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The first thing Ieiri Shouko noticed about Gojou Satoru was the loneliness that seemed to roll off of him in waves.
After finding out more about him, it made sense. It made a lot of sense, actually – an only child in a prestigious clan of sorcerers, one who had been born with powers others could only dream of having. It was obvious that that had fucked with his sense of self, and his sense of how much he could get involved with the things around him; no one had ever come close to him without ulterior motives, so he naturally grew detached from the rest of the world.
The three of them – her, Gojou, and Getou – naturally grew closer. They practically spent every waking moment together, after all, training to become soldiers, training to be the final line of defense for humanity. Still, it was obvious that Gojou and Getou had their own thing, and that was to be expected – she was only their medic, whereas they were partners in battle. They watched each other’s backs and their lives depended on each other.
“My best friend – my one and only.” That was what they called each other, but it was clear to anyone with eyes that their relationship wasn’t just platonic. Romantic or not, they were disgustingly codependent, and while Shouko would have been wary about it if they weren’t sorcerers, it was clear that they were the only thing keeping each other sane.
Shouko always thought that that was fine – they would keep each other alive, after all. Unfortunately, the Elders didn’t agree.
Although the concept of same-sex couples was becoming more widely accepted, the Elders were, well, Elders. They were disgusted by the idea of two men sleeping together, even more so when it was two men who were meant to be the pinnacle of jujutsu society.
For the longest time, Gojou was completely unbothered. It made sense – no matter what they said, they quite literally couldn’t touch him. But one day, when Shouko entered the classroom, Gojou was alone.
“Where’s Getou?” she had asked, since they were always together. It felt wrong to only see one of them.
“He wasn’t feeling well, so he’s not coming today,” Gojou had answered. Normally, it would be an acceptable answer, given their line of work, but Shouko knew Gojou well enough at that point to know that he was lying through his teeth. So she pressed, and the confession that came out of Gojou’s mouth changed all their lives forever.
“Father wants me to produce an heir,” Gojou had said, slowly, as if he were choking on the words. “He’d been fine with S-Suguru and me, before, but now he thinks that he’s preventing me from getting with a girl. So he- he threatened to- Suguru’s parents-“
And then Shouko held him as he sobbed, hysterical cries of a child who had been forced to grow up, agonized screams of a lover who had been forced to let go. He confessed that he snapped at Getou, tried to make him hate him, and Getou had only offered him infinite patience, only begging to understand why he was so upset. Getou had seen through his façade, and knew that that wasn’t what his anger really looked like.
“I don’t know what to do,” Gojou had whispered. “I can’t live without him. They can- I’ll do anything, but I can’t live without him.”
And despite the lack of codependency between them, despite the fact that they weren’t battle partners, Shouko still loved Gojou. He was one of her only friends, after all. And she knew that he had been through too much, knew that he deserved to be happy. She knew that they deserved to be happy, after all that they had done.
“Date me,” she had said, and Gojou had gone silent. “Or marry me, or whatever else it takes to appease your parents. They just want you to get with a girl, right? They can’t possibly expect kids yet – we’re still in high school. We’re together all the time when you’re not on missions, so the relationship wouldn’t be too suspicious. Just say that we spent a night together and you had a realization or something.”
Gojou had remained silent, barely even breathing. Shouko didn’t move either, hoping that she hadn’t said anything wrong.
Then, Gojou had pulled her into a hug, and sealed their fate.
…
Meeting the Gojou clan had been an extremely stressful experience.
Gojou himself had obviously never cared about stuff like high class etiquette, but they still needed to concoct a potion of lies and bullshit to make their relationship seem convincing. Moreover, the Gojou clan had connections within their high school, which meant that they needed to act like they were dating in front of their teachers as well. It was difficult – neither of them had ever really dated anyone before, not in the way that teenagers have their first spring, and they unironically started reading shoujo manga in a pathetic and desperate attempt to understand what they needed to do.
That didn’t help, not really. After all, the girls in shoujo manga weren’t humanity’s last line of defense. They were “normal”; they were everything that this situation wasn’t.
“I see you have a guest,” Gojou’s father had said, before Gojou had the chance to say anything more than a greeting.
“It’s an honour to meet you,” Shouko had replied, speaking in keigo that felt foreign on her tongue. “My name is Ieiri Shouko. I am…”
And with a staged glance and nod, the way that young lovers were supposed to interact when meeting the parents, Shouko made her declaration.
“I am Satoru’s girlfriend. We are dating with the intent of marriage.”
…
In Japan, girls are legally allowed to get married at age sixteen. As expected, Gojou’s father had them schedule an engagement ceremony promptly.
There was surprisingly little questioning. As depressing as it was to think about, Gojou’s father didn’t know him well enough to see through his acting, and when Gojou had said that he was simply shy about his and Shouko’s relationship, Gojou’s father had believed him. He’d even had the audacity to say that it was cute, that it was sweet, as if their relationship was anything like the “first spring” that teenagers were supposed to have, as if their relationship hadn’t been built upon threats of murder.
In a surprising act of bluntness, Gojou’s father had asked what Shouko thought about Getou. Fortunately, that was a topic that Shouko had thought about plenty of times before, so the story flowed easily off her tongue.
“They’re great friends. Getou-kun keeps him on his feet but also keeps him safe. I don’t have any siblings, but they’re what I would imagine a sibling relationship to be. I trust him to bring Satoru home safe.”
Great friends, sibling relationship – what a whole load of bullshit. Gojou’s father ate it up like honey.
“You don’t find it strange that two men are spending so much time together?” he had asked.
“Not at all,” she had replied, honest for the first time. “How could I possibly trust them to keep each other alive on the battlefield if they spend every waking moment avoiding each other?”
…
The last one to find out about their arrangement was Getou.
Shouko remembers the way Getou had answered the door, the raw emotion plastered all over his face when he realized who it was. He wasn’t angry, and he didn’t shout, just quietly invited them in – of course he did; he couldn’t ever be angry at Gojou, not really.
Shouko had been the one to tell the story – Gojou had started, but his voice started straining, and it was clear that he was too close to crying or snapping. Getou took it all in calmly and quietly, likely too overwhelmed by the fact that he was seeing Gojou at all to do much more.
When Shouko finished, Gojou was curled into a fetal position, folding his massive body into the smallest form possible. Getou had taken one look at him, and then at Shouko, and then knelt in front of her.
“Thank you,” he had said as he bowed, touching his head to the floor. “Thank you for sacrificing yourself. Thank you for giving us this chance back. Thank you for- for bringing Satoru back to me.”
She had told him to raise his head – of course she did – she told him to sit up, that she loved them, that they were her best friends and she wanted to see them happy. She didn’t voice how obvious it was that they needed each other, didn’t voice the fact that she wanted them alive, and that keeping them apart would threaten that. They didn’t say anything either, instead meeting each other in an embrace that looked like coming up for air after drowning.
Shouko had quietly excused herself after that, and they both wished her a good night.
…
Things almost returned to normal after Gojou’s dad cleared him to see Getou.
Shouko knew that the only thing preventing them from seeing each other was the threat hanging over Getou’s parents’ heads, but that didn’t mean that they could stop pretending. “Gojou” became “Satoru-san” in a ridiculous game of pretend, as if Getou and Gojou hadn’t been on first name basis since their first mission together. Their classmates all knew it was bullshit – anyone with eyes could see that it was all bullshit, but they knew better than to ask questions.
Gojou touched her more often in public – innocent things like little brushes of hands, things typically seen in shoujo manga. Although they weren’t dating, not really, Shouko recognized them as the display of appreciation that they were. The three of them had grown closer after everything went down, and Gojou and Getou still constantly thanked her for giving them the chance to be together.
Things were nice. It was clear where she stood in their relationship, although Getou did start picking up coffee for her when Gojou asked him for strawberry milk, and Gojou started to include her when making plans.
…
The engagement ceremony was held in spring. Shouko wore a kimono given to her by Gojou’s mother as she exchanged glasses with Gojou.
It was a nice kimono. Shouko folded it neatly in her closet while Gojou spent the night with Getou.
…
Amanai Riko dies.
Something happens between Gojou and Getou on that mission, something that Shouko dares not ask about. The two of them are tense, more unhinged than unusual, death and horror and insanity plastered all over their faces.
Shouko hopes that they can keep each other sane.
…
Gojou’s mother starts asking to have tea with her. She starts to call Shouko a Gojou.
Getou has dark bags under his eyes. Gojou never takes his blindfold off, but Shouko imagines that he looks no different.
…
Getou Suguru burns down a village. Getou Suguru is sentenced to death.
Gojou visits her in the middle of the night with a backpack stuffed with cash and everything else she would need to get away from his family. He doesn’t tell her what he plans to do. He doesn’t need to.
“Will I ever see you again?” she asks quietly, after he’s left. “Will I ever see either of you ever again?”
The moon doesn’t respond to her pleading.
…
Gojou Satoru is the strongest.
Jujutsu society needs him. Humanity needs him.
He needs Getou Suguru, but Getou Suguru is a murderer.
Before, the Gojou clan could use Getou’s parents as hostages. This time, Getou’s parents are dead, killed by none other than Getou himself.
This time, the Gojou clan has Shouko in their hands.
They keep her in a cage, make her eat from the same bowl she defecates, threaten to kill her if she doesn’t give up Gojou’s location.
She doesn’t say anything. What would she say, if she did?
…
Gojou comes. It’s obvious when he does.
This time, he has no leash or moral compass. His “everything” has already been shunned by the society that raised him, after all – why should he give a shit about anyone else anymore?
It’s overwhelming and oppressive, the raw power he releases above Shouko’s head, splattering human blood all over walls that are promptly torn into shreds. Shouko isn’t really conscious enough to register what’s happening; they haven’t really been feeding her, and they’ve been keeping her awake for extended periods.
When Gojou finds her, she’s huddled in a ball, lying in a puddle of her own tears and urine and who knows what else. He bends down to her level and kneels the same way he did months ago. This time, he’s begging for forgiveness.
Shouko isn’t really conscious enough to know what’s going on, isn’t really conscious enough to understand what’s happening when Gojou unlocks her cage and frees her.
She is conscious enough to know that she tugs on his sleeve when he starts to leave. She is conscious enough to say “take me with you.”