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Life was incredibly rough for ChlorineAtom!Gojo before he met you. Being a lone solute swimming around the walls of his equally measured glass confine came with its challenges. Surrounded by what seemed to be fragments of himself, everywhere, no matter where he went. He could never escape the loneliness, the monotony. It was a dreadful feeling that pooled endlessly within him. Wasting away with no purpose, just a complete vacancy. If his existence had any meaning, he was lost to what it was.
However, coming from the top right of the periodic table had its perks, he was one of the strongest halogens around after all, but what good was that if he was just short of perfection?
Seven.
He had exactly seven valence electrons in his outer shell. If he were really something to marvel at, he'd have obeyed the octet rule. Only the most stable, noble gasses, had the full eight. What was the point of even trying when he couldn’t accomplish anything by his lonesome?
His power buzzed and crackled with energy, infuriating, but he knew he couldn't act, not yet at least. Despite the solitude and seemingly innumerable minutes to self reflect he was still reactive. Any atom worth their salt knew potential interactions could lead to radioactive decay. Unfortunately he’d have to wait. For what exactly? He didn’t quite know yet.
It was just another day merely existing heavily in his sodium chloride solution until suddenly, a radiant light poured in from the heavenly fume hood above, and in came a surge of concentrated sulfuric acid.
Without warning, the ground erupted into a feverish flame. It was an immense heat generating a type of energy that made him want to – no, need to move. He couldn’t do so in his current state and quickly he sublimated his granulated form to slip into something more entropically favorable. This must be a sign as he began to ascend into the clear plastic tubing. It was during the twisting and turning of travel did he realize-
he wasn't alone…
There you were. Your body, delicate and gaseous, was ethereally obscured by the pale fog you were emitting.
Gorgeous, just beautiful.
There was no other way to encapsulate how the light shifted through your fluid motions and reflected off your particles, teasing him, tantalizing him. He dreamt of you condensing your lower half for him.
⋆. ⌬ ˚ ⚛ 🧪 𒉭 ⋆
Unbeknownst to you, Gojo knew you’d be together from the second he saw you. Meanwhile, you were fighting your way through the loops and dips of the apparatus. Having no idea the effect you were having on this haughty halogen.
How disorienting! Previously laying dormant in your bottle at peace, when you were rudely thrown into a reaction and forced to vaporize.
Perhaps all that outrage would be best to subside. If you were feeling any discomfort, all of that changed irrevocably when you finally met his cerulean voltaic gaze. At once, you both rushed to each other at top speed. You couldn’t help it, his acrid bleach-like aroma enveloped you and his partial negative charge was so damn alluring. You just had to have him.
Truly it was no surprise you both bonded instantly.
The nature of your connection with Satoru Gojo was inhuman, chemical, to be exact. Your mutual need and desire for one another surpassed all quaint sentient and social systems put into place by “humans” and “social norms”. There would be no introductions, no slow dreamy dates, and definitely no extravagant ceremonies that end in tight ties and elaborate dresses pooled on the floor.
Nothing but the way your bodies would be bound to each other. Both inseparable from the moment of contact. Belonging to one another, and both of you wouldn't have it any other way.
⋆. ⌬ ˚ ⚛ 🧪 𒉭 ⋆
“Ngh – c’mon pretty baby just a little more. You’re doing so good for me. Don’t worry about anything else I’ve got you, I’ve got you”, he’d huff rough and slow, words smoldering your senses as he stuffed your nucleus full of electrons, rutting them in over and over again.
Like the true chlorine he is, he never failed on what he promised you. He always held you firm and close, unyielding. You were his treasure, his positivity, cradling you like you were only ever his to behold.
He was just so big and oxidative in every way you couldn’t help but find sanctuary in his embrace. Despite his size, he never crowded you, never cruelly tugged you too tight. Sure you’d have your fun together, but despite his strength there was tenderness, peace in the proximity.
You were everything he could have ever dreamed of, this was finally it: the god-like titans from above finally bestowed a divine gift to him. No neural tissue aside, he’d be the biggest idiot to ever let you go.
You were after all, his HydrogenAtom! His perfect compliment. What he lacked in electrons you supplemented him with your single one. Noble gases be damned because your configuration together was sublime. Together you both reached the octet formation.
It made you quite emotional to think about it, what did you ever do to deserve such love, such stability? You always doubted yourself, coming from a place like the top left of the periodic table had other other atoms ostracizing you for only ever having a 1s orbital, calling you worthless and weak. As if you had any control over that. Your petite orbital only made room for two electrons and even then, you could only muster up the strength to carry a measly one, completely incapable of ever filling your valence shell alone.
None of it mattered to you anymore.
Especially when Satoru saw you as the atom you were always meant to be.
“Hey, look at me glucose,” the little name he’d coined for you reverberated off the translucent flask. Slowly, deliberately, running through your aqueous form, coaxing you to interact. Hesitantly, you turn in his hold to face him. A boyish grin radiates off his face so infectious, that even his eyes seem to be laughing – fondness. “Who cares about how many orbitals you have? You’re so perfect and you don’t even realize the power you have. So can you please stop being mean to my baby, my hydrogen,” you can’t even control yourself when you nuzzle yourself deeper into him, the feeling electrifying, perfectly content to stay there forever.
How could you not share the only electron you have when he's been exactly the kind of atom you needed? Together you both formed a bond so covalent, polar, and sacred it made even the most charged ions blush. Perched in his hold, you both condensed into a new form, something, highly corrosive, liquid-smooth, HydrochloricAcid!
From that point on, nothing stood in your path together, love so acidic bubbles fluttered around you both in a flurry. Anything that opposed you both would melt and sizzle beneath your mordant gazes, insignificant. Life needed nothing else, just the two of you. Anything else should just blister and disassociate for all you cared.
That was until you and Satoru were placed into a new, spacious, larger area. Whatever, you had moved lab equipment so often it never mattered to you. As long as you were with him.
You should’ve noticed something was off when nothing was offered as fodder to burn. That's when it happened…
The expansive fume hood opened with a whirring swoosh, and in seconds, sodium hydroxide splashed into your corrosive home. Instantly the temperature rose uncomfortably. Everything shook violently, blurring your vision and destabilizing everything. Horror spiked through you. You didn’t even know the temperature could even get this hot. You couldn’t focus, desperately, you tried to attach yourself to Satoru with your electron, your only hope. You cursed yourself silently for only being able to do this much with just a single electron, but you had to try. Panicked and shaky as you were starting to lose your grip on the bond.
Your bond–
“Don’t worry sweets, I’m the strongest, remember? I’m not lettin’ ya go. Ever. It’ll be just the two of us again when this is all over. I’ve got you, even if it's just me holding us together,” his tone was earnest but you could sense the sliver of doubt in his voice. Even he was starting to struggle. It made something sickening and elusive coil up and through your nucleus despite your frantic need for comfort and stability.
The battle seemed to have ended before it even started once Hydroxide! Sukuna languidly appeared parting the steaming fizz, and entering like the devil himself.
“Strongest huh?” Sukuna’s voice carried a mocking lilt to it–an easiness that came from the confidence of countless chemical reactions won. His presence rattled you. You thought Satoru was large but you couldn’t believe the bulky base in front of you. Devouring you whole with just his eyes, wretched grin contorted the planes of his face.
“I’d get out of here if I were you, unless you want me to decompose you right here and repel you off? Hm? Makes no difference to me,” Satoru’s smile captured equal aggression, challenging. His eyes were fixed on Sukuna while his grip around you tightened impossibly harder.
“Tch, all talk for someone who can’t even electronegatively attract for shit. I’m going to enjoy this,” not one to mince words, he lunged, faster than instinct. Winding back an attack–
Malevolent Sodium.
Wordlessly Satoru moves his body to shield yours.
Sukuna wasn't aiming for you anyway.
The impact connects with Satoru and it’s excruciating. Completely bombarded by the sheer force of the attack and he feels the palpable increase of the pH, feeling his own Pka value change. He was already struggling to hold you with the escalating temperature, the vibrations wearing down on him. However, the sodium latched on to him, unexpectedly, and dragged him down, deep under.
Your bond was cleaved.
Leaving you exposed and trembling, you try to dive down further into the solution, to find Satoru, your love. Sukuna however, doesn’t even entertain the thought as he snatches you up in one fluid motion, pressing you firmly onto his liquid form.
You couldn’t move, your motions, sluggish and heavy. This feeling is spread throughout your incorporeal matter as you are adhered to him. Bound. He took so much more of you than you'd realized. Writhing and struggling, you physically couldn’t seem to break free. Is this what strong electronegativity feels like? Why do you feel so full? So complete? Why does it feel so… The guilt bites down, snapping you out of it.
“No! You can’t do this – get away from me, I’m with Satoru- Mnh!” you divert your eyes in defiance since the effect he had on you caused your particles to feel insurmountably heavy.
“None of that protium,” He grabs you almost enough to hurt, forcing you to eye him. There’s an intense craving in his scrutiny. His comment addressed you as your simplest form, stripping you completely bare. It shuts you up. “You’re lucky I tolerate that mouth on you,” leaning in leering, he overwhelms your mouth with his, wet and heavy, memorizing each ridge and groove. When he finally breaks, it’s with a resounding pop. His tongue dragged over his lips in satisfaction.
“You monster, you brute!” Hot watery tears welled up and began to spill, leaking out into the aqueous solution. Sukuna made no attempt to swipe them away.
“That’s right brat, let it out. We’re neutralizing the hell out of this pH – you’ll learn to take it eventually.”
⋆. ⌬ ˚ ⚛ 🧪 𒉭 ⋆
Deprotonation
It felt like a death sentence to any acid. You were his baby. The only one he ever wanted to bond to for eternity. Now brutally stripped away in an irreversible exergonic reaction.
Negative was beyond an understatement to what Satoru was feeling, but that didn't negate the charge that loomed over him. Useless, pathetic, he couldn't even hold on to what mattered the most. Now he lay at the bottom of the beaker, a spectator, bound to an insignificant sodium when all he yearns for is you.
In the beginning he believed to be able to fight him off, but as time went on that vile titration that Sukuna came from didn't stop, just slowly settling to a steady drip. Even so, the solution would become undeniably basic, influencing his presence, his hold over you.
Dammit if there was just more of himself out there he could have followed through on his promise.
No.
He will. One day. No matter how long it takes, he will find a way to covalently bond with you again. Anything to feel your bubbly self come back to him. As for now, he’ll just have to bang on the sides of the beaker hoping to the gods draped in white coats up above make his presence more abundant. To have you in his embrace and together, you’ll be able to neutralize that bastard for good.