Yo

Speaking of Akechi ...

Akira flipped the sign to 'closed,' not wanting to risk having to deal with any more late customers wandering in.

“Come here often?” he joked, pleased when Akechi rolled his eyes and closed the book, setting it aside.

“Good evening, Kurusu-kun. You're back much later than usual today.”

Shrugging, Akira dropped his schoolbag on a booth, only giving Morgana a cursory glance as he hopped out of said bag and stalked up the stairs, throwing a disapproving glare over his shoulder. Akira went behind the counter to grab Akechi's mug, giving the inside a quick look, deeming it clean enough before refilling it with what he knew was Akechi's favored coffee blend.

“Yeah, one of my friends likes running, so I offered to run with him. My other friend likes talking, and I ran into her on the way home.” Akira put the now-full mug back in front of Akechi with an exaggerated bow before going about preparing a coffee for himself.

“Ah, isn't it past closing? I did want to talk with you today, but I'm sure you have more important things to be doing,” Akechi said, even as he rose from his seat, grabbing his briefcase from where it was set on the chair next to him.

“Don't worry; if Sojiro wanted you gone, he would've said. Stay as long as you like. Besides, I just refilled your coffee – be a bit rude if you rushed off now.” Akira gave Akechi a narrow-eyed smirk, just daring him to do something deemed 'rude.'

“As long as I'm not causing you any inconvenience,” Akechi said slowly, though he made no move to sit back down. “If you'll excuse me, I'm going to use the restroom, and then we can talk as long as you'd like.”

“Oh, wait, sorry,” Akira said. “Toilet's out of order currently. Sojiro promised me he'd get a plumber in sometime tomorrow.”

Akechi stopped from where he was halfway to the restroom, turning abruptly toward Akira with a single eyebrow raised. “Kurusu, don't you live here?”

“There's a public bathhouse across the street,” Akira shrugged. “Works well enough for emergencies. Otherwise I'm usually only here to sleep anyway.” Watching as Akechi's eyes darted for the slightest of moments toward Leblanc's exit, Akira continued, “I can walk you over there if you need?”

“No, that won't be necessary,” Akechi was quick to answer, returning to his chair and immediately reaching for his coffee, taking a long drink.

“Suit yourself. It's no problem.”

“I can assure you there is no need.”

Holding back an exasperated sigh, Akira instead walked around the counter and very deliberately moved Akechi's briefcase off of its chair and onto the booth next to Akira's own bag, ignoring Akechi's token protest. Plopping down in the now vacated chair, Akira folded his hands around his own coffee cup and smiled at Akechi. “So, Akechi-kun, what is it you wanted to discuss today?”

---

It had stayed in the back of his mind throughout the rest of the evening and later into the night. Sure, Akechi hadn't mentioned the restroom again, but there were the tiniest of tells – he was crossing and uncrossing his legs just a tad more than he would normally, he was twitching his foot up and down whereas he tended to sit completely still, it was taking him a good hour to get through this third cup of coffee when he could usually down them in no more than thirty minutes, even while talking to Akira throughout.

Akira wasn't focusing on Akechi's sure need of the restroom. It was more a curiosity, wondering why he didn't just give in and use the toilet in the bathhouse when obviously Akira was aware he'd needed to go for some time, but Akechi was nothing if not stubborn.

They jumped from topic to topic throughout the night: What restaurants Akechi had visited recently, what Akira had been doing with his friends, how both of them were doing in school, plans for the upcoming summer break, and of course, the all-consuming topic of the Phantom Thieves. Granted, as soon as Akechi started asking the more probing questions, Akira redirected toward Akechi's more recent interviews, charmed to watch Akechi scowl for just a moment before plastering that pleasant grin back on.

Akechi didn't stumble or stutter or lose track of his words. He kept sipping on his coffee, albeit at a slower pace, while Akira watched on.

It felt like no time at all before Akechi glanced at his phone and gave a start. “Ah, it's getting quite late! I really must get to the station before the trains stop for the night. Thank you for indulging me, Kurusu-kun.”

“Pfft, how many times have I told you not to thank me? I like talking to you, idiot.”

“No need to be rude,” Akechi softened his scolding with a smirk, eyes sharp as they looked up at Akira from under his bangs.

“Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you by walking you to the station.”

“Thank you, but that's really not necessary,” Akechi was quick to say.

“It is -” Akira stopped to dramatically pull his phone out of his pocket to check the time, “- 11:47 at night. As safe as Yongen-Jaya is, I refuse to give up on chivalry and stay here while the Detective Prince himself walks alone to the train station.”

“If you insist. I suppose it wouldn't exactly be 'princely' of me to argue.” Akechi's smile was more obviously forced than Akira had seen before, and he could swear he saw Akechi's left eye twitch before he turned toward the door and made his way toward it.

“Hey, Akechi?”

“Yes? I don't want to miss the last train, Kurusu,” Akechi said.

“Yeah, I know. I only thought that you wouldn't want to forget your briefcase.”

Akira took great humor in watching how quickly Akechi's back straightened, arms stiffening at his sides in what Akira assumed was embarrassment.

“Of course. Thank you, Kurusu-kun.”

Carefully locking Leblanc's door behind him, Akira smirked to himself when he realized Akechi had already started making his way toward the station without him. His gait was no faster than usual, and Akira doubted he would've known anything was wrong without his much earlier clue.

“Hey, wait up! The station's not even a five minute walk away. I promise you're not going to miss your train,” Akira called, jogging a few steps to catch up.

“My apologies. I simply don't want to risk the possibility of becoming stranded here overnight. After all, it would do nothing for my reputation if it were to come out that I spent the night in a Yongen train station.”

“Don't be ridiculous. If you miss the train, you're coming back to Leblanc.”

Akechi looked over in shock at that, eyes wide and mouth open as if he were about to retort, yet no words came.

“I don't know why you're so surprised. What sort of friend would I be leaving you to fend for yourself? You wound me, Akechi, truly.” Akira clutched at his chest, dramatically throwing his head back in faux-distress.

“Be serious,” Akechi scowled, continuing his steady march toward the station.

---

The last train for Shibuya left Yongen at midnight exactly. The big clock on the station wall informed them that it was currently 11:56.

Gesturing toward this clock, Akira said, “See, plenty of time to make your train. I can't believe you doubted me.”

“Yes, wonderful job, you correctly estimated the amount of time it takes to walk from your own home to the train station you frequent.”

“No need for sarcasm. A simple 'thank you' will suffice just fine.”

“Oh, thank you, my hero, Kurusu Akira. Now that I'm at the train station, I assure you I'll be able to make it to Shibuya on my own. No need for you to stay with me.”

“Come on, Akechi, it's only four minutes. I'm convinced you want to be rid of me.”

“Four minutes...” Akechi looked at the clock before looking down at the floor for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. He glanced once more at the clock, once toward the train tracks, then before Akira even knew what was happening, Akechi was off like a shot. He wasn't quite running, but his long strides were moving him through the station at an impressive pace.

Akira took only a moment to watch after him in shock before taking off at a swift jog to catch up with him.

“Akechi, what—”

“Please excuse me, Kurusu-kun,” Akechi said in a strained voice before abruptly pushing through a door. Akira, still chasing after him, entered right behind.

He shouldn't have been surprised to be faced with a restroom. It was small with only a toilet and a sink with no actual stalls, likely due to the Yongen-Jaya station itself not servicing too large of a crowd on the daily. Sure, he shouldn't have been surprised – Akechi had made clear his need for a restroom literal hours ago, and he'd had three cups of coffee since then, but Akira still couldn't wrap his head around Akechi being so desperate as to run away from him to get to a bathroom. Sure, there had been small tells throughout the night – just that much more fidgeting, that much more tightness in his facial expressions, but if Akira hadn't been looking for these things, he certainly wouldn’t have noticed them.

As it was, Akechi wasn't even bothering to wait for Akira to leave, instead dropping his briefcase on the floor and working on undoing his pants even as he was still walking toward the toilet.

There was no way he was unaware Akira had followed him into the bathroom. Apparently, his desperation was so great that he simply didn't care. Akira would've left. He wished he could've left, but as Akechi would've been in direct view of the door had Akira opened it, he didn't dare, instead reaching over and locking the door to prevent anyone else from bursting in.

Looking away would've been, at that point, the correct thing to do. However, the situation itself was so bizarre that Akira felt frozen in place. Frozen and staring as Akechi managed to pull himself out, already obviously dripping even before he managed to aim at the toilet. He was biting his lip and Akira could see, even from across the room, that Akechi's hands were trembling as he aimed and then he was peeing and wow Akira didn't want to be impressed, especially in what was clearly supposed to be a private moment, but the force of the stream was like a goddamned firehose.

The immediate relief was obvious on Akechi's face, his expression relaxing for the first time all night. His eyes drifted closed and his mouth went slack as he let out tiny sighs and cut off moans.

Akira was still frozen, staring, unable to pull his eyes away from the blissful relief apparent on Akechi's face. He could feel his own face flaming in a blush. The sounds alone would've been embarrassing enough, the harsh splashing and the sighing that was only slightly quieter now that Akechi was biting his bottom lip.

To Akira, the moment lasted eons. It seemed neverending in both the worst and best of ways, but truly it couldn't have been longer than a minute when the force of Akechi's stream finally began to wane, the liquid exiting slower and slower until it tapered to a stop. Akechi had turned his face away now, as he tucked himself back into his pants, flushed the toilet, and strode to the sink, taking his time washing his hands and decidedly not meeting Akira's gaze in the mirror. Not that Akira wanted to. At least, he didn't think he did. He wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to meet Akechi's eyes again after that display.

Once finished washing up, Akechi stayed facing away from Akira.

“You can leave now, Kurusu.” Akira had expected his tone to be darker, angrier, but all he could hear was a bone-deep exhaustion mixed with … was that sadness? Embarrassment? Disgust?

Unfortunately, reacting to unexpected situations such as this was not Akira's forte.

“Uhhh. Wow. that looked like it felt good.” Great, Akira, shove your foot right into your mouth, amazing job there.

“Please just go,” Akechi groaned, covering his face with both hands.

“So actually … You know how Leblanc's toilet is out of order?”

“...Obviously.”

“I definitely have to go now. Mostly out of sympathy for you, but—”

“Would you—ugh,” Akechi growled, face still buried in his palms. “Fine. Fine. I will be the one to leave.” Akechi spun around and all but leaped toward his bag, holding it very conspicuously in front of his crotch as soon as he grabbed it, but it was too late. Akira had definitely seen a small dark patch just to the right of Akechi's zipper, made all the more obvious by the light tan color of Akechi's pants. He strode to the door, trying to yank it open and quickly realized that it was, in fact, locked.

Akira choked on a laugh, the ridiculousness of the past five minutes fully catching up to him. He desperately hoped Akechi hadn't noticed – laughing at him was the worst way of getting Akechi to keep spending time with him, Akira knew. Thankfully, if Akechi had noticed, he didn't acknowledge it as he unlocked the door and let himself out at last.

It only took Akira himself a few minutes to finish in the restroom, even though he took his time, knowing that Akechi had surely left for Shibuya already. So, it was to Akira's immense surprise when he left the bathroom only to see a familiar figure sitting against the wall, knees pulled to his chest with his head pressed into them.

“Akechi?”

“... I may have missed the last train.”

Akira glanced at the clock. 12:08. Apparently Akechi getting his relief did take as long as it seemed...

"At least you already have a back-up plan,” Akira said, grabbing Akechi's briefcase before offering him a hand up. Lifting his head, Akechi fixed him with a glare.

“And if I refuse?”

“You won't refuse. Besides, there's a laundromat right next to that bathhouse I mentioned earlier. I'll throw in your pants for you so you won't have to travel with a stain tomorrow.”

“Would you shut up?” Akechi hissed, but he seemed too tired to put any true venom behind his words.

“Come on, I'll lend you my spare pajamas.”

Without another word, Akechi finally took Akira's hand and rose to his feet.

“I will warn you, Morgana may act very offended by you staying the night.”

“I'll be sure to apologize to him for invading his space then,” Akechi murmured as the two boys left the station and began retracing their earlier path walking side by side.

Akira snorted and bumped his shoulder gently against Akechi's. “Hey, if Morgana wants to stay with me, he's going to have to get used to you being around.”

Akechi's breath caught and he didn't answer, though a quick glance over revealed his cheeks dusted light pink.

---

An hour later found Akira and Akechi both finally ready to sleep after having made a late-night laundry run and settled onto the bed and couch respectively. Morgana, surprisingly, had already been fast asleep when the boys arrived and they were respectful and quiet so as not to disturb him. Akira was sure he'd get an earful about his unexpected guest tomorrow, but at the moment, he wasn't in the mood for a lecture.

“Sleep well, Akechi. And please, if you have to use the restroom during the night, don't hesitate to wake me. It's no trouble to show you to the bathhouse,” Akira said, only partly doing so to push Akechi's buttons.

He could swear he could hear the blush in Akechi's words as he replied, “Thank you, Kurusu-kun. I'll be sure to do so.”

-----

(K, so here’s the super long note I promised at the beginning of this fic. I copy/pasted verbatim from how I had originally written it, so if things seem redundant, whoops sorry.

Full disclosure: I am a die-hard Akechi/Protag shipper and I will not apologize for that. I don't think I made this shippy at all, but I know Akechi is a polarizing character, so I want to make y'all aware that it was a dirty Akechi stan who wrote this. I just think he's an interesting character and I am very sympathetic to him okay don't judge meeeeee. I couldn't remember exactly when Akechi first started going to Leblanc in the actual game, so the timeline is kind of skirted around, but I imagine this to take place after Makoto joins the team but before Futaba contacts them. I know, I know, no one cares about The Lore on a kink fic, but it makes me happy to think about it, and it is also more important in this case because of the following:

The way Akira and Akechi act toward each other is heavily based off of where they are in the timeline + how I interpret canon events (I refuse to say headcanons because I can defend why I think this). Basically, I feel there's strong evidence that despite suspecting Akira to be a Phantom Thief, Akechi didn't truly know he was until Okumura's palace. I also feel that there is even stronger evidence that Akira and Morgana didn't realize Akechi was a persona user until the school fair event that occurred after Okumura's palace. Yes, the event that allowed them to figure this out happens significantly earlier, but there's nothing pointing toward either of them actually figuring it out until the school fair. Please keep this in mind when reading, as this 'headcanon' of mine definitely affects how I write them interacting with each other. I realize that may be confusing, since I think there's some discrepancy as far as interpretation goes around these events and when they truly happened, but this is how I interpreted the game.

Honestly, Akira was a bit surprised this was the first timehe’d found himself desperate in Mementos, or even a Palace. His revulsion whenit came to public bathrooms had been something he’d been dealing with since hewas a kid, and desperate situations really did come with the territory. Hesupposed now, with so much on the line, he was able to push aside his disgustat a public bathroom for the sake of knowing distractions could be the literaldifference between life and death in that other world.

All those other times though, there had been more of a plan. Akira had been able to carefully monitor his drink intake as comparedto what bathrooms were reasonably clean and which ones were to be avoided atall costs. Today though… Today, Ryuji and Ann had all but jumped him when hewas packing up his books, and once they were at the train station, Yusuke hadseemed so eager to get started that Akira hadn’t spared a second thought forhis bladder.

Ryuji and Ann were chatting quietly in the backseat of theMorgana Bus as Yusuke sat in the passenger seat. Akira was putting on a farceof driving the bus while Morgana really did most of the work.

“How far does Mementos go?” Yusuke asked suddenly, staring outthe window rather than looking at Akira.

“Don’t know,” Akira said, happy for the distraction from hiscurrent plight. “It blocks us from going deeper at certain points.”

“Mementos itself blocks you?”

“We think so. It doesn’t seem like there’s any one personcontrolling it.”

“Mementos truly is alive…”

The conversation was abruptly cut off by Morgana slammingheadfirst into a shadow, the smoky black figure exploding immediately into agroup of four Pixies.

“Let’s go!” Ryuji called, leaping from the bus. Yusuke andAnn followed close behind, but Akira had to take a moment while their backswere turned to take a deep breath, pressing a hand lightly to his stomach tofeel the bulge of his bladder, thankfully well hidden by his clothing.

“Joker? What’s the hold up?” Morgana’s voice seemed to comefrom all around him.

“Everything’s fine, Mona. I’m just a little tired.”

“I keep telling you about the importance of a good night’ssleep, but do you ever listen?”

Grumbling, Akira chose to ignore Morgana for the moment andinstead stumble out of the bus and toward the rest of the Thieves.

“What’s the plan?” Ann asked him once he had joined thegroup surrounding the Pixies.

“They’re weak to… umm…” Akira wracked his brain. He hadthis persona. Pixie had been one of the first he’d been able to control, butevery throb of his bladder scrambled his thoughts further until nothing was inhis mind other than pain discomfort need to pee now.

“Ice,” Yusuke piped up. “My attacks did quite well againstthe Pixies we fought up a few floors. May I?”

“Yeah, knock yourself out,” Akira breathed, trying to keephimself from bouncing on his heels in too suspicious of a manner.

Just like that, a few well-aimed Bufu attacks eliminatedthree of the Pixies. Unfortunately, the fourth one was a bit more crafty thanher friends, and dodged Yusuke’s final attack. She took the group’s moment ofsurprise to her advantage, sending a bolt of lightning right for Akira.

The attack itself really shouldn’t have taken Akira down,what with Hua-Po the last persona he had used. The shock of the attack thoughzinged right through him and straight to his bladder, shaking the organ, liquidsloshing like the ocean in a storm. Akira fell to his knees, gripping the hilt of his swordlike his life depended on it as the tip of the blade pressed into the ground acted asthe only thing keeping him upright.

“Joker!” Ann was already running toward him while the twoboys were giving each other panicked looks.

“I’m fine! The shadow…”

A single shot from Ryuji’s gun was enough to take out thefinal Pixie, and the ringing in Akira’s ears from the gunshot hadn’t even fadedby the time he was  surrounded by the rest of the group.

“What happened?!”

“Where are you hurt?”

“Those Pixies weren’t that strong. How did she knock you down…?”

“Fox! Show some compassion!”

“No, he’s right. She took me by surprise, and I should’vebeen ready,” Akira said, using the strength of his sword to push himself backto his shaking legs.

“Maybe we should head home for the day,” Ann suggested.

“We can’t give up now! We have to be getting close to thenext barrier!” Morgana chipped in, having changed back to his cat form.

“How would you feel if our leader got knocked out becauseyou were too stubborn to turn back, huh?” Ryuji growled.

“You’re underestimating Joker! He’s more than strong enoughto keep going, unlike you, Skull. Weakling.”

“You’re one to talk, you dumb cat!”

“Would you two be quiet?!” Ann shouted. Her voice echoedthrough the twisted hallways in the silence that followed, and she let thisghost of her words die out before continuing. “Now. How about instead of this bickering, we let Joker tell us whether or not he’d like to continue.”

Akira looked over the group of his friends as all of themlooked expectantly back. He took a moment to desperately hope that his cloakwas enough to cover the trembling of his legs, the bulge of his abdomen overhis waistband, the tenseness of his thighs as he pressed them together fromgroin to knees.

“A-Are we really close to the next stopping point?” he askedMorgana.

“We must be with how many floors we’ve traveled today!”

“Okay. Let’s go a few more floors.”

“Can we compromise? Maybe if we haven’t reached the stoppingpoint after three more floors, we can go home for the day. It is getting quitelate, after all,” Yusuke said.

“Why stop then when we’re so close?” Morgana insisted.

“I think Fox is right.”

“Me too.”

“Popular vote agrees with me,” Yusuke said.

“This isn’t a democracy! Joker, it’s up to you again,”Morgana said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It’s a good compromise.”

“Fine!” Morgana threw his paws in the air before morphingback into his bus form. “Get in, then.”

Giving each other annoyed looks, Ann and Ryuji startedclimbing onto the bus. Yusuke, however, hung back.

Akira was shaking, fists clenched at his sides to keep themfrom grabbing at himself. His bladder was still throbbing, and he doubted itwould stop anytime soon, but he had an end in sight. Three more floors, thenthey could leave. Of course, that would mean they’d have to go back up thosethree floors, plus the four they had already traversed, and who knew how longthat would take with all the shadows they might encounter on the way? Shakinghis head, Akira pushed those thoughts away. Stay positive. I’ll get reliefsoon. It’ll be fine.

Akira took a careful step forward and Yusuke, who had beenstanding silently at his side, matched his stride.

“Akira,” he said carefully.

“Joker,” Akira reminded him.

“My apologies. I’m still new to this,” Yusuke said. Hesquinted at Akira a moment before taking a breath to continue. “Do you need thetoilet?”

Akira’s face all but burst into flames with the suddennessof the blood rushing to it.

“What gave you that idea?!”

“You’ve been shaking for awhile now, and you’ve never struckme as someone with weak muscles. Your steps are short because you’re keeping yourthighs together, and your entire body is tense. Like I said before as well,that Pixie’s attack should not have knocked you down, and it’s very rare – atleast from what I have observed thus far – for you to forget a weakness of ashadow you’ve seen before.”

“You’re craz—”

“In conclusion, you have to urinate. Quite badly, it seems.I don’t know why you sided with Mona in his wants to continue further, when therest of us understand that sometimes, we need to stop exploring early if it’sin the best interests of a friend.”

“Don’t be so clinical,” Akira mumbled, burying his stillburning face in his hands.

“I’m sorry. Would you like me to try again with more slangterms?”

Akira looked up, incredulous, only to see the smallest ofsmirks on Yusuke’s face, and had that been a joke?

“Look. You might be right, but it’s really not that bad,”Akira insisted, even as his bladder cramped in protest, forcing him to bendforward a bit and shift subtly back and forth.

“It looks that bad.”

“Well, it’s not. Just get on the bus.”

Yusuke followed his order with no further comments. Akirawalked around to the driver’s side, holding his breath and squeezinghis eyes shut as he separated his legs to step up into the bus.

That moment, however short it was, was just long enough ofhis thighs being apart to allow a few small drops of pee to escape his bladderand wet his underwear.

“Oh no,” he breathed. Morgana would never forgive him ifhe wet himself inside of him. And really, Akira wouldn’t blame him for thegrudge. “Mona, I—”

“Okay, let’s get moving! To the next floor!” Morganainterrupted, revving whatever served as the bus’s engine and accelerating. Cursingthe uneven ground of the endless hallways, Akira bit his lip. This wasn’tenough to keep sharp gasps from leaving him on each and every bump Morganadrove over, however, and no matter how tightly he crossed his legs, it wasn’tenough to keep from leaking with every bump either.

He could feel his bladder bouncing with the movements ofthe bus. He could feel all that liquid splashing up, then back down, pushingitself further out of him with every fall.

“Joker, you are very pale,” Yusuke remarked.

Ann and Ryuji immediately poked their faces up from thebackseat.

“Whoa, he’s right, man. Mona, if you don’t want somethingnasty inside this bus, you should probably stop.”

“What?! Get out if you’re going to be sick!” Morgana yelled.

“He can’t get out if you’re still movin’, you dumb cat!”

The Morgana bus screeched to a stop, throwing all four ofthe Thieves forward. No sooner had Morgana thrown all the doors open himselfwas Akira out of the bus and crouching on the floor of Mementos, hands buriedin his crotch as he tightened his tired muscles as much as he could, begginghis bladder to hold on, even as a steady stream of urine poured out of him.

“Oh my god!” Ann cried. “Something’s really wrong, isn’t it?What’s wrong?”

“It’s okay. I can help him,” Yusuke said.

“You? You barely know him!” Ann said.

“Panther, it’s okay. You and Skull stay in the bus.”

“What can I do?” Yusuke asked, crouching down to matchAkira’s current height.

“Okay, you were right, it’s really bad, I’m not sure I canhold it,” Akira hissed, refusing to look Yusuke in the face.

“Why don’t you go here?”

“With all of you watching? No.”

“Can you hold it long enough for us to get back to theentrance?”

“I don’t know,” Akira whispered, finally looking up atYusuke with wide eyes. “I really don’t know. I feel like I’m about to explode,oh god,” Akira whined as another spurt of liquid pushed out of him.

Yusuke’s full mouth was pressed into a straight line, hisbrow furrowed. “You’re going to have to try.”

“I know. I know I do. Oh, it hurts.”

“Come.” Yusuke started to stand, grabbing Akira’s arm as hewent and pulling him up as well. “Lean against me. You sit in the passengerseat so the steering wheel isn’t restricting your movement.”

Akira let himself be steered back to the bus and helped intohis seat. He could feel Ann’s and Ryuji’s eyes on him, but herefused to turn around. He knew they would understand, but he couldn’t helpfeeling that as their leader, he should never have allowed something like thisto happen. He should’ve been more diligent regarding his own schedule, moreaware of his needs before leaping into the shadow world.

“Unless you want a mess, I suggest we head home now, Mona,” Yusukesaid.

“Fine! But I hope you all realize we’re going to have tomake up all this lost time later!”

“Yeah, yeah, just drive, you mouthy cat,” Ryuji said.

It seemed even Morgana had finally caught on to theseriousness of the situation, since he didn’t bother responding to Ryuji’sinsult, instead accelerating and speeding along toward the upper floor.

“Avoid shadows if you can, please,” Ann said.

Morgana made a noise of agreement.

Akira sighed, leaning forward and pressing his foreheadagainst the dashboard. He allowed his body to act as a shield toward Ryuji andAnn, shoving his hands into his crotch for some much-needed pressure, and ohthat felt so much better, enough so that Akira couldn’t hold back a small moan.

“Joker, ya know that if you’re not feelin’ good, you canjust tell us and we don’t have to come to Mementos, right?”

“I felt … fine earlier,” Akira assured him.

“I apologize if I’m overstepping my place, but I think itmight be better for Joker if he doesn’t speak.”

“Yeah, sure, Fox. I get the hint,” Ryuji muttered.

“Be nice!” Ann hissed before the Thieves fell into silence.

As much as Akira appreciated Yusuke trying to look out forhim, he immediately missed the distraction of the others’ voices. Now he wasforced to put every ounce of brainpower into making sure his bladder didn’texplode.

It was barely a minute later when the bus stopped again.

“W-Why…” Akira said, clenching his teeth and tightening thehold he had on his groin to hold back the impending flood.

“Uhh…If he feels sick, should he get out of the bus and walkup the stairs?” Ann asked.

“I can’t…” Akira choked out quietly enough that he was sureYusuke was the only one able to hear him.

“Take the stairs slowly, Mona,” Yusuke ordered.

“You better be sure about this,” Morgana grumbled beforedoing what he was told, taking the stairs at a crawl.

It didn’t matter how slowly he took them – each step stillfelt like leaping over a mountain to Akira, and his bladder protested the wholeway. The drips of urine that were steadily leaving him grew into a strongerstream with every step. The swollen organ was so full, and Akira wasn’t sureif he’d be able to hold much longer. Not even that, but he wasn’t sure hewanted to try. He just wanted relief, from the pain, the pressure, theembarrassment, everything.

He ground his hips down against the chair, then up againsthis wrist, but nothing was giving him any sense of relief anymore. He doubted hisbladder could hold another drop of liquid if it tried, and the slow stream ofurine leaving him - even now that they were on level ground again - was proof of that.

All too soon, they had reached the next staircase, and panicovertook him. He wasn’t going to make it. Just the mere sight of the stairscaused his bladder to spontaneously squeeze, knowing the stress it was about togo through.

Blindly reaching to his side, Akira waved his hand until hewas met with the fabric of Yusuke’s shirt.

“Yusuke…help…me,” he whimpered.

“Stop, Mona!” Yusuke commanded. The abrupt stop was nearlyAkira’s undoing, but he managed to stumble from the vehicle without a moment tospare, waddling away from his friends even as his bladder was on the verge ofreleasing.

“Joker?” Ann called from behind him. Akira waved a frantichand toward them without turning around.

“Go, please. Wait at the top of the stairs, and we will meetyou in a few minutes,” Yusuke said calmly, and the volume of his voice toldAkira that he had followed Akira from the bus, and that was not what Akirahad been expecting.

“Yusuke, you too,” Akira pleaded once he’d heard the bumpingof the Morgana bus retreating up the stairs.

“I’m not leaving. What if a shadow comes?” Yusuke said, thetone of his voice somehow surprised and exasperated all at once.

“I don’t…You shouldn’t…”

“I won’t watch, but I’m not leaving you here.”

Fine. Fine. Yusuke was so damn stubborn, but Akira wouldfind time to be frustrated later, once his bladder was no longer filling hisentire abdomen. He pushed his pants and underwear out of the way and finallygave his bladder permission to let go.

The feeling of relief was bliss, pure and simple. If asked,Akira wouldn’t have been able to tell you how he managed to keep his footingwith how violently his legs were shaking at the intensity of the feeling, butsomehow he did. He tilted his head back, eyes closed, mouth gaping in a deepmoan.

He would find time later to be embarrassed at Yusukewitnessing this. Sure, his friend had promised to look away, but there sure wasplenty for him to hear, Akira realized with a wince. His moaning was onething, but the sheer volume of liquid within him was exiting in a thickstream and there was just so much. It felt as he’d been peeing for at leasta full minute before the stream began thinning, then dripping, then stoppingaltogether.

Eyes still closed, Akira yanked his pants back into placeand took a step backwards, grimacing at the squish of his shoes. He stoodstill for a moment, knees still knocking together as his legs trembled, pantinghard as he tried to catch his breath. The sharp pain of his full bladder was nomore, but it had promptly been replaced with a heavy ache brought on by anorgan that had been stretched past its capacity for far too long.

A gentle hand rested on his shoulder, and he let out a drysob.

“I won’t tell the others,” Yusuke assured him.

“I won’t be mad if you do tell. I don’t want you to lie formy sake.”

“It’s no trouble, such a small lie. Hopefully no one willask any questions that will force my hand.” With no warning, Yusuke reached outand gripped Akira’s chin, tilting his head from side to side. “You look betteralready. You must feel a lot better as well.”

“You have no idea…” Akira mumbled.

“I’m sure I have some idea.”

“What?”

“Let’s go, before the others begin to worry.”

“Probably too late for that. But hey, don’t avoid thequestion!” Akira took a step to follow Yusuke, but tripped over his own feet.Before his hands could break his fall, there were slender, yet strong, armssupporting him.

“I’ll help you.” Yusuke slung Akira’s right arm over hisshoulders and gripped the wrist, putting his own arm around Akira’s waist.

“You’re tired. You should save your energy in case we meetshadows we can’t avoid.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Akira grumped, understanding that hewasn’t going to get an explanation to that off-the-cuff comment of Yusuke’stoday.

They began their trek up the stairs, Yusuke half draggingAkira’s progressively limpening body.

“Here they are!”

“Oh good, we were just about to go looking for ya!”

“He’s fine. He feels much better, but if we could still makea hasty retreat and avoid as many shadows we can, I think it will benefit allof us,” Yusuke said.

“Sure thing! Everyone, get in!” Morgana called.