Yes hello my wife is home u w u

Welcome home, gorgeous.

Was Kurusu expecting him to be shocked? 

He gives no immediate reply, eyes locked square on the photos before him as he lets this new information roll through his head. 

Of course, he’s had his own suspicions of Kurusu for awhile now, so it was only a matter of time before the detective had finally discovered their identities. Though– he hadn’t quite expected that time to have come so quickly. 

❝ I take it’s safe to assume I’m the only one you’ve shown these to? Quite clearly, neither I or my teammates have been arrested, so you’ve either no way to prove our methods in court                            without sounding insane… ❞

Brows knot now, arms folded across his chest now as he shifts– he’s uneasy, but showing the other such will only give him the upper hand. It’s good that he’s gotten used to being a leader, he’s able to stand more confidently, a more assured tone to his voice now than before. He won’t allow himself to be threatened by the man before him.

 ❝ … Or you want something. ❞

“I’ve no reason to arrest any of you yet, so you’re off the hook for that much. In fact, I don’t think I can right now anyway until I do what I personally need to do.” He chuckled softly and placed the pictures back into his pocket and sat his briefcase down before folding his arms against his chest and staring the other in the face.

“I suppose you could say there is something I want. So long as you’re willing to cooperate a little, I can see this working in both our favors. Now then, I’ll be blunt and right to the point. I want to join the Phantom Thieves.” Eyes stared dead ahead now with a more serious expression. Now wasn’t the time to be all happy and fake smiles. He needed to do whatever he could to make sure he got his way with Sae and...especially, him.

He feels himself relax when Akira pulls away, but his mind stays wary– Akira is far too tempting, it’s honestly taking a lot of restraint not to let Akira have his way– but he’s already stated that he’s not comfortable with the idea of intimacy outside of a relationship, and damn it, he’s going to stick to that statement if he has to walk out of the building and suffer the train ride home aroused. 

Goro doesn’t bother with a reply– it makes it sound like Akira thinks he’s easy– yes, he’s going to have to rid himself of the affections he’s harbored for so long, because Akira quite clearly will never reciprocate them. 

❝ … Unfortunately, our little chat was all I came for. I believe Shido-san will begin campaigning in public in the coming days, however, so we should all keep an eye or ear out for him. Perhaps he’ll slip and say something that will hint at what we’re looking for. ❞

He’s quick to slip his coat back on, stepping away from Akira and picking up his briefcase– the sooner he can get out of here, the better. 

❝ My apologies for the hasty exit, I’d like not to stand around in the cold for too long waiting for my train. I’ll see you the next time the group meets up. ❞

“...right.” He could feel something off about the way the other was acting, mostly because of how he was smiling in that fake way once again. He didn’t do anything without Akira noticing, did he? Well, he saw him come up here himself, and he didn’t look like he took anything or set anything up..but still. He couldn’t shake this feeling of unease.

A few steps were taken when Akechi lifted his briefcase, and a hand extended outward to pat the other on the shoulder, letting it linger for a moment as he searched his face for anything suspicious before removing himself and moving past him for the stairs.

   | One hand kept tightly kept on his pistol, keeping only a foot back as he let the enemy keep his hand where it was. It was painful. Well, not quite as painful as other things could be, but just enough due to the slight dislocation of his jaw against his will. But he smiled at his comments mixed together with actions. A dull, hollow smile that only one who didn’t feel anything but a numb satisfaction could have.

  But he looked almost normal for once. Like a genuine human being, though his eyes held the broken look only a painted toy held. “ Disgusting? You find me disgusting? ” he asked, pretending to have his expression drop before it returned to its previous one. “ The Captain doesn’t. I’m his puppet, after all. He praises me. I’m useful, which is more than I should be. ”

  His irises examined his face briefly, taking in the features to memorize them. Every detail would be needed to explain his delay in return. Soon after, annoyance sunk in and he could only scowl at the feeling in his face.

  “ Let go of me. I’m more than a simple cognition, which is more than many can be. If I go missing, the entirety of the crew will be treated as suspects while a large-spread panic boils. You’ll never be able to return here or I can assure you that the Captain will have certainly replaced me. Thief, desperate scum as you are, I recommend you leave before you dirty the Captain’s floors. ” His pistol raised from its location, pointing directly at his chest as he lacked all sense of panic. Instead, he looked simply inconvenienced and annoyed.

“That’s the one thing I can’t stand hearing you talk about. Talking about that man as if he’s a God, and that you only need his recognition in order to survive. Is that the only reason why you feel even the littlest bit important? Because of that monster?” A frown displayed on his face as he kept his grip on the other before slowly easing up and letting go, though the annoyance he also felt was still hanging on. It was hard looking Akechi’s cognition in the face and having him say these things about Shido.

“I dare you.” Now that he had a free hand again, he reached for the gun the other was pointing directly at him, gripping the front and raising it a little onto his chest a bit higher and pressing the barrel more firmly into his chest as eyes behind the mask stared ahead into soulless ones.

“Ok, then…” What a strange kid. Feeling the teen’s eyes on him caused Adachi to stare back even though he was trying to ignore the other. It was pretty annoying, but he should be used to the stares he gets from people these days. He was going to walk away from the kid until he heard the teen speak again.  Ah– of course. Adachi should have known his face would have been seen in the news. 

“You sure that was me? Some people just might look like someone you saw on TV, but it doesn’t mean that it’s the same person. Besides, if I really am that guy you saw on TV, are you sure you’d wanna be talking to me? You can’t really trust a criminal y’know?” Adachi was intrigued that this teenager seemed interested in him though. He decided to entertain him for awhile. 

“Ok. Let’s say that I am this guy you saw on TV. If I were him I’d say… that I didn’t know they were going to die. Haven’t you heard the methods that I confessed? Hm, wait… They probably wouldn’t publicize that because the police couldn’t make any sense of it. A confession without any evidence makes it hard to actually put someone behind bars for too long.”

but he didn’t exactly answer the question Akira had asked. Had Adachi enjoyed killing them? At first it made him feel a little sick, but there was a rush too. A way to kill without getting his hands dirty – it was perfect. 

“It was a rush that I’ve never felt before.” 

So he basically admitted it at the end that it was in fact him who did the killings in Inaba all those years ago. Didn’t surprise him. Akira never could forget the face of Tohru Adachi after seeing and hearing about him that time years ago when he was actually in Inaba. It was just strange seeing his face on television even after so long, as if the police had nothing better to do than dig up old murder stories.

“I’m technically a criminal too, you know. Well, at least the police categorized me as a thug. All because I got in the way of some important douche bag who was ganging up on a defenseless woman. Everyone at school gossips about it but that’s not important.” What was, was that he was standing in front of a woman killer.

Still, killing humans couldn’t be the same rush as killing shadows. Akira wasn’t sure if he could ever take a human beings life and feel good about it.

Oh, the roof top. in all honesty, Mishima hadn’t remembered the last time he had been up here. It had only been once, and even then the memories seem so faint. He sighed sighed a tad before figuring that he too needed to sit down. he didn’t want them to get caught. He didn’t particularly get too close to Akira , he just sat across from him– within arm’s reach of course. 

A look of shock, covered his entire face, changed his whole demeanor.  The question, he’d have to admit wasn’t a shock to him, but he had to act that way so Akira wouldn’t raise more of a suspicion than what he was causing. If the moon wanted to be frank, it wasn’t any of the other’s business, but he supposed since they were friends, he wasn’t going to shut him out completely. Mishima’s lips spread apart to speak, but he paused, trying to find the right words to say, exaggerating his acting just a little. 

❝man, where don’t you work…?❞ 

he inquired a little irritated that the other was even taking interest in him at all. or just the fact that he was genuinely interested in why he hung out in the Red Light District. 

❝we all have secrets Akira, how ‘bout you just let me keep mine. ❞ it was probably best that he did this. Acting distant, that was. 

He was a little shocked Mishima had even spoken back to him like that, but he supposed if he wanted to keep his secrets that badly, then why should Akira pry into his business? It didn’t stop the curiosity, after all. Maybe Mishima was a little more like him than he thought. Or..maybe he was over thinking it.

“Fair enough. And..I have a lot of jobs, but it just so happens the one in the district is one of my favorites. It’s a nice place, and the manager is always nice to me. Er..even though LaLa-chan has brought up wanting me to cross dress once or twice. Can’t say I’m a fan, and I’ve never done it, but..I guess it’d be interesting to see what I would look like in clothes like that.” Though he didn’t know exactly what LaLa would have him wear.

“ You… made it sound like that. ” She managed to utter in her defense but ultimately let him finish explaining as she leaned against him to regain her strength. It was true, her awakening had left her quite drained but the longer she took to recover her breath, the more the rebellious soul within her itched to move, to do something, to act.

To hear once again that she shouldn’t be here, didn’t belong, wasn’t strong enough made a scuffed chuckle escape her lips. Hana kept quiet, no longer wavered or discouraged by such words. The smirk on her lips was still wicked, gaze in her eyes determined and ready to tear down anyone that would go against.

“ You didn’t do a good job conveying that message to me from the get go. However- I’m not stupid, nor am I clueless and no matter how many times you tell me I don’t belong, it won’t stop me. I do believe in you and your cause but if you won’t let me join you… now that I finally have the power I’ve been waiting for for so long… nothing can stop me. I don’t plan to kill anyone. I’m not a murderer but I won’t show any mercy on rotten people like Kaneshiro. So if what you say is true and you want to change his heart… I believe the best cause of action would be to join forces. After all you became witness just to how strong I can. 

@lunedyne​

It was a struggle to want to do as she said, given he had his reasons to not let someone into the Phantom Thieves unless they all met in person or at school during meetings, and he got a chance to find out what sort of person they were and who they were. It was that matter of trust Akira, no, Joker needed before he set any ground rules.

“.....” However, the fact she did have a persona and could potentially up their forces against Kaneshiro in this world might be more to their advantage as long as she didn’t step out of line or turn on them in the last minute. The only things he wanted her to ‘kill’ were shadows, and they could deal with beating Kaneshiro later. After all, they wouldn’t be battling him yet. They still had to send the calling card and find the treasure even before that.

Leave it to Akira to make a lowkey sensual deal out of it all. With a blush on his cheeks that didn’t come from the outside heat assaulting them he held his best friend’s eyes and swallowed hard but couldn’t get himself to stop grinning a little at least still.

When he leaned in to lick the trail of cold water from his skin however Ryuji jumped as if he’d been struck by his own lightning. “ Dude! Gross! ” He exhaled with a chuckle, shoving the Fool back just a little.

“ Yeah man, y’really shouldn’t. Why did’ya even do that?! ”

@chariodyne​

“What, you didn’t like that? Don’t lie, Ryuji.” He grinned and lifted another piece of ice now, bringing it to his lips and letting his tongue run across the cold piece of frozen water before turning the blondes head towards him to press said ice he licked to his lips, coating them with the water that was starting to melt from it.

“You know I like teasing people...and watching the way you react gets me really excited. Not a lot of people get embarrassed like you do. It’s cute.” Fingers gripped his partners chin before pulling him forward to let his tongue flick across the water coated lips slowly and leaving a kiss in its wake before pulling back almost teasingly now.

                 ❝…are you okay?❞

@xheister

if this didn’t place him in the most uncomfortable position, he didn’t know what will. He had every right to say no as much as he did yes, but he figured if his answer was a simple no, things would have ended here awkwardly. however, if his answer was yes? he wasn’t aware of what could occur next. would they just usher into sex, right here and right now? wouldn’t it be a little strange to do something like that just…openly? the admin supposed, maybe not since this was pretty much akira he was talking to. of course he had no issue doing it where he was.

❝by it you mean,❞ gulp. ❝sex?❞ ok sure, he was acting all pure and clueless right now, but could you blame him? there was that one time, but that even ended oddly. they didn’t go all the way. he laughed, his nerves were acting up again. it was pretty evident that he wanted to do it with akira, but he didn’t really have the guts to just say it, not in this state.

“You don’t have to act so nervous, you know. I’m not going to up and force you to do it with me if that’s not your thing.” But the strange thing about it was the way Mishima was always acting around him and watching him. Akira could basically feel the way he was being wanted by the other. He was just surprised he hadn’t asked him of anything else since that one time. Even that took him by surprise considering what Mishima did for him.

“Hate you?” Goro repeated, wondering what kind of things the ones Akira was hiding could be for him to deserve Goro’s hatred. “Well, it’s not my place to hate you for something, considering the things I used to do. Besides, I don’t believe you are worse than Shido.” He laughed nervously. That name still had a very bitter taste on his tongue.

“How about we try now? You can tell me everything and we’ll see if I hate you for it.” It might be a risky dare and it was probably pretty unlikely Akira would tell him just like that but it was definitely worth a try. He was playing with Goro’s curiosity there. 

“I don’t believe you know me that much either. Even if you saw through my masks then, four years have passed ever since then and people change and evolve with years. Don’t you think so… Kurusu-kun?”

“People do change..but sometimes not particularly for the best.” He didn’t know if he could count himself as someone that changed better. He was still the same old as he was in high school, but just a little more toned down. So maybe he wasn’t exactly the same..but he still did the same things. Some people just didn’t change, but he’d be lying if he didn’t think he was even a little curious about what happened with Goro over the last four years.

“Do you really think you’re deserving of knowing everything about me? You expect me to just lay it all out on the table? I don’t know if I can trust that you wouldn’t judge me right away. I told you, you might hate me, but if you honestly think you’re prepared..” Having the train stop, he let go of the holder and moved himself after adjusting his backpack and motioned the other out after him.