⊹ ࣪ ˖ gojo in second place
pairing: nerd!satoru gojo x gn!reader
Satoru Gojo has always been a model student. His teachers held him up as the academic standard, urging his peers to follow him as a role-model and as the expectation to be followed. His academic record was straight A's, clean from anything less than excellence. His name was carved onto honor rolls and academic plaques, accolades accumulating until they filled an entire wall from floor to ceiling.
He had it all: class president, valedictorian, merit scholarships — achievements stacked upon another until success didn't feel like something he had to try for, but something that came naturally to him as if it was his god-given right. Despite all his awards and accomplishments, he wore his success lightly, carrying himself with a charming confidence — infuriating to his classmates that wanted a reason to take him down from his untouchable, almost saintly status.
Graduation passed and Satoru was whisked away into one of Tokyo’s top universities — an outcome no one found surprising. It was expected of him to reach the stars and dazzle everyone with his brilliance. He never worried nor doubted his admission — never wondered if he truly belonged because in his mind It would be no different. University was just another door waiting to be pushed open and bend to his will.
The lecture hall was cold that morning, sunlight spilling in through tall windows and speckles of dust drifting in the air. Satoru sat comfortably in his seat, posture relaxed, pen resting idly between his lanky fingers as the professor shuffled papers at his podium.
The professor cleared his throat with a gruff cough before stating he'd be announcing who got the highest score on the exam. Satoru smiled to himself, confident it'd be his name — no doubt in his mind.
He waited for the syllables of his name to spill out from the professors lips and then the inevitable applaud for him... but it was not his name called.
The sound of it struck him sharply, like dropped glass shattering against tile. His smile faltered, lips twitching, before vanishing entirely. For a second he wondered if he’d misheard, if the professor would correct himself and say Satoru’s name instead, but no correction came.
Applause rippled faintly through the room for the small figure a few seats in front him. Satoru’s eyes slid forward following everyone else's gaze, finding you seated at the front row. You didn’t look surprised. No wide eyes or delighted gasp — just a calm composure. Your lips gently pressed together as you accepted the praise with quiet grace, as if you expected nothing less from yourself.
Some students muttered about the ruined curve and others questioned how someone got such a high score on a tough exam, but Satoru felt none of that bitterness. He was in awe — utterly enamored by your brilliance.
You had beaten him, challenged him, made him feel inferior for once in his life. His inadequacy soon shifted into admiration, that someone had bested him without even truly trying.
The tests that followed only deepened the wound, but also his fascination. Again and again, your name was called first, your score always just shy from a perfect hundred. You accepted it all with the same steady confidence, never smug nor bashful, simply assured by your own skills and intelligence.
Satoru tailed close behind every time, one or two missed questions being all that separated him from you. By the fourth exam, he realized the ache in his chest no longer had anything to do with competition anymore.
It was emotional distance that made his heart ache.
The only version of you he knew was the back of your head — the way you sat straight, eyes forward, and your attention completely at the board. He found himself imagining the things he couldn’t see — how your pencil must glide effortlessly across the stripped page, how your brows likely furrow when you pause to think for a problem that takes longer than a minute to solve, or how your bottom lip pushes forward into a pout when the professor moves to the next slide before you finish scribbling down your notes.
He wanted to be closer, he wanted to be more to you than just your runner up.
So what if it was ridiculous for the second smartest student in the class to ask for tutoring? Having you, even if only for just a few minutes per day, mattered more to him than his pride. When he asked, he half-expected rejection, but you smiled warmly and agreed without hesitation.
He arrived fifteen minutes early to every session without fail — knee bouncing beneath the table, restless energy humming through him as he waited — beyond ecstatic that he could finally be shoulder to shoulder with you.
When you sat beside him, your knee brushing against his, the contact sent a spark racing up his spine. Your voice was soft as you explained De Borglie relations, patient even as he probed you with silly questions because he just wanted an excuse to hear you speak longer. Satoru never imagined wavelengths and energy could sound so sweet, but hearing you explain it so eagerly, he thinks he could learn anything.
“To find the frequency for this wavelength,” you prompted gently, tapping the paper with the end of your ballpoint pen, “what’s the formula used?”
You turned towards him, a pout forming on your lips when you realized he wasn't paying attention, his mind wandered off to somewhere else, “Satoru,” you whined, exasperated, but still gentle.
He blinked, jolting back to reality, straightening his back as if mere seconds ago he hadn’t been utterly lost in the flutter of your eyelashes and the steady movements of your chest as you breathed softly.
“E equals h times f,” he said quickly, confidence coating the words, “Well— if we rearrange it to solve for frequency,” He leaned closer as he spoke, fully aware he was wrong — fully willing to be.
Your smile was worth making himself look like an idiot.
“Close,” you whispered, smiling just as he hoped you would, “But we need to solve for the particle’s momentum first,” You guided him through the problem again, your voice almost lulling him to a peaceful sleep with how gentle you sounded.
It soon became routine tutoring Satoru in the afternoon, comfortable and familiar after a few months. Tutoring helped you reinforce the material and Satoru got to sit next to you — a win-win situation for you both.
Slowly, you warmed up to his loud laughter and dramatic sighs, the way he brightened your afternoons without fail, and how he made your heart thrum a bit faster each time you saw his crooked smile. Your gaze began to linger on him longer than it should, your cheeks growing hotter every time he leaned into your touch — you didn't even realize you had fallen straight into his embrace, utterly whipped by his enigmatic personality and dorky smile.
One evening, just as your session was winding down and you were tucking your pen into your pencil case, Satoru suddenly spoke, “There’s a formula I wanna show you,” he said casually, though his heart thudded loudly in his chest. He gently took your pen from your grip and scribbled an unfamiliar equation across the page.
You stared at it, brows lifting in contemplation. Your mouth opened, then closed as you studied it more closely, “I… don’t think I’ve ever seen this before, what is it?"
“It’s Dirac’s equation,” he said quietly. His hand found the edge of your chair, pulling you closer until the space between you vanished, “Do you know what it means?”
You shook your head, cheeks warming from how close he was in your space and the way his glasses slid down the bridge of his nose enough that you could clearly see his bright, cerulean eyes — staring back at you with nothing but fondness.
“It explains quantum entanglement,” he continued, voice softer than you’d ever heard it, “When two particles interact, they become connected and form one system," His fingers slipped between yours, guiding your hand to his chest, right over his heart where you could feel the steady rhythm of the muscle, “No matter the distance, what happens to one affects the other,"
He leaned in, breath warm, lips hovering just shy over yours, “I’ve been entangled with you since the moment I met you... ever since I saw how diligently you focus in class to now while you have that adorable, confused expression,"
The silence that followed felt endless. His heart raced, doubt flooding in as the silence stretched uncomfortably for him. Was it too much? Too corny?
Then you laughed, bright like the morning sun.
“That was so cheesy—" you giggled in between your words, "You're such a dork," You closed the distance and kissed him, your lips soft as they pressed against him.
Satoru's eyes widened when you kissed him, stunned for a moment before leaning in, his hands grabbing at your hips to pull you closer and deepen the kiss. He pulled away after a few seconds, panting softly as his dilated pupils looked down at you, as if you were heaven embodied.
“A dork who’s hopelessly in love with you,” he murmured, earning an eye roll from you and another kiss at the corner of his mouth.
You looked up at him, curiously asking him, "But seriously— where did you even learn that? It looks like graduate-level material," You questioned, tilting your head in wonder.
He shrugged, slightly sheepish, "Found it while studying in my dorm... my original plan was using string theory, but then I found that formula and thought it was better," He answered honestly.
You burst into laughter at his confession, “String theory? Really? You should've just confessed like a normal person— like with a bouquet or something!”
“Where’s the fun in that?” he smirked, kissing you again, because now that he could he doesn't think he can ever stop, “We’re both nerds, I had to make it dorky. Besides, I know you liked it,"
“Only a little,” you hummed in response and he answered with kisses, laughter spilling from the both of you as he held you close, bound together like two particles at the heart of the same system.
© kismetarchive please do not plagiarize, repurpose, or use my writing for AI-training!
a/n: I had to learn quantum physics for this (¯ . ¯;) ... (i don't think anyone cares, but Dirac's problem is actually written wrong because I don't know how to do subscripts on tumblr but pretend with the power of fanfiction it's written correctly also happy bday to my dear mootie @satorvswifey !!)
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