Chapter Text
Gojo Satoru was tired.
His Eyes hurt, his head throbbed, and he had a growing bruise on his shin from the little shit that was currently screaming his fucking head off in his dorm room.
Why had he gone and adopted Toji Fushiguro's god-damned son?
"Megumi," he sighed, dragging a hand down his face. He was laying on the floor, staring vacantly up at his dorm's ceiling fan, because said little shit had taken over his bed. "Please shut the fuck up."
Now, Satoru was perfectly aware of how to talk to kids. In fact, he could say he was great with kids. For sure. Definitely.
But again, little shit.
There was no response, save for more screaming. The four-year-old brat hadn't let up for at least twenty minutes, and Satoru was up to here with the entire ordeal.
"Oh my god," he breathed.
With a groan, he propped himself up onto his arms. Although it was still very much Spring, the weather was edging into a Summer type of heat that made his shirt stick to his back. The temperature was just enough to be irritating, which wasn't helping his growing migraine from the situation laid out in front of him.
A sidelong glance at the screaming child on his bed made the irritation flare up in Satoru once again. But, as he looked closer at the tears running down Megumi's reddened face, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for being annoyed in the first place.
After all, Megumi was only here because of Satoru.
He blew out a puff of air, shoulders sagging before he pasted on a smile. It stretched on his face unnaturally, and his eyes did not want to cooperate. "Megumi, how about I take you to get some Pocky Sticks?"
His adoptive son (Satoru's thoughts almost halted at the words — he couldn't have a son. He was barely 17...) paused his temper tantrum and turned to evaluate Satoru, with much more conniving than a four-year-old should have possessed. The momentary lack of screaming was a heavenly silence to his ears.
Satoru almost groaned when he saw tears well up in the toddler's eyes again.
"B—but I want the puppy!" Megumi blubbered.
The puppy in question was a, frankly, skrunkly stray dog that they had found earlier in the day, when Satoru had taken the little shit with him to get groceries. It wasn't something he had done before taking in Megumi — Shoko or Suguru had always taken care of menial tasks like that — but Satoru hadn't been able to find a way to explain his sudden need for children's cereal and kiddie soaps. So. Groceries it is.
How far the mighty have fallen.
"Oh my god, dude, there is no way we were gonna take that thing home," Satoru groaned, pinching his eyebrows. "Yaga would kill me if I was secretly keeping a stray dog in my room."
Internally, he snickered at the irony of his own statement. He was practically keeping Megumi in his dorm in the same fashion.
He looked up just in time to see Megumi's lip twist into a wobbly pout, and he realized that the temper tantrum was going to start up again if he didn't do something.
"Okay, okay, okay, okay!" Satoru conceded, waving his hands out in front of him as if that would deter the child. "Um, how about this, Megumi-kun? I'll find you a puppy, hm? That sound good?"
At his words, Megumi promptly ceased the buildup to his crying and a wide grin broke out onto his face. If it weren't for the kid's flushed face and teary eyes, Satoru wouldn't have been able to tell he'd even been distressed in the first place.
Little shit.
Despite himself, Satoru found his face also morphing into a smile. A genuine one.
"Someone looks happy," Satoru observed, a tease in his tone. "Sit tight, I'll be right back."
A quick succession of nods from Megumi. Satoru rolled his eyes good-naturedly and staggered to his feet. Man, his head was killing him.
He pulled on a hoodie so he could look semi—acceptable in public. A glance to the digital clock on his nightstand told him it was 2:00 a.m.
Great.
With little fanfare, he nabbed his wallet from the floor and exited his room, making sure to lock the door behind him.
The click of his door closing allowed him to slump his shoulders, a tiredness emerging that he tried not to show in front of the kid. He rubbed at his face beneath his blackout glasses, grateful that his signature accessory hid the bags under his eyes.
It had only been a month since he'd swooped in and picked up Megumi from the vacant home that Fushiguro Toji left behind, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could do this.
Between hiding it from his classmates, his teacher, the higher-ups, and actually having to take care of the kid on top of it all, Satoru hadn't had a lot of time to breathe. Or sleep, for that matter.
He envisioned that it would be marginally easier after graduation. Which was...in approximately a year.
Awesome. Totally cool. Just stick it out for three-hundred and sixty-five days, and Satoru would be home free.
Something in his chest shriveled up at the thought, regardless.
Groaning, Satoru pushed himself off of his room's closed door and started the trek to whichever toy store was open at the witching hour.
He yawned. Maybe he could stop by the kitchen for coffee, first.
As he padded down the dorm building's hallway, he frowned when he caught sight of Suguru's closed door. Suguru, for the past few months, had been weirdly withdrawn. And, contrary to popular belief, Satoru wasn't obtuse, emotionally. He knew what kind of effect the Star Plasma mission had on Suguru. What the hell, it had a similar effect on Satoru.
But in the aftermath of that disastrous ordeal, Satoru and Suguru had gravitated towards one another. Comforted each other, even. And for two people who weren't overly emotional, that was pretty big.
The withdrawal he'd seen from Suguru as of late...it was weird. Every time Suguru had shrugged off his invitations to go out to the city, or to get crepes, or to even watch a movie, a small piece of Satoru's heart was chipped off into the void.
Staring at the door, Satoru felt another fragment crumble as he realized he was struggling to recall the last time him and Suguru had actually hung out.
But he shook himself out of his stupor. He had a dog to collect.
Trudging into the dormitory kitchen, he almost mindlessly tugged open the fridge in search of something that would perk him up. He didn't feel like making coffee from the machine, but his eyes caught on a small selection of canned milk tea, and he decided that those would do.
His focus was entirely on selection a flavor from the small selection, which was probably why he got so startled when—
"Satoru?" a voice rang out in the kitchen.
He whirled around, milk tea clutched in his hand like a guilty kid caught nabbing from the cookie jar. Standing at the entrance to the kitchen was Suguru, hair disheveled and down, a black sweater and baggy pants draped over his frame. His friend was rubbing at his eyes, looking blearily at the scene in a way that indicated he had just woken up.
And—
Satoru couldn't be happier.
"Su-gu-ruuu!" Satoru crowed, crossing the room and throwing an arm across his friend's shoulders. He squished his cheek against Suguru's, in a playfully annoying way like he always did. "What are you doing up?"
Suguru huffed a small laugh as he pushed Satoru's face away. Even with the physical rejection, Satoru felt like beaming. He'd made Suguru laugh.
His friend sent a wry smile his way. "I could ask the same of you, dummy. Aren't you tired?"
So tired, he thought to himself. But externally, Satoru just quirked an eyebrow at Suguru, who was sporting equally-bad-if-not-worse purple bruises under his eyes to Satoru's. His friend caught the expression, and promptly waved him off.
"I was just going to make myself some tea," Suguru shrugged. "It would help me sleep."
"Wouldn't drinking tea do, like, the opposite?" Satoru said, flicking open the tab of his canned milk tea. It was brown sugar flavored, but still too bitter for his tastes when he brought it up for a sip.
Suguru sent him an unimpressed look. "Tea is calming when it doesn't have an insane amount of sugar in it."
"This isn't even that sweet."
"Right, sure," his friend said dryly, moving past him to the cabinet where they stored all of their teabags. "So, what are you doing this late?"
“Going shopping,” Satoru replied.
Suguru stared at him.
Satoru continued sipping at his milk tea. Still too bitter.
”…Seriously?” his friend punctuated his words with an incredulous look.
”Yep!” Satoru said, popping his lips on the P. “Want anything?”
Satoru watched as the dark haired boy mulled over his words. He would have to find a way to hide Megumi’s little demand from Suguru if he planned on getting his friend a gift, but spending time with Suguru was worth the hassle.
”Mm, I think I’m okay,” Suguru finally replied after a bit of quiet contemplation. “Thanks, though.”
”What?” Satoru pouted. He stamped down the blooming sensation of disappointment in his chest and tried to project the same infectious energy he knew he was capable of rousing. “Come on, Suguru, I’ll get you those red bean buns you like. The good ones!”
”It’s really fine—“ his friend started in a polite denial, but all Satoru could see was a chance at spending time with Suguru slipping away.
And he was tired of being met with a shut door every day.
”Nope! Not taking no for an answer,” Satoru held a hand up, pasting a grin on his face. “And you missed your chance to pick, it’ll be a surprise now. I’ll be back in a second!”
”Satoru,” Suguru sighed. He sounded so much older than seventeen.
Satoru tried not to let his smile falter. “You know, when I get back, we should watch a movie,” he dipped his gaze, just a smidge, but when he looked back up at Suguru he was sure his friend had noticed it. “We haven’t done that in a while.”
The words came out just a little too softly, a little more vulnerable than he was comfortable with. He swallowed. Maybe it was the tiredness getting to him.
It was just—
He missed his friend.
Even so, the friend in question didn't need to have that declared to him so brazenly. Satoru saw how Suguru was worn down with mission after mission, not unlike himself — and they couldn't even have fun on them together now that they were both being sent more frequently on solo quests. No — what was Satoru thinking, forcing Suguru to stay up late at night when they would probably have an abhorrently early morning the next day?
His thinking was punctured by a quiet sigh from Suguru. "Sure, Satoru."
Sure?
Wait.
Suguru said yes!
"Really?" Satoru gasped. Then he got ahold of himself. "I mean, of course, you can't say no to me. You loooooove me too much, right Su-gu-ru?"
And—okay, maybe he was laying it on a bit thick. But sue him, he was excited. By the look of Suguru's amused expression, amping up his usual antics was having the desired effect.
Satoru placed down his milk tea on the counter with a clink, a new determination flickering in his chest. "Okay, stay right here. Gimme like, a second. No—less than a second!"
Without waiting for his friend's response, he warped away.
────────
Unsurprisingly, it was pretty hard to find a toy store open in the middle of the night.
Satoru wandered around a small area in downtown Tokyo, one that was familiar because him and his friends had visited it countless times. Earlier, he had passed by the karoke bar that their little group frequented, back in his second year. It still held the same worn-down neon lights at the front, a flickering 'OPEN' sign that had the 'N' significantly dimmer than the other letters.
They hadn't gone there since before the end-of-term break. How could they, when they were all swamped with work?
But Satoru couldn't deny that a little night of drinking (not on his part) would be nice for everyone.
He smiled to himself. Good thing he had a movie date with Suguru, after this.
Satoru ducked into a small 7-11 tucked into a small corner of the street. It was the only store with its lights still on, and fluorescent lights spilled from its glass doors onto the surrounding pavement, serving as almost a beacon of hope for any straggling salarymen or broke college kids doing who-knows-what.
Or, in this case, for a 17-year-old trying to get something for a little shit.
The store was lined with rows and rows of cheap goods. Bottles of sake, variations of onigiri, cup noodles, mochi, the like. But Satoru ignored the copious amounts of food and candy — with much restraint — and headed straight towards the lone aisle of trinkets near the front of the store.
It was a section that, he was sure, was purely for tourists to Japan. Small keychains lined the shelf, all small and cheaply made, sporting designs ranging from random Sanrio characters he couldn't name to Digimon that he definitely could name. But, his eyes grazed over those designs as he searched for what he needed.
Kuromi, no.
Pikachu? Eugh. No way.
Random bear face, a chibi dragon, an ugly-looking cat...
Ah. Found it.
Satoru smiled, pleased with himself, as his searching landed on a small stuffed dog. It was hilariously round — almost cylindrical — and had a goofy little face with its tongue sticking out and beaded black eyes. Another cursory sweep of the shelf had him realizing that there were three variations of the chubby dog plush — black, white, and tan.
After a bit of careful consideration, he nabbed the black plush. It kind of looked like Megumi. If he squinted.
Just as he was about to leave the aisle and pay, his eyes wandered back towards the other two dog plush variants.
The tan one had just a hint of purple tint to its eyes.
If the cashier was judging him for buying three dog plushies at 2:00 a.m., they didn't say anything as they dutifully scanned his purchases.
────────
"I'm ba-ack!" Satoru announced in a sing-songy voice, as he warped into the kitchen. The plastic bag clutched in his hand held the triad of plushies he'd gotten for a little over 900 yen. He picked up his milk tea from the counter, sipping from what remained in the can.
It was then that he noticed that the kitchen was empty.
"Suguru?" he looked around, at the little kotatsu table that had seen better days.
He walked towards the couch and television that just a little bit from the cooking area, in a way that whoever was lounging on the couch could easily hold a conversation with someone at the stove. He bent down over the back of the couch, maybe hoping that Suguru was simply sleeping on it, and out of sight. But he was only met with pillows and empty seating.
Discarding his empty can of milk tea, he padded out of the kitchen and down their dormitory hallway, where he stopped in front of Suguru's door. A cursory look with Six Eyes told him that his friend was inside his room — and still awake, if the roiling of his cursed energy was anything to go by.
Satoru knocked. "Oi, Suguru. You 'tryna escape me?"
No response came from the boy from the other side of the door. Just a shift of his cursed energy before it settled again.
Satoru rapped on the door. "I can tell you're awake, dipshit."
Still no response.
Satoru felt the now-familiar crumble of yet another fragment of his heart chipping into the void.
Not even gonna come out and say hi? he thought bitterly, his grip tightening on the shopping bag. The tan plush that sat inside it felt like a ton of bricks.
He heaved a slow inhale, hiking his shoulders up to his ears, then released the tension as he pushed out an exhale.
"Okay, well..." Satoru tried not to sound too dejected, because that would just be sad. "That's alright! It's late, and all — you know, I was thinking it was pretty late, too. Actually, there wasn't really anywhere open. Even that karaoke bar was closed — you remember that one from last year, right? All neon-y, it kinda hurt my eyes..."
He knew he was rambling. And although a couple months ago, Suguru would have been sitting next to him and nodding along — talking to a closed door struck Satoru as an entirely new brand of pathetic.
"Um, anyways," his string of half-baked thoughts stopped tumbling out of his mouth at the realization. "Let's just reschedule for tomorrow, yeah?"
The silence from the door seemed to almost be mocking him, at this point. With a sigh, he knocked his head against the wood.
"Thanks for the confirmation, buddy," he muttered. It was under his breath, but he had a suspicion that Suguru had heard it anyway. And, of course, still didn't deign Satoru with a reply.
On that awesome note, Satoru trudged back to his room, where he hoped he wouldn't find a screaming toddler.
The tan dog plush sat dutifully in front of Suguru's door, waiting until the morning.
────────
Satoru kind of regretted drinking that can of milk tea.
He was lying on his bed — Megumi had oh so benevolently allowed him back onto the mattress after receiving his long-awaited 'puppy' — and was hopelessly jittery from even the minuscule amount of caffeine that the can contained. His white doggy plush laid on top of his chest, while Megumi played with his matching black one. He seemed happy, so Satoru counted it as a win for the night.
He would have very much liked another win, in the form of actually being able to go to sleep.
Even as Shoko had tried to teach him, and even despite his awakening, the ability to negate the effects of sleep deprivation with Reverse Cursed Technique still sat just out of his reach. He already was on his way to fully automating Infinity, but the current method he was running was just barely keeping his brain from breaking down. Actually regulating his mind's behavior was another ballpark altogether.
Satoru's line of thought was interrupted by a ping on his phone. He flipped open the screen — he should really invest in one of those American touchscreen phones, the new ones that were coming out soon — and immediately regretted checking his messages.
A mission assignment. For 6:00 a.m.
Satoru looked at the clock and — sure enough, it was already half past three.
He rolled over so he laid facedown on the bed, and let out a silent scream into his pillow. The poor white dog plushy started to become squished beyond repair in his grip.
"What's wrong with you?" he heard a tiny voice ring out from next to him. Apparently, his scream wasn't as silent as he had hoped.
He turned to the side and saw Megumi's face peering down at him judgmentally. The expression looked way out of place for a four-year-old, and despite everything, Satoru kind of wanted to laugh.
"None of your business, little shit," he grinned at Megumi, who looked one bad day away from strangling Satoru in his sleep.
If he purposefully let down his Infinity to allow Megumi to whack him with his newly-acquired dog plush, then nobody had to know.
