Chapter Text
A loud ding from the bell of the entrance of Leblanc filled the air as Yusuke and Akira strolled inside. There were currently regulars who filled the booths near the door of the café. Yusuke took a deep breath and took in the heavy scent of coffee beans that occupied the comfortable atmosphere. It had been quite some time since he was there and he absolutely loved the smell of good coffee. Not that he was complaining though, since Akira’s odor reflected the café because, of course, his boyfriend lived here. Yusuke made sure to take every chance he could to take in his scent without being noticed.
Sojiro, or Boss, glanced at the two and offered his greetings and continued conversing with one of his regulars. Right on cue, Akira took Yusuke’s hand and instructed him to set his materials, that they went out and bought together that afternoon, behind the counter. He insured that they would be safe there for the time being, then led him upstairs to the attic or in Akira’s case, his bedroom. Yusuke did find it slightly crude for a growing teenager to be living in the attic of a café, but Akira assured him beforehand that he didn’t mind. ”Well! Make yourself comfortable! I’ll be right back. I think Sojiro made some curry and I’m going to grab a plate and some water.”
”Give my condolences to the chef.” Yusuke smirked. Akira hummed in response and kissed Yusuke’s cheek before walking back down to the café.
Yusuke took a moment to lift his hand to his cheek while he situated himself on Akira’s bed, admiring how warm the spot felt. He plopped down onto to the soft cushion of the bed and took the pillow and hugged it tightly to his body. Yusuke surprisingly enough was tired. He blamed the long commute to his favorite art shop.
It was worth it though.
His time spent there with Akira was eventful, to say the least. They ended up just goofing around rather than shopping; Akira felt the different textures of paintbrushes and even inquired about the different uses for each product they came across. Yusuke was more than willing in educating him; but the fact that while Yusuke was distracted explaining, Akira would use the opportunity to swipe the tip of a paintbrush across the nose of the artist and prompt a giggle. That continued on for about 30 minutes. Yusuke smiled at the memory, feeling his heart swell. Akira always brought out emotions that Yusuke was sure he hadn’t shown to anyone in a long time, and that did things to his heart. Very strange things. He couldn’t really explain it but he very much enjoyed it and wanted to hold onto it forever.
Yusuke detected a scent faintly coming from the pillow that he was now embracing and took the opportunity to bring his face to it. He took a long whiff, taking in the mixture of coffee beans and shampoo (Coconut? He had to ask Akira at a later date...). His eyes drifted close as he took many more whiffs. It smelled extremely pleasant and enticing which caused Yusuke to squeeze the pillow closer to his face, gaining more access to the smell. This was the smell of his boyfriend.
Then Yusuke was brought back to reality when he heard a chuckle from the stairs. Akira stood with two plates of curry in both hands and a pair of water bottles between his armpits. Akira had a grin smacked on his face. Yusuke stared back with wide eyes, face beginning to burn.
”Oh sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt...” Akira started.
”Th-Th-There was nothing to i-interrupt!!!” Yusuke screeched, sitting up and throwing the pillow back on the bed. Laughing, Akira took his spot on the sofa and set both plates and water bottles on the TV stand. He softly patted the spot next to him as he smiled at Yusuke. The taller boy took the hint and made his way to sit on the spot next to Akira, who handed him one of the plates of curry. Yusuke’s portion seemed larger; this caused Yusuke to raise an eyebrow towards the other.
”I heard your stomach growling on our way here.” Yusuke flushed.
Yusuke gasped in surprise. ”O-Oh. How embarrassing… Sorry, to cause worry….”
”No don’t be! Please. Yusuke whenever you’re hungry, you can let me know. Seriously, I don’t mind making you curry or anything, for the matter. Heck, I don’t mind us going out to eat after school everyday. I want you to be healthy.” Akira took the moment to squeeze Yusuke’s hand.
”I…. thank you. Really.” Yusuke replied softly, squeezing back. “It’s just been… hard to manage funds for human necessities and art.”
”We can work on managing that together if you like?”
Yusuke smiled. ”I’d love that. Thank you.”
They both gave their thanks and finally dug into their dinner. The clatter of utensils hitting the plates and bottle caps being discarded filled the air. Yusuke almost done with his portion, set his curry off to the side and turned to Akira, giving his boyfriend a mischievous look.
”I think it’s about time to talk…”
Nervously, Akira set down his plate on the TV stand. “Hahaha… wh-what ever could you be talking about… hahaha.” Yusuke only deadpanned and leaned in closer to Akira’s face, who tried to lean away in response but was stopped by the close proximity of the TV stand.
”I don’t think you’re truly this forgetful of a promise, Akira.” Yusuke smiled again. “Or should I call you…. Aki-kun?” Akira’s face erupted, furiously shaking his head.
”I YIELD.” Yusuke, satisfied, gave a quick peck to his boyfriend’s cheek and sat back. Akira only grumbled something along the lines ‘You’re lucky you’re cute.’
”I think I should go first because, honestly, the conversation between Ryuji and I was relatively short, while I feel you’re going to have a long story to go along with your portion of this exchange.” Akira nodded.
”So long story short, your best friend sends me a message out of the blue and invites me to eat out, which was odd and suspicious, I might add. He basically made sure to tell me that if I treated you wrongly, which I will not, ever, that I should be ready to…. Uh… how did he phrase it? Catch his hands?” Yusuke heard a loud smack, looking over to see Akira who was covering his mouth with his hand. His shoulders were shaking, trying his hardest to contain his laughter. Yusuke gasped, dumbfounded.
”I can’t believe my boyfriend is laughing. Your best friend threatened me!”
”No! Pft..N-No. It’s not that! Pfffft haha-,“ Akira finally let out a loud fit of laughter as Yusuke was finding it hard to be irritated as he watched his boyfriend laugh, but he couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face. Calming down, Akira resumed, grinning. “It’s just… that’s so Ryuji…”
”To think he would call me out just to give me a pep talk about dating my boyfriend amazes me the most.” Yusuke softened his tone. “Never thought he could be so selfless. Ryuji’s a great guy….”
”Yeah, he is. I’m lucky to have him as best friend.”
”He still lacks aesthetic sense though.”
”PFT.”
This time they both joined each other in a fit of laughter. Settling down, Akira laid his head on Yusuke’s shoulder, which in turn granted him a hand to rest in his nest of hair. Yusuke gently ran his fingers through the mop of hair, massaging the scalp; this elicited a low hum from Akira.
“Your turn.” Yusuke said keeping his voice soft and low, still running his hands through the black hair. There was a long pause before Akira let out a long sigh and began.
”Like I said before, I’ve had 3 past relationships. The first one really doesn’t count because it happened when I was in primary school, but I’ll tell you the story to humor you.”
”Hm. So our leader was a flirt even at a young age, huh.”
”Oh hush. Let me tell the story, you dork.” Yusuke giggled but willed himself to stop as Akira continued on.
”Anyways, I’m in primary school and trust me when I say this, I was the cutest kid back then. Had big dreams that I couldn’t possibly achieve; outgoing, I guess? Along with being the fastest runner in my grade and apparently the girls digged that. Anyways. The cutest girl in the grade decides to ask me out and me being young, not really knowing what that meant and living my life to the fullest, said yes. How could I not? All the boys were entranced by her. I was so in love with her at the time too. I would do anything for her!”
”Let me stress, not even a day since we started dating, a day Yusuke! She dumps me for another kid who transferred to our school and who so happened to be foreign. From America I think?” Feeling Yusuke shaking above, Akira lets out a grunt. “I was heartbroken Yusuke and you’re laughing! I swore I wouldn’t date again!”
”Sorry, sorry.. haha..” The artist planted his face into the nest of hair and listened on.
”Moving on. My next relationship was in my second year of middle school. I had this huge crush on this girl in my class and one day she up and confesses to me. Again, this one was short-lived. It lasted about 2 weeks. Nothing really special happened in those 2 weeks either. We barely even talked to each other! And the only time she did want to talk was when she didn’t have money for lunch. I had to call it off because it was definitely not going to work out. Turns out, she was just dating me because she was dared to at some stupid slumber party. Again, I was humiliated! Humiliated!” Giggles filled the air. “You dork! Stop laughing, silly.” Akira smacked Yusuke’s knee.
”And lastly…. My recent ex…” Something about the tone in Akira’s voice changed the lighthearted atmosphere that filled the room before. It was strained and in pain. Yusuke grabbed Akira’s hand with the one not currently occupying hair and rubbed it softly. Akira let out a deep sigh. “This one…. Hurt the most. It was… at the beginning of my first year of high school. I became comfortable with a girl who had been in the area of the schools I went to. We were really close, childhood friends even. We told each other everything; we even visited each other’s households often. It was one of those bonds that you know was going to be something special in the future. I ended up developing strong feelings for her and confessed. Who would of known, that our feelings were mutual. I was overjoyed. Did the basic stuff couples do: we went on dates, took a butt load of pictures, visited each other’s homerooms on break, ate lunch together,etc. The time we spent together was light and filled with happiness. I even… shared my first kiss with her.” Akira took a moment to pause as he took a deep breath. “We continued dating the remainder of our first year, then our second year came around and…. Everything… came crashing down after that.”
”During summer break, she became… busy? I paid no mind to it because I trusted her so much. ‘Couples need space too,’ I thought. First semester comes and she stops talking to me completely. She ignores me. Pretends I’m not existent. I started to feel as if I did something wrong. That went on for about a week before finally I asked what was wrong. She….,” Akira grits his teeth, “…She tells me she was cheating the whole time. The whole time.”
“That’s.. that’s terrible.”
“But how could this be right? Apparently, all that time I wasn’t with her, she was dating another guy from another school nearby.” Akira scoffs. “Tsk. How could I of known. I felt crushed. Like I was the only one who actually put my 100% into the relationship, but you know what, I still blame myself. What if I had just talked to her more… pleaded with her. For the rest of that year, everything felt numb and I felt I could trust no one. Then, that incident with the assault happened and here I am back in Tokyo.. atoning for something I didn’t do.” Akira huffed. “But I digress. The past is in the past. I have you now and the rest of the Phantom Thieves.”
Yusuke was at a lost for words. Who could hurt such a kindhearted person like Akira? His Akira? And just listening to the story further and further just made him furious. Yusuke took the chance to embrace Akira, burying his face into the wefts of hair. Akira returned the gesture by planting a kiss on the exposed area of skin on Yusuke’s neck and embraced the other, which caused Yusuke to gasp.
”I swear I won’t let anyone else hurt you.” Yusuke whispered softly, lowering his head to kiss Akira’s forehead. Akira sat up in return, smiling brightly.
“And ditto from me.” Akira replied softly in the same hushed tone as he made himself eye level with Yusuke. Akira planted both his hands on the side of the artist’s face, fingers rubbing comforting circles. Their faces were just inches apart to the point that they could feel the heat of each other’s breath. Both of their cheeks stained red. Two hearts racing in unison. Akira’s gaze was intense: filled with a mixture of desire and compassion. Yusuke’s were probably the same and he knew…. He knew what came next.
”Can I…” Akira started before Yusuke leaned forward and closed the gap between them. Surprised at first, Akira sat in shock for a millisecond before responding, slotting their lips together. They moved slowly, feeling the warmth of each other’s lips. They broke away for a couple of seconds, re-gaining oxygen before bringing their lips right back together. Akira’s hands found their way in Yusuke’s hair, playing with the strands that were at his nape. Yusuke took the time to pull Akira into his lap, giving him the advantage to rub his hands up and down his boyfriend’s back; Akira groaned to the touch. They continued to move at a slow pace for a while before finally breaking apart again for a second time. Keeping their faces at a close proximity, Akira gave a quick peck to the lips before kissing underneath Yusuke’s jaw moving lower and lower… and lower. Yusuke sat back against the sofa, relaxing to the feel of soft, plump lips touching his skin, shivering slightly. Then he felt teeth nip at the skin.
Then he heard footsteps.
“A-Akira…” Yusuke whimpered. Akira paying no mind, continued the act.
The footsteps were getting louder and closer.
”AKIRA.” Yusuke practically yelled before shoving Akira off his lap and onto the attic floor.
The owner of the footsteps, Sojiro, finally reached the top of the stairs of the attic. Yusuke tried his best to put on a natural smile while Akira just sat on his butt, dazed. Sojiro gave an incredulous look at the two before shaking his head.
”Yusuke, I think it’s about time for you to head home. The last trains are running soon. Akira, I’m about to head home too. Make sure you clean your dishes,” Sojiro stated before turning to leave.
”Th-Thank you Boss…”
”Y-Yes, sir….” Akira piped in, rubbing his butt.
”Oh and boys…”
”Yes?” Both of the teenagers questioned.
”Make sure to not do anything that… will cause noise complaints during business hours, alright? And I'm not talking about laughter.”
A yelp and a scream were the last things heard in the café.