You don't listen any better than you did last year, so I'm not sure why you're expecting a different result. [Except it's a lie-- he knows it's different now. Backseat though he was for the circumstances before he broke free of Maruki's reality, he can't deny it's something that would have made him happy. Akira makes him as close to happy as he's been in years, he feels almost normal around him. It's easy to spend time with him, to talk to him like he isn't a murderous byproduct of years of mistreatment and things no human being, let alone a child into his teenage years, should have to deal with. If he were to ever have a companion again, an honest one, it would be Akira.]

[His stomach turns, but he curls his fingers into Akira's. It's hypocritical, to say "no" while he behaves "yes", but he hasn't figured out how to be honest on more than an extremely infrequent basis yet. His eyes burn, so he closes them, dropping his head against the top of the back of the couch and sighing.] We've barely been up a few hours and I'm tired again. I've decided I'll blame you for this.