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“We can prosecute Shido.” Sae says, looking off into the brightly lit billboards on the square bellow them. She doesn’t continue, the silence stretching between them as they watch the headlines of Shido’s confessions of guilt scroll on the screens below. The unspoken ‘but’ is still there, waiting for either of them to reach for it - eventually, Akira bites.
“What will it take?” he asks, quietly. Rhetorically. The fact that she asked to meet, alone, unseen, is answer enough.
Sae sighs. When she finally speaks, her voice is carefully level. “His confession alone isn’t proof. Any digital footprint of his wrongdoing has been wiped when the Mementos servers crashed - we need concrete evidence.”
Akira knows where this is going. Already made up his mind.
“I know I have no right to ask this of you, Kurusu-kun. You don’t deserve to be put in a position like this.” she takes another deep breath, “You’re in a unique place - considering your disposition, the prosecution should be able to extract your memory as evidence, which would put Shido and his associates behind bars but-”
but that would require confessing to being the leader of the Phantom Thieves, and consequently being decommissioned under the Android Danger law.
“I’ll do it.”
He’s decided a long time ago - for all the victims of an unjust system, for Futaba’s mom, for Haru’s father, unjust as he was, he’s willing to lay his life down if it means society will progress for the better. For Akechi - his friend, his rival, his enemy - regardless of what he’s done, he’s already promised to him that Shido will face justice. He isn’t going to back down on that promise.
“Very well.” Sae looks tired. Akira feels tired, but he isn’t going to let that show. “I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow morning. Whatever happens, I’ll- we’ll make sure he faces justice for what he’s done.”
She turns away from the light, starts walking back towards the fire escape. “Kurusu-kun… I have one more favor to ask. It’s best that you don’t tell your friends about this. I know it’s hard, but knowing and intervening would put them at risk, as well.”
And with that, she’s gone, leaving Akira staring at the city he helped save, for what will probably be the last time.
---
Akira wakes up. He feels cold - everything feels slow, sluggish. He must be low on energy. Slowly, he opens his eyes - still unfocused, there’s a soft blue light emanating from somewhere, a few green and red controls flicking next to him, and -
“Can you hear me?” Goro Akechi’s voice whispers, and oh - he's detaching Akira's wrists from the surface he's lying on, moving on to his legs.
"You're alive." he whispers back, unsure. Has he died? There shouldn't be an afterlife, at least not for him, but he knows he shouldn't be awake right now, not ever, not when the judge said-
"I won't be for much longer if you don't start helping, and neither will you." Akechi hisses back, which seems to be a fair point. “Can you move?”
Akira tries, slowly lifting his hand up to rest it at Akechi’s arm. He can’t quite move well - how long has he been under? Once all of the clasps have been removed, he tries sitting up. There's a cord attached to the back of his neck, weighing him down, sending unpleasant tingles down his spine, and he needs it off, needs it off right now. Akechi catches his hand before he can pull at it. It's warm, warmer than the rest of the cold room he's in.
"Once you pull that, we have about a minute to get out of here. I'd rather know if you can stand before that." Akechi explains quietly, and yeah. Fair point. Cautiously, Akira sets his bare feet on the metal floor - cold - stands up. Okay. He's getting rescued. He needs to focus.
Once they check he can stand and move, Akechi reaches behind him, grabs the cord connecting him to his cell, releases the safety hatches on it.
"This will hurt." Akechi says, and then suddenly a shock is coursing through Akira's veins, his head feels like it's splitting open, and he's about to tell Akechi that he can't move, can't think, but then a warm hand clasps his and pulls him along, and he's running, blindly following wherever Akechi leads him to.
---
Time seems to blur a little, Akira feeling like he's periodically shutting down and booting back up.
Him and Akechi running through metal corrirors.
Alarms starting up just as they make it outside, the cold air seeping through his hospital gown still seeming warmer than the insides of the facility.
Climbing down the roof, then down into the sewers, Akechi quietly directing him to climb.
Akechi’s hand in his, dragging him through the foul smelling water.
A room, somewhere with a shower.
Water on skin.
Akechi shoving a bundle of clothes into his naked chest, his red eyes not leaving Akira’s face, telling him to go change into them.
Dragging through a crowd at a station, running into a train seconds before the doors close.
Getting off at a nearly empty station, waiting.
Another train, this one more rickety than the last.
Akechi staring at him with an indiscernable emotion on his face, reflecting in the of train window.
Akechi steadying him as he gets off the train.
Akechi grabbing his arm as they drag themselves through a narrow, crowded street full of shops, full of neon lights, full of hundreds of different sounds.
Akechi opening a latched door in a dark alley, the sound of the city falling away.
An old, dusty, stale room with mismatched cabinets, Akechi setting him down on the single mattress in the corner of the room.
Akechi taking off his face mask, staring at him like he's trying to figure him out, then ruffling through one of the cabinets, pulling out a charging cord and plugging it into a socket in the wall.
"You need to rest." Akechi's voice, soft, as he lifts up Akira's hand and attaches the cord to it.
Akechi sitting by him as he closes his eyes and finally drifts off to sleep.
---
It takes Akechi approximately three minutes to fill Akira in on all that he missed, after shoving an Amrita soda into his hand and ordering him to drink - Shido's in jail, Akira's been out of commission for approximately a month, all of his friends have been working to get Akira out but were too damn slow about it, no he cannot contact any of them because the less digital footprints they leave, the harder it'll be to find them, no he cannot go outside because he's still a wanted criminal, yes he'll be able to go on his merry way in about a week once Akechi manages to forge him a new identity - and seems to want to leave it at that.
Unfortunately, it doesn't answer to a good half of Akira's questions, but fortunately, they seem to be conveniently stuck together for at least a week with nothing better to do than to try to get them out of him.
He decides to go for the big one right away.
"Why did you save me?" he asks Akechi, who seems to have moved on and is now methodically swiping dust off the shelves of one of the cabinets.
Akechi turns to him abruptly, and Akira recognizes his expression as the same one he had in the train ride.
"I was simply repaying you a favor, since your friends seemed incapable of doing so. No need to think much into it." his tone doesn't match his expression, the same guarded neutral used for public appearances, for when he’s trying to make it seem like he means all of the words he’s saying, even if there is little truth to them.
Is this a repayment for taking down Shido? Is this Akechi tying up loose ends - to save Akira from the fate Akechi would have been in, had the Phantom Thieves not defeated him, and then go on his way? It makes no sense - Akechi has never had trouble leaving bodies (Akira's body) in his wake to get to his goals.
"I didn't save you." Akira says slowly, because he didn't. Akira failed to save him, and then somehow, Akechi saved himself, and returned to save Akira in turn.
A desperate laugh bubbles out of Akechi's throat. He walks closer, his frame looming over Akira.
"Have you ever read Isaac Asimov's works? I don't suppose you did - his works are quite old, by now." he can't quite see Akechi's expression, hidden by the bangs, the daylight from the boarded up windows shining from behind him.
"According to Asimov's first and central law of robotics, robots should not be allowed to cause harm to human beings, or cause human beings harm by inaction." Akechi continues, "Of course, I have broken that law many times. Androids are ultimately a tool created by humans, and tools can be made to harm people, regardless of what a science fiction writer has said a long time ago."
Before Akira can blink, Akechi is crouching down, pressing his hands into the back of Akira's neck, peeling back the artificial skin to reveal his interface. It stings, freezes him in place - Akechi could kill him so easily like this.
“I could kill you so easily like this.” they're both still, aside from the movement of Akechi's lips, the faint hum of their systems. "You're not even human - you're a tool, just like I am. I despise you and everything you represent. It should be so easy to kill you, and yet -"
His voice is tinged with a sort of resigned desperation. "why did it feel like letting you die would make me lose to you again?" Akechi says, and Akira doesn’t really know what to say to that. Carefuly, gently, he lifts his hand up to Akechi’s, still gripping at the back of his throat. Doesn’t try to pull it away, just holds on.
Androids can’t cry, but the contractions of their synthetic muscles are based around humans. If he were human, Akira thinks, Akechi’s tears would be flowing down his face. He thinks about that to do - Akechi’s never done well with pity, and Akira doesn’t pity him. Akira doesn’t hate him, either. Akechi might have been their enemy, but he was dealt just as unfair of a hand as they were, with no one to support him. He liked talking to Akechi, even if he knew he was spying on them, planning to kill him. He thinks he likes talking to Akechi now too, with no secrets between them.
“Thank you for saving me.” he isn’t looking at Akechi, but feels his hands shakily let go of his neck, slide down. He keeps holding onto Akechi’s wrist, waiting for him to pull back, somewhere, in the back of his mind, hoping he doesn’t.
They settle into silence for a little while. Akechi lets his hand settle on Akira’s knee, letting him hold on.
“I spent years trying to gain approval from Shido, trying to feel - equal, to actual humans. Better than them. I desperately wanted to be accepted. You’d think that finding that acceptance would make me more human, and yet- by Asimov’s standards, I’m becoming more of a robot than I ever was.” Akechi sighs, still doesn’t tear Akira’s hand away.
“Maybe you’re just becoming more like yourself.”
---
The first day after Akira recovers enough to move around, they clean the hideout. Akechi looks a little constipated at the prospect of Akira helping, but sighs with something that might approach fondness when Akira manages to dig up another set of slightly dusty cleaning supplies and lets him help, even if he never lets him get out of reach.
The hideout is full of old books and DVDs (“How old are these?” Akira asks when he starts wiping out the copious ammount of dust built up on the shelves. Akechi stares at him for several seconds before shrugging and mumbling, “You wanted to clean, Kurusu, not learn about the history of information storage.”), discarded electronics (some of them seem functional, some of them not so much - Akechi tells him to put them in boxes and not touch them under any circumstances) and finally clothes and various trinkets (most of them, Akechi snatches out of his hands and throws into a trashbag. Akira isn’t sure what he does with the rest.)
They manage to go through about two thirds of the appartment when Akechi sits down on the bed and starts shaking. Oh shit.
“Are you alright?” Akira asks, frowning. Then he realizes - Akechi is the same model as him. There only seems to be one charger.
Akechi frowns at him. Akira sighs.
“I’m not going to run off while you go into rest mode. I promise.” he reassures him, earning another long stare.
“I’m really hoping you’re not dumb enough to try.” Akechi says, eventually, bringing the charger towards his arm. “Don’t touch anything.” he adds, his eyes already closed. He’s still frowning.
Akira decides that touching the book he’s currently dusting off doesn’t count, since he’s been touching it since before the no touching rule was instated and picks it up - it’s a collection of detective stories. Might as well.
Since there’s nowhere else to sit, Akira carefully sits down on the lone mattress in the safehouse, right next to Akechi, whose features have finally softened, and begins to read.
---
“It’s always been ironic to me how even our creators couldn’t prevent us from facing the same limitations they do.” Akira hears from somewhere next to him. Good timing- he’s about to finish with the second book he’s picked up.
"I'm afraid the laws of physics are one of the few nobody can actually break." Akira retorts with a joke and feels unreasonably pleased when he sees Akechi smile in the corner of his vision.
He reaches for something from the box of papers under the table to use as a bookmark, his fingers catching on a small, hard piece of paper.
When he flips it over, he's greeted with a picture of Akechi with a woman, both of them smiling.
By the sudden movement on the bed and Akechi immediately snatching the photo away, he must've seen it too.
"So this place is yours." Akira says softly.
"My mother's, technically." Akechi carefully puts the photo back into the box ("I had a mother, of sorts - she worked at the facility I was made in. She took me in when I was deemed too faulty, years ago." he remembers Akechi saying, the two of them sitting at a bench in a park). "I've meant to throw most of this out, but never really had a chance to."
(“She killed herself five years ago.”)
Akira sets the book down. “I’m glad I can help.”
---
They settle into a comfortable routine surprisingly fast. They take turns recharging and doing their daily maintenance in the bathroom, then Akira goes to read books and Akechi types away on his laptop. Sometimes, they watch an old movie together, and then they spend hours playing chess and talking (Goro believes that downloading chess playing algorhithms takes away the joy of the game, and Akira is inclined to agree).
It would be kind of boring, if talking to Akechi wasn’t so fun. It’s always been fun, even when it was just the two of them with their masks on, even when Akira knew Akechi was planning to kill him. There’s no need for masks now - both of them are tired, free from the cosmic roles they were put into. Well, as free as staying in the same space for a week straight can be.
Despite being more serious, more angry than before, despite not needing to hide anything anymore, Akechi still smiles at him sometimes, even when he thinks Akira isn’t looking, and Akira would be lying if that didn’t make him go into overdrive a little. That despite everything, Akechi still enjoys his company.
He’s lying on the matress reading an Agatha Christie novel (one of the books Akechi dropped on a pile when he asked if there’s any books he’d recommend) when Akechi stops in front him and stays there. Akira looks up in question.
“I need to recharge.” Akechi stares him down, expecting Akira to move. Instead of standing up, Akira decides to jokingly scoot over to the wall, leaving space on the matress close to the outlet.
He expects Akechi to continue to stare, maybe raise an eyebrow. He doesn’t expect him to sigh and lay himself down next to Akira, their sides touching. It feels nice, nicer than Akira imagined, and oh, has he been imagining this? He looks down at Akechi, whose eyes have already closed, and feels awfully, unbelievably fond.
---
Akechi catches him trying to pick the lock on the safe he keeps his laptop in a few minutes after he left for a supply run.
He's wearing a black baseball cap on to hide his hair, a mask and about three mismatched layers of coats. It's charming, in it's own way, even if the purpose is for him to not get recognized.
“Should’ve tried to pick the door. Would have been easier.” Akechi’s voice is icy cold, even if his posture doesn’t look aggressive. It makes Akira feel kind of guilty. He trusts Akechi, cares for him, even if he disagrees with him. He probably just blew that trust away. In a last-ditch effort, he reaches for the truth, bares his throat.
“I want to let my friends know. Akechi, you- I can’t just leave them in the dark for so long. I need them to know.”
Akechi is staring at him, thinking, deciding. Akira wonders if he’ll kick him out.
“I’ll let you contact Sakura, after I set up the encryption. You wouldn’t know how to do it properly.” Akechi breaks the silence, eventually, unlocking the safe and pulling his laptop out.
Akira breathes a sigh of relief as they sit down, leaning over Akechi’s shoulder to watch him start up the connection. a surge of warmth rushes through his system when Akechi leans back.
---
It takes Futaba approximately 10 seconds after he sends her a message to start scrubbing Akira's identity from any system she can find and crafting him a new one. After about 10 minutes of purposely vague discussion she tells him to get back to her in 10 days, says that she missed him and threatens Akechi with things more horrible than death if something happens to him.
Akira missed her.
Akechi quietly closes the laptop, sets it on the table, and goes off to finish his supply run.
---
Things get kind of weird with Akechi, after that.
They still talk, still play chess together, (still get dangerously close to what Akira would call cuddling when they do things that don't require them to be on the opposite ends of the room,) but it's like something about him has closed off, like little shreds of his detective mask are slipping back on.
It culminates when they're watching an old movie about a swamp monster falling in love with a human woman, sprawled on the bed, their knees touching.
"Do you think our feelings are real?" Akira asks, more out of curiosity than doubt.
Goro makes a thoughtful sound, eyes still fixed on the screen, the dim light from the shifting images illuminating his face.
"I suppose it depends on the definition of 'real' you are using. Our emotions were programmed the same way a human's would - transformed into strings of code, but still fundamentally working the same way. Even if they aren't tangible, they still influence our decisions and actions, so functionally, they are real. If you're talking about whether the electronic processes are identical to the chemical ones, well - that has been a subject of debate for a long time, hasn't it." he says, acting like he isn’t avoiding the question.
“What do you think?” Akira repeats, not giving him an out.
“I think,” Goro pauses, his expression unreadable. “As unpleasant as it is to admit it, my emotions do influence me. Whether I want them to or not. I used to think I was detached from them, being nothing but a weapon for Shido to use, but…”
Goro looks at him, holds his gaze. “Ultimately, it didn’t matter whether my feelings are real or not. They led me to choose the path I’m on, and I don’t regret that.”
On the screen, the woman and the monster kiss, submerged in water, uncaring about the rest of the world, embracing and fully loving each other in their otherness. Goro is still looking at him. Goro has been talking about him, when he said that he doesn’t regret being here.
The rest of the world fades away. Akira leans in.
They weren’t built for this, probably, but Akira doesn’t care. Goro’s lips are soft - a desperate sound falls from behind his lips, and then he leans in, his arms wrapping around Akira’s.
They keep kissing, keep touching, long after the screen turns dark.
“I don’t regret it, either.” Akira says quietly, hands stroking circles on Goro’s hips. “I’m glad for you, Goro.”
Goro presses his head into the crook of Akira’s neck, squeezing his arms around him tightly.
“It’s your turn to recharge.” Akira murmurs, gently attaching the charger to Goro’s arm. “We can stay like this, if you want.”
“Yes.” Goro gasps brokenly, and then relaxes, leaving Akira feeling fond and warm as he strokes Goro’s hair.
---
“What do you plan on doing, after this?” Akira asks after he gets a text from Futaba with a route to a street he’s supposed to get to within the next thirty minutes for pick-up. It’s kind of dumb that he hasn’t asked sooner, but to be fair, Goro’s kept his mind occupied in a very different way.
“I don’t know.” Akechi sounds a little surprised to say it, but - it makes sense, thinking back on it. Akechi has spent most of his life alone, driven by a single goal, and now that goal is fulfilled, and he has nowhere to go. Well, nowhere, except-
“Want to come with?” Akira asks, his arm outstretched.
---
The power outage that took out the entire city block disables all the security cameras, as well as any lights that would shine on them. In the dark, Akira and Goro slip through the sea of confused people and androids alike, their hands grasped firmly, steady and warm.