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Suguru had been mid-sermon when he very suddenly isn’t in his temple anymore. He’s actually not even inside anywhere anymore.
Also, there’s a younger him glaring daggers at him, which is probably more concerning than the whole random-teleportation thing going on.
Well. If Suguru knows how to do anything, it’s charm people. And if this truly is him, but younger, then he knows exactly what to say. “Hello,” he starts, smiling. “I seem to-”
“Shut the fuck up.”
…Okay. That’s… not what he expected. He remembers being a good kid, at that age. Certainly not the type to say ‘fuck’ so casually.
Though this Suguru looks different than he had, at that age. His hair is shorter, for one. The bags under his eyes are less pronounced. He looks healthier in general. That’s good? But Suguru would place him as a first year, so it’s before it all went wrong.
“Sorry ‘bout this,” calls a so-familiar-yet-not voice from behind him. “Suguru’s got a bone to pick with you and I’m not a hypocrite. If I could beat the fuck out of the dude inside my head, I would, but he’s in my head and Shoko promises she can’t surgery him out.”
Suguru is an adult. He’s killed more people than he can count, he’s one of four special grade sorcerers and he’s not scared to turn around and see where the voice of a young Satoru is coming from.
Because if he’s that young, here - wherever here is - then Satoru is that young as well, and Toji hasn’t happened and his eyes haven’t gone dark, they’re still the strongest and nothing bad has happened and -
“Jesus Christ dude, aren’t you an adult?” he jolts as his own voice comes from much closer than it was before. He hadn’t even noticed he’d doubled over, but when he looks up younger-him is barely inches from him, sneering down his nose in a way that was unbecoming. He’d chide him if he had any breath left. He still can’t make himself look at Satoru.
“So, are you gonna beat him up?” Satoru asks. “‘Cause we ain’t got all day. If I keep him here too long the threads of the universe will start unraveling and shit.”
That sounds… bad?
Also, he’s not going to be beaten up by a younger version of him. He’s a special-grade sorcerer.
“You left Satoru,” younger-him accuses.
“Huh?” he asks, finally turning to look at Satoru. He looks just the same as Suguru remembers, from the last few months when things were still good. Kids, the both of them. A life where nothing bad has ever happened.
“Yo, this ain’t my show,” Satoru says, still behind him. Normally he'd be nervous with someone at his back, but it's Satoru. Even if it's different, younger him. “I just brought you here. Take it up with yourself before time runs out.”
Suguru is a special-grade, so he blocks the roundhouse aimed for his face easily.
“What?” he asks, staring at the leg he’d caught, then the boy attached to it. “Why are you - what?”
“I’m pissed because of the summer fucking heat,” younger him hisses, before spinning up to try to smash his heel into Suguru’s temple. “Sound familiar?” he asks, when Suguru ducks under the blow. He had to let go of younger-him’s leg to do it, though, so they’re on even footing again, staring at each other in anticipation.
The thing is, it does sound familiar. Satoru had become the strongest and he had become… what he’d become.
Younger-him must see that in his face, because he growls out, “Why didn’t you fucking say something to him?”
The him in question adds, “Would’ve helped, y’know.”
Well, it seems these kids are doing better than he and his Satoru ever did. It doesn’t explain why he’s here, though.
Suguru doesn’t get to ask, because he’s busy dodging a knee to his balls. He blinks stupidly at where younger-him still has his knee up, glaring at him. Then there’s a fist to his face he has to duck under. He tries to turn the tide with an uppercut to younger-him’s jaw, but he’s better than Suguru was at that age, sliding around it to tackle him.
Still, Suguru has the height and weight advantage, using their momentum to flip them over so he comes out on top, struggling to pin younger-him’s wrists.
And then he gets kneed in the balls.
Fuck.
He’d thought he would be smarter than to use the same trick twice, but since it fucking worked Suguru supposes he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Not that he could stand, because younger-him is fucking vicious and his goddamn balls are going to ache for days.
He falls to the ground beside younger-him, reasonably sure he won’t be killed while rolling on the ground in pain. Whatever he’s been brought here for, it’s not dying. Probably.
Then he tilts his head back and gets his first glimpse of Satoru. Young-Satoru, that is.
His first glimpse of Satoru in years.
Even if it’s not, technically, him. His Satoru.
(Does he have any right to still call him his Satoru?)
He looks different than Suguru remembers. Is this Satoru wrong, or is his memory wrong? His cheeks are a bit rounder; there’s more colour to his skin. He’s smiling just a bit, because of course Suguru having his balls smashed would be amusing to him.
“Hey, dickhead,” younger-him says, kicking his face hard enough blood splashes into his mouth. “That one’s mine. You had your own, and you fucked it up.”
Suguru can’t help it: he laughs.
And he laughs, and laughs, and fuck dude why’d he let himself get kneed in the balls it hurts and he fucking laughs because whatever the fuck is happening these fucking kids haven’t ever had anything bad happen to them, had they? A world where they’re the strongest; untouchable; unkillable, Toji hasn’t yet come and -
“Is he… okay?” he hears younger him ask.
“I don’t fucking know,” Satoru answers. Potty-mouth’s, the both of them. “Probably not, with the whole insane cultmurdering thing. Also you got him good with that knee, never do that to me.”
God, he’s missed Satoru. He missed when they were like that - sort of like that, at least. He can tell even from this odd little encounter that this version of them are in-sync in a way he and his Satoru had never quite managed.
Are you the strongest because you’re Gojo Satoru? Or are you Gojo Satoru because you’re the strongest?
The words had tasted like ash on his tongue then, and they’ve only gotten more bitter with time.
“This isn’t even any fun if he’s not going to fight back,” younger-him complains. “You’re staring,” he informs Suguru. “It’s creepy.”
He doesn’t remember ever being so rude to his elders. Satoru is a horrible influence. He can’t stop laughing.
“Told you that you got all weird,” Satoru says. “Best stay with me so all… this… can be avoided.”
“He’s wearing a fucking robe named after you, dude,” younger-him says. “What a loser.”
Suguru laughs harder.
He doesn’t stop when younger him nudges his face with the toe of his shoe. “You should call him,” he says. Suguru will do no such thing. After a moment, he continues, “He’ll answer.”
Satoru wouldn’t. Not after everything.
But suddenly his vision is filled with the bluest eyes in the world, and Satoru himself is saying. “I would. You should. I promise I’d like to hear from you.”
“Huh?” he gasps out. He’s laughed so hard it transitioned into crying.
Satoru shrugs. “It’s still me. I’d miss you in every universe.”
“Sap,” jeers younger-him.
“This one’s ours though. It’s time for you to go home.” Then, to younger-him, “You satisfied?”
“Yeah. Me without you is fucking pathetic. I was hoping for a brawl.”
Like Suguru would actually fight a child. Even if the child is him.
Satoru smiles down at him and he wishes he could take this moment and keep it forever, because when was the last time Satoru smiled at him?
“See ya never,” he says, and the world warps.
The temple is empty when he’s dumped unceremoniously behind his podium. It’s almost certainly for the best, though he’ll have to figure out how much time he’s lost. It’s not like he’s in any state to preach to the masses as it is. He’ll say he was summoned for a holy mission or something.
He swallows thickly. He needs some water.
The empty room seems to amplify every noise as he gets to his feet, stumbling just a bit.
Fucking hell his balls hurt.
He leans against the podium for stability, breathing in, out. In and out.
Then he takes out his phone.
Suguru has a sneaking suspicion Satoru still has the same number.