Summary: Goro is eight. Ren is seven. They attach themselves to each other. In a fashion. Faded Smoke prequel.
Note: horny boy I hear ya. docx
Though there isn't much in the way of horny in this fic :'D
Warnings: Hellion Child Akechi, Delinquent!Akechi (Briefly), Akechi's Filthy Teen-Aged Mind, Akechi Attempts To Come To Terms With Puberty, And Kinks (Though He Doesn't Know What Kinks Are Yet).
Disclaimer: Don't own P5.
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Goro huddles behind a pole and stares intently at the back of the kid he'd dragged away to 'ask a few questions' a week ago.
The kid stiffens visibly, and turns around slowly. His gray eyes meet Goro's, bewilderment clear in them, blatantly asking Goro about what he wants.
Goro frowns at being caught, and the kid just tilts his head to the side in confusion, curly hair tumbling along with the movement, brows furrowed and lower lip jutting out.
Something in his gut clenches and twists, and Goro's frown deepens at it. Sure, the kid looks like how others would classify 'cute', but Goro doesn't like 'cute' things. Or kids.
The kid blinks at him repeatedly, eyelashes fluttering rapidly with the movement, and nods to himself before he starts making his way towards Goro.
Goro startles and leaps away from the pole to glare at the other kid, who continues to walk to him, undeterred.
The kid stops a couple of feet away from him, and blinks up at him. Goro crosses his arms and glares harder.
The kid ducks his head and reaches with a hand to fiddle with his bangs.
"Did. Did you get what you wanted?" The kid whispers. Goro can feel a blush try to climb up his neck so he turns his head forcefully away to hide it.
"It's none of your business!"
"Oh…" Goro spies the kid from the corner of his eye look at the ground, crestfallen, "Okay."
The kid taps his foot against the ground nervously before turning and walking away.
Goro lets his arms drop to his sides and gapes after the kid.
He wants to shout after the kid and chase him, but he holds himself back, embarrassment rooting him in place.
He huffs and turns around, walking away.
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Goro sees the kid again at the playground the next day. He's in the sandbox, hair mussed and clothes ruffled as he rebuilds- whatever it is that he's rebuilding. A group of kids are walking away from him, laughing cruelly among themselves, their clothes stained with sand.
It's not difficult to put two and two together.
Goro scowls and stomps towards the group, looking ready to throw down.
"Hey, you!" He shouts at them, and they snap their heads towards him, their expressions twisting from pride to fear as they recognize him.
"Run!" One of them shouts, and they all scatter away.
"Cowards!" He snaps after them. He scowls and stomps towards the sandbox.
"And you!" He snaps again, this time at the kid, "What are you doing?" He crosses his arm, squinting at the malformed lump the kid is building.
The kid shrugs and gestures towards the lump of sand again.
"Why didn't you run away? They could have hurt you."
The kid blinks, "But they didn't," the kid says, voice low.
"Were you going to just sit around and take their hits anyway?"
The kid shoves his hands into the sand, fingers clawing at it and making shapes in it, "They just wanted to play with the sand. But they didn't want me to play with the sand with them. I said no. They didn't like it, so they kicked down my sandcastle and shoved me to the sand. That's it."
"That's it?!" Goro repeats, incredulous.
The kid blinks again, "there's enough sand for everyone. I don't need to leave for them."
The kid stares intensely into Goro's eyes before he blushes and returns to his sandcastle (?).
Goro stares at the kid, gaping. That's… bolder than he'd expected. Maybe the kid isn't as much of an adorable, innocent pushover as he'd originally thought.
Goro frowns thoughtfully and props his fists on his hips, considering what to do next.
"What's your name?" He asks.
The kid shyly smiles at him, and damn if that smile isn't downright cute. Goro wants, no, needs to learn how to resist cuteness if he's to survive interacting with this fluffball.
"Amamiya Ren," the kid says, ducking his head, "I'm seven."
Goro nods slowly, "And I'm Akechi Goro. I'm eight."
Amamiya looks up at him with wide eyes, "Akechi-senpai?"
Goro grunts, and turns away to hide his blushing cheeks, "Maybe I'll see you around." With that, he escapes with as much dignity as he could muster.
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Over the years, Goro comes to realize that Amamiya isn't as much of an innocent pushover as much as he is a spineless blank page with no guts to stand out or initiate things by himself, always content to trail after Goro, calling him 'Akechi-senpai' with that quiet, breathy voice of his, letting others imprint their experiences and knowledge and skills on him (though it's mainly Goro, who wouldn't let anyone else get too close to Amamiya).
What's troublesome, however, is how Goro's own thoughts twist themselves into something perverted as he grows older and reaches the dreaded teenage years with their nerve wracking puberty.
He doesn't get it, at first, why his thoughts start to stray towards thinking about how nice Amamiya's mouth looks, how much Goro wants to kiss it, to taste it.
Why he thinks of how soft Amamiya's skin probably is, and how much he wants to touch it and explore it.
Why having Amamiya in his room suddenly turns into a nightmare and a true test of self restraint, even if Amamiya is there for something as normal, and innocent, and boring as studying.
(His eyes land on the pencil in his hand, and he peeks at Amamiya. He wishes it's a pen instead and considers the mental image of drawing the lines of his own name on Amamiya's skin. It would look nice, he figures, maybe if it's red ink? Red suits Amamiya.)
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His mind slips further and further away from his grasp and into the deep dark recesses of his own depravity, comprised of images, desires, wants, needs, and cravings foreign to him, but equally as lusted after.
(A curious term.)
(Lust.)
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He's Akechi Goro, a delinquent, he skips class, he ditches school, he smokes, he vandalizes public property, he gets into fights. The only reason the school hasn't kicked him out yet is because they can never pin it on him, he's top of the class, and no one wants to deal with his mother on a good day.
He's a criminal, he's filthy, he's corrupt.
Amamiya, however, is a model student, he never misses a class, he abides by the school rules, he always keeps to himself and takes care of his things.
He's sinless, he's holy, he's pure
Goro can never tell where his logical thoughts end and where his perverse desires begin.
He knows this, he understands it completely.
It still doesn't explain to him why he thinks of the contrast between them, and starts salivating about the prospect of corrupting Amamiya, of tainting him, devouring the purity he keeps seeing emanate from the target of his thoughts, savoring every bit of it like he would savor the kisses he'd steal from Amamiya's lips, like he would savor the taste of Amamiya's skin under his mouth.
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(It becomes very hard to have Amamiya in his room, even for study sessions- pun not intended.)
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(What's more embarrassing is that his mother knows. He doesn't know how but she does, if the look in her eyes is anything to go by. The only thing he's thankful for is that she hasn't broached the topic with him. Yet.)
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He's in class for once (blackmailed by his own mother- a fact that doesn't really surprise him; his mother can be vicious and merciless whenever she wants to be. He'd know that, he inherited the same trait from her, after all), when a ridiculous rumor reaches his ear.
The student seated at the desk to his right is whispering with the one seated in front of her, they're whispering somewhat loudly about one student a year younger than them being charged with assault.
He can feel them glance at him, for what, he doesn't know, because they can't possibly suspect him of being the rumored student when they know they, whoever they are, are from the year below them.
The two return to their whispers, this time joined by a student on the other end of the classroom.
They drop a name in the middle of the conversation.
Amamiya Ren.
Goro is standing up before he knows it, his chair clacking to the ground loudly, and causing the gossiping students to snap their mouths shut and stare at him in fear. The whole class quiets down, the silence heavy in the air.
But Goro doesn't care. He stomps out of the classroom, snapping the door open with too much force.
There is no way, absolutely no way, Amamiya would assault anyone. Whoever came up with that rumor definitely needs to get their gossip mongering skills sharpened up a bit.
He needs to check with Amamiya.
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Amamiya is not at school. And that, in and of itself, is more telling than anything Goro could find. So he decided that he's going to pay the Student Council President a quick 'visit'.
It doesn't take long to find his target, walking to the library and hunched over a notebook. Goro quickens his pace until he's right next to the Student Council President, and then he stretches his hand in front of the other student, slapping his hand against the wall, and effectively stopping him in his tracks.
The Student Council President startles and slams with his back to the wall to stare in terror at Goro, "Oh. Akechi-kun."
Goro stares silently at him, nonverbally willing him to spill the beans.
The Student Council President sighs, "So, you've heard about Amamiya-kun? Well, it's true. Amamiya-kun got charged with assault. He's been expelled from school."
Goro frowns as he walks away from the other, footsteps leading him out of the school. He needs to head to Amamiya's house.
His hand itches for a cigarette.
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He meets Amamiya on the way there, almost colliding with him at a bend in the road.
"Amamiya," Goro grunts.
"Senpai." Amamiya looks startled, "What are yo- Uh. Never mind that. I guess you heard? About my assault charge?" His shoulders slump, "I'm going to be put on probation for the next year, sent to Tokyo. Just thought I'd let you know." He smiles weakly for a moment before the expression drops. Goro's inside twist into a knot, and he has to shove his hands to his pockets and clench them there instead of where Amamiya can see them.
"Hey, senpai?" Amamiya speaks up again, voice brittle, "If I told you that I didn't do it, would you believe me?"
Goro throws his head back and laughs.
He can't help his reaction, truly, the whole affair sounds so ridiculous. Amamiya. On probation. For assault.
Amamiya gives him an offended look, and Goro snorts, "You? You'd never assault someone innocent. This is bullshit. Ridiculous. As if you'll ever be an actual criminal. Heh. I'd quit smoking if you ever become one." To make his point clear, Goro takes his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and pulls out one to put it in his mouth before returning it to take out his lighter instead.
As he lights his cigarette, he can see Amamiya slump in relief and smile more genuinely. As much as he wants to get angry and shout and scream, even while the situation is yet to sink in properly, Amamiya matters more to him.
If there is one person he'd bother keeping himself in check for, it's Amamiya.
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End
Disclaimer: hormones-driven, teen-aged Akechi is far from being the best judge of innocence and purity heh :3c