Work Text:
Monday September 18th
Where the Hell was Akira?
Goro wanders the school looking for that blasted student. He had specifically told him to meet in the student council room during their lunch period, but no. Here Goro was hungry, and searching the entire school for Akira Kurusu. Lunch room? Nope. Gym? Still nope. Front of the school? Back of the school? Nope and nope. Not even in the Goddamn practice building or either of their assigned classrooms.
As he passes the art room, Goro peeks inside and sees Futaba Sakura and Yusuke Kitagawa. The former sits on top of one of the desks as she chats with Yusuke who’s looking down and sketching his notebook. Goro opens the door and slides inside, clearing his throat to announce his presence. Both students look his way, and suddenly he’s a little nervous now face to face with Akira’s friends. “Sorry to bother, but have you seen Kurusu-Kun? We were supposed to have a tutoring session today, but I seem to be unable to locate him.”
“Ah, he said something about a game of cards on the ro-...!” Yusuke begins but Futaba suddenly nudges him in the ribs and shrugs nonchalantly.
“Dunno, we aren’t his keeper. I’m sure he’ll show up sometime,” Futaba sticks her tongue out at him as she swings her feet back and forth from upon the desk.
What a brat, how did Akira keep such company? “Thank you for that enlightening information then. And Sakura-San? Get off that desk.” Goro snaps as he turns his back to exit the room. As he does, he faintly hear’s the murmured voices of the two in the room still, though Goro is unable to hear their words. Something about being a stick in the mud? Whatever. What the other students thought of him didn’t matter so much as long as he was able to run the school properly.
Yusuke said something about the roof? So, he would try there then. Goro climbs the stairs up to the third floor, then up one more half flight of stairs up to the roof. Just as he goes to open the door, he hears the sound of other other students already up there.
Cautiously, he opens the door and peeks through to see Akira, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, and Makoto Nijiima. What the Hell were those four doing up here? As he looks closer, indeed, they’re playing a card game among the four of them. Quietly, he pushes the door open, careful not to make a sound and leans against the threshold to watch the group play, waiting for the right moment to interrupt.
“Tycoon, huh?” Akira grins at his friends as he places down his final card on top of their growing pile, winning the match. Ann, Ryuji, and Makoto all look to their friend with what must be disbelief at the loss. “Something wrong?” Akira leans forward, the shit-eating smirk never leaving his face as he watches them. The boy was cocky and insufferable, that was for damn sure. Maybe someone should put him in his place? Maybe in front of all of his friends too?
Ryuji frowns, “You cheatin’ or something man?”
Akira shakes his head “No, I’m just that good is all. No one can beat me.”
“Is that so?” Goro catches the group's attention once he speaks up and everyone looks towards him. Goro, still leaning against the door, arms folded and frowning at the students before him “You know, last I checked, the roof was off limits to all students. I’m quite surprised you’re not enforcing this rule, Niijima-San.” Goro’s eyes scan each one of them in turn before finally falling onto Akira, his eyes then becoming sharp and angry.
Ryuji, rolling his eyes, places his hands behind his head “Chill out dude, we ain’t even causing trouble. Why’s it matter?”
“What ‘matters’ Sakamoto-San, is the principle of the fact. And what if other students happen to catch whiff that you’ve been up here? Then it won’t only be you and your little group getting into trouble up here, now will it?” Goro pushes himself away from the door frame and approaches Akira with a burning flame in his eyes and animosity in every step. Both young men lock gazes, neither seeming to blink as Goro continues on “And you, the resident delinquent transfer student of class 2-D. I’m sure this was your doing, am I correct? Bringing all your little friends up here and coarsening my classmate into allowing this petty little game to go on?”
Akira stands, meeting his gaze from the same level. He mirror’s Goro’s pose, arms crossed against his chest and standing with his back straight. “Maybe it was? Does it really matter, Goro-chan~” Akira winks and smiles at the older boy. Goro digs his nails into his arm and tries to keep calm hearing the ridiculous name come from Akira’s mouth. Oh God he wanted to punch him in that perfect face and hold him close at the same time. Goro feels his face heating up, and he’s not sure if it’s from anger or embarrassment.
“I’m going to have to ask you all to vacate the roof this insistent,” Goro pretends the teasing name has no effect on him as he takes a step back, putting about a foot of distance between himself and Akira. Then, he catches the eyes of the rest of the group. Ryuji whines as he begins packing up the cards and Makoto begins sputtering several apologies to her classmate.
But, Akira would not be letting this go quite so easily it seems. He closes the distance between him and Goro and grins again “Senpai, you seem like the type that doesn’t like to lose, right?” Oh? Was Akira trying to challenge him? This should be interesting, he could teach him a lesson in humility. “ How about a deal then? Play us in a round of cards, and if we win we can spend the rest of the semester up here during lunch.”
Intrigued, Goro decides to humor him “Oh, and what is in it for me if I were to defeat you, Kurusu-kun?”
Leaning in closer than before, close enough he could the other’s breath against his skin. “I’ll bring an extra special bento for an extra special senpai every day for the rest of the semester,” Akira’s voice is low and smooth as he speaks the words softly against Goro’s ear. He swallows hard and the flush from earlier and puts distance between them again.
The action throws Goro off for a moment, but he quickly regains his composure as he adjusts the collar of his shirt, looking off to the side to give his face a moment to cool off. “Make that the rest of the year. You and your little friends getting caught up here would cause me quite a bit of trouble you know.” And thus, Akira agrees to the demand. The four students begin to make their exit, when Goro speaks up again “Wait, a word with your Leader, alone, if you wouldn’t mind?”
Ryuji goes to say something, but is stopped by Akira “Oh yeah? Am I in some kind of trouble?” He comments. However, Goro does not dignify the response with an answer, merely standing his ground as the others leave them to their own devices. As Akira’s fiends exit the area, he makes his way quickly over to Akira who’s smirk has yet to leave his face. As soon as he is within reach, Goro grabs a fistful of Akira’s hair as he pushes the boy against the wall only inches away from the door. He forces Akira’s face to look up towards him, the light flush now a full on blush and reddening his entire face as he pouts at his boyfriend.
“Oooh~ you know, you’re really good at putting on the whole ‘stern student’ act, Babe,” Akira coos as he attempts to snake his arms around the other’s waist, only for the grip in his hair to tighten and he drops his arms back to his sides.
“Do not ‘Babe’ me Akira Kurusu. What part of ‘do not tell anyone the roof is unlocked’ made you think that it was okay to bring your friends here?” Goro sighs as he places a kiss on the small bit of exposed skin above the idiot's collar and Akira’s body shivers when he does. “I could easily explain to any teacher why you and I were here, writing it off as a simple tutoring session. But you and your little group of miscreants? A little harder to get away with that one.” Goro digs his teeth into the spot he had been previously kissing and tugs again at the mop of hair in his hands.
Akira whimpers under his boyfriend’s touch and closes his eyes as one of his wrists is then pinned above his head “You’re only upset we didn’t invite you to our game.” Goro locks their fingers together as he kisses up to Akira’s lips, gently sucking at his bottom lip and nipping gently, groaning in annoyance and rolls his eyes at the comment.
“I couldn’t care less if I joined you brats for your little games. I’m more annoyed that you wasted so much of our time together. And by the way,” He presses his lips firmly against Akira’s. He's rewarded with the other returning it just as fierce before quickly pulling away “I hope you like losing, Love.” Goro smirks and places a quick kiss to the tip of Akira’s nose before completely pulling away to admire the boy in front of him.
“I never lose.” Akira whispers as Goro threads his fingers though his lover's thick curls, the lunch bell ringing to signal the end of their time together. “See you later?”
“Of course,” Goro responds eyes soft as he places one more kiss to his lips.
“You know, you really should get to know everyone else. My friends would love you.”
“I don’t really think so.” Goro holds his hand as he leads them towards the entrance of the roof, eyes downcast and voice now solemn “ I’m not exactly the one everyone flocks to, not like you. You’re lucky to be surrounded by people who acknowledge you for just being yourself.”
He’s then pulled into Akira’s arms, the other running his fingers softly along his side. Goro keeps his head down, not wanting to look into those piercing grey eyes that he knew would tell him otherwise. “Goro, it’s been six months since you came into my life, and almost just as long since you agreed to be with me.” His heart pounds deep within his chest, harder and faster with each word from Akira. Then, he dares to finally meet those eyes “ I think it’d be great if all my favorite people were together.”
Goro shrugs, his face neutral as he speaks “In reality, I’m not really anything special. But I am grateful to be by your side.” The fingers were merely grazing his sides find themselves previously, now find themselves inside Goro's shirt, tickling his sides as he bursts into a fit of giggles, trying to pull away “Akira! Stop,” he pushes on his lover’s chest in a futile attempt to get away. But does that stop his foolish partner? No, because as Goro attempts to make a break for the door, he’s pulled back again by Akira for a final assault on every tickle spot, gasping and breathless “Please, we need to get to class!”
“Fine fine, I’m looking forward to seeing you tonight,” he says as he pulls away, opening the rooftop door for them both.
“And I look forward to kicking your ass~”
Yusuke, Ryuji, Akira, and Goro sit in a circle on the floor of Leblanc’s attic while Futaba, Ann, Makoto and Haru sit around them watching in silent awe of their skills. The match was merely only between Akira and Goro, however Yusuke and Ryuji joined in to add more diversity to the game. Goro looks over his hand; a two, four kings, an 8 stop, a 5 and a 3. His hand could not get much better than this. He would simply play his Revolution, followed by his 8 stop then start the round with a 5. If anyone had anything to play, it would be a 4 and he could easily beat that with his 3. And if he remembered correctly, Ryuji had already played a pair of threes in the first turn and Akira had played a three of spades to win two turns ago. There was no way he could lose.
As he places his two card down to win the turn, Goro is preparing for his revolution when Futaba begins to circle around the group grinning as she looks over everyone’s cards. Goro follows her movements with his eyes, trying to figure out what the girl was up to once she came and peeked at his hand. With her eyes on his cards, her expression does not change from the cheeky look, but proceeds to sit back on Akira’s bed and fold her hands in her lap.
“Oh man! You guys have some nice cards~ any bets on who’s going to win this round?” she says.
Yusuke gives her a puzzling look “I thought we were here to see who between Akechi-Kun and Akira would win this little bet?” he asks.
But, Futaba shakes a finger at him “But why not raise the stakes a little? No fun if there isn't a bit of punishment for the loser that is.” She grins a wicked smile and Goro almost swears he can hear a crack of thunder behind her when she does so.
So, he bites. What’s the worst that could happen after all? It wasn’t if he was going to be the loser of this round “What were you thinking, Sakura-San?” Goro asks.
“Loser of this round just has to eat some Korean stir-fry noodles Haru got. No biggie.” But the wicked smile on her face never falls and there seems to be more behind that fake smile than she’s letting on.
Yusuke however, seems to perk up at the thought of food “Is that so? Then I wouldn’t mind joining in. I won’t pass up an opportunity for a meal.” And Ryuji backs his statement as well.
Akira, on the other hand, looks pointedly at Goro with a smile not so different from the one Futaba was currently wearing. Then, he opens that damn mouth of his “What do you say Senpai? Feeling like an extra challenge today?” Confused, he’s not quite sure why Akira’s being so infuriating. But sure, he’ll humor his stupid lover this time and go along with this little game if it meant that he could hold yet another victory over the idiot. As it currently stands, Akira has 8 cards with Ryuji at 6 and Yusuke at 9 and himself at 7.
“Sure? I don’t see why that would be a problem” Goro finally replies, smiling sweetly in Akira’s direction, a smile he knew the other would interpret as an acceptance of their challenge. And as soon as the words left his mouth, another exchange of looks between Akira and Futaba is made. What was going on between those two? Regardless, Goro smirks as he plays his four kings “My turn now, yes? Then how about a Revolution.”
Ryuji and Yusuke both gasp, then quickly look at their cards to see what they have left. Akira, on the other hand, only locks eyes with Goro as he pulls four cards from his own hand, to which Goro feels his heart sink and his mouth falls slightly a gap. “Is that so? How about a Counter Revolution,” he demands as he places four queens atop Goro’s hand. The entire room begins to cheer and scream as Goro watches horrified at the sting of events that follow.
Akira played a pair of aces to win the next round as everyone had to pass their turn.
Then an 8 stop to make it his turn again. Damn it.
And finally throwing away his last card, revealing a Joker right at the end. The fucking bastard had been sitting on that the entire time?
Now, the player on his right would go, that being Ryuji, who looks down at his hand and plays a two and joker to win the round, bringing it back to his turn again and playing a pair of 8s, giving him yet another turn where he finally plays a 6, now only leaving him with one card left. Goro looks down at his own hand, now if Yusuke were to just play a 7 or pass, he could hope to end this with at least a little bit of dignity.
But of course, the asshole had to throw down at ten. Who does that anyway? And reluctantly, Goro passes his turn, only for Ryuij to throw down a jack as his final card. Nervously, Goro eyes the somewhat large hand Yusuke still has. He seems to look over his cards for a moment then picks up three cards at one, placing down three fives. And of course, yet again Goro finds himself in the position of having to pass his turn again back to Yusuke, and Goro feels his heart drop more and more with each passing card, all higher than his own as he is forced to pass each time until Yusuke plays his final card, a Goddamn four.
Well, looks like he lost that bet majorly.
He sighs and closes his eyes as he accepts his defeat, pressing his thumb and pointer finger to his temples “Alight, so you and your little friends can spend the rest of the semester hanging out on the roof. Happy?” When he opens them, Akira has moved closer, his face nearly pressing against Goro’s and that damn smile plastered on his beautiful face again “Is there a reason you’re invading my personal space, Kurusu-Kun?”
“Oh~ did you forget about that last part of our bet?” He asks, sliding into Goro’s lap and wrapping his arms around his waist. Goro feels his face heat up at the act, Akira’s friends hadn’t even been informed the two of them had been dating. Why was he acting like this at such a time? He goes to remove Akira from his personal bubble when the other boy speaks again “You have to eat Haru’s instant noodles, remember?”
Goro manages to shove Akira off his lap, now a deep red as he straightens out his uniform. What could possibly be so bad about some noodles? He turns to face the girl when he’s met with Haru, the girl who’s normally so sweet and endearing, who now has a mischievous look in her eyes. Everyone in the room turns their attention to her, a single pack of stir-fry noodles held in her hands. Fuck.
The bright red packaging stares him right in the face, a cartoonish bird with a ticking time bomb and Hellish looking peppers adorn the wrapper. Not to mention the unmistakable lettering of ‘Hot Chicken Flavor 2x Spicy’ in bold lettering glaring from the package. No, fuck no. This entire thing was a set up, wasn’t it? Goro had heard about these before, noodles so hot people had made an internet challenge out of them.
Akira and his group all stand, now hovering over him as if he were some kind of prey and they were the hungry lions about to pounce. “What’s wrong Senpai? Aren’t you going to hold up your end of the bet?” Akira coos, and for all that is Holy, he swears up and down that he will make Akira pay for this later.
Ryuji places his arms underneath Goro’s and lifts him to his feet, the entire time the group is giggling and beginning to drag their dear upperclassman down the stairs while Haru and Makoto watch him helplessly pulled to his doom by the younger teens. Goro is shoved into one of the booths, Akira on his left and with Ryuji on the right essentially blocking him in. In the kitchen, he can hear Futaba talking with Sojiro and asking him to prepare the aforementioned stir-fry and already, he’s regretting many of his life choices.
Dating Akira Kurusu.
Agreeing to a bet with Akira Kurusu.
Losing to Akira Kurusu.
And as Goro thinks on it, many of his problems seem to fall back to knowing that loveable little shit.
He catches Akira’s eyes, and the two stay like that, looking into the depths of one another’s souls, and Goro imagines all the terrible things he has in mind for the other. Several minutes tick by until the sound of a ceramic plate being placed in front of him brings Goro back to the present. When he looks back down to the plate in front of him, Goro’s first thought is to run away. Run away, never come back, and break up with Akira while socking him clear in his perfect jaw. The smell alone of the offending noodles is enough to nearly burn his nose. Under the table, Akira places his hand on Goro’s thigh “Something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong at all. In fact, I actually very much enjoy spicy food,” Goro replies matter-of-factly and he takes his chopsticks into his hand, staring down at the monstrosity before him. Steam wafts heavily upwards and Goro feels his stomach turn, but he refuses to back down. They’re thick, much thicker than anything he’s remembered ever eaten before as he stirs them around the plate. Might as well dig in.
Without hesitation, he gulps down the first bite and attempts to shallow it before his mind has a chance to taste the food. As he goes in for a second bite, however, the spice begins to set in. It burns unlike anything he’s ever tasted before, and he’s sure after only the single bite, he’s able to already taste the fires of Hell as his eyes water and his nose begins to drip. Could this really be the effect of only one fucking bite? Who was this snack even made for, Satan himself?
“Oh God, what the fuck is this shit?” Goro drops his usual refined persona as he covers his mouth with his hand. “Holy fuck who needs food this Goddamn hot?” He takes a deep breath, panting as he tries to relax enough to go in for another bite. Did these shitheads really expect him to eat the whole thing?!
Was it hot in here all of a sudden? Goro slides off his uniform jack and rests it in his lap as he goes in for the second bite. He couldn’t back down, not with all of shit-for-brain’s friends watching that is.
The second round of noodles side down his throat, and Goro doesn’t know how much more of this he can endure, and looks around for something to calm the heat in his body, the burning ball of fire that consumes his gut. But to his horror there is nothing. “One of you, can you please get me something to drink?” The words are meant to sound intimidating, but instead come off as pathetic and begging. Goro tries to take a deep breath, but the burning is too much.
A coffee mug filled with milk slides across the table courtesy of Sojiro who had been watching the entire scene from the bar, shaking his head and muttering something about ‘kids these days and their weird internet fads.’ Goro attempts to be low-key about his desperate need for relief, but ends up downing half the mug before he’s realised what he’s done. Fuck, this was going to be hard. As he goes in for another bite, the plate’s suddenly removed from in front of him.
“Dude, you need to chill out. I’m sure they’re not that bad, you wimp,” Ryuji teases as he takes Goro’s chopsticks in hand and takes a bite for himself “Here, I’ll help you finish them off.” He says around a mouthful of noodles.
3…
2…
1…
Ryuji’s eyes nearly bulge from his head, when he drops the chopsticks from his hand “What the eff man, you weren’t kidding around.” He reaches now for the half-full mug in front of Goro, tongue hanging from his mouth and panting like a dog. Goro, however, merely moves the mug just slightly out of reach. “Dude, please, lemme have some this shit burns.”
“Aren’t I just a wimp that can’t handle spice?” Goro, now red in the face, body only beginning to recover from the brutal fire raging in his mouth, leans his elbow on the table and rests his chin upon it. “Surely you can manage eating the rest of them without this. You said you’d help me.” Ryuji eyes the mug just out of his reach as Goro picks it up, finishing the drink while keeping direct eye contact the entire time.
“You’re a monster,” Ryuji whines as he turns towards Sojiro, now begging for a drink as well.
Ann looks between both boys and takes the plate next “So, are we all going to try this then?” The girl is handed another set of chopsticks by Sojiro and picks up a single noodle and places it on her tongue “Wow! It tastes pretty good, but I don’t think I could handle a whole bowl of this.” She laughs as she hands the bowl now to Yusuke “Think you can handle it?”
Yusuke frowns at the plate when it’s passed to him. “Aesthetically, it’s not very pleasing to look at, but you did say the flavor was pleasant,” he stirs around the noodles once again and picks up a frighteningly large amount, pushing it all into his mouth and Goro’s stomach clenches when he tries to imagine the agony that must be causing. However, Yusuke seems to either hide it well or actually enjoys the taste and heat. “Ah, it seems you were correct Ann. It is tasty, but I think adding some cheese would add a nice touch.”
And around and around the plate is passed between each of the teens, and Goro cringes each time one of them tries that ghastly garbage. Goro lends closer to Akira and whispers “Are you friends usually this brainless?”
“If you’re asking if this is normal for us, yeah. It is,” and he laughs, his whole body shaking with amusement. “Welcome to the club.”
“You definitely set this up, didn’t you?” Goro leans against Akira who in turn snakes his arm around the older boy’s waist.
“You’re imagining things. It’s not like I asked Futaba to check and see if you had a losing hand and conveniently offer up that bet just to antagonize you” Goro feels his temper rising, and had they not been in the vicinity of all of Akira’s friend, he would definitely choke the boy, though, he was definitely sure the other would probably be into that kind of thing. So, in hindsight, it probably wouldn’t help much. “But to be honest, didn’t even think you’d be able to take more than one bite.”
“My skills will always exceed your exceptions,” Goro chuckles, then when he looks around, realises all eyes are all on them. Apparently, during their whole exchange everyone, sans Akira, had taken a sample of the Hellfire noodles and were currently nursing a mug of milk all their own. “Oh, it appears it’s your turn now.”
However, upon further investigation, Goro realises that the entire plate had miraculously been polished off courtesy of the group “Oh, well it appears we’ve run out of fire noodles. Guess We’ll have to improvise.” Akira winks. By that look, Goro could tell he was scheming something.
And per usual Akira fashion, of fucking course it is something, impulsive, brash, and totally unnecessary. In an instant, Akira’s lips are on his and, surprised, Goro tenses and jumps backwards, slamming his back forcibly into Ryuji and knocking him out of the booth. He lets out a high pitched yelp in shock, eyes blown wide, face heated as his smirking boyfriend kisses him in front of his gaggle of foolish friends. It’s short, merely a quick peck, but it’s enough for every nerve in his body to catch fire, burning more than his mouth had with those damned noodles. The cute, sickly sweet giggle of Haru brings his attention back to everyone else in the room.
Haru Okumura, who currently has her phone pointed at them. Currently taking photos of the entire encounter.
“Please delete that,” Goro whines.
Ann smiles as she leans over the table, grinning widely at him “No way! It’s a memento.”
“...a memento of what?"
Akira nuzzles his nose into the side of Goro’s neck before placing a quick kiss to his cheek before announcing “it was your initiation.”
“I-initiation? F-for what?”
Akira takes Goro’s hands into his and smiles warmly at him “ into our group, of course.” He rubs his thumbs in circles around Goro’s palms as he places another gentle kiss to his forehead “my friends aren't stupid. They figured us out a while ago.” Goro stiffins, of course they would. With Akira sneaking off during their lunches and always returning with flashy new love bites, only an idiot wouldn’t notice.
Goro relaxes when Akira’s weight leans against his side “ So, what does this mean then?”
Ryuji pulls himself back into the booth and wraps an arm around Goro’s shoulders before he answers “It means you’re one of us Akechi. Whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with us as long as you're with this guy. He’s also done a pretty good job vouching that you’re not just a stick in the mud too, so we’ll have to see about that.”
From the booth behind them, Ann is suddenly joining in what seems to slowly become a hug-Goro-Akechi party as her arms now latch onto him as well “We’re really excited to have you as part of the group, Senpai! Akira’s shown us a million photos of you guys on dates and you’re so cute together! And I’m totally jealous of those crepes you guys got in Harajuku, we need to check it out sometime!”
There is an unfamiliar feeling in his chest as each of Akira’s friends one by one begin to express how they’ve come to welcome him into their group. Was this real? Something inside him tugs, and his heart feels overjoyed. Why would these people, who merely knew him as the obnoxious VP of the student council want to accept him? Goro racks his brain trying to think why they would accept him. Why did it matter to them if their’s friend’s partner was a part of their group?
Ryuji, saying that he was the first to figure out that Akira had been seeing someone and therefore wanted to be their best bro too.
Futaba, and how she had heard through the grapevine, aka Akira, that he was a fellow FeatherMan fan just like her (and apparently everyone else was into the show, but did not know the information as in depth as both of them seemed to.)
Haru; apparently she was the one to catch on to someone going up to the roof first and had informed the others once she caught the culipts in the act. And thus, everyone was able to put two and two together. Though, she could have spared the embarrassing details of the very explicit make-out session she had accidentally walked in on.
Yusuke, apparently according to him both he and Akira would make very aesthetically pleasing models? And he wanted them to be his subjects one day, though the group venomously told him in turn that he should reject such an offer.
What was this feeling he was getting? Being with Akira? Being with his friends? Suddenly, Akira’s hand is against his face and he looks at him, confused, puzzled. Until a soft smile is returned to him and he’s wiping at a tear beginning to build. Goro tenses and everyone quiets down to look at him, then he begins to lose count of how many arms begin to wrap around him. His body shakes and he’s handed a napkin by someone, but he can’t tell who it is with his eyes closed tightly.
When he opens them again, the world is blurry. His lips quiver as he tries not to let weakness show. He refuses to cry in front of everyone, to make a very public scene in this cafe. Nevertheless, with each breath being shakier and shakier than the last, Goro cracks, and a river of tears come flooding forth. Everyone begins talking at once, the words melding together. But one thing they say is very clear.
We’re here for you.
He turns his body to face back to Akira and buries his face into his chest “Th-thank you. All of you.” He mumbles as he’s yet again hugged from all angles. All of it, all of this, it was overwhelming, yet unbelievably satisfying. Furthermore, the opportunity to be vulnerable for the first time was undeniably freeing.
Ryuji’s chin is placed on his shoulder and the pressure from his hug increases “Hey, you’re part of us now dude.” And, it was as if that was the final topping on the cake, as now the tears run freely and he whimpers softly into his lover. “Sorry to dunk on ya, we didn’t really mean any harm.”
Was this all too much? Was it not enough? The warmth from all sides, the kind words? What were they all expecting of him? He’s nothing like Akira though. While he appears pleasant and stern sometimes, underneath was scalding sarcasm, and a truly unfriendly nature. There weren’t many people he was truly nice to, yet his ragtag classmates wanted him to join their clique? The whole thing is preposterous. But yet? He doesn’t care.
Because this? This is nice, this is new and unfamiliar, but it’s also comfortable. Goro sits back up, Akira whispering to the others to give him some room. They do, and Goro looks at all of them, one by one in turn. “I have to say, this isn’t really something I’m used to. But, thank you for accepting me into this group.” His voice wavers and he has to pause for a moment before he goes on “ This, this is new to me. And I’m quite looking forward to getting to know all of you. However, I do apologise for not being able to bring anything unique to your group.”
Akira squeezes his hand tightly and Goro’s heart pounds hard in his chest. Friends? Is this what it was like? What if he messes up? What if in the end, they hate him? But this warmth, it was something that Goro felt he could get used to. Maybe, it's a gamble he’s willing to bet on.
“Hey!” Haru raises her voice slightly, pouting as she leans in closer to Goro “Positive thoughts only, Akechi-Kun! We all think you’re very unique indeed.”
“And really dude,” Ryuji adds, giving Goro a thumbs up “You’re more than just unique. You’re special.”
His eyes widen, and he can’t help the smile, and that laugh that escapes him, untroubled and touched by the kindness of Akira’s friends. He...could get used to this.
Makoto stands from the group and loudly claps her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Now now, I know this has all been exciting. But, I do feel it is important to remind everyone here that it is in fact still a school night and we all should be getting home. And also, we do have finals coming up in two weeks, do not forget to study for them.” Makoto pauses, then looks pointedly at Ryuji “And after those midterm results, especially you.”
Ryuji whines loudly as he flops over the table “What’s the point anyway, Prez? I’m just gunna fail again.”
Oh? Not if he had anything to do with it.
Goro straights himself and clears his throat, “ Maybe I could be of assistance then? I was number one in our classes for midterms.” He grins as he winks towards Makoto who playfully smiles back at him and sighs. “And besides, I live alone. We can have a tutor session for anyone who needs it.”
Maybe, being friends with these guys wouldn’t be as hard as he thought.