Chapter Text
Out of all people Satoru went to high school with, he never expected he’d meet Zen’in Toji again.
And it’s because, to put it simply, Toji was… a menace—and this is coming from Satoru who was also a problem child back then.
Satoru skipped classes, smoked and drank in the school backyard, had fist fights with the upperclassmen and generally acted like a little shit to everyone except the ones who were in his small circle.
Toji however—
He did all those things Satoru did but with ten times more damage. He put another student in a coma that lasted for three months. That kid would’ve died if the teachers didn’t come to stop Toji from beating the shit out of him. He was rumored to have been recruited by yakuza as well, which is something that still doesn’t sound impossible to Satoru.
In all honesty, Satoru had expected Toji to end up dead soon after high school; probably somewhere in a dark shady alley. Murdered. Or in prison.
Not having a kid.
A cute one, to boost.
“It’s Fushiguro now,” Toji tells him and drinks his coke straight from the bottle. He’s gained weight—mass, mostly muscles. The same scar is still on his lips.
They’re in a mom and pop restaurant that’s tucked in a tiny corner near Shinjuku station, bustling with people as it’s now the time for students and office workers to head home. It was Toji who chose the place. He was also the one who invited Satoru out, calling him out of the blue after years going radio silent.
Satoru still wonders where did Toji get his number; he changed it soon after high school. He had asked but the man gave him nothing aside from; "I know a guy."
“Ah, I see,” is all he says, nodding.
“My wife’s,” Toji explains. Always a man of few words.
“I didn’t expect you would take your wife’s last name.” Satoru eyes the child who’s sitting next to Toji.
Megumi, Toji had introduced earlier. A quiet, pretty little thing. He’s probably got the trait from his daddy while the look from his mommy.
“And why’s that?”
“Well, I mean, you were so…” Feral. Violent. The poster child of a dangerous alpha; the one parents warn their omega children to always be wary of. Blood pumped with toxic masculinity and hatred towards the weak; omegas are still perceived as such, especially by the Zen’in. Satoru knows as much. His family is the same. “Stubborn. And brash,” Satoru adds a beat later.
“You weren’t exactly an angel back then, Satoru,” Toji drawls out, tilting his head to the side. “You and me. We were birds of the same feathers.”
It’s true. Satoru hated the weak back then and that’s exactly why his parents sent him to a boarding school exclusive for problematic alpha boys. He was in a co-ed school until he hit puberty—second year of middle school, until he hit an omega in the face for absolutely no reason.
His parents had used the ‘oh, he’s just having a crush and didn’t know how to express it’ excuse to save his ass, but really, it was simply hatred stemmed from annoyance and ignorance. Nobody in his family is an omega, except that one old distant aunt who’s now in her eighties.
Even today some of the Gojo’s family members still talk badly about her. His parents don’t though, but it’s not like they ever defend her. They just stay quiet with a polite smile on their face, nodding and uncaring, whenever that happens.
“I’m a better man now.” Satoru smiles, insincere. He’s not a fan of being reminded of the terrible things he did in his teen years.
Toji eyes him up and down, making him slightly uncomfortable in his custom-made suits. “I can see that. You look prim and proper now. Like an actual member of the Gojo.”
Satoru doesn’t let his smile fall. “It’s unfortunate that I can’t say the same about you. How’s your old man?”
Toji shrugs. “Haven’t seen him since I eloped with this little guy’s mom.” He ruffles Megumi’s head, making the child huff and his hair even more unruly.
“She must be a great woman.” For making Toji shed his family name; a symbol of Zen’in’s pride. For making him tame and fatherly.
Really, who would’ve thought? Satoru bets Suguru—his partner in crime back then—would be as surprised as he was if he knew. Maybe Satoru should give him a call sometime. They haven’t talked for quite a while.
“She was.” Toji’s face turns solemn. “She’s gone now.”
Satoru almost feels sorry, almost utters out his condolence, but Toji quickly beats him to it.
“Look, Satoru, I’ll cut to the chase. I need you to do a favor for me.”
-
“How old are you again?”
“Five,” Megumi answers quietly as he follows Satoru from behind, walking further into the older man’s apartment.
Turns out the favor Toji needs Satoru to do is looking after Megumi. ‘Only for two days,’ the young father almost sounded like he was begging, but he probably didn’t—it was probably just an imagination. Satoru doesn’t think Toji’s capable of doing such thing.
Toji’s claimed he doesn’t know anyone else aside from Satoru in Tokyo. An absolute bullshit, Satoru knows.
Satoru doesn’t—cannot understand why Toji chose him out of all people to babysit Megumi. They weren’t even close in the first place.
Sure, they hung out for few times, even cracking open cold beers after school and sharing a lighter and a joint, but that only happened when the other kids were around. They never had a man-to-man talk like he often did with Suguru, never hunted ‘slutty omega babes’ together (Satoru, despite his looks and height, didn’t—still doesn’t have that much of a luck when he’s alone. He gets approached, he opens his mouth, they leave. It’s a circle of hell). When Satoru was in pinch; cornered by a dozen of alpha and beta male students from another school, it wasn’t Toji who appeared in his mind, and he’s sure it was the same for Toji too back then.
Toji knows what kind of alpha Satoru was; not one that’s suitable to be around kids and non-alphas. Of course, Satoru isn’t like that anymore. He’s much tamer now, respectful and understanding and actually sympathetic, at least as sympathetic as an alpha can be towards non-alphas, especially towards omegas. But Toji doesn’t know that—he shouldn’t have, considering he was just a part of another old chapter in Satoru’s life that Satoru never bothered to reopen.
Satoru, undoubtedly, should’ve been untrustworthy in Toji’s eyes.
So why him?
“Five, huh? That means your dad had you two years after high school,” Satoru mumbles to himself, remembering he’s going to turn twenty-six next December. Time sure does fly.
“Mama was older than papa,” Megumi informs, voice still small, eyeing the living room curiously.
Well, that’s expected.
“Have you ever met her family?” Satoru asks, turning around to face the boy. Toji did mention about eloping.
Megumi shakes his head. “Mama didn’t have one. She only had us.”
Satoru wonders if that’s really the truth. “She must’ve been really happy to have you,” he says instead, patting the boy’s head while smiling.
Megumi peers up at him from underneath his thick dark lashes, green eyes—two exact replicas of Toji’s—making Satoru feel like he’s currently being stripped bare.
It’s an unusual feeling, Satoru’s the one who usually gets told that he has soul staring eyes.
“Mama was an omega,” Megumi tells him a beat later, not breaking the eye contact. Satoru doesn’t think he can too.
“Is that so?” Is all he says, half unsure of what the boy wants him to say, half shocked that Toji’s wife—the one whose last name Toji uses now—was an omega. Even the most liberal, pro-omega’s rights kind of alphas rarely would do such a thing (most of them are outspoken mainly to get independent omegas to sleep with them, Satoru had seen it happening quite often in college back then, and well, preaching and actually doing it are two completely different things after all). Yet, Toji who grew up in Zen’in’s household did. Impressive.
“Do you hate omegas, Gojo-san? Papa said there are lots of people who hate omegas and I have to avoid them.”
Satoru crouches so they’re on the same eye-level. “I don’t,” he reassures the boy even though he’s still not sure. Certainly, he doesn’t hate them, but deep down he knows he’s still looking down on them, still thinks of them as a nuisance—with the heat and all, with them being unable to defend themselves, with their scents that tend to drive most alphas wild. “And just call me Satoru-nii, okay?”
Megumi looks away then, down—his eyelashes are so long, Satoru thinks—nodding.
-
Satoru yawns, stretching his arms, and closes his laptop. It’s been an exhausting day for him and Toji’s sudden reappearance doesn’t lessen his fatigue.
Fortunately for him, Megumi is a well-behaved child. He doesn’t make a mess or loud noises, all he does is reading a book; ‘The Animal Book: A Collection’, seems to be newly bought, quietly on the couch.
“Are you hungry?” Satoru asks, getting up from the chair. He already ate at the restaurant earlier, and so did Megumi, only Toji didn’t. Still, he asks the boy anyway, just in case.
“No.” He sees Megumi neatly folding a little dog ear on the page before closing it. “Are you going to sleep now?”
Satoru looks up at the clock on the wall. It’s already half past nine. “Yeah.” He has work tomorrow.
Megumi fidgets in his seat.
“What’s wrong?”
“We’ll sleep together, right?” Megumi mumbles out, eyes looking down, shy.
Satoru grins. “Of course, if that’s what Megumi-chan wants.” There’s an empty room where he’s stored his gym equipment in, with enough space for one futon. Still, he doesn’t think he can make a five year old sleep alone there. Even if Megumi hadn’t asked him, he’d still make the little boy sleep in his room. His bed is more than big enough anyway.
Megumi nods, still not yet looking up. “I never sleep alone, always with papa.”
Satoru hums in understanding. “Let’s brush our teeth first, then we’ll sleep.”
-
Satoru wakes up to the loud beeping sound of the alarm and a child clinging on him; Megumi’s face is buried in his chest, breathing out warm air onto his clothed skin.
He peels the boy off of him, waking him up gently in the process. Right before they went to sleep, he’s told Megumi he’s going to take the boy to his workplace. He’s uncomfortable with the idea of leaving a five year old alone all day in his apartment. There’s a child care facility in the building he works in, built only for the workers.
Megumi whines and rolls over, cocooning himself with the blanket. Satoru sighs and goes to the bathroom instead to wash up. When he comes back to change, Megumi is already sitting up, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
Satoru makes toasts and coffee as he always does every morning, and downs two tiny pills with a glass of cool water after. It’s a scent blocker medicine, made to block out scents specifically for alpha.
The effect isn’t as accurate as its name on Satoru, as his nose is keener than most alphas’. The medicine only manages to mute other people’s scents for him, making them faint and bearable—non-affecting. He’s been taking it every day since college, recommended by a fellow alpha friend.
He doesn’t think he can live without it now. Once he’d forgotten to take it and everyone suddenly smelled too much, too irritating and annoying—obnoxious. He felt like he was a hormonal kid again, ready to lash out and throw hands.
“Don’t have time to be fancy,” Satoru chirps as he serves a plate of toasts to Megumi, who still looks a bit sleepy. He pours the coffee into a mug and places it right in front of the boy. “Here.”
Megumi blinks down at the mug, and then up at him.
“Ah, you don’t drink coffee?” Satoru asks, just remembering children normally don’t drink coffee. Satoru did though, when he was a child. His parents let him do whatever and also fed him whatever. Probably the reason why he was fucked up as a teen—still is as an adult, though not as much as before.
“I’ll drink it,” Megumi tells him with a dismissing look.
“Okay then, here’s the sugar.” He pushes the sugar jar to the boy after he’s dropped six cubes of it into his coffee. “What?” He asks when he’s given a strange look. “Sugar is good for brain stimulation, you know?” He pouts, looking and sounding more childish than the actual child in front of him. “Ah, but I think you should only add two or three cubes.” He doesn’t want Toji to kill him because he accidentally gives Megumi cavities.
Megumi doesn’t say a word but does as he’s told.
-
Megumi is nervous, closing the car door too gently it can’t be locked. Apparently he’d never ridden in a car before, not even a taxi. Satoru however hasn’t taken any public transportation for quite long; he doesn’t even remember when was the last time he did. Except the bullet train, though only for business trips.
“There’s always a first time for everything,” Satoru says, grinning, as he buckles Megumi’s seatbelt, after he has closed the door because Megumi couldn’t get it closed even after three times trying. Satoru’s arm is long enough for him to do so from the driver seat.
Megumi only peers up at him, so he pats the boy’s head before turns the engine on.
He doesn’t see Megumi’s fingers clutching tightly on the seatbelt, cheeks a bit rosy.
-
When they arrive, Satoru tells Megumi to wait, turns off the car, and then gets out to open the door for him. The boy struggles to unbuckle so Satoru helps him.
They walk hand-in-hand then and bump into one of Satoru’s co-workers at the elevator.
“Oh, who is this?” She asks, smiling down at Megumi who then hides himself behind Satoru, gripping his hand tighter.
“My nephew,” Satoru lies. They’re not close enough for him to tell her the actual story. “His parents are busy today so they left him in my care. He’s a bit shy.”
They get in the elevator once it comes down and chat a bit until it reaches the ground floor—Satoru and Megumi’s destination, and then politely part ways with her.
“I’m on the sixteenth floor,” Satoru tells Megumi as he registers both of their names. The day care’s staff; a beta, stands next to the boy with a patient and practiced smile. “If you wanna come up, call first, okay? My number is written here.” Megumi nods. “I’ll see you again at lunch.”
He’s about to exit the facility when Megumi runs and stops him, hugging him from behind. “What’s wrong?” He asks as he turns around to face him.
Megumi suddenly starts crying then and Satoru’s panicked, crouching down immediately.
“I-I don’t want—” Megumi struggles to say between sobs. His cheeks flushed red and wet with fat globs of tears that keep on pouring out from his eyes. “I don’t—want you—to leave.”
Satoru awkwardly hugs the boy, not used to deal with children especially as small and young as Megumi. A faint smell of milk with a tinge of honey hits his nose, sweet yet mellow, but he’s too preoccupied with the crying boy to dwell on it. “Hey, I’m not gonna leave,” he shushes Megumi, hugging him tighter when the boy finally hugs back.
“Don’t want—Toru-nii to leave,” Megumi blubbers out, hiccupping, voice mumbled by the fabric of Satoru’s suit.
Satoru smiles, feeling warm inside at the nickname. No one has ever called him that.
“I’m not gonna leave,” he tells the boy again, caressing his small back. “How about you come up with me? Would you prefer that?” He asks, pulling away slightly to look at Megumi’s face, still flushed red because of the crying.
Megumi sniffles and nods, wiping his teary eye with the back of his hand. “Mnn, I wanna be with Toru-nii.”
Satoru’s heart tightens. He’s starting to like this boy.
-
Nobody questions Satoru when he shows up with a child in his arms.
Well, people do ask about who Megumi is and what’s his name and how old is he, but they say nothing beyond that. Bringing children to work space is worth at least a scold from superiors or seniors, since a child care facility has already been provided for the workers and it’s free as well (the parents or guardians still have to pay fees for the lunch and snacks though).
But the thing is no one really wants to reprimand the chairman’s grandson, which who Satoru is. No one dares to. He actually didn’t mean to tell people but one of the seniors got on his nerves so he blabbed about it. What the point of having privileges if not to use them?
“Is today bring your child to work day?” Nanami, whose desk is next to Satoru’s, asks. He’s a straight-laced and serious alpha—too serious Satoru assumed he was older at first, when in fact it’s Satoru who is, though only by a year.
Despite their clashing personalities, Nanami is the co-worker Satoru gets along the most with, mainly because Nanami is the least person on earth to become an ass-licker. Satoru doesn’t mind when people act subservient and fawn over him in the hope to gain his approval, thus the chairman's (he actually doesn’t have influence over his grandfather or any of his other older relatives; hell would freeze over before Gojo’s hags and old geezers ask him for an advice), because it makes his work easier, but it does get annoying sometimes.
“It’s Friday,” Satoru answers, ignoring the sarcastic tone Nanami just used. “Megumi is my friend’s child by the way,” he dramatically whispers, pointing with his thumb at Megumi who’s currently drawing—copying the animals from the same book he read last night.
Nanami nods, already aware that Satoru has lied to the entire department about Megumi being his nephew, not even a bit surprised. “Is the daycare closed?”
“No, but Megumi cried earlier, said he wanna be with me.” Satoru doesn’t realize he sounds like he’s bragging.
“How old is he?”
“Five.”
“Understandable. My nephew—my actual nephew is like that too. He’s five as well.” Nanami fishes his phone out of his pocket and shows a picture of a strawberry-blond haired boy to Satoru. “His name is Yuuji,” he reveals with a fond look on his face.
Satoru just hums, never one to care about or fawn over other people’s children—or children in general, really. He doesn’t hate children but he doesn’t like them either, unlike Nanami who adores them even though he doesn’t look like it. Satoru just simply doesn’t want to have anything to do with children of any age.
Though, after remembering what Megumi had told him earlier—how the boy had told him; crying while saying Toru-nii cutely, he thinks he might make an exception.
-
Satoru takes his leave right after the clock has just turned five, with Nanami in tow. “See you all on Monday!” He says cheerfully, Megumi’s hand in his.
His co-workers reluctantly follow after him, bowing shortly to their frowning superior with a sheepish smile on their face. Before the duo arrived, the entire department always waited for the chief to leave first, out of fear and respect—mostly fear. They even waited for him to finish his overtime and never rejected his invitation to visit the bar or cabaret; basically to get wasted, after.
Being the direct relative to the chairman, Satoru doesn’t care about offending anyone when no written rule is violated, while Nanami has made it clear he doesn’t work overtime unless he’s paid to; he knows he’s more than capable to quickly find another job if he gets fired.
“Nanamin, do you already have any plan for the weekends?” Satoru asks once they step out of the elevator and part from the crowd inside.
“I’m going to clean my place.”
“Ugh, that sounds tiresome. Doesn’t it, Megumi-chan?” He turns to face the child.
Megumi just blinks at him.
“Has you ever cleaned your own place?” Nanami asks.
“Nope.” Satoru has hired a housekeeper to do that. She comes once a week.
“As expected. Well, see you on Monday. Don’t feed the child weird things,” he warns, turning to the opposite direction to where Satoru has parked his car.
“Well, that’s how my day usually goes,” Satoru says as he buckles Megumi’s seatbelt. “You must’ve been bored.”
Megumi shakes his head. “No. I had fun. Everyone was nice. They gave me candies.”
Right. Satoru recalls the time Megumi got crowded around by his coworkers during lunch; mostly females and male omegas. Satoru had left Megumi in Nanami’s care to have a smoke break. He got chided by the other alpha for smelling like cigarette smoke near a child.
“Here.” Megumi offers him two heart-shaped chocolate candies he’s taken out of his bag. “Toru-nii’s share,” he says, green eyes piercing Satoru’s blue ones.
“Thank you,” Satoru says a heartbeat later, taking the sweet from Megumi’s small hand, taking in the faint scent of honey and milk the boy emits, finally recognizable to his nose now that there are only the two of them in an enclosed space. Megumi smells too sweet for a child. An odd thing because children smell solely like milk. They shouldn’t have produced a certain smell—pheromone—yet. “Megumi-chan is so nice,” he praises the boy, making a mental note to ask Toji about Megumi’s scent later.
The boy just nods and smiles, finally. It’s the first time he ever does in front of Satoru.
Satoru is glad. He hopes he can make Megumi smile again.
-
They do nothing on Saturday.
Usually Satoru would go to Roppongi or Ginza on Saturday’s night to have fun—to get laid, but with Megumi around, he doesn’t think he can do that.
So instead he lazes around in the living room, binge watching western movies. The TV screen is currently displaying Léon: The Professional, one of his favorites (he’s watched it three times, and now four). Megumi is sitting beside him on the couch, knees to chest. Satoru isn’t sure if this is the kind of movies that’s suitable for children (it isn’t), but Megumi doesn’t look like he dislikes it, so Satoru lets the movie continue.
“She loves him,” Megumi tells him during dinner.
Satoru is about to take a spoonful of the omurice he’s cooked. “Who?” He asks before putting the spoon inside his mouth.
“Mathilda.”
“Mathilda?” Satoru echoes, confused. “Oh! The movie. Yeah, she does. But Léon doesn’t.”
Megumi tilts his head to the side a bit. “He doesn’t?”
“Well, he does I suppose, but not in that way,” Satoru explains, wondering if Megumi understands what he means. “Léon loves her like a family. Like how your dad loves you.”
Megumi nods. “But Mathilda loves him like lovers do.”
Lovers—that word sounds weird coming from a five year old. Satoru briefly wonders what kind of things Toji’s been teaching to his child. “Yup. But Mathilda is too young—she’s still a child, like you.” He points at Megumi with his spoon. “That’s why Léon looked troubled when she told him she loves him.”
“So children can’t love adults?”
“They can’t.” Satoru pauses. “But well, I guess sometimes it’s okay to have a tiny crush on someone’s older. What’s not okay is the adult reciprocating the child’s feeling.”
“Recipro—?”
“Ah, it means ‘to return.’” Satoru forgot children’s vocabulary is limited. “To love them back, like lovers do. It’s absolutely not okay for adults to do that to children,” he repeats with an emphasis.
“Why?”
“Why?” Satoru echoes, a bit baffled Toji hasn’t taught Megumi this; about the inappropriate thing some adults might do to children. Stranger danger and all. “First it’s immoral, second it’s illegal.” Megumi gives him a confused look. “Basically, it’s bad and not acceptable. Adults can get jailed for that.”
Megumi’s eyes widen slightly. “Oh.”
Satoru smiles. “That’s why Megumi-chan, it’s better for you to fall in love with someone around your age.” His smile drops. “Not right now, of course! Wait a few more years. You’re still too young for things like this,” he nags, somehow feeling annoyed and protective after imagining Megumi falling in love—dating someone; an alpha boy.
He doesn’t know why his brain provides that kind of imaginary for him, when Megumi’s second gender hasn’t even presented yet, but it sure does irritate him. Could this be his paternal instinct kicking in?
Megumi nods and resumes his eating, so Satoru assumes the conversation is over.
“But what if I do?” The boy asks after few beats of silence, eyes down on the almost still full plate in front of him. He’s a slow eater, Satoru has noted.
“Hm? What?”
“Later in the future. What if I love someone older like Mathilda does?” Megumi lifts his eyes, and green once again clashes with blue. “What should I do then?”
“If that happens,” Satoru trails off, unsure of what to say, feeling like he mustn’t give the wrong answer or else the consequences might come and haunt him in the future. “Just come to me so we can talk about it. I’ll help you find a solution.” A way to end it, he almost adds but decides not to.
He can’t, not when green eyes are still piercing his blue ones, once again making him feel like he’s being stripped bare. Megumi is looking at him—through him, almost as if he were a pane of dirty window glass.
“Okay.” The boy nods and looks down again, resigned, breaking the spell he’s unconsciously cast on Satoru.
-
It's already half past seven in the evening and Toji is still unable to be contacted.
“Your dad seems to be busy, still,” Satoru tells Megumi as he dials the number again. ‘The number you’re trying to call cannot be reached at the moment, please try—' He tsks, ending the call and checks the several messages he’s sent to Toji. Status: ‘Not Delivered.’
He puts his phone away, sighing and eyes Megumi warily, worried the child might cry since his dad is more than two hours late. Toji has promised he’d pick Megumi up at five.
Megumi is quiet, holding tight onto his book about animals. There’s a troubled look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Satoru asks, now worried he’s accidentally fed something bad to Megumi. They ate a lot of cold desserts earlier, maybe it was too much for a child as small as Megumi. “Does your tummy hurt? Do you wanna puke?”
Megumi shakes his head, worrying his lower lip. He opens his book then, and shows an envelope that’s been slipped in between the last pages. “Papa said to give it to you today. After dinner time.”
Satoru takes the envelope; it’s unsealed, and unfolds the letter inside.
‘Satoru
By the time you read this, I’m no longer in Tokyo.
As you probably have guessed, I had a pretty rough life after high school. After leaving the Zen’in.
If you ever wonder why I did that, it’s because I found out about the things they’ve been doing to the omegas in the household. My mother included. I didn’t even know she was an omega – I was only told she left the family to be with another man. She did not. They were abusing her, mentally and psychically, until she could not take it. The Zen’in killed my mother.
I was disgusted with them and myself. It took me sometime to unlearn about the things they had beaten into my head. Then I met my wife, an omega, and for a moment I was happy, but she died few months after giving birth to Megumi.
Take care of Megumi were her last words to me.
I’ve tried to fulfil her wish but with my current condition, I can’t. I did what I had to do to survive back then and now my past is catching up to me. It’s not safe for Megumi to stay with me.
I’m sure you’ve already noticed it, unless you’re one of those alphas who take scent blocker meds Megumi smells too sweet for a child. I suspect he might present as an omega much earlier than normal. I cannot have a young defenseless omega tagging along with me, not with the kind of people I have to work with.
Now you might be wondering; what do all of these have to do with you?
I apologize for involving you in my private affair, but your family you’re the only one who has the power to protect Megumi from the Zen’in – if they ever found out about him. I had considered leaving him at an orphanage, but you and I know what they usually do to omega children there. Moreover, the Zen’in could easily snag him if I put him there. Besides you, I don’t know any better man for him.
Of course, this is all up to you. I cannot force you to take my child in – especially not with me being away. I don't know when I will be back or if I’ll be able to, but I definitely will try once all of my debts are paid.
If you end up leaving Megumi in someone else’s care, please make sure they will never hurt him.
— Fushiguro Toji’
—an unexpected meeting with an old friend / ends