You didn’t know Gojo was an artist. He kept swearing that he wasn’t but he’d taken the time to paint the ceiling of the nursery. It took him a week to do it and it looked like baby’s first Sistine chapel. There were simply no religious undertones. There were only beings who soar through the sky: Birds, butterflies, and other vibrant insects. It was truly beautiful. He stood every day with a little bandana over his head to keep paint from getting in his hair. He played music, but never so loudly you could hear it loudly throughout the house, but coming in from work you would hear his music and know that he was painting. At the end of the week and once the nursery had aired out the two of you sat inside trying to think of baby names.
“Hoshi, for star, or maybe Hoshiko,” he said, writing out the kanji for you. You were grateful that he shared it with you, but you did not understand the significance beyond a baseline understanding that the same name could have different Kanji and therefore have different meanings.
“Hoshiko… I like Hoshi as a middle name.”
“You want to give her a second name?” Gojo asked.
“Why not? I like long names. They feel elegant.”
“Well I was gonna offer up Miyu next, I think Hoshi Miyu or Miyu Hoshiko is nice.”
“Mm put Miyu Hoshiko on the list. That sounds sweet. What about Celeste? You went through the trouble of painting the heavens on the ceiling of her room, we might as well honor it.”
“Oh, I like Celeste and Celine for that matter.”
“Those are pretty,” you sighed, and tried putting names together, “Celeste Gojo, Celine Gojo-”
Gojo sat up a little, “You’re giving her my last name?”
You turned to look at him a little confused by his surprise, “Uh… I was going to. Is that a problem? I just assumed since you’ve been calling her baby Gojo.”
“I was just fucking around, and I had to call her something. I didn’t know how you felt about giving her my name. I mean it’s not like we’re married.”
“Hm, well, if you were a deadbeat I’d give her my last name, but I feel like you’ve earned it. Besides, your last name is connected to a sizable net worth. I only want the best for her.”
Gojo snorted, “What about Celeste Hoshiko Gojo then, since you like long names?”
“Oh, put that on the list, that’s good.”
“Akemi is another one for a perfectly beautiful little girl.”
You hummed, “And she could be Kemi for short. I knew a girl named Kimmie in school and she was so sweet…” you said.
“Mm, a woman named Kim once keyed my car.” Gojo said thoughtful.
“I’m sure you deserved it.”
He shrugged, “Debatable. I’m never going to call her Kemi if we name her Akemi.”
The two of you stayed like that in the nursery for a long time, just spouting of names for the baby. The two of you accrued a sizable list, and then started crossing off and combining names as you saw fit. He suggested naming your baby Arwen, and you had to toss him a look. Nothing against Lord of the Rings, you just weren’t naming your baby that.
“Celine Hoshiko Gojo,” you hummed.
“I really like that one.” Gojo admitted before writing it on the list, “I think we’ll know once we see her. Girls named Celine have a special something about them. We’ll know if she’s a Celine.”
You laughed, “Did you date a Celine, Satoru? Because if that’s the case the name is off the table.”
He rolled his eyes, “I wouldn’t give my baby the name of an ex. I just think it’s a good name.”
You smiled a little thinking about calling your baby by her name, cooing at her, and telling others her name with pride. Your little Celine or Celeste, or maybe Hoshiko after all. You didn’t know. Maybe Gojo was right and you would just know when you saw her for the first time. You were rubbing your stomach absently, a habit you took up now that your belly was so round and in the way that there was no way you were getting off the floor without Gojo’s help. He’d protested you sitting down here in the first place but the rug you two got for this room is so soft. The nursery is mostly furnished. There’s a rocker that’s supposed to come in any day now, and the drawers and things are mostly empty save the little things you and Gojo have purchased on a whim. You’ve been disciplining both your and Gojo’s spending on the small stuff that people might get for the baby shower, which happens next week, right as you enter your eighth month.
While you were rubbing your belly the baby kicked. The kicking wasn’t new, she was always playing soccer with your internal organs, what was notable about this kick was that you felt it in your hand.
“Oh!” you gasped and Gojo turned to look at you, eyes searching you for injury. You looked at him with wide eyes.
“Give me your hand!”
“What?”
You just grabbed his wrist and put it where your hand was. He looked at you confusedly but then she kicked again and his jaw dropped as he scrambled to right himself.
“Does that hurt?” Gojo asked after a moment.
“No, well mostly no. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable, but usually it just feels weird.”
“Whoa, which name do you like, huh baby Gojo? Are you a Hoshiko? Or maybe a Miyu? Miyu Hoshiko? Celeste… Celine? A-” there was another kick, and Gojo looked up at you, “I think she likes Celine.”
“We’ll know when she’s born,” you said indulgently. Of course, this meant he spent the rest of the day with his hand on your belly, waiting for her to kick again. She moved more when the two of you were talking. Particularly when Gojo said something loud or laughed.
“She’s telling you to shut the fuck up,” you joked, and you laughed harder when Gojo’s jaw dropped in offense.
“Don’t be mean to me like your mama, sweetie. My heart can’t take it,” he crooned to your belly.
“Please, don’t act like such a victim.”
“Iam. I’m a victim to your cruel ways!”
“Shut up!” you rolled your eyes.
Things with Gojo were just as easy as they had been from the beginning. He was always at your house now, which didn’t bother you. You were too big to see your toes, and you couldn’t bend down to pick up anything. It was convenient to just yell Gojo’s name when you dropped your phone or the remote. He pretended to be annoyed and maybe he was but he never treated you badly for it. The symptoms of your pregnancy were beginning to wear on you. Morning sickness was mostly over, though sometimes after eating you felt like you might be sick but it always passed. However, your hormones were a completely different beast. Most times it was funny. Like on one of your late night craving runs with him, you broke down crying because the two of you got stuck at a red light on your way to the grocery store. It really broke your heart.
“Baby, are you crying?” he asked when he looked over at you.
“I just want some goddamn pineapples,” you hiccuped, “Why is the light red?”
“Do you want me to run the light?” he giggled, “I’ll do it?” He revved his engine.
“No! That’s breaking the law. We just have awful luck.”
“Come on light, you’re making my baby cry. Turn green already.”
It turned green a few seconds later and you couldn’t help laughing at the absurdity of your tears. You kept having little spells like that, where all of a sudden you were so horribly sad that you couldn’t hold back your tears. Sometimes you were able to laugh it off with Gojo, sometimes his mirth made it worse.
“What are you crying about now, mama?” he demanded as he walked into the front room. You were crying because the remote went under the couch.
“Just leave me alone,” you huffed, falling over to the side so that you could sulk while lying down on the sofa.
“Don’t be like that.”
“I feel like you’re making fun of me. I know this is nothing to cry about, but I just can’t help it. My back hurts all the time and my emotions are all over the goddamn place and I HATE the way you just stand over me! Sit down somewhere!”
“Now you’re mad because I’m tall?” Gojo laughed.
“And you’re laughing at me! You don’t take anything seriously.”
“Because you’re hormonal. You’ll get over it. Now, don’t forget to add swollen ankles to your list of problems. They look like a busted can of biscuits.”
“Fuck you! You can go home.”
He sighed, “How long do you think this fit of yours is going to last?”
This was a trait you loathed in Gojo. He was too cavalier, too tongue-in-cheek. He had no idea when to be gentle and just allow you to be upset. Janelle was used to the moodswings your hormones caused, you were naturally kinda moody, but the influx of hormones and a unique lack of sleep was exacerbating that trait. To be fair, Janelle was a mental health professional. Gojo was not. In fact he was the reason lots of people needed mental health professionals. He touched your thigh and you kicked at him.
“If you don’t like my attitude you can go home, Satoru. No one is holding you hostage here.”
“You’re serious right now?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at you.
“As a heart attack! I don’t feel good and you are actively making it worse.”
“I’m trying to help you.”
“Well you’re not helping! You’re not helping at all, so please go home. I can handle this on my own, I don’t need you hovering around me.”
“Fine, be like that. See if I give a damn.”
“Don’t worry, I know you don’t.”
He rolled his eyes, “When you get your shit together, call me.”
“Fuck you, Satoru.”
He just left. There were more moments like this. The first couple of times it was easy for him to just shrug it off. You were pregnant, and you always wound up calling him to come back, but the last time you didn’t call, and he wasn’t sure you would call this time. Maybe you were getting sick of him. He couldn’t tell. When things were good, they were really good, but when you were in a mood it was like you hated him. He’d talked to Shoko about it, because it was something he could not talk to Gojo about.
“Stop being selfish. She’s got your mutant baby crushing her internal organs. I’d hate you too.”
“Shoko, that’s not helping.”
“Well, it’s the truth. She’s 8 months pregnant. She’s always uncomfortable. And at the end of all of this, she gets this screaming, messy, totally dependent baby to take care of and it wrecks her body on the way out. Maybe you earned the hatred. Maybe you should apologize for the fact that her hormones are all out of whack.”
“I’m not apologizing, I didn’t do anything wrong. She’s acting crazy.”
“Maybe so, but it’s just the hormones. She’ll get over it.”
How many times was he just supposed to take you cursing him out for even looking in your direction? He missed the second trimester more than ever. You were always under his arm then, saying sweet things to him. He wondered if that was all just the byproduct of hormones too. Maybe after this baby you really wouldn’t be able to stand him. He could never tell if you truly felt anything for him. So he had kept his mouth shut about it for the most part. Even though he took you out to dinners where he expected you to get dolled up, the two of you spent almost every day together without arguing.
When you called him a few hours later he elected not to answer. He wasn’t going to reward your emotional outbursts. He figured you’d call him back in a few minutes anyway. It is what every other woman did when he gave them a taste of just how far away he could be.
You did not call back.
And when he swung by the house later you were not home. He wondered what the hell you could be doing.
He asked you as much when you came back the next morning. You looked at him with a deep frown, “I went over to Janelle and Kento’s.”
“And you were there all night?”
“And if I wasn’t, then what?”
“I am trying to be patient with your little emotional outbursts but you are impossible.”
“Well then you should be happy that I was someone else’s problem. No one asked you to be up my ass 24/7.”
“I am trying to help-”
“I don’t need help! I got it! I’m not some helpless chick who needs you to be around me all the time to function. That might be a novel concept for you, Satoru, but I promise you I can exist without you.”
“Great! I’m glad. I’m over the fucking moon that you don’t need anyone for anything. You can continue to be a lonely bitter woman-”
“I am not bitter! I’m angry! You come in here like I owe you a fucking explanation about where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing. I called you! I called you and you ignored my call. Anything could have been happening to me. What you wanted, though was for me to sit and blow up your phone like one of your stupid hoes but I’m not that! If I need something you better believe I’ll get it done with or without you! You’re an option of many! Don’t you ever in your life forget that. I’m not one of your little hoes.”
Gojo huffed a humorless laugh. After all this time that’s really all you thought of him. He nodded, “Cool. You should keep calling whoever the fuck it is you’ve got on back up.” With that he turned away and left.
It took longer than it should have for you to realize you were being unreasonable. The truth was when you called him last night you felt really sick. It hadn’t occurred to you to call someone else. You just called Gojo whenever you were going through something baby related, it was what he told you to do and up until now he was reliable. However, perhaps he was mad at you. He had a right to that much. You were constantly angry these days for reasons that were beyond your own ability to understand. Maybe it was just because you were always uncomfortable, and you felt heavy all the time, and your boobs hurt and they were itchy. The sparkling fun part of pregnancy seemed to be over and you were simply suffering under the weight of carrying a child. Or maybe as you entered you were getting closer to your due date it was settling in that the pregnancy was the easy part. Pregnancy was the easy part and that was hard for you. Parenting was the hard part, late nights taking care of an infant, having a vulnerable baby relying on you for everything. You were scared, and you just pushed away your help.
You called Janelle, because she was much better at conflict resolution than you were. It was the weekend and you felt a little bad about crashing whatever she and Kento were up to… again. You’d gone over to their place last night when you weren’t feeling well and Gojo didn’t answer. She picked up after a couple of rings.
“Yes, my love,” she answered dreamily.
“Can I come over?” you cried into the phone.
“Oh it sounds like we should come over there… wait is this a crisis that Kento can help in actually it doesn’t matter he’s already going to the car. We’ll be there in a second.”
This was the upside of being right around the corner from them. You didn’t mind the fact that Kento came along. He was soothing in all of his worry over you, like the big brother you never had. It might have been nice to have had someone looking out for you when you were younger. Your mom did her best but she couldn’t be in two places at once. There were times when you needed her and she just wasn’t available to you. If you’d had a father that wanted anything to do with you, that would have been your other option. All your life your only other option was to handle it on your own. When things got tough, you had to get tougher. You didn’t resent your mother for that, but you didn’t like it either. You didn’t want to do this alone. Not anymore.
Janelle and Kento came over and Janelle was immediately engulfing you in a hug while Kento went straight over to set up your kettle. You assumed he had the perfect tea blend to calm you down, because he always did.
“What’s going on?” Janelle asked, and her hand rested on the side of your belly, “Is everything alright with the baby?”
“Yeah, I’m just… Satoru and I got into a fight and I feel bad because I’m just emotional right now and I said some things that were harsh.”
“He’ll get over it. He ignored your call last night,” Nanami said swiftly, “He deserved far worse. Anything could have been wrong with you, and he was sulking like a petulant child. You’re too far along for him to be acting this way. The stress isn’t any good for the baby.”
“But I started it,” you argued, “I got angry and defensive because he asked where I was last night.”
“If he answered your call he wouldn’t have to wonder. If he was worth anything at all the two of you wouldn’t have this weird pseudo-relationship going on. I have never in my life understood how he can see what he wants and not cease it.”
“We’re not like that, Kento. Gojo doesn’t see me like that. I’m just some chick who got knocked up.” You said miserably. You missed how sharply Nanami turned around to glare at you. When you weren’t looking he met eyes with Janelle who nodded.
“Babe, you are not some chick. Any man would be lucky to have you. You’re smart, you’re successful, you’re the most caring person I know. And not to mention you’re drop dead gorgeous. Everyone knows that about you. Gojo is no exception. I mean look he’s an idiot but he cares about you and it’s obvious that he wants to take care of you. I don’t really know what the hold up is on him asking you out, but I know there’s something special between the two of you.”
“Fine but what if I just ruined it.”
“You’re not ruining anything. He’ll be back, and you can apologize for hurting his feelings. All you can do now is make amends and try to be better. Nobody is perfect, and I wish you would extend more grace to yourself.”
“Nobody’s perfect but I feel like I have to be all of the time. I fucked up and got pregnant, I’m supposed to have this planned out, and I’m supposed to be put together. I can’t just lash out at people and expect them to come back. And I’m usually in better control.”
“Do you really still consider all of this a fuck up… and if so, is that how you’ll tell this story to your baby? Will you tell them that they were a fuck up?” Janelle asked you.
You stared at her with wide eyes. Janelle knew that your mother never made it a secret that you were the biggest pitfall of her life. She sugarcoated it, sandwiched it between flowery language but the message was clear. Children ruin your life, and you ruined hers. That is not how you wanted your child to grow up.
You shook your head, “No. They’re not a fuck up. Not planned but… definitely not the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Then hold your head up. You got a little emotional. This is the one time you get a free pass. Just make amends okay? When you feel like you’ve got your emotions under control give him a call and ask to talk.”
Nanami came over with a mug of tea and set it in front of you. You picked it up and you thanked him. He sat on your other side before bumping your shoulder lightly once your tea was on the table again.
“It pains me to say this… but I’m quite sure Satoru is fond of you. I don’t always understand his actions, and I do not respect him and therefore believe you could do better… but you could also do a whole lot worse. Plus, you haven’t gotten a new car yet. Don’t cut him loose so soon.”
“You know what we should do,” Janelle gasped, “We should go to the multicultural fair tonight! It’s been going on all week downtown. I’ve been meaning to ask if you wanted to go.”
“That sounds like fun. Kento, are you coming?”
He shook his head, “No I’ll take this as a chance to do some reading in peace. Besides, we share joint custody of Janelle and you’ve been missing your weekends.”
All you could do is laugh at that. You heard Janelle kiss her teeth, “Count your days, Kento.”
“I have been since the moment I met you. I’m counting each one so I never take them for granted.”
You turned in time to see Janelle smile and turn away.
“Nice save,” you whispered to him, putting up your fist for a fistbump. He gave you one with a small smile.
Gojo was moping. He went back to his house but it didn’t feel like home at all. It was sickening just how quickly he’d gotten used to being in a house with someone else. Not just anyone else, but you. You fussed at him but there was rarely any venom in your tone… except for today. Today was the first time in a long time that he was distinctly reminded that you weren’t his and he doubted that you wanted to be. Wherever you were last night, whatever you were doing you were content with the fact that it didn’t include him. Gojo remembered the night you both conceived your daughter nearly perfectly. He wasn’t going to go to Nanami’s New Year party. There were plenty of clubs for him to go to, clubs that Geto wanted to be at, but when Nanami let it slip that you would be there he rearranged all of his plans. The last time he saw you it had been at random. He was pestering Nanami and you came in with Janelle. You spared him a wave and a smile before you left back out. But that time, just like every time he got the urge to chase after you, to ask for your number, to get to know what was behind that smile and those comically large glasses that still suited your face. He went to Nanami’s New Year party which was a fancy kick back, held mostly outside. He watched you joke with the other people there, only to disappear inside of the house a few minutes before the count down. He could see you so clearly in his mind’s eye.
You were wearing a pale silver dress. It clung to your frame, pulled taught around your thighs and hips. It had a high neckline, giving the illusion of modesty but there was nothing modest about the curves of your body. He sat through men chatting you up all night. They were a few work colleagues of either Nanami or Janelle. They were perfectly palatable men. They were boring. They’d probably take you home for one round of lackluster missionary sex and expect you to pencil them into your whole life. He couldn’t let you settle for that, and all the same you seemed uninterested in settling yourself. He joined you inside when the party was at his rowdiest.
You stood in front of the sink with a wine cooler in your hand sipping at it idly. When he came in, you turned to look at him out of instinct. You smiled when the two of you met eyes. Your smile was utterly enchanting, and he sighed silently at the sight of it.
“I missed you out there already. Come on we’re the most interesting people here. You can’t leave me on my own,” he scolded you lightly, coming to stand opposite you, leaning against the kitchen island.
You scoffed, “Oh you don’t find the intricacies of NFTs diverting.”
“No, but the lecture that the square in the suit was giving you on cryptocurrency seemed awesome.”
“Oh God you caught that, why didn’t you save me?” you gasped with wide eyes.
He nodded laughing to himself, “Sorry about that. I was afraid he’d start talking to me. That’s why I came in. You don’t mind me hiding in here too right?”
“No, knock yourself out.”
He leaned against the kitchen island, looking at you, obviously undressing you with his eyes. He licked his lips before speaking again, “So where’s your date?”
“Date? I didn’t bring a date.”
“No date? You’re single then.”
“Yep,” you nodded, popping the “p”.
“That makes more sense, because I can’t think of a single person who could bear to let you leave the house dressed like that.”
“Something wrong with the way I’m dressed, pretty boy,” you smiled up at him, before taking a drink. He studied the way your lips looked against the smooth glass, they were beautiful.
“It’s driving me crazy. Where have you been all my life huh?”
“Well, when we first met I was still studying for my PharmD. These days I guess I’d rather just stay at home with a good book.”
“Ah, the bookworm type. What’s your number, bookworm? So I can get to know you better.”
You paused and you looked at him with those pretty eyes, they always had a twinkle of mischief in them like you were laughing at some personal inside joke. You seemed to think over his request and you gave him your number with a little shrug. The two of you talked for a while, longer than he usually talked to women he wanted to sleep with, you were just funny and you made all of these facial expressions while you spoke that made the things you said even more engaging. Before he knew it he heard the people outside start the countdown. You looked up at him and he knew what you were proposing in your gaze.
“Five!” He pushed off of the kitchen island, trapping you between himself and the kitchen sink.
“Four,” You set your drink down without looking away from him, eyes glued to one another.
“Three,” He put an arm around your waist pulling you close to him.
“Two.” Your hand was soft and warm, as you reached up to grab the back of his neck, fingers first trailing through the longer hair at the back.
“One.”
He leaned down and pressed his lips to yours, they were soft like cotton candy, and they tasted like the wine cooler you were just drinking and just like liquor on the tongue you were intoxicating. He was pulling you in tight against him, kissing you like it might be the last thing he ever did, getting drunk on your tongue and the soft sounds you made into his mouth. You kissed him back just as passionately, pulling him down to you even more as you carded your other hand through his hair. One kiss was never going to be enough, he realized, as his hands itched to pick you up and put you on the counter.
He pulled away, resting his forehead against yours.
“Wanna get out of here?” He breathed heavily, and he thought he might drop to his knees and beg if you took longer than a second to answer him.
“Yeah,” you nodded, emphatically before glancing over your shoulder at the party outside. You took your arms from around him and started pushing him towards the exit of the kitchen, “Let’s go,” you giggled. The sound of it made butterflies come to life in his stomach. He grabbed your hand and led the way outside. Fireworks went off overhead and he nearly made you fall over pulling you with him while you stopped to admire the show.
“Get your head out of the clouds, bookworm. My car is right over here.”
Gojo startled a bit as he heard his front door slam closed, “Satoru! I know you’re here! Why aren’t you answering my calls!” Geto demanded.
Gojo sighed heavily, “I must have dozed off what’s up?”
“You’re taking midday naps? Alright, dad.”
“You can call me daddy, sweetheart,” Gojo threw back before he looked at his watch. It was 5 PM. He really had dozed off. His smartwatch alerted him to Geto’s missed calls, and notably there were none from you. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk to you or not. He wasn’t sure he could stomach your nonchalance. It almost made him laugh just how switched the positions were. He was usually putting people through these emotions not feeling them. Maybe it was all karma.
“What the hell is up with you man? You look like you’re having a rough time.”
“I just woke up,” Gojo grumbled.
“Out with it. What happened?”
He sighed pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes, “Y/N and I had a fight.”
“Oh, I thought it was something important,” Geto said flicking his hair off of his shoulder nonchalantly, “the best way to get over one bitch is to get under another. Come on, let’s go.”
“Geto-”
“Shut up, thank me later. You let her make you forget how to have fun. Take the stick out of your ass and let’s go. If she doesn’t want you I guarantee there are a hundred more women that do. Get yourself together, I’ll be waiting downstairs.”
Gojo sat there for a moment. What did he have to lose? You two weren’t in love. You were two people having a baby. That’s what you always said. What was the harm in forgetting about it all? He’d see you tomorrow or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d wait for you to call him. You were right after all, you didn’t ask him to come over the way he did. He just wanted to be where you were. It was foolish on his part. That night was a fluke, and every night after that only happened because you were pregnant. There was really only this baby keeping you together. After you gave birth, there would just be visitations, meeting only to pass a child between the two of you. You would find someone else to take care of you. He tried to ignore the way that thought settled in his stomach like sour milk. He came downstairs dressed decently enough to go out.
Geto looked up and smiled, “Return of the Mack. Let’s fucking do this. We’re meeting the girls downtown. The same two from the club that one night remember. I’ve been hooking up with the dark haired one, Julie. Since you hit it off with the blonde so we’ll the other night I figured they were perfect. Her and her friend were going to the fair downtown. They could use a couple of handsome guys to show them a good time.”
“Let’s do this.”
It was sunset when you and Janelle got to the fair. There were rides in the middle of the bustling area, but you of course could not partake in such a thing. You walked with your hand on your stomach, idly fanning yourself as the last of the summer heat fizzled out to give way to the balmy night. The scent of the air was heavy with the scent of fried foods both sweet and savory and spices from all around. You and Janelle walkrd on the outskirts going from one stall to another getting foods to try and share. She held you close to her like she was a young gentleman escorting you. It was sweet.
“Thanks,” you said to her as you stabbed a takoyaki bawl with a toothpick.
“For the food?”
“No… well yeah, but for getting me out of the house. This is fun.”
“You know what’s so funny?”
“What?”
“You and Kento are the same person sometimes. I think that’s why he’s so protective of you. You two get fucked over a lot. You care about the small details as well as the big picture. But sometimes you get so caught up in the details you lose sight of just how small we are in the grand scheme of things. All in all, despite your fight today, you and Satoru have gotten along quite well.”
“I don’t want to talk about Satoru.”
“Fine, fine, but my point still stands. You’re 8 months pregnant, healthier than most, cuter than most too. I gotta say your little pregnant waddle is charming. You’ve got a lot to be happy for.”
“Yeah, I agree, “you chuckled as you thought to yourself, “I’m really making you earn this title of godmother.”
She laughed too, “I don’t mind it. I kinda figured me and Kento would get it. He would never forgive you otherwise.”
“Who else am I going to choose?” you scoffed.
“Oh, look, do you want to get your palm read?” Janelle called out, pointing to an upcoming booth.
“No, I’m alright with not knowing the future.”
“You don’t have to ask about the future,” Janelle pulled you over to the booth and put down her money, “Can we do a love reading for her?”
The woman at the booth appeared to be only a little older than you and she smiled when the two of you came up. You sat down in front of her booth with an indulgent smile to tell her you were willing to play along.
“Alright,” she said in a voice smooth and warm like honey, “Let’s see. Oh you have quite a long heart line.” She traced her fingers across your palm showing you the horizontal line that was curved upward, “There’s some chaining which indicates difficulties in the beginning but it curves all the way up towards your forefinger it indicates an abundance of love in your present or future. With good fortune and many beneficial opportunities. The outlook on your love life is bright, just give it time.” She smiled at you and you thanked her for her time.
“See?” Janelle said, “Good news! Maybe I’ll get to plan your wedding next.”
“You’re not planning my wedding.”
“You’re right, Satoru is too bossy. He kept trying to derail the baby shower. He wanted to rent out an entire conference hall at some luxury hotel.”
“I still think it’s weird you two talk so much.” You grumbled thinking of your baby shower in a little more than a week from now.
“You text Kento for his recipes.”
“You and Kento are married. That’s different. And we trade recipes. Plus, Kento and I are friends.”
“Okay so if we get divorced you’re gonna hang out with him?”
“You two are not getting divorced,” you rolled your eyes, “That man will let you do a lot of things, leaving him is not one of them. You locked in.”
“Fine, but hypothetically.”
You sighed, “Can we do split custody? Kento gives better dating advice than you.”
“You are so fake,” she laughed.
The blonde’s name was Esther, Gojo learned. He wondered why her parents named her that. Didn’t they care at all that that was a mean old woman’s name. He’d never name his daughter that. Esther laughed at anything Gojo said. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t his best material. He didn’t have to try with a woman like Esther. She was staring at him with blue eyes, waiting for him to be charming again. Blue eyes could be so cold. He thought the same thing about his own eyes when he paid attention to them. He was always a bit jealous of people with eyes like freshly turned earth, the kind of place where things could grow. Blue eyes reminded him of ice, a blustering tundra, cruel to even its most loyal creatures. Nevertheless, Gojo was charming again, he made her laugh again when you would have booed him.
“Fuckin’ corny!” he could almost hear you saying it.
Instead she laughed, “You are so funny.”
Gojo hummed, looking forward into the crowd. Yeah his whole life was a fucking joke. Someone ought to laugh at it, even if it was a bottle blonde with ice blue eyes, who was utterly unremarkable. That wasn’t fair. She was pretty. They were always pretty. She just wasn’t you. Gojo found himself annoyed with his own preoccupation so he threw himself into the conversation, and preened under the way she went moon eyed over him. Geto was right of course, there was no shortage of women who wanted him… there was a distinct shortage of women he wanted though. The list was short; it only had one name.
Geto and his date went on a ride. Gojo didn’t care to crunch himself into a roller coaster. Esther was eager to stay behind with him. He got her talking about herself. All the while he was in his own head wondering what he had to do to get rid of this feeling. There were plenty of fish in the sea right? So what if you didn’t want him, he knew that going in. He couldn’t be mad at you now. Besides, everything he gave to you, he did so freely. It was no big deal that you didn’t love him. He didn’t love you anyway. He’d kissed this woman at the club months ago. They were under the dark and he… he was pretending it was you but it wasn’t even convincing to him. They’d made out in the booth… and he’d felt nothing. But maybe it was just the setting and he hadn’t known anything about her then. It was fun then, right? He had fun. She was leaning into him now, her hand on his stomach, her gaze on his lips. She just wasn’t you. Not that you seemed particularly interested in him. You’d told him multiple times that the two of you were not together and came just short of saying you’d never be. Maybe Geto was on to something. He should take the hint and get ready to move on. After you had the baby you might choose to date other men. You hadn’t even agreed to fuck only him while you were pregnant. He really didn’t have any proof at all that you weren’t… he just didn’t think that you would. Plus you were with him all the time. But he’d done that before. He’d hung out with one woman a lot and been seeing plenty of others. He just let her believe what she wanted… were you doing that to him?
He wondered, while this woman kept talking, if he could move on if you chose to? Was he able to just cut off those emotions and just be the father of your child? So he tried. He decided to be charming, to make jokes, to be the version of himself that women liked. But notably not the version of himself he was with you. She bit her bottom lip as she leaned into him more. A kiss, that would tell him all that he needed to know.
It was getting late by your standards. The lights of the fair were beautiful but you were sleepy and your body was beginning to hurt from being on your feet. You told Janelle this much and the two of you started to walk towards the front entrance. You took out your phone as Janelle held your hand and led the way out. You checked to see if you had any missed calls. You did not. When you looked up again you saw a shock of white hair amidst the crowd in front of you. Your legs locked like a startled colt. Janelle stumbled a little to prevent from jerking you when you stopped following.
“What’s going on?”
You were staring at Gojo. There wasn’t another freakishly tall human being with white hair in the world you were sure of it and certainly not in this city. Still you just stood there waiting for him to get his mouth off of this random blond and hoping that out of some one in a million chance, there was another freak of nature in this city, with Gojo’s tattoos and his stupid, sexy mullet. But when he pulled back it was your idiot… or who used to be your idiot.
“Oh,” you breathed.
Janelle had followed your gaze too, and so she saw as he pulled away from that woman. You felt her hand squeeze yours as she tensed up for a moment. You didn’t think fast enough to grab Janelle. She was already walking through the stream of people going in the opposite direction.
“Satoru!” she yelled when she was close enough. You were able to grab her arm before she could hit him.
“Janelle! I just want to go home. Just take me home.”
“Fuck that!” she yelled, “Who the fuck is this?”
Your whole body was on fire with mortification. You could feel people looking at this altercation. You knew better. You knew better than this. This was not the kind of woman you were. You weren’t going to ask why… but you wanted to know. You wanted to know how long, if any of it was real, or if he’d been playing pretend for 8 months… but it didn’t really matter now did it?
You let go of Janelle. She was angry and you couldn’t move her not while you were pregnant. You looked up at Gojo and saw that he was looking at you with wide eyes. He opened his mouth, presumably to say something to you. You turned away as you felt your eyes fill up with tears. You weren’t that girl. You didn’t cry to a man who didn’t want you. That wasn’t you. You gripped Janelle’s arm again and pulled her harder. “Let’s go. He’s not worth the fucking time.” You growled at her and then you started walking away.
“Wait!” Gojo called after you, “Wait, Y/N, please wait.”
You did not turn back though you could hear him running after you. He grabbed your hand and you snatched away from him.
“Don’t touch me,” you said in a firm voice.
“Please hear me out.”
“Let me go!” you yelled at him, “I don’t give a shit. Go back to tongue fucking that bitch and hope she’s everything you fucking want. You know what no! I hope she gives you everything you deserve. Let me go!”
He stopped because you were upset, because you had your hand on your belly and you were upset and getting upset wasn’t good for the baby. Also Janelle looked milliseconds from swinging on him and for the sake of his friendship with Nanami he would have to let her hit him. Janelle put her arm around your shoulders and led you away. The sounds of the crowd swallowed up the sound quickly, but he could hear you crying, for just a couple of seconds. He just stood there… it hurt more than he thought it would to see you walk away from him. What the fuck was he doing?
He’d pulled away when he realized he was never going to feel anything from kissing Esther, that he only felt something when he pretended it was you. His stomach turned the moment he pulled away. Then he looked over her head, and met your eyes. Janelle was dragging you like a ragdoll behind her. The heartbreak in your eyes was palpable and echoed in his own chest just as quickly. He’d hurt you. He’d hurt you so badly that you were crying loudly enough for him to hear but only for a moment. Then you were gone.
“What happened?” Geto asked. His hair was a mess from the roller coaster and he was toting both women with him. Gojo tore his hands through his hair as he realized what he’d done, what was at stake.
“She was here. Y/N was here and she saw. Fuck, she saw,” he couldn’t even bring himself to say it. He felt sick. He felt honest to god sick, and he could hardly breathe. He could see the heartbreak in your eyes. However he thought you felt about him, he was wrong. He was so wrong and you were here with Janelle. Your friend took you out, probably because you’d been upset all day, just like him, but your friend didn’t tell you to get under someone new. She just spent the day with you.
“Fuck,” he wheezed, putting his hand over his chest.
“What happened?” Geto asked Esther.
“We were kissing and then this bitch and some pregnant lady started shouting at us,” she said, eyeing Gojo curiously.
Geto sighed, “Shit, well it’s not like you two are dating.”
It only made Gojo feel sicker. He turned to move towards the exit, the same way you and Janelle had gone. No, the two of you weren’t dating but he wanted to be. He wanted you, and he’d hurt you. He never wanted to see you like this. You might have run from him if you weren’t pregnant. You were pregnant with his child and you were due a month from now. Hell, your baby shower was in a week. You were so much more to him than just a woman he could date.
“Where are you going?!” Geto demanded.
“I need to talk to her!” Gojo called over his shoulder hurrying out.
Janelle held the steering wheel so tightly it looked like the bones of her knuckles might split the soft skin on her hands. She was silent and you were fighting to get your sobs under control, but you couldn’t stop. Once it started, it felt like this grief might last forever. She pulled up to her house and swiftly ushered you inside. The moment she got the door open Nanami looked up from his book. He had a glass of scotch in his hand and he set it aside immediately once he saw you both.
“What happened?” he demanded, and you wondered just how bad you looked.
“I’m gonna fucking kill that prick, Kento. I’m gonna beat his fucking ass until he takes his last breath! We were rooting for him! We were hoping he did the right thing.”
Kento hugged you, cradling the back of your head gently, “Gojo? What did he do?” He asked while slowly leading you to the sofa. You sat down, still under Nanami’s arm while he shushed you softly, rubbing your back.
“You’ll make yourself sick, please try to breathe,” he murmured to you while you ruined his shirt with snot and tears. Janelle was pacing, trying to dispel her anger. Nanami knew his wife’s temper well. It was rarely aimed at him, and never to this degree. He was genuinely concerned about what would happen if Janelle saw him on the street from this point on.
“He was kissing some blond bitch! He was literally there on a date with some other bitch!” Janelle said, “When I see him, I’m gonna mop the floor with his triflin ass!”
“Honey, I’m with you, 100% but we need to get her calmed down. This can’t be good for the baby.”
“Right. Right. I just fuck. I’m mad.” Janelle started taking deep breaths, “Y/N, baby, breathe with me.”
You tried to match her breathing but your breath kept stuttering with the force of your sobs. You hadn’t realized just how deep in you were until this very moment. You honestly thought that you had someone to rely on other than yourself… but the truth was the same as it always was. When life got tough, when you weren’t fun, you were on your own. You knew you had your friends but it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the same at all. You’d freely shared your body with him and the thought that at the same time he was seeing that woman, or any number of other women. It made you physically ill.
You lurched to your feet. Nanami let you go in surprise and you hurried to the bathroom to expel all of the food that you’d enjoyed at the fair. Janelle followed after you immediately. Nanami just reclined against the sofa for a moment, taking off his reading glasses and tossing them on the coffee table. He grabbed his glass of scotch and quickly swallowed the rest, then he set upon making tea for you. It was in the middle of this process that someone started knocking on the front door hard and nonstop. He had a good idea of who that was. Nanami sighed and went to the door.
Gojo stood on the porch of Nanami and Janelle’s house. Your car was out front so he knew you had to be inside. The door opened and Nanami stepped out, closing the front door behind him. Nanami looked less amused than normal.
“What do you want?” Nanami asked, looking up at him placidly.
“I need to talk to Y/N. I know she’s in there. I need to make this right.”
“You won’t be doing that tonight.”
“Nanami-”
“She has made herself sick crying. It’s not good for the baby, and if you go in there Janelle might throw a vase at your head. No one here wants to see you. Leave it alone.”
“But I-”
“What are you going to say to her that would make kissing someone else when you’ve been playing house with her for eight months make sense? What could possibly say that would fix this?”
Gojo floundered for a moment, he didn’t know what to say to you. He didn’t even have deniability. You’d seen him with your own two eyes.
“We’re not dating,” Gojo began.
Nanami scoffed, “She knows that already. And if that truly mattered to either of you, you wouldn’t be here right now. Gojo just face it. You did what you always do when things get hard, you went back to what was easy. I just pray you learn from this, because raising a child is hard, are you gonna take the easy way out on that too?”
“But what if- What if she doesn’t let me see my kid-”
“Honestly, I’m going to tell her to talk to a lawyer friend of mine to handle the custody battle. I’m going to tell her not to bother with more than every other weekend with you, and to be sure she gets the absolute most in child support physically possible. I’m going to tell her to bleed you dry. Have a nice night, Gojo. I hope it was worth it.”
Nanami went back inside and locked the door behind him.
Gojo hired movers to get all of your stuff from your apartment to the new house. It was done while you were at work. He assured you that before your things were moved in there were people who deep cleaned and made sure that house was ready for your things. By the time you got off of work Gojo was in the house. He was impressed by just how neatly labeled the boxes were. The last time he had to move he just tossed things in boxes and moved on. Since you labeled everything the movers put them in their respective rooms. Gojo put your bed back together for you so that at the end of this you would have someplace to sleep.
You walked into the house with your mother at your side. She called during your break and asked to see the new place. The two of you got dinner, and you were able to discuss the happier sides of a baby in the family. You were glad that you finally told her. In the end, both Janelle and Gojo had been right. You needed the support more than you realized. Obviously the place was bare looking, and you weren’t surprised to find that most of your stuff was centralized in the front room. Your apartment was pretty small. You were only one person after all. It always seemed unnecessary to get a bigger space when it was just you.
“Oooh this is nice,” your mom gasped, looking around the spacious room.
“It is, Satoru’s spoiling me.” It was easier to admit such things to your mother. Despite your occasional disagreements, she did know a part of you that no one else did. You hesitated to say that she knew you better than anyone, she simply had the longest knowledge of you. And now being pregnant yourself, you were beginning to understand the near implicit bond between mother and child.
“I’m really trying to understand why this boy ain’t my son in law.”
“Ma,” you complained, “First of all, I have to get a proposal for that to happen. I’m not getting down on one knee for a man. It’s not going to happen. Second, we are very amicable as we are. I don’t want to start any drama because things have been smooth sailing.”
“You don’t wanna rock the boat with me, mama?” Gojo asked as he came down the stairs. You shrieked in surprise whirling around to look towards the staircase. You hadn’t noticed his car out front and that thing was hard to miss. Maybe he’d parked in the garage.
Gojo came down wearing a white t-shirt and sweatpants, clothes that were conducive to unpacking stuff, it was just criminal that he looked so good in it. His biceps stretched the sleeves a little as he crossed his arms. You were making a conscious decision not to look at his sweatpants for too long.
“Satoru, I didn’t know you were here.” You said as you put your hand on your chest.
“I was just putting together some of your furniture so you would have a place to rest tonight if you didn’t want to come home with me,” he said casually, right in front of your mother.
Your face was on fire and you watched Gojo’s attention shift from you to your mother. You hurried to introduce them both and you refused to look at the curious pointed stares your mom kept giving the two of you. There was no way you were going to explain to her that despite all your words condemning the idea that you and Gojo were dating… you did sleep with him on occasion and even more confounding sometimes the two of you didn’t even have sex. Sometimes you really were just sleeping.
Satoru visibly turned up the charm as he close the distance between the three of you, “It’s really nice to meet you. I was wondering where Y/N got her good looks from.”
“Yeah that’s all me. These genes are strong. So don’t be surprised when my grandbaby pops out looking just like us.”
“Oh I’m hoping she does,” Gojo answered, his gaze lingering on you. You were officially showing. People knew you were pregnant with just a look at your belly. He thought it was absolutely adorable, and he was waiting for you to adopt the pregnant waddle but you weren’t big enough for that at the moment.
You cleared your throat, trying not to acknowledge the way that Gojo was looking at you, right in front of your mother, “I was just going to give mom a tour of the house.”
“Yeah, come on,” Gojo nodded excitedly, “I’ll lead the way.”
The tour youwere going to give your mother, quickly turned into the tour that Gojo was giving your mother. Not that she had any complaints. Quite the opposite, she was standing around laughing at his corny jokes and telling him little anecdotes about you when you were younger. Gojo won your mother over within 15 minutes and you watched it happen in real time.
“This is the room I think Y/N fell in love with. It’s going to be the nursery,” Gojo began, and then he went into great detail about where he thought the crib should go, and putting in the perfect rocker, maybe even painting the ceiling because apparently it’s good for babies to be able to take in as much visual information as possible. You had to admit… you were a bit charmed too.
“This place won’t be ready in time for a baby shower will it?” Your mom asked at the end of the tour, when the three of you wound up in the kitchen. Gojo absently put his arm over your shoulder, hugging you into his side as he talked.
“I don’t think so. Maybe downstairs could be, but I have no intention of having our baby shower here.”
“Janelle is throwing my baby shower, Satoru.” You reminded him, more for his sake than anything else. Janelle could be scary when it came to you, especially the things she wanted to do for you.
“And I’m helping. I’ve already talked to her about it, so don’t start complaining. It’s done.”
You narrowed your eyes. You were going to have to talk to Janelle about that later.
“Well I’ll make the cake,” your mom offered and your eyes went wide.
“Please do,” you nodded emphatically.
Your sudden excitement caught Gojo’s attention, “Are you known for your cakes?”
You answered for your mother, turning to look at him with wide eyes, “Oh yeah, it’s a thing among our friends and family. She did Janelle’s wedding cake.”
Gojo remembered that cake well. Nanami wouldn’t tell him what bakery he got it from. It was probably the best cake he’d had in his whole life. He spent the better part of a year taste testing cakes off and on in hopes of finding it.
“Really? That was the best cake I’ve ever had. Have you ever thought about opening up a bakery?”
Your mother waved him off, “I do it out of love. Money would ruin it. Just tell me how many guests y’all are expecting, and I’ll make something for you,” she concluded. She gave you two one more look and her eyes narrowed a little bit before she spoke again, “Well, it was nice to meet you, Satoru. I’m gonna head home.”
“Alright, Mom, I’ll walk you out.” You shrugged out from under Gojo’s arm to follow your mother outside. When you got to your car she stepped close to you. You already knew what she was going to say. She’d probably picked up on the way Gojo touched you so freely. She was going to tell you not to be fooled by a man, and to keep your guard up.
“Now I’m not gonna tell you how to live your life… but there’s something there between you two. And for what it’s worth. You make a handsome couple.”
“Alright, mom,” you were a little bemused by her words. You expected her disappointment, not her approval. Either way, you couldn’t accept her words. She didn’t really know Gojo. If he wanted to be in a relationship with you he would be. The two of you were perfectly comfortable as you were, simply getting ready to have this baby and nothing else. Anything that happened in between was just his own way of taking care of you that you couldn’t bring yourself to make sense of beyond knowing that the sex was good and you didn’t care to go looking for anyone else who could give it to you.
When you came back inside you found Gojo collecting the pieces of your entertainment center to put together. When he saw you coming over he grabbed a little stool for you to sit on instead of letting you sit on the floor like he was.
“So… that’s my mom.” You said to break the silence.
“She seems nice.” He did not look up as he said this, instead inspecting the label ziplock baggie of little screws and things that went along with the entertainment center. You were careful to keep each one with the set.
You nodded but with your own personal reservations. She was mostly nice, but you thought most children felt that way about their moms. Your mother was kind, but there was a cruelty ingrained in her parenting that was simply passed down from one cursed generation to the next. You were hoping to break that cycle with your baby. Nevertheless, you did not resent your mother much for the cruelty she inherited. Again, you were sure most people felt this way about their mothers, you wondered if your own child would feel this way about you in the end.
“Do you think she likes me?” Gojo asked looking up at you. His eyes were such powerful things, blue like seaglass, and like the full moon all at once. Whatever cosmic intently was in charge of making humans, truly outdid themselves with him, and you thought it suited him ill sometimes. He was too pretty for his own good.
You moved his hair out of his face before answering, “Yeah, I do.”
“Good. You know I was thinking-”
“Oh no.”
“Hey! I have some good ideas.”
“Eh,” you cringed a little thinking of the day he thought it was a good idea to try to bake cookies on the broil setting so that it would go faster and he almost burnt his house down.
“I think this one is a good idea.” He concluded begrudgingly.
“Fine, lay it on me. What’s going through that massive dome of yours?”
He frowned, “Well I was going to say that we should get married but now I don’t think you deserve me.”
Your eyes felt like they might bulge out of your head at his words, “Satoru, are you serious right now?”
“I mean think about it. Isn’t that what people do? They have a baby, and a house, and they get married.”
“Not in that order, and definitely not before they do any actual dating.”
“Come on, what have you got to lose? I mean I’m the one taking on all the risks. Sure prenups exist, but what’s the likelihood that you’re taking a prenup that cuts you off from my assets and-”
“Pause, whoa, timeout! Why are we talking about prenups?! I haven’t even agreed to marry you. Satoru, we’re not even dating!”
“But… we do work well together. And it would make it easier to just get things done for our baby.”
You took a deep breath, “Satoru, I appreciate everything that you’re doing for me. I really do, but I have no desire to be married to you. We’ve only been hanging out regularly for like five months.”
“My parents got married in two.”
You winced, “I mean this… in the nicest way possible, but did your parents love each other?”
You watched his brain stall. It was always obvious when you’d said something that Gojo had never really thought about before. You’d realized, with a bit of a start, months ago that Gojo was an incredibly smart man, he only behaved like an idiot. Despite months passing between now and this realization you did not understand why he behaved how he did. He could be more organized in his living, he could be married to someone he loved and have a family… because he seemed to desire that in some capacity, but now as his eyes went distant you wondered if he knew what he was looking for. There was a time in your own life when you sought out the arms of a lover to heal that which you’d lacked in your childhood, but you quickly realized you would never find it that way. You had been looking for a parent. You wondered what deficit Gojo was unconsciously trying to fill.
Gojo searched the recesses of his memory, for a moment in which he had looked at his parents and saw love between them. They were civil to one another, but they were more like ghosts, passing through one another, never really touching.
“… I don’t know,” he answered, “They weren’t very affectionate people. Now that I think about it… it was probably more of a business agreement.”
He looked so utterly dejected as he said this. You turned so you could take his face in your hands. Whatever it was that Gojo was looking for… you sorta hoped he found it before the baby was born. Neither of you could expect to be fully healed individuals but you could at least be healing individuals.
“I think you are a great guy, Satoru. You’re a little ridiculous, but you’ve got a good heart and if I accepted your proposal it wouldn’t be because we were madly in love. It would just be about money and assets, and I don’t want a marriage like that. It might be easier for the baby, but I don’t think I would be happy. I can’t believe I’m about to say this to you of all people, but let’s just let this be fun okay. Stop worrying about all you can do for us and just live in the moment. You’re doing great so far.”
His cheeks were rapidly getting red and he turned away from you sharply before clearing his throat, “Stop being nice to me before I fuck you.”
You let out a breathless, relieved laugh. You were afraid he was going to be offended by your rejection, “When I’m mean it turns you on, when I’m nice, it turns you on. I’m starting to think you just always wanna fuck me.”
“Well, you’re not wrong,” he sighed.
The two of you worked on unpacking things until about nightfall, and you knew that you wouldn’t sleep well in this new place, definitely not alone. So you went searching for the big duffle bag you put together for things that you would need on the first night and Gojo picked it up for you to take to his place. The bedroom was habitable, but then Gojo enticed you with snacks and a comfortable place to watch movies. You didn’t really care that it was a weekday. It just meant that you drove to his place and would leave there in the morning. You had work clothes in your bag.
You told Gojo what time you had to be at work in the morning after you got out of the shower. You were wearing his house coat which went all the way down to your ankle, but was comfy nonetheless. Besides, it smelled like him, that sweet yet strikingly clean gourmand scent. You wondered if there was mint in his shampoo or something. Or maybe it was the bushel of fresh eucalyptus in his shower. You’d mentioned once that you’d been congested, a weird byproduct of pregnancy, and the very next day there was eucalyptus in his shower. Either way, you liked how Gojo smelled, not that you would ever say anything about it. And you certainly would never tell him that you missed that smell when the two of you went days without seeing each other.
“I actually have to go into the office tomorrow too,” Gojo said, begrudgingly. He was lying on his side. It looked like he was simply looking at you, but he was studying the way the too big bathrobe failed to fully preserve your modesty. He was staring at the space between your breasts in the open neck of the robe.
You frowned, “You have a job?”
“… Yes. I’m the heir, and owner of my family’s company,” he answered, actually focusing on you, and you realized that he thought you knew, “Babe, I’m in charge of a multimillion dollar business.” He sat up a little bit as he said this, propping his chin up in his palm.
“… Why is your house so small?” It wasn’t a small house, but it wasn’t a megamansion either.
“I’m one person. Mansions freak me out with all the empty space. Plus, this place is closer to my friends.”
“So buying me a house really meant nothing to you.”
“Financially? No. It was barely anything.”
“Satoru, please don’t tell me that you’re just slummingit with me. I’m literally going to lose my mind.”
“Slumming- No. I like being around my friends. I’ve lived here since before my parents died. I could have moved to the mansion when they died but I hate that place. Trust me, I am where I want to be. Now will you stop fretting, put on your granny nightgown and get in bed.”
You scowled at him. It wasn’t a granny nightgown. It was a nightgown that was fashioned like a long shirt and it was comfy.
“I gotta find my cocoa butter,” you grumbled, still troubled by the fact that you were only just now realizing what Gojo did for a living. You probably should have asked sooner. He could have been a kingpin for all you knew, and you were just frolicking the day away at his side. For all the credit people gave you for being smart, more often than not you felt really fucking stupid. You found the jar in your bag and tossed on the bed. You put on regular lotion in the bathroom, but your skin was so dry lately that you felt the need to seal the moisture in with cocoa butter.
Gojo kept his eyes on you as you sat on the bed. You let the robe fall off your shoulders and it lie open on the bed revealing your naked back. The curves of your body had changed quite a bit since the beginning of your pregnancy. Your hips were wider and your middle was a good deal thicker. You were just really pretty. It was hard to look away from you and every passing second of him knowing that you were naked over there made him want to touch you.
“Is that for your belly?” he asked, moving closer to you.
“Well my whole body, but it helps with stretch marks, and it keeps my skin from itching really badly as my belly grows. It’s awful when I get dry skin.”
“Can I do it?”
“Uh.. well I’m almost done,” you said, but you felt the bed move and you looked over your shoulder to see him crawling towards you. He settled behind you, his long legs settled on either side of yours putting you right between them. He took the jar away from you and you just resigned yourself to your fate. Once he decided he was going to do something for you, there was really no helping it. Plus his hands were always warm, and they were smooth and covered far more surface area. He rubbed across the gentle slope of your belly. It wasn’t the most dramatic baby bump given that you were only 18 weeks, but it was still there. His hands on your stomach always felt so nice, though his touch was awakening something you kinda hoped would stay dormant.
“Hm, smells like chocolate.”
“Is it because-”
“No, it’s not because you’re black.”
You giggled at his cross tone, only for him to kiss your shoulder. It was downright embarrassing just how quickly he could get you wound up. Just one kiss and you were already pressing your legs together.
“You know, if someone told me back then, on New Year’s Eve that taking you home was gonna lead to this… I never would have believed it,” Gojo said.
You chuckled, “I would have ran for the hills.”
He paused in rubbing your belly, “Do you regret it, then? That night.”
You thought about it for a long time. You thought about how much you laughed that night, the way your hand felt in his as he led you into his house, how you both giggled like mad in between kisses.
“No, I don’t actually,” you said, much to your own surprise, and you turned to look up at him. He seemed to search your gaze for a moment, searching for your regret you supposed. Genuinely though, you had none. All of your needs were met, and Gojo was very kind to you. He was kind in his own way, and in ways that anyone could recognize. And as far as baby daddies go you could have done farworse. It was a luxury to have the father of your child be successful, handsome, and interested in being in your child’s life. You were going to tell him as much but you noticed his focus was on your lips.
He leaned down and pressed his lips to yours, a slow kiss, almost tentative like he was waiting for you to push him away. You did not. You turned more so that you could face him, slowly getting on your knees in the wide space between his legs. It put you a bit taller than him to be standing on your knees this way. His hands came to grasp your hips tightly. You held his face in your hands as you let your tongue move with his. When you pulled away he still had his eyes closed.
“Get off the edge, baby. You’re making me nervous,” he said after a moment, slowly moving backward so you had room to be more on the bed. When the two of you were safely in the middle of the bed he pulled you in closer, only to get his mouth on your chest.
“Fuck,” you sighed, because you were never going to used to the feeling of the hard metal ball of his tongue ring against your nipples that were always hypersensitive at this point. You had your hand in his hair immediately, encouraging what seemed to be an effort for him to get your whole titty in his mouth. Simultaneously, he was gripping your thighs, making you straddle him. He was wearing nothing but soft pajama pants and the bare skin to skin contact was dizzying. He was always so warm, and you wanted to be touching all of him. He went to take over and presumably put you on your back.
“I can’t lie on my back. It’s kinda uncomfortable.”
He kept you in his lap instead and he kissed you. Gojo kissed you like it might be the only thing he’d ever do. The two of you found yourself like this more often than you’d like to admit, particularly in his car, for late night grocery runs for hyper specific cravings. If you weren’t pregnant, and if Gojo was less cautious, you’d have had sex in his car at least 4 times by now. As it was, it worried him to have you in such an enclosed place. And unfortunately, once you got in a bed there was a good chance you would just pass out. But right now? Right now was perfect. You rolled your hips in his lap, trying to alleviate the ache between your legs.
His hands were searching for purchase on your body, a place to hold you that wouldn’t hurt you. You could almost taste his frustration. You pushed him down on the bed.
“I got it,” you said as you took his hands off of your hips and leaned forward to press his wrists against the bed over his head. His cheeks were already red tinged, but it was a special delight to watch them darken as he looked up at you. His gaze dropped to your chest and he was trying to shimmy down to get to your boobs. You rolled your eyes and leaned forward to put them in his face.
“Oh you’re spoiling me,” he said, though his voice was a bit muffled. You lifted up to look at him, and maybe to make fun of him for being so obsessed with your chest, but he spoke first.
“Sit on my face,” he said immediately.
“Satoru, I’m pretty heavy now and-”
“I didn’t ask all that. In fact, I didn’t ask at all. Come sit on my face.”
You huffed, letting go of his wrists so that you could crawl towards his face. When you were over him, he grabbed your hips and pulled you down until your sex with his on his mouth. You couldn’t really see much of him in this position thanks to your belly, but that was the least of your worries. He wasn’t holding back with you at all. You put a hand back on his chest for a bit of stability as he teased your clit directly, sucking and licking it until your thighs started to quiver. It didn’t take long. You were only getting more sensitive these days and Gojo was good at what he did.
He liked the sounds you made, the way you smelled, the way you tasted. He liked the way your belly eclipsed his view of the world. He liked you. He had his eyes closed just bathing in the sensations of your pleasure and letting it arouse his own. He’d always been more of a giver… in relationships. Or rather the handful of times he tried a relationship: he could count them on one hand. It was never this satisfying though and his casual partners were eager to impress in hopes that he would keep them around. But this? You? The one who never intended to stay long, you had him by the mouth and he knew you didn’t even know it.
“Ah! Shit! Satoru,” You gasped as he sucked harder, taking on a slow pulsing rhythm. He’d wrapped his arms behind your thighs so you weren’t going anywhere.
“You bitch!” you exclaimed before sliding the fingers of your other hand in his hair and making a fist. He seemed set on making it impossible for you to even breathe as all of your muscles locked down with pleasure.
When you came he eased back a bit, as if slowly weening you from the pleasure of his mouth. You fell over to the side, legs feeling like jello.
“Tired already?”
“No, you’re going to fuck me,” you said pointing at him as he crawled towards you. You were lying on your side catching your breath.
“Why did you make that sound like a threat? That’s what I wanted to do anyway,” he said as he laid down behind you, wiggling a bit to take off his pajama pants before he pressed against your backside.
“Fuck you’re so soft,” he breathed rutting his hips against you while he kissed along your shoulder, to your neck.
“Mmhm, I’m perfect,” you giggled.
“Yeah you are,” he agreed, bringing a hand down to rub your belly and then up to your breasts just to hear the sweet sounds you made when he squeezed them. He lifted your leg once he could hardly stand not being inside of you anymore.
Gojo refused to think too much about it, but other women didn’t interest him very much anymore. It all seemed so arbitrary and boring when he could just be with you. He could just be at your side, or inside you, if you let him, only if you let him. This was perfect.
“You’re so perfect,” he breathed as he pushed inside of you. He took his time as always, utterly unbothered by the slow pace, too caught up in kissing your neck and listening to the sweet sound you made for him to care that he was moving at a snail’s pace. But once he was fully inside of you he built the pace.
“Oh my god!” you cried out before turning your face towards the pillow.
“No, no let me hear you,” He slowed all the way back down.
“Satoru, dammit,” you cursed at him, “Come on, please.”
“There we go, don’t hide from me, beautiful. I want to see you.”
Instinctively you looked across the room at the mirror on the far wall and saw yourself, one leg in the air, with Gojo hugged close behind you, fucking every thought out of your head. You leaned back against him, easily falling into his embrace. The moment you turned your head towards him he was kissing you.
He came with you whining and moaning in his mouth. And he had one solitary thought as he pressed his forehead against yours while you both came down from your highs: He could do this forever.
~
Two weeks later, when you were 20 weeks along, the two of you met up at the doctor’s office. You were coming straight from work and Gojo said that he had been looking for a reliable team of painters to come by and quickly make your house look the way you wanted it. This doctor’s appointment was the one that Gojo had been waiting for. He was practically bouncing in his seat in the waiting room. The two of you would likely learn the baby’s sex today, and he was ecstatic. You were a little tired from work, so you couldn’t match his enthusiasm, but he had more than enough for the two of you.
“So when I’m right, I want you to know that we’re not going to paint the nursery pink,” Gojo told you, “I know I said I wouldn’t be a tyrant but come on pink?”
You nodded, and caught the gaze of an older woman looking at the two of you fondly.
When she noticed your gaze she smiled, “You two are adorable. I wish my husband was as excited about our babies.”
Gojo gave her a smile before continuing, “And not purple either. I personally think that we should do a story book theme. Because I tell the best stories.”
“Are you going to do all the painting?”
“Of course, you can’t be in there with the paint fumes.”
“Alright, then. We can look at cribs after this.”
He gasped, “That’s a good idea. See? Between the two of us this is gonna work out wonderfully.”
You just leaned over and kissed his cheek. Funny enough it made him go quiet for a moment, just until he did the same to you.
“What’s the matter, you’re not even arguing with me,” he asked while he was still close to you.
“I’m just sleepy. It’s time for a nap.”
“Oh, are you sure about going crib shopping?”
“Yeah, yeah I’ll get a second wind if I just push through.”
He put his arm over your shoulder and pulled you close, so that your head rested against his chest a bit.
“I really wore you out last night didn’t I?” he said in your ear and you smacked his leg before sitting up. The night before you did get hit with a heavy wave of desire and rode Gojo for all he was worth. You’d tired yourself out. You didn’t know why it happened. He would be doing something completely innocuous, like cooking, or reading one of the many baby books he bought and you would get the urge to have sex with him. It didn’t seem to bother Gojo in the least. No he was all too eager to take care of you in that respect.
“Shut up,” your whole body was hot with mortification though.
Before the two of you could really start bickering you got called back. Gojo followed right on your heels. He waited impatiently as you went through the regular exam parts, and you answered your obstetrician’s questions. He sat texting Geto until the ultrasound equipment came out. To be fair he wasn’t having the most pleasant conversation with Geto.
New noodle place. Let’s go
Can’t in appointment with Y/N
It’s a wednesday!
Yes so sorry they don’t have weekend appointments
You’ve been at her house or she’s been at yours for the last few weeks.
I know and I’m sorry. If you don’t care about Y/N being there then we can all go to the noodle place
Whatever
so is that a no????
Then they brought in the ultrasound equipment and Gojo put his phone away. Before long the screen was on and he was looking at the screen, and it wasn’t long before there was the perfect image of a little baby on it. It never stopped being amazing to him, so see his own child like this.
“Alright, we’re looking healthy. Baby is seated in there just perfectly,” Dr. Johnson moved the wand a bit and then she said, “You two wanted to know the sex of the baby right?”
“Yes,” Gojo answered immediately, before you could even open your mouth.
You laughed as did Dr. Johnson. She looked to you for your answer.
“What are the bets?” She asked.
“He’s putting all his chips on a girl. I don’t really mind either way,” you said.
“Well, Dad, you’ve got one hell of an intuition because we are looking at a beautiful baby girl.”
Gojo laughed and you looked at his wide grin as he kept staring at the monitor.
“It’s not 100% accurate. I’m just eyeballing but-”
“I have a long family history of show-ers. If you’re not seeing it then-”Gojo began but stopped when you hit his arm, “Ow.”
“Why would you say that?” You hissed at him.
Dr. Johnson just laughed, “I’m pretty sure you’re having a girl. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“Same amount of pictures as always, Mr. Gojo.”
“Yep,” he said proudly.
Dr. Johnson left you with a few tissues to clean off the ultrasound gel as she talked you through what the next month would look like. It was pretty much just time to get big, with plenty of round ligament pain to look forward to. Gojo asked when he might be able to start feeling the baby’s kick and was adorably crestfallen when she said it might be a good while longer.
As you left out of the doctor’s office the two of you shopped around a bit for cute furniture for the house. You picked out a few pieces that would be shipped to the house. Gojo took his time fawning over baby cribs.
“Look, this one is a circle!” he said pointing at the crib.
“Ah yes, for baby fight night,” you said in jest.
“It does kind of look like an arena. Okay what about this! It’s in the shape of a moon!”
“And it’s nearly a thousand dollars. Satoru, she will have this crib for maybe two years, three is pushing it. There’s no need to go all out.”
“But I want it to be fun.”
“I think she’ll have plenty of fun with you as her father. She can have a normal crib.”
“You’ve been really nice to me lately. You’re not falling for me are you?” he bumped into your shoulder lightly.
You hummed, “Baby’s making me soft. Plus it’s true. I’m sure she’ll have a ball with you.”
“Thanks. You’re gonna be great too. Not as fun as me obviously.”
“Oh obviously,” you laughed.
“But still good.”
“Thanks.” You nodded, eyes slowly blinking closed as you struggled to look to stay fully alert.
“You look dead on your feet, mama.”
“Yeah, I’m not gonna lie to you, I’m tired as fuck. Work really took it out of me. I wound up on the phone with this doctor all day trying to figure out the status of a prescription. It was a mess.”
“When are you going to take your maternity leave? You know you don’t have to keep working… in fact I’d like it better if you didn’t.”
“Oh why? So I can lay in your bed with open legs all day.”
“Well I wouldn’t say no to that, but just so you won’t be in pain. And we can get ready for the baby. And then when she’s born so you can spend time with her.”
“I like my job. Today was a bitch, but I like the other pharmacists, and I like my regulars. Plus they never make me stand long. I’ve got my only little place to sit. Plus, I’ve been shadowing for a better position. Pays more with fewer hours. So everything is going to plan.”
“Right, you are the one with the plan.”
You nodded, “I intend to work up until the week of my due date and then go on leave for six months. I’ve already cleared it with my boss, and she says it won’t affect my standing for my promotion and I have that in writing.”
“Wow, and what will you do when you have to go back?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like with the baby? We could hire a nanny-”
Your eyes widened behind the lenses of your glasses and you seemed so genuinely bewildered and crestfallen, “I thought she would stay with you, Satoru.”
“You… you trust me enough for that? But what if I’m no good? I’ve never taken care of a baby before. What if I mess up?” It was his turn to look incredibly worried.
Your worry fell away immediately, “I’m not worried about that. We’ve got six months to figure it out together, plus my mom will probably help you out. You’ll be alright.”
“I’m glad one of us has faith in me.”
You laughed, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen you be unsure of yourself. If I didn’t believe in you, I wouldn’t have taken this journey with you, Satoru.”
You and Gojo decided that you would wait to tell everyone the sex of the baby until the baby shower so that people wouldn’t automatically start getting pink gifts. Gojo hired painters for the new house so that everything could be done before your furniture came. That meant you couldn’t be in the house because of the fumes. You’d kind of gotten used to living with Gojo anyway. You felt cold in the morning if he wasn’t right behind you, resting his chin on your head while you tried to make yourself a cup of tea. And maybe it was too quiet on the rare moments when you woke up and Gojo was gone to do important business person stuff. You didn’t understand his job, and he, mercifully, did not try to explain it. All you knew was that he was drop dead gorgeous in a suit and you often thought about getting fucked in a corner office, so there was that.
For once you were hanging out with Janelle on a saturday, the two of you usually convened after you got off from work but she’d been incredibly busy this month and you were… well you were with Gojo.
“The two of you are reallycozy. You can’t tell me there’s nothing there. I won’t believe you.”
You huffed a little laugh, “I don’t know. We make a good team. I’ve been really happy,” you said and the truth of your own words surprised you, “I didn’t expect him to be so reliable. I mean he’s an idiot. And he sends me thirst traps at inappropriate times, but… he’s dependable which I think I needed more than I thought I did. I’ve always just kinda been good by myself you know. And of course I know you’re there for me, but it’s not the same as a partner. And I spent all this time completely sure that I was fine, never finding anyone who I could just fall into step with and then Satoru of all people knocks me up.”
“Life is funny like that. Remember when I thought people who get married after a year of dating were delusional?” She said and you laughed because she and Kento got married after one year of dating. They just knew.
“Well, you are delusional.”
“Oh shut up,” she laughed.
“There’s not a label on it but I think I really like him and I feel like he really likes me.”
“I think it’s okay to go slowly in this. You’ve got a baby between the two of you. Rash decisions can cause for unnecessary heartbreak. For once in your life you’re just having fun,” she teased.
You laughed, “I guess you’re right. And I’m really happy about it. So you can tell Kento to stop sending Gojo the death glare every time he sees us together.”
“Never going to happen!” Nanami called from the kitchen.
“You nosey, eavesdropper!” Janelle yelled back.
For a while you thought you were envious of the bond Nanami and Janelle had. Obviously you didn’t want either of thembut that type of camaraderie appealed to you. When you’d picture the kind of man that you’d want you pictured the strong silent type. But in retrospect, that never would have worked. You felt very well matched with Gojo.
Chapter 4: You attend Janelle’s birthday party and it brings forth the complication that, technically, you can Gojo aren’t dating despite the fact that all other evidence points to the contrary.
By the time Janelle’s birthday party rolled around you were 16 weeks pregnant and you had new ultrasound pictures to give her with her birthday present. You were scrambling to finish writing the note on her card so you could put the pictures in, seal the envelope and toss it in the gift bag. Despite knowing this was coming up, you still found a way to be rushing at the last minute in your defense though, the dress you wanted to wear no longer fit so you had to scramble to find something else which ate up your time. You’d wanted to wear a dress with more volume in the skirt but the only things that fit you were your soft stretchy dress that clung to your body. They made you look so obviously pregnant and if not pregnant then just like a sausage. Your stomach was very prominent. One tiny little breakdown about it later, you had to redo your makeup and find a little cardigan to wear with it.
Gojo came to pick you up as he said he would. You just didn’t expect him to come up. He knocked on the door while you were scrambling around. There were a good amount of boxes lying about as you got ready to move to the new house. You opened the door and he raised an eyebrow at you.
“Are you okay?”
“Rough morning. I’m almost done. Will you grab that gift bag while I go get my purse?”
“Yeah, what was so rough about your morning!” He asked as you walked away.
“My old clothes don’t fit, I feel like a fucking rectangle in this dress! And my hair wouldn’t cooperate!” You listed off your grievances one by one. When you came back Gojo looked at you and he really couldn’t tell what your problem with your hair was, or your dress. Your skin had this ethereal glow to it that was making his heart race.
“You look perfect, shut up,” he scoffed.
“Don’t tell me to shut up,” you complained, punching him with half strength in the stomach.
“Ow go get in the car, gremlin!”
The cackle you let out in response definitely made sure you lived up to the name. You and Gojo continued to bicker all the way to Janelle and Nanami’s place and then even more the very moment you got out of his car. You didn’t like that Gojo kept putting his hand on top of your head and trying to guide you around by it. The two of you fussing at each other caught Janelle’s attention inside. She opened the front door to see you punch Gojo hard enough for him to take his hand away so he could hold the place where your fist struck.
“Colossal Titan built motherfucker!“ you said before swinging again but Gojo dodged that hit, "Do not show out because we’re around people!”
“God damn you’re vicious,” Gojo laughed. He could tell you were pulling your punches, but it was just so cute to see you fussing at him with full energy again. The first trimester it was weird to have you so docile and weepy.
You lunged at him again and he screamed before jogging for the house.
“Waving inflatable tube man looking ass!”
“How are you so creative?!” Gojo wheezed. He noticed Janelle in the doorway staring at the two of you. He greeted her quickly.
“Hi, Janelle. Please get your friend.”
“Oh no, she seems more like your problem now.” She moved aside so he could get in the house. He promptly hid behind her as you came in too.
“He told me that all I am to him is a face and titties when we stand together!!” You complained.
“Those are your best features anyway, mama.” Gojo assured you.
You lunged again and he put his hands on Janelle’s shoulders to continue to use her as a human shield. Janelle was already giggling at the two of you.
“Don’t laugh at him. He’s not funny,” you said begrudgingly as you hugged her taking her away from Gojo.
“You’re both hilarious.”
You gave her the gift bag, “Whatever. Happy Birthday, you can open the card in private. I don’t want your husband to know about our affair.”
“Very funny,” Nanami said and you actually jumped, yelping a little as you turned to see the man in the front room wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. He didn’t react at all to the way you startled
“Oh you brought Gojo with you. Fun,” he breathed.
“Nanamin! Don’t act like that. I came to help!”
“The best way for you to help is to leave.” Nanami turned and began to walk towards the kitchen. Gojo followed, completely unphased by Nanami’s words. They left you and Janelle in the front room.
“I’ll read it now,” Janelle said and then she did a double take as she looked at you, “Why are you hiding that beautiful bump? You look cute as a button. Oh I know it’s selfish but I can’t wait until you get big. You’re gonna be such a cute pregnant woman, waddling around.”
“Don’t get treated like Satoru,” you reprimanded.
The two of you sat on the sofa while she looked at her present from you. Your gifts were always a tad bit personal, and you preferred that she opened them alone. She teared up reading the sappy note you put in the card and then seeing her copy of your latest ultrasound pictures. She barely even noticed the spa retreat vouchers and her favorite wine in there. She was too busy darting into the kitchen to show Nanami the pictures.
“Kento! Look at our niece!”she cooed, holding the photo out to him. He fixed his glasses on his face. He only wore them to read but you knew that Janelle loved it when he wore them. It made him look like a young grandpa in your opinion, but not in a bad way.
“Pretty cute, huh?” Gojo beamed.
“It’s an ultrasound. The fetus looks like a kidney bean.” Nanami responded.
“Acutekidney bean.”
You joined them in the kitchen, “There are other gifts in that bag Janelle, damn. If I knew my ultrasound pictures would make you this happy, I would have saved my money.”
“Oh hush. I’m going to spoil this baby rotten,” Janelle came over and put a hand on your stomach, “Tee-Tee’s gonna make you her little mini me.”
“Wrong,” you said firmly, “This is my mini me.”
Gojo scoffed, “You’re both wrong. She’ll be my mini me.”
“Oh please! You’re such a joke.”
“I’ve already gotten us matching outfits,” Gojo said triumphantly.
“You what?”
Nanami eventually kicked all of you out of the kitchen to go talk on the deck. It wasn’t a real party unless Nanami was supremely annoyed with all of you for the first 30 minutes of it. Janelle thanked you profusely for the gift, and you helped put up the last of the decorations. Well, Gojo did most of the actual work, you just told him where to put everything since everyone almost had a heart attack when you went to stand on a chair.
By the time other people were coming in, you’d secured a comfy seat on the deck and Nanami had given you a plate full of fruit to enjoy. Gojo kept stealing your grapes which was quickly pissing you off. But every time he did it, he kissed your cheek, which was doing something to your head. You and Gojo were notdating. You were just two people, who were connected by your pregnancy, and it was easier to have sex with him than to meet someone else. That’s how you were rationalizing this whole thing. Still every time he kissed you, your whole body went hot.
“Have some shame, Gojo,” Nanami snapped at him when he came out and saw Gojo stealing your fruit, “Stealing food from a pregnant woman, really?”
“She likes to share with me,” Gojo claimed.
“I don’t, but you’re mean so…” you shrugged, making a point to look really sad about the whole ordeal.
“Stop stealing her food. Have some decency.”
You had to fight back a smile at the sight of Nanami scolding Gojo so vehemently.
“Stop acting like a damsel in distress when we both know you’re crazy.”
“I’m not crazy,” you said forlornly.
“Stop sounding so sad. Oh my God. Don’t act like you didn’t chase me into the house when we got here.”
You decided to eat the melon on your plate as sadly as possible.
“I’ll get some more fruit for you, Y/N, don’t worry,” Nanami concluded before tossing a hard glare at Gojo and leaving.
“All you do is lie,” Gojo grumbled at you.
“All you do is steal. Stealing food from your baby, how low can you get Satoru?” you narrowed your eyes at him, but instead of looking at all repentant, he suddenly looked elated.
“I like it when you call her my baby.”
“Well she is.”
“I know I just like it.”
“You’re such a cornball,” you rolled your eyes.
A few more people joined the party. Geto came in late with Shoko in tow, a mutual friend of you and Janelle’s stopped by (but Nanami didn’t like her very much), and Janelle’s big brother. Janelle’s big brother was a tall man with a stocky build. He wasn’t as tall as Gojo, because Gojo was an escaped science experiment, but he was Nanami’s height. For a long time you had a crush on Janelle’s brother, but then he decided to go overseas to live with family on his and Janelle’s father’s side. You left Gojo to talk to Geto and Shoko so you could greet him.
“Miguel,” you greeted with a smile looking up at him. “Oh look at you,” He gasped, “you’re glowing.”
You watched Janelle put a hand over her mouth, obviously thinking of telling him it was a pregnancy glow. You just shot her a look before hugging him.
“I see you still ain’t found out about shirts that are bigger than a kid’s medium.”
“You have jokes!” he exclaimed with a laugh.
“No, no, you look good, that thing is just shrink wrapped to you. What’s that spandex?”
He wagged his finger at you reproachfully as you laughed.
Geto sat in clear view of the kitchen through the patio doors. He watched you talking to Janelle and Miguel curiously. At first he just thought it was just a normal interaction. He knew you and Janelle had been friends for a long time, it was perfectly natural for you to know her brother. But then Miguel touched you, his hand running for your upper arm down to your elbow. It was a casual touch but Geto knew it well. He was simply breaking the touch barrier.
“I just can’t imagine you as a father. That seems illegal,” Shoko said on a heavy sigh, “Where is that poor, poor, woman so I can offer her my condolences.”
“Getting charmed by Janelle’s brother,” Geto answered nonchalantly, “They seem like good friends. Maybe he’ll father baby number 2.”
Shoko hit him, “Geto, you’re such an asshole. Gojo if- Gojo!” She called when she turned to assure him that it was fine only to see him already getting up.
Gojo watched Miguel’s hand continue down until he was holding your hand only for him to bring it up and kiss it. You smacked him in the chest lightly as you took your hand back. “Hey, mama,” Gojo said with a grin as he put his arm over your shoulders. He heard you give a heavy sigh but he ignored it, “Nanamin hasn’t fed you yet? Get on it, Nanamin, she’s eating for two.”
The death glare Nanami sent his way was almost petrifying… almost.
“For two?” Miguel questioned.
You’d never felt more miserable in your life. Of all the men in the world to have a baby with, you had to choose the world’s biggest idiot.
“We’ve got a little bun in the oven,” Gojo bent a little so he could put a hand on your stomach, “our little monster’s been making her so hungry lately, and something else that starts with an ‘h’ and ends with a ‘y’.”
You elbowed him hard in the gut and he doubled over a bit.
“Oh wow, congratulations,” Miguel said, kindly, “You’re a lucky man.”
You pressed your lips together in irritation but did your best to smile as if you weren’t supremely annoyed and disappointed by Gojo’s interference. Not that you expected this interaction to go anywhere. You were stuck with the village idiot.
“Alright, you all. Let’s get out of the kitchen before Kento gives us a piece of his mind. Y/N take this,” Janelle gave you a plate of veggies with another serving of grapes since Gojo ate your last serving. There was nothing to be gained from telling Miguel that Gojo wasn’t your man. It would only make you look worse. So you sat right back beside Gojo angrily eating veggies.
Shoko shot you a sympathetic look when you came back over. She at least started a conversation with you. Unfortunately, throughout the party you noticed Geto throwing little dirty looks your way. You would be in the middle of telling someone baby news, because that’s all anybody cared about when it came to you these days, and he would just be glaring at you resentfully. You wondered if you were breaking up more than just a bromance. And between Geto giving you the stank eye, there was Gojo touching you and fawning over you to make a show in front of Miguel, and you felt yourself quickly growing irritated. The next time you caught Geto glaring at you, you just glared back. He didn’t break so you didn’t break and the two of you just glared at each other.
“What… What’s going on?” Shoko asked.
“I don’t know, ask your buddy with the staring problem,” You said, keeping your eyes on Geto.
Geto just rolled his eyes and looked away. Any other time you’d curse him out and be done with it but it was Janelle’s birthday party and you refused to ruin her night especially over a bitter best friend.
Gojo looked over, “Suguru, why are you looking at her like that?”
“No reason at all. I’m gonna head out early.” he stood up abruptly and began to make a beeline for the house. You watched Shoko roll her eyes and shake her head before turning to talk to you about baby names. Both she and Gojo continued on like Geto’s behavior wasn’t out of the ordinary, so you did the same.
It was very late by the time you and Gojo left the party, and the high points of the night overshadowed the weird moments in the beginning. You still had questions about Geto’s behavior, but you weren’t going to ask any questions. It’s not like he was your best friend.
“So… are you and Miguel close?”
“We used to be, before he took a job overseas. It was good to hear that he’s back in town.”
“Right, so you can date him,” Gojo concluded.
“Uh… well I’m pregnant right now, I don’t know if you know that. So I’m not likely to be dating anyone for a while.”
“You’re hot, even pregnant. You could date anyone you wanted. Some guys are into that kind of thing.”
“I don’t think I want some guy to be into me being pregnant. Sounds like a weird fetish. And this is the first time I’ve seen Miguel in years.”
“Before he left were you two together?”
“No… why am I being interrogated right now? If we’re asking questions, I wanna know why your bestie was glaring at me like he wanted problems.”
Gojo sighed, “He’s angry at me right now.”
“So he should have been staring you down. What the fuck does your friendship have to do with me?”
“Well I had to cancel a few things for-”
“Whatever problems he has with you, he should take up with you. And you need to tell him that, because if I have to, he’s not going to like it. And for you, if I want someone to know my business I will tell them. If I wanted Miguel to know that I was pregnant I would have said so. I didn’t need you trying to put some weird claim on me.”
“Right, you’re just leaving your options open right?”
“We are not in a relationship, Satoru! What are you mad about?”
He glanced at you, but that quick glance was fiery, “You are carrying my child-”
“Let’s run some things back. We fucked last month. That’s it. You went back to doing what you do, I went back to doing what I do. It was no different than a one night stand. If I wasn’t pregnant, I wouldn’t have seen you again. I told you to date me. What have we done? Have we done some dating? Do you feel like we’re dating?”
He sighed.
“Alright, so whatever claim you feel like you have over me because I’m pregnant you need to dead that. I haven’t received any signs that you mean for me to be anything other than your baby mama who you fuck on sometimes. I’m not fucking stupid, Satoru. I know the games you play.”
“What games?” “The game where you do relationship stuff with a woman but you never confirm the status of the relationship so when she’s mad because you’re out with some other bitch you can just say ‘Well we’re not in a relationship’” you pitched your voice lower to mock him, “ I know that game and I’m not that type of bitch. I will cut you off before I’m one of those women worrying about where you are, who you’re with, what you’re doing. I’m not keying cars and bussing windows. So if you want to have a right to give a damn about who I’m talking to, and what information I do and don’t share, then you know what you need to do.”
“Just like that huh?”
“Just like that. I’m grown. I don’t have the desire or the time to play with you, Satoru.”
There was a long beat of silence, where you assumed that Gojo was mad at you for not going along with his bull shit. You didn’t really care if he was. It was just that you weren’t going to be micromanaged by a man who wasn’t applying pressure.
“I think it’s kinda hot when you talk to me like that, mama,” he said, breaking the charged silence in the car.
You shook your head, “There is something fundamentally wrong with you.”
He laughed, “Yeah, for sure. Doesn’t change what I just said though. I’m hoping you’ll take me home and punish me.”
“Boy, shut the hell up,” you found yourself laughing in spite of yourself.Thing would really be so much easier if you didn’t find Gojo funny.
You wound up sleeping over at his, mostly because you slept better with Satoru holding you, and he was insistent about staying the night and you really didn’t care that much. In the morning it was as it had been for a while, he made breakfast, made a mess in your kitchen that you yelled at him to clean up. He helped you continue to pack up your little apartment so that you could move into the new house. This continued until the evening when you were gripped by the most overwhelming craving you’ve ever had.
“I want a taco, so motherfucking bad right now,” you sighed heavily, putting your head in your hands.
“Well, put on some shoes, we’ll go get tacos.”
“I need it to be the best taco this city has to offer. And if it’s not on a corn tortilla don’t even bring it near me. I mean it, Satoru. This is not the time for some kinda “gourmet” taco. I want the taco that some guy with a food truck has been making for 27 years. And if he speaks nothing but Spanish, good!”
“Oh, sounds like we’re on a mission to find the city’s best taco. I can work with that,” He took out his phone and started typing, “Go get dressed. I’ll have our first spot by the time you get back.”
You went to your room to pull on some leggings to go under your oversized shirt. The key to still looking put together was just adding hoops and lip gloss before leaving your room again. Gojo was standing by the door. He held a hand out for you. You took his hand, before getting up on your tiptoes to see his phone. You figured he was looking into a restaurant. You did not expect him to be on Twitter.
“Best taco spot in _____ quickly!”
You could only laugh. He did seem to have a fair amount of responses in such a short time. You’d hate to have that much of a social media presence, but at least it would mean that you got some good tacos out of the equation. He kept you steady while you slid on some shoes and the two of you were out in the night in search for the perfect tacos.
Gojo let you be in charge of the music. You had quite a few playlists perfect for a late night drive, but chose a relatively chill one to fill the companionable silence. The streetlights over head washed over the car, lighting up the inside of the car a dim orange for just a moment. He was tapping his fingers to the beat of the music with his fingers on the gear shift. After a song or two, he put the window down halfway. The sight of his hair on the wind reminded you of that night, the very first time you took a chance on Gojo. All of the windows were down and the two of you were taking the long way to his place, enjoying the sight of the city at its most alive on New Years Eve. You remembered the two of you singing at the top of your lungs, stone cold sober, but high on life. As cliche as it sounded, you really felt like you were living for the first time ever in the passenger seat of Gojo’s stupid fancy sports car. Even if things went bad between the two of you, you thought you’d always be kinda grateful for that night. It was the first time in years that you didn’t feel like you had to be perfectly put together.
A slower song came on and you were ready to skip it but Gojo stopped you, “No, this is good! I didn’t think you listened to them. You seem like an R&B type of person.”
“… Is it because I’m black?”
He shot you a look, “No, it’s because that’s what you usually play. I like this song.” He turned the music all the way up before a sly smile took over his features. Before he started singing along to the music. It should have been hot that he could sing, and maybe it was, but honestly it was a little aggravating too. No one man should have that many sexy features. At a red light he took your hand and started singing more emphatically. You tried to get your hand free and not smile at him. You turned away from him only to turn you back to face him. You smacked his hand away.
“You’re so fucking annoying,” you laughed, “Green light, fucker.”
He let go of you to drive, still singing along to the music. You could clearly hear him singing along. His voice was just about as deep as his speaking voice, with a clarity that made you jealous. It was particularly soothing to the ear. It didn’t sound like it took him much effort to sound good and it didn’t look like he was trying very hard either. What was that like? To have so many things come to you easily?
You just turned to your side a bit and listened to him. He’d gotten a fresh haircut at some point during the week and fresh fade on the sides was particularly nice to look at. You wanted to touch him, to just put your fingers around the back of his neck and letting your fingers trace along the soft warm skin.
“You’re staring. You know this thing doesn’t have a backseat, but the driver seat goes back really far.”
“I don’t know what you’re insinuating,” you said, turning to stare out of your own window. He laughed at your dismissal.
“I’ll show you some time!” he called over the wind.
The first taco place was too polished. It was a full blown restaurant and the two of you got out and asked to order to go. You tried their taco in the car together.
“Hm,” you hummed after the first bite, of the taco. First of all it was on a flour tortilla, which was not what you wanted, it tasted a little underseasoned. It just wasn’t at all what you wanted.
“Verdict?” Gojo asked.
You shook your head, “No, not even close. -2 out of ten.”
“Harsh, but true next place.”
You were back on the road but this time the music was a bit quieter as Gojo talked.
“So did you tell your mom yet?”
You sighed, “No. I almost did on Wednesday, but then she got to talking about other family issues and I… wish I’d just said it. I was right there with her and pretty soon I won’t be able to hide it.”
“Well, what’s the absolute worst that could happen?”
You thought about it, “Well she could yell at me, tell me I’m stupid for having a baby out of wedlock, berate me for sleeping around, and ultimately disown me as her daughter.”
“Okay, does her disowning you make your life any harder. Like do you rely on her for anything.”
“Um well yeah, emotional support. She’s my mom.”
“Right but you’d survive that.”
“… I guess.”
“And best case scenario?”
You thought about that, what was the best case scenario with your mom, “Well… I pretty much told her she’d be waiting another decade for a grandchild so I guess best case scenario she’s happy. She’s actually really happy. And she’s excited about being a grandmother, and I get to ask her all the hard questions about being a mom.”
“Questions like what?”
“Did she ever feel ready? Did it ever feel real? If you didn’t text me throughout the day I swear I’d forget I was even pregnant some days.”
“You don’t feel ready? But you’re the woman with a plan. You seem so ready for everything.”
You laughed at that, “I plan because it helps me feel like I’m in control, but I know I’m not. Things go off plan all the time, obviously.”
“Right, right,” he nodded, “but honestly, is anyone ever ready for a kid?”
You sighed, “Well some people are more ready than others. Even accidents can happen in a stable enough situation that it all feels like a plan. I’ve been trying to plan for this baby, but really? They’re gonna be a human person. They’re gonna have their own ideas, and personality and I can’t plan for that. The best I can do is… put money aside to support them in anything they want to do. It’s terrifying having so many variables.”
“But a little exhilarating too if you think about it,” he grinned, “I mean, body horror aside, pregnancy is cool.You’re making a human right now, a whole life and we get to see who she wants to be and teach her how to be a good person. That’s cool don’t you think?”
“It’s a lot of responsibility,” you frowned, “What if we mess up?”
He shrugged, “What if we don’t? What if she’s the perfect mix of you and me?”
You smiled softly, “We don’t know the sex yet, Satoru.”
“It’s a girl. I just know it.”
The next taco place was a smaller store front, definitely the kind of place where people just stopped in, ordered, and took their things to-go. You could hear loud talking in the kitchen, all in Spanish, and that made you smile. You had a rule about foods from different cultures, you might visit the remixed versions where the chefs were so removed from the culture that nothing but the bare bones of the original meal existed, but the real place to get the food was from the people who grew up with it. You weren’t sold on any “ethnic” restaurants if the people of the culture weren’t the ones in the kitchen and benefitting from the knowledge of their cultural cuisine. You explained this to Gojo while you sat beside one another in the old restaurant chairs pushed against the front windows waiting for your food.
“Good rule,” he nodded, “We should go to Mexico for a babymoon.”
“I’m not going to Mexico. I’m trying to move all my shit into a house, remember?”
“Alright, little Miss Practical.”
“But maybe some day,” you shrugged, “I’d like to have tacos from Mexico. It’s like, would you trust an American, not a Japanese American, a white American to make your favorite from your culture? The stuff your mom used to cook.”
“My mom didn’t cook, but I know what you mean,” he answered casually, “Not really. Even the gourmet stuff is good, but it’s not the same.”
“Your mom didn’t cook?” you asked softly looking up at him.
He shook his head, “We had chefs. My mom wasn’t very… maternal. She birthed me and that was really about it.”
“Hm… how’d you learn to cook?”
“I took a class on a whim.”
“So no family recipes then?”
“No. Well I have a few recipes, but I don’t think that counts.”
“It will, if you teach them to our kid.”
His answering smile was far more genuine than you were used to seeing. It was smaller, genuinely thoughtful. He was imagining standing in a kitchen with a little girl. She’d have your nose and your funny little attitude, and she’d be telling him that he was doing something all wrong despite it being hisrecipe.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m guessing you cooked with your mom.”
“Oh yeah, I was always in the kitchen. That’s just how I learned at first, by watching her cook. Now soul food… that’s different than any other cuisine for me. I don’t really care who’s in the restaurant, I don’t go out to eat soul food, I only eat my mom’s or my own cooking. Anything else just isn’t right.”
“You’ll have to cook for me some time then.”
“You think you’re slick. You’re not gonna have me cooking for you and I’m just the mother of your child. Absolutely not. Those are boyfriend and husband privileges.”
He chuckled, “Fine, but you’ll teach our daughter, won’t you?”
“Of course.” You smiled to yourself, thinking about a little child with Gojo’s goofy grin, and the shape of his eyes staring up at you while you made sweet potatoes, macaroni, and all the other foods you loved especially growing up. It was a really sweet thought, perhaps the sweetest thought you’d had about being a mother in some time.
Your order was called and Gojo grabbed it and requested a few sauces before the two of you were leaving to find some place to park. You wound up by the beach, sitting in relative quiet with the music playing at a low volume between the two of you. These tacos were a definite 9.5/10 something was missing but you couldn’t tell what, however, you were satisfied with them.
“Your rule definitely holds true. These are awesome,” Gojo said.
You could only nod, cheeks too full of food to say much. In a moment of complete happenstance you both turned to look at each other only to see that both of you had sauce on your faces. It was probably the least attractive you’d ever seen Gojo look. You could only imagine you looked a mess as well. There was no cute way to eat tacos that were any good. He swallowed his food and between barely contained giggles while he rooted through the bag for napkins. He grabbed one for you and immediately pressed it to your face. You couldn’t help laughing as he wiped the napkin across your mouth.
“Don’t worry, mama, I’ve got your back,” he giggled as you leaned away from him.
When he stopped he paused and looked at you, “There you go. Beautiful,” he tapped your chin with the side of his index finger. You flipped him out before going in for another bite.
When you were done with your tacos, you ate churros that Gojo ordered on a whim, the both of you were incredibly full, just staring out at the ocean.
“You should tell your mom tomorrow,” Gojo said, “She’s going to find out and I’m sure you’ll want our baby to know her grandmother. It would be nice for her to have at least one grandparent. I know you don’t talk to your father.”
“More than that I don’t even know what I would talk about. I just know the man’s name. He had absolutely no interest in being anything to me. I’ve seen him a handful of times in my life and it was never a happy occasion, and never on purpose.”
“I was distant with my father too, while he was alive, though I wish I saw less of him. Let’s hope your mom has the best possible reaction. Grandparents are good to have.”
“And well, they’ll have a great father figure to look up to,” you said with a smile.
Gojo’s gaze softened, “Do you really think so?”
“Oh yeah, Kento’s all in on being an uncle.”
His smile dropped and he glared at you, “You’re the worst,” he complained while you laughed.
You reached over and pinched his cheek, “I’m interested to see what kind of father you’ll be. I think you’ll drive me crazy… but I know you’ll do your best.”
His expression softened again, “Thanks… for what it’s worth, I think you’re gonna be a pretty good mom.”
“Thanks.”
“Alright, your place or mine?”
“For what?
“You know what,” he said seriously, “Stop playing with me. You look all cute in my passenger seat, being mean to me like I won’t rock your world.”
“Satoru, you wanna fuck me after eating tacos????!!!!” you yelled, “I don’t know what kinda freak shit you’re into but I do have a line that I will not cross.”
He burst out laughing again, “Okay, you’re right, see this is why we work well together. I’ve got the platform. But you’ve got the plan. How about a cheesy rom-com, some cuddling, and separate bathrooms?”
“You’re on.”
In the morning you had a small breakfast, and you stared at your mother’s contact photo. It was a Sunday so you knew that she would be free. Despite the fact that she was retired now, the woman stayed booked and busy. You supposed she’d been on the move since she was 20 trying to support the two of you. You weren’t sure she knew how to do nothing. But you were pretty sure that she enjoyed all the things she did to keep busy.
“If my mom wanted to meet you, would you come meet my mom?” you questioned.
“Yeah, for sure. Is she as pretty as you?”
“You’re not gonna fuck my mom, Satoru,” you frowned.
He snorted, “It was an innocent question. I’m wondering how you’re going to age.”
“Fuck you. Nevermind. She’ll really be disappointed in me if I bring you around. Look at you, you’re indecent.” He was shirtless and you wished that the smell of bacon didn’t make you physically ill because you’d love to see hot bacon grease hit him. As it was, you couldn’t stand it.
“Not my fault I’m sexy. But honestly, I would meet your mom, I’d even dress my best for her.”
“I’m gonna be honest with you, Satoru, I have no idea what you mean by that. It could mean that you’re gonna wear something long sleeved and modest, or you could show up in a thong. I don’t know what you consider to be your best.”
“I’m really touched that you know me so well,” he said as if he was getting choked up.
“And you don’t know a damn thing about me. Such is the way of men I’m afraid.”
“Oh yeah, I don’t know you in the slightest. What’s your name? Number 235642.”
You gasped, “Woooooow, you assigned a black woman a number!!! A number??? What am I to you?”
“Wait, no.”
“I’m just livestock-”
“Stop, please, that is not how I meant it.”
“You think you know a guy,” you began to muse, watching Gojo get redder and redder as you kept ranting. You did eventually let him off the hook. He gave you your breakfast begrudgingly much to your endless amusement.
You left his place earlier than you usually did to go to your mom’s. This seemed like the kind of conversation to have in person after all. You thought about telling her over the phone but it felt impersonal. Gojo was right to ask you what the best thing was that could happen. It was more likely than the worst case scenario. Still, you were beyond worried about how this conversation would go.
You pulled up to your mom’s place and knocked on the door. You had a key, but it’s not like you called beforehand so you decided to just wait for her to open the door. When she did, she was obviously happy to see you. It both eased and aggravated your anxiety to see her so happy. There was still a big part of you worried that you were going to disappoint her, but the truth was you were really starting to show, and it would be impossible to hide a baby for much longer.
“Hey, I wasn’t expecting you,” she greeted with a smile moving out of the way so you could go inside.
“I… Well I kinda needed to talk to you, and it just seemed better to see you. Plus, it’s been a while since I visited.”
“Yeeeeah, I figured you got a new boyfriend or something. Too busy being boo’d up to come see about me,” she teased, but when you didn’t laugh she looked at you, “Do you have a new boyfriend? Is he hiding in the car or something?”
“No, no… well not exactly.”
“Girlfriend? Because that’s cool too. I always figured you was a li’l fruity, I was just waiting on you to say something.”
“Mom, please stop guessing,” you sighed.
“Well then tell me, you know my nerves bad.” She scowled at you as the two of you continued towards the front room. You settled heavily on the sofa and let your head rest against the cushions.
She sat beside you with heavy sigh, “Girl, what is it?”
You felt like a little kid again, like you’d broken something in the house, or gotten a “C” on a test. You just started crying before you could even stop yourself.
“Whoa, hey, what’s going on?”
“I’m pregnant, mama.”
“… What happened? Did someone hurt you or-”
You shook your head, “No, no, nothing like that. I had a night with a friend of a friend and the condom broke and I messed up my birth control. It was like all the odds were stacked against me.”
“But you know who the father is?” she asked, obviously trying to calmly get the facts straight.
You nodded.
“And is he denying the baby, or he wants nothing to do with it?”
“No, nothing like that at all. He’s- well he’s already taking care of us. I mean the man just bought me a house.”
“A house? What is he rich or something?” she asked.
“Yeah… he’s kinda rich,” you answered, which you knew was an understatement. Gojo came from old money. He was richer than you could wrap your head around.
“Is he… mean to you?” she asked, sounding more confused than ever before.
“No. Mama, why do you keep guessing bad stuff?”
“Because you’re crying! Damn, I’m trying to figure out where the hell the tragedy is!” She answered, throwing her arms up in the air.
“I’m pregnant. I-I’m not married. I’m not even dating the guy, I didn’t plan for it. I mean I told you I wouldn’t have kids until I was 30!”
“Yeah, you said that. I didn’t tell you to do that. And yes, it might have been better if you were married, and I think it’s weird that you’re not dating the guy… but I mean… Do you not want the baby?”
“I want her,” you answered immediately.
“… Is your baby daddy ugly?” she asked after a pause.
You scoffed, “No, he’s far from ugly.”
“… White? Not that it matters but-”
“He’s not white, mama,” you sighed, “He’s Asian. Japanese to be exact.”
“Oh so is this like Crazy Rich Asians and his family is hazing you-”
“Mama, no. Nothing like that.”
“Then stop crying, girl,” she concluded, “and hold ya head up. You have nothing to be sad about. This sounds like a long list of good things. You bagged a rich man, you got a free house out of it … is it in your name?” when you nodded she continued, “you get a baby, and ain’t no man in your life tryna tell you what to do. How far along are you?”
“Five months,” you said softly.
“When did you find out?”
You hung your head again in shame, “When I was 8 weeks.”
“Why did you wait so long?”
You took a deep breath as you felt tears start again. You wiped at them hastily but it wasn’t any good, you were already sobbing again, “I thought you’d be disappointed in me.”
Your mother said your full name and you looked at her, “You have done nothing but make me proud. You’ve got your education, your career, you make good money. Sure, it probably would have been better if you were married but married men leave families just as easily as the unwed ones do. Look I know I drilled it into your head not to let no man knock you up, but really that was just a message I wish I had when I was younger. I shouldn’t have put that on you the way that I did. It seems like you’ve got a man who thinks the world of you, because I don’t care how rich you are, ain’t nobody just giving out houses.”
You paused, and thought about Satoru and the ways that he looked at you when the two of you were together. He… cared about you. That didn’t sound too out of the way to say. You had evidence to support that he cared. And that was a far cry from your own father who really didn’t care if you or your mother lived or died.
“You got a picture?” she asked.
You took out your phone and went through the MANY pictures on it of Satoru and searched for an appropriate one. That did not exist so you went to his Instagram. And after 125 half naked pictures you found a decent one of him and his car which was super depressing.
“Okay,” you held the phone to your chest before showing her, “I know he looks like an idiot here, but I promise he’s really sweet to me.”
“Just show me.”
You turned your phone so she could look at him. She took her glasses from where they hung on the neckline of her shirt and brought them up to look at your phone, “Gaaaaahdamn. That boy fine as hell.”
“Mama!” you disparaged.
“He look like he ain’t got a lick of sense, but he’s handsome. Back in my day I would’ve-”
“Please spare me. I’m begging you.”
“Why are y’all not dating?”
“Look at him,” You held your phone out a little more and she took it, peering down at the screen with her glasses perched on the tip of her nose.
“Oh I’m looking.”
“Mama, excuse me for saying it but you can’t turn no hoe into a housewife.”
“Mmhm, so who’s Satoru with all the heart emoji’s around your name and why is he asking if you’re trying to buss it down for a real one.”
You gasped harshly before grabbing your phone. You looked and sure enough, Gojo had texted.
“That’s him.”
“Mmhm. Look, I been around the block a few times. No judgment from me. You oughta bring him to meet me sometime. I gotta know what kinda crazy my grandbaby gon’ be mixed with. Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?”
“No, but I’ll know soon… Satoru thinks we’re having a girl. Well he wants a girl.” You smiled thinking of how often Satoru talked about his daughter without knowing for sure. You were honestly just hoping for a healthy baby and an easy birth.
Your mother smiled at you, “You sure you two aren’t dating? You’re looking awfully fond.”
“We’re not dating,” you said firmly.
“Alright, alright. Well you got some ultrasound pictures, girl? I’m done talking to you, I wanna see my grandbaby.”
You didn’t make it out of Gojo’s bed until nearly 10 am. That’s not to say that you woke up at 10 am. No, you woke up at around 7. For the next two hours, he decided to fuck you until you saw God and the devil. And when you got up to shower, he was right behind you which made it take even longer for you to get clean. For all the superficial fussing about the situation you did, you didn’t actually mind all that much. It kinda felt nice to be doted on, which is definitely what he was doing. He gave you one of his shirts to wear and an interesting pair of shorts, while your clothes were in the wash. The shorts said “slut” on the back and they definitely would have been booty shorts on Gojo. He grinned when you looked at them and you decided not to ask questions.
“I don’t know if you’re in a hurry to go or…” he trailed off, unsure of himself which was a rare sight for Gojo.
“It’s sunday. I don’t have anywhere to be. Unless you want me out.”
He shook his head, “No, I don’t want you out. Um, what do you want to do?” He ran his hand through his hair as you stood in front of him in one of his shirts that was basically a dress on you. You looked so cute. You were always cute, even when you were glaring up at him.
“Well, I’m kinda hungry… but I’m a little worried that if I eat I’ll start feeling sick-”
“We can order something in,” he said eagerly and you had to smile at his enthusiasm. Breakfast was delivered while you were going through all of the streaming services Gojo had. You were pretty sure he had all of them. Must be nice to be rich. You settled on a new season of a baking Show. It was something you wouldn’t care if Gojo talked through. He sat down beside you with containers of food and gave you yours.
Just like before, his food looked better than yours, and just like before he complained at you for wanting to share.
“Woooow, so I let you into my womb and you won’t even share a waffle with me,” you exclaimed in the middle of him complaining, “I’m going to tell our baby how stingy you were with us.”
“You’re the worst… that’s why I got a second waffle,”he pulled it out of the bag and presented it to you.
“You win this round, Satoru,” You said, setting your original plate on the coffee table to get to the waffle he bought for you. It was turning out to be an easy morning, with only a slightly queasy feeling after eating that subsided after some deep breathing and a bit of ginger ale. Gojo managed to somehow rest his head on your shoulder despite being so much taller than you while you watched the bakers in the show flail about.
“Mm, their layers didn’t set. Just watch,” Gojo said.
“Is that comfortable?” you asked, squishing your cheek against his head so he’d know what you were talking about.
“No.”
“Good, because your gigantic head is heavy, get off of me.”
“Well your tiny shoulder was kind of sharp,” he complained sitting up but the tone he used told you he wasn’t happy to move. You glanced at him to see him pouting then looked forward. In another second he was leaning his whole body over on you. You fell over to the side too.
“Satoru! Cut it out!” you complained shoving at him.
“I want to cuddle with you. Come on, you made us get up after the last round.”
“Because we were filthy!”
“Okay, but I wanted to cuddle with you some more.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“And you’re mean! I just wanna rest my head on your tiddies.”
“They hurt.”
“I’ll be really gentle.”
You sighed a long suffering sigh before laying on your back on the long sectional. Gojo settled on top of you, carelessly knocking your legs open so he could lie between them. Then he rested his head on your chest. You brought up a hand to play in his hair. It wasn’t worth arguing about.. Plus this position was really comfy. The added weight was nice. The two of you laid there, partially dozing off for a bit. You heard the washer stop but said nothing because you didn’t really want him to move. Everything was fine, downright cozy honestly. Then he surprised you by lifting up the shirt you wore and ducking under it.
“What the fuck?! Come on, there’s no being nice to you!”
“I’m gonna be good, they’re just so warm! I gave you like four orgasms this morning. Can you let me have this?”
“Ugh, you’re so annoying.”
He turned to kiss your sternum, “That’s not what you said this morning. I can fuck you again if that’ll make you less whiny.”
“Just shut up and relax.”
“Ooo yes, ma’am.”
The way you held him pressed your boobs against his face, and Gojo was far more comfortable than he ever expected you to be. You were soft, and you smelled like his soap and lotion. It was easy to doze off a bit.
Some time later you heard someone at the front door. You tensed a bit and Gojo kissed your chest.
“It’s just Suguru.”
“… He has a key to your house.”
“He’s my best friend,” he said as if that was reason enough for him to have a key.
“So?”
“So he can come over whenever.”
“Gojo!” Geto called as soon as he came in, “You better be up in here. I need you to come hangout with this girl’s friend so-” Geto paused as he saw Gojo’s feet hanging off of the sectional. He glanced over the back of the couch and there was you looking right back at him, obviously embarrassed.
“Hello, Suguru.”
“Um… hey, Y/N. Gojo, what the fuck?”
“What?”
“You’re here cuddling with Y/N?”
“Yes, I thought that was obvious,” Gojo’s voice was slightly muffled
“Why are you doing that?”
“‘Cause she’s soft, especially right here,” he said before tickling your stomach and you shrieked a surprised laugh before smacking him, “OW!”
“That’s what you get, asshole. Get your head out of there, and talk to your friend!”
He sighed heavily and his warm breath condensed against your skin making you shiver. He got out from under your shirt, careful not to expose you. His hair was all askew as he sat up and you’d be lying if you said he wasn’t cute. He was utterly adorable, and there was a certain sleepy quality to his face that told you he’d been dozing on your chest.
“You spent all day yesterday with her too. You’re telling me you’re going to spend the whole weekend with your baby mama.”
“I don’t have a name or anything,” you grumbled.
“I didn’t plan it that way. But I guess I am.”
“Waait,” Geto looked between the two of you, “You two are boning again aren’t you?”
“I don’t see how thats-” you began only for you to be cut off by Gojo’s dopey voice.
“Yeah, yeah we are.”
“Of course. Of course that’s what it is. Well I need you to do this for me. You two can bone later.”
Gojo looked at you as if he was asking your permission. You weren’t sure what expression was on your face, but if you looked half as outraged as you felt then his next move made a lot of sense. He snapped his gaze back to Geto quickly.
“I can’t. I’m taking care of my baby. Plus, I spend all week doing stuff with you. She can have the weekend.”
Geto crossed his arms before looking at you begrudgingly, “I thought you hated Satoru.”
“Who told you that?”
“Nanami.”
You winced remembering just how much you complained to Janelle about your circumstance, but you didn’t hate him, no not by a long shot. Besides, you can’t take the way Gojo’s shoulders visibly deflate. For all his bluster, it actually seems like the prospect of you hating him hurt his feelings.
“I don’t hate him,” you sighed, “Not that I have to explain myself to you of all people. Look you two seem like you need to talk, I’m gonna put my clothes in the dryer.” You announced getting up from the couch.
Gojo’s eyes followed you as you left the front room. The very moment you were gone Geto started speaking quickly under his breath. He spoke so fast that the words came out on a hiss.
“You told me just yesterday that you two weren’t going to be anything! You said you weren’t going to get caught up in whatever the fuck she has going on.”
Gojo frowned, “No, I said that we weren’t getting together and I wasn’t going to interfere in her life too much.”
“Okay then what the hell is this?”
“Weeeell,” Gojo drew out the words as he scratched the back of his head, “she’s having my baby.”
“Oh my god! I didn’t even think you liked kids!”
“I like kids just fine! But it doesn’t really matter because we’re having one and I’m not just gonna fuck off with you when she needs me.”
“Oh yeah she needsyou. Just say you’re getting your dick wet, man. I can understand that.”
“No, Geto, you can’t and that’s okay. You know when the baby gets here they’re gonna get more than weekends with me, so maybe this is good. You can find someone else to double date with you.”
“This is what I was talking about! I told you everything would change if you had a baby. We weren’t done living it up! We’re in our twenties and you’re going to be a father. Your fun is over.”
Gojo rolled his eyes, “My fun is not over. I just also think it’s fun to lay in a beautiful woman’s titties. Sue me.”
Geto narrowed his eyes at him, “When this bites you in the ass, I’ll be here to say ‘I told you so’.”
“Well, at least you’ll be here.”
Geto turned abruptly to leave the house. Gojo really had no idea what to do about that. You were having his baby, and he wasn’t going to kick you out to go flirt with a random woman. What if that woman was insufferable? He was supposed to just sit through it while you were at home alone?
It occurred to him after a while that you hadn’t come back to the front room yet even though you definitely should have by now. He went towards the laundry room but before he got there he heard the water running in the bathroom in the hall. He knocked on the door.
“Just a minute.”
“Did you switch your clothes?”
“Yeah,” you answered and then the water turned off and you opened the door. You were careful to keep your gaze from meeting his, sliding past him to go back to the living room. When you sat down you used the bottom of the shirt you wore to clean your glasses. You heard them talking. Of course you heard them talking. The house was too open to really muffle their voices. This was the part you were dreading. You thought when you woke up this morning without regrets that everything was alright. Gojo was sweet to you, he kissed you, said kind things to you, made sure you were fed and taken care of. He was so sweet that you forgot. You forgot that there was a reason you weren’t supposed to give into Gojo. To him you’d always be just another woman of many who could get his dick wet. Being pregnant didn’t make you special, it made you stupid. You felt your chest grow tight with the desire to cry again. You swore you were never this much of a cry baby before. It had to be the pregnancy hormones that made you feel everything dialed up to 100. Gojo joined you on the sofa and he went to touch you only for you to pull away from him.
“You can go, if you want to, you know. I’m not your warden. You don’t have to give up fun,” You said to him, staring straight ahead, but not seeing a thing as tears obscured your vision.
“But… I am having fun or rather I was,” he answered slowly, almost as if he was confused by your words.
You shook your head, “I heard you. I know this is for the baby. And I know I- I knew better than to blur the lines between us but I thought. No it doesn’t matter what I thought. You can take me home.”
“You want to go home?” he asked.
You should have just said yes and been done with it, but you couldn’t lie like that. You shook your head and you had to hold your breath to keep from sobbing. The problem was, you knew you couldn’t take it if Gojo simply kicked you out, or if he started treating you poorly based upon his resentment for the end of his partying lifestyle. You didn’t want to be a burden. You got pregnant. You fucked up. You didn’t want to burden anyone else with that.
Gojo tugged at your arm, pulling you into his lap, “Please stop crying. I hate it when you cry. If you don’t want to go home why would you say that?”
“I’m sorry, I really can’t control it. It’s like once I get started I can’t stop.”
“Don’t apologize for crying,” he sighed, “I really will take you home if you want, but if you don’t want to go then I don’t want you to leave.”
“But- You’re supposed to be having fun.”
“Iam.I was having the time of my life between your boobs,” He gave you a goofy little smile as he gave you his answer. He took your face in his hands, and wiped your tears with his thumbs, “For someone so smart, you’re kinda dumb, bookworm.”
Your jaw dropped, “You’re gonna insult me while I’m crying?!”
“Well, you should know I don’t do things I don’t wanna do. If I wanted to go with Geto I would have, but I hate those double dates. I rarely ever like my date. I just do it for him. I’m kinda happy to have a legitimate excuse not to go.”
“But what if she were really hot?” you asked, looking up at him from under your eyelashes. Your glasses were over so your eyes looked a bit smaller and he was sure that crying had made them puffy.
“They’re always really hot, but none of them have these gigantic sexy glasses,” he teased.
You rolled your eyes, “Yeah I bet none of em are sporting coke bottle lenses.”
“And they’re not mean to me like you are. You’re exceptionally cruel. All you do is call me names.”
“I thought you were listing reasons why you preferred me?” you grumbled.
“I am. None of them would sit and watch baking shows with me, they’re all too busy trying to ride this magic dragon,” his grin only widened when you pretended to wretch at that name, “I’m having fun. Believe it or not I can have fun doing boring stuff like this.”
“You need to work on your pep talks that sucked.” You sniffled as you pushed his hands away from your face.
“But I was honest,” he shrugged, “I really just want to have a lazy day-in with you… and my baby,” he tacked on with a little grin as he put his hand on your stomach.
“Idiot,” you grumbled, “The baby isn’t even a real baby yet. It looks like an alien.”
“But it’s ours,” he said and you scrunched your nose to keep from smiling.
“Whatever.”
The two of you went back to cuddling and watching your baking show but this time Gojo kept you in his lap. By the time he took you home it was late. He walked you up to the door. And when you opened it he rocked back on his heels.
“Alright, well if you need anything, just call. Or we could continue this sleepover at your place.”
“I have work in the morning, Satoru.” You reminded him.
“Right yeah, well, I’ll be up if you wanna text.”
“Just say you’re gonna miss me.”
“Pfft,” he scoffed and then waved you off before scoffing again more exaggerated, “me? Miss you? What’s there to miss?”
“My big pillowy boobs,” you said with a wink.
He looked directly at them and sighed heavily enough for his shoulders to rise and fall, “You can say that again.”
“Good night,” you said indulgently.
“Night.”
After work on Monday you went to Janelle’s place, per her request. You hadn’t talked to her much over the weekend and she wanted to touch base with you. When you knocked on the door Nanami answered. Nanami was a tall man, not nearly as tall as Gojo though. His hair was neatly combed and at the moment he was wearing a cute apron over his button up. When people imagined a good husband, they pictured a man like Nanami.
“Hello, Kento.”
“Hi,” he greeted as he let you in, “Janelle stopped by the store to get a few things for dinner. You are staying for dinner aren’t you?”
“Of course. Who would say no to your cooking?” You said and watched him roll his eyes, but his expression was still fond.
“My cooking is nothing special.”
“Oh so we’re just saying anything huh?,” you teased, “Well then you talk a lot, Kento. You should learn to be quiet.”
His answering laugh was quiet. You followed him to the kitchen and sat at the kitchen island to watch him work. Their kitchen was beautiful. It had a sage green motif with potted herb plants hanging over the sink and near the windows. They were all thriving. It smelled amazing. Whatever he was cooking was very aromatic. It seemed like he was definitely using lemon grass.
“How are you feeling today?” Nanami asked.
“Mm, I’ve been better. I’m sluggish and honestly kinda moody.”
He hummed and reached into an overhead cabinet. He pulled out a little brown paper bag and set it on the kitchen island for you, “This tea blend is something my mother used to swear by. It’s good for lifting your mood and making you feel a bit more alert. Are you taking prenatal vitamins?”
“Yes, dad.” You droned and he gave you a playful glare. You heard the front door open and Janelle called out to Nanami. Naturally, he responded and she came in with a few bags and he kissed her forehead. Janelle greeted you next with a smile before giving you a hug.
“I’m so glad to see you. I was a little worried when you went radio silent this weekend,” she said. Her brows were pushed together as if to prove her worry.
“Busy weekend. I looked at some houses with Gojo and that really wore me out.”
“How’s the house search going?” Janelle took the seat beside you at the island.
“I think I found one. Gojo is waiting for the buyers to get back to him.”
“Wow, so he was serious about the house. Huh,” she breathed, obviously impressed, “well at least your baby daddy isn’t as ridiculous as he is and broke.”
“Yeah. When you’re born rich you can afford to be ridiculous.”
“What did you do Sunday?”
You flushed thinking about what you did Sunday, “Uh it was a lazy day.”
“All by yourself?” Janelle asked and you knew that she knew. She seemed too interested in your answer not to know that you spent Sunday with Satoru.
You narrowed your eyes, “Who told you?”
She winced, “It was on Gojo’s Snapchat story. You two looked cozy.”
“Ugh! That idiot!” You groaned, putting your head in your hands, “it was a moment of weakness.”
“No, I think this is sweet,” Janelle said and both you and Nanami made a sound of disagreement.
“Oh come on you two! He’s trying to be there for you and the baby.”
“Did you two have sex?” Nanami asked.
You sputtered, not expecting him to ask such a personal question so bluntly. Your sputtering answered the question.
Nanami turned, and you thought his expression was a bit sympathetic, “I’m afraid that you and the pregnancy might just be a new shiny thing to him. It’s something he hasn’t done before, but when he gets bored of it…”
“Kento,” Janelle scolded, “You shouldn’t say things like that. Everyone has the ability to change, especially for the better.”
“No, he’s right,” you sighed, “I kinda worry about that too, and we’re in our late twenties but it’s still our twenties. This is supposed to be our last hurrah before we get serious and buckle down in our thirties, and I messed up.”
“He’s 26 still acting like he’s a fresh adult, it’s about time he grew up,” Nanami said sternly, “I don’t think you’re the problem here.”
“I knew who Satoru was when I slept with him,” you shrugged, “I just didn’t plan on getting pregnant. It was my choice to continue the pregnancy. So I can’t blame him for not being baby ready.”
“I think you can,” Nanami contradicted.
Janelle put her arms around your shoulders, “I know you were craving intimacy, but a whole weekend.”
You refrained from telling her that you’d needed all of Sunday to recover from Saturday night. That was not something you would say with Nanami around. The two of you were cool but not that cool. You waited to give her those details until after dinner when Nanami politely excused himself to go do whatever it is Nanami did with his free time, and you sat on the sofa with Janelle.
“Was it worth the walk of shame?” she asked you immediately.
“More than worth it,” you nodded, “Better than the last time. I mean the man can go for rounds.”
“No wonder you got knocked up on the first go. My goodness.”
“And he was sweet, Janelle, I’m smart. I know being sweet doesn’t automatically make someone dating material, but ugh. All he wanted to do was cuddle all day.”
“Damn, yeah that’s a dangerous combo. Good sex and a long cuddle after. You two were seriously boo’d up. I wish I could still show you the picture. He definitely snapped it while you were sleeping.”
“I figured. You know, it doesn’t help that I’ve just been so emotional.You know I’m not a cry baby and I’ve cried so much in the last 2 weeks it’s ridiculous.”
“He made you cry while you were there?”
“No, not him. His friend. You know Suguru. He came over and I don’t think he likes the idea of Gojo being out of the streets. And I don’t think he likes me very much because of it.”
“Well that’s hardly your fault. Satoru is making a choice, and I personally think it’s the right one. Kento doesn’t have much faith in him, but I think Satoru is a good person beneath it all.”
“Yeah but how far down do I have to dig to get to the good person. And is the good person reliable? Babies need stability, and they need emotional support. Saturo clams up when I get upset.”
“Kento used to do that with me,” Janelle said with a small smile, “Any time I got emotional or upset he would shut down and just try to please me. But we weren’t working through problems, I was just being momentarily placated so that he wouldn’t have to see me cry. The problem was still very much there though. No one is 100% perfect. It’s all about willingness to work to get on the same side.”
“You make everything sound so easy,” you sighed.
“It’s not easy, but it is simple. It could be nice to give it a whirl before the baby’s born, just to know that there’s nothing there. I’d hate for you to spend any amount of time wondering what could have been if you just gave him a chance.”
You took a deep breath and considered what she was saying. It could be nice. And Gojo was sweet yesterday, and maybe he had more of that in him than you knew. It was nice, being held all day and having all of your needs instantly met without having to work for it yourself. A bit of the anxiety that had been with you since you got your positive test result subsided. Even if it was just for a day, that was still something right?
Your phone buzzed and you looked at it only to sigh heavily when you saw it was a snap from Gojo. This could be completely benign or incredibly irksome. You opened it only to see a mirror pic of him straight out of the shower, presumably naked but his dick was not in the picture, just a sinful amount of his torso all the way down to just beforehis dick. You just looked at it for a moment completely stunned for two reasons. It was 7pm on a Monday. Did he not have anything better to do? Also he looked good. He looked damn good, His hair was obviously wet and making water run down his neck and chest. He was obviously flexinging his abs but they looked amazing anyway.
“Oh, oh wow,” Janelle said when she peeked at your phone.
“He’s a goddamn idiot,” you tapped the photo to get rid of it before sending a response: Wrong bitch.
“You getting those often?”
“He added me to his close friends after I told him I was pregnant, and his private story. I’m sure I could see worse if I went looking.”
“Okay, but he could change-”
You gave her a withering look only for your phone to chime and you were staring at another picture, this one was of his back all the way down to his butt in his bedroom mirror.
I know who I sent this to mama
His butt had a tattooed kiss mark on it, something you hadn’t noticed despite having seen him naked twice. You turned the phone around to prove your point to Janelle. She looked and then she got closer while squinting.
“Oh my god is that how big his dick is on soft?” she hissed at you. Your eyes went wide and you turned the phone back to face you in utter shock. You hadn’t seen that in the picture at all. However there was another mirror on the other side of his bedroom giving you a full frontal view.
“I did not see that. Oh my goodness.”
“My god woman, how do you have guts left to rearrange?”
“Shut up! You didn’t see that!”
Janelle giggled girlishly, tossing her head back against the couch cushions as she took into flustered expression, “Does he grow too-”
You shot her a look, “No more questions.”
Your sharp words sent her into another fit of giggles that you reluctantly joined in, before turning off your phone screen. You’d worry about why Gojo was sending you naked pictures later. For now, you were going to have fun with your friend. The two of you chatted idly. She told you about Nanami’s birthday plans for her, and formally invited you even though the both of you knew you needed no invitation. You’d be here bright and early to help out… if Nanami let you. He used to have you help him cook, but there was a good chance you’d be cast out of the kitchen this year.
“Wow,” she breathed suddenly, “This time next year I’ll be an aunty.”
You huffed a little laugh, “And we both thought you’d make me an aunty first.”
“Life has a way of throwing us curve balls. But I’m excited. You’ll have to make a baby registry. Do you think Satoru’s going to plan your baby shower?”
“Who knows? Anything can happen between now and then.”
“Well then I’ll plan it for sure. It’ll be the best baby shower anyone has ever had. We’ll even do a little maternity photo shoot. We can get you a flowery backdrop like Beyonce.”
You laughed, “I’m a far cry from Beyonce.”
“So? It can still be cute. I wish you’d have more fun with this. It’s your first baby.”
You sighed, “I guess I’m just waiting for this to go up in flames. It’s been too easy. Satoru’s been cool. I’ve got you and Kento supporting me… I haven’t told my mom yet. Oh, god, and I haven’t even asked Satoru about his parents. What if they’re racist?”
“One thing at a time, yeah? Why haven’t you talked to your mom?”
“Well this all still doesn’t feel real. Most days I don’t even feel pregnant… well except for like the nausea, and what if I don’t go to term you know?”
“I think if that happens you will need as much support as you can get. So what’s the real reason?”
You sighed, “I guess I’m kinda scared that she’s going to be disappointed in me. I mean I made her mistake all over again. Granted, I’m not as young… and I guess Gojo is well-off, but I could still wind up just as alone as she was. I mean, my mom never out right told me that I was a mistake or anything but… when someone drills it into your head to get your education and your career before you even look at a man, you kinda get the idea that if your mom had a time machine you wouldn’t be born.”
Janelle took a deep breath, “That’s heavy, do you think your mother will support you?”
“I think so. But she always had a way of being disappointed without having to say so. I just knew.”
“Well, you’re a grown woman now. And you got your education, and your career, and now you’re having a baby. Even if the circumstances aren’t the most ideal, you’ve still got a little time before announcements.”
You nodded. It still wasn’t something you were looking forward to. But it might be yet another reason to give things a go with Gojo, despite your better judgment. It might be nice to at least be able to call him your boyfriend when you told your mom the news.
When you got back home you looked at your phone again and saw another snap from Gojo. He was obviously on the sofa: Ouch no reply.
I was Janelle’s. She saw your ass btw… and also your wiener.
WIENER????!!! What are you 12
You better hope not pervert.
So what are you wearing?
Good night satoru
Night
The next time you saw Gojo it was a Friday night. You were about to settle into bed and maybe watch some true crime shows, nothing exciting but after a full work week you were looking forward to it. He called you to say he was outside. You huffed before going to open the door. His face lit up when he saw you.
“Nice nightgown, grandma. You decided not to go to bingo?” He said appraising the night gown and bonnet combo you had on.
“What do you want?”
“I have good news. Let me in.” He moved past you without fully waiting for you to move out of the way. You realized that he had grocery bags in his hands.
“What’s the good news?”
“We are set to close on the house. You do have to get up early tomorrow to go sign the papers, but it’s all yours, mama.”
“How the hell did you do that so fast?”
“Well, I didn’t need a bank loan, and I put down extra so they could get the inspections done faster. Money talks. I want it to be perfect for you and baby Gojo when she’s born. Which leads me to my next thought. We should go scouting for furniture, see what you like, what you don’t like. I wanna help do the nursery, though. I want it to be extra cool. When I was a kid, I always wanted stars on my ceiling,” he rambled as he pulled stuff out of the bag and set them on the kitchen counter.
“I can handle my own furniture.”
“Yeah, you probably can, but I want to do it,” he answered lightly, “White or red sparkling grape juice? Or we can get fancy and make a rosé.”
“It is impossible to curb your enthusiasm,” you sighed, coming over to stand beside him so you could see what else was in the bag. You noticed there was ice cream available and you suddenly had no desire to kick him out.
“I missed you. I kinda expected you to at least call some time this week. It’s like you don’t even care. You just used me for my body and didn’t look back.”
“I thought weekdays were for your bromance with Suguru. I didn’t want to encroach on his time. He seemed pissed about the weekends as it is.”’
“Forget about Suguru.”
“So he can throw a brick through my car window and slash my tires? No thanks. I already had a gaggle of your hoes trying to follow me on twitter so they could gang up on me in my DMs.”
“I said I was sorry about that. I was just excited to share the news.”
“And I haven’t forgiven you for that yet. I haven’t even told my mom and now hundreds of thousands of strangers know. I mean have you told your parents?”
“Oh, they’re dead, so nothing to worry about on that front,” He said in a blase manner.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It’s okay. We weren’t close.”
You frowned at that, because you thought that made things worse, but Gojo didn’t seem at all put off by the sad fact he dropped on you. You couldn’t imagine not at least having your mother to rely on. Maybe that’s why you were so afraid to tell her about this. It wasn’t likely that she would reject you, or the baby, but it was still a possibility. She’d beaten it into your head not to do exactly what you’d done. You felt like a failure. This was the first time you’d ever failed her. Gojo suddenly pinched your cheek.
“You worryin’ over me?” he questioned as you smacked his hand away from you.
“Not really. Just thinking about how I’m gonna tell my mom.”
“Did you already tell her I was a dog?” Gojo asked.
“I don’t tell my mom about my one night stands,” you rolled your eyes, “It’s complicated.”
“I’m a good listener.”
“In order to be a good listener you have to listen to someone other than yourself talk.”
“Well who made that rule?”
“I think it’s just common sense, Satoru. I’m not surprised you don’t know about it though.”
“Hey!” he complained and you just giggled in response.
The two of you wound up hanging out in your front room watching true crime shows. Gojo listened to you tell him about how global warming was affecting forensic science, because blowfly species were moving to different areas. It was the nerdiest thing he’d heard anyone talk about in his life, but it was interesting. This was how he wound up infatuated with you in the first place, just listening to you at every function the two of you were at. He didn’t talk to you much because he just liked to hear what you had to say. You always had a wisecrack, or fun fact to add to a conversation.
The weekend was filled with exactly what Gojo said it would be. You signed more papers than you could imagine for a house you didn’t put a single dime on, and then Gojo took you to an overly expensive furniture store. The place was so nice you were afraid to touch anything. Around midday, you started feeling sick so you wound up right back at home with Gojo leaning on the bathroom sink while you threw up. After a bit, he started rubbing your back only for you to slap his hands away. The extra stimulation was the last thing you needed. On the bright side, since you started grazing throughout the day, there wasn’t really much for your body to expel. Afterward, Gojo held you in his lap, much against your will. Even though… you wound up falling asleep like that.
In the beginning of May, on another day in which Gojo was at your place, he was looking through one of the pregnancy books he brought with him, “Hey, you’re going to Janelle’s birthday party right?”
“Of course.”
“We should go together.”
“And why would we do that?”
“Because it’s on the weekend,” He said as if that alone should clear up all of your questions. You guessed it kinda did. You spent the last few weekends with him already. You’d simply added it to your schedule.
“Are you invited?”
“Uh yeah! Janelle likes me. And I could easily be your plus one!”
“Okay, okay calm down. We can go together. I guess I’ll cancel with my other man.”
He scoffed, “I’m sure you have a whole line of men waiting for a chance. But you’re all mine for at least the next 9 to 10 months.”
“I didn’t agree to that.”
“Come on, what’s another man got that I don’t have?”
“The ability to shut up. A lack of social media presence, and a lack of Ent DNA.”
“Nerd,” he snorted at your Lord of the Rings reference.
“Okay but you knew the reference. So that makes you a freakishly tall nerd. Why don’t you shrink a little, iron giant?”
He laughed, “Do you prefer short men, then?”
“I prefer non-mutants.”
“Ouch. You’re mean. You’re going to give our baby your attitude.”
There was something inherently whimsical about the way Gojo said “our baby” every time he said it, you could almost see what it would be like in the end. You got a distinct mental image of him holding a little baby that he was sure to make look even tinier.
“Hm, I kinda hope they’re optimistic like you,” you said, still caught up in the whimsy of your baby and all the best things they could get from their father.
Gojo looked down at you, surprised by your suddenly earnest tone. His jaw was a bit slack before he smiled at you. You were still something of a mystery to him. He just didn’t get you in the slightest. He supposed he was waiting for you to latch on. It’s what everyone else did. They got a foot in the door then they scrambled to get inside to reap the benefits of his presence. Getting you to accept anything from him was always a struggle. You even fought him about meals every once in a while.
Gojo had been reading a lot of pregnancy articles since you told him you were pregnant. He was already aware of how much of an undertaking carrying a child was but the more he read the more he worried about you. Sometimes the only way to quell his anxiety was to call you, or just pop up at your apartment. He didn’t mind you fussing at him or teasing him, if it meant you weren’t feeling too sick to enjoy yourself.
“Oh hey I was gonna send you a picture but since you’re here,” you said before gathering your nightgown so that it was tight around your body then you turned to the side, “can you tell? I’m getting a little baby bump!”
He took a couple of steps back to see you a bit better and he realized you were right. There was a very distinct bump between your hips. It might be mistaken for a food baby if no one knew you were pregnant. You were 14 weeks along. He’d heard you complain about morning sickness less this week, though he wasn’t sure if you were just avoiding your trigger foods better or if that symptom was just subsiding.
You grinned showing off the bump that had brought you so much joy upon noticing it. You knew it wasn’t much but sometimes you woke up and you hardly believed you were pregnant at all. A bump would be grounding. It would be solid confirmation that this was real and happening and you weren’t somehow unconsciously scamming Gojo. When you looked up at Gojo again he squatted as if to get a better look at you.
“Oh I see now! Your boobs were in the way.”
“You are so damn annoying, you Giving Tree built ass bitch!”
This baby was sucking the life out of you. It had been a week and a half since you spoke to Gojo in any serious capacity. He came to your apartment with flowers and chocolate to apologize for the premature pregnancy announcement. You’d cursed him out and slammed your door in his face. He’d made the wise decision to keep your correspondence to text.
Open house today, in like an hour?
Can’t. Too sick to move.
I’m coming over.
Don’t
Let me take care of my baby.
You just rolled your eyes. Gojo was impossible sometimes. Just like he promised, he came over to your apartment. You opened the door after a few knocks, because it really wasn’t worth the trouble of turning him away. Even if you were mad at him.
“Aw, you look miserable,” he frowned as he looked at you. He was in a hoodie. It was early spring so the weather kept fluctuating. You were sure it was killing him to be this covered up. He had bags in his hands and he moved past you to go inside.
“Gojo what’s all that?”
“Well, I read somewhere that ginger could help soothe your stomach, and Nanamin gave me a recipe that he said should be easy for you to eat and it has folic acid, which is apparently something you need.” He spoke as he toed off his shoes at the door. He went straight to your kitchen. You followed after him to complain about him barging his way into your home.
“Hush,” he sighed, “Go lay down. You’re dead on your feet.”
“Satoru-”
“Don’t Satoru me. I can tell you’re not feeling well,” he said. When he decided to come over he half expected you to be fine and just using an excuse not to go house hunting with him. You were still mad about the Twitter thing after all, though he felt like you were overreacting. Seeing you, though, confirmed that you weren’t feeling well at all. Your under eyes were dark and the usual vibrancy in your complexion was gone. Even so, you were wearing a big t-shirt and it was utterly adorable so he didn’t even care about spending his day with you.
“No, so you can burn my kitchen down? No, I think I’ll stay right here.”
“Well then, sit down, please. What have you eaten today?”
“I tried oatmeal… the smell didn’t agree with me. And then I thought eggs, and the was a no, so I kinda gave up.”
“So you’re running on empty. That’s not good. This book I was reading said that you should strive for many small meals throughout the day instead of three big ones.”
“Oh.”
“We’ll have to find foods that don’t make you sick. It could take some trial and error though.” He glanced at you again and saw you sitting at your little kitchen table. He hadn’t really been in your place before, but it was homey, if not a little cramped for his size. It wouldn’t do at all. He would have to get you into a house ASAP. How was he supposed to cook meals for his kid in this tiny kitchen? It wasn’t sustainable. You gave him little pointers about where things were in the kitchen all while you struggled to even keep your head up.
While the food simmered he came over to you, patting the top of your bonnet, “You haven’t even started yelling at me, yet. You must really feel bad.”
“Yeah, Satoru, I’m- I’m not feeling it,” you said forlornly.
You just looked so sad as you said that, it made his heart hurt. Despite his reputation, he actually really did hate seeing people upset. He hated it most of all when it was people he cared about, and he cared about you. He cared about you a lot, actually.
He took a seat and then tugged you over to him. You made annoyed sounds as you tried to pull back, “Let me hold you. Come on, you’ve done far dirtier things in my lap. And it looks like you could use a hug.”
You really could. You woke up feeling like the world was all storm clouds and gloomy days. You’d cried in the shower about god knows what, you just felt so sad. For that reason, you allowed Gojo to pull you into his lap. He was so much bigger than you, and admittedly, he gave good hugs. He held you tightly and put his chin on your shoulder.
“My poor baby,” he crooned, rocking you gently.
“Shut the fuck up.”
He laughed, hugging you tighter, “Look on the bright side. Your boobs are bigger.”
“That’s not the bright side. They hurt.”
“Want me to kiss ‘em. It’ll make ‘em better.”
“Fuck you,” You went to get up but he tightened his hold on you.
“Alright, alright, I’ll behave,” he chuckled and you stopped trying to get out of his lap. Gojo was warm and he smelled really good, distinctly edible but not exactly sweet… like notes of almond with something clean and crisp running through it to keep the warmth of the almond without being too overpowering. You closed your eyes, as you felt your eyelids getting heavy.
He only moved to go stir the soup, and he gave you a small bowl just to put something in your stomach.
“You shouldn’t lie down right after eating, it’ll give you heartburn,” Gojo said when you were finished and just barely keeping your eyes open, “Why don’t we go watch a movie or something? We can shop through houses online too.”
“Mmkay,” you answered, though there wasn’t much conviction in your voice. You made it through a solid ten minutes of a movie before you were curled up against him fast asleep. He looked at houses on his phones while you snoozed.
Dude, wyd?
A text from Geto popped up and he answered with a picture of you tucked under his arm.
Really?
She’s sick :(
Yeah, she’s pregnant. We’re not going out tonight are we?
Idk. It’s only five.
I will never understand why you’re so hung up on her. But this just means I don’t have to compete with you for the prettiest woman in the room.
So I’m doing you a favor. You’re welcome.
Geto was bitter about the situation and Gojo knew it, but there was nothing to be done about it. He wasn’t going to treat you badly. He sighed heavily and went back to scrolling through houses. Geto would get over it. Gojo wasn’t going to leave you to do this all on your own. This was more important than a night out. He wondered, while you were sleeping, if his parents were ever like this… but he’d never seen his father be particularly affectionate to his mother and his mother was just as cold. You were, well compared to them, you were the sun. You were warm, affectionate, caring. He looked down at your peaceful sleeping face and snapped a selfie to make his home screen.
When you woke up some time later you apologized for falling asleep on him like that, “Oh I bet you had something more important to do, and I just used you as a pillow.”
“It’s my baby making you tired, the least I can do is be a good pillow. I can stay the night if you want.”
“Nice try, Satoru.”
“Well I can stay for the next few hours. I’ve saved some houses for us to look at. What do you think?“ He gave you his phone and you scrolled through the houses he liked. He seemed to favor modern designs, which wasn’t bad but all of the houses were kind of far away, and very pricey, plus they seemed to lack the warmth that a family home should have. While you had his phone an unsaved number texted him but his phone.
Heyyy free tonight?
Gojo snatched his phone out of your hand, before coughing nervously, “Sorry about that.”
“No big deal, we’re not dating,” you shrugged, “Look you don’t have to hang around like this just because you think it’s your responsibility. You’re doing a lot for me. Go out, have fun. Be the infamous Satoru Gojo. I’m not going anywhere. This baby has me wiped out. I’m probably just gonna sleep.”
“I’m sleepy too, honestly,” he lied, but feigned a yawn to sell the story. He just didn’t want to leave.
“Well then go home.”
“You’re so cruel. You’d put the father of your child out of your home,” he pouted.
“I’m just gonna watch some rom-coms in bed. Really, it’s nothing fun,”
“Well I wanna do it with you. It’ll be fun.”
You paused, maybe it would be nice. He was the father of your unborn baby. Maybe it would be nice to be close to him, even if it never went beyond an intimate friendship. It wouldn’t do you any good to be in love with him. Gojo collected the hearts of women like it was an idle pass time. However forming a genuine friendship would make co parenting easier.
“Okay. I’m gonna have more soup. It was very good.”
“See? I’m totally going to be great at this dad thing! And when I get you a house you’ll be less cramped and she’ll have plenty of room to grow.”
“She?” You asked, pulling back to look at him.
He grinned, “Oh yeah, I want a daughter. Sons are hard to raise. I want a daughter and she’s going to be a total daddy’s girl.”
You smiled at that, “Hm I thought you’d want a son.”
“No way. Boys get terrible egos after puberty. Girls do too but big egos are better for girls. I hope her ego is as big as yours.”
You scoffed, “Yours is bigger though.”
“You think I’m big?” He asked with barely contained giggles.
“Oh fuck off, Satoru.” You hit his chest as you stood. It would be easier to be stern with Gojo if you didn’t find him funny. You ate again, this time with Gojo before you went back to your room to watch a rom/com that Gojo picked out. He kept showing you houses, though you noticed that Do Not Disturb was on. He showed you beautiful houses that were far more than you could ever afford. He preferred a big backyard in a place with a nice school district and no less than 4 bedrooms.
“Oh… that one is nice,” you breathed looking at a house that reminded you of a story book. The garden was a bit overgrown by design and there were climbing roses on one side.
Gojo looked at it for a bit, checking off his mental list of things a house had to have for him to even think about it. It had good bare bones, he decided. Definitely worth looking at if you were so taken by it. He sent the link to his realtor and continued browsing. He was getting a good idea for what you liked. He’d been picking strictly modern designs while you gravitated towards older homes. He watched you fall in love with a Tudor styled home and an equally stylish bungalow.
“You’re such a romantic,” he teased, “You won’t be the princess of the house you know.”
Your face fell a little, “Well why not?”
“Because we’re having a baby, genius! She’s gonna be the princess.”
“And what if we have a son?”
“You still won’t be a princess. You’ll be a queen, but I knowit’s a girl and she’ll be the princess and you’ll just have to live with that.”
You smiled at him and it felt like he could hardly breathe, “I can live with that. You know if you mean it.”
“Of course I mean it. Why wouldn’t I?”
You shrugged, “I grew up without a dad. Sometimes men just don’t want to settle down. I always respected him for just sending child support and not bothering us.”
Gojo frowned, “I thought women with daddy issues were like hyper sexual.You barely fuck.”
“Rude. I mean I guess it happens… but my mom got on just fine without a man. I’ve lived this long without one. Men are optional in my eyes.”
“Ouch.”
“You can’t make someone stay if they don’t want to. So you know… don’t feel like we have to force this because we’re having a baby. We can just be friends who have a baby.”
He thought about that. He wished Geto could hear how many outs you gave him in just one visit. Maybe then he’d believe you weren’t in it for the money. More often than not it sounded like you were trying to talk him into leaving you.
“You’re always going to mean more to me than a friend.”
“And… and what if I miscarry. What then?”
“Then I’ll be here for you,” he frowned, “Why? Are you not feeling well?”
“No it’s just… I love how excited you are for this baby. It helps me a lot. I get in my own head a lot and I can start getting kinda gloomy but… but it’s still early and you made sure that everyone knows that I’m pregnant and if I- if I don’t carry to term-“ you were getting choked up just thinking about it. It was enough to miscarry. The trauma of that scared you but to have a whole crowd of people knowing that you failed to carry your baby, it was petrifying.
“Then you’ll need me even more,” Gojo said and then sighed, “but I get what you’re saying.”
You lost your battle with your tears and put your face in your hands as you cried all the fear and frustration out. This baby really knocked out your ability to regulate your emotions. Gojo wrapped both of his arms around you and held you to his side.
“I feel like you only like me because I’m pregnant and I feel so bad tying you down like this,” you blubbered because your emotions were truly getting the better of you and you couldn’t have held it back if you tried.
He shushed you gently rubbing your arm, “Don’t be stupid. I’ve liked you for years. You just didn’t like me, you cruel woman.”
“Huh?” You used the collar of your big shirt to dry your eyes even though the tears were still coming. He pulled back so he could hold your face. He held your jaw and angled your face to look up at him.
“I saw you for the first time at Janelle’s birthday party. When she and Nanami first started dating. You were in white, and you were the most beautiful woman in the room. We sat beside each other during dinner, and I couldn’t stop laughing at everything you said. I thought you were so smart and funny. Then it was like you dropped off the face of the earth. I kept going to gatherings at Kento’s place but you were always at the ones I couldn’t make and never at the ones I could. I thought you were avoiding me at first. But then I’d see you at a few parties and we’d talk and you were just the same as before. When we got to talk on New Years it was… well you know how that went. But I took all night to get the courage to talk to you.”
“Courage?”
“Yeah. You’re super hot, and you kept making me giggle. I got a new haircut for you and everything.”
“I inspired the mullet, well I guess it wasn’t for nothing. It’s really hot and it got me pregnant,” you joked, smiling tearfully. He changed his hold on your face so he could wipe your tears for you.
“I guess it did do the job, huh? We’re for-lifers now, mama. We’re gonna have the cutest baby in the world.”
You scoffed before leaning into his touch. It was nice to have someone hold you. Pregnancy was a big change, a huge change and sometimes you felt like you were just running forward blindly. So much could go wrong, but when Gojo talked about the baby, everything felt so concrete. It’s like you could see the future perfectly and it would be alright. You wondered if that’s how he saw the world. He was just so certain that everything would work.
“C’mere,” he pulled at you and you let him pull you into his lap until you were straddling him. There was a reason you wound up pregnant. He was handsome, criminally so, and worse still he knew it. His hands moved down to hold your thighs. You could be friends who had a baby and who maybe sorta kinda fucked, right?
“Satoru,” you complained, moving to get out of his lap, “We can’t do this okay. We’re already gonna have a baby, let’s not blur the lines any more than they already are.”
“Oh the lines are already blurred,” he laughed, holding you in place, “You let me take care of you all day, get all cute and emotional, and now you want to worry about lines? You’re funny.”
“I’m so glad you think my crazy hormones are funny.”
“We could do this, you know? Not just for the baby, but for us.”
“What is ‘this’?” You demanded.
“This, us. We can try it,” he said.
He believed what he was saying, you decided and maybe he was on to something. You should at least try, for the baby. If you never tried then how would you know that it wouldn’t work. Sure, your mom did it on her own but that doesn’t mean she never wished that she could have had a partner to help, the other half of her child should have been there to help. You settled into his lap again and he interlaced his fingers behind your back. You fussed with his hair, where it fell over his forehead.
“I hope our baby doesn’t get your big ass forehead.”
He gasped, truly affronted, “My forehead is normal!”
You pushed his hair back and made a sound of disagreement even though he was right, “Mmm you got that wide screen forehead. That IMAX theater dome.”
“I was being nice to you!”
You giggled before leaning forward to kiss his forehead, “If you mean it, Satoru… then we should go out sometime. Maybe don’t skip to getting in pants.”
He pouted, “But I mean, we’ve already crossed that bridge-”
“Satoru, I slept with you because I never intended to do it again.”
“You were using me?” he said in an appalled tone.
You rolled your eyes, “You knew what it was. It was New Years, my resolution was to have fun. You were fun.”
“Wow, so I’m just dick to you. I see how it is.”
“Well, I’m offering to date you now. You’re the one who’s trying to stay dick. I was looking out for you.”
“Fine, but that means you have to let me take you out, and that’s hard for you.”
“I just don’t like the thought of just being a responsibility,” you grumbled, “if you’re doing stuff for me because you think you should, I’d rather it was stuff directly for the baby.”
“Spent my whole life being irresponsible and the one time I try to do the right thing here you are trying to lighten the load. I’m taking you out. And you’re gonna get all pretty for me, and we are going to have fun,” he leaned forward until his face was right in front of yours. His eyes flicked down to look at your lips before he met your gaze again.
“You wanna kiss me so badly it makes you look stupid.” You sighed, noticing just how small the distance between your lips was.
“Well I’m always the stupid one as long as you’re around, bookworm.”
You rolled your eyes and kissed him, because it felt good, because Gojo was a good kisser. There wasn’t any other rationale behind it. The hard metal of his tongue piercing, moved against your own tongue in a manner that demanded your attention and had you thinking about that night, how his tongue felt between your legs, the way his blue eyed stare darkened as his pupils were blown wide with lust. Gojo just looked like trouble. That’s why you did it. You were tired of always making the right choice. You wanted to make the choice that felt good. You were so tiredof being good. You were already pregnant with his kid. What’s the worst that could happen?
You could wind up like one of the women trying to reach a man with his phone on Do Not Disturb. You could start loving him, honestly loving him and he could just bail out. The idea of putting the title of father on him was daunting. You couldn’t expect him to be your boyfriend too. That was trying your luck. You pulled away and sighed heavily.
“Satoru, you don’t want this.”
“I promise. I do,” he said, trying to press your lips together again.
“You want to have sex with me. You don’t really want me though. I’m not going to let you ruin this tenuous friendship we’ve got because you’re horny,” you said firmly and then pulled his hands off of you so that you could get out of his lap, “You should go.”
He frowned but he could tell you meant business, “Fine, call me if you need anything.”
“Yeah I will. You’ve been a great help today. Thanks.”
You walked him to the door trying to ignore how goddamn sad he looked to be leaving. In your heart you knew this was the responsible decision. It was better for both you and Gojo if things never went beyond that kiss. However the moment he was gone you were punching the air in frustration. It had been almost three months since you got any action. Three whole months.
You immediately got on the phone to talk to Janelle. She greeted you warmly as she always did and you repaid that kindness with the most criminally horny thing you could have said, “If I don’t get fucked soon I swear my coochie is going to crawl away from my body.”
“Whoa! You are on speaker!”
“Kento has heard worse from me. I’ve already disappointed him.”
“I have not heard worse. That was appalling.” He called. His voice sounded quite a bit further away than Janelle’s.
“Sorry, Kento.”
“I’m taking you off speaker,” she said and then you heard her readjusting, “Okay. I’m sorry you feel that way. Maybe you could start dating,”
“While pregnant? Not likely.”
“It could be fun. You meet someone, get to know them, one thing leads to another.”
“I’m picky. I mean look, Satoru is an idiot but fuck he’s sexy. He comes over here and he makes me food, and he lets me nap in his arms and I- God Janelle I almost rode him like a wild stallion.”
“Oh wow… but you didn’t, right?”
“No, but we kissed… I definitely kissed him. And I know he’s a bad idea.”
“Actually… if you have to have casual sex with someone he’d be your best bet. I mean he seems excited about the baby so he’s not gonna spontaneously ax murder you.”
“You’re supposed to be talking me down from making a stupid choice!” You groaned, throwing your head back in grief.
“Well the smart decision is to just handle it yourself. But if you’re going to seek outside help-“
“It’s just that the worst thing I could do is catch feelings. And my hormones are all over the place and I’m wetall the time. I feel like I could leave a snail trail wherever I go!”
“Oh wow. You are on one today.”
“I feel like I’m in fucking heat!” You complained.
“Take a cold shower or something.”
The next day Gojo was knocking on your door bright and early. You were too busy getting rid of your breakfast. You thought you wanted a nice savory bagel with cream cheese but you finished one half of a half of the bagel only for your stomach to turn violently. It was brutal, and you still felt sleepy like you did yesterday. After the initial knocking on the door, you heard your phone start ringing. It took you a bit to get up, and by that time the knocking had started again.
“GIMME A MINUTE DAMN!” you yelled at the door before you grabbed your mouth wash. You at least wanted to get the smell of vomit off of your breath.
When you opened the door you were not the least bit surprised to see Gojo there. He grinned at you only for his smile to drop.
“You look horrible.”
“Aw, thanks babe,” you said bitterly, walking away from the door so Gojo could come in.
“I’m sorry, we’ve got an open house for that little bungalow you liked. Get some pants on.”
“Satoru,” you complained.
“I’ll feed you after, come on.”
You crossed your arms in front of your chest.
“You’re supposed to be letting me date you, remember? So open house, then a date and I’ll have you home at a reasonable time, mama.” He came over and started tugging at your arms.
“I don’t feel good.”
“Alright, then that’ll put the pressure on the realtor. And you don’t feel good because you’re hungry. You’ve gotta feed my baby. She’s in there raging,” he bent down and put one of his massive hands on your stomach, “Mama, feed me mama!”
You slapped his hand away, “Fine! Fine! Let me go get dressed. And I don’t want to go out. I wanna go back home.”
“Do you spend every weekend in your apartment?”
“Well dammit I pay rent here I might as well be home!”
“That won’t last long. When I get you this house you gotta come out with me.”
“Satoru, I’m pregnant. I can’t drink, or be around secondhand smoke, and I can’t do anything crazy.”
“I’m straight edge! It’s the only thing straight about me and I have a great time!”
“You don’t do any drugs?” you asked poking your head out from the hallway to look at him He was still standing in the middle of your living room. You noticed now that he was wearing a button up of all things. The sleeves were folded up, and he intentionally left buttons undone. To show off the symmetrical arrows tattooed under his collarbones.
“Nope. Not my thing,” he shook his head, “Perfect dad material right?”
“That kinda makes it worse. I thought you were high all this time and that’s why you act Like That.”
“Rude, hurry up before we’re late. This is one thing we have to be on time to. You actually liked this house. Go get the dead look out of your eyes. Oh and, baby, you can’t show how much you like the place. They’ll hike up the price.”
“Shut the fuck up!” you groaned as you walked down the hall.
“Maybe put on some makeup. Cover your bags!” He threw back, “Maybe you wouldn’t have had trouble sleeping if you let me put you to sleep.”
“Fuck you!”
“You could have! My guard was lowered, you were all cute and pouty. I would have changed your life.”
“You’ve already changed my life Gojo! A baby does that. My body will never be the same! Does that make you happy?”
“A little, your tits have been looking amazing. I’ve seen fake ones that were less enticing.”
You elected to stop talking to him. He was being ridiculous. You tossed on a sundress because there was no way that you could wear any of your jeans. Nothing but your sundresses fit. You did a quick little makeup look and came back out to see Gojo was gone. Then you turned to see him in your kitchen going through your cabinets.
“Satoru, get the hell out my cabinets!”
“Why don’t you have any sweet stuff?” he complained, as he closed the cabinet. He turned to look at you and then paused. You didn’t know what the hell his problem was but you were over it.
“I prefer savory snacks, now I thought we had a time sensitive appointment! You spent all that time rushing me and now you’re dragging your ass.”
He rolled his eyes, obviously breaking out of whatever momentary stupor he’d just been in, “Come on then.”
Satoru drove a sports car. You’d been in it exactly once, on the drive from the New Years party to his place. It had been exhilarating that night. He drove with all the windows down, and laughed at you singing at the top of your lungs to the music on the radio. You wish you could say that you were drunk. It would make this whole situation less your fault, but you were sober. You were eager to get to the funpart of your life.
“Okay,” Gojo said as he started the car. You put on your seat belt, and tried to ignore the obnoxious blue accents on the interior. You knew that at night there were blue lights inside and under the car. It was cool as fuck, even if it was tasteless. You turned to look at him, only to see him putting on his sunglasses.
“First rule of buying a house, I don’t care if this is your dream house, don’t act like you like it, and we’ll discuss our opinions outside of the house. Next, let me do all the talking. You just stand there and look ambivalent. Definitely tell me though if you don’t even like the place. We’ll save ourselves some time.”
“Oh wow what’s next, do I have to look at the ground while we’re there, so I don’t look too interested?” you asked, sarcasm dripping off your tone.
He gave you a little look of exasperation before pulling out of his parking spot. He turned up his radio since you didn’t seem like you were in a talking mood. He wondered if you were always this grumpy. He didn’t remember you being grumpy. You smiled at him so much that night. He remembered laughing so hard his stomach hurt when you’d stuck your head out of the window to scream/sing “Drunk in Love” at a red light. He’d had to tug you back in when the light turned green. You were giggling like mad before you turned to look at him and put your imaginary microphone up to his mouth when it was Jay Z’s part. It was fun, youwere fun.
He noticed you bobbing your head to the music.He could see your lips moving as you lip synced. Maybe that girl was still in there somewhere. Gojo could be patient when it suited him. It didn’t come to him easily but he could manage it. You didn’t really look at him much while he drove which gave him a chance to admire the bright yellow sundress you were wearing and how it set off your skin, and your boobs look phenomenal.
You were looking at Gojo. You were just looking at his reflection in his heavily tinted windows. In truth, you were also looking at how he drove, with one hand on the steering wheel, and his arm leaning on the door. The other rested on the gearshift. You were pretty sure that his stupid fancy car was a manual. You tried not to focus on the sight of his hand loosely curled around the gear shift, or the sight of his forearms and the subtly defined muscles there. He stole another glance at you, and you figured he wanted to talk, but it was a bad idea to talk to him. In the middle of it all, you always got unreasonably angry with his bullshit.
The house was just like it looked on the website. Its overgrown climbing roses were just as charming as they looked in the pictures. Gojo put his arm over your shoulder and you had to crane your head all the way back to look at him.
“Why are you touching me?” you demanded stepping to the side to get away from him.
“We’re supposed to be a happy couple looking for our first home.”
“Why are we playing games? You want to buy me a house. Just say that. Money is money.”
“Eh, these sellers wanna sell to a nice young soon-to-be family. Oh speaking of!” He reached into his pocket and you paused to see what he was doing. He grabbed your left hand and tried to slide a ring on your finger.
“Hey! Cut it out!”
“Calm down, it’s just for the look. You’ll give it back after this. Jeez, the more we look like a nuclear family the better chance we have at these house viewings.”
“Wait… how many houses are we seeing.”
“Just three today, after this one. Come on, put it on.”
You let him put the ring on you. It was a little loose but not horrible. If this is what he felt like he needed to do then so be it. You were just here to judge houses. And apparently you were expected to do so silently. He put his arm around you again.
“Just be the cute little pregnant woman you are. I’ll do all the convincing that we’re married.”
“Where’s your ring?”
He held up his hand to show off a dark band, “We’ve been married a year and we’re finally looking for our dream home,” he pretended swoon, putting more weight on you. You immediately punched him in the side, trying to get him to let you go.
“Ow,” he called out then laughed, “You are small but mighty!”
“Shut up!”
Gojo was taller than most people but you were actually considered short so he was exceptionally tall to you. Just having to look up at him was pissing you off. You deliberately stayed several feet away away from Gojo so that you could comfortably look up at him.
“What the fuck are you so tall for? Ole giraffe built ass,” you said softly as you crossed your arms. Gojo only laughed at your chagrin.
“Focus on the house, mama,” He reprimanded, and you had to admit that you hadn’t given the house much more than an initial glance. It had a nice sized front yard, no fence though, but it looked like maybe the back was fenced in. The flower beds out front were nice and taken care of. You wondered if the sellers might dig it up when they went to sell. They had to know that the beautiful flora was a major selling point. There wasn’t really substantial porch space, which you found a little disappointing. Sure you knew that going in, but you were only just now thinking about it.
Gojo led the way into the house, holding your wrist to pull you in behind him. You could hear other people inside, talking about the place. A happy looking realtor popped out of nowhere in his clean pressed suit to greet you both. He actually startled you quite a bit with his overenthusiastic, “Hello there!”
He actually startled you quite a bit, and you were glad to be behind Gojo’s massive form.
“You must be the last couple we’re waiting for,” the realtor continued, “follow me.”
You looked around the entry way with distaste. The inside of the house was just so dark. And there were so many walls. The short lead into the cramped and sunless front room told you all you needed to know.
“Satoru,” you called and waited for him to look at you, “I don’t like it.”
“Oh thank god!” he exclaimed, before abruptly turning the two of you around, “We’re actually good. You all have fun.”
The two of you hit a sharp u-turn back out the door. Gojo breathed a heavy sigh when the two of you left out.
“That place was suffocating. I thought my head was gonna hit the ceiling,” he complained.
You snorted, “Maybe I should have let you buy it then. No giraffes allowed in there.”
“Oh I wasn’t going to buy it, but I was going to judge your taste.”
“I’m looking for something more open, with more natural light, you know. Maybe fewer walls. I don’t like a completely open concept, but we can let the room breathe.”
He nodded along thoughtfully before taking out his phone to look at his watch, “Well we’ve got three hours before we’re set to meet my realtor. You didn’t keep down your breakfast, so let’s feed you, mama.”
You didn’t object. Your stomach was so very empty. This baby had the audacity to make you so violently ill, but to also be unreasonably hungry. Gojo picked out the restaurant you went to. You were glad he didn’t ask you what you wanted to eat because you really didn’t know. Whatever it was, you wanted it to be good. This was another breakfast place, which made sense it was early. Sitting across from him you wondered how often he did this. Not home buying, but sitting to have a meal with a woman. He had a reputation for sending women packing just as fast as he got them home. When you ventured into taking him for a test drive you were not interested in being toldyou weren’t wanted. You had your fun and you dipped. You didn’t need him thinking that you were yet another woman desperately trying to get him to stay. He averaged one night with women. You weren’t under any impression that you would get special treatment.
“So… I feel like we should talk about yesterday,” you breathed.
“Sure,” he said before throwing the paper from his straw into your cleavage. It landed right in the middle. He gave a triumphant fist pump before grinning at you. You quickly grabbed the piece of paper and threw it as hard as you could at his face. It bounced off his cheek harmlessly.
“I was going to say,” you began through clenched teeth, “That I was being rash. Pregnancy hormones are something else, and I know that you don’t do relationships and I’m not asking you to try for me. I was just-”
“Horny?” he asked.
You huffed. You didn’t know why you kept trying to have delicate conversations with him, “Yeah. I was just horny.”
“I tried to take care of that for you,” he said on a sigh.
“I’m pregnant, and you run through women like it’s nothing. I can’t take the chance of catching anything from you. It’ll affect our baby.”
“I always use protection.”
“Satoru, we’re literally in this situation because the condom broke. Plus you went down on me without a dental dam. You engage in risky behaviors.”
He was quiet for a moment and you watched him purse his lips before looking out of the window and speaking, “You were different.” He said it barely above a murmur but you heard him.
“So you don’t go around showing off what that tongue piercing can do?” you said in utter disbelief. He had to be lying. Gojo was too much of a slut to just have that tongue piercing for aesthetic purposes.
“Well I got it in college. That was a different time; I was practicing my craft.” he shrugged as if he just said the most normal thing in the world to you.
“Uh huh.”
Gojo seemed annoyed by your disbelief, “Well what are you gonna do? Getting with other guys is risky and that’s a long nine months, mama.”
“Don’t worry about that, Satoru. The point is, I don’t want to encourage you in thinking that we’re going to be something we’re not. And I don’t want to make you feel like you have to change for me or anything. I really just expect you to be a father all this other stuff…”
He hummed thoughtfully, “I can use my fingers. I hear I’m pretty good with my hands.”
You looked at his hands reflexively. He still had the pseudo wedding band on. He had big hands, which again he was a very tall man, but still there was a grace to be found in his hands that was utterly captivating.
“Be serious,” you complained.
“I am. Look, I know I don’t have the right to say it, but if anyone’s gonna scratch that itch for you, I’d much prefer it was me. You’re carrying precious cargo, you can’t trust every man to be gentle with you, or to care whether or not you get yours.”
His tone was more serious than you’d heard since he proclaimed that he would be taking care of his baby and by extension you. He’d set those eyes on you in such a way that showed he was telling absolutely nothing but the truth. All of the usual joking mirth disappeared from his gaze, looking you over curiously.
“I’ll make you comfortable, mama, you know I’m good for it.”
You cleared your throat and looked away from him, “Let’s table this conversation.”
That’s when the smile broke out again. He leaned back in the booth, “Alright. We’ll put a pin in it for later… but just so you know I’ve got a clean bill of health from my doctor.”
He was all too pleased with himself. Being serious with Gojo was such a losing game. Now here you were crossing your legs under the table, worried about the state of your underwear. Instead of having needed conversations, you eyed the menu. You’d usually go for an omelet or something, but eggs weren’t agreeing with you. You got stuck on the banana foster pancakes and couldn’t look away. Just the thought of that much sugar would usually be sickening to you, but as you read the description, you were nothing but intrigued.
“I think you’ll like the next three houses. I picked them out.”
“Mm, then I’m sure to hate them.”
“I have a nice house already!”
You didn’t say anything because the outside of his house was nice… but it was definitely decorated like a man lived there. The things he cared about were perfectly put together, but it lacked the kind of decoration and thought that would make it homey.
“Whatever, I took into account the things you like. I’m not going to tell you which one I think is best, because you’ll hate it on principle.”
The two of you ordered and Gojo seemed surprise by your pick. You did tell him early that you preferred savory food. He was going to question it, but then you yawned and he remembered just how tired you looked earlier.
“Late night.”
“I couldn’t get to sleep,” you nodded.
“You’re not still drinking caffeine are you?”
“Of course not. I don’t really know what the deal is, but I’m just blaming it on being pregnant.”
“You know you fell asleep really easily when I was there.”
“Satoru, we said we were tabling that conversation.”
“I’m talking about sleep, you little perv,” he grinned and you looked for something to throw at him. You settled for a sugar packet. When the food came you were excited about how your food looked… but Gojo got tres leches pancakes and it looked really good. You looked at his food longingly and the words were out before you could recall them.
“Can I try yours?” you asked.
“You haven’t even tried yours, yet,” he complained.
You pouted and grabbed your fork and the cut into your pancakes with the side of it. Your food was delicious but you were still after his.
“Please, can I just have one bite? It looks really good.”
He took a deep breath and slid the plate towards you. You cut off a section to try it and Gojo took his plate back. Except his food was really good. It wasn’t better than yours but you wanted more.
“Do you wanna try mine?”
“Not really.”
“Try it!”
He sighed and tried your pancakes, “It’s good-”
“I’ll give you half of mine if you give me half of yours.”
“No.”
You poked your bottom lip out and then thought of a way to win him over, “But… I thought you were going to take care of your baby? Your baby wants half of your pancakes.”
“My baby is the size of a raspberry. She doesn’t want anything,” he argued with you.
“She’s making me crave it. Come on, I’ll trade you.” You gave him a doe eyed, pleading stare. He met your gaze for a moment before he gave a big exaggerated huff before he picked up the butter knife and started cutting the stack of pancakes in half. You grinned doing a little happy dance as you did the same for him.
“You’re annoying.”
“You can’t be mean to me, I’m pregnant.” you threw back.
You were tired after eating, but Gojo mercilessly dragged you to the house viewings. His picks weren’t bad but one of them had old flooring that would need to be redone and the street it was on was busy. The other one was on a hill and the idea of your baby rolling down it into the street was to much for you to take. The third house was charming. It would need some work, but it was nice. You liked that it wasn’t far from Janelle and Kento’s place. Apparently those two told Gojo about it. You’d always heard that homebuying was a horrible process but it actually wasn’t so bad. You probably wouldn’t even feel so tired if you weren’t pregnant. There was a nice front yard, the flower beds were empty, but weeds hadn’t taken over so you could see yourself gardening. There was a large porch, and you thought about adding a porch swing to sit in on nice days. The foyer was open, and breathable. The light hardwood was a bit old but you respected the color choice. It brightened up the front and made the natural light from the windows seem even brighter. There was a big staircase that led upstairs with a sturdy looking banister. The kitchen was big enough to have a breakfast knock. It was nestled against a bay window. There were granite countertops and beautiful appliances. You eyed the double oven with interest. The kitchen looked out on the back yard which was fenced in with a beautiful deck, garden, and backyard. There was a dining room with a fancy chandelier and a very big living room on the other side of it.
Upstairs there were 4 bedrooms, and a loft area that you thought might make a nice place for all of your books. The nursery was easy to pick out, it was closest to the master bedroom, and it had the most beautiful architecture. You wondered if the family selling it didn’t use it as a nursery themselves.
You squeezed Gojo’s hand when you saw the room and he glanced down at you, but it didn’t seem like you’d done it on purpose. You were just admiring the room. He had to admit, Nanami was right when he said that this house was worth snatching up. If you didn’t like it he was tempted to get it anyway.
It wasn’t until the two of you were walking away that he got his response, “So what do you think?”
“I really like it,” you answered sheepishly, “And Janelle and Kento are right around the corner.”
“Is this the house you want?”
“I think so. I know we’re supposed to look at all the other options but-”
“Not really. I appreciate your decisiveness. We only have nine months to get a new house ready for the baby. We needed this part to go as quickly as possible.”
“Um… thanks,” you said awkwardly. It settled weirdly in your chest to have Gojo doing something so big for you. And even if it was just for the baby, it was still benefitting you.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to put it in your name, so don’t start arguing with me about what my actual motives are. We’ll make a cash offer if we can get an inspection within the next few days.”
You nodded, not really knowing where all of this business talk was coming from, but taking it in stride nonetheless. You wound up at Gojo’s house, because he needed to make a few phone calls and the documents he needed to reference were in a safe. The last time you were in his place it was just to talk, and the time before that… you spent more time in his bedroom and in the morning you were too busy getting up and out to pay attention to the decor. It was a pretty minimalist look, save his random collections of things that interested him. It looked like he had a collection of movies, vinyl, and… digimon collectibles?
You sat on the sofa that you supposed was pretty comfortable, while you texted Janelle.
I think it’s cute that you two are bonding
I’m gonna move this to the group chat with Kento if you’re going to say things like that
You’re both so negative about him. I don’t get it! You slept with him. And Kento considers him a friend.
Satoru is an idiot… but he’s actually been kind of sweet I guess in his own way??? I’m getting a house out of the deal. Allegedly in my name.
To be fair it’s probably just a drop in the bucket for him.
You considered that and realized she was probably right. You didn’t know whatGojo did, because he never seemed to be doing anything, but it was common knowledge that he was loaded. At some point, in the middle of texting Janelle, you got sleepy. It happened so quickly you barely even realized you were falling asleep.
Gojo came downstairs to ask you if you wanted him to take you home, only to see you fast asleep on the couch. Your mouth was open and you were breathing very heavily. He thought better of waking you and instead did his best to pick you up without disturbing your sleep. He climbed the stairs and took you to his room so he could put you in bed. After he put you down on one side, he carefully took off your glasses and put them on the night table.
“Satoru,” you mumbled sleepily.
“Mmhm.” he squatted down to look at you in bed.
“‘M sorry. Just so tired,” you breathed.
“It’s alright, mama. Sleep.”
“Hold me,” you mumbled and you said something else but he couldn’t quite make it out. Either way, he didn’t need to be told twice. He unbuttoned his shirt and went to go find pajama pants so you wouldn’t freak out when you woke up about him being pantsless. The moment he wrapped his arm around your waist once he was in bed pulling you closer to him. Your hand rested on top of his where it was on your stomach.
He let you stay the night, the night that your baby was conceived. He didn’t usually do that, he preferred to have his bed to himself, and cuddling was over the line for a one night stand, but he’d wanted you to stay. He was pleased that you didn’t try to leave, instead you asked him if he had half decent face wash and he responded by telling you that if you could get up and make it to be bathroom, he would give you the fancy shit. You got up on incredibly unsteady legs and made it to the bathroom only to give a little victory shout. When you got back in bed you pulled him on top of you, and you meant to cuddle him to your chest, but he got distracted by your boobs and wound up starting another round. So by the time that was over, you were both tired, and it was the early hours of the morning, maybe an hour or so from sunrise. He did fall asleep on your chest, listening to the steady thump of your heart slow down. He had no idea what waited for him in the future, that you would be gone in the morning, or that you’d be back and a couple of months pregnant with his child. He just knew that he didn’t mind you staying the night. He kissed your shoulder, because you couldn’t fuss at him about it. First came the house, and then he would be sure that your career wasn’t too hazardous for you, though you worked at a pharmacy, it shouldn’t be a problem, but he would see if you’d take a leave after the baby was born.
You woke up slowly, reluctant to move because you were warm and you were comfy and for once you felt like you could just go right back to sleep. You turned over and nuzzled into the warm body beside you, only for them to pull you closer. Your brain took a second to catalog what was going on. There were arms around you. Right, you fell asleep at Gojo’s, on the couch. He must have put you in his bed. You opened your eyes, ready to tease him about seizing the first opportunity to get you in his bed, but when you pulled back to look at him. He was asleep too, cheek squished against his pillow, making his perfect pink lips pucker a bit with the pressure. Gojo was really pretty. It was easier to acknowledge when he wasn’t saying or doing something stupid and instead he was just sleeping. It was the most neutral thing a human could do.
You first met Gojo at Janelle’s birthday party. Nanami gave you a serious warning about him before he even came. It was very like him to give you a run down of which one of his friends was dateable, and who you should avoid at all costs. It was Nanami’s advice to avoid Gojo at all costs.
“He’s a good friend, but that’s it. I find him completely insufferable, and he’s a notorious womanizer.”
You nodded, “Which one of your friends is dateable?” you asked in jest.
“… Ijichi and Higuruma. They are both dependable men, with well paying jobs, and they are respectful to women.”
You stifled an eye roll because those two were also completely uninteresting. If you were honest, you were only so fond of Nanami because Janelle loved him so much and you were convinced that she brought out the best in him, but she brought out the best in everyone. You wanted a love like that, where the two of you brought out the absolute best in one another. You were happy that they were dating. It was just good to see such a well matched pair. You were talking to Janelle when Gojo came in. You noticed him. Of course you did. He white hair and he came in wearing a crop top of all things. He had an undercut back then, and fewer tattoos but a certain energy filled the room when he walked in.
“You’re staring,” Janelle chided.
“Who’s that?” you asked, because you had no reason to know the face connected to the name you learned from Nanami.
“Oh, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto. They’ve known Kento since high school.”
“Really? I can’t imagine Kento hanging around those two,” You saw turning your gaze to Geto who met yours with an arrogant little smirk before flicking his hair off his shoulder flippantly. He had it half up, and he was wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt that he somehow managed to pull off in a way that didn’t seem tacky.
“He didn’t really. I don’t really understand that friendship honestly, but you know,” Janelle shrugged.
Gojo and Geto joined the two of you shortly, Gojo giving Janelle a hug. She received it easily only for her whole form to be swallowed up by just how tall he was.
“I feel like Nanami’s been hiding you away. It’s been forever.”
“I’m finishing up my licensure and Kento has better things to do than hang around with you heathens. Hello, Suguru.”
“Hi,” Geto smiled.
Gojo turned and noticed you standing beside Janelle, “Well who is this shot glass of water?” he asked.
You gave him a withering glare, “You don’t even know my name yet and you have short jokes.”
“Come on, half pint,” He grinned.
“Satoru, careful, she packs a punch,” Janelle said, “and she’s my best friend.”
You told him your name and put out your hand for him to shake. He did, but he held on to it, still grinning like he knew some kind of inside joke. You just raised an eyebrow at him.
“This is Suguru by the way,” Gojo said, gesturing to his side as he quickly let your hand go as if he only just remembered that he was holding it.
You nodded at the other man politely.
“You know, you shouldn’t be so uptight about your height. Great things come in small packages,” his grin was only growing.
“Is that what you tell yourself every morning?” You asked him.
Geto snickered, putting a hand up to his mouth to stifle the sound.
Gojo shrugged, “I don’t know why don’t you find out?” Then he licked his lips and you noticed the flash of metal on his tongue and you knew Nanami was right like always. Gojo was utterly undateable. Still, he gravitated towards you, sitting beside you when everybody went outside to drink and talk. You liked that he understood your dry wit, and played along, leaning in to give you a sly remark every once in a while like you did for him. You remembered that he looked especially handsome when he was laughing at something you said.
That was almost a year ago. It would be a year in a few weeks. If someone told you that you were gonna wind up pregnant from this idiot, you would have ran for the hills. Looking at him now though… well there had to be a reason Gojo was still Nanami’s friend despite Nanami’s obvious exhaustion with him. You would have just laid there, surrendered to the fact that Gojo had you in a pretty tight hold and you weren’t getting out any time soon, but your bladder was screaming.
“Satoru,” you called, touching his face gently.
He breathed in sharply before squeezing you a little to his side, “Don’t fuss, 15 more minutes and I’ll take you home.”
“I have to go to the bathroom, jackass,” you said, but there was a giggle in your voice that made his lips quirk up before he let you go.
“In that case, come right back.”
You got out of bed to relieve yourself. You came back and you considered fussing with Gojo to get him to take you home but it was a Saturday. It’s not like you had work in the morning. You just decided to take off your bra.
Gojo heard you leave the bathroom and he was waiting for you to get back in bed. He has trouble sleeping most of the time, and sleeping with you was probably the most restful sleep he’d gotten in a while. He cracked his eyes open, ready to tell you to get in bed and he watched you pull off your bra from the neckline of your dress. He wolf whistled at the sight and you immediately threw your bra at him.
“I can’t believe you put me in your bed while I was wearing my outside clothes.”
“Anything for you mama. Now repay the favor by cuddling with me,” his words were a little slurred with sleep, and again you found that you had no real urge to argue with him about it. You hopped up on the big bed and crawled over to him.
He hummed a pleased sound as he lifted the covers for you. It was just a cuddle. You’d done far worse with this man. You laid on your side only for him to slide one arm under you and bring the other over your waist to hug you in close. He decided to shimmy down in bed until he could face plant into your chest. He rolled you over onto your back and knuzzled in a bit more. “Ow, Satoru!” you whined, “Stop, that hurts.”
“Aw,” he mumbled, “I’m sorry, I forgot. Let me kiss ‘em better.”
He pressed a kiss to achey skin of your breast, and then on the other one as well.
“All better?”
“No,” you grumbled.
“Oh? Then how about a few more,” his voice was deeper as he spoke, kissing the skin of your chest that your dress naturally bared. Every touch of his lips against your skin was making your pulse race faster and your breath come quicker, and then he licked the soft skin of your breast. He pressed an open mouth kiss to your chest letting his tongue taste your skin as he added a light suction before pulling away to look at your chest. It occurred to him then, what he was doing and who he was doing it to. This had gone past him just fucking around to make you blush. He could feel himself getting hard. He looked up at your face to see your eyes were squeezed shut and your brow was furrowed. He really couldn’t tell if you were upset or not. It was a safer bet that you were mad, or uncomfortable so he pulled away.
“Alright, that was a bit far,” he relented, “I’ll take you home if you want.
You blinked your eyes open at him. Your heart felt like it was going to jump out of your chest. You’d been trying to hold in a moan at the bittersweet feeling of his lips working against your tender breasts. It was embarrassing just how wet you were because of a few kisses. However, the thought of going home after this sounds like torture.
“Uh n-no, you can keep going… if you want,” you tried to speak as calmly as possible but there was only so much you could do with his body still pressed against you the way it was. Gojo gave you an anticipatory grin that let you know he was going to be insufferable in the morning, but you didn’t care. You needed him.
“Oh? Do my kisses make it better?” he asked, tugging at the neckline of your dress to grant himself more access to your chest. He pulled it down far enough that the neckline sat under your breasts. Your nipples were already hard, standing at attention, practically begging to be in his mouth. He couldn’t resist getting one of your nipples in his mouth even he wanted to. They were just so pretty, like little hershey kisses atop your soft breasts. You let out a high pitched whine as the hard metal of his tongue piercing pressed against your sensitive bud.
Your boobs had felt heavy achy for the last three days and the feel of his mouth was a downright sinful mix of pleasure and pain. He pulled back, sucking your nipple until it left his mouth with a poignant pop before kissing his way across your chest to your other nipple. Your hands slipped into his hair of their own volition, grabbing it to push him closer to your chest. He gave that boob the same treatment and after he pulled away he looked up at you again.
“Are you gonna let me take care of you? Or are you going to keep being difficult?” he asked.
You’d been horny for weeksand toys weren’t cutting it. Every time you tried to take care of yourself it just made the ache worse. If it was going to be someone… then it should be the person who caused all this right? You were strong willed but dammit there was a reason you were pregnant, and it was because Gojo was charming and now you knew he was a good lay.
“Please, Satoru,” you breathed, “Please fuck me.” You were going to hate yourself in the morning and you knew it, but right now you wouldn’t be able to stand walking away for him like this.
“You still know what I like to hear.” He said before burying his face in your neck to place tickling kisses. You let out a startled laugh, as you shoved at his shoulder to get him to stop. When he did though, it was to run the tip of his tongue up the underside of you jaw, all way up to your earlobe.
“I’m gonna eat you up, mama,” he said, voice pitched deep with lust. He nipped your earlobe before he lifted up enough to tug your dress off you and your underwear after that. He did it in record time, just for the satisfaction of swiping his fingers through your sex and feeling just how wet you were. Later on, you would explain to him that pregnancy caused an increase of blood flow down there and that was to account for your sensitivity and wetness, not anything he did, but Gojo would continue to have the same thought he had when he felt just how slippery your sex was: You must have wanted him all day. It’s not like it really matters why you were so turned on. After all, you felt like bitch in heat just waiting for him touch you again.
“You’ve got it real bad don’t you,” He cooed at you, his voice drenched in faux sympathy, “Are you achy down here too? Need me to kiss it better?”
“Yes, yes, please.”
“Hush, I’m on it,” he said, moving down your body, “I kinda like how needy you are for me. You oughta keep this in mind the next time you’re mean to me.”
“Shut up and eat my pussy,” you snapped at him, because if he kept playing around he was going to give you enough time to remember all the reason you weren’t supposed to be sleeping with him. One of those reasons being that he’s downright annoying.
“Yes ma’am,” he purred, not put off by your tone in the least. In all actuality it was kind of a turn on.
Any worries you had about whether or not this was a good idea went completely out of the window when Gojo swept his tongue between the already glistening lips of your sex. His tongue ring flicked again your clit just right as he got his first taste of the night. Your thighs twitched in response. He sealed his mouth against your sex, opening you up so there would be no buffer between his mouth and your pleasure centers. He took his time his time building you up, sucking gently and pulling away, as if sensually kissing your sex. His lips smacked as if he was partaking in the most delicious and juicy fruit.
Gojo wanted to make you feel so good that you’d stop being so uptight with him. He was yours now in a way that no one else would ever be. And you were his now. You had a claim on that nobody else had and if you needed to be fucked (especially while you were pregnant) he wanted to be the one to do it.
You kept you eyes on Gojo, a certain amount of incredulity in your gaze at just how good it all felt. Part of you almost hoped that the last time was a fluke, that you were just excited and that’s why everything felt so good. You might even tell that lie later about this interaction, but you watched his cheeks hollow a bit as he sucked at your sex, and the movements of his head as he kept using his damn tongue against and you were forced to realize that it was him bringing you more pleasure than you’d ever had before. Then, his hands started roaming, sliding up your thighs to your hips and then on your belly.
His hands lingered there, thinking about how you were growing something that was partly him in there. He liked that. In a few months you were going to be round with his baby and he likedthe idea of seeing that. It had been fucking with his head since you told him you were pregnant. Maybe it was just another kin
Summary: You have always done everything right up until now. You graduated top of your class, you got a good career, you did everything right… but one night of fun leads you down the road of having a child with the biggest red flag of a man you have ever met: Satoru Gojo. During this journey the two of you must learn to get along for the sake of the baby and perhaps along the way you might just learn how to get along for your sakes as well.
Tags: Non Curse AU, Unplanned pregnancy, lots of smut, 18+ MDNI, NSFW
