Work Text:
Contemporary means throwing an expired restaurant coupon and gaining a new one from a recent purchase of packed teppanyaki. Retrospective means looking through framed pictures of youth and school yearbooks, printed in black and white, washed out of color. Nanami has a method looking at life in strips of films — some remain unprocessed, some last long (memories). Consistency is watching himself do the same routine everyday. Discipline is telling Gojo to sleep early and stop binge-watching superhero films.
On a Friday morning, Nanami ties his necktie on his own. He pulls his blazer down and pats his pants straight and smooth, grabbing his briefcase and keys before heading out. Gojo was tasked to fix the sprinkler today, but Nanami ends up finding him playing with sprayed droplets of water, his thin shirt clinging onto his skin. “Conserve water, Satoru.” And then there is: “Yeah, yeah, I know. Good luck at work!” And a disgustingly sappy flying kiss.
Brutalism is the office building he’s entering right now. There are people he doesn’t know and knows too much, they greet him respectfully. Art of courtesy. Satire is Gojo sending them random memes from the Internet and the short videos he sends out of spite, boredom and affection. It depends upon the situation. Today he sent a picture of him doing a swag face. Real swag is him giving Nanami a really good pickup line (Guinness World Records’ The Only Time Gojo Had A Great Pickup Line) that makes the latter sport a small smile but not a long one.
There are many, many videos of Gojo on Nanami's phone — the very reason why he keeps buying 256GB storage types of phones. He is fond of Neorealism, something Getou passed to him as a gift for his birthday. He plans to cinematically compile all of Gojo’s videos by the end of the year and make it as his New Year’s gift for him.
During his break, he opens his camera roll and scrolls up to find the first few footages he saved. The date and time it was filmed is at the top portion of the screen, and down are frames and sneak peeks of other videos.
I.
Gojo puts his phone on the cabinet against the folds of towels. Another swag face before he starts operating the washing machine. A printed list of directions is taped on the tiled wall for him, to which he glances at every after he takes another step. He’s humming to the tune of a song that was once played on the record player during their wedding anniversary. Gojo doesn’t tell anyone that he listens and loves the song.
Neorealism is watching Gojo move around, separating the white and colored shirts, stumbling over an empty basket. The phone slips from the cabinet, which is the reason why Gojo moves it to another place, a completely different angle. From the previous one, it only showed Gojo’s back. In this one, it shows his front, the print on his shirt (washed out Astro Boy) and the redness of the tip of his nose.
The phone falls again. This time, you can hear a crack.
II.
The phone in this timelapse clip is perched on top of stacked books, showing Gojo sitting on his swivel chair with his leg folded and feet on the edge of the seat. His laptop has a Gundam episode playing, at least five work tabs on top of the browser frame. Throughout the speed of this short clip that was captured for half a day, a significant amount of position shifting happened.
A span of ten episodes fitted itself in the clip, and Gojo fell asleep throughout half of it. It takes more of the duration to be completely silent and still (as if frozen) before Gojo wakes up and stops recording.
III.
It takes a little while before you can understand that Gojo is running from a dog in this video. The inconsistency and instability will make you dizzy. A boy named Fushiguro Megumi attempts to catch up on the speed of his dog’s sprinting, while the other dog (unleashed) tails behind.
“Fuck!” Comes out like a shriek. “Dog got fangs!” Comes out twice.
The video frames calm down when Gojo only shows under his jaw, panting, begging the boy to keep his dog with wicked fangs away. A large portion of this one is just Gojo walking and talking about nonsensical things. It ends with, “Oh shit, the dog is back!” before the video abruptly ends.
IV.
This one begins with:
“I’m sorry, okay? I was irresponsible for leaving the tap open and caused a mini flash flood in the bathroom.”
…
“May I know where my Nintendo Switch is now?”
“Love is a mirror,” Gojo tells him, legs folded as he sits on the middle of the bed. Nanami is laid on the bed, stretched legs beside Gojo. “Not a simile. Sounds better like a metaphor. You have a reflection on the mirror, right? When you give love, you earn the same kind of love, except it’s different. Like how your right hand is reflected as left and your left foot becomes your right. Same difference. A heart that earns love is a mirrored heart.”
Impressionism is Nanami’s face becoming softer and calmer, especially when his gaze lands on an overly confident Gojo. “Where did you even get that?”
“Facebook.” Of course. “How did you realize it wasn’t my original idea?”
“You are intelligent but your mind would register it as extremely sappy. Therefore, you will cringe first and forget it next. Except when you find it online, you’ll think it’s better and to keep your pride, you used Facebook because I don’t have one.”
A dramatic gasp. Gojo tackles him, attempting to find a tickle spot, to which Nanami has none. The latter holds his wrists with a face breaking from nonchalance. “Ugh, stop beating me at perception, Nanami! I’ve never been so exposed—”
“It’s easier for me to perceive you because you’re you, and it is I who can only see you as bare as this.”
Gojo is wearing a hoodie and warm pants.
BONUS CLIP
Hair-cutting is a good bonding for lovers.
Gojo is a good haircutter. In the kitchen, Nanami is sitting on a low stool with Gojo on a higher chair. He cuts his hair, desired hairstyle is met, and Nanami looks at his reflection on the round, little mirror in awe. He loves the look, the person who gave it, and the subtle rays of the sun seeping through the transparent pane of their screen door. It's hot, truly, but Nanami feels warm. That's all there is to it.