Chapter Text
“Gojo-san, please walk up to the board and draw a circle.”
A chorus of murmurs echoes around the room as Satoru gathers himself, unfolding his long limbs to stand up, and begins walking to the front of the classroom, where his teacher stares at him, bemused, holding a white chalk in her hand.
Ignoring the mutters of his fellow classmates behind him, he takes the chalk from her and draws it. A large, slightly distorted O stares back at him.
“That’s your mark for this assessment.”
In pure shock, Satoru squawks at her as a wave of giggles ripples across the class. He doesn’t need to look at Suguru to already know that he’s part of the laughter. That bastard.
“Uh– But I–!”
“No buts. You had two weeks to complete it and still managed to hand it in late. That’s inexcusable behavior.” She shakes her head, which only adds to his mortification. He resists the urge to argue back ‘cause that would probably only piss her off more. “Now go sit back down. I can’t have you disrupting my class anymore. Anyway…”
The teacher swiftly moves on to some boring reminder about credit and some other homework but Satoru easily tunes it out. It’s not exactly difficult material anyway, he can just go over it later and he’ll be fine. The only reason why he turned in his assignment late is because he’s been super swamped lately.
Then, before he can even notice, it’s the end of the school day.
“Dude, that was so embarrassing,” a soft voice in his ear mocks him, bringing him back to Earth.
“Shut up.”
“Nah, I told you this would happen.” Suguru snickers, covering his mouth with his hand sneakily. “It was only so long before Kato Sensei was gonna actually punish you.”
“Shut up.” Running a hand down his face, Satoru slumps onto his bag and groans, “my parents are gonna kill me.”
Beside him, Suguru snorts but still makes no attempt to move. “You mean they’re gonna cut your allowance slightly? Awh, what a shame.”
Satoru rolls his eyes and stuffs his forgotten essay into his bag. “Yeah! It’s a shame. How am I gonna afford my strawberry daifuku now?”
“Satoru,” the other boy chuckles, “I always buy that for you anyway. I don’t think you’ve needed to ‘afford’ it since, like, march. Of last year.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Satoru slings his back on his shoulder and strides out of the classroom, walking ahead of Suguru. It’s not like he’ll ever understand that Satoru actually does depend heavily on that allowance, since he is now taking care of more than just himself. “I knew you wouldn’t get it.”
Catching up, Suguru frowns. “What do you—”
“Anyway, I gotta go, man. See you later.”
Suguru flounders. “Oh, um. Are you coming over to Curses later?”
Satoru stops his march, hesitating.
“I can make you your usual coffee if you want?” Suguru pleads. Honestly, ‘coffee’ might not be the right word to describe the sickly sweet concoction Satoru forces his best friend to make any time (see: every day) he comes into the cafe. Suguru complained the first couple of times, but quickly came to remember it and now when Satoru comes in, he doesn’t even have to ask before a large sprinkled drink is placed into his hands for free.
He continues, “my boss isn’t coming in today so I can even give you extra cream.” Then he winks and beams at him and Satoru finds himself actually debating the offer. When Suguru smiles like this, the corners of his eyes crinkle in a way that makes him look so handsome and Satoru can hardly bear it to reject his proposal. If it were any other day, he would totally say yes.
But instead he winces, attempting to ignore the way that Suguru’s radiance dims slightly at his hesitation.
“Sorry, man. I would, I promise. It’s just… I'm really busy and I'm gonna need to up my grade if I don't want my parents to find out about my zero mark.”
It’s a cheap excuse but he pushes away the guilt with the fact that it’s not technically a whole lie. If this does continue, his parents would probably call him out on it but one low grade isn’t actually enough for them to fly back all the way to Tokyo to see him.
Suguru furrows his brows and sighs. “I don’t wanna, like, overstep or anything but you haven’t been coming in as much this past couple weeks. Is everything okay?”
Goddamit, Suguru is too observant for his own good.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he lies easily, plastering a placating smile on his face. He can only hope that Suguru will believe it. “I’m just busy right now. I’ll come by tomorrow though, for sure.”
And with that, he’s off—barely looking back to wave at Suguru or let him say goodbye.
Because Satoru isn’t lying when he says he’s busy.
Checking his watch, he sucks in a breath.
If he walks fast enough, he might be able to catch the train at 3:47 to go to the elementary school and pick up Megumi and Tsumiki on time. He doesn’t want a repeat of the other day – where he was told off by the kids’ teacher for being 25 minutes at pick up. It wasn’t his fault though – he got a detention! And it was excruciatingly difficult trying to convince his homeroom teacher that he had a valid reason to leave. So. Not his fault.
Since they were kept for a little bit longer, he had to face a slightly uncomfortable conversation with their teacher, who was convinced that he should ‘ask their mother to pick them up instead’, to which he replied that they don’t have one. Megumi was mortified by the whole ideal and subsequently decided to glare at Satoru the entire way home and then until dinnertime.
Not that Megumi glaring at him is really out of the ordinary but whatever.
That kid is a tough nut to crack.
Eh, Satoru’ll break down his walls someday.
This afternoon he can only hope that maybe today the boy will be in a better mood since he managed to secure some premium takeout at the Mexican place near his apartment. He doesn’t know much about the kids’ tastes but he assumes that they’ll be pretty grateful for whatever they can get. When he first discovered that Megumi and Tsumiki were all on their own, fending for themselves in that little run-down apartment, he immediately jumped into action. The first steps were buying new groceries, reviewing their bank statements and house bills, and finding their school.
Given that they lived in Saitama, they weren’t actually too far off from Satoru’s place, which was located in the outskirts of Tokyo. It definitely made it easier commuting back and forth because it wasn’t too long.
Unfortunately, his good mood is short-lived because when he appears at the elementary school’s front gate, Megumi's little face is scrunched in a cute frown.
“Hey, little one. What’s wrong?”
“Tanaka Sensei wants to talk to you,” Megumi says, without any further explanation.
“O…kay.” Satoru looks around. “Where is she?”
Wordlessly, Megumi points in the general direction of his school and Satoru sees a distant figure in one of the classrooms. He takes their hands in his and leads them towards her.
When he approaches, the teacher looks him on with a neutral glance. She beckons him over the door, faintly smiling at him when he smiles back.
“I, uh, heard you wanted to see me?” He attempts to sound convincing, but he has no clue if it’s working or not.
“Yes, Fushiguro-san. I wanted to discuss the children’s homework. Normally, there isn’t much issue but I have noticed that Fushiguro-kun appears to be ‘forgetting’ his homework every week.” Satoru assumes that his face must be slightly concerning because she quickly clarifies, “now, it’s not a complete cause of alarm, but I did also want to ask you to make sure that their weekly forms are getting filled out and completed from now on.”
Satoru gulps, taking in her information. Normally he’d be more embarrassed, but he’s kind of surprised that first graders have homework already more than anything. He can only blame his irregular education for the fact that he had no idea. And that means he needs to check their homework too, doesn’t he? Well, he guesses he can do most things but what do first and second graders even learn? At the ages of six and seven? Do they even know algebra? The classics? Or maybe they do simple stuff like multiplication, dividing… Oh fuck. Please say that he doesn’t have to go through long division for a second time. Blegh.
All of this is just helping him realise that he does not know what he is doing, raising two kids on his own. ‘Raising’ – is that really the right word? It’s only been short of a month, so they barely know each other. Even if he can’t be their legal guardian yet, they’re still in his care; that has to mean something, right? Their teacher did call him ‘Fushiguro-san’ after all…
“Alright, I will,” he responds, as amicably as possible. He doesn’t need to give their teachers another reason to think of them as strange. “I will make sure of that, thank you.”
Satoru leads Megumi and Tsumiki out of the school and past the gates in a hurry, barely able to contain his reaction.
“Megumi!” He cries. “You didn’t tell me you had to fill something out!”
The boy just shrugs and looks to the side uncomfortably. Now Satoru doesn’t know him that well but he suspects that Megumi feels a little guilty. “You didn’t ask.”
Satoru folds. Can’t really argue with that logic.
“Alright, kiddos. It’s okay, all is forgotten,” he chirps, taking both of their hands. “Plus, I’ve got a little surprise for you both.”
“Where are we going?” Tsumiki pipes up.
“To my apartment!” Satoru exclaims and Megumi scowls. “Hey, don’t give me that look! It’s clean! I even baby-proofed it for you~”
His attempt at a joke is lost on the two kids and Megumi just levels him with a long, long stare. Maybe he didn’t like being compared to a baby.
“Awh, I’m just joking. Don’t be offended!”
The two kids just continue walking in silence; Tsumiki gives him a small smile that Satoru would appreciate if he didn’t think she was just giving it out of sympathy.
Welp. Tough crowd. Suguru would have laughed at his joke. Probably.
On the walk home, he chooses to look at the road ahead, watching the cars pass each other and wait at the stop lights. He looks at the pavement ahead and its turns, listening to the leaves crunching under his feet, and the soft patter of Tsumiki’s school shoes. He reels his mind back to school, to Kato Sensei’s class, to his zero mark, to Suguru’s face and his soft, hazel eyes.
*
In his apartment, the children find it surprisingly easy to assimilate themselves into his space. Maybe it’s because he already knows them or because Megumi has little to no respect for him in general, but he doesn’t mind. As long as they feel comfortable to act at home. That’s all that matters.
Relatively speaking, there’s not much in his apartment to really ‘get comfortable with’, though. Aside from a couple of digimon figures and wall posters, his apartment is pretty bare. Suguru likes to joke that the only sign of life in his home is the mess in his bathroom—which, in his defense, only consists of old soap packets and contact lens vials that he forgets to throw out—and Satoru manages to get riled up every time, unbelievably frustrated when he has to defend himself.
Other than this, the kids still remain relatively quiet. Which is slightly frustrating because Satoru lives for noise. His dream job is to become a news presenter so he can just yap about whatever’s on air or whoever’s on the show. Well, his second dream job—after being a space wizard, of course.
So, he attempts to fill the silence.
“Need any help? “ He leans over the kitchen table, peering down at Megumi’s worksheet. “Ooh, you got math homework? I can help with that. I’m great at math.”
“No”, Megumi grumbles, “I don't want your stupid solutions to mess up my homework.”
Ah. Of course Megumi breaks his silent spell just to insult Satoru. Whatever. As long as he’s talking, Satoru will take it.
“Hm, okay, suit yourself.” Satoru sing-songs, “Don't come running to me in ten years when you inevitably fail all of your exams.”
Megumi seems to be ready to dish out another insult towards the teenager until his sister suddenly speaks up from the opposite end of the table:
“Sato, I need help!”
Good to know he’s still needed around here.
“What’s up?” He saunters over to her side of the table, squatting down next to her chair.
“Um, we had to read this part of Totto-chan and I don’t really get this question.” She points at one of the boxes of her exercise sheet, probably to check on her understanding of the book. “What does this character…….”
He really doesn’t mean to, but he tunes her rambling out. If it was about physics or mathematics, he’d be able to help. Or even Chemistry. But this…. Suguru’s usually the one who’s good at this stuff. But still—he wants to help Tsumiki with her homework.
Would it be weird to call Suguru up and ask? No. That would be weird. He’d know that something is up immediately. Shit.
Tsumiki is staring up at him expectantly and Satoru is about to make up some half-assed excuse when his door buzzes unexpectedly.
“Uh…” He smiles at her sheepishly. “I’ll be right back.”
To his complete and utter surprise, when he looks at the little screen, he can see Suguru standing outside his apartment building, holding two drinks and looking strangely concerned. Without much thought, he buzzes him in and then internally screams for the next two seconds.
Fuck, he thinks. Why the fuck did he do that??
Now he needs to come up with a plan to hide the two gremlins currently doing homework on his kitchen table. And he was planning on having a nice little peaceful dinner with them, too. The takeout is next to his fridge. Fuuuck.
Slightly frazzled, he turns to the kitchen and announces loudly, “okay, guys. Change of plans. So… My friend is actually here and I, uh, didn’t realise. So you’re going to need to hide in my bedroom for a little bit?” He phrases the last bit like a question but it’s the only option they have.
“Why?” Megumi frowns, making no effort to move.
Satoru is lost for words. Why is Megumi choosing now of all moments to finally become curious about him? “Um.. because my friend is coming here?”
“Why can’t he see us—”
Normally, Satoru’d be overjoyed at Megumi’s ability to argue back but right now the panic of Suguru witnessing this has taken over and he can only focus on getting them out of sight. He waves them off and interrupts him.
“I’ll tell you later! Now, both of you, hide!”
They scurry off down the hallway, leaving him to stack their papers, place them into their school bags, and put those bags into a cupboard that he doesn’t use.
Then, there’s a 30 second window where Satoru is standing awkwardly in front of his door, alternating the weight between his left and right foot. But then Suguru finally arrives and Satoru feels both relieved and intense.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” Suguru smiles back, turning to close the door behind him. He is nearly entirely wet, parts of his bangs are plastered against his face and his dark jacket shines, dripping all over the floor. Satoru didn't even realise it was raining. He has his hair down, just like he normally does after work and is, as Satoru suspected, holding two drinks, one in a plastic cup with a lot of cream and one in a cardboard one, presumably for Suguru. “I, uh, brought you a drink. Thought you might like it.”
Satoru’s mouth waters at the thought of his extra–caramel–extra–milk–extra–cream–chocolate-syrup–iced–vanilla–latte and he beams at Suguru for the gesture. “Thanks. Um. What’s up?”
He can distantly hear the sounds of Megumi and Tsumiki’s little footsteps and hushed voices and prays to any god out there that Suguru does not hear anything coming from his bedroom. Or if he does hear something, hopefully he’ll just assume that they’re his neighbours or something.
“Well, I noticed something was off and I wanted to talk to you a little bit. I feel like I haven’t seen you that much lately.” Well yeah, that tends to happen when you take two elementary students under your wing when you’re barely an adult yourself. “And I just wanna… I don’t know. Just…” He sighs. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”
“Yeah,” Satoru lies. He smiles at Suguru and leads him to the kitchen. “Of course.”
“Yeah.. and..” Suguru trails off, staring off behind Satoru. “What’s that?”
“Huh?” Satoru spins around, his heart racketing against his ribs for a second. Then he notices where Suguru is pointing–at his large takeout bag. “Oh, yeah. That’s my dinner, haha.”
“All of it?” Suguru questions.
“What—you calling me fat, Suguru?”
Unimpressed, Suguru raises his eyebrows at the false accusation. “Well, no I’m not. It’s just-”
And then.
“Don’t do that!”
A small voice bellows out from across the hall. Small, very small, but still completely audible.
Satoru jerks his body to face Suguru again and sucks in a breath.
Please say you didn’t hear that.
“What was that?”
Damnit.
“Hm?” Satoru feigns ignorance. Maybe if Satoru pretends to have not heard anything, then Suguru will too.
“What did you say?”
“I… didn’t say anything.”
“Really? But I heard a 'don’t do-”
“You must be hallucinating.”
Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.
“...Satoru.” Suguru levels him with a glare that says ‘I’m not falling for your B.S.’.
“FINE.” Satoru yells, admitting defeat. He huffs, “Megumi! Tsumiki! Come out and meet our guest!”
Suguru’s brows raise and it’s obvious that he wasn’t expecting anything like this. The confusion etched on his face only intensifies when a pair of small children stream into the room with equally distrusting looks on their faces.
Satoru guesses that the cat’s out of the bag now. His little secret is out in the open. “Megumi, Tsumiki, meet Suguru, my best friend. Suguru, meet the two kids I’m looking after, Tsumiki and Megumi.”
The look on Suguru’s face is priceless.
“I promise they won't bite.” Satoru jokes but it falls flat (again). Suguru just looks at him, bemused, and the two children remain completely silent. His humour is really not being appreciated today. Hm.
Suguru sighs and looks like he wishes he were anywhere but here.
“Satoru, explain.”