Chapter Text
Gojo wasn't looking at him when he woke up.
Akatsuki had expected this, of course, but it still didn't stop the pain from making its way up to his chest. It was one of the things that he had told himself before he basically led himself to a suicide mission, that he would either face the wrath of the curse, or the wrath of Gojo Satoru if he ever comes back from the dead, which at first he thought was impossible so he went in and fought the curse by himself anyway.
Well, here he is now.
The cold slab of metal that was supposed to hold dead bodies wasn't exactly comfortable, so he can feel his bare thighs sting from being in contact with the "bed". Shoko had wordlessly handed him a hospital gown to cover himself up, and since then, the quiet woman had been the only one that was filling the silent room with her inquiries.
Akatsuki can feel Satoru's tensed form from behind him, he was just sitting by the wall with a stern frown on his face before he turned to direct his attention at the doctor.
"Are you feeling any different somehow? No homicidal thoughts?" Shoko asked him with a straight face.
Akatsuki blinked in confusion at the last bit. "No?"
"Just to be clear, you don't remember anything while you were dead?" Shoko asked him again with an emphasis on her tone.
He nodded, "Indeed, I apologize for not being able to provide anything useful." He replied.
Shoko cringed a little bit. "You sound like a robot, guess that comes with being rebooted."
"It's not that I need information on how you came back for other purposes, but I do need to know so that I can assess if it's going to change you somehow." Shoko gestured at him, "Hence why I asked for any homicidal thoughts." She finished.
"Oh, you were being serious about that." Akatsuki muttered to himself.
Shoko blinked at him a couple before sighing exasperatedly. "Of course I was?" She replied, then directed her gaze to the man behind him. "I guess being with Gojo too much made you think that everything is a joke."
Akatsuki offered her a light smile in courtesy, knowing that Satoru probably isn't in the mood for jokes considering how silent he's been the whole time.
Shoko rolled her eyes at the pale haired man, "Cheer up Gojo, there's no funeral anymore." She walked away from him, going to her desk to grab a clean, new folder.
"I'll go take this to the higher ups, don't kill each other in my office, will you?" Shoko said.
Gojo suddenly stood up from his seat. "Actually, how about we do that for you?" He motioned towards the file in her hands.
"Just don't lose it." Shoko handed him the file without another word, then proceeded to leave her office.
Silence settled in the room as Shoko left, Akatsuki mustered up the courage to stand up from the metal surface and face the tall man.
"Sato-"
"The higher ups requested an audience earlier, probably to discuss that curse earlier, and well, you know, you dying." Satoru told him icily.
"Since you're here up and kicking, there's no harm in giving them a little surprise." Gojo said with a finality to his words. "Go get changed, I have a spare uniform beside Shoko's locker." He told him before turning to leave the room, not allowing Akatsuki to get a word in.
Akatsuki exhaled the breath he's been keeping in when he's been left alone. He grabbed at his face in frustration. He has to understand that Satoru needed his space, he has to respect whatever Satoru ends up saying to him, because at the end of the day, he was the one that carelessly broke his promise to stay.
Satoru's uniform was loose on him, but not so much that it slips off. It was definitely more lose than the clothes that he wore, which clung to the curves of his waist and hips. Nevertheless, Satoru's clothes gave him comfort, if he breathed in deep enough, then he would be able to smell that refreshing and minty scent that Satoru always had.
When he stepped out of the door, Satoru paused a little when he landed his gaze on him. Akatsuki couldn't exactly see the range of emotions that Satoru wears, but he guesses that he must have some type of reaction in seeing him wearing his clothes. He hoped it wasn't ire.
The silence that followed them was anything but comfortable. Akatsuki could tell that Satoru had some words to say to him, he could tell by how he keeps clenching and unclenching his jaw. He desperately hoped that a person would just appear with them, as the silence was beginning to suffocate him.
Gojo began to walk ahead of him as they approached a tall double-door room. He swung the doors open with force, giving them a little bit of a dramatic entrance by the way that the elders inside the room snapped their attention towards the doors that slammed open.
"Two hours late, Gojo, how predictable." One of them snidely stated.
Gojo just strode in with his head held high, turning his body a bit when he followed suit. Three of the elders nearly jumped out of their set when they saw him enter the room, the other two merely gasp.
"A miracle!"
Akatsuki nodded to their exclaims without any much thought put into it. The elders sat back to their seats as they let their initial shock wear off. He silently stood beside Gojo with a couple of feet of distance between them.
Gojo carelessly let the folder in his hands drop to the low table situated in the middle of the room, then he settled back into his usual laid back posture.
"I would say that I cannot believe that this is happening, but what can we expect from Rex Caligo himself? This! This is why we must remain faithful, gentlemen." One of them says, gesturing towards him nonchalantly. Akatsuki restrained himself from rolling his eyes.
"You say such funny words old man, faithful to what, exactly? That he'd be doing all the work now too?" Gojo questioned them with a bite to his tone.
The elder snapped his gaze towards Gojo, all the others too. Akatsuki can sense a sort of doom incoming with the way the elder clenched his fist on the handle of his cane.
"With every passing day, you manage to astound us with your audacity, Gojo Satoru." The elder began to get up from his seat, pointing a frail finger towards Gojo's direction.
"This was all your fault, Gojo! You and your careless nature! You dragged Rex Caligo all the way here because you couldn't resist collecting your pawns! Just like with that cursed kid! Forcing them to fight your wars for you!" The elder paused to take in a deep breath.
Akatsuki felt his hands twitch in displeasure at what the elder was boldly saying, when he took in a deep breath to calm himself down, he felt his chest spike up with violent anger.
"And where did that take them, hm? Sent away overseas to train because he had no control. Then now, the last living Creation had to die! This is all your doin-"
"He did no such thing."
The elder took a sharp pause from his uncontrolled rambling to direct his attention to Akatsuki, who now had a dangerous glint in his furious eyes. Akatsuki, with his ridiculously tall height, loomed over the hunched elder, casting a shadow over him. The elder took a slow step backwards nervously as Akatsuki's intense gaze increased.
"Your baseless accusations over Gojo are both untrue and unfair. If you don't mind, I will speak for myself. Gojo neither dragged me here, nor did he treat me as a pawn. Where did such a thing even come from? I am a being that can make decisions for himself, or did you forget?" Akatsuki said with an eyebrow raised.
"It seems that you forget a lot of things. Both unintentionally or not, I don't care. But let me remind you that it was not Gojo that was tasked to monitor the location of the curse, it was not Gojo who chose to let the curse accumulate for years. Gojo never neglected his duties as a sorcerer." He sternly told them, glancing at the other men in the room.
"It was not Gojo's fault that I died. I chose to for the sake of the students. It was my job as their teacher to protect them. At the end of the day, all is well, so I don't see the need to dishonorably reprimand Gojo for things that are not his doing." He finished conclusively, eyes daring the men to rebut.
Rigid silence filled the room after he spoke, Akatsuki couldn't see what Gojo's reaction was, but he did see that the elders were appalled at his statement, as if they were not expecting him to speak up at all.
"This meeting is dismissed." One of them gravely says, breaking the tense air in the room.
Gojo huffed from behind him, hearing his shoes tap against the floor as he began to leave the room. Akatsuki gave them a polite nod despite the previous one-sided conflict.
Akatsuki hastily left the room to try and catch up with Gojo, who was walking calmly with his hands in his pockets.
"Satoru." Akatsuki called for him, Gojo paused in the hallway but didn't turn to look at him.
He inhaled sharply to calm his nerves. "Satoru, I am sorry. I meant what I said back there, I chose to protect the students because it is my job, it is entirely, and surely my own fault." He said.
"I am sorry because I lied to you. I am sorry because I didn't fight for you, or for myself." Akatsuki paused to look out the window.
"I lied because I made it seem as if I'm someone that is on your level, someone that you don't have to constantly worry over. The truth is-" Akatsuki cleared his throat in order to push down the tightness of tears in his throat.
"The truth is, I lost my will to live. I lived for so long at the cost of my brothers and sister's lives, every single day was torture for me because of my guilt. I thought that being with you will wash it away, but it didn't, I am so happy to be with you, Satoru, truly." He said.
He saw Gojo turn his head towards him a little. "I shouldn't have depended so much of my emotional wellbeing to you. It isn't your job as my partner to clear me of my guilt."
He braved a couple of steps closer towards Gojo. "I swear on my soul that with this second chance, I will spend it with no room for selfishness, I promise that I won't throw away my life anymore." He said, "I have no right to ask for your forgiveness, Satoru, so even if you don't, I will still be here for you."
Gojo stood silently for a couple of seconds before he turned towards him fully. "Wow, what a speech. But did you really expect me to just let this pass? I was so devastated when I heard Akatsuki, I thought that I had to go through the pain of accepting the death of a person so important to me again." Akatsuki felt a stabbing pain grow in his heart at Gojo's words.
Gojo inhaled deeply as if preparing himself for something. "I think that it's best if we break up from now on, Akatsuki."
Oh.
That really hurt.
Akatsuki felt the stabbing pain in his chest become agonizing as he heard the words. He really should have expected for this to happen. He should have known, Satoru was already so broken when he got to know him. What would have happened if he hurt him all over again? He's so stupi-
"Wait, oh my god, are you crying? Wait! Don't cry, I was kidding!" Akatsuki felt warm hands begin to wipe away at his face.
He hadn't even noticed that he was beginning to shed warm tears from his eyes. He sniffled, starting to cry more when he noticed that he was indeed crying.
"Shit, stop crying! Akatsuki I was just trying to get back at you!"
"What's going on here?" A stern voice came from behind Gojo.
When Akatsuki opened his eyes. he saw Maki and the others with her through a blurry vision. Maki had her arms crossed while she was glaring at Gojo.
"Why is Akatsuki-sensei crying? You made him cry didn't you?" Maki pointed a finger at Gojo.
"I was just pranking him!" Gojo defended himself, putting his hands up in the air.
"Still! We all know how much of a menace you are with your pranks." Maki snapped.
"It is quite all right, Maki-san, Gojo jokingly told me that we should break up." Akatsuki gently told her, wiping at the tears on his cheeks.
Maki, Panda and Inumaki all gasped, horrified looks on their faces. Maki charged towards Gojo, beginning to kick him, Panda and Inumaki followed, hand chopping at Gojo's head.
"You really are a bastard! Who the hell pranks their boyfriend by breaking up with them at your age!"
"You did this Akatsuki-sensei out of all people!"
"Who else was I supposed to do that? I only have one boyfriend!"
"Bastard!"
Akatsuki felt a smile creep up his face at the ruckus the four were causing. Even if Gojo was being bullied by his own students, he somehow felt endeared at their banter. Panda broke away from the group, laying a hand on his shoulder gently.
"Akatsuki-sensei, you know I can help you find other candidates for life-long partners. There's this proper sorcerer named Nanami Kento for example." Panda told him with a thumbs up.
"What? No! Stop trying to matchmake my boyfriend with other people!"
"Salmon."
"You're right, Inumaki, I think Akatsuki-sensei will like Nanami-san a lot."
"Stop!"
Akatsuki shook his head at them, chuckling lightly. "I am fine with Satoru, but thanks. That is, if he'll still have me." He pointed his gaze at Gojo.
Gojo tugged himself away from Maki, then dashed towards him, holding his left arm hostage. "Of course I'd have you! I was joking earlier!" Akatsuki sighed in relief, then leaned his head to rest lightly on Gojo's shoulder.
"Thank you, Satoru." He whispered to him with a smile.
Gojo returned his gentle smile with a grin, leaning to quickly peck him on his forehead.
"Ugh, now this is where we leave." Maki grumbled then hesitated. "It's good to have you back, sensei."
Akatsuki smiled at her, "It's good to be back."