You barely made it two steps out of the classroom before an arm slung itself over your shoulders dramatically.

Honestly, you didn’t even need to look. There was only one person obnoxious enough to greet people like this on a daily basis.

Satoru leaned down until his chin almost brushed your shoulder, grinning like he’d just accomplished something impressive by ambushing you in the hallway. “There you are,” he said. “I was starting to think you blocked me. You know how cruel that is to do to a guy?”

His voice carried that usual teasing lilt, playful and loud enough that a few students nearby glanced over automatically. Satoru liked attention. No, that wasn’t true actually. Attention just followed him naturally because he was Satoru Gojo. Strongest sorcerer alive. Pretty face. Too much confidence stuffed into one person.

It annoyed people constantly—in the jealous kind of way.

He tightened his arm around your shoulders slightly as you kept walking, completely unbothered by the fact you clearly hadn’t answered his texts on purpose. “Left on read for three whole hours,” he continued dramatically. “I almost died.”

Not that anything could actually kill him that easily. Satoru knew that better than anyone.

That was probably part of the problem.

There was always this invisible distance between him and everyone else. Infinity existed around him constantly, both literally and otherwise. People admired him, feared him, relied on him, but very few treated him normally anymore. Most got stiff around him eventually. Careful. Respectful. Boring.

You didn’t.

Maybe that was why he kept finding excuses to bother you between classes.

Satoru glanced sideways at you from behind his sunglasses, lips twitching upward slightly when you still refused to entertain his whining. He liked this version of you more than he should have. The unimpressed looks. The sighs. The way you never acted intimidated by him no matter how much power sat in his hands.

It made him feel weirdly human.

Dangerous thing, honestly.

“You know,” he said casually, “if you missed me that much, you could’ve just said so instead of pretending to ignore me.”

His grin widened immediately after, smug and shameless. “Don’t worry though. I’m nice enough to forgive you.”