Chapter Text
Looking into Your Eyes (But Are They Yours?)
November 20th
Goro was alert for anything as he strode swiftly down the hall in the station. Akira had promised not to give up without a fight, but so far, Goro hadn’t detected a hitch in his plan. It either meant that Akira was being extremely subtle, or had yet to enact his own strategy.
Given his rival, Goro wasn’t about to rule out any possibilities.
His musings were interrupted by the click of high heels approaching him, and he looked up to see Sae Nijima striding in his direction, eyes narrowed. When she registered his presence, her eyes widened, and she quickened her pace to meet him.
Lovely. He’d rather hoped that Sae would be long gone by the time he made it here, but there was nothing to worry about, he had prepared for every eventuality.
“Akechi!? Why are you here…?”
“Why do you seem so surprised?” Goro fought down irritation and impatience (he was so damn close to winning) to smile pleasantly at her.
Sae frowned in displeasure. “I needed my director to step in to get access, and I was directly responsible for this case,” she sounded utterly infuriated. At least it was entertaining. “How did you get approval?”
Ah, who was he to refuse himself the opportunity to… taunt a bit. “For the same reason you did. I am heading up the investigation team, after all.” Goro purposefully made uncomfortably direct eye contact, “It’s only natural I’d have the right to interrogate our culprit as well, don’t you think?” He smiled wider, just to be unnerving.
Sae didn’t disappoint. Her mouth opened in shock, and she gasped. “They assigned you command…!?”
Loki was doing their strange cackle-growl in his head, and Goro had to restrain his own snicker. In the corner of his mind, Arséne flickered dimly, but Goro purposefully ignored anything from that direction (he and Akira had agreed not to swap personae around until after their game reached its climax – to prevent cheating).
“… That was a joke of course. I’m merely here to assist with the public security interrogation.” Goro lightened his tone from cruel to simply teasing at a prompt from an exasperated Robin. It had been… difficult lately to keep up the mask of civility. Especially since Akira lit up at him whenever he slipped.
Bringing a hand to his chin, he decided to push a little for information. It never hurt to know what he’d face down there. “I am surprised it’s this far underground though… there aren’t any others incarcerated here, yes?” He asked, already knowing the answer. Really, he needed her response. Just a small shove more. “Nobody would ever know if things got a little… violent.”
Sae’s eyes became narrow again, her look calculating. But the real indicator was the way she shifted uncomfortably. Hmm.
That wasn’t a particularly great sign, and something in his chest that felt like Loki clenched in possessive rage. If anyone was going to defeat Akira, it should be him, not some dipshit thug hired by Shido. Maybe he should use those personnel lists he stole for some… extracurricular Metaverse excursions.
“If I remember correctly,” Sae said ponderously, a hand on her briefcase, “didn’t you say there was another culprit besides the Phantom Thieves?”
That was most definitely probing. To some extent, she obviously suspected him of something. Perhaps that he was affiliated with the ‘other party’? Perhaps Akira had granted her a hint? But he wouldn’t give up the game so easily. Goro fought not to glower.
Instead, he shook his head lightly. “That was but a lie I spread to set them up.” And if she already suspected him, he could play a bit. “Oh, I’m sorry! I forgot that I had deceived you too Sae-san.” He smiled sweetly. “After all, if you wish to trick your enemies, you must first trick your allies.” If she was smart, she’d pick up on the inherent ambiguity there, but nothing she could do would prove it.
“So it was you…”
Oh? Did she figure it out?
“You’re the one who sold out the Phantom Thieves.”
She did. Goro had already explicitly said that he’d betrayed them, so that tone of realization could only be due to his other role. Interesting. Something in the back of his mind laser-focused on that – because Akira must have given her something in that case.
And if he was conspiring with her that much, then she must be part of his plan. The one that Goro, infuriatingly, still hadn’t figured out.
“Is there a problem?” Goro asked, just to get the conversation moving. He was starting to become impatient.
Sae suddenly reached into her pocket and pulled out what was clearly Akira’s phone.
(The idiot had put a gaudy Phantom Thieves sticker on it three days ago, snickering at Goro’s deeply incredulous look – and there was still a shred of it on the corner of the case from where Goro had messily ripped it off and called Akira a goddamn fool.)
“Akechi-kun… does this phone look familiar to you?”
Yes, obviously.
“Hm? Excuse me?” He tried lightly, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy and confused. He couldn’t figure out why she would offer it now, and it irked him.
Was this part of Akira’s plan? How the hell could this possibly factor in?
For now, he just needed Sae to leave. He could try to puzzle out what the fuck Akira thought this would accomplish when there was more time. Tilting his head in confusion, he played clueless. “What is this phone?”
“It belonged to the leader of the Phantom Thieves. I believe you’ll need it for your investigation.”
Goro was sorely tempted to take the phone – just because then he could throw it in Akira’s face along with his victory – but he restrained himself. Accepting it might lead to suspicion from more dangerous sources (such as Shido), and that was something he couldn’t afford.
Yet.
So, he made sure his pleasant mask remained firmly in place and shook his head gently. “Not personally. I was acting alongside the Phantom Thieves themselves, remember?”
Sae barely reacted, as if she was going through the motions of their conversation about as much as he was at this point. “True. This is undoubtedly a great accomplishment. Good luck in there, Akechi-kun.” She strode past him with her usual efficiency, and when the door shut behind her, Goro didn’t turn to watch her go.
But he cocked his head curiously.
During that interaction, he’d felt a bit… strange, and he wished he had time to truly investigate why (not in the least because Akira might have had a sneaky hand in it). However, there were still cameras in this hallway, and he had to remain composed, lest Shido figure him out too early.
So, with a haughty shake of his head and a light scoff, he made his way to the elevator down and waited until the doors closed to try and pinpoint the unnatural feeling. Was it nerves? Excitement for his pending victory?
He felt lighter on his feet, and barring the strange momentary disorientation, there hadn’t seemed to be anything else of note, so perhaps it was simply adrenaline making him antsy.
The doors slid open, and he straightened – out of time to consider further options. So far, he still couldn’t make heads or tails of whatever plan Akira had been smirking about for the last week, and at this point he was almost expecting to walk into an empty interrogation room because his rival had escaped hours ago.
It would be typical of him.
Still, he had to ensure that the first steps remained just as Shido had intended, so he approached the guard with a pleasant, but nervous smile.
“May I ask that you accompany me? Going in unarmed to interrogate a murderer makes me uncomfortable…”
The man nodded, and Goro took note that his shoes had water stains on them. Odd, when the rest of his uniform was perfectly pressed.
It took them a few moments to enter the room, and it took Goro less than that to register several facts. First, Akira was slumped over the table, covered in bruises, and with his white turtleneck hanging damp from his shoulders. Second, there were several syringes on the floor – empty, but Goro wasn’t an idiot, and he was certain that Akira had injection marks on him somewhere. Third, there was a puddle of water on the ground – likely it had been ice-water used to rouse Akira. Arséne was weak to ice, he dimly recalled, and Akira tended to be similarly uncomfortable in low temperatures.
The guard’s shoes had water marks on them. Relatively fresh.
Suddenly, he felt almost gleeful about his next move.
With exactly zero hesitation, and Loki’s cruel-furious voice in his head (ours ours ours, he hurt what is ours), Goro snatched the guard’s gun, screwed on the silencer from his pocket, and shot the man right through the heart.
A clear kill-shot, especially obvious when he fell with a thud to the floor, and his chest failed to expand.
Even Robin Hood – who was sometimes disdainful of messy deaths – seemed keen to let the man rot, and Goro sneered at the cooling corpse before turning back to his rival.
Mine. Loki purred, and Robin agreed.
Goro raised the gun again to point between Akira’s eyes.
“I win.”
Vaguely, he noted that he had practically crooned the words – Loki lingering at the forefront of his mind heavily influencing whatever expression he was making. He expected Akira to scowl at his loss, or smirk at Goro and reveal his winning hand, or something.
Instead, he stayed stock still, looking with wide eyes at the gun nearly pressed to his forehead.
It was entirely at-odds with the Akira that Goro had come to… share a soul with (god, that was so weird to think about) in the past week. Originally, Goro had had a whole monologue to sneer at Akira with before he won, but it was rather redundant given their everything. Most of it had been a last-ditch effort to convince himself that killing Akira was a triumph, not an aching loss.
(Not something that may very well have broken him entirely.)
Instead of that, he wanted to gloat to Akira’s face and see him bristle or laugh or pout or do any of the ridiculous, unpredictable things that made Goro want to destroy him.
(Covet him, Robin idly corrected.)
But Akira was just… staring. Looking stunned and dumbfounded which wasn’t right.
Goro furrowed his brow and lowered the gun, tentatively reaching out for Akira’s cheek. Maybe the drugs were muddling his mind too much for him to really understand what was happening. As the haze of victory cleared, Goro began to take notice of any number of other injuries that might be impairing Akira’s perceptions. A possible concussion underneath a bruise on his temple, he could be hypothermic from the cold, or maybe there was internal bleeding somewhere?
Something in Akira’s eyes was wrong, Goro finally realized. They were a bit glassy, sure, but there was a fire absent in them that was normally so hypnotic to watch. It made him look corpse-like even while breathing, and Goro began to step around the table, torn between suspicion and concern, when a hissing sound behind him made him whip around, gun raised.
Where the guard had been laying for a few minutes now, only smoke and ash rose into the air. An achingly familiar sight that ripped the breath right out of his lungs.
Metaverse.
How? And when? Goro spun back to face what must actually be Akira’s doppelganger and he reeled, trying to figure out where he had slipped up.
Sae.
Of course. He’d felt momentarily dizzy, then lighter and stronger than normal – textbook Metaverse transport. But it had been almost too subtle; his clothes were the same, the station was unchanged, and it wasn’t possible to enter Mementos this far from Shibuya. The only thing he could liken it to was…
The edges of a palace.
Shit, Nijima had been in charge of getting the treasure out at some point, right? And if she was in on the plot (obviously. Akira’s sycophants would never let him literally leap into danger without some kind of backup.) then there was every possibility that Sae’s palace was still here.
He still wasn’t entirely certain how they managed to transport him at all. How could Sakura have timed it right, even with the bug? (Maybe it had something to do with the way that Sae had shown him Akira’s phone?) Ultimately, it didn’t matter. If Goro hadn’t made that deal with Akira – had been aiming only to distance himself and shoot to kill – then he probably wouldn’t even have noticed.
Which meant Akira had won.
Motherfucker!
He snarled and yanked out his phone, pulling up the Metanav to see that he was indeed registered within Sae’s shitty-ass palace goddamnit. Practically stabbing at his phone screen, he transported himself back to the real world in an instant.
When his body felt solid again, he whirled on Akira – sitting in the same place as his unnerving double – and hissed with as much venom as possible. “Fuck you!”
The real guard must be standing outside still, so Goro only barely restrained himself from shouting at the last moment. He still wanted to slam Akira against a wall, though. Or gently hold him. Shut up, Robin.
Akira, still bruised and bloody (and oh, those fuckers were going to pay for every minute that they touched him), smiled sunnily up at Goro and said, “I win.”
They were far too much alike for comfort, and Goro glowered even harder.
“You are so fucking stupid! What kind of risk was that! If we didn’t have a deal, what would have happened if I decided to idly check my phone? What then!? This is the worst plan I’ve ever seen!” Goro growled and holstered the gun with a sick feeling, suddenly realizing how much could have gone wrong.
Akira’s fucking life was at stake, and this was the best his friends could do!? That plan was practically made of tissue paper for all of the security it offered! Goro was going to kill them.
“Worked, didn’t it?” Akira smirked, but it was sluggish. Narrowing his eyes, Goro noted that Sae’s recreation was actually relatively accurate. Akira looked like exhaustion had made a nest in his brain; vaguely slumped, listing slightly to the side, and eyes glassy with disorientation (he’d better not be feverish, Jesus fuck). The bruises remained accurate as well, and Goro itched to check over Akira with his own hands.
“I can’t fucking believe it did. Did you even have a plan to get out, or are you leaving that to chance too?” Goro snarled and ripped off his left glove to feel Akira’s forehead. Not overwarm, at least (and maybe his heart jumped a bit when Akira leaned into his touch, but no one needed to know that).
“Sae’ll be back. ‘Taba is filling her in ‘bout everything.” Akira was slurring more heavily now, like whatever had been keeping him going – stubbornness or adrenaline – was finally giving up the fight.
“Except for me.” Goro noted.
Apparently, Akira still wasn’t sure how to explain his… situation to the Thieves, so they’d both agreed to keep their arrangement secret until it could be overshadowed by everything else, and Akira could easily dodge the topic of how, exactly, they’d made their deal.
Personally, Goro thought it was stupid, but that snapping possessive part of him was perfectly happy to hoard every secret, hidden facet that Akira granted to him alone. So, he’d agreed to the omission.
But now Sae would be walking back in here expecting an assassination attempt, and he’d have to talk her down, which was just great. Ugh.
Not to mention, Sakura’s virus in his phone had some way to send him to Metaverse like that, which meant that she had seen him return from the Metaverse too early, which in turn meant that she was probably going to do something drastic.
Shit, he couldn’t afford a scene.
“This is all your fault.” He groaned, refusing to elaborate. Apparently, he didn’t need to, because Akira grinned loopily at him like he was laughing at the impending disaster.
Fucking insane.
“No, no. ‘ve got this.” Akira flapped a hand vaguely towards Goro’s pocket in a gesture which probably meant ‘hand me your phone’. He was lucky that Goro had made a hobby out of studying him.
Still, Goro rolled his eyes and handed it over, coming over to Akira’s side, both to see what he was doing and to subtly initiate some contact (shut up Loki).
Akira quickly unlocked it and pulled up his text messages (they’d both broken into each other’s phones just two days ago at Jazz Jin as part of a competition. Goro had smugly figured out Akira’s password first), and opened a text to Sakura. Before Goro could warn him that it was likely Sakura wasn’t the only one watching his phone, Akira typed in a few numbers and a word – clearly a code of some sort – but didn’t press send. He just waited.
[217Alibaba]
The screen was overtaken by Futaba’s cackling ‘hacker symbol’, and Goro assumed that their communications were likely secure at that point.
[HOLY SHIT WHAT’S HAPPENING!?!?!?]
[Don’t worry, I’m fine.]
[Yeah, right I’ll believe it when I see it]
[But what happened with Akechi!? You scared the shit out of me!!]
[We came to an agreement.]
[Okay, wow?? What did u do??]
[Nothing much.]
Goro snorted, nothing much. Yeah right. As if Akira hadn’t brokered a deal with a malignant god, defied his fate, and… done whatever the fuck to their personae (Goro definitely blamed his shit luck for the status effect becoming permanent). Not to mention the bastard managed to win in their game. When he wasn’t grievously injured, Goro was going to even the score.
[Uh huh…]
[Sae is still on her way back btw]
[eta like 10 min probably]
[I’m going to kick ur ass for giving me a heart attack when u get back to Leblanc]
[Sorry about that]
[Also tell Akechi I’m going to fuckin murder him if this is a trick or sumthin]
Goro rolled his eyes and snatched the phone from Akira’s hands.
[Noted]
[Oh, hello Prince boy]
[Your creative insults never cease to astound.]
[And ur pretentious ass is pretentious]
Goro was about to respond with something biting, when Akira snickered and grabbed the device back.
[Taba, don’t torment my soulmate]
[…too much]
Goro nearly squawked, heat rising to his face. “I’m sorry, your what!?” He reeled backwards, but kept one arm around Akira’s shoulder to hold him upright (he’d begun rapidly collapsing the second Goro provided somewhere to lean).
“Is there some other way to describe the way we now share personae?” Akira asked, surprisingly coherent, right up until the last word which he slurred into Goro’s shoulder.
Rolling his eyes with a scoff, Goro ignored the way his phone had started buzzing wildly, and yanked it back. He typed a quick ‘ttyl’ and checked the time. Shit, he was cutting it close to when Shido was expecting a call.
“Nevermind that right now. I have some lose ends to clean up.” Goro tried to school himself back behind his mask, though it felt laborious with Akira so close. These days, he could be real when they were alone, and it chafed at him to hide away.
Akira sent him a curious look, but Goro quickly dialed Shido’s number, focusing on his carefully designed script and deflections. The sooner he could throw Shido off of Akira’s scent, the better.
As expected, Shido was snappish and infuriating the whole time, foolishly considering going after the other Thieves, at which Goro had to restrain a sigh. Yes, a whole well known group of suspected accomplices all dropping mysteriously dead simultaneously wasn’t obvious at all. Shido’s paranoia was becoming truly absurd. And given all that Goro knew about his shitty palace, it was obvious in the way he tried desperately to sequester himself away.
Honestly, it would either be a boon or a liability within his palace. Maybe both.
While he let his mask run on auto pilot, Goro took quick inventory of his… not soulmate thank you very much. Akira was sitting more on one side than the other, even when Goro pulled away to kneel by him instead. He likely had a leg injury, and his ribs weren’t doing much better, based on his posture and lean. Loki was snarling and snapping in Goro’s mind as they took in bloody wrists, bruises, and needle marks, champing at the bit for retribution. It was Robin who stilled their hand, insisting one thing at a time, Akira is first priority.
Which… sappy, but also true.
He barely heard himself sign-off, jabbing at the ‘End Call’ button viciously. Fucker.
“Shido?”
“Obviously. Congratulations on being declared legally dead, by the way.” Goro shoved the phone into his back pocket, quickly bringing both hands up to steady Akira. And subtly make sure he wasn’t too severely injured to walk.
“My great’st ambition.” Akira joked, bringing both hands onto Goro’s shoulders as he listed forward.
“Right now, your ‘greatest ambition’ should be getting the fuck out of here.” Goro rolled his eyes, and tried to gently encourage Akira to stand. “When Sae comes in, I expect you to be lucid enough to assure her that I’m not killing you. Yet.”
Akira grinned, but only made it about halfway up before the leg he’d been favoring gave out entirely, sending him pitching to the side. Goro had to lunge forward to catch him before he brained himself on the table. Shit.
“Akira!” He managed to strangle the shout into a hiss at the last second. Akira’s head thudded against his collar bone, and Goro instinctively pulled him closer until he was barely up holding any of his own weight. “Goddamnit, I’m going to skin those bastards.” He growled.
Loki was nearly shredding the walls of his mind with repressed vicious energy, and Goro had to fight against the urge to bring fangs and claws to the fore. It wasn’t until the familiar warmth of Arséne burned through his bones that Loki calmed enough for Goro to haul Akira up onto the table.
In the back of his mind, he got the sense of claws, flames, and feathers, but he determinedly stayed focused on Akira. Their dumbass personae could handle themselves.
“I take it back; your greatest ambition should be telling me exactly what they did to you so that I can return the favor.” Goro found himself growling – and leaning far too close to Akira’s face, with arms still around his back.
Akira looked heavily disoriented, but still managed a fond curl of his lips, hands tightening on Goro’s tense shoulders. Before he got the chance to undoubtedly say something utterly stupid (and not answer Goro, the little shit), the door slammed open behind him.
Loki raged to the fore, and Robin practically tore the muscles in his arm urging him draw the stolen gun. He whipped around on the spot, taking a protective stance in front of Akira; his first thought was that the guard outside had heard the commotion and therefore needed to die.
It took long moments before his vision cleared enough to see the wide eyes of Sae Nijima. With great effort, he managed to persuade his personae to pull back, and he clicked the safety back on. Akira’s forehead was pressed against his back, the Thief’s arms having looped around his middle at some point, and the warmth of contact helped Goro to very slowly lower his weapon. He was still stuck in a stand-off with an apparently speechless Sae, but at least he was little less threatening.
“Akechi!?” Sae choked out, eyes flicking from Akira’s arms to Goro’s face and back again. “I thought…”
Fuck it. “We’ll talk later. For now, I’m going to assume that you have a functioning vehicle.” Goro snarled. He’d meant to mask Loki’s ire a bit more, but he wound up sounding about as aggressive and demanding as he ever did.
Sae blinked, looking shocked and bit defensive. Ugh, this shit was why he normally had practiced behaviors to fall back on.
“And why should I trust you?” Her eyes were narrow, and she kept her hands relaxed at her side, obviously ready to fight should she need to. Goddmnit, now was not the time.
“You shouldn’t.” He snarled, unable to keep the rage at bay. “I honestly couldn’t give less of a shit, but right now, Akira needs to get his ass to Leblanc before someone else comes along to check that he’s dead.” With barely a thought, Goro threw the gun at Sae – the mean way too, so that it was difficult to catch – and watched with amusement as she nearly fumbled it. “Keep that, if you’re so fucking concerned. Now, do you have a car.”
Sae was just kind of staring with her mouth open, but Goro couldn’t figure out why. Against his back, Akira was slowly straightening, tugging at Goro’s arm until he acquiesced to the silent request, and shifted in order to help Akira sit upright.
“’S alright.” Akira managed to grin at her – though it was even more lopsided than usual from a slowly-darkening bruise on his cheek. “He’s with me.”
Goro rolled his eyes at the ludicrously sappy hidden meaning there, but stayed focused on Sae. She was, thankfully, not a complete moron, and he could almost see her compartmentalizing away her confusion until simple logic remained.
“Okay, fine.” She finally sighed, stepping forward. “I’ll get you both out of here, but I’m going to need answers when arrive at Leblanc.”
She started to reach out, as if to try and help Akira move to his feet, and Goro suddenly could not stand the thought of someone else touching what was his. He bared his teeth threateningly, and made a swift motion to scoop Akira into his arms, noting with satisfaction that Sae recoiled immediately with an eyebrow raised.
Perfect. Now she and everyone else could do themselves a favor and back the fuck off.
Vaguely, he noted that Loki still hadn’t settled after Sae barged in, and that at least part of his possessive aggression came from there. But he also didn’t really give a shit right now. Even Robin wasn’t protesting his behavior – instead it seemed his personae were in unanimous agreement for once.
Akira made a weird little delirious sound into his shoulder, and Goro decided that that was his cue to leave.
“Lead the way.” He said in a barely-recognizable echo of his usual charm.
Sae looked at him quizzically, before shaking her head and turning around. “Come on, we’re taking the emergency exit. Your hacker friend seems to have ensured our way out.”
Despite the assurance that Sakura’s interference brought, Goro still found himself tense and battle-ready as they moved through the back hallways of the station. At any moment, he expected someone to turn the corner and see them, but minutes passed, and no one showed.
He should have expected it – since it was rather late at night – but the general vacancy in this part of the station felt like a balance that could shatter at any second. It wasn’t until they pushed their way out the fire exit (obviously manipulated so that the alarm didn’t go off) that he allowed himself a slow exhale. They weren’t out of the woods yet, but just being outdoors helped their chances of escape immensely, should they be spotted.
Silently, Sae led them around to the back of the building, where her car was parked. Driving away wouldn’t be subtle, but as long as only Sae could be seen, they’d have plausible deniability.
“Get in and lay down.” Sae whispered, obviously following the same line of thought as she opened the back door.
Goro did as requested, though it took some maneuvering to get Akira to lay comfortably on the seats. He’d intended to hide in the footwell, but Akira grabbed his arm and pulled until Goro nearly fell on top of him.
“What do you think you’re doing!?” Goro hissed in exasperation. Akira just grinned and yanked him into an awkward hug.
“Cuddling.”
Jesus fuck, his idiocy really knew no bounds.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Loki wants to.”
Loki was, indeed, crooning for contact and possessive weight in the back of his mind. Goro grimaced, imagining what his chaotic persona must be doing to Akira’s eyes. Probably they were already wrapped around his thief. Dick.
Even Robin Hood wasn’t objecting to the idea, apparently preoccupied with staying close to Arséne along their bond in a manner that practically screamed protective.
“Hurry up, we don’t have time.” Sae hissed from the front seat, closing the door behind her.
Fucking fine.
With a grimace, Goro settled behind Akira and wrapped an arm around his waist to hold him steady on the seat – as close as they could safely get to using a seat belt, though if Sae crashed, they’d probably just both die. He yanked the door closed viciously and snarled at Sae. “Go.”
Sae drove at a leisurely pace, and Goro mentally commended her restraint before he became entirely distracted by the way that Akira pressed against him, and nuzzled into the arm that Goro was using to support his head.
“You’re so goddamn stupid.” Goro huffed into Akira’s infuriatingly soft hair. He wasn’t even sure what precisely he was referring to, just that it needed to be said about their situation in general.
“Comfy, though.” Akira slurred.
Goro incredulously considered the lumpy back seat they were stretched out on and took a moment to remember that exhaustion could make anywhere comfortable. Especially if you were delirious. Or concussed.
“If you’re concussed, I’m going to actually kill you.”
“Mmmh. Sure.”
Goro could actually feel Akira’s muscles relaxing and going limp against him, like every wound-up tension was being soothed. He instinctively tightened his grip around Akira’s waist to make sure he didn’t roll off the too-thin seats. Idiot.
Mine.
It took them long, tense minutes to pull up next to the Sakuras’ car, and Goro remained watchful the entire time. Not just alert for sirens, but also cataloguing the myriad of ways that Akira seemed to be injured. Every time they took a curve, he tensed and hissed for a moment, wincing against what seemed more and more like either broken or fractured ribs. Not to mention whatever was wrong with his leg – since he kept holding it away from contact with anything.
By the time Sae was stepping out of the car, Goro had already sat up and pulled Akira close; ready to get him to bed as quickly as possible.
“Sae, go to the clinic and get Takemi. Her number should be on the door if she isn’t in.” He said, barely restraining himself to just being curt, rather than growling. Loki was still a bit too volatile in his mind, hissing and spitting and snarling.
Luckily, Sae didn’t take offense, apparently becoming rapidly accustomed to being ordered around for the moment. He fully expected some amount of snapping back soon, though. For now, he heard her walk away, and he tried to gently get Akira to sit up.
“Come on, we’re going inside.”
Akira was obviously still groggy, but Goro managed to eventually lift him back into his arms and kick the car door closed behind them. Here was hoping that Sakura (either of them) didn’t immediately try to murder Goro the second he stepped foot in the door.
He really didn’t want to set Akira down, so he tapped the toe of his shoe against the shuttered door, knowing that at least one of the Sakuras would be around to open it for him. There was the sound of steps on a wooden floor – notably fast-paced – before the door was flung open in his face.
“You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack!” Sakura gasped, looking winded. It clearly took her a moment to register who he was, because she slowly raised her eyebrows at him. “Oh. Hi, Akechi, thanks for not murdering my brother. Also, sorry.”
He was about to ask, ‘Sorry about what?’ when the answer just about bellowed from over her shoulder.
“Akechi is here!? I’m gonna kick his ass!”
Great, if Sakamoto was here, so were the rest of Akira’s friends. He fixed Sakura with a long-suffering look which she snickered at. “What? I had to call in the cavalry just in case, you know.”
Jesus Christ. He was not letting Akira be unconscious for this one. He jostled him just enough to make him open his eyes and look around. “Guess what dipshit. Your entire entourage has decided to grace us with their presence.”
Akira’s eyes widened. “Shit.” he managed, and tried to get himself down from Goro’s arms. Goro allowed it only because the door to Lablanc was too thin to fit them otherwise. Still, he carried most of Akira’s weight with an arm around his middle; there was no way he was letting him faceplant onto the floor and get and even worse head injury.
Sakura stepped to the side to let them pass, but quickly fell in close to cling to Akira’s free arm. Something jealous in Goro’s chest reared up until he ruthlessly stifled it for being stupid. Interestingly, that hadn’t felt like Loki.
Sakamoto looked inches away from committing violence, and Goro suspected that the only reason he wasn’t actively attacking was Kitagawa’s hand yanking him backward by the collar of his shirt.
There was a moment of tense silence, before Akira – drug addled and likely concussed – smirked widely and slurred out, “Surprise!” like a fucking moron.
Goro didn’t resist the urge to bury his face into his free hand. How had he become so obsessed with a goddamn fool. The silence continued, until the cat let out a strained, “Akira, what the fuck.”
Some deity must always be looking fondly on Akira, because at that moment, Sae opened the door with a jingle and closed it behind her. “I’ve called your doctor, she said that she’ll be over in about ten minutes.”
Nijima was up in an instant pulling her sister to the side to talk about something, but Goro was willing to take any cue to leave. With a shrug, he started pulling Akira towards the stairs.
“Tell her that I’m getting this idiot to lie down before he falls down.” He called over his shoulder, taking advantage of the still-stunned Thieves to make a swift exit (with the exception of the younger Sakura who was still clinging to Akira and followed them up the stairs).
If anyone else tried to follow them, he was going to fucking lose it.
-------
Akira could admit that he was probably losing entire minutes of time at this point. One moment he was watching gleefully as Loki, Robin, and Goro materialized in front of him – expressions ranging from bloodthirsty (Loki), to exasperated (Robin), to furious (Goro), and the next he was falling forward into Goro’s arms which were warm and wonderful (even though it pressed his chest against the cold of his still-damp shirt).
He vaguely recalled typing the code to Futaba and assuring her that he was fine, and he was pretty sure he’d even been talking with Goro for a bit, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember what he’d said anymore. Even when Sae showed up, he’d felt lucid enough to talk to her, but he didn’t really recall any specifics later when Goro was putting him down in a vehicle (oh right, he’d picked Akira up in a delightful show of possessive fervor – Loki had been practically wrapped around Arséne for a while now so there was really no surprise there).
When Goro pulled back and away, Akira actually felt unpleasantly lucid for the first time in… however long. He didn’t want Goro to leave. He was cold and everything hurt, and Loki was fine with cuddling (actually, so was Robin, who was sitting practically on top of the mess of feathers and flame that was Loki and Arséne), so Goro should stay.
He apparently managed to be convincing (though he still couldn’t remember what he’d said then either), because it wasn’t long before Goro was laying down behind him, with an arm around his waist.
It was enough to lull Akira into an actual doze – one he was conscious of this time. The rumbling of the car moving (that’s right, Sae was going to drive them out of there) wasn’t quite like Loki’s purring, but Goro was warm at his back, and their collective personae were comically cramped together halfway through the walls of the car, and Akira was sure he was safe.
The small nap must have done wonders, because Akira felt almost entirely aware when the rumbling stopped and Goro began to sit up.
Right. Leblanc.
For a moment, he considered trying to stand up himself, but Goro was apparently not done being insanely possessive. Which was just fine with Akira, honestly.
He figured he had the right to pretend to be totally unconscious at this point, and he settled heavily against Goro’s chest. The bell jingled loudly and Akira heard Futaba and Goro exchanging… words he honestly wasn’t paying attention to.
Unfortunately, he apparently wasn’t allowed just sit this one out. Goro nudged him awake with the shoulder he was currently leaning on. “Guess what dipshit. Your entire entourage has decided to grace us with their presence.”
What? They were supposed to wait until tomorrow to come over, just in case Leblanc was being watched. He opened his eyes wide in an effort to wake up, and realized that Futaba looked a little sheepish, but mostly kind of unstable. Ah, right. She must have called them in because she thought it was an emergency.
Shit.
“Shit.”
He struggled to get his legs under him properly and stand up – but nearly failed when the same stupid leg started to give out. Goro was still holding up most of his weight, though, so he didn’t actually fall on his face. Small mercies.
Futaba let them inside, and Akira tried to shake some sense into himself in order to take stock of the situation. The Thieves were clustered around their normal table, all looking varying degrees of hostile, shocked, or confused. Ryuji in particular was apparently only being held back by Yusuke, which was kind of amusing, considering the way Goro looked like he’d curb-stomp anyone who seemed even vaguely threatening at the moment. Sojiro was over at the counter – notably exhausted if the bags under his eyes meant anything – methodically cleaning already-spotless cups, but mercifully not immediately jumping to conclusions or yelling.
Actually, no one was yelling. It seemed like there was just kind of… stunned silence all around. Hmmm…
Before he could consciously censor himself, he felt his lips crawl into Joker’s smirk and drawled; “Surprise!”
Which was, objectively, hilarious, but his team seemed less than pleased. Morgana gave him a look like ‘what the fuck have you done now’ and meowed out a displeased; “Akira, what the fuck.”
He wasn’t entirely sure how to answer that. Should he start with ‘Goro’s definitely my boyfriend – we have an agreement’, or the weird status effect, or maybe just something about their no-killing-each-other-yet deal? All of those seemed like way too lengthy explanations with far too much opportunity for misinterpretation. So, instead, he just… stayed silent.
Until Sae burst in through the door behind them.
“I’ve called your doctor, she said that she’ll be over in about ten minutes.”
Oh, right, Takemi. Beside him, Akira felt Goro suddenly begin moving hastily.
“Tell her that I’m getting this idiot to lie down before he falls down.” Without waiting for any sort of response, he kind of… half-carried Akira to the stairs. It wasn’t until they started climbing that Akira realized the leaden weight on his free arm wasn’t actually just exhaustion; it was Futaba clinging to him. Huh.
His brain must have skipped a few seconds, because the next thing he registered was plopping down onto his thin mattress, Futaba now just sitting beside him, while Goro started to pull his uniform jacket off.
“Can you guys give me like any explanation?” Futaba huffed, and Akira smiled at her, trying vaguely to help Goro get his jacket off. Prometheus was whizzing about over her head, obviously half-panicked and looking for something to do. Oh, she was still worried. Duh.
Goro didn’t deign to reply, so Akira tried to wrack his brain for anything.
“Um…” great start, “We’ve got a new target, and Goro’s my boyfriend.” Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best way to say it, but both were true, and his brain was still kind of foggy.
“What!?”
Oof, Futaba’s voice could get pretty shrill, apparently.
“Akira, I’m going to strangle you.”
Cute.
“Cute.”
Weird, he hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
“Is this about the soulmates thing you texted to me, because that is so many levels of confusing?” Futaba sounded like she was maybe at the end of her rope in terms of his weirdness. Whoops.
“We aren’t soulmates.” Goro hissed, finally tugging Akira’s arms free from his damp jacket. Ugh, it was fucking cold. “Any relationship would have to be discussed in private before making an announcement.” Oh, he was glaring. Now he was extra attractive. Notably, Loki was attentively preening Arséne’s feathers with his claws over by the table while Robin stood solemn guard at the stairs. So… pretty sure they were soulmates.
“We did discuss it. We have a deal.” Akira protested. The deal was obviously romantic, so clearly they were dating, and their souls had like…courted or something, so there.
“A deal?” Futaba asked looking thrown.
Goro was actually blushing now (incredibly cute), and he opened his mouth for a moment before closing it and snarling. “Fine. More importantly though, we’ve agreed to hunt down the asshole that ordered Akira’s death. My employer.”
Excellent deflection, except that Akira was certain Futaba wasn’t going to let everything off the hook that easily. At least she seemed willing to consider the whole ‘new target’ thing.
“Okay, okay, hold on. There is so much going on here, holy shit. Who is this fucker, and if you hate him, why isn’t he already dead?”
Oh, dear. That was kind of a sensitive topic from what Akira had managed to gather, but he was once again distracted when Goro started pulling at his shirt. He really wished he could raise his arms up and help, but something told him that would be a bad idea.
“Death is a mercy that Masayoshi Shido doesn’t deserve. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to make sure your dumbass leader doesn’t get hypothermia.” Goro’s voice was utterly cold and practically featureless. Yeah, that was to be expected. There was going to be a lot of talking later, and Akira was already exhausted.
Goro had apparently realized that Akira wasn’t going to be contorting his torso any time soon, because he started with his sleeves to free his arms first. Now, that he could help with. It wasn’t too long before the gross, wet turtleneck was off, and Akira was shivering in the cold of the air. It was still better than the shirt, but ugh.
“Akira…” Futaba sounded kind of pained. Which made sense; Akira also felt pained because ow, and his neck was all stingy on one side, and his leg still hurt like a bitch. Prometheus was zipping around behind Futaba – they were kind of hard to read, but were obviously worried.
“I really am going to skin them alive. It’s a shame you redirected me, or one of them would already be dead.” Goro said casually, which is how Akira knew that he was absolutely murderous. He only really got heated when he didn’t feel like he was in control of a situation – which Akira delighted in instigating – so planning manslaughter just made him go all cool and ruthless.
It was kind of devastatingly attractive.
“Okay, guinea pig, status report.”
Oh, Takemi had arrived.
Goro moved from his position in front of Akira to instead sit beside him. Which was fabulous because he was warm, and now Akira could lean on him properly. He was tempted to just close his eyes and cuddle into Goro further, when there was a clicking sound right in front of his face.
Huh, he must have started to drift again. When had Takemi kneeled in front of him to snap her fingers?
“He’s been drugged, possibly concussed, and I know for certain his leg and torso sustained some amount of damage. Whether or not anything is broken, I am unsure.”
Wow, Goro was really straddling the ‘Detective Prince’ line there. He sounded half polite, half vicious. Akira tried again to shake off the delirium like he had when he was talking to Sae, but it was working less and less over time.
“Do you know what kind of drugs?”
Goro stiffened beside him. Oh, darn. Akira should have thought to pocket one of the syringes so she could like, test it or something. Aw man, he probably wasn’t even going to get the good pain meds at this rate.
“Sorry,” he tried, unsure if it was at all coherent, “they just called it a ‘truth serum’.” He shivered against the cold that kept sweeping over him. “Fucking cold, though.”
At least some of that must have gotten through, because Futaba practically yanked the comforter off the bottom of his bed to throw it over his shoulders, and Goro wrapped one arm around his shoulders to pull him tight against his side. Perfect. Now, if his ribs would stop shouting at him, he could drop off to sleep. He just might do that anyway.
“Hey, guinea pig, you can sleep in a sec, but I need to stay awake a bit longer first.” Takemi’s voice was gentle but firm, and Akira groaned, but opened his eyes anyway.
It was annoying, but he let Takemi guide him through some check-ups. She had him follow a pen with his eyes (a little dizzying, but pretty easy), looked at his pupils, pressed firmly against different parts of his ribcage (ow ow ow), and had him roll up his pant leg to look at his thigh (which was apparently horribly bruised). All the while, Goro stayed solid against him, and Akira kept getting distracted by the way that their personae were basically cuddling together again – which probably didn’t do him any favors in convincing Takemi he was mostly lucid, but whatever.
People were talking around him, but he was really starting to drift off now, and no one shook him, or snapped at him, so he tried leaning sideways against Goro again. Sleep was supposed to be the best medicine right?
When he felt a warm hand carding fingers through his hair, he smiled slightly, wishing he could purr or chirp like their personae to express how much he appreciated the motion. Unfortunately, the most he could manage was a satisfied exhale as he rapidly dropped into a doze.
He was with his family, and he was safe, so really, everything was perfect.