When will I find love?💗⏳🌙
(Pick a card/Tarot love reading)
Hey it's Lunadream🤗 This time I bring you a lovely reading for a very lovely person!♡👆
hope you find your message🌸
Notice: Only take what resonates because the most important thing is your own judgement!♡ If something doesn't resonate, don't worry! It's not your message right now <3
(Entertainment purpose only. All rights reserved)
Now, shall we begin~? ^w^
Think of the love you long for, and pick whichever pile that fits the energy you're feeling~🌸💞
Pile 1⏰
Pile 2☎️
Pile 3☕
Pile 4🌹
Take your time and choose carefully with the heart~♡
On to the readings —> 💕🍰⏳
Pile 1⏰
Sign energy: Close, 9th house, Resist, Pisces, Ring, 9th house, Sagittarius, Libra, Aquarius, 4th house, 🕊📚💤💆♂️
🌙Your energy: You are more reversed so to speak, you have been dreaming of the perfect relationship. I'm hearing enchanted "I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss" yes that's you😂💗 You are a hopeless romantic and you may be fascinated in many cultures and religions. You could be very smart even if you don't think so, you are a natural problem solver. You don't like conflict or bad vibes either! You may be more proper or well mannered. You are just so delicate and sweet-💗💗💗 You may fantasize about an outstanding love story with many plot twists and adventures, you're really hoping and searching for a message (omg here it is! :D) and you're waiting for devine timing to set in place. You may feel like you will be single forever but that's not the case💕 You could be very fun and artistic, you love fashion and might really be into vintage styles. You want a partner to be familiar and comfortable with, someone who is witty and romantic. All you want is to be held😩💗 You're such a pretty soul I swear. You may be into pinterest or spend a lot of time online, you could look at aesthetic photos and just spend a lot of time on your phone lol. You love learning and you really want to search for love, you are willing to go on a crazy adventure just to find it... your dream romance!☁️💌 You love dreaming and fantasizing a lot too, you want someone to hug and touch.
⏳When will you find love: Us, Face, Truth, Age, Right, Uranus, Libra, Venus, 8th house, Saturn, 🦊🚨🗯💧
Alright this is interesting.⭐ Some of you are most likely younger but not all, I'm seeing teens to early twenties, but that might not necessarily be the case I just see someone who is very youthful and you might not have many experiences with love yet!💓 I feel like my lovely pile 1 you're in the dreaming phase where you really want a partner and wonder what it's like to be in a commited relationship so for you, you're going to find love when you're ready to commit. So much will have changed by the time you find your person, like you might not even be the same person I think your ideas and views on love may be very different when this happens. You will most likely be very mature even, and I can see for some of you this could be a time where you have overcome your daydreaming phase you know, your fantasies about romance. You might have changed the way you give and receive love. Now this could be good or bad but I'm seeing good for most of you because you could've had a habit of overlooking red flags or toxic behavior due to your kindness or seeing things through rose colored lenses, you might have lacked realistic views on love so I feel like when you actually find love this won't be a problem for you anymore, you would have overcome this.✊💗 This will definitely be a more mature time in your life where you have learned a lot and you have so much control over yourself and what you choose to put your energy into~🌙 I'm getting with the 8th house energy along with Saturn energy, you may find love in a most subtle most unusual way. You won't be very aware that you have found love until your future someone is open about it, this could take time as your person might need to make their decision and honestly commit to you.💌🔗
💖Your future lover's energy: Kitty, Night, Mindfulness, Doll, At last, Sagittarius, Sun, Neptune, Cancer, Libra, 🦚♓♉🦢
Omg you guys your person is so sweet🥺💗 They have a big heart and they are very honest with you. This is such a fun and adorable person I swear like they're such a keeper.😫They could be a sagittarius or pisces, any of the signs cancer, libra, taurus.😇 They make you smile so much and they may love cats or resemble such creatures~ They have an unreal or almost doll-like appearance. This is a very loyal person their energy is so trusting and kind, they treat you so well and take care of you, they are so delicate with you from the way they speak to the way they touch you💗💗 They could be artistic or a dreamer too and when you two are finally together they will just feel so complete like "finally I found the one!"🙏😍 They're also a hopeless romantic type for sure even if they don't seem that way on the surface omg they crave romance. They really want to impress you and they always remember the little things!! Like they're so quick to remember that expensive item you like and buy it for you as a romantic gift♡ Did I mention they love giving you gifts? Like they're so stable too so the time you find love with this person you are in a mature state of mind so are they like you guys will be on the same page. They will have a well paying job and very reliable, and omg they're the type to come over just so you two can cuddle.🥰😭 They make things so romantic without getting boring, You guys will have such a warm feeling when you two are together.💐 They are your perfect partner, you just fit together!💗
If you feel this resonated, you may tap the heart to claim this message!💌
I hope you enjoyed your reading! ʚ(。˃ ᵕ ˂ )ɞ If you did be sure to let me know pile 1 with the clock emoji~⏰ Thanks for scrolling through, Hugs hugs hugs!! See you in the next reading💞
Pile 2☎️
Sign energy: Match, Sugar, Soul, Connection, First, Taurus, Sagittarius, Gemini, 3rd house, 8th house, 🤭🛩🙄😘
🌙Your energy: Oh you're so cool okay so some of you may be a taurus rising/taurus in the 1st house or maybe you desire these traits in a partner. You want someone you can really connect with on the deepest levels, you want a loyal companion and fun conversations!🪂 You could be very social and you like adventure, many people look up to you because you're so inspiring⭐ You could be a foodie or love sweets too haha most of you might have taurus in your chart~ You have a great sense of humor and you like being sarcastic sometimes, your laugh is so addicting😳🌈 People describe you as fun and chill. You like memes and funny videos. You might be really into other cultures and you may enjoy listening to music from different countries. You have a diverse interest in everything and you just have this super sweet nature about you. You might kiss your besties a lot and you love having fun with people.😆 You really want someone who complements you well, like someone who has the qualities you want. You could have sagittarius/gemini placements aswell, also scorpio for some of you. I wanna be friends with pile 2😂💫
⏳When will you find love: Lover, Siren, Surface, Violence, Above, 10th house, 4th house, 7th house, Venus, 👻🙆♀️🛩🧸
My wonderful pile 2 you're gonna find love when you have overcome so much omg, this is going to be a time where you feel so empowered and strong.✊💫 Some of you may have finally broken off from a hurtful relationship, someone who hasn't been out for your best interest. Pile 2 you guys may still be healing from that but just know that during this time where you find love, you will have recovered from past experiences that were causing you pain. Anything that's affecting you currently, you will have made it out of all that and you're feeling so free because things and people just don't affect you like they used to during this period when you find love pile 2 this is a wonderful sign of healing.⭐ You will be very successful at the time and so much progress will be made, you will be above toxic behavior above bad cycles that weren't serving you. That's why during this time you will be open arms to receiving healthy love and relationships, so chances are this will be a very important time for my pile 2's. You will be focusing on self care and in turn this will attract so much good energy and people toward you, your self is most important after all.💗
💖Your future lover's energy: Myth, Song, South node, Street, Winter, Eros, Earth, 5th house, Vertex, Jupiter, 🌧🥊🙅♀️🤔
Alright lovely pile 2 your person is going to make you forget about your worries, this us someone who will sweep you off your feet and they just have so much to offer you😍 Sagittarius and Leo placements can be found, lots of fire and earth energy. Could be more masculine energy for some of you. Your future someone is so attractive and they may be like a certain type of person you thought didn't exist like "No that's not possible people just aren't like that in real life" that's what you thought at first but when you meet this person you will be so surprised that like there are people like this omg they exist😭💖 They go above and beyond for you like, they're almost over the top with their love for you lol💐🌹🎁🛍🤗 I'm talking thoughtful gifts, romantic gestures, surprises and hella smooth like they know just what to say to makes you blush.😘 Your future lover could be born in winter (january, february, march) or that season could he significant for this connection. They are really good at impressing you like almost too good it always so crazy how good they are to you. They could be creative or into music, they are the type to make you a playlist that reminds them of you <3 I'm not kidding like be prepared for a whirlwind romance omg😂❤ They could wear street style clothing or be into cool fashion, they like to experiment with their look. You guys will have so much fun together and this is someone you will not be able to forget~💫
Thank you my pile 2's! If you feel this resonated, you may tap the heart to claim this message!💌
I hope you enjoyed your reading! ପ(๑•ᴗ•๑)ଓ ♡ If you did be sure to let me know pile 2 with the telephone emoji~☎️ Thanks for scrolling through, Hugs hugs hugs!! See you in the next reading⭐
Pile 3☕
Sign energy: Lost in translation, Kiss, Chains, First impression, Water, Vertex, Fire, 8th house, Moon, 5th house, 🍭😍🟦💘
🌙Your energy: You have a very mysterious aura to you my pile 3's. Let's see I feel like you have a lot of emotions, you are more sensitive so to speak. I'm getting a soft vibe from you guys like you're very sweet and kind but also I feel like you're secretly really hot lol😂 Some of you could be Leo's, Scorpio's or Cancer's any of those <3 You might get lost in your own head and thoughts sometimes and it gets really hard to think straight. You have an intense desire for love and it means a lot to you, you don't want to be hurt.🤚 I'm sensing that for some you have been in a long term situationship or a one sided crush on someone, there's definitely someone on pile 3's mind already.🤭💗 Ahh okay you guys are really hoping you've already found love/the person you're looking for. You fantasize about a deeply romantic and intense partner. Some of you like the color blue, navy and could have heavy water energy. You like sweets and desserts, some of you could be foodies <3 When you're in love you're all in💞 lovestruck type for sure~ Valentines day is your jam. You guys are idealists and you have so many goals you want to achieve, you are interested in so many wonderful things too. You may really gravitate towards creative hobbies or supernatural things like spirits and the occult.🕯
⏳When will you find love: Blind, December, Unseen, Network, Ladder, Aries, Aquarius, 8th house, 10th house, 2nd house, 🥰💆♂️🧛♀️🎯
Omg so you guys are gonna find love when things get REAL lol you're going to be so successful during this time and this could be really soon omg like almost 3 months from now even.🙉💗 Ahh I'm so excited okay so you might find love when you start something, something BIG. I mean like a business or new job, for many of you I see social media fame and getting lots of money from that. (youtube channel, blog, online business, ect.💼💸) You are gonna be in your boss b*tch phase when you finally find love you guys.👏 I can see success in practically anything for my lovely pile 3 so be ready!! There might be something you've been working on like a project or hobby just something you have been building for some time now and this is gonna pay off so much during this time⭐ I see so much recognition for you guys and that's why you're gonna find love so easily omg this could happen very quickly too🚀 For some of you your future someone might be a secret admirer of you, someone you don't know yet when you achieve this success. Just know you will be on the right track you know exactly where you're going and how to get there so this person is going to be so ready to come into your life because they see you working so hard and they just really wanna be there for you like this is your moment to shine~☀️ Just know everyone will be watching you lol the tea is real☕ It's also likely that you will have many admirers when you find love.
💖Your future lover's energy: Reach out, Locked, Art, Collarbone, Actor, Sagittarius, Leo, Uranus, 12th house, 1st house, ♒🥴🌧🔦
Ooh your person is will be so into you😍 They have this really magnetic look about them that just pulls you in, they're outgoing but so creative and dreamy💘 They have this sparkle in their eyes and everyone really loves them. They are definitely gonna come to you first, that's why you won't realize when you find love right away until they step forward and get things moving between you two~😘 Your future love will have beautiful hair and a great smile that's so warm and god you just start fantasizing about it every time you think of them when this happens lol you will be so hooked on this person, like you can't even control it they're just so addictive to you. Also you are definitely coming together with this person when you are involved with online activities like it could be your job or maybe you're online famous you might even have a channel. The flashlight is giving me spotlight energy so like you will be in the spotlight maybe this person is also internet famous or works online, that could be how you two met. Your future love will be in the arts, think painter, actor/actress, heavy artist energy for them. They are probably known online for their artistic abilities, just know you have this person's heart like they're not going anywhere lol😂💫 They want you to pay attention to them and praise them because they will see you as this amazing person and they really want your validation aww. Could be an aquarius rising, this person is very unique and has such a special vibe about them.
If you feel this resonated, you may tap the heart to claim this message!💌
I hope you enjoyed your reading! ૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა ♡ If you did be sure to let me know pile 1 with the tea emoji~☕ Thanks for scrolling through, Hugs hugs hugs!! See you in the next reading💗💕
Pile 4🌹
Sign energy: Soulmates, Children, Ankles, Tears, 4th house, Lilith, Jupiter, 10th house, Juno, Venus, 🍂🎆😒💙
🌙Your energy: I'm getting such an attractive vibe from this pile, like can I just say how pretty you are??😂😍 You have this gracefulness about you so delicate like a flower, you might have had people try to pick your petals though. It's like when a person picks a flower just because of it's beauty but they rip it from the ground😥 You wish others would ask you how you feel sometimes because you just want comfort and care.💓 You may have grown up with a bad experience with men or authority in your life. Your family life could have been hard for you, and it could have set your ideas of love and partnerships. You may be close to your mother or one of your parents is distant, you really just want love and affection but you were never used to receiving it.😭💗 You have a feminine energy (even if male) something about you is so aesthetically pleasing. You're emotional and you could be doing some shadow work right now, you are a spiritual person and you don't like when people take advantage of your kindness. Some of you may be born in the fall and could have sagittarius placements as well as pisces, cancer, libra and taurus(so beautiful)💓 Jupiter or Venus could be your dominant planet. My lovely pile 4 you have such delicate hearts so take care of them🩹
⏳When will you find love: Explosion, Money, Force, Soft spot, Inner thoughts, 5th house, Fire, South node, North node, Uranus, 🍷🎲💄🤐
Oml you guys things are going to be so fun when you find love!!! I'm getting like a sudden transformation for some of you during this time but nothing really says that it's just what I'm feeling for you guys. So you might be doing very creative hobbies during this time and omg you could be making things (lol I mean making money🤑). Now I feel like money isn't the reason for doing this hobby but it's just an after effect for sure like you'll be shocked at how sudden the money comes rolling in for you haha😂 For some of you finding love could be a result of looking inward within yourself, this could be self love🥺💗 You might have had trouble loving yourselves all this time but when you find love this will all change, you will feel so pretty and inspiring for yourself🙏😭 You may be caught up in a love affair with someone during this time and this could force you to think about your future, past and finances as well as your deepest self reflection. However this love manifests for you, there won't be a choice about it lol this love will force you to keep going and don't look back. You will be more of a risk taker then ever before and this could be with money. Oohhh for some of you I'm getting heavy casino vibes, you guys might find love casino or you might start gambling a little more in the future when you find love.🎲🍷❤
💖Your future love's energy: 1st house, Show, Special, Chains, My everything, Mercury, 5th house, 4th house, 2nd house, Water, 🐍🎀😁😴
My lovely pile 4 this is getting so good lemme just tell you.😍 Your person is a natural born star omg they're so special! You can't take your eyes off them so be prepared to not blink lol 👁👄👁 This is you when you see them it's just like wow who is they??? Haha you will he head over heels for them literally I also am getting either you or them may wear heels, this could be for fashion purposes and did I mention you guys this person will be such a fashionista oml. They will wear those glasses and chain necklaces all the good stuff🕶📿👞 They are so flirty but like you won't be able to tell if it's just their personality or if it's with you, but it will become SO obvious it's you omg pile 4🤭❤ Your future love is so attractive like they're really good looking if you're curious about that...💅 They have a very special appearance and they dress up real nice😳 They're gonna be all over you pile 4 get ready for physical affection they will always wanna have their hand on your shoulder haha because they think you're so pretty.🔥 Also this person has a really attractive voice, they could easily be a singer or voice actor with their range. Lol they might be the kind that wants you to "own" them and they'll do anything you ask. And they aren't cheap either like, they've got money and they wanna spoil you so bad💸 They wanna hug you tight and make you forget about everything and just have fun together. They're so comforting and healing for you because they're going to give you the romantic experience you thought would be painful.😭🩹🎀 They're literally gonna tell you "don't worry baby everything's okay"💋 The type to give you roses because they want you to think they're special and raise your standards for a romantic partner.🌹 My lovely pile 4 how does it feel being so loved😍🤩🥰
If you feel this resonated, you may tap the heart to claim this message!💌
I hope you enjoyed your reading! ♡⸜(˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝ If you did be sure to let me know pile 1 with the rose emoji~🌹 Thanks for scrolling through, Hugs hugs hugs!! See you in the next reading💞
Wanna see more readings like this? Check out my tumblr for accurate readings for you!💗🌊🌸
Thanks for reading! \(*^w^)/💌
-Lunadream <3
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[part two] trouble - takuma ino
word count: 9k
warnings: swearing, drinking, slight harassment (a creep puts his hand on reader's waist for 0.2 seconds)
summary: she's only agreed to one night out- and that doesn't mean anything at all. it also doesn't mean anything that a few drinks has her admitting that ino's eyes are actually quite pretty.
contents: rivals to begrudged friends, gojo!reader, nanami leaves the function at his first oppurtunity, ino and (y/n) have an alcohol fueled breakthrough.
part two: "got so much to prove"
___
Gojo Satoru was nothing like his sibling counterpart, and she was dead set on keeping it that way. Where he was overbearing, she was uninvolved. Where he was obnoxious, she was reserved. For most of her life she could recall trying to steer herself into the opposite direction Satoru was heading.
That was, until it came to sorcery.
If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have needed to crawl up a ladder to claim the Grade One title. If it weren’t for him, she could’ve made a name for herself rather than live in the shadow that was their family name. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t be stuck in this too-loud bar throwing back too-weak drinks.
Nanami didn’t seem too thrilled about having his evening decided for him, either. He was nursing his third beer and the alcohol still hadn’t loosened him enough to lose the look of pure disinterest on his face. (y/n) couldn’t blame him, seeing as she didn’t want to be here either.
Takuma, on the other hand, was having the time of his life. He’d eagerly ordered them a round of shots despite their protests, claiming it was a right of passage for their first outing together.
“I’m not taking a shot,” Nanami had pushed his glass to the center of the table, refusing it as soon as it was set in front of him. “I have to be home by eight”
“Eight?” Takuma gasped incredulously at his early retirement. “But Gojo’s car won’t be here till eleven-”
“Dibs” (y/n) plucks the extra shot off the counter, tapping it once against the table before throwing it back with ease.
The other two are left to stare at her in shock, neither knowing how to react. She’s quick to chase it down with her own shot in rapid succession, not a single flinch or twitch from the burning sensation left in her throat. Nanami and Takuma share a quick glance, but it doesn’t go unnoticed by the young Gojo.
“What?” She asks innocently, propping her elbow on the table to rest her chin in her hand. “Been a long week, no?”
“It’s just… Satoru doesn’t drink” Nanami shrugs at the simple statement, leaning back against his chair.
(y/n) pauses, her brow twitching in the smallest of movements.
Even without him around, she was being compared to him. And hearing it come from Nanami, whom she’d spent years looking up to, snapped her final straw.
“Right…” She drawls the word out slowly, and Nanami waits all too patiently for whatever she had to say next. “Well since it is our first outing, let’s establish this once and for all, shall we?”
And then she grins, which sends warning flags up in Takuma’s mind when she leaves the table and approaches the bar. He turns back to Nanami with his worry evident on his face.
“That’s not good,” He says in a hushed voice. “I’ve only ever seen her smile like that when exorcizing curses”
Nanami only chuckles half heartedly, more than familiar with the way the Gojo siblings’ shared wicked grin.
Ino’s not so amused, but he does his best to get excited when (y/n) comes back with a stronger drink and another round of shots for the three of them. Nanami refuses this one as well, and this time they let it sit on the center of the table unclaimed.
To his surprise, she taps her shot glass against Ino’s when he picks it up, eyeing the auburn liquid with uncertainty. This would be his second shot in the span of only ten minutes, and it would be her third. There had to be some ploy behind it, right?
“Whatever it takes to prove to you both I’m not my brother, name it,” (y/n) announces before throwing back the shot. “It can be like a game!” She decides, eyes lighting up with the idea. If she notices the way Nanami and Ino seem unsure and uncomfortable with the sudden swing in behavior, she doesn’t show it.
“A drinking game?” Ino asks, not quite following her train of thought.
“Sure,” She nods at him. “Like a truth or drink sort of thing? That works”
“I’ve got one, then,” Nanami leans back onto the table, suddenly joining the conversation. His pupils seem surprised, but both excited in their own way to have him participate “That Grade Two at the playground, last week, did you lie in your paperwork?”
A more authentic looking beam stretches over (y/n’s) face, and she laughs as she considers taking a drink, but she supposes he’d have his answer if she did, so she might as well fess up.
“About the swingset being torn apart?” She asks with a raised brow. “Yes, I lied about that”
“You lied in your report?” Ino gasps in shock. “What’d you say?”
“She claimed the swings had been torn away from their posts before she arrived on the scene” Nanami explained with a huff.
That earned another gasp from Ino before he turned back to (y/n) with wide eyes and an awkward sort of smile, like he was excited to have caught her in something, even though she’d admitted to it herself.
“You chopped down a children’s playground?”
“It was a swingset,” She corrected. “And it’s structural integrity was fine. The city could afford to replace the swing itself. It’s practically just rope”
Nanami shakes his head, although he’d already had an inkling her report on that assignment was less than truthful. He had stopped by to take account of the damage done, and it seemed to him like the scraped metal of the playset’s structure could have only been chinked up by a large blade. Like an axe.
A few more random questions come up between the two, most of them work related. The questions are all over the place however, with Nanami trying to get her to admit to more discrepancies in her paperwork, and Ino trying to learn anything and everything he could. So she never quite knew what was going to be asked of her.
More often than not, Nanami’s questions led to her drinking. Whereas Ino’s…
“Do you have any tattoos?”
She wants to laugh, and ask him if he’s sure that’s what he wants to know. But Nanami’s already got her another two drinks down, so she finds herself lifting up the hem of her shirt, just enough to put her hip bone on display, earning shocked looks from both men as they stared holes into the ink on her skin.
“When did you get that?” Nanami asks, his eyebrows nearly to his hairline when (y/n) looks up at him with a lazy smirk.
“I was sixteen, and you weren’t around at the time” She states matter-of-factly.
Ino’s laughing, and maybe cheering as he throws back the rest of his drink and makes his way to the bar for another. (y/n) wouldn’t admit that she was having a good time, but it was quite entertaining to watch their reactions.
“That’s enough insight for tonight” Nanami sighs before getting up from his seat. (y/n) watches as he lifts his jacket from the back of his chair, loosely shrugging it on. A small knot forms between her brows.
“You’re actually gonna leave?” She asks, and if he didn’t know any better, Nanami might think she’s frowning because she’s disappointed to see him leave.
“I’ve already stayed later than I planned,” He answers dryly. “But you should stay, Ino too,” He adds, nodding to the sorcerer at the bar desperately trying to get the bartender’s attention. “Make your brother pick up the tab”
“He said it was on you” (y/n) replies with a shrug, before taking a sip of her drink.
Nanami rolled his eyes as he turned to go, grumbling something about how a Gojo could be trying to pass off the bill. (y/n’s) laughing as he leaves, and he’s almost compelled to stay, just for the sake of watching her open up more than he’d seen in years, but he supposes he’s not the one who needs that tonight.
Ino’s surprised when he comes back to the table with a fresh drink and hand, only to find Nanami missing. He glances at the empty seat with a furrowed brow before turning to (y/n), who shrugs.
“Guess he wasn’t kidding about turning in early” She muses, pushing the ice in her glass with her straw. Ino seems to pout at that.
“Too bad, I thought we were having a good time” He says as he takes his seat across from her.
(y/n) regards him with a slight tilt of her head, as if he were a stranger she were noticing for the first time. As always, his mask sat on top of his head, posed as a beanie, and as he turned away to glance across the crowded bar, she’d never noticed before, but the curve of his cheekbones were defined. Sharp, even. Her gaze continued to linger, noticing the same detail about his jawline. Had she really never noticed before, or was the dim lighting doing him a favor by putting his facial features on display?
“Is this your idea of a good time?” She asks suddenly, and his attention is swiveling back to her. Even with the lights shifting across his face, the defined features still stuck out to her. “Going out somewhere crowded and noisy?”
Ino laughs at that, every part of his expression lighting up with his delight, and once again (y/n) wonders if someone’s purposefully messing with the lights to put a spotlight on him.
Her brother’s words from their last phone call start to penetrate her thoughts against her will. She tries to shake them off, but it’s hard when his brown eyes gleam like honey when he looks at her.
“Well, drinks are a pretty important part. This wouldn’t be fun without ‘em,” He says, and she shrugs in non-committed agreement. “But it is fun. I’m having fun, at least”
“It’s not…” She starts to tell him this wasn’t her ideal night out. In actuality, she was more of a stay in and relax on the weekend kind of person. Satoru did enough partying in his younger years to turn her off from it early on. But Ino perks up as he awaits her response, and it didn’t feel right to tell him the full truth. So she changes direction and tells him a half-lie. “It’s not terrible” She finishes.
He’s grinning again, as though she’d just told him she was having the time of her life, and she can’t help the confused knot in her brow. Could he really be so pleased over simply having a few drinks together?
“I knew you’d have a good time if you just came!” He cheered, reaching his glass across the table to tap it against hers. “You should’ve just accepted the invitation months ago”
She takes a long drink, stalling to try and find the right thing to say. She doesn’t want Ino to get the wrong idea, she’s not about to make this a regular thing. No, this was a one time occurrence. She stood by what she said all those months ago. It was silly to make friends in this line of work. She’d witnessed first hand, one too many times, just what companionship could cost. One night out couldn’t possibly change that.
Something twists in her chest before she can remind him of that, and it prevents her from saying anything of the sort. Instead, she changes the subject.
“Can I ask you a truth or drink question, now?” She leans forward in her seat a bit, resting her elbow on the table once more as she studies his eager expression.
“Shoot!” He agreed excitedly, and she can’t help the short laugh that escapes her. She blames the alcohol.
“How do you stay so positive all the time?” She asks the question that had been nagging at her for longer than just the past couple hours. He shakes his head slightly, not quite following the meaning of her question. “Even on assignments, and doing your reports, you’re always…” She wiggles her fingers in front of her as she tries to find the right word to explain it.
Ino chuckles, before full on laughter takes over and his shoulders are shaking as he grins from ear to ear, almost proving her point before he could actually answer.
“I love what I do?” He answers like it’s a question, like he’s unsure if that’s what she’s even looking for. “I’ve been working towards one goal my entire life, I might as well enjoy it, right?”
She’s stunned silent for a minute. There was a time where she would’ve said the same thing, when she was young and naive and thought her and her brother would take the jujutsu world by storm, side by side. Before she realized that her entire life would be spent under the shadow cast by him owning the family name almost all for himself. It was a large, infinite shadow. And the longer she’d lived in it, the more her joy for her work turned into a necessity. Until now, she hadn’t even realized just how much she’d come to despise every step it took to move forward in jujutsu society.
Ino took her silence to mean she was thinking too deeply about what he’d said, and a question of his own came to mind.
“Do you not enjoy it?”
Her gaze rises from where she’d zoned out looking at her dwindling drink, finding Ino across from her looking almost concerned. The longer she didn’t respond, the more his expression reminded her of the night he’d found her injured.
She clears her throat before opting out of answering, instead drinking down the last of the contents in her glass. He raises a brow at her choice.
“Did you not want to tell me your answer, or did you not know the answer?” He asks.
“Is that another question?” She asks, a small smirk forming on her lips. “Because I’ll have to order another drink”
Ino laughs, and despite her trying not to, she can’t help but laugh with him.
“Another round?” He asks, and she thinks about it for a minute, before nodding, and getting up from her seat. To her surprise, he follows her up to the bar, even though there was still a good quarter of his drink left. She doesn’t comment on it.
They have to squeeze between bodies to stake a place at the bar, the two bartenders already quite busy with the amount of people waving at them for their attention. It’s bound to take more than a couple minutes before they would get to place their order.
“Guess everyone had a rough week” (y/n) mumbles absentmindedly, and Ino glances down at her.
This wasn’t the first time he’d taken notice of her height- or lack thereof- but with having her so close she was nearly pressed into his side, it was hard not to notice. About a head shorter than him, he had to tilt his head down to properly look at her, which he was only doing now because the alcohol buzzing in his system lifted the barriers of his anxiety. Had he been sober, he’d have been far too weak to stare at her so blatantly.
Luckily due to the drinks they’d both had, (y/n) didn’t realize he was staring at her for a whole minute or so. She’d been too focused on trying to catch eyes with one of the bartender’s to feel his eyes on her. Even without being caught, he felt a flush creeping up his neck.
In another life, or hell, another universe, Ino wonders if things could have been different between them. If she would’ve been less closed off, or maybe he could’ve been more laid back and met her level of reserved. He wonders if they would’ve been closer friends, or maybe even something more than that.
Truthfully, when they’d first met, he’d instantly had a bit of a crush on her. He’d never met the younger Gojo before the day he started working with Nanami on his promotion, but as soon as he’d laid eyes on her, he thought his heart was going to go into cardiac arrest and he’d die right there. She was quiet, but he could tell behind her calculating expression that she was thoughtful, and cunning. And so, so beautiful, that he’d stuttered all the way through introducing himself, even his own name he’d struggled to get out. Looking back on it, he still felt embarrassed, but he was sure she’d long forgotten the interaction. It wasn’t long after their meeting that she’d made her disinterest in him explicitly clear, and the sparks of feelings she’d ignited in him were stomped out into ash.
He felt like a fool for feeling that spark ignite again just standing beside her in this congested bar, but he couldn’t be imagining that things were different tonight, right? He was sure that she was opening up more of herself than he’d ever seen before, and maybe the alcohol played a part in that, but either way, he couldn’t get enough of it. She was giving him crumbs of her life- an impulsive tattoo, her hopes to have a pet some day, a few reckless acts on assignments- and he was eating it all up with gratitude. He couldn’t help but want to learn more, wanting to press further until she couldn’t possibly deny that she enjoyed confiding in him as much as he enjoyed being in her company.
He knows he can’t be imagining things, because when she finally feels his stare and looks up at him, she doesn’t scowl, or spit out some cruel comment about it. Her brows twitch slightly, drawing together in a confused expression when he doesn’t immediately look away like she would’ve expected. He’s close enough that he can see the way a ghost of a smile hovers at the corners of her lips, and the way her cheeks warm up with color. It makes that microscopic spark of old feeling in his chest burn a little brighter.
A nervous laugh falls from her lips, and it’s so uncharacteristically cute that he’s smiling now, and he feels like an absolute dope for staring at her and smiling like an idiot, but it can’t be helped. He can’t be helped.
“What?” She asks, breathless and curious, her eyes shifting between his as though trying to find the source of this behavior, but instead she only finds warm pools of brown that almost resemble the rum and cokes she’s been enjoying all night.
And then all at once it’s almost too much. She’s suddenly aware of how close she is to him, their arms brushing together, or if he tilted his head just a little further down he could easily push his nose against hers and-
Her eyes widen at the derailing of her train of thought, the soft expression of surprise on her face more recognizable than she would’ve liked, and she could tell that it doesn’t go unnoticed by Ino, as he’s now regarding her with intrigue, wondering what was going through her mind.
The idea of him knowing she’d nearly gotten lost in thought at the idea of kissing him made her chest ache, and she badly wanted to tear her gaze away from his, lean over the bar and demand to be serviced so they could get away from the crowded space as quickly as possible.
What an idiotic, drunken thought to have. Kissing a colleague, how much more foolish could she possibly be? She tries to shake it off as a pesky intrusive thought. Nothing more than the alcohol pressuring her into making a reckless decision.
But she’s frozen before him, her eyes locked on his like she was stuck in a trance, trapped by her own nerves. The eye contact was going to kill her, especially with how soft his gaze was. It wasn’t like anything she was used to. It wasn’t setting her on fire from it’s heat. The way he looked at her made her feel like she’d just cozied up in front of a fireplace after a cold day. It almost scared her how warm it made her chest feel.
She’s opening her mouth before she even settled on what she needed to say.
“Takuma, we should probably get go-”
She’s interrupted before she could finish telling him they needed to leave. It almost saves her, seeing as she didn’t have a very decent excuse as to why they needed to end the night early, but there’s little time for relief when the unwelcome hand of a stranger settles on her waist, stealing her attention away from Ino’s.
“You waitin’ for a drink, sweetheart?”
She vaguely registers that the stranger with the breath that reeked of booze was speaking to her, before she’s reacting on instinct.
The grabby hand on her hip is pried off with ease, her strength easily overpowering his in less than a second. No amount of alcohol would be enough to hinder her reflexes. The stranger cries out in shock and pain as she twists his arm back behind him, likely spraining his shoulder with how fast she pushes it into an uncomfortable position. The sly expression on the man’s face is contorted into one of great pain, and only when he begins to cry out for her to stop does she stop pushing. Her desire to feel the bone snap under her strength starts to melt away when she sees tears in his eyes.
“You’re lucky I didn’t break your hands so you’d learn to keep your mitts to yourself” She mutters, releasing him with a slight shove. The drunken stranger stumbles backwards, still sniffling and gawking in shock from the whole ordeal.
The woman he’d tried to pick up is still scowling, and she looks like she’s still undecided in letting him go, the way her lip curls into a snarl and her eyes seem to pierce right through his soul. The man beside her looks no different, rage evident in the way his brows furrow and his jaw is clenched, teeth grinding together roughly. He has one hand on the edge of the bar, as close to where she stands as he could get without pushing himself against her completely. His knuckles are paling by the second, gripping so hard one could almost assume he was about to rip a chunk of oak clean out of the counter. His other hand is on his head, roughly grabbing at the edge of his hat.
Even the non-sorcerer that was this stranger got a bad feeling emanating from the two, and he scurried off without another word. (y/n’s) eyes rolled dramatically at the pathetic display, but as she turned back to Ino, she could almost laugh at the sight of him ready to pull his mask over his face.
“Are you alright?” He asks, and there’s not a crack in his expression as he glances over her with concern pouring out of every pore.
He loses his grip on the bar, hand hovering over her shoulder but not quite touching her, not knowing if physical contact would be a comfort right now. It’s odd, feeling like for once she was the Gojo with the shield of Infinity.
“I’m fine,” She tells him, and she means it, but she can tell he’s not so convinced. “But just out of curiosity, what was your plan here?” She asks, cracking a smile as she flicks the edge of his mask, still bunched up at the top of his head.
“I- I don’t know,” Ino answers sheepishly. “If he didn’t leave you alone I guess I was just gonna wing it” He admits.
She regards him for a moment, letting the answer sink in. Her smile widens a bit when she laughs softly, almost fondly, as she really thinks about it. She softens again, just like she had moments ago, before the creep ruined it.
“Well, for what it’s-”
“Hey, you two need to leave,”
The pair or sorcerers do a double take when one of the bartenders finally gives them their attention, but not for the reason they’d wanted.
“What?” (y/n) asks, certain they had the wrong patrons.
“We weren’t doing anything?” Ino’s brows furrow as the bartender looks them both up and down.
“I don’t care for the details. We can’t have a commotion like that in the bar. If you’re going to cause trouble, do it somewhere else”
“But the guy was the one who-!”
Before Ino could finish his explanation, the bartender was shoving a finger towards the door, an expectant look on their face that told them not to argue any further, unless they wanted to cause more trouble.
“Whatever,” (y/n) huffs. “This bar’s a dump anyways”
And before the bartender could react, she was grabbing Ino by the arm and pulling him away from the bar. She was on a mission for the door, eager to leave a place if she wasn’t wanted. All Ino could do was silently follow along, his mind barely processing the whole ordeal until they were outside, where it was significantly quieter.
It was darker than he’d expected, although he was well aware of the time, it was a shock to be out on the dark sidewalk with the stars on full display above them. He glances up at the sky to admire them for a moment, until realization strikes him and he’s whirling around to look at her again.
“What about our tab?”
(y/n) blinks back at him, her expression unwavering.
“Guess we won’t be welcomed back, either” She says, and Ino stares at her in shock as he processes the statement.
“Well then we better get moving”
(y/n) hadn’t intended to end up at another bar. In fact, before the handsy stranger made things weird, she’d been looking for an excuse to end the night early. However, her words betrayed her when Takuma suggested another little dive not far down the street, and that’s where she found herself now.
This place wasn’t as crowded as the last, so she felt comfortable walking in and claiming a small corner booth. By the time someone came by for their order, she’d already stretched out across the length of the leather cushion, back pressed to the window comfortably. Ino had chuckled at how cozy she’d made herself, but didn’t comment on it.
Once their first round- at this establishment- of drinks came around, he’d excitedly started up their previous game again.
“Would you have really broken that guy’s hands?” He asks, and (y/n) doesn’t even lift her drink to pretend she wouldn’t answer.
“Without a doubt,” She hums, spinning the ice in her glass with her straw. “Sometimes lessons have to be learned the hard way, right?” She asks him with a mischievous grin that tells him she might’ve done worse had the moment felt right. “My turn?” She asks, and he nods, crossing his arms over the table as he gave her his undivided attention. “Which little beast of yours would you have summoned?”
“Kaichi”
He answers with so much bluntness she raises her brows at him, surprised by his complete lack of thought before speaking. She hums, nodding her head in quiet agreement that impaling the stranger with one of those horns would have been the best method of defense.
“Has that… happened before?”
“The random guy hitting on me part? Or the part where I threatened a man’s hands?” She asks, and Ino doesn’t seem to have the proper clarification for her question, so she shrugs, and doesn’t drink to the question.
“No, that’s never happened before”
She takes a few sips after she’s answered, hoping to keep up the buzz she had going. Ino’s fingers tap rhythmically against the table as he processes her answer. He seems unaffected at first, but slowly, confusion begins to seep into his features.
“Wait, so you’re saying no one’s ever hit on you, either?”
“You already asked that one”
“Well then I’m asking again”
(y/n) begins to pull her glass towards her, ready to take another drink, but maybe the alcohol gets on top of her a bit as she answers the question before she could evade it.
“No, I’ve never been hit on. I don’t think, anyways. But I think I’d probably know if I was”
It comes out like word vomit, babbled out like her thoughts were on a direct pipeline to being voiced. She doesn’t mean to share so much, but she finishes with a shrug of her shoulders, and raises her glass to sip some more.
“You really never go out, huh?” He asks, taking a drink as well.
“What, getting hit on is the true price you pay for going out?” She asks with a short laugh, not following the connection between the two. Ino nods his head from side to side, indecisive in his response.
“Not always, just, y’know, figured it’d happen a lot if you didn’t stay in all the time”
By the time he realizes the implications of that statement, it’s already too late. Ino nearly chokes on his drink when (y/n) tilts her head at him, realization slowly flickering over her features.
“You’re saying people would hit on me a lot if I went out more?” She asks skeptically.
He considers pulling his mask over his face in order to conceal the growing heat in his cheeks. Not that it would help, the damage had already been done with his loud mouth.
“I didn’t mean it like that-”
“Well how did you mean it then?” She asks, suddenly swiveling her legs to sit upright against the table, plopping her chin in her hands to study him properly.
She always had a way of looking at him with calculation in her eyes, as if she was sizing him up like a curse. Right now, he doesn’t know what to make of the way she stares at him. There’s that familiar look in her eyes that makes him wonder just what it is she’s looking for, but the softness in her smile was unfamiliar territory, and Ino didn’t have the slightest clue of what to make of it.
Was it amusement? Did she take sick joy in watching him fluster and stutter? Or could it be the alcohol to blame? Perhaps it was loosening her up, and any semblance of delight was merely the booze entertaining her. The most outlandish reason would have been fondness, but there simply wasn’t a chance in the freezing depths of hell that she was actually growing fond of his company, was there?
“I just meant, y’know,” He gestures his hand towards her, pathetically trying to explain his thought process. She shakes her head in a small motion, not understanding his poor attempt at reason in the slightest. “Like, you… you’re… you know”
Ino would really rather be anywhere else right now, preferably somewhere that wasn’t so hot his collar was sticking to his neck and his throat was closing up, but then (y/n) begins to laugh, and he huffs out a sigh in aggravation, and ultimately decides to take a long drink.
“Fair enough,” She muses at his choice. “It’s not a terrible assumption to make, I suppose. My brother is acquainted with every eligible man and woman in the city, after all” She says, only half joking. Ino seems to find a great deal of amusement in that, grinning and laughing, although he can’t say he’s that surprised.
“For the record, I wasn’t comparing you to him in that assumption,” He says. “I just figured you’d… attract your own attention” He says.
There’s an undeniable flutter in her chest, and she wished she could say she hated the way it spread a tingle of warmth throughout her entire body. It wasn’t like she’d never received that sort of attention from others, but it had been so long since she entertained the idea that it was starting to feel a little foreign. And having Ino of all people assume that there were a line of suitors out the door waiting for her hand had her insides turning with the near unfamiliar sensation of butterflies.
Her silence is making him anxious, his fingers tapping against the table no longer playing a steady beat. They mimicked the rapid increase in his heartbeat. Wild and unsteady and with no sign of relaxing.
“That so?” When she finally does speak it’s soft, nearly a whisper, as if she didn’t quite believe him. “Are you an expert in that field, then?”
She catches the way his eyes land on his drink, which was now empty, so there wasn’t exactly an out for the question. When his gaze shifts back up to hers, he finds she hasn’t looked away from him yet.
“What field?” He plays dumb, and her smile curls into a slight smirk.
“Flirting, courting, whatever you want to call it” (y/n) answers with ease, fiddling with the straw in her drink as she impatiently waits for his answer. He eyes his empty glass once more.
“No, I’m no expert,” He huffs, a deep frown on his face for having to admit something so embarrassing. “You timed that on purpose”
“I did not!” She argues, but her nervous laughter gives her away. She’s not as good at lying when she’s drunk apparently, and he might just have to store that information for later.
“My drink was empty! That was a trap!”
She has to cover her mouth to try and suppress the giggles coming out of her uncontrollably. He’s still embarrassed, but her laughter was contagious. Anyone passing by or glancing over at the loud laughter pouring out of their booth would assume they were having nothing but a good time. And for a few seconds at a time, Ino could pretend they were, too.
To keep things fair, (y/n) finishes the last few sips of her drink, before sliding both glasses to the end of the table.
“Alright, your turn then,” She says, a small hiccup punctuating the offer. “You must have something good saved up your sleeve?”
He thinks about it for a moment, folding his arms over the table and subconsciously leaning over it to get closer to her. With his eyes wandering the bar as he racks his brain for a good question she couldn’t avoid answering, she was able to properly gaze at him without getting caught. Just like at the previous bar, she gets a little lost in thought as she maps out every feature of his face. There was nothing forgettable about Takuma Ino, but she found herself trying to commit it all to memory anyways.
That flutter in her chest hadn’t gone away, and the longer it prevailed the more she began to sink into the feeling. It’s relaxing, the way time slows down, and the buzz sends goosebumps prickling up her arms. She would have never thought she could find this much comfort in this setting, but to her, this booth was the only thing in her world.
“Would you do this again?” He finally settles on a question, and it’s clear that it’s not what she expected, judging by the way her eyes slightly widen from being caught off guard.
Her mouth opens, but nothing comes out right away. It’s as though he’d wiped her mind completely blank, not even a weak excuse coming to mind. The fuzzy feeling in her chest turns to static, sharp and cold before disappearing completely, leaving behind nothing but an emptiness that stings as it lingers. Her smile slowly falls as reality begins to seep back into their booth, reminding her of why she’d kept him beyond arm’s length all this time.
Deep down, she wonders if she always knew this would happen. She wondered if self preservation took over as soon as she met him because if it hadn’t, she would’ve let him get too close a long, long time ago. Guilt claws it’s way up from her gut to her throat, strangling her to keep her from saying the wrong thing first.
Ino’s sure he already has his answer when she doesn’t say anything right away. It’s written all over her face, the way she winces, and shuffles uncomfortably in her seat. Disappointment doesn’t begin to cover what he feels as he looks away from her, trying and failing to keep his face neutral.
“Got it” He mutters, catching the eye of a passing server and signaling for the check. (y/n) frowns.
“Takuma, I…” She starts, but her throat still burns, and she struggles to find the right thing to say that won’t make things worse. “I tried to tell you that tonight was just-”
“I know,” He replies. It makes her blood run cold, the way his voice lacks it’s usual chipper tone. Now it holds nothing. He’s so painfully emotionless that she almost wishes he would just get angry with her. “You made that clear”
They’re completely silent when a server comes back with the check, the tension turning awkward as soon as another person enters their bubble. They must pick up on it, because they’re quick to bid them a good night before rushing away.
(y/n) drops the money on the table, and Ino’s out of his seat and headed for the door before she could even stand. She huffs as she follows after him, although he stops just outside the door. His heart was too good to leave her completely stranded, even though he wasn’t sure he could take another minute of being around her.
“Takuma, look, it’s not like it’s personal-”
He scoffs, his hands in his pockets as he looks down at her. She’s shocked to see the glare on his features, and if he wasn’t so irritated, he might’ve noticed the hurt on her face from the sharp look.
“If you tell me one more time just how not personal it is, I think I’m going to scream, (y/n),” He snaps, and in all the times she’s had this conversation with him and butted heads, she’s never heard him talk like that. All she can do is stand there pathetically and accept it. “Because it’s bullshit. You know it, I know it, shit, Nanami knows it”
“It’s not,” She mumbles, shaking her head. “It’s not bullshit, I just-”
“You don’t care about anything but becoming Grade One, I know,” He finishes the statement for it. “You don’t care about drinks, and you don’t care about me. Trust me, I remember,”
A pout settles on her lips, and for the first time in a long time, she wants to cry.
“You know I actually-” Ino pauses to let out a humorless laugh, eyes fleeting across the busy streets as he finds twisted amusement in the way he’d fallen for this whole charade. “I actually thought you were having a good time, I actually, stupidly believed that maybe you-” He stops again, not wanting to sound more idiotic than he already did.
After tonight, as soon as they part ways, things would go back to the way they were, and she’d probably pretend nothing ever happened. He’s not sure he was going to be able to survive that, even after all of this time accepting that she had no interest in him. Ino doesn’t think he could go back to the way things were.
But fuck it, if this was going to be the last time she talked to him, he wasn’t going to lay back and take it. He was going to put all the cards on the table.
“You know I care about you, don’t you? You have to know that. Even if you can’t be friends or partners you- you have to know that. You’re not dumb, (y/n), so don’t act like it,”
She has to curl her hands into fists at her sides to keep control of the tears in her eyes. She couldn’t dare let them spill over.
“But you’re so so stubborn, I’ve never met anyone like you,” He huffs, and the smile on his face is conflicting with the way he spits the words out like poison. “You’re nothing like Satoru. I’ve never thought so. All these walls you put up to keep people from getting close to you so you don’t happen to stumble on the same path he did- because that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? You’d rather shelter yourself from everything than risk getting a little hurt?”
Her bottom lip wobbles with emotion, and she turns away so she doesn't have to look at him. She wished some mysterious force would suck her away from this moment and land her in the safety of her bed where she never had to face the consequences of her actions. It was childish, but she couldn’t bear to argue with him right now.
“You’re drunk” She mumbles to the sidewalk.
“You’re drunk,” He repeats incredulously, his hands flying outward. “You think I don’t know you because you won’t, just once, let someone get close to you,” He rants, “But you know what the worst part is, (y/n)? You’re only going to get hurt anyways. And you have,” He gestures to her shoulder, making her defensively hold a hand over where the scars are hidden beneath her clothes. Her brows furrow as she opens her mouth to argue, but he beats her to it. “And then- while I was worried about you, because damn it there was so much blood, I thought you might die, you took it out on me! You got mad at me and pushed me away, again. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?”
It’s only when his rant starts to die down that he realizes she’s barely looking at him because her eyes are glossy, and he knows damn well that she’s fighting every urge to cry. He doesn’t know if she’s emotionally on edge because of him, or the alcohol making her sensitive, but either way, he sighs in defeat, and his shoulders slump from the weight of all of the thoughts he’d been carrying for the last few months.
“I- I know that you care,” She says weakly, her voice more strained than she would have liked. “I just don’t get it, okay? It doesn’t make sense. You don’t make sense. I don’t- I- I can’t-” Her stutters come out in a whimper and she’s looking away again, desperately trying to compose herself before she could do something embarrassing.
There were still people out and about even this late into the night, more than enough people to overhear their argument in the middle of the sidewalk. Normally, she’d call her brother’s driver and leave without putting up with this argument. But she can’t bring herself to do such a thing right now. Not with the way he’s looking at her like she just destroyed the moon and all of it’s stars.
“My whole life has been wasted trying to prove something that I- that just isn’t possible,”
The admission comes out in a shaky whisper. She’s never voiced it before, but now is as good a time as any of he’s really so desperate to understand why she was wired this way.
“I don’t even understand why I was born, Takuma. My parents had no interest in me. They already had Satoru. For as long as I could remember, I was only around to follow behind my big brother while the entire world bent over backwards to give him everything. Attention, money, fame, candy apples- that’s what’s bullshit,” It comes out bitter and nasty, her nose wrinkling as she thinks back to every event she was forced to dress up and go to, only to be ignored, cast aside, and forgotten about completely while Satoru skipped around and received everything he could ever want. “And I just can’t- can’t understand what anyone could ever want from me, I have nothing,”
She hadn’t noticed the tears leaking from her eyes until there’s a pair of warm hands cupping her face, thumbs gently pushing them away. She doesn’t want to look at him, not with all of the shame she felt just being comforted by him, but a stronger part of her can’t help but stare at him. She hadn’t expected such sudden gentleness from him, and she hadn’t realized just how long it had been since someone had last comforted her. When was the last time someone wiped her tears? Or touched her so softly that even in the frigid evening brought warmth to her skin?
“Explain it to me,” She pleas quietly. “Why- why would you possibly want to be around me?”
Her eyes shift between his, but he’s too focused on clearing away each tear rolling down her cheeks. She sniffles, and her hands reach up to grab his wrists. Ino thinks she might yank him away, but she doesn’t. She simply stands there with a solid grip on him.
“You are drunk,” He says quietly, just a hint of amusement in his eyes as he finally meets her sorrowful gaze. “Don’t cry, (y/n), I didn’t mean to make you cry,”
But it’s too late, she can’t stop the tears from streaming down her face now.
“I told you, I care about you, we’re partners, yeah?” He offers, but her expression is unrelenting. “Have you considered maybe I don’t want you to get hurt, either?”
Tears stick to her lashes when she blinks, and she has to bite down on her cheek to keep her lips from trembling. He’s so close that he’d be sure to notice, but he also notices the clench in her jaw.
Every instinct she’d trained herself on is telling her to push him away. Even if it meant physically shoving him off of her. He’s too close in every sense of the word, breaching every wall she’d built brick by brick.
But something else nags at her, something far more sinister and cruel. It pushes her forward, and has her clenching her hands around his wrists tighter as she stands before him in all of her pathetic glory. Tears still pouring down her cheeks and her lower lip still wobbling, she swallows her pride.
“I’m sorry,”
It’s quiet, but not because it’s ingenuine. In fact it’s the opposite. With a raw throat came a strained voice, so full of emotion she couldn’t possibly raise her voice any louder than the murmur that came out.
Ino blinks, his eyes widening in the slightest as he stares back at her in shock. The entire night had been full of surprises, but now it had certainly taken a turn and set him on a path where he could see no clear ending.
“Takuma, I’m- I’m so sorry,” She continues, eyes glossing over again. “I shouldn’t have pushed you away, I shouldn’t have said all those terrible things to you I- I didn’t mean any of it,”
She’s shaking her head so rapidly it makes her a bit dizzy with the alcohol still in her system, but she doesn’t care if she sways a little. She only wants to convey to him just how serious she was, and how important it was to her that he understood that.
“I think… I think you’re one of the greatest people I’ve ever met,” She continues, and slowly, the tears come to a stop. “I’ve never known anyone as… as caring as you,”
Her voice softens, a nervous shyness creeping in for admitting something so vulnerable. But she wasn’t sure if she’d ever work up the courage to say something like this to him again, so it was now or never.
“And I know you’d never hurt me, b-because I’m… I’m the one who was hurting you,” He opens his mouth, likely to argue with that statement, but she was quick to keep going before he got the chance to interrupt. “But I don’t think you understand that… that losing you would mean hurting me, too” She finishes, brows pinched together as they both sit for a moment to process it all.
Ino sighs, his thumbs wiping away the last of her tears, yet he keeps his hands cupped around her face. A part of him was paranoid that if he let her go now, she might slip away once and for all. The other, louder part knew that with the grip she had on his arms, neither one of them were going anywhere.
And so he tells her just that.
“I’m not going anywhere,” He assures her, a confident smile stretching across his face. “You’re not losin’ me. Promise”
She snorts at that, the tiniest of laughs escaping her in a mere breath.
“You can’t promise something like that,” She scolds. “In this line of-”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ino shakes his head dismissively. “Too late. Already promised. So it’s set in stone,”
She stares up at him with wide eyes, so lost in trying to understand him in his entirety that she doesn’t even know what to say next. Had he forgiven her so easily? How could he say such a thing with as much assurance as he did?
“As long as you can promise to drop the tough guy act and just… be the tough guy you already are,” He says, only half kidding, “Then I can promise that I’m not leaving you” He offers, tilting his head to the side as he gazes down at her fondly, admiring the way the corners of her lips begin to twitch into a smile.
“Okay,” She whispers, so quiet he only knew she said it from the way her lips moved around the word. “I promise”
___
From that day forward, (y/n) worked more and more to loosen up around him. It wasn’t easy at first, and the first day was the hardest. The Monday back at work was a bit awkward, after she’d spent an entire weekend nursing a hangover, with an overbearing brother pestering her for the details. Ino had brought her and Nanami coffee that first morning, and she’d made an effort to eat her lunch with him every day that week.
Then the week after that she began to accompany him on his coffee runs as well, spending the extra time chatting mindlessly and getting to know one another better.
A few weeks after that the two of them went out for drinks one evening, until that too became a part of the routine. Once a month or so they’d go out to any new bar Ino could find and waste away as much of an evening as they could.
Slowly but surely, partnership grew into genuine friendship- something (y/n) hadn’t felt for a long, long time. And Ino made sure to never let her forget it. Whether it was remembering her favorite drink order, or watching an entire series she’d said she liked one time, he took her companionship seriously. The more she got to know him, the harder he made it not to fall for him.
But, god, was falling for him one of the easiest things that’s ever come to her in this life. It was unavoidable, unstoppable, uncontrollable. No matter how much she tried to fight it, the way her heart raced whenever he was around was distinct to feelings only he could spark. And the way her eyes searched for him first in a crowd was more than enough proof that her fondness for him had grown well past platonic.
It might have been silly to be surprised by her feelings when she’d finally realized that’s what the swell in her chest was all about. After the incident that was their drunken night out where she’d torn herself apart at the seams before him- they don’t talk about that night, and she can’t help but wonder if he’s doing it out of favor for her, or if he’s just as embarrassed about it as she was- she found herself getting lost when thinking about him more often.
It ranged anywhere from how his eyes were their prettiest when they would leave Jujutsu Tech in the early evening. With the sun low in the sky, rays of light caught them just right and made them appear to be the most brilliant, shining amber she’s ever seen.
Satoru loved to brag about his baby blues to anyone who would listen, throwing his shades off with dramatic flare as he’d bat his eyelashes at unsuspecting victims. Ever so full of himself, he loved the attention he’d get for the outrageously bright blue hue of his eyes. When directed at her, (y/n) tended to scoff and tell him that his Six Eyes was far more worthy of bragging about than the damn color of them.
More recently, she’d shrugged her shoulders before directing her attention elsewhere. “I prefer brown eyes” She’d told him carelessly. At the time he’d pouted over it, whining about how his little sister thought he was ugly. But ever since seeing her grow closer to her partner, he had a sneaking suspicion he knew who’s brown eyes she was talking about.
As much as she indulges herself in these thoughts- wondering how soft his lips were, remembering how gentle his hands had been when he’d touched her- she knows she can’t act on them. Not after everything she’d already put him through getting their working relationship this far. If she were to admit to him now that she was catching romantic feelings for him, it would be humiliating. And she was humiliated enough as it is. So she swore to herself they would remain hidden deep, deep down, under a lock and key- with said metaphorical key being thrown into a fire and melted down into a clump of misshapen chunk metal.
Then she threw that metaphorical chunk of metal into a metaphorical ocean.
___
xoxo ~ jordie
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