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If there was one student at Tokyo Jujutsu High that everyone adored, it was Gojo Satoru.
“What’re you squinting at?” the senior teased, materialising over Nanami’s shoulder. “A second year and you still don’t know where all your classrooms are? You’re cute when you look confused, Nanamin. Need any help?”
Unfortunately, everyone did not exclude Nanami Kento.
Nanami choked, accidentally crumpling his schedule as his fingers tensed. “Nothing,” he mumbled, all too aware of Gojo’s breath in his ear, willing his cheeks to return to their normal shade. “No.” Was he reading into it too deep, or was there an almost flirty lilt in Gojo’s tone that hadn’t been there before? Maybe that was just how Gojo always talked? But Nanami would’ve picked up on it already if it was. Unless he’d been too distracted before by just being in Gojo’s presence, but still… Stop fixating on Satoru’s voice!
Nanami would be stupid to entertain the idea that Gojo might be flirting with him. Gojo could have his pick of anyone in the school. No way he’d go for an underclassman. Nanami gritted his teeth, squeezing his fists even tighter. He needed to stop. If he kept this up, someone would find out eventually, and then he’d be the laughingstock of the entire school. He could hear it already. Can you believe he really thought he had a chance?
Sure, Gojo called him Nanamin, and sure, his heart fluttered every time he heard it. But it wasn’t like Gojo knew that. He certainly wasn’t doing it just to watch Nanami blush. If anything, he was probably just teasing. In all likelihood, this was teasing too. Life was all one big joke to Gojo.
That may or may not have been one of the things Nanami secretly loved about him.
But thinking about this wasn’t going to do him any good. He needed to slow down. He probably needed to stop completely. What he really needed right now was to stand up straighter and give Satoru a proper answer like a completely normal guy having completely normal thoughts.
“I got it,” he replied, trying to keep his voice steady. “Just checking to make sure I’m headed in the right direction. You know how it is.” That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever said. “I mean, er…”
“Whatever you say,” Gojo replied with a shrug. “Call me when you get lost.”
Before Nanami could even begin to think of a comeback, Satoru was gone, having pressed a folded piece of paper into one of Nanami’s hands.
‘Meet me after school tomorrow in the courtyard. I have a gift for you.’
Won’t you kiss me on the mouth and love me like a sailor?
Gojo couldn’t be interested in Nanami. He couldn’t.
Nanami braced himself against the counter, glaring at himself in the mirror, knuckles gleaming white beneath too-pale skin. Whatever this was, he needed to— he needed to stop. He couldn’t keep dreaming like this. He couldn’t keep clinging to every interaction, every nudge, every glance in the stairwell like they meant something. It would only hurt him in the end.
None of it mattered, not to Gojo. Nanami himself didn’t matter. He glanced at the note on the ground, Gojo’s cheerful, round handwriting almost mocking him in the low light. Meet me after school tomorrow in the courtyard. Nanami groaned, pressing his palms into his eyes.
Why couldn’t he get it through his fucking skull?
And when you get a taste, could you tell me what’s my flavour?
Maybe he could matter. Just for a moment. Maybe things could be different. For a second. Alone. Maybe Gojo wanted to meet with him for something more than homework help or assembly planning.
Maybe it would bite him in the ass to hope, but he couldn’t stop himself. He crouched to pick up the note, running his fingers along the paper’s soft edges, reading it over again. I have a gift for you.
The supposed gift was probably a prank, but Nanami couldn’t suppress a smile as he tucked the note into his pocket.
I don’t believe in God, but I believe that you’re my saviour.
Nanami held his school bag tight with both hands, pushing past idling teachers’ assistants and clumps of first years clogging the hallways. His last period was on the top floor, and his professor had kept the whole class late because one student wouldn’t shut up, and every minute that passed between the final bell and Nanami finally making it downstairs was another opportunity for Satoru to give up on him and leave.
“Satoru!” he called, stretching to see through the throng of infuriatingly slow-moving students. “Sorry I’m late!” He clasped his bag to his chest and began to weave through the crowd, ducking between groups of gossiping girls and beneath enthusiastic extended hands. “I got caught up in—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Gojo replied, cutting Nanami off with a shrug and a sly smile. “You’re here now. That’s all I care about.”
Nanami could already feel himself blushing as he stared down at his feet. “Okay.”
A moment of silence passed. Nanami peeked up at Gojo, who was just… watching him. Waiting.
“So… what did you want to meet me about?”
Gojo met Nanami’s eyes and smiled, silently extending his hand, another note tucked between his fingers. Nanami glanced from the note back to Gojo’s face, an unspoken question in his wide eyes. Gojo only nodded, holding his hand out a little bit more.
“O…kay.” Nanami reached for it, hoping Gojo didn’t notice his fingers shaking. He turned it over in his hands, running his fingertips over the unmarked front. “What is this?” Whatever Nanami was expecting Gojo to want from him, it wasn’t this. “What—?”
“Just read it,” Gojo said softly, tapping the corner of the envelope, and only then did Nanami notice a small heart symbol, drawn in blue ink. He unfolded it as slowly as he could manage, his heart pounding. He was starting to think he understood what was happening, but… there was no way. There couldn’t be. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Gojo wasn’t supposed to like him back. And on the off chance he didn’t, and Nanami was wrong, he wanted to delay the cruel realisation as long as possible. But there was a point where it would become clear he was stalling, and if there was one thing Gojo lacked, it was patience.
Nanami read it, holding his breath. He stopped. Glanced up at Gojo. Read it again.
“I— I don’t get it. You’re— I’m—” I’m weak. I’m uninteresting. I’m too serious. I’m prickly. I’m… a second year.
I’m nothing.
Gojo smiled, and for a second Nanami felt his heart sink— he’d been right all along, Gojo was just playing some elaborate joke on him and getting to watch him turn red as a cherry and stumble over his words was the punch line— but then Gojo took one large step forward and grabbed him around the waist, and his fingertips were at the small of Nanami’s back, and his breath was warm against Nanami’s lips, and Nanami’s mind went completely blank except for one thought: This is just as good as I knew it would be.
“You really don’t know how to shut up, do you?” Gojo murmured, stepping back a bit to meet Nanami’s eyes. “Always gotta say what’s on your mind. So cute.” He leaned forward to give Nanami another quick peck, laughing when Nanami frowned as he pulled away. “You liked that, huh?”
It was all Nanami could do to remember how to speak without suffocating. “Yes.”
Gojo grinned, taking Nanami’s hand and pressing his lips to the back of it, then kissing both Nanami’s cheeks and forehead. “Do you get it now?”
Dazed, Nanami glanced around, scanning the busy crowds of slow-moving students, not really sure what he was looking for. Gojo was still holding his hand. He smiled shyly, pressing his cheek to Gojo’s knuckles and closing his eyes like some sort of animal— like a cat being scratched on the head. Gojo stroked Nanami’s face with his thumb, his other hand still lingering on the shorter boy’s back. “Well, Nanamin?”
Nanami’s smile grew wider. “Yeah.”
I know that you’ve been worried, but you’re dripping in my favour. ♡