They call me Geto-sama, I'm not - well. ( He doesn't get called dad, not like that. Mimiko and Nanako remember their parents. They know what they've lost. But it works for them, whatever they have made with each other. If he hovers like a parent and they don't balk at it then it's fine. ) I understand it, I still think it counts. If they don't have anyone else, then you're as close as they can get. A guardian is better than nothing, no?
( He blinks in a way that used to mean Gojo's words mean something to him, a too fast flutter as he gets his emotions under control. )
It's better now. They have room to breathe. We moved out of the apartment when I got things more firmly under control, and they like the others. I don't ask them to do anything that they wouldn't like. They can go where they want, and do what they want, and they often do. It's a shame. I think they'd probably vastly enjoy bullying Fushiguro-san. ( Progress, no hiccup on the name. He still dreams of Toji, sometimes. ) They'd probably have bullied you too, actually. It would have been unfair.
( A quick grin, sharp with mirth. )
Or drained your bank balance dry. One or the other.
Geto-sama??? Not Papa Geto?? Shame, that'd be cute. [ gojou munches on a daikon, humming at that. ] I guess. Better than the asshole they had before, for sure. [ gojou doesn't have nightmares of toji - there's no reason to fear what he killed himself. but he doesn't tell getou - or anyone - that he's spent most of his free time for the past few years researching and hunting down every weapon that has some advantage against limitless and destroying them, one by one. because when he does have nightmares, it's of a blade popping the bubble of infinity before sinking into his throat. ]
[it says a lot, that despite geto's own convictions and morals about the world now he hasn't raised the kids the same way. hasn't cut them all off from human society. he used to do it with gojou, too, guiding him but letting him make his own choices, ultimately. ]
Man that'd be great. He needs some fuckin bullying, that brat. You wouldn't believe the way he talks to everyone, like a little punk! We should move them all in together and let them straighten each other out.
[ gojou snorts, grinning back. ] Sounds fine to me. Better use of the Gojo money than my family's ever made of it. And I'd have someone to drag to crepes and collab cafes who wouldn't call them lame. Tch!
what if i care little for canon and just make my own decisions what then
( Something goes sharply tight in his chest, a spasm of pain along with the realisation that he could have simply asked for help. Privately Geto thinks the village was an inevitable thing, he'd been wavering for too long, desperately overcome by his own emotions and the futility thereof. He certainly wouldn't have changed anything either. He loves his girls, even if they called him Geto-sama, he loves them and there isn't a universe he can conceive where he does not make the decisions he did in taking them. But after? If he'd left the village and found someplace to call Satoru, and he'd picked up, if Geto had asked would he have come? Would it have been better to have someone there with him?
He remembers the blood on his hands, knows that he couldn't have called. Not really. )
Do you -? ( A hum, he takes drink to give himself more time, swallows down a sweet mouthful. ) - You could meet them. Not now. But later. Once we've decided this is a good idea. They wouldn't tell anyone, they wouldn't care to. They might not be nice to you, but they're - you'd probably find it funny. They're protective.
[ he's wondered the same thing for years with no real answer. why getou just didn't pick up the damn phone and call him. before the village, hell after the village, even. there's no universe where gojou wouldn't have picked up, wouldn't have shown up, and helped him deal with whatever had been done at that point. he'd been on that same precipice at the cult headquarters; he knows what teetering on that edge feels like. ]
[ it doens't matter now - they handled it the best they could, didn't they? ]
Meet them? [ gojou sets down his chopsticks, thick with noodles and halfway to his mouth, because he's... shocked. when getou had offered to come and let him sleep, when he'd accepted... gojou never thought it would be more than that. a quiet, secret thing that happened once and maybe never again. instead, getou is offering a door into the family he made. yet another family gojou assumed he had no place in. ]
[ he smiles, and marvels at the warmth that bubbles up in his chest. the invitation alone is probably more than he deserves. ] Well, I'm sure with enough crepes and shopping trips to Harajuku I could win them over.
( He's not sure exactly which of them he should worry about. The girls aren't exactly greedy, but he's encouraged them in asking for things. If they had Gojo's wallet backing them -. ) Maybe something small, first. Crepes, like you said. You can come with us for tea, maybe. It would be easier if they were given the space to get to know you, they know we were friends, so it's not like they'd think you were a complete stranger. But they're aware that not all sorcerers are on the same page, so it might take them a while to trust you.
( It's something he told them about, early on, half afraid someone might come along and try and take them. He thinks they're strong girls, and they're smart, they'd start understanding the dynamic. Maybe too well. Who knows? )
You told them about me? [ he's never going to get another bite in at this rate. he's not sure why he assumed that getou had scrubbed all trace of gojou from his life. when he'd left that picture of them all together on the night stand gojou just assumed he was leaving everything behind with it. ]
[ it's unfair, to feel like the earth's shifted on its axis when really this is how it was all along. a world between them that didn't need to be there. ]
It's fine, I'm great with kids now... mostly. [ he waves it off, takes a long drink of his milk tea. if they ever decide to introduce all of the kids... he'll have to see what to do about Tsumiki. Megumi won't go many places without her, so it might be difficult but, that's a bridge to cross down the road. ]
[ he sets his drink down and leans in to bump getou's shoulder gently with his own. ] I'd like to meet them. Whenever you think it's right. [ when he pulls back, it isn't quite as far. ] We'll go somewhere noisy and fun like Takeshita street. Have you shown off your claw machine skills to them yet? I still have some of the plushies you won me!
( He'd meant to, is the thing. A clean cut. But there's no shoring himself up against his own mind, and the girls had learned about Gojo by degrees. Sometimes a name called in the middle of a nightmare when they'd shared close quarters, or a muttered statement in the grocery store when he'd picked up the wrong cereal, a Satoru liked this one sometimes, or a helpless fondness that welled inside of him. They don't ask often. He thinks they know it isn't something he likes to let himself ponder. )
Don't look at me like that. ( Is what Geto settles on, nudging him into action. ) Eat something, idiot. You want a full belly and you want to sleep, if you keep asking me questions you'll get neither.
( But -. )
I haven't. Arcades are usually too noisy now. But maybe if you were there then it would be fine.
[ he isn't sure he'll sleep for the next month with all of this swirling around in him. he feels sixteen again - experiencing everything good the world had to offer for the first time at the hands of getou suguru. ]
[ but maybe if you were there then it would be fine. ]
[ even though getou just told him not to, he stares at him, disarmed entirely. the words strike him somewhere too deep in his chest, even in a body that knows the plunge of real steel through muscle and bone. ]
[ he finally turns back to his ramen, only manages to stare at it. ] Yeah. It's always fine if we're together.
[ his heart skips a beat, and gojou wonders if he's just dreaming again. but when he tips his face toward getou, his bangs brush against getou's forehead. ]
I'm picking something hard, to make you work for it.
( Because they were taking them, weren't they? It's only a little teasing, something sweetly sentimental about it. )
All right, the hardest. ( He can always cheat if he has to. He has small-ish curses now. They could climb into the machine and he could feel smug and proud of it. A tiny little show of impish power. ) If you want a rehearsal, we can go by ourselves, I suppose.
It's just a question of balance. ( And watching until a bunch of other people have put enough money into the machines before swooping in. He knows how to play the game. ) It sounds like fun.
( A little wistful. )
Keep eating, you. I did have a mission here today.
( He keeps his entire body still, half afraid that Gojo might move if he so much as twitches. )
People listen to me now, you know. They do what I say without questioning it. Maybe I've gone mad with power. ( Well, he's gone mad with something. Today is not one of those days where it peeks through, but it's there. Maybe they both needed the break. Maybe this is for the best. ) Someone should keep me humble.
( Except not, because he does want Gojo to eat and sleep. That's the point of this. )
Without questioning it, huh? [ gojou slurps a helping of noodles before letting his head tip back onto getou's shoulder, peering up at him. ]
You were never humble, then or now. [ he snorts, grinning that lopsided grin. ] You still need an unruly brat in your life, so all that obedience doesn't go to your head.
Why would I need an unruly brat when there's already you?
( It is a terrible idea in a series of terrible ideas. Geto should not be here, he does not have the right to be here. He walked away from Gojo all those years ago in a desperate attempt to spare him somehow, now this. Now he's here, basking in his company, letting it all seem as though no time has passed. What does that make him? What right does he have to go back on his convictions? )
Aish, it's fine. There'll always be pushbacks in a world like this. I'm not getting too big for my boots. ( One would argue being a genocidal cultist is, in fact, too big for his boots. Oh well. ) You don't have to worry.
Yeah, and look what happened without me. You walk around wearing a monk's getup and letting people worship you. You need me around so you don't get any weirder.
[ he hums, and it's a gentle tease, even though he knows that there's something darker under all of getou's showmanship. he knows who he is and what he does. it shouldn't be okay - he shouldn't be okay with it but. ]
[he knows a few different choices and they could be in opposite positions. or on the run together. ]
[ instead, they're here together after all this time. ] Suguru?
( His laughter is silent, though Gojo will feel it. )
There's nothing wrong with my outfit, it's traditional. ( And also, a gojo-kesa, because Geto is nothing if not terribly obvious even when he's ignoring his own feelings. Still, he puts his chopsticks down, tilts his head towards Gojo, hair brushing the top of his head. )
[ he noticed - the gojo-kesa wasn't subtle, and he's seen those photos of the scrolls hanging around getou's cult compound love to the strong. it's something, but it doesn't feel like enough. ]
I miss you. [ it isn't the whole of what he wants to say - i love you, i'm sorry, but it's a start. ]
( Easier than saying that he does too, that he feels like half of him has been missing all these years. It was something he forced himself to ignore, but here, the absense is glaring. )
Are you finished eating? Do you have a bed here? I can stay and clean up and guard the place, you can get some rest.
[ he could let getou stay and tidy up after dinner, sit watch on the couch while he sleeps in what's technically his bedroom. ]
[instead, he watches getou for a long moment before setting his bowl down and flopping right down into his lap. his arms wind around getou's waist and even if it's too familiar, gojou buries his face into getou's stomach and exhales. he thinks half the tension in his head melts just from that. ]
( It's so typically Gojo to do that Geto doesn't even consider pushing him off. Instead he merely reaches to the couch behind him to get a cushion, wedge it in the space between furniture and himself. )
And you said I'm the demanding one. I can't clean up like this.
( He can cover things though, maybe that will help. He busies himself with it for a second, and then as if unbidden his hand drops away from the table to bury fingers in his old friend's hair. )
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( He blinks in a way that used to mean Gojo's words mean something to him, a too fast flutter as he gets his emotions under control. )
It's better now. They have room to breathe. We moved out of the apartment when I got things more firmly under control, and they like the others. I don't ask them to do anything that they wouldn't like. They can go where they want, and do what they want, and they often do. It's a shame. I think they'd probably vastly enjoy bullying Fushiguro-san. ( Progress, no hiccup on the name. He still dreams of Toji, sometimes. ) They'd probably have bullied you too, actually. It would have been unfair.
( A quick grin, sharp with mirth. )
Or drained your bank balance dry. One or the other.
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[it says a lot, that despite geto's own convictions and morals about the world now he hasn't raised the kids the same way. hasn't cut them all off from human society. he used to do it with gojou, too, guiding him but letting him make his own choices, ultimately. ]
Man that'd be great. He needs some fuckin bullying, that brat. You wouldn't believe the way he talks to everyone, like a little punk! We should move them all in together and let them straighten each other out.
[ gojou snorts, grinning back. ] Sounds fine to me. Better use of the Gojo money than my family's ever made of it. And I'd have someone to drag to crepes and collab cafes who wouldn't call them lame. Tch!
what if i care little for canon and just make my own decisions what then
He remembers the blood on his hands, knows that he couldn't have called. Not really. )
Do you -? ( A hum, he takes drink to give himself more time, swallows down a sweet mouthful. ) - You could meet them. Not now. But later. Once we've decided this is a good idea. They wouldn't tell anyone, they wouldn't care to. They might not be nice to you, but they're - you'd probably find it funny. They're protective.
sign me tf UP my guy let's GO
[ it doens't matter now - they handled it the best they could, didn't they? ]
Meet them? [ gojou sets down his chopsticks, thick with noodles and halfway to his mouth, because he's... shocked. when getou had offered to come and let him sleep, when he'd accepted... gojou never thought it would be more than that. a quiet, secret thing that happened once and maybe never again. instead, getou is offering a door into the family he made. yet another family gojou assumed he had no place in. ]
[ he smiles, and marvels at the warmth that bubbles up in his chest. the invitation alone is probably more than he deserves. ] Well, I'm sure with enough crepes and shopping trips to Harajuku I could win them over.
🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
( He's not sure exactly which of them he should worry about. The girls aren't exactly greedy, but he's encouraged them in asking for things. If they had Gojo's wallet backing them -. ) Maybe something small, first. Crepes, like you said. You can come with us for tea, maybe. It would be easier if they were given the space to get to know you, they know we were friends, so it's not like they'd think you were a complete stranger. But they're aware that not all sorcerers are on the same page, so it might take them a while to trust you.
( It's something he told them about, early on, half afraid someone might come along and try and take them. He thinks they're strong girls, and they're smart, they'd start understanding the dynamic. Maybe too well. Who knows? )
It's just an idea.
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[ it's unfair, to feel like the earth's shifted on its axis when really this is how it was all along. a world between them that didn't need to be there. ]
It's fine, I'm great with kids now... mostly. [ he waves it off, takes a long drink of his milk tea. if they ever decide to introduce all of the kids... he'll have to see what to do about Tsumiki. Megumi won't go many places without her, so it might be difficult but, that's a bridge to cross down the road. ]
[ he sets his drink down and leans in to bump getou's shoulder gently with his own. ] I'd like to meet them. Whenever you think it's right. [ when he pulls back, it isn't quite as far. ] We'll go somewhere noisy and fun like Takeshita street. Have you shown off your claw machine skills to them yet? I still have some of the plushies you won me!
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Don't look at me like that. ( Is what Geto settles on, nudging him into action. ) Eat something, idiot. You want a full belly and you want to sleep, if you keep asking me questions you'll get neither.
( But -. )
I haven't. Arcades are usually too noisy now. But maybe if you were there then it would be fine.
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[ but maybe if you were there then it would be fine. ]
[ even though getou just told him not to, he stares at him, disarmed entirely. the words strike him somewhere too deep in his chest, even in a body that knows the plunge of real steel through muscle and bone. ]
[ he finally turns back to his ramen, only manages to stare at it. ] Yeah. It's always fine if we're together.
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I'll win you something new.
( Claw machines can't have gotten more difficult, he's sure of it. )
You can pick the machine.
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[ his heart skips a beat, and gojou wonders if he's just dreaming again. but when he tips his face toward getou, his bangs brush against getou's forehead. ]
I'm picking something hard, to make you work for it.
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( Because they were taking them, weren't they? It's only a little teasing, something sweetly sentimental about it. )
All right, the hardest. ( He can always cheat if he has to. He has small-ish curses now. They could climb into the machine and he could feel smug and proud of it. A tiny little show of impish power. ) If you want a rehearsal, we can go by ourselves, I suppose.
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[ as long as getou doesn't get too preoccupied with the kids to win gojou his prize. ]
Oh? I get a private preview all to myself? It can be a trial run so you don't have to cheat in front of the kids.
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( Says the man who just thought about it. )
It's just a question of balance. ( And watching until a bunch of other people have put enough money into the machines before swooping in. He knows how to play the game. ) It sounds like fun.
( A little wistful. )
Keep eating, you. I did have a mission here today.
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[ he gives a little huff at being ordered around, but picks up his bowl and shovels another hefty serving into his mouth. ]
You're as bossy as ever. [ said as he leans over and slumps right up against getou's shoulder while he eats. ]
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( He keeps his entire body still, half afraid that Gojo might move if he so much as twitches. )
People listen to me now, you know. They do what I say without questioning it. Maybe I've gone mad with power. ( Well, he's gone mad with something. Today is not one of those days where it peeks through, but it's there. Maybe they both needed the break. Maybe this is for the best. ) Someone should keep me humble.
( Except not, because he does want Gojo to eat and sleep. That's the point of this. )
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You were never humble, then or now. [ he snorts, grinning that lopsided grin. ] You still need an unruly brat in your life, so all that obedience doesn't go to your head.
[ he'll volunteer, if there's no one else. ]
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( It is a terrible idea in a series of terrible ideas. Geto should not be here, he does not have the right to be here. He walked away from Gojo all those years ago in a desperate attempt to spare him somehow, now this. Now he's here, basking in his company, letting it all seem as though no time has passed. What does that make him? What right does he have to go back on his convictions? )
Aish, it's fine. There'll always be pushbacks in a world like this. I'm not getting too big for my boots. ( One would argue being a genocidal cultist is, in fact, too big for his boots. Oh well. ) You don't have to worry.
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[ he hums, and it's a gentle tease, even though he knows that there's something darker under all of getou's showmanship. he knows who he is and what he does. it shouldn't be okay - he shouldn't be okay with it but. ]
[he knows a few different choices and they could be in opposite positions. or on the run together. ]
[ instead, they're here together after all this time. ] Suguru?
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There's nothing wrong with my outfit, it's traditional. ( And also, a gojo-kesa, because Geto is nothing if not terribly obvious even when he's ignoring his own feelings. Still, he puts his chopsticks down, tilts his head towards Gojo, hair brushing the top of his head. )
Mm?
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I miss you. [ it isn't the whole of what he wants to say - i love you, i'm sorry, but it's a start. ]
I'm glad you came.
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( Easier than saying that he does too, that he feels like half of him has been missing all these years. It was something he forced himself to ignore, but here, the absense is glaring. )
Are you finished eating? Do you have a bed here? I can stay and clean up and guard the place, you can get some rest.
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[instead, he watches getou for a long moment before setting his bowl down and flopping right down into his lap. his arms wind around getou's waist and even if it's too familiar, gojou buries his face into getou's stomach and exhales. he thinks half the tension in his head melts just from that. ]
Mm'fine here.
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And you said I'm the demanding one. I can't clean up like this.
( He can cover things though, maybe that will help. He busies himself with it for a second, and then as if unbidden his hand drops away from the table to bury fingers in his old friend's hair. )
You're going to get a bad back, Satoru.
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[ something a younger him would have said, too, uncaring for anything except what they're doing in the present moment. ]
[ he's more than happy to sacrifice leftovers, especially the second getou's hand comes to bury in his hair, pushing into the touch greedily. ]
I have reverse cursed technique running 24/7 so my brain doesn't cook, remember?
... but we can move to the couch or the bed if you need it.
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You're already comfy, it's fine.
( He's busy petting him either way. )
At least for a little while, and then the bed. You want to actually get some good from resting.
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time skipping ~