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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Then I'll just have to convince you to let me go with you, huh? [ Akira threads his fingers through Akechi's enough that he can pull Akechi's hand down enough to let his lips skim over Akechi's knuckles. Akira doesn't open his eyes, though -- he'll let Akechi have that much. He understands the need to hide, sometimes. ]

I couldn't convince you of anything last year. [ Akira takes it as a failure, because even if he saved Akechi, it wasn't the way he wanted things to pan out. ]

I'll work extra hard this time, to bring you around.

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.

[ Akira can't help but laugh a little at that. It's not much more than a soft chuckle, but it doesn't have that distinctively wet sound that makes it sound like he's on the verge of tears anymore. Progress, he supposes. ]

We stayed up late and got up early. [ Because both of them are incapable of not going at 100% all the time, and they both seem have to chronic nightmares, and that's without tapping in on the psychic dreams that at least Akira has. He wonders if Akechi has anything like them.

He'll ask, sometime that isn't now. ]

We could take a nap. It's barely morning. [ They'd gotten up before most things were even open, after all. ]

[He considers the suggestion for a while, finally moving his hand back into Akira's hair.] We don't exactly have time in spades, right now.

No. But everything I need is open until evening, and Maruki isn't going anywhere. [ Akira offers Akechi a smile when he finally opens his eyes. They're a little red, but he looks a little less like he's on the precipice of a breakdown. ]

Given our current track record, we probably want to be as close to our best as possible when we go up against him.

[Idly, he rolls a bit of Akira's bangs between his fingers, similar to the nervous tic he does with them periodically.] Maybe he isn't going anywhere, but we should still make haste to at least determining his threat level.

[He's exhausted in new ways, but-- it's not like he's never been exhausted before.] Though, I suppose you're still justifiably the Leader, so it's your call.

I don't really want to show up looking like I just cried, so... [ Even in this perfect reality, he's pretty sure Iwai and Takemi would worry, and that's without touching on Maruki -- though at least he'd have a mask for that part. ]

Maybe just an hour.

[He slouches, just slightly, nodding.] Bed's all yours.

...can I just stay here? [ There's an implication there: that he wants to stay where he is, with the constant contact of Akechi. It isn't so much that he cares about the couch as it is that he doesn't want to get up and risk breaking the careful spell he's managed to put his emotions under.

Just in case Akechi has the idea that it's just the couch, Akira carefully entwines his hand in Akechi's shirt. It's -- vulnerable; it's a little more immature than Akira usually lets himself be, but.

Weird times. ]

[His attention moves to that hand, and he blinks, drawing in a slow breath and releasing it in a sigh.] Get up, we'll go to bed. [You are not napping on his couch tangled up in him like this, and neither is he.]

[ It's "we", not "you", so Akira relents a little, slowly sitting up so his blood pressure doesn't bottom out. He hasn't exactly been taking care of himself quite as much as he normally should; eating has been a little mechanical. Maybe he'll make parfaits later. ]

Okay. [ Akira waits, when he stands, for Akechi -- he isn't holding onto him, but he's not confident enough to move and trust that Akechi will follow. It isn't that he doesn't trust Akechi, he's just pretty sure Akechi doesn't trust Akechi not to bolt at the signs of affection.

He does stretch a little. Awkward crying positions hurt even lithe 17 year old bodies. ]

[Good call, because Akechi is simultaneously the only person he trusts, and the person he trusts the absolute least. Everything's oxymoronic, with him, just roll with it. He stands a moment after Akira, not looking specifically at him but waiting for him to lead the way-- he knows where the bedroom is.]

[ Akira does lead the way, after he finishes his stretch. He's a little too long to fit comfortably on Akechi's lap on a couch for too long, but he also doesn't regret it.

Well, he regrets having a breakdown, he supposes. He's pretty at peace with the fact that it got him some vague cuddles, even if only because Akechi was too tired to do anything else.

Akira's coat is still spread out over the bed, and he moves it out of the way. With the warmth of morning -- even in what is arguably one of the coldest months of the year -- Akira doesn't think they need to worry about that, even with Akechi's less than stellar blanket collection.

Also, Akira is a furnace, honestly, even without the added warmth of cat Morgana. ]

You want the side by the door, right? [ You know, because Akira doesn't mind being caged in and Akechi needs to have an escape route planned at all times. ]

[Stop seeing him, goddamn. Quiet, Akechi nods and sits on the side of the bed acquiesced to him, hands and legs over the edge of the mattress and shoulders bunched up near his ears. He stares, largely unseeing, at the floor between his feet for a long time, just... stuck there. He closes his eyes.]

Will you get up on your own, or should I set an alarm?

I'll wake up. I'm not that tired, I'm just... exhausted. [ There's a fine point of difference there, and Akira knows that the words technically mean the same thing -- but they don't. He's not actually suffering in terms of lack of sleep (even though he hasn't been sleeping well), he's just exhausted at the mere idea of existing. ]

I mostly want to not look like a truck hit me. [ Because Akira's glasses don't really do much for "was obviously just crying" face and he does not want to give Maruki that kind of ammunition right now.

Akira lays down, moving until he's comfortable before he finally looks at Akechi, reaching out to grab a fold of his shirt and tug gently at him. He doesn't verbally ask him to lay down, but he is making large puppy dog eyes. ]

"Not that tired, just exhausted", [He repeats it, his tone mocking. He inhales through his nose and exhales in a sigh through his lips, fully intending to just sit there on the edge of the bed dissociating while Akira naps, but the fucker has to go and take hold of his shirt and pull.]

[He takes another breath through his nose, stares hard at the wall, and then turns to look at Akira and his goddamn puppy dog eyes. He huffs another sigh, rolling his eyes and dropping dramatically sideways onto the bed.] You are a very convincing, very irritating infant, I hope you realize.

[ Akira just grins a little, immediately slithering a little closer. He doesn't quite cuddle, but he sort of burrows his face into Akechi's shoulder and tangles his hand a little more emphatically into Akechi's shirt. ]

Things haven't been going my way lately, so I've gotta try twice as hard to get you to be nice to me.

You've clearly mistaken me for someone who gives a shit.

[He shifts around, not vying for more contact but allowing what Akira presents-- he's warm. Akechi thinks he's still cold, has been since his mother's hands felt like ice, and probably always will be, and Akira is so, so warm. He closes his eyes over.] ...you're warm. [He didn't fully plan to speak that thought.]

[ Akira just smiles against Akechi's shoulder, because despite Akechi's best protests to the contrary, he clearly gives more of a shit than he probably should. Which is fine; Akira cares way more than he should, given that Akechi literally tried to murder him. Twice. ]

Mmm. [ When Akechi comments on his warmth, Akira just hums vaguely, letting his arm drift up to wrap a little more securely around Akechi's torso. Akechi is not warm, but Akira is a furnace. He'll warm them both up. ]

[God, he hates this. He hates this so much. So he just sighs, and closes his eyes, because maybe he'll nap, too, so he doesn't have to consciously think about how warm and gentle Akira is and how much he'd like to curl into him and disappear into that warmth. He twists his fingers together and holds them near his face, trying to figure out how, exactly, one naps alongside another human being without it being strange.]

[It's only strange because he can't think of it as nice, honestly.]

[ Given how strung out Akechi is about the entire thing, it's probably a little criminal how easily Akira's eyelids flutter and his breathing evens out against Akechi's shoulder. It isn't exactly the most restful of sleeps, given that it's kind of the middle of the morning and -- well, neither of them are exactly in the best frame of mind, but it's probably fine, for right now.

Akira falls asleep quickly, entirely too much trust in Akechi, and moreover he seems to sleep peacefully enough, if the way he burrows slightly deeper into Akechi's shoulder as he sleeps is any indication. He doesn't exactly cuddle in the overbearing way, just seems to ...

Be comforted by his presence, which is probably even worse, in a lot of ways, that even when he's asleep and vulnerable and in such an emotional way, he's so content to just rest against Akechi.

True to form, though, he only stays asleep for about an hour and a half before he starts to stir. ]

[By the time Akira is stirring, Akechi has worked himself in and out of three separate crises. He didn't nap, he barely dozed, so to Akira's slight improvement he looks worse, but it's fine. He doesn't have to face people he cares about the opinions of for supplies, and maybe if he looks completely awful in Maruki's stupid fake reality the idiot counselor will rethink his methods.]

[Doubtful.]

[His breath hitches in alarm when Akira shifts, and he's immediately disentangling himself from his warmth. The shift in temperature is almost painful, for how sudden it is, but he draws away and sits up, getting off the bed completely and stepping out of sight just inside the small condo bathroom. He steadies his breathing, focusing on the cold as it seeps back into his body, and moves to the sink to wash his face, methodical.]

[ Akechi still leaves a spot of warmth in the bed, and Akira pets his hand down it in mild confusion before he finally sits upright. He scrubs at his own face. He doesn't feel better, exactly, but he does feel a little more like he'll be able to cope with seeing people for more than three seconds.

He gets up, hovers outside the bathroom door for a minute before he goes to get some water. He really needs to get some coffee in his system.

He waits until Akechi finally actually joins him before offering him a smile. ]

Shibuya or Yongenjaya first?

[Akechi probably looks like he hasn’t slept in a week, but he stands in the doorway to the kitchen, frowning.]

It doesn’t specifically matter to me.

...Yongenjaya, then. Everyone else is probably in school. [ Should Akira be skipping? No, but this is a fake world where no one cares if he plays delinquent. They probably all think he's off doing something romantic with his honor student boyfriend.

Anyway, the point is, he doesn't want to have to see anyone if he doesn't need to. Not yet, anyway.

He looks at Akechi for a moment, and then smiles in a fondly exasperated way, stepping over and reaching out to gently pull at some of Akechi's stray hairs until they lie flat with the rest of his hair. ]

You didn't sleep, did you? Thanks for staying with me anyway.

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