Chapter Text
February 16th, evening, LeBlanc
Two days after Valentine's Day, Akira found himself cleaning dishes as he and Sojiro were preparing to close up shop for the day. He won’t get to stay much longer in Tokyo, but now that everything related to the metaverse has finally calmed down, and his friends have managed to get him out of juvie, he finds himself enjoying the calm and free time. Still, he has much to be thankful to Sojiro for, and so he is more than happy to lend a hand around the cafe whenever he can. However, today in particular, he has noticed that Sojiro has been glancing at him every so often, as if he had something to say but couldn’t quite figure out what words to choose. Eventually, however, the older man breaks the silence.
“Couldn’t help but notice the amount of chocolates on your bag yesterday. Were all of those, you know... genuine?” The shop’s boss asks, somewhat awkwardly.
“Just… Friends being thankful for helping them out.” Akira responds as he finishes wiping the last mug.
“But, you still got at least one genuine chocolate, didn’t you?” Sojiro presses on.
“It was shaped like Morgana.” The trickster confirms, lowering his face just a bit so that his hair and the glare on his glasses hide the little smile creeping its way into his face.
With a heavy sigh, Sojiro nods, and then gestures towards the nearby booths. “Look, I don’t want to make this awkward or anything, but I think we should probably talk about that.”
With a nod of his own, Akira moves towards the booth, taking a seat as he waits for Sojiro to eventually sit down in front of him. There is a pause for a few moments before the coffee shop’s owner decides to speak up again. “I pretty much already know the answer, but I still want to hear it from you. Are you and Futaba… together?”
“...” Akira doesn’t respond with any words, simply opting to offer a determined nod as he looks Sojiro in the eye.
“And even after I asked you not to.” The older man lets out with a tired voice.
“You also said it wouldn’t be so bad…” He defends himself quickly, before shaking his head “I will not apologize for falling for her.”
“I suppose I did say that.” Sojiro concedes as he throws his head back, looking at the ceiling “Look, I will probably always feel it’s too soon for Futaba to be dating, especially when so soon ago she was secluded in her room.” He lowers his face once more to look at Akira in the eye before continuing. “But, I suppose if she is going to be dating anyone, I’m glad it’s you.”
The tension visibly leaves Akira’s shoulders, relaxing at Sojiro’s words, before then offering a smile “I wouldn’t have stopped dating her, but it means a lot to have your approval.”
“Didn’t think you would… just make sure you two don’t get carried away.” He responds with some resignation.
“So… Should I start calling you father?” Akira teases with his best Joker grin. Sojiro sighs and rubs his neck in response.
“Don’t make this any weirder than it already is.” He says, and seems deep in thought. "Look, you are one troublesome kid, but your heart is usually in the right place. I don't exactly expect you and Futaba to stay out of trouble, I remember what being a teen is like, I just need to know you won't end up hurt."
"I have no intention of hurting her." Akira responds from behind his glasses.
"I believe that much, but you are young, and relationships can be messy, not to mention you are Futaba's first boyfriend, and on top of that, you will be going back home in a couple months."
"She is also my first." He replies to the point that seemed most important to him, looking thoughtful as he does.
"That's a bit of a surprise." Sojiro admits with a small nod before he continues. "But that just makes my point even more. Look, you are going to make mistakes, that's just part of all this. I do not want to put down any actual rules or have to keep a close eye on you two, because frankly I want to think about this as little as possible. Just promise you won't do anything too stupid."
The teen needs a moment to process everything, but eventually offers a nod. "I can promise that much." He responds, then, after a small pause, continues. "And about me leaving. I want to attend university here in Tokyo…" He lets the thought trail for a moment, but before he can continue, Sojiro interrupts with a smile.
"You can stay here when the time comes… As long as you are willing to help around the shop now and then."
Akira nods, a small smile on his face and a warm feeling inside, the conversation had frankly gone better than he would have expected.
After a small silence Sojiro gets up, signaling he is ready to end the conversation, before then stopping to think “Oh yeah, what are you doing sunday? I figure we should coordinate the schedule or something.”
Which Akira responds to with a blank look as he tilts his head “Sunday…?”
Causing Sojiro to let out yet another sigh “Just what kind of boyfriend are you? The 19th it’s her birthday, you idiot.”
Joker stands up in surprise, his expression shocked as he processes what Sojiro just told him “Looks like I need to start making plans." He eventually says as he recovers his composure.
“That you do… That you do…” Sojiro shakes his head as he heads for the door “And don’t forget to close up.” Is the last thing he says before leaving Leblanc.
Seeing Sojiro leave the coffee shop, Akira immediately starts to think, walking upstairs while playing with his hair, and as the leader of the phantom thieves walks up the stairs, his roomate, humanity's hope given cat form, glances towards him from his resting place on the couch.
"Something bothering you, Akira?" The not cat asks as he sees the teenager enter the attic room.
"Futaba's birthday, it's this Sunday." He explains, while he and Futaba have mostly been keeping their relationship mostly quiet to avoid awkward situations with their teammates, there is hardly a point in hiding it from Morgana when he had already seen them in Valentine's.
"Nyehehe." Morgana immediately lets out a teasing laugh, confirming to Akira that telling their friends about their relationship is likely to kill Futaba out of sheer embarrassment. "Are you planning to do something? We didn't really do anything special for anyone's birthday last year, but now that things have calmed down, it wouldn't be the worst idea."
"Either a party or a date, not sure yet." Akira confirms with a small nod as he walks towards his bed before sitting down, hand on his chin as he thinks.
"You will need a present regardless of which you pick." Morgana helpfully explains as he jumps down from the couch and then onto the bed to sit next to Akira.
In response he simply nods, as he is already running through a mental list of possible birthday presents for Futaba, he has a very good grasp of her interests but it can be hard to keep track of what she already has and what she doesn't, making present buying for her surprisingly difficult, meaning his best bet is to get her something she would be happy to get, but wouldn't just buy herself. Eventually something comes to mind, it's a little pricey, but he still has some savings left from last year, plus now he has much more time for part-time jobs, he can't help the smile from showing on his face.
"Oho? Looks like you thought of something, well, that's good." Morgana comments with his usual playful tone. "Let me know if I can help you somehow, but we should probably get some rest for now, I bet you have a busy day ahead of you tomorrow."
With one last nod, Akira gets ready for bed, making sure to close up shop properly before sleeping, he has a lot to get ready and not much time.
February 19th, afternoon, Sojiro’s house
Futaba had been having quite the pleasant birthday so far, Sojiro had taken her to Akihabara to pick her own present, and while she had noticed him acting a little odd, checking his phone repeatedly, she was too distracted looking at all the options until eventually had gone ahead and chosen a quite nice limited edition Featherman figure. And as she finds herself placing her new figure on her shelf, a text notification sounds from her phone.
>Key Item: Hey, can you come over?
>Oracle: Oh? Is something up?
She couldn’t help but wonder if it is just coincidence that he is asking her to come over today of all days, she hadn’t told him her birthday, they had missed his last year because of all the, well, everything, that was happening, in fact none of the phantom thieves had really had a chance to celebrate their birthdays last year, so it would honestly make her feel a little guilty to tell them and have them celebrate.
>Key Item: Do I really need to come up with an excuse to see my girlfriend?
>Oracle: dfasfguhla!
Well, now she has no choice but to go over to LeBlanc, whatever he has planned, she is more than happy to walk into it, he will probably be horrendously smug about it, but she would be lying if she said she doesn’t love that part of him.
>Key Item: Perfect, I will be waiting for you >;)
She can’t help but roll her eyes, maybe sometimes he is a little too smug, and yet she is all smiles as she gets up, and merrily heads for LeBlanc, a grin on her face as she leaves the house and walks down the street, she barely waves hello to Sojiro before walking up the stairs, feeling a bit of a rush as she does, even skipping the last step with a little jump.
“Akira! I have come!” She declares merrily, and yet…
“Surprise!” Her entrance is drowned by the happy shouts of her friends, and a multitude of party poppers going off, as the phantom thieves spring their ambush.
“E-eh!?” is the only thing she can say as she jumps back in surprise, the only reason she manages to avoid falling down the stairs being Akira’s quick reflexes as he reaches forward, grabs her hand and pulls her closer to himself, the red-head blushing intensely as the panic subsides. It takes Futaba a moment to recover as, her stares lingering on Akira’s eyes a little longer than strictly necessary, but manages to takes a step away from here before it becomes too suspicious.
“Futaba! Are you okay?” The first one to step forward to make sure she was fine after Akira was Makoto, the brown haired girl looking at the younger girl with some worry.
“I’m fine! I’m fine… He… Uh, He caught me, so I’m fine…” She does her best to sound like normal, but she is still visibly flustered, for more reasons than one.
“Sorry, we should have known better than to startle you so close to the stairs.” Makoto apologizes.
“It's fine! Really! I just… I figured Akira got my birthday out of Sojiro when I got his text just now… But I wasn’t expecting everyone to be here.” She explains, as she slowly relaxes, taking a look at the phantom thieves around, and beaming a smile to them. “But I’m happy to see everyone here. Hehe… Friends throwing a surprise party for me. I never thought I would be such a normie!”
“Anyways! Let’s get started!” Ann is the next one to speak, gesturing towards a nearby table lined up with all sorts of snacks, a nice cake acting as a centerpiece of sorts. And just like that, everyone happily gathered around the table, eating snacks and talking merrily with all of the phantom thieves offering Futaba a happy birthday.
The party continues, the group of teenagers laughing as they talk and spend time together. A couple of hours pass, when Ryuji speaks up, getting everyone’s attention. “Ya know… It’s a shame we didn’t get to do more parties like this.”
The room grows a little quieter as everyone looks down, with Ann being the first to speak up, glaring at him. "Don't say stuff like that Ryuiji!"
"She's right, Ryuji, you shouldn't talk like we will never get to hang together again." Haru quickly agrees with Ann.
"Yeah, but I mean, Akira is going back home next month, isn't he?" Ryuji responds defensively.
"My hometown isn't that far, I will definitely be back for summer vacation, and maybe golden week too." Akira is quick to chime in, trying to reassure everyone.
"He is right, even if we go our separate ways, as long as we remain friends, we can find the time to get together again." Makoto then adds with confidence, everyone's mood quickly improving as they realize the truth of her words.
"Geeze! Let's stop talking about this stuff, today is supposed to be a party!" Morgana then declares, the cat jumping on the table. "Let's change the subject… Oh! I know, why not give Futaba her present?" The not-cat asks as he turns to look at Joker, who immediately glares at him.
The rest of the phantom thieves look at Akira with surprise, and Futaba in particular blushing at the information Morgana just revealed.
"You got her a present? Why didn't you tell us? We could have pitched in." Makoto asks Joker.
"It's not that big a deal, just something I got last minute…" He attempts to deflect, but it's already too late, everyone is looking at him expectantly, even Futaba, despite how embarrassing this could prove to be she looks at him with sparkly and excited eyes.
Ultimately, he lets out a resigned sigh and reaches into his jacket's pocket, retrieving a small black box with a silver ribbon, placing it on Futaba's hands. "Happy birthday."
Futaba holds the box for a few moments, staring at it, before snapping back to reality and looking at Akira. "Ah… T-Thanks…" She manages to thank him before attempting to pocket the small box, but is quickly interrupted by Yusuke's voice.
"Will you not open it here? That's a very elegant box, so I admit I'm curious about its contents."
"Shut up Inari!" She quickly responded.
"C'mon! Don't be like that! I totes wanna know what it is too!" Ann joined in; now everyone was looking towards Futaba.
"I don't think we can avoid this anymore… If you don't open it now, they will probably just come up to their own conclusions" Akira then adds, a hint of resignation in his voice.
"O-Oh… Okay…" The bespectacled girl nods, and trying to swallow the knot in her throat she opens the box under everyone's stares.
"Oh my…" Haru says, bringing a hand up to cover her gasp of surprise.
"Is that…?" Ann can't bring herself to finish her sentence.
"Mmmm… It has a certain elegance as I had thought…" Yusuke muses to himself.
"Oh, I see now…" Makoto says with a little nod.
"Wait, are you two…?" Ryuji looks between Futaba and Akira.
"Maybe I shouldn't have brought the present up after all…" Morgana says, sounding guilty.
"I have never gotten anything like this before…" Futaba stares intently at her present, a beautiful heart shaped ring.
"Since Morgana is already out of the bag…" Akira starts.
"Oy!" Morgana responds, sounding offended, but Akira just grins at him before he continues.
"I guess we may as well come clean… We are dating" He says confidently as he wraps around Futaba's shoulders, the girl looking red as a tomato.
"For real!?" Ryuji is the first to react, the blond boy expressing more surprise than is likely proper.
"I did say I like smart girls back in Hawaii" The black haired boy quickly replies with a small chuckle.
"Well, yeah, but I figured you meant Makoto or something… Futaba is a bit of a surprise" Ryuji continues, blissfully unaware of the looks the rest of the group is already throwing his way.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Futaba responds, indignation managing to triumph over the embarrassment she was feeling only a moment ago.
"This is why you are not popular with girls" Ann quickly jumps into the conversation, a judging look aimed at Ryuji.
"I didn't mean it like that! It's just that we barely knew Futaba back then!" He tries to defend himself, looking at the rest of the group as he finally realizes he has put his foot in his mouth.
With a Shake of his head, Joker decides to throw him a bone, it wouldn't do for the girls to beat him up… again, honestly, he still deserves an apology from last time. "I guess that's fair, but I did mean her even back then. Frankly I fell hard and fast for her."
"Eh? R-Really?" Futaba quickly turns to Akira, her face flushed red as she processes what he just said.
"well yeah… you are really my type. Honestly I wasn't planning to make a move, you were barely recovering from your agoraphobia, and I assumed you weren't ready for romance… But not only did you prove too cute to resist, you also turned out to be stronger than I thought."
There is a silence as Akira finishes talking and everyone takes a moment to process what he said, a silence then broken by Ann hitting Ryuji's arm." You should be taking notes, that's how you talk to girls"
There is a quick chorus of laughter as they all finally relax, the first one to speak this time being Haru. "What about you Futaba-chan? May we hear your side of the story?"
"Ugh… can we change the subject? I feel like I'm about to overheat, I don't think my little heart can take all this attention." She responds, trying to shrink down and hide from everyone's gaze with less than success.
"Yeah, we should let her be for now, It's her birthday after all, it won't do to have her die of embarrassment." Makoto interjects with a joking tone.
"Alright, but we have to do a girls' night out soon!" Ann cheerfully proposes, and the rest of the girls agree immediately, except for Futaba, of course, who while she is a little excited, she still looks like she is already dreading the day. And yet the party continues, jokes and laughter going around as everyone enjoys themselves and a merry mood takes over the group. By the end of it Futaba is almost looking forward to that girls' night, almost like she was some sort of normie.