“I don’t really know how to say this…”
satoru gojo only has so much time left to ask you to prom but there's only one issue with that... he can recite every astrophysics formula in front of an audience with ease but he’s absolutely terrified of you rejecting him. will he graduate with a degree in astrophysics as a dateless prom loser?
[°❀.࿔] » content warning: insecure!satoru :: fluff :: college au :: nerd!jo :: gn!reader :: awk!satoru
𑣲 » nerd!jo x gn!reader oneshot || wc: 3.2k
The university courtyard was bathed in the shimmering late afternoon sun. Restless energy bloomed everywhere from corner to corner. Satoru sat in the grass beneath a large ginkgo tree, his glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose each time he ruffled his unruly white hair.
“But, Suguru—!” he whined, leaning back dramatically against the tree behind him. A leaf fell onto his lap as if it were taunting him; he swatted it away. “What if they say no? Do you know how embarrassing that’d be?! It would be statistically improbable for them to say yes!” He groaned, letting his hands drag down his face. His glasses landed squarely in his lap.
Suguru snickered and crouched down next to Satoru, idly twirling a small piece of grass. “You two have been friends for a while now, right?” he asked, glancing over at Satoru as he began fidgeting with his glasses.
“Yeah, we’ve been friends since we were freshmen…” he murmured.
“Freshmen in high school,” he corrected, his pale cheeks now dusted with a soft pink. “B-But that doesn’t mean anything, Suguru! People change, you know.” He pouted, finally looking up at Suguru.
Suguru let out a noncommittal hum at his words. “And—and what if they’re not even going? Then I’d look like some desperate loser!” he added, his face reddening further.
Suguru nodded along as Satoru continued his spiraling. Once he was done, Suguru rose to his full height and put his hands in his pockets. “You’re just scared of rejection, Satoru,” he murmured, looking down at him.
“Come on, this is your only chance to ask them; we graduate next month,” he said, nudging Satoru's leg with his foot. Satoru aggressively nudged him back and glanced over at the library building.
Satoru tugged the back of his neck, running his fingers through his hair. “I’ll think about it… Just don’t say anything stupid to them…” He paused, already feeling the phantom sweat trickling down his temples and picturing how horribly he’d shake.
“They're gonna hate me after this… Oh god, I’m gonna vomit…” He whispered those exact words like a mantra until he got to the tall glass doors of the library. Satoru stopped for a moment and caught his reflection in the glass.
“I look like a mess,” he muttered, his anxious cerulean eyes staring right back at himself. He made a poor attempt to fix his hair and his tie before he’d be face-to-face with Y/N, but there was no hope.
Satoru squared his shoulders and took a deep breath as he reached for the door handle and gave it a soft push. It didn’t budge. He had only skipped the gym for three days; had he gotten that weak already?
“Oh right… It's a pull door. You pull it, of course, idiot…” he uttered, pulling the door open and stepping into the library.
Satoru fidgeted with the strap of his bag as he glanced around the library. The place smelled like freshly printed paper, and the air was stale and warm. Satoru shifted his weight nervously until he spotted a small figure hunched over a comically large book.
He dragged his feet across the carpet, earning himself a few disapproving glares from students nearby. Satoru waved his hand dismissively and kept his eyes locked on your back until he was noticeably closer to you than he’d intended.
Satoru placed his hand on your shoulder, his touch lingering a bit too long. It almost felt like a caress. Almost. You jumped, startled by the sudden pressure on you. Turning slowly, you pull out your headphones, your gaze focusing on Satoru.
“Toru, don’t scare me like that!” you hissed, slapping his arm softly. He smiled at you and gently rubbed his forearm where you’d hit him.
Satoru stopped beside the table, his voice soft and apologetic. “Sorry, sorry…” he murmured, tilting his head as a grin broke through. “Is this seat taken… Latte?” Not even two seconds had passed before he was cringing internally at his word choice. Latte?! Don’t mock their love for espresso with milk you idiot!
You giggled quietly and tugged on the chair further. A soft smile playing on your lips as you considered his words. “Latte, huh? That’s new…” You tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, clearly encouraging him to take a seat.
Satoru chuckled awkwardly and a bit too loudly, earning a wince from you. “Y-Yeah! I figured that, since you—you know, since you call me ‘Toru’ that maybe… maybe ‘Latte’ would fit…” he trailed off, aware of his rambling but unsure of how to end it.
“B-Because you know how you… you love lattes… so much…” He whispered, his cheeks slowly flushing until they were as red as a tomato. You nodded slowly, your lips pressed in a tight, thin line. Satoru was still standing next to the table.
“You can sit down, Satoru,” you deadpanned, moving your arm so he’d have more room. Satoru took a seat with no hesitation, placing his bag on the table.
Satoru rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit he picked up from you. “Right, I’m sorry for being so—so weird, astrophysics has been frying my brain lately…” The lie was flimsy and he knew it. Satoru spent hours without breaks rambling about that subject to you.
You raised an eyebrow, focused on your book while watching him through your periphery. “Astrophysics. Frying you?” you repeated, struggling to suppress your laugh. “Yeah, like I’d believe that. Once pigs fly, I’ll consider it.”
Satoru nodded and didn’t bother elaborating. You’d caught him lying already; there was no point in him trying to convince you otherwise.
“Sooo…” he drawled, absently folding the edges of your book. He was anxious; you've always noticed how he did stupid things whenever he got nervous.
“What is it, Satoru?” you asked, getting impatient with all of his odd behavior. Satoru looked down at your lap, then up at your small hands resting against the smooth oak table.
He shrugged and finally met your gaze again, his white strands covering his eyes just a little. The afternoon sun hit your profile perfectly. He saw how the sunlight enhanced your beautiful eyes. Satoru swore he saw flecks of gold in them. You were absolutely breathtaking.
“You’re just… really pretty, I guess,” he muttered, his eyes darting back down toward your lap. “The sun is just…” he trailed off, his voice trembling more as he spoke.
The two of you fell silent as Satoru delivered his sweet but awkward compliments. It wasn’t like him to give out compliments like that.
You felt your own cheeks heat up, and you instantly found that huge book of yours so much more interesting. “Oh, thank you, Satoru…” you whispered, suddenly feeling so self conscious.
Satoru hummed quietly and rested his chin on his palm, watching as you thoroughly inspected a small spot on your book. He reached out slowly and let his free hand settle on your shoulder again, tracing small circles.
Your breath hitched and so did Satorus. It was almost like he was connected to you in a way. Satoru's hand dropped and he let out a breathless laugh, folding his arms under his head and staring up at you.
God, you’re so gorgeous… I don’t know how I’m going to ask you out to prom like this without crying…
“Do you plan on going to prom, Toru?” you asked, still keeping your eyes on the book. Satoru gasped and hid the bottom half of his face while resting against his arms.
“I—well—“ he choked out, his glasses askew on his nose. He spoke quickly, keeping his gaze low. “I didn’t plan on going… it’ll probably be boring.”
You nodded stiffly and finally closed your book, checking the clock on the wall. It was 17:00. “Yeah, of course,” you replied, packing up your things.
“W-Wait, Y/N!” Satoru yelped, sitting up abruptly. He reached for your hands to still them, and you couldn’t help but notice how much larger his hands were compared to yours.
Satoru interlaced his fingers with yours instinctively, giving your hands a soft squeeze. The library was nearly empty now, students were either heading out to parties or going back to their dorms.
“Please… allow me to walk you to your dorm,” he begged, keeping his head down as he braced himself for rejection. “I just want to make sure you get there safely… and I want to talk a bit more, if that’s fine.”
“Geez, Satoru! You’re so clingy today!”
“I am not!” he huffed, pulling away from you. He looked utterly pathetic, and he made a weak attempt at hiding it. He couldn’t.
Satoru spent thirty minutes walking you across campus to your dorm. The two of you talked about everything and nothing. He talked more and more as he slowly realized that he had blown his own chances of asking you to prom in the library.
Once he got to his own dorm, he went to his room and sat on his bed, grateful that Suguru was out running errands. Satoru had the whole dorm to himself and the weight of his stupidity came crashing down on him.
Satoru took his glasses off and absently tossed them onto his nightstand. He buried his face in his hands as he let out a breath he’d been holding all evening. His throat felt tight, his eyes burned.
He dragged his hands down his face and stared at the smooth ceiling of his room. His bottom lip quivering as he remembered how beautiful you looked in the library and that’s when the first choked sob escaped.
He took a ragged breath and blinked heavily. “I didn’t even ask them,” he said, closing his eyes tightly as he tried to stop the dam from breaking. But it was too late. The tears seeped through anyway.
“Stupid. You’re so stupid, Satoru…” he gripped his soft white hair with one hand and aggressively wiped his eyes with the other. “It’s fine, everything’s gonna be fine.”
“I’ll just—god—I don’t know what to do!” he whimpered, letting his hands drop onto the soft mattress beneath him. “I’ll take them to that cafe they love… then… then I’ll ask,” he decided, talking to himself.
About thirty minutes had passed and Satoru switched rooms. He was lounging on the couch, his broad frame taking up most of it. Satou ostensibly read his astrophysics textbook while loosely twirling a lock of hair around his finger.
Suguru walked through the front door, dropping the keys on the table near their living room. “Satoru, how’d it go? Did you ask Y/N?” Satoru ignored Suguru and flipped to the next page.
He raised an eyebrow at his silence and flicked the book Satoru was reading with his forefinger. “You didn’t ask them, huh?” Satoru's silence spoke for him, and Suguru laughed.
“You poor thing,” he teased, tilting his head as he watched Satoru desperately trying to ignore him. “Someone’s bound to ask them to prom before you do at this point.”
Satoru threw a pillow at Suguru and slammed his book down on the couch, finally revealing his red-rimmed and puffy eyes.
He rubbed his cheek and kept his gaze locked on the wooden floor, as if it held the answers to everything. “I’ll—I’ll ask them tomorrow at that cafe they love…” He uttered, still looking down.
Suguru smiled and headed towards his room, leaving Satoru alone with his thoughts once again. He closed his eyes and imagined thousands of scenarios, most of them with bad endings.
Satoru rubbed his eyes and stood up, stretching his limbs. “I can’t… if I keep thinking about it, I’ll chicken out again,” he sighed, finally heading back toward his room.
Satoru spent the rest of that night tossing and turning in bed. He got up and ate several different protein bars, which was a statistically sufficient source of calories for dinner according to Satoru before plopping back down on his bed.
Despite being utterly restless, he managed to fall asleep with his glasses still on. He’d regret that later when he woke up to his glasses missing.
And he did. The next morning, he was already late to his first lecture and he couldn’t find his glasses anywhere. Suguru had left already, claiming that he’d attempted to wake Satoru up several different times.
“He did not!” Satoru claimed, his cheeks puffed as he crawled around his bedroom floor for his glasses. He found them under his bed after what felt like hours. They were a bit twisted, but it added character he’d claim.
He rushed to the main campus and completely forgot his bag, but he managed to haphazardly shove his phone in his pocket. It was mainly a note taking day for each lecture. He’d memorize everything without a notebook.
Each lecture passed in a blur, and as the day progressed, Satoru felt a bundle of nerves pooling in his stomach. Right. He was actually supposed to ask you to prom today.
The lectures finally came to an end and he knew what your last class was. He was always too scared to ask you about your schedule, so he took it upon himself to figure that out himself. He did it in under two days. He swore he could’ve been faster though.
Satoru stood outside of your sociology class, waiting with bated breath. When the door slowly opened, he smiled—only to be met with the frown of some stranger.
“What’re you staring at?” the stranger huffed, brushing past Satoru without a second thought.
Satoru shivered and stepped to the side just so no one else would brush against him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and watched as the door slowly closed.
Before it could shut completely, you opened the door and looked up at Satoru. His eyes lit up instantly, and before he could hesitate, he started babbling.
“Y-Y/N! I’ve been waiting here forever. What took you so long?” he whined dramatically, following you as you began walking.
“W-Wait! Don’t go that way!” he interrupted, flailing his hands in front of you awkwardly. He tilted his head in the direction of where the cafe was, his cheeks flushing a deep red.
“You’re always working so hard Y/N… Could we stop by that cafe you like?” he asked, his cerulean eyes burning into yours. “My treat, of course!”
His brain went back to earlier that morning and how he’d left his bag at his dorm. No problem, but did he even have his wallet on him? Satoru began subtly patting his pockets.
“Oh, that cafe? I don’t know, I have this exam to study for…”
“You know I’ll make sure you ace it…”
“But nothing! You’re going to relax and allow me to treat you!” he insisted, his cheeks burning even hotter than before.
He’s never been this persistent before, and in the middle of the hallway. It made your cheeks flush more than his as you felt the eyes of students passing by.
You finally nodded, unable to bear the secondhand embarrassment he was giving you.
You and satoru were now walking toward the cafe. It was a pretty decent walk away from campus, but that’s also what made it special. Students rarely went out there. The two of you walked side by side, Satoru felt your hand occasionally brush against his, and he shivered each time.
By the fifth time your hands brushed, he gathered the courage to hook his pinky with yours. You glanced down at your locked fingers and let out a small, private smile.
Neither of you had much to say. Satoru knew that you acknowledged his touch, but he was afraid he’d shatter the moment by talking. Once you two arrived at the cafe, Satoru stood in front of you and made sure both of you were seated at your favorite spot by the window.
You ordered your usual latte, and Satoru ordered a raspberry scone. He knew those were your favorite. The two of you talked for a while, although it was mostly Satoru going on and on about his theories of astrophysics.
The cafe slowly emptied out. A few people were still there, but they were in their own corners. Satoru kept his eyes on you the entire time, and he hadn’t even touched his scone.
“Y/N… I have something I’d like to admit,” he began, his voice a low whisper. He felt that lump forming again and could barely say anything.
“I don’t really know how to say this…”
He rubbed the back of his neck and let his eyes drop to his untouched scone. “Yesterday, I lied… about that whole ‘not planning on going to prom’ thing…”
“The truth is, I-I’ve been spending so much time… ttrying to figure out a way to ask you…” he sputtered out, his face a bright shade of red.
“I’ve honestly spent more time planning out how I’d ask you to prom than necessary… it’s embarrassing,” he murmured, shifting the plate the scone was on from side to side.
“I brought you here because I wanted to make sure the atmosphere was perfect, but it still feels inadequate,” he added, a soft self-deprecating laugh leaving his lips. “Y/N, I really want to go to prom with you, and—and you don’t have to say yes or anything!” he blurted out, lowering his head further.
“I—I mean… I’d love if you said yes but, if you don’t want to go or you’re going with someone—“
You couldn’t help yourself any longer. You placed your hand over your mouth as you let out a soft giggle at all of his rambling. Satoru didn’t understand what was funny. Oh god. Did he look stupid? Were his glasses lopsided again? He instinctively reached up and adjusted them.
“W-What’s funny?” he squeaked out, his bottom lip already trembling with anxiety
“I’m sorry! It just all makes sense now. You’ve been all over the place recently, Toru,” you explained, resting your head on your palm.
“You’re adorable, Satoru.”
His breathing picked up exponentially as he registered your words. “I am not!”
“So you’re asking me to prom?”
Satoru quickly nodded, finally looking up to meet your gaze again. He looked absolutely wrecked. His pretty white eyelashes shimmering.
“Y-Yeah if… if you don’t mind, that is…”
“Of course I’ll go to prom with you, Toru!”
Satoru let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and his eyes instantly glimmered with unshed tears. He sniffed softly.
When you gave that shy nod, he couldn’t stop the tears from pouring over. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and giggled like a schoolboy.
Suddenly, nothing else but you mattered in the moment. He looked down at his untouched scone and slid the plate closer to you—a sweet and silent offering.
“Y-Y/N, you’re too good to me… do you… could we match too?”
authors note: this story was so fun to write! thanks for your support! lmk your thoughts in the comments! ♡⸜(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⸝♡
made by: sweetohmy on tumblr all rights reserved. do not steal, get inspired by, ai train, or repost my writing.
