as we walk ; geto suguru

Unknown

content warnings: mentions and flashbacks of love-bombing (if you have been a victim of this and have been heavily affected by it, please read with caution)

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Mei Mei's eyebrows raise. Utahime's jaw drops. Megumi's mother stops drinking her wine. Nagi's cracker with cheese never makes it into her mouth. Shoko's vape pen falls from her lips. Nitta's eyes bulge out of her sockets.

"Repeat that?" Nagi asks.

You turn away worriedly and take a sip from your wine. "He... asked me to be his date for the wedding..."

Shoko picks up her pen and inhales heavily, still not removing her intentful brown eyes from you. "And what did you say?"

The wine has lost its coldness, you've noticed. You fall silent.

"You said yes, didn't you?" Mei Mei prods. Biting your lip, you nod wearily which earns shrieks from the women who were currently having a girl's-night-out at Mei Mei's place with a typical charcuterie board and wine as a soap opera plays in the background. The men were out babysitting their kids and you had dropped off Nanako at Geto's earlier.

"Oh my God, (Y/N) that's wond—" Megumi's mother begins but you cut her off quickly.

"No! It's not anything like that! Nope, listen to me first!!" you scold them and they all fall silent with bright eyes and gleaming smiles.

The memory of September's encounter with Geto at Nanako's birthday party starts playing in your mind like a movie, not a second of it being left forgotten. You've debated whether you should bring up this topic for around two months now but you didn't know how the girls would react to it. They've taken the news well, but it's merely just scratching the surface of it before you explain more of the situation. It'll probably dissipate their glee, you think.

"... huh?"

"I'm asking you to be my date to the wedding," Geto says calmly.

You blink. "Repeat that?"

He repeats it in the same manner as the first two. You really don't want to ask him a third time, but you need to process what you're hearing first before you can try to understand what Geto was conveying to you.

"I'm asking this for a good reason, don't worry," he laughs, noticing your blank stare.

What other reason could there possibly be for asking you to be his date? You start fiddling with your fingers.

"I was checking out the hotel rooms from the hotel that Nanami mentioned. Apparently, the cost of two single rooms is a lot higher than a double room and I figured if we could share one together it'd be less costly for them. With two beds of course."

Oh.

Your mind and heart go numb for a minute and it takes a while until you snap back into reality. So he wasn't doing this out of romantic intent. He was doing this for the sake of Nanami and Gojo. Shouldn't you be relieved? Did you genuinely want him to take you out as his date? No, you both are friends and nothing more.

It takes you a while before you find your voice again and you want to stab yourself in the thigh with that plastic knife that you just threw away when you hear your voice crack.

"O-oh, yeah! Sure! That can be arranged!" you toss out with a smile you're sure he's noticed is too fake.

"Great!" Geto exclaims. He bought the act. "I'll tell Gojo and Nanami, is that alright?"

You don't even have time to say an agreement as you watch Geto jog towards the engaged couple who were currently trying to get Yuuji out of a tangle of hula hoops.