards from behind him scolded, bringing you both to snicker. 

“See? Always up my ass.”

 Sukuna could be brash, he could be rude, but he was always just right for you. You found him charming for the attributes most would dislike.

And you could be loud and overdramatic, but you complemented him. He found your pitfalls charming, too.

When the refrigerator door closed and he turned to face you, he cocked a brow at the new tears that dripped down your cheeks and rolled his eyes. “What now?”

“Nothing. Can we just go to bed? I’m tired,” you sniffled, wiping the wetness from under your eyes. 

“You drove all the way here to sleep?”

“No, I came for sex, but now I’m tired and weepy and I have heartburn.”

“Already?” When you nodded, he let out an irritated groan. “Where are your antacids?”

“I don’t have any more.”

Another groan left him as he turned back to the fridge, pulling out the milk before retrieving a glass. 

“You’re a dumbass,” he jeered, pouring you a small glass before pushing it into your hands. You took it with a tiny, grateful smile and sipped on it while he moved to grab his keys. 

“Where are you going?”

“To get you fucking antacids before you wake me up in a few hours to cry about heartburn.”

“Pepto or Tums–not Rolaids-”

“I know. Drink that and then get ready for bed. There’s a spare toothbrush under the bathroom sink.” He slammed the door on his way out, much like he always did, even if he was in a good mood or not. 

A tired yawn slipped passed your lips before you drank the little bit of milk he’d given you, making sure to wash out the cup and put it on the drying rack. You followed his orders and brushed your teeth next, then retrieved your clothing from the dryer to slip into, and then slid under the covers in his bed. 

You weren’t awake to see him return, but some time through the night, you briefly woke up with a familiar tattooed arm draped over your waist, palm pressed flat against your stomach, with his soft, gentle breathing hitting the back of your shoulder. 

The moment was domestically sweet, a feeling you couldn’t replicate with Hiro, no matter how hard you tried. It was as if a moment like this was reserved for Sukuna, and Sukuna only.

It should bother you, but it didn’t.

It also shouldn’t make you horny, but it did.

You turned to face him, causing him to stir in his sleep just enough that he rolled onto his back. Propping yourself up on your elbow beside him, you tapped his shoulder until he tiredly grumbled, “What?”

“I’m horny.”

He cracked a heavy-lidded eye open. “Christ. Right now?” When you nodded, he groaned, “What time is it?”

“Three in the morning.”

He huffed and lowered his arm over his eyes, raising the other to rest above his head. “If you can get it up, you can use it.”

“What? You’re just going to sleep?”

“That’s the plan. So be quiet.”

You stared at him, waiting for him to just roll you over and take you from behind, but his soft breathing resumed, letting you know he’d actually fallen asleep again. 

“Jackass,” you mumbled, gathering yourself onto your knees beside him before sliding down to kneel between his legs while pulling his boxers down his legs with zero help from him at all. You wrapped your fingers around his soft dick, pumping him in your hand with an annoyed sigh that only served to bring a raspy chuckle from him. 

“You could use your mouth, you know. Would work faster.”

“I don’t like sucking dick.”

“I don’t like being woken up for sex, only to get a dry handjob. At least spit on it, or we’ll be here all day.”

You spit onto your palm before slicking it over his shaft. “Better?”

“Could be worse,” he tutted, bringing you to grunt in frustration before leaning down to take him into your mouth. With your tongue lapping at the underside of his tip, he let out a sated breath as his hand moved to your hair. “Good, that’s the way.”

The harder he got in your hands, the prettier the sounds that came from him were, which was your motivation to keep going. The first bead of liquid that hit your taste buds made you moan around him and bring your tongue to his tip, hoping for more. 

Your hand slicked down to his balls, cupping them in your palm until a quiet hiss met your ears. A gentle popping sound filled the room when you released his cock from your lips to mouth kisses down to meet your hand, bringing it up to stroke him while running your tongue over his seam. 

From your place between his legs, you looked up his torso, seeing that he still had his eyes covered by his arm, appearing to be unbothered by you, but with a closer look at his breathing, which had grown ragged, you knew he was only pretending not to be affected. 

You mouthed at his inner thigh, enjoying the subtle gasp that you caught, and when you nipped at his hipbone, the way his hip jerked into your fist was too entertaining. Usually, he was never this… docile. It made you wonder what else you could get away with.

You kissed up the trail of pinkish hair that led to his torso, tongue gliding over the tense muscles of his lower stomach, dipping into his belly button, which you really thought was the point when he was going to push you off, yet he didn’t. 

His cock twitched in your hand when you did it again. “Interesting,” you mumbled, mouthing up his stomach. 

“Fuck off,” he groused, not interested in hearing your teasing remarks about it.

“It’s cute that your belly button is so sensitive-” A sharp sting on your nipple had you reeling back with a shriek. “What the fuck?! You can’t just flick my nipple!”

“It’s cute that your tits are so sensitive,” he cooed mockingly, propping himself up on his elbows.

“Mine are sensitive? What about yours?” 

Before he could stop you, you pinched both of his, and only then did he push you off to take his spot above you. 

“Careful,” he began, “I’ll fuck your tits and leave you to take care of the rest on your own.”

“I’m sure you would, you sadistic freak.”

“You like the idea. I know you do.” With his knee, he forced your thighs to part wider to accommodate him. “But probably not as much as the idea of me fucking you, right?”

“I actually wanted to ride you.”

“Lost your privileges the second you pinched my nipples. How do you want it?”

You let out a huff. “From the back, I guess.”

He leaned over you and grabbed a few pillows from the head of the bed, plopping the stack in the middle of the mattress before motioning for you to lean over it. As you got situated, you felt his fingers pull your underwear to the side and slide through your folds, stopping at your entrance to inch them inside.

“For someone who doesn’t like sucking dick, you’re really fucking wet.”

“I was wet before I even woke you up.”

“Uh huh.” Two fingers slid inside, pressing into that spot until your back was arching into the feeling of it. With his other hand, he hooked a finger under the cloth of your underwear, letting it go to snap against your skin. “At least you wore cute underwear this time. These are pretty on you–I like the red.”  

He curled and flicked his fingers until your thighs were almost shaking, praising you with degradations the entire time until you were right there, nearly about to tip over, when he pulled his hand away.

“Sukuna,” you groaned, leaning into the pillows. “Just fuck me. I’m tired, too.” However, instead of fucking you, he moved your underwear back in place. Against your slit, over the cloth, you felt him prod at your entrance. “What are you doing?”

“I told you I like the underwear. They’re hot.” 

A slap against your ass made you jolt forward, and when you moved back, desperate for his dick to just be in you already, you met his mouth instead. His breath warmed the cloth, which dampened with his tongue pressing against you, licking over the fabric. 

“S-Sukuna, I–can’t we-” 

You moved your hands behind you to push him away, but he took both of yours into one of his and pinned them to your back. With his free hand, he grabbed the back of your upper thigh, right below your asscheek, and spread you open more than you were, lapping over the bare skin that your underwear didn’t cover. You felt a heat settle over your face as you fought against his hold on your hands.  

You heard him spit and felt the warmth of it seep into your underwear, too–a lewd and dirty feeling, but a part of you had to admit that you liked it. His thumb spread it over you, making sure the cloth was drenched before he pulled back with a satisfied hum. He pressed his thumb into your clit while he traced his tip over the wet part of your underwear, pushing into you just enough to tease before pulling back.

“Are you going to fuck me or not?”

“Not yet,” he answered, releasing your hands to lift the soaked cloth from your slit and slide his dick underneath. Both of his hands fell to your hips as he pulled you back against him, sliding his cock against your pussy, but never pressing inside. 

You let out an irritated sound. “Sukuna, please.”

“Sweetheart, if you could see what I’m seeing, you’d understand.” 

“See what? You’re just fucking my underwear.”

“Exactly.” 

His fingertips pressed into your skin when he dragged you back for a third and fourth time. You continued to complain until he put his hand to the back of your neck and pressed your face into the mattress to shut you up. The push and pull of your hips quickened, and you thought for sure that he would accidentally slip inside, yet he didn’t.

Just when you were about to voice even more complaints, you felt the warm spurts of cum leaking down your slit, followed by him snickering to himself. 

“Did you just cum in my underwear?”

“I did,” he admitted unabashedly, tone a little wobbly, but that was to be expected as he overstimulated himself by sliding you against him still. “It’s hotter than I thought it would be.” 

“You’ve thought about this before?”

He blew out a breath, slowly dragging you back and pushing you forward. “More times than you can imagine.”

You giggled, “Kind of pathetic-” 

Your breathing hitched when he very slowly inched inside of you until he met your cervix. You arched into it, but went limp at the same time, and exhaled shakily, “F-Fuck.”

He leaned down over you, hands never leaving your hips as he whispered, “That was pathetic. Maybe even pitiful.”

“Shut up,” you moaned, fingers twisting into the sheets when he started to actually fuck you. 

Thankfully, he listened–though he couldn’t really manage anything more than poorly suppressed moans and overstimulated hisses. You were grateful for his effort and for the extra slickness of his cum since your underwear soaked up a lot of your arousal and Sukuna’s spit. 

You felt his forehead lean against your shoulder, his hand moving to the bed to keep himself from falling on top of you. He mouthed at your skin, nipping and sucking at it to keep himself quiet.

However, in the game of wanting to get the last laugh that you and Sukuna always played, you couldn’t resist fucking with him. Just for fun, and payback, you clenched around him as tightly as you could, enjoying the way his consistently paced thrusts faltered into a sloppy mess. 

“Fucking bitch,” he growled, slapping your ass hard when he pulled back. “Don’t do that again.”

“Or what?” you dared to ask. 

“You can ride the vibrator and hope it has enough of a charge left to get you there.”

You scoffed out a small laugh. “You’re such a dick.”

He leaned over you, and with his arm around your hips, toyed with your clit as a means to make you shut up–it worked quicker than you thought it would. 

Though your eyes were heavy-lidded, nearly closing from need for sleep, and need to cum, you noticed your left hand had bumped into his. In a move that felt instinctive, he grabbed it, interlocking your fingers and pinning it to the bed.

 Five years ago, a very similar position had taken place many, many times, too. Five years ago, your wedding rings would have touched if he had held your hand like this. Now, only one of you wore a ring on that hand. 

But this ring wasn’t as pretty as the cheap one they gave you when you got married to Sukuna.

His free hand carded through the underneath of your hair by your neck, taking it in a fist to pull your head back. “Do you want me to stop?”

“N-No-”

“Then hurry the fuck up.”

Through gritted teeth, you spat, “I’m trying, asshole-”

His hand closed in around your neck, tilting your head back. “Stop talking, too.”

What you wanted to do was call him a dick, but the word died on your lips when the angle he positioned your hips in was very deep and very filling. When he noticed the way your brows drew together, you could almost see the relief in his eyes.

He pressed kisses to your shoulder until your orgasm rolled over your body, which was the precursor for his own. His thrusts were brutal as he worked you both through it in a rough, handsy exchange. You were pushing back against him, and he was trying to bury himself as deep in you as he could. And although your ears were ringing with the intensity of your orgasm, you still heard the faintest whimper from behind you.

Just as he was finished, he pulled out of your pussy with a groan, collapsing on the bed beside you. Despite how spent he looked while he tried to catch his breath, you couldn’t help yourself. “Your record is six times in one night, by the way-”

“Shut the fuck up,” he grumbled, pushing at your face.

You tiredly giggled and dodged his attempt to add, “And I definitely heard you whimper.”

“Your hearing is shit anyway, so no one would believe you.” He made a quick grab for your arm and hauled you over toward him. When he felt your intake of air, a sign you were about to sling some half-assed rebuttal at him, he pressed his hand over your mouth. “I mean it this time. Shut up. Go to sleep.”

You listened to him, drifting off seconds after his order.

Only to wake up again, hours later, to a soft tapping on your arm. You brushed it away at first, but when it was paired with a familiar voice, it drew you out of sleep.

“Mommy.”

“Hm?” The tapping continued until you forced your tired eyes open to see your daughter standing beside you, fish-shaped dessert in hand, with a few bites taken out of the head of it. “Where’d you get that?” you slurred, trying your best to realize your surroundings.

“Daddy’s fridge.”

“Mm, daddy’s fridge? What are you-” The realization hit you all at once, bringing you to push yourself up right as quickly as you could, which wasn’t very fast with the belly and Sukuna’s arm still wrapped around your waist. With one of your hands to cover yourself, you realized you were clothed again, courtesy of Sukuna, you suppose. “Ryo.”

She took a step away from the bed, smiling as she took another bite out of the bungeo-ppang, while you started tapping Sukuna in the chest to wake him up. 

After the taps got proceedingly more harsh, he swatted your hand away, groaning, “I’m up, woman. Quit hitting me.” Sukuna pushed himself up with a sigh, raking his hand through his hair with a yawn that fell short when he saw the third person standing in the room. “Ryo.”

“What are you doing here?” you asked, slipping out of the bed to create space between you and Sukuna–not that it fucking mattered anymore, she just caught you in the same bed, cuddling too close for two people who were supposed to be separated.

“Grandma dropped me off before taking Grandpa to his doctor’s appointment. She told me to tell you to call her. She didn’t seem happy.” She took one more bite of the dessert, biting right into the red bean paste filling before crinkling her nose slightly and handing it off to you. Still groggy and overwhelmed at the same time, you took it as she added, “I only like the custard ones.”

* * *

After you and Sukuna gathered your composure, which took a bit longer for you than it did him, you both stepped out of the bedroom, preparing yourselves to explain to Ryo what she just saw, and hope to god the lie you’d fabricated was enough to appease her, which you knew was a long, long, very fucking long shot in the dark because the girl was too smart for her own good. 

Your hands were shaking.

You were nervous, rightfully so. 

But maybe this is what you deserved–being caught by your daughter, to have her hold this mistake over your head to get whatever she wanted for the next fifty years until you died-

“Stop it,” Sukuna scolded, swatting at your hands when he noticed you ripping them to shreds. “She’s nine. We can tell her it was a slumber party and she’ll probably believe it.”

The look you gave him was entirely deadpan.

“Sukuna, she stopped believing in the tooth fairy at five years old after she stayed up all night to catch it because she knew everyone was lying to her about fairies existing. Remember, she pulled out a tooth that wasn’t even ready just to prove her point.”

Sukuna snickered, “Well… that was very logical of her.”

You huffed, “She’s perceptive, and if she thinks we’re lying to her, she’s going to get more suspicious and more nosy.”

The sound of grunting, groans, and shouts of agony came from the TV in the living room, leading you both to stand behind your daughter while she played what looked to be Mortal Kombat–and kicked ass at it, too, which couldn’t be healthy for a nine-year-old. You shot a glare at your husband, who only rolled his eyes. 

“Relax, she doesn’t play it that often.”

“Cetrion wins, flawless victory,” the deep-voiced narrator droned, announcing Ryo’s perfect win, while the screen focused on a very gory depiction of what Cetrion had done to Baraka.

“Did you see that, daddy?” the little girl asked, peering over her shoulder with a grin before turning back around. “I’m going for a Brutality next-”

“Actually, can you pause the game for a second? Your mom wants to talk to you-” You slapped his arm hard. “I mean, we want to talk to you.”

She paused the game and spun around on her bottom to face you both with a smile–one that held so much hope and light, and let you know exactly what she was thinking before she even voiced her assumption.

“Are you two getting back together?”

At the same time, you and Sukuna both let out a breath. It seemed he’d drawn the same conclusion that you had about Ryo’s wide-eyed stare. 

“No,” you answered, averting your eyes to your hands. To have to see her disappointment firsthand was heartbreaking, and you weren’t sure how much longer you’d be able to take it. 

“Then why were you sleeping in the same bed?”

You felt like you were drowning, sputtering for air while you tried to speak, but the waves of dismay that rolled off Ryo kept filling your mouth with something so bitter–you hated it, and you hated yourself.

You were about to start crying, and Ryo definitely noticed, if her confused grimace was any indication.

You really didn’t know what to say. Like you’d told Sukuna last night, you weren’t sure if you’d ever fucked up this badly before.

Your eyes met Sukuna’s, wordlessly telling him that you didn’t know what to do in that moment.

“You didn’t want me to make your mom sleep on the floor, did you?” Sukuna asked, sliding down onto the floor next to her, while all you could do was stand there and watch the interaction, grateful that he intervened.

Ryo scrunched up her nose, shaking her head. “No. That would be mean.”

“Exactly.” He grabbed the game controller and put it into Ryo’s hand, taking another controller for himself before pulling her into his lap to face the TV. 

As he loaded up a new round for them to play together, she asked, “But why were you in the bed, too?”

“You know how you like to sleep in my bed when you have nightmares?” Ryo nodded and started clicking through the character selection menu. “Your mom has nightmares, too.”

“Really?”

“Yep. She gets so scared that she cries. Like a baby.” 

The Mortal Kombat narrator announced their round had started, and immediately the characters were dueling it out, and from the looks of it, Sukuna was actually trying against her, yet she held her own.

“But why was she here?”

“We always meet up this time of year to talk about what we’re getting you for Christmas. We don’t want to get you the same things.” 

The way both of them were able to talk normally, but keep up with the game, was beyond you.

“And you know how she has to pee all of the time because of the baby?”

“Yeah.”

 Sukuna leaned in closer to quietly add, “She actually peed her pants, and she had to stay so I could wash her clothes for her.”

“Ew.”

“I know. It was disgusting. Then she was so embarrassed that she cried, and to make her feel better, I got her the taiyaki. But she only likes the custard kind like you, so she wouldn’t eat it. Said I could have it instead.”

The gameplay continued until Sukuna’s character got the better of Ryo’s, putting her in a ruthless juggle of combos until Cetrion died a very, very gruesome death.

“Brutality. Sheeva wins,” the narrator announced.

With a groan, Ryo accepted the defeat begrudgingly. “I hate when you play with Sheeva. She’s ugly and she sucks.”

He tutted at her, “It’s not always about the looks, you know. She’s a good fighter.”

“Because she has four arms, which is why she’s ugly. She’s like a bug.”

“Having four arms would be bad ass, and I think you’re just being a sore loser,” Sukuna chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You should practice Cetrion’s long-range attacks.”

“You could just let me win.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he teasingly questioned, resting his chin on top of her head.

“So, you two aren’t getting back together?”

“Do you want us to?”

A quiet gasp left your mouth, and just when you were about to interrupt and stop her from answering a question that could only get her hopes up, Sukuna raised his hand to stop you.

Ryo shrugged. “Sometimes I do, but you guys fight a lot. I like it better when you both are happy, even if you’re apart.”

Sukuna hummed over her answer and pressed another kiss to her head. “Smart girl.”

“I know,” she chirped, loading up another game. “Let’s play again.”

“One more, then I have to talk to your mom.”

After their last round, Sukuna found you waiting in his kitchen, your back pressed against the counter while you sipped on some orange juice you stole from his fridge. When he saw you, a smirk played on his lips. “See? All is well.”

“All is not well, Sukuna,” you whispered harshly, “Do you not feel bad for lying?”

“When did I lie?” He cocked a brow. “You came over, pissed yourself, ate takeout, we talked about Christmas presents, then you cried, and went to bed-”

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t. I gave her the truth.” He reached over the top of you and opened the cupboard above your head to pull out the container of coffee grounds.

“Sukuna-”

“What did you want me to tell her, sweetheart? The real reason you came over here in the first place? She’s only nine, I hardly think now is the time for that talk-” You pushed at his chest, which was unmoving, per usual. He lowered his hands to the counter behind you, leaning in slowly, and when he noticed you didn’t back away, he kissed you quickly before moving away with the coffee container in hand. “She’s content with what she knows for now. That’s good enough.”

“Maybe for you.”

“Again, what else do you want her to know? If you need someone to talk to about what we’re doing, you should consider the therapist you're pouring so much money into. I hardly think our daughter needs to know the full extent of our relationship.”

“I-I–you’re right, but it just feels… wrong.”

Sukuna snorted at your confession. “That’s probably the infidelity talking.”

“You’re an asshole.”

He started the coffee machine to brew a cup and turned around to face you. “And you still keep ending up in my bed.”

“And you still keep letting me in.”

“Sorry. I’ll turn you away next time and let you piss yourself as you waddle back to your car.”

“Just quit letting me inside.”

“As if that would stop you–you have a key.”

“Then change your locks.”

“And when you get horny enough that you’d climb through my window?”

Your brows furrowed. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Didn’t think you’d cheat on your husband either, and here you are. Standing in my kitchen, pregnant with a baby that may or may not belong to me-”

“Stop it. You… you pulled out that night. I remember-”

“Bullshit. I had less to drink than you, and even I don’t remember what exactly happened that night. I do, however, remember you naked, hunched over the toilet with something that looked a lot like cum dripping down your leg.” When you pushed at him again, he only snickered and let you move him before he turned to get the cup of coffee from the machine. “As much as I love arguing with you about this, we need to figure out what we’re doing with Ryo because it’s not my day to have her, and I promised the garage I’d come in today. You should also call your parents.”

Your heart dropped with his reminder. 

“Shit.”

“Mhm,” he hummed in agreement over his coffee. “At least now that they’ve met Ryo, it’ll be a lot harder for them to cut you both out of their lives again for associating yourself with scum like me.”

His scornful sarcasm wasn’t lost on you. “This isn’t funny, Sukuna.”

“Who’s laughing?” he questioned as he brushed passed you to the living room. “Call your parents. I have to leave for work in half an hour.”

You met Sukuna on your first day of your freshman year in high school, which happened to be the day he returned from juvie–what was he put away for? You weren’t entirely sure at the moment, but you heard rumors circulating around the halls the second you stepped into the building. They were all quiet whispers, spoken between friends as they navigated to their first class of the day while trying to avoid the one they were gossiping about. It was as if you heard each one of them, and you pocketed the knowledge you learned in passing. 

By third period, you vowed to keep your distance from this mysterious sophomore boy, who apparently had a long criminal record at just fifteen years old. They painted him as a bully who ripped the wings off butterflies in his spare time and kicked puppies on the weekend for fun. They made him seem horrible, like a fabled monster your parents would warn you about to keep you inside when the sun went down.

A monster, a thug, a low-life–that’s how you pictured him because that’s what people said about him.

However, the pink-haired boy who picked up the pencil you dropped in the hallway and handed it back to you didn’t look like a monster, a thug, or a low-life to you. Naturally, you didn’t expect this boy to be the one everyone was trembling in fear over.

You took the pencil with a grateful smile and moved out of the way of the other students in the hallway who were trying to get past you as quickly as possible.  

He didn’t smile. He didn’t say hello. You thought the exchange was a bit odd, but already, you could feel a little crush starting to take root–he was cute. And he picked up your pencil for you. What’s not to like?

“Thank you.” You situated your books in your arms to a more comfortable position. “Kinda have my hands full.”

“I can see that.” 

A nervous laugh escaped you, and a part of your brain–the one that housed the stupid crush–thought he might offer to carry your books for you. To your dismay, he did not, and the wry sarcasm dripping off his next words caught you off guard. 

“If only there was some kind of bag you could wear on your back to carry all of your shit around in.” 

You swallowed thickly to meekly ask, “You mean a backpack?”

“What a smart girl you are,” he mocked, and only then did you catch onto his teasing tone. Your smile slowly fell, morphing into a glare as his grin widened. He pointed to said glare and added, “That’s cute.”

Your teenage self was too feisty for her own good, which is why you pointed at his face without a second thought. “That’s ugly–really ugly, actually. Everything about you. Churning my stomach. I might be sick.”

He snickered, “A mediocre insult. You can do better, I’m sure.”

You mimicked his words back at him and bumped shoulders with him on your way down the hallway, muttering, “Asshole,” as you passed him. 

During the exchange, most of the students had made it to their classes, which only left you and a few stray students in the hallway–mostly other freshmen who, like you, were lost trying to find your next class. 

With your schedule in hand, you looked up at the classroom numbers posted on the doors, trying to find the one you needed, and when you realized you’d been walking in the opposite direction, you swiftly turned on your heel to begin the other way.

You were grumbling to yourself about the layout of the school being so damn confusing when your foot got caught on something, and you tripped. Your books were scattered in the hallway when your arms jutted out in front of you to catch yourself. 

A strangled whine of frustration came out of you as you picked yourself up off the floor, dusting off the dirt and humiliation of what just happened. 

That’s when you heard the quiet snickering behind you.

Turning to the origin, you saw the pink-haired boy standing there with a pleased grin on his face. “Have a nice trip?”

“Oh, you think you’re so fucking funny, don’t you?”

“Hilarious, actually,” he corrected you, kicking the book you were about to grab out of your reach. 

“If you think your humor is enough to compensate for your ugliness, you’re wrong,” you snapped, lunging forward to get the book just as he kicked it away from you again. 

Rather than lunging for it once more, you grabbed the pencil he’d so graciously given back to you earlier and stabbed it in his calf. Of course, it wasn’t enough to embed itself into his muscle, but it definitely was enough to hurt him. 

He reeled back with a hiss of pain. “You’re fucking crazy–what the fuck?”

You quickly wrangled yourself to face him in case he wanted to attack you. “You deserved it.” 

“You can’t just fucking stab someone-”

He grabbed the front of your shirt, balling it up in his fist to raise you off the ground, but you met his glare head-on, not scared in the slightest. “I can, and I just did. And if you don’t let go of me, I’ll do it again, you bastard-”

“You’re just a little freshman bitch. I don’t have to listen to-”

The sound of footsteps in the hallway drew you both out of your argument. One might assume it to be another student, but the click-clack of polished dress shoes made you think it might be a teacher. And with the look on the boy's face, you knew he thought the same as you.

Just as you were about to open your mouth, his hand covered it to keep you from calling out to them. And somehow, you weren’t sure because he was moving so fast, he grabbed your scattered stack of books from the floor and pulled you out of the hallway, into the first room he could come to–the girls' bathroom. 

Behind you, you heard the teacher shouting at you to stop, but with the tugging on your arm, you couldn’t. The boy tossed you into a stall, locked the door, and stood on the toilet seat to hide his feet from anyone who might look under the stall door, before dragging you closer with his hand still covering your mouth. 

“If that hall monitor catches me, he’ll send me to the office and I’ll get written up, which will get me expelled, which will send me back to juvie,” he spoke lowly, “You’re gonna keep your mouth shut, or so help me god-”

You reached up and pinched his nipple, which was enough to make him drop his hold on your mouth. 

“I don’t have to do shit for you. You’re a dick–you deserve to go back to juvie-” Your eyes widened then as you came to the realization of who you were messing around with. “Oh. You’re Sukuna, aren’t you?”

For a moment, any bit of fear he had about being caught faded as he smirked, arrogantly so. “I am. So, you should be scared of what I’ll do to you if you-”

“I’m not fucking scared of you,” you interjected, moving toward the door. “I’m gonna let the hall monitor know that it’s Ryomen Sukuna who pulled me in-”

His hand grabbed your wrist, pulling you back. “Please. Don’t.”

You batted him away. “What’s in it for me?”

He breathed out an agitated huff, “I’ll do anything.”

“Really?”

The footsteps drew closer until they entered the bathroom, looming just at the door, from what you could hear. 

“Young lady,” he puffed, out of breath, “You need a hall pass, even if you’re using the bathroom.”

You cocked a brow at Sukuna, waiting for him to answer you. With a very tightly clenched jaw, he nodded, bringing you to grin. 

“Sorry, sir,” you began, “It’s just that… my period–I got it early.”

You heard him suck in a breath, clearly wishing he hadn’t followed you into the bathroom. “Oh, that’s…”

“I thought I might bleed through-”

“Okay. Just uh… get a hall pass next time.”

“Of course. Sorry, sir.”

“And did you happen to notice a pink-haired boy on your way here? I thought I saw-”

“You mean Sukuna?” The way his eyes widened, as if you were about to give away his secret, was amusing. “I have class with him during this period. I saw him walking toward the classroom before I came here.”

“Ah, okay…” His footsteps started retreating out of the bathroom then. 

Sukuna let out a sigh of relief and dropped his feet from the toilet seat. “Thanks.”

You smiled and patted his shoulder. “No need to thank me. You just need to carry my books for me. For the rest of the year. And do whatever else I tell you-”

He rolled his eyes and pushed past you to get out of the stall. “Fuck off. I agreed to do one thing. I’m not your errand boy-”

You followed after him. “You will be my errand boy if you don’t want to go back to juvie. And I swear to you, when I tell the principals about this little moment, I will be overdramatic and I will cause a scene.”

Sukuna glared down at you for a few seconds before conceding with a grunt. “Where’s your class?”

He walked you to class, gave you the necessary book you needed for said class, and he was there when the bell rang, waiting outside the door to collect your book and take you to the next room. 

People noticed both of you together, and suddenly, you were avoided by everyone else, too. You didn’t really mind it. After all, you had Sukuna with you to keep you company–and he would entertain all of your questions, no matter what, unless he wanted to go back to juvie. You took advantage of it immediately. 

When it came time for lunch, he brought you to the cafeteria to drop you off, but you were quick to stop him. “Where are you going?”

“I eat with my friends during lunch.” 

“Alright. We can meet up with them after we get my lunch.” You pulled out a wad of cash and slapped it down on the top book in the stack that he was carrying. “I want pizza.”

Sukuna eyed the money before glancing at you. “You want to eat with my friends? Don’t you have some of your own?”

“Nope. Just you,” you answered sweetly, which was not reciprocated. 

He scoffed, “We’re not friends.”

“It’s just me and my little errand-boy-criminal against the world.” You tapped the money to get his attention. “Pizza. Just cheese, no pepperoni. And I want a light soda. Do not get me cola.”

“You,” he began, slamming your stack of books on the nearest empty cafe table, “are a high-maintenance little bitch.” He snatched the money off the top book before storming off toward the lunch line. When he returned, he slapped the wrapped-up pizza into your hand and roughly pushed the can of lemon lime soda to you before grabbing the books. “Let’s go.”

You followed right behind him, sipping loudly on the rim of the soda can until he snapped at you to stop–you didn’t, and you enjoyed the knowledge that he couldn’t make you do anything, which only made you sip on the beverage even louder. 

He led you out of the school and into the parking lot. You refrained from asking him any more questions on the way, feeling as though the soda nonsense was enough for now. He walked toward an old black van, the logo of some company sanded off the side, and stopped in front of the open doors in the back. You peered around him at the three teens who occupied the inside, who also hadn’t noticed you standing there. 

They greeted Sukuna, pulling him into a conversation that he begrudgingly slipped himself out of to nudge you forward with his foot. Now with four pairs of eyes on you, you felt a little nervous, an emotion that Sukuna sniffed out like a hound. 

He smirked, feeling as though he’d cornered you, to simperingly ask, “Are you going to introduce yourself, or do you want to go back inside? You look a little scared–this not what you’re used to, princess?”

You cleared your throat and forced a smile. “I was waiting for you to do that for me, errand boy.” Sukuna lost his smile then. “Go on. I’m waiting.” 

With a groan, he gave them your name, then introduced you to his friends in the order of: Uraume, Toji, and Emi, and growing in Emi’s belly was apparently a baby named Megumi, or so Emi told you when she caught you staring at her pregnancy bump with wide eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you. Sorry for crashing, but Sukuna owes me a few favors, don’t you?”

When you patted his shoulder, he rolled out of your touch with a disgusted grimace and moved to take the bento box that Uraume was offering to him. Emi welcomed you over with a wave and a smile, patting the space next to her for you to sit. 

“What’s he owe you for?”

“Being a jackass, and for hiding him from the hall monitor.”

All three of his friends hummed in a knowing sort of way, bringing Sukuna to roll his eyes and scoff, “Fuck off. The second the school knew I was back, they started planning ways to send me away again.”

“If that’s the case, why couldn’t you have left me alone? You didn’t have to follow me down the hallway and trip me like some high school movie bully-”

“You stabbed me with a pencil-”

“After you followed me down the hallway and tripped me-”

“Because you called me ugly-”

“Only because you called me cute.”

“Oh?” the three of them breathed at the same time. A heavy silence filled the van then as they looked at Sukuna–who seemed to be…embarrassed? 

“I did not-”

“You so did-”

“And you can’t hear worth shit, or you would have heard me walking right behind you down the hallway. How can we be sure that I called you anything besides a little annoying bitch?”

“Because if you knew it wasn’t true, you wouldn't be blushing like a little school girl right now-” His eyes widened–honestly, it’s the most emotion you’ve seen on his face all day. “Giggling and kicking your feet, so bashful and shy-”

“You’re one to talk. Don’t act like you weren’t making heart eyes at me like a whore after I gave you back your pencil-”

“I wasn’t. I just thought it was nice of you. Maybe if you weren’t so narcissistic, you wouldn’t think everyone who looks at you is in love with you-”

“You don’t know shit about me-”

“And I don’t need to because you’re just my errand boy, so you better shut the fuck up before I go tell the principal Ryomen Sukuna wants to go back to juvie-”

“Fuck you-”

“No, fuck you-”

“You wish I’d let you.”

Your nose crinkled, and against all your efforts, your face warmed. “Don’t be disgusting.”

“Then don’t be a bitch,” he huffed, taking his place across from you, beside Toji, to pick at his lunch.

It was a tight squeeze with him sitting across from you, bumping your knees with his own, which he didn’t seem to notice until you kicked him in the shin, making him grunt before kicking you back.

In the following days, the group grew used to your constant bickering with Sukuna and even came to expect it. In fact, most people at school expected you and Sukuna to be together and arguing the whole time. 

At some point, it became a game for you, and you knew he was playing along, too. Arguing with him was fun–it was entertaining and always kept interesting because he didn’t hesitate to be a dick to match your bitchiness. You’d soon come to realize that Sukuna was good at matching your everything. Always on par with what you threw at him.

Despite arguing–which calmed down a little after a few months–you two became friends, whether either of you wanted to admit it or not. You were always together during school, after school, on the weekends, at parties, or hanging out with your friends, who were Sukuna’s friends. If Sukuna was invited, you had to be invited, too, or he wasn’t going. The same applied the other way around.

Your crush on him was always there, simmering on the back burner, but never turned warm enough to boil over, so maintaining the friendship boundary was easier than most would think. You didn’t pry for more, and he didn’t either. You were content. 

During your junior year, when Sukuna was a senior, you were finally old enough to go to the school dances. Being the youngest one in your group, you’d watched Toji and Emi go the year prior and wished you could go, too. So, the second the school started putting up flyers for prom, naturally, you hopped on the opportunity. 

“We should go to prom together,” you mentioned one evening as you stepped out of the konbini behind Sukuna, custard-filled taiyaki in hand. 

He glanced at you over his shoulder as he pulled a cigarette from the new pack, bringing it to his mouth with a grin. “No fucking way.” 

Your mouth fell open in a pout as you watched him light his cigarette, amused by your reaction. After he pocketed his lighter, he nudged at the bottom of your chin with his knuckle, wordlessly telling you to close your mouth.

“Why not?”

“I’m not wearing a tux to go stand around with dancing, sweaty people, who I don’t like, and be sober while doing it.”

You shrugged and added, “We could sneak in some liquor. I can hide it in my bra.”

He chuckled, “Warm tequila–no thanks.”

“But it’s boob-warmed tequila. Boobs, Sukuna. I know you like those.”

“Are you going to let me take shots off yours?”  

 Your face heated upon his question. “Um, no? But I’m sure we can find someone else-”

He clicked his tongue, dragging the cigarette back to his mouth. “Can’t be anyone except for you, or it doesn’t count.” You faltered in your steps, tripping slightly over your shoelace, but he didn’t wait for you, which left you to catch up with him. When you made it back to his side, he asked, “Why do you want to go with me anyway?”

“Well, who else am I supposed to go with? Emi and Toji are going together, and Uraume is going with Kenjaku.”

He snorted, “Really?”

“I think so. That only leaves you and me.”

“Mm, why can’t you go with someone else?”

“Sukuna, I just said-”

“Someone who isn’t in our friend group.” He peered down at you over his cigarette while you took a bite out of the taiyaki he bought for you. “You’re allowed to talk to other people, you know?”

“What is this?” you asked, gesturing between the air in front of you. “What are you talking about–what are you getting at? We do everything together. Are you tired of hanging out with me?”

He rolled his eyes. “Hardly.”

“So..?”

“So, I don’t want to hold you back from going to prom, if that’s what you want to do.”

“Dumbass, I don’t want to go if you’re not going. It would be boring, and people would try to talk to me without you there to scare them off.”

“You want people to avoid you?”

“Duh. How long have we been friends now, and you’re just realizing that? I like the off-putting, ominous aura you have. It’s warm and cozy to me.”

He snickered at your words. “If you keep hanging around me like this all the time, people are gonna get the wrong idea.”

“What? That we’re together or something? Who cares what other people think? And it’s not like I want a boyfriend anyway.”

“You don’t?”

“Nope.” You glanced up at him. “Do you want a girlfriend?”

“Why would I when I have you to spend all my money and hang off my arm?”

You shrugged. “We don’t kiss and hold hands like you could do with a real girlfriend.”

“Kissing is overrated anyway.”

“Well, I wouldn’t know.”

“Do you want to?”

“Kiss?” You almost choked on your dessert. “You?”

“Sure. Might as well do it now while we’re both still seventeen.” If you had been paying attention to his tone rather than the fluttering of your heart, you would have heard the sarcasm dripping off his words. “After next month, you’ll technically be jailbate.” 

“Oh, that’s right. It’ll be your birthday. Where are we going?”

“Nowhere fun since you lost your fake ID, but don’t change the subject.”

You giggled, “But you changed it first. We were talking about prom, remember?”

With one last deep drag off the cigarette, he snubbed it out on the bottom of his boot and threw it in the trash can on the side of the sidewalk. “If I have to dress up in a suit and be uncomfortable for hours, then you have to kiss me. And we have to stay friends afterwards, no matter how awkward you start to feel.”

“That’s easy.” You took one last bite from the taiyaki and tossed it in the trash. After swallowing the mouthful, you agreed. “Deal. Let’s do it right now.”

He met your challenge–or so you thought–and grabbed your arm, pulling you closer. One of his hands moved to your jaw and angled your face up, the other hand taking your hair in a gentle hold.

Your pulse spiked as he eyed your mouth, leaning in closer, and at the last second, his thumb brushed over the corner of your mouth, startling you out of the haze of the moment to see him lick custard icing off his thumb.

Your brows furrowed, a frown forming deeply, and he grinned. “Cute face you’re making, sweetheart.”

That was the first time he’d ever called you that, and it brought a heat to your face that you’d never experienced before. You shoved at his chest, but he didn’t move. 

“Asshole. I thought you were going to kiss me. I was waiting for it.”

He hummed out a laugh and slid his hands up to your cheeks before pressing a kiss to your forehead. “There you go. Can that hold you over until the next one?”

“Depends. Will the next one be on the lips?”

“I should hope so.”

You sighed, “Then I suppose.”

* * *

The next time you saw Sukuna was two years later at Toji and Emi’s wedding, who both didn’t say a fucking word to you about him being there, which was a huge shock as you stood behind Emi as her maid of honor, staring right at a bigger, tattooed version of Sukuna, who was apparently Toji’s last-minute best man, which was supposed to be Megumi.

And when the wedding concluded, leaving you and Sukuna to walk back down the aisle under the tossing of rice and birdseed, you were angry. 

Sukuna could tell. 

The second you got to the reception and were able to disappear amongst the crowd of people and loud music, you did just that. With Sukuna beside you, of course. You backed him into one of the back storage rooms and locked the door behind you.

His smug, tattooed face contorted into that grin you knew from before. “You seem pissed.”

“Pissed? Try livid.”

“That bad, huh?”

Your fist curled into his button-up shirt, and you pushed him back against one of the shelves. “The fuck is the matter with you? You just disappear for two years? No call, no letter-”

“I have a good reason.”

“Do you?” you questioned, tilting your head. “Let’s hear it then.”

“I was in prison.”

“You–what? Why?”

“Jin got into some shit, and I took the blame. I was out on bail for two months before I left, but they were just waiting until I turned eighteen to give me my sentence, even though I was being tried as an adult anyway, so… fucking stupid.” He grabbed your wrist and pried it away from his suit, but used that to bring you closer. “And I didn’t call or send a letter because I wasn’t allowed, but believe me, I wanted to.”

“Why didn’t you say anything before you left? You knew for two months-”

“Didn’t want you to be mad. Didn’t want you to worry, either.” 

 “You fucking dumbass! I was mad and worried anyway!” You slapped his chest, which he caught with an annoyed huff and pinned it behind your back. “Did Toji and Emi know? Or Uraume?”

“Uraume knew. That’s it.”

“When did you get out?”

“Today. Few hours ago, actually. It’s why I was late. Got pulled over on the way here, too,” he exhaled a sardonic laugh, “Luck is never in my favor.” 

When he released your hand, you brought them to his jaw, inspecting his new tattoos. “And what the hell did you do to your face?”

He found your question to be amusing as he asked one of his own.

“Don’t like them?”

“I didn’t say that, I just–how?”

“It’s crazy how easy it is to actually smuggle stuff into prison.”

“And, what? They smuggled in a tattoo gun?”

“Tattoo ink and tebori needles.”

Your lips parted in surprise. The manual, slow, and more painful approach to getting a tattoo. “Ouch.”

He shrugged. “It was a nice way to pass the time.”

You traced your thumb over the ink that ran across his jaw. “You did those yourself?”

“Except for the ones on my back, yes.” 

Your eyes flicked to his. “Your back?”

“Mhm. Wanna see?”

He peeled his suit jacket off his arms and tossed it on the unused venue table before undoing enough buttons on his shirt to slip it over his shoulders. Your eyes widened as you reached forward, tracing your fingers over all the black markings that adorned his tanned skin now. 

Two black bands around his biceps, and another two around his wrist, were what caught your attention first, then the marks on his chest. As you traced your finger over the tattoos leading over his shoulder, he turned so you could see the marks that went down his back.

“Alright. These ones are cool.” You dropped your hand and stepped back while he pulled his shirt back over his shoulders and began buttoning it. “Where else are you tattooed now?”

“My ankles and thighs-”

You gasped, “Your thighs?”

“Yes. I’d show you, but I’d have to pull my pants down and I’m not wearing any underwear right now.” 

“Why?” You grimaced. 

“There wasn’t any time.”

“Really?” You reached forward and tugged on his shirt. “Then how’d you get this?”

“Unfortunately, I cannot tell you without divulging a crime.”

“You stole it, didn’t you?” When he didn’t answer, you rolled your eyes. “You just got out of jail, you got pulled over, and then I find out you stole some-”

Sukuna cut you off abruptly when he leaned forward and kissed you.

And when you realized what happened, you kissed him back.

It was slow and gentle–everything that you and Sukuna were not.

And then it was over.

You swallowed back your adrenaline and blinked, trying to find the right words to say. You could be sweet, tell him how the kiss made you really feel, but honest communication was never your style.

“You were right. Kissing is overrated.”

Rather than taking offense to it like most would, he only chuckled and pushed you back into the table, raising your thighs to set you on top of it after. 

“I know that little schoolgirl crush of yours is going crazy right now. Don’t lie.” His palms moved to your thighs, skimming underneath your lilac bridesmaid dress as he came to stand between your legs, mouth brushing against yours in light, quick kisses. 

You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him into your vicinity. “You knew I had a crush on you?”

“Everyone knew." Another kiss, more harsh and hungry, but just as quick as the others. "You’re not that sneaky.”

“Neither are you,” you scoffed, “I knew you had a crush on me.”

“Everyone knew that, too.”

“So… we’ve just been a couple this entire time?”

He bit back a grin, kissing you once more to add, “Pretty much. You didn’t think I’d keep your annoying ass around if I didn’t really like you, did you?”

“You didn’t even try to hold my hand or even take me on a date, that’s hardly dating, Sukuna.”

“I didn’t need to hold your hand when you were practically glued to my side. And as for a date, we can go on one now that I’m back. Next Friday?”

“Is it gonna be all lovey-dovey and disgusting?”

“Mm, probably not.”

“Okay. Then I’ll let you take me on a date.”

* * * 

It wasn’t even a year after you two officially started dating that you were standing in the bathroom at Wasuke’s house. 

You barged into Sukuna’s room that night and grabbed his hand to pull him into the bathroom when you arrived. He was in a t-shirt and loose-fitting boxers, clearly about to get into bed for the night. Part of you felt bad for ruining that, but the other part of you, the part that was panicking–and had been since you realized your period was very fucking late–was glad to have Sukuna there to help buffer the blow of whatever the test was about to tell you. 

Now, you were both staring intently at the upside-down pregnancy test until you’d mentally counted to 120. While you kept losing count–maybe on purpose–you knew two minutes were definitely up.

“Sweetheart, you’re probably just overthinking it.”

“Then you check it,” you snapped, pushing the test toward him, only for him to shake his head and push it back. 

“No, it’s fine. We can wait until you’re ready.”

“See?!” You raised a finger to point at him. “You’re scared to!”

“Of course, I’m fucking scared! You storm into my room to tell me there’s a chance you’re pregnant, why wouldn’t I be?!” 

“Oh, my god,” you groaned, face falling into your hands as you leaned over the sink. “I really can’t look, Sukuna, you’re gonna have to do it.”

“Fuck. Fine,” he cursed, gaining your attention. 

When you looked up, he was staring intently at the test result for a few moments before he tossed it down in front of you and exhaled a groan, turning away to rake his hand down his face. 

You grabbed it to check, and as you expected, it was positive.

“I… I’m so sorry,” you whispered, tears welling in your eyes when he turned back to look at you. 

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen–they said being on the pill was enough. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it-”

“Stop… doing that,” he groused, motioning to your face. 

You sniffled, “What?”

Sukuna grimaced. “The lip thing. It’s trembling, and it’s pitiful, and… it’s hurting my feelings.”

“Feelings?”

“Yes, feelings. I do have them. Now, let’s just go to bed. I’m tired, and you look tired-”

You grabbed his forearm to stop him. “But what are we going to do?”

“First, we’re going to sleep because we shouldn’t be making any sort of decision while we’re exhausted. Okay?”

“We’re gonna have to tell my parents.”

“And that can definitely wait until the morning-”

“My dad is going to be so pissed.”

“Only if he knows about it.” He slipped onto his bed, between the covers, and moved over to give you space.

“You… you think I should-”

“I think you should make a decision tomorrow morning.”

You slid down next to him, facing him while resting your cheek against his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? Spreading your legs? If that’s the case, then I’m sorry for not pulling out.”

You tossed your leg over his torso, pressing against his side to get more comfortable. “You’re taking this surprisingly well.”

“It takes two, right?”

Your voice was meek. “Yes.”

His lips grazed the top of your head. “We can figure it out in the morning.”

You did figure it out the next morning. That afternoon, you’d told your parents about the pregnancy, and by that evening, you were officially kicked out of your house, per your father’s order. 

You weren’t entirely shocked, but it still stung, nonetheless. 

Within a week after that, you were moving your stuff into a tiny little apartment with Sukuna after you’d basically been kicked out by Wasuke, too, though his reasoning wasn’t to shun you or Sukuna, but rather he didn’t have the space or money after taking in Yuji and Choso to also house you, Sukuna, and your baby. 

But all was well. 

Sort of. 

Sukuna had two part-time jobs, and you had yours. Together, you managed just fine. It wasn’t easy, but you were doing it. You got married on a whim, but you were twenty and Sukuna was twenty-one–dumb stuff always happened in your twenties, or so they say.

Five months after your wedding, you gave birth to baby Ryo, who had a different baby name picked out for her until she came out with pink hair and red eyes. 

It was a long, painful process, and when they finally held her out for Sukuna to cut the umbilical cord, you relaxed back on the bed with a grateful sigh. 

“Is she pretty?” you asked, wiping the sweat off your face as they wrapped her up in a blanket. 

You heard him snicker before saying, “Not really.”

“Sukuna,” you groaned, “Just give her to me.” 

One of the doctors placed her down on your chest, getting that skin-to-skin contact you read about in countless baby books over the duration of your pregnancy. The first thing you noticed was the damp pink hair on the top of her head, and the second thing you noticed was the vibrant red eyes that were barely cracked open as she cried.

“Woah,” you breathed, laughing as you traced the bridge of her nose. “She looks just like you.”

He leaned down beside you to look at her. “How can you tell? She’s all wrinkly and wet. Like a blob.” You reached over and pinched his side, making him jerk away with a hiss and adding, “A very cute blob.”

“Don’t worry, hon,” one of the doctors sighed as she worked on fixing you up between your legs, which you couldn’t feel thanks to the epidural. “The paternal instinct takes a bit for it to kick in the first time around. You’re just in shock.”

Sukuna scoffed at her words. “I’m not in shock. Maybe you should just mind your business.”

You glanced up at him. “You look pale-”

“I’m fine.”

“Sukuna, if you pass out, I’m never letting you live it down-”

“I’m not going to pass out.” You raised a brow at him, waiting for him to say something else. He cleared his throat. “I’m going to go sit down.”

“You do that.” 

You looked back down at the baby, happy to see she was calming down with her cheek smushed against your bare chest. Beside you, Sukuna placed down a chair and took his seat in it, avoiding your eyes as he leaned over the bed to get a look at her. You shifted enough toward him to give him a better view.

“We’ll be back in a few to take her back to check her over and clean her up.” The doctors and nurses dispersed, leaving you and Sukuna in the quiet of the hospital room.

“You can hold her, if you want to,” you muttered quietly, tracing your finger over the puffy skin around her eyes.

“Not yet.”

“Scared?” you taunted, leaning your head back on the pillow. 

“No. Not anymore.” He reached forward and poked at her hand until her tiny fingers wrapped around his own, keeping it in a tight fist. 

“You look like you want to hold her.”

“I do, but skin-to-skin contact, and all that. I’ll hold her when you go to sleep. You look tired.”

You snorted, “Thanks.”

When they came to get her, you fell asleep very quickly after that, waking up god knows how long later to the hushed sound of bickering by the hospital room door. 

“I said no, you little shit,” Sukuna whispered, so quiet that you almost didn’t hear him. 

“Sukuna,” a familiar voice droned–it was Yuji. 

“You think she wants to see your loud mouth after pushing out a baby? I said I’ll come get you when she wakes up-”

“But me and Cho have been waiting for two hours. We biked all the way here. It’s going to get dark soon.”

“Then come back tomorrow-”

“Sukuna,” you called out to him, voice raspy and laden with sleep. “Let them in.”

“Great. See what you’ve done?”

“It’s not their fault. I needed to wake up anyway.” 

You tried to push yourself up and winced at the fatigue that wrecked your body. As soon as you saw the two boys step into the room, you forced a smile, which was met with two real, bright ones. “Hey, guys.”

“We got you something from the konbini on the way here,” Yuji announced, placing down a plastic bag, stocked full of snacks and a few packs of your favorite ramen. 

“That’s so sweet of you. Thank you.”

But their focus was entirely on the baby that was in Sukuna’s arms, and he eyed the two boys like they were vultures. 

“Can we hold her-”

“No.”

You rolled your eyes. “Sukuna, they rode their bikes all the way here to see her-”

“And they’re lucky they’re getting to look at her-”

“Give her to me. Now.” Begrudgingly, Sukuna listened and handed the baby over to you, and helped you sit up. “Can you go fix that ramen for me? I’m sure they have a microwave in the cafeteria.”

With a groan, he filtered through the bag of snacks and grabbed the pack of instant ramen. Before he left the room, he turned back to the two boys. “You’ll wash your hands before you’ll even think about touching her, got it?”

As Sukuna left, the two boys rushed over to the sink in your room to wash their hands before coming to stand beside your bed. You moved your legs and patted the mattress, giving them permission to sit down with you, which they eagerly did, sitting cross-legged in front of you. 

You were glad to see that the nurses had cleaned her up and had her swaddled tightly in a blanket with a little pink hat on. She looked less… blob-like, and more like a newborn now.

You showed both of them how to hold her and gently placed her in Choso’s arms first. However, the novelty of the baby wore off on him quickly, and he soon handed the baby off to Yuji. 

“What’s her name?” he asked, shifting her to hold her a bit tighter. 

“We were going to name her Rina, but I don’t know if that’s the right fit for her anymore. I think we should name her Ryo, now.”

Both of the boys looked at you like you were crazy. 

“You want to name her after Sukuna?”

“It’s cute, don’t you think?”

“I think she’s cute, but Sukuna isn’t cute at all, and to name her after someone who isn’t cute… isn’t that rude?”

You smiled and leaned forward to pull her hat back enough to show the boys the hair color, and then very gently opened one of her eyes to show them the red iris that matched her father’s. 

“She looks just like him,” you explained, sitting back, “Bet she’ll act just like him, too.”

They weren’t entirely on board with the idea, offering you names that they think would fit better, but ultimately, you’d made up your mind. 

When Sukuna returned with your cup of ramen and a pair of chopsticks, he placed them down on your side table and moved it closer to you, even taking the time to refill your water cup before abruptly taking the baby away from Yuji. 

“Hey. That’s not fair. I barely got to hold her for five minutes. You’ve been holding her for hours.”

“She’s mine, not yours. Get one of your own if you want to hold one so bad… well, not yet. Wait until you’re older.” When he turned to you, he asked, “That sounded fatherly, right?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“I tried.” He brushed you off. “You two can go now. Visitation is over. The doctors are coming around to kick out the guests.”

The two boys huffed in dismay before gathering themselves up. You felt a bit bad. “You two can come back tomorrow morning.”

“We will. We can bring you breakfast.”

They said their goodbyes to you and Sukuna, and just before Yuji stepped out of the room and into the hall, he said, “Goodnight, Ryo,” and closed the door behind him. 

Sukuna gave you an odd look. “Did that brat just call me Ryo?”

You smiled and sipped at the broth. “He was talking to the baby.”

“Did you tell him her name was Rina, not Ryo?”

“No. I told him it was Ryo.”

His brows furrowed. “Why? You’re just going to confuse him-”

“Because I want to name her Ryo.”

He paused, clearly fumbling over his tired thoughts. “After me?”

You giggled, “Who else?”

* * * 

You swallowed thickly as you ended your recounting ramblings to your therapist, your mouth drying with your spit only getting thicker. She looked at you expectantly, as if waiting for you to throw in more useless details that she didn’t need to know before you divulged the real reason that you scheduled this impromptu session for yourself.

You swallowed back your apprehension to add, “We were fine for two years. Sukuna was a good dad–a great dad, even. Which was shocking, but weirder things have happened. Then he just… disappeared one night, called me from jail the next day, and within the week, he was sentenced to five years in prison for… reasons that don’t matter here–I don’t have to tell you about those, right?”

The doctor smiled at you, opening her mouth for the first time since you entered her office to say, “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. You scheduled this session today. I’m just here to listen, and if you need it, to offer some advice.” She leaned forward to grab her cup of coffee from the table that separated the two of you, and took a sip from it. “But you seem like a self-assured woman, so maybe advice isn’t what you’re looking for.”

You exhaled a laugh. “Is that how I really seem? Self-assured?”

“It’s how I perceive you to be. Is that not how you feel?”

“No, not really. I feel… insecure and unlucky, but every time I think that about myself, I feel disgusted–like I’m just feeling sorry for myself.” 

Your hands curled into the armrest of the leather chair you were sitting in, about to open up to spew more self-pity at the doctor before you wrangled yourself in. Clearing your throat, you began again.

“We got divorced a year after he was released from jail–let out early for good behavior, but he was… different after that. They had him in solitary confinement the entire time. According to him, the warden hated his family, but after a year of being in there, the state hired a new one–not that any of that matters.” You reeled in your thoughts. “We separated, and I married Hiro three years after. But it was–it wasn’t… because I loved him, I was just scared.”

When your eyes met your therapist’s, you averted your gaze to your lap. 

“When Sukuna went to prison after Ryo was born, it was rough. Not to sound like a spoiled rich kid, but I had everything handed to me growing up. I always had the support of my parents, and when they found out about Sukuna, they shut me out. I didn’t have someone to watch Ryo, so I had to cut back my work hours, and we lost the apartment, and… shit just didn’t work out. Our friends tried to help where they could, but they were in an apartment, too–a small one. They were struggling, and Sukuna’s father was raising two grandkids, so he was struggling, and everyone was just fucking struggling-”

“I don’t mean to cut you off, dear, but you’ve been coming to me for years now. I already know all of this, and I know you well enough to see that you’re just dancing around what you really want to tell me.”

You scoffed out a wry laugh. “You’re good at being observant, huh?”

“It’s my job.” She placed her coffee cup back down and leaned into her chair. “It’s also my job to listen and not criticize you for being a human and making a mistake.”

“A mistake?”

What an incorrect assumption to make about the situation where you were anything but mistakenly sleeping with your ex-husband. 

“Sure. Why else would you be so out of sorts if you weren’t here to confess to a mistake?” When she caught your lower lip trembling, she sighed, “This is a safe space, dear. You can tell me anything.”

“Okay. I-I… uhm–I’ve been-” You sucked in a breath. “I’ve been sleeping with Sukuna… behind Hiro’s back,” you admitted, a furrow creasing between your brows as you swallowed back your impending tears. “And this baby–I don’t think it’s Hiro’s baby.”

* * * * * 

“You have to hold still,” Sukuna gently chided, bringing his daughter’s hand closer to him so he could paint her nails the dark purple color she had requested, while she bobbed along to the music playing from the speaker. 

This was after she begged to let her paint his nails the very same color, and with some steep negotiating, Sukuna agreed, but only after he made Ryo promise to help dry the dishes after dinner. 

He was trying his best to keep the polish on her nail, but with all her squirming and how tiny her fingers were compared to his own, it was proving difficult. 

“Ryo.”

“What?”

“Stop moving, or it’s going to take longer when I have to go in to fix the mistakes with nail polish remover.”

“Sorry. I just like this song.”

Sukuna dipped the brush back into the polish to get some more before starting on her thumb. “We can listen to it again once your nails are finished.”

“Really?”

“Sure. Why not?” he mumbled, too focused on the task at hand.

“Mommy doesn’t like it when I listen to this song. She says she’s going to take it off the MP3 player you gave me.”

He paused, listening to the lyrics of the song. 

To an adult man like Sukuna, the words were obviously hinting at something sexual. But to a girl like Ryo, the song was only about cherry pie and swinging in every room of your house–but what were they swinging? Ryo didn’t know, and she didn't care enough to ask Sukuna about it either. 

“Tell your mom to quit being a buzzkill. And to keep her hands off my MP3 player. I put in a lot of time stealing all those songs off the internet.”

“Stealing? You had to steal them from the internet?”

“It was a different time. I couldn’t afford to buy the CDs for your mom and me, so we had to download the music, and I had to share my MP3 player with her all the time. Super annoying.” The parental part of Sukuna's brain scolded him for saying such a thing. “But don’t steal, okay? That’s bad. You can just tell me what you want and I’ll get it for you instead.”

“Oh. Is that what you went to jail for? Stealing music?”

Sukuna snorted and capped the polish. “No.”

“What did you go to jail for?”

“Being stupid and doing stupid things.” He pushed her hand under the UV curing lamp–Ryo had a gel polish kit, courtesy of Sukuna, of course. With her sitting still, Sukuna pushed himself up from the dining room chair to take the MP3 player and filter through the music.

“Daddy?”

“Hm?” He didn’t look up as he clicked through the songs, but turned the volume down on the speaker so she could talk.

“Why are Grandma and Grandpa mad at Mommy?”

He glanced up then. “Are they?”

“I think so. Grandpa slammed the door in our face when she tried to drop me off with them today.”

Well, Sukuna supposes that’s why you asked if he could watch Ryo this afternoon. It was a shock that you’d drop her off when it wasn’t Sukuna’s week to watch her, but he wasn’t going to turn it down. However, he also forgot to ask why you couldn’t watch Ryo yourself. 

“Sometimes they just get angry. That’s how they’ve always been.” His hand fell to the top of her head, tilting it back to press a kiss to her forehead. “But they’ll come around again eventually. I promise.” 

Sukuna turned on the song she requested and put the device back on the speaker before moving to the kitchen to start dinner. 

He just pulled the chicken out of the fridge when he heard Ryo announce from the living room, “Daddy! Someone is knocking on the door!”

He huffed and washed his hands quickly before moving to answer the door. The sight he was met with on the other side was one he really, really did not want to see–Hiro.

“What do you want?” he asked, stationing his foot behind the door to keep it from opening further than what he’d allow. 

“I came to pick Ryo up.”

“Mm, what a waste of time and effort. She’s staying with me tonight, unless her mother wants to give me a call.”

“Sukuna, please, don’t make this difficult-”

“I’m not. Ryo is my daughter, and her mother dropped her off, asking me, her father, to watch her. Nowhere in that arrangement did she ever say she was sending her boy toy to come pick Ryo up.”

“Don’t call me a boy toy-”

“I’ll call you whatever I want while you’re standing on my porch. Which you have five seconds to get the fuck off of before I remove you myself.”

“You can’t do that. It’s not your turn to watch Ryo. According to the custody agreement-”

Sukuna scoffed, “Odd. I don’t remember you being there when we went over the agreement with our lawyers. Not that it’s any of your business, but there’s a designated person to pick her up and drop her off, and it’s not you. I only have to release her to her mother or her grandparents.”

“Please, can we not-”

“If her mother wants her back that badly, she’ll come get her from me herself.” 

With that, Sukuna slammed the door in Hiro’s face and went back to making dinner, taking his time to play a few rounds of Mortal Kombat with Ryo when she’d ask. This time, he got halfway through whisking together the katsu sauce when there was another round of knocking on his front door. 

He pulled the sauce off the fire and turned off the stove with an irritated huff, stalking toward the front door and passing Ryo playing the game to answer whoever was outside. However, rather than it being your wimpy husband, Hiro, it was two police officers.

He blinked at the sight in front of him, mind scanning through any sort of crime that he might’ve been caught up in, but besides rolling through a few stop signs, Sukuna had been on his best behavior. This left the only other logical conclusion to be that Jin did something again and somehow pinned it on Sukuna. 

A scowl pulled at his mouth as he angled himself in front of the door to block Ryo from seeing the officers, which would surely put the little girl in a panic. 

“You mind if we have a look around inside?” one of them asked, cutting right to the chase. 

“Depends. Do you have a warrant?”

The man held up the piece of paper and grinned. “We do.”

Sukuna eyed the document and, through gritted teeth, grumbled, “Then by all means.” He backed up to let them inside, which immediately caught the attention of Ryo. 

She looked up at him, scared and confused, watching the two officers enter the house. One of them stopped right in front of her, glancing at the other deputy in a silent exchange of communication.

“Daddy-”

Sukuna forced a smile and motioned for her to move closer to him. “It’s okay. They’re just looking around. Come here-”

“Actually, Ryomen,” the officer cut in, grabbing his cuffs from his belt, a clinking sound that immediately drew Sukuna’s attention. “If you could turn around and put your hands behind your back.”

That was a statement he was sick and tired of fucking hearing for a lifetime. 

“What for? I’ve done nothing wrong.” 

He knew better than to argue or ask that question before the officers were ready to give it up, so with that in mind, along with the knowledge of how easily they’d pin a resisting arrest charge on him, he turned his body to allow them to put the cuffs on him. Another officer nudged Ryo in the back to move her forward toward the door. She looked to Sukuna, terrified, crying. 

“Ryo, really, it’s okay-”

“We’re getting arrested–it’s because of the music on the MP3 player-”

Despite the situation, he couldn’t help but chuckle at her. “No, it’s not. The only one in cuffs is me. You're fine."

“But why are you-?”

“Is this your child, sir?” the officer escorting her out the door asked, though it wasn’t a question directed toward Sukuna. Instead, it was directed toward someone who was desperately working their way to the top of Sukuna’s shit list. 

Fucking Hiro.

“Yes, that’s her. Thank you, officers. I was so worried.” The officer behind Sukuna pushed him forward, out onto the porch, where Hiro was pulling Ryo away. “I hate that it had to come to this.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? You can’t arrest me for taking care of my kid. This is bullshit.” 

“Is she your kid?” the officer argued beside Ryo. 

“You tell me, jackass–fucking look at her. You don’t think she’s mine?”

“Doesn’t really matter, since you’re in violation of your custody agreement,” the one holding Sukuna’s cuffs concluded.

“Custody agreement?” Sukuna’s eyes widened as he let out an incredulous chuckle. “No– there’s no fucking way you assholes managed to turn a family issue, which that motherfucker isn’t even a part of, into an arrest. Fucking bullshit.”

Most would think he was losing his cool, but really, he was doing a stellar job at staying under control of his emotions; he knew if he didn’t, disorderly conduct was another charge they could tack on, too. 

“And I want to know what judge signed off on that search warrant for a civil case. They can’t do that. If there’s an issue with the custody agreement, that’s between me, Ryo’s mother, and family court-”

“This turned into a criminal case the second you kept the child from her guardian.”

“Motherfucker, I’m her guardian.”

“But you were withholding the child from her stepfather, which is in violation of your custody agreement. Therefore, this escalated to parental kidnapping. Which is a felony, by the way-”

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” he huffed, grunting when they pushed him up against the side of the squad car to search his body. 

“Have anything that will poke me, stick me, stab me?”

“Yeah. My dick,” he spat, staring the officer down as he patted his legs for a weapon he could be hiding in his pants if he had one–which he didn’t. 

“Do we even need to read you your rights? Or do you know the spiel by now?”

“Shove them up your ass.”

* * * 

“Your house was squeaky clean,” the man said, entering behind Sukuna in the interrogation room, after they had taken a blood and breath sample, because apparently that fucking mattered in this situation.

“Wow. It’s almost like prison reform worked this time, huh?” He turned to look at the familiar man, took note of his formal clothing instead of the usual officer uniform, and sighed, “Why are you here, detective?”

“Take a guess.” The man sighed and rounded the table, taking his place across from Sukuna. “Where’s your brother?”

“How should I know? I haven’t talked to him since I was arrested last time.”

“You haven’t gone looking for him either?” Sukuna kept his mouth shut, expression emotionless as he crossed his arms, leaning back in the chair. With that, the detective knew what he was wordlessly asking for. “You want a lawyer?”

“No. What I want is to know how, after being wrongfully arrested and threatened with a felony charge for parental kidnapping, it has turned into an interrogation about Jin.”

“Call it a coincidence. I just happened to see you were in the building-”

“Fuck that. You’ve been watching me again, haven’t you? Waiting for the perfect opportunity to get me in here? With how fast they got a search warrant–and for a family matter, no less–I wouldn’t be surprised. You guys have always been up my ass. And don’t act like I didn’t see who was elected as the new judge–fuck you guys for that, by the way. You’re lucky I can’t vote anymore.”

The new judge in question just so happened to be the warden who was replaced a year into Sukuna’s second prison sentence–the same warden that had it out for his family, and the same warden who decided to put Sukuna in solitary confinement without a just reason.

Sukuna could tell that the detective's nerves were wearing thin, and it probably had everything to do with the case he’d been following–that being whatever the fuck Jin has done this time.

“He won by a landslide. Your vote wouldn’t have mattered anyway.”

“I wanna know who signed off on the search warrant-”

“Only if you tell us where Jin is-”

“I don’t fucking know where he is! And I don’t care! I don’t want to know anything about him, or what he’s doing, or what you’re after him for-”

“You don’t want to take the fall for him this time?”

Sukuna’s jaw clenched in frustration. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“If you’d just fess up, Sukuna, all it would be is a year or two in prison for making a false statement and incriminating yourself, and you could have the rest expunged from your record by the time you’re released. We promise to drop the charges for aiding and abetting and harboring a fugitive-”

“What good is a clean record going to do for me now?” he countered, tilting his head in question while the detective just sighed. “I’m guilty of all the crimes I was convicted of. And I don’t know where Jin is. I haven’t had contact with him. That’s as much as you’re getting from me until I have a fucking lawyer.”

The detective grumbled under his breath and stood from the chair, tapping the table with his finger. “A drug dealer and an abuser with violent tendencies. That’s what people see you as–a low-life thug.” He tapped the table one last time, rounding it to get to the door behind Sukuna. “If you hear from Jin, let us know-”

“I’ll let you know right now that you can kiss my ass.”

When the detective exited the room, an officer entered–the one who cuffed Sukuna before.

“Looked over your custody agreement. Turns out that you don’t have to release the kid to anyone other than her mother or grandparents-”

“No fucking shit.”

The officer only grinned and held the door open for Sukuna to lead him down the hallway to retrieve the items they’d taken from his pockets.

You were waiting for Sukuna in the lobby of the police station when he came out, both of you drifting off in the plastic chairs. Sukuna pulled his daughter from the seat, leaning her cheek against his shoulder before tapping you on the side of the head until you stirred awake. Your eyes cracked open, wincing from the bright light until you realized who stood above you. 

“Sukuna, I-”

“Save it. I really don’t want to hear it from you. And give me your car keys.”

“I can drive-”

“I don’t want you to.”

Without any rebuttal, you handed them over.

The drive was quiet, save for Ryo’s soft snores in the backseat. You glanced back at her before letting your eyes flick to the driver’s seat.

“I didn’t know, okay?”

“Didn’t know what? That your husband is a prick? Or that he was going to try and have me arrested in front of Ryo? That scared the shit out of her, by the way.”

“I know. She told me about it. Cried herself to sleep.” You exhaled a deep breath and faced forward. “I didn’t think he’d call the police, I-”

“Where were you that you couldn’t come get Ryo?”

“Therapy. I left my phone in the car, and I didn’t know that he had called me after he tried to pick her up the first time; otherwise, I would have told him to just go home, and I would have picked her up after.”

“So, you go MIA for a few hours, and he thinks it’s okay to stick his nose in family issues?”

“He’s family, too-”

“Really? I thought you said he was just damage control,” he snapped, glancing at you when he pulled up at a red light. “Damage control for the times that I left you, and this time, it was him trying to put me away again.”

“I’m fucking sorry, okay?”

“Whatever. Your apology doesn’t fix what Ryo had to see.”

“I’m going to talk to him about it. You and I have an arrangement for Ryo that works for us, and I didn’t think he’d try to overstep that boundary. It was crossing a line–he won’t do it again.”

“And what if he does?”

“He won’t-”

“But if he does?”

Sukuna watched the muscle in your jaw flex as you clenched your teeth. “What do you want me to do? Divorce him?”

“Shit–do you want me to be fucking honest?”

“I think it would be nice,” you hissed.

“Okay. I do want you to divorce him. I don’t want him around my kid anymore, not after that little stunt. I don’t fucking trust him to stay in his own lane.”

You scoffed and looked out the window. “I can’t just divorce him like that-”

“Why not? You did it with me-”

“That was different,” you snarled.

“How?”

“You left me!”

“And I’m back now! I’m here! I’ve been here-!”

“For how much longer, Sukuna?! Until Jin comes back?! I’m not taking the fucking chance anymore!” 

“How long are you going to hold that over my head?!”

“I’m not holding anything above your head! It’s done–it’s over! We’re-” The sound of crying from the backseat pulled you both out of the argument, directing your attention to Ryo, who was watching the argument unfold through teary eyes. “Oh–baby, it’s okay. Please, don’t-”

“You’re always yelling,” she cried, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Like you hate each other-”

“That’s not true.” You unbuckled your seatbelt to turn in your seat and get closer to her, though with the belly, it was a bit difficult. You grabbed her hand. “We don’t hate each other at all. I love your dad, and he loves me-”

“Then why are you always fighting? Why aren’t you together anymore?”

“Because…”

Sensing your struggle, Sukuna added, “Because sometimes things just don’t work out. Your mom and I are just… better as friends, and that’s just how it has to be.”

“Maki and Mai’s parents are still together. And Toji and Emi. Grandma and grandpa, too.”

“We aren’t like that. We tried and it didn’t work-”

“That’s not fair, daddy.”

“I know, it isn’t.”

Life’s not fair–not at all. 

It spares heartache for some, and drenches others in grief, and it’s all a randomized chance. It’s like a giant game of fucking cherry-picking who gets the short end of the stick, and there’s nothing Sukuna could do to fix it; he could only buffer the blow to the best of his ability.

And to buffer the blow this time, the most he could do for the crying child was drop too much money on sundae toppings and the expensive name-brand ice cream that Ryo requested. It also included watching a movie he really, really didn’t want to watch. 

At least you were there, too, so you could experience the obnoxiously loud cartoon movie while looking at your daughter’s puffy, reddened eyes as she shoveled ice cream into her mouth. Ryo sat between you on the Sukuna’s couch, sniffling every so often; the sound was patterned with the clinking noise of her spoon hitting the dessert bowl. 

It was a pitiful sight, one that was tearing Sukuna’s feelings into little pieces. He knew better than to argue with you like that in front of Ryo–you knew better, too. And this piss-poor bandage that Sukuna used to make this situation better for Ryo was only temporary. 

Watching your parents constantly be at each other’s throats had lasting effects, and it would be something the kid would always remember. Sukuna knows he remembers what it felt like having to watch his parents argue to the same degree that Ryo witnessed tonight, and he didn’t get ice cream for it afterward. But at least he had a sibling who offered a distraction.

“Why did Hiro call the cops?”

And with that question from his daughter, Sukuna was most certainly going to let you take the lead to answer it because anything that would come out of his mouth right now regarding your husband wouldn’t be appropriate for Ryo to hear. 

“He just got confused. He didn’t know why your dad wasn’t letting you leave.”

“Why couldn’t he just let me stay here?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the screen. “He’s not my dad. I wish he’d stop trying to be.”

“I don’t think he is trying to be, baby. I think he was just trying to bring you home to me-”

“I don’t want to go home with you.” 

Sukuna could see the pain that statement caused you. Your brows furrowed, you chewed on your bottom lip, and with how rapidly you were blinking your eyes, you were definitely holding back tears.

“You don’t want to see me anymore?”

“I do, but I don’t want to live with you anymore. I want to live here.” After a few moments had passed, your ex-husband watched you swallow back your emotions and push up from the couch. Ryo was swift in stopping you. “Where are you going?”

“I’m just going to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

When Sukuna heard the bathroom door softly click shut, he didn’t hesitate to ask Ryo, “Why don’t you want to live with your mom?”

“I don’t like Hiro. He’s mean. He called the cops on you.”

Reasoning with Ryo about your husband was going to be a feat, but since he was trying to buffer her from life’s unfairness tonight, he might as well try to buffer you from it, too.

“But is he mean to you?”

“No. He’s just… annoying.”

Sukuna chuckled, “That may be, but don’t you think you’d miss your mom?”

Ryo shrugged. “Yeah, but she can come visit me here.”

“How often does she visit you here now?”

She swallowed the mouthful of ice cream before answering, “Not very often. She’s busy.”

“And she’ll still be busy if you just stay here. She’ll miss you, and you’ll miss her. That will make her sad, and it’ll make you sad, too.”

“I guess.” The girl let out a huff and shoveled the last bite of dessert into her mouth. “But if I live here, I can play on the PlayStation all the time.”

Sukuna felt a small smile pull at the corners of his mouth. “What if I let you take it over there? Think that can compensate for Hiro being annoying?”

“Hm, maybe.” She thought about it for a little bit longer before nodding her head. “Actually, yes. It will make it better.”

Sukuna patted her leg before pushing himself off the couch. “Good. I’ll go find a box for you to take it back in-”

“Wait. I don’t want to leave yet. Can’t I just spend the night?”

“Let me talk to your mom about it, okay?”

She agreed, letting him go with hopes that she’d get to stay with Sukuna. 

He knocked on the bathroom door lightly. “I need to talk to you.”

“Okay, just… give me a minute.” From the shake in your voice, Sukuna knew you were crying, and probably trying to make your eyes look less red and teary. 

“You don’t have to make yourself presentable. It’s only me, and I know what you look like when you’re upset.” He heard you curse a bit from behind the door before you pulled it open. Sure enough, you looked like you’d been crying. He stepped back, motioning for you to follow him. “We can go talk on the back porch.”

He flicked the outside light on before stepping through the sliding glass door with you behind him. Your breath hit the cold October air, creating a plume of pale white color as you moved to the edge of the porch to look up at the cloudless sky. The hinges and chains of the old porch swing creaked when Sukuna took a seat on it.

“Come sit.”

“No, thanks-”

“The stars will still be there for you to stare at when we’re done.” Begrudgingly, you turned and took your place on the swing next to him, listening to the hinges creak as you moved as far away from him as possible. You looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to start speaking. “Ryo wants to stay with me-”

You scoffed, “Yeah. I got that, asshole-”

“For tonight.”

You paused then. “Just for tonight?” When Sukuna nodded, you let out a small breath of relief.

“And she doesn’t want to move in with me for the reason I know you’re thinking.” You didn’t add anything, which prompted Sukuna to continue, “She doesn’t hate you. The same can’t be said about Hiro, but can you blame her?”

You clenched your jaw. “No. I can’t.”

Despite his logic that told him he shouldn’t, Sukuna felt happy that at least you, too, weren’t blaming anyone for being upset with the stunt that your husband pulled. 

“And I’m sending the PlayStation home with her tomorrow.”

Finally, you cracked a smile. It was a small one, but a smile, nonetheless. “Great.”

Thankfully, the tension started to lessen. 

“Also, keep your hands off my MP3 player.”

Your eyes flicked to him, and immediately, you knew what had brought on that order from him. 

“Cherry Pie is an inappropriate song for a nine-year-old to be listening to.”

“Please. She has no idea what they’re even talking about.” He brushed you off, a small grin playing on his mouth. “And there are other songs on there that are more obvious, and she doesn’t understand what they mean, either.”

You snorted, “Yeah. I know. The other day, she asked if I knew who Doctor Feelgood was, which is not something I was expecting at seven in the morning while I was driving her to school. As far as she knows now, he’s a highly qualified doctor who was sought after by '80s hair bands.”

“I mean, you’re not wrong,” he chuckled, instinctively putting his arm over your shoulders when you leaned into him.

To Sukuna, the moment felt so natural–normal, almost. He wondered if you felt the same. The gentle rocks of the swing and the squeak of the hinges filled the air, and for a few seconds, he allowed himself to enjoy it.

That is, until you ruined it by asking him the next inevitable question.

“So, what else did you need to talk to me about?”

He could just lie and say that he just wanted a few minutes alone with you, but you were too perceptive for that. You knew there was something else, and now that you knew, you weren’t going to drop it.

“They’re looking for Jin again.”

You pulled away from him then, much to his dismay, but he let you go. 

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know. They didn’t say what he did, just wanted to know if I knew where he was.”

“And do you?”

He tilted his head to look at you. “No. I haven’t talked to him since before I went away the last time, and he hasn’t tried to talk to me.”

“What about your dad? Yuji or Choso?”

“They haven’t heard from him either, or so I’m assuming. If they have, they haven’t told me about it.” Sukuna could see the uncertainty swimming in your eyes–you were about to pull away again. “Don’t look so scared-”

“Funny you should fucking say that. I have every right to be scared-”

“Why? Isn’t this the damage you married Hiro for? At least he could serve his purpose now, right?”

Your sight narrowed in his direction, growing pissed. Sukuna loved to see it. Your anger over your tears was what Sukuna would take any day.

“You’re a fucking idiot if you think I wouldn’t be worried about this. You’re still Ryo’s father, and you’re thinking about leaving her now? After all this time-”

“Who said I was going to?” His question had you shutting your mouth. “In case you haven’t realized, I’m still free. I drove us here–they let me go.”

“You didn’t tell them it was you?”

He scoffed out a laugh. “Obviously not.”

He could see you were starting to relax a bit. 

“I’m only telling you out of respect. Don’t want you to worry if you start seeing shit on the news about him.”

You stammered for a response before landing on, “Thank you.”

“Mhm.” 

You lowered yourself beside him again, leaning on his shoulder to soak up the warmth. There wasn’t anything else for Sukuna to talk to you about, but he wasn’t ready to leave. And apparently, neither were you, since you didn’t get up and just go like most would. 

For minutes, you both enjoyed the quietness before Sukuna spoke again. “So, you’re going to therapy on your own, too?”

“Yep.”

“To talk about what?”

“Mm, not any of your business, really.” At your snarky remark, he only hummed, resting his head on the top of yours. But then, after a bit more rocking in the quiet night, you said, “I talked to her about us.”

Sukuna already knew the answer before you even said it.

“Did you?”

“Yeah. It felt nice to… get it off my chest to someone other than you. She didn’t even make me feel bad for it.”

“What’d she say?”

“She told me I should tell Hiro. And that we should stop.”

When you shifted closer to his body heat, the arm he had draped over the back of the swing wrapped around your shoulders.

“And what did you say?”

“I said that she was right.” 

Sukuna’s hand moved to your jaw, tilting your face up toward him. “Is that really what you said?”

You swallowed thickly and nodded. “But then I told her that I couldn’t do it. That I didn’t want to stop.” A wry sort of giggle slipped past your lips. “She told me I was stubborn and self-destructive.”

He found your answer amusing. “We already knew that. You’ve been that way since the beginning.”

“You’re stubborn and self-destructive, too,” you argued with a grin, “That’s probably why we bicker so much.”

“Without a doubt.”

Your grin and happier attitude made him feel better. 

But it also made him wonder how two people could fit together in a perfect match, but at the same time, repel one another constantly? 

Isn’t it bad enough that life is already a randomized chance of fairness? It had to hand out contradictions, too?

"By the way, Ryo's school Halloween party is coming up." Sukuna looked down at you as you subtly added that, already knowing where it was heading. "The PTO is asking for volunteers-"

"I'm good-"

"Whyy?" you groaned, leaning your face into him.

"I don't like kids. Ryo's the only exception. Besides, I highly doubt the school would want a felon chaperoning nine-year-olds."

"But I'm in charge of the chaperones this year, and we're-"

Sukuna snorted, "You're in the PTO?"

You shrugged. "I like being involved. Anyway, we need just a few more volunteers. Emi is asking Toji, so it's not like you'll only have to talk to children for a couple of hours. And other parents will be there, too."

"Oh, joy. That really sweetens the deal," he sarcastically lilted, proudly soaking up the giggles that came from you.

"I'll be there, too. Does that make it better?"

"Mm... not really."

"I'll bring those cookies I used to make for you," you offered sweetly, turning your face into his neck to purr, "I know you like them."

"I do like them, but..."

His breathing slightly hitched, and goosebumps spread over his skin as your lips traced over his pulse, brushing up to his ear to whisper, "If you promise to go, I promise to blow you after."

Under most circumstances, a majority of people would understand that sort of message to be an initiation text for a booty call, and Sukuna was no different. Naturally, that was the first thought that crossed his mind because A. he is a man, and B. you coming over to fuck wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. In fact, it was pretty often.

However, what was an uncommon occurrence was you texting him in the first place. Not only have you been divorced from Sukuna for the past five years, but you were currently married to your second husband, and it doesn’t take a genius to know why a cheater wouldn’t want the evidence of the infamous ‘you up?’ text left on their phone.

Furthermore, receiving that from you, of all people, was something Sukuna found to be quite funny–how desperate were you? He contemplated leaving you on read, but another text from you came through before he could close out of your chat log. 

* * * 

“I seriously don’t know why you couldn’t just go to a waxer,” he grumbled, dipping the shaving-cream-covered razor into the small cup of water on the floor next to your hips. “I know damn well Hiro makes enough money to afford an appointment for you.”

“It’s not about the money. Getting waxed hurts,” you huffed, glancing at Sukuna over your protruding belly as he shaved you. “And I would have done it myself, but I can’t see it. Not even with a mirror.”

“Why are you shaving anything at all? You’re going to see a goddamn gynecologist. They’re looking at full bush all day long-”

“I just like to be considerate.”

“Yeah, considerate.” He snorted at the idea and rinsed off the razor in the cup before going back in. “Want me to leave a little heart? Make it all cute, since you’re trying to impress your doctor.”

“I’m not trying to impress anyone. And you can just shave it all; otherwise, I have to hear Hiro bitch about it.”

The scrape of the razor against you came to a halt. “What?”

“Hiro doesn’t like the hair. Complains about it-”

“No fucking way you’re having me shave your pussy so your boy toy will fuck you.”

Your eyes widened as you shook your head. “No! No! I–that’s not why. I just feel insecure about it when it’s been a while. I like to keep it trimmed–you know that. You had to help me with my doctor appointments when I was pregnant with Ryo, remember?”

Sukuna did remember, and it was a huge pain in the ass then, too. 

You went on to sheepishly add, “I asked Hiro to help, but he wouldn’t. Said it was gross… and offered to make me an appointment to get waxed instead.”

Sukuna sighed and resumed the task.

“Thank you for this, by the way. Really, this is… I appreciate this.”

He wanted to shut the fuck up; he didn’t need you to thank him for this, but refrained from doing so. It wasn’t that your pleasantries were fake, but just that they were pleasantries to begin with, and you were using them with Sukuna. He didn’t buy it, not for a single second. 

“The hell are you being so nice for?”

You exhaled a laugh. “Well, you’re holding a razor near my clit. I’m sure you’d be wary if I held something sharp next to your dick, right?”

“Mh, not really. After all, we both know how much you like it.” He tapped your stomach, which was bare, with your shirt bunched up under your breasts. “This here can attest to that.”

You batted his hand away with a groan. “He might not even be yours.”

Sukuna stopped again. “He?”

“Huh?” You propped yourself up on your elbows.

“You just said he–is it a boy?”

Peering down at him, you asked, “I didn’t tell you?”

His eyes widened as he exclaimed, “No, you didn’t fucking tell me!”

“Sorry.” You winced before relaxing back on the floor. “It’s the pregnancy brain. I forgot.”

“Sounds like an excuse to me.”

“Fuck off and shave me. I’m sick of lying spread open like this. It’s invasive.”

“Funny you should say that, because I think this is the least invasive I’ve ever been with you while having you in this position.”

Contrary to what you asked for, Sukuna left a patch of hair–a neat strip of it, because there was no way in hell he was shaving you bare just because your wimpy boy toy doesn’t like a bit of hair. 

Besides, Sukuna thought the little patch was cute, like the piece of nori on an onigiri. And much like onigiri, your ex would eat you just the same, if you asked for it, that is. 

That couldn’t be said about your husband, or so Sukuna assumed. Either Hiro didn’t do it for you at all, or he didn’t do it right, but neither case really bothered Sukuna much because it left you longing, horny, and so fucking sensitive, which were the perfect components to also have you pliant, needy, and whiny. 

And when you were all of those things combined, you cried the prettiest tears, your moans sounded so fucking sweet, and you wanted to be fucked nicely–as a husband should do for his wife. 

However, you weren’t his wife anymore, and Sukuna really needed to get that through his head. It wasn’t doing either of you any favors to keep pretending.

But maybe he’d start that tomorrow, after you stop holding him hostage in the tightest leglock known to man while digging your nails into his back, asking for more like you’ll die if he doesn’t fuck you harder. And trust that he really, really wanted to fuck you harder, but your belly was in the way, and the pained winces you were making were starting to worry him. 

He knows that you know your own body better than he ever will, and that if he were actually hurting you, you’d tell him to stop. But he also mastered the knowledge of how your masochistic mind works a long time ago, and was never afraid to call you out on your bullshit. 

The fingers you were raking down his back interlocked with his own when he grabbed them and pinned them to the pillow beneath your head. You thought it was an intimate gesture and trailed after Sukuna’s mouth when he pulled back, but when he slid himself out of you, resting just his tip inside, you figured it out–he didn’t even have to say anything. 

“I’m fine,” you grumbled, flexing your thighs to bring him closer. He only raised a brow, waiting for you to continue, which you did in a snappy huff. “Can’t I just want it rough? Is that a big deal?”

“Nope.” He grabbed your thighs and pried them off his hips, pinning them to the bed in a motion that made you hiss out from the stretch. “You can have it as rough as you want. As soon as you tell me what’s wrong-”

“Nothing's wrong!”

And that cadence of yours let him know that there was, in fact, something wrong, but trying to get you to spill about it now was wishful thinking. He clicked his tongue before letting out a sigh. “Whatever-” 

You cut him off, tearfully exclaiming, “The costume I was supposed to wear for Halloween this year doesn’t fit me like I wanted it to, and I feel gross about it, like I’m ugly-”

An issue was something he anticipated; your tears were not.

“Holy fuck,” Sukuna huffed quietly, pulling out of you as you continued to cry.

“-it was a maternity costume, too, and it still doesn’t fit! And Hiro said it’s my fault because I eat a lot-”

“You do eat a lot,” he grumbled, making you gasp and push him off of you. “What? It’s true. But that’s to be expected considering you’re growing a baby inside of you.”

Tears collected in your waterline, staining your lashes. “I’m fat and it's noticeable, isn’t it?”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re six months pregnant, sweetheart. That’s what’s noticeable. No one is looking at you and thinking anything about your weight, I promise you-”

“Yeah, right-” 

Sukuna pressed his hand over your mouth. “Stop crying. You know you’re hot. You’re just upset the costume doesn’t fit.”

You latched onto his wrist to pull him away from your mouth. “Yes! The party is tomorrow night, and the PTO agreed that the chaperones need to dress up! What am I supposed to wear now?!”

“You have a free costume already.” He poked your stomach. “Just go as a pregnant woman.” Your bottom lip quivered, a sign that you didn’t like his answer–what a surprise. “Or as a pumpkin or something, I don’t know.”

You slapped his arm. “That sounds insulting.”

“I wasn’t trying to compliment you. I was trying to give you an idea, and the pumpkin thing would be cute. Just… I don’t know, paint its face on your stomach.”

You sniffled, wiping at your eyes as you calmed down. “Okay. That’s not too bad of an idea.”

“Great. You done being pissy now?”

You nodded and curled into his chest, pushing him onto the bed next to you, and just as you started getting comfy, a phone chimed from the nightstand. 

It was yours.

Sukuna reached over and grabbed it, handing it off to you before you could even ask for it. As soon as you checked the notification, you groaned, “It’s Hiro. He’s asking where I went.” You sniffled again and typed out your reply, telling him that you ran to the pharmacy for antacids and that you’d be back soon. “I need to go.”

Sukuna didn’t try to stop you as you rolled to the side of the bed to begin putting on your clothes, but he wanted to. He wanted to tell you to stay, but that was overstepping some invisible boundary you’d both created since divorcing. 

Before leaving his room, you stopped in front of the full-length mirror to check yourself over, your eyes lingering longer on your body than was necessary. Concern curled into a scowl on your mouth.

He sighed, “Stop worrying about your body. You look fine.”

Your eyes met Sukuna’s through the mirror’s reflection. “Just fine?”

The need for Sukuna’s validation was all too obvious on your face. For a moment, he wondered if you wanted Hiro’s just like you wanted Sukuna’s.

“You’re a beautiful woman. You always have been, and you always will be.”

Thankfully, a tiny smile replaced your scowl. You turned back to the mirror, looking at your profile as you traced your hand over the protrusion of your stomach. 

“You still think that, even though I’m bigger now?” Your eyes trailed over yourself again. “I really have gained weight, haven’t I?”

“And it went straight to your ass and tits.” You shot him a glare over your shoulder, but it didn’t bother him much. It never did. “More cushion for the pushin’, you know. Nothing to be ashamed of-”

“Ugh, I’m leaving.” Your grumbling scoff made him laugh as he pushed up from the bed to walk you to the door. “I’m dropping Ryo off early tomorrow morning so I can make it to my OB/GYN appointment before work. Make sure to bring her to the party on time, it starts at 6-”

“I know.” He held the door open for you. 

“And I sent you the address already, right?”

“Mhm.”

You turned toward him on the porch to add, “Make sure you wear a costume-”

“Not happening-"

A plump pout formed on your mouth. “Please?”

He was definitely not wearing a costume, but you needed to get home before your husband started to worry. Sukuna also noted that you looked rather tired, and if it wouldn’t raise suspicion, he’d offer to take you home. Since he couldn’t do that, he gave you an appeasing answer.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Great.” You reached up and guided his mouth down to yours in a quick, familiar kiss–one that you’d use when you two were married. It left him a bit stunned, even more so when you pulled back to mumble, “Love you.”

You didn’t even notice.

But Sukuna definitely did.

And he thought about it for the rest of the night.

* * * 

“Where’s your costume?” you asked the second you caught sight of Sukuna stepping into the pumpkin patch that the school had rented for the kids’ Halloween party. 

Sukuna eyed your own attire that consisted of an orange shirt with a black lace cardigan that parted over your stomach, and a long black skirt to match. It was horrendous, but he thought you looked cute, nonetheless. 

“Told you, I wasn’t wearing one.”

Your jaw clenched to show your irritation. “How are the kids going to know you’re a chaperone if you’re not in a costume? Now, they’re just going to think you’re a big, scary yakuza man.”

“Alright, then my costume is big, scary yakuza man.” You rolled your eyes at his answer, clearly unimpressed, but Sukuna had already prepared himself on the way to the event to handle your disappointment in the matter. “Besides, where’s your costume?”

You took a step back and motioned to your outfit. “You’re looking at it. I’m not finished yet. I still need to draw the pumpkin face on my stomach.”

“Mm.” Very fucking cute, but he didn’t say that.

You brushed him off with a scoff. “Whatever. Where’s Ryo?”

“She’s coming with Toji and the girls. Apparently, they needed to get ready together and have Emi do their makeup because I’m not capable of it. You know, since I’m a boy,” he grumbled under his breath. 

He remembered his daughter’s adamant remarks about only letting another girl do her face paint for her costume, which Sukuna thinks is stupid because he would have done just fine, probably better than Emi. He did his own tattoos, and they turned out perfect. 

However, when he pointed out this fact to his daughter, she had the audacity to roll her eyes at him and insist that Emi do it instead. He knew that the costume she’d decided on didn’t require much face paint at all, but with the amount of sass behind her eye roll, he was left with no other option but to drop her off at the Fushiguro’s that afternoon.

“Well, I don’t imagine you’d do well at fairy face paint either.”

Sukuna cocked a brow at your statement, instantly putting two and two together–Ryo had not run her costume idea by you, or if she had, she definitely lied. He thought it was odd that Ryo specifically told him that you said dressing up as a famous movie murderer was okay, but he didn’t press the issue, thinking that if you really did have a problem with it, you’d probably ask him to talk her out of it. 

“Fairies?” he questioned.

“Yes, fairies. Why? What did she-”

In the distance, the familiar sound of your daughter’s voice echoed through the pumpkin patch, announcing her arrival–or, her character’s arrival using the famous ‘Here’s Johnny’ line. Her maniacal laughter followed the screams of the other children that she was terrorizing, earning Sukuna a deep, seething scowl from you.

“You let her watch The Shining?”

“Once or twice,” Sukuna answered flatly, going on to add, “It’s a classic.”

You both watched as Ryo chased some of the children through the patch, a plastic ax swinging behind them. When her victims ran toward the table of chaperones, looking for help, Sukuna grabbed Ryo around the midsection when she tried to run past him. 

She fought against his grip. “Put me down. They’re getting away!”

“No can do. I’m in trouble with your mom now, and it’s your fault.”

Behind Ryo followed the girls, wearing the twins' costumes from the movie, coated in an obscene amount of blood, with Toji right behind them, a cigarette perched between his lips. When he saw your glare, he quickly snubbed it out on the bottom of his boot. 

“Are you serious? You let them leave the house like this?” you scolded, grabbing the smushed cigarette to toss it into the trash. “They’re children, Toji.”

“Yes, but they’re not my children. Besides, Emi signed off on it. Said it was okay as long as they didn’t scare the other kids.” Toji glanced at Ryo quickly before meeting your stare again. “To be fair, we didn’t know she had an ax. She pulled it out of nowhere once we got here.”

Sukuna could feel the heat of embarrassment creeping up your neck as you listened to the whispers from the other parents behind you. He felt a minuscule sliver of guilt, but it was enough. 

He took the ax from Ryo’s hands and held it behind his back, keeping her tightly against him as she fought to grab it.

“Give it-”

“Nope. Lost your privileges when you started hunting down your classmates.”

She groaned, “Daddy-”

“Not happening. Show me you can be nice, and maybe I’ll give it back later.”

While the child looked exactly like her father, there was something about the scowl that she could pull, which always looked exactly like yours. It was the pursing of her lips before they turned into a frown, flickering slightly to sneer–it was adorable. 

“Also, you owe your mom an apology.”

“For what?”

“For lying.” Sukuna shoved the handle of the plastic ax into his back pocket and maneuvered Ryo around to face you, holding her in the air. “You told her you were going as a fairy, and you show up as an ax murderer.”

Sukuna heard Ryo sigh before saying, “Sorry for lying.”

An appreciative smile spread over your mouth as you cupped Ryo’s cheeks, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You’re forgiven, but don’t do it again. I would have let you dress up like this if I had known. Just a little less… bloody.”

Her father lowered her feet to the ground, but before he let go, he turned her toward him again. “Stop chasing the other kids, or you can go trick-or-treating with Hiro tomorrow night instead of me.”

Her eyes widened as she nodded, taking his threat very seriously. “Okay. I won’t chase them anymore, but can I have my ax back?”

Seeing no reason not to trust her anymore, lest she spend more time with her stepfather, Sukuna handed her ax back to her. Her fingers wrapped around the handle, but Sukuna didn’t relent. “I mean it, Ryo.”

“Okay. I promise.”

He let go of the ax, and then she was gone, running off with the twins to play around in the pumpkin patch, but only with one another since she’d scared her fellow classmates into avoiding the trio. Sukuna knew she didn’t mind that in the slightest.

“Thank you,” you said, drawing his attention back to you. “I thought it was weird that she wanted to go as a fairy, but I was hoping she was finally… mellowing out.”

Sukuna snorted, “Your mistake. She’s always been a heathen.”

You giggled, agreeing with him. “Well, I need to finish my costume and apologize to crying children, so… have fun chaperoning.”

When you were gone, leaving tendrils of awkward tension in the air, Toji stepped up beside him.

“You know, I don’t mean to pry, but Emi was asking me a lot of questions, and I’m kinda curious myself-” His voice tapered off as Sukuna turned to look at him, waiting to hear his question. “It’s just that… I know you two were together a couple of months ago-”

Sukuna’s brows furrowed. “How do you know about that?”

He was hesitant to answer. “Caught her sneaking out of your house the morning you drove us to work.”

“Christ, Toji. Why didn’t you say anything?”

He motioned toward Sukuna, asking, “Why didn’t you?”

“Why do you think? That’s not something you just mention casually in a conversation–it’s supposed to be a secret-”

Toji shrugged. “Well, there you go. That’s why I didn’t say anything. Except to Emi, obviously, but she’d never tell anyone anyway, but that’s beside the point. Is it yours?”

His lips pressed into a flat line, not keen on voicing his opinions on the matter while at a children’s party, but Toji had finally cornered him about it. 

“Don’t know.”

Toji blew out a breath. “That’s… not good.”

“You’re right. It’s not,” he agreed, watching after his daughter and her friends. 

“What are you going to do if it’s yours?”

He exhaled a wry laugh, “We haven’t made it that far, Toji. Still trying to figure out what the fuck we’re doing.”

“Oh,” Toji snorted, “This is a common occurrence? Not just a moment of weakness.”

He chuckled, “It’s definitely both. She likes to come over, pretend we’re still married. She gets off on it.”

Toji sucked in a breath. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s not good,” he said again.

“No, it’s not,” Sukuna sighed, eyes drifting toward you as you tried to draw a jack-o-lantern’s face on your shirt, over your belly. You were failing, but it was cute to see you try. 

“If that’s the case, and she’s coming over to play pretend, why don’t you just get married again?”

“She doesn’t want to. She has a husband.”

“Clearly, he’s not a good one if she’s coming back to you.”

“I don’t know. I’m not going to push for it because when has pushing her to do anything ever worked out for me?”

“Never,” Toji chuckled. “But what do you want?”

Sukuna rolled his eyes, quickly growing tired of the topic. “You already know what I want.”

“And what you want is what you’re getting now? Your ex coming over to pretend the divorce never happened? How fulfilling.”

Sukuna shrugged. “It’s better than nothing, isn’t it?”

“Sure, if you like settling for the bare minimum.” Toji’s backhanded comments always served to sink right below Sukuna’s skin. “You two are the biggest dumbasses I’ve ever met-”

“Fuck off,” he scoffed, keeping his voice quiet so the children wouldn’t hear him curse. “Just because you and Emi can get along perfectly-”

Toji was quick to cut him off. “Don’t pull that bullshit with me. You two get along perfectly, too. You’re both toxic as shit, but for some reason, it just cancels each other out.”

“And it’s not healthy.”

“For most people,” Toji corrected him, “but it’s healthy for you two. That’s why she keeps coming back to you–she needs it, and obviously, the new husband isn’t providing. She’s bored and she’s boring. I mean, did you see her yell at me for the kids’ outfits? I remember her costume from Junior year, and it was a lot more graphic than a little fake blood.”

Sukuna remembered your costume from junior year very vividly–a slutty zombie hunter, which shouldn’t have been slutty to begin with, but you made it work. Maybe a little too well. The number of times teenage Sukuna got off to that memory of you was almost embarrassing.  He also remembers setting his new record for the amount of punches he threw that night, knocking out anyone who looked at you for just a second too long.   

He cleared his throat, suppressing his smile. “It was revealing.”

“Exactly. She yelled at me that night, too, for telling her to cover herself up. Now she wants to get onto me for the kids’ costumes–a bit hypocritical, isn’t it? Like to see how she handles Ryo’s costumes when she gets older. How nitpicky will she be, if a little blood and an ax have her scolding me?” Toji grumbled, pulling out a cigarette to place between his lips, lighting it just after, not paying any attention to the concerned stares of the other parents.

“Well, it’s a good thing Ryo will never find herself in a costume like that.”

Toji snickered around his cigarette. “How would you know if she does or doesn’t? You think Mrs. Pumpkin over there wore her zombie hunter costume out of the house for her father to see? Doubt it. She probably told him she was going as a fairy-”

Sukuna grimaced. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Watching you raise a teenager is going to be so fun. Especially when you realize that there’s nothing you can do to control them and they end up acting just like you.”

“Are you saying that Megumi acted just like you?” Sukuna questioned, not buying it for a second. “He was too quiet and shy.”

“Yeah, he was. Until he and Yuji started hanging around that girl in high school. Found edibles in his room one time. He tried to tell me they weren’t his, but I’m not an idiot. Told him I was throwin’ them away, but I really kept them for myself.” Toji chuckled to himself before adding, “Then after that, it was all the sneaking out for parties, and he was so bad at it. Couldn’t pretend to be sober to save his life. I had to pretend a couple of times that I didn’t notice so he wouldn’t feel discouraged, you know?”

“No,” Sukuna mumbled, “I don’t know. And I won’t know. Ryo won’t be like that. Ever.”

“Right. Because she’s going to stay nine for the rest of her life-”

He groaned, “I already said I didn’t want to talk about this.”

“Fine, fine.” His friend blew out a mouthful of smoke, a playful grin playing on his mouth. “Then you probably don’t wanna know what I heard while they were getting ready tonight.”

Sukuna’s eyes flickered to Toji’s. “What?”

“Nothing-”

“Don’t fucking play with me, Toji. What’d you hear?”

He took another drag on the cigarette before offering up the answer. “She likes a boy.”

Sukuna blinked, unbelieving of his words. “No, she doesn’t.”

Toji nodded. “She does. His name is Satoshi. Says he’s so ugly that he’s cute.”

“I’m sure she meant as a friend.”

“Sure. Friends who like to hold hands at recess.”

“Who’s Satoshi?” Sukuna asked as he approached you. 

“Ryo’s boyfriend?” you asked, looking up at him from your stomach, where you were still trying to draw a jack-o-lantern’s face. 

“Boyfriend?”

You nodded, eyes flicking to every feature of his face that told you just how much he disapproved of the situation. It brought a smile to your face, one that you were biting back as you looked down to start on your pumpkin mouth again. 

“Guess she didn’t tell you, huh?”

“No, she didn’t tell me.”

You snorted, “That’s funny-”

“None of this is funny, actually–it’s the opposite of funny. It’s morose, morbid-”

“God, Sukuna,” you giggled, shoving the cap back onto your black marker, pleased with your work. “You don’t need to be so overprotective. They’re nine. Calm down.”

“Why didn’t she tell me? She tells me everything.”

You motioned toward your ex-husband. “Look at how you’re acting right now. You’re freaking out.”

“I’m calm.”

“You’re sweating,” you pointed out. 

“Yes.” He rubbed at his temple, collecting a bead of sweat. “Because it’s hot out here.”

A grin twisted onto your mouth. “Right. You’re sweating because of the temperature and not because you’re panicking that Ryo is interested in a boy that isn’t you.”

You couldn’t be entirely certain, but you thought you saw his eye twitch. Briefly, it had crossed your mind what kind of father Sukuna would be to your daughter, but you didn’t really consider that he’d be like this–overbearingly protective. 

“Where is he?” he asked, turning to look around the dimly lit pumpkin patch. “I want to talk to him.”

Your smile fell as you grabbed his wrist to stop him before he could walk off. “No, wait. We’re not doing this today-”

“I’m not going to do anything, I just want to talk to him.” He pulled his arm from your grasp and kept moving forward, with you following right behind him.

“Talk to him about what?”

“His intentions.”

“For the love of god,” you huffed, moving to get ahead of him and stand in his way. “Sukuna, they’re nine. The boy’s intentions are pure and innocent, I assure you.”

For a moment, you thought you had him calmed down enough to give up the need to talk to this little boy. However, he caught sight of something behind you that had his eyes narrowing–and twitching, you were sure of it this time. You saw it, clear as day. 

“Is that him?” He brushed past you and stalked toward the four children, who didn’t know the monster that was inching closer. 

“Sukuna,” you tried calling out to him, following right in his shadow to catch up, but he was moving too quickly. “Please, don’t embarrass me.”

“I’m not going to.” 

Ryo stood facing the boy, who was facing Sukuna, and saw him storm closer, staring up at the man with wide, fearful eyes. You could only imagine the horror he must have felt. Being subjected to Sukuna’s stare was scary enough, but his glare was another story. 

Or so you assumed, he’s never scared you at all.

He came to a stop right behind Ryo, who was talking to Satoshi until she saw the shadow looming over her, paired with the horrified stare of her friend looking at something behind her.

“What is it?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder to see her father. She blinked up at him and pulled her plastic ax behind her back. “I’ve been good with it. Haven’t swung it at anyone else. Ask Maki and Mai.”

“It’s true,” the twins said in unison.

“Who is that?” he asked, pointing to the boy who was almost hiding behind Ryo. 

“Satoshi. He’s my boy friend.”

A disgruntled noise came from Sukuna. “Since when do you have a boyfriend and not tell me about it?”

“I have lots of boy friends. He’s my newest one.”

He crossed his arms, flatly stating, “No.”

Ryo frowned, hands falling to her sides. “No, what?”

“No boyfriends.”

“Sukuna,” you interjected, grabbing onto his wrist, but neither of them was listening to you, as they were stuck in a heated stare-off.

“Why not?”

“Because I said no.”

Your daughter’s face curled up into a grimace. “That’s not fair. You don’t say anything about my girl friends.”

“Girlfriends?” 

The reality of the situation seemed to have clicked for you before it did your ex-husband, but before you could interrupt him to explain, he continued, “No. No girlfriends either. You’re nine-”

“Sukuna, she’s not-”

“So what?” your daughter countered.

“So, you’re too young to be having boyfriends and girlfriends-”

“Says who?”

“Me-”

“Oh, my god,” you grumbled, tugging his arm back to get his attention. “They’re her friends. Only friends. Right, Ryo?”

“Yes.”

Sukuna paused for a moment, taking in the situation and fitting the pieces together before the rigidity in his shoulders left him. He chuckled to himself, “Oh. You mean you have friends that are boys and friends that are girls?”

“Obviously,” she retorted, crossing her arms to mirror her father’s stance. 

“And you don’t hold hands with Satoshi at recess?”

“Ew. No.”

“What is wrong with you?” you scolded quietly, pulling him away from the children.

“Toji said-” he cut himself off, scanning the crowd to find his friend as his face fell flat. You followed his eyes, finding him to be staring at Toji, who was videoing the interaction with his phone, definitely intending on using this against Sukuna one day. “The asshole lied to me. Said they were holding hands–which you better not be doing,” he directed the last part toward Satoshi, who flinched hard when he spoke.

“We don’t,” Ryo groaned, “Can we go back to playing now?”

Rather than answering her, Sukuna only grunted before stalking off, much like he normally does when he concludes a conversation.

 “That was unnecessary. And uncalled for-”

“Eh,” he grumbled, brushing you off. “If the boy wants to hang around Ryo, he would have met me eventually. Best to do it now and scare him into knowing his place before I have to scare him for real if he ever steps out of line.”

“And holding hands at recess is out of line?”

“Yes. I know what that leads to.”

“To something harmless and innocent because, again, they’re nine-”

“I know they’re nine, but they won’t always be nine, and handholding becomes a lot less innocent when you’re in high school. Trust me.”

You cocked a brow. “How would you know? We never held hands in high school.”

He brushed you off as you both meandered toward the parents' tables again. “We were different. Look where hand-holding got Toji and Emi. They were parents by sophomore year.”

You scoffed, “I hardly think it was the hand holding that made them parents. And that’s a completely different story. You know how Emi’s parents were. If they had educated her properly on… that sort of stuff, they wouldn’t have had Megumi until years later.”

Sukuna blinked at your explanation before mumbling, “Now we’re treading too close to a topic of conversation I don’t want to be having. Ever. So we can just drop it.”

You giggled to yourself as your hand bumped against his, but with the brief contact, you jerked away from it as if it had scalded you. He glanced down at you with a hint of amusement. The fact that you’d been caught shying away from him brought a warmth to your face. 

“I think you and I are way past the immoral implications of holding hands out of wedlock, sweetheart-”

“Shut up.” 

The coolness of the October night helped soothe the embarrassment as you and Sukuna walked down the gravel path, allowing a silence to fall over your conversation. There wasn’t enough room for it to be awkward when you both were paying attention to the children running around, high on too much sugar and excitement. 

Accidentally, your hand brushed against his again, and like before, you jolted away from the touch. 

“Quit trying to hold my hand, you whore.” As that insult fell from his mouth, you gasped, making him grin. You know that he had only been joking, but still, it was rude.

“I’m not trying to hold your hand, asshole. As if I’d ever want to anyway. Your hands are dirty.”

“First off, no, they’re not. Second, do I need to point out the last time I held your hands? Because I’m fairly certain it was last night-”

“Nh! Shut up!” You bumped your shoulder against his bicep to make him stumble a bit, but he easily steadied himself again. “Talk about something else.”

“Alright,” he chuckled and mulled over the next topic. “How are your parents?”

You weren’t interested in talking about them either, but anything was better than Sukuna not-so-subtly hinting at your infidelity in front of all the other parents, who would spread news like that around to as many people as they could. 

“Fine. I guess. Haven’t talked to them in a while. Since they’re mad at me.” You peeked up at him, meeting his glance before you both looked away. “They saw my car in your driveway when they dropped Ryo off that morning.”

“I figured.”

You huffed, “Yeah. They don’t want to talk to Ryo, and she doesn’t understand why. M’not gonna tell her either because then she’d just hate them for hating you. I’m just hoping they’ll eventually come around for her sake.”

“Why bother?” He pulled you off the gravel path and to one of the decorated picnic tables that was furthest away from everyone else. 

“They’re her grandparents-”

“And they were your parents. They created you, raised you, and pushed you out the second you made a mistake. If they’re renouncing their rights as her grandparents because of us, why bother sticking around for them to change their minds? We’ll always be her parents. And it’s not like Ryo had a choice in who her parents were to begin with, and now she’s being punished. That’s not fair.”

You picked at your nails, twisting your wedding ring back and forth on your finger. “I don’t know. They’re just like… an extra layer of support in case things go south again. Stability and consistency, remember?”

Sukuna rolled his eyes. “Their hot and cold attitude is anything but consistent, sweetheart.”

“You’re one to talk,” you muttered, resting your chin in your hand. 

“I don’t blame them for not liking me from the very beginning. They’re not the first ones to hate me, and they won’t be the last. But to treat you both the same way they’d treat me is bullshit. You’ve done nothing wrong, and neither has Ryo. They’re angry with her for no reason, so fuck them.”

You sighed to yourself. “It’s not like I’m just so distraught over them-”

“You’re upset about it. I can tell. And I hate to be a dick, but your side of the family isn’t stable or consistent in the slightest.”

“Oh, like your side of the family any better?”

He waved you off with a quiet grumble under his breath. 

For the sake of not ruining the serene atmosphere for you both, you decided to drop the subject and switch to something else. While it might not have been a lighter note, it was better than arguing about your parents. 

You brought your phone out of your pocket and pulled up the images from the appointment you’d had this morning. Flipping it around, you pushed the screen toward him, holding it in front of his face. 

Sukuna glanced at it before his eyes flicked to you. “What am I looking at?”

“The baby, you idiot. Here’s his head, and his feet.”

The faintest smile twitched on his mouth, a movement so quick that you would’ve missed it if you hadn’t been paying attention. 

“How fascinating.”

When Sukuna returned to his house that evening after dropping off Ryo’s things at Toji’s house–she and the twins insisted on spending the night at the Fushiguro’s residence to help/bother Emi with decorating cookies–he was surprised to see your Lexus sitting in his driveway. He parked beside your car and gave it a quick glance as he passed it on his way to the house. 

Inside, Sukuna was met with the sight of you lounging on his couch in your nightgown, sipping on a cup of tea while watching some TV show. You looked up when he stepped into the living room, not even offering him a smile or an explanation as to why you were there in the first place. You just greeted him emotionlessly. “Hey.”

Sukuna shut the door behind him, making sure to lock it while asking, “What are you doing here?”

“Watching this new show.”

“The TV doesn’t work at your house?”

You brushed him off, eyes returning to your show. “Hiro’s out of town again, Ryo’s staying with the twins, and I owe you a blowjob.”

He tossed his keys down on the coffee table. “You already paid me back for tonight. Yesterday.”

“That was for helping me shave.” You leaned into the armrest of the couch, pulling your feet up to rest underneath you–a subtle gesture to give Sukuna room to sit down beside you, which he did. “I mean, if you don’t want another-”

“I didn’t say that.”

You hummed over his answer absent-mindedly and shuffled your feet under his thigh to keep your toes warm. The quiet sigh you let out was one of content, but alluded to how sleepy you were. 

“You seem tired,” he commented, grabbing the blanket from the back of the couch to toss over you. 

“Just a little bit. I stayed up last night. Couldn’t sleep.”

“Nervous about the kids’ party?”

“Among other things, yes,” you answered, a playful lilt to your voice. “The baby started kicking. Kept me awake. Hiro also snores so fucking loud.”

“You should suffocate him with a pillow next time. It would do us all a service.”

You sleepily giggled, “I’ve thought about it,” and swallowed the rest of your tea. When you reached forward to place it on the coffee table, you struggled to sit up thanks to your belly, leaving Sukuna to grab the cup from your hands. “Thanks.”

After watching the exhausted yawn rip from your throat, Sukuna sighed, “Let’s get you to bed-”

“No. Lemme finish this episode.” You grabbed his wrist when he tried to get up, forcing him to sit back down on the couch. Of course, he conceded, and when he situated himself, your head leaned into his shoulder in a familiar gesture.

How long would Sukuna remember these little things? When would they stop feeling so natural?

“What’s this one about?” he asked, directing his attention to your show to distract himself from the deja vu feeling. 

You gave him the summary of the show, explaining the small details of something that Sukuna would never find himself watching on his own, but watching it with you wasn’t so terrible. 

When it ended with the credits rolling across the screen, he heard your quiet, steadied breaths, letting him know that you were asleep. He scoffed to himself and grabbed the remote, turning off the TV to bring the room into a deafening silence. 

“You are such a pain in the ass,” he grumbled, raising the arm you were resting on, making you shift and huff in your sleep. 

“You love me, though,” you groggily responded, tossing your arm over his torso to cuddle up closer to him. He couldn’t tell if you were really awake or not, so he decided to just keep his mouth shut. 

Once he finally got you to his bed, you curled around him so tight that he had no other choice but to accept your smothering–not that he truly minded it; you felt nice against him. However, he did have a facade to maintain, which led to him nudging you until you groaned, “What?”

“Get off of me. I need to change out of these clothes.”

“No.”

Well, he tried. 

“Fucking brat.” 

A soft giggle bubbled out of you, bringing a small smile to his face–thankfully, one that you couldn’t see. The hand you had resting against his chest trailed up to his jaw, tracing the outline of it with a sated sigh before you raised your face from his shoulder to press it into the crook of his neck. He didn’t even need to wait to feel your lips press against his throat to know what you were doing. 

“Thought you were tired.”

“I am. But I’m horny, too.” You sucked on his pulse while brushing your other hand down his chest to dip below the waistband of his pants. 

“Great. So that means I make you cum and you immediately pass out on me.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

“You’re fucking lying,” he simpered, bringing you on top of him to straddle his hips. “But you’re lucky I like seeing your cum face.”

“Am I really that lucky if you’re making me do all the work?” you questioned, lifting your nightgown as he worked to tug his pants down. “I suppose this is your idea of a fair exchange?”

“I’m about to be blue-balled after watching you hump me like a bitch in heat. It’s definitely a fair exchange.”

“You could always keep going if I fall asleep.” You grabbed his cock between your legs, letting a dribble of your spit land on his tip before slowly jerking him off. He quickly hardened in your hands. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“Tempting,” he chuckled, thrusting up against you when you traced his tip over your hole. “I’ll consider it.”

You slowly sank down over him, sitting fully on his lap while you situated yourself on your knees. Your hands moved out in front of you, landing on his chest as you flexed your hips, forward and back, getting a feel of the motion. When your head tilted down, a soft moaning sigh passed your lips.

“Thank you for helping tonight,” you breathed, fingers curling into his shirt. “And thanks for helping me yesterday night. Thanks for this, too.”

His hands brushed up your thighs, squeezing gently as he went until they were guiding your hips. “What’s with you being so soft with me all of a sudden?”

Your eyes opened, staring down at him with a sleepy, half-awake look. “You don’t like it?”

“Didn’t say that.” On a particular flex of your hips, you caught his cock in the right way, taking him just deep enough that you clenched around him so nicely, drawing an involuntary purr from him. “Just think it’s odd. You’re never this sweet.”

“Not even before?” you asked, bringing your hands to the pillow beneath his head to lean in closer. “Not even when we were married?”

“Not at all. You were a bitch,” he joked, sliding his palms under your nightgown to feel your waist. “You always have been.”

You gave a guilty wince. “Sorry.”

“No reason to be sorry.” He took your nightgown in his hands, pulling it off over your head and tossing it aside, leaving you entirely bare on top of him. “It’s why I married you.”

 You leaned back over him as his eyes snapped to your chest. He didn’t hesitate to take one of your breasts into his hand, the other taken into his mouth. A hiss breezed past your teeth when he sucked on your nipple, swirling his tongue over it until it hardened. 

“So you like when people are mean to you?”

“Mm,” he hummed, offering the bud a parting lick before pulling back to answer, “I like when you’re mean to me. You’re the only one who does it right.”

You’re also the only one who can make it hurt, but Sukuna knew better than to admit that to you. So instead, he took your nipple into his mouth again, teasing it between his teeth until he was rewarded with one of your pretty moans. 

“These are getting so big,” he commented, palming the swell of them with fascination, feeling his cock twitch inside of you just from the sight of them alone. 

Unable to help himself, his arms circled around your back and pulled you down as far as your stomach would allow, which was enough for him to bury his face between them. When he groaned, he felt your giggle vibrate out of your chest, which always served to make him even harder.

“Stop.” You carded your fingers through the back of his hair, tugging on it gently, but not hard enough to actually pull him away. “They’re sensitive.”

“Even better,” he mumbled against you, though the words were probably too muffled for you to understand him. He licked and sucked on the skin between them, paying no mind the the consequences of the hickies he was leaving in his wake–you could deal with them later by bitching at him over the phone.

His hips, on instinct, rutted up into you, desperate to get as deep inside of you as possible. You rocked forward with another one of his thrusts, and then another, until your giggles were lovely whines, and the playfulness of the moment had turned too horny.

Sometimes, he couldn’t help himself. And he really, really couldn’t help himself when your tits were in his face, heavy and full, swaying in time with the bucking of your hips. 

His hands were all over you, sliding down your back, grabbing your ass, the other sinking into the swell of your breasts until you weren’t just rocking against him anymore, you were riding him so fucking well. And below you, he was fucking up into you, timing the motion perfectly to hit any spot that was making you sound so pretty for him.

The heat of the moment wasn’t lost on him–he knew the air was charged with something different, yet familiar at the same time. To anyone who’d see the act that was taking place, they’d think it was a dirty, vulgar, and whorish exchange, i.e, fucking.

But to both of you, it wasn’t just something as simple as that.

Sukuna’s hands were grabbing you, holding you in a much more intimate way, leaving you to do the same. And your cunt wasn’t just fluttering around him out of pleasure; it was desperate to keep him there forever, because he was the one who molded you to fit him. And there was no other pussy that could feel so perfect wrapped around his cock–you were it for him, and he was it for you. 

You both knew that.

And you fucked with that knowledge in mind, knowing that this was the way it was supposed to be.

The secretive, taboo moments like these weren’t supposed to feel so… right. They weren’t supposed to be so natural, yet they were. 

Normally, kissing during those moments was kept to a minimum for that reason alone. It was an unspoken rule between you both, though sometimes it was forgotten for a brief second before you parted again. 

But this time was different.

It was reminiscent of one of the first times you’d come over to his house, asking to fuck while you were feeling sentimental. 

Sukuna had made fun of you for it. 

But look at him now, feeling a little sentimental himself. 

Maybe it was the nightgown, maybe it was because he came home to you on his couch, drinking your stupid fucking tea and watching your stupid fucking show, and having him carry you back to his bed that was fucking with his brain. Who really knows?

All he could really focus on was the familiarity of it. And the familiarity felt so fucking good, and it tasted just the same off your mouth when he kissed you.

“S-Sukuna,” you breathed, feeling the moment for yourself, from what Sukuna could tell, if the look on your face was any indication.

“Fuck, I know,” he groaned, cupping your cheek when you pressed your forehead to his, swollen, kiss-bitten lips brushing yours. The eye contact was telling, and he knew you were only seconds away from saying something that you shouldn’t–something that he wouldn’t be able to brush off on you just being tired.

“I love-”

He forced his mouth against yours to keep you quiet, his eyes screwing shut as he did so, only to keep himself from succumbing to the moment entirely. 

It wasn’t healthy for either of you.

“Don’t say that to me,” he whispered against your mouth, pulling back just enough to speak. “It’s not pretending if we mean it.”

You didn’t like his answer, and he didn’t either, but you both knew it was for the best. So you clenched your jaw, subtly nodding before kissing him again. 

He pushed himself up enough that you could have some leverage by holding onto his shoulders, allowing you to roughly grind against him until you were right there, dancing right at the edge, with him actually tipping over before you. 

He groaned into your mouth, thrust up into you as he started cumming, riding the overstimulation of your grinding until you finished, too. Your nails dug right into his shoulders, mouth falling open to release such pretty sounds that only spurred his orgasm on longer. Your pussy spasmed around him, milking him for all that he had until he was actually whining from the oversensitivity. 

But he didn’t push you off–he would never. He let you ride it out until you went slack against him, but you kept kissing him. They were rough, invasive, tongues pressed against each other’s as the moment caught up to you both. And when you needed to breathe, only then did you part from his mouth. 

You rested your head on his shoulder, probably to hide the tears that he felt soaking into the sleeves of his shirt. He let you get it out, tracing his fingers up and down your spine when he’d hear you sniffle, but not once asking you about it. Doing so would only open the conversation to a topic neither of you needed to talk about.

When the emotions in you settled, he pressed a chaste kiss to your bare shoulder, another to your neck, and another on your jaw. But then you leaned back, giving him a clear image of your tear-soaked lashes and swollen lips, he couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss your mouth, too. 

“M’sorry.”

As much as he wanted to tell you it was fine, he really didn’t want you to grow comfortable with repeating that sort of thing in the future. And maybe he could call it tough love, but it wasn’t. Not really. It wasn’t some sort of lesson to teach you your place, or even some kind of punishment.

It was his own form of damage control.

He kissed you again, this one more chaste and meaningless than the others before patting your thigh. “I still need to get ready for bed.”

You stumbled to move off of him and sniffled, “Right. Sorry-”

“Stop saying sorry, woman. If I wanted your apology, I would have asked for one.” As he rolled off the bed, he pulled his pants off the rest of the way and discarded his tear-soaked shirt. “Come on. You need to piss and address the uh…” he trailed off and motioned toward his chest with his open palm. 

You glanced down in your confusion, staring at your tits, and were met with the many hickies that littered your chest now. Finally– thankfully– Sukuna was graced with your typical glare. “What the fuck? What are you, a fucking vampire?”

“Tomorrow is Halloween, so it’s fitting, isn’t it?” He brushed you off and turned toward the door. “Come on. I don’t want to hear you bitch about having a UTI. I also don’t want cum on my sheets. I just washed them.”

“Oh, you are so annoying,” you grumbled, rolling out of bed to follow after him.

After escaping the tense atmosphere of the bedroom, the time in the bathroom was pleasant. He got in the shower while you did your business, saving yourself from a potential UTI. Afterward, you stripped out of your nightgown, hanging it up on the back of the door, and took a quick shower with Sukuna, which left him pushed against the wall and cold while you took most of the hot water for yourself. 

He didn’t complain, though-

Well, he didn’t complain until you took both towels for yourself–one for your hair and the other for your body, which meant a damp towel for himself, that he begrudgingly took since the rest were in the washer.

He grumbled to himself as he fixed the now heavy, wet towel around his hips. “Fucking… greedy bitch-”

“Selfish prick–hand me the toothpaste. And the spare toothbrush.” With both of you standing in front of the bathroom mirror, you caught him scowling at you in the reflection–though you didn’t know he was doing his best to fight back his smirk after seeing you in your stupid little night gown with a towel wrapped around your hair to dry it. “What?”

 “Nothing.” He pretended to be annoyed when he passed the requested items off to you before grabbing his toothbrush, too, waiting for you to hand him back the toothpaste so he could finish his task. 

“Do you have mouthwash?” 

Upon your question, he groaned and stopped what he was doing, letting the toothbrush hang in his mouth as he took the mouthwash out of the cabinet, handing it off to you. You eyed it with a grimace–he knew you weren’t fond of that particular flavor, but it happened to be Sukuna’s favorite. 

He leaned forward, spitting the foam into the sink before saying, “The only other kind I have is for kids. It’s strawberry flavored.”

You reached over him to open the cabinet and grab the bottle he was talking about. “This is the kind I use at home anyway. Ryo and I share.”

He only hummed as he rinsed off this toothbrush, plopping it back in the holder before leaving you in the bathroom, but making sure to turn off the light just to hear you complain about it, which you did. He watched the bathroom light up from the hallway when you turned it back on, mumbling, “Dick,” under your breath.

Sukuna scrolled around on his phone while he listened to you blow-dry your hair. And when you were finished, you met him back in the bedroom, sliding under the covers to nestle yourself against his side. He clicked off the device and placed it down on the nightstand before turning off the lamp and pulling you closer to him. 

He heard you let out a yawn and say, “Funny how we still remember our old night time routine, huh?”

“Oh, the same night time routine that the entire world follows?”

You scoffed, “I know, but that was like… that’s how we did it, you know?”

Of course, he knew. That’s all he could think about while you two were getting ready for bed. But some part of him was happy that you noticed the same thing, too.