Chapter Text
APRIL 2014
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Gojo Satoru was a very confident man.
He had every right to be, being literally the strongest being in existence. He was the one honored by the heavens, chosen by the gods. People bent to his will without him needing to lift a finger for them to do it. He never had to ask or want for anything; from birth, he just received anything and everything he ever wanted. He was untouchable, literally and figuratively.
He was also starting to understand why some people (Nanami Kento) called him spoiled.
“What?” Nanami’s deep voice was filled with a hint of confusion as the blonde man raised an eyebrow.
“What?” Gojo echoed, blinking behind his sunglasses.
Nanami squinted his eyes ever so slightly, as though wondering if he were the crazy one. “You came up to me, said hello, and have just been standing there, staring at me. Can I help you with something, or may I go home? I’m very tired, Gojo-san.”
It was after six, and Gojo knew how grouchy Nanami could be when he was kept after business hours. He did seem like he was telling the truth, seeing as his usual pristine work suit was smattered in dust. Unusual, because Nanami was pretty strong, Gojo knew this. Thought it was pretty hot, actually.
“Oh, yeah, totally, there is something you can help with, actually,” Gojo said, remembering himself.
“Okay. What is it?” Nanami asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
Nanami was so lovely, so innocent! Such an honest man. Gojo put on his best charming smile, one that would make anyone’s panties drop straight through the center of the earth. “Let’s go out together!”
Nanami’s frown was disdainful. His response was immediate: “No, thank you.”
“ Huh?” Gojo blinked a few times, smile falling as Nanami walked right past him towards the school gates. “Y-you–” Gojo started, and turned around to jog and catch up with Nanami, walking backwards beside him after he caught up. “You said no? How could you say no to going out with me? Again?”
“It’s very easy to say no to you, Gojo-san. Probably the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I do it every day,” Nanami said, keeping his gaze forward. “After all, you are a very annoying man.”
“Meanie!”
“My apologies. You are a very annoying child.”
“But Nanamin, no one says no when I ask them out,” Gojo said as a matter of fact, choosing to ignore Nanami’s (playful? Gojo hoped they were playful) insults.
“That can’t possibly be true. You’re you,” Nanami replied with a disdain so palpable, Gojo could almost taste the bitterness on his tongue. “Besides, I’ve declined your invites many times. And technically, you did not ask me out, Gojo-san, just as you’ve never asked me out any of the other times you decide to annoy me after work.”
“Yes, I did, I was there,” Gojo said in a singsong. “All those times. Including this one!”
“No, each time, you demanded I go out with you. Not once have you ever asked me nicely.”
“Really, Nanamin?” he asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. “Would you actually go out on a date with me if I asked you nicely?”
“That depends. Is asking nicely even possible for you? Let me reiterate in case you forgot: you’re you.”
“And I , the all-powerful Gojo Satoru, can literally do anything.”
“Alright, let’s see it, then,” Nanami said, stopping in his tracks. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Gojo seriously. “For once in your life, Gojo Satoru , ask for something nicely .”
Gojo ignored the heat in his chest caused by the firm way of Nanami saying his full name. This was going to be so easy . Once he ‘asks nicely’ or whatever, he’ll finally, finally get Nanami to go out on a date with him! Gojo took a breath like he was preparing for an olympian feat, clapped his hands together and all but yelled, “Let’s go out together, Nanamin!”
Shit.
Nanami didn’t say anything, just scoffed, rolled his eyes behind those ridiculously dorky (and simultaneously sexy) glasses, and resumed walking past Gojo towards the school gates. Gojo turned to run up to him again, and once he caught up, started walking backwards next to him once more, throwing his hands behind his head leisurely.
“Wait, wait, I can do it, one more chance, that was a practice run,” Gojo said with a cackle, and Nanami shook his head.
“I really am tired, Gojo-san. I don’t have the energy for these games,” Nanami said exasperatedly, his brow furrowing in annoyance. “Don’t you have those dating apps? Isn’t there literally anyone else you can go out with? Why are you bothering me with this shit?”
“ Ugh, Nanamin, because I don’t want to go on a date with anyone else!” Gojo snapped impatiently and Nanami turned his cheek ever so slightly to look at him suspiciously. Gojo realized what he said a beat later and blinked a few times – shit, shit, shit he was giving himself away – and opened his mouth to amend, but Nanami stopped walking again.
“Fine. One more chance.”
Gojo took a steadying breath. Last chance. Can’t fuck it up. Can’t fuck it up! “Would you...honor me…by going on a date with me this weekend, Nanamin?” he said extra slowly, not wanting to mess up. He punctuated his question with the sweetest smile he could muster, as he had never asked for anything this nicely in his entire life. He didn't even know if Nanami would agree to it; maybe Nanami was just being mean to him as usual, but on the off chance he wasn’t – well, Gojo Satoru was, in fact, a gambling man. And Nanami Kento was worth the risk.
Nanami stared at him for a long moment, eyes searching his face – for what, Gojo didn’t know – but then he sighed, heavy and with his full body, as though resigning his fate. “Fine. Okay, Gojo-san. We can go out.”
Gojo blinked a few times, genuinely surprised. “W-wait, really?” he sputtered, his glasses drooping down his nose a bit. “All these years? That’s all I had to do to get you to go out on a date with me? Just... ask you?”
Nanami looked at him incredulously and Gojo watched Nanami’s eyes twitch in annoyance. “You are actually the worst. I’ll be changing my answer.”
“No, no, you can’t! It’s too late now!” Gojo laughed. “So, dinner with me? Yes?”
Nanami sighed loudly. Gojo hoped he wasn’t imagining the light dusting of pink on Nanami’s beautifully cut cheekbones. “Fine. Yes.”
“Wahoo! No take-backsies!” Gojo cheered, pumping a fist. “Saturday night?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll make reservations and pick you up at your apartment,” Gojo said, grinning ear to ear. “Seven thirty sound good?”
“Alright.”
“Oh-kay!” Gojo said triumphantly, giving him double peace signs. “Wear something sexy, Nanamin! The all-powerful Gojo Satoru is takin’ you out on a date! One of many!”
“We’ll see about that, Gojo-san,” Nanami said flatly, before walking straight out of the school.
---
Gojo Satoru was not a nervous man.
He had no reason to be. Nothing and no one had made him feel nervous, or anxious, or wary, in years. But holy shit , was he freaking out right now.
Gojo had pulled some strings to make a reservation at the fanciest French restaurant in Tokyo – a 3-Michellin Star Restaurant, thank you very much. He had dressed himself nicely for the evening: a crisp black YSL dress shirt, the top button popped open to show off his slender silver Bvlgari chain, his favorite black jeans, under a black YSL sport coat. His loafers were black as well, and he had shined the red lacquer soles himself before stepping out of the house. It’d taken him four outfit changes (with the Fushiguro’s (re: Tsumiki) as his consultant) to make sure everything was just right.
(“For a gay man, you dress so badly,” the 13-year-old had told him with a bright smile as she put a khaki colored short sleeve shirt straight into the garbage.
“Hey, that shirt is Burberry!” he had said, taking it back out and hugging, frowning.
“No, that shirt is tragic,” Tsumiki had replied without missing a beat, crossing her arms over her chest. “Satoru, Nanami-san is a very sophisticated, well-dressed man. Do you want to impress him or not?”
Gojo couldn’t find it in himself to be annoyed at her smile or thirteen-year-old wisdom and just decided to let her help. He handed her back the shirt but made sure she knew he was pouting.
She knew. She didn’t care.)
He could’ve warped over to Nanami’s place, but he decided to take a cab into the city and walk over, if just to calm his nerves. On the way over to Nanami’s high rise apartment, Gojo’s chest was tight, as though vines were wrapping around his lungs and squeezing them. His hands were a little clammy and he focused on his breathing to try to calm himself down. The last thing he wanted to do was show up at Nanami’s house a sweaty mess, especially when he (re: Tsumiki) worked so hard to pick just the right outfit.
Nothing Gojo ever did had stakes, since he was the strongest and all. But tonight, the stakes had never been higher. He was finally going on a date with Nanami Kento.
At seven on the dot, he tapped his knuckles three times on the door of Nanami’s apartment and took a final breath as he heard the thump of Nanami’s feet on the hardwood floors coming to the door. Nanami pulled open the door and stole Gojo’s breath away.
Nanami was dressed in a simple navy sport coat over a light blue dress shirt, and off-white slacks. The coat was tighter than his work suit, accenting his biceps and broad shoulders. Gojo could see the hint of dark blue suspenders under his coat. His blonde hair was styled neatly, as it always was, with a pair of thin rimmed glasses perched on his nose. Simple, but stylish and smart. He looked so handsome, Gojo could faint.
“Seems like you listened to my advice to wear something sexy, Nanamin,” Gojo greeted with a grin, despite his pounding heart.
“Hello to you too, Gojo-san,” Nanami said with a roll of his eyes that had no heat.
“Tadah!! These are for you!” Gojo said, and from behind his back, handed Nanami a huge bouquet arrangement of two dozen orange tiger lilies and chrysanthemum, dramatically flourishing the gesture with a wave of his hands. Gojo loved receiving flowers, but he also did love to give them, when the occasion was right. And a first date with Nanami was definitely the right occasion. He knew he only had one chance to woo this man and he was absolutely not going to fuck it up. “The tiger lillies kinda reminded me of your work tie!”
“Oh. Well, thank you,” Nanami said, and Gojo wondered if the slight softness of Nanami’s voice was his imagination or not. “Come in, let me put them in water before we go.”
Gojo followed in wonder as he stepped through the threshold of Nanami’s house for the first time. It was just as clean and immaculate as Gojo thought it would be; simple, minimalistic furniture and abstract artwork. It barely looked lived in, save for the few picture frames that Gojo noticed scattered around the house, and spotted throw pillows that Gojo knew Nanami had picked out himself. It looked right out of an architectural magazine.
“Nice place,” Gojo commented brightly, stuffing his hands in his pockets with a smirk. “Salaryman pay must have been pretty nice.”
“It was very comfortable,” Nanami admitted as he pulled a vase from under the sink and began to fill it with water. “Though, probably not as comfortable as a family fortune.”
“Oh speaking of,” Gojo said, pulling two tickets from his coat pocket to flash them at Nanami proudly. “I’ll be using that family fortune for our dinner tonight, aaaaand I also got us tickets to a show afterwards!”
Nanami tilted his head, seeming to be slightly interested. “Oh, a concert?”
“Nah, a kabuki show at the National Theatre. I got pretty good seats, too.”
Nanami raised an eyebrow as he passed Gojo, heading back towards the genkan, grabbing his keys off the dining room table as he went. Gojo couldn’t read his expression. “Kabuki? You like kabuki?”
“A little, I guess?” Gojo admitted with a shrug. “It’s not about me, though. I just thought it might be something you’d like.”
Nanami just hummed in response as he stepped into his shoes. Gojo didn’t know what it meant. “Shall we, then?”
Nanami Kento was a cautious man.
It’s probably what allowed him to live as long as he had as a Jujutsu sorcerer, despite not having any particularly flashy ability. It’s what made him leave the Jujutsu world — and what made him an even better sorcerer when he came back. And while, in his opinion, he didn’t have a spectacular innate technique, he did pride himself on being able to read most situations accurately and act accordingly.
However, this particular situation was something he had never experienced before: Gojo Satoru was being pleasant.
Despite the infatuation that Nanami had for Gojo since they were in high school, Nanami had only agreed to go out on a date with Gojo because he figured if he did, Gojo would get bored and finally leave him alone. Nanami couldn’t see any reason why Gojo would be seriously interested in him romantically; they were both sorcerers, yes, but they were very different people. If they went out, and Gojo realized that, maybe he’d stop getting Nanami’s hopes up with all his flirting and lingering touches and invitations to go out.
But Nanami was pleasantly surprised when Gojo had arrived early, with flowers , with just enough time to take a leisurely walk over to the restaurant. Nanami would never admit it out loud, but he was a sucker for flowers. He’d also honestly half expected Gojo to show up late, in his work uniform, and be taking them to a food truck he saw in the park, so anything other than that was already a step up.
The surprises didn’t stop there. On the walk over to the 3-Michelin star restaurant that he’d gotten reservations at, Gojo asked Nanami about his day, and actually listened quietly to the answer. When Gojo did talk, it wasn’t just to fill silence; he responded to things Nanami said, and asked questions. He was insightful, smart, and genuinely funny (Nanami had even caught himself actually chuckling at things Gojo said) — Nanami barely recognized the person walking next to him; he seemed to actually be taking this date seriously.
Their shoulders brushed — actually brushed, no invisible shield between them — as they walked and Nanami realized a strange thing then. He did recognize this person after all: it was Gojo Satoru with his guard down. The carefree, joyful Gojo that Nanami had admired and fallen for, all those years ago, before the Inverted Spear burst through his throat, before Getou Suguru left him behind. Before Infinity erected a barrier between him and the rest of the world.
Gojo pulled open the door to the restaurant, allowing Nanami to go in before him. It was a stunning restaurant, romantic and dimly lit with low orange glows. The tables were set with crisp white tablecloths, guests dressed to the nines. The host staff bowed to Nanami as Gojo caught up.
“Two for Gojo,” he said, flashing the appropriate fingers, and the two of them were led through the restaurant to a table by the window. The Tokyo lights sparkled below, glittering like the Milky Way, but all Nanami could see was the stardust in Gojo’s eyes as he sat across from him, tucking his sunglasses away into his coat pocket.
The host left, and a server introduced himself before offering them wine pairings. Nanami opened his mouth to decline — he didn’t want to drink much if Gojo wasn’t going to — but Gojo beat him to it, ordering a wine pairing for them both.
“You don’t have to drink, Gojo-san,” Nanami said after the server left, raising an eyebrow.
“Hmm? I want to! I heard it’s no fun to drink alone,” Gojo said brightly.
“I suppose, if you insist. And you can wear your glasses, you know.”
“Oh, I, uh, took a painkiller before I left my house. I know you like to drink, so I can drink with you a little on it! It’s not acetominopheneminephrine – whatever is the one that you can’t drink on. I asked Shoko,” he said, sounding a bit sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck. “This is a nice place, so I didn’t want to embarrass you by wearing sunglasses indoors.”
Nanami had definitely given Gojo grief about his indoor sunglasses before, on the few occasions Gojo invited himself to the late night izakayas that Nanami and Shoko went to after particularly hard days of work. But tonight was different. “I really don’t mind. I’d rather you just be comfortable.”
“Oh. Are you sure?” Gojo sounded apprehensive, another situation Nanami had never experienced before. Nanami decided didn’t like it; as much of a pain Gojo could be, Nanami never wanted to be the reason why Gojo felt anxious. He knew that Gojo’s eyes hurt if he had his glasses off in public for too long, even in a low lit restaurant like this. Cursed energy didn’t have a dimmer.
“Of course. If they give you trouble for it, I’ve got your back,” Nanami assured him, and Gojo grinned, pulling his glasses from his pocket and placing them neatly on his nose.
The wines were brought over and so was the first course — the first of twelve dishes on their extravagant tasting menu — and Nanami had to admit he was impressed. Each dish looked like art; Nanami was afraid to eat it, but once he did, the flavors burst in his mouth and danced across his palate. Gojo was surprisingly knowledgeable about food and they talked insightfully about everything they ate. Gojo even helped stage nice poses for their food so Nanami could take photos.
The food was so delicious; Nanami cleared plates easily, and he was glad Gojo was doing the same. Though not the same thing could be said about the wine. Boasting a cellar of over 600 wines, Nanami was having an amazing time getting to sample as many as the restaurant had to show them.
On their eighth dish, and fourth tasting of wine, Nanami took a breath. The dinner was going so well, surprisingly well, but he was at a breaking point. He wondered if it was the alcohol giving him a little too much liquid courage, and wondered if it would be a mistake, but he needed to know. So before he could stop himself, he blurted, “Can I ask you something, Gojo-san?”
“Of course! You can ask me anything, Nanamin,” Gojo agreed with a big, beautiful smile, resting his chin in his hand. He hadn’t finished a single glass of wine, though he did sip at a few of them.
“Where is this all coming from?”
Gojo tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“You asking me out. The flowers. The tickets to the kabuki. All of this,” Nanami clarified, gesturing around him at the beautiful restaurant. “If I’m being honest with you, I never thought you were interested in me in this way. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the attention, but if you’re just messing around with me, or trying to prove something to yourself, I would also appreciate it if you didn’t.”
“Uwahh, so serious,” Gojo commented with a little, terse laugh. “I’m actually a little hurt you’d think I’d play around with you, Nanamin.”
Nanami raised an eyebrow ever so slightly, wondering if that was the truth. From the unusual stiffness of Gojo’s laugh, Nanami had to assume it was, and felt a pang of guilt in his chest. But he was the one that had to have his guard up now. He needed to protect his heart, because unlike Gojo, he didn’t have Infinity to guard him. The person who could hurt Nanami the most was sitting right across the table from him.
“What else would you have me assume?”
“That I genuinely like you? And…that I wanted to get to know you better?” Gojo said as though that were supposed to be obvious. His voice wasn’t twinged with the sharpness of impatience, or twisted with incredulousness. Gojo just sounded...sad. There was a soft melancholy, a disappointment, in his voice that Nanami had never heard before and swallowed a lump in his throat. Nanami teased Gojo, sure, that was their relationship, but he never actually wanted to make Gojo genuinely sad.
Nanami was usually great at reading situations accurately. This was the first time he had been wrong.
“We’ve known each other for almost ten years, Gojo-san.”
“And yet sometimes, I don’t feel like I really know-know you that well. Y’know?” Gojo asked with a bright smile, trying to cover the ache in his voice. If Nanami hadn’t known him for ten years, he would’ve missed the slight strain in his voice. “So I wanted to change that!”
“I see,” Nanami said, taking a sip from his water this time.
“And I really do like you, you know,” Gojo added, also taking the smallest sip of wine that Nanami had ever seen. Gojo probably wasn’t even close to being drunk; he knew exactly what he was saying. “We were classmates, and now we’re coworkers in the same weird profession. We know the same struggle. And I think that at our core, there’s this…same stupid, irrational sense of righteousness that we can’t seem to shake, no matter how hard we try. It’s why we still do this, even when it sucks. And you and I…we know better than anyone else how much it really sucks. When you really think about it, Nanamin, we’re actually pretty similar, you know.”
Nanami felt his chest tighten. No words had ever rung more true to him. He would chalk Gojo’s observations up to the Six Eyes, but Nanami knew that Gojo was just that perceptive. Gojo said he didn’t know-know Nanami that well but now, Nanami was starting to realize that wasn’t particularly true. This man knew him better than anyone else in the world.
Gojo smiled, frail, like glass. “And maybe it’s just me, but everyone always just…sorta sees me as ‘The Strongest’. And I mean, I am, but you clearly don’t give a shit about that,” he said, chuckling a little.
Nanami scoffed a bit, tense. “You know I never have.”
“Exactly,” Gojo said easily, shrugging. “You’re the only person that’s not afraid to tell me what you really think. You just…see me. You always have.”
And Nanami had never seen Gojo Satoru more clearly, more brilliantly than at this moment: the beautiful, thoughtful, incredibly good man that Nanami had fallen ridiculously in love with a long time ago. All those feelings, ten years worth of them, bubbled up and stilled the breath in his chest.
“Plus, you’re smart, and cool, and kind, and strong, too. Oh, and you keep that ass toight,” Gojo said playfully, seeming to have recovered as he fired finger guns with a smirk. “How can I not like you?”
Nanami rolled his eyes with no heat as Gojo genuinely laughed. Nanami found that he liked the sound of it. He chalked the heat in his cheeks up to the wine. “I see. Well, I suppose you’re... acceptable as well,” Nanami said, unable to hide a small smile tugging on the corner of his lips and Gojo gasped playfully.
“ Acceptable? Bitch, you know I’m pretty,” Gojo laughed, batting his frosted eyelashes as though trying to prove a point. Point proven, Nanami thought to himself, watching the way his fluffy white hair fell into the blue milky way of Gojo’s eyes over his sunglasses. Gojo leaned an elbow on the table and cupped his chin in his hand. “Aaaadmit it, you totally had a crush on me in high school!”
“Why would you think that?” Nanami scoffed, raising an eyebrow.
“Uh, ‘cause everyone did?” Gojo said as though that were supposed to be obvious. “I am me, after all!”
“Yes, you are definitely you, Gojo-san,” Nanami said flatly, rolling his eyes again.
“Just admit it,” Gojo said with a grin. He mimed zipping his lips up and throwing away a key. “I won’t tell, I promise.”
“I’d rather die,” Nanami deadpanned but Gojo just laughed.
“That wasn’t a no!” Gojo said in a singsong voice, laughing. “It’s okay, Nanamin, your secret is safe with me,” he added with a wink as Nanami just sighed again. “For the record, I also thought you were super cute when we were in school together, too.”
“Also pretty sure that’s not true, but alright,” Nanami scoffed.
“What! You were totally cute,” Gojo cooed. “Scrawny lil’ emo kid, I loved it!”
“Not helping your case.”
Gojo tsked. “You were adorable. Though, I think fifteen-year-old you would be stoked to see how bangin’ you are now. Just bursting from your dress shirts, keepin’ that ass toight and all.”
Nanami chuckled, and sighed as Gojo just laughed. They enjoyed the rest of their dinner with light and playful banter, and Nanami had slowed on the wine, it was for the best, because this was probably the best meal that Nanami ever had. Both the food...and the company. When the check came, Nanami reached for it, but Gojo snatched it up faster, clutching it to his chest as Nanami tried to reach over the table for it.
“Come on, Nanamin! I can’t ask you out and then not pay! Especially not at such a fancy place!” Gojo said stubbornly, dropping a black card into the checkbook before handing it off without even looking at the total. “I got it, I promise.”
“Fine. I’ll get the next one, then,” Nanami conceded, and the way Gojo’s face genuinely lit up, eyes sparkling over his sunglasses, at the hope of another date made Nanami’s chest warm.
Feeling a little more courageous, and also a little guilty, Nanami reached over the table and held out a hand to Gojo. He looked at it with surprise before gently placing his hand in Nanami’s, no Infinity between them. Nanami realized he had never held Gojo’s hand like this before, and quite liked the warmth of it. He squeezed Gojo’s hand lightly, finding that he didn’t want to let go.
“I owe you an apology, Gojo-san,” he said quietly, brushing his thumb over Gojo’s knuckles, and Gojo’s gaze softened. Nanami let out a breath. “I was...afraid you were messing with me, and made assumptions I shouldn’t have. You're annoying, yes, but you’re…also a good man, and I was completely disrespectful towards you and your intentions. It was wrong, and I’m very sorry. I hope you can forgive me.”
Gojo laughed, bright and beautiful. “Aww, what a nice apology! But there’s no need to get so serious, it’s no worries, Nanamin! There’s nothing to forgive. I know I’m a rascal, but I do hope you know I’d never mess with you about something like this. I really do like you. You’re a good man, too. And my precious kouhai! I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“Yes, I know. Thank you for taking me out,” Nanami said honestly, and he swore Gojo squeezed his hand a little tighter. “And,” Nanami started, swallowing a lump in his throat. “Thank you for your honesty about everything. I do see you, as you have always seen me. And you have never been more beautiful to me than you are tonight…Satoru.”
Nanami had never used Gojo’s given name before and he visibly inhaled sharply in surprise. A blush looked so gorgeous, so perfect, on Gojo that Nanami was sure it was an image that would flash through his mind when he died. Gojo’s smile was like the sun, bright and warm, and he let out a little laugh. “Well, our night’s not over yet! Come on, let’s go to the theatre,” he said happily, standing from his chair.
Nanami did the same but before they headed out of the restaurant, he offered his hand to Gojo. He lit up like a child on Christmas, grinning ear to ear and eagerly took Nanami’s hand to lace their fingers together. Nanami squeezed his hand.
There was no need for Infinity anymore.