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Satoru Gojo lost.
Satoru Gojo could not lose.
Satoru Gojo lost.
Satoru stood there shocked as he clutched his side, red seeping between his fingers. Distantly he heard someone shouting his name.
The curse he was fighting loomed in front of him as his vision grew blurry. He had to win. He had to keep fighting. He had no other choice.
Satoru Gojo does. Not. Lose.
He started to sway on his feet, feeling like something was wrong. He couldn’t feel the wound in his side, but he had been hit pretty hard with the curse’s claws, he thought distantly.
The sound of someone calling his name got louder but he wasn’t sure where it was coming from.
Was that Suguru?
It had to be.
Suguru had come with him on this mission. Satoru had acted without thinking when he saw the curse sneak up behind him, long claws heading right for him.
Suguru.
Suguru Geto.
The long-haired boy who was secretly his everything.
The black-haired boy who snuck into his isolated life and became his reason to do better, to be better.
Stupid.
He was so stupid.
Why didn’t he get Limitless up in time?
Why couldn’t he do something so simple?
He pressed his fingers closer into the wound on his side, feeling the warmth of his body leave him faster than it had any right to. He would be fine. He would be fine because Suguru was fine. And Suguru was his soul. As long as Suguru was safe, so was his soul, he thought absentmindedly, as his knees started to shake.
He felt a warm strong arm drape itself around him and pull him closer. The figure started to shout, but it was hard to make out what he was saying.
“Sato-----, sta--------, with---------hey!” the voice shouted.
Satoru’s eyes had slipped closed. The person holding him was good, he thought. The person who caught him was safe somehow, because Limitless wasn’t working. It must be Suguru. He was the only person he trusted with his whole being.
Strong arms started to shake him as he felt himself get even more tired. He allowed himself to slump into Suguru’s arms as his body felt impossibly heavy.
He wasn’t trying to stay awake anymore. He was safe now. Suguru was here, so nothing bad could happen anymore. He opened his eyes briefly to see Suguru’s face looking down in horror at him.
Why did he look like that?
What could possibly make Suguru look scared like that?
No matter.
He let his eyes slip closed again, not wanting to see that expression carved on his beautiful face. That expression was full of pain and anguish. Such a face didn’t belong on someone so beautiful.
Suguru was still speaking something, but he couldn’t hear anything now, a dull roar getting louder in his ears.
He felt cold, now. Suguru’s arms were warm against his skin. It felt nice. Suguru always felt nice.
Satoru loved to find little ways to touch him. The other man never rejected his touch, but he never sought it out either. Sometimes he seemed vaguely uncomfortable when Satoru would lay an arm on him, but he never told him to stop, which frustrated him sometimes. He preferred it when people were clear with what they wanted.
The strong arms around him started to shake him but Satoru was too far gone to care. He felt floaty now. Maybe a little dizzy. He might pass out soon. But that was okay.
Suguru had him. For now at least.
He knew his time with Suguru was temporary. No one ever stayed for long around him. But that was okay. He loved to hoard these moments with Suguru while he had them. Rip little pieces of him and shove them deep inside his heart, where he could keep them safe. Where he could pull them out, one at a time, when he had bad days. When he had days where he was alone. Days where he retreated into himself. Because he knew those were the days no one wanted to see. No one wants to see him sad. No one wants to be around someone who had sadness draped around them like a cloak. So those were the days he would bring out his little memories of Suguru and his smile. The crinkle in his eyes when Satoru made him laugh. The smell of his shampoo. The way his hair bounced when he walked.
Little moments like that that he had hoarded got him through bad days. So now as he felt himself slipping, he smiled as he thought of the last time he saw Suguru smile.
-----
They were sitting across from each other at a lunch table. Soon they would have to leave for their newest mission. But right now, they just had each other. Right now, they were just two high school kids spending a hot lazy afternoon together.
Satoru was sitting cross legged on the bench with his arm propping up his head on the table while Suguru was sitting more formally, his knees slightly apart, back straight.
In between them were some Yu-gi-oh cards and their lunch boxes, haphazardly thrown to the side, food long forgotten.
Satoru had cajoled Suguru into playing Yu-gi-oh cards with him, letting the other borrow some of his better decks.
They had just finished a match where Satoru had won after a long back and forth, when Suguru set down his remaining cards with a frown.
“Aren’t you supposed to let new players win or something?” Suguru grumbled. He may not seem like the type, but he was often a sore loser. Not as bad as Satoru, but still not a proud loser.
Of course, Satoru liked to use his favorite deck with his Blue Eyes White Dragon cards, and every time Suguru would try to get him to use a different deck, since he hadn’t figured out how to beat this one with the other decks Suguru had borrowed.
Satoru uncrossed his legs and reached over into his bag, pulling out a different deck. It was in an unassuming red case, and he casually tossed it over to Suguru, who caught it with one hand.
“What’s this?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow at the other.
“Oh, nothing. Just a little gift. You’ve been mentioning wanting your own deck so I threw something together for you,” he said in the most casual tone he could muster. He was trying not to blush or act weird in front of Suguru. Friends give each other gifts all the time, right? There was nothing weird about giving your best friend a gift related to a card game they both enjoyed, he thought.
Suguru looked down at the box in his hands and slowly clicked open the box, pulling out the first card. It was a shiny Danger! Jackalope card. Satoru had built him a deck based off the danger series, which was modeled after cryptid creatures, which he knew Suguru loved. Suguru slowly dumped out the whole deck into his hands and thumbed through each card slowly. His expression was blank as he did so, which made Satoru nervous. Did he like it? Did he think it was dumb? Maybe he didn’t even really like the game and just played to keep Satoru happy, he wondered.
Suguru finished thumbing through the cards and ever so slightly the corner of his lip quirked up in a smile. His eyes also softened as he looked down at the deck in his hand. He looked up and to the side, not quit making eye contact as he muttered, “Thanks….This is cool.”
He shifted his gaze to the side before shifting to back to look at Satoru in the eyes finally, tilting his head to the side slightly as he asked, “But how did you know that I liked cryptids?”
Satoru blinked once. Then twice, staring blankly at Suguru.
“….Dude. You have a Loch Ness monster plushie. It’s not rocket science.”
At this Suguru raised his hand to cover his mouth and looked away, starting to chuckle silently. His eyes were full of mirth as he tried to suppress his laughter, but he failed the longer the silence between them went on. Eventually his hand fell, and he was laughing softly to himself before he spoke.
“Satoru. My plushie is a dinosaur. A plesiosaur. Like all my other plushies are.” He had stopped laughing and paused for a moment.
“Although I’ll give you credit, the Loch Ness monster is based off the plesiosaur historically.”
Satoru thought for a moment about all the other dinosaur plushies Suguru had around his room and his face reddened.
Why didn’t he realize that one was a dinosaur too? He thought in despair.
Seeing the flush rise on Satoru’s face he interjected to say, “Hey, don’t worry about it. I like dinosaurs and cryptids. It’s just a funny mistake. Don’t be too embarrassed. I like this deck, really.”
At his words Satoru’s internal panic faded somewhat. He was relieved that his gift was well received and even it was at his expense, he loved when he made Suguru laugh. The way his eyes crinkled and the way he always tried to stifle his laughter made him smile. He thought he was the prettiest when he was smiling at Satoru, eyes usually full of humor, a flash of white teeth, face soft.
Fighting down the turmoil inside his heart, he smiled back and said, “I’m glad you liked it! Now….wanna try your hand at actually winning a game or was all your shit talk last match just empty words?”
He smirked as Suguru narrowed his eyes at him.
“You’re on, pretty boy” Suguru said with a smirk at the end.
Satoru flushed at these words and pulled out a different deck, eager to teach Suguru how to use his new deck.
The two boys continued to spend the rest of the afternoon playing, eventually moving to lay under a tree while they played, not knowing the turmoil they would be in for their next mission.
----
Back in Suguru’s arms, Satoru slowly slipped unconscious, and the last thing he could sense was the smell of Suguru’s hair and the warmth of his body as he hugged him close.
----
Satoru woke up in a brightly lit room, a sterile smell hovering around everything in it. He opened his eyes slowly.
He was in the medical ward, he realized with a start.
That was his first thought.
His second thought as he started to sit up was Fuck, his side coming to life with a burning pain.
He flopped back immediately, but his hiss of pain alerted the person sitting next to him.
Oh.
It was Suguru.
The other man jerked up and rushed over to Satoru, worry evident on his brow.
“Hey hey hey, don’t push yourself,” he said as he put his hands out towards Satoru, unsure what to do. Suguru stood next to his bed, hovering hesitantly.
Satoru let himself stay back, not wanting to aggravate his injury again. The injury he could only vaguely remember getting. He faintly remembered a curse.
He remembered Suguru walking through the woods talking about… something? About a movie that he liked maybe?
He remembered the curse launching itself out of the woods, claws reaching towards Suguru’s neck.
He hadn’t even thought twice about it before throwing himself at Suguru, the only thought on his mind being that he had to protect Suguru.
He remembered trying to activate Limitless in time, and failing. Feeling something sharp rip through him. He didn’t feel the pain though. Or maybe he just didn’t remember the pain. At least not right away.
He remembers starting to fight the curse through the haze, throwing out quick successions of blue at it.
He remembers failing.
He failed to protect Suguru.
He failed to get Limitless up when it mattered.
How could he be so worthless?
How could he have been so dumb? Acting without thinking. He was better than that. He was smarter than some half assed self-martyring move like that, he thought ruefully.
As he sat there stewing in the memories that were quickly rushing back, Suguru just stared at him.
He stared at him like he was drinking in every detail of his face. Like he had to memorize every detail of his face for the last time. Like it was the last time. He didn’t let any emotions show on his face as he drank in the sight of Satoru. Alive. Awake.
Oblivious to this, Satoru looked up at Suguru who looked away quickly.
“I…I think I remember some of what happened.” He started hesitantly.
“Mm”, Suguru hummed, fighting to keep his face blank.
“Can…can you tell me what all happened?”
Suguru avoided eye contact as he started talking.
“We were looking for that Grade 1 curse outside of Toyama. We were in the woods following its residual when I heard a sound behind me and noticed the curse coming at me.”
Suguru paused.
“Then…then you threw yourself in front of me and got hurt.”
“You got hurt bad, Satoru.” he said slowly.
“You hit the curse a couple times with Blue before I took over. I was able to defeat the curse pretty easily after that.”
As he says this, he notices bandages on Suguru’s arms. They’re thick and he can tell they need changed soon, brown oozing up to the top of them.
He failed then.
He…lost.
He never loses, he thought distantly. He wasn’t allowed to lose.
Losing was never an option for him. He had to be the best. He was the world’s youngest special grade sorcerer. He had been raised since birth for this one purpose. This was his only purpose. To fight. And to win. Failure was never an option.
If Satoru Gojo failed, then who was he?
Because the name Satoru Gojo was synonymous with victory and strength. He was the strongest because he was Satoru Gojo. It was all he had ever known. He was raised with very little leeway in what he was allowed to do and very strict standards.
The only times he was acknowledged by his parents as a kid was whenever he mastered a new technique or skill. He was only worth something when he excelled at something. He didn’t know any other way to exist.
He glanced back up at Suguru who had quit talking. His face looked blank, but there was something just below the surface. He couldn’t tell what it was, only that it was unpleasant.
“What happened after you killed the curse?”
Suguru still wouldn’t look at him.
“I rushed you back here to Shoko. You were losing a lot of blood, so I flew us back on one of my curses.” His voice came out stilted, with pauses between each phrase. Suguru was never the talkative one between the two of them, but this was curt even for him.
Was he mad? He thought absently. Maybe Suguru was mad that he had had to deal with the curse on his own. Maybe he was upset that Satoru had lost and left him to clean up his mess. Maybe he was mad because he got hurt after Satoru did.
He couldn’t argue with that sentiment. He deserved to be punished for messing up this badly. It wouldn’t be the first time. But he had a feeling this was probably the worst mess up he had had, judging by the look on Suguru’s face.
He decided to try to relieve some of the tension in the air by cracking a smile and saying, “Hey, at least you can finally say you beat me at something.”
Suguru frowned at his words and looked away from him again, torn between the urge to finish killing Satoru and hug him so tight he could never get hurt again.
----
Shoko came in then and looked at the two of them. Gojo was laying down, with his head propped up on a pillow, Geto hovering over him, a frown on his face. Gojo didn’t look particularly thrilled to be alive, despite the miracle she had just pulled. He was missing a sense of awe at her work that she deserved for stitching back together that fucking idiot.
The idiot who not only had thrown himself in front of Suguru without Limitless on, but then proceeded to exhaust his energy by attacking the curse with multiple rounds of Blue. The idiot who then proceeded to faint and was missing 40% of his blood volume by the time Geto had shown up.
The normally calm Geto had been breathing rapidly, with Gojo clutched in his arms. His arms had been stained red, some of it drying already, and some of it fresh, still dripping from his arms and from Gojo’s side. Gojo had been pale, his eyes closed and his breathing shallow. If she hadn’t noticed the faint movements of his chest, she would had thought he was already dead from how pale he was and the amount of blood soaked into his shirt. Not to mention the distraught look on Geto’s face. The younger boy had landed clumsily, climbing off his curse before running towards Shoko, stumbling as he had shouted at her.
“Please please, you have to save him, you have to!” He had cried as he fell to his knees, Gojo still cradled in his arms.
She knew how much Geto cared for Gojo. Had known for a while. She also knew how much Gojo cared for Geto, with this stupid ass stunt only solidifying her theories.
The theory being that these two were fucking idiots who were in love with each other, but both refused to say anything to the other, thinking they both were stuck in unrequited love land.
She had treated Gojo obviously. She had slaved away all night using a mixture of her medical training and her reverse curse technique to piece him back together. If she only had had one or the other to rely on, Gojo would be dead.
If Shoko wasn’t an overworked, overstressed 16-year-old who had cheated her way into medical school, Geto would be getting ready for a funeral instead of standing over Gojo, still somehow looking like he was sad. If Geto had been maybe 10 minutes slower, Gojo would be dead. If the wound had been 2 centimeters deeper, Gojo would be dead. A million things had to go right for Gojo to be alive, the most important of which was her work.
Which neither of them seemed to appreciate right now.
They both just kept staring at each other sadly, avoiding eye contact everytime their eyes met.
These fucking idiots.
“How you feeling? Do you feel like you died and came back to life? Because you almost did. Because that’s what happens when you get stabbed and lose most of your blood you know. You usually die when that happens. Instead, you have me, and now you get to sit there for the next 2 weeks, doing absolutely nothing except recovering until I give you permission to move. Which by the way you will need. You’re gonna need permission to get out of bed, even to sit up.” She started to say, tearing into him.
Gojo at least had to decency to look somewhat cowed by her words.
“You see when you almost die, you have to listen to every word of the person who saved your ass, which in this case, is me. And I’m telling you right now, the next time you do something dumb like this, you can find some other reverse cursed technique user to fix you because I can stitch your wounds back together, but I can’t fix stupid.”
Gojo winced at the last part of her words.
She was pleased that he seemed to be understanding the seriousness of her words. She was being sarcastic with her tone, but she wanted to make sure he understood just how bad his situation was right now. She just wanted him to realize his feelings before it got him killed. Because next time, there was no guarantee she could save him. And with the way her attempts to teach him reverse cursed techniques were going she didn’t exactly have much faith in his ability to suddenly acquire the ability to do it. Not that the way she was teaching him was faulty in any manner whatsoever. How hard could it be to understand it, really?
She could see how cursed energy moved through every human being, with swirls of energy passing through a person’s chakras in typically the same order. In order to heal someone, you just had to identify where the blockages in energy were and fix them by pushing a little energy this way and a little energy that way. Sometimes you had to give a big shove and whoosh! It would start to trickle through to where it needed to go to heal someone. If things were really bad, then she would have to focus her own energy into them as well.
Usually just readjusting a person’s own energy was enough to heal them, but in this recent case she had had to pour her own limited energy into Gojo to make up for all the energy he had stupidly burned up after he was injured. And when doing that, you just had to shove your energy at the area that needed help. Simple, right?
For some reason, Gojo never understood her easy explanations, so until he figured it out, she needed to make sure she studied hard enough to heal him and Geto up whenever they got injured.
His wounds have been relatively minor compared to Gojo’s, so she had not had much trouble patching him up after stabilizing Gojo.
She had been studying harder than ever since she came to Jujutsu High, cheating her way into medical school at an astonishingly young age in order to gather as much knowledge as possible in order to protect the two people she now cared for viciously.
It was a great burden for one high schooler to be one of the only curse users who knew how to use reverse cursed technique on other people. She was the only one that Principal Yaga had ever met personally. A lot of the ones like her were incredibly overworked and delegated to healing roles to try to mitigate the high mortality rate of the field they worked in.
And she was fine with this.
She was.
But sometimes she just wanted to be young and a kid and do stupid things with her stupid friends and not worry about people dying. Sometimes she just wanted to not have to worry about Gojo and Geto every time they went on a mission. Sometimes she wanted to not worry about the underclassman, who were somehow even more naïve looking than these two.
So maybe she was a little stressed. They all were, with the increased number of curses supposedly since Gojo was born. (Way to inflate that kid’s ego with that statistic, she thought wryly.)
But she worried because she cared. And that’s why she put her hands on her hips and turned to Gojo saying, “So why did you jump in front of that curse, eh? It’s like you lose all your braincells everytime the two of you are together. I wonder why that is.” She finished with a knowing smirk.
While Gojo hadn’t explicitly told her about his crush, she knew. She wasn’t sure if he actually knew it himself yet though. He constantly talked about Geto every time they were alone together and made stupid heart eyes at him during class. Every time Geto would look at him to do the same thing, he would pretend to be looking somewhere else, pretending oh no, I’m a hopelessly gay man who definitely isn’t in love with his best friend, I was staring at you for platonic reasons! Every time he did that Shoko wanted to reach over and strangle him. Or push him into Geto.
But she gave them the benefit of that doubt. They would figure themselves out eventually, she thought. They had to. No two people could be this dumb and oblivious to a crush. It was impossible.
Yet that was the scene that played out in front of her. Gojo, laid in front of her, injured from trying to protect the boy he loved, and Geto. The boy who was crying not long ago because the boy he loved was dying in his arms. Both somehow avoiding talking to each other or even looking at each other.
At her question the two of them looked at her surprised, then resumed their avoiding eye contact game they had been playing, with Gojo starting to flush red from her words.
“Shokooooo,” he whined.
“You can’t bully me, I just almost died!”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Yeah? And who’s fault is that?” she retorted.
Gojo stuck out his bottom lip at her in a pout, pretending to ignore her question.
She looked at the two of them, first Gojo and then Geto and started speaking very slowly, “I’m going to leave the room now. And you two are going to talk about your relationship with each other and how you each feel about the other. And about why Gojo would have jumped in front of you. If I come back in an hour and you two still aren’t talking to each other, then I swear to god, I’m going to undo everything I just did to fix Gojo.”
At her last words, he exclaimed, “Hey now! Why am I the only one being threatened here?!”
She whipped her head over to him, and pointed at him, “Because you’re the bigger idiot of the two!”
His mouth that had been gaping open snapped shut in shock. She was right, but she could have said it nicer somehow, he thought begrudgingly.
At this she turned and whirled out of the room, hopeful but doubtful this shove off a cliff of a push would be enough to actually get them to talk.
After Shoko left Satoru was left befuddled by her behavior. What did she mean talk about their relationship? They were best friends. That’s all there was to it. Everyone felt this way about their best friends. It was normal to think of your best friend all of the time. It was normal to want to see them smile and do everything you could to make them laugh. It was normal to get nervous when you were alone together. It was normal to feel your heart skip a beat when they casually touched your hand or leaned into you. It was norma—wait.
Why did everything he just described sound like a girl with a crush? He thought despairingly.
Satoru had never really had crushes before. He had been kept pretty isolated and was homeschooled during his childhood, so he hadn’t had the opportunity to meet many people outside of his family. Hadn’t ever even thought about things like romance or sexuality during all of his training.
His life was supposed to just be about being the strongest. There was never meant to be anyone at the top with him.
And then Suguru came.
Suguru came and carved his way into Satoru’s space. Where they once had been aching loneliness inside Satoru, now was filled with Suguru’s soft glow of a smile. Where Satoru had once thought he was above needing friends, now he realized how precious these school years were becoming to him. That being the strongest didn’t mean being alone. That being alone didn’t make him stronger.
He still didn’t know how to rely on people though. He was prone to taking the lion’s share of missions because that was what he was taught. He didn’t know how to ask for help because that had never been an option before.
Which is why he always acted like a hot shot during missions.
Which is why he took the blow for Suguru.
That and the overwhelming desire to protect him that he had. It didn’t matter if he got hurt as long as Suguru was okay. It was okay for him to be in danger, but never Suguru. This was how he rationalized his actions. As the strongest sorcerer of his generation, he was supposed to be the one to protect others, never the other way around.
Did this mean that he had romantic feelings for Suguru?
Was this not just how friends felt about each other?
Was this more than just platonic love?
He felt it was easy to admit he loved Suguru. After all, how could anyone not love him? He was perfect in every way. Not to mention how kind he always was to Satoru, whether he deserved it or not. But it was harder to figure out if he felt more.
He imagined kissing Suguru. Leaning in towards him, feeling the warm breath of his tickle his lips before pressing into his soft lips with his. The little shock that would go through him as he realized Suguru was into it as well and started to press back, his lips forceful against him. They would be warm and soft. Oh so soft. If they were half as soft as his hands, he imagined it would be like kissing a cloud.
As his thoughts wandered, a slight flush began to creep up his neck and he realized that maybe ok, he wanted to kiss Suguru. Maybe he wanted to do more than friendly things with him as well. But this was his first crush, his first love. His thoughts didn’t really progress much beyond kissing because he didn’t know much more than that. And that was fine. He would be content to hold Suguru’s long fingers and kiss him and oh god this really was a crush wasn’t it.
He reached his hands up to hold his head as he looked down in panic. Oh god he really was in love with Suguru. Was this what Shoko meant?? And how did she know before he did? And oh god he could never tell Suguru- it would ruin their friendship. But… was there any chance that he felt the same way?
No no that was impossible, he mentally panicked. There was no way perfect Suguru could love someone as flawed as him. It wasn’t possible for anyone to love him. After all, even his own parents could have cared less about what happened to him growing up. And if his own parents couldn’t be bothered to love him then how could someone like Suguru? Besides- he constantly was annoying him with his antics.
He sneaked a peek up at Suguru who was silently watching him and ducked his gaze back down. What was he supposed to say now? How was he supposed to act normal after his revelation?
Suguru was still watching him when he sneaked another peek up.
“…” He looked like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out, his mouth opening and closing ever so slightly.
Satoru decided to try to break the silence. “So….our relationship huh? I wonder why Shoko said something like that.”
At his words the tips of Suguru’s ears flushed ever so slightly as he turned to the side.
“Yeah…weird,” he muttered.
Suguru was giving him nothing here. This had to be the most awkward conversation Satoru had ever despite being gifted with the ability to talk to a wall if needed. But even Satoru was at a loss for words for how to approach this conversation, so he did what he did best and just started rambling.
“I mean our relationship is that we’re best friends, and the two strongest sorcerers. We complement each other so well! I have your back and you have mine. That’s why I took that hit for you. I wasn’t even thinking about it- I just knew I didn’t want to see you get hurt.”
Suguru looked down at his words, seeming slightly disappointed. Satoru wasn’t sure why. Was he still upset about Satoru saving him? Did it offend his pride to need saved? He wasn’t sure what the other boy was thinking, so he decided to ask.
“Are you still mad at me?”
At his words Suguru jolted his gaze up, his lips forming a small oh in shock as he replied, “Mad? Why would I be mad at you?”
“You know- because I had to jump in to save you. I figured that’s why you were acting weird. That you were mad that I had to protect you like that.”
As he spoke Suguru’s brow furrowed.
He spoke slowly as he replied, “Satoru….I’m not mad you had to protect me. Why would I be? I would do the same thing for you. If you think I’m upset it’s because you almost fucking died, okay?”
His tone grew louder as he continued, “I’m upset that you almost died, and you don’t seem to care. That you seem to value your own life so little when I-“ He cut himself off.
He took a breath to steady himself and continued, “If you think I’m mad it’s because I was worried, okay? I had to feel you bleeding out in my arms, and I never want that to happen again. I want you to think twice before you do something dangerous. I want you to make it home okay. Every time. So no. I’m not mad at you.”
Under his breath he muttered, “I just care too much about a dumbass.”
He was floored that Suguru seemed to be mad…for him and not at him. He had never seen someone get so worked up over his well-being, he wasn’t sure what to say. How does someone respond to that? And what did he mean- cared too much? What was a normal amount of caring? Why would he say something like that?
“Suguru…I’m, sorry?” He said with an inflection at the end, not sure what Suguru wanted him to say.
Suguru brought the palm of his head to his forehead in an exasperated movement. “Satoru, I don’t want an apology. I want you to take care of yourself. It’s not that hard.”
Cheekily, Satoru grinned and said, “Why would I need to take care of myself when I have you?”
Suguru flushed again and looked away. “Idiot,” he muttered.
“I won’t always be there to protect you.”
“Why wouldn’t you be? We’re going to be together always, right?”
Suguru groaned and the furrow in his brow grew larger.
“God Satoru you can’t just say stuff like that all the time. You’re going to make me think you mean something else one of these days.”
Satoru cocked his head to the side, “What you mean?”
Suguru finally sat down in the chair next to Satoru and replied, “Do I really have to spell this out to you?”
Satoru blinked innocently and smiled.
“I guess I do…”
“I know you were raised a little isolated, so maybe you don’t understand some things like this. But when you flirt with someone all the time, the other person is going to start to wonder if you like them.”
“But I do like Suguru.” Satoru replied easily.
Suguru threw his hands up and said, “See? This is what I mean!”
“I don’t mean just like, I mean like…like have a crush on the person like.”
Satoru flushed at this and looked away for a moment, replying, “Oh.”
Suguru grinned a little, deciding to tease the other boy, “Yeah, oh. Unless you actually do have a crush on me in which case, then all the flirting was purposeful.”
Satoru’s eyes widened. He hadn’t wanted Suguru to know. He hadn’t even known this morning. He started to sputter, “I- I- um, I-“
He wasn’t able to finish a single thought.
Suguru’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening. He leaned forward a little and asked, “Wait….do you actually have a crush on me?”
In the most unconvincing rebuttal ever, Satoru refused to make eye contact as he sputtered, “Whaaaaa, no, no way, I don’t know, no, um, no…..you’re dumb!”
As he shouted the last part out, he finally looked over to notice Suguru laughing, hand covering his mouth. Satoru was so embarrassed. Not only did Suguru figure it out, but now he was laughing at him?
Satoru frowned.
“Is it really so laughable that I could…like you like that?”
Suguru stopped abruptly. “I…no Satoru it’s not that. It’s just…”
He took a deep breath before continuing and looking him dead in the eyes, “Satoru. I like you too. I…I just thought it was funny that I’ve liked you this whole time, and just thought you were messing with me every time you would say stupid shit like that. I never would have guessed you liked me too.”
Satoru blushed and averted his eyes. “If it makes you feel any better I wasn’t sure of my feelings until today.”
He paused.
“I mean, I knew I loved you, but like, I don’t know. I thought it was your normal platonic love that was making me feel this way.”
He paused again before resuming, looking back at Suguru, “I’ve never, uh, had a crush on someone before. Let alone another guy. So it just…took me a minute to figure it out. But I do like you.”
Suguru was smiling as Satoru talked, tucking his bangs over to the side.
“Normal platonic love, eh?” He teased.
Satoru crossed his arms and replied, “Well yeah! Like you know how you love your friends so much and just want to protect them?”
Suguru was still smirking as he replied, “So you’re saying you feel the same way about Shoko?”
“I….no! But that’s different!”
“Exactly,” Suguru pointed out. “I’m assuming how you feel about her is going to be this platonic love you keep talking about, which I am really hoping is different than how you feel about me.”
Satoru pouted. “I guess,” he reluctantly admitted.
“I think you figured it out already, but I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, so some of these feelings are all new to me.”
Suguru smiled warmly and said, “It’s okay. Take your time. I’m just giving you shit.”
Suguru looked up thoughtfully. “That’s one thing you know. Sometimes when you have a crush on someone you give them shit just to get their attention.” He shrugged. “Or maybe you’re just fun to tease I don’t know.”
Satoru frowned, but then smiled because it really wasn’t that serious, was it? He enjoyed their relationship and how they interacted. Suguru kept him on his toes and didn’t get upset with how Satoru acted most of the time.
While he was thinking, Suguru stood up again and walked over. Ever so gently he crawled on top of Satoru in his bed and peered down at him. Satoru’s breath hitched as the darker haired boy hovered over him, not sure what was about to happen.
“Here’s something friends don’t do.”
With those words he braced his arms on either side of Satoru, knees on either side of Satoru’s legs, and leaned down. His lips met Satoru’s hesitantly. He could feel his breath on his nose, and it tickled ever so slightly. His lips were warm as they pressed into his, but they were more eager now, pressing harder into Satoru. He started to press back, his arms laying at his sides. He reached his hands up hesitantly, unsure of where to place them. He rested one hand on Suguru’s shoulder lightly and the other hand fell to the back of his head, pulling him closer. With that hand he freed Suguru’s hair from its bun. It fell slowly down, and Satoru had the urge to wrap his hands in it, soft as it was. Instead, he whirled his hand through his hair rubbing it between his fingers, marveling in the smoothness of the texture.
As they tested each other, they heard a noise at the door and Suguru didn’t stop immediately, chasing his lips as Satoru pulled his head back into his pillow.
---
Opening the door abruptly, Shoko burst in saying, “So how did the conversation go- oh hell no you don’t! You two! Down!” She rushed over to the two of them in bed and started to drag Geto, who had finally stopped kissing Gojo, off the bed by his ear, like the misbehaving child he was.
“Okay so apparently the conversation went well, but idiot one is still healing! He’s on bed rest for two weeks!”
She turned sharply towards Geto who was still breathing heavily, hair down and messed up around his shoulders. His lips were flushed, and he had a small smile on his face.
“I am oh so happy for you two, but he can’t be doing anything strenuous right now! That includes walking, running, fighting, and oh did I mention kissing?!”
Gojo was still in bed, touching his lips. He was only hearing about half of what Shoko was saying, still too caught up in his first kiss. Suguru’s lips were as soft as he had imagined. Softer even.
Shoko whipped over to him, noticing his glazed expression. “Oi. Pretty boy. I’m talking to you.”
Gojo started at the mention.
“I’m sor- wait did you just call me pretty boy?”
Shoko glared at him.
Point taken.
“Sorry for, uh, working myself up,” he replied in his best demure voice.
Shoko stomped over and started doing vitals on Gojo. Unsurprisingly his heart rate was incredibly elevated making it hard to tell if he was in pain or something else was going on.
She was glad they seemed to have figured their shit out, but she wasn’t expecting them to move so fast. The two idiots barely confessed and they’re already necking? While Gojo is still in his hospital bed from the near death experience? Where did they get the audacity? Because Shoko would sure love some of it.
That or a girlfriend. Yeah… she really needed a girlfriend. Especially if she was going to have to keep being around these two. If she thought they were insufferable before, then they were about to get even worse, she suspected.
She looked over to the two of them looking between each other. She was afraid that as soon as she left the two of them would pick up where they left off, and despite everything, she really did want the best for Gojo.
She stood up and walked over to the fluid pump next to Gojo. “I’m sure that wound of yours hurts pretty bad huh?” She asked while turning up one of the medications.
“I mean its not—” Shoko cut him off.
“So we’re going to give you some pain medicine right now which is gonna make you real sleepy! So, you’re going to take a nap and Geto here is going to leave. Or stay I guess, I don’t really care. But here’s your friendly reminder of the day.” She said with a lot of forced enthusiasm in order to get her point across. How dare anyone accuse her of not having good bedside manner. She had excellent bedside manner, excuse you.
She looked pointedly at Geto, “People on pain medication like this can’t properly consent to any…activities. So, I better not find anything going on when I come to check on y’all in an hour again, okay?” she finished with a fake cheer in her voice, clapping her hands together and looking between the two of them expectedly.
Gojo was already starting to look tired from the medication she had started, which was good. He needed the rest to finish healing. Between her technique and his enhanced physique from being a sorcerer he would heal in about half the time as a non sorcerer. But half of a long time is still a while. Longer than she knew he’d be able to stay in bed. She told him two weeks, but she expected him to last about a week before he started crawling the walls of the small hospital room. In reality he really only needed strict bed rest for about a week and then about 2-3 weeks of decreased activity. But he didn’t need to know that. She would let him suffer thinking he was disobeying her when he would “sneak out” of the room in about a week. Let him be afraid of her. A little fear was a good thing to have for the person keeping you alive if it made you less of a dumbass, she thought smugly. Work smarter, not harder was one of her core mottos in life which she applied to her work as well. If a little lie made her job easier, then so be it.
She looked between the two of them again and nodded before turning and walking back out of the room. They would be good this time. She had a good feeling about this.
---
As soon as Shoko left, Suguru turned back towards Satoru.
“So…” Suguru started.
“So.” Satoru replied, smiling.
They both started talking at the same time and stopped, blushing.
“You go first,” Satoru offered diplomatically, his features more relaxed.
Suguru was silent for a second before speaking, “Do you….want to go on a date when you’re recovered? Like a real date?”
The normally confident Suguru was hesitant in asking. He knew logically that they had just confessed. He knew Satoru was interested in him. Both romantically and physically. His red lips were proof of that. But what if he regretted it? What if he was just riding the high of a near death experience and didn’t want to do anything more? Not knowing that Satoru thought the same thing, Suguru didn’t think he was good enough for the other boy. Satoru was the prodigal son of the Gojo clan and Suguru was just…. Suguru. He came from nothing special. He wasn’t destined for anything greater than what he could grasp into his reach, thrashing, with his sweat and blood and tears. He didn’t have things given to him, so he had to fight for his place next to Satoru.
Satoru never saw the looks he got from the elders. The dismissals that someone like him could deserve a place near their golden boy. The whispers behind his back about where he came from. Who his parents were. How he wasn’t from one of the big families. How his family were non sorcerers like it was a dirty word.
So he tried his best to prove that he was worthy of being at Satoru’s side. He earned his special grade designation at the end of his first year. They called him a prodigy. But he never felt that way.
Similarly, he never thought too highly of Satoru. After all he was just a kid, like him. They were both human. They both went to the same classes and had the same opportunities now.
When Satoru had walked in that first day of class, he was radiating arrogance.
He had sat down next to Suguru. Looked him up and down and went, “Huh. Who the hell are you?”
At which, Suguru had raised an eyebrow and introduced himself as politely as he could.
In return he asked for Satoru’s name, and the other boy had looked shocked, replying “You don’t know who I am? What are you- new to the sorcery world or something?”
“I am, actually.” He had replied with an easy smile.
Satoru shut his mouth and cocked his head at Suguru.
“I think we’re going to be good friends, bangs. I’m Satoru of the Gojo clan and I am going to be the strongest sorcerer in Japan one day. Nice to meet you.” His voice had dripped with arrogance but also sincerity, as he held his hand out to Suguru. He had really believed his purpose was to be the strongest.
Their friendship had been rocky to start, but once Suguru figured out Satoru’s boundaries and buttons, they had settled into an easy push and shove dynamic. He could tell Satoru was an only child, since he wasn’t sure how to respond to Suguru’s teasing at first. Once he figured out it was a game, he started pushing back, and their friendship only grew from there.
Eventually Suguru had started to look at him with more than friendly thoughts in his mind. Liking a boy wasn’t much of a surprise to him, so he took it in stride. It made sense that he had never felt that way towards girls. He had just figured it would happen eventually. But it never did.
Instead, Satoru had become his whole focus, completely by accident.
But that’s a story for another time.
Here. And now. Satoru was safe. He was alive. And he liked Suguru back. In the same way Suguru liked him.
In this one moment, everything was okay with the world.
All his doubts and fears were quiet for a moment as he waited for Satoru to answer.
His eyes blinked heavily, but he answered, “Yeah. I would love to go on a date with you. Oh, I know! We can go to that arcade you’ve been talking about, and I’ll win you the biggest prize they have! And then we can….”
He smiled to himself as Satoru continued to talk about his idea for a date.
Noticeably Satoru was getting more tired, shaking his head to try to stay awake.
Suguru cut him off to say, “Hey. We can plan all that after you get some rest, okay?”
Satoru pouted his lip but nodded.
“Get some sleep okay?”
Satoru smiled and tapped the bed next to him.
“Stay by my side?”
“Always,” Suguru smiled.
----
When Shoko came in again, she smiled at the sight that awaited her. Geto was curled up next to Satoru in bed, fast asleep, his arm draped around Gojo. His head was tucked in Gojo’s side and the two of them were breathing deeply, lost in sleep. Gojo’s arm was wrapped around the back of Geto, holding him as close as he could in the small bed. There was barely enough room for the two of them, but they managed to fit.
She couldn’t be too mad at them this time. They were resting at least.
She walked over to take her vitals on Gojo again and noted how peaceful he looked when he was asleep.
He was doing well now that he was asleep.
She creeped back out of the room with a smile on her face.
She would do everything she could to protect these two and their happiness. They both deserved it. They all deserved it, she thought wistfully, as she walked away from where the two boys slept, not a worry to be had at this one moment.