gorb: (xxiii.)
ɢᴇᴛᴏ "ʜᴀᴜɴᴛs ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴀʀʀᴀᴛɪᴠᴇ" sᴜɢᴜʀᴜ ([personal profile] gorb) wrote2024-04-01 10:02 pm
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→ it will come back


TFLN OVERFLOW
goatjo: ((teen!) eighty-five)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-10 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Says who?

[ with a stubborn kind of insistence, leaning close enough to bump their foreheads together like that'll help make sure the words stick. ] People always wanna act like we signed on some kinda dotted line just by being born, y'know? And the geezers up at the top act like they can call the shots just 'cause that's the way it's always been.

I don't care about any of that stuff. [ sure, his view has shifted plenty since he first set foot in tokyo, but the core of it's the same. he likes being a sorcerer. he likes pushing himself to get stronger, discovering new ways to utilize his technique, finding that one-in-a-million opponent that offers up some kind of challenge. ] What do you want, Suguru?
goatjo: ((teen!) sixty-eight)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-10 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it's the last bit that makes him freeze.

he told me you were dead.

he told me he killed you.


that's all it takes to bring it back -- the white noise of applause all around him, the weight of amanai's corpse in his arms, the detached certainty of connecting the fact that suguru isn't here with the knowledge that suguru would've never left her alone. ]


... yeah. [ and for once, his voice is small. ] When I found her, I --

I thought you were gone. And I -- [ he stumbles over it. not at the thought of confessing it to suguru, but at the idea that saying them aloud might turn that narrow brush into something real. ] ... it felt like nothing mattered anymore.

I thought about killing them. Everyone in that room. [ with a detached sort of unselfconsciousness, the way someone else might describe running an errand. ] But I couldn't even decide. It felt like they deserved to die, but it didn't feel like them dying would fix anything, and --

None of it meant anything if it meant I was stuck in a world without you in it, y'know?
goatjo: ((teen!) thirty-three)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-10 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ suguru draws him closer, and satoru goes easily. melting against the lines of the other boy's body like it's something he was born knowing how to do, like the trick of fitting together is etched as deep inside him as his cursed technique. he throws an arm over suguru as the other boy curls into him, traces his fingertips up and down the broad plane of his back. ]

Okay. [ like it's easy, because it is. choosing suguru is the easiest thing in the world. ] Then we're not doing it.

[ having (freakishly) long arms comes with all kinds of benefits! like the way he can lean just a little and swat at the place suguru keeps his phone plugged in and charging on the desk next to his bed. then he's dragging it closer, unlocking it, squinting when the brightness of the screen washes over him, and tapping out something rapidly before suguru even gets the chance to protest.

after that? powering it off and tossing it haphazardly over his shoulder in the general direction of the bed. ]
There. We're both off for the rest of the week. Won't kill 'em to sort out their own problems for a few days.
goatjo: ((teen!) eighty-five)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-10 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Why not? [ with a snort, rubbing his cheek against the worn-soft material of suguru's shirt. ] What're they gonna do, lecture us?

[ ... he's also glossing over that last question, because if he spells out exactly how rude the text he just sent from suguru's phone was, it'll probably kick off a wrestling match for the phone. ]

Hey. [ bumping his forehead into suguru's shoulder. ] If Amanai told us that she didn't want to be the Star Plasma Vessel, would you have told her she had to? [ it's not really a question when he already knows the answer. ] Why's it only different when it comes to you?
goatjo: ((teen!) ninety-four)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-11 02:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ we were so close to just turning around.

there's a part of satoru that wishes he could put those words back, to make it so that he never heard them, because knowing hurts. it's a creature that digs into him with claws and teeth, trying to claw under the cage of his ribs to the most tender places below.

she didn't want to. they were going to turn around.

but they didn't, they couldn't, because satoru couldn't stop the sorcerer killer from getting through. and that's the root cause of all of this, right? suguru can't trust him enough to rest when he needs to and let satoru pick up the slack, because satoru let him down when it counted -- ]


I miss you too. [ and even muffled into the other boy's shoulder, there's no hiding the way his voice comes out thick and cracking. ]
goatjo: ((teen!) twenty)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-11 03:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ get it together. satoru's got to get it together.

if he wants to keep up with suguru, if he still wants them to be the strongest together, he's got to get a grip on it. how can suguru depend on him if something like this is enough to make him crumble?

don't think about it. don't think about amanai. don't think about we were so close to just turning around. don't think about the first bite of the inverted spear of heaven into the tender skin of his throat. don't think about it. don't think.

focus on getting strong, faster, sharper, smarter. that's --

but the last bit makes him jerk, startled enough to pull his head away from suguru's shoulder so that he can look directly at him. forgetting the prickling burn that means his eyes will be red-rimmed from tears he's refusing to cry, just -- ]


You still want to? Take missions together?
goatjo: ((teen!) seventy-one)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-11 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
No! [ ack. wait. shaking his head, desperation clawing up the back of his throat. ] I mean, no, obviously I want to take missions with you. Doing it alone sucks compared to what it's like when we're together, I just --

[ swallowing. hard. eyes flickering away from suguru's face, something as unfamiliar as shame roiling in his stomach. ] ... I messed up. I told you I had it covered, and I --

[ his fingers curl in the material of suguru's shirt, a tremor creeping up his spine. ] I thought --
goatjo: ((teen!) eight)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-11 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ another shake of his head, stubbornly refusing to let suguru wrench this guilt away from him. ]

But I told you I'd take care of it. [ there's a ragged edge to his voice, a hitch to the next breath he sucks in. ] You didn't want to split up. You only did it because you trusted me, and --

[ it could've gotten you killed. ]
goatjo: ((teen!) sixty-five)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-11 04:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I --

[ it's almost terrifying to be seen like this. it'd be unbearable if it were anyone else; anger is his defense mechanism against vulnerability, and there's not a single other living soul who could pry satoru open this way and not be met with teeth and claws.

but this is suguru. suguru.

and satoru can barely even remember what it was like to not have all his most tender, secret places belong to him. ]


I wanted to get stronger -- [ his eyes are burning with something that might be tears, and there's a tremor in his hands where suguru is clutching at them. ] I -- I'm gonna make sure it doesn't happen again --
goatjo: ((teen!) sixty-eight)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-11 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't --

[ it's an instant, instinctive denial, but. then satoru snaps his mouth shut just as quickly, disarmed by the tender way suguru thumbs that traitorous tear away.

because it's not about this summer, not really. it's about all of it; a weight so heavy it's been wedging them slowly apart. and he can't ask suguru to be a little more selfish if he's not willing to make the same concession. ]


Not gonna happen. [ another shuddering breath, and then he bumps their foreheads together again. ] You and me? We're the strongest. Together.

We're taking the rest of the week off, okay? And after that, no more solo missions for either of us. I'm taking missions with you, or I'm not taking 'em at all.

[ it doesn't fix the core of the problem, but it's a start. foundation first, then they can start chipping away at the rest of it. ]
goatjo: ((teen!) seventy-one)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-13 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
[ funny how something this simple feels like they’re clawing back something important. satoru suggests some lofty goal, and suguru grounds it into into the shape of something more achievable.

a reminder to sleep, to eat, to rest. the unspoken belief that they need to.

and it feels as natural as anything when suguru curls back up close and warm against him, when satoru throws an arm back over him and tangles their legs together under the blankets. ]


I missed you. [ it’s a soft, warm thing, murmured almost like a confession. ] I don’t want to do any of this without you either.
goatjo: ((teen!) four)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-13 02:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it’s the last bit that drags a little sigh out of him; the kind of relief that comes from someone who realizes they’re finally able to shelter from the storm.

he squeezes his arm around suguru a little more tightly in response, butting his head into the other boy’s shoulder in a gesture that’s (almost) cute enough to be called a nuzzle. ]


We’ve got each other. [ affirming it back to him, cementing it like an oath. ] No chance we can’t figure out all the rest of it, right? ‘cause we’re the strongest.
goatjo: ((teen!) eighty-six)

[personal profile] goatjo 2025-09-13 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Pancakes.

[ suguru makes a sleepy, snuffling noise, and maybe it’s strange that something so simple can wrap its fingers around satoru’s heart and squeeze, but he’s already so used to suguru having access to all the most tender, human parts of himself that it barely seems worth remarking upon. ] And no fussing allowed when I load ‘em up with all the good stuff.

[ tipping his head enough to be able to press a sleepy kiss to suguru’s temple, too drowsy to even acknowledge the gesture to himself. ] G’night, Suguru.