casual
suguru geto x f!reader
**loosely based on casual by my beloved chappell roan
—
in the three months that you spend with suguru geto, he leaves a sour taste in your mouth and it’s not only because he tastes like black coffee. and in the two months that follow, before your deeply unfortunate circumstantial reunion, the last five words that you uttered to him, the sentiment behind them, only seems to grow.
you can go to hell.
and it’s all you can think when he shows up to the emergency room – a pinkish sunburn across his nose, his hair messily tied back – and eyes dripping in a concern that fills you with a rage. and it’s a deep sigh that he gives you, before reaching for your hand.
“what happened to you, peach?”
--
the general education class that you choose to satisfy your values and ethics inquiry is the sociology of religion. counting all the stakes – a stellar review on rate my professors, a night class at the start of the week, and minimal homework – it makes for the most ideal choice.
“so what’s your major?”
the downside? the midterm and final project are group assignments. and on any other occasion, you would have appreciated it – getting to split the work, taking some of the load off and sharing the work with someone, except for the fact that you didn’t know anyone in the class – and for the most part, you were expecting some half-brained idiot that would make you do all the work.
you suppose it’s at least fair that he’s not horrible to look at. in the dimmed lights of your apartment, there’s something almost off putting about your partner, suguru geto. you count seven piercings across his ears – dangling silver pieces almost shining in the glint of the light – and the smallest rim of purple around his eyes. harsh cheekbones, a hard jaw, and wrinkles by his eyes.
“educational studies. what’s yours?” you state.
“computer science.”
you hum in response, filling the two glasses with water and snatching one of the peaches from its container before taking your seat across from him, noting that he has a dimple on the left side when he smiles in response to your gesture.
“did you want some?” you ask, holding the peach in between the two of you.
he shakes his head, slumping against the counter in what seems an almost unnatural pose – his long limbs spreading into the space underneath your chair. you wonder if he always had an unusual way of taking up space.
and it seems that as time goes on, he gets more and more unusual. quietly working through the portions that you split up, except for a few deep breaths here and there, though he would stop once in a while and would almost ask for approval of what he had written, waiting for some confirmation from you that it was okay with you.
“you’re comparing adam and eve to…orpheus? i’m not really familiar with that.” you state.
suguru nods, before turning towards you to explain. his eyes waver in the slightest as he turns over to you, his gaze flitting down to your lips, before looking back up at you.
“you don’t have to be polite. you really can have some if you want, it’s really sweet.” you state.
suguru smiles.
“maybe later.”
you shrug.
“so orpheus…”
“it’s a really old greek myth. orpheus and eurydice. to kind boil it down, eurydice is in the underworld with hades. and orpheus is trying to convince hades to let her return to the mortal world, with him.”
he scoots his chair a little bit closer to you and you’re able to note one thing – that there’s a resonance in his voice, that it hums in his chest when he talks.
“hades tells him that he’ll let him take eurydice with him, but on one condition. she has to walk behind him.”
“that’s not that hard.”
suguru grins.
“isn’t it?” he asks.
you pause.
“you’re being told by this big, all powerful god, that she’s walking behind you. but you can’t look. you wouldn’t even consider the fact that you were being fooled? that maybe she had decided not to follow?”
“i mean, i guess. i don’t think it would really cross my mind, i…i think i’d just follow out all the way til the end because i’d kind of have faith if that’s what i was promised. and that she’d want to come with me too.”
suguru pauses, like he’s almost taking in what you’ve said – like it’s the first time he’s heard it – and responds rather slowly.
“you’re rather trusting, aren’t you?”
you roll your eyes.
“is that such a bad thing? what do you think about it?”
suguru shrugs.
“it was a worthless pursuit in the first place. there was no way that he wouldn’t have turned around and looked back.”
“what do you mean?”
“it’s simple. he loves her. if he hears something that deceives him – like the sound of her tripping over a rock – he doesn’t think. he looks back. if he thinks that she isn’t there, he won’t be able to get over it and he’ll turn around.”
you pause, mulling the thought over. and you suppose it’s true – that if you really did love something, it would be almost impossible not to check for the promise of their presence.
“i guess. so what? she goes back to the underworld?”
“yeah. it’s one of the most tragic love stories.”
“i guess it’s kind of romantic. that he loved her so much that he had to look back, like it was almost an instinct.”
and in the split second that the two of you stare at each other, he leans forward, pressing his lips to yours, with the strong taste of coffee lingering on his lips.
you’ve kissed three people before in your life – the boy you sat next to in the seventh grade, your date to the prom, and now suguru geto.
the first was overwhelming. a quick locking of the lips, that at the time, made you nearly erupt into a puddle of butterflies. the second was lackluster. waxy from too much chapstick, abrupt from the fact that he was quick to shove his tongue in your mouth.
and the third was indescribable. only because you could feel it – something lingering under his demeanor that you couldn’t exactly place. there wasn’t a word for the feeling it gave you – though there was one that was close enough.
curiosity. about what that feeling is, about who suguru geto was, and why he felt so inclined to kiss you upon your third meeting.
you wanted more of it.
“you’re right, you know?” he murmurs, breath warm against your lips.
“about being trusting?”
he laughs.
“no. about the peach. it really is sweet.”
he leans back, eyes fixed on the reading in front of the two of you again, as you reach up to touch your lips, the sticky sweetness of the fruit gone from your skin.
--
suguru comes around often after the fact. always here and there, an almost abrupt and concise text testing the waters.
[suguru]: is your roommate home?
[you]: nope. she’s at the district.
[suguru]: can i keep you company?
[you]: okay!
and he always arrives promptly twenty minutes after the fact, to the point where you wondered if he lingered around just to get there as fast as he could. and never empty handed – with dinner, dessert, or a flower that he plucked out of the cement in his hands.
that was the thing that confused you about him.
after the very first time you kissed, he had made one thing very clear.
no attachments. you’re not together.
but yet, he’d show up sometimes and do nothing but kiss your forehead and sleep in your bed next to you. or make you do something entirely mundane – like watch toy story three with a sheet of cookies in your oven – or watch you study.
and in the two weeks you had known him, you knew better than to question. your curiosity never stopped you, but you found that you were always left with more questions than the vague answers that he gave you.
“hey peach?”
“yeah?”
“your mom is calling.”
you widen your eyes, immediately snatching the phone from him, and giving him a weary smile. and you side shuffle into the walkway between the laundry and your bedroom, pressing the phone to your ear and murmuring under your breath.
“hi mom.”
“hi doll. how are classes?”
you pick at the loose thread of your sweater, nearly breaking the seams of the sleeve, noting suguru’s curious eyes – that he’s very poignantly trying to hide – from the kitchen.
“they’re good, ma. what’s up?”
“right. i’m so sorry to do this to you, my sweet, but i won’t be home when you get back.”
“what?”
“we’re going on a trip to see sheila in new york. and well, her vacation is only during those dates and we want to spend as much time with her as we can.”
you sigh, the frustration tempering in yoru chest.
“i already paid for the tickets. i saved up for a month trying to buy a flight back.”
“darling, i know. i’m really sorry, but you know how it is. she just gets so stressed out that we just wanted to go out there and make her holiday nice.”
“and what about my holiday? you don’t want me to have a nice christmas with my family?”
you can feel it burning in your cheeks – that embarrassing feeling that’s been simmering in your chest since you were kid. a mix of an insurmountable amount of envy and dejection, from trying to vie for attention from the second that you realized you never had it.
“don’t try to make me feel guilty.” she scolds
“i’m not trying to make you feel guilty! i just wished you would have thought about me too.”
you hear an irritated sigh on the end of the line, which is your first sign that you had made a mistake. because if there was one thing you knew how to do, it was push your mom’s buttons.
you wonder if it’s because she sees herself in you – and that utter hatred that she has for herself was now placed on you instead.
“do you always have to be so curt with me?”
“i’m not being curt, i just…”
“maybe when i die, you’ll think back and wished that you had appreciated me more. been more understanding that i’m not just your mother, i am someone’s friend too. that i have my own life. and that at the very least, my friends like to call me here and there. acknowledge me while you do god knows what wherever you are.”
“okay, well, i –”
“enjoy your christmas. we’ll see you in the spring.” she states.
there’s a static on the other end of the line and you drop your phone, staring at the dark screen in your hands for the few seconds that follow. and you must have been standing there for too long, because a few minutes later quiet footsteps accompany you in the dimly lit hallway, suguru’s head obscuring the light from the bulb.
“hi peach.”
“did you hear all of that?”
“no.” he responds.
you look up at him and glare. and he reaches forward, hands soft on your cheek wiping away the wetness that you hadn’t noticed. you’re not sure when you started crying.
he leans forward and presses a kiss to your cheek.
“you’re a liar. if you’re one thing, it’s nosy.” you respond.
he smiles.
“maybe when it comes to you. what happened, pretty girl?”
you shake your head, his grabby hands coming around your waist as he presses you closer to his chest. you can hear his heart thumping against your ear, the metal of his necklace cold on your cheek, as you heave a sigh.
“nothing.”
“oh, come on, peach.”
you look up at him, expectant and full brown eyes waiting for an answer, as you give in.
“i just thought i would be going home next week for break. but i think i’m just going to stay here.”
“because your parents are going to…”
“see their friends in new york.”
suguru frowns. you can’t tell if it’s pity in his eyes.
“it’s not a big deal. i just was expecting to go home, that’s all. and it’s not that big of a deal that i’m going to stay here, the weather is nice and it’s probably frigid cold there.”
suguru pauses.
“you’re going to be here alone?”
“yeah. my roommate is from the east coast.”
“you should come home with me, for break.”
you look up at him, eyes wide.
“what?”
“s’not that far from here, i usually just make the drive. there’s a nice coffee shop on the way that i always stop at for some energy. and my mom is really nice.”
you shake your head, almost too violently.
“i can’t just go home with you. i wouldn’t want to impose.”
suguru pulls back, his fingers fast on the screen, as he murmurs under his breath, his voice uncharacteristically soft.
“you’re not an imposition to me, peach. i can’t leave my baby here alone.”
“sure. but to your parents, and…and staying rent free in your house.”
suguru grins, handing over the phone to you, as you read the texts on the screen.
[suguru]: can my friend come home with me for break? her name is y/n.
[mom]: YES!!!!!
[mom]: A GIRL!
[suguru]: not like that
[suguru]: but she’s sweet
[mom]: I’M GETTING EVERYTHING READY
you look down at the phone, noting the sweet heart emoji that he has near her contact name, the contact photo a picture of the two of them when he was considerably younger, hugging cheek to cheek.
“and i stay rent free in your apartment all the time.”
“suguru, this is…weird. i can’t just come home with you, that’s…that’s too much.”
he shakes his head.
“it’s casual. we’re just friends, you’re just coming home with me for break so you won’t be here alone.”
right. you’d almost be inclined to believe him – if it wasn’t for the fact that the time you spent around him, the more curious you got.
the more that feeling festered in you, wanting to know anything and everything about him, wanting to crawl deep into his skin and memorize everything and make sense of why he was the way he was.
“you promise?”
“for sure.”
--
“you’re a loser.”
mei mei is never one to mince her words. and you’re grateful for it – because it’s something that you need when you return from your two weeks stay in long beach with suguru over the break.
because despite the words that he told you, the ones that you didn’t really believe anyway, you come back in a worse state than you expected.
you think you love him.
because in the days of uninterrupted time that you spend together, you let your mind wander too far. because in the quiet moments that the two of you had – knee deep in the passenger seat outside the stupid coffee shop you stopped at, giggling in the bathroom when you went to dinner, and tangled in the bed sheets with him every night – you let yourself taste too much.
let your mind run a little too wild. thinking about meeting his friends at the pier he showed you, of living together in an apartment in the following year.
and the two of you teeter a dangerous line. putting each other as emergency contacts, swapping your wardrobe in between your flats, and showering together every morning – his soft hands massaging the shampoo into the roots of your hair.
“don’t be mean.” you state.
“i’m not being mean, i’m just saying that…”
mei mei sighs, cheeks in her hand, with an almost irritating look in her eyes – wholeheartedly judgemental. she just didn’t get it.
“look, he’s friends with todo. that guy i know from the finance club? and i asked around about him, apparently he loves to brag about how he gets girls off all the time. now either he’s talking about you – clearly not the way you talk about him – or he’s talking to someone else.”
you sigh. because you can’t even put it past him. because in the months you had known him, he was impossible to understand. a futile effort to read. impossible to touch.
“look, i’ll just ask him later.”
and when he comes around your apartment, well after mei mei has left, he brings a slice of peach cobbler that his coworker insisted that he take home with him.
“peach cobbler for my peach!”
you wince.
“that was corny. even for you.”
“i saw an opportunity and i took it.” suguru responds, shrugging as he loops his arms around your waist, chin resting against the top of your head as he eyes the pot of boiling ramen on your stove.
and you bite the bullet as fast as you can.
“do you see other girls?” you ask.
“huh?”
you swallow hard, dry patch in your throat, as you feel the sweat tickling the top of your forehead. it’s from the heat of the stove.
“do you see other girls? or guys?”
“no. do you?”
you shake your head. and you’re unsure how to word the next question – because there was something humiliating, too bare about having to admit that you want more to him – when things were so sweet as they were.
perhaps you should have known better. coffee was always bitter at the end.
“why do you ask?”
you shrug.
“dunno. was just thinking about us. and how we spent break together and all that.”
suguru presses a kiss to your hairline.
“yeah? did you have fun?”
you hum in response.
“yeah. i really liked the city. and your mom and your sister. it was really sweet of you to take me.”
you pause, wincing as you decide to be as blunt as possible.
“and i like you.”
he laughs.
“well, i like you too.”
“no, no, i like you. well, i more than like you, but i…i can’t say those words.”
there’s a silence. and his arms feel like loose limp noodles around you. and you realize now, that you made the wrong choice. you turn around, only to find hollow brown eyes staring at you, the makings of a frown on his face.
“suguru?”
he winces.
“i can’t.” he whispers.
“why not?”
and you’re not sure what it is, but it throws him into a panic. with his facial features scrunched up, eyes hollow, and nervous hands running through his hair.
“i just can’t.”
you cross your hands over your chest, the bitter contempt of rejection blooming in your chest, as you look down, picking at the scab on the inside of your palms as you ask again.
“i said i didn’t want any attachments.” he adds.
“i know. but can you blame me for being confused? you took me home to see your family.”
“as a friend.”
“you didn’t act like my friend while we were there.”
suguru groans.
“and that’s my fault, i know that but –”
that one stings. admitting that he regrets it.
“okay, well. that’s alright. maybe you should leave now, then.” you state.
“wait peach, no. i don’t want to leave, i just..”
you scoff.
“you don’t want to leave?”
“no?”
it comes out meek, almost timid when he utters it. a question. like he can’t even admit it fully – that he wants to stay. and it fills you with anger, searing red hot anger on the heels of being cast aside so nonchalantly, that it comes to a head then and there.
“do you really think so little of me?”
“what?
“i’m not good enough to be your girlfriend. but whatever else you want, that’s fine. i…i thought you thought of me better than some girl you just fuck around with.”
suguru sighs.
“you’re not some girl i just fuck around with.”
“am i not, though?”
suguru shuts his eyes, the look on his face is so pained – so miserable – that it irritates you.
“you’ve made it abundantly clear. that you like me a decent amount, but not enough to care about whether or not you’ll lose me.”
you bite down so hard on your lip that the taste of metallic blood fills your mouth, coupled with warm tears in your eyes.
“and for that, you can go to hell.”
--
“what happened to you, peach?”
you scoff, curling your nose at the old nickname, as he yanks the closest stool – his legs still too long to even be comfortable on the thing as he leans forward, noting the dried blood on your forehead.
“a car accident. you can leave now.”
suguru frowns, almost resembling a kicked dog, as he shakes his head. there’s something softer about his expressions now – something you’re sure is a byproduct of the time you spent apart or the fact that you have a broken rib – and you choose to ignore it for the time being.
“i can’t just leave.” he whispers.
“and why not?”
suguru shakes his head.
“you have a broken rib. and a deep cut on your forehead. forgive me if i’m concerned about you.”
“i can’t. knowing you, you’ll casually linger around here for a few days, and when you figure it’s appropriate to leave, you’ll be gone with the wind.”
the two of you sit there in silence, the harshness of the words hanging in the air between the two of you.
and yet again, suguru geto leaves you with a never ending pit of curiosity. about what he was doing here, to ask how he is – to make it a note to him that his cheeks look fuller, that his eyes aren’t rimmed red anymore, and that he looks good.
that you like the new hairstyle. that it killed you when he wasn’t around anymore. that you still want him to go to hell.
suguru twists the silver ring on his pointer finger a few times – a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth – before you break the silence, your curiosity getting the best of you another time.
“why are you here?”
“they called me. i’m your emergency contact still.”
“no, i gathered that. why are you here?”
suguru pauses, swallowing hard before responding.
“if orpheus hears something that deceives him – like the sound of eurydice tripping over a rock – he doesn’t think. he looks back.” suguru states.
you scoff. vague again.
“right.”
“no, really. i got the call. and i didn’t think and just showed up. i just…just had to see you.” suguru states.
he pauses.
“it’s kind of romantic, don’t you think? that he loved her so much that he had to look back, like it was almost an instinct.”
you turn to glare at him, at the audacity of him repeating your own stupid words back to you.
“is it? because his carelessness left her in hell with hades.”
suguru scoffs.
“i never did tell you the end of the story, did i?”
you roll your eyes.
“orpheus becomes so distraught that he uses his lyre to charm death – just so that he can return to the underworld to be with her. and people debate how it happens, him being ripped apart by irate women or getting killed by the menades, but it does happen. he dies and goes to the underworld. and in some versions, people think that he reunites with her in the underworld. and she forgives him.”
“and why would she do that?” you ask.
“because he tried his best to do right by her. he was asked to do one thing – to stay away. and that’s what he did, because…because i know you’re right. because you do deserve better, i do think the world of you and think you deserve to be with someone who wants to be with you, the way that you want.”
suguru pauses.
“it’s not my fault that i can’t help but look back. i can’t do anything about the fact that i love you.”
you swallow hard, an embarrassing amount of regret – mixed in with that deep longing that he left in your chest – searing through you.
“in the casual way, right?” you respond, sarcastically.
he groans.
“it’s not casual at all. it wasn’t casual when i leaned forward to taste the sweetness of the peach on your lips – especially when i fucking hate peaches. and it wasn’t casual when i took you home with me, it was…i just couldn’t stand the thought of you being alone. and it’s not fucking casual that i drove three hours when i was supposed to be home this weekend just because i the thought of you sitting in this room alone, in pain, was driving me crazy.”
you wince, turning to look at him. and it seems that in the mere acknowledgement of his presence by locking his eyes, it seems to fill him with something – something that puts the whisper of a smile on his face.
“what?”
“i turned around for you. i didn’t know i would, but now that i have, i…i realize that i probably always would have.”
“okay?” you whisper.
“are you going to forgive me for it? not doing it earlier, for…for not getting it right the first time?” he asks.
you pause, mulling the thought over. and the silence, he takes it as an invitation to plead his case.
“i’ll beg. i’ll get on my hands and knees if that’ll do something to make it better.”
you turn to look at him.
“you…you’re special. i haven’t forgotten about you and…and i know we had something. just let me fix it? i’ll get you a hundred gifts, i’ll tell you a hundred times and i’ll - oh!’
he reaches into his bag, shoving his arms into the depths of the pockets, before yanking out a little napkin and reaching forward, opening your hand and placing it in your palm.
“a tissue?”
“open it.”
and you oblige, unfolding the tissue to see four little gummy peach rings in the napkin, before turning back to him.
“peach rings?”
“for my peach! i eat them all the time now, even though i fucking hate peaches. i only had a few left so i grabbed what i had left when i ran out. and i ate some on the way on accident because i was nervous, worried about you and all..”
you look down, the sugary crystals on the candy almost sparking in the light, as you look back at him. and he's wholeheartedly different - not the cool, cold guy you left behind, but a weird mess of awkwardness and jitters, and maybe even the tiniest hint of desperation.
he seems wholeheartedly more touchable this way.
“you make no sense.” you state.
suguru frowns.
“i know. but i’m trying.” he responds.
and you sigh, wiping your hands at your side, before eating one of the candies. bitter at first, but sweet at the end.
“suppose that’s my problem then. i’ll have to figure you out.” you respond.
suguru’s face splits into a smile, his motions so eager as he leans over the railing of the bed, the angle entirely off as he leans forward to kiss you. and it’s entirely different from every other time you’ve kissed him – full and whole, a warm and tender promise behind it.
“you’re wrong, you know?” you whisper.
“about what?” he murmurs.
“the peaches. they taste good.”
he laughs.
“is that right?” he whispers, his thumb tracing the outline of your lips, as he wavers his eyes up again, to the cut on your forehead.
he leans forward, pressing a kiss to the bandages, before pulling back, lips lingering over yours.
“i think i need one more to decide.”
--
an: idk.
taglist: @porridgesblog @k0z3me @sugu-love @yihona-san06 @bsenpai @sweetenertea @skzismyhome @mykyoon @violetmatcha @rebeccawinters @shotenvinsoot @itzmeme @gojoswifeyyys-world @cutiejg @chilichopsticks @timmytimmytuckyy @dreamxiing @mamamamamarga @skunabby @meisque @hoseokslefteyebrow @yoontaedotin
195 notes
·
View notes