[Rising from the ashes, strong and resolute, is a cliche he can no longer stomach.
Tearing away from rot and mud, body heavy and weighed down by an entity he thought was fighting his very existence in the moment - now he knows it was gravity against his exhausted living corpse. But every jostle felt like fire. Every step after burned him alight and-
Even as the months passed, he never contacted Ren. Those passing thoughts surfacing in the quiet moments where static was louder than the television he was flicking through, when words on his phone became muddled, when his college exam had questions reminiscient of a back and forth between two could have been friends in the comfortable expanse of a homely cafe.
Fate held a noose over both their heads - a chokehold impossible to escape if he makes a decision to reach out. A red string weaving through their ribs and soul - binding in a way that makes him want to rip it into pieces. It's the principle of it.
Ren's number stays in his phone anyway. Untouched. Unchanged.
And it's that same fate his mind flickers back to, when he sees Ren standing in their dorm. A reminder that it takes two to cut a string free. A bitter realization that he was waiting. A living, breathing reminder that there was one person out there who wasn't disgusted at his existence. Taller, broader, stronger from a life stuck in adversity, despite all the injustices he solved.
He never believed it was a coincidence. The explosive first encounter with the tense days that followed never shook Ren's resolve. Akechi's tenacity, strong and unyielding, never wavered either. No threat made an impact - shooting, leaving, vanishing. The bluffs called out through a knowledge of his psyche so intimate that he can't stand it.
A comfortable routine forms in the months that follow. A settling of silent debts and promises in the shared coffees, the study sessions, the nights out to places that will never feel like Jazz Jin did and cafe lunches.
It's in the papers they share between them, assignments read over by the other, mistakes poked and prodded with teasing that sometimes turns vicious.
Ren's laptop is a disaster, he decides, on one such day. An already proofread paper minimized to reveal a scattered desktop screen - days as a detective a way to hide his nosy nature.]
These folders are horrible. [There's no bite behind that accusation - he continues to scroll through documents and images. Noting folder names and the like, but not digging further than surface area.] I'm truly baffled. The great leader of the Phantom Thieves, unable to find his algebra homework due to shitty file naming. The media would eat that up.
in the months he's been living with akechi goro, his often-moody roommate would find any little excuse nitpick at what ren does, or what he says, or in this case: what how his folders are arranged.
ren's brows quirk upwards as he watches akechi scrutinize his desktop. true: ren has a bad habit of saving things directly into his desktop instead of arranging his folders, leading to him misplace his files. he thinks it couldn't be that hard to find it if he really tired, but for some reason, ren's absolutely fine akechi peering at his desktop, judging him, findings things to complain about. it reminds him of old times. ]
Eh, I'll find it eventually, [ he dismisses idly, a proud smirk wearing on his lips. ] It's not due for a couple days anyway.
[ innocently, he peers over to his roommate. he's got to be cool about this. ]
We should go out. [ he knows how that sounds. ] Do something. I think we deserve it a little break.
[The nonchalance in his ever unshakable composure is infuriating. The smirk an added layer to that, though he pretends his gaze is fixated on the dimmed screen in front of him and not the reflection of the man in it.]
'We' deserve it. [Unflappable. Feigned boredom. A mocking edge creeping in, as he makes a dramatic wave towards the laptop.]
I do, having turned in all my work. You're questionable until we find where it's hidden. If you have to do all over again, a few days may not be enough time.
[His psuedo sister is a hacker - surely she could find a simple bizarrely named document in the depths of this computer. Not that he wants to bring up any of Ren's clown trope or provoke their involvement in even the smallest parts of his existence. He's lucky they're all fixated in their own lives, their own worlds, not unlike a time when Maruki manipulated them into fake realities.
Another failed attempt causes his to roll his neck in frustration. The one that follows makes him hunch over the keyboard. Ridiculous.]
[ the corners of his mouth curls, satisfied by his answer. ]
Are you afraid I'll fail out or something?
[ it's a rhetorical question. ren, probably more than akechi, doesn't want to give the universe any reason for them to separate again, much less something so preventable as passing classes. ren's stubbornness, and akechi's pride, wouldn't allow for something like that to happen. ]
C'mon. I wanna take you somewhere - just like old times.
[Concern over a failed assignment in a class Ren, at minimum, is passing - that's a small concern. Akechi doesn't have a visual on his grades, but they're high - that's his assumption. Intelligence is one of Ren's redeeming qualities, in a sea of baffling and infuriating ones. The issue is-]
If you fail, you fail. A pitiful end, really. It's going to be annoying to transfer in a new dormmate this late into the semester.
[There's a second where something catches his attention on screen - posture straightening and eyes fixated on an assignment name with metadata fitting the criteria he's been searching in. This may be it and-
A dead end. An empty file. He pulls his fingers off the laptop and leans back to stretch his spine, eyes fixating on a discolored patch in the ceiling.]
I'm afraid of how your inevitable all nighter to finish will keep me awake somehow.
[The 'somehow' being Akechi's own obstinance, when he settles into a spot next to Ren to doublecheck problems as he finishes.
The final comment weighs heavy, lingering between them with no answer until-]
[ there it is again: akechi's roundabout way of saying something without saying it outright. ren can often pick up the pieces and read in between the lines; he's perceptive like that, and the adults in his life always used to praise and curse him for it. ]
You're not getting rid of me that easily. It's somewhere there, I promise.
[ akechi is not as readable as ren would like.
back when he was in high school, ren was able to predict when he got too involved with the girls, he's always able to sidestep conversations when they begin to take a romantic turn. when talking to akechi, he feels like the conversation is being filtered through a scrambler, one of those weird encrypting tools, whatever - the conversation has never been direct, and the messages get muddled through their own mental gymnastics.
he says he wants to take akechi out, just like old times. even he doesn't know if it's supposed to be a date or a outing between two guys, or friends, if they're even friends, or -- ]
Maybe we deserve something alcoholic. I can buy drinks legally now, you know.
[You're not getting rid of me that easily - a comment that earns a scoff close to a laugh. Thin whisps of smoke from his temple, blood trickling with a drip, drip, drip on a bloodied tabletop. A sword ripping against flesh, twice. Gun pointed. Words that sound less human and more static the more he tries to remember and-
He shuts his eyes. Waits. Let's a sudden bout of nausea pass before-]
No clubs. If you know of a quiet place with a decent selection, then I'll consider it.
[Like Jazz Jin goes unsaid, despite none of the small city knock offs meeting his exceptional standards.
His forearms push his body back to the laptop, an internet tab appearing the second his fingers settle on the keys. One grimace at the bookmark bar later and-]
You worked at a bar in Tokyo, didn't you? I still wonder how you managed that.
[ little does akechi know, ren has already looked into a place-that-is-jazz-jin-but-not, and these quiet places are harder to find outside of the bustling city they spent that one summer in. he wanted to find a place that would give him the same feeling as when akechi showed him the jazz jin the first time - a place that ren continued to visit long after he believed akechi was gone for good.
it was important for him to find a right place - and after enough research, he does find a place. that's why he's excited to show him the place. ]
Should be easy enough to find, [ he lies casually. as if he doesn't have the address already plugged into his maps app. ] We're not in Tokyo anymore; the bars tend to be quieter out here.
[ he smiles gently. ] You were always a city guy, weren't you?
As for Crossroads... I was told I was good at listening to people. And I have the kind of determined look that people want to give work to.
[That confidence is as suspicious as all the other coincidences that brought them together through sheer luck. He doesn't comment, but does give a sideways look. Even his quick search for bars in XXXXX didn't provide any noteworthy offerings, though he only offered a casual glance to the results. Didn't see any that struck him as interesting.
But he relents - shuts the laptop cover with finality. No more searching for Ren's lost algebra homework.]
Yes. It might surprise you, but I didn't go to Tokyo with the hope of being famous.
[They both know why he was there - that unspoken past a ravine of muck and blood. One step will capture them. He doesn't linger on it.]
I enjoy the anonymity a big city provides. You simply go about your life. No one knows you or your family, nor do they care. Much like the way Crossroads ignored your age and the law they dangerously skirted. But I can't say I'm surprised. You had a lot of people fooled with that face of yours.
That just makes it more impressive that you became such a celebrity. People genuinely liked you. But I guess city stuff rarely reach this side of the country...
[ despite akechi's appearance, people don't really know who he is, or place a name to his face. and akechi's a good liar; if people start to speculate, he easily steers himself free from any lingering suspicions.
you're like my little secret, he doesn't say. akechi being a secret of his isn't something new at all - all of their hangouts were done in secret and without the majority of the phantom thieves knowing about. he never had the heart to tell them that his meetings with akechi rarely had to do with their mission at the time; it was motivated by an itch that still lives under his skin to this day, a gnawing desire that only stirs when he knows he can spend more time with akechi. ]
I was only good at that because I enjoyed working there. People don't wear masks there, not after a few drinks.
[ with akechi giving up at last, he gets to his feet and throws on a scarf and jacket, having been in jeans all day from errands he went on earlier. it's as if he'd planned this from the very beginning - which, perhaps, akechi has already caught on.
well, not losing the algebra homework part. he hadn't planned that one. ]
The scoff that falls from his lips isn't stifled in the slightest. It's a kinder form of the bitter laugh still resting in his throat. He sits on that - the people genuinely liked you.
And the comment about masks and drinks - if he didn't know any better, he would think Ren was trying to do the same between them. Remove pretenses with alcohol, not that there's anything left to hide between them. The thought sticks to the back of his skull - unforgotten, but temporarily ignored.
He's heading to his room before the order of get dressed - a little Joker in the way he relays it. The years have made him bold to act that way outside of the Metaverse. It makes him halt in his step, turn a little to eye him already dressed and by the door - eager and ready to leave the cramped confines of their apartment.]
For the record, you're the only one insane enough to like Akechi Goro. [His fingertips drum against discolored wall beside him.] The fans I used to have - they only liked a picture perfect Detective Prince. An illusion and nothing more. There was nothing genuine in that.
[A beat, and there's an order all his own.]
You should look for your homework in the interim. There's no sense in idling around, doing nothing while you wait for me to get ready. It's going to be a moment.
[ what happens when two people wear masks that negate one another— are they truly still wearing masks at that point? it was always a dance with them, intricate steps to keep all facets covered while also trying to understand one another deeply. even know it excites him. ]
Did you not have fun at all, even a little bit? The attention must have been exhilarating sometimes.
[ like how you had my attention for the entirety of that summer, and more. ]
This is how college is gonna be like with you, huh? Nagging me the whole way through? [ it's snorted as he finally rummages through his files. honestly, all he has to do is backtrack his thinking. what would he name a file like that, and where would he put it... he has about fifteen minutes to figure it out. ]
You care a lot and I appreciate it, Akechi. [ :) ]
[The fame was enthralling in its early stages - waves of attention and praise handed out like cheap candy. It was addictive and-
Fleeting. It became favors and offers, exchanges of feigned platitudes, jealousy and resentment. His act could never falter, not for a moment. A noose of his own creation.]
It was in the beginning. Though you know well how quickly that fame can twist into something darker. I wouldn't say it was worth it.
[The Phantom Thieves truly felt the brunt of that.
As he walks into his room, still able to hear his roommates voice through a shut door. A response is on the tip of his tongue, ready to inflict a verbal lashing over nagging when he hears the second part and-
It dies on his lips. Ren will only hear a throat clearing cough - ignoring every part of that as he changes. He didn't hear it - that's his alibi.
And a few minutes later - he's back out! 'Casual wear' being a plain black shirt and jeans.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
@prison
Tearing away from rot and mud, body heavy and weighed down by an entity he thought was fighting his very existence in the moment - now he knows it was gravity against his exhausted living corpse. But every jostle felt like fire. Every step after burned him alight and-
Even as the months passed, he never contacted Ren. Those passing thoughts surfacing in the quiet moments where static was louder than the television he was flicking through, when words on his phone became muddled, when his college exam had questions reminiscient of a back and forth between two could have been friends in the comfortable expanse of a homely cafe.
Fate held a noose over both their heads - a chokehold impossible to escape if he makes a decision to reach out. A red string weaving through their ribs and soul - binding in a way that makes him want to rip it into pieces. It's the principle of it.
Ren's number stays in his phone anyway. Untouched. Unchanged.
And it's that same fate his mind flickers back to, when he sees Ren standing in their dorm. A reminder that it takes two to cut a string free. A bitter realization that he was waiting. A living, breathing reminder that there was one person out there who wasn't disgusted at his existence. Taller, broader, stronger from a life stuck in adversity, despite all the injustices he solved.
He never believed it was a coincidence. The explosive first encounter with the tense days that followed never shook Ren's resolve. Akechi's tenacity, strong and unyielding, never wavered either. No threat made an impact - shooting, leaving, vanishing. The bluffs called out through a knowledge of his psyche so intimate that he can't stand it.
A comfortable routine forms in the months that follow. A settling of silent debts and promises in the shared coffees, the study sessions, the nights out to places that will never feel like Jazz Jin did and cafe lunches.
It's in the papers they share between them, assignments read over by the other, mistakes poked and prodded with teasing that sometimes turns vicious.
Ren's laptop is a disaster, he decides, on one such day. An already proofread paper minimized to reveal a scattered desktop screen - days as a detective a way to hide his nosy nature.]
These folders are horrible. [There's no bite behind that accusation - he continues to scroll through documents and images. Noting folder names and the like, but not digging further than surface area.] I'm truly baffled. The great leader of the Phantom Thieves, unable to find his algebra homework due to shitty file naming. The media would eat that up.
no subject
in the months he's been living with akechi goro, his often-moody roommate would find any little excuse nitpick at what ren does, or what he says, or in this case: what how his folders are arranged.
ren's brows quirk upwards as he watches akechi scrutinize his desktop. true: ren has a bad habit of saving things directly into his desktop instead of arranging his folders, leading to him misplace his files. he thinks it couldn't be that hard to find it if he really tired, but for some reason, ren's absolutely fine akechi peering at his desktop, judging him, findings things to complain about. it reminds him of old times. ]
Eh, I'll find it eventually, [ he dismisses idly, a proud smirk wearing on his lips. ] It's not due for a couple days anyway.
[ innocently, he peers over to his roommate. he's got to be cool about this. ]
We should go out. [ he knows how that sounds. ] Do something. I think we deserve it a little break.
no subject
'We' deserve it. [Unflappable. Feigned boredom. A mocking edge creeping in, as he makes a dramatic wave towards the laptop.]
I do, having turned in all my work. You're questionable until we find where it's hidden. If you have to do all over again, a few days may not be enough time.
[His psuedo sister is a hacker - surely she could find a simple bizarrely named document in the depths of this computer. Not that he wants to bring up any of Ren's clown trope or provoke their involvement in even the smallest parts of his existence. He's lucky they're all fixated in their own lives, their own worlds, not unlike a time when Maruki manipulated them into fake realities.
Another failed attempt causes his to roll his neck in frustration. The one that follows makes him hunch over the keyboard. Ridiculous.]
no subject
Are you afraid I'll fail out or something?
[ it's a rhetorical question. ren, probably more than akechi, doesn't want to give the universe any reason for them to separate again, much less something so preventable as passing classes. ren's stubbornness, and akechi's pride, wouldn't allow for something like that to happen. ]
C'mon. I wanna take you somewhere - just like old times.
no subject
If you fail, you fail. A pitiful end, really. It's going to be annoying to transfer in a new dormmate this late into the semester.
[There's a second where something catches his attention on screen - posture straightening and eyes fixated on an assignment name with metadata fitting the criteria he's been searching in. This may be it and-
A dead end. An empty file. He pulls his fingers off the laptop and leans back to stretch his spine, eyes fixating on a discolored patch in the ceiling.]
I'm afraid of how your inevitable all nighter to finish will keep me awake somehow.
[The 'somehow' being Akechi's own obstinance, when he settles into a spot next to Ren to doublecheck problems as he finishes.
The final comment weighs heavy, lingering between them with no answer until-]
Where did you have in mind?
no subject
You're not getting rid of me that easily. It's somewhere there, I promise.
[ akechi is not as readable as ren would like.
back when he was in high school, ren was able to predict when he got too involved with the girls, he's always able to sidestep conversations when they begin to take a romantic turn. when talking to akechi, he feels like the conversation is being filtered through a scrambler, one of those weird encrypting tools, whatever - the conversation has never been direct, and the messages get muddled through their own mental gymnastics.
he says he wants to take akechi out, just like old times. even he doesn't know if it's supposed to be a date or a outing between two guys, or friends, if they're even friends, or -- ]
Maybe we deserve something alcoholic. I can buy drinks legally now, you know.
no subject
He shuts his eyes. Waits. Let's a sudden bout of nausea pass before-]
No clubs. If you know of a quiet place with a decent selection, then I'll consider it.
[Like Jazz Jin goes unsaid, despite none of the small city knock offs meeting his exceptional standards.
His forearms push his body back to the laptop, an internet tab appearing the second his fingers settle on the keys. One grimace at the bookmark bar later and-]
You worked at a bar in Tokyo, didn't you? I still wonder how you managed that.
no subject
it was important for him to find a right place - and after enough research, he does find a place. that's why he's excited to show him the place. ]
Should be easy enough to find, [ he lies casually. as if he doesn't have the address already plugged into his maps app. ] We're not in Tokyo anymore; the bars tend to be quieter out here.
[ he smiles gently. ] You were always a city guy, weren't you?
As for Crossroads... I was told I was good at listening to people. And I have the kind of determined look that people want to give work to.
no subject
But he relents - shuts the laptop cover with finality. No more searching for Ren's lost algebra homework.]
Yes. It might surprise you, but I didn't go to Tokyo with the hope of being famous.
[They both know why he was there - that unspoken past a ravine of muck and blood. One step will capture them. He doesn't linger on it.]
I enjoy the anonymity a big city provides. You simply go about your life. No one knows you or your family, nor do they care. Much like the way Crossroads ignored your age and the law they dangerously skirted. But I can't say I'm surprised. You had a lot of people fooled with that face of yours.
[He stretches his arms above his head.]
When do you want to leave?
no subject
[ despite akechi's appearance, people don't really know who he is, or place a name to his face. and akechi's a good liar; if people start to speculate, he easily steers himself free from any lingering suspicions.
you're like my little secret, he doesn't say. akechi being a secret of his isn't something new at all - all of their hangouts were done in secret and without the majority of the phantom thieves knowing about. he never had the heart to tell them that his meetings with akechi rarely had to do with their mission at the time; it was motivated by an itch that still lives under his skin to this day, a gnawing desire that only stirs when he knows he can spend more time with akechi. ]
I was only good at that because I enjoyed working there. People don't wear masks there, not after a few drinks.
[ with akechi giving up at last, he gets to his feet and throws on a scarf and jacket, having been in jeans all day from errands he went on earlier. it's as if he'd planned this from the very beginning - which, perhaps, akechi has already caught on.
well, not losing the algebra homework part. he hadn't planned that one. ]
Right now. Get dressed.
no subject
The scoff that falls from his lips isn't stifled in the slightest. It's a kinder form of the bitter laugh still resting in his throat. He sits on that - the people genuinely liked you.
And the comment about masks and drinks - if he didn't know any better, he would think Ren was trying to do the same between them. Remove pretenses with alcohol, not that there's anything left to hide between them. The thought sticks to the back of his skull - unforgotten, but temporarily ignored.
He's heading to his room before the order of get dressed - a little Joker in the way he relays it. The years have made him bold to act that way outside of the Metaverse. It makes him halt in his step, turn a little to eye him already dressed and by the door - eager and ready to leave the cramped confines of their apartment.]
For the record, you're the only one insane enough to like Akechi Goro. [His fingertips drum against discolored wall beside him.] The fans I used to have - they only liked a picture perfect Detective Prince. An illusion and nothing more. There was nothing genuine in that.
[A beat, and there's an order all his own.]
You should look for your homework in the interim. There's no sense in idling around, doing nothing while you wait for me to get ready. It's going to be a moment.
no subject
Did you not have fun at all, even a little bit? The attention must have been exhilarating sometimes.
[ like how you had my attention for the entirety of that summer, and more. ]
This is how college is gonna be like with you, huh? Nagging me the whole way through? [ it's snorted as he finally rummages through his files. honestly, all he has to do is backtrack his thinking. what would he name a file like that, and where would he put it... he has about fifteen minutes to figure it out. ]
You care a lot and I appreciate it, Akechi. [ :) ]
no subject
Fleeting. It became favors and offers, exchanges of feigned platitudes, jealousy and resentment. His act could never falter, not for a moment. A noose of his own creation.]
It was in the beginning. Though you know well how quickly that fame can twist into something darker. I wouldn't say it was worth it.
[The Phantom Thieves truly felt the brunt of that.
As he walks into his room, still able to hear his roommates voice through a shut door. A response is on the tip of his tongue, ready to inflict a verbal lashing over nagging when he hears the second part and-
It dies on his lips. Ren will only hear a throat clearing cough - ignoring every part of that as he changes. He didn't hear it - that's his alibi.
And a few minutes later - he's back out! 'Casual wear' being a plain black shirt and jeans.]
Any luck?