Work Text:
Yusaku was stretched out lazily on the couch with Ai, who was wrapped around him like he was doing his best impression of a very clingy snake, head tucked into Yusaku’s shoulder–not that Yusaku minded. His own arms were the same, one coiled around Ai’s back as he raised the other to run fingers through Ai’s hair.
While Ai had previously been nuzzling into his neck, he suddenly grew still.
"Ai?"
Yusaku looked at Ai in mild concern. He then followed the path of Ai’s gaze to his own right arm, where the short sleeve of his plain black shirt had ridden up slightly, revealing the mark on his upper arm.
Oh.
Yusaku supposed Ai had never properly seen it, considering Yusaku spent most of his time either in his school uniform or long-sleeved hoodies. And he himself had long forgotten about it, having been preoccupied with more pressing matters in his life than decoding who exactly his soulmate was.
The mark was a string of seemingly random digits, characters, and symbols, that was long enough to wrap six times around his upper right arm in small, evenly spaced lettering, almost like it had been typed or written in a very precise hand.
Oh, Yusaku had scrutinised it of course, many times over the years, but with no answer forthcoming, he’d soon stopped caring about what they meant with regards to some nebulous soulmate, and focused more on what little in his life that he could take control of by himself, and the changes that he could make with his own two hands.
“It seems like some kind of code, but I’ve never really looked into it to figure it out,” he said, by way of waving off an explanation. “The angle that it wraps around makes it hard to read myself.”
Yusaku held his arm higher, rotating it slightly in the limited amount his joints would allow to show Ai. "Do you recognise it?"
“That’s-” Ai had on an inscrutable look as he registered the text, his eyes raking over the sequence and running an instant analysis, lines of data streaming past his sight.
Yusaku looked from the string of figures on his arm to Ai, and back again, not knowing what to expect. He supposed he should have asked Ai sooner, but between everything that had happened, the wins and losses, the triumphs and heartbreaks, it just hadn’t seemed all that important. And he had his partner safe with him now, did he really need to find out-
“...It’s my name.” Ai’s voice broke through his thoughts, his tone careful, almost like he was afraid of Yusaku’s reaction. His eyes flitted back and forth from Yusaku’s arm to random points in their surroundings.
"Your name?"
“Ah, well, as much of a name as any that can be used to call me, at least. It’s the unique code used to identify my self, like my very own ID number or digital signature." Ai seemed to shift uncomfortably as he elaborated.
He then peered at Yusaku's arm for a closer look.
“Feels weird seeing it written out like this, I never realised it would be so long or look so complicated. But hey, it makes for a cool mark, right?” Ai laughed, albeit weakly.
Something felt off with Ai's reaction, but Yusaku couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. He was clearly bothered, and trying very badly to pretend he wasn’t.
“I thought you would be happy to be my soulmate," he said lightly.
Ai started in surprise, then rushed to reassure him, a spill of words falling from his mouth. “I am! Of course I am. You're my partner and favourite human. I'm really happy, honest.” Ai leaned up for a quick peck on his cheek.
Yusaku said nothing, and merely raised an unconvinced eyebrow in response.
A series of expressions flickered past Ai's face, almost like he was torn between laying on more stilted humour or revealing the source of his upset.
Yusaku watched his distress in silence and frowned. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Ai hesitated, then said, "It's… It's nothing to do with you. I just don’t know how to explain what I’m feeling. I wasn't expecting such a reminder." And for a brief moment, he looked lost, in a way that made Yusaku want to pull him into a deeper embrace and chase away the lingering anguish in his eyes.
"I suppose, it’s because there's not much point of a name where I’m the only one who can understand and use it," Ai said quietly.
Yusaku's heart seized up.
There used to be five others, but now… Now Ai was all who was left.
He reached out to grasp Ai's hand, startling him.
“Write it out for me. I’ll remember it, I promise.”
Ai's eyes had widened in astonishment. He smiled forlornly, though he looked touched by the offer all the same. “You don’t have to, you won’t be able to make sense of it. It's meaningless to you anyway."
"But it means something to you," he insisted.
Ai sighed, his gaze drifting off into the distance, to a world Yusaku had never been to, and likely never would. "Back in the Cyberse World, yeah. In the beginning, we hadn't really had the time to gain any learned behaviours or instincts yet, so everything was laid out by logic. It’s less the concept of a personal name and more of a convenience." He gave a half-hearted shrug. "There wasn't much else to differentiate amongst ourselves that we could use to call each other."
With great effort, he shook himself out of his faraway reverie to meet Yusaku's eyes.
This close up, he could observe in the golden depths of Ai's gaze delicate swirls of data, each miraculous spark reflecting back his sorrow and apprehension, devotion and warmth.
"But here, I have a name I like much better now."
He paused.
To Yusaku's mild curiosity, a faint blush crept across Ai's expression. His cheeks began to redden ever so slightly, before Ai quickly turned and buried his face into Yusaku's shoulder again, remaining there motionless.
A moment passed, then two.
Just as he was about to ask–
"I like being your Ai-chan," came the muffled reply.
Yusaku blinked.
He couldn't help a soft laugh from escaping from his lips as he smiled and smiled, a distinct airy flutter of affection blooming in his chest.
Ai finally raised his head in indignation.
"Don't you dare laugh! I bare my soul to you and this is how you react?" Ai grumbled, scrunching up his expression in a pout.
"Sorry." Though his amusement was still clearly audible through his tone, much like the smile of relief that Yusaku couldn't quite hold back. “I didn’t mean it that way.” He reached out a hand to gently cradle Ai's face, watching intently as Ai grew marginally more flustered.
Even so, Ai tried to continue sulking, all while he begrudgingly leaned into the touch and let out a disgruntled huff. "See if I'll ever tell you my deepest, darkest secrets again!"
At that, Yusaku was struck with a sudden thought. He gave Ai a tentative onceover.
“Are you… Is my name written anywhere on…?”
“Are you trying to sneak in a question about all the private and confidential bits of my code?! Oooh, you pervert!“ Ai gasped and crossed an arm over his chest, while affecting a faux scandalised look. “At least ask me out for dinner first!”
“We’ve been on dates before,” Yusaku pointed out.
“Not out to dinner!”
“You don’t even eat.”
“That’s a sore spot for me, you don’t have to be so insensitive.” Ai let out a reproachful sniffle, his eyes immediately filling with shiny, sparkly tears.
At Yusaku's deadpan look, he sobered up into a wan smile.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve known for a while now. It's how I tracked you down before all this. Your name's practically woven into my programming." His expression softened into something fond.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“There never seemed to be the right time.” Ai shrugged, then put on an impish grin. "Besides, are you going to be nicer to me now that you know you're my one and only?"
Yusaku gave a snort. "I'm already nice to you."
"No, you're not, you big meanie." Ai stuck out his tongue, and gave a self-righteous 'hmph.' "But I suppose that's what I like about you." He then nestled back into the crook of Yusaku's neck as he arranged himself into a more relaxed position.
Allowing his lips to curve into an easy smile, Yusaku returned his hands to what they were doing before, one arm wrapped around Ai as Yusaku ran fingers through his hair in long soothing strokes.
Gentle as a blanket, a comfortable silence enveloped the two of them.
Until–
"Ai."
"Hm?"
"Ai."
"What is it?"
"Ai."
"Look, I know I said-"
"I love you," Yusaku said, with all the sincerity in his soul, as he pressed a tender kiss to Ai's forehead.
Ai spluttered, "W-Wait, you can't just catch me off guard like that, it's not fair!"
Ah, his dear partner–Ai, with all the multitudes of meaning behind his name–was as fun to tease as always. And with that, Yusaku let out an amused huff as he broke into a satisfied grin.