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windfighter · 10 months

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Underwater temple

I saw a post that said "now would be the most hilarious time for some ao3 author to write their otp being stuck in the submarine" and well... I am apparently a horrible human being so here's Kouji, working for DATS and being stuck in a submarine together with some rich people, a kid, a marine and a submarine operator

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Kouji wasn’t stupid. He realized pretty quickly that something had gone wrong. From the way the operator looked at the controller and fell just a bit silenter to the way Kouji’s ears popped when they went deeper and deeper. The others hadn’t noticed, they were still talking excitedly. Kouji clasped his hands together. He shouldn’t be there. What could he even do underwater?

The submarine went deeper. Occassionally someone would ask the operator if they were there yet. The operator’s ”any minute now” were getting weaker and weaker for every time they repeated it. Kouji was in the back, leaned against the wall. Sometimes someone would pull away the curtain and he could see out into the vast darkness of the underwater world.

The world shook. That’s when everyone else started realizing something was wrong. Kouji climbed over their legs, pulled the curtain away. Looked out into the darkness. He gripped his digicontrol.

”How fucked are we?” he asked, because he was tired of beating around the bush.

The operator’s cheeks turned red. Kouji had no sympathy. None of them should even be down here. The others started screaming, yelling, cursing the operator out. Kouji leaned closer to the window. What a waste of oxygen. Rich people… Kouji shook his head.

”The bluetooth connection is dead”, the operator admitted.

Kouji couldn’t help with that. There was a reason his camera wasn’t digital. Something big swam past them and the submarine shook again. More yelling. Kouji pressed his face against the window, used his hands to block out the lights inside the submarine. And the sounds.

A shadow. Kouji bit his lip. The shape was off, looked more like a plesiosaur than anything that was supposed to exist. Nessie is real, he thought.

”I’m sure they’re already looking for us”, the operator said.

The other passangers calmed down a little, the youngest one came up to the front again, pushed Kouji out of the way. Kouji rolled his eyes and sat down next to the operator.

”Is there an emergency beacon?” he asked.

”O-of course.”

...that was a no. Of course there wasn’t. Which, considering the thing that was circling them, was probably a good thing. One of the passangers looked at his watch, then banged on the wall for three minutes.

”In case the beacon doesn’t work”, he said. ”It will alert anyone nearby.”

It would alert more digimons, like the one outside, and Kouji wasn’t sure these were the friendly kind. He leaned back, closed his eyes and listened as the operator tried to fix the controller.

Two hours. He could tell the others were getting scared. The air already felt thinner, but was probably just imagination. Kouji climbed back to the window. More shadows were circling them. One of them came into the light, then swam away again. Yep, that was a digimon. At least three of them, but it was hard to tell. Kouji looked at the operator again.

”Controller?”

”Still no connection.”

Kouji sighed. Sat down on the toilet. Digivolving could protect him for a while, but would it be enough time to get to the surface? Could he just leave the others down here? The submarine shook again. So far the walls were holding, but… It was only a matter of time. They were well and truly fucked. The others had gotten their phones out and were yelling about the lack of internet. Kouji’s own phone was still on land, at his hotell room. He didn’t need that down here, but he had something better. That would hopefully work.

He took out his digicontrol. The communicator he had gotten before he left for this mission. Put the communicator over his ear and pressed a button on it. He didn’t expect anything. Even stuff from DATS would have a hard time working this far down. The others’ yelling were starting to grate on Kouji’s nerves.

”It’s your own fault for betting your lives on this death-trap”, he said.

Moved to the back again. The others fell quiet, stared at him. Of course, Kouji was also stuck in the death trap. He’d have a serious talk with his boss later. No underwater-missions ever again.

”They’ll rescue us”, one of the rich, old dudes said. The father, Kouji thought. ”We are important.”

Perhaps he was holding up hope for his son. Kouji didn’t know and didn’t care. The only thing important about them were their money. They wouldn’t be found in time. Not the way everyone kept yelling. Everyone except the one who had banged on the wall, and had kept doing that every half hour.

No answer in the communicator. Kouji bit his lip. He’d have to use his digivice to increase the signal. He’d done it once before, when he was deep in the mountains of Canada, but it was tricky at best.

”How are you with technology?” he asked the kid.

Calling him a kid was a lie. He was 20 years old and an adult, but he was the youngest in the group so calling him a kid felt right. The kid shrugged.

”I have an iphone”, he said.

”Iphone sucks”, Kouji said. ”You know Linux?”

”I know of Linux.”

Not helpful. Not that the digivice ran on Linux, but it was close enough. Kouji shrugged, pulled the cover off the digivice and started looking for the cable he needed. The kid watched him.

”Is that a Linux-phone?”

”Eeeh…”

Kouji didn’t know how to explain. The dad looked at them.

”Phone won’t work. We’re too deep”, he said.

He wasn’t wrong. Kouji took the communicator off his ear again. They were too deep, and normal phones wouldn’t be able to get a connection here. Not even his.

But there were digimons. And that meant a digigate somewhere nearby. And that meant…

He found the cable, pulled it free and connected it to the communicator. Held it to his ear again. The kid and the dad started yelling at each other, Kouji didn’t care enough to figure out what it was about.

A digigate nearby meant his digivice should be able to connect via that. The communicator beeped. Kouji held his breath, pressed his hand over his other ear. A broken ’hello’ echoed in the communicator. Kouji released his breath.

”Kouji. Sighting confirmed. Send help.”

He hoped it would go through. There were static noises in the communicator. He wanted to add more. Tell them about the submarine being broken, that they would all die if rescue didn’t find them within a day. The vehicle shook as the digimons rammed into it again. Kouji gripped his digivice harder. He couldn’t do anything. For once, he had to stay on the sideline.

He hoped someone would come.

------

Another two hours. The submarine wouldn’t hold much longer. The pressure was getting higher as it kept sinking. The digimons were still circling it. The yelling had died out. The operator was looking through the window.

”What are they?” he asked.

Kouji opened his eyes. Looked at the operator. Should he lie? Tell the truth?

”...sharks”, he said. ”Might be goblin sharks, they haven’t gotten close enough to the window for me to tell.”

A lie. The truth wouldn’t help.

”They’re curious, but we’ll be food the moment they get a dent in the hull.”

The truth, because he couldn’t lie about their chances of survival. Unrest spread through the submarine again.

”They’ll find us”, the person banging the wall said.

A marine, Kouji had learned during the two hours. Explained how calm he was. Kouji looked at him. Could tell the marine knew perfectly well it was a lie. The chances of them being found… Kouji clenched his hand around the digivice. If his people came, if they came close enough to the sub, if… There was a chance, but even then… The hull might not survive the travel to the surface. Kouji leaned his head against the wall. The marine banged it again. Another half hour had passed by.

”After this I’m staying home for a year”, the kid said.

Kouji doubted it. If they got out the kid would feel invincible, would probably try basejumping. Convince his dad to go on another suicide vacation. At least the operator looked like he’d never go close to water again. The operator moved away from the window and Kouji went up to it again.

They had fallen deeper, darkness even darker. Digivolving was tempting, if just to get some extra light down there. It was useless. Not even Wolfmon would fit in the vehicle. The shadows of the digimons were circling closer. It seemed to be more of them.

Something bright shot past the submarine. Lit up the digimons and disappeared into the depths. The submarine shook. The hull creaked. Kouji put the communicator in his ear again.

”Hello?”

”I’m trying, I’m trying!” a female voice said.

American. One of the local DATS-members. Kouji sank down on the toilet. If…

”How are we looking?” another voice said.

Older. Probably her supervisor or mentor.

”Hull’s almost breached”, Kouji reported. ”A few hours of oxygen left. There’s at least 6 of them circling us.”

”I have eyes on you”, the woman said again. ”Coming in hot!”

A white, narwhal-shaped digimon zoomed past, forced the attackers to retreat. It was fast.

”Can you do anything?” the man asked.

Kouji shook his head. The others were looking at him, he could feel their eyes against his back.

”I can’t travel through walls”, Kouji said.

He would have laughed if he didn’t feel so powerless. He’d stay on land, or at least outside of submarines, after this. Maybe outside of airplanes as well, but at least he could get out of those.

”What’s happening?” the kid asked.

”He’s lost his mind”, his dad answered.

Kouji rolled his eyes. He never had much of a mind to begin with. The digimons were coming closer again.

”There’s a few too many to chase away”, the woman said. ”We need to go on the offensive.”

”Any chance you can guide us?” the man asked.

Kouji turned to the operator.

”Are there more lights on the outside of this thing? Can we turn them on?”

The operator nodded, pulled at some levers in the roof. Kouji looked through the window. They were still floating in nothing, only water surrounding them, but it was a bit brighter. He could see five digimons clearly through the front window. Tylomons.

”We can’t do much more than that”, he answered. ”It’s in your hands.”

Submarimon swooshed past again, followed by a second one. Kouji could see the man and woman in them. They gestured at each other.

”What are those?” the kid asked.

Kouji hadn’t even noticed him coming up to the window.

”Rescue”, he said.

Maybe not theirs, but Kouji didn’t need to say that part. The submarine shook as Submarimon and Tylomon battled each other around it.

”Can you seal the gate?”

”On it, dad!”

”They keep coming through. Don’t worry, we’ll get you up soon.”

Kouji looked at the other passengers. The dad seemed on the verge of passing out. The operator’s pants were wet. The other rich dude had already passed out. The kid was looking through the window. Kouji locked eyes with the marine. He looked ready to rush into battle. Not a mentality they needed right now. Kouji left the toilet, sat down by the marine instead.

”This isn’t your war”, Kouji said.

”But it’s a war”, the marine answered.

Calling it a war… Kouji shook his head.

”What’s your name?” he asked instead.

”Dave”, Dave said.

Kouji snorted. Dave felt like too much of a normal name for a situation like this.

”Well Dave, do you have a favorite dish?”

Kouji couldn’t do much. The air was getting harder to breathe, he couldn’t do anything about the digigate or the digimons. He couldn’t stop the kid from looking outside, the operator from being terrified. But maybe he could do this. Distract.

Dave looked at him. Confused. Tilted his head a bit.

”New York-style pizza”, he said.

”Oh? I’ve never tried that”, Kouji lied. ”What makes it better than Californian pizza?”

”It’s the cheese”, the kid answered from the front. ”New York-style is absolutely drowning in cheese.”

Kouji still heard their voices in the communicator. He considered taking it out, but… it was nice. Hearing what was going on. He looked at the operator.

”What about you? What’re you gonna have when we get up?”

”aah…”

”I don’t think I’ve had that one either”, Kouji said. ”I do like Oh, though.”

Dave and the kid snickered. The operator blushed. Kouji hated this. A waste of what little oxygen they had left. The submarine shook again. An explosion just outside the window. A small crack appeared in it.

”I have a friend that makes great Italian food”, Kouji said. ”I’ll probably ask her to make me something.”

”I’ll…” the operator started. ”I’m going to cook for my family. Something new.”

”You have a family?” Kouji asked. He was so far from interested it felt like torture. ”Why don’t you tell us about them?”

The operator did. Dave started talking about his own. The kid moved from the toilet to join the conversation. Kouji breathed a sigh of relief and took the front seat again.

”Window’s cracked”, he said into the communicator.

The two tamers fell silent. The air around Kouji felt tense. Their hours had probably been reduced to minutes.

”The gate’s still open”, the woman said. ”What if…”

”It’s ocean on the other side”, the man answered. ”Gru, you on the way?”

”Almost there!” a new voice said. Gru. ”Had some trouble with the old ’vice.”

”We’ve almost gotten them all, it’s just two left”, the woman said.

”Three”, the man corrected and Kouji assumed a new one had just arrived through the gate.

He fell silent again, listened as the others talked about families or about the battle. A huge shadow appeared above them, covered the submarine. It took several seconds before it disappeared. Kouji stood up. Leaned as close to the window as he could.

A huge whale appeared infront of them. Opened its mouth and swallowed the submarine. The vehicle shook, the three still conscious people behind him screamed.

”Are we dead?” Dave asked when the sub had stopped shaking.

”A warning would have been nice”, Kouji said into the communicator.

”We’ve got the eggs”, the woman said. ”Gate’s closed. Time to dive!”

Deeper. Kouji’s ears hurt. Someone knocked on the hull of the submarine.

”Bolted from the outside?” Gru asked. ”This isn’t a sub, it’s a coffin.”

Kouji rolled his eyes. His chest hurt and he was starting to feel dizzy.

”Get us out.”

”Alright, alright, don’t rush perfection.”

”Gru”, the man laughed.

Something banged on the hull. Drilled into it. Drilled into it over and over again. A huge chunk of it fell to the ground and fresh air entered the sub. Fresh air that smelled a lot like the insides of a fish. Kouji gagged.

”Almost prefer suffocating to this”, he said.

He took the communicator off. Walked outside the sub. Gru was there, an older, tall and chubby man dressed in gray clothes and a neon-pink tie with an equally pink communicator around his ear. Kouji almost laughed at the sight. The ground was soft and textured like a tongue. It probably was one.

”Thank you, Whamon”, Kouji said.

He shook Gru’s hand. Asked about the other two.

”They’ll meet us at HQ”, Gru said. ”I don’t have any snack with me for the travel.”

”It’s fine.”

Kouji looked back at what could have become his coffin. The kid was peeking out through the hole, Dave just behind him. The operator was trembling, still sitting on the floor. Kouji didn’t know what would happen to them later.

”Whamon’s my partner”, Gru said and peeked into the submarine.

Dave and the kid quickly moved out of the way. Gru whistled.

”Absolutely disgusting. Why were you in it?”

Kouji grimaced.

”Order from the boss. There were rumors about sea monsters around the Titanic.”

”You’re his retriever?”

Gru stepped inside and Kouji followed.

”Gonna demand a raise after this”, Kouji said. ”Thanks again for the rescue.”

”Close call”, Gru said.

He knocked at the window. It shattered and fell to the floor. Kouji’s knees shook and his breath hitched. He clasped his hands together and sank down to the floor, back against the wall. Suddenly the seriousness of the situation hit him.

He could have died.

He knew that. Every time he was sent out carried that risk. But never in this way. Gru patted his shoulder.

”Take your time, kid.”

Kouji focused on his breaths. Listened as Gru shook the two rich men, tried to wake them up. Listen to Dave and the kid as they walked around Whamon’s mouth. They had been saved. Kouji’s heart beat hard against his chest.

He definitely deserved a raise.

#windy writes #digimon frontier #kouji minamoto #digimon savers #tagging that only because DATS #crossover #I feel like a horrible person but aslkghaj #the whole situations is just so #Kouji can be little a sidelined as a treat :3 #turns out he CAN do good as a supporting character #who would have thought #Gru is together with that other tamer that came #I couldn't decide a name for him and his daughter #tbh most of my characters suffer from a lack of names #gru's name isn't even gru it's probably like Gustaf or something #oh about the title: I got the 'underwater temple underwater monk'-song stuck in my head when I wrote this x3 #absolutely nothing to do with the actual story #I just suck at titles

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maniculum · 7 months

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Medieval Scorpions Effortpost

So yesterday I reblogged this post featuring an 11th-century depiction of the Apocalypse Locusts from Revelations, noting the following incongruity as another medieval scorpion issue:

The artist, as you can see, has interpreted "tails like scorpions" as meaning "glue cheerful-looking snakes to their butts".

Anyway, it occurred to me that the medieval scorpion thing might not be as widely known as I think it is, and that Tumblr would probably enjoy knowing about it if it isn't known already. So, finding myself unable to focus on the research I'm supposed to be doing, I decided to write about this instead. I'll just go ahead and put a cut here.

As we can see in the image above, at least one artist out there thought a "scorpion" was a type of snake. Which makes it difficult to draw "tails like scorpions", because a snake's tail is not that distinctive or menacing (maybe rattlesnakes, but they don't have those outside the Americas). So they interpreted "tails like scorpions" as "the tail looks like a whole snake complete with head".

Let me tell you. This is not a problem unique to this illustration.

See, people throughout medieval Europe were aware of scorpions. As just alluded to, they are mentioned in the Bible, and if the people producing manuscripts in medieval Europe knew one thing, it was Stuff In Bible. They're also in the Zodiac, which medieval Europe had inherited through classical sources. However, let's take a look at this map:

That's Wikipedia's map of the native range of the Scorpiones order, i.e., all scorpion species. You may notice something -- the range just stops at a certain northern latitude. Pretty much all of northern Europe is scorpion-free. If you lived in the north half of Europe, odds were good you had never seen a scorpion in your life. But if you were literate or educated at all, or you knew they were a thing, because you'd almost certainly run across them being mentioned in texts from farther south. And those texts wouldn't bother to explain what a scorpion was, of course -- everyone knows scorpions, right? When was the last time you stopped to explain What Is Spiders?

So medieval writers and artists in northern Europe were kind of stuck. There was all this scorpion imagery and metaphor in the texts they liked to work from, but they didn't really know what a scorpion was. Writers could kind of work around it (there's a lot of "oh, it's a venomous creature, moving on"), but sometimes they felt the need to break it down better. For this, of course, they'd have to refer to a bestiary -- but due to Bestiary Telephone and the persistent need of bestiary authors to turn animals into allegories, one of the only visual details you got on scorpions was that they... had a beautiful face, which they used to distract people in order to sting them.

And look. I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum, but I would say that a scorpion's face has significant aesthetic appeal only for a fairly small segment of the population. I'm sure you could get an entomologist to rhapsodize about it a bit, but your average person on the street will not be entranced by the face of a scorpion. So this did not help the medieval Europeans in figuring out how to depict scorpions. There was also some semantic confusion -- see, in some languages (such as Old and Middle English), "worm" could be a general term for very small animals of any kind. But it also could mean "serpent".* So there were some, like our artist at the top of the post, who were pretty sure a scorpion was a snake. This was probably helped along by the fact that "venomous" was one of the only things everyone knew about them, and hey, snakes are venomous. Also, Pliny the Elder had floated the idea that there were scorpions in Africa that could fly, and at least one author (13th-century monk Bartholomaeus Anglicus) therefore suggested that they had feathers. I don't see that last one coming up much, I just share it because it's funny to me.

*English eventually resolved this by borrowing the Latin vermin for very small animals, using the specialized spelling wyrm for big impressive mythical-type serpents, and sticking with the more specific snake for normal serpents.

Some authors, like the anonymous author of the Ancrene Wisse, therefore suggested that a scorpion was a snake with a woman's face and a stinging tail. (Everyone seemed to be on the same page with regards to the fact that the sting was in the tail, which is in fact probably the most recognizable aspect of scorpions, so good job there.) However, while authors could avoid this problem, visual artists could not. And if you were illustrating a bestiary or a calendar, including a scorpion was not optional. So they had to take a shot at what this thing looked like.

And so, after this way-too-long explanation, the thing you're probably here for: inaccurate medieval drawings of scorpions. (There are of course accurate medieval drawings of scorpions, from artists who lived in the southern part of Europe and/or visited places where scorpions lived; I'm just not showing you those.) And if you find yourself wondering, "how sure are you that that's meant to be a scorpion?" -- all of these are either from bestiaries or from calendars that include zodiac illustrations.

11th-century England, MS Arundel 60. (Be honest, without the rest of this post, if I had asked you to guess what animal this was supposed to be, would you have ever guessed “scorpion”?)

12th-century Germany, "Psalter of Henry the Lion". (Looks a bit undercooked. Kind of fetal.)

12th-century France, Peter Lombard's Sententiae. (Very colorful, itsy bitsy claws, what is happening with that tail?)

12th-century England, "The Shaftesbury Psalter". (So a scorpion is some sort of wyvern with a face like a duck, correct?)

13th-century France, Thomas de Cantimpré's Liber de natura rerum. (I’d give them credit for the silhouette not being that far off, but there’s a certain bestiary style where all the animals kind of look like that. Also note how few of these have claws.)

13th-century England, "The Bodley Bestiary". (Mischievous flying squirrel impales local man’s hand, local man fails to notice.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (A scorpion is definitely either a mouse or a fish. Either way it has six legs.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Wait, no, it’s a baby theropod, and it has two legs. (Yes, this is the same manuscript, that’s not an error, this artist did four scorpions and no two are the same.))

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Actually it’s a lizard with tiny ears and it has four legs.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Now that we’re at the big fancy illustration, I think I’ve got it — it’s like that last one, but two legs, longer ears, and a less goofy face. Also I’ve decided it’s not pink anymore, I think that was the main problem.)

13th-century England, MS Kk.4.25. (A scorpion is a flat crocodile with a bear’s head.)

13th-century England, "The Huth Psalter". (Wyvern but baby! Does not seem to be enjoying biting its own tail.)

13th-century England, MS Royal 1 D X. (This triangular-headed gentlecreature gets the award for “closest guess at correct limb configuration”. If two of those were claws, I might actually believe this artist had seen a scorpion before, or at least a picture of one.)

13th-century England, "The Westminster Psalter". (A scorpion is the offspring of a wyvern and a fawn.)

13th-century England, "The Rutland Psalter". (Too many legs! Pull back! Pull back!)

13th or 14th-century France, Bestiaire d'amour rimé. (This is very similar to the fawn-wyvern, but putting it in an actual Scene makes it even more obvious that you’re just guessing.)

14th-century Netherlands, Jacob van Maerlant's Der Naturen Bloeme. (More top-down six-legged guys that look too furry to be arthropods.)

14th-century Germany, MS Additional 22413. (That is clearly a turtle.)

14th-century France, Matfres Eymengau de Beziers's Breviari d'amor. (Who came up with that head shape and what was their deal?)

15th-century England, "Bestiary of Ann Walsh". (Screw it, a scorpion is a big lizard that glares at you for trying to make me draw things I don’t know about.)

I've spent way too much time on this now. End of post, thank you to anyone who got all the way down here.

#medieval #medieval creatures #medieval art #scorpions #medieval scorpions #manuscript #medieval manuscripts #illuminated manuscript

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inupibaldspot · 2 months

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From you, For him

| Part 2 of At him, For him

Note ₊˚⊹♡ : Normal like no curse and stuff AU where Gojo is in love with Geto’s lover but this time he has the chance to change everything. This contains time travel!

I wrote it in a way you can understand what’s happening even if your don’t read part 1 btw

·:*¨༺ Part 1 ༻¨*:·

Gojo Satoru feels as if he can’t breathe.

He inhales. His chest hurts and he has a horrible attempt at keeping his glazing eyes in check as he fakes a smile and claps his hands together; there was a blur silhouette of Geto and you in a distance in tears ,both wearing matching rings.

“Woah—! Congratulations you two.” Shoko smiles wildly as she brings her hands close to her mouth,cheering. She briefly turns to Gojo and looks back at the couple. “Keep it together,Gojo… you’ve done that for years so why bother showing it now.”

Gojo lets out a laugh. “How cruel…” of course Shoko knows he has had this unrequited love for years. He breathes out. “I’ll head out for a second.”

Shoko nods as she reaches out and puts a cigarette and lighter in his pocket. He mutters a ‘thanks’ as he opens the door, cold breeze immediately greeting him. He breaths in again as his hands search for warmth in his pockets, turning to the alleyway.

Once when he is secluded, he brings out the piece of cigarette Shoko handed him earlier as he places it in between his lips, his hands bringing up the lighter with one on the lighter as the other hand wraps to protect the small flame.

He did not smoke often—more like he didn’t even the last last time he did. Gojo sucks in a breath, his throat feels hot but his chest is lighter, no-he remembers smoking back in high school simply because of Shoko and Geto. His only two friends would leave him for smoke breaks and he didn’t want to be left alone so he simply picked up the habit.

Gojo quit after he met you since he didn’t feel the need to tag along Geto and Shoko anymore.

Somewhere in between college,meeting you and now, he didn’t seem to care anymore.

“Hey kid.”

“Fuck!” Gojo jumps, his teeth biting into the cigarette as his eyes glare sharply in the direction of the sound. A man sits along the far end of the alley way, away from him.

The white haired man contains his jumped heartbeat as he walks over the man who called him over. His eyes trail the dress he wore; it was a traditional dark piece of clothing and beads around his hand. This man was cosplaying as a Priest.

He didn’t say the word ‘cosplay’ lightly because first, to begin with, the man in front had a ‘magic ball’ in front of him as if he was waiting for people to share their future and second, he wasn’t too serious because boy—! That monk had thick hair on his head, not the shaven look you’d normally see.

Gojo met scammers; near the shopping center, outside popular restaurant and tourist attractions, by his house ringing on his doorbell and right now, infront of him.

“What‘cha gonna tell me,old man.” Gojo says as he peers in, with also taking in a puff of smoke. “That I’ll be having a wife and two kids in my 30s… If it’s not that, it means one of you is lying.” By ‘one of you‘ refers to the scammer-I mean fortune teller he let in his house because he was bored.

“Hahaha-! That’s not it.” The man laughs as he faces Gojo directly, it was then when he finally notices a stitch mark which stretches across his forehead. “Just wondering if you’d ever regretted things… ‘things’ which you wished you could go back and change..”

Gojo laughs as he drops the half-piece of cigarette on the ground, stomping on it. No long interested. “Of course. I still wish I could go back in time and not erase my answers because my teacher made all the answers to the MCQ ‘c’ just when I didn’t study.”

Fuck—just why did Yaga REALLY do that? Gojo thinks back at the thought.

“That’s what I like to hear.” Gojo turns when he hears the man speak.

The man stands close—very close to him as his hands were making a V-sign (a peace sign) , fingers pointed near his eyes before the old man was stabbed into his eyes.

“Oh my god— shit! That hurt, old man.” Gojo places his hands on his eyes as he tries to soothe the pain from it. “What are you trying to do—huh…?”

He blinks once.

Twice.

He takes a deep breath. ‘It’s fine.’ He thinks to himself. ‘I’ve just lost my mind a tiny bit because y/n and Suguru are getting married.’

Gojo let out the breath and opened his eyes. Same scene. He was by a tree, near a building; he remembered this place being behind the building for the Class 1-3 who were studying the normal curriculum whereas advanced classes of class 4-5 students were in another building.

“What the actual heck is happening?” Gojo grumbles as he looks at the calendar on his phone. He was back in high school. He was sent back in time by about 7 years. “Fuck… I guess that man wasn’t a quack….”

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

“That’s why I need you to help.” You wiggled your toes in your shoes as you stand, smiling. The teacher,Yaga Masamichi, was in front of you, sitting on his chair as he continued to talk- maybe complain would be a better word- about a certain boy from the advanced class. “The boy is smart but he lacks discipline! He needs someone as hardworking as you and maybe it’ll rub on to him.”

You’ve heard of Gojo Satoru. You’ve never seen him but he was very infamous in high school . First, for being the son of the Gojo Estate. Two, for being a very tall, conventionally attractive boy. Third, for being a delinquent.

And that last part bothers you a lot, you’ve heard him get into fights, rumors of him smoking along the alleyway, ripping love letters into pieces and recently he skipped over all his tests making him fail his mid-terms.

You gulp. Hope he doesn’t beat you up…

Just then the door to the staff room slides open. You see enter, he was tall with white hair and lashes and the eyes in the most beautiful shade. No way this was Gojo right? He was so— beautiful.

Did he just make eye contact with you?

“Gojo come here.” Yaga calls out as he huffs. Gojo clears his throat as he walks to the teacher. When he was close enough Yaga continued. “This is y/n and I’m assigned to be your teacher. She’ll make sure you get all your works done plus make you study for the reassessment for the exam you skipped on.”

You watch Gojo who was towering beside you raise his hands and brought it up to his face, but from the angle you see the upward turn on the corner of his lips. Why was he smiling?

“Isn’t this -he points at you- from the normal department?” You huff when you were referred to as ‘this’. “You sure she is smart?”

“Don’t mess with y/n just because she isn’t from the advanced class— And also! In the last exam she was placed third overall , right below Suguru.” Yaga shouted back.

Your eyes trail back to him when the boy beside you seemed to still, You’ve heard of Geto Suguru too. Apparently a boy from the advanced class who was also popular for his good looks. But not only that— he had a delicate aura around him which makes people like him and to add on he was very much academically smart.

Gojo lets out a breath, as if it were more of an amazement in your opinion. You watch him take a small step back as he turns around and gives you a smile, god was unfair when he crafted this smile. “Then please take care of me, my tutor.” His face was close to yours.

‘My.’ You face almost burst with heat.

“Gojo stop bothering y/n.”

“Ouch—! That hurt sensei.”

Ever since then, once you hear the bell ring indicating school was over for the day, there would be Gojo poking his head into your class with a boyish grin plastered on his face, he takes your book-filled bag, slings it over his shoulder as you guys would walk to the library.

He sometimes passes by your classroom which is in the opposite building whenever he wants to go to the restroom in between classes—I mean he never did specify which restroom, hoping to catch a glimpse of you.

And when he does, his gaze flickered towards you, taking in the way your gaze reflected the warm sun from outside.It becomes clear to Gojo then that even now, despite everything—in between ever but of confusion, anger and guilt, he doesn't actually want to lose you. To his best friend. To anyone else.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Warm.

The way the curtains fluttered from the gentle wind, letting in a cool breeze and a glow of the evening sun and you. You sitting not even an arm's length away and just like the pace of his heart which picked up, pushing every worry he could still have further and further away because there was no space for those in that moment.

There was just you. And he could feel your presence a lot closer now, her warmth not far away from him.

God, you were beautiful.

So beautiful, he would not mind spending the rest of his life memorizing each feature belonging of yours.

“Stop staring at me.” You let down the pen you were holding, looking away from your homework.

“I can’t stop.” He admitted.

You huff, the smirk on Gojo widened as he could see a faint color rush to your cheeks. “Just do your work…” you wave him off as you grumble.

“I’m already done,love.” He continues his teasing.

You pink as you let out a small shriek at the nickname; you rush close to him as you cover your hands on his mouth. “Shut up—Gojo, I don’t want to be murdered by your fangirls because of this.”

He pecks your hands by pursing his lips forward, into the palm of your hands making you shriek once more pulling away.

“Gojo!” You glare at him as you reach your hands out and comically wipe your hands on his blazer as he laughs at your reaction. He leans forward as he looks at your books. “What’s this?” He asks.

“Ah…” you say as you bring out a book closer to him. “I’m studying for my entrance exam for this university.”

“Already?” But that’s like months away.

“Yeah.” Your voice is laced with a smile, gojo almost sees shining glitters surrounding you. “It’s like… kind of my dream as a kid to go here.”

Gojo laughs at how adorable you sounded. “Why that university though?”

“My parents-“ you turn almost too quickly to face him but then you stop yourself as you clear your throat. “My parents went there and that’s how they met and fell in love.”

“Ah…” Just like you and Geto… His heart pains again as he is reminded.

You bend down as you lean your head on the table, letting out a sigh with your hands on your sides. “I hope I get in though…”

“You will.” He says confidently. He knows you will. “Nerds like you will get in.”

“Gojo, I’m not a nerd.”

“Whatever you say, princess.”

“I’m not princess either!”

“Sure thing, love.”

“Oh— Gojo,stop that!”

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

“I need you to be serious, Satoru!”

He listens to you shout, even without turning to your direction he could basically sense you ‘huffing and puffing’, a habit you took till adulthood. He reaches out into the bushes, pushing the leaves away. “I am—! Sheesh, let me breathe.” Gojo laughs.

You two were currently near the patch of grass by the football ground; you had lost your key to the music club room—a room which was basically unused but you guys needed a room so you two can continue on with your study lessons.

You bend to look over the bushes while Gojo does around the bushes checking every shrub. “Oh lucky— someone’s cigarette and lighter is hidden here.” His smile widens as he reaches out for the gift, someone had kept here. “Satoru, don’t steal others' stash.” He puts it down upon hearing your words.

“So this where you go after classes,Satoru?”

He knew it was inevitable but he hoped he could extend it for as long as he could.

In front of him, holding a key was Geto Suguru, smiling at him with Shoko, a lollipop in her mouth peers over from beside him. “What you doing?”

Geto throws him the key at him which is catches instantly.He wanted the two of his friends meet you but he selfishly hoped it would be after like maybe, after you and Gojo date. Wow—what an optimistic! Gojo gulps, afterall what would he do if the two of you fall in love again?

“You found it!” You jump, unaware that the two figures were his friends. You turn your head to look at him, at him. Despite Geto Suguru standing near you, you looked at Gojo. The white haired boy’s heart pulsed, the slow and steady pump now erratic and heavy with emotions. Just you looking at him with a smile, at him like he was the only one on the planet m. For the first time.

“Who is this?” Shoko says as walks to to the bush and sticks her hands in. You laugh. “That cigarette was yours?” Shoko nods.

“This… this is y/n.” Gojo grumbles, speaking low. “She is helping me with my reassessment.”

“That’s what you get for skipping assignments and test.” Shoko teases.

Geto laughs.

Gojo eyes at your reaction and sighs in relief when you were still acting the same. Thank god, there was nothing of that ‘love at first sight’ going on. “I don’t need to take those test.Even Yaga knows I’m smart.”

Your roll your eyes. “I guess we won’t have those study sessions of now on, Gojo.”

“Wha— no! I need it.” Gojo jumps, as he comically starts shaking you, as if he got the most shocking news of the century. “No- nope! You can’t do that. I need you—!”

“Geto, let’s get going now.” She turns. Shoko looks over to Gojo, they make eye contact and the brown hair girl smiles.

He knows that smile.

That’s the smile Shoko gives when ever she figures out something. And equipped with a teasing look, Gojo is certain she knows that he is in love with you. “Good luck,Gojo.” With his studies or with you? Geto gives you guys a wave as he also turns around and walks way.

From then onwards, it’s as if the friendship which you guys have in the future,college days were happening now. Hanging out, study sessions, sometimes sneaking into parties and café date; the four of you. Just like right now as you’re in Gojo’s room, a flat rented nearby your future college.

“No way.” Shoko starts. “We’re all going to be attending the same college.” Her smile widens when you cheer and jump into her arms, she quickly looks over and sees a fond smile on Gojo’s face…hilarious!

Geto laughs as he takes a sip on his coffee as the two girls snuggle closer to each other. “Did you know about this?” He peers over to Gojo who finally seemed broken from his trance—you.

Gojo nods. “Yeah… I mean I’ve seen her study for her exams.” He clears his throat. “Have you played the new ‘digimon’ game?” He changes topic, whenever Geto speaks of you or to you, it makes him feel small. This isn’t good. He relishes this yet it was suffocation. Gojo would never hate his best friend—never, but sometimes it’s insecurity and sometimes it’s guilt which swallows him whole. ‘Is this okay?’

Shoko breaks away from the hug and she pulls on your cheeks fondly, she thinks you’re the most adorable human as she turns to Geto. “Smoke break.” Geto smiles and nods, following behind Shoko who led the way.

Gojo turns to you, eyes carefully trying to take in your presence that is before he notices something—your eyes are ‘lingering.’ He follows your gaze, carefully in the direction.

You were looking at Geto.

All emotions are wiped from his face. Gojo knew this could happen, you can fall in love with Geto all over again. He was the one who was messing with fate and time, yet— it hurt.

You turn to Gojo, your face tilts up to meet his gaze as your lips turn into a teasing smile which quickly flatters when you see Gojo’s expression. Your heart settles and softens, you relax and reach over the table to grab one of his hands. “…Satoru?”

He turns to you, and smiles. “Yes?”

“Are you okay?”

“No…just thinking.”

You gulp wondering why it felt as if suddenly there was a huge rift when they were barely centimeters apart; for someone as big as Gojo his voice was so—so small. “…About?” You were almost scared to ask.

“Are you in love with Suguru?” Gojo beats himself for this, he has gone and done it now!

You tilt your head. “where did that come from?”

“Friends don’t give each other love-filled lingering looks.” He scoffs. “So tell me-“ no he was being pushy. Gojo felt so backed into a corner for a moment but when he locked eyes with you, he was hurting you with the way he was acting.

He stands up. “I think I need some fresh air.”

“If I did love him, what would you do?”

Were you testing him?

“Please—please don’t fall for anyone but me…” he mumbles.

You watch as he slumps down on the floor, on his knees, burying his face into his hands, curling up almost as if to protect himself. Gojo is no longer confident egoistic boy you know, right now he seemed so weak; as if he was tired after a long journey. “I have surrendered myself to you for all of time; past, present and future I am yours…”

Your head is dizzy with all this information. You need time, you need clarity. Gojo feels like he is losing himself in his thoughts and also rambles with no coherence to what his mind has to say. “I don’t know what do do with this emotion but if I try to stop them they overflow and-”

His heart seemed to thud to a stop in his chest and then start up again erratically, hands seemed to be incapable of doing anything other than hang close by his sides.

“Satoru, I love you…” you whisper and it is only then when he realizes you were also on your knees in front of him, thumbs wiping tears from his cheeks. “I’m sorry for joking— I don’t love Geto. It’s you I love. Don’t hate me?”

How can he hate you when you were still his everything: you were his everything even when you were intertwining hands with someone else?

“It’s me?” He breathes out. “Did you say you’re in love with me?”

You nod.

“Oh wow.” He says which makes you laugh.

“I love you…” He says, years of these words inside the depth of his heart, was dug out. “From the bottom of my soul, I’m head over heels for you, my love.”

You almost cry at his tone, so gentle.

He caresses your hair, tenderly, running his fingers through the soft, silky strands. When he eventually has his hands on your cheeks; your cheeks flushing as he gazes at you, captivated by your presence. Your eyes sparkle with wonder, your lips plush and rosy.

You are flawless, perfect in this moment and beautiful in his embrace.

Gojo didn’t even realize when he started to get so close to you. His lips pressed against her pulse in a kiss before he nipped the skin.His limbs burned where he touched you, you were warm. So it was cold after all, he realized somewhere along the line. His hands were freezing, clinging to your lower back.

Gojo wants to stay like this, holding you for a minute longer or forever.

A whisper in his head was telling him to let go—that it wasn’t right, but Gojo wouldn't. He was hanging onto a life line, it hurt, but if he let go now, he would drown.

Gojo was vulnerable. And you kiss him back. Kiss him till he is fine. Kiss him until all his worries fly— till he understands, you are equally so stupidly in love with him.

Unbeknownst to you two, Shoko peeks over inside the door, a small crack reveals what’s inside “You think they’re done?”

Geto laughs. “Of course not…but give them more time and they’ll be in bed.”

Shoko laughs lightly making sure she isn’t spotted yet as she then peers over to the taller boy beside her. “What about you? You good?”

“Yeah… it was just a crush.” Geto looked at Shoko from the corner of his eyes and his lips curl into a smile. Shoko was always so observant.

Taglist ˙✧˖° 🫧 ⋆｡—I tagged people who voted for time travel! Hope you guys don’t mind: @uuu55r64z46 @leviswifey-act62 @royaleashlyn @bakananya @bejwls @ritsatoru@washeduphasbeen @satorus-babygirl

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