Chapter Text
Suguru marked another question wrong on the stack of papers in front of him, sighing. He’d known what he was signing up for when he’d become a teacher, but unlike some of the other teachers he’d pass during breaks, he found no joy in marking students wrong. After all, Itadori was a smart kid, that much he could pick up on. Maybe he just had something going on at home. He knew how that could affect grades more than anyone else.
“Grades due?” Satoru asked, hugging Suguru from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder, looking over the papers and still in his suit from work. Suguru could still remember the first time he’d seen him in a suit, how unfairly handsome it made him and how his brain had stopped working for a second upon seeing him.
He nodded. At least he could mark the next one right. Maybe he could help form a study group after class for his students. It would be more work, but education was the key to success. A way for them to flourish and grow as they got older.
Satoru kissed him on the cheek. “Wanna order take out?”
“Sure,” he replied, Satoru pulling away and beginning to search for his phone, patting down his pockets. He didn’t mind just ordering something in tonight. After all, they were going out over the weekend to celebrate.
“Check the kitchen counter,” Suguru said, not even looking up from the papers. Satoru always left it there.
Another kiss on his cheek and Satoru was gone, putting in an order.
It wasn’t like Suguru had to teach, quite the opposite really, Satoru making more than enough money for the both of them with his family’s business. But teaching… it’s what he’d gone to college for. What he’d wanted to do for years despite the long days and the little sleep, despite the hours of planning and lesson prep, despite some students hating him just because he was a teacher, and some teachers hating him for a myriad of reasons such as him not having to teach for money or even just that the kids liked him.
Satoru really had not been joking when he’d made the offhand remark that teachers never really left school, never had to live in the real world.
But with teaching, he could help kids. Could help them get through school and would even let them eat lunch in his room if they wanted. He knew how hard it was to get friends. With being a teacher, he could help give kids a future. Give them the help he never received. Maybe he didn’t have to do it for money and maybe that’s what made it more than bearable since he didn’t have to do it for survival, but it filled him with purpose, filled him with satisfaction even on the days he came home too exhausted to do anything at all.
He finally finished the last paper, Fushiguro managing to get the best grades out of everyone, somehow still not allowing his friends to cheat off him, Suguru more than aware of the whispered begging that went on in the back of the class.
He’d put the scores into the system tomorrow, stretching as he stood and walked to the kitchen, Satoru still not out.
Noises sounded from the kitchen, Suguru smiling as he closed his eyes, knocking on the wall as he came closer, announcing his presence. “Should I go back to my room or are things hidden well enough?”
He didn’t need to be able to see to know that Satoru almost jumped in place, didn’t need his eyes to feel Satoru pouting as he walked over, years passing and the two of them just the same.
“You always know,” Satoru whined, thunking his head against Suguru’s shoulder. “It’s no fair!”
Suguru carded his hands through Satoru’s hair, leaning into him. Of course he knew whenever Satoru tried to surprise him and of course he wouldn’t ruin it, Satoru fully capable of hiding things, but choosing not to go to the lengths he’d go to in the past, comfortable enough with Suguru not to feel pressured to.
The oven beeped, Satoru already running across the kitchen and something delicious in the air.
“Keep your eyes shut!” Satoru yelled at him. “And go back to your room! I’ll call you out when I’ve finished!”
“Whatever you say, princess,” Suguru teased as he went back to his room, smile still on his face, Satoru’s antics still endearing.
He only opened them as he got back to their room, shaking his head as he looked around, Satoru’s pajamas laying in a heap on the floor and their bed still unmade. Usually he was better about those things, but must have just waited till the last minute to get ready, Satoru having only woken up a few minutes before Suguru left in the morning, making sure to give him a goodbye kiss, morning breath and all.
He still remembered the day they both graduated, Satoru switching between vibrating from excitement and nauseating anxiety, telling him that his parents were going to attend, that it would be the first time he’d seen them in years, having never gone home during breaks or even calling them, the only link between them the transferring of money between bank accounts.
Suguru had promised to go on a date afterwards, already thinking about walking through one of the parks in the area, somewhere quiet where Satoru could unwind and even vent if need be, but Satoru just shaking his head, saying that his parents wanted to meet up after it all and go out to eat, to talk about him joining the company and would probably be judging him to see where they could start him off at.
He’d offered to go on one maybe the next day even as dread took over him, the thought that maybe it would be over for them no longer allowing him to silence it. That Satoru wouldn’t want him now that they’d finished university, that he’d go to his company and wouldn’t need someone with barely a coin to his name anymore.
And then Satoru had blurted out that his parents had said it was okay if he brought him, because he’d been talking to them over text the last few days and that they wanted to meet him, Suguru still remembering the wave of shock that had frozen him, only able to respond when Satoru had made him promise not to start a fight with them. Or at the very least, not a physical one.
Suguru still hated Satoru’s parents, always forcing himself to put on a smile so fake it hurt when talking with them and listening to Satoru rant about how he really couldn’t believe his dad was actually a pretty chill and reasonable guy at the company, but would switch to the absolute worst version of himself whenever he remembered Satoru was his kid and not another employee.
But through the years, Satoru had climbed the ranks, the lengthy process of signing it over to him beginning, something Suguru could only half understand no matter how Satoru tried to explain it and all the technicalities and what it meant, but what he did know was that it meant they wouldn’t have to be so on guard around his parents, even if they did mainly ignore the both of them when it wasn’t about work.
At the very least, Suguru could say he and Satoru alone were the reason a huge company was advocating for full gay rights for just about everywhere, because how embarrassing would it be if their future CEO couldn’t even be legally recognized as married wherever he went?
Though it was sickening how Satoru’s mother had immediately taken a liking to him the second they’d met, always trying to talk and draw him away from Satoru to talk about what he wasn’t sure and Satoru rolling his eyes when he’d told him about it, saying that she probably wanted to know every detail she could on him and then give horrible advice.
Suguru let himself relax on the bed, room still messy around him and nothing like whatever pristine life Satoru’s parents probably imagined for them. They’d talked before, about maybe cutting off Satoru’s parents much like Suguru had done, but Satoru had shrugged, saying the benefits outweighed the negatives for him, even if Suguru was willing to give up the comfortable luxury that came with Satoru’s family.
He let his eyes close. Satoru would wake him up when he came in, always loud around the house. Just a few minute nap would help take the edge off.
He’d almost fallen asleep just as Satoru burst through the door, wide grin on his face and frilly apron over his pristine suit, expression dropping into wide eyes as he found Suguru collapsed on the bed.
“Shit, did I wake you up?” he whispered, Suguru just shaking his head as he got up. Maybe he had, but he’d been counting on it. “I didn’t —”
“Yeah yeah, he’s not me so stop feeling bad,” a voice came, Suguru’s eyes widening as Shoko stepped beside Satoru just to whack him on the head. Since when had she gotten here?
“Shoko?” he asked. He was pretty sure she hadn’t planned on coming over…
“Heard there’d be food,” she said, shrugging as she walked away. “Now get out here, I want to eat.”
Satoru grinned, pulling Suguru out, their hands intertwined.
“Satoru, what did you plan?” he groaned. He really should have known.
“You’ll see! You’ll see!” No amount of grinning on the other’s face could disguise his blue stained lips.
Suguru stopped, Satoru yanking at his arm as he got to the living room, a small gathering inside, Shoko collapsed on the couch as Utahime paced back and forth, Haibara trying to tell her something, probably about the bakery, and Nanami somehow sitting in his chair like a normal person.
“C’mon, I made you something!” Satoru whined, tugging at his arm and Suguru going along with him away from the surprise party and into the kitchen, a cake on the kitchen island.
Satoru let go of his hand, almost seeming to pose beside it, grin taking up almost his entire face, the cake’s uneven frosting matching his blue stained lips and so obviously his creation.
“Got Haibara to teach me!” Satoru started, still grinning as he began to stick candles in it. “Tested out the frosting and that part’s good!”
He could see that, but more than that, he could see how Satoru was looking at him, almost begging for some sort of praise. The cake could be raw batter on the inside and Suguru would still love him and the atrocity he’d created.
“It’s incredible, Satoru,” he said instead, closing the gap between them, heart seeming to swell with happiness, the man in front of him the reason for it all.
“Well, did say I wanted to make a cake someday! And also…” Satoru lit the candles on the cake, Suguru keeping an eye on him despite the fact he was a fully grown man capable of running a company.
Maybe not a kitchen, though.
“Happy thirtieth birthday, Suguru,” Satoru whispered, tears gathering in his eyes behind his glasses, memories of that night in the hospital flooding Suguru’s mind, of how he’d been sure he wouldn’t live to thirty, of how he’d said as much to Satoru. Satoru, who remembered all this time, Satoru who’d throw parties for him and shower him with gifts before taking him out to an unforgettable date every birthday even as something almost sad lingered in the back of his gaze.
But Suguru was still there, planning for tomorrow already and the day after that. It hadn’t been a smooth ride to where they were now, maybe Suguru never attempting again, but he’d come close so many times, Satoru maybe keeping him from falling off that ledge, but not able to fix everything.
“Could probably eat less frosting next year,” Suguru said instead, smiling as he pressed his thumb to Satoru’s lips, wiping away the extra that still clung to them. “There might not be enough on the cake.”
A tear ran down Satoru’s cheek, Suguru thumbing that away as well, his words nothing more than a lie because he’d buy tubs of frosting for Satoru to eat if he wanted.
He still remembered Shoko listening to him, how after a depressive episode he’d been saying that it was all because of Satoru that he got through it, Shoko making a face and calling them disgustingly codependent. A week later, Suguru finding him and Satoru in the psych building of the campus, Shoko volunteering them as little test subjects to the couple counselors in training there.
Therapy couldn’t fix everything, but that was okay. They’d still worked through so much together.
He leaned forward, Satoru meeting him halfway to the kiss, lips sugary sweet with frosting on his. He was home, happy in a way he’d never been able to truly even imagine for himself, happy in a way that even made lopsided cakes and grading papers shine.
Gagging sounds came from the door to the kitchen, Suguru pulling away and the both of them looking at Shoko as she fake retched all over the floor, an act worthy enough to be dubbed as Satoru’s rising star pupil in the game of theatrics.
“That’s gay,” she heaved, so very conveniently leaving out that her girlfriend was just a room away. “Now get out here, I’m hungry.”
She walked away, Suguru looking back at Satoru and their hands intertwining again, their matching golden rings clinking together.
“I love you,” he whispered, tucking a strand of Satoru’s unruly hair back behind his ear with his other hand.
Satoru leaned into it, blue eyes sparkling with unshed tears, a smile on his face. “Forever?”
“Forever,” Suguru repeated, Satoru giggling and calling him cheesy all while kissing him on the cheek, the both of them walking out hand in hand, friends waiting for them and the future stretching out before them.