Ino Takuma X Reader - Tumblr Posts

SFW + NSFW HEADCANONS…!

ino takuma + mentions of black!fem!reader

MINORS DNI, 18+, RATED R

cw. sfw + nsfw, fluff, smut, tattoos + piercings, slightly switch!ino, little bit of switch!reader, mentions of creampie, choking, oral (male + fem receiving)

names used (?): babe, baby, pretty, sweet girl, daddy, lil daddy

very clingy, loves to touch you

overall pretty calm and laid back

like it takes a LOT for you to ever see him angry

always smiling and joking around

in order for him to fall asleep you have to be laying on top him, like a weighted blanket

has a playlist full of old songs and uses the “whatchu’ know about this” line so much

the type to sit in with you while you’re getting your braids done

**playing with your braiders child and everything (he lowkey eating that baby’s fruit snacks)

he’s the the type to just like getting on your nerves

**“takuma moveee”

**“not until you give me a kiss…”

the type to have a selection of his shirts off to the side just for you because you like sleeping in them

**“alright, these,” he points, “you can wear all the time. but the shirts on the right side, if you touch…i’ll remove your hands and left big toe…no hesitation.”

**you still beg him to let you wear the ones he told you not to take

**but he can’t complain when he sees you in them, just lets out a deep sigh as he stretches his arms out to land a light spank on your butt

loves to help you cook, loves helping you bake just so he can play around and steal food from the pot and lick the batter left in the bowl

loves laying his head on your stomach and points out when it’s growling

**“oooh, someone’s hungry, huh?”

hates just regular texts, either always sending voice messages or unexplained memes/weird + random texts

new message from ‘kuma babyyy <3:

babe…why tf a random dog just bit me on my ass?

[one attachment]

doc said i need ten rabies shots bruh.

yes. the attachment was a picture of his asscheek.

tongue piercing. not up for debate.

tattoo on his back that spans from one shoulder to the other

tattoo right behind his ear, and goes halfway down the side of his neck

tattoo from his wrist and down the side of his pinky.

[NSFW LOCATED BELOW…!]

is a certified munch.

he loves being between your thighs with his tongue lapping at your clit. saliva and your arousal coating his chin as his nose bumps against your cute little bundle of nerves. the cool metal of his tongue piercing against you makes your thighs shake and makes your cries for him even sweeter

praise kink, likes to know he’s making you feel good

**“takuma, r—right thereee. you make me feel so good…”

loves spanking you. until you’re so sore, every brush of his hand or any article of his clothing makes you whimper.

but, also likes kissing your asscheeks once he’s done. his cooler feeling lips pressing into the hot and irritated skin

loves seeing you ride him

his hands tucked behind his head as his body slightly moves with your bouncing, his eyes low as pretty moans leave his lips

likes ordering you around a little bit when you’re on top

**“give daddy a kiss, pretty,” he tells you in a slightly strained voice. watching as you’d bend towards him, your bouncing slowly slightly as your lips connect. “such a sweet girl,” he groans against your lips.

**“i didn’t tell you to slow down. go faster.”

likes to just toy with you some days, seemingly out of nowhere. with no want or need for anything in return.

**he’d have you laid over his lap as he watches tv, his fingers moving in and out of your cunt as he listens to your wetness squelching in response. your face somewhat pushed into the couch as you cry out — creaming around the fingers that he fucks into you. he’d make you cum as many times as he felt like, or until you tap out

he’s a bit of a switch, likes when you plant your hand at the base of his neck, fingers digging into the sides as you find yourself bouncing in his lap once again

**“you gonna cum for me lil daddy?”

**“y—yea baby, can i cum inside? pleaseplease f—uck. you fuck me so good”

needs eye contact when you give him a blowjob. he loves seeing your eyes water as you try to deep throat him. a lazy dazed out smile playing at his lip as he’s almost slightly amused

Rival!Takuma

Pairing: Ino Takuma x GN Reader

Warnings: fluff, (slight) angst, injury, not proofread

MDNI

Rival!Takuma who works with you under Nanami

Rival!Takuma whom you constantly compete against for Nanami’s recommendation

Rival!Takuma who tries to sabotage your missions and bring the spotlight to himself as you do to his

Rival!Takuma whom you make sure is never alone with Nanami, you can’t risk him getting closer to him than you are

Rival!Takuma who gets assigned to the same mission as you against a powerful curse

Rival!Takuma who ends up fighting the the curse all alone after you get mauled

Rival!Takuma who runs to you after the curse has been exorcized and almost cries of relief when he sees you’re still alive (you could’ve sword he’d leave you there to die)

Rival!Takuma who practically carries you to Shoko’s wing

Rival!Takuma who stays by your side the whole night as Shoko conducts your treatment

Rival!Takuma whom you see has swollen red eyes and tear stains all over his face when you gain consciousness the next morning

Rival!Takuma who gushes to Nanami about how brave you’d been during the mission when you’re not around

Divider by @plutism

Crying I need more ino fics and smut fuck Gojo fr

Thinking ab ino fr should i write for him?

skin. ino takuma.

𝐜𝐰 𐙚 nsfw link, drabble-ish, black reader , creaming, explicit language, underage drinking, cannabis consumption, high/drunk sex, kissing, oral, fingering, age-gap, ino is 21 reader is 18. . . i think that’s all? as always mdni . . .

𝐚/𝐧 𐙚 all fifteen ino fans rise up! but like seriously, he’s so underrated. no one writes about his fine ass.

"boo!"

a cheeky grin pulls across your face as you feel the familiar inked arms wrap around your frame, the intricate designs on his skin a comforting sight. you can't help but lean back into his warm, protective embrace, feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest against your back. the scent of his cologne fills your senses, grounding you in the moment. with a playful glint in your eye, you turn around slowly, your movements deliberate and teasing. your arms drape over his shoulders, fingers gently gliding into his soft chestnut hair.

he looks so pretty, brown eyes sparkling with warmth and mischief as he gazes down at you. his black beanie is snugly pulled over his tousled brown hair tucked behind his ears, showcasing small silver hoops, two on each side, as well as an eyebrow piercing that catches the light and adds a touch of edgy elegance to his look. his lips curve into a soft smile, making your heart flutter, and you can't help but admire the effortless charm he exudes.

"my dad will kill you if he sees you in here," you mutter against his lips. ino hums, shrugging his shoulders, a mischievous grin spreading across his face as he pulls you closer.

"good thing he’s not here then beautiful." he clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, you giggle. never did you think you’d be messing around with the pool boy, yet here you were, sneaking behind your father's back doing just that. there was something about ino takuma that you couldn’t resist—maybe it was his mysterious aura, or maybe it was the way you’d always catch him sneaking glances at you while you sunbathed in those too-tight bathing suits. not that you minded him looking, anyway.

your dad would have his neck if he knew ino was sleeping with his precious daughter, which is why you and ino snuck around when your father was out, which was often. the thrill of secrecy added an intoxicating layer to your relationship. every stolen moment felt electric, charged with the risk of being discovered. you relished the way ino's touch sent shivers down your spine, the way his lips felt against yours.

you remember the first time you noticed him, his quiet demeanor and the way he seemed to blend into the background. it was intriguing, and you found yourself watching him, curious about the stories behind his reserved nature. despite his efforts to remain unnoticed, there was an undeniable pull between you two.

ino's lips pressed against yours, soft and demanding, sending a thrill down your spine. you melt into the kiss, fingers further tangling in his hair as his hands roam your back. the world outside fades away, leaving just the two of you in this stolen moment. you pull back slightly breathless, and gaze into his eyes, seeing the same fire reflected back at you.

"you're trouble, you know that?" you huff, tracing a finger along his jawline. ino chuckles, hands tracing shapes on your back. you looked so damn enticing, wearing a pink tube top that clung to your skin, your nipples subtly pressing against the fabric. your leggings accentuated every curve, highlighting the beautiful dips and contours of your body. ino loved seeing you barefaced, never understanding why you felt the need to wear makeup. to him, your natural beauty was captivating.

"and yet, you can't stay away," he murmurs, his voice low and husky. it's true; no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise, you're drawn to him like a moth to a flame. there's something about his quiet strength, his mysterious nature, that captivates you. you want to peel back the layers, to understand the man behind the reserved exterior.

"maybe i like a little trouble," you admit, your voice barely above a whisper. ino's eyes darken with desire, and he leans in to capture your lips once more. this time, the kiss is deeper, more urgent, as if he's pouring all his emotions into it. you respond in kind, losing yourself in the sensation.

a sudden noise from the front door startles you both, and you pull away, hearts pounding. "dad's home," you whisper, panic setting in. ino's eyes widen, and he quickly steps back, adjusting his beanie.

"i'll go out the back," he says, his voice calm despite the situation. you nod, trying to steady your breathing. as he slips out the back door, you can't help but feel a pang of longing. taking a deep breath, you smooth out your clothes and attempt to compose yourself.

“hey honey,” your dad calls out as he enters the kitchen. “how was your day sweetheart?”

"good, thanks.” you reply, forcing a smile. "just doing some reading."

“that's good. totally forgot to tell you i have a work dinner to go to in a bit, so i’ll be gone for a few hours. will you be okay here alone?” he quips an eyebrow at you as you laugh. “dad, i’m eighteen not twelve. i will be perfectly fine.”

he nods, seemingly satisfied with your answer, and heads upstairs.you let out a sigh of relief, your heart still racing from the close call. your mind drifts back to ino, grabbing your phone from the counter you send him a message.

dad’s leaving 2nite, bring booze and weed ♡︎ i’ll text u when coast is clear!

ino takuma looked so damn pretty when he was high, brown eyes half-lidded as he nursed the blunt in his hand. he was sprawled out comfortably on your bed, his legs spread out in a casual yet confident manner. his grip on your waist was firm and reassuring as you sat on his lap, creating an intimate connection that made your heart race. the soft glow of the room highlighted the contours of his face, adding to the captivating aura he exuded in that moment.

“your face is so pretty, y’know?”

“so sit on it.”

it was almost comical how fast you began stripping after those words left his mouth, hungry lips on ino’s as he assisted in peeling off your clothing. his hands gripped your hips with a possessive intensity, pulling you closer until there was no space left between your bodies. the kiss was deep and demanding, his tongue exploring your mouth with a fervor that sent shivers down your spine. you could feel the heat radiating from his body, the raw desire evident in every movement. his teeth grazed your lower lip, eliciting a gasp from you that only seemed to fuel his passion further. it was a kiss that spoke volumes, filled with a lustful need.

“mmmngh,” you’re an incoherent mess as you grind your wet folds across his face, eyes low with pleasure. ino was a man of many talents, and one was eating pussy. the way he’s dragging his tongue over your sensitive cunt has your stomach churning, his hands holding a tight grip on your quivering thighs. ino knows you’re a runner, and rest assured he’s not letting you out of his grip.

“eating my pussy so good,” you breathlessly whine, lips caught between your teeth as you attempt to stifle your moans. the slick sound of your folds meeting his tongue is lewd, ino’s a messy man, a combination of spit and arousal coating his face as well as your inner thighs.

ino moans into you, the deep vibrations making your clit tingle. you fail miserably to swallow back a moan, ino’s cock twitching against his sweats at the beautiful sound. it’s like music to his ears and it spurs him on, teeth grazing your bud, sending waves of pleasure up your back. “inooooo,” you mewl out his name in complete ecstasy, every tug, every nip at the sensitive bud igniting your senses, toes curling in pleasure.

“w-wanna feel your f-fingers inside o-of me,” you hiccup out, mind foggy.

almost instantly, your legs are pulled to each side of your head, stretching you to the brink of your flexibility. ino's fingers move with a relentless rhythm, sending waves of pleasure coursing through your body, each thrust deeper and more intense than the last. his other hand wraps firmly around your neck, the pressure adding an intoxicating blend of control and desire to the moment.

“such a greedy thing” ino groans watching as your lips latch around his digits each time he withdrawals, “stuffed to the brim with four fingers, yet you still want more.” you moan at his words, knowing he’s right. ino’s name fumbles from your swollen lips multiple times in a daze, he could get drunk off the way your mouth rolls the syllables.

“tell me how you feel baby,” ino coo’s, fingers curling into your cervix, lips attaching back to your clit. the combination of his tongue lazily gliding over your throbbing clit along with his fingers working in relentless rhythmic harmony has you shuddering in pleasure. “so fucking good!” you sob, hands entangling in his hair as he devours your pussy.

“you’re so wet,” ino mutters into you, fingers coated in cream, ass lifting off the bed with each thrust of his fingers. “this all for me?”

“yes,yes,yes. all for you daddy!”

mymanmymanmyman.🫧

Giving boyfrined!Ino Takuma a hand(y)

ʚ cont: no gender specified for reader, hand jobs, making out, dirty talk, neck kisses, crack at the end ^.^

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ

Ino's fingers dug into your thigh, threatening to leave a bruise as he held onto whatever drops of sanity were left inside him using your thigh that was slung over his legs. Your hand was braced on his soft chest as he kissed you like he was poisoned and inside your mouth was the antidote, small whimpers and groans leaking from his mouth and into yours, which you greedily swallowed up.

Ino couldn't stop himself from letting his head fall back for a moment, detaching your lips, his mouth open in a wide O shape as he screwed his eyes shut, groans falling freely from his lips as you focused your hand on his tip, making hard quick strokes over it. "Fffuukc baby, oh fuck that feels so good." Ino groaned, his forehead tipping against yours as he looked past your eyes and watched your hand jerk him off, going back to rotating your hand over his entire length as you jerked up and down.

"Yeah? Your tip is so sensitive, huh?" You coo, your lips hovering right over his, your chin tipping forward a bit, almost closing the distance. Ino's eyes locked on yours as he nodded, his eyes fluttering in their sockets before he pressed your lips together, his other hand slung behind your neck, gripping you tightly there. "So sensitive, feels s-so good." He whined between kisses, his hips jerking up every so often to meet your thrusts when he was unable to hold them back any longer.

"Fuck my fist ino, you're close aren't you?" You ask, feeling the telltale signs of his orgasm approaching from his cock kicking against your hand and his abs clenching rhythmically. He nodded dumbly, his lips working sloppily over your own, his fingers curling harder into the back of your neck. "God your hand feels so good, r-right there-" He groaned when you focused your attention on his sensitive tip, rubbing your thumb against the soft skin just under the head of his cock.

you slung your leg fully over his thighs, sitting on him, making sure to keep your lips collected while you did so. Ino released your thigh and the back of your neck and gripped your hips, his hands shaking with the need to finish. Reaching between his legs, you grabbed his full balls with your other hand, massaging them as you worked on his tip. Pre-cum flooded over your fingers at the contact, making you think for a moment he had finished already.

"Oh fuck meee-" Ino whined, his eyes rolling back in his head as he kissed you like a man starved, a long whine traveling from his lips to yours. "I'm cumming baby, b-baby I'm gonna cum-" Ino whined, his body jerking and twitching under yours. You felt the muscles of his thigh tense and relax as he thrust into your hand weekly, spit leaking from the corner of his mouth as he became more incapable of kissing you back properly.

"I know, I know, come all over my hand Takuma." You encouraged, massaging his balls expertly, rolling them in your fingers. You felt them tense as his cock kicked stronger this time against your hand, quick needy pants falling from his weak lips until they eventually stopped moving against your own, falling open in a wide O. Ino locked eyes with you, his face all screwed in pleasure, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, his teeth gnashing together tightly, making the muscles in his jaw strain against the skin.

When you felt the first rope of his hot cum shoot from his cock, spilling over your hands, you were unable to stop your own whine from falling from your lips. His body jerked and shook under yours as cum flooded from his cock, his eyes rolling back in his head after every rope of cum. "That's it, good fucking boy Takuma, give it to me, cum all over my hand." He groaned at your words, his hand wrapping around your neck shakily when you leaned down and sucked the skin of his sensitive neck into your mouth, only making him jerk against the sheets more.

He wrapped his other hand around your own when his cock stopped kicking, you only released him until you were sure he had nothing left to give. Takuma laid bonelessly against the sheets, his mind god knows where as you kissed and sucked on his neck, waiting for his soul to come back to his body. "Jesus Christ, that felt so good baby," Ino whined, cradling the back of your head with his weak hand, pressing you deeper against his neck.

You giggled at his breathless praise, lifting your head against his protests to sit up on his thighs and take in his disheveled look. His blonde hair strewn in every direction, his gorgeous face flushed with glossy, unfocused eyes to match. "Thought I lost you for a second there." You joked, caressing his face with the back of your fingers, making sure you don't get any of his cum on his face.

"Think I did, swear I saw an old man with a white beard at the end of the white light when I came." Ino joked back, a dumb, fucked out smile on his face as his fingers drew lazy shapes against your hipbone. "Thinking about old men when I'm the one making you cum? That's not very nice. Didn't know that was your type." You tease, poking him right on the tip of his perfect nose. Ino scrunched his nose and grabbed your wrist with whatever little strength he had left before he placed your hand back on his face, leaning into the touch like a kitten as he closed his eyes.

A content smile graced your features when he rubbed against you as you stroked his cheek with your thumb, feeling all the tension dissipate from his very tired body. He had such a long day after all, and now he was finally able to relax.

[part one] trouble - takuma ino

word count: 7.5k warnings: swearing, canon typical violence (reader gets stabbed) summary: (y/n) only wants one thing- to be a grade one sorcerer- and she knows that forming friendships is the last thing that's going to get her that title. so why does takuma ino insist on trying to get close to her? contents: enemies/rivals to lovers semi-slowburn, gojo!reader

part one: "got so much to lose" ___

Being assigned a mentor that she idolized for a good portion of her life, (y/n) couldn’t have been happier the day she got the news.  She was certain that with her powerful cursed technique and his guidance she could be promoted to a Grade One Sorcerer in no time.

More than anything, all she’d ever wanted in life was to be a strong jujutsu sorcerer.  Being the strongest wasn’t exactly an available position, seeing as her brother had taken the title before she was even born.  Just because they got along well didn’t mean she couldn’t be bitter about it.  Surpassing Satoru may have been impossible.  But she’d give sorcery her everything in order to get as close as possible- until only his infinity kept her from taking the title.

The only thing that could’ve possibly thrown a wrench in her plans would’ve been having to divide Nanami’s attention with another sorcerer.  Which shouldn’t have been a problem.

And then there was Takuma Ino.

Bright eyed, quick witted, smart ass, Takuma Ino.

(y/n) had Nanami’s guidance to herself for one glorious week before he showed up and stole half of his time and attention all for himself.  She didn’t believe there could be a person more selfish than her brother, but Takuma was a close second.  Going to the higher ups himself to ask for Nanami to bestow him the honor of Grade One because of a childish adoration for him made (y/n’s) stomach twist the day he joined them.

She’d never met him before that day, never even knew of him or his cursed technique, but as strong as he allegedly might have been, she knew right off the bat there wasn’t a chance she could get along with him.  Not when he swooped in and stole her mentor.

On the other hand, Takuma Ino couldn’t take a hint.  Days turned into weeks and he had yet to break the ice with her in between assignments and training.  At first he didn’t think much of it, it only made sense for the other half of the Gojo siblings to be a little more closed off than her extroverted older brother.  So when every invitation to after-work drinks or questions about her personal life got brushed off or ignored completely, Ino tried to let it go.  Surely with time they would get closer, right? They were both working under Nanami together, so at some point time had to play a hand in things.

Or so he thought.

Weeks turned into nearly three months, and his positive attitude started to dim with hopelessness.  Even then, he’d made an effort with her.  This time though, rather than try to casually get closer, he addressed his thoughts exactly.

“Gojo, wait up,” 

He caught her one night after finishing up some paperwork later than usual.  The pair had gotten a bit caught up with a Grade One Curse that put them through a few more setbacks than usual, thus an extra lengthy report having to be completed before the end of the day.

To his surprise, she’d whirled around on the front steps of the school as soon as he called for her, completely frozen in place, and staring at his approaching figure with an expression he didn’t know how to read.

“Hey, weird question,” He started with an awkward smile, his hand reaching up to rub at the back of his neck with his nervous energy.  She didn’t say anything, just watched him fumble before her, tracking the nervous movements.  “But did I do something to upset you? We’ve just been working together for a while, and it sort of feels like you don’t like me” 

(y/n) blinks at him, remaining silent for just long enough to make his discomfort spike.

“Is that all?” She asks, furrowing her brow slightly at him.

“Wh- I mean, yeah, I guess,” He stammers over his answer, not quite understanding the question.  “It’s just… you never want to grab a coffee or talk much, and we’re gonna be working together for a while longer so-” 

“I don’t think so,” She shakes her head, her expression unwavering, and her tone just even enough to keep him from picking up on the animosity behind it.  “I think that our little partnership here will be over soon enough.  Once I’m promoted,” 

Ino doesn’t quite react to that, opening and closing his mouth once and then twice as he tries to figure out what he’s supposed to respond with.  (y/n) always carried a strong aura of confidence when on assignments, she was sure of herself when it came to the action and the tracking.  Even her reports were concise but held a perfect attention to detail.  But her confidence in herself now felt off somehow, definitely different from what he was used to.

“Does that answer your question?” She asks, waiting patiently a few steps below him.

A knot forms between his brows as he shakes his head back at her, slowly and unsurely.

“Gojo, I just want us to get to know each other bett-” 

“Well for starters, don’t call me by my family name.  I hate it.  Just call me (y/n),” She interrupts him, annoyance beginning to shine through in her voice.  “There, now you know something.  Happy now?” 

Ino can only stand before her in shock, never having had a conversation that wasn’t related to an assignment that lasted this long, and this certainly wasn’t the direction he wanted it to go.  But nothing could have prepared him for this.

“I mean, why do you even need me to like you? Isn’t Nanami’s approval enough?” The sudden question catches him completely off guard, and all Ino can do is stand in place and hear her out.  “Isn’t that your whole thing?” She adds with a scoff.  “Isn’t that why you’re here? Because you just had to have him as your mentor?” 

He was barely following the root cause of her aggravation, but she couldn’t possibly have been jealous, could she? It’s not like much changed, she wasn’t missing out on assignments or extra training time because he’d requested to work with Nanami.  So Ino was led to believe that the only possible source of distaste for him had to have been personal.

“Truth is, Takuma, I don’t care about drinks, and I don’t care about getting to know you,” She deadpans, completely unresponsive to the way the words clearly hurt his feelings with the way his face falls and his shoulders slump.  “My only goal here is to be promoted to Grade One, and I’ve known Nanami long enough to know he is the fastest route to that, you understand, right?” 

No, he doesn’t understand.  He understands the surface level of her goal, it was something he could relate to, hence why he believed they’d make an even better team if they strengthened their bond.  However, Ino couldn’t wrap his mind around the coldness that was her driving force of achieving that goal.

“I want that too,” He tells her honestly.  “I thought that make us better partners” 

“We’re not partners,”

The words are harsh, but her tone keeps that same annoying steady level, and it’s hard for him to be irritated with her when all he really feels is hurt and confusion.

“And it’s silly to try and make friends in this line of work.  You should be grateful enough to have a colleague” 

That was the end of the conversation.  Ino vaguely remembers a short wave of her hand when she left him on those steps and made her way home, but it wasn’t as clear of an image as the rest of their exchange.  In a twisted way, he had gotten what he wanted.  He learned a little more about Gojo (y/n).  He learned that she was a cold, uncaring woman that didn’t live for anything except being the strongest she could be.  Even if it meant shutting good things out of her life, apparently. ___

From that day on, Ino never tried to get close to her again.  He was as polite and cordial as was necessary, but there was an obvious shift in the way he treated her.  Even Nanami noticed in the first week after their talk on the stairs.  Ino was usually a chatterbox, so it would be impossible to not notice when he shut up.  

It took a good month or two before the older sorcerer felt a need to address it, and when he did, it certainly caught (y/n) by surprise.

She’d been sorting through hers and Ino’s reports of an assignment they’d gone on, debriefing Nanami on it while he nursed his second coffee of the day.  So when he cut off her explanation of when she’d applied her cursed technique to deliver the final blow and exorcize the thing, she looked startled.

“What happened with you and Ino, anyways?” 

Her lips remained parted, having been interrupted mid sentence, but she’s completely still for a few seconds as she processes the unexpected question.

“Nothing?” She replies with a tone of cluelessness.  “You know I don’t like to be interrupted” 

“My apologies,” Nanami says with a short chuckle that tells her he didn’t care much for her preferences.  “But something happened, he’s been acting differently, don’t you think?” 

She narrows her eyes slightly, sensing the thinly veiled attempts at prying.  Nanami was never one to get involved in interpersonal relationships, so he must have had good reason for asking her about this now, but she couldn’t dream of what could possibly be so intriguing to him.

“Yeah,” She shrugs in mock defeat.  “He takes it personally that I don’t want to get drinks every single night after work or something,” She tries to brush it off.  “You know that’s not my thing.  Anyways, back to this report-” 

“Seems like you were a little harsher than that,” Nanami interrupts again, setting his mug down to fold his hands together over his desk.  “Don’t you think?” 

(y/n) sighs, and finally drops the stack of papers on his desk.

“This is ridiculous,” She huffs as she stares at him with a bored look.  “It’s not like it’s affecting his performance, so what does it even matter?” 

“You’ve been burying yourself again” Is all Nanami replies with.

(y/n) clenches her jaw.  The downside of having a mentor that knew her so well meant that he could read her better than most people.  He simply sits and waits with all the patience in the world for her to say something, also knowing that she was just dying for him to move their attention back to the report.

When he doesn’t, (y/n) rolls her eyes.

“Okay, with everything going on with…” She trails off, not wanting to say Geto’s name out of habit.  She’d spent so long walking on eggshells around the subject that even now, without Satoru present, she finds her throat closing up before her mouth could even form the shape of his name.  “If this parade of his is really happening, then you and I both know that Satoru will finally have to kill him” 

Her words are still blunt, even without saying his name.

Nanami remains still, but she can tell his neutral expression is beginning to crack.

“I just don’t want to lose my focus.  I need… I need to be prepared for anything” She tells him surely.

Nanami’s known (y/n) since she was eleven years old.  Which is long enough for him to understand the complicated relationship she had with her brother.  While she loved him and respected him greatly, it was no secret that she felt inadequate in comparison.  Back then, at least, she wasn’t as good at hiding her feelings.  These days she was practically an olympic athlete at burying any emotions that weren’t helpful in getting her the Grade One promotion.

“You are prepared,” He tells her, not a bone in his body believing otherwise.  “But don’t push people away.  Especially not ones trying to be your ally, (y/n)” 

At the drop of a pin her expression was stoic again as she shook her head nonchalantly.

“Thanks for the advice, but truthfully, I don’t need an ally,” She tells him confidently.  “I only need a mentor” 

When she leaves his office, Nanami sighs in defeat.  He waits a few extra minutes before getting started on his reports for the day, too sidetracked wondering just how involved he was going to have to get himself to make his juniors get along better. ___

The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons was as gruesome and traumatic as it was expected to be.  As ready as (y/n) was in her station in Shinjuku, she couldn’t help the spike in her heart rate as the reality of the situation really set in.

For once, her carefully crafted expression began to tear away.  And even Ino could see the anxiety behind her eyes.  He’d known that there was a history between Geto Suguru and Gojo Satoru, but he wasn’t sure how close (y/n) might have been to all of it, or how involved with Geto she might have been seeing as he’d been her brother’s closest friend.

He could see the way she tightened her grip on the glowing blue double sided axe that had been one of her favorite weapons to conjure up with her cursed energy, and he knew that if she was on edge, then tonight really would be more of a challenge than they were used to.  Because he’d never seen such behavior from her before.

Ino considered saying something to her, something encouraging, like Nanami would say, but he struggled to find the right words, and before he could muster up the courage to wing it, Satoru was teleporting before the two of them, and Ino wouldn’t dare speak over the strongest sorcerer.  Not when he was her brother.

(y/n) doesn’t look relieved by his sudden presence, even when he grins and puts a hand on her shoulder.

“About time for a fight we can have side by side, heh?” He asks, looking all too eager despite what’s bound to come.

Ino watches as her grip flexes and relaxes, before she lowers her weapon to her side, and then it disappears completely.  She tilts her chin up at her brother, her stare cold the longer she holds it.

Seeing them so close to one another, Ino realizes the Gojo siblings really don’t resemble one another.  (y/n’s) significantly shorter than him, and most of her features don’t mirror her brother’s.  The lack of stark white hair being the most noticeable difference between them.  He realizes that if they weren’t known by their status, then standing side by side people wouldn’t even assume they were related.

“I hope you’ve prepared yourself, Satoru,” She tells him, and she’s not necessarily loud, but even from a few feet away, Ino can hear the sharpness in her tone.

Even with that cold demeanor, there’s an underlying guilt in her words.  He could almost mistake it for sadness.

“Because I have” She adds, quieter this time.  The implication in her words is too heavy to be spoken any louder than a whisper.  She keeps her stare on the white bandages, knowing that Satoru could see and feel every intent behind her eyes.

He doesn’t respond.  Simply nods his head and warps away again.

It takes her a few moments to recollect herself before she’s conjuring up her axe again, her cursed energy buzzing in the air like static electricity as the weapon is created in her hands seemingly out of nothing.

To Ino’s surprise, she speaks to him first.

“If he doesn’t kill him, I might have to,” She says, not looking at him at first.  Her eyes focused on her weapon.  Then, she lifts her head and turns to meet his eyes.

The way he’s staring at her now makes her blood run cold, and she has to fight the way a chill tries to shiver down her spine.  His stare is wide eyed, and she can’t tell if he’s alarmed by her words or if it was pure concern written all over his face, but it was out of character for him to look anything besides excited, or hopeful.  How he looks at her now is the way a child looks at roadkill on the side of the road.  She doesn’t like it one bit.

“I don’t know if he’ll show here, or in Kyoto,” She continued despite the growing lump in her throat.  “But this… this has to end.  Tonight” 

She means every word, there’s no doubt in Ino’s mind that she intends to follow through on this promise.  So there’s nothing for him to do except nod in understanding.

“I trust your judgment,” He says, and the way her eyes widen slightly doesn’t go unnoticed by him.  “I’ll help you” 

Not knowing what to say, (y/n) shuts her mouth and gives him a small nod of acknowledgement.  Her instincts nagged at her to keep him far, far away from Geto Suguru.  He wasn’t your average curse user, he was cunning, and it wouldn’t surprise her if he didn’t already have ulterior motives planned for tonight.  Deep down, she had a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to raise a hand to her brother, but no one else was safe.

Satoru’s infinity always had a special layer that protected him from his one and only.  It didn’t extend to protect anyone else but him.  Hence her haste in putting an end to this cult of his.

With oncoming curses running rampant in the streets of Tokyo, there was no time to stand around and explain herself to Ino any more than she already had.  Even if she wanted to grab him by the elbow and make sure he stayed out of her way, he was already taking off after the first curse headed their way.

(y/n) had fought side by side with Ino for months now, and while she’d never admit it out loud, they did compliment each other well on assignments.  It was like all the time they spent training and taking on missions together subconsciously taught them to work in perfect synchronicity with one another.

If Ino faked left, she was following without second thought to throw off the alleged Grade Two, the axe made of her cursed energy lodging into the side of it’s large jugular with one heavy swing.  Spurts of purple liquid oozed out, staining both her weapon and her uniform, but the fresh blood was no bother to her as she used her momentum to swing downwards, dragging her axe along with her until the gash under it’s throat was lethal.  Just as she landed on the ground again, the beast crumpled to it’s death before dusting away as though it never existed.

No words needed to be exchanged as they took on the next curse, and the next, and the next.  Neither of them had ever dealt with an army of curses, and the more they exorcized the more difficult it was to keep their energy up, but neither would dare show it.

“Why did Nanami have to go to Kyoto!?” Ino groaned as he sent his fist through the face of a weaker curse, killing it on the spot.  

(y/n) scowled at the stains on her prized cursed weapon, flicking the head of the axe towards the ground to rid the majority of the blood.

“I wanted him to see that!” Ino continued to complain as he jogged to catch up with her, the pair eyeing the remaining curses on the street.

“Exorcize this huge one and I’ll vouch to him for you” (y/n) calls out, and Ino’s face splits into a beam as they both break into a sprint towards the eight legged curse trying to climb up a building.

“You’d do that?” He asks excitedly.  

She can’t help but roll her eyes, but a slight smile begins to play on her lips at the prospect of getting one step closer to the curse users allied with Geto.  Once they cleared enough of these curses, that is.  Her and Ino were more than capable of exorcizing a few measly curses, that much she was confident of.

With Ino’s mask over his face and (y/n’s) axe morphing into a kusarigama, they were on the curse in seconds.  She swung the chain wide, latching the blade into the nape of it’s neck and effectively having herself pulled off the ground as soon as it tried to scurry away.

She’s laughing as she swings through the air, her tight grip on the handle of her weapon the only thing keeping her from falling the twenty feet the curse had already pulled her.  Ino could almost laugh as well at the pure joy she clearly felt when it came to exorcizing curses.  For a moment, she almost reminded him of Satoru.  The crazed look in her eye, the uncharacteristic grin that nearly split her face in half, it was almost startling to see her so… feral.

But he can’t deny it excited him.  Her confidence in the field always boosted his own ego.  With their shared conviction, the massive arachnid-like curse was taken down and exorcized in near record time.

Heaving for breath and still grinning like a maniac, (y/n) was taking off again as soon as they hit the ground.  It took Ino a moment to catch up, trying to calculate which threat she was headed towards next.

“There’s a couple just a block ahead,” She called back to him just as he was gaining on her.  He pulls his mask up to uncover his face.  “We should split up to take them both, and then we go after him” 

Ino follows the direction of her finger as she points up to a curse user currently eyeing the fight happening between Satoru and Miguel.  He’s distanced enough that he’s almost hidden from the two, but it’s easy to tell that his prying eyes are focused on the hopes that Satoru would lose.

He’s a peculiar looking man, with long blonde hair and no shirt to show off the heart shaped pasties he had glued to his chest.  Ino couldn’t hide his peculiar expression as he eyed him from a distance.

Before he could comment on the odd appearance, a woman appeared beside him.  Ino’s quick to grab (y/n’s) attention again, but she’s already noticed the second curse user’s arrival.  Her jaw clenches.

“We need to hurry through these curses,” She warns.  “Who knows how long it takes until-” 

She’s interrupted mid thought, the sound of a flying object whizzing through the air right between the two.  The pair skid to a stop, watching with wide eyes as a swordstaff pierces into a park bench just to their left, after barely missing the both of them.

(y/n) clicks her tongue in annoyance, but doesn’t hesitate to grab the weapon by it’s hilt and pull it clean out of the metal bench effortlessly, eyes scanning the direction it had come from to launch it back.

“(y/n), the curses-” 

“You go after them,” She cuts Ino off before he could convince her to move forward with their original plan.  “I’ll be right behind you” 

He hesitates in place, hands twitching at his sides with uncertainty.  It aggravates her, the way he lingers, clearly worried.

“I don’t need your backup, Takuma,” She snaps at him.  “Now go!” 

He lingers for half a second longer, but from the sharp glare she sends him, he knows he’ll cause more harm than good if he sticks around.  So he gives her a nod of approval before he’s taking off again, his mask going back over his face before he reaches the curse.

Takuma Ino prided himself on his ability to trust his instincts.  Especially when it came to assignments.  Making snap decisions in less than a second could be the difference between life and death, and so far, he’d gambled correctly.  So he should have known that it wasn’t right to leave (y/n) to hunt down a curse user on her own.  He should have listened to the pestering voice in the back of his head and stood his ground, even if it would irritate her and go against her wishes, he should’ve trusted his own morality more.

After exorcizing both curses with only a little assistance from his Auspicious Beasts, he never would have imagined crossing paths with (y/n) again when she’s wriggling around on the ground surrounded by a pool of her own blood.  He doesn’t think he’s ever run faster in his life than he did in that moment.

The blade of a swordstaff is lodged between her shoulder blade and collarbone, so deep it went clean through, and at first glance he’s certain it’s pinning her to the concrete.  The wooden pole of the weapon was snapped and laying beside her in the blood, splintered on one end where she’d clearly broken it off.

“Holy shit,” He’s gasping as he falls to his knees, not caring about the blood staining the front of his pants as he worriedly assesses the situation.  “What happened? Did they get away? Did you kill them?” 

She groans in response, eyes fluttering behind closed eyelids as she tries not to think about the white hot pain coursing through her body.

“I roughed ‘er up,” her voice is strained as she tries to explain herself.  Ino almost tells her to forget it, but his curiosity got the better of him in the hopes that whoever did this was taken care of  “But Mei Mei got her” 

“And left you!?” 

He doesn’t mean to shout, but knowing she was left here to struggle and suffer through her injury makes his blood boil.  Had he been there, he wouldn’t have left her side, not once.  Fight as she might against it, they were partners, and that’s just what they would do.

“It’s fine,” She grits the words out through her teeth, not wanting to dwell on the unnecessary details right now.  “Takuma, I need you to pull this blade out” 

“What? You know I can’t, the bleeding-” 

“I can’t try and activate the Reverse Cursed Technique if it’s still in me,” She snaps at him, but her tone isn’t harsh.  It’s worse.  It’s desperate.  

She opens her eyes then, despite them being full of tears she looks up at him with nothing short of pleading written across her face.

“I can’t take it out myself,” She gasps through a strained cough, a thin trail of blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.  Ino watches in horror as it glides down to her jaw.  “You have to” 

“I won’t,” He’s the one to snap back at her now, ignoring the look in her eyes as he tries to assess just how trapped she is against the ground.  If he could at least get her off the street, he could get her back to Shoko, and she could perform her Reverse Cursed Technique.  “You haven’t even mastered it, there’s no telling if you’d be successful or not” He reminds her, making her grimace back at him.

“I would” She mutters back defiantly.

Ino doesn’t say anything as he carefully shuffles around her wounded shoulder, prodding at the blade to test how anchored it is to the ground.  She hisses in pain, her eyes squeezing shut again as she tries to clench her jaw to bear it.  She won’t tell him it hurts, and he doesn’t expect her to, but it’s too tall of a task to try and hide it.

“Take a deep breath,” He instructs, wrapping his hand around the broken hilt still attached to the blade.  “I’m gonna pull it out of the ground-” 

“No, take it out out” She barks back at him.

“If I do that you’ll bleed to death, you’re not thinking straight,” He grumbles.  “I can’t get you to Shoko if you’re impaled to the ground-” 

“You’re not taking me to Shoko!” She shrieks now, desperate to have him listen to her.  “I’m staying here” 

“You’ll die” 

His voice is eerily steady, but he knows if he raises it back at her she’ll only retaliate, and if she pushed him away he doesn’t think he’d ever forgive himself for whatever fate held in store for her.

(y/n’s) silent for a moment, teary, angry eyes locked on his as she weakly shuffled her legs about, as if there was any possibility of kicking herself away from him.  She’s a goner, and somewhere underneath the complicated layers of her carefully constructed personality, she knows that.

He holds her stare, hoping that his fear is written all over him, and he seems at least somewhat calm and collected in this moment of pure panic.  She neither protests nor approves of what he does next, but he knows she won’t.

So he takes matters into his own hands. ___

Jujutsu Tech won’t ever look the way it did when she was attending it as a student.  It will never look the way it did before Christmas Eve of 2017.

Then again, after that day just under a month ago, things will never be the same, either.  So maybe it’s fitting that it doesn’t look the same.

It’s too cold to stand around outside, but she can’t help but sneak out of the infirmary while Shoko’s distracted by a pack of cigarettes.  Weeks of being holed up in a stuffy room underneath the too-bright UV lights that flickered every twenty-six seconds were starting to drive her crazy.  Shoko didn’t want her pushing herself too much while her stitches were still healing what her Reverse Cursed Technique couldn’t- she’d claimed (y/n) was lucky to keep her arm- but as soon as she saw an opening to get herself out of the infirmary for the day, (y/n) took it.

At least she wasn’t still stuck in the scratchy paper they called a hospital gown.  But the pants and tank top from her uniform did little to keep her warm.  With all the bandages wrapped around her left shoulder and a part of her bicep, she couldn’t comfortably add any more layers.  But she’d happily choose goosebumps and shivers over sitting in that room for another minute.

Her own breath puffed out in front of her as she stared out at the destruction caused to the once beautiful grounds of Jujutsu Tech.  A small price to pay to finally have Geto Suguru dead, she supposed.

The thought was bitter enough to make her gnaw on the inside of her cheek.  In all the years since he’d defected, she’d wanted her brother to step up and own his title as the strongest and put an end to the terror his once closest friend had caused.  Never did she think about how things would feel once it was over with.

Hazy memories of being reluctantly babysat by the two were now tainted with an uncomfortable aura.  She hoped they didn’t cross her mind too often.

“There you are,” 

She doesn’t flinch when a quiet voice calls to her, despite not calling her by name, she knows Ino could only be addressing her as he steps out of the building and joins her at the top of the steps. 

“Shoko’s looking for you,” He tells her.  “She’s pissed, by the way” 

(y/n) doesn’t say anything in response.  She doesn't even give him a hum.  After passing out from the pain of her injuries, she couldn’t remember what happened, but she knew enough to know she hadn’t forgiven him.

Ino had tried to stop by her room in the infirmary to visit and see how her recovery was going.  The first time he came by was too early, and she hadn’t woken up yet.  The second time was a few days later, and she’d been awake enough to tell him she didn’t want to see him.  The third time he tried to come by, Shoko asked him not to go in and bother her.

He sighs now, sticking his cold hands in his pockets as a chilly breeze passes through.

“You can be be mad if you want, but you should know I’m not going to apologize for saving your life”

His words are sudden, and so blunt she could almost laugh, if she wasn’t holding onto such a large grudge.

“Saving my life,” She repeats his words with a scoff.  “Is that what you think you did?” 

Ino furrows his brows at her, but she doesn’t even spare him a glance.  He presses his fingernails into his palms in his pockets, trying to contain his aggravation.  It wasn’t right to let her get under his skin when she was still healing.  Physically and mentally.

“Seems like it to me,” He replies, eyeing her up and down.  She’s trembling in the cold, likely because there wasn’t a single layer protecting her arms from the January weather.  That paired with the bandages and her unusually messy hair, she almost looked pitiful.  “Since you’re standing here, alive and all” 

She turns to him then, and he’s expecting that sharp glare of disapproval, but he’s met with the same blank expression she’d worn all day.  Her eyes flicker over his determined features before she speaks again.

“I told you what I had to do.  And you said you trusted my judgment,” She reminds him, her voice quiet but not quite a whisper.  “And then you completely disregarded everything I said” 

“You might not know this, but I don’t exactly report to you,” Ino says with a humorless chuckle.  “What I did had nothing to do with keeping you from your backup plan.  And even so, Gojo seemed to manage just fine without you,” 

That had her eyebrow twitching, the first miniscule sign that he was getting under her skin.  He clenched his jaw before continuing.

“Maybe if for once you’d accept a little help we could’ve figured out-” 

“Don’t ever compare me to my brother again,” She cuts him off, louder this time, her voice strained with the rage hidden beneath her cold exterior.  “And don’t use me for your self righteous bullshit.  I don’t need to be paired up with a buddy to complete assignments.  I didn’t need you then, and I don’t need you now” 

His shoulders shake when he scoffs back at her, shaking his head and turning to leave.

“I’m still not apologizing,” He says as he walks away from her.  He doesn’t turn back, but he doesn’t have to in order to know her eyes are staring daggers at the back of his head.  “But I’m not putting up with your bullshit anymore.  If you want to work alone and die alone, so be it” 

He’s back inside before she can even properly react to his statement.  In all of her time knowing him, even after she’d shot down his advances at being friends months ago, she’d never seen him give the cold shoulder.

With a huff, she lowers herself to sit at the top step, wincing only slightly as she struggles to only use her right side for balance.  Yet worse than the mild pain throbbing from her shoulder and down her bicep, her chest ached.

In that hollow, dull pain that doesn’t go away even while she’s telling herself it was ridiculous to feel that way.  The more Takuma Ino removed himself from her life, the less of a workload was left on her shoulders.  After months of working to shut him out and push him away, it seemed he was finally taking the damn hint.

With the hand that wasn’t sore enough to raise to her head, she pushed the greasy tangled locks of hair back from her face and pressed her forehead into her palm, shutting her eyes as she sighed through that hollow feeling.

She’d finally succeeded in getting him to leave her alone, and she felt terrible about it.

So when Shoko finally found her and practically dragged her freezing body back to the infirmary, she let her.  She didn’t fight or protest once.  It was actually alarming to Shoko to have her comply and follow her wordlessly through the corridors. ___

It wasn’t long after being back on the field that (y/n) was healthy and back to her old self again.  Physically, anyways.  The scar  on either side of her shoulder would stay with her for the rest of her life.  And for those who really knew her, knew that things had taken a turn for the worse.

Nanami watched as day in and day out she stuck to a rigid routine.  Train, exorcize, report, train, and then home.  He’d tried to reach out, tried his damn best to lessen her workload or get her to see that this schedule of hers wasn’t doing her any favors.  But every attempt to help her was met with an excuse or a glare for trying.

He thought he was doing her a favor by talking to Satoru.

She’s on her way to the train when her phone buzzes in her pocket, and if it had been anyone else’s name on the screen, (y/n) would have ignored it.  But ignoring Satoru came with a consequence she didn’t have the time for.

“What is it?” 

“That’s no way to greet your big bro!” Satoru’s far too cheery for how gloomy of a day it was outside.  She sighed, tucking her phone between her cheek and her good shoulder as she neared the station.  “I was just checkin’ in.  You haven’t come by in a while” 

“Been busy.  Besides, I don’t like your place” 

“What’s not to like?” 

“Your furniture is obnoxious and it’s too white.  It’s weird” She lets out a short chuckle at the way he gasps dramatically.

“Whatever.  In all seriousness, you’ve been working a lot more.  Just want to make sure you’re… taking it easy” 

“Taking it easy?” 

“Yeah, y’know.  After Chirtmas Eve I just want to make sure you’re-” 

“I’m fine, Satoru.  Is that the only reason you called? To make sure I’m not pushing myself too hard?” 

“Woah, (y/n/n), I wasn’t trying to-” 

“Forget it, ‘toru.  What do you know about working for anything, anyways?” She huffs in annoyance.  Satoru’s silent on the other end for a minute, and she instantly regrets biting at him like that.  “I didn’t mean- I’m sorry, okay? I’m just…” 

“You’re overworking yourself,” Satoru says, his voice dropping it’s usual happy-go-lucky tone that gets on her nerves so much.  “I understand, (y/n/n).  I’ll just have to tell Nanami that a team outing is due!” 

At that her eyes widen, and she’s quick to snatch her phone in her hand again, her gip tight as she practically snarls into the speaker.

“Absolutely not, Satoru, that’s the last thing-” 

“I’m texting him right now” 

“Don’t you dare-!” 

“Aaaand done!” He cheers.  “When was the last time you had a proper break, hm?” 

“Satoru I swear-” 

“I can tell from how angry you are.  Like a feral cat, yeesh,” She can tell he’s rolling his eyes as he speaks, and she hates that it makes her roll hers, too.  “Don’t worry, this is just what you need!” 

“How would you know?” She snaps, but there’s no bite to her bark and he knows it.  

“You’ll have fun.  Make Nanami and that Auspicious Beasts kid buy your drinks” 

“Takuma,” She corrects him bitterly, glaring off at an innocent map of the train schedules.  “And neither one of them are exactly happy with me right now.  Not that you’d know that! You just like to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong-!” 

The bystanders patiently awaiting for their train awkwardly began to shuffle away from the girl in the strange black getup yelling into her phone without a care in the world, as though she’d forgotten she was even in public.  She hadn’t, and she was sure that if Satoru was here, they would’ve understood her aggravation.

“Who could possibly not be happy with you?” Satoru remarks with a sharp cackle of a laugh.  She grimaced, but found some relief in seeing her train finally arrive at the station.  “He’s only one person, how’d you manage to not get along with him?” He asks, like the nosy gossip he was.  She could hear the sound of plastic crinkling and would bet money he was eating sweets as he indulged in the topic.  “Seemed like a pretty chill dude to me” 

“He is he’s just-” She huffs, not knowing the right thing to say as she stepped onto the train and found a decent spot to sit, away from most other people so she could continue her phone call as privately as possible.  “He’s nosy.  Like you” 

“I’m nosy because I care? I’ll take it,” Satoru replies, sounding like there was clearly a piece of taffy in his mouth.  “That means you don’t like him?” 

“I didn’t say that,” (y/n) sighs, leaning her head against the window, watching the crowds of non-sorcerers go about their lives.  “He’s just… he’s too much, that’s really it” She shrugs at the lame answer.

Satoru thinks it’s lame too, and she can tell by the way he scoffs.

“What does that even mean? He tries to take over assignments or somethin’?” 

“No… no he’s fair.  The workload is always equal…” She explains, before her brows furrowed together.  “If anything I’m the one that takes over too much” 

“So you’re the problem? Shocker” 

“Fuck off” 

“Then what’s such a bother about him?” Satoru ignores her cruelty with ease.  He’d been doing it for years.  “Or is this that thing where the girl hates the guy but for no good reason, and she really just has a crush on him-?” 

“It’s most definitely not that,” (y/n) cuts him off, her voice so low she nearly growls at him.  “And that’s not even a real thing” 

“Well, sure it is,” He replied with a giggle.  “There’s more steps to it in the real world.  Usually she resents him for some silly reason, realizes he’s actually a pretty decent guy but can’t admit it once she’s stuck to her stand-offish attitude, then starts to fall for him more and more once she’s decided she can’t have him,” Satoru explained everything he’d learned from romantic comedies like he’d taken a class on crush behavior.  “He is pretty cute.  You sure you don’t like him-?”

“Can you act your age for once?” 

“That was textbook deflection-” 

“I’m not deflecting, I’m just not in the mood to explain the annoyance I have for interpersonal work relationships.  Why can’t everyone be like Nanami? We clock in, we beat up some curses, and we clock out.  Is that so hard?” 

“No,” Satoru replies.  “But it’s boring” 

“That’s how I like it” 

“And that’s why you haven’t made friends at work.  What’re you so worried about anyways? You used to have friends in school” 

“That was school.  This is my life’s work.  I don’t need distractions,” She deadpans.  “You’re distracting enough.  And I can’t get rid of you” 

“Sure can’t!” Satoru cheers.  “But you’re no fun at all.  You really need to loosen up.  Nothin’ wrong with making friends.  Since when did you get all gloomy?” 

(y/n’s) quiet for a moment, noticing a loose string on the side of her uniform pants and letting herself get distracted by it instead.  She pinches the small thread and tugs at it gently, not enough to pluck it out or unravel it, but just enough to pull it taut.

It was a complicated answer that wasn’t going to do her any favors and she knew it.  If she sat here and told Satoru exactly why she had no interest in getting close with her fellow sorcerers, he’d only be hurt.  And then he’d try to fix it and talk her out of it, which he was already unknowingly doing.

It was just better this way.  It had to be, because it was the only way she knew how.

“Don’t you ever think it’s… it’s harder to get closer to people in this line of work?” She asks, testing the waters just a bit to gauge his reaction.  

Satoru hums, thinking over her question for a solid minute.  A lump forms in her throat that’s difficult to swallow down as she awaits his response.  SHe starts to wonder if she’d let herself be too vulnerable, even if it was her brother.

“Sometimes,” He finally says, his voice quiet, and serious in that way that could be chilling when it comes to Satoru.  “But I think it’d be pitiful not to try, don’t you?” 

She nods, despite him not being able to see her.  He must understand that she was taking his words to heart, because he’s quiet on the line with her as well.

“One night out,” She says after a minute of silence passes.  Satoru laughs through the speaker.  “And if it sucks, I’m making you pick me up, alright?” “It won’t suck,” He assures her.  “And deal”

Giving bf Takuma a massage (gone wild)

ʚ cont: fem reader, dirty talk, first time, prostate massage, fingering, masturbation, switch!reader & switch!takuma

MINORS AND AGELESS BLOGS DNI

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ ࿔

"You're the love of my life you know that right?" Takuma spoke muffled as he lay on his bed on his stomach, shirtless and waiting. You couldn't help but smile at him, it was just a massage, but Ino couldn't help but praise you for even the smallest things you did. "I love you too baby." You smiled down at him, swinging your leg over his body as you sat down on the back of his thighs, running a single finger from the top of his spine to the dimple in the middle of his back.

You watched his back arch under the small movement, goosebumps rising on his skin. "I'm gonna fall asleep in two seconds if you keep touching me like that, then I won't even be able to enjoy it." You shook your head as you leaned over him and grabbed the massage oil from the nightstand, popping the cap off as you spoke, "That's the point of a massage, Takuma." You turned the bottle upside down and hovered it over his back, speaking again before he could respond, "Might be a little cold."

You squeezed the bottle, watching the clear liquid drip onto his toned back. A hiss fell from between his teeth as he tensed his body before relaxing. "Cold." He said, his fingers uncurling from the fist he balled them in. " Told you, now be quiet." Takuma made a sound of understanding just as you placed your fingers in the oil that pooled on his back, rubbing it in small circles before you added your other hand.

His skin was so hot, that the oil warmed to him immediately. You wet both your hands in the oil and started rubbing it over the expanse of his back with gentle pressure, a soft sigh slipping between Ino's lips as you caressed his body. "Love yer hands," He slurred, his cheek squished against the pillow as he lay with his head facing the side.

"I barely even started." You said just as you dragged your hands to the top of his back and pressed down under his shoulder blades, working out the muscles there first. "I know, love when you touch me." He responded, shifting a bit when you started the massage, making the towel you were sitting on that covered his butt and lower thighs pull down a bit.

The towel was Ino's idea, of course, the man insisting he strip down to nothing to be as authentic as possible, always with the dramatics. Ino groaned shamelessly when you put some of your weight on your knees and kneaded your hands into his back with your body weight. "Too much?" You asked, not letting up the pressure until he told you otherwise. "No, don't stop. Feels good." He almost slurred, his eyes shut in bliss. His body was relaxing more and more by the second.

You smiled a bit at that, he was always so vocal with his thoughts. He would make a horrible prisoner, you thought, spilling all the secrets he knew without thinking twice. You caressed his sides, sliding your hands down until you reached his waist before you pressed them against his lower back, making small circles where the hem of his boxers usually sat. Ino's back arched when you pressed there, a sharp intake of breath heard through his nose.

You knew there was nothing inherently sexual about this, but your boyfriend was making the same noises he usually made in bed and his body was bending and responding to your touch alone, it was hard to not let your thoughts wander. "Feel good right here?" You asked, adding more pressure to the bottom of his spine. Ino just nodded, his eyebrows furrowing together in pure bliss. His body was so slack under you.

You massaged his body until he was mush under your fingers, spending extra time on his shoulders because the pleasured noises were too good to miss. You had one trick up your sleeve you knew was gonna put him to sleep fully. Curling your fingers, you started at the top of his shoulders before slowly caressing his skin with your nails, gently, barely even touching him. The response was immediate, Ino's whole body shook when he realized what you were doing, making the towel you were sitting on move a bit, exposing a few inches of his smooth booty.

It would be so easy to take a bite right now. Tempting as it was, it would ruin all your work on making him so relaxed and pliant, so you averted your eyes, but made no move to pull up the towel. The eye candy was welcomed. "Spiderssss," Ino sighed when you started gently tickling your nails down his back, the goosebumps making an appearance again. "Knew you would love this." You giggled, watching the corner of his mouth curl into a satisfied smile.

You scratched your nails gently down the expanse of his back, over his sides, up back, and over his shoulders before descending lower down his back. At this point, he was so unresponsive you were sure he had fallen asleep. You continued drawing shapes and patterns on his back with your dull nails as you let your eyes fall back down to his ass, the little bit that wasn't covered by the towel.

Sliding your hands down, you pulled the towel back on the other side, the top of his ass exposed, and still, there was no response from Takuma. A smile forced its way onto your face as you started tickling your nails on his ass, the same as you did with his back. "Why does that feel so good?" Ino slurred, making you laugh at how sleepy he sounded. You were sure he was asleep, but you were glad he had no intentions of putting an end to your fun.

With his pleased response, you pulled the towel down completely, resting it where your thighs met the bottom of his ass. "My butt is cold now," Ino complained. "Not for long." You responded, picking up the oil and dripping some onto his skin, watching it slide down the outside of his ass. Ino tensed, the sight making you stifle your laugh. "You're cruel for not giving me a warning," Ino said, a little more coherently now that the shock of the cold oil had startled him.

"You're fiiine, just wait till I get my hands on your ass." You teased, rubbing your hands together and smirking at him as he cracked his eye open and peered down at you. "You sound so mischievous when you talk about my ass, baby." He closed his eyes and smiled just as you placed your hands on him, massaging the surprisingly plump backside of him. How he grew an ass like this you had no idea, but you were endlessly envious.

You massaged him in circles, working out the nonexistent knots, enjoying yourself with this most unnecessary massage. It was hard to not focus on what was between his ass each time you massaged your hands outwards, but you forced yourself to watch the muscles in his back ripple instead. You dragged your hands back up his body, his skin endlessly hot under your fingertips. "Shit," Ino breathed when you dug the heels of your hands into his back as you slid them up and down.

You were more confident bringing your hands back down to his ass now that you've crossed that line. Not that it was a line you were worried about crossing in the first place. Ino made it abundantly clear that his body belonged to you. You wondered if that sentiment extended to the little hole between his legs you always wanted to say hello to.

You slid your hands over his ass and rubbed your thumbs into the dimples of his lower back, bending your body over him as he arched and groaned at the contact. He nuzzled you with the side of his head as you placed a tender kiss against his oily skin, another on his neck, and finished with his cheek before you pulled back and continued pressing into his skin. "Love you so fucking much." Takuma groaned, making your heart swell in your chest.

"Love you too," You responded, placing your hands back on his butt. Scooting down his thighs you leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of his ass, making him laugh quietly. "Love this peach, too." You smiled, sliding back up his thighs. "Yeah?" He teased, wiggling his ass up at you. If only he knew how much he was really tempting you right now, he would clench his cheeks and run for the hills. "Mhm," You responded, bringing your thumbs closer to the inside of his ass purposefully before you massaged him in circles.

Ino went quiet again, his breathing steady, the occasional breath or light, barely there groan falling from between his lips. You spread him open just a bit more than before, exposing his hole. "Feels dangerous when you do that," Ino said, his words soft. You were glad your center was hovering between his legs, or he would feel just how much you were twitching for him. "What? This?" You teased, spreading him open more boldly now that he pointed it out.

Ino shifted his body under you, his ass tensing a bit before he relaxed. "Yeah, I know you're getting an eyeful right now." He smiled, his eyes still shut. "It's not the worst view in the world." You shrugged, bringing your thumbs dangerously close to his hole as you spread him open. Ino hissed at that, his ass clenching under your hands. "Baby…" He whispered, almost shyly.

You had to close your eyes and take a deep breath before you responded, already knowing the direction you wnated to take this. "Hm? What is it, tamuka?" You teased, feigning innocence as you slid one of your hands up his back, the thumb of your other hand finally making contact with his hole. You barely applied any pressure, but you still felt how he tightened at the contact. You swallowed hard, sucking your bottom lip into your mouth as you felt his breathing increase, your hand moving up and down faster against his back.

"Feels weird, babe." He responded. You slowly rubbed your thumb in circles against his hole, your other hand massaging his mid-back, trying to distract him a bit. "Do you want me to stop?" You asked, silently praying to every god that would listen that he wouldn't ask you to stop. Takuma was silent for a while, soaking in your touch before he laughed, "Should've known you were up to something when you started touching my ass." You laughed in return, "It's hard to resist."

"Got me all relaxed so you could stick a finger in my butt," You smiled at that, dragging your other hand back down his body and grabbing the oil. "I don't hear you telling me to stop," You countered, pulling his ass cheek to the side as you popped the cap and let some of the oil drizzle on top of your thumb that was pressed against his hole. "I'm nervous, I'll tell you that," Takuma responded. The two of you haven't talked much about anal play on his end, never going farther than jokes about it.

"We can try it out, and if you hate it I'll stop immediately." You assured him, rubbing the new oil against his ass. You listened to him release a shaky breath as he shifted his hips against the bed. Likely in what he thought was a subtle shifting motion, but you knew he was trying to relieve his undoubtedly hard dick that was pressed between his stomach and the bed. The wind blowing too strongly made this man's dick hard.

"Fuck…" Ino breathed, contemplating while you continued to massage his cheek with one hand, circling his rub with the other. You knew he needed a little guidance, so you decided to start things off and he knew to speak up if he didn't want this. "Spread your legs a little wider," You instructed, smiling when he did so immediately. "I feel like a virgin," Ino joked, the side of his face that was visible to you practically glowing with how red he was.

"I mean, you are when it comes to this spot," You responded, pushing harder on the puckered hole and meeting resistance. Ino arched his back, his lip twitching in what looked like uncertainly. "Is this how you felt?" He asked. Ino always got talkative when he was nervous, and you would gladly distract him and talk him through it if that's what he needed right now.

"I mean, a little. It wasn't bad when you found my sweet spot." You said, reaching down with your other thumb and forcing his hole to open a bit for you. "S-shit," He cursed when you pressed the tip of your thumb in, "I h-have one of those back here, don't I?" Takuma questioned. "Uh-huh, you men were born for a little booty fingering," You joked, hoping your light-hearted tone would help him through the hardest of this.

He laughed a bit before grinding his hips into the comforter again. "My dick fucking huuurts," He whined, his breath coming out choppy, and panted as you pressed your thumb deeper, feeling how tight he was around you. "Did someone say you couldn't touch yourself orr?" You teased, looking around mockingly. Ino scoffed, his hole relaxing a bit, giving you a good opportunity to fully put your thumb inside him.

"It's kinda h-hard when I move I can really feel your finger in there." You smiled before pulling out fully, laughing when his whole body relaxed with the lack of intrusion. "You're supposed to feel it. Just wait till I find your prostate, you'll really wanna feel that." You knew the general area in which it was supposed to be, you just really wished you would be able to find it or this experience would be a flop.

Ino took the reprieve of your finger in his ass to thrust his hips into the mattress a few times, groans and sighs slipping from his lips as you worked on oiling up your fingers. "You look good like that," You praised, watching him tense again and stop his humping when you placed your middle finger against his hole and pressed in hard, his rim opening up more easily. "Used to fuck my pillow before you came a-around, fuck, remember why I liked it so much," Ino tried to joke while his breaths came heavier.

"Breathe, baby, I can't go deep if you're so tense," You cooed, leaning over him and pressing a kiss to the middle of his back as you thrust your finger inside him. "Shiiiit, shit, shit, fuck I really feel it baby," Takuma babbled, squeezing around your finger. "You okay?" You asked, keeping your finger still as you peppered his skin with more kisses.

"Yeah, fuck," He laughed, "Feels so fucking weird." You smiled, glad he wasn't hating this so far. "Good, just need to find that little spot now…" You thought out loud, circling your finger downwards where you thought it was supposed to be. Takuma let out a loud gasp, his hips thrusting forward on their own. Okay, well. You found it a lot sooner than you thought. Silently giving yourself a fistbumb you sat up so you could watch his face and body respond.

"Was that it?" You asked, making sure he wasn't in pain. "T-think so, shit, what the hell was that? Never felt anything like that." He sighed, his breaths now coming in quick pants. "Your prostate, baby." You said just as you curled it again, thrusting forward a bit as you did. "Oh holy fuuck," Ino groaned, his body tensing as he gripped the sheet in his hand, his knuckles turning white.

You pulled your finger back before pushing it back in, curling at the same time. The moan Ino let out was unrestrained and made you throb between the legs. "Feel good?" Ino just nodded his head as you curled it again, the muscle in his jaw clenching and unclenching as you fingered him. You reached over with your free hand and laced your fingers with his, which he immediately laced back, holding onto you for dear life.

You kissed the back of his hand before sitting up and curling your finger over and over again, not going too fast but setting a good pace. Each time you moved, a moan was forced from his throat, no matter how much he wanted to keep it down. "S-slower please," You listened as soon as he got the words out, noticing his body relax when you thrust and curled a bit slower. "That's fucking intense," Ino sighed, his shoulders heaving with his pants.

"Yeah? What's it feel like?" You asked curiously, pulling your finger almost all the way out before pressing it back in, making him whine. "Feels like your… inside my dick, but also my stomach, like… a fire." His description was so bad it made you laugh out loud. "Hey, you asked." He shrugged. "You think you can cum like this?" You asked, pressing against his prostate and keeping your finger there, rubbing it in circles. Ino gripped your hand tightly, muffled groans getting blocked by his teeth as he was forced to take the pleasure you gave him.

"W-ith out my d-dick?" He forced out, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as his back arched. "Yeah," You responded, picking up the pace a bit as you began thrusting again. "D-don't know, fuck fuck, m-maybe," You were about to encourage him when you angled your finger down more and pressed harder, keeping the pace but adding more pressure. "Oh fuck!" Ino practically yelled, his body trying to curl in on itself. "Oh fuck, do that again," He begged, shaking your hand, whether he knew he was doing it or not you didn't know.

You obeyed right away, licking your lips as you aimed your finger for that sweet spot deep in his ass and abused it. "Yes- oh- my god- yesyesyes," Ino groaned from between his teeth, you couldn't speak, you were so turned on you couldn't focus on anything but him and his reactions. Ino stated thrusting his hips against the mattress, matching the pace of your fingers while thrusting himself back on your finger at the same time. "Baby, babybaby," He was babbling, his words barely coherent.

"I'm right here Takuma, I got you, do what feels good I got you," You managed to get out through the intense brain fog. His pleasure seemed to go from 0-100 in just a few moments, and you were eating it up. Ino reached behind him with his other hand and gripped your wrist tightly, his other hand unlocking it from your own fingers as he leaned on his side and reached for his cock--his cock that looked so red and so wet it looked painful. It looked like he already came.

"Keep going, close," He grit out, furiously jerking himself off as you quickly adjust to the new angle of him on his side, thrusting your finger in his tightening hole. His abs and leg muscles were spasming and jerking with your every movement. His eyebrows rose up as he nodded his head, his jaw falling open, drool spilling from the side of his lips. "Harder, h-harder, cumming im, Im- fuck!" Takuma barely got his words out before his body was curling in on itself as cum flooded over his fingers, making a mess of his hand and the sheets next to him.

You continued working his ass, forcing out every last drop of cum from his balls. You didn't stop moving your finger until he gripped your wrist will his full strength, mumbling something about it being too much. You slowly pulled out, the movement making him hiss, his body tensing before he went lax like a pile of jello. You wiped your hand on the bed next to you before pushing his shoulder down so he was lying on his back. His eyes were still screwed shut, his hand gripping the base of his dick hard even as it started to soften.

Stradling his hips you held his face in your hands, kissing his brow and eyelids and he fought to catch his breath. "Holy fuck," he cursed, finally releasing his dick and letting his hand fall aside, his eyes opening. His gaze looked unfocused as he stared up at you like you hung the stars in the sky. "Holy fuck is right, that was so hot," You smiled, caressing his cheek as he leaned into it like a cat. "Uh, huh, thought I was gonna die with how hard I came," He teased, though it did look like a big one.

"You gonna let me finger ur ass now?" Ino wiggled his eyebrows at you, his teasing demeanor coming back fast. "Hell no, nice try though. If I ever grow a prostate, I'll let you know." Ino pouted dramatically, sitting up to bury his head in the crook of your neck. "Fine… but give me a couple of minutes to recover and I'll eat your pussy real good," His casual dirty words made you clench around nothing as you nodded, cradling his head against you. "Sounds good to me."

"My love, mine all mine"

JJK Characters as oddly specific romantic scenarios.

Contains -> Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, Kento Nanami, Toji Fushiguro, Choso Kamo, Ryomen Sukuna, Hiromi Higuruma, Ino Takuma, Yuuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro

! PIECE BEGINS UNDERNEATH THE CUT !

SATORU GOJO as randomly giving flowers.  

The action is unpredictable, unexpected — very similar to the unpredictable tendencies of the Special Grade. Gojo is never a one-trick pony, never does he want you to grow bored or tired of him (not that you ever will, obviously). Money did not matter to him, not when it came down to you. If a bouquet of flowers cost an arm and a leg, Gojo would gladly take a saw and get to work.  

If he happens to see a bouquet of flowers that would just look gorgeous on your desk, he’s throwing various bills at the florist and beelining for where he knows you’ll be. Gojo loves you, which is absolutely not a secret to anyone around him, and him randomly going out of his way to buy you flowers only reminds you of that bursting love that he has for you … and only you. And maybe, just maybe, he'll leave a small handwritten note with a scrawled declaration of just how much you mean to him.  

SUGURU GETO as admiring the rain. 

How serene and tranquil it is to just admire nature’s tears with Geto. Neither of you have to say anything, not that you want to — lest you want the loving silence to be tainted with whispered words. You don’t mind the silence, and nor does he. It's comfortable, peaceful, and it allows you both to momentarily forget about the world that you lived in. Instead, you could bask in the warmth that Geto emanates, clinging to it like a moth would cling to a light that they found.  

Geto’s arm is loosely draped over your waist, your side molding into his own like two pieces of a puzzle. Your head tucked against his shoulder, ears perked to listen to the rain’s gentle pattering. Geto’s fingers trace mindless shapes into your skin, content to sit in your presence. You carry with you a softness that Geto knew could never be replicated, reminding him that the things that have been done to him and by him are things long left in the past. For now, he could be Suguru – and he would only ever be Suguru around you.  

KENTO NANAMI as tying untied shoelaces.  

Late night walks where your shoes just won’t seem to cooperate. For as tight as the knots initially felt, they only loosened with each step you took. Even his steps had noticeably slowed to be in sync with your own, being sure to not accidentally leave you behind. Always attentive to you, reminding you that he loves you with a gentle squeeze to your fingers. The eyes behind his eyeglasses soften as you return his squeezes, but their softness is replaced then by a flicker of concern as you stumble, nearly rolling your ankle against the pavement.  

And so he pauses your walk, releasing the gentle grip he has on your hand and touching his knee to the ground. Fingers loop through the undone laces, expertly knotting them before softened eyes flicker up to your own. Your cheeks flush at the sheer adoration that swims in his eyes, your gaze flickering away from his own as a mumbled thanks falls from your lips. But he does not miss the curl of your lips – wearing that sweet smile that Nanami wishes that he could forever commit to memory. Nanami imagines an alternate scenario from his position, one where he holds silver and slips it onto your finger. Eventually… 

TOJI FUSHIGURO as late night drives.  

With gentle music and the soft rumble of the engine, it’s no wonder that you feel so incredibly safe sitting in the passenger seat of Toji’s (Shiu’s) car. Your hand rests on the back of Toji’s, which lays against your thigh — squeezing every few seconds in a silent ‘I love you’. His declaration spoken in a language that only you understand, one crafted for you and one used only when you were around.  

Your drives aren't known to have a set destination, just filled with senseless turns that never have a true end thought out. Many of them are silent, the car only filled with the sounds of your pre-prepared playlist of songs that both you and Toji enjoyed, but there are times where the car is filled with soft conversation recounting past experiences or simply reciting the day’s events. But one thing is for certain, only you could make the great Toji Fushiguro soft. 

CHOSO as shared routines.  

Your presence in Choso’s life has brought about notable changes to the course of his day — namely his routine and how he decides to spend the mornings and nights. What was once simply waking up and immediately moving about has now become remaining tangled in the sheets for five (sometimes ten) extra minutes. What was once a simple brushing of the teeth has now become a multi-step skincare routine and lengthy shower. 

His day just wouldn’t be the same without your shoulder brushing against his own as you both cleaned your teeth. It wouldn’t be the same without you brushing through his hair and styling it for him with the gentlest of hands. His nights wouldn’t be the same without your body against his in the bath, sponge rubbing away the day’s tension. And it certainly wouldn’t be the same without you wrapped in his arms, gentle snores fanning against his neck as you doze off — wrapped in the comfort of his embrace.  

RYOMEN SUKUNA as shared glances.  

They say that the eyes are the true window into the soul, detailing the true feelings of what resides within and bringing it forth in a discreet, almost unknown, manner. Fleeting glances can speak the same amount as a full-length conversation. Softened irises can shine with love and narrowed pupils can convey rage equivalent to that of a freshly sharpened dagger. Sukuna’s eyes were no exception to the rule — the love he held for you couldn’t be hidden behind pointed glares, not when they softened immediately upon finding you.  

The moment your eyes met his own, soft and gentle, something in him promptly melts. How funny that the King of Curses would find himself staring at you — a simple sorcerer — with crinkled eyes. Was he smiling? No, no he’d never admit to ever smiling, but the sight of you just brings one to his face so naturally. Your head turns so that your gaze meets his own, silently reading each other’s eyes before you smile at him. And though he wants so badly to scoff and turn the other way, for you … he returns it.  

HIROMI HIGURUMA as being picked up from work.  

It was no secret that there were creeps lining the streets of the city, prowling around underneath the cloak that night provided and waiting for the best opportunity to strike. Wandering around at night, while not inherently dangerous, did not sit well in the stomach of Hiromi. He knew that you were able to handle yourself well, you were no stranger to defending yourself in situations where you needed to – but he still could not quell the pit of worry that bubbled in the pit of his chest whenever you were kept late at your office.  

And so, to keep a sound mind, Hiromi would wait outside the double doors of your office building, smiling against your hair as your body molds into his own. His nose nestles itself into your hair, inhaling the familiarity of your scent – a soft mixture of lavender and rose. The hug lasts for as long as you need it to, broken only when you decide to take a step back. The passenger side door to Hiromi's car is then opened for you, your hand is held as you step inside, and a kiss is pressed to your cheek all before the door shuts.  

INO TAKUMA as sharing food.  

Relationships are meant to be 50/50, an even split that ensures that one party does not contribute more or less to the relationship than the other. To say that Ino believes in balance in his relationship with you would be the understatement of the century – he never wants you to feel as if you're doing too much or that he's doing too little for you. Ino also believes very heavily in sharing everything with you; personal stories, clothes, drinks, and of course, food.  

Never will he order the same thing as you, knowing that at one point or another, you'd try whatever snack or meal he had ordered for himself. Your eyes would flicker to his plate or to the ice cream in his hand, then to his eyes, silently asking permission. With a smile akin to that of a lovesick teenager, Ino extends whatever it is that he's eating to you, feeling his heart warm at the sound of your satisfied hum. You kiss his cheek in thanks before offering him whatever it was that you had ordered. Rinse and repeat, and suddenly you're both sharing two meals as opposed to enjoying one for yourself – and neither of you would change it for the world.  

YUUJI ITADORI as stargazing.  

Something about the silence that night provides paired with the gentle light that the stars in the night sky had always been so calming for you, always carrying with it a sense of serenity that could only be replicated by something as soft as a mother's love or a hug. And like a moth drawn to a light, you found yourself admiring those very stars every single night – now you had someone to share that peace with, someone to bask in the warm light that the stars provided.  

Laid out over a blanket, two pairs of eyes watch the twinkling stars with a fascination only replicated by that of a child. For a moment the world is silent, filled only with the sounds of your breathing and Yuuji's. His hand is intwined with yours, thumb rubbing back and forth against the backs of your knuckles. Your cheek is against his shoulder, both your eyes and his shut in complete serenity. Those are the nights where you can just be children, as in reality, it is what you both are.  

MEGUMI FUSHIGURO as interlocking pinkies.  

Not everyone is affectionate, not everyone is able to easily convey their love through prolonged physical touches such as a hug or a passionate kiss. Certain love languages come easily to some people, but to others it may be a touch more difficult. Some convey it through words, others convey it through actions that are a little more hidden, secretive. Megumi, for as quiet as he is, falls into the secretive category when it comes to displaying his love for you.  

He loves you, hell, he would devote himself to you entirely if given the chance, he just finds it a touch difficult to display that love for you through means of physical touch. That does not mean he won't hug you or indulge in your kisses, it just means that he may not be the one to initiate those actions. But there is an exception to this little rule, and that is the fact that Megumi will always link his pinkie with your own when walking on your side. The smile that worms its way onto his face the moment that his skin touches yours is missed by everyone, but never ever will it be missed by you – and to him, you are all that matters anyway.  

Across the Universe

The JJK characters in various alternate universes!

INCLUDED - Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, Kento Nanami, Choso Kamo, Toji Fushiguro, Ryomen Sukuna, Hiromi Higuruma, Ino Takuma, Yuuta Okkotsu, Inumaki Toge, Yuuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro

! PIECE BEGINS UNDERNEATH THE CUT !

!TATTOO ARTIST GOJO is such a smug bastard — pearly skin adorned with intricate inked designs that each house their own specialized meaning and sparkling aquamarine eyes that search for you every time that the tiny shop bell dings. If it is you dropping by with a bag of his favorite takeout, he’ll momentarily pause with his client to lovingly greet you. Sure, it may annoy his client, but when it comes down to you, Satoru would allow cities to burn before his attention was ever pulled away from you.  

!TATTOO ARTIST GOJO is absolutely over the moon when you tell him that he can practice designs on you, offering him your arm or your leg with that smile that he can’t help but press a loving kiss to. He’ll make sure that you’re nice and comfortable before starting; he likely offers you a stress ball or something similar before getting to work. And once the piece is finished, he happily accepts the compliments (and kisses) you give him for doing such a beautiful job. (He also will not say no to the thousand Instagram pictures that you order him to take). 

!BIKER GETO is, quite literally, a doberman wearing a pristine leather jacket. So when you politely text him to pick you up from your girl’s night, he’s already grabbing your helmet and speeding his way from your shared apartment to whatever bar you were at. He tells you to stay put, that he would be there in ten minutes, and that he loved you. The moment that you hear his bike’s engine, you’re moving towards it like a moth to a garden light. He wastes no time in throwing his jacket over your shoulders and wrapping you up in his arms, tucking your face away and pressing comforting kisses against your hairline.  

!BIKER GETO absolutely adores the fact that you want to use his bike as a prop in your Instagram pictures, posing with the vehicle in an outfit that is planned to perfectly match the color of his bike. He doesn’t mind being your photographer at all, praising you and making sure that he gets all of your good angles. He also doesn’t mind helping you pick which ones to post — just as long as you make sure to tag him in them. And as long as you don’t mind him mercilessly attacking any other male in your comments that even dares to compliment you.  

!COWBOY NANAMI is an absolute sucker for the domestic mornings that you both share; he loves waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee, bacon, eggs, and occasionally, sausage. (Though he doesn’t like waking up to you not lying beside him, you making him breakfast is a very easy solution.) He loves coming downstairs to see you humming and dancing around the kitchen, wearing one of his button-ups that dwarfs you completely. He just loves how comfortable and in your element you are — you make him so incredibly soft. 

!COWBOY NANAMI is already picking out a ring after you meet his family for the first time … extended cousins and all. The little ones dance around your legs and compliment you in those adorable Southern accents, his aunts and uncles smile fondly at the way that you present yourself and talk about your relationship with him, and his parents are simply overjoyed at the little jewel that their son decided to bring home. His hand wraps comfortably around your waist — and in that smooth Southern accent that melts you into a puddle — he agrees with his parents’ compliments and sneaks in one of his own. 

!DAYCARE WORKER CHOSO doesn’t want to think that he likes you at first. After all, you only ever stopped by his room to check in on the little ones, other than that, you remained in the daycare’s main office working as an assistant to the owner. So then why does his heart flutter every time that you make your routine stop to his room? Why do his cheeks feel warm every time that you talk to him? Why does he never want you to leave every time that your checks are finished? Why doesn’t he ever want you to leave? 

!DAYCARE WORKER CHOSO who can’t help but smile a little wider when he watches you interact with the kids in his rooms on your days off; how you never fail to make sure that each and every child is accounted for and is included. And Choso also doesn’t fail to notice how the children light up when he mentions that you’re stopping by — already asking what toys you were going to bring and what games you were going to play. It warms his heart that they love you just as much as (if not more) than he does. 

!BLUE COLLAR WORKER TOJI who spots you on his lunch break, talking so prettily with your little gaggle of friends. The coffee cup in your hand is decorated with the deep red of your lipstick — it makes him wonder what shade of red it is (and how it would look on his skin). Of course, he can’t talk to you at that moment, but his coworkers make sure that you know that he’s interested in you. And sure, you don’t catch his gaze just yet, but he knows that it’s only a matter of time until you do.  

!BLUE COLLAR WORKER TOJI who all but melts into your arms when he returns home after a particularly long day, savoring the warmth of your arms and burying his face away into your shoulder. Your hands rub up and down the length of his spine, cooing sweet reassurances into his ear and pressing kisses against his temple. He can’t help but smile at the fact that he was being babied, but considering that it was you … who was he to say no?  

!BODYGUARD SUKUNA who, at first, is very cold and distanced from you — considering that it was your father who hired him and gave him the instruction to keep an eye on your every move and make sure that you were properly kept safe. His answers to you are short and clipped, spoken in a tone that is laced with venom. It only drives you further away from him, which both satisfies and frustrates him. He really does love you from the moment your words are directed at him, but because of his current situation, he pushes those feelings deep down and forces himself to forget about them. 

!BODYGUARD SUKUNA who sneaks into your room in the middle of the night, smirking to himself when he enters to see you patiently waiting for him. You smile softly at him as he enters, crawling into his arms once he makes himself comfortable on your bed. Your head tucks comfortably into the crook of his neck, arms winding around his waist with your legs tangling with his own. He tilts his head to rest his cheek against the side of your head, humming against you — savoring the warmth of your embrace and relishing in the chaste kisses that you plant against his neck.  

!PROFESSOR HIGURUMA who is the first member of staff to greet you on campus, standing in the doorframe of your empty classroom with his arms crossed over his chest. You pause what you were doing — which was reviewing your lesson plans — and turn to the mysterious man standing outside of your classroom. He greets you politely, clearing his throat after realizing that he might have been staring at you for a moment too long. You return his greeting, and a comfortable conversation flows between the both of you; it’s mostly him inquiring about your lesson plans.  

!PROFESSOR HIGURUMA who enjoys the nights that you both spend grading together. You sit beside him with your legs propped up on his lap, essays piled high on top of your legs while he quietly scans over the last few tests that he had procrastinated. On the coffee table are your unfinished cups of tea, sugar completely dissolved and milk creating a swirl across the top of the tea. The silence is comfortable, occasionally filled by the sound of a turning page or a hum that rumbles up from the back of his throat.  

!PHOTOGRAPHER INO who adores when you sit beside him to go through the pictures he’s taken on his laptop, offhandedly commenting on how many candid shots he has of you (three folders to be exact). Your chin is resting on the top of his head, eyes trained on the pictures that he tries so hard to click quickly through. His cheeks are burning red, not that you can really see them from your position above him. You want to tease him, but pause at one of the pictures. It’s of you on your latest date, body half-turned to look at him with a bright smile painted onto your face. You think you look terrible, but with the way he gazes at the same picture, you could have hung the moon and stars. 

!PHOTOGRAPHER INO who never misses an opportunity to capture precious moments with his camera. Each date you go on, you can bet that he’s going to be snapping photo after photo to “commemorate the moment.” In reality, you know he’s just gathering pictures of you, but the thought behind it all is so pure-hearted and tooth-rot-tingly sweet. Nine times out of ten, he’ll pick his favorite from the night and frame it, gifting it to you after the night’s over.  

!ROYALTY YUUTA who can feel his heart momentarily stop in his chest the moment that he sees you standing at the top of the palace steps, dress sparkling in the light provided by the ballroom’s grand chandelier. He watches you carefully as you descend the stairs, waving politely to the other patrons who greet you first. The warmth in his chest transfers to his cheeks as you approach him, greeting him with a gentle peck and a smile that has him weak in the knees. He regains himself quickly however, offering you his hand and asking you to dance — an offer that only a fool would decline.  

!ROYALTY YUUTA who is all smiles and giggles when you sneak out of your room to join him in the palace’s darkened hallways. He tugs at your hand as you both sneak past the various guards that are stationed throughout the palace’s second floor. He turns to you with a finger pressed against his lips, smiling in response to your own as he finally sneaks you into the palace’s grand library, where the both of you remain until sunrise and the king and queen go searching for their son and his betrothed. 

!COLLEGE STUDENT TOGE who makes it very known that you are his beautiful, stunning girlfriend. Yes, you’re set as his wallpaper (on both his laptop AND his phone). Yes, he references you in almost every conversation that he has. Yes, he’ll hold your hand in the crowded halls and sit next to you during the class that you both just so happen to share. No, he has no shame in hugging you tightly in public. No, he has no shame in kissing you and emphasizing it with a disgusting “mwah!”.  

!COLLEGE STUDENT TOGE who memorizes your coffee order and, before class every day, surprises you with it along with a small pastry. Does it absolutely ruin his bank account? Sure. But is there anything that could ever compare to your smile and the kiss you lay against his cheek in thanks? Absolutely not. He would gladly run his bank account into the ground if it meant making your Monday mornings just a touch brighter. 

!BARISTA YUUJI who swears up and down that he doesn’t have a favorite regular — besides you that is. He swears that he doesn’t remember your coffee order at all … and yet it’s always waiting on the pickup side of the register when you walk in. He swears that he has no idea who you are … and yet he perks up like an excited dog when the coffee shop’s bell dings at 9:15 every morning. No, he definitely doesn’t have a favorite regular. 

!BARISTA YUUJI who adores when you accompany him during his closing shifts, waiting patiently at your designated table and watching as he finishes up any nightly tasks. He jingles the keys to the shop in your face when he’s finished, already asking you about your day and peppering your face with a flurry of kisses that you can never escape. His fingers lace into yours as he locks up, both of you already setting off down the sidewalk back to your apartment complex.  

!SHELTER VOLUNTEER MEGUMI who promises you before his weekly visit that he won’t bring home another dog — knowing that your apartment was barely large enough to house the two Shepherd pups that he had brought home. He kisses the top of your head and promptly leaves before you’re able to get another word in … and deep down you know that he’s going to return with something. He can’t help it, and when he holds the puppy up to your eyes, you quickly understand why. 

!SHELTER VOLUNTEER MEGUMI who all but melts when he comes home after a long day to see you and your (now) three dogs all curled up on the couch together. The two black-and-white shepherds are laying protectively in front of the couch while the newest little addition lays comfortably across your chest, little puppy snores rumbling in its nose. He has to resist the urge to take an unhealthy amount of pictures of you and the dogs — instead, he decides to silently lower himself to sit down and watch you. He reaches a finger out, stroking it over your cheek and smiling to himself … God, he was so absolutely in love with you.  

Collapse Into Me

After a particularly rough day, how do these JJK characters offer their comfort?

INCLUDED - Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, Kento Nanami, Kento Nanami, Toji Fushiguro, Choso Kamo, Ryomen Sukuna, Hiromi Higuruma, Ino Takuma, Yuuta Okkotsu, Inumaki Toge, Yuuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro

! PIECE BEGINS UNDERNEATH THE CUT !

SATORU is more than happy to gather you in his arms and let you lay there. To him, there's no greater comfort than you laying in his arms, your head tucked perfectly underneath his chin with one hand tangled in your hair and the other tracing mindless shapes into the exposed skin of your back. He'd let you ramble about what made your day so terrible and offer little hums between your sentences – never once interrupting you or making you feel as if he wasn't listening. He would only offer his advice if you wanted it, and even then it was the most heartfelt words he'd ever spoken to you.  

"I'm here for you sweet thing. Just let it all out, okay? Don't want you holding anything in." 

SUGURU makes it his personal mission to take your mind off of whatever might have bothered you throughout the course of your day. When you return home, the first thing that he notices is your dulled mood – how your eyes focus on anything but him and how you try your hardest to hide the growing tremble to your lips. He doesn't draw attention to it, not wanting to accidentally upset you further. Instead he just pulls you into the living room, where he's set up a small fort for just the two of you; complete with your favorite snacks and drinks, as well as a movie that you had mentioned enjoying.  

"I know you've had a tough day angel, but you're here now with me. Come on, make yourself comfy." 

KENTO's comfort is the personification of a warm hug paired with gentle, featherlight kisses. He cradles you in his arms for however long you need, rocking your bodies back and forth, his chest rumbling in a gentle hum against the skin of your cheek. He'll guide you to sit down, fingers interlocking with your own as his softened eyes scan over your twisted expression, beautiful features scrunched up in sadness. He'll kiss away the tears as they trickle down your cheeks, offering you words of comfort that he wished he had heard during his moments of need.  

"Come now darling, don't cry. I'm right here with you, everything is going to be alright." 

TOJI is at first very arrogant, smirking down at you and bluntly pointing out the tears that you're trying so desperately to keep hidden from his gaze. But when he sees that the events of your day had truly left you shaken and unhappy, he's tugging you to his chest and hiding you away from the world. The entirety of your body is dwarfed by his massive frame, face squished into his chest as he leans back on the couch, tugging you over him like a weighted blanket. He says absolutely nothing as you keep yourself hidden away, but he doesn't miss the feeling of your tears as they fall delicately onto his skin. Only when you lift your head to glance up at him does he thumb away your tears — hushing you with a softness that not even he knew that he was capable of.  

"Alright kid, you're okay. 'm right here with ya, shh." 

CHOSO sits silently with you, both of you simply sitting in the silence that your sadness provides. His fingers are folded together with your own, the pad of his thumb swiping against the back of your knuckle every now and then – another silent reminder that he was there with you. No words need to be exchanged, not that he would mind if you spoke. If you'd rather talk, he will gladly listen. And if not, he's more than okay with sitting beside you, allowing your body to rest against his own. Your head is laid against his shoulder, fingers interlocked, and for a moment, nothing else in the world truly matters.  

"'m here, you don't need to be upset anymore." 

RYOMEN might not know how to comfort people, but somehow, he figures it out quickly the moment that he sees you curling away from his touch. The tears that adorn your waterline are not a foreign sight to him, but that doesn't mean that he ever wants to see that expression on your face. He doesn't offer you words of comfort, after all, his tongue was sharp and made of silver – it likely would do more harm if he were to open his jaw. Instead, he offers to you a softness that had only ever been reserved for you anyway. He'll let you lay beside him, sharpened fingernails scraping through your hair just like you did for him on those nights where he pretended to be asleep. He may not be the best at comforting, but to you, his presence was warmth personified – a warmth that you needed to combat the coldness of your day.  

"Tch, shut up and let me do this for you … little brat." 

HIROMI grants you the space that you need to process whatever it is you may be feeling. He'll sit quietly outside of the closed bedroom or bathroom door, simply resting his head against the wall and listening to the softened sniffles that you're trying your best to keep locked within your chest. The moment that the door slides open and you sit quietly at his side, he wraps you up in his arms and allows you to sob into him. Please let everything out in his arms, the last thing that he wants is for you to wake later in the night with your body debilitated by sadness that you had accidentally left to fester. He wants you to know that he is there for you, and if holding you is the way to go about it, then he will happily let his arms go numb for your sake.  

"There, there my love. You've nothing to waste your tears over … I'm here, you're safe." 

INO is initially silent when you return home distraught after a tough day, but the moment that you sit beside him and let out that heavy sigh that says “I’m exhausted”, he is wrapping you up in a thickened blanket and rushing around the apartment like a chicken devoid of a head. He piles snacks and drinks onto the coffee table and shuffles through the drawer that is filled to the brim with various DVDs. He holds up various options, feeling his heart sink further and further into his stomach at your lack of an answer. After talking to a brick wall, he decides to just sit in silence with you, hugging you against him and deciding that — maybe — a nap was all that you needed. 

“You comfortable sweetheart? Oh … okay, okay. ‘m here, just rest, yeah?” 

YUUTA offers to walk around Jujutsu Tech with you after finding out about how terrible your day had been, smiling at you and taking both of your hands into his own. He even tells Rika to leave him undisturbed for a few hours, directing all of his attention to you. The silence of your walk is filled with your ramblings about your day, complaints about Gojo, worries about upcoming missions, anything and everything that might be bothering you. He’ll offer advice where it’s needed, cracking jokes if the situation calls for it — but his main focus is being there, being the ear that you so desperately need.  

“I’m sorry angel, I wish that there was more that I could do. But I’m right here with you, and I’m not going anywhere.” 

INUMAKI is the king of distracting you when you’re upset, opening his dorm up to you and allowing you to hide away in it as if you had spent your entire life living there. He silences his phone for the rest of the day, focusing on you and the things that you want to do in order to take your mind off of whatever had happened prior to seeing him. He’ll offer you the second controller and go easy on you, allowing you to beat him and rub it into his face — eyes crinkling in a loving smile as the spark returns to your expression and body language.  

“Tuna mayo. (I love you).” 

YUUJI is on the verge of tears when he sees your pained expression, but he doesn’t hesitate to wrap you up in a bone-crushing embrace. He tucks you into his arms, his heart clenching in his chest as you sob into him. His hands rub up and down the length of your back, cheek resting against the top of your head as he shushes you — wanting you to calm down enough so that he could try and help you. He does his best to hold back his own tears, but your sadness is his own, and seeing you so distraught was only making him feel worse and worse by the second. But he hopes that his hug is enough to remind you that he's there with you … and that he was never leaving. 

"Shhh baby, I'm here! I'm right here with you, you're okay … please don't cry." 

MEGUMI almost immediately brings out his Divine Dogs at the sight of tears rolling down your cheeks – knowing that the dogs would work wonders in bringing you comfort. He sits quietly beside you on the couch, not daring to utter a word as you thread your fingers through the thick fur of one of the dogs, smiling tearfully as it nuzzles affectionately into your hand. He doesn’t say anything to you, nor does he offer any kind of reaction when you shift your body to lean comfortably against him. He wraps his arms firmly around you, resting his chin on top of your head and letting out a small sigh through his nose. He may be the silent type — but his silence cuts through your sadness like a burning knife. It’s comforting … and just so undoubtedly him. 

“Is this okay? Alright … I’m here for you, I hope you know that.” 

erm hi!! is it okay if i use your idea of photographer!ino for a modern!au fic i plan on making??

hi!! yes that’s completely fine, just do tag me in it, i’d love to see it!!

The Shibuya Incident

JJK characters in Shibuya.

INCLUDED - Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto (!Non-Defected), Kento Nanami, Choso Kamo, Toji Fushiguro, Ryomen Sukuna, Ino Takuma, Yuuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro

WARNINGS - mature themes, foul language, mentions of death, explicit death, gore, canon JJK violence, mental breakdowns, mass murder

! PIECE BEGINS UNDERNEATH THE CUT !

"Hey, hey. Take a breath for me," Gojo says softly to you, his thumbs smoothing over the skin just beneath your eyes. You're panicking in his arms, eyes flickering wildly about. Your body is shaking in his hold, fear radiating off of you in frantic waves.  

Even with his soft-spoken command, you can't. The ability to breathe feels like it's been ripped out from underneath your feet, replaced instead by sharpened inhales that only make your head spin and your throat burn. The feeling of his skin on your own, while it would've calmed you in any other situation, seemed to only make you feel worse.  

"Satoru," you try to bite out, but his name comes out like a breathy plea. His shoulders sag, the eyes behind his blindfold softening as he watches you descend into your own mind. He's just as scared as you are – walking into that veil was the exact same as walking into the belly of an angered beast.  

He didn't want to do it, and hell he wished that you would've stayed home where at least he knew that you were safe. But duty called … duty always called. "Honey, you have to breathe. Take a breath." 

Though you struggle, you inhale shakily. Gojo nods at you, encouraging you to take another breath. His shoulders raise in an emphasized show of breathing, which he only lowers once he sees your body mimicking the movement of his own.  

"There you go--" 

Gojo's words fall dead on his tongue as you tug his body against your own, arms winding around his waist and holding him in a bone-crushing embrace. In any other situation, he would've laughed at you – teased you even. But this time, he doesn’t.  

His arms wrap around your waist, holding you against him while his cheek lays against the top of your head. He sighs, feeling you shake against him as you conceal your crying into his chest, sobs caught by the thickened fabric of the shirt that he wears.  

"Promise me that you'll come back," you whisper, voice barely audible, but he hears you. Gojo sighs, tilting your head up so that your eyes meet his. Your hands shakily lift, pushing up his blindfold to see that his eyes shine with tears just like yours do. "Promise me 'toru." 

He smiles tearfully at you, nodding his head and craning his neck to place a loving kiss against your forehead. He lingers there for a moment, feeling you sigh against him as you close your eyes.  

"I promise." 

"(Y/N)! (Y/N), c'mon, answer me!" Geto must sound like a madman to the sorcerers' that accompany him, but their opinion of him holds no importance – not when he can't find you. 

Your phone had gone dead the moment that you entered the station, which he had expected and anticipated. But it didn't make his heart sink any less when he suddenly couldn't reach you. That meant that he wasn't sure if you were safe, or if you were even alive.  

And now, with an entire portion of the station infested with transfigured humans, Geto had one singular goal. That was to find you and get the fuck out of Shibuya, mission be damned. 

So he sprinted through the train station in a manner akin to a rabid animal, tearing through anything that stood in his path with whatever curse he was able to conjure up. It felt like he had been caught in tunnel vision, only able to see in front of him – all he wanted was to make sure that you were safe. 

"(Y/N)! Thank God, there you--" He pauses, his breath catching in his throat. It feels like he's been punched in the gut. His body stands rigid, eyes widening slowly at the sight that lies in front of him.  

You're there, you're right there in front of him. But your body is held in the hands of a transfigured curse, one with devilish eyes and a wicked smile that quickly burns itself into Geto's memory. He'd never forget that smile, ever.  

Weakly, your head turns so that your gaze meets his. "Suguru," is the only word that you're able to muster up in your current state. The freakishly large hand around you tightens, and with a painful grimace, you're gone before Geto could even process what was happening.  

And he stands there, eyes wide and body stiff, mirroring a position that he stood in years and years ago. 

"Kento …?" Your heart sinks as you slowly approach your husband's back, feeling your chest tighten in fear at the curse that stands behind him, hand raised – Mahito.  

Nanami's spine momentarily straightens at the sound of your voice, head turning just enough that he could watch you walk closer out of the corner of his eye. He wants to open his mouth to tell you to run, to reunite with the others and save yourself. But selfishly, he doesn't. 

He waits until you walk completely into view, shocked that Mahito even lets you. He had expected the child-like curse to round on you and promptly blow you to oblivion in front of his very eyes. He looks tired, exhausted even. You soften, tears already pricking at your eyes. 

"(Y/N)," he murmurs in that silky voice that always had the ability to make you weak. Even now, in a moment where you know that you were both completely and utterly doomed, you smile. Sure, it's a weak little quirk of your lips, but Nanami feels his heart soar at the sight of it.  

You shake your head, eyes flickering between your husband's and Mahito's, struggling to focus on one. Shakily, you lift your arms, readying yourself to attack Mahito. Even as you shake underneath your own fear, you still try to protect him – even if was in vain. 

"I love you," Nanami says to you, breaking your focus on Mahito and returning it to himself. Teary (E/C) eyes flicker to meet dulled hazel, and again, Nanami smiles. Your chest tightens, coiling with guilt over the lack of control that you had over the situation. "I love you … so much." 

"Kento," you breathe out, tears slipping down your cheeks. "I love you too, but--" 

Mahito doesn't let you finish your thought, and in a flash of crimson, Nanami is gone. Your eyes widen, your body stands as still as stone. The curse only smiles, then rounding on you. You exhale shakily, eyes flickering down to what's left of your husband before Mahito's palm hovers in front of your face. 

With closed eyes, you accept your fate. 

"You better fucking be here," you murmur to yourself, skidding on your heels and sprinting through the empty train station. Apart from your ragged breathing, the only sounds that fill your ears are the distant screams of the innocent and the garbled communication between curses.  

Halfway through a one-on-one fight with a low-grade curse, you had felt a prickle of energy across your skin. It was energy that you were familiar with, one that you had committed to memory for occasions just like the one that you were currently living through.  

The moment you felt it, you followed it. Choso. 

You nearly roll your ankle as you skid to a stop, eyes having caught sight of what you had been so desperately searching for. He’s looking around for you just like you had been for him, and the moment your eyes meet, you’re running at each other.  

His arms are around you the moment that you brush against him, tugging you against his chest and burying his nose into your hair.  

You don’t mind being crushed against him, not when you had been out-of-your-mind worried about him since you’d stepped foot in the Shibuya station. 

“(Y/N),” Choso murmurs into your hair, squeezing you tighter as he screws his eyes shut. Your nails bite into his back, bunching up the fabric of his shirt. He doesn’t care, he truly doesn’t. Not when you were safe, not when you were breathing.   

“I’m here Choso, and I’m not going anywhere,” you promise, voice muffled by the thickened fabric of his shirt. His arms squeeze you again, and a comfortable silence falls over the both of you.  

You could both go home and hopefully, just hopefully, you could forget about Shibuya entirely. 

It had been years, fucking years, since you heard that voice. Years since you’d heard that snarky voice either insulting you or telling you that he loved you — there was never a healthy in-between.  

And now, you were standing in front of him. Your ears were hearing his voice, your eyes were seeing his face. Toji fucking Fushiguro. 

But unlike the other times that you had seen him, this encounter was drastically different. He was trying to kill you, not bed you. 

“Toji?” you inquire with a tilt of your head, watching as the broad man stalks you like a lion would its prey. “Toji? What’s …?” Your words fall dead as he swipes at you, fingers closed around the handle of a weapon that you definitely didn't know the name of.  

You jerk back away from him, widened eyes flickering up between the weapon in his hands and his face – which for some odd reason remains blank; you can't read him at all. His eyes are a void, his expression completely void of anything that might even entertain the idea that he was human.  

With every time he lunges at you, you retaliate by taking a quick step back. Your eyes flicker up to Toji's face, and for a fleeting moment both of your eyes meet. His entire body freezes, eyes staring into your own as if you were an alien. The weapon that had been pressed against your chest is pulled away from you so swiftly that you barely process the movement.  

"Toji what the fuck--" 

"(Y/N)." The utterance of your name had you pausing, watching him as he straightened up, rising to his full height. The eyes that once looked like two small black voids are full of life now, their irises that very same color that you once spent hours lovingly staring into.  

How is it that he looked exactly the same as the day you lost him? 

You don't say anything as he steps towards you, his hands dropping the weapon that he had been holding so tightly onto just a moment before. Those same, calloused hands cup either side of your face, holding it just as tenderly as you had remembered.  

You don't know when, but at some point your eyes welled up with tears – tears that Toji thumbs away. He stares down so softly at you, a stark contrast to the hatred that had filled his eyes just seconds before. This was the Toji you remembered, not whatever had attacked you. 

There were very few things that you feared in the world. Being a sorcerer had done that to you, had worn down your ability to feel true, genuine fear. But now? Right now? 

All you felt was icy fear searing through your body as if someone had dunked you naked into an ice bath.  

There was an endless pit where an endless pit definitely should not have been. And standing over it was the one person you had trusted with your life, even if trusting him meant simultaneously putting yourself in immense danger every time that you spent a moment with him.  

His hands are in his pockets, his eyes staring out over the destruction that he had caused with a proud smirk etched into his face. He holds no remorse, you know that he doesn't, but the calmness of his demeanor only adds to your fear.  

"Ryo …?" Your voice is laced with hesitance as you approach his back, legs shaking with each step that you decide to take. He doesn't turn completely to face you, but you notice the small nod of his head in your direction. "What … what did you do?" 

Sukuna sighs – a long and heavy breath that is riddled with pride over his actions. The lives that were potentially lost amidst his destruction meant nothing to him, and they would never mean anything to him.  

"I had my fun," he says plainly, turning completely to face you. He spares you no reaction even though he can so clearly see the fear painted onto your face. It makes him smirk, the tip of his nail running along the underside of your jaw. "Come now, I'm not quite finished with this body yet." 

You shiver as Sukuna walks past you, tearing your gaze away from the gaping hole right smack in the center of Shibuya. You didn't even want to begin to think about the lives that had been lost, how painful and slow their deaths must've been. How much did they scream? How many of them begged for mercy? 

You shake your head, dispelling those thoughts. Hesitantly, you turn to glance at Sukuna, noticing that he had stopped — waiting for you to join his side. You bite your lip, and regretfully, you move to follow him.  

“Hey, there you are. Someone’s been asking for you,” Shoko says with a barely-there smile as you sit up. Immediately, a dull ache douses over your body like someone had dunked you underwater. You groan lightly, pressing a palm against your forehead and glancing up at Shoko.  

“Really?” you murmur weakly, rolling your shoulders as Shoko takes a step back. Ino stands behind her, his arms and legs bandaged just like yours were. His face morphs into relief as your eyes meet his — and even though he stumbles over his own feet, he beelines for you.  

He’s careful not to accidentally upset any of your injuries as he tugs you into his arms, crushing you against his chest and burying his nose into your hair. He can feel you shudder against him, your own arms returning his bone-crushing embrace with one of his own. 

“You’re okay. Holy fuck you’re okay,” Ino murmurs into your hair, barely registering your hands as they comfortingly rub up and down the length of his spine.  

“Yeah,” you whisper into his chest, voice barely audible over the thickened fabric of his shirt. “Yeah, I’m okay.”  

Ino squeezes you tighter, then allowing you to pull away. His hands cup your face, thumbing away the tears that roll down your cheeks. He smiles, and his heart soars when you mirror it. Ino is quick to lean in, lips pressing to yours.  

You return his kiss immediately, leaning impossibly further into him and chasing his lips with your own. He breaks from you, much to your dismay, and leans his forehead onto yours. You can feel his shaky sigh as it fans out over your face, closing your eyes and savoring the feeling of his skin against your own.  

"Don't go anywhere." Ino's voice shakes as he speaks to you, the grip that he has over you momentarily tightening as he tugs you against him. You sigh, returning his embrace just as tightly and burying your face away into his shoulder.  

"Yuuji? Yuuji!"  

He turns at the sound of your voice, ears perked like a curious puppy. The tears sliding down his cheeks feel as though they've paused at the sight of you – stumbling over your feet as you reach him. The moment you do, your arms are locked around his neck, throwing yourself against him with enough force that he stumbles back. 

He hesitates, hands shaking as they hover above the small of your back. Do you even know what happened? Could he tell you? 

You pause at the feeling of his body trembling against your own. His arms were locked at his sides as if he had lost all ability to even use them. You slowly take a step back from him, noticing the faraway look glazed over his eyes and the way that he struggles to focus on one single thing – including you.  

Hesitantly, you lift your hands to his cheeks, palms laying against his skin. Your touch almost immediately brings him back to reality; you can see it in the way that his eyes snap to meet your gaze, wide and slightly fearful. But not scared of you, rather, scared of himself.  

"Hey, what's--" 

"Don't. Please don't," he interrupts you, shaking his head against your hands. His palms lift to lay over your own, fingers squeezing you in a way that silently begged you not to leave. You nod, steering his head down to yours so that your forehead can lightly rest against his own.  

Wordlessly, you nod. Your hands shift in position, arms wrapping around his neck again and bringing his body back to your own. His hands immediately go to bunch up the back of your shirt, fingers curling into the fabric in a way that screams 'Don't leave me'.  

And you don't. You stand there, closing your eyes and letting Yuuji cling to you as if you were the last bit of what could keep him sane – and in a way, that was exactly what you were. To Yuuji, you were a lifeline – a resemblance of the humanity that he continued to throw away the more that he switched with Sukuna. 

"I'm right here Yuuji," you whisper into his shoulder, receiving a loving squeeze in response to your words. "And I'm not going anywhere." 

“Promise me you’ll come back safe,” you say, squeezing Megumi’s hands and blinking back the tears that had slowly begun to gather along your waterline. He sighs, reaching one of his hands up to lightly cup the back of your head.  

He brings your forehead to his own, closing his eyes the moment that his skin comes into contact with your own. He can feel you shudder against him, a shaky sigh falling from your nose. “I promise you … with everything I have in me, I promise you.” 

But that had been hours ago, and you had no idea if Megumi was safe. You had separated from him shortly after that conversation, with you joining Nobara and Nitta and Megumi going off to find Yuuji. In the two hours that you spent fighting against curses and transfigured humans, you hadn’t heard anything about any of the others — including Megumi. 

“I’m sure he’s fine. He’s with Yuuji after all, isn’t he?” Nobara says reassuringly to you, nudging your shoulder with her own. You turn to glance at her, swallowing the lump in your throat and forcing your head up and down in a nod.  

“Yeah … I guess so,” you answer hesitantly, smiling weakly as Nitta places a comforting hand on your shoulder. The three of you continue walking, a comfortable yet uncomfortable silence falling over your heads. Surrounding you are the sounds of a distant chaos, bystanders scream, transfigured humans gurgle out grotesque noises — reality doesn’t quite feel like reality.  

You pause at the sound of something approaching you, both Nobara and Nitta stopping as well. Three pairs of eyes gaze down a darkened alleyway, and your heart stops at what waits at the alleyway’s end. 

Megumi’s Divine Dog. 

Its ears prick upward at the sight of you, eyes fixed on you in the darkness. Its tail flicks back and forth before it approaches you, not stopping until it nudges its head into the palm of your hand. You scratch lightly behind its ears, eyes flickering to Nobara.  

“You both need to go … I need to find—“ 

“No way. What if something happens to you too?” Nobara interrupts you, reaching out and clasping your shoulders. The shikigami barks angrily in Nobara’s direction, protectively stepping in front of you and making the brunette stumble back.  

“Nobara, I can’t just leave him where he is,” you insist, blinking back tears. “I have to. I have to go and find Megumi.” 

Nobara shakes her head again, and instead, she pulls you into her arms. You still, glancing at Nitta, who only looks away. “You can’t (Y/N).” 

“He sent the dog to make sure that you don’t look for him.” 

[part two] trouble - takuma ino

word count: 9k warnings: swearing, drinking, slight harassment (a creep puts his hand on reader's waist for 0.2 seconds) summary: she's only agreed to one night out- and that doesn't mean anything at all. it also doesn't mean anything that a few drinks has her admitting that ino's eyes are actually quite pretty. contents: rivals to begrudged friends, gojo!reader, nanami leaves the function at his first oppurtunity, ino and (y/n) have an alcohol fueled breakthrough.

part two: "got so much to prove" ___

Gojo Satoru was nothing like his sibling counterpart, and she was dead set on keeping it that way.  Where he was overbearing, she was uninvolved.  Where he was obnoxious, she was reserved.  For most of her life she could recall trying to steer herself into the opposite direction Satoru was heading.  

That was, until it came to sorcery.

If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have needed to crawl up a ladder to claim the Grade One title.  If it weren’t for him, she could’ve made a name for herself rather than live in the shadow that was their family name.  If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t be stuck in this too-loud bar throwing back too-weak drinks.

Nanami didn’t seem too thrilled about having his evening decided for him, either.  He was nursing his third beer and the alcohol still hadn’t loosened him enough to lose the look of pure disinterest on his face.  (y/n) couldn’t blame him, seeing as she didn’t want to be here either.

Takuma, on the other hand, was having the time of his life.  He’d eagerly ordered them a round of shots despite their protests, claiming it was a right of passage for their first outing together.

“I’m not taking a shot,” Nanami had pushed his glass to the center of the table, refusing it as soon as it was set in front of him.  “I have to be home by eight” 

“Eight?” Takuma gasped incredulously at his early retirement.  “But Gojo’s car won’t be here till eleven-” 

“Dibs” (y/n) plucks the extra shot off the counter, tapping it once against the table before throwing it back with ease.  

The other two are left to stare at her in shock, neither knowing how to react.  She’s quick to chase it down with her own shot in rapid succession, not a single flinch or twitch from the burning sensation left in her throat.  Nanami and Takuma share a quick glance, but it doesn’t go unnoticed by the young Gojo.

“What?” She asks innocently, propping her elbow on the table to rest her chin in her hand.  “Been a long week, no?” 

“It’s just… Satoru doesn’t drink” Nanami shrugs at the simple statement, leaning back against his chair.

(y/n) pauses, her brow twitching in the smallest of movements.

Even without him around, she was being compared to him.  And hearing it come from Nanami, whom she’d spent years looking up to, snapped her final straw.

“Right…” She drawls the word out slowly, and Nanami waits all too patiently for whatever she had to say next.  “Well since it is our first outing, let’s establish this once and for all, shall we?” 

And then she grins, which sends warning flags up in Takuma’s mind when she leaves the table and approaches the bar.  He turns back to Nanami with his worry evident on his face.

“That’s not good,” He says in a hushed voice.  “I’ve only ever seen her smile like that when exorcizing curses” 

Nanami only chuckles half heartedly, more than familiar with the way the Gojo siblings’ shared wicked grin.

Ino’s not so amused, but he does his best to get excited when (y/n) comes back with a stronger drink and another round of shots for the three of them.  Nanami refuses this one as well, and this time they let it sit on the center of the table unclaimed.

To his surprise, she taps her shot glass against Ino’s when he picks it up, eyeing the auburn liquid with uncertainty.  This would be his second shot in the span of only ten minutes, and it would be her third.  There had to be some ploy behind it, right? 

“Whatever it takes to prove to you both I’m not my brother, name it,” (y/n) announces before throwing back the shot.  “It can be like a game!” She decides, eyes lighting up with the idea.  If she notices the way Nanami and Ino seem unsure and uncomfortable with the sudden swing in behavior, she doesn’t show it.

“A drinking game?” Ino asks, not quite following her train of thought.

“Sure,” She nods at him.  “Like a truth or drink sort of thing? That works” 

“I’ve got one, then,” Nanami leans back onto the table, suddenly joining the conversation.  His pupils seem surprised, but both excited in their own way to have him participate  “That Grade Two at the playground, last week, did you lie in your paperwork?” 

A more authentic looking beam stretches over (y/n’s) face, and she laughs as she considers taking a drink, but she supposes he’d have his answer if she did, so she might as well fess up.

“About the swingset being torn apart?” She asks with a raised brow.  “Yes, I lied about that” 

“You lied in your report?” Ino gasps in shock.  “What’d you say?” 

“She claimed the swings had been torn away from their posts before she arrived on the scene” Nanami explained with a huff.

That earned another gasp from Ino before he turned back to (y/n) with wide eyes and an awkward sort of smile, like he was excited to have caught her in something, even though she’d admitted to it herself.

“You chopped down a children’s playground?” 

“It was a swingset,” She corrected.  “And it’s structural integrity was fine.  The city could afford to replace the swing itself.  It’s practically just rope” 

Nanami shakes his head, although he’d already had an inkling her report on that assignment was less than truthful.  He had stopped by to take account of the damage done, and it seemed to him like the scraped metal of the playset’s structure could have only been chinked up by a large blade.  Like an axe.

A few more random questions come up between the two, most of them work related.  The questions are all over the place however, with Nanami trying to get her to admit to more discrepancies in her paperwork, and Ino trying to learn anything and everything he could.  So she never quite knew what was going to be asked of her.

More often than not, Nanami’s questions led to her drinking.  Whereas Ino’s…

“Do you have any tattoos?” 

She wants to laugh, and ask him if he’s sure that’s what he wants to know.  But Nanami’s already got her another two drinks down, so she finds herself lifting up the hem of her shirt, just enough to put her hip bone on display, earning shocked looks from both men as they stared holes into the ink on her skin.

“When did you get that?” Nanami asks, his eyebrows nearly to his hairline when (y/n) looks up at him with a lazy smirk.

“I was sixteen, and you weren’t around at the time” She states matter-of-factly.

Ino’s laughing, and maybe cheering as he throws back the rest of his drink and makes his way to the bar for another.  (y/n) wouldn’t admit that she was having a good time, but it was quite entertaining to watch their reactions.

“That’s enough insight for tonight” Nanami sighs before getting up from his seat.  (y/n) watches as he lifts his jacket from the back of his chair, loosely shrugging it on.  A small knot forms between her brows.

“You’re actually gonna leave?” She asks, and if he didn’t know any better, Nanami might think she’s frowning because she’s disappointed to see him leave.  

“I’ve already stayed later than I planned,” He answers dryly.  “But you should stay, Ino too,” He adds, nodding to the sorcerer at the bar desperately trying to get the bartender’s attention.  “Make your brother pick up the tab” 

“He said it was on you” (y/n) replies with a shrug, before taking a sip of her drink.  

Nanami rolled his eyes as he turned to go, grumbling something about how a Gojo could be trying to pass off the bill.  (y/n’s) laughing as he leaves, and he’s almost compelled to stay, just for the sake of watching her open up more than he’d seen in years, but he supposes he’s not the one who needs that tonight.

Ino’s surprised when he comes back to the table with a fresh drink and hand, only to find Nanami missing.  He glances at the empty seat with a furrowed brow before turning to (y/n), who shrugs.

“Guess he wasn’t kidding about turning in early” She muses, pushing the ice in her glass with her straw.  Ino seems to pout at that.

“Too bad, I thought we were having a good time” He says as he takes his seat across from her.

(y/n) regards him with a slight tilt of her head, as if he were a stranger she were noticing for the first time.  As always, his mask sat on top of his head, posed as a beanie, and as he turned away to glance across the crowded bar, she’d never noticed before, but the curve of his cheekbones were defined.  Sharp, even.  Her gaze continued to linger, noticing the same detail about his jawline.  Had she really never noticed before, or was the dim lighting doing him a favor by putting his facial features on display? 

“Is this your idea of a good time?” She asks suddenly, and his attention is swiveling back to her.  Even with the lights shifting across his face, the defined features still stuck out to her.  “Going out somewhere crowded and noisy?” 

Ino laughs at that, every part of his expression lighting up with his delight, and once again (y/n) wonders if someone’s purposefully messing with the lights to put a spotlight on him.

Her brother’s words from their last phone call start to penetrate her thoughts against her will.  She tries to shake them off, but it’s hard when his brown eyes gleam like honey when he looks at her.

“Well, drinks are a pretty important part.  This wouldn’t be fun without ‘em,” He says, and she shrugs in non-committed agreement.  “But it is fun.  I’m having fun, at least”

“It’s not…” She starts to tell him this wasn’t her ideal night out.  In actuality, she was more of a stay in and relax on the weekend kind of person.  Satoru did enough partying in his younger years to turn her off from it early on.  But Ino perks up as he awaits her response, and it didn’t feel right to tell him the full truth.  So she changes direction and tells him a half-lie.  “It’s not terrible” She finishes.

He’s grinning again, as though she’d just told him she was having the time of her life, and she can’t help the confused knot in her brow.  Could he really be so pleased over simply having a few drinks together? 

“I knew you’d have a good time if you just came!” He cheered, reaching his glass across the table to tap it against hers.  “You should’ve just accepted the invitation months ago” 

She takes a long drink, stalling to try and find the right thing to say.  She doesn’t want Ino to get the wrong idea, she’s not about to make this a regular thing.  No, this was a one time occurrence.  She stood by what she said all those months ago.  It was silly to make friends in this line of work.  She’d witnessed first hand, one too many times, just what companionship could cost.  One night out couldn’t possibly change that.

Something twists in her chest before she can remind him of that, and it prevents her from saying anything of the sort.  Instead, she changes the subject.

“Can I ask you a truth or drink question, now?” She leans forward in her seat a bit, resting her elbow on the table once more as she studies his eager expression.

“Shoot!” He agreed excitedly, and she can’t help the short laugh that escapes her.  She blames the alcohol.

“How do you stay so positive all the time?” She asks the question that had been nagging at her for longer than just the past couple hours.  He shakes his head slightly, not quite following the meaning of her question.  “Even on assignments, and doing your reports, you’re always…” She wiggles her fingers in front of her as she tries to find the right word to explain it.

Ino chuckles, before full on laughter takes over and his shoulders are shaking as he grins from ear to ear, almost proving her point before he could actually answer.

“I love what I do?” He answers like it’s a question, like he’s unsure if that’s what she’s even looking for.  “I’ve been working towards one goal my entire life, I might as well enjoy it, right?” 

She’s stunned silent for a minute.  There was a time where she would’ve said the same thing, when she was young and naive and thought her and her brother would take the jujutsu world by storm, side by side.  Before she realized that her entire life would be spent under the shadow cast by him owning the family name almost all for himself.  It was a large, infinite shadow.  And the longer she’d lived in it, the more her joy for her work turned into a necessity.  Until now, she hadn’t even realized just how much she’d come to despise every step it took to move forward in jujutsu society.

Ino took her silence to mean she was thinking too deeply about what he’d said, and a question of his own came to mind.

“Do you not enjoy it?” 

Her gaze rises from where she’d zoned out looking at her dwindling drink, finding Ino across from her looking almost concerned.  The longer she didn’t respond, the more his expression reminded her of the night he’d found her injured.

She clears her throat before opting out of answering, instead drinking down the last of the contents in her glass.  He raises a brow at her choice.

“Did you not want to tell me your answer, or did you not know the answer?” He asks.

“Is that another question?” She asks, a small smirk forming on her lips.  “Because I’ll have to order another drink” 

Ino laughs, and despite her trying not to, she can’t help but laugh with him.

“Another round?” He asks, and she thinks about it for a minute, before nodding, and getting up from her seat.  To her surprise, he follows her up to the bar, even though there was still a good quarter of his drink left.  She doesn’t comment on it.

They have to squeeze between bodies to stake a place at the bar, the two bartenders already quite busy with the amount of people waving at them for their attention.  It’s bound to take more than a couple minutes before they would get to place their order.

“Guess everyone had a rough week” (y/n) mumbles absentmindedly, and Ino glances down at her.

This wasn’t the first time he’d taken notice of her height- or lack thereof- but with having her so close she was nearly pressed into his side, it was hard not to notice.  About a head shorter than him, he had to tilt his head down to properly look at her, which he was only doing now because the alcohol buzzing in his system lifted the barriers of his anxiety.  Had he been sober, he’d have been far too weak to stare at her so blatantly.

Luckily due to the drinks they’d both had, (y/n) didn’t realize he was staring at her for a whole minute or so.  She’d been too focused on trying to catch eyes with one of the bartender’s to feel his eyes on her.  Even without being caught, he felt a flush creeping up his neck.

In another life, or hell, another universe, Ino wonders if things could have been different between them.  If she would’ve been less closed off, or maybe he could’ve been more laid back and met her level of reserved.  He wonders if they would’ve been closer friends, or maybe even something more than that.

Truthfully, when they’d first met, he’d instantly had a bit of a crush on her.  He’d never met the younger Gojo before the day he started working with Nanami on his promotion, but as soon as he’d laid eyes on her, he thought his heart was going to go into cardiac arrest and he’d die right there.  She was quiet, but he could tell behind her calculating expression that she was thoughtful, and cunning.  And so, so beautiful, that he’d stuttered all the way through introducing himself, even his own name he’d struggled to get out.  Looking back on it, he still felt embarrassed, but he was sure she’d long forgotten the interaction.  It wasn’t long after their meeting that she’d made her disinterest in him explicitly clear, and the sparks of feelings she’d ignited in him were stomped out into ash.

He felt like a fool for feeling that spark ignite again just standing beside her in this congested bar, but he couldn’t be imagining that things were different tonight, right? He was sure that she was opening up more of herself than he’d ever seen before, and maybe the alcohol played a part in that, but either way, he couldn’t get enough of it.  She was giving him crumbs of her life- an impulsive tattoo, her hopes to have a pet some day, a few reckless acts on assignments- and he was eating it all up with gratitude.  He couldn’t help but want to learn more, wanting to press further until she couldn’t possibly deny that she enjoyed confiding in him as much as he enjoyed being in her company.

He knows he can’t be imagining things, because when she finally feels his stare and looks up at him, she doesn’t scowl, or spit out some cruel comment about it.  Her brows twitch slightly, drawing together in a confused expression when he doesn’t immediately look away like she would’ve expected.  He’s close enough that he can see the way a ghost of a smile hovers at the corners of her lips, and the way her cheeks warm up with color.  It makes that microscopic spark of old feeling in his chest burn a little brighter.

A nervous laugh falls from her lips, and it’s so uncharacteristically cute that he’s smiling now, and he feels like an absolute dope for staring at her and smiling like an idiot, but it can’t be helped.  He can’t be helped.

“What?” She asks, breathless and curious, her eyes shifting between his as though trying to find the source of this behavior, but instead she only finds warm pools of brown that almost resemble the rum and cokes she’s been enjoying all night.

And then all at once it’s almost too much.  She’s suddenly aware of how close she is to him, their arms brushing together, or if he tilted his head just a little further down he could easily push his nose against hers and-

Her eyes widen at the derailing of her train of thought, the soft expression of surprise on her face more recognizable than she would’ve liked, and she could tell that it doesn’t go unnoticed by Ino, as he’s now regarding her with intrigue, wondering what was going through her mind.

The idea of him knowing she’d nearly gotten lost in thought at the idea of kissing him made her chest ache, and she badly wanted to tear her gaze away from his, lean over the bar and demand to be serviced so they could get away from the crowded space as quickly as possible.

What an idiotic, drunken thought to have.  Kissing a colleague, how much more foolish could she possibly be? She tries to shake it off as a pesky intrusive thought.  Nothing more than the alcohol pressuring her into making a reckless decision.

But she’s frozen before him, her eyes locked on his like she was stuck in a trance, trapped by her own nerves.  The eye contact was going to kill her, especially with how soft his gaze was.  It wasn’t like anything she was used to.  It wasn’t setting her on fire from it’s heat.  The way he looked at her made her feel like she’d just cozied up in front of a fireplace after a cold day.  It almost scared her how warm it made her chest feel.

She’s opening her mouth before she even settled on what she needed to say.

“Takuma, we should probably get go-” 

She’s interrupted before she could finish telling him they needed to leave.  It almost saves her, seeing as she didn’t have a very decent excuse as to why they needed to end the night early, but there’s little time for relief when the unwelcome hand of a stranger settles on her waist, stealing her attention away from Ino’s.

“You waitin’ for a drink, sweetheart?” 

She vaguely registers that the stranger with the breath that reeked of booze was speaking to her, before she’s reacting on instinct.

The grabby hand on her hip is pried off with ease, her strength easily overpowering his in less than a second.  No amount of alcohol would be enough to hinder her reflexes.  The stranger cries out in shock and pain as she twists his arm back behind him, likely spraining his shoulder with how fast she pushes it into an uncomfortable position.  The sly expression on the man’s face is contorted into one of great pain, and only when he begins to cry out for her to stop does she stop pushing.  Her desire to feel the bone snap under her strength starts to melt away when she sees tears in his eyes.

“You’re lucky I didn’t break your hands so you’d learn to keep your mitts to yourself” She mutters, releasing him with a slight shove.  The drunken stranger stumbles backwards, still sniffling and gawking in shock from the whole ordeal.

The woman he’d tried to pick up is still scowling, and she looks like she’s still undecided in letting him go, the way her lip curls into a snarl and her eyes seem to pierce right through his soul.  The man beside her looks no different, rage evident in the way his brows furrow and his jaw is clenched, teeth grinding together roughly.  He has one hand on the edge of the bar, as close to where she stands as he could get without pushing himself against her completely.  His knuckles are paling by the second, gripping so hard one could almost assume he was about to rip a chunk of oak clean out of the counter.  His other hand is on his head, roughly grabbing at the edge of his hat.  

Even the non-sorcerer that was this stranger got a bad feeling emanating from the two, and he scurried off without another word.  (y/n’s) eyes rolled dramatically at the pathetic display, but as she turned back to Ino, she could almost laugh at the sight of him ready to pull his mask over his face.

“Are you alright?” He asks, and there’s not a crack in his expression as he glances over her with concern pouring out of every pore.  

He loses his grip on the bar, hand hovering over her shoulder but not quite touching her, not knowing if physical contact would be a comfort right now.  It’s odd, feeling like for once she was the Gojo with the shield of Infinity.

“I’m fine,” She tells him, and she means it, but she can tell he’s not so convinced.  “But just out of curiosity, what was your plan here?” She asks, cracking a smile as she flicks the edge of his mask, still bunched up at the top of his head.

“I- I don’t know,” Ino answers sheepishly.  “If he didn’t leave you alone I guess I was just gonna wing it” He admits.

She regards him for a moment, letting the answer sink in.  Her smile widens a bit when she laughs softly, almost fondly, as she really thinks about it.  She softens again, just like she had moments ago, before the creep ruined it.

“Well, for what it’s-” 

“Hey, you two need to leave,” 

The pair or sorcerers do a double take when one of the bartenders finally gives them their attention, but not for the reason they’d wanted.

“What?” (y/n) asks, certain they had the wrong patrons.

“We weren’t doing anything?” Ino’s brows furrow as the bartender looks them both up and down.

“I don’t care for the details.  We can’t have a commotion like that in the bar.  If you’re going to cause trouble, do it somewhere else” 

“But the guy was the one who-!” 

Before Ino could finish his explanation, the bartender was shoving a finger towards the door, an expectant look on their face that told them not to argue any further, unless they wanted to cause more trouble.

“Whatever,” (y/n) huffs.  “This bar’s a dump anyways” 

And before the bartender could react, she was grabbing Ino by the arm and pulling him away from the bar.  She was on a mission for the door, eager to leave a place if she wasn’t wanted.  All Ino could do was silently follow along, his mind barely processing the whole ordeal until they were outside, where it was significantly quieter.

It was darker than he’d expected, although he was well aware of the time, it was a shock to be out on the dark sidewalk with the stars on full display above them.  He glances up at the sky to admire them for a moment, until realization strikes him and he’s whirling around to look at her again.

“What about our tab?” 

(y/n) blinks back at him, her expression unwavering.

“Guess we won’t be welcomed back, either” She says, and Ino stares at her in shock as he processes the statement.

“Well then we better get moving” 

(y/n) hadn’t intended to end up at another bar.  In fact, before the handsy stranger made things weird, she’d been looking for an excuse to end the night early.  However, her words betrayed her when Takuma suggested another little dive not far down the street, and that’s where she found herself now.

This place wasn’t as crowded as the last, so she felt comfortable walking in and claiming a small corner booth.  By the time someone came by for their order, she’d already stretched out across the length of the leather cushion, back pressed to the window comfortably.  Ino had chuckled at how cozy she’d made herself, but didn’t comment on it.

Once their first round- at this establishment- of drinks came around, he’d excitedly started up their previous game again.

“Would you have really broken that guy’s hands?” He asks, and (y/n) doesn’t even lift her drink to pretend she wouldn’t answer.

“Without a doubt,” She hums, spinning the ice in her glass with her straw.  “Sometimes lessons have to be learned the hard way, right?” She asks him with a mischievous grin that tells him she might’ve done worse had the moment felt right.  “My turn?” She asks, and he nods, crossing his arms over the table as he gave her his undivided attention.  “Which little beast of yours would you have summoned?” 

“Kaichi” 

He answers with so much bluntness she raises her brows at him, surprised by his complete lack of thought before speaking.  She hums, nodding her head in quiet agreement that impaling the stranger with one of those horns would have been the best method of defense.

“Has that… happened before?” 

“The random guy hitting on me part? Or the part where I threatened a man’s hands?” She asks, and Ino doesn’t seem to have the proper clarification for her question, so she shrugs, and doesn’t drink to the question.

“No, that’s never happened before” 

She takes a few sips after she’s answered, hoping to keep up the buzz she had going.  Ino’s fingers tap rhythmically against the table as he processes her answer.  He seems unaffected at first, but slowly, confusion begins to seep into his features.

“Wait, so you’re saying no one’s ever hit on you, either?” 

“You already asked that one”

“Well then I’m asking again” 

(y/n) begins to pull her glass towards her, ready to take another drink, but maybe the alcohol gets on top of her a bit as she answers the question before she could evade it.

“No, I’ve never been hit on.  I don’t think, anyways.  But I think I’d probably know if I was” 

It comes out like word vomit, babbled out like her thoughts were on a direct pipeline to being voiced.  She doesn’t mean to share so much, but she finishes with a shrug of her shoulders, and raises her glass to sip some more.

“You really never go out, huh?” He asks, taking a drink as well.

“What, getting hit on is the true price you pay for going out?” She asks with a short laugh, not following the connection between the two.  Ino nods his head from side to side, indecisive in his response.

“Not always, just, y’know, figured it’d happen a lot if you didn’t stay in all the time”

By the time he realizes the implications of that statement, it’s already too late.  Ino nearly chokes on his drink when (y/n) tilts her head at him, realization slowly flickering over her features.

“You’re saying people would hit on me a lot if I went out more?” She asks skeptically.

He considers pulling his mask over his face in order to conceal the growing heat in his cheeks.  Not that it would help, the damage had already been done with his loud mouth.

“I didn’t mean it like that-” 

“Well how did you mean it then?” She asks, suddenly swiveling her legs to sit upright against the table, plopping her chin in her hands to study him properly.  

She always had a way of looking at him with calculation in her eyes, as if she was sizing him up like a curse.  Right now, he doesn’t know what to make of the way she stares at him.  There’s that familiar look in her eyes that makes him wonder just what it is she’s looking for, but the softness in her smile was unfamiliar territory, and Ino didn’t have the slightest clue of what to make of it. Was it amusement? Did she take sick joy in watching him fluster and stutter? Or could it be the alcohol to blame? Perhaps it was loosening her up, and any semblance of delight was merely the booze entertaining her.  The most outlandish reason would have been fondness, but there simply wasn’t a chance in the freezing depths of hell that she was actually growing fond of his company, was there?

“I just meant, y’know,” He gestures his hand towards her, pathetically trying to explain his thought process.  She shakes her head in a small motion, not understanding his poor attempt at reason in the slightest.  “Like, you… you’re… you know”

Ino would really rather be anywhere else right now, preferably somewhere that wasn’t so hot his collar was sticking to his neck and his throat was closing up, but then (y/n) begins to laugh, and he huffs out a sigh in aggravation, and ultimately decides to take a long drink.

“Fair enough,” She muses at his choice.  “It’s not a terrible assumption to make, I suppose.  My brother is acquainted with every eligible man and woman in the city, after all” She says, only half joking.  Ino seems to find a great deal of amusement in that, grinning and laughing, although he can’t say he’s that surprised.

“For the record, I wasn’t comparing you to him in that assumption,” He says.  “I just figured you’d… attract your own attention” He says.

There’s an undeniable flutter in her chest, and she wished she could say she hated the way it spread a tingle of warmth throughout her entire body.  It wasn’t like she’d never received that sort of attention from others, but it had been so long since she entertained the idea that it was starting to feel a little foreign.  And having Ino of all people assume that there were a line of suitors out the door waiting for her hand had her insides turning with the near unfamiliar sensation of butterflies.

Her silence is making him anxious, his fingers tapping against the table no longer playing a steady beat.  They mimicked the rapid increase in his heartbeat.  Wild and unsteady and with no sign of relaxing.

“That so?” When she finally does speak it’s soft, nearly a whisper, as if she didn’t quite believe him.  “Are you an expert in that field, then?” 

She catches the way his eyes land on his drink, which was now empty, so there wasn’t exactly an out for the question.  When his gaze shifts back up to hers, he finds she hasn’t looked away from him yet.

“What field?” He plays dumb, and her smile curls into a slight smirk.

“Flirting, courting, whatever you want to call it” (y/n) answers with ease, fiddling with the straw in her drink as she impatiently waits for his answer.  He eyes his empty glass once more.

“No, I’m no expert,” He huffs, a deep frown on his face for having to admit something so embarrassing.  “You timed that on purpose” 

“I did not!” She argues, but her nervous laughter gives her away.  She’s not as good at lying when she’s drunk apparently, and he might just have to store that information for later.

“My drink was empty! That was a trap!” 

She has to cover her mouth to try and suppress the giggles coming out of her uncontrollably.  He’s still embarrassed, but her laughter was contagious.  Anyone passing by or glancing over at the loud laughter pouring out of their booth would assume they were having nothing but a good time.  And for a few seconds at a time, Ino could pretend they were, too.

To keep things fair, (y/n) finishes the last few sips of her drink, before sliding both glasses to the end of the table.

“Alright, your turn then,” She says, a small hiccup punctuating the offer.  “You must have something good saved up your sleeve?” 

He thinks about it for a moment, folding his arms over the table and subconsciously leaning over it to get closer to her.  With his eyes wandering the bar as he racks his brain for a good question she couldn’t avoid answering, she was able to properly gaze at him without getting caught.  Just like at the previous bar, she gets a little lost in thought as she maps out every feature of his face.  There was nothing forgettable about Takuma Ino, but she found herself trying to commit it all to memory anyways.

That flutter in her chest hadn’t gone away, and the longer it prevailed the more she began to sink into the feeling.  It’s relaxing, the way time slows down, and the buzz sends goosebumps prickling up her arms.  She would have never thought she could find this much comfort in this setting, but to her, this booth was the only thing in her world.

“Would you do this again?” He finally settles on a question, and it’s clear that it’s not what she expected, judging by the way her eyes slightly widen from being caught off guard.

Her mouth opens, but nothing comes out right away.  It’s as though he’d wiped her mind completely blank, not even a weak excuse coming to mind.  The fuzzy feeling in her chest turns to static, sharp and cold before disappearing completely, leaving behind nothing but an emptiness that stings as it lingers.  Her smile slowly falls as reality begins to seep back into their booth, reminding her of why she’d kept him beyond arm’s length all this time.

Deep down, she wonders if she always knew this would happen.  She wondered if self preservation took over as soon as she met him because if it hadn’t, she would’ve let him get too close a long, long time ago.  Guilt claws it’s way up from her gut to her throat, strangling her to keep her from saying the wrong thing first.

Ino’s sure he already has his answer when she doesn’t say anything right away.  It’s written all over her face, the way she winces, and shuffles uncomfortably in her seat.  Disappointment doesn’t begin to cover what he feels as he looks away from her, trying and failing to keep his face neutral.

“Got it” He mutters, catching the eye of a passing server and signaling for the check.  (y/n) frowns.

“Takuma, I…” She starts, but her throat still burns, and she struggles to find the right thing to say that won’t make things worse.  “I tried to tell you that tonight was just-” 

“I know,” He replies.  It makes her blood run cold, the way his voice lacks it’s usual chipper tone.  Now it holds nothing.  He’s so painfully emotionless that she almost wishes he would just get angry with her.  “You made that clear” 

They’re completely silent when a server comes back with the check, the tension turning awkward as soon as another person enters their bubble.  They must pick up on it, because they’re quick to bid them a good night before rushing away.

(y/n) drops the money on the table, and Ino’s out of his seat and headed for the door before she could even stand.  She huffs as she follows after him, although he stops just outside the door.  His heart was too good to leave her completely stranded, even though he wasn’t sure he could take another minute of being around her.

“Takuma, look, it’s not like it’s personal-” 

He scoffs, his hands in his pockets as he looks down at her.  She’s shocked to see the glare on his features, and if he wasn’t so irritated, he might’ve noticed the hurt on her face from the sharp look.

“If you tell me one more time just how not personal it is, I think I’m going to scream, (y/n),” He snaps, and in all the times she’s had this conversation with him and butted heads, she’s never heard him talk like that.  All she can do is stand there pathetically and accept it.  “Because it’s bullshit.  You know it, I know it, shit, Nanami knows it” 

“It’s not,” She mumbles, shaking her head.  “It’s not bullshit, I just-” 

“You don’t care about anything but becoming Grade One, I know,” He finishes the statement for it.  “You don’t care about drinks, and you don’t care about me.  Trust me, I remember,” 

A pout settles on her lips, and for the first time in a long time, she wants to cry.

“You know I actually-” Ino pauses to let out a humorless laugh, eyes fleeting across the busy streets as he finds twisted amusement in the way he’d fallen for this whole charade.  “I actually thought you were having a good time, I actually, stupidly believed that maybe you-” He stops again, not wanting to sound more idiotic than he already did.  

After tonight, as soon as they part ways, things would go back to the way they were, and she’d probably pretend nothing ever happened.  He’s not sure he was going to be able to survive that, even after all of this time accepting that she had no interest in him.  Ino doesn’t think he could go back to the way things were.

But fuck it, if this was going to be the last time she talked to him, he wasn’t going to lay back and take it.  He was going to put all the cards on the table.

“You know I care about you, don’t you? You have to know that.  Even if you can’t be friends or partners you- you have to know that.  You’re not dumb, (y/n), so don’t act like it,” 

She has to curl her hands into fists at her sides to keep control of the tears in her eyes.  She couldn’t dare let them spill over.

“But you’re so so stubborn, I’ve never met anyone like you,” He huffs, and the smile on his face is conflicting with the way he spits the words out like poison.  “You’re nothing like Satoru.  I’ve never thought so.  All these walls you put up to keep people from getting close to you so you don’t happen to stumble on the same path he did- because that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? You’d rather shelter yourself from everything than risk getting a little hurt?” 

Her bottom lip wobbles with emotion, and she turns away so she doesn't have to look at him.  She wished some mysterious force would suck her away from this moment and land her in the safety of her bed where she never had to face the consequences of her actions.  It was childish, but she couldn’t bear to argue with him right now.

“You’re drunk” She mumbles to the sidewalk.

“You’re drunk,” He repeats incredulously, his hands flying outward.  “You think I don’t know you because you won’t, just once, let someone get close to you,” He rants, “But you know what the worst part is, (y/n)? You’re only going to get hurt anyways.  And you have,” He gestures to her shoulder, making her defensively hold a hand over where the scars are hidden beneath her clothes.  Her brows furrow as she opens her mouth to argue, but he beats her to it.  “And then- while I was worried about you, because damn it there was so much blood, I thought you might die, you took it out on me! You got mad at me and pushed me away, again.  Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?” 

It’s only when his rant starts to die down that he realizes she’s barely looking at him because her eyes are glossy, and he knows damn well that she’s fighting every urge to cry.  He doesn’t know if she’s emotionally on edge because of him, or the alcohol making her sensitive, but either way, he sighs in defeat, and his shoulders slump from the weight of all of the thoughts he’d been carrying for the last few months.

“I- I know that you care,” She says weakly, her voice more strained than she would have liked.  “I just don’t get it, okay? It doesn’t make sense.  You don’t make sense.  I don’t- I- I can’t-” Her stutters come out in a whimper and she’s looking away again, desperately trying to compose herself before she could do something embarrassing.  

There were still people out and about even this late into the night, more than enough people to overhear their argument in the middle of the sidewalk.  Normally, she’d call her brother’s driver and leave without putting up with this argument.  But she can’t bring herself to do such a thing right now.  Not with the way he’s looking at her like she just destroyed the moon and all of it’s stars.

“My whole life has been wasted trying to prove something that I- that just isn’t possible,” 

The admission comes out in a shaky whisper.  She’s never voiced it before, but now is as good a time as any of he’s really so desperate to understand why she was wired this way.

“I don’t even understand why I was born, Takuma.  My parents had no interest in me.  They already had Satoru.  For as long as I could remember, I was only around to follow behind my big brother while the entire world bent over backwards to give him everything.  Attention, money, fame, candy apples- that’s what’s bullshit,” It comes out bitter and nasty, her nose wrinkling as she thinks back to every event she was forced to dress up and go to, only to be ignored, cast aside, and forgotten about completely while Satoru skipped around and received everything he could ever want.  “And I just can’t- can’t understand what anyone could ever want from me, I have nothing,” 

She hadn’t noticed the tears leaking from her eyes until there’s a pair of warm hands cupping her face, thumbs gently pushing them away.  She doesn’t want to look at him, not with all of the shame she felt just being comforted by him, but a stronger part of her can’t help but stare at him.  She hadn’t expected such sudden gentleness from him, and she hadn’t realized just how long it had been since someone had last comforted her.  When was the last time someone wiped her tears? Or touched her so softly that even in the frigid evening brought warmth to her skin? 

“Explain it to me,” She pleas quietly.  “Why- why would you possibly want to be around me?” 

Her eyes shift between his, but he’s too focused on clearing away each tear rolling down her cheeks.  She sniffles, and her hands reach up to grab his wrists.  Ino thinks she might yank him away, but she doesn’t.  She simply stands there with a solid grip on him.

“You are drunk,” He says quietly, just a hint of amusement in his eyes as he finally meets her sorrowful gaze.  “Don’t cry, (y/n), I didn’t mean to make you cry,” 

But it’s too late, she can’t stop the tears from streaming down her face now.

“I told you, I care about you, we’re partners, yeah?” He offers, but her expression is unrelenting.  “Have you considered maybe I don’t want you to get hurt, either?” 

Tears stick to her lashes when she blinks, and she has to bite down on her cheek to keep her lips from trembling.  He’s so close that he’d be sure to notice, but he also notices the clench in her jaw.

Every instinct she’d trained herself on is telling her to push him away.  Even if it meant physically shoving him off of her.  He’s too close in every sense of the word, breaching every wall she’d built brick by brick.

But something else nags at her, something far more sinister and cruel.  It pushes her forward, and has her clenching her hands around his wrists tighter as she stands before him in all of her pathetic glory.  Tears still pouring down her cheeks and her lower lip still wobbling, she swallows her pride.

“I’m sorry,” 

It’s quiet, but not because it’s ingenuine.  In fact it’s the opposite.  With a raw throat came a strained voice, so full of emotion she couldn’t possibly raise her voice any louder than the murmur that came out.

Ino blinks, his eyes widening in the slightest as he stares back at her in shock.  The entire night had been full of surprises, but now it had certainly taken a turn and set him on a path where he could see no clear ending.

“Takuma, I’m- I’m so sorry,” She continues, eyes glossing over again.  “I shouldn’t have pushed you away, I shouldn’t have said all those terrible things to you I- I didn’t mean any of it,” 

She’s shaking her head so rapidly it makes her a bit dizzy with the alcohol still in her system, but she doesn’t care if she sways a little.  She only wants to convey to him just how serious she was, and how important it was to her that he understood that.

“I think… I think you’re one of the greatest people I’ve ever met,” She continues, and slowly, the tears come to a stop.  “I’ve never known anyone as… as caring as you,” 

Her voice softens, a nervous shyness creeping in for admitting something so vulnerable.  But she wasn’t sure if she’d ever work up the courage to say something like this to him again, so it was now or never.

“And I know you’d never hurt me, b-because I’m… I’m the one who was hurting you,” He opens his mouth, likely to argue with that statement, but she was quick to keep going before he got the chance to interrupt.  “But I don’t think you understand that… that losing you would mean hurting me, too” She finishes, brows pinched together as they both sit for a moment to process it all.

Ino sighs, his thumbs wiping away the last of her tears, yet he keeps his hands cupped around her face.  A part of him was paranoid that if he let her go now, she might slip away once and for all.  The other, louder part knew that with the grip she had on his arms, neither one of them were going anywhere.

And so he tells her just that.

“I’m not going anywhere,” He assures her, a confident smile stretching across his face.  “You’re not losin’ me.  Promise” 

She snorts at that, the tiniest of laughs escaping her in a mere breath.

“You can’t promise something like that,” She scolds.  “In this line of-” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Ino shakes his head dismissively.  “Too late.  Already promised.  So it’s set in stone,” 

She stares up at him with wide eyes, so lost in trying to understand him in his entirety that she doesn’t even know what to say next.  Had he forgiven her so easily? How could he say such a thing with as much assurance as he did? 

“As long as you can promise to drop the tough guy act and just… be the tough guy you already are,” He says, only half kidding, “Then I can promise that I’m not leaving you” He offers, tilting his head to the side as he gazes down at her fondly, admiring the way the corners of her lips begin to twitch into a smile.

“Okay,” She whispers, so quiet he only knew she said it from the way her lips moved around the word.  “I promise” ___

From that day forward, (y/n) worked more and more to loosen up around him.  It wasn’t easy at first, and the first day was the hardest.  The Monday back at work was a bit awkward, after she’d spent an entire weekend nursing a hangover, with an overbearing brother pestering her for the details.  Ino had brought her and Nanami coffee that first morning, and she’d made an effort to eat her lunch with him every day that week.

Then the week after that she began to accompany him on his coffee runs as well, spending the extra time chatting mindlessly and getting to know one another better.

A few weeks after that the two of them went out for drinks one evening, until that too became a part of the routine.  Once a month or so they’d go out to any new bar Ino could find and waste away as much of an evening as they could.

Slowly but surely, partnership grew into genuine friendship- something (y/n) hadn’t felt for a long, long time.  And Ino made sure to never let her forget it.  Whether it was remembering her favorite drink order, or watching an entire series she’d said she liked one time, he took her companionship seriously.  The more she got to know him, the harder he made it not to fall for him.

But, god, was falling for him one of the easiest things that’s ever come to her in this life.  It was unavoidable, unstoppable, uncontrollable.  No matter how much she tried to fight it, the way her heart raced whenever he was around was distinct to feelings only he could spark.  And the way her eyes searched for him first in a crowd was more than enough proof that her fondness for him had grown well past platonic.

It might have been silly to be surprised by her feelings when she’d finally realized that’s what the swell in her chest was all about.  After the incident that was their drunken night out where she’d torn herself apart at the seams before him- they don’t talk about that night, and she can’t help but wonder if he’s doing it out of favor for her, or if he’s just as embarrassed about it as she was- she found herself getting lost when thinking about him more often.

It ranged anywhere from how his eyes were their prettiest when they would leave Jujutsu Tech in the early evening.  With the sun low in the sky, rays of light caught them just right and made them appear to be the most brilliant, shining amber she’s ever seen.  

Satoru loved to brag about his baby blues to anyone who would listen, throwing his shades off with dramatic flare as he’d bat his eyelashes at unsuspecting victims.  Ever so full of himself, he loved the attention he’d get for the outrageously bright blue hue of his eyes.  When directed at her, (y/n) tended to scoff and tell him that his Six Eyes was far more worthy of bragging about than the damn color of them.

More recently, she’d shrugged her shoulders before directing her attention elsewhere.  “I prefer brown eyes” She’d told him carelessly.  At the time he’d pouted over it, whining about how his little sister thought he was ugly.  But ever since seeing her grow closer to her partner, he had a sneaking suspicion he knew who’s brown eyes she was talking about.

As much as she indulges herself in these thoughts- wondering how soft his lips were, remembering how gentle his hands had been when he’d touched her- she knows she can’t act on them.  Not after everything she’d already put him through getting their working relationship this far.  If she were to admit to him now that she was catching romantic feelings for him, it would be humiliating.  And she was humiliated enough as it is.  So she swore to herself they would remain hidden deep, deep down, under a lock and key- with said metaphorical key being thrown into a fire and melted down into a clump of misshapen chunk metal.   Then she threw that metaphorical chunk of metal into a metaphorical ocean. ___

xoxo ~ jordie