the only way ive been able to write a "soft Gojo" is when i give him a sickly and/or disabled love-interest*
he still smothers them, every time i try to write him. its definitely a clingy, patronizingly teasing caretaker kinda vibe
but he is significantly softer, if you wanted to try that lol im assuming your post means you WANT to write a softer Gojo, so theres my hack for how i personally get there lmao but feel 1,000% free to ignore me if i misunderstood and you dont actually want to write that
(*: "how do you write him someone sickly/disabled and deal with his stuff about weakness?" i feel like his rhetoric about hating weak people as a teenager was a form of hating the burdens put on him, and then as an adult it formed into hating ideoalogies he considered weak. kinda like your personality/mind/soul is weak if you thoughtlessly comply with the elders, if you take youth away from young people, etc. so Utahime got picked on a ton because she enables/is complicit to the elders, and then he found her technique inadequate in addition. i dont think Gojo actually hates people who are weaker than him, as seen with Riko, Kuroi, Tsumiki, and a few others. hell give you shit about it, but the way ive analyzed his character is that Gojo doesnt dislike people who are considered weak by jujutsu sorcerer technique standards unless theres other factors about you he detests (if youre a curse or curse-user, of course he thinks youre weak and hates you, even if you hate the elders too. but even then he has exceptions with Geto and Miguel). he dislikes people who see the elders as wise. so i dont think hed have a problem dating a non-sorcerer, someone with a weak technique, or someone who is sickly/disabled. i think he sees value in himself being stronger and depended on, because thats what everyone has taught him his value is. i do think its cathartic for him to adore someone whose body forces them to an intense lack of productivity— and feel firsthand how it doesnt impact his feelings for them. but its still definitely that meme of "you dont have to be perfect, or especially great. you dont even have to be good... bUT I DO. I HAVE TO BE ALL OF THOSE THING, ALL OF THE TIME" kinda hypocrisy, he isnt very healed at all when i write him. plus, if his partner needs to be in bed all day due to a flare-up, it gives Gojo the excuse to be in bed with them— to pester and be annoying— but still, his desire to cling/mirror/be included in his partner's activity would result his said partner's health then forcing him to take breaks. and its usually the "in bed, nonsexually" scenes that i get that softer Gojo, personally. but yeah, no, hes still overwhelmingly smothering and proverbially play-nipping/wet-willying his partner the whole time)
(conversely, when i write Qifrey with a similarly sickly or disabled love-interest? he gets so much worse. not softer. he gets more insane instead. its wild lol)
I love this take and characterization!!
I, unfortunately (and fortunately), do enjoy writing gojo in an all-consuming way. He just strikes me as someone who indulges in excess.
Your explanation on how you write a soft gojo was beautiful and I wholeheartedly support your soft gojo agenda 🫶
