Chapter Text
the cafe isn't the first time megumi notices something different - just the first time his brain decides to take note of it as a definite thing.
it's a weekend and gojo is actually free from work for once, which means megumi is subjected to another one of his attempts at bonding, which recently have begun to be narrowed down to gojo losing his mind over the course of an hour sitting in a quiet library before he drags megumi to get something sweet. though he'd die before ever admitting it, megumi has begun to enjoy these little outings - mostly because he finds it amusing to see how long gojo can pretend to be okay sitting still in a library doing nothing (though the first few visits he had begun rereading digimon until megumi pointed it out with something about how he's too old for that; gojo looked like he had been shot directly in the heart, both offended at the insinuation that he was old and the idea that digimon was only for kids) before he starts poking megumi about how he should really be getting something to eat by now and pretending that he's just concerned as a caretaker and not bored out of his mind. as always, the library portion of the day would end with megumi checking out whatever book he was reading while gojo whinged about why he hadn't just done this in the first place and taken it back home ("home," to that 3LDK condo they now live in that he can't get used to) or just ordered it online with his card; but for all of his complaining, he never once said no when megumi would bring up the library nor would he just leave despite how many times megumi told him he could do so if he was going to be that antsy about it.
gojo was weird like that - at times, megumi thinks he feels more like a little brother than his legal caretaker. he'd whine at whatever he found boring but never leave - paying more attention than he lets on about megumi's interests in attempt to impress him, or he'd be MIA for a week straight, kick open the front door, and ask megumi if he wants to watch him try to beat a personal hunt record in monster hunter x as if he wasn't clearly in the middle of trying to do homework. megumi suspects the back-and-forth of his childish and adult behaviors is just gojo trying extra hard to fulfill a supporting role given the recent events - after all, these outings only consistently started after tsumiki's accident. he thinks maybe the man is trying to send some kind of you're not alone or here, let yourself have a little fun type of message but megumi really doesn't need that - he doesn't mind being alone, and he's not a child who needs a distraction.
not that he minded that gojo was able to keep up with the memoirs he talked about, or like he ever told gojo to shut it and get out of his room whenever the man mumbled about whatever thunderlord zinogre was and clicked away at the poor abused buttons of his 3DS.
it was fine. it didn't bother megumi, he just wasn't the sort of kid who ever needed that 'as-seen-on-TV'-esque family attention.
gojo's phone rings again as they walk through the door of the cafe. megumi has lost count of how noisy it's been today, but this ring seems to be the final straw for gojo - he sucks his teeth and throws his head back with a dramatic 'ugh' and fetches his wallet out of his pocket as he fumbles with answering his phone. "you're going to get more than a head flick," gojo hisses as he answers it, and megumi can hear frantic sputtering on the other end of the line - must be ijichi, the poor guy. gojo makes towards the door, handing megumi his wallet with cheer despite his threatening tone just moments before. "be right back! just- eh, order whatever."
megumi cuts his eyes at gojo, gives a little "sure" that drips with implied contempt of 'like i'd order anything here', as if moments earlier he hadn't been pleasantly surprised that gojo picked an actual cafe with a variety of food and not just a sit-in bakery. not feeling particularly adventurous, he settles with curry rice for himself and a shortcake for the man still outside on the phone.
it's only a few minutes after megumi is seated that gojo reenters the cafe with an all too wide smile. it seems like he got out of whatever work-related thing was vying for his attention. "not looking!" he announces as he takes a seat across from megumi, "what'd you surprise me with?"
megumi swallows his food before answering with a sigh at gojo's antics. "not a surprise. i just got a strawberry shortcake, since that's what you get first anywhere."
gojo's face drops into a pout as he opens his eyes - his dramatically sad motions don't match how ready he is to start digging into the dessert in front of him. "real funny, meguuumiiiiiii," he takes a spoonful and it's clear he's pleased despite how much he's trying to play kicked puppy. "pretending like you don't know me. i wasn't talking that much at the library! you know my favorite is blueberry."
what?
"what," megumi states flatly. he stares directly at gojo looking for any signs of - for a lack of better word, clear fuckery - and finds none. "you always get strawberry. your favorite is strawberry."
"nho i don'," gojo says through a mouthful of shortcake, already halfway through. he swallows and looks at megumi with a bewildered yet amused expression, "i order blueberry stuff first- i think i know my favorite, thank you."
"that's not true- ugh," he wants to bite his own tongue off for sounding like such a typical teenager. "you were almost tolerable today-"
"wow, you're really adamant about this."
"because it's factually untrue," megumi huffs. "there's probably literal receipts proving me right."
"i don't save those," gojo licks his spoon, having entirely devoured the strawberry shortcake by now. he leans back with his arms crossed, light, genuine confusion peeking through his amusement. "-also, this is a weird hill to die on. unless you're trying to pull one over on me, in which case you reaaaally suck at it-"
"i'm not dying on any hill, despite your best attempts to kill me on one," megumi snaps, narrowing his eyes in defiance. "this is a stupid bit. you always get strawberry."
there's a bout of an unusually tense silence, like gojo's processing that one: megumi isn't kidding about believing this, and two: he's very insistent about it being true. after a moment, gojo's face goes blank, simply giving an "okay," and megumi can tell his tone is that of 'relenting and letting the child in front of me win' - it only makes him more clearly irritated.
"are you just playing semantics? fine," megumi gives just a bit. "you've gotten blueberry first maybe twice around me, out of the hundreds of times we've gone to eat. are you happy with that?" he tries, hoping to end whatever weird bit this is.
much to his dismay, gojo's expression doesn't change from oddly blank. he's just keeps staring, and megumi can't figure out what he's thinking over this stupid argument.
'maybe he's realizing his memory's finally gone bad from all the battling', megumi thinks mockingly. surely gojo has been knocked on his head a couple of times.
"okay," gojo repeats again, this time with a smile creeping on his face. he throws his hands up in surrender. "how about i order myself another strawberry shortcake to make you feel better? since i've been assigned the strawberry guy." there's still a pitying edge sneaking through his playful tone. megumi doesn't know why gojo's treating him so childishly over this - actually, megumi doesn't even know why he himself is so insistent about this fact in the first place.
megumi rolls his eyes with a "whatever" under his breath and that seems to satisfy gojo, who goes to excitedly wave down a waiter and very loudly orders another strawberry shortcake (megumi gives him the most annoyed huff he can muster in response) and then a mini blueberry tart, a slice of cheesecake, and about five other things megumi can't be bothered to remember. he pulls out the book he checked out earlier as a way to hide just how lost in thought he is about this - how much he can't shake the feeling that something is off; there now feels a tangible difference between gojo when he's childish, gojo when he's quiet, gojo when he's teaching, and a gojo who insists he's only ever liked blueberries.
megumi's pretty sure he says goodnight to no one when he closes his bedroom door. it figures after a full day with the man around, gojo would be nowhere to be seen as soon as they returned home - it's likely he won't be around until the next weekend, or even the one after that, as much as he insists he wants to be around more 'like normal, y'know, before you start shadowing me - ha! - all the time.'
that's fine. megumi liked it quiet. the problem was that his home felt too large, too empty. tsumiki had barely finished setting up her new room before everything fell apart. it's not like the two had many belongings to begin with, but tsumiki was the one to take up gojo's offer to bring what they had with them to their new place, and without the familiarity of anything they had before everything just felt uncomfortable.
he should put up the little trinkets and small furnishings they were attached to up in both his room and the living area, but it took him long enough to just move the extras box out of tsumiki's half-decorated room. doing it without her felt wrong, and he knows gojo would never offer to help him again given his previous unexpected - and frankly embarrassing - outburst at the man just touching the box. every time he remembers it he wants to scrunch his face up in something like shame, but the event did come with an added bonus: gojo knows better than to ever touch that box.
which makes it the perfect place to hide a mini journal, sticking out in-between books right under the flap of the box.
flipping through the pages to get to a blank, now realizing just how much he'd mentioned how gojo had acted that day even as a child, he makes his newest entry: "there's a gojo who likes blueberries now."