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“Satoru, do you think life can always be like this?” Suguru asked. They were on Satoru’s bike as the sun set over a blue sea of the beach where they were heading. Satoru pedalling slowed down as they observed the horizon. Taking in the way that the colours bled into one another in the most beautiful way imaginable. The cliffs were green as they watched from the path, Suguru's arms firmly around Gojo's waist.
Satoru had practically sprinted down to sea the moment they got to the beach, pausing only to abandon his shoes, bike and backpack on the sand. Suguru smirked fondly as he watched the white-haired boy flop into the sea, disappearing for a moment before emerging with his hair plastered to his face. His eyes stung but he felt so alive and happy. This was what he wanted. This was how he wanted every day to be. "Suguru!" he called, his voice sing-song and cheerful "Won't you come swim with me?" Suguru rolled his eyes and set down his own backpack next to Satoru's, peeling off his uniform jacket and rolling up his pants unlike the idiot who had just charged in there with reckless abandon which was…so Satoru.
He didn't see Satoru sneak up on him and tackle him to the sand. Suguru yelped out of shock as they went crashing down like dominoes, Satoru practically dying with laughter and dripping wet. "Ugh, you imbecile." Suguru exclaimed, flicking him on the forehead before being immediately assaulted with Satoru's big, bright, blue puppy eyes. His sunglasses probably fell off when he attacked Geto.
Suguru glanced around, spotting the circular frames not lying too far out of reach. He grabbed them with the hand that wasn't trapped under the mass that was Satoru Gojo and put them gently on his face. "Wouldn't want your brain to get overwhelmed." Suguru said. "Now, get off of me idiot. I'm not your personal pillow!" Satoru faked a hurt look but reluctantly got off of him. Suguru was now as wet and as covered in sand as Suguru was. Satoru sat up next to him and Suguru leaned against him.
They'd done this before and their hearts raced every time, not that neither one would admit it to the other. This meant nothing, right? This was what friends did, right? But 'just friends' don't have their hearts race. 'Just friends' don't have blush building up on their cheeks. 'Just friends' don't fantasise about kissing each other.
"Oh, look who's using me as their personal pillow!" Gojo said dramatically "You are a hypocrite, Suguru Geto. That's exactly what you are."
"Yes but I'm not preventing you from breathing."
Satoru leaned his head down on top of Suguru's, just listening to the crashing of the waves and the whistling of the wind displacing sand as it whirled around them. "You look tired. Well, more tired than usual. You're sleeping right?" Satoru said.
"Oh, you're the one to talk. You get three hours of sleep a night. I keep telling you not to eat pure sugar before bed and you do it anyway. It doesn't help that you insist on drinking five hundred cups of coffee a day."
"Don't deflect the question, Suguru. I'm worried. You're not as energetic as you used to be. The bags under your eyes are almost as bad as Shoko's. I can't help you unless you tell me what's wrong and then we can figure it out together. You keep pushing everyone away, even me. Please, Surguru, let me help."
"It's all the curse absorption bullshit. There's only so much one person can take. I feel like people only care about what I can do for them. Not about me as a person. They taste like shit and puke and it's disgusting, Satoru. I feel like I can't stomach anything and no matter what I do, it still lingers. I try making myself sick to get rid of it but it just makes it worse. Everything makes me want to be sick."
Satoru pulled Suguru closer "I'm sorry. It's not fair. Our world is fucked up."
"The worst part is," Suguru said quietly "There's nothing either of us can do about it. We're just…side characters in a game where every move is decided for us. You know this as well as I do, Satoru. They only want us for our power, not for us. They don't care when I'm sick to my stomach, they don't care when I starve myself for days on end because even food feels untrustworthy."
Satoru freezes.
"You've been starving yourself?"
Surguru looks down as if he's ashamed. "I'm sorry…"
"No, no, don't 'I'm sorry' me. You've got no reason to apologise. Why didn't you tell me? God, Suguru, I'm always here for you. I want you to tell me every insignificant thing that goes on in your life and even more, I want you to tell me all the significant things. I want you to tell me about your wounds and your dark thoughts. I know that not everything can be sunshine and rainbows and I don't just want your sunshine, I want your darkness too. If you have an eating disorder, I want to be there to support you. I love you, Suguru Geto! And if I have to fight every curse in the world to prove it, I will."
Suguru looked at Geto, dark brown eyes meeting blue ones. Truly looked. The concern on his face, his round sunglasses, the explosion of messy white hair. Everything that made Satoru himself. He threaded his fingers through the strands, pulling Satoru's face closer to his.
"Gojo-sensei! Hey, Gojo-sensei."
Gojo was snapped back to the present "Hello there, Yuji-kun. How can I help you?"
The pink-haired boy stopped in front of him. "Fushiguro, Kugisaki and I are arguing over if cereal is a soup or a salad. I say that it's a salad, Kugisaki says that its a soup and Fushiguro says that we're being stupid. We need a third opinion."
"Well," Gojo says, stroking an imaginary beard "It can be both. If it's in milk it's a soup, if it's not and has more than one type of cereal in the bowl, then it's a salad."
"That makes sense. Sensei?"
"Yes?"
"You were sort of standing there staring at nothing for a while. Are you okay?"
"Oh, I hadn't realised I was doing that. I was just reminiscing over something. Don't worry about it Itadori-kun. Go report your findings back to Kugisaki and Megumi. I'll see the three of you in class later."
"Thanks, sensei! See you later!" And with that, Yuji headed back in the direction he came in.
When he was gone, Gojo took out his wallet and stared at the photo of Geto for a while. Geto took the other half with Gojo in it but that had likely been discarded. "Life could've been like that. I said that I would always help you. Why didn't you believe me? I know why you turned on us but..."
And then, mouthing.
"I didn't think you'd do it it so soon."
And for not the last time, Gojo let the tears soak into his blindfold.