Chapter Text
(1.1)
Gojo Satoru's senses are dialed up to eleven, and the only thing that dampens them is the application of Infinity. Combined with the Six Eyes, it's a miracle that Satoru's brain hasn't exploded or permanently zoned out with no hope of recovery. Yet, somehow he functions. Mostly.
His senses are a kaleidoscope of too much of everything: sight, sound, taste, touch, smell. Even with his blackout glasses, the sight was by far the worst. On a scale of one to ten, that one actually might be a fifteen.
Satoru swears he's fine without a guide; it's not like they'd be able to find one strong enough to handle him when Satoru's the strongest. He's totally stable and mostly functioning, and he can just use Infinity to force himself out of his zones. If he carefully applies it, he can buffer his senses against the worst of it. Especially his sense of touch. And, with his blackout glasses, he can dial down his sight just enough to function.
And then, Satoru met Suguru and it felt like time froze, all of his senses suspended in place before dampening into a state of blissfulness.
—
(1.2)
Geto Suguru knew he was a guide long before he learned that he wasn't crazy. Primary schools have standard screenings to identify guides, since they didn’t present as obviously as sentinels. Suguru could feel the presence of people pressing down on him and seeping into his mind. At first he thought it was just another aspect of him being crazy; he thought the monsters were affecting his mind too. But then, during the school mandated screening, the counselor explained what it felt like to be a guide. It clicked. Suguru felt a brief burst of relief that he wasn’t going even crazier. Suguru was a guide.
Not that any of that mattered in the end. To Suguru, being a guide was useless when his brain was clearly off its rocker with all of the hallucinations of monsters filling his life. How could he hope to safely guide a sentinel out of a zone when he couldn't even guide his own mind out of his nightmarish delusions? So, Suguru decided that guide stuff wasn't really for him.
Suguru slowly learned how to resist the pressure of other minds on him. He later learned that these were sentinels searching for stability in a guide’s mind. Suguru knew it’d be a terrible idea to guide a sentinel into the confines of his insane mind. There was no safety to be had in the depths of Suguru’s mind.
But then, Suguru found out that he wasn't actually crazy. The monsters were actually curses, and the curses were definitely real. He was going to be enrolled in a school that would teach him about curses and sorcerers, and then guiding was really the least of his concerns.
And then, he met Satoru.
—
(2.1)
So here's the thing: Satoru is as unsocialized as they come. He's been mostly isolated in the Gojo family estate, home schooled by the best private tutors money can buy. Satoru's kind of loud and annoying–and he has way too much energy–but the Gojo family distantly holds him up on a worshipful pedestal. He’s always craved more interaction, even if it’d just be interacting with more people who worship him. It’s part of why he was so excited to go to Jujutsu High.
So anyways, Satoru's never had a friend. And, he's certainly never had a guide. None of the Gojo family guides had ever been able to handle his zones. Satoru might–maybe just a little bit–have proceeded to lose his goddamn mind when he met Geto Suguru. He might be a teeny, tiny bit absolutely obsessed with Suguru. That was fine because Suguru was his one and only guide. But, he was totally cool about it. Very subtle. He swears.
—
(2.2)
Suguru had never had a friend. He was the weird kid growing up. During primary school, he was the one who was too old for imaginary friends who wouldn't grow up and let go. By the time he hit middle school, Suguru had learned to keep his mouth shut. But by then, it was too late. Everyone knew he was not right in the head, and the paranoid look about him from trying–and totally failing–to pretend he wasn't surrounded by monsters all of the damn time certainly didn’t help.
Satoru was loud and bright, and so full of energy that Suguru thought he might go blind. Was this what a zone was like for sentinels? Satoru was a whirlwind, and Suguru wondered if this is what it was like to finally have something meaningful in his life.
—
(3.1)
“Suguru!” Satoru whined, draping himself over Suguru during a training session.
“Focus, Gojo!” Yaga-sensei snapped. “You need to learn how to protect another person while holding off a cursed spirit or curse user.” A dummy laid abandoned in the middle of the training area. Dust covered the dress that had been poorly placed on the dummy in an attempt to make it look more like a person. On the sidelines, Shoko spectated the scene as if it was one of the trashy dramas she loved watching.
“But I’d just defeat it, and then it’d be fine,” Satoru huffed, annoyed. He didn’t see much of a point in this exercise when he’d just be able to exorcise any curse or fight off any curse user. What could he ever encounter that he couldn’t easily defeat? There was really no point. No point at all. He’d never let himself get caught in a drawn out fight where he’d need to protect someone instead of just finishing the job as quickly as possible. Satoru would much rather spend his time having fun with Suguru.
“Satoru,” Suguru chastised. Satoru loved the sound of Suguru’s voice and how his hearing sense would focus on it. The deep rumble of the guide’s voice almost sounded like a purr. “Protecting others is important. We should make sure we’re prepared.”
Suguru made no effort to push the other boy off of him. Satoru rubbed his head against the other’s cheek, enjoying the soothing sensation that came with the touch. It eased the headache that the sentinel had from the sheer amount of sensory information he was exposed to.
“Boring!”
—
(3.2)
Suguru knew it wasn’t normal how much Satoru clinged to him. Even in a sentinel-guide relationship. Suguru never said a word to stop him. Worse, Suguru found himself enabling some of Satoru’s worst habits. Suguru despaired and internally said farewell to any hope at a single thing in his life ever approaching normality.
Suguru woke to find Satoru wrapped around him like an octopus–legs entangled with his, an arm slipped under his shirt to press against the bare skin of his back, and a nose shoved in his hair. The heavy weight was warm and more comforting than Suguru liked to admit.
Suguru closed his eyes and focused on Satoru’s bright light that lit up his senses. He felt outwards to see if anything was wrong with Satoru, but felt only a deep contentment drifting from the sentinel. Suguru had worried that Satoru had come to him in the middle of the night due to a zone, but it seemed that Satoru was just being his usual clingy self.
Suguru carefully maneuvered himself so he was facing Satoru. He reached up and gently cradled the sentinel’s face.
“Satoru,” Suguru said softly. Satoru’s nose scrunched as he started to wake, but he stubbornly kept his eyes closed. “You don’t need to sneak in here while I’m sleeping. It can’t be good for you. Just join me at a reasonable time.”
See? Suguru couldn’t help but enable him.
—
(4.1)
The scent of Suguru filled Satoru’s head. Suguru. Suguru. Suguru.
Satoru’s head was pillowed in Suguru’s lap as he held the guide’s hand, staring at how the sunlight filtered through the leaves of the tree they were sitting under, dappling the both of them. Satoru could hear the steady beats of Suguru’s heart. Suguru was a sensory feast for Satoru. Four of his five senses were completely attuned to the guide. Sight, sound, touch, and smell. Satoru wanted it to be all five senses. He gave into the urge.
“Did you just lick me?!” Suguru’s indignant voice rang through the air as Satoru savored the salty taste of the sweat he had licked off of Suguru’s warm hand. He wanted another taste.
Satoru clung to Suguru’s hand and rotated the inner wrist to face him. Satoru licked over Suguru’s pulse-point. Satoru whined in sensory bliss.
“Satoru!”
—
(4.2)
Suguru shifted in discomfort as Yaga-sensei stared him down from across his desk. For all he was a troubled child before attending Jujutsu High, Suguru was never the sort to be called into a teacher’s office. He had always made a deliberate effort to stay out of trouble.
“Geto, we need to discuss Gojo’s… dependence on you.” Yaga-sensei began. It was clear to Suguru that Yaga-sensei was just as uncomfortable with the topic of conversation. “I understand that you are his guide, but there needs to be limits.”
A stone settled in the pit of Suguru’s stomach. He knew he was enabling Satoru too much, but he just couldn’t help it. Suguru had never expected that he’d be able to guide a sentinel, and he found that once he met Satoru he just couldn’t resist the urge to meet Satoru’s every want and need.
Suguru started down silently at his hands, clenched in the pants of his uniform. He didn’t know what Yaga-sensei expected him to say. Suguru certainly wasn't going to promise to stop guiding Satoru. Suguru would never. And, Satoru would also never. It seems that they were at an impasse.
Yaga-sensei let out a long drawn sigh.