𝑚 𝑒 𝑡 𝑎 𝑛 𝑜 𝑖 𝑎 // JJK x reader

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟏

"Is Toji the reason that you teamed up with the bad guys to steal from us, too?" You bit your lip, dreading the truth that was about to pass through them. "Yeah. They gave me a home when I didn't have one."

You locked eyes, the pain in his gaze resembling your own in too many ways.

"I lost a very important person when I decided I wanted my life to be different...," you rambled on, "... and it really fucking hurt. But our goals were not the same. Our life was going in two different directions."

Gojo was facing the ground now, fully immersed into his own thoughts – the images of his best and only true friend never blurring even once in these years that they spent apart.

When you spoke those words, they could have been his own. All the years that they spent together and everything they went through – It was all burned into his mind.

Even the last moments, the last words that Suguru Geto spoke to him resonated within him, still after such a long time.

You noticed the absence of any response from the usually cheerful person that was sitting next to you, and looked down on his slumped figure beside you.

"I know what you're talking about." This was the only thing that he could mutter out, his eyes filling with tears that he didn't want to shed. He didn't want to think about it anymore and he wanted to erase the things that he felt in that moment.

He cleared his throat, blinked away the remains of his watering eyes and sat up again – sighing heavily once more.

You were curious why he was acting so vulnerable all of a sudden, not coming back with any sassy comment or anything. As he looked up, your eyes set on his and you knew that his behavior was the result of pushing down emotions that were buried deep inside him.

His eyes told the story of a man that was hurt – deeply.

You didn't want to press on, though, and even though you were open to hear his story – The more important thing was to find out where Toji could have hidden your watch.

Remaining in silence for a while, sitting between the trees and listening to the rushing traffic near you, you began to see a side of him that you didn't know even existed. Gojo stayed quiet – not even a word left his lips and you both just stared to the sky, to the stars that slowly appeared and started to twinkle.

You were astonished that so suddenly, his personality changed so drastically to his usual demeanor and you knew that – even though he was still an annoying person – you both shared pain that no one understood. The kind of pain that connects people.

"I know I'm in no place to demand or request anything from you all since you showed such kindness when I came back," you carefully spoke again, "But I want to get back what rightfully belongs to me."

His head turned towards you, and you felt his eyes on you but your gaze didn't waver from the sky as you adored the stars in the distance – forgetting all the noise around you.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know how I could even try to help you with that." he sighed, weariness lacing his voice by now.

You grumbled, pulling your coat tighter because the cold wind seethed through the crevices that didn't cover your body well enough and made you shiver. "If you're cold, we can start walking or I can take you home."

Home.

Was it?

He noticed your hesitance, but what he didn't know was that it wasn't because of his flirty comment, it was more because you knew it really was your home now. There was nowhere else you could go to.