Failing For You - Gojo x Reader

Chapter 26

Gojo and I sit across from each other in the campus café. My hands are wrapped around the hot coffee in front of me, warming them. It's finally the end of summer. The air outside is now cool and biting and this is the first day I've had to wear a jacket outside. I love the change of weather, but I feel a little bad for Gojo because he only has the sweatshirt he wore to my apartment last night. He swore he wasn't cold though.

"How's the coffee?" He asks, taking a sip of his own.

"Really good," I grin at him. "Thanks for buying it for me."

It's strange. I feel like some lovestruck newlywed after last night. Like everything is a more bright and sparkly than usual. My mood is soaring.

"No problem," he says casually, a small smile on his lips.

"So..." I draw out the word. "The specifics of our...arrangement."

He nods. "Yeah. I told Geto last week after the whole Utahime incident. He thinks we're fucking idiots."

I snort, taking another sip of coffee. "Rightfully so, probably."

"But he's obviously willing to play along," Gojo says.

"Good," I nod. "The Lit. prof was trying to ask me about you in a really roundabout way in class the other day. It was so awkward. I guess the faculty knows now too."

"Yeah, they do," he sighs. "Utahime is a PhD candidate and super present in the English literature department. She's always been a gossip so it isn't very surprising. Everyone's been asking me about you."

"I thought you took her spot for the graduate program or something by? How is she still in the department?" I ask. It's still super unclear what happened between Gojo and Utahime...and Geto too. I think about the white-haired woman's words as well. I feel close to Gojo...but I honestly don't know that much about him still.

"Oh yeah, that," he rubs a hand over his jaw. "I forgot you were eavesdropping on that entire conversation."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever. Just tell me what she was talking about."

"She was in the same major as me during undergrad so I sort of knew her from afar...We met at a party one time and she was really interested in Geto. They went out and started dating. Everything seemed normal for a long time. I began to hang out with her more in class because she was always at the apartment and I was used to seeing her around. When grad applications came around senior year, we applied to mostly the same shit, but we both really wanted to stay here and do the same program. I think that's sort of where the resentment started. She would always ask me about my family and financing and how I was paying for school. It turned...weird, like a competition or something. I don't really know anything about her family, but she was always overly interested in mine. I heard from Geto that she would ask about my applications. And not just normal, general interest. It was like...what I wrote in my personal statement and she also asked to see my CV and shit. Geto was starting to feel uncomfortable too and he ended things. After that, she just openly hated me. She definitely blamed me for the breakup."

I digest his words. "She sounds like quite the psycho."

"She actually wasn't bad at all for the longest time. I don't really understand what happened. I didn't really care about competing with her. When I got into the graduate program here on the best scholarship, she was pissed. She and Geto had broken up by then, of course, but I heard from other people in the department that she talked a lot of shit about me and my family. She started rumors back then too about how I didn't deserve it and only got in because my family is well-off. I tend to not care what people say about me though. I let it roll off my back because it takes too much effort to get mad about that sort of thing."