Chapter Text
The ride back was very quiet, mostly because the moment that the adrenaline from the meeting wore off, Satoru and Suguru’s fatigue kicked in with a vengeance. It had been the most activity either of them had seen since their return. Suguru had just wanted to go back home after, but then Satoru reminded him that they had to drop Yuuta off at school so he could get home safely, and Satoru wanted him to see Shoko.
Which was fair, he does still have two open stab wounds, plugged with knives though they may be.
So Suguru had settled for slumping against Satoru in the backseat, exhausted and in pain, eyelids getting heavier and heavier. Satoru has his arms crossed, and he might already be asleep, Suguru can’t tell. He nudges him to test. Satoru looks over at him, not asleep after all.
“So,” Suguru begins, smiling slyly. He pulls himself upright to look Satoru in the eye. Or, well, the blindfold. “How does it feel to be a curse user?”
“Honestly? Fitting,” Satoru says, not sounding all that upset. He’s calmed down from how livid he was after getting out of the meeting, to Suguru’s surprise. Maybe it’s the fatigue. “I’m not as surprised as I thought I would be. It’s exactly the kind of shitbag move those crusty assholes would make. Just funny to think about how shocked me of a few years ago would be. Still pissed though.”
“Finally got you to join me,” Suguru says, smirking triumphantly, and Satoru laughs. Good. He’d been getting too into his head. “Or, stoop to my level maybe.”
“Curse user?” Ijichi asks shakily from the front seat, next to Yuuta.
“So it’s true,” Okkotsu murmurs. “I had heard things, but….”
“Sure is,” Satoru says, way too cheerfully. Okkotsu frowns. “Oh, don’t give me that look. This doesn’t change anything.”
“How does it not change anything?” Okkotsu says, voice tense.
“Because it’s politics,” Suguru says, and Okkotsu looks over at him, narrowing his eyes slightly. Suguru ignores it and barrels on. “Satoru was gone, and they wanted it to stay that way. But now he’s not. He’s a curse user because they wanted to, ‘and stay out!’ him.” Okkotsu looks unimpressed, which makes Satoru snicker. “Think of it this way, Okkotsu. Do you think you could exile Satoru to his face?”
Okkotsu frowns again, but this time Suguru can tell that it’s because he’s thinking. “No,” he says at last. “I would have to be able to enforce it. And I can’t do that. Without the ability to make you obey, it would just be words.”
“Very good, Yuuta! That’s exactly what happened,” Satoru says. “They got too cocky because of my absence.”
“They could just put pressure on your students to make you obey,” Ijichi points out, not looking back in the rear view mirror. He’s still afraid of making eye contact with Suguru, which Suguru thinks is hilarious. “Like Itadori, or Fushiguro. Aren’t you his legal guardian? They could call that into question.”
Satoru groans. “Gloom and doom, gloom and doom! We won, Ijichi, we should be celebrating.” Ijichi grimaces. “Yes, fine. That’s a possibility. In fact, I expect them to cause problems for me. They’re not gonna take this lying down, but I’m not alone anymore. I’ve got Suguru.” To emphasize this, he bumps Suguru’s shoulder and grins at him.
Suguru smiles back and squeezes his arm. Personally, he thinks “problems” is a bit of an understatement, but that’s fine, Suguru also has a say now. Satoru is good at many things, but diplomacy is definitely not one of them.”Yep.”
“Together, we can weather all that,” Satoru finishes, winding an arm around his waist.
Okkotsu flaps his hand at them. “Okay, what exactly happened in there? You never said.”
With that, Satoru launches into a rambly account of what happened with the Higher-Ups. Suguru would chime in sometimes to provide details here and there, but otherwise he left it to Satoru and ended up drifting off on his shoulder.
Yuuta wanders off the moment they get to the school, muttering something about “the others”, which leaves Satoru and Suguru to make their way to Shoko on their own. Suguru had fallen asleep in the car, and getting out of the car, he’d kept wincing.
“You sure you don’t need me to carry you?” Satoru says teasingly, but he’s not joking. He remembers all too well when Suguru couldn’t even make it across the bedroom by himself. It wasn’t too long ago. It’s odd to think how far they’ve come since then.
Suguru grimaces and straightens up from where he’d been leaning over the car. “No, I’m fine. I’ve felt worse pain, this is tolerable. Let’s go.”
Satoru eyes the knives sticking out of him, but decides to leave it be. He follows him up to the school as Ijichi drives away behind him, probably eager to get home. It’s so late at night that it’s looped right around to early in the morning. He’s getting tired himself, yet another reminder that the effects of the prison realm won’t go away overnight. But he’s getting better.
“What do you think Shoko’s gonna say when she finds out we’re together now?” Satoru had forgotten about it, but it’s worth discussing before they get to Shoko’s office.
Suguru groans, looking queasy. “She’s never gonna let us hear the end of it. Fuck. You think we should tell her when we get there? It’ll be worse the longer we wait.”
“Priorities, let’s focus on getting you in one piece again.” Suguru’s probably right about Shoko, but despite himself, Satoru can’t help but feel excited. His boyfriend. He’s never had a boyfriend before. He’s tried dating, but it’s never worked out, and Shoko has been around to witness all of his failed attempts. She’d always teased him about it, about not being able to settle down.
This time, Suguru’s here to stay. Satoru finally gets to say so, and it makes him feel a strange sort of pride.
Satoru ends up forgetting about telling her almost as soon as they get to the office, despite how visibly excited he’d been on the way. “Shoko!” he calls as he walks in through the door after Suguru. “I’ve got a patient for you.”
“Damn it, why? How? It’s like three in the morning or something, what have you been doing? How did you even know I’d be here anyway?” Shoko yells from somewhere inside the office.
“You have a shit sleep schedule, that’s how.”
“Yeah, yeah, look who’s— holy fuck, Suguru.” Shoko’s eyes immediately go to the knives sticking out of Suguru when she comes around the corner. The shock only lasts for a second, then she’s grabbing Suguru and yanking him over to a chair. “Fuck, Satoru, what the hell? Have a little urgency, huh?”
“That is my urgent voice! Besides, it’s not that urgent.”
“It’s fine, the wounds are cauterized. The knives were red-hot when they went in,” Suguru says calmly, letting Shoko get to work. At Shoko’s confused expression, he adds, “Some asshole assassin with fire jujutsu.”
“Assassin? Sounds like you two’ve had a busy night,” Shoko says. “This is gonna hurt.” Then she yanks the knife in Suguru’s arm out.
“Ow.”
“Oh come on, you’ve had worse in the last week. Now hold still. Satoru, stop hovering and tell me what happened with the Higher-Ups,” Shoko says flatly, getting to work with practiced motions. Satoru begins telling the story, pacing around behind her and fiddling with a tongue depressor he’d gotten from god knows where.
This time, Suguru only chimes in when Satoru starts editorializing too much or skipping out on important details. When he gets to the part about Suguru promising to be his partner in crime, so to speak, (pointedly skipping out on the details about how furious he had been after that meeting) a warm shudder does through Suguru. Somehow, it makes him more lightheaded than when Satoru asked him to be his boyfriend. It’s the future he thought he’d never get to hope for.
But somehow, someway, he has it. When Satoru gets to that part, he looks over and grins at him. Suguru smiles back warmly. It had taken a long time, yes, and a whole lot of heartache. They’ve been changed because of it all, and that’s a good thing. This time, they’ll hold on.
Mostly, he just watches Shoko work, wishing very much to be home in bed. Home. When had he started thinking of Satoru’s apartment as home?
Then the door bursts open. All of them except Satoru jump, which jostles Suguru’s stab wounds painfully. “You told us you weren’t dating!” Itadori shouts, the other two first years shuffling in behind him. Well, Kugisaki elbows her way in, tugging Fushiguro behind her, who looks very much like he’d been dragged out of bed to get here.
“What?” Satoru says, staring at them.
“Don’t play dumb,” Kugisaki says, pointing at them. “You lied! That means you were kissing when I interrupted you two at lunch.”
“Huh?” Shoko says, looking up from Suguru’s wounds. “What the hell are you kids doing here?”
“Yuuta told us everything,” Fushiguro mumbles grumpily, leaning against the doorframe. Poor thing, his eyes are still closed. “He’s in bed now, like I should be. He said something about you two being boyfriends. Is it true?”
Shoko’s head snaps from Satoru to Suguru, and Suguru’s stomach sinks. Satoru stops pacing to look at her. “I’m gonna need one of you two chuckleheads to answer him, pronto, or things are gonna get ugly.”
Suguru opens his mouth to answer, but Satoru cuts him off. “It is true! We had it out last night, Suguru’s my boyfriend now— Ow! What the hell was that for?” He rubs the spot where the cup Shoko had thrown at him hit him in the head.
“For being dumbasses,” Shoko says, then she punches Suguru in the shoulder. His bad shoulder. Suguru hisses in pain. “Do you know how long I had to watch you two dance around each other like a couple of nervous little girls? Fucking years! And what, just like that you’re boyfriends now? What happened? Spill.”
“We got into an argument,” Suguru says simply, and Satoru nods.
Shoko snorts derisively. “And that led to you two finally getting together?” Shoko goes back to fixing up Suguru’s wounds.
“Yep.”
Shoko eyes him, then shakes her head. “Whatever works, I guess. I need more answers. Later though.”
Kugisaki crosses her arms. “How the hell does something like that change overnight? And what’s this about Gojo being a curse user?”
“Does this mean you’re leaving?” Itadori asks, slightly hesitantly.
“If they have it their way, I will,” Satoru says scornfully. “But they won’t have their way. Believe me, neither of us are going anywhere. Suguru’s here to stay, and so am I. He’s gonna work with me.”
Itadori relaxes at this, and Kugisaki nods approvingly. “So, Were you kissing?”
“All right, that’s enough.” Satoru claps his hands. “It’s early, and you all have school tomorrow. With me! I’m coming back tomorrow.” Suguru shoots him a glance, but Satoru ignores it. “So go get some rest.”
“This is stupid,” Fushiguro mutters, and shuffles out of the room.
“What? Wait, where are you going?” Itadori goes after them.
“This isn’t over,” Kugisaki says, pointing at Suguru. “I still wanna see how you fight.” Then she dashes off after them.
Suguru snorts. “They’re really something.”
Satoru nods fondly. “Yeah.”
Shoko snaps her fingers, and Satoru’s attention snaps back to her. He’d been caught in his thoughts. “All right, they’re gone. What happened? What changed so fast?”
Suguru sighs, seemingly having dreaded this part. It’s slightly funny to Satoru, so he watches, as eager as he is to chime in. “Well, we were kissing when Kugisaki came to get us.” Shoko mutters something like, ‘offuckingcourse’. “It was an accident.”
Shoko gives him a blank look. “An accident. Seriously?”
Satoru hops up and sits on the counter. “And he freaked out. Wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise. I managed to corner him when we got back to our apartment. It ended up becoming an argument.”
“Lemme guess, Suguru pulled back and you got huffy about it?”
“Rude,” Satoru says flatly.
Suguru sighs. “You know us too well.”
“He was gonna pretend nothing happened!” Satoru says indignantly. How the hell had he been planning on doing that anyway? Suguru’s a smart man, but good lord, sometimes…. “The nerve. Anyway, he snapped out of it. And yeah, I ended up shouting at him. Then....”
He trails off. Urgh. Well, then he had bared his heart to Suguru, and then tried to close off before Suguru interrupted him with a kiss. Then they had fucked on the bathroom counter. But that part of the story gets caught in his throat— something about it is just too private to share so casually with Shoko. Suguru raises an eyebrow at him, a glint in his eye, but before Satoru can say anything, Shoko does.
“You don’t have to tell me everything, Mr. Cagey,” Shoko says drily. “I get the picture.”
Satoru chuckles. Sometimes, he forgets how well Shoko knows him. “Good.”
Shoko pauses as she does some finishing touches on Suguru’s wounds (now scars) and then straightens up. “But that’s what did it, huh?”
“Yep.” Suguru rolls his shoulder, then scoops up the knives Shoko had pulled out of him. Shoko give him a look. “What? I’ll clean them.”
Shoko shakes her head. “You’re both ridiculous, but…. Honestly, it makes sense. You guys have always sort of been do first, talk later. Not great for communication.” She steps back and looks at the two of them, her arms crossed. “But I’m happy for you two. I’m glad you two could work something out, especially with all the fucked up shit the two of you have been through. You guys deserve it.” She stands up and looks between them. “Was it worth it?”
“Definitely,” Satoru says immediately. Most of the time, it had been pain and suffering and blood, but…. When he has nightmares, Suguru can wake him up now, and tell him he’s safe. He can wake up to Suguru’s pissed off face (never been a morning person) and bedhead in the morning.
It was definitely worth it, if he gets to have those moments, without the prospect of sacrificing his own happiness hanging over his head.
“I keep the promises I make. I’m not going anywhere if I have anything to say about it,” Suguru says, and Satoru believes it.
When he remembers the promises they made just after the meeting, when Suguru had found him, it squeezes at his heart. He’d forgotten how much he had missed having that, not being alone at the top. After Suguru’s death, he’d gotten so used to the isolation of being the strongest. Now he’s not alone anymore. He has an ally, a partner in the way that no one else could be for him. Because he and Suguru, they were made for each other.
What will come of it? For the first time in he doesn’t know how long, he’s excited for the future.
Shoko narrows her eyes at both of them, then sighs. “Good. I’m not dealing with Satoru’s broken heart if you leave or die again.”
“Not a chance. This is the first boyfriend I’ve ever had and the last. He’s stuck with me.” Satoru grins happily, and Suguru laughs fondly.
“Gladly.”
They get home very late and get about three hours of sleep before they have to wake up again, but Satoru pulls them back into bed. “You’re going to be late, Satoru,” Suguru mutters, but lets himself be pulled.
“Stay, Suguru, it’s fine. Just a few more minutes.” Suguru would have refused otherwise, it’s Satoru’s first day back, but Satoru had been kissing him while he asked, so he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Idly, as he starts to kiss Satoru back, he wonders if that’s going to become a habit— Satoru kissing him to get what he wants. It’d make Suguru’s life very difficult.
Suguru decides he wouldn’t mind in the slightest if this became a habit as their kisses turn deeper and longer, until Satoru is pulling him flush against him. Suguru groans into his mouth and grinds against Satoru. “You’re really going to be late, Satoru.”
“Who gives a shit, I can just teleport there,” Satoru replies breathlessly, dipping down to bite at Suguru’s neck. He likes doing that, Suguru’s noticed. “Can’t I indulge in a fun with my new boyfriend?” To emphasize this, he squeezes Suguru’s ass.
Suguru snorts, but pulls Satoru up. “You’re ridiculous.” He kisses him, long and hard, feeling his head start to swim. Waking up is the worst, but if it’s like this, he doesn’t mind it so much.
“You love me.” Satoru nips at his lip, gripping at his hips to pick up speed.
Suguru inhales sharply. “Yes, I do, don’t I?”
“Fuck,” Satoru breathes, trying to get impossibly closer to him.
It’s messy and sticky, but oh so sweet. In a strange moment, he realizes he’s never had morning sex. He’s never woken up with anyone by his side, nevermind someone who would indulge with him in that sort of thing.
He shakes off his thoughts and leans into the leisurely slide of Satoru’s body against him, and how ridiculously good it all feels. The minutes melt away, and Suguru can’t bring himself to care anymore about Satoru being late.
Especially after he finally spills all over Satoru’s stomach, and Satoru moans at the sight of Suguru’s cum on him, and cums too.
They finish in a pile of sweaty, sticky limbs, and then Suguru drags them both to the shower. Satoru is probably going to be late, but that wouldn’t exactly be a shock to his students. This change between them is new, and years in the making. Satoru has a point, it’s fine to indulge a little.
It’s a lot more comfortable that Suguru thought it would be. He’s never had a boyfriend before, he doesn’t know how it’s supposed to work. But everything is largely unchanged between them, except in small, ever significant ways. He doesn’t have to worry about giving himself away, he can just kiss Satoru.
After the shower, Satoru decides to eat something quickly while Suguru stays behind to take care of his hair. He doesn’t feel like cooking, so he ends up eating his way through the rest of the snacks that Shoko had bought them.
He’s halfway through a bottled smoothie when Suguru charges out into the kitchen, hair done, dressed in more of Satoru’s clothes. It’s a sight he’ll never get tired of. He whistles at him, and Suguru rolls his eyes, but smiles. “You got plans or something?”
“Yep.” Suguru snags an apple and stuffs it in his pocket, then leans against the kitchen counter. “I’m going to find a quick job to do, then use the money to get some clothes for myself. Maybe there’s an old lady somewhere that could use some help with the creature that keeps scratching at her windows.”
“Probably. Always the old ladies. Be careful though.” Satoru reaches into his pocket and flicks a credit card at Suguru, who catches it. “Just use this.” Suguru frowns at him. “What? Lot simpler. Just take it.”
Suguru sighs, but pockets the card. “Fine. But I want to start making money for myself. My health’s been a lot better. I’ll be careful,” he adds, at Satoru’s look, “But I’m living here too. I want to start going halves on the bills.”
Satoru can’t help but grin. It’s really happening. Suguru’s really living with him, dating him…. It’s something a younger version of himself would never have dared dream of, for fear of getting his hopes up too much. “All right. If you insist.”
“I do.” Suguru makes a minor adjustment on his hair— loose and down. It’s been like that more often, because Satoru doesn’t have much in the way of hair-ties for him. Suguru pushes off the counter and heads towards the door. “I’m heading out. Try not to be too late for your first day back.”
“I won’t.” Satoru tosses the empty smoothie bottle in the trash and stands up, then calls after Suguru. “Come by the school later in the day! I wanna see about getting that training started.”
“Got it!”
Satoru does end up being late, much to his students’ displeasure.
The first day back ends up being mostly re-familiarizing himself and group training. It’s nice being back with his students. And according to Yuuta, who had agreed to help out a bit, the others were coming back over the next couple of days. They were apparently pissed they’d been kept from seeing Satoru after he’d returned, and they had a lot of questions. Thankfully, Yuuta hadn’t answered them.
Things would be picking up from now on, now that the Higher-Ups weren’t actively trying to keep them contained and sheltered. And when that happens, he wants to be ready. As he watches his students train, he chimes in occasionally, ticking off things in his head that he wants to work on.
“I still think it’s a bad idea,” Yuuta grumbles off to the side as Megumi and Yuuji spar. “What’re they gonna do when they come back and see a curse user hanging around?”
“What is?” Satoru asks. “Having him come to the school or not telling them about Suguru beforehand?”
“Both.”
“Well Yuuta, you were told beforehand about Suguru, and you tried to kill him,” Satoru points out. “The first time Megumi saw Suguru, he tried to kill him too. Suguru can defend himself, but I don’t wanna deal with the hassle again. It’s best to just explain when they get here. That stuff can get lost on the phone.”
Yuuta sighs. “I suppose so.”
Satoru ruffles his hair, which makes Yuuta wrinkle his nose. “Oh cheer up! Things are gonna be different now that I’m back. You don’t need to worry.”
Yuuta levels him with a look, but smiles slightly. “I hope so.”
Suguru arrives later in the day, dressed in brand new clothes. Satoru gives himself a moment to stare, which Suguru notices with a smirk. “What do you think?”
“It’s… it’s good,” Satoru gets out, then shakes himself when he notices his students staring. “Not gonna go back to the Buddhist priest getup?”
Suguru rolls his eyes at him. “No. I do like how traditional clothing fits me, but….”
Suguru shrugs and gestures to his outfit. It’s a dark yukata that falls on him nicely, with large sleeves and layers. The cut of it sort of reminds Satoru of the one he used to wear. This one is sleeker though, and there’s a few details that set it apart. Like the belt around the middle with intricate designs in red on it, of various monsters and terrors.
“This one is different enough that I was satisfied,” Suguru explains, and Satoru almost jumps. He’d been too caught up in staring “I didn’t want to be reminded too much of the past. It’s a new start.”
“Well… I like it. It looks good on you.” He makes a mental note to come along the next time Suguru needs to go shopping, which is probably soon. He can’t have bought all that he needs, he’s not even carrying a shopping bag. Maybe it can be one of their dates.
“Will you two stop flirting and get over here? I thought we were having a lesson,” Kugisaki calls out to them.
Satoru turns on his heel and walks back to the group, Suguru shuffling along next to him. “That lesson’s over. I’m helping Suguru with training.” Then he stops, thinking. “Actually, this could also be a lesson. Kids, you too Yuuta, why don’t you watch us? You might be able to learn something.”
Nobara and Yuuji whoop, but Megumi sighs. “We finally get to see Getou fight!” Nobara yells, sounding way too excited. Though to be fair, the sight of Suguru fighting can be an impressive sight.
Satoru stretches, mostly to wake himself up, as he walks out to the field, Suguru making his way to a spot opposite him, a good handful of meters away. He’s running off of about three hours or so of sleep, and it’s starting to show. He’d managed to sneak in a nap at lunch, but…. Well, Shoko had been right. His physical stamina and regulation and such needed a lot more time to recover to what they had been before. All his cursed energy was there, but his body got tired and erratic far easier than before. Perhaps he should take it easier for longer, but he’s never been a patient man.
Still. What’s better for improving that than training?
“So,” Suguru calls out to him, raising his voice to be heard. “How’s this gonna work?”
Satoru shrugs. “Well, the whole reason I proposed this was because the other one coldcocking you in the middle of a fight left almost got you killed last night…. So, I figure we fight until that happens. If not, until one of us taps out.” He shoves his hands in his pocket. “Make sense?”
Suguru nods, a smirk spreading across his face. “Yes.”
“Remember, the whole point is so that you have the opportunity to figure out what to do when the bastard tries shit in the middle of a fight, so it doesn’t put you at risk again,” Satoru says, but he can already feel his eagerness stirring. It’s been so long since he’s fought with Suguru like this, not anything at stake, just for fun, messing around. Or in this case, training.
“Is this even safe?” Yuuji asks from where the students are clustered off to the side. “Isn’t Gojo having trouble with like… regulation? And Getou….”
“It’ll be fine,” Suguru says, waving him off. “It’s been a while since we’ve sparred, high time to change that, no?” He tilts his head at Satoru with a smile, a glint in his eyes.
Satoru grins back. “Oh yeah. Besides, I’m told we should be expecting a guest sometime tonight.”
Yuuta stirs at that, slightly suspicious. “A guest?”
“Yep!” Satoru says cheerfully. “Maki! She’s dropping everything, wouldn’t tell me what, to come see me! How kind of her. So,” he turns to Suguru. “We’ll have to stop if she comes along. Things could get ugly if she sees the infamous curse user and her beloved teacher brawling.”
Suguru snorts at the word “beloved”, but says, “Probably. So.” He cracks his knuckles. “We’ll see which one comes first, hm?”
“Last one to tap out gets to pick where we get dinner,” Satoru crows out.
“You’re on.”
With that, the two of them rush at each other— Satoru readying an attack and Suguru springing into the air on the back of a gnarled curse he summons. It’s not the most effective way to train Suguru on-the-fly defenses against Kenjaku, they know that.
But that hardly matters at that moment.
As they fight, refamiliarizing themselves with each other’s fighting styles, taking in the things that have changed, they smile and jeer at each other, because it’s fun. It’s such a good feeling to be able to have fun again in a fight with each other. Figuring out how to train Suguru, or help Satoru, or the million other things they'll have to deal with, can come later.
They’ll have time to figure all that out, time that doesn’t have to be borrowed, staving off an inevitably tragic end. Tonight, they can have fun with sparring and deal with whatever will come after when it comes. The future will not be easy, it never is with them, and neither of them had ever wanted a peaceful life.
But now, along with all the chaos, the quieter moments are sweeter, and no longer remind each of them what they’ve lost. Now, they had it, right by their side, to kiss, and tease, and a thousand other warm memories.
And in the midst of all the chaos, they’ll have each other to weather it with. And they will, side by side, confident and stronger with the other there to cover their back. They had more than earned it.