Chapter Text
Orange Skys in the wasteland with you
In the wasteland, friends don’t come by so easily. You might find mutated rabbits. Worse, a deathclaw. Ghouls that roam in the shadows, each step a game of chance. It’s not all bad, though. There’s the glorious city–open 24 hours–diamond city. With enough bottlecaps, you can totally change your wardrobe. Or, your hair. Either way, both are frivolities at the end of the world. The game is survival, and one always plays by tengen’s rules–the one who blew up this place in the first place, after an accident within the star vessel exchange. Sometimes, Suguru Geto wonders if that gift of a choice was worth…the suffering of the world.
Nonetheless, he must look forward to the future. What’s in the past,, remains directly within his field of vision, no matter where he runs. Despite his immense guilt, Satoru Gojo, his best friend, views him exactly the same–if not, esteeming him in an even higher regard. Even as Suguru tries to distance himself–insisiting he’s better off on the outskirts of the wasteland, with lakes leaking bubbles filled of radioactive puss, Satoru simply puts on his hazmat suit and picks up Suguru right back where he belongs–with him, by his side.
One hot, summer day, Geto Suguru was in Diamond City buying drinks. Expensive, and disgusting, but he was not feeling too well that day. Radiation Sickness will do something to a man. However, he did not tell Satoru Gojo of his ailment. He did not want Gojo to worry, afterall.
It was easy for Suguru Geto to earn money. Despite not having a formal occupation, with his long hair, and pretty eyes, for that reason, he was a very persuasive man. People liked to have him nearby, whether as a tea assistant, or a miracle curer. As the atomic bomb still wiped out most of the memories of the nonsorcerers, sorcerers were thought of as a folktale of some sort. So, Suguru Geto’s exorcisms were named as miraculous cures. He upcharged heavily, but with his silver tongue, gorgeous eyes, and the promise of the relinquishment of pain, many tossed their bottlecaps freely into his bottlecap bottle.
Satoru Gojo, however, was sharp, much to Geto’s dismay. When Suguru stopped replying over the radio com frequency–Gojo travelled to his shop during the daytime.
“Satoru, why are you here?”
“I was lonely. Don’t disappear on me.” Satoru states plainly.
“I told you that it was unsafe to visit me during the daytime. What if people see you? What then, Satoru?” Suguru huffs.
“まあ、いいよ。大丈夫です。”
”Ah, don't worry about it. I'll be fine.”
“It’s not fine! You might be the strongest, Satoru, but I’m not. I need you safe, utmost.” Suguru pleaded, grabbing him by his hand and shutting the door to his business, hiding away the sight of various bystanders and radroaches.
Satoru simply let himself be guided, surveying further the insides which he had never seen before in good lighting.
There were, behind the counters, many tonics and topical treatments for radiation. A geiger counter, two medkits, and various stimpaks. But the most healing came from exorcism. Geto didn’t possess reversed cursed healing.
Geto was in the back, brewing tea, stirring it softly as he sprinkled in some tea leaves from the packet he had nearby. He discarded it into the trash, and continued to let it steep. It smelled like chamomile tea, Satoru’s favorite. The aroma floated through the small room.
“You haven’t been answering my intercom messages. Why? You can’t be that busy.” Satoru pushed, trying to uncover the root of the matter.
“...Maybe I am. I’ll answer them soon.” Suguru, once again, evaded the question with ease. Satoru looked up and saw his dark, raven hair framing his face elegantly, eliciting attention towards his lips. He tore his gaze and glanced back up.
“Don’t be forgetting about me, Suguru.” Satoru said as he played with some of Suguru’s loose hair strands.
A comfortable silence filled the room as Suguru poured them both cups of tea, steaming hot. Satoru took the warm glass between his fingers, surveying the fine pottery of it. Despite the end of the world, Suguru still possessed a pretty china set. He savored using it any time he could, regaining the smallest sense of normalcy.
Chamomile. Satoru’s favorite. Suguru took great care in brewing it to his liking. A bit oversteeped. Strong. As he took a sip, the warm liquid soothed his throat slightly, briefly forgetting his gripe with Suguru in the first place. Briefly.
A customer came in, and Suguru swiftly distanced himself from Satoru, adjusting his unkempt hair from the creases that Satoru’s hand imprints left. He could not let himself look as such in front of a potential customer, afterall.
“Aah, Welcome. How may I assist you today?” Suguru whirred smoothly and slowly. The wanderer glanced at the assortment, and settled her eyes on Satoru.
“Eeh!? Really?”
Now, Satoru did not want the attention. People knowing his name no longer filled him with pride, ever since that sunny day; now, it posed an annoyance at least, and a threat at worst.
“You’re the strongest sorcerer, alive? I thought the blast killed you! What a relief.”
The girl with green hair and amber eyes remarked.
Suguru tsked.
“He’s not for sale. Now, tell me, what ails you?” Suguru asks.
“Right. I think my sister has some special grade cursed spirit following her. Care to cure her?”
“..Yes, yes. A special grade cursed spirit…It’ll cost you one hundred bottlecaps.”
An expensive cost, but considering the extraordinary strength of the cursed spirit, perhaps Suguru was being generous towards this stranger.
Suguru stood patiently, waiting for yet another customer to yield. Reluctantly, but acceptantly, the girl tossed a bag, which Satoru was tasked with counting.
“Onee… two… five… ten! Sixteen.. Thirty five..”
“You don’t have to say all the values.”
“Yes, I do. Fourty seven…fourty eight..”
Eventually, he counted up to one hundred.
“One hundred! We’re good to go.”
“Thank you, Satoru.” Suguru said, as Satoru beamed.
“Don’t break the merchandise while you’re here, Satoru.”
“Hey, who said I was staying!? Is that anyway to repay me after the tedious task of counting one hundred bottlecaps? I’m coming with you.” Satoru insisted, as the girl watched the exchange between them amusedly.
“That isn’t necessary. I’d much rather you just–” Satoru stood up, ushering the girl outside, then closed the door, excusing them for just a moment.
“It’s a special grade, Satoru. I have no doubt in your capabilities, but I won’t have you fight it by yourself. For old time’s sake.” Satoru stated as he placed his body in front of the door, like a living barricade until Suguru listened to reason.
But Suguru wasn’t paying attention to his words, no, he wasn’t listening one bit. He was staring into Satoru’s blue, ocean blue eyes. Yes, he could drown in them. Ultimately, he was powerless to resist the call of the siren’s voice, with his bewitching eyes, and tall, slim stature. So he stood there, staring.
Satoru noticed his shift in demeanour, and, unwilling to back down, stared back just as intensely.
..The girl was still waiting outside.
“Hey, you two coming or not!?” She shouted, waiting impatiently.
The trance broke as Satoru opened the door, with Suguru following suit.