Chapter Text
"I'm home!" Satoru calls out, shaking out the rain from his hair as he removes his shoes in the entrance. His brows rise at the darkness and silence that greeted him instead of you. When he walks to the living room, he sees why. With a soft smile, Satoru perched on the edge of the sofa next to your peaceful sleeping form on the sofa and brushed a stray hair behind you ear. His smile dropped as he noticed a slight heat from your forehead, his knuckle lingering on your forehead. That wouldn't do at all.
Satoru’s smile returned as your eyes fluttered open, "Good morning. How are you feeling?"
"What time is it? When did you get back?" You asked, wincing as your voice came out hoarsely, ignoring his question.
"I just came back and it's the year 3000, there's a lot to catch you up to speed on."
You suddenly sat up, head whipping to the kitchen where a pot and unprepared vegetables were left on the table.
"Ah- I didn't mean to sleep for that long! I'll quickly make the soup and heat something up for dinner."
As you raised from your spot, Satoru grabbed your wrist and gently pulled you onto his lap.
"I can heat something up for dinner, don't worry. You need to rest, you're feverish you know? Are you finally realising my charm?"
"It's just my annual summer cold. No big deal."
"Isn't there a saying that only idiots get a cold in summer?"
"I guess I am the company I keep."
Satoru laughed in the back of your neck, "That was a good one."
"Everyone always says the same thing when I tell them, so I got used to it. But seriously," You swivelled around on Satoru's lap to face the sorcerer, cupping one of his cheeks with your hand, "I want to cook now just in case I get worse later, so we have something to eat."
"I can cook." Satoru whined into your palm, though you both knew it was futile for him to try and convince you otherwise.
"I know." You pressed your lips to his other cheek, "Welcome home by the way."
With that you slid off his lap and went to the kitchen leaving Satoru whining, "You missed!"
"You said it yourself, I'm sick!" You chuckled back from the kitchen.
Just as you had predicted; that evening your temperature had rose slowly but steadily, Satoru startled awake to you bolting to the bathroom to throw up what little you had eaten for dinner. Satoru sleepily checked the time. 4:47. He gave you a second to yourself, hearing the flush before going to join you, kneeling next to you to rub your back.
"You okay?"
You nodded sleepily. Satoru carefully lifted you to sit on the toilet lid, passing you a glass of water to rinse your mouth. He rummaged through the cupboards and draws as you brushed your teeth, looking for fever strips and a thermometer. Satoru cupped your cheek, which you leaned into, "Can I take your temperature?"
You obediently let him put the thermometer in your mouth, his thumb stroking your rosy cheek softly as you waited for the reading to be done.
"Sorry for waking you up."
"It's okay. Next time just don't be so loud." He teased quietly.
"Charming." You huffed a laugh as the thermometer beeped.
"Just like the company you keep." He read the number on the small screen while you peeled yourself a fever strip, "38.2 degrees."
"Let's just go to bed." You mumbled after sticking the strip on your forehead.
"Aw, I wanted to do that, woo you with my impressive skill."
"That so?" Your lips perked up tiredly. Satoru lifted you into his arms before you could even try to stand. "Is this you trying to woo me?"
"Is it working?"
"Mhm..." You nodded as Satoru carried you back to your bedroom, already fast asleep before Satoru had laid you down on your shared bed.
After a quick hour nap, Satoru quietly got up, thankful he woke up before his alarm went off in case it woke you up too. Slipping a hand on your forehead, he felt heat radiating from under the fever strip on your head, which probably wasn't doing anything anymore. He slipped out the bedsheets and started to get ready for work, changing into his usual black outfit, styling his hair and slipping his blindfold on. Before returning to your room, he grabbed the fever strips and thermometer, and wet a towel with cold water. Kneeling besides you, he peeled off the old fever strip and wiped the sweat from your face and neck. Your eyes cracked open, dazed and still half-asleep.
"Hey," He whispered, "Can I take your temperature again before you go back to sleep?"
Just like earlier, you let him stick the thermometer in your mouth. Neither of you said a word, Satoru just enjoying watching the sleep swirl in your eyes. The thermometer beeped, reading 38.2 degrees, again. A hand barely held Satoru's fingers as he stood up.
"Where are you going?" You mumbled, rubbing your eyes with your other hand.
"Just to wet a towel for your forehead. You officially have a fever."
"Yay..."
When Satoru returned to lay the towel on your forehead, you had rolled onto your back with your arms and legs spread out, deep in thought.
"How are you feeling?"
"Hot."
"I know you are." You groaned at Satoru's incessant flirting, though the edges of your lips still quirked up. "I can stay if you want to?"
"It's fine, I'm a grown up now. It's not the worst I've ever felt."
"I'm worried you know?"
You chuckled breathlessly at your boyfriend's pout, gently pushing up his blindfold to reveal his sky-blue eyes, "I promise I'll be fine. What example are you setting for your students by showing up late all the time?"
"I'm with the second years today, I'm sure they'll understand."
You pinched his cheek, "They're still kids that need their epic teacher to learn to be better than the past generations. Thankfully we live in an age with mobile phones, unlike past generations."
Satoru held your hand on his cheek, mumbling into it, "Text me every hour."
"That's if I'm awake." You snorted.
"Then, I'll text you every hour, and try to respond to as many as possible?"
"Deal."
"And text me if you start feeling bad or need anything. Anything at all."
"Roger that," You yawned. "You need to go now before you are any later than you are already."
Satoru whined into your palm, "I don't want to~"
"Take care on your way to work. And at work too."
"Don't forget to eat and stay hydrated." Satoru caged you in his arms for a moment, rubbing noses with you.
"Yes Mother." You lifted yourself up a little to press a kiss to his cheek, flopping back on the bed breathlessly, eyes a centimetre from closing. "Be safe."
"I will. You too." Satoru mimicked your action, kissing your cheek, lingering just long enough to see your eyes shut and breaths even out.
"You're extra late today." Maki shot the moment Satoru waltzed in.
"What do you mean? You're all just early. I thought you guys might appreciate a lie in!"
In truth, Satoru had passed a convenience store and bought you your favourite flavour of jelly, an energy drink, painkillers and fever reducers, then proceeded to arrange it all on a tray along with a bowl of ice, a bowl of soup and a cup with a straw in for you to pour the energy drink in. He very nearly didn't go to work altogether when he saw how peacefully you were sleeping, but Satoru supposed if he did his work well then he could rush home back to you quickly.
"Ahh, the truth is Y/N had a fever when I left this morning. I promised to send them a text every hour." Satoru sighed.
"Bonito flakes?"
"They just said it went up a little. But they said they're fine. What am I supposed to do?"
"Didn't this happen last year too?" Maki raised a brow as their teacher furrowed his.
"Salmon, salmon!"
"Did it?"
"They had a fever and you kept calling them every hour and would apologise for waking them, but would then continue to call them every hour afterwards." Panda recalled, Maki nodding in agreement.
Wow, a year had gone by so quickly, Satoru thought. Life as a sorcerer was busy enough- add the weight of his family name, and busy becomes the biggest understatement of his life. Yet through everything, you remained a steady presence by his side.
"They were fine in the end," Maki added, snapping her teacher out his thoughts.
"Well, they did say it was a recurring summer cold." They'll be fine right? They were last time, even if Satoru barely remembered it.
Satoru beelined straight to the bedroom when he was met with silence and you weren't on the sofa. Wrapped up tightly in the bedsheets and the blanket from the living room, Satoru knelt next to you, frown growing as he noted how tightly your brows were drawn together, face somehow even paler than it was when he left you this morning, your pants filling the silence.
"Sorry I'm late..." He murmured, taking note that the energy drink and soup bowl were empty, and you had managed half a jelly. "Y/N, baby, can you open your eyes for me?" Despite his soft tone, Satoru's heart hammered in his chest as he gently shook your shoulders, waiting for you to respond. "Y/N," He tried again more firmly, and you finally reacted with a moan, though your eyes stayed firmly shut. Satoru coaxed the thermometer in your mouth, "I'm sorry, I need to take your temperature, you look like you're in pain. Do you want anything to eat? I can reheat the soup?"
You hummed with a disapproving tone.
"Okay no soup."
"Nothing..." You huffed, Satoru holding the thermometer in place as you continued weakly, "Stays..."
That can't be good.
The thermometer beeped. Satoru inhaled sharply. 40.4 degrees. Definitely not good.
"Y/N, honey, your temperature is too high, we need to go to a hospital." Satoru brushed the hair that had matted onto your forehead back, watching as your eyes slowly peeled open, smiling tightly, "Good morning sleepy head. Let's get you up and ready to go, okay?"
You only blinked slowly, but Satoru had no time to waste. He carefully shed the layers of your cocoon off, resulting in a small whine from you, for which he apologised. To his surprise, in the centre of the blankets you were wearing one of his t-shirts, a smile gracing Satoru's lips at the sight. While he was fine with you dressed like this at home, you needed to wear more than your underwear on your bottom half in the hospital. Before you could curl back up into the mountain of blankets, Satoru had fished out some of his shorts and easily slipped them on you. He sat you up against the headboard while he collected your medical card and packed a bag of essentials for both of you, just in case. Satoru hoped he wouldn't have to live from the bag for more than a day.
"Right, we're all packed-"
Satoru turned to find you with fat tears rolling down your flushed cheeks, "'Toru? What's wrong with me?"
Satoru was a step away from sprinting to your side, pulling you into a tight hug, "Nothing baby! You're really sick and the doctors are going to fix you up so you feel better. Don't worry, you're okay!"
"Okay... Sorry..." You sniffled, Satoru pulling away to cup your cheeks with his cold hands and kissing your cheeks where the tears had left their tracks.
"Don't apologise. I'm the one who's sorry for coming home so late."
"It's okay."
"It's not."
"It is."
"Is not."
Despite the tears still rolling down your face, you aimed to kiss Satoru’s forehead but ended up on the bridge on his nose, "Welcome home."
"...Glad to be back." Satoru smiled sadly before grabbing your favourite hoodie of his from the draws and helping you into it. He knows he should probably try to keep you cool, but you were shivering, and he knew you loved the smell of his hoodie. It was the least he could provide you for comfort.
A taxi drive later —because you usually got sick when he used his jujutsu for transportation— you arrived at the hospital. The place reeked of cursed energy from overworked and underpaid staff, impatient patients and their families and patients suffering. Satoru held you a little tighter. Waiting rooms were the kind of spaces where time inordinately slowed; and after what felt like an eternity, you were finally called in and given a bed until you had burned through all the medicine in the IV drip and your temperature had lowered. Satoru had ended up on the bed with you, partly because you refused to let him go even when the nurses were hooking you up to the IV drip, and partly because he wanted to hold you in his arms. You were okay.
God he was exhausted, his chest aching. While waiting, you had woken up a few times. Only a few moments- but for those few moments you were conscious you had cried, understandably in pain and confused, and all Satoru could do was hold and cradle you in his arms. He’d never felt so useless in his life. Exorcising every curse in existence wouldn’t relieve you from any pain. But there was no amount of curses he wouldn’t exorcise to relieve you of any amount of pain.
"'Toru..." Satoru woke up to a tugging on his sleeve.
"You're awake," Satoru was surprised to see you awake and talking, eyes clouded by fever, but open. "You look tired and you still have a high temperature, go back to sleep." Satoru rolled even closer to you, now sharing a pillow with you and draping an arm over you. He shut his eyes, hoping you would do the same. Unfortunately you did not.
"Hey Satoru..." You whispered.
"...What is it?"
"Is it possible to develop the ability see curses?"
Satoru opened his eyes, sleepiness shaken from him at once. "Why?"
"There's something on the ceiling. It looks ugly."
Satoru looked up at the ceiling to find just plain white tiles, breathing a quiet sigh of relief. Besides, he would've sensed if there were any notable curses nearby. You were probably hallucinating.
"No curses here."
"What do curses look like?"
"Hmm... They vary, like people. Some are big, some are small, some look like humans and some look like a kid made it from play dough."
"Are you sure it's not a curse?" You gripped onto Satoru's jacket a little tighter.
"I promise. What does the thing look like?"
"It's green and mouldy. It's about as big as a chicken."
"A chicken?"
"It has a face like a dolphin and small feet like a baby."
"That is ugly."
"It has yellow eyes like a cat and it's staring at us... When will it go away?"
"Close your eyes and I'll protect you. I'm not called the strongest sorcerer for nothing." Satoru found it adorable when you did as told, rolling further into him. "Careful there, I might accidentally crush you with my weight."
"You have infinity don't you?"
"I do. But you can't be comfortable like that."
"I'm always comfortable with you." You mumbled into his chest. Satoru wondered if you could hear how your words made his heart pound. You looked up at your boyfriend with big, fever-bright eyes, "Hey Satoru?"
"Yes?"
"With your infinity, is it like a barrier and things go around it without touching you, or is it like... a wall! And you move if something pushes against it hard enough?"
That was not what Satoru expected. You hardly ever asked about the world of jujutsu, let alone his jujutsu- not that he minded. You reminded him why he was doing what he does, why he works so hard, giving him hope for the future. You never failed to provide Satoru a change of pace, and this moment was no exception.
"Hmm... It can stop things in their track without pushing me back. I can manipulate the space between me and anything, by dividing the space between it and me into infinite bits." Satoru watched with amusement as you averted your eyes in deep thought, watching the cogs turn in your fevered brain to comprehend what he just said.
"So the space gets smaller, but never reaches zero?"
"Correct! JUPPON Ten points to Y/N!" Satoru pressed a kiss to the crown of your head, resulting in the sweetest giggle he's ever heard.
"So does it just absorb the kinetic energy of whatever is coming your way?"
"You're awfully curious tonight." Satoru murmured into your hair, "It's still technically moving, but in such small fractions it basically stops."
"Does it work on non-sorcerers too?" There was no way Satoru could say no to the sparkly eyes you gave him. He smiled as he held out his hand.
"Give me your hand."
From within the smush of your bodies, you wriggled out your arm and went to hold hands with him, only for your hand to stop centimetres away. Your eyes widened and mouth dropped in awe, and Satoru's heart swelled. He had seen this kind of reaction many times, especially from Yuuji, but he never could've imagined the day he would see it from you. He quickly snapped a photo, snapping you out of your frozen astonishment. "Don't you want to hold my hand? I'm hurt."
You tried your best to move your hand closer, going so far as to push with your other hand. It was cute watching you try so hard.
"Don't worry Satoru!" You strained, "I will go through all the fractions and all the infinities to reach you!"
Satoru's breath caught. You were probably delirious at this point, but that didn't stop his heart from moving at your words. Satoru held both your hands and intertwined his fingers with yours and rested his forehead on yours.
"Look Satoru! I did it-"
"I love you Y/N." He rubbed his nose with yours in a butterfly kiss. "I love you."
Your lips raised into a bashful but adorable smile, "I love you too Satoru. Infinitely."
"Infinitely?"
"Limitlessly."
"Maybe infinitely will be our always."
"Hey where is that line that from?" You pouted, Satoru chuckling.
"Ah, I got caught."
"You..." You untangled your fingers from Satoru's and weaved them in his hair. "My boyfriend is so cool. Maybe even the coolest, after Rock Lee."
"After Rock Lee? But I'm basically Kakashi!"
"You're better than Kakashi."
"But not as cool as Rock Lee?" Satoru whined, your innocent smile unwavering. "I could beat Gaara and Rock Lee easily."
"But you're just not Rock Lee."
"Then why don't you go and date Rock Lee instead?"
"Because Satoru is my favourite." You giggled, Satoru having to bite his lips to stop himself from smiling. Your smile only grew at his rebellious silence, hands carding through his soft white locks. "Satoru is so cool, working so hard to reach his dreams. Satoru is super sexy, but he already knows that. Satoru is also dreadfully annoying-"
"Hey, what happened to super sexy?"
"I love Rock Lee, and he will always be the coolest," You continued, "But —don't tell anyone, especially not Satoru— I have the biggest crush on Gojo Satoru!"
Said male couldn't hold back anymore and wrapped you up in his arms tightly. Here he was, getting spoiled by you, when you were the sick one. You yawned loudly.
"Feel dizzy and tired." You mumbled, your energy levels dropping after all the excitement.
"Go to sleep. I’ll protect you. I'll be right here.”