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He bit his lip slightly as he got off the train and headed down the backstreets of Yongen-Jaya, more than grateful that the little town was fairly quiet, especially today given the little brisk chill in the air. And because he didn’t have a bag with a certain cat in it with him.
It was almost the end of fall, or well, it was getting close to winter so the weather outside was cold enough to not be stared at for wearing a hooded jacket with the hood up, which is exactly what Akira was currently wearing.
He smiled softly as he made his way down the streets. A normal pace too. He wasn’t in any sort of rush to get back to the cafe, despite the fact he knew he had a few people waiting there for him.
Not because he was nervous or anything, though it could be said that he did feel a bit unsure about something.
Either way, Akira, with his hands in his pockets and the slightly frosted air on his breath, made the final turn down the street towards Leblanc. He had hoped he’d see the ‘Closed’ sign showing in the door, indicating that maybe, just maybe, no one would be there just yet, but it wasn’t really his lucky day when he saw that it indeed said ‘Open’, just like he had left it earlier that day.
He paused for a moment outside the door, taking a small deep breath before pushing the door open. “I’m back.” he said once he confirmed there weren’t any of the regulars in the booths. Upon his arrival, he heard a mini chorus of voices greeting him.
“Sup Aki!”
“Hey Akira!”
“Welcome back!”
“Hello Akira.”
“Welcome back Akira!”
He gave a small smile towards his friends as he walked further into the cafe, noticing Soijiro give a nod towards him as he went to wash a few dishes in the sink. It always did feel nice to be welcomed back by the ones he cared about. It made Akira happy that he had people to greet him more often than not now. It certainly did become something he grew more accustomed to during his days in Tokyo after all.
“Where were ya man? You said you’d be around so we could hang out today but when we got here, boss said ya left.” Ryuji asked, leaning back in his seat. The others only nodded in unison.
“Sorry about that, I went to the mall and walked around for a bit and got a little...distracted, heh...” he explained, shifting his weight onto one foot as he lightly tapped the toe of his shoe on the floor.
“Oooh!! Did you get me anything?!” Futaba asked after popping up seemingly out of nowhere, poking at his arms to see if he had anything hidden on his person.
Akira shook his head with a breath of a chuckle on his lips. “No Futaba, I only went to price a few things and window-shop a little.”
“Booooriiing!!! Seriously, you’re starting to sound like Sojiro!!”
“Hey now, what do you mean by that exactly?” The man in question asked over his shoulder as Futaba only grinned mischievously and shrugged in return.
“Either way, you were gone a pretty long time! What were you looking for?” Ann chimed in, leaning forward on her elbows.
“Well...I was at the music store and then I went to check out the bookstore to see if there was anything new in this week.” He explained, one hand lightly tugging at the hood still on his head. He was pretty glad no one had actually mentioned it yet since he was inside now and didn’t really need it.
“But, um...that’s not really all I did while I was out, heh..” he added, a slightly sheepish smile on his face.
The others looked at him, obviously expecting him to continue. Akira didn’t have a clue as to why he was worried about this, it’s not like his friends would say anything negative about it.
“Well, while I was walking around the mall, I noticed a new stand and they were having an opening sale so I kinda decided to get a little something done.” He explained.
“You’re gonna have to be a liiittle more specific than that!” Futaba chimed in.
Their leader’s only response was to chuckle softly and nod. “I know, I’m getting there.” He then pulled his hood down and pushed his hair behind his ears, revealing black studs in both of his earlobes as well as both of his cartilages.
“Whoa! Dude those look cool!” Ryuji exclaimed, getting up to look at them closer.
“You really think so?”
“Hell yeah I do!”
Just hearing that lifted a small weight off Akira’s shoulders. And the rest was lifted as well once the others all agreed that they looked nice and suited him.
“Your ears are kind of red though, did it hurt to get them done?” Yusuke asked, being the only one to really point it out.
“Getting them done? Nah it didn’t hurt. Though they are kinda throbbing now...I can’t really touch them without having a shooting pain through them unfortunately.” Keeping up with their maintenance was definitely going to be a nightmare and a half.
“How much did those even cost? You got four of them done after all!” Ann asked sitting up on her knees in the booth to get a closer look at the jewelry.
“Like I said, they were having an opening sale so even though it was a little expensive, it wasn’t as much as what their normal prices go for” He explained, moving a hand to twirl his bangs.
“They look lovely on you Akira! Just make sure you keep up with cleaning them! They shouldn’t hurt for too long though.” Haru explained, a kind smile on her face.
“Yeah, I’ll be sure to.” He said with a nod.
'It’s gonna be kind of hard to though considering I can’t even touch them without feeling like I’ve been shot in the ear though...’ he thought, but decided to leave that problem for later. For now though, he was just relieved to have gotten positive reactions. Though even if he hadn’t, he still liked how they looked.
—————————————
For the remainder of their time at the cafe, they settled on discussing their plans to go to Dome Town, much to Akira’s silent dismay, and then once it started getting dark out, they said their goodbyes and all headed off for the station.
Except for Ryuji anyway.
“Mind if I crash here tonight?”
“When have you known me to say no to that?”
The blond couldn’t help but chuckle at his boyfriend. He had a point. The guy never really did tell him no when it came to this.
After Sojiro’s warning that they better not burn the cafe down, he and Futaba said their good nights and headed off back home, Morgana deciding to join them since he mentioned not wanting to be around in case they started getting all mushy with each other. That always got a laugh out of them and tonight was no different. Once they were gone, Ryuji wrapped his arm around Akira’s waist and pulled him closer, allowing him to lean his head on his shoulder.
Not the best decision since he just had his ears pierced.
“OW!” He exclaimed, lifting his head and quickly cupping his ear. ‘Dammit...I didn’t think they’d be this bad....’
Ryuji instantly placed a hand on Akira’s cheek. “Lemme see it.” He said, concern laced in his tone.
He hadn’t wanted to remove his hand because of how much his ear was throbbing, but he trusted the blond and did as asked. The top of his ear was redder than it had been earlier, obviously agitated at the sudden pressure that had been put onto it.
“Shit....it doesn’t look too good...ya got the solution to clean them? I’ll give ya a hand.”
Akira nodded, “Yes, they gave it to me before I left. I have no idea what it actually is though...”
“It’s probably just alcohol or something, but whatever it is, we should head upstairs and fix your ears up.“
—————————————
Akira would be lying if he said that it wasn’t relaxing to have someone else care for his new piercings. And he’d be lying even more if he said that it wasn’t relaxing because it was Ryuji who was caring for them. The blond was overly gentle, any time Akira would so much as flinch he’d pull away and try again, slowly so as to not hurt him. It didn’t take very long, even though there were four of them.
“Thanks for helping me. I probably would’ve just ended up hurting myself.” Akira told him as he was putting the solution away for the night.
Ryuji just waved a hand at him “Nah, ya don’t gotta thank me. I don’t mind helping you out.” The blond liked being able to do something for him, even if it was small. If there was anything he could help with, he'd be more than happy to.
"Ya know, I didn't actually get the chance to tell you how cute ya look with those earrings."
Akira blinked as his face started heating up slightly. "What? No way..." he mumbled, averting his eyes as he reached up to twirl his bangs again. "I'm not cute.."
Ryuji placed both of his hands on Akira's cheeks "Aki, you're cute as hell and they look amazing on you!"
"I know, I just wanted to hear it from you." he said, a mischievous look in his eyes before Ryuji started squishing his cheeks. "Ah! Hey! Cut that out!"
"Ya like makin' me say corny shit don't ya?"
"So what if I do??"
"Nothin', just wanted to hear ya say it!" the blond laughed before releasing his poor squashed boyfriend's face.
Even Akira couldn't contain a smile from that. "I'm honestly glad you think that by the way. I was a little nervous about showing them to everyone since it was kinda out of the blue and not really something I think anyone would've expected me to do."
"I mean, I was kinda surprised but it was like a good kind of surprised ya know? Unexpected but definitely awesome! Really adds to your troublemaker image ya know?" Ryuji responded, letting out another laugh.
Akira's only response was an amused smile as he rolled his eyes. "Well either way, I'm happy. I've actually been considering getting them done for a while but never actually had the guts to do it. Not to mention the money."
“I hear that. I’m glad you’re happy with ‘em too, ‘cause that’s what’s important ya know?”
Before Akira could respond though, he took a moment to consider his boyfriend’s words. His own happiness is what mattered. ‘I really am amazed at how no one but myself can see how truly amazing Ryuji is’ he thought before moving to lean his head on the blond’s shoulder again.
“SHIT!” A nice moment once again ruined by his newly wounded ears. “God I hate this….Forget what I said, this wasn’t worth it…” he grumbled, not even a full 24 hours since he got them done and already annoyed with them.
Ryuji just laughed softly before moving to lean against the wall and moving Akira so that the back of his head would be able to lean on him.
“How’s that?”
“Better, but my ear still hurts…”
—————————————
The following days went as such: Akira and Ryuji would head to the cafe after school, Akira would help Ryuji with the homework and/or any studying they had to work on, Ryuji would help Akira take care of his piercings, and then the two of them would just hang out in Akira's room until either the blond would have to rush to catch the last train of the night, or just end up staying the night.
Akira wouldn't lie. He was getting pretty used to it.
Though one thing he sure as hell wasn't getting used to was the constant pain in his ears. It was like now that he had them pierced, the entire world was on a mission to make sure literally anything would end up bumping against one of them and making it feel like his ear was being stabbed.
It sucked really.
The amount of times he had to bite his lip to stop himself from yelping out in pain was already more than he intended to count. Every single day, something or someone would end up either bumping into one of his ears or just touching right where one of his piercings were. Which was honestly the strangest thing considering the fact he could probably count how many times someone touched his ears throughout his whole life on just his fingers.
To make a long story short, Akira was annoyed and in pain and not to mention it was hard to sleep because god forbid he lean on his side and end up pressing the side of his head into his pillow.
'I'm honestly wondering if this was even worth it...' he thought one day while walking back to the cafe. Ryuji had mentioned needing to get something taken care of before coming over that day so he was on his own for a little while, save for Morgana taking a nap in his bag.
He frowned as he shoved his hands deep into his pockets, waiting for the train. 'Seriously though...first someone bumps into me in the hall and they make my bag hit my ear, then in P.E. a stray ball hit me on my opposite ear, and just ten minutes ago a gust of wind messed up my hair and it got caught on my earring....what the hell??' he thought, relieved when he finally heard the train approaching.
He was lucky to get a seat today, holding his bag on his lap. Every now and then he'd peer inside of it only to see Morgana still sleeping. Lucky cat. He wished he could just sleep like that sometimes.
'What would it be like to actually be a cat though?' he wondered, even though the entire team referred to him as the 'team's cat', more so than Morgana (who obviously would retort that he was indeed, not, a cat), because of how he seemed to behave.
He was lost in thought long enough to pass the entire train ride, only being reminded of where he was once he heard the station announcement.
He quickly made his way off the train and heading down towards the backstreets again, seriously wishing Ryuji was there with him. He liked holding his hand especially since it was getting even chillier out. He had poor circulation after all (to which Morgana would argue that no, he didn't have poor circulation, he just had one of the world's crappiest diets and sleep schedule).
Either way, Akira finally reached the cafe, itching to make himself a cup of coffee to warm his hands.
To his surprise though, Ryuji was sitting at one of the booths with Futaba. The blond grinned when he noticed his boyfriend, raising an arm up to wave him over. "Hey! Aki!! C'mere!!" he exclaimed. He sure seemed excited.
Akira would've asked how the hell Ryuji got here before he did but then remembered how he had stopped at the school's library earlier to try and get away from any potential earring attacks while the blond had left right as classes let out for the day.
"Hey." he greeted with a smile, giving Futaba a pat on the head before sitting down next to the blond. "I thought you had to take care of something today?"
"I did! Which is why I'm here!"
"?"
Ryuji pulled off the hood of his jacket to show that he had silver cuff cartilage piercings. The tops of his ears were a bit red so it was obvious he had just gotten them done.
"Wh...You got yours done too?!" Akira asked, blinking a few times before inching closer to look at them.
"Mhm!"
"Why all of a sudden?"
"Well you're not the only one who was thinkin' about gettin' them done for a while" the blond started. "Though what really pushed me to get them now was cuz I didn't really want ya to suffer alone with the maintenance. Sucks I couldn't get all four done though...that shit is expensive."
Akira could cry really. That was downright one of the sweetest things he's ever heard. "I...I can't believe you did that..." he said, chuckling softly. "Looks like we match now!"
Ryuji smiled before throwing an arm around his neck. "Hell yeah we do!"
"You guys are pretty sappy you know? But I do have to admit that it's pretty adorable hehe! Matching earrings and all." Futaba said, smirk on her face as she watched both of their faces turn red. Boy was Akira more than happy that Morgana was still napping in his bag.
With that, the youngest stood up, fixed her glasses, and promptly announced "I'm going upstairs to play some games. When you guys are done being saps, come join me so I can kick your asses!" she exclaimed before rushing up to the attic.
The two boys couldn't help but shake their heads and laugh softly. Akira turned so he could lean against the blond. "Hey, since you're helping me take care of my earrings, I'll help you take care of yours. It's the least I can do."
Ryuji wrapped an arm around his waist and grinned. "That'd be great!"
"Though I think we should both invest in earmuffs or big headphones."
"Why's that?"
"You'll see, haha!"