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Daisies and Tulips
Kento Nanami x Reader
Summary: The first year trio help Nanami pick out a bouquet of flowers for his partner
Word Count: 1.7k
Tags: fluff to the MAX, itafushi mention, nanami is in love with reader, megumi knows a lot about flowers, the trio being their silly selves
Little Things Masterlist
This is also available on ao3
A/N I hope you guys enjoy this part as much as I enjoyed writing it !! As always reblogs and comments are always very appreciated
Kento Nanami loved this time of year, the three beautiful months where both of his loveâs favorite flowers bloom at the same time. It had been tricky at first trying to figure out a time where he would be able to purchase both of them together but after years of being with you he has nailed it down, so now as soon as it hits March 1st the blond heads to the local flower shop once a week to create a bouquet that never failed to make a smile grace your face.Â
On this particular day just as Kento was getting ready to leave the school for the day, a rambunctious trio of first years bounded up to him right as he locked his door. The first grade sorcerer exhaled deeply at the sight of the teens, who hadnât given him a moment of peace since the night that they had dinner with him and his partner.Â
âWhat can I do for the three of you now?â The man questioned the trio.
The three students quickly looked at each other, having a silent conversation before turning back to the older man. Yuji steps forward seemingly being the one who was elected to speak.Â
âNanamin we were just wondering what sort of things you do for your partner to make their day?â The young boyâs brown eyes beamed up at Kento wide in curiosity.Â
Nobara then cleared her throat and added on âYeah you seem like the type to be a secret hopeless romantic, you both have been together for a while so Iâm sure thereâs at least one thing that you do for them since they havenât dumped you yet.âÂ
Megumi says nothing but just nods along with what the other two are saying. Kento lets out a sigh, the sides of his mouth twitching as he tries not to smile. The fact that the teens are so eager to learn about you and about his relationship with you warms both his heart and your own.Â
âWell this time of year I like to go to a flower shop and make a bouquet of their favorite flowers since there is only a short time frame where they both grow at the same time.â The blond man stated, no longer fighting off the urge to smile.Â
Nobara and Yuji awed at hearing this while their raven haired counterpart flushes at the mention of said flower shop. Not long ago Megumi had run into the elder man and his partner at the shop looking at flowers. Kento had obviously recognized the boy and greeted him, causing you to greet the green eyed boy as well. Megumi, who had been overcome with embarrassment at interrupting this moment, stuttered out a greeting and introduced himself before turning around and booking it in the opposite direction. Thinking back to that moment causes the young teen to accidentally groan out loud, interrupting the onslaught of questions that the other two first years were asking Nanami.
Yujiâs head jerks in his boyfriendâs direction, concern evident in his eyes. The black haired boy flushed even deeper before waving Yuji off. Kento cleared his throat before stepping away from the trio.
âIf that is all I really must be going, the shop closes in a few hours and I need to make it there before then.â The man spoke silently hoping that the answer he gave them would suffice.Â
âWhy donât we go with you so that we can help?â Yuji asked his mentor, eyes mimicking that of a puppy. Nobara and Megumi nod in agreement.
Kento once again sighs before nodding his head at the pink haired boy, the trio cheered in response. The four then made their way to the flower shop. It was a relatively short walk, Nobara and Yuji filling the silence with their banter. Once they arrived Kento opened the door and held it for the trio, the bell chiming in the distance.Â
âAhhh welcome back Mr. Nanami, here for a bouquet for your partner?â The man behind the counter greeted the sorcerer, a smile on his face.
âHello Haruto, yes Iâm back for a bouquet, however this time these three are going to help me pick out the colors of the flowers.â Kento says before gesturing to the trio of teens.
The shopkeeper turned to the teens and asked âWell alright then, do any of you know the meanings of different flower colors.âÂ
Yuji looked at the other two puzzled and muttered âFlowers have meanings?âÂ
Nobara scoffs and says âOf course they do dumbass, I left my book about it in my dorm so Iâm not going to be of much use.â a pout appearing on her face.
Megumi coughs before muttering, âI know a bit about the meanings of different flower colors.â the boyâs face once again a violent shade of red.Â
His admittance of this caused Yuji and Nobara to look at him in complete shock, Megumi refused to meet their eyes instead focusing on the flowers in front of him. There was a wide variety of flowers spanning across the entire store, each type getting its own section with a multitude of colors.Â
Megumi, still refusing to meet his peerâs eyes, turns to Nanami and asks, âWhat kind of flowers do they usually like?â His hands rubbing together, a clear sign that the boy is nervous.
âThey like daisies and tulips, thatâs why this time of year is perfect because it's the only time where they both bloom together.â The brown eyed sorcerer remarked with a small smile on his face.Â
Megumi nods firmly before turning to Yuji and Nobara, grabbing their hands and dragging them over to the daisy section first.Â
âOkay so for daisies I think we should get blue, they mean long-term commitment, trust, honesty and loyalty.â Megumi shares before continuing, âThen I figured we could go with red which is not only a classic but they also mean passion, romance, and devotion.âÂ
Yuji and Nobara stare at the green eyed boy in complete shock before grabbing a couple flowers of each color. Neither expected their fellow first year to have this much knowledge about flowers but considering he was raised by Gojo it doesnât come as too much of a shock to them.
Once they have all of the daisies gathered Megumi makes his way over to where the tulip display is, taking a minute to look at all it has to offer. Yuji and Nobara stand quietly behind him as he observes, the two sharing a silent look of admiration for the boy.Â
Megumi clears his throat before turning back around to face his friend and his boyfriend, âAfter looking over what they have I think we should get pink because they symbolize happiness, and I think we should also get orange because they represent passion and excitement.â
The boy plucks a couple flowers of each color from the display and turns back to his friends, âWhile its an uncommon combination of colors I think that the light blue of the daisies will look nice with the light pink of the tulips, and the red daisies with the orange tulips will also look nice.â Megumi explains.Â
Yuji and Nobara nod in agreement, the teens then make their way over to the counter up front. Nanami is still standing there talking to the shopkeeper about you.Â
âYes, our five year anniversary is coming up soon and I already have the whole day planned out. The ring has been sitting in my pocket for months now but I just havenât found the right time yet.â Kento whispers to the old man in front of him, as if he's trying to keep the proposal plan a secret.
The three teens gasp as they hear their mentor mention the ring, drawing the manâs attention to them. His eyes wide in shock, he wasnât expecting them to hear about that.Â
âNanamin youâre going to propose to them??â Yuji asks, tears slightly welling up in his brown eyes at the idea of the man he admired so much taking such a big step in his life.Â
âCome on, show us the ring I wanna see.â Nobara says moving her hand in a give me motion.
âI want to see it too.â Megumi utters his eyes darting in the opposite direction.
Kento sighs, taking off his goggles and pinching right between his eyes before reaching into his pocket and removing the velvet box that has been there for months.Â
âYes Itadori I will be proposing to them soon, now that everything has settled down and things arenât as hectic.â Kento informed the trio before opening the velvet box to reveal a gorgeous ring. It was a silver band with leaf detailing all around it with a single pearl placed in the middle surrounded by even more leaf detailing. The three teens looked at the ring in awe knowing that you were going to love it.Â
âWow you sure know how to pick em Nanami.â Nobara admitted, her eyes transfixed on the ring.
âYeah Nanamin theyâre going to love it.â Yuji chimed in with even more tears in his eyes.Â
âItâs beautiful, they'll love it.â Megumi agrees.Â
Kento chuckles before closing the box and putting it back in his pocket, âThank you, now letâs see what flowers the three of you picked out for them.â The blond man responded with a faint flush on his freckled face.Â
The trio straighten up before showing their mentor the flowers they picked out. Nanami smiles before taking the flowers from each teenâs hand arranging them all together.Â
âWonderful work you three, I am sure theyâll be very happy with these.â Kento smiles at the kids.Â
Kento hands the flowers to the shopkeeper so that they can be wrapped together and paid for. The shopkeeper smiles as he rings them up, having known you personally due to your former apprenticeship at the flower shop.Â
âHave a great rest of your evening, theyâre going to love them Kento.â The shopkeeper says before bidding them farewell.
Kento ushers the trio out of the shop and they make their way back to the school, the blond man making sure each teen makes it safely back to their dorms. Later that evening all three of the teens receive a text message from the man including a photo of you holding the bouquet with a wide grin and tears streaming down your face. Below the photo was a message that said âThank you again for helping pick these out, they love them.â
A/N this is the ring
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bee-witched bakery prologue
a.n. - oh boy, this was a long time coming! i just needed to get a small idea of where i wanted the series to go. i hope you all enjoy the series :)
The air was crisp with dewy air, dawn just breaking in the horizon. You have a new outlook on life in front of you, a new bakery to open, the one that your family didn't believe you could be successful with. But you were adamant to prove them wrong.
The ding of the bell when you open the door made you smile, the firsts thing you installed when you arrived at the building a couple days ago. You maneuver around the stacked boxes around the new building space you rented in Tokyo; maybe a little expensive, but you're hoping will pay off in the long run with how many people live here, hoping for many customers. Sure, there's a few competitors down the road, but you know what you're doing. You know you have the ambition to follow this through.
You spend the next few hours of the day organizing the decorations you had to where you wanted them. Bee decals in the lengthy window, a black and yellow bee open sign on the door, potted plants clustered in a couple corners. Succulents in the middle of a variety of the tables and on the lengthy counter with the register, hand drawn bees on the pastry glass. Everything is very minimal right now, but you wouldn't trade it for the world. You'd have the time to update as you went along.
You're putting empty boxes away, finally getting a chance to look over your to-do list and calendar, looking for when you would be training the baristas you hired. Which is why you were shocked when you heard the bell chime in your doorway, not expecting the baristas until later in the week.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. It looked like the open sign was on, I didn't realize you weren't open yet." A honey like voice said, and you looked up to see a well to do man with dark hair and a suitcase, who seemed perpetually exhausted. You wondered what he does for a living. You about bang your head on the lengthy counter when you realized you turned the open sign on, relieved that other people hadn't walked in.
"No, that's my fault! I didn't realize that was on. But don't worry, my soft launch opening date is for early next week." You told him, smiling brightly in his direction. You were glad that you were seemingly gaining traction for your bakery.
"Well, I can't wait personally. My partner and I have been waiting to try something new." You swallowed, a little heart broken he seemed to be dating someone.
"I'm glad then, see you both next week?"
"We'll be the first in line." He said, returning your smile with a smirk. He walked back out, leaving you to look back over your to do list, now even more convinced to make things work, to ensure many customers.
taglist:
@h0nestly-though
@arusearu
#jjk imagine#jjk series#jjk x reader#jjk#jujutsu kaisen#jujutsu kaisen imagine#jujutsu kaisen x reader#jujutsu kaisen series#nanami imagine#nanami x reader#nanami series#hiromi imagine#hiromi x reader#hiromi series#kento nanami imagine#kento nanami x reader#kento nanami series#hiromi higuruma x reader#hiromi higuruma imagine#hiromi higuruma series#nanami kento imagine#nanami kento x reader#nanami kento series#higuruma hiromi imagine#higuruma hiromi x reader#higuruma hiromi series
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I don't want to regret the way I lived
#my art#jujutsu kaisen#jjk#fanart#jjk fanart#jujutsu kaisen fanart#yuji itadori#gojo satoru#nobara kugisaki#nanami kento#choso kamo#junpei yoshino#jjk leaks#jjk spoilers#jjk manga spoilers#this idea started as a 2 part series . then my braincells decided to spark and supplied 7 PAGES#'did you sleep hina' no#ws looking up mentally stable things like 'who has died in jjk' smh i love my hyperfixation media im sooooo glad so many ppl r DEAD#i *could* have included more ppl but i think this is a good crew. this is a yuuji emotional support crew#also Was gna include his grandpa final panel but i Did Not Want To#he is implied through th dialogue#side note i donot like how i cn see this scenario playing out . ..yuuji this isnt ur stop u r monopoly voice Just Visiting ok >:(#anyway I broke my own heart with this and ik i hyped it up a lot but i hope that its not just me...#hope i did not hype it up fr nothing and no one else finds it devastating :((((( that would b humbling in the worst way#pls ...join the happy party train.......i hate it here i suffered pls :<<<<#also !!!! colours in this !! i cooked i fear . adding th first bit of warm hitting yuuji's face after th first 2 panels....#ive never had that kind of experience while drawing before it was wild . painful ! but wild.#the whole transition from p 2->3 might b the most emotionally moving piece ive ever made to me#not 2 sing my own praises tho i will shut up ! i wil. nap
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gojo satoru x reader | college au [18+]
kickoff ch.12 how you get the girl
á° pairing. college au - soccer player! gojo x film major! reader
á° summary. gojo satoru is the most popular guy on your college campus. he's tall, funny, hot, not to mention he's the most talented soccer forward the school has seen in years. but he's also a frat dude, which puts him in a world very different from your own, as he spends most of his nights partying while you spend most of yours working on your annoying film major assignments. but when he reaches out to you for a favor, you realize that helping him out might have something in it for you too.
á° warnings/tags. 18+, fem reader, fluff, angst, smut, college au, fraternities, sororities, partying, drinking/alcohol, romance, jealousy, pining, slow burn, opposites to lovers, friends to lovers, she falls first he falls harder, gojo being an idiot, marijuana use, sexism, sexual harassment (verbal only)
á° chapter. 12/x (probably 18)
á° words. 11.3k
a/n. man the color scheme for this chapter is kinda giving BRAT lolol...i mean gojo IS brat. anywho, i don't have much to say at the beginning of this chapter but i do have a LOT to say at the end of it sooo see y'all at the bottom!! hope u enjoy. also BIG THANK YOU to @whereflowerswenttodie who beta read parts of this chapter for me n convinced me not to scrap it lol
nav. masterlist
âŸÂ·Ì©Íêł moodboard no.1 :: âŹ.*ïŸplaylist
11:03am you: hi! 11:03am you: good luck today 11:03am you: incase i donât see you
11:05am Gojo Satoru: Why wouldnât you? Arenât you gonna be on the field for your newsletter shots?
11:07am you: i mean yes but idk where iâm gonna be stationed so 11:07am you: it might not be on UTokyoâs side of the field
11:08am Gojo Satoru: Okay then Iâll look for you before the game starts
11:10am you: no pls donât. coach yaga thinks i distract you. i donât want to get yelled at again. he scares me :(
11:12am Gojo Satoru: Haha youâre silly 11:13am Gojo Satoru: East side entrance at 2 11:13am Gojo Satoru: Be there
11:14am you: or be square?
11:15am Gojo Satoru: Yea whatever shape you wanna be in is fine cutie
Itâs a bright sunny day outside, perfectly blue sky with a scattering of fluffy clouds seen outside the window of your shared room in your apartment, and you realize spring is fully here from the way birds chirp past the glass. Youâre stuffing your camera case full of chilled Kodak film rolls, your last stash left, and itâs the last piece of equipment you pack before slinging the strap over your shoulder and heading out the door.
Mina had offered to give you a ride to the stadium since your carâs still at the shop, but youâre happy you opted for the bumpy bus ride and although you come close to low-grade concussions from the bang of your head to the window at every other speed bump, the music in your ears while someone else is operating a public transport vehicle helps you think creatively before shooting shots.
It was surprise enough that Mina of all people was going to this game, and when you questioned her about it in the morning, she looked at you like you were absurd to assume anyone from UTokyo wouldnât be at this game, and sure enough, itâs all anyone on Instagram has been repping on their stories or talking about in the bustling minutes before lectures. Even Utahime was going to this game, and she hates all intercollegiate sports. You knew the game was a big deal, given the way Coach Yaga was yelled at via email by the Dean of UTokyo to make sure the team wins today because a multimillion dollar Nike sponsorship would be greenlit by the prospect (for some reason you were ccâd in an email chain among divisional higher-ups, but you werenât opposed to snooping in on conversations that were entirely outside of your tax bracket).
Itâs because itâs the second to last home game before the season ends, and apparently this has been statistically the best season the UTokyo D1 Menâs Soccer team has played since the new millenia. No pressure to the players on that fact, but failure wasnât much of an option for them anymore.Â
And you can feel the stakes the second you step inside the stadium. Packed would be an understatement, there were people flooding the aisles, overbooked for the sake of the university pocketing an extra buck no doubt, but spectators could care less since they were able to at least get in on the basis of that irresponsibility in the first place, despite the stadiumâs capacity having long been reached before the pregame festivities even start. Banners and signs drape over railings with the schoolâs striking blue and golden colors, every single replay screen is lit up and brightly pixelated at every north, south, east, and west entrance for inclusive viewing. As you pass VIP security and make it into the lower field-level entry, the scattered chants from the crowd amplify in volume and you almost wince a little to yourself from the noise. The stadium felt like a living, breathing entity, pulsing with the collective heartbeat of everyone inside.Â
Youâve never been more overstimulated in your life, except instead of finding it frightening, it was electrifying. And for once, you think you can understand what an athlete must feel when playing on their own home turf surrounded by those that are wholeheartedly rooting for them.
Hana is quick to spot you, panic clear across her face as she regards you with a couple pages with your assigned vantage points, a rushed briefing session, and then sheâs darting down the sidelines to make sure equipment is set up appropriately where needed. Sheâs understaffed, given you told Utahime about Kaiâs little intervention last week and she made a nasty point to the university (and possibly a handful of legal threats) and they relented in firing him. So now the three of you were down a photographer, and the extra work shows in the instructions she gave you as you skim the sheets.Â
A glance at your phone tells you itâs close to 2pm, and your eyes take in the expanse of green on the field. UTokyoâs players practice kicking shots off to the right goal post, while YCUâs players practice shots off to the left. You canât spot where Gojo is, but you faithfully head down to the East Side entrance like he asked you to.Â
When you round the corner, you almost crash right into an Ichiko mascot, but swiftly dodge, and then you stop in your tracks when you see Gojo standing right at the concrete entrance. Heâs leaning back against the adjacent wall, arms crossed at his chest, and heâs stretching his neck side to side with a creased brow, an intense look in his eyes, lost in serious thought, scanning the wall across from him like heâs mapping out plays in his head.Â
When you approach him and catch the corner of his eyesight, he leans off the wall and flashes you one of his so extremely charmed to see you grins on reflex, and suddenly thereâs nothing your senses seem to pick up on except him. Like everything else around you just disappears.
âHey, you,â he says when he comes up to you, and you walk him like a dog back to a corner thatâs tucked further away from noises and sights. You lean your back against the wall now, the coolness of concrete seeping through the fabric of your shirt, and he stands a step in front of you. Your hands toy with the strap of your camera.
âAre you ready to win today?â you ask him, and look off to the right into the flourishing seats that are still being filled to the brim, âclearly thereâs no pressure.â
He breathes in deep, and releases it slowly, like there really was tension to relieve. âWeâve got no choice but to win.â
âIs that something Coach Yaga says to you guys often?â you ask him, because the man recited the same thing about five times in that email chain. âAlso, apparently you take years off of his life.â Another thing he recited about five times in that email chain.
Gojo only addresses what he wants to address, as per usual. âYeah, itâs something he says to us often.âÂ
âSo,â you say, âwhat did you want to talk about?â
He looks at you puzzled, tilting his head to the side. âNothing. I just wanted to see you.â
Itâs hard to assume that he didnât have something to talk about with the intention of telling you to meet him here, because this is the same place you confessed to him a few weeks ago, and so is also the place he so painfully rejected you. But maybe he doesnât think about these kinds of things as much as you do. âI see.â
His tongue pokes to his cheek as he studies your anticipating expression, and then he sighs, his shoulders slumping slightly. âWhat are we doing? I mean, I like you, and you like me too, at least I hope you still do. Why donât weââŠwhy donât we just give it a go already? I donât see how we can move forward if you wonât at least let me take you out on a date.â
Your hands stop fidgeting with your camera strap from his words, and you lick your lips, suddenly unable to keep eye contact with him so your gaze drifts down to his chest in front of you. His uniform is clean, no smudges of dirt or grass, just pure white fabric underneath heat-pressed blue and golden accents, and of course, that signature number 10. Youâre sure heâs all youâll ever think of when you see that number now for the rest of your life.Â
You know when you want something so bad you donât know what to do once you have it? Because it almost seems too good to be true?Â
âI just wanted to let stuff between us breathe for a little bit,â you confess, âitâs just, it was a lot to deal with. Being around you when I thought you didnât want me the way I wanted you. I donât know if this is odd to say, and maybe Iâm overthinking it, but I just feel like somewhere along the way, I kind ofâŠforgot who you were for a little bit.â This kind of vulnerability would have you running away with your tail between your legs with anyone else, but not with him. Not after everything.Â
His expression softens, melting away that confrontational energy he had earlier, and he nods slowly. He opens his mouth to speak, but he canât seem to find words. The presence of them is there, though, you can feel them. But what good are his thoughts if not voiced?Â
âI just wanted to spend a little bit of time getting to know you again, I guess.â You squeeze your arm in reassurance of yourself because he wasnât giving it to you. You let out an awkward laugh. âI donât really know what Iâm saying right now, to be honest.â
You can tell heâs at a crossroads, and you think back to this week and his efforts to get you to open up to him again. You know how he feels right now, because itâs exactly how you felt when he rejected you. Like when someone is so close, yet so far, you can feel that theyâre within arms reach but never truly. And theyâre slipping away for some reason that you may never know, but all you can do is assume that itâs a fault of your own. Youâre not really sure what he can do to make you feel secure about this whole thing anymore, and you can see the slight panic in his eyes when he realizes that too.
âI donât mind waiting,â he tells you, rushed with a desperation entirely contrary to his words, âwhatâs a week or two when I want to spend a lot more of those with you anyways.â But he takes a deep breath, like heâs already mentally preparing himself for an agonizing wait in his head.
Thereâs a sound over the stadium speakers, something technical and sporty and goes entirely over your head in dismissal, but to Gojo it seems to have a different effect, as heâs suddenly attentive and stands up straighter, that focused expression on his face from earlier resurfacing. You realize he needs to get back to the field.Â
âCan we continue this conversation after the game?â he asks you hastily, already turning towards the center of the stadium. And he adds an obligatory, âsorry.â
âYeah, sure,â you quickly agree, suddenly feeling like youâre taking up his time.Â
He gives you a small smile, unsure in its presentation but pure in its intention. But he can only take one step towards the field before you reach out and pinch the fabric of his jersey to keep him still. He feels the tug of it and fully faces you once again.Â
âUm. Just a sec,â you say, âI have something to give you before your game.â
âOh?â he looks at you with interest, âI fucking love things.âÂ
âYou have to close your eyes though.â
ââŠwhat is the thingâŠâ He squints at you with a what are you up to expression.
âJust close your eyes!â you snap at him.
âOkay, okay, jeez,â he holds his hands up in front of him in surrender, shaking his head to get his hair out of his face and then he closes his eyes. âYouâre scary as hell sometimes. Excuse me for being cautious.â
You roll your eyes, useless because he doesnât see it, and then take a step towards him. You cup his jaw with the palm of your hand, his cheek twitching slightly from the unexpected contact, and then you raise on your tiptoes to press your lips to his cheek. Itâs short and sweet with the sound of a peck.
âFor good luck,â you whisper, then you quickly lower yourself back onto your heels, take a step back and tuck some strands of hair behind your ear. The ground suddenly interests you.
He opens his eyes, blinking a few times with shock and his hand comes up to brush the tips of his fingers against the spot you kissed him, and then his gaze goes comically dazed when he reaches out to hold you. âAlright, câmere you,â he says, closing his eyes and puckering his lips as he leans down to kiss you but you laugh and push his face away.
âNo no no, only on the cheek for now,â you say with a small laugh.
He does nothing to restrain his frustrated groan. âYou canât do something that cute and then expect me to be chill about it.â
âIf you win, then, maybe Iâll let you kiss me for real.â
âMaybe?â
âYes. Maybe.â
Heâs close, towering over you near this bustling east side entrance that he seems to like so much, and his eyes drop to your lips. âAlright. I like those odds.âÂ
You give him a smile and slip away from him to get back towards the field, and you feel his eyes on you as you walk away.
The pregame events are a blur, with blaring music accompanied by the sounds of the sports announcers clipping across the speakers, finally quieted down in time for the players to line up on the field for the national anthem which was then followed by UTokyoâs alma mater.Â
Youâre stationed on the same side of the field as Minato, UTokyoâs side, while Hana is covering the sidelines of the opposite end with the opponents goal post. Minatoâs filling up a cup of Gatorade for himself at the athleteâs station and then he comes back around to find you.
âAre you ready to take your shots? I see Hana wanted you to shoot on film today,â he says to you as he sloshes around Glacier Freeze in a flimsy plastic cup.
You twist your aperture dial with your thumb. âYesss, all set. Iâll try to keep up.âÂ
He nods at you in approval.
The atmosphere feels nerve wracking. Something felt different about this game, the stakes feeling high. Well, of course theyâre high, because if they lose today then theyâre out of the tournament. But the stakes feel high for other reasons too, an energy you can pick up on but canât quite discern.Â
Your eyes drift across the field where you can see a referee placing a ball at the center of the field. Off to the right, you can see Gojo standing with a few of his other teammates, including Geto, Nanami, and Choso, and theyâre all gesticulating to various corners of the field as they discuss what you can only imagine have to do with their plays for today. And you realizeâ itâs their last college soccer season. Their second-to-last official home match before the championship, and for those of them that havenât qualified for the national league, it may be their second-to-last match of this caliber for the rest of their lives. One of the final chances that they have to prove something of themselves. The determination was palpable.Â
The chief refereeâs whistle cuts through the air with three short chirps, and that gathers the attention of all the players on the field. UTokyo wins the coin toss, choosing to kickoff, and YCUâs players choose to attack the left side goal.
Your stomach churns with anticipation, the crowd hushing too as all the players take their places on the field. If you feel nervous, you can only imagine how the athletes feel. Thereâs a rhythm that youâve learned over the past couple of months getting to know the sport, where players stretch out their necks and kick out their feet and take subtle deep breaths as they survey the stands. Idle moments before the start of the match where they have no choice but to look forward and only forward, so they take a moment to stay in the present for as long as they can gather. Youâve never been much of a sports spectator, and perhaps youâve only recently had some personal interest in the team, but you realize you feel pride in your school as you stand behind chalk sideline and see UTokyoâs colors scattered across the field in uniform. And fuck, you wanted them to win. You wanted them to win with fierceness and wrath, and itâs a desire you share with the crowd.Â
Gojo spends a minute talking to the referee before the black and white striped man pats him high on the back in the good sport and urges him towards the center of the field. He lifts his foot up onto the ball, rolling it back and forth underneath the spikes of his cleat, and you can see it in his eyes, even from all the way over here, that he seems to have different ideas in mind for this game too. High stakes. Pre-determined, set with will, evident in the clench of his jaw and the concentrated furrow of his brow as he surveys the field with his eyes, and youâre lost in the sight for what feels like forever because you can hardly register the chirp of the refâs whistle.Â
And then the kickoff starts.Â
The ball is tapped to Geto to start the play, and the first few minutes were intense as the ball was passed back and forth between UTokyoâs players, placing pressure on YCUâs defense as they inched closer and closer towards the goal. A pass between UTokyoâs #4 was intercepted by YCU and the ball was rushed down towards the left side, the crowdâs horror evident in the uproar as they raise to their feet in fearful anticipation, and with ruthless offense, YCUâs forward takes a clear sink shot towards the goal, and the crowd holds their breath before they watch Choso lunge for it in air, gloved hands firmly grabbing the ball and then pulling it to his chest with a possessiveness you can only expect to see from a skilled goalie, before he crashes down into the ground and the crowd releases relief in the form of rowdy roars.
Ten minutes in, with everyone on their toes, each team tested each otherâs defenses. UTokyo were known for stellar offense, especially within the past few years with players like Gojo Satoru and Takuma Ino joining the league as powerful forwards, but UTokyoâs overall offense was still statistically second to none other than YCU. And the pressure YCU was putting on UTokyoâs defense was wearisome to say the least. You glance to see Nanami, who is UTokyoâs best defensive player, huffing and puffing as he stands between two light-footed YCU players in an attempt to guard, and fails an attempt to steal the ball before it gets to the feet of YCUâs striker #6, passed in a split second off to his teammate, with a fake so seamless that it has Choso just a couple inches away from touching the ball before itâs sent flying into the net.Â
The noises from the crowd are still loud, but dampened in spirit.Â
With the referees hand signal up in the air, the current score is confirmed. 0-1, YCU.Â
Coach Yaga calls for a sub, in which he switches Nanami out for who you believe is a 2nd-year defensive player name Yuta youâve seen around practice with a promising statistical record for interceptions, and you watch as Nanami takes the bench before he swipes the sweat off his face in exhaustion. God. Just fifteen minutes into the match, and YCU already has UTokyoâs defense winded from play.Â
You bring your camera up to your face, forgetting for a moment that there was still a job to do here, and you position the direction of the lens towards the center of the field, where Gojo takes his place at the ball once more. Yuta briefly passes by him, signaling some play to him by holding up a number three, likely something Coach Yaga asked him to pass on to Gojo, and you see him briefly nod, his mouth slightly agape as he breathes slowly and pulls his jersey up to wipe at the sweat at his forehead.Â
The referee chirps the whistle, Gojo taps the ball to Yuta, and the play starts.Â
YCU immediately puts pressure on UTokyoâs offensive play once more, with eager movements to steal the ball, but itâs passed between UTokyoâs players with ease, more practiced and more sure. The kind of play that you and the rest of the school was used to seeing from them. However, Geto loses the ball on a left-back pass, but right when YCU makes attempts to cover field in a long-shot kick towards the left, Yuta intercepts the ball and swiftly passes it to Gojo.
The crowd immediately rises to their feet in anticipation, watching as Gojo shuffles the ball down the field, dangerously close to off-field boundaries, a signature tactic he uses because he knows thereâs not a single player in the league that can match him in precision and control to keep the ball in-field on a steal, and he swiftly passes it towards Geto with a side-swept kick, beelining down towards the goal post, in perfect time for Geto pass-back to meet his feet and when Gojo was this close to a net, there was no stopping him.Â
He draws his right foot back, and explosively kicks the ball forward, chipping the grass under it in the motion, and itâs sent flying towards the goal, and then threaded past the goalie right to the back of the net. The cheers that erupt across the stadium rumble the ground beneath you.Â
1-1, even match.
UTokyo spends no time celebrating, other than a few pats to Gojoâs back as he nods in acknowledgement, no emotion on his face other than pure concentration and greed. The greed to win, like a righteous sin. He stretches his neck out, panting slightly as he takes his place towards the right side of the field and the referee chirps his whistle to signal YCU to start the kickoff.
They quickly make attempts in moving the ball towards their scoring-end of the field, but face push-back from UTokyoâs defense, unable to make it much further past the midfield line, and you bring your camera up to take a snap of Gojo, who you see is still standing off to the right side of the field. But when you position it and peer through the viewfinder, that space he once stood at was empty. You pull your camera down, and blink at the sight, and then the crowd is picking up in volume once more.
Gojo sprints down the flank, cutting past every defender, and moves towards YCUâs attacking goal, which was a shocking place to be for a center forward, but you could feel his desire and determination to steal this back-and-forth ball, and succeeds when YCU makes an open pass, thinking they were in the clear, only to have Gojo sneak in at the last moment and get the ball at his feet.Â
The play moves by in a flash, a blur that you or anyone else in the stadium could hardly keep up with it, movements so fast you were shocked a human being was capable of even running that far in such a short amount of time, and in an almost embarrassingly easy play, Gojo makes a fool out of YCUâs defenders as he slips the ball through the legs of his last obstacle before he struck it with sharp precision, sending it soaring to the corner of the goal, past the outstretched arms of the goalie, and into the net.Â
2-1, UTokyo.
It was electrifying, the feeling that strikes through the stadium, one that reaches you in your own blood. Youâre shocked, standing here, after witnessing Gojo score two goals within the matter of minutes, against one of the top three teams in the league. Itâs a shock that reaches everyone, including Coach Yaga whoâs standing about ten feet down the line from you, his arms crossed, and you see his eyes for the first time as he takes his sunglasses off to get a better look at what heâs seeing.
You trail his sight, dragging your gaze across the field until it lands at Gojo, who is barely acknowledging the encouraging pats and shakes and goodhearted shoves that his teammates were giving him, because he was focused. It might sound crazy to say, but you swear his eyes looked like a fiercer shade of blue, like they were lit up, and youâre insanely glad youâre not one of YCUâs defensive players at the moment because you feel fearful of him even just standing on the sidelines.Â
Your gaze trails back to Coach Yaga, who slowly puts his sunglasses back on but his brows are narrowed tightly as he crosses his arms over his chest tightly.
The âathletic zoneâ... Youâve heard of it before. A state of pure focus, of peak performance, where an athlete experiences optimal concentration and a sense of effortless control over their actions. In which they perform at their highest level, where time slows down, any and all distractions fade away, and theyâre completely immersed in their sport at hand. At the task at hand.
Coach Yaga seems to pick up on the fact that Gojo was on the edge of tapping into that state.Â
YCU makes a substitution, and you watch in anticipation as they begin the kickoff.Â
Thereâs fire in their veins with desperation to even out the score once more, rushing the ball down the off-field line, one of their center forwards mimicking Gojoâs signature attack pattern, and Yuta struggles to keep up with the expert dribbling of a fourth-year player with more experience on him, so much so to where he completely leaves the ball unguarded and thereâs an open shot, but Geto places pressure at the last moment, in a fierce battle for the ball, before YCUâs center forward loses the ball over the goal line.Â
Choso picks the ball up, tapping on it harshly a few times as he surveys his eyes down the field, and all offensive players begin to shuffle towards their attacking goal in anticipation for the goal kick. He signals his hand down and then holds up two fingers in the air before placing the ball down on the six-yard box. He tightens the strap of one of his gloves, eyes squinting, and you follow his gaze down to a part of the field where you note UTokyoâs best aerial players are located and being guarded by YCUâs defense. And with complete trust in his team, thatâs exactly where he kicks the ball.Â
Geto makes first contact with the ball, his chest colliding with two other YCU players as his head comes out on top and he headbutts the ball closer towards the inner field, and Gojo immediately gains access to it with a bounce of his knee. The crowd holds their breath, fear that theyâll lose the ball to a steal in the split second it spends floating in the air, but Gojo urges it forward with a bounce off of his chest and then rushes it straight down towards the goal post.Â
You wonder what sight he sees right now. Where youâre dead center, at no angle, lunging towards the sight of an open goal with a sole goalie standing in the center, anticipating to block your shot, and three defenders on your tail. Thereâs no room for error, no time to think, only instincts that you cultivate in the last leading milliseconds. They say that, in sports, athletes channel one hundred hours of practice in just a brief second on the field. A split second success that was years in the making. You canât even imagine possessing that level of perfection in your body, or possessing that level of confidence that you can follow through with it in a moment as dire as this.
It was unreal, the way Gojo fades away from all the defenders, and faces no fear when confronted with the sight of the goalie in front of him while drawing his foot back to kick the ball. You lift your camera up at the last second, no time to think about aperture or ISO, just like he had no time to second-doubt a single twitch in his muscles, and his foot makes contact with the ball so harshly that you can hear the explosive sound even among the delirious cheers from the crowd, before he hook, line, and sinks it straight past the goalieâs head, rushing by like a scarcely deflected bullet, and into the net behind him.Â
3-1, UTokyo.
The whole stadium is momentarily speechless, all players and referees and recruiters and reporters and coaches and employees alike, before the most deafening cheers youâve ever heard in your life scatter across the stands.
Thereâs a moment of brief reprieve, where the players can catch their breath while YCU makes yet another substitution, as if theyâre just trial-and-erroring it at this point, and the cheers in the stadiums remain idle as you canât tear your gaze away from Gojo.
Itâs one of those moments where you realize that someone who you thought was so familiar to you was actually someone you hardly knew at all. You knew he was a talented soccer player, everyone on campus knows it, potentially one of the best to ever grace the league, and the amount of times you passively watched his plays on a lecture hall projector screen as your professor enthusiastically broke them down during class, even before you met him, was good enough for you to realize that he was insane, a one-in-a-million, a talent you cannot replicate, one you have by divinity. One you were born with.Â
And yet, somehow, getting to know him these past couple of months, he just felt so human. For someone so seemingly beyond you, he felt soâŠclose? In those moments where it was just the two of you, it was hard to imagine that he was capable of such greatness, and that so many people were rooting for him with wholehearted tears in their eyes and cheers from their hearts, because most of the time, when he was with you, he was just a dorky idiot. You find that your heart is beating fast in your chest, that feeling of being unsure of what to do with what youâve been wanting resurfacing powerfully.Â
âThis is insane,â you hear Minato say from beside you and you jump a little from your thoughts being interrupted.
You twiddle with your camera straps. âI knowâŠalmost done with the first half and weâre up 3-1âŠI thought YCU are number one in offense for the league?â
âOh, yeah, I mean, yes, that is insane too. But whatâs even more insane is that three of the goals so far have been scored by one player.â He tips his chin towards the right sight of the field and you trail his line of sight. âBy Gojo Satoru.â
Your brow furrows as you watch Gojo, his hands on his hips and his mouth slightly open as he indulges in a few shallow breaths to gain energy while YCU prepares for kickoff. Three goals, by just one player. Your eyes widen when you realize that is insane, especially for a D1 semi-final qualifying match.
âYou know what the divisional record is for most goals scored by a single player during a championship match, y/n?â Minato asks you as he lifts his camera up to take a picture of the area Gojo was standing in.Â
You shake your head and wait for his response.
He drops his camera down and glances at the photo on his screen. âFour. During Keio Uni vs. Osaka Uni, near the beginning of the tournament back in 1997 by Osakaâs center forward number 24, Yuji Nakazawa. Meaning no oneâs managed to beat that record since the new millenia, for a couple decades. Although a few players came close.â
You blink at him, and Minato is jerking his chin over in the direction of Gojo again.
âI think heâs trying to beat the record.â
You can only widen your eyes at Minato in realization, and then the chirp of the refereeâs whistle draws everyoneâs attention back to the field.Â
The sports announcers go wild on the speakers, the crowd raving all the same, standing to their feet like the team just won the championship match.
âLADIES AND GENTLEMEN!! We are watching HISTORY in the making!! Gojo Satoru, UTokyoâs very own 3-year consecutive MVP, has scored his 34th goal of the season, highest of any player in this yearâs season so far, and is now on the road to beat the leagueâs long-standing record for most goals scored by a single player in a championship match since 1997!!â And the crowd roars even louder as you stare out at the field in awe.
YCU starts the kickoff following the prompt short chirp of the refereeâs whistle, and with two minutes remaining on the clock for the first half, make desperate attempts to book it down the field towards their attacking goal, one of their midfielders making a clumsy attempt to strike the ball to the net in the final minutes of the half, and Choso easily catches it in his arms, right before the buzzer of the timer sounds, and the match moves into halftime.Â
All of UTokyoâs players immediately flock towards Gojo in sportful glee, finally having a chance to surround him and harass him with harsh pats on his back and ruffles of his hair for his play in the first half. Choso even puts him in a headlock because they all donât know what else to do with their excitement and adrenaline rushing through their bodies. Their win for today was basically confirmed with the way he was playing.Â
You catch a glimpse of him through the crowd of people, and he has a boyish grin on his face, reveling in the embarrassing amount of attention from his teammates, that focused look from before dissolving into his normal self again. But you can see through him, as well enough as youâve learned to at least, and you can tell heâs not satisfied. Heâs thinking itâs not enough. Thereâs still more to be done, and itâs not time to celebrate yet.Â
His eyes scan down the sideline until they find you.Â
Your heart jumps a second in your chest. He stands up straighter, despite his teammates still clinging to him, and thereâs a twinkle in his eyes when your eyes meet.Â
Cheerleaders take their place out onto the field, performing their numbers with loud music blaring, and the recruiters seated at their white tables get up to roam across the sidelines in discussion with referees and with Coach Yaga and with whatever players they can sink their greedy teeth into, as well as sneak at refreshments while theyâre at it. You can see off to the right that Hana has reunited with Minato and sheâs showing him some of the shots she took over at the opponent's side.Â
UTokyoâs players start to make their way to the benches to grab for towels and drinks of water and to sprawl across in rest, and you hear loud familiar laughter approaching as you watch the players sprawl across the benches, so you avert your eyes towards the source of the sound.Â
You see Gojo approaching the benches, two of his teammates slung with their arms around him in some type of adrenaline-drunken glee as they talk dramatically and theatrically which Gojo entertains with his own drunk-off-of-adrenaline glee. And you raise an eyebrow at his demeanor when he makes eye contact with you.
âThereâs my freaky little photographer,â he says, and heâs standing up straight andâwait, is he puffing his chest out as he makes his way towards you? Oh for fucks sake.
Gojo has always been confident around you, for as long as you can remember, but in the fair few moments heâs been cocky, heâs been a menace. And you can only assume the testosterone-induced high of being on the verge of breaking a league record in front of the entire school then subsequently getting homiesexually praised by his teammates for the better part of the past five minutes, not to mention with the crowd and the reporters feeding his ego with a spoon across the speakers, heâs been transformed into the final boss of cocky.
His teammates surround you too, their hands on their hips as they assess you and Gojo when he meanders right up to you, arms held out to hug you, a sleazy sight youâve seen probably six times this week, and you feel a rush of warmth in your cheeks as you place a hand on his chest to keep him away.
âYouâre sweaty and gross, please stay away from me,â you reprimand him, âthis is an expensive lens that is not humidity-proof.âÂ
âHey, youâre the girl that Kentaro socked in the face with a ball the other day at practice, right?â one of his teammates asks, leaning in towards you to take a closer look at your face.
âOh yeahhh, âcause Satoru wasnât paying attention,â another one of his teammates chimes in teasingly, hardly heard over the loud remix playing in the background as the cheerleaders continue to perform on the field.Â
You shrink a little from where you stand. Gojoâs got an irritated look on his face and heâs shrugging his teammateâs elbow off of his shoulder.
âI really hope youâre getting my good angles,â his teammate to the left comments before winking at you, and you purse your lips together.Â
The one on the right leans in too, looking at your cheek with an assessing look in his eye. âAt least it didnât leave a scar on your cute faceââ
Gojo shoves the both of them back and away from you by elbowing them in the chest, and they make deep eugh noises before stepping away and rubbing at their sternums with pouts on their faces.
âGet the fuck away from her,â he grumbles, âsheâs mine.â
Your cheeks flush slightly with warmth at the attention, and you watch as his teammates scurry away to adhere to some social hierarchy Gojo seems to possess over them.
You raise an eyebrow at him. âYours?â
âYes. Eventually. Whatever, did you see me out there?â he turns his torso towards the field and points behind himself with his thumb, âwhen Iââ
âOh god, you know whatâs soooooooooo super sexy to me?â you interrupt him. âWhen guys are humble.â
âOh câmonnn,â he curls his arm around your waist and pulls you to him, to where you stumble a little on grass and he holds you when you fall into him with more clumsiness than grace. âTell me you arenât at least impressed by me.â
You pout, because you are, and youâd really like to give him some reassurance and validation, but for some reason his cocky attitude is setting you off. âSatoru,â you sigh, wiggling a little in his hug, but he holds you tighter, âIâm working right now. Cut it out.â
He lets go of you at that, sober enough from the adrenaline to realize youâre being serious, but he steps into your space so only you can hear him. âWhat? Are you embarrassed?â
âOf what?â Your face twists with confusion.
âOf me. Are you embarrassed of me?â he asks.
âNo. Why would I be embarrassed of you?â you ask with sharpness.
âI donât know, just, sometimes I feel like youâre always annoyed by me,â he says with a sigh. âItâs like, youâre really sweet sometimes, and then kinda rude out of nowhere, and itâs sort of messing with my head.â
You pout. âYou were messing with my head for weeks.â
âAnd Iâm sorry about that,â he quickly interjects, like he already knew you were brewing up that counterargument, âbut you donât have to act like youâre all disinterested and indifferent just to get back at me for it.â He places his hands on his hips and wipes his temple on the round part of his shoulder when he feels a drop of sweat trickle down from his hairline. âYou donât have to act embarrassed around me either.â
âIâm not embarrassed,â you deny, and your cheeks feel hot, and for some reason you feel angry. âIn fact, Iâm the one that should be asking you that question. Because I still very clearly remember that time you said I was just someone you know in front of your friends.â
He groans and tilts his head back with frustration. âCan you just let that go? Things have changed between us since then. Move on.âÂ
âYou kissed me and then pretended I was just a stranger to you in front of your friends,â you grit as you cross your arms. âThatâs the level of sincerity that I know from you, Satoru.â
âOh, okay, so thereâs nothing else Iâve done that shows you that Iâm serious about you?â he asks rhetorically with incredulity, throwing his hands up in the air in disbelief.
No. Thatâs not true, not true at all. But heâs pissed you off now and so all logic was to the wind. âDoesnât matter. If youâre not embarassed of me, and if youâre really serious about me this time, then fucking prove it.â Youâre speaking out of spite, and you fear youâve just set him off too.
âFine,â he says, and he grabs the microphone straight out from a passing reporterâs hand, replacing it with a gatorade bottle. The reporter stares at the bottle heâs now holding with confusion. âI will.â
âW-Waitââ you squeak out, feeling the hair at the back of your neck bristle in anticipation and a shiver gets sent down your spine. The cheerleaders are making their way off the field at the end of their routine, and you can hear the thumps across the loud boisterous speakers when Gojo whacks his palm to the microphone to make sure the thing was on before he jogs to the center of the field.
The crowd is already cheering, ecstatic to see the afternoon's star player and pride & joy of their school, and Gojo takes a moment to soak in all the glory in comical appreciation with bowing towards all 360 degree angles of the stadium.
âUhhh,â you hear Choso from beside you, whoâs strapping his thick goalie gloves tightly to his wrists, âWhy the fuck does Satoru have a microphone while standing in the middle of the field.â
âIt canât be for any publicly decent reason,â Geto muses.
All you can do is watch.
âHi, uh,â Gojo starts, static blaring slightly across the speakers and the crowd winces with him, âsorry. Iâm Satoru, Gojo Satoru, you might know me fromâuh, the game youâve been watching?â
Cheers all around, because as if a single person wouldnât know who he is. The stands were rowdy and most definitely drunk off of sidestep beers the stadium has been serving all afternoon long.Â
Gojo is about to continue speaking, when he catches sight of the table of recruiters in the corner of his eye and he turns to face them out of respect. âOh, yeah, uh, number 10,â he tugs his jersey up at the shoulder to stretch out the fabric, the 1 and the 0 flattened in view, âdivision player ID 233-997. Coach Yaga keeps my business cards in his purse if you want one.â
âSAAAAATTOOORRUUUU!!!!!â you hear Coach Yaga yell from somewhere in the distance.
âAnywho,â Gojo continues, and the music dims slightly, so he glances at the stop clock on the screen, which shows him heâs got roughly five minutes left to pull off whatever idiocracy he had in mind before the second half of the game starts. âJust here to say that thereâs this girl I really like.â
The crowd gets louder, almost deafening, and sonically mostly feminine in (delusional) hope heâs gonna name call one of them.
Gojoâs voice is crisp and clear through the speakers as he clarifies. âSheâs standing over there,â he says as he nonchalantly points to your exact latitude and longitudinal direction, âwith the big camera slung around her neck that looks like it could pull her down to the center of the earth. Yeah. Sheâs super cute and I really like talking to her.â
âUh-oh,â Geto murmurs from beside you, and you glance at him to try to get a read on the situation but you canât.
Gojo starts to pace across the center of the field now, like heâs working the crowd. âBut get thisâshe thinks Iâm not fuckinâ serious about her!!!â
The crowd groans with him in unison. Yep, most certainly drunk. Or high off of glee. Either way, heâs playing them like a violin.
âHuh?â Gojoâs voice sounds distant now, away from the mic, and you can see on the large pixelated screen that heâs being interrupted by someone that looks like one of the videographers, âoh, whatâs that? This is being broadcasted? Uh-huh. Oh. Iâm not allowed to cuss? Oh fuck, okay. Erâ shit, okay. Waitâshoot, okay.â
Chosoâs smirk is heard from beside you, and you catch Geto and Nanami shaking their heads in your periphery.
âLIKE I SAID,â Gojo continues into the mic, âthe girl I like thinks Iâm just messing around, so. Uh. To show her that Iâm serious about her, Iâm gonnaâŠâ He looks up at the sky to ponder, and you can hear people shouting all sorts of suggestions of nonsense from the crowd. And instead of saying proclaim my undying affection for her through a romantic soliloquy straight from my heart in the presence of the entire school, he saysââIâm gonna strip. Yes. Down to my tighty whities, Imma strip.â
Hâ
Huh?!?!?
You donât even have time to be horrified or scared, youâre just bewildered beyond belief that thatâs what he came up with.
What the fuck kind of reassurance did you ask for. And what the fuck kind of reassurance were you about to get?
The crowd goes wild, itâs no surprise to say everyone and their mothers wants to see him naked, even the straight dudes would dig it for the gym inspo. And he points straight to you, sleazy look on his face and youâre going to ignore the fact that he just winked at you too as he crosses his arms to hold the hem of his jersey and pulls it up over his head in the most raunchy and slutty way a man can take his shirt off.
The music manager is quick with the bit, and is most definitely a fellow Gen Z college student, because Justin Timberlakeâs SexyBack (ft. Timbaland) starts playing across the speakers and the crowd goes ballistic.
âAyo whyâs Satoru Magic Mikeâing the field right now?â one of his other teammates calls out through a mouthful of protein bar, âWhat the fuck did I miss?â
The cameraman does Godâs work in a hella zoom-in of Gojoâs sweat glistened abs, then pans up the naked expanse of the perfect taut skin across his chest, and you canât help but stare even among all your horror. Itâs like when a male bird embarrasses the fuck outta himself to attract a female bird sitting on a perch, except instead of within the context of a NatGeo documentary, this was your real life. Everyone wants him, but heâs making a fool out of himself for you.Â
He pretends to stretch his arms up into the air, a cover-up to flex his biceps, and then he kicks his cleats off, and the socks come off too. Entirely unnecessary, as showing one's ankles is simply too slutty, but alas heâs a whore. And when his thumbs dip into the waistband of his shorts, and thereâs anticipating screeching from the crowd, he finally gets chased by security.Â
Except heâs an intercollegiate D1 athlete, why the fuck wouldnât he be able to outrun a bunch of dudes in black?
The camerawork on him is phenomenal as he runs across the sidelines of the field, eliciting a wave down the bleachers. So good in fact that youâre pretty sure the camera man could shoot for the Olympic track and field, with the way the stadiumâs got a clear sight of Gojo mouthing the lyrics Them other fuckers donât know how to act from the song still blaring with satirical rage on his face as he makes a fool of the men chasing him around the perimeter of the field.
And then he does it, drops his shorts, discards them with a kick, and heâs down to his tighty whities as promised. Cameraman has got to be displaying some previously undiscovered level of talent as he zeroes in on a shot of said tighty whities, with Gojoâsâforgive me, I need to be crassâhuge bulge prominent in Big Dick Energy fashion except his tighty whities have little red hearts in rows across the fabric so do with that duality what you will.
Heâs outrun security with a steady grin on his face as he eats up the drunken crowdâs cheers and riots and roars and you feel like youâre the only sane person in this stadium, or maybe youâre just not used to the fanatics of a college sports crowd. You peep the men in black trailed all the way on the left side of the field where they abandoned their pursuit of Gojo.
He taps imaginary pockets at his thighs, very muscular thighs you take indulgence in noticing, as if he expected to find something there, and he looks around when he doesnât. He shrugs and grabs the microphone of the next passing sports commentator he spots, and then he makes his way back to you.
His breathing is a little shallow, and he inhales deep to catch his breath. âBaby.â The crowd SCREAMS at the way he purrs the word into the mic. âWill you do me the honor,â heâs huffing and puffing, heard across blaring speakers, âof being my lawfully wedded girlfriend?â And then he holds the mic to your lips.
âW-Whaââ you stutter, and thereâs chanting across the crowd with words that barely make sense until you finally realize theyâve started to yell say yes! say yes! say yes! âOh my gosh, okay, yes, fine, now please, for the love of god, put some freaking clothes on!â
The crowd goes wild with cheerful glees, and Gojo shoots fists up in the air in celebration as he runs all the way towards the center of the field with high knees, and youâre gawking at the sight, before he falls backward onto the grass and makes delirious snow angels on the ground. You see Coach Yagaâs vein popping in his neck from pure agitation as he storms off towards the center of the field to knock some sense into Gojo, but you know that Coach Yaga canât kick him out, because they still have a game to win. The perks of being the most valued player in the league is getting to act like an absolutely insane idiot because you know they still need you in the end to bring it home.
You glance to the right, seeing his teammates nodding slowly then getting back to wrapping athletic tape around ankles and stretching out shoulders, with immediate acceptance of his actions like it wasnât even out of character for him to do. And you realize again that you donât know Gojo as well as you think you do.
And then the halftime timer is up.
You see Gojo approach the benches in a quick jog, squeezing some water into his mouth with his green gatorade squirt bottle, and when your eyes flit up to the screens on all four entrances, you see that the cameramen are still all focused on him accompanied by the continued buzz of conversation among the crowd following his public spectacle. But he seems to already be past any semblance of embarrassment as he takes the attention with ease, before he glances up to make eye contact with you and then lightly jogs right up to you.
âDid that prove to you that Iâm not embarrassed of you?â he asks you, cocking a brow with a smug look on his face as he gets all up in your personal space.Â
âI donât know, but Iâm certainly thoroughly and expeditiously embarrassed of you now,â you say, cheeks feeling flush when he leans forward so he can make eye contact with you at eye level. âIâll have to move to a different country.â
His grin is relaxed. âYeah well you asked for it.â
âMaybe. But I underestimated what a lunatic you are.â
âYouâre my girlfriend now, youâve gotta get used to it.â
Your heart skips a beat in your chest. âSatoruââ
âTomorrow,â he cuts you off, âHinode pier. Iâll pick you up at six. Itâs a date, so wear something cute. And preferably easy to take off.â And then heâs attentive to the chirp of the refereeâs whistle in the air before jogging backwards towards the feel and eventually turns on his heel towards the field while youâre left with warm cheeks and a heart that felt like it was moving at a mile a minute.
The timer for the second half refreshes on the screen while you loosely hold your camera in your shaking hands. It occurs to you that you havenât taken a single photo of him before the start of the kickoff, and so you bring the piece of consolidated metal up to your eyes, peering through the viewfinder and focusing it on the center of the field. And there he was. Your muse.
Gojo lets out a breath, which you can see even from here that itâs shaky and staggered with resistance, and he lifts his jersey up to swipe at the sweat trickling down his face as he eyes the ball underneath YCUâs playerâs foot just prior to the start of the second half. There it wasâthat look again of pure focus.Â
3-1, forty-five minutes on the clock. And the referee chirps the whistle to start the second half.
Itâs immediately evident that YCU has returned to the field following halftime with renewed energy, pressing high down the flank relentlessly past UTokyoâs defense, so fast it was hard for anybody to even keep a steady eye on the ball with the fluidity of their passes. The persistence pays off in the fake double-pass that slips past Getoâs feet, a moment of hesitation in the broken flow of UTokyoâs defense, and one of YCUâs strikers has the perfect line of shot towards the goal before digging his foot under the ball and sending it flying towards the corner of the goal post, scoring themselves a goal within just the first five minutes of play.
3-2.
The pressure mounts at the next kickoff, and with about seven minutes of solid play, with back-and-forth passes, multiple attempts at both goal posts to no avail on either side, it was clear that exhaustion was bustling in the veins of all the players.
One of YCUâs offensive players seems to capitalize on this, jumping on a defensive lapse of a pass Nanami attempted to make towards Yuta, and the ball is swiftly stolen then raced back towards the goal post. Choso prepared himself at the line, light on his feet paired with a solid stance, but in a millisecond of a moment, YCUâs offense unexpectedly passes the ball to a player racing up the midfield, and the player chips the ball neatly into the exposed corner of the goal despite Chosoâs attempt to lunge for it in mid air.
Equalized, 3-3 game, momentary shock across the playersâ faces, and the crowd bustles with something that sounds less like glee and more life fear. YCU was prepared to live up to and hold onto their title as the leagueâs number one offense, and as Minato explained to you during your time working in this job, an offensive team isnât good at scoring goals, but rather exceptional at breaking down the other teamâs defense.
Your eyes zero in on Geto, who stands in the center of the field for kickoff, and heâs huffing and puffing. He's the lead of defense for the team, and you can only imagine the level of pressure he feels right now. He glances around to his players, over to Nanami who seemed to share the same level of exhaustion, and then he glances towards Gojo who stood in front of him off to the right. Except you notice that Gojo looks relaxed, albeit still exhausted, but thereâs a composed expression on his face even in the moment of heightened stakes. With locked eyes, Geto nods at Gojo and raises two fingers up into the air to signal a play, of which Gojo seems to respond to by closing more distance between him and the goal post prior to the kickoff, positioning himself almost directly in front of it, to which YCUâs defense immediately begin to guard him in a tight radius.Â
The kickoff begins, with Geto making a few passbacks with Nanami as they close distance towards the field before passing it off to UTokyoâs string of offense and then receding back to their defending goal. UTokyo continues to close distance, raising stakes for YCU as their defense begins to falter under pressure, and the ball gets passed to Gojo, who only keeps it in possession for less than three seconds before he passes it back to Yuuji, a risky decision to make in the second half of a semifinal match, but the first-year swiftly unleashes a powerful shot that rockets past YCUâs goalkeeper, up towards the corner, exceptâ
It bounces off the metal of the goal post, shot off with projectile speed back towards the center of the field, but with razor-sharp reflexes, Gojo headbutts the ball in air, twists his torso and strikes the ball with his foot past a dumbfounded goalie who canât even move an inch to guard the ball that he already knew was going to sink right into the goal, and thatâs exactly what it does.Â
The stadium erupts with the momentum.
4-3, UTokyo.Â
It was a sweet moment, one you manage to capture on camera of Gojo running up to Yuuji and ruffling his hair in reassurance, despite the missed goal. Your heart feels warm in your chest, feeling your own sense of melancholy that this was one of the last times theyâll ever get to play together on a team.Â
Your eyes widen when you glance at the scoreboard, realizing that heâs tied. Gojo is tied for the most goals scored during a championship match. There were less than three minutes left on the clock. UTokyo either preserves their lead, or they risk moving into overtime, which, judging by the exhaustion on the UTokyo playersâ faces in the wake of YCUâs relentless offense this entire game, moving into overtime would be a hefty, hefty risk.Â
YCUâs center forward takes his place in the center of the field, fire evident in his eyes as he glances across the field. YCU are light on their feet, channeling everything in their bodies into these last moments of the game as they prepare to start the kickoff. You glance across UTokyoâs players, and although they look spent, there was a resolute look to all of them. It wasnât the time to give up or feel at ease even near the end of this grueling battle. Now was the time to play.Â
The referee chirped his whistle, and the kickoff began.
YCU immediately presses hard, as all their other plays have been all game, in their desperation to score. You can already see UTokyoâs midfielders move sluggishly in comparison to YCUâs offense, a drag to their feet as YCU pushes past the first layer of defense towards their attacking goal. Geto takes an aggressive approach, making moves to steal the ball while Nanami and Yuta guarded both flanks, and there was a relentless pass-off happening that ate up more than a minute of the remaining time.
Nanami succeeds in stealing the ball, but immediately loses it under his feet by a YCU midfielder, who makes a broad pass down the sidelines to YCUâs star forward who then powerfully kicks the ball towards the unguarded area of their goal, a dangerous shot that was clear towards the crossbar and Choso makes a leap for it, high into the air, his glove brushing against the ball, the entire crowd holding their breath in anticipationâ
And the ball lands in the net.Â
4-4, tied game. With one minute and seventeen seconds left on the clock.Â
There was no time wasted in getting back to center field. No time spent dwelling in the horrific roars of the crowd as they watch with anxiety and fear. No time spent to process or consider or signal any plays. Not even a single second used to catch breath. When there is this much at stake, an athlete thrives on momentum.Â
To your surprise, Gojo isnât the one that takes place at the center of the field to start the kickoff. Yuta stands there instead, and you notice his eyes are erratic as he surveys all corners of the field.Â
The referee chirps his whistle.Â
Yuta immediately passes it off to the side to UTokyoâs midfielder, who curls it towards their attacking goal with a swift pass to Ino, who closes distance towards the goal, but one of YCUâs defender slips in, undoing any progress they had made in their offense by stealing the ball and sending it back towards mid-field. Forty-three seconds. The crowdâs roars heightened as YCU continued to push forward, thirty yards now from scoring, and UTokyoâs defense was desperate to stop them but their momentum was cracking in the wake of their exhaustion.Â
It was a moment you donât think you could ever fully or truly recall, one that you wish you had focused all your energy and attention to so that you could commit it to memory for the rest of your life. The image of Gojo pushing all the way to ten yards before their defending goal, a place where no center forward should really be at in a game like this, but it was exactly what their defense needed. It was exactly what the team needed. It was exactly what the school needed. For the ball to be in his possession.
With twenty-two seconds left on the clock, he steals the ball from right under YCUâs offensive feet, and then charges towards the opposite side of the field. The crowd rises to their feet, thunderous roaring that overtook any and all senses, as Gojo weaves through forwards, center forwards, midfielders, and defenders, covering the entire span of the field in lightning time. Fifty yards, forty yards, thirty yards, twenty hards, ten yardsâ
In a moment you couldnât believe, he digs his foot underneath the ball, and sends it flying out towards the goal. There was not even a margin of an inch in which it slipped past the goalieâs hands, past his head, and swiftly flew right into the net.
With three-two-one seconds, the match was over.Â
5-4, UTokyoâs win.
The final whistle blew, and for a moment, there was silence. As if the world paused to catch its breath. Then, all at once, the crowd erupted with glee that shook the entire stadium at its core. Flags waving, scarves held high, toasts of beer held up to the sky, it was deafening, and it almost makes you want to cry. Thousands of voices shouting in unison, celebrating the hard-fought victory of their schoolâs team. A type of pride that was fostered, and well-deserved, and long-lived.
You quickly glance towards the field again, and see Gojo standing right at the same spot where he had kicked the last and final goal, staring towards the net. You canât see the expression on his face, but it surprises you how still he is. Like a statue, staring at the goal with the ball tucked into its corner. The very epitome of what it means to succeed in this sport was right in front of him, and it seemed like he wanted to soak the visual in for as long as he could.
His trance is abruptly interrupted when his teammates swarm in, rushing over like a wave of pure adrenaline. They slap him on the back, ruffle his hair, shout his name, the sounds of gleeful disbelief mixed with exhausted sighs of relief swarming into the air. And Gojo finally melts away from the tension of the match and into the celebration as he weakly returns the embraces of his teammates while he catches his breath.Â
âITâS OFFICIAL!! ITâS OFFICIAL!! UTOKYOâS VERY OWN GOJO SATORU HAS OBLITERATED OSAKA UNIVERSITYâS RECORD FOR MOST GOALS SCORED BY A SINGLE PLAYER IN A CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH!!âÂ
The speakers are blaring the voices of the sports announcers, along with ambient music to match the intensity of the match that everyone had just witnessed.Â
You should probably be doing your job. You know, take a picture of the huddle of players on the field as they bask in the glory of a close victory, but instead your feet start moving on their own. Like a magnet drawn to him, you make your way towards Gojo, only a slight hesitation in your step as you stop about ten feet away, suddenly unsure. But when he makes eye contact with you, all that fear melts away.
He hastily pats the backs of some of his teammates, acknowledging their praise at the center of the huddle before tightly squeezing past them to make his way over to you. Your heart is beating fast in your chest, feeling an almost overwhelming sense of pride in your schoolâs team, but more importantly, in him. What was the acceptable thing to do? Run to him, into his arms, and hug him while he twirls you around? Tackle him to the grassy ground? Kiss him like your life depended on it? You have no clue what the acceptable or sane or normal thing to do is. But heâs made his decision for you when he walks right up to you, his hands holding your waist as he pulls you towards him. He smells earthy, of grass and salt and sweat and of all the hard work he poured into today, the wear and tear of the game evident in the wear and tear of his jersey. He only manages to huff out an exhale at the sight of you, like some relief washing over him just by looking into your eyes. Forget the fact that the crowd was all watching and that all of the screens you could see past his head were focused on the two of you, because all you could hear or see or think was him.
âI believe you owe me a kiss,â he says, huffing as he catches his breath but that doesnât stop the smile that makes its way onto his face.
You nod your head, giving him your own version of a sweet smile as your arms slide up past his shoulders, crossing behind his neck, and he leans down to kiss you.
You hear a swell from the crowd, some teasing comments off in the distance from some of his teammates, youâre pretty sure you hear Coach Yaga yelling at him to get back to the benches, but it all melts away with the feeling of him smiling against your lips as he kisses you at the center of this stadium.
It was a moment so pure, so sweet, so picture perfect, and for once, youâre not the one behind the camera taking the photo. Youâre the one thatâs in it.
.
.
.
.
.
[end of kickoff ch12]
a/n. aaa thanks a lot for reading!! pls the fucking public stripping scene was so stupid i apologize on behalf of kickoff gojo for his behavior đđ iâll put him in his cage dw this chapter had some of what i consider to be the most challenging aspects of writing for me (internal conflict, grand public gesture, sports jargon) and so writing it felt like an uphill battle the ENTIRE time i wrote it and edited it. i considered scrapping it sooo many times cuz i just wasn't happy w it...but whatever i can't expect to be 100% happy w every chapter i put out there haha. i think kickoff has become a lil sacred for me since i've been working on it for a while now but likeee...sometimes u just gotta say fuck it we ball (tbh kickoff gojo probably says that to himself before a match) anywho, i am veryy thoroughly excited for what i've got planned for the chapters to follow, especially moving into the last angsty arc before the end of the series!! so i look forward to picking up momentum w this series again :0 honestly chapters 10 through 12 were the most difficult things i've written so far for a lot of reasons, but i have a feeling things will go more smoothly for me creatively going forward since what i've got planned falls well within my writing comfort range oh also there seems to be a little confusion about the number of chapters left, as i know i had originally said 12, but i anticipate that there will be about 18 chapters of kickoff total!! so still around six chapters left before the end :)) much lovee thanks for reading!!
OH WAIT ONE LAST NOTE I'M SORRY i didnât really have a way of organically incorporating this into the story n iâm not sure if iâll get a chance to in the upcoming chapters, so i just wanted to share this part of ch7 (gojoâs pov chapter) that is relevant to this chapter:
During the thrilling semifinal match between Keio Uni, Gojoâs fatherâs team, and Yokohama Uni during the end of his senior year, spectators witnessed a game that most college soccer enthusiasts would deem was a once-in-a-lifetime watch. Both teams engaged in relentless offense, and Gojoâs father was on his way to shatter the record of the most goals scored in a single championship match within the history of the league, but when he received a call from his wife during a timeout with the most life-altering news he could have ever heard, he abandoned everything on the field that day to go home and be with her. Grainy footage from the televised broadcast still exists online todayâthe moment he sprinted across the field, confused players glancing in his direction, amidst the uproar of the crowd. She called to let him know she was pregnant.Â
the record that gojo broke in this chapter is the same record that his father almost broke before he got the call that he was going to be a dad :0Â
âž you're all caught up!
additional notes. please do not pressure me for updates or ask when i will next update (read rules); taglist is currently closed (consider subscribing to the story on my ao3 for email updates if you'd like! :0)
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chapter 2: the aftermath a bridgerton!au
pairing âžș duke!satoru gojo x fem!reader
summary âžș dearest gentle reader, a new season is upon us as the ton gets ready for a season filled with drama, heartbreak, and passion. after being crowned diamond of the season, heir to a dukedom mr. satoru gojoâžșonly looking to marry just to secure his inheritanceâžșhas his sights set on you, the easiest (and most obvious) option. later, when you catch his saying unsavory things about you on a terrace when he least suspected it, you swear to never marry gojo. as london's fashionable set goes through yet another wedding season, will there be hope for scandalous gossip, hate, and thinly veiled insults, or will we witness blooming love and passion?
warnings âžș nsfw, enemies to lovers, bridgerton au, angst, fluff, eventual smut, jealousy, misogyny, regency era au, gojo being infuriating, reader also being infuriating, both of them are clueless honestly
chapter summary âžș after an eventful first ball after your debut, you continue the season with thinly veiled vexation towards gojo. but fate is not on your side; you and gojo keep encountering each other, matching fire with fire (7.8k)
a/n some parts of this chapter broke my brain to write but i kind of had fun! as always thank you to @/sinn-claire for beta reading :p i was going to say i'll try to have weekly updates but i don't want to jinx it lol
prev. the debutante | next. the manor
general masterlist | series masterlist
Dearest gentle reader,Â
It appears that Her Majesty has bestowed the coveted title of this seasonâs Diamond upon none other than Miss Itadori, who has indeed lived up to her newfound acclaim as the incomparable of the year. At the latest ball, our shining Diamond was quite occupied, with suitors lining up in such numbers that one might have thought them to be queuing for the royal throne itself. Furthermore, blooms were budding between many of the debutantes and gentlemen, includingâŠ..
...Yet, one particular couple captivated the attention of all: none other than Mister Satoru Gojo and our seasonâs Diamond. After having kept his words sparse and his attentions limited to none, Mister Gojo appeared utterly taken with Miss Itadori, conversing with her intimately on the dance floor. It seems your humble Author was indeed correctâžșMister Gojo has entered the marriage market. However, the exclusivity he has adopted may not deter the determined maidens he seeks to avoid, for the Ambitious Mamas will no doubt perceive his selectiveness as a challenge to be overcome.Â
One cannot help but wonder if an announcement of particular interest will be made at the upcoming Gojo country house party. Although your Author has not yet laid eyes upon the guest list for the Duchess Gojoâs anticipated gathering, reliable sources suggest that nearly every eligible young lady of marriageable age will be journeying to Kent next week. The country house party is known to be a perilous affair. Married individuals often find themselves enjoying the company of someone other than their spouse, while the unwed frequently return to town betrothed with surprising haste.
Indeed, the most unexpected engagements often follow closely on the heels of such rustic diversions.
âž» LADY WHISTLEDOWNâS SOCIETY PAPERS
Satoru had no intention of squandering his time this seasonâžșor at any time, for that matter.
The notion of love matches held little appeal to him, despite witnessing such a union firsthand in his own parents. Make no mistake, the Duke and Duchess Gojo enjoyed a happy marriage, and Satoru held both his father and mother in the highest regard. Yet, he was perfectly content on his own.
Being one of the strongest bachelorsâžșboth intellectually and physicallyâžșhas been Satoruâs destiny. Ever since his ancestors had been blessed by the royal family with the dukedom, the Gojo family had made its goal to be the most powerful nobility and the closest to the royal family. (Which is still maintained in the status quo, because the Queen dotes on Satoru, inviting him for tea every fortnight. The Queen lavished him with overly sweet biscuits, and in return, Satoru provided her with the latest gossip from court).Â
But this responsibility doesnât get fulfilled without independence; one had to accept the solitary truth that to be truly great was to remain unswayed by the fleeting pleasures of the worldâžșlove included.
Satoru had little time or interest for the other vices that tempted men of his station, such as lust. Contrary to the whispers circulating among the ton, Satoru had never indulged in the life of a rake or frequented brothels as many of his acquaintances did. Really, the allegations were, in truth, merely just a byproduct of his appearance and demeanor; with a young man with the stature, face, and eligibility of Satoru, the public would immediately like to slap on the label of ârakeâ due to his arrogant personality. Moreover, any encounters he had witnessed between men and womenâžșwhether dropping his friends off at brothels in his carriage after an evening at the gentlemanâs club or overhearing flirtations at partiesâžșstruck him as shallow and an utter waste of time, especially when he was already a week behind on the ledgers and other official matters his father had entrusted to him. (He did have one indulgence, however: a weakness for gluttony, with an array of sweet confections as his loyal companions during long, sleepless nights.)
Marriage was an even greater burden. The thought of being accountable for a wife, and eventually children, seemed like a daunting task to Satoru. With sleepless nights spent on covering just a fraction of the business his father must do as a duke, Satoru was tired. He was exhaustedâžșexhausted from the weight of responsibility, from striving to meet his fatherâs expectations, from seeking the Queenâs approval, from worrying over what Whistledown might print about him, and from the gossip of the businessmen with whom the Gojo family dealt.Â
And yet, despite this weariness, Satoru was gripped by an insatiable obsession with perfection, an obsession that only deepened his fatigue. He craved approval, power, and the flawless execution of his dutiesâžșdesires that gnawed at him even as they threatened to consume him.
Which is exactly why he needed a perfect wife. A wife that was capable, could handle bothersome peopleâžșwhich he was steadily losing the patience to deal withâžșand a reliable companion. Someone that would reduce his stress, not add to it.Â
Satoru had spent all day lurking in the shadows as best as he could; being the most eligible bachelor did mean that brothers and sisters were coming up to him, singing praises of their debutante in an effort to capture his interest. But Satoru knew all too well that the loudest families often had the most to compensate for.
As ladies in white paraded before the crowd, many buckling under the weight of judgment and attention, Satoru prowled like a jungle cat, staying hidden in the throng, biding his time, and waiting for the right moment to strike.
What he noticed first about you was your way of carrying yourself. Even Auntieâžșthe Queenâžșwho, after seeing countless of girls today, had been incredibly bored, dragged her eyes over you in slightly more interest than she did for others. The moment you stepped through those grand doors into the court, it was evident to everyone that your stride was that of someone who understood her role and position in lifeâžșa confidence that set you apart from the other debutantes. Satoruâs eyes raked over you, observing you as your chest rose slightly as you took a breath in.Â
And then you smiled.
Satoru's eyes widened, just imperceptibly, as he watched your expression as you made your way to the Queen. He made sure to shake his expression off to a more nonchalant one as he watched your form walk. Lesser men than Satoru would die for your smile. Men, out of all traits a woman could possess, cherished a pretty visage the most. Yet, what your smile conveyed went beyond mere beauty; it embodied innocence and the qualities most esteemed in a demure bride (which Satoru knew was just all a show, but it was indeed indicative of your skill to put up appearances, hence deeming you a reliable companion).
The corner of the young man's mouth rose. When the Queen declared you the diamond of the season, Satoru knew he had found his quarry.
When the ball came, Satoru acted similarly: observing from behind, staying in conversation with his friends and other noble men that did business with the Gojo family as he prowled the ballroom, waiting for the right moment to ask you for your hand. And then Naoya came in when you were finally alone, away from all the incompetent men that dared to think they had a chance to court you, and Satoru almost laughed snarkily at how easy it all was.Â
Approaching you, saving you from Naoyaâžșit was all a perfect construction of his. Dancing, he noticed your steps were carried out with a practiced perfection and grace, and your responses to his questions displayed a respectable level of intellect. He could tell your responses were practiced and simple, your constitution and demeanor a result of much effort into presenting yourself as best as you could. But what does it matter, when you do it so perfectly?
Maybe it was a bit naive of him, but you seemed to glow when conversing with him. It amused him, as he kept watching your pretty eyes as you kept smiling while he kept throwing difficult questions at you. It was all expected, however. Satoru knew he was blessed with the brilliant blue Gojo eyes and eccentric fair, white hair; he was the most eligible bachelor for not only wealth and power but reproductive capabilities and opportunities as well. Which lady wouldnât want to be mother to his cute and beautiful blue-eyed babies?
After witnessing such mediocre men who paled in comparison to Satoru, surely you must be smitten. Gojo could see right through you: you, the diamond, have been looking for a man as meritorious as you, and you had found it in Satoru.Â
So why were you acting this way?
When you wake up in the morning and get ready for suitors, it is as you expected; there are multiple carriages outside your doorstep, and there is a line from the drawing room, extending all the way down the stairs. When Choso stumbles into the drawing room, where you and your mother are enjoying tea, he is clearly unhappy at the selection of men waiting to be let in to call upon you.Â
âThis is absurd!â Chosoâs hands raked over his hair in an effort to process the scene he had just witnessed. âWhy do I see Naoya waiting outside?â
Your nose crinkled in distaste. âWell, dear brother, I certainly cannot control which suitors call upon me. He mustâve enjoyed our conversation yesterday. The enjoyment, however, is one sided.â
Chosoâs eyes widened comically. âYou had a conversation with him yesterday?â He then turned to your mother accusingly, who was reading a Whistledown while sipping on her tea innocuously. âThis would not have happened if I was there, Mother. This is your fault.â
Your mother continued drinking her tea nonchalantly, waiting for a few beats to grace him with a response. âI prefer this, my son, to no visitors out there because our dear Lord Itadori scared all the bachelors away with his pickiness.â Then, her eyes flashed. âAnd donât give me that tone.â
You snickered behind your palm as Choso visibly deflated.
 âKuna! Get back here!â
Pitter patters of small paws started to get closer and closer, as heavy footsteps followed it. Yuji and the family corgi, Sukuna Jr., burst into the room. Eyeing the biscuit in your hand, Kuna made his way directly to you, panting at your feet. A pet given affectionately by your-not-so-affectionate older brother, Sukuna, when he left for his year long trip around Europe, Kuna was the cutest little puppy. You and Yuji loved to spoil him, clearly shown as Yuji patted him while breathing heavily. You cooed as Kuna licked your fingers while inhaling the biscuit you had presented him.Â
âWell,â your mother stood up, having finished her tea, and began ushering in the maids to clear the table. âIt seems our morning will be quite busy. Youâd best be prepared for a long day, my dear.â
Choso was still grumbling as he took a seat across from you, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the long line of suitors outside. âIâm keeping an eye on that Naoya fellow. If he so much as looks at you the wrong wayâŠâ
You raised an eyebrow at your brotherâs protectiveness, feeling both amused and touched. âChoso, I appreciate your concern, but I can handle myself. Besides, with Kuna here, I doubt any of these gentlemen will get too close without proper approval.â
As if understanding the conversation, Sukuna Jr. barked enthusiastically, his tail wagging as he looked up at you with bright, expectant eyes. You smiled and scratched behind his ears, watching as his tiny body wriggled with joy.
Yuji, still catching his breath from the chase, flopped onto the chair beside you, shooting a grin at Choso. âCome on, big brother, give her a break. Itâs not every day our sister gets declared the diamond of the season. Let her enjoy it.â
Choso crossed his arms, still unconvinced. âIâm just saying, if any of these men donât meet my standardsâžșâ
âYour standards?â you interrupted with a teasing lilt. âChoso, Iâd never find a husband if I had to meet your impossible standards. Besides, you should be more concerned about finding someone yourself.â
Chosoâs cheeks tinted with a slight blush, but make no mistake; he was hot with anger, ready to make a snarky retort. Your mother, who had been overseeing the maids, turned her attention back to the conversation with a soft smile.
âYour sister is right, Choso. Itâs her time to shine, and as her family, we should support her, not make things more difficult.â She gave him a pointed look before turning to you with a gentler expression, and he backed down as he always does for your mother. âNow, my dear, are you ready to begin receiving your guests?â
You took a deep breath, nodding as you steeled yourself for the hours of polite conversation and careful navigation of the social battlefield ahead. âAs ready as Iâll ever be.â
âGood,â your mother said, her voice laced with both pride and encouragement. âRemember, you are the diamond of the season. There isnât a man out there who wouldnât be lucky to have you.â
You offered a weak smile. âLetâs get this over with.â
As you walked toward the sofa where you would be talking with suitors, Kuna trotted alongside you, his presence a comforting reminder.With Yuji and Choso trailing behind, and your mother leading the way to open the door, you braced yourself for the onslaught of admirers waiting beyond the door.
But as you straighten your posture, in anticipation to greet the first suitor, you couldn't help but glance down at Kuna, who stared up at you with wide, curious eyes. You chuckled softly.
âWell, Kuna,â you whispered, âletâs see who passes your test today.â
Gojoâs gaze wandered down to Sukuna Jr. in your lap as you stroked his fur, and he gave you a saccharineâžșyet strainedâžșsmile. âMust this dog bear witness to our conversation?Â
As if sensing Gojoâs unfriendliness, Kuna started growling, and you could feel the rumble deep in his stomach. You met Gojoâs sweet smile with one of your own. âYes.â
Gojo blinked, and the smile on his face faltered. You noticed that this was one of the first time Gojoâs ever expressed an emotion outside of smugness, and you count this as your personal win.
âWell,â he hesitated, and then a smile was on his face as if that stumble didnât happen. âYou look wonderful this morning, Miss Itadori.â
Your eyes flashed at his audacity to talk behind your back and try to fool you with flattery. âOn the contrary, I think I look rather simple.â
Gojo, none the wiser as to what you were referring to, waved his hands. âNonsense.â
Before you could respond, Kuna let out a low, rumbling growl, his sharp eyes fixed on Gojo. The sound was subtle, but in the quiet of the morning, it was unmistakable. Gojoâs gaze flickered down to the small dog, and his smile tightened ever so slightly.
You gently scratched behind Kunaâs ears, calming him, though his gaze never left Gojo. âI apologize on behalf of my dear Kuna,â you said, your voice light but nonetheless pointed. âHe tends to be wary of many, particularly those he believes to be with ulterior motives.â
Gojo nodded, unfazed, and looked down at the dog in question. Upon eye contact, all your efforts to calm Kuna went to naught as the dog stood up, tense and teeth almost bared fully, to stare back at Gojo defiantly. Gojo, to his credit, was starting to be a little wary and was giving the pup an impassive stare.Â
âYou know, I have an affinity for dogs. There are many pups that I have spent my entire childhood with.â He offered a chuckle and moved his hand to pet Kuna. âDogs do have a way of sensing things, donât they?â That was clearly the wrong decision because the dogâs growl grew louder, and suddenly, he snapped at Gojoâs hand. Before Kuna could sink his teeth into Gojoâs hand, however, Gojo smoothly withdrew it out of his reach.Â
âProtective, isnât he?â Gojo laughed, but his stare towards Kuna was veering more and more into a glare. He tried to disguise his irritation by suavely adding, âAdmirable. Iâm glad he has protected my lady so well.â Gojo then grabbed your hand to give you a small kiss on the back of it while keeping eye contact. You had to divert your eyes elsewhere to avoid coloring your cheeks; while you knew this was just another one of Gojoâs pretenses to charm you, you were still fazed by it.Â
You cleared your throat and tried to uphold the conversation. After all, it would be outright rude to keep throwing thinly veiled insults his way when there were others in your company; he also had the potential to spread further malicious rumors about you if you showed attitude. You mustered up a fake smile, and offered, âHe was a gift to me and Yuji offered by my older brother, Sukuna, when he went traveling,â you offered.Â
âIs that the brother you hoped to follow to Europe?â
You blinked and faltered. You didnât expect him to remember that tidbit from your conversation at the ball last night. While most of the preferences you had asserted were artificialâžșsupplemented to you by your tutor, who had drilled what fake preferences of yours would woo menâžșyou truly did gain enthusiasm for the languages because you hoped to prove your helpfulness to Sukuna in an effort to run away from your inevitable debut. At the time, you were rebelling against anything your mama said, avoiding anything associated with being paraded around like an animal, put on display for men. âYes,â you said slowly, âYes, it is.âÂ
Gojo smiled, this time a little more genuine at the fact it was his first time receiving an authentic response from you this morning, rather than something covered with a fake smile. Just as he leaned in slightly, probably preparing to make another smooth remark, Kuna, who had been shifting in your lap, suddenly stilled, his face buried in your lap and tail facing Gojo. For a moment, you thought he might be settling down.
And then it happened.
The largest fart ripped through the room out of Kunaâs arse, which was pointed directly in Gojoâs face. While you were not a scholar studying physics, you were aware that the air dynamics did not do Gojo any favors in preventing the smell from hitting him direct-on. Gojoâs eyes widened in surprise, and his suave expression faltered entirely as the smell quickly followed, filling the air around you both.
You could feel the heat rushing to your face in your effort not to laugh out loud. Trying to keep your composure, you gently patted Kunaâs belly, who was now face up, tongue lolling out in bliss. âOh, dear,â you muttered, your voice strained with the effort to suppress a laugh.
Gojo, for once, was at a loss for words. His eyes were tearing up, probably at the smell; whenever you and Yuji spoiled Kuna with those biscuits, he dropped nasty-smelling dungs, and you knew Gojo wasnât spared at all. The arrogant bachelor, who always seemed to have a witty response ready, was now at a loss of words as he weakly gazed upon the weak little poot! poot!s that escaped Kuna as you continued patting his stomach in an effort to relieve your pupâs digestive system.
At Gojoâs expression, you had to take quiet, deep breaths in an effort to rein in the cackles that were threatening to overcome you. You resorted to covering your mouth as you strained, âAs you can see, my Kuna is quite expressive, and he seemed quite eager to show you that.â
He offered you a strained smile. âHe does indeed generate quite a bit of wind.â At that, you could no longer hold back. Genuine laughter wracked through your figure, hurting your ribs as you tried to quell it with a hand to the mouth, but no avail. Your muffled laughter was still loud, and when the giggles subsided, you wiped your tears and threw an apologetic look at Gojo, preparing to express your regret.Â
But you stopped at the sheer wonder he contained in his face as his gaze fixated on your lips, which were drawn back in the ghost of the smile you had while laughing riotously. Without allowing you much time to dwell on it, he stood up and dipped his head in a little bow. âWell, I have been taking quite a bit of your time, Miss Itadori. I better let other suitors have their chance.â He kissed the back of your hand. âI hope to see you at the horse race tomorrow.â
âLikewise.â You couldnât help but spy some red coloring Gojoâs alabaster cheeks as he made his way to the exit. As you greeted the next suitor, the imprint of a certain manâs lips continued to tingle on your hands.Â
âI told you he was a rake,â Nobara muttered as she scrubbed your arm with an intensity that matched her outrage. After hearing what Gojo had said about you, she was livid. Unfortunately, your skin was bearing the brunt of her frustration.
âWell,â you mused, trying to distract her, âwhat rumors have you heard that make you think that?â
âMomo told me a few months agoâžșâ Nobara paused, her hands hovering over the various bottles on the counter. âWhich scent would you prefer for your hair?â
âSandalwood,â you replied.
Nobara nodded and poured some of the rich liquid into her hands before massaging it into your scalp. You closed your eyes, feeling the tension from the day's exhausting and dull conversations slowly melt away under her skillful fingers. âMomo mentioned that heâs often out late at night, which seems suspicious. But now that I think about it, Momo isnât the most reliable source,â Nobara added, her tone shifting to one of skepticism.
You quirked an eyebrow. âWhy do you say that?â
âThereâs talk that she attempted to lure another maidâs husband into an affair,â Nobara replied, her hands now working the shampoo through your hair with a practiced ease. âShe even tried to gain access to his quarters.â
You gasped. âHow scandalous!â
âI know,â Nobara said, her hands now massaging the back of your neck with a gentler touch. âSo, who knows how much truth there is to her gossip. But still, Gojoâs behavior is less than honorable, donât you think?â
You sighed, gazing up at the ceiling with a mix of frustration and resignation. âHe was gossiping about me with other men, calling me all sorts of horrible thingsâžșâsimple,â of all things. And yet, he has the audacity to want to call upon me?â
âYou know,â Nobara mused as she continued her task, âHe sounds the exact opposite of what some of your books would imply.â
You hummed in agreement, recalling the radical works you kept hidden beneath your bed. Your mother would be appalled if she ever discovered them, but you often sought solace in political writings that challenged the rigid expectations of society. âI know. And that is precisely why I have no intention of encouraging his attention this seasonâat least, not before I ensure his complete and utter humiliation.â
âBut do take care. His connections to the Queen are quite strong.â
You drew back from Nobara's hands, much to her chagrin. She gave you a glare while you exclaimed, "What?"
âSurely youâre aware that the Gojo dukedom is among the closest to the royal family?â
You fervently hoped your mother hadnât caught wind of Gojo's status. Yet, the way she had been observing youâžșsubtly scrutinizing you in the drawing room while feigning interest in a suitor awaiting his turnâžșsuggested otherwise. She had certainly noticed Gojo's growing interest, and the thought of her getting involved, fixating on a match with him, filled you with dread. Drawing your hands over your face, you moaned, the very notion of her scheming to pair you with Gojo weighing heavily on your mind.
âBut that should hardly be a concern if youâve begun to distance yourself from him, correct? You have been creating some distance, havenât you?â
Your silence spoke volumes, and Nobara, ever quick to discern your hesitation, gasped in exasperation. âYou cannot seriously be considering giving this gentleman any encouragement, can you?â
"No, no, itâs not that,â you replied, massaging your temples in frustration. âItâs just that my mother is probably ecstatic at the prospect of securing a match between me and Gojo.â
âBut surely, if she knew the things heâs been saying behind your back, she would understand.â
You tried to open your mouth to respond, but it felt as if your throat had closed up. Would she really? A match with Gojo would mean elevated status for the Itadori familyâžșa duchess for a daughter. What worth is there in being the diamond of the season if not to secure the most advantageous match? The very thought made your chest tighten with the suffocating realization that your mother might very well advocate for the union, despite Gojoâs duplicity.
âIâžșâ you swallowed. âIâm not sure.â Before Nobara could interrupt, you stood up and reached for your robe.Â
Nobara's brow furrowed as she watched you stand up. "Where do you think you're going? Youâre not done with your bath, and your hair is still full of suds!" She reached out to stop you, her hands hovering as though unsure whether to pull you back into the tub or grab the robe you were now clutching.
You forced a small, tired smile, grateful for the distraction. âI need just a moment. The water's gone cold, anyway.â
âOh, nonsense! Youâll catch a chill if you get out now. Sit back down,â Nobara insisted, her protest tinged with genuine concern. She placed a firm hand on your shoulder, guiding you back toward the warm water.
With a reluctant sigh, you allowed yourself to be coaxed back into the tub. The momentary reprieve from the conversation was a relief, and you welcomed Nobaraâs determined focus on completing your bath. She picked up a sponge, her earlier frustration melting into concentration as she scrubbed your back.
âWell, we can discuss that scheming rake later,â she muttered, more to herself than to you. âFor now, letâs get you properly cleaned up before your mother comes looking for you. Sheâd never forgive me if I let you appear anything less than perfect.â
You nodded with a lump in your throat, grateful for the change in topic, even if only temporary. The soothing rhythm of Nobara's hands working through your hair, the warmth of the bathwater, and the familiar, comforting routine helped ease the tightness in your chest. For now, the troubling thoughts of Gojo and your mother's ambitions could be set aside.
âNow, hold still,â Nobara said, her tone softening as she rinsed the last of the soap from your hair. âWeâll have you looking radiant again in no time.â
The conversation was left unfinished, hanging in the air like a question that neither of you was quite ready to answer. But for now, the silence was a welcome refuge.
"Do you have any notion of how impossible it is to charm a lady when there is a pup expelling such foul air right beneath your nose?" Satoru lamented, leaning back in his chair and raking a hand through his tousled hair. The trio gathered at the table presented a rather unusual sight: Satoru, visibly discomposed; Nanami, calmly sipping his drink as ever; and Suguru, nearly doubled over in laughter at his friendâs misfortune.
âWould you pleaseâžșSMACKâžșcease your laughing?!â Satoru glared at Suguru, who seemed to be of no hope, now with tears in his eyes as he clutched his stomach and the back of his head, which Satoru had just hit.Â
âTruly, your vanityâžșhaaahâžșyour vanity was in need of humbling,â Suguru managed between breaths, still snickering behind his palms.Â
Satoru glowered, crossing his arms and staring daggers into his drink, as if his gaze alone could break the fine glass. âMy pride had already suffered enough. She was positively frigid.â
Nanami hummed. âPerhaps sheâs merely discerned your true nature.â
âIt defies comprehension,â Gojo groaned, ignoring Kentoâs statement. âWhat kind of lady disparages her own beauty as âsimpleâ? I cannot fathom what has caused her such vexation. Only the night before, she was utterly taken with me!â
Suguruâžșwho had now calmed downâžșwas in the midst of wiping his tears when he suddenly stopped. âYou donât suppose it had anything to do with your careless words, do you?â
Kento eyed the pair in front of him with an accusatory side eye. âAnd what precisely did you say?â
 âSatoru, in his usual fashion, could not contain his tongue. Out on the terrace, with the garden as witness, he spoke rather unkindly, referring to the diamond as âsimple and dull.ââ
âNonsense,â Satoru waved his hands, dismissing the idea. âThe lady would never wander the gardens at such an hour in the night unchaperoned.â
âI suggest you reconsider.â Kento gave him a stern look and continued, âI happened upon her last night, emerging from the gardens, and she appeared rather disheveled.âÂ
This revelation gave Satoru pause, but if there was one thing certain about Satoru Gojo, it was this: his arrogance was such that he could scarcely fathom anyone, least of all a lady, finding his charm anything but irresistibleâžșeven if that very lady had overheard him uttering defamatory remarks about her. And this lady was one he could not let go of, unless he wanted to wave good-bye to his future.
âI am confident all will be well,â Gojo exhaled, his lips curving into a Cheshire smile. âEven if she did overhear, surely a few well-chosen sweet words will surely set matters right.â
(He was most grievously mistaken.)
âHow many of those biscuits do you suppose we could finish?â Yuji was eyeing the biscuits from his seat next to you in the pavilion where you and your family were sitting. Out promenading with the other families of the ton, it was a scenic and beautiful day for you to mingle with even more suitors. The joy!
âCertainly less than me,â you remarked, sipping on your tea smugly. By the irritated pout on his face, you knew you were successful at getting a rise out of your younger brother. Knowing your mother wasnât in sight, you quickly darted for the jam-filled biscuits, and your brother quickly followed in tow; soon, you were both stuffing your faces silly with the sugary treats.
âYou two are incorrigible,â Choso scrunched his nose from where he sat across from you, arms crossed. âThereâs no need to inhale those biscuits. What if someone sees?â
Yuji stuck out his tongueâžșnow adorned with biscuit crumbsâžșand continued gorging, while you snickered at your younger brotherâs pettiness.
âMiss Itadori.â
You began coughing wildly, caught off guard, and hastily straightened your posture to greet your guest. You turned to see Lord Ino, who offered you a slight nod before acknowledging your brothers. âLord Itadori. Mister Itadori.â
âLord Ino, nice to meet you on such a fine day.â You try to put a smile on your face as best as you can, even though you were caught off guard. âHow do you find todayâs weather?âÂ
Takuma grabs the back of your hand to kiss it. âI find it wonderful for the prospect of promenading. Do you care to do so with me?â
âOf course,â You stand up and link your elbows with Takumaâs.
âWeâll be thirty paces behind you, sister.â You both turned to look at Choso, who was giving Lord Ino his inevitable protective glare. Given Inoâs acceptable station, Choso hadnât immediately protested, unlike the many suitors he had chased out of your manor the day before. He grabbed Yuji by the elbow, who, with cheeks comically inflated like a chipmunk hoarding acorns, was promptly dragged away. âYuji, get up.â The last you saw of your brothers was Yujiâs futile protests, his mouth too full to be coherentâžșinevitably sending some crumbs flying onto Chosoâžșand Choso swatting him for it.
As you began your walk with Lord Ino, the conversation naturally turned to the upcoming horse race. âAre you looking forward to the race this afternoon?â you asked, trying to keep the conversation light.
âI am,â the lord replied. âAnd you?â
âVery much so,â you said, a hint of excitement in your voice. âI have a feeling that the less popular horseâžșBlaze, was it?âžșmight surprise everyone. The conditions seem just right for an underdog victory; the track is soft and warm, which would favor Blazeâs build.â
Lord Ino glanced at you with a polite but unconvinced smile. âBut Thunder has higher odds and more bets. Itâs as simple as that.â
You couldnât help but bristle at the word âsimple,â a word that had recently come to grate on your nerves. You pressed on, though, determined to keep the conversation pleasant. âI suppose thereâs some truth to that, but sometimes thereâs more to a race than just the odds and popularity.â
Ino chuckled softly. âWell, a good mentor and friend of mineâžșDuke Nanamiâžșagrees with the odds, and His Grace is someone I deeply respect. I tend to follow his leadâžșthe duke has a way of teaching lessons without hindering oneâs growth.â
Before you could respond, the sound of a trumpet blared in the distance, signaling the start of the race. You looked at him, giving him a courteous nod, gesturing in the general direction Choso and Yuji were supposed to be in. âIt seems the race is about to begin. I must rejoin my family.â
You curtsied as he bowed, and you watched as he walked away, leaving you momentarily alone. You took a deep breath, trying to dispel the lingering irritation from the conversation. Just as you began looking for your family, you felt a presence approaching.
You turned to find Lady Mei Mei and her entourage closing in. Their expressions were a study in artful contempt, laced with curiosity and barely concealed amusement. The atmosphere between you was thick with unspoken competition, each woman silently gauging the otherâs position on the social ladder.Â
âMiss Itadori, what a nice surprise!â Lady Mei Mei remarked, her tone dripping with false sweetness. âIt appears you are alone and unchaperoned in a garden yet again! At least, according to what the rumors say. Was it part of yet another one of your charming ploys to get what you want?"
You met her gaze with cool composure, not giving her the satisfaction of a visible reaction. "I have no clue what you're talking about."
Lady Mei Mei tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing as if appraising a particularly interesting specimen. "Really?" she mused, drawing out the word as though savoring it. "Itâs just that Lord Gojo hasnât spoken with you all day. Even if Whistledown commended you in the last issue, I wouldnât expect his interest to linger." The two ladies flanking herâžșunremarkable save for their sycophantic attachment to Mei Meiâžșgiggled behind their fans, as though she had delivered a crushing blow.
You allowed yourself a small, almost imperceptible smile, one that didnât reach your eyes. "So Iâm assuming he called upon you?" you questioned sweetly, your voice laced with feigned politeness.
For a fleeting moment, Lady Mei Meiâs carefully curated composure slipped, the faintest flicker of irritation crossing her face before she regained control. She leaned in slightly, her voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper meant for you alone. âNone of the suitors will be interested in you any longer. The Queen may have mistakenly proclaimed you the diamond, but a pretty face, empty smiles, and hollow words can only last so long.â
âWhatever would be most convenient for you to believe.ïżœïżœ Her words were empty and her threats dull, but you couldnât help but let it compound on the irritation you had experienced today. But you knew better than to let your tongue loose; you were quite impulsive when you had started, and you didnât want to start any scandal anytime soon. Instead, you held your ground, trying to maintain your composure (outwardly, at least) as Lady Mei Mei and her entourage turned to leave, their laughter echoing in your ears.Â
You tried to implement a few things your tutor had ingrained in you: taking deep breaths and setting your posture correctly. However, as you stood there, collecting yourself, the last thing you needed seemed to manifest before you: Satoru Gojo.
His tall figure approached you with that familiar, self-assured stride, his eyes glinting with mischief. "Ah, Miss Itadori," he greeted, a sly smile playing on his lips. You were already irritated, and it took all your will-power to stifle a groan.Â
"I couldnât help but notice you were conversing with Lord Ino," he remarked casually.
Give him a smile. "Indeed, we were enjoying a promenade. It is, after all, what young ladies and their suitors are expected to do."
âQuite the choice in company!â
KEEP up the smile. Â "He is a nobleman, and I am of noble descent. I fail to see your point, Mr. Gojo."Â
Gojoâs smile was quick and cutting. âOh, Iâve no particular quarrel with Lord Ino. Itâs simply that heâs hardly the sort Iâd expect to see on your arm. After all, heâs practically Nanamiâs lapdog.â
You felt the familiar irritation rising within youâžșand you were fighting for your life trying to keep a smile on your faceâžșbut you kept your tone measured. "And what, pray tell, are you implying by that, Mr. Gojo?"
"Itâs quite simple, reallyâžș"Â
But your patience, already worn thin, snapped at that word.
"My good sir, do you not think it rather dishonorable to speak ill of others behind their backs?" Gojo began to respond, but you cut him off. "Itâs curious how quickly opinions can change, is it not? Just the other evening, you seemed to hold me in rather low regard. Tell me, do you often dismiss people as âsimpleâ when they fail to meet any of the lofty expectations you have set? Or do you perhaps truly believe yourself to be at a station higher than others?"
Gojo stiffened, the smile slipping from his face as your words hit their mark. Before he could respond, Choso appeared at your side, his protective presence a welcome relief.
âIs there any problem, sister?â Choso asked, his tone polite yet firm as he glanced at Satoru, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Gojoâs gaze flicked to Choso, his irritation clear as he opened his mouth to make a cutting remark, and you couldnât thank the gods enough for Chosoâs mother hen tendencies. But the words faltered when he recognized who had interrupted. For a brief moment, surprise flashed in his eyes before he masked it with a tight-lipped smile.
You seized the moment, turning to Satoru with a sweet smile. âI think our time is up, Mister Gojo,â you said, your voice laced with venom.
Satoru hesitated for just a fraction of a second before nodding curtly, his expression unreadable. âOf course. Until next time, Miss Itadori.â
With that, he stepped back, allowing you and Choso to walk away toward where people were gathering for the race. As you moved through the crowd, you could feel Satoruâs gaze lingering on you, but you didnât look back.
âThat horse appears rather stout, does it not?â Yuji squinted against the blazing sun as he observed the horses from his seat beside you in the grandstand. âWhy has it garnered so many bets?â
Choso, seated protectively on your other side, kept a steady arm linked with yours. His presence was reassuring, though your irritation was directed at the figure seated just below you. Satoru Gojo, to your endless chagrin, was sitting with Lady Mei Mei, who had all but forced her way into the seat beside him. Though he tried to appear indifferent, his signature flirty remarks flowing with ease, you noticed the subtle signs of irritation crossing his face. Whether it stemmed from Lady Mei Mei's advances or from your earlier exchange, you couldn't be sure. You refused to meet his gaze, though you could feel his eyes on you intermittently as the crowd waited for the race to begin.
âMen can be quite foolish at times,â you remarked hotly, your voice carrying just enough to be overheard. âSome people value the superficial and materialistic over true substance, much like they do with horses. Blaze, for instance, has the qualities that truly matter.â
You could almost feel Gojoâs gaze intensify, and despite yourself, you glanced in his direction. Lady Mei Mei, ever the actress, feigned a stumble, exclaiming with a coy smile, âThese crowds are rather rough on a lady!â
You scoffed inwardly at her transparent attempt to press her bosom against Gojoâs arm.
âOh my,â Gojo drawled, his voice oozing concern. âWe canât have that, can we?â Ever the gallant gentleman, he interlaced his arm with hers. âHere, for extra protection. I wouldnât want a pretty lady shedding tears beside me.â
Mei Meiâs smirk was as satisfied as a serpent after a meal, and she batted her eyelashes coquettishly. âIf I were to cry, would you console me?â
âOf course,â Gojo replied smoothly. âThough I might find myself crying should my horse lose. The bets Iâve placed are rather substantial.â
A flirtatious giggle escaped Mei Meiâs lips. âThen I shall cheer with all my might, so you neednât suffer any losses, my lord.â
You were perilously close to tearing your hair out.
âI appreciate your enthusiasm, my lady,â Gojo said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it with exaggerated flourish. âBut rest assured, I am quite confident of a victory today. Thunder is swift and cunning, far superior to that... other horse. Itâs simple, reallyâThunder will win.â
Your composure cracked. âYuji,â you called, your voice sharp. Your brother, who had been lost in thought, snapped to attention. âDespite the other horseâs popularity, Blaze possesses the one quality universal to all champions: speed and diligence. The track conditions are in its favor.â
Yuji, caught off guard, blinked in confusion. âYes, of course, sister,â he mumbled, clearly unsure of why you were addressing him.
âAnd anyone who thinks otherwise,â you continued, raising your voice slightly, âis bound to lose their money. Sorely and simply.â
Gojo matched your tone, his voice ringing out. âBut of course, itâs all in good fun. Thereâs no need for hostility over a sport, is there? Both horses are fine contenders, though I remain convinced Thunder shall emerge victorious.â
Mei Mei tittered, parroting his sentiments, but you could hardly see straight for the anger coursing through you. Unable to hold back, you retorted, âHowever, it is, after all, still a race. And Blaze will win.â
By now, your exchange had drawn the attention of those around you, including your brothers. Choso and Yuji exchanged puzzled glances before Yuji asked weakly, âAre you still talking to us, sister?â Meanwhile, Chosoâs protective instincts flared, his gaze darting suspiciously between you and Gojo.
Before you could reply, the horses lined up at the starting gate, and the crowd collectively rose to their feet, including Gojo. âSteady now, Thunder!â he called out, his voice brimming with confidence.
Not to be outdone, you shouted, âCome on, Blaze!â
The bell rang, and the horses surged forward, the crowd erupting in cheers. Blaze and Thunder quickly pulled ahead, the two horses locked in a fierce battle for the lead. Thunder was currently ahead, its sleek form cutting through the track with precision.
âSteady, Thunder! Keep the lead!â Gojoâs voice was full of excitement, urging his horse onward.
Your heart raced with frustration as Blaze lagged slightly behind. âYou can do this, Blaze!â you urged, your voice rising above the din. Without thinking, you began whistling sharply, drawing alarmed looks from your brothers. The stares from the crowd meant nothing to you as you focused solely on the race.
Blaze, as if responding to your encouragement, began to accelerate, its powerful strides eating up the ground between it and Thunder. You noticed Thunderâs pace faltering, fatigue setting in, while Blaze surged ahead, pulling into the lead with a quarter of the race remaining.
Now it was Gojoâs turn to whistle, his voice tinged with desperation. âStraight to the finish line, Thunder! Donât let up!â
But Blaze only widened the gap, its momentum carrying it farther ahead. You couldnât contain your laughter, a joyous sound that bubbled up from within as Blaze crossed the finish line first, with Thunder trailing behind.
âGoddamn it,â Gojo cursed under his breath, his frustration palpable. You clapped your hands in delight, your laughter ringing out.
With deliberate grace, you placed your hands on your hips and turned to Gojo, flashing him a triumphant smile. âIâm so glad the âsimpleâ horse won,â you said, your voice dripping with satisfaction. âIt seems Iâve finally bested a duke.â
Gojoâs blue eyes bore into you, their intensity searing, but you met his glare with a boisterous laugh, savoring the victory as the crowdâs cheers and claps echoed around you. Until it was only the two of you, staring each other down.
Gojo âžș 0, you âžș 1.
Now, Duchess Gojo had always had a penchant for gossip, no one escaping her eye and observation. Of course, it was now the Whistledown era, for the unknown author could observe far more than the high-profile duchess, who was the receiver of much praise and attention due to her sonâs eligibility. But this eligibility had only been achieved because of her ability to direct the tide based on her reconnaissance, and in all her years, no could match her sass and direction. Except one.Â
"You know, Lady Itadori," the Duchess remarked, her tone laced with feigned pensiveness, "the Gojo manor in the countryside has been dreadfully quiet, and, if I may say, it has been quite some time since we last enjoyed a proper tĂȘte-Ă -tĂȘte.â
The two ladies stood together near the stands, choosing a more secluded spot from which to observe the horse race. Lady Itadori, her closest confidante, met the Duchessâs gaze with a gleam in her eye. "Indeed, I must agree."
For a moment, the two women stood in silence, their eyes surveying the scene before them. From the ladies flirting shamelessly to the gentlemen scrambling for the favor of the seasonâs debutantes, they were like spectators at a grand circus. Yet, their attention was drawn to a particular act.
Raising her fan to her lips, Lady Itadori whispered conspiratorially to the Duchess, "I might add, my diamond has been spending a considerable amount of time in your sonâs company."
The Duchess met her friendâs eyes and laughed lightly. "How many days do you wager it will take in the manor?"
Lady Itadori, now fully smirking, gave a delicate shrug. "It took you and the Duke but four days."
prev. the debutante | next. the manor
general masterlist | series masterlist
a/n: reader is hearing boss music rn
forced proximity whatttt
gojo when kuna ripped one in his face
comment, reblog, and send in an ask to let me know ur thots :3 memes are also appreciated <3
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#oficial art#jjk season one#jjk series#jjk season two#jjk season 2#jjk#jujutsu#jujutsu kaisen#jujutsu sorcerer#shibuya#shibuya arc#ćȘèĄć»»æŠ#æžè°·äșć€#ćȘèĄ2æ#staff art#@hiro_gokinjyo#nanami kento#kento nanami#mahito#sukuna#itadori yuuji#itadori yuji#yuuji itadori#yuji itadori#ryomen sukuna#sukuna ryomen#nobara kugisaki#kugisaki nobara#jjk yuuji#jjk nanami
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Domestic Bliss: Nanami Kento #7, Cravings
Nanami Kento x Pregnant!Reader
"Kento.. when I say I want Taco Bell, I mean it. I really, really want Taco Bell."
The fragrant aroma of frying peppers and onions, garlic and heady spices, filled the kitchen. Kento had his back to you, his apron tied and snatching his waist inwards. The way he tapered up to broad shoulders, so profoundly triangular; you admired him with a geometrist's gaze. The cake beneath that neat little bow. Those long, long legs, thick-thighed and powerful. Perhaps you craved more than Taco Bell.
Your tummy rumbled, adding to that unique gravid discomfort of an already overstretched belly. Hearing your tummy growl through the thrill of fluid, your baby kicked, a foot occupying a space beneath your ribs you didn't know you had. And shit...you really wanted Taco Bell.
"Then I'll make you some." Kento replied, light, and broaching no argument. "There's no need to go out."
"While your cooking is lovely, I know what I want."
"Yes." Kento answered, infuriatingly calm with a patient smile. "You want tacos."
"I want Taco Bell."
"No you dont. Taco Bell is shit. You deserve better. They deserve better." Kento gestured with a spatula towards your belly, flipping chicken and vegetables in his pan. You felt a whoosh of outrage, your hackles rising like a cat in a fight.
You sidled up behind Kento, your ankles puffy, your wedding ring hanging on a necklace instead of on your swollen fingers. Your fingers tippy-tapped on the counter, one of your hands on his waist.
"...are you trying to police my body, Mr.Nanami?"
Kento heard a panic alarm go off in the back of his mind. Unwisely, he doubled down.
"...of course not, my love. I would never. I know your rights, and I would never ignore them, or your needs, or how you feel."
You let his words hang. The silence was almost as pregnant as you. Kento's alarm bells started to ring harder and a bead of sweat dropped in his mind. And yet--
"But," he continued, starting to smell smoke creeping beneath his metaphorical door, now, shouts and screams in the distance as you smiled at him oh fuck why is she smiling at me oh I've fucked up oh shit I've really fucked up, "fatty food makes your heartburn worse, and I can make you something much nicer, and too much salt will only add to your water retention. And your ankles are already so--"
Shit.
"...already so...what, my love?" Oh fuck oh shit I need to make this better I was just trying to be helpful I--
Kento turned the heat off. He lay down his spatula. He reached back to untie his apron.
"You know, darling...I think I fancy Taco Bell too."
Your smile widened, your clawing grip easing on his waist. "You do?"
"Absolutely. I'll get my keys."
"Yes. You will get your keys. And...help me get my shoes on. Please."
#jjk#kento nanami#pseudowho#jjk nanami#nanami kento#kento nanami x you#kento nanami x reader#nanami fluff#nanami kento smut#nanami my love#jujutsu kaisen nanami#jujutsu nanami#kento nanami smut#kento nanami x y/n#nanami#nanami kento x reader#nanami kento fluff#nanami kento x you#nanami x reader#nanami x y/n#nanami x you#jujutsu kaisen#jjk x reader#jujutsu kaisen x reader#domestic bliss series
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[ SMAU ] đđ
đ
đđđ đđđđđ ! ( first installment ) in which you are forced to plan a corporate event with your office enemy . wattpad ver
àšà§Ë part; one. two. three. four. five. six. seven. eight. nine. ten. eleven.
àšà§Ë incl; kento nanami
àšà§Ë cw; mean! nanami , profanity , name-calling
àšà§Ë an; new series!!! before you ask, yes iâm still going to write for the toji series, i just need a lil time to think of more plotđđ but i have been having nanami kento brain worms so please enjoy this!!
enemies -> friends -> lovers slowburn
( prologue; ) Youâve been with the firm for a little over a year now, mostly getting on fine with your work load and colleagues. The paperwork was paperwork, boring and bland, but the steady income and benefits were what kept you tethered. So yeah, the office was tolerable to say the least⊠apart from one exception: Kento Nanami, four years your senior, oozing with unspoken confidence in the workplace, total fucking prick. To you, at least. Where Nanami regards others with a smile, youâre greeted with a cold, lingering glare. Thereâs a reason for his hatred, though you may think unjustified, Nanami refuses to overlook. But what is that reason? And what happens when you two are forced into a partnership for a project?
likes and reblogs are appreciated !
#â đđđâđ đđđđđđđđ â#jjk smau#jjk texts#jjk fluff#jjk x reader#jjk smut#nanami kento#kento x reader#jjk kento#kento smut#nanami x reader#nanami fluff#nanami smut#jjk nanami#nanami x y/n#toji smut#geto smut#choso smut#gojo smut#enemies to lovers#office au#social media au#series
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Ë . ê· SHORT N' SWEET .á.á
âź VARIOUS!JJK X READER .á Öč â ê±
đ synopsis âź oh no! new hit popstar, y/n l/n, "broke up" with her situationship due to suspicions of him cheating! no worries though, she's about to release a super hot n' new album dedicated to his bs! short n' sweet! now what happens when this major breakthrough album catches the attention of the famous agency: special grade management?! [+ other celebs]
đ content warnings âźÂ MDNI! female reader, modern & no curse au, social media au, written in 2nd person pov, age gaps, angst, love triangle but with 6 sides, frenemies, reunited friends, friends to lovers, fan x idol, second chance romance, love at first sight, opposites attract, slow burn, profanity  & crude humour, heavy references to sex, eventual smut, suggestive jokes, âkysâ jokes, drinking, smoking, alcohol, mentions of substance abuse, depression & anxiety, lots nâ lots of pining (ouch), sabrina carpenterâs music is used for y/n & jojiâs music is used for geto, warnings may change as the story progresses. "đ" indicates written parts
đ status âźÂ [11/15/24] ongoing, taglist open. please have age indicated on blog! MDNI, you will be blocked lol
âź MAIN CAST Â Öčâź Â ÖčPRIVATE ACCOUNTS Â âź Â ÖčETCÖč âź
01 âź so act like a stand up guy // 02 âź don't prove i'm right // 03 âź walked in and dream-came-trued - [đ] // 04 âź who's the cute guy with the wide blue eyes // 05 âź that morning coffee, brewed it for ya - [đ] // 06 âź i know i have good judgement // 07 âź i know i mountain dew it for ya - [đ] // 08 âź maybe just stay inside // 09 âź all i'm asking baby // 10 âź who's the cute boy with the white jacket - [đ] // 11 âź tbd... // 12 âź tbd...
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Pumpkinâs First Birthday
Pairing: Nanami Kento x fem!reader
Synopsis: itâs your and Nanamiâs daughterâs first birthday. Gojo and the students buy gifts for her and meet her for the first time at the party (based on this ask)
CW: so much FLUFF, established relationship, pet names, babies, PAPAMIN WC: 3.2k A/N: This is a sequel to Vitamins and Pumpkin â Pumpkin and this one are SFW! Enjoy thee cutest story ever!! <3
As much of a family man Nanami Kento is, heâs not very traditional. Since youâd both agreed to skip a gender reveal for it to be a surprise at birth, you hadnât even discussed names.Â
Tired as you were after pumpkin was born, you were excited to discuss it. She slept comfortably against you while you breastfed. And you found, not surprisingly, that the discussion flowed smoothly and quickly.Â
âI wanted to say we should go for a name beginning with K, to match yours,â you tell him.Â
âThatâs sweet, but whââ he begins, you know heâs going to say what about yours, but you shake your head.Â
âSheâs our first child, and I think a K name would work better.â
He chuckles quietly and gives you a soft smile, âAlright, honey. Youâre prepared, it seems. Shoot.â
âKaiyo,â you tell him. He tilts his head, pondering on it.Â
âKaiyo,â he repeats, testing it out. Kaiyo, meaning ocean.Â
You nod, smiling a little as you watch him think, the cogs turning in his head. âIt's not one of the most common names, but I thought you might like it both for its literal translation and it being associated with the vast and endless beauty of the ocean,â you explain.Â
He smiles warmly. âI really like that one. Itâs sweet. Nanami Kaiyo works.â
âI thought you might. Now tell me yours?â You request and he squeezes your hand gently, gazing down at his daughter, sleeping soundly.Â
âKimiko,â he says, his voice soft, bringing his gaze to yours, âItâs a little more traditional, but it means âprecious childâ or âvaluable daughterâ. Itâs associated with beauty, grace, and elegance. It's not too common but still has a strong connection to Japanese culture.â
While youâd been listening to him explain, so passionately, so lovingly, you felt pumpkin shift a little, as if she was approving, and you knew that that was the one. Nanami Kimiko.Â
âOhâŠKen, thatâs wonderful. And we can shorten it too, even the nicknames still have pretty meanings. Thatâs so well thought out,â you whisper to him, eyes twinkling.Â
He grins, âIâm glad you like it, honey. Yeah, itâs versatile. Kimi, like the term of endearment meaning dear, beloved, or sweetheart. And then Miko, which has connotations of grace, purity, and spirituality.âÂ
You lean over and kiss his head, âI love your brain. Goodness. Itâs perfect!â
*
Nanami had taken paternity leave from work for 9 months, and you were so grateful for all of the moments you shared together with your daughter. Being present together, with her.
Kimiko, your sweet girl, was growing too fast. Sheâd began to crawl at 6 months. Nanami had very much been proactive in her development, having read so much about babies during your pregnancy, so you chalked up her fast progression to him. He was quite hands on when it came to tummy time, independent movement, and the process of introducing her to new foods.Â
He was also extremely encouraging of Kimikoâs personality development.
It came as no surprise her first word was âdada,â because she was very much daddyâs girl.Â
At 9 months, Nanami returned back to work. His colleagues, friends, the students, all asked him about you, your daughter, fatherhood, and he would always speak proudly of his family, show them pictures, and go into great detail of Kimikoâs developmental stages.Â
A couple of weeks later, after heâd come home from work one day, heâs greeted by the sight of you sat at the end of the hallway encouraging Kimiko, and slowly, she totters over to him. Beginning to walk at 9 months was quite the achievement.Â
*
âWhatâre you doing for Kimikoâs birthday?â Gojo asks one day as theyâre sat in the staff room. He was perusing his phone and seemingly looked uninterested, but he had grown fond of his niece that he hadnât met yet, and was actually searching up gifts to get for her.
âHm?â Nanami looks up from the documents he was reading. âHer mother and I thought of having a little party for her.âÂ
Her first birthday was in a couple of weeks. It was mind blowing just how fast the past year had gone. Nanami finds himself smiling as he reflects on the past 12 months and how his daughter had completely transformed your lives for the better.Â
âLittle? Come on, Nanami, itâs her first ever birthday. Itâs gotta be special. Go big or go home. Arenât you gonna let us meet her? I want to meet my niece,â Gojo raises a brow over his glasses and Nanami eyes him over his.Â
âWell, of course, but⊠Iâll have to discuss with my wife first,â Nanami says and Gojo claps and cheers.Â
âAlright! No way sheâll say no. Iâll just take that as a yes and start preparing,â he grins and Nanami rolls his eyes but smiles a bit to himself.Â
Nanami was ordinarily quite a reserved man, and he was a little hesitant to invite everyone to his daughterâs birthday party, but with your encouragement, he did, and he was both nervous and excited for the students and his friends to meet his pride and joy.Â
*
âItadori, whâ put the Lego down. Sheâs only one,â Megumi sighs exasperatedly, and Nobara laughs.Â
âIâm just looking, Fushiguro,â Yuji huffs and puts the box of Lego back onto the shelf.Â
âIf youâre looking, look at the age on the box, for goodnessâ sake,â Megumi mutters.Â
Gojo pushes along the half full shopping cart through the aisle, humming quietly to himself as he examines the toys on the shelves. Â
âNo, these are much too advanced for her yet,â Gojo concludes, and he pushes the cart into the next aisle, the kids following him, much like a mother hen and her chicks.Â
âButâŠwhy canât we just get stuff that they could use later?â Yuji offers, and Gojo turns to look at him, raising a brow.Â
âYou have much to learn about children and parenthood, young one,â he says and he goes back to perusing the shelves, picking up a mini musical keyboard and putting it into the cart.Â
âUse your brain, Yuji. Where would they store it? What if it gets broken before they can use it? Why get something they canât use yet? Hello?â Nobara knocks her hand on the side of Yujiâs head and he lets out another huff.Â
âOw. Okay, got it, stop,â Yuji rubs his head.Â
âThis multipack looks good,â Nobara picks up the big box of Play-Doh, in an array of colours, and shows it to Gojo. He hums.Â
âOh, Nanami will probably hate these. But I think sheâll like the bright ones. Put it in,â he instructs and she does so with a small laugh.Â
Thereâs a moment of silence as all four of them are perusing the shelves, and then, âOkay, I think this is age appropriate, what do you guys think?â Yuji points to a wooden train set with big wooden blocks to make the tracks.Â
âFantastic. Put it in,â Gojo nods.Â
âGojo Sensei, is it really necessary to getââ Megumi begins and Gojo claps his hand over the boyâs mouth.Â
âYes. It is. Only the best for my niece. No expense will be spared when it comes to her. And youâre not the one paying, so I donât want to hear a peep out of you.â
Megumi pushes Gojoâs hand away and hums. âRight. Gotta get the best for myâŠcousin?â
Nobara and Yuji snicker and Megumiâs lips curl into a small smile. Nobara gasps when her gaze falls onto a mini kitchen set, âGojo Sensei, look at that!â
Gojo looks over and he grins, pushing the cart over to it, inspecting it. âI like this a lot. I donât think Nanamin will, butâŠitâs a nice gift. Babies like playing pretend. Alright, hold the cart while I put it in,â he instructs his students, and they hold the cart while he picks up the large box and places it in.Â
A mini kitchen set, mini instruments, building blocks, teddy bears, Play-Doh, clothes, shoes, accessoriesâ Gojo had practically bought the entire store for Kimiko, and of course didnât bat an eye at the price on the receipt.Â
*
Youâd both opted to have the party mid afternoon, not too early and not too late, which worked best.Â
Both you and Nanami had planned and executed the decorations perfectly, and were quite pleased with the outcome. Kimiko had had her afternoon nap and was well rested, so everything was going smoothly. When sheâd seen the decorations, she was so full of joy, her excitement infectious.Â
Slowly, your guests had started to arrive, and you rub your husbandâs back to ease his nerves, though he doesnât look it, you know him well. âYouâre doing fantastic, my love,â you whisper and kiss his cheek.Â
He gives you a grateful smile and hugs you into his side, whispering back, âThanks, honey.â
Soon enough, most of your guests are there, enjoying the celebration of a year of Kimiko. The little lady was having a blast, pushing the balloons around. The last of your guests ring the doorbell, and Nanami opens the door to let them in.Â
The sight before him makes his brows raise. Gojo and the first year students, with so many wrapped presents in hand, it was impossible to count.Â
âHey, Nanamin!â They all chime.Â
Nanami is stunned for a moment at the amount of presents. Gojo grins, âYou gonna let us in?âÂ
Nanami steps to the side to let them in and gives a warm smile to the kids as they step inside one by one. âHi, you three. Thank you for coming,â he ruffles Yujiâs hair, âHi, Gojoâ was all of this necessary?â
Gojo steps in last and hands over a gift bag to Nanami, setting down the big box and looking at Nanami in all seriousness over his sunglasses, âYes. Whereâs my niece?â
âI hope you left a gift receipt. I donât know about your taste in childrenâs gifts,â Nanami says, teasing.Â
âOh, come onâŠyouâre no fun. I got all good things, like I said to my students: only the best for my niece. ButâŠyes. There is a gift receipt inside should my taste not be to your liking. Which I doubt.â
You walk through the small crowd with Kimiko on your hip to greet them, and you are taken aback by the sheer amount of wrapped presents the students have brought into the house, and you blink, wide eyed.Â
âH-hi, kidsâŠ!âÂ
âMrs. Nanami!â
âLovely to see you, Mrs. Nanamiââ
âHi, Mrs. Nanamiââ
They speak over each other and you laugh softly as you close the distance to them, greet them and introduce your daughter to them.
Sheâs a little shy but sheâs curious so she burrows herself against you but still peeks at them. You smile softly, stroking her hair gently as you gaze at her, âMiko? Not gonna say hi to your friends?â You turn to the kids and give them a kind smile, âThe iceâll melt eventually. Go and get some food while itâs still warm. Then weâre going to have the cake,â you tell them and they all head further inside to eat.Â
Gojo was still talking with Nanami, and you approach from behind. Itâs when Gojo sees the way Nanamiâs entire face softens at something behind him that he whips around.
Gojoâs smile is so bright and he looks so giddy that you laugh softly as you greet each other.Â
âLook at you, glowing and beautiful as alwaysâŠmotherhood suits you,â he gives you a grin, and your cheeks warm slightly at his playful and flirtatious nature.Â
âThank you, Gojo, itâs lovely to see you again,â you embrace him with your free arm and Kimiko peers at Gojo with piqued interest.
Sheâs quite intrigued by the white haired man and as youâd finished hugging Gojo and stepped back, she leans over to reach for him which surprises all three of you.Â
âOh. Am IââŠam I allowed to hold her?â Gojo asks and you laugh a little.Â
âOf course. Youâre her uncle, arenât you?â You tease him, holding her out to him, and he almost melts. He gently takes her into his arms and holds her against him.
It doesnât go unnoticed by Nanami the way Gojoâs hands had trembled slightly, which made his lips curl at the cornersâ the strongest sorcerer showing a bit of weakness over a baby? Heâd never live this one down.Â
Nanamiâs friends and colleagues had come over to greet Gojo as well and the small crowd had gathered around you as Gojo has his moment with his niece.Â
âHiii, KimikoâŠhappy birthday, sweet pea,â Gojo holds her gently as he caresses her cute little round chubby cheek as she looks at him, âoh, arenât you adorableâŠyes you are, Kimiko.â
âMeekoh,â she repeats and she grabs his glasses. He chuckles and takes them off for her and she looks into his bright eyes curiously.Â
âGo-jo,â he says his name slowly to her, pointing to himself and she smiles with her teeth, scrunching her nose.Â
âGogo,â she says and everyone either laughs or âawâs. She squeals happily and claps her hands, loving the attention.Â
âTake her before I cry, Nanami,â Gojo says to your husband and you and Nanami both laugh at this. âI am no longer Gojo Satoru, from here on forth I am Gogo!âÂ
You and Kento were both mindful of having her meet a whole bunch of new people at once, so you take your time between each person, or group them, so as not to overwhelm her.Â
When Shoko meets her, she sits on the couch with the baby on her lap, talking to you. âAnd she started walking at nine months? Wow. Thatâs early for a babyâŠyou may have super baby on your hands here.â
âShohkoh,â Kimiko stands on Shokoâs lap, Shoko holding her under her arms, and she bends and straightens her legs, bopping to the music as if sheâs dancing.Â
âI wouldnât mind taking her home, yâknowâ if you ever need a babysitter for a date night or something, let me know,â she smiles.Â
âThanks, Shoko, Iâll probably take you up on that soon. Weâve not gone on a date in a while,â you tell her, âbut I donât mind, itâs parenthood. Weâll find the time at some point.â
âGuggo,â Kimiko says as she steps closer, practically climbing up Shokoâs body. You both laugh, and Shoko looks from you to the baby with a questioning look, playful, as she moves her to stand on her lap again.Â
âI couldnât agree more, birthday girl. Your parents definitely need some romantic time together. And I think you and I will get up to plenty of mischief together too. But we have to keep it a secret, okay?â She tells her and Kimiko giggles and holds Shokoâs face.Â
The students had stuffed themselves with the delicious food youâd made, and you and Nanami take Kimiko to get acquainted with the three of them afterwards. They sit in a circle on the floor and Kimiko totters around.Â
âSheâs such a cute baby,â Nobara fawns. âYou have the cutest cousin, Fushiguro.â
Megumi almost laughs, the tiniest of smiles peaking through. Then Kimiko comes over to him and points at him. âDaaâŠg.â
âWhat does that mean, Nanamin?â Yuji asks.Â
Nobara facepalms. âShe means dog,â your husband explains.Â
âHow does sheâ?â Megumi is perplexed and you chuckle at the look on his face.Â
âI told her about you three. It seems the thing that stuck with her was the fact that you have animals, Megumi,â you tell him.Â
âAhâŠuh, yes, Kimiko. I have dog. And elephant. And frog. And bird. And bunny. I would love to show you, but I donât think itâs safe for me to do that yet. I will one day, though,â Megumi tells her and she reaches out and touches his hair with a little giggle. He smiles at this, and the sight warms your heart.Â
The kids are all great with her, they keep her company â under the supervision of the adults â while you and Nanami get the cake.Â
And when you sing happy birthday to her, Kimiko might just be the happiest baby on the planet sat in her high chair, seeing her parents and all of the new friends sheâd made today singing to her. She couldnât blow her candle out yet, so you and Nanami assist her.Â
Everyone cheers once the candle is blown out, and sheâs happy for a moment but then whines. âWhatâs wrong, baby?â You say to her and she kicks her legs in her high chair, whining more.Â
âI know,â your husband says, lighting the candle up again. Kimikoâs frown instantly disappears and you let out a hearty laugh.Â
She tries to blow out the candle but canât, desperately spluttering. You stealthily step behind her and blow it out for her so that she thinks she did it, while Nanami picks up the cake before she can spray more saliva onto it.Â
âThatâs enough cake decorating for you, pumpkin.â
This earns a few laughs from your guests and they settle down to eat some birthday cake. As youâre sat with Kimiko, giving her some cake and having a forkful yourself between, Nanami stands up and clears his throat, turning the volume of the music down.Â
Everyone quietens down as they look and listen to him. Nanami is not one for attention and you smile when you see the slight pink tint on his cheeks.Â
âI just wanted to say a few words. I wasâŠa little skeptical about having a party like this, but my darling wife was the one who made this happen. Thank you all for attending Kimikoâs birthday and making this day special,â he says and everyone cheers. This was the most relaxed they'd all ever seen him be.
âThank you Mr. and Mrs. Nanami!â Gojo calls.Â
âNa-na-mi! Na-na-mi!â Yuji chants and Megumi slaps him upside the head to shut him up, âHey, Fushiguro!â
Nanami turns up the music with a laugh at Yuji and Megumiâs antics, âHelp yourselves to food and cake, thereâs plenty left.â
Nanami joins you and Kimiko and sits down beside Kimiko, plate in hand. âDaddee.â
âHi, pumpkin,â he kisses her head.Â
âI liked your little speech there. Short and sweet,â you smile at him.Â
âHm. Like you,â he grins and eats a large forkful of cake.Â
âKento,â you laugh, and eat a big one yourself. He gazes at you with a playful look in his eye.Â
âYou have a littleâŠahâŠâ he leans in and thumbs away some frosting from the corner of your lips, and then sits back, sucking it off his thumb.Â
You purse your lips and cast your gaze down, keeping your composure. He knows the effect he has on you.Â
You look back up at him, and heâs gazing at you, that look in his eye.Â
Your lips curl at the corners as you look at your husband and you glance over the room until you find Shoko.Â
âShoko,â you call over to her, where she was lounging on the other end of the couch and where sheâd seen all of this unfold, âHow soon are you able to babysit?â
She laughs loudly, âWhenever. By the looks of things, I think you may need my immediate assistance?âÂ
A/N: THIS WAS SO STINKING CUTE, I hope I brought this idea to life in an enjoyable way for you anon - I LOOOOVED writing it, thank you for the request!! <3
© ashasdiary, all rights reserved. Divider by cafekitsune
#if this was a series...it would eat DOWN#i'm thinking nanami & reader have a date night & shoko babysits BUT DO THEY EVEN MAKE IT OUT THE DOOR? no! ofc not!#let me know your thots <3#ANYWAY i'm still crying this was just honestly so !!! SO!!!!#i don't think i will ever recover from this *CRIES*#papamin is so dear to me#jujutsu kaisen#jjk#nanami kento#papamin#nanami kento x reader#nanami kento fluff#nanami x reader#kento nanami#jjk nanami#nanami fluff#nanami kento x you#nanami x you#kento nanami x reader#kento nanami x you
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đ©JJK men reaction to you going on a date: part 2đȘ
--you're going on a date, but the JJK men have feelings for you...--
incl: gojo, megumi, yuji, nanami, yuta, inumaki, sukuna, choso, toji, & geto
cont: cursing, angst, fluff
part one here
a/n: sorry this took a while! I got sick and had to keep delaying it :(
gojo satoru
megumi fushiguro
yuji itadori
nanami kento
yuta okkutsu
toge inumaki
ryomen sukuna
choso kamo
toji fushiguro
suguru geto
taglist: @heyyylolha @fluttershyfangs @bau-bee @bbysnw @yunho-leeknow @sayammm @cutieforme04 @thesunxwentblack @mylooksinbooks @namjooningera @cephei-ea
(if you want added just ask!)
i have a smau series a lot like this, just instead its your reaction to them going on a date! Here's part 1: pt. 1
likes and reblogs are appreciated!
#jjk#iangeeluv#jujutsu kaisen#anime and manga#jjk smau#jjk anime#jjk text#jjk fluff#smau#series#part 2#gojo satoru#megumi fushiguro#yuji itadori#nanami kento#yuta okkotsu#inumaki toge#sukuna#ryomen sukuna#choso kamo#toji fushiguro#geto suguru#gojo x reader
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WOMAN3AT3R!
đ„đžđ©đ©đŒđčđžđ
đź đ”đȘđđŽ!fem!reader w her first victim : professor!nanami kento. warning(s): smut [18+] w little plot, intentional bimbo behaviour on ur part, unethical nanami, reader is in college, age gap (20âs & 30âs), possessed!reader duh, brief gore & cannibalistic descriptions, sir kink, grinding, eye-fucking, not proofread. wc is 2.3k
đđŽđđđ chemistry professor at your school was notorious for failing most of the students in his class. But everyone around knew heâd slip in a pass any girl cute and desperate enough to bargain with him. Disliking his unfairness, you planned to use your looks to your advantage in order to âcorrectâ his ways.
nanami kento.
Youâve been hearing that name for the past 7 minutes you entered the building of your university. Students groaned and cursed his name, some lucky others giggling at his kind treatment towards them. Well, the only thing in common among those lucky few were that they were all women. At this point, coincidence wasnât something you thought was involved anymore.
shrugging past the people crowding the damn place with ease, your eyes drifted to the signs on the top by the doors to each room, paying special attention to one specific office with nanamiâs name. Your head tilted as you peaked in through the small slit of the parted door, gaze landing on the infamous professor.
He wasnât bad looking, you noted. No, not bad looking at all. But sadly he had a bad tendency to allow passes to women willing to sleep with him, his flaw in his work ethic pissing you off. The fact that he was a man abusing his responsibilities to grade students unfairly at the cost of sex made you scowl internally with disgust.
So you decided to teach him a lessonâlike all the creepy professors you did before him.
Onto your chemistry lecture, you entered his class, choosing to sit back up the higher rows of the auditorium. Of course the choice of your seat was strategic, meant to tease him from afar, catch his interest. And as the hours passed, it became more evident how you did exactly that.
The blond man had his eyes drifting upwards to you more often than he usually would, taking any chance he could to catch a glimpse of your cleavage, tits threatening to spill out from the low cut of your shirt with how much you leaned and rested your chest on your arms.
Fuck, you had him stuttering mid lecture with how unintentionally distracted he was from the sight of the innocent smiles your flashed him when your eyes met, the way you twirled a finger around strands of your hair. He cursed you for making him lose his train of thought, brows furrowing furthering with every passing minute in aching curiosity to know who the hell you were.
when his god forsaken lecture ended, you lingered, unmoving from your seat as if you knew for a fact that he would ask you to stay for a while.
And lo and behold, your predictions came true.
âExcuse me, miss. Would you mind if I had a small chat with you for a moment?â His smooth yet deep voice called out to you, his tone levelled but hinted with a hint of stoicism that would leave anyone wondering with anticipation.
You couldnât help but chuckle quietly at the way he tilted his head up to look at you, eyes scrutinising you shamelessly now that everyone else was gone. Fucking pervert.
âYes, sir,â you purred in response, lips curling to a knowing smile. You revelled in the way the professorâs nose twitched, scrunching up for a mere moment at the way you addressed him.
Sir.
It wasnât anything special, nothing new to him. But the way it rolled of your tongue so naturally, so sultry, made his cock jerk ever so subtly in his pants.
Your brow quirked when noticed his reaction, exhaling a sigh as you got up from your seat, not bothering to grab your things with you on your way down. Nanami went back to his desk, taking a seat and gesturing a hand to have her take a seat across him. But of course, you denied his offer, opting for a closer seat.
âWhatâs your name? Iâve never seen you in my classes before.â
You answered with your name while grabbing a chair to sit beside him, eyes never leaving his in the process. âWhy? Am I in trouble, sir?â You taunted, leaning forward in your seat to give him a better view of your plump breasts, the angle letting him have a glimpse of them under your shirt.
No bra, the aroused professor noticed, averting his gaze quickly after to avoid suspicion.
âNo, not at all. Iâm just curious as to why youâve decided to join my classes now of all times. Why not just skip for the entire year, yeah?â Nanami responded, sharp eyes assessing you with frightening attention. He brought his arms up to his chest, folding them tightly enough to flex the muscles underneath his clothes.
âWell.. Iâve heard youâre known for being.. resilient with the marks you give to selected students..â you began, trailing off with a meek smile, cheeks heating up on command to sell the dumb little girl act. âAnd Iâve been struggling with this subject specifically lately.. I just thought youâd be able to help me,â you pleaded shyly, voice growing fainter as you neared the end of your sentence.
Nanami on the other hand squeezed a hand on his bicep tight, hips shifting slightly in discomfort at the growing erection he had. As if he wasnât turned on enough, your timidness mixed along with your lewdness had his cock pulsating against the restrictions of his pants. How he wanted to get him hands on you right then and there, laying you on his desk and burying himself deep into your wet heat.
But he held back, not wanting to scare off what seemed to was a poor girl trying to manage her grades.
âThen.. you know what you have to do right? Iâm sure youâve heard from.. the others,â he questioned, tilting his head slightly as he met your eyes for a moment, making sure you knew what you were getting yourself into.
Staying in character, you nodded at him, thighs rubbing against one another impatiently. Quickly after, nanami laid back into his desk chair, arms unfolding and resting on the armrests with his eyes fixated on your still. It was like he was instructing you through his gaze alone, and even you couldnât deny the allure this man had despite his wrongs.
You got up from your seat and took patient steps close to him, climbing onto his lap to straddle him. His hands made their way to your hips almost immediately after you settled on him, spreading your legs wide and nestling your clothed pussy right onto his hard on.
The blond professor had his eyes undressing you, not making any effort to strip you despite himself. He wanted to see how youâd go on about pleasure, using his body to get yourself off. He wanted to know what you preferred. Though he was as unfair as he was, he was always attentive to his chosen girls, making sure they enjoyed their time just as much as he was. For him, pleasure goes both ways. And seeing his partner in ecstasy because of him was his mission in these affairs he would have.
âGo ahead. Hump, grind, jerk me off if you please,â he urged coolly, stern gaze glazed with desire. His hand squeezed your hips assuringly, coaxing your compliance. And being a good student you were, you obliged, beginning to rock your hips into him, feeling up the ridge of pants.
âMmhm.. yes, sir,â you breathed, lashes fluttering with your gaze fixated on the space between your bodies where your hips met his, skirt hiking up with the help of your hand to expose your damp pussy sliding back and forth on his clothed cock.
Your eyes began alternating between nanamiâs pulsating cock beneath you and his face, taking in the sight of the ever so strict professor melting in your hands. Just now, maybe, did you finally understand a bit the girls that kept coming back to him even after he passed their grades. His flushed face and parted lips made you feel in control, even though you knew he was the one that truly held the reins.
Soft growls left his throat from the foreplay, thighs tensing under yours at your grinding. You could feel your slick escape the fabric of your panties, staining his black trousers.
The subtle jumps of his dick made you curious, persuading you to quicken the pace and travel a hand down to his fly, unzipping his pants and tugging it down along with his boxers to release his heavy cock. It sprung out with the tip an angry shade of red, drooling precum with its pulsating tip. You cooed at the sight, wrapping a hand around it.
Your started off with slow, long strokes, earning hitched groans from the manâs throat. You repeated the act, twisting and squeezing his thick girth just enough to coax more of his clear fluids until it dripped down to touch your hand. Your thumb rubbed over the head, gathering and smearing the pre all over his inflamed flesh.
âEnough of this, girl. Do what you came here to do,â nanami grunted, gravelly voice letting out a subtle growl right after. His fingers had been clawing on the flesh of your hips impatiently every since you took his cock in your hand, hips subtly shifting to thrust up into your smaller palm.
âGetting needy?â you teased with a sly grin, chuckling at his response; a hoarse fuck you.
With a soft sigh, you lifted yourself up from his thighs, obliging to his rough pleading. You positioned yourself so you were hovering right above his dick, his dull nails digging insistently into your skin barely restraining himself from just slamming you down onto his weeping length. He could do it easily, burying himself deep into you impatiently with an easy snap of your panties.
But he held back. Nanami continued to watch, your dominant hand moving down between your thighs to pull aside your lacy panties, fingers grazing the wet tip of his cock unintentionally, making him shudder. The damp fabric you tugged on exposed a glimpse of the wet pussy he was about to sink himself into, the sight making his loin heat up in a knot.
âFuck, your so wet for me, darling. Whatâs that about me being needy again, hm?â Nanamiâs eyes darting from your tantalising cunt to your face, quirking a challenging brow.
âI donât know what youâre talking about,â you uttered with faux innocence, spreading your legs wider before lowering yourself on him, rubbing your glistening folds against his sensitive flesh. That shut him up quickly, for just a bit though. Because right after, his features slowly contorted in pleasure, deep moans leaving his throat along with low rumbles in his chest when you began sinking yourself down his shaft, your wet heat fluttering around him with every inch you took.
Nanami huffed, gasping a few short breaths before uttering a forced, âYes, you do, princess. Youâd know every-fucking-thing about being needy, wouldnât you?â
You merely exhaled a heavy breath with half-hearted laughs in between, his hands guiding and helping you bounce on his heavy dick, fingers tucked under your shirt as his own hips rolled upwards to meet yours. Nothing but pants and groans filled the spacious hall, echoes of the professorâs eager moans bouncing off the walls along with your own whines.
You couldnât help but lose your composure all the while fucking him, your motive lost in your hazy mind now that his blunt tip was abusing that one sweet spot of yours that other men had barely even reachedâlet alone discovered.
The filthy words of encouragement slipping past your oh-so-prim and proper professor rent surges of arousal throughout your body in shocks you didnât even know were possible, your vision disturbed by the unshed tears pooling in your eyes.
Even with your entire body melting on his lap right now, the thought of devouring him whole never slipped past your mind, though it almost did. Fluttering your lashes to keep then open, you gazed at the blond man in front of you with his face flushed a deep shade of red, hips rutting up into you to chase his inevitable orgasm, and yours.
How could you possibly resist the inhumane urge in yourself that gnawed at you, whispered the most gruesome ways you could have him to yourself. Sinking your teeth into his bobbing throat, marking him so deeply that heâd question your true intentions, making him wonder if he was fucking a pitiful student or a serial killer. The mere thought brought you to the edge of ecstasy, pussy sucking his cock deeper into your depths while he dragged your body up and down on his aching dick like a fleshlight.
âFor fuckâs sakeâ whyâre you so impossibly tight,â the heaving man gritted, veins on his neck bulging till they reached his clenched jaw, jerking into you now that he could feel his balls begin to tighten. He was so close too soon. He wanted to try holding back but you were taking him so good he couldnât even slow down, your lewd moans and squelches of your sopping cunt urging him to continue.
Before you could muster the energy to compose yourself to answer, one last snap of his hips had his cock spewing hot ropes of cum, the warmth of the thick fluid invading your pussy startling you. But it also brought on your own climax, your walls spasming around him uncontrollably all the while your juices spilled around his pulsating length.
You collapsed onto his larger body with ease, his raising chest welcoming you nicely. The professor basked in the afterglow of your shared climax, his arms wrapped around your quivering body in an effort to soothe you and himself.
Your breathes began to even out, regaining your composure after a moments of rest. He calmed down just as well, his chest no longer heaving. You took the opportunity to lift your head up from his chest, leaning in to his shoulder instead, turning to leave sloppy kisses on the side of his neck until you reached his ear.
âMaybe we should meet up again tonight, hm? Continue this little.. rendezvous,â you whispered sweetly against the shell of his ear, blowing a soft breath to tickle him a bit.
âWhat do you say, handsome?â You coaxed, lips curling to a devious smile with your eyes gleaming with levelled murderous intent. You knew just the place to have your nightly meal with him. Obviously, he was main course.
Figuratively. And literally.
#finished it cs abby begged#nanami kento x reader#nanami smut#nanami kento smut#nanami x reader#nanami x reader smut#jjk x reader#jjk smut#jjk x reader smut#jujutsu kaisen smut#jjk nanami#nanami kento#Jujutsu kaisen x reader smut#Should i make a series of this?
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a tribute to celebrate the finale of the manga that has meant so much to me these past few years
#my art#jujutsu kaisen#jjk#jjk fanart#yuji itadori#gojo satoru#fushiguro megumi#nobara kugisaki#nanami kento#ryomen sukuna#toji fushiguro#jjk spoilers#jjk manga spoilers#jjk 271#i would tag everyone but ik the most frequented tags in this fandom smh ghsdhfgdfjs#THSI KILLED ME#3 DAYS#IM DEAD DECEASED IN THE GROUND#i knew the minute i drafted the sketch that i would hate myself for it and yeah i was right#but honestly it was worth it it was worth every single hour#i got . lowkey highkey emotional wrapping this up bc like. what a RIDE it's been#ive grown so much since starting drawing fr this series i owe it a lot im so grateful to the things its taught me abt how i like to create#im so grateful fr the people its let me meet#ik it's not over-over and ill be around while the anime catches up but still something abt the manga ending#i'm sentimental u kno?#so i hope that i was able to convey those feelings#to jjk and to every1 who has engaged with my art for it: thank u <3
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gojo satoru x reader | college au [18+]
kickoff ch.9 words you've been wanting to hear
á° pairing. college au - soccer player! gojo x film major! reader
á° summary. gojo satoru is the most popular guy on your college campus. he's tall, funny, hot, not to mention he's the most talented soccer forward the school has seen in years. but he's also a frat dude, which puts him in a world very different from your own, as he spends most of his nights partying & drinking while you spend most of yours working on your annoying film major assignments. but when he reaches out to you for a favor, you realize that helping him out might have something in it for you too.
á° warnings/tags. 18+, fem reader, fluff, angst, smut, college au, fraternities, sororities, partying, drinking/alcohol, romance, jealousy, pining, slow burn, opposites to lovers, friends to lovers, she falls first he falls harder, gojo being an idiot, marijuana use, sexism, sexual harassment (verbal only)
á° chapter. 9/x (probably 12)
á° words. 15.6k (WHY DO THEY KEEP GETTING LONGER)
a/n. HELLO MY DEAR KICKOFF READERS IVE MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH i am soooo sorry for the wait on this one. this chapter felt very vulnerable to write for some reason lmfao, but i really hope it was worth the wait :''') see you at the bottom!! if there are typos or some things don't make sense i'm so sorry i literally gave up on proofreading this i just ended up raw-doggin it and then posting it
nav. masterlist
âŸÂ·Ì©Íêł moodboard no.1
âŹ.*ïŸplaylist
an additional author's note. hellooo ellie here. there are some additional warnings/tags for this chapter, i added them to the tags above, so if you know you have any sort of triggers, please refer to them before reading! but if you don't have any and don't want to be spoiled ab anything then you can keep reading lol. thank youu <33
--
The restaurant address that Kai sent you was just a ten minute taxi ride away, save for the five minutes you spent trying to evasively maneuver through the hotel lobby in order to avoid running into people youâre not too keen on seeing right now, a list that stacks up to just one person at this moment.
Itâs a Korean barbecue place, itâs been ages since youâve been to one, probably since theyâre way too expensive for any sort of outing you could afford these days, but the crisp sizzling sounds of the grills and the savory air has your mouth watering in a way that makes you indifferent to the cost. Anything to get this churning feeling out of your stomach.Â
Itâs instantly brought to your attention that Hanaâs tipsy off of Soju because sheâs slid out of the booth the second you emerge to the tablestide, and sheâs onto her feet to pull you into a hug. You hug her back.
âIâm ssssoooooooo glad youâreâhicâhere,â she says, voice sounding loud near your ear, but her embrace is surprisingly calming to you.
Her face appears flushed when you pull away, and you give her a smile and a kind hold of her elbow. âIâm happy to be here, sorry for coming late, I just decided I wanted to have dinner with you all.â
Minato is pulling on Hanaâs arm to get her to sit down, which she finally agrees to, and you glance to the left side of the table where Kai sat, meticulously turning over pieces of meat on the grill. His eyes are on you, and the seat next to him is empty.
âYou look nice,â he says, eyes falling to your lap under the table once youâve taken a seat next to him.
Your eyes fall to your lap as well. âOh. Thanks. I wasnât really trying to look any sort of way, though.â Just faded jeans with a few rips & holes you made yourself, way back in high school when that sort of thing was trendy.
âI know,â he says, smirk heard perfectly through his words, âI like that.â
You ignore him, a fleeting thought passing through your head of how annoyingly forward men are to women theyâve met within a day, just something youâve noticed recently, and then youâre accepting the glass of Soju that Minatoâs poured for you. Quick to tip it back, you feel a burn on your tongue thatâs just enough to distract.
âTodayâs game was pretty interesting,â Minato speaks up, picking up a few pieces off the grill with his chop sticks and placing them on Hanaâs plate first before taking some for himself. You find the gesture sweet. âThe first half was intense.â
Hana nods enthusiastically, elbows rested on the tabletop as she waves her hands around in the air. âUh huh, uh huh, the boys kicked the ball like whoosh. Goes all over the place! Canât get aâhicâcanât get a single shot. No, I mean me, I canât get a camera shot. Not them, they can get the shots of goals. The goals of shots? Huh.â
âAlright, youâve had enough,â Minato grumbles as he drags the glass of Soju that she was nursing away from her.Â
Kai lets out a laugh beside you, his knee bumping against yours under the table. âIâve watched so many of these soccer games for this job, and Iâve still got no damn clue what the rules are.â
You blink down at your empty plate for a second before grabbing the silver chopsticks laid neatly on your napkin, and taking some food from the center of the table. âReally? Iâve only been to a couple, and I feel like I get the gist of it.â Maybe itâs because you had a personal interest, though.
Kai lets out a low whistle next to you. âOkay, youâre a smartass then.â
You give him a sidewards glance. âMaybe youâre just dumb?âÂ
Your own words startle you a bit. Minato lets a laugh out, but under his breath, while Hana does absolutely nothing to conceal hers. Kaiâs eyes just widen. You bite down on a carrot stick.
âHey, hey, hey, y/n,â Hana chirps, tapping at your wrist, âdo you know any of the soccer players? Utahime said you doooo.â
You swallow slowly to buy yourself time, but give a preliminary shake of your head before answering, âno, not really.â You catch a whiff of the cologne on your wrist when you lift your glass to your lips.
âOh,â she sulks her shoulders and then sinks down into the booth again, her head falling onto Minatoâs shoulder. The man stiffens a bit and then thereâs a content smile playing at his lips. A hint of a smile develops on your face too at the sight when you put two and two together. What an adorable little crush. It makes you feel sick.
Kai pours you some more Soju the second you drink down the last of it in your glass, and you nod to him as a thanks. âPretty sure most of my photos from the first half are fucked,â he says, dragging the opening of the bottle against the rim of your glass before pulling it away, âdidnât realize until way later that my aperture was way off.â
You bring the glass to your lips, inhaling before taking a sip. Youâre about to speak up about that when Minato beats you to it.
âAre you serious?â he asks, disappointed, like theyâre suddenly talking business now. âI better see some good shots. Your side was where most of the action took place. Like that through-pass, tight behind the defensive line, from Nanami Kento to Gojo Satoru before he sunk it a couple mins before the half ended.â
You choke a little on your Soju at the mention of Gojoâs name, and then all three of them are looking at you. You wave a hand in front of your face. âSorry.âÂ
Kai grumbles something under his breath and then stuffs a piece of pork belly into his mouth. âYeah, whatever, man. Iâm pretty sure I got some good ones. Donât worry.â
Dinner goes on like that, where you count the number of times Kai thinks that someone saying something funny across the table is an excuse to press his thigh against yours, but at least the cute way that Hana and Minato seem to inch closer to one another all night is enough to put you at some sort of bitter ease. But that unsettling feeling in your stomach from a couple of hours ago still lingers.
The four of you stand outside the restaurant, heels rocking back and forth in the cold as you all take up the last chance to debrief the day, and then Minatoâs glancing at his watch.
âAlright, itâs probably time to head back. We can all share a ride to the hotel, itâs cheaper that way,â Minato says. Hanaâs clinging to his sleeve.
âOh, uh, I was going to stay here. Thereâs a cool camera shop around the corner. I was gonna check it out,â Kai says, pointing over his shoulder before glancing at you. âWanna come? I saw theyâve got used film cameras.â
You twiddle with the hotel key card in your pocket. Itâs cheap plastic, could break easily with just the right amount of pressure. Like your resolve right now. âSure.â
He smiles at you.
âAlright, well I need to get this one back to her room,â Minato says with a sigh, pointing to Hana, âso Iâll see you all at the next game?â
You and Kai nod at him and then watch as he walks away with Hana on his arm towards the curb, pulling his phone out to call for a ride.
âWhereâs this camera shop at?â you ask Kai once the silence between the two of you stretches out a little too long.Â
âIt really is just around the corner,â he says, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He starts walking down the row of miscellaneous shops and establishments under dim street lighting, and you follow after him before the two of you circle to the adjacent end. A tiny shop in the distance catches your eye. The LED sign above the storefront was blinking sporadically, and read 17th St Camera & Rentals, except half the letters were extinct of any light. Next to it was a 24/7 liquor store.
Itâs only when you walk right up to it that you realize the sign dangling behind the glass door that says closed.
âOh. Bummer,â Kai comments in a flat tone. âI swear it was open before I got to the restaurant.â
You sigh, pulling your phone out to glance at the time. âYeah, at 8pm? Itâs past 10 now.â
He looks at you and taps the camera case still hung at his neck. âThatâs fine. Iâve still got a camera to show you, anyways.â
You blink your eyes at him, suddenly feeling a bit exhausted and then glance over your shoulder at the curb of the street to see if Minato & Hana were still there waiting for a ride. You donât see them anymore.Â
A distraction. Wasnât that what you wanted?
âYeah, show me.â
Kai seems to know the area better than you, since he walks down the haphazardly lain sheets of concrete across the ground with more confidence than a tourist would. The thought occurs to you that maybe the newsletter photographers have eaten here before during their time in Kyoto.
âWhat made you start working with the newsletter?â you ask, glancing at him as the two of you walk down further, into what seems like a neighborhood.
He shrugs. âFirst job I could find out of college. I had a lot of freelance experience, so Iâm assuming thatâs why they hired me.â He nudges your arm with his elbow. âWhat about you?â
âIâve known Utahime for a while. She was impressed with my work.â
âAhh, connections,â he muses, âsmart. Thatâll get you far as an artist.â
He suddenly stops walking and peers off to the right, into a darkness that you canât really make anything out of until youâve spent a few seconds staring too. He walks in that direction, the loud echoing stomps of his boots on concrete no longer audible once he crosses the threshold onto grass, and you follow behind to what seems like a deserted childrenâs park. You wish there were more trees in the city. There are a lot here in the countryside, and it makes you homesick for something youâre not even sure of.
A gust of wind brushes through, rattling the set of swings hung on rusty chains. The wood chips underneath your feet feel stale, with no snap to them at all as you follow Kai through the playhouses set up in connected fashion. There are two picnic benches, one looks like itâs been freshly painted with faux effort to improve its image in the line of sight of the street, while the other has red paint peeled back to reveal bronze underneath the moonlight, neglected and tucked behind a few trees. The latter is what he chooses.
He slides into the bench, and he shakes his head when he sees you try to take a seat on the other side before patting at the seat beside him. âItâd be easier for you to take a look at my side.â
He has a point, so you sit next to him instead. Although at this point in the night, you were feigning interest. He zips his camera bag open and you take a better look at the lens. Thereâs no way it was as cheap as he told you it was.
âThereâs no way this was as cheap as you told me it was,â you say.
He laughs, pulling the camera out and handing it to you. âYeah, maybe the guy cut me a deal since Iâve bought from him before.â
Youâre smart enough to put the strap around your neck, even though youâre only holding it a few inches above the table, because a camera like this deserves the care and respect. The material is minimalist and sleek, and itâs heavy in your hands. You click the shutter button, screen coming to life with a few mechanic chirps. âWoah. Is it LCD or OLED?â
âLCD.â
âThatâs nice,â you say, âpaying for the OLED just seems silly to me.â
âI concur, Canon. Color accuracy is king.â
He shuffles to pull something out of his pocket while you continue to inspect the camera in your hands, and you see him fidget with said thing over the table in the corner of your eye. The flick of something and the light of something makes you turn your head to face him, and heâs pinching the end of a joint to his mouth, lighting the other end.
He gives you a glance when you stare for too long, inhaling from it before pulling it from his mouth. âWhat?â You can see the smoke leave his mouth in the chill of the air.
âIs that why you chose the secluded bench?â
âI did? Didnât even notice.â
You blink at him, and he places his elbow on the table to lean closer to you.Â
âDo you mind it?â he asks.
âNo, not really.â
âWanna smoke with me?â Two fingers pinching the origin of smoke tilt towards you. âThis is my good weed, though, so, I charge by the drag.â
âThatâs ridiculous, and no thanks. It doesnât suit me.â
He lets out a laugh, releasing whatever tension he was building in your space, and the smell of weed is nauseating, but at least it's a new sensation to you.
âYouâve gotta be the only film major on the planet that doesnât smoke weed. How do you manage?â he asks, the orange flicker of his joint being the only color you can distinctly see under the similarly flickering street lights.Â
Your finger traces the rim of the camera lens and is careful to not smudge the glass. âI think I manage just fine.â
âYeah. With delusion,â he says, coughing, scattering smoke into the air this time instead of a clean blow.
You turn a bit in your seat to face him more, placing the camera down. âYouâre extremely blunt.â
His eyebrow raises in amusement and you close your eyes with annoyance at the pun. You brush it off.
âI mean, seriously, I get youâre probably just looking out for me, I guess. I appreciate that. But do you really think my dreams of becoming a filmmaker are that far-fetched?â you ask. Thereâs a crack to your voice at the end that you didnât like.
He sighs, setting his wrist down on the table. Thereâs a long pause where he thinks about what to say. Probably the most youâve seen him consider what words leave his mouth next. âI was in the same shoes as you, y/n. A couple years ago. I, too, had big dreams of making movies. I was going to apply to film grad school as well, although youâre shooting higher than I was at the time. Thereâs no way I wouldâve gotten into UTokyoâs.â He tilts his head to the side a few times while looking straight off ahead. âI sent scripts in everywhere. To every fucking production company, creative agency, you name it. Never got a callback, not even once. While all my fellow grads were landing decent, respectable jobs.â He brings the joint to his mouth again, but he doesnât inhale, just bitterly bites it. âI couldâve went on like that, but,â his brow furrows, âIâve seen my peers torture themselves for years for those dreams of theirs. I swore I wouldnât be one of them. Because theyâre all delusional fucks.â He finally glances at you. âAre you one, too?â
Your shoulders drop a little and your lips purse. âI donât know yet. Itâs too early to say.âÂ
âItâs never too early to say, if the outcome is all the same,â he tells you.Â
You consider his words for a moment. Itâs the easy way out. You should consider yourself lucky. Everyone wants a reason, a sign, to turn away from the one thing theyâre scared to think about. And here he was, giving that to you on a silver platter.
But if what you wanted was really all that fragile, then it means thereâs nothing to show for any of it. For all the effort it took you to get here, and all the effort youâre still willing to give.Â
âIâll keep going until I fail,â you say, âor until I succeed.â Itâs not really something you say for him, but for yourself.
He juts his bottom lip out and raises his eyebrows, slowly nodding his head, like heâs impressed by you. But his posture remains lax. âI mean, youâre working this job. Youâve got some sort of plan, at least. Itâs not like Iâm your parent to tell you what to do and what not to do.â He finally takes another drag, eyebrows pinching together at the same time his fingers pinch close to the burn of his joint to pull it away. âWhatâs that one saying? You can take a horse to the water, but you canât make it drink.â
âWow. You donât sound a day older than sixty-five.â
He smirks at you. âYouâve got a lot of attitude, Canon. Where does it come from?â
You sink a little in your seat, turning away from him to look down at your hands that were still messing with the features of his camera. âMy annoying feelings lately.â
âFeelings about what?â
You consider telling the truth. But you donât. âMy car is in repair and Iâm not sure I can afford to pay for the bill, since things keep coming up with it.â It was the thing at the top of your mind at the moment though, for some reason, so partially truthful.
He laughs. âYeah, cars have a way of doing that when youâre finally getting caught up on bills.â
âAt what point does spontaneously picking up random, obscure jobs go from omg Iâm so excited to have this opportunity to I just need the money?â you ask.
âYou mean youâre not already at that point yet?â he says with a scoff. âSoon, then.â
You sigh.
âYâknow I used to work at this lousy cinema a few miles away from Central,â he tells you, hand tapping the table with a rhythm that makes no sense. âBusted my ass working minimum wage on night shifts because I thought Iâd catch a big break in conversation with a director, as if Martin Fucking Scorcese would choose to host his opening night at a random Edwards in Tokyo.â His tapping on the table stops. âTell me that isnât pathetic as hell.â
âThatâs pathetic as hell.â
âThe things youâll do for money,â he says with a sigh. He sounds detached, like itâs really just a message for you.
You lick your lips, skin feeling dry from the wind that occasionally brushes by, and when you glance at Kai again, thereâs a grit to his jaw.
âShouldâve been born as one of those damn college athletes,â he grumbles, sucking in fast through the joint that was close to withering away. âThose fuckers donât pay tuition.â
The harsh colors of the soccer teamâs color-coded practice schedule on your phone are visible when you blink, as well as the exhaustion under Gojoâs eyes in the warm lighting of the hotel lobby earlier tonight. âThey work hard.â
He looks at you. âI work hard, too.â
Your shoulders tense. âIâm sure.â
âYou work hard as well.â Just to include you.
âYeah.â
âI mean, you canât tell me that itâs fair.â
Your mind wanders to some of the people youâve met on that team, who have been nice to you. You think of Gojo, and the memory of him makes you wish you were with him right now. Despite everything.
âI guess itâs not fair,â is all you say, a tactic to diffuse the conversation, one that youâve had to use twice with him today. The sound of the swing chains clinking together from the wind in the distance runs a chill down your spine.
You feel heavy in your chest, and you glance at the joint pinched in between Kaiâs fingers. Heâs not keeping an eye on it, so itâs easy to steal, and you bring it to your lips before sucking in. You instantly let out a few coughs. Heâs looking at you with surprise. And youâre still in desperate need of that distraction youâve been craving.
âHow long does it take for it to kick in?â you ask, coughing again and pressing a hand to your chest.
âSuper long when you can barely stomach a single drag.â
You try again. He watches you. You swear you feel a buzz this time, and you hand the joint back to him. You feel like youâre having an out-of-body experience.
âHow are you feeling?â he asks.
âGood,â you tell him, âreally good.â
âThatâs gotta be placebo, Canon.â
âNo, really,â you sigh it. Even if it was, maybe your mind was just blessing you with a single moment of reprieve. âI feelâŠreally good,â you say with your head in a haze. âBest IâveâŠâ you donât know why you have to blink back tears, âbest Iâve felt this whole week.â
Kaiâs silent next to you. You look over at him, and heâs got a scrutinizing expression on his face. His eyes are glazed. âYou seeing anyone right now, Canon?â
Itâs the savory question you know has been on the tip of his tongue. Ignorantly asked, as if you wouldâve been sitting here with him right now in the dead of night if the answer was yes.Â
âNo.â
Heâs leaning towards you, and youâre dazed and also sleepy. His face is close now, thereâs an urge to giggle, which means thereâs no way this is all just placebo, and when his lips dip towards yours, youâre conscious enough to push him away by a weakly fisted hand pressed to his collarbone.
âOh. I. Um,â you stutter.
âWhat?â he asks, eyebrow raised, still close to you.
âNo. No thanks.â Because it felt wrong.Â
He fully pulls away from you, and runs a hand through his hair, a deep sigh leaving him. âAlright.â
Youâre breathing faster now, surroundings feeling vague, like youâre in sweltering heat but the air only bites cold.
You stand up suddenly. âIâŠI want to go back.â
âGo back where?â
âTo the hotel. To my room.â You pause. âI mean, by myself. Not with you. We can share a ride, though.â
He stands up too, hands reaching for you, gripping the straps of his camera still hung around your neck and he pulls it off to place it back into the case. You feel like youâve lost favor with him somehow. âOkay. Sure.âÂ
âBut not with you.â You felt the need to clarify again.
âI get it, Canon. Itâs fine.â
â
âMaybe you just need to fuck him aggressively without mercy.â
âI beg your finest pardon?â
Youâre sitting in a booth inside this streetside KFC with Mina sitting across the table, waving a fry around in the air, and with Nobara next to you as she tries to open a packet of ketchup with her teeth. The hangout the three of you have been hyping up all week, just to be sat in the same place you always go to. You were about to take a bite out of your sandwich, but you set it back down on your tray.
Mina points the fry at you and shrugs. âIâm saying. Maybe youâre having such a hard time getting over Gojo because you got so close to fucking him in that bathroom, but you didnât, and now youâre in, like, this constant state of edging.â She bites down on the fry. âThe clit knows what the heart doesnât.â
âYour theories never fail to amaze me,â you mumble, sinking further into the booth.Â
âPerhaps itâll take the edge off.â Mina sucks through the straw of her Diet coke. Nobara finally succeeds in opening her packet of ketchup.
âI doubt it. Besides, I technically already gave him an invitation to,â you say, fingers rubbing at your eye with a swipe as you wince from the memory, âand he rejected me, so, still swimming in the self hatred from that one.â
Mina hums. âThereâs no way heâs not foaming at the mouth for it, y/n. Men never let a meal they were craving go unfinished,â she states, dramatically stabbing a chicken nugget with a fork.
âWhat kind of pigs do you guys associate yourselves with?â Nobara asks. Sheâs a lesbian, by the way.
âI raise another question. Why are we talking about this in a public restaurant?â you offer.
âListen, babes,â Mina continues, like your words fall on deaf ears because sheâs got some point to make, âitâll either poof. Make your feelings go away like the drop of a hat because you find out heâs a bad lay. Or itâll be so good that you realize youâre never getting over him and youâll be thinking of his dick instead of your husbandâs on your wedding night.â
âWeâre. In. A. Public. Restaurant.â
Mina steals a biscuit from your tray. âIf it ends up being the first outcome, then the whole thing was my idea. If itâs the secondâŠthen just know that Nobara has steered you wrong.â
âWhy the hell do you have to drag me into this?â Nobara asks.
Youâre about to take a bite from your sandwich again when youâre interrupted by the buzzing of your phone in your purse. You pull it out and glance at the caller ID, then let out a sigh.
âSorry, I have to take this,â you mumble, slipping out of the booth and towards the restaurantâs exit, pushing the tense door open with a gust of fresh air brushed through you.
âHello?â Itâs the car repair man. âReally? I thought you said it was fixed.â Apparently something else came up. âOkayâŠhow much longer will it be in repair?â Much longer than you had thought. âAnd how much will it cost?â Much more expensive than you had thought. âI donât know what to say. I mean, really, I feel as though every time Iâm on the line with you all, I have to wait longer to get my car back, and the bill just racks up higher.â Theyâre trying their best. âI know. Is it necessary to fix in order to drive, though?â State laws require it. âOkayâŠthanks for the update.â And then you hang up without another word, and with all the frustration in the world.
You head back inside and grumble about your car woes to Mina and Nobara, who try their best to respond with interest.
âWhy canât your insurance cover it?â Mina asks.
âApparently they canât claim itâs because of those rocks I drove over,â you sigh, âsince it looks like itâs been a problem for longer than that.â
âCan you afford it?â Nobara asks.
âNot really,â you say. âIâll just have to postpone having my car for a bit.â
You sigh with a glance out the window of this fine dining establishment, into the blue skies just beyond, head drowning out the voices of Mina and Nobara as they continue to grill you about all sorts of questions that you donât have the energy to answer right now. You had another student loan payment to make once you got home today, and just the thought of it makes your heart drop a little. And you realize you just canât afford to be picky about your financial situation anymore.
â
âThanks for helping me out with this,â you say, footsteps over familiar grassy hills as you head towards the UTokyoâs practice field, your digital Canon EOS hanging from your neck.Â
âSure,â Kai says as he keeps pace next to you, âwhy the sudden mission, though?â
Youâre gazing off straight ahead, a nervous pit in your stomach since itâs been a while since youâve walked across this landscape towards the field.Â
âI just feel like I need to diversify my income somehow,â you sigh, the buzzwords leaving a bitter taste in your mouth as you say them but it was the reality of your situation, âto make ends meet. When you mentioned freelance work during our conversation last week, it made me think itâs time for me to pick that up too.â
Kai hums. âYeah, itâs a good plan. Iâll try to show you what I know.â
Once youâve made it to the top of that hill, the one that oversees the field, your eyes instantly scan the field for familiar silhouettes, and your breath catches in your throat when you spot Gojo passively kicking a ball back and forth between one of his teammates for warm-ups.
Itâs the second time youâve seen him since that argument the two of you had in the hotel lobby, the first being at the post-game conference in which you did everything in your power to swiftly avoid him, and you plan on keeping that up. Thereâs also an urge to run away, but youâre starting to realize thatâs not much of an option anymore.
âHonestly, you donât really need to worry too much about shutter speed with freelance like you do for shooting sports,â Kai is mumbling next to you as he messes with the settings on his camera, the two of you making your way down the hill towards the field, and youâre not really listening because your eyes are on Gojo, whoâs yelling something across the field to his teammates with a look of concentration on his face.
âUh huh, I see,â you say. You see Kai glance at you in his periphery.
âYou again!â you hear a familiar harsh voice call out, and you turn on your heel to face Coach Yaga whoâs standing a few feet away in his custom UTokyo tracksuit with his arms crossed against his chest. âWhy are you on my field?â
You hold your breath for a second. âHi, Coach Yaga, so sorry, but Iâm just here to take some more photos.â
He lets out one of his hmphs, unrelenting. âYouâre a distraction. Get off my field.â
âD-Distraction?â
âCoach!â Suddenly, Getoâs in your line of sight as he emerges with a light jog up to your side. âYou should really be nicer to our photographers, they give us a lot of publicity for our games. And publicity means funding.â
Coach Yaga narrows his eyes. âI need all my players focused right now. Even during practice.â He gives you a disapproving glance and youâre still confused, but also weirdly angered.
âExcuse me, Coach Yaga, but last time I checked, this field is technically open for all students. And Iâm a student,â you say to him, crossing your arms across your chest now. âSo, I can be here if I want.â
You have no idea if thatâs true at all, but sometimes youâve just gotta fake it âtil you make it.
Coach Yaga grumbles something and then waves his hands in the air. âFine! Iâve no bandwidth to argue about this anymore! Just donât distract my players.â
Youâre shocked that it worked, and Geto nudges you with an elbow to correct your expression so that Coach Yaga doesnât catch on to the bullshit you just spewed.Â
âAre you here to take some photos?â Geto asks, facing you. Heâs got his hands on his hips, breathing slightly fast, some of his hair falling onto his forehead.Â
âYeah, I am, just for practice though. Iâm here withââ you glance at Kai, whoâs standing with his fists shoved into his pockets, âKai. Heâs also with the newsletter.â
Thereâs a moment where Geto studies the two of you for a second before speaking. âI know,â he says, extending his hand out for Kai to shake, which he does, âI think Iâve seen you around. Not sure if weâve formally met, but itâs nice to meet you.â
âYeah, likewise.â Kaiâs hand is then shoved back into his pocket.
You feel awkward suddenly, and then quickly say something to Geto about how he should probably get back to practice, which he agrees to, and then youâre standing at the chalk sideline with Kai as he shows you the ins and outs about digital photography.
âHave you tried shooting in burst mode?â he asks, switching the feature on your camera and then handing it back to you. You sling the strap around your neck.
âHmâŠâ you start, pointing your camera across the expanse of the field to multiple areas. The trees off into the distance, the goal posts, Coach Yagaâs yapping Pomeranian. âNot reallyâŠâ The grass beneath your feet, the sky above your head, and then blurrily focused before settling on Gojo who stood in the distance straight ahead.
You see through your viewfinder that heâs caught sight of you too, a look of surprise on his face seen only by the level of zoom, and you glance up from the screen to make eye contact with him in reality. Heâs fully staring at you, and you can barely see the way his expression relaxes from that one of athletic concentration to something wistful and strange that youâve had a hard time reading lately.
âCanon? Are you even listening?â
âHuh?â you snap out of it and look at Kai. âSorry. Could you repeat that?â You quickly glance toward Gojo again, and his line of sight points towards Kai now.
âI was asking if youâve tried panning before,â he says, reaching for your camera, pulling it towards him, but the strap around your neck means youâre pulled closer to him too.Â
âSatoru!â Coach Yaga yells in the distance. âEyes on the ball!âÂ
âJust got to set your camera to manual mode first,â Kai mutters, confusion in his voice. âWhere the fuck is it?â Heâs turning your camera in his hands, which only has you stumbling with another small step towards him, your chest pressed flush to his arm, and he looks down at you for a brief second with a smirk on his face.
You hear the sound of a ball being kicked on the field, followed by the shout of one of the players.
âAh, here, found it,â Kai says, handing your camera back to you, and just as youâre about to say thanks and you hold your camera up, youâre hit straight in the face by a flying object and fall backwards onto the grass with a painful thud.
What the fuck?
Where are you?
Who are you?
Okay, thatâs dramatic, it wasnât that bad.
Thereâs shouting in the distance as you hold your head with a groan, eyes shut tight with images of your life flashing behind your eyelids, and when you open your eyes again from where youâre sat up on the grass, youâre surrounded by soccer players.
Gojoâs suddenly in your line of sight, knelt down beside you and heâs holding your shoulders, trying to get you to look at him but youâre still blinking away the stars youâre seeing. âFuck, y/n, are you okay?â he asks, and you register the concern on his face.
âDude,â one of his teammates kicks the heel of his cleat, âwhere the fuck were you looking? It was clear as day I was tryna pass to you.â
Gojo grumbles something to him, his brow furrowed, and heâs lowering his head to try to make eye-level contact with you but youâre still holding your head with a wince.
âOh shit,â Kai comments, âsheâs bleeding.â
You pull your hand from your face to glance down at the wetness that you feel, and bright red color stains the tips of your fingers.
The next thing you register is Gojo picking you up off the hard grassy ground into his arms, and starts carrying you away down the field.
âW-What the hell are you doing?â you ask, his pacing across the grass is fast and you have to wrap your arms around his neck to keep from getting dizzy.
âIâm taking you to the hospital,â he says, voice strained in his throat, and youâve never seen him look so worried before.Â
âThe hospital?! Please donât, I donât have health insurance right now.â His face is so close and youâre distracted from the pain of your headache.
âYouâre bleeding on the face, Iâm taking you whether you like it or not,â he grumbles.
You dig your nails into his shoulder through the nylon of his shirt, and he hisses from the pain before stopping in his tracks. âI donât need to go to the hospital, Satoru, I just need a fucking bandaid.â
âYou could have a concussion.â
âA concussion?!â You kick your feet for him to let you down but his grip on you only tightens. âYouâre being ridiculous. Let me go, or Iâll bite you.â
He scoffs at that and continues walking forward. âYouâre gonna bite me? Thatâs the most threatening thing you could come up with?â
âIâm being so dead serious, Gojo Satoru. No hospital.â
He grumbles something under his breath at your use of his full government name, and then says âfineâ but heâs still walking down the grass until his cleats begin to tap on concrete, and then on what sounds like tile as he carries you into a building a few yards from the field.
He seats you on a cold counter, your hand gripping the faucet of a sink, and you finally take a comprehensive look at your surroundings. light blue, faint scent of chlorine in the air
âIs thisâŠa locker room? The men's locker room?â
He sighs, bending his knees a bit to look at your face closely. You flinch when his hand reaches out, and he pauses, but you relax slightly and then he rubs his thumb over your cheek. You feel the smear of a droplet of blood. âYes. I need running water.â He turns the faucet of the sink on to run his thumb under.
âFor what?â you ask. His thumb is running over your cheek again.
âTo take care of this cut.â He disappears behind a tile wall for a moment. You can hear metal clanking, probably of a locker opening and closing, and he re-emerges with a first-aid kit.
You slide your butt across the counter to the edge, about to hop off and make a run for it when he grabs your hips and puts you back into place. âDonât even think about it,â he grumbles. He leans forward, grips you strongly, and you see that heâs still breathing heavily from practice, strands of hair stuck to his forehead with sweat, and you can practically taste the salt on his neck.Â
You press your shin to the front of his thigh, desperate to put some space between the two of you. âI donât wanna be in here. Men are scary.â
âWell I canât take you into the womenâs locker room,â he says, ripping the packet of an antiseptic wipe open with his teeth, âIâd get registered as a sex offender.â
You attempt at an escape again, and heâs quick to get his hands on you to stop it.
âQuit manhandling me, or Iâll scream,â you threaten through gritted teeth, because youâre still mad at him. For everything.
âGo ahead,â he says, using his knee to spread your legs apart, then finds a place to stand between your thighs to get closer to you. âIâve got a lot of ways I could shut you up.â
You blink at him, breath catching in your throat, and the expression on his face tells you heâs not interested in dealing with your stubbornness anymore.
âJust hold still,â he grumbles, placing the packet down on your thigh and then stepping off to the side to wash his hands under the sink.
âWhat exactly happened?â you ask, watching him dry his hands off with a few paper towels. One moment, Kai was trying to explain good digital photography to you, and the next you were dizzy from being knocked back onto the ground.
âYou got hit by a soccer ball.â
âI know, but how?â You remember your camera hit your face from the impact too, and now youâre worried about it.
âIâŠwasnât paying attention when my teammate passed it,â he admits with a sigh, finding his place in front of you again, the knuckles of his clean hand brushing across your cheek, caressing. Your expression softens slightly. He uses a hand spread across the small of your back to push you forward to him, then he gently passes the wipe over your wound.
âOh okay so, you failed to protect me from a flying soccer ball.âÂ
He pulls his hand from you to read the lettering on the back of the packet. âIâm patching you up now, arenât I?â he says, annoyed. ââŠoh fuck, I was supposed to go in with water first.â
âSo glad to be in such good hands right now.âÂ
He gives you a pointed look, but you ignore it and turn your torso to see your reflection in the mirror for the first time. You had a small wound on your cheek, right over the bone, with some bleeding and itâs wider than it is deep. But when you look at Gojo again, whoâs putting some ointment onto a Q-tip now, the look of guilt and worry on his face makes you feel satisfied for some reason, and you wanted to make it worse.
âDoes it hurt?â he asks, brow furrowed, applying the cold gel to your cheek.
âMhm. A lot.â Not really, no.
âFuck. Iâm sorry,â he sighs, head dipping towards you slightly to get a better look, âcan you feel this?â
âAhh, yeah. Ouch. So much.â Barely.
His other hand is placed flat on the counter next to where youâre sitting, and you allow it when his thumb starts to run soothing circles over your hip.
âHmmâŠâ you start, wide eyes looking up at him as he seems to lean closer and closer to you with every word that leaves your lips, âI really wonder if itâll leave a scar.â
He looks tortured. His hand that was maneuvering the Q-tip in his hands drops to the counter now, and he brings his other one to your face, cupping your cheek. His eyes dart from the wound, thumb pressing at the plush of your cheek, and this time, it hurts a little so you wince. His expression is tense, some sort of inner turmoil you could read across his forehead, and then his jaw hardens.
âWho was that guy you were talking to earlier?â
You blink a few, then tilt your head slightly. You feel like youâre on a game show, where thereâs four options and only one right answer. New boytoy, gay best friend, fuck buddy, orâ âHeâs my coworker.â
âThatâs it?â
âMhm.â
âHas he tried anything funny with you?âÂ
You almost roll your eyes. âNo, dad, he hasnât.â
âWoah. Say that again but make it daddy.â
âHey just a quick question for you. Where do you get the audacity?â
His bent index finger finds a place under your chin, tilting your head up so youâre forced to look at him. âItâs your fault, really. I canât help it sometimes,â he says, voice lower now. Youâre squirming a little, wanting to push him away but his lips get close to your cheek, brushing near your wound, like he wants to make it all better somehow. âI really am sorry,â he whispers, near your ear. Thereâs a whimper you have to stifle in your throat. He pulls aways just enough to where he can look into your eyes. âA cutâŠâ he starts, thumb now passing over your bottom lip, âon your pretty face.â He sighs. You shouldnât, but when he prods, you tuck his thumb under your front teeth and your tongue presses slightly against the padded skin of it. He looks like heâs being driven to insanity, and his other hand has no shame at all in pulling you towards him, to seat you at the edge of the counter, and you miss the texture of his thumb on your tongue when he pulls it from your mouth. But itâs so he can dip his head down to kiss you instead.
Of course the sensation of his lips on yours only lasts for a second, because the universe really fucking hates (or loves?) you, so the loud clanking of a metal water bottle against tile interrupts with harsh reverberation throughout the locker room walls, and he pulls away from you when you jump at the sound.
You both turn your heads towards the origin, located at the curved end of the entryway hall, and one of Gojoâs teammates is standing there with his duffle bag slung around his neck and hanging heavily to his thigh, his water bottle clutched in his hand. He blinks at the two of you.
Oh. Itâs the one you kissed at that party a few weeks ago.
âWhatââŠWhy is there aââ his teammate starts, panicked, turning his head to double check the sign on the locker room wall as if heâs hallucinating, and when his eyes land on you again, they widen with recognition. His gaze shifts, and his chin tips down at the sight of Gojoâs irritated side eye from where he was still all up in your personal space. ââŠyou know what. Nevermind.â
His teammateâs eyes are on you again, and you give him a shy little wave, just a fluttering of your fingers in the air paired with a small smile, legs swinging back and forth under the counter. He lets out an amused scoff from the entryway, lifting his hand to return the gesture, some cheeky grin on his face as he then scratches the back of his head before turning on his heel to leave the locker room, out of sight. You let out a sigh, hand dropping to your lap, and you donât need to look at Gojo to tell that heâs staring at you with disbelief.
âWhat the fuck was thatââ
âYou,â you interrupt him, finger jabbing at the center of his chest, âhave seriously got a lot of fucking nerve,â you hop off the counter, âto not only allow a soccer ball to sock me in the face,â heâs taking a step back with every harsh jab of your finger, âbut to also hold me hostage in a mensâ locker room,â his back is pressed up against cold tile wall now while he just looks down at you with wide eyes and something akin to fear, âand then, oh my god, the audacity to kiss me?â
âIââ
âI donât wanna hear it!â you yell, which shuts him up. âYou really are just a fucking player.â
Heâs stiff, not wanting to catch a punishment from you right now.
âBut it doesnât matter,â you grumble, still drilling your finger into his ribcage with the intent to cause pain. You didnât need to be this close, but his body is warm, probably due to the blood pumping from practice, and it feels nice to be pressed up against. âBecause I donât have feelings for you anymore, so just fucking get over yourself.â It was a lie if youâve ever told one, but you wanted to believe it so much that it could come off as the truth.
His eyes narrow down at you, eyebrows flattening. âYou donât have feelings for me anymore?â
âNo, I donât.â
âI donât believe you.â
You roll your eyes. âWhy? Because you want me to keep suffering?â
He grabs your hips, then makes a motion that is evident of his desire to pull you flush to him, but he stops himself. Thereâs a moment where he just takes a few deep breaths and looks at you with a hardened expression, then a split second where his eyes fall to that little cut on your cheek, and every single feature of his face softens, and then he lets you go.
You take a small step back, breathing heavily of your own, and you feel the ghost sensation of his fingertips wrapped around your hips. It makes you feel dizzy, and your thoughts are a mess.Â
He sighs. âSorry. For the soccer ball, and this locker room. But Iâm not really sorry for kissing you, and if that makes me a jerk, then so be it.â
Your heart is beating fast. âYou are a jerk, Satoru,â you say. He doesnât like you, he doesnât want you. A mantra played over and over in your head that youâve started to hear it at night. âA real fucking jerk.â And you leave him standing there in a way that feels like the hundredth time.
â
2:34pm kaito (work): yo
2:34pm kaito (work): i had my guy look at your camera
2:35pm kaito (work): itâs pretty fucked up
2:37pm you: :( oh okay isee. does he have an estimate for the fix? the lens is okay though right?
2:39pm kaito (work): yeah lens is fine, you should really count your blessings on that.Â
2:40pm kaito (work): but nah, fix would be around the same as the cost of it, so youâre better off getting a new one
2:42pm you: i donât have thousands of yen laying around unfortunately. my car bill has sucked me dry
2:44pm kaito (work): well let me check with him. maybe he can hook you up with a good deal on a used one
2:45pm kaito (work): i got a 50% off on one of my canon cameras i bought from him a few years back. maybe heâs still got some like that
2:46pm you: yes could you check with him please? thanks so much, really
2:48pm kaito (work): sure. although i think the guy that kicked the ball to your face should be paying for your camera replacement
2:51pm you: they were just practicing. itâs their field
2:56pm kaito (work): alright. btw, you free tonight?
You blink at your phone screen from where you were sprawled across your bed. Before you have a chance to type out a response, your phone lights up with a phone call from kaito (work). You accept the call.
âOh, hi,â you say.
âHey, are you free tonight?â
âOh uhh, I was just about to check my schedule.â You shake your head at your inability to come up with an excuse on the spot.
âOkay,â he says on the other line. You hear the sounds of cars honking in the distance. âWell let me know. I just left my camera guyâs shop, and he was telling me about how one of his friends does visuals for a short-film director, and that the director is looking for an assistant.â Kai grumbles something about someone he walked past being rude. âI think the directorâs agency is Verve Films, so.â
You sit up in bed, eyes wide at the mention of the name. âOh, oh wow. Thatâs insane.â
âYup,â he says, âanyways, apparently the director is busy as fuck, so he left the hiring process up to my camera guyâs friend. I told him I knew someone that might be interested. Are you?â
You take a deep breath in and out. âYeah, I am. Most of my experience on my resume lines up with short-film, so Iâd be able toââ
âAlright great,â he interrupts, âso we can hold the interview tonight.â
âWe?â you ask.
âWell yeah, me, my camera guy, the hiring guy. Maybe go for drinks or something.â
Your brow furrows. âThat hardly sounds like an interview.â
Kai sighs. âWell, itâs not an interview for a desk job or something. Itâs more of likeâwell, like building connections. I know you know all about that, since Utahime got you the newsletter job.â
Well, yes. She put a word in for you, which helped get the interview, but you still went against qualified applicants. âI guess.â
âItâll be like that. Most opportunities youâll get if you still want to pursue filmmaking are going to be like that,â he tells you, âif it feels informal, it means youâre doing it right. You might not think so now because youâre still in school, where they practically serve opportunities to students on platters, but itâs going to be different in the real world.â
You lay your head back onto the pillow, feeling like youâre receiving a lecture you didnât ask for, and your first instinct is to pretend that you know better than he does. But when you think about all the stress recently, all of the not knowing, and the unsure, you question if you should start leaning into the advice of the people around you, and start to accept this career path for what itâs known to be. Unruly, unconventional, and a lot of times, unfair.Â
âI see. Well, can I think about it? Tonight is too soon, Iâd need time to research the director, put a portfolio together, and also do some interview prep,â you say, pulling your phone from your ear to glance at the time.
âWell, tonightâs the only night that works since their teamâs shooting abroad for the weekend and they leave tomorrow morning,â he says.
You purse your lips together.
âBut also,â Kai says, âitâs the nice thing to do, yâknow, since my camera guy is taking the time to look at your camera for free, you could at least help his friend out. By the way, he just texted me, he does have some used Canons available at discount.â
You close your eyes for a second, just trying to process this conversation right now. Kai was speaking too fast, hardly enough time for you to even think.
âSo do you want to do the interview tonight?â
âYes, sure. Okay. Justâ just send me the details. Iâll be there,â you say.
âAlright cool, will do.âÂ
You say bye, and then he hangs up.
A few hours pass by, where you spend some time putting together a flash drive of a couple of your best short films youâve worked on in the past with other directors, as well as a portfolio of some recently developed film photography. The last thing to do was grab your emergency stash of print outs of your resume, and then you stuff it all into a folder before glancing at the mirror to take in your reflection. It felt extremely weird to show up to a job interview in something as casual as what you were wearing right now, but Kai insisted to not wear anything business. But at least you opted for jeans that donât have any DIY holes in them.
Your face is glued to the navigation on your phone screen the second you get out of the taxi, and you walk down the bustling nightlife streets of Tokyo to get to this bar that Kai sent you the address of. But just as youâre about to turn the corner to your destination down the bar strip, you bump into someoneâs chest due to lack of paying any proper attention.
âAhâ Iâm so sorry,â you say, your grip on your phone tightening when you realize it was about to get knocked out of your hand, and then you look up to see a familiar face.
âOh!â Geto exclaims from where heâs standing right in front of you, âYouâre everywhere, y/n. What are you doing here?â
You open your mouth to speak, hesitate for a second, and then continue. âIâm here toâŠget drinks with some of my friends.â
He gives you a smile. âThatâs nice. I am too.â He points over his shoulder to behind him. âNanami got into his MBA program earlier this week, so, Satoru, Choso and I are buying him a few rounds. Or possibly a million. The plan is to incapacitate him as punishment for giving up on playing in the national league with us.â
You humor him with a laugh. âThatâs sweet. Or not? Well anyway, tell him I said congrats.â Your heart starts to beat a little faster, because from the direction Geto came from, it meant Gojo was likely just around the corner somewhere. âWhere are you heading to now?â
âWeâre bar hopping, and I think I forgot my phone at the last one we went to over there,â he says, pointing across the street. âSo Iâm going to go look for it.âÂ
âOh alright,â you say. âGood luck with that. Iâm going to go find my, uh, my friends.â
Geto tilts his head at you and had a slightly more serious expression on his face, glancing at the folder in your hands. âThanks. And stay safe.âÂ
You nod at him and then walk past him to round the corner onto the street that had groups of people loitering in front of restaurants, bars and all sorts of establishments as they wait in the cold to get inside or be seated. You recognize the name on one of the signs hanging as the one Kai sent you in his message, and when youâre a few feet away from it, you spot Kai. Heâs wearing his typical street photographer wear, with a red flannel over a gray shirt and pants that are possibly a size too big for him, but thatâs likely the style he was going for. Heâs standing with two other people.
âHey,â you greet Kai first, who has a pleasant look on his expression before he greets you back and gestures to the two people he was with.
âYo, this is Junichi, my camera guy,â he says. âDonât bother shaking his hand, heâs a germaphobe. Gotta keep âem clean for the electronics.â
âOh,â you say. Junichi is a big man, broad shoulders and thick muscles. His neck is almost as thick as his bicep, and he has no hair on his head. His arms are crossed. âItâs nice to meet you. Thank you for taking a look at my camera.â
He nods at you in acknowledgment. âSure thing. Pretty Boy here says you want to buy one of my used Canons. I donât refurbish them, so youâd better know how.â
Kai sighs, nudging Junichi a little with a fist. âRelax, dude, we can talk about that later. Also, stop calling me that.â
Your eyes flicker to the right, where another man stood, who you assume was Junichiâs friend and this Verve Films directorâs visual effects specialist. Heâs similar in stature to Kai, with that casual artist look, and he has a scuffle of facial hair littering his jaw in less of an intentional fashion but rather a five-o-clock shadow fashion. You vaguely register the scent of weed, familiar to the one that lingers in the photo lab on campus after class hours. He reaches his hand out to you first.
âHi, Iâm Ren. I work in visual effects for director Akira Ko at Verve.â
Your eyes widen as you shake his hand. âThatâs amazing. Iâve studied a lot of his contemporary works, Iâd love to learn more about his process.â
Ren lets a fast exhale out through his nose. âYeah, youâll learn a lot under him.â He pauses to shove his hands into the pockets of his jacket. âMost of his assistants always do.â
âWeâve been waiting for too damn long,â Kai interjects before you could ask any questions about the assistant position, and he glances at his watch, âand thereâs still a lot of people ahead of us.â
You glance around to the small groups of people gathered in front of this bar on a lively Friday night, eyes jumping from one area to the next, until a familiar silhouette catches your eye.
You see Gojo standing with Nanami and Choso a few strides away, near the lamppost. Heâs mostly turned away from you, Nanami nudging his arm annoyed at something he said, and the sound of his laughter in the air makes your heart feel like itâs at stray. Like that was where you were supposed to be right now, not here.
You watch him from the distance as he sighs, shrugging his shoulders up and down slightly before crossing his arms when Choso gestures towards the entrance of the bar, and so he looks in that direction too. Heâs frowning slightly and he brushes some of the hair fallen over his forehead away from his eyes, in that boyish way that makes your heart skip a beat, and you know heâs just doing it to see a little bit better, but it makes you want to cry.Â
Geto walks up to them and rejoins their little circle, and holds his phone up in the air, and then thereâs the melody of their voices bouncing off one anotherâs again. Geto rests his elbow up onto Gojoâs shoulder, leaning in a bit closer to tell him something, and when Gojo hears it, you see his entire body tense before his wide eyes are searching his surroundings, until those eyes land on you.
Your breath catches, and you hold his eye contact for only a moment before you look away, because it almost felt like too much to bear.
âWhatâs that folder in your hand?â Ren asks you, and you turn completely to face him so you canât see Gojo in your periphery at all anymore.
âI just brought some of my work, for yourâer, I guess Mr. Koâsâreference if heâd like to see it after todayâsâŠinterview,â you say. âThereâs a flashdrive, too.â
Ren has an amused look on his face and he shoves Kaiâs shoulder with his palm. âDude, you didnât tell her?â
Kai shakes his head. âTell her what?â
âOhh, I see how it is,â Ren muses.
âWhat?â Kai asks, starting to sound annoyed.
Ren tips his chin up slightly to study Kaiâs face, and then his look of amusement dissipates into one of understanding. âNothing.â
âTell me what?â you prod.
âJust that you didnât really need to bring all of that with you,â he says. âSorry for the trouble.â
You shake your head. âItâs fine, but if you could still give it to himââ
âIâm surprised Kai suggested someone when I asked if he knew anyone,â Junichi jumps in, âIâm used to him grumbling on and on about how shit the work is in filmmaking. Wouldâve thought heâd convinced you to look the other way by now.â
You blink at the gruff man, then look at Kai, and heâs just staring down at the dirt of his shoes. âWell, we had a conversation about it. But Iâm pretty set on what I want to do,â you say.
Kai lets out a scoff. âYeah, I donât really know how else to warn you about the shit show youâre in for, but if you want to be in debt to grad school for the next couple decades of your life, then itâs up to you.â
âHey, jackass, try to be a bit nicer,â Ren speaks up. âSheâs got some goals. Big fuckinâ deal.â He turns to you. âAlthough, heâs got a point sweetheart, schoolâs not going to get you anywhere in this industry.â
You frown. âA lot of directors I look up to went through graduate schooling. Most, I would say. I donât understand where this rhetoric is coming from.â
âItâs coming from real people with real experience,â Ren says, and you dislike the way he takes a step closer to you to reiterate his point, âhonestly, you should save yourself some time and give up on applying. Itâs not worth it.â
âIâve already put my application together,â you say, brow furrowing slightly, âIâve asked professors for my references, spent the past four years working on my profileââÂ
âBut working under a director, I mean really getting to work under one, beats all of that. Which is why youâre here, right?â Ren asks, but itâs not curious, itâs testing.
You feel a sheen of sweat build at your forehead, even in this cold, and you clench your hand into a fist once, twice, thrice. Youâre breathing fast, and the three sets of eyes that are staring so scrutinizingly into your soul right now have you faltering, like if they took another step forward, tried to intrude what you thought you knew one more time, youâd fall backwards over the cliff.
Suddenly, a hand wraps around your upper arm, and when you turn your head to the left, you see Gojo standing there.
âHey,â he says to you, sparing one single sidewards glare towards Kai, who immediately averts the eye contact, before Gojoâs eyes are on you again, âcan I talk to you for a second?â
You look at the three men in your circle, who suddenly adopt skittish body postures, and Gojo doesnât really wait longer than a few seconds before heâs pulling you away from them over towards the edge of the curb towards the street.
âWhat?â you ask once he lets go of your arm.
âWhat are you doing here with those guys?â he asks.
âIâmââŠwhy does it matter to you?â you ask.
âIt matters to me because of the fucking absurd conversation I just overheard,â he says, ânow answer me.â
His tone annoys you, and you cross your arms. âAre you eavesdropping?â
âIâm going to ask you one more time,â he says, taking a step forward to you, âwho are those guys, and why are you here with them?â
You blink at him, furrowed brows relaxing slightly as you drop your crossed arms to your side, and you stare straight ahead at the blankness of the white t-shirt heâs wearing, as your mind runs blank to his question. Why were you here with them? Was it because you had no other plans? Was it because the opportunity sounded too good to be true, and you just had to see for yourself? Was it because youâve been unable to sleep at night from all the stress, the financial worries, the rejection, and you just want to finally feel like youâve done one good thing for yourself? To feel like youâre at least making one step in the right direction, no matter the cost?
âIâm here for a job interview,â you say to him. Your tone is flat, and you feel numb.
âA job interview?â he asks, with just about as much incredulity you wouldâve expected to hear from him at that answer, âAt a bar? How does that make any sense?â
âItâŠâ you start, âsounded fine.â
âIt sounds shady as fuck.â
âThis doesnât concern you, okay? IâmââŠIâm just trying to make my goals work for me, Satoru, and I really donât expect you to understand.â
âWhy wouldnât I understand?â he asks. Thereâs confusion in his voice, and maybe even a little bit of hurt.
âBecause you canât even understand how unfair and painful it is for me that you keepââ you have to purse your lips together briefly to fight back the knot in your throat, ââŠthat you keep interfering with my life everywhere I go.â
His expression softens, and he silently stands in front of you for a moment. His eyes dart across your face, and then he reaches out to grab your hand. âListen, if you still want to get drinks tonight, then just get drinks with us. But donât hang out with those guys. Theyâre bad news, especially the dude with the flannel, and I donât think youâre in a good place right now to see that.â
Your eyes see white fury at that, and you all but snap. Because the irony of this whole situation, is that youâre not in a good place right now because of him. Because of all the pain that heâs put you through, for promising to stay away but then always being near, for saying he doesnât want you but then acting like he does.Â
âYou know what I think, Satoru?â you ask through gritted teeth, yanking your hand from his grasp.
Heâs looking at you, studying. âWhat?â
You take a step forward, threateningly, and he takes a step back so that he steps off the curb and onto the road, and youâre at eye-level with him now. âI think that youâre jealous,â you say, eyes glaring daggers into his.
He blinks at you, almost dumbfounded for a moment before he says âwhat?â
âYouâre just fucking jealous that I seem to be moving on after you rejected me, because for some weird reason, you think itâs okay to not want me, and yet not want me to be with anyone else,â you say, practically hissing the words. âYou donât like seeing me with any guys other than you? You donât want to believe me when I say that Iâm over you? Youâre not sorry for kissing me? Even after knowing,â you take a pause to breathe, because you feel like you canât, âeven after knowing that I like you,â eyes blinking fast because you donât want him to see you cry right now, âyou know that I like you so fucking much, and that itâs hurtful, and that itâs wrongâ and even after all of that, you act the same, and still wonât promise me any commitment of your own.â
Heâs looking at you with an expression you canât read, but youâve lost all interest in trying to understand it anymore.
âYou donât want me hanging out with them?â you repeat after him, âIâm not listening to that. Because itâs possessive. And itâs wrong.â
At the mention of them, Gojo clenches his jaw. âThat has nothing to do with you and me, right now. What theyâre trying to convince you of doesnât make any sense, and it wonât help you achieve your dreams either, y/n.â
âYou donât know anything about my dreams, Satoru,â you say, just to hurt him. But you think about the sincere expression on his face the first time you met him when you told him that you wanted his help with your assignment. You think about the playful nudge of his elbow that night he stayed with you on the curb, and told you that you just had to try to put yourself out there, because you couldnât accomplish anything without facing your fears. You think about how heâs always the first to like every single one of the slideshows you post of your pictures on Instagram. You think about the adoration in his eyes, reflected off the moonlight through the hotel window, when you told him about a little cottage on the countryside, one youâve always wanted, and those eyes told you that he was really rooting for you. âYou donât know. Because youââ thereâs an echo of words in your head. Someone elseâs words, not yours, âBecause youâre a college athlete. Andââ you let out an exhale, âand you donât pay tuition.â
His brow furrows. Thereâs a beat of silence as his confusion settles in. âWhat?â
âYou were born blessed with talent, and youâre popular, and people adore you, and you donât have to worry about internships, or jumping from job to job just to make something of yourself,â you say, picturing your life in your head along with all the strife, âor about all of the sinking debt, and the worry, and theâ and the car repair bills,â you say, almost with a scoff, eyes sheening with tears, like youâre losing your mind, âall of the fucking car repair bills.â Your chest is heaving as you shake your head. âBecause youâre set for life as long as you kick a fucking ball.âÂ
His lips purse together, like he can tell thereâs more on your tongue to say, more hurtful words, and he wants to hear you say them. And so you do.
âYouâve never had to suffer or worry about a single thing in your life. So donât pretend like you understand what Iâm trying to do here tonight,â you say, inflection signing off on the end, to tell him that youâre done.Â
He stands in front of you, practically motionless except for the slow movement of his chest as he breathes. His expression, tense and hurt, softens slowly, and you see him digging his nails into the skin of his palms through fidgeting clenched fists at his sides. And then he relaxes them, too.
âDoes that make you feel better?â he asks.
His question confuses you, and for some reason, regret washes over you. âWhat?â
âDoes thinking of me that wayââŠdoes it make you feel better about all of this? Between us?â
Youâre breathing fast, eyebrows pinching upwards to look at him, and the defeated expression on his face makes your heart ache. Heâs waiting for an answer, and so you give him one. âYes.â
He glances down at the ground for a moment, then at your collarbone, before meeting your gaze again. âIâm sorry. For everything. And Iââ the words catch in his throat briefly, âIâll try to leave you alone tonight.â
His use of the word try doesnât escape you, but you give him a furtive nod, and he studies your face for a few moments before he steps back up onto the curb and walks past you. You watch him walk all the way, no longer with that confidence or conviction youâre so used to seeing in him, as he steps back into his circle, to Getoâs side. Geto gives a small glance over his shoulder to look at you with discerning eyes before looking at Gojo again, and then heâs turned away from you.Â
Heavy feet drag you back to Kai, Ren, and Junichi, and you feel feverish. They mention something about the table being ready, and you nod. The bar is rustic, with more tables than barspace, and the four of you are seated and then presented with a small food menu. Youâre seated next to Kai, Ren is right across from you, and Junichi is to his right. You watch a waitress usher Nanami, Choso, Geto and Gojo to one of the tables as well, two away from yours, and you forcefully blur your vision so you donât have to catch sight of the expression on Gojoâs face.
âSo,â Ren speaks up as his eyes peruse the food menu and Junichi waves the waitress over to order a round of sake, âtell me more about your experience, sweetheart.â
You blink at him, eyes feeling heavy, heart feeling heavy. âIâd prefer it if you called me by my name.â
Ren lets out a coo, and you briefly glance at Kai whoâs shaking his head with a sigh. âMy bad, y/n. Your experience?â
Your hands play with the folder sitting in your lap. âI started writing screenplays for small-scale directors when I was a freshman, and was greenlit on a couple into my sophomore year. One of the films I worked on, I had directing credits for, and it was nominated for best screenplay at Etoile Film Festival the year following.â
Ren swallows slightly, shifting in his chair and pushing his shoulders back, like heâs trying to establish himself now. Kai is clenching a fist on the surface of the table.
Ren clears his throat before speaking again. âWow, okay, so youâve actually got some serious shit going on.â His voice is a faux octave deeper. âWhat do you know about being a good assistant? Ever worked in customer service? Secretary?â
âOh, I mean I have worked in customer service, but I wasnât done sharing about my experienceââ you try to say but Junichi cuts you off.
âFirst roundâs on me,â he declares, âfor bringing her out here.â He tips his chin to you and then sends Kai a glance.
A waitress brings by a bottle of sake, and Junichi begins pouring drinks into the glasses, then slides them across the table. Kai gives Ren a pointed look.Â
âDonât get too wasted,â Kai says to him as he brings his glass to his lips, âyou start running that mouth of yours a little too much when you do.â
Ren grins at him and immediately knocks down the glass Junichi barely finished pouring from him in one go, and the gruff man beside him is grumbling. âWhatever you say.â
Something had been bothering you since you came here. âWait,â you say, pointing between Kai and Ren, âdo you two know each other already? Because,â you turn to look at Kai, âon the phone earlier, you sounded like you didnât.â
Kaiâs eyebrows raise in surprise, as though heâs discovered you have some skill for foresight. You glance at Ren, and he gives Kai a puzzled look.
âUh, yeah. Iâve known Kai for years,â he says, âwe go way back. We went to highschool together.â
Kai shifts a little in his chair. âSorry. Probably forgot to mention it.â
You glance down at the glass of sake in front of you, and the way it twinkles under the lighting of the bar. You slowly bring it to your mouth, taking a small sip, and the way it coats your tongue is less than pleasing.Â
âCan you tell me more about the assistant position?â you ask Ren, whoâs emptied out the bottle of sake and waving someone over to order more. He already has a slightly flush to his face.
âYeah, yeah, will do,â he says, âbut first, let me tell you about what I do in visuals.â
Another round of sake is dropped by, and then another, followed by another, as Ren continues to ramble on and on about what he does for work, and how itâs entirely integral to the final piece of the film, although youâve never really had a terrible level of appreciation for visual effects in short-film craft, since itâs hardly much work. But you wouldnât say that, you just continue to nurse your one glass of sake as the three men surrounding you knock back more and more, and thereâs slurs to their speeches now.
âSooo, Iâm so sorry, sweetheartâI mean y/n, for cuttinâ you off earlier,â he says, âbut what was that experience you wanted to talk to me about?â Ren asks from across the table, and his eyes are all traveling over you.
âIâŠâ you start, âwell, I started to work with one of my professors last year, sheâs a two-time Cannes Film Festival winner, and she let me under her wing for one of her projects last year.â
âWho is she? Oh wait, nevermind, probably wouldnât have heard of her anyways,â Ren says, but when you fail to laugh, he waves his hand in the air. âJoking, joking. Whatâs her name?â
âNaoko. Naoko Ogigami.â
âOh shit. I have heard of her,â Ren says, followed by a shallow hiccup. Junichi shrugs his shoulders, and when you look at Kai, heâs nodding slowly and toying with the rim of his glass with a finger.
âYes. Well, anywaysââ you start up again, before Kai sets his glass of sake down particularly loud.
âThis is all bullshit. Really. I told you, filmmaking is a waste of time. Just focus on your photography, and your freelance or whatnot,â Kai says, grit to his jaw, face looking red with possibly something other than just a tipsiness.Â
Ren lets out a laugh. âFuckinâ Kai. What a pessimist. Donât listen to him, sweetheart,â he says, slurred, and you furrow your brow at him with a glare, âsorry. Donât listen to him. Trust me, youâll learn a lot under Mr. Ko. Heâs a suuuper nice guy.â
âWhatâs the compensation?â you ask. Itâs a brazen question, one youâd never ask so soon in a formal interview process, but this table was hardly anything formal.
âReal good. Mmm I think likeâŠ5200 yen an hour, and then also, you get your foot in the door.â
âOh,â you sit up a little in your chair. It was higher than most entry-level anything for undergraduates or even new grads.Â
âYeah, yeah, yeah,â he drawls when he sees youâre more interested. âGood stuff. Kai used to pick these kinds of jobs up, too, back in his college days. I remember. Although, heâs hardly Mr. Koâs type, so I doubt heâd be any good for this one.â
Your head snaps to Ren again at his words, face tensing.Â
âTell her about what a job like thisâhicâentails,â Ren says as he extends his glass out for Junichi to pour him another.
Kai glances at Ren once, and you watch him grind his teeth for a moment, and then thereâs a hint of a smirk on his face.
âOh. Yâknow, clerical work. Stuff like printing scripts out,â Kai starts, Junichi filling up his glass and then he raises it into the air to watch the liquid swish around, âgrabbing him coffee. Making sure his trailer is stocked.â
âBlowing him in said trailer,â Ren says. Itâs something quiet, under his breath with a small laugh, where you could barely hear it across the table. But you heard it nonetheless. And your heart sinks to the core of the earth.
âExcuse me?â you say. The benefit of doubt sitting on your shoulder, watching in disbelief as well.
âHeâs joking,â Kai says, quickly, ârunninâ his mouth.â
âOh fuck off, Kai,â Ren says, throwing his hands up in the air, âdonât act like thatâs not why you brought her here.â
Your head slowly turns to Kai, who canât meet your gaze. Your eyes flicker to Junichi, who looks amused.Â
Ren leans over the table, elbows resting on top, to look you straight in the eyes. Heâs got a sleazy smile, and you can smell the alcohol on his breath, and he dips his tone down low enough to where you can hardly hear it over the sounds surrounding you in the bar. âThatâs how youâll make it in this industry, sweetheart. Whether you like it or not, youâll be working under those directors until you make it.â
You stand up so fast that your chair falls behind you, hand raised in the air, and you swiftly slap the man across from you so hard across the cheek that it leaves his skin even more red than the flush from before, and your palm is stinging.Â
Thereâs gasps all around the bar, hushed voices, eyes on you, but you donât care. Thereâs not a single thing in the world you care more about right now than the anger swelled in your chest.
Ren holds his cheek, surprised, blinking like a pathetic animal. He almost looks like heâs about to cry, and you let out a scoff at the sight.
You turn to face Kai, whose eyes are wide and heâs staring up at you. Your fists are clenched at your side.
âIs this why you brought me here tonight?â you ask. Your voice is trembling, anxiety at the wake, the white anger spotting your vision. But thereâs also pain. So much pain, and youâre just so fed up with all of it. âBecause your belittling, condescending words werenât enough to tear my hopes apart, so you had to humiliate me in front of your friends instead?â
Kai holds his hand up. âWoah, Canon, relax. He was just jokingââŠâ Kai glances at Ren, whoâs still holding his cheek and biting down on his lip, and then his gaze hardens. âYâknow what? Itâs about fucking time you get this wake-up call, y/n. Iâve been trying to do the nice thing to steer you in the right direction, and the least you couldââ
âSteer me in the right fucking direction?!â youâre yelling now, registering the way your voice echoes in the bar. âYou know what I think this is all about, Kai?â You grit your teeth, âYouâre a sick, stupid, sexist fuck who didnât have the balls to go after what he wanted. So miserably pathetic that youâve got no other fucking business than to pull people down to your level.â
Kai pinches his eyebrows together, hand on the table clenching into a fist.Â
You lean down closer, an exasperated scoff leaving your lips. âWhy donât you go be his assistant instead? Since Iâm sure youâre good at taking it up the ass.â
Kaiâs eyes twitch, âyou fuckingââ
You grab his glass off the table and throw the alcohol into his face, eliciting another round of noises around the bar, and his mouth falls agape in shock before he gets up out of his chair, hand reaching out to grab for you. You close your eyes shut with a flinch to expect pain. Any sort of pain. But you donât feel anything at all.
When you open your eyes, you see Gojo standing to your left, veins of his arm tense with the tight grip he has on Kaiâs forearm, and you can see heâs practically shaking with rage. He steps in front of you, guarding, and you canât see the expression on his face, but the fear in Kaiâs eyes is enough to say it all.
âThatâs enough,â he says, the clench of his jaw evident through the strain in his voice, âtry to put your hands on her again, and Iâll split your fucking face in half.â
You can see Kaiâs breathing pick up from where youâre peering over Gojoâs shoulder, and then Gojo shoves him backwards right as Choso kicks the fallen chair to his feet so he trips over it backwards then hits the ground with a loud and indignant thud.
Gojoâs hovering over Kai, his hands shoved in his pockets as he glares down at him, while Geto and Nanami put space between you and the other two men at your table. You feel a searing flush to your cheeks. Youâre breathing fast, the peering eyes all around you are scrutinizing, looking at you with surprise, confusion, shock, and pity. Your mind is racing, and you wonder what your parents would think of all this. What your friends would think of all of this. What the people who support you would think of the fucked up situation youâve found yourself in, and the humiliation courses so deep through your veins that you just want to run away and hide. The ground could swallow you whole right now, and it still wouldnât be enough.
You take one step back, then another, before you turn on your heel to rush out the door into the night, and you barely register that itâs raining. You can feel your heart thumping fast in your chest and in your head, that familiar knot in your throat twisting tight as you walk fast down the street and ignore Gojoâs call of your name from behind you.
You donât want to see anyone right now. You donât want to be seen by anyone right now. Especially Gojo, of all people, because he was right about everything, and the fact that you had shut him down about it, and the way that you had shut him down about it makes your head numb and your breathing pick up fast.
ây/n,â you hear him call out from behind you, his pace is getting faster and so youâre resorting to longer strides as well, puddles of water splashing under your feet with every step, âjust waitââ
âIâm seriously,â you start, and the tears begin to fall, âIâm seriously so, so, so, so, so fucking embarassed right now,â you gasp out the words with no air left in your lungs to breathe as you continue to run away from him, âso please, just leave me alone.â
You can picture it all in your head. Something like I told you so from his lips, because after what youâve been put through tonight, you just want to assume the worst in people.
But just as you round the corner into an alley, feeling lost with the sight of a dead end, you feel a hand wrap around your arm and then youâre being pulled into an embrace.
Your eyes are blinking with tears streaming, your face buried in a chest that is warm, with a heart beating so fast that itâs keeping time with your own, and the fragrance that surrounds you is so painfully him that it makes you sob even more.
Strong arms wrap around you, pulling you closer, and Gojo rests his chin at the top of your head. âIâm sorry,â he says softly, and you can feel the rumble of his voice, âI just needed to stop you from running.â
Your arms are weakly raised, an outline over his torso but not yet grabbing on, until you hesitantly do. And when you hold onto him, itâs so tight and strong, and you realize that after everything between the two of you, itâs the first time youâve been wrapped in his arms.
âI feel so stupid,â you start, already hating the words because you want to be stronger right now, but you canât.
âYouâre not stupid,â he quickly corrects you, âthose guys are fucking insecure losers. Youâre just trying your best. You always have, for as long as Iâve known you, and itâs something you should be proud of yourself for.â
You donât know what to say to him, you just cling to the damp fabric of his shirt in the rain. Â
âThings are going to work out for you, no matter what, because I know youâve got what it takes and youâre willing to work hard for it,â he says, his chin nuzzling so youâre tucked into him even further, âand if things donât work out, thatâs okay, youâre strong and youâll always get back up. And I want to be there to help you through everything.â
You pull your face from his chest to stare up at him, droplets of rain falling to your face and making you flinch occasionally. âIâm confused.â
His hand comes up to cup your face, swiping at a tear on your cheek, or maybe it was rain. âI thought thatââ he starts, his thumb briefly running over the small cut still healing on your cheek, his brow furrowing, âI thought that Iâd be okay with watching your life from afar, through cropped pictures on a screen,â he says, a chill running through you, âbut I canât. Itâs killing me. And Iâm really sorry that it took me this long to tell you this, but I like you so much and I really want to be with you.â
Your eyes widen at his words, and you donât know how to feel. You push your face into his chest again. His thumb runs circles at your side through the dampness of your shirt.
âThere are a lot of reasons I didnât feel like I could date you, or show up for you,â he says, âbut the pain of not getting to be with you, of not getting to hold you, and just share my life with you is way worse than whatever reasons I kept trying to convince myself of.â
You nod slowly, because there was a part of you deep inside that knew that all along.Â
His grip on you relaxes slightly and you take that as a request from him for you to look up at him, so you do. âI know Iâve put you through a lot of pain, and Iâm really not a perfect person, but if thereâs room in your heart to forgive me, I promise you that Iâll do everything I can to make you feel happy and cared for.â
Your eyes study his face for sincerity. Theyâre words youâve been wanting to hear, words you couldâve pictured in your head, but the adoration in his eyes makes you realize you never couldâve imagined the true sweetness of those words when theyâre said from him.
You press your cheek to his chest again. Youâre not crying anymore. âIâm sorry for what I said to you earlier. About kicking a soccer ball, and having it easy,â you bite down on your lip, because now thereâs tears in your eyes again, âI didnât mean it.â You sniffle a little, âI know you work hard. And it was a really mean thing to say.â
He sighs, holding you flush to himself. His cheek presses against the top of your head. âThatâs okay, you donât have to apologize for that.â
âBut I do.â
There was no grudge at all. There was nothing withdrawn from you, nothing taken away as punishment. He just held onto you, exactly as you are, and you felt so safe in every second you spent in his arms.
You look up at him again. His hair is damp, strands clinging to his face in all the places they usually fall over, droplets of rain falling from his fringe onto your face and he does everything he can to wipe them away. âItâs too late,â you tell him, and he immediately knows what youâre referring to.
He just holds you closer. âI know.â
âI donât have feelings for you anymore,â you say through a sniffle.
He knows youâre lying, and that you say it just out of spite, but he holds your head to his chest. âI know.â
âYouâll have to beg and grovel, and even then, I might not like you ever again,â you say, gripping so tightly onto his shirt for purchase, your voice sounding muffled as you breathe in the scent of him. âThatâs your punishment.â
He presses a kiss to the top of your head. A firm press of his lips, lasting as he takes a few deep breaths. And then he kisses the same spot again, staying still in that position as he repeats himself.
âI know.â
--
a/n. phewww thank you for reading, i swear, this chapter felt like a goddamn war to write. my emotions were all over the damn place, i think cause i wrote from a place of bitter experience lol. i dedicate this chap to my lovely friend sheâs a film major (she inspired me to create this story) and i srs wouldnât be able to write kickoff without her đđ dear Mâ„ïž, i thought of you sm while writing this chapter, i can only hope iâve captured even the slightest bit of the understanding i will always aim to have of you, and that you feel seen. iâm incredibly proud of you, always rooting for you, so often thinking of you, and terribly missing you so much rn (plsssssss visit meeeđ©đ ) dedicated w sm love đ -bitchasshoe this chapter is also dedicated to anyone whoâs going through a hard times n maybe just trying to figure themselves out :â) i am so proud of you, you should be so proud of yourself, thereâs still so much to live and learn, and i hope the universe blesses you w everything youâve ever wanted!! big thank u to my lovely m00t @quinnyundertow she pulled me out of my writers block for this chapter and also beta read a lot of it for me thereâs only three chapters left for kickoff (iâm gonna cry just thinking ab it :â)) which doesnt sound like a lot but thereâs still a lot iâve got planned đ iâm just noticing that i very poorly planned the second half of this series. chapters 1-6 combined have less words than chapters 7-9 combined đ
âš sooooo i may increase the chapters from 12 to 14 by splitting them up to make it easier on me, or just stick to the plan and come out with long chapters like the last two. idk. iâll figure it out. thank u to everyone for reading i love you all dearly đđ iâll see you in the next one!!
âž take me to chapter ten!
âž wrote some kickoff headcanons here
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(hope i didn't miss anyone thank u all sm!!)
#jujutsu kaisen#jujutsu kaisen fanfiction#gojo satoru#gojo x reader#gojo smut#jjk gojo#geto suguru#gojo satoru angst#nanami kento#choso kamo#series#yaga masamichi#alternate universe#college#college au#soccer#sports au#fraternity#sorority#tw drinking#partying#anime#romance#smut#fluff#angst#jjk smut#long fic#jjk series#ongoing series
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#nanami the man that you are#nanami kento#kento nanami#jjk nanami#jjk series#jjk kento#Kento#nanami#nanami x reader
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#oficial art#jujutsu kaisen#jujutsu sorcerer#ćȘèĄć»»æŠ#æçă»çæ#ćȘèĄ2æ#jjk season two#jjk series#jjk season 2#jjk hidden inventory#jjk shibuya arc#hidden inventory#premature death#shibuya arc#jujutsu series#jujutsu season 2#jjk#jujutsu#geto suguru#satoru gojo#gojo satoru#itadori yuuji#yuji itadori#megumi fushiguro#nobara kugisaki#shoko ieiri#haibara yu#nanami kento#yuuji itadori#æžè°·äșć€
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