Work Text:
It was all Akira’s fault.
Goro didn’t really want to go to the beach. But of course, Akira convinced him. It will be fun, we’ll get some sun and exercise, plus I can look at you with your shirt off -
Well. They were here now anyway. At least he had convinced Akira to bring an umbrella. The fool had thought they’d be okay without one. Maybe he would, but Goro didn’t want his skin to burn. He was already on his second coat of sunscreen despite sitting firmly under the umbrella.
Akira sat by the edge of the water, letting the tide roll into him. As the waves hit him, he leaned back, arms behind him, face towards the sun.
He looked beautiful. If there was one benefit to being out here, it was seeing Akira sunbathe, relaxed and happy. Not that he wasn’t at home, but this was a whole new level. If Goro thought Akira was naturally beautiful in the Metaverse, the water on his skin and the sun reflecting off of him made him radiant.
As if he knew - and maybe he did, the man still had his Joker senses after all - Akira stood and came over to his towel. “Goro, are you ready to swim with me?” he asked, holding out a hand.
Goro took it. Before he used it to pull himself up, he pulled Akira down for a kiss. Normally he wasn’t a fan of PDA… but the pinkish hue on Akira’s face afterward? Completely worth it.
———
The sun was starting to set. Goro felt - unbelievably - refreshed from the day of swimming and splashing and even a little time spent reading while Akira brought back some fruity cocktails. Maybe Akira was right, and this hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.
“We came out here once during the summer of the Thieves, you know. It was fun, but… the whole time I wished you had been there too. Yes, even then,” interrupting Goro’s incredulous look, “I told you I was smitten from the start! Anyway, I always wondered what you’d look like in the waves. Glistening, perfect… it’s better than I imagined.” He grinned, nudging Goro’s foot with his own.
He pushed his sunglasses up, large frames hiding his blush. The fact that Akira was so brazenly in love with him even when he was… well, who he was at the time, was still astounding to him. Akira was and is easy to love - determined, affectionate, strong, that notable quality that Goro couldn’t quite describe. Goro, at that point, had been a mess. A weakly put together facade hiding a breakdown waiting to happen. He didn’t understand it then, and he doesn’t still, even if he’s learned to accept it.
Avoiding Akira’s gaze, he looked out to the ocean. The sun hung low, making the waves sparkle even more than before. It was perfect; the whole day was picture perfect, and yet…
Goro pulled his knees to his chest, digging his toes into the sand just beyond his towel.
“Did you ever think…” he stumbled on his words, “did you ever think it would end up like this?”
Akira looked to him. “Feeling introspective?”
“…You could say so, yes.”
“Ha, well. I was feeling the same way. Scoot,” he said, moving to sit in the small space left on Goro’s towel.
“To answer your question, I hoped it would. I… dreamed about it,” his cheeks tinged red and not from the sun, “about being with you, like this. At peace. Nothing to worry about.”
Goro snorted. “At peace…”
“Hey. Are you saying that your life… our little life together, that it’s not peaceful?” he said, obviously joking if the gentle elbow to Goro’s side is any indicator. “Look, I know we both have a lot of baggage. But… we’re here. Alive. Together. And that is not something we should take for granted.”
Goro looked into the sunset. He wished he could paint, or maybe that Kitagawa could be here to immortalize this. What a stupid thought, to include Kitagawa on our date.
“…I never thought it would be like this. I’m sure you know that. Even when I reached out to you again… I thought it would be nothing more than an apology, and moving on. Never did I think… you and I…” he nearly hissed, “I still have a hard time saying it. That you and I… would be in a relationship. Even less did I think I would be happy.”
Akira pulled Goro’s arm from his defensive position around his knees and intertwines their fingers. Goro stared down at their hands, inseparable, lives tied together by that red string of fate, by the disgusting excuse of a god that pitted them against each other. But now… wasn’t it by his own choice? Their own choice?
“When we first reconnected… I was scared. I told you before, I wanted to make my own path. I thought… I thought that being close to you was predetermined, that Yaldabaoth and Maruki and whatever fate exists were forcing me on that path. Now I see that was ridiculous. The god wanted me dead, Maruki wanted me pliant.
“Despite everything, you… you love me. And I think you’re a fool, and that I’m undeserving. I know you don’t care, which is even more foolish. But I… I’m the biggest fool of all, because I love you too, and I wouldn’t make another choice.”
He could see Akira’s grin in his peripheral vision. “I do love you,” punctuated by a squeeze of his hand, “and you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that.” He stood, still holding Goro’s hand. “Come here.”
Goro stood with him, and Akira pulled him close. One hand traveled up his arm to rest on the curve of his neck, the other brushed the scar under his right pectoral (he shivered a little at that - even after all this time, he wasn’t used to being unconditionally loved).
“…You’re my miracle, you know? My wish come true,” Akira grinned when a scowl appeared on Goro’s face. “You mean everything to me. My life feels like a dream being here with you - I get scared I’ll wake up and be back in high school, back in my hometown sometimes. You make me feel at home. We push each other to our limits. You make me grateful to be alive… I love you with everything I am, Goro. I want to be with you forever,” he finished with a slight blush.
Goro’s hands were shaking. Did he just…?
“I didn’t plan this,” Akira laughed nervously, “but I mean it. You’re snarky, and rude, and you are a ridiculous snob, but you’re perfect to me and I love you. I want to marry you, I want to be yours in name, even though I’m yours in every other way. Marry me, Goro. Make me yours.”
Goro had gotten pretty good at receiving affection from Akira in the past years they had been dating. That’s why it surprised him when all that came out of his mouth was,
“What the fuck, Akira.”
But he soothed it over quickly, threading his hands through the thick hair at the back of Akira’s head, pulling him close. “I’m yours too, idiot,” he whispered, kissing him soundly.
Akira tasted faintly of salted caramel… his normal sweetness plus the tang of the sea. Goro found he loved it.
He pulled back, looking deep into the grey eyes of his enemy, his rival, his boyfriend, his best friend, the love of his life, the only person who ever understood him. His fiancé. His would-be husband.
Not once in his life prior to this did he ever think he would make it to adulthood, let alone being married, or being happy. As usual, Akira smashed any expectations.
“Wanna watch the sunset, babe?” Akira asked, out of breath.
“That sounds nice.” Goro pulled Akira down on his towel, eliminating any space between them. Akira leaned his head on Goro’s shoulder - they were connected, always connected, not by god or therapist-turned-god or fate or anything else but by their own choices.
Goro walked his own path now. If that path happened to coincide with the path of Akira Kurusu, well, that was just a benefit.