Summary: Goro Week Day 1: Favorite Scene/Scene You Look Forward To Most In The Anime. Akechi Goro is working a shift at the beef bowl shop when he meets a new part-timer.
Note: Hey, so guess who has all of her fandom event entries set in the same AU again? Yep, this girl.
Say hello to Rewind 'verse, in which Akechi, post engine room confrontation, finds himself a couple of years in the past in his younger self's body. A.K.A NG+ Akechi AU.
Also, the prompts merged and mutated into: Akechi's and Akira's first meeting and interactions.
Warnings: So Much Introspection, Who Wants Some Shitty Introspection, Akechi Thinks About Akira A LOT Okay?, NG+ Akechi AU, The Dangers Of Zero Stats Akira, Akira Is 100% 24/7 Akechi Lure, Brief Mention Of My OC Edogawa.
Disclaimer: Don't own P5.
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"There will be another kid working the shift with you." Goro only half-heard his boss as he went about putting on his apron; a lot of high school students occasionally worked shifts at the beef bowl place for a quick cash, and they came and went with such frequency that Goro, who frequently worked at the shop, stopped paying attention to who worked with him.
After he finished tying his apron, he turned around and came face to face to the new help.
And froze.
The new help merely reached around him for an apron before then stepping away from him.
Goro blinked, once, twice, thrice, but the messy hair, glasses, and black shoulder bag did not change.
He was not hallucinating.
He shook himself out of his stupor before he walked off in the direction of the work area, almost stumbling from the aftershock.
The other part-timer was none other than Kurusu Akira.
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He'd lie if he said that he never thought about what he would do if he met Kurusu again.
He'd imagined plenty of scenarios. The things he'd say, the things he'd do, the way he'd approach Kurusu.
He imagined how Kurusu would react to seeing him. He'd pictured Kurusu remembering the events of the year that happened (the year that was to come) and scorning Goro for his deeds; he'd selfishly pictured Kurusu remembering but still accepting him.
He'd pictured Kurusu looking at him blankly, not recognizing him.
And it seemed that it was the latter that happened eventually.
It was strange, Goro noted to himself, as he observed Kurusu from the corner of his eye as he worked, watching the way Kurusu had to scramble around to get the orders ready, movement stiff, watching the way his expression was blank, the way his bangs and glasses covered his eyes, watched the way he was completely silent throughout.
It was… difficult to associate the image of Kurusu in his mind- admirably bold, effortlessly charming, enviously graceful, frustratingly devious, terrifyingly kind- with the Kurusu he had right in front of his eyes- closed in on himself, with zero presence and elegance, the epitome of 'another blank face in the crowds'- due to how jarring the difference between the two was.
Goro, selfishly, had thought Kurusu would feel a pull in his direction, like Goro had always felt towards Kurusu, but that night, Kurusu had finished the shift, took his payment, took off his apron, and left.
He didn't even glance Goro's way once.
Goro frowned as he hurriedly prepared to leave as well, taking off his apron and tugging his hood over his head before he grabbed his things and left after Kurusu.
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He wasn't planning to stalk Kurusu, just observe him from afar, watch the way he moved, his body language, how he could tell that he was being followed and took to winding around the same alleyways in a confusing pattern, dropping by random shops. If Goro didn't know these alleyways himself like the back of his hand, he would have been lost.
As it was, he was surprised Kurusu wasn't lost; if he remembered correctly, Kurusu should still be new to the area at this time of the year, barely a month into his stay in Tokyo.
Minutes later, Goro stopped in front of one of the shops and lingered, letting Kurusu slip away, definitely heading back to Leblanc by now.
He hummed thoughtfully before he headed to the station himself, intent on returning to his home.
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He didn't know how or why, but for some reason, he'd been granted a second chance to start over.
He'd been shot by his cursed father's cognition of him, and the next thing he knew, he was waking up around two years and a half in the past at least, before the time he'd even awakened his Persona and started to build up a reputation as a detective to approach Shido.
And so he, Akechi Goro, was back in time, with no clue of the reason behind it, and no idea of what he was supposed to do next.
Oh, he'd planned to blaze through Shido's Palace, steal his Treasure before he ruined more people's lives, like Sakura's and Okumura's, but…
He didn't receive the Nav.
He remembered freaking out, nearly thinking all of his memories were hallucinations, and that such things like the Metaverse and Personas didn't exist after all, that Palaces and Shadows and Treasures didn't exist after all, that the Thieves didn't exist-
But the presence of his Persona in his mind reeled him back in.
Nemesis, his Persona that emerged from both Loki and Robin Hood, was still there in the back of his head, her Bless and Curse magic simmering under his skin in a way that was completely different from Loki and Robin Hood; it was calmer, for one, more balanced, more settled, more comfortable.
If it wasn't for Nemesis, Goro would have probably gone insane long ago.
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Taking out his phone, he scrolled through it carefully; there was no sign of the Nav, not that he expected the app to hop into his phone that simply.
Goro knew that whatever sent him the app last time didn't have a reason to do so to the current Goro.
(The app was another thing he'd spent hours contemplating in the past couple of years, and the thoughts and conclusions he'd come to didn't comfort him.)
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Either Kurusu didn't suspect Goro of being the person who followed him the previous night, or he didn't care, or his current reason to work at the beef bowl place was more important, because he returned again, and worked through his shift like he did the time before.
As the two of them were done for the day, Goro gathered his courage to start a conversation with Kurusu, "Excuse me."
Kurusu stared back at him, apron over one arm and glasses somehow reflecting the light even though Goro was sure it was supposed to be impossible in the room's current lighting.
When Kurusu didn't say anything in response, Goro cleared his throat, "I haven't introduced myself last night before we started working or before we left. I tried to follow you after you left but you lost me a few minutes after following you." Goro plastered a smile on his face, it was awkward, as he hadn't had a reason to plaster a smile on for anyone in the last couple of years except for Edogawa, but it was at least not completely fake like his smiles used to be during his stint as the Detective Prince, "My apologies for that, by the way. My name is Akechi Goro."
Goro observed Kurusu carefully, watching him stand in place for a while before he reached a hand to tug at one of his bangs; it was a nervous tick, a gesture that the Kurusu whom Goro had known had rarely exhibited in the detective's presence, but now…
"Kurusu Akira." Kurusu jerked his head forward before he raised it to look Goro straight in the eye, face still blank, posture still awkward, but Goro could see a tiny spark in his dark eyes, a very familiar spark.
Goro's smile lost some of its awkwardness at the sight, becoming something more genuine, "It's nice to meet you, Kurusu-kun. As well as working with you." Goro chuckled lightly, "Please take care of me."
Kurusu blinked at him, "It's nice to meet you, too, Akechi-san."
Goro had never been able to keep himself away from Kurusu Akira, not when he had important things at stake, but now that he didn't fear a metaphorical blade hanging over his head and waiting to drop at the slightest mistake, he was free to pursue Kurusu without dreading any grave consequences.
He was free to drop the mask around Kurusu without it coming back to bite him in the ass later.
(Besides, Goro would lie if he said that he wasn't interested in knowing this Kurusu, the person Joker was at the start of his journey, the person who'd drag himself up to climb to the heights Goro had stared at with want and need, want and need that caused rage and envy to blind him before.)
(But not this time.)
(This time, he had the chains of his own fate in his own hands, broken by his own hands and with the help of the Thieves he'd known.)
"We should exchange numbers!" Goro almost chirruped, taking great joy from watching the awkward way Kurusu reached for his phone and exchanged contact information.
(Oh, for once, Goro was going to enjoy his life.)
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End