Drowning in Cold Blue Devotion

Chapter 5: Folie à deux: The madness shared by two

You're groggy, still comfortably in the arms of a deep sleep although you can feel awareness trying to creep back in. You try to stay there, nestled comfortably in a warm, soft shelter in between sleep and wakefulness, distantly aware of the sounds of someone talking. Your mind is able to process the sounds only a little, but enough that it knows it must be a television or something of that nature.

You bury your face against your nice warm pillow, inhaling the soothing and safe aroma around you and start to drift back off. You can feel something, or rather someone, gently stroking your head, strong fingers coiling through your hair and lovingly caressing you.

Groggy with half sleep confusion, you crack open your eyes not sure why you're being touched. You're greeted with the sight of Satoru Gojo's face above you, his eyes focused forward and his face lit with blues from a television screen in the otherwise dark room. You're looking up at him and that's when you realize your warm, nice smelling pillow is his lap.

Bleary with sleep and still processing your current situation as you shift back to wakefulness, you shut your eyes and try to take stock of what's real and what was a dream. You assess your body and find yourself to be still possessing all fingers and toes, laying on a couch wrapped in a blanket, though apparently completely nude underneath it. Something warm and heavy is across your stomach and you're lying on your back, face up with your head resting in Gojo's lap. You feel tired, extremely worn down and almost as though you've gotten over the flu or some illness. Your body feels heavy and you relax and go still again, just trying to think and remember draining you even further.

Gojo gently runs a thumb over your forehead, soothingly stroking your brow. You peel one heavily lidded eye back open to find him looking down at you with a soft smile.

Noticing you're awake, Gojo's smile widens a bit further and he lifts his other arm to mute whatever he has going on TV without breaking eye contact with you. Gojo's voice is quiet and kind, softer than you've ever heard him speak but still sounds quite smugly amused, "Well good morning to you, huh? Or should I say, welcome back. You were out for quite awhile."

"Good morning." You echo back tiredly, yawning before you finish the words and burying the side of your face against the shirt covering his stomach.

Why is he always clothed while keeping you naked? You add that to the growing list of questions you can't seem to fully recall at the moment. You imagine it's probably a power dynamic thing, but you'd love to hear his take on it.

"Still tired huh? That's to be expected. I really did a number on you." Gojo says with pride, though whether that pride is directed at you, himself, or both you're not sure.

When you don't move or make any effort to engage with him further, you hear the volume return on the TV. The thick pad of Gojo's thumb continues to softly trace along your brow, tracing the path of your brow from the middle of your face outward towards your temple again and again.

You both stay that way for a few minutes, you can hear whatever TV show he has on in the background, but it's all distant white noise to you. Instead you focus on listening to his heart with your ear pressed to his stomach. The relaxed beat of it is soothing, even if your whole body aches badly.

"How are you feeling?" Gojo asks, tracing a thumb over your lips.

You don't open your eyes or move your head to respond. Your throat feels a little sore, probably from all the crying out one way or another you've done in the last day. "Tired."

"Well that's a given. I meant are you in any pain? Hurting anywhere?" Gojo asks, pressing the tip of his thumb to your lips. "Don't keep anything from me, or lie to me. It's important you're honest about this. I won't be upset with you as long as you tell me the truth."