Chapter Text
Ryuji made his way down the hallway of the TV station, annoyed but glad he didn’t have to come back the next day. He had to deal with rude cameramen, a bossy director, and even worse, Goro Akechi.
It pissed him off every time he thought about the way Akechi discredited the Phantom Thieves on live TV. They had worked so hard to stop Kamoshida and Madarame, and they had even saved a lot of people in the process. What right did Akechi have to call them criminals?
Ryuji had a nagging feeling that Akechi’s words bothered him so much because he had made a decent point. Changing people’s hearts was dangerous. Regardless, he shoved that feeling down and decided that focusing on Akechi’s irritatingly high and mighty attitude was a better idea. He was a celebrity jerk and that was all there was to it.
Akechi’s words didn’t matter because they were going to continue on as the Phantom Thieves and help as many people as they could. They might even become famous enough to make Akechi regret his words. Ryuji figured seeing the usually composed Akechi become apologetic would be nice.
He continued down the hallway, ready to go home for the day. He was confident that he should continue his work as a Phantom Thief, no matter what anyone said about them.
“You’re Ryuji Sakamoto, correct?”
Ryuji heard his named called and knew exactly whose voice it was. He made no effort to hide the scowl on his face as he turned around.
“Yeah, that’s me. What do you want, Akechi?”
Akechi smiled in his usual camera-ready manner. “Did I catch you at a bad time? There is something I’d like to speak with you about.”
Ryuji scrunched up his nose. “I don’t wanna talk to you.”
Akechi’s smile faded slightly. “I’m certain you will change your mind once you understand what it is I want to discuss.”
Ryuji kept walking away. “Not interested.”
His hand reached for the doorknob, expecting Akechi to leave it at that. What he wasn’t expecting was for Akechi to swiftly move in between Ryuji and the door, blocking his exit. He held up two cards in his gloved hand, adorned in black and red coloring, complete with glued on newspaper letters to keep it anonymous. Phantom Thief Calling Cards.
Ryuji didn’t like where this was going. He felt his body tense up, though he did what he could to hide it.
“Now,” Akechi started, his face close enough to where Ryuji could feel his breath. He thumbed at the cards in his hand. “You know what these are, don't you?”
“W-What are those?” Ryuji stuttered, trying to play dumb. “Love letters?”
Akechi didn’t look amused as he held up each card. “I would assume not, considering that the Phantom Thieves wrote them. This is Kamoshida’s, and the other is Madarame’s.”
At a loss of how to handle the situation, Ryuji shakily continued his act. “Why the hell are you showing me that?”
Akechi no longer wore his pristine, TV smile. Ryuji could tell for sure, now that the distance between them was so short. A small part of him felt intrigued at the unsympathetic, tired-looking Akechi that was exposed to him now, but any of that curiosity was far overshadowed by his panic at this conversation.
“Listen, Ryuji,” Akechi began, his voice tense and losing its patience. “Your fingerprints are all over these cards.”
“Fingerprints?” Ryuji blurted out, more confused than nervous.
His eyes darted down to the cards in Akechi’s hands and it started to click together. Oh, he thought, I was the one that handled those.
Ryuji foggily remembered a time before posting Madarame’s card when Yusuke had told him to put gloves on… but he forgot. He was feeling really frustrated with himself for not thinking about the police checking the cards for fingerprints.
“So what?” Ryuji said, putting up a brave front. “I touched them, but so did a bunch of other people. It’s a coincidence.”
Akechi crossed his arms. “It was not ‘a bunch of other people’. Your fingerprints are the only ones that appear on both sets of cards. I would believe it to be a coincidence if they only appeared once, but they are, quite literally, on every spot of these cards.”
Shit. Ryuji mentally scolded himself.
“Did you seriously not consider wearing gloves while making these?” Akechi smiled again, this time triumphantly. “Are the Phantom Thieves this foolish?”
“We’re not!” Ryuji snapped at him, offended.
At that, Akechi looked even more smug than before. His smirk was so confident that Ryuji was tempted to kick his face in. Then, it dawned on him that he had just admitted to being a Phantom Thief. That was plenty of reason for Akechi to celebrate.
“Oh,” Ryuji said quietly.
“Well, that’s settled,” Akechi stated, carefully sliding the Calling Cards back into his pocket. “Do you feel willing to continue this conversation somewhere more confidential?”
“Like where?” Ryuji asked, knowing the situation was hopeless. “The police station?”
Akechi opened the door behind him and began walking out. “Of course not. They have no idea about this.”
Ryuji blinked in surprise. “What…?”
Akechi stopped to peer back at him. “If you’d like me to keep it that way, I’d suggest you follow my lead.”
With that, Akechi continued on towards the subway station. Without much of a choice otherwise, Ryuji followed.
They arrived at a fancy-looking apartment complex, the sort of place that only people with a lot of money to spare could afford. It wasn’t a long ride to get there, but for Ryuji, it felt like an eternity. He didn’t know what to say while Akechi had him wrapped around his finger like this. Though he might have been imagining it, it gave him some comfort to realize that Akechi seemed like he didn’t know how to make conversation either. He never would have guessed it for how comfortable Akechi looked chatting with complete strangers on TV.
“We’re here,” Akechi said as he was entering the building.
“Yeah?” Ryuji questioned, tagging along. “But where’s ‘here’? Why are we at an apartment complex?”
“This is where I live, of course,” Akechi said dubiously, as if Ryuji were a small child.
Ryuji furrowed his brows. “Wait… you live here? Damn, you really are rich…”
“Not as much as you might believe,” Akechi muttered, stepping into an elevator.
Ryuji scoffed, getting in beside him. “Trust me, you’re loaded. My mom and I are in this tiny, run-down looking place near the school. It makes these apartments look like mini mansions.”
Akechi glanced his way. “I’m assuming your father works overseas?”
“I don’t have a dad,” Ryuji said sourly. “That asshole left a long time ago.”
They both went quiet. Ryuji could feel Akechi staring at him hard with those big brown eyes of his. Somehow, it didn’t feel as intimidating as Ryuji expected it to. Akechi seemed genuinely curious about him. Instead of acknowledging that Akechi might not be all that evil, Ryuji fidgeted and hurried off the elevator as soon as it opened again.
“So where’s your place at?” Ryuji looked around the new hallway.
“It’s… this way.” Akechi spoke, sounding a little lost in his own thoughts.
Ryuji watched him take out his keys and open the door to an apartment at the end of the hall.
“Have a seat on the couch,” Akechi told him as he stepped inside and knelt down to pull off his shoes. “This won’t take long.”
Ryuji did the same and awkwardly made his way over to the modern looking couch in the center of the room. “Alright…”
While he waited for Akechi to set his things down and take off his coat, Ryuji let his eyes wander around the room. It was very clean, with everything placed neatly where it should go. There was a kitchen to the side that looked almost dusty, and Ryuji wondered if Akechi even knew how to cook. His apartment was so tidy that Ryuji would have guessed that no one lived there. The only sign of it being lived in was the distinct scent of cinnamon and coffee in the air that Ryuji was learning to associate with Akechi’s presence.
“Now then,” Akechi said, sitting down next to him. “I’d like to make a deal with you, Ryuji Sakamoto.”
“A deal?” He asked, leaning back into the couch. “What kind of deal?”
“I have enough evidence to get you arrested. You would be prosecuted as the leader of the Phantom Thieves and likely sent to jail for your actions, seeing as the police are in a hurry to shut you all down.”
“I ain’t the leader,” Ryuji grumbled.
“Yes, I figured out that much. You’re too much of an idiot to be the leader.”
“What?!”
Akechi cleared his throat. “Regardless, that isn’t a favorable outcome for me. I’m more interested in the truth of the matter, and at this point, my desire is more aligned with understanding the Phantom Thieves as opposed to seeing them messily arrested.”
Ryuji set his lips in a hard line. “I’m not telling you who our leader is.”
“I wasn’t asking you to,” Akechi assured him. “Besides, given ample time, I could deduce that on my own.”
“Cocky as always…” Ryuji grumbled with a bitter expression. “So then what do you want from me?”
“Information,” Akechi said.
“‘Eff that,” Ryuji growled in a knee-jerk response. “I’m not ratting everyone out.”
“That isn’t what I’m asking for either.”
Ryuji squinted at him, baffled. “Okay, you lost me, Detective Prince. What the hell are you asking me to do?”
Akechi leaned in a little closer as if trying to demonstrate his seriousness in the matter. Ryuji instinctively moved back, instantly becoming aware that they were alone in an apartment together. It’s not like Akechi scared him, but something about it made him feel awkward.
“I’d like to know more about the Phantom Thieves in general,” Akechi continued. “As in, what your goals are, how you plan your missions, and the strategies you use to succeed in triggering changes of heart in people.”
Ryuji frowned, suspicious. “Why? Are you going to pass over what I say to the police and have them catch us in the act?”
“If I wanted to do that, I could turn in your fingerprints to the police and have them track you down until they got the evidence they needed. It wouldn’t be hard with how careless you are.”
“I’m not careless!”
“Not wearing gloves while handling content you’d like to keep anonymous is quite careless, I’d say.”
Ryuji opened his mouth to argue, but realized begrudgingly that he didn’t have a good comeback to that.
Satisfied, Akechi brushed back a strand of his own hair. “The best way to put this is that I have goals of my own. I’d like to make a judgement for myself on whether or not the Phantom Thieves would be an asset to my plans.”
“And if we’re not?”
He folded his hands neatly in his lap, thinking it over. “I will pretend I did not find your fingerprints and we go our separate ways as if this never happened.”
Ryuji clicked his tongue, troubled. “How can I trust you to hold to that promise?”
“You don’t have a choice,” Akechi said, pulling out the Calling Cards again. “I’m the one holding all the cards, you know.”
“Very funny,” Ryuji said mockingly.
He crossed his legs and set his arm on the armrest of the sofa as he considered all of his options.
“I really can’t afford to get arrested…” He said. “My mom can’t handle that.”
Akechi focused on his own gloves as if unable to look Ryuji in the eye. Catching Akechi’s expression from the corner of his vision, Ryuji thought he looked very human. Not like he did on TV, where all his emotions and opinions seemed rehearsed. He didn’t like being able to see Akechi this way, it wasn’t good fuel for his hatred.
Ryuji groaned in frustration, messing up his own hair. “Godammit, I really hate this! I don’t trust you, but this is my only option…”
Akechi tilted his head, watching him with that vaguely curious expression again. “Should I take this as a ‘yes’?”
Ryuji brought his arms back down, leaving one of them up with a fist aimed at Akechi, who paused to stare at it.
“Alright,” Ryuji said roughly, keeping his arm there. “I’ll take your deal, but we at least have to make it official in my eyes.”
Akechi looked uncharacteristically lost, as if he was dealing with a puzzle he couldn’t solve.
“And what do you want me to do to assure you of that, exactly?”
Ryuji shook his fist at Akechi, wanting him to pay attention to it. “Here! Give me a fist!”
Akechi almost looked concerned. “You want me to punch you?”
“What?” Ryuji sputtered. “No! Give me a fist bump, man. It’s not that complicated.”
Akechi still didn’t seem to get it. Ryuji, annoyed but patient, kept his fist in the air for when Akechi decided to reciprocate.
After a few seconds, he brought his hand up and, instead of making it into a fist, clasped it around Ryuji’s fist to hold it firmly. Ryuji stared incredulously. Akechi looked down at their hands as if he was trying to determine the meaning behind such an odd gesture.
“Akechi,” Ryuji started, bewildered . “What are you doing?”
“This isn’t what you wanted me to do?” Akechi replied, equally confused.
“Do you… not know what a fist bump is?”
“I…” Akechi stammered, clearly uncomfortable with being caught off guard. “No. Don’t children lock their pinkies together to make a promise? It made sense that I would hold onto your fist to imitate the closing of a deal like this.”
Ryuji looked over their clumsily locked hands, feeling sympathetic towards Akechi in a way he would have never thought possible. He still couldn’t stand him, but damn, was it ever hard to be an ass towards a guy who didn’t have a friend to give him a fist bump. In a moment of weakness, Ryuji decided to let it go and save Akechi some face. He didn’t understand why he felt like being nice to Akechi all of a sudden. Maybe it was how annoyingly soft this guy’s hand was. It could have been the smell of cinnamon messing with his brain. Either way, Ryuji figured it would be better to get this weird situation over with as soon as possible.
“Uh, this is fine then,” He said, leaving their hands as they lay instead of embarrassing Akechi further.
Akechi regained his composure quite nicely. “Does this make our arrangement official for you?”
“Almost,” Ryuji said. “Say that you’ll pretend this never happened if you decide the Phantom Thieves can’t help you.”
Akechi closed his eyes, repeating him as if reciting something from a book. “I promise to pretend that this never happened if I decide that the Phantom Thieves are not useful to me.”
“It’s done,” Ryuji declared, pulling his hand away.
It took Akechi a second longer to bring his own hand back to his side, but in no time at all, a pleasant smile returned to his face. He looked interview ready, and Ryuji remembered all the reasons why he disliked Akechi so much.
“Perfect,” Akechi said, pulling out a tiny notebook. “Then let’s get started with you telling me a little more about the Phantom Thieves.”
Ryuji sighed defeatedly. The sight of Akechi staring at him eagerly with a pen and notebook in hand was one he was going to have to get used to.
“I can’t believe we were on TV yesterday- with Akechi-kun!”
Ryuji snapped out of his thoughts, hearing a name he didn’t expect on the way to school that morning.
“It was like a dream come true!” The girl walking in front of him continued, clearly lovestruck.
Ryuji scrunched up his face. What made him so damn appealing to all these girls anyway?
“He’s smart and handsome,” The girl’s friend gushed on. “He’s almost TOO perfect!”
Ryuji snorted louder than he meant to. The girls threw a condescending look his way before hurrying ahead.
“He’s much better than that delinquent, Sakamoto…” The girl muttered.
Ryuji rolled his eyes. If only they knew that Akechi was just a nerd with a fake smile who didn’t know what a fist bump was.
He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to check his inbox.
Ren: You ok? Ann and I didn’t see you after the TV station trip yesterday.
Ryuji felt a lump form in his throat. He was going to have to lie to Ren and he hated it. Typing up his reply, he felt animosity towards Akechi bubble up in his chest. It was all his fault that he had to sneak around Ren like this.
Ryuji: Yeah, don’t worry! I was tired and went straight home.
Lies. Ryuji shoved his phone back in his pocket and walked into the school building. Someday, he’d get revenge on Akechi for this. He was loyal to the Phantom Thieves through and through, he wasn't going to let Akechi ruin that.
Before he made it to his locker, his phone buzzed again and he felt guilt over having to make up another story for Ren. Unexpectedly, the text wasn’t from Ren this time.
Akechi: Are the Phantom Thieves working today?
Ryuji was visibly bothered. He’d forgotten that they exchanged numbers yesterday, and annoyingly enough, Akechi was already making good use of it. With the speed of someone fueled by hatred, Ryuji typed up a reply.
Ryuji: No. Mind your own business, jerk.
He smugly closed his locker. He actually wasn’t sure if Ren wanted to go to Mementos today, but he’d be damned if he was going to be Akechi’s little mole for more than what was necessary. Within a minute, Akechi replied again.
Akechi: How disappointing. You do know that it’s technically my business now, right?
Ryuji scowled at the pompous attitude practically oozing off of the message.
Ryuji: I told you from the beginning that I’m only helping you understand the P Thieves. That’s all!
Akechi: No matter. Regardless, I’d like to meet up with you again today, since the Phantom Thieves aren’t working.
Dammit. Ryuji scratched his head, cursing himself for setting it up so Akechi could squeeze more information out of him. Feeling spiteful, he replied with an insult.
Ryuji: Whatever. You know, you aren’t as perfect as all these girls go on and on about! So take that!
When he didn’t receive a fast response, Ryuji assumed he’d gotten the upper hand in the conversation and went to his classroom feeling pleased. His victory didn’t last for long, however, since his phone buzzed as soon as he sat down.
Akechi: Is that what they say about me?
Ryuji’s expression went deadpan.
Ryuji: Uh, yeah? They’re annoying and scream about how smart and handsome you are.
He was taking a really long time to type out a reply to that one. Ryuji felt irritated when he imagined that Akechi was probably sitting at his desk in the prosecutor’s office, basking in the praise. Turning off his phone off until lunchtime would do some good for his sanity, Ryuji thought. So he did just that and went about the rest of his day at school.
Sure enough, once he turned his phone back on at the lunch break, he had a short list of notifications from Akechi, waiting to be read.
Akechi: I really am more popular than I expected to be…….
Akechi: I will have to make sure my fans aren’t disappointed.
Akechi: What was the pancake place you went to the other day?
Ryuji raised an eyebrow at the last message. It seemed really disconnected from the other replies. Thinking back… he did remember Akechi asking about a pancake place the first time they met. Something about it felt off, but Ryuji dismissed it as one the quirks that came with Akechi being socially out of touch.
Ryuji: We didn’t go to a pancake place. Just Dome Town.
Akechi: Oh. I see.
Ryuji smiled, slightly amused. This time, it wasn’t hard to parse out that Akechi was disappointed about there not being a pancake place. Just how much did this guy like pancakes? Hoping it would get Akechi off his back, he decided to make a suggestion.
Ryuji: There’s a maid cafe in Shinjuku with good pancakes. Try that.
Akechi: I had no idea. Consider it part of our deal that you direct me to this place today.
Ryuji’s smile faded and the corner of his lip twitched in irritation. Leave it to Akechi to blackmail him into being his tour guide. He scoffed and shoved his phone back into his pocket, heading to the cafeteria to meet Ren and Ann for lunch.
“Is this what a maid cafe is…?”
Akechi stood at the cafe entrance, looking like a deer in headlights. Ryuji was truly beginning to understand the depths of how little Akechi knew about popular culture.
The only reason he decided to go along with this plan was that he figured it’d be fun to go to a maid cafe. Besides, he was pretty worried about Akechi finding any excuse he could to turn him in to the police. If spending an afternoon with Goro Akechi at a maid cafe would keep the Phantom Thieves from falling apart, then so be it.
“Yeah,” He explained, finding an open table for them to sit at. “Cute girls dressed like maids are the waitresses.”
Akechi was busy taking in his surroundings, obviously confused. “That’s odd.”
Ryuji laughed. “What is? Dude, it’s a maid cafe. Most guys are interested in this kind of thing.”
Akechi read over the menu, frowning. “I don’t see the special appeal.”
Ryuji huffed, giving up on convincing Akechi that maid cafes were appealing. Not feeling hungry enough to order anything, he watched the maids frantically run around the cafe to do their jobs. Now that he took the time to look at them closely, he was starting to think that it wasn’t anything special either. He muttered a curse under his breath, pissed off that Akechi somehow ruined maid cafes for him too. Since when did girls in maid uniforms become uninteresting to him?
“Hello Master~” A waitress greeted them as she stopped at their table. “What can I get for you?”
Akechi continued boring a hole in his menu as if he wasn’t being spoken to.
Ryuji observed the waitress, who was awkwardly holding a cute pose while clearly growing annoyed at Akechi ignoring her. Seeing that he would have to fix the situation, Ryuji cleared his throat.
“Dude,” He reached over to poke Akechi's arm. “She’s talking to you!”
“What?” Akechi asked, snapping out of his stupor.
“Master~” The girl repeated tensely. “What can I do for you?”
Akechi furrowed his brows. “Why are you calling me that?”
Ryuji coughed, realizing that this was only going to get worse with Akechi leading things.
“We’ll have the pancakes.”
The girl relaxed, but not before throwing an icy glare at Akechi. She bowed to Ryuji and ran off to fulfill their order.
“This is a very strange cafe,” Akechi commented. “I prefer LeBlanc.”
Ryuji gave him a surprised look. “That’s Ren’s place…”
“Ren?” Akechi rubbed at his chin in thought. “Oh, your friend with the curly black hair. He works there?”
“Uh…” Ryuji rubbed the back of his neck, worried about giving Akechi too much information on his friends. “Yeah, I think.”
Akechi nodded to himself. “That’s good to know.”
Wanting to steer the topic of conversation far away from his Phantom Thief friends, Ryuji interrupted before Akechi could say anymore.
“Is this seriously your first time at a maid cafe?”
Akechi neatly set his menu to the side. “Yes, and I have the feeling it will be the last time as well.”
Ryuji pinched the bridge of his nose. “How do you not like this place…?”
Akechi drummed his fingers on the table. “Despite all the female fans I have, I honestly don’t have much interest in women. While my classmates were off getting into relationships, I devoted myself to my studies and work as a detective. That is how I prefer things.”
Ryuji sat there, trying to figure out if Akechi was lying. If he looked hard enough under Akechi’s detached expression, he almost seemed pained, like someone who had never been loved. With all the adoring fans Akechi had, Ryuji guessed he was just seeing things.
“You’ve never had a girlfriend?” Ryuji asked bluntly.
“No,” Akechi replied. “And to be frank, I don’t want one.”
“Got it,” Ryuji said, at a loss for a dignified response.
Come to think of it, he never had a girlfriend either. If he went by what everyone else was doing, he should find a girl to fall in love with. That’s what he had always told himself, but he wasn’t even sure he wanted that. Hearing Akechi declare that he wasn’t interested in girls… it felt liberating somehow. It was like someone else was affirming his inner thoughts. Someone else understood how he was feeling.
“And you?” Akechi asked, looking back at him. “I’m assuming you have a girlfriend.”
“No,” Ryuji responded, stretching his arms lazily. “And I don’t really care either. Girls are nice but… I don’t know. Having a girlfriend doesn’t seem like it’s for me.”
Akechi watched him, surprised. Ryuji had a feeling that Akechi was just as relieved as he was.
“I see.”
“Master~” The waitress came back with a sloppy looking plate of pancakes. “Here’s your order!”
Before Ryuji could asked for whipped cream, the waitress ran off, no doubt to avoid dealing with Akechi again. Figures that she wanted them out of here as soon as possible. The detective didn’t seem to care, gazing down at his plate of pancakes in awe. To his own annoyance, Ryuji thought he looked nice when he was this happy over a simple plate of food.
“Are you going to eat them?” Ryuji teased.
Akechi came up with a look of determination on his face, leaning over the table towards Ryuji, who was still not used to Akechi’s habit of throwing his face at Ryuji whenever he wanted something.
“Take a picture of me with the pancakes, if you would.”
“W-What?”
Ryuji gave him a strange look, waiting for Akechi to brush it off as a joke.
He should have known better.
Akechi pulled out his phone and unceremoniously dumped it into Ryuji’s hand.
“It’s for my food blog. I’d take a picture of it myself, but this is quite the unique experience. I don’t want my readers to miss out on any detail of it.”
A food blog. Of all the weird details about Akechi that Ryuji was coming to learn, this one had to take the cake. Regardless, what choice did he have but to play along when Akechi was already eagerly smiling in front of his pancakes?
“Alright, alright,” Ryuji sighed.
He took care in snapping the picture for him. It was Akechi’s usual, boring TV smile. Ryuji thought that the picture would have been better if he had taken it of Akechi’s amazed face when he first got the pancakes, but he wasn’t going to suggest something so stupid to someone who could easily throw him in jail.
“How’s that?” He asked.
Akechi took his phone back, examining the picture with a look of satisfaction. “That will do. Thank you.”
Not wanting to wait any longer, Akechi began eating with his usual composure. He was neat and ate slowly so as to enjoy every bite. Ryuji stole glances at him every now and then while pretending to watch the maids.
Even if only slightly, Ryuji was starting to get why Akechi was so attractive to his fangirls.