Chapter Text
The enormity of making an emotional confession takes a while to sink in, especially when it's reciprocated. Even more so when the confession is made to the person who has been your best friend for years. After all, it's one thing to tell someone you love them after a near-death experience (or three), but figuring out where to go from there is something else entirely.
When the initial relief and exhilaration fade out, it leaves one very loaded question:
Now what?
They're sitting a couple feet apart, on opposite edges of the hotel room bed as they stare at everything but each other. The silence is suffocating.
"So…"
After being quiet for so long--or maybe not, neither of them have checked how much time has passed--just that one word is enough to make Lupin jump, looking back over his shoulder as Jigen continues. "What are we now?"
"A dashing master thief and his kickass gunslinger partner?"
Jigen finally turns around to scowl at him. "Besides that. You know what I mean."
Lupin gives a drawn-out hum as he flops over onto his back, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.
Diving straight into romance is something he's familiar with, but when it's preceded by such a long friendship, somehow things become… complicated. This is unfamiliar territory; even his relationship with Fujiko had been flirty from the start, rather than strictly platonic. It's a strange transition for them to make.
"Well… what do you want us to be?"
Jigen looks taken aback by the question, but he takes a moment to seriously think about it. "...I know I don't want you to be falling all over yourself with mushy crap like you do when you're looking for a fling."
"Fair, but I reserve the right to get romantic sometimes , you gotta give me that." Lupin pouts a little to emphasize his point.
A pause. "...Just don't overdo it."
Content with that answer, the thief nods and rolls over onto his side, propping his chin on his hand. "We should probably keep it professional on the job, too."
Jigen hums agreement. "I guess it seems like… we don't want that much to change."
"Well, some things…" Lupin grins suggestively, but his partner just rolls his eyes.
"Honestly, I'm kinda surprised you didn't just jump me the second we got here."
"Hey, I can think about things other than sex!" The thief flips to his hands and knees so he can better lean forward in protest. "You kissed me, remember?"
"You're just mad I beat you to it."
"Yes I am!" Lupin makes no attempt to deny it. "And y'know what?"
Jigen doesn't have the chance to ask "what" before Lupin seizes his shoulders and shoves him down onto the mattress, where the thief looms over him with an absolutely devilish smirk.
"You agreed to make it up to me."
He takes a moment to drink in the flustered, startled look on Jigen's face, and when he sees no sign of objection, he closes the distance between them.
Lupin practically purrs against his partner’s mouth as he drinks in every little gasp and groan, deepening the kiss when he feels fingers running through his hair. His tongue slowly explores, catching one last lick when he pulls back, and then he moves down to Jigen’s neck with a pleased hum.
Lips, teeth, and tongue all work together to seek out the spots that drag out the most breathless gasps; that cause the gunman to arch into him for more. Lupin can’t restrain the smirk that crosses his face as he makes mental notes of every single one.
Once he’s satisfied that he’s made several marks that are going to bruise, the thief sits up to start getting rid of all these damn clothes, but before he can so much as shrug out of his jacket...
Suddenly, there’s the screech of tires, the slam of a car door, and a terribly familiar voice barking outside. That can only mean one thing.
“Wow, he caught up quick,” Jigen remarks as he returns to his senses, propping himself up on one elbow to look towards the door.
Lupin is also staring, but with a much less nonchalant expression. Somewhere between indignant, despairing, and just plain pissed off, the thief’s mouth hangs open for several seconds before he can manage words.
“What?! No! Pops, why?! Why now?!” He whips around to glower at Jigen as the gunman snickers at his misery. “Shut up, you have just as much reason to be upset as me!”
“Yeah, but I’m not the one with the patience of a horny teenager.”
Outside, Zenigata and his officers all jump at the sound of a loud, frustrated “AUGH!” from within the building, and a moment later, things devolve into chaos.
Three officers are immediately disarmed by shots from Jigen’s revolver, and the other two are bowled over by the criminals as they barrel out the door, sliding across the hood of a police car to reach the Fiat. Zenigata charges as they dive into the car, but Lupin reverses too quickly and he rushes into nothing but thin air.
The thief leans out the window with an exasperated scowl. "I'll get you for this, Pops! I'll get you!"
Before Zenigata can even be properly confused by that, the Fiat whirls around in a handbrake turn and takes off, speeding into the distance.
By the time the sun creeps over the horizon, they've crossed the border and made it to one of Lupin's more modest safe houses. It's small, without a second floor or much room for storage, but tucked away on a side road far from prying eyes, which is exactly what they need right now.
Lupin finally, finally has no interruptions. He may have been forbidden from going over-the-top romantic, but he makes a point of taking the time to be thorough-- and oh, is it worth it. He's going to be replaying those shudders and moans in his head for quite a while.
"Are you gonna be this smug every time?"
The thief looks up from the dusty bookshelf he's going through, making no attempt to hide the smirk that hasn't left his face since he got up from the bed. His partner has cracked one eye open to stare at him, and it's clear from his tone that there's no real malice in his words, even if he is trying his best to scowl.
Lupin hums in mock-thoughtfulness. "Depends, are you gonna make those noises every time?"
Jigen grumbles something unintelligible as he rolls over.
"What was that?" Lupin asks sweetly, getting up and strolling back across the room. "Gotta speak up if you want me to hear you."
The look he gets over Jigen's shoulder could freeze lava. "Next time's your turn."
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” the thief’s grin gets even wider, giving no warning before he springs onto the mattress and drops on his partner in a gravity-powered embrace. A stream of curses erupts from under him, but this only makes him snicker, and for a minute they just tussle and tangle each other in the sheets, letting themselves laugh at the absurdity of the entire situation.
A duo of internationally wanted criminals figuring out their feelings like a pair of children dealing with a first crush; they are two grown-ass men, but this had felt so daunting to them for so long. It seems so ridiculous now. Sure, this is all new, and problems may very well arise that they haven’t even thought about yet, but for now all that matters is they know what feelings lie between them, and it’s… nice.
What a strange concept, that people like them can have something simply nice. They didn’t even have to steal it. However temporary this might be, it’s theirs, and for once they earned it fair and square.
Hours later, Lupin is half asleep when realization hits him, causing him to throw one arm over his face and groan. A questioning grunt comes from beside him.
“...I gotta call Fujiko.”
An annoyed scoff; Jigen clearly isn’t awake enough for words yet.
“I need… to tell her. About this.” Lupin waves one hand between them as explanation.
A grumbled, annoyed groan, asking another wordless question the thief has long since learned to understand.
“I know we’re open enough to not tell each other every time we have a hook-up, but…” Lupin cranes his neck to meet the single, barely opened eye looking at him. “You gotta admit, this is different.”
The answer is a heavy sigh, and he takes that as a sign of begrudging agreement.
Lupin isn’t sure what he expected Fujiko’s reaction to be: annoyance; anger; hurt if he was really unlucky. All he knows is he was not expecting her to sigh in exasperation and say, “Well finally.”
“Wh-- Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?!”
He can perfectly picture Fujiko tossing her hair over her shoulder as she scoffs. “You two have been making eyes at each other for ages, it’s been driving me nuts!”
“We have not!” the thief protests.
“You absolutely have. I’m sure Goemon’s noticed it, too.”
Lupin makes a face, even though she can’t see it. “Why didn’t you say anything, then?!”
“Would you have believed me?” Somehow, Fujiko’s pointed expression is almost audible.
He has no answer to that; or at least no answer he’s willing to give.
“Exactly,” Fujiko says when he’s silent for several seconds. “So you two go on and have your honeymoon phase. I have to get back to work."
"And you're sure you're okay?"
She gives that clear, genuine laugh that makes the thief’s heart do backflips. "I'm a big girl, Lupin. I can share. If you're still worried, you can take me to dinner sometime to make up for not calling right away."
When Lupin returns to flop face-first on the bed, Jigen has finally become fully conscious, sitting up and debating whether or not it’s worth the effort of getting up for a smoke. The thief’s muffled groan is enough to get his mind off it, but just barely.
“So? We gonna have a problem?” he asks, nudging Lupin with his foot.
The thief lifts his head to reveal an impressive sulk. “Apparently, she already knew it was gonna happen.”
He takes a moment to be startled by this, but quickly scowls and gives a dismissive shrug. “She’s just messing with you.”
Lupin says nothing for a minute.
“What day is it? Is it the fifteenth yet?”
Jigen blinks as the thief leaps up without waiting for an answer, already tapping away at his phone with an expression somewhere between annoyed and determined. That look is almost always trouble.
“Wait, what’re you doing?”
“Fujiko said,” Lupin glances up for maybe half a second before his eyes become glued to the screen again, “That she bets Goemon noticed it too.”
Another second passes, and Jigen realizes where the thief’s stupid train of thought is headed. He sighs; there’s nowhere near enough caffeine or nicotine in his system to deal with this right now.
“Lupin, stop.”
The only response is a vague grunt that shows the thief isn’t really listening.
“Lupin,” the gunman leans forward and covers the phone with his hand, making the thief jump in surprise. “You can’t track down Goemon just to find out if Fujiko’s full of shit or not.”
“Maybe not, but I can track down Goemon for a job and just happen to ask him a question while doing so.”
Jigen fixes him with a skeptical stare. “Do you have a job lined up?”
“Not yet,” Lupin admits without a hint of concern. “But I’ll think of something.”
There’s no arguing with him now, it’s clear by the look in his eye, so the gunman simply sighs and drags himself out of bed, leaving Lupin to the multi-step task of getting ahold of their elusive samurai companion. At least doing a job to prove Fujiko wrong is still better than doing a job to get a gift for her.
Claiming a lawn chair on the small patio, Jigen lights a cigarette and finally dares to let himself be alone with his thoughts.
There’s still so much of this that doesn’t make sense to him. If there’s anything to Fujiko’s claim, then how long have they been drifting towards each other? Why did Lupin, usually a master of confidence, take so long to admit his feelings--could he really have been nervous?
If so… Why?
As much as he dislikes her, Jigen would be the first to admit there’s a lot about Fujiko that could be considered attractive, while he’s… Well. He’s himself. Even if he doesn’t touch the issue of why in the world Lupin would be emotionally drawn to him in the first place, there’s still the question of how he could make the thief so anxious that he didn’t make a move until he thought they might lose each other. How could he affect Lupin in a way that even Fujiko didn’t?
It’s just bizarre . Part of him can’t help but assume it’s temporary, that Lupin’s fancy will flit away to someone else once he gets bored, and Jigen will just have to readjust to plain old friendship. They’ve been running together for so long that he’s no longer afraid of being cut loose completely, but… Will he be able to go back after tasting more? How much will that hurt when… if it happens?
A lot, his mind tells him almost immediately.
Before he can do any more wrestling with his own thoughts, Lupin’s voice yells from inside so loud it makes him jump.
“OH MY GOD.”
Sounds like he got ahold of Goemon.
A couple minutes pass, and Lupin emerges from the house, dropping into a second lawn chair and starting to drum his fingers on the armrest--a sure sign that he’s stressed.
“Sounds like that went well,” Jigen remarks dryly as he offers his cigarette to the thief.
Lupin huffs through his nose, but accepts the smoke and takes a long pull of it. When he does speak, after leaning his head back and blowing a smoke ring into the air, it’s in a perfect imitation of Goemon’s voice. “I was under the impression you were already together.”
“...Huh.” Maybe he’s reading too much into this, after all. Maybe they’re both just incredibly stupid.
They spend the next three days going back and forth between usual pre-heist preparations, and getting very distracted by one another. Fujiko really hit the nail on the head when she called it the honeymoon phase, as Lupin in particular seems even more incapable of keeping his hands to himself than usual, both sexually and when he’s just feeling cuddly. Scarcely an hour can go by without him glomming onto his partner on a whim, cackling at any scolding he receives--there’s never any bite to the objections, anyway.
Somehow, despite it all, they have a plan hashed together by the time there’s a knock on the door to signal Goemon’s arrival.
It’s a fairly simple job: a raid on an art gallery to grab several of the more valuable pieces. There aren’t many alleys or winding streets to make use of for a getaway, so Goemon and Jigen will have to break them through whatever law enforcement shows up, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Lupin has mapped out the exact locations of his ‘shopping list’ in the gallery, and planned a path through the building that will let him get in, nab it all in the least amount of time, and get out again.
Simple.
To his credit, it’s going just the way Lupin said it would. The police are no match for the pair of killers blocking them from pursuing the thief inside, and they haven’t even broken a sweat when Lupin reappears with the haul, at the exact second he said he would.
He’s so pleased, in fact, that the second they dash away from the building and round a corner, he can’t resist the urge to steal a kiss while Goemon is clearing a path ahead.
“AHA--Ah.”
Both Lupin and Jigen nearly jump out of their skin in surprise at the sudden shout, their eyes only widening further when they turn to see Zenigata skidding to a halt around the corner behind them. His startled expression makes it pretty clear that he saw.
It’s funny, but it suddenly occurs to Lupin that despite their years of playing cat-and-mouse, he doesn’t think he’s ever actually found out how Zenigata views homosexuality. Pops is a pretty good guy, so he can’t imagine him being one of those people who still see it as ‘wrong’ somehow, but… you really never know with these things.
Still, he manages to wipe the trepidation off his face and flash the inspector a grin. “Now now, Pops. It’s rude to interrupt, y’know.”
The tension in the gunman beside him makes it clear he’s thinking along similar lines, metaphorical hackles raised and his entire frame bristling. Lupin silently grabs his hand.
That moment seems to last for an agonizing eternity, until finally Zenigata breaks the silence…
“Oh. Well it’s about damn time.”