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"So you want to test out a drug that's supposed to give us increased precision... So you can win a darts contest?"

Tae nodded. "Exactly." Akiren couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why? Can't you do it yourself?" Tae shrugged, "I saw the movie Kingpin and was inspired. Why win the contest myself when I can get a couple apprentices to do it for me." Akiren just shook his head and sighed. Was she being serious right now? "You do realize that the only reason he did that was because he had a hook for a hand, right?" Tae just waved him off.

Akiren can't believe he agreed to this. He can believe Ryuji agreed, mostly because he heard Tae promise "free ramen" and refused to hear any further, even when she tried to explain that she mixed the drug into the ramen so they'd ingest it faster. He tried to be positive about it and tell himself that even after the tournament is over he can use the medicine in the Metaverse. Unfortunately it's hard to remain positive when the medicine tastes bad even when it's mixed with food. Living in Leblanc has made his palate extra sensitive so he's tasting all the things he probably wouldn't have before.

Ryuji, on the other hand, either didn't notice or just didn't care because free food. Akiren was forcing down his fourth bite by the time Ryuji had finished the whole bowl. He even offered to finish Akiren's for him. Obviously he didn't want Ryuji to accidentally overdose so he declined, and managed to force the rest down quickly enough so he didn't have to think about it anymore. He'd regret it later but now was not the time to think about it. Tae had measured their stats pre-ramen and watched them throw. Ryuji was already decent at it but noticed that Akiren was a bit lacking. She was sure the medicine would help.

Thirty minutes later, "Alright, I want you two to try shooting darts again." Ryuji whined, "Man, do we really have to? I kinda just wanna lie down." He was laying back in his chair before Tae yanked him up. "No, I really need you two to do this. You agreed to do what I asked for your free ramen." Ryuji groaned, not wanting to but knowing he couldn't say no. Especially when Akiren was in the background looking like he was pleading for him to just say yes. He reluctantly moved towards the board and stopped where Tae had marked for them to stand. He could feel his eyes laser focused on the board for reasons he didn't entirely understand and managed to hit the bullseye first try without even thinking about it. "Woah, no way I just did that! I was barely even looking." He threw a couple more, getting the same result each time.

Tae smiled as she noted down his seemingly improved skill. Next was Akiren. He was a little more nervous, but relaxed as he felt the medicine increasing his focus. His mind felt like a supercomputer and he could practically calculate the exact angle and speed to throw for a perfect shot. When he succeeded on his first try, he got a bit more confident and on his second throw he relaxed a bit, casually putting his non-used hand in his pocket while throwing the dart. Another bullseye. He would've gotten the third one too, if it wasn't for Ryuji quietly saying, "Shit, why was that kinda hot," which caused him to miss the shot. He turned to face Ryuji. "What?"

"Oh, I- Uh..." Ryuji didn't know how to get himself out of this and tried to play it off. "I was... Talking about the room. Yeah, it's pretty hot in here." He nervously chuckled before whispering, "He's definitely not gonna fall for that." Tae grew a little more stern and noted this. She didn't know Ryuji that well, but even for being a loudmouth as Akiren described that seemed a little too out of the ordinary. It didn't stop there, as every time Akiren went up to throw Ryuji seemingly couldn't keep his mouth shut even when he's trying to be quiet.

"That's my boy! I'm surprised the ladies aren't falling over themselves to be with you with your skills."

"Man, the hot doctor's lucky she gets to see him so much. I bet she sees his good angles all the time like this."

"How's he so perfect at everything?"

When they were done for the day she even asked Akiren about it, and he confirmed that this wasn't normal even for him. Tae had to get to the bottom of this and somehow found some other test monkeys to try it on before she saw Akiren and Ryuji again for their next practice. When the two came back she pulled Akiren aside. "Okay, I think I might've discovered a side effect of the drug." She pulled out her notes from the other people she tested. There were ten other subjects, seven of which were noted as speaking more than usual and casually talking about everything, including things they'd usually hide. One male told a female subject that she had a nice ass, another admitted to committing a crime a few years ago and to hating her boyfriend's haircut but telling everyone she thought it looked great. One man flat out admitted to abandoning his family despite the fact he knew he'd be shamed if anyone knew. "I think the drug causes some people to lose their filter and start saying things that they'd usually keep in their head. You must be one of the few that it doesn't work on." It made sense... But does that mean Ryuji actually felt that way?

Akiren and Ryuji sat down to enjoy their second "free ramen" from Tae. Akiren had to force it down his throat yet again while Ryuji ate it like nothing. Again, perfect shots every time. Tae figured the drug was working, but obviously a few more tests would need to be done, plus they'd need to train all the way up until the competition. Unfortunately Ryuji experienced the same side effect again and would "whisper" (more like blurt out) exactly what he was thinking whenever it was Akiren's turn to throw, not realizing both of them could hear.

The one that really got Akiren, however, was the most out of character coming from Ryuji.

"I could kiss him."

His heart almost stopped hearing that. He honestly wasn't too sure how to feel about it, but was it wrong that he 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘥 it? Tae was a little weirded out, she didn't have any interest in hearing what Ryuji was thinking about Akiren and would've dropped him from the experiment if she knew about this earlier- but she really needed the prize money and those two were her best options. Akiren was digging the attention a bit and decided to tease Ryuji to see his reaction. When Ryuji went back up to throw, Akiren said Ryuji's aim was a little off and "helped" him get in the proper position, focusing a lot on touching his hands. Tae knew Akiren was bullshitting but had given up on their training sessions being normal. Akiren got a little satisfaction out of hearing Ryuji whispering-out-loud to himself, "Ohgodohgodohgod- His hands are so soft." When Ryuji got a perfect score yet again despite the distraction, Akiren teased by loudly cheering, "Oh my god Ryuji you're so great!" Ryuji mumbled a, "Hey man don't say shit like that. It's weird," but then turned around and whispered, "I love when he does that."

The days leading up to the tournament only proved the usefulness of the drug even more, but unfortunately the side effect persisted. Tae started standing further back so she didn't have to listen but could still monitor the two. Everything was great until the day before, when suddenly Ryuji seemed to be lacking confidence and missing more shots. His precision wasn't even off because he'd still get perfect shots if Akiren wasn't in his sight, but seeing him made him more nervous and he was getting real bad at hiding it. He still had no idea about the drug but he could tell that he wasn't exactly keeping his thoughts inside his head whenever they were training for Tae. She ended up pulling Akiren aside while Ryuji was in the middle of throwing.

"Listen," she sighed, "I need you to motivate him somehow to do better. I need the money." Akiren glared at her. "What do you want me to do? You're the one that's forcing us to do this anyway and you still haven't told him that you've basically been drugging him." Tae sighed, the stress piling on further. "Look, if you two win I'll give you a cut of the money, okay? Just... Figure something out." Now she was talking his language. Akiren thought for a minute before he realized that the obvious solution had been in his face all along.

He pulled Ryuji aside when he was done throwing. "Hey, we really need to win the competition tomorrow." Ryuji whined, "I know man, I'm trying but it's so hard." He mumbled, "And you're not helping." Akiren closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Was he really about to do this? Yeah... He was. He looked Ryuji straight in the eye. "I've been hearing what you've been saying about me during practice. If you help me win tomorrow, I'll give you a kiss." Ryuji stepped back for a moment. It got real quiet between the two. "Dude, I- For real?" There was some weakness in his voice, he knew there was no use hiding it anymore. He'd made it too obvious and he didn't even know how. Akiren looked at him earnestly. "I promise. We win, you get your kiss. Deal?" Ryuji perked up a bit and shook his hand. He didn't even realize how excited he was. "Hell yeah! I mean, I guess I'll do it just because you asked." He definitely gave that dart board a run for its money. Maybe it was the atmosphere changing, or the fact that he now had a reason to win.

The day of the tournament came and Tae watched in the background as the two boys prepared for the final boss. They'd have to beat all the pro dart players. A majority of them were a lot older and look like they've been in the business for years, but there were a couple closer to their age. They probably weren't as good, though. Ryuji and Akiren gave each other a fist bump for good luck before the tournament started. Everyone was in pairs, so they just had to be the team with the best score to win. It wasn't too hard considering they powered up on that "free ramen" again and a couple of teams were a lot worse than they looked. When it came their turn to go, Ryuji threw the first shot and landed a perfect bullseye which was to be expected. He went through the motions and did it again and again. Akiren went up and fumbled the first throw, but picked it back up the second time and got into the hang of it third time around. Slowly but surely they made it up the leaderboard and they watched the other teams get knocked out.

Their final opponent was probably closest to their skill level. Both were older men who definitely knew what they were doing and could make as many bullseyes as Akiren and Ryuji could. The two of them could feel the focus wearing off as well which didn't help. They stopped getting perfect shots and were losing traction. "Damn," Ryuji groaned, "These guys are actually good. I don't know if we can win this one." His doubt was disheartening for multiple reasons and Akiren couldn't bear to see how disappointed Ryuji was becoming. As luck would have it the old man on the other team managed to fumble badly and missed a shot, leaving Akiren and Ryuji only a few points behind. Ryuji would have to get a bullseye to win, and Akiren had the biggest motivator he could muster. Before Ryuji was set to throw he called out, "Ryuji." Ryuji turned around to see Akiren blow a kiss his way. Ryuji turned red hot and felt himself burning up, but also remembered why he had to win. He slowly walked up and stared at the board. He kept his focus on the center and slowly raised his dart. He took a breath before throwing.

3...

2...

1...

Bullseye.

Tae cheered loudly since now she had a bunch of money. Ryuji was also jumping around, practically screaming about how he'd won which annoyed everyone else- but Akiren of course. He ran towards him shouting, "We won! We won!" Akiren grabbed onto him which made him stop jumping, and without thinking about it dragged him off to a shady alcove and planted the biggest kiss he could on Ryuji's lips. He wasn't sure what had gotten into him, but he had to thank him somehow. Ryuji shuddered and leaned in closer. After a solid few seconds, the two pulled apart. Neither really had anything to say, and just nodded as they went back out to receive the prize money, which they promptly took some before handing the rest to Tae. Tae thanked the two of them for the help and left without saying much else. Ryuji seemed to have already moved on from the kiss because of the excitement of the money in his hands. "Dude, I'm gonna get myself a big ass bowl of ramen from this. Hopefully not whatever Tae's been getting though, that's been making me act weird.

...Yeah, Akiren knows. But he liked it, in fact he hardly cared about the money anymore. He had more to worry about. Namely the fact that he enjoyed the kiss a little too much, and that he definitely had feelings for Ryuji now...

Chapter Text

Ryuji wasn’t as stupid as everyone believed. Maybe in the academic sense but when it came to others, especially his boyfriend, he was basically a walking encyclopedia. Nothing got past him. Despite being the one who knew him best, the fact that nobody else seemed to notice the sudden bags under Akiren’s eyes and his gaunt appearance bothered him most. Sure, he was naturally pretty pale and honestly a little disheveled but this was a new low even for him.

The last straw was when he noticed Akiren sleeping at his desk when he came to check on him during their lunch period. He couldn’t bear to wake him, but he sure as hell let everyone else have it when he met them on the rooftop. Ann’s excuse was, “Well, I didn’t want to wake him,” and Makoto just sighed, “Is it really my business?” Haru wasn’t completely faultless either, despite saying that she figured he didn’t want help anyway. Ryuji was definitely bothered, but knew they had a point. Akiren struggled to ask for help and he’d definitely deny anything going on if he was questioned about it. Still, he wasn’t going to just sit around when his boyfriend was obviously under the weather.

When he came back to visit at the end of the school day, Akiren was a little more awake and was packing up to go home. "Hey RenRen," Ryuji said as he tried to seem casual, "Can I come over? My mom's not home right now and-" The speed at which Akiren said yes was a little surprising considering how sluggish he was otherwise.

"Yes- Uh, Yeah..."

He craved a distraction from everything, especially if that distraction was the blond delinquent he'd grown to love. He wasn't very good at hiding it. The truth is, he'd been miserable the past few days. He couldn't bring himself to tell anyone though. He never really asked for help and at first his reasoning made a little more sense, after all he was just coming down with the flu and even if he wanted support why risk getting his friends sick? When he started having dreams involving his biological parents it only made things worse and he started to actively avoid sleeping which only prolonged his sickness.

Ryuji waited until he had everything and the two headed out the building to the subway station. Akiren tried to relax a little but it's hard when you're packed on a train with noise buzzing all around you, the perfect breeding ground for a massive headache when you're already feverish and exhausted. Ryuji noticed Akiren growing paleish-green, white knuckling the handrail and was quick to beg the closest guy sitting down to get his ass up so Akiren could sit. Akiren mumbled, "I don't need it," but was met with a, "Hell no, sit," from Ryuji. Akiren wasn't in the mood to argue so he weakly shifted over, sitting himself down while clutching his bag in desperation for something to keep him grounded. Ryuji felt like a guard dog standing close by and even allowed Akiren to hold onto his arm like a stuffed animal. He tried to ignore the fact that Akiren didn't realize just how tightly he was holding on. They made it to Yongen-Jaya after what seemed like forever and Akiren could barely get up on his own. Ryuji took it upon himself to help, wrapping Akiren's arm around his shoulders and keeping an arm carefully around his waist. Akiren didn't even fight it and let Ryuji help him walk back to Leblanc.

"How's it goin- Oh god, Akiren." Sojiro knew it was bad when Akiren came in half-limp leaning against Ryuji. He sighed, "I told you not to go to school. You need to let yourself rest." Akiren barely forced out an, " 'M fine." He was not, in fact, fine. Sojiro rubbed his forehead. "Carry him to his bed, will you?" Ryuji didn't even need to be asked, but nodded and helped him upstairs before planting him on the bed. He'd finally gotten an actual bed but it only made him feel guilty, like he was a burden on Sojiro. Now he was feeling like a burden on Ryuji too.

"You don't have to stay," he weakly said with his voice barely above a whisper. Ryuji shook his head. "Nope, I'm staying dude. You can't wave me away that easily." Akiren wanted to protest, to get Ryuji to go before he wasted his time caring for him. He couldn't find the words to do it though and instead sighed and sunk into the bed as Ryuji put a blanket over him. "So, what's goin' on? You've been weird the last few days." Akiren could lie and say he was just pulling too many all-nighters or drinking too much coffee before bed, but he knew it wouldn't work since Ryuji practically carried him to bed already. He sighed, "I'm just a little sick, nothing to worry about." Yeah, that wasn't going to fly with Ryuji. He sat down next to Akiren and brushed his hair with his fingers. "I wasn't born yesterday. There's definitely more going on than that. You look like you haven't slept in days." Had it really gotten that bad? Akiren had been avoiding looking at himself since he already knew he wouldn't like seeing himself so sickly, but were his sleep-deprived eye bags obvious?

He gave up. Might as well tell him. "I've been having dreams about my parents... And when they decided to give me up and send me back here for good. I shouldn't care but I'm staring to miss them. I guess I just decided it'd be better to avoid sleeping so I didn't have those dreams again and I wouldn't have to think about it." His voice cracked a couple times saying it. He loved being back in Tokyo, he loved Sojiro and Futaba and all his friends, but the fact that his own parents stopped wanting him was a punch to the guts in a way he couldn't entirely articulate.

Ryuji planted a kiss on his head, still stroking his hair. "I get it. I still feel that way about my dad sometimes, believe it or not. It sucks so hard. You'll probably miss 'em somewhat just because they're your parents and you can't get rid of that connection like that. But screw 'em. Clearly they're missin' out." Ryuji wasn't sure how much it helped, but seeing Akiren relax a little made him think he said the right thing. He got a bit closer, flu be damned, and whispered, "I love you so effin' much dude." Akiren didn't say anything, but his little happy sigh was enough for Ryuji.

Ryuji couldn't bear to leave Akiren alone and crawled over to the empty space next to Akiren. Akiren rolled over, wrapping himself up in the blanket and laid facing his boyfriend. Ryuji wrapped his arms around Akiren and pulled him closer to his chest, quietly telling how much he loved him and how important he was to everyone. It was warm. It was safe. Akiren was still feeling awful about everything but Ryuji knew just how to make it better.

Chapter Text

Akiren and Ryuji couldn't believe their eyes seeing their shadow selves in front of them. They knew it was possible, anyone can develop a shadow, but to be battling your own shadows was on another level. They didn't seem like normal shadows either, considering they were much weaker than the typical twisted shadow. Perhaps it meant their desires weren't as distorted. Even Morgana couldn't think of a better answer than that.

"Whatever it is, it should be easy to defeat."

What they lacked in attack they made up for in stamina. Their shadows could be knocked down a million times and still get back up. "Focus on defense," Morgana commanded. Ryuji couldn't hear him over the sound of his pipe hitting against his shadow's pipe. "Focus on what?" Unfortunately he made the crucial mistake of turning around and his shadow was about to bash him over the head. Akiren jumped in between the shadow and Ryuji to defend him, ready to practically die if he had to. Yet nothing happened. Ryuji's shadow seemed to have just... Stopped. It was now staring at him with a softer gaze than when it was attacking Ryuji. Ryuji turned around and was now facing Akiren's shadow. He braced for an attack just to see Shadow Akiren do the same thing and stop just a few inches in front of him.

Morgana was surprised. He whispered to their other two teammates, "What are they doing?" Ann didn't care what was happening and was debating on stepping in and attacking, but Yusuke held her back from it. "What if what Skull and Joker desire is... Each other?" Everyone screamed, "What," in unison. Ryuji looked back and added, "That's impossible!"

It was like the Shadows just had to let everyone know Ryuji was lying out his ass. Shadow Ryuji looked at Akiren with puppy dog eyes and nervous giggling. "You're such a pretty boy." Silence. All Ryuji could force out was an awkward, "Uhm." He turned to face Akiren's shadow, who stroked his face with the back of his hand.

Yusuke had a theory:

"The shadows seem to soften around the other. Perhaps their desires lie in their feelings for each other, but they feel the need to suppress it. This in turn leads them to fighting themselves. Their twisted desires are to shove their feelings away instead of letting them flow freely."

It sounded insane. Morgana couldn't help but see the plausibility though. Ann was surprised. "So you're saying Joker and Skull like each other?" Yusuke closed his eyes and nodded, pointing towards the scene in front of them with both shadows being ridiculously flirty with "their" person. Morgana groaned, "Ugh, they're acting like lovestruck teenage girls." Meanwhile the real boys stood there, unsure how to react. Words weren't needed to understand what's between them. They'd have a lot of talking to do after this, but right now Akiren had come up with a plan. He motioned for Ryuji to attack his shadow while he attacked Ryuji's. In unison the two managed to take down the shadows in one quick swoop, Morgana coming in last minute to steal their thunder with a bunch of explosives. "Where the hell'd you get those," Ryuji coughed as he ran out of the cloud of smoke dragging Akiren by the hand. "I had 'em on me for emergencies." Stupid cat.

Morgana motioned for Ann and Yusuke to follow him elsewhere to "look for more shadows" so Ryuji and Akiren could be alone. "Guess hidin' it made us go a little crazy, huh," Ryuji tried to laugh. Akiren sighed and looked at the floor. Does he just accept this part of himself? There was no use trying to push it down anymore. Ryuji knew Akiren was at a loss and tried to ease everything. "Look, we don't hafta do anything about it right now. Maybe we should just... Let it sit for a while. Figure it out on our own time." He felt a little bashful but held out his hand for Akira. He reluctantly took it and stared at the way their hands interlocked. They decided to keep it that way as they walked through mementos to go grab the rest of the group and get out of there for the night.

Chapter Text

“Come on,” Futaba nagged, “That’s gotta be the lamest idea you’ve had.” Akiren looked down at the generic chocolate box he’d grabbed with the teddy bear attached. Futaba was right, not only would he look like a dumbass but Ryuji didn’t seem like the type to care about teddy bears. Futaba whined, “Can we go now? There’s nothing good here and I doubt we’ll find anything even if we keep looking.” Akiren sighed and said, “Fine.”

Futaba and Ann had a secret bet going to see how long until their idiot surrogate brothers (Akiren and Ryuji) would confess to each other and finally get together. Ann almost won when Ryuji gave Akiren the chocolate he got from a convenience store cashier, but unfortunately Akiren didn’t get the hint. Not at the time, at least. Don’t worry, he felt it later when he couldn’t sleep until 3am realizing that Ryuji was trying to confess to him. He later told Futaba, “I have to let him know I feel the same.”

That’s what lead them shopping for White Day. Akiren always saw it as a stupid holiday since from a logical standpoint it’s just a way for chocolate companies to sell more chocolate, but being in love strangely made him want to take part in it anyway.

Both of them looked down as they made it back to Leblanc. Sojiro asked them, “Why the long face? They run out of computer chips or something?” Futaba groaned, “No, hopeless romantic over here couldn’t find anything for Ryuji that wasn’t dumb and cheesy.” It took a minute for that to compute in Sojiro’s mind. He forgot sometimes that Akiren was bisexual, and could never understand what he saw in Ryuji of all people. In any case though, he went into accepting dad mode immediately even with his qualms about his son’s strange choice in men. “Well, I usually don’t like to share these things with anyone, but-“ He pulled out an old, dusty cookbook he had hidden under the counter. “-This should help.”

Futaba and Akiren watched as he flipped through the pages intently looking for whatever recipe he had in mind. “Ah,” he finally said, “Found it.” Both of them crowded around him behind the counter to read it. Akiren was confused. “I don’t get it. It’s just a recipe for curry.” Sojiro sighed and shook his head before pointing at a specific ingredient: cocoa powder. “That kid loves curry, so I’d say this would be your best bet. It uses cocoa powder so you can stick with the whole giving chocolate tradition too.” The idea of cocoa powder in curry was really weird and honestly didn’t sound too good, but he trusted Sojiro. “Let’s make it.”

They spent a whole week perfecting the recipe. Futaba even helped somewhat by going on ingredient runs (which Sojiro was proud of considering she still struggled to leave the house) and convincing Ryuji not to come to Leblanc that week because they’re only serving vegetables. Any down time from the cafe went into helping Akiren prepare the curry. Hell, they even ate it every night just so they could compare how it tasted that night vs the night before. By the end of the week Akiren felt he had mastered it. Now his final mission was to bring some to Ryuji.

“Now,” Sojiro stated, “If he’s a jerk about it just know I can have him permanently barred from this establishment if you want.” Futaba added, “And Ann and I are willing to beat some sense into him!” Akiren knew he probably wouldn’t need any of that, but the reassurance that they had his back was nice. “Alright, well I’m off now.” Sojiro watched proudly as Akiren walked out of Leblanc with the tupperware of curry in his bag. Futaba just smirked and waved as he left. Then, she looked at Sojiro. “He is so coming home covered in hickeys and kisses.” Sojiro choked at that comment.

Akiren felt nervous on the trip over. He checked his bag every few minutes to make sure the curry was fine and nothing spilled. He didn’t know why he was so afraid, he knew no matter what Ryuji would never be mad at him even if his feelings were gone and the confession was too late. Still, all he could think about was that everything could go wrong as he got off the train and headed for the apartment complex.

He counted each step as he went up. It took him 65 steps up stairs to get to Ryuji’s floor, and about 14 steps to his front door. At first hr knocked gently the point that it was inaudible. He thought about going back home and just saying he wimped out. No, bad idea. He was a Phantom Thief, and the leader at that, imagine how bad would it look if the leader couldn’t even grow a pair to give a gift to the guy that gave him Valentine’s chocolate. He knocked louder than he wanted to.

He heard someone shifting around inside. In a few seconds Ryuji had opened the door while rubbing his eyes like he just woke up. Akiren realized his apartment was pretty dark aside from the glow of the TV. Whoops, bad time. No going back now. “Can I come in?” Ryuji looked at him for a second trying to process everything. “Hell yeah man.”

Akiren and Ryuji awkwardly stared at each other for a bit after he was let inside. Akiren sighed and held his head down as he handed Ryuji the tupperware. Ryuji was confused for a moment until he saw the note on top.

“My White Day “chocolate” to you”

“Wha- For real?!” he couldn’t believe it. Was this really happening or was he still asleep and he’d wake up realizing he was still alone? He pinched himself- no, he was wide awake. “Dude, I- I don’t know what to say. Thank you.” He took the curry and sat at the kitchen table. Akiren followed him and sat across from him.

“Were you doing anything before I came over?” Akiren wasn’t ready to talk about anything just yet, at least not until the curry was eaten. Ryuji replied between bites, “Nothin’ much, my ma’s out working tonight so I was just bored home alone. Usual night for me, ya know?” His eyes widened. “Holy shit, this is incredible.” Akiren relaxed a bit. He was so glad Ryuji liked the curry. “I wasn’t sure what to get you but I wanted to get you something since you gave me chocolate for Valentine’s day.” Ryuji got a little embarrassed, “Don’t remind me.” Akiren continued, “There’s cocoa powder in the curry. Sojiro had the recipe and said it’d be good as my gift to you.” Ryuji stopped for a second. “Is this… A confession?” Akiren nodded.

Ryuji ate the rest of his curry silently and quickly. Akiren was bracing himself for rejection when Ryuji appeared behind and hugged him. “I was hoping you’d figure it out.” He kissed along Akiren’s neck which tickled a little. He finally pulled away after a little while which was a bit disappointing to Akiren. He laid back in his chair while Ryuji sat back in his chair. “So, what does this make us?” Neither of them thought they’d get this far so they didn’t really know where to go from here. One thing felt right for both of them though. “Can we be boyfriends now?” Ryuji answered by basically climbing across the table and pouncing to kiss Akiren for the second time, which he took as a yes.

The two of them sat on the couch together. Ryuji sent a selfie laying on Akiren to a groupchat with him, Ann, Akiren, and Futaba.

Ryuji: “Guess who got confessed to tonight”

Futaba: “Ann you owe me $20”

Ann: “Damn it”

Akiren: “You two are really weird”

Futaba: “Says the guy that spent all week perfecting a curry recipe for a White Day confession”

Ann: “Aweee that is soooo romantic”

Ryuji: “You guys are killing us”

Akiren did in fact come home that night with a bunch of hickeys. And Futaba wouldn’t stop telling Sojiro about it for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

Akiren had been a rule follower his whole life. He had a routine and did what he was told whether he liked it or not. Yet, a guy gets falesly charged with assault one time and now he's a badass who makes his own rules. So obviously it would eventually lead to bending some of the rules when it came to the Metaverse. Akiren had proposed they do some parkour in Mementos. It was a really stupid idea, but it was only fair they let themselves be dumb teenagers once in a while. Plus, it sounded so much cooler than whatever they'd do in the real world and it'd be good for training.

There weren't many shadows out luckily. Most of the thieves were high-leveled anyway so they figured any shadows would avoid them. Mona agreed to keep watch since he had no interest in this sort of stuff. Everyone else was going at it though and everyone wanted to be next to show off some cool tricks. Crow had an idea, though, and thought nobody would be better to execute it than Joker himself. He turned to him and said, "You should try to scale the wall, jump onto one of the overhead lights, and backflip off it onto the ground." Everyone stared at him like a weirdo. "Is this a dare?" Crow nodded, "I suppose you could call it that."

Dare. That's the magic word for Akiren. He couldn't resist a challenge, and not only would it be fun to rub in Goro's face but it'd impress Ryuji and he was a sucker for that boy.

"Psh, Joker could do that easily," Skull scoffed. He looked at Joker, who nodded reassuringly. He knew Ryuji would help if anything were to happen. Crow already "killed" him once, no way in hell any of them would let it happen again. Crow sighed and nodded, "I see. Well, guess he'll have to prove it then." Everyone was a little suspicious about why this was so important to him, but Ryuji figured he wanted to quietly fangirl over Joker doing something cool even though he'd be an asshole about it later.

Joker took a deep breath, getting into the proper starting position as he stared at the wall he was going to use. He gave himself to the count of three before he charged at the wall and bounced off it towards the ceiling. He gripped tightly on the light overhead as he prepared for his descent. With his great luck, though, he somehow attracted a shadow in the process. As he was trying to gracefully land the shadow came out of nowhere and smacked him off his path, sending him straight into a nearby wall. Mona screamed, "JOKER," as he and the rest of the group quickly beat the shadow out of existence. They had no time to celebrate though as they all rushed to Joker's aid. He looked pretty bad, there was blood staining his clothes and he was unresponsive. Skull panicked as he dug through Joker's pockets looking for revival beads. "I hope you realize this is your fault, jackass." Crow crossed his arms and looked to the side. "I wasn't expecting a shadow to take advantage of the fact he was distracted. You know I can revive him with Samarecarm, right? Quit wasting time digging for beads and let me fix it." Skull growled, "Hell nah, you've done enough already. Just shut up, I need to do this." Mona tried to butt in, "Guys, do we even know if he-" but Crow immediately interrupted him to argue back at Skull. "You are so arrogant you'd let your friend go unrevived so you can be the hero."

"...𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥." Crow didn't know shit. It was much more than that. Skull had to stop himself from getting up and slapping Crow across the face. Right now he had to focus on saving Joker. Mona then tried to get them to listen to him. "Guys, did you check his pu-" Both Crow and Skull yelled in unison, "Not now, cat," and Mona grumbled about the two of them being idiots. "You'll never find them," Crow groaned, "Just give it up and let me revive him already." Skull yelled back, "Hell no." He knew it was probably irresponsible to insist on being the one to revive him when Joker held all their gear, but he felt an obligation to him and in that moment he just couldn't trust Crow to do anything after Joker got beat because of his dare. Both of them were getting pretty heated, with everyone else just watching the two fight. The back and forth was getting pretty grating and they really just wanted to get out of there. Oracle, however, had to stop it.

"STOOOOP FIGHTING!"

The two of them kind of froze for a moment. Oracle wasn't usually that loud so her yelling like a commander was enough to freak them both out.

"Crow," Oracle sighed, annoyed, "The reason Skull wants to revive Joker is because he loves him! Just let him do it, you're ruining my IRL yaoi!" Crow looked at her, confused. "Your what?" Oracle scoffed, she figured Crow of all people would understand since he gave off huge gay vibes to everyone from the moment they met him. "You know, boys love. They're gay, and they're boyfriends." Crow's expression soured. "Oh, I see... I guess I'll just step off to the side now. I don't want to get involved in such things."

Suddenly, Joker sat up gasping for air. Everyone jumped back, but Skull immediately latched onto him and hugged him tight. "I thought I lost you, man." Joker sighed and leaned closer. "It just knocked me out. Didn't you check my pulse to make sure I wasn't still alive first?" Right, he forgot about that. Mona facepalmed, "If you two idiots shut up when I was trying to talk I'd have told you to check." Skull and Crow were both a little embarrassed and mumbled something about not thinking about it in the moment. Joker laughed a little before wincing in pain. He held his arm and realized he was wounded. Skull already had a roll of bandage in his hand and pulled up Joker's sleeve to wrap it around the injury. Joker rewarded him with a kiss.

"You two disgust me," Crow scoffed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Skull called back. The adrenaline had finally worn off Joker, who relaxed a little more. "Oh, Oracle... Please never call us your "IRL yaoi" ever again." Everyone laughed, glad Joker was back to normal. Nobody even cared about the dare anymore. "Can we go now," Mona whined, "I think we've done enough tonight and watching Skull and Crow fight tired me out." Everyone agreed that going home would be the best thing for all of them. To annoy Crow further, Joker agreed to let Skull carry him out of there and played up the damsel in distress act by saying, "Oh Skull, you're so brave and strong for carrying me out of here."

The Phantom Thieves made some new rules after this:
1. No more parkour in Mementos.
2. Remember to check your party member's pulse before attempting to revive.
3. For Skull specifically: Don't stop anyone else from healing or reviving Joker just so you can be your boyfriend's hero (you already are.)

Chapter Text

September 10, 20xx

This was an important day. They'd be leaving Hawaii tomorrow and this was their only "free day" on the entire damn vacation. Ryuji knew just who he'd like to spend it with.

Ryuji: "Yo"
Ryuji: "Wanna go fishing at Waikiki?"
Ryuji: "It's not the most romantic thing in the world but I wanted to do something that's just for you and me while we're here and this is the only thing I don't think everyone else would want to barge in on"
Akiren: "Let's go fishing then."

That was all he needed to hear before his heart practically exploded out of his chest. He and Akiren were still casual about dating. Neither had any experience with relationships, especially none with the same sex, so they agreed to just take it slow. Yet even from the beginning Ryuji felt all mushy inside around Akiren and wanted so bad to be like the couples he saw around him. It wasn't really possible because it wouldn't be socially accepted in Japan and Ryuji didn't want to be seen as a softie. They were on vacation though, and Hawaii seemed to be a little more of an accepting place considering they'd seen a few openly gay couples around the past couple days. What the hell, why shouldn't he take Akiren out at least once?

Ryuji changed into a swimsuit and left the hotel. They agreed to meet at a nearby food stand and get lunch first. Ryuji got anxious waiting for Akiren. Would he really show up? What if he hates their date? What if-

His brain shut up when Akiren appeared, all his thoughts being replaced with, 'Oh god it's him I'm so happy.' He smiled. "Hey, you made it." Akiren smiled back, "Of course I did." Akiren knew just what to say to make Ryuji relax. Crisis averted. "Let's get lunch," he motioned toward the stand in front of them. Ryuji looked at the sign. "Garlic shrimp, hm? That sounds hella good!" That was all the confirmation Akiren needed before he bought them two plates. Ryuji tried to pay for his portion but Akiren playfully pushed his money away and handed the guy the cash for both of their food. "I could've paid, y'know," he sighed as they waited. Akiren shook his head. "I don't want you spending your souvenir money on this." Ryuji groaned, but didn't have time to complain as the shrimp cart guy handed them two plates piled high with juicy shrimp and white rice. Ryuji didn't even wait to sit down before going to town, immediately picking some up on his fork to shovel in his mouth. "Mmmm," he said with a full mouth, "This shit's incredible! Why don't they serve this in Tokyo?" By the time they found a table Ryuji had already finished half his plate.

When they went to return the plates to the stand owner, they were surprised when he said, "You two from Japan?" Ryuji was a little confused but replied with, "Yeah, we are." The owner clapped his hands and continued, "How about those Phantom Thieves, huh? The guys that steal hearts." Ryuji was excited hearing this, had they really become a worldwide sensation? "You've heard about the Phantom Thieves?" The owner replied, "Heard about it on the news! They're all the rage in Japan, yeah?" Ryuji cheered a little. He couldn't keep down his excitement at being recognized even if the guy didn't know he was talking to them. Finally, the store owner said, "Say, if you run into 'em, tell 'em I say hello. And ask 'em to change people's hearts so everyone loves shrimp!" It was a little silly, but this made Ryuji's day. "Hell yeah! We will!"

When they were done talking they headed for Diamond Head Shoreline. It was open for fishing this year and had a nearby rental shop which made it the best option for them. They got their gear and headed out to an empty spot nearby. They planted their feet in the sand, standing right next to each other as they cast their lines into the water. Neither boy knew what to say to each other, but it was fine. They could connect just fine even without words just by spending time together like they were now. It'd be nicer if they actually caught something, though.

Akiren felt a tug on his line. "I think I caught something." Ryuji perked up. "Well, what're you waiting for? Reel it in!" He helped Akiren pull his fishing rod up and reel the line and the two were rewarded with the sight of a little fish wriggling on the hook. "All that work for a guppy," Ryuji sighed. Akiren laughed, he had to admit all that buildup for something anti-climactic was funny. He carefully dropped the fish back into the ocean an watched it swim away before casting back into the water. He caught a couple more small fish while Ryuji couldn't catch anything. The only time he actually reeled anything in, it ended up being a soda can some jerk threw into the ocean. "Stupid can," he pouted. He was getting a little tired, as was Akiren. They agreed to wrap it up and headed for the beach where everyone else would be.

"Seeing that can made me thirsty. You want a soda?" Ryuji was determined to pay Akiren back for the food and the rental gear. It wasn't much, but a soda has to count for something, right? Akiren nodded. "Sure, I'm going to sit at that bench over there. I'll save your spot of course." He sat down and waited for Ryuji, who came back a few minutes later with an orange soda and pineapple soda. "These were all the vending machine had," he shrugged, "Which one d'you want?" Akiren grabbed the pineapple soda. He knew Ryuji would hate it, he's had it before and it was bitter. At least Ryuji liked orange soda. They quietly sat next to each other and drank their sodas. Ryuji finally broke the silence, "I like spendin' time with you like this." He sat back and chugged the rest of his soda. "Oh, I got you somethin'." He reached in his pants pocket and pulled out a Honu charm. It didn't come with a bracelet or anything, but Ryuji pulled out a string and put the charm on it. "I couldn't afford the charm and the bracelet but I had this old string from my hoodie 'n I never used it so I thought I'd give it a better use." He tied the ends together to make it a necklace. "Sorry it's not the best." Akiren smiled and fought back the happy tears coming to his eyes. "No, it's perfect." He took it from Ryuji and put it on. He observed the charm in his hands. Ryuji then added, "I did get you another thing, too." He pulled out a little Hawaiian Kuromi plush keychain from his pocket. "I know you probably aren't a big Hello Kitty fan but this guy kinda reminded me of you." Akiren took the plush and cupped it in both his hands. "I'll take good care of it."

Ryuji leaned over and laid his head on Akiren's shoulder, mumbling, "I love you RenRen." He didn't realize until after he said it, but was quickly reassured when Akiren replied, "I love you too." Ryuji felt mushy inside again, but this time didn't try to hide it and nuzzled into the nape of Akiren's neck. Akiren leaned his head on Ryuji's and the two stared out watching the Hawaiian sunset together.

Chapter Text

The Phantom Thieves were really glad to hear Joker had died- Mostly because they knew that their plan worked. The real Joker was still alive, the cognitive version taking his place before his "suicide." They were lucky enough to get Sae to trust them, and even luckier to get her to go along with their plan. Everything lead them back to Leblanc where they waited for their friend to appear. The bell on the door jingled, and a mysterious hooded figure walked in. He pulled his hood down to reveal himself.

"RenRen, you big bastard." Followed by a, "Shh! Keep your voice down!"

Ryuji didn't care, he jumped onto Akiren and held him tight, planting kisses all around his face before landing on his lips and holding it there. Everyone awkwardly turned away. They knew the two were a couple, but seeing PDA between them was still weird. When Ryuji was finally done everyone else took turns checking in on Akiren. He was still pretty weak from being beaten up by the interrogators, but felt fine enough to come back. He'd be hiding out anyway.

The excitement had died down and everyone was talking amongst themselves throughout Leblanc. Ryuji and Akiren had a booth to themselves away from everyone. It wasn't their choice but nobody wanted to see them smooching again so they took precautionary measures to give them enough space. Ryuji sighed, "I missed you so much dude." Akiren laughed and replied, "It's only been a few hours. You act like I've been gone for years." Ryuji pouted and laid his head on the table. "I know, but deep down there was a part of me that was afraid that you actually might die. When I saw the news at first I was like, "We got 'em" but then I was like, "What if this is legit and I never see him again..." I just, couldn't let that happen."

Akiren had to admit, he'd be devastated if he left Ryuji behind. He put a hand on Ryuji's head. "I would never leave you like that. I'll always be motivated to survive no matter what just so I can return to you." Ryuji smiled as he lifted his head a little. "You mean it?" Akiren nodded. He didn't have time to say much else as Ryuji pulled him in for another kiss.