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Megumi was huddled in the middle of the bed, still wearing pajamas, staring blankly at the opposite wall. There was an open jar of caramel on the floor that was partially coated by the sparkling wrappers of the candy.
Gojo took a deep breath, closing the door behind him. Was it a blue day, then?
He was familiar with the procedure code. No loud noises, no difficult questions that the boy would not know how to answer, no demands.
Megumi sometimes just needed a little silence and calm to process whatever was running through his head today.
Gojo approached the bed without making a sound when he lay down beside the boy.
On blue days, Megumi wanted company. Something stable that he could cling to either physically or mentally in the midst of turbulence.
So, Gojo carefully wrapped his arms around the boy's waist and pulled him until he pressed his chest against the sharp shoulder blades. His face resting on the same pillow as the other, feeling the spiky black strands tickle his nose.
Megumi was tense as a bow of rope, ready to fire, but Gojo only squeezed him a little more, burying his nose in the back of his neck. The familiar smell of the same shampoo he used to wash the student's hair when he was still a child.
Sweet and slightly glycerin.
Gradually, the stiffness drained from his muscles, causing the boy to soften against his arms. A wandering hand clutched tightly in his.
Gojo gently kissed the boy's shoulder.
“All right now, Megumi-chan” he murmured softly “You know you only need to call me when you're being like that, don't you?”
Megumi nodded slightly, without speaking.
“This is not a favorite position, anyway” Gojo continued, knowing that the boy would rather curl up on his own terms “Do you want to change now that you're a little calmer?”
Megumi made a small noise that Gojo only interpreted as yes because she had already heard it many times. The older one loosened his grip and Megumi turned in his arms, hiding his face in his collarbone, as he has always done.
Gojo gently stroked his back, feeling the soft fabric of his pajamas against his fingers. There were small scars there, which he could contour even over his clothes. He counted them all, as he always did at times like this.
Megumi fidgeted a little more and Gojo felt a hand colder than it should be legally allowed to get under his shirt and settle down in the middle of his chest.
He gave an amused little laugh.
“You have been doing this since you were a small child, you know?”
A pair of curious blue eyes turned upward, staring at him, confused.
“The hand on my chest” he explained, removing some unruly strands from the other's face “You did this since when I can remember. I just needed to hold you long enough.”
A faint blush rose on his usually pale cheeks, and Gojo felt his lips hint at a subtle smile. Despite her size, Megumi was still little more than a child in many ways. He was still adorable, for example, especially when was embarrassed by something silly.
Megumi rolled her eyes, which did not help much in the role of forced indifference that he was practicing when he had not yet combed his hair and was pink to the tips of his ears.
“Don't be like that, I thought you already knew that” he traced the smooth curve of his jaw with his index finger. He had to make the boy eat more, now that he was finally losing all the baby fat on his cheeks “I find it captivating.”
“Of course you think” Megumi replied softly, returning to the other's sternum, where she didn't need to look him in the eye to speak.
Gojo nodded as if he didn't hear the irony, much more focused on cradling the boy next to him. If they were in the room, the man would have been trying to rock you a little while seated. Something constant and firm that always made little Megumi fall asleep and even today it worked.
The silence prevailed warm and pleasant, nothing more than the rhythmic breathing of both for a long time. Comfortable and safe as a childhood blanket.
“Dad?”
Gojo hummed softly in agreement, wrapping his fingers around the dark strands for a brief caress.
“Yes?”
Megumi took a deep breath, the air tickling his neck, while he seemed more than willing to get under his skin if it depended on him.
“What was I like as a child?”
Gojo considered the question for a while. Decidedly unusual, but it's not like he didn't have tens of thousands of good memories about the time either, it didn't hurt to share them, especially if the boy was in such a delicate mood.
“Small” he replied with a smile emerging from his lips “You were six years old when you arrived and I remember that my first thought was that you were small for your age”
Clearly remembered little boy details tiny thing that ended up at your feet. Round, blue eyes that seemed too attentive to be carried in a body as fragile and delicate, white as a piece of porcelain. It looked like it could break with the touch too strong.
Gojo didn't have to see him to imagine the pout that Megumi was doing at the time.
“You were a quiet and reserved child, very similar to what you are today” he went on, his nails slowly brushing his scalp “It was difficult to get you to start expressing yourself and even after that, you were still a very silent boy. And scared like a rabbit.”
Megumi snorted loudly.
“Scared?! Me?”
“Yes” he laughed softly “I remember you were just holding the hem of my pants and hated talking to strangers. You were easily overwhelmed too”
Megumi huddled in it, her free hand twisting the hem of her shirt just to have something to touch.
“I think I'm still like that so.”
“Probably” he covered her hand with hers, squeezing her fingers “The difference was that when you were seven, I could pick you up and it would be okay. You were a crying little boy, but easy to please.”
“So I don't think I would have gotten along very well with the Zenin, huh?”
“No child did it” Gojo sighed, resting his chin on the soft top of his hair “I'm sure I could have done better, but at least you could cry when you wanted to be hugged or played. Being a silly little boy and doing silly little boy things.”
Megumi frowned.
“I don't remember much, I was little, so I only have blurry memories of when I was six” he murmured softly “But I remember that once it was raining very hard and I was feverish and scared and you took it in my arms and started to sing to me. Do you remember this?”
“If I remember when you almost infarcted me with an emotional fever?” Gojo snorted, rolling his eyes “Was in the middle of a storm, you weren't even sick, but you were burning with fever and kept crying. At this point I don't know if I sang a lullaby or said a spell.”
Megumi laughed softly, it was a pleasant and delicate sound. It made his whole body squirm. It rumbled to the bone.
"I do not remember this.”
“Of course you don't remember, it was me who was in trouble” he muttered affectionately “But even so, you were a great child, Megumi-chan.”
“It's good to know” There was a small smile in his voice, fragile, delicate “Yuuji and Nobara are worried?”
Gojo moved away just far enough to get a better look at the boy. With messy hair going everywhere like a hedgehog, his face scrunched up from sheets and pillow, he looked infinitely younger.
“They should, Megumi-chan?”
Megumi frowned, biting her lower lip in an unfortunate habit that Gojo had never been able to get out.
“They were just wondering why you skipped a meal and a day of training” Carefully cradled the boy's face in one hand and Megumi leaned into the contact, without looking away “But I guaranteed it was nothing too much, right ?”
“It's no big deal.”
“What if it was ...?”
“You would be the first person to know, dad” Now the boy's cheeks burned slightly stained with redI “ I just feel strange sometimes.”
“We all have our moments, little Wolf” he If she leaned over kissing his forehead with affection “And we don't need to go through them alone.”
Megumi smiled slightly.
“Little Wolf? I think it's been a century since you called me that.”
“Maybe” he rested the boy's head on his chest again “Now, would you mind hearing something that could be both a lullaby and a spell?”
Megumi laughed a little louder this time.
“Please, Dad.”