I have a Goutahime fic for all of you today! I don't know if any of this makes sense, but I hope you all enjoy it anyway.

Title comes from the Depeche Mode song "Policy of Truth"

Policy of Truth

Gojo shows up at Utahime's door with a bouquet of flowers, acting strangely. When it appears he is physically unable to tell a lie, Utahime realizes something else is going on, but maybe it's not all bad after all.

Day 19: Floral Bouquet, Psychological, 'I'm not as stupid as you think I am'

It was not the most unbelievable thing for Gojo Satoru to show up at her door. After all, if Utahime was needed for a mission, it was understandable—though she would still prefer he call first.

It was more unbelievable for him to show up in casual clothes with a bouquet of flowers, a slightly wan look behind the sunglasses he wore despite the late hour.

"What are you doing here?" Utahime asked, one hand on the door, the other on the jam as if barring him from passing her threshold.

"I…don't know," Gojo replied with a strange grin that turned into a slight grimace before he thrust the bouquet at her. "These are for you."

Utahime caught the bouquet on instinct, holding it to her chest. "I don't have time for your ridiculous antics tonight, Gojo. Please go home."

She was about to throw the flowers back at him and close the door when he stepped forward, stopping her with his hand over hers where she had it on the edge of the door.

"Wait," he said quickly, a look of desperation in his eyes. "I…I need to be here. I can't explain, but I…" He swayed slightly, bringing his other hand up to press against his head.

"Are you drunk?" Utahime asked in annoyance.

He shook his head. "Can't get drunk—you know that. Please, I just…can we talk?"

Utahime stared at him, something prickling in the back of her mind. There was something about this that wasn't right, and despite herself, she realized she needed to know what it was.

She rolled her eyes with a sigh and finally stepped away from the door. "Fine. Just for a couple minutes."

"Thank you," Gojo said gratefully and stepped inside.

Utahime motioned him toward the kitchen and made her way there, putting the flowers on the counter before going to fill the electric kettle, figuring she would make tea. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I—" his voice caught and he slumped onto one of the stools at the counter. "I don't know."

Utahime was trying not to just blow up but she was getting increasingly annoyed. She punched the button on the kettle firmly. "Why are you here, Gojo?"

"I don't know!" he said, raising his voice, and Utahime turned to look at him, seeing the strangely desperate look in his eye. "I just knew I needed to come here. It felt like the right decision."

Something was definitely wrong. Utahime eyed him warily before she turned to the cupboard, pulling down some tea and two mugs. "Something's wrong, isn't it? Are you being followed?"

"I-I can't…" His voice was strangled and he flinched, lowering his head in his hands. "Utahime, I…agh!"

She turned to see him cradling his head, hunched over the counter.

Concern flashed through her and she hurried over, reaching out to grip his shoulder. "Gojo? Are you sure you're all right?"

"No," he said with a desperate chuckle and looked up, reaching out to grab her hand. "Utahime, listen. I'm trying to tell you, I'm—" Another grunt of pain escaped him and he lowered his head toward the counter, bringing his other hand up to press to his nose. Utahime caught a brief flash of red as he wiped his fingers under it.

"You are not okay," Utahime said firmly and started for her phone. "We should get you to the school, have Shoko—"

"No!" Gojo suddenly snapped, springing up and rushing to intercept her, eyes wide above his lowered sunglasses, blood dribbling down to his upper lip. "I can't go to the school. I came here because I trust you, Utahime."

That comment surprised her more than anything. She narrowed her eyes. "Why are you lying?" she asked cautiously.

"I'm not!" Gojo said insistently, reaching up to take his sunglasses off, staring at her with the full intensity of his blue eyes. "That's the problem, Utahime. I cannot lie."

She stared at him. "What happened?"

"I—I can't…" he started and cringed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Don't ask me that. I…I just needed you to know that…dammit!"

"Need me to know what, Gojo?" Utahime demanded.

"That I…that I…" he was obviously fighting against something, but finally seemed to lose and his shoulders slumped. "That I care about you. A lot. And at the Christmas party when I said I loved you…it wasn't a lie, and I wasn't drunk. I can't get drunk—you know that."

Utahime stood there in shock as the water in the kettle boiled riotously. She didn't know how to take this, at least not now.

"What the hell are you saying, Gojo?" she demanded.

He reached forward and grabbed her hands, squeezing. "I'm saying that I love you, even though I'm pretty sure you hate me, and I don't know why I'm saying this, but I can't stop myself. And I'm tired, and lonely and I hate being the strongest because when shit like this happens I don't know what to do and I feel so weak."

He reached up to physically slam a hand over his mouth, eyes wide and desperate as he doubled over, elbow propped on the counter. He finally pried his hand away before he said. "I need you to help me."

Utahime was still reeling from his seemingly uncensored confession. But she was getting the feeling that there wasn't anything natural about it, and so she shook herself and demanded. "How do I help you?"

Gojo shook his head, nose dripping blood again as he staggered back, propping himself on the counter. "It's your birthday next week. I wanted to get you something nice. I went to the wrong place. I can't get rid of it. It just keeps getting worse and now it—agh!"

"Gojo!" Utahime reached for him as he collapsed, grabbing his arms and lowering him to the floor to sit against the counter. Gojo panted, eyes squeezed shut.

"I can't stop talking, and I can't say anything about—mmph," he moaned, curling around himself.

"You can't say anything about what this is," Utahime guess.

Gojo smiled wryly. "You're beautiful."

Utahime flushed. "What did you get me for my birthday, Gojo."

"It's a surprise. Can't… can't—"

More blood dripped from his nose and he leaned his head back, eyes fluttering. Okay, Utahime was going to have to get creative if she was going to narrow this down.

"The flowers are going to wilt if you don't put them in water," Gojo murmured.

"This isn't the time!" Utahime snapped. "You're going to have to help me a little."

"I really can't," he said in a stained voice. "It's like…my throat closes…" even as he explained it, his voice got strangled until she was practically reading his lips. He gasped and reached up to rub his throat.

"Is it on you?" Utahime asked and started patting down Gojo's pockets.

He grinned. "Didn't think I'd ever get you to voluntarily touch me."

She punched him in the side, before she felt bad for doing so, considering he already seemed to be in a lot of pain. "Shut up. You came to me for help. Let me help."

"You really do care, don't you?" he asked quietly.

"Don't test me," she muttered but there was little conviction in his voice. His pockets were empty.

"It's nice, I don't have a lot of people who care about me. Usually keep their distance. Most people I know would kick me out to see me acting like this, but…you never put me on a pedestal. I don't think you understand how much I appreciate that. You pretend I'm human when I'm not. That's why I knew I'd be safe with you tonight." He sighed and met her eyes as Utahime was once again shocked into silence by his confessions. "You should really put the flowers in a vase."

"Gojo shut up about the flowers, I…"

She trailed off with a sudden thought, straightening up. "Hold on," she murmured.

She grabbed the flowers off the counter and looked at them. Now she could see it. There was definitely a trace of Cursed energy on them. She unwrapped them from the paper tied around the stems and there inside, was a small box that was exuding cursed energy.

"Okay. I got it, Gojo! I got it!"

She was about to open it when Gojo sprung up and grabbed her hand, snagging it from her frantically, before he simply collapsed on the floor with an agonized cry, writhing as he clutched at his head.

Cursed energy was seeping from the box, between his fingers and Utahime summoned her own cursed energy.

"Gojo, give it to me!" she snapped, planning on exorcising it.

"D-don't," he croaked as she reached for it, prying the box out of his hand.

She felt it take hold in a second, gasping for breath as her hand latched onto Gojo's the box pressed between their palms.

Gojo lurched up and muttered, "Forgive me," before he pressed his lips against hers.

A surge of energy rushed through Utahime's body and exploded between their hands.

The box went flying and the malaise of cursed energy fizzled out before it reached the ceiling.

Utahime reeled back with a gasp, catching herself on her hands.

Gojo sat opposite her, panting, wiping more blood from under his nose.

"Is…it gone?" Utahime asked.

Gojo reached over for the box. "Yeah," he said quietly.

They sat there in silence for a long moment before Utahime asked. "What the hell happened?"

Gojo sighed leaning back against the counter again. "I went to buy a gift for you—it's a bracelet, by the way. I said it was for someone who I didn't know would return my feelings or not and asked for something special—I guess I got it. The gimmick is that it makes you confess your deepest desires or insecurities or some shit like that, I guess. Things you don't want anyone to know. I couldn't say anything about it or do anything about it, so that was why I had to use my power through you. Are you okay?"

Utahime nodded, still shaken, but from the kiss or from being used as a conduit, she wasn't sure.

"You can slap me now, if you want."

Utahime shook herself, realizing for once in her life she didn't actually want to do that. "I think you've suffered enough," she muttered, then, "You really…meant all that."

Gojo gave a strangled laugh. "I told you, didn't I? I couldn't lie."

Utahime got up and made two cups of tea, thinking hard, mind going a mile a minute. She hadn't believed him when he'd said he loved her at the Christmas party. They'd…actually had a nice night. Chatting and drinking together with the others. It was the first time she'd really felt friendly with Gojo for a long time, he'd seemed almost human, vulnerable. She'd thought it was because he was drunk, but maybe he had just been having a nice night. She'd slapped him then when he got too close, thinking he was just being his usual self. And she had been disappointed, she could admit that. Feeling like he would never change.

But there was something different about the Gojo that sat on her kitchen floor. Reminding her of the Gojo who had huddled close to her on the bench after the party, looking at the Christmas lights in the park as he walked her home. He looked slightly lost, normal, and though he didn't seem to know what to say now, it didn't really matter, because he had already laid it all out for her a few minutes ago, thanks to a curse of truth.

She handed him one of the mugs and he looked surprised that she wasn't kicking him out, and even more surprised when she sat down next to him.

"You really trusted me over everyone else?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do," he admitted sincerely. "I know you'll keep what I said tonight to yourself. I don't think I could trust anyone else with that."

Utahime set her mug down with a sigh and raised her hand, slapping him on the cheek. Gojo turned away with a wince.

"Next time, don't wait to get cursed to tell me how you really feel, then!" she snapped.

He looked back at her, surprised, and Utahime growled in annoyance, leaning forward before she could stop herself and pushing her mouth against Gojo's.

He made a surprised sound, but reached up to cup the back of her head as she grabbed the front of his shirt, hauling him closer and deepening the kiss.

It was several long minutes before they pulled away, flushed and breathless.

"Why would I tell you when showing you is so much easier?" Gojo asked with a grin, pulling her closer to him.

Utahime rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling back, reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair as she urged him closer again. "I suppose that will do," she said as he pulled her in for another kiss.