stealhearted | are you hurting the one you love?

It's definitely the worst part of living here. [ A beat, and then: ] Also not having a door. [ It's not that Akira requires too much privacy, given that Sojiro leaves every night anyway and has been nothing but accommodating of the fact that Akechi, his "relationship status complicated" is now living in the attic with him, but still.

He misses having a door, and a bath. ]

But you get used to it. [ And make friends with all the elderly old men that frequent the bath houses, and then make friends with their wives, and suddenly you have a 50-year old recipe for inarizushi and they're giving you endless amounts of mochi on New Year's. ]</small<

[He takes his time washing his hair, listening to Akira and humming thoughtfully about it, nodding before he fills up one of the plastic buckets and douses himself with it a few times to rinse his hair.]

...I'm hoping I won't have to. [His tone is a little... odd, saying that, because even if that much is true, because he doesn't want to be stuck to Akira like this, he's starting to wonder if maybe, just maybe, it would be okay to stick around. Just... maybe not in the sense of being forced to live in a storage loft with him.]

I'm not sure you'd actually get used to it. [ Akira is an extremely adaptable individual with a much higher tolerance for inconvenience, he's learned, whereas he's fairly certain Akechi would be annoyed at the sun if it shone too brightly when he was trying to concentrate. He's that kind of a person.

At any rate, Akira glosses over the future of where they're going to stay -- Leblanc for now, and he'll figure out if he's going home or if they're going to have to figure something out. His probation is technically over soon, so if he needs to start doing correspondence school, he can, he'd just... really rather not.

Akira doesn't take long to rinse off: as mentioned, his hair just gets washed with normal soap and he comes out smelling fresh and citrus-y when he's ready to actually soak. ]

But hopefully you won't have to.

[He's absolutely that kind of person.]

[He also is maybe watching Akira as he goes through his bumrush cleaning routine, because he certainly wasn't paying specific attention to him the first time they bathed together, and now there's a bit of an entirely different air to their relationship. Not that he's even remotely focused on Akira's bizarre love confession from earlier. Not at all.]

[He hums again, nodding and squirting a bit of a blue-green soap into his palm before walking up and pressing his palm directly below Akira's collarbone with a comically gross sound.] You should spend more time on your hygiene, it's important. [He has never once thought Akira was unclean, but he has to rib him somewhere.]

[ Akira genuinely looks temporarily floored by this, like Akechi has just told him he smells like funyons or something. Akira looks down at himself, but there is only slightly pink, clean skin, and then whips his head back at Akechi.

He is being teased, he realizes, on a slight delay, and so he leans forward, looking extremely intent -- the glasses being off helps. ]

Yeah? You could show me how I should be doing it.

Oh? Were you not watching me?

[Is that a callout? Maybe.]

I thought the application might be different. You know, different hair types. [ And body types, and all that... but mostly now that he's called out on it he will take the opportunity to look pointedly at Akechi. It's not exactly an overtly sexual kind of look, but he definitely looks more than he had been previously.

He'd maybe been trying to diminish how much he wanted to look at Akechi when naked after he'd just kissed him out of a breakdown, because he's still not entirely sure Akechi? Likes him? And it felt impolite to check out his dick?

But like. He will. ]

[If it helps you at all, Akira, he opts to sit in a way that will make ogling his dick sort of difficult once you sit down. He is sitting relatively close, though, so if you want to just. Look at it, feel free?? He lacks proper perception for being eyeraked.]

Just a quickie, for today, to avoid us staying into the rush. [Okay or maybe he knows exactly what he's doing??]

[ You can visibly see the moment that Akira looks directly at the wall as his soul leaves his body and he stands up entirely too quickly. Thankfully, he does not fall and brain himself on the tile. ]

Wow, yeah, great point! Time to soak! [ He is going to go straight into the bath now, because even Akira, the great phantom thief Joker, is a little flushed when being teased by the boy he's had a crush on for the better part of a year now. ]

[That was informative.]

[Akechi stays seated for a moment longer, looking after him as he veritably scurries away, and there's a distinct amount of fondness that he surprises himself with. This dumb asshole really was into him, what the fuck. He stands up himself a moment later and trails after him, taking absolutely no time to give Akira a solid once-over from behind, mostly in curiosity.]

[He's still working up the gall to figure out his stance on the entire situation.]

Fast learner?

[ Please hold, Akira is going to dunk his entire body completely under the water of the tub until he's light headed. When he resurfaces, he can claim that it's the hot water that's making his cheeks flush. It also means he gets to slick his bangs back out of his eyes, which isn't something he's doing on purpose but does make him look a little like Joker. ]

You can't tease me about this when I can't tease you about it.

[The little Joker makes Akechi's lips purse, and he climbs into the water much more slowly, oozing his way into steamy bliss and absolutely looking like a pleased cat for a solid handful of seconds.]

[And then he remembers Akira said words.]

Mmn, tease you about what? I don't remember any teasing.

[ Akira huffs, but it's more a sound of laughter than anything else. He glances at the bath, but it's just two old men on the other side of the tub discussing the merits of eating natto, so he discreetly splashes Akechi just a little. ]

You're weaponizing the fact that I think you're hot. That's unfair.

[He looks marginally affronted at being splashed, but settles against the wall of the tub and reaches out a foot to kick Akira in the knee as retaliation.]

You shouldn't have given me ammunition, then.

[ Akira sighs, over-exaggerated and theatrical, and leans back against the tub as well. ]

Stupid attractive detective princes and their ability to hone in on weak points. [ He says, like he knows more than one, but he has in fact never met the other detective prince.* ]

[* that he remembers ]

It was part of the job description.

[He's quiet and still for a while, but then pushes himself forward and over, shuffling in the water to sit just close enough that he can bump his weight sideways and tap their shoulders together.]

...I'm sorry, for before. I should probably have been more aware of myself. [He briefly taps two fingers to the scar on his chest.]

[ Akira doesn't reply for a moment. He reaches out, and his fingers press to the outside of it again -- not the wound itself, similar to the way he tends to cradle Akechi's jaw rather than touch the bruise itself. He tends to skirt just around the outside, waiting for a more overt invitation to go past the first walls of resistance. ]

Does it hurt?

[He moves his hand when Akira's joins it, considering the question and ultimately shaking his head.]

I can't... really feel any of the skin right around it. Scar tissue, and all.

That's... good. [ Akira's smile is a little wane when he offers it to Akechi, but it's still there. It's good that it doesn't hurt; it's good that Akechi doesn't have to carry pain with him on top of everything else. ]

You couldn't have known, if it wasn't there before. There's no reason for it to be. [ Probably part of the process of bringing him back to life, however that... actually worked. ]

[Not physically, anyway.]

[He draws in a breath and holds it, letting himself sag sideways as he exhales.] ...it's just there to be a reminder that I shouldn't be alive. For us both, I suppose.

[ The smile that Akira gives Akechi is entirely too fraught with emotions. Akira can't quite decipher what he's feeling, so he imagines it's right out for Akechi; it's some sort of sadness, guilt, grief, joy, and desperation rolled into one package alongside the quiet delight that he's getting a second chance to see Akechi when he didn't think he would.

Second... third chance. Whatever. He drops his hand after a long moment. Instead, he bumps their shoulders together again, leaning his head very lightly on Akechi's. ]

Good thing we're both stubborn.

Mmn.

[He's still a while, trying to decipher exactly what kinda way seeing their knees near each other underwater in a bath makes him feel, what he thinks of the fact that he likes leaning against him. Enough to do it unprompted. He's taller, just by a hair or so, but he's folded so he's slouched and smaller, bumped against his shoulder and now with their heads leaned together. He shifts his head and looks up, bumping his head upward to get his attention.] ...hey. [His voice is small, because Akira is absolutely right to assume that figuring out anything about what he's feeling is very, very much right out.]

Hmm? [ It's relaxing, just sitting like this. Akira doesn't exactly enjoy having to go to the bath house for a soak, but it is nice -- the sound of the water lapping against the tile, the echo of the other patrons quiet discussions, the smell of soap and shampoo. It's a nice place, and Akira didn't realize how nice it was to spend this kind of quiet moment with Akechi until he started having them.

He's easy to stir back into movement, though,and he shifts a little to look at Akechi, questioningly. ]

[He shifts, sitting up on his knees and pushing Akira's hair out of the way so he can see his forehead again. He deliberates a moment, because his initial thought process was to kiss him, but at the last second he gets cold feet and just sets his own forehead there.]

...if you repeat this, I'll take it back tenfold, I hope you understand. However, you are making being spontaneously alive when I shouldn't be significantly less terrible than it may have been otherwise.

[ Akira blinks, a little surprised -- but then he just looks deeply pleased. Not in a smug way, but the kind of pleased that's tinged with relief and affection. He leans into it a little. Things might be a complete mess right now, but they're...

They're doing okay. They're managing, he thinks. ]

You're on to my plan. Make being alive so nice you don't want to be anything else.

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