stealhearted | after me comes the flood;

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after me comes the flood;

[ It starts like this: Akira dreaming that he's in his high school, following a butterfly and feeling the strange tell-tale feeling of the metaverse shifting around him despite the fact that the metaverse should be gone. Akira follows along as best he can when it feels like his body is moving through air denser than ice, and he wakes up with a start to the weirdest day he's ever had in his life -- which is saying something.

So, after some consideration, having talked to his friends and seen how happy they are with what Akira can only assume is some sort of fake reality, Akira settles on the one person that probably can't be fooled either. Akira can't be the only one, right? Akechi could use multiple persona, Akechi was like Akira, so --

He texts him. ]

Hey. Has your day been weird at all?

[ Which Akechi will probably respond to with the most acerbic possible text, Akira assumes, because he can't -- he can't imagine anything else. Even though Akira phrased it like Akechi might not remember, just in case. ]

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[ It hits a little too close to home, and Akira doesn't try to hold the smile in place. He lets it fall, rueful and quiet as he folds his hands in his lap to look past them at the train floor. ]

I wouldn't want to make you do anything you didn't want to. You mean too much to me for me to not care about your input.

[A scoff, and he rolls his eyes, closing them a moment later to lean away from Akira against the divider wall of the train.]

Stop making this about your feelings.

No. You're less mad when it's about my feelings than you were when I was trying to pretend I didn't have them. [ Akechi's nearly apocalyptic anger at Akira for trying to pretend things were okay is nothing Akira's going to forget anytime soon, given it was a couple hours ago and his skin still lights on fire with anxiety if he thinks about it. ]

I can stop bringing them up, but that might be worse.

Then at least stop making it about your supposed feelings toward me. You don't know me. [He's tired.]

I kind of do, though? [ It's a little mild, but. Honestly, Akira probably knows Akechi better than most people do. More than anyone does, potentially. ]

I'd say I'm sorry, but I don't think I am. [ He probably should be, but... he shrugs a little.

Luckily, they don't have to risk much in the way of emotional discussions for the eighty-sixth time, because... the train is starting to slow into the station. Akira gets to his feet, stretching slightly. ]

[He just gives him a withering frown as he gets up, staying seated until the train is almost stopped and letting Akira lead the way.] I feel like I shouldn't be curious enough to actually ask what you think you know about me, because I doubt I'll like the answer.

You probably won't. It's a sappy answer and you're going to deny all the good parts. [ Do you feel Perceived yet? Sorry, Akechi; Akira's seen you at your worst and still likes you, so you're not getting out of this one that easy.

He leads the way, at any rate; it's automatic. He wonders if he's going to automatically try and take the wrong train when he finally goes back to his hometown, when he's so used to the large exchanges of Tokyo. ]

[He makes a guttural sound of distaste, stalking along behind him and saying nothing. The can he got from the vending machine before isn't hot enough to warrant it being kept as a handwarmer, so he deliberates for a moment before cracking it open and sipping on it as they walk.]

[ Akira just leads them to Takemi's clinic. All in all, it's not worth fighting the subject right now, when they're in public and have something they need to be doing.

God, Akira wishes he could just turn his emotions off for awhile. He'll feel better once he's in the Metaverse, he thinks; Joker is considerably less emotionally volatile. ]

Do you want to wait outside, or come in?

[What with the clinic being literally a stone's throw from Leblanc, Akechi is tense as they walk, and frowns thoughtfully at the question.]

...I'll come in, I believe that reduces my risk of seeing anyone who shouldn't be alive.

Yeah. [ Akira isn't tense. On the contrary, there's a sort of exhausted bonelessness to his posture -- being this close to Leblanc when his emotions are still so raw is too much for him to process right now, so he just... isn't. He acknowledges that he is feeling things and then moves on immediately for the sake of -- "the mission", he supposes, which is more or less what this is.

Akira heads in, and Takemi arches a brow when she sees Akechi walk in after him, but she's polite enough not to make much commentary on it as Akira goes down the list of things he needs to buy. ]

[Akechi has the manners to bow slightly to Takemi, even despite her quirked eyebrow, and takes a seat closest to the door in the waiting room while Akira gets his supplies. He doesn't care for doctor's offices, or hospitals or anything of the sort, and it's probably about all that keeps him from dozing off sitting there, arms crossed over his chest and one leg over the other. He's cold, despite his coat, but he's not sure it has anything to do with the temperature, so he just crosses his arms tighter across his chest and ignores it.]

[ Akira isn't gone long. In part because he doesn't want to leave Akechi by himself, and in part because he doesn't want to be by himself. Takemi's there, sure, but she doesn't remember anymore than anyone else does, and it's like taking a grater to all of Akira's senses to see Takemi so ignorant of reality.

He steps back out, packing away the items. ]

Okay. It didn't take too long, did it? [ Akira asks, lightly, concern still in his tone where Akechi is involved even if Akechi doesn't want it. ]

[He opens his eyes and sits straighter from where he'd slouched slightly dozing when the door to the exam room opens, and he angles himself toward Akira without fully looking at him.]

Not especially, no. [He doesn't think he actually napped at all, so it couldn't have been much time.]

Okay. Then next is Iwai. [ Akira offers his bag to show Akechi the spoils of several thousand yen worth of medicine -- stocking up on the basis that if it's really just the two of them for however long, they're going to need to rely a little more heavily on medicine than Akira normally would. If Akira's the only real healer, he'll run through his reserves way too quickly.

Yen is cheaper than stamina when you're in a palace. ]

There's some upgrades that... You missed out on, once you left the team. [ Once you fucking died. ]

[He diverts his attention to the bag, and its several thousand yen worth of medicines, and whistles softly before he can stop himself.] Let's take care to not be caught along the way, the authorities would think you a drug addict.

[He looks up, fixes Akira with a bland expression, and shrugs.] You all did quite a bit after I made my exit.

I can't... stop. [ Akira offers, vaguely, closing the bag and hefting it up on his shoulder. It isn't anywhere near the weight it would be with Morgana in it, but -- well. Maybe that's for the best. ]

I always feel like if I stop doing things for a second, I won't be able to get started again. So after you died, I just -- kept going. [ If he's busy enough, the thoughts can't get him. ]

[He looks sidelong at him, keeping his expression carefully neutral.]

What you did or didn't do in my absence is none of my concern.

...I wish I knew what you wanted from me. [ Talking isn't right but neither is staying silent; getting the job done isn't right but neither is avoiding it; whatever Akira does seems like it only ever half lands, like Akechi is willing to receive just enough of it to be annoyed by it.

It's not helping anything. Akira isn't helping anything. He's just -- making things worse.

God, maybe he should let Maruki remake reality, maybe fake Akira would be better at all of this. Akira scrubs at his face and heads for the station. ]

Anyway, guns.

I want you to stop acting like I'm the perfect final piece of a puzzle you've wanted to solve all your life. [It's quiet, because he isn't entirely sure what he wants from Akira, either-- obviously, from the way he's capricious to an infuriating degree.]

Yes, those. Lead the way..., Though I might stay outside, this time. [Iwai makes him nervous.]

You're more like... the cat that keeps knocking the puzzle on the floor when I've finally got the edge filled in.

[ It's exasperated and fond, but it makes him sound a little less like he's four seconds away from giving up entirely.

But it's fine, sort of. Kind of. He knows he can't keep using Akechi as a distraction method. ]

You already have a cat. Or will, once he's back to normal.

[He realizes with startling clarity that part of why he runs so hot and cold is because he doesn't know how to let Akira be what he wants to be for him, and he's decidedly too scared to learn after he's spend so long being so caustic.]

I know. He's basically my best friend, which is probably weird when he's a talking cat, but he also doesn't knock my puzzles onto the floor. [ Akira's smile when he offers it over is too self-aware, a little too sad, a little too frustrated, a little too honest--

But it seems like a safer option than trying to lie, at this point. ]

I would only knock your puzzles to the floor if you took too long to solve them. There is strategy and finesse to a puzzle, if you leave it too long it's nearly worse than not trying at all. [He doesn't put much thought into the response, and for that it's more chiding than it is terse, and in the ensuing quiet when he's through he seems to realize this and fluster, if only slightly.]

But if your puzzles remaining in tact is such a priority, you'd really best get on with it.

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after me comes the flood;

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