a lot can change in 17 days.
17 days of blindness. 17 days of isolation. 17 days of utter helplessness, a horrifying, disgusting inability to do anything, a feeling gojo satoru has only felt once before and swore he would never, not ever experience again. 17 days alone. 17 days of waiting, not watching, just waiting.
sick. sick to his stomach. that's how he felt, seeing the campus of jujutsu high again for the first time since those long, long 17 days ago. only to grow sicker still when he sees what's missing.
a lot can change in 17 days. especially when you live a life like his. his students, so prized, so close to his heart- only fractions remain. one, the one he raised with an angry scowl and messy dark hair and eyes that looked too much like his fathers' is gone altogether. gojo hates uncertainty but he doesn't know what to expect from anything anymore. and maybe the biggest change of all is the lack of your presence.
he's known you since high school. the fourth of the four, the final member of his graduating year, you've always been there. always. with a shoulder to cry on, not that he ever took you up on it. with a kind smile. with a teasing remark, a jest that was just so alive, too alive, too good to be alive. he's ashamed to admit it but upon your original arrival, all those years ago, he didn't think you'd make it.
a warmth followed you. your movements, your actions, your words- unintentional. beautiful. never wavering. you were too good to be there, too good to live there. so he expected you to die there instead.
"don't tell me you're tired already?"
you'd been quick to deliver a wake-up call. egotistical, hot-headed, 15-year-old gojo satoru hadn't appreciated it then, not as much as he did now, when you'd thoroughly outmatched him in one of your first spars. not with physicality but stamina- he'd never had an opponent he couldn't beat within a minute. you tired him out, a moving target, untouchable.
he dreamt of you that night. sharp movements, almost a blur. gone in a blink, offering a hand. warm, sweaty palms. skin. he woke up the next morning to you offering him a blueberry muffin for breakfast and he thinks that's when he began to like you.
even later came the realisation that he loved you. torrents of rain poured down on the forested campus, tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousand. it seemed never-ending, as gojo stared up at the sky through the windows. dark, angry clouds swathed the sun. he looked right through them.
"what're you looking at?" your voice is rough. you had just woken up from a nap after returning from an assignment. he doesn't need to turn to see you- wet hair, clinging to your face, warm pajamas, arms crossed over your chest. curious. he likes it when you want to know what he's thinking.
with a dramatic huff, gojo falls back onto the common room's couch. "it's so rainy outside. and i wanted to go get something from that new bakery, too," he laments.
he can see you now. you adorn that same expression that always manages to make his stomach churn and his heart twist and stop and stall and burn like a comet in his chest. "i can't believe it."
"what? believe what?"
"the gojo satoru. stopped by a little rain? how preposterous."
it was decidedly not just a little rain. but with your arms crossed and your smile sharper than steel, he knows he can't turn down a challenge.
that evening, the both of you returned from a very successful bakery trip with leftover pastries in hand and dripping wet, covering the floors of your school with a thin layer of water. he had been freezing but pretending he wasn't because he hoped you'd think he was cooler.
how long ago was that, now? he had been around 18 then. 18 and foolish, because he allowed himself to fall in love with you that day. with your smile, your challenges. your rain-soaked hair and your cunning words. you, who he thought wouldn't last. you, who proved him wrong then. you, who proved him right now.
shoko's morgue is cold. it always has been. for a place so full of death the air smells oddly clean, in the way a hospital does. he supposes that makes sense. your body is no longer there. nothing remains of you.
what shoko tells him is that it was a typical mission where you were blindsided by a curse. he doesn't want to believe it but shoko wouldn't lie, not about this. she looks sadder, smaller, thinner. eyes trained on the silver table where you presumably lay, once. (someone else he loved was there too. his best friend. and then you. why was it never him?)
shoko leaves and he's left to his own devices. he stands there, for a while. because he never got to tell you he loved you.
maybe he was avoiding it this whole time. love was a connection, love was a curse. those he loved, died. he had lived 13 years knowing you, loving you in his loud silence. he has lived 13 years with that unspoken bond. but even if he never said it, it didn't make it less true. he supposes that he might be the curse, after all.
he has loved you for 13 years. and all those years were gone, just like that, in 17 days.
gojo satoru guesses that he was never meant to love, never at all.
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Can we talk about how blatantly obvious it is that Garroth is most likely Levin’s actual father. Like I’m not even sure they did it on purpose but like..
First off, they look nearly IDENTICAL, so much so that other characters will point it out.
Second, when Aphmau finds Matilda (Levin’s bio mom) one of the first thing she asks is if Garroth specifically remembers her. And when Aphmau says no, Matilda is clearly disappointed.
And third, one of the only things we hear about Malik, the old lord, is how terrible he was. If he was so terrible one might assume that Maltida might seek comfort in… someone else…. say.. Garroth..?
So yeah I’m completely convinced that Garroth is Levin’s bio father, which could also explain the immediate father-son like relationship they’ve had since Levin was a baby.
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Garrance Headcanons/Ideas
Help I'm falling down the rabbit hole
-Laurance and Garroth are a perfect example of the one who's been in love for three years and the one who fell hard and fast. Laurance started developing a crush on Garroth when they were in training and it slowly blossomed into deeper feelings when they found one another again. Garroth has fallen in love twice and when it happened with Laurance he had literally no fucking clue what to do.
-Laurance first fell in love with Garroth when he saw how passionate Garroth is about what he does. Garroth is lecturing some other trainees that are in their class about respect and honor and he looks so stern and upset when he does it. He wants to be taken so seriously and be a pillar for others to rely on at all times, and Laurance just thinks he's a total dork. Because he is. And Laurance loves that about him.
-When they're alone and actually comfortable being intimate with one another Laurance is really wordy, flowery and poetic in his musings about Garroth, faith, life, whatever he can go on about. Garroth is useless. All he can do is sit there flustered and stare at his not boyfriends beautiful eyes.
-The first time they showed real physical intimacy is after Laurance wakes up screaming from a Shadow Knight related nightmare. As always, he wants to keep it under wraps, but he woke up Garroth who will not leave him alone until Laurance explains himself. It's not the first time he's heard Laurance wake up from a nightmare, but the first time he's sounded actually in pain. He can't stand the sound.
-Upon hearing what Laurance was dealing with, Garroth sits next to him, puts an arm around him, and simply whispers the words "I'm here to protect you." And Laurance fucking breaks. He starts uncontrollably sobbing into Garroth's arms and he can't stop. This is the moment when Garroth realized he fell in love again. When he realizes he would do literally anything to keep Laurance safe and happy. Not because they're fellow guards, but because he loves him.
-They don't get many moments alone, so they dearly treasure the ones they do get. And even when around others, Garroth can't help but catch a glimpse of Laurance's smile and it makes his whole day brighter. Laurance gets to see how seriously Garroth takes his job and can't help but be in love with every aspect of him. They are so desperately and helplessly in love with one another and so terrible at expressing it.
-When Garroth betrays everyone at the end of Season 1, Laurance is completely fucking destroyed. He feels utterly betrayed that Garroth thinks he would go behind his back for Aphmau because Laurance is the one out of the three of them who recognizes the "has two hands" mentality. In his mind, there's a possibility they could all be happy together. He perhaps selfishly thinks he can have both of the loves of his life love him back. But Garroth thinks he doesn't care about his feelings and only cares about Aphmau. Laurance can't even bear the thought that Garroth doesn't trust him after everything they've said to one another. After everything they've been through together.
-And then he has to leave Garroth behind!! Just as Garroth comes to terms with his own feelings in the Irene Dimension, he realizes that Laurance loves him just as much as he loves Laurance. He realizes he was an idiot for ever assuming Laurance would intentionally hurt him. He glances behind him and mouths the words "I love you." Laurance is sure he meant it for Aphmau, but Garroth looks right into his eyes as he says it. It's the first time either one said I love you to the other.
-Laurance is flung fifteen years into the future and the first thought he has upon returning home is a crushingly empty feeling in his chest. He can't even comprehend where he is or what has happened because his heart aches at the memory of Garroth in that moment. He begins to mourn a man who isn't even dead yet. He mourns the love of his life who was just returned to him. Like he's so used to doing, Laurance mourns.
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