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Gojo had never put much thought into what it would be like to be a father. At least he hadn’t, until he was eighteen years old and two children were thrust upon him. Two children that he now had to care for and make sure they…you know…stayed alive. There were three people Gojo had to make time for. Megumi, Tsumiki, and himself. As it turned out, the kids were pretty self-sufficient on their own. Tsumiki could cook simple meals and Megumi would…exist. He would do his best to help clean up, but he never had the chance to try cooking. And Gojo…well, Gojo would order take-out 9 times out of 10.
Gojo must admit, having the six eyes technique was incredibly useful when looking after two children, especially now when Megumi was putting forth a very valiant effort to cook some meat and oh mY GOD MEGUMI DON’T TOUCH THAT!
Gojo picked up the eight-year-old by his armpits and moved him across the kitchen, squashing the kids efforts to flip over a piece of searing meat with his bare hands.
Gojo looked down at the boy, who was looking back up at him with bored blue eyes. Gojo rubbed his hand over his face and groaned.
“We really need Tsumiki, don’t we? This is a disaster. Next time she asks to stay at a friend's house overnight, let's beg her not to, ok?” Gojo said, not really having any intention of doing that. Tsumiki needed some social time every now and then. Besides, Gojo didn’t mind having Megumi all to himself.
“She’s a better cook than you and you’re eight years older than her.” Megumi said. Gojo shrugged, eyes gleaming.
“Should we order in then?” Gojo asks, knowing what the reply would be.
“Tsumiki said I should eat healthier…” Megumi said hesitantly. Gojo almost cooed at how the younger boy was fumbling with his fingers, clearly having an inner debate with himself.
“McDonalds…?” Gojo said in a sing-song voice. Before Megumi could give his answer, Gojo’s phone rang.
“Who could that be?” Gojo muttered under his breath as he grabbed his phone. He felt beady little eyes watching him as he answered.
“Hello?”
“ Gojo, you son of a bitch.”
Gojo turned down the volume on his phone and stepped away from Megumi, who frowned.
“Heyyy, it’s Yua, right? Good to…uh…hear from you…?” Gojo said into the phone, keeping his ever merry tone in tact.
“It’s Hitoka to you, asshole. What happened to coming over tonight?”
Gojo’s eyes widened. He had completely forgotten. He had also completely forgotten that he had promised this girl a second date. There were never second dates in his books. Gojo bit his nails before speaking.
“Yeah, that’s right, I totally forgot. I would really like to be there, but something came up, so I can’t.” Gojo said, aware that he was being incredibly vague. He looked up to see what Megumi was doing, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“You FORGOT? See if I ever speak to you again, dickhead.”
With that, the call hung up and Gojo put his phone away, completely unscathed. He then did another quick scan of the room to find Megumi.
“Oi, Megumi-channn, where’d you go?” Gojo called, walking through the apartment. It wasn’t a large place, so there weren’t many options. He finally got to the boys bedroom, and noticed that the door was closed, which normally meant ‘stay out.’ But Gojo was nothing but a persistent bastard so he knocked lightly on the wood.
“Hey, it’s me. Can I come in?” Gojo asked.
When there was no reply, Gojo turned the knob and swung the door open. Normally he would let Megumi have his privacy, but since there was no reply, in he went. Once Gojo’s eyes focused, he saw the eight-year-old curled up in the corner of his bed, frowning.
“Hey, buddy…what’s wrong?” Gojo asked, lightly sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Go away.” Megumi said angrily, batting a pillow at him. Gojo huffed fondly when the pillow hit him in the side of the face.
“Kiddo, if you don’t tell me what’s wrong, I can’t fix whatever happened.” Gojo said, pulling the covers away from the boy,
“Why would you want to fix it? You don’t care.” Megumi muttered.
Gojo frowned in confusion. “What on earth are you talking about?”
Megumi sat up, clenching his fists. “I mean that you don’t want to be here right now. I’m an inconvenience to you. You’d rather be with girls every night.”
Gojo sighed. The kid had definitely taken that phone call the wrong way. If there was anyone that Gojo didn’t care about, it was that girl Yui…or Yue was it? He couldn’t even remember her name.
“Megumi…” He began, reaching forward to poke Megumi’s cheek. (It was a habit of his)
“I said, leave me alone.” Megumi growled, hitting away Gojo’s arm and turning away from him.
Knowing he would never be able to have a proper conversation with Megumi still fired up like this, Gojo abided by his wishes, and left the room. When the kid got stubborn, there was almost no chance of reasoning with him.
“I’ll try again in a few hours,” Gojo said to himself, pulling out his phone. First, he ordered McDonalds, then he set an alarm for one hour later. He wanted as little time as possible for Megumi to be thinking he didn’t care about him. Now all that was left was to wait.
____
Gojo’s eyes shot open when his alarm began buzzing. He sat up on the couch and rubbed his eyes.
“Geez, I didn't think I was that tired.” He said. He checked his phone and saw the notification that said his order had been dropped off outside the door.
With a loud yawn, Gojo pulled open the door and grabbed the fast food bag, cringing at the fact that it had likely been sitting there for thirty minutes or more.
“Hopefully Megumi likes cold chicken nuggets,” Gojo said, carrying the happy meal to the kids room as a peace offering.
When he rapped on the door a few times, he immediately noticed that the wood felt cool. Without waiting for a reply, Gojo opened the door and was hit by a blast of cold air. Firstly, his eyes found the source of the temperature; a window that was wide open. He then checked Megumi’s bed and found it alarmingly empty. Panic rushed through Gojo’s body so fiercely that he dropped the happy meal as he sprinted into the room, throwing the covers off of the bed just to make sure.
“Megumi?!” He called out, just in case the kid had a secret hiding spot.
There was no answer, so Gojo’s brain began working overtime to try and figure out what happened. There didn’t look to be any sign of a struggle and the window was clearly opened from the inside. Besides, Megumi could be a fierce fighter if he wanted to be, and would at least call for help if he was being taken.
Did I upset him so badly that he left?
Gojo then felt guilt begin to crawl up through his stomach to his throat. That and panic were his least favorite emotions to deal with.
It’s 1 in the fucking morning, there’s countless things that could harm an eight year old. What was he thinking?! He could get run over by a car, kidnapped by a human or by a curse. Hell, he could’ve fallen and hurt himself. He could freeze to death in this weather!
Gojo threw open Megumi’s closet and felt a tiny shred of panic chip away when he noticed that the kids winter coat was gone.
At least he had enough brains to dress warm.
Without wasting time on another thought, Gojo sprinted through the apartment to grab his own coat and pull on his shoes. As he hurried out into the frigid night air, the only thing he could think was,
If anything happens to him, I’ll never forgive myself.
___
Gojo’s first thought was that perhaps Megumi had gone to try and find Tsumiki at her friend's house. It was a good start, so Gojo started sprinting in that direction. He could always warp there, but he didn’t want the chance of missing Megumi in an alleyway or something. He shivered at the thought.
“I swear, when I find the little shit I’m gonna lock him in the apartment and force him to watch American reality shows with me.”
Gojo stuck his hands in his pockets when he realized that they were trembling, even though he somehow knew it wasn’t from the cold. Every now and then, he would call out “Megumi!” As loud as he could, not giving two shits if he got weird looks from the homeless people out on the street.
A clanging sound drew Gojo’s attention to an alleyway. He saw a tall, burly man bending down to pick up a syringe that had fallen. They made eye contact and the man gave Gojo an evil toothy grin.
Gojo was incredibly close to losing his mind at the thought of Megumi walking down this street and passing the same people and alleyways as he was. He continued down the road, searching in all the lingering shadows for the boy. Then, one time when he called out, he got an answer.
“S se le ct p aym ent t y pee e!”
Gojo whipped his head to the right to assess the curse that was hovering in the middle of the road. Its limbs, if you could call them that, were bent in all different directions and its skull was crushed in. The abomination had most likely come into play from someone who had been hit by a car.
The curse didn’t necessarily seem malevolent at first glance, but Gojo didn’t want to take any chances. He threw his arm out to the side and let a beam of energy shoot out, evaporating the curse, who wailed as it disintegrated.
Gojo focused his attention back on the sidewalk and was about to call for Megumi again, when he saw the small form of someone stepping into the light of a lamppost. The figure had spiky hair and seemed to be carrying a bag.
Relief flooded through Gojo, almost extinguishing the fear, but not completely.
“Megumi!!!” He called and began sprinting towards the boy. As he drew closer, Megumi’s features came into focus and he looked unharmed, if a little startled. The boy dropped the bag he was holding when Gojo scooped him up into his arms, hugging him tight. Gojo tried his best to slow down his rapidly beating heart, but he couldn’t cause he was still so scared.
Scared.
Scared? Gojo Satoru, the most powerful sorcerer in the world, was scared? I suppose anything is possible.
Gojo pressed his face into Megumi’s neck for a moment before drawing him back and examining him.
“Megumi, are you hurt? You had better tell me the truth,” Gojo insisted, staring directly into Megumi’s eyes,
“I’m not, I swear.” Megumi said, wiping his eyes.
“What the hell are you doing out here by yourself?” Asked Gojo. “I’m sorry about what I said on the phone about wishing I could’ve been there with the girl, ok? It wasn’t true at all, I promise. I love the time I get to have with you and Tsumiki, alright? I understand that you are mad at me, and you have every right to be mad, but that doesn’t mean you leave the apartment in the middle of the night by yourself.” Gojo rubbed Megumi’s soft cheek with his thumb and sighed.
“I just had to get something,” Megumi said, pointing down to the bag on the sidewalk.
“What, so you went to go shop away your feelings?” Gojo asked incredulously. “It really couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” He bent down and picked up the bag and immediately began walking the two of them back to the apartment.
“Satoru…I’m sorry,” Megumi murmured, the sentence broken by an adorable yawn.
He must be really sorry if he’s calling me Satoru.
“Let’s talk when we get back,” Gojo said, taking a moment to wipe away the tears that the yawn had produced.
Megumi nodded and rested his head on Gojo’s shoulder, no doubt falling asleep.
This kid is gonna be the death of me.
—-
Later, the two were back in the apartment with cups of hot cocoa in their hands and a big blanket over their laps. Gojo had followed through and started up some American show that neither of them could really understand.
“So why, pray tell, did you decide to go on a shopping spree at 1am?” Gojo asked.
Megumi set the mug on the coffee table. He had only taken a few sips of the too sweet drink to appease Gojo. He had never liked sweet things very much. The eight-year-old hopped up and grabbed the bag that had been left in the hallway. Gojo hadn’t seen what was inside yet.
Megumi held out the bag for Gojo to take. “Uh…I wanted to get this to say sorry. I know that you care about me and Tsumiki and I shouldn’t have been so mean.”
Gojo’s eyes widened as he slowly took the bag. He reached inside and took out a little box of zunda and cream kikufuku. Gojo patted the seat beside him for Megumi to sit down again.
“Megumi…thank you for the gift, but it really wasn’t necessary. We could’ve gone shopping together tomorrow when it was safe. You don’t have to feel bad about your reaction to me on the phone either, ok? It…it wasn’t a good feeling when I saw that you weren’t in your bed.” Gojo said.
Megumi turned to look at Gojo and raised his eyebrows. “So…you were scared? The great Gojo Satoru was scared?”
Gojo rolled his eyes and huffed a laugh, poking Megumi’s cheek. “Yeah, you got me. Hey! This is between me and you though, ok? No telling Tsumiki that I was…a little frightened.” Gojo said, flicking Megumi’s cheek this time. The kid nodded in agreement.
“What do you say we go shopping tomorrow, ok? Maybe we can try again and make a good dinner for Tsumiki when she comes back.”
Megumi gave a tiny smile. “Sure.”