Chapter Text
"You know," Satoru leaned back on the youngest Zen'in's bed, "your dad will never pull that stick out of his ass." Swirling a lollipop around his mouth, he heard a disgruntled sound from the raven hair male.
"Yea, no need to tell me, Gojo," he snapped. Stuck at semi grade 1 while Satoru Gojo has reached grade 1. Only in a few years, he'll hit special grade and leave him behind. What an envious feeling he possessed, but he didn't show it and pretended to be 'happy' for the clan head.
Satoru gets everything: a decent family that has no rumors of incest ties, becoming clan head, acknowledged as the strongest, special grade. And what does Naoya get? A drunkard of a father, no mother, feeling like a letdown for not possessing the Ten Shadows technique, a heavily dysfunctional family that plays off as the sitcom happy family in front of other Clans. It twisted his stomach, hearing that 'pop!' of the tongue from Satoru.
"Do you ever shut up?!" He snapped, hands gripping the fabric of his hakamas. He sat against the bed while Satoru hogged the entire mattress. And then there is that: entitlement to everything.
"... what crawled up YOUR ass and died?" Satoru grumbled, pulling the lollipop from his lips, now coated blue with his tongue. "Cmon Nao-kun, you sound so moody and for what, lately? Is it the clan life stressing you out?"
Naoya glared at him before sighing. "... nothing, 'toru." Then there is one thing that rested on his heart strings: Satoru's new friend, Suguru Geto. He was charming, sweet, and from the country. And that technique of his... Naoya felt even more alone than before.
I'm sure father would love that for a son, he thought. The cursed manipulation technique was the rarest and unheard of in all the Big Three. It impressed Naoya and the rest of the Zen'in to hear that a boy from a non sorcerer family could possess such. And Naoya despised it. Everyone around him was succeeding more than he was, a pure blood of the Zen'in, the son of Naobito and his youngest. When will it be his turn?
"Uh, earth to Naoya," Satoru was waving a hand in his face, making him grasp his wrist tightly. "You need to talk to me. Cmon, we used to talk about the family drama, our problems, what's going on?"
"Again, nothing. Anyway, why are you here? You just rudely walked in when I was training and plopped on my bed!" He scowled, brows furrowed while glaring at him.
Satoru waved his hand. "Yea yea, I always did this. And besides, missions take a whooping out of me. Plus, better to be here than the Gojo Clan or the school right now. I peeved off my teacher and now she's hunting my ass like a wolf." He grinned. "Ah well, she's a old crank anyway."
Hearing him speak like that brought a smile to his face, making him feel more at ease. "... I bet she's a clown, huh?"
"Big time!" He beamed. Naoya felt the weight on his heart lighten. The warm feeling he had when Satoru spoke was rushing back over him like waves on a sandy shore. "She drones on and on and oooooon! Shoko is about to start smoking her frustrations away and Suguru started doodling."
Then waves crashed into rocks. He felt the mood creep back up on him and a angry noise leaves his throat.
That caught the Gojo's attention, making him look surprised. "Whoa, Naoya you alright? Do you wish to go to Jujutsu High?"
"What I wish is for you to shut up! Shut up about your great life!" Naoya let it loose, glaring daggers at him. "You don't have to rub it in my face every second you get, Satoru! It sucks, I hate this place, I hate you! I hate your condescending ass and I hate how much of a dick you became! You're nothing like the old Satoru I knew!"
Satoru was struck silent, staring at the enthralled Zen'in. With no words, he moved off the bed and away from Naoya, keeping his distance.
"... I'm sorry-"
"Are you?! Are you truly ever sorry, 'Toru?! You speak so lavishly about your life, why do you see me?! To rub it in my face every second you get?" Naoya was shaking, keeping his face down as cheeks were beat red and tears threatening his eyes. "You want to make me miserable even more?!"
"No I don't-"
"Then why do you do this, all of this?! Speak of the whore and that dumb elephant?! Huh?!" Naoya have lost his cool and his patience with the Gojo, ready to swing at him. "Are they just better than me?!"
"That isn't it-"
"Then what is it?!"
Satoru stood silent for a moment, waiting for Naoya to stop talking before he spoke. "We will be your upper classmen, your senpai's. It's best you know their names now and not mock them when you enroll next year, Nao-kun." He sounded calm compared to the enraged male. "I am not trying to rub anything in, dumbass, I'm only trying to give aid to you."
His blue eyes watched Naoya stay standing, glaring at him with sharp brown eyes.
"Whatever. I don't need your aid."
"Maybe someday you will need it and you can't stop it." Satoru uttered. "You are only seventeen, a hot headed teenager who doesn't know any better and follow what the ancients tell and say. You don't have your own path nor do you have anything under your belt in experience. Yes you're a Zen'in, but you're also a human who can fail and will cry for help."
"Shut the fuck up!"
"You're growing aggressive again, because I am correct. And you know I'm right." He set his hands in his pockets, side stepping Naoya who toppled onto his bed, glaring up at him.
He hated him. Satoru Gojo, an arrogant jerk. How he wish he could grow stronger than him now, feeling so feeble and weak before the sorcerer.
"Get off my estate."
"It's Naobito's, actually. You are not clan head."
"Yet!"
Satoru shook his head, moving for the door and sliding it open.
Before he stepped out, he smirked at him from over his shoulder. "See ya at orientation, Nao-kun." And out he went.
Naoya felt his body shake in rage, slamming his fist into the wall and seeing a hole form. His knuckles ached, but his eyes were widen with anger and resentment. He resented how Gojo was right. He resented how he will forever be in his shadow. He resented the facts, the opinions other had that tried belittling him.
"I wish I can just kick his ass," he hissed, "just one more time and watch him whimper and cry for help. That way... he will know not to fuck with me."