Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first remnants of snow were starting to fall on the quiet streets of Tokyo at five in the morning. Gojo, who seemed to be immune to the cold weather, was only wearing his running jacket and shorts, and passersby could only stare in disbelief at his lack of clothes. He did not pay much attention to his surroundings, for his ears were only filled with the music that was playing from his headphones. He took a stop in front of a cafe he frequented quite a lot (or rather, every day, as this is where he goes after his morning jog to grab a cup of coffee as his fuel for the day). 

A lady was standing on the other side of the door; she was supposed to pull it, but Gojo had beaten her to it. It seemed that he didn’t really notice her until she had bowed towards him as a thank you and quickly left. He didn’t even hear a whisper of a “thank you” come out of her mouth despite it being the usual custom, ‘Maybe, she was just the quiet type,’ he thought. He couldn’t see her face very well as she was looking down the whole time; all he could see was the white bow that was attached to hold the other half of her hair. He found it quite odd to see her there; there weren’t very many customers this early in the morning. If anything, Gojo was the only customer present in this hour.

He walked to the counter only to be greeted by the familiar face of the manager, who was the only present barista at the moment. The said manager is also his best friend, who only took this part-time job to help pay for his college tuition. “Yo, Suguru!” he raised his hand in greeting, and his friend could only sigh in reply. “I’ve already prepared your coffee; get it from the claiming area.”

 “Brrr, so cold. Are you trying to compete with Tokyo’s snow?” Gojo asked, making a shivering motion with his arms. Suguru rolled his eyes in response. 

Gojo grabbed his coffee on the counter and took a sip, but immediately spat it out, which earned a glare from Suguru. “Satoru, what the hell?!” Gojo made a disgusted face at the coffee in his hand. 

“Suguru, how many pumps of vanilla did you add to my coffee?”

 “Five.”

 “Eugh, no wonder, too little.” 

“One more, and you would be going straight to the hospital. Your obsession with sweets might actually be the death of you.”

“Hey! The sugar gets me going.” He glances at his watch and notices that it is already 6 AM. “Well, won’t you look at the time! Gotta go, see you later, Suguru!” Gojo had already left the cafe before Sugur could formulate a response.

–

If Gojo Satoru were to be asked how it feels to be the man of the hour, he would reply by boasting about his achievements, as at the age of only 21, he had already contributed significantly to the world of science. He’s hosted multiple conferences and has been recognized by the elite. If anything, people are just waiting for him to graduate at this point so that he can be formally recognized as a scientist, although he argues that he already is one, but that is a conversation for another time.

Despite it all, if there was one flaw you could point out about Gojo Satoru, it would be (other than his nasty personality) his tardiness. He had a thesis paper to defend this morning, and the utterly confident and egotistical Gojo had the audacity to be late, leaving his condo thirty minutes before his defense. He immediately rushed to the station and had miraculously made it to the last train. Since it was rush hour, there were no more seats left, so he was forced to stand while being cramped with all these people. He pulled his scarf closer to his face despite the lack of cold due to the body heat of the passengers, which gave him warmth. He was left no choice but to tolerate this  discomfort for the next fifteen minutes. 

He could hear the notifications coming from the pocket of his coat, probably from Suguru, who was asking him where he was since his professors were on their way to the auditorium. Unfortunately, he could not grab his phone as the bodies that were sticking to him forbade him so. It didn’t help that the person next to him wouldn’t stop pushing him. The only thing keeping him steady was his grip on the handrail. “Hey, do you mind? You’re disturbing others here!” he says to the person next to him, but the moment he caught sight of them, he immediately noticed the white bow tied to the back of their hair. ‘It’s the same person,’ he noted. 

Though his words were left unheard by the woman, as she did not make any movement that indicated that she had heard him. He had no idea if she was deliberately ignoring him or if she actually didn’t hear him at all (his voice was loud enough, though, he thinks). He nudges her with his shoulder and opens his mouth to repeat his words, but is instead left speechless. She had those honey brown amber eyes with twinkles that left him captivated, a scar that etched her face from her cheek to the bridge of her nose, but added more to her beauty, he thought. She was slightly older, he noticed. ‘Beautiful,’ was the first word to enter his mind the moment his eyes landed on hers. She tucked her hair behind her ear most elegantly, and that's when he noticed the hearing aid attached to it. No wonder she couldn’t hear him, she was deaf after all but before he could process his newly gained information she was seemingly communicating with him through sign language. 

“I’m sorry, were you saying something?” she signed, but he didn’t understand her at all. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand and had hoped that she could read lips since his phone was unreachable at the moment. “I apologize, but I don’t understand…” The lady had taken note of this and immediately started typing on her phone. ‘So she can read lips. Thank God. Gojo sighed in relief as he does not have much experience communicating with deaf people. He only knew the letters and the basics to communicate with other people who were part of the community and joined his conferences. He never thought about thoroughly learning it, though. 

She was finally done typing and held up her phone to show Gojo. “I’m sorry, were you saying something?” he read on her notes app. “Oh, it was just that you kept on pushing me…” ‘And I was getting kinda irritated,’ he was supposed to finish, but chose not to. She was typing again, “I didn’t mean to…the man next to me wouldn’t stop moving, I didn’t think that I would accidentally hit you too.” Gojo waved his hand in front of her, “It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault,” and as if right on time, the train had come to a stop. They finally arrived at their destination, and people were starting to leave the train, finally giving Gojo space to breathe. The woman abruptly bowed towards him as if to make her exit. He didn’t even get her name.

–

His professors glared at him the moment he entered the room due to his tardiness and scolded him for wasting their time. Nevertheless, they proceeded with his thesis defense, and of course, it was defended. It was already lunchtime, and he was sitting with his usual group of friends, which consisted of Suguru, Shoko, and Nanami, but Shoko was not present at the table today. “Yo, you better treat us to dinner tonight,” Suguru exclaimed with a smile, seemingly proud of his friend. “Yeah, yeah. You guys pick the place.” Gojo says as he munches on his second burger. “Gojo, will you be going after a master’s degree?” his blonde friend asked in curiosity. “Duh! Why wouldn’t I?” Nanami rolled his eyes in response. 

“Anyways, where’s Shoko?” Gojo asked in curiosity; his mouth was full, but Suguru understood it anyway. 

“She told me she was eating lunch with a friend from the education department.” 

“From the education department? She has a friend there?” Suguru shrugged in reply.

They continued eating their lunch while chatting about recent events that have happened in their lives, such as grumpy professors and annoying assignments, until it was time to head back to their classes.

–

Two weeks had passed since then, the winter as vile as ever, and Gojo still couldn’t get her out of his mind. He couldn’t get rid of the image of her honey amber eyes. It was currently their winter break, but Gojo had nothing else to do, and now he finds himself in this predicament, staring at his ceiling while images of her flash in his mind. He grabbed his hair and groaned in frustration as he sat up abruptly with a mission in mind. He had to find this mysterious girl. 

With the sudden boost of motivation, he got out of bed, changed, and left. Despite it all, he had no idea where to start. The last time he saw her was on the train. He thought even deeper. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration, leaving passersby to wonder what he was thinking about. As if a light bulb had lit up, he snapped his fingers in realization. He had encountered her before he saw her on the train, at the cafe Suguru worked at. He makes his way towards his first destination.

–

He left the cafe as fast as he arrived. Suguru remembered her, but he didn’t know her name at all, as he didn’t bother taking note of it, as she was the first and only customer that morning (other than Gojo). He had no other hints and had reached a dead end despite just starting his ‘mission’. He was in such a daze due to his despair that he had only come back to reality when he felt someone bump into him, and as if the universe were playing tricks on him, he finally found the girl he was looking for. 

She jolted due to the sudden collision. She bowed as an apology and had hoped to continue with her walk as she started looking around Gojo to find a path she could take. She was evidently holding a book in her hand. She was reading while walking, which must've been the reason for colliding with him, but Gojo paid no mind to such things. He was glad to have finally met her again. Her eyes widened in surprise. Gojo assumed that she must’ve recognized him. 

“I’ve finally found you!” he exclaimed while the woman tilted her head in confusion. She must be wondering why he would be looking for her. Gojo scrambled to take out his phone to type something. He turned his phone towards her to show her his message: “Hi! I’m Gojo Satoru. I was the guy you accidentally pushed on the train. What’s your name?” The woman pulled out her own phone and proceeded to type her own message. “My name’s Iori Utahime. I remember you.” 

“Utahime, huh.” He repeats her name on his lips. 

Utahime eyes him curiously at the sudden use of her first name, but she doesn’t seem to be surprised, as most of the people in her life addressed her that way. Gojo quickly typed something on his phone while Utahime wondered why he was suddenly speaking to her when she was just a stranger to him. He seemed to be shy as Utahime noticed the way his face started turning red, or it could be just the cold temperature of the atmosphere, she presumed. Gojo rubbed his neck sheepishly and avoided eye contact with her as he showed her his message. “I thought that you were really pretty and wanted to ask for your number.” Gojo was afraid of her reaction to his message and had hoped that she wouldn’t reject her, but then he felt a tap on his wrist. Utahime held out her hand. He was confused at first, but then realized that she meant his phone. He then gave it to her, she then input her contact number and smiled as she returned his phone. 

Gojo wasted no time in typing a message. Utahime felt the vibration of a notification from her phone and checked it to see that it was from him. Gojo’s grip on his phone was faltering as he awaited her reply. His message says, “I would like to get to know you more. Would you like to hang out sometime?” He then noticed that she was typing something back. He heard the notification and checked her message. “That would be delightful, Gojo-san :).” Gojo bit his lip as he tried to suppress a smile, so he instead buried himself deeper in his scarf to hide it. He managed to secure a date. He couldn’t wait to tell his best friend, unbeknownst to him, his best friend had witnessed the whole ordeal.