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Nanami woke up with a small jolt, a hitched breath, and the sense that something was missing. Or maybe he was forgetting something important?
Turning to his left, he realized that someone was missing as the space next to him on the bed was glaringly bereft of one white-haired sorcerer. Nanami groaned and rubbed his face before checking the time—it was a bit past nine in the morning, meaning he should’ve heard at least one of his alarms go off but he clearly hadn’t. With a heavy sigh, he got up and went to the bathroom to take care of himself before trying to figure out where Gojo had run off to and make sure he wasn’t pushing himself too hard.
He was padding back to his room when a low hum coming from the kitchen caught his attention, immediately followed by the familiar scent of his favorite coffee. As quietly as he could, he followed the smell and stopped dead on his tracks when he found Gojo there, fussing with an expensive-looking coffee machine while something cooked in the oven.
“Gojo?”
“Oi, you’re up early,” Gojo said as he pressed a final button on the coffee machine and turned around. He was wearing his dark glasses and it was obvious that he had recently showered and very likely gone back home for a change of clothes, although he was still wearing the hoodie from the night before.
“I’m really not,” Nanami said. “I would’ve been up about an hour ago if I’d heard my alarm.”
“It’s a good thing I disabled it, then. Should’ve figured your internal clock would ruin the surprise, though.”
Nanami tilted his head, un-styled hair swishing over his eyes for a moment before he pushed it away from his forehead. “Surprise?”
There was a moment’s hesitation from Gojo, like he was trying to refocus, but then he grinned and took a long step to the side, extending and waving his arms towards the coffee machine with a flourish. “Ta-da!” He then moved to the other side and waved his arms in the oven’s direction. “And ta-da!” When all he got from Nanami was a confused frown, he clarified, “Breakfast! As a thank-you for yesterday.”
“Oh,” Nanami said, blinking slowly and focusing on the machine behind Gojo. “Thank you. You didn’t need to bring your own coffee machine, though, mine’s perfectly fine.”
“Oh, this isn’t mine. I don’t have one, to be honest. I don’t really like plain coffee—unlike you, heathen—and getting the stuff to make a frappe is really not worth it when I can just go to a coffee shop and buy one.”
“I cannot believe you just called me a heathen over how I drink my coffee when your concoctions are more sugar and cream than actual coffee,” Nanami deadpanned. Then, his frown deepened and he asked, “Wait. If that’s not your coffee machine then…”
“It’s obviously yours, duh.”
“There’s nothing obvious about it, Gojo. You can’t just casually give me something like this!”
“Why not?” Gojo pouted. “It has all the fancy settings I know you like, and an integrated grinder, aaaand—” he grinned as he pointed towards a secondary device that Nanami had somehow missed earlier, “it came with an iced coffee and frappe machine! So you can bring your awesome senpai a treat now and then.”
Nanami sighed, rubbing his temple. “So it’s a gift for you.”
“No! Like I said, it came with the coffee machine! It’s just a nice, added bonus. The kids like frappes and stuff, too, right? Everyone wins. But mostly you, because now you can have your espressos and Irish coffees and whatnot right at home. I’m sure you have the alcohol that goes with that, but I can bring you a bottle if you don’t.”
“When did you even get it?”
Gojo shrugged, moving to the oven to check on the food through the glass door. “This morning.” Sensing Nanami’s next question, he added, “Don’t stress, Na-na-min. I had a full night’s sleep, which is rare for me, as I’m sure you know, so the couple of hops it took to find the store didn’t make a dent, okay? Now go get dressed and breakfast will be ready when you come back.”
As much as he wanted to keep arguing, Nanami fought the instinct back. For one, he was hungry—the smell of brewing coffee and bacon and eggs was really getting to him. Following that, he really didn’t want to see a gift horse in the mouth, not to mention that it would be a little too late for that as the bread maker and stand mixer sitting proud and cozy on the counter reminded him. So, with another sigh, he nodded and went back to his room to get dressed.
When he returned, food was ready and Gojo was setting down a plate with baked bacon and eggs, hash-browns, and toast. Nanami’s coffee was poured into his favorite mug, which sat next to a glass of grapefruit juice. There was also a bowl with cut-up strawberries and kiwi. Ketchup, honey, and a couple of other condiments were set to the side.
“Just in time!” Gojo chimed, ushering Nanami to sit down. He sat across from him on the table and started adding things to Nanami’s plate with a smile. “It’s kind of a simple meal but I don’t know how heavy you like your breakfast so I hope this is fine.”
“It’s more than fine. Thank you, Satoru.”
Gojo nearly choked on his orange juice, causing Nanami to fuss and pat his back while he tried to remember how to breathe. “Sorry,” he croaked after a bit, taking another sip of juice to try to soothe his throat.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
“Nothing, just… Went down the wrong way,” Gojo lied.
Nanami hummed, apparently satisfied with the explanation, and made sure that Gojo had enough food on his plate before saying, “Itadakimasu,” and starting to eat. Gojo followed suit and they ate in relative silence for a few minutes, until Nanami got to his coffee. He took a sip and stopped with the cup still pressed to his lips.
“Oh, no, don’t tell me I got it wrong,” Gojo said with a wince.
“No, it’s… it’s exactly how I like it.”
“Oh. Good, then! Why so surprised, though?”
“It’s a new machine. I wasn’t expecting it to be terrible but I had accounted for some trial and error. You’ll have to tell me what settings you used, this is perfect.”
Gojo’s smile was big and soft, crinkling his eyes behind his shades. “Sure, I’ll write it down for you.”
Nanami nodded and continued eating. After a few more minutes, he asked about Gojo’s plans for the rest of the day.
“Ah, well. Unfortunately, I have to bounce right after this. Got a message from the old dusties for a full debrief regarding yesterday’s mission, and then I have to skedaddle to Mamurogawa for another one. Should be back in time for classes tomorrow, though. Have to get everyone in shape for next year’s exchange event.”
The following silence was tense. When he looked up, Gojo saw the deep frown on Nanami’s brow that usually meant he was thoroughly displeased with something. He went through what he’d just said, trying to figure out how he could’ve possibly angered Nanami but came up empty. A beat later, Nanami set down his fork and huffed.
“There’s no one else that can go on the mission?” he asked.
Gojo blinked, tilting his head in confusion. “It requires a Special Grade and they don’t trust Yuta-kun to go off on his own yet, so that only leaves me. It’s not—”
“Say it’s not a big deal, Satoru, and I’ll stab you with your own fork. You were on a mission yesterday, one that required full rest for you to recover, and they’re sending you out again? Do they even know how bad it was?”
“Hey, now,” Gojo said defensively. “It wasn’t that bad—no injuries or anything. And you got me back to top shape in a single day, so all’s well!”
“This is not about your ego, it’s about—” He stopped himself, taking a deep breath and rubbing his face with both hands. “It’s reckless, Gojo. We just talked about this last night.”
Gojo opened his mouth, likely to brush off Nanami’s concerns with a joke, but held back. He drummed a random beat on the table with his fingertips before gently reaching over the table towards Nanami, grabbing one of his hands and pulling it away from his face, holding it almost gingerly. “I know, Kento. I… All I can promise is to be more careful. I know there’s a lot of people relying on me, and—”
“It’s not just that,” Nanami said, taking Gojo’s hand firmly in his. “You’re allowing the higher ups to basically exploit you. And I get it, it's not that easy to just refuse, but in the end, Satoru, you’re only human.”
Gojo’s pale skin lit up like a Christmas bulb and he was only spared from having to come up with an answer because his phone started buzzing in his pocket. He fished it out with his free hand—he’d be damned if he let Nanami’s hand go until it was absolutely necessary—and sighed when he saw it was Ijichi messaging.
“Ijichi-kun is wondering where I am… If I get him in trouble again Shoko is going to use me as a guinea pig for her next experiment.”
Nanami huffed out a small laugh and let go of Gojo’s hand, entirely missing the disappointed pout in the other man’s lips. “Can’t have that happening. The banana pudding will be here whenever you come back.”
Gojo grinned as he stood up, popping a last strawberry in his mouth. “Thanks! Definitely something to look forward to.”
He walked around the table, stopping behind Nanami and resting a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. “Don’t miss me too much.”
Then he kissed the top of Nanami’s head.
Both men froze, Gojo’s hand tensing on Nanami’s shoulder. A long stretch of silence passed until Gojo patted Nanami’s shoulder and, like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, said, “See you later, Na-na-min,” and then promptly warped away.
Haibara was walking up the path that led to Nanami’s house when he felt the surge of energy that always followed Gojo’s warp technique. He looked to the right and saw him waving off Ijichi as he got into the car on his own driveway. With a fond smile and a shake of his head, he made his way to Nanami’s door and rang the bell. He had to do it a second time because more than a minute passed with no answer from inside, and when Nanami finally came to open the door, he looked… dazed was perhaps the best way to describe it.
“Morning. You okay, Kento?”
Nanami blinked slowly and nodded once, uncertain. “Morning. Yes, I just…” He shook his head, taking a step back to allow Haibara in and then closing the door behind them.
“Just what?”
Now that he was closer, Haibara noticed there was a flush to Nanami’s cheeks and ears, which wasn’t too odd given it was a chilly morning. But the inside of the house felt comfortable and Nanami was wearing a turtleneck, so something seemed off.
“Gojo… kissed me.”
Now it was Haibara’s turn to look stunned. “I beg your pardon?”
Nanami nodded, still slowly and like he was coming out of a fog, and pointed to the top of his head. “Here,” he said, “right before he warped away.”
“He was here?” Haibara asked, turning towards the door like he expected Gojo to burst back inside. When Nanami nodded, Haibara frowned and tilted his head. “Wait. Hiro said Gojo was here last night…” His eyes opened wide and he grabbed Nanami’s arms, shaking him and finally making him look directly at him. “Kento. Are you telling me he spent the night here? And he just left?”
Nanami nodded, switching from looking dazed to being confused by Haibara’s demeanor. “Yeah. He was on a mission yesterday with Itadori-kun and Megumi-kun and he ended up soaking wet and cold. I had them bring him here because the house was already warm since I was baking and I knew he wasn’t going to rest on his own so I had him stay.”
“Aw, you took in a wet meow-meow.” He quickly shook his head to get himself back on track, though. “Yeah, no, cute, but! What happened?”
Nanami shrugged Haibara’s arms off and led him to the kitchen. “What do you mean, ‘what happened’? Nothing. He stayed over, made breakfast and coffee, then had to leave to yet another mission.”
“That coffee machine is new,” Haibara pointed out. “Is it another ‘coincidental’ gift?” He even did the air quotes as he asked.
Nanami sighed heavily and shook his head. “No… He got it for me as a thank-you for yesterday.”
Haibara nodded, sidling next to Nanami and resting his head on his friend’s shoulder. “And you’re sure nothing else happened yesterday?”
“Certain. Well… He helped me bake. I actually have to drop off some banana bread and muffins at the school for the kids. Want to come with?”
Haibara looked up into Nanami’s face. He was still blushing, likely from all of the questions but no doubt also because of Gojo’s unexpected head-kiss. Still, he looked happy, so he decided to let it go for the time being. He’d have time to grill Gojo later, perhaps with Higuruma and Ieiri’s help.
“Yeah, that sounds nice.”
Nanami nodded and started loading the bread into the pastry boxes he had bought the day before with a small smile as he continued to drink the rest of his (obnoxiously) perfect coffee. The smile grew when his phone chimed and he saw that Gojo had just sent him the instructions to recreate said perfect cup.