𝖽𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗆 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖽𝖺𝗋𝗄

maybe he was pushing himself too much too fast ; gojo tended to be right when it came to these kinds of things. yuji was so desperate to succeed and prove himself, feeling as though he needed to do so as quickly as possible before they grew tired of him  — before he was deemed as a failure and killed. there was a lot riding on the boys’ shoulders and  — unfortunately  — yuji was willing to bear all of that weight on his own, and some. he nods.   ‘  i’ll try not to rush.  ’

attention turns to hand, trying to flex the appendage but being met with stiffness and pain. he’d hit the ground pretty hard and  — with the adrenaline wearing off  — the pain was beginning to set it.   ‘  yeah. probably shouldn’t have done that,  ’   he replies, offering a lopsided grin.

─── he’s always right as far as he’s concerned about things , words from the wise and one that went through the same motions just his students had. live and learn and from that improvement happened , really it’s not that impressive or anything yet part of him understands why the other did what they did. there’s little chance that yuuji would be deemed a failure so much as too dangerous that the old farts upstairs would be left shivering in their little hypocritical boots. ha ! now wasn’t that a whole laugh with the mental picture that flew right in ? still he pays minds towards them without much worry , they usually recover quickly enough after some rest as far as he knows. 

“ shouldn’t a teacher be…I dunno, more scholarly? ” head tilts, a cascade of pink tresses tumbling from over her shoulder as she studies him. myrinne had recently come into some bad luck when it came to educators — her last professor had tried to sacrifice her to a monster after all. she had every right to be suspicious. “ how can I be sure you’re not a kidnapper… or a ninja? ” 

─── the answers no , yet he doesn’t murmur a word out just yet towards them. amusement flickers behind covered eyes , the need to just poke at the other so potent that he almost breaks the silence. teachers could look a little more scholarly sure , sure but that’s besides the point here. throat soon cleared after a poor attempt to withhold laughter he’s quick to pick at her words , the mild entertainment he feels laced with words as he casually shrugs. 

@allurante​ asked

“ do you like being a teacher, gojo - san? ” the demon asks, arms crossing in thought, “ you seem like the type of person who would get along well with children. ”

─── an interesting question for an interesting person to hear , and to offer towards him as well. a smirk breaks through without much thought process behind it. covered eyes don’t break away from the demoness even while she takes to crossing her arms after questioning him and pointing out something not too soon after. light-hearted laughter brews from him , slipping passed once closed lips. did he really enjoy teaching ? yes , but given how he can be sometimes too ? ‘ no .‘ all lies really , he enjoys the idea that he’s the one that gets a chance to foster possibilities for the future itself , someone or in this case many chances to have someone become stronger then himself.

ah , where his arrogance wakens his drive to make sure that his beloved students grow more and more until they no longer need him. so maybe he really did enjoy being a teacher more then he can truly word things towards. there’s a pang of pride towards the last statement maybe he could , yet he doesn’t actively bother with that at all. right now he’s more then sure that he’d drive people insane with how his attitude was , how he acted both lazy or annoying just to cater a reaction from someone. a brief shake of his head he can’t help but grin faintly , tone not somber yet an octave low.

          “eh… ?” there’s momentary confusion which flashes through her in response to his words, the dramatic gesture he poses for her only serving to add - not only to her confusion - to her flash of irritation. “you’re like the opposite of sneaky, y'know!?” her voice jumps an octave with the exclamation, embarrassment in light of his reaction a thorn in her side. “tall as hell, tendency to loudly get someone’s attention, white hair that could damn well reflect light …” arms cross over her chest, defensive. her words aren’t meant to ‘pick on’, as they’re merely observation or otherwise a highlight of his general appearance and behaviors – regardless, she spins them in a manner that adds to her point.

          a sharp huff of air leaves her nose, and the embarrassment simmers off easily enough in light of her small outburst. “how the hell are you gonna pull that off, though?” it’s an admittance that she doesn’t know the extent of his abilities; that which he’d put on a pedestal upon introducing himself / she was quick to rip the rug out from underneath. “it’s not like you can fly.” a thought crosses her mind, and she’s quick to clarify – “and don’t say you can. that’s just you extending your『 infinity 』 a ridiculous amount to put so much space between you an’ the ground it looks like you’re walkin’ on air.”

          she’s quite certain that’s it, anyway. he could make his『 infinity 』 as small or as large as he wanted…

❛ almost sounds like you’ve been checking me out with that miniature description you’ve got of me. ❜

─── it’s not that he lacks any sense of being sneaky so much as there’s little care of the idea of being caught. arrogance forever dominate with his choices no matter how risky or even minimal they maybe at the end of it all. ah , but there’s more then that he notices the change in pitch the whole reaction soon taken into complete account either way. attempt of observation was noted , usually always is even if he tends to purposely nitpick at words in order to frazzle another. ❛ sometimes ya just need to be loud and not so sneaky , live a little more on the risky side. ❜

hilarious ! if only Takehiko knew that he could in a sense fly , there’s a brief chuckle when he lets his mind wander towards something he’d heard earlier ‘ assholes can fly ‘ he sure as hell can honestly just by trying hard , or more like at this point in time with ease. there is no limits to things. there’s so much that could be said yet he doesn’t deny nor even bother to enforce his words nor the others. 

ironically, Gojo had always been his medicine.

sometimes sweet and cloying, prescribed with unfunny jokes and levity, specifically to soothe away the sharpest edges of being a sorcerer, other times the toughest pill to swallow. whether tonight leaned more toward the former or latter, he didn’t quite know yet. a deep, shaking ( and if he was being completely honest, painful ) sigh passed by his lips as he finally stopped walking, feeling all the held breath in his lungs escape. what to do? ironically, he was surrounded by individuals who held him on the pinnacle of decision making; What would Nanami do? was a common refrain —unfortunately, it didn’t do him particularly well when it was his own question.

“Are you sure the bullshit isn’t coming off of you, Gojo?” Nanami mustered the strength to turn around, gritting his teeth when he could feel his cursed cleaver edge against his back, tugging slightly on the open wound. “… listen, I’m going to patch myself up, make a drink, and get some rest. Unless you have a particular idea as to how you’d help me do any of those things, I’ll be fine.”

Nanami groaned low in his throat, feeling the effects of the adrenaline beginning to wear off, and with it, brought a distinct ringing in his head and a lightheadedness that made him stumble a step backward—maybe he’d lost more blood than he’d thought. seems that his decision was being made for him.

“I need to get home. Help me do that, or I’ll start walking again.”

❛ Oh !!  How cheeky of you. ❜

─── He holds little concern towards the little ‘ outburst ‘ so to speak , the laughter that brims within his smirk only shouts the amusement that he feels the whole time. Yet he leaves it well enough alone doesn’t even attempt to defend himself at all , he’s all too aware of the other’s condition right now. How sad to see someone so injured yet amusing to know and witness that they’ll continue to hold onto any possible attempts of ‘ biting ‘ back at him over something he’d started up only seconds ago. What would Nanami do is something that’s become half nature for him at least when he plays the fool , and doesn’t wish to exert energy or time to think of his own ideas. Lazy yes , yet it’s always been something effective to say the least.

None of this is about that however there’s a more pressing matter floating about to say the least right now. While his eyes remain hidden as usual he does take notice the grit of teeth from the other before a frown takes the place of his after mentioned smirk. Say no more , say no more he’s one of action so to reach out and carry the other as if they were nothing but a sack of potatoes is just what he does. There’s some caution in his actions not wishing to possible agitate wounds or the other somehow. if it’s home the other wishes to be that’s but a simple task even for himself , after all he removes all sense of the meaning of possibilities without so much as a care.

     ‘HASSLE YOU SOMETIMES’. THAT was a nice way of putting aggravating someone to the point they sighed a record amount of times in a single day, but he wasn’t going to correct the other. For now, he would let that statement slide without his usual quips. ❝A small change, a big change… It doesn’t really matter which is which. You’re still the you I remember, yet a you with far more responsibilities under his belt now. Back in High School, your only goal was being the strongest. Now that you have accomplished that, your gaze turns elsewhere. Being a monumental headache is still there, though.❞ That last bit was added as perhaps jest, but considering Nanami’s tone was always so deadpan and uninterested, it was easy to not notice that small detail. Lifting is hand, he pushed his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose before he glanced down at his watch to check the time. ❝Are you going to travel back with me and Ijichi-san or teleport back to where you were before?❞

     It would always amuse him how Gojo would drive around with Ijichi to places when he could quite literally appear wherever he wanted to in a moment’s time. What a nice ability to have. Nanami would have loved to get home in record time without having to take the train back to his apartment or have Ijichi drive him back when all was said and done. Traffic could be atrocious during certain hours of the day, the evening being notorious for it. During that time, he was most definitely more prone to taking that evening train rather than sitting in the car for who knows how long. There was a pause from him come Gojo’s words, is gaze shifting back up to meet with those shaded eyes. ❝Don’t make this embarrassing, Gojo-san.❞ Still, he gave a long sigh, hand returning to his side. ❝Thank you.❞ That was the last time he was going to say it! He wasn’t going to inflate that already inflated ego more than it was no matter how grateful he was for the other’s abrupt appearance—!

     ❝That is my quota for today.❞

❛ Hmm , good question but the simple answer to it is of course I’m going to travel back with you and Ijichi ! ❜

─── It’s like he wants to purposely get on the other’s nerves some how , the need to make his voice only a little more chipper flowing out of his mouth with an inch of shame present. Back in high school he had that one goal even now it remains , but it’s long since become accomplished so now his eyes turn towards another goal one that could make or break things at the end of it all. Sad , yet he doesn’t say anything about it for all he knows Nanami could know what’s on his mind , now wouldn’t that be scary ? Maybe but not really it’s something he’d long since taken into mind. HA ! He’d barely caught onto the possible chance of those words being a jest , but still he’s quite proud of being a headache towards the other even now years later.

Oh but he’s not one to give up on things , not one to back down from even the smallest of things but he can’t help but snort once the sunglasses are pushed back towards the bridge of the other’s nose. Right , right it’s about time to get going wasn’t it ? A shame but still he could have taken the easy route home but nah that would have been too boring. It’s in his rights ! Maybe his own personal law to make things a little more – NO ! A lot more embarrassing for others especially Nanami it was in his blood , no it was his sole purpose for the time being to make this as embarrassing as possible for them.

“You know, most people consider it impolite to follow someone home without them knowing.”

though, truthfully, without his knowing wasn’t really within the realm of possibility. even after years apart, Nanami could pick Gojo’s energy out of a crowd with as much effort as it took him to finish a neat whisky after a mission. on most occasions, his incessant babbling was enough to give him away far before any investigatory thought need be applied — however, on this unseasonably cool summer night, Gojo had stayed quiet —that was the most worrying detail about the entirety of this encounter.

or, maybe it was the cursed wound carved into his abdomen; could be that.

the mission had been a success, despite the last minute slice from what he could only imagine were extremely unwashed claws — curses didn’t seem like the type to keep up a hygiene routine. he kept his hand pressed tight to his side, well aware that the contrast of the brisk breeze over the sticky red heat seeping through his fingers was the most likely reason for the unprompted escort.

“I’ll be fine, Gojo.“ if he was trying to placate his old friend, his tone didn’t betray as much, even if he was trying.

❛ You know most people find it rude to ignore an injured person as well ? ‘Sides it’s not as if you don’t know , if you didn’t then we wouldn’t be having this conversation y’know. ❜

─── amusement forever slips with his words while he hides the faint roll of eyes towards the mention of ‘ impolite’ being tossed towards him. nah , there’s nothing impolite about it , call it practical if not completely reasonable on his behalf to take time to oversee the other’s well-being. if not for his snow white hair , or the most obvious part him being the strongest walking around with. it coming off in droves. For the most part he’s silent enough at least in terms of being far from his usual self , but words do flow freely from time to time without so much as a care.

if that was Nanami’s way of trying to reaffirm his doubts then it was sorely a misguided attempt. perhaps its because he’s someone so closed off with things , having long since closed off emotions when need be , at least far more then most people as he likes to state. still he watches the other with keen eyes even while they remain hidden away for no one to see. ah , but it smells like blood here the sting of copper attacking his nose like that , but still a grin persists on remaining upon his face.