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Goro wakes up to the sun hitting his eyes.
Which isn’t abnormal.
What is abnormal, is the lack of smell of coffee in the air.
He double checks, but no, Akira is not in bed with him.
Worried, he gets up and makes his way out of his bedroom.
A quick search of his apartment revealed no Kurusu Akira or Morgana, and Goro questioned whether Akira actually stayed the night or if he was just imagining stuff.
Sighing, he goes back to his room, and that’s when he notices a small note on the nightstand next to Akira’s side of the bed.
(Yes, loath to admit as he is, Akira does stay over enough to actually have a side of the bed.)
Curious, he pickles it up.
Good Morning honey!
Sorry, I have some stuff to take care of today, but I’ll see you at LeBlanc tonight, okay?
Lots of kisses, Akira
Sentimental fool, that’s what he is.
Then again, if the fond smile playing on his lips is anything to go by, Goro might just be as much of a sentimental fool as his boyfriend.
And despite it being a few months now -four, ever since February, but who’s counting-, the idea of Kurusu Akira being Akechi Goro’s boyfriend is one that he still can’t wrap his head around.
Then again, he’s pretty sure only Akira would actually date his killer.
Looking at the time, Goro starts planning his Akira-less day.
…he hasn’t had one in so long, actually.
Akira’s always with him, and Goro says nothing because he knows that Akira’s just scared of losing him.
Again.
It might have been two years since then, but it still doesn't make the things they all went through any less real and painful.
His phone’s buzzing snaps him out of his temporary trip down memory lane.
Stifling a yawn, he picks it up.
Futaba: Are
Futaba: You
Futaba: READY!!!!!!!!!
Futaba: walhflwhugiawhòga I’M SO EXCITEDDDDDD
Goro: I can see that
Futaba: Oh shut up I know you’re just as excited
Goro: I can’t deny that
Futaba: Either way, see you at 10
Futaba: If you’re even one minute late I’m going in without you
Goro: Who do you take me for
Turning off his phone, Goro decides to go and take a shower.
“THERE YOU ARE! You’re late.”
Goro doesn’t comment on her volume, but she seems to still get it because she gives him an apologetic look.
“It’s still fifteen minutes until the showing.”
“Still! This is Featherman. The new movie! That is premiering today! Do you have any idea how hard it was to get us these tickets?!”
“You told me. And Akira. Multiple times. So yes, yes I do know.”
She flips him off, “Show some respect. If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t be here.”
She’s right, of course. The tickets sold out almost immediately.
“As if. I would have gotten a ticket myself.”
Goro’s not so sure he could have, actually.
At least not with the same efficiency Futaba had.
And by efficiency he means that she hacked in and bought them the tickets hours before the pre-sale started.
What can he say, the perks of his boyfriend’s little sister being a computer genius are many.
(He tries not to think about what he did to said computer genius. About what he took from her, about all that he put through. They’d talked about it, back when he had reappeared in Akira’s life- and thus hers as well. She said that the past was in the past. He only has to believe her.)
“I can’t believe they actually did it.”
Goro has to keep himself from laughing at her absolutely stunned expression.
“The fans have been asking for it for years now. The subtext was always there.”
“Yeah, as a subtext ! I can’t believe it! They actually-”
She whips around, grabs him by the shoulders -a surely hilarious sight given the height difference between them.
“Akechi. I need to hear it. Tell me you saw it too. I didn’t hallucinate.”
“Black and Red kissed, yes. You didn’t imagine that.”
“OH MY GOOOOOOD!”
And just like that, she’s back to a full on freak out.
Deciding that the best thing to do is to wait it out, Goro takes out his phone.
Akira: How was the movie?
Goro: Black and Red kissed
Akira: Oh damn
Akira: Is Futaba okay?
Goro: Currently having a freakout
Akira: As expected
Goro: And what are you doing?
Akira: Stuff
Goro: Right.
Goro: Stuff important enough that you missed the movie?
Akira: We’ll watch it together when it drops online
Goro: Obviously.
Goro: But that doesn’t answer my question
Akira: Yeah, this is pretty important.
Akira: Gotta go now
Akira: Love you
Goro…has an odd feeling about this.
Akira usually never keeps secrets from him.
Goro’s the one with secrets.
Yes, they’ve only been dating for a few months, and they’ve had their issues -and Goro’s learned how to accommodate Akira, to never shut a door between the two of them, to never loom over him, to always make his presence known and to not sneak up on him.
But Goro still thought they’ve been doing well.
The Thieves accepted them, he even talked things out with Futaba and Haru, and therapy’s been going well too, for both of them.
Was there something yesterday?
Did he miss a sign or something?
But the more he thought about it the more normal last night seemed.
Akira cooked them dinner, they washed the dishes together, then moved to the couch to watch a trashy movie, Akira’s head in his lap, Goro playing with his raven locks.
When Akira had fallen asleep, Goro had woken him up and they went to bed.
So, nothing out of the ordinary.
“You’re thinking so loudly I can hear you from here.”
Futaba’s voice halts his over analyzing of last night.
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
She gives him an unimpressed look and starts walking towards the station.
Deciding that she’d probably know, Goro decides to ask her.
“Futaba. Do you know what Akira is doing?”
She grins at him, “Oh? What, you’re angry you don’t know what he’s up to?”
He is not.
It’s not about anger, it’s just…
Weird of Akira to be so avoidant, that’s all.
“No, I’m not. I just want to know.”
“Then ask him.”
“Wow, that was absolutely fucking useless Futaba, thank you. As if I didn’t already try that.”
“Then I have nothing to say to you. My brother’s secrets are safe with me.”
Goro keeps his mouth shut, because if he speaks he’s sure the string of curses would be seen as too much even from him.
He’s back home, wondering if he’s hungry enough to justify the effort cooking up something requires, when he receives a text.
Sae: Are you available?
Sae: We have new info about the Yoshino case I would like to go over with you
Sae: We can meet up over lunch if you haven’t eaten yet.
Well, that solves his problem.
Goro: We can meet in 20
Sae: Perfect, I’ll send you the place.
So, one change of outfit -he was not going to a meeting with Niijima Sae in a Featherman hoodie, not today- and a train ride later he finds himself in a small restaurant in front of the defense attorney.
“Thank you for meeting me on such short notice Goro-kun.”
“Of course Sae-san. Well then, I believe you said you have new information?”
She nods her head, but makes no move to grab her briefcase.
“We should order something first. I’ll tell you once we start eating.”
Sae’s concern about his eating habits is not new or uncalled for.
Had she not called he most certainly would have skipped lunch.
“Very well then. I’ll have some ramen in that case.”
He lets her call over the waiter and order for the both of them, and his thoughts drift back to Akira.
Everyone says that Goro has bad eating habits, but Akira’s just as bad.
When he gets in his head, he can go for hours without touching food, and has skipped meals multiple times because of it.
So, he sends him a text, asking how he’s doing and reminding him to eat.
Like a good boyfriend would.
When he pockets the phone, he finds Sae looking at him, her head propped on her chin, and giving him a knowing look.
“Was that Akira?”
Deciding that denying it is not worth the effort, he nods.
“I haven’t seen him in a while…do say hi to him when you see him next, would you?”
“Of course Sae-san.”
She smiles, “You know, I’m very glad you came back.”
He…did not expect that turn of conversation.
“When I saw you at the hospital that first time, you looked so…empty. Almost as if…you no longer had a purpose. But when I visited again in February and told you about how Akira was in jail, you…you got this look in your eyes, and a few days later an anonymous tip about the woman involved in the original charge came in? Yeah.” She trails off, and Goro has to wonder where she’s going with this.
“I saw that determination again the day you left, when you made me promise not to tell Akira or the others that you were alive. It made me trust you. That’s why I didn’t tell anyone.”
Well, Goro had wondered about it.
About why Sae actually listened and didn’t tell anyone he was alive during his two years in Kamakura at the rehab facility.
“In that case, again, thank-”
She raises a hand and stops him.
“I’m not done. A few months after, in July, when the whole EMMA incident happened, I saw Akira again for the first time since he left jail. He looked lost, just like you did in that hospital bed. And again, when I helped him in the custody battle with his parents and Sakura-san, he still looked like he was missing something. Or rather, someone. When I realized that, I started wondering whether letting you go without telling Akira anything was the right choice.”
Goro had of course heard about the whole EMMA fiasco.
He had even considered helping the Thieves, especially knowing they were down a member because Yoshizawa was, according to national news, participating in a tournament in Germany to prepare for the upcoming World Championships.
(She ended up winning, both the tournament and the Championships.
Goro has to admit he was very proud of her when he heard the news.)
“I…I didn’t know Akira took it so hard…”
He knew, of course, that Akira had missed him.
The boy had said it enough times for it to stick.
But…
Sae gives him a soft smile, “But seeing you two now that you’ve found each other again? I’m quite sure I’ve never seen either of you look so content.”
Goro supposes content is the correct word.
He has a satisfying job -both with the Kirijo Group and with Sae as her assistant-, a boyfriend, friends…
All things he never thought he’d have.
He never, ever would have thought all of this possible.
The idea of actually having Kurusu Akira as his, not only as a rival but in any other sense that mattered -his friend, his boyfriend, his partner, his home- was not one Goro had ever fathomed as possible.
“I’m glad I came back too, Sae-san.”
“Goro-san! Thank you so much for coming all this way to pick me up!”
He waves her off, grabbing her suitcase instead and putting it in the back of the car.
“It’s nothing. I know it’s usually Akira who picks you up, but he was busy today.”
She smiles brightly at him as she puts on her seatbelt.
“Oh I know, he told me. He said he’ll be waiting for me at LeBlanc.”
With one last check in the central rearview mirror, Goro turns on the engine.
“Then do you want to go straight there or home first?”
She doesn’t even hesitate when she says LeBlanc first.
Oh well, who is he to deny her?
Once they’re on the highway, he glances at her.
She’s changed a lot in the two years since he last saw her.
She looks more confident and determined, for one.
More sure of herself and her place and identity in the world.
Goro’s proud of her.
For deciding to fight back then, and for not giving up despite the many difficulties he’s sure she had to face to get where she is now.
“So, how are things here? Did I miss anything these past month?”
“Not much. Ann came back from Paris last week though.”
“Oh that’s good. She’s become really famous, hasn’t she?”
That she has.
It’s ironic really.
The infamous Phantom Thieves, and most of them are famous people now.
An internationally famous model, a world renowned athlete, the new CEO of Okumura Foods and a famous artist.
Well, at least keeping tabs on them is easier for the police.
Whole even two years later are in fact keeping the ex-Phantom Thieves on their radar.
Especially Akira, if the number of dates they were followed through is anything to go by.
Sumire takes off her glasses to wipe them, “And how is senpai doing? Has he decided on what to do?”
And isn’t that a question.
After graduation Akira decided to take a sabbatical year.
Although his year is shaping up to be two years, because he still has no idea what to do.
He even hasn’t answered Kirijo about her offer yet, which is uncharacteristic of Akira.
“Not as far as I’m aware. I’m getting kind of worried, actually. He says he’s fine with things as they are, but…I can tell that seeing everyone around him strive for a specific goal isn’t doing him any favors. But he won’t tell me anything.”
Sumire rests a hand on his leg, her touch gentle and almost not there.
He’s pretty sure had it been anyone other than her he would have batted her hand off of him.
He’s always had a soft spot for her, he supposes.
“I’m sure you’ll be the first person he talks to, Goro-san. It’s Akira-senpai we’re talking about. He trusts you more than anyone else.”
(He really shouldn’t, a part of him says. It’s quickly smothered by the warm presence that is Hereward.)
“I really hope so, Sumire.”
Goro parks somewhere close by to LeBlanc, and the two of them make their way towards the cafe.
The drive was long, what with traffic and the routine car accident on the highway, so it’s already evening.
Sumire has a gift bag in her hands, and Goro can only assume it’s yet another present for Akira.
She seems to have made it a tradition to always get Akira something when she goes abroad.
Akira treasures every single thing she gets him.
Then again, Akira does have a tendency to collect nicknacks, especially if they’re related to his friends.
(He even still has that chessboard they used back in that damned year. The sentimental fool.)
When they reach the cafè, the lights are turned off, and Goro feels his heart sink.
Did something happen to Akira?
No, no, maybe he just closed early and went home?
But…
‘I’ll see you at LeBlanc tonight’
“Goro-san?”
Sumire’s worried tone has him snap back to the present.
Right.
He can do this.
Slowly, he grabs the door handle and finds it unlocked.
Akira never forgets to lock up.
He pushes the door open and is greeted by a dark and empty cafè.
It feels wrong, to see this place he’s come to associate with warmth and…love, be so…devoid of life.
He reaches out for the light switch he knows is next to the wall.
And then, multiple things happen at once.
All of the thieves jump out from behind the booths and the counter, shouting ‘surprise!’ at the top of their lungs and setting off party poppers.
Sumire, who was behind him, says her own ‘surprise’, in a much softer tone.
And Akechi Goro has what he’s pretty sure can be classified as a heart attack.
They all seem to notice the way he flinched and then froze if the disappearing smiles from their faces is any indication.
Akira steps closer, his expression gentle, “Goro? Is everything okay?”
And suddenly the many eyes on him feel like too much, reminding him too much of his days as the Detective Prince, always under scrutiny, be it the public’s, the media’s or his father’s.
So, Goro does the only sensible things.
He turns on his heels and leaves.
He doesn’t get too far before Akira catches up.
Not that he expected anything else of the idiot.
“Goro, wait!”
And Goro’s always had a hard time saying no to Akira.
He does, of course.
But everytime he does it takes more effort than he cares to admit.
“What is it?”
“I’m…”
Akira trails off, looking uncertain on what to say.
Goro studies him, the way he’s slightly out of breath from having run after him, the slight bags under his eyes from the nightmares he’s had last night.
“I’m sorry if that was too much for you,” is what he settles on, “We just wanted to surprise you.”
“Is this the ‘stuff’ you were busy with the entire day?”
Akira nods, “Sorry. I had to get everything ready. And make the cake. That one took much longer than expected.”
Goro raises an eyebrow at that, and Akira chuckles, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.
“I couldn’t find almonds anywhere Goro. I had to go to like five different stores. And then the oven wouldn’t work, so I had to call Sojiro who called some guy over and apparently it had blown a fuse so I had to look for another place to bake the cake, so Ann offered her place. Moving everything was…a struggle. But I managed, and it came out pretty well if I say so myself.”
The idea of Akira running around all day all to make him a surprise for his birthday, warms Goro’s heart in a way only Akira can manage.
With a sigh, he leans against the wall, and Akira mimics him.
“I haven’t had a birthday party in so long…since my mother died.”
He can feel the way Akira stills.
Goro can’t blame him.
He rarely brings up his mother.
“That day, she took me to the zoo. And when we went back, she bought me a cupcake. Her present was the Featherman Ray Gun…that was also the last time I saw her genuinely happy. She killed herself a few weeks later.”
Akira doesn’t move.
He doesn’t do or say anything.
He just looks at Goro in that expression that two years ago he would have mistaken for pity.
Now, he sees it for what it is.
Genuine love and concern.
How foolish was he, to be so blind to it all.
“If…if you don’t want to have a party, we can go back home, you know?”
Home.
Even if he has a room in the Sakura house, even if he technically still lives with them, Akira always refers to Goro’s apartment as ‘home’.
Goro’s pretty sure he’d say something sappy like ‘it’s because home is where the heart is.’
“There is no need. We can go back to LeBlanc.”
Akira looks at him, no doubt searching for some sign that Goro would in fact prefer going back home.
When he finds nothing, he nods and gently reaches for Goro’s hand.
“Okay. Okay, let’s go then.”
He allows Akira to lead them back, but before they can enter, he tugs on his boyfriend’s arm.
“Goro?”
“Thank you,” he says, without meeting Akira’s eyes, “You didn’t have to do all this.”
Akira looks at him like he’s grown another head.
“Of course I did! You’re twenty now! An adult! Of course we have to celebrate!”
Oh.
Oh, he is, isn’t he.
He’s now twenty years old.
He…he never thought he’d live past eighteen.
“Oh. I…suppose I am.”
Akira, who seems to always know what to say, smiles at him.
“You’re here now. It doesn’t matter, not anymore. It’s fine now.”
And Goro believes him.
Ann got him a designer shirt from Paris.
Makoto got him an expensive brand of wine, from her sister, and another one of sake from herself.
Ryuji got him a board game that seems actually interesting.
Futaba insisted that her present was getting him the movie ticket.
Yusuke presented him with a painting.
Sumire gave him a beautiful glass vase she got from Venice
Haru, who he expected nothing from, gave him a fountain pen.
Morgana got him the latest book in the series he usually reads late at night, with Akira’s head resting in his lap when sleep evades him for too long.
The party had been nice and simple, and soon Akechi finds himself walking through the cafè doors again after having taken Sumire home.
When he’d left, Ann, Ryuji and Futaba were still in, but now it’s only Akira.
“Morgana?”
Akira smiles, “With Futaba.”
“I see…well, are you going back home with me or-”
He doesn’t even get to finish.
Akira picks up his bag and shoots him a look that says ‘are you even hearing yourself.’
“Let’s go.”
Now, here’s the thing.
Goro didn’t expect anything for his birthday.
Hell, he’d even forgotten about it.
But as he drives the two of them home, he can’t help but wonder why Akira hasn’t given him anything.
He knows Akira, he always puts a lot of thought and effort into his presents.
So…where’s his?
They reach the apartment building, take the elevator up and make their way to the door of Goro’s apartment, and Akira gives absolutely no indication that he has anything to give him.
Once they’re inside, Goro moves to the kitchen to put the two bottles from the Niijima sisters in the cupboard, and that’s when he finds the wrapped box on the table.
He turns around and sees Akira leaning against the doorway, a fond smile on his face.
“Happy birthday Goro. Hope you like it.”
“When did you…?”
“After you left to pick up Sumi. I knew you wouldn’t be back until now, so I swung by and left it here.”
“You don’t have the keys.”
Akira rolls his eyes and scoffs, “Oh please honey, I’m a thief. A simple locked door is child’s play.”
Really, Goro thinks this is his sign from the universe to just give Akira that copy of the keys he’s been debating for a week now on whether to give it to him or not and if so how.
“Come on now, open it.”
Curious, Goro does just as Akira said.
And inside is a scrapbook.
Gingerly he picks it up, aware of Akira’s attention on his every move.
It’s full of pictures, most of them from the past four months but there are few Goro recognizes as from that infamous year.
“Akira, I…”
“It’s all of the memories we made. In our true reality. The one where you chose to come back to me. And I am forever thankful and grateful you did. I love you, Goro.”
Putting it down, Goro turns around and grabs Akira by the waist, swallowing the yelp he lets out with his own lips.
Kissing Akira, just like that first time in February, is perfect.
The way his soft lips move against his own, keeping up flawlessly with Goro’s hunger and burning desire.
The way his body always goes pliant under Goro’s touch, the way his arms always reach up to wrap around his neck as if to pull him even closer and keep him from leaving ever again.
The way it’s Akira.
Because it could have only been Akira.
Akira and nobody else.
“I love you too, Akira.”