Chapter Text
This couldn’t be real.
There’s just no way.
“Y/N–”
The hand that’s thrust in front of your face is too late – the image has long since been burned into your mind. It hurts–a lot; a stab right in your chest and it feels as if you can physically feel your heart being pulled apart, ripped right down the middle and thrown on the ground all whilst being stomped all over.
Yet, you can’t move.
Can’t even think.
You just stand there, feeling your vision blur as the tears well and your bottom lip trembles and this overwhelming sense washes over your entire being.
A hand is grabbing you by the arm, tugging you harshly out of the way and away from the sight in front of you. You let yourself be pulled, not a single bit of strength left in your body as the hands hold you tightly, not enough to hurt but enough to stop you from trying to go back. You laugh mentally, you have no intention of going back… you never want to see that again.
But… it won’t leave your mind either.
Your back is pressed against the wall in the next second, you barely notice it, the hands on your arms placing you there as the first sob breaks past your lips. It’s a small pathetic noise, nothing more than a whimper as you raise your hand, pressing it against your lips to muffle the noise, curling into yourself.
The hands leave you then. You don’t see him step back as much as you hear it, and before you know it, your free hand is instinctively reaching forward, grasping his wrist. Your grip is tight, nails pinching, something you hardly realize. It’s your own desperation bleeding in as the panic strikes you, welling up inside of you and making you lack coherent thought as you hold tight, hoping he doesn’t try to pull away.
Slowly, you raise your head, meeting his eyes.
“Please,” you call out, voice a hushed, broken whisper. “Don’t.”
Don’t what?
You’re not even sure.
Maybe it’s instincts, you don’t know. There’s no way you could’ve known just exactly what his plan was but as your eyes meet his and the words leave your lips, you’re surprised at the rage in his eyes, staring back at you. The rage isn’t directed at you, you can tell in the way his face softens, just briefly, as he turns to look at you.
It’s rage at them.
Your own boyfriend…
He shakes his head down at you, thoroughly confused.
“Y/N, don’t you–”
“Please,” you find yourself begging again, voice nothing but a mere whisper as you stare up at him imploringly.
And despite everything in his head, he listens. He listens because he can’t refuse when you stare up at him like that, so pitifully, so pathetic… with tears pouring down your face and your lips wobbling and your hand holding onto him so miserably.
Geto Suguru feels nothing but pity for you, and it’s enough to quell the rage welling deep in him towards your ass of a boyfriend in the classroom just next to him.
Enough that he stays when you ask—because you ask.
Something he wouldn’t have done for you just minutes prior.
“Sukuna!”
He sees it and you don’t. The way Sukuna sighs the second he hears your voice, the grin on his face fading, just for the briefest of seconds, as your footsteps come bounding into the room. You don’t see it, but Geto thinks it’s obvious enough. The smile Sukuna plasters on his face is half-assed, if even that and it’s easy to tell that he’s annoyed as you reach him, instantly wrapping yourself around his arm.
Pathetic , he thinks. Throwing yourself on him like that.
“Y/N,” Sukuna greets, voice low, a soft hiss to his tone. “What have I told you about doing that?”
You’re pulled off of him in seconds, Sukuna grabbing you roughly by the wrist and all but yanking your grip off of him.
Two seats behind them, Geto watches with a blank expression, head resting in the palm of his hands, and it feels like he’s the only one paying attention. Everyone else is entirely in their own worlds, laughing, chatting and catching up from the weekend–yet, despite that Geto thinks he should be doing the same, he can’t.
So, he watches.
“Sorry,” you call out bashfully, a light blush coating your cheeks as you step back, grabbing your own arm. Geto notices the way you subtly glance around to see if anyone had been watching, and you instantly freeze when you meet his eyes, turning rigid. Geto just stares blankly back, his eyes narrowed slightly as you quickly turn away.
“Sukuna,” you mumble, turning your back to Geto as you lean towards your boyfriend. You bounce back as if your own boyfriend hadn’t manhandled you off of him and berated you in front of all his friends. You bounce back like nothing’s wrong. “Would you like to eat lunch with me?”
Meeting your gaze, Sukuna pauses for a moment before shrugging; “whatever.”
And the grin that blooms on your face is the same as always– pathetic .
“I’m eating lunch with my friends.”
“But–”
Before you can even finish, a loud burst of laughter cuts you off. Instantly, your eyes flicker towards the group of boys sitting at the table with Sukuna. One of them, a boy with long blue hair and scars across his face from an accident as a child, looks at you, a cruel mocking expression on his face; “what? Have no other friends you can sit with, Y/N?”
Your face falls, a frown curling on your lips at Mahito’s words. But –you think, eyes sliding towards Sukuna, surely he’ll –
“Yeah,” Sukuna chuckles, head thrown back in amusement as he turns to you. “We can eat lunch some other day. Eat with your own friends.”
And to add to it, he proceeds to wave you off.
You stare at him a moment longer, trying to ignore the deep disappointment welling in your chest as he turns away from you. A minute later, you gain the courage to turn, eyes drifting across the lunchroom to try and find your friends, before you see a pair of black-eyes staring at you.
Pathetic , his eyes scream.
Geto is nothing if not clear as he stares back at you, as always it seems like he’s the only one who ever notices the moments you look the most pitiful.
And as usual, he’s the first to remind you of the fact that you are.
“ I think he’s just using her.”
“Really?”
“I mean, why else would he keep her around? He clearly doesn’t like her.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Have you seen the way he treats her? Not to mention, he’s far too good looking for Y/N.”
Geto pauses, eyes flickering across the group of girls shamelessly gossiping about you before moving his gaze to you, sitting just a seat away from them. You’re sitting alone, gaze held straight ahead. But your back is straight, tense, and just from the angle where Geto sees you and your hair isn’t covering your face, he can see the frown on your face. Can see the dejected expression you hold. Can see the way your fingers are gripping the skirt of your uniform, knuckles white with how tightly you’re clenching your fists.
And yet, you say nothing.
Do nothing.
Out of the corner of your eye, you notice him, eyes meeting his, before quickly averting your gaze back to your lap.
Pathetic , he scoffs, making his way into the classroom.
A harsh shove to your shoulder sends you tumbling to the ground.
You would’ve caught your balance had you not been shoved into the desk, the sharp shoot of pain to the side of your hip causing you to lose your footing. You hit the ground hard, rocking your entire self as a huff of pain leaves your lips, the world wobbling for a moment.
Then, slowly, you glance up, seeing Sukuna’s friend, Mahito, who’d knocked into you grinning down at you.
“Sorry,” he offers, but it’s clear he doesn’t mean it whatsoever. “It was an accident.”
Your eyes slip to the left, falling on Sukuna who’s staring down at you, expression blank.
Sure, maybe it was an accident but you thought maybe Sukuna would say something. Tell him to apologize with meaning, help you up– at the very least ask you if you’re okay . Basic human decency and more than enough of a simple request to ask of your boyfriend.
But he doesn’t do any of them.
Instead, he turns back to Mahito, laughing loudly as he shoves him.
And then, they walk off.
Flustered, embarrassed, you sit there, on your butt, uniform disheveled, watching as your boyfriend walks off, not a single care about you.
A minute later, a shadow falls over you. You blink at the sight of Geto; he’s staring down at you, pausing right in front of you and you stare back.
The truth was, Geto Suguru has always made you a little uncomfortable. He doesn’t really talk to anyone in class, despite being quite popular, and you’ve certainly never held a real conversation with him. He’s not really friends with anyone but people go up to him, laughing and chatting and Sukuna is one of them. People seem to just gravitate towards him, even if he’s quiet; girls rave on about how hot he is and all the guys like playing soccer with him. He’s quiet, but it doesn’t seem to bother anyone else.
Yet, any time you meet his eyes, he just stares at you with that look in his eyes.
That look that tells you he thinks you’re absolutely pathetic.
“Here.”
Your eyes widen as something is set down on your desk, a twinkle sparkling in your eyes as you register the item–it’s your favourite flavour of pocky.
Instantly, you glance up, lips parting in surprise as you see Sukuna standing in front of you. There’s a small smile on his lips, and he’s standing directly in front of your desk, hand still hovering over the snack. He nods towards it as you meet his gaze and slowly, you reach out towards the snack, taking it in your hands and holding it in front of you like it’s the most precious gift you’ve ever been given.
“Sorry,” he offers shortly, “you forgive me, right?”
There’s the familiar sensation of eyes on your back–a harsh glare on you and even if you can’t see him, you know exactly who’s staring at you like that. And yet, despite the judgement and despite the doubt in your own mind, your heart is warming at the gift and you feel eased at the fact that Sukuna had even thought of getting you such a gift, even if it was just a snack.
He knew what your favourite flavour was too, so that had to count for something, right?
“Yeah,” you hum softly, smiling up at him as you nod. “Thank you.”
He smirks, reaching forward to lightly flick your forehead. You let out a noise as he does, one hand coming up to hold the offended area, pouting up at him all while he laughs; “let’s go see a movie tonight, okay?”
The pout is instantly gone; “ really ?”
“Yeah,” he nods with suave, “meet me after class by the front doors okay?”
You nod, maybe a little too eagerly, practically jumping in your seat.
He walks off with a grin, clearly satisfied and your eyes watch him, following him until he takes his seat at his desk and then your gaze drifts. It’s unconscious, you don’t mean to, but the smile fades from your face when you see Geto’s eyes on you. There’s that same stupid blank look on his face that he always has when you find him staring at you and most of all, there’s that nasty glare in his eyes that you’d felt seconds ago and that he’s always regarded you with.
Flushing, you turn away, instead opting to stare down at the box of pocky.
Your smile returns without thought, a bundle of excitement welling up as you hold the snack to your chest.
He doesn’t care about you.
You shake your heads—but he thought of you, didn’t he?
He ditches you for his friends all the time.
You shouldn’t stop him from hanging out with his friends. You don’t want to be clingy.
He flirts with other girls right in front of you.
That–
“Who gave you that?”
Blinking, you’re pulled from your thoughts as Shoko takes a seat in front of you, pulling the chair from the desk in front of you to sit on it backwards. You raise a brow as she sits, “you were almost late.”
She shrugs, “I was smoking.” Then, she points at the pocky. “Where’d you get those?”
You send her a look, to which she pointedly ignores–she’s well aware you don’t like that she smokes, but she does it anyways despite how many times you’ve tried to get her to stop. Knowing that this won’t be any different, you let her brush it off, setting the pocky down on your desk. “Sukuna did,” you explain, smiling softly.
She scoffs; “Is that an apology for ditching you during lunch?”
You glance at her, lips parting to answer, but then she continues.
“Or an apology for ditching you on the weekend? What about when he left you to walk home by yourself last week? Oh, or–”
Her eyes catch the frown on your lips, and she pauses, letting out a sigh, gaze softening as she adds; “you shouldn’t let him get away with stuff like that just because he gives you something. Especially not when it’s just food.”
Meeting Shoko’s eyes, you shrug; “I know… but he asked me if I wanted to go to the movies tonight too!”
Shoko huffs, moving as if to say something more before her eyes widen; “ wait .”
Your brows furrow, “what?”
“I was gonna ask you to cover my cleaning duties tonight because I have to meet up with my group for our project due soon,” Shoko pouts, shoulders falling with defeat. You frown, knowing what project she’s talking about and how she helped you with yours just a few days ago when your partners left all the work to you. A feeling of guilt wells up in you as you stare at your best friend who all but sulks in front of you. It’s almost as if you can see the tears she forces to well in her eyes as she continues dramatically. “My group will hate me forever and they’ll spread the worst rumours about me and about how horrible of a student I am and then the whole school will–”
“I can ask Sukuna to wait a bit,” you offer, shaking your hands wildly at her antics in a panic. “No need to go to the extreme.”
Her face brightens, reaching forward to clasp your hands in between hers, leaning towards you with stars in her eyes; “you’d do that for me?”
You nod, “of course. You’re my best friend. Besides, you helped me too.”
Sitting back down, Shoko shakes her head; “you’re far too nice of a person.”
“Hey,” you call out, “don’t complain when I’m helping you.”
“You’re right,” she nods, turning to you with a serious look. “Thank you so much, Y/N. I promise to make it up to you.” Then, she falters, glancing past your shoulder; “if Sukuna complains about waiting, I’ll beat him up for you.”
You snort, “there’s no need. I’m sure he’ll be fine, so–”
“Hey, Y/N.”
You frown at the voice, sharply cutting you off as both you and Shoko turn your attention to the right of you to where Mahito stands. He’s got one hand shoved into the pocket of his trousers and a wide, shit-eating grin plastered on his face–out of all of Sukuna’s friends, you got along with him the least (not that you get along with any of the rest of them very well either though…) Since you’d started dating Sukuna, it seemed like Mahito had made it his personal goal to be as cruel to you as possible.
He’d laugh mockingly when Sukuna brushed you aside or ditched you, he’d shoved you, pulled at your hair, skirt, anything of the sort so many times you’d lost count. He was in every possible way barbaric towards you and you tried to avoid him whenever you could but unfortunately for you, you rarely did. He was good at cornering you when unexpected, like now.
Instantly, you tense as you meet his eyes, chest tightening in worry.
“H-Hey, Mahito.”
He steps towards you, offering Shoko nothing more than a quick glance before he’s reaching towards you. You flinch, assuming he’s going to hit you, but instead he grabs the box of pocky off your desk. You know it’s silly, but instantly your eyes widen, panic flooding as he holds it up high and out of reach.
“These are my favourite,” he grins down at you, “you don’t mind if I have them do you?”
“But…” You trail off, eyes flickering to your left towards Sukuna but he’s thoroughly invested in a conversation with two other guys, not even paying a single bit of attention towards you. Inhaling sharply, you turn back to Mahito; “actually.., Su-Sukuna gave those to me so, yes, I do mind.”
Mahito pulls the pocky in front of him, humming faintly; “you’re so easily bought, Y/N. If I gave you food, would you kiss me too?”
He smirks down at you.
Cheeks burning red, you feel your eyes water with humiliation as you squirm in your seat.
“Hey, idiot,” Shoko calls out, pushing herself to her feet as she stands, slamming her hands on the desk. “Give it back.”
“Oh?” Mahito calls, quirking a brow as he steps toward Shoko, towering over her; “and what are you gonna do about it?”
Her face narrows, a nasty glare directed at him. “I’ll beat you–”
“ Hey , Mahito.”
Everyone freezes.
That’s–
Lips parting, you glance up, only for your eyes to widen in disbelief when you realize that it was in fact Geto, like you thought, who’d called out for Mahito. That, and the fact that he’s standing directly beside you, inches away from Mahito, glowering down at the boy.
“You’re pissing me off,” Geto says simply, and your lips part when you realize the entire class is watching. “Give her back the pocky, shut up and sit down, yeah?”
Mahito stares back at Geto, face blank but you see the rage in his eyes. He looks like he wants to argue, but with the whole class's attention on him and the way Geto is glaring down at him, he knows he’s at a disadvantage. So, with a chuckle, he all but slams the box of pocky down on your desk, causing you to jump before pushing his way past Geto. Your eyes follow him, meeting Sukuna’s gaze along the way as he simply frowns at you and swallowing thickly, you turn your attention back to Geto.
Shoko is grinning at Mahito’s embarrassment but all you can focus on is Geto, shocked that he’d stand up for you like that.
You were positive he hated you.
The second Mahito is gone, Geto is turning, not even bothering to glance at you as he moves toward his desk. Without thinking, you reach out towards him, clasping his wrist in yours. He freezes at the touch and you notice the way his body tenses, so with a mumbled apology, you let go, meeting his eyes. “Th-thank you,” you call out softly, quiet enough he’s the only one who hears as the rest of the class falls back into quiet chatter.
He stares at you for a moment, before slowly nodding. Then, he walks off.
A moment later, you’re turning back to face Shoko, sniffling.
“Are you okay?” Shoko calls out, worried. “God, Mahito is such a dick ! I’ll beat him up the next time I see him.”
Meeting her eyes, you brush her off; “it’s okay.”
“Luckily Geto stepped in,” she agrees, “but that was weird, no?”
Briefly glancing back at Geto, who’s since put his headphones in, head turned towards the window, you nod back at Shoko. “Yeah, it was,” you whisper.
She nods again, moving to stand and make her way to her seat but not without making sure you’re really okay, thanking you once again for helping her out and making you promise to tell her if Sukuna makes any complaints. You brush her off with a light, somewhat forced laugh, only coming to the conclusion once she’s gone that you don’t remember who was also assigned to cleaning duties that night.
You move to ask but in that second the teacher walks in, forcing you to stay seated.
Shrugging, you move to open your notebook–hopefully it’s not Mahito and rather someone you get along with, and if it isn’t, well, it’s just for thirty minutes.
Sukuna had complained, but otherwise complied to wait for you.
Just don’t make me wait forever , he’d texted and you’d been quick to assure him you wouldn’t.
Honestly, that wasn’t even a thought in your mind at this moment–no, the only thing you could focus on was that Shoko had failed to tell you that Geto Suguru had also been assigned cleaning duty that day and that meant that for a whole half-hour you were stuck in a classroom with just him while you both cleaned.
He seemed surprised at first to see you, and with a light, awkward chuckle you’d explained that you were filling in for Shoko that day. Of course, he hadn’t said anything in response to that either and had simply continued to clean. Feeling thoroughly uncomfortable and awkward, you’d followed his lead.
You two finish cleaning earlier than expected, and Geto is quick to grab his things, eager to leave. You linger back for a moment, moving to text Sukuna to see where he wants to meet for the movie, until you hear Geto opening the classroom door and your eyes fall on him.
“Oh, um–” you call, not thinking as the words leave your lips. You freeze, eyes wide as he turns to face you, staring back at you with that similar blank look; however, there’s the lack of harshness in his eyes he usually has and that eases you enough to be able to smile softly. “Thank you again,” you call out, “for earlier I mean. With Mahito. I… I really appreciate it.”
His eyes widen, staring back at you as you send him a warm, bright smile, head tilted slightly. Instinctively, his grip on the door tightens, turning his head back ahead of himself, purposely hiding it from your view.
“You’re welcome.”
And with that, he rushes out of the room, leaving the door open behind him.
You frown at his rush to get out but shrug it off a second later. It’s not like the two of you have ever been close and before today, you’re positive you’ve never ever actually said a word to him. But, it seemed like a decent step in the right direction given all things so you take it as a win.
You let your attention fall back on texting Sukuna, laughing lightly when you see a text from Shoko once again thanking you with the next message being a collection of prayer hands.
Mentally reminding yourself to text her back later, you swipe out, clicking on Sukuna’s contact.
All done! :))) where’d you like to meet for our movie night !!
You wait a moment, shoulders falling when you still don’t get a response back two minutes later. He’s not even read it yet…
Moving to grab your back, you shrug. Maybe he was waiting by the front of the school, and just hadn’t gotten the notification. With that thought, you make your way out of the classroom, turning down the hall with the intention of heading to the stairs to make your way down to the first floor. But you pause when you see Geto standing a few feet in front of you.
He’s turned towards a classroom, and your brows furrow at his wide eyes and parted lips.
What’s got his attention?
Hands falling by your side, you move towards him; “hey, is everything okay?”
You reach him just as he moves to face you and you don’t see it in time–the panic in his eyes and the choked cry of your name as he tries to pull you away. You don’t see any of it, and even if you hear him, it’s too late because you see it before he can stop you. Maybe he tries to stop you for your sake, maybe he just didn’t want to deal with your reaction, you don’t know.
None of it matters.
Because the damage is done as you watch your boyfriend make out with another girl.