Chapter Text
metamorphosis | ˌmɛtəˈmɔːfəsɪs, ˌmɛtəmɔːˈfəʊsɪs |
: a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one.
April 28th, 2024
Day 1 of Satoru Gojo’s internship.
The week that led up to the first day of Satoru’s internship was anything but smooth sailing. Satoru had genuinely considered changing his identity and moving off to the countryside with the amount of stress he’s been put under. First of all, Professor Yaga had always been passionate about biomedical sciences, and when he had discovered a ‘bright star’ like Satoru, as Yaga would describe him, who is equally as passionate about the subject with an incredible internship opportunity, it’s safe to say he had become a bit overbearing with helping Satoru prepare for today.
And if his amazing but overbearing professor wasn’t enough, Suguru has been avoiding him at all costs. Suguru explained it as ‘giving him space to help him focus on the internship’, but what logic is that? Satoru’s attempts to hang out with him and Shoko after lectures were ultimately useless, with both of them telling him to go study in the library. Somehow, Suguru even manages to avoid Satoru in their own damn apartment.
Satoru sighs, brushing off those thoughts, just trying to clear his mind before he has to leave. Focus has always been one of his strong suits when it really matters, and today, it really fucking matters.
After showering and brushing his teeth, Satoru grabs his white dress shirt and black slacks that he left out the night before and puts them on slowly to not wrinkle the ironing.
When he’s dressed, he does a once-over of himself in the mirror, making sure he looks okay, and when he’s satisfied, he grabs his phone, along with his bag and student ID. Heading out of his room, he checks his phone for the time. 7:30. Good, I have half an hour till my train, and if I leave now I’ll—
“Ah!”
“Ow!”
He looks up from his phone, seeing Suguru in front of him, rubbing his head softly from their collision.
“Oh, dude, I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.” Satoru stresses.
Suguru looks up at him, his eyes softening slightly. “Yeah, sorry I wasn’t looking either. Actually, I was about to come see if you were awake.”
Satoru grins at that. “Psh, why wouldn’t I be awake? I love the mornings.” Suguru only stares at him, not about to indulge him this early.
After a moment of silence with the two just staring at each other, Satoru just huffs, moving towards the door to put his shoes on, but before he can, Suguru grabs his arm, keeping him in place. Satoru turns to him, a questioning look apparent on his face.
When he doesn’t move, Suguru pulls him with more force this time so Satoru is standing face to face with him.
“What’s up?” Satoru asks hesitantly.
“You feeling okay about today?” Suguru says, still holding Satotu’s wrist.
Why would he care? He’s been avoiding me all week. Satoru almost says it, but he just shrugs instead, moving out of Suguru’s space towards the door again.
Apparently, Suguru isn’t having any of that because he moves to stand in front of Satoru again, pulling Satoru’s shoes out of his hands. “Hey, what was that for?” Satoru tries to grab the shoes out of Suguru’s hands, but he holds them higher than Satoru can reach, even with Satoru being a couple of inches taller.
“Dude, I actually have to go.” Satoru says with a groan while still trying to reach his shoes.
“You have time. Now tell me what’s up?” Suguru says, leaving no room for argument.
“The sky.”
“…”
“…”
Suguru mumbles something Satoru can’t quite hear, but judging by the very tired expression on his best friend’s face, he can tell that maybe his amazing sense of humour didn’t quite land right this morning. “Satoru, cmon, what’s wrong?” He tries again.
Satoru just sighs; Suguru’s fucking stubborn.
“Nothing’s really wrong; I just feel like you’ve been avoiding me this week, and now you’re suddenly here acting like you care. I’m confused.”
“Acting? Satoru I-“ He cuts himself off with a long inhale of air. “Of course I care, Satoru.”
“Explain this past week then.” Satoru says, crossing his arms.
“This week? I was trying to help you; I thought that you needed space to focus on preparing for today.” Suguru seems hurt, like he genuinely didn’t realise that he made Satoru upset this past week, and looking at his expression now, something inside Satoru twinges a bit.
“I didn’t need that much space, Suguru.” He says quietly.
“Okay, I might have misjudged. But I promise I had good intentions. I was honestly just so nervous for you.” Suguru is staring at him so intently that Satoru has to look away under his gaze.
“Okay, it’s alright. I wasn’t mad, just a little hurt.” The fact that Suguru was nervous for him makes him smile a little bit.
“I know, I’m sorry.” Suguru says while handing Satoru his shoes. When Satoru is finished putting them on, he stares at Suguru, who is already staring at him with a small smile across his face, mirroring Satoru’s own.
“Let me walk you to the station.” Suguru says, not really letting Satoru respond, as he’s already putting his sneakers on.
“What, dude? No. You’re not even dressed for the day.”
“Cmon, you’ll be late if you keep standing there.” Suguru states while opening the front door.
Satoru is speechless as he walks out of their apartment, and he thoroughly regrets being upset with Suguru all week. Of course he cares. They’re best friends after all.
...
The walk to the station is quick, and the air is slightly cold due to it still being the early morning. Satoru deeply regrets not bringing a coat with him.
The pair promptly arrive at the station and make their way to Satoru’s platform, not really exchanging any words with each other. When they arrive, Satoru has five minutes to spare before his train arrives. Suguru hasn’t left yet; he is just standing next to Satoru in silence.
“Hey, thank you for walking me here, but I’m all good now; you don’t have to stay.” Satoru says while nudging Suguru’s shoulder.
Suguru looks at him questioningly. “I know I don’t have to stay, but I want to stay.” Satoru smiles a bit at that, turning his head away before Suguru speaks up again.
“You got everything you need? Your ID and all that?”
Satoru checks his bag, its contents revealing his ID, his phone, his glasses, a few documents and some pens. “Yep, I got everything.”
“Did you eat anything yet?”
Uh oh. Suguru hates when Satoru doesn’t eat in the mornings. “Uh, yeah, I had an apple before you got up.”
“Satoru, we don’t have apples right now.” He deadpans.
“Wait, what? I literally bought an apple the other day,” Satoru gasps. That traitor. He ate my damn apple.
“You ate my apple, didn’t you!” Satoru crosses his arms as a guilty expression appears on Suguru’s face.
“Hey, don’t change the subject. You just lied to me about eating breakfast.”
“Yeah, well maybe I could have if my apple was still there.” Satoru exclaims with a huff.
“Fine, I’m sorry. But you really should eat in the mornings. Especially when you have important things on.”
Just as Suguru finishes his sentence, Satoru’s train quickly pulls up to the platform. “Oh, would you look at that. “My train’s here; I gotta go, Suguru!” He says with a grin across his face, moving to stand closer to the doors of the train. Just when he’s about to get on after all the passengers trickle out, Suguru pulls him back by his wrist and into a hug.
The hug is brief, but Satoru can feel Suguru’s strong arms around his shoulders holding him so tightly. “You got this.” Suguru says when the hug ends. Satoru can’t do anything but nod while still staring at Suguru.
“Satoru.”
“Yeah?”
“You have to go.”
Right. Somehow, Suguru always manages to make him lose his focus.
“Oh, right. See you later, Suguru!” He says while smiling and getting on the train.
🕷️
The Alchemax building looms over Satoru. Being ‘freakishly tall’, as Shoko would say, he never really has to experience being smaller than anyone or anything, so seeing the height of this building is a little unsettling for Satoru.
Taking a deep breath in and adjusting his glasses on his face, Satoru walks towards the entrance of the building, where two security guards stop him.
“What is your business here?” The taller and more buff one asks him.
“I am starting my internship here. I have the documents inside my bag if you need to see them.” Satoru is trying his hardest to sound confident, but these guys are very intense. The shorter guard nods and puts his hand out. Satoru rummages through his bag and finds the document quickly, handing it to the security guard. The guards inspect his documents and hand them back to him just as quickly as they took them, and move to the sides to let him through.
When Satoru enters Alchemax, he’s immediately overwhelmed. There are people walking around everywhere, and he almost just wants to walk straight back out and face the wrath of his university, and, oh god, even worse. Suguru and Shoko. Shivering at the thought, he takes a deep breath and makes his way to the reception desk, where a nice lady called Yuki greets him. “I’m here for an internship position that I achieved through the Tokyo Metropolitan University.” He explains again. Yuki nods. “And what is your name?”
“Gojo Satoru.”
Yuki nods again, typing on her computer. “Ah, so for your internship, you’ll want to be on floor B, room 5.” She says while handing him a map of the building with the room circled in red. Satoru takes it and bows before leaving.
When the elevator reaches level 2, what he assumes is floor B, he steps out after a few other people and looks at the map to find room 5. Satoru reaches the room quickly, which he now knows as a lab where he assumes he will be participating in experiments. Well, he really, really hopes that’s what’s going to happen because why is he even here if he can’t apply his genius? Yes, he realises his ego is talking, but what about it? He’s here, isn’t he?
Satoru is kind of just hovering outside the room, watching various Alchemax workers go about their business, but when he starts getting awkward, he just lightly knocks on the door. The knock grabbed the attention of a tall man with dark brown hair and a frankly bored expression. “Can I help you?” Was absolutely no one aware that he was supposed to be here today?
“Uh, yeah, I’m starting my internship here today. I’m from Tokyo Metropolitan University, and I major in Biomedical Sciences.” The man’s expression morphs into understanding, and he’s nodding while ushering Satoru into the lab.
“Yes, sorry for that. It completely slipped my mind that you were going to be here today. Anyway, my name is Hiromi Higuruma, and you are—“ The man – no, Higuruma pauses for a moment, obviously trying to remember Satoru’s name. “Ah, you’re Gojo-san, yes?” Higuruma bows when he’s finished speaking, and Satoru promptly returns the gesture.
“Yes, Gojo Satoru.”
“Right, well let’s get started on your introduction. “Have a seat here, please.” Higuruma gestures to the seat opposite the desk at the front of the room. Satoru sits, and he takes a moment to look around. When did everyone else leave? Satoru looks back to where Higuruma is standing behind the desk setting up a projector screen. When the task is complete, Higuruma remains standing. “So, Gojo-san, you’re here because of your final project for your biomedical sciences class.” He says it more as a statement, but Satoru nods anyway.
“First of all, do you know what the main thing we do here at Alchemax is?”
“Yes, Alchemax is primarily known for the study of insects, specifically spiders,” Satoru states. Higuruma smiles at him.
“Exactly, we are the leading science group in the world for entomology.” Higuruma flicks through some slides and lands on what Satoru realises is his report. “This report is very impressive, Gojo-san, as was the practical component, which I was able to briefly take a look at, but the report is what got us to consider you. Your thesis was very impressive.” Satoru just nods awkwardly at the praise. He always thought his talents were in his practical abilities, so his report being what got him here is surprising and kind of nice, especially considering he finished it the night before it was due.
“Anyway, while you’re here, you will be shadowing certain entomologists and using your knowledge when you deem it necessary. There are no wrong answers or questions; the team you will be shadowing all understands the talent and knowledge you can provide.”
Satoru looks off to the side at that, hiding his embarrassment. One of the leading science groups in the world values his knowledge. Everything he’s been through actually seems worth it now.
“Now,” Higuruma makes a clapping motion with his hands. “In about 10 minutes your new team will be back in here working on various projects we have right now, and you can just watch and learn for today if you’d like.”
Satoru nods. This is it. Two weeks of working with the best science company in Japan.
“That would be amazing. Thank you.”
🕷️
Day 1 Status: Complete.
No matter how well Satoru’s first day went, the greeting his best friends (and Utahime) gave him when he entered the front door of his apartment immediately made the day infinitely better.
“Satoru!” Shoko yells loudly, jumping into his arms. “How did it go? What did you do? Tell me everything!” Shoko moved from hugging him tightly to bracing her hands on his shoulders and staring at him intently for that last part of her questioning process. Seriously, he feels like he’s in an interrogation. Wait. Did Shoko actually just hug me willingly? What is my life anymore? Satoru is absolutely baffled.
“Aw, Sho Sho! You actually care about me.” Before he can even form a grin on his face, Shoko is actively pushing him away and grumbling what he can only assume are insults and excuses as she moves over to Utahime, putting her head on her shoulder.
Satoru turns away from the girls, and Suguru is standing in front of him. He has a small grin on his face, as if knowing that Satoru had a good day. Suguru always knows how to read Satoru’s emotions. And Satoru always knows what Suguru needs, whether it’s comfort or space. It’s why they work so well.
“You crushed it?” Suguru finally says to him.
“Oh yeah, they love me. Get ready, folks, for Satoru’s debut into the science society.” He might be a little over the top, but hey, he’s interning at Alchemax. His dramatics are earned today.
“We’re all proud of you, Satoru.” Suguru says before slinging his arm around Satoru’s shoulder, smiling brightly at him.
“Well, I wouldn’t say proud.” Utahime speaks up before Shoko shushes her.
“Ugh, Utahime, why are you even here? You’re killing my vibes, man.” Satoru says while glaring at her.
Utahime just shrugs, returning Satoru’s glare with full force.
“Okay, anyway. Who wants to watch a movie and order food? And yes, Satoru, it can be your pick.” Suguru says, quickly shutting down Satoru, who was definitely going to ask that.
“Ooh, ooh, can we drink as well?” Shoko chimes up from the kitchen, where she’s already pulling out the alcohol.
“Shoko, no. We can’t drink every time we all hang out together.” Suguru deadpans. Shoko rolls her eyes and slowly puts the alcohol back, glaring at an already distracted Suguru.
“Satoru, what food do you want? I want to put the order in now.” Satoru pretends to think about it, a hand scratching his head to really sell the act. Seeing this, Suguru just sighs and continues the order on his phone.
“Ah, okay everyone. I have decreed that we shall eat ramen tonight.” The collective groan that echoes throughout the room makes Satoru’s smile grow even wider.
…
Later, after the food arrives, everyone together eating and chatting with a movie playing in the background that no one seems to be listening to is what Satoru decides is the perfect end to his day. Surrounded by friends who genuinely care about his success is what makes Satoru willing to give it his all. And he will give it his all. Satoru Gojo will become one of the most famous scientists in the world, and it will all be due to the continuous love and support from the people he is currently surrounded by.
🕷️
One week later is when it happens. The day that changed everything.
It was an innocent act, really. It was. He just wanted to know what they were working on behind closed doors.
Turns out, behind those closed doors, doors closed for a very good reason, lies a power. A power which was curated in the DNA of an arachnid. A power which forced its way into Satoru's unwilling hands.
Satoru Gojo’s life was flipped upside down the day he was bitten by a radioactive spider.
And he doesn’t know if he will ever be the same.