Chapter Text
He sits with arms folded, gazing at nothing. Anger simmers just beneath his skin, the thinnest of threads keeping him from snapping.
Ijichi steps inside, the clack of his shoes the only sound in the room. He comes towards Gojo as everyone else avoids eye contact.
He already knows what he's going to say.
"Gojo-san, I'm sorry to inform you that we have still not located-"
He stands only to turn and kick the chair he was sitting on. It goes through the wall easily, and the next one after that.
Ijichi is shaking in his peripheral.
Five days. Five whole days since anyone has last seen Yuuji. Five days of searching, of making excuses to the elders about why their vessel has vanished into thin air. Five days of horrible, indescribable dread.
"Thank you, Ijichi-san. You can go now."
He's never seen someone scutter away faster. The others sit off to the side, all tired from their endless searching. Nanami, Ino, Megumi, Nobara…
"Satoru."
And Geto, of course.
"What?" He grits out.
"Look, I know you're hurting, but..." Geto pauses, exhales. "Perhaps it's time we consider that he doesn't want to be found."
"No one asked you to help look for him," Gojo says, clipped. "If you really believe there's nothing to be found, then feel free to leave."
Suguru doesn't say anything to that, though Gojo does hear him sigh. He turns on his heel and leaves before he has the chance to do something much worse.
He walks until he's outside, fresh air hitting him in the face. Only when he’s far enough away from prying ears does he stop, gulping in ragged breaths. The truth of it is that he can't even blame Geto. No, he could only blame himself. He was the one that had sensed Yuuji's presence passing outside the door. He was the one that knew he could have been listening.
Instead of talking to him, he got swept away, lost in Yuuji's sweet sighs and whimpers. He had rathered the boy beneath him, writhing under his fingertips, than to explain the last ten years of his life. The confirmation that Yuuji had heard something was written all over his face, yet Gojo hadn't pressed it, had thought he could leave it for another day
How fucking stupid of him. How selfish.
Geto's words repeat in his ears, just as they have over and over again these last few days.
Let the kid go, save him the heartbreak. We both know it’s coming.
He curls his hands into fists. How could he have let this happen again? How could he have let another person he loves slip through his fingers?
Satoru. Something about the way Yuuji had said it, so open and earnest and vulnerable beneath him, had made him think that everything was okay, that they were moving forward.
Now… Now he doesn’t know what to think.
"Gojo-sensei!"
He looks up to Nobara running towards him, eyes wide and frantic, Megumi in tow.
"Someone saw him," she shouts. "Someone saw Yuuji!"
He teleports to the outskirts of Osaka as fast as he can. He would've done it anyway, to get to Yuuji quicker, but he does have another pressing concern.
There's reports of a disturbance. A curse with multiple vines in place of arms, fighting a pink haired boy at the edge of town.
He floats to a high vantage point, scouring the area with his six eyes. It's only moments before he sees him, dirtied and bloodied but still standing.
The curse's vines head straight for him.
In a blink Gojo is in their way, the vines scattering around him as if they're nothing.
He can hear the inhale of breath from behind him. He knows Yuuji's eyes are wide with surprise before he even turns to look. His pretty brown eyes blink up at him when he does, a bloody gash along his cheek.
His hand moves before he can help it, taking a swipe of the blood trickling down his face. He brings his thumb up to get a better look at it, his earlier fury coming back full force.
Only this time, he has an outlet.
"Stay here," he orders, and before Yuuji can respond he's already gone.
The curse is thrown back from the sheer force of his infinity. It's not even a special grade, which irks him. That means this will be over far too quickly. Its vines whip around him, but they're useless against the crushing weight of his technique. He adds more power behind it, the curse trying to move to escape it, but it can't.
Eventually it has no choice but to slink against the ground and wait for death.
Gojo cackles in delight, watching as it writhes in pain.
"Is that all you got?" He sing-songs. "And here I was thinking there was going to be a challenge."
The curse screams, garbled and inhuman, and it's only moments before it bursts into scattered bits of flesh. The only evidence of its miserable existence left behind is the purple blood splattered along the ground.
Gojo lets out a breath through his nose, still unsatisfied. Anger pinpricks within him, calling for his attention.
He turns and walks back to Yuuji, his boy staring at him, eyes wide.
"Get your shit," he says, a forced smile on his lips as he strides past him. "We're going home."
The place Yuuji has been staying is.. small, to say the least. A bare room with a window and a simple bed.
Gojo looks around. Yuuji's duffle bag is on the floor, some clothes draped over it. The blankets are scattered across the bed, unmade.
"So this is where you've been. What was your plan?"
Yuuji is still beside him, taking a moment to speak up, "Stay here until I found a job, I guess.”
Gojo looks down at him, Yuuji's eyes cast to the floor, fiddling with the sleeves of his hoodie.
It's only two steps until he's in front of him, hand reaching out to gently rest against Yuuji's throat.
He feels him tense up at the touch, heartbeat rabbiting beneath his fingertips. Gojo slides his hand higher, Yuuji’s throat bobbing, swallowing against the sensation. Finally he drags his fingers towards the back of his head, touching the soft hairs at the nape of his neck.
"So you were just going to leave?" He asks, hand curling into hair, pulling Yuuji’s head back with a harsh tug. "Just like that?"
Yuuji gasps a ragged sound as Gojo pulls him closer. He slips his leg between Yuuji's thighs as he hovers over him, leaning until their mouths are only a breath apart.
"Look at that," Gojo murmurs. "You're hard."
Yuuji whines.
That's all it takes for his already thin resolve to snap. He kisses him, ravenous, licking inside Yuuji's mouth as he angles his head the way he wants it. Yuuji wastes no time in pressing against him, humping his leg in clumsy thrusts. Satoru swallows his choked off moans, slides his leg lower to give him better access.
He only parts with him when he feels like he can’t take it anymore, tossing him on the bed.
"Take off your clothes."
Yuuji is quick to obey. He pulls off his hoodie, revealing smooth tan skin and pink flushed nipples. When he tilts up his hips to pull down his pants Gojo feels his cock jump. He watches as Yuuji hooks his fingers under the fabric, as his pretty cock breaks free of his underwear, bobbing against his stomach.
It’s almost too much to bear. Gojo has to touch him, now . He drapes over him like a predator crowding their prey, leaning down to lath his tongue over a nipple. It makes Yuuji arch from the bed with a whimper, his cock rutting against air incessantly, already shiny with precome.
He allows himself a moment to lick and bite at the little nub, to suck and swirl his tongue around it while his fingers pinch the other one. It drives Yuuji as wild as always, already making the prettiest sounds. He wants more of those sounds.
No, he needs them. He needs to be inside him.
He pulls his mouth away to kiss down Yuuji's stomach, palming his own hard cock before slipping a hand in his pocket. He pulls out a tin of lip balm, the wet and sticky kind that he always uses to slick his cock up when he fucks Yuuji. It’s usually hidden away in his bedside locker, but not today.
He sees brown eyes dart down to it before Yuuji looks back up at him in surprise.
"You really thought I wasn't going to fuck you as soon as I found you?" He growls, unzipping only enough to free his cock. He flips the lid and swipes two fingers through the soft balm, immediately coating himself with it. He strokes himself as he does it, just a little to take the edge off. Yuuji stares at his moving hand, mouth parted ever so slightly, cock twitching against his belly.
He keeps watching as Gojo spreads his fingers through the balm again, as he slips said fingers between Yuuji's legs. He leans down to lick up the underside of Yuuji's cock at the same time that he circles his rim. Yuuji groans, his student’s tip wet and desperate as Gojo takes it in his mouth, pushing a finger inside.
Yuuji sinks himself down on it, whining pitifully. He’s already soft and open inside, and the knowledge that he must have played with himself recently gives Gojo another burst of arousal. He takes the opportunity to slide another finger beside the first quicker than he usually would, feeling how Yuuji’s tight heat clings to him.
"Oh god," Yuuji pants, hips seemingly undecided about whether they should cant up into Gojo's mouth or push down and swallow more of his fingers. He makes sure to lick around Yuuji's cock just the way he likes, to hollow out his cheeks and suck him to the root while his fingers brush his prostate. He keeps it up until his boy is squirming and bucking, hands clenching in the bedsheets.
“M’ Close,” Yuuji pants out, “Sensei, I’m gonna-”
He pulls off him with a wet ‘pop’, fingers slipping out as Yuuji groans unhappily. Satoru slides between his legs, pressing his cock against the cleft of his ass.
That perks him back up. Yuuji’s cock dribbles another slick bead of precome as he wraps his legs around Satoru’s waist, nudging him closer. The touch of soft thighs sliding against his hips sends a spark of electricity through him, sizzling like fire beneath his skin. Yuuji’s hands raise up and up, right towards his blindfold. Fingers slip beneath the fabric, teasing it, attempting to pull it off.
For some reason the idea of it makes his chest lurch.
He pins Yuuji’s arms against the bed before he can get it off, before he can even notice Gojo’s hesitance. He nudges it out of his own mind at the same time that he nudges Yuuji’s tight hole with the tip of his cock, and with another shift it’s sliding inside.
Yuuji lets out a noise that’s half sigh and half moan, opening up so beautifully for him, the blindfold all but forgotten where it sits on Satoru’s face. His pulsing walls draw Gojo in deeper, silky and soft and so goddamn perfect. There’s a sense of urgency in his gut, a need to drive in more, to press as deep as possible and then stay there, locked together. But then there’s another urge, the one to fuck and claim, to show the boy beneath him why he should never leave again.
He sinks inside, giving Yuuji only the barest of moments to adjust. Yuuji only moans and spreads his legs wider, eyebrows pinching as he bites his bottom lip. His cock is red against his belly, so flushed that Satoru can see each throb of Yuuji’s pulse that runs through it. He vibrates beneath him as Gojo slides in as far as he’s able before feeling resistance. Over an inch is left outside, so he shifts his hips and grinds back and forth, loosening Yuuji up, listening to his soft whines.
Then he slams into the hilt.
Yuuji inhales sharply, eyes going glazed as a jet of come spurts from his cock in a perfect swoop. His wrists are still pinned in Gojo’s hands as his body arches from the bed, white spend splattering against his torso. His ass clenches around Gojo’s length as he cums, pulling a deep hiss from him too.
“Sensei,” he babbles, cock still spurting. “Sensei, sensei, sensei.”
“I’ve got you,” Satoru answers. “That’s right, baby. Cum on my cock like a good boy.”
The words carry Yuuji to the end of his orgasm, his eyes fluttering shut as he nudges up and down Gojo’s cock. He drops back to the bed afterwards, panting harshly in his afterglow.
Gojo tightens his hold on Yuuji’s wrists, pulling out only to shallowly thrust back inside, starting up a pace.
“Ngh,” Yuuji whimpers, lips slick with spit. “Sensei, it’s too much.”
“You can take it for me, can’t you baby?” Gojo purrs, watching how Yuuji’s cock answers for him, plumping again. His precious boy moans in response, throwing his head back as Gojo’s pace gets quicker.
“There we go,” Gojo continues. “So good, aren’t you? Coming untouched just from me fucking you. Always learning something new from sensei.”
That earns him another embarrassed whimper from Yuuji. He leans back, hands leaving Yuuji’s wrists to grip his thighs, pulling his legs up over his shoulders. His gaze travels to where they’re connected, Yuuji stretched taut around his cock. The visual is enough to make him pull nearly all of the way out before driving back inside, watching how his slick cock opens Yuuji up. Then his eyes slide back up to Yuuji’s face, to his tousled pink hair and big brown eyes.
“You were touching yourself today, weren’t you?” He murmurs, rocking his hips faster, warm wet walls sucking him in. Each slide has his abs tensing, pleasure running down his spine and teasing the tip of his dick.
“Yes,” Yuuji pants, and the sound of his fucked out voice only makes the pleasure heighten.
“Little slut,” Gojo growls, grip tight on Yuuji’s thighs, fucking so harshly that Yuuji cries out, hand wrapping around his cock. Gojo keeps talking, heat coiling in his belly, needing more of Yuuji’s sweet voice. “What were you thinking of, huh? Hidden away with your fingers in your hole.”
“Ah!” Yuuji gasps, hand flying up and down his dick. “You. I was thinking of you, sensei. You, you, you.”
He pushes Yuuji’s legs back, leaning forward until they’re up by his ears. The angle lets him fuck even harder, his breath hot in Yuuji’s ear. “Are you going to cum again for me, baby?”
With those words alone Yuuji goes silent, body cresting again. He clenches around him, pulsing and warm, and then more hot cum spills between them.
Gojo fucks him through it, Yuuji’s body pliant and sensitive yet still trying to milk Satoru for all he’s worth. He feels all of Yuuji’s muscles tense and unwind beneath him, his boy unable to form words-
And then he’s reaching up and gripping a handful of Satoru’s hair, smashing their mouths together.
Satoru kisses him roughly, tongue dipping inside his mouth as his pace slows. He feels Yuuji’s body sag as he comes down from his high. The kiss turns lazy, small swipes of tongue as Yuuji whimpers into his mouth. He stops moving completely then, pulling away from spit slicked lips.
“Did you…” Yuuji says, shifting his hips as if he’s trying to feel something, eyebrows knitted in confusion. “You didn’t finish?”
“We aren’t done yet,” Gojo says, cock hard and twitching within Yuuji’s sensitive insides. “You can do one more for me, can’t you baby?”
Yuuji blinks up at him, looking utterly unsure even though his mouth says the opposite.
“Keep going, sensei.”
“Good boy,” Gojo says, kissing him again. “Always pushing yourself for me, aren’t you?”
Yuuji kisses him back tenderly, squirming in his hold as Gojo starts fucking his slick hole again. He parts for breath, dropping his forehead against Yuuji’s, his student panting softly against his mouth. Yuuji’s hands slip beneath his uniform, trying to tug at the buttons, and for some reason Gojo’s only reaction is to yank away again, his chest repeating the same strange lurch from earlier.
He pulls back and sits on his haunches, far away from his student’s wandering hands. It gives Yuuji’s legs some reprieve, his body stretching and arching. Though his cock still sits soft against his belly, the cum from his previous orgasm pooling in the dip of his abs.
There’s cum on Gojo’s uniform too, drying into the dark material. He’s far too hot and sweaty in his clothes, yet the idea of taking them off right now feels even more unpleasant. The thought of being naked feels far too vulnerable-
He pushes the thoughts away, focusing instead on angling, aiming for Yuuji’s sweet spot. It gets him another low moan, Yuuji reaching for Gojo’s hands, those too slipping away before he can touch them.
“Sensei?” Yuuji murmurs, a strange look in his eyes, and Satoru takes a hold of his cock just to distract himself from it. He hears how Yuuji’s breath hitches as he strokes some hardness into him, flicking his wrist along the tip just how Yuuji likes. His slow thrusts become faster, perhaps a little too fast, because a discontent whine slips from Yuuji’s mouth.
"I can't," he says. "It's too much."
“You can,” Gojo answers. “Be good for me, baby.”
His words seem to work for a moment, Yuuji’s head dropping as he tries to relax. But it’s only another few seconds before he’s twisting away from Gojo’s touches again, still oversensitive.
"Satoru,” he whines, a hand running up Gojo’s wrist, the touch gentle. “I need a break, Satoru-”
“Don’t, ” He snaps, pulling away. “Don’t call me that.”
He doesn’t mean for it to come out so harshly. He doesn’t even know why his own name feels like a stab in the chest, one to a wound that’s still festering.
Except he does know, really. It’s because the first time Yuuji had spoken it was the last time they made love. He had whispered it so reverently in that moment, and Gojo had thought-
He had thought Yuuji loved him back.
There's a tense silence, the only sound between them their shuddering breaths. Yuuji stares at him, unspeaking, and Gojo feels how he begins to waver.
So he does what he's always done. He puts a mask on, pushes the uncomfortable ache in his chest away, and pretends everything is okay.
"Come on," he says softly, almost guiltily, as he starts to pump his hips slowly. "You can do one more for me, can't you?"
Yuuji nods with a small tilt of his head. There's an expression on his face that Gojo can't place, and he wants to make it morph back into pleasure as quickly as he can. He hikes Yuuji's leg up over his shoulder, kisses along the inside of his knee as he strokes him. He can’t help but feel like they’re apology kisses, somehow.
It goes like that for a few minutes. Yuuji laying back, little noises falling from his mouth, far fewer than before. Gojo, thrusting languidly inside him, touching him, trying to make something happen. But even when Yuuji hardens in his hand it's short lived, plumping up only slightly before softening again.
"Stop," Yuuji eventually rasps, and it's almost like something inside Gojo was waiting for it. He quickly pulls out and tucks himself away. He’s still hard, but he knew he wasn't going to finish from the start. He's too annoyed. With himself, with everything.
He stands as Yuuji scoots up into a sitting position, gingerly grabbing the blankets to cover himself with. He doesn't look at Gojo, somehow seeming shy despite the fact that they just fucked.
Satoru shifts from foot to foot as the silence stretches. The longer time passes, the more awkward it gets. He looks at Yuuji, but Yuuji still won’t look back at him. Restlessness prickles beneath his skin, and he feels the sudden urge to get out of there, to get Yuuji back to the safety of Jujutsu Tech and deal with the rest later.
He sees Yuuji's clothes scattered across the floor. He picks up the first shirt he sees and tosses it at him, making his way across the room to pick up Yuuji’s things and stuff them in his bag. The shirt lands in Yuuji’s arms, finally getting his attention, brown eyes blinking up to meet his own.
"Get dressed," Gojo says, and now he’s the one who turns away because Yuuji looks so fucking sad, and he just needs to get them both home right now, safe and sound-
A hitched sob hits his ears, and he turns back around to see Yuuji with his hands covering his face.
"Yuuji," he says softly.
It just makes him sob harder.
He steps forward and reaches out to him, but Yuuji physically recoils from the gesture, moving further away.
"Don't," he says, face still held in both hands as he cries, shoulders shaking with the force of it.
And what can Gojo do? He stands and waits, itching to pull Yuuji into his arms, to hold him and soothe him. It goes on and on, for so long that he’s certain he'll be driven mad with Yuuji's sadness.
He decides out of sheer desperation to take a different approach. He tugs his blindfold off, ruffled white hair falling over his eyes. Then he kneels beside the bed so that he's looking up at Yuuji instead of down on him, keeping a little bit of distance between them. Finally he reaches a hand out, gently skimming his fingers across Yuuji's knee.
"Baby," he says. "You'll pass out if you keep hyperventilating. Talk to me?"
Yuuji hiccups. He has one palm hiding his face while the other now clenches the shirt Gojo threw at him. "You hate me."
"That's not true," Gojo says, slowly letting more of his hand touch him, palm flat on his knee so his thumb can rub soothing circles there. "But I understand why you might feel that way right now. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you."
Yuuji doesn't answer that. He just keeps crying, albeit a little more softly, small sniffles and breaths as he tries not to meet Gojo's eyes. Each sound feels like a punch in the gut, and he so desperately wants to make it stop.
"I know that you heard us," Gojo tries, Yuuji tensing up under his hand. "That's why I wanted to talk to you before. To let you know there was nothing to worry about. I'm not going back to him, not ever."
"You should."
It's said so quietly, Yuuji's voice merely a rasp.
"Why would you say that?"
"I know you were happy with him before," Yuuji says. "He's strong, he’s smart. He knows you inside and out. Just look at him. He's gorgeous, and I’m… I’m none of those things."
Now that takes Gojo aback.
"Itadori Yuuji. Look at me, right now."
Yuuji does, reluctantly lifting his red rimmed eyes to peek at him.
"I never, ever, want to hear you say something like that again. You're gorgeous and strong and smart. You're perfect."
Yuuji simply shakes his head, lip quivering as the tears start again, "I'm weak, Sensei. He tells me all the time."
Gojo doesn't need a name. He knows who he is.
Sukuna.
"Yuuji," he says softly, hand squeezing his knee. "Can I come up there to you?"
Yuuji nods jerkily. He moves up to sit on the bed, hands reaching out to pull Yuuji's legs over his own and situate him in his lap. Yuuij immediately digs his face against Satoru’s neck, arms wrapping around him as his soft sobs start up again. There’s nothing he can do but try to soothe him. He holds him, kissing his hair and rocking him ever so slightly.
"None of that stuff is true, Yuuji. He's lying to you. He wants you to believe you're weak. You shouldn't listen."
He knows it's not that simple. That it's something he could never understand, sharing your body with another being, one made of pure evil at that. Too often he worries about what it does to Yuuji's psyche, and he always tries to remind him that he's improving so fast.
Perhaps it isn't enough.
"I missed you," Yuuji says against his neck, face still wet against him, body shaking. "I missed you so much."
"You won't believe how much I've missed you ," Gojo laughs lightly. "I thought I was going to lose my mind if I didn't find you soon."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Everyone was out looking for you. Megumi, Nobara, Nanami. They're all missing you, too. They were really worried."
"I thought I wasn't going to see any of you again," Yuuji says, calmer now. "I thought it'd be better for you all that way."
"They would've searched every inch of Japan for you," Gojo says. “And I… I would have never stopped looking.”
Yuuji finally pulls his face from its hiding place, sad wet eyes peering up at him. “Why not?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” He asks. Because I love you. Because you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Because if anything ever happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to go on living with myself.
Yet he doesn’t say any of these things. It’s too difficult, especially after the pain of rejection that came with Yuuji leaving. He lifts his hand and wipes away Yuuji’s tears, the boy nuzzling against his palm.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” he says. “Actually there’s a lot I need to tell. About myself. About Geto.”
He tells him everything, starting right at the beginning, when he and Geto met. How they quickly became friends. How they slowly became lovers. What they went through with Riko. How their ideologies shifted, how it forced them to drift further away from each other. How finally, one day, Satoru came back to find his room empty, not a trace of Suguru left in it.
“I thought he was the only one who understood me, but I guess it turned out that he didn’t.”
Yuuji nods, listening patiently to each and every word, “I’m really sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” Gojo says, a strange lump in his throat. “When I went to get you that morning, when I saw that everything was gone... All your clothes, your things, gone…”
“That must have been hard,” Yuuji says, interlocking their fingers. “Going through that a second time.”
Gojo gently squeezes his fingers. “I’m just glad to have you back now, safe and sound.”
“There’s just one thing I don’t understand. If you loved Geto so much before, then why aren’t you together now? He's back now, and... you could, if you wanted to.”
“I fell out of love with him a long time ago,” Gojo shrugs. “I grew up a lot too. It turns out thay Geto and I have less in common than I thought, and since then…” He turns his eyes down to Yuuji, “I’ve found someone else. Someone who’s much more like me.”
He watches as pink spreads across Yuuji’s cheeks, his fingers getting another gentle squeeze.
“So,” Yuuji says, eyes cast down again. “I should probably just stick to calling you sensei from now on. Right?”
Gojo sighs, pulling Yuuji closer, “I didn’t mean it when I said that. I wasn’t thinking straight.” He tilts up Yuuji’s chin until the boy’s brown eyes meet his own again. “Call me Satoru. Call me whatever you want, whenever you want.”
He doesn’t give Yuuji a chance to answer, instead pressing their mouths together. It’s a sweet kiss, soft and chaste. And then another one comes, and another. It feels like moments before Yuuji is breathing heavily, palm sliding up Satoru’s neck.
“I think I can do one more.”
“Oh yeah?” Gojo says against his lips, cock growing hard against Yuuji’s thigh. “I think we could manage that.”
They go for one more round, this time with both of them fully unclothed. Satoru interlaces their fingers as they reach their peak, spilling inside Yuuji with a broken moan. He only allows them to bask in the afterglow for a few minutes, once again eager to get Yuuji home safely.
Yuuji showers first considering he’s the one who’s most sticky. Satoru is busy sending Nanami a text confirming Yuuji’s safe and they’ll be home soon when a towel is unceremoniously tossed in his face.
“I guess I deserve that,” He remarks, grabbing the towel and heading towards the shower.
“You do,” Yuuji smirks. “I’ll pack while you’re showering.”
“You’d better hurry, I won’t be too long.”
“Sure thing,” Yuuji says. “Oh, and Satoru?”
Gojo turns to see a wide toothed grin on Yuuji’s face, and then he says something that utterly stuns him.
“I love you too.”
Yuuij clenches his eyes shut as they're teleported, the sensation of it always making his stomach lurch. Luckily the process is quick, and Satoru even agrees to bring them somewhere outside of Jujutsu Tech so Yuuji can have a few minutes to walk off his nerves. They do just that, and he lets the cool wind calm his racing heart.
He knows he should just be happy that they’re back together, that Satoru has made it clear he’s chosen Yuuji, but he does still itch to link their fingers together, to act like any other couple walking down the street. He bites his lip and pushes the urge aside. He supposes he’ll be able to get his hands back all over sensei later.
He mentally prepares himself as he approaches the gates, but nothing could have prepared him for the armful of Nobara he gets.
“Yuuji,” she says, her voice full of relief, and then she’s shouting directly in his ear. “You goddamn idiot!”
“Ouch,” Yuuji laughs nervously.
“What were you thinking, just going off like that and not telling anyone? And not taking your phone?! It’s a good thing you didn’t die, because I would have killed you if you did!”
“That doesn’t make sense-” he tries to say, Megumi stepping up behind her.
“Agreed,” Megumi interjects. “Do that again and I’ll kill you too.”
Nobara finally steps back, and to Yuuji’s surprise Megumi steps forward and gives him a quick hug too.
“Sorry,” he mutters, his chest blooming with warmth at the displays of affection. “I really didn’t mean to worry you guys.”
“Well you did, dumbass! Come on inside and say hi to Nanami, he’s gone nearly as grey as Gojo from the stress.”
“Hey!” Satoru injects. “I am not grey.”
If Nobara hears him she doesn’t act like it. Instead she loops her arm with Yuuji’s, dragging him towards the school. “Will you make Bifteki tonight? Megumi tried while you were away but it tasted like ass. The food here sucks!”
“Last time I’ll cook you something,” Megumi grumbles, Gojo smiling beside him.
Yuuji wonders how he ever left.
He sits with Nobara and Megumi as they eat dinner, Satoru excusing himself to go to the bathroom.
The door is closed for approximately six seconds before Nobara speaks.
“How long have you and sensei been fucking?”
He chokes on his meatball, coughing up a storm while Megumi whacks him in the back to try and dislodge it.
“What’d I tell you about dying, idiot?” Megumi grumbles. “Drink some water.”
He gulps down a glass with shaky fingers, mind still reeling from the question.
“We’re not- I’m not-”
“Don’t try to deny it,” Nobara says, pointing her chopsticks in his face like a weapon. “Megumi said he heard you guys fucking. On numerous occasions.”
Yuuji feels himself flush red, peeking over at Megumi who also happens to have a light dusting of pink on his cheeks.
“What? You’re not exactly quiet.”
“Oh my god,” Yuuji groans. He drops his head in his hands in an attempt to hide just how embarrassed he is.
“We thought that was probably why you left, right? Because of sensei being an idiot, or whatever. That has to be the reason since he was so upset while you were gone.”
Yuuji finally places his hands on the table and rouses some false confidence, drawing in a breath. “It’s not like that. We’re not, uh-”
“Fucking?” Nobara injects.
“-having sex,” Yuuji finishes.
“Ah,” Satoru says from behind him. “So Yuuji’s finally told you that we’re romantically inclined?”
Yuuji chokes again, this time on air. “S-sensei!”
“I was going to tell them anyway,” Satoru shrugs as he sits down to eat with them. “It’s telling Nanami I’m worried about. He’s going to lose it.”
“Gross,” Nobara says, scrunching her nose. “Of all the teachers you just had to go and fu- become romantically inclined with, you just had to go and choose our one.”
“What’s so bad about it being me?” Gojo pouts. “I’m not that bad.”
Nobara raises an eyebrow. “You’re like, 80.”
“I am nowhere close to eighty!”
Yuuji can only drop his head in his hands again, this time with a smile tugging at his lips.
A few weeks pass. Yuuji settles back in so easily that it’s like he’s never left.
The only time he has any doubts about coming back is when he’s around Geto.
It’s not often, and it’s usually with other people around, like when they’re discussing new missions. Geto never tries to speak to him and Yuuji never tries either, so they basically never talk. That doesn't stop Yuuji from noticing how Geto directs all of his questions at Satoru, how he gravitates towards him as much as possible. Yuuji always stays directly on the other side of the room, far away from both of them, eyes cast elsewhere.
If he looks, he’ll doubt himself, and doubting himself means doubting Satoru too, since they’re sort of in a relationship now. So he doesn’t look, ever.
The one time he does talk to Geto is by accident. It’s after lights out and he’s sneaking to Satoru’s room when he turns the corner and bumps right into him. Literally bumps into him, stepping back with a mumbled apology.
Geto simply looks down at him for an unnerving amount of time, Yuuji shifting from foot to foot. Then he nods and walks on as if nothing happened.
A few days later his room is empty, Nobara and Megumi needling Yuuji for information about it as if he’d know why Geto up and left.
“I really don’t know,” Yuuji tells her. “I have to ask Satoru.”
“Satoru,” she repeats with a shudder. “Gross! Just call him sensei!”
“Trust me,” Megumi comments, eyes looking down at his phone. “He calls him sensei quite enough.”
Yuuji escapes to go find him, Nobara snickering behind him as his face burns red for the nth time that week.
“Sensei,” Yuuji says that night, not sure if he should ask a question that he might not like the answer to. They’re sitting in bed, naked and still covered in a light sheen of sweat, Gojo flicking through a book. “Did Geto leave because of us?”
“Nope,” Satoru answers.
“Oh,” Yuuji says, releasing a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. “Why did he go then?”
“I told him that we’re together. Officially.”
“Wait, what?! You just said it wasn’t because of us!”
“It wasn’t,” Satoru shrugs. “He was always going to leave. Even if you and I weren’t together, he would have left once he realised that I never plan on rekindling anything with him.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Yuuji says, unease settling on him like a blanket.
“Geto and I have different ideals,” Satoru says, closing his book. “I think he wanted me to see his side of things, to join him on a different kind of path. It was never going to happen.”
“Right,” Yuuji says, dropping his head to Gojo’s shoulder. “Are you.. Okay? I know it’s probably hard, having him leave again.”
“I'm incredibly fond of Geto, but sometimes it’s better to let people go their own path,” Gojo says, kissing his head. "I'll look toward the future instead.”
“The future, huh? Meaning me?” Yuuji smiles, tilting his head back to look up at him.
“Meaning you,” Satoru confirms, pressing their mouths together.
He still feels uneasy about what the future might bring, especially now that Geto's left again. Something about it makes his skin prickle, but for now he pushes that feeling to the side and sinks into Satoru's embrace. He's in bed with the love of his life, held tight in the circle of his arms. His friends are warm and safe in their beds, and so is he. He's happy, and for now, that's all he can ask for.
He drifts off to the steady rhythm of Satoru's heartbeat, and as sleep takes him he can't help but think about how glad he is to be home.