Synopsis : The strained relationship between you and your father is more than evident as the weeks go by. The only thing different this time is there's a certain set of eyes that will be watching you now. Letâs see how you maneuver when someone starts to realize youâre the fresh blood around the gym.
Warnings: Cursing, Angst, Tojixblack!Reader, Sukunaxblack!reader, Daddy Issues, Suggestive Content
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Weeks had gone by since you walked out the gym, ignoring your father and whatever plea he could throw at you guilt-tripping you into hearing whatever it was he had to say. Between the hours dedicated to the orthopedic clinic, thirteen intense credits for your masterâs degree, and the daily masterclass you might as well lead on avoidanceâwith your father being the main recipientâyouâd consider the word âbusyâ an understatement. You still hadnât found a scheduled time every week to stop by the emergency room to discuss your schedule as a tech, and this alone added to the feelings of frustration you had been harboring for the past few weeks.
Still, based on your undergrad schedule, your current schedule looked like a walk in the park stress-wise. Your father would probably disagree, given the constantly missed calls and piles of unread text messages that were waiting for a response. Maybe he knew better than that? But even an acknowledgment would probably ease some of the tension in the household. That was until you found yourself coming home one day to him standing in the foyer, obviously waiting for your arrival.
You turned around to lock the door behind you and sent up a prayer this conversation wouldnât make you want to suffocate yourself later tonight. You turned around to meet his gaze, the tension rolling off of you in what felt like waves. His body language was weary, like he knew he was approaching a caged wild animal and had to show he was no threat. âHeyâ, he spoke with his hands by his side, âHow was your day?â. You immediately looked at him confused, eyebrows pulled together, âIt was a day.â, you stated bluntly as you began to walk towards the stairs to your room. You thought that would be the end of it until he responded with a quick, âCan I talk to you?â.
For the first time since youâd moved back here, your pace faltered as you moved towards the steps and then came to a complete stop. You rubbed your hands across your eyes, placing your bag on the steps while turning around to face him. âI doubt youâre going to stop trying to have the conversation, so go ahead.â, you gestured towards your dad and then sat back on the steps preparing for what he was about to say. You could tell he didnât think heâd get this far as he rubbed the back of his neck and cracked his knuckles.
âI talked to your mom.â he said it quick but your eyes immediately found his again. âBefore you say anything, itâs just because Iâm worried about you. You work so hard and I donât want you to burâ". You immediately stood up, âIâm going to stop you right there, whatever you think youâre going to tell me to do, drop it.â, you moved to grab your bag. âWait, Iâm just worried about you. You move around the house like a ghost; can you please hear me out?â. This is probably the last thing you wanted to do right now, your feet were on fire and your contacts had dried out about two hours ago. âSure, let me hear out like I didnât just get back home and want to relax.â
Your dad was too occupied in getting his point across he ignored the obvious sarcasm laced within your response. âWork around the gym, your mom told me you like seeing sport injuries. Iâll pay you what you want. Iâll even sign off on the extra hours for school just please let me help.â You laughed. âYou want to help? You want me to trust you enough to help? The same man that left before the divorce was even finalized.â Your voice had raised enough to betray the steady demeanor you were trying to convey. Your father whispered your name as if youâd physically struck him. âThatâs not fair.â, his back had straightened up to mirror your body language. To those who had never seen an interaction between you two, this mightâve just been a slight correction in stance. You knew the difference; this is what he looked like before the conversation would take a turn.
Now this is the man you were familiar with, the man that made you walk on eggshells until you decided youâd never do that again, the one whoâd make you yell to be heard, the man you hate standing before you. The recognition in your eyes and body language must have revealed your thoughts, making him immediately stand down. âI donât want to do this, Iâve changed.â, his arms crossed over his chest. âI just wanted to let you know Iâll be out of town for the next week, thereâs an upcoming fight that I need to handle the logistics for. If you decide to go to the gym, just ask for Toji. Heâll show you what you need to know.â
You donât say anything just turn around and make your way up the steps. You stripped out of your scrubs and pulled your locs up to get them out of your face, getting in the shower to let the borderline boiling water wash over your shoulders. You overheard your dad talking about his arrival to what you assumed would be the airport, at least he wasnât pretentious enough to use a private jet you guess. Freshly moisturized, in your favorite pajamas and bonnet to match you couldnât care less about what the man a level below you was doing. Realizing how long heâd be out of town, you sent a text to your best friend.
Guess who will be out of town for a week?
You instantly received a phone call from her, the squealing reaching your ears before you could even put her on speaker phone. âDoes that mean you can finally get laid?â, you rolled your eyes at her question. That was the last thing you were concerned about at the moment, but that didnât stop the conversation from going down a rabbit hole of what ifs.
Over in the morning you woke up to a knock on your door, âHey Babygirl, Iâm about to leave for the airport. I love you.â You turned and looked at the door, he closed it before you could respond, at least saving you from the awkward silence if he wouldâve waited for one. The pressure thatâd been sitting on your chest finally released. You sat up and looked at the time on your phone, you had nothing you had to do today, assignments already completed and now there wasnât anyone to make you feel guilty for not wanting to hold a conversation with them. You thought you were going to go back to sleep before you saw Mom come across your screen accompanied by the familiar ringtone she picked specifically for you to know it was her calling.
You answered and before you could say anything she started talking, âYour father told me he was going out of town for a few days.â You always thought it was weird that the two of them kept a line of communication open and also the fact that he undersold how long heâd actually be gone. You loved your mother, but you knew better than to bring that up to her. You tuned back in to what she was saying, hoping you didnât miss anything while in thought. Luck was not on your side as you heard your mom say your entire name, âDid you hear what I said?â. You rolled your eyes, not like she could see it and replied âNo, I zoned out but let me guess â You want me to get out the house and do something different than my daily routine?â Your mother laughed, she knew she raised a daughter with a smartass mouth. âI know you hate boxing but at least go by the gym. Heâs trying to understand you, Iâm not saying you have to make it easy on him but donât deprive yourself of the things you once loved.â, you sucked your teeth. Your mother was right even though you loathe the sport now at one point thatâs all you watched.
âIâm not that little girl anymore, ma.â, she sighed on the other side of the phone. âI know you arenât, but youâve made it damn plain that youâre still a fighter. Stop letting your opponent dominate the ring when you have as much right to it as they do.â, you snarled because you knew she was right. Moving to get out the bed still listening to your mom talk about how she wants this move to be beneficial for you. You have the utmost respect for her but sometimes you feel like everyone forgets about how when you refer to him leaving the hurt comes from how he not only left physically but checked out mentally. You tried to reach out after the last fight you both had, the week before the divorce was finalized only to find out he changed his number and moved out the country. The latter you had to find out from some fucking news article that was praising âThe Champâ for his change of scenery. The last bit of respect you had for him vanished when you actually found out where he went, Japan of all places. You guessed he decided four years of him on some self-discovery bullshit while he dodged his duties as a father was how he needed to recover from the family he ruined. He wasnât even there to send you off to college, just throwing money at the issue that was the relationship you two had. Your family always told you, stop focusing on the past accompanied by the saying that you were too old to holding grudges. Youâd like to think you were more mature than most twenty-two-year-olds, you laugh to yourself when you think about how you couldâve retaliated, where you really couldâve taken it.
You start to pull pieces of clothing from the closet, telling your mom that you were about to run some errands and youâd talk to her later. She gave you what sounds like a quick approval and followed by an âI love youâ, those words coming from her were easy built on trust and hard days full of love. After what took forever for you to get ready you finally made your way out the door, getting into your car and immediately putting it into reverse. You didnât have a strict layout of where youâd be going today but you knew you wanted to treat yourself. Besides the usual maintenance, you hadnât been able to actually enjoy the city like you had once done before. You thought of all the times you and your family had come here before â those times were simpler.
Time had flown by; majority of the stuff you bought were things to preoccupy your mind with something else. Specifically clothes you bought just in case you wanted to go out one night, lord knows you hadnât done that in forever. When you were about to drive back to the house you received a text from your mother, showing up clear as day on the car screen.
Go by the gym. Heâs not there right now. Remember what I said.
You sighed; you donât know how she knew majority of the things she did but you did not feel like hearing her fuss later on tonight. So, you took a right instead of a left, heading towards the last place you truly wanted to be.
When you walked into the gym, the atmosphere was different, almost like everyone knew that your father was out of town. Maybe it was because you felt like you werenât constantly being scrutinized despite the caring words that were being directed towards you usually by your father since you moved in with him. You did feel slightly out of place remembering what you were wearing, the fresh retwist and then also the fresh manicure and pedicure that was the cherry on top to your displacement. Thatâs when you felt it, someone standing directly behind you which caused you to turn quick on your heels to see who lacked the common sense to understand personal space. When you turned, you didnât expect to look up into those same green eyes that interrupted the conversation between you and your father weeks ago. You immediately straightened up and looked him up and down taking in what you assumed the build of a boxer.
He was in a black compression shirt that mapped out every edge of his broad chest leaving little to the imagination. Well, youâd say little but still your eyes continued to wonder, trying to take it all in discreetly without inflating his ego. Once you were done taking in the expanse of his body, which to the outside looked as if it was a quick glance over, you looked up. âCan I help you?â, you expected him to return the question by explaining who he was but instead he returned with his own. âSo, youâre really the old manâs kid?â, you took a step back from him and looked at his calm demeanor, you didnât expect someone to be so openly blunt. Before you could allow him to think heâd left you speechless you retorted with a quick, âWho the fuck is asking?â, which only earned a smirk from the unknown man standing in front of you. You noticed a scar gracing the right side of said smirk, only solidifying what you already thought: this had to be Toji.
Before you could even retort with something touching on the fact that he hadnât answered either of your questions only staring at you as if heâd expected another smart remark, someone called his name. The same arms that were folded across his chest, dropped to his sides turning towards whoever it was telling them to hold on one second. His hands were wrapped as if you walked in and caught his attention right before he was about to spar. When he looked back towards you, he motioned to the counter by the front door, exactly where you expected someone to be to greet those that found their way in. âGo wait by the counter, kid. This wonât take long.â, you immediately rolled your eyes and looked at him as if he had two heads. When he noticed this before walking off, he shook his head, âYeah youâre definitely some relation to pops.â
As you saw him stepping into the ring, you decided to sit at the chair reserved for where the receptionist should be, taking in the actual rhythm of the gym. As soon as you decided to look down at your phone, you sensed the front door opening and glanced over. He was huge, youâd known your father was the heavyweight champion in his days but these new age boxers just carried a different level of muscle. The stranger mustâve felt you staring because he looked over at you, running a hand through his pink hair, crimson eyes staring a hole into your brown ones. In that moment you felt as if you touched a live current, heat instantly filling the space on your neck and your hairs standing up on your arms. Instead of looking away you met his heated gaze with your own, letting your eyes take in the entirety of his build. You never were the type to play innocent so you met his eyes after you practically undressed him with your gaze. He smirked as he walked to where you assumed the locker rooms were as he hoisted his duffle bag up higher on his shoulder. You rolled your eyes, that same cocky demeanor is what you expected from majority of the younger boxers in the gym.
âHey! Dickheadâ, you looked up at the same cocky individual from earlier walking up to Toji who was currently preoccupied with putting on his left boxing glove. âThose are my fucking boxing gloves youâre puttinâ onâ, you guess the two were more than familiar with each other as you watched Toji laugh and toss the gloves back at the pink-haired individual. âHere kid. Did you bring mine or do you expect me to not use gloves today?â You watched the two engage in conversation as Toji put on what you would assume his gloves; both parties satisfied with the exchange. When he got to the middle of the ring his jaw began to loosen, as he flexed his back and rolled his shoulders obviously feeling at home when his feet hit the canvas. He must have felt you looking because his eyes briefly found yours before he looked at the individual, he was bickering with earlier and asked âAre you going to hold my pads today?â. The pink hair individual chuckled to himself and proceeded to mutter something that you couldnât hear or couldnât care to hear you guess.
You thought coming to the gym mightâve been a mistake as you stepped outside and got into your car. You had left out once you looked up from your phone and realized the two of them would be in the ring longer than you cared to watch for. The sun had started to go by the time youâd finally thought to leave, until you heard a tap on the driver side window of your car. Those same green eyes and scar looked back at you; you rolled down your window as he told you today was a bad day to come by and that heâd be able to show you what he needed to tomorrow if you had time. Before you could give a reply the same pink-haired man from earlier stepped out of the door, chin held high and eyebrows furrowed together looking between you and Toji. When you looked back at Toji he tossed the keys over to the stranger, âSukuna can you lock the door behind you? The old man asked us to do it since heâs outta town.â
You reluctantly told Toji youâd come by tomorrow after your clinical hours and work, which you hope insinuated him to not to waste your time. As you pulled away, the man you learned to be Sukuna turned around and watched your expensive car roll out of the parking lot. He looked at Toji and laughed, âWhen I told you to find a girlfriend, I didnât mean to go out and rob the fucking cradle old man.â Toji looked at him and instantly pushed him, âYou arrogant bastard, thatâs the old manâs daughter. Which didnât stop you from basically eye-fucking her when you walked in earlier.â Sukuna cackled and grabbed his duffle bag off the ground, âDidnât think you saw that. Anyway, Iâll see you at the crib. Iâm grabbinâ a burger from the spot in Buckhead.â
When you pulled back into the yard you walked into a dark and silent house. You stretched cracking your back before you found your way to the shower to prepare for the day that tomorrow held. Your dad would be back in six days and you refused for the few days of peace youâd have go to waste.
a/n: second chapter yay! if you can't tell this is somewhat a medium tempo deal between the main character and the boys. just stay with me! art randomly found on pinterest (if you know who it belongs to lmk, ill be more than happy to credit them).
divider from: @indiewritesxoxo
