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Suguru could never understand what's the big deal with the blue sky.
He likes sunny days, the warmth caressing the skin, and even squinting his eyes to stop himself from sneezing at the bright light, but he doesn't think the blue colour on clear days is that much different from the gloomy skies. It's smoother somehow, with no shadows, but that's about it. He prefers orange sunrises or pink sunsets to that. They're grand, breathtaking, like watercolours in the sky.
And blue? Blue just isn't that special.
-
Nanami sighs in relief when the veil cast over the park with the already exorcised curse is lifted.
“Finally,” he says, taking off his glasses to bask in the sunlight as if that can erase all the fatigue. Haibara chuckles by his side.
“It wasn't that bad,” he comments with a smile, but Nanami only lets out a little tired grunt. Suguru snorts at them from where he's leaning against the car.
“How did it go?” he asks.
“All right,” Haibara says, walking up to him and grabbing two cups of takeout coffee waiting for them on the car's roof. “It was very gloomy though, it seems like the curse was born from heartbreak,” he adds, handing one cup to Nanami who gives him a little soft smile. Being near, the matching tattoos on their wrists turn crimson red – a sign of soulmates' connection, and Suguru feels a tiny prickling of envy in his chest. Nanami and Haibara are not made for heartbreaks, they have each other, and while Suguru didn't have his heart broken, he doesn't think he felt true love either. He wonders if that has any connection to that blue sky everyone seems to love so much.
“I wonder when will you find your soulmate, Geto,” Haibara says as if he's just read his mind. Suguru chuckles at it and shifts his glance away. He pushes himself off the car and stands with his arms crossed over his chest.,
“I might not,” he says. “Not everyone does, but it's fine.”
“Still,” Haibara goes on, “I feel like you will. Just maybe your link isn't as obvious, maybe it's one of those where your soulmate's touch leaves marks on your skin or something.”
“It's nothing that I can control, so whatever happens – happens,” Suguru says, walking around the car to take the driver's seat. “But I'll keep you updated, Haibara,” he adds with a smile and Haibara beams back at him with a thumbs up.
Nanami snorts, but his gaze on Haibara is gentle and caring. At first glance, they don't seem like they'd fit together as well as they do, and it makes Suguru think, if he actually were to have a soulmate, what kind of person would they be? He tries to imagine who’d match all his bits and pieces but comes out blank. Admittedly, he’s not even sure what his ideal type is, his past choices were rather random, so he’s always thought that perhaps he’s meant to settle rather than follow his heart.
It's fine though, he's lived like that for over two decades already, and he can surely go on for multiple more.
-
“ The Gojo Satoru?” Nanami asks when Yaga informs them that Gojo is getting transferred from Kyoto to Tokyo and will join them at Jujutsu High. At Yaga's nod, Nanami sighs. “He's insufferable.”
“You've met him before?” Suguru asks, but the look on Nanami's face says perhaps he shouldn't have. It's a little funny though.
“Unfortunately,” Nanami says. “He's a good sorcerer obviously, and I trust him, but I have no respect for that guy. You've never met him, Geto?”
“Never had a chance,” Suguru hums in thought, “Our missions never crossed and I don't think he's been to any of the regular sorcerers’ meetings?”
“It won't affect you much,” Yaga says. “He does his missions alone anyway and he'll simply take over some mentoring, but mostly he'll be here for research about Sukuna as something is stirring up. I doubt he'll ask for help, but be nice if he does.”
“Of course,” Haibara chirps in for the three of them, and with that, Yaga lets them go. “I’m so excited,” Haibara says when they’re outside. “It’ll be nice.”
Nanami grunts.
“Clearly you haven’t met him before either, Yu.”
“Is he that bad?” Suguru asks. He’s heard talks and gossip about the guy, but he never gave it much thought. A special-grade sorcerer with two rare inherited techniques from a rich prominent clan already sounded like enough of a personality for someone. The attitude which comes with such backgrounds isn't something new in the jujutsu world.
“He's…” Nanami pauses and takes a deep breath. “He's a lot. Just seeing him makes me lose all my energy. He does whatever he wants.”
Suguru hums.
“I hope we get along, still,” he says, but Nanami doesn't respond, letting the topic die off.
-
Suguru does a little deeper research on Gojo Satoru including social media, checking if they have any mutual friends (as Nanami isn't on the friends or followers list). It's concluded pretty quickly with already known facts about his techniques and research done about curses, and a summary of a rather big number of people leaving comments on his posts with a blindfold and asking to show his striking blue eyes and calling him every synonym of handsome and pretty on the ones where his eyes are uncovered. He's very attractive, Suguru's not blind, but he can't say he gets the hype about the eyes. He's seen prettier ones for sure, blue doesn’t really compare to brown with speckles of gold when the sunlight hits just right. He even thinks his purple ones are of a more interesting shade than blue, but he leaves it be; that's not what matters most about Gojo anyway.
A few of his acquaintances or friends seem to follow him, but all of his posted pictures are of him alone or of random things and places, so it doesn't help. In the end, Suguru decides it doesn't matter much and he'll try to get to know Gojo as a person himself. Whatever Nanami says, it can't be that bad.
-
“Principal Yaga– Oh, sorry,” Suguru offers a quick apology as he nearly bumps into someone leaving; a very quick glance up tells him that someone is Gojo Satoru, who scoffs at him.
“One would think you're the one wearing a blindfold and not me,” he says, voice amused, but before Suguru can raise his eyebrows and take back his apology to change it for a curse, Gojo slips through the door.
“What an asshole,” Suguru mutters walking up to Yaga, who sighs.
“Give him a chance,” he says. “How did the mission go?”
Suguru reports the situation to Yaga; there wasn't anything unusual about it even with a special grade curse, but as it involved people Yaga wants to know their reactions and state afterwards. Luckily, no one got hurt, and Suguru walked off with another curse in his collection – as expected.
And yet even though it's a mundane thing to do, even if he's used to such reports and could do them even woken up in the middle of the night, this time there's a strange sense to everything. Like something has shifted in him, like the air around is different somehow, but he can't really put his finger on it. Perhaps it's just the annoyance of the little encounter with Gojo that threw him off, like stepping on a pebble on a perfectly clean road, a piece of lego in his childhood house. He frowns to himself when Yaga excuses him and his mind goes to Gojo again. He takes out his phone to message Nanami and Haibara that Nanami was right about the guy, but once he closes the door behind himself, a hum greets him from the right side.
“I've never seen eye colour like yours,” Gojo Satoru says, pushing himself off the wall he's been leaning against. “What's up with that?”
“What?” Suguru blinks at him and is met with a black cloth on Gojo's face when the man leans in closer.
“Looks like some sorta candy.”
“ What? ” Suguru repeats and steps back.
“Geto Suguru, right?” Gojo Satoru says. “Nice to meet you, I suppose.”
“Doubt about the ‘nice’ part,” Suguru says back. “What's up with you? Haven't seen purple eyes before? That blindfold must be doing its job well, then.”
Gojo snorts and he reaches up to pull off his blindfold.
“That's not purple,” he states, and when his striking white eyelashes part, something breaks in Suguru.
Suguru doesn’t know what to compare it to, the intensity with which Gojo's eyes burn , like fire, but at the same time completely different from it, the colour he can't describe, not purple, not green, not blue or grey, it's something in between them all, a mix of them all, and when Suguru opens his mouth to ask what the hell , Gojo all of the sudden grabs his face and–
kisses him.
Out of instinct, Suguru's fist goes to Gojo's side and, surprisingly, lands.
“What the fuck?!” Gojo groans, rubbing his side and drawing his eyebrows together in annoyance.
“Weren't you supposed to have that famous barrier?” Suguru asks, ignoring the sweet tingle on his lips.
“Yeah, well, that was turned off to kiss you, idiot,” Gojo explains like it's the most normal thing to do and not an opening he clearly didn't consider. Suguru crosses his arms over his chest.
“I can't remember agreeing to that. Really, what's wrong with you? Did those powers you have actually fry your brain?”
Suguru's own brain seems to be frying a bit, though, as it takes all his willpower not to stare at Gojo’s eyes. Photos from his social media posts don’t do it justice, unless–
Suguru steps away from Gojo and walks down the hall to the first window. He freezes, feeling his pulse quickening. He turns to Gojo, who has followed along, and fires away his guess:
“You're my soulmate?!”
Gojo blinks at him and his perfect white eyebrows furrow together again.
“What?”
Suguru takes a deep, shaky breath. He points to the sky and then right at Gojo's face.
“That's blue, right?”
Gojo nods slowly.
“Yeah, what did you think– Oh. ” His eyes widen with realisation and he quickly takes out his phone to look something up. He shoves the screen in Suguru's face. There's a photo of a purple wisteria tree. “So that's what it was always supposed to look like,” he comments, looking at it himself one more time before putting his phone away and shifting his gaze to Suguru again.
“Was it always similar to some shade of grey?” At Gojo's nod, Suguru continues: “You didn’t see purple, that's not a big deal. Thanks to you I didn’t see blue . That's–”
“Major?” Gojo suggests, helpfully, and smirks. “Just like me.”
“You– are you always like this?”
Gojo shrugs and leans against the wall again, as if it’s too much effort to keep his tall body standing on its own.
“Depends,” he says. “Gorgeous? Yes. Annoying? Not always, but your reactions are fun. Can I kiss you? Without being punched?”
Suguru looks at his sparkling eyes, at the stupid pretty face with a way too confident smile. He rubs his face, glances at the damned blue sky, and sighs, heavily.
“No,” he says and he walks away.
-
“It doesn’t have to be romantic,” Haibara offers apologetically when Suguru rants about being soulmates with Gojo Satoru of all people. “Just that there’s always a reason why soulmates are soulmates, and more often than not it lies deeper inside than on the surface.”
Suguru groans. He doesn’t tell Haibara that the surface seemed enough for Gojo who went for a kiss straight away. It feels weird to voice it out, like it’s a confession of sorts. He knows Haibara would ask if he felt anything and Suguru’s not sure whether he likes the idea of lying to Haibara and also to himself.
It didn’t feel wrong, after all. Unexpected and annoying coming from the awfully confident Gojo, but not unpleasant. When he thinks about it, Suguru realises that he would have liked kissing Gojo himself, given the opportunity. He’s just confused if he should blame the bastard’s appearance or the sudden soulmate bond between them. He still can’t get used to the actual blue colour of the sky.
“So far he’s just insufferable, like Nanami said. Was it immediate for you guys?”
Haibara chuckles and Nanami hums in thought.
“Almost, I suppose,” he says. “My first thought about Yu was that he’s loud and far too cheerful, but then immediately there was a strong urge to protect him from anything.”
“I just wanted to make him smile,” Haibara says, smiling himself, and they share that soft and gentle look between themselves which makes Suguru both envious and nauseous at the same time. He can’t imagine doing this with Gojo.
“See?” he says. “This makes sense. This sounds like a soulmate thing. Us–”
“He's what you need most, Geto,” Haibara says with a shrug. “And perhaps a little havoc was missing from your peaceful world.”
Nanami snorts at this and Suguru sighs; he does seem to do it a lot when the topic goes to Gojo.
“Maybe you'll change him,” Nanami suggests, but his tone doesn't sound very convincing. He holds up his phone then, showing a recent post from Gojo. It's a photo of a purple can of grape soda and grape-flavoured chewing candy. It says ‘ found my soulmate, sorry everyone else :p’ and has a ton of comments of both crying emojis and hearts.
“Grape of all things?” Suguru mutters.
“You never know if it’s gonna be sweet or sour,” Haibara stifles a laugh. “He’s onto something.”
Suguru sighs, again.
He doesn’t think he’s either.
-
“Ignoring me isn't very soulmatey of you,” Gojo comments when he catches Suguru at the closest convenience store to the Jujutsu High. He reaches from behind him for an instant ramen cup on the upper shelf. “I'm feeling a little hurt, you know.” He doesn't withdraw his arm and instead rests it on Suguru's shoulder. Frighteningly, the first thought that comes to Suguru's mind isn't annoyance but a soft realisation that Gojo’s uniform smells faintly of flowery detergent. He takes a deep breath and despite himself, leans his head against Gojo’s arm.
Gojo freezes up, and this, triumphantly, brings a smile to Suguru's face. After all, offence is the best defence.
“Cat got your tongue?” Suguru asks. He grabs Gojo's wrist to keep his arm around his shoulders when he turns, quite literally, in Gojo's embrace. Even the blindfold can't cover up the red blush that creeps across Gojo's face. It is, actually, kind of cute.
“You can't just suddenly start flirting out of nowhere,” Gojo comments, sounding nearly offended. “That's my role.”
Suguru snorts and then he bends down to slip back under Gojo's arm.
“Well, don't get used to it,” he says, grabbing an instant yakisoba bowl, and walking to the cashier. Gojo chuckles to himself and follows.
By the time they pay and exit the shop, Gojo's blush has disappeared, but not his determination.
“You do realise that all of this means we're a perfect match, yeah?”
“Says who?”
Gojo groans, “Says universe? Fate? We complete each other's world, outside and inside.”
“Any thoughts on platonic soulmates?”
“What?” Gojo pauses; Suguru can imagine the furrow in his eyebrows.
“Thoughts on platonic soulmates,” he repeats, remembering Haibara's words. He doesn't think that's their situation; even being confused, he still feels somewhere within himself that all of this would go in a different direction than strictly platonic. The image of Gojo panting above him comes easily to his mind, the taste of him lingers on Suguru's lips, still; he's just not sure yet if they're not a fluke in the game of soulmates to begin with, sharing a bed doesn't always go in hand with sharing your life. A hundred per cent success rate just doesn’t sound right within the rules of the world.
“You're not into romantic or sexual stuff?” Gojo finally asks. “At all? Or do you only like girls?”
Suguru sighs.
“I didn't say that,” he clarifies, stopping to look at Gojo, even if he doesn’t meet his eyes. It’s slightly unnerving. “Just asking. What if I'm not into you?”
“I thought–” Gojo starts, but then pauses. The traffic light nearby turns green and a lone car passes them. Gojo shrugs, puts his hands in his uniform jacket pockets, the plastic bag with cup noodles hanging on his wrist. “I thought you felt the same wave of emotions flood into you,” he says, his words at the same time rushing out of his mouth too fast and flowing too slowly. “Leaving no questions, only– you don't feel the yearning? Like it'd go away only if we kissed, if we– Like it's suffocating you otherwise?”
Suguru looks up, taking in the impossibly blue sky engulfing the whole world like it can protect it from everything, like nothing bad could ever happen under its watch. Sometimes, his head nearly hurts from the intensity of it, but usually, it brings him a peculiar sense of joy and peacefulness.
He takes a deep breath and looks back at Gojo.
“Take off the blindfold,” he says. Gojo opens his mouth to comment on it but closes it again. He reaches for his face, pulls the black cloth off and ruffles his hair before opening his eyes at Suguru.
“What of it?”
The sky resides in them, but it doesn’t stop with it; Suguru hates himself for the thought, but it really seems like Gojo’s eyes hold in the whole universe, and looking straight into them, he feels the same type of joy which visits him at the sight of clear skies in the morning. Only the peacefulness is not there, it’s changed with a rush of thoughts and emotions, and among it all, there’s a small voice which tells him to give in.
He nibbles on his lip in thought, then lets out a little sigh.
“Alright,” he mutters to himself. “This will make us even,” he then says to Gojo and steps forward, pushing his plastic bag into Gojo’s hands to use his own for holding Gojo’s face as he kisses him, the barrier letting him in.
Gojo kisses him back like it's the law of nature, but before he can drop all of the things on the ground to hold him, Suguru pulls away.
“Now,” he says, hoping his face doesn’t look as hot as it feels, “can we start from step one?”
Gojo blinks confused at him.
“What’s step one?”
“Getting to know each other?”
Gojo snorts, then gathers both plastic bags and his blindfold in his left hand to use the right one for pushing his hair back. Suguru nearly expects a wink, waits for a smirk, but is greeted with an uncharacteristically calm and fond look on Gojo's face.
“Gojo Satoru. Born on December 7th, 1989, the year of the Snake. My hobby is trying sweet delicacies from different regions and watching films. The person I like is Geto Suguru. Nice to meet you. Good enough?”
Suguru's lip corners twitch in an attempt to turn upwards, but he manages to keep them in line.
“That's everything I could have checked about you online,” he says. Gojo drops his soft guy act and rolls his eyes.
“What do you want me to do then? Court you? Ask your parents for your hand in marriage?”
Suguru snorts and grabs his bag from Gojo's hand.
“Think of something,” he says, turning around to continue walking back to their apartments. “You're not the only one on the list, try a bit.”
“Well, maybe you’re not–” Gojo starts, but then suddenly he bursts out laughing. “Playing hard to get, huh?” he asks, not a step behind Suguru. “Would be annoying if you weren’t my soulmate, but now it’s kinda hot, I guess.”
“Not playing hard to get,” Suguru comments. “I am hard to get.”
“Sure, right,” Gojo singsongs and chuckles. “That’s the only way I like it.”
-
“What's this?” Nanami asks when Gojo drops into an empty seat at their table during lunch. The usual blindfold on his face is changed with dark sunglasses this time.
“I’d expect you to recognize me, Nanamin,” Gojo says, scoring a frown from Nanami, and turns to Haibara: “I don't think we've officially met, I'm Gojo Satoru. Nice to meet you. I'm afraid you'll have to get used to me as I plan on staying by Suguru's side a lot more from now on.”
“A pleasure,” Haibara says, a gleaming smile on his face. “Haibara Yu. I've been waiting for the day Geto finds his soulmate, and here we are. Rooting for you two!” He holds up his hand in an encouraging fist and at the same time shows his glowing tattoo to Gojo who hums with interest.
“Oh, so you know exactly what we're going through,” he comments, eyes shifting to rest on Suguru. “Was Nanamin as difficult, too? Wait– so Suguru has been waiting for a soulmate, then? Sweet–”
“No,” Suguru says. “Haibara, don’t you dare to side with him.”
“Why not?” he asks innocently. “You should cherish this bond. Sure, you need to explore it to make it work, but ignoring this is the same as winning a lottery and not claiming your prize.”
“See? Exactly!” Gojo agrees with enthusiasm.
“I'm not ignoring it,” Suguru tries to reason. “We're taking it slow, chill out.”
“He kissed me,” Gojo announces in a fake whisper, and Suguru chokes on his noodle salad. Nanami follows him with a cough to cover up his reaction while Haibara's voice goes a few notes higher in delight.
“I knew it!” he exclaims, cheeks red from excitement. “Geto has got some similarities with Kento, both of them trying to act all unapproachable at first when they're just soft at heart. You're a bit of a special case though, Gojo,” he goes on, “Geto is usually sweet with his admirers, but maybe that only means he never took them seriou–”
“Will you please stop?” Suguru interrupts. “What's with this betrayal?”
Haibara chuckles and shrugs at him.
“I got excited,” he says but doesn't offer an apology. He exchanges glances with Nanami and they both stand up, gathering their half-eaten pastry and pudding. “We're actually a little bit busy, so we'll leave you two be. See you later!”
Gojo waves and once they leave, he leans on the table, resting his head in his hand as he cradles his neck to catch Suguru's eyes.
“You're pissed?”
Suguru takes a deep breath. He's not, but he isn't sure what he feels to begin with.
“That's your idea of making a good impression?” he asks just to keep the chat going.
Gojo hums, nibbling on his lip as he thinks.
“I suppose so? It worked with Haibara and getting along with one’s friends counts, no?”
“To be honest, I was expecting you to go all grand with something stupid,” Suguru confesses. “Coming in a white suit with flowers or something equally embarrassing.”
Gojo grins at him, teasingly, “You'd like that?”
“After more than two decades of seeing curses, that'd still be the most horrendous thing to witness, so no,” he says, and he finds himself smiling, which a little too obviously makes Gojo smile, too, and that's–
He looks beautiful like that. His head tilted, his fingers playing with the tips of his slightly ruffled hair, just a bit of his eyes’ blueness showing from behind the sunglasses, a sweet match with a pink dusting on his cheeks, with his pink lips. He catches the lower one between his teeth in an attempt not to laugh, and Suguru has to catch himself before he straight up stares at Gojo.
“So you’re not big on being in the spotlight?” Gojo asks, still smiling.
“I like keeping things to myself. A whisper can mean more than a shout.”
“I'd like keeping you to myself as well,” Gojo intones, and even with a roll of his eyes Suguru stupidly finds this kind of endearing. Since when is he into tasteless pickup lines?
“You're not doing very well with flirting, you know,” he comments. Gojo deflates, succumbing on the table.
“I know,” he agrees, surprisingly. “Never really had to do it.”
“Oh?” Suguru smirks. “For real? You didn't seem used to being flirted with either.”
“At the store?” Gojo looks up. “Just didn't expect you to make a flip so soon, that's all.”
“Really?” Suguru presses on.
Gojo's lips tremble a tiny bit as if he were trying to control his smile. Quite naturally, it comes off as a pleasant beam.
“It's the soulmate thing, I told you,” he says in a small voice. “You're doing something to me.”
“I suppose that's the whole point of it.”
“Will you go on a date with me then?” Gojo suddenly asks. “I promise not to kiss you out of nowhere. Let's just spend time together.”
They're spending time now, Suguru thinks, and then finds himself at peace in the moment, content as if this is exactly how he’s been spending his lunch breaks every day. He looks at the empty space in front of Gojo and then at the strawberry daifuku he's been saving for dessert. With a little sign, he slides it towards Gojo.
“Okay,” he agrees.
-
“Do you think somewhere deep inside I knew your eyes were purple and that's why I called my technique that? I mean, it totally makes sense now with the mix of red and blue, but at the time it didn't. You know, colour-wise.”
“A lot of things didn't really make sense before meeting you,” Suguru says. “Colour-wise.”
“Maybe not only colour-wise,” Gojo adds with a shadow of a smirk. Suguru snorts at it.
“Sure,” he says, “I didn't cherish silence enough.”
Gojo chuckles, then pretends to zip his mouth as they lazily walk down the streets of Shinjuku.
“You'll stop talking in the middle of a date?” Suguru asks. He wonders how long Gojo will play this, but he gives in immediately.
“You're being mean,” he states a fact but doesn't sound hurt. Suguru smiles.
“Ah, that got you talking again,” he says. “Where are we going?”
Gojo points to the end of the street, where a multiple-store arcade is.
“Almost there,” he says. It's not the most original choice for a date, but Suguru hasn't been there for a while after frequenting it during his school years, so it does stir his emotions, just a bit. He bumps his shoulder against Gojo's.
“Are you planning to impress me by grabbing a plushie at the claw machine?”
“Depends,” Gojo says. “Do you want me to?”
Suguru gives him a little sly smile, “We'll see.”
Gojo looks cocky, like he thinks he could do it in one try or like Suguru is all words and no action. Once they get in, Suguru chooses the machine with the trickiest placing of the items and points to a galaxy pattern manta ray plushie which he knows from experience that he wouldn't win himself.
“Can you get me that one?”
Gojo gives it a look, hums as he thinks for a couple of seconds, and nods.
“Sure.” He fishes out two hundred-yen coins and puts them in.
“You get three tries for five hundred,” Suguru comments, but Gojo scoffs at it.
“I don't need three times,” he says, and even though he fails the first time, sure enough after two more coins Suguru stares at the soft plushie held up in front of his face. He blinks at it, then takes it from Gojo's hands.
“Thanks?” he says, his fingers involuntarily pressing into the softest plush. Gojo must have used his six eyes or something for this, such an easy win seems unfair, but Suguru keeps it to himself. “Let's go up?”
They stop by one of the rhythm games to give it a try, then go further up, snaking around through dozens of different machines until they come across the older games' corner.
“How do you feel about–”
“--Tekken?”
It's immediate, the jiggle of coins as they push them in, sitting at the two arcade machines next to each other for a couple of rounds of the fighting game. Those couple rounds turn into a few, and then into a dozen, and Suguru loses the count of who’s winning the same way he loses track of time and of coins fed to the arcade. At some point, only to hinder Gojo, Suguru grabs his hand. And Gojo lets him, and he entwines their fingers together like he’s been waiting for it, yearning for it. He’s not the one who loses focus though; Suguru looks away from the screen and to their hands, Gojo’s long pale fingers between his. A second passes, then another, and once Suguru blinks, there’s buzzing in his ears, bright red letters on Gojo's screen announcing the win. Suguru turns his head to look at his screen where blue letters greet him in a lost fight.
Gojo stands up but doesn't let go of Suguru's hand.
“It was the winning point,” he says. “I was planning on letting you get it, but–”
“I don't mind losing to you,” Suguru says, surprising himself. “It was fun.”
“You tried to cheat,” Gojo teases, smiling. Suguru shrugs and holds up their hands.
“Punishment isn't that bad, I suppose.”
Gojo grins at him, dipping his head to make sure their eyes meet even through his sunglasses.
“Yeah?”
“Don't make me take it back,” Suguru warns him and then looks around. “Any more plans here?”
“Cherry on top,” Gojo says, pulling Suguru after himself as he practically flees up the stairs to the top floor where the photo booths are. Suguru rolls his eyes but he goes into the booth willingly, both of them crouching down to get into frame. They throw peace signs with their fingers, then Gojo forms a heart with his hands which Suguru frowns at, and then they're laughing in the next one. For the last photo Suguru kind of expects Gojo to use the sudden kiss before the camera card, but he stays still, only taking off his glasses. The camera zooms in for the face photo and it ends up with their eyes drawn to each other. Even though Gojo doesn't add any text or stickers to it, the exaggerated eyes filter is enough to make it look silly, but also, somehow, it fills Suguru with a soft fluffy feeling.
“You're behaving,” Suguru notes when they both hold the printed photos in their hands. Gojo puts his copy under his phone case.
“You said we're taking it slow,” he says. “Changing your mind already?”
Suguru shrugs. He's not really changing it per se, but the pieces fall together nicely, a puzzle put together with little to no effort. It seems too easy almost, so he looks for a catch but doesn't find any.
He doesn't feel the yearning that Gojo has mentioned before, doesn't feel like everything would be solved with a kiss, but the presence of Gojo soothes him in a very nice way and fills him with some kind of excitement, reminding him that life is worth living. It comes naturally, too, no filtering of his thoughts, no guessing what Gojo would like to hear, how Suguru should act himself. They just are, here, in the moment, and everything else falls behind them.
It doesn't suffocate Suguru.
It lets him breathe.
-
“How is it with him?” Yaga asks when Suguru comes across him in the backyard. The cursed corpse dolls following him around now come to circle Suguru, waiting to be pet.
“Satoru?” Suguru bends down to give the little monsters some attention. Their eyes narrow in content. “Good. He's getting along with everyone, so better than expected, I reckon,” he says. “Apparently we're soulmates.”
Yaga hums, but Suguru can't tell if he's guessed it all along or is hearing it for the first time.
“I can see why,” he comments, a tiny smile cutting across his face.
“Really? Why?”
“One pulls in, one pushes away,” Yaga says without a moment of thought. “Magnets with different poles are bound to come together. The energies residing in you attract each other on several levels.”
Suguru nods, thinking. It matches them. They're not opposites after all. Satoru and he are the same, they both have the pole which attracts and the pole which repels, they simply work on different things, covering it all between the two of them. Maybe that's the whole deal with being soulmates, Suguru thinks, it just makes sure that their poles are aligned correctly to pull together instead of pushing apart.
“That actually sounds about right,” he notes, and Yaga lets out a short laugh.
“See? You should listen to your elders. Maybe teach Gojo that, too.”
Now it's Suguru who laughs, lightly.
“That might be a challenge,” he says, standing up. Yaga encouragingly pats his shoulder and checks his watch; perhaps he's on his way to another meeting.
“And when have you ever not been up for one?” he asks, but he doesn't wait for an answer. His cursed doll creatures follow after, leaving Suguru alone.
He thinks for a moment, then takes out his phone for a call. It takes two beeps for it to be picked up.
“Satoru? Where are you?”
-
“Am I imagining or you've never called me by my name before?” Satoru asks, stepping through the pitch-black veil. Like some special effect, it vanishes behind him.
“What about it?” Suguru replies. “You started calling me by my first name out of nowhere, too.”
“Hey, I'm not complaining,” Satoru holds up his hands in defence, then comes up to put his arm around Suguru's shoulders; it's a very familiar weight at this point. “And neither have you. So? What brings you here?”
“Magnets,” Suguru says, leaning into the touch. Satoru tilts his head in question.
“Magnets?” he repeats the word, still confused. “Okay?”
“I don't really feel yearning towards you,” Suguru says and at a twitch of Satoru’s lips quickly adds, “ but . Just clarifying here.” He takes a deep breath and places his hand on Satoru's hips, pushing it under his jacket to put his finger through the belt loop. “But I'm fond of you. A little more than fond. Seduced by the snake, huh?”
Satoru's lips turn into a grin.
“Sorry, Rainbow dragon, Suguru is about to have a new favourite to summon when in need.”
Suguru snorts, “You're crazy.”
“Oh yes,” Satoru agrees. “Crazy about you.”
Suguru smiles at this, warm in the face. He lifts his hand to pull at Satoru’s blindfold. “Can I?”
Satoru hums in agreement.
“You can literally do anything you want,” he says, lowering his head as Suguru pushes the cloth up his forehead and then completely off.
“I want to have you for myself,” Suguru says, looking right into the sky of Satoru’s eyes.
“Good,” Satoru hushes. “No one else could even if they wanted to. Remember? Infinity.”
“Do you truly believe in soulmates?”
“Do you not?”
“Right now I do,” Suguru confesses. “Unexpectedly, this feels right.”
“Unexpectedly?” Satoru lets out a puff, lips in a pout. “I think you meant ‘luckily’ or ‘obviously.’”
“You really never doubted this?”
“For a second, when you punched me,” Satoru rolls his eyes into the sky, but comes back to Suguru immediately, “but I mean… back then I didn't know we're soulmates, I was just drawn to you. Intrigued. Thought that's just what the whole love at first sight thing means or something.”
“I thought you're an asshole,” Suguru says with a chuckle. “And all of this is bullshit, like, no way we could have what actual soulmates have, but I guess… we might?”
“Any chance you wanna kiss me after this revelation? Seal the deal?” Satoru asks, blinking a few times for effect. Suguru doesn't need it though, he's been thinking about it for a while already.
“Kiss yourself,” he still says because sometimes he's a bit of an asshole as well. Satoru snorts at it, slips his arm from Suguru's shoulders to his waist and pulls him closer.
“I'll take this as an invite,” he says and he leans in, closing his eyes. Suguru does the same, moving his both hands to Satoru's neck and the back of his head; he doesn't want this to be just a peck on the lips, but it seems that Satoru feels the same. His tense body relaxes against Suguru, yet his grip is strong, like one thing he's afraid of is Suguru slipping away from him. His kisses are greedy, he knows what he wants, but it happens to be the same thing Suguru wants, too, a taste of wonder in his mouth, a wave of heat crashing onto him and leaving pleasant warmth behind.
Haibara was right; it is quite a bit like winning a lottery.
-
Accepting the soulmate thing comes easier than Suguru had imagined, and it's less grand than he thought. It makes sense now when he really thinks about it – having a constant soothing feeling with pecks of high emotions of love makes more sense, like the night sky with uncountable millions of stars in there, rather than a sudden burst of emotion with no way to go further; it’s not easy to find something brighter in the night if you start with the moon. It works for Satoru maybe, his eyes see more than everyone else’s after all, the moon is just the beginning of an adventure of supernovas, and nebulas, and galaxies colliding. It takes Suguru's breath away, realising that he comes up on the same list with all of that.
“No more ranting?” Nanami asks him when Satoru leaves their lunch table after getting a call about another appearance of Sukuna's finger. Suguru takes his unfinished soda and pours it into his own glass, filling it up again.
“Yeah, well,” he chuckles, “not about the soulmate thing itself, I guess. His antics are another thing, though.”
“I heard he called higher-ups a bunch of wusses.”
“Tell me about it,” Suguru sighs. “It's about the kid who ate one of Sukuna’s fingers and became a vessel. They want to exorcise him, and Satoru wants to take him in. So he's not listening to them, of course.”
“But you're on his side, too, Geto?”
Suguru nods.
“Wouldn't have called the higher-ups off for that, though. It just makes them mad and more difficult to negotiate with. I'm not sure where Satoru was going with it, it's just that annoying the shit out of everyone is his hobby sometimes.”
“You look way too fond saying this,” Nanami points out and Suguru shrugs.
“It works out, you know. Whatever I suggest after his tantrums is taken better, so as long as we're on the same side, I'm good. We did get what we wanted, in the end,” he says, and then with a laugh adds. “But I am too fond of him, it appears.”
Nanami smiles slightly at this.
“It was a little funny to see you struggle at the beginning,” he says. “Playing hard to get.”
“Don't embarrass me, Nanami,” Suguru breathes, feeling warmth in his cheeks. “Am I losing your respect?”
Nanami takes a deep breath like he needs to prepare himself for the answer.
“No, Geto,” he finally says. “Weirdly, Gojo received a tiny bit of respect from me only for scoring you as a soulmate. He must be doing something right.”
It makes Suguru laugh.
“He is,” he says. “He really is.”
-
Some of the things Satoru does right are kept away from everyone else and meant for Suguru only.
Satoru's grip around him tightens and when he rocks his hips forward again, Suguru moans, hardly keeping himself standing, his hands against the wall offering less support than expected. Satoru's breath is hot against his neck when he leans over him, a little laugh in between all the panting tickling Suguru's ear.
“Coming?”
“Not on the wall,” he manages, turning his head to meet Satoru's gleaming eyes. They're full of fervour, the hottest fire with blue flames.
A weak grunt comes up his throat, mixes up with a laugh, and then he's turning them both around; a stumble forward and Suguru’s knees meet the bed, few more strokes matched with a few more thrusts and he’s gripping the sheets, Satoru nearly collapsing on top of him as the pleasure greets him, too.
“I'm gonna fall,” Suguru says, barely keeping himself up with the weight of Satoru atop his back.
“Fall for me?” Satoru asks, pressing a kiss on Suguru's shoulder. Taking a deep breath, he peels himself off Suguru and stands up. When Suguru lies on his back, smiling in glee, he sees Satoru tie off the condom and throw it into a trash can in the corner.
“Gross,” Suguru comments. Satoru raises his eyebrows at him, but a smile doesn't fade from his face. He comes to lie down next to Suguru, props himself up on his elbow to lean over Suguru and kiss him two times.
“You're gonna be the end of me,” he says. Suguru rolls his eyes, then lifts his head to steal another kiss from Satoru.
“Shower and then a movie?” he asks, and Satoru hums.
“Anything with you.”
-
“I told you I have a feeling,” Haibara says when he and Suguru get in the car to go check out some sightings of curses reported. Satoru waves to them from the front gate, and Suguru's expression softens.
“I know, I know,” he says, waving back before he starts the engine. “I blame it on the sky now, I suppose it was actually making me gloomy and pessimistic sometimes.”
“Well, not anymore,” Haibara says with a big smile.
“Right,” Suguru agrees, stealing another glance at Satoru before driving away. “No wonder you always look happy with Nanami around. I kind of understand it now.”
“I get what you meant before though,” Haibara hums. “I mean, what it all looked like to you from the side. You don't see it yourself now, but I do. The looks you share with Gojo, the way you relax around each other, the care.”
“You're gonna make me blush, Haibara.”
“Sorry,” Haibara laughs. “But that's good, it finally looks like you enjoy this life a lot.”
Suguru nods; he doesn't even need to think if he's happy. It’s not like he wasn't before, but it's different now. Even bad days have some goodness in them, and more things bring him joy, and he feels less stressed with Satoru around. It's insane, everything he feels for Satoru now, and everything he gets in return, too. He never thought he could love someone so much, could care for someone to such an extent. But he does.
He takes a deep breath and laughs lightly to himself.
“Yeah. I really do.”
-
“You know Shoko?” Satoru asks, scrolling on his phone. Suguru looks up from his book.
“Ieiri Shoko? I think we met her with Haibara on a job a few years ago. Reversed cursed technique, right?”
“Yep,” Satoru nods, “she's a good friend,” he explains. “Anyway, she's saying you must have had a thing with Haibara. Have you?”
Suguru laughs, putting his book away.
“No,” he says. “He and Nanami met in high school. What, were you getting jealous?” he teases and Satoru shrugs.
“Just thinking how many chances of meeting you I have missed.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Suguru tells him. “It happened when it was supposed to happen.”
Satoru puts his phone in his pocket and slides closer to Suguru, eventually placing his head on his shoulder and hugging him around the waist.
“I didn't realise it until I met you, but I was pretty lonely all the time,” he says. “Nobody was able to fill the void the way you do.”
“Well, the purple was always missing from the picture,” Suguru notes with a smile and feels Satoru beam at it, too.
“I'm sorry for the blue,” Satoru says. “Must have sucked.”
“Not your fault,” Suguru replies, because it really isn't. “It was my reality and it was fine. You just turned it from fine to special.”
Satoru chuckles at it, tilts his head waiting for Suguru to do the same and meet his gaze.
“Yeah?” he asks when Suguru does.
“Yeah. Sorcery. As expected from a special grade.”
It makes Satoru snort and then straight up start laughing, which makes Suguru laugh as well. It's a shitty joke, but that doesn't matter. What does, is that he's got his soulmate right next to him, and whatever shitty thing comes their way, in the end, they can both laugh about it.
When Suguru thinks about it, it is, really, a pretty big deal.