[Of course Akechi is going to disagree with the stupidest stretch of logic he's ever heard in his life.
All Maruki has to show for this-
A face covered in ointment, an eye crushed by glass, an arm ripped to shreds, a gun pointed to his head twice.
What the hell is he even saying?
Akechi's seen glimpses of Maruki now - moments of petulance, questionable experimentation, wrath hidden under a suit of golden armor.]
You're insane.
[Is what he settles on - dry, deadpan and without any sort of bite. No rational human being, godlike power or not, would continue doing this. Would keep this relationship going. Would make a fucking bed within arm's length of their aggressor.]
However, it's your own business. I never took you to be a glutton for punishment, but I suppose things have changed since that day you were cowering in alleyways. Whatever happens to you is your own doing.
Sudden, jolting up from his chest and making him slap a hand over his mouth to muffle it. Soft only because his voice is still hoarse, but no less entirely genuine. ]
Yeah. Maybe.
[ It certainly feels that way, some days! ]
And not to drag up ancient history, but... Pot, kettle, et cetera.
[ Honestly, what a judgment from Akechi Goro, of all people. But Maruki doesn't want to interrogate him about it now. He's drained – they both are. And it keeps circling in his head – They awoke at the same time. It felt like this.
He deserves to rest. ]
Anyhow, yes. Things have changed. And if I'm honest, Akechi, a lot of it's changed because of you. So...
[ Shrug. You get the ally that you ask for, in the end. ]
Akechi shuffles under the too comfortable blankets, his hand hitting the dorayaki wrapper.
He once asked Maruki what drove him, requesting an answer for a reason Akechi couldn't voice at the time, but-
There was an understanding. Words appearing on a screen that Akechi has reread multiple times since that day - after intense arguments while a bowl of soup cools outside of a doorway, after extra mushrooms started appearing unprompted in his meals, Maruki conveniently reading on the couch during nights Akechi wanders home later than normal.
It's surreal. It gets less intelligible every single time he pulls up the screen capture- words jumbling together, meaning lost. He can't decipher it. It makes less sense the more experiences shared between them.
If Akechi were to pull out his phone now and read those saved words, he's sure every single one of them will look like a foreign language, scrambled and twisted.]
I won't apologize - ever. I don't regret anything I've done.
[Eyes shut. A soft, distant murmur under his breath. A bleary sort of numbness overtaking his mind and body.]
To you or anyone else.
[Friend. Foe. Stranger. It doesn't matter at all when a monster's at the helm.
Akechi mumbles something else - unintelligible from the way his face is pressed into plush blanket and-
It's nighty night peanut time. Akechi Goro finally shuts the fuck up.]
[ In Tokyo, his bedroom is always half-illuminated.
He could get heavier curtains to block out some of the perpetual night life glow, but he's used to it. He didn't spend his whole life in the largest city in the world without developing the ability to fall asleep under any circumstances – noisy, brightly lit, facedown on a lecture hall desk, standing in a crowded train, half-slumped on an office couch.
He can't get used to this. The way nighttime in Somnius is pitch black, the way they can see all the stars even from the comparatively populated housing or business areas. The inky darkness of his room every night.
Maruki stares off into it now. Even with his eyes adjusted, he can't make anything out in the room. Not even the shape of Akechi beneath the blankets on the floor only a few feet away. He blinks. He can still feel shards of glass that don't exist embedded in his eyes. Can still feel blood that's already been staunched wiped away bandaged over, can still sense the copper tang when he inhales, can still taste it on his tongue. Can still feel hands ripping his flesh apart like a clawed beast. Can still feel a hard object striking his throat again and again and again andagainandagainandagain until his breathing sounded like a death rattle to his own ears.
Can still feel what it was like for the darkness to close in, swift and quiet and peaceful, even as he fought.
He draws a breath. Deep, even. No blood and bile pooling in the base of his throat to choke him if the collapsed obstruction didn't first. He's safe.
Akechi is falling asleep nearby, and he says he isn't sorry despite all the care he's shown tonight alone, to say nothing of the rest of their time together, and Maruki is safe. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
All Maruki has to show for this-
A face covered in ointment, an eye crushed by glass, an arm ripped to shreds, a gun pointed to his head twice.
What the hell is he even saying?
Akechi's seen glimpses of Maruki now - moments of petulance, questionable experimentation, wrath hidden under a suit of golden armor.]
You're insane.
[Is what he settles on - dry, deadpan and without any sort of bite. No rational human being, godlike power or not, would continue doing this. Would keep this relationship going. Would make a fucking bed within arm's length of their aggressor.]
However, it's your own business. I never took you to be a glutton for punishment, but I suppose things have changed since that day you were cowering in alleyways. Whatever happens to you is your own doing.
no subject
Maruki laughs.
Sudden, jolting up from his chest and making him slap a hand over his mouth to muffle it. Soft only because his voice is still hoarse, but no less entirely genuine. ]
Yeah. Maybe.
[ It certainly feels that way, some days! ]
And not to drag up ancient history, but... Pot, kettle, et cetera.
[ Honestly, what a judgment from Akechi Goro, of all people. But Maruki doesn't want to interrogate him about it now. He's drained – they both are. And it keeps circling in his head – They awoke at the same time. It felt like this.
He deserves to rest. ]
Anyhow, yes. Things have changed. And if I'm honest, Akechi, a lot of it's changed because of you. So...
[ Shrug. You get the ally that you ask for, in the end. ]
no subject
Akechi shuffles under the too comfortable blankets, his hand hitting the dorayaki wrapper.
He once asked Maruki what drove him, requesting an answer for a reason Akechi couldn't voice at the time, but-
There was an understanding. Words appearing on a screen that Akechi has reread multiple times since that day - after intense arguments while a bowl of soup cools outside of a doorway, after extra mushrooms started appearing unprompted in his meals, Maruki conveniently reading on the couch during nights Akechi wanders home later than normal.
It's surreal. It gets less intelligible every single time he pulls up the screen capture- words jumbling together, meaning lost. He can't decipher it. It makes less sense the more experiences shared between them.
If Akechi were to pull out his phone now and read those saved words, he's sure every single one of them will look like a foreign language, scrambled and twisted.]
I won't apologize - ever. I don't regret anything I've done.
[Eyes shut. A soft, distant murmur under his breath. A bleary sort of numbness overtaking his mind and body.]
To you or anyone else.
[Friend. Foe. Stranger. It doesn't matter at all when a monster's at the helm.
Akechi mumbles something else - unintelligible from the way his face is pressed into plush blanket and-
It's nighty night peanut time. Akechi Goro finally shuts the fuck up.]
cw eye trauma, graphic violence
He could get heavier curtains to block out some of the perpetual night life glow, but he's used to it. He didn't spend his whole life in the largest city in the world without developing the ability to fall asleep under any circumstances – noisy, brightly lit, facedown on a lecture hall desk, standing in a crowded train, half-slumped on an office couch.
He can't get used to this. The way nighttime in Somnius is pitch black, the way they can see all the stars even from the comparatively populated housing or business areas. The inky darkness of his room every night.
Maruki stares off into it now. Even with his eyes adjusted, he can't make anything out in the room. Not even the shape of Akechi beneath the blankets on the floor only a few feet away. He blinks. He can still feel shards of glass that don't exist embedded in his eyes. Can still feel blood that's already been staunched wiped away bandaged over, can still sense the copper tang when he inhales, can still taste it on his tongue. Can still feel hands ripping his flesh apart like a clawed beast. Can still feel a hard object striking his throat again and again and again andagainandagainandagain until his breathing sounded like a death rattle to his own ears.
Can still feel what it was like for the darkness to close in, swift and quiet and peaceful, even as he fought.
He draws a breath. Deep, even. No blood and bile pooling in the base of his throat to choke him if the collapsed obstruction didn't first. He's safe.
Akechi is falling asleep nearby, and he says he isn't sorry despite all the care he's shown tonight alone, to say nothing of the rest of their time together, and Maruki is safe. ]
I wouldn't expect you to, Akechi. Good night.