stealhearted | are you hurting the one you love?

You're right. We could be doing important things. [ And Akira says this, with perfect timing, as they reach the said guinea pig petting zoo, which he immediately tugs Goro into.

They're given a short spiel by a friendly zookeeper about the guinea pigs and not to lift them up, and then Akira is a child in a candy store but the candy is all friendly guinea pigs. ]

[He starts to ask what important things they could be doing when he is bodily yeeted into a petting zoo enclosure, and he's still reeling as Akira Becomes A Child.]

[He's startled, to say the least-- they're both still kids, and objectively he does understand that, but they're both so fucking awful at acting their age it's easy to forget. So he watches, and stoops down to hold out one finger to a guinea pig that has chosen to come squeak in his general direction.] ...cat or not, Morgana would likely be going out of his mind right now. [Say nothing to the fact that he hasn't looked away from Akira once.]

[ Akira just looks so quietly pleased with all the guinea pigs. He sits down and allows them to begin clambering on him, gently petting each one that demands his attention. ]

I'd say he'd fight them, but some of them are bigger than him. [ A particularly fat guinea pig trundles over, squeaks at Goro, and then promptly climbs onto his shoe and lays down. ]

They're really cute...

[He is going to get diabetes and die. This is too much.]

[He only looks away when the particularly fat pig flops on his shoe and he sinks into a crouch to rub between its shoulders.] ...I think that he would fight them would be the problem, really.

[ Akira does not pick up the pigs, as instructed, but he does gently take a particularly friendly one and waggle his little paws. The guinea pig obligingly flops onto his back and allows Akira to rub its tummy, and Akira is charmed. ]

They'd probably think he was their long lost sibling. They're really friendly. [ Which is true, given how they're swarming Goro and Akira both as well as the actual other children in the area. ]

[Akechi makes a very specific mental note to consider getting Akira a pet guinea pig.]

...I think this is my first time seeing any in person, but they do seem to be proving you correct.

I heard that if you have a guinea pig, you have to get two, because otherwise they'll die of loneliness. [ It's a fact he read way too late at night to be able to cite any sources or science behind it, but playing with the pigs sure makes it sound like it could be true. ]

Being able to play with people is probably enrichment for them.

[...two pet guinea pigs.]

[The fat one on his foot rolls over and on a whim he splays his whole hand against its belly and his expression goes slack with wonder at the sheer softness that is the whole of a fat guinea pig's belly.] ...so what you're telling me is we're guinea pigs, but in human bodies.

Yeah. They're basically fat little humans. [ They are not fat little people at all, given the squeaking, but they're certainly affectionate enough and happy enough to be interacting with people, especially when the guinea pig attendant brings out some fresh fruit and vegetables and offers them to everyone to feed the (extremely excited) pigs.

Akira looks overjoyed to be feeding them little raspberries. ]

I'm... really glad you came back, you know? [ Akira says, his voice a little quiet, his tone a little faraway. ] I was really going to go back to my parents' otherwise. I might actually have died of loneliness.

[ It's hard for him to imagine and easy for him to imagine at the same time: putting aside the way he feels in Tokyo, surrounded by his friends, by people who like him, and living in that empty house with magazine-friendly decorations, with the weight of failed expectations and the judgement of a thousand people who don't believe his exoneration at all. ]

[He folds neatly around his knees, arms crossed and one hooked up over the opposite shoulder while the other continued to entertain the fattest guinea pig in Tokyo, probably, and Akechi's expression slackened into ambivalence. It was-- familiar, probably, because it was what he did when he didn't want to think about something, where he'd try to pole vault over the thoughts he didn't want in his head and use the momentum to get lost elsewhere in the vast expanse of Too Many Thoughts in his skull.]

[The guinea pig took hold of his index finger with its two stubby front legs and chewed on his fingertip and it forced him back out of his head, making a startled little grunt of a sound.] ...that's a lot of pressure for someone who still doesn't understand why he isn't dead.

Just being around you is nice. [ Akira flashes Goro a small smile. ] You don't need to do anything special, so there's no pressure.

[ Akira knows it isn't that easy, and especially not for Goro. Goro tears himself up and tries so hard he gets stuck in his head and Akira understands entirely, but --

being with Goro really does make him happy. Just being with him. And the guinea pigs. ]

[He inhales slowly and holds his breath a moment, wiggling his finger free of the guinea pig's grasp in favor of scritching his fingertips along its belly instead. His other hand comes unhooked from his shoulder and he lays it on the ground between he and Akira, wiggling his fingers at him.]

That's too simple, even for you.

I'm actually a pretty simple person, you know. [ Akira never wanted a complicated, over the top life with being a phantom thief and mystery and intrigue... though now that he's gotten a taste for it, he doesn't think it'll be so easy to step away. ]

I just want to hang out with my boyfriend and drink coffee.

And maybe pet guinea pigs.

[He opts to seek Akira's hand by reaching for it instead, hooking their pinkies together.]

Well, it seems like all of those are being fulfilled today. How lucky.

I'm really lucky. [ Except he says it with this genuine tone of voice that's guaranteed to zero in straight on Goro's heart, even without meaning to. He squeezes Goro's hand lightly, as best he can with one finger. ]

Do you want to take a picture with the guinea pigs?

[It does exactly that, and he closes his eyes against a distinct wave of... he can't quite put a word to it. Nausea? Warmth? Anxious glee? All of the above? He can't be sure. He opens his eyes in favor of leveling Akira with a confused quirk of one eyebrow, thinking the question over.]

...sure, [Because he knows it'll make Akira happy.]

[ So Akira cozies up to Goro's side, both of them rapidly covered in guinea pigs, and then angles the camera to take a rare Akira Kurusu selfie -- of himself looking deeply content and quietly, genuinely happy. There isn't that surprised look like there frequently is when his friends take candid photos, and the smile isn't fake in the slightest.

It's nice. ]

I didn't think I was a sentimental person until this past year.

[Akechi can't quite bring himself to look at the camera, but the way he leans just barely into Akira might be enough. He keeps his eyes on the guinea pig on his foot, another climbing his pant leg, and the slightest of smiles tugs at the corners of his mouth.]

That surprises me. Your kindness is startling even on your worst days.

It's more that there was never anything I wanted to remember. [ His days were kind of a monotonous blur, back home, to the point where thinking about his hometown -- about school and his family and his life -- is a strange, washed out memory that lacks all the color and brightness and life of the past year in Tokyo.

But this -- he wants to remember this, like he wants to remember his outings with everyone else. The stars on his ceiling; the swan boat on his shelf; the photos with Goro that he's going to make sure Futaba can back up so he never loses them. ]

[He hums at that, nodding in agreement.] ...I can understand that. [He curls his pinky a little tighter around Akira's, face still angled at the ground and the guinea pig but not really looking at anything.]

[ Akira does not pick up the guinea pigs, as instructed, but when he sees Goro staring into the void of space, he leans over -- over -- over --

and creates a human landbridge so an excited pig can run up and boop Goro's ear, squeaking gently.

Akira is definitely taking a very awkward selfie-angle photo of the entire thing, by the way. ]

I want to remember things like this, though.

[He startles when the pig scampers up his arm, and Akira captures the exact moment that it's nose connects with his ear and it squeaks, his head snapping upright and his eyes going wide, a startled bark of laughter escaping him.]

[It's likely to be one of Akira's favorite photos, from how candid and honest it is.]

[The pig then scurries its way to his knee and then back to the ground, tussling with its fat brother on the ground, and Akechi turns a red-faced frown on Akira.] I could have hurt the thing if I swatted it...!

But you didn't. [ Akira says, with a smile, like it's an absolute given -- which is fair, in his eyes: Goro has murdered human beings without a second thought, but Akira has never seen him do anything to hurt an animal even on accident. Akira genuinely believes Goro is the sort of person to apologize profusely to an animal for stepping on a paw. It's just that sort of vibe.

Akira quietly just sends the picture to Goro, because he wants to make sure the copy on his phone is safe. ]

It was cute.

[One day he will accidentally step on Morgana's tail and drop into full dogeza to apologize, probably. He used to run into things on the sidewalk as a child because he was too busy watching the ground beneath him to make sure he didn't step on any bugs-- but that's also because he genuinely hates most bugs. It's a layered issue.]

[He watches him tap around and feels his phone buzz and his ears burn, because he doesn't want to see how ridiculous he must have looked, but he huffs and drops his shoulder sideways into him.] Shut up.

Sorry, I can't stop telling the entire world how cute I think my boyfriend is. [ Akira phrases it delicately, when they aren't making eye contact and have the guinea pigs to redirect their attention, because it's a little loaded -- calling Goro his boyfriend; saying that he'd brag to everyone about Goro.

Which he would, even if Goro can't imagine any of the reasons why. Even if no one else thought Goro was a good catch, Akira is still so smitten it doesn't matter. ]

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whenever i go to the zoo i go to the part where i can pet the goats like i'm 6

i just don't want anything to do with the giraffes man

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