Archive of Our Own

Ren had already changed into his pajamas and turned on the heater in his room when Goro's text arrived. Ren ignored it at first, as he was lying in bed and focused on setting up his blanket nest just right, but when three other messages came through, one right after another, Ren let out a groan and picked up his phone.

Goro: I am in need of assistance. Please come bail me out.
* Goro Akechi is sharing his location
Goro: The director of my internship is drunk and his daughter will not stop hitting on me. My phone is supposed to be on silent. I don't care what sort of excuse you make, just come and get me out of here.
Goro: Ren.
Goro: I can't stay in this bathroom any longer. You are just five blocks away. I will not forgive you if you leave me here.
Ren: I just changed into my PJs and got comfy.
Ren: are you out of the bathroom already?
Ren: Goro
Ren: you owe me a huge favor for this

Ren dropped his phone with a sigh and kicked the blankets off.

"Hey," Morgana said, lashing his tail back and forth in agitation as he was knocked out of his blanket burrito. "We were starting to get comfortable!"

"I need to go rescue Goro from a girl," Ren muttered. He put his bare feet on the attic floor and winced. Even with the heater working at full blast, it was freezing.

"Why do you need to rescue Akechi from a girl?" Morgana narrowed his eyes and started kneading one of the blankets. "Can't he just get out of it himself?"

Ren dug around for layers. "It's his boss's daughter. And his boss is also there. I don't know, Morgana," he said, voice muffled by the sweater he was pulling over his head. "I don't think even Goro realizes what kinds of situations he gets into until it's too late for him to back out."

"It's not your job to rescue him from that every time! Especially when it's something small like this."

Ren popped his head out of the sweater collar and shook his head. "I know," he muttered, smoothing down the sweater before grabbing a pair of baggy sweatpants, "but he said he'd never forgive me if I didn't give him an out."

Ren focused on tugging on the sweatpants without bunching up his pajama pants, but even so, he could feel the potency of Morgana's judgmental cat stare.

"You have got it so bad," Morgana said. "Ugh, fine. Go and rescue him. Just don't die out there!"

"That's why I'm putting on all these layers," Ren said, grabbing a hoodie and putting that over his sweater. "I don't plan on freezing to death saving Goro from his own bad decisions."

Socks, boots, coat, and scarf went on next, and Ren actually buttoned up his coat all the way up as he went down the stairs. "All right, I'm heading out. If I'm not back in an hour," he yelled to Morgana from downstairs, "then tell everyone it's Goro's fault."

"I'm sure everyone will automatically jump to that conclusion anyway," Morgana yelled back. Ren shook his head, then took a deep breath before opening the door.

At first, he was stunned by how calmly the fat snowflakes were falling from the sky. Sure, there were a lot of them, but it wasn't the roaring blizzard that the news and weather reports had been selling for the past few days.

Then Ren looked down.

There was a pile of snow already built up so high that it nearly went up to the top of his boots.

"Oh, boy," Ren said to himself. He locked the door, then pulled out his phone and double checked Goro's location. Ren stuck his hands into his coat pockets, hunched up his shoulders, and started walking.

There were only a few people out on the streets; most had heeded the warnings and headed home hours ago, before the snow had started. The stores that were still open were empty, and from what Ren could see, most of the shelves had been cleared out.

Two blocks in, the snow started falling faster. There wasn't much wind, thank goodness, but the increased snowfall made the visibility even worse. Ren squinted through his lenses, bits of snow covering up the lens, and then sighed and pulled them off his face. The fake lenses were frozen to the touch, and he shoved them in his coat pockets. Without them, he could get a better view of the night sky. It was beautiful; the light pollution that normally drowned out the starry sky made the snowfall more ethereal. Light reflected off each flake, and the crisp chill air burned his lungs in an almost pleasant way.

If it weren't for the fact that Ren was on a rescue mission and the level of the snow on the ground was now above his boots, he would have stopped and taken a moment to take in the scenery.

"He'd better appreciate what I'm doing for him," Ren muttered to himself, stomping through the snow towards the restaurant. The snow continued to fall, and the people roaming the streets continued to decrease in number.

By the time Ren made it to the restaurant, the bottom half of both layers of pants were wet. The warmth of the barren restaurant melted the snow in his hair and on his clothes. Ren shook his head, sending droplets of water splattering around him.

At the front of the restaurant was a bar, and the bartender there was watching him with a raised eyebrow. Next to the bartender was a white board. On it were the words: Winter Storm WARNING!!! Be careful who you take home tonight...you could be stuck with them ALL WEEK!

There was something ominous about the sign. Ren stopped looking at it and looked at the bartender. "I'm here to rescue a friend," he said bluntly. "Good looking, fake smile, looks like he'd be the type to iron his underwear?"

The bartender's eyes lit up and nodded towards a booth in the very back of the restaurant. There was Goro. He was sitting so close to the edge of the booth seat that he looked like he was about to fall out of it at any moment. Across from him was an older man who was slumped back, head thrown back and eyes closed. And although she was kind of hard to see, Ren could make out a girl adhered to Goro's side.

Ren scowled, and it wasn't just due to the girl. Goro's boss was asleep; there was no reason why Goro couldn't just have ditched them all. Ren watched them for a few seconds, then set his jaw and approached them. Goro had asked him to bail him out of the situation, but he hadn't given Ren any direction as to how to do that.

So Ren greeted Goro with the flattest, most emotionless tone of voice he could conjure and the dullest expression he could make.

"Goro," Ren said, and both Goro and the girl turned to look at him. Something like relief flooded Goro's eyes, and Ren tried not to let his annoyance show.

"Ren," Goro said, not quite managing to keep the desperation out of his voice. One of his hands, which had been used to brace himself against the table while the other tried to pry the girl off him, reached out to him. "What a surprise! What are you doing here?"

All of a sudden, Goro's boss sat straight up, eyes wide open. "Akechi," he boomed, and Ren nearly jumped from the force of his voice. "Who is your friend? Are you leaving? YOU CAN'T LEAVE, AHAHA."

Holy shit. Ren nearly dropped his expressionless, emotionless facade. Both Goro and the girl turned to look at the man, who was wobbling in his seat.

"Dad," the girl said, glossy pink lips pouting at her father, "please. Indoor voice."

"AHAHAHA," Goro's boss said, slapping the table so hard that it rattled everything on it. "Sorry, dear. Who's your FRIEND, AKECHI?"

Goro's expression was a wonder of the world, what with it teetering on the edge of desperation, hate, fear, and disgust. "Ah, this is Ren. He is—"

Oh, no. No way Goro was dragging him any further into this mess.

With the flattest, driest tone of voice he had, Ren looked at Goro and said: "Goro. Grandma's dead."

Time stopped. No one moved. Ren held himself still, not daring to even let a muscle twitch. Slowly, Goro turned his head to look at Ren, a plastic expression on his face. Ren waited a second. Then another. Goro said nothing.

"Grandma's dead," he repeated, completely deadpan. "Grandpa too."

Something like fury crept into the corners of Goro's eyes. Ren tried valiantly not to smile.

"Grandma...and Grandpa are dead," Goro said. His voice was shaking, but it wasn't from grief. "That's terrible."

Their acting skills were worse than Ann's, but somehow, Goro's boss and the girl let him slip away from the booth without a word. Ren reasoned it had more to do with how shocked they were at their terrible acting skills than shock at the news.

"I'm so sorry," Goro said to them, gripping Ren's arm with so much strength that it hurt even through all the layers. "There's been a family emergency. Excuse us."

With that, he pulled Ren after him and power walked out of the restaurant. The bartender gave them a lazy goodbye as they left.

As soon as they were outside, Ren shook Goro off. "Ow. Were you trying to squeeze my arm off?"

Goro was grinding his teeth so hard that Ren felt sorry for his jaw. "Really, Ren? 'Grandma died'? Really?"

The wind picked up, and a flurry of snow blew into Ren's face. "Hey," he said as he brushed some snow off, "you said to bail you out. You didn't say I had to come up with a good plan."

Goro covered his face and screamed softly. The wind whipped his hair around as snowflakes settled in the strands. Goro, Ren noticed, was wearing only a pea coat. Beneath that, he had on a pressed button up shirt and slacks. His shoes probably weren't waterproof or warm. The snow had built up past their shins.

"I hate you," Goro muttered without any hate behind his voice.

"Well," Ren said, taking him by the shoulder and turning him towards the direction of Leblanc, "you owe me a favor. I had to get out of my warm bed to save you."

"My favor is not throttling you where you stand." Goro frowned and resisted Ren's attempt at moving him. "Where are you taking me?"

Ren gently pushed Goro to get him to walk. "Back to Leblanc. There's no way I'm letting you walk to the station from here dressed like that."

"It's not that bad."

"You're wearing dress pants and the snow is past our shins."

Goro huffed, but acquiesced, letting Ren guide him the five blocks back to Leblanc. Ren stopped pushing on his shoulders after the first block, and the two of them walked side by side. Goro huddled closer than usual to Ren for warmth. The wind had picked up in earnest, and the calm scene of snow serenely falling felt like a distant memory. By the time they reached Leblanc, the two of them were plastered to each other's side for warmth. Ren fumbled to unlock and open the doors, and as soon as he did so, they ran in, shivering and stomping the snow off their legs.

There was a pile of snow rapidly melting into water by the door, but Ren paid it no mind. His pants were soaked almost to the knees. Goro fared worse, because just as Ren feared, he was wearing just a pair of loafers.

"Go upstairs and let Morgana help you find some clothes to change into," Ren said, shucking his boots off. He stepped into a melted puddle, but it didn't make much difference to how wet his socks already were. "Don't argue with me," he added when Goro opened his mouth. "If you die from frostbite, I'll have to live with your corpse until the blizzard passes, and I am not dealing with that tonight."

Goro rolled his eyes. "Such concern," he said sarcastically, but he did what he was told and went upstairs.

Ren shucked his layers off and draped them over the counter as he grabbed a mop.

"Wha— Akechi?!" Ren heard Morgana shout as he started mopping. "Ren brought you back here?"

"I was told you could help me get clothes."

"He brought you back and you're staying?!"

"Be nice, Morgana," Ren shouted as he mopped up the puddles. "We have to share our blankets with him."

"But my cozy nest," Morgana whined.

"I can't feel my toes," Goro said.

"Oh, fine." There was a huff so loud that Ren could hear it downstairs, followed by the attic floor creaking above him as Goro and Morgana sorted through Ren's clothing. Ren was wringing out the mop when Goro came downstairs. He carried a bundle of clothing with him as he went into the bathroom.

When Ren went upstairs, Goro was still changing.

"Hey," Morgana greeted him, "do we have any more blankets?"

"Nope," Ren said, taking the opportunity to switch out his wet pajama pants for dry ones.

Morgana let out a groan. "Ugh. It's going to be freezing up here if we have to give one of them to Akechi."

"About that," Ren said, a horrible idea brewing in his mind. Before he could voice it, however, Goro came back up the stairs.

Goro was wearing Ren's old Shujin tracksuit.

Goro had no business looking so good in a tracksuit.

Goro had no business looking so good in Ren's tracksuit.

"Guh," Ren said mindlessly. He felt Morgana's judgmental gaze burning a hole in his back. Goro's equally judgmental gaze burned a hole in his front. "Uh. Really? You're going to sleep in that?"

"Shut up," Goro said flatly, then he started draping his clothes carefully over Ren's furniture. "Give me a blanket. I'll sleep on the couch."

It was an absolutely terrible idea, but Ren couldn't let it go. "Yeah, no. All three of us would freeze with just one blanket each." He sat on the bed and gave it a pat. "It'll be a tight fit, but it won't be cold if we share the bed."

"What," Morgana and Goro said at the same time. Ren turned to look at Morgana, perched on top of the blankets, and he looked like he was about to slam his little kitty face into the mattress from frustration. "Are you serious?! You complain about sharing a bed with me, and I'm less than a quarter of Akechi's size!"

Ren shrugged.

"Absolutely not," Goro said, crossing his arms and scowling at Ren. "I like having my personal space."

Ren rolled his eyes. "Okay, but these are extenuating circumstances. I'm not going to do anything; we're just going to share a bed. That's all."

Goro said nothing. His lips were pressed together in a flat line, and he glared at Ren's bed like it was the source of all the ills in his life.

"Please don't be stubborn about this," Ren said. Then, because he was tired and cold and upset that he was going to have to rearrange his blanket nest to accommodate another person, he said: "I know it's awkward, but it could be worse. I mean, it's not like you're attracted to me or something."

Goro's eyes widened. Then he went red.

Ren stared. "Goro?"

Goro stumbled into motion, retrieving the clothes he just finished draping over Ren's things. "I'm leaving," he said, face still red. There was, however, nothing but distress in his expression.

Ren shot out of bed and lunged towards Goro, grabbing his wrist in an attempt to stop him from leaving. "No! Wait! I mean, I don't care!"

"How nice," Goro hissed, tugging on his arm to get Ren to let go. "Unfortunately, I do!"

Ren shook his head desperately and tried to grab Goro's other hand. "No, I said that wrong. I didn't mean to call you out like that—"

"Let me go."

"—I said it because I didn't think there was any way that it could be true."

"And now you know otherwise! How wonderful for you," Goro spat. He avoided Ren's attempt at taking his free hand and instead hit Ren in the face with his shirt. "Let. Me. Go."

"No," Ren said. "Listen to me, please."

"Can you just let me leave so I can be mortified in peace?!"

"I don't want you to be mortified!"

"Too late!"

"I'm glad that you're attracted to me," Ren blurted out, grabbing Goro's shirt so he'd stop smacking him with it. "I'm attracted to you too, you asshole!"

Goro instantly went still. His face, which had been red with both embarrassment and rage, suddenly went pale.

Ren didn't fare much better. He felt like he suddenly forgot how to breathe. All he could do was watch Goro's face and hold on to his wrist and shirt like they were the only things keeping him upright.

They remained like that for a few seconds, locked in their positions and lost in each other's eyes.

Then Morgana let out a groan.

"Oh my god," he cried. "I'm stranded in here! I can't even leave! I'm gonna be stuck in here with the two of you all night!"

Ren dropped Goro's wrist like it was made of knives. Goro stumbled back and nearly collided with a shelf. They tore their eyes away from each other, and Ren turned around to look at Morgana.

There was dismay all over his features. His ears were drooping. "Couldn't the two of you have found a better time to confess to each other? Like when I'm not stuck here with the two of you?"

"Hey," Ren said weakly. "Nothing's going to happen. We're just going to be sleeping together in a very platonic way."

"You still want to share a bed with me?" Goro sputtered. Ren turned back to look at him; Goro was red again, although he'd thankfully dropped his shirt. "After— That?"

"Yes? I don't want to freeze to death. I don't want you to freeze to death! Especially now that I know we could be dating when this snowpocalypse ends."

Goro scoffed and crossed his arms. "Just because I'm attracted to you doesn't mean I want to date you."

"Ow," Ren said with no infliction behind it. "You're breaking my heart."

"Someone save me," Morgana cried. "I can't take an entire night of this."

They both ignored him.

(Faced with the possibility of freezing, Goro eventually caved and slept in the same bed as Ren. Morgana slept between them, like an awkward parent hovering behind two students at a dance, making sure they didn't get too close to each other.)