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“Please,” Akira Kurusu begged, voice low as he leant over to the officer on duty, the bright lights of the police station reflecting in his thick glasses. “He’s really important to me.”
Akechi slowed down on his way out, eyebrows furrowed in a light frown as he watched the boy he’d come to know as the leader of the Phantom Thieves plead with the officers.
“He’s not registered as your pet - nothing we can do, kid.”
“Well, that’s just great,” Akira mumbled under his breath, hand rubbing the back of his head absent-mindedly as he turned around.
Akechi could feel his eyes on him, saw them widen slightly, before the boy gave him a tired wave as a greeting.
“Hello, Kurusu-kun,” he greeted much more politely. “Something the matter?”
Akira huffed, just once.
“Lost my cat,” he mumbled, stepping away from the officers with a glare - Closer to Akechi. “Well, he ran away. Been trying everything to find him… I thought the police could be useful for once but apparently… not so much.”
He said the last words louder than necessary and Akechi tried his hardest not to snicker at the outraged growls he elicited from the officers.
So, he’d lost the bloody nuisance he constantly carried around in his bag. For Akechi, this would count as a definite improvement of life quality - the constant babbling of that… that thing… had actually been rather hard to ignore. Once or twice he’d found himself almost answering to the cat, which could’ve blown his entire cover.
And yet, for some unfathomable reason, the leader of the Phantom Thieves looked downright crushed at the loss.
This was a good opportunity to bond, Goro Akechi decided. Akira’s trust in him was a vital part of the next stages of their plan, after all. And so, suppressing a heavy sigh, he sealed his evening off with the three words he least wanted to say today.
“Need some help?”
Akira, it turned out, was very attached to his (weird, talking) cat. So attached, in fact, that he didn’t only gladly accept Akechi’s help, he also awkwardly shook his hand in gratitude for far too long a time and then dragged him out of the police station and into the streets by it.
“I’ve already looked all around Leblanc’s,” he hastily filled him in, the usual quiet replaced by an almost hysteric, speedy rambling. “I’m assuming he might be somewhere around Big Bang Burger’s headquarters because… uhm… someone told me they saw him here! Someone also told me they’d seen him around Shibuya station, so I regularly check both places! No sign this far, though. I just want him to come home, you know, I hate that he’s this stubborn sometimes…”
Akechi raised an eyebrow, trying not to let his amusement show. So that cat of his was trying to explore the Metaverse on his own, now, it seemed.
There had to be trouble in paradise eventually.
“You know, cats are very smart, independent animals. Maybe it’s for the best?”
Akira shot him a glance .
“Have you ever had a pet?”
“Hm?” Akechi asked, caught off guard. “No. I’m not… not really a pet person.”
“Shame,” Akira smirked. “A dog might be good for you. They love unconditionally.”
Akechi felt himself go numb and swallowed hard.
“Well, I’m too busy for a dog. It’d just be alone a lot of the time.”
“Mh,” Akira hummed. “Maybe once you’ve retired.”
Akechi imagined it for a moment. Coming home to a huge, fluffy dog, tail wagging as he stormed towards him, tongue lapping at his face affectionately.
Disgusting.
His cheeks felt a little hot.
“Maybe,” he replied. “But let’s focus on getting your cat back, for starters.”
They had reached Shibuya station, looking around the masses of people walking around aimlessly. Akechi bit back comments about how he doubted they’d find anything outside of Mementos.
He wasn’t supposed to know, after all.
“I don’t think we’ll have any luck here,” Akira sighed, coming to the same conclusion himself. His shoulders had slumped as he emptily stared to a spot ahead of him, looking defeated.
Why the hell did he care about this cat so much?
“No, I don’t think we will,” he replied cautiously, trying his best to keep in the disdain he was feeling. “Have you considered getting a new cat? It might be simpler than trying to get the old one back.”
Again, Akira gave him that look .
“You’re… really not familiar with being attached to something, huh?”
Akechi’s hands grew a tad sweaty, but he cleared his throat and raised his head with one of his usual polite smiles - Trying to ignore how fragile and shaky it felt.
“Well, I suppose not. Like I said, I’m very busy, I never quite had the time to… to grow attached.”
“Right,” Akira replied. To his endless relief, there was no pity in those storm-grey, well-guarded eyes, just light amusement. “So there’s nothing or no one in your life you wouldn’t be able to simply replace without any regrets?”
Akechi allowed himself to think about that genuinely for a second, eyes gliding over the people around them, chatting away, glancing into his direction once in a while, snapping pictures when they thought he couldn’t see them.
Shallow, superficial, boring, uninteresting humans.
Why would he get attached to any of them? Why cling to something insignificant when all that truly mattered was Shido and the revenge that he was finally so close to, he could taste it on his tongue. Wonderfully bitter and sweet at the same time.
“I’m attached to my values,” he finally replied pleasantly. “To my goals. To my justice. That is enough for me.”
Akira crooked his head slightly as he regarded him, a light smirk growing on his face.
“So am I. But I think if that was all I was attached to, I’d eventually let it drive me crazy. If there’s nothing else keeping me going… I don’t know. I’d end up in a tunnel vision that leads me further and further away from what I was originally pursuing. My friends are what keeps me on track. Well. And my cat. My stubborn, annoying cat that sends me to bed far too early in the evenings.”
“I don’t think… I like people having control over me in any way,” Akechi admitted, to his own surprise. This was more than he had ever meant to share with this boy.
“Control,” Akira repeated, as if it was a word he’d never heard before, let it roll off his tongue with a fascinated gleam behind his glasses. “What makes you think being attached to someone would give them control over you?”
He thought of his mother, of Shido, of being abandoned again and again, until he finally learned to let go of wanting to belong and instead manipulated the public opinion to his favour, gained the hearts of the masses and played with it, watched them be controlled by their perception of a boy who had never existed.
“Wouldn’t you agree that your attachment to your cat is what drove you to spend your entire day roaming the city, looking for it? Isn’t his disappearance having some sort of control over you, as a result?”
"Ah,” Akira replied after a short pause. “So the ‘Nothing attached, nothing to lose’ approach.”
Akechi shrugged.
“It gets me by.”
“So what do you do if you do get attached after all? The human heart’s not always responding to logic, after all?”
“I don’t.” Akechi’s voice had lost some of its usual pleasantness and he quickly cleared his throat, putting on another plastic smile. “This is certainly... a complex topic. But shouldn’t we take care of what you’ve lost, instead of getting into it?”
He hated the knowing glance Akira gave him.
“Let’s try to go back to Leblanc’s again,” he finally caved in. “Maybe he came back while I was out.”
Akechi doubted it - In all his life, people lost had never returned to him.
“Yes. Maybe.”
He liked Leblanc’s. He liked the quiet of the comfortable little café, liked the atmosphere and the distinct smell of coffee beans and curry mixing in the air.
And something about watching Akira almost expertly pour hot, steaming coffee into a cup with these long-fingered hands and handing it to him with a wide smile… something about that wasn’t half bad, either.
“It’s on the house. As a thank you for your help.”
From the tiny kitchen behind him, Akechi could hear Sojiro scoff, but he didn’t say anything further.
“I didn’t really do much,” Akechi pointed out, but took a sip of the coffee nonetheless. Honestly, there was barely a difference between his and Sojiro’s cups anymore.
“Not bad.”
Akira beamed at him in a quite ridiculously cute manner.
“Not much you could do. Still appreciate the support, though. Morgana means a lot to me.”
“Oh, well… of course.”
Akechi let his eyes wander down, staring holes into his coffee, lost in thought for a moment and feeling almost embarrassed.
He wondered what it was like. To care about someone this much. To care about someone enough to run around the city for hours, looking in the same places again and again, against better judgement, already knowing he wasn’t going to find anything.
“You could name it Akira.”
Akechi’s eyes shot upwards, where Akira stood, smirking at him in that familiar way again.
“Huh?” he asked, uncharacteristically non-eloquent.
“Your retirement dog.”
Akechi blinked at him.
“You want me to name my imaginary future dog after you?”
“Well, it’s my fault you imagined getting him, so yes, I insist, actually.”
Against his will, a little (real) laugh spilled from Akechi’s lips, surprising both of them.
“I’ll consider it. Though it’d make it awfully complicated, with both of you in a room. I’d have to name him Akira the Second.”
“Well, for that to be a problem, you’d actually have to use my first name,” Akira replied, still smirking and for the second time today, Akechi felt his cheeks heat up uncomfortably.
“Y-yes, of course,” he stammered. “I…-”
To his horror, Akira chuckled lightly.
“Which you’re free to do, by the way.”
Akechi opened his mouth, then closed it again, before huffing lightly.
“You are cruel.”
Akira grinned, grabbing a washcloth and cleaning the counter.
“Of course,” he continued as if nothing had happened, “I’d also have to still be around for it to be a problem.” He paused briefly, eyes flickering up to Akechi in a weird… flirty way? Wait. Were they flirting ? “Wouldn’t that require some sort of attachment?”
Akechi took another sip from his coffee, mostly to buy himself some time and hide his flustered face for a second, his heart racing.
“In this imaginary scenario in which I am already getting imaginarily attached to my imaginary dog, I suppose I could also include you,” he finally replied, very carefully picking his words.
Akira grinned.
“So you’d look for me in a city full of people if I got lost?”
I’d hunt you down in a palace full of shadows, he thought to himself, almost bitterly.
"Absolutely not,” Akechi replied and for what seemed like the first time today, Akira looked a little lost. “I would send my imaginary dog Akira the Second with his excellent nose to sniff for you.”
For a second, Akira stared at him in stunned silence, then a little laugh escaped him and it seemed to hang in the air, to fill the little café and some tiny corner in Akechi’s heart he didn’t know could be filled anymore.
Attachment, he realised, was a dangerous thing. It could absolutely sneak up on you.
They met up the next day, roaming aimlessly through all the places Akira claimed to have gone to with Morgana, both not having any real hope of finding the cat anymore.
“You’ve certainly gotten around.”
“Perks of good friends,” Akira grinned. “They lead you to all kinds of places.”
“Now you’re just driving it home,” Akechi replied, softening his voice with a light smile.
“Weeeeeell….” Akira let out, drawing the word out with a large smirk. “Technically, I’m taking you places now and I’m your friend, so it evens out.”
Akechi blinked, quickly turning his head, pretending to look out at the sea in the middle of the park instead of blatantly hiding his face from Akira.
Friends ?
Really? He’d given that boy his little finger and he’d taken his entire arm and dragged him head over heels into something that wasn’t supposed to be anything more than enemy-observation? It was… convenient, of course. It would make betraying him so much easier.
In theory.
Somehow, somewhere in Akechi’s heavy, new discovered heart where a piece of Akira’s laughter was still caught in, it didn’t feel that easy anymore.
They found Morgana on the third day of the search, hanging around Shibuya station after all, walking behind who Akechi immediately recognised as Okumura’s daughter, Haru.
“Morgana!” Akira called out as soon as he had spotted him, completely ignoring the several people turning around to stare at him, as he rushed forwards.
Akechi doubted he even noticed Haru in his rush to get to his cat.
Complete one-track mind, for someone who could be so observant and smart, he thought. That’s what attachment does to a person.
“Morgana, there you are! I was so worried about you! Please come back home, let’s talk this out and…-”
Haru, seemingly unsure what to do, hung back a few steps, avoiding to look at either of them.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Morgana replied and Akechi had to keep himself from flinching.
Honestly, it was a bit hard to get used to a talking cat, even for him. And even harder to keep on pretending not to understand it.
“But…,” Akira replied, wisely lowering his voice now, “... everyone’s really worried about you.”
“That’s why you’ve been running around on dates with that slimy idiot here, is it?” Morgana replied coldly.
Akechi blinked, confused for a second before he realised ‘slimy idiot’ was him. Oh, how charming .
“I told you,” he spoke sweetly, only the steel in his red eyes giving away his rage, “It’s a waste of time to look for that cat. He obviously didn’t want to be found.”
Sadly, his attempt to land a hit on Morgana’s massive ego seemed to have gone in the entirely wrong direction, because when the cat spoke next, his tone had considerably softened.
“Wait, that’s what you were doing? You were looking for me?”
“Of course we were looking for you,” Akira replied, arms still open and stretched out towards his cat. “Everyone was. It’s not the same without you.” He gave Akechi a quick glance. “Akechi-kun’s been a good friend, he’s helped me search for you all this time.”
There it was again.
Friend
.
Something about it seemed to elevate his heart and some of it stung, and, Akechi realised with a bitter taste on his tongue, it stung for all the wrong reasons.
“Well… tough,” Morgana spat out, though it sounded like a rather half-hearted effort rather than actually spiteful. “I’m not coming back. I’m with Haru now.”
With his head raised as high as his tail, he rushed forwards, disappearing between several legs in the crowd, leaving surprised people looking after him, while Haru muttered apologies and followed him running.
“Sorry,” Akechi turned towards Akira, trying his best to seem unknowing. “I don’t think he seemed all that happy to see you?”
“No,” Akira replied darkly. “I don’t think he did.”
They returned to Leblanc’s and something inside of Akechi he hadn’t known was tense, relaxed when he sat down at his usual stool at the counter, watching Akira fumble with the coffee machine in that adorable apron of his.
“You know, you’re quite good at this.”
Akira flashed him a dazzling smile.
“Sojiro’s a great teacher. Though this far, all I manage is to copy him exactly. Everytime I try to uhm… give it my own touch, people end up spitting out my coffee.”
Akechi couldn’t quite help the little smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
“It can’t be that bad.”
“Oh?” Akira replied, eyebrows wriggling. “Do I hear the tone of someone brave enough to give it a try?”
“Well….” Akechi let out slowly, mind racing with the question of whether to back out or not. “I’m not one to scare away from a challenge,” he finally finished, because of course he did.
Akira grinned.
“I’ll pour some extra love in, then.”
Suddenly feeling flushed, Akechi attempted to speak before he even found any words and found his throat constricted.
Somehow, the young barista seemed to know what was going on, giving him a knowing smirk when he tried to clear his throat subtly.
“Here ya go,” he handed him the coffee carefully and their hands brushed when Akechi took it. All of a sudden, he was grateful for the gloves he was wearing. The warmth seeping through them, he was sure, was merely from the coffee.
Safe, inanimate, coffee… with some of Akira’s “extra love” poured in.
“You know, because I really am thankful that you helped me to try and find Morgana the last couple of days… I’ll give you one last warning not to drink this.”
Akechi, against his will, found himself grinning.
“I know an excellent prosecutor in case I need to sue you for physical assault after drinking.”
To his surprise, Akira flinched at that.
“I’m sorry,” Akechi quickly said, lowering the cup a little as he watched Akira closely. “Did I say something wrong?”
He was surprised to see the other boy this…. flushed. For once, Akira seemed lost for a response, leaning against the counter as he regarded him with a rather cynical smile on his usually so unbothered face.
“I’m surprised you don’t know, what with your connections to the police. I’ve got a criminal record. Assault.”
Akechi stared at him for a moment, finally dropping the coffee without taking a single sip.
“I may have those connections, but that doesn’t mean I use them to pry into people’s personal affairs,” he lied.
Some colour returned to Akira’s face as he put on his usual smirk, even though Akechi could see from the edges that it was a little forced.
“Of course you don’t. So. How are your investigations into the Phantom Thieves going?”
For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence spreading between them as they stared into each other’s eyes, either unable and unwilling to break the awkward contact.
A lot of unspoken words hung between them - the knowledge that both of them shared but none of them could speak out loud, in order to keep up the illusion of their plans.
So, Akira knew that he knew that he was the leader of the Phantom Thieves. It didn’t seem to change much between them, because when they finally broke eye contact, the smirk on the other boy’s face had turned genuine again, amusement clearly written over his flawless face.
“You should try the coffee. I doubt it will improve anything to let it go cold.”
Almost mechanically, Akechi raised the cup to his lips, taking a sip without thinking, his mind still racing in circles around the unspoken secrets between them and then coughed, throat constricting painfully as he quickly let the cup sink again, some drips spilling over the rim and onto the counter.
He was still coughing when Akira, with a low chuckle, grabbed a washcloth and cleaned the drops of coffee off the counter, and was clutching a hand to his chest as he tried his best to not openly present his disgust on his face.
“Warned ya.”
“You most certainly did,” Akechi croaked.
“Here.”
Akira let a glass of water slide over the counter towards him and he drank it in big, relieved gulps.
“So, aren’t you going to ask?” he asked as soon as Akechi had calmed down and the tears in his eyes had subsided. He had put his elbows on the counter and his face in his hands, watching the detective intently.
“Ask what?” His voice was still a little hoarse.
"About my criminal record.”
Akechi looked him up and down once, thinking swiftly. He had, of course, dug out the assault charge, but not investigated it further. Whether or not Kurusu had actually assaulted anyone was irrelevant to him. Had been irrelevant to him.
“No need,” he finally sighed. “I don’t know what happened and I don’t need to. You’re no criminal. I can see that much with my own two eyes.”
And if you were, well, that would only make you more perfect for me, the unconvicted assassin, striking in the safety of the metaverse.
….Wait a second.
Perfect for him?
Had he really just…?
Akira was beaming.
“I don’t know what I’d have done these last few days without you, you know that? You’re keeping me sane.”
Something inside Akechi’s chest ached painfully, his heart racing, tumbling, as he felt massive pieces of ice fall away from it.
“I- That…-” He was speechless, lips hanging open and his cheeks flushed.
Akira froze, watching him with a fascinated gleam in his eyes.
“You alright there?”
Akechi wasn’t sure how to explain what he was barely able to admit to himself. That he’d never heard anything say something like this to him. That he’d never, not once in his life, had been needed, had been wanted . That he suddenly, painfully, cruelly, found himself aware of how easy it was to be around Akira, to forget the roles they were forced to play, forget that he was someone entirely else than this pleasant, closed-off boy he seemed to have taken a liking to.
“Yes,” the detective finally brought out, voice tight. “Yes, I apologise. I’m…” He let his words trail off, not sure what to say. He was, what? Overcome with emotion he hadn’t ever felt before in his life?
“... Not used to affection?” Akira offered, his face serious for once. Still not pitiful though, Akechi noticed. He knew what pity looked like, had seen it in so many eyes. This was different. This was… understanding?
“Yes, well…” he was growing tired of his own stammering, wished he knew what to say to regain control of the situation and suddenly found Akira leaning into him, face plastered with a conspiratorial grin.
“Why don’t you tell me what you really think? Just this once?”
Akechi felt his throat go dry.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Come on, just once. Let me see what’s underneath all these layers of pleasant Ace Detective Goro Akechi.”
Cold, burning shock crashed through Akechi as he looked into these glittering, knowing eyes so close to his own. A part of him, the angry part, the rash part, the part he had perfected to reign in whenever he needed to, raised its ugly head, purring at the prospect of being seen, of having the lines blur, of letting Akira see who he really was.
Was there any harm? Something told him, deep inside of him, deep inside those grey eyes, that Akira already knew what he was trying to hide so carefully. That nothing he said or did today would change their pre-destined roles. That he could just let go, just for a moment, and somehow continue exactly the same.
The look of a deer caught in headlights dropped off his face, replaced by an ugly sneer.
“Your cat is a pain in the ass - You’re better off without it. Get a real cat, one that doesn’t comment on your every move like an overbearing brother you have a very weird relationship with, if you so desperately crave the affection of an animal . I guess that club of overly-dependent morons following your every move isn’t enough for you - Talking about your friends … They are loud and dumb and keep on chattering out your secrets in public - it’s a miracle the whole world doesn’t know yet about your fucking criminal record or your activities as the Phantom Thieves. As soon as I’ll have my proof to get you I will crush you. And your coffee is horrendous - For the love of God, get another job.”
Akira’s eyes had widened the longer his little rant went on and so had the grin on his face, until he was openly beaming at him yet again, standing back up straight.
“I’ve got five.”
“Five what?”
“Jobs.”
They stared at each other for a moment.
“That’s what you have to say about what I just said?”
“You want me to say more?”
He had kind of expected that, yes.
Clumsily, Akechi got off the stool, grabbing his coat and hastily heading for the exit. He didn’t understand this kid, couldn’t read what he really thought, what he knew and it was beginning to become unsettling. Worrying.
He opened the door, heard the familiar bell, took one deep, last breath of the familiar, comforting smell of coffee and heard one last sentence uttered in amusement behind him.
“You’re hot when you’re real, you know?”
He slammed the door shut with trembling hands.
Akechi avoided Akira Kurusu for the next coming days as well as he could. It was difficult, with Shido constantly talking about the leader of the Phantom Thieves, the media constantly wanting to talk about the Phantom Thieves and his own, treacherous, weak mind thinking of basically no one else.
But it wasn’t the Phantom Thieves keeping him occupied. It wasn’t the plans, the conspiracies he was webbing around them, the metaverse drowning out all other thoughts, it was Akira’s shit-eating grin in the café when he told him to let go and show him who he really was. It was the first, tingling, wonderful, terrifying feeling of being known.
Not known as the ruthless assassin with no desires of his own, a puppet to serve Shido in his successes, not known as the charming Ace Detective, who effortlessly handled school, detective and celebrity life. No, Akira Kurusu had been the first one to see through all his masks straight into the real him - The frightened, angry, bitter, lost, broken self that was unmistakably, ridiculously, ludicrously in love with his enemy.
Fuck this.
He fled his empty apartment with a determined slam of his own door, needing fresh air, needing to move, needing to think and come out of this fucked up situation back on top, somehow.
Aimlessly, Akechi wandered through the night streets of Tokyo, trying to collect his thoughts, when, in a dark alley he’d have normally not even looked at, he heard a familiar voice.
“It’s for the best,” it muttered, with an edge in its tone that assured Akechi the speaker wasn’t even convincing themselves, let alone anyone else.
“It’s for their best as well as mine. Haru’s too. I can’t even help Haru…”
Smoothly, quietly, Akechi used the dark shadows of the alley to sneak closer to the source of the voice. Curled up in a corner, between stinking bags of garbage, lay a cat, head on its paws, eyes half-closed and looking sorrowful.
Akechi wrinkled his nose in disgust.
“Can’t go home…” Morgana muttered, then seemed to correct himself. “Have no home.”
His first instinct was to say, “that’s not true”. Akira had missed this cat dearly. Akira had left his window open all night, despite living in an attic, had searched the entire town for him hopelessly. This cat had a home. This cat didn’t even know how bloody lucky it was to have someone to miss him so dearly, so openly, so unconditionally.
Weird, he thought on his second instinct, how Akira did that to people. Giving strays a place to call home, to feel safe in, when he was nothing but a stray himself, living in the attic of a man who’d grudgingly taken him under his wings. Weird, how Akechi had felt less and less alone the last couple of weeks he’d gotten to know him better.
Weird how every fibre of his being screamed at him to scoop up that cat and take him home .
Morgana finally noticed him when he stepped closer, giving up on covering his steps and the cat’s eyes snapped open as he jumped up to his feet, hissing.
“Oh, don’t give me that crap!” Akechi called out, forgetting all about his role to play, tired, so tired of pretending now that he’d let his guard down around Akira. Now that he’d dared to be himself. “Akira’s been looking for you all over the city and you lie here buried by garbage? Are you fucking kidding me?”
Clearly too stunned to remember to move, Morgana stared at him, speechless for a change.
“Honestly, what is fucking wrong with you?” With swift reflexes, he sped forwards, grabbing Morgana and lifting him up in his arms. Finally snapping out of his shock, Morgana started hissing and scratching, but to no avail. Akechi simply held him tighter, letting him scratch away at his hands as he made his way through the alley towards the train station steadily.
“Time to take you home,” he sighed tiredly. “You don’t even know how bloody good you have it.”
To his surprise, Morgana whined, his tone now tipping into desperation.
"Yes I do, you absolute moron. That’s the problem. I can’t, I just can’t… stay with them. I’m not like them, I’m not…”
“So what!” Akechi roared, so loud he noticed windows lightening up as people checked on what was happening. He quickened his steps, disappearing from people’s view. “So what if you’re not like them! Do you honestly think they care? They don’t! They’re a bunch of… of…”
He wasn’t sure what it was, that suddenly closed off his throat, made his eyes ache from the strain of wanting to cry. In another world, another life in which he’d met Akira sooner, maybe he could’ve been in Morgana’s shoes - Found a place he belonged in, friends so important to him he’d had to fight the urge to run from it before it gently nudged him back home.
He wasn’t that lucky. This bloody cat was.
“They’re just a bunch of outcasts, just like you are. Why wouldn’t you be like them? Why wouldn’t you belong with them?”
“You can understand me?” Morgana called out hysterically.
Akechi let out a growl.
“ Obviously .”
“But… but that… that means…”
They had reached the train station. It was late enough for the seats to be empty, so he gingerly sat down, the cat openly on his lap, hoping no one would discover them. Without thinking, almost instinctively, his hands, for once ungloved, ran through Morgana’s fur, petting the cat absent-mindedly.
Momentarily distracted, the animal purred and Akechi had to swallow something down, something painful that had been lodged in his heart and had swam up all the way now that it was loosened, free.
“He’ll take me back, yeah?” Morgana asked with a low voice, curled up in his lap now, tail swinging gently.
"Of course he will.” Akechi’s voice was devoid of any hostility now, just tired, so tired. “He wouldn’t stop talking about you. Completely obsessed.”
Morgana seemed content with that answer. Didn’t ask uncomfortable questions anymore about how he could hear him, if that meant he’d been to the metaverse, what that meant for the Phantom Thieves, why Akechi helped them reunite despite being their enemy, leaving Akechi to ask all these things for himself and having no answer except one painfully raw, true word that had started to fill his mind with its sticky syllables.
Attachment .
Weirdly, Akira’s wide, beaming smile made everything worth it. All the questions, all the doubts, all the troubles this would bring for his future, even the stinking cat on his lap.
“He’ll need a bath,” he announced instead of a greeting.
Akira giggled and it was the most innocent, beautiful, infuriating sound Akechi had ever heard, speeding up his heart to an unhealthy pace.
“Yeah, I can smell that. Want to come to the bathhouse with us?”
Akechi simply nodded, thinking that only a miracle could drag him away from this boy now. A dark, dark miracle coming to wreck his life, like they always did.
Akira took the cat from him and Morgana tiredly curled up in his arms, head on his shoulder, a low purr leaving his throat.
“I’m sorry,” he explained, voice apologetic. “I got really scared all of a sudden… Scared that I didn’t belong with you. That I’d hold you back. Futaba, she was so useful and I was just… I was just…”
“Hey,” Akira whispered, pushing against the door to the bathhouse and discovering it locked. “It’s okay. You’re our friend, Morgana. You don’t have to be useful to belong with us - But you are, just for the record.”
“Gross,” Akechi muttered. “You’re sure I’ve got to be present for this?”
Akira gave him a quick grin.
“Well, it’s always good to have someone with you who works for the police when you break into bathing facilities.”
“You… what?” Akechi spluttered but before he could inquire any further, Akira had stretched out a leg and kicked in the door to the bathhouse, causing it to jump open with the sound of cracked wood.
Akechi stared at him.
“You’re not as innocent as you would like to make people believe sometimes, you know that?” he finally asked dully and Akira snickered lightly as he walked inside carefully.
“Well, look who’s talking, ace detective.”
A little reluctant, genuine smile tugged at the corners of Akechi’s lips as he followed the leader of the Phantom Thieves inside, fairly sure he’d follow him to the end of the world if he had to.
They didn’t dare to turn on the lights, so they sat in darkness, only illuminated by the moonlight falling into the tub. The water was hot and steaming and just what Akechi had needed - He felt rocks of stress slowly melting away as he leant back in the peaceful quiet of the abandoned bathhouse, eyes closed and his shoulder bumping against Akira’s, who was busy gently brushing Morgana’s fur.
It had taken Akechi a while but he finally had him pegged down as “overbearing, slightly insane cat mum”. The fact that Morgana, was, in fact, most probably not a real cat and acted more human than not didn’t seem to make even a little difference to either of them.
“So, you break into bathhouses often?” he asked after a while, because while he adored the silence they sat in, he adored the sound of Akira’s voice even more and in the hot darkness surrounding him, it was almost easy to admit as much.
Akira laughed lightly.
“Nope. You’re clearly a bad influence.”
“Oh, this is my fault now?” Akechi asked, surprised to hear his own laugh in his voice.
Morgana jumped out of the water to the edge of the tub, shaking himself and spraying droplets of water into their faces, before he strolled off with a yawn.
“That’s what I get for bringing your annoying cat back.”
“I’m really grateful for that.” Akira’s voice was soft, genuine. In the darkness, he could only just make out his schemes, the glittering of his eyes and not much more, but still, all of a sudden Akechi was aware of how close they were, sitting in this bathtub with nothing but their boxers on.
“Yeah well. He seemed…. lost.”
And you seemed lost without him , he thought to himself, unable to make the words come out, even in the protective darkness.
“He needed a friend to take him home,” Akira replied and there it was again, the heavy word, standing between them, again and again.
“I’m not your friend.”
“Aren’t you?” Akira replied so swiftly, it almost seemed as if he’d expected his reaction.
“No.”
“Why not?”
So many reasons flooded Akechi’s mind, he was unable to decide which to blurt out and which he had to keep to himself.
Because I'm about to frame you for my crimes.
Because I’m going to have to murder you in some very, very close future.
Because we’re destined to be enemies.
Because you’re everything I never managed to be.
Because I hate your stupid, smug smirk.
“Because I don’t want to be your friend,” he replied, surprisingly calm and Akira’s smile, impossibly, grew.
He could see it fairly well now, his eyes having gotten used to the darkness.
“Then what do you want to be?”
It was odd. It was sickening. This boy was supposed to be his enemy but he was the first person to ever truly ask him what he wanted to be, what he wanted to do, instead of simply taking control over him like everyone else had done.
His mind was whirring, lost between hundreds of replies he should give, he couldn’t give and he wanted to give until he decided to give up on words, leaned forwards and pressed his lips coyly against Akira’s. For a second, nothing happened and time seemed to stand still in the quiet, hot bathtub. Then fingers tangled up in his hair, tugging gently until his face was even closer to Akira’s and he could taste the distinct flavour of curry on those lips that moved against his now and somehow, that made everything only better.
Water splashed and he wasn’t sure who’d moved first, but suddenly Akechi found himself on his back, half covered by water, head leaning against the edge of the tub and Akira on top of him, kissing him deeply. He let his hand drift towards him, wanting to regain some control and found his naked waist, pulled him closer, flush against him, as he opened his lips and sucked in Akira’s, teeth gently nibbling at his lower lip, wanting it to bruise.
Akira chuckled against him, hand in his hair tugging again in a gentle warning and he thought he could stay like this forever, safe in their stolen moment of peace in the middle of the night.
Morgana seemed to have had other plans.
“If you two are quite done, we should probably clean up and leave. It’s going to be morning soon and that’s when the owner will prepare for the day.”
Reluctantly, they tore apart from each other, Akira’s face only millimetres away when Akechi used his grip on his waist to pull him in for another swift, short peck on the lips.
Akira’s hand wandered down, stroking his cheek with surprising gentleness, before they finally forced themselves out of the water, quickly letting it drain and drying up the mess Morgana had produced on the floor and walls.
They rushed to pick up their clothes, wrapped towels around their heads and headed over to Leblanc’s, freezing in the sudden chilling air of the night. Akechi contemplated leaving, now that the darkness parted in the comfortable light of the café, but Akira simply took his hand, squeezed it firmly but reassuringly and led him upstairs.
If Morgana had anything to say, he bit back his words, letting them curl up together in the bed, before lying down on top of both of them, facing Akechi with half-shut eyes that only held a little bit of suspicion.
“You two are aware that what you’re doing is going to be hella complicated, yes?”
Akira’s breath was warm against his neck, his nose rubbing gently against the tender skin, his chin resting on the crook of his shoulder and Akechi felt a sort of peace he’d never, ever felt before in his life. His bones felt soft, relaxed from the hot bath, his skin tingled wherever Akira touched him and his heart was skipping beats in…. happiness?
This was safe. He was safe here. Whatever would complicate this odd, shiny thing he’d found with Akira, it had to wait until tomorrow, until reality crashed back down on him.
He was warm under the blanket, the cold of the night forgotten. The weight of Morgana on his chest was comforting, especially with Akira carrying the other half.
And suddenly Akechi realised what it was like to have something to lose.
And he had no idea how he’d ever coped before that.
“Yeah,” he whispered into the slowly lightening night. “It is.”
Akira’s eyes had fluttered shut in exhaustion but his lips still managed a small peck onto Akechi’s neck.
“We’ll be fine.”
It shouldn’t be this easy to believe, he thought. But this boy, he knew who he was and there was no doubt in Akechi's mind that somehow, he knew everything about who he was, without having been told even once.
And he lay here, next to him, without any defenses, sharing his blanket with him, wet hair pressing against his cheek.
“We’ll be fine,” Akechi repeated, testing out the words on his tongue and they didn’t feel as heavy as he’d always thought, didn’t feel like the lies he was so used to telling.