Chapter Text
The courtyard of Tokyo Jujutsu High was one of your favorite places to be.
No matter the season, the fresh air calmed your nerves and eased your stress. The creases formed on the skin of your forehead throughout the day disappear as you watch the willow trees sway in the wind.
In the spring , you find your way out here after a long day of classes.
Subconsciously making your way to the small patches of wildflowers growing in the fields surrounding the school. You could easily spend hours out here picking out the most beautiful flowers for your makeshift bouquet, making sure not a petal was out of place on any of them.
Said bouquet would usually end up on sensei Yaga’s desk, a token of gratitude at the end of every week for dealing with so many unruly teenage sorcerers. You weren’t sure what kind of flowers your teacher liked, but he also greeted you with a sincere ‘thank you’ , and a smile that seemed out of place on the grumpy man’s face.
Today was quite the same. Every Friday you had the same routine as you waited for Ieiri and Utahime to be finished with their class as well.
You kneel down in the grass and pluck one from the stem. It’s a Amur Adonis flower, Utahime’s favorite. The bright yellow color stands out amongst the other plants in the area making them easy to spot for you to pick. Utahime had always told you how these flowers brought good luck when planted and you used that excuse to plant some of your very own in the courtyard of the school. In reality, you loved how her face would light up whenever you handed her one, no matter how annoying Gojo had been that day.
It compelled you to sneak down to the flower shop located 10 minutes from the school and plant the flowers all around the sprawling fields of the compound. She never failed to remind you that it was her favorite birthday gift she ever received, being able to look out the window and be greeted by the sight of her favorite flowers.
Shoko was a little harder to find a flower for.
She always told you she never had a favorite flower. They were ‘too girly’ to her and she ‘didn’t want to look after one if it would just die anyway’, so you were stuck guessing which flower she would love the most.
It came with many errors, like assuming she would like the bright colored flower just like Utahime (she didn’t). Even the cherry blossoms didn’t interest her one bit,
“I see them everywhere, they’re nothing special.”
And while she was always thankful and gave you a tight hug for thinking of her, her eyes never lit up the way Utahime’s did. And you had made it your mission to make that happen.
After a few weeks of trying the brightest flowers you could possibly find, you realized it didn’t really fit Shoko. With Ieiri, the plainer the better. So one Friday you strolled up to your friend, Snake Gourd flower in hand and her eyes finally lit up the way you wanted. Of course she would love the weirdest flower you could find, that was definitely Shoko.
So, with your newfound knowledge of your friends’ favorite flowers, you passed the 45 minutes you had to wait by meticulously picking the most perfect flower you could for them.
The snake gourds seemed to be evading you this week. The few you stumbled across had tears in the petals or were half eaten from the woodland critters needing a snack. You still had 23 minutes until your friends were done and the ticking time made you search even harder.
You’re so consumed in your task that you don’t recognize the two blobs of cursed energy nearing towards you. If you weren’t so preoccupied you would have sensed them the moment they stepped foot outside.
“Yoohoo!” The sudden voice coming from your left nearly makes you jump out of your skin. You let out a surprised yelp as the yellow flower in your hand falls to the ground. You bring your hand (that used to have the flower in it) to your chest as it rises rapidly.
“Gojo! You scared me half to death!” The sorcerer can barely hear you over his own laughs. His eyes crinkle behind his sunglasses as his hand rests on his stomach. He doubles over as he continues to laugh, struggling to get a full breath into his lungs.
Geto stands behind him, and while he has a smirk on his face he walks next to you and kneels down to pick up the flower. He inspects it quickly to make sure it wasn’t damaged before placing it in your awaiting hands.
“Here you go, (y/n).”
“Thank you, Suguru.” You give him a grateful smile as you glance over the flower yourself. Suguru knew how much you liked giving your friends flowers and didn’t waste the searching you had done before he and his knuckle-headed friend had come out here.
Geto stands to his full height before smacking Gojo on the back of his head. This causes the white-haired man to almost immediately stop laughing as he tries to retaliate but never hits his mark.
With Suguru’s easy dodge of his attack, Gojo focuses his attention back on you. You’re still kneeled down on the grass, but you watch the two of them with an amused smirk. Gojo matches your expression as he, now, is crouched beside you.
“You should’ve seen your face sweetheart, that was hilarious.” He lets out another laugh as you roll your eyes and push his shoulder away, almost making him lose his balance.
“You almost ruined my flower, Gojo.”
“Aw, I’m sorry,” He pinches your cheek lightly at your blank expression, surprised when you don’t try to push him back again, “Do you want me to pick you another one?”
“You’ll just ruin that one too.”
“Shut up, Suguru!” Gojo picks up a random rock lying next to him and throws it at his friend. Once again, Geto dodges it with ease and throws it back only for it to bounce off an invisible wall surrounding Gojo.
“ Stupid technique .” It’s mumbled under Suguru’s breath, but you both hear it. You let out a little laugh while Gojo just sticks his tongue out at the other man.
“Seriously though, do you need another flower?” Your heart flutters at his words. He’s looking into your eyes over where his glasses rest on his nose as he awaits your answer. You almost get lost in the ocean that is Gojo Satoru’s eyes before you snap yourself out of it, not wanting to embarrass yourself in front of your two friends.
“Luckily, this one is okay,” You inspect the flower one more time before poking Gojo in the chest with your finger, “Or you would have been in big trouble, mister.”
“Ooo, I like the sound of that, what would you do to me?” Gojo leans in until his nose is practically touching your cheek. You can feel his breath on your skin and you try to ignore the heat you feel creeping up your cheeks.
“Don’t be gross.” Another rock comes flying Gojo’s way from Suguru. And even though it bounces off his infinity it distracts him enough to back up from your personal space. And while you don’t mind having Gojo close, it gives you an opportunity to get your breathing under control before he can see how he affects you.
The two of them bicker back and forth as you continue to search for the elusive flower. You stand as you look for another part of the field to pick through and the two boys follow you without question.
You make your way to the big willow tree near the center of the field, which Gojo so affectionately named ‘Big Will’. The base is surrounded by flowers of all shapes and sizes, and right in the middle is a perfect snake gourd flower, as if it was placed there just for you.
A beaming smile etches across your face as you hurriedly go to pick it off the stem. The boys trail behind and end up in front of you as soon as you stand back up from picking the flower. You extend your hands and show off the delicate thing in your hands, your crowning prize.
“Isn’t this flower just perfect?” Your eyes shimmer in the sunlight as you wait for an answer from the two boys. Geto nods his head with a smile as he inspects the flower in your hands, gently feeling the petals under his fingertips.
“It is very pretty.” Your smile grows at Suguru’s words, still waiting to hear from Gojo to his left. When he doesn’t respond you turn your attention back to Suguru, explaining to him about the flower and how long it took you to find one Shoko liked.
He comments every now and then to let you know he’s still listening, but other than that he keeps his eyes trained on you with his smile never faltering. Gojo…doesn’t like it.
He feels his chest tightening at the sight before him, his hands clenching on their own accord as he can’t help the small frown that etches into his face. He can’t help but cringe at the sickly sweet smile you’re giving him, and the one Geto seems to be returning to you.
Why are you smiling at Suguru like that? Why aren’t you smiling at him instead? And why can’t he just answer your stupid question?
Gojo doesn’t understand why he’s getting so worked up right now, all you did was ask a question about a flower and he’s acting like a child. He clears his throat and takes a few deep breaths, trying his best to clear his mind of those thoughts. They’re still there, but at least he’s conscious enough to actually answer the question you asked 5 minutes ago.
“Yeah it’s pretty cool, I guess.” Gojo can’t help the slight attitude creeping through his tone. You raise your eyebrow as you recognize something might be wrong, but he turns from you before you can actually ask him. How embarrassing would it be to admit why he’s slightly annoyed?
“Lame ass response.” Geto chuckles next to him with an amused smirk on his lips as he elbows Gojo’s side. Normally, it wouldn’t annoy him but now that he’s got something else he’s griping about his annoyance shows through.
“Shut up, Geto.” Gojo slightly pushes his friend away from him causing him to stumble back a few steps.
“What the hell, Gojo?” When Geto reorients himself he pushes him back just as he had before. Geto wasn’t expecting to actually hit him, with his infinity and all, so he used much more force then he really needed to.
“Guys-”
The force sent Gojo falling back onto the ground below him with a disgruntled sound. His sunglasses have fallen onto the grass next to him as he narrows his eyes at Geto standing above him. Geto’s surprised expression only serves to piss the sorcerer off more as he lunges at Suguru, tackling him onto the field as they try to wrestle each other onto the ground.
However, Gojo being too distracted by his own annoyance at you and Suguru earlier didn’t realize that the delicate flower you had been searching for for the past half an hour was now in Suguru’s hands. The man had taken it from your hands for a better look when Gojo had snapped out of his daze and answered your question.
Had the taller man not spaced out, or listened to you as you tried to break them up before this happened, he wouldn’t have to have heard your panicked voice trying to get them to be more careful,
“Satoru stop!” Your raised voice is enough to snap Gojo out of his angered state. He whips his head to the side to see your eyes blown wide as you frantically look all around the two of them for your flower.
Geto takes this opportunity to throw the lengthy man off of him to the side, only to reveal the crushed flower right next to where his hand had been. Two of the petals have fallen off, another one is bent to all hell, and the last fews’ curled tendrils have either disappeared or been completely smashed by the weight of the two men.
“No…” your voice is shaky as you kneel down next to the broken plant. You sound close to crying as you lift the pieces you can gather and inspect them up close, “I looked for this for so long.”
“(Y/n) I-”
“It’s your fault, Satoru!” Geto’s voice interrupts the other man, but you don’t listen to either of them.
Today had been stressful, to say the least. Yaga wasn’t in the best mood so he was hard on everyone, but especially you. It’s hard to pick on Satoru and Suguru since they’re already so strong, Shoko just doesn’t care, and Utahime never really does anything wrong to yell about.
So that left you to bear the weight of Yaga’s bad mood, meaning anything and everything you did was wrong. Dealing with that for two hours of class had your mind elsewhere, and your next teacher noticed you spacing out and called you out on it. Because of course they would. Said teacher embarrassed you in front of the small class and then made you stay late after it had ended just to lecture you about ‘how important it is to stay focused,’ for 20 minutes straight.
And that was just before lunch.
Not to mention you tried to treat yourself to something nice to make up for your shitty morning, just to find your favorite ramen shop had closed. Looking for flowers for your dear friends was really the only thing you had been looking forward to the whole day, just for the boys (mainly Satoru) to ruin it.
Gojo and Geto continue to bicker back and forth behind you as you feel tears build in your eyes. You bite your lip to try and stop it from wobbling, but it’s no use. You blink once as the first tear falls, numerous others following as they argue back and forth, unaware.
“I didn’t know you had the flower!”
“Pay attention then!”
“You know what fuck you Sug-”
“What are you boys arguing about?” Shoko and Utahime appear from the side door of the school, arms interlocked as they make their way towards the three of you. The two boys turn to them as they yell over each other about what happened and who’s wrong. Neither of the girls really listen.
They don’t see your tearful eyes until they’re practically right in front of you. Their eyes widen at your state; your head is hanging as you sniffle every few seconds. Shoko lifts your chin up with her finger just to be met with your red eyes and splotchy cheeks.
“What happened?!” Shoko and Utahime shout at the same time, eyes darting back and forth across your face. Their synchronization finally gets the two boys behind you to shut up as they’re much more interested in your recount of events. What they don’t expect is for your voice to come out so shaky, muffled by your sleeve as you wipe your nose through sniffles.
Gojo quickly moves so he’s standing in front of you. He lets out a little gasp as he sees you, praying you wouldn’t hate him for making you this sad over a flower.
“I spent so long looking for this flower for you,” You hold up your cupped hands to show the two girls the mangled flower, “And Satoru crushed it.”
“I-I didn’t mean to!”
Neither Shoko or Utahime respond. They glance at each other, as if reading each other’s mind, before turning back to you. Shoko places her hands on your shoulders as she forces you to look at her.
“You had a bad day, didn’t you?” Your eyes widen as you stare at her for a few seconds before you let out a pathetic sob and collapse into her chest. She wraps her arms around you and gives you a tight squeeze and Utahime rubs your back soothingly.
“It was horrible! And then these two ruin your flower I picked for you, I’m sorry Shoko.” Gojo’s heart starts to break as he listens to your muffled cries. Of course, he had to be the one to ruin your day even more when all he wanted was for you to pay more attention to him, not Suguru.
He glances up and makes eye contact with his friend who looks equally as guilty as Satoru feels right now. They stare for a few seconds, already having gotten over their little spat, as they realize this whole situation is kind of both their faults.
(There’s no doubt that it’s more Satoru’s fault, but Geto is willing to let it go for now to cheer you up)
Shoko keeps you close to her until your cries die down into just sniffles. Her steady heartbeat underneath your ear brings you a level of comfort you didn’t know it could as you finish crying out all your feelings of the day.
You pull back a minute later and wipe your face one last time before you look at the two girls in front of you. Utahime’s yellow flower lies next to you, and you gently pick it up to hand it to her. She gives you a big smile as she takes it, sniffing the center for that comforting scent she adores so much. You smile back at her before it falls from your face as you look at Shoko again.
“I’m sorry I don’t have a flower for you.”
“Don’t apologize, it was satoru’s fault-”
“Hey!”
“And there’s always next week, okay?” You take a deep breath and nod at her, a soft smile flashing on your face. She returns the smile with a small laugh before grabbing your arm and helping you stand. You lightly dust off any dirt on your uniform as you get to your feet
“Let’s go get mochi! A new place opened up in Ginza, I heard it’s really good!” Utahime locks her arms with yours as she excitedly pulls you away from the rest of the group. You laugh as she pulls you along, ranting about this new place and everything she’s heard about it.
“Wait for me!” Shoko runs to catch up with you two, interlocking her arm with your free one before walking in tandem with you two.
“Can I come?”
“No Satoru!” They swing around and narrow their eyes, Utahime even gives him a sinister smirk just to remind him of how much she doesn’t like him. Gojo bites the inside of his lip but stays quiet, not wanting to upset you or the other two girls anymore.
Eventually you turn around, mouthing a quick ‘sorry’ to him with a sheepish smile. Gojo can’t help how his heart jumps, only you would say sorry to him after he (inadvertently) made you cry. He waves you off, as a ‘don’t worry about it’ and sends you back a smile as well.
“Making the girl you like cry is not going to go well for you, Satoru.”
“Shut up Geto!”
—
The following day was much less eventful.
Usually you and all your friends would go out and have fun, like most students do, and try to sneak back in without waking up Yaga (or Nanami, he loved to snitch on Gojo). You were used to Satoru barging in your room to wake you up so you guys could all do something fun.
Today, though, you weren’t rudely awakened by the door sliding open widely. The curtains weren’t pulled open so the sun shone in your eyes, and you weren’t greeted by Gojo’s smiling face when you first opened your eyes.
It was…odd to say the least.
Waking up after 9 a.m. was something that never happened when Gojo Satoru was around. He was an early bird, and he forced everyone around him to be one as well.
You shake off the odd feeling of sleeping in and head down to the courtyard. You’ve always loved the feeling of the morning air against your skin as the birds greet you. It’s a little later than you’re used to, but relaxing under one of the weeping willows is relaxing any time of day.
Your thumb flips the page of the book resting in your lap, biting your nail as you get to a rather juicy part of the plot. You hear the faint sound of grass crunching as someone makes their way to you.
“Have you seen Satoru at all?” Shoko’s voice drags your attention out of your book. Her hands are on her hips as her foot taps on the ground, impatient as always.
“Uh, no I haven’t actually,” You shut the book after placing your bookmark to give her your full attention, “Did something happen?”
“No, it’s just…odd not being bugged by him.” You giggle at her words, everyone is bothered by Gojo but they all love him the same.
“I know what you mean, I actually feel like I got a full night’s sleep without him waking me up early.”
“Yeah he doesn’t seem to understand that not everyone likes to wake up at the crack of dawn.” Shoko has been through it worse than you, with her room only being down the hall from Gojo’s. Your room is the farthest and those few extra minutes of sleep you get is something Shoko will always envy you for.
“He means well.”
“That’s debatable,” Her hands fall to her sides as she sits down next to you, leaning her back onto the trunk of the tree as she lets out a sigh, “You can keep reading, that’s all I wanted to know.”
“Alright, maybe when I finish this chapter we can get something to eat.” She drops her head onto your shoulder with a grateful sigh, wrapping her hands around your bicep and giving it a tight squeeze.
“Thank God, I’m starving.”
—
“Isn’t today just awesome ?” Utahime bumps your shoulder as she rounds the table you, Shoko, and Geto are seated at. The sudden movement causes your noodles to fall from between your chopsticks, splashing your uniform with drops of broth when they hit the bowl.
“Thanks Uta.” The mumbled words go ignored by your friend as she plops in the seat next to you. She snatches the chopsticks from between your fingers, quickly taking a bite of your meal before you could even render what’s happening.
“What's got you so happy?” Suguru interrupts your angry muttering, tapping Utahime’s leg with his foot under the table.
“I don’t know,” She places her chin onto her hand as she looks thoughtfully out the window of the sitting room. The bright yellow flowers greet her as her smile only seems to grow, “Today’s just been a great day!”
Shoko snorts from her left. Her cigarette hangs from her lips as soft wisps of smoke extend from the end. Geto’s hand shoots out from the side to steal it from her mouth, puffing it a few times with, surprisingly, no argument from Ieiri.
“One day without Satoru gets you this happy?”
“Huh,” Utahime blinks, her face twisting up in thought, “I hadn’t even realized the lack of Gojo-ness today.”
The three of you chuckle at her words. For once she doesn’t have stress lines gracing her forehead and cheeks, and her voice seems to have an airy lift to it that you’ve never noticed before.
Shoko steals her cigarette back from between Geto’s lips, taking one last inhale before extinguishing it on the ashtray in front of her. She goes to light another one but Utahime snatches it from her fingers before she can get anywhere near her mouth.
“Don’t ruin my day with this, Shoko.”
“You really should quit, it’s not healthy.” Your brows furrow in worry as you stare at her. Utahime matches your expression, shifting to her best puppy dog eyes to try and convince her friend to drop the habit. All you’re met with a scoff and a roll of her eyes as she refuses to make eye contact with the two of you.
“I wish Satoru was here,” She sighs as dramatically as she can, shaking her head as she speaks, “He wouldn’t be bothering me this much.”
“We all know that’s not true.” Suguru’s deadpan tone makes you giggle. You can only imagine how much Satoru would bug Shoko, or all of you for that matter, if he were here. If you’re honest you’ve missed his teasing, you’re not so sure you can say the same for your friends.
“Whatever.”
“I wonder where he is,” You fiddle with your fingers as you think of where he could be. You had never gone this long without hearing from Satoru, whether it was an (unwelcome) wake up alarm or a sweet text asking about your day. It was the little things that you looked forward to that you were missing so much today, “I hope he’s okay.”
“Satoru is out doing Satoru things, us normal people wouldn’t get it.”
“Yeah (Y/n), no point in worrying about him he’ll be fine.” You stay quiet, picking at the food left in your bowl. You hope he’ll come back okay. There was no word of a mission or any rampant curses that had to be taken down.
What else could be keeping him for this long?
—
There’s no further mention of Satoru, though he’s occupying your mind for the rest of the day. You can’t seem to get rid of the itch in the back of your mind wondering where the hell he could be.
It’s late, so late the only light illuminating the ground around you is from the stars above. The courtyard is almost completely still, the only sounds greeting you are the hooting owls from the drooping branches of the trees.
You study the constellations above you, trying to pick out all the ones Satoru had told you about. You remember in your first year at the school being dragged outside by an overeager sorcerer, practically tripping over yourself trying to keep up with his pace.
You can still remember how his eyes shimmered in the moonlight, captivating you every time you guys made eye contact. Those eyes were truly something, even without their power they would have anyone weak in the knees from his gaze.
Everytime you looked at the night sky you remembered that night. And as if Gojo Satoru himself was going to come out of nowhere and quiz you, you recited them over and over until you knew them like the back of your hand.
You’re lost in your thoughts, switching between watching the stars and picking the grass beneath you. You twirl the blades between your fingers before laying them in a neat line on your uniform’s skirt.
“How’d I know I could find you out here?” The sudden interruption to the peaceful silence startles you. The yelp you let out is nothing if not embarrassing as you whirl around to see the man you had been looking for all day standing behind you.
“Satoru! Where have you been?” You can’t help but smile up at him as he stands before you with his hands behind his back. He still has his sunglasses on, but they’re pushed down his nose so he can meet your gaze with his own.
He has a small smile on his face, almost as if he’s nervous but trying not to show it. Satoru has never been known to be anything but confident, so in the moment it’s hard to figure out what he’s really feeling.
“Just…out.”
“All day? You didn’t even text or anything, I was worried.” Your brows pinch together as you question him, you don’t appreciate his short answer and you’re prepared to scold him even more if he continues.
“Aw don’t worry about me sweetheart,” He takes one arm from behind his back to wrap around your shoulder. He gives you a tight squeeze as his usual beaming smile forms on his lips once again, “You know I’m the strongest right?”
“You’re still a student, Satoru,” You roll your eyes but still melt into his embrace, leaning your head on the side of his chest as you get as close to him as possible, “Now, are you going to answer my question?”
His expression morphs back into that reserved grin he had earlier. He lets you go and takes a step away, wiping his hand on his pants to get rid of any sweat that might have been there. He takes a few deep breaths in before finally moving his other hand from behind his back.
Your eyes widen as you're met with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, snake gourd flowers to be exact. There are some ferns and baby’s breath scattered around them, but you don’t focus on them. Your eyes stay glued to the flowers staring back at you. You can’t seem to form any words as Satoru nervously shifts his weight back and forth at your silence.
“Satoru…I don’t know what to say.” You gently grab the bouquet from his hands, inhaling the calming scent from the flowers. The sweetest smile forms on your face, one that makes Gojo’s cheeks turn the slightest bit pink.
“I uh, went all over the city looking for them,” He nervously rubs the back of his neck as he speaks, “You wouldn’t believe how rare those things are.”
“You spent all day just looking for these? For me?” You feel your heart flutter as he nods. He bites his lip, not trusting his voice to come out evenly if he were to speak with how you're smiling at him now. His own heart is racing against his ribcage as he watches you, “You really should give these to Shoko instead.”
He scoffs at your mumbled comment. He didn’t care about Shoko getting her flower, he cared about you and making up for your day he ruined. Besides, it wasn’t Satoru that gave Shoko flowers all the time, it was you.
“Well I wanted to make up for making you cry, I really am sorry about that by the way.” His brows crease together, frown lines appearing on his face that you think have no place there. Gojo Satoru is meant to smile, at least in your eyes.
“It’s okay I think I overreacted-”
“No! I ruined your flower, it’s all my fault, don't try and blame yourself,” His hand rests on your shoulder to try and get you to look at him. When it’s obvious you’re too preoccupied with staring at the flowers, his fingers hook under your chin to force you to finally meet his gaze, “I’m so sorry I made you cry, I hope you can forgive me.”
He’s so close you can practically see the color swimming in his eyes. His fingers still rest under your chin as he leans in closer, if you leaned in any closer you would be able to feel his breath fan over your face.
You swear you forget to breathe for a second. He’s so close you can smell the expensive cologne sprayed on the bottom of his neck, and you can see each of his annoyingly long eyelashes flutter every time he blinks.
“I forgive you Satoru.” Your voice is nothing but a mere whisper, it tickles his skin as the air carries between the two of you. A smile slowly creeps over his face the longer he stares at you.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” He taps your cheek lovingly before he stands at his full height, grabbing your hand to pull you inside behind him, “Now we have to get to sleep, need you fully rested for the totally awesome day I have planned for tomorrow!”
You giggle as you almost trip over yourself trying to keep up, you get the strongest feeling of deja vu as you remember your shared night under the stars 3 years ago.
“What if I already had plans?” Satoru doesn’t even bother turning around, waving off the idea as if it was utter nonsense (it was).
“I have to make up for not seeing you today,” He pauses as he arrives at your dorm, pushing the door open so you could walk through. He stands in the doorway as you heave off your uniform jacket, leaving you in just a white t-shirt and your skirt, “And I’ll let you know, attendance is mandatory.”
He cuts you off before you can even think of replying. He starts to slide the door shut, slowly disappearing from your line of sight.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early!”
He’s running off down the hallway before you could even react. You giggle like a little school girl as you finally let your giddiness out. Having Satoru so close, and him saying those sweet things to you makes you feel things you’ve never felt before.
And oh, how much you yearn to feel them all the time.