#maybe shortcake or something like those tillamook ice cream sandwich things

[ikemenomegas]

Gojo Satoru x Reader

ウタカタ (Hey, let's stay like this forever)

there is a side helping of Geto Suguru x Reader and Ieri Shoko x Reader in this as well, lucky you. Fifteen year old sorcerers are messy and emotional and a damn delight, lucky you

"Why did you throw the match?"

It's the next day when Satoru-san clatters up to you on your way to one of the libraries.

The way your lips press flat together and you wrinkle your nose is automatic, shown before you think to reel it back.

You step back automatically, even though Satoru-san has never really been the one to reach out and touch people.

"You won. You were going to win anyways," you say, a hard pit in your stomach, clutching your notebook to your chest.

He looks... put out, his eyes boring into yours over the rim of his sunglasses.

"You shouldn't give up early," he says, sulky.

The tone surprises you and it must show on your face because Satoru-san relaxes a bit, slumping over with his hands on his pockets.

You don't know what to say to him. You don't want to say anything, don't want to explain yourself. Satoru-san is smart. It feels like if you say anything he'll see right through you.

"What if it was a curse," he goes on, oddly awkward.

Is he... trying to reassure you? That seems a little off base, but he's also not leaving.

"You're not a curse," you say, confused. "You're a person." You curse your own name in your head. You need to stop talking.

Satoru-san half-scowls, looking petulant.

"What about a curse-user?"

"You're not a curse-user either," you say, feeling uncomfortable. You've never actually encountered a curse user that you had to fight. The wildfire draw of your power is always there, the what-if of what you could do if there were no rules bounding the places in your mind where it feels safe to use your power.

"I'm going to get ice cream" he says suddenly.

"Um, okay." The non-sequitur throws you, your grip on the notebook loosening just slightly.

He blinks at you expectantly over the rim of his glasses. He also isn't leaving.

He rolls his eyes at you like you're the slowest thing he's ever encountered and grabs your wrist.

"Come on."

"Hey!"

It's a nominal protest, more to do with how he could easily yank you off your feet than anything else. It means there's not much choice but to follow him, stumbling a few steps quicker so you're standing by his side instead of behind.

He lets go of you so quickly, pausing so he's behind you and buffeting you downward with the threat of stepping on the backs of your shoes.

Coming around the corner, you catch sight of the other two.

"If you explain yourself, people come around faster," Suguru-san calls up, gaze fixed over your shoulder.

"Why would I do that?" Satoru-san asks, but he sounds like he's smiling as you scoot behind Shoko-san for the space to tuck your notebook away.

"Where are we going?" you ask him, only for him to refuse to explain, darting off on his stupid-long legs and leaving the rest of you to follow. Suguru-san easily keeps pace, rolling his eyes good-naturedly and trailing back enough that it forces Satoru-san to slow down before he loses the rest of you.

Shoko-san looks amused but lets you grab her hand and tug her along so that you're clustered together.

You're pretty sure you're not technically supposed to be off campus yet, Yaga-sensei is going to throw a fit. The future knowledge of danger though just makes this seem something like an adventure, like you're all just normal teenagers breaking school rules for something simple and normal.

Satoru-san crowds at your back when you get to the ice-cream shop, yelling his order over everyone else's heads like he owns the place.

He doesn't scare you, this boy who people say will be the next god in the jujutsushi world. He's a skinny, too-tall highschooler, loud, trying so hard to be happy. He doesn't need to. He could be cruel, a bully. He could have really hurt you, but he hadn't.

And he's right. You had held back, because it doesn't matter that he's got some legendary power. You'd held back because you couldn't figure out a way to attack that wouldn't hurt him.

Well, hurt a normal person.

Satoru-san pays. He also steals spoonfuls from everyone's cups except Shoko's who playfully slaps him out of the way of the huge waffle cone she'd gotten.

It breaks enough ice for Suguru-san to offer you a taste of his, hojicha, and he accepts a spoonful of yours until you're trading ice cream back and forth, Shoko-san gently mocking by offering you what she won't let Satoru-san steal.

Shoko-san stops in a convenience store with Suguru-san on the way back. It leaves you alone with him again.

"You're right," you say. "I shouldn't have given up even though I'm not good enough to beat you the way I would like to."

Satoru-san snorts, but it's not an unkind sound. "I'm not fragile."

Seems like it's too late to pretend with him, which is something of a relief. You won't have to be so careful with your words.

"I discovered my technique when someone tried to bully me in elementary school. They pushed me down and tried to hit me and I was too scared to realize I wasn't getting hurt before I pushed them away and sent them flying three meters."

Satoru-san laughs, and you have to admit it's a bit funny. Your six year old self had been terrified of getting in trouble. It was only because no one could believe a kid could send someone flying that far without leaving a single bruise on their own knuckles that you'd gotten away with it.

"When Takao-sensei showed up and started taking me to the dojo, it was far too easy for me to seriously injure the other students, because of my technique." You'd dislocated shoulders, broken knees and noses. Not on purpose, but because you didn't know what to do with the energy that pounded into you from practice strikes until it all released in a single strike.

Satoru-san going after you head-on instead of moving around your blocks had evoked that same feeling - unable to get away because you knew he would never respect outright running, too outclassed by his natural speed to put pause to the onslaught, too unwilling to sincerely fight him on the off chance you'd actually hit him and damage the most important sorcerer on campus.

"If you'd been a curse I would have gotten out of the way and attacked you from the side again, or just shot you up into the sky." The image of the curse you'd done that to and how it all but impaled itself upon your blade on the way back down made your lips twitch in amusement.

"That could be interesting," he said, baring his teeth in a grin. "I've never had an aerial battle before."

What an intriguing thought.

"Maybe a rematch someday."

The bell over the convenience store's door jangles.

"Who's having a rematch?" Shoko-san tucks something into her pocket. "I just fixed your arm, don't let him break it again."

Satoru-san stuck out his tongue at her and turned back to you. "If you wait until you're ready you'll never catch up." His gaze was haughty, a challenge. "Not that you ever will."

You felt like you were going to fall over from how hard you were laughing, bent over your own stomach.

Shoko-san was staring at you, a half-smile on her lips, fingers tapping on the new box in her pocket.

"Ha-" you wiped a tear from the corner of your eye, abdominal muscles aching. You giggled one more time, "I'm not that easily baited, Satoru-san."

Shoko-san had stepped up the road out of direct line of sight to the store and was pulling the cellophane off the box of cigarettes. You followed her back out into the bright spring afternoon, relishing the warmth after eating something cold and then standing in the shadows of the trees.

The other two quickly caught up, Satoru-san looking distinctly pouty.

"Are you really going to start sparring with us?" Suguru-san asked. He was, as always much more intentionally polite than Satoru-san. However, there was something eerily eager in his expression too.

You caught a pebble on the tip of your shoe and kicked it down the road.

Satoru-san's provocation had been intentionally a little silly as much as it had been serious. You'd notice him do that sometimes - say something halfway wise or something that could be almost good advice, only to pull the chair out from under it as it was about to land.

You weren't competing to become another special grade sorcerer, to clamber up to where they were. A sorcerer fought alone and for their own convictions. It was one of the first bitter lessons Takao-sensei had taught you.

"I really don't want anyone to get hurt," you sighed. Suguru-san would understand, out of the two of them. He was the one who understood collateral damage the most, even if he was weird about it.

Shoko-san blew a stream of sweet smelling smoke by your ear. She was as invaluable as the other two and got paid the salary to show it and her cigarettes always smelled like good tobacco, almost like the hand-rolled stuff the old men in your town used to smoke outside their favorite gathering places.

"I need to practice my technique too. If no one's getting hurt what's the point?"

That little bit of eagerness, the spark of battle which Satoru-san's curiosity had inspired was almost easy to grasp again. It was cold and sharp, like light caught in a marble.

You wanted... you wanted to try. A jujutsushi's life was never safe, never without danger. It was one thing to destroy curses, but Satoru-san was right. If you waited to try until you knew you could do something, wasn't that the same as not trying? Takao-sensei had promised comrades for whom you wouldn't be an immediate danger.

At the time, it had seemed like the first solace you might have in a while. But if you were going to remain a sorcerer, remain alongside these people who dragged you off campus to break the rules, to laugh and steal food from one another and live knowing your work let others live, you couldn't just wait.

"Weren't you the one who just told me not to let my arm get broken again?" But it was said with a teasing lilt.

Shoko-san bit down on the filter of her cigarette and pulled at your arm, sliding the sleeve up and holding the limb up to the light. "Not for a week. You have two arms though."

"And two legs," Suguru-san added. "Your footwork needs work anyways."

"You know I was promoted to second kyu before enrolling here, right?"

"Was that before or after you started throwing matches?"

"Ouch. As long as I'm the one getting hurt, I guess. Shoko-san, please make sure to heal me!" you smiled at her. "You're the coolest one here, so I'll leave my body in your care."

Shoko-san scoffed, but patted your arm kindly.

There was a tug at your back, and then Satoru-san was bolting ahead, your notebook held in his hands.

"What-?! Satoru-san!"

"Who's this?" He was flipping through pages and got to one of the dividers where you had pasted a picture of -

"Deguchi Aki," you replied, squinting at the photo, "and Itano Tomomi. I think."

Suguru-san was also squinting into the distance. It occurred to you that you should probably chase after Satoru-san before he lost the loose pages simply tucked in the book.

"Idols?" Suguru-san guessed.

"Yeah, I saw the group debut a new song at the end of last year. Satoru-san!" He was flipping through pages now in a way that was actually make you nervous.

He laughed when you chased after him, using his advantage of height to hold the book out of your reach.

"Come on, I know you can jump higher than that."

You actually could, especially since you'd left your umbrella on campus and were already warmed up from the walk.

"Hah!"

You snatched at the notebook and grazed the cover. Satoru-san just showed too many teeth, but you didn't see his eyes go a little wide as you spun on your landing foot and launched yourself into the air again.

He was fast, as expected, and you only touched the second lowest ring this time.

"Satoru-san, I haven't had time to punch holes in the loose pages!"

This time he swung the book loosely while you chased it around his body.

Just as you were about to reach it, pushing your speed higher with cursed energy, a black blur missed your nose by centimeters.

You looked up, blinking in surprise. You reached for the book in Suguru-san's hands, but he twitched the book out of your reach.

"Hm, I think your notes are more organized than mine," he teased, hopping backwards when you tried to see what page he was on.

"I've never seen your notes." Sorcerer uniforms didn't usually have a lot of material hanging off of them so they couldn't be grabbed. You only mourned that loss now when it meant you couldn't steal anything from Suguru-san in return.

"We should study together," he said. closing the book and reaching out to hand it to you.

"Mm, okay."

Shoko-san appeared in front of you, smiling faintly, and when she was gone, the scent of smoke and lemon was left behind and your notebook was nowhere to be found.

"They're cute," she said, peering at the same page Satoru-san had opened to.

"They're really good," you said brightly. "I'll show you a video when we get back."

"Sure, show me."

Shoko pulled further away every time you nearly caught up, and her odd wheezing laughter was starting to catch in her throat once you realized what she was up to and simply started to chase her back up the road to the school.

Just before you would have caught her for real, Satoru-san once more dashed ahead, this time picking Shoko-san up on his back over her protests.

"Shall we?" Suguru-san appeared at your side, offering you his hand.

You recalled his speed and nodded, determined. "Let's go."

His smile was open and excited when you wrapped your arms around his neck and cheered him onward.

You raced all the way to the gates, Suguru-san and Satoru-san happily trampling past a ruddy-faced Yaga-sensei, already bellowing something about neglecting the education of young sorcerers, but you're all laughing, cheeks chilled by the spring breeze, shouting back We're home.

*いゔどっと - ウタカタ (Ivudot - Utakata) title from this song

Utakata is a word that can mean a bubble on the surface of a liquid, or as an adjective mean something ephemeral, transient.