Work Text:
I remember going
Out to see the big rocks
went without you knowing
Hope you're not too mad
I go a lot
Akira knew Morgana didn't like him seeing Akechi. “He’s dangerous, Akira. You shouldn’t hang around him so much.” He'd once said.
Akira didn't care though. Not enough at least.
He wanted to spend time with Akechi, more than he should've.
It started slow: billiards, cafes, game after game just to one up each other.
Then it was deep conversations in Jazz Jin - their, now shared, secret spot that even Morgana didn't know about.
Their meetings became more frequent from then on. Challenging the other in debates of philosophy. Both eager to outshine one another in their respective wells of information.
Morgana eventually began asking what he was doing at night that kept him out so late, but Akira would always shrug and sneak his way out of answering.
His outings with Akechi were his secret to keep, his little indulgences amidst a world that relied on him.
No one needed to know that.
And I remember thinking
maybe we could just pretend tonight
For just tonight
Akira first noticed that Akechi looked at him differently on the third night that they went to Jazz Jin.
He knew Akechi was beginning to trust him - only a little, but with someone so skittish as him, a little meant a lot. He knew that Akechi had been vulnerable when first showing him to the jazz bar, and he’d maintained it during each conversation since.
At some point, or maybe the whole time, his eyes became soft - not in the cutesy way when he was portraying an idol on TV, but in a way that showed he was relaxed.
If Akira was feeling particularly weak that night, he'd say Akechi looked at him fondly.
But it wasn't real, at least not completely, and that Akira knew.
Akechi didn't really trust him, not enough to show who he really was.
He may have shared his interests, his past, his vast philosophical knowledge, but never his real smile, a real laugh, or real affection for Akira.
But sometimes, when he felt weak and tired, and at peace in Akechi’s presence, he liked to pretend it was real.
I wanna wake up with you
I wanna wake up feeling tired
I wanna wake up with you
I wanna lay there for awhile
Their conversations changed from sugary mocktails to coffee.
Akira began sending Morgana off to Futaba when Akechi came over, politely asking her to also turn off the bug in the cafe so that he could have some alone time (he didn't think she did though).
So he started their conversations light, making subtle gestures to the Detective to make sure he knew that they were being listened to.
Then, with coffee in hand, and the chess board under his arm, he'd invite Akechi up to his room where prying ears couldn't hear them.
Then the real conversations began.
Over sharp witted games they debated, they indulged, and they shared little secrets.
One night their game had become particularly passionate, and Goro missed the last train home.
“It's fine, I'll get a taxi.”
“You can stay here for the night.”
Akechi was stunned by his forwardness, blinking owlishly a few times. “I beg your pardon?”
“Stay.” He repeated. “Tomorrow is Sunday, so you don't have to be ready for school. You can just leave first thing in the morning.”
“I can't possibly accept such graciousness after everything else.”
“I insist.” Akira shuffled over to his box of belongings, pulling out a spare set of lounge wear. “You can take my bed.”
Akechi, still silenced in shock, simply took the clothes from his hands, looking back and forth between them and Akira. “Thank you, Kurusu.”
They got ready for bed in peaceful silence - his clothes fit Akechi perfectly, becoming only slightly taught from his better build.
Akechi laid on his bed, and Akira took the couch, stealing glances at Akechi in the moonlight.
“Are you still awake?” Akechi eventually asked him, auburn eyes glowing from the moon.
“Yeah.” Akira hummed, playing with his fingers. “I don't have many people stay the night.”
“I feel honored.” Akechi turned on his side, fully facing him. “I haven't had to share a room in ages. I'm paid well for my work so I have my own space, but it can be quite lonely sometimes.”
“I'd be happy to come over every now and then.”
Akechi laughed at him, soft and sleepy. “Perhaps one day.”
But that don't change that you're a
Liar, a liar
Akira knew Akechi lied to him all the time.
But Akechi didn't know that Akira never lied to him.
Akira excluded the truth, but never lied.
“You're well versed in music history.” Akechi had said.
“I listened to a lot of music growing up.”
(‘It made me feel less alone.')
“My, you have more of a green thumb than I anticipated.” Akechi looked at the flourishing plant in his room.
“I like taking care of things.”
(‘Because I wasn't taken care of as well.’)
“I didn’t take you as a fan of aquariums.”
“Yeah, I think they're fun.”
(‘Only when I'm with you.’)
'Cause I'm not buying the things you wanna say
I've heard 'em all now anyway
You're such a liar
My favorite liar
“Akira, you should really stop seeing Akechi.” Morgana told him before he entered Leblanc one evening on seeing the Detective's figure through the door. “We know what he did to Haru's father-”
“I know, Mona…”
It had only been a few days after the press conference.
The world turned on them in an instant, and all the Phantom Thieves were depressed and equally motivated to take down the Black Mask.
Which was why Morgana now threatened to turn on him.
“I'll tell the others.”
“No you won't.” Akira stated simply, knowing Morgana was much too loyal and much too kind to spill what made Akira happy, even if it would hurt him in the future.
Akira entered Leblanc.
“Welcome home, Kurusu.”
“Honey, I'm home.”
Akechi laughed. “You're back awfully late.”
They spent the night together again.
It became a habit.
At least once a week, Akechi would miss the train home, and stay with Akira for the night. It wasn't confined to weekends anymore, and he’d gained a suspicion that Akechi had begun to do it on purpose on the nights when he'd notice the Detective's attaché case thunking a little heavier on the ground.
It was always filled with skincare products and a clean set of clothes for the next day.
“Since it seems to have become a habit of ours, I figured it best to come prepared.”
That was one of the lies Akira liked.
I remember weekends
Fighting over everything
I can almost taste it
The bloody lip you left me with that night
Akechi was beautiful in the metaverse.
He was always beautiful but the masterful way he carried himself, the repressed ferocity he fought shadows with, how fulfilled he felt being able to take an entire row of enemies out by himself, it all made him more alluring to Akira.
So when they went to Mementos alone, and Goro turned his gun to Akira, he'd only thought about how beautiful he was when he was being honest.
They held themselves back when they fought. Both of them knew that plenty well.
If they didn't, it would end in a result neither wanted.
At some point their battle with personas ceased, and changed to a thrilling fist fight - gloves removed in favor of the power of skin on skin.
Akechi had a hell of a punch, splitting Akira’s lips and cheeks open.
Not that Akechi was faring any better: his flawless skin now covered in blood from where Akira’s own fist had broken it.
It was painful and sore before the healing spell.
Akira can't remember feeling more alive.
Kiss me one last time
“I hate you.”
Akechi had said after their fight.
Shibuya station was empty, other than a few stragglers - random faces in a crowd that wouldn't pay attention to them.
It was like they’d never left Mementos.
“Your deft handling of your unfortunate circumstances, your uniqueness, your ability to surpass me - all these irritate me.”
Akechi’s usually pleasant face had turned to a scowl, baring teeth, bearing the truth.
“You’re the one person I refuse to lose to.”
That was one moment where Akira knew he wasn’t lying.
“Can I be selfish for a moment?” Akira asked in response.
That cleared the irritation from Akechi’s expression, changing to one of shock. “You really are- Fine, indulge me.”
Akechi was like a stray cat - yearning for love yet too jaded and scared to do anything but bite the hand that wants to pet it.
So normally, Akira was hesitant around Akechi.
But right now, in this second of truth between them, Akira reached for the fangs, pulling Akechi in by the back of his neck to kiss him.
It was only a few seconds. Akechi stood stiff as a board the whole time.
When Akira pulled back, he was sure Akechi would slap him. Maybe if he ran away quick enough, he’d make it to the train before Akechi could react and they could try and forget it even happened.
Instead, Akechi drew him back in for a fierce kiss.
They held onto each other tightly, Akechi pushing him against the wall of the empty station. Not that it mattered if anyone was watching. To Akira, there was nothing beyond them right now.
When they finally pulled back from one another, Akira could only whisper one question.
“Come home with me?”
I wanna wake up with you
I wanna show you what it's like
Despite the upcoming deadline, their inevitable separation, and Akira's impending death, they spent many more nights together.
In the darkness of Leblanc’s dingy attic, naked bodies tangled together on the rickety bed to keep the cold of November away.
Akira found out that he loved listening to Akechi’s heartbeat.
He loved to lay his head on the Detective’s chest, Akechi’s calloused fingers combing through his curls, and listen to his steady heart, to his lungs as they drew in a new breath.
He loved listening to Akechi being alive.
I wanna be the one to show you what
You're missing every night
Oh every night
“Do we have to send the card tomorrow?” Akira asked him.
It was November 17th, the day before they would send the calling card.
Just days before Akechi would kill him.
And yet, they spent the night together, indulging themselves for the last time.
“Yes. We would all be in trouble if we don’t.” Akechi’s voice had become as soft as his eyes, drawing lazy circles into Akira’s spine, the other hand petting black curls where Akira laid on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. It was faster tonight.
“We could figure something out-”
“We’ve had this conversation, Akira.” Akechi stopped him. “This is how it has to go.”
The words held the same weight to each of them.
Akechi would betray Akira, and Akira in turn would betray him.
Instead of fighting it further, Akira pulled himself up, dragging soft kisses over the skin of Akechi’s chest, up his neck, then finally meeting his lips.
Normally, they were challenging, always trying to win. But right now, in the quiet, cold night, Akechi matched Akira’s tenderness. His hands hadn’t moved from where they were on Akira’s body, instead using his position to bring them closer together.
“I’ll miss you, honey.” Akira had whispered against his lips.
“I’ll see you again.”
It's too bad that you're a
Liar, a liar
Akira didn’t die on November 20th. But his attic became infinitely colder.
His body was sore and bruised, but not in the way he wanted to be.
There was a body next to him, but Morgana’s fur against his side wasn’t the same as a heartbeat under his ear and hands in his hair.
‘I’ll see you again.’
The words haunted Akira.
‘I’ll see you again.’ Did he mean when he'd shoot him?
‘I’ll see you again.’ Did he mean he would die too?
‘I’ll see you again.’ Was it just another lie?
“Hey.” Morgana's voice broke his thoughts. His little companion came to curl around his head, careful of his bruises. “You shouldn’t move so much, you’ll only hurt yourself more.”
Akira just groaned, turning his face into Morgana’s fur. It wasn’t warm skin, but it was soft and breathing. Safe. Alive.
“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?”
“Is it that obvious?” His voice was still raw from the interrogation, words slurring just a little from leftover drugs. “Are you gonna tell me to stop?”
“I gave up on that.” Morgana pressed his nose into Akira’s hair. It wasn’t calloused fingers, but it was still comforting. “I just hope you can move on.”
Hold yourself up higher and higher
Akira didn’t move on, but he pretended he did.
He put on a brave face for his team and pretended his fractured knee didn’t hurt, that his ribs didn’t still ache, and most of all, that his heart didn’t hurt more than anything else for the boy that was supposed to kill him.
Each step in Shido’s palace was a painful reminder he had to pretend didn’t affect him.
A reminder of what Shido had done to his team, to him, to Akechi.
Everything taken like it was water off his back.
The truth was that it felt like he was drowning instead.
Drowning deeper and deeper to the belly of the ship.
Instinctually, feeling his instincts sense something unusual, feeling his heart tug to something above him, calling, guiding…
Lies.
Akechi flipped down elegantly from the pipes, approaching him with vitriol in his eyes like they were enemies (they were but they weren’t). “Color me impressed by your abilities to trick me. You never cease to be interesting.” The compliment was dripping with venom.
Akechi never complimented him; never blatantly, and most definitely never without a price.
The thieves asked him questions of ‘why’ and ‘how could you’, and Akechi, beautiful as ever, more beautiful with his pleasant mask thrown away, laughed at them and divulged their questions.
Akira listened, but he already knew everything from late nights of chess and tangled limbs in his bed.
Akechi may not have told him directly, but Akira was no fool, he could put the pieces together.
“Unfortunately, I cannot let you or your band of fools continue. Shido is my kill.”
“Well that’s too damn bad! We’re taking his rotten heart!” Skull yelled in retaliation, the rest of the team already drawing into defensive positions. Akira remained.
And Akechi laughed. Wild and manic and honest . So brutally honest.
Akira only ever heard whispers of this laugh when they were alone in his room together, only when he’d brought Akira beneath him, only after he’d won.
This one was the full thing. There was no sugary coat, no pleasant mask, just mania and truth.
“I would like to see you try.”
'Cause I'm not buying the things you wanna say
I've heard 'em all now anyway
They fought without holding back.
And Akira couldn’t help but mourn how beautiful Akechi was.
Even when Akechi revealed his true form, the striped bodysuit reminding him of nights where he’d memorized the body that wore it, unhinged mania and fangs in his movements as he cried for them to die.
Each heavy blow they put on one another was just a reminder of the nights they’d spent together.
Eventually, both drained of all their power, it was the Phantom Thieves who stood victorious.
Akira didn’t feel like he won.
“In the end…I couldn’t be special.”
You’re so special.
What he didn’t say, the rest of the team did. They acknowledged Akechi’s wit, his power, his flaws; all things Akira had come to love in their nights together. They didn’t have to forgive him, Akira didn’t either, but…
“Wanna come along and help us settle things?” Panther asked.
It seemed his mind was not so different from his team’s.
“Are you all idiots?” Akechi retorted, but there were no more fangs. “You should get rid of me…if you don’t want me getting your way.”
“Akechi-”
Akira was stopped by the figure coming from the shadows.
It was Akechi, in his school uniform, but whispers of shadow viscera danced at his feet, and his auburn eyes held none of the life Akira loved in them.
“It’s Shido’s cognition of Akechi!” Mona stated as the shadow trained his gun on the real Akechi’s kneeling body.
“Captain Shido’s orders. He has no need for losers.” His voice was devoid of the challenge his real version always had. A blank, empty husk. “He was going to get rid of you after the election anyway.”
“What?!”
“Did you truly believe you would be spared?”
The cognition rambled on but Akira’s eyes were solely trained on the gun, tuning out everyone else as he tried to come up with something . He was too hurt to move fast enough, his gun low on ammo, and it would be far too flashy to call on his persona.
“So, he’s making a puppet kill me…” No .
“That’s right. I’ll do anything.” I would do anything to help you . “You’re the true puppet. You wanted to be acknowledged, didn’t you? To be loved?” I love you.
“It’s still not too late! We can change his heart together!” Noir called, axe drawn and ready despite her clear fatigue.
“Want me to take care of you first?” The cognition growled, shadows appearing behind him at his command. “I’ll let someone volunteer to take his place. Who knows, you might delay his death.”
Was that really the only way?
“You guys are all about doing things for others, aren’t you?” The cognition turned his gaze back to the real Akechi. “Here. I’ll give you one last chance. Shoot them.”
Akechi, in his pain and exhaustion, stood tall. “I was such a fool.”
He pointed his gun to Akira. The rest of the Phantom Thieves took a step to protect him as he took a step forward to the gun.
“Yes…that’s the you our captain wishes to see.”
“Don’t misunderstand.” Akechi’s eyes met his, a silent plea. Akira stopped. “You’re the one who’s going to disappear!”
In the blink of an eye, Akechi swivelled to his cognition, the two shooting one another.
No.
Akechi turned back to him, but his eyes looked past him, and another shot rang through.
No.
You're such a liar
An announcement rang over the blaring sirens as the watertight door rushed up right in front of Akira’s face.
“NO!” He finally yelled, banging at the door in synchronization with Skull.
“Hurry and go!” Akechi called from the other side. Akira slammed his fists harder.
“You fool! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!” Fox called from behind him.
My favorite liar
“Let’s make a deal, okay? You won’t say no, will you?” Akira could hear the strain in Akechi’s voice. “Change Shido’s heart in my stead…end his crimes…please!”
“Goro please!” Akira desperately called out, trying to puncture the door with his dagger but the metal only screeched. “I lo-”
“I know.” Akechi’s voice softened like those nights, calling to his heart, speaking in honesty. “Akira…please. Change his heart.”
Akira’s anguished fighting turned to solemn acceptance, hand reaching into his pocket for the glove that Goro had left him after their last night together. A promise to return.
“I’ll hold onto your glove.”
Akechi chuckled sadly. “You really are…” He heard metal claws scraping against the other side of the door, using it to drag himself up. “I’m glad to have met you, Akira.”
I've got room to grow
I know I'm missing home
The weeks till Christmas went by in a blur.
They changed Shido’s heart, but he felt empty. Rage only came in bursts during the fight, then the emptiness flooded back over.
Even as they trudged through the depths of Mementos and found the horrid goblet in the center, he only felt that despondent emptiness.
The only moment that he felt emotions returned was as he watched his team fizzle from existence. One by one they died before his eyes.
And as he laid on the ground, hand extended to the blacked, bloody sky, he only hoped that his soul would be reunited with Akechi’s.
But you think I'm alone
He didn't really die though.
Instead, he shot a god in the head and saved the world.
A world which had turned back to normal in time for Christmas.
“I want you to turn yourself in to the police.” Sae told him.
His reward for saving the world was sacrificing himself once again.
“There’s no need for that.”
His heart twisted. That voice was so painfully familiar. Its final pleas haunting his every moment.
“Akechi?” Sae stunned.
Akira slowly turned his eyes, finding not a hallucination or some remnant of Mementos, but Akechi - truly there in his pretentious school uniform with not a single scratch on perfect skin. His breath caught in his throat.
“If they get their hands on the perpetrator, there'll be no need for him to turn himself in.”
“Akechi…” His voice was quiet, but it seemed Akechi heard.
“What do you mean ‘there's no need’?” Sae asked over him.
“Exactly as it sounds.” Akechi's eyes flicked back to Sae. “I will testify against Shido and his crimes in his stead.” Then his gaze came back to Akira. “I assume that works for you?”
“How…why-”
“I'm delighted to have surprised you so much for once.” He flashed a smile in his direction: pleasant but not plastic. “I'm simply repaying my debt to you, Kurusu. I have no reason for hidden agendas now.”
“I'll take your word for the time being.” Sae cut in, crossing her arms. “Akira, go have fun tonight. I'll take him in myself.”
“Can I-”
“No.” Akechi cut in, already knowing what he would want. “Let me do this.”
Akira had never been able to say no to Akechi.
He watched them walk into the crowd, leaving him standing alone in the station.
And I think you should know
That I've got pretty girls
Yeah, I've got pretty girls taking me home
Akechi returned to him the instant something was wrong.
“You see it too, don’t you?” Akechi asked him as they stood in the old laundromat.
“The dead woman sitting at the table and that my cat became a guy?”
Akechi didn’t laugh at his deadpanned answer. “Good. You’re not brainwashed. Now, let’s break down what’s happening.” He brought his left hand to his chin, holding it between his thumb and forefinger while his right arm crossed over his chest for his elbow to rest on.
“How are you here ?” Akira asked instead.
Akechi’s glare turned cold. “I’m a bit offended you think I would be dead. Do you really think that little of me?”
“No, but-”
“We don’t have time to discuss frivolous things.” He hissed, waving off Akira’s words then placing his hand back on his chin. “Now-”
“It’s not fucking frivolous, you dick.” Akira bit back. “You’ve been missing for a month. ”
Akechi grabbed Akira by the collar, twisting the fabric as much as his angered expression. “Whatever we had was fake , Kurusu. A ploy to get close to you to learn your weaknesses.” He snapped, fangs beared.
Akira remembered a night when he’d gotten hasty and touched Akechi before he was ready, and he’d gotten slapped. Despite their many nights together, Akechi was still that anxious stray cat who bit when he was agitated or startled.
Right now, he was that stray cat again, biting Akira for being too pushy.
This bite hurt the most.
I've got room to grow
I know I'm missing home
“So…Yoshizawa is captured, your friends are blinded by inane wishes, and it seems we are the only two aware of anything.” Akira had quickly begun to love Akechi’s truer personality - each word laced with sarcasm and bitterness, his fighting no longer restrained and princely, instead embodying that crazed mania of their final battle. “It seems you’ve hit rock bottom, Kurusu.”
Akira shrugged, digging his hands deeper in his pockets. “I’ve got you. It can’t be that bad.”
Akechi scoffed. “I really do hate you.” He adjusted his gloves as he looked over the stadium. “As much as I loathe to admit it, we can’t do this alone. We need your band of idiots.”
I think we could . He doesn’t dare say it out loud.
“Wake them.” Akechi commanded.
But you think I'm alone
And I think you should know
Akechi did not grant them a single moment alone.
Any invitation he sent was met with a harsh decline, Akechi didn’t visit Leblanc unless they were all together, and he couldn’t even find him in his usual hiding spots.
Akira could tell Akechi was avoiding him, and it was driving him insane.
But, if Akechi was telling a rare truth that day in the laundromat…Akira would let him be free.
Akira hated to have Akechi in his hands again yet never able to hold him. He hated the distance Akechi enforced at all times, never even allowing a quiet moment in a safe room for them to talk.
But Akira loved him too much to do anything he hated.
So even if it hurt to his very core, he stopped messaging him.
I wanna wake up with you
I wanna lay there for awhile
“Why didn’t you tell me?!” Akira cried, Maruki and Morgana long gone from the dim cafe, leaving him and Akechi all alone for the first time in months.
“It was a trivial matter.” Akechi was still hissing at him, still a scared, angry cat. “I didn’t need you to lose sight of the goal, Kurusu.”
“Your life isn't trivial, Akechi!” He slammed his hand on the bar. “I lo-”
“Don’t say it.” Akechi’s cold demeanor faltered for just a moment, a fraction of a second where Akira could see the Akechi he'd known most. “I don't understand why but, I know you've mourned me. But I'm done being manipulated.” His voice was filled with so much determination that Akira's rage melted. “I will carve my own path for myself.”
Akira looked into his eyes, auburn fired by resolve.
“Just stick to your guns and challenge Maruki.”
“I won’t fold.” In comparison to the bitter grit of Akechi, Akira’s voice sounded so weak.
Akechi, in a rare moment of kindness, came closer, not touching him but within reach.
“I want you to say it aloud. What do you intend to do?”
Though his heart ached and he stared so longingly at the boy in front of him, he took a breath then stood tall.
“We're ending this reality.”
“That's the Joker I want to see.” Akechi looked relieved, softened like in their nights together. “Let's go back to our true reality.”
Before Akechi could leave though, Akira gently took his hand. “Can I be selfish…just for tonight?”
He hesitated, clearly thinking it over in thousands of different ways in just a second. But he answered so softly. “Yes.”
I wanna wake up with you
I wanna wake up feel alive
They spent the night in his favorite position. He knew Akechi loved it too.
His fingers scratched against Akira’s scalp, but they weren’t calloused anymore
His skin was still soft, his weight and frame exactly as Akira remembered, but none of the scars Akira had traced with his lips.
And as he laid his head on Akechi’s chest, he knew they would never be exactly as they were.
Because as he tried to listen, he didn’t hear a heartbeat.
It's just too bad that you're a
Liar, a liar
Cast me into your fire, your fire
If Akira had to choose anyone to fight another god with, it would’ve been Akechi.
He loved the passion of his whole team of course, and he would always be grateful for them.
But the pure rage Akechi held, even holding on to his resilience as Maruki merged with his persona to become the eldritch horror now before them.
“Don't get scared now, Joker.” Akechi had turned to him, not letting a hint of fear show beneath his mask.
If Akira would never see him again, he was glad to see him so strong.
“Never.”
'Cause I will never be less than what you want
I've got good news I'm heading off
To start a fire,
A fire
Akira looked into the eye of the god beneath his feet, gun pointed at its head, he thought of his friends below, sacrificing themselves so that he could do this.
Part of that group was Akechi.
Because Akira knew that as much as he liked to claim he hated him, Akechi was a liar.
Liar, a liar
Hold yourself up higher and higher
“Where's Joker?!” Skull called out from the side of the Monacopter.
“Down there!” Akechi’s voice was muffled by the glass, his unfortunate spot at the bottom of the Monacopter. But fortunately for Akira, it let him look at him one last time as he hung precariously by his grappling hook.
'Cause I'm not buying the things you wanna say
I've heard 'em all now anyway
“I’m good!” He called up, the statement ruined as a tether attached itself to one of the Monacopter’s legs, drawing them down.
The thieves cried, but Akira looked down calmly at the source.
Maruki stood there, still determined, looking at him expectantly.
Akira then turned back up to the Monacopter, catching Akechi’s panicked gaze in the window. He could tell what he was planning, shaking his head to discourage him.
You're such a liar
My favorite liar
Akira just smiled, taking him in one last time.
“I love you!”
Then, he let go.
I remember waking up in Colorado
It was a Sunday in May.
Akira was laying on the couch of his empty home, Morgana curled at the windowsill, with a jazz album Akechi loved on his record player to drown out the silence.
He’d bought a whole stock of jazz records the second he could, all the ones that played frequently at Jazz Jin and all of Akechi’s favorites.
His parents were never home to complain about the noise, and Morgana seemed to like the jazz over the silence. That or he understood why Akira played it every day.
He was beginning to drift off when Morgana made a noise of surprise, jumping down from the window and running to the front door.
“Akira! Wake up!” As he called out, there was a knock on the door.
Reluctantly, he rolled off to his feet and padded over to the door, rubbing away some of the fatigue from his eyes as he opened it.
You said that it was raining
I tried to hide away, but you said no
He didn’t get any words out as his breath caught in his throat.
Standing there in the rain was…Akechi.
His hair was longer, his auburn eyes had heavy bags beneath them, and there was a small scar creeping up from the right side of his jaw and neck.
His clothes were casual; that dorky argyle sweater vest with a white undershirt and slacks.
But he wore no gloves: calloused, scarred hands exposed to the world. His right one held on to a cane which he leaned on slightly.
He was scarred and damaged but he was here .
“It…took me a while to find where you were. I had to force Sakura into silence.” His voice was hesitant, but there was no sarcasm or bite. The stray cat carefully opening up. “I hope you can forgive me.”
Rather than answer, Akira lunged forward, both of them falling to the ground as he wrapped his arms tightly over Akechi’s torso.
“AH! Fuck, Akira! Ow!” Akechi whined, but those hands still made their way to Akira’s hair by memory, cane tossed aside in favor of holding him with his other arms.
Getting soaked in the rain, he pushed his head into Akechi’s chest. And he heard it. He was wheezing and laughing but Akira could hear it.
Akechi’s fluttering heartbeat.
You made me love the rain