For You, My Life.

Moth To A Flame

The cane leaned against a corner in Satoru's bedroom collecting dust, like a relic of a past Suguru endured to bring him to the present. A symbol of change- the gift Satoru had given in the form of some token of independence in the house they continued to share.

Over the few weeks, Suguru had been able to ditch it fully, only using it some rare nights when he had really pushed the limit while Satoru was gone on multi-day missions with the bloom of springtime.

Typically Satoru preferred when Suguru took it easy, pulling on the reins when he would push his healing body too much. It wasn't a bad thing, he just cared. Suguru knew that, but how was he supposed to get stronger if he wasn't working himself? If he sat around the house all day and only did as Satoru said, he'd still be frail and tiresome, dependent on medications and 'tomorrows.'

With the uptick of curses during this time of year, Satoru was finding himself on longer missions. Leaving Suguru to take advantage of this time, this loneliness, specifically when they were over a span of twelve hours. It provided an opportunity for Suguru to reach those limits- a chance for him to explore what worked with his body and what didn't without Satoru pulling out those doctor's notes to argue.

Because in truth, Suguru felt like he'd become stagnant with Satoru's game plan. It wasn't on purpose, he didn't blame the snowy haired man. It just wasn't enough.

The mirror became his worst enemy, the cane only second to it. Even if his mind had better days. He reminisced of the way his chest and leg used to look before he was bed bound and dosed, before night after night of eating take-out ravaged his body and altered his taste buds. Regardless of the arm, he'd lost a considerable amount of weight in his torso, limbs, and core. The stone-carved abs he arrived here with were smoothed out, and the muscle in his pecs no longer created a valley between them like that of a god. If anything, the small mountain range of scarring was the newest addition to his physique, it crossed over paths of healed scar tissue that Toji had etched years ago. The whole thing a topographic map laid out on a table- a story to be inferred from then to now by each line of white flesh.

With spring in the air, and the long days Satoru spent working, Suguru honed in on his physique so that by the time Satoru had even noticed, Suguru had created a routine of sorts that blended right into their daily habits.

Like this morning, Suguru woke early to get a good stretch in and see what was next on his fitness journey. The instructor on YouTube already queued from the night before so that he could head out to Satoru's patio and begin to work his large frame. Today was a first of sorts since typically he did this when Satoru was gone- but he'd heard the diamond eyed man arrive in the early hours of the morning, surely mission accomplished and probably unable to sleep in whatever hotel the Jujutsu society put him in.

There he lay on the hardwood floor outside the bedroom. Just like Suguru had found him countless nights through the last two months. Suguru assumed March would be no different.

Stubborn, he thought.

"Please get in bed for me?" Suguru had crouched and whispered, lifting up a layer of silky white bangs to reveal gorgeous ivory lashes.

Suguru would often find him on the floor like this. But it was consistently in the middle of the night. The sound of those child-like footsteps with the weight of a grown man settling down in the hall would wake him, aware and ready as if it were his little girls roaming around the temple. Suguru nearly always peeked at least one charcoal eye open for it, patiently waiting for Satoru to fall back asleep at the least. Though, Satoru would always be gone by morning. Sneaking off to the couch at the crack of dawn and pretending like it never happened in the first place.

The two never talked about it, like the whole thing was taboo- in fact, Suguru was pretty sure that Satoru was unaware of his awakened state in those midnight meetings. It made him wonder what the six eyes of the Gojo clan were focusing on, if not Suguru himself.