Satoru Gojo and the promise he never made pt2 of this | Satoru x reader | mdni- smut, fluff and ofc angst
Did you really have to call your ex-boyfriend at two in the morning, nine months after the breakup?
The long answer was also no.
So why, after nine months of carefully constructing the illusion that you were over Satoru Gojo, were you staring at his contact like it might bite you?
Maybe it was the fact that sleep had once again abandoned you.
Or maybe you just missed him, and you were finally too tired to pretend otherwise.
Nine months was supposed to be enough. Everyone had said so.
One day youāll realise you havenāt thought about him at all.
You had done everything right. New apartment. Deleted photos. Blocked him on every platform, then quietly unblocked him months later when seeing his name no longer felt like pressing on a bruise. You had stopped reaching for your phone every time something funny happened, only to remember there was no one on the other end waiting to laugh with you.
You were supposed to have moved on with it.
Instead, your apartment still looked like a temporary holding space. Half-unpacked boxes lined the walls. Clothes hung over dining chairs because you had never bought a wardrobe. The kitchen contained one mug, two plates, and an unholy amount of instant noodles. You had been promising yourself you would finish unpacking ātomorrowā for weeks. Tomorrow never arrived.
Tonight, sleep refused to come either. So you did the only thing your exhausted brain could manage: you started opening boxes.
Books. Utensils. Blankets. Safe things.
Then you reached the last box, shoved into the furthest corner of the bedroom. The one you had deliberately left unlabelled because you already knew what it held.
Movie tickets. Birthday cards. The stupid little keychain he had wasted an embarrassing amount of money trying to win for you at an arcade. You had laughed at him the entire time. He had called the machine rigged. And at the very bottomā Grey fabric.
You recognised it before you even pulled it free.
His hoodie. The oversized charcoal one he had lived in every winter. The sleeves were still too long. The tiny bleach stain near the cuff was still there from the time you had ruined it trying to clean something years ago. He had pretended to be annoyed for five minutes before laughing and telling you it gave the hoodie character.
You stared at it for a long time. Then, without really deciding to, you pulled it over your head. It swallowed you the same way it always had. For a second it felt almost like safety.
It didnāt smell like him anymore. Nine months of detergent and time had erased the last trace of him. Your chest tightened so sharply it almost hurt.
You hated that a stupid piece of clothing could still make your eyes sting.
You hated that after everythingāafter the tears and the sleepless nights and the endless promises that you would never look backāyou still missed him.
Not the arguments. Not the cancelled dates. Not the nights you had waited up until one in the morning wondering if he was even coming home. Just him. The version who danced terribly in the kitchen while making breakfast. The one who kissed your forehead every morning without fail. The one who used to look at you like you had hung the stars yourself.
The version that had slowly disappeared somewhere along the way.
Your eyes drifted to your phone on the bedside table.
You already knew this was a terrible idea. It was two in the morning. He was probably asleep. Or worseāhe wasnāt, and he had moved on, and the thought of that made your stomach twist in a way you refused to examine.
You unlocked the phone anyway.
His contact was still there.
You should have deleted it months ago.
āā¦Fuck it.ā The phone rang.
You let out a humourless laugh and ended the call, tossing the phone onto the bed. āSee? That was stupid.ā Five seconds passed.
Then you picked it back up.
The second call felt even more embarrassing. It went straight to voicemail. You almost hung up the moment the beep sounded. Your mouth went dry.
Even saying the nickname made your voice wobble.
āIā¦ um. I found one of your hoodies while unpacking.ā God, what were you doing? Why would he care about a hoodie? You forced a nervous laugh. āIt still has that bleach stain on the sleeve.ā Silence.
āI guessā¦ I just didnāt know if youād want it back or something.ā Your fingers tightened around the phone. āI donāt even know why Iām calling.ā Another shaky breath.
āI thinkā¦ I think I justāā
No. You couldnāt say it. Not after nine months. Not after being the one who walked away.
You scrubbed a hand over your face and let out a quiet, mortified groan.
āActuallyā¦ you know what? Forget I said any of this.ā A weak laugh escaped you. āThis was a really stupid idea. Iām sorry.ā Click.
You stared at the dark screen for a long moment before slowly lowering the phone. āā¦Iām never doing that again.ā You meant it.
A few days passed in complete silence. No missed calls. No texts. Not even a blunt message telling you never to contact him again.
The silence was almost comforting. You could tell yourself he had never heard the voicemail. That it had gone to spam. That was easier than the alternative: that he had listened to every shaky word and simply chosen not to answer.
You were the one who had left. You were the one who had said the relationship wasnāt working anymore. What kind of person expected to be welcomed back after breaking someoneās heart?
Someone who still wasnāt over him, apparently.
Sleep continued to evade you. Three in the morning still felt exactly the same as it had nine months ago. You rolled onto your back with an exhausted groan, rubbing both hands over your face before reaching blindly for your phone.
Your thumb hovered over your messages before you caught yourself. One humiliating voicemail was enough. You werenāt making it two.
You tossed the phone aside. Your eyes landed on the hoodie, still crumpled on the floor where you had left it days ago. You had been avoiding it like it might burn you.
With a quiet sigh you got up, picked it up almost carefully, and pulled it on. The fabric was soft from years of washing. Your thumb brushed the bleach stain. For the smallest moment it felt like being wrapped in a hug.
āI hate this,ā you whispered to no one.
Not the hoodie. Not him. Justā¦ this. Missing someone you werenāt supposed to miss anymore.
You climbed back into bed, curling onto your side and pulling the oversized sleeves over your hands. It was embarrassing how much comfort one piece of clothing could still give you.
For the first time in what felt like forever, sleep finally won.
The shrill vibration of your phone dragged you back into consciousness. You groaned, burying your face deeper into the pillow before reaching blindly across the mattress. Your fingers found cold metal. Without opening your eyes you swiped and lifted the phone to your ear. āā¦Hello?ā Silence.
Your eyes snapped open. Your heart stopped.
You sat upright so fast the blankets tangled around your legs. For a second you genuinely wondered if you were still dreaming.
The line stayed quiet. Not awkwardācareful. Like neither of you wanted to be the first to break whatever fragile thing still existed between you.
āā¦Hi.ā His voice was softer than you remembered. Almost hesitant. āIā¦ uhā¦ā He let out a tiny, nervous laugh that sounded nothing like the confident man you had spent six years loving. āDid I wake you, sweets?ā
The nickname hit harder than it had any right to.
Nine months. Nine months without hearing him call you that. Nine months spent convincing yourself you had forgotten the way it sounded.
Apparently you hadnāt forgotten a thing.
A lump rose in your throat so suddenly you almost couldnāt speak.
āā¦Yeah,ā you admitted with a sleepy, shaky laugh. āYou did.ā
Another silence settled. Neither of you rushed to fill it. Neither of you wanted to ruin the simple fact that, after nine months, you were finally talking again.
āSorry about that,ā he said quietly. āYouāve always been a shitty sleeper. I shouldāve waited until later.ā
āNoā¦ itās fine.ā You interrupted a little too quickly. Your heart squeezed at the fact that he still remembered something so small.
Out of everythingāout of the arguments and the tears and the silence that followedāhe still remembered that you couldnāt sleep through the night.
It shouldnāt have meant as much as it did.
āHowāve you been?ā he asked eventually. Such a simple question. One that should have had an easy answer.
āIāve beenā¦ā Your eyes drifted around the half-unpacked apartment, then down to the oversized hoodie wrapped around you. āā¦Okay.ā
It wasnāt exactly a lie. You got up every morning. Went to work. Paid bills. Existing. You had just forgotten what it felt like to actually live.
The silence that followed lasted long enough for your stomach to knot.
āā¦Same, to be honest.ā His voice was still unmistakably Satoruās. Just quieter. Like someone had stolen the light from it. āWorkās been keeping me distraāā He stopped himself. A small, almost humourless laugh escaped him. āā¦Busy.ā Distracted. He had been about to say distracted.
It felt ridiculous. You had spent six years with this man. You had known every version of himāfrom the unbearably cocky idiot who stole food off your plate just to annoy you, to the exhausted sorcerer who came home after missions pretending he wasnāt falling apart. Nine months apart had somehow turned the two of you into strangers, and that hurt almost as much as losing him in the first place.
You swallowed, suddenly very aware of how quiet the call had become. Your eyes drifted to the sleeve bunched around your hand.
āā¦Um. I know I already mentioned it, butā¦ do you actually want your hoodie back?ā The question sounded casual enough. You hoped. Because the truth was you didnāt want him to take it. Sleeping in it last night had been the first time you had managed more than a few broken hours in months. It hadnāt smelled like him anymore. It hadnāt magically fixed anything. But somehow it had been enough. There was a thoughtful hum on the other end.
āā¦Nah. I think you should keep it.ā
āMhm. It looks better on you anyway.ā
Your lips twitched. āYou havenāt seen me wearing it.ā
āIāve got a pretty good imagination.ā
Another pause settled between you. Not awkward. Just careful.
āI wouldā¦ā He hesitated. You waited. āā¦I would like to see you though. I meanā¦ if thatās something youād want.ā Your heart skipped.
āI donāt know,ā he continued, sounding almost embarrassed. āI justā¦ I donāt really want our first conversation in nine months to end over a hoodie.ā A quiet breath. āI figured there was probably another reason you called.ā
Heat crept into your cheeks. You stared down at the duvet.
āYou donāt have to tell me.ā
āI justā¦ Iād like to see you.ā
Every sensible part of your brain screamed at you to say no. It was too soon. Nothing had been resolved. You still had a thousand unanswered questions.
But the part of you that had spent nine months pretending it didnāt miss him already knew the answer.
He didnāt speak for a second. Almost like he hadnāt expected you to say yes. āā¦Okay?ā he repeated quietly.
You smiled to yourself. āā¦Yeah.ā
A soft breath of relief left him. āThereāsā¦ I know this little cafĆ©.ā
You frowned. āWhat, the one covered in ivy?ā
A laugh escaped you before you could stop it. āOh my Godā¦ā
āThat place is still open?ā
He laughed softly. āApparently.ā
āI swear weāve been saying weād go there sinceā¦ forever.ā Your voice wobbled a little.
The words were simple. The silence that followed wasnāt. Because you both remembered. All the times you had walked past. All the times one of you had been too busy. Another mission. Another late shift. Another ānext time.ā Until there hadnāt been one.
āā¦Would three be okay?ā he asked eventually.
You glanced at the clock. 11:54 a.m.
Three. That gave you just enough time.
āā¦Yeah. Threeās okay.ā āIāll see you there.ā
The sentence hung between you. Neither of you corrected it. Neither of you questioned it. āI shouldā¦ probably make myself look presentable,ā you said, glancing around your disaster of a room. āI look awful.ā
Your heart did an annoying little flip.
āSee you later, Toru.ā
āYeah.ā A small pause. āā¦Iāll see you at three.ā
The call had barely ended before you realised you were smiling.
Not the forced smile you had perfected over the last nine months. A real one. The kind that reached your eyes without permission. Your cheeks ached from it.
You were going to see him.
The excitement lasted approximately four seconds before pure panic slammed into you. 12:03 p.m.
You threw the duvet off and scrambled out of bed. In less than three hours you would be sitting across from the man you hadnāt seen in almost a year, and you had absolutely no idea what you were supposed to wear. You wanted to look nice without looking like you had tried too hard. You wanted him to think you looked good, but not too good. You wanted to look like yourselfāexcept you werenāt entirely sure who that was anymore.
The next hour and a half became a war against your own perfectionism. You curled your hair, brushed it out, decided it looked awful, and curled it again. You applied eyeliner only to wipe it off because one wing sat higher than the other. You changed lipstick three times before settling on the first shade you had picked.
Eventually you admitted defeat. You werenāt going to look perfect. Nobody did. And Satoru had seen you looking far worse than thisācrying until mascara stained your cheeks, bundled in oversized hoodies while sick, exhausted after all-night missions. If he was going to judge you now, another layer of concealer wasnāt going to change anything.
You kept it simple. Soft makeup. Loose curls. And then you found the dress.
It was hanging at the back of the wardrobe between two forgotten things. A simple white summer dress. The one you had worn on one of your first real dates, back when everything still felt effortless. He had spent the entire afternoon insisting he knew the best cafĆ© in the city, only to drag you to three different places because none of them were quite right. You still remembered the way he had looked at you across the table that dayālike there wasnāt another person in the world he would rather be with.
Maybe wearing it today was a terrible idea.
Maybe it was far too sentimental.
Or maybe it was a quiet reminder that before everything became complicated, before the arguments and the misunderstandings and the heartbreak, there had once been two people who loved each other enough to imagine forever.
For the first time in a very long time, the reflection staring back at you didnāt look like someone trying to move on. She looked like someone hoping there was still something worth going back to.
Then you checked the time.
You grabbed your boots, your jacket, your keys, and practically ran out the door.
The drive should have taken ten minutes. Instead every traffic light turned red the moment you approached, and every driver in front of you seemed to have forgotten how an accelerator worked. By the time you finally pulled into the small car park opposite the cafƩ, the dashboard clock read 3:05.
You switched off the engine and rested both hands on the steering wheel, taking a slow breath before looking up.
Your stomach dropped. He was already there.
Satoru stood just outside the entrance, one hand tucked into the pocket of a dark coat, the other lazily scrolling through his phone. The autumn breeze lifted a few strands of his white hair. Even after nine months he somehow looked exactly the way you remembered.
It almost annoyed you. How was it fair that someone could look that good without even trying?
You hadnāt realised you were staring until his head lifted. His eyes found yours through the windscreen. For a second neither of you moved.
Then his lips curved into a small smile. Not the cocky grin that usually stretched from ear to ear. Justā¦ something warm. Something that looked suspiciously like relief.
Your heart hammered against your ribs.
āCome on,ā you muttered to yourself, forcing your fingers off the steering wheel. āItās just Satoru.ā
As if those two words had ever belonged together.
You climbed out of the car, smoothing your hands down the front of your dress almost instinctively before shutting the door. The sound echoed through the quiet car park. He slipped his phone into his pocket and watched you approach.
For a brief moment you simply looked at each other. Neither of you seemed to know who was supposed to cross the last bit of distance first.
In the end, Satoru did. He closed the space between you with slow, almost hesitant steps and stopped just close enough that you could finally see him properly.
The faint shadows beneath his eyes.
The tiny crease between his brows that hadnāt been there before.
The smile he was trying very hard to make look effortless.
āā¦Hi.ā His voice was quieter than you remembered.
You swallowed the lump in your throat and managed a smile of your own. āHi.ā God. This was awkward.
You let out a nervous laugh, dropping your gaze to your boots for a second. āI was going to apologise for being lateā¦ but I feel like blaming traffic makes me sound about eighty.ā A small chuckle escaped him, and some of the tension in his shoulders eased. āIāll let you off.ā
āOnly because I got here twenty minutes early.ā
You looked back up at him, raising an eyebrow. He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly very interested in the pavement.
āI mightāve left a little earlier than I needed to.ā
You couldnāt help smiling. Somehow the mental image of Satoru Gojo standing outside a cafĆ© for twenty minutes because he was nervous made him feelā¦ human.
āYouāve never been early for anything.ā
Another soft laugh escaped both of you. The tension hadnāt disappeared completely, but it had eased just enough that breathing no longer felt quite so difficult.
Satoru nodded toward the entrance and held the door open. āAfter you.ā
You smiled as you walked past him. āTrying to impress me?ā
āIām trying to make a better second first impression.ā
The comment caught you off guard. You glanced back just in time to catch the small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
āI donāt think thatās how first impressions work.ā
āThey do if you pretend hard enough.ā
The warmth of the cafĆ© greeted you immediatelyāthe scent of freshly ground coffee and sweet pastries wrapping around you like a blanket. Soft conversations hummed through the room, punctuated by the occasional clink of ceramic.
You stood beside him at the counter. Before either of you could speak, the barista looked up and smiled.
āAfternoon, Mr Gojo. The usual today?ā
The exchange was so natural it took your brain a second to catch up. Your eyebrows knitted together as you turned to look at him.
Satoru blinked, then let out a quiet laugh through his nose. āā¦Apparently.ā
The barista grinned while punching the order in. āApparently? Youāre in here enough that I donāt even ask anymore. Heās been coming almost every morning for months.ā Months.
He had been coming here for months.
To the cafƩ the two of you had promised to visit together.
You looked back at the menu and quietly placed your own order, deciding not to ask any questions. Something told you he wasnāt coming here just because the coffee was good.
You found a quiet booth in the corner.
Satoru slid into the seat across from you, shrugging off his coat. For a moment neither of you spoke. The silence wasnāt uncomfortable exactlyājust heavy with everything that still needed saying.
He was the one who finally broke it.
āYou look good,ā he said quietly. Not the exaggerated, flirtatious way he used to say it. Just honest. Soft.
Your fingers curled around the edge of the table. āā¦Thanks. So do you.ā He huffed a small laugh. āLiar. I look like I havenāt slept properly in months.ā You almost said same. Instead you just smiled, small and real.
The barista brought their drinks over a minute laterāhis usual (something obscenely sweet, as expected) and your order. The pause that followed while you both wrapped your hands around the warm mugs felt strangely familiar. Like muscle memory. Satoru was the first to speak again.
āI listened to your voicemail,ā he said, eyes on his coffee. āA few times, actually.ā
Your stomach flipped. āOh.ā
āI didnāt know what to say.ā He glanced up, blue eyes softer than you remembered them being in the last year of your relationship. āI kept opening a text and deleting it. Then I figured calling at a normal hour was safer than whatever I wouldāve sent at two in the morning.ā
You let out a quiet, embarrassed breath. āIt was a really stupid voicemail.ā
āIt wasnāt.ā He shook his head. āIt wasā¦ honest. In a messy, very-you kind of way.ā A tiny smile tugged at his mouth. āIāve missed messy and very-you.ā The words settled between you like something fragile.
You stared down at your drink. āI didnāt expect you to answer. Or call back. I half hoped the voicemail would just disappear into the void so I could pretend it never happened.ā āI almost let it,ā he admitted. āNot because I didnāt want to talk to you. Because I did. Too much. And that scared the hell out of me.ā
You looked up. He was watching you carefully, like he was measuring every reaction. āIāve spent nine months trying to convince myself that packing everything away meant I was moving on,ā he continued, voice low. āIt didnāt work. Clearly.ā His gaze flicked briefly to the ivy-covered windows, then back to you. āComing here every morning wasā¦ pathetic, probably. But it was the closest I could get to the version of us that still had next times.ā
Your throat tightened. āI still have half my apartment in boxes.ā
āI know.ā A small, knowing smile. āYou always did take forever to unpack.ā
A soft, unexpected laugh escaped you. The tension in your shoulders eased another fraction.
For a while you just talked. Carefully at firstāsafe topics, light observationsābut gradually the edges softened. He told you work had been relentless. You told him your new place still didnāt feel like home. Neither of you mentioned the breakup directly. Neither of you needed to. It sat between you like a third person at the table, acknowledged but not poked at.
Eventually the conversation drifted into quieter territory.
āI donāt know what this is supposed to look like,ā you admitted, fingers tracing the rim of your mug. āUs. Talking again. Sitting here like the last nine months didnāt happen.ā
āThey did happen,ā he said simply. āWe canāt pretend they didnāt. Butā¦ā He hesitated, then met your eyes properly. āI donāt want the next nine months to look like the last ones. I donāt think you do either.ā
You shook your head. āNo.ā
Satoru exhaled slowly, like heād been holding that breath for a long time. āSo maybe we donāt try to jump back into everything at once. Maybe we justā¦ see each other. Properly. No pressure. No expectations. Just dates. A few of them. And we figure out if thereās still something worth rebuilding.ā
Your heart was beating too fast. āDates.ā
āDates,ā he repeated, a faint, almost shy smile appearing. āThe kind where I actually show up on time and donāt cancel for a mission. The kind where we finally try the food here instead of just talking about it for years.ā He tilted his head. āIf you want that.ā
You looked at himāreally looked. At the tiredness around his eyes, the careful way he was holding himself, the hope he was trying not to show too clearly.
āā¦Okay,ā you said quietly. āA few dates. See what happens.ā
The smile that spread across his face was small, but it reached his eyes. āOkay.ā
Neither of you rushed to leave after that. You stayed until your drinks went cold, talking about nothing important and everything that mattered. When you finally stood, the afternoon light had shifted warmer through the windows.
Outside, the autumn air was crisp. Satoru walked you to your car, hands in his coat pockets, matching your slower pace without comment.
At the driverās side door you both hesitated.
āText me when you get home?ā he asked.
āAndā¦ thanks for showing up today.ā His voice was quieter again. āI wasnāt sure you would.ā
āI wasnāt sure either,ā you admitted. Then, softer: āIām glad I did.ā
He smiled one more timeāwarm, realāand stepped back so you could open the door. You watched him in the rearview mirror as you pulled out of the car park. He stayed standing there until you turned the corner.
The second you were alone on the road, the smile youād been holding back broke free. You gripped the steering wheel and let out a shaky, disbelieving laugh. Your chest felt light for the first time in months. Not fixed. Not magically healed. But lighter. Hopeful in a way that almost hurt.
You were the happiest youād felt in ages.
The next two months unfolded in pieces.
A late-afternoon walk through a quiet park where the leaves were only just starting to turn, both of you pretending not to notice when your hands brushed and neither of you pulled away.
A second visit to the ivy-covered cafĆ©, this time sharing a slice of cake that was far too sweet, Satoru stealing the last bite with zero remorse while you pretended to be outraged. A rainy evening where he showed up at your door with takeaway and a sheepish, āI was in the area,ā even though you both knew he lived on the other side of the city. You ate on the floor among the still-unpacked boxes, and for the first time the apartment felt a little less temporary.
A night at an arcade where he spent an embarrassing amount of money trying (and failing) to win you another keychain, only to succeed on the last try and present it to you like it was something precious. You laughed so hard your stomach hurt. He looked at you like heād forgotten how good that sound was.
Slow, careful texts that turned into longer conversations. Voice notes sent at stupid hours.
The gradual return of old nicknames that no longer felt dangerous to say out loud.
He still had late nights. You still had days where the weight of the past pressed a little harder. But the difference was that now you talked about it instead of letting it fester. You were learning each other againānot the versions you used to be, but the ones who had spent nine months apart and come back softer around the edges.
By the time the calendar flipped into October, the air had turned properly cold. The trees outside your apartment were deep orange and gold. You had finally unpacked most of the boxes. The charcoal hoodie lived permanently on the back of your desk chair.
And every time your phone lit up with his name, the smile came easier.
October arrived the way it always hadāquietly at first, then all at once. The air turned sharper, the leaves shifted into deep golds and burnt oranges, and the mornings carried that particular crispness you had always loved.
Satoru remembered. He always did.
The tradition had started years ago, back when October still felt endless and the two of you had nowhere important to be. Every Saturday of the month was reserved. No missions if he could help it. No excuses. Just the two of you doing something deliberately special because it was your favourite season, and he had decided a long time ago that meant it was his job to make it count.
This year, after everything, the tradition felt different. Fragile. Precious in a way it hadnāt been before.
The pumpkin patch was already busy by the time you arrived, families weaving between rows of orange, children shrieking as they tried to lift pumpkins twice their size. Satoru showed up in a dark coat and a ridiculous orange beanie heād clearly bought just for the occasion, grinning like he hadnāt spent the last nine months looking tired.
āDonāt,ā you warned the second you saw it.
āDonāt look that pleased with yourself.ā
āIām always pleased with myself.ā He tugged the beanie lower. āBesides, it matches the aesthetic.ā
You spent the afternoon wandering the fields, arguing over which pumpkins were worth taking home. He insisted on carrying the heaviest ones. You pretended to be annoyed when he kept placing the smaller, prettier ones in your arms instead. At one point he stopped walking entirely just to watch you, expression soft in a way that still caught you off guard.
āNothing.ā He shook his head, smiling. āJustā¦ missed this.ā
You didnāt answer. You just bumped your shoulder into his and kept walking.
The scare maze was louder, darker, full of actors in masks and the occasional blast of fog. Satoru walked beside you with his hands in his pockets, completely unfazed, while you jumped at nearly every corner. Every time you startled he reached for you without thinkingāfingers brushing your wrist, palm settling against the small of your back, once even tugging you half behind him when a particularly enthusiastic scare actor lunged too close.
āYouāre not even a little scared,ā you accused, heart still racing.
āOf people in rubber masks? No.ā He glanced down at you, eyes warm. āDoesnāt mean I want them touching you though.ā
You rolled your eyes, but you didnāt step away from the protective curve of his arm for the rest of the maze.
Movie night at his place felt the most dangerous.
Not because of anything that happenedānothing did, not reallyābut because stepping back into the penthouse after so long made your chest ache in complicated ways. It looked almost the same. A little emptier. A little quieter. But the couch was still soft, and Satoru had somehow acquired an unholy amount of sweets, and when he dimmed the lights and tossed you a blanket like no time had passed at all, something in you unclenched.
You fell asleep halfway through the second film, head tipped against his shoulder. You woke up later to find the credits rolling and his fingers absently tracing patterns against your arm, careful, like he was afraid of waking you properly.
Neither of you mentioned it.
The last Saturday of October came with a clear sky and a cold wind that already hinted at November.
Satoru picked you up just after sunset. The playlist started the moment you closed the passenger doorāthe same chaotic, sentimental mix the two of you had made years ago when you first started dating. Half the songs were embarrassing. The other half still made your stomach flip.
You drove through the city with the windows cracked, singing badly and laughing harder. He took the long way on purpose, weaving through quieter streets until the lights thinned and the road climbed toward the lookout point youād always loved. The city spread out below in glittering gold and white when he finally parked.
For a long time you just sat on the hood of the car, shoulders brushing, sharing the last of a thermos of hot chocolate that had gone lukewarm. You talked about nothing and everythingāold stories, new ones, the way the year had felt both endless and too short. At some point the singing started again, off-key and shameless, until you were both laughing so hard your sides hurt.
The cold eventually drove you back into the car. The drive home was quieter, softer. When he pulled up outside your building neither of you moved to get out right away.
āI had a really good October,ā you said eventually.
Satoru looked at you for a long second, something warm and unguarded in his expression.
He walked you up to your door the way he always used to. You expected a lingering goodbye, maybe a careful hug. Instead, the second the door clicked shut behind you, the careful distance the last two months had been built on finally cracked.
It started with a kiss that felt inevitableāslow at first, then deeper, hungrier, months of restraint unravelling all at once. Your back hit the wall of the entryway. His hands found your waist, then your hips, then the backs of your thighs as he lifted you like you weighed nothing. You wrapped your legs around him without thinking, fingers already sliding into his hair. āBeen wanting to do this for weeks,ā he muttered against your mouth, voice rough. āEvery single Saturday. You have no idea.ā
āThen stop talking,ā you breathed, and he laughed once, low and dark, before claiming your mouth again.
Clothes became an afterthought. Your jacket hit the floor. His coat followed. He carried you the short distance to the couch because the bedroom felt too far, too deliberate. You ended up straddling him, dress pushed up around your hips, his hands greedy and reverent all at once as they slid beneath the fabric. When he finally pushed into you it was with a shared, shaky exhaleālike both of you had been holding your breath for months.
It wasnāt slow. It wasnāt careful. It was the kind of desperate, slightly clumsy quickie that came from missing someone too much for too long. You clung to his shoulders, forehead pressed to his, breathing the same air while he rolled his hips up into you in deep, purposeful strokes. Every quiet sound you made seemed to urge him on. His fingers dug into your thighs hard enough to leave faint marks. Yours tangled in his hair and pulled.
āMissed you,ā he rasped against your throat. āMissed this. Missed you.ā
You came first, biting down on a moan against his shoulder. He followed seconds later with a broken sound, burying his face in your neck as he spilled inside you, holding you like he was afraid you might disappear again.
For a while afterward you stayed like thatāstill joined, breathing hard, his hands stroking slow, soothing lines up and down your back. The city hummed faintly outside the window. The playlist had long since ended.
Eventually Satoru pressed a softer kiss to the corner of your mouth, then another to your temple.
āStay?ā you asked quietly, almost without meaning to.
He smiled against your skin, small and real. āYeah. Iāll stay.ā Morning light filtered softly through the curtains of your bedroom.
You woke slowly, pleasantly sore in all the best ways, the charcoal hoodie youād pulled on at some point during the night tangled around your frame. For a few peaceful seconds you simply lay there, replaying the night beforeāthe lookout, the laughter, the way heād kissed you like heād been starving for it.
Chocolate. Warm sugar. Something faintly buttery.
You sat up just as the bedroom door nudged open. Satoru stepped inside carefully, balancing a tray like it was the most important mission of his life. His white hair was a mess, and he was wearing only a pair of low-slung sweatpants, but the grin on his face was pure pride.
You blinked at the tray as he set it across your lap. Chocolate-chip pancakes stacked high and still steaming. Fresh strawberries. Sliced mango and kiwi. A small bowl of whipped cream. And a mug of hot chocolate topped with far too many marshmallows.
āā¦You made breakfast in bed?ā
āI made your breakfast in bed,ā he corrected, sitting on the edge of the mattress. āAll your favourites. Donāt act so surprised. I pay attention.ā
You stared at the spread, throat suddenly tight. āSatoruā¦ā
He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, thumb lingering against your cheek. For a moment the usual teasing light in his eyes softened into something quieter.
āIāve been thinking,ā he said. āAbout the last two months. About October. About last night.ā
His hand slid down to find yours, fingers threading together. āI donāt want to keep calling this āseeing where it goes.ā I already know where I want it to go.ā Your heart stumbled.
āI want you to be my girlfriend again,ā he said simply. āOfficially. If youāll have me.ā The answer left you before you could overthink it.
The smile that broke across his face was blinding. Then he was leaning in, and the tray was carefully moved aside, and suddenly you were being kissed like the word yes had undone every careful boundary the last two months had built. It started softāgrateful, almost reverentāthen deepened fast, turning hot and heavy within seconds. His hands slid under the hoodie, warm against your skin. Yours tangled in his hair. He pulled you into his lap with zero effort, and for a long while the pancakes went completely ignored.
Halloween arrived on a bright, cold morning.
You woke in Satoruās bed this time, tangled in his sheets and the faint scent of his cologne. Your favourite holiday. The thought alone made you smile before youād even opened your eyes properly.
Unfortunately for him, that also meant you were awake at an ungodly hour.
You poked his bare shoulder. Then again. When that earned only a sleepy grumble, you leaned down and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth.
One blue eye cracked open. āItās still dark.ā
āItās early.ā His arm snaked around your waist and dragged you back down against his chest with zero finesse. āFive more minutes. Or five hours. Iām flexible.ā
āNope.ā You wriggled free, laughing when he made a wounded sound. āWeāre spending the whole day together. Markets first. Then whatever else we want. Come on, up.ā
He groaned theatrically but eventually sat up, hair sticking out in every direction, looking unfairly attractive for someone so offended by the concept of morning.
The markets were already lively when you arrivedāorange lights strung between stalls, the smell of cinnamon and caramel apples thick in the air, children in costumes darting between adults. Satoru walked beside you with his hands in his coat pockets, watching you more than the stalls. Every time you so much as paused to look at something, he was already pulling out his wallet. āYou pointed at it.ā
āI was just lookingāā
āYou pointed. That counts. Iām buying it.ā
By the time you left, your hands were full of paper bags containing far more than either of you needed: a ridiculously soft scarf, a small pumpkin-shaped candle, a bag of spiced nuts, a pair of silly Halloween socks heād insisted were āessential.ā You tried to protest. He ignored you with the smug satisfaction of a man on a mission.
Dinner was quieter. A little Italian place with low lighting and candles that flickered every time the door opened. Conversation drifted easilyāwork, the markets, how the year had somehow both dragged and flown by. At some point it turned softer. Future-shaped. āI keep thinking about next October already,ā he admitted, swirling the wine in his glass. āAnd the one after that. And maybe finally taking that trip we always talked about.ā
You smiled down at your plate. āYeah. Me too.ā
A comfortable silence settled for a moment before you spoke again, quieter.
āI was so stupid for ever breaking it off.ā
Satoru looked up. Instead of the serious reaction you half-expected, a slow grin spread across his face.
āYeah,ā he said. āYou were.ā
You kicked him lightly under the table. He laughedāwarm and realāand the last of the old tension that had lingered for months finally felt like it had loosened for good.
By the time you got back to the penthouse, the city was fully dressed for Halloween. Lights glowed in windows. Distant music drifted up from the streets below. You both changed into comfortable clothes, arguing half-heartedly over which horror movie to put on first. Satoru was in the middle of dumping an excessive amount of sweets onto the coffee table when his phone rang.
The change in his expression was immediate.
He answered, listened for a few seconds, then exhaled through his nose. āYeah. Okay. Iām on my way.ā
When he hung up, the apology was already in his eyes.
āIām sorry. Somethingās come up. They need me.ā
Disappointment flickered through you, sharp and familiar, but you nodded. āItās okay. I get it.ā He crossed the room in two strides and cupped your face, pressing a firm kiss to your forehead. āIāll be back by midnight. Promise. Wait up for me?ā
āIāll stay up,ā you said. āJustā¦ be careful.ā
He smiled, quick and reassuring, then grabbed his coat and was gone.
You settled on the couch with a blanket and the movie still paused on the title screen, telling yourself heād walk back through the door any minute looking sheepish and hungry for leftovers.
Morning light was already creeping across the penthouse floor when your phone rang.
You answered without looking, voice rough with sleep. āToruā?ā
Something in her tone made your stomach drop before she even continued.
She explained as gently as she could. Shibuya. The chaos. The special grade who had taken over the body of Geto Suguru. The Prison Realm. Satoru had been sealed. The words reached you in fragments. You sat frozen on the edge of the couch, the blanket still wrapped around your shoulders, listening to Shokoās calm, tired voice promise that everyone was already working on a way to get him out.
When the call ended, the silence in the penthouse felt enormous.
You cried quietly at first, then harder, curling in on yourself as the reality settled in. He had promised heād be back by midnight. He had kissed your forehead and told you to wait up.
And now he was goneālocked away somewhere you couldnāt reach.
Eventually the tears slowed. You wiped your face with trembling hands and stared at the cold mug of hot chocolate still sitting on the coffee table from the night before.
You just had to believe that.
The first day you told yourself he would be back by evening.
The second day you told yourself they just needed a little more time.
By the third day the penthouse had gone silent in a way that felt permanent.
You stopped leaving. There was no point. The city outside the floor-to-ceiling windows kept movingātrains, lights, people living ordinary livesābut none of it felt real. You existed in the spaces he had left behind: the side of the bed that still smelled faintly like him, the coffee table still scattered with uneaten Halloween sweets, the mug of hot chocolate that had long gone cold and eventually been abandoned.
Sleep came in broken fragments. Food became optional. Some days you managed a few bites of whatever Shoko left in the fridge during her quiet visits. Most days you didnāt. She came once, properly. Midway through the second week. She didnāt knock so much as let herself in with the spare key Satoru had given her years ago, finding you curled on the couch in one of his hoodies, staring at nothing.
āWeāre working on it,ā she said, voice low and steady. She set a paper bag of food on the counter that you both knew you wouldnāt eat. āEveryone is. Yaga, the higher-upsāhell, even the old man is losing his mind over this. Weāll get him out.ā
You nodded because it was easier than speaking. Your throat felt rusted shut.
Shoko watched you for a long moment. Something in her expression flickeredāpity, maybe, or recognition. She had lost people too.
āHeās the strongest,ā she said eventually. āIf anyone can hold on in there, itās him.ā
You wanted to believe her. You tried. But the silence of the penthouse pressed in from every side, and all you could think about was the way he had kissed your forehead and promised heād be back by midnight.
Days blurred. You stopped checking the date. The city lights rose and fell beyond the glass. Sometimes you woke up reaching for him. Sometimes you woke up and forgot, just for a second, that he wasnāt simply running late.
On the nineteenth day, you were sitting on the floor with your back against the couch, his hoodie pulled over your knees, when you heard it.
The soft metallic sound of keys in the lock.
Your heart lurched. Shoko, you thought. Another check-in. Another quiet promise. You didnāt move. You werenāt sure you had the energy to face her again.
Footsteps. Familiar ones.
The voice was rough. Quiet. Unmistakable.
For a second the world narrowed to the sound of your own pulse crashing in your ears. You turned your head slowly, almost afraid that looking would make the moment shatter.
Satoru stood in the entryway.
He looked wreckedāhair a mess, clothes torn and dirty, a dark bruise shadowing one side of his jawābut he was there. Solid. Real. Breathing. His blue eyes found yours across the room and something in them fractured.
You didnāt remember standing. Didnāt remember crossing the distance. One moment you were on the floor and the next you had crashed into him hard enough that he had to take a step back to keep you both upright. His arms locked around you instantly, crushing you against his chest like he was afraid you might vanish if he loosened his grip.
āItās okay,ā he rasped into your hair. āIāve got you. Iām here. Iām right here.ā
You were already cryingāugly, gasping sobs that shook your whole body. Your fists twisted in the back of his ruined shirt. He was crying too. You felt the wet heat of it against your temple, the uneven way his chest hitched under your cheek.
āI love you,ā you choked out. āI love you, I love youāā
āI love you.ā His voice cracked. He pulled back just enough to cup your face with trembling hands, forehead pressing hard against yours. āGod, I love you. I thought about you the entire time. Every second. You were the only thing that kept me sane in there.ā
You kissed him thenāsalty and desperate and imperfect. He kissed you back like a man starving, like he needed the proof of you under his mouth to believe he was really free. The entryway blurred. At some point your backs hit the wall. At some point his hands slid under the hoodie you were wearing, palms spreading wide over your bare skin like he needed to map every inch of you to make sure you were real.
Neither of you spoke as he guided you toward the bedroom. There was no rush this time. No frantic urgency. Just the slow, deliberate need to be as close as two people could get. He undressed you carefully, pressing open-mouthed kisses to every newly exposed inch of skināyour collarbone, the inside of your wrist, the soft space just below your navel. You did the same for him, fingers tracing the new bruises and the familiar lines of his body like you were relearning him. When he laid you down on the bed the sheets were cool against your back, but his body covering yours was warm. Solid. Alive.
He entered you slowly, forehead pressed to yours, both of you shaking. The stretch was sweet and overwhelming after so many days of emptiness. You clung to his shoulders as he began to moveādeep, measured rolls of his hips that seemed designed to remind you that he was here, that this was real, that the nightmare had an ending.
āI love you,ā he whispered against your mouth, over and over, like a prayer. āI love you. I love you.ā
You answered every time, voice breaking, legs wrapped tight around his waist to keep him as deep as possible. Tears slipped from the corners of your eyes into your hair. He kissed them away. His hand found yours and pinned it gently to the mattress, fingers interlaced so tightly it almost hurt.
The pleasure built like a tideāslow, inevitable, devastating. When you came it was with a quiet, shattered cry, pulsing around him as he followed with a low groan, burying himself to the hilt and holding there like he never wanted to leave again.
Afterward he didnāt pull away. He simply rolled you both onto your sides, still joined, and gathered you against his chest. His heartbeat thudded strong and steady under your ear. One hand stroked slowly through your hair. The other rested low on your back, anchoring you.
Neither of you spoke for a long time.
There was nothing left that needed saying.
The first week after Satoru came home passed in a soft, private haze.
Neither of you left the penthouse. There was no need. The world outside could wait. You existed in a closed loop of each otherāsleeping tangled together, talking until your voices went hoarse, touching constantly like you were both still proving the other was real. On the second morning you found him in the kitchen attempting pancakes again. You leaned against the counter in one of his shirts, watching him frown at the pan.
āYouāre going to burn them,ā you said.
āI am a master of culinary arts,ā he replied without looking up. āHave some faith.ā
āYou set the smoke alarm off last time.ā
āThat was a fluke.ā He flipped one with unnecessary flair, then glanced over his shoulder at you, eyes soft. āCome here.ā
You went. He wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you against his side, pressing a kiss to your temple while the pancakes sizzled.
āI still canāt believe youāre actually here,ā you murmured.
āI know.ā His voice dropped. āEvery time I wake up and youāre still next to me I have to check Iām not dreaming.ā
You tilted your face up. āYouāre not.ā
He kissed you slowly, tasting of coffee and something sweeter. When he pulled back he rested his forehead against yours.
āI love you,ā he said, simple and certain.
The days blurred in the best way. You talked about everythingāstupid things, heavy things, things youād both avoided for months. One afternoon you were curled on the couch under a blanket when he suddenly said,
āI hated every second in that box. But the worst part wasnāt the dark or the quiet. It was not knowing if you were okay. I kept thinkingā¦ what if you thought I left you again?ā
You tightened your arms around him. āI was a mess. But I never once thought youād left me on purpose. I justā¦ needed you to come back.ā
He was quiet for a long moment. Then, softer: āIām not going anywhere. Not again. Not if I can help it.ā
By the end of the week the penthouse felt like home again. Your clothes had migrated into his closet. His hoodies had migrated onto your body. You fell asleep every night to the sound of his heartbeat and woke up to him already watching you, like he still couldnāt get enough of the sight.
On the morning of the eighth day you woke to an empty bed and a folded note on his pillow.
You sat up, blinking, and unfolded it.
Get dressed in whatās in the box on the chair. Be ready by 1. A driver will pick you up. Trust me.
You looked over. On the armchair sat a sleek white box tied with a pale ribbon. Inside was a long, off-the-shoulder white dressāsoft, elegant, the fabric light enough to move with you. Strapless, with a gentle flow that would brush your ankles. Simple. Beautiful. Exactly your taste.
You smiled to yourself, already excited. Satoru had always been good at surprises, but after everything this felt especially sweet. You didnāt overthink it. You just got ready. The next hour and a half became a quiet, happy ritual. You showered slowly, using the expensive body wash he kept stocked for you. You dried your hair carefully, then styled it in soft waves that fell over your bare shoulders. Makeup stayed lightājust enough to make your eyes brighter, your lips soft and tinted. When you finally slipped the dress on it fit perfectly, the fabric cool against your skin. You turned in front of the mirror, watching the way it moved, and felt a little flutter of nerves and anticipation.
By the time the driver buzzed up at exactly one oāclock you were ready, clutching a small bag and trying not to grin too hard.
The drive was quiet. The city slid past the windows in soft afternoon light. Eventually the car turned into a private road that climbed gently upward, away from the denser streets, until it stopped at a secluded elevated terrace tucked into the western hillsāone of those rare spots in Tokyo where the entire skyline stretched out below in sharp, glittering detail, framed by trees just starting to turn. A low stone wall lined the edge. The air was clear and cool. You stepped out, thanking the driver, and walked slowly toward Satoru who was looking at the view, your white dress catching the light.
āWow,ā you breathed, resting your hands on the stone. āOkay, this isā¦ actually perfect. How did you even find this place?ā Silence.
You frowned slightly, glancing around. A tiny movement near the edge of the trees caught your eye.
āOhā I think I just saw a catāā
Satoru was already on one knee.
The world narrowed to the sight of himāwhite hair slightly wind-tousled, eyes impossibly blue, a small velvet box open in his hand. The same ring from all those months ago. The one engraved with forever.
Your hands flew to your mouth.
āI had a whole speech,ā he said, voice a little rough. āI practised it. Then I got here and looked at you in that dress and every word left my head.ā He swallowed. āSo Iām just going to say it. I love you. Iāve loved you for years. I bought this ring a long time ago and then I almost lost the chance to give it to you. Iām not making that mistake again. Marry me. Please. Be my wife.ā
Then you were nodding so hard it was a miracle you didnāt fall over.
Then you were jumping in place, laughing and sobbing at the same time.
āYesā yes, yes, yes, a million times yesāā
He barely had time to stand before you launched yourself at him. He caught you with a breathless laugh, arms locking tight around your waist as he spun you once, the white dress flaring. When he set you down he slid the ring onto your finger with slightly shaking hands, then kissed you like the answer had rewritten something fundamental inside him.
āI love you,ā he murmured against your mouth. āGod, I love you.ā
āI love you too,ā you managed between kisses. āYouāre such an idiot. A perfect idiot.ā
He grinned, eyes wet. āYour perfect idiot.ā
You stayed on the terrace for a while, walking slowly along the stone path with your fingers linked, the city glittering below. He kept lifting your hand to look at the ring like he still couldnāt believe it was finally where it belonged. You kept catching him staring at you instead of the view.
Eventually he checked the time and smiled. āCome on. Iām not done with you yet.ā The restaurant was quiet, expensive, all soft lighting and private corners. You sat across from each other nursing glasses of champagne, the ring catching every flicker of candlelight.
āSo,ā he said, leaning forward. āMrs. Gojo. Has a nice ring to it, doesnāt it?ā
You laughed, cheeks warm. āYouāre already testing it out?ā
āIāve been testing it out in my head for years.ā He reached across the table and took your hand. āI mean it. I want the whole thing. The wedding. The stupidly big house youāll make me buy. Maybe a couple of kids whoāll inherit my looks and your common sense. All of it.ā
Your throat tightened. āI want that too. So much.ā
He squeezed your fingers. āThen weāll have it. No more almosts. No more packing things into boxes and pretending weāre okay without each other.ā
You smiled through the fresh burn of tears. āYouāre going to make me cry again in public.ā
āGood. Means Iām doing it right.ā
The rest of dinner passed in a warm blur of conversation and quiet laughter and the constant, grounding weight of the ring on your finger. When you finally stepped back into the penthouse that night the city lights spilled across the floor, and the air between you felt charged in a brand-new way.
Satoru closed the door, then turned to face you fully. He reached out and brushed his knuckles gently down your arm.
āMove back in,ā he said. Not a question, not really. Soft. Certain. āProperly. Today. Tomorrow. Whenever you want. I donāt want you going back to that half-empty apartment. I want you here. With me. Every day.ā You didnāt even hesitate.
The word was barely out before he was on you.
The kiss was immediate and hungry, nothing like the careful ones from the first week. He backed you against the wall of the entryway, one hand braced beside your head, the other already sliding down to gather the white fabric of the dress in his fist. You arched into him with a soft sound, fingers threading into his hair as his mouth moved hot and open against yours.
āBeen thinking about this all day,ā he muttered between kisses. āYou in this dress. Saying yes. Mine.ā
āThen stop talking and show me,ā you breathed.
He growled low in his throat and lifted you clean off the floor. Your legs wrapped around his waist on instinct as he carried you toward the bedroom, mouth never leaving yours for long. The dress was shoved up around your hips by the time he laid you down on the bed. He pulled back just long enough to look at youāflushed, ring glinting on your finger, white fabric pooled around your waistāand the expression on his face was almost reverent.
āFuck, youāre beautiful.ā
Then he was kissing down your neck, across your collarbone, dragging the top of the dress down so he could close his mouth over one nipple. You gasped, back arching, hands fisting in the sheets as he sucked and licked and teased until the peak was tight and aching. He gave the other the same attention, slow and thorough, before continuing lower.
He pushed the dress the rest of the way up and off, leaving you in nothing but the ring and the damp scrap of lace between your legs. His eyes darkened. He hooked his fingers in the sides and dragged the underwear down your legs with deliberate care, then settled between your thighs like he had all the time in the world.
The first drag of his tongue through your folds dragged a broken moan out of you. He hummed in approval, hands spreading your thighs wider as he licked into you properlyāslow, deep strokes that made your hips twitch. He circled your clit with the tip of his tongue, then sucked gently, then harder, alternating until your thighs were trembling around his head.
āSatoruā oh my Godāā
āThatās it,ā he murmured against you, voice rough. āLet me hear you.ā He slid two fingers inside you while his mouth kept working, curling them just right, and the dual sensation made your vision blur. He ate you out like he was starving for itāwet, focused, relentlessāuntil you were gasping his name and grinding against his mouth. When the orgasm hit it rolled through you in long, shuddering waves. He licked you through every second of it, only easing off when you tugged weakly at his hair.
He crawled back up your body, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, and kissed you deep so you could taste yourself on his tongue. You felt him hard and heavy against your hip. He sat back just long enough to strip out of his clothes, then settled between your legs again, the blunt head of his cock sliding through your soaked folds.
āLook at me,ā he said quietly.
You did. He pushed in slowly, inch by inch, eyes locked on yours the entire time. The stretch was perfectāfull and deep and overwhelming in the best way. When he bottomed out he stayed there, forehead pressed to yours, both of you breathing hard.
āI love you,ā he whispered.
āI love you,ā you answered, already moving your hips, needing friction.
He started thrustingādeep, measured rolls of his hips that dragged over every sensitive place inside you. One of his hands found yours and pinned it to the mattress, fingers interlaced, the diamond of the ring pressing into his skin. The other slipped under your thigh to hitch it higher, changing the angle until every stroke made you cry out.
āFeel that?ā he rasped against your mouth. āThatās me. Your fiancĆ©. Going to spend the rest of my life buried inside you just like this.ā
You moaned, clenching around him. He groaned and picked up the pace, the wet sound of skin on skin filling the room. You wrapped your legs around his waist and met every thrust, nails dragging down his back. The pleasure built fast and hot, coiling tight in your core. He must have felt itāthe way you started to flutter around himābecause he reached between your bodies and rubbed tight circles over your clit in time with his hips.
āCome for me,ā he ordered, voice wrecked. āWant to feel my future wife come on my cock.ā The orgasm crashed through you hard. You sobbed his name as you clamped down around him, pulsing in long, intense waves. He fucked you through it, never slowing, dragging the pleasure out until it bordered on too much. Only when you were shaking and oversensitive did he let himself followāburying himself to the hilt with a broken groan and spilling deep inside you, hips stuttering as he came.
He stayed inside you afterward, both of you panting, sweat-slick and sated. Eventually he rolled onto his back and pulled you with him so you were sprawled across his chest, still joined. His fingers traced idle patterns up and down your spine. Every so often he lifted your left hand and pressed a kiss to the ring, like he needed the reminder it was real.
āMove in tomorrow,ā he murmured into your hair. āIāll help you pack. Or we can just buy new stuff. I donāt care. I just want you here.ā
You smiled against his skin, exhausted and happier than you could ever remember being.
āOkay,ā you whispered. āTomorrow.ā
Outside, Tokyo glittered on. Inside, the strongest sorcerer alive held his future wife like she was the only thing in the world that mattered.
And for once, everything felt exactly right.
Wedding planning settled over the penthouse like soft morning lightāwarm, constant, and impossible to ignore.
You had turned the dining table into a command centre. Sample menus, fabric swatches, venue brochures, and a half-empty binder labelled Maybe?? in your handwriting covered every surface. Satoru, for his part, had appointed himself Head of Moral Support and Occasional Opinion-Giver, which mostly meant he sat beside you with his chin on your shoulder and made increasingly unhelpful suggestions.
āIām just saying,ā he said one afternoon, spinning a pen between his fingers, āwe could have the ceremony on top of Tokyo Tower. Very us. Dramatic. High up. Iād look great against the skyline.ā
You didnāt even look up from the seating chart you were rearranging for the third time. āWeāre not getting married on top of a tourist attraction.ā
āWhy not? Think of the photos.ā
āThink of my dress blowing over my head in the wind.ā
He paused, considered it, then grinned. āActually, that soundsāā
āIām kidding. Mostly.ā He leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to the side of your neck.
āOkay, fine. No Tower. What about that garden place you liked? The one with the koi pond.ā
You finally glanced up, unable to stop the small smile. āYou remembered.ā
āOf course I remembered. You went all soft and sparkly when you showed me the pictures. Iām not completely useless.ā He tapped the binder. āAnd I already called. Theyāre holding the date for us.ā
Your chest did that warm, tight thing it had been doing a lot lately. āYouāre really into this, huh?ā
āIām marrying you,ā he said simply, like it was the most obvious truth in the world. āOf course Iām into it.ā
Later that same evening you were both sprawled on the couch, your legs draped over his lap, talking about the future the way people did when it finally felt allowed.
āWhat about kids?ā you asked, tracing idle patterns on the back of his hand. āDo you still want them?ā
āYeah.ā No hesitation. āA couple, at least. Maybe three if youāre up for it. I want the whole chaotic house situation. Tiny shoes by the door. Someone calling me Dad at full volume at six in the morning.ā
You laughed. āYouāre going to be so soft with them.ā
āIām going to be the best,ā he corrected, utterly serious. āSpoil them rotten. Teach them how to use cursed energy properly. Let them win at board games until theyāre old enough to realise Iām letting them.ā He glanced at you, eyes warm. āWhat about names? Any ideas yet?ā
You hummed, thinking. āI like softer ones. Nothing too flashy. Maybeā¦ Haru for a boy? Or
Ren. For a girlā¦ Aoi? Or Yuki.ā
Satoru repeated the names under his breath, testing them. āYuki Gojo. Thatās cute. Little white-haired menace running around.ā He smirked. āObviously theyāre going to get my hair. Poor kids.ā
āYour ego is unreal.ā
āItās not ego if itās true.ā He caught your hand and laced your fingers together. āWhatever the names are, theyāre going to be so loved. And theyāre going to know their parents actually like each other. Thatās important.ā
You squeezed his hand. āYeah. It is.ā
Two days later Satoru came home with a cardboard carrier and a look of barely contained smugness.
You were in the kitchen making tea when he set the carrier on the counter and opened the little door. A tiny white kitten stumbled out, blinked enormous blue eyes at the world, and immediately tried to climb his sleeve.
āBefore you say anything,ā he said quickly, scooping the kitten up with careful hands, āI was walking past the shelter and this one looked at me. And I thought about how you turned around right before I proposed because you thought you saw a cat. And then I thoughtā¦ destiny. Or something.ā
The kittenāfluffy, pure white, with the brightest blue eyes you had ever seenālet out a soft mewl and batted at a strand of his hair.
You covered your mouth, already laughing. āOh my God. It looks exactly like you.ā āI know.ā He held the kitten up beside his face, deadpan. āGenetics are strong even across species.ā
āYour ego is showing again.ā
āCan you blame me? Look at us.ā He stepped closer and gently deposited the kitten into your arms. It immediately curled against your chest and started purring like a tiny engine.
āSee? Even the cat knows youāre the soft one.ā
You scratched under its chin, completely gone already. āWhatās its name?ā
āThought we could decide together. But Iām voting for something cool. Likeā¦ Satoru Junior.ā
āMini Me.ā āWorse.ā
He grinned, watching you melt as the kitten nuzzled under your jaw. āFine. You can name it.
But Iām telling everyone it takes after me.ā
You rolled your eyes, but you were smiling so hard your cheeks hurt. āYouāre ridiculous. And
I love you. And weāre keeping the cat.ā
The kittenāeventually named Mochi, despite Satoruās continued campaign for āSatoru Juniorāāsettled into the penthouse like it had always belonged there. It slept on Satoruās head. It attacked your wedding binder. It became the third, fluffiest member of the household, and every time you caught Satoru baby-talking it when he thought you werenāt listening, your heart felt too big for your chest.
A little over a week later, something shifted.
You were standing in the bathroom one morning, toothbrush in hand, when the realisation landed with quiet, terrifying clarity.
Not a little late. Late enough that the calendar on your phone had started to feel like an accusation. You stared at your reflection, heart suddenly racing, and did the mental maths twice. Then a third time.
You bought a test that same afternoon under the cover of ārunning errands.ā The two pink lines appeared so quickly it almost felt rude.
You sat on the closed lid of the toilet for a long time, one hand resting over your still-flat stomach, eyes wet and smiling so hard it hurt. Happy didnāt even begin to cover it. You were going to have a baby. Satoruās baby. The future you had only talked about in soft, hypothetical voices was suddenly real and growing inside you.
You decided almost immediately that you wanted to tell him in a special way.
The next morning you slipped out while he was still asleep, Mochi curled on his chest like a tiny white scarf. You came home with a paper bag full of carefully chosen things: a pair of impossibly small white baby shoes, a mug that said Worldās Best Dad in stupidly cheerful letters, a soft yellow onesie, and a little card you planned to write later. You hid everything in the back of your side of the closet, heart thudding with secret delight every time you walked past it.
For the rest of the week you floated. You caught yourself smiling at nothing. You let Satoru pull you into random hugs and kisses without protest. You listened to him talk about venue lighting and cake flavours and nodded along, all while the secret glowed warm and bright under your ribs. Keeping it to yourself for a few more days felt almost sacredālike you were holding the best surprise of both your lives just long enough to wrap it properly.
The morning it happened started like any other.
You were still half-asleep, tangled in the sheets, when Satoruās phone rang on the nightstand. He answered it with a sleepy grunt that turned into sharp focus within seconds.
You drifted in and out, catching only fragments through the haze.
āā¦Now? ā¦How many? ā¦Yeah. Okay. Iām on my way.ā
The mattress dipped as he stood. You heard him moving around the roomāpulling on clothes, the quiet clink of his keys. Then the bed sank again and his hand brushed your hair back from your face.
You blinked up at him blearily. He was already dressed, expression tight in a way that didnāt match the soft way he was looking at you.
āHey,ā he murmured, leaning down to kiss youāslow and lingering, like he was trying to memorise it. āGet your beauty rest. Iāll be careful.ā Another kiss, this one to your forehead.
āLove you too,ā you mumbled, already sliding back toward sleep. āBe safe.ā
You heard his footsteps fade down the hallway. The front door opened, then closed. The penthouse settled into quiet again, broken only by the soft sound of Mochi jumping up onto the bed and curling into the warm space Satoru had left behind.
You drifted off with one hand resting over your stomach, still smiling.
You slept most of the day.
It was the deep, heavy kind of sleep that only came when your body finally decided it was safe enough to let go. When you woke, the light in the penthouse had shifted to late afternoon gold, and your stomach was growling loud enough to offend Mochi, who was curled in a perfect white loaf on Satoruās pillow.
āRude,ā you told the kitten, voice still rough with sleep. āYouāre judged.ā
Mochi blinked slow blue eyes at you and yawned, showing a flash of tiny teeth.
You dragged yourself out of bed, pulled one of Satoruās hoodies over your head, and padded into the kitchen. The apartment felt quiet in a peaceful way. You made yourself a simple bowl of rice and miso, then scrambled two eggs the way he always didāsoft, a little too much butter. You ate standing at the counter, staring out at the city, one hand resting absently over your stomach.
Still flat. Still secret.
After you finished, you filled Mochiās little ceramic bowl with the expensive wet food Satoru insisted on buying and watched the kitten scramble down from the bedroom to attack it like it had been starving for days. You sat on the floor beside the bowl and dragged a feather toy across the hardwood. Mochiās entire body wiggled before he pounced, missing spectacularly and sliding half a metre on his own momentum. You laughedāreally laughedāand did it again.
āYour dadās going to be so smug when he sees you failing at basic hunting,ā you told him. āHeās going to say itās because you inherited my coordination instead of his.ā Mochi answered by attacking your hand.
You spent a long time on the floor like that, letting the kitten climb over your legs and bat at the strings of the hoodie. Eventually he got tired and flopped against your thigh, purring hard enough that you could feel the vibration through the fabric. You stroked his soft white fur and felt the secret glow warm under your ribs again.
Later, you pulled the hidden bag out of the closet and spread everything across the bed. The tiny white shoes looked almost unreal in the centre of your palm. The yellow onesie. The mug with Worldās Best Dad printed in cheerful blue letters. You lined them up carefully inside a small wooden box youād bought for the occasion, then sat cross-legged with a blank card and a pen.
Writing it took longer than you expected.
You kept stopping to smile, or to press a hand to your mouth, or to reread the lines and tear up all over again. In the end the card simply said:
Youāre going to be a dad.
ā Your girls (or boys. Or one of each. Iām not ruling anything out yet.)
You tucked the card on top of the little shoes, closed the box, and hid it again in the closet like it was treasure. The whole time your face hurt from smiling.
By evening you had cleaned the kitchen, folded a load of laundry that included three of Satoruās hoodies, and fed Mochi again. You were curled on the couch with the kitten on your chest and a mindless show playing when your phone rang.
Shokoās name lit up the screen.
Your heart slammed once, hard.
Then you forced yourself to breathe. It was fine. He probably forgot to tell you heād be late. Or he needed you to bring him a change of clothes. Or Shoko was just checking in because she was nosy.
You answered with a small smile already forming. āHey, Shoko. Whatās up?ā Her voice was carefully level.
āI need you to come to Jujutsu High. Right now.ā
The smile disappeared. āIs everything okay?ā
You didnāt remember hanging up. You didnāt remember grabbing your keys or shoving your feet into the first pair of shoes you found. You only remembered the cold air hitting your face as you ran out of the building in an oversized hoodie and sweatpants, hair still a mess from sleeping, heart climbing into your throat.
The drive passed in a blur of red lights you barely stopped for and a single thought that looped until it lost meaning: Heās fine. Heās the strongest. Heās fine.
You abandoned the car at an angle and ran.
The second you stepped into the familiar grounds people turned to look at you. Someone tried to speak. You didnāt hear them.
āWhere is he?ā Your voice already cracked. āWhereās Satoruā please, where is he?ā No one answered fast enough. You pushed past them, half-running, half-stumbling toward the medical building, vision tunnelling. Shoko appeared in the hallway and the expression on her face made the floor tilt.
āNo,ā you whispered. Then louder. āNoā no, donāt look at me like thatāā She reached for you. You shook her off and shoved through the door.
Satoru lay on the table with clean white bandages wrapped thick around the centre of his body. His eyes were closed. His chest was still. Someone had tried to smooth his hair back, but a few white strands still fell across his forehead the way they always did when he slept.
Then the sound that left you didnāt sound human.
Your knees hit the floor hard enough to bruise. The sob tore out of your chest so violently it hurt. You crawled the last few steps and clutched at the edge of the table, at his hand, at the bandages, at anything that still felt like him.
āNoā no, no, no, pleaseā Satoru, wake upā you promisedā you said youād be carefulāā People tried to pull you back. You fought them. Your voice broke into raw, gasping screams that scraped your throat bloody. You couldnāt get enough air. The room spun. Someone was saying your name over and over but it didnāt matter. Nothing mattered except the terrible stillness of the man who had kissed your forehead that morning and told you to get your beauty rest.
At some point your voice gave out completely. At some point the fight drained from your body and you simply folded over his hand, forehead pressed to his knuckles, shaking with silent, endless sobs. Shoko stayed. She didnāt try to make you leave. She only waited until the worst of the storm had passed and then gently, carefully, pressed a folded piece of paper into your shaking fingers.
āHe left this with me,ā she said quietly. āJust in case. He made me promise.ā
Your hands trembled so badly you almost tore it. The handwriting was unmistakably hisāa little messy, a little rushed.
If youāre reading this, then I didnāt make it back like I promised. Iām so sorry. I need you to know that the last thing I thought about was you. Not the fight. Not the pain. You.
You canāt keep a secret like pregnancy away from me. Six Eyes, remember? I felt the shift in your energy weeks ago. Iāve been waiting for you to tell me. Iāve been looking at the calendar and smiling like an idiot every time I thought about it. Iāve already started arguing with myself over names. I wanted to hear you say it out loud. I wanted to put my hands on your stomach and feel our baby move someday. I wanted to be there.
Iām so angry that I wonāt get to see you round and glowing and annoyed at me for hovering. Iām furious that I wonāt get to hold our child. But more than anything Iām grateful. Grateful I got to love you. Grateful you said yes. Grateful for every ordinary morning and every stupid argument and every time you fell asleep on my chest.
Please donāt let this break you. Youāre allowed to cry. Youāre allowed to hate me for a while for leaving. But then I need you to live. Raise our baby with the same stubborn heart that made me fall in love with you. Tell them their dad was insufferable and brilliant and that he loved them more than cursed energy and infinity and every star in the sky.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
Take care of Mochi and the baby. And take care of yourself.
10 months later the penthouse was still quiet, but in a different way.
Late afternoon light spilled across the floor. A white bassinet stood near the window. Mochiānow half-grown and still blindingly whiteālay curled protectively at the foot of it like a tiny guardian. And in your arms, wrapped in a soft cream blanket, was a newborn with a shock of pure white hair and eyes that had already started to turn that impossible, sky-bright blue.
You sat in the same chair Satoru used to occupy, rocking gently, staring down at her face like it still didnāt feel real.
āYou look just like him,ā you whispered. Your voice was soft, a little rough, the way it always was when you spoke to him now. āSame ridiculous hair. Same eyes. Sheās going to be so much trouble.ā
The babyās tiny fist flexed against your collarbone. Mochi lifted his head, blinked, then put it back down with a sigh.
You swallowed past the familiar ache in your throat and pressed a kiss to her forehead. āI miss you,ā you said quietly into the stillness of the room. āI miss you every single day. You wouldāve been the best dad. You wouldāve carried her around like a trophy and taught her how to talk back before she could walk and spoiled her until she was impossible. She wouldāve had you completely wrapped around her finger.ā Your voice trembled, but you kept going.
āIām doing my best. Weāre okay. Weāre still here. And I love you. We both do.ā
Outside, Tokyo kept moving. Inside, the strongest sorcererās daughter slept in your arms while a white cat kept watch, and the ring on your finger caught the light like a promise that had outlived the man who gave it to you.
You closed your eyes and held her a little tighter.
You were still learning how to carry it alone.
i stayed up for like 18 hours straight writing this so its not fully edited. sorry for that ending too :)
