A/N: Is this a spoiler? Either way WARNING for a really, really brief reference to the star plasma vessel arc/Gojo past arc. It's really small— just a passing mention.

Enjoy

Close Your Eyes, It's Okay

Torn paper, candy wrappers and scattered paper bags were all over the living rooms floor courtesy of Yuuji who was all too exited to see the things they've bought and overly energetic with the amount of candies he'd just consumed. Satoru prefers this happy overly excited child to the quiet and reserved one from this morning. Though he might have let Yuuji ate too much sweets and ruined his appetite for dinner. Satoru found out that letting a five year old have too many candies wasn't the best ideas. He winced, when Yuuji ran up to the wall for the third time that day. He would have been worried but turns out the kid had a pretty hard head. Literally. Yuuji was bouncing off the walls, high on sugar, having tasted them for the first time in his life and Gojo had indulged the kid after they had purchased most of his wardrobe from their shopping trip.

It was cute how most of the store staff cooed at Yuuji and ignored him. Normally the female population would be flocking him by now and shoving their numbers on his person but this time the female staff were very much focus on the small figure behind him. That was a first. He didn't even have to ask what kind of clothes a five year old would need. The staff were already lining up with their selections that they thought would suit Yuuji. It got intense for a bit, Yuuji being overwhelmed with the amount of attention on him, hiding behind Satoru and clutching on his pants but when one of the staff presented a tiger printed over alls and smiled reassuringly, Yuuji peeked from the older teen to the smiling lady.

"Ne~ chibi-chan how about this! A tiger for someone so cute and brave." the lady said while the others nodded.

"A tiger would really suit you, their big and fearsome cats but because their big and fearsome it helps scare away bad guys that might hurt your onii-chan." another staff said. Yuuji looked at the piece then to Satoru then back again to the clothes. He nodded and reach out for the clothes, one of the nice ladies directed him into one of the changing rooms.

Everyone cooed and squealed when Yuuji came out with the tiger overall with the cat ears hoody. Yuuji immediately perked up at their positive reaction. Gojo gave him a thumbs up, to which he tilted his head not understanding the reason for it which got the staff melting in to a puddle of goo. He tried a few more clothes on before Gojo had to shoo away some of the female staffs because their pile of clothing kept on growing and he had to draw the line somewhere before he brought everything the shop had to offer. Not that he hadn't already gone overboard with the purchases since he also brought complete sets of a sailors costume, more animal onesies and overalls. He might have also sneaked in some plushies as a surprise. Skipping school has never been this rewarding, Satoru thought as he watched Yuuji beam a smile to the worker who adjusted the jumper on him.

After their shopping, he brought Yuuji to one of his favorite candy shops that has high quality and delicious treats. The shop itself looked like it came out from the set of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Rows and rows of shelves contained various chocolates of different kinds and brands, different assortments of soft and hard candy, a chocolate fountain off to the side, a cotton candy bushes, sugar lollipops and cake pops surrounding a miniature candy house. It was like a dream and Yuuji was left at awe.

"Go on, you can pick any you want." Satoru encouraged, pushing the boy slightly forward.

"Really?"

"Yup, pick at your hearts content."

Yuuji gave Satoru a quick hug before dashing off to explore the aisles. Gojo chuckled and went to another corner of the store that holds Japanese sweets in particular. A reward for himself for doing a good job at looking after a kid.

Having cleared out some of the things that were scattered on the floor and placing Yuuji's newly bought outfit on his guest rooms drawer, Gojo tried not to laugh at Yuuji's slump form over on the kitchen counter. He fell asleep half through his plate of curry. His sugar high leaving him crashing and drained.

"Yuuji-kun, Yuuji-kun," Satoru shook Yuuji awake. The child mumbled something and tried to swat the hand away, nestling further on his arms and chasing for his sleep.

"C'mon now, Yuuji-kun. Let's have you cleaned up then you can go back to sleep." bleary eyes tried to glare at him but was interrupted by a yawn. Yuuji scrubbed at his eyes before he opened his arms, making a grabbing motion towards the older teen. Satoru lifted the boy to his and the two headed to the bathroom. The bath was already ready, having been prepared while he was putting away some of Yuuji's things. Satoru carefully removed Yuuji's clothes and placed him in the tub, keeping a careful eye of the five year old as he placed tge dirty clothing in the laundry basket he had placed at the corner a while ago. The child was still half asleep when Gojo run a soft washcloth against his sticky chocolate covered skin. Yuuji let Gojo wash him with minimum fuss, eyeing the rubber ducky that Gojo bought earlier with half interest but he was too drained from running around earlier to play with it. He let out a yawn and Gojo chuckled, pouring a last dipper full of water on his head to rinse away the remaining soap before lifting him off the tub and drying him off and wrapping him up in a swat of fluffy blue towels.

He then carried Yuuji to his guestroom and changed him into a pastel yellow baby chick themed pajama. Satoru then carefully tucked him in the bed. He was about to leave when Yuuji called out to him.

"Sato-nii, please don't leave." Satoru paused before he sat down besides Yuuji.

"Only for a while, okay?" Yuuji nodded his head. Yuuji was quiet for a while that Gojo thought he might have fallen asleep, he was considering if whether he should leave when Yuuji spoke up again.

"I— I can't sleep." he whispered that Satoru almost missed it

"Yuuji-kun—

"I like Sato-nii, today wa-was great but I wanted Papa with us. Why couldn't he come," Gojos heart ached, another new feeling to him, at Yuuji's question. He wish he could provide him the answer but it wouldn't do him any good.

"Your dad, he—"

"I know! I-I know he's away right now but I still miss him he—" a hiccup escaped the boy and another. He tried to suppress his tears not wanting to show his frustration at missing his father and not to show to much of a fuss in front of the older teen who had been nothing but good to him but he was still a five year old in a new environment and missing his father so badly. Strong arms enveloped him and Yuuji just clung on to the older teen.

"Yuuji-kun, your Papa loves you dearly. You're allowed to miss him. Trust me he misses you too, just as much as you miss him. But don't worry he trusts me to take care of you okay. He choose the best of the best So you should also trust the fact that I won't leave you and won't let your father down."

Fresh new tears sprung from Yuuji's eyes before he buried his face into Satoru's embrace. The day had been going well and he can't blame Yuuji for feeling this way. Satoru just held on to the shaking child tighter. He might be the strongest sorcerer ever to be born but being human was something he sucks at. His title of being the strongest didn't kept Riko alive, it isn't helping with the growing distance between him and Suguru nor did it help him save Yuuji's father. But he can try, try to at least keep his promise to Jin and keep Yuuji safe for as long as he's able and with that in mind he closed his eyes and did what he thought might give the biggest comfort closest to Yuuji's father he can give.

Close your eyes, it's okay

It's just the end of a long long day

Go to sleep, everything's alright

And I'll sing a lullaby

He wasn't all that great in singing but he can still carry a tune, this was the song Jin had been singing to Yuuji in his last moments, maybe it could bring comfort to the distraught child in his arms. Taking in a soft breath he brought Yuuji across his lap and rocked him back and fort, continuing on with the lyrics he could remember having heard only one time.

Good night, good night

Let the moon reign down his light

Good night, good night'

Til the morning comes

Slowly he felt Yuuji settle in his arms, his hitched sobs tapering of into soft whimpers till in turned in to soft snores. Satoru continued his singing until he was sure that Yuuji has drifted off.

Close your eyes and drift away

It's just the end of a long long day

But anytime the world's not right

You can sing this lullaby...

He gently laid Yuuji on the pillow, bringing up the covers to his chin and tucking in the corners of the sheets. Gojo then wiped off the stray tears and carefully caressed Yuuji's soft tresses before bringing one of the plushies he bought and squeezing it between the slumbering child's arm to which Yuuji subconsciously held closer and buried his nose.

But anytime the world's not right

You can sing this lullaby...

Two hours have passed since he put Yuuji to bed and cleaned up his apartment and himself before he plopped on his comfy couch to fish out his phone to check on his messages. It took about 30 minutes responding to his friends texts which had gone ignored for the whole day. 20 of it was spent on trolling Shoko who was curious about where he was living since he had moved out of their dorms 3 months ago and no way was he going back to his stuffy clan estate with all those traditionalist oldies breathing down his neck. He was already in his last year in Jujutsu tech and they're already allowed to be on their own since most of the students on their last year spends it more on actual missions and building connections in the Jujutsu world than academics. Being the next head clan of the Gojo family also allows for him to skip as much as he can now that he'll be graduating soon.

He snickered when Shoko sent him a thread of profanities and texts that doesn't made any sense when he refused to give her a solid answer on his new address. She must be out again drinking if the line of text that's gotten progressively unreadable was any indication. And as if to confirm his musings, he received an image from said person and he full blown laughed. It was Shoko holding the phones camera, face flushed and posing with a peace sign. On her background Utahime was standing on top of a table, holding a mic arms waving around and clearly too drunk to care about how people are looking at her. Kento— much to his surprise was slump on the table, probably passed out from the alcohol with his fellow third year fluttering besides him. He saved the picture to his own device as blackmail material since he knows that once Shoko recovered she'll delete the whole thread she just sent.

He texted her a 'Goodluck getting home' and forwarded the image to Suguru who replied with an 'eye roll emoji' and 'she asked me to pick them up' to which he texted back 'say hi to them from me'. Suguru didn't reply back p but it was okay. He then checked on Ijichi, who was a flighty little thing but a reliable ser— a reliable junior. No update on Yuuji's Grandfather it would seem and Ijichi was busy on his exams to do anymore research for the time being. Sighing, he let his phone drop on the table and let his head rest on the back of the couch.

He'll be graduating soon and that'll leave him more time to himself and missions that he knew he could deal with quickly so taking care of Yuuji wouldn't be that of a problem. The question is should he let Suguru and Shoko know? or even Yaga-sensei soon to be Principal Yaga? Nah, that'll only probably invite trouble. He'll be fine keeping Yuuji to himself for a while longer, Satoru thought as he started to slowly drift asleep when suddenly the floor creeked under someone's step.

"Yuuji-kun are you—" Satoru paused, blood freezing over as deep red eyes stared back at him.

To be continued~