Work Text:
“It’s just more complicated than that, you know?” Satoru Gojo, The Strongest, whined as he tossed a baseball up into the air.
A small part of Shoko wished the baseball would fall and sock him square in his blindfolded face and perhaps knock some sense into him. But so far prayers to the universe to set Satoru straight had never once happened in their many years of friendship. Shoko instead, reached for her cigarettes and quietly groaned as she realised dealing with her friend's ludicrous love life had resulted in her chain-smoking herself to being almost out.
“I don’t think it is. You’re making it more complicated than it needs to be. If you like him and want to get a bit more serious, say so.”
“Shoko,” Satoru whined throwing his head back before lifting it to pout at her. “You don’t understand, he’s so serious about what he wants in life. Marriage, maybe having kids. Stuff that’s all real big commitments… But all this sorcery stuff, he point blank refuses to let it back into his life, including me. Whenever we have talked about it, it’s never me he says he wants that stuff with. It will all be over if I ask him to get serious with me.”
Shoko snorted before lighting her penultimate cigarette. “Please, you two have been sneaking in and out of your rooms since you were teenagers. If it was going to blow up it would have by now.” She took her first drag and looked down at the pile of work that wasn’t getting done tonight since Satoru was sitting in her apartment whining. “All relationships are about compromise.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know that it’s the same with Suguru. No talking about work there either.” Satoru slid further down in his seat, sulking in thought until his phone made the familiar ‘Nanami Noise’, a god-awful exaggerated sound of a kiss. His phone was out in record time, his blindfold pulled up, a stupid grin plastered on his face.
Shoko faked a few gagging noises before getting up to go to the window to finish her cigarette. Satoru continued to smile like a schoolboy as he typed away the response. She watched as he typed and deleted several messages before sending a response. How the idiot couldn’t see how head over heels in love he was was almost impressive.
Well, he was The Strongest, not The Smartest.
“Speaking of Suguru, what’s his advice?”
“Fuck each other’s brains out was his first suggestion. Followed by proposing.” Satoru rolled his bright blue eyes, tucking his phone back away and getting to his feet. “Which is why I come to my most sensible friend!”
“The desperate single lesbian?” Shoko teased, stubbing out her cigarette and grabbing her jacket. “I need to resupply on smokes, judging from your excitement I’m guessing you have plans tonight?”
“Yep!” Satoru clapped his hands in front of himself, trying to find something to do with his excited energy. “Kento thinks he will be finishing work soon, so I’ll join you at the store. I need to get stuff to make my man a meal.”
Shoko raised an eyebrow. “You’re cooking for him?”
Satoru nodded, pulling out his phone and scrolling for recipes.
“Well, Haibara once told me that he won Kento over with food. Remember how grumpy and moody he was when he first started? We never saw him but could hear his awful loud angry music. So Haibara would share snacks with him after missions and they became friends.”
Shoko laughed and rubbed her forehead, remembering the beam of sunshine that was Haibara Yu. “Haibara, the Nanami Kento whisperer. Geez, can’t believe your best relationship advice is coming from a ghost.”
“If it works I will visit his grave and promise to name my firstborn after him.”
“No more Satoru Jr.?”
Satoru grinned and selected a recipe before saving the ingredient list for their shopping trip. “That was turned down pretty quickly.”
-
Satoru unlocked Kento’s front door and let out a small sigh at the sight that greeted him as he walked through the small space. Inside was the modest one-bedroom apartment the air was stale, the laundry basket overflowing and the trash and recycling beginning to pile up. Due to Kento's current schedule, Satoru hadn’t been by in a couple of weeks. Satoru knew his workload had recently been increased, and their budget for new hires had disappeared so the Salaryman now did the job of several people.
“Let’s get to it,” Satoru mumbled as he made his way to the kitchen, diligently unpacking the groceries into the bare fridge and deciding to start his cleaning adventure there.
Satoru selected his cleaning playlist, letting it play from his phone speaker as he set about a task he had done many times before.
The first time he had done this was after Haibara Yu had died. He had gone into Kento’s room, pushed him into a bath and began to meticulously clean up the depression hole that the blond had been wallowing in for close to a week. Opening windows, changing bedding, setting out clean comfortable clothes all for a boy he’d shared his first kiss with mere months before. When Kento returned to the room in his towel he had quietly thanked Satoru before falling into his bed with the white-haired teen.
That time had been a war of attrition that Satoru eventually lost when Nanami Kento finally left the school.
But Satoru had never truly been able to let go, he had kept tabs on his sort-of ex. When he heard where Kento was attending university, he would drop in each time he was sent that way (and if he took the missions of others just to go out there and see him that was no one else’s business).
Kento had barely managed to restrain his anger at seeing Satoru the first time, it had ended with the blond losing his security deposit on his shitty studio apartment for slamming the door so hard in Satoru’s face that he broke the frame. Satoru had ended up spending the night with Kento patching up the frame of Kento’s apartment, helping him sweep the random debris and then sitting around Kento’s second-hand kotatsu table eating instant ramen.
Not the romantic reunion that Satoru had imagined, but not as disastrous as his darkest moments had allowed him to imagine.
Satoru was shocked out of his reminiscence while hanging the laundry that couldn’t go in the dryer on the enclosed balcony. Kento stumbled down the hallway, not even bothering to put on the slippers that Satoru had located earlier. Kento dropped his jacket and satchel bag onto the sofa, his heavy eyes finding Satoru.
“I told you to stop cleaning, I’m not your responsibility.”
“You’re welcome,” Satoru responded, tilting his head and looking Kento’s hunched figure up and down. The bags under his eyes grew worse each day, pulling at Satoru’s heart in a way he wanted to ignore. “I’ve prepped most of the dinner, go shower and I’ll have it ready for you.”
As Satoru moved to brush past Kento in a petty passive-aggressive way, the salaryman’s arm shot out to grab him and hold him in place. Tired eyes looked up at Satoru and he felt the walls he had tried to build up over his life start to crumble.
“Thank you, Gojo.”
Satoru hoped it didn’t show on his face, giving his brightest smile and patting Kento’s slumped shoulder.
“Don’t mention it.”
-
Satoru scooped Kento off of the sofa and carried him to the bedroom. It said enough that the man didn’t stir at all. As he finished tucking the man into bed he pulled out his phone and checked his messages, a couple of rude messages of encouragement from Shoko and some from Yaga forwarding a mission to him after some other sorcerer had messed up and was up to him to fix.
Satoru slipped his glasses off and his blindfold on and grabbed his jacket, hoping he could make it back before morning if he was quick. Then he wouldn’t miss out on time with Kento.
The man he loved who wouldn’t even call Satoru by his given name.
-
Satoru stumbled down Kento’s apartment hallway, he was exhausted. Teleporting to and from the mission site, several curses of higher than anticipated level because, once again, the intel was wrong.
No bodies to return thankfully, one less piece of paperwork to do.
Satoru sat on the edge of the bathtub in Kento’s apartment, working up the energy to wash his body before dragging himself to bed for a few hours before Kento woke up. Satoru turned his body to run the bath and his eyes caught the shelf where he had left his toiletries the last time he was here.
It was a little thing, such a minor thing. It was something that happened before but something inside Satoru snapped. Kento had tidied him away, a man too tired to maintain his own home because of how overworked he was had found time to put Satoru’s toiletries away. Moving almost on autopilot Satoru made his way to the cupboard he knew they would be. As he thought they would be, Satoru reached into the back of the cabinet and pulled out the toiletry travel bag Kento had bought years before for Satoru to keep his things in back in the first tiny apartment Kento had lived.
Sitting on the bathroom floor and staring at the bag seemed to snap things into focus for Satoru. No matter how hard he tried to get close to Nanami Kento, as soon as he was gone he would be put out of mind. He didn’t know when his hands started to shake, but his vision blurred with tears soon after.
Satoru shook himself off and pulled himself to his feet, clutching the toiletry bag tightly and walked out of the bathroom. Once he made his way to the front door, he grabbed his slippers off his feet and slipped his shoes on. He knew he had other things scattered through the apartment. But nothing else mattered right now, he needed to leave.
Gojo Satoru finally understood there was no place for him in Nanami Kento’s life.
-
Shoko didn’t know what she did in life to deserve having the only classmates who ever reached out to see her being in an overly complicated romance. Well, that wasn’t entirely fair. She couldn’t go and hang out with Suguru without being executed for treason or whatever, but still.
She’d lost track of the beers she had drunk as Nanami sat across from her, staring down at his lap. He was nervous to broach the subject of Satoru. Shoko couldn’t blame him, Nanami wasn’t an especially social person. So to have the first time he’d asked to see Shoko in months be a ploy for romantic advice wasn’t a great look.
Satoru who hadn’t mentioned Kento, whose phone hadn’t made that godawful unique to Kento's text tone in weeks. Each time Shoko tried to ask how he was doing he would just smile at her and talk about his students or his two pseudo-adopted kids. Mentioning Nanami by name had caused the man to shrug dismissively, before diverting the conversation.
Shoko watched Kento agonise for a few more moments before putting down her glass and deciding to take pity on him.
“Why aren’t you and Satoru talking? Did you reject him and now you regret it?”
“I haven’t rejected him at all.” Kento dragged a hand over his face and hunched forward over his drink. “He came to my place, cleaned, cooked me dinner and when I woke up he was gone. I tried to call him but he’d blocked my number.”
“Huh… That isn’t what I expected.” Shoko picked up her glass and took a sip. “I thought you rejected him after he spoke to you about your weird situationship.”
“Situationship?” Kento frowned and stared into his glass. “I wouldn’t describe it like that.”
“Well, I would, because I have had to deal with Satoru in my office treating me like a therapist because he wants to be with you but all your issues with him are related to his job.”
Kento hung his head in shame, it was true that every reason he’d had for not making anything more official or serious with Satoru was from fear of having to let the world of sorcery back into his life. Satoru wasn’t just some sorcerer, he was the strongest, the head of a high-ranking clan within the society. His whole identity was tied up within the world of sorcery and curses.
“You have no problem talking to me, or being with Satoru but you keep making this sorcery stuff an issue. Neither of us has ever tried to drag you back to it.” Shoko continued before she reached for her cigarettes and offered one to Kento who accepted. “You need to work through your shit and stop making Satoru chase you.”
“I’m not making him chase me.” Kento objected, accepting the lighter Shoko offered to light his cigarette.
“Just sort your shit out, I love you both. But I did not bust my ass in medical school to become a therapist.” Shoko pulled her phone out of her pocket and pulled up Satoru’s contact information. “I will only call him here if you promise you’re ready to do something about your feelings for each other.”
Kento shot his hand out to Shoko, gently clasping her wrist that held the phone. His eyes were full of fear and staring at her phone. Shoko raised her eyebrow at the distressed blond.
“No, ask him to meet tomorrow morning for coffee. I need time to figure out what I’m going to say.”
Shoko nodded her head in agreement, texting Satoru about going for breakfast together the next day. Satoru quickly agreed, sharing several different options with Shoko. She selected one and promised to meet him at 8 am the next day.
Once she was finished arranging things with Satoru she looked up at Kento who was now staring into an empty beer glass with a worried look on his face. Sighing, she reached over to a pile of napkins and grabbed a pen out of her handbag before leaning forward close to Kento.
“Let’s do some study prep for your date tomorrow.”
-
Satoru speed walked down the street towards the cafe where he was meeting Shoko for breakfast. He knows she’s trying to help cheer him up and honestly, he could use it. Between having his heart stomped on, dealing with the higher-ups and breaking up fights both at home and at the school he worked at; the idea of sitting with Shoko and stuffing his face with sweets sounded great.
Once he was within a few feet of the cafe he felt a familiar energy, but it wasn’t Shoko’s. He next spotted the familiar blond hair and frame standing outside the restaurant over the edge of his sunglasses. Satoru stopped in his tracks, staring at the man he’d been avoiding for weeks.
Satoru could turn and walk in the opposite direction, he could continue to ignore the man he had been infatuated with for years. Continue to hope that his heart would eventually heal, focus on his students and maybe one day find love again. But his body moved before he could decide, he was walking towards Kento almost feeling like a moth drawn to the flame.
Had he continued to hold out hope that something would eventually change since this rift had grown between them? Was he foolish for thinking that one day Kento would snap out of this depression and see Satoru as an option?
“G-Satoru, I’m sorry for the deception.” Kento tried to hold eye contact with the blue-eyed man before lifting a bouquet of blue lilies. “Please, have lunch with me and allow me to begin to apologise for everything I put you through?”
Satoru slowly reached out to take the lilies, taking in their bright blue colour, similar to the colour of his own eyes. He found himself somewhat speechless, a little in shock by Kento being here at all. He looked up from the flowers to Kento’s face and was surprised to see that he looked nervous. Eventually, he found his voice and replied.
“Sure, that sounds good.”
“Thank you,” Kento let out the breath he had been holding, before grabbing the door to the cafe and holding it open for Satoru. “After you.”
They awkwardly shuffled into the cafe to a table that Kento had reserved for them, they sat in silence as they looked over the menus—only speaking to order before being left alone by the waiter. Once they were alone the awkward silence became unbearable, Satoru desperately tried to think of something to say to break the ice. Even though he had been the one to walk away, watching Kento struggle to speak made his chest ache.
“I’m sorry-”
“How’s work-”
Satoru laughed at how they had started to speak at the same time, both breaking the silence. Kento covered his face in embarrassment. Satoru shook his head and held his hand out, gesturing for Kento to speak.
“Thank you,” Kento sat up a little straighter and looked Satoru in the eye. “I just wanted to apologise because I feel like you have made all of the effort in maintaining both our relationship and my life. You didn’t have to do that, and I have taken for granted all you’ve done for me. So thank you for all the kindness you’ve shown me and I hope if you… If you give me another chance I can show you the same kindness in return and earn your forgiveness.”
“Wow, um. That’s a lot.” Satoru sat back, lifting his eyes from Kento looking up at the ceiling and thinking for a moment before speaking; a real moment of personal growth for him. “I don’t want you to think that everything I did was to earn appreciation. I do it because I care about you, you’ve been so unhappy for years. I’ve respected all the decisions you’ve made for your life, I think you shouldn’t have to be a sorcerer. If you want something else for your life you should have that. I just wished I could have been a part of your life.”
Kento reached his hand across the table and placed it over Satoru’s own, gently squeezing his hand. “Do you no longer want that?”
“No, I still do. But… I guess I’m tired of that even with someone who doesn’t want to be a sorcerer, I’m still seen as nothing but one. I thought things could have been different with you.” Satoru shrugged his shoulder hoping that he didn’t sound so weak.
Kento squeezed Satoru’s hand tighter, his head turning downwards in embarrassment.
“Satoru, I’m so sorry I made you feel that way. Please allow me to correct my mistakes. I want to earn back your affection and show myself worthy of yours. I want to show that I can be worthy of being your partner, not the selfish man I’ve been all these years.”
Satoru’s eyes widened in surprise, he’d never seen Kento like this. He looked so uncomfortable but at the same time so earnest. Satoru moved his hand to link their fingers together and leaned forward across the table and closer to Kento. He gave Kento’s hand a gentle squeeze and smiled at the man across from him.
“How about we just start over?” Satoru suggested, waiting for Kento to meet his gaze. “Start fresh and move on from the past. I don’t want you falling all over yourself trying to make it up to me. As funny as that might be.”
“That works for me, but I still feel I should do a little more grovelling to make it up to you.”
“Eh, that works for me.” Satoru grinned, enjoying that Kento returned it with a small smile. “Maybe you can start by encouraging me to skip work and go to your place.”
Kento laughed, nodding his head. “I think that’s agreeable.”
Satoru grinned widely, leaning across the table and not caring who saw as he pressed his lips against Kento’s, feeling the other man’s smile melt as he returned the kiss. Satoru pulled back and looked at the blush on Kento’s cheeks.
“Oh, Kento, if that made you blush I’m worried how you’re going to keep up with me after the dry spell I’ve had.”
The blond shushed him as their food approached, Satoru falling back into his seat with a cackle. Kento awkwardly thanked the person serving their food without eye contact. Satoru grinned as he rubbed Kento’s inner thighs with his foot. Once they were alone Kento grabbed Satoru’s ankle.
“I feel as if I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
“Aww, I’m sorry. Once we get back I’ll make it up to you.” Satoru promised, giving Kento an exaggerated wink as he dug into his food.