Chapter Text
“Suguruuuu,” a whine escaped Satoru’s mouth in an attempt to gain his best friend's attention, which, from the way Suguru doesn’t acknowledge the other's complaints, might appear like it didn’t work. However, if you paid enough attention, you’d see the corners of the boy's mouth twitching, suppressing an amused smile.
When the white-haired boy received no reply to his whining, he opted to disturbing Suguru’s reading another way – by poking his fingers on Suguru’s cheek and side, hoping to gain a reaction to no avail. That didn’t discourage Satoru, who only prodded the poor boy more.
If Shoko didn’t know any better, she would've sympathized with Suguru. But she does know better to figure out that Suguru is not at all annoyed or agitated, instead, rather amused.
Shoko groaned at the sight of these love birds and having no self control in public. They’re hanging out in a local café after just having finished their mid-terms and was given time to relax after the exams, but having Satoru as your childhood best friend can make it challenging. Shoko didn’t need to know Satoru when they were kids to deduce that the boy is insufferable beyond belief. Suguru must be a masochist to put up with him for so long, and continue to stay by his side, cause what the fuck. No sane person willingly hangs out with Satoru. Luckily for the Gojo brat, neither Shoko nor Suguru has a single rational cell in their body.
But even Shoko has her limits, and seeing their mutual pining still going nowhere, despite being years, at 10 in the morning is never ideal. Unless you’re a weird fan fic enjoyer, who would go down with their ship and consume all its contents until bare, you would find the sight disgusting. Seriously, when are they going to just start dating already? It was amusing to watch their obliviousness at first, but it’s passed its expiry date at this point.
From the moment Shoko met the duo, she knew what she was getting into. I mean, just look at them. It speaks for itself. She knew they're trouble the moment she laid eyes on Satoru’s weird pitch-black glasses and Suguru’s odd bangs. When they’re together, they're basically chaos manifested and shifted into the form of two maniacs with one shared brain cell. And they’re never apart. Initially, when Shoko speculated that the duo is inseparable, she didn’t know to what degree. Certainly not to the point of Satoru sitting on Suguru’s lap with his arms looped around Suguru’s shoulders, and Satoru’s head resting on the other's shoulder, basically nuzzling in each other's presence. In a public café, no less. Public! Café!
There were odd stares coming from customers nearby, who tried to not let the sight bother them while the workers only seemed exasperated at the pair’s antics. The three of them are regulars, so everyone who worked in the quaint café is well adjusted to their shenanigans. Kugisaki, making a horrified face at them as she took the orders of other customers; Itadori, who seemed naïve to everything and just smiling at them as a way of greeting; and Fushiguro, a deadpanned look on his face at the sight, silently planning a murder in his head.
Yeah, Shoko has had enough. If they were dating, she would understand the clinginess – she’d still be unamused by it, but understand, nonetheless – but they aren’t even in a relationship, so yeah, no. She’s not dealing with this any longer.
“You guys are absolutely shameless,” Shoko commented, earning both boys’ attention, “can't you do this anywhere else? In case you dumbasses forgot, we’re in public.”
The reaction she received made her instantly regret everything she has done that led her to this moment. “Awww, is our Sho-Sho jealous?” Satoru teased, and it takes all Shoko’s willpower to not strangle him this very moment, “don't worry. You won't be so lonely when ‘Hime gets here.”
Well, at least Shoko knows the pining is one-sided with Utahime. Unlike these two, who make their feelings completely obvious to the world, yet they either didn't want to date or they haven’t realized the pining is mutual. And knowing them, it’s probably the latter.
“How do you put up with this everyday?” Shoko turned to Suguru, earning an amused shrug as Satoru sputtered in trying to defend himself. “Ugh, nevermind, it's better than listening to you guys rant to each other when you’re apart,” Shoko groaned at the incoming headache, “I'm honestly gonna dread the day you guys aren't together 24/7. Imagine having to witness that.”
Satoru feigned an offended gasp at the words escaping Shoko’s mouth. “I’ll have you know,” he began with a huff, “we can survive without each other just fine.”
“I know Suguru’s going to be fine,” Shoko’s lips pulled into a smirk, “but you, on the other hand…”
“Hey! What is that supposed to mean?!”
“There, there, Satoru,” Suguru sighed, rubbing circles on Satoru’s back, who’s still on his lap, after having suppressed his laughter, “but you have to admit, Shoko's somewhat right.”
Satoru immediately turned to Suguru, mocked betrayal in his eyes, and Suguru can't help but bellow in laughter. “Mean!” Satoru slapped the back of his best friend's head lightly, “Sugu, you were supposed to be on my side!”
“Yes, yes. Sorry, Sato.”
“Now you have to make it up to me.”
“Sure, Sato.”
“Take me to that new sweet shop! Then, I'll consider forgiving you.”
“Whatever you want, Sato.”
“See?! This is what I mean!” Shoko let out a groan for the nth time today. Suguru sounded obviously sarcastic, but Shoko knows not-so deep down, that Suguru is actually considering doing all that. Scratch that, he's probably already dead set on doing just that. “Suguru, you spoil him too much. I get you guys are following the classic childhood friends to lovers trope, but Satoru needs to learn to grow a back bone, and you’re actively preventing his growth.”
As much as Shoko discredit his lack of awareness when it comes to Satoru, she knows that Suguru will see the light eventually – when push comes to shove, that is. And seeing the man let out a sigh, Shoko internally cheered in what she calls a victory.
“Fine.. what do you have in mind, oh so wise Shoko?” Suguru gave her a skeptical look, wise than ever when it comes to her antics.
“So glad you asked!” Shoko exclaimed brightly, the mischief gleam in her eyes, earning a nervous exchange in glances between the Strongest Duo.
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Shoko made a bet with them that neither Suguru nor Satoru can spend a week apart from one another. Winner has to do what the other says. Now, one might think that's an utterly stupid bet that could easily be won, which led to them accepting the bet.
They've spent longer times apart, in the past, like when Suguru went on a field trip abroad and Satoru couldn't join due to falling ill, or when Satoru had to attend a fancy trip with his family for a few weeks. And they handled that just fine. Now, those things did happen when they were in middle school, and they're now high schoolers, but what’s the difference, y’know?
There was also that incident, that happened at the start of high school, but that stays in the past and has never been talked about after they had a proper talk about it. As it should be!
So, this challenge should be easy peasy, right? Wrong! The problem with this is basically everything, in Satoru's humble and factual opinion. The rare times they don't talk to each other, it’s usually due to a petty argument or a stupid fight, which was all very quickly resolved in a few hours. And even that means they just ignore each other by not crossing paths for a while. Does it even count as ignoring each other when you still have lunch with them, but you're sulking the whole time?
Anyways, the point Satoru's trying to make is that, not once have they ever ignored each other when they're in good terms. It's easy to avoid Suguru whenever he claims pancakes are better than waffles, but making the conscious decision to not talk to Suguru while being in his presence? Now that's where it gets difficult.
It sounds easy on paper, but when you execute it? That's a different story. Satoru has to practically walk into the classroom, take his assigned seat beside Suguru, and make it through the whole lesson without talking to his best friend. Satoru much rather take up on Mei Mei’s offer to bankrupt him than endure this torture.
The incident was almost (almost, please don't tell Suguru he said that. He doesn't mean it, it's a joke) better to endure than this crap because at least they were in separate classes. But it's not like Satoru can just avoid Suguru when they're practically in the same room, have the same friend group, eat in the same secret location at lunch, and to top it all off, they're neighbors! If the childhood gay best friends trope wasn't cliché enough, surprise surprise, they’re also neighbors. History truly hates lovers.
So, to say Satoru was struggling to win this bet, is an understatement. It’s only been one day, for fuck sake! And he's already whining about it to Utahime, who, in his opinion, is a bad friend for kicking him out after hearing him complain for thirty minutes. And worse of all, Suguru doesn’t even look bothered!
Satoru groaned for the nth time since he reached home, his head laying flat on the coffee table as boredom took over his evening. Usually, he’d be with Suguru at this time, but he can’t really do that now, can he? His mother sighed, bookmarking the page she paused at when reading her book, and finally deciding to give her son the attention he's clearly asking for.
“Dear Heavens, just come right out and say it,” his mother sighed exasperatedly, causing Satoru to lift his head from glaring daggers at the table to give his mom a confused gaze, “don't look at me like that, I’m not stupid. There’s something bothering you, and I bet it’s dumb, so either you stop whining or you just tell me, so we can get this over with.”
This is why Satoru likes his father better. And whoever says he got his traits from his mother are both idiotic in their assumption and completely wrong (ahem Shoko and Suguru).
“I miss Suguru,” Satoru admitted, watching his mother’s unimpressed expression remained. She looked like she was waiting for her son to continue, but when no more words left his mouth, she sighed.
“That's all?” His mother commented with that look of exasperation, and Satoru could only pout at her response. For someone who's extremely young, she really doesn't understand the struggles of teenagers.
“What do you mean ‘that's all’?!”
“You miss him all the time, Toru. How is this any different?”
“Because we aren't talking to each other!”
“Don't tell me you guys got into petty a fight again.”
“What?! Of course not!” Satoru pouted, feigning an offended expression on his face, not feeling his mother in the slightest, “and none of our fights are ever petty.”
His mother quirked her eyebrows, as if trying to silently say “are you serious?” before letting out the most horrendous cackle known to man. For someone so beautiful, she sure has a nasty personality. “You're too funny, Toru,” she wiped a nonexistent tear from her eye, earning a frown from her son.
“Fine,” Satoru crossed his arms with a coy smile, indulging his mother a bit, “name one instance where I got into a fight with Sugu for a petty reason.”
His mother only smirked, not at all threatened by the challenge, and decided to crush her son’s ego, which she refused to accept he inherited from her. Like every good mother does.
“Where do I start…” she hummed to herself before her eyes basically lit up in delight, “this one happened after a year of your friendship.”
“We were in elementary, of course we’ll have petty fights!” Satoru huffed with an eye roll. He appeared as if he doesn’t want to further hear what his mother has to say, but people who knows him knows he’s feeling the exact opposite. Satoru has a poor memory of events that happened before middle school, so hearing stories Suguru and his parents tell him always excites him. Not that he’ll ever admit that to anyone even though it was evident from the way his eyes light up every time.
“It still counts,” his mother rolled her eyes, any trace of genuine annoyance absent, and replaced with begrudging fondness, “anyways, so I was just on the porch, waiting for the bus to drop you off home when I saw something I’ve never seen before! The Satoru and Suguru duo coming out of the bus furious!”
“Oh wow, what a surprise, kids can get angry,” Satoru commented sarcastically, making his mother stick her tongue out at him childishly.
“It certainly is a surprise. You guys rarely fight, especially to the extent where you stopped talking to each other,” his mom shook her head with a fond sigh, recollecting the memory playing in her mind, “usually, you’d be laughing and wasting no time before going straight to either your room or Suguru’s house.”
“Really?”
“Don’t act surprise, you still do it.”
“As if.”
“Uh huh. Anyways, we grew even more concerned when you two didn’t go straight to your rooms, and instead, went separate ways! Not even a goodbye too!”
“What if we were busy, huh? What then?”
“Now, you’re just in denial.”
“Am not!”
“Satoru, you guys were basically attached to the hip – you still are!” his mother said it as if it was a fact rather than an observation, “if Suguru needed space after a stressful day, he will only allow you to be with him. Or when your eyes hurt to the point you can’t even talk, no one but Suguru is ever allowed to see you so vulnerable. So, you can’t convince me there’s nothing wrong when you refused to talk to one another that day.”
“Ugh, fine, whatever you say,” Satoru grumbled, frustrated although the embarrassed coloring on his cheeks betrayed his attempts in feigning irritation.
From the smirk dancing on his mom’s lips, it was clear she was satisfied with her son admitting defeat, albeit reluctantly. “It took a few hours of prodding before we finally discovered what was wrong, and why you guys were ignoring each other.”
“So? What happened?”
Seeing his mother’s smirk grew wider in mischief, Satoru could only mentally prepare himself for the utter humiliation he’s likely to feel when hearing the answer. His guess is probably a level 8 out of 10 in embarrassment.
“Suguru was ignoring you as revenge because you stole his candy,” his mother wasn’t even done with her reply before she couldn’t take it anymore and let out the loudest cackle he’s ever heard yet again, echoing through their house as if a demon just committed a sin by stealing a candy from a baby.
Satoru changed his mind. This is definitely a 9.5 out of 10 in terms of embarrassment. Seriously? They came home angry because of that? How humiliating.
His embarrassment must’ve shown on his face because his mother’s laughter increased ten folds at seeing Satoru’s face. Will he go to Hell if he chokes the laughter out of his mother? Probably. But Satoru has never claimed he’s a saint, so he’ll take his chances.
Satoru could only groan, as his mother tried to compose herself, failing miserably. After what felt like years, she did manage to calm down despite the tears still welling up in her eyes.
“So?” Satoru asked, earning a puzzled tilt of his mother’s head, “So, how did we resolve it?”
“Suguru came over to apologize and even gifted you a candy to make it up to you,” his mother smiled blissfully, “but you know what the funny part is?”
“God, there’s more to the story?”
“Of course, there is.”
“How embarrassing.”
“What’s funny is that, instead of accepting the apologetic gift and then continuing as if the fight never happened, like most of your petty fights,” she continued with closed eyes and a wistful smile, “you guys burst into tears the moment you saw each other. As if being separated like that, thinking this one fight meant the other hates you and the friendship is over, hurts more than any injury could ever hurt. Thinking back on it now, it probably did.”
Satoru watched his mother’s smile became more genuine, any trace of previous mischief or amusement gone. Her smile was sweet, as if she had just tasted the taste of home for the first time in a long time.
Satoru could only stare at his mother in awe, it was rare for her to wear such a genuine smile, always preferring to lean into her teasing persona, where Satoru got his personality from. Gazing at her now, Satoru realized how beautiful she is.
His daze was broken when he felt a hand on his hair, ruffling it fondly. His mother’s eyes were open now, still smiling that sincere smile of hers.
“He’s good for you,” his mother stated, her voice soft and genuine, “don’t let go of him so easily, okay?”
Satoru’s voice caught in his throat, the intense awe in his mother’s eyes becoming too much for him. He knew his parents loved Suguru almost as much as they love Satoru; he’s always been in their lives, he might as well live in their house. Through the hardships between both Satoru and Suguru, his parents have always lent a helping hand when needed. Same goes for Suguru’s parents with him.
It’s not that Satoru’s developing feelings came very unexpectedly. They grew up together, they’re bound to develop more than platonic feelings eventually. Well, for Satoru’s case, that is. He’s still unsure if Suguru reciprocated his feelings.
However, it is a surprise to realize his parents found out about it. Satoru has never been subtle, and his mother is oh-so observant. So, it’s only a matter of time, right?
It’s just, the thing is, Satoru hasn’t come out yet. Not fully, anyways. He has dropped several hints that by now, it’s probably obvious. The surprise isn’t the fact his parents knew he’s gay, it’s the fact the know he’s gay for Suguru.
His face immediately heats up at the thought of his parents knowing from the start about his crush, and choosing to stay quiet while watching him pathetically pine for his best friend. God, if this day couldn’t get any more humiliating.
But… he guessed it’s sort of worth it, finally knowing his parents accepted him no matter who he loves, and even cheering him on in his quest to sway Suguru off his feet. He’s can’t state how grateful he is to have been born into such a loving family. Satoru knows he doesn’t need to use words for his parents to know that.
“Don’t worry,” Satoru finally said, a soft smile on his lips that’s rarely there, “I’m not planning on letting him go anytime soon.”