"It's not the worst thing in the world- Akechi- What are you even looking for?"
It's like God hated him, he must have sinned terribly badly to deserve this. He had to share a room with this boy, this insufferable, horrible, disheveled teenage boy that he hated from the depths of his cold heart.
Okay, maybe he was being a little over dramatic about this. Goro obviously had some unresolved issues that he needed to work out, those issues were not Kurusu-sans purposeful doing, even though it felt a lot better to just tell himself it was.
His fingers flipped through the pages of the student handbook that was kindly left on the end table next to his bed, there had to be something on changing roommates, there was no way he would actually have to be stuck in a small room with Akira Kurusu for the next year of his miserable life.
"Goro, you can look through that book all you want, but we are roommates… The lady in the front said herself there was no switching. I won't bother you, gosh, you don't even have to talk to me. Pretend I don't exist like you did last year, do whatever helps you deal, but you're stuck with this.. So…" The boy sighed, running his hands through his disheveled raven curls. "So just grow up."
There was no venom in his words, the boy didn't even raise his voice at the other, he just spoke his honest feelings. That trait was one of his better qualities, even if he felt so passionate about the other, he had to appreciate the males honesty.
Akechi sighed and placed the handbook back on the oak end table. The adept teenager let himself sit on the edge of the otherwise unoccupied bed, a sigh slipping from his lips as he admitted defeat. "You're right, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off harshly. You must have known I was coming to this school though, why didn't you tell me beforehand that we were going to be in the same school?" He paused to bite his lip for a singular minute before opening his mouth again. "I wouldn't imagine that slipping your mind, you must be proud of yourself for getting in."
The boy at the other side of the room hummed, closing his eyes in what seemed like relief before opening them only a moment later. "Of course I'm proud of myself, I got in for my writing… I don't think I ever showed you them. It wasn't exactly the course I wanted, I rather do Psychology or something along those lines but I wasn't accepted." Kurusu said softly. "I was going to tell you on the last day, but you were in such a rush, per usual, that I decided against it. So here we are now."
"Yes, here we are."
"You didn't seem happy to see me," Akira said, but instead of sounding upset, his words were teasing. "And here I was hoping you'd miss me, I suppose I was wrong, well I miss you, Goro."
"I didn't know we were on a first name basis," Akechi said boredly, obviously not amused with the change of pace in their relationship. "I thought it was rude to refer to someone by their first name unless told to."
"It is, but we have known each other for many years, and if I am correct I called you by your first name back when we first met and you seemed fine with it, maybe even pleased with it, what changed?" Akira said, looking at him with that annoying smirk on his face and those silver, cunning eyes.
"I don't see why you are looking into this so deeply, not even I would observe something so trivial so closely."
"Oh, right! What, you want to be a detective and all that jazz? That's actually pretty cool." Akira said, smirk fading and replaced with a genuine smile. He looked interested in the others hobby, as much as Akechi disliked the other, he decided he would amuse him.
"Well, when I was younger I would watch crime television shows. Not much else interested me so I would binge tons of episodes when I was bored, even though I was probably a bit young to be watching something with explicit topics. Time past and that turned into watching the news, predicting the culprit's next move… I was mostly always incorrect, I was inexperienced and I did not have the proper information. Yeah…" He paused. "That's kind of it, I've had a passion ever since."
"Oh, well, that's interesting. I'm not sure what I aspire to be… I just want to help people, you know? Help people find happiness. Maybe that's why I like psychology, maybe I would be able to help people that way." Akira spoke earnestly.
"Ah, I see, that's… Selfless of you. It's rare to see someone who actually wants to do something for the sake of helping others, not just for themselves-"
"You look at things too pessimistically." He cuts him off, which was annoying, but he let it slide. "There are plenty of good, honest people in the world, maybe you just haven't met them yet."
"That's cliche, isn't it?" The chestnut haired boy shook his head at the idea. He didn't need this idealistic trash clouding his mind.
"Maybe… We are a tad more different than I thought." Akira said, talking to himself more than talking to him. Goro let out a soft laugh, finding the others realization all amusing.
"You think?"
The weeks past in what seemed like slow motion. Every day was a constant routine, wake up before Akira, leave before Akira, come back when Akira is sleeping, ignore Akira, avoid Akira at all costs. During the times he avoided Akira he would find himself at the library, fixing his attention on studying and relishing his interests in books. Kurusu-san never came to the library, which Akechi found to be a bit irresponsible. He had so much knowledge at his fingertips yet did not take the opportunity to take it.
Whatever, to each their own.
Akechi was reading through a few of Shakespeare's greatest works, he had previously finished Romeo and Juliet and was now onto Hamlet. This wasn't something he would have picked up for himself, no, not at all, this was a class assignment. He couldn't lie though, it was great to fall asleep too.
The aspiring detective found a sort of comfort in just reading, silent, being able to drown reality out and get lost in fictional tales. That was exactly what he was doing on that sleepy Sunday afternoon until Kurusu bothered him.
"It's Sunday, why don't you ever sleep in or go out or something. I'm sure there's like... A movie adaptation of this book or something?" The raven-haired boy said, grabbing the book that was tightly secured in Goro's hand, he didn't take the book, only tilted it upwards to see the title. "Hamlet, huh?"
"Can I help you?" Akechi said, obviously not amused by the other bothering his personal time.
"Sorry, I just saw some unfairly hot guy all alone in the library and decided to say hello, what else can I say?"
He found that incredibly annoying.
The issue wasn't that Akira was incompetent or ignorant, he was actually quite charming and smooth when he wanted to be, which Akechi found more irritating than anything else. He couldn't even say the other was bad because he was good, really good.
Akechi flustered, unable to stop the dash of pink that graced his cheeks when he heard the other male using a not so subtle pickup line on him. He also couldn't stop the toxic level of venom that slipped into his voice when he replied.
"He must have left, after all, it's just me here." He replied, taking a deep sigh before putting his book down and raising one hand to rub his right temple, silently begging the tension to go away. Kurusu giggled softly at the other boy, sounding quite amused at his reaction.
"Come on, you don't have to be like that, why don't we do something? I have nothing to do and you obviously don't either. We're roommates so we might as well bond or something like that." The raven-haired boy said, rubbing the back of his neck with a small habit of nervousness. He looked… Hopeful? It was kind of pathetic, really, laughable.
The boy sighed softly and stood, stretching his bones as he put his body in movement for the first time in a few hours. Obviously, he wasn't going to be getting any more peace and quiet… He decided to reply, only out of pure politeness rather than him actually caring on what the other had to say. "Depends, what do you have in mind?"
"Oh." A look of surprise, then hesitation. "Do you like sweets? We could go get ice cream or something if you wanted."
"Asking me on dates now, are you?" He said with a shallow chuckle, slipping the classic novel into his bag before turning to the other. "No thanks, even though I will admit I do have quite the sweet tooth, I think it's best if I relocate and study more elsewhere."
"You… Really will go to some lengths to get away from me, won't you?" Kurusu said, twirling a curl around his finger with peaked interest.
"It's nothing personal."
"Obviously it is. Why would you not avoid me if it wasn't personal?" He pressed, not caring for any walls the other may be putting up against him.
"Obviously, Mr. Kurusu, it's nothing I wish to speak to you about, now go run off to your other friends. I am much too busy for these trivial disputes." Akechi said blankly, expression never changing, he found this conversation to be a waste of his precious time. The other opened his mouth to say something but ended up shaking his head and letting a look of defeat cross his face.
"See you at home."
Home is where the heart is.
When he was a child he would stare up at the ceiling, covered in plastic stars messily stuck to the white paint, he would daydream of chestnut hair and hazel eyes, supple lips, and weird sweater vests. Even a child as intelligent of him could not figure out what he was feeling. He had many friends, male and female, and they were all lovely beings, but none could hold a candle to the warmth he found in Goro Akechi's eyes.
One year his senior, much maturer, more quiet and polite then the raven, he had a much larger vocabulary than him… Kurusu, even just a child, admired him. He had taken notice about the little things that made Goro unique, his Featherman stickers that were stuck on the front of his notebooks, the way he ran his hands through his hair whenever he became nervous, how pretty he looked when he was engrossed in a good book, biting his lip and focusing intently. Akechi always became visibly excited when he got to a chapter he particularly liked. Akira found it all too adorable.
He was only eleven though, he didn't know what these feelings meant. He wasn't even totally cleared on what sexuality was. He knew he was different, while all his male friends would talk about which girl was the prettiest, who they would kiss, who they would date, the only thing that would pop into his mind was… Well, Akechi.
So when Akechi started avoiding him, he was more than hurt, he was heartbroken.
He had kissed a girl, she was decently pretty, long dark hair, big eyes, wore the same skirt every day and loved anime. It was an experimental kiss, one his friends pressured him to do, they teased him for always talking about Akechi, leaving them after school in exchange to hang out with Akechi, that he felt like he was obligated to kiss her.
It felt like nothing.
No, that's not right, what it felt like was slick pink lip gloss, awkwardness, and failed expectations. He blushed but not for the same reason she was blushing. It was embarrassing, he hadn't even noticed the chestnut-haired boy walking away from the scene, but he did hear his friends giggling in the background.
That relationship lasted an entire two weeks, two weeks of torture, honestly. She was clingy, talkative, overly affectionate, and just boring. She was so girly, they didn't like the same anime or the same manga. He ended up breaking up with her over text, kindly, of course, she seemed upset, but at least that was off his chest.
She didn't matter to him, what mattered to him was that during those two weeks Goro hadn't talked to him once. When he went to their meeting spot after school he wasn't there, he wasn't around during lunch… It was just like he disappeared from his life.
Akira felt like there was a hole in his heart, one that would not be filled up until he had that frustrating, intelligent, adorable boy back in his life.
The pain stuck around for months, and during those months he connected the pieces back together. Goro stopped talking to him the day after he locked lips with Amaya Anju, meaning he either saw them kiss or heard from someone else that they were together, whatever it may have been Goro obviously didn't like that. Figuring this out may have helped his sanity, but it didn't help the fact that he was being ignored.
Talking about Featherman didn't work, offering him sweets didn't work, talking about books didn't work, nothing worked, no matter what he did the other blinked his hazel eyes and walked away. It was frustrating, it was painful, to be so deeply hated by the one person you want the most.
Akira, an awkward age of eleven, believed that his whole world was falling apart around him.
What was the point in falling in love if it only ended like this? He just wanted to be happy. Preferably with Goro. Happy with Goro.
The boy groaned, moving on his side and facing the fluffy, dark-furred animal curled up on the other side of the bed. He brought one of his pale hands up to run it through the softness, the cat meowed softly and peaked his beautiful blue eyes open at the other.
"What should I do, Morgana? He won't talk to me, no matter what I say or do, he won't talk to me. He won't even smile at me…" The cat meowed in a response. "I know! But he won't talk to me, Morgana, he won't! Ugh!" He made some sort of awkward nose and buried his face in the cats midnight fur. "Why won't he love me?"
Upon hearing a strangled meow and feeling an unhappy shift in the animal's position, he let go. "Okay, okay, boy, I do feed you, you could at least be kind enough to comfort me. Why do people even fall in love? Well…" He paused, moving to lay on his back again and stared at those plastic shaped stars. "They do it because it makes them happy, right? But for some reason I'm not allowed that… So what should I do?" He ran a hand through his dark curls and let out a sad sigh.
"I suppose I could make others happy… That would be the simple solution…?" He glanced at the cat who meowed, suddenly it was like a million lights just flickered on in his mind.
"That's it! Morgana, you're a genius!"
