𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐒 (𝓖𝓸𝓳𝓸 𝔁 𝓑𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻)

.｡*♡ Masquerade .｡*♡

word count: 3,071

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The pair wandered through the downtown area of Saitama. The grey cement had been initially covered in an array of colorful leaves, yet the constant encounters of shoes had ground the foliage up into small bits as passersby crossed the streets. Satoru and y/n had taken the train for a small session of apple picking, filling their accounted baskets with the ripe red fruits until they could no longer. One of the elderly woman had to politely ask Gojo to return a few of the apples, explaining that the fruit he'd keenly stuffed into his jacket couldn't be taken home.

"Your boyfriend is quite the handful, isn't he?" she had said in acknowledgement to y/n as Satoru went elsewhere with his abundance of apples.

Y/n looked at the woman on account of her using the word "boyfriend," to describe the sorcerer, trying to ignore how flustered she grew. She took a second longer than necessary to reply, prompting the elder to smile. In return, y/n gave a tentative shrug.

There was no point in correcting her anyway, right?

"Yes," she said elsewhere, her heart fluttering for whatever reason. "Yes he is."

At the end of their harvest, they had decided against bringing the several apples home, opting instead to hand them out to hungry looking children searching for candy. Satoru had then purchased two candied apples and a hearty mug of apple cider that was, according to y/n, the best she'd ever tasted.

It did well at keeping her warm, though the blissful feeling was cut short the moment a gust of wind caught her off guard. It had been foolish of her to not wear a jacket over her costume, but the magic of the night had caught her up in it's excitement.

Y/n felt a heavy material drape itself onto her shoulders and realized it was Satoru's jacket a moment later.

"Bruhhh," y/n started with a smile. Her e/c eyes met his diamond colored gaze. "I know how much you hate the cold, don't try to act like you're not freezing."

"Eh, I can manage," he replied, flexing his now bare arms. "Besides, I know you like the view."

"I feel like you're trying to get a rise out of me, Shades."

"Is it working?"

"Nope."

Y/n tried to remove the jacket from her shoulders again, but Satoru quickly insisted on giving it to her.

"If you try to give it back, I'll be upset for the rest of the night," Satoru said, pretending to slouch into a dramatic pout.

Y/n, stifling a laugh at his annoyance, clasped a hand over her lips. "Sounds like a you problem."

"So cruel," Gojo whined. In a final feat at prevention, he threw his arms around her, giving her a big bear hug so there was no way for her to remove the garment.

With a sigh, y/n pried him off of her- though the coat remained on her shoulders much to Satoru's delight.

She chose to ignore his excitement, not wanting her acknowledgment on his... feelings to make the night awkward. She knew that he liked her. Well, what he knew of her. There were times that y/n felt a faint disconnect with Satoru given the fact that they both had not revealed details of their pasts, only obliging in giving the other pieces to a puzzle of history that had the potential of going unsolved. It was that fear of scaring him away that kept everything from coming together. It bubbled up and revealed itself in those moments where only Satoru remained on her mind, thoughts of calling him up on lonely nights- or the temptation to look back when he stared at her for a bit too long, his pink lips partially open, his covered eyes trained on hers.