A CHECKERED FLAG AND BURNING IRON – Chapter Three (2.2k)
~ The tale of a Final Girl and life after her starring role, oh, and Gojo’s there too. But for how long will his hand be able to hold on to Her’s when she’s forever changed from who he knew, and can he keep up?
~ A Final Girl/Slasher tale, College AU, Street Racer!Gojo X Outcast/Final Girl!Reader, slow burn
~ Warnings: Minors DNI, Horror/Slasher movie themes and subjects, PTSD, mentions of sexual activity, non-con, kidnapping, bullying, blood, fighting/physical injury
~ Author’s Declaration: The concept of Street Racer! Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Ryomen Sukuna are borrowed with permission from Minouyujis (POST)
Chapter Three (word count: 2,282)
Thursday mornings would usually be your day to sleep in a little, as your first class of the day started a bit later than usual. However, Gojo’s Thursdays were longer than yours was. He had an early class, followed by heading down town to spend time with his Father, “Learning the family business” as it were. You would borrow one of Gojo’s shirts and his hoodie for your day, a quick bowl of cereal, and then he would drop you off to your dorm. Although you were half asleep for the drive, thanks to the late time and mental energy race nights took out of you, you and Gojo decided you would move in Friday night. He’d get a hold of some boxes and bags and drop them off later that day for you. You didn’t have much in your dorm that you’d pack, leaving behind bed linen and furniture in case you needed to move back in, getting lucky enough to have a solo dorm, you weren’t going to completely leave it.
Most of your things you could pack up that night, and the last of it you would shove into bags Friday after classes and just before Gojo could come get you. He’d probably come get you in his BMW, as it could actually fit people in the back seats and has a good amount of trunk space. He calls it his most boring car, but it’s what he drives when he has company. You grabbed a to-go morning drink and snack from the café across the street from campus and made it to class just in time. In their usual spots, Haibara and Nanami, with a spot in the middle for you. You and Haibara shared quite a few classes together, so you two became friends. Nanami was on a different course, but shared this one class with the two of you. Becoming friends with them, you learned that they went through all of Middle and High school together.
You’re not sure really how the two of them became so close, as their personalities are quite different. You put it down to “an extrovert adopting an introvert”, like you and Gojo a little bit. You mostly hung out with the three of them in classes, and sometimes lunch breaks, or the odd theatre trip for the latest horror movie. So, you were friends, but not super close, but they were good lads. Pretty clean and tidy, not visiting parties much, not dating anyone (you think). Haibara went to occasional parties, he liked being social, but still kept away from anything too rough. Nanami was so uptight, you’d think he was a robot with flesh at times. But your shared love of horror movies, and how movies are made in general, was the connection you two had. Poor Haibara was a victim of this hobby, he wasn’t one for gore or unhappy endings.
Both had school and part-time jobs, so their time was precious. They were the few in your college life to befriend you. Everyone else wouldn’t give you the time of day, but you liked it that way. While Nanami lectured Haibara about having one’s items in order and ready for the day (again) as he forgot his laptop (again), you half heard the girls in front of you whisper about a classmate who didn’t come home to her sorority house last night and hasn’t been to campus yet. Probably hooked up with a guy from the race last night and is sleeping off a night drinking, you mused.
You and Haibara waved Nanami farewell as he left to the library for his free period, and you two made your way to your next class. It was an uneventful day overall, you met Gojo in the car park after your last class for some boxes and a few duffle bags. He couldn’t stay as his parents wanted a family dinner. He always looked so down just before these types of nights. Gojo has met your parents a few more times than you’ve met his. The rare times you met them, always left a sour feeling in your soul. Like stereotypes, being from rich high-business families, they looked down on you and had plenty of back handed comments. At least they were happy that Gojo was growing out of his playboy ways, but they looked forward to Gojo one day finding someone who would be capable of having a higher status job than they believed you could get to.
As much as you would like to be there to support Gojo through family dinners that disguised lectures about legacy and what’s expected of him, he hated how his parents talked to you and about you. So, you wished him your blessing of strength and told him to message you if he needs a chat. The packing went well, as you received occasional texts from Gojo about wanting to (comically) suddenly self-combust to escape this torment and be your extra crispy marshmallow. The man had a very strange humour to help him though such frustrating moods. You also got messages from Nanami about key take aways from a ‘behind the scenes/movie design’ TV show he would listen to while he studied or worked on papers. You stayed up way later than intended, packing, messaging your boys, and getting distracted on social media. But once the heaviness of your limbs and dry ache of your eyes caught up to you, you threw in the towel. Not much left to pack for tomorrow night, you were excited.
But the morning would quickly turn sour and your plans into a curve. Somewhere between your alarm going off and leaving for your first class, you received messages from quite a few people. All boiling down to a connecting event, the classmate you overheard being talked about yesterday was officially declared missing. Her phone and shoes were found in the woods near the industrial park that this week’s race was held at. You blood was chilled from everyone’s panic. The news articles reporting the stress of the community and police investigation as the last disappearance of a college aged woman was still recent. The recently missing young woman wasn’t in any of your classes, she was a campus princess and head of her sorority house. And a regular track bunny who had a fling with Gojo last year that she never got over. She would encourage some of the bullying and rude comments you got track side, but she would always get called out or sassed by Gojo.
But worse, you knew Gojo would be called in by police as a suspect, again. You parents messaged you in a state of fear, going over what strategies you had in place to never be alone outside of your dorm rooms. Kokochi would be asking if you’re alright and if he should send you some personal protection that he purchased from, well, you really don’t want to know, but you’re sure it would be hella strong. But, maybe, you should take him up on the offer now. Haibara and Nanami said they would walk you to and from your dorms and classes in your group’s group chat, Gojo said he had to go into the station today and couldn’t get anyone to pick you up that afternoon for your planned move. With a bit of messaging around during your first class, Nanami would help you move and Shoko would let you in as she would be home. The energy around campus was just as dreary as the grey clouds that lingered over head all day. Hushed whispers of fear, tense shoulders, no woman daring to walk alone anywhere even during the day. An email from the college stated security would increase soon, but not when or by how much.
Nanami was stiffer and quieter than usual when he came to help you move, he was scared over you. You tried to calm his nerves with jokes and mentions of your plans to not go anywhere alone, but it didn’t do much to chip away at his stone hard focus. Thankfully Shoko was more balanced in her approach to everything. She was excited to have you moving in and helped you get settled in. Setting you up with a key and passwords to get in the house and showing you how the home security system worked. She also would join you in helping you pack your clothes away so you to could get to know each other, and to have a nose at Gojo’s closet. A brighter energy and a spot of fun that helped pick things up from the dark around campus. There was no word yet on when Gojo would get home by late afternoon. You offered to Shoko to at least cook dinner for the house hold, as a way to show you earning your place in the house. It was mostly take-out and Geto’s occasional cooking around here, and finally having access to a proper kitchen meant you could destress and distract yourself on the regular with your hobby of cooking and baking.
Shoko sent Geto on a shopping trip to get a few things you were missing. Oddly, he hadn’t once sent you a rude message or even talked to you since you arrived earlier in the afternoon. You guessed the energy around campus got to him too. You prepped what you could for that night’s dinner of spaghetti bolognaise and meatballs. It’s a recipe of yours that you knew Gojo loved, he claimed that the more carbs and protein, the better for him. Next to his passionate love affair of all things sweet and sugary. Seriously, how does he still have all his teeth? After you and Shoko enjoyed your first dinner together, Geto got take-out and had it in his room, and once the kitchen was cleaned did you finally hear from Gojo. He would be home in an hour or so, and said not to wait up for him in case he was late. Even though you followed his advice and were winding down from the day with your phone in bed, it felt too strange, sleeping in his bed without him there. He thought he would be back by now. You had finally drifted off just as he finally did come home.
The relief that your sleeping form in his bed brought him was brief, as his thoughts of what was burning in his blood from the long day came bubbling back up. Old men droning on and on into him their bullshit theories and ridiculous questioning. He proved everywhere he had been and how he had nothing to do with the recent disappearance. But the frustration and pressure the police and investigators felt was too easy to take out on him. It always broke him down, nearly everyone he knows telling him who they assumed he was or telling him what they assume he is to become. You wouldn’t hear him cry in the shower that night, but you would feel it in his body the next morning when you woke and felt his tight grip on you. You two wouldn’t leave his bed until late in the morning, Gojo refusing to let you move and breathing deeply of you. You could feel the ache in his bones, the fear in his breath, and the tiredness in his eyes. You let him have whatever he needed that morning.
The weekend would have a muted energy to it, getting stuck into study and assignment work would help keep your mind off of things. All the news or posts around social media was of ways for women to stay safe and how to be aware, or, just outright messages of staying home and quiet. Through the week, you could see Gojo repairing his mask piece by piece. Even at your request to skip a race night when one came up in the middle of the week, he threw on a smile and said how he can’t let this beautiful night go to waste. He told you to stay home that night, and he would message you on the way home and pick you up whatever late night treat you wanted. Even though you wanted him to stay home, you felt good that at least parts of him were coming back. He would be racing a few nights that week, but by Friday night, you were feeling cooped up and worn down from the energy still lingering around.
The message for women to stay inside and watch their backs was getting on your last nerve. Like it was their fault they went missing, and not the fault of some psycho you’re sure would get the pity angle from the courts when they’re caught, lawyers painting whoever is responsible as mentally incapable of fully understanding their actions due to trauma or severe mental illness or some other bullshit to get a reduced sentence. All kinds of exaggerated speculation filtered into your head from your imagination finding something convincing you out of other thoughts, but still keeping on topic so you might listen. Enough, you’ve been watching too much tv and reading too many wild fictional stories that your mind is wandering into all kinds of strange territory. You’re just stressed out and tired of being locked in. So, you asked to join Gojo on his Friday night race. He was hesitant for once, normally he drags you out with him. Only on the condition that you would stay with Choso or race in the car with him, were you able to make it out of the house.
This night out would see you thankfully not in the passenger seat with Gojo while he raced, and would see you two return home safe and late. The energy would start to lift around campus just a little over the next few days, but enough for you to breathe a bit more. Gojo even hosted a house party on Sunday night, which you declined to join as the Monday morning after party pain would not be worth it. But this breather would also mean a drop in everyone’s guard far too soon.
