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damn-stark · 2 months

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Chapter 29 Birthday surprises

Chapter 29 of Sugar

A/N- One more chapter before we get to the angst 😆

Warning- Swearing, angst, talks of death and grief, FLUFF, cigarettes, spoilers!! long chapter, talks of well I don’t want to spoil it hehe….

Pairing- Choso x Gojo!fem-reader, Suguru Geto x Gojo!fem-reader

Takes place during-

(Let me know if you want to be tagged)

————

*SHOKO P.O.V. 11 YEARS AGO*

Perhaps she just betrayed her best friend by calling Gojo, perhaps she also just betrayed you in some way for giving away Geto’s location, but she isn’t going to sway. She isn’t going to break her head deciding who’s wrong or right, she knows what she needs to so she made her choice and if someone doesn’t like it well that’s too damn bad.

Albeit, Geto doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave to avoid being caught—not like she believes Gojo will do anything against Geto, Gojo loves his best friend too much. But Geto is still hanging around her without a cigarette in between his lips, or without another word to say about his beliefs, or about anything else actually.

He’s just beside her in silence and that raises her suspicion, but then again she doesn’t have to think too deeply about what’s keeping him there.

“She was taken by her family,” she reveals as she assumes he’s going to ask about you. “They came in the morning and took her. That’s why she probably hasn’t tried reaching you….that’s what you were going to ask about right?”

Geto sighs softly and nods. “We agreed to meet up to talk. She never got there.”

Shoko takes a drag from her cigarette and after she blows out smoke she continues to try and defend you. “Yeah, they surprised her. Used their techniques on her and took her. I haven’t heard from her since, but Satoru said she’s okay.”

Geto’s head slowly turns and his thin eyebrows slowly knit together. “He didn’t take her with him?”

Shoko scoffs. “No. He came home recently without her. Her parents probably didn’t let her come back.”

“No,” Geto quickly counters. “Even if that was it, they listen to him. He could’ve brought her back to the school if he wanted. He left her there. My guess is so she doesn’t talk to me.”

“You really think…” she trails off as she realizes the answer to her own question.

Gojo did seem to never come around to accepting Geto and you, but was it really that bad? She always looked at it as him being overbearing and overprotective for his little sister and for his best friend, but did he really dislike the idea so much as to leave you in your family home with a family that finds ways to scrutinize you when they can?

No. That can’t be it, she knew Satoru. He wouldn’t leave you just to prevent you from talking to Geto. He’s just being too overbearing, he still sees you as his little sister, not his sister who can make her own choices and conjure up her own thoughts about everything.

And this is why she’s glad she’s an only child.

“Shoko,” Geto calls out softly and pushes away from the railing to face her. “Could you do something for me?”

Without hesitation, she nods and interjects. “Depends what the favor is. I won't help you burn a village if that’s what you’re going to ask.”

Geto doesn’t find humor in her comment, so she wonders how it is that you make him laugh with your terrible puns.

“It’s about y/n,” he clarifies.

She lets out a deep breath and turns off her cigarette before stepping forward to stand before him. “Sure,” she assures her friend. “What is it?”

“It’s doubtful that she will get her phone back when she gets back to the school,” he begins to explain. “So when she goes back without her phone could you please let her borrow yours and have her call me.”

Shoko nods, but she brings up a possibility that pops into her head. “What if she doesn’t want to talk to you?”

Suguru’s eyes flicker down and an upset look flickers on his face before he faces her with nonchalance. “Then just tell me…” he trails off and reaches into his back pocket to pull out a folded paper. “And whether she wants to talk to me or not, give her this.”

Shoko takes the paper and lets curiosity take control and opens the paper, causing Geto to explain what all the words mean. “It’s her favorite poem.”

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” She reads the title in her mind.

“It could’ve been something inappropriate,” Geto remarks.

“I need to know what I’m smuggling to her,” she shrugs him off whilst she folds the paper back before putting it away—“anything else?” She asks.

Geto’s eyes fall to the ground and he nods gently. “If you see her, if she doesn’t want to talk to me, tell her I understand. Tell her to not stay in that school, if she wants to leave then she should tell her to do everything that leads to her happiness. That’s all that matters. Her being happy…” He pauses and draws out a deep breath before meeting her gaze with a small but hurt smile.

“…she deserves to be happy. Tell her that she’s…no…just tell her that if she ever changes her mind I won’t be far, I’ll be there waiting for her. And,” he says with a sweet and adoring smile he only has reserved for two people with the same family name. You and your brother.

“Tell her I know the answer to her question.” He laughs softly.

——

*YOU. NOW*

“…we have to put a hard structure to their training. With the battle…”

You tune Utahime out and yawn into your hand. Even if you got plenty of sleep last night, meetings like these have a way of draining you. They’re so boring!

But…you have to pay attention.

This is like being back at school all over again though. When you’d have strategy meetings with your family they were never this boring. There were drinks and food! All you have here is the temptation to walk out since everyone chose to come over to your house and do anything else like, maybe take a horse ride, tend to your garden, read, or even help your daughter with some of the homework you left her.

Alas…here you are…with Satoru watching you?

You drift your gaze to the corner of your eyes and you can’t see what his eyes are pointed at because of his blindfold, but you can see that his head is slightly shifted your way, and tilted slightly down.

Is he sleeping?

You slowly churn your head his way and tilt your chin down. This makes Satoru swiftly tilt his head up to meet your gaze behind his blindfold, letting you know he is awake, and he was looking at you, so you shoot him a pointed look that conveys your sass.

“You wish,” he whispers sassily and finally looks away.

“You wish,” you mock him, and that makes him counter by pinching your arm.

“Ow,” you hiss and try to swat his hand away, but even if he’s choosing not to have his infinity on, he still swiftly pulls his hand away with a stifled snicker.

“Real mature,” you murmur and hit his thigh with your foot.

Satoru moves to react, but he’s interrupted by the woman leading this gathering, Utahime. “Are you two listening? I know this might be above you Gojo, but this is in regards to your students.”

Satoru reclines back with his hands pressed on the floor and glances between you and Utahime. “You need to use first names Utahime, there’s two of us here once again. It’s confusing,” Satoru only says all that to annoy her.

“The both of you are being scandalous,” she grumbles. “Did either of you even listen to a word I said?”

You nod. “There needs to be structure,” you repeat what she just said. “Training is too chaotic with all the students under one roof, yeah, yeah. I mean,” you sigh and fold your arms over your chest. “If only there were such a place where there was structure for teenage students.”

Utahime grinds her teeth, and Shoko interjects. “Says the high school dropout.”

“I’m surprised you remember what high school is,” Satoru bounces in and leans over. “Considering your professional career eats away at your brain by just looking pretty and letting flashes blind your eyes.”

You slowly turn to look at your brother with a threatening glare, but don’t give him the satisfaction of responding to his stupid untrue comment, you just pierce your glare at him before you look back at Utahime and address her.

“What is it that you were saying?”

Utahime lets out an exhausted breath but has no choice but to repeat herself. “Besides your own students, you will help other students in controlling their technique. You have experience and…you are good at the fluidity of your cursed technique.”

You smile at her smugly because you know she was dreading saying all that to you.

“Don’t worry,” she adds. “You’ll only need to help these students while we prepare for the battle. I’ll tell you who later.”

You respond with a nod and intend to continue listening this time, but this idea you thought of last night comes back around and you have to share it before you forget to before the group breaks apart.

“I have a suggestion,” you interject and bring the group's attention back to you once again. “Regarding the students.”

The parlor room doors open in the midst of you talking and soft patters hit the floor. Before you can see who it is, a little arm wraps around your neck, long black hair drapes over your shoulder, and a math and handwriting worksheet falls on your lap that has your daughter's name on it.

“I see that team morality could use some work, especially between Kyoto and Tokyo students, so I thought why not go on a trip,” you finish sharing before you pick up the worksheets and multitask.

“A trip?” Utahime asks unsure.

You nod and spare her a glance. “Yeah. A beach trip. I have a beach house, it should be large enough. And it’s not like we have to stay long. A day trip would be nice…it’s just to help them build trust between each other, don’t you all think?” You ask.

For a moment though the group of adults stays quiet as they think of your proposition and debate whether it’s an actually good idea, or an excuse to be lazy.

“Well,” Kusakabe is the first one to share his thoughts. “That doesn't sound like a terrible idea. We can’t just depend on them to bond on the battlefield.”

“It’s a terrible idea,” Kashimo pitches, making you look up from the math sheet to look at him with a pointed look.

“Why are you in this meeting again?” You quip.

Kashimo doesn’t get offended by your question, he in fact just meets your gaze and shrugs. He doesn’t even give a reason as to why he disagrees, he just declares it is and leaves it at that.

He’s weird.

“It would let us newer sorcerers have a chance to get to know you all more too,” Takaba shares excitedly. “I think it’s a great idea.”

You offer him a smile before you hand Satori her math sheet. “Good work,” you praise her. “You got them all right. And your handwriting can use practice, but we have time. You can go play now.”

Satori beams at you and snatches her papers to zoom off.

“Let me do your hair,” you yell after her over your shoulder.

Satori reaches the door and even if her hair gets in her eyes and all over her face as she dramatically turns her little head, she still shouts back, “No!”

You groan, but leave it be and just return your attention to the group.

“As long as all the expenses are paid then I think it’s a great plan,” Mei-Mei’s response doesn’t surprise you whatsoever. “Besides staying in one place for too long won’t do anything to help them improve either.”

“Very well then,” Utahime hesitantly gives in. “All those in favor?”

She offers a vote and no one opposes, so you win.

“Okay, then when do you want to do this?” She asks you now.

You glance at Satoru and share the rest of your idea. “December 7th? That is if you don’t mind Satoru?”

He likes to celebrate his birthday, especially if it’s with friends and those he loves. So you thought why not celebrate his birthday at the beach with his students and friends?

“No, of course not,” he assures you with a smile. “I don’t mind at all. I actually like the idea of my birthday at the beach.”

You flash him a grin and pat his shoulder. “Good,” you whisper.

And just like that a beach day on the 7th is added to everyone’s schedule. It might be winter, the air is bitter and the water is freezing, but it’s the beach! And when you’re playing sports you won’t even feel it so you won’t mind the cold then. It will feel weird going back to that beach house without your family though. Especially without the twins, and Suguru; the man who gifted that beach house to you.

Will the memories of them haunt you? You have to wonder to yourself.

But it’s not because you feel guilty for going there with a boyfriend, Suguru wants you to be happy and you’re following that. It’s just the thought of going back there with everything so different…hurts to even think about.

“Y/N!”

You slow down your pace on your trail to Choso and when you peer over your shoulder you see Shoko coming after you.

“Baby,” you greet her and halt in your tracks to wait for her. “What’s up? I thought you didn’t want to come outside.”

The moment Shoko falls by your side you continue towards Choso who should be teaching some blood manipulation techniques to Itadori.

“I forgot I needed to tell you something,” she says, piquing your interest.

“What is it? Is it about that bag I let you borrow 11 years ago? Because if so it’s yours.”

Shoko shakes her head and looks at you nonchalantly. “No, I accidentally burned a small hole through that.”

Your eye twitches and a pang hits your chest at the horrible, terrible news.

It was so cute and so expensive too.

“I will pretend you didn’t say that,” you mutter between gritted teeth before you let out a dramatic sigh and rewind to what she needed to say. “What is it, Shoko?”

Yet just as she took a breath of air to speak, you come to an immediate halt as you catch Satori letting Choso do her hair, while her friends watch.

“Look at that,” you muse happily. “She’s warming up to him again.”

And or, Satori also had enough with her hair being in her face. But does she want your help? No.

“After I told her that Choso and I were dating,” you let Shoko know as you keep admiring the way Choso is neatly braiding your daughter's hair—“Satori got sad. She doesn’t want Choso to replace her dad, so she got upset, but now look at them,” you laugh breathlessly as your smile only widens with glee and admiration.

“Hey, can you braid my hair too?” One of Satori's friends stands up and asks Choso.

“He’s doing mine first!” Satori hisses at her friend as if they were going to take him away at that exact moment.

Should you give her some advice about her not getting upset about something so small? Yes. Will you? No, no you won’t because you’re happy she’s coming around.

“Wh—what were you going to say?” You redirect your attention back to your friend. “Sorry, I got distracted.”

Shoko’s gaze drifts for a second, but you don’t follow her line of gaze since you keep your eyes fixated on her as you wait curiously.

“Oh,” she sighs. “It was just about an idea I have about giving Satoru a present together.”

Your eyes brighten and you quickly nod in agreement. “That’s a great idea. I was breaking my head over what I should buy him, but this will help. What do you have in mind?”

Shoko shakes her head and impresses you by the way she swiftly pulls out a cigarette.

“That was my first step, telling you, I’ll think of ideas,” she says, making you laugh softly.

“Well,” she adds and steps back. “I’ll let you be now. If you need me I’ll be around.”

You blink in confusion since this all seemed too abrupt, but she doesn’t let you ask any more questions before she walks off.

Then again if it was important she would have told you. You’ll talk to her about it later. For now, you turn to face your beloved with your little beloved and can’t help but grin as you catch him twisting her braids up in two buns, just the way she likes it.

It warms your heart—No, seeing that she’s not being so distant, and asking Choso for help with something she doesn’t let you help her with makes your heart feel like it’s bursting with pure bliss. You’re so enamored.

Choso catches your lovestruck gaze and his cheeks turn a soft shade of pink, making you tempted to go over there and join them to be a part of a memorable moment. But, you don’t want to ruin their little moment so, you stay where you are and grin at him with bliss and love clearly expressed in your fire-colored eyes.

Choso can’t help but smile back at you with a proud and also loving gaze, making it seem at that moment that only the two of you exist in a world full of people.

——

*A COUPLE WEEKS LATER*

“THE BEACH!” You exclaim and throw your hands out as you draw in that salty air. “Do you smell that Satori?”

“It’s cold,” she complains and hugs her jacket tighter around her. “Can I stay inside watching TV?”

Luckily it isn’t that windy today, it’s chilly, but it’s bearable. So you take your coat and shoes off before you answer your daughter as you tilt your head down to swiftly make your sunglasses fall over your face. “No. We’re all going to be out here.”

“But I can’t even play, I’m too little,” she brings up.

You peel your eyes away from the calm water ahead and see her pouting. “You can be With Ui-Ui and keep score, hm?” You try to advise her while you pull small sunglasses off your shirt and put them on your Worm that rests on Sarori’s shoulders as of now. “Looking nice buddy.”

The Worm smiles and you grin back before you refocus on your daughter and continue offering suggestions. “You can build a sandcastle, or play with your kite.”

Satori tilts her head away and groans, but she doesn’t continue to argue. You then take advantage that everyone else is slowly filtering out, and walk to the shore, but stand behind the waterline to just watch the waves roll in and darken the sand it runs over.

You look up and admire the gray-blue sky and catch winter birds diving in the water to catch food. In the distant horizon, you see an endless body of water that makes it look like you’ll reach the end of the world.

You then draw in another deep breath, but this time you can feel the water. Not on your toes or any part of your body, you feel it inside you. That’s a beautiful aspect of your technique, if you concentrate deep enough, you can feel your connection to the air all around you, the flowing water where you find it to be, the earth beneath your feet everywhere you go, and especially fire of course since you do produce it. It’s calming to feel their company. It helps you relax.

It seems that since last year you haven’t been able to find time to just relax, but now as you hear the soft crashes of the water rolling in, as you remember that you’re accompanied by those you love, you finally feel like you’re relaxed.

It's dangerous now though. Considering what has to happen in a few weeks, feeling this relaxed makes you want to live in this state forever and not attempt to fight.

But you will fight to see a future with your daughter, with Choso, and your brother. And especially to get justice for the twins who were killed by Sukuna, and justice for Suguru whose body is being used by Kenjaku. You’ll fight for that even if it means you finally stay with death and not escape its grasp.

“Y/N, please put on a long-sleeved shirt or a jacket or something,” Choso interrupts your silence.

You look back and see him carrying your jacket and shoes you discarded to run over here. “I can’t play a sport with a jacket,” you explain. “And I’ll get hot with a sweatshirt on.”

Choso knows not to argue since you won’t go anywhere, so he just throws your jacket over his shoulder and falls by your side instead, he then follows your line of gaze to the dark blue ocean.

“Your head isn’t hurting anymore is it?” He asks.

You shake your head. “No, it's gone now. I’m good, I think I was just excited.” You grin.

“It’s the third time this week you’ve had a headache,” he mumbles. “Maybe you should ask Ieiri to check on you.”

You smile at him and wrap an arm around his shoulders to swing around in front of him and hug him to bask in his warmth. “I’m fine Cho. Really.”

Your boyfriend returns your embrace and starts caressing your back. “Your brother keeps avoiding me. I tried to say happy birthday, but he never let me approach him. I thought he was fine with me, but I’ve noticed that he’s started avoiding me since a couple of weeks ago. He doesn’t like me does he?”

You rest your chin on his shoulder and glance ahead, catching the man you’re talking about playing with a ball as he talks with his students.

“Just give him some time,” you try to assure Choso. “I wish I could say more, but that’s all I can offer you.”

Choso nods softly. “No, I understand. It’s just getting worse instead of better.”

You meet Choso’s gaze and offer him a pitiful frown. You wish you could comfort him and say it will get better, but your brother is being immature about this situation and refuses to understand that Choso is a good man.

You could say you’ll talk some sense into him, but he’s quite stubborn when it comes to accepting your relationships. So you’ll just have to talk to him to tell him to at least be nice.

“Just let him be, okay?” You offer the best advice. “He doesn’t hate you. He’s just being…protective.”

Choso nods softly.

“Hey,” you smile and pull back just enough to meet his gaze. “At least Satori likes you now. That’s the only person that matters.”

A soft proud smile tugs on his lips. “That’s true,” he says.

You hum softly and raise your hand to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear before you share a quote that seems fitting for the thought that grows in your mind. “Come live with me and be my love, and we will all the pleasures prove, that valleys, groves, hills, and fields, woods, or steepy mountain yields.”

Choso's eyebrows knit together and you can’t help but giggle softly before you explain yourself to the poor confused guy. “It’s part of a poem. My favorite poem, it’s about a Shepherd trying to convince his lover to come live in the countryside with him.”

Choso’s eyebrows unravel but he still seems confused as to why you said it. Even if he did love the way you spoke the poem.

“I know I make all these plans for after our battle, and I do plan to see them through, but how about I add one more?” You clue him in. “How about we come live at my beach house in the summer? We’d be pretty secluded, we’d be under the gleaming hot sun, and find comfort at night by hearing the waves crashing against the sand.”

Choso glances out at the water and sighs deeply. “I suppose it is relaxing here. Even if it is cold.”

You chuckle. “Just for now. But it’s nice in the summer. The turtles hatch their eggs, so you get to see the little ones diving into the water for the first time. You get to see dolphins, and most importantly you get to see me training in the water, which can get cool.”

Choso didn't need much convincing, you just needed to share your plan and he’d be ready, but he did like hearing you try to convince him. “Well, it sounds fun. How can I say no?” He quips.

You smile brightly and press a kiss on his cheek. “Yay. Now,” you change the subject and drop your arms to your side to turn away. “Let’s go start our game!”

You run to join the others, and before Satoru can turn to look at you, you jump and slam your hand down on the soccer ball to try and shove it out of his hands. Albeit you got too cocky, he heard you approaching and gripped onto the ball, so all you do is slap your hand on the ball and throw sand everywhere when you land on your feet.

“Fucker,” you grumble and he starts to laugh manically.

“Too loud,” he teases between laughs. “You can’t outsmart me.”

You pout and roll your eyes away from him to address the group. “Everyone huddle up!”

The different conversations die down, and those who were apart from the group walk over, whilst those who were close just turn to face you.

“This is how it’s going to go, we’ve made a raffle of what game we can play and Satori here will pick one out,” you explain excitedly. “All right? So no whining over what we get. And remember these are all team sports to build our bond with each other. Especially to build the relationship between you students because we won’t win if we’re strangers and fighting a battle between each other, so…” you trail off and look around at the quiet group of students, and grow a bit bashful.

They’re all just looking at you. But you go on nevertheless.

“Chipmunk the cup please,” you tell your daughter. And even if she’s still upset that she’s on the sidelines, she walks between Satoru and you with excitement—“It’d only make sense if the birthday boy chooses, so pick the game, brother.”

Satoru holds the ball against his hip to reach into the cup and mix the pieces of paper before he pulls out the answer.

“Drum roll please, Satori,” he points to your daughter, and she happily obliges.

Satoru chooses to be overdramatic and prolongs announcing what he picked, filling the silence with Satori hitting the table.

“Come on,” Maki rushes him.

Satoru chuckles and opens the paper, causing Satori to stop and stand up on the chair to peek over.

“Volleyball!” Satoru shouts.

“Yes!” You celebrate and make the water in the distance splash up.

“Here’s the deal,” Satoru continues and throws the paper back in the cup. “We will split into teams, Students against adults.”

The students share perplexed glances before Kirara raises their hand.

“Yes, star student,” you pick on them.

“It’s a bit unfair, no?” They point out. “You’re all older and stronger.”

You scoff and share a knowing look with Satoru before assuring them. “And you have Maki and Itadori. Heavy hitters. you'll be more than fine. In any case, we might lose.”

“Impossible,” Kashimo interjects. “I won’t lose.”

You side-eye him before you ignore him and clap. “Let’s set the net up and get started.”

You turn away to pretend to be busy, and from the corner of your eyes, you see Satoru picking up the volleyball and aiming it at you.

“Think fast!” He quickly blurts and throws the ball toward your face, but you manage to catch it in time.

“You suck,” you grumble and throw it at him, but he catches it of course, getting you annoyed.

However, you quickly grow mischievous and form a ball of sand on your hand with your technique to hurl it at him.

Nevertheless, of fucking course Satoru puts up his infinity so the sandball just crumbles and sprinkles back on the ground.

“You suck,” you murmur with a glare.

Satoru snickers and drops the ball to bend his knees and put his arms out. You immediately catch what he wants to do so you start backing away.

“No,” you warn him. “Don’t you dare. You're 29.”

Satoru snickers and matches your pace, so you make a sharp turn and run toward Shoko. Satoru of course chases after you in an attempt to catch you and throw you in the water like he liked to do, but you’re faster, you reach Shoko and throw yourself on her back.

“What—”

You cut her off by spinning her around so she can face Satoru’s wrath.

“For heaven's sake,” Shoko grumbles as she picks up on Satoru’s intentions. “Have you not grown out of this?”

“It’s my birthday,” Satoru throws out as if that’s a magic excuse card.

“Don’t you dare,” you hiss at him and turn Shoko as he steps towards another side. “Stop it.”

Satoru chuckles. “Where’s your husband now?”

You gasp. “Low,” you snap at him with amusement.

Satoru digs his heels and darts for one side, but you let Shoko go and sprint away, catching the attention of the others setting up the net, and your daughter.

“Go Uncle Satoru!” Satoru exclaims.

You’re going to pretend she didn’t just root for the opponent and make another sharp to try and evade your brother.

Albeit he’s faster now and catches you at that turn

“Haha!” He taunts like a psycho and sprints toward the water.

“Satoru let go of me! Don’t you dare throw me into that water!”

Your warning though goes through one ear and comes out the other because he only seems to pick up his pace. You try to hit him, but your punches do nothing. You kick him, but he just laughs. And before you know it, without even avoiding the water himself, he turns around swiftly and throws himself back to dive into the water first before he yanks you down in the cold fucking water with him.

Cheering goes off above water and it’s not hard to guess who encourages such stupid behavior; your students and your daughter.

But whatever, you’ll get them back for encouraging him. As of now luckily he didn’t run in too deep so you manage to immediately find your footing and throw your head back after you stand to your given height.

“You fucker!” You sneer at Satoru as he can’t stop laughing. “You’re a grown man.”

Satoru flips his wet hair back with his hand and shrugs. “You’re still my little sister.”

You discreetly manipulate the water to wrap it around his ankles and yank him down before he can put up his infinity again. And even if you know that doesn’t bother him, you find pride in getting the last laugh.

“Refreshing,” he teases you when he sits up on the sand.

You roll your eyes and just slap some water on his face before you stomp out of the water. Choso being the good boyfriend he is, meets you halfway with a towel, but you find an easier way to dry yourself off; using the wind, you pick up its speed and blow it over you.

After a couple of seconds, you’re all dried up, leaving Choso impressed, and leaving you still annoyed.

“You okay?” Choso asks.

You huff as you stomp back towards the setup you have on the sand. “Peachy. I’m just seconds away from melting my brother's eyes in his sockets.”

Choso laughs softly and reaches over to rub your shoulder. “You have an odd relationship.” He pokes fun.

You groan and sulk on the chair until finally the net is set up and everyone is ready to start the game.

“Remember everyone,” you interject a lot more excited than you were seconds ago. “No techniques! If Satoru catches a whiff of it that’s an immediate out!” You grin and throw the volleyball in the air. “We can’t stop using physical ability, but besides that, it’s a normal game!” You catch the ball and hurl it back to your setter, Utahime.

“A little warning next time,” Utahime grumbles under her breath.

You turn to face your group which you now realize is very large. You’re so used to playing with your family which didn’t consist of too many people so the teams were small, but now there’s three rows on both sides to fit everyone.

“Sorry,” you tell Utahime. “I totally thought we were all coordinated. Anyway! So, how are we setting up? Just a heads up,” you smirk and turn smug. “I can hit a wicked spike.”

“Because of your technique,” Kashimo is quick to spat.

You put a hand on your hips and shoot him a glare. “Nuh-uh. Remember how I exploded the earth beneath you with fire? Well, that’s how. All that training made my swings super powerful. So I can go to the back or the front, whatever floats your boat.”

“Well,” Utahime sighs. “Obviously Satoru is in the Center since he’s the tallest. Ino you’ll be the libero since you are the youngest. Takaba and Choso will be in the middle row, and Mei-mei will be in between both. Y/N, you’re on the left so I’m trusting you.”

You shoot her a wink to assure her.

“Shoko you’ll be the right wing, and Kashimo,” Utahime continues. “You’ll be at the back, in the middle. Did I get everyone?”

You all glance at each other and when you don't see that anyone is left out you awkwardly break away to get into position.

“Good luck, lover,” you pat Choso’s back. “And if I am ever mean during this game, don’t take it personally, I enjoy winning. I’m competitive.”

Choso snickers. “All right well should I prepare to comfort you if you lose?”

You tap your bottom lip and hum. “Are you saying you’ll give your brother the game? If so then yes.” You tease and flash him a smile.

“Well that’s where I’m conflicted, should I make it easy for him or you?” He says back with a faint smile.

“Well if you let me win I can give you something,” you bribe him with a flirty smile.

Choso snickers. “You know I can’t resist you, but well, we’ll see how you play. You have a wicked spike, no?” He taunts with a smirk.

You chuckle and grab his jaw to press a big fat kiss on his cheek before you turn and run to your spot before you can spend all your game flirting with your boyfriend. But now as you face the opposing time you realize you’re really in trouble, Itadori, Hakari, and Maki are in the front. Momo, Miwa, and Inumaki are their weakest players so they’re in the middle. But another powerhouse is in the back with Kirara, the student Noritoshi Kamo, and Okkotsu.

This game could go either way, fast with how specialized everyone is, or slow for that same reason. Either way, it’ll make for a fun game. The games with your family were a lot more tame that’s for sure.

“Ready?” Utahime signals everyone before Ui-Ui blows the whistle and once and for all initiates the game!

Up first Utahime serves the ball with a loud bam. The ball flies over the net and a shadow casts over the middle.

“Miwa!” Maki exclaims so serious-like which is kind of scary. Then again she just kind of scares you. She probably—no she could win against all of you single-handedly. She’s that impressive.

Regardless, Miwa moves forward and raises her hands, but instead of hitting the ball, like a flash of lightning, Itadori and Maki zoom back, they both jump up at the same time and end up clashing together, but Itadori manages to hit the ball over the net instead.

“Y/N!” Gojo warns you. But just as the two of you jump to block it, the ball whizzes past the tip of Satoru’s fingers and hits the sand behind you so hard the sand implodes everywhere.

“Damn,” you murmur and look over at the boy completely starstruck.

That was fucking faster than you thought. They got a score in the first few seconds! And it was probably at their worst too!

“Come on birthday boy,” Shoko scolds Satoru. “Get your head in the game. You’re a giant for a reason aren't you?”

You look away from the students passing each other smiles and tease Shoko right back. “Oh someone’s getting grouchy. I forgot how bad you get when you play sports.”

“She’s also a few shots in,” Satoru whispers in your direction.

“Come on Okkotsu break these old fuckers backs,” Kusakabe cheers on the boy from the sidelines with a beer in his hand.

But you’re not even old…you’re only 28. Tsk.

Whatever…

Yuta gets the ball, he reels back his hand; and even with your conflicted feelings for him you know he’s not to be messed with, so you prepare to block. Yet the ball flies over and falls towards Takaba’s direction. He seems to panic, but he manages to smack and manages to hit it hard enough to get it across.

“Nice,” you throw over your shoulder while you keep your eyes on the ball, seeing that it gets close to Kamo.

When he jumps to meet the ball, he’s smart enough not to hit the ball with too much power behind his swing, he taps it just hard enough to get across, with hopes it’ll catch you all off guard and get them another point. However, a shadow casts over Mei-Mei, but it’s not near her range, so Kashimo runs ahead and jumps to return the ball to the other side.

Itadori receives the ball and passes it to Hakari without as much as an eye signal. They’re coordinated more than you thought, but you know Hakari more than Itadori. You know how hard he can hit and how far he can jump, so you prepare to counter.

As to not give it away though, you don’t bend your knees, but you do prepare your hands. When he hits it over, Satoru passes you a knowing look he could’ve passed on earlier, but whatever, you still catch him, and see him lazily stretch his arms out to do a fake, letting you jump over, reel your arm back, and slam the ball down with all your force.

Hakari and Itadori try to catch the ball, but it whizzes down and you hit a spike.

It’s now a tie match, but you don’t care, you still throw your fists in the air.

“Good job Mommy!” Satori exclaims from the sand a few feet away from the court.

You throw her a thankful thumbs up and focus back on the game. You wish you could say the rest of the match was smooth, that it was an easy win for the more experienced adults, but as awkward and quiet as the students were with each other, they’re strong, faster, and they don’t let your team get ahead. It’s a tie match all the way until the last minute, but now this is where it gets more intense. Even if it’s the first round, this last moment decides the first winner, this can decide how the rest of the game can go. So you focus.

You’re at the front again after some rotating. You aren’t confident about the back row as of now, but you have to make do with what you got, so you narrow your eyes. You don’t give your move away and just watch the ball fly across the net with a focused gaze. Ino and Kashimo act as decoys, while you hastily hop over, reel your hand back, and summon momentum to your palm to slap the ball with all the force you mustered. Maki tries to block it, her fingers reach for the ball. But she miscalculated her jump, she misses and the ball slams on the ground with an explosive thud that sends sand everywhere, setting your team as the winner for the first match out of five.

Which isn’t really something to celebrate over, but you still do, you throw your hands up and shout. “That’s how it’s done!” You beam and spin around to run to Choso.

Your boyfriend is unaware of your actions, but the moment he sees you running to him he prepares himself and manages to catch you when you jump on him

“Ahaha!” You laugh whilst you wrap your arms around his neck, and your legs around his waist.

“Nice game,” he doesn’t miss the chance to say while he tightens his hold around you.

“What can I say?” You gloat and slide off him to face him with a grin. “I have a wicked spike. You surprised me though. You make good serves.”

“Yes, but I can’t say I’m good at much else,” he says.

“You just need to call who you want to pass it to,” Shoko interjects as she walks over to return to her initial spot. “You’re not giving anything away so don’t worry.”

“All right.” He takes the advice and then narrows his gaze. “Ieiri I thought you gave up sports because of a man?”

You snap your eyes to Choso and shoot him a warning glare since he’s not supposed to know about that guy. She told you not to tell anyone she dated that man, especially not in front of Satoru because he’d never stop teasing her. Yet your sweet man doesn't understand.

“Oh,” Shoko laughs awkwardly and shoots you a pointed look. “Well, this is harmless fun. Besides, the guy is old news. He’s long forgotten.”

“Oh.”

“Good.” You nod slowly and ignore her shaking her head at you. “Well we still have four more rounds so let’s get going.”

Shoko turns away first so you grab Choso’s arm and pull him to you. “Choso, you weren't supposed to know that. I over-shared, so please don’t repeat it in front of anyone else, okay?”

Choso blinks in confusion but he doesn’t argue. “Oh, all right. Sorry.”

You scoff softly and flash him a smile before you let him go and return to your spot.

From then on the match's duration decreases as both teams start to get more comfortable with each other, silences fill with shouts of desperation and excitement, and laughs are born after a powerful hit, or a quick point.

Adrenaline and excitement rushes through all your veins as you’re swept up by a competitive high, (some more than others), so you all end up forgetting that it’s winter and the weather is far from friendly; especially some of the guys.

Satoru and Kashimo slip their shirts off and don’t get bothered by the cold winds embrace. You want Choso to take his shirt off, but even if he doesn’t get cold easily he just keeps on a tight short-sleeved shirt and you’re left just drooling over his abs stamped through the material, and his sweat gleaming over his face and biceps. He does take his shoes off though and wraps his feet, but that’s it. Sadly.

You will get him to take his shirt off later though. Just for you to see.

On the other team, Hakari takes his pants off to be in shorts and takes his shirt off to leave his torso bare, no one else on his team follows his lead though. His team, however, does seem to work just like you wanted; like a team, a united front. Their teamwork improves and their communication skills are speechless but tactful.

Their stars are almost always the same, Harkari, Itadori, and Maki, but they give the rest of their team a chance. They work on their mistakes and you, Satoru, and Utahime couldn’t be prouder.

Even if you aren’t a teacher, you are the mentor to some, so you get happy to see them working together. Just like it’s meant to be. Just like Suguru dreamed of.

If Suguru was here he would be proud, he’d be over the moon. Out of the many goals he had, seeing sorcerers getting along and working as a team was the most important. So even if this is a playful setting, he still would be happy. You’re proud you could see a part of his dream come true.

“Y/N!” Shoko warns, but It’s just a tactic.

You’re on the last match, just like many times before you’re neck to neck. With 3 points left on each team before the ultimate winner is decided.

You are getting increasingly more tired, but you jump and throw your hand back. Albeit the ball doesn’t reach you, with a soft but swift tap Satoru hits the ball and scores before any of the students could dive to counter.

“See!” Satoru exclaims and runs past you to fall on his knees and slide forward. “That’s how it’s done!” He shouts and throws his arms up to thrust his fists in the air.

Takaba being the man he is is the only one who celebrates with Satoru, the rest of you see that you have 2 more points to go so you wait for him.

Once he’s done he grabs your shoulder and shakes you.

“Ugh,” you groan but can’t help but smile anyway.

Satoru laughs and when he returns to his spot he bends down to put his hands on his thighs, and smugly stretches from one side and then to the other.

Now you hope you lose.

“Ready?” Utahime warns everyone before she sends the ball flying across your side toward the middle row.

Now unlike before, their weak spots are fortified. Inumaki catches the ball and passes it to Hakari, who hits hard and far. Yet Kashimo is fast, he runs back, and as he’s reaching for the ball he meets your gaze to send you a signal.

“Mine!” You give away your move and immediately hop up when Kashimo sends the ball you're way. Itadori, Harkari, and Maki get ready to block your fast hit, but you outsmart them. They thought you wouldn't go with a soft hit back-to-back, so they’re unprepared when you end up softly pushing the ball down directly behind their line of defense.

“Come on now!” You bellow happily and skip to the end of the court to high-five Kashimo.

“Not bad,” he manages to say in a not-so-grumpy tone. He tends to always sound annoyed, but that's maybe because he’s an old man in spirit.

“Careful old man you almost smiled at me,” you interject with a laugh before you twist around and run back to your spot whilst giving a high five to Choso and Takaba.

Once you’re in place Utahime hits the ball directly towards Maki’s grasp. Yet just as Shoko and Satoru prepare to counter or block, Maki drops her hands and lets the ball pass to Momo.

Now Momo might be smaller than the others, but she has a mighty swing. Once her hand hits the ball it goes flying. You move to try and block it, but first Itadori hits it with all his might. Choso and Takaba dive to try and make the team miss, but the ball carves a hole in the ground when it lands inches away from the grasp of your teammates.

“It was a nice try honey,” you assure Choso as you help him to his feet.

“Not good enough. I’ll try better,” he redirects, making you grin.

Now with the other team serving they have the advantage. And they use it. They trick you and once again tie the match by soft tapping, leading to you and your brother almost crashing together.

“We need one more point and we win,” Satoru says as he grabs your shoulders and pushes you back to your spot. “Let’s win this and show the students who’s the best!” He smirks.

You faintly mirror his gesture and roll your shoulders back.

“Come on Yuta let’s make this our last serve,” Maki interjects and bends her knees to get ready for what could lead to the winner or not. Neither of you know, but you both intend to make this the last round. All your hearts know that as they begin to pound during the anticipation. You were all sweaty too, but as you watched Okkotsu get ready to serve it’s like you feel the thick beads of sweat streaming down your face. You feel every muscle in your body burning, and your exhaustion is draining you, more than usual, but you stand your ground and glare at the opposite team to intimidate them.

The moment Okkotsu hits the ball, it flies directly toward you. Satoru can’t help you block or counter, so you summon all your strength behind your swing. And when the ball gets close enough you hit the ball with the tip of your fingers and push down.

That can be your winning point, the ball gets close to the ground. Albeit Itadori swiftly reacts and dives down to pass the ball.

“He blocked me?!” You whisper sharply and huff.

Hakari follows by jumping up to strike, but it’s a trick that Satoru and Shoko don’t fall into, they move to block Maki. But her swing is swift, hard, and powerful, you can’t even see how fast it moves until it smacks hard on the ground and you’re hit by sand.

You don’t realize you lost until Kashimo complains. “What the hell was that?! Where were your heads?!”

You slouch in defeat and watch the ball while the students on the other side shout, jump up and down, and huddle together.

“Well,” Satoru sighs in defeat. “That was a good game.”

You blink and fall on the ground to pout. And yes you should be proud, the students won with all their teamwork and blah, but you lost!

“Good game,” Choso pats your back.

You wave his hand off and sigh dramatically. “Yeah, yeah.”

Choso chuckles and tries to sit down next to you but you meet his gaze and smile at him.

“Go to Itadori, I’m just catching my breath and sulking. I’ll get over it.” You assure him.

He’s hesitant, but he presses a kiss on your head before he walks away, letting Shoko sit next to you.

“We used to be a damn good team,” you mutter in defeat. “What happened?!”

Shoko snorts. “We got old?”

You drop your head on your knees and actually try to catch your breath now as you still sulk.

“Do you need water?” Shoko asks with concern.

You nod. “Yeah, but I’ll get up in a second. I’m thinking about my life now.”

Shoko chuckles. “You’re so dramatic.”

You tilt your head up and flash her a smile, catching at that moment Satori wandering over to you.

“Maybe you can build a sandcastle or fly a kite?” She redirects what you told her. That snarky little girl.

“Ahaha,” you feign a laugh before you genuinely grin at her as you watch her walk up behind you. “Was it fun?” You ask.

Satori blows out air and wraps her arms around your neck as she presses herself on your back. “No. My tiger and I flew my kite instead.”

You narrow your eyes, but Shoko asks your question for you. “How do you fly a kite with a cursed spirit, little one?”

“Easy,” Satori answers casually. “He made himself big so I could mount his back, and he ran for me.”

You giggle and praise her critical thinking skills. “Smart.”

“Now I’m soooo bored,” she groans and slips her hands off your neck to twist around and drape her head over your shoulder.

“Ah, well since it is Satoru's birthday, why don’t you help your auntie Shoko and I bury your uncle in the sand, Hm?” You suggest, making her beam at you.

“Great idea! Let’s go!” She exclaims and pushes herself off you before she yells out for her uncle. “Uncle Satoru coming over here, quick!”

——

*LATER*

The rest of the evening everyone seemed to forget how cold it really was outside, including you. For that entire day, no one remembered the tragedy that awaits everyone on the 24th of December. And maybe that’s why no one let the cold weather bother them, because of what awaits you. Everyone wants to enjoy one day without worry.

Sure Satoru is fighting Sukuna first, he has the chance to end the fight, but you can’t plan for a hopeful outcome. As negative as it sounds, as much as you hate it and feel a pit in your stomach, you have to also plan for what if Satoru loses. You also have to plan to fight Kenjaku, which as of now the first runners-up are you, Okkotsu, and Takaba.

For now, you hope that’s enough, but time will only tell. Time knows everything that will happen. It’s wise, and it taunts you for not knowing ahead. You could wish to know the future all you want, but you can never peek ahead and know what’s going to happen, whether to celebrate a good outcome or avoid a bad one.

If you could, wouldn’t everything be different?

You don’t know that either, you only know the past and what’s happening at this very moment. Which is a gift amongst itself. You can recognize that. You’re happy—no you’re grateful to be alive and get to watch your daughter carrying out Satoru’s birthday cake. You’re proud that you get to see Satoru aging yet another year. And most importantly you are happy you’re not alone.

“Happy birthday Satoru!” You cheer and clap.

Satoru passes you a faint smile before he focuses on recording Satori bringing out his cake like a proud parent recording their child’s dance recital.

“You made it to 29!” Shoko exclaims as she helps Satori set the cake down in front of Satoru.

“Someone tell him to take his infinity so he can taste his cake,” one of the students shouts from the crowd gathered around the birthday man.

“Come on Sugar, let's take a picture together,” Satoru suggests, and your daughter happily obliges.

“But don’t do bunny ears,” Satori warns him. “You always do them.”

Satoru raises one hand. “I swear,” he assures her, but you see him crossing his fingers on his other hand under the table.

“Mommy quick take a picture before the candles melt,” Satori yells at you impatiently

“Okay, okay, I was getting ready anyway,” you comfort her with a soft laugh before you walk around the table to stand across from them. When you point your camera they both end up giving each other bunny ears without knowing. How cute.

“What about one more,” you let them know after you snap the first picture.

Neither party complains, but this time instead of just them, all of Satoru’s students jump in for the picture.

“Nice,” you muse and put the camera down, hearing them all laugh, and seeing Satoru grin softly.

“Blow the candles now!” Satori tells her uncle before she looks back at Hakari and giggles, letting you know that they’re up to no good.

“Come on make a wish,” you encourage your brother with a smile that you can’t let go of, it even starts to hurt your cheeks a bit.

“All right,” he breathes out before he flutters his eyes shut for a few seconds before he shows off those bright blue eyes of his, puckers his lips, and blows out the candles decorating his cake, causing the room to erupt in cheer.

“Yay! You’re halfway old now Uncle Satoru!”

You snort at Satoris' boldness and can’t help but laugh with everyone else while Satoru grabs his chest and acts hurt.

“Thanks, Satori for that insight.” He mutters and leans down.

Satori notices and her eyes widen with excitement. She once again looks over at her partner in crime, and he gives her a nod and offers her a thumbs up. Now you should come in between whatever they're up to, but then again what’s the harm in what they want? So instead you start recording and smile as you watch Satori put her little hand over Saroru’s head. Before he can move she slams her hand down and tries to push his face into the cake.

Satoru had noticed what her intentions were, she wasn’t really discreet even if she thought she was. So since his big fat head is heavy he actually helps her out and basically shoves himself in his own cake and gets what he wanted; Satori laughing and happy.

“Nice job little one,” Shoko praises Satori with a smirk.

Kirara and Itadori shove past you to steal a quick picture of Satoru’s face covered in frosting.

“Excuse you,” you grumble and squeeze past them.

“Now you!” Satoru exclaims and swipes some frosting off his face to wipe it on Satori’s face.

“Hey!” She chuckles. “That’s no fair!”

They both end up laughing at each other and you can’t help but tear up just a little as you watch them. Not for what you could’ve had if you reunited sooner, but over the unknown future. You don’t want Satori to lose yet someone else she loves and looks up to. She’s lost too many people already at her young age, you don’t want her to lose Satoru either. You didn’t want to lose him either.

“Okay everyone come get cake no one is serving anyone!” Shoko announces before she backs away from the gathering crowd.

You sigh and let out all your gloom and doom, instead you keep trying to make the best out of this day.

“Hey, Uncle Satoru,” you hear Satori interject. “When do you think we’ll go out and exorcise curses together?”

Satoru turns his head with his mouth full of cake and snickers, making her slowly pout.

“Don't laugh,” she says sadly. “I train. I’m strong. and my mommy says I will make a great partner. I just want to go on a mission like you and my daddy would.”

Satoru’s breath hitches softly at the mention, and you…smile down at your hands. A part of you wants to cry just thinking about it, then again you have been more emotional than usual, but that’s beside the point, you don’t cry. You feel joy hearing Satori bring that up.

“My daddy always told me cool stories,” Satori continues trying to presuede him into accepting. “I just want to have a cool story of our own.”

Satoru swallows thickly and laughs softly. “Is that so? Well, maybe after all this is over we can go on an easy mission, okay?”

Satori's face immediately changes and she beams at him now. “Yay!”

Satoru scoops up more cake with his spoon and wonders out loud. “What else would your dad say?”

Tsk. Of course, he’s going to probe her about Suguru now. He did it every chance he got.

Anyway, you let them be and find Choso in the living room talking to his brother. You put a foot forward to sit next to your boyfriend, but you’re then hit with a realization so you step back and pull your camera out.

“Uh, Itadori, Cho,” you interject and immediately gain their attention. “Would you mind if I took a picture?”

Itadori and Choso look at each other, and as nervous as Choso got out of fear his brother would reject this simple request, he answers for him and his brother. “No, not at all.”

You smile and whisper excitedly, “great!”

As you lift your camera, Itadori scoots closer to Choso and wraps his arm around his brother before he offers the camera a wide happy grin. Choso first looks over at Itadori with a smile before he shows off that same smile to the camera, letting you snap a picture that triggers the flash to go off.

“Perfect,” you say cheerfully. “Thank you boys.”

With the inability to stop smiling at Choso’s new milestone, you sit down beside him and lean into his ear. “See I told you I could get it.”

Choso looks at you with awe and interjects. “Now all we need is the Christmas portrait.”

You chuckle, making him proud that he’s getting a lot better at making you laugh with the little things he says.

“Itadori come on, we’re going to start,” Panda whisks Itadori away with the other students outside.

“Do you want to watch the fireworks with me?” You ask Choso and bat your lashes as if he isn’t going to agree right away. “Hakari and Inumaki found some in the garage and they’re going to pop them now it seems, so do you want to watch the light show with me?”

Choso watches as you press your hand on his chest and draws in a deep breath before meeting your pleading gaze and giving in without a fight. “Yes, that sounds fun.”

You grin at him and first grab a throw blanket that was on the couch, and then grab his hand to take him outside with you. Albeit you don’t go too far out where the students are, you decide you’re too old to be huddled around them, so you keep your distance, and plop Choso on the cold ground before you follow and snuggle your back against his chest.

He then grabs the throw blanket you took and hooks his arms around your neck to wrap the both of you in the warmth of the blanket. While you wait for the students to start you lay your head back on Choso’s shoulder, and watch the star-littered sky. He on the other hand sighs softly in satisfaction and watches you.

“How about tonight we do face masks together after we take a shower, hm?” You suggest and drift your eyes to meet his gaze. “Maybe we can also watch a sappy movie tonight. Do you like that idea?”

Choso nods. “Yes, I don’t mind.”

You smile at him and only lift yourself a little to give him a fleeting kiss on his chin. He offers you a soft lovestruck smile and that reminds you of something.

“Oh, and by the way the secrets I tell you, like the one about Shoko, are supposed to stay between us. You’re not supposed to know,” you remind him before you could get into trouble.

“Oh,” he gasps softly. “Sorry. I forgot.”

You laugh softly and tilt your head down. “Don’t worry about it, just remember that the gossip I tell you is not shared.”

“Right,” he mumbles whilst he rests his chin on your head. “What about the stuff I hear? Do I tell you?”

You pull away from him and twist around halfway to meet his gaze with a pressing look. “Did you hear something?” You probe.

Choso chuckles. “I suppose that’s a yes. Well when I was helping Satori build her castle out of sand, I heard your brother and Ieiri talking about uh, Mei-Mei trying to “make a move” on a Higuruma when they were on their way here.”

You gasp and turn completely to grab his arms. “What else did you hear? Because I heard she was talking all sweet to Kashimo.”

“Uh, your brother said that she has a way to scare off men.” He says.

You scoff and turn to lay back against him. “That's so not it. That’s how you know he doesn’t know her. She just figures out if they have money or not, if they don’t then they’re not worth her time.”

“Oh.”

The corner of your lips tug to a half smile. “She most likely found out that neither men have money so she just didn’t bother getting to know them.”

“Hm.” He doesn’t say much but he still absorbs everything you tell him and always recalls what you have mentioned in the past.

It’s another reason why you love him. He’s a great listener.

“You know,” you add and drop your gaze to watch Hakari finally light a small firework. “I think Kashimo is warming up to me.”

Choso drops his head and mutters quietly. Oh?”

You smirk and drop your hand to start caressing Choso’s knee. “I think he’s okay for an ancient sorcerer. He reminds me of my middle school boyfriend,” you lie and follow the firework to the sky. “Except he had red hair.”

The firework is small but it’s still loud and bright overhead. The white light lets you see Choso’s bothered pout when you glance back at him.

“And his hair was straight and shorter. He had green eyes, and he gave me good gifts,” you list things off and see Choso’s eyebrows pinch together, making his nose wrinkle all cute-like.

“And…” you roll out, and he finally glances at you, so you start to laugh—“and I was just kidding. I just wanted to see you pout my love.”

Choso sighs deeply and glances away, causing you to giggle and throw your arms around his neck to pull him down to slam your lips on his. All while another firework goes off, this one brighter and bigger, a deep red instead of white that paints both of your faces with its light.

“I was just teasing,” you coo when you pull back just an inch from his lips.

Choso holds your gaze with a hardened look for a moment longer before his face eases and a smile cracks on his face.

“I like your smile,” you make him blush. “Where else could I see a smile like yours, Cho?”

Choso scoffs and shows off a softened look full of adoration.

“You know,” he adds softly before he looks away to watch more of the light show that continues to paint the sky. “Living by the ocean isn’t bad. I…like it.”

You lift your gaze to the sky and smile softly.

“It’s calm, quiet,” he continues with a smile you immediately recognize as a timid one. “Most importantly you’re happy here. I think it’s a good place for our family.”

Family? What does he mean by that? Like for the family you already have? Or to add on to it?

You part your lips to ask but you’re interrupted by Satori calling out for you as she runs outside. “Mommy!”

“Over here,” you drop the subject for now and drop your eyes to watch your daughter run to you.

“I want to watch the fireworks too;” she says when reaches you.

Your eyes and smile brighten, and you can’t help but answer giddly. “Okay.”

You then open the blanket, and she sits herself in front of you to let you embrace her with the blanket too. When she’s all snuggled up, Choso shifts his arms and his legs away to get ready to move and give you and your daughter space, but you grab his hand and yank him back against you. Because if Satori was bothered by him cuddling with you then she would have not accepted your invitation to snuggle with you under the same blanket, she would have kept her distance, but she didn’t so she doesn’t mind, therefore he can stay.

You want him to stay so you could be sandwiched by the people you love the most, and find comfort in their warmth on such a chilly night.

Unbeknownst to you though, while you watch the fireworks paint the sky like you watch the rain with Choso, in a comfortable silence, Satoru watches the three of you from a distance. He tries to remain neutral for the sake of you, and for Satori, since he sees that she likes Choso now. He also tries to see Choso in a better light, but no matter what, he can’t come to agree or like him with you. Now more than ever.

——

*LATER*

All the rooms were occupied, so Satori had to come sleep with you for the night, making Choso decide that it would be better if he slept on the couch in the parlor room. So now you’re sneaking downstairs to sleep with him like a teenager forbidden to go out.

Albeit on your way to the parlor room you notice Satoru in the sunroom all alone watching the distant waves through the window, pondering over who knows what.

Now you’re presented with a choice, go to him, or ignore him and go to Choso.

You are tired, so you move a step forward.

However, that’s the furthest you get because then you think to yourself that you can’t actually ignore your brother all by his lonesome. If you want to mend your relationship you have to try. So what’s so wrong with staying up a bit longer?

Thus you walk over and when you reach the door you knock first out of courtesy. Once you’re walking inside nothing is spoken, the silence carries on. Not because you made it awkward and uncomfortable by interrupting him, but because you both just basked in the white noise of the waves in the distance. It was soothing.

You almost want to leave the silence as it is. You could actually fall asleep where you are, you already have so many times in the past, but Satoru is out here for a reason, and you have to be sisterly and worry.

First, though, you start off slow.

“When Suguru and I found out we were expecting,” you fill the silence and keep your eyes on the ocean reflecting the night on its clear surface—“since we didn’t want anyone to find out we were going to have a baby, we came to live here for the entirety of my pregnancy. When…” you trail off as your voice breaks and fiddle with your nails.

“When,” you sigh and continue. “I started getting bigger Suguru and I would spend a lot of our evenings here and he would read Satori books. That was his favorite thing to do.”

After being basically frozen in place, Satoru shifts in his seat and then drifts his blue eyes to you, which is hard to miss because of how bright they are.

“This is my first time coming here since he died,” you murmur and meet his gaze. “This is my first time being in this room without him.”

Satoru hums and instead of looking sad or simply bummed out by what you said, his gaze slowly starts to harden.

But you don’t take it as anything bad though, you finally ask the question you’ve been building up to. “Are you okay?”

“Besides now,” he breaks his silence and only looks at you with what appears to be conflict. “Do you ever think about Suguru?”

You blink repeatedly in confusion and fail to answer because you think he’s somehow joking. When he doesn’t say he is, or ease his glare, you draw out a deep breath and nod stiffly as you drop your gaze.

“Everyday,” you share quietly. “When I look at my daughter living day by day without her father. When we talk about Kenjaku. And those moments when it’s quiet, when it’s just me and I have something stupid to say about my day…” you pause and look at him with a sorrowful look. “Why?” You ask.

Satoru drops his gaze and swallows thickly. “Because I can’t stop thinking about him and how it hasn’t been a year yet but you’ve already moved on.”

You blink with surprise and slowly the sorrow in your eyes turns to conflict, and that sad frown curls into a scowl.

“Have you thought about that?” He throws at you sharply as if he’s the one you’re hurting.

“I think about it,” you mutter while you ball your hands to fists. “But why are you? What does it matter to you?”

Satoru’s eyes snap up and he counters back quickly. “It matters because I don’t think you know what you’re doing. I mean saying you love this new guy after what? It hasn’t even been a month since you met him. You got with him and said you loved him after like three weeks.”

You lose all the initial worry you had for him and get fueled with anger. Hot anger you had for him before you forgave him. That resentful anger you bore for years.

“I told you why I love him, I told you how it all came to be,” you argue and defend the man you love. “I gave you hundreds of reasons why it shouldn't matter how many days it’s been since we’ve known each other, and he’s given you thousands. So why does it matter how long I’ve known him for? Why is it so important for you to tell me how long it’s been since my husband died? My husband, not yours, the father of my kids, not yours, the love of my life, not yours. Tell me, Satoru, tell me,” you sneer.

“Is it because you don’t like Choso?” You don’t leave him room to respond as your anger starts to burn hotter and begins to blind you. “Because you don’t want me to be happy? You want me to be buried in my blankets grieving Suguru? Because trust me I’ve been there, I was there. I grieved Suguru, I felt like dying every day since I lost him. I wanted to stay that way for the rest of my life because living on without him felt pointless, but I stood up, I fought to live on every day. It felt so dreadful,” you spat with tears of anger and anguish filling your eyes, with every word your voice filling with more rage and sorrow. “But I kept living because my daughters needed me. I moved on because my daughters needed me, because they didn’t deserve to have an empty husk of a person as a parent, because my students brought the light back to my life.”

Tears slip down your cheeks, and you expect him to cut in to apologize or argue, but he stays quiet, letting you continue with your rageful rant.

“Or are you just saying all this because you can never be happy for me and the people I chose to be with? First, it was Suguru, and now it’s Choso. So tell me brother, why do you have that need to always act like such an asshole? And don’t give me that big brother bullshit, it works only for a little bit, but we both know you never liked Suguru and me together. So tell me,” you whisper and try to sound angry but it comes out shaky more than anything.

“I want you to be happy,” Satoru interjects with his look of conflict not lost, it’s still showing, but now you see anger too—“but I’m looking out for you too, you may not like that answer, but that’s it. We have parents and other family, but you are the only part of that family I care about…”

Your breath catches in your throat, and you feel your head hurt as you don’t know whether to stay upset or not.

“It’s always been that way,” he continues with a hint of softness in his voice. “You are my home. Suguru was my home too…that’s why…I was always hard on you when you were a couple. I didn't want my home to break apart, with you two being together, there was a risk. Do I regret being so harsh? Yes, that moment when you were saying your goodbyes last year I saw that I was wrong for being upset, and I’m sorry for that.”

Well, when he puts it that way it’s hard to stay angry at him. You understood things not wanting to change, but that doesn’t explain Choso.

“What about Choso?” You bring up with that anger lost completely now. “He isn't your best friend so why are you against him?”

Satoru clenches his jaw as he sighs deeply. He continues to stay quiet and hold your gaze for a moment before he speaks up without a hint of losing his anger. “Because of who he is. You may see him as human, but I don’t.”

Oh, and just like that your anger returns

“He’s half a curse, y/n. Please tell me you know that.”

You stiffen and respond without hesitation. “I do, but why should that matter? He’s still human too. He’s more human than some people I know. There may have been some problems with him in the beginning, but he turned himself around. Itadori can vouch for that, Satori can vouch for it, my students and Shoko can, you would see how great he is if you gave him a chance.”

Satoru scoffs and rolls his head away before he brushes his hands through his hair out of frustration. “Of course you would say that,” he mumbles. “Why should I be surprised given…” he trails off, leaving you puzzled.

“Given what?” You ask sharply.

“Don’t. I know.”

Your eyebrows furrow and your glare turns to a puzzled look. “Know what?” You quip.

Satoru’s eyes drift to you and he glares before he rolls his eyes away sassily.

“What?” You press with frustration. “What do you know?”

Satoru stands up straight and snaps his head towards you to narrow his glare on you. He has yet to answer you so you raise your eyebrows to press him.

“You don’t know…you’re pregnant?” He asks unsurely.

And without saying a thing you answer his question with a shocked gasp.

“Oh,” he whispers and sucks air through his teeth as he feels guilt for revealing that the way he did, but he doesn’t regret anything else he did say.

“I,” is all you manage to mutter as your disbelief heightens and clears your mind.

“It was faint at first,” he adds on as if that would help your shock. “I thought it was just your cursed energy since it’s like a dancing flame, but as these weeks have gone by I started to see that it wasn’t just you, I was seeing two other bundles of cursed energy growing inside you—oh, damn,” he catches what else he revealed when it’s too late.

“Twins?” Is all you can say now with a smile wanting to tug on your lips, but you still can’t believe what he said so you’re still a bit paralyzed.

But you are starting to realize that all your headaches, your erratic emotions, and your exhaustion make sense. But since these days are around the time you get your period you haven’t been given the chance to find out for yourself.

“I don’t know,” he says. “For all we know they can be curses.”

You snap out of your shock as his terrible words travel in your ears, and snap at him. “How could you say that?”

Satoru’s face contorts with frustration and he’s quick to argue back. “How could you not? That guy is half a curse, y/n, remember? For all we know those things growing inside you could be full-blooded curses that could kill you.”

You glare at him and shake your head. “No. I would know. And him being half a curse doesn't matter. He has a human body, he has human blood. He’s human, why can’t you understand that?”

“Because as long as he has any potential to hurt you and Satori, I could never forget that,” he says from the bottom of his heart. “That’s why. And if that mattered to you you would get rid of…them before they have a chance to kill you.”

You grab your belly and hear his mean words echo in your head for a moment before you finally react in anger. “You are being cruel, Satoru. I don’t want to talk to you.” You turn on your heels and storm off.

Once you’re in the hall that leads to the parlor room, and far from your brother you stop to take in what he just said. He was so mean, so negative. It all catches up to you and those emotions you’ve been trying to hold back all day finally escape you, but this time it’s not because you’re happy, or reminiscing about the past, this time it’s because of what Satoru said.

In your heart and gut, you know Satoru’s fear isn’t true, they’re babies. They're yours and Choso’s babies. You want to be happy about it, but the way Satoru spoke with so much malice found a way to ruin the moment and fill you with anguish.

You almost want to take back your forgiveness, but you don’t. You can’t. He’s just…worried. You understand. Even if it pisses you off now, you understand deep inside that he’s worried. You just need a moment to sulk in your sadness and frustration. Just a moment.

Just a moment, you repeat to yourself and take just that to wallow in your anguish before you let out a deep breath and wipe away your tears to enter the parlor room.

Perhaps you should have returned to your room given the news you were just blurted out, but the only thing that helps you feel at ease, especially in your current mood is Choso. Besides, when he sees you walk in he greets you with a smile.

“What are you doing down here?” He whispers as if he is accompanied by a third party, but it’s just him and you.

“I wanted to come sleep with you,” you tell him and thank the cover of the night because he can't notice that you were crying.

“Is that okay?” You ask as you find your way to the couch he’s on.

“Appreciated,” he assures you and lifts his blanket to welcome you to his side, which you quickly take so he won’t see your face now that you’re close.

When he wraps you with his blanket you wrap your arms under his arms and snuggle your head against his chest without saying a word. Which is a small mistake.

Choso knows you enjoy your silence, especially when it comes to falling asleep, but he can also pick up when something is wrong when you’re quiet. He has suspicions of that now because of the way you averted your gaze.

“Is everything okay?” He asks whilst he wraps his arm around your neck and cups the back of your head to massage your scalp.

“Mhm,” you hum in agreement, and in that second you want to tell him the good news you just found out, but there’s also a chance Satoru could be wrong. Those babies he saw could be spurts of erratic cursed energy, and if that’s all it is then you don’t want to get Choso excited or upset over nothing. So you’ll have Shoko double-check for you before you say anything.

Thus for now you hide your news and your sadness.

“I’m fine,” you assure him. “I just wanted to come sleep with you, that's all.”

Choso doesn’t believe you, but he also doesn’t press because if you were ready to share what was upsetting you then you would. He lets it go for now and just presses you closer against him.

“I love you,” you whisper as you try not to cry more now that you’re in the comfort of his embrace.

Choso presses a kiss on the top of your head and says it back fondly. “I love you too.”

A/N- The ending Is so twilight coded 🤩 guys we’re gonna have two little rumpelstiltskins! (Please tell me you get it 😂😭)

Tagged- @deniseabad1928 @secondary-character-25 @starlightanyaaa @notsaelty @d4rno @moonnime @kodzukein @yozora7154 @heijihattorisgf @elegantweirdorchest @natakina

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