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Who: Satoru Gojou and Toji Fushiguro
When: August 1
Where: Bonnie's Flophouse
Summary: It's time... to confront the past.
Warnings: Discussion of child abandonment, attempted and successful murder, possible discussion of familial-based trauma, anything else will be added in later.

[ It's with a mission in mind that Gojou heads to the Flophouse today. He doesn't generally go there, because he has little reason to - but it happens to be where the person figuring into this mission stays. He's usually not the type of person to confront issues outright. It's not like his parents took much of a hand in his raising or showed him how to function like a regular person when it came to dealing with things outright.

Really, it's just that he knows the longer they put this off, the more awkward it'll eventually get. And he really hates awkwardness. Inspired by that more than anything, Gojou asks to be guided to Toji's room. Every step he takes feels heavier than the last and the knock he lays on the door sounds oddly loud to his ears.

The one thing he doesn't plan to do is make any apologies for the past. He'd really rather die first. ]

(( Lots of Jujutsu Kaisen spoilers in this post! Take heed ))

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( Dammit, Gojou.

Toji's finally starting to doze off when the knock comes to the door. )

What is it? Goddammit, it better be good.

( He stands and opens the door, looking over Gojou with irritation that fades into some kind of curious resignation. )

What's up.

We need to talk.

[ Gojou tries to push past Toji into the room, without giving any further explanation. He doesn't feel like he owes it until the door is closed. Their business was their business and nobody else needed to overhear it. ]

( Well, all right. Toji sinks back onto bed after the door is shut, sitting this time. He supposes they do. He also supposes there's no point in playing dumb about it either. )

I have a nagging feeling you're gonna start us off whether I say I'm game or not.

( He is, of course, but he has to get that complaint in. )

Sure am.

[ Gojou leans against the door, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he looks at Toji. Where to start? There were just so many possible places and all of them were equally important. ]

So. I killed you.

[ That's certainly a place. ]

( In what fucking —

He's pulled back to the place he was before he ended up here. Gojou ranting and raving and looking like he was on one hell of a drug cocktail. It's ... very possible that Gojou had killed him.

But why would he lie?

Well. Gojou certainly seems the type to lie about killing someone just for the fuck of it, or for some hidden ulterior motive he'd never reveal. )

I don't believe you.

( It settles in the air, settles in his head like its a lie in and of itself. Its possible — likely, even — and this Gojou certainly seems older than the one he encountered. )

Continue.

I think we're from different times somehow. Maybe you're from before I killed you. I'm from twelve years later.

[ Gojou feels like he probably sounds like he's on a drug cocktail now. He certainly wouldn't believe it if he heard it from anyone else. ]

It's been awhile. I haven't thought about it in years - and yet I also think about it every time I look at Megumi's face.

( Sure, why the fuck not. Toji knits his fingers together, cracks his knuckles all at once. Mentioning Megumi feels sobering.

He can't help the voice that betrays him, asks: )

How is he?

He's grown up strong. He's a Shikigami user. Manipulates shadows.

[ He considers whether to be kind about the information he has to reveal, or just to be rough and get it over with. Gojo isn't sure which is the way to go, so he just... barrels on. ]

He doesn't remember you. He still thinks you abandoned him to run away. I tried to tell him otherwise, but he refused to listen.

It's probably better that way.

( There's a wry lift of the corner of a smile, then, but something in him feels empty, empty, empty.

He shakes his head some. He just hopes Megumi isn't lonely, wherever he is, but that sentiment dies unspoken in his chest. )

What else do you have to tell me?

[ 'I basically adopted your child, does that mean I stole him from you?' No, he swallows that down before he can speak it. There's no reason to rub dirt in the wound. Gojou looks at Toji in silence for several seconds before speaking again. ]

I want to know... why. Why you killed her. Why you almost killed me.

I healed everything, but I still have a scar to remind me.

[ He brushes his hair up from his forehead to show it, then lets his bangs fall down again. ]

I've spent twelve years trying to find it out, but never came up with an answer.

Would it be insulting if I were to tell you it was just business? Would it be disturbing?

( He presses on, voice grave: )

If you really did kill me, why does it haunt you?

( He can't wrap his mind around it ... )

Of course you wouldn't understand, Sorcerer Killer. [ Gojou says it with such distaste. ] I ended a life before that person could make a choice to do better. Took away all possibilities.

[ He considers this with a long moment of silence. ]

But you have that chance now, don't you? Sadly I don't think you're interested in that.

What makes you so sure?

( Genuine question here. No sarcasm, even though it occurs to him. )

Because of the fact you've continued killing while you're here.

[ Okay, so maybe it'd been valid kills, but Gojou is still going to made a big deal out of it. He crosses his arms and stares Toji down. With all six eyes, but only two are noticeable. ]

I haven't killed anything here that didn't deserve to die.

( Hell, he's even saved people. That's not really something he does. )

Like I said. It's all business.

( A pause. )

I'm sure that's not the answer you wanted to hear.

That you don't spare a second thought to those you've taken away? No, not really.

[ Gojou looks resigned at this point, though. There's nothing he can say to change things, so he'll simply have to keep an eye on him and intervene if things turn sour. Easy to say, harder to carry out. ]

I've been teaching your [ our? ] son a better way. He's saved people.

( Toji thinks, in a small part of himself, that he wants to meet Megumi.

He doesn't voice that, wouldn't voice that in a million years. Gojou is met with a derisive laugh instead. )

What's the weather like up there on your high horse?

A lot better than what you get crawling on the ground.

[ He'd never let Toji meet his son, if that sentiment was expressed. If Megumi happens to show up here, he'd do everything he could to keep them apart. ]

Do you have anything else to tell me.

( He says it after a few beats, more of a statement than a question, like he's resigned to the fact that they have wildly differing views on killing. )